 

 :      

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The centers offerings ultimately may range from free content in resource-poor countries to fee-based certificate and degree programs in developed economies, Mitchell said, and will be funded by private foundations and philanthropy, tuition and, in some cases, research sponsorships.

Prober noted that the proliferation of smart devices into the farthest reaches of the globe has made it possible to distribute health information broadly, with content tailored to address a wide variety of audiences. A topic like nutrition education, for example, can be tailored to reach medical students, patients, health professionals in continuing medical education or individual citizens in rural communities in some of the worlds most impoverished countries.

Anything we create of inherent value for health care should be repurposed for health care for all, including developing countries, he said.

The center will build upon existing programs developed by the medical school and the vice provosts office and also expand partnerships with other organizations, including academic institutions, governmental agencies and nonprofits both in the United States and abroad.

The center will expand Stanfords Digital Medical Education International Collaborative program, which aims to improve health education by creating high-quality, accessible content for use in developing countries. Digital MEdIC already has a strong presence in India, where Sakti Srivastava, MD, associate professor of surgery and director of the program, has been building partnerships with public and private medical schools, nonprofits and government agencies to make online and simulation-based resources about health more widely available.

Similarly, Maya Adam, MD, a lecturer in pediatrics, is now expanding the Digital MEdIC program in South Africa by disseminating digital teaching tools on nutrition, pregnancy, breastfeeding and HIV management that can be used by community health workers and local women who might not otherwise have access to this information.

Combining online, interactive learning

The new center also will promote courses that combine online and interactive learning. For example, students at Stanfords medical school now learn biochemistry by watching short videos on their own time and then attending interactive class sessions to discuss the material. Whereas attendance in biochemistry lectures once hovered between 20 and 30 percent (not unusual at medical schools), some 95 percent of students now attend the interactive sessions. The School of Medicine has been collaborating with other medical schools in developing a similar approach to teaching microbiology and other topics in basic science.

While the center will initially draw content from the School of Medicine, it eventually will include other Stanford faculty whose work touches on health and wellness  for example, experts on climate change, economics, psychology and international law.

We invite faculty from other Stanford schools with an interest in health to join in the effort and help us make the most effective contribution possible to world health, Mitchell said.
This judge is definitely showing some bias.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Bronx native, showed love for her hometown by dressing up in support of her home team on Thursday, when the New York Yankees played their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

Sotomayor showed up at Yankees Stadium in judicial robes to give some love to rookie Aaron Judge.

Its pretty obvious why the justice was giving the Yankees newbie so much love.

(Photo: Rich Schultz via Getty Images)

Sotomayors support bolstered fan morale after the team lost its previous two games to the Cleveland Indians.

It was also a boost for Judge. The 25-year-old has been in a slump and has dropped in the batting lineup.

Judge began his first full season on the team at a great pace. Fans were instantly drawn to the power hitters repeated home runs. The outfielder led the American League with 37 home runs, but had a batting average of .181 going into Thursdays game.

Sonia Sotomayor is very excited about Aaron Judge's walk pic.twitter.com/RUwad4xiCU  Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) August 31, 2017

Maybe having Americas first Hispanic Supreme Court justice in his cheering section will lift Judge out of that rough patch.

Also on HuffPost

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In 2001, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave her now famous wise Latina speech, during which she reminded a group of University of California Berkeley law students that their personal experiences would enrich the legal system.

In her her 2012 commencement address Justice Sotomayor gave grads a reality check.

She then went on to remind grads that success is sweetest when shared with friends, colleagues and life partners.

In 2012, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor stopped by Sesame Street," where she gave Abby Cadabby (and kids everywhere) some priceless career advice.

During an interview with Terry Gross of "Fresh Air" in 2014, Justice Sotomayor said shes come up against her fair share of naysayers and doubters, though shes never let them stop her.

In a 58-page dissent in the case of Schuette v. BAMN -- a contentious 2013 affirmative action case upholding a Michigan referendum banning affirmative action at public universities -- Justice Sotomayor made a case for why we cannot ignore the fact that race does matter.

In an early 1990s panel, Justice Sotomayor talked about being a "product of affirmative action."

During an interview with Oprah in 2013, she spoke about what she believes is the key to raising successful children.

In a powerful dissent to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Utah v. Strieff -- a case that took an expansive view of the limits the Constitution places on police misconduct -- Justice Sotomayor addressed the people most affected by unfortunate encounters with the police, black and brown Americans. For generations, black and brown parents have given their children the talk  instructing them never to run down the street; always keep your hands where they can be seen; do not even think of talking back to a stranger  all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react to them, Sotomayor wrote.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
As Starbucks pumpkin spice latte makes its return to stores, the beloved drinks has some trendy competition behind the counter.

The coffee chain recently introduced a turmeric latte, which sounds a bit like something youd expect from your local, uber-cool coffee shop, rather than Starbucks. The drink is made of steamed milk and aromatic turmeric powder poured over espresso, according to a press release, with the option of almond or coconut milk.

As the also company points out, the new drink makes beautiful Instagram-able latte art.

Very yellow. (Photo: Starbucks)

Unfortunately, its currently only available in some 200 shops around London. But we have a feeling this new offering might make its way stateside, as people in the U.S. have been putting turmeric in coffee drinks on their own for quite some time already.

But what exactly is turmeric?

Turmeric is a yellowish-orange spice with a bitter taste. A member of the ginger family, it comes from the root portion of a turmeric plant, which grows primarily in Southeast Asia and places with humid climates. It is typically found in curries and various Indian and Southeast Asian dishes. Though its been around forever, many companies and chains only hopped on the turmeric bandwagon in the last few years, prompting people to put it in everything from ice cream to face masks.

Google Food Trends predicted the spice would the breakout star ingredient of 2016 when search traffic for the term increased by 56 percent, and it seems like they were right. The spices rising star power is tied to the supposed health benefits of curcumin, the active chemical in turmeric. It has been claimed that curcumin can ease an upset stomach, lower the chances of heart attacks, alleviate joint pain, and even possibly have anticancer effects on cancer cells, and these benefits are touted on turmeric-happy blogs, health and news sites and beyond.

Fresh turmeric roots and turmeric powder in a wooden bowl. (Photo: SilviaJansen via Getty Images)

But researchers cast doubt on turmerics miracle spice status earlier this year after collectively reviewing more than 120 clinical trials and several papers about turmeric. Most tests were conducted on pure curcumin in a lab, a much different situation than how the spice as a whole is ingested and processed.

Story continues

There may be something beneficial about turmeric, the studys lead author Kathy Nelson, a research associate at the University of Minnesota Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development, previously told HuffPost. But that something might not be curcumin after all. Nelson and her team found that not a single double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial... of curcumin... has shown the spice to have an impact on human health, HuffPost reported in January.

Nelson did note there is anecdotal evidence that turmeric can help with things like colds or bug bites. If youd like to try some turmeric offerings even just to see what they taste like, check out these ideas below (and if you need help pronouncing the tricky word, weve got you covered):

Turmeric Vanilla Latte

Get the Turmeric Vanilla Latte recipe from The First Mess

Carrot Ginger Turmeric Smoothie

Get the Carrot Ginger Turmeric Smoothie recipe from Minimalist Baker

Turmeric Broth Detox Soup

Get the Turmeric Broth Detox Soup recipe from Feasting at Home

Turmeric Chickpea Fritters

Get the Turmeric Chickpea Fritters recipe from Minimalist Baker

Turmeric Sweet Potato Healing Bowls

Get the Turmeric Sweet Potato Healing Bowls recipe from Pinch of Yum

Golden Milk Ice Cream

Get the Golden Milk Ice Cream recipe from Minimalist Baker

Related...

This Is Why Everyone's So Obsessed With Turmeric Right Now

We Were Totally Wrong About How To Pronounce Turmeric

Turmeric May Not Be A Wonder Spice After All

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
From left, Jordan Schachtel, Alex Marlow and Julia Hahn at the Breitbart Embassy, the nickname for their townhouse office in Washington. (Photo: Jeremy Liebman)

WASHINGTON  Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon may have left the building, but one of his top aides, Julia Hahn, remains in the West Wing.

Hahn is a 26-year-old former writer from Bannons site, Breitbart News. Earlier this week, a source familiar with the situation told Yahoo News that Hahn was staying on in her position as a special assistant to the president and deputy strategist in the wake of Bannons departure last month.

Due to her fiery writings for Breitbart, association with the controversial Bannon, and an unusual level of secrecy surrounding her work, Hahn has been the subject of mystery and intrigue since President Trump took office. Hahn did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story and the White House would not say what Hahn has been working on. However, a source said that, prior to Bannons exit, she was working closely with him and another top staffer, Stephen Miller, and focusing on immigration policy. Neither Bannon nor Miller responded to requests for comment on this story.

In addition to the secrecy surrounding Hahn and her duties, her rather unconventional background contributed to the interest in her work. Hahn hails from Beverly Hills, where her grandfather built a bottling company fortune, her father has produced movies, and she attended one of the Los Angeles areas top private schools before going on to University of Chicago. Her grandmother is a well-known philanthropist and staunch advocate for gun control and her younger brother has worked in one of Trumps least favorite fields, journalism, including a stint as an intern at the presidents frequent target, CNN. None of Hahns immediate family or former co-workers responded to requests for comment on this story.

Despite her roots in the liberal enclaves of Hollywood and academia, Hahn ended up developing hard-line views, particularly on immigration. She also built a close relationship with Bannon, whom liberal critics have decried as a far-right and even white supremacist influence on the White House. Earlier this year, there was a spate of profiles of Hahn in the Washington Post, the Intercept, and the New Yorker. They variously dubbed Hahn Bannons right-hand woman, his disciple, and even Bannons Bannon, in a reference to his reputation as a key architect of Trumps nationalistic platform. This view of Hahn as an ideologue and Bannon protege was cemented by her writings for Breitbart, where she railed against immigration from undeveloped, foreign cultures and the expansionist immigration agenda of House Speaker Paul Ryan, a leader in the Republican establishment.

Story continues

In the last year, Hahn largely focused her Breitbart writing on immigration and trade, two of Bannons top priorities. Hahn regularly excoriated what she decried as the globalist and open borders agenda of Democrats and the establishment GOP. During last years presidential election, Hahn repeatedly attacked Trumps opponents for backing international trade deals and immigration reform.

In a piece published last November three days before the election, Hahn blasted vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., for delivering a speech in Spanish that projected communities of color will represent the majority of our population by 2050. Hahn attributed this demographic transformation of the United States to legal issuances of immigration visas to people from non-Western countries. She also accused Kaine of cheering the end of white majority.

Hahn closed the piece on Kaines speech by accusing Ryan of sharing Democrats desire for open borders in opposition to nine in 10 of his Republican constituents. In another article for Breitbart published last October, Hahn accused Ryan of engaging in an effort to undermine Trump while boosting the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. Hahn said Ryan and Clinton shared a progressive, globalist worldview, which is at odds with Trumps America first approach. Earlier that same month, Hahn wrote a piece that accused Ryan of criticizing Trump while ignoring what she described as an epidemic of sexual assaults by criminal aliens.

Ryan has remained passive and quiet as criminal aliens have assaulted tens of thousands of American women, but when an 11-year-old audiotape emerged of Donald Trump caught on a hot mic discussing women in crass terms, Ryan declared himself sickened and spoke out, Hahn wrote, referencing the infamous tape of Trump and television host Billy Bush.

Though crimes have been committed by undocumented immigrants, there is no evidence undocumented immigrants commit more crime than American citizens. Some studies have indicated undocumented immigrants commit less crime and, in recent years, as the immigrant population rose, violent and property crime has declined.

In addition to the Bannon departure, recent shakeups saw another former Breitbart staffer, Sebastian Gorka, leave the West Wing on August 25. These moves have come after former Marine Gen. John Kelly was installed as White House chief of staff and given a mandate to crack down on leaks and impose some discipline on the chaotic West Wing. Some in Trumps orbit fear Kellys ascendance is a sign establishment and globalist voices are gaining influence and eliminating the populist economic nationalism that Bannon and his allies advocated and was encapsulated in Trumps campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.

Though the White House indicated Gorka did not leave his position of his own accord, he still penned a heated resignation letter blaming his exit on forces that do not support the MAGA promise, which he described as ascendant within the White House. Gorka did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Both Gorka and Bannon have indicated they hope to influence the White House from the outside as Trump prepares to address two of the policy issues closest to their hearts  trade and immigration. The Trump administration is currently renegotiating the North American Free Trade agreement and, on Friday, the White House said there will be an announcement about the DACA immigration program next week. With Trump still reportedly calling Bannon for counsel and Hahns presence in the West Wing policy shop, it seems clear Bannons influence continues inside the building as well.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Damascus (AFP) - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance outside Damascus Friday for morning prayers marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, state media reported.

Since the start of Syria's devastating conflict in 2011, Assad has only left the capital on a few occasions.

This year, however, he has been able to venture further afield more frequently, including to the central province of Hama and to western Syria, as his forces and their allies have scored victories on the battlefield.

"President Assad prayed on Eid al-Adha... in the town of Qara" in western Qalamun, near Lebanon, the presidency tweeted, along with a picture of him kneeling in a mosque flanked by other officials.

State television showed footage of the Syrian leader smiling in the presence of his supporters inside the mosque in Qara.

Last week forces loyal to Assad, including fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, drove Islamic State group jihadists out of western Qalamun.

Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest feast days in the Islamic calendar.

More than 330,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with anti-government protests.
WASHINGTON  One of the 10 state attorneys general who threatened President Donald Trump with legal action over protections for young undocumented immigrants rescinded his threat on Friday and is now urging Congress to pass legislation to give so-called Dreamers a path to citizenship.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III (R) wrote in a letter to the states Republican senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, that he will no longer challenge the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which gives two-year work permits and deportation protections to young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

Prompted in part by a Sept. 5 deadline set by states attorneys general  including Slatery  to either terminate DACA or face legal action, Trump is currently weighing whether to end the program. He will announce his decision on Tuesday, according to the White House.

Slatery said that while he believes a legal challenge to DACA will prevail, he wont join one.

There is a human element to this ... that is not lost on me and should not be ignored, he wrote. Many of the DACA recipients, some of whose records I reviewed, have outstanding accomplishments and laudable ambitions, which if achieved, will be of great benefit and service to our country.

Slatery went on to urge Corker and Alexander to give serious consideration to the Dream Act, a bill that would allow young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to gain legal status and eventually become eligible for citizenship. Slatery specifically referenced the bill, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and said it was not a comprehensive answer to our immigration policy challenges, but ... would be a very good start.

It is my sincere hope that the important issues raised by the States will be resolved by the peoples representatives in the halls of Congress, not in a courtroom, Slatery wrote.

Story continues

As Sept. 5 approaches, more Republicans have said Trump should leave DACA in place and seek a legislative fix instead. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that the president should not end DACA and that Republicans were working on a bill to address Dreamers.

The Dream Act is only one of the legislative options available. The Recognizing Americas Children, or RAC, Act was introduced in the House as a Dream Act alternative that would also grant Dreamers a path to citizenship, but with more restrictions on eligibility. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is working on similar legislation. There is also a stopgap bill called the Bridge Act that would extend DACA-like protections on a temporary basis.

While Slatery has backed off his threat of legal action, other attorneys general have not. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who led the effort, has remained firm on the ultimatum.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia, as well as Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter, joined Paxton and Slatery on the letter threatening legal action.

Immigrant rights advocates plan to protest in some of those states to pressure their attorneys general to similarly back off the legal threat.

Slatery previously declined to file a suit against the government over refugee resettlement after the Tennessee state legislature voted to approve one in 2016. The legislature had to hire an outside firm to initiate the suit instead.

Also on HuffPost

April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: Everythings coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. Its like a big mess. Blah. Its like vomit.

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": Were going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go."

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": Were rounding em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And theyre going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesnt sound nice. But not everything is nice.

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely."

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back  some will come back, the best, through a process.

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we dont. We either have a country or we dont. We have borders or we dont have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": Theyre going to go, and were going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... Theyre going to go, and then come back and come back legally.

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied  and every politician who has denied them  to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we dont have a country.

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldnt be in the country. They only come in the country legally.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Photo credit: Facebook / Shayda Willison

From Delish

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, a heartwarming number of stories have emerged of Texans doing their part to help their neighbors. These bakers made a crazy amount of bread while stranded to serve hungry families, Sean Lowe took a boat to Houston to help rescue victims, and neighbors formed a human chain to get a woman in labor to safety.

A manager of a local Pizza Hut and her employees are the latest to show immense empathy and courage as they delivered 120 pizzas to hungry families in Sugar Land, Texas this week  by kayak.

The manager, Shayda Habib, went to check on her store Tuesday and heard that people in the surrounding community were stuck in their homes without food.

"When I heard there were families in need, I knew we needed to act fast," Habib told KPRC, a local news outlet. "I called my husband and asked him to gather up kayaks and meet me at the restaurant."

Habib, her husband and several coworkers then proceeded to cook up 120 pies, pack them in Pizza Hut's red delivery pouches, and bring them to homes in the Oak Lake neighborhood, wading through waters and paddling in kayaks.

"The people in the houses didn't expect us to come. It was so nice to see their smiles after so much gloom," Habib told the Houston Chronicle.

Habib and her coworkers made their way through the floodwater Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week in order to feed as many people as possible. In case you weren't in awe already, Habib told HuffPost she is five months pregnant.

Their efforts clearly haven't gone unnoticed. Pizza Hut tweeted out a note of thanks to the employees, and Pizza Hut franchisee James Bodenstedt applauded their efforts as well, telling KPRC he is "so proud of our team for seeing a need, stepping up and helping the community in a time of devastation."

THANK YOU to our Oak Lake Pizza Hut team for their out-of-the-car response to deliver hot pizzas all day to the community they serve. pic.twitter.com/Xmkv9XhrKw - Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) August 30, 2017

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A week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast as a category 4 storm, large swaths of Texas and Louisiana remain inundated with floodwater.

In parts of Houston and other nearby areas, however, the waters have started to recede, and some residents are returning home to begin the emotionally arduous task of cleaning up their belongings.

This is going to be a massive, massive cleanup process, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Friday on ABCs Good Morning America. People need to understand, this is not going to be a short-term project. This is going to be a multi-year project for Texas to be able to dig out of this catastrophe.

Below, a look at some sobering images of Texans early efforts to gut homes and toss out flood-damaged property.

People begin cleaning up the damage to their homes after torrential rains caused widespread flooding during Hurricane Harvey.

A Dickinson resident hugs a friend who came to help her remove possessions damaged due to flooding.

Floodwaters have receded from this home, but the damage is done.

Family members remove debris and damaged items from their father's home.

Volunteers from Performance Contractors help co-worker Cornell Beasley clear up the damage to his home.

People in face masks begin cleaning out their property.

Books, furniture and other belongings are set to dry outside.

Lorenzo Salina helps a neighbor remove damaged walls.

Volunteers and students from C.E. King High School help to clean up the school.

Debris and possessions are piled at the curb.

Bryan Parson (left), Chris Gaspard (center) and Derek Pelt (right) remove ruined items from Parson's home.

Volunteers place water damaged school furniture and text books on the front lawn of C.E. King High School.

Lillie Roberts talks with family members on the phone as contractor Jerry Garza begins the process of repairing her home.

Cornell Beasley joins other residents as they dry and toss out their possessions.

Furniture that was destroyed in the flood is piled on the side of the street.

A man power-washes the driveway of his once flooded home.

Stacey House holds up her daughter's volleyball portrait, which was damaged during the hurricane.

Willy Coronado helps a neighbor to clean a house.

Missy Givens inspects the water level in her home.

People try to repair a truck that was submerged in floodwater.

Derek Pelt removes a wall at his friend Bryan Parson's house.

People on cleanup duty look around a damaged property.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Trevor Noah is baffled that the White House continues to stand behind President Donald Trumps statements, no matter how false they may be.

In a behind-the-scenes clip published online by The Daily Show, Noah went on a rant over Trumps latest alternative fact, in which he claimed he saw the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in Texas firsthand, and the White Houses decision to back that claim up.

I know that Donald Trump is not particularly adept at using the English language. I understand that, Noah told the audience in between takes of Thursday nights episode.

The thing that throws me is that Trump is like, I experienced this firsthand, the host continued. And then his spokesperson comes out, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and says ... He met with officials and they spoke about this and they told him what happened  and thats a firsthand account.

Just say, Oh, no. He didnt mean that, and then well move on in life, Noah added. But now youre trying to make it seem like were stupid for knowing what words mean.

After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

After Trump tweeted Wednesday that he witnessed the horror & devastation from Hurricane Harvey first hand, many reporters who followed the president during his Texas visit denied that claim.

Sanders, the White House press secretary, followed it up by telling reporters that Trump had met with state and local officials, including mayors from cities who were hit the hardest and received detail briefing information from people on the ground, adding, That is certainly a firsthand account.

During Trumps Texas trip, Sanders also told reporters that the president would be avoiding the hardest-hit areas in Houston to avoid disrupting any recovery efforts, which is why Trump made stops only in Corpus Christi, near where the storm made landfall, and Austin at the site of the storms emergency response center.

Story continues

I traveled with the President yesterday. Personally, I would not claim to have seen Harvey's horror and devastation first hand. https://t.co/Zb7bsF5CW5  Andrew Beatty (@AndrewBeatty) August 30, 2017

Trumps insistence on using his own version of reality reminded Noah of an urban legend he heard while visiting Barcelona about why some Spaniards speak Spanish with a lisp.

As the unverified legend goes, in the 13th century, King Ferdinand of Castile spoke with a lisp. The people he ruled over didnt want to correct his way of speaking, so they all began to speak with a lisp, too.

Instead of people going, Oh, that dude speaks with a lisp, they were like, No, no. We all thay Bar-theh-lona, Noah joked in a faux-Spanish accent. No, no, no, no. This is alternative translation.

Thats what I feel like Trump is doing to everyone.

Noahs off-the-cuff remarks on Trumps version of events would be funnier if it werent so close to the truth.

Watch Noahs full behind-the-scenes clip in the video above.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly suggested that Trump claimed he saw the devastation in Houston. The president did not specify any cities in his tweet.

Also on HuffPost

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President Donald Trump holds a flag of the state of Texas after receiving a briefing on Tropical Storm Harvey relief efforts at a local fire station in Corpus Christi, Texas.

A crowd of people gather outside the fire station where the briefing took place.

Trump sits with Abbott during a briefing on Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi.

Trump and first lady Melania are greeted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott prior to receiving a briefing on Tropical Storm Harvey relief efforts in Corpus Christi.

Trump and first lady Melania walk on the South Lawn towards Marine One.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart the White House in Washington, DC, on August 29, 2017 for Texas to view the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
President Trump charged Friday that ousted FBI Director James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton in the investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state long before the investigation was over.

Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was overand so much more. A rigged system!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

Trumps charge of a rigged system comes a day after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., released a statement alleging that Comeys exoneration of Clinton was drafted (although not finalized or released) even before he had interviewed key witnesses in the investigation  including Clinton herself.

Conclusion first, fact-gathering second  thats no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy, Grassley and Graham wrote in a letter to the FBI requesting records pertaining to the drafting of the statement.

The senators said their concerns stemmed from partial findings of an investigation  now closed  by the Office of Special Counsel into Comeys actions in relation to the Clinton probe. The Office of Special Counsel is a permanent body that conducts oversight of government agencies; it is unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating matters related to the 2016 election.

In July 2016, Comey delivered a statement saying Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of classified communications, but the FBI did not recommend prosecution. Comey conceded it was highly unusual for the head of the FBI to make a public recommendation about bringing charges. He said he felt the need to protect the credibility of the investigation from the suspicion that its impartiality had been tarnished by the infamous tarmac meeting between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton. (Clinton claimed the investigation of his wife was not discussed.) Comey said Lynch had asked him to downplay the investigation by referring to it as a matter.

Story continues

Trump fired Comey in May, giving the excuse it was because of Comeys handling of the Clinton investigation. But Trump later admitted in an interview and to Russian diplomats in the Oval Office that he ousted Comey because of the FBIs investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Read more from Yahoo News:
UPDATE: Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a Friday press briefing that the president still hadnt decided which organization hed give his million dollar donation to.

She also said she was unsure whether the money would be a personal donation or come from the Trump Foundation.

Sanders still hasn't found out if Trump's $1MIL donation to Harvey victims will be a personal donation or come from his foundation (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/gNbnDxMTho  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 1, 2017

PREVIOUSLY:

President Donald Trump plans to donate $1 million to those impacted by the catastrophic rains and flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Sanders told reporters that Trump is pledging a million dollars of personal money to the fund.

Strangely, Trump has not yet figured out where exactly the money hes pledging will go, but Sanders appeared to infuse some snark into the discussion with the following statement:

Hes actually asked that I check with the folks in this room, since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective in helping and providing aid ... Hed love some suggestions from here and Id be happy to take those if any of you have them.

Her commentary could be interpreted as a slight at journalists for their repeated interrogation of Trumps philanthropical claims.

The damage from Harvey could cost roughly $40 billion and many people have postured that a better way to spend the proposed $1.6 billion set aside for the border wall would be to focus funds on rebuilding.

Sanders also confirmed that Trump and FLOTUS Melania Trump will be visiting Texas again on Saturday, as well as Louisiana.

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Submerged Houston neighborhoods near Interstate 10 in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey on Aug. 29, 2017.

Recreational vehicles lie on their sides in the floodwaters.

People survey the flooded areas near their homes.

Vehicles sit on a flooded portion of Interstate 10.

People walk through flooded neighborhoods.

A truck navigates through floodwaters in a residential neighborhood west of Houston.

The water levels are high at the Addicks Reservoir.

Portions of Interstate 10 are completely underwater.

An aerial view of downtown Houston under dark clouds.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have completed the first-ever characterization of the meticulously timed immune system changes in women that occur during pregnancy.

The findings, which were published Sept. 1 in Science Immunology, reveal that there is an immune clock of pregnancy and suggest it may help doctors predict preterm birth.

Pregnancy is a unique immunological state. We found that the timing of immune system changes follows a precise and predictable pattern in normal pregnancy, said the studys senior author, Brice Gaudilliere, MD, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine.

Although physicians have long known that the expectant mothers immune system adjusts to prevent her body from rejecting the fetus, no one had investigated the full scope of these changes, nor asked if their timing was tightly controlled. Ultimately, we want to be able to ask, Does your immune clock of pregnancy run too slow or too fast? said Gaudilliere.

The new research comes from the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, which aims to understand why preterm births happen and how they could be prevented. Nearly 10 percent of U.S. infants are born prematurely, arriving three or more weeks early, but physicians lack a reliable way to predict premature deliveries.

Its really exciting that an immunological clock of pregnancy exists, said the studys lead author, Nima Aghaeepour, PhD, instructor in anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. Now that we have a reference for normal development of the immune system throughout pregnancy, we can use that as a baseline for future studies to understand when someones immune system is not adapting to pregnancy the way we would expect.

Prior research at Stanford and elsewhere suggested that inflammatory immune responses may help trigger early labor. If scientists identify an immune signature of impending preterm birth, they should be able to design a blood test to detect it.

The study used blood samples collected from 18 women who had full-term pregnancies. Each woman gave four blood samples  one during each of the three trimesters of pregnancy and one six weeks after delivery. Samples from an additional group of 10 women with full-term pregnancies were used to validate the findings.

How each immune cell experiences pregnancy

The researchers used mass cytometry, a technique developed at Stanford, to simultaneously measure up to 50 properties of each immune cell in the blood samples. They counted the types of immune cells, assessed what signaling pathways were most active in each cell, and determined how the cells reacted to being stimulated with compounds that mimic infection with viruses and bacteria.
Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump pushed out the U.S. ambassador to Jordan after complaints from the countrys king, even though there was no evidence the diplomat had misrepresented Washingtons policies.

King Abdullah II had expressed similar gripes to the previous administration, but President Barack Obama and his deputies rebuffed requests for the ambassadors removal, backing up Alice Wells, the career diplomat in the job, sources familiar with the events told Foreign Policy.

Several former and current diplomats told FP that the Jordanian king had a tense relationship with Wells, mainly because he strongly objected to the Obama administrations pursuit of a nuclear agreement with Tehran. King Abdullah, like other leaders in the region, had deep misgivings about any diplomatic overtures that could strengthen the hand of Shiite-ruled Iran.

The king even sought to exclude the U.S. ambassador from some meetings with visiting U.S. generals, former officials said.

The king has not liked Alice from the beginning, one recently retired senior diplomat told FP, speaking on condition of anonymity. He tried to get Obama to fire her. He refused.

A former senior U.S. official who worked on Middle East peace negotiations said the ambassador, who began her stint in Amman in July 2014, became the nearest and most visible target for the kings broader dissatisfaction with the Obama administrations policies and its diplomatic gambit with Tehran.

Some of his unhappiness with us became focused on her, the official said.

Apart from the Iran deal, King Abdullah believed the United States could have done more to help rescue a Jordanian pilot who was shot down over Syria in December 2014 and later burned alive by Islamic State extremists, former officials said.

I think there was a feeling, on his part, that the U.S. didnt play the role it could have with search and rescue for the pilot, the former senior official said.

He didnt feel we were providing what he thought we could be providing.

Story continues

The White House, State Department, and the Jordanian Embassy in Washington all declined to comment.

Former colleagues describe Wells as a talented diplomat. But they say her gender worked against her in a part of the world where political leaders are not accustomed to having women sit at the table.

Although the Western-educated king is considered more liberal on social issues compared with his counterparts in other Arab countries, he nevertheless seemed to chafe at having to deal with a female ambassador, as well as a female deputy at the embassy in Amman, former diplomats said.

The ambassadors job in Amman is also complicated by significant U.S. military and intelligence missions there focused on the conflict in neighboring Syria. A large military presence can often reduce the influence of an ambassador in the host country.

Typically, career diplomats working as U.S. ambassadors serve three-year terms and shorter stints for war-torn countries such as Iraq that are deemed hardship posts. In this case, Wells was forced out several months before her three-year tenure was up, diplomatic and congressional sources said.

She was due to serve until June or July, but instead she departed in March.

Veteran diplomats said it is rare for a government, much less a head of state, to convey its displeasure about a particular U.S. ambassador to the White House. And its even rarer for an administration to push out an ambassador as the result of lobbying from a foreign government.

It may not be unprecedented, but its very unusual, said one recently retired U.S. ambassador, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Former and current foreign service officers said the episode raised questions about the Trump administrations relationship and support for its diplomatic corps, especially amid criticism that the White House is sidelining diplomacy and hollowing out the State Department through a reorganization.

Robert Ford, the former ambassador to Syria and Algeria, said he was not familiar with the circumstances surrounding Wellss tenure in Amman. But he said ambassadors have to steer a delicate balance between cultivating a rapport with a host government and accurately conveying the U.S. viewpoint. But ambassadors need to have the full weight of Washington behind them when they are relaying positions that are unpopular or unwelcome.

Frankly, you need to have an ambassador that has good relations with the host government. Thats vital to do the job well, said Ford, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. But its also important for the United States government to back up the envoy, assuming that envoy is delivering the messages appropriately.

For a president who has sought to reject his predecessors policies at every opportunity, Trump likely had no qualms about agreeing to the Jordanian kings request, said one former senior official, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations.

My guess is that it was a simple thing for Trump. The king asked and he can say yes. As far as he was concerned, this was Obamas ambassador, said the official. Hes obviously shown no hesitancy in doing the opposite of whatever Obama did.

A former senior official in the Obama administration said there was clearly tension between King Abdullah and the ambassador, but the White House never had any doubts about Wellss performance or how she managed that relationship.

She was always looked upon as an experienced diplomat who had deep experience in the region, who was faithfully committed to carrying out the policy of the United States, the official told FP. The ambassador was always looked upon with great respect, and I never heard any internal doubts about her whatsoever.

During her 28 years as a foreign service officer, Wells has received numerous awards for her performance and served in assignments in Islamabad, New Delhi, Moscow, Riyadh, and Dushanbe. She also worked as an executive assistant to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and served in the Obama White House as a special assistant to the president for Russia and Central Asia.

At her farewell press conference in March before stepping down as ambassador, Wells said Jordan was a valued ally and stressed the unprecedented amount of U.S. economic and military aid provided to Amman during her time there. In 2016, Jordan received a record $1.6 billion in U.S. assistance.

Wells has since been named the acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, and as part of her new assignment, she is traveling this week to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A planned visit to Pakistan was postponed at Islamabads request, following Trumps Aug. 21 speech in which he sharply criticized Pakistans role in the war in Afghanistan.

FP staff writer Robbie Gramer contributed to this article.

Photo credit: ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is being investigated by his own agency for possibly using taxpayer to take his wife Louise Linton to watch the solar eclipse: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Treasury Department has confirmed they are investigating if its chief used taxpayer money for a personal trip to view the solar eclipse.

A watchdog group believed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton took a government plane to view the 21 August solar eclipse in Tennessee.

The pair joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his home state to view the event atop Fort Knox, an Army base and home of $200 billion US gold bullion depository.

Trump cabinet member 'may have used taxpayer money to watch eclipse'

Mr Mnuchin is the first Treasury Secretary to visit the gold depository in 70 years.

Rich Delmar, counsel to Treasurys Office of Inspector General, said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the circumstances of the Secretarys [21 August] flight to Louisville and Ft. Knox to determine whether all applicable travel, ethics, and appropriation laws and policies were observed.

The agencys original response to public inquiries from ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden was that Mr Mnuchin was in the state to discuss Donald Trumps tax reform plan.

It also said Mr Mnuchin will reimburse the government for Ms Linton's travel "as is longstanding policy regarding civilians on military aircraft. The trip was originally planned for earlier in August but was postponed to accommodate the Congressional calendar."

Mr Delmar said that when the review is complete, the agency will advise the appropriate officials, in accordance with the Inspector General Act and established procedures.

The Treasury Department for financial records showing "authorisation for and the costs" of the trip using a government plane.

In its Freedom of Information Act request, the group wrote: "At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget, the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes, and the justification for that use."

Story continues

CREW spokesperson Jordan Libowitz told CNBC that the issue would not have caught their attention if not for "the Instagram rant" by Ms Linton.

"That picture was clearly of a government plane, so that raised questions of what the relationship was of her to the trip, and what she was doing there," he said.

Ms Linton posted a picture on Instagram of her and Mr Mnuchin stepping off a government plane the day of the eclipse. In the post the Scottish-born actress described her outfit, naming several high-end fashion designers, calling it a "great #daytrip".

A commenter, Jenni Miller, criticised Ms Linton for bragging about her designer wear while many Americans are suffering financially.

It was Ms Linton's response that also raised suspicions for CREW.

Ms Linton wrote: "Did you think this was a personal trip?! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol".

She went on to say in her lengthy response to Ms Miller that the commenter was "adorably out of touch" and said the couple had contributed more in US tax dollars than Ms Miller had.

She later made her account private after massive backlash to her response and has since deleted the picture and issued an apology to Ms Miller.
Berlin (AFP) - Two more German citizens have been arrested in Turkey "for political reasons", Berlin said Friday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Ankara that Germany could reexamine its policies following the latest Turkish action.

The latest arrests bring the total number of German political prisoners in Turkish custody to 12 at a time when ties between the two countries have badly frayed.

There is "no legal basis" for detention in most of these cases, Merkel said, according to remarks carried by Germany's DPA news agency.

"And that's why we need to react decisively here," she said, adding that the government would "perhaps have to rethink" its policies vis-a-vis Turkey.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said earlier Friday that "on August 31, two German nationals were detained in Turkey for political reasons".

The German consulate in the western city of Izmir was first informed of the arrests. Confirmation of the arrests then came not from the Turkish government but from Antalya airport police, Adebahr said.

She declined to give further details about the case, saying only that German authorities had not yet been allowed access to the two.

"Our demands to Turkey are very clear," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert. "We expect Turkey to release the German nationals who were arrested on unjustifiable grounds."

Of the 55 Germans currently detained in Turkey, 12 of them -- including four with dual German-Turkish citizenship -- are being held for political reasons, the foreign ministry said.

Relations between the two NATO allies have deteriorated sharply after Berlin sharply criticised Ankara over the crackdown that followed last year's failed coup attempt.

The arrest of several German nationals, including the Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yucel, the Istanbul correspondent of the Die Welt daily, further frayed ties.

Story continues

Yucel has now spent 200 days in Turkish custody ahead of a trial on terror charges.

German journalist Mesale Tolu has been held on similar charges since May, while human rights activist Peter Steudtner was arrested in a July raid.

Following Steudtner's arrest, Germany vowed stinging measures impacting tourism and investment in Turkey and a full "overhaul" of their troubled relations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, has also sparked outrage after charging that Germany is sheltering plotters of last year's coup, as well as Kurdish militants and terrorists, and demanded their extradition.

Erdogan added to the tensions this month when he urged ethnic Turks in Germany to vote against Merkel's conservatives and their coalition partners, the Social Democrats, in September 24 elections.

On Friday, Merkel hit out against Erdogan's call, saying Germany's election "will be decided only by the people in our country, who have German citizenship".

The escalating tensions have split the Turkish community in Europe's top economy, the largest diaspora abroad, which is a legacy of Germany's "guest worker" programme of the 1960s and 70s.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog has rejected a U.S. request that the agency inspect restricted Iranian military sites suspected by President Donald Trump and his administration of hosting nuclear activity.

Despite mounting pressure from the Trump administration, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday that Iran was in compliance with a 2015 treaty it signed with the U.S. and five other leading world powers. The announcement comes in response to recent meetings between IAEA officials and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, who echoed White House concerns that Iran may be cheating on the deal by continuing nuclear production in off-limits military sights.

Related: Iran shoots down U.S. military inspection 'dreams,' vows more powerful missile force

Were not going to visit a military site like Parchin just to send a political signal," an IAEA official said, according to Reuters, which reported that Iran allowed Western observers in the Parchin complex once before, shortly after the deal was signed in 2015.

"If they want to bring down the deal, they will, the official added, referencing the Trump administration. We just dont want to give them an excuse to."

RTS16PNY

Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

The IAEA's latest report said Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium did not surpass 661 pounds, the quota assigned by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to Agence France-Presse. The landmark treaty was signed by the U.S., under President Barack Obama, and Iran, as well as China, France, Germany. Russia and the U.K.

Story continues

The 2015 deal sought to allay fears that Iran was producing nuclear weapons by severely restricting its nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of billions of dollars' worth of international sanctions against Tehran. Trump has been a vocal opponent of the deal, which he and his conservative supporters criticize as being too soft on Iran.

Haley met with IAEA officials last week in Vienna to express Washington's concern that "IAEA reports can only be as good as the access Iran grants to any facility the IAEA suspects of having a nuclear role," according to a statement.

Iran has vehemently rejected Trump's claims, and preserving the nuclear deal was one of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's primary platforms prior to his re-election in May. While the JCPOA has its opponents among Iranian conservatives as well, the country's leadership has largely defended it as a necessary compromise with the West and a lucrative business opportunity. Since sanctions began to roll back, Iran has made multibillion-dollar deals with a number of foreign companies previously barred from doing business with the country.

RTS19KSY

U.S. Energy Information Administration/World Energy Atlas

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former Iranian foreign minister, said Tuesday that the U.S. or U.N. "would never be permitted to inspect" Iranian military sites "under the excuse of the JCPOA or any other excuse." Numerous other high-ranking Iranian officials have also come out in support of the deal and against U.S. accusations in recent days.

Trump has ordered the State Department to conduct its own reviews of Iran's compliance with the nuclear treaty every 90 days. So far, it too has found that Iran is abiding by the JCPOA's terms. In addition to the nuclear treaty dispute, the U.S. accuses Iran of destabilizing the Middle East and funding terrorism abroad. As a result, Iran has been targeted by new U.S. sanctions.

Related Articles
Germany's foreign minister has warned that a military showdown between the U.S. and North Korea could result in more casualties than World War II, the deadliest conflict mankind has ever seen.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called for a peaceful solution to mounting tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which continues to develop nuclear and ballistic weapons in defiance of U.N. sanctions. President Donald Trump has threatened to disarm North Korea by military force and has responded to two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, and another provocative missile test that flew over Japan, by rejecting talks with his North Korean rival, Kim Jong Un. The high-stakes standoff has raised international concerns that a miscalculation on either side could result in unprecedented devastation.

Related: A North Korea attack would take out Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, and be the deadliest in U.S. history

"A war on the Korean Peninsula will be devastating. In the worst-case scenario, it could result in more victims than World War II," Gabriel told local newspaper Aachener Zeitung in comments translated by the state-run news agency Tass.

RTX3DWPF

KCNA/via REUTERS

Gabriel emphasized that economic sanctions were the ideal solution for pressuring Kim into abandoning his policy of "holding his finger on the red button." After last month's two ICBM tests, some analysts believe North Korea has the ability to strike major U.S. cities, as well as a number of other population centers around the world. North Korea insists its nuclear weapons are necessary to protect it from invasion, and it has traditionally threatened attacks in retaliation for perceived attempts to undermine Kim's government.

Story continues

Trump and his administration have repeatedly warned that a military option is on the table to end North Korea's weapons program, and the president tweeted Wednesday that "talking is not the answer" to ending the crisis. Defense Secretary James Mattis appeared to disagree with this, saying later that day that there were always diplomatic solutions. In an unannounced press meeting Thursday, however, Mattis clarified that he supported Trump's stance on not talking and that he was referring other channels of diplomacy.

"There was no contradiction. I agree with the president; we should not be talking," Mattis told reporters, according to Defense One Executive Editor Kevin Baron.

In the latest display of military force, the U.S. flew B-1B nuclear strategic bombers and F-35B stealth fighters over the Korean Peninsula. The U.S.'s growing military presence in the Asia-Pacific region has been a leading point of concern for North Korea, as well as for China and Russia. In an article published Thursday, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency condemned the U.S.'s response to its missile test Monday.

"The wild military acts of the enemies are nothing but the rash act of those taken aback by the intermediate-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket launching drill conducted by the army of the DPRK as the first military operation in the Pacific," the article read, using the country's official diplomatic title (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

RTS1DCU0

KCNA/ via Reuters

More than 60 million people were believed to have been killed during World War II, or nearly 3 percent of the world's population at the time. The conflict officially ended weeks after the U.S. conducted the first tactical atomic bombings, striking the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing at least 250,000 people.

North Korea is believed to possess up to 60 nuclear warheads as well as one of the world's largest standing armies, though its conventional warfighting capabilities likely pale in comparison to most modern militaries. Still, experts have placed the casualties of a U.S.-North Korea conflict at a minimum of 1 million without the use of nuclear arms or the involvement of other countries, such as China.

Related Articles
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Thursday Iran had shown its "true colors" by restoring ties with Palestinian militant group Hamas and must be held to account by the international community. The new leader of Hamas in Gaza said on Monday that Tehran was again its biggest provider of money and arms after years of tension over the civil war in Syria. Hamas had angered Iran by refusing to support its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the six-year-old civil war. Haley described the Hamas leader's statement as a "stunning admission." Iran is subject to an arms embargo - with exceptions granted only in cases when it has received U.N. Security Council approval for imports or exports. "Iran is showing its true colors. Iran must decide whether it wants to be a member of the community of nations that can be expected to take its international obligations seriously or whether it wants to be the leader of a jihadist terrorist movement. It cannot be both," Haley said in a statement. "Its long past time for the international community to hold Iran to the same standard that all countries who actually value peace and security are held to, she said. Neither Hamas nor Iran have disclosed the full scale of Tehrans backing. But regional diplomats have said Irans financial aid for the Islamist movement was dramatically reduced in recent years and directed to the Qassam Brigades rather than to Hamas political institutions. Hamas seeks Israels destruction. It has fought three wars with Israel since seizing the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Hamas and Abbass Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are locked in a political dispute over the issue of Palestinian unity. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Tom Brown)
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - School pupils headed to classrooms for the first day of term in eastern Ukraine on Friday as the latest attempt to halt fighting failed in the war-ravaged region.

Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels agreed to a fresh truce attempt last week to coincide with the start of the school year.

But the deal -- which follows a string of failed bids to end three-and-a-half years of fighting -- has struggled to get off the ground.

Separatist official Eduard Basurin told AFP on Friday that the level of violence had declined but the ceasefire had already been violated 17 times.

"I heard that the 'school truce' has begun, but it is not observed in our village," said 14-year-old Aleksandr Sigidin, sitting at a desk in his secondary school on the outskirts of the rebels' de facto capital city of Donetsk.

He is careful on his way to class and takes only trusted roads, skipping around shell craters.

Another student, 14-year-old Karina, said that public transport does not go to her village any more because of its proximity to the frontline, so she has to walk several kilometers.

"Now it's quieter, but there's a lot of debris from the ruined houses, where there can be unexploded ordnance," the dark-haired girl said.

France and Germany on Monday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to ensure that the new ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is enforced.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 2014, when pro-Russian forces took over parts of east Ukraine.
Washington's ban on US citizens travelling to North Korea came into force on Friday, with the two countries at loggerheads over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions.

The measure was imposed following the death of student Otto Warmbier in June, a few days after the 22-year-old was sent home in a mysterious coma following more than a year in prison in the North.

He had been convicted of offences against the state for trying to steal a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel and sentenced to 15 years' hard labour, with President Donald Trump blaming Pyongyang's "brutal regime" for his plight.

On its website the State Department said it took the decision due to "the serious and mounting risk of arrest and long-term detention of US citizens".

Three Americans accused of various crimes against the state are behind bars in the North, which is engaged in a tense standoff with the Trump administration over its banned missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Earlier this week Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan, in a major escalation, and it has threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

In July it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.

Exemptions to the travel ban are available for journalists, Red Cross representatives, those travelling for humanitarian purposes, or journeys the State Department deems to be in the national interest of the United States.

But NGOs working in the North privately express concerns about how the process will function and the potential impact on their work.

A few remaining US citizens in the country left on Thursday, reports said.

- 'Demonic, rapacious wolves' -

Americans represent around 20 percent of the 5,000 or so Western tourists who visit the North annually -- although that is expected to fall significantly this year because of the wider tensions as well as the ban -- with standard one-week trips costing about $2,000 and budget journeys about half that.

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Simon Cockerell, general manager of market leader Koryo Tours, said the ban would remove all Americans from the tourism industry but have no effect on the North itself.

"It will do nothing other than surrender the opportunity of presenting to even a few local Koreans a more balanced and rounded portrayal of Americans counter to the official portrayal of Americans in national media - of demonic, rapacious wolves," he told AFP from Pyongyang.

"Any soft power advantage the US enjoyed through the decency of its citizens who travelled here has now been removed in a paternalistic and somewhat un-American act."

The vast majority of tourists visiting the country are Chinese, and North Korean tourism development officials have said the ban will not affect the economy, with one telling AFP in July: "If the US government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit."

Other curious foreigners still travel to the North, and an art symposium in Pyongyang this week saw foreign artists, most of them European, working together with North Koreans.

Norwegian artist Marius Engan Johansen and his North Korean counterpart Ri Pak sculpted clay busts of each other on either side of the same stand.

DMZ Academy organiser Morten Traavik told AFP that one of the events' aims was "to show the wider world in this special critical time that communication is possible".

"By working together and by trying to understand each other... it is possible to communicate when both sides have a will and wish to do so," he said.
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Posted on: Sept 02, 2017





Insights Gleaned at Bhagawan Baba's Primary School

by Ms. Yogita Mariwala



A Bal Vikas student in Mumbai right from the age of 5, Ms. Yogita Mariwala joined Bhagawan's college in 1987 for her XI grade and went on to do her Bachelors in Sciences from the Anantapur campus of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. Later, on Bhagawan's direction she pursued and completed her Bachelors in Education in the same campus in 1992. After this Bhagawan graciously gave her the opportunity to serve in the girls wing of Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School, Prasanthi Nilayam. She has been teaching biology to middle and high school students for more than two and half decades. Meanwhile she did her Masters in Environmental Biology too from Kuvempu University in 2011.

The genesis of my tale lies in a casual conversation I had with one of our ex-students.

It is said, Whomsoever you encounter is the right one. This means that no one comes into our life by chance. Anyone with whom we interact represents something, whether it is to teach us something or to help us improve a current situation.

My Introspection on Information Begins...

So it was that a student was recounting the beautiful days when Bhagawan would visit His primary school unannounced and throw everyone into spirals of thrill, joy and excitement.

She then went on to relate that on one occasion she had an almost onetoone audience with Bhagawan as He entered her classroom. Pointing to a large pile of thick books stacked on the desks of students, He asked, Are these all text books or are there note books also?

She answered, Swami, most of them are text books but some are note books too.

Swami sombrely replied, So much information... so many thoughts...

That's it! That's when the colour drained from my face and I felt limp! The next few days were agony...

This was because I had been teaching at middle and high school levels and being a science and biology teacher, this was what I didgiving students massive amounts of information!

My classroom in fact has a permanent FactFantasy board where I constantly pin additional information on new scientific discoveries, inventions and innovative technologies. I encourage my students to read and my class is full of little excited exploring encyclopaedias!

But here was Swami saying that all this information only made more thoughts!

Of course in my class we discussed a lot of human value topics too and I told the kids all about Swami's life, miracles and teachings.

But there was no taking away the fact that I had been responsible for loading my kids' minds with useless information and thoughts. Try as I might I could not get rid of this guilt.

The days passed by grimly. Now when I entered the class and little Sai Charan came bouncing towards me excitedly saying, Ma'am, did you know that spiders have blue blood as their oxygen is bound to haemocyanin, a molecule containing copper and not iron containing haemoglobin? I felt my haemoglobin drop down further!

Many a conversation did I have with the elderly teaching staff. They all wisely suggested that I offer all my work to Bhagawan and talk more about Him in my classes. But I felt this was a pertinent question, not just for students and teachers but for every single person in this world of exploding information and technology.

Taming the Mind to Train the Heart

Then one day my father, a long-standing devotee of Bhagawan, noticed that I was moping around with a lugubrious face and asked me the reason. Hearing my dilemma, he answered with great clarity.

He explained that Bhagawan never meant that we should stop giving or receiving information or that thoughts should not be formulated on the basis of that information. Bhagawan only meant that we must learn to use our minds as instruments and switch them off when not needed.

The capacity to use the mind effectively on one subject with concentration is what we need to teach the kids. The mind could thus be compared to a pencil. If the pencil started writing on its own accord, it would fail to be a fit instrument in the master's hand. So too the mind needs regulation.

Hence, perhaps the training Bhagawan wanted to impart to us and our students was to find ways to quiet the mind when not needed and to give the kids time to refocus, calm themselves and just be!

One teacher confessed, I realized I was racing along in class on speed skates with my kids and zipping through activities and tasks. At first, I thought I was adapting to their attention spans but I realized that rushing through at such speed was shortening their attention spans. I needed to slow down first.

I can say that slowing down my breathing, talking and racing around was powerful for me and my students. As teachers, we are meant to set the pace and help our students match us.

Bhagawan gives a wonderful analogy of two racing horses. He says, When two horses are galloping side by side, the slower one too is seen to move in sync with the faster one. This is because it bucks up in order to keep pace with the faster one; this happens naturally. So too, when you are in My presence, your mind is elevated till it matches my vibrations.

My brother once had the opportunity to ask Bhagawan, Swami, the mind is so troublesome. Yet how do we work without the mind?

Swami answered by pointing to his spectacles and said, Why do you need these specs? It is because your vision is defective. They help you to operate and navigate around the world; though they are burdensome, you need them. But when your vision is corrected, you will throw them away. So too with the mind, you need it now. But once you are more spiritually mature its role is redundant.

One of the things we constantly remind our students about is: Study to be Steady!

Hence movement is good for the body but stillness is good for the mind. Only then can we move forward.

The minds of Bhagawan's tiny tots are like fertile soil. As teachers our job is only to sow seeds. When and how they sprout is Bhagawan's wonderful play!

Words Arising from Deep Conviction Go Deep Down the Hearts Forever

Many years after he had left the school, one of my students returned to tell me this.

He recalled that one day the class was making a lot of noise just before setting out for evening darshan on a Thursday (the Prasanthi Nilayam school children go for darshan on Thursday and Sunday evenings). When I entered the class I was annoyed and chided them for being so noisy and talkative.

I went on to say, You are going to see God manifest on earth and you don't realize it. The whole world is coming here praying for His darshan and you are wasting your energy talking. He is the Lord of the universe! He is Rama and Krishna come down again.

At that moment something happened to this little boy and he was filled with only one thought Swami is God. GOD!

This thought just filled his whole being, so much so that when he saw his father as he walked down for darshan, he shook his father's hand and shouted Appa, Swami is God. He is God. Did you know that? His bewildered father just nodded.

Then, when the boy sat for darshan, Swami came near him and looked deeply into his eyes, reaffirming this wonderful realization. He says that this one experience was so immensely powerful that he developed strong faith. Even to this day, there is this deep conviction at the source which nobody can shake, no matter in what surrounding he is placed.

Mindfulness - The Basis for a Stilling and Filling Life



I remember a kid in the primary classes from Manipur who was very good at drawing. We would watch him spend hours by himself, perfecting his little picture creation, oblivious of the usual movement and jostling regularly seen in thirdgraders. His focus was so great that he would not talk for hours. He was totally indrawn. Such talent is generated from an inner stillness.

Research shows that learning at an early age, especially till the age of 10, shapes our attitudes and personalities to a large extent. Hence in Bhagawan's primary school too, He has lovingly laid down in the curriculum a ten-minute silent sitting session before going to bed, right from grade 1 (age 6 years).

Meditation is thus a journey from sound to silence, from movement to stillness and from a limited identity to an unlimited space. Bhagawan has also included yogasanas and jyothi meditation in the curriculum. The importance of these habit-forming practices now dawns on us as a means to mindfulness and stillness in our lives.

Very often after a morning's startup of jyothi meditation (where students visualize the purifying light of God spreading to their entire body and then in ever-widening circles to their school, their country, the world and the cosmos), students commonly tell me that they are feeling particularly happy and at peace the whole day due to the poignant effect of the meditation. In my humble experience this is an unfailing tool that creates waves of positivity and purity in the classroom atmosphere.

Another dictum that Bhagawan spoke about to the kids whenever He came to school was Play when you play, study when you study and pray when you pray. How simply put but how illuminating!

Again a pointer that we should be mindful of every action during the day.

Unplugging ourselves from man-made devices or mind-made devices, thus, seems to be the key to using our minds effectively and sparingly. A short gap in our mental activity if dedicated to remembering His name or sitting silently a few times a day has far-reaching influence.

The Eternally Energizing Connect

In 1993, when I first joined Bhagawan's primary school as a teacher, I taught the primary classes which left me with practically no time away from the kids. However, I tried to persevere with my old habit of spending 10-15 minutes in front of Bhagawan's photo in prayer. Most times, surprisingly, I would be able to focus and often felt a communication with Swami, feeling His presence strongly.

One day after a heartfelt prayer session, but for only 10-15 minutes, I wondered if this feeling of communicating with Swami was a figment of my imagination since I was able to devote such a short time to prayer. I walked down to my classroom, waiting for the students to file in when suddenly two seventh-graders came running towards me, shouting Swami has entered the school gate and there is nobody on the ground floor to welcome Him properly. So please come, Ma'am.

I rushed out to see Bhagawan entering the school lobby. By then the two-legged news reporters had alerted the whole school faster than a radio broadcast!

Bhagawan spent a short while with the children and as He was leaving, some of us teachers sat down near His path. As He walked, Bhagawan stopped for a brief minute in front of me, slid His right hand between my folded hands. Looking directly at me, He smiled and nodded.

The message was crystal clearI am there between these folded hands in prayer. There is communication. Do not doubt it!

I cannot help but recall my favorite lines here:

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.



Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.



We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.



- Maya Angelou

I am learning that Swami wants all of us, His students, to be equipped with:

The ability to achieve but also the balance to look beyond. Most importantly to remember that we have the choice to be conscious.

He is saying:

RECHARGE yourself, for there is need of you.

REMAKE yourself, for there is work to do.

RECLAIM yourself, for you are made of love.

REGAIN yourself, the hand will fit HIS glove.



Team Radio Sai
The United States is requiring Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two buildings in Washington, and New York, the State Department said.

It was a response to the Kremlin's decision to shrink the US diplomatic mission in Russia.

Last month Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said : "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, and a consular annex in New York City.

"These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed "regret at the escalation of tensions".

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Mr Lavrov to relay the decision, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In response the minister expressed regret at the escalation of tensions in bilateral relations," the Russian foreign ministry said.

"Moscow will examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced."
(Reuters) - A nurse at a Utah hospital was assaulted by a police officer last month after declining to allow him to obtain a sample of an unconscious patient's blood because he had neither a warrant nor the patient's consent, local media reported.

Prosecutors in Utah will consider criminal charges against the officer, an official said on Friday.

Video of the July 26 incident from Salt Lake City police officers' body-worn cameras showed Alex Wubbels, dressed in blue medical scrubs, consulting with colleagues before showing the waiting officers a printout of the University of Utah Hospital's policy on providing blood samples to test for alcohol or drugs.

The patient was a truck driver who was comatose when he was brought to the hospital burns unit after a crash with a vehicle being driven by someone fleeing police, the Deseret News reported.

Wubbels explained to the officers that under the policy, which she said was agreed to by the police department, she would need a warrant, the patient's consent or the patient would need to be under arrest.

"I'm just trying to do what I'm supposed to do, that's all," Wubbels told the officers, noting that they did not meet any of those criteria.

One officer, identified in media reports as Detective Jeff Payne, appeared angered and grabbed at Wubbels before gripping her around her torso. "We're done," Payne said. "You're under arrest."

He then dragged Wubbels outside as she screamed.

"Somebody help me!" Wubbels cried as Payne pushed her against a wall and handcuffed her. "You're assaulting me! Stop! I've done nothing wrong."

Karra Porter, Wubbels' lawyer, said at a news conference on Thursday where the video was shown that the nurse followed the law and the police were wrong, according to the Deseret News. Wubbels said her first duty was to her patients.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill agreed with police that a criminal investigation of the officer is warranted, chief deputy district attorney Jeff Hall said in a telephone interview. He declined to say what charges may be filed.

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Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said in a statement on Friday that he was "alarmed" by the video and that the department had apologized. Payne was suspended from blood-collecting duties while an internal investigation was being conducted, Brown said.

In a separate statement, Mayor Jackie Biskupski called the incident "completely unacceptable" and extended an apology to Wubbels for her ordeal.

The University of Utah said in a statement on Thursday that it supported Wubbels "and her decision to focus first and foremost on the care and well-being of her patient."

The hospital said it had created a new policy with police that would preclude officers from arriving in person to seek blood samples.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Toni Reinhold and Cynthia Osterman)
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam on Thursday opposed what it said was a Chinese announcement of military exercises in the disputed South China Sea, amid rising tension between the neighboring countries. Vietnam did not give any details of when it said the announcement was made or when any drill would take place. China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours and it was not immediately clear which drills the Vietnamese statement was referring to. The statement from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Vietnam was deeply concerned about drills in the region of the Gulf of Tonkin, north of the disputed South China Sea. "Vietnam proposes China to cease and refrain from repeating acts that complicate the situation in the East Sea (South China Sea)," Hang said, adding all foreign activities in Vietnamese waters must be comply with Vietnamese and international laws. The statement said Vietnam's Foreign Ministry representative contacted a Chinese embassy representative on Thursday to express Vietnam's position. China claims nearly all the South China Sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion in international trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have claims. Tension between China and neighboring Vietnam is at its highest in three years over the disputed waters. Vietnam suspended oil drilling in offshore waters that are also claimed by China in July under pressure from Beijing. China has appeared uneasy at Vietnam's efforts to rally Southeast Asian countries over the South China Sea as well as at its growing defense relationships with the United States, Japan and India. (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Alison Williams)
Attacks by insurgents. A brutal military crackdown. Thousands of villagers running for their lives. History is repeating itself in Myanmar less than a year after the emergence of a new Rohingya Muslim insurgency first threatened fragile efforts to bring peace to the countrys volatile western Rakhine state.

In the west of my direction I am seeing smoke, a Rohingya man in his twenties, who asked not to be named for his safety, told TIME by phone Wednesday from Maungdaw town near the border with Bangladesh. The villages are burning down. Markets in the town had been closed, he said, and villagers were afraid of going outside for fear of soldiers. Food was running out. I can hear my neighbors children crying, he said.

Militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which first surfaced with deadly attacks on security forces in October 2016, stormed more than 25 police posts in the early hours of Friday, using guns, knives and improvised explosives to kill 12 people. Ensuing clashes between the group and government troops swept Rakhine states northern Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships, a Muslim-majority region where authorities say the group has been trying to carve out an Islamic state. On Twitter, the ARSA claimed the attacks were a legitimate step to restoring the rights of Rohingya, a stateless minority who are denied citizenship in Myanmar, confined to displacement camps and barred from moving freely.

At least 110 people were killed during the attacks, most of them insurgents, according to government figures. During ensuing clearance operations by security forces, Rohingya villagers say their homes were set on fire by soldiers, police and Buddhist mobs, and that civilians were shot at as they fled. The government has denied the allegations.



The violence came hours after members of civil society gathered in the commercial capital Yangon to hear the final report of the Rakhine commission, an advisory body appointed by state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan. Tasked with finding solutions to entrenched tensions between Muslims and Buddhists, the commission recommended, among other points, amending laws governing citizenship that currently exclude Rohingya.

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The next day the government officially dubbed the ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists and published warnings in state media against ignoring the sanctioned term. Bengali is a derogatory term used to imply that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. After an outcry, the official name was changed to ARSA extremist terrorists.

A Facebook page belonging to the state counselors information committee posted allegations that aid workers had colluded with the attackers, saying World Food Program biscuits were found at an alleged training camp.

In a statement on Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raan Al Hussein called the attacks deplorable and preventable. He said he was extremely concerned by the accusations against aid workers. Such statements are irresponsible and only serve to increase fears and the potential for further violence, he said.

Read More: Reprisals, Rape, and Children Burned Alive: Burmas Rohingya Speak of Genocidal Terror

At a meeting with diplomats, national security adviser Thaung Tun doubled down on the allegations, saying ammonia and tubes used by development workers for construction had been fashioned into explosives. In a statement, the World Food Program said it had asked Myanmar to supply details about the food so the batch could be traced but they had not been given. WFP is currently unable to access its usual operational sites and warehouses with food stocks in the northern part of Rakhine state and has not been able to distribute food and cash assistance in the area since mid-July, the statement said.

By Wednesday, most aid organizations had pulled their staff out of northern Rakhine amid worsening security fears. On the way out of Maungdaw to Buthidaung, and even on the boat, we saw villages burning and military helicopters flying around, said one Western aid worker who was not authorized to speak to media. The aid agencies are providing life-saving services for people who are in desperate need. Its a huge shame, he said.

Fearing reprisals from Myanmar security forces, some 27,000 Rohingya  the majority women and children  have fled across the Naf River that demarcates the border with Bangladesh. Dozens of men have been admitted to hospital in Bangladesh with gunshot wounds and burns, with some dying, said a U.N. official who was not authorized to speak openly. About 20,000 more people are stranded on the border, where some have been for days, as Bangladesh security forces block their entry.

Many of Rakhines Buddhists have also fled, seeking shelter in monasteries and schools. The government has helped some 4,000 non-Muslims escape the conflict area. On Friday, Tin Maung, a Buddhist villager from Tha Ye Kon Baung, close to where some of the attacks occurred, was preparing to flee east. People are afraid in our village, he told TIME by phone, adding that he saw soldiers going in. On Tuesday, he said he heard the village had been burned down by Bengalis.

Farther south in Rakhine states Rathedaung, scores of Rohingya are believed to have fled into the mountains, afraid to return to villages that they say have been burned down by soldiers, border guard police and local Buddhists.

Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch, showed fires burning in more than 10 locations, across a 100-kilometer stretch of land in Rakhine state. The reality is that the number of fires is just so high and the distance over which they are occurring is so great that it makes it very troubling and extremely alarming, said Richard Weir, a fellow from HRWs Asia Division.

On Tuesday, Molvi Khairul Amin, a Rohingya man who had been living in Chin Kali, a displacement camp that was allegedly burned, told TIME he was sheltering with others from his village in the mountains. We are living now without food, he said in an SMS. The 20-year-old Rohingya man in Maungdaw said he had a friend also with that group. They are eating the leaves of the plants, he said.

The government insists their clearance operations are legal and that the houses were burned by the militant group. Talking to TIME, Win Myat Aye, Myanmars social welfare minister said, without providing evidence: They burned their own houses and ran. We saw burning. Thats what we know.

In Maungdaw town, there were fears the violence would spread. If our house is burned down we will have nowhere to move, said the Rohingya resident. For now I can say its safe. But no idea. I feel like the same thing can happen tomorrow. We are just in fear and worry.

With reporting by Cape Win Diamond / Yangon.
Russian President Vladmir Putin has warned that the Korean peninsula is at risk of large-scale conflict if further pressure is put on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile [program] is misguided and futile, Putin wrote in a letter published on the Kremlins website ahead of a summit of the so-called BRICS nations next week.

The regions problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions, Putin added. Provocations, pressure and militarist and insulting rhetoric are a dead-end road.

President Donald Trump said recently that all options were on the table after North Korea fired a missile over the northern island of Japan. It was the latest in a series of missile tests and threats against the U.S.

Experts now believe that North Korean missiles have the capacity to reach the U.S. mainland.
Natali Snailcat / shutterstock

To predict what type of Earth lies ahead of us, we scientists usually turn to complex computer simulations. But how can we test whether these models are remotely accurate? Perhaps the best solution is to turn to instances in the geological past when Earths climate experienced similarly rapid warming. One such event is the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) that occurred 56m years ago.

In our latest research, we have identified the cause of this well-known warm period. Its links to present day climate change are clear.

Just prior to the PETM, Earth looked very different than it does today. The polar regions were devoid of ice sheets, with temperate or even subtropical forests along the coastlines of Antarctica, and Arctic Canada resembling the swamplands of modern Florida. The deep oceans were about 10C warmer than today, and warm climate zones were all shifted polewards.

Global temperatures since the beginning of complex life on Earth. The PETM is the highest spike in the green line  it hasnt been nearly as hot since.Glen Fergus / wiki, CC BY-SA

Against the background of this greenhouse world, the planet warmed by at least a further 5C over a few thousand years at the onset of the PETM. Life in the deep sea suffered disproportionately; many species went extinct and parts of the deep ocean became anoxic (oxygen depleted). On land, the water cycle strengthened, leading to both floods and droughts. It took about 150,000 years for Earths climate to naturally recover from this fever and regain some sort of equilibrium.

Heres the really worrying part: 5C over a few thousand years is breakneck speed in geological terms, but is still nothing compared to our current rate of warming. In fact, if we keep burning fossil fuels at our current rate, the worst-case scenarios suggest we could hit 5C by the end of the century.

Blame the volcanoes

So what can the PETM tells us about the future? It has long been suspected that the warm period was triggered by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. These gases absorb and trap solar heat, which is why any significant increase unavoidably leads to global warming.

Story continues

We know there was a huge release of new carbon into the atmosphere and oceans at the time, thanks to analysis of 56m-year-old sediments. Yet where this carbon came from has always been disputed. Carbon can be emitted as carbon dioxide or methane (aka CH) and both are greenhouse gases. Some say the PETM carbon was methane from marine sediments, while others have advocated methane from thawing Antarctic permafrost or the impact of a large comet releasing carbon from rocks.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain range in the world but is almost entirely underwater.USGS / wiki

In our study recently published in Nature, we identified the distinctive chemical fingerprint of this carbon  it pointed not to methane, but to emissions from intense and prolonged volcanic activity. We also show that atmospheric CO levels more than doubled in less than 25,000 years.

This makes sense: at the same time, Greenland and North America were drifting away from Europe, creating the North Atlantic Ocean and a string of volcanic activity along what is now the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

We found more than 10,000 Gigatonnes of carbon must have been released into the atmosphere by volcanic activity during the PETM, which is an order of magnitude higher than all currently-accessible fossil fuel reserves taken together.

But the rate of emissions would have been at least 20 times slower than today. Given how much CO was released, the resulting global warming was about what we would predict based on calculations of current climate sensitivity.

So what would volcanoes large enough to affect the climate like this actually look like, in practice? We could imagine a series of sky-blackening eruptions along the lines of Laki in Iceland which caused temperatures to drop across the Northern Hemisphere when it erupted in the 18th century. But, given we know the PETM volcanism largely took place under water and at a slower pace, perhaps the best modern equivalent would be the black smokers still found today in the deep North Atlantic  but lots of them.

This, but for thousands of years.

The carbon released by these vents would bubble up to the surface and kick off a cycle that would eventually affect the oceans themselves. First, extreme PETM warmth led to faster weathering of rocks and soil, which meant more nutrients like phosphorus were being washed into the sea. This in turn stimulated plankton growth. When the plankton died they drifted down to the seafloor and gradually stored that same carbon in deep marine sediments.

While this chain of events aided the removal of carbon from the ancient atmosphere it also led to oxygen starvation in some parts of the deep sea  analogous to the dead zones that form today in areas like the Gulf of Mexico where an excess of nutrients is washed into warm water.

We found the PETM was caused by massive carbon emissions from Earths interior. It thus has many parallels to today, where we are ratcheting up CO levels in our atmosphere and oceans by burning fossil fuels that have been buried for millions of years. This extra carbon is, in effect, permanent on human timescales. The PETM is giving us an increasingly clearer picture of what Earth will be like if we carry on, and take our planet to places it has not been in at least 56m years.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

This study was funded by a UK Ocean Acidification Research Program NERC/DEFRA/DECC grant (NE/H017518/1).

Gavin Foster receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Philip Sexton receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Cypress (United States) (AFP) - Dragging boats behind their pick-ups, volunteer rescuers from across Texas have poured into flood-stricken parts of their state to ferry to safety those stranded in the wake of Harvey's torrential rains.

Overwhelmed by catastrophic rainfall that has neighborhoods resembling lakes, local police in particular have welcomed the efforts of Texans willing to chip in.

"Knives, ropes, harnesses, water, life jackets for kids -- hopefully everything we need," ticks off Tyrel Cox. The 31-year-old employee of an offshore oil rig lost no time wavering before leaving the city of Waco for the hard-hit southeast with his father, boat in tow.

"I used to be a coast guard and I have a boat, and they were calling for people to come and help," he explained, his hands on the wheel as he watched the next convoy of a dozen cars and boats gearing up for direction from the police of Harris County, which includes Houston.

"So we came down to help."

The fourth-largest American city with 2.3 million residents, Houston has been paralyzed since Harvey struck. And in parts of its greater metropolitan area, home to six million people, authorities are still struggling to reach those in need.

No fire trucks nor ambulances roamed the streets of Cypress, a community of some 46,000 on Houston's northwest outskirts. Only local police and an improvised army of volunteers equipped with boats were navigating its flooded arteries.

"At this point we're dealing with how do we get to a large community that probably is without power; probably can't charge their phones or get on Facebook," said one officer sporting a bright yellow raincoat and police cap.

She pointed to a line of 15 vehicles and boats waiting their turn to set forth on waters cutting off access to an isolated subdivision.

"Our guys are actually spread so thin and around, they can't even get to this area," she said. "So this is going to be pretty much the community coming together with the sheriff's office, and trying to figure out what we can do."

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"Yesterday I had more volunteers than people to save, and it's a good problem to have," she added with a laugh.

- 'Happy to be Texan' -

Protected from the rain by a cap, Lee Dejong, 29, came with a colleague from the state capital Austin as soon as he heard floods had threatened Houston and its suburbs, where one of their friends lives.

On the hour-and-a-half journey southeast the two self-employed men bought a used boat they found on Facebook.

En route they met two more young men from Hempstead, not far from Cypress, who had a larger vehicle.

"We wanted to help," said Armando Guerra, 24. "They had the boat, we had the truck."

The four teamed up and awaited orders from Harris police on the edge of a river that had inundated a small road flanked by now-deserted elegant buildings.

Houston's western district of Clodine, saw similar scenes.

Andrew Brennan arrived with a boat from neighboring Louisiana, where Harvey made landfall again Wednesday triggering painful memories of Hurricane Katrina's deadly strike 12 years ago.

"We came down because y'all came for us during Hurricane Katrina," the boat captain said, long hair flowing beneath his cap.

"So we figured that it was only our part to come and assist with rescues.

"And we just hope that we can help."

Volunteer rescuers have proven a vital force in the Harvey relief effort, helping to locate and bring to safety trapped locals.

As water levels crept up the walls of their house the Alvarez family of Clodine called for help; after several hours, they were finally saved by a team of volunteers.

Still trembling, Sonia Alvarez said she expected a team of firefighters or other officials -- but instead, "just regular people" rescued her.

"That's just regular people that we went to school with and neighbors and stuff," she said. "I'm like so happy to be a Texan and a Houstonian for sure."
Many traditional banks around the world are struggling to catch up with more tech-savvy companies quickly digitizing financial services. The industrys fintech race requires overhauling the banks shady reputation, investing in a more inclusive company culture and guaranteeing online services will be trustworthy.

Despite investing heavily in fintech innovation, Wells Fargo is struggling with trust and transparency on multiple fronts.

According to The New York Times, thousands of Wells Fargo customers were enrolled in online bill payment services without consent, possibly as many as 528,000 cases. Wells Fargo reportedly said it will refund customers for unauthorized enrollment to the tune of $910,000, covering their extra account fees and charges. To make matters worse, an internal review found there were 67 percent more potentially fraudulent bank accounts than Wells Fargo previously estimated. The review found 3.5 million suspicious accounts.

Structure Security

Photo: Newsweek Media Group

Wells Fargo is currently embroiled in ongoing investigations with the Justice Department and state attorney generals, since the company acknowledged earlier this summer that thousands of employees created unauthorized accounts with customers names. Sometimes, customers only discovered the misconduct after being charged unexpected fees.

We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement. To rebuild trust and to build a better Wells Fargo, our first priority is to make things right for our customers, and the completion of this expanded third-party analysis is an important milestone.

Bloomberg reported the bank plans to pay $10.7 million in addition to previously established lawsuit settlements for customer compensation.

Beyond retail banking, Wells Fargo has another scandal to deal with regarding its company culture. Former mortgage loan processor Jessica Nibert claims Wells Fargo took no action when she reported sexual harassment from her manager. The Charlotte Observer reported Nilberts lawsuit cites examples like the manager asking her to cook for him in the nude, calling her after hours and saying he likes to think of her in the shower, as well as asking her to wear skirts to work so he could sneak her into a storage room.

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Local Wells Fargo managers were allegedly aware of the issue, but told Nilbert to just ignore it. Nilbert said she was eventually fired in 2016, after a text message from her boss told her to start looking for work elsewhere.

So far, the bank has been quiet about this controversy. Tom Goyda, Wells Fargo senior vice president for consumer lending communications, declined to comment on Nilberts case in an email. Instead, he offered International Business Times a generic quote about striving for a company culture where people feel respected and empowered to speak up. He offered no comment on new plans, policies or efforts to achieve that goal. Nor did he condemn the type of behavior described in the lawsuit or offer explicit support sexual harassment victims.

On a broader scale, both scandals reveal systemic problems. Wells Fargo employees made those fraudulent accounts under pressure to meet aggressive quotas. Plus, as the response to Nilberts case shows, Wells Fargo is hardly rushing to make any bold moves or statements regarding emotional well-being in the workplace.

Although Wells Fargo recently became the first major American bank to appoint a female chairman, some reports have criticized disparate punishments doled out to the former head of community banking, Carrie Tolstedt, compared to her male peer involved with the fraudulent account scandal, former CEO John Stumpf. Transparency is about more than just reimbursing customers and firing culprits after crisis strikes.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco fintech startup Blend is teaming up with Wells Fargo to help the bank offer mobile mortgage applications. This type of online loan support is long overdue. But the recent move is overshadowed by ongoing controversies regarding online retail banking accounts and personal stories from employees behind the scenes. The bank's public statements have focused on customer support, while plans to address issues with the company culture remain glaringly absent.

As a result of that reputation, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported some city councilors were reluctant to renew their citys partnership with Wells Fargo this week, because the companys corporate culture might not align with the local communitys values. The banks financial support for the Dakota Access Pipeline was particularly controversial. Its impossible to ignore the national issues, the corporate issues that have occurred, Councilor Joseph Maestas told The Santa Fe New Mexican. The citys four-year contract extension eventually went through, but it could still be cancelled by either party with 60 days notice.

Related Articles
The caliphate, at least on land, is ending. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) no longer controls Mosul, the northern Iraqi city where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared its creation three years ago, almost to the day. Now, Raqqa, its other grand prize, is vulnerable. A Kurdish-Arab coalition backed by U.S.-led coalition forces has captured more than half of the city.

If and when Raqqa is liberated, all that will remain in the hands of the jihadi group are the eastern Syrian cities of Deir Ezzor and Mayadin, the northwestern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, and the lawless borderlands that connect the country with Iraq.

The ISIS Arc of Influence

Daniele Palumbo

Now, security services in Europe are increasingly concerned about foreign fighters returning to their home countries, where they might commit attacks individually or as part of a cell, such as during the Paris attacks. But ISISs influence has spread to other corners of the world, with affiliates looking to piggyback on their brand, or actively working with the group to capture territory.

Here are the areas of the world where ISIS and its influence could pose the greatest threat to security.

Middle East

Afghanistan

Afghanistan (Khorasan Province)

The Islamic State in Afghanistanknown locally as Khorasan Province, or ISIS-Kwas formed in January 2015 and is named after a historical region that was made up of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is active in several areas of Afghanistan, most notably the eastern region of Nangarhar, as well as the northern provinces of Badakhshan, Jawzjan and Faryab, and the western provinces of Ghor and Baghdis.

A large majority of its members derive from rival radical Islamist groups such as the Taliban. The affiliate has carried out several mass-casualty attacks since the beginning of 2016, particularly in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where it has attacked a Shiite mosque and protesters from the ethnic Hazara minority in suicide bomb blasts. Washington has sought to target the affiliate's leaders in the country and last month killed its top leader, Abu Sayed, in a drone strike in Kunar Province.

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Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is frequently accused of inspiring ISIS, possibly even funding it, but it denies these claims. Riyadh points out that with an estimated 2,500 Saudis fighting overseas for the group (as of October 2015), it is one of the most at risk countries in the world when it comes to foreign fighters returning home. There are, of course, similarities between the radical strain of Sunni Islam followed by ISIS and the ultra-conservative Wahhabi faith that is Saudi Arabia's state religion, but for decades the Saudi state has faced the threat of Islamist-inspired terrorism by young men who consider the ruling family apostates for their alliance with the West, particularly the U.S. Saudi Arabia has suffered dozens of terrorist attacks over the past decade, often targeting its Shiite minority, and Riyadh fears that Saudi fighters returning from Iraq and Syria will seek to continue their violent jihad at home.

ISIS has its own affiliate in Saudi Arabia, known as Najd Province, which has claimed suicide bomb attacks on Shiite mosques in the country, as well as in neighboring Kuwait, killing more than 50 people. The group has also claimed responsibility for an attack on one of Islams holiest sites, Medina, carrying out a suicide bombing at the Prophets Mosque in July 2016.

Yemen

Yemen

With a war raging in Yemen since March 2015, between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition, an ISIS affiliate emerged amid the chaos, carrying out suicide bombings against Shiite mosques in the capital, Sanaa. The security vacuum has allowed the group to vie for dominance with the more powerful Al-Qaeda wing, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which the U.S. military is conducting a drone campaign against. ISISs affiliate is yet to seize territory in the country, unlike AQAP, which captured the port city of Mukalla in 2015 and held on to it for a year. But it has presented its more brutal tactics to a Yemeni audience, beheading and executing prisoners and rival militants.

North Africa

Egypt

Egypt (Sinai Province)

The ISIS affiliate in Egypt, known as Sinai Province, developed from the radical militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. It pledged allegiance to ISIS and rebranded in November 2014. The faction is waging an insurgency against Egyptian security forces and conducting attacks against Coptic Christians, mostly in the restive northern region of the Sinai Peninsula that remains under a state of emergency, but it has also claimed responsibility for attacks in Cairo, Tanta and Alexandria.

It is also responsible for what is believed to be the deadliest attack ever committed by an ISIS affiliate, the downing of a Russian Metrojet flight over the Sinai Peninsula with an explosive device in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board. Its members include Al-Qaeda defectors, jihadists from the neighboring Gaza Strip, and Egyptian radical Islamists who have returned from conflict zones in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Libya

Libya

Since the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, Libya has been wracked with instability. As ISIS rose to prominence in mid-2014, leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched a top aide, Iraqi national Abu Nabil al-Anbari, to create ISISs affiliates in the countryTripoli Province in the west, Barqa Province in the east, and Fezzan Province in the south. The jihadist group carried out grizzly executions of Ethiopian Christians on the Mediterranean coast, set up training camps near the cities of Derna and Sabratha for foreign fighters, and eventually captured the central coastal city of Sirte in mid-2015, imposing its brutal brand of radical Islamic law over the population in Gaddafis former hometown. Pro-government forces ousted the group from Sirte in December 2016, and the U.S. began an airstrike campaign on key ISIS positions in the country. But, without territory, the group remains influential here, only last week beheading 11 troops aligned to the eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Tunisia

Tunisia

There is no clear ISIS affiliate in Tunisia. It was reported that the Ansar al-Sharia group in the country had committed itself to both ISIS and Al-Qaeda in 2014, but ISIS has not officially accepted its bayah, or pledge of allegiance. But ISIS has claimed three deadly attacks in Tunisia, all believed to have involved the group. These were the Bardo museum attack, the Sousse beach massacre and a bomb blast against Tunisian presidential guards in the capital, Tunis. All took place in 2015 and left dozens dead. ISIS fighters in Libya have also crossed into Tunisia, launching an attack on the border town of Ben Guerdane in March 2016. Tunisian security forces ultimately foiled the attempted takeover.

Tunisia is the largest exporter of foreign fighters to ISIS's ranks, and as the group continues to lose territory in Iraq and Syria there are fears that many will return to the country. Since 2015, the government has stepped up counter-terrorism raids and arrests in a bid to quash a radical Islamist insurgency in one of the only success stories of the Arab Spring revolts.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria

Nigeria (Islamic State West Africa Province)

Boko Haram, which has been conducting attacks against security forces in northern Nigeria since 2009, pledged allegiance to ISIS in March 2015, the groups first affiliate in west Africa. It rebranded as the Islamic State West Africa Province. It has continued to carry out suicide bombings and its attacks have crossed into neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad. It has previously captured territory but a Nigerian military offensive ousted the group from most of the areas it had controlled, forcing its members to retreat to its heartland, the Sambisa Forest in Borno State.

It split into two factions in 2016, with ISIS naming a new leader for the breakaway as Abu Musab al-Barnawi in an attempt to replace the elusive Abubakar Shekau. This led to a power struggle between the two factions. Experts said ISIS rejected Shekau as the affiliates chief because of Boko Harams attacks against Muslims and Sunni mosques while it was under his leadership. The group regularly uses women in its suicide bombings and more than 20,000 people have been killed in eight years of the groups insurgency.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso (Islamic State in the Greater Sahel)

ISIS accepted the pledge of allegiance from a new faction in the Sahel known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, in October 2016. Its leader was named as Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, an Algerian jihadist who had fought for the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Mourabitoun in North Africa. As in Yemen and Afghanistan, the ISIS affiliate in the area that stretches across six African countries from Senegal to Chad is overshadowed by more dominant radical Islamist groups, in this case Al-Qaedas affiliatesAl-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine and al-Mourabitoun. But it has claimed several attacks in Burkina Faso, including one in October 2016 that left three soldiers dead near the Malian border. Burkina Faso and the Sahel offer ISIS-linked fighters opportunity. The lawless desert region is open to smuggling and the movement of fighters, while Burkina Faso is threatened by the mere fact that it does not have institutions or security forces that are strong enough to deal with well-armed and well-funded extremist groups.

Europe

Caucasus

Russia (Caucasus Province)

ISISs affiliate in the Russian republics of the Caucasus was established in June 2015, and it claimed its first attack in the region in the same year. It was formed by jihadists who defected from the Al-Qaeda-aligned Islamic Caucasus Emirate (ICE). The U.S. designated the groups purported leader, Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, a former chief of ICE, as a terrorist in July 2016.

ISIS has regularly named Russia as a target of its operations for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and bombing of the group in Syria. Many of the groups top commanders have been Chechens or come from former Soviet Republics, such as its now-dead Minister of War Abu Omar al-Shishani, a Georgian-Chechen. The group has carried out several attacks against Russian forces in the Muslim-majority republics of Dagestan and Chechnya. On Monday, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack by two men armed with knives that killed a police officer in the Caspian Sea town of Kaspiysk in Dagestan.

Asia

Philippines

Philippines (Abu Sayyaf)

Abu Sayyaf was once known as a ragtag group of radical Islamist bandits who carried out criminal activity such as hostage-taking for financial gain in the Philippines. But it has beheaded two Canadians and one German national since January 2016. Its leader Isnilon Hapilon, the countrys most-wanted militant, directed the armed campaign by Abu Sayyaf militantssome of whom fought for ISIS in Iraq and Syriaand allied fighters from the Maute group on the southern city of Marawi in May. The fighters took control of parts of the city in Mindanao province and fighting is ongoing three months later. It has beheaded civilians and used them as human shields in the assault. Evidence has also emerged that ISISs leadership in Syria funneled funds to the Asian militants before its takeover. The group, now with greater battlefield experience, has become the most serious ISIS threat to southeast Asian security.

Ones To Watch

Algeria

An ISIS-inspired affiliate emerged in Algeria in 2014, known as Jund al-Khalifa, or the Caliphate Soldiers in Algeria, but it quickly faded from influence. In September 2014, it captured French hostage Herve Gourdel, beheading him after a deadline for France to halt its participation in coalition airstrikes passed. Algerian security forces have largely kept a lid on the threat of a large-scale jihadist attack in the country ever since, though that threat still remains as ISIS-aligned militants continue to carry out smaller attacks against security forces.

Bangladesh

ISIS claimed a gun and knife attack in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, in July 2016. Militants besieged a popular cafe, killing 22 people, mostly foreign nationals. Radical Islamists have targeted westerners, Christians, Hindus, secular writers, and LGBT activists in the country. But the government says that the attackers are not ISIS or Al-Qaeda, but domestic groups Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team. While officials have cast doubt on ISISs links in the country, there is evidence of its inspiration for several attacks, and its influence could continue to grow here.

Gaza Strip

While there is no official ISIS affiliate in the coastal enclave that remains under an Israeli economic blockade, there are small pockets of ISIS support in Gaza. Salafis pledging support for the group have claimed responisibility for rocket attacks on Israel. Earlier this month, the first suicide bomb attack against Hamas forces inside the Gaza Strip took place, killing one border guard when he tried to prevent the bomber from crossing into Egypt. Officials said the culprit was an ISIS sympathizer.

While Palestinian militant group Hamas retains control of the territory, it faces an increasing threat from jihadists both within and outside of its territorial control.

In June 2015, ISIS released a video threatening to overthrow Hamas for not being strict enough on enforcing religious law. Israel accuses Hamas of working with ISIS in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which borders both Israel and the Gaza Strip. Israel is not only concerned that ISIS's Egyptian affiliate could infiltrate its own territory, but also Gaza, potentially overthrowing Hamas rule.

Somalia

An ISIS affiliate is vying for influence with the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabab in the East African state, claiming several suicide bomb attacks against security forces and a hotel in Mogadishu. The faction, mainly based in the semi-autonomous Puntland region to the north of Somalia, remains small compared to the size and influence of Al-Shabab, which formed in 2006 and has since waged a bloody insurgency against the Somali and Kenyan governments.

Related Articles
By Susan Cornwell and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Estimates of the size of a Hurricane Harvey aid package for Texas and Louisiana rose on Thursday, with one proposal being drafted for $150 billion, while the White House promised to make a request for funding soon to Congress. The Trump administration will make a request to the U.S. Congress shortly for funds to help recovery efforts from Harvey, which caused devastating flooding, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said. He told reporters that an aid funding request will likely come in stages as more is known about the storm's impact. While the details are still unknown, U.S. taxpayers are likely to face a bill for Harvey near the $110.2 billion for 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Exact estimates on the size of this aid package varied widely. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Houston, was crafting legislation for $150 billion in emergency funding through nearly two-dozen government agencies and departments. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Wednesday the state could need more than $125 billion. Figures of $50 billion to $80 billion were cited by Republican Representatives Pete Sessions of Texas and Leonard Lance of New Jersey on Fox Business Network. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund had only $3.3 billion when the storm struck. A Republican leadership source said Congress was expected to consider and vote on an initial allocation of Harvey aid in the first half of September. IMPACT ON BROADER GOVERNMENT FUNDING ISSUE The urgency of aiding areas hit by Harvey may also complicate a broader fiscal policy showdown that is coming in late September. When Harvey plowed into the Texas coast this week, Congress and President Donald Trump were already struggling to deal with the debt ceiling, which is a cap on how much money the federal government can borrow, and the need to approve a temporary federal budget bill by Oct. 1 to prevent a government shutdown. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told broadcaster CNBC on Thursday that the impact of Hurricane Harvey spending could bring forward the deadline by which the nation's debt ceiling needs to be raised by "a couple of days." He repeated that the limit needs to be raised by Sept. 29 Financial markets have been anxious about the possibility of the debt ceiling not being raised, which could cause a U.S. credit default and send economic shockwaves worldwide. A Trump administration official and a prominent House of Representatives conservative both said on Thursday that hurricane aid funding should not be tied to the debt limit. Bossert said the administration wants a "clean" disaster relief supplemental measure, free of unrelated measures, including any effort to raise the federal debt ceiling. Representative Mark Meadows, the Republican chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told the Washington Post that attaching Harvey aid to a debt-ceiling increase would be a terrible idea ... conflating two very different issues. Meadows told the Post, "Were going to fund Harvey relief without a doubt, but I think it just sends the wrong message when you start attaching it to the debt ceiling. That left open the possibility that the aid package could be linked to a broad, short-term budget measure that must pass by Oct. 1 to prevent a government shutdown. The prospect of that linkage was seen as making a government shutdown less likely because of the urgency of getting aid to hurricane-hit areas, and that has been reassuring to financial markets. Asked if there was still a chance of a shutdown, House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady told Fox News Channel on Thursday, "We are going to keep this government open, we are going to pay our debts on time." (Additional reporting by Eric Beech and Makini Brice; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Cynthia Osterman)
Where To Go When Your Local Emergency Room Goes Bankrupt?" During the past ten years 84 California hospitals have declared bankruptcy and closed their Emergency Rooms forever. Financially crippled by legislative and judicial mandates to treat illegal aliens have bankrupted hospitals! In 2010, in Los Angeles County alone, over 2 million illegal aliens recorded visits to county emergency rooms for both routine and emergency care. The cost is $1,000 dollars for every taxpayer. VIVA LA RAZA?
A woman pulled out a gun as a result of a fight over a notebook. (Photo: AP Images)

Back-to-school is a crazy time, as any parent can attest. But this year, things have escalated to a criminally high level. During a recent shopping trip to Walmart by several women, school supplies became the center of a violent argument. And what began as a quarrel over a single notebook led to one woman pulling out a gun.

On Monday afternoon, two women from Farmington Hills in Michigan were visiting the superstore in nearby Novi. What was meant to be a quick trip turned into something more serious when the unnamed 32- and 46-year-old pair came across a 20-year-old South Lyon woman and her 51-year-old mother.

It was in the back-to-school section over a notebook, Novi Police Det. Scott Baetens told Fox 2 Detroit. One girl was going to buy a notebook. There was one left, some pushing resulted. They began to argue who was the rightful purchaser of that notebook.

According to the police report of the incident, as well as some surveillance footage, the women from Farmington Hills began pushing and pulling the hair of the daughter of the South Lyon woman, which instigated the mother to pull out her gun.

Baetens noted that the woman holds a valid license for a concealed pistol but he called the occurrence a senseless act of violence all the way around. According to the detective, the gun was loaded but there was no round in the chamber, and nobody was hurt. Still, all four of the women could be facing charges.

A simple assault could be just a local ordinance, a 90-day misdemeanor. All the way up to a felonious assault with a firearm, which is a felony.

A number of witnesses took their own footage of the event, while most others fled the scene. The only mystery left unsolved is who ended up walking away with the notebook.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

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Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.




After years of rising opioid mortality, opioid deaths in most New York counties fell between 2015 and 2016, according to new numbers from the New York State Department of Health.

Excluding New York City, which is counted separately and where opioid deaths rose during the same period, there were 1,238 opioid deaths in New York state last year, compared to 1,520 deaths the year before. Overdose deaths take time to confirm, and its possible the new reports numbers could change, but the apparent improvement comes amid growing use of the overdose reversal drug naloxone  lending credence to the public health theory that increased access to naloxone helps prevent opioid deaths.

The increased use of naloxone in New York State reflects both the ongoing opioid epidemic as well as increased access to this life-saving medication, Jill Montag, a state health department spokeswoman, told HuffPost in an email. County health departments  as well as treatment programs, community-based organizations and public safety agencies  have taken critical roles in working with the state to expand this capacity.

Montag noted that New York plans to continue expanding access to the medication, via a naloxone copay assistance program that offers up to $40 in copay assistance to people with health insurance. (Those without insurance can get naloxone for free through a registered overdose prevention program.)

These findings are consistent with the increasingly definitive medical and public health evidence that expanded access to naloxone for first responders, community and family members, as well as those using opioids, saves lives, Dr. Peter Friedmann, associate dean for research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and chief research officer at the nonprofit Baystate Health, told HuffPost.

Indeed, the new numbers track with previous research, including a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper released in February, which found that between 1999 and 2014, adopting naloxone access laws was associated with a 9 to 11 percent reduction in opioid deaths. (The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal.)

Story continues

New York Citys numbers complicate the picture, however. The state report does not include the citys overdose death figures, but the New York City Health Department confirmed that unintentional overdose deaths in NYC rose from 937 in 2015 to 1,374 in 2016. More than 80 percent of those deaths involved an opioid.

New York City has had high rates of opioid overdose deaths in the Bronx, and particularly the South Bronx, an NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene spokesperson told HuffPost. Nonetheless, similar to other parts of the city, state and country, the Bronx has seen steep increases in opioid-involved overdose deaths since 2010, with sharp increases from 2015 to 2016. If the South Bronx were a state, it would have the second highest overdose rate after West Virginia.

This increase comes despite the citys robust naloxone program. In March, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $38 million plan to fight opioid addiction and overdose, including a commitment to distributing 100,000 naloxone kits per year. According to the new state report, emergency medical services in New York City administered the overdose reversal drug 5,088 times in 2015 and 7,667 times last year.

On the national level, news about the opioid crisis has been bleak in recent years. In 2015, more than 50,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, with overdose deaths outpacing historical epidemics like HIV and firearm deaths during their deadliest years.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.


@PatriciaMazzei

A billionaire Miami political donor wants to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan to press his case for Congress to protect from deportation immigrants brought into the country illegally as children.

Healthcare magnate Mike Fernandez, a vocal opponent of the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policy, has asked Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo to arrange a meeting with Ryan, according to an email exchange Fernandez forwarded Friday to the Miami Herald and a group of local and state business, political and civic leaders.

President Donald Trump has threatened to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday an announcement would come Tuesday.

"We love the DREAMers," Trump told reporters. "We love everybody."

In the email, Fernandez praised Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon who was born in Mexico and crossed the border into the U.S. as a teenager. Fernandez called him a "dear friend."

"This is the type of talent we will be deporting" he wrote. "What are we doing to our Nation?"

Fernandez included a Friday morning email to Curbelo calling the sophomore congressman "bold" because he has filed legislative amendments trying to keep the Trump administration from spending money to deport DACA recipients.

Curbelo has also filed a bill that would effectively enact DACA into law -- an effort supported by other Republicans, including Ryan, who said Friday he opposes having Trump end DACA before letting Congress take it up.

Many @HouseGOP colleagues taking a stand for #DREAMers. Need more than words. Take action & pass #RACact for fair & permanent solution.  Rep. Carlos Curbelo (@RepCurbelo) September 1, 2017

From his BlackBerry, Curbelo responded to Fernandez on Friday: "No stone can be left unturned."

He acknowledged the White House would probably "weaken" the program.

"I feel good about a legislative fix before the end of the year," Curbelo added. "Had a good conversation with Paul. Will work on a meeting for you this month."

Curbelo previously arranged a 2016 Ryan meeting with Fernandez over Cuba policy. Fernandez was then a registered Republican who backed former President Barack Obama's renewed diplomatic relations with Havana.

Fernandez has since left the GOP and registered without party affiliation. Earlier this year, he created a fund to help defend unauthorized immigrants in court.

Earlier this week, Fernandez took part in a Miami Dade College forum supporting DACA.

Fernandez was a major financier of Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. Friday on Facebook, Bush also urged legislative action to protect Dreamers:

Photo credit: Roberto Koltun, el Nuevo Herald
@alextdaugherty

Miami Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen all urged Donald Trump to wait for Congress to come up with a solution on what to do with nearly 800,000 undocumented young people who applied for an Obama-era policy that allows them to stay in the United States.

Trump has hinted that he may halt the program, known as DACA, but allow those who are here to stay temporarily. The White House said Friday that a final decision will come on Tuesday.

"[Trump] loves people and he wants to make sure that this decision is done correctly," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Friday's press briefing.

But Diaz-Balart, Curbelo and Ros-Lehtinen were all in agreement with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said in a radio interview Friday that he doesn't think Trump should act alone through executive order.

"I believe this is something Congress has to fix," Ryan said.

One of the potential solutions is a bill sponsored by Curbelo, dubbed the Recognizing America's Children Act, that would be a new version of the DREAM Act. It offers an eventual path to citizenship to immigrants who entered illegally before Jan. 1, 2012 and were 16 years old or younger when they entered.

Curbelo's bill received additional attention on Friday as North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced he plans to file a similar bill in the U.S. Senate.

And on Friday billionaire Miami political donor Mike Fernandez said he wants to meet Ryan to argue that DREAMers must not fear deportation. Fernandez was a major supporter of Jeb Bush during his presidential campaign. Bush also urged Congress to protect DREAMers through legislation on Friday.

Ros-Lehtinen said Congress needs to come together to eliminate uncertainty for DREAMers.

#Congress must come 2gether 2 protect #DREAMers + finally eliminate uncertainty. We can't allow these young folks to become a criminal class  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) September 1, 2017

Diaz-Balart said he "remains ready" to work with Ryan and others to find a "commonsense legislative fix."

I remain ready to work with @SpeakerRyan + others to find a commonsense legislative fix. https://t.co/hHdD0dUpLF  Mario Diaz-Balart (@MarioDB) September 1, 2017

"Many House GOP colleagues taking a stand for DREAMers," Curbelo tweeted. "Need more than words. Take action and pass RAC Act for fair and permanent solution."
The Mosaic of Islam (the ebook version) I have just finished reading





I have some comments and a couple of corrections.

P. 38: "most Muslims do not understand Islam correctly." I find this shocking. It assumes that there is a correct Islam. There is a historical Islam not a correct or a wrong one. As Ahmad Shahab put it beautifully there are contradictions and coherence of what Islam is in most Muslims. It has been the case in most of Islam's history. And the spectrum is so wide from Mauritania to Indonesia..

P. 58: There is no socio-political explanation of the reason(s)/background behind the emergence of Muhammaed and Islam. There is no mention at all of the state and the character of the new society as if the changes in the juriprudence just sprung from a Caliph's brain with no connection to the material life.





P. 66: "Part of the reasons where there is so much chaos ..." How does the beginning of the chaos in Libya (an uprising and NATO intervnetion), Syria (a non-religious uprising and the brutal repression of the regime), Iraq (invasion, occupation and the destruction of the social fabric of the Iraqi spciety), and Yemen (poverty and marginalisation and Saudi intervention with imperialist support) relate to understanding Shari'a or not understanding it?

Furthermore, there is no mention of historical factors which led to this: colonialism, failure of the renaissance, the encroachment of capitalist modernity, fragmentation of the umma, etc.

P. 144: Regarding the "violence of M. Ibn Abdu -al-Wahhab. "Ibn Abd al-Wahhab had preached a return to the pristine Islam of the Prophet and repudiated such later developments as the Shiah, Sufism, Falsafah, and the jurisprudence (fiqh) on which all other Muslim ulema depended. He was particularly distressed by the popular veneration of holy men and their tombs, which he condemned as idolatry. Even so, Wahhabism was not inherently violent; indeed, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab had refused to sanction the wars of his patron, Ibn Saud of Najd, because he [Ibn Saud] was fighting simply for wealth and glory. It was only after his retirement that Wahhabis became more aggressive ..." Karen Armstrong, Fields of Blood, Vintage ed., 2014, p. 337





P. 161: an issue of precision should be established. Muhammad, the first name of Ibn Abdu al-Wahhab should be added to the name. His brother Sulayman actually disagreed with him on the fundamental issue of calling other Muslims heretics and Jihad must be launched against them.





P. 180: The argument of producing a counter to "Islamic terrorism"

through producing a counter to its theology I think is very one-sided. It excludes or relegates to the background, the social, economic and political circumstances of such terrorism. It also excludes the structural violence (state terrorism, and the violence of poverty, dislocation, humiliation, unemployment, resentment, etc).





The Crusaders had influenced Ibn Taymiyya's outlook. The presence of the US military in Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian suffering influenced Bin Laden. Why can't we say the same about the sanctions and the occupation of Iraq and the role that played in boosting "militant Islam"? Who are the thinkers behind the movement? What was the role played by the Arab regimes and their Western imperialist ones in supporting sime Islamist organisation to counter-weight the nationalist and leftist movements? What was the social background of Bin Laden and al-Baghdadi, for example? Where do the recruiters of "militant Islam" come from? Is the high rate of unemployed graduates and social marginalization a push factor towards joining "militant Islam"... See Assef Bayat's Life As Politics, for example. Compare this with Karen Armstrong's analysis and Jonathan Brown's Misquoting Muhammad.





P. 212: Inaccuracy: murabitun comes from the verb raabata and and thus the noun ribaat (the latter means rampart/the wall of the medina). Muraabit is one who is ready for a battle at a fortress or a rampart.





P 232: remove "not" in "they even had not".





There is no mention at all whether ISIS was part (and partly a product) of the counter-revolution and the failure of the uprisings of 2011. Other forces include the regional regime and imperialist powers. As one reviewer put it, Mourad "is quite dismissive of the Arab Spring and does not really reference the catastrophic role of wider inter-imperialist competition." (Dave Weltman)





I recommend the book. I have learnt a few things from it.




When Michael Bennett extols the banjo for its distinctive assembly method, he above all praises the instruments simplicity and flexibility.

Design modifications to his custom banjos are fairly basic. There are variances between light and dark woods and there is a question of whether to employ a fancy inlay or a much simpler style. Banjo dimensions are determined by the size of their mass-manufactured metal rim exterior, rendering simple options for the wood frame interior: 11 inches for bluegrass-style and either 11 or 12 inches for an instrument echoing more of the old-time banjo sensation.

There is some woodworking that can be done to change the thickness and the depth of the (hand-carved) wooden rim, which then fits into the pre-set diameter of the metal rim, said Michael Bennett, who has resided in Missoula for approximately 25 years and operates a music rental and instruction studio in the city.

When people come to Bennett to have a discussion about banjos, he always tells them to pack a lunch, and indeed one must apportion ample time with Bennett to fully comprehend this peppy-sounding piece of musical equipment.

One of the earliest recorded references to the banjo dates to about 1620, when explorer Richard Jobson mentioned the gourd with neck and strings he had seen in Africa. Between the 1830s and the 1850s, German immigrant William Boucher Jr. of Baltimore, sold the first batches of successful commercial shop-made banjos in America. It is estimated that between 1878 and 1904, another noted enterprise, SS. Stewart Co. of Philadelphia, made 25,000 banjos.

In the late 1800s, the early 1900s, that was the time in America that the banjo was really coming into its heyday, said Bennett. When I say heyday, I mean with the designs and so forth, and to this day, companies are still copying the designs from that time. In the 1920s, (spurred by the popularity of minstrel shows) there were as many banjo companies as they were car companies in the U.S. Each banjo maker had its own idea and had an idea of banjo making of its own. There were drum companies that got into banjo making.

The banjo would forever be associated with a song called Feuding Banjos, recorded in 1955 by Arthur Smith and Don Reno. Its popularity grew exponentially after Atlanta native James Dickey published "Deliverance," the acclaimed novel that was made into the profitable 1972 Southern gothic film.

The harrowing movie chronicles an ill-fated canoe trip embarked on by four Atlanta businessmen. The song is central to an unforgettable scene in which Drew (actor Ronny Cox), on guitar, plays a duet with a local boy named Lonnie, on banjo. Dueling Banjos won a Grammy in 1973 for best country and western instrumental performance. (Arthur Smith, however, was not credited, and he sued Warner Brothers. The jurors compensated Smith past and future royalties, as well as songwriting credit.)

In addition to Deliverance, Bennett said that there are other benchmarks that have boosted the popularity of the banjo in American music: the movie Bonnie and Clyde, the television show The Beverly Hillbillies, and, more recently, the traveling banjo performances of comedian Steve Martin.

I recall seeing Steve Martin when he was unknown in the 1970s, in southern California comedy clubs, said Bennett, age 70. This was before he was famous, and he would tell jokes and then play the banjo. It was a part of who he was  and who he still is. Hes really been an influence as far as getting the banjo out in front of people who might want to play. He is one of the reasons that the banjo is becoming more and more accepted with mainstream music.

In the past four decades, there has been a significant progression of banjo playing techniques, from three-finger banjo picker Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) to more recent innovators like five-string banjoist Bill Keith (1939-2015), all of which have contributed to the fruition and development of the banjos very own sub-genres, such as Bach fugue, ragtime and jazz.

Earl Scruggs made melodies out of chord positions and Bill Keith made melodies out of chord positions and scales, described Bennett, laying out a set of experimental fingerboards on a workshop table. The banjo has an infectious, nice sound to it, and its difficult to play a sad song on the banjo. I can try to do plaintive songs on the banjo. But even those seem like happy songs, nice, and sparkly, because of the banjos nature.

For an instrument with such a large history, perhaps its a bit surprising that the arsenal of tools necessary to create a banjo is small: a band saw; router; joiner; hand planes; drill press; compressor, to spray finishes; oscillating spindle sander.

With banjo making, you dont have to be good at anything, but you do have to just put it all together, said Bennett. To me, actually, the most important thing in the shop is the sound system to play music as I work. Classical guitar, mandolin, bluegrass, whatever.

Typically, he constructs a banjo out of one of four primary hard woods, most commonly flattened maple, walnut, cherry or mahogany. Occasionally, something more exotic will be used by Bennett, such as rose wood or fiddleback maple. Each of the four wood varieties has a particular sound profile. Maple produces the brightest jingle; whereas the ever-stable mahogany provides the mellowest sound.

The banjo has been very much put together relatively easy as to be able to change the sound, said Bennett. The banjo is different than a guitar or a violin, because you can tailor the sound of a good banjo to precisely what a customer wants, and you can change the sound without having to drastically change the instrument. The head, the bridge, the strings, and the tail piece  the different configurations of each will affect the sound significantly. Like a stereo, you can turn up the base or treble and make it louder or softer to achieve either an old-time or bluegrass sound. But overall the sound is based on the playing style of the person holding the instrument.

In addition to teaching music and building banjos, Bennett occasionally performs in a local ensemble called Shenanigans.

Weve been together for so long that there is a disagreement as to just how long weve been together, said Bennett. I say that it has been 13 years.

While pretty and precious, the style and sound of the banjo are ultimately secondary to the uniquely human behaviors of listening deeply and learning perpetually.

Its hardly ever too late to start playing a musical instrument, no matter what it is, banjo included. said Bennett. I say go find a teacher, interview the teacher, get comfortable, and start with a playable instrument. Then, jump in and go do it. You may also get bitten by the banjo bug.
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 2002 by Linda Pastan,The Death of the Bee, from If Bees Are Few: A Hive of Bee Poems, Ed., James P. Lenfestey, (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2016). Originally published in Last Uncle, (W. W. Norton & Co., 2002). Poem reprinted by permission of Linda Pastan and W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 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.
Tobin Miller Shearer picked a special tie to wear on his first day of the school year teaching "Black: From Africa to Hip-Hop" at the University of Montana.

A couple of students gave the history professor the necktie sewn with images of Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X in 2009, and he wore it Thursday. In his 10th year teaching the course, he talked about racism, played hip-hop, drew a virtual timeline, and read a poem by Maya Angelou, "Caged Bird."

He dreamed of the perfect grade book.

"I'm an incorrigible optimist when it comes to my students, and I always think that this year is the year that everybody gets an A," Shearer said after class. "It hasn't happened yet, but I go in with the expectation that they can."

Thursday was the first day of the school year at UM, and the signs of eager minds and a fresh start and mentoring filled the campus.

Students opened to the first clean pages of their notebooks. They sported fresh robin's-egg-blue nail polish and new Birkenstock sandals. And they listened closely to advice about meal plans.

They also prepared to have the ideas their professors shared over the course of the term change their way of thinking.

***

Dominique Holt is a health and human performance major taking Shearer's class, and the transfer student from Montana State UniversityBillings was pleased his teacher would play music for students the 10 minutes before class and again as they walked out the door.

Thursday, he heard "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar.

"That's a song that just recently came out so it surprised me that he had it playing," Holt said.

He registered for the class based on a recommendation in his orientation booklet, and after one day, he knew he would appreciate the instructor and the material.

Holt himself is of mixed race, so he already thinks about racism and prejudice. He definitely expected the class would lead him to think about the issues in new ways, and he looked forward to it.

"I'd like to study the history a little more in depth," he said.

***

In class in Jeannette Rankin Hall, Shearer stated the obvious to his students in order to defuse any tension in the room, a deliberate strategy on his part:

"There's one very important thing you need to know, and that is that I want you to know that I know I'm white."

The class paused for a split second.

"Usually, people laugh a little when I say that."

Then, the laughter.

The point, he said, is he comes to his work not being confused about his identity. In the lecture, Shearer outlined the history of racism, a combination of race prejudice and power, and he pressed the students to challenge him.

"How can we get rid of it?" asked one.

"I am hoping that 15 1/2 weeks from now, you will have an answer for yourself," Shearer said.

Discussions about race in this country often generate more heat than light, he said after class, and he's a fan of the way his students use the material they learn.

"They're able to enter those conversations with sophistication and nuance and advance the conversation," Shearer said.

In class, he asked for harder questions. He also told students the question he wants to shed light on isn't whether racism is better now than decades or centuries ago.

"The right question is, how has it changed?"

***

In the Liberal Arts Building, Shintaro Muramatsu admitted he was a bit uneasy about his first day of class.

Muramatsu is a sophomore from Tokyo, and this week is the first time he's taken university courses, having spent last term at the English Language Institute at UM to polish his skills. He was curious about the way Americans would interact in the classroom.

"I was kind of nervous, but after this class, I thought that they are very friendly," Muramatsu said of his classmates and professor.

The class was "Communication in Small Groups," and professor Betsy Bach shared that nervous feeling despite her 33 years as a faculty member  and the fact that it's one of her favorite courses to teach.

"I have butterflies, you know," Bach said of the first day of the school year.

On first days, she said, students and faculty have all kinds of expectations of each other.

"There's really a lot of pressure there. It's like first impressions. You want to sell the class, but you want to be clear in your expectations," said Bach, who recently won a national teaching award from the National Communication Association.

***

Thursday, she told some 20 students to show up. Participate. Get involved. Here, they're learning about small group communication, so she said being part of a small group is critical to the course.

"Even though I'm a stickler for attendance and participation, I also do like to have fun," Bach said.

Gage Smith, a junior studying communications, vouched for the professor's ability to keep class interesting, along with the energy on campus the first week of school. In the summer, he saw other athletes on campus, and now, he's reacquainting himself with people he hasn't seen in a while.

"It's a fun week. There's a lot more excitement on campus than a lot of other weeks," Smith said.

Soon, Bach had everyone in class on their feet, making quick introductions, an activity she likened to speed dating. She loves the course because it's directly applicable to life.

"You communicate in small groups all the time, so hopefully, you will think by the end of this class that it's one of the most valuable classes you've taken," she said.
ALBERTON  Sue Dallapiazza started as Albertons first-ever preschool teacher with only a few days to buy supplies, set up a room and build a program.

White, blank walls. There was nothing there. We had to go buy everything. We worked hard, didnt we, Kim? Dallapiazza said, standing amid a flurry of five 4- and 5-year olds as she turned to paraeducator Kim Garding during a Thursday tour of the school by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

It was fast, she agreed. Two days?

Principal Kyle Fisher said, Honestly, it was a storage room before. If you didnt want something, you threw it in here.

On Thursday, the corner room featured whiteboards and posters on the wall, bright carpets with the alphabet, child-sized chairs and tables, and shelves with photos taped next to the word labels so students would know which toys and supplies went where.

They cant read yet so they have to know where everything goes, Dallapiazza said, pointing to a boy as he returned a box of toys to its right place. See? They become independent.

Alberton's first preschool is thanks to a two-year, $85,000 STARS grant from the state. Bullock visited the rural school west of Missoula this week to celebrate the state program intended to serve as a test for future expansion.

This spring, the governor and fellow Democrats in the Legislature negotiated with Republicans to approve a new, one-time fee on the states largest hospitals that would fund the $3 million pilot project. It was a hard-fought compromise reached in a tight budget year, and some Republicans expressed skepticism about the need for statewide, state-funded preschool.

What I hope is that we learn the lesson 46 other states have already learned, Bullock said. These are investments we cannot afford not to make.

Advocates point to research that shows quality early education programs improve the long-term success of students, including their likelihood to read at grade level and graduate from high school.

Supporters also argue that public preschool can level the playing field for families who cannot afford the high costs of private programs. Bullocks office reports that the average cost of child care  let alone an education-focused preschool  is $7,900 a year for a 4-year-old, or about 17 percent of the states median family income.

Part of the opposition to funding statewide preschool in Montana stemmed, in part, from a view that this is, like, my priority, Bullock said.

The last legislative session we had Republican governors from Mississippi, Nevada and Oklahoma write to our legislative committees saying heres why theyre investing in it. We had the secretary of education of Alabama come out, he said. This (pilot project) will afford us the opportunity to really demonstrate both the need and the impact in a rural state like ours.

Almost 50 school districts applied for the grants and 17 were awarded funding to serve about 300 kids ages 4 or 5. Ten programs used the money to expand the capacity of existing programs. Seven school districts  Alberton, Polson, Helena, Lolo, Marion, Ronan and Troy  will use the support to offer general education preschool for the first time to families who want to participate.

Our parents, our kids didnt have the opportunity, Alberton Superintendent Steve Picard said. We dont have a Head Start preschool or even a private preschool. Were very fortunate to receive this opportunity and were going to take full advantage.

It is a 10-mile drive to the nearest program in Huson, although that one was always full, so parents only other options were in Missoula, 30 miles away. About a quarter of children within the district boundaries live below the federal poverty line and about three-quarters qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and breakfast, a level high enough under federal rules that the district provides free meals to all students.

The per capita income of $22,619 is less than the state average and most families have two working parents, making it a fiscal challenge and practical impossibility for many to enroll their children in out-of-town preschools.

So far, five students have enrolled for the voluntary program, but Fisher expects the class size could double in the weeks ahead as more families learn about it.

He hopes the class can better prepare the kids to start kindergarten. Children from families who can afford preschool or are close enough to enroll in a Head Start program often start public school able to recognize letters and numbers, know the primary colors and write their name. Quality programs also focus on developing fine motor skills, like properly holding a pencil or using scissors, and social skills critical for classroom success, such as standing in line, sitting quietly to listen, or taking turns.

Fisher noted that expectations in todays kindergarten classrooms are more similar to the first grade experiences of previous generations.

We have kids going into kindergarten who dont know their letters, dont even recognize their name on a paper, he said.

If some students do not have the right foundational skills, they can become frustrated when they cannot keep up with peers, setting the tone for the rest of their educational career, said Dallapiazza, who ran a preschool class for Missoula Catholic Schools before joining Alberton.

Some kids have had preschool and some havent, she said. This way we can give everybody that opportunity.

Fisher said receiving the grant earlier this summer, made my year, my career and is eager to see the improvements that carry forward with students each year.

Itd be sad to get it all set up and then to lose the funding, he said as he walked Bullock out the door.

Were counting on you all to be the voice of it, the governor said, calling on school districts to advocate for preschool funding in the 2019 legislative session. To say, Heres what we did, heres what we experienced and heres why it should be important for other communities, large and small.
Our industry-serving politicians came to Lolo to fan the wildfire flames with lies promoting logging. They ignored that this summer is again setting records for heat and lack of rain as the climate warms. They also ignored the fact that logging increases the rate of fire spread.

According to the U.S. Forest Services Living with Fire publication, fire spreads at 15 acres per hour in the dense conifer forests so demonized by the timber industry and our politicians. Thin those forests into an open pine forest and fire spreads at 150 acres per hour. Clearcuts with young trees spread fire at 650 acres per hour. Brush and grass spread fire at over 3,000 acres per hour.

Cut down trees and you get more brush and grass that dries out faster due to less shade and more exposure to wind. Research shows most of the carbon released by fire is from brush and the forest floor. Only 5 percent of large tree carbon is released because only the needles, bark and limbs burn. The tree trunks remain, continuing to store their carbon and providing absolutely essential habitats for wildlife  unless the same lying politicians force the Forest Service to log the dead trees.

Logging removes trees, their carbon and nutrients from the forest. Fire releases only a fraction of the trees carbon and returns nutrient-rich ash to the soil.

We have longer and more severe fire seasons due to global warming, not environmentalists. As a former logger and Forest Service firefighter, I think the politicians are putting up a smokescreen so their buddies can steal carbon-storing trees from our public forests.
Acres of huckleberries to the most recent addition to Missoulas stock of open space, an acquisition that promises to conserve local agricultural soils while also protecting important habitat for wildlife along Miller Creek. The 168 acres of land between Missoula and Lolo is currently home to a cattle ranch and will be protected against encroaching development thanks to the use of $175,000 from the Open Space Bond Program and matching contributions from landowners Bart and Wendy Morris, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Five Valleys Land Trust.

Back-to-school chokecherries to interim University of Montana President Sheila Stearnss decision not to give the traditional State of the University address this fall. In previous years, UM presidents have used the opportunity to energize and motivate the entire campus while updating the wider Missoula community on the latest plans for the university heading into the new school year. This year, however, Stearns opted to speak only informally at a welcome convocation for employees this past Wednesday. The lack of a formal, comprehensive address at the beginning of the year contributes to the unfortunate  and incorrect  impression that UM is starting the fall semester lacking stable leadership or a clear direction. While the new permanent president, once named, will doubtless dispel this impression, theres no reason to leave any students, staff and faculty feeling rudderless or demoralized in the meantime.

Huckleberry hops to the new partnership between the University of Montana and Big Sky Brewing Company that led to the creation of a new craft beer and a new licensing revenue stream for the university. Griz Montana Lager will be sold by the local brewing company into 2018, when UM will also mark its 125th anniversary. Big Sky Brewing, the largest brewery in Montana, has strong ties and deep roots with the university; co-founder Bjorn Nabozney, a UM School of Business graduate, wrote the original plan for the business in a finance class. The university intends to use its share of the profits from this licensing venture to support an alcohol abuse awareness and prevention program, and help fund the bus shuttle that provides late-night service to downtown Missoula.

Fake chokecherries to the person who called in a hoax hostage situation to the Missoula Police Department last Monday morning. The department received a call from a man who claimed he was holding hostages in an apartment on the corner of Broadway and Pattee Street; he further claimed that one person had been shot and demanded $20,000. Law enforcement responded to the threat appropriately, shutting down the surrounding area to ensure public safety while they tracked down the person who lives in the apartment and determined that the call was a fake. Unfortunately, this meant critical public safety resources had to be pulled away from real police work  a waste of local law enforcements valuable time, talents and resources.

Huckleberries to Andrew Laue, the licensed clinical social worker hired by the Missoula County Attorneys Office last year. The Missoula County Attorneys Office was recognized this summer by the National Association of Counties for its understanding of secondary trauma and for providing trauma support to its employees. Recently, Laue offered to expand his services to include officers, deputies, detectives, prosecutors, emergency medical staff, firefighters and other first responders who sometimes have to respond to the most horrific acts of violence and cruelty, take note of every gory detail and then sift through those details for weeks or months while working a case. Our deepest gratitude, huckleberries  and hats off  to them all.
I was born and raised in western Montana. Like any good Montana kid, I loved nothing more than being in the woods. My family capped off every summer with a week-long camping trip at the end of August. The days were warm, the nights downright chilly. Afternoons brought thunderstorms that thrilled us. That is all in the past.

As I watch Montana suffer through another August choking on smoke, and the inevitable debates on whether to blame logging/environmentalists/climate change, it occurs to me that these conversations we're having are unnecessarily adversarial.

Many factors lead to fires. The research is extensive. You can google it! The debate need not be about whether or not we should manage our forests and harvest timber. We should do both.

It also need not be about whether climate change is real. It is. None of this needs to be political. If we want to ensure healthy communities and bright futures for our kids (including jobs and clean air), let's demand that timber companies use good science to guide logging, and quit letting corporations make money from damaging our climate. We can have good jobs and safe communities if we just demand it together.

Elizabeth Milner,

Portland, Oregon
As firefighters continue to maintain gains on several wildfires in southwest Montana, two new small fires have broken out about 9 miles southeast of Wisdom near Elbow Lake.

The first fire was detected around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and the second at an unknown time Wednesday, according to a news release from the Wisdom Ranger District.

The Elbow Lake fires are within a quarter of a mile of each other, are lightning-caused, and have a combined size of two acres.

Eight fire personnel from Wisdom and Wise River fought the blazes Thursday, digging a fire line by hand and scouting for hot spots. The ranger district said crews will be assisted with water drops if needed, favorable visibility permitting. Containment stood at 40 percent as of Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, crews continued to contain the nearby Stone Lake Fire, located about 15 miles southwest of Wise River.

Discovered Sunday afternoon, the fire is located in the Whitebark Pine area. The lightning-caused fire stood at 8 acres Thursday morning and was at 70 percent containment, up from the previous days containment of 25 percent.

Fire personnel continued Thursday to scout for hotspots outside the main perimeter and cleared away debris.

Weather could become an issue for fire crews Friday.

A red flag warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for an unstable southwest flow with gusty, erratic winds that could bring thunderstorms. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 80s with ridgetop winds measuring 10 to 20 miles per hour with 25-mile-per-hour gusts.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest also modified its Stage 1 fire restriction to prohibit all campfires and charcoal grills. The restriction is to remain in effect until Saturday.

Here are updates on other area fires:

CONROW FIRE

Containment lines were tested substantially by strong winds Wednesday, but crews were able to maintain gains on all of the fires flanks.

As of Thursday morning, containment remained at the previous days containment of 75 percent as personnel worked from multiple directions to connect containment line on the fire. Crews patrolled for hotspots and cleaned debris in contained areas as helicopters supported ground-based efforts with water bucket drops.

The 2,727-acre fire was started by lightning Aug. 24.

MOUNT HAGGIN FIRE

Containment on the 10-acre Mount Haggin Fire grew from 10 to 20 percent Thursday, said Jordan Koppen, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Koppen described the fire as not very active and pretty quiet and said that the blaze should be contained in approximately one week but could have a few puffing events.

The fire was first reported Monday afternoon 1 mile northeast of Mount Haggin in steep terrain west of Hearst Lake in the Anaconda Range. Twenty-four fire personnel are on the scene, along with helicopters.

Koppen said Wednesday lightning was most likely the source of the fire, but an exact cause is still under investigation.

MEYERS FIRE

Fire growth Wednesday slowed to moderate levels due to increased cloud cover and humidity, but winds intensified fire activity in the afternoon with one 49-mile-per-hour gust recorded in the area.

Two hot spots were identified Wednesday east of the containment line near the end of Moose Lake Road, but fire crews were able to extinguish them. Crews also continued efforts to keep fire from residences at Frog Pond.

Sparked by lightning July 14 about 25 miles southwest of Philipsburg near Moose Lake, the Meyers Fire remained at 23,603 acres and 5 percent containment as of Thursday morning, showing no gains in containment from the day before.

The Frog Pond area remained under an evacuation order Thursday, while evacuation warnings were in effect for Moose Lake residents and residents on East Fork Road between Forest Service Road 5778 and Little East Fork Road. There are also private residences in the area of Springer Memorial Park.

Fire officials held a public meeting Thursday night at the Granite County High School library in Philipsburg, and another public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at the Sula Community Club House on East Fork Road in Sula for an update on the Meyers Fire only.
From left, Kaitlyn Salvagni, 14, realtor Sara Smith and daughter Abigail Smith, 13, prepare care-package items to be delivered to personnel fighting Montana wildfires. The three were part of an effort lead by the Rocky Mountain Association of Realtors, several members of which gathered Wednesday at Shea Realtors, 1900 Harrison Ave., to stuff donated items into gift bags. Association members plan to distribute the packages to fire-fighter camps in Philipsburg and other Montana locations. Jennifer Shea, association president, says the group hopes to deliver 700 of the gift bags, which are filled with essentials like shampoo, socks and mouthwash.
It was standing-room only Thursday night at the Wise River Community Building, where 70 locals, stakeholders and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists gathered to discuss  heatedly, at times  FWPs controversial plans to build a fish barrier on nearby French Creek, clear 40 miles of streams with fish poison and reintroduce native species to the drainage.

Jim Olsen, the FWP fisheries biologist in charge of the French Creek project, opened the meeting by posing a question: Why are we doing this stuff?

He began his answer by showing two maps: one that showed the historical abundance of westslope cutthroat distribution in the Big Hole River drainage, and a second that showed how few fish remain. While cutthroat once dominated local waters, Olsen illustrated that genetically pure westslope cutthroat now occupy only about 1 percent of the Big Hole drainages 2,200 miles of streams.

The point is, Olsen said, westslope cutthroat are declining, are declining very rapidly and are on the brink of winking out.

Olsen explained the causes of this decline  competition from invasive species, habitat degradation, predation and hybridization with other fish species  and argued that the best way to reverse that decline and achieve the greatest conservation value is a secure population.

FWPs plans for establishing such a secure population of cutthroat and Arctic grayling, another native species in danger of being wiped out, in the expansive French Creek drainage require building a 225-foot-long earth-and-concrete barrier, killing off the existing non-native fish with rotenone over a two-year period, and stocking genetically pure native cutthroat, Arctic grayling, bullhead (or sculpin), sucker, whitefish and dace.

Citing a list of about a dozen FWP projects that have restored native aquatic species to 67 miles of stream over about the past decade, Olsen expressed confidence the plan would work, creating a thriving fishery within approximately five years, boosting cutthroat and grayling populations, and keeping these fish from being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would create all kinds of red tape for local anglers, irrigators and developers.

All were trying to do is make some room so we dont lose our cutthroat, Olsen said.

Once he had made his case for the project, Olsen acknowledged the reason this meeting was being held at all: concerns from many in the room about FWPs plan to temporarily wipe out a well-loved local fishery and about how Olsen and FWP had gone about informing residents of that plan.

If we disagree on the merit of the project, Im OK with that, Olsen said. But I dont want there to be a feeling that I went behind anyones back.

But a number of the meetings attendees felt that is exactly what Olsen and FWP had done: cut local residents out of the planning process.

LOCALS' RESPONSES

Martin and Sheila White, who live along French Creek, were unaware of the plan to build the barrier until after FWP put out a call for bids to construct it. Their worries about the project and their sense that they were not the only locals who had been left out of loop led them to push FWP to delay the process and to schedule the public meeting in Wise River.

In the days beforehand, the Whites fanned out to Anaconda and around the Big Hole, passing out fliers and encouraging friends, family and neighbors to attend.

I think Im the reason were having this meeting, Martin White said as he began his own presentation, after Olsen was done.

Saying that we feel you (FWP) didnt work at contacting us, White argued that the size of the current crowd illustrated that its pretty easy to put together a meeting like this and lamented that FWP hadnt done so sooner.

Soon after, Whites neighbor Sandy Gordon, who lives with her husband John in the nearest house to the proposed barrier site, offered a more forceful  and contentious  critique of how FWP was operating. Calling the plan to poison the drainage and to possibly intrude on her familys water rights evil, Gordon claimed that Olsen had warned her and her husband not to let their grandchildren around the poisoned waters of Fish Creek for at least year  an accusation that Olsen vehemently denied.

According to Olsen, rotenone is non-hazardous to humans in the highly diluted form that FWP will apply it. He also said waters will be accessible and safe 24-hours after application of the piscicide (fish poison).

As the back-and-forth continued and tensions rose, Gordon asked the room, Would any of you let them poison fish on your property? Then she asked Olsen, If its (the plan) so good, why is it so sneaky?

As voices were raised and things got heated, FWP Region 3 fisheries manager Travis Horton, who was there to assist Olsen, threatened to leave: Jim and I dont want to take abuse tonight, so well leave, if thats what it comes to.

TEMPERS COOL

But tempers soon cooled, Horton and Olsen stayed, and the discussion continued on into the night.

Those opposed to the plan expressed worries about the potential health hazards of rotenone, which some studies suggest may be connected to the onset of dementia and Parkinsons disease; about potential dangers if the dam failed; about whether FWP engineers had conducted the proper geological and soil tests; and about the wisdom of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to kill off an entire fishery just to replace it with a less diverse fishery.

Olsen, Horton and others who were supportive of the plan argued that rotenone has been proven safe when diluted to the levels FWP will use; that the proposed location of the barrier is the only feasible site for it; that FWP had done its due diligence in planning; and that replacing the existing French Creek fishery with native species would pay dividends far into the future, throughout the Big Hole.

Nobody likes a poisoned fish, and I dont like a poisoned fish, Olsen said. But thats the restoration tool we have, to save the cutthroat.

Jennifer Downing, executive director of the Big Hole Watershed Committee, came to Olsens defense: What Im hearing is a lot of fear and a loss of trust with this state agency.

But, she said, FWP, the watershed committee and others have spent decades working to restore the Big Hole fishery  and she argued that those efforts have paid off in the form of cleaner, colder waters and healthier fisheries.

Many of you are enjoying the benefits of that hard work, Downing said.

The French Creek project, she argued, was another step in the right direction.

As the meeting stretched on, some raised the possibility of moving the dam farther away from the Whites and Gordons homes and nearer to the highway, a possibility Olsen expressed doubts about but vowed to look into. It was about as close to compromise as the two sides got.

WHERE TO NOW?

As the meeting neared its end, Wise River resident Donna Brown finally got her chance to speak.

We had this meeting, Brown said. Weve given our opinion. But does it mean anything? Did this do any good or did we just waste two hours of our life?

Horton explained that recent outcry from the Whites and Gordons about the project already had made a difference. While FWP had planned to unseal bids for the barrier on Aug. 23, the agency had decided to delay that unsealing two weeks, until Sept. 6. FWP had also set up the meeting. Now that Olsen and Horton had received more public input and questions, they planned to speak with FWP higher ups about how to proceed.

I cant answer your question Will this happen? Horton said. But I doubt it will happen this year.

When the meeting finally wound down after some two-and-a-half hours, tempers had cooled and people on different sides of the issue shook hands. Those in favor of FWPs plan seemed exhausted by the ongoing battle, while those who opposed it were somewhat resigned to defeat, albeit glad to have their voices heard.

Theres nothing we can do about it, John Gordon said, after the meeting. Well just live with it and hope it works.

Martin White, his neighbor, was a bit more optimistic: Something intelligent will come out of it (the meeting), I think.
Chester County, PA - A former Pennsylvania science teacher facing sex charges after she allegedly became "obsessed" with a male student was re-arrested after police uncovered new details about the relationship.

Authorities initially believed that Melissa Bonkoski and her 16-year-old victim's romance didn't go beyond kissing and touching, although she previously admitted to discussing oral sex with the student.

During a follow-up interview earlier this month, Bonkoski told investigators she had sex with the teen, Philly Voice reports.

The victim initially denied sleeping with his former teacher, but later confirmed that they had sex for the first time in December 2016.

On Tuesday, prosecutors announced that Bonkoski had been arrested a second time in light of the new information.

Bonkoski was initially detained on Aug. 17 and charged with eight felonies, including sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor after she admitted to engaging in an inappropriate relationship with her student at Pottstown's Owen J. Roberts High School. She was released from jail after posting her $80,000 bail. According to NBC Philadelphia, Bonkoski is now facing an additional four felony counts for the incident.

Bonkoski, who taught earth science, was accused of becoming "obsessed" with the victim and bombarding his phone with text messages and calls when he tried to end things between them. In one text message she allegedly begged the teen not to "shut (her) out," the Daily Local News reported.

Detectives said Bonkoski tried to hide the relationship by using a pre-paid phone to talk to the student. During her interview, she told police that she thought it was "smart" and it wouldn't be traced back to her.

Following the charges, Owens J. Roberts High School announced in a statement that Bonkoski had been fired.
After delaying a decision for several months, the Louisa County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to join the Lower Cedar River Watershed Authority, despite some misgivings over the authoritys membership.

Josh Spies, a Nature Conservancy representative who met with the board on May 23, had explained at that meeting the authority would be able to assess and reduce flood risk, improve water quality, monitor federal flood risk planning and activities, educate residents and allocate funds made available to the authority for water quality and flood mitigation.

The authority would not be authorized to assess taxes or establish any regulations, Spies said, explaining it would be able to apply for grants to implement water quality, flood reduction and other programs.

At the May meeting the supervisors expressed concerns the proposed authority only included Fredonia and Louisa County, and excluded Columbus Junction, Wapello and Oakville. They said those communities would be impacted by any water flowing down the Cedar River and should be included.

Spies said the authority was established by the Iowa Legislature. He said a future Iowa River Watershed Authority would likely include those communities and might be established in the future.

During Tuesday's meeting, Board members again expressed concerns about membership, but also said they were concerned about the authoritys cost.

If its not a lot of money I can see us having a seat at the table, Supervisor Randy Griffin said.

Board Chair Chris Ball quickly reviewed the proposal and said he did not see any provision for dues or other assessments.

I think we need to be involved, as long as it doesnt cost us anything, he said.

Lets get in it so we can be involved, Supervisor Brad Quigley said, adding he was still concerned the other communities below the Cedar River would be left out.

We get all their mistakes, he pointed out, shortly before the board voted to join.

In other action, the board accepted a $33,305 bid from Window World of Davenport to install 29 new windows in the first floor of the courthouse. The supervisors had sought bids for several months to replace the existing units, which are drafty and do not match the historical buildings original windows.

Officials said there were no other bidders, despite efforts to generate contractor interest.

The work is expected to begin this year.

The supervisors also accepted a proposal submitted by French-Reneker Associates, Fairfield, to monitor and inspect the installation of a four-inch Alliant gas line between Conesville and Columbus Junction.

Although counties are responsible for the inspection and monitoring duties related to gas line installations, the utility company must reimburse the county for those expenses.

The board also approved new homestead and military tax credit applications.

In final action, the board met with Treasurer Vicki Frank over a request by the U.S. Small Business Administration to abate property taxes on 602 Aspen Drive, Wapello, which the SBA has acquired.

The supervisors suggested Frank contact County Attorney Adam Parsons to determine if the SBA should pay pro-rated taxes from the date the property sold or from the deed date.
LETTS  The big pavilion at Ames was silent, save for the occasional animal sounds last Saturday, and it wasnt for lack of people.

More than 150 students from 43 FFA teams statewide converged on the pavilion at Iowa State University, working their way through the livestock judging competition  nine groups of livestock for them to assess individually, and silently. Talking, they all knew, could get them disqualified.

The cheers and tears came afterward, when the winners were announced. This year, a four-student FFA team from Louisa-Muscatine took the title. The team  Will Kiesewetter, Jackson Soy, Addison Randall, and Brandon Burmeister  will represent Iowa in a national livestock judging competition next October.

Will, 16, said he thought about the previous state judging competitions the team participated in when the judges ranked the teams. At their first statewide competition three years ago, they took 11th place. A year later, they placed sixth.

Then came last Saturdays competition. As the judges announced the winning teams from lowest to highest ranks, Will remembers thinking, I hope we didnt place 11th again.

But the 11th place was called and Louisa-Muscatines team still wasnt called.

They got to like the top three, and we were like, No way, Brendon, 17, said. We were all shaking.

It is the first time in at least five years that a Louisa-Muscatine team had placed in a national judging competition.

Its a really big deal, only one team gets to go to the national contest and thats the top team, said agriculture teacher Adam Crews, who has helped the team train.

In the coming months, the students said, they will have to prepare themselves for the national competition, which will be held in October. They will prepare the same way as they always have  traveling to farms near the school to judge animals and perusing each animals data, such as birthweight, to decide if it is fit for market or breeding.

Judging an animal, they said, is a blend of science and opinion.

A lot of it is definitely your opinion and what you think is best, Addison, 15, said. So thats why its the really difficult part, because youre trying to think on the judges view and youre trying to bring your own opinion to it.

Beyond the ribbons, rosettes and plaques the students accumulate in these types of competitions, Crews said, wins such as this one can help them in their future careers.

We talk to a lot of employers and they say things that really stand out to them is 4-H, FFA, if you have a project or raised livestock and these competitions. And competing in the national level is going to set them apart, he said.

They can use these experiences to say, I know how to make decisions, I know how to think clearly on my feet and I can explain my decisions to others.

The team will compete against other FFA teams nationwide at an event in Indiana at the end of October.
The Fiber to the Home project is generating plenty of excitement among Muscatine Power and Water employees. That's the message Jeremy Graves, President of the Portland, Oregon-based Pivot Group, had for the Board of Water, Electric, and Communications Trustees during Tuesday evening's board meeting. The purposes of Pivot Group are to help clients comprehend their markets, connect with clientele, and convert leads into sales. Graves has been meeting with all MP&W employees about Fiber to the Home. He reported to the board he has found employees to be knowledgeable and positive about the project, which will provide access to faster Internet and enhanced cable TV services to customers of MP&W's Communications Utility by replacing traditional coaxial cable with fiber optic technology.

A tour of the Communications Headend area was provided to the board. Tim Reed, Director of Utility Services, displayed equipment that receives data to operate the utility. Erika Cox, Director of Employee and Community Relations, demonstrated improvements fiber optic technology will provide for TV customers.

"This is the future of TV," she said.

Financial report

Muscatine Power and Water's three utilities are again outperforming the budget.

Profit of $223,848 was budgeted for the Electric Utility in July, but the actual profit was $746,808. Revenue was higher than budget by $167,000 while expenses were below budget by $324,000. For the year to date through July, a loss of $3,485,005 was budgeted, but the actual loss was $963,061. The closing cash balance was $51,090,000 with no debt.

A loss of $201,680 was budgeted for the Water Utility in July, but instead profit of $33,673 was posted. Revenue was lower than budget by $10,157, but expenses were lower by $28,000. For the year to date through July, loss of $137,609 was budgeted, but profit of $20,662 was posted with a closing cash balance of $10,171,000 and debt of $14,965,000.

Profit of $126,350 was budgeted for the Communications Utility in July, but actual profit was $258,964. Revenues were higher than budget by $9,581 while expenses were lower by $119,000. For the year through July, profit of $827,830 was budgeted, but the actual profit was $1,379,483 for a closing cash balance of $7,751,000 and debt of $9,044,000.

"All three utilities have positive cash flow for operation," commented Jerry Gowey, Director of Finance and Administrative Services.

In other business

The board ratified payment of July expenditures and transactions totaling $10,263,064.

The board accepted as complete the Southeast Parking Lot Improvement Project adjacent to the Administration and Operations Building at a final cost of $200,730.

The board approved a request to the Mayor and City Council to designate Oct. 1-7 as Public Power Week.
While there is no competition for four seats on the board for Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, the four candidates are tuned into the issues, including state funding at this educational level.

The board election is Tuesday, Sept. 12. The polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Candidates are Lori Freudenberg, LeClaire; Jim Hayes, Muscatine, and Denise Hollonbeck and Milton Shaw, both of Davenport. Shaw and Hollonbeck are incumbents.

Freudenberg would be new to the board, but cites the uncertainty of the state budget as the biggest challenge facing the college district. "A mid-year budget cut this past year really hurt," she said, adding that student tuition was increased as a result, by $6 per credit hour.

"That's the highest increase seen in years," she said.

Hollonbeck said federal financial support is "almost nonexistent," and the state dollars are minimal, so there is increasing need for tuition cost increases.

A second challenge, Hollonbeck said, is to continue to attract students to the community colleges to achieve their goals.

For his part, Shaw is looking forward to completion of the district's new Urban Campus in downtown Davenport, slated for January 2018. He said it will be a hub for signature programs like information technology and business classes.

Hayes, recently retired as the CEO of Trinity Muscatine, is interested in how the new Davenport facilities can be leveraged by students from Muscatine County.

He also cites personal long-time interests for being on the board; Hayes would like to improve the workforce shortage and address local poverty issues.

Freudenberg, who works with the Sisters of St. Francis in Clinton, looks forward to finding "forward-looking people," she said, who maintain a high level of instruction despite the budgetary constraints.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Although flattered that his opponents supporters are paying attention to him, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ron Corbett called social media accounts attacking him a sad but predictable next step from a campaign that wants to stick with politics and business as usual.

He started it, responded Nick Ryan, whose Concordia Group is running the Empower Iowa Funds Facebook and @WrongCorbett Twitter account.

Ive been disappointed by the negative tone Ron has taken, Ryan said. Its been one nastygram after another.

Corbett acknowledged hes been critical of Reynolds, who became governor in late May when Gov. Terry Branstad resigned to become ambassador to China.

Ive challenged Gov. Reynolds on issues, including her borrowing money at a rate outpacing even Chet Culver while taking no action to address the root causes of Iowas budget woes, he said Thursday afternoon. Iowans deserve a serious discussion about real issues that impact our state.

He expressed disappointment that in her first 100 days in office her greatest accomplishment was the selection of a new license plate design.

That prompted this tweet from @WrongCorbett: While Negative Ron has been badmouthing @KimReynoldsIA she has been working to get 4,000 jobs for the city he is mayor of. Sad."

Im struck by the irony that at the same time hes saying that, shucks, her and her economic development are trying to lock land for the biggest jobs deal for the city hes mayor of, Ryan said, referring to Iowa attempts to land a 4,000-job Toyota plant. I know its politics, but its unfortunate."

Corbett also was critical of Empower Iowas use of dark money, which according to OpenSecrets.org, refers to political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown.

Calling in these type of faceless dark money groups to attack Ron is clear proof they take him seriously as a candidate and a contender, a campaign spokesman said. Corbett has challenged Reynolds not to accept money from the DC Swamp  special interest groups, and establishment insiders.

Corbett is an idiot and a hypocrite, Ryan said, because hes been involved with two dark money organizations  the Clean Water Partnership and his Engage Iowa think tank.

The Corbett campaign called that beneath the dignity of Iowa voters and is why he challenged Reynolds not to take DC Swamp money.

The campaign also said Corbett has no regrets participating in groups that have worked with Iowa farm groups to champion water quality.

The campaign also pointed out Empower Iowas hypocrisy in using a photo of Corbett talking to President Barack Obama, which has been cropped so Gov. Terry Branstad is not shown. The mayor and the governor were meeting with Obama to discuss federal assistance for flood protection. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst also have met with the president to seek flood protection funding, Crowley noted.
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 []
Kimberly Dudley-Brown staggered back to her vehicle and collapsed in her husbands arms after being shot in the heart on the front porch of a mobile home on Jefferson Street on Oct. 25, 1986.

The 21-year old wife and mother was leaving a note for her mother at her mothers boyfriends home when the boyfriend, Edward Voss, smelling of alcohol, stepped outside and shot her with a .22 caliber handgun. Her child and her husband were only 20 feet away waiting in the car.

The bullet pierced her heart and Dudley-Brown was pronounced dead in the emergency room of Queen of the Valley Medical Center.

Three handguns, 10 rifles, a machine gun and a homemade bomb were found in Voss home, according to Register reports.

A jury convicted Voss of second-degree murder, possession of cocaine for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, and possession of marijuana for sale as well as a firearm enhancement. He was sentenced to 20 years-to-life in prison. Voss, who first became eligible for parole in 2001, was denied parole just last year.

Now, 31 years later, he is being released on whats known as elderly parole.

Inmates who are at least 60 years old and who have served 25 years of their sentences can receive an elderly parole hearing where they are given special consideration, according to the Napa County District Attorneys Office. The decision, which was proposed in 2009, addresses overcrowding in prisons.

Voss, who was 46 at the time of the murder, is now 77. He was granted parole following an Aug. 25 Parole Board Hearing at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton. The Parole Board did not find Voss to be a danger to society and noted his age and poor physical health, the DA said. Voss plans to parole to San Diego to live near his family.

Assistant DA Paul Gero appeared at the hearing with the victims family and argued against Voss release. Gero argued that Voss lacked insight into the killing, has had limited participation in self-help programs, and has a serious prior record.

There are no words that can truly express the grief that creeps back up from the shadows each time a parole hearing approaches, the Dudley family said in a statement to the DAs Office. The heartache of having to relive the final moments of our beloved Kimmys life is a parents worst nightmare.

The family said that theyre devastated that Voss will be released.

Justice that was once served has forever been taken away, the family said, as a killer walks amongst us once again, enjoying the freedom of life which he denied Kimmy some 30 years ago.
CALISTOGA  Still hoping to find a way to keep operating their construction business from their Calistoga property, the Blakeley family and supporters are out in force gathering signatures to put a measure on the June ballot that will allow them to stay.

Were hoping this will keep us at our location that weve been at for over 50 years, said Kelly Blakeley.

They need to collect the signatures of 3,400 registered Napa County voters to put the measure on next Junes ballot, but they are shooting for more than that to be on the safe side, she said.

The measure would allow certain grading and paving businesses, including offices, equipment storage and repair and materials in agricultural zones if the business has been operating in the same location since July 1, 1968 or earlier.

Dozens of volunteers from up and down the county are out collecting signatures on behalf of Blakeley Construction, which was ordered by the county in January to cease operating its business on their family-owned property on Franz Valley School Road. The county said the property was zoned for agricultural use, not commercial.

Blakeley was also ordered to demolish buildings they had been using for business operations because they had been built without permits.

Volunteers are using social media to let people know where they will be collecting signatures such as in parks, outside stores or other businesses, Blakeley said. She is not telling them where to go or how to go about collecting signatures because she wants them to be comfortable with the process on their own terms.

Diane Dillon, Napa County supervisor, said she supports the familys efforts.

About 30 or 40 people showed up at the Blakeleys last community meeting and some businesses down valley said they are interested in helping the construction company and family, Blakeley said.

The county began working with Blakeley Construction, owned by Kelly and her husband Dick, in 2015 when a neighbor complained that the business was out of compliance with zoning.

The company had been operating in that location, where the family lived, since 1961, doing business with the county off and on throughout the years.

A June 2015 zoning administration hearing brought out some 80 supporters, including Calistoga Mayor Chris Canning, who wanted to see the county declare the business non-conforming, but legal.

The county agreed to give the Blakeleys 18 months to find a new location for their business, but forced them to demolish the non-permitted buildings such as the business office, storage buildings and a workshop. New agricultural-style buildings have been constructed in their places, and the county allowed them to install a temporary portable building to be used as an office space.

In the county agreement, the large trucks and construction equipment can stay on the property until June 2018. And in an ironic twist, that same equipment would be legal if the property was simply their home and residentially zoned, Dick Blakeley said in an earlier interview.

Kelly Blakeley said theyve searched for a new place to operate but that has proven difficult. They havent found a good fit with a reasonable cost and within a 25-mile distance of Calistoga where the majority of their work is located.

Dick Blakeley was born and raised in Calistoga and the construction business has employed many locals over the years.

They built a good part of Calistoga, Canning said during a zoning hearing in 2015.

The county and state had inspected the property multiple times over the years and never found the site in violation of anything, Dick Blakeley said. The county repeatedly used Blakeley Construction to make emergency repairs, he said.

But when a neighbor started filing complaints with the county, that put the county in a pickle, Dick Blakeley said.

Robert and Melissa Kennedy of Kennedy Estate Vineyards, whose property sits kitty-corner from the Blakeleys on Franz Valley School Road, initiated the complaint against the construction company.

This drew criticism from long-time locals because the Kennedys are new to the community.

The Kennedys asserted in a letter two years ago that they wanted to restore agricultural use to the Blakeley site, but that they harbored no ill will against the family. One other neighbor joined the Kennedys in the complaint.
SANTA ROSA -- At least six Santa Rosa Junior College students have reported a phone scam regarding federal Pell grants that pay for their college expenses, school officials said Thursday.

Some students received phone calls starting Thursday, SRJC spokeswoman Ellen Maremont Silver said.

The scam callers ask students how they would like to receive their Pell grant disbursements, and they are asked to provide their Social Security number. Callers offer to send the grant money via Western Union or credit/debit card, campus police said.

Campus police reported the scam to federal authorities and provided tips that help students avoid being victims.

Students who are asked for personal information from someone claiming to be a representative of SRJC should contact the SRJC Financial Aid Office immediately at (707) 427-4471 and provide the caller's phone number and date and time of the call.

Pell grants pay education expenses for students who have not received their first bachelor's or professional degree.
The 23-campus California State University system knows it must somehow speed up graduation beyond todays pace, which sees just 19 percent of entering freshmen graduate within four years. The low rate is at least partly because more than a third of freshmen need some remedial work.

Increased college graduation is especially crucial in three major regions: the Los Angeles area, the Central Valley and the Inland Empire of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where need for educated workers is growing steadily as industries become more technically complex.

A study from the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California the other day found the state will need 1.1 million more college educated workers by 2030 (beyond its current pace of producing graduates) to keep up with economic demand.

Thats one big reason the Cal State system this summer floated the idea of turning its current crop of remedial math and English classes into for-credit classes rather than leaving them as non-credit courses that dont contribute to anyones graduation.

The problem with giving academic credit for remedial classes that essentially provide students with knowledge or skills they should have picked up in high school is that it threatens to dumb down degrees from Cal State campuses from the North Coast to San Diego.

Top officials in the Cal State systems Long Beach headquarters know this and want to nip in the bud any suspicion about inferior diplomas.

We will only do this if we can do it without dumbing down the degree, said Mike Uhlenkamp, senior spokesman for Cal State. The most important thing we do is make sure students get a high quality education so employers know just what theyre getting when they take our people on.

Thats where things get dicey. How can Cal State combine standard freshman coursework with remedial lessons in the same kind of classwork, the stated goal of the putative new for-credit policy?

We have to do it, Uhlenkamp said. Classes wont be the same as todays when were trying to do catch-up and coursework all in the same breath.

Cal State would like to get this going, at least on a pilot basis, by next fall, which means students starting classes right about now wont notice much change. But its a conundrum the nations largest university system hasnt quite figured out.

Were consulting faculty, campus administrations, the community colleges and everyone else we can think of with an interest in this, Uhlenkamp added. Were still evaluating the best way to do it.

Still, it may not be possible to turn a cow into a racehorse just by calling it something different or painting it a different color.

And yet, theres little doubt the present system has made many students feel one-down. Some feel discriminated against because the non-credit remedial classes theyve been required to take doom them to spending a year or more longer getting to graduation than many of their onetime high school classmates.

So the Cal State bosses will consider criteria other than routine placement tests to determine who must get remedial work. In the past, weve relied on that, said Uhlenkamp. But some people are just poor test takers even if they know a subject. The remedy will be a more holistic approach, using high school grades and scores on the SAT and ACT tests (taken by most college-bound high schoolers) in addition to placement tests as factors indicating whether students are ready for college when they arrive.

And its not just Cal State that faces the remediation problem. So do the states community colleges, where many students who ordinarily would require catch-up classes now are being mainstreamed, some doing well.

The bottom line: For the community colleges, Cal State and most of California, its a must to graduate students faster, but the trick will be to do this in a way that doesnt decrease the quality and value of diplomas they get in the final act of their undergraduate years.
At a town hall meeting Wednesday in Oakland, California senator Kamala Harris - one of many Democrats who are considering running for president in 2020 - announced that she will be co-sponsoring a "Medicare for all" single payer health care bill that Bernie Sanders is introducing next month.

While this isn't a complete surprise, it's an evolution for Harris, who up until now seemed to be edging in that direction but hadn't come out emphatically for single payer.

This tells us something important about where the Democratic Party is right now and where it's going in the next few years.

Nearly every potential 2020 Democratic candidate has now said they support a single payer system (though that term is being misused and misunderstood; more on that in a bit). To Sanders and Harris you can add Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Chris Murphy as those who have made explicit statements in support of some form of single payer, even if none has a specific plan in mind. What you don't see is anyone thinking of running for president as a Democrat who opposes the idea; the worst you'll get from any one of them is some dodging of the question. That tells you that this is on its way to being a position that anyone who wants their party's nomination will have to hold.

But if they're serious, and they mean this not just as a statement of values but as a movement that is supposed to actually produce a policy change, then the hard work is about to start. It appears that Phase 1 of this process, where the party decides what it stands for - in this case, answering the question, "Do we support a universal health care system?" - is just about over. The much more difficult Phase 2 now begins, in which they have to answer the question, "Exactly how should we go about this as a policy matter?" Phase 3, in which they figure out how to accomplish it politically, is going to come later.

Fortunately for them, they went through this not too long ago, and there are lessons they need to draw on from the passage of the Affordable Care Act if they're to succeed.

It's important to understand that the ACA was only able to pass because Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats learned well the lessons of the failure of Bill Clinton's attempt at reform in 1993. They designed their plan and their legislative strategy specifically to avoid the pitfalls that undid Clinton's effort. For instance, Clinton's plan would have been extremely disruptive, moving pretty much everyone with private coverage (including the majority of Americans who get coverage through their employers) off the insurance they had and into a different arrangement. People's natural fear of change kicked in, and it became hard to convince them that they'd be better off in the end. In addition, the administration was hammered by opposition from powerful interest groups like insurers and pharmaceutical companies.

So Democrats set out to design a plan that would expand coverage while minimizing disruption and enabling health care interests to be co-opted. Those desires led to a plan that maintained the mostly private nature of the system, left employer coverage intact, and used an expansion of Medicaid and subsidies and additional regulations to get as many people as possible insured. By the time we got to the 2008 election, the internal Democratic policy debate was largely over; you might remember that Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards all presented nearly identical health care plans, reflecting the consensus of the party's health care wonks.

Getting that plan passed, however, was extraordinarily difficult, even when the party briefly had 60 votes in the Senate. So what lessons can we take from the experience of the ACA that might help Democrats as they move toward another enormous health care reform? Here are a few:

- It's going to take years. There's a certain amount of wishful thinking in some quarters that goes like this: Medicare-for-all is an idea people find attractive; single payer systems are simpler than what we have now; so all that's required to get it done is the proper application of will. But it's never that easy. It's going to require lots of detailed policy work and lots of political work to prepare for the moment where Democrats control the presidency and Congress and can make it happen. We all laughed at President Donald Trump when he said "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated," so liberals need to keep that in mind.

- Disruption is frightening. The fact that people don't want to lose what they have - and can easily be frightened into thinking they might - is a political reality that will always need to be dealt with. It helped defeat the Clinton plan, it helped undercut the ACA, and it helped defeat the Republican repeal effort. You can't wish it away. If you're going to change the insurance millions of people now have, you'd better have a darn good plan to overcome their fears.

- We need to think about the transition from where we are now to where we want to go. Other countries with universal systems had an easier time putting them in place than we will, because health care was less complicated decades ago when they did it. We now have an exceedingly complex system in place and transforming it won't be easy, so the plan we decide on has to be one we can get to from where we are now. The implementation of the ACA was hard enough; implementing a single payer plan would be even harder. The design of your favored plan should include an understanding of what will happen in the first months and years.

- Republican demagoguery is a certainty. Republicans will have legitimate critiques of any universal plan, but they will also tell insane lies about it. Remember "death panels"? Expect that times 10 in the case of single payer.

- Beware the interest groups. Some on the left look with scorn on Obama's decision to co-opt those groups, but if you don't do that, you'd better be ready for a vicious fight. Insurers, drug companies, medical device makers, hospitals, doctors - they all have a lot of money at stake, and whatever plan you come up with, you're going to have to deal with them.

- There will be winners and losers. Democrats can reasonably claim that many more people will be better off if we move to a universal system, and that everyone has something to gain. But that doesn't mean that there will be no one who winds up with something worse than they have now, and acknowledging that fact can help you prepare for the backlash.

- You have to be able to explain it to people. This was one of the major liabilities of the ACA: It was a complex solution to a complex problem, and few ordinary citizens understood what it did. Single payer systems start off with an advantage in this area; you can say "Everyone gets Medicaid" and that's easy to understand. But if that's not your preferred plan, you need to find a simple way to describe it.

Which leads to my final point: We should probably stop referring to what liberals want as "single payer," because that suggests that the only system they'd accept is one in which there is one government insurer and no private insurers. That's one possibility, but there are many other ways to get to universal, secure coverage that have multiple payers. I happen to think the best and most achievable system given where we are is one in which there's a basic government plan that covers everyone - an expanded Medicaid, perhaps - plus private supplemental insurance on top of it, a hybrid system of the kind that works well in countries like France and Canada. The point is that it would be much better to speak of "universal coverage," which allows for a number of different designs as long as they achieve the same goal.

Let's not forget that despite all its compromises, the passage of the ACA was enormously difficult. It required years of preparation, the expertise of some brilliant political minds, perfect timing, and a dose of sheer luck. There's no reason to think that passing a universal coverage plan would be any easier. So if that's what you want, you should realize that there's a long road ahead.
Lately, there has been a lot of discussion at town hall meetings and through the local media about Napa Valley becoming overrun with hotels and tourists.

Because the current economy is thriving, developers are filing applications for projects, many of them with lodging uses. Development decisions are made at the local government level, and each community in Napa has differing land-use policies and fiscal requirements. While many of these projects may get approved, it could take years for all the rooms to get built and the odds are good that not all the approved projects will be completed. Residents concerns are understandable as we all want to ensure Napa Valley maintains its superb quality of life.

Fortunately, Visit Napa Valley, the countywide nonprofit destination marketing organization, is working daily on behalf of the lodging industry with local government officials and partner organizations to help address the collective impacts of tourism on our community. This topic will be the focus of a column in the near future. For now, I would like to take a moment to more fully explain some of the economic benefits our local lodging industry generates and how it enhances our quality of life in the Valley.

Napa Valleys lodging industry generates funding for community services:

In 2010, the lodging industry voted to assess itself through a Tourism Improvement District (TID) to strategically market the Napa Valley. Marketing efforts have been solely focused on attracting visitors during non-peak seasons and mid-week in order to minimize traffic and crowding, as well as working to convert day trips to overnight visits. As a result, based on data collected by STR (formerly Smith Travel Research) since the TID assessment began, room rates and occupancy are at record levels, which, in turn, drives tax revenue directly to local jurisdictions (all five incorporated cities as well as the unincorporated county) to fund local services for residents.

In 2016, Destination Analysts produced a Napa Valley Visitor Profile study as well as an Economic Impact of Tourism study in the valley. Among other findings, the studies show that overnight guests to the Napa Valley spent on average $402 per person per day at our local businesses, for a collective spend of $1.9 billion, and the lodging industry generated over $80 million in local tax revenues.

Since the TID was formed and marketing efforts began, Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) increased 59 percent to over $47 million. In 2016 alone, property tax paid by lodging properties to local jurisdictions was $20.8 million due to significant upgrades and improvements to their facilities, and local sales tax generated by visitors was $11.7 million for local jurisdictions.

These tax revenues go into the local governments discretionary general fund to pay for critical services and programs like police and fire, parks maintenance, street and sidewalk cleaning, libraries, recreational and senior center programs, arts, and more. Today, TOT comprises 25 percent of the general fund revenue in the five incorporated areas, which is beneficial because they retain 100 percent of the TOT for local services and programs.

Napa Valleys lodging and hospitality businesses provide quality jobs for local residents:

The Valleys lodging and tourism industry supports more than 13,000 jobs in lodging, restaurant and visitor-oriented retail. More than 75 percent of employees in our lodging industry reside in Napa County. On average, the valleys hospitality jobs pay 15 percent above the California average, and more than 75 percent of the workforce receive medical, vacation and retirement benefits. From 2014 to 2016, lodging payroll grew 16 percent to $387 million.

Napa Valleys lodging industry is philanthropic:

Napa Valleys lodging business support a substantial number of local non-profits and service providers through cash and in-kind donations, volunteerism and donated room nights. Visit Napa Valley is working to capture more meaningful data to help quantify the positive benefits these generous contributions make on the community. In 2016, the lodging industry contributed an estimated 1,300 man hours and 3,800 room nights valued at approximately $2 million to local community causes.

It is an honor and a pleasure to live and work in the Napa Valley, and to represent an industry that does so much for our local residents. Our lodging partners focus on delivering an exceptional experience for their guests, always prioritizing quality over quantity, which seems to align with many of our collective goals, like managing traffic.

Visit Napa Valley continues to partner on issues like workforce housing, transportation alternatives, and employment and education issues that impact the industry and our wonderful community. We look forward to sharing those topics with you in future columns.
A capacity crowd recently joined Progressive Women of Napa Valley for their panel discussion Womens Voices: What does it Take to be Heard? Opportunities for Leadership.

The speakers included Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, state Assemblymember; Diane Dillon, Napa County Supervisor for District 3; Elba Gonzalez-Mares, Napa Valley Unified School District Board of Education, Area 2; and Joelle Gallagher, Napa County Planning Commission, all of whom are highly regarded community leaders.

Although 52 percent of Americans are women, they make up only 19 percent of the U.S. Congress and only 12 percent of state governorships. Both the panelists and the audience agreed these numbers need to change because women bring important perspectives, talents, and skills to problem solving.

Build your story and come to the table, said Aguiar-Curry. Gonzalez-Mares concurred: If you arent at the table, youre probably on the menu.

A candid dialogue between the panel and the audience of more than 40 covered these fundamental issues: Why women are underrepresented and what can be done to change these statistics, the unique challenges women face when running for public office, where to find information, guidance, and support on how to start a campaign, and how to find or become a mentor.

Drawing on their varied personal journeys from private citizen to public leader, the panelists delved into how to overcome challenges and make it to the top, and encouraged the audience to become involved in the public domain at all levels.

Participants left with a thumb drive containing all city and county opportunities to serve, including elected, appointed, and volunteer positions.

The panel was organized by Progressive Women of Napa Valley, a community-based group with the goals of achieving social equity, environmental health, and economic vitality in Napa County.

The group extends sincere thanks to the Napa Valley Community Foundation for the use of their Community Room. There was no fee for the program, but all participants made a minimum $25 donation to either Emerge California, the Napa Valley Community Foundation, or Planned Parenthood of Northern California.
The first of a still-growing roster of new tenants at First Street Napa is about to open its doors.

Starting next week, Compline (pronounced Comp-LYN), the brainchild of sommeliers Ryan Stetins and Matt Stamp, will enter the scene as downtown Napas latest epicenter of wine appreciation.

A triple-threat wine bar, restaurant and retail shop, with space for wine education by the week, Compline assumes the site of the former Gillwoods restaurant at 1300 First St. But, per Stamp and Stetins vision, the new space will be all but unrecognizable from its forerunner.

Stepping through the still skeletal interior of Compline one afternoon last week, Stamp and Stetins conjured up images of the soon to be completed space, from massive chalkboards plugging daily menus, to original art from bestselling wine author Madeline Puckette, to the suitcase clones of Wrigley Field ivy that will grow from a trellis in the lounge area adjacent to the patio, to the views of the gradually developing downtown district at the rear of the soon to be opening Archer Hotel.

Complines proximity to Archer, the destination hotel forecast as a lynchpin of tourist-based growth in the citys downtown district, presupposes what could be a crowd markedly from out of town.

Yet, Stetins said, We, very much so, want to be the locals wine bar that they frequent. So much so that as tourists also stop in they feel like theyre in a local beat and they feel like theyre included within the Napa culture by being here at Compline.

Stetins and Stamp were quite literally the first to approach Todd Zapolski after the realtor acquired the First Street space in 2012, Stetins said, recalling that Zapolski, pointed out that he loved that we walked to the meeting, because everybody else that he deals with is from out of town. And the fact that the first tenants that he has are two local guys that want to do something for the locals is kind of the tune that he sings for us.

Indeed, when Compline and other new tenants of First Street Napa were announced earlier this year, Zapolski said, We are confident Compline will become a local favorite and the community will support these two passionate gentlemen.

Thats not to say that Compline, which Stamp emphasizes is a wine bar at the core, will be at all cagey toward tourists. Quite the opposite, as Stamp will host an aptly named Jumpstart class each morning Wednesdays through Sundays, offering regional prep specially geared toward tourists and Napa Valley novices before they venture Upvalley.

Stetins will also take over the educational space Saturday afternoons to lead a similar Gateway: Napa Valley class, imparting six Napa wines and a few more specifics about the region than the Jumpstart class.

Mixing education into the wine bar equation, along with the retail shop and restaurant, comes as something of a natural leap for the duo, who met while running parallel as sommeliers in some of Napa Valleys top restaurants; Stetins at Redd and Redd Wood and Stamp at the French Laundry and Farmhouse Inn. Stamp also served for a time as Education Director for the Guild of Sommeliers.

As time went on and during this concept building we said, you know, we can integrate that and it doesnt take away from the focus  the focus being as a wine bar, Stetins said.

The two regularly crossed paths in the valley and eventually a conversation over dinner in an Oakville wine cellar set them down the path to Compline. At first, we really just  wanted someplace that we wanted to drink at, Stamp said.

As for setting up shop in downtown Napa, Stamp projected the area as just starting to kind of emerge in terms of a really pretty interesting cosmopolitan place that isnt solely about people who are working in the wine industry. Stetins agreed: If you want to strike while the iron is hot, I think Napa has been on a steady incline.

But since hatching their concept the duo has faced not only the opening of Cadet and La Taberna, two other downtown wine bars, but also the setback of one major earthquake. The latter significantly delayed construction around the Archer Hotel and First Street neighborhood.

We would have launched this sooner, Stamp said, but with the timeline of construction in the Archer and First Street neighborhood unclear, for a time we just kind of had to wait.

We knew that we would be the first people open, Stetins said. We just didnt want to be the first people open by a year.

But today, with the cast of First Street tenants mounting and developers eyeing an October opening for the Archer, the timing is finally right. And despite the growth in similar watering hole options downtown, Complines owners gauge the atmosphere as being more convivial than competitive.

Yes there is competition out there, Stetins said, but we all feel like, you know, all ships will rise with the tide in this particular case, because of local restaurateurs getting together and talking about how we can be successful as a team.

For instance, World Tour the third set of classes to be offered at Compline  led by Stamp and featuring eight wines from rotating regions of the world  will take place every other Monday, in tandem with the Monday night events held at Samantha Sheehans nearby Outland tasting room on Franklin Street.

So well sort of lodge our classes so that theres kind of something every Monday night in this area of downtown for wine education, said Stamp.

And on the food side Compline has enlisted La Tabernas opener, Chef Yancy Windsperger. With a focus on sourcing locally from farmers and purveyors Windsperger, Stamp said, aims to bring a more worldwide sense of technique in cuisine. So lots of locally sourced things  interpreted in different ways. Among those purveyors, William Henpenns Kicking Bull Farms will be providing the lions share of Complines vegetables.

As for Complines cornerstone, a by-the-glass list will feature 18 wines ranging from pet-nat prosecco to local chardonnay; Stamp noted a pinot meunier from Steve Matthiasson appearing on the opening by-the-glass list. A full list will hover around 250 wines, a third of which will stem from the surrounding wine country. The remainder will be drawn from around the U.S. and other wine regions worldwide.

So if youre coming in, youre looking for a great bottle of burgundy we have it for you, Stamp said. If youre looking for great local cabernet or chardonnay or charbono, we have that for you too.

We know that were in Napa and this is one of the greatest wine regions in the world, said Stetins. We want to be very representative of it, while learning through the lens of the old world wines that we all learned from.

Seating just under 100, Compline, at 1300 First St. will have its grand opening Sept. 10, with a tentative softer opening planned for next week.
On Monday, 4 and Tuesday 5 September 2017, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, The Honourable Ms. Rose Gottemoeller will travel to Bled in Slovenia to participate in a panel discussion entitled Global Nuclear Governance: Quo vadis? where she will deliver a keynote speech.

In the margins of the Conference, Ms. Gottemoeller will also have bilateral meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Mr. Karl Erjavec and other Western Balkan leaders.

The Deputy Secretary Generals keynote address will be published on the NATO website after delivery.

For additional information on the event, please consult the website: https://www.bledstrategicforum.org

Follow the Deputy Secretary General on Twitter @Gottemoeller). Also follow us at @NATOPress.
CSUF students Judith Avila, left, and Jenifer Leidelmeijer, right, with Jiwoo Han, a doctoral student from UCLA, prep a sediment core retrieved from Barley Lake in the Mendocino National Forest. The students, with CSUF geological sciences faculty members Matthew E. Kirby and Joe Carlin, conducted fieldwork in August as part of a collaborative National Science Foundation-funded research project with UCLA to reconstruct the history of floods, drought, fire and vegetation in California over the past 3,000 years.

The catastrophic flood devastation in Texas left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey is a reminder it could happen in Southern California  especially in low-lying areas near the regions water sources.

Floods are a serious threat to our region, said Cal State Fullertons Matthew E. Kirby, professor of geological sciences. Land-falling hurricanes are highly unlikely in Southern California, but they are not out of the realm of possibility.

CSUF geologist Joe Carlin, a native of Dallas, Texas, agreed: Perhaps the most important lesson we can learn is rather than being worried about it, we need to recognize this risk and be prepared.

Flooding occurs when the amount of water exceeds the capacity of the drainage system, such as a basin, channel or river, the geological scientists explained.

The regions greatest threat are large atmospheric rivers  a weather phenomenon that contains huge amounts of water vapor and usually brings heavy precipitation to the West Coast  associated with Pacific Ocean-sourced winter cyclones, Kirby added.

Southern Californias low-lying areas adjacent to river channels, creeks and flood-control basins, or downstream from dams, as well as coastal areas, are most vulnerable, noted Carlin, assistant professor of geological sciences.

Hunting for Clues About Californias Water History

While lessons will be learned from Hurricane Harvey, the CSUF researchers are studying Californias and the regions water history, including floods and droughts. In 2015, Carlin investigated flood deposits in the Gulf of Mexico from the Brazos River, which flows west of Houston and is currently experiencing record flooding due to Hurricane Harvey.

The flood deposits were not from a hurricane, but had set records for that river, which likely will be exceeded during these floods from Hurricane Harvey, he said.

Carlin and his students are working on a research project in Upper Newport Bay to determine whether sedimentation in habitats, such as marshes and mudflats, is sufficient to keep pace with sea-level rise. A side result of the research shows evidence of massive flooding in Orange County nearly 50 years ago.

Kirby, who studies the history of precipitation in California, is investigating lake and wetland mud sediments. His National Science Foundation-funded research focuses on understanding the past 10,000 years of Californias water history  why and how water varies across the state.

Geology graduate student Jen Palermo is working on a Southern California flood history using sediments from Crystal Lake, located in the San Gabriel Mountains. Kirby and his students also have a journal paper in review documenting a large flood event in Lake Elsinore during the mid-Holocene period, about 4,800 years ago.

It is highly likely that this flood is larger than anything weve seen in the historical record, he said.

Most recently, with a nearly $550,000 joint grant from NSF to CSUF and UCLA, Kirby is collaborating with UCLA geography professor Glen MacDonald, Carlin and CSUF mathematics faculty members Kevin Nichols and Reza Ramezan on a three-year research project. The collaborative effort aims to reconstruct the history of floods, drought, fire and vegetation in California over the past 3,000 years.

In August, the researchers, including Carlin and several geology students, conducted their first season of fieldwork for the project at Barley Lake, nearly 600 miles from campus in the Mendocino National Forest.

In this latest study, well look into whether large floods produced precipitation events more frequently during past wet climates, Kirby continued. How global climate change will change flood risk or probability in Southern California remains a debate.
Marcos E. Ortega, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry

Biochemist Marcos E. Ortega, a native of El Paso, Texas, studied how viruses replicate at the University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center, where he earned a doctorate in biochemistry. Following postdoctoral fellowships at USC and Harvey Mudd College, he landed a teaching position in 2013 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This fall semester, he joins Cal State Fullerton as an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Ortega also holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from Grinnell College in Iowa.

I chose to pursue a career in academia as I truly love the combination of teaching and research, said Ortega, who also speaks Spanish. I wanted to pursue a path that allowed me to impact the community and students in a very personal way through teaching, mentoring, outreach and service work.

What inspired you to go into this field?

I was inspired to pursue biochemistry and education by two things: the passing of my grandfather from diabetes when I was a teen and the teaching career of my mother. When I chose to pursue chemistry in college, it was biochemistry and the molecular origins of disease that piqued my interest the most. I sought answers in biochemistry about diabetes, which helped me to deal with the loss of my grandfather. It was truly a case where knowledge was power, and I utilize these lessons to this day in my classes. I was also inspired by the patience and significant impact that my mom had on students as a first-grade teacher. I want to have that same type of impact on others  and a career in academics married my desire to impact students with the molecular understanding and prevention of disease and infection.

What are your research interests?

My research interests lie in trying to understand viral infection and viral replication using biochemical techniques and studies. I seek to understand how biophysical and biochemical principles guide the spontaneous assembly of a mature virus in a host cell. At the core, I want to investigate how viruses replicate and assemble  and thus cause infection  by studying the relation between protein structure and function.

What do you hope students learn from your teaching?

I hope students learn that biochemistry is important to all people and impacts our lives on a daily basis. I want students to find a personal connection to biochemistry that hopefully motivates them to learn more. I also want students to find their place in the world and realize the importance of education. I know all students will not pursue biochemistry or biophysics, but through my teaching, I want students to know that anything is possible with a strong work ethic and an education.

What would you like others to know about your field of study?

I would like people to know that the answers to many of the difficult questions in todays world may be right in front of us. Whether its treatments for cancer, feeding the hungry, environmental issues or sustainable energy, the foundations of cellular function and the chemistry that drives it may begin to illuminate some answers that will help us prosper and advance as a society.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:03:22|Editor: yan

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by Xinhua writer Yan Lei

TOKYO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Citing the growing tension on the Korean Peninsula and hyping up the so-called "China threat," Japan's Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday a record-high budget request for the fiscal year 2018.

The 5.26 trillion yen (47.8 billion U.S. dollars) budget request, together with Japan's other moves to boost military capacity, reveals once again the country's tendency of remilitarization, which is legitimately unsettling to Japan's neighbors, given Japan's wartime past and its reluctance to truly reflect upon that past.

Local observers have pointed out that the envisaged giant budget, covering a purchasing list of state-of-the-art weaponry and equipment such as PAC-3 MSE missiles, F-35A stealth fighters, V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, apparently far exceeds the needs of a country for "pure defense."

Meanwhile, funds eyed for dispatching more defense officers abroad to collect information, and for promoting military cooperation with countries in Southeast Asia and in Africa, also reflect the nation's ambition to increase its security footprint internationally.

Since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe re-took office in 2012, under the flag of the so-called "active pacifism," Japan is, in many people's eyes, sliding further and further down the dangerous road of remilitarization.

From lifting ban on collective self-defense right to forced passage of the controversial new security laws which allow Japanese troops to fight abroad, from plans to augment defense budget to advocation of changing pacifist Constitution, the country is deviating from the postwar system that has ensured Japan's peaceful development for the past seven decades.

Japan has even been giving thoughts to acquiring "first strike" capabilities to take out enemy targets, with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera being an outspoken advocate of it before he assumed the current portfolio.

Despite the Abe administration's self-justification with regional "threats" and needs for defense, a remilitarized and belligerent Japan is apparently no good to regional peace and stability, but could trigger more turbulence and even arms race.

For one thing, Japan's remilitarization certainly won't help ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, as the past has proven that pressure and sanctions alone will not settle the issue which is long-standing, intricate and complex.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying has said that the only solution is to resolve the legitimate security concerns of all parties in a balanced way through dialogues.

As for the so-called "China threat," the fact is that Japan has been exaggerating it to devise excuses for its own hidden agenda.

While China has repeatedly made it clear that its navy and air force activities are in line with international law, domestic law as well as national defense needs, Japan is the one that is trying to fish in troubled waters and add fuel to disputes in the region.

A recent scandal involving the defense ministry's coverup of activity logs of its peace-keeping troops in South Sudan has also raised doubts among people as to the trustworthiness of the military department and what Japan might resort to do with its growing military capacities.

The huge military spending is also incurring an excessive financial burden to the nation that is already mired in fiscal woes as its arrears continue to stand as the highest in the industrialized world, amounting to more than twice the size of Japan's GDP.

If Japan sincerely wants to contribute to world peace and stability, instead of going farther along the road of militarization, it should do more to promote trust between countries instead of escalating tension and inciting disputes.

It's high time for Tokyo to heed the voices of the people who love peace and bid farewell to history revisionism and militarism and stop muddying the waters in the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:08:26|Editor: Zhou Xin

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WINDHOEK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is committed to continuous investment of more financial, technological and human resources into African projects, according to Lin Yichong, Chairperson of the board of directors at CHEC.

Speaking in a recent interview with Xinhua in Windhoek, Lin said that the company is always on the look-out for projects which offer a win-win situation for all.

As part of Sino-African cooperation, Lin said, CHEC has been involved in the port expansion projects in Africa and in Namibia specially, the Container terminal Project on Reclaimed Land in the Port of Walvis Bay and the National Oil Storage Project, which have created more than 2,000 jobs for Namibians.

Other projects across Africa, according to Lin, include the Lobito Port Project (Angola), Port Abidjan Project (Ivory Coast), Beira Port (Mozambique), Dar-Es Salam Port Project (Tanzania) and Kraba Port Project (Cameroon).

"In terms of Environmental/Green Development projects, CHEC is currently in the development phase of the construction of a Power Plant to be powered by waste in Angola," he added.

Lin said CHEC is also involved in various Corporate Social Responsibility activities across all its operations on the African continent and continues to support efforts aimed at enhancing education; assisting vulnerable groups and societies as well as cultural exchange programs.

Meanwhile, he noted that there still remains room for cooperation between China and Africa, especially on the infrastructure development side, despite a decline in commodity prices, which affected many African countries in a economic slowdown.

"Many African countries are embarking on a process of industrialization and therefore looking at the diversification of their economies. However, this process is limited and hindered by the underdevelopment of infrastructure in their countries and it has therefore been realized that infrastructure development can be the engine that drives the process of industrialization and economic diversification," he said.

Citing the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates, Lin said that there is a 2 percent slowdown in economic progress due to the underdeveloped nature of infrastructure in some countries.

"It argues, therefore that with efficient infrastructure development, the production sectors could see as much 40 percent growth," he added.

Meanwhile, he said Africa has shown a desire to work with China on developing infrastructure and China has the capacity and willingness to assist Africa in achieving these goals.

"China has a long history of focusing on infrastructure development as a major contributor towards economic growth. Its 30-year-old "open door" policy focused on developing infrastructure and this is a lesson that many African countries find worthy of emulating," he concluded.

Currently, CHEC is present in over 100 countries world-wide with projects worth 29 billion U.S. dollars, including the two projects in Namibia with a combined value of some 700 million U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:08:26|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BRUSSELS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thanion Thursday called on its neighbor states to lift the "illegal and baseless" blockade and tackle their differences in a "civilized way."

He made the remarks at a press conference in the European Parliament in Brussels after meeting with Members of European Parliament (MEPs).

The foreign minister stressed that the list of 13 demands for resuming diplomatic ties put forward by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in late June, was "unacceptable".

"Qatar never accepts interfering in any country's politics, and will not accept others interfering in our politics," he said.

He also argued that "no none should claim Qatar has special relationship with Iran."

On June 5, the Saudi-led quartet severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade on the rich tiny Gulf nation, citing Doha's support for terrorism and extremism, interference in their internal affairs, and seeking closer ties with Iran. Qatar has strongly denied these charges.

Tensions were renewed last week when Qatar announced it would send back its ambassador to Iran, a rival for most Gulf nations. Qatar recalled its envoy in Tehran in early 2016 in a show of solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the attacks on two Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash on Saturday strongly criticized Qatar's "arrogance and adolescent behavior" for the deepening of the crisis.

Despite a flurry of diplomatic mediation efforts made by the United States, the European Union, and Kuwait in the past months, the Gulf standoff has shown no signs of abating.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:13:28|Editor: Zhou Xin

Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2017 shows the Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco. The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the U.S. State Department said Thursday, in response to Moscow's demand that the size of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia be reduced. Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco issued a statement Thursday to denounce the U.S. State Department order earlier in the day to close it down. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the U.S. State Department said Thursday, in response to Russia's demand that the size of U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow be reduced.

The U.S. has also ordered Russia to shutter a chancery annex in Washington D.C. and a consular annex in New York, the State Department announced, adding that the move is "in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians."

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:48:48|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak met here on Thursday with his visiting British counterpart Mark Lancaster to discuss the bilateral cooperation, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

During the talks, Poltorak said that Kiev highly values its defence cooperation with London and stands ready to further expand it.

Poltorak has thanked the United Kingdom for the assistance, particularly, for providing a training program for the Ukrainian army and sending British troops to participate in Ukraine's Independence Day parade.

"British troops have demonstrated a solid preparation and a high level of responsibility during the parade," Poltorak said.

For his part, Lancaster said that the position of the British side regarding further assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces is "flexible."

"We are ready to consider the proposals of the Ukrainian side regarding other areas of assistance," he said.

Since March 2015, British military instructors have been providing trainings to Ukrainian servicemen, who fight against pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Since being in the East European country, the UK troops have directly trained over 5,000 members of Ukraine's army.

British troops have also taken part in Ukraine's Independence Day parade on Aug. 24 together with servicemen from nine other foreign countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 01:58:53|Editor: yan

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KHARTOUM, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Sudan said on Thursday that it expected the U.S. to fully lift economic sanctions after the extended review period ends in October.

The remarks were made by Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour in his meeting with a delegation of the U.S. Congress in the capital Khartoum, where the two sides reviewed the progress of bilateral ties, according to a ministry statement.

"Sudan is committed to what was agreed upon and will continue its cooperation in this respect, waiting for the American side to fulfill its commitment and lift the economic sanctions on Sudan in October," Ghandour said in the statement.

The U.S. delegation reaffirmed Washington's willingness to cooperate with Sudan on issues of mutual concern, the statement said.

In January, then U.S. President Barack Obama issued a decision to cancel two executive orders imposing economic sanctions on Sudan.

The executive orders gave 180 days for a review before the sanctions are fully lifted to ensure that the Sudanese government maintains its efforts on human rights and anti-terrorism.

In July, however, the U.S. administration under incumbent President Donald Trump decided to extend the review period by three months to determine whether to permanently lift trade sanctions against Sudan.
Evacuees exit a rescue boat in the flood waters of Tropical Storm Harvey in Port Arthur, Texas, U.S. in a still image from video August 30, 2017. (REUTERS/Greg Savoy)

HOUSTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 40 people died or are feared dead in flooding or circumstances connected to Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, according to local officials.

Medical examiners are in the process of confirming which deaths are related to the historic flooding. Authorities are still searching for some of those believed to have perished during the flooding in the region. Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said Wednesday night it had confirmed 18 storm deaths, all but one of which were accidental drownings. They were investigating 10 additional deaths as potentially storm-related.

Among those deaths is a family of six reported missing after their van was swept away by floodwaters in east Houston near Greens Bayou on Sunday afternoon.

At least six people have died in Galveston County near the Gulf Coast as a result of Harvey-related flooding, officials said Tuesday, and one other death may be storm-related. The total includes three confirmed deaths -- two in Dickinson and one in League City.

Deaths were also reported in four counties in south east of Texas.

Flood waters not only destroy homes and highways, but also bring with chemicals, heavy metals, sewage, debris and mosquitoes to people's homes in what officials have warned that residents are facing long-term health threats.

In a press conference, officials reminded residents to remain clear of flood water which could have dangerous debris, down power lines and snakes. They also reminded residents to stay vigilant to remove standing water to reduce the threat of mosquito-born illnesses.

"Prevention, prevention, prevention is the key," Dr. Humair Shaw, Harris County public health executive director said in the conference. Harris County is where Houston locates.

Shaw said that as much of the county remained underwater, the threats hidden beneath those murky tides have led to several injuries.

"When you expose yourself to flood waters, you put yourself at risk," he said, adding "if you've been exposed to flood water, do whatever you can do to disinfect yourself," he said.

As water begins to recede in most of the flooded roads in Houston, Xinhua correspondent saw there are people playing with flood water on the streets, or even fishing in lakes and rivers where the water level has risen dramatically since Hurricane Harvey made a landfall on Aug. 25 in Gulf Coast area in Texas.

In particular, Shaw asked parents keep their children from playing flood water.

He also addressed the importance of homeowners and business owners cleaning their homes and buildings after they take in water.

Wildlife can post a health risk. Standing water left after the flood recedes will leave an ideal breading ground for mosquitoes which can spread Zika virus.

Water-borne and person-to-person infections can also early spread after a disaster. Overwhelmed sewer systems bring people into contact with disease-spreading bacteria. Stomach illnesses are common after floods, public health officials said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 08:25:48|Editor: Song Lifang

Residents wade through flood water in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Sept. 1, 2017. Emergency has been declared in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi as heavy monsoon rains continued to lash the city on Thursday, local reports said, adding that the local government has requested the Pakistani army for assistance. (Xinhua/Masroor)

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Emergency has been declared in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi as heavy monsoon rains continued to lash the city on Thursday, local reports said, adding that the local government has requested the Pakistani army for assistance.

The army has arrived at various parts of the city to assist the local government in rescue and disaster relief operation, according to the ARY News.

The army was instructed to extend full support to Karachi city administration and water extraction pumps have been provided to the city, according to the military's media wing of the Inter-Services Public Relations.

Local reports said at least 16 people were killed, mostly due to electrocution. Parts of the city have been submerged, while road and railway traffic were also affected by the heavy rainfalls.

According to Pakistan Meteorological Department, widespread rain, thundershowers with moderate to heavy rainfalls may occur in the city in next 24 hours.

This is the second wet spell which hit the country over the past 10 days. At least 22 people were killed and several others injured in the spell on Aug. 20.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 10:36:39|Editor: Zhou Xin

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 militants were killed after security forces launched an armed offensive in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan Province, local media reported Friday.

Paramilitary troops Frontier Corps conducted the operation in Harnai area of the province on Thursday, the reports said, adding that the militants were killed after a furious exchange of fire between security forces and the insurgents.

Three hideouts were destroyed in the operation that was launched on an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of suspected elements in the area.

A huge cache of arms and ammunition were also recovered from the hideouts of the militants who were associated with some proscribed organization.

The killed militants were reportedly involved in bomb explosions, target killings and other terrorist and criminal activities in the province.

Earlier on Aug. 14, eight soldiers were killed and several others injured in a bomb explosion in the very same area.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 10:56:44|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MANILA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least three more soldiers have been killed and 52 others wounded in the fight between government forces and rebels in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, where 30 to 40 pro-ISIS militants still hold out, a local radio report said on Friday.

Quoting military spokesman Jo-ann Petinglay, radio DZBB reported that that soldiers were killed on Thursday. "The soldiers sustained wounds from exploding improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," it said.

In a separate interview, the military also said a final plan to crush holdover Maute militants in Marawi City is in place and will be implemented soon.

Col. Romeo Brawner, the deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Marawi, said the government security forces are extremely careful in implementing the "final push" to completely crush the extremists that pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Brawner stressed the need to carefully plan the offensive to ensure the safety of the government forces and the undetermined number of civilians who were taken hostage by the militants.

He added that there are indications that the militants will use the hostages, including a Roman Catholic priest, as "human shields or as suicide bombers."

The military is hoping the conflict could end in less than a month.

The conflict broke out on May 23. It has so far killed more than 800 people and displaced more than 500,000 civilians.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 12:17:00|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The threat of bushfires in eastern Australia is at "near-record" levels after the nation's driest winter since 2002, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has warned.

The dry winter in 2002 culminated in a damaging bushfire season capped off by bushfires in the Victorian Alps that ran for 59 days and burned 5 percent of the state.

Andrew Watkins, the BoM's manager of climate prediction, said the key difference was that the dry conditions in 2002 were caused by an El Nino weather event while the warm and dry conditions in 2017 were part of a warming trend.

"There have been other years where we have had drier conditions without an El Nino but what we've been seeing more recently is a trend toward drier starts to winter, or rather the late autumn/early winter conditions, and certainly that's been the long-term trend," Watkins told the Australian media on Friday.

"Through south-eastern Australia we've certainly seen a shortening of our winters."

He said that one of the results of the warming trend was an earlier start to bushfire season with parts of New South Wales (NSW) to be under threat from the start of spring.

"Fingers crossed that this period of danger with strong westerlies bringing warmth and winds will be short-lived," Watkins said.

"If it goes into October, I think NSW will be in trouble."

The BoM's official summer bushfire outlook is due to be released in early September with NSW and Queensland expected to show "near record values for winter in terms of fire potential."

The fire threat in Victoria will be graded as "above average."

Watkins said the winter of 2017 was Australia's warmest since 2009. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 12:27:11|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Russia next week to hold a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moon's office said on Friday.

Moon will visit the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok from Wednesday to Thursday to attend the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) and meet with the Russian leader, according to the presidential Blue House.

On Wednesday, Moon will hold an expanded summit meeting with Putin and have a joint press conference.

On Thursday, the South Korean president will deliver a keynote speech at the forum, which was established in 2015.

The EEF is a regional forum for cooperation between political and business leaders from Russia and Asia-Pacific countries.

Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun told a press briefing that Moon and Putin will discuss bilateral cooperation, including the development of Russia's far eastern region, as well as cooperation to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon's first visit to Russia would come after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's launch on Tuesday of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, called Hwasong-12, which flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The spokesman said Moon was scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the forum, but he added that detailed schedules were still under discussion.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 12:32:12|Editor: Zhou Xin

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HANOI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam imported over 3.3 million tons of fertilizers worth 905 million U.S. dollars in the first eight months of this year, recording respective year-on-year surges of 24.5 percent and 23.2 percent.

The fertilizers, mostly urea, Ammonium Sulfate, Potassium, Diammonium Phosphate and Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium fertilizers, were imported mainly from China, Russia, Indonesia, Canada and Japan, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade on Friday.

Vietnam imported 4.2 million tons of fertilizers, including 610,229 tons of urea, totaling over 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, seeing respective declines of 7 percent and 21 percent against 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 13:07:20|Editor: Song Lifang

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Abdel-Mohsen Salama (L), chief executive officer of Al-Ahram Foundation and head of Egypt's Syndicate of Journalists, receives an interview by Xinhua's journalist in Cairo, Egypt, on Aug. 28, 2017. Egypt's participation in the BRICS summit will open new horizons for Egypt's economy as it will boost its economic cooperation with the bloc, the head of Egypt's largest state-run newspaper Al-Ahram told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's participation in the BRICS summit will open new horizons for Egypt's economy as it will boost its economic cooperation with the bloc, the head of Egypt's largest state-run newspaper Al-Ahram told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

"I hope one day Egypt becomes a BRICS member, not just a guest of honor, because this will open massive horizons for cooperation with the group's members, which will surely be very beneficial to the Egyptian economy," said Abdel-Mohsen Salama, chief executive officer of Al-Ahram Foundation and head of Egypt's Syndicate of Journalists.

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi will soon fly to the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen to attend the ninth summit of the large economic bloc scheduled for Sept. 3-5.

The BRICS summit was first launched by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006 and expanded to include South Africa in 2010.

"We appreciate China's support for the Egyptian economy, which was clearly shown when Egypt suffered a shortage of foreign currency and China made a currency swap deal with Egypt to carry out trade exchange in their local currencies," Salama told Xinhua.

"That move positively affected the Egyptian economic conditions then," he added.

The economic cooperation between Egypt and China is a "win-win situation" as China could help boost the Egyptian economy while Egypt can be China's commercial portal in the Arab and African worlds, Salama noted.

Under the leadership of Sisi and Xi, the Sino-Egyptian ties have been elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership, while the bilateral trade volume increased to 11.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, making Egypt China's third largest trade partner in Africa.

Salama, who will be part of the Sisi-led delegation to Xiamen, expects his first visit to China to be a chance for learning more about the Chinese experience which has turned the country into the second largest economy in the world in a few decades.

"The Chinese experience needs to be well examined. I would like to learn more about the details of the Chinese experience as it is important to my personal knowledge and to my career as a chief journalist in Egypt," the veteran journalist said.

Egypt sees its participation in the BRICS summit as a good opportunity to continue consultation with China on various issues of mutual interest and to follow up on their joint projects in many fields, given that several Chinese companies are promoting infrastructure projects in Egypt.

In a recent interview with Chinese media, Sisi said the BRICS Business Forum, a major side-event of the BRICS summit, is a good opportunity to present the economic reform by the Egyptian government and its measures to attract foreign investment.

"Egypt needs technical aid from China to learn how to copy the Chinese industrial experience in Egypt, so that Egypt can change from an interest-based economy to a production-based one," said Salama.

The Al-Ahram chief expressed the hope that China can help Egypt by exporting its expertise to the Arab country, "especially in the industrial fields where China has achieved a lot of progress."

Egypt is also a focal point in China's Belt and Road Initiative launched by Xi four years ago. The initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, designed to revive ancient trade routes to link China with a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Europe through trade and infrastructure networks.

Salama hailed the initiative as a "very important and active springboard" for further economic cooperation through sustainable development projects among the states along the Belt and Road routes.

"Egypt attaches importance to this initiative and takes part in it, as it comes within the framework of fast-growing economic relations between Egypt and China," Salama said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 13:52:34|Editor: liuxin

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COLOMBO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's wildlife authorities on Friday shut down one of the largest national parks in the island country for two months due to a worsening drought.

Wildlife Conservation Department spokesperson Hasini Sarathchandra told local reporters that the Yala National Park, which is a large tourist attraction, will be closed from Friday for a period of two months.

"The park will re-open again on Oct. 31, provided rains being experienced during this time," Sarathchandra said.

"However, it should be noted that last year too the park re-opening following the dry season had to be extended as the drought had continued to affect the availability of water for the animals to survive," she added.

Situated in Sri Lanka's southeast hugging the panoramic Indian Ocean, Yala was designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1900 and became a national park in 1938.

It is Sri Lanka's second largest national park and home to some of the world's biggest concentration of leopards, elephants, sloth bears, sambars, jackals, spotted dears, peacocks and crocodiles.

The park attracts more than 100,000 foreign tourists each year and is a key source of revenue to the government.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 14:12:45|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KABUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Afghans marked Eid al-Adha, one of the biggest religious festivals, by attending prayers and visiting relatives throughout the country on Friday.

They offered prayers in big mosques amid tight security Friday morning.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani took part in Eid prayers together with senior officials and cabinet members in a mosque in the Presidential Palace earlier on Friday.

"I congratulate Eid al-Adha to all my fellow Afghans and Muslims around the world too," Ghani said after offering the prayer, broadcast live by the state-run TV.

In his short speech, the Afghan leader said: "Let's also honor the sacrifices of our brave security forces and keep them in our prayers."

Following the prayers, the believers joined the sacrificing of animals and distributing the meat to poor families.

The annual festival, known as the Festival of Sacrifice, is observed in the Islamic world from Thursday (Aug. 31) until Sunday (Sept. 3) this year.

Muslims wear new clothes on Eid days and greet relatives and friends to boost cordial relations. Pocket money and gifts are given to children on this occasion.

To ensure security during the festival, thousands of security forces have been deployed across the country to check subversive incidents.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 14:17:48|Editor: Yang Yi

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The digital revolution in China appeared to be a marvel to the world, as the country's leading mobile payment businesses began to facilitate people's lives across the globe.

CHANGING PAYMENT HABIT

Can you get by a day in Beijing without a wallet? In April last year, a CNN correspondent Will Ripley gave it a try and he survived well.

"Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about going an entire day in Beijing without my wallet, but I was surprised to discover just how easy and convenient it is," said Ripley in his report.

He ordered "a delicious fried crepe" --Jianbing-- for breakfast at a cramped roadside shop, opened Wechat app on his smartphone, and scanned a Wechat pay-bar-code sticker on the window. Seconds later, by inputting a 4-digit password for payment, and the transaction was completed.

Carrying a smartphone, Ripley also hailed taxis, ordered coffee, paid for meals at restaurants without trouble.

In recent years, mobile payment has sprung up in major Chinese cities as a preference over cash and cards when people buy goods or services from various businesses ranging from street vendors, supermarket chains to fancy shopping centers.

Electronic payments are mainly processed through China's Alipay and Wechat apps. By linking credit and debit cards with personal accounts on the two apps, people could transfer money and complete payments with a few tips of fingers.

According to a UN report published in April, China's total mobile payments in value have increased some 20-fold in four years to reach 20 trillion yuan (2.9 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2016.

Alipay, established by China's e-commerce titan Alibaba Group in 2004, released data showing that 71 percent of online payments on its platform was completed through smartphones in 2016.

About one third of foreigners in China have used Alipay by 2016, said Alipay's parent company Ant Financial Services Group.

"My wallet is no longer in use. I can buy and eat whatever I want simply with a fingertip on my phone," Lin Jinlong, an overseas student from Cambodia told Xinhua.

"We can also order food at home, which is super convenient. If I were at home in Cambodia, I would have to go outdoors," Lin said.

Mobile payment has become a popular way of life in China. Besides purchasing goods, users can take full advantage of the apps to pay water and electricity bills as well as traffic fines, unlock shared bicycles that are ubiquitous in urban areas, pay for bus and taxi rides, and make appointments at hospitals.

SERVING CHINESE ABROAD

The celebration of Thailand's Songkran Festival in April marks a high season for Chinese tourists to visit the country. In Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other cities, Wechat Pay and Alipay are widely used by Chinese visitors in stores, restaurants, and even massage parlors.

"I don't need to take my wallet out, I don't need to wait for change, there is some discount and no commission, the payment method has so many advantages," a woman from Beijing surnamed Liu told Xinhua while shopping in downtown Bangkok.

China's mobile payment service took its first step toward global market in 2008 by supporting cross-border in-store payment, and has since been venturing out to overseas market to facilitate Chinese travelers' experience abroad.

Alipay now partners with more than 120,000 businesses covering catering services, supermarkets, convenient stores, duty free shops, airports, department stores and theme parks in 27 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, America, and even the Arctic area.

"Alipay is a really easy and convenient payment method for Chinese customers. When they come to store and they realize that we accept Alipay, they're presently surprised and they're quite excited," said Hannah Jackson, Business Development Project Manager of the Body Shop in London.

Rita Liu, head of Alipay EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), pointed out that Alipay also serves as a marketing platform for overseas businesses targeting Chinese consumers.

"For example, Chinese tourists in London can browse through local commercial areas and recommended shops on the app, and receive discounts and coupon information," Liu said.

Above all of these, Alipay squeezes margins to provide favorable exchange rates to its 520 million users, she added.

"Chinese people have strong purchasing power, and it will continue increasing with the rise of the middle class," she said. "Foreign businesses value Chinese customers and see the opportunity, and that's why we are pushing global outreach as our priority."

Chinese people's top shopping destinations include South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, to name a few. Similarly, Wechat pay serves Chinese people in a dozen countries and regions, and processes payments in more than 10 foreign currencies.

The layout of mobile payment services overseas resembles a sophisticated ecosystem, encompassing every stage of outbound travels, from reserving flight tickets and booking hotels, to shopping at airports and commercial areas, dining and travelling in cities.

"Our vision is to realize a digital lifestyle. We believe that people' s payment and consumption habits will be more digital-leaning in the future," Rita Liu said.

GOING GLOBAL

Before strolling on the streets of the Chinese city of Hangzhou in early 2016, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Indian e-commerce company PayTM, never thought that cryptic QR codes prevalent in China could solve a problem that had troubled his company.

The company needed abundant bar code scanners to promote mobile payment in India at the time, but quickly adopted the Chinese way of printing QR codes on paper to reduce cost and funding risks after Sharma's trip.

PayTM only had less than 30 million users by February 2015, and now the number rocketed to 220 million, making it India's top mobile wallet and the third largest in the world, exceeding Paypal.

Behind its success stands Ant Financial, who partnered with PayTM since 2015.

Ant Financial sent technical staff to India to help PayTM engineers build a localized mobile payment platform, exporting cutting-edge technologies in risk control, cheat-proof and anti-money laundering systems for mobile payment.

Sharma said years ago people would say China learnt from the Silicon Valley. Now, the Silicon is learning from China on its advanced digital technologies.

Inspired by Alipay, PayTM discovered local features. People use the app to pay for rides on Tuktuk, a commonly used motor tricycle service, scan codes on posters to buy Bollywood movie tickets, and scan codes on merit boxes in temples to donate.

Technical and business output of such can also be found in Wechat Pay, as it partners with PayU, one of India's largest mobile payment providers.

Similar moves go beyond India into markets having huge demand for mobile payment, with Ascend Money in Thailand, Mynt in the Philippines, Emtek in Indonesia, Kakao in South Korea and others forming partnerships with their Chinese models.

"Forming partnership is our core strategy, because our partners know local businesses and market best," said Rita Liu.

Different regions may not at the same pace in adopting mobile payment, as Liu sees it, but China's marveling digital revolution will be recognized more in the long run.

"We believe mobile payment is an irresistible trend in the world at large, but changes need time," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 14:22:56|Editor: Song Lifang

Seiji Maehara (2nd R) shouts slogans after being selected as the new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 1, 2017. Japan's former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was selected by the main opposition DPJ on Friday as its new leader, seeing off his rival Yukio Edano, a political heavyweight who previously served as chief cabinet secretary when the party was in power. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

TOKYO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan's former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was selected by the main opposition Democratic Party on Friday as its new leader, seeing off his rival Yukio Edano, a political heavyweight who previously served as chief cabinet secretary when the party was in power.

Maehara, 55, previously led the main opposition party when it was known as the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The party was in power between 2009 and 2012.

The Democratic Party's presidential election was brought about after former leader Renho announced her resignation from the top post following a dismal performance by the party in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in July.

At the time of the metropolitan assembly, Renho and the Democratic Party failed to capitalize on a series of scandals plaguing the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), an influence-peddling scandal of which implicated Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who also leads the LDP.

The party has been hit by a number of its members jumping ship due to their dissatisfaction with the party's lack of clout in parliament and overall leadership.

Maehara will, thus, be charged with boosting unity within the party ahead of the next lower house election that must be held by the end of next year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 14:43:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and two others injured after a blast hit a vehicle in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Mohmand Agency on Friday, local Urdu media reported.

The killed included a father and his son who were accompanying a tribal elder to a place in their vehicle, Dunya News said.

The vehicle was struck by a landmine planted at the roadside by unknown militants in the Shati Maina area of the Agency, a tribal area located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The tribal elder got injured, and has been shifted to a nearby hospital where he is said to be in critical condition.

No group has claimed the attack yet. Security forces cordoned off the area for investigations.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 14:53:03|Editor: Song Lifang

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YANGON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government has announced withdrawal of the law suits against eight journalists and activists, according to a statemnet from the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services office on Friday.

The eight journalists and activists include U Wai Phyo, chief editor of the Daily Eleven newspaper, who was charged under Section 502 of the Penal Code for defamation, U Kyaw Min Swe, chief editor of the Voice Daily, and Britichar Ko Ko Maung (columnist) who were charged under News Media Law Section 25(B) and Telecommunication Act Section 66(d).

Also, two senior reporters of DVB - U Aye Naing and U Pyi Phone Aung and senior reporter of Irrawaddy news, who were charged under Unlawful Associations Act 17(1) and the other two activists are also on the list that the military has decided to withdraw the law suits against the journalists.

According to the statement, the military has decided to withdraw the law suits as a token of recognizing the journalists cooperation in serving the interests of the nation and the people by sharing common ground with the same intention.

And Myanmar Press Council has been asked to ensure that the journalists strictly observe professional ethics in their reports.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 15:23:13|Editor: Song Lifang

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- With the recovery of more bodies from the debris overnight, the death toll in a building collapse in India's financial capital Mumbai Friday rose to 32.

"Some 32 people are now confirmed dead in the incident, while 15 injured are being treated at a hospital, where the condition of few are said to be serious. The injured include five fire brigade officials and a disaster management official," a senior police official said.

Nearly 50 people have been rescued alive from the rubble of the five-storied building that collapsed in Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar area Thursday morning.

"Rescue and relief operations are still underway as three to four persons are still feared to be trapped under the debris. Earthmovers are also being used to find any more survivors in the mishap," the official said.

Chief Minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis visited the spot Thursday and announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees (7,000 U.S. dollars) for the families of each of those killed.

He also said the entire medical expenses of those injured will be borne by the state government. "A probe has been ordered into the building collapse. Action will be taken in case of any negligence," he told the media.

The building, which was over 100 years old and home to 11 families and a sweet shop on the ground floor, collapsed two days after Mumbai and its adjoining areas were lashed by heaviest rain in 12 years on Tuesday.

On Saturday, a building being demolished in Mumbai's Chandivali crashed, killing at least six people. And in July this year, 17 people were killed when a four-story building in the city crumbled during renovations.
File photo shows a Burundi refugee carries mats for his family at the UN Makamba refugee transit center on the Burundi-Tanzania border August 26, 2005. (Xinhua Photo/Yang Lei)

DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency will next week start repatriating about 12,000 Burundian refugees sheltered in Tanzania's western region of Kigoma, a tripartite meeting between Tanzania, Burundi and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed on Thursday.

A statement issued at the end of the one-day 19th tripartite meeting in the east African nation's commercial capital Dar es Salaam said the refugees who have volunteered to return home will be repatriated from September 7 through December.

The meeting chaired by Tanzania's Minister for Home Affairs Mwigulu Nchemba requested the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food for the returning refugees in Burundi for three months beginning September.

The meeting also appealed to the international community to provide necessary support for the voluntary repatriation process including support for the local communities in Burundi.

Nchemba said the government was not forcing the Burundian refugees to return to their country explaining that the refugees had volunteered to go back home on their own volition.

"No one has forced them to get back to their country. They have been self-motivated and what Tanzania is doing is to facilitate their safe return home," said Nchemba.

He said Tanzania was aware that the situation in Burundi was stable and allowed for the voluntary repatriation of the refugees.

Chansa Ruth Kapaya, the UNHCR Country Representative for Tanzania, thanked the governments of Tanzania and Burundi for their joint interest and keenness to respond to the request by the refugees to be assisted to return voluntarily to Burundi.

Kapaya also appreciated the hospitality and generosity of the government of Tanzania which has been host to thousands of refugees since its independence in 1961.

Today Tanzania hosts some 350,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of whom 256,850 have arrived from Burundi since April 2015.

On July 20, President John Magufuli called on the Burundian refugees now in the country to return home voluntarily and help build their country, asserting that now there was security in the tiny central African country.

Magufuli's remarks were in support of an earlier plea by Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza, who had called on his fellow countrymen to go back home and help rebuild their country because the "war is over."

Magufuli also took a swipe at international humanitarian bodies for trying to convince refugees not to return to their home countries because of continued insecurity, just so they can continue receiving aid from donors.

The president also directed the Ministry of Home Affairs not to grant citizenship to any more Burundian refugees coming into Tanzania.

In June, the UN refugee agency said Tanzania remained the largest host of Burundian refugees.

Tanzania is currently home to more than 315,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are hosted in three refugee camps of Nyarugusu, Nduta, and Mtendeli, which face severe pressure.

On Sunday, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) appealed for 23.6 million U.S. dollars from now through to December this year to be able to continue meeting the food and nutritional needs of refugees in Tanzania.

The world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide said in a statement that it has been forced to reduce food rations for 320,000 refugees in Mtendeli, Nduta and Nyarugusu Camps in northwest Tanzania as a result of funding shortfalls.

WFP provides refugees, primarily from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with five food commodities of maize meal, pulses, super cereal, vegetable oil and salt.

"Due to funding shortages, all five commodities were reduced for the August distribution, reaching only 62 percent of the 2,100 required kilocalories which is the recommended daily calorie intake," said the statement.

"Without an immediate response from donors, further ration cuts will be necessary as food stocks are simply running out," said WFP Tanzania Country Representative Michael Dunford.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 15:28:16|Editor: Song Lifang

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KABUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that at least 28 civilians were killed by airstrikes in two Afghan provinces late last month, the UN mission said in a statement on Friday.

"The UNAMA is gravely concerned by the killing of at least 28 civilians and injury of 16 others - all women and children - during air strikes in Herat and Logar provinces this week," the statement read.

On Aug. 30, 13 civilians were killed and 12 others wounded after U.S. forces struck a compound on the outskirts of Pul-e-Alam, capital of the eastern Logar province.

"The air strikes reportedly targeted Anti-Government Elements as they used a civilian compound to attack aircraft. UNAMA notes the news release issued by United States Forces in Afghanistan that it is aware of an incident in the Logar area and that they have opened an investigation into it," the statement added.

On Aug. 28, an airstrike reportedly conducted by Afghan air force claimed the lives of 15 civilians and injured four others in Shindand district, western Herat province.

"I am deeply saddened to hear that women and children have once again suffered so terribly from the conflict," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, was quoted in the statement as saying.

UNAMA urges authorities to ensure independent, impartial and prompt investigations of both incidents at the earliest opportunity, and for appropriate steps to be taken to ensure accountability, compensation for victims and the prevention of such incidents in the future, according to the statement.

More than 1,660 civilians were killed and over 3,580 others injured in conflict-related incidents in the first half of this year, according to figures released by UNAMA.
A hawker sells non-woven cloth bags in a market in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Aug. 28, 2017. Kenya's landmark plastic ban that took effect on Monday received cautious welcome from retailers who expressed concern over its impact on their businesses despite its much touted environmental benefits. (Xinhua/Li Baishuan)

by Bedah Mengo

NAIROBI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Joseph Malenya, a dairy farmer in Kakamega, western Kenya, knows too well the pain of losing a high-yielding cow.

And the agony is more severe when such a highly-priced dairy animal dies from a cause that is preventable.

Four months ago, Malenya returned home in the afternoon to find his Friesian cow that was producing 18 liters of milk per day - not a mean achievement -sleeping at the cowshed.

The animal had not left the shed since morning, which was unusual, despite its handler trying as much as he can to persuade it.

Kept under a semi zero-grazing system, the animal and four others would be shepherded out of the units for grazing at an open field in the morning hours before being returned in the afternoon for intensive feeding.

"I called a veterinary officer urgently upon realizing the animal was sick and he arrived later that afternoon and diagnosed the cow had a problem with its stomach. He did what he could to treat it but unfortunately it died later that evening," he recounted Wednesday.

The following day the vet with the help of the farmer dissected the animal only to find several plastic bags inside its rumen.

"I was disheartened. Apparently the animal had ingested several plastic bags while grazing in the field and yet the farm worker had not told me," he said.

Malenya is among the hundreds of livestock farmers in the East African nation who are happy with a recent move by the government to ban production, use and importation of plastic bags. Gone with the plastics are meaningless death of their animals.

The ban took effect Monday and Kenyans are currently transiting to alternatives to plastic bags which include canvas bags and carton boxes.

Anyone found with plastic bags will now be arrested and charged, with the offence attracting a fine of between 19,417 dollars and 38,834 dollars, a jail term of between one and two years, or both.

Kenyans used up to 24 million plastic bags monthly, with half ending up in the environment due to poor disposal.

"If we were not using plastic bags then and disposing them badly, my cow would not have died. The death was preventable if people were careful not to dispose the bags as they wished," said Malenya.

Tens of farmers keeping their cows under zero grazing and the free range systems have been affected by the plastic bags after their cows ingested them.

However, those affected most have been farmers free-ranging their animals, in particular the pastoralists in Northern Kenya.

A number of their goats, sheep and cattle have died after consuming plastic bags as they roam from one region to another in search of pasture.

A study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNDP) released two weeks ago found that 15 per cent of all cows slaughtered in the capital Nairobi were full of plastics in their stomachs.

The bags once consumed by animals over time end up in human bodies after people eat meat, with some researches indicating the plastics lead to cancers, birth defects, developmental problems in children and immune system suppression.

"An animal is usually lucky to survive if it ingests plastic bags but a number die due to infections caused by plastics. You only learn of it when it dies or when you slaughter it and check the rumen where they lodge affecting motility," said Bernard Moina, an agricultural officer in western Kenya.

Moina noted that unlike canvas material, which can be broken down by the cow's stomach, plastics cannot.

"They tie themselves around the animal's intestines making it difficult for it to consume other feeds. Most animals eventually die," he said.

However, despite being a menace to animals, some dairy farmers have for years been using plastic bags to pack their produce.

While the practice was outlawed by the government, it had lived for many years until the Monday ban as farmers seeking better prices of their milk hawked the produce.

"I am happy with the ban," said Rosemary Muthini, a chicken farmer in Ruai on the outskirts of Nairobi. "Plastics made life easier because one could buy eggs and I pack them in for them but they were a menace because they dirtied the environment."

Since the ban, Muthini who also slaughters chickens and sells their meat at 4 U.S. dollars noted that initially he was packing the product in plastic bags but has now changed to aluminum foil.

"It is expensive since the bags went for 0.05 dollars and aluminum foils cost double but I believe we will adapt to the change," he said.

The National Environment Management Authority on Wednesday said the ban on plastic bags had largely succeeded as consumers were transiting to alternative even as it formed a joint team with manufacturers to address their grievances.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 15:38:20|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SYDNEY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong businessman Hui Wing Mau has purchased the majority stake in Australian meat processing company Bindaree Beef Group, the company said Friday.

Although the exact figure has not been disclosed, it is believed the 51 percent share of the business cost somewhere between 100 and 150 million Australian dollars (79-120 million U.S. dollars).

"The investor consortium has a successful investment track record and we are confident of their commitment to the growth of Bindaree business," Bindaree Beef Group founder JR McDonald said Friday in a statement after the transaction was approved by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board a day earlier.

Hui's Archstone Investment Co, primarily a property development firm, is the controlling shareholder in Shimao Group which is listed in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

"The demand for beef in South East Asian and China over the next 15 years is significant, and the new joint venture has the combined expertise to leverage this opportunity," Archstone said in a statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 15:43:23|Editor: Song Lifang

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COLOMBO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government issued a gazette Friday, banning the use and manufacture of polythene products - plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam boxes - with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the manufacture of food containers, plates, cups and spoons made from expanded polystyrene has been banned for use in the country.

Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Lal Mervin Dharmasiri told reporters that the ban would be effective from Sept. 1, as a measure to preserve the environment.

The ban was made following a proposal by President Maithripala Sirisena, who was the environment minister in July, and accordingly the cabinet agreed to ban the production of polythene less than 20 microns.

Polythene and Styrofoam is used by local shops to wrap lunch. Polythene shopping bags is also widely used in supermarkets and shops.

Shopping bags will be replaced with reusable cloth bags under the new law, the Central Environmental Authority said.

Sri Lanka's polythene manufacturers said 345,000 employees would lose their livelihoods due to the government's ban and have requested for more time.

The government said although the ban is effective from Sept 1, it will not take legal action on manufacturers and users till January next year in order to give them lead time to switch to other alternatives.

Anyone found using or manufacturing the banned products thereafter will face a two-year imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 repees (65 U.S. dollars).
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 15:53:34|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2017 shows the Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco. The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the U.S. State Department said Thursday, in response to Moscow's demand that the size of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia be reduced. Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco issued a statement Thursday to denounce the U.S. State Department order earlier in the day to close it down. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday ordered Russia to close three diplomatic facilities in the United States as the diplomatic spat between Washington and Moscow continue to escalate.

According to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, the United States required Russia to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City by the upcoming Saturday.

In a statement, Nauert said the State Department had complied with Russia's demand to reduce the size of U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia and now made its own demand "in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians."

"With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each," said Nauert.

Nauert also noted the United States was allowing Russia to maintain additional annexes "in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship."

The Russian Consulate in San Francisco said in an online statement that the decision to close the Consulate General of Russian Federation in San Francisco was "another unfriendly step of the U.S. authorities."

On a conference call with reporters on Thursday, a senior Trump administration official said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, of the U.S. decisions during a phone call earlier in the day.

Tillerson and Lavrov also agreed to a meeting in September, according to the official.

Both Nauert and the official having the conference call with reporters stressed that the United States was responding to the Russian "desire for parity" in the diplomatic relationship.

"And it is our hope that the Russians will recognize that since they were the ones who started the discussion on parity and we're responding and complying with what they required of us," said the official.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed U.S. claim that the escalation was initiated by Russia, saying that Moscow will "carefully study" the new measures announced by the Americans before announcing their reaction.

The tit-for-tat action came after Russian President Vladimir Putin in July ordered the United States to reduce the number of diplomatic personnel in Russia by 755, in response to U.S. sanctions on Russia over its alleged intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The diplomatic row also came at a low point of bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow, as the two sides hold differences on a range of issues, including the war in Syria, and the conflict in Ukraine.

However, Putin's move was not the origin of this round of diplomatic row between Russian and the United States and rather a delayed response to former U.S. President Barack Obama's expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and seizure of two Russian diplomatic facilities last year out of alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Thursday that the decision to close the Russian diplomatic facilities was made by Trump.

However, Sanders insisted that the White House wanted to "halt the downward spiral" between the two countries.

"We're going to look for opportunities to do that, but we're also going to make sure that we make decisions that are best for our country," said Sanders.

Earlier this week, Trump said he hoped the United States could have good relations with Russia, which would be "good for world peace."

"I hope that we do have good relations with Russia," Trump said at a joint press conference with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "I say it loud and clear. I have been saying it for years. I think it's a good thing if we have great relationships, or at least good relationships, with Russia."

"I believe someday that will happen ... I think that's very good for world peace and other things," Trump added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:18:44|Editor: Song Lifang

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MANILA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Spreading fake news in the Philippines is now a crime and anybody proven to spread false news can be locked up in jail for up to six months and fined up to 200,000 pesos (3,909 U.S. dollars), according to a new law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte Thursday.

To stem the spread of false news, a Republic Act amending the country's Revised Penal Code was signed after the Philippine congress passed it earlier. The new law carries harsher penalties for certain crimes such as treason and publishing false news.

The new law punishes the publication of "any false news which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State." Penalty for such crime is imprisonment for 1 month plus 1 day to six months and a fine starting from 40,000 to 200,000 pesos (782 U.S. dollars to 3,909 U.S. dollars).

It also penalizes any person who by means of printing, or by words, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify and extol any act punished by law.

In a news release, the Malacanang presidential palace said the 50-page law with 102 sections consists of provisions adjusting the amount of fines, as well as the amount or the value of property and damage on which a penalty is set.

The law adjusted the fines on certain crimes against national security, such as treason and crimes against public order, such as rebellion and sedition.

The Philippine military has been fighting pro-ISIS militants in Marawi City since May, 23 this year. There has been widely-spread false news and propaganda from rebel groups on social media. The Philippine government urged media and citizens to listen to authorities and stop spreading fake news on several occasions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:23:48|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SYDNEY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cairns in Australia's tropical north has secured a deal with China's Hainan Airlines on Friday for direct flights from southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, that is expected to bring 64 million Australian dollars (50.79 million U.S. dollars) to the local economy.

Backed by the Queensland Government's 10-million-Australian dollar (7.94-million-U.S. dollar) Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, both groups plan to capitalise on the State's "most valuable" and "fastest growing" international visitor market.

"We know that Chinese travellers are extremely valuable to the Queensland economy, injecting one billion Australian dollars (0.79 billion U.S. dollars) over the past year," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

"This latest agreement ensures that Cairns is well placed to continue attracting large numbers of Chinese visitors."

State minister for tourism Kate Jones said in a statement that she expected the deal to bring over 30,000 new visitors to Cairns over the next two years.

This will provide "a significant boost for the local tourism industry, as well as other flow-on benefits for the local economy, supporting almost 500 jobs across the region."

"Agreements like this also mean that we are one step closer to reaching our goal of making Queensland the Australian destination of choice for Chinese travellers," Jones added.

Up until now, Cairns Airport CEO Norris Carter said that most international visitors to Cairns arrive and depart on domestic flights, making it more difficult for travellers to visit the region's famous attractions.

"With more direct international flights making it faster and easier to get to Cairns, we expect to welcome even more visitors to experience the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef, Tropical Rainforests and the many other attractions on offer here," Carter said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:38:55|Editor: Yamei

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Hi, here's what you should know about China for the past 24 hours.

BEIJING -- The digital revolution in China appeared to be a marvel to the world, as the country's leading mobile payment businesses began to facilitate people's lives across the globe.

Can you get by a day in Beijing without a wallet? In April last year, a CNN correspondent Will Ripley gave it a try and he survived well.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia highly values the multifaceted cooperation with BRICS to create a fair multipolar world and equal development conditions for all, in a signed article published on Friday.

In the article for the 9th BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen, China on Sept. 3-5, Putin said he appreciated China's significant contribution as this year's chair of the organization, "which has allowed the BRICS countries as a group to move forward in all key areas of our partnership, including politics, the economy and culture."

- - - -

BEIJING -- Cooperation between China and Africa has seen remarkable progress in renewable energy, showing the determination of developing countries to harness the huge potential of clean energy and combat climate change.

Seyni Nafo, Acting Head of the Independent Delivery Unit with the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), said that Africa had the highest potential for renewable energy, but the least access to it.

- - - -

BEIJING -- Several countries continued to express their stands and suggestions on Thursday and Friday on the recent ballistic missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The DPRK on Thursday rejected the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidential statement condemning its latest test firing of a medium-range ballistic missile.

- - - -

CAIRO -- Egypt's participation in the BRICS summit will open new horizons for Egypt's economy as it will boost its economic cooperation with the bloc, the head of Egypt's largest state-run newspaper Al-Ahram told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

"I hope one day Egypt becomes a BRICS member, not just a guest of honor, because this will open massive horizons for cooperation with the group's members, which will surely be very beneficial to the Egyptian economy," said Abdel-Mohsen Salama, chief executive officer of Al-Ahram Foundation and head of Egypt's Syndicate of Journalists.

- - - -

HARARE -- The Chinese government is forging a strong partnership with the World Food Program (WFP) to empower rural communities in Zimbabwe to become food self-sufficient and resilient to climate-induced shocks.

Through its partnership with WFP, the Chinese government has since 2009 provided millions of U.S. dollars for immediate food needs and long-term resilience building for vulnerable, poverty-stricken rural communities in Zimbabwe.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:43:58|Editor: Xiang Bo

The first-year students view leaves at their the science class at Liucun Primary School in Liucun Village of Xingtai City, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 31, 2017. Since the beginning of this semester, primary schools across China have started to offer the science course to the first-year students. (Xinhua/Chen Lei)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Seven-year-old Zhang Lijie, who is starting his first year of elementary school, can't wait for science class.

The new student has always been enchanted by scientific phenomena and gadgets, such as 4D imaging and solar batteries.

"Thirst for knowledge, exploration and curiosity are the most precious qualities of children this age, and they need to be protected," said Kong Rongrong, Zhang's mother.

In February this year, China's Ministry of Education issued a new guideline for science education, requiring elementary schools to make science a compulsory subject for first-grade students.

The move showed the authorities' determination to improve children's scientific literacy, said Wang Kai, a researcher with the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences.

Science classes were first introduced for primary school education 16 years ago when the subject "Nature" was changed to "Science" as part of a curriculum reform in 2001. But the class was only for students in third grade and above.

The new guideline will allow more children to start learning about science at an earlier age, said Chen Jie, a teacher at the China-Cuba Friendship Primary School.

"Studying science from the first grade can meet the children's growing curiosity and make scientific education more complete," said Chen.

More efforts are needed to help students better understand the relationship between nature and mankind, said Yu Bo, an associate researcher with the National Institute of Education Sciences and editor-in-chief of the science textbook.

China has released a series of regulations and plans to popularize science and technology and boost innovation among the public.

A science and technology progress plan published by the State Council in 2016 pledged greater efforts in education, publicity and popularization of science, vowing to raise the proportion of scientifically literate citizens to 10 percent by 2020.

A 2015 survey by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) revealed that the proportion of scientifically literate citizens has almost doubled from 3.27 percent in 2010 to 6.2 percent in 2015.

Major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin scored higher, reaching 18.7 percent, 17.5 percent and 12 percent respectively, similar to levels in the U.S. and Europe at the turn of the century.

However, the scientific literacy of Chinese people overall is still relatively low compared with citizens of developed countries.

"As far as I am concerned, most undergraduates and postgraduates I know lack interest in making innovations," said a university professor of engineering who refused to be identified.

It is necessary to cultivate children's interest in science as soon as they enter school, said the professor.

Some scientific institutions have taken part in the campaign to promote science through public activities to spread scientific knowledge.

On World Meteorological Day on March 18, the China Meteorological Administration opens to the public, attracting thousands of children to learn about meteorological phenomena and avoiding natural disasters.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:49:02|Editor: Song Lifang

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MANILA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank (WB) said on Friday that it will provide technical assistance for the early recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction planning to rebuild the ruined southern Philippine city of Marawi torn by an ongoing war between the government security forces and the extremists.

"The WB, together with the Asian Development Bank, will coordinate financial assistance from the development partners for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi City," Mara Warwick, the WB country director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, said in a statement.

The WB also vowed to scale up support for peace-building and development in Mindanao as part of the midterm adjustment of its country partnership strategy.

It said the "scaled-up program from the entire Mindanao will focus on supporting the government's program to raise agricultural productivity and improve connectivity from farm to market, boost educations, skills, and employability of the youth, and help build resilient communities."

It said World Bank's support to the conflict-affected southern Philippine region has been significant in recent years, leading to over 682,000 people benefiting from better infrastructure and access to jobs and initiatives that improve literacy.

"Mindanao accounts for 36 percent of all poverty in the Philippines and poverty is highest in area affected by conflict. The WB group fully supports the government's focus on developing lagging regions, including in Marawi and surrounding areas," Warwick said.

Mindanao region in the southern Philippines has a long history of conflict with armed groups, including separatists and criminal groups. The government has been conducting airstrikes in Marawi in a bid to retake the city from jihadists linked to the Islamic State group that overran the city from May 23.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:49:04|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Listed companies in China reported rapid profit growth in the first half of this year (H1), as the country's structural reform began to bear results.

A total of 3,341 listed companies on the country's two major exchanges reported combined revenue of 18.12 trillion yuan (2.75 trillion U.S. dollars), up 24.1 percent year on year, according to data compiled by eastmoney.com, a financial data provider.

Combined profits attributable to shareholders totaled 1.67 trillion yuan, up 21.12 percent year on year.

More than 600 companies saw their profit growth double, while 362 companies saw their profits up 50 to 100 percent.

The country's four biggest commercial banks all posted faster profit growth in H1, attributed to improved services and strengthened risk control.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest lender by market value, saw its net profit attributable to equity holders rise 1.8 percent year on year to 153 billion yuan in H1, higher than the 0.8-percent rise in the same period of last year.

The growth came amid tightened financial regulations this year that aimed to curb shadow banking and control risks arising from activities such as off-balance sheet financing.

Assets quality of the banks has improved notably. By the end of June, the non-performing loan ratio for ICBC stood at 1.57 percent, down from 1.62 percent six months earlier. The ratio for Agricultural Bank of China, another major bank, also dropped 0.18 percentage points to 2.19 percent.

While a stabilizing economy and the country's ongoing structural reform have contributed to high profits and better assets quality, the improvements were also a result of rising profitability of cyclical industries including coal and steel, which eased bad loan pressure on the banks, China Merchants Securities said.

When excluding nonrecurring items, sectors such as mining and steel were among the most profitable industries in H1. The mining sector, as classified by SWS Research, saw profits surge 442.92 percent year on year, while the steel sector went up 302.56 percent.

Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity saw net profit growth of 739 percent in H1 due to rising coal prices and expanded output.

Nanjing Iron and Steel witnessed a net profit surge of 730 percent, as China continues to slash excess steel capacity causing product prices to increase.

"The profit growth of coal and steel-related listed companies is the result of deeper supply-side structural reform, which improves the business environment and productivity," said Gui Haoming, chief analyst of Shenwan Hongyuan.

China has been implementing the supply-side structural reform to address outstanding issues like excess capacity, housing overhang, and "zombie" state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with poor profitability.

Amid the reform, combined profits of China's SOEs gained 23.1 percent year on year to 1.66 trillion yuan during January-July, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance.

New growth drivers also emerged. Companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector reported strong performance in H1, with half of them posting a rise of over 30 percent in net profits attributable to equity holders.

Companies related to the Internet of Things were also among the winners. Some 16 listed firms, including Qingdao Haier, a major household appliance maker, saw their earnings up more than 20 percent.

"Emerging industries such as the AI are where global investors are now putting their money, as these industries will replace many existing industries in the future," said Yang Zhonghua, a fund manager at Fortunegate Capital Management.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:54:05|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SAN JOSE, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis told Xinhua in a recent interview that closer relations with China have helped promote the country's development.

The president made the remarks following the inauguration of a Chinese-built and funded National Police Academy in the country's east-central province of Limon.

Cooperation between China and Costa Rica has been raised to a new level since they forged diplomatic relations 10 years ago.

"There are so many (bilateral) projects that are making a difference to people's lives," said Solis.

Many bilateral programs aim to improve Costa Rica's trade, security, and infrastructure, an area that has traditionally lacked investment, said the president.

The Chinese presence in Costa Rica dates back to at least 1855, when a group of Chinese rail workers arrived from neighboring Panama and found jobs in agriculture. Today, there is a sizable Chinese community in the country, especially in the capital of San Jose.

"Costa Rica is a country that identifies itself, in the first article of its Constitution, as multicultural and multiethnic, meaning we recognize we are the outcome of the presence of many peoples and many cultural traditions, one of the most important of which is perhaps the Chinese," said Solis.

China's relations with the Latin American region is "essential," given its significant role in global affairs and its influence as a world power, said the president.

To that end, he celebrated Panama's decision to establish diplomatic ties with China, saying it gave "added value" to China's presence in southern Central America.

"I hope that as a result of that decision by the government of China and the government of Panama, Costa Rica can also form part of this ecosystem of political and trade ties in southern Central America, and that with our decade of experience, plus Panama's trade impetus, we can establish a bridge, a trans-Pacific partnership with China, of great benefit for our countries," said Solis.

Solis said his country will focus on improving and expanding its free trade agreement with China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 16:59:08|Editor: Song Lifang

Seiji Maehara (2nd R) shouts slogans after being selected as the new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 1, 2017. Japan's former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was selected by the main opposition DPJ on Friday as its new leader, seeing off his rival Yukio Edano, a political heavyweight who previously served as chief cabinet secretary when the party was in power. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

TOKYO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was selected by the main opposition Democratic Party on Friday as its new leader, seeing off his rival Yukio Edano, a political heavyweight who previously served as chief cabinet secretary when the party was in power.

On winning the top party's post, Maehara said in his acceptance speech that it was paramount for the Democratic Party to mount a serious challenge to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as the public, as things stand, see no other viable party.

"We must change this dangerous current political situation, in which the public can only choose the LDP, or pin their hopes on something whose form is still unknown," Maehara said.

"I vow together with you all to break out from this difficult situation, not for our own sake but for the public's sake," Maehara said at a party convention held in Tokyo for his fellow lawmakers.

Maehara won a majority 502 points, that comprised votes from the party's supporters, local and national lawmakers, as well as candidates likely to run in the next general election.

Edano, for his part, a prominent figure for the public during the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disasters, won 332 points in the leadership contest.

During the leadership race, Maehara successfully garnered the support of conservative factions within the party, while Edano secured the support of more liberal members.

Maehara, 55, previously led the main opposition party when it was known as the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The party was in power between 2009 and 2012.

The Democratic Party's presidential election was brought about after former leader Renho announced her resignation from the top post following a dismal performance by the party in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in July.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's newly-launched Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First party) emerged a solid winner in the metropolitan assembly, which is known to be a barometer of the future direction of national politics.

At the time of the metropolitan assembly, Renho and the Democratic Party failed to capitalize on a series of scandals plaguing the LDP at the time, including an influence-peddling scandal which implicated Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who also leads the LDP.

The Democratic Party itself has been hit by a number of its members jumping ship due to their dissatisfaction with the party's lack of clout in parliament and overall tenuous leadership.

The party leadership election comes at a time when the opposition camp is realigning itself to better tackle the LDP in the next lower house election, with Maehara stating that unity would be key to the party's and the opposition camp's future success.

Differences in opinion with Edano over jointly backing candidates with the Japan Communist Party (JCP) during the leadership race will have to be clarified by Maehara, who said at the time he planned to review the party's current stance, analysts close to the matter said Friday.

Issues of consumption tax, nuclear policy and constitutional amendment will also have to be clarified by Maehara going forward, they added.

In terms of economic policies, he had in the run up to the leadership race, previously suggested a moderate level of social welfare (increase) and a moderate degree of (state) burden, as well as supporting the view about raising the consumption tax rate to 10 percent.

While Maehara has hinted that he will join talks regarding constitutional amendment, previously stating that, "If we oppose the revision under the Abe administration, we won't be able to gain the understanding of the public," he has also been critical of Japan's security-related laws, describing them as unconstitutional.

Above all, in the short-to-mid-term, Maehara will be charged with boosting unity within the party ahead of the next lower house election that must be held by the end of next year.

He will need to repair the damage caused to the Democratic Party by an exodus of members and the sudden resignation of Renho.

Party insiders have said that it will be essential for Maehara to be an honest, pragmatic face of the party in order to convince the public there is a viable alternative to Abe's drive for something akin to single party politics.

They have also said this will need to be backed up by publicly supported policies.

Maehara comes from a constituency in Kyoto, western Japan and has been elected to the lower house eight times.

The new president's tenure will run through September 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:09:12|Editor: Yamei

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CANBERRA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Special Forces may go one step further in aiding the Philippines in its fight against Islamic State (IS), as the two sides prepare to discuss training of troops, advising and other assistance.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed Friday that Defense Minister Marise Payne will be visiting Manila "shortly" to continue discussions on how the Australian troops would be best utilized, after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte formally accepted Australia's offer of assistance to train and advise local troops earlier on the day.

The Filipino army has been engaged in a battle with the extremist terrorist group since May when IS-linked group launched an assault on the southeastern city of Marawi in an attempt to establish its Southeast Asian headquarters.

Australia has been offering support in the form of spy planes and intelligence, but no Australian troops have yet set foot in the Philippines.

"Now, we are working closely with the Philippines Government. We are providing, as you know, support in intelligence, in the operation of our P3 Orion aircraft there and we're open to offering further assistance in capacity-building, training and so forth," Turnbull said when answering questions from local journalists accompanying him to Western Australia.

"We do not want IS establishing a stronghold in Southeast Asia. That is vitally in our interests to see that insurgency defeated," he said.

General Restituto Padilla of the Filipino army has said that Australia's help in the drawn-out battle was greatly appreciated.

Talking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the general said that Australian troops would not be able to fight in the battle due to the Filipino Constitution preventing foreign troops from engaging in active combat within the country and would instead serve in training and intelligence roles.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop offered Duterte Australian assistance during a visit to Manila in August.

"Obviously we would be ready to support the Philippines in the same way we are supporting Iraq in advising, assisting and training," Bishop said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:14:15|Editor: Yamei

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CHANGCHUN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese farmer in the northeastern province of Jilin endured two terrifying hours above the clouds after he was blown away in a hydrogen balloon while picking nuts.

The incident occurred on Monday in Wangqing County of Jilin, when Yin Yanlei, 29, was picking pine nuts from an iron platform suspended underneath a hydrogen balloon.

Rather than fixing the balloon to a tree, he asked his mother and a friend to hold a rope attached to the balloon. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the balloon away with Yin inside.

His mother tried to hold the rope but failed, breaking her leg as she struggled to stop him from floating away. The balloon quickly rose above the clouds.

"I only saw clouds surrounding me and could not see the villages and highways anymore. My phone had no signal. I was extremely scared and in despair," said Yin.

The unwitting "pilot" estimated that he reached an altitude of at least 500 meters. Thinking of his mother and pregnant wife, he recorded a video of what he thought would be his final moments.

Luckily, his phone regained signal after a while and he received a call from his wife.

"We cried because we thought I was finished," Yin said.

He decided to bare his heart to his wife one last time. It was Qixi, the Chinese Valentine's Day.

"I love you. If I survive, I will stay with you forever. But if something happens to me, you must be brave and carry on living," he told her.

After a while, Yin received a call from police who told him that releasing gas would make the balloon descend.

When the balloon reached a big tree, Yin saw an opportunity and jumped. He landed with only some scratches.

The dramatic trip ended more than 50 kilometers from where he started. Police came to the site and took him home.

More than 40 people and seven vehicles were dispatched by local police to rescue him. They travelled across four townships to track Yin's path.

Hydrogen balloons are popular among farmers in north China for picking pine nuts.

Traditionally, people climbed trees to collect the nuts, but this was dangerous and inefficient, and the shoes they wore could damage the trees.

Yin purchased a balloon this year for 18,600 yuan (around 2,800 U.S. dollars) and spent another 4,600 yuan to fill it with hydrogen.

"I didn't manage to pick pine nuts this time, but I got a luxury sightseeing balloon ride through the sky," Yin joked.

Despite the scare, he plans to buy another balloon.

"This time, I will be very careful," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:14:18|Editor: Yamei

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SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential office said Friday that it was not mulling the re-deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons following local media reports that Defense Minister Song Young-moo mentioned it during his talks with his U.S. counterpart in Washington.

A senior Blue House official, who declined to be identified, told reporters that the government never reviewed the re-deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.

The official said the government respected the international non-proliferation regime and maintained all of its policies within the regime.

Song told the Blue House that he had mentioned it to explain domestic situations, not to deliver his wish for the re-deployment, the Blue House official said.

Citing unnamed government officials, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that Song made mention of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapon re-deployment during his talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Song, who was on a five-day trip to the United States, was scheduled to stay in the country until Saturday.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has insisted on the re-deployment of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea to counter the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear threats.

The U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, which had been possessed by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991 after then South Korean President Roh Tae-woo declared the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in opposed the re-deployment of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapon.

A tactical nuclear weapon, dubbed non-strategic nuclear weapon, refers to a small-size nuclear weapon designed to be used at a battlefield for the tactical purpose.

Tactical nuclear weapons, which usually have an explosive yield of less than 20 kilotons, include nuclear warheads mounted on short-range missiles and artillery shells as well as land mines, torpedoes and depth charges equipped with nuclear warheads.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:19:20|Editor: Yamei

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DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Friday performed the special prayers of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival in a town, close to the barren region where the Islamic State (IS) has recently surrendered.

The president took part in the prayers held in a mosque in the town of Qara in the western Qalamoun region some 120 km northwest of Damascus, state news agency SANA said.

The town itself has largely remained with the Syrian army throughout the crisis, but its barren region, near the Lebanese territory, had been held by the Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

In a sweeping operation last month, the Syrian army and Hezbollah defeated the Nusra militants first and launched another offensive against the IS in that region.

Both have been defeated, with around 310 IS militants were finally transferred out of Qara toward the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, following a deal they struck with Hezbollah.

Still, the convoy of the IS militants hasn't reached their destination after the U.S. coalition struck the road leading to the city of Bukamal in the countryside of Deir al-Zour to prevent the convoy from arriving.

The operation in the barrens of Qara has enabled the army to clear the entire borderline with Lebanon.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:24:24|Editor: Yamei

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PHNOM PENH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith agreed on Friday to speed up their negotiations over border dispute.

The agreement was reached after their meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the meeting, Hun Sen said that he and Thongloun allowed foreign ministers of the two countries to meet in coming days to discuss details of resolution to the border issue.

He added that both sides also agreed to send their respective experts in the Cambodia-Laos Joint Border Committee to work together at disputed border areas and to immediately demarcate any areas where the two sides agree.

"The outcome we have achieved today, I can say proudly that friendship between Cambodia and Laos will be further enhanced through settling the remaining issues peacefully," Hun Sen said.

For his part, Thongloun said that he agreed with the points Hun Sen had mentioned.

"The settlement of border issue between our two countries is based on the principles of friendship and equality. There is no loser and winner," he said.

Thongloun added that both sides also agreed to maintain security and peace along the non-demarcated border areas.

Border dispute between Cambodia and Laos began in April when Cambodia accused Laos of sending about 30 soldiers to occupy the areas of O Alay and O Ta Ngav in Stung Treng province bordering Laos' Attapu province; however, all Lao soldiers pulled back from the areas on Aug. 12 in the afternoon, hours after an urgent meeting between Hun Sen and Thongloun in Vientiane.

Cambodia shares about 540 km of border with Laos to the north and northeast. To date, the two neighbors have achieved 86 percent of the border demarcation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 17:44:35|Editor: Yamei

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DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has reached the administrative borders of the largely Islamic State (IS)-controlled province of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, the Syrian army said Friday.

Under the heavy fire backing of helicopters, the Syrian army continued to advance in the Syrian desert, reaching the administrative borders of Deir al-Zour, according to a short statement.

The advance toward Deir al-Zour was made through the city of Sukhnah, which has been recently taken by the army, in the remote desert area of Sukhnah in the eastern countryside of Homs province in central Syria.

The months-long Syrian army operations in the desert initially aimed at clearing the key desert area in Syria from IS and to reach the borders of Deir al-Zour, where large swathes of the territory are under the control of IS, and the small government-held part has been besieged by IS since 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 18:24:48|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2017 shows the Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco. The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the U.S. State Department said Thursday, in response to Moscow's demand that the size of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia be reduced. Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco issued a statement Thursday to denounce the U.S. State Department order earlier in the day to close it down. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Moscow will give tough response to hostile steps by the United States aimed against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"We will give a tough response to those things that hurt us absolutely without rhyme or reason, and which are dictated only by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States," Lavrov said in his address to students of the Moscow MGIMO international relations university.

Lavrov commented on the U.S. demand to close Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, and a consular annex in New York City by Saturday.

Washington reacted to Moscow's decision to cut U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to numbers equaling Russian staff in the United States and seizing two U.S. properties in Moscow.

Moscow in its turn reacted to the December decision of previous U.S. administration of Barack Obama to expel 35 Russian diplomats and seize two Russian Properties.

However, Lavrov did not specify what Moscow's next step could be, saying that the U.S. statement was received in the early hours and has yet to be examined.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 18:34:52|Editor: Song Lifang

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A 45-year-old woman died of dengue fever at a hospital in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( KPK ) province on Friday, bringing the death toll to 13 over the last two months, local Urdu media reported.

About 4,200 people have been infected by the mosquito- borne virus in the province with majority of the cases being treated in provincial capital of Peshawar, Dunya News reported.

Over 3,500 infected people were discharged after initial treatment from the hospital, the province's health department said.

The provincial government is trying to control the disease and has arranged free of cost diagnosis and treatment centers in all government hospitals of the province.

Apart from this, the provincial government has launched a door-to-door campaign in Peshawar to raise awareness about the disease.

Health experts from the country's east Punjab province visited Peshawar to give advice to the healthcare departments in KPK to curb the disease.

Doctors from Punjab also visited the hospitals to update the knowledge of their counterparts in KPK about management of the infected patients.

Punjab successfully combated the catastrophic viral disease in 2014 after seeking advice from Sri Lankan experts.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 18:50:01|Editor: Xiang Bo

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JINAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- East China's Shandong Province has approved a request to establish a refining conglomerate that will combine the country's largest independent oil refineries, known as teapots.

The founding shareholders of the new conglomerate are major teapots, including Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group, according to a document issued Friday by Shandong Economic and Information Technology Committee.

The coastal province contains more than 70 percent of China's independent oil refineries, most of which are privately-owned.

With a revenue of over 88.6 billion yuan (13.5 billion U.S. dollars) last year, Shandong Dongming is China's largest teapot. Combined revenue of all the teapots in Shandong exceeds 492.5 billion yuan.

A trade group, representing major teapots in the province, sent a request to the government in July to establish the refining conglomerate.

According to the request, the individual independent refineries in Shandong could bind together under one flag to improve coordination in the face of fierce competition.

The teapots' international impact began to be felt toward the end of 2015, when the central government issued import quotas.

In the months since, the teapots have imported a huge amount of crude oil from overseas, including the Middle East, Latin America, Russia and the United States, sending shockwaves across the world energy market.

For several months of last year, the Port of Qingdao was congested with oil tankers waiting for weeks to unload crude imported by the teapots.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 18:55:04|Editor: Yamei

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British Brexit secretary David Davis (L) and European Union (EU) chief negotiator Michel Barnier attend a joint press briefing in Brussels, Belgium, Aug. 31, 2017. No decisive progress has been reached in the third round of Brexit talks, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said here Thursday, warning that the talk mandate given by the European Parliament should not be underestimated. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

LONDON, Sep. 1 (Xinhua) -- Brexit Secretary David Davis left for Washington Friday, insisting he is determined to be optimistic about Britain's departure from the European Union.

He was speaking in London after four days of negotiations in Brussels, with the EU side insisting little progress had been made on a departure deal.

Ahead of leaving for Washington where the Brexit Secretary will address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Davis said: "I am a determined optimist. I fundamentally believe that a good deal is in the interests of both the UK and the EU and the whole of the developed world."

In Washington Davis will set out the British Government's vision for Britain after Brexit, and commit to playing a strong international role in tackling social and economic challenges.

After a week focused on the detail of the Brexit negotiations, he will deliver a speech at the US Chamber of Commerce which will address 'the kind of country the UK will be outside of the EU', said a spokeswoman for the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU).

Meanwhile Britain's International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has responded to the latest round of negotiations, saying Britain must not allow itself to be blackmailed by the EU over its Brexit settlement bill.

Britain is facing demands from the EU to agree to a so-called divorce settlement ahead of the talks switching to future trading relationships between Britain and EU member states.

At the end of the talks in Brussels Thursday, Davis said Britain had a duty to British taxpayers to interrogate rigorously the financial settlement with the EU.

"It is fair to say, across the piece, we have a very different legal stance. The settlement should be in accordance with law and in the spirit of the UK's continuing partnership with the EU," said Davis.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a three-day visit to Japan, Fox said: "It's very clear that businesses, not just in Europe but investors in places like here in Japan, are getting impatient and want to see what that final shape of the Brexit arrangement is going to be."

Fox said a willingness by the EU to negotiate on the future trading relationship now would unlock some of the tension between the two parties, adding it was a mistake for the EU to think a delay in talking about the economy and the trading arrangement would not potentially damage them too.

In October the European Council is due to hold a crucial meeting to decide if sufficient progress has been made on key Brexit discussions to allow negotiations to move on to trade and Britain's the UK's relationship with the EU's remaining 27 member states.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 19:00:08|Editor: Xiang Bo

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JINAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A train carrying 24 refrigerated containers bound for the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan arrived at the railway station in the city of Weihai in east China's Shandong Province at around 10 a.m. Friday morning.

The vegetable-filled containers will be transferred to ships to complete their journey, marking the opening of a sea-land cold chain transportation service from east China to the two countries, according to sources with Weihai Railway Station.

A cold chain cargo train service from Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province to Weihai was launched on June 25.

The train is scheduled to operate once a week, travelling through nine provinces on an 82-hour journey that covers 3,609 km.

The service will lower logistics costs by 30 percent and strengthen coordination between Weihai and inland cities, while increasing exports to ROK and Japan.

Weihai serves as an important port for exports to the two countries. Customs statistics showed that the exports to the two via Weihai Port reached 30.25 billion yuan (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, 5.31 billion yuan of which was fresh agricultural products and seafood.

The State Council, China's cabinet, published a guideline on the development of a cold chain logistics framework in April, underscoring the importance of food safety and consumption upgrades. The document requires a significant increase in the use of cold chain transportation for fresh farm produce and perishable food by 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 19:20:15|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature Friday passed draft amendments to eight laws, including the Judges Law, meaning more legal professionals will be required to sit a new national exam.

The amendments were approved at the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which ended Friday. They will take effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

More legal professionals, including administrative review and administrative adjudication workers, legal advisors at government agencies, will be required to sit the new exam, in addition to judges, prosecutors, lawyers and notaries.

Those who already hold aforementioned posts will not need to take the exam, said Jia Liqun, director of the Ministry of Justice national judicial exam division.

Current certificates will remain valid.

The amendment also states that applicants whose qualifications have previously been revoked cannot take the new exam, nor can they act as agents of litigants, unless they are guardians or close relatives of said litigants.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 19:55:33|Editor: Song Lifang

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LONDON, Sep. 1 (Xinhua) -- Every stretch of what will become the world's longest coastal walking route is now being worked on, Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said Friday.

Defra issued an update to celebrate that 100 percent of the coastal route has either been completed or is now underway, paving the way for completion by 2020.

Natural England is working on the 4,400 kilometer walking route, which when completed will allow people to explore the entire length of the English coastline. The journey will take in iconic sights like the White Cliffs of Dover, the beaches of Norfolk and the picturesque North Yorkshire coast, says Defra,

"Tourists from around the globe will soon be able to step foot on the longest coastal walking route in the world as work is officially underway along every stretch of the England Coast Path," a spokesman for Defra said.

England's coastline already attracts 300 million visits a year, with people spending up to three times more than at any other holiday destination, the spokesman added.

The existing stretch of the route in South West England is already worth more than half a billion U.S. dollars a year to the regional economy.

By offering new and improved access to some of the country's best tourist hot spots, the England Coast Path will bring a huge boost to tourism, an industry already worth 137 billion U.S. dollars, said Defra.

Rural Affairs Minister Lord Gardiner said: "We have some of the most spectacular coastland in the world, with iconic sites such as the White Cliffs at Dover and the picturesque beaches at Whitby attracting millions of tourists and walkers every year.

"The England Coast Path is a hugely significant project, helping people across the country to access our stunning coastline and providing a significant boost to the economy of our coastal communities. By working closely with landowners, farmers and local communities, we are well on track to creating the world's longest coastal path by 2020."

Natural England's chairman Andrew Sells said Friday: "We are now working on all sections of our beautiful and varied coastline so the ability to walk the longest, continuous coastal walking route in the world is on the horizon."

So far Natural England has opened around 500 kilometers of coastline, helping thousands of people access some of England's most spectacular coastal scenery.

The new routes link up the best existing coastal paths, create new ones where there were none before, and in some cases move paths nearer the sea so walkers have a better opportunity to properly enjoy the country's coastal views and beaches.

Most recently, routes have opened in North Yorkshire and Norfolk, with further stretches set to open in Kent, the north east and Cumbria over the coming months.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:05:36|Editor: Xiang Bo

Children run after getting new textbooks at Xuyi Shiyan Primary School in Xuyi County, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug. 30, 2017. Schools in China opened recently after summer vacation. (Xinhua/Zhou Haijun)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- As millions of Chinese students entered new primary and middle schools on the first day of the academic year on Friday, they received newly-edited books and a new curriculum, adjusting the educational emphasis toward different subjects.

Yi Mide, a grade one student in the No. 2 Primary School of Qigong Street, Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, said he did not have English on his curriculum like older students, but had science, which was new to grade one students.

LESS ENGLISH

Previously, studies of Chinese and English had the same weighting, and Chinese students started English study from grade one in primary schools.

The revised curriculum followed a slew of reforms announced by China's Ministry of Education last year on the National College Entrance Exam, or the gaokao, asking universities not to base their judgement of applicants solely on the gaokao scores of three major subjects -- math, Chinese and English -- but take consideration of selective classes as well as evaluations of morality, physical health, art cultivation and social practices.

English will now not begin before third grade.

"It is not necessary to start school study English language with too much emphasis on grammar and spelling," said Zhu Lamei, an English education researcher in Wuhan Education Science Institute in central China's Hubei Province.

She said that juniors could access a large number of English-language picture books as well as video and audio products on the market.

Jiang Rui, an English teacher at the No. 2 Primary School in Qigong Street, Shenyang, said junior students were likely to be confused when they started the study of both the English alphabet and Chinese phonetics from grade one.

"I think it would be good for students to start the school education of a foreign language from grade three, after they have a solid foundation of their native language in the first two years of their primary schools," Jiang said.

MORE CHINESE

The Chinese textbooks for primary schools have added more traditional Chinese articles and poems, 129 in total. In three-year junior high schools, students will learn 132 ancient Chinese articles.

The articles were selected from classic prose, essays, historical records and poetry dating back to the Han, Tang and Song dynasties. Students are required to learn how to make rhyming couplets.

Some parents questioned the added emphasis on classical Chinese, which is no longer in use. Others welcomed it as a wise decision.

"At a time of fast pace, many people, with a mind to utilitarianism, seem to have lost the ability to enjoy the aesthetics of language, literature and life," said Wei Jing, mother of a first-grader.

"I think it is pretty clear that the revised textbooks on Chinese, ethics and law, and history in primary and middle school embody China's national consciousness, legal awareness and the passing on of Chinese traditional culture," said Shen Lin, a textbook researcher with the Guangdong Academy of Education.

He said the more students were be immersed in Chinese classics and history, the better that they could understand how peace was restored in China through revolutionary history.

Although the topics are serious, contents are presented in a simple and lively way.

"The new illustrated Chinese textbooks are very lovely and favored by both teachers and students," said Du Bei, a Chinese teacher in No. 2 Fruit Lake Primary School in Hubei. She said that her school had launched several rounds of teacher training to help them prepare for the new textbooks.

EARLY SCIENCE

Apart from literature and history, science has also been stressed as never before to early students,

Zhang Rui, science teacher with the No. 2 Primary School in Qigong Street, Shenyang, said starting from this semester, science classes started from grade one.

"In the past, science class started from grade three when students had a better comprehensive ability. But the new curriculum allows junior students access to natural sciences earlier," Zhang said.

Although there is no unified textbook for science classes, grade one children will learn about famous scientists, natural phenomena such as how wind, rain, thunder and lightening is formed and seasonal changes. Students will also be guided to make hands-on experiments.

"In science class, students can learn to take notes on their observations, and their curiosity for science problems can be trained to become scientific inquiry abilities," Zhang said.

Zhang Yonghui, headmaster of Haishou Primary School in southern China's Foshan City, said science classes in primary schools covered a variety of subjects ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and geography.

Zhang Xingying, father of a grade three student in Beijing, said schools did not offer science classes when his son was in grade one, so he often took his son to the city's science and technology museum to cultivate his interest.

Zhang is a satellite remote sensing expert with the State Meteorological Administration, and gave a lecture at his son's school last year combining seasonal description in Chinese classics with modern scientific observation of natural phenomena.

"It is important for children to learn to respect natural law at an early age. It can affect their understanding of the world, and the nation's cultural literacy," Zhang said.

HEALTHY APPS

Sun Xiaoying, a grade two student in a junior high school in Jinan, capital of eastern China's Shandong Province, is glad that her father finally understands that cell phones are a useful learning tool rather than a harmful "toy."

Her school has recommended students download several teaching-related apps, on which there are exercises and tests related to their textbooks.

"It is good to see children access healthy content when they use cell phones," said her father Sun Jidong.

Zhang Tao, headmaster of Yucai Middle School in Jinan, said electronic devices were used more and more in teaching and outside the classroom.

"New educational apps are very lively and interactive for students to grasp abstract knowledge. New technology applications in teaching are an inevitable future trend," Zhang said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:15:39|Editor: Song Lifang

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MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 people, including over 130 foreigners from over 10 countries, were blocked by a mudslide in a mountainous area in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria located in southwestern Russia, Russian media reported quoting sources in local emergency services on Friday.

Apart from local residents, some 350 tourists of 49 registered tourist groups in 27 tourist bases, including foreigners, have been cut off by the powerful mudslide from the slopes of the Adyl-Su gorge, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

The blocked foreign tourists are from countries including the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Malaysia, France, Britain, South Korea, India, Egypt, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, the agency said.

TASS news agency reported that about 7,700 people could be in the blocked area due to the erosion of roads in the Elbrus region of Kabardino-Balkaria, while Interfax news agency said there were 260 foreign tourists needing help in the zone.

The consulate of the Chinese Embassy in Russia is confirming the involvement of Chinese tourists.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said on its website that it was controlling "the elimination of the consequences of a complex of adverse meteorological phenomena in the Elbrus region of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic." But details were not provided.

The ministry's division in Kabardino-Balkaria said in a separate statement that a search and rescue operation was conducted in the region, where three cars with five people in them fell into the Baksan river. Two people were rescued, it said.

According to the document, a total of 245 people and 33 units of equipment were involved in the search and rescue operation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:15:40|Editor: Song Lifang

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DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Unlike previous years of Eid al-Adha, when people's talk in the capital Damascus was about the war and how to cheat death, this year Damascenes are worrying over the high prices and how to make ends meet.

The people's shift of priority this year is attributed to the relative calm of situation, with the sweeping progress of the Syrian army on the ground and the internationally-backed de-escalation zones deal.

Now, the Syrian army is fighting the Islamic State (IS) militants in the remote desert area in the eastern part of Syria, with key Syrian cities in securer and better conditions than they were last year.

The IS sway is shrinking as a result of the military operations backed by Hezbollah and the Russian air force, and the internationally-backed de-escalation zone's deal has put a leash on most of the other rebel groups, who are backed by regional powers, hoping to have a political status in the negotiations.

In the old quarter of Damascus on Friday, butchers prepare flocks of sheep for people to buy on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, one of the most important feasts on the Muslim calendar. It is celebrated around the Muslim world with the slaughtering of a camel, cow or sheep. Meat is eaten and distributed to the poor.

However, more onlookers were gathering near the butcher shops than actual buyers and their muttering was about the high prices of sheep.

"The war has been dragging on for long, and we feel a sense of security this year, this is why we are now more concerned about the prices and livelihood because the battles are taking place very far from here," Maher, a Damascus resident, told Xinhua.

In pre-war times, each family used to buy one sheep, but after the war heavily hit the economy, it has become almost impossible for the ordinary person to buy a sheep, whose price has gone up almost fourfold.

Still, the tough economic situation couldn't stop the people from performing this ritual in Eid al-Adha, but now about three families share one sheep to distribute its meat to the less fortunate people.

"Now every three families are buying one sheep due to the situation in the country and may God help us. The price of one kg of meat was sold at 600 Syrian pounds before the war, now it is sold at 2,200 Syrian pounds," Samer, a butcher, said.

After six years of war in Syria, the country's economy has become crippled with the wide-ranging U.S. and European sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's government.

The total economic losses so far are calculated at about 226 billion U.S. dollars, "about four times the Syrian GDP in 2010," according to estimates published by the World Bank last month.

The effects will be felt for decades, as it is estimated that it would take 10 to 15 years for Syria's per capita GDP to return to pre-war levels.

The government has recently been focusing on improving the economic situation, with officials stressing that the recovery of the economy has started.

President Bashar al-Assad recently said that the economic situation has started to recover slowly.

The government hosted the decades-old Damascus trade fair for the first time last month since 2011.

The aim of the fair was to send a message that the time for the economic investment in Syria has started, with the main focus on the reconstruction process.

Prime Minister Imad Khamis said recently that his government had already started signing contracts for the reconstruction process in the war-torn country, where entire cities are in ruins.

Experts believe that when the situation in the country becomes even better and the actual reconstruction begins, Syria will witness an economic boost with foreign companies investing in the rebuilding of Syria.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:20:42|Editor: Yamei

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Aerial photo taken on Aug. 24, 2017 shows the scenery of a park in Xiamen, a scenic city in southeast China's Fujian Province. The 9th BRICS summit will be held in Xiamen from Sept. 3 to 5, 2017. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei)

XIAMEN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from the world's top emerging markets will gather in the southeastern Chinese coastal city of Xiamen this month, marking the 11th anniversary of the BRICS cooperation mechanism.

The original term "BRIC," coined by former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001, referred to Brazil, Russia, India and China, four emerging markets with fast growth and great potential.

In 2006, foreign ministers from those countries met in New York to formally establish the BRIC grouping. When South Africa joined in 2010, the acronym changed to BRICS.

Together, the five countries now represent 44 percent of the world's population and 23 percent of global GDP, up from 12 percent a decade ago.

Amid a sluggish global economic recovery and setbacks in globalization, the Xiamen summit from Sept. 3 to 5 may be able to put a new shine on emerging markets and developing countries.

This year marks the first time for Chinese President Xi Jinping to chair a BRICS summit.

A traditional shipping center, Xiamen has been a window for the Chinese economy. As one of the first special economic zones in China, it has been a pilot city for many market-oriented economic reform experiments, a hub for attracting foreign industries, and a symbol of the nation's ambitions to reform and open up to the world.

Xiamen is also a pioneer of BRICS cooperation in trade and investment. In 2011, it hosted the China International Fair for Investment and Trade, where representatives of the five BRICS countries jointly participated for the first time.

The choice of Xiamen to host the latest BRICS summit reflects that openness and growth will have an important place on the agenda.

China has already emerged as a staunch advocate for globalization and open trade, particularly as the world struggles to close a widening development gap while protectionism rears its ugly head.

Xi, in his speech in January at the World Economic Forum at Davos, declared that protectionism was like "locking oneself in a dark room."

Though economic globalization has created new problems, this is no justification to write off economic globalization completely.

"Rather, we should adapt to and guide economic globalization, cushion its negative impact and deliver its benefits to all countries and all nations," Xi said.

This stance is likely to be reaffirmed at the Xiamen summit, which is themed "BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future."

China has consistently pinned high hopes on BRICS for emerging markets with which it can find natural common ground.

While the English acronym is itself catchy, the Chinese translation -- four characters meaning "gold bricks countries" -- conveys confidence in the future.

That sense of confidence is backed by concrete growth. Weathering through the global financial crisis, the BRICS countries have managed to exceed even O'Neill's bullish expectations.

Over the past 10 years, the five countries have contributed more than half of global growth. Their total volume of trade and overseas investment accounts for 16 percent and 12 percent of the world's total, up from 11 percent and 7 percent in 2006.

It can truly be said to have been a golden decade.

Strong economic performance means the BRICS countries are now key players in the world economy, and the inclusion of South Africa has given the group more political weight in global governance when speaking for the emerging world.

As a stabilizer in regional and international relations, BRICS has been working hard to gain a bigger say on the international stage.

On April 18, the BRICS countries aired their views on important global issues for the first time since their establishment as a group, as Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, made their collective voice heard in a Security Council debate.

On behalf of the BRICS five, Liu called for financing to better implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as more international efforts in conflict prevention.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, said: "BRICS cooperation has not only helped the countries themselves, but enhanced the right to speak on global issues for all developing countries."

As Xi said in June, the BRICS cooperation is "an innovation, which transcends the old pattern of political and military alliance and pursues partnerships rather than alliances."

"The BRICS mechanism surpasses the old zero-sum game mindset and practices a new concept of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation," he said.

But of course, that does not mean that the BRICS countries are without problems.

For example, while China and India are expected to see their economies expand by around 6.5 percent and 7.2 percent respectively this year, there is less optimism about Russia, Brazil and South Africa.

According to the World Economic Outlook, updated in July by the International Monetary Fund, South Africa's economy will expand by 1.0 percent in 2017, Russia's by 1.4 percent and Brazil's by 0.3 percent.

However, with concerted efforts, the BRICS five could well expand their pragmatic cooperation.

Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, told reporters in March, citing Xi: "The BRICS countries are like five fingers -- short and long if extended, but a powerful fist if clenched together."

And Xi, addressing an informal meeting of BRICS leaders before the G20 summit in the German port city of Hamburg in July, urged the five member countries to unswervingly promote the building of an open world economy, multilateralism and common development.

The Chinese president said he looked forward to working with other BRICS leaders to ensure the Xiamen summit would deliver results that would inject fresh impetus into BRICS cooperation, offer new solutions on improving global governance, and make new contributions to world economic growth.

To this end, China, as the holder of the BRICS presidency this year, has hosted a series of meetings to drum up support for the Xiamen summit.

Early last month, trade ministers met in Shanghai and agreed to unite against protectionism and safeguard the multilateral trade system. Days before that, a BRICS security meeting was held in Beijing, with discussions on global governance, anti-terrorism, the internet, energy, national security and development.

In June, finance ministers and central bank governors agreed to strengthen cooperation in several fiscal and financial areas, including the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and regulatory collaboration.

Shen Yi, director of the center for BRICS studies at Fudan University, said, "I think this year's summit in Xiamen will produce more practical and concrete cooperation, and improve trust and confidence among the BRICS countries."

Over the years, the five participating countries have improved macroeconomic policy coordination, promoted structural reform, infrastructure and taxation cooperation, and pushed forward new progress in fiscal and financial domains.

The grouping, which is based neither on ideology nor geopolitics, is seen as a new and perhaps better form of global governance in which emerging markets play key roles.

But the bloc does not want to limit future cooperation to the five nations.

In March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China would explore options for expansion to a "BRICS plus" and build a wider partnership through dialogue with developing countries and international organizations.

Yaroslav Lissovolik, chief economist of the Eurasian Development Bank, said "BRICS plus" would provide opportunities for other economies and inject impetus into economic globalization.

"The proposals of Wang Yi regarding the expansion of the BRICS partnership zone are not only timely in light of China's presidency of BRICS, but they are also aimed at giving new impetus to integration processes under the complicated conditions of protectionism's spread in the world economy," Lissovolik said.

To help finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, China co-founded the NDB in 2014 with its headquarters in Shanghai.

The bank became fully operational last year and approved loans involving financial assistance of more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for projects in green and renewable energy, and transport.

Meanwhile, the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi in 2013 to better connect countries along and beyond the ancient Silk Road, will also inject new vitality to BRICS cooperation.

Named after the historic Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative is an example of China sharing its solutions for global growth and governance by linking countries and regions that account for about 60 percent of the world's population and 30 percent of its GDP.

Sixty-eight countries and international organizations have signed agreements with China on Belt and Road cooperation. Total trade between China and other Belt and Road countries exceeded 3 trillion U.S. dollars between 2014 and 2016, and Chinese investment in these countries exceeded 50 billion U.S. dollars.

The initiative has been applauded by BRICS countries. With such inclusive platforms as the Belt and Road and the NDB, the Xiamen summit looks likely to add yet more glitter to the BRICS of gold and prepare the five nations for another successful decade to come.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:25:44|Editor: Song Lifang

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TOKYO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike came under fire Friday from a civic group and Korean residents in Japan for not paying tribute at an annual memorial ceremony held for Korean people murdered in the turmoil after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

Unlike previous years, both the Tokyo governor and Sumida Mayor Toru Yamamoto did not send a tribute to the ceremony, which angered a civic group which promotes friendship with both Seoul and Pyongyang.

Despite sending a tribute last year, Koike said she opted not to this year but would commemorate all the victims of the quake at an another memorial service being held the same day.

The civic group issued a statement saying Koike's actions are "saying that murder victims and those who lost their lives in a natural disaster are equivalent and thus she does not need to send a tribute."

Yasuhiko Miyagawa, the leader of the group, said he was angered by Koike's decision because deaths from natural disasters are completely different from murders. He said Koike was not empathetic towards the bereaved families.

He added that it is important that the correct information continues to be passed down.

Around 105,000 people lost their lives in the Great Kanto Earthquake which struck on Sept. 1, 1923.

In the chaotic aftermath of the quake, Koreans and Chinese people there were murdered by military and paramilitary forces following such rumors as those people planning to riot.

The cenotaph built in Yokoamicho Park to commemorate the lives lost states that the "precious lives of slightly more than 6,000 Koreans were robbed."

Koike choosing not to pay tribute at the ceremony reportedly follows a Tokyo metropolitan assembly member urging her to consider carefully about sending a message as there are differing views on how many Korean residents were murdered in the aftermath.

Miyagawa said that Koike's decision showed a lack of empathy towards bereaved family members.

He stressed that the massacre should never be forgotten or diminished so that such a tragedy, caused by confusion and discrimination, would never happen again.
Aerial photo taken on Aug. 17, 2017 shows the mudslide site in Freetown, Sierra Leone. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 people, including over 130 foreigners from over 10 countries, were blocked by a mudslide in a mountainous area in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria located in southwestern Russia, Russian media reported quoting sources in local emergency services on Friday.

Apart from local residents, some 350 tourists of 49 registered tourist groups in 27 tourist bases, including foreigners, have been cut off by the powerful mudslide from the slopes of the Adyl-Su gorge, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

The blocked foreign tourists are from countries including the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Malaysia, France, Britain, South Korea, India, Egypt, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, the agency said.

TASS news agency reported that about 7,700 people could be in the blocked area due to the erosion of roads in the Elbrus region of Kabardino-Balkaria, while Interfax news agency said there were 260 foreign tourists needing help in the zone.

The consulate of the Chinese Embassy in Russia is confirming the involvement of Chinese tourists.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said on its website that it was controlling "the elimination of the consequences of a complex of adverse meteorological phenomena in the Elbrus region of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic." But details were not provided.

The ministry's division in Kabardino-Balkaria said in a separate statement that a search and rescue operation was conducted in the region, where three cars with five people in them fell into the Baksan river. Two people were rescued, it said.

According to the document, a total of 245 people and 33 units of equipment were involved in the search and rescue operation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:35:47|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart Michel Temer on Friday agreed to further advance comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Temer arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a state visit at the invitation of Xi. During his stay in China, Temer will also attend the BRICS summit and the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries to be held in China's southeastern coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian Province from Sept. 3 to 5.

BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- plays an important role on international stage. China holds the BRICS presidency this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 20:40:50|Editor: Song Lifang

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NAIROBI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan's opposition leader Raila Odinga on Friday hailed the Supreme Court decision to annul the Aug. 8 presidential elections that declared President Uhuru Kenya as winner, terming the ruling "historic" for Kenya and Africa.

Speaking after the apex court delivered its verdict, Odinga termed the annulment of the election result as a "very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of the continent of Africa".

"For the first time, a ruling has been made by court nullifying the elections. I want to thank the judges for doing this for posterity of people of Kenya," he said.

Odinga's running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka, said he was happy but noted that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) must be punished.

"We will have to look deeply into the conduct of IEBC. We do not have faith that they are capable of conducting free and fair elections," said Musyoka.

In the verdict delivered by Chief Justice David Maraga, the judges by majority observed that there is sufficient evidence to show the IEBC did not adhere to the law in conducting the election.

Maraga, agreed by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola, said the electoral body messed in the transmission of results. The judges, however, absolved bale of President Kenyatta.

The judges directed the electoral body to conduct fresh elections within 60 days, in accordance to Article 140 of the Constitution.

Two judges, Jackton Ojwang and Njoki Ndung'u, dissented with the majority ruling, saying they saw no need to cancel the election.

The two dissenting judges said the polls were free, fair and credible as described by international observers.

Maraga, who is also the president of the court, called on Kenyans to maintain peace, saying that an election is a process and not an event.

Odinga urged other African countries to follow suit in the adoption of democracy in the running of state affairs.

Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are other countries on the African continent where presidential elections have been challenged in courts of law but have not been nullified.

Analysts say nullification of Kenyatta's victory is particularly crucial to Odinga as it has granted his political career a lifeline as he had vowed never to contest for presidency again.

The opposition leader's lead lawyer James Orengo said that the ruling is precedent setting in Kenya and Africa.

"Never has a supreme court overturned a victory of a seating president ... The rest of the continent will follow suit. There is going to be new fresh presidential elections," Orengo said.

Lawyers who represented President Kenyatta and the IEBC faulted the judgment and sought explanations and clarifications from the judges. They termed the verdict a political one.
This file photo taken on April 6, 2017 shows a Hungarian soldier patroling at the Hungarian border fence at the Tompa border station transit zone. Hungary has demanded Brussels refund half the 800 million euros ($950 million) it says it spent defending its southern borders against illegal immigration, the government said on August 31, 2017. ( AFP PHOTO / ATTILA KISBENEDEK)

BUDAPEST, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked the European Union to pay half of the costs of the country's anti-immigrant border protection, Minister of Prime Minister's Office Janos Lazar said here on Thursday.

The prime minister made the request to the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in a letter, asking the Brussels-based organization to cover half of the costs of the Hungarian anti-immigrant border protection, which is estimated at some 800 million euros ((952 million U.S. dollars), Lazar said at a press conference.

According to Lazar, the issue of border protection should also be discussed in the case of European solidarity, which should be manifested also in practice. Thus, the European Union must also bear the costs incurred on the Hungarian side.

"We want to have solidarity not only in messages, but also in concrete actions," he said, stressing that since the outbreak of the migration crisis, Hungary kept the Schengen border of the European Union safe by building a frontier fence and by training border guards - financed by Hungarian taxpayers - not only protecting themselves, but also protecting all citizens of the continent against the flood of illegal immigrants.

"It is not an exaggeration to say - that the safety of European citizens is also created by Hungarian police and soldiers," he added.

The EC had already assisted a number of countries; Greece has already received the promised 1 billion euros, Italy 656 million euros, and Bulgaria 100 million euros. It is time for Hungary to submit its request, too, according to Lazar.

Lazar also pointed that the plan for building camps in Libya was in line with the Hungarian standpoint, as well as returning the migrants back to their country of origin and the elimination of the causes of immigration at their roots.

He recalled that the Hungarian government has proposed hot spots for two years now.

The question of building migrants-camps in Libya, where they can present their request, is on the table now in Libya.

He also confirmed that the government extended the crisis situation due to massive immigration until March 7 next year.

At the end of July, the European Commission pressed ahead to the second stage of legal actions against the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland over refugee sharing for "non-compliance with their legal obligations on relocation."

This move came a month and a half after the Commission launched infringement procedures. If the countries still refuse to comply, they might face a financial penalty.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 21:41:14|Editor: Song Lifang

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LAGOS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 100,000 people have been affected by heavy floods in 24 communities of Benue State in the mid-belt region of Nigeria, a local disaster management official told Xinhua on Friday.

Boniface Ortese, Scribe of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), who disclosed this in Makurdi, the state capital, said over 2,769 households were affected by the floods occasioned by heavy downpours.

Inspecting flooded areas within Makurdi and its environs, Samuel Ortom, the state governor, said thousands of people were displaced across 12 local government areas of the state as a result of the calamity.

Ortom said the empty International Market and the Presidential Building at Agan Toll Gate had became camps for the relocated.

"As you can see, the level of flood water is increasing, more houses are being submerged and more of our people are displaced," he added.

He said the state government has taken steps towards avoiding the repeat of the 2012 flood disaster. Over 4,000 households were submerged and scores died in the 2012 flood disaster.

Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, told reporters that the issue of perennial flooding in the metropolis is made worse by residents' illegal building activities and indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drainage systems.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately mobilize personnel and resources to come to the aid of the victims of the flooding in Benue.

Buhari assured that the government would make available any assistance needed to enable the state government and the affected communities to cope with the flooding.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:11:29|Editor: Song Lifang

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by Christine Lagat and Robert Manyara

NAIROBI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- There was jubilation in opposition strongholds on Friday after Kenya's Supreme Court cancelled the results of Aug. 8 presidential elections citing massive irregularities.

Thousands of opposition supporters who gathered outside the Supreme Court broke into song and dance when the Chief Justice of Kenya's apex court annulled the outcome of presidential polls where the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner.

Waving banners and placards, opposition supporters described the ruling as a precedent setter in Africa where nullification of presidential results is rare.

The opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, had filed a petition at the Supreme Court, challenging Kenyatta's victory.

Odinga cited gross tampering of the entire voting exercise and refused to concede defeat when the electoral body declared Kenyatta the winner of hotly contested polls.

His supporters in Nairobi, Western Kenya and the Coast region hailed the cancellation of presidential election results, saying it confirmed their fears that their candidate was denied presidency through manipulation of vote tallying and transmission.

Major streets in Nairobi were turned into a carnival as jubilant supporters sang and danced victory tune in a largely peaceful manner.

Residents of the densely populated Nairobi slums of Kibera and Mathare came out in large numbers to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling as police kept a vigil to prevent breakdown of law and order.

Peter Oduor, a resident of Mathare told television reporters that he was elated to learn that Supreme Court judges had annulled the presidential election results that were disputed by the opposition.

"The ruling is a victory for Kenyans who turned up in large numbers to vote but felt realization of their dreams was aborted mid-way. We need to promote transparency in our electoral process," said Oduor.

Meanwhile, supporters of the ruling Jubilee Party that clinched presidency during the just concluded elections expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court ruling.

Charles Mburu, a civic leader in Naivasha town located 90 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, said he was not satisfied with the ruling.

"We are shocked and somehow disappointed by the court ruling but we will maintain peace and order since we are law-abiding citizens," said Mburu.

His sentiments were echoed by Jane Muthoni, a vegetable vendor who said that a lengthy electioneering process bode ill for economic growth in the country.

"Those of us in business, we are not happy with the decision by the Supreme Court to cancel presidential election results. Nevertheless, we are determined to move on and uphold peace," Muthoni.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:26:40|Editor: Song Lifang

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HARARE, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has refuted reports that he fell sick after eating ice cream from a dairy firm owned by the First Family.

In his first public comment since he suddenly fell sick on Aug. 12 while at a rally in Gwanda, the VP said such reports were being made by unscrupulous people bent on creating a rift between him and the First Family.

"The insinuation that I partook ice cream from the said dairy is false and mischievous, and being peddled by unscrupulous elements with the sinister agenda of creating a rift between me and the First Family, lower market confidence in products from the dairy and cause unnecessary alarm and despondency among peace-loving Zimbabweans," Mnangagwa was quoted as saying by the state-run Herald newspaper on Friday.

After his illness, social media was abuzz with claims that the VP fell sick after eating ice cream from Gushungo Dairy, claims that were dismissed by the government.

The Ministry of Information said the VP's doctors had indicated that the VP could have eaten stale food, resulting in his illness.

Mnangagwa had a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhea during the rally upon which he was airlifted first to medical facility in Gweru, Midlands Province before being flown to South Africa for further treatment the next day.

The VP was reported by the local media to have resumed official duties this week.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:26:43|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Friday approved a report on dismissals of lawmakers from their posts as deputies for the National People's Congress (NPC).

The lawmakers include Xu Qianfei, former president of Higher People's Court of east China's Jiangsu Province. He was disqualified as an NPC deputy in July for serious violation of the Party's code of conduct.

Li Gang, former deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, was stripped of NPC membership in August after being investigated for discipline violations.

Wang Sanyun, former vice chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the 12th NPC, was disqualified as an NPC deputy in July for discipline violations.

The report also confirmed the dismissal of five other NPC deputies for violations of Party's code of conduct, namely Li Zhijian, Bo Guangxin, Yang Tianran, Peng Jianwen and Zhang Bawu.

The total number of NPC deputies currently stands at 2,904.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:31:47|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson held a telephone conversation on Friday, exchanging views over the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Wang said that through a stance of maintaining regional peace and stability as well as non-proliferation, China opposes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s ballistic missile launches.

The United Nations Security Council has spoken with one voice in this regard once again, he added.

Wang noted that the possibility of bringing peace to the peninsula cannot be abandoned with the end of U.S.-South Korean joint military drills and the easing of tensions on the peninsula.

He urged all the related parties to act cautiously and work jointly to create conditions for the resumption of dialogue.

Wang said China will continue its unremitting efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through political dialogue.

He voiced his hope that other relevant parties will also shoulder their own responsibilities and play a positive role.

Johnson said Britain expressed grave concern over the DPRK's fresh missile launches regardless of relevant UN resolutions.

Britain agrees that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula should be solved in a peaceful way, and it has fully realized the positive efforts made by China in this regard, Johnson said.

Britain will continue to closely communicate with China regarding a proper solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, Johnson added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:31:49|Editor: yan

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BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Violence, terrorist acts and armed conflicts across Iraq have killed 116 civilians and wounded 181 others in August, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Friday.

A UNAMI statement said figures of casualties do not include security members, as the Iraqi military declined to give information about casualties among the troops.

Previous figures of security members' casualties released by UNAMI were questioned by the Iraqi military as "inaccurate."

Most of the civilian casualties occurred in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where 45 were killed and 135 others injured in multiple violent incidents, including a deadly car bombing ripped through a busy marketplace in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on August 28.

The casualties in Iraq's western province of Anbar were excluded, as the "UNAMI has not been able to obtain the civilian casualty figures from the health directorate in the province," the statement said.

Casualty figures in August dropped to nearly half of the previous month's casualty, with a total of 239 civilians killed and 273 others wounded in July.

Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief condemned the attacks by the terrorist IS group against civilians.

"Daesh (IS group) terrorists have shown absolute disregard for human life. Shamelessly, the terrorists have indiscriminately targeted civilians, most recently in Baghdad earlier this week," Kubis said referring to the car bombing in Sadr City.

Kubis said the attacks were aimed to "avenge their (IS militants) losses on the battlefield as they lost control of Tal Afar. However, the patience and resilience of the Iraqi people have defeated the terrorists' aim in breaking their unity."

UNAMI statement came after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared full liberation of the city of Tal Afar and surrounding areas from the extremist IS militants.

The Iraqi forces still have to wage more offensives to drive out IS militants from their redoubts in Hawijah in southwestern Kirkuk, the adjacent sprawling rugged areas in eastern Salahudin province, in addition to the remaining IS strongholds in the border areas with Syria, including the cities of Aana, Rawa, and al-Qaim in the western province of Anbar province.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United States that invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003, under the pretext of seeking to destroy weapons of mass destruction in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:31:51|Editor: yan

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HARARE, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The cash-strapped Zimbabwe government on Friday announced that it will pay 2017 bonuses to civil servants starting February next year.

Traditionally, the Zimbabwean government pays its workers annual bonuses between November and December, but resource constraints have seen the government failing to meet the dates.

Since 2015, government has been failing to pay its workers on time due to cash constraints amid the poorly performing economy.

Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira was quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper on Friday as saying that the 2017 bonus payments will be staggered, with the first batch of workers getting paid in February next year.

The Zimbabwean government paid 2016 bonuses for civil servants between April and July this year.

"Government has taken a position, 2017 bonuses will be paid. We are not going to make a once-off payment, we are going to stagger again and we hope to start earlier," the minister was quoted by the newspaper.

The minister said most companies had suspended paying annual bonuses due to the harsh economic environment but the government would strive to pay in recognition of the need to reward workers for their efforts and keep them motivated.

The government, she said, would also look at other options to incentivize its workers, such as provision of housing.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:36:58|Editor: Mengjie

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YINCHUAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, hundreds of Muslims performed a prayer ritual at a mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, to observe Eid al-Adha, known in China as Corban Festival, one of Islam's most important holidays.

They shook hands and wished each other well. After the prayers, some rushed to home to prepare the feast, while others visited markets around the mosque, buying deserts and fruit.

Corban Festival is a feast of sacrifice during which people slay livestock to share with their family or visit relatives and friends to send best wishes.

In Ningxia, Ma Tiangui, 65, an ethnic Hui, puchased a lamb a few days ago.

"My children and grandchildren return home for the festival, so I must prepare various delicacies for them," said Ma.

In the city of Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Guzelnir Memet received lamb from the residential community and made stewed mutton.

In order to help poor families celebrate the festival, the local government has allocated more than 3 million yuan (around 460,000 U.S. dollars) to provide each of the city's 18,025 households living below the poverty line with 3 kg of lamb.

The festival is also celebrated by Muslims in other northwestern provinces such as Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi.

China has more than 20 million Muslims, mainly Uygur, Hui, Kazakh, Uzbek and Tajik ethnic minorities, living in various regions.

Muslims in Ningxia, Xinjiang and Gansu enjoy a five-day holiday for the festival.

During the holiday, vehicles with seven or less seats are exempt from highway tolls in Ningxia.

Ma Xiaolong, a resident of Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County in Gansu, slaughtered a lamb and offered it to poor elderly neighbours.

"I plan to travel with my family to Beijing by high speed train this year," said Ma. "They had never taken this new form of transport."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 22:52:03|Editor: yan

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LAGOS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen people were killed and five others injured in a road accident on Thursday in Nigeria, a top official with the country's road commission said Friday.

The accident occurred as a passenger bus collided head-on with a trailer around 4 p.m. at Ogoneki area of southern Edo State, off Asaba-Benin Expressway, Samuel Odukoya, State Sector of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), told reporters.

Odukoya said 16 people died on Thursday while three other persons died in a hospital on Friday.

"Three females, 11 males, a female child and four male children were killed in the accident, while five men were injured and have been taken to the hospital," the road official added.

He said the accident was caused by dangerous overtaking.

Nigeria is among countries of the high death rates in traffic accidents, mainly due to careless driving, crumbling roads or invalidity of some vehicles used in public transportation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:32:14|Editor: Lu Hui

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NAIROBI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta, whose re-election was nullified by Supreme Court on Friday, has accepted the judges verdict, saying that he was ready for the fresh elections.

Kenyatta told a news conference in Nairobi that even though he disagrees with the apex court's ruling to nullify the presidential elections which was conducted on Aug. 8, he respects it.

"I personally disagree with the ruling that has been made today but I respect it as much as I disagree with it ... Six people have decided that they will go against the ruling of Kenyans," Kenyatta told a televised news conference in Nairobi.

"Five or six people cannot decide the fate of 45 million people. Kenyans will decide because this is the nature of democracy," Kenyatta added.

In its ruling earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court said the electoral body committed "irregularities and illegalities" during last month's vote, affecting the integrity of the election and ordered another presidential election to be held within 60 days.

"A decision is hereby issued that the elections held on Aug. 8, were not conducted in accordance with the Constitution and the applicable law. The results are therefore invalid, null and void," Chief justice David Maraga said.

"Elections is not an event but an process. After considering the totality of the entire evidence, we are satisfied that the elections were not conducted in accordance to the dictates of the Constitution and the applicable principles," he added.

President Kenyatta who garnered 8.22 million votes against opposition leader's 6.8 million votes said his win was as a result of "the will of the people".

"It is important to respect the rule of law. We believe in the rule of law. We are ready to go back again to the people with the same agenda," he said.

He called on Kenyans to maintain peace and vowed to beat his arch-rival Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) at the ballot in the repeat exercise.

"Your neighbour will always remain your neighbour regardless. Let us not be tribal, let us not be divided. Let us sell our policies so that Kenyans can decide," Kenyatta said.

The Kenyan leader said the judgment must not be misconstrued to mean that the government is at war with the Opposition.

"We ask every Kenyan wherever they may be to maintain peace. We are not at war with our brothers and sisters in the opposition," he said, noting that he is ready to go back to the people and sell his agenda for re-election within the 60 days set by court.

Odinga's lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta's win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes.

The opposition leader claims the election was rigged in favor of Kenyatta through the hacking and manipulation of the electronic vote-counting system. He provided proof of rigging in court.

The move to the judiciary is likely to relieve Kenyans who feared a repeat of the violence that followed a 2007 vote when Odinga called for protests. Around 1,200 people died in the unrest.

Odinga also contested - and officially lost - an election in 2013, but quelled potential violence by taking his case to court.

Judges eventually ruled that much of his evidence was being submitted outside time limits set by the court, frustrating his supporters and sparking suspicion over the judiciary's independence.

This is the fourth time 72-year-old Odinga has lost an election, often citing irregularities. However, the Friday ruling is the first time a court has supported his claim.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:32:16|Editor: Lu Hui

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) welcomes visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 31, 2017. (Xinhua )

by Larry Neild

LONDON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May's three-day charm-offensive visit to Japan was premature, a leading expert on British-Japanese relations said Friday.

Dr. John Nilsson-Wright, senior research fellow in Chatham House's Asia Program, said the Japanese government remained cautious over Brexit because of continuing ambiguity.

"Any expectations that May's visit was going to deliver some positive announcements and singing praises were misplaced," said Nilsson-Wright, who spoke to Xinhua on the phone.

He said May's visit to Japan will be discussed in London later this month at Chatham House's headquarters which is to be attended by high-ranking figures from Japanese political and business circles.

The event: A Retreat from Globalism? Angle-Japanese Cooperation in an Era of Nationalism takes place on Sept. 18-19.

Nilsson-Wright added there had been some benefits from May's visit, particularly over security issues.

Britain's decision to dispatch the Royal Navy warship HMS Argyle to the Pacific would be seen as a symbolic gesture by the Japanese.

Sending the frigate to the seas off Japan is part of increasing cooperation on security between the two countries. Although talks in Japan focused on Brexit were premature, Nilsson-Wright said any talks on bilateral relations would be welcomed.

But the inconclusive negotiations in Brussels between the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) would have been fresh in the minds of the Japanese.

Nilsson-Wright said, "The problem for the prime minister is in Brussels. The UK is not yet able to say what the future relationship will be between Britain and Europe. There is concern that the position of hard Brexit supporters could make life difficult, particularly with the question of access to the European single market.

"There are 1,000 Japanese companies in Britain employing around 140,000 people," he noted. "After Britain's decision to leave the EU was taken in the referendum Japan took the most unusual step of issuing a document expressing the concerns of the Japanese government and the Japanese business community over Brexit."

"The concerns expressed then in that document remain," he said. "It was an unusual and direct expression of their concerns, expressed in their usual polite way."

"In her meeting with the Japanese prime minister, May has not had the bold endorsement she may have hoped for," said Nilsson-Wright, referring to May's Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe.

"They are not exactly saying that Britain 'owes' Japan, but the fact is that successive Japanese governments have invested heavily in the UK," said the academic.

Nilsson-Wright has described the EU referendum result as the most epochal shift in UK foreign policy since the Suez Crisis of 1956 and has the potential to set in train a series of changes that could, in theory, threaten the integrity of the entire project of European integration.

The British decision to leave the EU also raises important comparative questions and insights for Asia specialists interested in Japan, he said.

In a speech Thursday in Tokyo, May said the close cooperation between Britain and Japan was particularly important at a critical juncture, with the Democratic People's Republic of Korean provocation presenting an unprecedented threat to international security.

She said that Britain welcomed the commitment from Japanese companies to a long-term presence in Britain. Nissan, Toyota and Softbank in particular have made commitments to the UK since the EU referendum, in a powerful vote of confidence in the long term strength of the UK economy.

The Daily Telegraph in London said comments made on the final day of May's visit by the Japanese prime minister reflected a sense of nervousness among Japanese chief executives about committing to long-term investment in Britain before it has struck a trade deal with the EU.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:32:17|Editor: yan

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WUHAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Distribution of third-generation social security cards began in China on Friday, with the new cards supporting direct settlement of trans-provincial medical expenses.

The new cards have more functions, are more secure and better support direct settlement of medical expenses, said Huang Huabo, deputy director of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security social security center in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province.

The cards will replace the old cards as a national reimbursement network for inpatient services is built. The network will allow any patient enrolled in the public medical insurance system to be reimbursed for inpatient expenses, no matter where they are treated, said the ministry.

The first group of ten cards were handed out at Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University.

Before the network was set up, inpatients had to return to the locality where they were enrolled to be reimbursed.

Currently, 1.34 billion Chinese people are enrolled in various public medical insurance systems, 98.8 percent of the population.

In 2016, the government spent 1.3 trillion yuan on medical and health care, a 10-percent increase from 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:42:20|Editor: yan

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LONDON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a bold new vision to accelerate the capital's status as a world-class tourist destination.

The Tourism Vision for London, a research report backed by more than 100 industry partners and supported by the Mayor of London, projects that tourism numbers in London will rise sharply, with more than 40 million people expected to visit the city by 2025, an increase of 30 percent on the 31.2 million visitors who came to the capital in 2016.

It also projects visitor spending to grow by almost 50 percent to 22 billion pounds (29 billion U.S. dollars) a year, up from 14.9 billion pounds in 2016. The surge in visitor numbers could be bolstered in the short-term by currency fluctuations. Around two thirds of international visitors say they're more likely to visit London given more favourable currency rates, according to separate research from promotional company London & Partners.

According to the vision, the fastest growing markets for visitors to London by 2025 is China, with 103 percent growth. This will be followed by India, with 90 percent growth, and the United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE) both with 43 percent rises.

Justine Simons, deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, told Xinhua that China was "a really important market" for the city's tourism industry. "We project quite a lot of growth in tourism in London over the next ten or so years and what we want to do is plan for that growth in a positive way," she added.

London's tourism industry is worth 11.6 percent of the capital's gross domestic product (GDP) and 9.0 percent across the UK as a whole, providing 700,000 jobs in London.

According to Google, London leads worldwide searches for city and short breaks ahead of Barcelona, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam, with the overall number of searches up by 17 percent year-on-year. London also tops Google's search rankings for global cities to fly to.

The Tourism Vision for London and this year's Autumn Season, a campaign to promote London to tourists around the world, were launched Thursday night by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at an event at the Natural History Museum.

The mayor promised in his speech that despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit, "London is still open to the world."

"London's Autumn Season will show visitors what it is like to explore the city like a Londoner, whether that's finding the capital's secret treasures or visiting its world-leading exhibitions and shows," he said.

Culture, arts, history and heritage are the number one reason visitors come to London. This year's Autumn Season will highlight events such as the British Library's event Harry Potter: A History of Magic, the Museums at Night festival, the Broadway show Hamilton An American Musical, and a Ferrari exhibition at London Design Museum.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:42:23|Editor: yan

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MADRID, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government has reacted to the latest launch of a missile by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by strongly condemning the action and demanding that two members of the Pyongyang embassy in Madrid leave the country.

The online newspaper "El Diplomat" reported Friday that in the wake of the test of a DPRK missile, which flew over Japan on Aug. 29, the Spanish government on Thursday summoned the DPRK Ambassador, Kim Hyok Choi, to condemn the actions of his government and demand the DPRK diplomatic mission in Madrid reduce by two its number of representatives in the Spanish capital.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Foreign Ministry published a note on its official website stating that Spain had "condemned the successive nuclear tests and the launching of ballistic missiles by the DPRK in violation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council."

The communique adds that DPRK's continuous tests "undermine the nuclear non-proliferation regime and create a serious threat to peace in the region and to global security."

Finally, the Spanish government says it regrets that despite appeals to halt testing, DPRK continues with actions that represent "an increase of international tension and a serious risk of conflict," and explains that the "Embassy of the DPRK had been warned by the (Spanish) Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the continuation of these actions would have consequences on bilateral relation."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:42:24|Editor: yan

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LAGOS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian military deployed to the oil rich Niger Delta confirmed Friday that a soldier and a civilian staff were killed during an ambush by suspected militants.

Spokesperson for the Joint Task Force, Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, who announced this to reporters in Yenagoa, said one gallant soldier and a civilian staff attached to the military houseboat paid the supreme price for defending fatherland.

He debunked earlier reports that four soldiers and a civilian died in the attack on troops on Aug. 28, at Letugbene community in Ekeremor area of Bayelsa.

Abdullahi said a manhunt had been launched to fish out the perpetrators of the act some of whom fled into neighboring communities.

The military spokesperson said the ongoing operation was within the rules of military engagement in line with best practices, assuring that innocent residents had nothing to fear.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:47:26|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's legislature Friday approved the member lists of the electoral councils that will elect deputies from the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).

A total of 1,989 people in Hong Kong and 481 in Macao were approved at the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the NPC, which ended Friday.

Thirty-six deputies from Hong Kong and 12 deputies from Macao will be elected according to a plan released by the NPC Standing Committee this April.

Current deputies will end their term in March 2018. The election of deputies to the 13th NPC shall be completed in January 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-01 23:52:27|Editor: yan

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CAPE TOWN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming BRICS summit in China's Xiamen will offer an opportunity for helping achieve the development objectives of the Global South, the South African Presidency said on Friday.

Such engagements will also contribute to finding innovative approaches and solutions to South Africa's identified triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality, the Presidency said prior to President Jacob Zuma's departure for China to attend the 9th summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), to be hosted on September 3-5.

There has been substantive progress achieved since South Africa joined BRICS in 2011, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.

"The formation has strengthened its (BRICS') cooperative mechanism for institutional development, most notably witnessed in the creation of the New Development Bank and the recently launched Africa Regional Centre in Johannesburg," said Ngqulunga.

He said South Africa looks forward to meeting with the like-minded BRICS countries.

South Africa expects the dialogue to be reflective of trans-continentalism and to bring together nations with a focus on the needs of the Global South in the context of globalization and future development, Ngqulunga said.

The economic ties between BRICS countries are being strengthened through the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership that was adopted during the Ufa Summit in Russia in 2015, said Ngqulunga.

In this regard, several agreements in support of the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership will be signed in the presence of BRICS Leaders at the upcoming summit, Ngqulunga said.

According to figures provided by the South African Presidency, total intra-BRICS trade amounted to 3.06 trillion rand (about 235 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015. South Africa's exports to BRICS countries marginally increased from 123 billion rand in 2011 to 138.2 billion rand in 2016 while in the same period, imports from BRICS countries also increased from 115 billion rand to 230 billion rand.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 00:07:34|Editor: yan

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CAPE TOWN, Sept.1 (Xinhua) -- The South African cabinet on Friday reiterated its commitment to a regulated process that manages the trade in threatened or protected species.

This position falls in line with the domestic legislation as well as the legally binding provisions of the the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams told reporters after a fortnightly cabinet meeting in Cape Town.

Despite an earlier ruling by the North Gauteng High Court on the issuing of a permit to private rhino horn breeders to sell rhino horns at home, international trade in rhino horns remains banned in terms of the CITES provisions, Williams said.

The permit does not authorize international trade in rhino horns, she stressed.

The permit led to South Africa's first online auction of rhino horns last month.

The cabinet reiterates that anyone who has acquired a sellers permit can only sell rhino horn to a person who has a buyers permit issued in terms of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 2004, authorizing him or her to buy rhino horns from a seller permit holder, Williams explained.

For any auction of rhino horns, the Department of Environment Affairs (DEA) must be granted access to the online auction to do the necessary compliance monitoring, said Williams.

She said the cabinet also welcomes the recent announcement by Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa that South Africa is finalizing a verification and audits of all the existing privately owned rhino horn stockpiles.

The initial audit which was conducted on the provinical level is being checked and verified by the national DEA, according to Williams.

"This will assist in preventing the potential smuggling of illegally obtained rhino horns and will ensure that the country has full and accurate information on the number of horns in South Africa at any given time, as well as the registered owner of each one of such horns," Williams said.

She was speaking amid rising concern that domestic trade in rhino horns would lead to an increase in the illegal international trade due to the lack of a regulatory regime in the country.

The South African government has denied allegations that the country does not have systems in place to ensure that any prospective domestic sale of rhino horns takes place in a strictly regulated manner.

South Africa, home to more than 80 percent of the world's rhino population, bears the brunt of rhino poaching, having lost a total of 529 rhinos this year, official statistics show.

The country imposed a moratorium on the trade in 2009 with the aim to curb rhino poaching. But private rhino breeders say the ban has failed to curb rhino poaching.

Private rhino breeders have won a series of court battles to overturn the almost decade-long moratorium on the sale of rhino horn within South Africa's borders.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 00:22:42|Editor: yan

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CAIRO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- EgyptAir said on Friday that British authorities have lifted a ban imposed on carrying electronic devices on flights from Cairo to Britain.

In a press statement, the country's national carrier said the the ban was lifted after Britain ensured that EgyptAir flights meet the requirements of the British Transportation Security Administration.

In March, Britain and the U.S. banned passengers from carrying electronic devices larger than a mobile phone in carry-on luggage or other accessible property on flights from several countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The ban was imposed at 10 airports in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey.

Electronic devices that were banned aboard included laptops, tablets, e-readers, cameras, portable DVD players, electronic game units larger than smartphones and travel printer/scanners.

The U.S. lifted the ban on Egypt in July.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. (REUTERS FILE PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Moscow will give tough response to hostile steps by the United States aimed against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"We will give a tough response to those things that hurt us absolutely without rhyme or reason, and which are dictated only by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States," Lavrov said in his address to students of the Moscow MGIMO international relations university.

Lavrov commented on the U.S. demand to close Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, and a consular annex in New York City by Saturday.

Washington reacted to Moscow's decision to cut U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to numbers equaling Russian staff in the United States and seizing two U.S. properties in Moscow.

Moscow in its turn reacted to the December decision of previous U.S. administration of Barack Obama to expel 35 Russian diplomats and seize two Russian Properties.

However, Lavrov did not specify what Moscow's next step could be, saying that the U.S. statement was received in the early hours and has yet to be examined.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 01:12:58|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) voiced fears on Friday that German national elections in September could become a target of cyber attacks.

Aside from hacking sensitive candidate and party data, the biggest threat posed by cyber criminal activities was that "perpetrators could try to attack the IT-systems which are used for the election," BSI president Arne Schoenbohm told the magazine Spiegel.

The warning comes only three weeks before Germany choose a new Federal Parliament (Bundestag). In particular, Schoenbohm expressed worry that doubts could be sown over the legitimacy of the national election.

The BSI president noted that the use of paper forms for the election provided Germany with a degree of security.

He stressed, however, that "offenders could also try to undermine citizens' trust in the vote after parliamentary elections by spreading false rumours about irregularities." It could not be ruled out that data stolen from the Federal Parliament by hackers back in 2015 could be published before the vote on September 24, or that new attacks would be launched on public institutions until then.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 01:38:10|Editor: yan

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SKOPJE, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The positive atmosphere that currently exists between Macedonia and Greece allows the two countries to make a step forward to resolve the name issue in the upcoming months, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Friday.

Macedonia is the name of a northern province in Greece, and Athens is worried that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.

In a media statement, Zaev said that the recent visit of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to Skopje was a positive signal that the two countries would work to find a way out of the situation.

"I remain positive. There is a positive atmosphere, there is friendship, dialogue and conversations, and the two meetings of the foreign ministers in Skopje and in Athens confirm that," said Zaev.

Zaev told reporters that it was possible that United Nations (UN) mediator Matthew Nimetz, appointed to oversee the name issue, would make a proposal to come to resolve the issue between November and January.

The head of the Macedonian government also said he was ready to work with opposition parties here to solve the problem.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 01:43:12|Editor: An



People dance at a gorilla naming ceremony in Musanze District, northern Rwanda, on Sept. 1, 2017. Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Friday held a gorilla naming ceremony at Kinigi in Musanze District, northern Rwanda. About 19 baby gorillas born late last year and this year were given names at the event. (Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe)

MUSANZE, Rwanda, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Friday held the gorilla naming ceremony at Kinigi in Musanze District, northern Rwanda.

This year marks the 13th edition of the annual flagship event, locally known as Kwita Izina, in Rwanda's conservation that brings together conservation enthusiasts from all over the world to celebrate the central African country's success in protecting the endangered species.

The event attracted thousands including international celebrities, conservationists, and notable icons from Africa and beyond.

About 19 baby gorillas born late last year and this year were given names at the event.

Speaking to thousands at the foothills of the Volcano mountains in northern Rwanda, Belise Kaliza, chief tourism officer at RDB recognized 50 tour operators who joined the country to celebrate the event.

She said that the annual event has been a success because it has promoted Rwanda's tourism prospects.

"It is an important ceremony because it promotes our country's conservation efforts and boosts the growth of tourism industry," she said.

Statistics from RDB shows that gorillas contribute about 90 percent of the revenues from Rwandan national parks. Rwanda's tourism registered revenues worth 304.9 million dollars in 2014 with a total number of about 1.22 million visitors in the same year, according to RDB.

Kaliza said the baby gorilla naming ceremony has positively impacted the growth of gorillas and transformed the social and economic well-being of the communities surrounding the park.

"The tourism improved the livelihood of the community living around the area and the entire country," she said.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the event reminded Rwandan community on protecting and conserving the ecosystems.

"We should guard and protect the ecosystems thus it is within Rwanda's interests considering that the income help Rwanda move forward," Kagame told the participants.

Since the introduction of the ceremony, the gorilla population has grown by 26.3 percent, according to RDB.

"Let us preserve, protect ourselves and the biodiversity, and promote tourism notably the community living in the proximity of the Volcanoes National Park," said the president.

Gorilla tourism remains the backbone of Rwanda's tourism and conservation industry. Since the initial launch of Kwita Izina in 2005, a total of 239 mountain baby gorillas adding 19 named on Friday have been named, according to RDB.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 01:48:16|Editor: yan

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ENTEBBE, Uganda, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva has warned that there is increasing hunger in Africa due to factors including prolonged drought, floods and conflicts.

Graziano da Silva said this on Thursday while concluding a three day visit to Uganda where he held discussions with the government about advancing sustainable agriculture and strengthening collaboration and strategic partnership for a hunger-free country.

He told reporters here, 40 km south of the capital Kampala, that over the last three years hunger has increased in Africa and yet it is decreasing in other parts of the world.

He said the agency would in about two weeks announce new figures of the hunger situation.

Graziano da Silva was speaking after meeting Uganda's Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja.

Sempijja said that although Uganda is not yet facing a food crisis, it faced a shock after it was invaded by the Fall Army Worms which destroyed crops, especially maize.

He said the attack came shortly after the country had undergone a prolonged dry spell which reduced production.

Sempijja added that the influx of South Sudan refugees into the country exerted more pressure on the food situation.

"We would be having a lot of food but we now have over 1.5 million refugees. This is a big challenge of top of challenges like drought," he said.

Since fighting broke out in South Sudan in late 2013, more than 1 million refugees have crossed into Uganda. Other refugees are from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi among others.

FAO earlier this year announced that in Africa, famine had broken out in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.

Last month, FAO and the World Food Programme in a food security report said the rising violence and displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo was pushing the country to near famine levels.

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis said 7.7 million Congolese face acute hunger - a 30 percent increase over the last year.

To relieve the pressure on Uganda regarding the refugees, FAO said in the last several years it has implemented more than 3 million U.S. dollars' worth of projects to support the refugees in Uganda.

Some of the support includes providing them with locally-adapted and diversified seeds to grow quick-maturing, high-nutrient foods as well as with kits for livestock treatment, poultry production and micro-irrigation.

During Graziano da Silva's visit to Uganda, he also signed a memorandum of understanding with the agriculture ministry. Key issues in the agreement include ensuring food security, creating jobs for women and youths through agriculture and adapting to climate change.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 01:58:19|Editor: yan

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LUSAKA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Friday called for coherence in policies and programs to ensure the success of the universal health coverage for Africa.

While acknowledging that momentum was picking to moves towards universal health coverage, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya urged the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to ensure coherence in policies and programs are put in place to ensure quality health service delivery.

Zambia, he said, would like to see integration of all policies and programs that will work towards attaining universal health coverage in Africa.

Zambia will remain committed to achieving universal health coverage and is ready to work with other countries and development partners towards achieving the goal, he added.

The Zambian minister was speaking in remarks delivered at the on-going WHO 67th Regional Commitment Meeting in Zimbabwe, according to a statement released by the health ministry.

He noted that the WHO framework strengthening health systems for universal coverage in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDFs) in the African region was timely and strategic.

He went on to say that the achievement of universal health coverage was a key aspiration of the Zambian government.

"The strategic aim of universal health coverage is to ensure that everyone access health services they need without risk of financial ruin or impoverishment, despite their socio-economic status," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 02:43:29|Editor: yan

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LAGOS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Despite attacks on soft targets by Boko Haram militants in the restive northeast region, the Nigerian military on Friday said its main thrust now is the decapitation of all the remaining terrorists' factions.

In a statement made available to Xinhua in Lagos, the nation's economic hub, Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, lauded troops for neutralizing five top commanders of the Boko Haram terrorists.

"With this feat achieved, the relevance of Abubakar Shekau, self-styled leader of the Boko Haram sect is no longer of any consequence," Buratai said.

He expressed satisfaction with the zeal and determination of troops to capture the Boko Haram terrorists' factional leader, Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive, in line with his directive which is yet to be achieved.

The army chief, on July 21, gave the Theater Commander, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, 40 days deadline to capture the terrorists' leader.

The deadline expired on Aug. 30.

Buratai said the five key leaders of the insurgents recently eliminated by the troops were the closest associates and right hand men of the terrorists' group leader.

"Within the same period, 82 of the Boko Haram terrorists were eliminated," he added, noting that the commander (of theater command) was very close to achieving the directive.

The army chief said the theater commander has asked for the extension of the deadline and it was granted.

"Given deadlines and extensions are strategic means of focusing troops' efforts in the theater," Buratai said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 03:23:47|Editor: yan

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FRANKFURT, Sept.1 (Xinhua)-- The western German city of Aachen started free predistribution of iodine tablets to local residents amid their concerns about the safety of the Tihange nuclear plant in Belgium, announced the local government Friday on its official website.

The German border city is located around 70 kilometers away from the Belgian nuclear power plant, or within a radius of 100 kilometers, so that the German Commission on Radiological Protection has recommended the distribution of iodine tablets for residents in Aachen and nearby in case of a reactor accident.

Local residents should submit application for free iodine tablets on the city website from Sep.1 to Nov.15, so that they can use coupons to exchange pills at pharmacies by the end of November.

Usually, iodine tablets are stored in a central location, and only distributed in an emergency, the German media Deutsche Welle reported, adding that however, the authorities came to the conclusion that the tablets couldn't be distributed quickly enough in the case of an accident at Tihange, as a result, the city will supply a large part of the population with iodine tablets in advance.

Germany has decided to switch off all its nuclear reactors by 2022, while the repeated reports about newly discovered cracks in the reactors of Tihange nuclear plant disturb increasingly people who live near the border of Germany and Belgium.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 03:23:48|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army and allied fighters captured on Friday the town of Uqayribat, a key Islamic State (IS) stronghold in the central province of Hama, a military source told Xinhua.

Located in the eastern countryside of Hama, the town was a main IS stronghold and a launching pad of the IS attacks against the army in Hama countryside.

The IS control over the town had also posed a threat to the road between Hama and the northern province of Aleppo.

Capturing Uqayribat is part of a wide-scale offensive the army and its allied forces have waged in Hama countryside against IS.

The army laid a full siege on Uqayribat on Aug. 18, before storming it on Friday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source told Xinhua that the army forces also captured four other towns in eastern Hama.

The battles in Hama are also part of a broader offensive against IS in the desert region in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

The army announced Friday it had reached the adminstritive border of Deir al-Zour province following battles with IS in eastern Homs.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 03:43:53|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday urged the international community to take robust action to prevent more tragedies on the eve of the second anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned whilst attempting to reach Greece on Sept. 2 of 2015.

Although the number of arrivals in Europe has drastically decreased since Kurdi's death, UNHCR said, people continue to attempt the journey and many have lost their lives in the process.

The UN agency said that since Sept. 2, 2015, at least 8,500 refugees and migrants have died or gone missing trying to cross the Mediterranean alone, while many others have died in the desert.

"Many of the children trying to reach Europe travel on their own, making the journey even more terrifying and perilous. This was the case for 92 percent of the 13,700 children who arrived to Italy by sea in the first seven months of 2017," UNHCR said in a statement.

"The urgent need for solutions for these children and others on the move remains, if people see no hope and live in fear, then they will continue to gamble their lives making desperate journeys," it added.

UNHCR urged the world's political leaders to work together to develop safer alternatives to better inform those considering making the journey of the dangers they face, and most importantly, to tackle the root causes of these movements by resolving conflicts and creating real opportunities in countries of origin.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 04:24:11|Editor: yan

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ANKARA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey celebrated a major Islamic holiday on Friday with hundreds of thousands of cows and sheep from all over the country being sold as sacrifices.

Starting Sept. 1, the four-day Eid al-Adha, also known as the "Feast of the Sacrifice," is a Muslim holy holiday worldwide when animals are ritually sacrificed with their meat delivered to the poor.

Consequently, Eid al-Adha has become the largest opportunity during the year for livestock breeders to do some business. However, there are worries about the price hikes in the livestock markets across the country this year.

Although prices of the sacrificial animals slightly went down the day before the Eid al-Adha, the current prices are still high comparing with last year.

A small head of cattle weighing 45-50 kilograms costs between 750-950 Turkish liras (about 250 U.S. dollars), while the prices were about 700-750 Turkish liras last year, said Nihat Celik, chairman of Turkey's sheep and goat breeding union.

Bendevi Palandoken, chairman of Confederation of Turkish tradesmen and craftsmen, warned against speculators who have kept the prices high.

According to the statistics of the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2016, there were 14,222,228 heads of adult cattle, and 41,329,232 heads of small cattle in Turkey.

The figure is above the Eid consumption, Palandoken said, as nearly 860,000 heads of cattle and 2,500,000 heads of small cattle are sold during the feast every year.

Nevertheless, prices will find balance during the Eid al-Adha, even though some speculators could manipulate the market prices ahead of the feast, he noted.

Husbandry is one of the main economic activities in Turkey's eastern and southeastern regions. But given the spiralling meat prices in the recent years, state-run Meat and Milk Board (ESK) has to import a large amount of meat, which has in turn drawn complaint from local producers.

Breeders and retailers accuse each other of driving prices higher, but industry officials say there are deeper structural problems about the long-term breeding policy as the supply chain is hindered by middlemen and arcane bureaucracy.

"Small cattle feeders should be supported in order to prevent the hike in meat prices," Palandoken said.

Cemalatten Ozden, chairman of Cattle Breeders' Association of Turkey, said it is wrong to impute the price fluctuations in the red meat market to producers only.

"Red meat market has more than one stakeholder: producers, intermediaries, wholesalers and markets," he explained.

As for the second reason of higher prices in red meat in Turkey, Ozden pointed to the continuing increase in production input, especially the animal feed, diesel, fertilizer and labor.

The import option, which should be considered an alternative when necessary, provides relief on the consumer side in the short run, but has a negative impact on the balances of the long-run production market, he noted.

In response, Turkish government's food committee said on Aug. 18 that it would adjust a customs tax on the raw materials used in animal feed to lower the cost of meat production.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 04:49:21|Editor: An



A man paddles on a flooded street near Barker Reservoir, west of Houston, Texas, the United States, Sept. 1, 2017. Heavy rain that fell following Hurricane Harvey inundated the Barker and Addicks reservoir areas, west of Houston. Since Aug. 28, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been deliberately releasing water from both reservoirs into nearby neighborhoods, since rising water levels in the reservoirs reached the limits. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

HOUSTON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Friday asked some residents who live near the Addicks reservoirs to leave their homes.

Water will be released from the dam into the neighborhood for the next 10 to 15 days, Turner said at a news conference, adding that this is a voluntary evacuation of homes, including apartment buildings, of the already flooded properties in the area.

Homes that are already flooded are likely to stay several feet under water, he added.

Citing residents' safety and the toll water rescues take on first responders, Turner asked all residents who had water in their homes to leave.

"I simply do not feel comfortable with you remaining in your homes with water," Turner said. "I have to take into account the stress that's being imposed by our first responders."

Heavy rain that fell following Hurricane Harvey inundated the Barker and Addicks reservoir areas, west of Houston. Since Monday (Aug. 28), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been deliberately releasing water from both reservoirs into nearby neighborhoods, since rising water levels in the reservoirs reached the limits.

But in the neighborhood close to the reservoirs, Xinhua correspondent saw some people are still staying at their flooded homes.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 05:09:26|Editor: yan

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MEXICO CITY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tropical storm Lidia claimed four lives and toppled a building as it barreled through the southern portion of Mexico's northwest state of Baja California Sur, local authorities reported on Friday.

Two men were electrocuted by downed electricity lines, a woman drowned after falling into a creek and a minor was snatched from its mother's arms and swept away by a strong current, the state's undersecretary of Civil Protection, Carlos Godinez, told a local radio station.

The storm made landfall in this part of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula at 7:15 a.m. local time, said Godinez.

Officials were closely watching to see how much damage the storm would wreak in the state's southern tip, which is home to Mexico's upscale resort of Los Cabos, a key tourist destination and revenue generator.

Apparently the storm's passing left Los Cabos soaking and largely without power, but otherwise relatively unscathed, according to President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"The airports have opened in Los Cabos, convenience stores are operating and (the Federal Electricity Commission) reestablished service to 25,000 of the 102,000 (homes) affected," Pena said on Twitter.

A four-story building built near a creek in Los Cabos collapsed from the heavy rains and winds, and another was evacuated as a precautionary measure after showing structural defects.

"It rained quite a lot and weakened the foundations," said chief firefighter Juan Carbajal.

Over a period of 36 hours, more than 44 centimeters of rain fell in Cabo San Lucas, one of two tourism hubs in Los Cabos, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) said.

With storm warnings in effect as of Thursday, at least 3,000 residents in Los Cabos had taken refuge at shelters, while some 20,000 tourists hunkered down in their hotels.

As the storm continued to move northwestward in the direction of the state's capital La Paz, about 1,000 residents there were temporarily housed at shelters.

Heavy rains were expected to continue in the region and parts of mainland Mexico through Friday and most of Saturday, with the storm forecast to head back out to the Pacific Ocean on Saturday night.
A combination of file photos show Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) at a news conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Feb. 28, 2017 and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on June 1, 2017. (Xinhua)

MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. security services intend to conduct a search at Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco on Saturday, which is a defiant move that creates a direct threat to the safety of Russian citizens and worsens the already difficult bilateral dialogue, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"With such provocative actions, the U.S. continues to burden the already difficult atmosphere of the bilateral dialogue, undermining opportunities for cooperation, including in the interests of solving pressing international problems," the ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. special services have decided to search the San Francisco Consulate General on September 2, "including apartments of the staff members who live in the building and enjoy diplomatic immunity, for which they and their families, including young children, even infants, were asked to leave the premises for 10 to 12 hours," the ministry said in the statement.

Calling the planned move an "invasion" into the homes of Russian diplomatic staff, the ministry accused the U.S. side of exacerbating the already battered bilateral relations.

On Thursday, the U.S. required Russia to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington and a consular annex in New York City by Saturday.

The ministry said the U.S. latest moves represent "a new extensive violation of international law", which even surpass the measures taken by Administration of Barack Obama in December 2016 expelling 35 Russian diplomats and seizing two Russian Properties.

"We strongly protest against Washington's actions that ignore international law and, as is common in diplomatic practice, we reserve the possibility of retaliatory measures. This is not our choice. They impose it on us," the ministry said.

The diplomatic row came at a low point of bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow, as the two sides hold differences on a range of issues, including the war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine, and U.S. accusations that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, a charge Russia strongly denies.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 05:34:34|Editor: An



Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (R) and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa attend a youth interface rally in Gweru, Zimbabwe, Sept. 1, 2017. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa is now fit and strong after battling illness a few weeks ago. Mugabe made the remark while addressing the seventh youth interface rally in Gweru, Midlands Province. (Xinhua/Stringer)

HARARE, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa is now fit and strong after battling illness a few weeks ago.

Mugabe urged the nation to desist from speculating about the Vice President's illness, saying the VP was not poisoned as speculated by others who claim that he fell sick after eating ice cream from a dairy company owned by the First Family.

He also lashed out at those alleging witchcraft on the illness of the VP.

"The VP is now fit again and back. He is now strong. He is back to normal," Mugabe said while addressing his seventh youth interface rally in Gweru, Midlands Province.

Mugabe said he met Mnangagwa's medical doctor from South Africa in Harare this week who told him that the VP's illness was not due to food poisoning.

The doctors were still carrying out further research to ascertain the cause of the illness, Mugabe said.

Mnangagwa suffered a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhea while attending a ZANU-PF youth interface rally in Gwanda, Matabeleland South on Aug. 12 and was immediately airlifted to a medical facility in Gweru, Midlands Province before being flown to South Africa the next day for further treatment.

Since falling sick, social media had been abuzz with claims that the VP fell sick after eating ice cream from a dairy firm owned by the First Family, claims that were dismissed by the government as false.

The VP on Thursday issued a statement denying that he fell sick after eating ice cream from Gushungo Dairy.

Meanwhile, the First Lady Grace Mugabe urged party youths to desist from denigrating President

Mugabe and reiterated her call for senior party members to stop fighting over Mugabe's succession, saying the veteran president will tell when the time comes for him to retire.

"The presidency is not a job that you can apply for. It's a job that is difficult to get," the First Lady said at the Gweru rally.

Mugabe, 93, will seek re-election in next year's harmonized elections after his party endorsed him as its presidential candidate.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 06:09:41|Editor: An

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HELSINKI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Finland's biggest chain of department stores Stockmann agreed on Friday to install China's Alipay as one of its payment methods.

The move was considered a milestone for the Chinese mobile payment platform to be recognized in Europe.

The first sale ever done through Alipay at a Stockmann cashier desk was operated on Friday morning by the giant retailer's chief commercial officer Anna Salmi, who sold a pair of glass mugs to Yin Wei, chief financial officer of Finnish mobile payment company ePassi, Alipay's partner in Finland.

Yin spent a few seconds in scanning the barcode and confirming the payment before he took over the parcel from Salmi. "I hope this represents the future of payment method in Finland," he said.

As Yin explained, the money will be transferred in the background from the customer's Alipay account to ePassi and further to Stockmann.

Salmi said she was not surprised by the speed of the transaction, as she had seen it on internet before. What made her most excited was the fact that Alipay is much more than a payment method.

"For us it is part of the deal to help the customers with pre-know -- what's here, what we offer, what services that we have, hopefully at some stages even open a dialogue box where customers can get service," Salmi told Xinhua.

"It is about also managing the expectations, and getting those from the right level. (We) hopefully get some feedback as well through that channel. That will help us to develop our services to be more suitable for the Chinese tourists," she added.

The Chinese tourists have been the second biggest national group at Stockmann, following Finland's neighboring country Russia.

"With the speed that it has been growing, I think it's very meaningful for us, as Alipay is the key payment method for the Chinese tourists," said Salmi.

Now that the new system is in place, an internal training for the employees to adapt to the payment method will be carried out soon. Salmi predicted the overall launch of Alipay in the flagship department store in central Helsinki would start in the middle of September.

An effort to expand the use of Alipay more widely to other Stockmann shops in Finland and in the Baltics is optional, according to Salmi.

In a country where bankcards have been available since 1980s, Finnish citizens have been relying on bank cards and the banks are backing this traditional payment heavily. The situation seems challenging for emerging mobile payment players.

"Only lately the mobile payment has become a general payment thanks to our cooperation with Alipay," said Risto Virkkala, CEO of ePassi, noting that the cooperation has had its merchant network expanded rapidly as well.

While the Western Europe is still relying on the old legacy, Chinese mobile payment ecosystem has been developed from scratch to become quite mature.

"China is way more advanced in mobile payments," said Virkkala. He told Xinhua that he believed "the approach is now coming to Europe."

With some 600,000 customers and 30 percent market share, ePassi has become the biggest mobile payment operator in Finland with a vision to expand to the whole Nordic area as well.

In collaboration with ePassi, Alipay was first introduced to Finland last year, and the business was highlighted by a launching ceremony of the Single's Day global online shopping festival in Rovaniemi, an arctic tourist destination in northern Finland.

Early this year, Finland's national carrier Finnair activated Alipay on its flight from Shanghai to Helsinki, becoming the first airline to offer the online payment system onboard.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 06:14:43|Editor: yan

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by Fuad Rajeh

SANAA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Houthi rebels are tightening its grip on Yemen's capital Sanaa and excluding their ally, General People's Congress (GPC) party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, from power amid growing tensions between the two sides, local security officials and analysts said.

The developments followed sporadic deadly clashes and a media war between them which started after the GPC decided to mark its founding anniversary a week ago.

Each side is accusing the other of misuse of public funds and corruption, and the differences have already reached a dangerous point.

This week, Houthis killed a senior military commander close to Saleh, attacked Saleh's lawyer and have been accusing key aides of Saleh of being a fifth column.

Moreover, they have fired dozens of GPC military and non-military officials and are planning to announce a state of emergency in Sanaa, shut down social media platforms and other measures.

The Iran-backed Houthis and the GPC allied in September 2014, when they ousted the UN-backed government and later sparked a civil war and a Saudi-led bombing campaign.

Their alliance has since been running the capital Sanaa as well as northern, central, southwestern and western regions, and fighting the forces of the legitimate government and the Saudi-led coalition, which has been supporting the legitimate government since March 2015 by targeting Houthi-Saleh forces and weapons depots.

The Houthi-Saleh earliest alliance started in 2011 when key political parties allied in a year-long uprising against the regime of Saleh. Saleh resorted to the Houthis to resist his biggest rivals, especially the Islah Party, or Yemen's Muslim brotherhood, which was powerful at all public and military institutions and large militias.

When the Houthis expanded their presence to Sanaa in 2014, Saleh had no option but to ally with them because other groups were all planning to defeat him.

In some terms, the Houthi-Saleh alliance was based on regionalism, as both are from the north.

On the other hand, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia also played key roles in the 2014 developments which led to chaos in Yemen.

The U.S. and Saudi feared the Islah Party would seize power because it was the second largest party after the GPC.

Since the first day of the Houthi-Saleh alliance, it was expected the old enemies Houthis and the GPC would fight each other in the end.

Saleh fought six wars against the Houthi group during his presidency from 2002 to 2009. His troops killed the brother of Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in these wars backed by Saudi Arabia.

Faris Al-Beel, a political analyst and college professor, said all signs indicate the Houthi-Saleh alliance has already come to its end.

"What is happening in Sanaa at the moment is a power struggle between different ideologies. While the Houthis aim to seize power based on historic and religious references that restrict power to their family, Saleh's ideology is based on taking revenge and restoring power mostly with political tactics," Al-Beel said.

"They can't be partners with such completely different ideologies. They allied to serve their interests under specific circumstances, but over time it was obvious that each side has its own plans to eliminate the other and end their fragile partnership," the analyst explained.

The deepening crises in Yemen are also contributing to the collapse of the alliance. Yemen is suffering the largest humanitarian crisis and cholera epidemic, and the UN says the two crises and the political stalemate are all man-made.

Meanwhile, reliable military sources told Xinhua the Houthis have plans to target sons and senior commanders of Saleh as they are mobilizing rallies by what they call facing escalation with escalation, referring to GPC's anniversary on Aug. 24.

Yaseen Al-Tamimi, a political writer and analyst, also said the situation in Sanaa is very tense.

"Conflict between the two sides has already begun. All hands are on the trigger and they will not stop because of their tribal, social and ideological conditions," Al-Tamimi said.

Houthis have probably felt their ally has started its plans to eliminate them with support from the Saudi-led coalition, Al-Tamimi added.

"I think the Houthis expect the coalition to reactivate the House of Representatives in order to boost the government's legitimacy. If that happens, Saleh must play a role in ending the Houthi militia's rule because his party has the majority in the House," he said.

A Saleh's aid said the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates met with GPC officials in Cairo a few months ago in a bid to reach a deal under which the GPC was supposed to lead a new transitional government.

"But the deal was not finished," the aide said without giving more details.

Al-Beel said the Saudi-led coalition recently sent clear messages encouraging Saleh to confront the Houthis who are obstructing the peace process.

"Amid its failure to achieve a military victory, the ongoing battles and political stalemate, it seems the coalition has started to think of playing the card of balance of power," Al-Beel said.

"Saleh is the lesser evil. The coalition will not accept Islamists to be its partners," he noted.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 06:39:53|Editor: yan

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BOGOTA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Friday he will meet with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this month.

In a Twitter post, Santos said the two have planned to meet on Sept. 19 "to continue to advance bilateral ties." The UNGA convenes on Sept. 12.

He offered more details during a public event in northeast La Guajira department, telling reporters he had called the White House to offer Colombia's aid to the flood-ravaged victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas in south U.S.

"We are going to have a meeting during the week of the United Nations General Assembly. We are going to continue the talks we have been having about bilateral ties. There are many issues we have to work on with the United States," said Santos.

The two leaders are expected to discuss drug trafficking and the political crisis in Venezuela.

Santos and Trump met for the first time in May in Washington DC, the capital of the United States.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-02 06:44:55|Editor: An



Former rebel leader and spokesman Luciano Marin Arango (L), alias "Ivan Marquez", addresses a press conference in Bogota, capital of Colombia, on Sept. 1, 2017. Members of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group officially entered the field of politics on Friday by unveiling a political party - the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force which preserves the movement's acronym FARC. It will continue to fight for social justice, but with ballots instead of bullets. (Xinhua/Jhon Paz)

BOGOTA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Members of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group officially entered into the field of politics on Friday by unveiling a political party.

The Revolutionary Alternative Common Force, which preserves the movement's acronym FARC, will continue to fight for social justice, but with ballots instead of bullets.

"For some, the initials FARC have a negative connotation, but it is our revolutionary and historical past," former rebel leader and spokesman Ivan Marquez told reporters at a press conference.

"The conflict is now in the political arena," he said.

To convey the new peaceful nature of the movement, the party logo features a red rose with a red star in the middle, above the group's initials, written in green.

"Roses have a lot of positive significance," said Marquez.

Colombia's largest guerrilla group disarmed after signing a peace treaty with the government last November after five decades of fighting and four years of negotiations.

According to the agreement, the FARC is guaranteed a certain number of seats in parliament.

Marquez, along with other leaders of the movement, such as Carlos Antonio Lozada, Pablo Catatumbo and Victoria Sandino, plan to run for a congressional seat.
Reprise RecordsNeil Young visited a Colorado public radio station Thursday to share the story behind his upcoming archival album Hitchhiker, which will be released on September 8. The folk-rock legend live-streamed his appearance on his official Facebook page, and the 10-minute video can be viewed now on the website.

In his radio segment, Young recounts how he, producer David Briggs, and his friend, actor Dean Stockwell, traveled to Indigo Studio in Malibu, California, where he recorded the album in one night on August 11, 1976.

Hitchhiker features 10 songs that Neil recorded solo, accompanying himself on guitar, harmonica and piano. The tracks were never released, although versions of eight of the tunes eventually appeared on other albums by Young.

Explaining the concept of the record, Young says, "The idea I had at the time was to present these new songs in their purest and most simple form, just as they had been written," while noting that he'd been inspired by folk and blues artists like Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly.

Young goes on to talk about the individual songs he recorded. He reveals that "Pocohontas," "Powderfinger" and "Ride My Llama" were tunes he'd first tried out with Crazy Horse while making his 1975 album Zuma.

He describes "Captain Kennedy" as "a complete cherry I had never played before," and says "Hawaii" and "Give Me Strength" were written around his then-recent breakup with actress Carrie Snodgress.

Neil explains that when he brought the album to his label, he was advised to record the songs with a full band. However, he maintains, "I always knew the original album would find its place and surface. That time is now."

He ends the segment by hinting that a new original project "will arrive soon."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Police find gun in abandoned house

Police sources said the exercise was conducted between the hours of 4 pm and 6 pm.

The police received information which led them to upper Haig Street, Carenage, where they searched an abandoned house. As a result, police found a pistol and a magazine with nine rounds of 9mm ammunition.

No one was arrested in connection with the find.
Take them to court

At the meeting, Deputy Mayor, Alderman Cagney Casimire stated Issuing stop notices seem to be a challenge in the borough. He added that buildings are being constructed with additions that have not been approved by the council and serving stop notices are important in taking action against owners. Building Inspector, Ian Murrell confirmed Casimires comments stating that residents and business owners are ignoring stop notice requests or simply refusing to come out to receive the notice.

Murrell stated that only four out of the 12 stop notices which were recommended to be issued were successfully delivered to the relevant parties.

Morris-Julian expressed her dissatisfaction with this figure, stating Four out of 12 is unacceptable. It seems as if people are not taking these notices seriously. She further stated that this called for the council to examine why the public thinks it is permissible to ignore an officer from the Arima Borough Corporation. Accepting these notices are not optional, it is something that must be served, she said.

Morris-Julian stated that she believes the corporation is being forced to pursue court action against lawbreakers in Arima. We are ready to go to court. No one will get away, she said.

She stated that both small home owners and big businessmen must be held accountable for their illegal actions. She said, It seems if someone puts up a shed, we are there in the morning, but when it comes to big businesses there is a problem. Casimire spoke of one particular business in the borough that has extended their wall onto the pavement. On the side of Hearty Foods, there is a wall built straight to the end of the road, which allows patrons of the club upstairs to be received. The extension leaves no room for our burgesses, especially the students of neighbouring schools to use the pavements and on the opposite side there is a car park which is more dangerous for students, he said. He called for a show cause notice to be issued to the business, as well as other businesses who are currently not upholding the building regulations of the borough.

Morris-Julian commended the Chief Executive Officer, Cheryl Sirju-Chong for her impeccable integrity and quick action which led to the arrests of two persons in a recent fraud matter. She stated, The Arima Borough Corporation will not stand for corruption of any form, whether it is ten bags of cement or $100 000. It is not our money, it is the peoples money and we must treat it with respect. She added that all arms of the corporation are working together to stamp out corruption.
Beauty for child rights

The final-year math student, reading for a BSc in Mathematics at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, is also the only contestant from Tobago.

She grew up in Les Coteaux, Tobago with her father, Glenford Wilson. While, she said, he was always there for her, he was never truly emotionally available. Her mother, Amril Melville, lives in the US.

She had two different experiences growing up. Living with her mother for five years, she was dressed up all the time as a girly girl.

Then living with her father who owns a garage and helping him scrap cars she was more of a tomboy, scraping cars and wearing a jumpsuit. Wilson who turns 24 on September 28, said about studying math: I did math because it is what I am best at. I would like to become an actuary one day. I signed up for the CA (Certified Actuarial Analyst) certificate with IFOA (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries). That is where I would like to go in the future. Wilson said she had always wanted to do some form of activism for child rights.

So when she realised, I could not become a lawyer or anything like that...so because I realised that was not my nature. I felt pageantry would be the best forum to pursue activism. While she is aware that she could have joined organisations in support of the cause, she felt entering the pageant would have been the best way to promote her cause.

I feel pageantry would be the easiest forum for me to take over or have control or pursue my own personal agenda. Whereas simply joining someone elses cause. And that personal cause focuses on child neglect. For instance, children who dont have their parents around because, maybe, theyre incarcerated or, maybe, theyre too busy working various jobs. Or some parents just dont have that innate love for their children and those are the areas I want to focus... The cause has personal tones for Wilson whose father, she said, was always usually very busy and, he was not the loving kind. He was not the family-oriented type of person.

He focused on work and I did not get to spend much time with my mother because she lives abroad. Wilson felt she grew up on her own and wants to be the support for those who share similar experiences.

Although, she entered fashion shows from as early as six, Wilson did not envision a career in modelling.

She said: It all began when I decided to start sewing. I went to designer Saleem Samuels store [work base] on Frederick Street to buy cloth and he asked me, do you model? I said, not really and he invited me to come walk in his show. [Monte Carlo] From there Saleem referred me to the franchise holders for the Miss Universe pageant and it began from there. Although being relatively new to pageantry, Wilson hopes to do well, even win, despite having a lot of work to do in a very short space of time.

Growing up, while Wilson thought about entering the global pageant, it was more of a fantasy thing. It was always a one day if I am lucky, she said to the thought of entering the Miss Universe pageant.

Wilson believes while there are always things which need to be addressed in pageantry, she believes it provides and will always provide an avenue for young women to excel.

This years Miss TT Universe is scheduled to be held in October.
LE HUNTE APOLOGISES TO PM

President Anthony Carmona presented Le Hunte with his instruments of appointment around 8 pm, during a simple ceremony at Presidents House, St Anns.

Le Huntes oath of office was witnessed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who is due to leave TT early today for a medical check-up in the United States. The PM is expected to return within the next few days.

Le Huntes appointment was revoked earlier this week after the Office of the Prime Minister learnt he was a citizen of Ghana. Le Hunte told reporters last night: I would like to apologise to the prime minster as I did to people of TT for this communication glitch and I want to take full responsibility and also want to say emphaticallly at the time of my swearing in last Thursday based on the professional advise and imformation provided to me the concept of dual citicenship was not an issue. The career banker, who was initially sworn in one week ago, had replaced Rowley as public utilities minister.

The PM had held the position after Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene Mc Donald was fired several months ago.

On Tuesday, however, Rowley assured reporters during a tour of UdeCott sites in the Diego Martin West constituency that Le Hunte was a citizen of TT.

Mr Le Hunte is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago... he is not a Ghanaian. Rowley said Le Hunte was a TT national who was on temporary assignment in Ghana.

While he was there, he obtained in part of his residency and acceptance in the community, he obtained Ghanaian citizenship. Rowley dismissed the recent faux pas surrounding Le Huntes appointment as a communications glitch. There was a communication glitch in the handling of that development and by having that in place it offended our Constitution, Rowley had said.

This is easily rectified and by him revoking his appointment to preserve his position in Trinidad and Tobago and qualify him to hold the office for which he has been selected for. The United National Congress had criticised the development, describing it as sheer negligence on the part of the PNM.

Even retired head of the public service Reginald Dumas weighed in on the issue, saying it was yet another example of declining governance in the country.

Le Hunte was initially sworn in as a senator and public utilities minister last Thursday at Presidents House.

However, on Monday, it was revealed through the Office of the Prime Minister that Le Hunte was a citizen of Ghana and unsuited to hold the position of Cabinet minister in this country.

Le Huntes status has now been clarified, paving the way for him to fulfil his obligations as a Cabinet minister.
Port expects scanners in operation this month

Four mobile scanners were donated to Trinidad and Tobago by the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency in 2014 and Comptroller of Customs, Glenn Singh said on Tuesday that the final contracts were expected to be received from the agents by yesterday or today.

He said once the final payment is made to the dealers, their representative will be in Trinidad within days to assess the scanners. He was speaking during a visit to the Point Lisas port by members of Parliaments Joint Select Committee on National Security. Committee member, Prakash Ramadhar expressed disappointment that the scanners were not yet in operation, pointing out that the instruction to have scanners installed was given since 2010.

Singh told the committee that 15 percent of all full containers imported through the port are sent to the Container Examination Station (CES) to be checked.

In response to further questioning, he said that containers may also be examined when they are being unloaded at the premises of the consignees so that alltogether 48 percent of imported cargo is examined by the Customs and Excise Division.

However, officials of the Point Lisas port said that 15 percent is high because at US ports less than five percent of containers are examined.

However, committee Chairman Fitzgerald Hinds responded that those were ports which are equipped with scanners and it is the containers which are red flagged after passing through the scanners which are sent for examination.

Explaining the reason for the visit by the committee, Hinds said that guns are entering Trinidad and Tobago and the intelligence services have indicated that the legitimate ports are being used to bring contraband into the country.

Two mobile scanners, essentially a vehicle with the scanner mounted on it, will be allocated to the port of Port-of- Spain while two will be allocated to the port of Point Lisas.

During a tour of the Point Lisas port and Customs areas at the North and South Terminals of the Piarco Airport, Hinds, expressed the hope that when the scanners are installed, the Customs and Excise Department would be able to increase the extent of scanning of goods imported into the country. However, a senior official familiar with the situation said he could not give any commitment that this would happen, pointing out that the mobile scanner is something new to the department and they would have to see it in operation and understand what challenges are involved before commenting on whether there would be an increase in the extent of scanning. He said once the units are put into operation the Customs Department might make a determination that the two mobile units are able to provide the hundred percent scanning suggested by Hinds or that more units would be required to do so.

The official said that officers of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency will work along with the local Customs officers in operating the units.
Motorists advsed to be more careful

Ramdharine said 49 percent of the accidents over the last three years involved a single driver and his/ her vehicle. He believes that the drivers who travel alone are at a higher risk as they are more likely to fall asleep or get distracted and if left unchecked, the number of road fatalities will surpass that of 2016.

The police service would like to see an enforcement of the laws by citizens, said Ramdharine who quoted the number of speeding tickets issued this year alone to be 13,002. He also said that the highway and traffic branch alone have issued 21,606 suffix penalty tickets.

Road safety Coordinator, Brent Batson advised parents of students who are attending new schools to do a dry run of the unfamiliar route before school starts. He said that as the new school term begins next week motorists should be especially aware of the expected traffic that comes with it. He warns drivers to be more alert not just for themselves but for the people around them.

Police officers will be out there in their numbers to try to manage the traffic situation.
Mayors Fund to be established

This motion was passed during the city corporations statutory meeting yesterday at the City Hall, Knox Street, Port-of-Spain.

According to Akil Durham, Councillor for Belmont North and West, the funds will be financed by donations and contributions from the public and private sectors. He said the money will be authorised by the Council to be allocated to the fund.

In moving the motion, Durham explained some of the ways the funds will be used.

The money under the fund will be utilised for charitable causes within the city, emergency relief due to a natural disaster, accidents and mishaps within the city, scholarships to needy students and members of the community within the city of Port-of-Spain. He continued, Promotion and hosting of national culture, artistic, religious celebrations and anniversaries as well as city receptions. He said the decision of the motion will be sent to the Minister of Local Government for approval.
Charles: Seabridge problems will be solved

Describing Independence as a time for empowerment, Charles said, Tobagos autonomy is a priority on the assemblys agenda. He said the THA is currently consulting with a Cabinet sub-committee regarding the draft bill on autonomy for Tobago. He said once this part of the process is completed, the draft bill will be sent to Parliament for debate.

Charles also said the THA is working to create, stronger, long-lasting partnerships will redound to our benefit. He said these include the possibilities of public-private partnerships, as we seek to accelerate our development programme. Charles the Assemblys recently created Tourism Agency is taking a holistic approach to improving Tobagos tourism product.

He urged Tobagonians and the rest of the population not to be distracted by negativity and naysayers as the country marks 55 years of independence today.
President Carmona laments growing number of murders

Im not talking about perfection, as we all know a psychologist said crime is a perpetual reality but certainly it can be diminished with the collaboration and with the assistance of all in Trinidad and Tobago, regardless of race, ethnicity, political affiliation, prejudice, bias, whatever group you belong to we need to get together ladies and gentlemen and get this thing right. He continued, People are dying, and each mans death diminishes me. Do you think it is easy to see someone in a drain...a young man in a drain, a mother weeping over that body, and all we can say is it is gang-related.

It is drug-related. Let us no more treat life by that characterisation. Carmona delivered this message before toasting to the celebration of the 55th anniversary of Trinidad and Tobagos Independence yesterday at the Police Service cocktail reception, at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain.

He said every life is important, renewable, and people can change before they die. You dont want them to change by their deaths, we can change them when they are alive and this is why I want to commend the police youth group initiative with the excellent work they are doing. Carmona said TT has a lot of patriots who have displayed insurmountable character in making the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of this beloved county, and it hurts his soul that this reality is lost on the general populist who feel that one bad orange spoils the whole bag of oranges.

He said from his experience for more than 30 years, he has met officers of resilient calibre, character heart, vision and commitment.

Sometimes I do greave quietly when police officers are malign by the community that we have. I am not saying it is a perfect world in this democracy in 55 years, there is human social dysfunction.

Sometimes we dont get it right, but it do not mean we dont want to get it right and in that regard I can tell you that there are officers in this present police service who are very committed to the task at hand. Carmona said police officers are dealing with a level of criminality that is phenomenal, and there is a need to engage more technology.

He applauded the police youth groups because they have saved many youth of the nation, and also commended all the police officers who engaged in youth groups throughout the country.

It really warms my heart when I heard that South Western had the highest detection rate of over 65 per cent and the crime rate in that area was extremely low.

I have to commend those officers. What is taking place in that region of Fyzabad, Siparia, Penal, is community service at work. Where the policemen are being respected by he community and they do not see the policemen as the enemy but as their friend. This has to do with the calibre of police officers working in that area, Carmona said more importantly the calibre of police officers continuing to work in Laventille and the East West corridor particularly in St James.

Whether you are on the left or the right, depending on whatever political allegiance you belong to. You know what is interesting? No body is leaving Trinidad and Tobago, all those who are criticising left, right and centre, they are not leaving Trinidad and Tobago. So we all have a vested interest in peace, security and social harmony.

Why dont we get together and get something done? He continued, There is no need to be combated, belligerent, it is not about points.

A bullet does not have a brain. A bullet is a dumb piece of metal.

The bullet will take out its target. This is why we have to come together, this is not about politics, this is not about taking sides, left right and centre, this is about Trinidad and Tobago. As Carmona lifted his glass to make a toast, he said, Right on, go forward, get the job done.

Small and simple. It is my great pleasure to raise this glass and toast to the health and wealth of all in Trinidad and Tobago but more particularly to the safety of our police officers. We toast in fact to their renewed energy to get the job done to the sake not for one, but for the sake of all.
Carolyn: No reappointing Le Hunte

Seepersad-Bachan made this claim hours after Rowley said Le Hunte was a TT citizen and would be appointed once the communication glitch regarding his citizenship is clarified.

In a statement, Seepersad- Bachan said anyone taking a ministerial oath of office must be familiar with the provisions of the Constitution.

She claimed when Le Hunte was sworn in last Thursday, he did so, despite knowing that he was in direct violation of Section 42(1) (of the Constitution). She said it is a serious disrespect to the citizenry to have Le Hunte reappointed.

On this basis, Seepersad- Bachan said Le Hunte, should be disqualified from holding any public office at this time. She said transparency and accountability in public life demands that existing or prospective Cabinet ministers, respect the Constitution and the rule of law. Saying the issue of corruption in government should start at the top, Seepersad-Bachan said if Rowley is serious about solving the problem of corruption within his administration, he should therefore lead by example.
Cuffie: Try a little harder

We are at a juncture at age 55 where we could either continue to beat up on and blame each other, or put our collective shoulders to the wheel and press ahead. We certainly cannot change the past, but together we can shape a new future. He urged everyone to share in the sacrifices and burdens, so as to make the next 55 our best years yet.

The late soca sensation, Devon Matthews told us, even though the road is long no matter what comes I know we will make it. Black Stalin told us too we could make it if we try. Cuffie said, Today, as we celebrate our 55th birthday, I am confident that we possess the resilience, the resources and the reason to make it, if we all try a little harder. Cuffie said that since Independence 55 years ago, the nation had cut the colonial umbilical cord and begun a voyage of self-discovery, growth and transformation.

Despite the growing pains that attend every such journey, we have come a long way since then. We have achieved much. We still have a stable democracy, we have built significant institutional strength in our judiciary, our parliament, and in our public and private sectors, and the quality of life for our citizenry has changed considerably since then. Cuffie said a national anthem, a national flag, and a Coat of Arms are mere symbols of our independence, but alone do not make us independent.

True independence comes when we all accept that every right and freedom carries with it an inherent responsibility. He said the freedom to govern ourselves includes a grave responsibility for politicians and for every citizen, that is not only exercised once every five years, but every day of our lives.

It is our responsibility to be a good citizen, to contribute to the countrys development in whatever way we can, with whatever resources we possess. He urged all to obey the just laws of the land, and to raise families in a wat that shows respect for the other, irrespective of gender, class, colour, creed, or political affiliation.
The Technology Underground Blog: Extreme Tinkering and Radical Self Expression Through Technology This blog covers events where things that go whoosh, boom, or splat are featured. On-Topic examples include events that have rockets, pulse jets, tesla coils, magnaformers, homemade subs, pyrotechnics, railguns, catapults, etc . . .
Kamala Harris. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Last month, Kamala Harris won hearts and minds at a party in the Hamptons. The first-term California senator set the Democratic Partys top donors abuzz over the prospect of her running for president in 2020. But the donor classs (widely reported) exuberance sparked an equal and opposite reaction on the Democrats far-left flank, which trusts the political and policy judgement of high-dollar Clinton contributors about as much as said contributors would trust the home-decorating instincts of a rhesus monkey.

Left-wing writers acknowledged the appeal of having a relatively young, African-American woman as the Democratic standard-bearer. But they insisted that Harriss identity would count for little, if she refused to embrace the policy demands of the progressive grassroots. Bitter debates over the false dichotomy between identity politics and economic populism ensued. All across left-of-center social media, Bernie Bros and Hillarybots refought the 2016 Democratic primary.

And then, on Wednesday night, Harris announced that she would co-sponsor Bernie Sanderss forthcoming bill to establish a single-payer, Medicare for All health-care system in the United States.

All people should have access to affordable health care, and as we talk about moving toward a single-payer system, I think there is certainly energy and momentum toward that, Harris told reporters in Oakland. Americans are making very clear when they defeated the repeal of ACA  that they dont want to play politics with their health care.

Of course, ensuring that Americans have access to affordable health care requires playing politics. And the unions, activists, and progressive groups pushing for single-payer have played them well. By refusing to temper their demands in the name of unity, the left has amassed enough energy and momentum behind single-payer to get the policy endorsed by Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, and 60 percent of the House Democratic caucus.

Progressives have created a world where darlings of the Democratic donor wing can call for the (virtual) abolition of the private insurance industry; in fact, this appears to be the politically savvy thing to do. The partys would-be standard-bearers still need to curry favor in Bridgehampton  but now, they also feel compelled to make a splash with small-dollar social democrats.

So, supporters of socialized medicine have cleared an important milestone. Single-payer is a mainstream position within the congressional Democratic Party. But the path to truly universal health care remains littered with obstacles. Heres a rundown of three big ones  and what progressives will need to do in order to clear them.

1) If things go well, the congressional Democratic Party is probably going to get more conservative before it gets more liberal.

The fact that Democrats have a plausible path to a House majority in 2018 is a little nuts. After the 2010 bloodbath, Republican statehouses took gerrymandering to new heights of anti-democratic glory. Aided by technological advances that allowed state legislators to concentrate Democratic votes with unprecedented precision, the GOP built an electoral playing field that requires Team Blue to win the popular House vote by upwards of 7 percentage points just to secure a small majority.

Now, current polling suggests that the Trump presidency might be just toxic enough to make such a popular-vote landslide possible. But if all goes according to plan  and Democrats take the House in 2018, and then the Senate and White House in 2020  their margins in both chambers are still likely to be slim. More critically, until maps are redrawn, many Democratic House members will be representing traditionally Republican districts. And these members will probably be anxious to perform moderation for their less-than-liberal constituents.

Already, 18 members of the Democratic House caucus identify as Blue Dogs, while 61 members belong to the centrist, New Democrat Coalition. And the Blue Dog faction is aggressively recruiting candidates for 2018.

Even when gerrymandered maps are insufficient to keep Republicans in power, they still work to skew Democratic majorities to the right (as, for that matter, does red-state voter suppression). Convincing a Democratic president to back single-payer will likely be easier than getting congressional majorities to do so.

One key goal for progressives, then, must be to send Democrats to governors houses in 2018. After the 2020 census, states will redraw their maps en masse. Whoever gets to draw them will have considerable power to expand or contract the bounds of the politically possible for the coming decade.

2) The filibuster exists.

Even if the Houses Blue Dogs got onboard with Medicare for All, the policy would hit a brick wall in the Senate. The upper chamber gives radically disproportionate power to tiny, overwhelmingly white, rural states  which is to say, to the demographic groups that Democrats have the most trouble winning. In the near-term future, it is highly unlikely that Democrats will be able to amass 60 Senate votes  let alone, 60 progressive Senate votes. So long as the filibuster remains in place, it will be exceedingly difficult for Democrats to pass major expansions to the welfare state.

Fortunately, a simple majority of senators can just kill the anti-democratic, anti-progressive, unconstitutional rule. Unfortunately, a lot of Senate Democrats care more about norms than about advancing progressive policy.

Thus, leftists should try to make opposition to the filibuster a litmus test for Democratic Senate-primary candidates. No Democrat is going to lose a general election because she took the lefts side on an issue of parliamentary procedure (no normal voter cares about that stuff). But few issues have higher stakes for the prospects of progressive change.

3a) Doctors and hospitals are powerful.

Everyone knows that transitioning to a single-payer system would drastically increase public-sector spending. Even now, with more than 20 million of our citizens uninsured, America has the highest health-care costs in the developed world. Making access to high-quality care universal  while bringing all that private spending onto the governments books  is going to create a need for much higher taxes and/or a much bigger deficit.

To preempt sticker shock, Medicare for All advocates emphasize that countries with single-payer systems have far lower per-unit health-care costs than we do. When the government is the only (or, at least, primary) insurer, it can use its massive bargaining power to force down prices. And this is absolutely true.

But when other countries established their price controls, they didnt have to take on the worlds most overpaid health-care industry, in a political system where there are virtually no limits to how much money powerful interests can spend on influence campaigns.

To bring American health-care spending in line with peer countries, doctors throughout the country would have to take a massive pay cut. From a utilitarian perspective, thats perfectly fine. From a political one, its a big problem  especially since the entire infrastructure of the American medical profession was built around the inflated prices of the status quo. As Voxs Sarah Kliff notes:

American doctors have planned careers (and often gone into significant student loan debt) around our current health care prices. Hospital systems have built multi-billion dollar businesses, often the largest employer in a rural area, around them. A significant reduction in health care prices would near certainly lead to layoffs in those systems and fewer jobs in health care overall, a sector that currently employs one in nine American workers.

Imposing price controls would make single-payer an easier fiscal lift. And, in the case of the pharmaceutical industry, progressives might have public opinion on their side. But with doctors and rural hospitals, they probably wont.

3b) Upper-middle-class people who dont want to lose their current insurance or pay higher taxes are also powerful.

Democrats could avoid this fight by deciding that America is rich enough to keep reimbursement rates about where they are. But that would require them to convince voters to accept much higher taxes (and/or higher deficits) than theyve gotten accustomed to. And in the U.S., upper-middle-class people  who get affordable insurance through their employers  vote at a much higher rate than low-income people who lack health insurance. Which is to say: Those who have the least to gain from a transition to single-payer are overrepresented in the electorate, while those who have the most to gain are underrepresented.

To pacify the powerful contingent of people who like their health care as is  a group that includes labor unions that have won world-class health-care plans for their members through collective bargaining  progressives will probably need to make Americas version of single-payer more generous in its benefits than the systems in other single-payer countries. But keeping reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals close to where they are  while providing more generous universal health care than anywhere else on Earth  could pose a genuine fiscal problem. America is an exceptionally wealthy nation. But it also spends an exceptional amount of money on its military. And for all the progress liberals have made on other fronts, theyve shown little ability to restrict the growth of the military-industrial complex  let alone, to radically downsize it.

Whats more, even if Democrats decide to protect the medical industrys reimbursement rates, said industry will (almost certainly) still oppose single-payer, out of fear that such a system would make price controls inevitable in the future. And even if the party decides to back a plan with generous, deficit-financed benefits, loss aversion may lead those who are satisfied with their current insurance to oppose them, anyway  especially once the health-care sectors power players start inundating the airwaves with ads that portray single-payer as the first step on the path to Soylent Green.

Take these powerful interest groups, add in the aforementioned structural obstacles to progressive power at the federal level, and the scale of the challenge before the Medicare for All movement comes into view.

To meet that challenge, progressives will need to change the composition of the electorate, registering and turning out more of the people who stand to benefit most from their social democratic vision. Theyll need to elect Democrats to statehouses, governors mansions, the House, presidency, and Senate  and then convince that Senate to can the filibuster. And once theyve done all that, theyll also, probably, need to compromise. A strong public option  one designed to render private insurance uncompetitive, over time  may prove to be the only plausible path to single-payer in the United States (a conclusion that even some on the far left have come around to in recent months).

None of this means that the left shouldnt keep pushing for their ideal system (for one thing, passing a strong public option may require creating an environment where thats a compromise position). Harriss endorsement of single-payer shows how progressive organizing can change political realities. And thats a relief, because this country has an awful lot of political realities that progressives need to change.
Floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey surround a fuel pump at an ExxonMobil gas station in Houston, Texas, on August 30, 2017. Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Harvey slammed Baytown, Texas, a coastal city that sits about 30 miles east of Houston, with a staggering 51.88 inches of rain through Tuesday. Homes flooded, roads washed out, and the roof of a storage tank sunk in at an ExxonMobile plant, causing damage and allegedly releasing chemical fumes.

The ExxonMobile refinery in Baytown also happens to be the nations second-largest, processing as much as 580,000 barrels of crude oil each day. It went offline Sunday, as did nearly every other major refinery, as Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast and cut a path across Texas and Louisiana, drenching areas with upwards of three feet of rain. All together, shutdowns have knocked out about 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity, which comes out to about 3.6 million barrels.

The extent of the damage to the storage tank and the rest of the ExxonMobile plant is unknown. The company assured Baytown residents its facility was safe and said it would investigate as soon as conditions allowed. Putting aside the tremendous environmental concerns that come with having Americas petrochemical hub in a hurricane hot zone, the shutdowns and damage to the refineries, chemical plants, and busy ports along the Gulf Coast could deal a severe blow to industry in Houston and beyond.

But how deep and long-lasting will Harveys economic impact be? Harvey will be one of  if not the  costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. One estimate puts the price tag at $190 billion, more than Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy combined. Harvey will almost certainly displace Ike as Texass most expensive storm, which caused a relatively cheap $37 billion in damage. Houston represents Americas fifth-largest economy, and before Harvey struck, Harris County  which includes Houston and the ravaged suburbs around it  was one of the fastest-growing population centers of the past decade. Texass economy is closely linked to the oil and gas industries, and despite a recent drop it remains on one of the strongest state economies in the U.S.

Floodwater surrounds homes in a residential neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Harvey on August 29, 2017, in Houston, Texas. Photo: Marcus Yam/LA Times via Getty Images

Right now, its still unclear how long refineries and petrochemical plants will be out of commission. The Department of Energy says at least ten refineries are still down, six are trying to restart, and two have scaled back operations. In addition to the Baytown ExxonMobile plant, the nations largest refinery, the Saudi-owned Motiva, in Port Arthur, Texas, shuttered this week because of flooding, and may be sidelined for close to two weeks. Chevron Phillips shut down its plant outside Houston, and the flooded Arkema plant in Crosby suffered two explosions. The refinery outages in Texas and Louisiana have also disrupted pipeline operations, including one owned by Colonial Pipeline, which carries more than 3 million barrels of diesel and gas to New York daily.

Theres also the question of the Gulf ports. Houston is one of the countrys busiest ports, and its director told NPR that initial assessments indicate the facilities received minimal damage. But the ports in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Beaumont, Texas, remain closed, and the port of Corpus Christi  closer to where Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm nearly a week ago  is still frozen after an oil-drilling ship broke lose of its mooring over the weekend.

For the rest of the country, this means Labor Day travel is going to be a bit pricier than expected. On Friday, gas prices hit their highest average of the year at $2.45 a gallon, according to AAA, and theyll probably climb a bit higher in the coming weeks.

Fortunately, this is likely a short-term blip. The Department of Energy is releasing 500,000 barrels of crude oil to a Louisiana refinery, and it may make more releases down the road to prevent spikes in fuel prices. The refineries themselves are unlikely to be out of commission for long.

They pretty well battened down the hatches, Thomas Fomby, an economics professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, told Daily Intelligencer. The major problem is getting people to operate the essential parts of the refineries  its not the refineries themselves. The refineries arent wiped off the map.

You may have higher gasoline prices for a month or two but after that it will come back to normal pretty quickly, Fomby added.

Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston, said he expects the refineries and plants to be back online in a couple of weeks. The big drivers of the economy are going to come out of this in pretty good shape, Gilmer said. He explained that many of the shutdowns in Houstons ship channel and at the plants were tied to public-safety concerns, not problems with the facilities themselves. Harveys forecast flooding would make it difficult for the employees who operate the equipment to get to work, and for, say, fire departments to respond if something went haywire at a chemical facility.

Its a slow process to restart them. Its a dangerous process to restart them, Gilmer cautioned. But restart they will, along with the rest of Houstons robust white-collar economy. In addition to all the engineering and administrative jobs tied to the oil and gas industry, that includes everything from the regions medical centers to the Johnson Space Station. All should bounce back relatively quickly once cleanup gets under way. The big economic issues for Houston are really confined to workers and housing of people, and small businesses, Gilmer said.

Thats especially true for the bars and restaurants and dry cleaners that support the larger economy. Its going to be 20 percent decline or so in retail, Fomby estimated. Buying and selling stuff in Houston when no ones there at the cashiers desk? You cant get there to do any transactions.

Even once the roads clear, parts of Texas and Louisiana will be grappling with the human toll of Harvey  at least 38 dead, and tens of thousands displaced  for months, and more likely years if Katrina and Sandy are any indication. But the regional economy could get a little kick as rebuilding begins.

Ironically, we are now going to have this short-lived boom in economic activity here as everything tries to come back together, Gilmer explained. Theres a very predictable pattern. Were going to sell a lot of automobiles over the next couple of months. The insurance money will flood in. If youre Lowes or Home Depot, anybody that can sell wall board is going to be in terrific shape.

Gilmer said its likely the retail spike will be sharp, but only last for about a quarter, based on what hes observed studying similar events, such as Katrina and Ike. Yet Harvey is unique. The scale of this is different. Its unprecedented, thats one side of it, Gilmer said, And this is going to affect a lot of people who arent insured. Property damage is expected to cost upwards of $20 billion, and since more than three-quarters of Houstonians dont have flood insurance, a huge chunk of repair costs will be out-of-pocket.

The federal government could add a little economic stimulus, but despite President Trumps promise of fast relief, it probably wont be immediate. The region is expected to receive a huge federal aid package, and funds allocated for rebuilding will likely require resiliency planning to guard against disasters. Fomby suggested that the region could wind up receiving a specialized form of the infrastructure funding the rest of the nation has been waiting for, with money allocated to shore up dams and bridges.

The full scale of Harveys wrath is still blurry: The city of Beaumont, Texas, is without clean water, and a bowling alley in Port Arthur remains a makeshift shelter. That, coupled with the historic nature of the storm, means even the short-term effects are still hard to gauge. Other shifts could affect the regional economy over time, such as slowing population growth in Harris County, or the oil and gas industries reevaluating their real estate in an increasingly volatile hurricane corridor. Or, maybe not.

Theres a long history of these storms here, Gilmer said. If you look at the period of the latest oil boom between 2003 and 2014, Houston added 710,000 jobs over that period. Thats how many jobs there are in all of New Orleans, or Oklahoma City. We built a whole new metro area in the course of a decade.

And up until now, Gilmer said of the storms and subsequent flooding, that history hasnt been much of deterrent to whats happening here.
Ed Rogers. Photo: The Washington Post

Republican apparatchik, lobbyist, and Americas Worst Columnist Ed Rogers has used his inexplicably extant perch in the Washington Post to publish a morbidly hilarious series of defenses of Donald Trumps connections to Russia. In the face of a massive and continuously growing body of evidence, Rogers has painted for his readers a story of an innocent man framed by a desperate news media. (June 9: Trump committed no crime. Democrats need to get over it. ; July 11: The medias mass hysteria over collusion is out of control; July 12: Sorry, Democrats. The holy grail of a Trump crime is still missing.; July 27: The quest to prove collusion is crumbling.)

Todays effort  headline: The Trump-Russia story survives, even as evidence of collusion fades  renews the Rogers tradition. The hallmark of an Ed Rogers column is not merely the bad use of argument, but a transparent lack of awareness of what an argument is or how to make one. Rogerss columns are both short and heavily padded, especially with repetitions of his thesis statement. The actual marshaling of evidence is sparse and deeply confused. I have plucked out the passages that most closely resemble attempts at persuasion.

(1) News about Trump and Russia does not contain any evidence of the Trump campaign engaging in collusion:

In case you havent noticed, there has been no shortage of stories concerning President Trumps Russia connections. They are still on the front page, and they have the air of some urgency. But they seem to contain nothing about the Trump campaign colluding with Russia. Ever.

How about the story that contains emails in which Russian operatives offer to help the Trump campaign, and Donald Trump Jr. replies, I love it, and then they have a meeting? That would seem to qualify as something about collusion.

(2) Paul Manaforts history is irrelevant:

The media have too much invested in the Russia collusion conspiracy to just pack up and leave. So, they are eager to report on Paul Manaforts work for Ukraine between 2012 and 2014 and the raid of his house earlier this year  as if either has something to do with Trump.

Robert Muellers inquiry concerns the Russian campaign to influence the outcome of the American presidential election. The fact that Manafort ran a Russian campaign to influence a presidential election in another country very recently before becoming Donald Trumps campaign manager seems relevant. Rogers is basically saying the chopped-up bodies of those hitchhikers the police found in his clients basement freezer are totally irrelevant to the current search for missing hitchhikers.

(3) Michael Cohen would never lie:

And now, they are flogging a story about a Trump Organization executive trying to get some relief on a stalled project in Russia. But, as reports show, the executive didnt even get the courtesy of a reply. The fact that the Kremlin completely stiff-armed this friendly overture suggests Trump and Russia were anything but colluding co-conspirators.

Rogers is referring here to an email Cohen sent to the Russian government requesting help on a Trump project during the campaign. Rogers says the report shows Cohen received no reply. The report does not say this. It does not even say that Cohen claims to have received no reply. It says, Cohen told congressional investigators in a statement Monday that he did not recall receiving a response from Peskov or having further contact with Russian government officials about the project. Given the high number of instances of Trump officials failing to recall contacts with Russian officials that in fact occurred, a professed lack of recall has very little evidentiary value.

(4) Americans dont care about the scandal:

Writing in the Washington Examiner last week, Byron York made the profound observation that at House Speaker Paul D. Ryans (R-Wis.) nationally televised town hall in Wisconsin, there was not one question, nor one word said, about the issue that has consumed the Washington media in recent months: the Trump-Russia affair. Oh and by the way, it was CNN that broadcast the town hall. Ironic. If only the networks reporters understood that  for good reason  practically no one in flyover country believes there is anything to the collusion story.

First of all, the public not caring about the Russia scandal would not prove Trump is innocent. The public was relatively indifferent about Watergate until very late into it. Second, the selected questions of constituents in one Republican district are not a scientific measure of national opinion. Third, while it is true the Russia scandal is not the publics highest concern, polls have not remotely borne out Rogerss claim that practically no one in flyover country believes there is anything to the collusion story. This poll finds 55 percent of the public believe the Trump Tower Russia meeting indicates collusion. This poll finds 25 percent think Trump acted illegally, another 37 percent think he acted unethically, and only 35 percent think he did nothing wrong.

Presumably not everything Robert Mueller is doing has made its way into the news media. But the reports that have surfaced indicate a wide array of actions: grand juries, predawn raids, subpoenas. If the Post feels the need to present a pro-Trump perspective on these events, maybe it should just quote Trumps lawyer, or random people wearing MAGA hats.
Bad cop. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Milwaukee County rejected Donald Trumps brand of politics last November by an overwhelming margin. But until Thursday, the areas top law-enforcement official was a figure so audaciously authoritarian and radically reactionary, he made Trump look like a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

Sheriff David Clarke referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as black slime who were bound to join forces with ISIS  and needed to be crushed. He argued that when police confront anti-Trump protesters, they have a right to hit first. When it looked like Trump was going to lose the general election, Clarke tweeted, Our institutions of gov, WH, Congress, DOJ, and big media are corrupt & all we do is bitch. Pitchforks and torches time. After Trump won, Clarke called on the commander-in-chief to round up the hundreds of thousands of Americans that are suspected of sympathizing with ISIS, and hold them indefinitely under a suspension of habeas corpus [i.e. without trial].

Clarke resigned his post in Milwaukee County on Wednesday, without offering any explanation for his action.

The reactionary sheriffs stewardship of his office was hardly less brutal than his rhetoric. As Jonathan Chait wrote earlier this year:

Four people have died of mistreatment and torture in his custody. One newborn baby died while its mother was shackled during childbirth; another prisoner died of dehydration, after the water in his cell was shut off for seven days. In 2013, one of his deputies ran a traffic light and T-boned the car of a civilian driver, who was badly injured. Clarkes department charged the driver, who was actually sober, with drunk driving in order to cover up its own culpability.

Clarke also got embroiled in an ethics investigation, after siccing sheriffs deputies on a man who looked at him funny while the two men were on a plane.

In May, President Trump appointed Clarke to the Department of Homeland Security, where the sheriff would have overseen federal-local law-enforcement partnerships. Clarke initially accepted the appointment, but then backed out, ostensibly because he had trouble securing the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, and/or submitting his financial disclosure forms in a timely fashion.

Politico reported late on Thursday that Clarke is expected to take a job in the Trump administration, though he likely wont be offered a Senate-confirmed role because his nomination would face opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. A White House spokesman said they have no announcement at this time, and Clarke said in a text message to Politico, Will talk about my future plans next week.

Clarke still had more than a year left in his term.

This post has been updated to include Politicos report on Clarke.
Nightmare deferred? Photo: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

On Friday, Paul Ryan reiterated his belief that Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unconstitutional  and, also, implored Donald Trump not to end it.

Asked about reports that the president intended to end DACA, which provides people who were brought to this country illegally as children with temporary protection from deportation, the House Speaker told his hometown radio station, I actually dont think he should do that.

Ryan stipulated that, President (Barack) Obama does not have the authority to do what he did when he established the program. But the Speaker suggested that Trump should put humanitarian concerns above legalistic quibbles, until Congress can take legislative action to address the plight of the Dreamers (which is, more or less, exactly what Obama did when he established DACA in the first place).

These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and dont know another home, Ryan continued. And so I really do believe there that there needs to be a legislative solution.

There are roughly 800,000 people in the United States who fit Ryans description. Many work and pay taxes. At a time when Americas labor force is contracting  and the nation needs more workers to subsidize the retirement of the baby-boom generation  this vast population of young, educated people longs for little more than the opportunity to continue contributing to our society, free from the fear of deportation.

This modest request has long attracted bipartisan sympathy  just not quite enough to inspire congressional action. After failing to grant these Dreamers legal status through legislative means  and deporting a good number of them  Barack Obama decided to grant them temporary protection from deportation through executive authority. Under DACA, Dreamers became eligible to enjoy a renewable, two-year period of immunity from deportation, and access to work permits.

The nativist portion of the GOP base despised this act of mercy for illegals. And the partys moderates could comfortably cater to this xenophobic rage by insisting that they sympathized with the Dreamers plight  but not with Obamas unconstitutional expansion of executive power.

The thorny implications of that legal argument are now catching up with the Trump administration. Republican officials from ten states have implored the president to end the illegal program  and pledged to sue his administration if it doesnt. While Trump rarely passes up an opportunity to curry favor with his base by imposing needless cruelty on immigrants, his White House had previously been inclined to go easy on the Dreamers  not least, because public opinion is overwhelmingly on their side.

But faced with the prospect of having his commitment to law and order formally challenged  on immigration, no less  Trump is reportedly poised to terminate the program. According to McClatchy, the president plans to keep current DACA enrollees immune from deportation until their two-year work permits run out, but bar all other childhood arrivals from applying for immunity.

Or, at least, thats what the presidents advisers thought he was planning, as of Thursday night.

Trump says decision on DACA could come today or over weekend: "we love the DREAMers."  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 1, 2017

Such a move would almost certainly provoke levels of protest and finger-wagging from corporate America unseen since the rollout of Trumps initial travel ban.

To let Trump have his law and order and love for Dreamers, too, congressional Republicans are looking to take the kind of legislative action they refused to under Obama. North Carolina senator Thom Tillis is leading a group of GOP lawmakers in drafting what they call a conservative Dream Act, a bill that would provide childhood arrivals with a path to permanent residency, and, eventually, citizenship.

Ryans endorsement of that bill Friday suggests that it may actually stand a chance of passing.
People protest the travel ban at JFK Airport on January 28, 2017. Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

The case that halted President Trumps initial travel ban less than two days after he signed the executive order has been settled, and under the terms, those blocked from entering the U.S. will get a chance to reapply for visas.

Shortly after the ban  which temporarily blocked refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.  sparked protests at airports nationwide, President Trump claimed on Twitter that Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Documents newly obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show there were actually 2,000 detained during the 26.5 hours the order was in effect, from January 28 to January 29. Roughly 140 were denied entry and sent back to their country of origin.

Two Iraqi nationals, Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, filed a lawsuit after being detained a JFK Airport, and the next day a federal judge issued a temporary injunction. Because it was a class-action suit, the injunction prevented the order from being enforced across the country.

This week, the case was quietly settled in a Brooklyn courtroom. Under the terms, the federal government must send a letter to every person who was blocked from entering the country due to Trumps executive order, notifying them that theyre eligible to reapply for a visa. Theres no guarantee that applicants will be admitted, but the Department of Justice will designate a liaison to review their applications for the next three months, using the normal criteria for admission.

The Justice Department said in a statement, Although this case has been moot since March, when the president rescinded the original executive order and issued a new one that does not restrict the entry of Iraqi nationals, the U.S. government has elected to settle this case on favorable terms.

Parts of President Trumps revised travel ban were allowed to go into effect in June, and the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case in October.

Im glad that the lawsuit is over, Darweesh said of the class-action suit. Me and my family are safe; my kids go to school; we can now live a normal life. I suffered back home, but I have my rights now. Im a human.
A fire burns at the flooded plant of French chemical maker Arkema SA after Tropical Storm Harvey passed in Crosby, Texas, August 31, 2017. Photo: Adrees Latif/REUTERS

Harvey cleared out of Houston by midweek. But even as the skies cleared and floodwaters dipped down, the storms devastation continued to unfold. On early Thursday morning, two explosions erupted at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas. Flames and thick black smoke whirled up from the wreckage, and at least 15 police officers and responders had to be treated for smoke inhalation. The company said it was virtually certain that more explosions were imminent. The highly combustible organic peroxides stored there needed to be kept chilled, but Harveys floodwaters had deluged the facility with six feet of water, cutting out the electricity, and then power to the backup generators, and, finally, knocked out all but one of the backup-backup refrigeration units on site.

Arkema executives said employees wouldnt be able to return to the facility for at least a few days, as the fires burned out and floodwaters receded. The skeleton crew of employees who were still there left the site as soon as they realized explosions were inevitable. Residents within 1.5 miles of the Crosby facility, which is about 30 miles northeast of Houston, evacuated and have been told to stay away from the site. Its not a chemical release thats happening and I want to be clear about that, Arkema executive Richard Rennard said. What we have is a fire. He did call the smoke noxious, but declined to say whether it was toxic. The Environmental Protection Agency has said there are no concentrations of concern for toxic materials, but is continuing to monitor the air quality around the plant. It also urged people to stay indoors, with their windows closed.

Arkemas owners had protested an Obama-era regulation  which the Trump administration had, this week, delayed anyway until 2019  that would have tightened safety regulations on plants that handle certain chemicals. The organic peroxides, used in plastics manufacturing and in other products, that caused the explosion wouldnt have been covered under that rule, but other chemicals within the plant, including isobutylene or sulfur dioxide, would have been  and experts say first responders should at least be aware of which other toxic substances are stored on site. Arkema officials said it did not believe the fire would affect the other compounds at the facility. If it did, it would be catastrophic: Reuters reports that the companys 2014 EPA risk-management plan said such a situation could put up to one million people at risk, up to 23 miles away.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is investigating the explosions, and warned about the dangers of bringing the plant back online after flood damage. But Arkema is far from the only petrochemical plant or refinery that faces hazards as its employees survey the storm damage and begin resuming operations.

The Houston area is Americas petrochemical hub, with more than 450 plants, including dozens of refineries, which means literally billions of gallons of hazardous chemicals and fuels housed alongside millions of people in Americas fourth-largest city. Dozens of Superfund sites also dot the Gulf Coast, many of which may still be underwater.

Cleanup has barely begun in Houston, and other parts of East Texas and Louisiana are still battling dangerous floods as Harvey, now a tropical depression, cuts its way through Kentucky and Tennessee. The death toll has risen to at least 46, and tens of thousands are still taking refuge in shelters. The risks remain: bodies still to be uncovered, undrinkable water, the first mold spores taking hold. Now the environmental dangers loom, both in the air as plants leak out chemicals, and in what many toxins may have leached into the floodwaters that overtook hundreds and hundreds of first-floor carpets.

Id put it on the scale of 9/11 health risk, James Norton, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security during the second Bush administration told Politico. There was a similar challenge in Katrina, as the standing water around the city kind of became a chemical sludge. The risk in Houston is greater.

Our Interactive Map of Volatile Facilities Threatened by Harvey IDs Facilities in 25 Most Affected Counties https://t.co/G7l37pEAJW pic.twitter.com/cJjFEoTCiz  Sierra Club (@SierraClub) September 1, 2017

So Arkema may be an outlier for its explosions, but it is not the only facility raising alarms. Chemical plants tend to release chemical emissions when they shut down or start up completely  which happened in dozens of facilities in the region this week. According to the advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, Houstons petrochemical industry released about one million tons of harmful pollutants into the air this week. People even complained of chemical smells in the Houston area:

Rancid chemical smell near Houston @ValeroEnergy refinery. What's going on? Why all the flaring? Folks Can't Breathe #HurricaneHarvery  Raquel de Anda (@deAndaAnda) August 27, 2017

Chevron Phillips flared (flaring is essentially burning gases) 766,000 pounds of chemicals. Releases occurred at ExxonMobil during a controlled shutdown at its Baytown facility on Sunday, which sent out some not-so-great-sounding chemicals into the atmosphere, including carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, reports PBS, though they did not exceed legal standards.

But two of ExxonMobils refineries were also damaged by Hurricane Harvey. A floating roof sank into a tank because of the heavy rains, releasing more fumes  this time unplanned. A sulfur thermal oxidizer was also damaged at an ExxonMobil facility in Beaumont, Texas. The plant sent out more than 1,300 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which exceeded its permit limits.

Also over the weekend, Harveys rains tipped over a 6.3-million-gallon fuel tank, spilling gasoline at pipeline company Kinder Morgans Pasadena Terminal. According to the Associated Press, a containment dike captured most of the spill. On Sunday, a lightning strike set two crude-oil storage tanks afire at the Karbuhn Oil Company in Harris County, which burned up two tanks and spilled about five barrels of crude oil. The site is across from a 25,000-acre protected wetland, says the Houston Chronicle.

More hazards lurk in the waters that still engulf the region, and in what will be left behind after the water dries up. Harris County, which includes Houston, has the most Superfund sites in the country, and experts are worried chemicals could have been absorbed and now pose serious health risks.

The biomass byproduct of bioremediation floats in the lagoon at the French Limited Superfund site July 1, 1993, in Houston, Texas. Photo: Paul S. Howell/Getty Images

Theres no need to test it, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department told the New York Times, said about the floodwaters. Its contaminated. Theres millions of contaminants.

That means poop. As you might have expected. But it also potentially means poisons like lead or benzene if water from contaminated sites seeps out. If the water picks up contaminated sediment from sites, that may get deposited in areas where people frequent  residential properties, parks, ballfields  that were never contaminated before, Nancy Loeb, the director of the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law told the Washington Post. We cant say for sure it will happen, but its certainly a possibility.

EPA officials reportedly traveled to Houston earlier this week to monitor risks across the area, and will be inspecting sites once the situation on the ground improves.

As devastating as Harvey is, and as devastating as it still could be, it probably could have been terrifyingly worse. Harvey slammed the Texas coast as a Category 4 storm  the most powerful hurricane to strike the United States in more than a decade. Its rains, and resulting floods were, as predicted, catastrophic. But its also worth nothing what didnt happen, specifically storm surge. These plants are right on a coastline, and feet-high crashing waves could have brought untold environmental ruin  countless gallons of oil and chemicals spilled  and economic devastation, especially since they would destroy some of Americas busiest ports. (ProPublicas report on this, pre-Harvey, will keep you up at night.)

Plans have been proposed  including one for an Ike Dike, a coastal barrier of dunes and gates to protect the Houston shipping channel and much of the Chemical Coast  but the Texas Gulf Coast remains as vulnerable as ever. Another storm will come, and when it does, the disaster will be unthinkable.
No wall, yet. Photo: Hector Vivas/LatinContent/Getty Images

On August 22, as President Trump stood in front of a disappointingly small crowd in Phoenix, he addressed the possibility that money for his beloved border wall would not be included in the bill needed to fund the government past the end of September. Believe me, if we have to close down our government, were building that wall, he said.

Now, hes backed away from the the threat, telling Congressional Republican leaders that hell sign a bill to kept the government operating even if it lacks the $1.6 billion he wants to begin construction on 74 new miles of wall.

Trumps failure to follow through on his threat doesnt end this fight so much as delay it. The continuing resolution that Congress will use to fund the government will likely expire in December, when well get to do this all over again.

But now that Trump has twice threatened government shutdown over funding of the wall and caved when his bluff was called, he will want to come up with a new threat by then.
Trump and Arpaio at a campaign event in Iowa on January 26, 2016. Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP

Even a week later, the stench of it hangs in the air. The pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is one of the more chilling authoritarian moves that Trump has made so far. I say this not simply because Arpaio treated prisoners in his charge in barbaric ways; not just because the president described this brutality as Arpaio simply doing his job; not even because Arpaio proudly and constantly engaged in racial profiling, making Latino citizens and noncitizens alike afraid to leave their own homes. I say it for a simpler reason: because it is Trumps deepest indication yet that the rule of law means nothing to him.

Yes, the pardon power has been abused before  as any perusal of Bill Clintons final days in office will confirm. But it makes a difference, it seems to me, when the president pardons a law-enforcement officer for openly breaking the law, and refusing to abide by a court order to stop doing so. It makes an even bigger difference if the pardon is granted long before the legal process has played itself out. This isnt a pardon, as is usually the case, for someone who has served time, shows contrition and deserves some kind of mercy. It is a pardon seemingly designed to blow a raspberry at the court system, and tell anyone in law enforcement or border control or ICE or anywhere for that matter that, if you commit brutal or illegal acts, the big man has your back.

This is government as an unaccountable, legally immune thug. Of course Trump telegraphed this in the campaign by backing violence against dissenters in his rallies, championing torture, and when he recently told police officers it was fine to manhandle criminal suspects. I still have a hard time imagining a president of the United States openly showing contempt for due process or basic decency; but here we are. No one could defend this  even National Review and The Wall Street Journal were disgusted. But say what you like about Trump, this attraction to brute force, this reveling in it, is something he has never hidden.

Is it also a signal that the president could pardon  even preemptively  anyone caught up in criminality in the Mueller investigation? I suspect so, even though Mueller subtly responded to that threat last Wednesday, by letting it be known he is working alongside Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York. State crimes, after all, cant be pardoned by the president. But that Trump is even thinking along these lines is a sign of how deeply our system depends on the honor of the individuals involved. An instinctual despot like Trump can find even the most benign of the presidents constitutional powers  the pardon  and turn it against the rule of law. We really need to remind ourselves of this on a daily basis if we are not to become numb to it: to advance his own interests, there is nothing this president would not do. If we enter, as we well might, a constitutional crisis, we have been warned all too clearly what this man is capable of.

Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos, for all their provocations and performance art, are not neo-Nazis either. But antifas deployment of violence prevented both of them from speaking at Berkeley, and the mayor of that city is asking young Republicans there to cancel another free speech week next month, because of antifa threats. In Oregon, Portlands Rose Day parade is not a neo-Nazi rally either, but it was canceled this year because antifa threatened violence against a Republican Party float: You have seen how much power we have downtown and that the police cannot stop us from shutting down roads, an email told the organizers. We will not give one inch to groups who espouse hatred toward LGBT, immigrants, people of color or others. Multiple journalists are not neo-Nazis either, and yet antifa has physically attacked them across the country.

The president, however foul, is not a neo-Nazi, and yet antifa committed violence and vandalism in my hometown, D.C., on Inauguration Day. The Onion, as so often, nailed it: We will stop at nothing to prevent these vile fucking neo-Nazi hate mongers from gathering, or, if not them, someone else, said Rebecca Jackson, 26. In Portland this past June, antifa showed up on the streets armed with everything from knives to brass knuckles to poles and sticks and bricks and bottles and road flares and chains. In Berkeley, a news anchor for KTVU, Frank Somerville, wrote: I experienced hate firsthand today. It came from these people dressed in all black at a protest in Berkeley. Ironically they were all chanting about no hate. Some had shields and gloves. Some had helmets. Some had gas masks.

And yet it seems as excruciating for many liberals to condemn antifa outright as it was for Trump to unequivocally denounce the neo-Nazis. Indeed, masked thugs were welcomed by the entirely peaceful people in the Boston protest, and mingled freely among them. As John Fund also pointed out, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in its lengthy and proper condemnation of the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, refused to include a single sentence that also condemned antifa violence: Though we support peaceful protest and note that most of the counter-demonstrators were peaceful, we condemn violence by anyone, including violence by so-called antifa demonstrators. Nah. Out of bounds.

The Washington Post ran an op-ed declaring that the American left had long ago cleansed itself of violence; the New York Times featured an apologia for the black-masked thugs by Todd Gitlin, who called them a defensive response to the growing presence of right-wing extremism. Others even lionized antifa, comparing them with the allied troops who fought the Nazis in the D-day landings. Really? Black-masked vandals the same as the Normandy advance troops? Surely a better analogy, if were going there, would be with Stalins Red Army marching on Berlin from the East. Antifa activists, after all do proudly describe themselves as communists, among other things.

The last week, however, has been encouraging. Liberals seem to have snapped out of denial. To her immense credit, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, put out a statement unequivocally denouncing the antifa. The Los Angeles Times also produced a stirring editorial. Lets hope more follow.

As a physical threat to the lives of Americans, the far right is indeed a bigger worry. I sure dont want to elide that fact. It has killed several dozen Americans over the last decade, while the far left has killed no one (though one of them did send GOP Congressman Steve Scalise into an ICU a couple of months ago). The president, moreover, has the far-rights back. In that sense, there is no practical equivalence as a threat. But moral equivalence? You bet. Considered as a totalitarian ideology proud of deploying violence to achieve their ends, antifas communism and the neo-Nazis fascism, are equally antithetical to liberal democracy. We fought wars against both for much of the last century. And we shouldnt give either an inch to inflict violence at home.

While Im at it, some thoughts on the word hate. The dictionary defines it as intense or passionate dislike of someone. Thats what George Orwell meant when he described the daily two minutes of hate that people were required to observe in the totalitarian state depicted in Nineteen Eighty-Four. The object of such hatred was one Emmanuel Goldstein, an analogy, most presume, to Leon Trotsky, and an enemy of the state. Orwell describes the seductiveness of it: The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within 30 seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against ones will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. Hate obliterates reason; it deliberately dehumanizes the object of hatred; when expressed by a crowd, it can flood the minds and distort the souls of even the most benign bystanders.

And its an emotion of peculiar intensity. It is therefore emphatically not, it seems to me, the same as mere discomfort with someone different or suspicion of another group or a set of misguided beliefs or prejudice more generally. Take homophobia for example. Is it truly interchangeable with the word hate? The term phobia suggests fear rather than hatred  which better captures, to my mind, a panic at someone with a different sexual orientation. Are members of my own family, who disagree with me about sexual morality, truly best described as hating me? I dont think so. Is simply following a religious doctrine, held for millennia by all the Abrahamic faiths, about the immorality of sex outside a monogamous procreative marriage also the equivalent of hate? Well, then, Pope Francis is a man of hate. Is opposing marriage equality also hate? Well, Barack Obama was therefore a hateful man for the vast majority of his life.

Its complicated, isnt it? But the word hate bludgeons a whole universe of human experience into one totalizing emotion. It obscures more than it enlightens. One of the privileges of spending a couple of decades debating marriage equality with the religious right was that I was forced to interact with haters. Yes, they exist on the religious right. But, in my own experience, they were dwarfed in number by those who were confused or afraid or discomfited or ignorant or rigid or merely extremely devout. In person, many were not just polite but warm. The most passionate and direct hate I felt in those years, I swear to God, came from some other gay men.

The glib and easy use of the term can also lead to nauseating self-righteousness. It inevitably implies that you, in denouncing hate, are epitomizing love. You see this constantly on insufferably smug T-shirts and posters: Love Trumps Hate. The entire rubric is almost designed to blind you to your own faults, and assumes that you are incapable of hatred yourself. There was a classic example of how this black-versus-white language distorts reality from Charlottesville. A New York Times reporter, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, on the scene, livetweeted what she saw with her own eyes: The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding antifa beating white nationalists being led out of the park. After an outcry on social media, she was pressured to amend this. Several hours later, she tweeted: Re-thinking this. Should have said violence not hate-filled. They were standing up to hate. She was right the first time. Hatred is not restricted to one political party or movement. It is, just like love, part of all of us.

A final word. Last weeks item lionizing a priest who confessed to once being in the KKK after being prompted by Charlottesville needs, well, amplification. It transpires, according to the Washington Post, that the priest came clean only because someone had tracked down his past and had contacted the diocese  not because he suddenly felt a need to repent. As for atonement, the priest has still not compensated some victims of his youthful rampages  and his love of the Confederacy endured for decades. Oh well. Forgive me for latching onto one small beam of hope in these troubling times. I swear Ill know better in future.

See you next Friday.
Youre not the boss of Trump now. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

One month ago, President Trump made John Kelly his second chief of staff  and gave the general a mandate to impose order on the White House.

From one angle, this move made a great deal of sense. Throughout its first six months in power, the Trump administration had demonstrated a dire need for military discipline. The presidents friends and hangers-on would stroll into the Oval Office unannounced, and distract the commander-in-chief from his official duties. Staffers from warring wings of the White House would slip printouts from far-right news blogs into Trumps reading materials, to try to get their enemies fired. And, of course, the president tweeted baseless felony accusations, memes encouraging violence against the press, condemnations of longtime U.S. allies, and ostensible threats of nuclear war without a word of input from his advisers. Amid this swirling chaos, the president had failed to pass a single piece of major legislation; saw his approval rating dip to historic lows; and, ostensibly, set off a wide-reaching criminal investigation of his entire administration by attempting to obstruct justice.

From another angle, though, the new chief-of-staffs mandate was bizarre. After all, one of Trumps many complaints with Kellys predecessor, Reince Priebus, was that the buttoned-up Wisconsinite thought he could tell him what to do. If Trump wanted to restrict access to his Oval Office  and have all his briefing materials carefully vetted  Priebus was more than happy to oblige. The Trump White House was a Hobbesian realm of backbiting and anarchy because thats what the leader of the free world wanted it to be.

So its not too surprising that, one month into Kellys reign, Trump is already yearning for his administrations bygone, nasty, brutish days. As the Washington Post reports:

[S]ome of Trumps friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.

Trump chafes at some of the retired Marine Corps generals moves to restrict access to him since he took the job almost a month ago, said several people close to the president. They run counter to Trumps love of spontaneity and brashness, prompting some Trump loyalists to derisively dub Kelly the church lady because they consider him strict and morally superior.

 Friends used to be able to call the White House and be patched directly through to Trump; now those calls are routed through Kelly and do not always make it to the president. Friends used to drop by the West Wing when they had time to kill, wandering to the Oval Office to say hello; now they must have an official appointment  and a clear reason  to visit.

 But Trump sometimes defies  and even resents  the new structure. He has been especially sensitive to the way Kellys rigid structure is portrayed in the media and strives to disabuse people of the notion that he is being managed. The president continues to call business friends and outside advisers, including former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, from his personal phone when Kelly is not around, said people with knowledge of the calls.

At one point in late July, Trump raised his voice with his chief of staff, whom he faulted for trying to restrict outside friends from having direct access to him.

All this raises the question: Why did Trump invite the general to impose such restrictions in the first place?

The president has often been likened to a toddler (reporters make the analogy explicitly, anonymous administration staffers, implicitly). But in his relationship to Kelly, the commander-in-chief better resembles a rebellious adolescent  one who rages against his parents rules, even as he knows, deep down, that he needs their boundaries. Trump disdained Priebus for his hectoring, but also for his weakness; for trying to control him, but also, perhaps, for failing to. If, on some subterranean level, the president wants his impulses to be checked by a higher authority, it makes sense that hed cast a general as that superego. After all, when Trump was an actual rebellious adolescent, he sought structure and self-discipline at military school.

On Friday morning, in an apparent response to the Posts reporting, Trump tweeted his support for Kelly.

General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed - and this Administration continues to..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

...get things done at a record clip. Many big decisions to be made over the coming days and weeks. AMERICA FIRST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

Trumps conflicted relationship to his advisers authority extends beyond his new chief of staff. It also manifests in the bitter deference he shows to his appointees expertise. On Afghanistan, NAFTA, the Iran deal (thus far), trade, and a host of other issues, Trump has allowed his subordinates to override his will  often while loudly complaining about their doing so. In other instances, the president makes a point of bucking the adults in his White House, asserting his autonomy by contradicting their counsel, and/or making radical policy changes on a whim.

One way to interpret all of this: Trump recognizes the gulf between his capacities and his offices responsibilities. Sometimes, that recognition makes him humble; other times, desperate to deny that any such gulf exists.

Im president. Can you believe it? Trump exclaimed at a press conference with House Republicans in May. From his incredulous tone, it was difficult to say whether the president was expressing elation at his improbable power, or fear of it.
Justice STEVEN KAVUMA, the outgoing deputy chief justice, is one of the most polarizing figures in the judiciary.

He is set to retire September 20, marking an end to his 13-year spell as a judge. In this first of four-part series, Derrick Kiyonga looks at his rise in political circles before he made it in the judiciary



Steven Kavuma was born on September 29, 1948. In his formative years, Kavuma attended Kamanya (now Bunamwaya) primary school in Wakiso (1960); Mengo junior school; Mengo SS and Nyakasura School (1969).

He then joined Makerere University from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with honors in 1974, and later attained a post-graduate diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Center (LDC) in 1975.

Justice Steven Kavuma

Kavumas professional career began in 1975 as a state attorney in the Attorney Generals chambers (Solicitor generals department), from where he was seconded to head the legal department of National Insurance Corporation (NIC), rising into the position of corporation secretary.

In 1981, Kavuma was on the move; he left public service and went into private practice under the firm Kavuma & Company Advocates. It later metamorphosed into Kavuma, Katureebe & Company Advocates, a law firm he formed with current chief justice Bart Katureebe.



JOINING POLITICS

Kavuma wasnt your ordinary judge and had political ambitions early on in his career. He first served in the Resistance Councils (RCs) of Mpigi between 1986 and 1988. Kavumas links with NRM came to the fore when President Museveni appointed him deputy minister of Finance in charge of Custodian Board in 1988.

He then had a stint as a deputy director, legal affairs, at the NRM secretariat, before getting elected to represent Kyadondo South in the Constituent Assembly in 1994.

Musevenis generosity towards Kavuma wasnt about to end and he subsequently appointed him as minister of state for Justice and Constitutional Affairs and later selected him as the junior minister of Defence in 1998, an appointment that came at the height of Ugandas military involvement in DR Congo.

It is during this time that Kavuma got embroiled in a national controversy when he insisted, while appearing on Light House Television, that Col Jet Mwebaze and his colleagues were alive after their helicopter crashed in the Rwenzori mountains yet reports and evidence suggested otherwise.

Later, the government confirmed Mwebazes death, leaving Kavuma as the scapegoat. Looking back, Nicholas Opiyo, a human rights lawyer, says the Mwebaze incident was enough to discredit him from becoming a judge.

He wouldnt have qualified [to be a judge] if background checks were done.

Nevertheless, President Museveni appointed Kavuma, a self-professed NRM diehard, a judge at the Constitutional court in 2004. From then on, Kavumas decisions were going to attract public scrutiny. So, his appointment laid out the trajectory he was going to take in his judgments for years he would spend in the judiciary.



PRESIDENT CANNOT BE CHALLENGED

The first test came when Gen Henry Tumukunde, then at the rank of brigadier, fell out with government. He petitioned the Constitutional court challenging President Musevenis order, as the commander in chief, to force him to resign from parliament where he was representing the army.

On March 7, 2005, Kavuma and three other judges dismissed the petition but one judge dissented. Of the four judges who dismissed Tumukundes petition, Kavumas judgment shocked the legal fraternity when he reasoned that decisions of the president cannot be challenged.

Later, following an appeal by Tumukunde, the Supreme court, led by Justice George Wilson Kanyeihamba, quashed the judgment by Kavuma and his colleagues, saying it was unconstitutional for Museveni and the army leadership to force the former spy chief and bush war veteran into resigning from parliament.

BLACK MAMBA

Kavumas appointment coincided with the era in which Musevenis rivalry with Dr Kizza Besigye was becoming more uncouth and, at times, bloody.

With the 2006 presidential elections ripening, Besigye expressed ambitions of standing against President Museveni, for a second time forcing the state to resort to dark arts.

On November 15, 2005, Besigye was arrested and consequently charged with treason, an offence that attracts a death sentence, and rape, an offence he had allegedly committed as far back as 1997.

As the population was coming to terms with the arrests which were construed as an attempt by Museveni to derail Besigyes campaign machine, the unthinkable happened.

On November 16, 2005, the Anti-Terrorism Task Force Urban hit squad, commonly known as Black Mamba, stormed the High court in Kampala oozing with artillery and henceforth rearrested Besigye and 22 other suspects, who had been granted bail.

The following day Besigye and his co-accused were produced before the General Court Martial (GCM) and charged with offences such as terrorism and illegally being in possession of firearms. All these charges would later crumble. The GCM was presided over by General Elly Tumwine.

The arrests and High court siege drew condemnation, with several leading lawyers and judges terming it as an affront on the independence of the judiciary.

Justice Edmund Sempa Lugayizi, who was handling the case, couldnt take it anymore. He stepped down while Justice James Ogoola, the then principal judge, described the raid as the rape of the temple of justice.

With the battle lines drawn, the Uganda Law Society (ULS), mobilized its topnotch lawyers who included. Godfrey Lule, Peter Mulira, David Mpanga, who was and still is Besigyes lawyer, and Medard Lubega Sseggona, who is now Busiro East legislator. They dashed to the Constitutional court, where Kavuma was waiting, challenging the actions of the state as illegal.

Since it was a constitutional petition, a panel of five justices was assembled led by then deputy chief justice Leticia Mukasa-Kikonyongo and comprising, Galdino Okello, George Engwau, Constance Byamugisha and Kavuma, himself.

The petition by ULS raised several issues that would go ahead to impact on Ugandas jurisprudence for the years to come. What, nevertheless, was key here among all the issues raised by the law society was the independence and impartiality of the judiciary which was compromised when the Black Mamba attacked the High court.

Four Justices: Kikonyongo, Okello, Engwau and Byamugisha ruled that the attack was unconstitutional since: It not only threatened the independence of the judiciary and impartiality of courts at the time but continued as a looming danger.

On the contrary, Justice Kavuma dissented, asserting that it was fine for the military to attack the High court.

He stated: the deployment of a unit of the UPDF at the said court and the acts undertaken thereunder were first and foremost for security reasons based on intelligence information available to those responsible for the security of this country and secondly for ensuring that the accused did not disappear from the course of justice.

He further rubbished submissions by ULS lawyers which were to the effect that intervention of the military at the High court was neither necessary nor requested for by judicial authorities. He also saw no merit in ULSs arguments that the High court should have been alerted about the operation beforehand.

It is not always necessary or practicable to do so, Kavuma started.

This being a security matter, the dictates of the nature of the intelligence information available to the executive and the nature of the operation called for in the circumstances must have, understandably, rendered it impracticable for such advance information to be divulged to the authorities.

I take judicial notice of the fact that many times intelligence information regarding security operations and the decision to conduct them and indeed the reasons for such operations are matters treated with extreme confidentiality and secrecy in the interest of national defence and security.

In his judgment, Kavuma did not shy away from pointing out how much power, in his view, the Constitution gives to the president.

The decision to deploy the UPDF at the High court that day and the acts that accompanied it, are certainly a matter that lies within the province of the executive authority of this country which Article 99 of the Constitution vests in the president, Kavuma ruled.
- Harvey dominated trading this week with downside blowouts in WTI time spreads and WTI/Brent arbs while product spreads and crack margins spiked to multi year highs. Consensus estimates saw 4.0-4.4m bpd of refiner capacity taken offline while oil production outages totaled less than 1 million bpd.

- Refinery outages in PADD III have upended global trading flows leading to a surge in clean product shipments from Europe and Asia toward the US while more than 29 million bbls of crude idled in the USGC due to the port closure. The Houston > east coast Colonial pipeline was forced to shut its main diesel line on Wednesday and planned to shut its gasoline line yesterday reducing substantial product flows to key markets. Motiva estimated that their 603k bpd Port Arthur refinery (the USs largest) would be shut for up to two weeks.

- Citi, ING and Goldman all argued that WTI/Brent arbs could continue to decline as flooding in the USGC persisted and prompt WTI and product spreads revealed massive stress against existing storage and delivery demands in the coming weeks. In terms of time frame for a market recovery, however, the WTI F18/J18 spread yielding 20 cents / month of contango implies that traders are looking for a tight market to reappear in the coming months. Flat prices aggressive bounce off of the $45.58 low opposite a crash in implied option volatility back towards 26% suggested a high degree of confidence that the range bound flat price environment will persist.

- August production predictions for OPEC are rolling out starting today with JBC Energys estimate that the cartels output fell 300k bpd m/m to 32.6 million bpd. Libya lead the m/m drop with a 160k bpd decrease to 840k bpd and Bloomberg estimates from this week put their production at 600k bpd following Hamada field disruptions (the field should be running again by Monday.) Saudi Arabia decreased output by 30k bpd to 10.05 million bpd in August and overall group adherence with cut targets increased from 86% in July to 96%. In geopolitics the IAEA reported that Iran was compliant with their quarterly nuclear deal audit.



- Away from the oil market the EUR/USD hit a +2.5yr high over 1.20 with help from US political dysfunction (ie lower tax cut / infrastructure odds) and economic strength in the Eurozone. US economic data was much more positive than expected this week including a +237k print for m/m job gains for August via ADP and 2q17 GDP revision from +2.7% y/y to +3.0% y/y. Nevertheless traders in Fed fund futures continue to see limited odds of a rate hike later this year placing 36% odds of a 25bp increase in December.

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Harvey hits brent spreads but inventory draws and Libya outages remain bullish

Prompt brent spreads were also hit hard this week as the Port of Houstons closing diverted shipments from the US Gulf Coast and global refining inputs fell by roughly the size of Japans daily crude demand. The weakness in spreads came despite a continued drop in global floating supplies to 150m bbls for an eight month low and continued supply disruptions in Libya where output has declined by roughly 350k bpd m/m to near 600k bpd (via Bloomberg.) On a more bearish note global refined product stocks remain stubbornly high near 76m bbls which is unchanged on the year and unchanged y/y.

Late in the week Brent V17/X17 submitted a low of 40 cents contango for a drop of 90 cents in just 48 hours. The stress in the front of the curve was obviously due to USGC refiner outages while Brent F18/J18 traded -29 cents (-40 cents over the last two weeks) revealed only a modest amount of expected stress on the curve in the coming months. In diff markets dated brent also held relatively firm to the 1-month swap suggesting fairly resilient brent fundamentals. Related: Oil Markets React Stoically To Strong Crude Inventory Draw

US producer data for last week began with a small w/w decline in the rig count to 759. Over the last twenty weeks US crude rigs have increased by 76 marking a sharp decline from the previous twenty week period where they increased by 198 rigs. Production had a small w/w increase to 9.53m bpd for a 25-month high and is within 80k bpd of its all time high in June 2015. As for positioning, COT data revealed decreased short positions in NYMEX WTI and ICE Brent of 23k and 74k, respectively.

Option values move (a little bit) higher

Crude options were unsurprisingly firmer this week as flat price dropped to a five week low and Harvey sewed stress across the market. As of Thursday morning we saw WTI V17 at the money options running near 27% after reaching 30% early in the week. Mostly we think its important to note that the level of implied vol in the market was fairly muted on a historical basis given that more than 4m bpd of demand has been removed for an unknown period. If anything we think the takeaway from options market this week with vols running 26%-30% is that confidence in the range bound nature of the market remains extremely high. The confidence seems justified for now by 20-day historical vol printing a painfully low 25% on Wednesday.

Fund flows still uninspired

Hedge fund flows were muted last week and continue to show only a slightly positive attitude towards crude oil and refined products. NYMEX WTI saw a net sell effort last week of about 21k contracts bring net length to 253k contracts and 25% above its 2yr average. ICE Brent saw a net sell of 1k contracts w/w bringing net length to 418k contracts and 32% above its 2yr average. ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI had a combined increase in gross short positions of 11k on the week meaning that a small amount of bearish interest entered the market alongside modest length liquidation.

Refined product flows joined the slightly bearish trend last week with small net sell efforts in RBOB and Heating Oil. RBOB net length was cut from 40k to 37k while Heating Oil net length was cut from 32k to 20k. In ETFs the USO saw its second straight week of small buying- this time for $26 million.

EIA data continues bullish trends

 This weeks numbers were obviously overshadowed by Harvey developments but they continue to reveal strong crude demand, decreased PADD III imports and sharp inventory draws

 Refiner demand showed a record high print at 17.73m bpd and is +5% y/y

 On the bearish side we continue to see evidence of increasing Cushing stocks and US crude production gains which remind us of the limitations of WTI strength

(Click to enlarge) Related: Texas Shale Hit Hard By Hurricane Harvey

US crude inventories fell 5.4m bbls w/w and at 458m bbls are now lower y/y by 7.6%. By region, PADD I inventories are lower y/y by 18%, PADD II stocks are -3% y/y, PADD III inventories are lower y/y by 10% and PADD V stocks are -6% y/y. US crude imports continue to surge into PADD II and at 2.6m bpd are +6% y/y while USGC imports are -19% y/y on decreased OPEC allocations. Exports added to the bullish trend in stats printing 900k bpd and are +26% y/y but production continued to increase notching 9.53m bpd.

Refiner demand continued to highlight EIAs this week with a record high print of 17.3m bpd. Demand is still strong across regional lines with PADD I inputs +5% y/y, PADD II inputs +6.4%, PADD III inputs +5.5% and PADD V inputs +1.6% y/y. Utilization reached 96.6% which is higher y/y by 3.4%. Refining margins increased dramatically this week due to Harvey with gasoil/brent trading to a 2yr high at $16.00/bbl while WTI 321 traded to a 2yr high at $27.50/bbl.

US gasoline stocks were basically flat w/w and are lower y/y by 1%. Regionally, PADD I stocks are -7% y/y, PADD II stocks are +5% y/y, PADD III stocks are +5% y/y and PADD V inventories are lower y/y by 12%. In the mid Atlantic PADD IB inventories continue to tighten and are lower y/y by 15%. Gasoline production printed 10.6m bpd and is +6% y/y. On the demand side domestic gasoline consumption is higher y/y by 3.5% following a 9.8m bpd print while exports at 737k bpd are higher y/y by 34%.

US distillate supplies added 748k bbls w/w and are lower y/y by 3.6%. PADD IB supplies fell 582k bbls and are -14% y/y, PADD II stocks jumped 774k bbls and are +5% y/y and PADD III inventories increased 240k bbls to +11% y/y. Distillate production is currently 5.1m bpd and is +1.6% y/y. Exports printed 1.1m bpd last week and are +7% y/y while domestic distillate demand at 3.9m bpd is +2% y/y.

By SCS Commodities Corp.

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The effects of Hurricane Harvey have sent the energy markets into chaos, with gasoline prices soaring and oil prices slipping.

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Friday, September 1, 2017

Hurricane Harvey is still far and away the major story of the week in the energy world, with a huge number of refineries still offline. Oil prices continue to sag, while gasoline prices soared this week.

Refinery outages persist. Some refineries in the Corpus Christi region are coming back online, but the larger ones in Houston and Port Arthur/Lake Charles are mostly offline. The Motiva facility in Port Arthur, the largest in the country, is still offline and could remain out of commission for two weeks, according to the latest reports. As of Friday, an estimated 3 mb/d of refining capacity is still offline, a slight improvement from earlier this week.

Colonial Pipeline outage interrupts gasoline flows to east coast. The Colonial Pipeline carries more than 2 million barrels per day of refined products  diesel, jet fuel and gasoline  from Texas and Louisiana up through much of the U.S. Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. The pipeline was forced to shut down because of problems sourcing enough product. The outage has led to a spike in gasoline futures, pushing them up to their highest level in years. "Typical Colonial Pipeline volumes are equivalent to Europe's gasoline exports, so these volumes will be difficult to replace and will require supplies from distant regions if the outage is prolonged," Wood Mackenzie analyst Alan Gelder said in a note. As of now, the pipeline is slated to come back online in a few days as refineries along the Gulf Coast trickle back online. But it will likely operate at reduced rates through next week at least. "The major refined product pipelines out of Houston are mostly shut because there is no gasoline and diesel to pump," said Andy Lipow, of Lipow Oil Associates. Related: An Energy Independent North America Needs NAFTA

TransCanada shuts down southern leg of Keystone pipeline. TransCanada (NYSE: TRP) announced the closure of the southern leg of its 600,000 bpd Keystone pipeline that runs from Cushing to refineries along the Texas Coast. The disruption could lead to a sharp increase in inventories at the Cushing storage facility. Discounts are deepening for Permian crude relative to WTI.

DOE taps SPR. The U.S. DOE authorized the release of 500,000 barrels of oil to help Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) to bring its Lake Charles refinery back online. The release is the first in five years.

Gasoline prices to rise. "Gas prices are going to go up because of the flooding," U.S. Sec. of Energy Rick Perry told reporters. He also warned that the state attorney general would be watching to make sure price gouging did not occur. Texas is seeing fuel shortages both in Houston and elsewhere in the state. Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, told CNBC that a worst-case scenario would be retail gasoline prices spiking by 40 to 60 cents per gallon, pushing averages up to $2.75 per gallon. Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said the price increases and supply problems could last for a month or more.

Toxic releases in Texas. The storm has led to the spill or release of some 2 million pounds of hazardous chemicals, according to Business Insider, some of which are cancer causing agents such as carbon monoxide and benzene. Some companies had to intentionally burn and flare chemicals because they had no way of disposing them. The toxic threat was punctuated by the explosion at a chemical plant owned by French company Arkema (OTCMKTS: ARKAY).

U.S. offshore production still down. According to IHS Markit, Gulf of Mexico operators still have about 236,000 bpd offline, or about 13 percent of the total production from offshore producers in the Gulf. Fortunately, however, there are no reported damages to platforms.

Eagle Ford output cut in half, return delayed. The Eagle Ford shale in South Texas has suffered outages on the order of 500,000 bpd, although much of that could come back online when the port of Corpus Christi reopens in the coming days. But other analysts are more pessimistic. Raymond James & Associates estimates that more than half of the rigs in the Eagle Ford suspended operations, and it could take time for them to return to rain-soaked fields. Given that much of oil and gas activity occurs in areas only accessible via dirt roads, the heavy rainfall usually makes the movement of trucks and supplies much more difficult, Marshall Adkins of Raymond James wrote in a note. The trucking and rail of sand, chemicals, and personnel to the well site will all take more time given the likely nasty condition of many Eagle Ford access roads.

OPEC frustrated by low prices. Reuters reports that OPEC officials are bewildered by the lack of movement in crude prices even after the U.S. Gulf Coast was inundated by the worst rain event in the countrys history. It seems no event will move the oil price up much, an OPEC official told Reuters. OPEC must be raging, theyre not getting any of this (gain), Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix said.

Investment banks slash oil price forecasts again, Brent at $54 in 2018. An August survey of investment banks by the Wall Street Journal reveals ongoing pessimism regarding the trajectory of oil prices. The average prediction from the 14 investment banks puts Brent crude at $54 per barrel in 2018, down $1 per barrel from the same survey a month earlier. It marked the fourth consecutive month that major analysts cut their price forecasts. The big reason is the expectation that the OPEC deal expires next year and the group ramps up production.

Related: Kyrgyzstan Unveils Revamped Transnational Gas Pipeline

Tesla starts solar roof production. Tesla (NYSE: TSLA) announced the beginning of solar cell manufacturing at its Buffalo, NY factory, which will be used in its new solar roof arrays. The roof tiles will eventually be made at the same facility. Tesla hopes to ramp up to 2 GW of annual solar cell production over time, with an interim target of 1 GW by 2019.

U.S. government prepared to block Rosnefts ability to take control of Citgo. Citgo, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuelas state-owned PDVSA, offered about half of the company as collateral to Rosneft last year in exchange for a $1.5 billion loan. With PDVSA looking dangerously close to a default, the U.S. government is concerned that Rosneft will take control of Citgo, which owns major refineries in the United States (some of which were disrupted during the Hurricane). According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government is prepared to block the hypothetical takeover of Citgo by Rosneft.

By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Venezuela is offering five million dollars worth of Hurricane Harvey relief to the United States just days after the White House approved a new round of sanctions against Caracas, according to emerging reports.

Citgo, the PDVSA-owned company barred from repatriating any profits back to Venezuela, will be providing the relief funds, according to an article by the Houston Chronicle. The company owns the 157,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Corpus Christi and promises to use revenues from the facility to aid victims of the hurricane, which ravaged western Texas.

We express our solidarity with the Americans affected by the hurricane, Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said. When an American fills his tank at a Citgo gas station, hell be contributing to the rebuilding of the affected communities.

Deceased Former President Hugo Chavez also founded a new program to help low income families heat their homes in 2005, but after the collapse of oil prices in 2014, the plan had to be phased out due to lack of funding.

Citgos website claims its social welfare program has touched the lives of over 1.8 million Americans through the year 2014.

Trumps White House will block attempts by the Kremlin to acquire large portions of Venezuelas Citgo. Prior to this announcement, Rosneft had agreed to acquire half of Citgos shares in exchange for a $1.5 billion loan in 2016. Cash-hungry PDVSA approved the deal, leaving American lawmakers concerned that a Russian firm would control roughly five percent of U.S. refining capacity via the buyouts.

The White House approved new sanctions against President Nicolas Maduros regime last week, making it harder for Venezuelas embattled government to secure funds as Caracas spirals towards a default. U.S. President Donald Trump signed the executive order, which prevents American financial institutions from offering new funds to Venezuela or to its state oil company, PDVSA. Citgo will also be barred from repatriating profits  further isolating Caracas from international financial markets.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The worlds top oil importer, China, is preparing to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan and convertible into gold, potentially creating the most important Asian oil benchmark and allowing oil exporters to bypass U.S.-dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan, Nikkei Asian Review reports.

The crude oil futures will be the first commodity contract in China open to foreign investment funds, trading houses, and oil firms. The circumvention of U.S. dollar trade could allow oil exporters such as Russia and Iran, for example, to bypass U.S. sanctions by trading in yuan, according to Nikkei Asian Review. To make the yuan-denominated contract more attractive, China plans the yuan to be fully convertible in gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges.

Last month, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary Shanghai International Energy Exchange, INE, successfully completed four tests in production environment for the crude oil futures, and the exchange continues with preparatory works for the listing of crude oil futures, aiming for the launch by the end of this year. ?

The rules of the global oil game may begin to change enormously, Luke Gromen, founder of U.S.-based macroeconomic research company FFTT, told Nikkei Asia Review.

The yuan-denominated futures contract has been in the works for years, and after several delays, it looks like it may be launched this year. Some potential foreign traders have been worried that the contract would be priced in yuan.



Related: Texas Shale Hit Hard By Hurricane Harvey

But according to analysts who spoke to Nikkei Asian Review, backing the yuan-priced futures with gold would be appealing to oil exporters, especially to those that would rather avoid U.S. dollars in trade.

It is a mechanism which is likely to appeal to oil producers that prefer to avoid using dollars, and are not ready to accept that being paid in yuan for oil sales to China is a good idea either, Alasdair Macleod, head of research at Goldmoney, told Nikkei.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead to the Rover natural gas pipeline projects Phase 1A, which will transport gas from Cadiz to the Midwest Hub, near Defiance in Ohio. The hub will serve as a distribution center for 68 percent of the gas Rover transports across the States.

The US$4.2-billion pipeline, still under construction, will eventually have a daily capacity of 3.25 billion cu ft from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. While the bulk of the gas will be supplied to the domestic market, 32 percent of it will flow to the Union Gas Dawn Storage Hub in Ontario, via Michigan, to be marketed in Canada or redistributed back to the United States.

Earlier this month, Bloombergs Naureen S Malik and Catherine Traywick wrote that Rover, which is being built by a unit of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), is a record holder for environmental violations among all interstate natural gas pipelines built in the country since 2015. Its worth noting that all these violations were booked after FERC approved the project in February this year.

Rover has accumulated as many as 104 noncompliance incidents, with the second pipeline on the non-compliance listalthough significantly shortera distant second, with 26 incidents. In Ohio, where Phase 1A is to be launched, Rover has received negative inspection reports about improper disposal of wastewater and damage of protected wetlands after a 50,000-barrel spill of drilling fluid mixed with diesel.



Related: Russias Comeback In The LNG Race

In West Virginia, Energy Transfer Partners had to cease and desist working on the pipeline after polluting local streams. Finally, in Washington, FERC ordered a suspension of horizontal drilling on the pipeline following the Ohio spill.

ETP, which gained notoriety with another, much-opposed project, the Dakota Access oil pipeline, has not confirmed or denied the allegations. Separately, the company last month agreed to sell almost a third in the Rover project to Blackstone for US$1.57 billion.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
U.S. coal output last week stood at 16.7 million short tons, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration. This compares to 17.025 million tons in the prior week  a record-high for 2017. Both weekly figures represent substantial increases on an annual basis, by 9.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

Over the long term, however, the increase will be unsustainable, analysts believe. The current increase is prompted by an increase in international coal prices, itself driven by an output decline in China and supply disruptions elsewhere, CNBC reports. This sort of context, however, only occurs once every few years, so U.S. coal miners shouldnt get their hopes up too much, these analysts warn.

Still, year-to-date coal production is higher than even the comparable period of 2016, at 516.1 million short tons at the end of last week, up by 14 percent on an annual basis.

The bulk of U.S. coal continued to come from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, with output for the seven days to August 26 at 8 million tons, up 6 percent from the same week in August 2016. Coal output from Appalachia stood at 3.99 million tons. Output from the Illinois Basin came in at 2.06 million tons.

Related: Can Mexico Capitalize On This Golden Oil Opportunity?

Based on production rates so far this year, projections are that the U.S. will produce 786.8 million tons of the fossil fuel in 2017. Consumption, according to EIAs latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, will this year stand at 745.7 million tons, up from 729.6 million tons last year, and to rise further to 754.6 million tons in 2018.

Exports are also on the rise this year, the EIA reported last month, with shipments over the first quarter of 2017 surging by 58 percent. This, however, was expected to slow down through the rest of the year, with the total 2017 exports at 72 million tons, up 19 percent on 2016.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
PAF is fully committed to provide impregnable security to CPEC: Pakistan Air Chief Marshal 01 September, 2017



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Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry

Ways that Players Used to Take Advantage of Slot Sites Pakistan Air Force, Royal Aeronautical Society and Institute of Space Technology Islamabad jointly organised a one-day symposium on "CPEC vis-a-vis Opportunities for Aviation Industry and Way Forward" at Air Headquarters, Islamabad.



The activity attracted the high level of participation from all major stake holder organisationsincludinggovernment/ ministries, think tanks, academia, military and commercial aviation operators and regulators.



While addressing the symposium, Air Chief Marshal SohailAman, NI(M) said CPEC is a project of great magnitude which will play a pivotal role in transforming theeconomic landscape of Pakistan, as indeed the region and beyond. It is rightly calleda game changer as it connects East and West Asia, making Pakistan both a conduit and destination for cross regional investment and trade. The Air Chief further said that PAF is fully committed to provide impregnable security to this project of great strategic significance in synergy with sister services and other enforcement agencies.



Senator MushahidHussainSayed, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, lauded efforts of the Air Chief and termed the symposium as a timely, prudent and inevitable exercise.He further appreciated the foresightedness of PAF, and endorsed its role as the leader in the aviation sector in Pakistan. Senator Sayed recalled the foresightedness of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948 when Pakistan was in a precarious condition: it was at war with India over Kashmir; was faced with bankruptcy as India was refusing to give Pakistan its share of assets; there was an influx of millions of refugees to Pakistan, and a similar exodus of population following communal riots. When the Quaid was asked by American journalist Margaret Bourke-White about the future of Pakistan and its place in the world, he responded with characteristic clarity and conviction. He told the journalist, "Pakistan is the pivot of the world,placed on the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves". His words sound prophetic today. With the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the centre piece of regional connectivity, an emerging Greater South Asia, China, South and Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan are being woven together by pipelines and ports, roads and railways, energy and economy, and Pakistan's role is pivotal. The senator highly praised the role of Pakistan Air Force in eradicating the menace of terrorism and showed his confidence that PAF will ensure the aerial security of CPEC through rigorously tested capability of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. He termed aviation sector as the strategic dimension of CPEC.



Air Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, the deputy chief of the Air Staff (Support) and Chairman of Royal Aeronautical Society Islamabad Branch, in preamble of the symposium, emphasised that CPEC is the project of strategic importance and we as a nation should accrue maximum benefits from it. He urged that aviation would play a principled role in generation of sustenance of economic dynamics. He further added that the unexplored aerial dimension of CPEC will be the real game changer for Pakistan. This dimension will exponentially expand the reach of CPEC and would be a key element in making Pakistan the next business hub of Asia.



CPEC project director, Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, briefed on synopsis and current statuses of major Long, Medium and Short term projects of CPEC. He advocated the synergic cooperation among all stake holders to ensure timely completion of projects. While discussing the long term plan he reiterated that comprehensive security plan catering Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability is essential for smooth completion of CPEC projects.



MuzaffarAlam, Additional Director Air Transport International Regulations at Civil Aviation Authority, highlighted that liberalisation policy for Aviation is essential to induce positive competition among the airlines and facilitation of consumers. He briefed that open sky policy will improve travelling experience of passengers and will be a major contributory factor in augmentation of air traffic.He forecasted that aviation traffic will increased by three million passengers in next three to four years, which creates a major potential for new Airlines operators, ground handling agencies, aviation training Institutions and other relevant agencies.



Air Vice Marshal RaziNawab, Deputy Managing Director Shaheen Foundation, gave a visionary concept of Air Silk Route and presented a plan to meet the future aviation requirements. He emphasised that aviation industry urgently needs the establishment of New Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) setups, trained manpower, new airlines, joint ventures and rightly placed infrastructure to handle the need of future economic hub of South Asia. He also recommended that formation of working group under the Joint Cooperation Committee of Pakistan Air Force and Aviation Division to lead the integration of Aviation dimension in CPEC.



AmerZafarDurrani, CEO of Secur Global, ReenergiaEnhar, briefed the audience that with the positive movement of the centre of gravity for economic activities, Pakistan is the next economic hub of Asia. CPEC has its own benefits, but with the integration of aviation, the advantage can grow exponential. He termed the aviation as the prerequisite for business and economic development. He strongly advocated the Mergers and Acquisitions, Investments in Infrastructure and Services and Civil aircraft manufacturing collaborations to promote Higher Global Connectivity, Tourism and rapid growth of aviation industry in Pakistan. He also recommended the shared flag carrier for unrestricted access across the globe.



Air Commodore Abdul Moeed, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plan) while highlighting the role of Air Power in CPEC briefed that Pakistan Air Force hold a realtime tested and tried capability of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), which has magnificent potential and application in CPEC security. He also briefed that Pakistan Air Force has full capability to effectively undertake specialised roles of medical evacuation, search and rescue operations, area scanning, kinetic operations on CPEC.



Federal Minister for Interior AhsanIqbal, during his key note speech, highly appreciated the commitment and vision of Pakistan Air Force for leading the exploration of unexplored dimension in CPEC. He emphasised the importance of aviation in One Belt, One Road (OBOR) and advocated its integration in CPEC to make Pakistan a geo-economic hub of the region. Subsequently, he urged for expeditious development of aviation technology in Pakistan by establishment of Technology Intensive Clusters at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex,Kamra; Promotion of academic activities related to aviation including research and development, supporting of public private partnerships and joint venture with local and international aviation organisations.



Dr Nasir Afghan, Director of MBA Programme at IBA Karachi and consultant IAEA, highlighted that aviation has been the missing link in CPEC and should be incorporated in major plan. He briefed that air transportation is directly proportional to the prosperity of any country as it will stimulates additional traffic volumes, facilitate tourism, trade, investment and other sectors of the economy, subsequently enhancing productivity, economic growth and employment. He also proposed a simpler model of CPEC authority at National and Provincial level to ensure synergy and positive coordination among all stake holders. He strongly advocated that Aviation and CPEC will connect Pakistan to the global world and will open endless opportunities for economic growth. While concluding, he recommended that Pakistan should have a long term strategy for OBOR and CPEC.




President Donald Trump did not blame Pakistan for failure of the War in Afghanistan: US Ambassador

United States (US) Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale assured National Security Adviser (NSA) Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua on Thursday that President Donald Trump did not blame Pakistan for the failure of the War on Terror in Afghanistan.



As Hale and Janjua met today in Islamabad to discuss the Trump administration's new strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia, the US envoy claimed the perceived misconceptions it arose due to the press taking the policy apart piece by piece instead of interpreting it as a whole.



Trump, in his Aug 21 diatribe, denounced Pakistan for allegedly allowing terrorists to maintain safe havens inside its territory.



He also seemed to want India to take on a bigger role in Afghanistan, stoking fears in Islamabad that India would use this opportunity for stirring trouble in the bordering areas of Pakistan.



According to a press release issued by NSA Janjua's spokesperson, Hale said it was wrong to assume that the policy recommended a purely military solution, or that engagement with Pakistan had been ruled out. Military strategy, he said, was just one piece of the policy which espoused a political solution.



NSA Janjua told the US envoy that Pakistan was taking its time to examine the US policy and considering its options. He added that Islamabad would like to receive further details from the US.



"This notwithstanding, President Trumps address at Fort Myers was disappointing and had deeply hurt the feelings of the government and the people of Pakistan," the NSA said, according to the handout.



He told Hale that Pakistan had been "wrongly blamed, threatened and negatively projected to the world, which was unacceptable".



"Our nuclear weapons were wrongly linked to terrorism, which was totally uncalled for. The new policy has created uncertainties and further added to the regional fragility and imbalance," he added, saying this was why the policy drew such a sharp response in Pakistan.



Ambassador Hale told NSA Janjua that the US government is "aware of the feelings in Pakistan" regarding the role envisaged for India in the new strategy.



He said the Trump administration was "ready to play its role in reducing tensions between the two neighbours", the NSA spokesperson said .



He further clarified that Indias role was envisaged for economic development in Afghanistan only.



NSA Janjua, however, said that the creation of competitiveness within a campaign and alliance is "counter-productive" and "we should not go that way".

Afghan strategy



Hale told Janjua the policy supports the role of regional countries in a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan had an important role to play.



The US was "thinking of reviving and accelerating the Quadrilateral Coordination Group and the Six-Plus-One process on Afghanistan", Hale said.



He clarified that additional US troops in Afghanistan would be deployed as trainers of the Afghan security forces. Hale claimed that "enhanced authority for decision-making given to field commanders meant quick action against all terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan".



Washington had also called on Kabul to "realign itself for playing its full role in controlling the insurgency and winning over the hearts and minds of the people, while improving its governance", he said.



NSA Janjua stressed the need to work together to "close" the conflict in Afghanistan instead of "winning" it, which Ambassador Hale agreed with.



Janjua, pointed out the risks and dangers of a purely military strategy, the handout read. He instead suggested the establishment of a parallel political authority Afghanistan, fully empowered by the US, that would work in tandem to military commanders to help find a peaceful, political solution to the conflict, and bring the perpetual conflict in Afghanistan to a quick closure that was in the best interest of all parties.



He also observed that any kinetic action would further vitiate the situation and should be avoided, which Hale agreed with, saying that the situation needs to be normalised.
Rain played havoc in karachi

KARACHI: At least 23 people, including seven children and a girl, died from electrocution and other rain-related incidents in the city on Thursday when the dreaded downpour not only disrupted flight operations but also caused flooding of many neighbourhoods amid outages despite early weather warnings.



As Karachi received up to 130 millimetres (5.11 inches) of rainfall on Thursday (with more showers expected on Friday as well) Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi directed the Pakistan Army, National Highway Authority (NHA), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Ports and Shipping, the Pakistan Rangers, and other authorities to mobilise all their resources to clear the roads and ensure uninterrupted communication and connectivity within the city as well as with other parts of Pakistan.



The storm drain of Gujjar nullah started overflowing after the Lyari River got filled to capacity, inundating the surrounding settlements while a number of vehicles were seen swamped in knee-deep rainwater as motorists struggled to pass through flooded roads including those leading to citys major hospitals.



Despite the weather alerts and early warnings issued by different quarters, the loss of so many lives on a single day exposed the tall claims of the government about rain emergency measures. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Governor Mohammad Zubair, who are in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia these days to perform Haj, called the provincial ministers and Pakistan Navys Commander Karachi, respectively, to take necessary measures to clear accumulated rainwater.



Most of the victims died from electrocution. Two died when the roof or wall of some decrepit buildings collapsed and an equal number of people drowned in different parts of the city. The deceased were identified as one-year-old Farman from North Karachi; two-year-old Sania from Afridi Colony of Manghopir; Salahuddin, 45, from Shershah; Irfan, 28, from Machhar Colony; Michael Salim, 23, from Punjab Colony; Saeedullah, 21, Gulshan-i-Maymar; Aslam, 10, from Gulistan-i-Jauhar; Ahmer, 11, from Gabol Town, Sajid, 24, from Chishti Nagar; Sohail, 25, from Nazimabad, Mariam, 20, from Saeedabad, Mohsin Ikram, 10, from Neelum Colony in Clifton; Yasin Majeed, 22, from PIB Colony, Aftab Alam, 75, from Madinah Colony, Mohammed Jan, 6, from Kalakot, Rajab Ali, 25, from Sachal; Saeedullah, 22, from Gulshan-i-Bihar; Mohammad Naseer, 22, from Orangi Town; Dilawar, 40, from Fareed Colony; Nasir Khan, 25, from Metroville-SITE, Shazeb, 23, from Korangi; and two unidentified youngsters from Peoples Chowrangi and Khuda Ki Basti, Surjani.

A family trudges through the water in Surjani Town Agencies



The number of deaths might be higher as relatives mostly tended to take away the bodies without allowing doctors to fulfil legal formalities, said Dr Aijaz Khokhar, police surgeon at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, while speaking to Dawn.



According to the Met Office, the city is likely to have more rain with strong dusty winds on Friday. The maximum rainfall was recorded in North Karachi (130mm), followed by PAF base Masroor (125mm), Nazimabad (124mm), Saddar (84mm), University Road (52.7mm), PAF base Faisal (52mm), Safoora Goth (44mm), Airport (45mm) and Landhi (20mm). Other towns of Sindh which received showers included Tandojam (60mm), Hyderabad (52mm), Sakrand (46mm), Thatta (44mm), Mirpurkhas and Chhachhro (32mm), Nagarparkar (22mm), Diplo (12mm) and Nawabshah (11mm), Moenjodaro (9mm), Islamkot (5mm), Mithi, Padidan, Dadu (2mm) and Chhor (1mm).



In Karachi, the maximum and minimum temperature recorded was 32 and 26 degree Celsius respectively. Humidity was 75pc, according to the Met Department.

KE feeders trip



Meanwhile, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar accompanied by Deputy Mayor Dr Arshad Vohra and other leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement paid a detailed visit to various areas badly affected by showers to gauge gravity of the situation and inspect as to how effectively the municipal apparatus was functioning to drain rainwater from streets and neighbourhoods.



During his six-hour visit, Mayor Akhtar went to Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Tahir Villa and Landi Kotal Roundabout, Nipa Roundabout, Hasan Square and the rain emergency centre at Kashmir Road. Talking to the media, the mayor said it was an extraordinary rainfall that affected almost all parts of the sprawling city.



The municipal leadership is busy doing its job and we will not go back home until the situation is normalised, he vowed. However, he said, it was responsibility of the Sindh government to sit once and for all to address the longstanding issues which had been hindering improvement related to disposal of sewage and garbage.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

"When you shake a veteran's hand today, look them in the eye and give them a heartfelt thank you," said USAF Ret. Col. Jen Fullmer, parade grand marshal, who spoke at the event.
FORT ANN  Authorities still do not know what caused a Fort Ann womans vehicle to go off Patten Hills Road on Sunday night.

Chelsea D. Coutant, 29, was killed when her 2014 Hyundai left the road, careened down an embankment, rolled over and struck a tree.

The accident happened at about 11 p.m., just south of the intersection of Route 149 and Patten Mills Road.

Washington County Sheriff's Investigator Michael McWhorter said Friday that he is not sure if Coutant fell asleep. An autopsy was conducted, but the results are still pending, he said.

Coutant was a server at The Heidelberg Inn restaurant in Queensbury and had studied nursing education at SUNY Adirondack.
Warren, Washington, Essex and Rensselaer counties are among 15 counties that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is requesting federal disaster funding for, following severe storms that hit the region in late June and July.

Cuomo this week requested that the federal government make a Major Disaster Declaration for these counties.

Several roads in Warren County were damaged because of washouts from storms that occurred from July 1 to 2 that dumped more than 5 inches of rain in some areas. The county saw about $1 million in damage.

Johnsburg was hit particularly hard with two culverts washed out. Lake Luzerne also had washouts on Beartown Road. Queensbury had a washout on Clendon Brook Road, and Padanarum Road in Bolton also was hit.

In Washington County, parts of Granville were hit with flooding after the Mettawee River surged 3 feet over flood stage because of heavy rain. Turnpike Road and other roads along the river were under water.

Hoosick Falls in Rensselaer County was also hit with major river flooding.

State and federal experts estimated that there is more than $30 million worth of infrastructure repair, debris removal and structure damage statewide because of the storms, according to a news release.
GLENS FALLS  Nearly every day for the past 18 years, Maury Thompson has been walking his downtown beat. And when The Post-Star City Hall reporter retires on Friday, he might find himself still getting up and walking a route thats worn through more than 54 pairs of shoes.

I go through about three pair a year, Thompson said, laughing and sharing stories about how walking the four square miles of Glens Falls has become a part of him, as if his feet take him to places automatically.

One time when I was on vacation, I walked to City Hall, he said. When I got inside, I said, Wait, Im on vacation. 

Virtually every workday Thompson checks in at City Hall. Anybody home? he calls out when he gets to the mayors office. If the mayors not in, he chats with the mayors assistant or the city clerk or someone else who may be in the halls.

Maybe a politician, a developer, he said. I talk to so many people and so many people have entrusted me to tell their story.

Legally blind, Thompson does not drive. But that has never slowed him down. And when its too far or impractical to walk his beat, he takes a Greater Glens Falls Transit bus or trolley, a Trailways or Greyhound bus, an Amtrak train and the occasional ride offered from others.

When there was talk of the Boscovs department store chain developing a store in downtown Glens Falls, Thompson hopped on a Trailways bus. Destination? Binghamton, Scranton and Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, all locations that already had a downtown Boscovs.

I talked to downtown merchants, shoppers, elected officials and chamber officials in each location, he said.

Would he have worked his beat differently if his sight had been suddenly restored?

I would still want to walk, to take the Transit bus, he said. I tell reporters, Leave your car at The Post-Star. When you are driving, you can wave at someone. When you are walking, you can talk to them.

Touchstones

As it is for most reporters, there are those stories that stay with you forever: The ones the reporter loved telling and the ones that haunt, the ones the reporter just cant seem to shake.

One such story came for Thompson a little more than a decade ago when Glens Falls Mayor Roy Akins Jr. remained in office during his lengthy battle with terminal brain cancer.

I had to ask questions about his health, his ability to do his job, Thompson said. It took a good two years to come to grips with that.

Perhaps among the most moving of his published tales were the columns leading up to his wife Nancys 2002 cancer death. Written with such a profound sense of grace and honesty, the intimate stories bring a tear even to those who never knew Nancy or Maury at the time.

In his final column about Nancy, Thompson talks about love, hospice and his promise to Nancy to get rid of the old living room couch resting on the front porch, and about his promise to buy a new one.

Nancy wasnt around to talk to anymore, at least not in a physical sense. A nurse from hospice told me Tuesday night that Nancy can still hear me, even though her spirit is in another realm, he wrote. I hope thats so, and just in case, Ive been filling Nancy in on a few details of life here on Earth. Late Wednesday afternoon, just before two of my editors came by to move the (old) couch back into the living room, I looked up and reminded her, Its only temporary. 

Today, Thompson is married to Debbie Thompson, who has appeared in many of his columns over the years.

A man of many careers

It used to be his policy to switch careers about every 10 years. In his quest to explore his options and put food on the table, Thompson sold encyclopedias door-to-door, sold and wrote radio commercials for an auto dealer and worked for many restaurants in Ticonderoga as a short-order cook.

One time, I was on the schedule at one restaurant for breakfast, another for lunch and another for supper, he said, adding that some diners saw him for every meal at the different restaurants.

At 34, he graduated in 1992 from Middlebury College in Vermont with a degree in English. But working as a freelance reporter came quite by accident.

I said, Im not interested in getting into newspapers full-time, he said about early offers of employment.

Within short order, Thompson was working from Ticonderoga as a freelancer for The Post-Star, sometimes filing several stories a day.

I was putting in 14- to 18-hour days, he said.

Three years later, Thompson was producing so much news copy as a freelancer that The Post-Star decided to hire him as a staff writer in 1999, according to Editor Ken Tingley.

In his more than two decades at the paper, Thompson has covered just about every beat, but his coverage of City Hall, the six-month Finch Pruyn strike, and local and state politics is perhaps how he will be remembered.

Maury pulled off a rare feat for a newspaper reporter, Tingley said. He asked tough questions that held public officials accountable, and they never seemed to get angry or offended.

And Thompson credits the rules he created to guide his writing decisions early in his career:

Nobody cares what I think. Tell the peoples story, keep me out of the story. I am the storyteller, not the story maker. The ideal story is informative, enlightening and entertaining. Its my responsibility to tell all sides of a story.

Tell the readers something they dont know, make them think, make them laugh or cry, he said.

Over the past few weeks, Thompsons retirement has sparked accolades from friends, lawmakers, co-workers and city leaders. There was an official Maury Thompson Day by proclamation of the Glens Falls mayor. There was even an anonymous recognition appearing this week on the digital marquee in front of the former Glens Falls Civic Center, now known as the Cool Insuring Arena: Congratulations Maury Thompson on your retirement from The Post-Star.

Over the years, Maury contributed so much toward making this an outstanding community newspaper while also being our leading ambassador in the community, Tingley said. He will be missed, but not forgotten.

As Thompson steps forward into what he calls his encore career of writing books and magazine articles, he takes a moment to reflect on his time at The Post-Star.

Ive come a long way since dodgeball in gym class, Thompson joked. Journalism has been a vehicle for me to finally fit into society. Ive been the oddball. ... Journalism and writing provided a way for people to overlook my quirks and see the real me.

Admitting that he has been truly touched by the community response to his retirement, Thompson said he is grateful for this showing of support.

Maybe you never know if youve connected with people until you retire, he said.
In the midst of the 159-day Finch Pruyn strike in 2001, I remember being with Maury Thompson in downtown Glens Falls where union workers paraded down Glen Street protesting the companys contract offer.

As we stood on the sidewalk, several workers hurled insults at Maury with a litany of four-letter words not suitable for any family newspaper.

Maury never flinched.

I think that was the last time I ever heard anyone say something bad about him.

When I became editor of The Post-Star in January 1999, I noticed Maury was one of our most prolific writers, and he wasnt even on our staff. He was a freelance writer.

As our Ticonderoga correspondent, he was everywhere in Essex County.

He was being paid by the story and making a living. You have to write a lot of stories to make that work.

I asked our then regional editor, Bob Condon, if he thought Maury would be open to becoming a full-time reporter based in Glens Falls.

Bob thought it was a great idea, but he told me I needed to know that Maury could not drive. His eyesight was limited and he did not have a drivers license.

Ill always remember what Bob said next: He told me it never prevented Maury from getting where he needed to go to write the story.

We hired Maury as a full-time business writer, and he eventually became our reporter covering Glens Falls and then Queensbury.

That was 18 years ago, and on Friday, Maury Thompson officially retired from The Post-Star.

On Thursday, someone asked me how you replace someone like Maury Thompson.

You dont, I replied.

It is a loss for the newspaper and the community.

Maury did his reporting the old-fashioned way by walking his beat. He was a fixture around the city as he walked from home to the newspaper, to City Hall and back again.

No mailman in Glens Falls had anything on Maury Thompson.

Over the years, Maury showed his range as a writer and reporter. Most people remember him for his government and political coverage. When Sen. Chuck Schumer came to town  as he often has in recent years  he often singled out Maury for a greeting before speaking. People knew Maury and Maury knew them.

Over the years, Maury proved he could do any type of story, but where I think he truly excelled was when he took on a big project.

In 2006, we learned that Maury had gotten permission to follow a man named Ken Ball, who was terminally ill and in his final days of hospice at St. Josephs House of Grace in Glens Falls. It was the type of story few reporters would want to tackle.

Consider these words from that story:

Ken Ball taught me death doesnt have to be an ugly thing. I began this writing project expecting to chronicle the musings of a man grappling with fate. But Ken dealt with the uncertainly of death the way a parent deals with a child who is afraid of the dark. He turned a night light on, so to speak. Once the shadows were gone, the room wasnt such a scary place after all.

Four years later, Maury turned his attention to the 55 young men from around the region who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. The series was called The 55.

He not only told their stories, but the bigger story of how the war affected this community.

What was so rare was that Maury did his work quietly, without controversy or animosity from any of his sources, at least not any I heard from.

Earlier this month, the city of Glens Falls issued a proclamation proclaiming it Maury Thompson Day in Glens Falls, and he received a rousing ovation from the mayor, Common Council and all those in attendance.

It is rare that a reporter receives public applause these days, and even rarer to be honored by a government body you cover. I wished that the people who scream about fake news could have been at that event and witnessed the mutual respect between professionals.

Maury isnt done by any means. He steps away from his job here at the newspaper so he can pursue the historical research he loves and write books.

We wish him well and are thankful he passed our way.
DECATUR, Ill.  While President Donald Trump recently called the North American Free Trade Agreement the "worst trade deal ever made," his agriculture secretary said this week that it has been good for farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made several mentions of the 23-year-old trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada during his trip to the Decatur area to visit the Farm Progress Show and meet with agriculture industry leaders. The three countries began formal negotiations earlier this month to rework the trade pact that Trump blames for hundreds of thousands of lost U.S. factory jobs.

Perdue said he had spoken to Trump as recently as Wednesday morning about how U.S. farmers benefit from the deal that allows them to export their goods to neighboring nations.

The president understands very clearly that NAFTA has been very beneficial to agriculture, Perdue said. The challenge is, hes looking at the trade deficit thats occurred after NAFTA was done, primarily in auto and auto parts. ...

We hope we can find a solution that reconciles both of those, and resolves those issues, said Perdue, a former Georgia governor who was confirmed in April as the administration's agriculture secretary.

A second round of negotiations on the accord began Friday in Mexico City. Trump said at a rally last week in Phoenix that he would "end up probably terminating" NAFTA "at some point."

NAFTA erased most trade barriers separating the U.S., Canada and Mexico and fostered a rapid rise in commerce and closer diplomatic ties among the three countries. The agreement has long fueled heated criticism in the United States because it is blamed for some American-based manufacturers moving operations south of the border to capitalize on lower-wage Mexican labor.

But agriculture industry leaders say they have generally benefited from the deal. In Congress, farm-state lawmakers have urged U.S. negotiators to do nothing that would imperil U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada.

Randall Gordon, president of the National Grain & Feed Association, told a Decatur audience in April that agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico had soared under NAFTA, and were worth $38 billion in 2016. One in every 10 acres planted in the United States (produces crops) which are now exported to either Mexico or Canada, he said at the time.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Perdue acknowledged that the agriculture industry is often threatened in trade talks because other countries rely heavily on the United States for food products.

"You know that were so blessed in the production of agriculture, were always at the tip of the spear when it comes to retaliatory, collateral damage when were dealing with trade discussions. That is a risk. Thats a threat," he said. "Weve communicated that to (Trump).

"He understands that, and Im hoping that his conversations now publicly are negotiations strategies to make sure that Mexico and Canada understand the U.S. is serious about fair trade deals across the economy for all three countries."

Farmers tell Perdue they want good trade programs and to sell what they can, not just in North America but internationally, he said.

"They want to relieve these trade barriers that were working on: beef in China, rice in China, poultry back in South Korea, pork in Argentina," he said. "If they can grow it, my goal is to sell it around the world."

Perdue also defended Sam Clovis, Trumps pick to be the Department of Agriculture's chief scientist, as someone who can provide management skills to the position. Clovis, a former economics professor, conservative talk radio host and 2016 Iowa Senate candidate, has drawn criticism since his July nomination for his lack of scientific background and public skepticism about the existence of climate change.

Sam Clovis is a qualified candidate who understands managing academia, Perdue said. He understands, you do not have to be a researcher, per se, in order to do this job. This is a management job. Hes familiar enough with academia, with academic admissions and research to do a great job.

Perdue said he couldn't imagine many places he'd rather be than the center of the Farm Progress Show, which features hundreds of agriculture exhibitors showcasing the latest technology and equipment.

"This is the Super Bowl of farm shows, and obviously being right in the Mecca, in Decatur, Illinois, and to be able to see all that  I love big toys and the technology in agriculture, that's amazing today," he said.

Having Perdue in Decatur for the show reinforced the area's importance to the agriculture industry, said Greg Webb, ADMs vice president of state government relations.

We always think, biasedly, that we are the center of the universe when it comes to agriculture, Webb said. This helps epitomize it.

Perdues presence also allowed local and state officials to highlight the strength of agriculture in the region. State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican who attended the event at the ADM research center, said it was important to introduce and connect the head of the USDA to area farmers and to the research done at the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences as ways to emphasize Illinois agriculture strengths.

This was nothing but a win, Brady said.

Illinois has 72,200 farms that covers nearly 75 percent of the states total land area, according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which noted agricultural commodities generate more than $19 billion annually. Corn accounts for 54 percent of that total, and soybeans are 27 percent. Livestock, dairy and poultry generate 13 percent. The balance comes from sales of wheat and other crops, including fruits and vegetables. The result is nearly 1 million people employed in agriculture- and food-related jobs.

Wednesday was actually Perdues second trip to the state this month, as he visited Chenoa on Aug. 7 as part of a five-state tour of the Midwest.

For U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, Perdues second trip to the region shows the secretary understands how valuable agriculture is to the area.

I think it shows he understands the importance of what agriculture means, not only to our own economy but to the nation, and that centers right here in Illinois, Davis said.
The Dispatch-Argus on Friday announced that it is moving to one of the new upcoming development projects in the Quad-Cities.

The newspaper will move later this year to an 11,521-square-foot building at 1201 7th St., East Moline, the home of East Moline Glass Co. The newspaper also will have a 6,000-square-foot warehouse to coordinate deliveries and customer fulfillment.

A timetable for the move has yet to be finalized, pending renovations and upgrades to the building.

"We are excited to be involved in this transformational project," said publisher Debbie Anselm.

Long owned by the Small Newspaper Group, it was announced June 19 that Lee Enterprises Inc., the owner of the Quad-City Times, had reached an agreement to purchase the assets of The Dispatch-Argus and QCOnline.com for $7.15 million.

Those assets did not include the building that has housed the Dispatch-Argus and QCOnline.com at 1720 5th Ave., Moline, since 1922.

"We were determined to remain an integral part of the Illinois Quad-Cities," Anselm said. "Since we announced the purchase, we have emphasized that the Dispatch-Argus and the Quad-City Times would remain independent publications.

"Today's announcement underscores both tenets -- that the newspapers will remain independent of each other and Dispatch-Argus will remain in Illinois," she said.

The location is near the John Deere Harvest Works in East Moline and The Bend on the Mighty Mississippi development, currently under construction.

Ground was broken April 20 for the $80 million complex with retail, lodging, restaurants, apartments and offices on a 132-acre site that once was home to a Case-IH plant. Two key elements are a 134-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 99-room Hyatt House hotel.

"We are happy to be part of the redevelopment under way in East Moline," Anselm said. "Our new home will build upon the excitement in the Quad-Cities, and we look forward to being able to share more details about the project at a later date."
CORDOVA, Ill. -- On the eve of Labor Day weekend, Exelon Generation's Quad-Cities Station pledged to hiring Quad-City area labor and trades for its new $20 million construction project.

Already at work on one of the construction projects, heavy equipment and construction workers served as a backdrop to the formal announcement Thursday.

"We are committed to advancing the economic vitality of the communities where we live and work," said Ken Ohr, Quad-Cities Station site vice president. "Through this project, we are demonstrating our dedication to working with diversity certified suppliers in our local Illinois and Quad-Cities community."

"To the extent possible, we will utilize local contractors, trades and labor," he told the more than 50 Exelon employees, labor and trades members, and other supporters gathered inside the training center. "We have an opportunity here to be an integral part of the Quad-Cities."

Advocates touted how the investment creates jobs for Quad-Citians, supports the region's economy and contributes to its growth. More than 600 construction jobs will be created over the next two years.

The work includes a $7 million expansion of the plant's Professional Learning Center, which will double the current building and create a state-of-the-art training facility. Also committed to hiring a diverse workforce, Exelon awarded the contract to Burling Buildings Inc., an African-American-owned firm in Chicago. It will subcontract with multiple Quad-City companies to build the training center expansion.

"It works out better for the project to have people in the proximity who know the local unions and local vendors," said Chad Myers, Burling's project executive.

Burling has a history with ComEd, Exelon's power distribution company and built a training center for it in Chicago last year, he said.

Rock Island-based Valley Construction will build a $10 million spent fuel storage pad. Of the contract, $3.8 million will go to a local diversity certified subcontractor, Exelon said.

Valley's President/CEO Greg Hass said the project will create work "for a couple hundred" people.

Having worked with Exelon for about 15 years, he said "Valley stood hand-in-hand with Exelon employees to keep this plant open."

Other Quad-City firms including Koehler Electric and Crawford Co. will spearhead multiple facility upgrades and remodeling projects. Ryan and Associates will build a new maintenance facility.

According to Hass, the Exelon project "not only benefits our work force, but the community as well."

Just a year ago, Exelon's Quad-Cities and Clinton, Illinois, plants faced a possible early closure without Illinois' energy reform. The Future Energy Jobs Act, passed in December, spared the Quad-Cities Station, its 800 employees and the Clinton plant.

"We needed Exelon to survive," added Scott Verschoore, IBEW Local 145's business agent and Tri-City Construction and Building Trades Council board president. Besides the work related to the new projects, he said Exelon's refueling outages create 800 to 1,100 jobs annually for Quad-City trades and construction workers.

"What you see behind us is the perfect example of the heartbeat of the Quad-Cities... That is public-private partnership," lllinois Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, said of construction activity. That partnership, he added "is what needs to happen not only here but across the whole state."

Illinois Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, added "The answers to Illinois' problems is we need to grow. What's happening here is growth ..."
Q. What is the city of Davenport's policy on sidewalk repairs, and how is it enforced? Years ago, someone from the city would occasionally walk through a neighborhood and mark an X on sidewalks that needed to be repaired or replaced. I have not seen those X's for a long time, yet I see lots of sidewalks that need repair. Same question on overgrown hedges or trees that block passage on city sidewalks: What is the policy, and how is it enforced?  Dan, Davenport

A. We contacted the city of Davenport to find out. Nicole Gleason, public works director, responded:

"Dan, thanks for the question! The city of Davenport reviews sidewalks by request and proactively. A list is then maintained of those sidewalks in need of repair by priority. Once a sidewalk has reached the top of the list, property owners are contacted to participate in the 50/50 sidewalk program to share the cost of replacement of the segment(s). Sidewalks of concern can be called into Public Works at 563-326-7923."

Q. The beautiful new road that has been paved from Veterans Parkway/Forest Grove Road is almost done. I have two questions.

1. When is Davenport going to pave the missing 100 feet between Elmore going east and the missing section from Elmore going west to Jersey Ridge? Seems like a big mistake not to do it all at once and have a huge "gap." Who made this mistake?  Richard

A. We contacted the city of Davenport to find out. Brian Schadt, city engineer, responded:

"Veterans Memorial Parkway has been divided into sections based upon funding from the Iowa DOT through the Surface Transportation Program administered through the Bi-State Regional Commission. The monies received had been budgeted in various fiscal years. In addition, the roundabout in the last phase of the project required additional review from the Iowa DOT and the inclusion of RISE funding in the phase also affected the project scheduling. Since the section from Elmore to the I-74 bridge was in this difference phase, it could not be placed in a different project. That being said, this is the first section of this phase to be paved and it will be open this fall."

Q. 2. Does anyone know why Bettendorf has paved all these new streets like Forest Grove Road with a 50-foot continuous left turn lane down the middle when there's no place to turn left. Wouldn't it be better to just have four lanes like in Davenport?  Richard

A. We contacted the city of Bettendorf to find out. Brian Schmidt, public works director, responded:

"Forest Grove Drive in the city of Bettendorf was constructed at a width of 49 from back of curb to back of curb, which accommodates four (4) 12 wide lanes. The pavement was striped with one lane in each direction, a center turn lane, and 5 wide bicycle lanes at the curbs due to the volume of traffic that exists. As the corridor develops and traffic increases, the city will have the option to grind the existing pavement markings and re-stripe the pavement to four (4) lanes as necessary."
Name: Adam Holland

Age: 37

Address: 1845 Anderson Court, Bettendorf

Family: Wife, Stephanie, two children ages 9 and 3

Occupation: Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, 11 years in the field of community and economic development

Q: What in your background aids you to be an effective school board member?

A: My background working in the field of community and economic development gives me a unique perspective on public board processes and decision-making. This includes but is not limited to budgeting, strategic planning, familiarization with the scope of duties for a school board, and demonstrated ability to collaborate with diverse groups.

Q: What are your views on ways to encourage improved academic achievement among a diverse group of students?

A: In my view we need to set clearly defined goals and develop a plan on how to achieve said goals. Furthermore, we need to empower our teachers and administrators to do their jobs and act in the best interests of the students.

Q: According to the Iowa Association of School Boards, the boards role on a district level is to work well with others who have views that differ from your own and also to take a big-picture look to the future. What can you offer to an effective school board in these two areas?

A: I can offer a demonstrated history of working with various public boards and committees that require all members to place the interest of the group ahead of the individual. Board members are not able to act as individuals as it takes an ability to build a consensus of at least four members to take action. My professional background has given me the unique experience in strategic planning and goal-setting which places an emphasis on collaboration and building a respect for all opinions in order to establish goals and a plan in the group's best interest.

Q: A school board members position is not paid and requires an ongoing time commitment. What specific steps are you taking to ensure you have the time and energy for the board?

A: My wife and I operate as a team and support each other and our children at all times. This teamwork allows me the privilege to serve the district through the various ongoing time commitments. From a professional standpoint, I am afforded the flexibility to make the needed commitments as well.

Q: A recent survey of 300 or so residents in Bettendorf showed a lack of trust and faith in the school board. What can be done to improve the impressions of the public in regard to the board?

A: Communication and transparency are vital to improve the impressions of the public. The board must listen to the input of the community and act in a manner that is in the interests of all residents. The voters in the district have an opportunity to place three fresh faces on the board that can move the district forward in a positive manner and not carry on the controversial issues that were addressed in the survey results.

Q: There is general agreement in the Bettendorf district to build more classrooms and update schools across the district. What views do you have on this, and where should a possible new school be located?

A: The board recently approved a reduction in class size limitations which I think everyone can agree is a positive when taken at face value. With that being said it creates challenges with our existing facilities and their respective capacities. The board needs to address the needs of its existing facilities to make them safe and conducive to a 21st century learning environment while considering the predicted growth trends as detailed in the Forecast 5 report that was conducted. I would favor renovation and expansion of our existing facilities to meet these needs. The board has made the commitment to build a new Grant Wood Elementary School.

Beyond that, we are in a district that is nine square miles and that number will not change. We need to act in a collaborative manner to ensure that the residents and students within the entire nine square miles have access to the best educational opportunities available.
Name: Andrew Champion

Age: 39

Address: 1215 Eastmere Drive, Bettendorf.

Family: Wife, Nicole, para-educator ;Jackson, 2nd grade, Jefferson Elementary, Bettendorf; Madalyn, 8th grade, Bettendorf Middle School; Sierra, 2014 graduate, Bettendorf High School

Occupation: Police officer, Bettendorf

Q: What in your background aids you to be an effective school board member?

A: I have two kids currently attending school in the district and have been a parent to students in the district every year since 2004. I have a vested interest in the performance of this school district.

For over nine years I have been a police officer in the City of Bettendorf. This job requires that I maintain contact and accountability with the community. It provides me a unique perspective on the issues that are impacting our schools. My career will continue to provide me valuable insight and keep me in touch with the needs of community while volunteering my time on the board.

For the past five years I have been president of the Bettendorf Peace Officers Association. During this time I have been involved in negotiating two labor contracts and developed knowledge of local government structure and finances. I have had to remain flexible to develop and maintain relationships with multiple employees, city officials and outside labor organizations. These are skills sets that will be a direct benefit to the district while serving on the board.

Through labor/management meetings I have been directly involved in writing and revising department policy. These meetings have also been utilized to encourage an open dialogue where a team approach is used to work through issues as the they arise. This team approach has permitted problems to be addressed and resolved before they become bigger issues.

Q: What are your views on ways to encourage improved academic achievement among a diverse group of students?

A: The district needs to offer a diverse range of classes. Students need exposure to and the opportunity to takes classes in a variety of fields including fine arts, technical arts, and honors classes. Students learn differently and having practical real world applications of material is essential to some students' success.

We also need to recognize that the old way of doing things is not always the best way. New methods exist to teach and present material to students. Allowing staff to attend training in and out of the district is essential to the success of this district. The staff will bring back new and innovative methods to our schools.

The district needs to make sure it has ample support personnel such as reading teachers, para-educators, and counselors to assist students and teachers in the classroom. The decisions to hire staff has to balanced with budget needs and district growth. All decisions that are made need to be in the best long-term interests of district.

It is also key that we upgrade our elementary facilities. Some of these facilities lack the space that we need for our support personnel to work with students.

The board also needs to defer to its experts; the teachers and administrators who work in the district. They are the experts in the field and we trust them to select our curriculum and teach our children. We need to trust them to find solutions to our problems and provide those solutions to the administration and the board as they arise.

Q: According to the Iowa Association of School Boards, the boards role on a district level is to work well with others who have views that differ from your own and also to take a big-picture look to the future. What can you offer to an effective school board in these two areas?

A: My job as a police officer often puts me into the position of having to work with people who do not agree with me or have different views then me. Even in those situations I provide them the opportunity to explain their point of view. The solution to the problem in these situations is often a compromise. It is important to get all the facts before making a decision. I also recognize that I may not be the expert and have to reach out to others for more information before making a decision.

I also have to maintain working relationships with other police officers, city administration, court officials, attorneys and the citizens I come into contact with. Even though I may not always agree with these individuals it is important that these positive working relationships are maintained.

In my leadership position as the President of the Bettendorf Peace Officers Association I constantly have to look at the big picture. I have to take a step back and look at the situation from afar and take time to ask for input from others. This approach helps me see what the intended and unintended ramifications of a decision truly are. I have to look at what the long-term goals of the association are and not make decisions based on a personal agenda.

Q: A school board members position is not paid and requires an ongoing time commitment. What specific steps are you taking to ensure you have the time and energy for the board?

A: I have always managed time well. During college and graduate school I worked the equivalent of a full-time job. I have always been able to organize my life and prioritize things that need to get done.

I have the flexibility in my work schedule to take time off when needed. My wife, Nicole, also has a work schedule that makes her available during times my children are out of school.

Q: A recent survey of 300 or so residents in Bettendorf showed a lack of trust and faith in the school board. What can be done to improve the impressions of the public in regard to the board?

A: The Bettendorf board needs to start functioning as a team with a common vision and for the district as a whole. I have attended board meetings on a regular basis and observed a lack of professionalism from board members when speaking to each other, towards persons in the audience and district employees. This needs to stop.

The meetings need to follow proper procedures (Roberts Rules of Order) and the agenda. Community members have a right to know what is going to be discussed at meetings. The lack of order and off topic conversations have also unfortunately led to lengthy board meetings. These long meetings are not conducive to community involvement or participation.

The board needs to be consistent in its decision-making process. It is difficult to know when the board is going to act. Some important decisions are made quickly without consulting with all the vested parties. While other decisions of equal importance are delayed and not acted upon for months. When decisions are made quickly it is impossible to accurately study all the implications that decisions will have in the coming years.

The board needs to make decisions and stand by their decisions. It quickly erodes public trust when a decision is made at one meeting only to be changed at the next meeting.

Q: There is general agreement in the Bettendorf district to build more classrooms and update schools across the district. What views do you have on this, and where should a possible new school be located?

A: I fully support plans to implement needed updates at all of the district's elementary schools and keeping all schools open. I believe the Bettendorf district needs a facilities plan that creates equality among all the elementary schools. Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson and Paul Norton have issues such as additional space and security concerns that need to be addressed. This facilities plan needs to be voted on by board so that the community has no doubt as to the district's intentions.

I believe that the district needs to update and modernize its schools to remain competitive with surrounding districts. These updates are also necessary to give teachers and students the space and facilities they require.

We must recognize that we need to be financially responsible in our quest to update our facilities. A long-term plan for all facilities instead of a piecemeal approach will ensure an equitable distribution of available funds for all needed updates.

There has been some discussion about possibly adding an elementary school somewhere in the northern end of the school district. I am open to exploring this option and looking at land options for a future build. The district obviously needs more information to pursue this avenue such as enrollment forecasts and future residential construction in the area.
Professionalism is a major issue in the campaign for school board in the Bettendorf Community School District.

The candidates have been pitching their ideas about how board members can better work together in the wake of a community survey that spelled out residents' negative perceptions of the board's work

School board elections in Iowa are set for Tuesday, Sept. 12. In the Bettendorf district, seven candidates are running for three seats on the board. The sole incumbent on the ballot is Pepper Trahan. Board members Betsy Justis and Scott Tinsman are not seeking re-election

Several candidates spoke out about the behavior of members of the board, citing unprofessionalism and other issues.

"I have attended board meetings on a regular basis and observed a lack of professionalism from board members when speaking to each other, toward persons in the audience, and to district employees," said Andrew Champion, a police officer in Bettendorf. "This needs to stop."

Richard Lynch, a professor of philosophy at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, said he largely agrees with an online survey, which the district publicized a few weeks ago and which shows residents exhibited a lack of trust and faith in the school board.

"This is in large measure why I decided to run," Lynch said.

Lynch cited delayed decision-making as a specific criticism, such as the board taking multiple meetings to pass the academic calendar.

Andrew Holland called for a new slate of faces on the board. Holland, who works in community and economic development for the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, said the new members "can move the district forward in a positive manner and not carry on the controversial issues that were addressed in the survey results."

Trahan, the incumbent who previously was board chairman, seeks "honesty, integrity and ethical leadership from the board" and said all board members should be independent thinkers but able to make tough decisions for the good of the entire district.

Candidate Maxine McEnany is the former chief financial officer in Bettendorf and said the district survey was not a great cross-section of the community. Board members need to be "transparent and responsive to our constituents," she said.

Gary Goins, who has a military background, suggested more stakeholders at board meetings as the way to improved relations.

"Effective communication is key to improving all impressions that the public has towards the board," he said.

Kendra Marinaccio has no children but said she is community-minded and has spent years volunteering in organizations, including the Girl Scouts. She would like to be on an monthly email list for parents, which she said she was not allowed the sign up for, and that the decision hindered her in her work as a volunteer.

Marinaccio suggests the district add a form, with optional anonymity, on its website for questions, concerns and comments.

"I have found that community members and parents with concerns don't want to approach staff nor administrators for fear of possible backlash to them or their students," she said.

Four of the candidates generally back a facilities plan, prepared in the past two years by a team of community stakeholders. This plan essentially calls for all current schools to be brought up to 21st century learning standards.

That approach is endorsed by Trahan, Champion and Marinaccio. Marinacco would not support building a new school without a demographic study on population trends but agrees with improvements to existing schools.

A new school, if financially feasible, would make sense near the Paul Norton Elementary site in northern Bettendorf, Goins said, while he also favors renovations and improvements to existing schools.

The district's enrollment is forecast to increase about 50 students the next two years, McEnany said, calling for a "comprehensive document of infrastructure needs, projected out 10-20 years."

For his part, Lynch said the facilities plan for the district "seems to be abandoned" and points to a more recent study presented in a draft view on Aug. 21.

While major capital investments should be on a rolling five- to 10-year cycle, he said, new schools represent an investment of 50-plus years. Planning should be in building sequences.

The candidates come from a variety of occupations: Champion is a police officer, Lynch is in higher education, Marinacco works in construction, Trahan and McEnany have financial backgrounds, Goins has a military background and works as a principal's assistant in Davenport while Holland is a Chamber of Commerce official.

All seven candidates said they have enough time to devote to the Bettendorf board.
Name: Kendra Marinaccio

Age: 40

Address: 2919 Greenway Drive, Bettendorf.

Family: Mother in Bettendorf; father in Silvis; brother, Los Angeles

Occupation: Computer aided drafter

Q: What in your background aids you to be an effective school board member?

A: I am a community-minded person that tries to lead by example of doing the best I can every day. I believe that doing something for the benefit of another is worth every minute of my time.

I am a listener. I listen before I speak. I ask questions to verify I understand information. I make every effort to make the best decisions based on information given to me while keeping financial concerns in mind.

I have served a total of nine years on three Board of Directors/Councils: Mississippi Valley Girl Scout Council (now Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois), Quad-City Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, and St. James Lutheran Church. I am a 35-year member of Girl Scouts of the USA and have held various positions, including Service Unit Director, Council Trainer, Director of Program Aides at Bettendorf Sunset Camp, and more than 10 years as a Troop Leader. I have served three non-consecutive three-year terms as a National Delegate for Girl Scouts of the USA and been on a National Task Force for the Promise and Law.

I have a strong code of ethics that was built into me as a military dependent of doing what is ethical even in the face of adversity and treating everyone with respect.

Q: What are your views on ways to encourage improved academic achievement among a diverse group of students?

A: Bettendorf is a diverse city and the education of each student needs to come first. I would first want a Diversity Needs Assessment performed within our district. I would then like to see the school board contact other local school boards and see if they are having similar issues and what they are doing to achieve academic growth. We can learn from each other through cooperation and open communication about what has worked and what hasnt. Then weighing those options with strategies from the U.S. Department of Education and the Iowa State Education Agency to find the best fit for the needs in Bettendorf. A lot of research and resources will be needed in order to find the best options that would guarantee improved academic achievement for all students in Bettendorf.

I would encourage the community and community organizations to be involved with the students. Raising and educating a child is not fully the responsibility of a school district. It begins there, but needs to continue in the community with the members that know diversity best.

Q: According to the Iowa Association of School Boards, the boards role on a district level is to work well with others who have views that differ from your own and also to take a big-picture look to the future. What can you offer to an effective school board in these two areas?

A: As a Girl Scout Master Level Trainer, I have more than 10 years of experience guiding the girls and adults in Girl Scouting in effective use of interpersonal communication as well as leadership skills.

Previously serving on three Board of Directors allowed me the opportunity to learn about and have responsibility for understanding fund allocations, budgeting, and sometimes challenging decision-making where true compromise was needed. There have been many times of differences of opinions on boards, and I would want that with calm and rational discussions. Having a board that always agrees with everything isnt what we need. We need an unbiased board that can look at all facts and make policy decisions based on fact alone.

Q: A school board members position is not paid and requires an ongoing time commitment. What specific steps are you taking to ensure you have the time and energy for the board?

A: As a lifelong volunteer I will need to reallocate my time with other volunteering opportunities in order make the appropriate time available for the school board and the level of commitment needed with a position on the board. I volunteer approximately 600 hours a year in the community; that number wouldnt go down, it would just be shifted.

The Girl Scout troop I co-lead is now in 6th grade. The girls will be taking over more of the planning and preparation for troop meetings and events, which is the normal progression within Girl Scouting.

I am a member of St. James Lutheran Church and completed my position on the Pastoral Call Committee in the beginning of August, and my participation with the 500-year Reformation Committee will end in October.

Q: A recent survey of 300 or so residents in Bettendorf showed a lack of trust and faith in the school board. What can be done to improve the impressions of the public in regard to the board?

A: I have already spoken to members of the administrative staff with an idea I had of an email going to parents and concerned citizens with a short summary of the board meetings. This is already being implemented. I would like to work closely with the administrative staff to increase the transparency of the board. I have also asked that citizens without students interested in monthly emails about the district be allowed to be on an email list. I am someone without children. I dedicate my time to them and without being allowed on a mailing list because I wasnt a parent, I was missing vital information that would affect the children I work with.

The board members need to have an open phone line or email that citizens would be willing to use. The district can implement new ideas and ways to include the community; however, if the community isnt willing to use those methods of communication the board needs to find a better way. I am open to all suggestions.

I would like to implement a fillable form, with optional anonymity, on the district website for questions, concerns, and comments. I have found that community members and parents with concerns dont want to approach staff nor administrators for fear of possible backlash to them or their students. When this form would be available, the public would have an opportunity to obtain the information they would like to have, and if a comment is left anonymously it should be answered publicly for all to be aware.

Q: There is general agreement in the Bettendorf district to build more classrooms and update schools across the district. What views do you have on this, and where should a possible new school be located?

A: Where school buildings may need more space for technology, students, and teacher work space I would like to see additions made to the current buildings, rather than new buildings built, if possible.

The facilities study of the district buildings was recently updated and presented to the current school board. I was very encouraged that there were no structural safety issues with the schools. The repairs and upgrades in the report are needed and I fully support them in order to keep our buildings safe, secure, and in a state that allows for unhindered learning by the students.

Currently, I cannot support the building of a new school due to not having the demographic studies for our city nor projections and trends in population. When presented with this information I would be open to discussing a new school building as an option. I would, however, require the current buildings to be repaired and upgraded first as per the structural, mechanical, and electrical studies performed recently by an outside contractor.
Name: Richard Lynch

Age: 50

Address: 4315 Aspen Hills Circle, Bettendorf.

Family: Wife, Stacy Klingler, executive director, William Butterworth Foundation; daughter, Sophia, 3rd grade, Hoover Elementary

Occupation: Freelance translator and adjunct professor of philosophy at St. Ambrose University

Q: What in your background aids you to be an effective school board member?

A: As a college professor for many years, I am committed to the importance of education, both as preparation for citizenship and as an academic foundation for college and careers. As a practicing mediator, I know how to listen to differing perspectives, articulate their positions, and help parties find mutually satisfying solutions to disputes.

Q: What are your views on ways to encourage improved academic achievement among a diverse group of students?

A: For starters, I am very optimistic about PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) as a great way to facilitate teachers' collaboration and to help teachers effectively assist and challenge students with a diverse set of needs.

Q: According to the Iowa Association of School Boards, the boards role on a district level is to work well with others who have views that differ from your own and also to take a big-picture look to the future. What can you offer to an effective school board in these two areas?

A: As a mediator and discussion facilitator, I have a track record of working well with others, and helping groups find common ground. The need for a big-picture perspective is precisely why I decided to run for school board; the board should spend much more of its time and energy focused on long-term and big-picture issues, rather than trying to micromanage too many aspects of district operations.

Q: A school board members position is not paid and requires an ongoing time commitment. What specific steps are you taking to ensure you have the time and energy for the board?

A: Since our family moved to the Quad-Cities for my wife's career, I have been working as an adjunct professor and freelance translator, as well as being the primary parent for our daughter. As a result I have more time to give to the community. In the past year, in addition to volunteering for Bettendorf Parks, Girl Scouts and Quad-Cities Mediation Services, I have served on the Bettendorf schools' School Improvement Advisory Committee, which has given me a good introduction to district-wide issues. I will have the time and energy to give to school board service.

Q: A recent survey of 300 or so residents in Bettendorf showed a lack of trust and faith in the school board. What can be done to improve the impressions of the public in regard to the board?

A: My own observations of the board over most of the past year are largely in agreement with the overall trends and comments from this survey; this is in large measure why I decided to run.

One very important thing the board can do to improve public impressions is simply to do its job better. First of all, the board needs to devote much more attention to long-term planning (including but not limited to capital investments in our schools, which I will say more about in response to the next question).

Secondly, I have seen a pattern of delayed decisions over the past several months; it took four meetings (and approval of two separate calendars) to set the academic calendar for this year, and there have been delays in hiring and construction approvals, too. Working to make decisions in a timely manner is another way the board can do its job better.

Thirdly, I think the board would benefit from greater transparency, especially with regard to the district's budgeting process. Here, the district's recent practice stands in stark contrast to the City of Bettendorf (whose budget process is commendable), and I recommend a more open and public presentation of budget priorities and resources. Such an open process would also facilitate the development of long-term planning and big-picture perspectives, both of which are key characteristics of well-functioning boards and central to my campaign. There are other ways that the board could become more transparent and accessible: I would like to see board committee reports added to the regular agenda (alongside Superintendent and Finance Director reports). I would also be willing to try holding board meetings at local schools on some sort of rotating basis.

As someone with experience teaching in discussion-oriented classrooms, leading conversations and mediating disputes, I bring listening and compromise skills that should also help improve public impressions of the board's operation.

Q: There is general agreement in the Bettendorf district to build more classrooms and update schools across the district. What views do you have on this, and where should a possible new school be located?

A: One of the most pressing and important tasks for the next board is to develop a long-term capital investment plan. A process had been started a few years ago with an Elementary Facilities "21st Century updates" project, but that seems to have been abandoned. We are slowly gathering the information we need to make wise decisions for the long-term future of the district: A study of major capital needs at almost all the schools is being completed, a draft overview of which was presented at the Aug. 21 board meeting.

I understand that soon we will also have demographic information about the geographical distribution of students in the district, especially elementary students. Both of these provide key information necessary for wise decisions about our capital investments in the next decade. But those investments also need to be guided by a sense of future possibilities, so that the architecture of the classroom can facilitate rather than inhibit creative learning and problem solving. While we need to be able to plan major capital investments (renovations or new construction) on a rolling 5- or 10-year cycle, we must also remember that schools represent a 50+ year investment, not a short-term project.

A long-term plan will enable us to sequence work (so that schools with the greatest needs get attention earlier), to avoid emergency work (which is, over the long run, more expensive and more disruptive), and to begin planning individual projects to waste the least time and money possible. The sequencing of building renovation/reconstruction projects needs to be arranged to ensure that the work causes the least possible disruption to the fewest possible number of students at any given time.

The two schools that are the most likely candidates for possible construction of a new replacement are Thomas Jefferson and Mark Twain.

Both are older than the old Grant Wood (where a new school is currently under construction); both have smaller classrooms than is now the standard and very limited space for small-group and one-on-one teaching; and both currently use the gymnasium for both PE and as the cafeteria. All the other schools, including the new Grant Wood, have a separate commons for school lunches. Whether either or both should be extensively remodeled or entirely rebuilt are questions that will be answered in light of demographic trends and future classroom needs, budgetary constraints, and design considerations. Whether they see significant renovation or new construction, however, both schools will remain part of the district.
MAPLETON, Iowa  U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday that President Trump and majority Republicans in Congress have had a harder time delivering on key campaign promises than he anticipated.

Speaking to about 100 people in a town hall meeting in Mapleton as the month-long congressional recess neared the end, Grassley said he thought Republican priorities would move more quickly. Grassley said Republicans for seven years had vowed to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act put in place by President Obama and majority Democrats.

He had thought a Republican replacement health care plan would have been set by Easter, and said he figured tax reform as a big second piece would "be done by now."

Rather, he said, when lawmakers reconvene in September, "We are going to pivot to tax reform. That doesn't mean we won't do anything on health care."

He also addressed the Republican health care bill collapse in the Senate in July, saying, "I am not proud of that. I am embarrassed by that."

Grassley, 83, took questions from 17 people over the hour-long event in the Mapleton Community Center. The top topic of questions was health care. Other notable topics were crop insurance in upcoming Farm Bill deliberations and propping up Social Security.

Evelyn Thies, of Mapleton, said she was worried about Trump's tax reform plan negatively impacting farmers.

"If it wasn't for the deductions we could take, we wouldn't be farming for 50 years...Farming, it is a survival every year," she said.

Nonetheless, Thies encouraged all federal Republicans to be more outwardly supportive of Trump policies. If that doesn't happen, she cautioned, Democrats are poised to win back the House and Senate in 2018.

If Republicans lose control, Thies said, "The Muslims are going to take over this country. I am worried about Muslims, not Mexicans or anyone else. It is the Muslims who will kill us."

People in the crowd wore T-shirts that said "Health Care Voter" and blue shirts with the "Grassley Works" slogan that was used in his last re-election campaign.

Tammy Mohr, of Ute, urged Grassley to help efforts to build a wall at the Mexican border to halt illegal immigration. Mohr said she previously told Grassley in a call 20 years ago that illegal immigration highly concerns her.

"We are footing the bill for them to live the American Dream," Mohr said.

"If the money is appropriated," it will be built, Grassley responded, sitting down in an empty front row chair as he spoke with Mohr.

Trump has threatened to shut down the federal government if Congress does not include funding for the border wall in an omnibus budget bill funding for the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Grassley also described the federal response to Hurricane Harvey, which has blasted Houston with more than 50 inches of rain in and around the nation's fourth-largest city, causing massive flooding. Trump will visit Houston on Saturday for the second time this week.

"It has been a long time since we've had that kind of a disaster," the senator said.

Grassley said federal aid on top of the available Federal Emergency Management Agency money will be forthcoming. He said it is not necessary to know definitively now if the ultimate costs will be $10 billion or $100 billion.

"The government has taken the position of being an insurer of the last resort on disasters," Grassley said.

One light moment came when Alice Masters, of Mapleton, said, "We have voted for you every year and we appreciate you, but..."

Many in the crowd laughed, and Grassley said, "The other shoe is going to drop." A few seconds later Masters said Grassley should tread lightly in doing bipartisan work with Democrats.

On Thursday morning, Grassley also appeared at Bishop Heelan in Sioux City. As part of his annual tour of all 99 Iowa counties, he also stopped this week in the Northwest Iowa cities of Sibley and Primghar.
The Rock Island Human Rights Commission has honored the service of Javier Perez, who served on the commission from 2014-17, including a two-term as chair.

The commission noted that Perez served with distinction, bringing his considerable passion to ensure that all Rock Island citizens have an avenue to preserve their human rights. He died Aug. 2 at the age of 42.

The commission also elected new officers, including David Levin, chair; Quincy Davis, vice chair; and Clayton Peterson, secretary.

The mission of the Rock Island Human Rights Commission is to bring about greater public awareness of the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists within the community and to ensure that all humans are treated equally, regardless of race gender, religion, age or disability.
The haze that enveloped the Quad-Cities and obscured the sun on Thursday was smoke from wildfires in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, coupled with smoke from fires in Montana, according to the National Weather Service, Davenport.

We can see that on the satellite, said meteorologist Dave Cousins. The fires in Canada are so much closer that I have a feeling more smoke is coming from Canada than Montana.

Cousins said the satellite indicated two areas of smoke, one moving southwestward and the other coming from the northwest.

The way the wind pattern seemed to be working indicated the smoke from the Canadian fires came down across Lake Superior, he said. There is some smoke moving across from the 21 fires in Montana.

Each of those Montana fires at least 100 acres in size, Cousins said.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, the smoke from the wildfires cut visibility at the Davenport Municipal Airport to 2.5 miles, he said. Visibility at the Quad-City International Airport, Moline, was down to three miles. Visibility at the Dubuque Regional Airport was at 2 miles.

For up to date information on the wildfires that are affecting the Quad-Cities, visit: saskatchewan.ca/residents/environment-public-health-and-safety/wildfire-in-saskatchewan/current-wildfire-activity for information on the fires in Saskatchewan; gov.mb.ca/sd/fire/ for the fires in Manitoba; and nifc.gov/ for fires in the United States.
DES MOINES  The Iowa Army National Guard is sending two helicopters and 11 soldiers  including soldiers based in Davenport  to the Houston area to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

The Guard says two CH-47F Chinook supply helicopters were scheduled to deploy Friday along with soldiers from Davenport, Boone and Johnston units.

Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood said the helicopters will be used to move supplies and equipment around the Houston area.

Its a medium lift, heavy lift aircraft," he sid. "It will lift about 20,000 pounds, so theres a lot of utility in a place like Houston for this type of airframe.

Hapgood added that this is not the first time Iowa soldiers have been called on following a major storm.

The Iowa National Guard has responded to more than a dozen different domestic response missions since 2005, including Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, so this is a mission were very familiar with, he said.

The Iowa soldiers going to Texas include: seven soldiers from Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion (Davenport); one soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division (Boone); one soldier from Detachment 1, Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion (Davenport); one soldier from Company C, 2-147th Aviation (Boone); and one Soldier from the 671st Troop Command (Johnston). These aircraft and crew members will be utilized to move supplies, equipment and people in support of the response operations.

Texas requested the aid under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact  an agreement between all 50 states, two territories and Washington, D.C., to assist one another in times of crisis.

It's unclear how long the soldiers will remain on the flood and relief duty. A Guard spokesman didn't immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
A roundup of Capitol and state government news items for Friday:

SAFE HAVEN BABY: Officials with the Iowa Department of Human Services said Friday that the states safe haven procedures were used for the 30th time since the law went into effect. A girl who was born Aug. 21 at an Iowa hospital was released to DHS custody. Specific details are withheld in order to protect the identity of the parents and child, state officials said. A court hearing to terminate parental rights will be held within a month. Through Iowas safe haven law, parents have the option to safely hand over custody of babies age 14 days or younger without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The parent, or their authorized representative, can leave the newborn at a hospital or health care facility and can remain anonymous. The safe haven law was approved in the wake of a high-profile case in 2001 involving a teen mother in eastern Iowa who killed her home-delivered newborn. Infants who are safe haven babies are placed with currently approved foster or adoptive families. More information on the safe haven procedure can be found at the dhs.iowa.gov/safe-haven.

TEXAS HELP: A total of 11 soldiers and two CH-47F Chinook helicopters from the Iowa Army National Guard were deployed Friday to the Houston area in Texas to support response operations for Hurricane Harvey in consultation with Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The Iowa team was comprised of seven soldiers from Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division in Boone; one soldier from Detachment 1, Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Company C, 2-147th Aviation in Boone; and one soldier from the 671st Troop Command in Johnston, according to Guard officials. The aircraft and crew members will be utilized to move supplies, equipment and people. The state of Texas requested this support from Iowa. Support is provided under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement among all 50 states, two territories and Washington, D.C., to assist one another in times of crisis.

NEW GLENWOOD SUPERINTENDENT: Jerry Foxhoven, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services announced Friday that he has appointed Jerry Rea to serve as the superintendent of the Glenwood Resource Center, effective the week of Sept. 11. Rea brings to the Glenwood role 13 years of experience as superintendent at Parsons State Hospital and Training Center in Kansas, Foxhoven said. Prior to that, he was the program director/manager at Parsons from 1991 to 2004. Dr. Rea has vast experience overseeing operations at a state hospital and serving individuals with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs, Foxhoven said in a statement. He is committed to offering an array of supports and services to individuals with the most severe disabilities." Rea also recently served as an Adjunct Research Scientist at the University of Kansas and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Wichita State University. Iowa has two resource centers at Glenwood and Woodward that provide a full range of active treatment and habilitation services to individuals with severe intellectual disabilities.

JUDICIAL NOMINATING APPOINTMENTS: Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday announced her first appointments to Iowas district judicial nominating commissions since she succeeded Terry Branstad as governor in May. The following appointments are unpaid and are not subject to Senate confirmation: Kathleen Klimesh of Spillville and Matt Giese of Dubuque to the District 1A Judicial Nomination Commission; Conrad Clement of Cresco to the District 1B Judicial Nomination Commission; David Siegrist of Wesley and David Wolter of Denver to the District 2A Judicial Nomination Commission; Shannon Eldridge of State Center to the District 2B Judicial Nomination Commission; Madonna Ryan of Algona and Joe Skow of Spencer to the District 3A Judicial Nomination Commission; Colleen Brabec of Council Bluffs and Leo Ettleman of Sidney to the District 4 Judicial Nomination Commission; Brianne Schulte of Pella to the District 5A Judicial Nomination Commission; Mary Kale of Osceola and Paul Maynes of Lenox to the District 5B Judicial Nomination Commission; and Fred Grunder of Wilton and David Kendell of Bellevue to the District 7 Judicial Nomination Commission.

 Times Bureau
The On Iowa Politics reporters discussed Sen. Bernie Sanders in Iowa City, along with other possible 2018 election topics. Does Sen. Joni Ernst have a future running for president? The tax incentives Apple received when the company announced its plan to build a data center in Iowa also are on the agenda.

On Iowa Politics is a weekly news and analysis podcast that re-creates the conversations that happen when Iowa's political reporters get together after the day's deadlines have been met. This week's show features James Lynch, Todd Dorman, Erin Murphy and Christinia Crippes.

The show was produced by Max Freund, and the music is courtesy of Scarlet Runner. Find us at qctimes.com, chat with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @OnIowaPolitics and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. Know an Iowa musician who should be on our show? Send their band sound files to oniowapolitics@gmail.com.
IOWA CITY  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed President Donald Trump for threats to end the Obama-era DACA program, which protects immigrant children, during a speech in Iowa City last week.

Trump is expected end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or the Dreamer program. Formed in 2012 by executive order, the program defers deportation for those who immigrated to the United States illegally as children.

It is shameful. It is disgraceful, said Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He said 800,000 children could be affected.

We have to do everything we can to stop that from happening, and if it does happen, call on Congress to pass legislation to protect those young people, he said.

Sanders spoke for about an hour during the event promoting his new book, Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution. The 1,800-seat Hancher Auditorium sold out.

He touched on the book, Trump, health care, social issues and many other topics from the campaign trail. Sanders finished second in a virtual tie with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus in January 2016, kicking off an unexpectedly competitive primary with Clinton, the eventual Democratic nominee.

The book, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, is intended to guide teens to get involved and effect change in the country. The Democratic Party needs an infusion of young people and their idealism, Sanders said.

We must stand up for a new set of priorities that says, We are not going to turn our backs on millions of people around the world who are dying unnecessarily, Sanders said.

Sanders criticized the Democratic Party, suggesting it ignored many working-class Americans, and said Democrats lost the election versus Trump winning.

Sanders called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, improving affordability of public colleges and universities and protecting the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which he said has worked. It must go further, and health care must become a guaranteed right for all, he said.

Sanders addressed the flooding in Houston, calling the property damage unbelievable and the suffering immense.

The silver lining is the reminder that we are one nation and one people, and what we are seeing in Texas is people coming together, whether black or white or Latino, whether gay or straight, born in America or not, Sanders said.

Abagael Shrader, 26, of Iowa City said the comments about unity and Americans coming together regardless of differences struck a chord with her. So did discussion of student debt, she said, noting shes carrying $100,000 in student debt as a public school teacher. She fears her students someday will face the same situation, she said.

I came to get remotivated, she said. Its been daunting.

Sanders levied heavy criticism on Trump for trying to win cheap political points by trying to divide us up. He also offered his assessment of why Trump won.

Trump said he heard the pain being felt by people around the country, who largely were ignored by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party, he said.

He said, I hear you, Sanders said. It was a strong and effective speech, except he lied and he lied and he lied ... Just because he lied doesnt mean his analysis was incorrect.

Trump vowed to take on the establishment during his campaign but changed course favoring the 1 percent since taking office, Sanders said.

Brad Dunlap, 47, of Coralville also was on hand. He said he supported Clinton, but he aligns with much of what he heard from Sanders on Thursday.

It sounded like he was trying to mobilize people to take up the cause, Dunlap said. Whether its to support him or the vision is not clear to me.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois, on Friday rejected the calls from her party's left-flank to impose litmus tests on would-be candidates for Congress. In so doing, Bustos doubled-down on her campaign against an increasingly emboldened left that's demanding sway in the Democratic Party.

The importance of liberal positions on key social issues for would-be Democratic congressional candidates is a major point of contention in a simmering intra-party feud. The Democratic left-flank demands that candidates hold the line on divisive issues, such as gun control and abortion rights.

Bustos -- a face of the party's centrist bloc -- rejected that assertion Friday during a meeting with the Quad-City Times editorial board.

"No. I absolutely don't," she said when asked about requiring specific policy positions on social and gun issues. "We call ourselves this big tent party. We need candidates that come from their region, that know their region."

Sen. Bernie Sanders' surprise run at the Democratic presidential nomination has energized the party's left. The likes of Bustos from the party's rural-looking center are pushing back hard in an effort to resurrect a party badly bruised in much of the country's interior.

"We need to focus on five things: jobs, jobs, education, jobs and jobs," she said.

Bustos' stock has risen sharply in recent months after Republican Donald Trump shocked Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential race. Midwestern voters abandoned Clinton in key states, propelling Trump's victory. Democrats, in recent years, have also watched their influence in statehouses wane outside of the Northeast and West Coast.

Bustos' western Illinois district, which went for Trump in November, is seen as the type of region within which Democrats must again engage. All that resulted in Bustos -- an avid pro-business centrist, long-time journalist and public relations executive -- being appointed co-chairwoman of the PR wing of the Congressional Democratic Caucus, The Policy and Communications Committee. Recently, that group, along with leadership, rolled out the party's new Better Deal, a pro-jobs platform specifically targeting the Rust Belt that abandoned Democrats in November.

Leftist critics aren't keen on the Better Deal's total lack of social issues. Nowhere does the platform mention racial inequality, abortion access or marijuana legalization, for instance. Bustos countered that those issues have done little but cost the party any shot at votes from half the population, especially in the Midwest.

"We get 24 hours in a day. How are we going to spend it?" she said. "Are you going to spend it talking about things that half the country doesn't agree with us on?"

Many on the left argue Democrats lose in rural America because they've spent the past decades in a rightward slide, reacting to the GOP. Bustos counters that Democrats have been beaten by the GOP's superior public relations machine.

She, too, rejected calls to battle the Republican congressional majorities at every turn. Instead, Bustos touted successes in the most recent Farm Bill, especially crop insurance, and said the Democrats should be open to working with Republicans on tax reform, but added "trickle-down doesn't work."

This week, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, whose stock is growing in leftist circles, issued a high profile call for Democrats to adopt single-payer government health insurance as a stock plank. Again, Bustos had little interest in engaging with the left's call for substantial shifts in policy, arguing that such a move leftward would only empower Republican efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act.

Bustos rejected assertions that racial grievance and identity politics fueled Trump's rise. She said, throughout her district, she's met people who "gave Trump a try" because they felt left behind in an increasingly coastal, urban economy. And she was stalwart that Democrats should abandon much of their focus on identity, even as Republicans and the president emphasize it on their end.

"We can't just be the party of no. We can't just be the party of fighting Donald Trump," said the four-term Democrat from Moline.
An old man gets absorbed in our national drama, same as you -- the paper is full of it, the madman who has moved into our lives -- and then suddenly I am distracted by the memory of lawn mowing. I once loved mowing, then I hired young men to do it, and now a gang of them comes every week and they roar around for half an hour while I read the paper. Maybe I would be happier if I mowed instead.

Mowing was my mother's remedy for a boy's melancholy. She didn't believe in melancholy. Her point of view was: So you're lonely -- do something about it. There is nothing special about feeling bad. Nobody needs to hear about it. Don't be a whiner. You think you've got it bad, think again: Children in China would be overjoyed to have what you've got.

So I learned to keep it to myself. If you moped around, Mother gave you two options: Go outdoors or do something useful. Or both: Go mow the lawn. Dad worked hard all day; it wasn't right that he should come home and have to mow the lawn while he had a big strong 14-year-old boy to do it. So I did it. And found lawn mowing very satisfying -- the repetitiveness, the roar of the mower, the sense of progress, turning raggedy grass into a model lawn, and when you shut the mower off and raked up the clippings, you'd earned the right to sit in the shade with a glass of grape Kool-Aid, and when you did, you realized that your misery had dissipated.

I was an ordinary 1950s misfit, scrawny, squinty behind wire-rim glasses, bookish but not so smart, timid, a daydreamer, a frequent moper, and once, when my mother was tired of my moodiness, she gave me a book to read, "Foxe's Book of Martyrs," in which good Bible-believing Christians like ourselves were tied to the stake by French papists and, as the fire was lit, prayed that God would forgive their persecutors and, as the flames enveloped their bodies, sang hymns in praise of the Savior with their dying breath.

"Foxe's" gave a moody boy a certain perspective: It could be worse. Much worse. Nobody is piling kindling around your ankles. You are not a Huguenot hiding from mobs of crazed enemies carrying torches. You have a home, a bed, a cat who loves you, and a cookie jar in the kitchen. And there is a public library nearby where you can sit and feast on books. Be grateful.

Somehow, this cheerful stoicism seemed to lose traction in the culture and we got bombarded by neurotic anger -- the Beat poets, bad boys in movies, outlaw mythology, troubled rock stars, spectacular burnouts, wounded, bitter, addicted, nice middle-class kids trying to be tortured artists -- which is all very interesting but still the norms of everyday society prevail. Angry neurotics are more interesting at a distance; when you have one under your roof, it's exhausting. "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked," wrote Allen Ginsberg in a long angry poem that inspired a great deal of bad poetry but when you met Allen, he was kind and thoughtful. An angry young man on the page but in person he was as nice as could be.

I suppose it's necessary for every boy to horrify his father, swagger, read trash, listen to deafening music, get ugly tattoos, but it doesn't lead to much that's worth the trouble, whereas learning a useful trade -- carpentry, math, raising tomatoes, baking bread, reporting, cleaning hotel rooms -- leads you out into the world beyond your ego and into unexpected friendships and discoveries, valuable experiences, an enduring respect for laws and limits and for the energy of optimism, and eventually you can learn to be a good person.

This is common wisdom, shared by stubborn conservatives and airy liberals alike, and no wonder we are all fascinated by the raging alien who is president of the United States. The smirk, the scowl, the New Yawk con man talk -- so-and-so is a "great, great guy," it was a "beautiful meeting," the "incredible support," "fantastic," "unbelievable" -- the compulsive bragging, the inability to admit mistakes, the blindness to ethics. What is this jerk doing in the White House? How soon will he disappear?
When this Apple fell off the tree and landed in Iowa, it started a political debate about tax incentives.

Apple, the technology giant, recently announced its intention to build a $1.3 billion data center in suburban Des Moines.

Apple was lured to Iowa, in part, by more than $200 million in tax incentives. The state chipped in, agreeing to forfeit $20 million in future tax revenue from the site.

Gov. Kim Reynolds celebrated the announcement, calling it a significant investment in Iowa.

This announcement further solidifies Iowa as a hub where innovation and technology flourish and demonstrates this is a place where world-class companies can thrive, Reynolds said in a statement announcing Apples project.

Central Iowa business leaders were similarly pleased with the announcement.

But not everyone was OK with the millions of dollars Reynolds administration agreed to forfeit in order to get Apple to Iowa.

Critics of the states contribution to the tax incentives noted the forfeiture of future tax revenue comes at a time when the state is dealing with a budget shortfall that is at nearly $250 million and rising, and may require a special legislative session to finally resolve.

No future revenue from the Apple project would help the states current fiscal situation. But critics say the states willingness to forego future tax dollars shows misplaced budget priorities.

And critics note the project is expected to create only 50 long-term jobs at the plant. The project also is expected to create 500 short-term construction jobs.

Critics also question giving tax breaks to large, profitable companies. Apple had net revenue of nearly $45.7 billion in 2016, according to Market Watch.

Apple is just the latest company to fleece Iowa, crippling our ability to invest in schools, workers, and health care in the future, Matt Sinovic, executive director of the liberal advocacy group Progress Iowa, said in a statement. The Reynolds budget crisis was created because of fiscally irresponsible tax giveaways. How will we ever recover when the governor keeps letting companies take bigger bites of our future revenue?

Some of the most vocal critics, unsurprisingly, were the many Democrats hoping to become their partys nominee for governor in the 2018 election.

But some Republicans --- and not just Reynolds gubernatorial GOP primary opponents --- also questioned the wisdom of the Apple deal.

Iowa Rep. Pat Grassley, who leads the Iowa Houses budget committee, said in social media posts that he is not convinced the incentives package awarded to Apple is good value for Iowa taxpayers. Grassley said the key to bringing more high-quality jobs to Iowa is tax reform, which should include an examination of tax credits.

It seems a safe assumption that tax incentive programs will be a recurring issue for gubernatorial candidates on the campaign trail, and will be a topic of debate during next years legislative session.

2020 Watch

U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, and Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, were in Iowa this week.

Both are potential Democratic candidates for president in 2020.

Both were in Iowa on Thursday: Klobuchar gave a lecture on women and leadership at Iowa State University, and Sanders at a book-signing event in Iowa City.

And former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley is making yet another trek to Iowa. OMalley has planned to help fundraise for Democratic state senators next weekend in Davenport, Maquoketa and North Liberty.
A whopping $4 million per job.

That's what Apple stands to gain in state and local tax incentives, under a deal unveiled last week with much fanfare from state and local officials, including Gov. Kim Reynolds. It should be a wake-up call to lawmakers that, finally, the state must give an honest review of how cash is doled out under the guise of economic development.

The $208 million incentive package is the cost of luring multinationals, proponents said. It "puts Iowa on the map," they pledged. It's a good deal for taxpayers in Waukee and Iowa at large, they swore.

No doubt, it must be rewarding to stand next to the CEO of one of the world's largest tech giants. It's noteworthy that Apple executives highlighted Iowa's robust renewable energy sources when detailing the company's decision to open a data center west of Des Moines.

But Apple is contractually obligated to create only 50 jobs when it's all said and done. That's $400,000 per job, under the state's $20 million portion. The jobs are relatively high-paying, which is all well and good. And Apple joins Google, Facebook and Microsoft in Iowa's burgeoning tech-management economy.

Yet there's a central question all Midwestern states should be considering right now, one that's hammered home in Iowa by the Apple deal: Is this really the cost of doing business or are coastal multinationals benefiting from regional desperation?

Take the widely lauded Foxconn deal in Wisconsin. That state shelled out $3 billion. It was only afterward that a legislative analysis concluded Wisconsin wouldn't get its money back until at least 2043.

If the answer is "yes," then officials had better ensure taxpayers that they'll get a full return on the investment. They must pledge to claw back any public funds if a project falls short. And, over the long haul, states must come up with a way to actually fund services while handing out these incentives.

Detractors immediately panned the idea after last week's announcement. And the criticism wasn't solely from your typical anti-corporate welfare liberals. State Rep. Pat Grassley, a Republican and chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, took to Twitter and maligned the $400,000 per new job state taxpayers are expected to dole out. And it was handed to a company that posted more than $42 billion in earnings in the last fiscal quarter.

The timing of the Apple deal is, perhaps, its greatest weakness. Iowa's budget is a mess. Reynolds is mulling calling lawmakers back for a special session to grapple with the plunging revenues. This past spring, the Legislature couldn't even provide a 2 percent bump to school funding. Medicaid is a shambles and the companies operating it say they're bleeding cash. And too many state roads and bridges are well beyond their operational lives.

Grassley's resistance is founded in intellectual and philosophical honesty. There's nothing fiscally conservative about blowing a bigger hole in the state budget.

An incredible lack of public input only furthers doubts about how Iowa's $20 million portion got offered up. The whole thing was announced Thursday only after Iowa Economic Development Authority rubber stamped the deal. Not a single public hearing was held. Not a single outline of the plan was released prior to the big announcement. Sure, business deals require discretion. But, even so, an agreement in principle should have a public vetting when taxpayers are on the hook.

It's even less clear exactly what taxpayers in eastern Iowa -- hundreds of miles from Apple's new data center -- actually get out of the deal. From a Quad-Cities perspective, that $20 million could have provided equity for the school funding formula for a year. The deal poses even more questions for Waukee, where $200 million in tax breaks and incentives will bolster enrollment at its schools but also scrubs a massive increase in assessed property value from the tax rolls.

In his tweetstorm, Grassley doubled-down on his call for a full-blown review of incentives, which are estimated to cost hundreds of millions. Tax reform is key to any long-term success, he said, which must include asking tough questions about the state's generous incentive packages.

At the very least, Grassley is half right. The incentives handed out by Iowa are costly, secretive and, probably, far too generous to firms with world renown.

Last week's Apple deal should rouse all state lawmakers. They should ask the hard questions. They should grapple with the tough answers. And, ultimately, they should reform a system that puts everyone on the hook without first asking them.
A minivan and a pickup were both traveling east on St. Joseph Street around 3:25 p.m. when the minivan, which was in the center lane, tried to turn right onto Fourth Street, said Rapid City police spokesman Brendyn Medina. The minivan ended up hitting the pickup, which was occupying the right lane, he said.

The vehicles came to a stop by the sidewalk at the street corner. The crash tore off some barriers lining the sidewalk and may have damaged sprinklers maintained by the city government, Medina said. Police cited the minivans driver for not having a drivers license and insurance, as well as for turning from the wrong lane. The names of the people involved in the incident were not immediately available.
Admittedly, its not the job anyone dreams of topping their resume. But on this Labor Day holiday weekend, those affluent in influents and effluents say picking up garbage and pumping port-a-potties provides a steady livelihood that isnt subject to the vagaries of the economy.

Everybody says I have a crappy job, port-a-potty pumper Troy Quicke said last week in between servicing some of the 50 stand-alone portable toilets he pumps on an average day. I drive a turd hearse.

Quickes employer, Rapid City-based Kieffer Sanitation, retrieves garbage and pumps thousands of port-a-potties, vaulted toilets, septic systems and recreational vehicles from Belle Fourche to Wall, covering a large section of western South Dakota. And Kieffers 65 employees, who average $17 to $21 per hour, never have to worry about their jobs vanishing, said District Manager Casey Bulyca.

Our guys do a good job, and garbage is never going away  its incredible consistent, Bulyca said. There is nothing glorious about what we do, but its a good job with a fair wage and something we are proud of.

Everybody makes jokes about garbage, but imagine if every garbage man quit picking up garbage tomorrow, Bulyca wondered. In a week or two it would be a health crisis.

Quicke, 46, previously worked at a series of jobs before joining Kieffer Sanitation a year ago. Those positions included serving as a district manager of convenience stores and as a Pizza Hut general manager, working as a corrections officer and dispatcher for a Nebraska sheriffs office, a stint with Habitat for Humanity and owning his own car lot in Hot Springs for four years.

The married father of five admitted he never considered life as a port-a-potty pumper until he acquired a commercial driver's license and later saw the position advertised with Kieffer Sanitation. And he said the $5,000 sign-on bonus erased any reservations he may have had.

I never thought it was something I would do, but its a good job, Quicke said as he made his Rapid City rounds. The company takes care of its employees, its just a good place to work and the management is fantastic. They buy us drinks and lunch, and they are concerned for our safety. With exception of the Sturgis rally, its usually a Monday through Friday job with good benefits and good pay.

Despite the jobs advantages, Quicke and Bulyca recognize that their line of work isnt right for everyone.

Getting over the smell of garbage and port-a-potties is tough for some people, said Bulyca, who has worked in the industry for more than seven years. But once most guys get in the business, garbage gets in their blood, the job kind of grows on them, and they tend to stick around.

Quicke agreed and said that, although hes seen some disgusting stuff, particularly when wind storms have rolled a port-a-potty hes set to service, hell keep adding to the estimated 12,500 portable toilets hed pumped over the past year.

When you first turn on the pump it stinks pretty bad, but you get used to it, he said. Its not a job for everybody, thats for sure. Fortunately, I dont have a weak stomach, so its probably the right job for me.
Courtesy Piazza Family(STATE COLLEGE, Pa.) -- Joseph Ems, a former Penn State University fraternity member who is no longer facing a charge in connection with the death of a pledge at the fraternity house earlier this year, told ABC News he feels "very relieved" but added there are "no winners here."



Centre County District Judge Allen Sinclair on Friday dismissed charges completely against four former fraternity members who were facing single counts of either tampering with evidence or recklessly endangering another person in this case, including dismissing the charge of recklessly endangering another person that Ems was facing.



Ems' attorney, William Brennan, told ABC News on Friday, "There are no winners here -- a young man died. That tragedy doesn't mean someone like Joey Ems should be held responsible for it. ... He's innocent. He shouldn't have been charged."



The judge also dropped the most serious charges -- involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault -- for eight former fraternity members.



Instead, Sinclair said on Friday the cases against 12 students will head to trial but for less serious alleged offenses. Those charges include recklessly endangering another person, hazing, furnishing alcohol to minor, tampering with evidence and unlawful acts related to liquor, according to the prosecutor's office.



Two additional students facing charges waived the preliminary hearing, so they are automatically continuing on to court.



Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said in a statement that the prosecution will be refiling the involuntary manslaughter charges "and will be reviewing the other charges for the same consideration."



The charges, initially against 18 students, stemmed from the death of Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old sophomore and pledge at Beta Theta Pi, who died Feb. 4 after he fell down the stairs during a night of drinking for a pledge ceremony at the house on the night of Feb. 2.



In text messages, fraternity members refer to the pledge ceremony drinking as an "obstacle course." Fraternity members did not call 911 until the morning of Feb. 3, about 12 hours after Piazza's fall, according to a report on the grand jury's investigation. High-quality surveillance video captured Piazza's final movements throughout that night, including him falling multiple times. Piazza's death "was the direct result of traumatic brain injuries," according to the forensic pathologist.



Prosecutors allege that the former fraternity brothers at Beta Theta Pi waited to get Piazza help in an attempt to cover up their drinking and "coordinate a story."



But one of the defense attorneys in the case told ABC News earlier, "Of course, it's a tragedy. But that doesn't mean there's any intent involved in any of this."



The fraternity itself was also bound over on charges, according to the prosecutor's office.



No defendants have entered pleas.



Parks Miller said in a statement on the judge's decision to drop the involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges, "We respect the Judge and have worked with him a long time, but in this case we disagree with his decision, as did the Centre County Investigating Grand Jury.



"This case was thoroughly vetted and dissected by the dedicated Centre County Grand Jury for over two-and-a-half months," she said. "After weighing and measuring the evidence and Pennsylvania law in this matter, after great deliberation, they thoughtfully returned a presentment finding probable cause against each and every defendant for every charge presented, including involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault -- reckless mindset. No less than 12 Grand Jurors previously agreed that there was probable cause for these charges."



Parks Miller added that the charges still going to trial is a big step forward for the Piazza family, saying, "The path to justice is long and sometimes vexing, but we are unwavering in our commitment to the Piazzas and this case."



Piazza's father, Jim Piazza, told ABC News after Friday's ruling, "This is just one step further into getting justice and the story being told. ... I am relieved that we have this part of it behind us."



Tim Piazza's mother, Evelyn Piazza, told ABC News that, going forward, "We would like people to be held accountable for their actions -- or inactions."



"It cannot happen again," she said. "Nobody should go through this."



Ems added to ABC News, "My heart goes out to the Piazzas. It's terrible."



In the wake of Timothy Piazza's death, Penn State announced new reforms including limiting alcohol to beer and wine and banning kegs; emphasis on a zero-tolerance policy for hazing; more mandatory educational programming for Greek Life members; and "a significant reduction in the number of permitted socials with alcohol per semester."



The Beta Theta Pi fraternity has since been barred from Penn State.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Russian court suspends recovery of $30.4 mln from HSBC

MOSCOW, September 1 (RAPSI)  The Sixteenth Commercial Court of Appeals has suspended the procedure of recovering 1.8 billion rubles (about $30.4 million) from HSBC Management (Guernsey) and HSBC Bank (RR) in favor of Dalnaya Step, a company believed to be formerly under control of William Browders Hermitage Capital Management, court documents read on Friday.

The recovery was postponed until a court of appeals rules on the issue.

On August 24, head manager of Dalnaya Step petitioned the Commercial Court of Kalmykia to arrest the assets. The applicant sought the arrest of the banks funds held on an account opened in the Central Bank of Russias main office for the Central Federal District in Moscow. However, the court ruled that the applicant did not provide evidence that the account was opened in the Central Bank. Hearings over the motion were postponed until August 31.

On August 2, the court recovered over 1.8 billion rubles in favor of Dalnaya Step.

On June 9, an acting manager of Dalnaya Step filed a claim to collect funds from companies formerly in control of it, namely HSBC Management (Guernsey) and HSBC Bank (RR).

On March 21, 2016, the court ruled to resume bankruptcy proceedings with regard to Dalnaya Step. According to an acting manager back then, proceedings were still in effect and there was a need to make former controllers of the company accountable.

In 2015, the department of Russias Federal Tax Service (FTS) for the Republic of Kalmykia filed a motion with the court to declare void a decision made in October 2007 to complete the liquidation of Dalnaya Step. The FTS department said the reason for the petition is that Russias Interior Ministry is investigating Alexander Dolzhenko, former bankruptcy management at Dalnaya Step, on suspicion of premeditated bankruptcy.

Browder stands charged with several economic crimes in Russia, including premediated bankruptcy and tax evasion, according to lawyer Alexander Antipov Antipov.

Earlier, the Tverskoy District Court arrested Browder in absentia on charges of embezzling stock of Russias oil giant Gazprom. According to Russian authorities, Browder illegally bought over 130 million Gazprom shares worth at least 2 billion rubles ($34 million at the current exchange rate) at a lower, intra-market price through a Russian company he controlled, Kameya LLC, which amounts to large financial loss for Russia.

However, the United Kingdom refused to extradite its national.

In 2013, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to 9 years in prison. The court found that from 1997 to 2002, Hermitage Capital auditor Sergey Magnitsky created and applied an illegal tax evasion scheme in the interests of Browder.

Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, which the Russian authorities accused of tax evasion. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009. The lawyers death provoked an international outcry.

In July 2013, Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion and closed the case due to his death. According to the case materials, Magnitskys and Hermitage Capital director William Browders actions cost Russia over 500 million rubles ($8.5 million).
Russian court dismisses Ulmart move to invalidate $17 mln contract with Sberbank

MOSCOW, September 1 (RAPSI)  The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has dismissed a petition of Russian Internet retailer Ulmart seeking to invalidate its non-revolving credit facility agreement worth over 1 billion rubles (about $17 million at the current exchange rate) with Sberbank, RAPSI learnt in the courtroom on Friday.

Earlier, the court has dismissed a move of Ulmart Development, a firm within Ulmart group of companies, to dismiss a Sberbank claim to recover 1 billion rubles under a revolving credit facility agreement with three Ulmart subsidiaries.

In a separate lawsuit Sberbank also seeks foreclose on Ulmart property mortgaged in March of 2016. The case is to be examined by court on September 8.

The group of companies Ulmart is the largest Russian private Internet holding focusing on e-commerce segment. The companys distribution network consists of over 400 sales outlets across more than 240 Russian cities and towns.
Russian court detains man charged with preparing terror attacks in Moscow

Context Russian FSB arrests 2 men suspected of planning terrorist attacks on first school day

MOSCOW, September 1 (RAPSI)  The Meschansky District Court of Moscow has detained Murodbek Muydin Kodirov, who stands charged with plotting terror attacks in Moscow on September 1, the first school day in Russia, RAPSI learnt in the court on Friday.

The defendant is to stay in detention until October 31.

Kodirov is charged with an act of terrorism committed by an organized group, illegal acquisition of explosives, illegal manufacture of explosives, and participation in activities of a terrorist organization.

On August 31, the Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested two men from Central Asia suspected of plotting attacks in places to be crowded on September 1.

According to FSB, one of the suspects was planning an attack using an ax. He has published a video statement on the Internet pledging loyalty to the ISIS, a terrorist organization banned in Russia and internationally. FSB says contacts of ISIS recruiters and instructions related to the planned crimes were found when studying his telephone.

Another suspect admitted to preparing to carry out a suicide bombing after a homemade explosive device was found at his place of residence.
Tour operator appeals recovery of $5.8 mln in favor of Transaero in Russian Supreme Court

MOSCOW, September 1 (RAPSI)  The Russian Supreme Court has registered a complaint lodged by tour operator Natalie Tours seeking to overturn the ruling to collect $5.8 million from the company in favor of Transaero airline, RAPSI correspondent reports from the court on Friday.

This May, previous court decisions in the case favoring Transaero were upheld by the Moscow District Commercial Court.

On November 11, 2016, the Moscow Commercial court granted the air carriers claim seeking to recover the debt from the travel company. Under the contract signed between parties, the tour operator was to transfer earnings from transportation sales excluding fee to the plaintiff. Additionally, the court dismissed a counterclaim by Natalie Tours demanding to invalidate provisions of the agreements supplementary contract. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the ruling on February 27.

The travel company in turn filed a lawsuit to recover about 400 million rubles ($6.7 million) in damages from Transaero. However, the claim has been dismissed.

In April, the Moscow Commercial Court dismissed a claim by Transaero demanding to declare Natalie Tours bankrupt.

In 2015, Transaero found itself unable to pay its debts valued at 250 billion rubles (about $4 billion). Government-approved plan of transferring 75% of companys shares to Aeroflot failed. Its problems resulted in a large number of flight cancels and delays.

In October 2015, Sberbank and Alfa Bank filed bankruptcy petitions against the troubled airline. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region initiated a bankruptcy procedure against Transaero on December 16.

Natalie Tours, a tour operator on the Russian foreign tourist market, was founded in April 1992. In 2014, the companys amount of business was estimated at $850 million.
Dirgha Raj Prasai

Nepal Relation with China is Cordial but Why Tension with India?

Nepal is the pious Hindu country in the lapse of the Himalayas, which is beautiful, quiet, the birth place of Buddha and origin of Hinduism. Lord Buddha is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu- the Hindu God. Besides being the country of Everest it is equally popular with its diverse cultural values. This is the land where civilization began and is also known as the country of 'SANGRILA.' Nepal is as holy place to Hindus & Buddhists, as Mecca for Muslims and Jerusalem to Jews and Christians. WE Nepalese people must be conscious we save the Nepalese pious identity, traditional culture and prestige. Nepal is a country sandwiched between China and India. Because of its geo- political situation, Nepal's sovereignty has always been very sensitive. Nepal is rich culturally and naturally. Our successful foreign policy would be to maintain our culture, traditions and indigenous identities to balance between China and India.

Actually, Nepal is a paradise which provides calmness and rejuvenation to the mind. This lovely place is also said as the potpourri of ethnicity and has many cultural landscapes. This land of bio-diversity has so many cultural and religious landmarks that give a soothing experience to everyone. Nepal is a rich and complex mix of different cultures and traditions, melded over thousands of years into a unique whole. For the western traveler there is much that is familiar, and many surprises. Family and religion are of paramount importance, and are constantly reflected throughout the culture. Culture provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. It offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. Nepal moves to a different rhythm than the West.

The religious structure of Nepalese society is formally Hindu; but here and only here the interplay of peoples and their religious traditions has produced a rich fusion of Hindu and Buddhist faiths. It is common for both Hindus and Buddhists to worship at the same shrine, for many gods and saints are cross-over, often known by a different name but holding the same attributes. The original inhabitants of the valley were animists, a tradition which survives in the multitude of spirits, demons, local deities, and stones which receive dutiful worship to this day. Hindu and Buddhist traditions adapted from the pre- existing animist practices and from each other. Indeed, in the medieval period, when both religions' practice adopted mystical, Tantric traditions, they were almost indistinguishable from each other.

Nepal's History and Religions Nepal is a rich and complex mix of different cultures and traditions, melded over thousands of years into a unique whole. For the western traveler there is much that is familiar, and many surprises. Family and religion are of paramount importance, and are constantly reflected throughout the culture. Nepal moves to a different rhythm than the West. The notes here are meant only to tantalize you into visiting this amazing place.

Prithvi Narayan Shah, the unifier of Nepal is the pride of Nepal. It was almost 100 years before unification of Germany (1868), Italy (1868), and the restoration of the Meiji (Japan, 1868) in which America was also under British dependency, that Prithvi Narayan Shah had already unified (1768) 54 small Hindu states and created only one Hindu kingdom in the world unifying a large, expanded and greater Nepal. But after the movement of April 2006 and the party leaders Congress, UML and Maoists came to power they smashed the statue of the great King, contempt and insulted him and called off the birth anniversary of the late king as a day of national unity.

A country's existence and prestige can gradually be eroded by finishing off its faith and belief tradition and culture and the creator of nation. If anyone wants the assurance of integrity and lasting peace in this country, one must not be confused about the country's century's old customs and religion prestige as well as the builder of nationality and unity. Having diverse cohesive communities, Nepal has built up as a nation in a long historical process. Nepal was worthy to be bowed down by Hindus all over the world. This is the highest honor Nepal could receive from the international community. Nepal's prestige and honor would elevate further if this country is declared as "Hindu and Buddhist" country, instead of a secular state. But, at present why the peaceful country where Lord Buddha was born has become the venue of confrontations?

The main causes of the crisis is the abolishing our culture and traditions. Some are going to abolish the creations of Prithbinarayan Shah and to destroy his statute. In Kathmandu, over the centuries developed into the land of temples, the abode of the Gods and Goddess-a city that once boasted of harboring more God and Goddess than human's houses .

But, Nepal Relation With China is Cordial and Why Tension With India?

The article 'Carefully on China' by Biswas Baral messaged all the internal problems on Nepal.The concern of the Nepalese people is complete democracy. Although the parliamentary systems in practice around the world vary in their nature, they are adjusted into the nations situation. Nepal is surrounded between the big two nations China and India. China always wants to cordial behaving with Nepal. China never troubled Nepal ever since communism was established in China. Although Nepal has ties with India since the Muslim rule there, Nepal always faced threat from India. Diplomat Keshar Bahadur KC had understood the Indian conspiracy when he said: "If there was no China, Nepal would have ceased to exist."

The great leader of China, Mao Ze Dong, made his country recognized by the rest of the world fighting against imperial powers. Modifying (improving) the same policy, another leader Deng Xiaoping brought changes in Chinese communism. Even after the death of Deng Xiaoping, his Chinese policy was continued and China emerged as a global power. China, not only in the field of trade and business, was able to develop science, multilateral natural and cultural development. China has ranked as the second biggest economy in the world. China is expected to realize its goal of becoming a moderately prosperous country by 2020. On the leadership of the president Xi Jinping China is focusing to end the corruption. It is pointed that future anti-corruption work will focus on strengthening the penal system.

Nepal is a heaven as nature has given us a lot, still, Nepal is listed as one of the least developed countries in the globe. As Nepal is naturally prosperous, the foreign powers are eying us always. If the political leadership will forget their role and dance to the tune of the foreign powers, then the country will become a great victim.Those leaders, who have remained silent even on the construction of the embankments by the Indians inundating Nepals fertile land and Nepali settlements, are the big enemies of the Tarai people and on the whole, the great enemies of Nepal.

A group of Madheshi leaders are claiming that they are fighting for the rights of the Madheshi people, in fact, they are fighting for the rights of those migrated Madheshi people as they have no feelings of the plight of the real Tarai people who are suffering from floods says Pushpa Raj Pradhan One cannot hope better times for this country from the present government as the present government has been formed to serve the Indian interests. When the mission is to serve foreign interests, what can we expect from such leaders. So, to remove all the confusion, there must be reinstatement of the Nepalese monarchy and the identified the world Hindu kingdom and in the presence of the King, these three nations can adopt permanently as diplomatic strategy.

Email:dirgharajprasai@gmail.com
Guwahati, August 31 : The Gauhati High Court on Thursday had granted bail to 10 accused persons including three Assam Civil Service (ACS) officials, who were arrested in connection with the cash-for-job scam of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

According to the reports, the court had granted bail petitions of the accused 10 persons including APSC's former member Basanta Doley, Samedur Rahman, employee Pabitra Koiborta, Musharaf Hussain, ACS officers Bhaskarjyoti Dev Sharma, Bhaskar Dutta and Amit Sharma, Engineer Nabakanta Patir after Assam police failed to submit charge sheet against them.

The court said that, police to re-arrest them in fresh case in connection with the cash-for-job scam.

Earlier, the Dibrugarh police had arrested all 10 persons in connection with the cash-for-job scam.

Earlier, the Supreme court had granted bail to APSC's sacked chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul in the case number 936/2016 on August 16 last, but the Assam police had re-arrested him on August 17 in a fresh case, ostensibly to prevent his release from jail on bail.

Police had arrested Rakesh Kumar Paul and an employee of APSC Musharraf Hussain, who also known a close aid of Rakesh Kumar Paul in the case number 159/2017 registered at Bhangagarh police station in Guwahati under sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the IPC and Sections 13(1)(a)(d)(iii) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

On the other hand, the Gauhati High court on Thursday had sent Rakesh Paul to 14-day judicial custody after he was produced before the court.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, September 1 : Unhappy with the Assam state government's role to protect indigenous people in the state, women protesters on Friday had staged protest against the state govrnment by shaving their head and demanded to secure their security and other issues.

Three activists of Swadhin Nari Shakti (SNS) had protested against the state government role by shaving their head and demanded to secure women security, protect indigenous people's rights, to stop attacks on indigenous people in the state.

Over 100 members of the women organization had staged a protest at Digholipukhuripar in Guwahati.

'We have strongly opposed the government decision to provide Indian citizenship to the hindu Bangladeshi people. We think that, the present BJP-led state government to do everything in greater interest of the indigenous people. But they didn't. In past a year, all government decisions went against the indigenous people,'A a leader of the women organization said.

On the other hand, the activists of Asom Khilongia (Indigenous) Manch also staged a protest in front of the Raj Bhawan in Guwahati on Friday and demanded to secure land rights of indigenous people in the state.

Pro-talk ULFA leader Anup Chetia also took part in the agitation programme.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
WASHINGTON: The United States has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and buildings in Washington and New York that house trade missions, the State Department said on Thursday, in retaliation for Moscow cutting the US diplomatic presence in Russia.

The announcement was the latest in tit-for-tat measures between the two countries that have helped to drive relations to a new post-Cold War low, thwarting hopes on both sides that they might improve after US President Donald Trump took office in January.

Last month, Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people to match the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were imposed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and to punish Russia further for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the United States had completed the reduction.

In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, Nauert said, the United States has required the Russian government to close its San Francisco consulate and two annexes in Washington, DC and New York by September 2.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of the closures in a phone call on Thursday, a senior Trump administration official said. The two men plan to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September, the official said.

Lavrov expressed regret about Washingtons decision during the phone call with Tillerson, his ministry said.

Moscow will closely study the new measures announced by the Americans, after which our reaction will be conveyed, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The latest US move caps eight months of back-and-forth retaliatory measures between the two countries spanning two US administrations.

In December, the administration of Barack Obama closed two Russian countryside vacation retreats in Maryland and New York, saying the compounds had been used for intelligence-related purposes. The closures were part of a broader response, including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies, to what US officials have called cyber interference by Moscow in the 2016 elections. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

Trump came into office wanting to improve relations with Russia, a desire that was hamstrung by the election interference allegations. The new sanctions passed by Congress conflicted with Trumps goals, but he grudgingly signed them into law this month.

The United States said last week that it would have to sharply scale back visa services in Russia, a move that will hit Russian business travelers, tourists and students.

The Russian consulate in San Francisco handles work from seven states in the Western United States. There are three other Russian consulates separate from the embassy in Washington. They are in New York, Seattle and Houston.

The consulate in San Francisco is the oldest and most established of Russias consulates in the United States, the senior Trump administration official told reporters. An official residence at the consulate will also be closed.

No Russian diplomats are being expelled, and the diplomats assigned to San Francisco can be re-assigned to other posts in the United States, the official said.

The Russians can continue to retain ownership of any of the closed facilities, or sell them, but will not be allowed to carry out diplomatic activities there, the official said.

Even after these closures, Russia will still maintain more diplomatic and consular annexes in the United States than we have in Russia, the official said. Weve chosen to allow the Russian government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.
Kathmandu, Nepal: Demanding to curb the existing corruption in the county, a proposal of resolution has been submitted in the parliament on Friday.

Lawmaker Janakraj Joshi has on Friday submitted the resolution proposal in the parliament as per the provision of the Legislature Parliament Regulations 2073. Rule 99 to 108 under Section 15 of the regulation has provisioned about the resolution.

Lawmakers Narasingh Chaudhary, Ankal Ahamad Sah, Harkabol Rai, Anita Kumari Pariyar have signed the proposal. With the registration of the proposal, the parliament has to hold discussion over the existing corruption of the country.

In the proposal it is stated that the anti-graft bodies remained helpless to curb the corruption especially those taking place in the field of politics due to lack of power balance and selfish-intent. Executive, Legislature and Judiciary would not become free from corruption, states the proposal.
1 September 2017

Urgent PRESS RELEASE

Mr. Gauhar Raza, an eminent scientist and poet, was maligned, defamed and hate engineered against him by the malicious, concocted and motivated news telecast carried by Zee News in March, 2016. Mr. Raza was branded as a part of an aAfzal Premi Ganga for reciting his poems in the aShankar - Shaad Mushairaa.

A complaint was then filed by Mr. Raza with the News Broadcasting Standards Authority against Zee News along with another joint complaint filed by eminent artists like Mr. Ashok Vajpeyi, Ms. Shubha Mudgal, Ms. Sharmila Tagore and Dr. Syeda Hameed. Advocate Vrinda Grover argued on behalf of Gauhar Raza and other complainants.

The NBSA, vide its order, has upheld the constitutional right of Mr. Raza to freedom of speech as well as his right to dissent, and held that media house Zee News cannot use their might to intimidate citizens and prevent them from exercising their constitutional right to dissent and freedom of expression.

Upholding the rights of Mr. Gauhar Raza, ZEE news channel has been held liable for their false, malicious and distorted coverage. NBSA has directed that

a to publish an Apology on 08.09.2017 at 09:00 pm on their channel, in Hindi text, in large font size, on full screen, and a clearly audible vioce over in slow speed

a Fine of Rs. 1 lakh to be paid in 7 days.

The NBSA has awarded the highest punishment in its jurisdiction, reaffirming that big media houses cannot trample over the rights of citizens to freedom of speech and expression, which includes the right to dissent.

o o o

SEE GLIMPSES FROM THE NBSA ORDER
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SaraKay Smullens, a Philadelphia social worker, is the author of "Burnout and Self-Care in Social Work." She wrote this for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may email her at sarakay1710@gmail.com.
We know that everyone here in Toronto has been feverishly buying up their tickets for TIFF next week. Before this one falls through the cracks and you kick yourselves for missing it, consider grabbing a seat at one of the screenings of Teemu Nikki's newest film Euthanizer.

Screen Anarchy is pleased to premiere the North American trailer for this Finnish thriller. Watch, and perhaps this mix of dark humor, gritty action and neo-nazis getting their comeuppance will convince you to grab the first ticket you can. The world premiere is next Friday, Sept 8th at Scotiabank.

The Euthanizer, played by Finnish character actor Matti Onnismaa in his first starring role, runs a black-market operation euthanizing people's ailing  and sometimes just unwanted  pets. Each commission also comes with a brutal lecture in which he serves demented wisdom and justice to his unsuspecting clients. From the outset, it's clear that our hero has dark secrets, but it's only when he meets a young nurse (who tends to his catatonic father) and a seedy garage mechanic that his life begins to crack. When a gang of vicious Neo-Nazi thugs terrorize him and he seeks a bloody revenge, things really start to fall apart.

The public screening schedule at TIFF is,

Fri 8 Sept 9:45PM Scotiabank 4, Public Screening (World Premiere)

Sat 9 Sept 9:45AM TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3, Public Screening

Sun 17 Sept 9:30PM Scotiabank 14, Public Screening
 Florida Supreme Court says Gov was within authority to remove prosecutor from capital cases | Main | Two interesting and critical takes on AG Jeff Sessions' repeated statements about rising crime 

September 1, 2017

Federal district judge finds Colorado's Sex Offense Registration Act, as applied, amounts to unconstitutional punishment

A couple of helpful readers made sure I did not miss a notable extended opinion concerning application of Colorado's sex offender registration laws. The opinion in Millard v. Rankin, No. 1:13-cv-02406 (D. Colo. Aug. 31, 2017), which can be downloaded below, starts and ends this way:

Plaintiffs are registered sex offenders under the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), C.R.S.  16-22-101, et seq. In this civil action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C.  1983 they seek declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming that continuing enforcement of the requirements of SORA against them violates their rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Defendant is the Director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the state agency responsible for maintaining the centralized registry of sex offenders and providing information on a state web site.... Based on the foregoing, it is ORDERED that judgment shall enter declaring that the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act, C.R.S.  16-22-101, et seq., as applied to Plaintiffs David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega, violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution; it is FURTHER ORDERED that judgment shall enter declaring that the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act, C.R.S.  16-22-101, et seq., as applied to Plaintiff Arturo Vega, violates procedural due process requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; it is FURTHER ORDERED that judgment shall enter declaring that the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act, C.R.S.  16-22-101, et seq., as applied to Plaintiffs David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega, violates substantive due process requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs as prevailing parties shall be entitled to an award reasonable attorneys fees as part of the costs, to be determined by the Court pursuant to 42 U.S.C.  1988(b). Download 20170831 Millard Ruling re Sex Offender Registry

September 1, 2017 at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Comments

The lawyer I work for can use this opinion now! He has been representing a man convicted in 2002 in Maryland of two counts of statutory rape. The client served 18 months of his 10 year sentence in a county jail, with the balance probated. His Maryland criminal judgment provides that he was to serve 10 years on a sex offender registry following his release from prison. Soon after being released, he moved to Kentucky, where he registered as a sex offender, as required by Kentucky law. Unfortunately, the Ky. Department of Probation and Parole has advised him that under Kentucky law, he will have to remain registered for LIFE. It has now been more than 13 years since he was released from jail in Maryland. He successfully completed his probation and has never been arrested or accused on any crime since coming to Kentucky. The attorney has pursued an administrative appeal, which was denied without any hearing being held. The argument is that Kentucky should give FULL FAITH AND CREDIT to the 10 year limit for the client to have to register as a sex offender, as provided in his Maryland criminal judgment. This opinion may now enable him to file suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, to seek injunctive relief.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Sep 1, 2017 11:12:41 AM

This decision is self-evident. It is punishment. It is also regulatory quackery for the bad faith purpose of generating government employment.

However, the Supreme Court of the US disagrees.

Connecticut v. Doe, No. 01-1231

Posted by: David Behar | Sep 1, 2017 11:31:21 AM

What's notable about this opinion, to me, is not just that they consider SORA unconstitutional punishment, but to my understanding, this is the first judicial opinion to construe SORA as a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

True enough, it is an as applied challenge, but the facts that are presented by the plaintiffs are not really unusual at all in terms of the effects registration has on a person. In fact, I'd say they are somewhat below the mean, so to speak.

It's going to be very interesting to see how this case unfolds. I've been on the registry now for over a decade, and cruel and unusual punishment is -- in my experience -- the only accurate way to describe registration. Of course, I and roughly 800k+ other individuals, and their families, have known that for quite some time. That it is not merely a minor inconvenience, or that it has a de minims impact on people's lives -- it, in many aspects of one's life -- becomes the most salient fact about you. Good father? Good worker? Good husband? Volunteer at church? Who cares. You committed a crime ten, twenty, thirty years ago, for which society will continue to extract their putative pound of flesh until you are dead, and then even after you are dead.

Jon Ronson noted in his book on public shaming that such punishments died out in the colonial era because they were regarded as being far too brutal -- a fate worse than death, as commentators of the day suggested.

But they didn't die. They've become more efficient, more high-tech, and arguably, more brutal.

Posted by: Guy | Sep 1, 2017 1:07:39 PM

@Guy

More brutal for some, less brutal for others. The sanctimonious ego stroking that these laws enable means a great deal to the people who advocated for their passage.

Posted by: Daniel | Sep 1, 2017 1:34:55 PM

I'm sympathetic to the opinion, but skimming it, a core aspect is that basically it holds that a key Supreme Court opinion was mistaken on how such laws would affect people. But, the things cited weren't unknown at the time, including use of journalistic means to mine the registration to target the people involved. So, if this actually went to the Supreme Court, I question if the 8th Amendment section would hold up. The due process arguments very well might have a stronger grounding in precedent. This is an area ripe for re-examination though people around here might not like the end results given the membership of the Court.

Posted by: Joe | Sep 1, 2017 3:04:12 PM

Regulatory quackery should be criminalized. Megan opened the door to her neighbor, and was taken from us. No benefit from any registry.

Jessica slept in her bed. Her neighbor got in through the window and threatened to kill the other kids if she made a noise. The incompetent, PC constrained police visited him, since he was well known to them. They did not need no registry to know he had something to do with her disappearance. She was alive in his closet, but they were hamstrung by the lawyer traitor filth, and could not look in there. That protected, privileged, and empowered lawyer client was so cowardly, he could not kill her himself. So he put her and her plush blue dolphin in a garbage bag, and buried her alive. Then, on death row, he got anal cancer. You filthy lawyer traitors spend $100's of thousands on his cancer care. He died of his cancer. It was the medical profession that saw he got tortured by their treatment, and suffered to the very end. Is there anything more stupid and more insane than the lawyer profession? Not in this world, there isn't.

Neither of those two girls could have been helped by those quack registries. They could have been helped if those two lawyer clients had been executed at age 14.

You filthy lawyer criminal traitors owe us the lives of these two girls. Both serial child rapists and murderers were kept alive by your profession. It remains unknown how many dozens of or hundreds of kids they killed.

Posted by: David Behar | Sep 1, 2017 4:15:10 PM

This quackery law also puts law enforcement personnel at risk; not just the former sex offenders. By using the term, "law enforcement" personnel, I mean not only police officers, but parole officers, prosecutors, judges, but also the so-called law makers who authored these laws in the first place in order to con their constituents into thinking that they were makine the general public safe with such stupid laws.

I can think of at least two scenarios on how these registration/civil commitment laws can endanger law enforcement: the accidental response; and the deliberate response by the former sex offender.

In the accidental response scenario, for example, a former sex offender under residential home restriction during Halloween might mistake a police or parole officer for a vigilante or an intruder and feel the need to "stand his/her ground", viewing his/her home as his/her castle. I could just see the shock of the former sex offender suddenly realizing that he/she inadvertently shot a police officer instead of a burglar and, panicking, decides to flee the place to avoid a capital murder conviction.

In the deliberate response scenario, a former sex offender might be bitter after having served his/her time and feel the temptation for seeking revenge against these laws. In such a scenario, he/she might decide to booby-trap his/her property so that when a parole/police officer comes to the house without a search warrant, the former sex offender will give that person a "warm" welcome with the booby-trap. If the officer should die as a result of the trap, such a former sex offender will not care about the prospect of a possible death sentence and would probably attempt to escape before capture anyway.

So, my advice to these opportunistic politicians of either party who attempt to score points by appearing to be "pro-victim" or "tough on crime": if you really care about law-abiding crime victims and the welfare of our law-enforcement personnel, then don't put them at needless risk with a law that, in reality, does not make the law-abiding public or law enforcement personnel any safer from sex crimes or other violent crimes.

Posted by: william r. delzell | Sep 2, 2017 3:19:24 PM

The idea that registries are not punishment is a legal fiction. Not only are the registries themselves punishments, they are tied to countless additional punishments. In California, there are tons of extra laws that apply to registrants and nobody else. There are a lot of ridiculous unconstitutional laws, like saying you have to hand over all your online information, which as far as I know, haven't been formally struck down, leaving all registrants in a grey area.

The Supreme Court opinions are based on false information, such as claiming that recidivism for sex crimes is high when it is actually not. Every other type of criminal gets out of the system once they serve their time, but registrants are in the system for life, and tons of them get arrested and hit with serious prison time for petty technical violations. The registry is just an pretext that is used to keep arresting these people over and over and making sure they stay in custody, on probation, or on parole, their entire lives.

I would rather serve a 2 year prison term than accept registration with no jail time at all. It is just that bad. Not punishment? Hardly.

I hope this opinion goes somewhere and doesn't get shot down, but unfortunately I don't think we as a society have turned a corner on this nonsense yet. Maybe it won't happen for decades, or until someone who somehow managed to be sympathetic (not impossible given the wide net registries throw these days) suffered enormously because of the registry. Even getting killed doesn't matter as long as the person victimized a child, though, because the public secretly wants those people dead anyway.

Posted by: lawguy | Sep 2, 2017 6:52:29 PM

There is a better solution for male sex offenders: castration and no registration.

If they do not have the urge then they will not go after others illegally. There is nothing wrong with castrating a rapist.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Sep 2, 2017 10:24:41 PM

The previous comment once again assumes that all male sex offenders are contact offenders, rapists and should be castrated.

All sex offenders are not rapists! Skinny dipping, public urination, teenage sex, inadvertant downloading of porn, parental kidnapping of a child in divorce cases, all of these things can get you labeled "sex offender". How many times does that have to be explained?

You, your child or family member has a far better chance of "ending up on the registry" than being "victimized by someone on the registry".



The public needs to educate itself and stop this "crazy talk".

The movement to end the punative registry is gaining momentum, hopefully this case is a tipping point!

Until then, write to any of the Supreme Court Justices and tell them your story about the "cruel and unusual punishment" that the registry has inflicted on you and your family. Perhaps if they receive 860,000 letters from registrants, it may change their thinking.

Posted by: kat | Sep 3, 2017 9:50:44 AM

"I would rather serve a 2 year prison term than accept registration with no jail time at all. It is just that bad. Not punishment? Hardly."

I would not take this trade. I don't want to be in prison, subject to all the problems (in some cases rape; if I was labeled a "child abuser," I particularly fear my treatment inside) as compared to a registration. This in no way belittles the problems. But, especially for those with a certain means [such as someone with family who can house them, including in some isolated location; this very well might include those without much money], being outside of prison still is more important.

The strong problems with these marks of infamy should not lead to such comments. I will readily note that I'm sure there will be some difference of opinion even among those who served time. But, even they often would have to be doing a thought experiment in some sense.

Posted by: Joe | Sep 3, 2017 1:04:27 PM

This court seems to be in direct violation of SCOTUS Connecticut v. Doe.

Posted by: freedomwriter | May 8, 2018 6:32:19 PM

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It's been a while since we were debating Scott Wiener's nudity ban, which took effect in 2012 and has resulted in several older nudist gentlemen who frequent Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro having to wear small socks on their dongs. The ordinance, which was supported by some of Wiener's constituents in the Castro who were tired of the dong parade, was seen by many as another example of San Francisco slipping ever further away from its kooky, libertine, bohemian, and anti-authoritarian roots. But how far back do those roots really go?

That's the question addressed in a piece by KQED, which takes a broader historical perspective on nudity here by the Bay. There were no laws against public nudity in SF until the 1960's  under state law, indecent exposure is illegal, when it is sexual in nature, however flaccid-dong nude sunbathing and standing around, as many have observed in the Castro, falls under the purview of local governments. By the time the Summer of Love arrived 50 years ago, conservative San Franciscans decided they were going to draw the line at seeing hippies frolicking nude or having sex in Golden Gate Park, and the city passed a law against nudity in public parks.

Thomas J. Cahill, who served as SF's chief of police from 1958 to 1970, once described it like this: "It wasnt uncommon for a gal to come out of the bushes there in the Panhandle without a damn stitch and stand right in front of you with her hands up. I was out in the park and two started going to it on the lawn beside me."

Still, it wouldn't be until Wiener's 2012 law that nudity would be explicitly banned outside of parks, and even then he made exceptions for permitted events and marches, like Folsom Street Fair and Bay to Breakers, and traditionally nude beaches  and the National Park Service actually designates the northern end of Baker Beach as a legally sanctioned nude beach. (And you'd best believe that The Daily Show had some fun with the fact that a nudity ban was being pushed by someone named Wiener.)

Nudist activists like SFist fave Gypsy Taub have for the past five years been trying to test the city and this law, getting permits for events like the Summer of Love anniversary nude parade in August 2016, shown in the video below, which she then repeated this past May. Though nudity was supposed to have been exempted at Bay to Breakers under the Wiener law, Taub found herself getting ticketed for being nude at the race in 2014  a ticket that she of course fought.

Nudists proceeded to sue the city over such citations, and won a $20,000 settlement to cover their legal fees in 2015. It remains to be seen whether an appeals court will settle the matter of whether nudity in the streets falls under the First Amendment as an act of expression.

(Side note: Taub recently got jailed for dancing naked in the streets of Paris, and was charged with indecent exposure. But the charges were later dropped after she and her three kids missed their return flight home. Hear her tell the tale here.)

Says Taub, who has regularly had her underage children marching naked alongside her, "People say that somehow public nudity hurts children. I would say to the contrary. Because children who grew up without ever seeing a naked body grow up extremely insecure about their own body because all they see is commercials and porn."

Related: Nudist Activists Claim Victory, Get $20K In Settlement With City Over Citations


Police say they're looking for a hit-and-run driver Friday, following what they say was an intentional collision in the Castro.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the 45-year-old male victim was standing outside his truck at the corner of 18th and Castro Streets at 2:55 Thursday when the incident occurred.

Police say that a 72-year-old male driver approached in his vehicle, and began a "verbal confrontation" with the younger man.

Suddenly, the driver accelerated his vehicle into the victim, police say, then sped away in an unknown direction.

The victim complained of pain following the attack, but refused medical attention. The suspect has thus far successfully eluded capture, police say, and no arrests have been made as of publication time.
Lake Bell wrote, directed, and starred in 2013's In a World... a charming comedy about the life of a struggling voiceover actress, a world she's very familiar with, as she has a number of voice acting credits under her belt. I was pleasantly surprised by the film's unconventionality, as it felt like a romantic comedy, but didn't actually devote that much time to the love story, focusing instead on her character and her family. Lake's follow-up, (I think...she likes ellipses) also plays with romantic comedy conventions, but this time the result, while occasionally funny, is not nearly as charming.

The story follows three couples who are suckered into participating in a documentary by the recently dumped and resultantly bitter British filmmaker Vivian (Dolly Wells). She's positing that marriage as a construct would work better if it was a seven year contract with an option to renew, and is hoping to prove her thesis by examining the lives of happy and unhappy couples in the town of Vero Beach, Florida.

Lake Bell and Ed Helms are Alice and Noah, a married couple creeping up on their tenth anniversary. They run a shades and blinds business together, and Alice has some deep-seated dissatisfaction with the marriage she isn't completely able to understand or explain. Noah's preoccupation with their failing business and their failed attempts to conceive a child mean he's pretty oblivious to anything else going on in their lives.

Alice is convinced Ed is attracted to her hippie sister Fanny (Amber Heard) who has recently moved to town with her boyfriend Zander (Wyatt Cenac) and their son Zenith, who, thanks to granola parenting, has yet to discover that television is a thing. The couple run an art collective, ascribe to polyamory, and look like they disavowed showering some time ago.

And then there's Harvey and Cybil (Mary Steenburgen and Paul Reiser), a couple reaching retirement age. Cybil is filled with a strong bitterness towards Harvey and their marriage that is never entirely explained. Part of it may be a result of estrangement from her adult daughter, Milly (Hannah Friedman), and part may just be the unavoidable contempt that kicks in after decades of marriage. Either way, Cybil is such a haranguing pill that it's hard not to root for Harvey to get on his late-life-crisis motorcycle and get the hell away from her.

All of the couples get suckered into Vivian's documentary, eventually discovering what is obvious from the beginning: that Vivian is a hack who will eagerly manipulate her subjects to get the result she wants. At first, the set-up reminded me a bit of Albert Brooks's 1979 comedy Real Life, a movie about an unscrupulous documentary filmmaker following around an all-American family. But Bell is too busy giving equal time the film's many characters to allow any real commentary on marriage or filmmaking to take shape before the hopelessly conventional ending hits.

Bell's script does have its moments, with some clever lines surrounding the awkwardness of sex and cohabitation ("Is this foreplay? Because I feel like I may have missed something crucial"), and she gifts her own character with an endearing awkwardness, cleverly masking her own beauty (Alice is convinced her sister is hotter) not with glasses and bad hair, but instead with a muted color scheme  blond hair, bland clothes  that turns her into a walking epitome of the color beige. But that kind of detail is missing from too much of I Do...Until I Don't, resulting in a film that feels as halfhearted as its title.
Juicero, the company that introduced the world to a wi-fi-connected $700 juicer, later marked down to $400, which essentially did the same job as a pair of human hands, is finally calling it quits  or suspending sales and seeking "an acquirer." Fortune reports via "a source familiar with the situation" that the company is giving employees 60 days notice that they are shutting down, and telling customers that they have 90 days in which to ask for refunds for their juicers.

There are some more details in a blog post on the company website, and in a statement, the company says, "As we enter this new chapter, we also want to express the deepest gratitude to our employees who have poured their hearts and souls into developing, launching and growing Juicero over the past 3 years. Words alone cannot express how humbled we are by their commitment, ingenuity and talents."

Last month, as they laid off a quarter of their staff, Juicero founder Doug Evans told employees that the company would be pivoting to a "v2" machine that would be cheaper to buy. This seemed to be a response to months of bad press following the Bloomberg story that revealed that Juicero's produce packs, priced between $5 and $7, yielded almost as much juice when squeezed by hand as when put through the machine, and faster than the machine did it, too.

It was a plot twist befitting HBO's Silicon Valley, only this was IRL Silicon Valley.

Evans had high hopes for his company, believing that there was a market for organic pressed juice that one could have at home for basically the same price as at a juice bar. As of September of last year, Evans was telling Kara Swisher in an interview that he wanted to do for juicing what Steve Jobs did for computers. But things haven't turned out that way.

We've noted that Ivanka Trump was an early shill for the company, and actor Kyle McLachlan was pressed into expressing his approval as well in a recent New York Times profile.

Just to remind you, Juicero raised $120 million in funding, so this story is saddest for the investors who were sold on the idea of this expensive, largely unnecessary appliance.

Right now, Evans is at Burning Man. Below, watch Evans in a video he posted to Instagram of himself disappearing into a sandstorm while wearing a tutu. (Symbolism?) Note the many hastags, which seemed so hopeful even two days ago: "#vegan #raw #juice #coldpressed #coldpressedjuice #organic #technology #juicing #rawvegan #rawvegansofig #rawvegansfoodshare #plantfood #plantpower #plantbased #veganfood #love #entrepreneur #juicero #fresh #produce #sunset #burningman #fire #firebreathingdragon"



Previously: Juicero, Makers Of Widely Mocked Wi-Fi Enabled $400 Juicer, Lays Off Staff, Promises Cheaper Juicer
Human feces on San Francisco streets are nothing new  heck, there's even a couple maps out there of the most common places for the stuff, all of which surface at regular intervals at any news organization you can think of. City residents are told to report poop sightings to 311, after which a Rec and Parks staffer will be dispatched to clean up the mess. But crews didn't respond swiftly enough to one situation, parents say, after a massive dump was left at a popular children's playground.

It all went down at Sue Bierman Park, which is located at Washington and Drumm Streets where the on-ramps and off-ramps for the Embarcadero Freeway once stood.

It was a different kind of off-ramping that happened at the park some time late Wednesday/early Thursday, ABC 7 reports, when the staff of a nearby day care brought 12 kids to the popular playground for a morning romp. But when they arrived, daycare director Mary Rosquites says, they found "a huge pile of human feces under the play structure."

Rosquites "covered the mess with baby wipes and did her best to shoo children away. She also called 311 to report the problem," ABC 7 reports.

"I was expecting that it would be cleaned up quite quickly being as it's a health hazard," Rosquites said. But her expectations were dashed, as hours after her report the effluvia remained..in fact, ABC 7 says it took Rec and Parks six hours to clean up the mess.

Parents who spoke with ABC 7 suggested that they were used to issues like Thursday's, with one saying "I mean I never would in a million years let [my child] near a sandbox in the city."

Of course, less cleanup of public poo might be necessary if there were more public restrooms available. That, at least, is the argument of Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness Jennifer Friedenbach.

"There's a really severe bathroom shortage in San Francisco, especially at night," she tells ABC 7.

"There's really virtually nowhere for people to use the restroom."

So one suggested solution is more indoor places for people to do their business, but another proposed solution is to offer folks fewer places to go outside. For as SFist readers know, Rec and Parks has reportedly decided to eliminate sandboxes from city parks, citing how frequently they need to be cleaned of broken glass, needles, and human and animal waste. Assuming that happens, that might presumably free Rec and Parks staff up for other tasks, like removing feces from a popular public park in a space of less than six hours.

Previously: Interactive Map: Syringes And Poop Have Spiked On SF Streets, Says Annual City Report
More pics showing smokey skies over #EastBay hills that separate Clayton from Antioch/Pittsburg. Its windy & smells like  pic.twitter.com/U59wrZ8Eh1  Julianne Herrera (@JulestheFirst26) August 31, 2017

Adding to what's predicted to be a record-setting day of heat Friday, smoke from several wildfires burning north of the Bay Area has now migrated southward and settled in over parts of the East Bay and Marin, creating a noticeable haze. Some residents have even reported smelling smoke, as KRON 4 reports.

In particular, residents of Danville, Concord, and Clayton seem to be seeing the worst of the residual smoke.

The Ponderosa Fire, burning in Butte County near Lake Oroville since Tuesday afternoon, has grown to over 3,500 acres and has already destroyed 10 homes, with 500 more under threat. As KCRA reports, a 29-year-old Oroville man has been arrested in connection with the fire, which is believed to have been started with an illegal campfire.

Also burning to our north is the Tohakum 2 Fire in Nevada, which began with a lightning strike near the site of Burning Man, which briefly closed the main artery into the festival on Sunday.



According to NBC Bay Area, we're also getting smoke from wildfires burning in Oregon, which is drifting down the coast and blowing in through the Golden Gate.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City woman has pleaded not guilty to stabbing a man while they sat inside a vehicle.

Brittany Lapora, 24, entered her written plea Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to one count of willful injury.

According to court documents, Lapora was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle at 1373 Pierce St. on Aug. 14 when she stabbed William Bauerly, 75, of Sioux City, in the side. The injuries were not life-threatening.
SIOUX CITY | A man was shot and killed Friday in Spencer.

The Spencer Police Department in a release said Nicolas Bandomo, 30, of Albert City, Iowa, was the man that died after authorities were called just before 1 a.m. to a residence in the 800 block of East 12th Street in Spencer.

The release from Chief Mark Warburton does not cite an arrest, but says the public should know there "are no suspects at large and no threat to the general public." The department said Friday night no other information is being released at this time.

Bandomo was taken to Spencer Hospital and later transferred to Avera McKennon Hospital in Sioux Falls, where he died.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the police department are investigating.
VERMILLION, S.D. | Vermillion Police surrounded a home Thursday evening where an escaped inmate barricaded himself.

Jubal Grant, 19, surrendered around 8:30 p.m., the police department tweeted. Police had secured an area of town around the home he refused to come out of for a few hours. The exact location of the home has not been released.

Grant was last seen Wednesday night after authorities say he assaulted a jailer and escaped from the Charles Mix County Jail in Lake Andres, South Dakota.

Authorities say Grant took a 2007 silver Pontiac G6 shortly after the escape and the car was spotted in Vermillion Thursday afternoon. Police said Grant had ties to the area and leads brought police to the residence he was hiding in.

Grant had been jailed on charges of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and bond violations.

Officers with the Vermillion Police Department, Clay County Sheriff's Office, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and South Dakota Highway Patrol helped to resolve the situation.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has been charged with a bevy of felonies after police say he violently attacked multiple people, including stabbing a man with a sword.

Eric Bishop, 37, was arrested Aug. 18 and faces four counts of willful injury and multiple theft and burglary charges.

Court documents say the violent spree started on Aug. 2, when Bishop became upset with a female over some missing property of his at a home in the 400 block of West Fourth Street. Bishop then pushed the woman to the ground and struck her numerous times, leaving large bruises.

Three days later, Bishop got into a verbal altercation with two men at a home in the 1500 block of South Rustin Street. The documents say Bishop during the fight pointed a long sword at one of the men and stabbed him in the upper chest area when he tried to escape. The stabbing caused serious injuries, and the victim had to undergo surgeries for a nicked aorta.

On Aug. 13, Bishop and Nadeen Meyer-Dible, 43, allegedly broke a window to a home in Moville, Iowa, and forced themselves inside. Meyer-Dible then struck a female in the face who was in the home and threatened to kill her and tie her up. Soon after, a man came home and confronted Meyer-Dible, and Bishop then allegedly attacked the man with a hammer. The documents said he struck him in the head twice, causing large wounds. The victim was able to escape and call for help. Meyer-Dible was booked into the Woodbury County Jail Wednesday for two counts of willful injury, and one count each of burglary and assault.

After the Moville incident, Bishop is accused of forcing his way into a residence in the 2400 block of Nebraska Street on Aug. 15. He then assaulted a man with an aluminum pipe and choked him with a necklace the victim was wearing, documents said.

Bishop was then believed to have burglarized South Sioux City's Animal Control site where the spare key to the department's vehicle and other items were taken. Hours later, the Sioux City Police Department spotted the stolen truck and began following it.

The documents said the officer had not initiated a traffic stop when Bishop drove the truck through multiple yards starting in the 1500 block of 23rd Street. The car went through fences and landscape decorations and eventually drove over a retaining wall and landed on top of a vehicle parked in a driveway. Bishop then crashed into a parked vehicle and a telephone pole. He was arrested after a short foot pursuit and meth was found on him, documents say.

Bishop is currently in the Woodbury County Jail on a $101,500 bond. His next court date is on Sept. 8.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for his role in an armed robbery in which a cellphone and a bag of snacks were taken.

Tykell Robinson, 20, was found guilty of first-degree robbery during a July jury trial in Woodbury County District Court.

Robinson must serve 17.5 years of the sentence before he's eligible for parole.

District Judge Jeffrey Poulson ordered the sentence to be served consecutively to a 10-year prison sentence Robinson was already serving for two unrelated home invasions. That sentence carried a five-year mandatory minimum, forcing Robinson to serve 22.5 years in prison before he's eligible for parole.

On Feb. 10, Robinson and Darius Wright approached three people in the 1600 block of Pierce Street who were carrying a bag of snacks they had bought at a nearby convenience store. Evidence in Wright's trial in April showed that after scuffling with one of the people, Wright brandished a handgun, and the robbery victim dropped his snacks and threw his cellphone at Wright before fleeing with his companions.

Police later found the snacks -- two bottles of Dr Pepper, a bag of Sour Patch Kids candy and a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos -- and some of Robinson's personal belongings, at 423 16th St.

Wright was found guilty of shooting a friend of the robbery victim who came to the house on 16th Street to confront him. Wright is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 15 on charges of assault with intent to inflict serious injury, willful injury and first-degree robbery.
OMAHA | Charges of misuse of federal funds filed against nine current and former Omaha Tribal Council members and officials should be dropped because the federal government did not have authority over how the money in question was spent, a lawyer for the tribal members said in court filings this week.

The Omaha Tribal Council's payment of "bonuses" totaling $388,972 to council members and other officials came from funds received as part of a legal settlement, making their disbursement an internal tribal matter that falls outside of federal government oversight, federal public defender David Stickman said in a motion to dismiss, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Omaha.

Because the money involved in this case was settlement money disbursed to the tribe with no strings attached, the federal government should have no say in its distribution, Stickman said in his motion and supporting brief, which argued that the charges should be dismissed for lack of federal jurisdiction.

"Because the money involved in this case was settlement money disbursed to the tribe with no strings attached, the federal government should have no say in its distribution," Stickman wrote in his brief.

Any disputes about how the money was spent should be resolved by the Omaha Tribal Court, Stickman said.

A federal indictment filed in September 2016 charged former tribal council treasurer Jessica Webster-Valentino, 47, former council secretary Jeff Miller, 53, council member Rodney Morris, 63, and former council members Mitchell Parker, 69, Doran Morris Jr., 46, Forrest Aldrich, 67, Amen Sheridan, 56, and Tillie Aldrich, 48, and former tribal employee Barbara Freemont, 65, with conspiracy, conversion and misapplication of funds from a program receiving federal funds.

All nine have pleaded not guilty. Webster-Valentino, Miller and Rodney Morris remain on the council, though none of them are officers.

The indictment, the result of a state and federal investigation, alleged that the nine had granted themselves the nearly $389,000 in incentive payments from Indian Health Service funds meant to provide health care to tribal members through the Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center.

Stickman's motion said that the Omaha Tribe was a party in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit in which the Omahas and other tribes across the United States had sued the IHS for underpayments. After the Omaha Tribe was notified in November 2012 that it would receive $8.9 million in the settlement, the tribal council voted to pay the bonuses to themselves and other tribal officials for their work related to the lawsuit.

The bonuses were paid out of the settlement funds, Stickman said, giving the council discretion on how the money could be spent.

"The funds at issue here, however, were not federal program funds designated for a specific purpose," Stickman said. "They were unrestricted settlement funds from a lawsuit. As such, they cannot anchor federal jurisdiction."
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City teen has been arrested on a felony charge, after police said he shot another teen.

Court documents filed Friday said Elija Perales, 17, was arrested on a charge of willful injury causing serious injury. The documents said Perales went to a home in the 2100 block of South Lemon Street to confront another 17-year-old male about a previous altercation.

A Sioux City police officer said that during the Thursday confrontation, Perales pointed a gun at the head of the other teen but did not fire. Police said he then shot the person in the knee.

The documents did not contain specifics about the severity of the injury to the shooting victim. Perales was booked into Woodbury County Jail.
MAPLETON, Iowa | U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday that President Trump and majority Republicans in Congress have had a harder time delivering on key campaign promises than he anticipated.

Speaking to about 100 people in a town hall meeting in Mapleton as the monthlong congressional recess neared the end, Grassley said he thought Republican priorities would move more quickly. Grassley said Republicans for seven years had vowed to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act put in place by President Obama and majority Democrats.

He had thought a Republican replacement health care plan would have been set by Easter, and said he figured tax reform as a big second piece would "be done by now."

Rather, he said, when lawmakers reconvene in September, "We are going to pivot to tax reform. That doesn't mean we won't do anything on health care."

He also addressed the Republican health care bill collapse in the Senate in July, saying, "I am not proud of that. I am embarrassed by that."

Grassley, 83, took questions from 17 people over the hourlong event in the Mapleton Community Center. The top topic of questions was health care. Other notable topics were crop insurance in upcoming Farm Bill deliberations and propping up Social Security.

Evelyn Thies, of Mapleton, said she was worried about Trump's tax reform plan negatively impacting farmers.

"If it wasn't for the deductions we could take, we wouldn't be farming for 50 years...Farming, it is a survival every year," she said.

Nonetheless, Thies encouraged all federal Republicans to be more outwardly supportive of Trump policies. If that doesn't happen, she cautioned, Democrats are poised to win back the House and Senate in 2018.

If Republicans lose control, Thies said, "The Muslims are going to take over this country. I am worried about Muslims, not Mexicans or anyone else. It is the Muslims who will kill us."

Grassley did not respond to the Muslim portion of the Thies comment. He said if Republicans do not deliver legislatively, there could be electoral consequences.

After the meeting, Grassley told the Journal, "I don't disagree with (Thies) that Republicans ought to get together behind the president...The president, if he is a player, it helps. If not, we've got our own constitutional responsibility."

People in the crowd wore t-shirts that said "Health Care Voter" and blue shirts with the "Grassley Works" slogan that was used in his last re-election campaign.

Tammy Mohr, of Ute, urged Grassley to help efforts to build a wall at the Mexican border to halt illegal immigration. Mohr said she previously told Grassley in a call 20 years ago that illegal immigration highly concerns her.

"We are footing the bill for them to live the American Dream," Mohr said.

"If the money is appropriated," it will be built, Grassley responded, sitting down in an empty front row chair as he spoke with Mohr.

Trump has threatened to shut down the federal government if Congress does not include funding for the border wall in an omnibus budget bill funding for the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Grassley also described the federal response to Hurricane Harvey, which has blasted Houston with more than 50 inches of rain in and around the nation's fourth-largest city, causing massive flooding. Trump will visit Houston on Saturday for the second time this week.

"It has been a long time since we've had that kind of a disaster," the senator said.

Grassley said federal aid on top of the available Federal Emergency Management Agency money will be forthcoming. He said it is not necessary to know definitively now if the ultimate costs will be $10 billion or $100 billion.

"The government has taken the position of being an insurer of the last resort on disasters," Grassley said.

One light moment came when Alice Masters, of Mapleton, said, "We have voted for you every year and we appreciate you, but..."

Many in the crowd laughed, and Grassley said, "The other shoe is going to drop." A few seconds later Masters said Grassley should tread lightly in doing bipartisan work with Democrats.

On Thursday morning, Grassley also appeared at Bishop Heelan in Sioux City. As part of his annual tour of all 99 Iowa counties, he also stopped this week in the Northwest Iowa cities of Sibley and Primghar.
LE MARS, Iowa | The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has traced the source of a fish kill in a stream to Wells Enterprises, a Le Mars-based ice cream maker that uses ammonia as a refrigerant.

A large number of fish were found dead in the Plymouth County stream, according to an IDNR news release. After an investigation, state officials announced the spill involved appears to have come from cooling water discharge from Wells' north plant in Le Mars. Wells, which operates two plants in the Plymouth County seat, is the maker of the Blue Bunny brand of ice cream and frozen novelties.

Storm water discharge does not normally have ammonia in it, but the IDNR found elevated levels of ammonia below the Wells discharge pipe. The creek is less than one-quarter mile from the Floyd River.

There were several hundred dead minnows and chubs in the unnamed creek, but no obvious issues in the nearby Floyd. The state agency recommends children and pets stay away from the creek near the ball park south of Iowa Highway 3 until Sunday.

This is a reminder to everyone that what you pour down a storm sewer or into a street goes directly to a creek and not to the wastewater plant, said Ken Hessenius, supervisor for the IDNR's field office in Spencer, Iowa.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  Although flattered that his opponents supporters are paying attention to him, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ron Corbett called social media accounts attacking him a sad but predictable next step from a campaign that wants to stick with politics and business as usual.

He started it, responded Nick Ryan, whose Concordia Group is running the Empower Iowa Funds Facebook and @WrongCorbett Twitter account.

Ive been disappointed by the negative tone Ron has taken, Ryan said. Its been one nastygram after another.

Corbett acknowledged hes been critical of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who became governor in late May when Gov. Terry Branstad resigned to become ambassador to China.

Ive challenged Gov. Reynolds on issues, including her borrowing money at a rate outpacing even Chet Culver while taking no action to address the root causes of Iowas budget woes, he said Thursday afternoon. Iowans deserve a serious discussion about real issues that impact our state.

He expressed disappointment that in her first 100 days in officer her greatest accomplishment was the selection of a new license plate design.

That prompted this tweet from @WrongCorbett: While Negative Ron has been badmouthing @KimReynoldsIA she has been working to get 4,000 jobs for the city he is mayor of. Sad, was the first post on the Twitter.

Im struck by the irony that at the same time hes saying that, shucks, her and her economic development department are trying to lock land for the biggest jobs deal for the city hes mayor of, Ryan said, referring to Iowa attempts to land a 4,000-job Toyota plant. I know its politics, but its unfortunate.

Corbett also was critical of Empower Iowas use of dark money, which according to OpenSecrets.org, refers to political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown.

Calling in these type of faceless dark money groups to attack Ron is clear proof they take him seriously as a candidate and a contender, a campaign spokesman said. Corbett has challenged Reynolds not to accept money from the DC Swamp  special interest groups, and establishment insiders.

Corbett is an idiot and a hypocrite, Ryan said, because hes been involved with two dark money organizations  the Clean Water Partnership and his Engage Iowa think tank.

The Corbett campaign called that beneath the dignity of Iowa voters and is why he challenged Reynolds not to take DC Swamp money.

The campaign also said Corbett has no regrets participating in groups that have worked with Iowa farm groups to champion water quality.

The campaign also pointed out Empower Iowas hypocrisy in using a photo of Corbett talking to President Barack Obama, which has been cropped so Gov. Terry Branstad is not shown. The mayor and the governor were meeting with Obama to discuss federal assistance for flood protection. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst also have meet with the president to seek flood protection funding, Crowley noted.
IOWA CITY, Iowa  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed President Donald Trump for threats to end the Obama-era DACA program, which protects immigrant children, during a speech in Iowa City on Thursday evening.

Trump as soon as today may end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or the Dreamer program. Formed in 2012 by executive order, the program defers deportation for those who came to the United States illegally as children.

It is shameful. It is disgraceful, said Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He said 800,000 children could be affected.

We have to do everything we can to stop that from happening, and if it does happen, call on Congress to pass legislation to protect those young people.

Sanders spoke for about an hour during the event promoting his new book, Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution. The 1,800-seat Hancher Auditorium sold out.

He touched on the book, Trump, health care, social issues and many other topics from the campaign trail. Sanders finished second in a virtual tie with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus in January 2016, kicking off an unexpectedly competitive primary with Clinton, the eventual Democratic nominee.

The book, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, is intended to guide teens to get involved and effect change in the country. The Democratic Party needs an infusion of young people and their idealism, Sanders said.

We must stand up for a new set of priorities that says, We are not going to turn our backs on millions of people around the world who are dying unnecessarily, Sanders said.

Sanders criticized the Democratic Party, suggesting it ignored many working-class Americans, and said Democrats lost the election versus Trump winning.

Sanders called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, improving affordability of public colleges and universities, and protecting the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which he said has worked. It must go further, and health care must become a guaranteed right for all, he said.

Sanders addressed the flooding in Houston, calling the property damage unbelievable and the suffering immense.

The silver lining is the reminder that we are one nation and one people and what we are seeing in Texas is people coming together, whether black or white or Latino, whether gay or straight, born in America or not, Sanders said.

Abagael Shrader, 26, of Iowa City, said the comments about unity and Americans coming together regardless of differences struck a chord with her. So did discussion of student debt, she said, noting shes carrying $100,000 in student debt as a public school teacher. She fears her students someday will face the same situation, she said.

I came to get remotivated, she said. Its been daunting.

Sanders levied heavy criticism on Trump for trying to win cheap political points by trying to divide us up. He also offered his assessment of why Trump won.

Trump said he heard the pain being felt by people around the country, who largely were ignored by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party, he said.

He said, I hear you, Sanders said. It was a strong and effective speech, except he lied and he lied and he lied ... Just because he lied doesnt mean his analysis was incorrect.

Trump vowed to take on the establishment during his campaign, but changed course favoring the 1 percent since taking office, Sanders said.

Brad Dunlap, 47, of Coralville, also was on hand. He said he supported Clinton, but he aligns with much of what he heard from Sanders on Thursday.

It sounded like he was trying to mobilize people to take up the cause, Dunlap said. Whether its to support him or the vision, is not clear to me.
CHICAGO -- Sometimes you're just going along, having your morning coffee, getting into your paper and a headline leaps off the page and slaps you in the face.

That was the feeling I and countless other Hispanic college graduates had when we saw a recent New York Times article titled "Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago."

I was at a loss to understand how such a demeaning headline slips through the editing process of a major American news company when everyone who isn't living under a rock recognizes that blacks, Latinos and other ethnic and racial minorities are already under siege in this country, most notably from the president of the United States, and don't need more negative stereotype-building.

And in this era of people skimming headlines online and on social media platforms without ever bothering to read the story, it's a double hit.

"This is a clear example of negative framing. The 'even with affirmative action' line puts Latinos in a 'beyond help' category," wrote Victor Landa, editor-in-chief of the Hispanic-focused news website News Taco. "It implies the fallacy that Latinos only make it into elite schools because of federal set-asides, even though the number of Latinos in Ivy League schools is growing. That part of the story is buried in the third paragraph."

Indeed, the story notes that "More Hispanics are attending elite schools, but the increase has not kept up with the huge growth of young Hispanics in the United States, so the gap between students and the college-age population has widened. ... Blacks and Hispanics have gained ground at less selective colleges and universities but not at the highly selective institutions."

Despite its misleading headline, the article goes on to put the focus of poor college graduation outcomes exactly where it belongs: on the shoulders of public elementary and secondary schools that pump out graduates who are neither college- nor career-ready.

This is the very point that always gets lost when the thorny and overly emotional topic of affirmative action and college admissions comes into the national spotlight: While everyone is busy frowning upon whether universities take race or ethnicity into account when making admissions decisions, poorly performing schools in underfunded communities get a pass for graduating students who aren't prepared for either careers or college.

Why does the discussion about affirmative action stop at whether universities should compensate for past wrongs and encourage diversity by admitting students of color with lower test scores than their peers?

Why does it rarely, if ever, get to the more fundamental question of why we aren't demanding that more schools with large populations of blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and other minorities close the academic achievement gap?

Some think nothing of insisting that it is equitable for institutions of higher learning to lower their expectations for students of color. Yet these same people seem to have given up on expecting that public schools will adequately prepare the most vulnerable students to compete for seats at elite universities.

It's a national blind spot -- public education has been off the radar for years. No presidential candidates made education a centerpiece on the campaign trail leading up to the 2016 elections. Neither presidential candidate was asked about specific policy proposals for shoring up education during the debates.

We could bemoan that the Trump administration is so wrapped up in base-pleasing issues like restricting affirmative action at colleges and moving toward using public school funds for private school vouchers, but there's plenty of blame to go around for the seemingly intractable puzzle of how to improve education.

For instance, failing schools are given latitude because of poor funding. But no one ever talks about the fact that the Obama administration spent $11 billion in School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top Grants to fix failing schools and basically ended up with nothing to show for it.

To be sure, getting more students of color into college won't be easy, but it's certainly not a lost cause.

Actually, it's far simpler than fighting the contentious battle over whether and how private elite universities should populate their campuses: If we want more students of color to get into and graduate from college, we need to get serious about making K-12 public education work for them.
It seems like it always takes a disaster.

Twenty-five years ago this month, that disaster was Andrew, a hurricane that devastated a large swath of South Florida, including the house in whose master bedroom closet I sheltered through the night with my wife and five kids. The storm took our roof and our possessions. It left us effectively homeless.

With nowhere else to go -- we'd been in town only a year -- we found our way to the office of my employer, the Miami Herald, where we shared our tale of woe. And Pete Weitzel, then the Herald's managing editor, told us he had an empty house we were welcome to shelter in. It had no electricity, but it had a roof, which was more than we had at home.

Here's the thing. Pete was not one of my favorite people.

During my job interview, he had asked a question that set my teeth on edge. Pointing out that most of the Herald's readership was white -- as if this would be news to me -- he asked if I, as an African American, was capable of writing for them.

"Can I write for white people?! Do white people read English? If so, we're good."

That's what I very much wanted to say. But I also very much wanted the job, so I answered politely in the affirmative.

Now, here was this same guy whose question had so insulted me, offering me his house. I lost no time saying yes, of course.

I said it again a few days later when my colleague Christine Dolen invited me and my brood to stay with her, her husband, John, their young son and their dog in their undamaged home some miles north of the destruction zone. Chris and I didn't know each other that well. John and I had never met.

The selflessness of all those people back then leaves me unsurprised at what I am seeing now as Hurricane Harvey swamps southeast Texas. Meaning the people taking in flooded-out strangers, the stranded motorists rescuing other stranded motorists, the neighbors with boats pulling families off rooftops and through second-story windows, people helping other people for no other reason than that there is ability on one side and need on the other, and doing it with no expectation of gain or reward.

This is not who we are on an average day. No, on an average day, especially in a city the size of Houston, one tends to live in isolation from the folks next door. We live separated by fences, more intimately involved with our screens -- smartphone, iPad, or 60-inch HD -- than with our neighbors. Nor is it just fences and screens that divide. It is also those jagged fault lines of identity: faith, sexuality, politics and race.

But whatever else those things are, they are not the sum of any one of us. That is obvious and yet, also, easily forgotten.

Then a woman who worships Allah plucks you from a rooftop.

Or a man who has a husband pulls you from a fire.

Or the guy who asked that vexing question puts a roof over your head.

You don't care who saves you. You only care that you are saved. There's a lesson in that, I think.

Miami came back. Houston will, too. And the people suffering this ordeal will someday remember it not simply for what they lost, but also for what they found. In the danger and fear, they will remember that they discovered generosity and sacrifice. They will also remember that the ordeal was endurable because they shared it with strangers who were, it turned out, not so strange after all.

And they will remember how people instinctively reached for one another when the screens had gone dark, and all the fences were down.
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.
Bradford M. Goff MD, age 66 of New York City and Wilton Manors, Florida, succumbed to a bravely fought battle with brain cancer on July 30th, 2017.

Born June 19, 1951 in Springfield MA, Dr. Goff graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts. He earned his doctorate from SUNY Downstate Medical School, completed his residency at Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital and was honored to serve patients in hospitals in Dallas and New York, including North General Hospital in Harlem.

Dr. Goff was most proud of his 2001-2015 tenure at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, where he rose to become the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry. Among his many accolades are citations from the Borough President's Office in Brooklyn and The State Assembly of New York for his outstanding commitment to providing services and support to local residents and those in need. In 2014 he received the Board of the American Psychiatric Association's honor, that of "Distinguished Life Fellow."

Dr. Goff was preceded in death by his mother Florence Goff, nee Gillett, his father Maurice Goff and recently by a lifetime family friend, Lee Waterman.

Bradford leaves behind his husband Bradley Meade, with whom he spent the last 26 years of his life; his brother and sister-in-law, Kenneth and Cristel Goff; sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and George Pallotta; mother and father-in-law, George and Mary Meade; as well as a large extended family.

Dr. Goff will be remembered for his dedicated professionalism, elegant style and wry humor by admiring colleagues, grateful patients and an adoring cadre of friends.

Life is too important to be taken seriously. - Oscar Wilde

At his request, there will be a party to celebrate Dr. Goff's remarkably meaningful life on September 23, 2017 at the PRIDE Center, 2040 North Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, Florida 33305. Guests will be welcomed from Noon until 4:00pm where there will be celebratory music, laughter, hors d'oeuvres and more. At 2:00pm all will be invited to take part in his eulogy and to reflect on the words of Rev. Leslie A. Rutland-Tipton.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the National Greyhound Adoption Program at 10901 Dutton Road Philadelphia, PA 19154, or online at NGAP.org. Donations in Dr. Goff's memory can also be made to the PRIDE Center, 2040 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, Florida 33305.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.KalisMcIntee.com
Under a blazing hot Hollywood, Florida sun, more than 150 peaceful objectors gathered in front of Hollywood City Hall to rally in solidarity to renounce local street signs named after Confederate soldiers on Wednesday.

An effort to rename the street names in question, Lee Street, named after Gen. Robert E. Lee, Hood Street, named after Gen. John Bell Hood, and Forrest Street, named after Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, also a leader of the Ku Klux Klan had been a part of efforts by activists for many years and gaining political and public support even before the tragedy in Charlottesville.

On Wednesday, their efforts paid off when the Hollywood City Commission voted 5-1 to rename the streets in question bringing a decades long battle to an end.

Peaceful Rally Almost Turns Violent

The groups Take Down Slavery Symbols in Hollywood, Black Lives Matter Broward Alliance, Womens March Broward Chapter, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and SEIU Florida were among the activists assembled for the rally before the city commission meeting. Speakers included award winning author, historian and professor, Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, President of ASALH and Florida Representative Shevrin Jones (D- 101) who was accompanied by Florida Senator Lauren Book (D- 32) and Florida State Representative Richard Stark (D-104).

While addressing the activists at the rally, Dr. Bradley Hobbs stated, The message that we are sending is that the past can live on in our history books, but not in our community landscape.

Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, President, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), South Florida.

After the assembled group sang We Shall Overcome, State Representative Jones told the crowd, Black, White, Latino, Jewish, Straight, and Gay, we are here together standing with colleagues. After these signs come down our policies will need to be in line.

After additional speakers addressed the crowd, the rapidly expanding group was asked to move down the sidewalk to a sectioned off area. People walked to the designated area chanting slogans like Hey hey, ho ho, these racist streets have got to go. Homemade signs with slogans such as Racist History Belongs in History Books, Hate Has No Place in Hollywood, Take Down Hollywood Hate Symbols, and White Woke Women for Racial Justice, among others, could be seen amid the crowd.

Captain of the Miami Dade Womens March, Carrie Feit, stated This is a revolution against white supremacy. The Womens March is honored to take part in the fight and very thankful to fellow social justice groups for granting us the space to do so. When the Womens March was started, we were outraged that Trump won the election. But the fact is that white supremacy elected Trump. Therefore, the real issue is white supremacy that is at the root of social issues. Some people that didnt think they were affected by it are just catching on. The core of the fight is with white supremacy.

Hollywood resident Dara Hill, who is a part of the Take Down Slavery Symbols in Hollywood group, provided background information on the efforts of the group.

When Joseph Young founded Hollywood, the city was segregated. In the neighborhood were people of color resided the street signs were named after thriving black cities and was meant to be dignified and empowering, Hill said. Those street names were later renamed for Confederate generals for revisionist history to maintain white supremacy. Its pretty warped. We dont have street signs named after Timothy McVeigh. We dont condone murder.

Hollywood was founded in 1925 and has no historical claim to the confederacy.

Hill also stated that she and her group as well as other groups spent years canvassing the neighborhood that would be affected by the street sign name changes.

We received overwhelming support. When people ask why arent there more people here today from the Liberia neighborhood, its because they are working, Hill said. Not everyone can take the day off and get paid for it.

The peaceful rally almost turned violent when a white nationalist, Christopher Monzon, lunged toward a group of activists with his Confederate flag. Police officers immediately apprehended and arrested the 22-year-old Hialeah man. He was later charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, and inciting a riot.

The white man made this country, he was heard yelling earlier. Youre lucky to be here. Florida is my home, and I will defend it.

Earlier, Monzon protested the rally by waiving his Confederate flag and wearing a shirt with a logo of Florida League of the South, a white supremacist organization labeled as a racist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Throughout the day he hurled racial and anti-Semitic insults at the crowd.

After the arrest the rally continued to go on peacefully with no other verbal or physical altercations.

Dara Hill, Hollywood resident.

The Commission Meeting

Later in the day, hundreds of people lined up for security clearance to gain access to the Hollywood City Commission Chambers to participate in the hearing on the resolutions to change the Hollywood street names. With 132 people signed up to speak for the hearing, and that many people waiting in the lobby for the item numbers to be called, just as many people waited outside of the building who could not gain access due to over capacity inside of the building.

Among those who waited in the Commission Chambers lobby for two hours was Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL- 23), State Representative Shevrin Jones (D- FL-101), and Broward County Property Appraiser Martin Kiar. Close to 6 p.m. people were called into the City Commission Chambers for the items pertaining to the street renaming.

Once the Commission Hearing began, Chief Civic Affairs Officer, Lorie Mertens-Black gave a presentation that illustrated the street names in question prior to 1926 that ran through the Liberia neighborhood of Hollywood. The presentation showed that the evolution of the street names in question prior to 1926 and after 1926 when the street names were changed under Ordinance 76.

Among the more than 132 people signed up to speak were various elected officials.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also to the Commission.

Changing these street names wont come close to addressing the issues of systemic racism and intolerance that still plagues our society but it is a vital and necessary step in the fight against these repulsive prejudices. At its heart, the question before you today is a question of basic human decency. No parent should have to explain to their child that the street they live on is named after someone who fought for the right to keep people enslaved. No person of any race should feel obligated to honor an individual who did not recognize their basic human dignity.

State Representative Joe Gellar (D- FL- 100), followed the Congresswoman with public statement. Lets be clear. This is increasingly important after the recent tragedy in Charlottesville. Its really underscored the divisions that we face in our country and the need to be on the right side of history.

Representative Gellar went on to say that the street renaming that took place in the late 1920s was historically related to Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan that was on the rise and a power in our national politics at the time.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was not just a civil war general for the Confederacy. This is the man who was the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. This was a murderer and a torturer and someone with no respect for human decency, Gellar said. Living on a street named after him is like being asked to live on Hitler street. Its disgraceful. Its horrific.

State Senator Lauren Book (D- FL- 32) spoke next and said, I am going to borrow the words from a man far greater than myself. An abolitionist and a freedom fighter, a former slave, a statesman and an American hero, Frederick Douglass. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. These words echo of so long ago but are incredibly impingent today. Throughout history weve seen men and women stand up to the status quo. To fight for whats right now I believe its our time. Im here today to tell Ben Israel, a Hollywood resident who has been fighting for the removal of these signs for nearly two decades that we are here with them. I am here today to tell resident activist Linda Anderson and Laurie Schecter who paid $6,000 out of their own pockets that we are standing beside them. These Hollywood residents and many of their peers throughout the city, throughout the county, and our great state have been fighting to ensure that our public streets and our public works reflect the spirit of our community.

State Representative Shevrin Jones also addressed the Commission.

Today we celebrate unity and what it looks like. We celebrate democracy and what it looks like. And we celebrate power and what power looks like. The power of the people. I want to share what General Mattis told our troops overseas. He told them to hold the line. So thats what I want to tell you today. To the City Commission and to everyone sitting in this room today, with this opportunity that we have, we gotta hold the line. We gotta hold the line against injustice. We have to hold the line against hatred. To ensure that individuals are treated fairly. But while we are holding the line and working to take monuments of hatred and signs of bigotry down lets ensure one thing. Lets ensure that the policies that follow them show the justice that we look like. Ensure equality. Ensure fairness. Ensure a fair education system. Ensure that the criminal justice system is fair for all black, white and individuals. So while were working to take signs and monuments down, make sure at the same time when we walk outside of those doors that we dont walk out of here divided because its not us against them. Its a we thing.

Florida Representative Shevrin Jones (D- 101).

After various other elected officials and public statements were heard over the course of several hours, positions ranged from those who cited humanitarian and social justice reasons to rename the three Hollywood street names in question, to those who opposed the renaming of the streets citing personal inconveniences and concerns about possible financial costs involved.

Frustrations that a resident vote was not taken and waived by the City Commission were also cited, as well as some people denying that the street names are racially motivated and have any connotations to oppression.

Benjamin Israel, an African American Orthodox Jewish man and native New Yorker who moved to Hollywood in the late 1970s and has been fighting to change the street names for decades said during the Commission hearing that the issue was more of a moral matter than a racial matter.

Some speakers recounted personal stories, such as a Hollywood resident who stated I am here this evening because I am a daughter of a Holocaust survivor. I have seen what anger, hatred and ignorance can do. I have seen how peoples lives have been destroyed by it. And I realize that over the last 50 years we have made a lot of strides and a lot of good will but it has to be continued.

While some speakers appeared tense, only a handful of speakers appeared to be verbally confrontational.

One Hollywood resident addressed the City Commission and audience with a raised voice.

You have enslaved your own hearts and souls with your own hatred. And you will never truly be free until you let go of that hatred. Renaming streets and refighting a war that happened over 150 years ago isnt gonna do it. Its not going to make the black people any more free, its not going to give you anymore rights, all its gonna do is cause more racism because there are people out there who never had a racial thought in their life, and now their gonna have to go change everything in their life and theyre gonna say oh those said the speaker taking a long pause. you know what Im talking about.

After fulminating against the City Commission with choice words such as cowards and a condemnation against the Democratic Party, the speaker closed off by slamming his fist on the podium.

Pastor Michael Anderson of New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Hollywood challenged the audience on the comments regarding inconvenience and said that he if took anyone in the audiences family members for one week, as his people were taken for hundreds of years, he would return them to their families fed, loved and affirmed.

I would never do to anyone what was done to my people, Pastor Anderson said. Its a moral compass. The only people who do not understand that are not human.

By 10:20 p.m. public statements concluded and the City Commission began their discussion on the resolutions to change the street names. A little more than an hour later the City Commission voted 5 to 1 to rename Forrest, Hood and Lee Streets.

Mayor Josh Levy, along with Commissioners Kevin Biederman, Dick Blattner, Debra Case and Linda Sherwood voted in favor. Vice Mayor Traci Callari voted against and Commissioner Peter Hernandez walked out before the vote. A five-vote super-majority was required for it to pass.

Hernandez abruptly left the meeting during the discussion while stating procedure was violated.

The City Commission will set a meeting next week to identify and discuss what the new street names will be. The City Engineer will be expected to notify the post office, utility companies, city departments and divisions of the new street names. Property owners will need to notify their banks, credit card companies, cell phone carriers, medical care providers, insurances, schools, social security office and department of motor vehicles on their new address.

Reactions to the vote were mixed ranging from joy and relief that history is being put into its proper perspective and place to frustration with those opposed citing concerns of financial burden associated with the decision.

Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, President of the South Florida Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History stated, "The removal of the street signs named after Confederate generals should be a non-issue. These men fought a traitorous war against the United States, and their names were enshrined on street signs in 1923 as way to uplift the philosophy of white supremacy. It's an outrage that there are black citizens in Hollywood that have to live on streets names for these men. I'm glad the commission has taken a step in the right direction, but the expense for the change shouldn't be visited on the residents."
After a campaign of two days spent calling towns asking to let me be their mayor, YouTube comedian Elijah Daniel descended on the town of Hell in Michigan, where he was sworn into office on Wednesday August 30. But it didnt last long.

Daniel shook hands with one of his constituents at the gates of Hell in a picture that he posted to Twitter. Two hours later, he was impeached over a ban on straight people.

Prior to Daniels ultimate fallout from his first and last impeachable offense, he posted an image to Twitter of the newly drafted ordinance.

"As acting mayor of Hell, Michigan I hereby ban all heterosexuals from entering our town, he began, writing that we want to ensure that we are not admitting into our town the very heterosexual threats we are fighting against.

As acting mayor of Hell, Michigan I hearby ban all heterosexuals from entering our town. pic.twitter.com/uDuGWFATmS  former mayor elijah (@elijahdaniel) August 30, 2017

He described the threats as follows: the straights coming into our town, procreating, having more straight children to take our rightfully gay jobs.

Daniel modeled the terms for his ban on straights from President Trump's ban on Muslims, lifting direct passages from Trump's document and transposing "Muslims" with "heterosexuals:

My ban is a copy-and-paste of Trumps Muslim ban, but with heterosexuals instead, he told People Magazine.

Mockingly, Daniel wrote: "Growing up, I was always told that homosexuals would go to Hell, now the heterosexuals are trying to take this from us too, adding that our number one responsibility and priority is to protect Hell.

We are a compassionate town and we support the heterosexuals but it is time to reevaluate and strengthen our vetting process. And we can no longer in good conscience allow straights to enter.

Rather than deporting heterosexuals from Hell, the ban stipulated that residents wishing to remain in Hell would be made to pay a deposit of $84,000 as a reproductive precautionary deposit, to be returned after one year of abstinence from any heterosexual activities.

I love straights, but my #1 priority is the safety of my town. Until the heterosexual threat has been reviewed we cannot allow them to enter  former mayor elijah (@elijahdaniel) August 30, 2017

In a most cutting last bit of satire, Daniel wrote:

We will also be offering a heterosexual reparative therapy program for hetero residents who would like to denounce their heterosexuality and become gay like the rest of the town  all hetero residents who do not participate in reparative therapy will be required to wear a scarlet H and meet in the town center at 5:30 AM wearing cargo shorts every morning to be publicly straight-shamed.

Daniel lightheartedly responded to the all-too-serious subsequent backlash that his political performance piece inspired, writing on Twitter after being impeached that straight ppl are outraged I said they can't go to a town they didn't even know existed with a population of 72 & that's so fucking funny

In closing, Daniel offered over Twitter, Being impeached was fun @realDonaldTrump, you should try it.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




Magnetic Fields In Distant Galaxy University of Wisconsin-Madison

Astronomers have measured magnetic fields in a galaxy 4.6 billion light-years away  a big clue to understanding how magnetic fields formed and evolved over cosmic time.

In an article published Aug. 28 in Nature Astronomy, a collaboration led by Sui Ann Mao, the Minerva Research Group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and a former postdoctoral Jansky Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reports the discovery of large, well-ordered magnetic fields in a galaxy far, far away. Because of the time it takes light to travel such immense distances, astrophysicists observe cosmologically distant magnetic fields as they were 4.6 billion years ago. The new observations provide hints at how magnetic fields have grown into galactic-sized structures since the beginning of the universe.

Like the humble refrigerator magnet, astronomical objects such as galaxies, stars, and even our own Earth have magnetic fields that attract and repel other magnets and electrically charged matter. Understanding magnetic fields is essential to understanding fundamental questions about the universe. Among other things, magnetic fields play a crucial role in the processes that form stars out of interstellar gas, determine how stars affect their surroundings, and indicate whether planets may or may not be habitable.

In the Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe, there were no magnetic fields in the cosmos. So when and how did magnetic fields arise? Scientists, including Maos team, aim to answer the question by observing the strength and organization of magnetic fields in galaxies as far away  and therefore as far back in time  as possible, when the universe was much younger.

By catching magnetic fields when theyre so young, we can rule out some of the theories of where they come from, explains Ellen Zweibel, a professor of astronomy and physics at UW-Madison and a co-author of the new study.

Astronomers had measured large, well-ordered magnetic fields in our own Milky Way and in galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood before. But Maos team is the first to successfully measure the magnetic field structure of a galaxy so distant in both space and time, pushing the boundaries of whats capable with current radio telescope technology and analysis techniques. With the National Radio Astronomy Obesrvatorys Very Large Array, a collection of 27 radio telescopes in New Mexico arranged to function together as a single enormous telescope, Mao observed a distant galaxy with a specific configuration optimal for measuring the galaxys magnetic fields.

The galaxy lies in front of a quasar, one of the brightest objects in the sky. The light from the quasar appears as two distinct images around the foreground galaxy, bent and magnified by the galaxys mass in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Mao and her team measured how properties of the two images of the quasar differed, affected by the magnetic fields of the galaxy, to determine the strength and organization of those magnetic fields.

Its a beautiful experiment, Zweibel says of Maos experimental design. Zweibel explains that the setup eliminates the need to account for how looking through different parts of the Milky Way would affect the observations. Since the two views of the quasar are observed along two very close lines of sight through the Milky Way, they are affected in the same way and can be compared.

Mao first proposed this experiment to Zweibel when she was a postdoctoral scientist at UW-Madison. She says Madison is a stimulating environment for studying and discussing magnetic fields in the universe because of a critical mass of scientists researching the phenomenon and the annual Midwest Magnetic Fields Workshop that takes place in Madison.

Madison is the magnetic fields capital of the USA  its the place to go if you want to study magnetism, says Mao.

###

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
The Kentucky Sires Stakes (KYSS) for three-year-old trotters and pacers were contested at The Red Mile on Thursday evening. The next stop for this group will be the $175,000 finals on Sunday, September 17.

Trotting fillies got underway in the third race as Cassandra AS made amends for a break in leg one with a 1:59.4 maiden breaker for Tyler Smith. She converted a perfect pocket trip behind barn mate and leg one winner Almondy AS into a stretch romp for breeder  owner ACL Stuteri and trainer Anette Lorentzon. Sheas Victory finished second after a long uncovered journey and Almondy AS held third.

Those same connections came right back to win the colt division with Starlight AS, this one driven by Elliot Deaton. That win positions Starlight AS, last years champ, for a series sweep as they look toward the final. Stanford rallied up for second and Master Royal third in 1:58.4.

V Power won again, making seven in a row and eight of ten on the year, this one in a new lifetime best of 1:51.4 for driver Dave Palone. The pair made front by the quarter at a cost of :26.4 with second choice Mt Sterling Mafia stinging the favourite, then yielding for the pocket. Palone was able to wrangle an uncontested middle half breather for his mount, enabling V Power to sprint home in :27.3 and hold off the pocket sitter.

Donna Gilson-Eferstein bred, raised and races V Power, with a big assist from her husband Al.

Straightontherocks took the pacing filly division for Aaron Merriman, leading all the way in a 1:53.3 upset. Favoured Al Mar Got A Fever followed up second over but didnt fire, creating large payoffs in the place and show pools. Straightontherocks took a new mark with the win for trainer Jason Borowski who owns the filly in partnership with Larry Hines.

Evening Qualifying Races

A few qualifying races went before tonights pari-mutuel card, among them a pair of royally-bred trotting colts were winners. Tactical Landing, 2016's highest priced yearling won in 1:57 for Dave Palone in a photo over Steven W Hill, and $350,000 yearling Gallant Man won in 1:59.3 for his trainer/driver Tony Alagna.

(with files from The Red Mile)
In Argentina, Stirring Journey for Human Rights Continues

Contact: Media Office, World Council of Churches, +41 79 507 6363



GENEVE, Sept. 1, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- "Since 1983 Argentina is enjoying the longest period of democracy in our history  it is a great achievement and that is why we need to take care of it." Pride in the peaceful change from military dictatorship to democracy 35 years ago and concern over recent developments in her country was the message that Estela Barnes de Carlotto brought with her to a meeting in Geneva reinvigorating the friendship between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Association of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, of which she is the president.

Photo: WCC general secretary Tveit, Estela de Carlotto and deputy general secretary Isabel Apawo Phiri.

Carlotto was welcomed to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and senior staff members. She thanked the WCC for the support received during the years when she and other women started their weekly demonstrations in Plaza de Mayo. They had chosen this symbolic square in the centre of the Argentinian capital to demand justice for their children who had been abducted, as well as the restitution of their grandchildren born in the regime's secret detention centres.

"Through our pain, we decided to be united," Carlotto said, recalling the collective strength of these mothers and grandmothers.

The vigour and dedication of the 86-year-old impressed the WCC staff no less than the moving story she had to tell of her family's suffering. First, in 1977, her husband was kidnapped and detained for 25 days because the regime wanted to know where the couple's daughters  members of a student movement  were. Having witnessed and experienced torture during these 25 days, he was eventually freed.

The family was not so lucky when, a few months later, their daughter Laura, pregnant at the time, was also illegally arrested. Though she was not killed right away like her partner, her life was only spared until she gave birth to a boy, as the family would learn much later.

Unlike the families of other disappeared, "we had the privilege to receive her body the day she was killed," Carlotto recalled, and explained how her pain transformed into a commitment: "I promised at my daughter's grave that I would seek justice for her and find her son."

In 2014, Carlotto was indeed reunited with her grandson Guido, when he responded to the public invitation from the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo for young people with doubts about their identity to go for DNA testing. The joy of finding her long-lost grandchild has not weakened her commitment: "I will keep working for the grandmothers whose arms are still empty for as long as I have life and health," she says.

The grandmothers' association continues its commitment to the 30,000 who were abducted between 1976-83, by seeking justice through the legal system and collecting forensic evidence. It also continues its efforts to reunite with their biological families the estimated 500 children who were illegally and secretly adopted during that time, sometimes by the murderers of the real parents. So far, 122 children have been able to find their true identity with the help of the grandmothers.

At the meeting with WCC officials, Carlotto expressed concern that nowadays, especially since the election of a new government in 2015, the space for debate over the crimes of the past is shrinking.

Carlotto also spoke about the case of Santiago Maldonado, a 28-year-old who has been missing since 1 August after participating in an indigenous-rights demonstration in Patagonia. She joined the concerns expressed by the young man's family that the state is not taking seriously indications pointing to the security forces' involvement in his disappearance. Solidarity demonstrations throughout Argentina have been announced for 1 September.

WCC member churches in Argentina

Read also:

Argentinean churches rejoice at grandmother finding grandson born to death camp mother (WCC press release of August 2014)

Statements regarding the disappearance of Santiago Maldonado by the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (MEDH), the Evangelical Church of the River Plate, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina, and the Waldensian Church (in Spanish)

Photos of the meeting and a 1 minute sound-bite in Spanish available for download free of charge to illustrate this article.



The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.
CfaN Announces New Book From Reinhard Bonnke: 'Holy Spirit: Are We Flammable or Fireproof?'

Christ for all Nations (CfaN) has announced the release of a new book titled "Holy Spirit: Are we Flammable or Fireproof?" by global evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. Printed in over 12 languages, the book presents fire points of truth about the Holy Spirit.



Contact: Sam Rodriguez, Christ for all Nations, CfaN, 407-854-4400, srodriguez@cfan.org



ORLANDO, Sept. 1, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Christ for all Nations (CfaN) announces the pre-release of "Holy Spirit: Are we Flammable or Fireproof?"a new book by global evangelist and CfaN founder Reinhard Bonnke. The book is scheduled to release globally on Nov. 8, 2017, the first day of his upcoming crusade in Lagos, Nigeria.



Bonnke's newest publication is already creating buzz among CfaN Ministry followers with its unique presentation of nuggets of truth on the Holy Spirit called "fire points," followed by short expositions.



A prolific writer of such best sellers as "Living a Life of Fire" and "Holy Spirit Revelation & Revolution," Bonnke says the purpose of this latest addition to his chronicles is to help guide followers who may be struggling, and his concern is palpable.



"You see, there are some people who can't seem to get the fire of the Holy Spirit, and there are those that have plateaued spiritually," Bonnke says. "They don't know how to break through to the next level, and that is adversely affecting the church and the great commission.



"In this book, I give keys to catching the fire of the Holy Spirit and impacting the world around us," he says.



In typical Bonnke style, parts of "Holy Spirit: Are we Flammable or Fireproof?" are humorous and others poetic. But according to Sam Rodriguez, Director of Project Development at CFAN, they are all powerful and vital for the individual or ministry seeking to break through into seeking a dynamic and meaningful relationship with the Holy Spirit.



"My goal was to give the reader something readable and easy to dip in and out of while gaining something life-changing each time you pick it up," Bonnke says.



According to Rodriguez, CfaN believes so much in the message of this book and its need in the Body of Christ at large that it is being simultaneously released in over 12 different languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, German, Czech, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Romanian, Bulgarian and others.



"We must get this book into every hand that is ploughing on God's harvest field," Rodriguez says. "The harvest is only possible with the power of the Holy Spirit."



This book is Evangelist Bonnke's chance to pass on his lifetime experiences and priceless wisdom of the Holy Spirit that helped him touch the lives of millions with the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.



"With every revelation I received about the Holy Spirit and His work, my life and ministry was transformed, and it made me more effective and productive," Bonnke says. "And I want to believe the same for you, that as you read this book, your life and ministry will be transformed."



"If there has ever been a time when the church needed to walk in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, it is now, and you cannot afford not to have a copy of this insightful book on the Holy Spirit. Pre-order your copy today at www.ReinhardBonnke.com."



About Christ For All Nations

CfaN is a non-denominational missions organization aimed at taking the Gospel message to the world. Christ for all Nations is primarily known for its historic crusades in Africa and recently surpassed a historic milestone of 76 million documented decisions for Jesus Christ at major events in Africa and other parts of the world. CfaN has offices in countries around the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, West Africa, United Kingdom and the United States.



The ministry offers Bible study programs from its website, as well as the Fire Conferences and other training events. The CfaN website also offers a variety of books, booklets, DVDs, CDs and more. CfaN books have been published around the world in over 140 languages.



To learn more about Christ for all Nations, visit CfaN online at www.cfan.org, email srodriguez@cfan.org or call 407.854.4400.



CfaN On Facebook

Reinhard Bonnke is Founder of Christ for all Nations and Evangelist Emeritus. For more than 40 years, he has impacted the nations with massive gospel and healing crusades that reached millions for Christ. You can follow this great General in the Body of Christ and glean from his wisdom on Facebook.



Daniel Kolenda is President of Christ for all Nations and an international evangelist. He is a gifted and anointed speaker who moves mightily in the gifts of the Holy Spirit accompanied by healings, miracles, signs, and wonders. Follow his ministry on Facebook.


Bay of Plenty locals are gathering to show their opposition to a Chinese water bottling companys proposed expansion of Otakiri Springs.

The expansion, which has attracted national and political interest around the issue of water bottling, will see the company Nongfu implementing a bottling facility at Otakiri Springs to sell overseas.

Nongfus New Zealand subsidiary, Creswell Enterprises, has lodged an application to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to take 580 million litres of groundwater per year from a Johnson Road site.

Otakiri Save our Water and Environment spokesperson, Maureen Fraser, says that their community group seeks to stand up against the proposal to help protect and preserve New Zealands water and environment for future generations.

As New Zealanders and locals, we need to act fast and make our protest heard about this latest threat to our water.

National and local government should not allow foreign-owned water-bottling companies to take water from New Zealands pristine aquifers.

A report to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council noted the Otakiri aquifer is some 200 metres or more below the surface.

It is regarded as a leaky confined aquifer, sandwiched between a greywacke basement below and a leaky aquitard above, says Maureen.

Little is known about how fast the aquifer recharges or where the water comes from; it is thought to be from Lake Tarawera.

She says that data surrounding the aquifer, is not reliable enough to determine whether it is safe to collect water from the site.

The science behind allocation of these aquifers is unreliable; data from current users and computer-based modelling is used to indicate how much water can or cannot be taken.

We have current examples in New Zealand where the science was flawed and the aquifers have been depleted. We need only look at Gisborne, where their aquifer is now being recharged with dirty river water and Canterbury, where the Rakaia River runs dry every summer.

Maureen says the action by their group is focused on stopping allocation of water for foreign-owned water-bottling and not about stopping farmers and horticulturalists from making their living.

We want the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to publicly notify the Nongfu consent application, so the community has the chance to say what it thinks. We also want a national moratorium on allocations for water bottling, especially to foreign-owned companies.

We have a real issue in the Whakatane District where there is a very strong political will for water bottling, because of the few dozen low-paid jobs it may bring.

We are very concerned that this issue will not get a fair hearing and will be swayed by political forces. Politicians need to listen up to the people of New Zealand who are saying, giving away our water is not OK.

The group invites anyone interested in the issue to attend a community meeting to discuss the Nongfu proposal and make a submission to the Regional Council about publicly notifying the proposed water allocation.

The community hui will be held on Thursday September 14 at 7pm at the Edgecumbe Cosmopolitan Club.
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
The Port of Vancouver is taking the unusual step of asking for a ruling against itself in a lawsuit challenging its past interpretation of the Washington Open Public Meetings Act.

In a motion for summary judgment filed Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court, port attorneys wrote, The Port acknowledges that Riverkeeper is entitled to a declaration that the Port of Vancouver USA violated the OPMA during at least one of the executive sessions held between March 2013 and July 2013.

The port is being sued by Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club and Northwest Environmental Defense Center, which allege it violated the Open Public Meetings Act when it discussed the minimum price for a real estate lease to the Vancouver Energy oil terminal during executive session.

The ports move caught the plaintiffs off guard.

Were still evaluating next steps, said Columbia Riverkeeper Executive Director Brett VandenHeuvel, who added that his organization hasnt seen anyone else ask for a motion against themselves.

The lawsuit is scheduled to be reheard by Judge David Gregerson on Oct. 26.

In 2015, Gregerson ruled five of seven executive sessions the port held in 2013 were properly held when they discussed the minimum price of the lease theyd offer Tesoro Corp. and Savage Cos.  the two companies behind Vancouver Energy.

But in June, the Washington State Supreme Court reversed his ruling, opined on how the act applies to real estate pricing, offered guidance on public meetings and executive sessions and sent the case back to Gregersons court to be reheard based on their interpretation.

We were acting in good faith and believed we were complying with the law when we held these executive sessions in 2013. But we now have, for the first time, interpretation and guidance from the courts on the timing of public meetings and executive sessions, port CEO Julianna Marler said in a news release.

Based on this new information, we have asked the Superior Court for a final determination on the executive sessions in question. We believe this is the right thing to do from a transparency and public stewardship standpoint.

Port of Vancouver spokeswoman Abbi Russell said the port also wants to focus its time and energy on new and ongoing projects, rather than putting more time and energy into the lawsuit.

Weve been at this for four years and we could be looking at a couple more if the suit continues, she said.

The port argues its motion wouldnt affect the validity of the lease with Vancouver Energy. But it hopes the motion will hasten the proceedings and result in the cases resolution by the end of the year.

VandenHeuvel said his organization is pleased the port has changed its policy around executive sessions, but his organization, which is an active opponent of the oil terminal, isnt satisfied.

This feels like its just for show and the citizens of Vancouver over many, many meetings explained to the port that it acted improperly, yet the port went forward with this lease.

If built, the $210 million Vancouver Energy terminal would receive oil via 1.5-mile-long unit trains from North Dakota and transfer it into marine vessels in the Columbia River. The oil would then be shipped to refineries along the West Coast.

The terminal would be capable of transferring an average of 360,000 barrels of oil per day.

The project is currently being evaluated by the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. Gov. Jay Inslee has the final say if the terminal will be approved.
WASHINGTON  President Trump has united us, after all.

He brought together the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Jews.

This modern-day miracle was on display Monday, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Mall, 54 years to the day after the great man gave his greatest speech. There, clergy of all varieties, but mostly rabbis and black ministers, came together in common cause against the despicable anti-Semitism and racism Trump has unleashed, most conspicuously in Charlottesville.

Sharpton has been a controversial figure in the Jewish community for decades, earning criticism during the Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn in 1991 and when he called a Jewish landlord in Harlem a white interloper before a deadly attack on the mans store in 1995.

But that was long ago, and a rehabilitated Sharpton, who has privately expressed regrets to Jewish leaders for his past actions, made Jews the centerpiece of his Thousand Minister March for Justice on Monday. The civil rights leader, joined by Martin Luther King III, stopped in at a pre-march prayer session held by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and addressed the assembly of 300 rabbis, cantors and lay leaders.

Sharpton told the Jews that we could not commemorate this day and face the challenges today without standing together as Dr. King stood 54 years ago. Invoking those murdered in the Freedom Summer of 1964, he went on: We should never forget that it was Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner that died together  two Jews and a black  to give us the right to vote.

Sharpton spoke of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with King at Selma, and he addressed the more recent ill feelings. We have had days good and bad, but from this day forward ... were going to make sure we do our part to keep this family together, he said. When we can see people in 2017 with torches in their hands, talking about Jews will not replace us, its time for us to stop praying to the cheap seats and come together.

Some of the rabbis shouted amen.

Jewish leaders applauding Al Sharpton? Who knew? Miracles out of a mess, proclaimed Reconstructionist Rabbi Malka Binah Klein of Philadelphia. Its tragic that it took Trumps bigotry and the spectacle of Charlottesville to remind Jews and African-Americans of their shared vulnerabilities. But it played out movingly at Mondays march, which was in planning long before the violence in Charlottesville.

Rather than 1 million men, Sharpton asked for 1,000 ministers, and got somewhat more than that among the 3,000 who assembled. Rabbis swayed and clapped to hip-hop and gospel music. There were skullcaps of every color and size, mainline Protestant ministers in white collars and colorful shawls, black evangelicals in bright choir robes, black-robed monks, Buddhists in saffron, a Sikh in a yellow turban. There were Black Lives Matter signs and posters with verses of scripture.

As if by way of greeting, a white-and-green chopper from the Marine One fleet buzzed low over the crowd during the opening prayer. Speaker after speaker, regardless of color or creed, denounced the person who rides in that helicopter, and more than one faulted Jerry Falwell Jr. and other white evangelicals for the sin of silence in the face of the hatred Trump has stirred.

A cantor led the crowd in the Hebrew song Hine Ma Tov  how good it is for brothers to live as one. A black Jewish woman in a tallit  a Jewish prayer shawl  spoke, and a rabbi blew a shofar. A black Catholic nun spoke.

Gods majestic creation, observed Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, head of the Religious Action Center. From the Nazis in Charlottesville, Pesner said, we learned that anti-Semitism and white supremacism are intertwined. They are dual threats that call us to act and confront them together and directly.

African-Americans responded with cries of Yes! and All right! to the rabbis preaching.

Jonah Geffen, a conservative rabbi from New York, in white robe and tallit, liked what he heard from Sharpton. He pronounced him a totally different man from the Sharpton of old.

Joining Sharptons march was Jesse Jackson, of Hymietown fame. But there is no time to dwell on old slights when neo-Nazis are at the door. We dont have a person to lose, King told the Jews at their prayer meeting Monday morning. We are brothers and sisters.
Hungary wants the European Union to pay half the bill for the razor-wired fence it erected in 2015 to keep migrants out, Prime Minister Viktor Orbans administration announced Thursday.



The fence has virtually erased illegal immigration into Hungary less than two years after it was considered the primary route for migrants attempting to enter the EU. Janos Lazar, Orbans chief of staff, claims the 400 million euro ($476 million) figure is justified since the fence is protecting all the citizens of Europe from the flood of illegal migrants.



If we talk about European solidarity, then we must also discuss the protection of borders. Solidarity must be applicable there, too, Lazar said at a press conference. That burden must also be shared.



The government moved Wednesday to extend its state of emergency until March as the threat of terrorism in Europe has increased. Aside from the fence, hundreds of officers have been deployed to guard the border around the clock and a number of transition zones have been set up to detain asylum seekers.

Victor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has ideally sent a bill to the EU for their border fence (via Hot Air ):Some of the politicians who should pay the bill include Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and even Theresa May. Their own management's been terrible in their country, and in fact, they owe their own citizens a lot of compensation too.

Labels: dhimmitude, Europe, immigration, islam, jihad, terrorism, war on terror
The Palace Museum in Beijing has shared a range of photos of its collection of stationery cases on micro blog Sina Weibo in celebration of the back-to-school season. As students are busy preparing stationery for the new semester, let's take a look at some stationery cases used in the ancient royal court. Stationery accessories were usually displayed prominently on emperors' tables, while cases used to hold them were also very exquisite. From basic-style functional stationery case to artistic stationery box, they can be seen in the images below.

A red-lacquered stationery case carved with patterns of twisting branches and lotus from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). [Photo/Official Weibo account of the Palace Museum]
BB to restrict supply of Tk 2, Tk 5 banknotes

bdnews24.com :

The Bangladesh Bank is looking to restrict the supply of Tk 2 and Tk 5 banknotes. An excess of coinage in the vaults prompted the decision, the central bank said.

In instructions issued to the chief executives of all banks on Wednesday, the BB said any bank seeking Tk 2 and Tk 5 notes from the central bank will now be required to withdraw 80 percent of the amount in coinage. The remaining 20 percent will be banknotes.

"We are also looking to reduce the number of Tk 2 and Tk 5 notes on the market," BB spokesman Subhankar Saha told bdnews24.com.

"While banknotes are circulating on the market, the coins are left in the Bangladesh Bank vault. The new decision is a response to the vast deposits of coins currently in our vaults."

The BB hopes the decision will increase the circulation of the coins. Saha said, the decision would also dispel allegations that banks refused to accept coins.
Dhaka protests as Myanmar helicopters violate Bangladesh airspace

Bangladesh has lodged a `strong protest` with the Myanmar embassy in Dhaka after Burmese helicopters violated airspace near southern Ukhia where Rohingya people fleeing violence in Rakhine State have taken shelter.



The foreign ministry on Friday said it lodged the protest in a diplomatic note sent to the embassy after the morning incidents in which `Myanmar helicopters violated Bangladeshs airspace near Ukhia on three occasions`.



Those were `repeated instances`, the foreign ministry said as it noted such violations on Aug 27 and Aug 28.



The ministry in the diplomatic note stressed that these instances of incursion into Bangladesh air space by Myanmar helicopters run contrary to the good neighbourly relations and could lead to unwarranted situation.



Rohingya refugees stand in the way of bilateral relations between the countries as Bangladesh has been giving them humanitarian shelter for decades, but Myanmar denies them citizenship.



Nearly 38,000 new Myanmar people entered Bangladesh in the last seven days after the fresh violence.



The foreign ministry said while Bangladesh has been cooperating with Myanmar in the security sector, such instances of `violation of sovereignty may affect the existing understanding and cooperation between the two countries`.



Bangladesh also demanded that Myanmar take immediate measures to prevent recurrence of such incursion in future.--bdnews24.com
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.
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MARION  Plans are underway for the 13th annual Veterans on Parade, set for 10 a.m. Sept. 9 in Marion.

Participants who are marching will line up at 9 a.m. at Marion Junior High School. Veterans who will ride are asked to be at the VA Hospital at 9 a.m.

Organizer Ed Davis said there is still time for veterans to sign up to either walk or ride in the parade. All veterans living in Southern Illinois is invited to participate, regardless of the branch of service or whether they served during war or peace.

The parade steps off at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, from Marion Junior High School and marches east to Tower Square. A memorial ceremony will be held to honor our first responders and those from Southern Illinois who have made the ultimate sacrifice. After the ceremony, the parade will continue east, ending at Washington School.

The parade will be led by and honor Gold Star mothers and first responders, as well as Vince Rolves of Carlyle, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

He is the last surviving prisoner of war survivor in Clinton and Washington counties. He was in POW camps in Germany for 18 months, Davis said.

Davis said organizers hoped to honor the veterans and guardians who were part of the first flight by Veterans Honor Flight of Southern Illinois, which traveled to Washington, D.C., in April. So far, he has only received a handful of responses. They will have a dedicated float, and family members may accompany the veterans. Other veterans may ride on the float if space allows.

Were looking to have a fly over with a commemorative Air Force group," Davis said. "Ive Working on that for two months. Im hoping that will materialize."

He is trying to get a helicopter that carries a flag to flyover just before the parade.

The parade was founded by four veterans living in Marion as a way to honor veterans. The founders were Davis, a Vietnam veteran; Rich Fuggiti, a Marine who served in World War II and Korea; Jo Loomis, a World War II Navy veteran; and Penny Bagby, who served in the Army stateside.

Out of four original founders, only two of us are left  Penny and myself, Davis said.

The first parade included 21 units. Last year, 135 participated.

We are picking up some Vietnam veterans, Dessert Storm and Dessert Shield veterans. I would like to get more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans [in the parade], Davis said.

Davis is asking that all veterans register with him so that accommodations can be made for all veteran participants. Floats from outside organizations are being accepted as long as they meet VOP criteria.

"We are proud of what we started here in Southern Illinois and we want to see it continue," Davis said.

To register for the parade, contact Davis 314-375-7170, 618-967-9415 (cell) or email him at edward2791@att.net.
Mission Solutions expanding in Charleston

COLUMBIA  Mission Solutions Group, a privately held, Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), is expanding its existing Charleston County operations. The firm is expected to invest $2.9 million and create 41 new jobs.

Established in 2015, Mission Solutions Group is a family of premier companies providing dedicated mission critical support in the communications, cyber-security and sustainment verticals to support the U.S. military. It currently manages four businesses: Marshall Communications Corp., a satellite communications and IT sales business; Sidecar Enterprises, Inc., a spare parts and logistics business; BlueJay Products, a diesel exhaust fluid manufacturer; and, Morgan-6, a software services provider.

With this investment, the company intends to locate its corporate headquarters and operational organizations to a facility at 6655 Jet Park Drive in North Charleston. This will allow the firm to centralize its various operations in the Lowcountry. Hiring for the new positions should begin in the fall of 2017.

Construction products firm launches in Lancaster

COLUMBIA -- Don Construction Products (DCP), a U.K.-based world leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing advanced technology products for the construction industry, is launching its first U.S. manufacturing operations in Lancaster County.

The new development is projected to bring $6.2 million in capital investment and create 21 new jobs.

The company's new facility will be located in KCH Industrial Park at 1409 Kershaw Camden Highway in Heath Springs. DCP will be establishing a new construction materials manufacturing operation in order to diversify the company's product portfolio to include additional dry mortars, sealants, resins and polymer-based products. Forecasted to be online by the third quarter of 2018, the company expects hiring for the new positions to begin in the second quarter of 2018.

Automotive plant in South Carolina headed to Mexico

EASLEY  An automotive parts manufacturer in South Carolina is closing and moving operations to Mexico.

Local media outlets reported the decision by Kongsberg Automotive to close its plant in Easley early next year will eliminate nearly 100 jobs.(backslash)

The Easley plant makes parts for the company's fluid transfer systems, which supplies hose and tube assemblies for large trucks and buses. The company said in a statement that "a very competitive" market in Easley has left the plant in an "uncompetitive position."

Kongsberg said closing the plant would be more efficient and reduce costs.

Most of the work will be oved in the first quarter of 2018.

The announcement comes after plans to close six Kongsberg Automotive plants in Europe.

V.C. Summer plant still shut down

COLUMBIA  One of South Carolina's nuclear power reactors remained shut down Thursday for what utility executives call a minor, non-nuclear issue.

The 33-year-old reactor at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Columbia, is safe and stable while teams assess repairs. There was a minor issue with the main transformer, and the plant's safety systems responded exactly as designed said Rhonda O'Banion, spokeswoman for SCANA, parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas.

The reactor automatically shut down Monday morning, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

There is no estimation for when it will be back online, said SCANA spokesman Patrick Flynn.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Gas prices continue to rise as an effect of Hurricane Harvey.

In South Carolina, the statewide average is $2.26  a seven-cent increase overnight Wednesday and a 20-cent increase since before Harvey.

At $2.45, Thursdays national gas price average was the highest recorded price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline so far this year. The near-term combination of numerous refinery and pipeline shutdowns, tightened access to supply levels in the gulf and anticipated high gasoline demand surrounding Labor Day weekend means motorists may not have seen the full impact of Harvey at the pump.

Consumers will see a short-term spike in the coming weeks due to the hurricane and the upcoming holiday weekend, said Tiffany Wright, AAA Carolinas spokesperson. AAA does not expect refineries to be offline for months, as early reports indicate minimal to no significant damage to Corpus Christi and Houston refineries."

The coming days, with Corpus Christi refineries working to come back online and Houston/Galveston beginning to dry out, will offer more insight into how long total recovery and restoration efforts may take.

Harvey has set a record for the greatest amount of single-storm rainfall for the continental United States. The storm continues to threaten heavy rain to parts of Louisiana and eastern Texas (3 to 6 inches), and even move into western Kentucky (10 inches). In the Houston/Galveston area, flooding, not rain, is now the concern.

As of Wednesday evening, the Department of Energy reported that 10 Gulf Coast refineries remain shut down. Six refineries have begun the process of assessing damage and restarting, which may take several days. Two refineries in the Gulf Coast region are operating at reduced rates. Refineries in Lake Charles, La., could shut or reduce rates as Harvey moves east.

Additionally, DOE released 500,000 barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve  the nations reserve of crude oil. The oil will be delivered via pipeline to the Phillips 66 refinery in Westlake, Louisiana. According to DOE, it will continue to review incoming requests for oil in the reserve, meaning that it could release more if deemed necessary.

In addition to refinery shutdowns, several major pipelines continue to operate at reduced rates, have shut down or plan to shut down due to lack of supply. The Colonial Pipeline announced Wednesday evening it expects to temporarily suspend its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel pipelines. With its supplying refineries closed in the area, the pipeline operator cited reduced output as the reason for suspending its transportation operations. The pipeline originates in Houston and supplies the East Coast.

The pipeline temporarily suspending supply does not mean shortages, Wright said. Gasoline inventories are at historically high levels and there is an abundant supply of fuel across the United States to meet demands at this time.

Refinery, pipeline and logistical problems on the Gulf Coast are expected to squeeze fuel supply delivery volumes to the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

The good news is that in addition to having full inventories of gasoline, the Northeast refiners are stepping in and sending supplies to the Carolinas to help lessen the lack of supply from Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines shut down due to Harvey, Wright said. What we are seeing is a reshuffling of distribution behind the scenes to prevent shortages.

To help alleviate concerns about fuel supply shortages as a result of the refinery and logistics issues in the Gulf Coast, on Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency issued a waiver requirement for low-volatility conventional gasoline and Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) in 12 states including South Carolina. With the waiver, retailers are allowed to sell winter blend gasoline early.

Ultimately, we want to encourage Carolinians to do what they can to support the victims suffering from Harvey and to enjoy their Labor Day weekend as originally planned, Wright said.
I'm dying to hear about the "3-D chess" Trump is playing with his announcement that he's breaking his promise on Afghanistan and throwing more forces into that utterly pointless war. Will he be sending the transgender troops?

But then the Emperor God gave a magnificent speech in Arizona a week ago. Curiously, when he talks to voters -- as opposed to his Cabinet and White House staff -- there's very little about sending more U.S. troops to die in the human meat-grinder of Afghanistan.

Trump got thunderous applause from his 30,000-person focus group for the wall, stepped-up deportations and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- recently convicted of contempt for "racially profiling" Hispanics. But you could hear a pin drop when he mentioned Afghanistan, Nikki Haley and Gen. John Kelly. (At least he had the good sense not to bring up Goldman Sachs' Gary Cohn again.)

There were long faces all over cable news after Trump's speech, which surely triggers the reward center in his brain, like giving a mouse cheese.

What was so refreshingly different about the Trump campaign was that the candidate didn't use any of the idiotic, consultant-written bromides offered by every other GOP presidential candidate for at least the past 30 years. Instead, he looked around the country, saw what the problems were and said he'd fix them.

Here are the highlights from every speech by any non-Trump candidate for the past several decades:

 "I listened to the American people."

 "People are frustrated."

 "This election is about the future!"

It may not seem like it at first, but another one of those head-scratching cliches is: "Peace through strength." During the campaign, this was a staple of knuckleheads like Jeb!, but I'm sorry to report that our hero used it on the Arizona crowd, referring to his decision to send more troops to die in Afghanistan for no earthly purpose. The Swamp is sticky.

When Reagan said, "peace through strength," it meant something. But 30 years after Reagan won the Cold War, anyone who uses this expression conveys only that he has no understanding of the current war.

During the Cold War, America was facing an aggressively imperialistic, nuclear-armed Soviet Union. By contrast, the main threat to Americans' safety today comes not from a country, but from millions of individual savages spread throughout the globe.

Our freedoms are being taken away not by a foreign power, but by our own government -- in order to protect us from terrorists, international crime rings and Mexican drug cartels operating in our own country.

Defeating a non-country adversary may seem an impossible task, but the savages are perfectly containable. Today's enemy has no capacity to harm a hair on a single American's head -- as long as we don't let them come here.

We don't need a military victory. We need an immigration moratorium.

The Non-Trump Republicans promised us only more immigration and more wars. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!

More than 1,600 American troops died in Afghanistan under Obama, and not one American is safer.

All we need to do to win the current war is: Keep our nuclear weapons in working order and stop allowing enemy forces into our country. If we must have troops constantly deployed somewhere, the only place they'd actually be useful is 10 feet into Mexico. (Let a court try to stop that!)

Trump, and only Trump, promised to put our country first and protect our interests when it came to immigration and foreign wars. He didn't care that political correctness dictated putting America's interests dead last.

But since becoming president, instead of draining the swamp, the swamp seems to have drained Trump. His agenda has been drowned out by the agenda of Washington's Uni-Party.

Rather than actually being like Reagan and winning the war we're in, Trump has decided to continue Obama's unconstitutional "executive amnesty" -- opposition to which gave the GOP stunning victories in 2014 and 2016. Now he has grabbed the hot poker of Afghanistan, allowing ecstatic Democrats to scratch that disaster off Obama's Greatest Hits list. Now, it's Trump's war.

I don't know why Trump would surround himself with people who oppose his agenda, but on in Arizona he heard again from the people who see him as our country's last hope. He should listen to them.
Expatriates in Oman will be offered more than 5,000 homes across the sultanate under an ambitious RO4 billion ($10.39 billion) programme as part of the five integrated tourism complex (ITC) projects.



Each of the complexes offers hundreds of homes for all nationalities, said a Times of Oman report.



Currently, non-Omanis can only buy property within integrated tourism complexes but the government is pushing to create more such projects, as part of its move away from dependence on oil and gas, the report said.



Mubarak bin Hamad Al Alawi, advisor of legal affairs at Ministry of Tourism (MoT), told Times of Oman that these projects include Diyar Ras Al Hadd Resort, Omagine Project, Quriyat Integrated Project, Naseem A'Sabah Project and Al Nakheel Project.



Oman has taken a positive step by opening up the real estate market to Omanis, GCC citizens and other nationalities. The government has received a number of applications," he said.



Al Alawi said a royal decree has allowed non-Omanis to own lands and units in the integrated tourism complexes that are certified by the related entities in the sultanate. The ownership is granted for two purposes: residence and investment, by any free ownership means, as long as it doesnt violate the countrys regulations on the subject.



Diyar Ras Al Hadd Project will have 700 residential properties, while Omagine Project in Seeb will have more than 2,000 homes available. Naseem ASabah in Seeb will have more than 1,200 residential units, five-star hotels, retail zones and a yacht club, as well as leisure zones and restaurants.



Al Nakheel Project in Barka will include hotels and hotel apartments, 1,436 residential apartments, villas and houses which will be available for ownership for all nationalities and citizens, the report said.
Prince Khaled bin Waleed Al Saud, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, has expressed his desire to invest in Egypt by establishing a number of projects, especially in Sharm El-Sheikh, a report said.



Prince Khaled, who is also chairperson of the board of directors of the Seven Regions International Company, also stated during his meeting with Sahr Nasr, Egypts Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, that he wishes to enter a partnership to expand his current projects and support any faltering projects in Egypt, according to a report in Daily News Egypt.



Nasr highlighted that there are many investment opportunities in the New Administrative Capital, the New El Alamein City, and the Suez Canal Development Center, in addition to South Sinai, which the Saudi prince can invest in as the government provides these areas with high-quality infrastructure and all services to encourage investment in them.



Earlier, Saudi businesspeople Fahd Al-Shobokshi and Abdul Rahman Al-Sharbatli met with Nasr and agreed to inject new investments in Egypt worth $2.15 billion. Meanwhile the Egyptian-Saudi Business Council raised the investment ceiling in Egypt to $51 billion.
The World Bank has agreed to provide 1 billion ($1.18 billion) to electrify the rail network in Iran, the head of the Irans regional railway authority was quoted as saying in a media report.



"The World Bank has approved to provide one billion euros as finance for the electrification of the railway ... that starts in Garmsar in Semnan Province and continues to the city of Gorgan in Golestan Province," Yusef Geranpasha was quoted as saying by Iran Daily, which cited Irna.



Russia and Iran signed an agreement worth 1.2 billion in November 2015 to electrify the Garmsar to Inche Burun route in Iran.



Geranpasha said implementation of the Iranian-Russian contract will start soon after the World Bank's decision, and may take three years to finish.



The project will cover 32 stations and 95 tunnels, 7 traction substations, 11 section pillars, 6 duty posts of the contact station and power supply administration building.
The investment opportunities offered by Saudi Arabia's economic cities and the role of Economic Cities Authority (ECA) were highlighted at a major event in Washington, US, recently.



The US-Saudi Arabian Business Council (US-SABC) meeting, which also discussed cooperation between both the countries, was addressed by ECA secretary general Mohanud Helal.



The meeting focused on leveraging and capitalising on the strong economic ties between the American and Saudi business communities, said a statement.



The event was hosted and organised by Edward Burton, president and CEO of the US-SABC, and the executive team, and sponsored by the renowned international law firm Mayer Brown, represented by Charles Hallab, corporate and securities partner at Mayer Brown and board member of the US-SABC.



Helal gave a brief about ECA, the business model and the investment opportunities in the economic cities, and a video presentation about King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).



Helal said: This is a very exciting opportunity to present ECA and the progress that we have made in pursuing the economic cities agenda. It is important that we convey to our colleagues at the US-SABC the opportunities that the economic cities present to leaders in the US.



He explained Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and the role that ECA plays in realising the visions goal of creating a vibrant society, a thriving economy and a nation ambitious to achieve new levels of effectiveness, transparency, accountability and performance.



He highlighted the function of ECA as a facilitator and regulator dedicated to creating an investment-friendly environment while providing swift and efficient government services to both investors and residents.



Outlining a new Saudi Arabia set to welcome foreign investment, Helal listed the various international cooperation agreements that it is forging in order to motivate an exchange of expertise and transfer of industries.



He also explained the kingdoms growing dedication to establishing public-private partnerships as economic policy.



Helal wrapped up his remarks by inviting the US-SABC and its members to visit the kingdom and see opportunities for themselves, highlighting the special economic zones, that will help Saudi Arabia attract more companies to invest in, it stated.



Mike Wysong, chief financial officer, building technologies and solutions and global products at Johnson Controls, spoke about his companys positive experience with ECA and KAEC and the benefits of moving into KAEC early on. He also encouraged American companies to establish their businesses in KAEC. - TradeArabia News Service
Exporters from Malaysia, the worlds largest producer and exporter of Halal food products, will showcase the country's multi-billion dollar Halal industry, at the 9th edition of the Halal Expo Dubai to be held next month, in Dubai, UAE.



The event will take place on September 18 and 19 at the Roda Al Bustan Hotel near Dubai International Airport.



Malaysia will be represented by 15 ready-to-export companies at the national pavilion at the expo, according to a Wam news agency report.



Malaysias Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries is leading the countrys participation, representing Halal food, cosmetics and the pharmaceuticals sectors.



Muslim expenditure makes up 16.7 percent of global expenditure on F&B in 2014. Malaysias external Halal F&B sector is of critical importance, as F&B was Malaysias top Halal export in 2015, followed by palm oil derivatives and Halal ingredients.



Globally, the Muslim market for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics is valued at $54 billion or 7 per cent of global expenditure.



The cumulative average growth rate for this sector is 6.8 per cent between 2014 and 2020, in which Malaysia ranks just behind Singapore and Egypt.



The event, which attracted participation from 13 countries in its previous edition and registered 3,700 trade visitors from 40 countries, expects larger trade participation where buyers and sellers of halal products and services are expected to do brisk business, added the report.
Oil futures declined on Friday from sharp gains achieved in the previous session despite the turmoil in the oil industry caused by the Hurricane Harvey which struck Texas, US.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 35 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $46.88 barrel at 0641 GMT. The contract rebounded 2.8 percent on Thursday but is still heading for a weekly decline of 2 per cent, said a Reuters report.

The new Brent contract for November delivery was down 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $52.65 barrel, it said.

Hurricane Harvey has killed at least 40 people and brought record flooding to the US oil heartland of Texas, paralysing at least 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, reports said.

Meanwhile, the White House has said that it will ask the US Congress for emergency funding to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

President Donald Trump is expected to propose an initial $5.9 billion. Texas authorities say the state might need more than $125 billion.

Visiting Texas, Vice-President Mike Pence promised federal help to "rebuild bigger and better than ever before", a BBC report said.

The White House also said Trump would donate $1 million of his own money to the relief effort.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) said its teams had rescued more than 3,800 people, and more than 90,000 had already been approved for disaster assistance.

Fema also warned that residents were being targeted by scams. There are reports of criminals impersonating inspectors and immigration officials.

One chemical plant in Crosby, near Houston, caught fire on Thursday, and more fires are expected in the coming days. Chemicals stored at the flooded Arkema plant are no longer being refrigerated, making them combustible.

Residents have been evacuated from the plant in a 1.5 mile radius, and smoke was seen rising from the site on Thursday.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind will return to the iconic Wyoming landmark that was featured prominently in the 1977 film when it is screened Saturday at the base of the Devils Tower.

The showing of the recently-remastered and restored version of Spielbergs sci-fi classic begins with festivities at 6 p.m. near the Devils Tower KOA. Viewers can start with mashed potato sculpting sessions while drones hover overhead for an alien spacecraft atmosphere. A campfire and marshmallow-roasting gathering follows the film, according to the event page. Camping is available through the KOA.

The campout event organized by SYFY and Alamo Drafthouse kicks off the SYFY25 Screening Series of sci-fi classics in celebration of the networks 25th anniversary and Alamo's 20th anniversary. The screening also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the film, which tells the story of a man whos drawn to an encounter with extraterrestrials in Wyoming.

Seeing Spielbergs sci-fi stunner on the big screen is a breathtaking encounter all its own, but watching the film at the base of the real landmark out in the rugged beauty of Wyoming? Well, thats an experience almost as mind-blowing as actually making extraterrestrial contact, says the event page.

A "Close Encounters" screening at Devil's Tower was part of The Alamos first Rolling Roadshow tour, and fan demand called for another at the monument, according the event page. The SYFY and Alamo Drafthouse Screening Series' retrospective of genre classics continues nationwide with events celebrating other sci-fi film anniversaries at Alamo theaters and outdoor locations with custom stunts on the ground.
The 2017 Wyoming Suicide Prevention Conference was cancelled due to low interest and scheduling difficulties, a conference organizer said.

The conference will meet in 2018 for the fourth time, after taking a hiatus this year, said Felicia Cummings of the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force.

The conference was scheduled for the last weekend of September but suffered from low registration and was cancelled Aug. 23.

Wyoming has consistently had among the highest suicide rates in the country. The states rural landscape and the recent economic downturn are thought to contribute to the high rates of suicide attempt and completion.

In recent years, as suicide rates have increased nationwide, Wyomings have remained relatively consistent. Officials have attributed Wyomings improvement in prevention methods and awareness campaigns like those the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force helps facilitate.

The conferences cancellation will not have much of a financial impact on the task force but it will make the groups goal more difficult, said Lance Neiberger, a member of the group. The task force aims to raise suicide awareness and make taboo conversations more acceptable.

Registration fees will be refunded to those who had prepaid, Neiberger said.

Neiberger would not specify what scheduling difficulties the conference encountered, other than to say the program (was) not coming together the way we thought it would.

Part of the problem consisted of difficulty booking speakers for the last week in September, Cummings said. The scheduling difficulty was a result of conflicts for academically-affiliated experts in the field, she said.

The task force is aiming to schedule next years conference in early October, which Cummings hopes will alleviate conflicts.

The task force will host its 14th annual Breaking the Silence suicide prevention walk 4 p.m., Sept. 23, at Mike Lansing Field. Neiberger said that event was shaping up to look real good.
The city of Casper will begin soliciting applications for a new police chief beginning Friday, City Manager Carter Napier said.

The city manager said he expects to announce the details of the open position before the holiday weekend begins. The application window will be open for about three weeks, he said.

The position has been staffed by Steve Schulz in an interim capacity since May. The previous chief, Jim Wetzel, was dismissed May 5, following a month of turmoil at the department centered on complaints of morale problems. However, the city has not offered an official explanation for Wetzels departure.

Napier said he has spoken with City Council members, representatives from activist groups and run-of-the-mill citizens regarding the hiring process for the chief. Napier characterized the input as coming from a broad ... cross-section of the community, including people of color.

As a result of those conversations, Napier said he has decided to look for a candidate who is able to partner with citizens, local agencies and nearby police departments, in addition to directing officers inside the Casper Police Department.

This is gonna be a community hire, Napier said.

The process will consist of soliciting applications, seeking input from the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, conducting interviews and finally making a job offer. Napier will make the final hiring decision.

Napier said he expects to finalize a hire sometime in October. If the new chief comes from outside the department, he or she will still be able to take the reins in time for the December holidays, which would meet the timeline Napier set when he took over this summer.

The hiring comes as an outside firm conducts an external review of the department. The first phase of the review consisted of data analysis focusing on officers workload, deployment and response times, according to the city. The second stage of the review was completed last week, when 13 private citizens gave feedback to analysts from the Center for Public Safety Management and analysts visited the department.

Napier was unsure whether the review would be available before he made a hiring decision.

If the city hires a new chief before the report is available, the report will be available to the new chief to help him or her create a new chapter for the department, Napier said.

The citys search for a chief began shortly after the local branch of the Fraternal Order of Police released a survey in early April that described a toxic environment in the department. Weeks later, two-thirds of the police force gave a vote of no confidence to Wetzel.

Wetzel said he still had no plans to step down in late April, but was ousted from his at-will contract in early May.

Napier was hired after the previous city manager, V.H. McDonald, announced his sudden retirement in April.

What our public wants is an effective guardian of our peace, Napier said. ...criminals are not gonna feel safe here.

The city is also looking for a new fire chief to replace Kenneth King, who will be retiring in January. Napier said he is talking with different people about what qualities they want in a new fire chief.
More Natrona County schools improved on annual performance ratings than slid backward, the Department of Education said Tuesday, mirroring a statewide trend of overall gains.

The performance ratings, which are part of the states education accountability system, scored schools using one of four grades: exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, partially meeting expectations and not meeting expectations.

Ten schools in the district improved their overall rating compared to last year. Sixteen schools maintained their rating, and five fell. Overall, only a slim majority of schools in Natrona County scored in the bottom two rankings.

Its positive for us, but were not happy with it, said Walt Wilcox, the associate superintendent for instruction at the district.

Only one school  Evansville Elementary  is exceeding expectations overall. Its Evansvilles third-straight year of hitting the highest score, making it one of only 13 statewide.

He praised Evansville, noting that it had a high percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunch. He said it was an exceptional case study for a successful school, noting its strong tutoring and advisory systems and Evansvilles ability to focus on the whole child.

Wilcox said that over the past three years, the district has gone from having nine schools with the lowest rating to only three: Mills Elementary (which closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year), Willard Elementary and Frontier Middle.

Midwest School, Mountain View, Poison Spider, Pineview, Centennial and Dean Morgan Junior High all pulled up from not meeting expectations in 2015-16 to partially meeting.

Wilcox said that schools that need improvement will be given more attention, both from the district and the state. That includes professional development for teachers and staff, an emphasis on curriculum alignment to ensure students are learning what they need and extra support for students who are struggling.

In a press conference announcing the scores Thursday morning, state Superintendent Jillian Balow said it was difficult to pinpoint exact reasons why Wyoming schools are seeing improvements. She said the state is focusing on professional development of teachers and staff while helping schools use the student data available to them.

We like the positive trend, she said. Of course, theres always room for improvement, and I anticipate every single school district has already taken a look at the individual school performance and theyre making changes and making adjustments.

The ratings are released amid a broader discussion across Wyoming about whether the state is getting a proper return on its substantial educational investment. The state spends more than $16,000 per student, and some lawmakers have questioned whether schools are delivering results that reflect that level of funding.

Balow said the conversation about school funding is separate and subordinate to a discussion about student achievement.

We just must be very careful that in the midst of talking about school funding, that we keep those funding conversations as far away from the classroom and far away from students as we can, she told reporters.

Rating schools

Middle and elementary schools were rated on their growth, their equity and their achievement based on statewide assessment results. Wilcox explained that growth was measured by looking at how students  placed in a group with other, similar Wyoming students  compared to their peers.

Equity measures how schools close the achievement gap for students in certain subgroups, like those who receive free and reduced lunch or who are in certain ethnic groups.

The performance ratings also have a participation metric, to ensure that schools arent hiding certain students who may hurt their score, Wilcox said.

High schools were assessed using those indicators, as well as their graduation rates and their students post-secondary readiness. Natrona County, Kelly Walsh and Midwest all were found to be partially meeting expectations. Thats an improvement for Midwest and a drop for Natrona County High. (The performance ratings did not include scores for alternative schools, so Roosevelt High was excluded.)

Kelly Walsh received the same scores  both overall and in each indicator  as it received last year. Natrona County High lost ground in growth, equity and achievement, while Midwest improved its graduation rate and its equity ratings.

Wilcox said the district hopes to have 100 percent of its schools either meeting or exceeding expectations by the end of 2019.

The performance ratings are the latest in a wave of scores released by the state Department of Education in recent weeks. In July, the PAWS scores showed that Natrona County had made gains and was near the statewide average. Two weeks ago, ACT scores were released; Natrona County students scores fell slightly and lagged behind the overall Wyoming average.

Wilcox, who spoke to the Star-Tribune after the release of those scores, was consistent: The district is pleased with its gains but wants to continue improving. He has said individual schools are working to align their curriculum across grade levels, so students are learning what they need to in order to be prepared for their next class and their next assessment.

Were moving in the right direction, he said. Itll take us a few years, were a large district. So to move the district as a system, we want to continue to see the system making positive growth and change. Were not comfortable with where we are, were not satisfied, but were pleased as a system that were making growth.
Will Thompson and his family sat in their Colorado home last weekend and watched the images from Texas flicker across the evening news: people stranded on roofs reaching toward the skies, rivers of water careening down highways, families huddled in crowded shelters.

We looked at each other and said, Boy, we should do something, Thompson said.

Its a thought that many across the country have considered in the past week while watching the devastation from afar. Its difficult to feel so far away while others suffer, to watch churning floodwaters wash away neighborhoods and lives while sitting warm and dry in intact homes.

A number of Wyomingites acted on the natural instinct to help those in east Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Thompson, who travels Wyoming for his job with a heavy equipment auctioneer, reached out to his contacts in the Wyoming Contractors Association and asked for donations. His 17-year-old son posted on social media requesting help. So far, theyve raised more than $1,750 from contracting companies throughout Wyoming to purchase supplies. Theyve also collected donations of goods from a number of individuals and stored the bags and boxes of goods in their shop.

Next weekend, theyll load up a 26-foot trailer and make the drive to Houston where theyll distribute the goods to area shelters. Theyve never done anything like this before, Thompson said.

But its all coming together, he added. Its pretty incredible.

In Casper, Grace Niemitalo organized an event to collect tampons, pads and diapers to send on Thompsons truck to Texas. She was talking on the phone with a friend about how critical access to pads and tampons is in day-to-day life when she had the idea.

How much more could they be needed during a time of devastation and the complete unknown, she said. Thats a necessity thats really overlooked.

She reached out to Shawn Houck, owner of Frontier Brewing, and asked for permission to use the bar for an event, which he allowed.

Niemitalo hopes the event, scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the brewery, will bring needed supplies to suffering people. She asked people to consider items that will be needed in the long-term and not just in the immediate situation.

When people are considering making donations I would urge everyone to dig just a little deeper, she said. Our first inclination is to give something like clothes. But thats everybodys first inclination.

Along with supplies and money, Wyoming is also sending manpower and equipment.

At least 10 Red Cross staff and volunteers from the Cowboy State are currently working in Texas and Louisiana, assigned to a wide variety of tasks.

On Friday, the Wyoming National Guard announced it would send two airplanes and 14 people to Fort Worth to help with airlifts in the area.

This is exactly what we train to do, Maj. Gen. Luke Reiner, the Wyoming adjutant general, said in a news release. This is why America has a National Guard  to save lives at home, to fight our wars and to build partnerships.
The Village of Elgin Winery will celebrate its newest venture the Elgin Brewhouse on Saturday, Sept. 2, but it won't be all about cocktails, beer and ribbon-cutting.

The celebration also will be a memorial of sorts for the winery's mascot, a gracious and elegant peacock named Trevor who was killed by a car last week.

"We are heartbroken ......," the owners posted on Facebook.

The news was sobering for folks who had visited the Village of Elgin Winery and seen the perky peacock strut about like he owned the place, his beautiful, colorful feathers flowing behind him.

He would hold court, especially among his owners who adored Trevor to lengths that words cannot adequately describe. And Trevor, the owners' devoted pet and the winery's unofficial mascot, was a bonafide celebrity; folks who came into the winery at 471 Elgin Road in the heart of the Sonoita/Elgin wine country would spot the bright train of blue, green and gold feathers and ooh and ahh in amazement.

Trevor had his own Facebook page where he'd posts his musings and let his fans know what he was up to. On July 10, he posted that Regina the turkey was coming to stay with him "and I think it's fabulous! Going to eat my grapes, cookies, maybe a lizard or two and relax. I'm loving the cooler temps as well," the post read.

On Aug. 24, there was a final posting on Trevor's page: "Apparently I was killed and the jackwagon who couldn't even tell the people who have loved me for over 3 years, that my dead body was on the side of the road," the post read.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Sept. 1 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.
The hot, dry weather dominating Arizona and the Southwest during the last week had a direct effect on the historic rain and flooding in Texas from what was Hurricane Harvey.

There were two high-pressure systems, one to the east of the hurricane and one to the west, said Nancy Selover, Arizona state climatologist, in a statement. Those and the low-pressure trough between (them) sort of trapped Harvey, keeping it in place.

Typically, hurricanes fall apart within hours, because they get cut off from energy source once over land, said Michael Crimmins, University of Arizona associate professor of global change and soil, water and environmental science.

But Harvey stalled and continuously drew in huge amounts of warm water onto land. The storm even moved back into the Gulf of Mexico to gather more steam as it began its path to the northeast.

More than 50 inches of rain  historic totals  fell in some places in and around Houston.

All the while, Tucson saw below-average rainfall  only 0.13 of an inch  and somewhat higher than average temperatures during the last week. Since Saturday, Tucson has seen highs of about 5 to 6 degrees above normal for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.

Our weather system also had another impact  keeping out of Harveys rainy reach.

The high pressure to the west was over us, and is keeping most of Harveys moisture from getting to Arizona, Selover said.

This configuration of high-pressure systems had a specific effect in keeping Harvey stalled over the Houston area as opposed to what typically might have happened.

Had the subtropical high over the Southwest been stretched across all the southern United States  it can sometimes have this configuration  Harvey would have blasted west into Texas and decayed rather quickly over the mountains of Mexico, Mark OMalley, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said in a statement.

As the high-pressure system in the eastern United States let up, Harvey moved over Louisiana, and began weakening in its path across Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. By Thursday morning, Harvey was a tropical depression and was expected to move across the Ohio valley by Saturday as a post-tropical low, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In Tucson, we turn our attention now to (Tropical Storm) Lidia at the Gulf of California, Crimmins said, which might break the dry spell and bring moisture next week.

Monsoons not over, he said. Its getting close but theres one or two surprises left.

It will remain warm through next week in Tucson with highs in the low 100s on Saturday and Sunday and near 100 Monday through much of next week, according to the NWS. The chance of rain was at 10 percent for the weekend.
PHOENIX  One of the three doctors  including one from Tucson  accused of prescribing opioids for money is denying he or the others did anything wrong.

Dr. Nikesh Seth, the only one of the doctors who returned a call seeking comment about the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by Attorney General Mark Brnovich, acknowledged he did get money from Insys Therapeutics to speak about its drug Subsys. In fact, Seth told Capitol Media Services that he along with the other two doctors named in the lawsuit  Steve Fanto of the Phoenix area and Sheldon Gingerich of Tucson  were the only three in the state that were speakers for Insys.

The lawsuit separately charges the Chandler-based company with misleading patients and doctors about the dangers of the drug and of lying to insurers about the condition of the patients in a bid to get payment for the drug.

But Seth denied any link between the number of prescriptions he wrote for the sublingual version of the powerful opioid fentanyl and the money.

They were educational programs that we were paid for where multiple providers across the country and in the Valley attended, the Scottsdale pain management specialist said. So they were actual legitimate speaker programs.

Thats not the contention of Brnovich, who charges in the lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court that Insys paid doctors sham speaker fees in exchange for writing prescriptions, all in order to increase the sales of Subsys, without regard for the health and safety of patients.

To back his contention, Brnovich said that in the two years before Seth began receiving speaker fees he wrote just 11 prescriptions for Subsys.

Then in the three months immediately before his first fee, he wrote 18 per month, a figure that increased to about 23 per month while Seth was actually getting paid an average of $207,000 a month. Yet in the seven months after the fees stopped, Brnovich said Seth was prescribing Subsys at a rate of two a month.

The fact that we prescribed the product or that I prescribed the product is that its a very good product and we had an appropriate clientele of patients that got the medication, Seth said. And Seth said most of those patients had breakthrough cancer pain, the only use for which the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the drug.

Seth acknowledged that he and the other doctors prescribed the drug to others experiencing pain, saying patients were warned about the dangers. And there is nothing illegal about off-label use.

Also named in the lawsuit along with Insys and Seth is Dr. Steve Fanto, who until July was in the practice of pain medication in Scottsdale.

His license was suspended after the Arizona Medical Board found he had improperly prescribed Subsys.

Among the boards findings was that he was starting patients off with 800 micrograms of Subsys, the highest available dose, despite FDA-required labeling that said they should be started at 100 micrograms with the dose slowly increased until there was an adequate pain-relieving effect with tolerable side effects. Brnovich said these prescriptions did more than put patients at risk.

They also generated substantial revenue for Insys, he said. The higher the dose of Subsys, the more money Insys made.

Also named in the lawsuit is Tucson pain management specialist Dr. Sheldon Gingerich.

The lawsuit said before Gingerich started getting speaker fees, he wrote fewer than one Subsys prescription a month. That increased to 10 a month in the three months before the fees started and 16 a month while he was getting paid a total of $83,100 in speaker fees and $7,200 in consulting fees.

Gingerich did not return phone calls for comment.

All totaled, Brnovich said, the three doctors were paid nearly $600,000.

But the attorney general said it was a good investment for Insys, with their additional prescriptions above their historic averages generating more than $25 million for the company.

But Brnovichs harshest claims in the lawsuit were aimed at Insys  and not just for what the attorney general said was that sham speaker fees program.

He said the Chandler-based firm deceived insurers and pharmaceutical benefit companies into agreeing to pay for the expensive drug by misleading them to believe that the payment request was coming from a doctors office and not the company making the drug.

Brnovich also said those Insys employees misrepresented the medical conditions of the patients, lying that they had breakthrough pain, lying that the patients had tried other medications, and lying that the patients needed the sublingual spray rather than less expensive pills marketed by other firms because they had difficulty swallowing.

The lawsuit asks a judge to not only enjoin all the defendants from unfair, deceptive or misleading acts in the future but also seeks restitution to customers and an order that they surrender money they obtained as a result of their illegal conduct.

Insys did not respond to requests for comment.
The former U.S. interior secretary and Arizona governor who helped create Ironwood Forest National Monument is blasting Asarco for seeking the removal of 11,000 acres from the preserve to mine copper.

The multinational company is simply trying to take advantage of a favorable political climate during the Trump administration, said Bruce Babbitt in an interview this week.

And while Asarcos formal request was to modify the monuments boundaries, Babbitt accused the company of framing its request in a way to make a case for its elimination.

Former President Bill Clinton designated the 129,000-acre monument in the Sonoran Desert northwest of Tucson in June 2000 at the recommendation of Babbitt, his interior secretary. An additional nearly 60,000 acres of state land and some private land are included within the boundaries.

The designation came three months after the Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to support the monuments creation. The Pinal County board later followed suit with a unanimous recommendation.

This summer, Asarco wrote the Interior Department seeking to have nearly 10 percent of the monuments federally owned land removed. It said it cant make economic use of 4,050 acres in mining claims and 880 acres of land it owns within monument boundaries because of the designation. Those lands adjoin its existing Silver Bell Mine, which has operated for more than 65 years, wrote Nancy Johannesmeyer, Asarcos senior environmental affairs manager.

In addition, a coalition of mining interest groups also asked the Interior Department to shrink Ironwood and to reduce in size or eliminate three of four other Arizona monuments Clinton created.

Clinton, a Democrat, had approved the Arizona monuments toward the end of his tenure to leave behind a legacy of conservation. Today, Republican President Trumps Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is conducting a review of three of those and 14 other monuments created by past administrations to see if they should be shrunk or eliminated.

Zinke submitted recommendations from the review to Trump a week ago. The administration hasnt released them to the public.

Babbitt said hes indignant at Asarcos request because the Ironwood and other Arizona monuments have achieved important conservation results.

When I talk about this around the country in terms of all these other things Zinke is trying to do, I remind people that this monument was endorsed by a unanimous vote of county supervisors, Babbitt said. What Zinke is saying is that Im looking at these items and there is no local support. But there was. He is fronting for the mining industry.

In its June 30 letter, Asarco said much of the Ironwood land failed to meet a host of criteria under the federal Antiquities Act for designating a monument. Among those are that the monument be of the smallest area needed to properly care for the objects to be managed.

It also argued that too much of the lands desert landscape doesnt qualify, because the acts main purpose is to preserve the works of man and that the cacti and other desert plants arent objects of historic or scientific interest.

Other large, federally owned special management areas run by the Bureau of Land Management already exist to protect the types of plants and animals that Ironwood contains, and there was no justifiable reason to designate 189,600 acres as a national monument in this area, Johannesmeyer wrote.

Effectively, they are saying that nothing legally justifies creation of a national monument, said Babbitt, who works full time advising California Gov. Jerry Brown on water issues. I think thats a real kind of an insight into what this is all about. Theyre waking up saying we have a chance to get them to abolish the monument. They start by saying nothing out there merits protection, that its no different than any other acre of land in the Arizona desert.

As for Asarcos legal arguments, My only thought is they misread the language of the act. The act says to protect objects of scientific importance, and the monuments Sonoran Desert lands are scientifically important, said Babbitt, who was Arizonas governor from 1978 to 1987.

Johannesmeyer didnt respond to several requests from the Star seeking comment on Babbitts statements.

Rick Grinnell, vice president of the Southern Arizona Business Coalition, which signed the mining groups letter to the Interior Department, said he believes the Clinton administration had a lapse in judgment by not allowing interest groups more time to make their case on the monument issue.

The three-month period, when you are talking about removing a significant amount of property from development, including 60,000 acres of Arizona state trust land, wasnt long enough, Grinnell said Thursday.

At the time the monument was created, several Tucson-area scientists and environmentalists cited a very dense concentration of ironwood trees there and said the ironwood habitat nurses 674 animal and plant species. They also mentioned the presence of the endangered Nichols turks head cactus and lesser long-nosed bat and the rare and then-endangered cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.

The public discussion over the Ironwood monument proposal in 2000 was relatively peaceful. Several Tucson environmentalists and Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said recently that they dont recall hearing Asarco officials raise public concerns.

But in her letter, Asarcos Johannesmeyer wrote that in May 2000, the Silver Bell Mines then-general counsel met with the Interior Departments solicitor and staff to discuss its concerns and to seek a buffer for the Silver Bell Mine.

On June 5, 2000, senior Silver Bell management officials met with Babbitt to suggest creating a mineral exploration district within the monument, she wrote.

Secretary Babbitt indicated he would consider the proposal. Four days later, on June 9, 2000, the monument proclamation was issued and all lands within the (monument) were withdrawn from mineral entry, Johannesmeyer wrote.

Since then, Asarco has paid $326,000 to maintain its claims, and its inability to mine the claims has cost it $146 million, she wrote.

Babbitt said this week that he recalled the meeting and the issues Asarco raised. But the monuments proclamation contained clear language saying that the protections were subject to valid existing rights, he said.

Then, theyre manufacturing all these crybaby arguments about unpatented claims. The monument proclamation recognizes those unpatented claims, that they have valid rights that companies can explore, Babbitt said.

There is no reason to change anything, he added. An unpatented mining claim is one filed on land that a company doesnt own.

Mining industry officials, however, say its virtually impossible to explore claims within monuments because they first must prove the claims are valid, having an economic value. Thats impossible to prove without exploring them, they say.
Two Tucson residents were arrested after Border Patrol agents found two undocumented immigrants hiding in the trunk of their car Thursday near Whetstone.

Agents working at the Arizona 90 checkpoint sent a 2008 Infiniti coupe for a secondary inspection after an agency dog alerted to the vehicle. In the trunk, agents found two adult males from Mexico hiding in the trunk, according to a news release from the Customs and Border Protection.

The car's driver, 24, and passenger, 26, both from Tucson, were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling. The two Mexican nationals were being held on immigration violations.

The tactic of concealing humans in the trunks of vehicles is commonly used by smugglers, but it puts those in the trunk in great personal danger, including suffocation, heat stroke or injury from a collision, the CBP said.
U.S. Rep. Martha McSally played it cool as she addressed the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Things are a bit boring in D.C. these days, the two-term Republican teased as she addressed a friendly lunch crowd at the Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. More than 100 business and community leaders attended the luncheon.

She used her time to give her thoughts about such topics as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, the Douglas Port of Entry and some subtle nuances of a new border wall.

Here are some hightlights:

Douglas Port of Entry

McSally earlier thanked the chamber for its advocacy in Douglas, saying a large expansion of the port of entry is now on Congress radar.

It is old, it is inadequate and it is impacting cross-border commerce, McSally said.

It isnt, she argued, just a local issue. She said the port is vital to expanding commerce with Mexico, the states largest trading partner.

The Douglas Port of Entry is not for Douglas. It is not just for Southern Arizona. It is for the state and for the country, McSally said.

With long waits at the crossing, some Mexicans opt to put off shopping in the United States, hurting local businesses, she said.

An update to the 85-year-old port is now part of a national five-year infrastructure plan, but McSally vowed to go to the mat to secure funding for the port and several other Southern Arizona infrastructure projects.

DACA

In response to the chambers question on DACA, McSally said a long-term solution on how to handle students in the program is needed.

She disagreed with then-President Obama when he implemented the program and sidestepped questions about what Congress might have to do if President Trump acts to cancel or alter the program, which allows young illegal immigrants who were brought to the country when they were children to avoid deportation for two years.

McSally said the students who are part of the DACA program have done their part, registering with the federal government, going through background checks, going to school and getting jobs after graduation.

It is my view that we need to solve this thing legislatively. You cant just have Congress complain that the administration shouldnt have done that. Well, if you think it is Congress job, then just do your job, she said.

New border wall

Hinting she was heading into dangerous territory, McSally said she wanted to briefly discuss funding for new sections of the border wall sought by Trump.

Recently-installed sections of the border wall in Arizona, she said, have nothing to do with President Trump. Instead it was the Obama administration that approved and paid for those barriers.

In the next budget, she said, there are proposals for new sections  but they add up to less than 100 miles of new fencing along the border from California to Texas.

She said the proposals are relatively common sense and are designed to stop smugglers along specific routes.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Martan faces up to 24 months in prison, followed by supervised release of up to nine years.

A Tucson man who called in a series of death threats to U.S. Rep. Martha McSally has agreed to plead guilty and is facing up to 24 months in prison.

Steve Martan, 58, acknowledged in court that he left the threatening phone messages for the Republican congresswoman in early May.

Through the pending plea agreement, Martan could be sentenced up to two years in prison followed by nine years of supervised release. That period of supervised release could be reduced by half, to 54 months.

Martan has also agreed to meet with McSally, R-Arizona, before he is formally sentenced.

Martan must undergo a mental health examination and perform 40 hours of community service as part of the agreement.

Court records indicate Martan made three phone calls on May 2 and May 10 to McSally's congressional office to vent frustrations with how McSally was voting.

The office's voicemail system recorded the phone number from the calls and that number was traced back to Martan.

Martan told authorities "he was venting frustrations with Congresswoman McSally's congressional votes in support of the President of the United States," according to the original complaint filed in May.
Seven of us from Tucson gathered in the ranchers pasture in Idaho expecting a total eclipse of the sun last week. We experienced that and more as people across the political spectrum became a community.

On the morning of Aug. 21, we left our hotel at 5:30 a.m. The eclipse would not begin until 10:11 a.m. While we had only 40 miles to travel to be inside the 70-mile swath of totality, we started early in anticipation of crowds and traffic jams. At 6:30 a.m., seeing a road sign, Eclipse Parking $25, we swung a U turn and pulled in.

The ranch owner was ready with coffee as he explained sheepishly that the price was really $26.50 because the Idaho government was taxing profits from the eclipse. I asked if he had a bathroom. He said: No, but you are welcome to use the pasture. The cows are fenced up in a different pasture today.

We opted to stay, unrolled our picnic blanket, pulled out our chairs, and unpacked our food, adding layers to accommodate the 45-degree temperature.

Soon we saw a leg shoot up from the back of a pickup. Out emerged a scruffy looking man who had slept in the back of his truck. As he joined our picnic, he indicated he was from Idaho and had been a pile driver for 35 years.

The extrovert in our group began attracting others to our picnic.

The cowboy rancher explained proudly that he was the third-generation owner of the ranch. His wife ran the feed store in town but was making multiple trips to the ranch house for more coffee. A man from Vancouver had a telescope with filters so we could see the sunspots. He had traveled to six eclipses previously.

One couple from Argentina was working on American citizenship. Two college students from California appeared with another telescope. A couple from Utah emerged from the back of their truck, but the real attention grabber was the truck with a confederate flag flying high. And so it went as people arrived, paid their fee, parked and joined our circle.

We laughed and told stories. The seven of us shared our mimosas and coconut water as well as our Brie with French bread, melon, granola, yogurt and organic popcorn. The Argentinians brought chocolate cake and prunes. The rancher had never had a mimosa but indicated approval as he accepted a second one.

The Idahoans talked about how a wolf could take down a fully-grown cow. One said: Someone should turn wolves loose in Central Park and then see how long it would take for the government to let us shoot them.

Politics never came up, but we all knew. People with confederate flags, California college boys and people who drink coconut water send their own unique messages. Most certainly we represented the full spectrum of politics, but I sensed we were mostly in the middle.

To be sure, my cynical side tells me that much more disconnects us than connects us. But at 10 a.m., we all put on our eclipse glasses, stared at the sun, watched its crescent shrink, saw the flash of the diamond ring at totality and then shared the quiet as the stars emerged in the twilight. We sensed we were one people gathered in a tiny place on our tiny planet in the immense universe.

The shadow of the moon cast a light on our shared humanity. But the power of connection was our doing. Lets not wait for the next cosmic event to feel that humanity again.
An official from Vietnams Ministry of Finance sparked controversy after claiming that a proposed increase to Vietnams value-added tax will have little effect on low-income earners.

The finance ministry has proposed to increase the countrys VAT by 20 percent in 2019, raising it from the current 10 percent to 12 percent, in a bid to boost state revenue.

The proposition promoted concern from local experts, who say the higher VAT will have a considerably larger affect on the poor than higher income earners.

Countering public criticism, Pham Dinh Thi, head of the tax policy department under the finance ministry, has asserted that low-income Vietnamese will feel little affect from the increase, considering they spend the majority of their income on VAT-free services and commodities.

Low-income earners spend nearly 60 percent of their earnings on food, healthcare, and education, none of which carries a VAT, Thi said at a press conference on Wednesday, citing a 2014 report by the General Statistic Office.

Even though the VAT will be increased, the amount spent by the poor on necessities will not rise, Thi added.

On the other hand, high earners only spend 40 percent of their income on these expenditures.

The official shared an example of a low-income family living off VND 7 million (US$308) a month spending half their income on non-VAT food, healthcare, and education services. The remaining VND3.5 million ($154) is spent on services subject to 5 percent or 10 percent VAT.

When the VAT rises from 10 percent to 12 percent, the monthly expenditure of this family would only rise by VND70,000 [$3], Thi said.

Consequently, the increased VAT will only have a modest impact on low-income families.

Local expert were quick to blast This example.

Pundits countered that costs of other services, such as manufacturing and transportation will immediately spike following the VAT increase, and these will affect the prices of other commodities, including food, healthcare, and education.

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The Airports Corporation of Vietnam, which oversees countrywide airdromes, has expressed concern at a proposal by a local company to be allowed to develop a costly airbase near Ho Chi Minh City with a Chinese partner.

In late August, Vietnams Geleximco and its Chinese partner, Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group Co., Ltd., submitted a joint proposal to Vietnams prime minister, seeking his in-principle approval for them to develop the Long Thanh International Airport under the PPP (public-private partnership) scheme.

The construction of the airport in the namesake district in the southern province of Dong Nai was ratified by the lawmaking National Assembly in 2015.

The Geleximco- Kaidi duo said they have experience in airport development and are able to arrange finance for the project, which is expected to cost some VND336.63 trillion (US$15.03 billion).

The Vietnamese and Chinese companies also said they will be able to finish construction in three to five years at the lowest possible cost for a new, modern airport.

Commenting on the proposal, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam said it would not back the idea that the Geleximco- Kaidi duo will develop the entire Long Thanh International Airport on their own as it is a high risk move.

The airport watchdog suggested establishing a joint venture or joint stock company to develop the airport. Businesses invited to join the venture will be closely checked to avoid having incapable developers, which may lead to construction delay.

Do Tat Binh, deputy general director of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, said it should be made clear whether Geleximco and its Chinese partner want to develop parts of, or the entire Long Thanh airport.

If they want to be in charge of the whole construction, we will disagree, he said.

Binh said the Airports Corporation of Vietnam will create conditions for the Geleximco- KAIDI consortium if they want to develop different units of the airport construction. But they will have to meet strict requirements, he added.

Binh acknowledged that there are also worries that Geleximco has little experience in airport development. However, he added that whats more important is the developers financial capacity and investment feasibility.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam has been tasked by the government with preparting the feasibility report for the Long Thanh project.

The new airport will be located only 50km from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

It will be designed in the shape of a stylized lotus flower, widely regarded as the national flower of Vietnam. The design by South Koreas Heerim Architects & Planners places emphasis on the use of dynamic but selective colors to bring a sense of elegance to the mega-airport.

The mammoth project is set to break ground no later than 2019, two years earlier than initially planned.
Vietnam will always be a reliable partner of the international community, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told foreign guests in Hanoi on the occasion of the countrys 72nd National Day.

The premier and his wife hosted a banquet for ambassadors and leaders of international organizations in Vietnam on Thursday to mark the National Day (September 2).

During his speech, PM Phuc reviewed the countrys achievements over the past 72 years, asserting that Vietnam is always a friend and trustworthy partner of countries around the world.

Hanoi is focusing on implementing breakthrough measures and drastic moves to improve productivity and competitiveness, speeding up administrative reform and supporting businesses, according to the prime minister.

With current foreign policies of independence and self-reliance, Vietnam has strengthened international cooperation and integration as well as its efforts in building a united ASEAN community, he stated.

The country is working hard to prepare for the 2017 APEC (Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation) Forum in the central city of Da Nang this November.

The head of government added that Vietnam always works hard to join the international communitys efforts for a world without war and poverty.

He extended his gratitude towards governments and people of foreign countries as well as international and regional organizations for the assistance in the past years, hoping to receive further support from them.

On behalf of the guests, Venezuelan Ambassador Jorge Rodon Uzcategui congratulated Vietnam on the National Day.

Vietnam is a responsible country in terms of external relations and activities, creating up close partnership with other countries and contributing to the equal and sustainable development of the world, the ambassador remarked.

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Vietnam has expressed extreme concern over Chinas intention to carry out military exercises near the Gulf of Tonkin.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on Thursday shared Hanois apprehension over a scheduled drill expected to be held in waters off the coasts of northern Vietnam and southern China.

The two countries have been in ongoing negotiations to clarify sovereignty over the maritime area.

Information, including the drills scheduled dates from August 29 to September 4, was announced by the China Maritime Safety Administration on Monday.

According to spokesperson Hang, all foreign states operating in waters under Vietnams jurisdiction should comply with the countrys legal regulations and international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Vietnam asks China to end and not repeat actions that complicate the situation in the East Vietnam Sea, she said.

A representative of Vietnams foreign ministry convened a meeting with the Embassy of China in Hanoi to reaffirm the Southeast Asian nations stance on the situation.

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Check out news you should not miss on Tuoi Tre News today, September 1:

Politics

-- Vietnam has reached remarkable achievements during the past years thanks to its own effort and help from international friends, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said as he and his wife hosted a banquet for ambassadors and head of international organizations in Vietnam and their spouses in Hanoi on Thursday, on the occasion of the 72nd National Day (September 2).

-- Vietnam is deeply concerned about Chinas announcement of holding a military drill in the waters off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin, said foreign ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on Thursday.

-- A ten-day exhibition of nearly 400 exhibits and documents featuring the history of Vietnams People's Public Security on Thursday kicked off in the central city of Da Nang.

Society

-- Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation has been requested to pilot installing drinkable tap water booths at several public places in the citys downtown area.

-- Ho Chi Minh City will name and shame pork retailers who sell products of unknown origin on public media as part of a program to tighten meat management in the city, the municipal deputy chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen requested Thursday.

-- The southern province of Dong Nai has had more than 3,300 dengue fever cases, including three deaths, in the first eight months of this year.

Business

-- Around 300 foreign enterprises are expected come and seek cooperation opportunities with Vietnam within the framework of the 2017 International Travel Expo to be held in Ho Chi Minh City from September 7 to 9, according to the municipal tourism department.

-- The Japan International Cooperation Agency on Thursday announced it has signed a 24.7 billion yen (US$224 million) ODA loan agreement with Vietnamese government to build a drainage and sewage system for the southern city of Bien Hoa.

Education

-- French teacher Florian Ziegler has developed BlaBla Language Exchange, an English learning group he founded in Hanoi last year with initial 30 members, into a language studying community which has spread its wing to many countries including France, Germany, Italia, Belgium, the Philippines and China.

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A branch of Ho Chi Minh City Development Bank (HD Bank) in the southern province of Dong Nai was robbed by two men armed with an improvised explosive device on Friday.

The device did not detonate, and there were no reported injuries, according to police.

The incident happened at around 11:15 am on Friday at an HD Bank branch on Tran Phu Street in Dong Nais Xuan Loc District.

A representative of the bank told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the robbery that it had been executed by two young men.

Eyewitnesses said one of them had forced his way into the bank by smashing the glass door with a device he claimed to be a bomb, before placing it on the table and demanding money from bank clerks.

The other man waited outside on their getaway motorbike.

The HD Bank representative said the robbers had taken only around VND15 million (US$660) when one of the clerks sounded the alarm, causing them to panic and fled towards Binh Thuan Province on their motorbike.

At the scene, the unidentified device was still left on the table, while bank notes could be seen scattered on the floor.

The improvised explosive device used by the robbers is left at the scene. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Xuan Loc District Police said they had set up a perimeter blockade around the bank for investigation and safety reasons.

It is not immediately clear whether the device actually contained explosives or was a bluff.

Locals crowd the site of the bank robbery. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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A man in Ca Mau Province, located in Vietnams Mekong Delta, was levied a VND10 million (US$438.4) fine after authorities were notified of fake news being posted from his Facebook account.

The fine was imposed by officials from the provincial Department of Information and Communications on Pham Van Toan, a resident of Thoi Binh Commune, Thoi Binh District.

Toan posted a status on his personal Facebook page under the pseudonym Thanh Toan on August 21 reporting that local residents had sighted three crocodiles along the Zero Thoi Binh Canal at around 11:00 am.

Two of the animals were caught, one weighing 67 kilograms and the other 83 kilograms. The other is still on the loose. People living nearby should be aware, the man wrote in his status update.

The post also included four photos showing two tied up crocodiles as proof of the situation.

Worried residents began sharing the post and warning others of the situation and authorities were eventually made aware.

After an investigation, police officers confirmed that the entire story was fabricated.

In late July, Hanois hi-tech police unit summoned P.T.M. for an interrogation over a made-up story posted by her Facebook page regarding an airplane accident. The post also included photos of the air crash near Noi Bai International Airport.

M. admitted that she had found the photos on the Internet and decided to attach to them to an invented story in order to attract likes and followers to her Facebook account and draw attention to her online cosmetic business.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Next on 60 Minutes, the case of a US teen who shot his parents, a bizarre New York thief and orphanage tourism in Cambodia.

I Shot My Parents

It began when six shots rang out in the night. A 14-year-old boy had calmly aimed a handgun at the heads of two people asleep in their bed and blasted them at point blank range. Those people were his mother and father. Somehow Jon and Beth Brooks survived the attack, but rather than being angry with their son Nathan for trying to kill them, they forgive him. In this intriguing tale, Peter Stefanovic tries to solve a riddle that has baffled police: how and why did this all happen?

Reporter: Peter Stefanovic

Producer: Michelle Tapper

The Gentleman Thief

Darius McCollum is a very unusual man with a most unusual story. Hes a charming and friendly New Yorker whose great expertise is his extraordinary knowledge of the Big Apples complicated and chaotic public transport system. Everyone in New York knows Darius but thats because he also has a problem, and its a rather big one. Darius loves trains and buses so much he cant stop stealing them  sometimes even when theyre full of passengers. His obsession is proving to be a serious challenge for authorities who dont seem to know what to do about this gentleman thief and his compulsive behaviour.

Reporter: Liz Hayes

Producer: Phil Goyen

Saving the Children

When Tara Winkler went to Cambodia more than a decade ago all she wanted to do was help the orphans in the impoverished country. She did great work setting up a charity and a home to save the children. But then Tara realised shed been completely fooled  most of her orphans had parents and families. Tara discovered the hard way that so-called orphanage tourism was a huge industry in Cambodia fleecing donors and volunteers, and set about shutting down the corrupt businesses. Now shes had a substantial breakthrough in her efforts to really save the children.

Reporter: Allison Langdon

Producers: Laura Sparkes

8:30pm Sunday on Nine
On Mondays Four Corners reporter Debbie Whitmont files Combustible, on the dangerous legacy of failed regulation in the building industry.

You shouldnt have a combustible product on the outside of a building of this type, so how has this been allowed to happen? Fire officer

Across Australia, governments, councils and the building industry are grappling with a problem so large, it almost defies belief.

Its unquantifiable Senior Fire Officer

Residential buildings, hospitals, shopping centres and commercial buildings, have been built with flammable aluminium cladding, posing a potentially serious fire risk.

As soon as I saw that on television that night, straight away I knew it was a cladding fire. Cladding supplier

It took the catastrophic Grenfell Tower fire in London, which claimed at least 80 lives, to set off alarm bells here, but as Four Corners will reveal, the danger posed by this cladding should not have come as a surprise.

You cant tell me that if this product, by all reports, has been used widely in the industry for 10 to 30 years, that major suppliers  didnt know where this product was going to end up. Fire officer

On Monday, Four Corners investigates why huge amounts of this aluminium cladding has been installed on so many of our buildings, and whether a desire to cut costs won out over caution.

We have, if you will, a builder, a certifier and a fire engineer who are incentivized to reduce cost. Fire Engineer

Insiders say there has been a colossal failure of regulation and oversight.

Theres people out there that would have absolutely no idea what theyre doing and theyre installing it incorrectly, and theyre the people we compete against every day. Builder

With access to the tests now under way on suspect aluminium cladding, we reveal the enormity of the problem facing authorities and ask who will pay to remove and replace it.

Everyone has someone else to point the finger at. The product of deregulation and self accreditation, this process of abrogation of responsibility is that no one is responsible. Federal politicia

Monday 4th September at 8.30pm on ABC.
Another case of fake news photoshopped for our edification..

Last month a Seven News story on shares in Melbourne being left as clutter across the city included a photo of a bike left on top of the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton.

If youre in Carlton and looking to hire the oBike app would lead you here, said Kristy Mayr. But as you can see theres one big problem

But Media Watch has since revealed Seven ripped the photo off Reddit and its a fake. Its a stock image with the bike photoshopped in.

It follows TEN News admitting it had faked an anti-marriage equality poster into a bus shelter by one of its own graphics staff members.
In the ongoing whiteboard known as Australian television programming there are various gems and guilty pleasures that we are awaiting to renew our couch relationship.

In this list I have highlighted shows that are still in production we are hanging out for.

Catastrophe

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney comedy. Season 3 features Carrie Fisher who tragically died following the return flight home from the UK shoot. Her last TV role. It screened in the UK in February. ABC says it is coming later this year.

Episodes

The final season of Matt LeBlanc comedy got underway in the US in August. Australian rights are now with ABC, ahead of Stan. Another one the broadcaster says is coming later this year.

UnREAL

The ripping takedown of a Bachelor-style show is not airing in the US at all in 2017 but is due in 2018. This will screen again on Stan, presumably same day once it launches. It has also been renewed for a fourth season. SBS VICELAND is yet to screen S2.

Gruen

Probably Australias favourite ABC show, but not long to wait with new episodes from Wednesday September 13. Counting the sleeps.

Outlander

Another that has been too long in between kilts, but its back on Showcase on Monday week, including with Aussie David Berry.

American Horror Story

To be fair the last few seasons have been pretty disappointing but the new season Cult (which starts next week in the USA) is described as an allegory of the US Election so I am tuning in. I cant recall ELEVEN ever fast-tracking this show, which fails to capitalise on any buzz. Returning cast Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy are joined by Billie Lourd, Billy Eichner, Leslie Grossman, Colton Haynes, Alison Pill, and Lena Dunham.

Empire

Another ELEVEN show some of us were enjoying before it was rudely ripped off air, replaced with Star, also ripped off air. Hows that working out for ya?

Stranger Things / The Crown

Two killer Netflix shows that had us on the edge of our seat with their debut season. Stranger Things is back Halloween-style October 27nd, but The Crown keeps us waiting, your majesty, until December 8th.

If you have any other shows -still in production- you are hanging out for, lets hear em. (and yes we know about Game of Thrones).
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

It is easy to understand why Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, holds a special place for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Support TwoCircles



Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lok Sabha constituency in Varanasi for two days to take notice of all the development works of the city. Apart from the major concerns of Adityanath during his visit to Varanasi, the main announcement was the development of a holy corridor inside the city.

The proposed circuit will have famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the centre and will connect Mrityunjay Mahadev, Kalbhairav, Temples of nine forms of Durga and Gauri.

As the CM informed the media, tourists and pilgrims face difficulties while making their way between different temples of the city. With the proposed plan, the paths between these temples, which are situated at a considerable distance from each other, shall be made free of traffic.

There is also a proposal to lit up the circuit with LEDs, however, with the speed and condition of the work in the city, the proposal still seeks many nods before being enacted.

In a meeting with the officials on the last day of his visit, CMs principal secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi told Adityanath that to improve and maintain the tourism practices in the city, a plan worth Rs 480 crore has already been proposed.

However, this is also a fact that the proposed plan includes only Hindu ashrams, shrine and temple renovation. The 480-crore-plan marks the famous Ghats of the Varanasi and proposes their renovation and enhancement.

This is not the first instance when Adityanath has planned something which focuses mostly on the Hindus since he became the Chief minister of the state. Soon after he took charge as the CM, he had announced the construction of a new expressway connecting Varanasi to the Ayodhya.

The aforesaid expressway, also called Purvanchal Expressway, is 212 kilometres in length and is supposed to increase the tourism between these two holy cities from the Hindu perspective.

The idea of constructing the corridor seems to be influenced from the Buddhist circuits which various states are constructing with the help of the Central government.

Yogi has also committed himself to complete an unfinished work of Akhilesh Yadav by constructing a Jain circuit in the heart of the city. Jain circuit, which was announced by the then tourism minister Omprakash Singh, was proposed by Shwetambar Jain Teerth society during 2015, a request which Akhilesh Yadav took notice of.

According to societys chairman Lalit Raj Bhansali, the state has already issued Rs 18 crore out of the 500 crore rupees which are proposed as the circuits cost.

It is becoming increasingly clear that most of Yogis ideas are focused towards maintaining and highlighting the religious establishments in the state. Yesterday, he announced few things which may prove this allegation against him. While addressing a rally in Ghaziabad on Thursday, Yogi announced connecting Hapurs Gadhmukteshwar temple, Saharanpurs Shakumbhari, and Muzaffarnagars Shukrtal temple with tourism business.

He also announced setting up of cow-shelters in several districts of the state. Even yesterday, the district administration in Varanasi announced free bus service between Varanasi and Ramnagar for those who want to witness the Ramlila in Ramnagar.
In what has turned out to be an exceptionally costly technical error, the BBC reported that the online betting firm 888 has just been slapped with a 7.8m penalty for a malfunction in the self-barring feature of its online platform. In applying the penalty, the UKs Gambling Commission accused 888 of needing to rectify serious flaws in how the company interacts with its customers and identifies the minority with gambling problems.

While the penalty is a record, the companys struggle to keep an eye on potential issues shouldnt come as much as a surprise.

The UKs online gambling industry has experienced an explosive of late, and neither online companies nor the institutions responsible for regulating them have quite caught up with the sheer scale of this new sector.

Young players, in particular, seem to have a strong preference for the online versions of the popular pastime over more traditional variants, like the National Lottery. 14 per cent of 16-24-year-olds and 19 percent of 25-34-year-olds have participated in some form of online gambling over the past year. Figures released last year showed that online gambling is now the largest gambling sector in Britain, generating 4.5 billion a year. British and Irish bookmakers have capitalised on the lack of competition from the U.S., where online gambling is illegal, to grow into global champions of an industry projected to be worth more than $67 billion globally by 2020, Business Wire reported.

Gambling entrenched as a leisure activity

Now that online gambling has become firmly entrenched as a leisure activity for millions of users, consumer protection advocates have launched campaigns to see greater accountability in the industry. Their strategy has focused on bringing to light cases in which online bookies have dragged their feet in making payouts to winners.

In once case, Guardian reported that the bookmaker Bet 365 was taken to court by a punter after it failed to transfer 54,000 in winnings to her account despite their being no dispute about the validity of her winnings. In 888s case, the issue was a technical glitch that let customers whod cut themselves off from the companys betting services continue to play.

Another report by the Gambling Commission that came out earlier this year confirmed this mounting anecdotal evidence that the industry is lagging when it comes to customer care. The report notes that there has been a 300 per cent increase in the number of people contacting the Commission regarding practices in the industry. And in what perhaps should come as the biggest wake-up call of all for bookies, it found that only 38 per cent of respondents thought that the industry was fair and could be trusted - a sharp fall from the 61 per cent who agreed with that statement in 2007.

Online gambling in the USA

These are important issues for the industry to address, but they are by no means insurmountable.

On the same day 888s penalty was announced, for example, ProActive Investors report that its stock rallied back into the FTSE250. Gambling is a major cash cow for the UK Treasury. The industry is already global in scale, and attempts to ban it have been farcically ineffective. The US is a case in point: even if online gambling is illegal, many Americans are simply opting to place their bets with foreign websites.

Other than offering counselling to the minority of gamblers who struggle with an addiction to fixed odds betting terminals (FTOBs) or the latest online craze  which takes time and money Whitehall doesnt seem to be willing to spend  improving consumer protection should be at the top of the governments list of priorities.

Measures are beginning to be put in place to improve the customer complaints procedures in the industry. Last year, the Gambling Commission launched the Alternative Disputes Resolution scheme - independent bodies that customers can bring their case to if they fail to reach an agreement with the betting company. Now it has plans to introduce Resolver, an online dispute resolution tool that offers users a step-by-step guide to lodging a complaint.

But neither measure goes far enough. Further inspiration on how to assist players in need comes from Malta. The small island nation has transformed itself into an online gambling hub and the industry is now worth some 1.2 billion in annual revenues  or 12 per cent of the countrys GDP.

Malta was energised by the UKs forthcoming exit from the EU and is touting itself as a premiere online gambling location. 888 has already announced that it would consider relocating its headquarters from Gibraltar to Malta, according to Malta Gaming Summit.

Malta sets the example

Given that gambling is so important to Maltas economy, its no surprise that it takes the rights of its consumers seriously. For example, the Malta Gaming Authority is the only major regulator of its kind to have a dedicated player support unit, which handles around 400 complaints a month. A white paper due to be published in September is set to bring significant reforms to the regulatory framework that governs the industry.

Apart from streamlining the various gambling law into one Gaming Act, it is expected that much of the focus will be on how to further tighten consumer protection. It would do this by formalising the role of the player support unit as an arbiter of disputes. It would also introduce the concept of administration into Maltese law meaning players funds will be protected in cases where a company goes bankrupt.

Like many new industries that have grown by leaps and bounds, online gambling is a challenge for any government. Britains Gambling Commission would be wise to borrow a page from Maltas book and strengthen its consumer safeguards, instead of allowing the problem to go unaddressed.
Thanks to "Britains Got Talent," comedian Daliso Chapondas name is everywhere and early next year so will the man himself.

The Manchester-based Malawian quipster, who came third in last years series of BGT, will be storming the UK this coming February with his debut tour What an African Said, which has already been extended to 51 dates after the first set of gigs sold out in days.

I am very excited, I wish it started tomorrow, laughs Daliso over the phone. No comedian had done well in "Britains Got Talent" before so we were very cautious when we first started booking tour dates.

News, fake news and alternative news

Sure, Daliso owes a debt to Simon Cowell, but the man hes really grateful to is Donald Trump.

With Trump creating this entire fake news phenomenon, and also, myself being in the press, reading tabloid stories about me from the time I was in "Britains Got Talent," I started thinking a lot about the media, he says. So Im going to look at the press from all angles, see how important it is and how newspapers are dying.

We need reporters now more than ever because we have these bonkers, unreliable people in power But there will be jokes too! That all sound very serious, we have jokes too.

And dont expect his stage show to be watered down by the demands of prime-time television.

A lot of people say that I am a non-politically correct comedian. I dont think I am non-pc but I started thinking about whats politically correct and whats not, he says.

Im going to look at what is shocking about me and play around with that. Im going to use things that make people go Hang on, what did he just say? in shock.

Malawi and Great Britain

This desire for make people jaw-drop caused him a few problems back in Malawi. Especially as hes the son of a former justice minister there.

I do shows in Malawi, every year. But I dont do every joke. So when I perform there I can use 70 percent of my material while in the U.K. I can do 100 percent. A few years ago I did a show in Malawi and I got in trouble with the censorship board and so Im much more careful now.

I mean, I didnt get arrested, it was just a threat and I got away with it but it definitely made me realise that it is not like in England and I have to be careful.

In England, the most that could happen would be complaints. In Malawi, you can get into serious trouble.

Censorship, as Daliso experienced, is not the only difference for a comedian between Malawi and the UK.

Malawi is a much poorer country. When it comes to putting on a show, there are little things you have to consider. When I do my show, we always have to set it on payday or people would not be able to afford to come he says. Here in England, you can have a show anytime because people have got extra cash. And in lots of little ways, doing a show in a country which isnt used to it is a big thing. Malawi is a very Christian country, in a very conservative version of it. So even if I talk about sex, even if its just innuendo, it is scandalous.

But because I am of both cultures, I know how to change when Im there.

'Citizens of the world' - Chaponda's new BBC Radio 4 show

After Britains Got Talent, Daliso Chaponda landed his own stand-up comedy show on BBC Radio 4, which begins next year. The show will see him as a cultural relationship guidance counsellor between the British and African ways of life.

Ill be counselling the current England and the current Africa on their marriage and trying to solve their problems. Ive already written episode one which is about slavery and episode two about colonialism. Im writing number three at the moment.

Doing comedy on radio its completely different from the usual stand-up comedy on stage

Because people cant see you on radio, in some ways you can do a lot of things.

For example on radio, I did impressions of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. And, because it was radio, you didnt see the person doing the impressions. You just hear a voice and it sounds like them. Youre limited only by the listeners imagination.

But I prefer live stand-up comedy, he admits. Most of my humour is through physical motion and physical expressions.

So how could some one absolutely nail Britains Got Talent and walk off with a 51-gig tour?

All I would say is to write all the time. Thats my number one advice. Writing is a muscle that needs to be developed. People who write jokes every day, who have a little notebook with them wherever they go, they are the one who will be successful.

Daliso Chapondas live tour, What An African Said starts on February 8, 2018, in Nottingham.
After the conclusion of this weeks round of Brexit negotiations between the government of the United Kingdom and the EU, the likelihood of a mutually beneficial deal in the next months seems to be decreasing by the day. If Thursdays joint press conference of the leading negotiators David Davis and Michel Barnier is anything to go by, then the two sides are further apart than ever.

Barnier: British 'nostalgia'

Barnier made it clear that in his opinion no decisive progress had been made and put the blame for this firmly on the UK government. Its negotiation strategy of advocating a new kind of customs arrangement that would see the EU recognise UK standards while at the same time giving the UK the right to negotiate its own trade agreements would undermine the EUs single market.

This, Barnier claimed, was tantamount to nostalgia on behalf of the British government, whose various position papers on issues relating to Brexit the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had also criticised earlier this week.

Negotiations ongoing: #EUCO guidelines are designed for serious and constructive negotiations, but we need clear #UK positions on all issues  Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) 30 August 2017

This development clearly signifies a strong level of exasperation on behalf of leading EU politicians, who are continuing to resort to ever more aggressive public rhetoric when engaging with Brexit. Britains demands are seen as unrealistic and its ideas and suggestions half-baked and not viable.

Davis: Britain is 'flexible and pragmatic'

Brexit secretary Davis, however, dismissed these accusations, while defending his governments approach of not accepting the Brexit bill, but rather scrutinizing it in the British taxpayers interest. He hit back at the EU, making it clear that it was the UK who was being more flexible and pragmatic than their European counterparts.

Watch David Davis closing the third round of negotiations to forge a new partnership with the EU https://t.co/dp3aEDVbaq pic.twitter.com/ufyOH779XH  Exiting the EU Dept (@DExEUgov) 31 August 2017

At the same time, he struck a more positive note, pointing to agreements reached in other areas like the continuation of the European health insurance card for those British citizens already living in the EU.

Nevertheless, the progress on the issues of Brexit bill, Ireland / Northern Ireland and citizens rights appears to be rather incremental, with the main conflicts far from settled.

While the UK still isnt entirely clear about its objectives and has so far failed to convincingly show how to achieve them, the EU has proven itself the dogmatic, bureaucratic and intransigent organisation that first convinced Britons to vote to leave it. Both sides would be well advised to realise that Brexit is not going to be a success and harm all involved if negotiators and governments do not get their act together and genuinely commit to finding compromise and a settlement that both sides can support. The clock is still ticking, reminding all involved that it is their duty to act in the interests of their people and not engage in petty squabbles, unhelpful interventions and unachievable policies.
A while ago Theresa May was getting ready, it seemed. to step down once she had seen us through Brexit. Indeed, she had meetings with fellow Tories saying she would stay on as long they wanted her. In a previous article I wrote, I mentioned that rumours were saying she would step down on 30th August 2019.

Downing Street was quick to rebuff these rumours and blamed the rumours on the peak silly season. Now it transpires she has suddenly changed her mind and said as much whilst visiting Japan. She insisted she was "no quitter" and intends to lead the Conservatives into the 2022 general election.

Right away there was a reaction from Labour saying that she was "deluded" and obviously there will be a mixed reaction from her Conservative colleagues both in Parliament and at the grass roots level.

Theresa May is on a campaign to win over voters and fellow MP's may well lead the Tories into the general election and win. But much depends on what happens, for example with Brexit, or if someone does emerge to challenge her. With Jeremy Corbyn being on permanent general election mode Labour will be looking for weaknesses in her armour.

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a back bencher, has been touted as a possible Tory leader one day and has given his support to the continuation of the Theresa May Premiership.

Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks slowly, eloquently, and thoughtfully and his demeanour has the character of an English gentleman from a by-gone age. This has attracted many Tories to his banner but it seems in backing May he has put to bed any bid to be the leader for now.

Other prominent Tories who have been seen as future leadership material have also announced their support for Theresa May like Boris Johnson.

Theresa May: About face

Why has Theresa May suddenly taken off like Phoenix from the ashes of her miserable performance at this year's general election? Who can forget that her wooden performance and her repeated mantra "Strong and stable" delivered her a win without a majority? Where she had to cobble together a deal with the Northern Irish DUP just to get the required majority she needed just to stay in office.

Was there something in the air when she visited Japan that has made her determined to stay on come what may? Did she go for one of her walks where she famously makes snap decisions about her future with her husband or Shinzo Abe and decide to fight on?

Did the ghost of Margaret Thatcher visit her and give her courage that as the second female Prime Minister she must stay the course?

Obviously, these are silly and unknown speculations but for sure something has made Theresa May change her mind. Maybe she is after all, the second Iron Lady as many have described her but only time will if this is true.
Former Deadpool villain Ed Skrein has dropped out of upcoming Hellboy reboot after the decision to cast him was met with criticism online. The news comes just days after it was announced he would be joining the cast as Major Ben Daimio, a character identified in the original comics as being of Japanese-American heritage.

Announcement

The actor, who has also appeared in Game of Thrones, took to Twitter to inform fans of his decision to depart from the film.

Reaction

His move was applauded by fans and fellow co-stars who believe this is a step towards abolishing Hollywood's problem of whitewashing and approaching Asian-American actors for similar roles in the future.

Hellboy's producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin of Lionsgate and Millennium film production companies spoke of their support for his decision to step down in a statement released this week: "Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material".

A persistent problem

This news, sadly, isn't anything new. Rupert Sanders' Ghost in the Shell was targeted earlier this year for its decision to cast Scarlett Johansson as Major Killian despite the original anime series being Japanese.

Fans quickly took to Twitter to condemn the decision and point out that there were many actors of Asian descent that could have done the role justice such as Grace Park and Karen Fukuhara. The film flopped as a result of the casting and Johansson eventually agreed that she should not have taken on the controversial role in an interview with Marie Claire magazine: "Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive." Skrein's choice to stand down from the role is something of a first and although it may affect his career in the short run, it will hopefully encourage other actors to do the same if ever placed in the same position.

John Boyega, Jessica Chastain and Nicholas Hoult have already sent messages of praise to the star over his decision.

The issue of whitewashing resurfaced again this week when Marvel's Agents of SHIELD actress Chloe Bennet revealed that she changed her name from Chloe Wang because Hollywood is "racist" and that it was preventing her from being cast in certain roles.

Discrimination in Hollywood is rife and although it may seem as if the problem of whitewashing is only getting worse, Ed Skrein's departure from Hellboy may just be a start of actors taking a stand against the issue, and rightfully so.
An Israeli intelligence officer has been arrested by Libyan security forces in the northeastern city of Benghazi, according to a leading Israeli website called Inian Merkazi.

The Mossad agent had infiltrated the ranks of the so called Islamic State in Libya. It is also being reported that the spy, who has been identified as Ephraim Benjamin, had intermingled with local Libyans during the 2011 revolution that resulted in the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. An Arabic website called Masr Alarabia have claimed that Benjamin was one of Mossad's 'Arabists' - agents who are characterized by Arab features, who speak Arabic fluently and are well versed in the Islamic scriptures.

Israel's deadly intelligence service

Israel's secretive and deadly intelligence agency is known for its Hollywood style infiltration tactics. Back in 2014, one of Mossad's 'Arabists' had successfully perforated the higher ranks of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The man was later arrested but at one point was in charge of supervising security for the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Inian Merkazi also report that Benjamin had risen to become a prominent imam of a large mosque in Benghazi which is Libya's second largest city. Being an imam, his reputation and popularity soared, which later saw him become a commander for the Islamic State with at least 200 fighters under his charge.

Benjamin went by the alias Abu Hafs.

The Libyan authorities detained him on charges of espionage.

Mossad is shrouded in secrecy. But the already secretive organisation has an even more mysterious department within itself called Kidon, which is Hebrew for bayonet. This secret operations unit is responsible for overseas espionage and assassinations. Almost nothing is known about this unit but it is largely suspected that it was behind Operation Wrath of God which systematically executed the terrorists who massacred eleven members of Israel's Olympics team in Munich in 1972.

US military condemn truce between ISIS & Lebanese army

Earlier this week, the Islamic State struck a deal with Hezbollah and the Lebanese and Syrian armies granting safe passage to over three hundred of their trained fighters and their relatives from the Lebanese-Syrian border to the Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria. This caused a stir among American military authorities in the region who have strongly condemned the action.
Kenyan's on August 8th held their elections and President Elect Uhuru Kenyatta was voted in for another term. The opposition NASA took it to the courts with a petition within seven days after the election.

The Supreme court has this whole week been listening to the presentations which ended on Tuesday evening and they deliberated till today an 11:30 am when they delivered their ruling.

Supreme Court invalidated Uhuru's election in a first in the African continent

No supreme court has ever judged against a sitting president, and this decision sets precedent, making it a first in Kenya and the entire African continent.

There were two dissents from Ndungu and Ojwang, they are also expected to give their full dissent report in 21 days.

Raila Odinga and his team are ecstatic, people in Kisumu his hometown and one of his strongholds and also in Mombasa were seen celebrating, hundreds on the streets, dancing, and chanting Raila slogans. People on the ground before his decision we're adamant that they will not wake up to go to the polls again after doing it so recently.

After this decision through I believe people will go to the polls for fear that if they don't people who support their preferred candidates opponent may show up in droves. That fear alone will be sure to make people line up in 60 days. That will be sometime in late November or September.

IEBC Officials to be prosecuted

Nasa leader and presidential aspirant Raila Odinga is among those people who are on the fore front of the prosecution of the IEBC officials who failed to give a free and fair election last time and will not work with them in the upcoming 60 days in running these new elections for Kenyans.

They say that if it will be hard to choose and collect viable replacements for these heads to conduct these new elections, they suggested the UN conducting these new elections.

It is not clear yet now what will happen in these coming 60 days since we no longer have a president elect nor a president.

We wait for the election date to be announced, and the next court case to be highly watched will the case against the IEBC officials involved in the vote tampering.

IEBC guilty, presidential aspirants all stand a chance to end up at the State House

This decision by the supreme court does not mean that Uhuru Kenyatta lost the previous election or that Raila Odinga won the election or either party tried to manipulate the results of the party.

What this outcome essentially does is it means that the IEBC was unable in the presidential election to carry out its mandate to provide a free and credible election. This means they are guilty and action needs to be taken against them. This also provides a golden opportunity for the new president to win fairly, ease tension and for his supporters to show up in droves in support.
It's no secret that Donald Trump is not a fan of the mainstream media, and makes it part of his daily routine to hit back at the press. After tweeting out his most recent attack on the media, the president was mocked for his efforts.

Trump on Twitter

It didn't take long after Donald Trump announced his campaign for president back in June 2015 to know that he would not have the most positive relationship with the media. From the moment the former host of "The Apprentice" referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers," the feud between Trump and press began.

In the two years that have followed, Trump and the media have continued to be at odds, with the president lashing out on a routine basis, while labeling any reports he doesn't agree with as "fake news." Since being elected, Trump has only amped up his attacks on various news outlets, which included banning several from a press briefing earlier this year at the White House. As seen on his Twitter account on August 30, the president has once against decided to hit back against the media, this time focusing on several "magazines."

After reading the false reporting and even ferocious anger in some dying magazines, it makes me wonder, WHY? All I want to do is #MAGA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

Taking to his Twitter feed on Wednesday morning was Donald Trump as the billionaire real estate mogul vented his anger and frustration with the media in how they have covered his administration during its first eight months.

"After reading the false reporting and even ferocious anger in some dying magazines, it makes me wonder, WHY?" Trump rhetorically asked, before adding, "All I want to do is #MAGA!" Within minutes of sending out his tweet, the president was trolled over the final part of his message.

Trump trolled

After Donald Trump posted his latest Twitter attack against the media, critics poked fun at his use of the line "All I want to do is #MAGA," as many compared it to the Sheryl Crow song "All I wanna do is have some fun." "All I want to do is #MAGA, and have some fun, and zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom and a boom boom," Washington Examiner's David Brown tweeted out.

All I want to do is #MAGA, and have some fun, and zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom and a boom boom https://t.co/6rdyRw7Mqb  Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) August 30, 2017

All I want to do is MAGA some

I got a feelin I'm not the only one

All I want to do is MAGA some

Until the sun comes up over Penn. avenue  Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) August 30, 2017

"If youre not reading All i want to do is MAGA to the tune of all she wants to do is dance then I dont know what to tell you," Miriam Elder of BuzzFeed added.

"All I want to do is MAGA some, I got a feelin I'm not the only one, All I want to do is MAGA some, Until the sun comes up over Penn. avenue," Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast hilariously tweeted.

If youre not reading All i want to do is MAGA to the tune of all she wants to do is dance then I dont know what to tell you.  Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) August 30, 2017

If there isn't a (terrible) song called "All I Want to Do is #MAGA" in ~15 minutes, this is no longer the Internet I know and love/hate. https://t.co/ix4yG3MWIW  Joe Berkowitz (@JoeBerkowitz) August 30, 2017

Why does America have a POTUS who is a malignant narcissist, sexual predator, and pathological liar? WHY?!!!!  Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) August 30, 2017

Others took a more serious approach, including Bishop Talbery Swan who tweeted, "After hearing you LIE over and over again and angrily lash out so unprofessionally, it makes me wonder, WHY are you POTUS!!" As the negative reaction continued, it was made more than clear that the division between Donald Trump and his critics was not going to improve anytime soon.
As Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday, the city of Houston was hit the hardest by the devastating storm. In the middle of the chaos, right-wing pastor Joel Osteen closed the doors of his mega church until pressure from social media forced him to reverse course.

Osteen speaks

It was just this past Friday when Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in what experts are calling the worst storm to hit the state in nearly 500 years. With winds up to 130 mph, the hurricane was labeled a Category 4 resulting in close to a dozens deaths as of press time.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed, with millions in the state being impacted and forced to flee for safer grounds. Personal stories have made their way around social media, many of which have been heartbreaking due to the negative images that have been made clear to the public. One story that made headiness was Pastor Joel Osteen, who runs the nearly 17,000 seat mega Lakewood Church in Houston, who kept the building closed until heavy pressure from millions on social media. As seen during the August 30 edition of the "TODAY" show, Osteen addressed the controversy and decided to blame social media sites like Twitter for the alleged misinformation.

Joining the hosts of "TODAY" on Wednesday was Joel Osteen who attempted to set the record straight and right the ship of the latest controversy.

"I think sometimes social media can be very powerful and it can create this false narrative," Osteen said. "If you are sitting in another state and you are not here...I mean, my niece was stranded right across the street from this building, nowhere to go," he added.

Pastor Joel Osteen speaks out after Harvey: 'The city didn't ask us to become a shelter' https://t.co/G3BGJIxvJF pic.twitter.com/v8XTAUSJF3  TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 30, 2017

Joel Osteen went on to continue to backtrack, stating, "we are all about helping people." The pastor also noted that his decision was partly based on "safety issues," before adding, "social media doesn't run out lives." Osteen is no stranger to controversy, as his literal interpretation of the Bible has often found himself in the headlines while clashing with more liberal Americans.

With the doors of the church now open, only time will tell how many people take shelter in an attempt to avoid even greater impact of the storm.

Moving forward

While the Lakewood Church has now welcomed people inside, the storm has done damage that many are comparing to Hurricane Katrina back in New Orleans from 2005. Donald Trump touched down in Texas on Tuesday to survey the damage, but stayed out of Houston where the worst of the storm took place.
When Glenna Duram, 49, of Sand Lake, Michigan shot and killed her 46-year-old husband, Martin Duram, his beloved parrot was a witness to the crime. The Parrot, who goes by the name of Bud, soon repeated his owners final words dont f---ing shoot, leading to the wife being found guilty of first-degree murder. She has now received a life sentence.

Michigan husband and wife argued regularly

The New York Post reports that Duram was her husbands caregiver after he received serious injuries in an automobile accident back in the 1990s. Family members said at the time of the shooting that the pair argued on a regular basis, although it had never before turned physical.

A 2015 report by Fox 17 noted that both husband and wife had children from former marriages. When Glennas son was interviewed by police, he said they usually argued over money and that Martin was very possessive. Her daughter said Glenna had left Martin for a short time as he was so controlling. Documents submitted to the court revealed that Glenna had regularly joked about the fact that she was waiting for her husband to die.

Glenna Duram pictures,entenced to life in prison Monday for shooting her husband Martin https://t.co/RPzHRNkKES pic.twitter.com/hyLt1dvqKs  infowe (@infowe) August 29, 2017

Attempted murder-suicide goes wrong

Martin Duram had been shot five times  once in the head  in May 2015, while his wife Glenna Duram had a gunshot wound to the head, but survived.

Prosecutors went on to say that Glenna had tried to commit suicide after killing her husband. Reportedly suicide notes, which had allegedly been written by Glenna, were discovered in the couples home by the family after the shootings. In one of the suicide notes, the wife had written that she was sorry.

At the time of the discovery of the couple, Duram was found to have a clump of hair held in his hand and there were bullet casings lying on the bed close to the victims.

Fox 17 reported at the time that Glenna had to be strapped to a gurney when they took her from the home as she was very combative.

Parrot repeats his owners last words

However, it was Christina Keller, Durams former wife, who had taken ownership of his parrot after his death who revealed the bird had made it clear who was responsible for the killing.

She went on to tell the court that after the shooting, the parrot kept repeating the words dont f----ing shoot clearly in Martin Durams voice.

Woman gets life in prison for murder witnessed by parrot - WHITE CLOUD, Mich.  A Michigan woman has been sente... https://t.co/sism4u0nK7  Zyite.com (@zyiteblog) August 29, 2017

The jury found Glenna guilty of the first-degree murder of her husband last month. On Monday she was in court again to learn that she had been Sentenced To Life in prison for the first-degree murder of her husband Martin, as well as a felony firearm charge. As reported by CBS Local, the attorney acting for Glenna Duram plans to appeal the sentence.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made their way to Corpus Christi, Texas as Hurricane Harvey continues to devastate part of the Lone Star State. As Trump addressed a crowd upon his arrival, he was quickly ridiculed on social media for once again bragging about the crowd size of those in attendance.

Trump in Texas

It's been just five days since Hurricane Harvey made its way to Texas, with the city of Houston being hit worst of all. Experts have labeled the hurricane the worst storm to strike the state in close to 500 years, as the storm peaked at a Category 4 with winds up to 130 mph.

In the days since the storm hit, the death toll has reached at least eight as of press time, as thousands have been forced to leave their homes behind in the hopes of saving their own lives. As expected, Donald Trump has given his thoughts during a series of Twitter posts, many of which have come under fire due to the tone he has taken in promoting what has taken place in Texas. Arriving in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, Trump appeared more ready for a campaign event than he did to survey the damage of the hurricane. As seen across social media on August 29, the reaction was not a positive one.

With his wife Melania Trump not far behind, Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of people in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

"Thank you everybody!" Trump said. "I just wanna say we love you. You are special. We are here to take care. It's going well," the president went on to say. "What a crowd!" he continued, before adding, "what a turn out!" Within minutes of the video making the rounds on cable news and the internet, Trump was quickly hit with backlash from critics.

What a crowd, what a turnout, Trump said from atop this firetruck, addressing hurricane victims. pic.twitter.com/0EdsLctHDi  Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) August 29, 2017

Twitter reacts

Not long after Donald Trump celebrated the crowd size during his trip to Texas to oversee the damage of Hurricane Harvey, those who opposed his presidency spoke out.

"People are trapped and dying and he is concerned about crowd size," one tweet read.

Totally disgusting. He's treating this as just another rally & photo-op. He lacks the mental capacity to grasp the situation at hand.  DesertGal (@DesertGalNM) August 29, 2017

You're not kidding?!?!?! Did he go on to tell them about his electoral college victory?  Ross Wenk (@RossWenk) August 29, 2017

"Totally disgusting. He's treating this as just another rally & photo-op. He lacks the mental capacity to grasp the situation at hand," an additional tweet went on to read. "They weren't victims. Supporters. Very little storm damage in Corpus Christi area," Jennifer Epstein posted.

Dear @realDonaldTrump - you know who ISN'T part of that YUGE turnout? The victims of #harvey who are still unaccounted for. #countryfirst  Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) August 29, 2017

But that's the rub. As a megalomaniac, he thinks the whole world is there for him. He's a very sick man.  David Weinstein (@davidbweinstein) August 29, 2017

They weren't victims. Supporters. Very little storm damage in Corpus Christi area.  Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) August 29, 2017

"You're not kidding?!?!?!

Did he go on to tell them about his electoral college victory?" one tweet wondered. "Dear @realDonaldTrump - you know who ISN'T part of that YUGE turnout? The victims of #harvey who are still unaccounted for," MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle added. As the negative reaction continued, Donald Trump's actions during the hurricane once against resulted in a partisan divide in the country.
Fox News has reported that President Trump may end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program "as early as Friday". According to Fox, a senior administration official told correspondent John Roberts that the DACA program would end the program "as it exists today".

DACA was instituted in 2012 by an Obama executive order. The program protects undocumented immigrants, who arrived in the United States as minors, from deportation. The "dreamers" affected by the program now live in fear and uncertainty.

Democratic leaders took to Twitter to react.

House Democrats

Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi emphasized America's need for dreamers, and how their struggle is wholly American.

DREAMers are part of the fabric that makes our country stronger. Their life, liberty & pursuit of happiness is what's at stake. #DefendDACA pic.twitter.com/53l65dmBOO  Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) August 31, 2017

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland highlighted the economic stimulation DREAMers have on America and reiterated their importance in American communities.

800,000 #DREAMers contribute to our communities and boost our economy. They're our neighbors, classmates, and colleagues. #DefendDACA pic.twitter.com/1lwCumJr3g  Rep. Ed Perlmutter (@RepPerlmutter) August 31, 2017

Representative Dan Kildee of Michigan called on Congress to act should the president reverse Obama's DACA order.

If @POTUS ends DACA, Congress must act to pass the DREAM Act. Ending DACA is morally wrong and will hurt the U.S. economy. #HereToStay  Rep. Dan Kildee (@RepDanKildee) August 31, 2017

Joe Crowley, a representative from Trumps's hometown of Queens, New York, released a passionate plea to the president.

Senate Democrats

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker used Trump's own words against him, calling on the president to make the right decision.

Prominent Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke on the threat a DACA termination would have on families and ensured DREAMers that the Democratic Party is with them.

To every DREAMer in this country: You are an American. This country is your home. And were fighting for you. #saveDACA  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 31, 2017

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shared the harrowing story of Diana, just one of many DREAMers in his home state of New York.

NY Dreamer Diana was 12 years old when she found out she was undocumented and was told to never say it out loud.https://t.co/KZ2I2apo4F  Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 30, 2017

A policy of compassion

Democrats from both chambers of Congress have spoken out against the cruel threats made by the Trump administration. It is an administration becoming more and more brazenly unempathetic by the week.

From the president's botched Charlottesville response to the pardoning of Joe Arpaio as Hurricane Harvey touched down.

It is clear the president will make no concerted effort to protect society's most vulnerable. And whether out of a lack of gall or sheer callousness, Republicans refuse to stand up to Trump.

The Democratic Party unanimously showed that they will fight to protect innocent young men and women, boys and girls, who are mere victims of circumstance. DACA should be kept in place because doing so would align with American traditions of a land of opportunity. It shouldn't even be held up because its benefactors

DACA should be reinforced as a staple of American immigration policy because it is the humane thing to do.
President Donald Trump has made it clear that he disagrees with almost all of the moves former President Barack Obama made while he was in office. The latest move to erase Obama's legacy comes in the form of a immigration law that could soon be revoked.

Fox News on DACA

During the eight years that Barack Obama was in office, he did whatever he could to make progress when it comes to his vision for the country. As the then leader of the Democratic Party, Obama was forced to work with a Congress controlled by Republicans for the majority of his time in office.

However, he did put in place what is known as Daca, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA allows children who were brought to the United States illegally the opportunity to stay and obtain work, education, or serve in the military. The program has been supported by the majority of the American people but is now on the chopping block for the Donald Trump administration. This issue was discussed during a segment on the September 1 edition of "Fox & Friends" on Fox News.

(Rivera's remarks about DACA start at 9:00 in the above video)

Joining the crew of "Fox & Friends" was fellow part-time host and network contributor Geraldo Rivera. Rivera has been critical of Trump when compared to other hosts on the channel, but has typically thrown his support to the commander in chief, calling him a "friend." However, when the issue of DACA was brought up, Rivera ripped into Trump and warned about the future of his legacy.

"If he were to end the DREAM ACT, these are youngster who came here through no fault of their own," Rivera said, "all of the false statements about the cruelty of Donald Trump will be true."

Geraldo Rivera then went on to explain that removing DACA would be cruel in the way it would target young children, speaking that a child at the age of two-years-old would feel the brunt of its removal.

After one of the co-host described the argument as simply "emotional" and not following the rule of law, Rivera fired back. "If the rule of law calls for cruelty against a two-year-old, screw the law!" Rivera said, before continuing to make his case for why DACA should remain on the books.

Geraldo Rivera: If Trump ends DACA, all the statement after his cruelty "will be true" https://t.co/ZxmTlhGzZy pic.twitter.com/GUi2OdDwSF  The Hill (@thehill) September 1, 2017

Moving forward

As the public awaits Donald Trump's final decision, the president did give a vague comment while speaking to the media at the White House on Friday.

When asked if "dreamers should be free," Trump replied, "We love dreamers. We love everybody." Elaborating further and the president said that an official announcement should be made over the weekend.
The push for self-driving cars to be legally deployed across America will face a test of approval next week. The U.S. House Of Representatives will vote on the bill to legalize the operation of this innovative technology. So far, states across the country have limitations in place to checkmate the rollout of these autonomous cars in their domain. The legislation that governs Driving In America is about to change

The bill before the House of Representatives

In July 2017, there was a unanimous "Yes" vote by the House of Representatives panel that was mandated to examine the pros and cons of pushing through the autonomous car legislation.

The contending parties for and against the bill have been marshaling their points thus far on the impact this will have on driving in America.

Autonomous cars became a reality in the state of Michigan in December 2016 but a couple of other states have barriers in place at present. Florida already approved of the operation of self-driving cars, and at least nine other states are looking at the possibilities.The experience of driving in America looks set for a defining change as the House of Representatives votes on the bill.

The leading traditional car makers like Toyota, GM, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, have thrown their support behind the new bill at the House of Representatives. Other startups in the smart cars race include Lyft, Uber, and Google, have also shown their support for this revolutionary step to change the face of driving in America.

The present House of Representatives bill that will come under scrutiny in the coming days makes room for the deployment of about 25,000 driverless cars in the next months. This is expected to run on the back of exemptions to side-step safety standards that govern driving in America. The rollout is expected to peak at 100,000 vehicles in three years.

The optimism behind the passage of the bill

There is bated optimism that the bill before the House of Representatives will have a free course when it comes up for a closer look next week. In the Senate, legislators are working across the party aisle to see what they can put in place to make driving in America safer.

The core of safety concerns has been on the human controls that need to be in place when looking at the operation of driverless cars.

The Californian laws in place at present are considered to be too restrictive to make driving in America a liberal experience. The cries of consumer advocates against the bill before the House of Representatives have led to proposed curbs on the number of cars that can be rolled out over the next couple of years.

A background to smart cars

Driverless cars first got mooted in the decade to the 1970s, when the early prototypes were controlled by long cables and remote control. Imaging technology and smarter controls were added to the early designs as the 1980s beckoned. While the early designs used analog signals, the modern day versions are imbued with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. Technology can make driving in America a safe experience and at par with the global cutting edge in the industry. The House of Representatives will show the way in a few days.
In the nearly eight months that Donald Trump has been in office, some of his actions have resulted in even die-hard supporters turning their backs on him. After the president gave his much anticipated speech on taxes, author Ann Coulter appeared to have had enough.

Coulter on Trump

When Donald Trump announced his campaign for president back in the summer of 2015, he did so with much fanfare on the floor of Trump Tour in New York City. After making his now infamous remarks about illegal immigrants being "rapists" and "murderers," the former host of "The Apprentice" received instant backlash from the majority of the mainstream media and much of the country.

However, there was a growing number of people who gave their support to Trump, with several right-wing commentators and voices speaking out to back the billionaire real estate mogul. Names like former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Fox News host Sean Hannity were two of Trump's earliest backers, but perhaps none have been as vocal as Ann Coulter. The conservative firebrand even went as far as writing a book in her support of the new president, titled, "In Trump We Trust." Despite this, Coulter has broken from Trump at several points during the early stages of his presidency, including a string of tweets on August 30 over taxes.

The notion that changing taxes is going to lead to a growth spurt is pure nonsense https://t.co/ouoviTbFbl  The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2017

On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump gave a his speech on taxes and outlined where he wanted to move his administration forward on the issue.

Trump took a similar stance as previous Republican presidents have in the past, much to the chagrin of Ann Coulter. "WTF! Why is @realDonaldTrump back to Tax Cuts? His election was NOT about tax cuts. Has he been talking to @SpeakerRyan again?" Coulter tweeted.

WTF! Why is @realDonaldTrump back to tax cuts? His election was NOT about tax cuts. Has he been talking to @SpeakerRyan again?  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

This isn't a "once in a lifetime" shot at tax cuts! EVERY GOP cuts taxes! This is "once in a lifetime" shot to save US: Wall & deportations!  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

"This isn't a 'once in a lifetime' shot at tax cuts!

EVERY GOP cuts taxes! This is 'once in a lifetime' shot to save US: Wall & deportations!" Ann Coulter wrote in a follow-up tweet. "Bush cut taxes! Did it create millions of jobs? Nope. The rich pocketed their tax cut & sent jobs abroad, hired guest workers. F-- them," she added.

Bush cut taxes! Did it create millions of jobs? Nope. The rich pocketed their tax cut & sent jobs abroad, hired guest workers. F-- them.  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

It's so obvious Trump's only getting polite applause for tax cuts. Want to get the crowd hollering, @realDonaldTrump? Talk about THE WALL!  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

"It's so obvious Trump's only getting polite applause for tax cuts," Ann Coulter tweeted again, while adding, "Want to get the crowd hollering, Donald Trump?

Talk about THE WALL!" "Cutting taxes doesn't do a damn thing for wages if you allow businesses to keep bringing in cheap foreign labor!" she noted.

To create jobs for AMERICANS, no more cheap foreign workers, CUT REGULATIONS & cut corporate taxes. (NOT income taxes.)  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

This is the worst, most tone-deaf speech @realDonaldTrump has ever given. Jeb! had better ideas.  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

Double down

Ann Coulter then continued her attack, comparing Donald Trump's speech to one of the most well known horror films in history. "It's like Night of the Living Dead watching our beloved @realDonaldTrump go to DC & start babbling the same old GOP nonsense on tax cuts," she pointed out.

It's like Night of the Living Dead watching our beloved @realDonaldTrump go to DC & start babbling the same old GOP nonsense on tax cuts.  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 30, 2017

Moving forward

As Ann Coulter expresses her clear outrage and frustration with Donald Trump, her thoughts appear to be felt by the majority of the country. According to the most recent round of polling, Trump's approval rating is down to just 35 percent.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are said to be reuniting for an exclusive tell-all interview. Jimmy Kimmel is reportedly setting up the meet-up for his late night show, which is popularly known as the Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Pitt-Aniston reunion is reportedly happening

Celebrity Insider reported that Jimmy Kimmel is attempting to make history by setting up a reunion between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, following the latters divorce from Angelina Jolie. The publication said that the American television host has a huge chance to successfully orchestrate his plans as he is a good friend of the ex-couple.

An unnamed Radar Online source claimed that Kimmel already sent Pitt an invitation to appear on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. The insider added that Jolies estranged husband is currently one of the top priorities of the 49-year-old host.

Reports have it that Jimmy Kimmel thinks this is the best time for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to reunite as the Allied actor is displaying "softening stance toward the whole Jen drama." The same source added that Kimmel is very confident he could make things happen, especially now that Pitt is already free from Angelina Jolie.

However, Gossip Cop claimed that the rumored Pitt-Aniston reunion in Kimmels show is not true at all. As a matter of fact, a source close to Jolies ex-partner has revealed that the actor never received such offer.

An ABC insider also confessed that Jimmy Kimmel is not arranging a reunion between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. Therefore, fans should take these reports lightly until everything is proven true and correct.

Will Brangelina never be good pals again?

Meanwhile, HollywoodLife reported that there is a very slim chance for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to become friends again.

While the ex-couple are on speaking terms again, the publication claimed that they are not ready to rekindle their friendship yet.

They are able to talk civilly now, and a lot of the anger has dissipated, but they are still very far from being good friends, a HollywoodLife source claimed. Additionally, an insider close to the Maleficent actress claimed that Jolie is currently focusing more on her six kids  Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 9.

The same source even said that the 42-year-old filmmaker is spending more time with her children than before. While these claims could possibly be true, it should be noted that neither of the Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars has confirmed anything as of yet. Stay tuned for more news about Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Aniston.
"Days of our Lives" is entering its fall season, and it brings new and fresh storylines. These storylines will set up for sweeps, which will begin towards the end of October, and run through the end of November. During this time, the drama is usually higher, and the storylines are better on the NBC soap. As we inch nearer to sweeps, fans will begin to see some new plots.

September 'DOOL' spoilers reveal big storylines

According to the latest "Days of our Lives" spoilers, September will start off with a bang when Claire invites Tripp to move in with her and Theo.

Of course, this will cause a bit of jealousy with Theo, who could be picking up on some vibes between his ex-girlfriend and Salem's latest arrival. Meanwhile, Tripp will be doing his best to make things right with Kayla, including making a huge monetary donation to the hospital. Theo will also get to have a heartwarming reunion with his father, Abe Carver, when Abe is proven innocent and released from jail.

Gabi's in trouble

Gabi will find herself in a very dangerous situation and Eli, Hope, and Rafe will be racing against the clock to save her. All the while, "Days Of Our Lives" viewers will watch as Hattie's scheme begins to unravel. john and marlena will devise a major plan to escape, and when Hattie forces Andre into Bayview with them things will get really interesting.

Andre will help John and Marlena escape, and Hattie's plans will soon be foiled. She'll be caught and her plans will come crashing down. All the while, Adrienne will be stuck behind bars, where she'll find an unlikely friend as Bonnie poses as her in Salem, and Hope, Brady, and Paul all believe "Marlena" is acting off.

Wedding fever

Paul will ask Hope and Rafe to help him find out what's happening with Marlena and John, as Hattie won't be able to keep up appearances around those who know Marlena best, such has Brady and Paul. This will all be happening while Paul is busy planning his wedding with Sonny. Sonny and Paul are having a double wedding with Chad and Abigail, and news will begin to travel around Salem.

"Chabby" will share the news with Jennifer and JJ, but the wedding won't go as smoothly as planned when a shocking former character makes his "Days of our Lives" return and crashes the wedding.

Love triangle finally over?

While all of this is happening, Nicole and Eric will share some close moments, and it seems that they are headed for a reunion. However, since "Days of our Lives" viewers already know that actress Arianne Zucker is leaving "DOOL" very soon, it seems that the Nicole/Brady/Eric love triangle will soon be over.
"Days of Our Lives" spoilers for the end of the current week reveal that Tripp (Lucas Adams) will continue to be up to no good. Steve's long lost, recently found, son will continue to plot his revenge against his step-mother, Kayla Brady-Johnson, whom he believes murdered his biological mother, Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun).

Tripp's revenge plan gets dangerous

Tripp wants Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) to pay the price for what she did. However, he doesn't know that Kayla is actually innocent, and it was his own half-brother, Joey, whom he's been getting very close to, who actually killed his mother.

However, Tripp's revenge plan will lead to some serious consequences for all involved, and "DOOL" fans can expect to see the plot turn dangerous in the near future.

Chad and Abigail are headed back to each other

Meanwhile, the saga of Chad and Abigail will continue. Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) will find out that Abigail Deveraux (Marci Miller) made it through her life saving surgery, and will be encouraged by the fact that she seems to be on the mend. However, the entire ordeal has forced Chad to see the truth behind Abby's marriage to Dario, and the face his feelings for his ex-wife. Sadly, this means that Gabi will likely soon be out in the cold again when it comes to her relationship with Chad.

However, "Days Of Our Lives" seems to be subtly pushing Gabi and JJ back onto each other's radars, so "DOOL" fans could see a reunion of "Chabby" and "Jabi" very soon.

Will Chad confess to murder?

However, Chad's heavy heart won't be completely gone. He has recently learned that Dario had photographic evidence that could prove he is the one who killed Deimos Kiriakis.

Theo (Kyler Petis) claimed to have deleted all existence of the photograph, but Chad now knows that Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith) is behind bars for a crime that he may not have committed, and he'll want to do the right thing and confess to the Salem police. "Days of our Lives" viewers will see Chad mull over the decision to talk to police, but his first priority will be Abigail's condition.

Love triangle drama in Salem

The end of the week will also bring more love triangle drama to "DOOL," as the Eric/Nicole/Brady situation heats up. Brady will find out that Nicole has been lying to him, and things will quickly escalate between the couple. It seems that a big blow up will be coming for the "Days of our Lives" fan favorites, and fans will be there to see it all go down. Will this be the end of Nicole and Brady, and a new beginning for her and Eric?
"Teen Mom 2" star Kailyn Lowry is reportedly stressing out over a possible custody battle over her newborn son. Kailyn and her baby daddy, Chris Lopez, are allegedly on the brink of a battle for custody of their newborn baby boy, whose name has yet to be revealed. The child was born on August 4, and since that time Kail and Chris have been working together to take care of their new little bundle of joy. However, their friendly relationship may be over.

Chris' mother wants him to get full custody of 'Baby Lo'

A source close to the situation recently revealed that Chris Lopez's mother is allegedly pushing her son to take Kailyn Lowry to court for custody of their son.

Chris' mother reportedly wants her son to try to get full custody of the baby boy. Lopez is said to have no interest in taking the baby away from the "Teen Mom 2" star at this point in time, but his mother is allegedly worried about her and her son's visitation rights with the newborn. Lowry is reportedly furious over the entire situation and is "shocked and disgusted" that Chris would consider taking her to court. "It's unbelievable to her," the insider dished, via Hollywood Life.

Kail is shocked by the news

Kailyn Lowry is said to be in a "tailspin" at the moment upon hearing the news that Chris Lopez could be considering taking her to court for custody of her youngest son. The "Teen Mom 2" star reportedly still has a lot of pregnancy hormones running through her body, and has been very emotional.

Lowry is reportedly "exhausted and sleep deprived" which isn't helping matters at all. Meanwhile, Kail is said to be trying to "difuse" the situation. She has allegedly been trying to make nice with Chris' mother, making sure that she's very involved in the baby's life at this point. Lowry is allegedly hoping that Lopez's mother will see her in action and realize what a great mom she really is to all three of her boys.

Co-parenting drama

As "Teen Mom 2" viewers know, Kailyn Lowry has two older sons from previous relationships. Isaac Elliot, 7, and Lincoln Marshall, 3. Kailyn currently has very good co-parenting relationships with both of their fathers, Jo Rivera and Javi Marroquin, and is likely open to working out a co-parenting schedule with Chris Lopez as well.

However, if things get bad and Chris and Kail do end up going to court over custody of "Baby Lo," fans are fully expecting the mother-of-three to fight with everything she has in order to keep her son in her home with his two older brothers.
Joy-Anna Duggar and husband Austin Forsyth just announced that they are expecting their first child together. For fans of the Duggars, this is certainly no surprise, and right on schedule for their family. Since the pair got married at the end of May this year, fans expected an announcement sooner rather than later. All of the Duggar daughters, except Jinger, have announced that they were expecting a baby around three months after their wedding date, and the newlyweds are definitely no exceptions. However, rumors have been swirling that Joy-Anna was actually pregnant before the wedding date, breaking a cardinal Duggar rule.

How far along is Joy?

Joy-Anna Duggar stated in People today that she is three months along, however many fans are skeptical of this claim. Joy-Anna Duggar lost a lot of weight before she got married, but seemed to put weight back on right before her wedding. The photoshoot that People did in Joy-Anna and Austin's home seems to suggest that she is further along than three months, as many fans have remarked that her breasts and belly are fairly large for someone who is just out of their first trimester. It was also suspected that she might be pregnant before her wedding due to the fact that most photos of Joy-Anna and Austin showed her with her hand or arm in front of her belly. Her recent photoshoot for People was no exception, as Joy-Anna's arm was over her own belly, which some think was to hide the fact that she's further along than she wants people to think.

Others think that the wedding was moved from the fall to the spring because Joy-Anna accidentally got pregnant before the wedding date.

The wedding was moved rather quickly, and many have stated that the pair's decor seemed to be very much an autumn theme, despite the fact that they tied the knot in May.

Riding dirt bikes while pregnant

Joy-Anna Duggar and her husband Austin recently posted a photo to Instagram of the pair on dirt bikes, while she stated that she loved to try "new things with her man." However, the star has now been heavily criticized for this photo due to the fact that she was obviously at least a couple of months pregnant when it was taken.

While some fans will state that it is possible she didn't know she was pregnant at the time, it is incredibly unlikely, as the pair have just announced their pregnancy to the world not long after, with photos of her already showing. It is difficult to say whether or not she was showing while riding the dirt bikes, as she was wearing a long, flowing dress.
Spanish National Police recently made several arrests relating to a global credit and debit card fraud which has affected thousands of people in the U.S.A., Spain, France, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Costa Rica. Police estimate the suspects have stolen 6 million euros ($7 million) from their victims, but the number could be even higher.

Six suspects arrested in global credit card scam

The Local reports that six suspects were taken into custody in A Coruna, Madrid and Zaragoza in Spain after the scams were detected and an investigation was run.

The suspects had obtained credit and debit card numbers by hacking electronic commerce security systems or by purchasing the illegal data from third parties. Once the suspects had the details and stole the cash, they laundered it via a complex network of fictitious companies, created for that purpose. The investigation was run in cooperation with the French National Police, Europol, Interpol and the FBI.

Spanish authorities arrest members of global credit card fraud network https://t.co/CvYVCdSN3L pic.twitter.com/dl6i2kjwim  The Local Spain (@TheLocalSpain) September 1, 2017

As noted by the statement from the National Police, investigations began when several victims filed complaints with a bank over numerous unauthorized transactions on their credit cards.

While the victims still had the cards in their possession, the charges had allegedly been made by a company in A Coruna, Spain without the consent or knowledge of those victims. The amount defrauded in those instances was around $17,000.00.

Ghost companies created to move the money around

Police found it difficult initially to trace the funds, as a number of ghost companies had been set up to handle the transaction to avoid police detection.

However, the company had branches in several countries, including Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, France, Panama, Spain and the U.S. After running investigations, it was found that the members of the illegal group in Costa Rica were the ones responsible for illegally obtaining credit and debit card information, by either bypassing e-commerce security systems online or by purchasing the information from third parties.

The Spanish branch of the organization set up ghost companies and contracted Point of Sale Terminals (POS) for those non-existent companies. Once they had the necessary credit card numbers, it was just a matter of running them through the POS.

Once the illegally obtained money was in hand, the suspects then transferred it to various ghost companies, both in Spain and overseas, to make it difficult to track down by police. However, unfortunately for the suspects, police did track down the Spanish members of the gang.

Two suspects were arrested in A Coruna, one in Madrid and three other suspects were taken into custody in Zaragoza, while more than twenty bank accounts set up by the ghost companies have now been blocked.

Various vehicles, computers and bank documents were also seized.

The Local reports that further arrests were made in France, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama and the U.S., but no further details were provided.
MOSCOW  Russian high-tech conglomerate Rostec Corporation is ready to strengthen cooperation with China on the development of military and civilian products, its CEO said.

"The portfolio of contracts that have been signed by Rostec's military export subsidiary and have entered into force exceeds $45 billion. More than 15 percent of this amount comes from cooperation with China," said Sergey Chemezov.

Rostec not only supplies China with military hardware but also transfers technology and conducts joint research with China on tanks, warplanes and guns, he said.

Chemezov said Rostec's large-scale cooperation with China has extended to various civil and dual-use areas, including IT, composite materials, airborne equipment, aero engines, and helicopter and aircraft manufacturing.

Rostec is expected to sign a contract with its Chinese partner by the end of 2017 to jointly develop a civilian heavy lift helicopter, he said.

The helicopter's take-off weight will exceed 38 metric tons and it will be adapted for round-the-clock operation in highlands and in all weather conditions, Chemezov said.

The Chinese side is expected to be the chief developer in charge of production, trials, certification and sales, while the Russian side is responsible for technological plans, he said.

Both sides are also working on a wide-body long-range aircraft. The Russian tycoon said the testing of its engine is scheduled for 2022 and its certification for 2025.

"Rostec's subsidiary United Engine Corporation together with the Aero Engine Corporation of China are developing the key components of the new aircraft engine," Chemezov said.

He also said the Russian side will be responsible for the design of the aircraft and the production of components, while the Chinese side will be in charge of the development of the fuselage and the final assembly.
BRICS countries will discuss the potential of establishing free zones in member countries during the summit to be held in September, head of the think tank with the nation's top economic regulator said on Thursday.

"By the end of 2020, BRICS members should set up clear roadmaps for promoting trade across countries," said Ye Fujing, director of the Institute for International Economic Research, a think tank with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Ye said establishing free zones in member countries will be part of efforts to promote trade and investment.

There is no specific timeline for their establishment, according to Ye.

Prior to establishing free trade zones, members are able to set up preferential trade and investment agreements under the WTO framework, he added.

BRICS Summit will be held in Xiamen, Fujian province, from Sept 3 to 5.
China's top SOE regulator has urged giant companies to speed up structural reforms, asset reorganization and industrial upgrading progress to further compete with peers in global markets, according to a senior official.

"The State-owned enterprises need to follow the supply-side structural reform as the guideline and accelerate the optimization of the State-owned assets," said Bai Yingzi, director-general of enterprise reform bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Bai said SOEs must focus on their core business, increase their competitiveness by enhancing their innovation capability and upgrade their technology.

The ongoing SOE reform has boosted the usage efficiency of Stated-owned assets and capital in key sectors. Stated-owned assets so far account for 80.1 percent in the country's key sectors such as defence, power grid, petrol and petrochemical, transportation, telecommunication and energy.

SASAC has been actively restructuring SOEs since last year, with the number of central SOEs falling to 98 after a merger between the country's major power generator China Guodian Corporation and coal producer Shenhua Group on Monday, down sharply from the total of 196 in 2003.

"The consolidation progress required the SOEs to build up a complete industrial chain," Bai said. "The SOEs will benefit from the integration so they can grow bigger, and avoid overlapping investment and unhealthy competition between Chinese companies in overseas markets."

According to SASAC, the SOE reform has shown significant progress in structural optimization through cutting excessive production capacity and upgrading technology.

Peng Huagang, deputy secretary-general of SASAC, said the key of SOE reform is much more than simply cutting down the number of SOEs and expanding their sizes. It also requires them to figure out a clear strategy and optimize the efficiency of Stated-owned asset allocation.

"The final goal is to push SOEs becoming the world's leading companies in both innovation and competitiveness through sharing resources, business integration and partnership," Peng said.

Zhao Ying, a researcher at the institute of industrial economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said SOEs played a key role in keeping the economy stable and sound. But SOEs will still have to go through a deepening reform progress, because of the tougher global competition and the transformation of the country's economy.

"The central government's move will lower financing costs and optimize the industrial structure of the State-owned business, by using fewer bank loans," Zhao said.

"SOE reform is a very complicated process, requiring a greater ability to manage potential risks, and to build a State-private equity fund to help reduce SOEs' debt ratio and improve their asset management," he said.

SASAC urged SOEs to spin off their subsidiary businesses to other companies that specialize in such sectors. For example, China Poly Group Corp, a real estate conglomerate, earlier this year spun off its 18.8 billion yuan ($2.85 billion) premium coal business to China National Coal Group.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's new CEO. [Photo/Agencies]

SAN FRANCISCODara Khosrowshahi is credited with turning Expedia Inc into a global travel services behemoth and winning admiration from employees on the way.

Uber is hoping he will steer the controversy-battered ride-sharing service along a similarly glorious route.

The San Francisco-based startup, officially known as Uber Technologies Inc, confirmed on Tuesday that Khosrowshahi would replace former head Travis Kalanick.

"We are delighted to announce that Uber's board has voted unanimously to appoint Dara Khosrowshahi to be our new CEO (chief executive officer)," Uber executives said in an email to employees.

"We are really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara's experience, talent and vision," they added.

Khosrowshahi is known as an experienced top executive, willing to speak his mind and to advocate for women getting equal pay and leadership opportunities.

His most recent Twitter post criticized United States President Donald Trump for his response to a white supremacist rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville.

"I keep waiting for the moment when our Prez will rise to the expectations of his office and he fails, repeatedly," Khosrowshahi said in the tweet, which included a link to a story about the Trump controversy.

Born in Iran, he immigrated to the US with his family as a child and became a citizen .

Expedia shares have climbed more than five-fold during the 12 years Khosrowshahi has been in charge of the travel services internet firm.

"I don't doubt his skills and his background in finance and hospitality, which is going to be very important," said Tim Bajarin, president of Silicon Valley technology analyst firm Creative Strategies.

"The only thing we don't know is his ability to navigate some of the difficult settings around internal disciplinary issues and code of conduct that he will inherit."

Khosrowshahi will have to address conflicts with regulators and taxi operators, a cutthroat company culture, sexism and board members feuding with investors over Kalanick.

The former CEO was the driving force behind Uber, taking a spur-of-moment idea and turning it into the world's most valuable venture-funded tech startup.

But his brash personality and freewheeling management style, which some argue set a tone inside the company, made him a liability as well as an asset to the global ride-sharing giant, and in June he stepped down as chief executive.

Good CEOs typically ramp up discipline and accountability in employee ranks upon taking charge at companies, so that will likely be among steps taken by Khosrowshahi at the Uber helm, according to Bajarin.

"He is going to have to be highly aggressive in disciplining the company to stay on message and, more importantly, to stick within whatever the codes of conduct are," the analyst said.

Khosrowshahi has consistently scored well at website Glass Door, where executives and companies are anonymously rated by employees past and present, suggesting he might be able to parent workers without alienating them.

And since Uber's board members, including Kalanick, agreed to offer him the job as CEO, he could have backing if he butts heads with those resentful the founder was pressured to step down.

Khosrowshahi's strong background in travel and transportation should be a benefit when it comes to guiding Uber through its next phase of growth, according to Bajarin.

His experience includes jobs managing finance and strategy, having worked in executive positions at IAC/InterActive-Corp and the investment firm of Allen& Co, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Khosrowshahi, 48, was born in Teheran to a prominent family behind a conglomerate with interests in food, trade, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

His family immigrated to the US prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1978.

"Dara came to America when he was nine years old," Uber said in its message to employees.

He attended college here, earning a university degree in electrical engineering.

Khosrowshahi proposed to his wife, Sydney, during a visit to Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, and they have four children.

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research, considered Khosrowshahi a fine choice to run Uber, but questioned whether one person can make a difference at a troubled company.

"Dara is not a magician," Chowdhry said.

XINHUA-APP
New Central Committee and chief disciplinary body to be elected

The 19th Communist Party of China National Congress will convene in Beijing on Oct 18.

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided at a meeting on Thursday to submit the proposal to the seventh plenary meeting of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which will be held on Oct 11.

A new CPC Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection will be elected at the congress, according to the Thursday meeting.

The Political Bureau meeting, presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, studied preparatory work for the Plenary Session and National Congress.

The National Congress is "greatly important" at a time the country is undergoing the decisive stage in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects as well as the crucial period of the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The congress will hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, be guided by Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Thought of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, according to the meeting.

The congress will put into practice guiding principles from Xi's major policy addresses as well as new ideas, thoughts and strategies regarding governance by the CPC Central Committee.

It will review the Party's work over the past five years and summarize the historical process and the experiences the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as its core has gained uniting and leading people of all ethnic groups to carry on and advance socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The congress will thoroughly examine the current international and domestic situation and fully take into account new requirements for the Party and the country's development as well as new expectations from the people. It will draw guidelines for actions and major policies that meet the requirements of the times. It will call upon all members of the Party and all the people of China to fortify their confidence in the socialist path, theories, system and culture with Chinese characteristics.

It will continue promoting coordinated progress in economic, political, cultural, social and ecological areas. It also will continue advancing in a coordinated manner the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, which includes building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, driving reform to a deeper level, fully implementing the rule of law, and strengthening Party discipline.




China's Global Newspaper





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Villager Bu Dawa displays his Gyashey costume in the Nelung township.Photos provided to China Daily

The Gyashey dance is popular in the countryside of western Xigaze in the Tibet autonomous region, with its bold and vigorous steps, and beautiful melodies.

Some residents interpret "gya" as "victory" and "shey" as "song", saying the dance was derived from local people resisting a Nepali army invasion in ancient times.

The resistance to the invasion, led by a noble named Borang Yeshi, was successful and the Gyashey dance is said to have been created by way of celebration.

Other residents trace the origination of the dance to the marriage of Tibet's King Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng in the seventh century.

"Gya" is thought to refer to "Han", as it was performed as a welcoming dance when the king met the Han Chinese princess who came from Xi'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), said Bu Tsering, a dancer from Nelung township.

The 64-year-old said he has been practicing the Gyashey dance for more than 30 years, and he also taught four students in his hometown the tradition.

He was once invited to perform in the region's New Year celebrations in the regional capital, Lhasa, and he was twice invited to perform in Xigaze for local festivals.

The dance was ranked as a national-level item of intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

"The dance is practiced during traditional holidays, horse races and religious rituals in monasteries," said Ngakwang, a 70-year-old dancer. "The words of the Gyashey are very clear, and the dances celebrate religious leaders, parents, hometowns, mountains, rivers, and religious offerings."

Dechen Tsomo, a Nelung official, said residents were used to making their own dance costumes, but in 2013, the government ordered factory-made costumes for them.

"The government supported us by paying more than 130,000 yuan ($19,400) for the costumes," Dechen Tsomo said.

The 28-year-old also said in order to protect the traditional culture, township employees had for several years been working to record and preserve the lyrics of the songs in the dance, and a book of lyrics will be published soon.

According to Gyatso, an elderly villager, the time it takes to perform the Gyashey ranges from several hours to at least two days for the entire dance.
Shanghai-based electric car-sharing service provider EVCARD has announced that its subscribership exceeded 1.2 million people, making it one of the biggest car-sharing companies in the world.

Some of the other major companies in the world include German automotive group Daimler, which rolled out its electric car-sharing business Car2go in 2008. It currently has more than 1.1 million users worldwide. Paris also launched its electric car sharing service Autolib in 2011.

Officially launched by Shanghai-based automotive manufacturer SAIC Motor in 2013, EVCARD has since set up 5,200 branches and 29,000 parking lots in 31 Chinese cities. The company's monthly order has exceeded 600,000, with 30 percent of its registered users using its service every day.

According to EVCARD, it has a fleet of more than 6,000 cars in Shanghai and each vehicle is used an average of seven times a day.

It costs 15 yuan ($2.2) to use a car for 30 minutes and each extra minute costs 0.6 yuan in town areas and 0.5 yuan when outside of the city center. The daily rental cap is 219 yuan for cars such as the Roewe E50 or Chery eQ. The BMW i3 costs more - 21 yuan for every 10 minutes, with a daily rental cap of 759 yuan.

According to EVCARD's chief executive Cao Guangyu, university students and teachers, as well as self-employed people, make up the majority of their current customer base. Most of the users are aged between 21 and 35 and 70 percent of them are men. Mid- to high-level income earners are the company's main target audience.

The rapid development of EVCARD comes at a time when Beijing is backing the proliferation of green cars. On Aug 8, the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development released a guideline to promote the rental business of light vans.

With the central government's support, a number of EVCARD's competitors have sprouted across the country. Gofun Chuxing, launched by State-owned Beijing Shouqi Group, said it would expand its presence to 20 cities with more than 15,000 electric cars by the end of this year. Shenzhen-based Ponycar said it plans to launch up to 10,000 electric cars in first-tier cities within a year.

Cao also hinted that the company will be turning itself into a platform that can connect various modes of transportation.

"We are looking to connect buses, bike-sharing businesses, taxis, private cars and ride-hailing services. What we will do is to merge the ecosystem of transportation so that we can provide convenience to users and lower their costs," he said.

According to the China Sharing Economy Development Report 2017 released by the Sharing Economy Research Institute of the State Information Center earlier this year, the transaction value of the country's sharing economy totaled 3.45 trillion yuan ($522.45 billion) in 2016. The center estimates that the sharing economy will contribute at least 10 percent to China's GDP by 2020. Within the next decade, there will be up to 10 major sharing economy platforms in China.

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based research institute CBNData has projected that the market value of the sharing transportation businesses will amount to 1.8 trillion yuan by the end of 2018, of which 380 billion yuan will come from the car-sharing sector.

shijing@chinadaily.com.cn
Lao Xiaopi Nong, or leather processing lane, is one of the many old road names in Shanghai. gao erqiang / China Daily

The Shanghai municipal government is currently conducting a survey as part of efforts to create a database containing old street names that have been in the city for hundreds of years.

This survey by the Urban Planning, Land and Resources Bureau is being carried out in response to the proposal submitted by the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology during the city's "Two Sessions" at the beginning of this year. According to the association, some of the old streets in the city date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

"While a large number of the old streets have lost their historic appearances because of the acceleration of urbanization, their names have mostly been preserved. These names represent history and memories," said the association in the proposal.

The association suggested to the historic preservation department that old streets could be treated like relics. For example, commemorative plaques and art sculptures could be set up beside street name plates to showcase the significance of the road.

The association estimates that there are more than 20 streets with special historic names that need to be properly preserved. The Lannidu Road, which means "muddy road", is one such example.

The road is presently located in the center of the Lujiazui financial area where there used to be tidal flats more than a century ago. The road was named as such because many of the people who fished in this area in the past often had their shoes stuck in the mud.

The name for Fahuazhen Road, located in the western part of Shanghai, was derived from the Fahua Temple built more than 1,000 years ago. Back during those ancient times, the area where the road now stands was a river. It was not until 1958 that the river was reclaimed into a road.

Yaoshui Alley, which means "chemical reagents alley", is today situated adjacent to the Suzhou Creek in Putuo district. This street name came about in 1907 when a British manufacturer moved its plant which produced hydrochloric, sulphuric and nitric acids from Jiangsu province to Shanghai.

In 2005, the municipal government of Shanghai announced a list of 64 streets that would never be expanded in order to preserve its historic look.

In conjunction with the plan of setting up a database of old street names, the local government will also shoot a series of documentaries to commemorate the city's history.
If tech entrepreneur Joe Chan had his way, Asia's trailblazing "PayPal Mafia" may soon make its presence felt.

Chan, managing partner of MindWorks  a budding venture capital enterprise with offices in Hong Kong and London and with an eye on the Greater China region and Southeast Asia  laments that venture capital investment has been swept under the carpet by angel investors due to risk concerns and rather untempting returns.

Hong Kong is not devoid of investors, and projects abound too, he insists, but most of them prefer to opt for the property and finance business instead of tech startups.

"There're many angel investors in Hong Kong investing a few hundred thousand dollars helping the younger generation, or funds plowing their money into Pre-IPOs, such as Horizons Ventures, which has just invested in Razer USA Ltd, a Singaporean-founded American company. But, the venture capital industry has yet to rev up and establish itself to support startups in Series A, Series B and Series C funding (typically $1 million to $30 million), with people still worried about the risks of investing large sums of money in high tech with no clear exit path," Chan tells China Daily.

"That's why we're seeing the market vacancy and funding gap, and MindWorks endeavors to be Asia's leading venture capital funding source to help internet startups become the continent's first 'PayPal Mafia' in their expansionary stage."

"PayPal Mafia" takes its name from a group of former employees of California, US-based PayPal Holdings Inc  one of the world's largest internet payment companies  who have since founded a string of tech enterprises, particularly after the dot-com bust in 2001.

Chan says he's excited about the current operating climate for the venture capital business, which is "even better than 10 years ago" because, in the past, returns from investments came mainly from going public but, currently, projects could be sold to tech titans like Facebook, Tencent or Alibaba.

And he believes that returns from investing in those projects are much higher than the traditional financial products, including property.

Chan hails from the University of California, San Diego, with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and management science. He had always thought of pursuing his investment dream and had worked for asset investment companies and brokerages. At the same time, he has been self-employed since 2009 as an angel investor in internet startup companies.

He subsequently teamed up with fellow university graduate David Chang in 2014 to found MindWorks with an eye on investing in internet and tech companies in Asia.

They had initially set up a fund with a capital pool of more than $1.5 million in 2014, followed by another of $1 million two years later. "The total valuation of the assets we had invested through both funds exceeded $80 million," Chan says.

Debuting in 2014, MindWorks has since built up a fine reputation, backed by the founders' years of experience in the industry, he says. They have invested in 17 companies so far, including Easyvan-lalamove, GLO VR and KKday. The company prefers to invest mainly in the series A, B and C rounds as the valuation is relative cheaper and competitors are few, and they could build up a deeper relationship with those companies.

The company operates on three principles in terms of investment strategies, according to Chan. The background of a company's founders is the most vital element to consider, followed by what he calls a "scalable" business model and reasonable valuation.

In terms of investment preference, the company shuns social networks which, Chan says, are already dominated by giants like Facebook and Tencent, nor do they like games companies due to their low profit margins and high risks. They prefer logistics and fintech companies, including blockchain-related initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have been all the rage recently.

The company also goes for platformable projects with light assets and a business model that could be scalable within a short period. "All the traditional industries that haven't been disrupted by technology offer opportunities."

Chan reckons Hong Kong has its advantages in terms of a robust tax and exports system, backed by a long history and entrepreneurship of the older generations, and Hong Kong needs excellent talents to effect the change. He believes some unicorns are emerging and MindWorks is on the lookout for opportunities, but thinks Hong Kong still lags behind the United States and the Chinese mainland in fintech development due to the city's tight business regulations and a convenient living environment.

He wants the Hong Kong government to develop innovation and technology as well as creative industries by supporting capital and talent and building up tech infrastructure, adding that Hong Kong could learn from Singapore in setting up a matching fund to help voluntary welfare organizations and startups, and introduce more tech training and compulsory courses for students and people with interests in tech, including programming and coding.

In her election manifesto, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pledged to do more for innovation and technology, develop a high growth and more diversified economy for the city, and grasp the opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative to inject new impetus into the development of traditional industries that have enjoyed distinct advantages.

Lam said there are at least two emerging areas in which Hong Kong has potential and advantages - the innovation and technology, and creative industries. And Hong Kong should increase its investment in these fields and create a favorable environment for them in terms of policy, land and talents.
China's coal consumption declined unexpectedly by almost 10 percent from 2014 through 2016. Since coal is the largest source of carbon emissions, this also led to a decline in greenhouse emissions long before previously projected. What made this possible?

A recent study published in Nature Geoscience by Tsinghua professor Qi Ye and coauthors concluded: "A combination of slowing GDP growth and a structural shift away from heavy industry, along with more proactive policies on air pollution and clean energy, have caused China's coal use to peak."

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's service sector rose to 51.6 percent of GDP in 2016, up from 46.7 percent in 2013 and 41.8 percent in 2006. The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) aims for an economy in which services account for 55 to 60 percent by 2020, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicts that the service sector will contribute 72 percent of GDP by 2030.

China is in the midst of an economic transition. The earlier model, which drove growth until about 2013, was based on coal-powered heavy industry and construction. The nation's coal consumption rose almost threefold from 2000 to its peak in 2013, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Now, key government policies push upgrading the technology of China's industry and moving to higher value-added products, with the additional benet of using less coal than traditional industries such as steel and cement. Large investments in green energy have made Chinese companies the world leaders in solar and wind power.

A villager cleans solar panels on a roof in Gaomi, Henan province. Chinese companies have become the world leaders in green energy such as solar and wind power. ZHAO TAO / FOR CHINA DAILY

Painful transition

Coal is the biggest environmental problem. According to data from BP, it causes 70 to 80 percent of China's green-house gas emissions. Tsinghua researcher Qiao Ma and colleagues found that 40 to 50 percent of PM2.5 particles come from burning coal.

Coal, the source of 69 percent of total energy consumption in 2011, went down to 66 percent in 2014 and 62 percent in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The current ve-year plan calls for coal to reach 55 percent by 2020. But coal will remain a large part of the energy mix for the foreseeable future.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security predicts that 1.8 million coal workers (about one-fth of the total) and half a million iron and steel workers are likely to lose their jobs due to capacity reduction during the Five-Year Plan period. So, the transition to a cleaner, upgraded economy will be painful.

Craig Hart, a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University Energy Policy and Climate Change Program, put it this way: "They've sacriced their bodies to their work and it's going to be hard to retrain them. And, the communities are almost entirely dependent on this industry and have suffered environmentally for it."

Currently, China has so many excess coalfired plants that they are, on average, running at about 48 percent of capacity, well below the optimal level. In order to control provincial and local desire to build even more coal-red electrical power plants, China's National Energy Administration in January canceled 103 new planned and underconstruction plants. In May, the NEA prohibited 28 of China's 31 mainland prov-inces from building additional plants.

The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which administers large State-owned enterprises, announced in January that at least 150 millionmetric tons of coal production facilities will be closed. In July 2016, the SASAC ordered companies under its supervision to cut coal mining capacity by 10 percent in two years and by 15 percent in ve years.

However, in order to provide the power needed for continuing economic growth, the ve-year plan calls for an installed capacity of 1,100 gigawatts of coal-fired electrical power plants, up from the current 920 gigawatts.

It may seem ironic that total coal-red electrical capacity is planned to continue to expand while other coal capacity is being cut and plants are run-ning at well-below capacity. This is partly due to a reluctance, especially by local and provincial governments, to close factories and lay off workers.

It can also be partly explained by improvements in coal generation technology. The current ve-year plan calls for a shift toward more efficient and less polluting new "ultra-supercritical" plants that burn at very high temperatures.

Yang Dongning, associate professor of management science at Peking University's Guanghua School of Manage-ment, says that many of the new coal plants in production are higher quality and generate less carbon emissions than the older plants that are being closed.

According to research by the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, China's new, more efficient coal plants use about 280 grams per kilowatt-hour compared with roughly 370 grams per kWh in older plants, with proportional reduction in carbon emissions.

The report concludes: "We found that the nation's coal sector is under-going a massive transformation that extends from the mines to the power plants, from Ordos to Shanghai. China is indeed going green. The nation is on track to overdeliver on the emissions reduction commitments it put forward under the Paris climate agreement, and making coal cleaner is an integral part of the process."

Even though the new supercritical coal-fired electrical plants are an improvement, they still generate about twice the emissions of natural gas and far more than renewables.

Natural gas and renewables

Li Shuo, of Greenpeace's Bei-jing office, says: "In the past ve years, the global emissions reduction story has been driven by two things  the surge in the use of natural gas in the US and the cut in China's coal use."

Total US greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by almost 20 percent since 2006, due almost entirely to the huge increase in the production of inexpensive shale gas made possible by the technology known as "fracking". The US has closed about half of its coal-red power generating plants by switching to natural gas. So, why doesn't every country do the same?

Anders Hove, a consultant for the Beijing office of the Paulson Institute, explains the difficulties of fracking in China: "There are obstacles in China down the line. The shale gas is extremely deep in very high-pressure rock in mountainous regions of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Also, US companies with fracking experience are not able to operate freely in China. They have to have complex production sharing agree-ments and international property agreements."

Shale gas production in China did increase by 50 percent in 2016, but from a very low base. According to data from the China National Petroleum Corp, the cost of shale drilling in Sichuan has been cut by 23 percent from 2013.

China does plan to increase natural gas from 5.9 percent of its energy mix in 2016 to 10 percent by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, according to Guo Jiaofeng, a senior researcher with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research of the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet, as reported by Caixin magazine.

This will be done partly by increased imports. President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump announced plans in May to open up and expand dramatically US liquefied natural gas exports to China as part of their 100-day action plan agreement. Total Chinese imports of LNG rose by 15.6 percent in 2016, according to the General Administra-tion of Customs. Also, a new gas pipeline from Russia will come online by the end of 2018, though a pipeline from Central Asia was canceled earlier this year.

On the other hand, China by far leads the world in building and installing solar and wind capability. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, clean energy and natural gas accounted for almost 20 percent of the energy mix. Installed solar capacity quadrupled since 2013 and China's solar panel manufacturing capacity is three times the rest of the world combined, according to research by GTM.

However, some of this solar and wind capacity ends up not being used. Much of the renewable power capability is curtailed, meaning that it is not purchased by the grid for use by customers. According to the NEA, national average wind curtailment in 2016 was 17 percent. In the western province of Gansu and the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, curtailment rates of wind and solar power reached 40 and 37 percent, respectively.

Huw Slater, research director of the China Carbon Forum, explains: "The coal-powered generation plants have contracts guaranteeing a minimum level of purchases. That needs to be reformed and is currently the subject of pilot reforms."

Due to tax revenue reasons, provinces seek to buy power produced within the province and limit trade in electricity with other regions. Furthermore, the electrical grid does not choose where to source the power according to costs. That is, contracts with coal plants may shut out renewable power, even though the renewable power will certainly be cheaper at any given point that it is available and is approaching the point where it is cheaper over the lifecycle of a generating plant, according to Todd Johnson, energy specialist of the China office of the World Bank.

He argues, however, that leadership from the central government is driving toward a greener and more market-based power system.

In his speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos on Jan 17, President Xi stressed three themes - the benefits of globalization, the need to develop a dynamic innovation-driven growth model, and China's commitment to improving the environment, including the Paris agreement. He said, "It is important to protect the environment while pursuing economic and social progress - to achieve harmony between man and nature, and harmony between man and society".

And, at a news conference on March 29, Premier Li Keqiang linked improving the environ-ment to upgrading China's development model: "Efforts to cut overcapacity will be extended this year to coal-red power generation. Together with the people who are still to be re-employed from 2016, China will need to help about 1 million workers this year.

"The key is to continue generating jobs. Thanks to the initiative of massive entrepreneurship and innovation, many jobs have been created, while traditional drivers of growth have been upgraded, which is also generating job opportunities," he said.

In the Paris climate change agreement, China committed to reaching a peak "of carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and making best efforts to peak earlier".
More than 30 relics from China's oldest stone arch bridge have been repaired, the first time such work has been undertaken on it.

The items, from Zhaozhou Bridge, are mostly sections of the bridge guardrail.

Also known as Anji Bridge, it stands over the Xiaohe River in Zhaoxian county, north China's Hebei Province. It was built in the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618) and is world's oldest open-spandrel segmental stone arch bridge.

"During past centuries, the guardrail had fallen into the river," said Li Jinshuan, former head of the Zhaoxian cultural relics preservation office. The current guardrail is a replica made in the 1950s.

Since the 1950s, archaeologists have retrieved more than 1,000 pieces of guardrail from the river, which were made during many dynasties from the Sui to Qing (1644 - 1911).

In April 2014, archaeologists started to repair 30 pieces, cleaning and reinforcing them.

Liang Shutai, an associate research fellow with the Hebei cultural relics preservation center, said that one piece had been broken into 260 fragments, and six people had spent seven days piecing it together.

The repaired relics will be exhibited to the public.
Edward Boateng says Ghana can learn from China in terms of human resource development. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

World's second most powerful economy owes its success to discipline and this is a lesson Africa needs to follow if it is to follow suit, envoy stresses

Enhancing trust will be the key to further improving the already good ties between China and Ghana, the African country's new ambassador says.

Edward Boateng, who became Ghana's ambassador to China about a month ago, has a clear vision of what needs to be done to bring both countries even closer together for the mutual benet of their people. Ties between the two countries span more than ve decades.

"My principal objective is to deepen the relationship between Ghana and China, especially on the economic front," he says. "China is the world's second-biggest economy and growing very fast.

"They have transformed their economy within the last 40 years at amazing speed. (China has) cities and provinces that 20 years ago were farmland and today are as modern as any city in the world that one can think of, and I think there is a lot that we can learn from them."

However, Boateng says that for Ghana to be able to deepen its relationship with China, "we need to build trust. China should see Ghana as a reliable ally, and Ghana equally should see China as a reliable ally."

He says the three key things he hopes to accomplish as his country's representative in China are to deepen the relationship between the two countries, build trust and ensure the two countries can depend on each other.

"I believe we can also learn from China in terms of human resource development," he adds.

A businessman with much experience with several multinational companies, Boateng believes that although Ghana has a lot of capable human resources, what is lacking is the building up of capacity, which he intends to help build as ambassador.

He praises the extent to which China has built up its human resource capacity and believes that Ghana can tap that rich experience to strengthen its own institutions, such as its National Service Secretariat, which ensures that students who graduate from accredited higher education institutions provide one year of mandatory service to the country.

"One of the things I am proposing is that our national service be looked at to nd out if it is working, and when people come out of the national service, are they well equipped to face the challenges to transform our economy?"

Boateng says Ghana's government and citizens sometimes look at issues from different positions, which hampers development. "We need to have a discipline of purpose, such that we all believe that this is where we are going, and that is important and I think sometimes that is lacking," he says.

Sharing his first impressions about China, the ambassador says: "I like the discipline. I think it is something that we sometimes lack, not only in Ghana but also in the African world'."

"I lived in the US and the US developed because of discipline, Europe developed because of discipline, so the discipline that we have in China is no different from the developed economies of the world. And I think discipline (of purpose) is one of the first or fundamental things that we also need to address if we really want to develop with speed."

Regarding China's rapid transformation of the past four decades, Boateng says, "To transform a farmland into a modern high-tech environment, you need to have discipline, timeliness of delivery and thinking alike, which we lack back home."

The relationship between Ghana and China dates to 1960, when diplomatic relations were established. During the fruitful relations, Ghana has provided extensive diplomatic support to China, including lobbying by Ghana's rst president, Kwame Nkrumah, for China's reinstatement to the United Nations.

China has reciprocated by offering material support for Ghana's development and has become Ghana's largest trading partner, with a trade volume of$5.6 billion by the end of 2014.

Boateng says that for the rst time in ve years, Ghana and China are also set to exchange high-profile visits between the two countries to boost bilateral ties.

Key among them will be a visit to Ghana by Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen by September and a visit by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to China next year, he says.

Ghanaian Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia made a four-day state trip to China in June at the invitation of Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao.

Boateng says the high-prole visits are meant to build trust between the two countries, just as has been accomplished with countries in East Africa such as Ethiopia and Kenya.

"I think that is exactly what President Akufo-Addo wants us to do, and that is why he sent me here," Boateng says, adding that he hopes to open new doors of cooperation between Ghana and China.

"I think the fact that Vice-President Bawumia came here within the first six months of our coming into power is part of the process. ... That particular visit in a way opened the doors to establishing that trust that we are talking about."

The writer is a staff writer for the Ghanaian Daily Graphic and is currently visiting China Daily as part of a fellowship program of the China-Africa Press Centre.
Nowadays, there are two dominant approaches used by world powers to deal with other countries, according to Belgian scholar of globalization Dries Lesage.

One is that of the West which, for nearly 500 years, has held the mentality of "rul-ing the world", sometimes through military intervention.

The other is that of China, which is implementing a win-win strategy to win the "hearts and minds" of many countries.

"But the mentality of the West, of ruling the world, should come to an end after being held for 500 years," says Lesage, director of the Ghent Institute for International Studies, at Ghent University in Belgium.

"This is because, materially, the West's economic and military weight cannot sustain it any more."

Nowadays, many troubles in the world still have their roots in the West's old mentality, says Lesage, an author-itative voice in Belgium on global governance, international tax policies, multipolarity and global governance.

Based on historic and current lessons, Lesage also urges the European Union to distance itself from US foreign policy and shape its own vision. He believes China has set an excellent example in forming sound relationships with partners in this multipolar world.

"The EU should not join the United States in its vision of ruling the world any more," says Lesage, during an lunch interview with China Daily near EU headquarters, before he heads for an important consultation meeting organized by Belgian government.

For ve centuries, the West has been putting this vision into practice and many times has realized its goals by military means, Lesage says. The US and NATO still hold on to that approach, which originated in the colonial era and lasted until the end of Cold War. China suffered from Western dominance in the 1800s and 1900s, with various military attacks, he says.

What is more, he says, many problems nowadays in Africa and Eurasia are the result of this lasting mentality of the West.

On the other hand, China's rising global leadership is a big development on the international stage at the moment. It has become more assertive internationally in terms of expansion of inuence - but he says this is not only in the interests of China but also of its partner countries throughout the world.

This, he says, gained momentum after US President Donald Trump's administration announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate and the Trans-Pacic Partnership.

"China now is similar, to some extent, to the US in the rst decade after World War II," says Lesage.

The US had started in 1944 establishing the Bretton Woods monetary system and the United Nations, which are still the basic structures of the multilateral system that the US has beneted from.

In terms of influence, China is now taking a bigger responsibility in the world, demonstrated in its defence of the Paris Agreement, open economies and free trade.

The professor believes developments over the coming months and years will be fascinating.

He says the EU should reshape its foreign policy vision by responding to the evolving global situation, though so far there is no European consensus in this regard.

His "personal and subjective EU vision" is that the world must be multipolar, with the West's identity, covering those across the Atlantic, still in existence but as just one part of a multipolar world.

Furthermore, he says his EU vision must showcase inclusiveness, which means each player accepting the oth-ers and recognizing diversity, pluralism and a willingness to engage.

Elaborating further, he says mutual respect and equality are the essence of the international system and can help expand cooperation and discussion.

"Europe must know who are the new players now and for the years ahead," says Lesage.

He believes the EU's relationship with Russia should not continue to be "this bad" - referring to the sanctions imposed in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

"Europe should not continue the confrontations with Russia," says Lesage.

He emphasizes the essence of the EU's own vision, which also aims for win-win and a balanced and equal footing to everybody. Europe must understand that protecting its interests does not necessarily mean it being zero-sum game, says Lesage.

Asked if EU has begun to think about a new vision, he says: "I see the elements of it but don't see it as formed. Now what dominates is still the old mentality."

He warns that such a change of vision is moving very slowly at the European level.

However, he says that now China is a leader of open economy, free trade and an advocate of cooperation and mutual development. So in dealing with China, Lesage says the EU vision should be implemented by European institutions.

He says China and EU have used the same language in pursuing sustainable devel-opment and keeping commitments to Paris Agreement on climate change. What has impressed him is the linkage of the G20 agenda and the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

In his opinion, the SDGs - addressing pressing global issues environmentally, socially, economically and politically - have gone some way to offering solutions to emerging global crises.

He says the SDGs were approved in a difficult atmosphere in September 2015, amid the unfolding war in Syria and the Ukraine crisis, but they were a major achievement diplomatically. The G20 leaders endorsed the document again at the G20 summit in Hangzhou in 2016. Several G20 policies have been attached to the 2030 agenda and governments will be putting the goals at the centre of policymaking.

"The SDGs are not being marginalized, thanks to China's G20 presidency. Contin-uation is one characteristic of G20 and this should be kept from one presidency to another," he says.

Based on his observations, China has become proactive in solving regional conicts, for which it has become a legitimate broker to offer diplomatic solutions by taking advantage of its neutral stance.

This has been seen in Syria, Yemen, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions, Lesage says. "China is different from the West and other powers, which have really made a mess of it. China is not involved. China can show legitimacy to respective parties. Its leadership is in mediating."

Lesage says China has not only become a broker in conflict zones but can also offer solutions on the ground. It focuses on business, cooperation, development, building infrastructure, and has created a win-win situation by imple-menting the Belt and Road Initiative in Afghanistan.

"This is an interesting approach, which has won hearts and minds in Afghani-stan. It is also a way to isolate extremists through business development and cooperation."

NATO, on the other hand, started its presence in Afghanistan in 2001 but, after 16 years, the country is still not stable. Military involvement should be blamed.

Regarding EU-China relations, he says Europe is "confused and divided" toward China, with some criticizing and others seeing China as an opportunity.

The European Commission's proposal to beef up screening of investment, especially that from China, and its inexible attitude in pressing China to reduce its steel and iron production capacity have caused confrontations, even though the two sides are involved in a so-called strategic partnership.

In such a situation, China could easily become annoyed.

"When a friend criticizes you, you are more willing to listen. When an enemy criticizes you, you will just ignore them," says Lesage. "Europe is struggling with such a situation in terms of its relationship with China."
WASHINGTON -- The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the US State Department said Thursday, in response to Moscow's demand that the size of US diplomatic staff in Russia be reduced.

The US has also ordered Russia to shutter a chancery annex in Washington D.C. and a consular annex in New York by Saturday, the State Department announced, adding that the move is "in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians."

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."

The tit-for-tat action came after Russian President Vladimir Putin in July ordered the US to reduce the number of diplomatic personnel in Russia by 755, in response to US sanctions on Russia over its alleged intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.

"With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each," Nauert said. "While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship."

"The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern," she said, adding that the US "is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

The diplomatic row came at a low point of bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow, as the two sides hold differences on a range of issues, including the war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine, and US accusations that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections, a charge Russia strongly denies.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said that he hoped the US could have good relations with Russia, which would be "good for world peace."

"I hope that we do have good relations with Russia," Trump said at a joint press conference with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "I say it loud and clear. I have been saying it for years. I think it's a good thing if we have great relationships, or at least good relationships, with Russia."

"I believe someday that will happen...I think that's very good for world peace and other things," the US President added.
A mother with two young children are being ferried out of a flooded subdivision by fellow Chinese volunteers during Hurricane Harvey in Houston. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

On Sunday morning after Hurricane Harvey's overnight landing and torrential rains, Liao Yueqing, who is fondly called Captain Liao by many Chinese, responded to a request via WeChat, the Chinese equivalent of Facebook and Twitter:

"Does anyone have a boat? We are surrounded by water and need rescue."

"I have a boat and I will go," Liao replied. A couple of volunteers went along with him.

"However we didn't find the people needing rescue, I was given a wrong address," said Liao.

Then he received another message to save another stranded Chinese family. He could not get there - the water was too shallow for his oceangoing vessel.

"I had to turn around," Liao said. "By then a lot of people were stranded. They started to wave at us for help. Despite my initial intention to help fellow Chinese in the community, I ended up rescuing people regardless of their race."

As word spread on WeChat, more people from the Chinese community joined his effort. The Captain Liao rescue team grew from one boat to more than 20 by Tuesday. Eventually Captain Liao's team was integrated into to Houston's 911 response system and 911 callers identified as Chinese were directly referred to him and his team.

On the first day, Liao and a handful of volunteers managed to save close to 20 stranded families.

Residents wade with their belongings through floodwaters brought by Hurricane Harvey in Houston on Wednesday. ADREES LATIF / REUTERS

"I have done rescues in the areas of South 610, Memorial around Beltway 8 and Sugarland, since Sunday morning," Liao said. "I probably have helped to ferry more than 200 people from stranded water."

Liao's home also became an impromptu transfer center; people who didn't know where to go stayed at his home over night until they connected with relatives or friends.

Information transfer on WeChat could get chaotic. Occasionally, when the rescue boat arrived at a specified address, the people had already left.

Zhang Baozhen, known by her alias Liu Sanjie on WeChat, took responsibility for sorting through information to reduce the number of fruitless trips.

"We have a group of volunteers making calls to make sure that people were indeed still there waiting before

sending out the information to the boat team," Zhang said. "Our focus was on the old, the young and the sick."

One Chinese woman was pregnant and near her expected delivery date. She was very anxious about getting out with the birth pending. Eventually she connected with Captain Liao's team and was rescued along with her family, according to Zhang.

The group's contact number became more widely known. "We started to receive calls from non-Chinese speaking people," Zhang said. "I took my high-school daughter with me to help translate because I don't speak English very well."

The most chaotic scene came when mandatory evacuation was ordered for the Sugar Land community on Monday afternoon. "Power was out, water was out, houses were under water, and kids were crying, scared. It was a mess.

"We enlisted a bus with more than 20 seats nearby to transport people ferried out. The team probably moved a couple hundred people that day, most of them were non-Chinese," Zhang said.

Nobody knows how many people the entire team rescued; nobody was keeping track.

Zhang and her WeChat group were not alone in making sure the rescue information was good. Qin Mei, a community activist whose home was flooded, had to stay at a friend's place. While dealing with her own personal crisis, she also made an effort to help others through WeChat by ensuring information was accurate.

Qin re-posted many requests for help on Sunday and Monday. "But I called the number on each request, confirming that they had not left before I posted the information. I also asked them to start posting the time the request was first sent out. That helped a lot," Qin said.

It's not just rescue information that needed to be accurate. WeChat, while helpful, can also be a fertile ground for rumors.

Left: Chinese volunteers and American volunteers go into flooded area on boat to look for stranded residents in flooded area during hurricane Harvey in Houston. Right: Volunteers get boat ready for rescue during hurricane Harvey in Houston. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

"At 4:00 am last night someone said on WeChat that the reservoir had spilled over and we needed to evacuate," a Chinese women with alias Maomao said. "I said it was not in the official news, but this person insisted that the authorities would not tell us the truth."

Later, rumors that Hurricane Irman was coming toward Houston circulated in some WeChat groups. Some started to panic. "But Irman was far out over the Atlantic," Maomao sighed.

Such fake and sensational news is not uncommon on WeChat and can be harmful, said Ke Yan, owner of Merry Houston, a WeChat platform dedicated to serving the Houston Chinese community.

"Information disseminated through WeChat can be very chaotic," Ke said. "A lot of Chinese in Houston are unable to read English, especially in-depth reports and analysis. Many readily believe in the worst possibilities and sensational news. Such sensational misinformation often spreads fast like wildfire, causing panic and making a situation even worse."

Ke formed two WeChat groups totaling about 1,000 people to provide and spread confirmed rescues and other information. She took it upon herself to combat false information with accurate reports. Volunteers were enlisted to gather information on airports, roads, shelters, supermarkets, rescue requests, flooding, forecasts, evacuation orders and the like.

When someone asked for information, she did research to find the right answer, translated into Chinese and passed it on.

"I've slept less than four hours a day since Hurricane Harvey came," Ke said. "I closely monitor the situation, gather important information, have someone translate it and then publish it every day, updating as needed."

Many in the WeChat groups expressed their gratitude for the much needed reliable information in Chinese to help make decisions amid a fluid situation.

As Harvey retreated, the various WeChat groups also shifted their focus to helping out with shelters and rebuilding.

"I established two groups - one to provide information about insurance claims and rebuilding, another to provide information on housing," Qin said.

Ke said she organized a volunteer group to concentrate on how to help people deal with the aftermath of the hurricane.

"WeChat is powerful, but we have to make an effort to make sure the right information is out there," Ke said.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com
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Viet Nams total revenue from retail sales and services reached VND2.58 quadrillion (US$114.7 billion) in the first eight months of this year, a year on year increase of 10.3 per cent, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO). Photo thoibaokinhdoanh.vn

HA NOI  Viet Nams total revenue from retail sales and services reached VN2.58 quadrillion (US$114.7 billion) in the first eight months of this year, a year on year increase of 10.3 per cent, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The figure amounted to an 8.9 per cent increase, excluding the price factor, the highest rise recorded since the beginning of this year, said GSO domestic trade expert Vu Manh Ha, adding that the figure was also higher than 8.5 per cent growth of the same period last year.

Ha attributed the growth in purchasing power to surges in demand for accommodation and catering services after high school graduation and university examinations as well in essential goods for the new school year which starts next month.

Recovery in revenue from accommodation and catering services in four central provinces  Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue - after last years environmental disaster caused by Formosa also contributed to the retail sales increase, he said.

From January to August, revenue of retail sales reached VN1.93 quadrillion ($86.1 billion), accounting for three quarters of total revenue, a yearly rise of 10.3 per cent. Sectors posting significant growth included textile and garments, up 14 per cent; equipment and home appliances, up 11.6 per cent; food and foodstuff, up 10.6 per cent; and transportation, up 7.6 per cent.

Revenue from accommodation and catering services stood at VN318 trillion ($14.1 billion), an increase of 11.3 per cent against the revenue in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the tourism sector experienced a revenue increase of 11 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months to VN23.1 trillion ($1.26 billion), with several localities witnessing significant growth, such as northern province of Bac Giang with 25.1 per cent; central province of Khanh Hoa (23 per cent); HCM City (12.2 per cent) and Ba Ria  Vung Tau (12 per cent).

The Association of Viet Nam Retailers has forecast that the countrys retail turnover will rise to $179 billion by 2020.  VNS
HCM CITY  With the largest population in the world and an increasing affluent one, China is a lucrative market for Vietnamese seafood products.

But the market also comes with potential risks and unpredictability, requiring Vietnamese firms to be cautious when exporting there, a conference heard in HCM City on August 30.

Le Hang, deputy director of the VASEP (Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers) Training and Trade Promotion Centre, told China Seafood Market: Potential for Viet Nams Suppliers that fisheries exports to China soared from US$152 million in 2007 to $860 million last year.

Shrimp and tra fish saw the strongest increase, but continue to have the potential for double digit growth rate in the coming years, she said.

Chinese are increasingly eating more fish than meat, while local output from aquaculture and fishing is shrinking, offering Vietnamese exporters a good opportunity, she said.

But the market also has risks, she warned.

China could tighten hygiene, food safety and quarantine regulations, she said.

Yang Yong, chairman of GuangZhou Nutriera Biotechnology Co Ltd, said Chinese consumers are increasingly looking at product quality, safety and convenience.

Brands are one of the key factors for them in choosing a product, and are willing to pay 20-30 per cent more, he said.

Therefore, Vietnamese exporters could increase processing to make products more convenient or nutritious for Chinese consumers, he said.

For instance, Vietnamese firms could add vegetable extracts to tra fish to increase the omega-3 content or additives to improve flavour, he said.

Hang said Chinese consumers tastes change rapidly and so producers must keep a close eye on the market to come up with appropriate products.

Nguyen Phu Hoa, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Foreign Trade Department, said Vietnamese companies should export products that meet US and Japanese standards and have strategies to build their brands in China.

Truong Tuyet Hoa of Vinh Hoan Corporation said her companys tra fish exports to China have increased sharply.

Chinese importers have diverse demands in all segments, and her company focuses on processed products and products with high added value, she said.

Many importers send chefs to her companys factory to adjust the spices to make the products suitable for Chinese palates, she said.

To avoid risks, her company does not sell through the border with China and only supplies goods after getting the payment, she added.

Viet Nam shipped $749 million worth of aquatic products abroad in August, bringing the total in the first eight months of 2017 to $5.13 billion, up 18.1 per cent from the same period last year.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the largest buyers of Vietnamese aquatic products included the United States, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea, accounting for 55.6 per cent of total exports.

Export value to China showed the biggest increase of 57.2 per cent, followed by Japan (30.8 per cent), the United Kingdom (30.1 per cent), the RoK (28.8 per cent), the Netherlands (25.3 per cent) and Canada (20.7 per cent).  VNS
The Japan-Vietnam Medical Instrument JSC (JVC) targets VND630 billion (US$28 million) in net revenue for 2017, an increase of 26 per cent from last years number, the management board said at the companys annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. Photo baodautu.vn

HA NOI  The Japan-Vietnam Medical Instrument JSC (JVC) targets VN630 billion (US$28 million) in net revenue for 2017, an increase of 26 per cent from last years number, the management board said at the companys annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.

JVC also aims to earn VN19 billion in post-tax profit, which would be a huge improvement compared to a loss of VN31.7 billion made in 2016.

Last year, the company managed to reduce its losses to VN31.7 billion from VN1.36 trillion in 2015 and cut its bad debt provision to VN23 billion from VN1.3 trillion in 2015.

However, the management board said that JVC will not make dividend payout for 2017 if the company still records accumulated loss by the end of the year.

In 2016, JVC managed to reclaim the market shares in 14 southern provinces and became the authorised dealer of the Japan-based technology conglomerate Hitachi.

It also plans to participate in new hospital projects, make stronger investment in private healthcare sector and reduce its inventory to help improve its performance.

To achieve such results, the management board said that JVC could be divided into two units, with one keeping all bad assets and the other one keeping good assets.

The good unit will have to make dividend payouts for shareholders if it makes profit while the other one will operate to collect receivables and will be sold in the future.

However, the plan has not been completed as the management board is having difficulty discussing with major shareholders of the company.

At the shareholder meeting, the management board said that the division of the firm is a part of the plan to improve business efficiency and deal with its payables problem.

One of the main problems is the company has trouble classifying its payables and receivables from each other, while some of its customers are unwilling to work with the company on this issue.

The issue has caused JVC a lot of trouble in collecting legal documents, financial reports and invoices, which have gone missing, to process and deal with debts while the company has spent a part of its revenue in the past few years as bad debt provision, which is a factor that has weighed down its profit in recent years.

The company has asked the police and other government agencies to help collect its receivables but gained few results from this effort.

In addition, JVC also has troubles with its stockpiles and assets used under associate and cooperative agreements with its partners, which have taken too much time to manage and keep track of.  VNS
HA NOI  The Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) has no foreign stakeholder following HSBC Bank plcs divestment in July, and has requested shareholders to approve zero foreign ownership temporarily.

In its latest announcement to shareholders on August 30, even as Techcombank asked for approval for a temporary zero per cent foreign ownership, it emphasised that adjustments would be made soon. It expressed its intention to raise the level of foreign ownership later, but not higher than 30 per cent of its charter capital.

The deadline for shareholders feedbacks has been set at 17:00 hours on September 12.

After HSBCs departure, Techcombank intends to actively seek a capable strategic investor in the near future.

Back in mid August, HSBC sold back all 172 million shares to Techcombank, to be used as treasury stocks at VN23,445 (US$1.04) per share, according to the banks board of directors. The shares previously amounted to 19.4 per cent of Techcombanks charter capital, and is now priced at a total of around VN4 trillion ($178.1 million).

Recently, Techcombank submitted a plan to the State Securities Commission (SSC) for permission to issue another 500 million shares (stock code TCB) so as to increase its charter capital. These shares are to be sold in two phases, with 70 million shares up for sale at VN30,000 ($1.33) per share during phase one from September to October, or whenever the SSC permits.

Phase two would see the sale of the remaining 430 million shares; its rate will be decided later by the banks board of directors, based on results of the first phase.

If both phases are successful, Techcombank will have increased its total charter capital to VN13.87 trillion ($617.8 million).

Currently, Techcombanks shares are being traded at VN24,500 ($1.09) per share. As of August, it had purchased 172 million treasury stocks at an average price of VN23,445 ($1.04) per stock. Because of this mass repurchase at a lower price than its book value, the banks shares are now gaining.

As per its financial report for the second quarter of 2017, Techcombank has earned a pre-tax revenue of VN2.73 trillion ($121.6 million), making a net gain of up to VN355 billion ($15.8 million) from the sale of 25.56 million shares of Vietnam Airlines.

Nevertheless, the banks receivables now amount to VN12.68 trillion ($564.8 million), having increased by VN1.86 trillion ($82.8 million) since the beginning of the year.

In the first six months of 2017, Techcombank reported total uncollectible debts of VN2.74 trillion ($122 million), a 1.57 per cent rise from the end of 2016. The bank has also sold around VN1.99 trillion ($88.6 million) worth of bad debts to the Vietnam Asset Management Company.

Techcombanks board of directors has guaranteed its shareholders that it will strictly implement all necessary procedures in time, and under the supervision of the appropriate administrative authority.  VNS
HA NOI  PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Service Corporation last week signed a contract worth over US$6 million for providing jack-up rig PV Drilling I and drilling services to Singapore-based KrisEnergy (Gulf of Thailand) Ltd.

Work is scheduled to start in October, 2017. According to the signed contract, PV Drilling I will be performed in Block G10/48 in the Gulf of Thailand and remain in effect for the duration required to complete the six firm wells and two optional wells.

KrisEnergy (Gulf of Thailand) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of KrisEnergy Limited, has 89 per cent working interest and operatorship of G10/48, while the remaining 11 per cent belongs to Palang Sophon Offshore Pte. Ltd.

This contract is the second drilling deal that PV Drilling has secured this year with foreign partners.

Previously, PV Drilling I successfully completed a contract in Myanmar for Total E&P Myanmar in April 2017.

The new contract marks the corporations business strategy to expand its drilling rig services into international markets.

In the first half of 2017, PV Drilling recorded a revenue of VN1.448 trillion ($63.8 million), a year-on-year decrease of 57 per cent and a loss of VN273 billion.  VNS
HA NOI  Four scooters riding around a cage is one of the thrilling acts audiences will witness during a unique international circus programme in Ha Noi.

The Viet Nam Circus Federation will co-ordinate with the Happy Dream Circus Company from Japan to present a daily show in Ha Noi except on Mondays until December 1.

The troupe from Japan has gathered numerous talented artists from many countries around the world, including Venezuela, Argentina, Columbia, Mexico and Ecuador.

In one of the highlighted acts, performers will ride scooters around a cage. The drivers for this stunt are Bryan Zuniga, Aldo Romero, Dierce Reyes and De Paula Silva Josselio.

The event is expected to enhance cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the two peoples, contributing to tightening the co-operation between circus artists from Viet Nam and Japan, said Ta Duy Anh, director of the Viet Nam Circus Federation.

Audiences will have a chance to enjoy adventurous, attractive and artistic performances that have been honoured at many international circus festivals.

Its also an opportunity for Vietnamese circus actors to exchange and learn from international artists, he said.

International circus festivals have been organised in Viet Nam five times but they have only been a week long, said Anh.

Now, we signed a contract with the troupe from Japan so the international circus artists will perform in Viet Nam for many months to meet audience demand.

In Viet Nam, people often think that circus acts are just for children and their parents. Now with adventurous and thrilling acts, Anh said the show was suitable for an audience of all ages, and he expected that the show would attract more young people.

Alan Martinez, manager of the Happy Dream company, said the actors hoped to bring exciting acts and thrilling stunts to a Vietnamese audience.

We came to Viet Nam six months ago to survey the stage and practise with Vietnamese actors. We have brought all the equipment and props for the show from Japan.

Circus pieces express peoples physical strength and bravery, said Martinez.

We expect that we will enhance understanding and bridge cultures through the language of circus art.

The show will be performed at the Viet Nam Central Circus, 67-69 Tran Nhan Tong Street, Ha Noi. Then it will be brought to other major provinces and cities around the country until April, next year. The ticket price ranges from VN200,000 (US$9) to VN350,000 ($15).

The event aims to mark the 45th anniversary of Viet Nam  Japan diplomatic ties (1973-2018) and celebrate Viet Nams National Day (September 2).  VNS
NINH BINH  Along with the Trang An Scenic Landscape complex and Tam Coc-Bich ong National Park, the untouched and pristine beauty of Van Long Lagoon has attracted many travellers to the northern province of Ninh Binh.

Located in Ninh Binh Provinces Gia Vien District, some 80km from Ha Noi, the 3,500-ha Van Long Lagoon is considered the biggest wetland nature reserve site in the northern delta and home to thousands of rare fauna and flora species, many of them on the brink of extinction.

Travellers will be impressed with the imposing cliffs and mountains and vast lakes of Ninh Binh.

Bamboo basket boat tours can be taken in a tranquil atmosphere with the familiar sounds of nature in the early morning or late afternoon, where tourists can view flocks of storks returning to their nests at sunset.

Although it opened for tourism in 1998, Van Long is still as untouched as ever and is popular with local and foreign travellers, especially international filmmakers.

Film director Jordan Vogt-Roberts shot the Hollywood movie Kong: Skull Island at the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Tam Coc-Bich ong National Park and Van Long Lagoon.  VNS
HA NOI  Communities from Ha Giang Province will stir up some fun at the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism by hosting a festival between September 1 and 31.

The cultural village is located in Son Tay District, 40km west of the centre of Ha Noi.

Themed Market Festival of ong Van Karst Plateau, it will include a series of activities by groups from the northern province of Ha Giang and offer their traditional food and drinks such as thang co (soup with horse meat), men men (steamed minced corn), corn wine and baked buffalo meat.

The event will see artists perform local handicrafts including weaving, making bamboo instruments, making sticky rice and dyeing cloth using beeswax, along with folk songs, dances and games.

An exhibition on life on Karst Plateau will be held, which will display a pair of bamboo flutes seven metres high made by artisans from Mong ethnic group in Ha Giang.

Visitors will be able to watch the Mong communitys traditional flute festival on September 2, while on September 3, the community will perform its celebration ritual for new homes.

On the occasion, the village will also host a photo exhibition from the northern province of Phu Tho, as well as a real folk boat race by sportsmen from the province.

People can also observe the traditional worship ceremony of the Dao ethnic group performed on the full moon of the seventh lunar month, which is one of the three most important annual events for the community.

The event expects to gather 300 representatives from 12 ethnic groups from 11 provinces throughout the country.  VNS
Ngo Tri Long, former director of the Ministry of Finances Price and Market Research Institute.  Photo cafef.vn

Dr Ngo Tri Long, former director of the Ministry of Finances Price and Market Research Institute, speaks to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper about the need for a thorough understanding of plug-in-hybrid vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.

What are the advantages of hybrid cars?

The advantages of hybrid cars are quite obvious for the environment, peoples health and consumers. Thats why hybrid cars have been selected by many nations as the future of the automobile industry. For example, on July 26, the UK released an announcement that from 2040 the country would ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars. Earlier, the French President also made public a similar plan to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2040.

The benefits of hybrid cars are obvious. They dont emit as much CO2 and cut petrol consumption.

It is undeniable that reducing exhaust emissions from vehicles aids peoples health. According to the World Health Organisation, in Europe, environmental pollution is the main cause of death for 13,000 children under four years old annually. So if we can bring toxic exhaust to European standards, we could save some 5,000 lives a year.

The other direct benefit I should mention is the low operation cost for users. For example, at the beginning, the cost of a hybrid car may be a bit higher than a normal car. But in the long run, its effectiveness will be much better as its running cost is lower than that of a petrol car. In addition, in many countries, users of hybrid cars enjoy preferential treatment, including in reduced taxes and fees.

Do you think that the Vietnamese Government should adopt similar policies for people using hybrid cars?

I couldnt agree more! Our neighbours, China, Malaysia and some other Southeast Asian nations have already adopted policies on hybrid cars. Thats why Viet Nam should adopt a roadmap on the use of hybrid cars.

In the long run, we should not only import hybrid cars but also think of manufacturing or assembling hybrid cars here. This plan is in line with the Governments sustainable development objectives.

The 2008 Law on Special Consumption Tax and the 2016 Revised Law on Special Consumption Tax reiterated Viet Nams policy of promoting the use of hybrid cars. However, in reality imported hybrid cars here have not yet been granted special tax cuts. Why is this?

A green economy is the goal of many countries and Viet Nam is no exception.

However, to turn the law into reality, the Government needs to play a special role. Though the Law on Special Consumption Tax was first adopted by the National Assembly in 2008 and was revised in 2016, it has not been fully implemented. In my opinion, the bottleneck is that law enforcement officials are confused about the definition of a plug-in-hybrid car and hybrid car. Thats why the Ministry of Finance has instructed customs officers to tax imported hybrid cars. It is time for the Government to instruct the ministry to accept the universal definition of a hybrid car as a green car so that importers of hybrid cars enjoy tax cuts.

Hybrid electric vehicles or green cars are the right choice for our economy and our current infrastructure.  VNS
Several new Governments policies come into effect this month, including regulations on credit institutions and foreign bank branches and fines for incorrect weather forecasts.  Photo vneconomy.vn

HA NOI  Several new Governments policies come into effect this month, including regulations on credit institutions and foreign bank branches, payments for those involved in searching for and collecting remains of war matyrs, and fines for incorrect weather forecasts.

One of the new decrees replaces another from 2012 and provides rules for credit institutions and foreign bank branches and for appraising investment efficiency in credit institutions wholly or partly owned by the State.

The decree states that credit institutions and foreign banks must comply with financial disclosure regulations in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions and other laws.

They are also allowed to change their capital structures, assets for business development in line with the laws.

The decree also dictates that credit institutions can purchase or invest in fixed assets to serve their business as long as the residual value of fixed assets doesnt exceed 50 per cent of the charter capital and reserved funds for recapitalisation in the businesss accounting books. The same rules apply for foreign banks.

The decree will take effect on September 25.

Under a Government decision taking effect on September 10, people who provide information that leads to the collection of war martyr remains will be given VN3-10 million (US$132-434), depending on how many sets of remains are found.

This is a considerable increase from the amount of VN2 million as stipulated in current regulations.

Military officials, staff and soldiers who are directly involved in searching for remains inside or outside the country will be paid a health allowance of VN500,000, at a maximum of two times per year.

Also from September 10, people and agencies that broadcast inaccurate information on natural disaster and weather forecasts will be subject to a fine of VN40-50 million while a late forecast will result in a fine of VN20-30 million.

Agencies which provide meteorology forecast service without a licence will be fined VN25-30 million, an increase from the current level of VN10-15 million.

A new circular by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on temporary import for re-export and temporary export for re-import will take effect from September 11.

Under the circular, temporary importing and re-exporting must be conducted at international and major border gates. Re-exporting through small border gates or border crossings is only allowed at border economic zones or gates with adequate controls.

Goods for temporary import will be supervised by customs until they are re-exported.

The ministry noted that containers of temporary import goods should not be divided into smaller parts for transportation from temporary import gates to the re-export gates.

The circular applies to Vietnamese traders, with foreign traders subject to international commitments, based on organisations of which Viet Nam is a member.  VNS
Viet Nam is deeply concerned about the Chinese announcement that it plans to hold a military drill in the waters off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin, the Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said on Thursday.  VNA/VNS Photo Duong Binh

HA NOI  Viet Nam is deeply concerned about the Chinese announcement that it plans to hold a military drill in the waters off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin, the Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said on Thursday.

In response to reporters queries about Chinas move, Hang asserted Viet Nams stance that all activities by foreign countries in waters belonging to Viet Nams sovereign right and jurisdiction should comply with Vietnamese legal regulations and international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Viet Nam asks China to end and not repeat actions that complicate the situation in the East Sea, she said.

Yesterday, a representative from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry met a counterpart from the Embassy of China in Ha Noi to make clear Viet Nams stance on the issue, she said.

In response to reportersqueries about the shooting of a missile over Japan by the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday, Hang said the shooting is a serious violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and increases tensions in the region.

Viet Nam is deeply concerned about the DPRKs missile launch over Japan, Hang said.

Viet Nam consistently supports all efforts to step up dialogues and maintain peace and stability in the Korean peninsula, the spokeswoman said.

Viet Nam also calls on the sides concerned to stringently comply with related resolutions of the UN Security Council and take constructive and pragmatic actions to contribute to maintaining peace, security and stability in the region and the world, she said.  VNS
HA NOI  A delegation of Party, State, National Assembly, Government and Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee leaders paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum in Ha Noi on Friday to mark the 72nd National Day (September 2).

The delegation included Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Tran ai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, and President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man, along with a number of former senior officials.

The delegation also laid flowers at the Monument for Heroic Martyrs at Bac Son Street.

The same day, a number of delegations, including those from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Public Security and Ha Noi also paid homage to late President Ho Chi Minh and the heroic martyrs.  VNS
SEOUL  Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc and a Vietnamese delegation attended the eighth Foreign Ministerial Meeting (FMM-8) of the Forum for East Asia  Latin America Co-operation (FEALAC), which took place in Busan City, the Republic of Korea (RoK) on Thursday.

The event, themed One Vision, New Action, attracted the participation of 36 member countries from the two regions.

Speaking at the event, Ngoc said Viet Nam supported measures and action plans to strengthen regulations and improve the operation efficiency of FEALAC.

In the near future, the forum should prioritise strengthening internal connectivity via raising responsibility of member states, expanding co-operation with regional and global financial-banking organisations, increasing the scale and number of regional and inter-regional-scale projects, especially those regarding sustainable development, food and energy security, climate change response and water resources management, he said.

The participants adopted the Busan Declaration which described the forum as the only inter-governmental cooperation mechanism connecting East Asia and Latin America which together account for 38 per cent of the global gross domestic product and one third of the global trade.

Participants agreed to establish a key group comprising six co-ordinating countries from the two regions and the FEALAC Trust Fund which will be run by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia (ESCAP) and the Pacific and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The meeting also passed the new action plan of the FEALAC with the three pillars of strengthening operating mechanism of FEALAC, promoting projects at the national and trans-national level, bolstering ties with regional and global organisations while approving reports on reviewing the tenure of the 18th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and Working Groups.

The FMM-9 is scheduled for 2019 and Laos will host the SOM-19 in 2018.

During the stay, Ngoc met with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Marcelo Faurie, Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Patti Londonno Jaramillo, Chilean Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Edgardo Riveros Marin, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Republic of Korea Choi Jong-moon, and Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Nakane Kazuyuki.

At meetings, both sides agreed on measures to boost bilateral ties, especially facilitating visits at all levels, maintaining existing co-operation mechanisms and refining the legal framework for coordination via negotiations and signing of co-operation documents, particularly in the fields of economy, trade, investment, agriculture, culture, science-technology and training.

On multilateral collaboration, these countries expressed wish to further tighten joint work with Viet Nam at international organisations, especially at the United Nations. They pledged to actively consider Viet Nams request to support its bid to run for a seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-21 tenure and the position of the UNESCO General Director for 2017-21.

The SOM-18 and meetings of the four Working Groups on Socio-Political Co-operation and Sustainable Development; Culture, Youth, Gender and Sports; Trade, Investment, Tourism, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises; Science-Technology, Renovation and Education also took place from August 29-30.  VNS
By 2020, all telecommunication cables in inner-city Ha Noi will be underground, the citys Information and Communications Department said yesterday.  Photo haiminhcorp.com.vn

HA NOI  By 2020, all telecommunication cables in inner-city Ha Noi will be underground, the citys Information and Communications Department said yesterday.

This is a part of the citys planning on telecommunication technical infrastructure until 2020 approved by the municipal Peoples Committee last week.

Nguyen Tien Sy, head of the Post and Telecommunication Division of the department said that overhead telecom cables on major streets from the citys Ring Road No3 to the city centre would be buried to improve urban beauty and road safety.

Cable lines in new urban areas, industrial zones or along new residential areas will also go underground, he said.

By 2020, half of the bulky antennas installed in Ha Nois Old Quarter and major streets will be replaced by smaller ones.

Sy said that in the next three years, the city would install 2,250 new antenna towers, raising total antenna number in the city to about 6,000 so that it could have better 4G network coverage.

Phan Lan Tu, director of Information and Communications Department, said that telecommunication companies should develop technical infrastructure plans matching the citys planning.

Overhead intertwined electrical wires and telecom cables, locally referred to as spider webs, have been a characteristic of Ha Noi and HCM City for years.

Fatal accidents and fires relating to street telecom cables and electric wires have been reported in Ha Noi, with the latest one happened in Chien Thang Street, Ha ong District on August 11.

Last November, one person was killed and four others were injured after a power substation exploded and the fire spread to a street vendor nearby on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in Ha ong District.  VNS
HA NOI  Ha Noi expected to open 250 new public toilets this year, but so far, only 98 have been opened - and only about 40 are in use.

Construction of the new public toilets was approved last year.

Slow land clearance and unco-operative residents are blamed for the delay.

In August last year, the municipal Peoples Committee approved the construction of 1,000 public toilets throughout the city for ten years. A local private company - Vinasing Trading and Communication Joint Stock Company decided to invest in the work. In exchange, it was allowed to use footbridges and overspasses for advertising for 10 years.

The company claimed it would build, maintain and operate 1,000 environmentally-friendly, high-quality public toilets around the city.

Head of the companys project management board, Le uc Thuy, said that the company faced difficulty carrying out the project.

He blamed local authorities for failing to complete land clearances for the work in time.

By August 20 this year, after the company worked with the citys Infrastructure Development and Maintenance Committee and districts authorities, 36 locations were identified for toilet construction.

To date, the company has received legal documents to start construction at 27 locations, he said.

Thuy said that many residents opposed the construction of toilets in their neighbourhood, forcing a halt to work near Hao Nam Lake in ong a District, Tuoi Tho Park in Phap Van-Tu Hiep Urban Area, on Trinh Cong Son Street in Tay Ho District or near Phu La Primary School in Ha ong District.

Local residents did not want to have a public toilet near their houses because of the stinky smell that the toilet could produce. Meanwhile, the company explained that the toilets would be built with deodorant technology and they would be cleaned frequently.  VNS
HA NOI  Phi Anh e, 40, a mechanic of Mekong Delta province of Phu Yens Son Nguyen Commune, dropped out of school after primary school but has created cheap yet effective agricultural machines in his hometown  an area specialised in growing sugarcane.

e went to HCM City to earn living in 2000 and worked as a mechanic. In 2004, he returned to his hometown and opened a small mechanic workshop to repair agricultural machines for local farmers.

es began making his own machines after a farmer whose plough he was fixing complained that the machine was difficult to use and didnt till soil evenly.

e was inspired to make his own plough, re-shaping the device so that it could easily and evenly cut the soil, Nong thon ngay nay (Countryside Today) newspaper reported.

He then produced and sold hundreds of the ploughs to sugarcane growers at the same price as the ploughs local farmers used at that time. His first product was warmly received by the farmers.

His passion to make farm equipment was sparked by that first product.

e saw local farmers working hard to weed grass and fertilise their sugarcane fields and thought he could combine the two machines used for the works into one. Not long after, the machine he made helped reduce the time to weed grass and fertilise from three days for every two hectares to one day.

e and his machine for chopping waste after farmers harvest sugarcane.  Photo danviet.vn

Nguyen Van Anh, a local farmer who bought the machine from e, said the machine worked very well, both weeding grass and fertilising sugarcane trees at the same time.

Using es machine, he could save costs of about VN5-10 million (US$219-439) per hectare compared to imported machines. The machine even worked well on rough terrain, Anh said.

es third creation was a machine for growing sugarcane. It took him about two months to create, the longest time for any of his machines so far. The machine was designed to turn the soil, dig furrows and bury soil to grow sugarcane. It works with a driver sitting in front and two people sitting behind to put baby sugarcanes down.

Tran Chau, a sugarcane grower in the commune, said he bought the machine in 2015. It helped him save costs of about VN2 million ($88) per hectare compared to planting sugarcane by hand.

When the baby sugarcanes were put into the furrows, the machine would immediately bury soil, which was still wet, helping a lot in the process, he said.

The mechanic also made a machine to harvest sugarcane and a machine to chop waste after the growers harvested sugarcane, Chau added.

Chau said he and other farmers liked machines made by e very much, adding that each of the machines e made was about VN4-20 million ($176-880) cheaper than similar imported machines.

Its a reasonable price for farmers, he said.

ang Van Thien, chairman of the Peoples Committee of the commune, said e not only made cheap and effective machines for local farmers, but his workshop also provided jobs for seven local labourers with monthly salary of VN5-7 million ($220-308).

So Minh Nghia, president of the Farmers Union of the commune, said thanks to es machines, the income of local sugarcane farmers had increased.

e said he would continue studying to make more agricultural machines to assist local farmers to reduce production costs, raise productivity and make his hometown richer.  VNS
QUANG NGAI  Thanks to a new solar power system, residents of a small island community will have clean energy on-demanda stark change from the prior status quo of accessing power just six hours a day.

The central province officially inaugurated on Thursday a solar power system that will provide 24-hour power for islanders on An Binh Islet of Ly Son Island off the coast of the province after 70 days of construction.

The introduction of the clean and green power also marked the National Day celebration, which falls on Saturday.

The solar system project, which was developed by the HCM City-based SolarBK company with a capacity of the 96 kWp (kilowatt peak for a solar module), will generate 146,000Kwh per year to supply full power 24 hours a day for 400 islanders living in An Binh Islet.

For years, residents had only used power six hours a day from two diesel-driven generators.

The solar power system, which was built with an investment of VN10 billion (US$442,000), will help the islet reduce 93 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

According to SolarBK, the company plans to build up a solar power system for operation of the 2012-built seawater desalination station in the islet.

The company is also constructing a monitoring system, SSOC (Solar System Operation Centre), that aims to monitor a combined solar power and diesel power network for use on the An Binh Islet.

SolarBK has built a lighting project for Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands and seawater desalination stations in Song Tu Island, island communes of Son Cha in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Me Island in Thanh Hoa Province and Tran Island of Quang Ninh Province, and two solar farms in a Nang city.

An Binh Islet, which used fresh water from a 2012-built desalination station with funding from the South Korean heavy industry group Doosan Vina, has limited development due to a longstanding lack of power.  VNS
DES MOINES -- Eleven soldiers and two CH-47F Chinook helicopters from the Iowa Army National Guard were deployed Friday to the Houston area in Texas to support response operations for Hurricane Harvey.

The Iowa team was comprised of seven soldiers from Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division in Boone; one soldier from Detachment 1, Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Company C, 2-147th Aviation in Boone; and one soldier from the 671st Troop Command in Johnston, according to Guard officials.

The aircraft and crew members will be utilized to move supplies, equipment and people. The state of Texas requested the support from Iowa.

Safe haven baby

Officials with the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) said Friday they used the states safe haven procedures for the 30th time since the law went into effect.

A girl who was born Aug. 21 at an Iowa hospital was released to DHS custody. Specific details are withheld in order to protect the identity of the parents and child, state officials said. A court hearing to terminate parental rights will be held within a month.

Through Iowas safe haven law, parents have the option to safely hand over custody of babies age 14 days or younger without fear of prosecution for abandonment.

More information on the safe haven procedure can be found at the http://dhs.iowa.gov/safe-haven Web address.
AURORA  An Aurora man has been sentenced to prison for shooting at Buchanan County sheriffs deputies while holding his wife hostage in their mobile home in October.

Judge Joel Dalrymple sentenced Dennis Edgar Chamberlain, 55, to up to 25 years in prison for a charge of attempted murder during a hearing this week in Buchanan County District Court in Independence.

Chamberlain has to serve at least 70 percent --- 17 and a half years --- before he can be considered for parole. A change in law that went into effect on July 1 and prohibits parole, work release and early release for people convicted of attempted murder of a law officer doesnt apply to Chamberlains case because the incident happened before the change.

Prosecutors had argued for consecutive sentences for accompanying charges of second-degree kidnapping and two counts of intimidation with weapon, which could have pushed the sentence to 70 years. But the judge made the sentences concurrent, citing Chamberlains age and lack of significant criminal history.

Chamberlain was also ordered to pay restitution, which includes a bill for $3,800 to fix bullet holes in the mobile home.

Guilty verdict in Aurora standoff INDEPENDENCE  It took jurors about an hour to convict an Aurora man for a two-hour armed st

Authorities said Chamberlain fired a handgun next to his then-wife following an argument on Oct. 8 and then fired into a door when deputies and state troopers tried to contact him. An Iowa State Patrol negotiator eventually talked Chamberlain into releasing his wife and surrendering.

Trial was in July, and the defense argued Chamberlain was only trying to harm himself.
CEDAR FALLS  Based on her upbringing, Cierra Cook Newman says, she could well have been a statistic.

Raised by a single mother and with a father who was in and out of the criminal justice system, the odds of Newman attending law school were not in her favor.

But shes there. And she left Friday for Washington, D.C., where she has been selected to serve a clerkship with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Im standing on the shoulders of a grandmother who grew up during segregation who had to work twice as hard for half as much, Newman said. Im standing on the shoulders of my grandfather, who walked the beat in the 60s as the first black detective sergeant on the Waterloo police force, James Wesley Cook Sr. Im standing on the shoulders of mom who worked two jobs to support me while finishing her degree.

Former police officer remembers time on force WATERLOO -- The first years of James Wesley Cook Sr.'s time on the police force were during 

Its a motivating force. I feel a responsibility to work hard and make them and my community proud of me.

Newman, 29 and a student with the University of Iowa College of Law, will spend the September-December semester in Washington.

Securing such an appointment is an honor and accomplishment, said Adrien Wing, associate dean for international and comparative law programs at UI College of Law.

The U.S. Senate in itself is prestigious, Wing said. There are many committees, and among them this would be one of the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious. At this historical moment in time, Im sure this experience will be transformative for Newman.

Newman graduated from Cedar Falls High School in 2006 and moved to North Carolina where she received a bachelors degree in business. She worked at a bank while in college, starting as a teller. After graduation, she accepted a position in the banks wealth management legal advisory department.

We helped protect the assets of high-net worth clients who died or became incapacitated, Newman said.

That sparked her desire to enter law school.

I saw the way our wealthy clients were treated versus the way consumers who had 200 bucks in their account were treated. That type of treatment does play out into treatment in other areas of the law. Fair lending, for example. That type of disparate treatment was one of the motivating forces. Everybody deserves white glove treatment and be treated fairly and equitably, no matter the amount of money, or lack thereof, in their account.

One area of oversight of the Senate Judiciary Committee is consumer regulations, Newman said, an area that interests her. She also wants to see the federal law process up close and personal, including how politics shapes law.

I will get that legal and political exposure, she said. Ill be on Capitol Hill, working in the Senate building, working alongside people who share different political perspectives. Thats valuable experience.

Does Newman have her eye on a future political career?

Who knows? Maybe Ill try and take Chuck Grassleys job a decade from now, she said.

Whatever she does, shell do it well, Wing said.

Many people who are in law school, they are driven. It attracts people who are driven. Within this high-achieving group, she still stands out. ... Whatever the job title is (after graduation, I have no doubt shes going to be performing at a very high level.
WATERLOO  To kick off the 10th annual Hunger Action Month, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank said it has distributed 7.2 million pounds of food in the past year to the more than 46,440 food-insecure people across Northeast Iowa.

The distribution numbers break the previous Northeast Iowa Food Bank record and mark a big step toward the Food Banks goal: to close the meal gap in Northeast Iowa by 2025.

Breaking our distribution record is an incredible achievement, and we could not have accomplished it without the support of our donors and volunteers, said Barbara Prather, executive director of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.

This month, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank  along with the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks  will mobilize across all 50 states in an effort to end hunger. Hunger Action Month is designed to inspire people to take action and raise awareness for the 42 million Americans, including 13 million children, who are food insecure, according to the USDA.

On Sept. 14, Hunger Action Day, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank asks supporters to share what they couldnt do without adequate nutrition by writing on an empty plate: On an empty stomach I cant ______, and fill in the blank with something they couldnt achieve without the nutrition they need to thrive. Photos can be posted to social media tagged with #HungerActionMonth, @NEIFB and @FeedingAmerica.

The Northeast Iowa Food Bank has activities planned during Hunger Action Month as it kicks off its attempt to again break its distribution record, including fundraisers at local restaurants, the Stone Soul Picnic on Sept. 10 and the Sack Lunch Delivery on Sept. 28-29. For a full calendar of events, go to www.facebook.com/NEIFB and www.twitter.com/NEIFB.
CEDAR FALLS  The superintendent of streets and traffic engineering for the city of Iowa City has accepted an offer to become Cedar Falls city engineer.

Iowa City street superintendent Jon Resler has accepted the Cedar Falls post and will start Oct. 2. His salary will be $112,000 pending City Council approval at a future meeting.

Resler, who turns 45 next week, is native of Onalaska, Wis., and a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a masters degree from Iowa State University. He worked in the private sector with various firms in the Kansas City and Des Moines areas for 15 years. Hes held his Iowa City job for 3 1/2 years and prior to that was associate traffic engineer for the city of Cedar Rapids for two years.

Resler said the move is a natural career progression for him. I wanted to stay in Iowa...When the Cedar Falls position became available, it was one of the communities I was interested in, he said. Cedar Falls is a great community.

Resler said hes aware of the many major road project underway and pending in the city, including the ongoing reconstruction of University Avenue; the extension of Greenhill Road; a large sanitary sewer improvement along Dry Run Creek and the upcoming proposed reconstructions of Main and West First streets and coordinating with the state of Iowa on the proposed Iowa Highway 58-Viking Road interchange.

You need to have the drive to quickly do the things you need to do to get up to speed, and so thats a challenge, he said. He noted Cedar Falls streets are in generally good condition due in large part to a local option sales tax, which he said Iowa City does not have.

Resler will succeed Randy Lorenzen, who retired as Cedar Falls city engineer in late March after 27 years with the city. Matt Hosford, who had been serving as acting Cedar Falls city engineer, has resigned to accept a position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Resler was among 25 applicants for the position.
WATERLOO  League of Women Voters of Black Hawk-Bremer Counties President Cherie Dargan says she has a radical vision for the group in her new role.

But as an early adopter of technology  in her retirement, shes a webmaster and blogger, among other titles  perhaps a better term is an upgrade. Call it LWVBHB 2.0.

One of the biggest challenges the longtime members may face is the renewed focus on having a web and social media presence. But Dargans real goal is to get people to put in the work to grow membership and establish a larger presence in the two counties.

My vision for this group is I want to look out at the audience, and I want to see a representation of my community. I want to have young and old. I want to have people of every race, every religion, every political party, Dargan said. If were here and were talking to each other, we can solve problems. We can overcome that bitter partisan polarization.

If we stay in our own little camps, our own little tribes, nothing changes.

League of Women Voters take exception to lawmakers use of testimony DES MOINES  A local leader with the League of Women Voters in Iowa is upset a state lawmake

Dargan, who has been involved with the league for many years and has served on the board previously, made that pitch Saturday at the Womens Equality Day celebration at the YWCA that recognized the 97th anniversary of women getting the right to vote.

Her vision is wrapped up in the efforts to rebuild the website and gain traction on social media, as well as in planning future events that can attract new members. Whether those events are a book club or a movie night or anything else is to be determined, but Dargan is thinking differently to get people involved.

Its not just that she wants to see people involved in the nonpartisan group, but she wants to see a more active, engaged and voting citizenry, to fulfill some of the core priorities of the organization.

If we dont like what we see, we have to get off the couch. We have to be willing to go to the ballot box. We have to be willing to go to a candidate forum. We have to speak up. We have to let people know that we think something unjust is unjust, Dargan said. When we do that, suddenly we see there are all these other people walking out of their houses.

Dargan, who is a retired Hawkeye Community College educator and current volunteer and writer, said she believes starting with little changes can lead to bigger changes.

While shed like to see more events to attract a new, diverse audience, Dargan said the group is not planning to change many of its longtime events. The board meeting location has changed, but it will still meet regularly on the second Tuesday of the month, now at the Community Foundation, 3117 Greenhill Circle, in Cedar Falls.

It also currently has planned a series of forums for the upcoming city and school elections; it will hold legislative forums when the session begins in the January.

Rogers won't attend LWV forums CEDAR FALLS  State Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, said he will no longer attend public fo

Dargan recognized criticism the league has faced from State Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, who said earlier this year he would cease attending the legislative forums because of their partisan nature. But she stressed the boards desire to see people of all parties involved in the group and noted the boards current political diversity.

Were political, but were nonpartisan, Dargan said.

She added, though its got women in its name, there are men who are and have been involved in the organization. To join the group, or learn more, go to http://www.lwvbhb.org/ or find it on Facebook.

I am really blessed with a strong board, Dargan said. I feel very fortunate to have a lot of experienced people.

Other officers and board members for the 2017-2018 year are Cindy Wells, vice president; Jeri Thornsberry, secretary; E.J. Gallagher III, treasurer; Pat Harper, membership chair; Willie Mae Wright, voter services chair; and Pat Sass, audit committee chair. Teresa Meyer, Sandra Benedett and Mike Dargan are joining the board of directors to serve with continuing members Renata Sack, Maureen White and Doris Kelley. Jean Seeland will continue to coordinate the candidate and legislative forums.
WATERLOO -- A woman was arrested after police say she crashed her car on Highway 218 Thursday evening and refused to comply with officers' commands.

Jillian Marie Priest, 35, of 5568 Summerland Drive, Waterloo, was arrested Aug. 31 at UnityPoint-Allen Hospital and charged with first-offense operating while intoxicated and interference with official acts.

Witnesses told Waterloo Police that Priest was northbound on Highway 218 at a quarter to 10 p.m. Thursday when she appeared to lose control of her vehicle and slide into the left lane from the center lane. She then over-corrected to move back to the center lane and collided with the right guardrail.

After striking the right guardrail, witnesses told police Priest's vehicle then slid back across the three northbound lanes of traffic and struck the center cement guardrail at around mile marker 182.9, according to a police report.

When police arrived and attempted to make contact with Priest, police say Priest refused multiple commands to exit her vehicle. She eventually exited her vehicle and went to a waiting ambulance to be treated for minor injuries sustained in the crash, police said.

Priest was taken by ambulance to UnityPoint-Allen for minor injuries but refused toxicology tests requested by police and was arrested, according to the police report. She was released from the Black Hawk County Jail Friday.
I've heard that produce tastes better when you grow it yourself. I'm hoping that holds true for stuff you pick yourself, because the Green Chile U-Pick Celebration is happening this Saturday , Sept. 2 , at Big Jim Farms . Enjoy food trucks, live music, face painting and a photo booth. And when you're done with that, pick your own GMO-free green chile (naturally grown from heritage seeds using no pesticides or chemicals) and have it roasted right there. Parking will be at the Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center with shuttles to Farmer's Daughters & Big Jim Farms. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and under. Cash, cards, checks and WIC checks accepted. (Joshua Lee)

Pick your own green chile at then have it roasted. Enjoy food trucks, live music, face painting and a photo booth.

Join Farmer's Daughters for a fun family day at Big Jim Farms to pick your own green chile at our 9-acre farm along the Rio Grande in the Village of Los Ranchos. We will also have roasters so that you can get it roasted on the spot! Ahh! That intoxicating smell is even better in a farm setting...... Chile is naturally grown from heritage seeds and GMO-free. No pesticides or chemicals! We will have Mild, Big Jim Medium, Sandia Regular Hot and Extra Hot!

Cost will depend on size. We will have small baskets to large sacks from $5.00-$35.00. You will have the option to upick or buy picked.

Never has this happened in New Mexico!

Arrive hungry! Food trucks on site. Get on your dancin' shoes, there will be live music. Face painting and festive photo booth.

There will be produce, merchandise, and farm-to-bath products for purchase as well as arts & crafts booths.

Parking at the Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center with shuttles to Farmer's Daughters & Big Jim Farms.

Admission: $5 Adults, $3 Kids 12 & under. Various quantities of chile for sale.

Cash, cards, and checks accepted. WIC checks welcome.

No pets please.

For more information call 505-720-3800.
President Trump had the right to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizonas Maricopa County after he was convicted of defying a federal judge. But just because a president has the right to do something doesnt make it the right thing to do.

Those are two different questions, and Trumps pardon symbolized many of the worst instincts of his presidency: his contempt for the rule of law and the role of federal judges; his appeal to racial fears and phobias; and his willingness to divide the country and pander to his political base, no matter how deeply he offends national traditions and values.

And thats not the worst of it. Trumps pardon raises a deeply troubling question: Is he signaling his future intentions? Is he ready to cause a constitutional crisis, using his power to abrogate any convictions emanating from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian meddling in last years election?

Professor Cas Mudde of the University of Georgia, an expert on political extremism, told the Washington Post that Arpaios example could undermine Muellers work: There are several key people in (the presidents) former entourage who are at the point of caving to pressure to working with the Mueller investigation. Trump has shown them that they have nothing to fear, because he can and will pardon them, irrespective of the circumstances.

Trump and his supporters are defending his actions by recalling how past presidents abused the pardon power. And yes, Bill Clinton made a huge mistake exonerating the fugitive financier Marc Rich after Richs wife contributed heavily to Democratic causes.

But Arpaio is in a very different category. He was a sheriff sworn to uphold the law. Instead, he used his position to target Hispanic immigrants for persistent harassment. When he defied a court order to stop, a federal judge found him guilty last month of criminal contempt, citing the sheriffs flagrant disregard for the law.

Trump said Arpaio was convicted for doing his job when the exact opposite is true. The sheriff corrupted his position and violated his oath, and now the president has endorsed that corruption, a record that deeply offends true conservatives like the ones writing the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.

Pardoning Mr. Arpaio sends a message that law enforcers can ignore court orders and get away with it, they wrote. All you need is a political ally in the White House or the governors mansion. Down that road lies anarchy.

Trump is clearly Arpaios ally, even his soul brother. Like the sheriff, the president has repeatedly tangled with federal judges. And like the sheriff, Trump has pursued a cynical and destructive strategy, demonizing racial minorities as a way of galvanizing his political base. Both men were early proponents of the birther movement that tried to brand Barack Obama as foreign-born, non-Christian and non-American.

Arpaio had the power to arrest Hispanics and detain them under harsh conditions he openly called concentration camps. Trump didnt have a badge, so he had to settle for calling Mexican immigrants rapists, advocating a ban on Muslims entering the country and saying the neo-Nazis that marched in Charlottesville included some very fine people.

But Trump has one power Arpaio never had: the presidential pardon. And fears about how he may use it in the future are clearly justified. After all, Trump has repeatedly tried and failed to thwart the legal process through other means.

Former FBI director James Comey has testified that Trump demanded his personal loyalty and urged him to drop a criminal investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. When Comey resisted, he was fired.

Trump has openly derided his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the Russian probe and allowing a special counsel to be appointed. He has denounced the special counsels work as the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history  led by some very bad and conflicted people. And Trumps confidant Chris Ruddy has said on PBS: I think hes considering perhaps terminating the special counsel. I think hes weighing that option.

Trump is quickly learning the limits of his power. He cannot control judges  or journalists, for that matter. Republicans on Capitol Hill are openly defying him. Firing Mueller would get very messy.

But issuing pardons to Muellers targets? No one can stop him. There are no checks and balances here. Except for one thing: A president cannot pardon himself to escape impeachment.

So in the end, no president  and no sheriff  is completely above the law.
President Trump brings an outsiders perspective to the long debate over the Senate filibuster. An overwhelming majority of the Senate disagrees with his desire to kill the filibuster, which means he doesnt have a prayer of winning. But hes not entirely wrong, either.

Set aside Trumps sledgehammer tweets directed at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In private conversations, Trump has made a reasonable and sophisticated case against the filibuster. Not only has the filibuster been eliminated for appointments, Trump has noted, it has also been eliminated (through the process of reconciliation) for some of the most important things the Senate does  that is, for the budget and related bills it passes each year. So now, after all those changes, what remains of the filibuster is somehow supposed to be sacred and can never be changed again?

Trumps question not only recognizes the reality of former Majority Leaders Harry Reids nuclear-option destruction of the filibuster for appointments, and McConnells extension of that to Supreme Court nominations. It also takes into account the reality of reconciliation, by which, a generation ago, the Senate killed the filibuster for budget-related bills, allowing those measures to pass on a simple majority vote. In other words, the filibuster has been steadily whittled down  by the Senate itself, of course, and not by a headstrong president  so why cant the Senate do it again?

Trump doesnt have the slightest chance, of course. In May, when the president called for an end to the filibuster, McConnell said, There is an overwhelming majority on a bipartisan basis not interested in changing the way the Senate operates on the legislative calendar. And that will not happen.

In return, Trump has railed against McConnell and Senate tradition. Recently the president tweeted, If Senate Republicans dont get rid of the Filibuster Rule and go to a 51% majority, few bills will be passed. 8 Dems control the Senate! A month ago, Trump tweeted, The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing Rs in the Senate. Mitch M, go to 51 votes NOW and WIN. ITS TIME!

It would be an understatement to say McConnell is not convinced, and he has essentially ended the discussion with his over-my-dead-body pronouncements.

One of the problems in the Trump-McConnell relationship is Trump tends to treat leaders in Congress as if they are his employees instead of leaders elected on their own and not beholden to the president. Plus, Congress is not only a separate branch of government, it is the first branch of government; a united Congress can remove the president, while it doesnt work the other way around. Nevertheless, Trump whacks away at some of the lawmakers he will need to pass his agenda.

One point heard often in the debate is Trump can rail all he wants about the filibuster, but the real problem is he couldnt get 50 Republicans to vote with him on Obamacare, and changing the filibuster rules wouldnt change the result. Thats probably not entirely accurate. The House had to craft its bill specifically to accommodate the Senates reconciliation requirements  meaning it was shaped by the filibuster. The Senate had to craft its bill with the same considerations. Senate drafters had to leave provisions that might have gotten 50-plus votes out of the bill in order to stay within reconciliation rules. In short, the House and Senate bills were fundamentally shaped by the filibuster, and the filibuster was very much a part of Obamacare reforms defeat in the Senate.

Now, stonewalled by McConnell, Trump might look for a compromise that moves him closer to his goal. Indeed, short of fully eliminating the filibuster, Trump could propose getting rid of the 60-vote standard on motions to proceed, streamlining voting on procedural matters and other initiatives. Those might not succeed either, but at least the president would have tried.

Hypocrisy is often at play when it comes to the filibuster; senators in the majority oppose the practice, while senators in the majority support it. But there is also a principled, consistent position on the filibuster.

Veteran senators like McConnell know that while they might be in the majority now, they could be in the minority next year. They know a lot of bad bills might have become law had the filibuster not existed. So many of them protect the filibuster whether theyre in charge or not.

The president is an outsider who shares none of those concerns. But that doesnt mean he doesnt have a point. The Senate has changed its rules, including those on supermajorities, many times over the years. And in the future, it might change them again  in Trumps direction.
Some issues need a lot of discussion and effort to get a consensus on what city residents will tolerate.

Allowing residents to raise chickens and other farm animals in residential neighborhoods is proving to be one of those issues.

The decisions to allow yard animals in municipal neighborhoods arent of the earth-shaking variety.

Theyre not fraught with moral questions or objections. However, the discussions are coming up more often in communities across Iowa.

Waterloo city leadership has, in our opinion, come up with a solid compromise that seems like a good cautionary move at this juncture. An ordinance approved 6-1 Monday by Waterloo City Council members is not as lenient as one proposed earlier this month by the Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission, but it does make it easier for some city residents to raise chickens and other animals.

Its a move thats long overdue, said Councilman Pat Morrissey, who had pushed for the ordinance. Its a step forward; its allowing something to happen with some very strict regulations.

Councilman Steve Schmitt cast the lone vote against the new ordinance.

The people Ive heard from are concerned about having farms in their backyard, Schmitt said. It seems to me that allowing more farm animals in town is not going to enhance the appeal of Waterloo.  Were really opening up a Pandoras box here potentially.

Late last year, the Cedar Falls City Council voted 4-3 to maintain a ban on city residents from keeping chickens in their yards.

A Waterloo city ordinance adopted in 2011 allowed residents to keep chickens, goats or other traditional farm animals only after getting the approval of the Board of Adjustment following a public hearing.

This new ordinance allows residents to avoid the Board of Adjustment process, provided they meet some pretty significant criteria.

In the past, we have been in favor of close neighbors having an equal voice on this issue. This ordinance has provisions for that. Residents would have to have enough fenced backyard space to support the animals, plus a petition of support signed by all abutting property owners and 60 percent of those within 250 feet of their property.

The ordinance allows people with at least 10,000 square feet of fenced back yard to keep up to two small animals, like chickens, rabbits, minks and geese. Another small animal is allowed for each additional 2,500 feet of fenced yard up to a maximum of eight.

The ordinance also covers rules for keeping larger animals in city limits, such as cows, sheep, goats and llamas.

A person would need up to 40,000 square feet of fenced back yard  nearly an acre  to keep up to four large or intermediate farm animals.

Its proposed in a way that in most instances most residences within the city of Waterloo are still not going to have sufficient area to be able to have a hobby farm, said City Planner Aric Schroeder.

In many instances, even if they have the minimum, theyll have to get support of surrounding property owners.

Neighborhood support is the key factor, and we support its inclusion in this ordinance.

This is an issue where the city should progress slowly and deliberately, making incremental changes  in either direction  only after observing how previous ordinances work out.

The city of Waterloo seems to have come to a palatable compromise, and we thank the council for moving cautiously on this issue.
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Boza was at my side of the bed at 3 a.m. and he was having eye issues. I had a bad night and he had to be persistent to get me moving, but I always get moving, just sometimes faster than other times

I put drops in his eyes and we took off to walk in the cool early morning of Moscow

I was still damp from having night sweats. I most likely had run a fever last night and it was just as well that I got up. I walked the dog and realized that once again, I was just thankful to be alive. Pain and whatever are a small price to pay for waking up once again and having another day with my sweet pea of a girl and a good doggy

I see the same attitude in Boza. Any day that he and I can get up and walk, is a day worth writing home about 

Thus we got back from walking at around 4 a.m. and Boza went immediately under the bed on Svetochkas side. It is very important to Boza to be near Sveta. He sleeps under her side at night

I made a cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to see what shenanigans that the world was up to. I am never disappointed, yet always saddened by the extreme of chaos that is constant around the world

* * * * *

In an act brainlessness by America (Again and again!); I call it Bear Baiting

[contentcards url=https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/08/273738.htm]

The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia. We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries. In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consul. General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2, 2017. (Today is Sept. 1st, 2017 by the way and this was just announced)

This is an example of the brainlessness that I talk about coming out of America on a daily bases for many years now. The US Gov. started this escapade and when Russia finally after months responded to the initial illegal act by America, we get a childs response to the Russian response

America started it by illegally closing consulate properties of Russia. Russia finally responded after a very long time, to allow America to change her mind about what she did. America threw a temper tantrum and has now responded as a child does in the playground. It was not even hardly a month and the tantrum came forth

Huge difference in maturity levels between Russia and America

Guess who the child is and who the adult is?

WtR
Kids all over the place. Boys in suits and girls in dresses. Hair is cut and all are at their best behavior

School in Russia starts back into session. The kids for the most part all have gifts for the teachers. From apples and oranges, flowers and boxes of candies. The days of summer are over and kids are back in school, here in Russia

Boza and I have walked twice this morning and the second walk at around 7:30 a.m. gave us a view of a Russia that is amazing. Kids dressed in their Sunday best and soon teachers all over Russia will have more than a few gifts to deal with. I am not sure how they will get these flowers and candies all home, but happy teachers they will be

School is held from September 1 until the final week of May, with exams in June. The school day normally starts at 8 a.m. and finishes at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Students generally attend class 5 days a week, although some schools require extra study on Saturdays.

For your information most kids go to school six days a week

The girls have big white flowers in their hair and the boys for the most part have ties on

Education General education is free and available to all Have mostly state schools but private schools have recently been establish. Starts at preschool before the age 6 3 stages of compulsory general education Primary Education- 4 years Basic General Education- 5 years Secondary Education- 2 to 3 years General education is 34 weeks of the year, 27-36 hours of study per week School year is from September 1 to the beginning of June

[contentcards url=http://player.slideplayer.com/18/6097118/#]

Now you have some more facts on Russia

WtR
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Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Sep 1, 2017 | By Tess

Smartee Denti-Technology, a Shanghai-based company that specializes in 3D printed orthodontic solutions, has successfully raised 50 million yuan (USD $7.6M) through a B round of financing. Investors included Bioventure Investment Management Limited and private equity firm CDBI Partners.

Founded in 2004, Smartee Denti-Technology claims to be one of the first companies to use 3D printing technology in the field of orthodontics, using additive manufacturing to develop its novel invisible treatment technology, a discreet alternative to traditional wire braces.

As the company explains itand as many brace-wearers will knowtraditional wire braces can be uncomfortable, and are not exactly the most flattering of accessories. Additionally, the effectiveness of braces is dependent on the orthodontist who is installing them, and how skilled they are at it.

Obviously, this leaves lots of room for errors and inconsistencies.

In an effort to offer patients a more consistent and inconspicuous orthodontic solution, Smartee researchers set about using the 3D modeling and 3D printing technologies at their disposal. The result? An invisible treatment technology that uses scanning, 3D modeling, digital simulation correction design, and 3D printing to create a batch of wearable dental aligners.

The company compares its dental products to contact lenses, in that they are invisible and can be worn unobtrusively while simultaneously correcting your teeth. The idea is that users will be given a batch of custom-made braces (about 30 to 40 of them) and will wear them in succession, gradually moving their teeth into place.

For its first few years of operation, Smartee Denti-Technology partnered with various domestic 3D printing services to help it fulfill its additive needs. It was only in 2013 that the company took the plunge and invested in its own 3D printer: a light-curing stereolithography 3D printer made by Shanghai Union Technology.

Since then, the company has been increasing its scale of production and has even expanded its factory. With the money raised through its recent funding round, Smartee Denti-Technologys founder Yao Junfeng says the company will expand its product development research and seek to optimize its orthodontic technology.

Within the healthcare industry, the field of dentistry has arguably seen the most immediate benefits of 3D printing technologies. Various 3D printer manufacturers have released AM systems dedicated specifically to dental applications, and dental offices have seen the cost and time advantages of installing 3D printers.

From surgical guides, to dental trays, and even to crown molds and aligners, 3D printing has offered an unprecedented ease of customization. If you dont believe us, just ask Smartee Denti-Technology.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jon S wrote at 9/2/2017 4:50:27 AM:Invisaline has been doing this for years!




Barry Schwabsky at The Nation:

No artist invented more than Robert Rauschenberg. This remark, attributed to his friend Jasper Johns, is probably true (his exception was Picasso)at least as long as you understand invention in its etymological sense, where it doesnt mean making things up, creating things that didnt exist before, but literally to come into things, in the sense of finding them. In the art of rhetoric, inventio is the systematic gathering of materials out of which a persuasive discourse can be constructed. Looking back over Rauschenbergs career from its beginnings around the middle of the last century through his death in 2008, as the current retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (on view through September 17) invites us to do, it becomes clear that Rauschenberg was above all a restless and resourceful gatherer of materials, cultural as well as physical.

The show has been curated by MoMAs Leah Dickerman and Achim Borchardt-Hume of the Tate Modern in London, where the exhibition was first mounted. (After New York, it will travel to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where it will be on view from November 18 to March 25, 2018.) Oddly, while the exhibition in London was simply titled Robert Rauschenberg, in New York its called Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends. Here, his works are interspersed with those of associates like Johns, Rauschenbergs life partner from the mid-1950s through 1961; Susan Weil, to whom he was married in the early 1950s; Cy Twombly, Niki de Saint Phalle, Andy Warhol, Oyvind Fahlstrom, and others; as well as copious documentation of his work with the nonprofit Experiments in Art and Technology.

more here.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto at Literary Review:

It took four thousand years for what the author calls the two faces of peninsular Western Europe to come together. The evidence for how it happened forms mazes and deserts  sometimes bafflingly dense and convoluted, sometimes maddeningly barren and desolate. Cunliffe finds his way through these with skill. Like a searchlight operator, he switches focus continually, highlighting each sea alternately in vivid flashes or, at times, in sustained glare. He starts in the remotest period of antiquity about which speculation is worthwhile and is surely right to say that seafaring was a fact of life in the Palaeolithic era. He shows how, from the sixth to the second millennium BC, there was more cultural traffic from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean than the other way round, plotting distributions of megaliths and bell beakers to demonstrate this. He welcomes us aboard with the merchants of Samos and Byblos who sailed to Tartessos  the El Dorado of antiquity  in the first millennium BC. He evokes the doggedness with which Roman generals overcame their mens distaste for the sea to conquer Carthage and dominate the Atlantic littoral. He turns the comings and goings of medieval shipping into a coherent story. Finally, when his narrative reaches the end of what we conventionally call the Middle Ages, when Latin Christendom was functioning, albeit imperfectly, on both sides of the European watershed, Cunliffe points us towards Europes transatlantic expansion and the creation of an Atlantic world.

Along the way, he chronicles the transformation of Europeans perceptions of the Atlantic. Among early explorers it was a journey or a place for forgetting. To peregrinatory Irish anchorites of the early Middle Ages, the Western Sea was their desert. By the end of the story, after Columbus had demonstrated the viability of commercially exploitable routes to and fro across the ocean, the Atlantic had become a destination. The space available for monsters and mythopoeia shifted westward to the New World.

more here.
In case you missed these Bay Area stories this week...

Burning Man 2017 photos: Best art and architecture so far, SF Curbed

An impressive array of pop-up art and architecture always unfolds at the annual festivities, which have been the theme of several photography books. This year's party will be no different, with dozens of shrines and installations to appear throughout the week. All of it will encircle the theme of "Radical Ritual." As tradition dictates, a temple with a large wooden effigy will be torched toward the end of the eventergo, Burning Man. Read more.





Making it big at SFMOMA with dramatically scaled new painting, SF Chronicle



The largest painting ever to be hung at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art arrived Wednesday in the Haas Jr. Atrium, where it was unrolled by 10 installers on the granite floor as if they were a field crew rolling out the tarp for a rain delay. The monumental piece by New York abstract painter Julie Mehretu is in two pieces, each 27 feet by 32 feet, and flanks the staircase inside the Third Street entrance. Read more.





Proposed California ballot measure could decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms, L.A. Times

California voters could decide whether the state should decriminalize the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by adults in 2018. A ballot measure was filed Friday with the state Attorney General's office. The measure would exempt adults 21 and older from penalties of possessing, selling, transporting, or cultivating psilocybins. Read more.





Hillary Clinton And Her Book Tour Come To SF's Opera Plaza In October, SFist

Democratic Party nominee for President, former Secretary of State, and two-term senator Hillary Clinton  who, depending on your politics, was either the most qualified presidential candidate of the modern era yet still stumped by a demoralizing glass ceiling, or the orchestrator of a highly Satanic private email server scheme which secretly drone-executed scores of Syrians and her husband's former mistresses  is coming to San Francisco on October 6 to sign copies of her new book What Happened. Read more.





Hurricane Harvey dumps the equivalent of California's winter rain total in a few days, SFGate

Here's something to think about: All of those atmospheric rivers that soaked California in winter and spring brought as much rain to some areas of Northern California as Hurricane Harvey dumped on locations along the Texas coast in a matter of days. Read more.
Hurricane Harvey already forced some Medicare hospital patients to be evacuated, interrupting their care. Dozens of nursing homes and hospitals in the Florida Keys, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale and other South Florida communities have announced plans to evacuate. Others were injured or got sick during or after evacuation and were taken to shelters, rather than hospitals. Still others may have been getting a combination of outpatient treatment and home care before Harvey hit.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma has issued waivers that set aside the requirement of a three-day hospital stay before Medicare will pay for nursing home care. This allows Medicare patients to transition to skilled nursing facilities without the worry of who will pick up the tab.

In light of the natural disaster still unfolding in Texas and Louisiana, CMS is committed to acting as quickly and effectively as possible so the states can continue to ensure the vital health care needs of our most vulnerable beneficiaries are not interrupted, Verma said in a statement when the waiver for Harvey was announced.

The waiver was welcome news to nursing home providers in Texas.

"This type of waiver allows for these communities that are dealing with such a fluid situation to make decisions in the best interests of the patients, said Kevin Warren, president and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association, which represents nursing facilities across the state.

Hospitals have been calling nursing homes and asking them to take patients before the three-day waiting period, Warren said, because hospitals need to make room for people requiring more acute medical care. By having this waiver, we can discharge the patient to a nursing home where they can still get the level of care they need, and Medicare will reimburse the nursing home for that care.

The CMS waiver is one example of a lesson learned from previous natural disasters.

I think it was a great move because that was a significant problem after [Hurricane] Sandy, said Barbara Citarella, CEO of RBC Limited Healthcare and Management Consultants in Staatsburg, N.Y., and a specialist in natural-disaster planning. After Hurricane Sandy, patients were sent to nursing homes because hospitals didnt have beds. Sandy hit 24 states along the Eastern Seaboard and west to Wisconsin in 2012, with most of its devastation affecting New York and New Jersey. Because Medicare recipients in those states did not meet the three-day requirement, payment for their nursing home stays became a major issue, Citarella said.

This is very helpful in being able to give care and for people to have continuity of care without putting them at risk, said Citarella. It allows us to be able to give those people who are most vulnerable the care they need immediately and then move them to an alternative location.

Citarella also said that under normal circumstances, many of these Medicare recipients were getting considerable support as outpatients. But with those resources unavailable, they need to be in a place where, for example, they can get their medications and can be supervised. Without such support, she added, it doesnt take long for them to deteriorate.
The U.S. Postal Service has listed locations where paper checks will be made available for pickup. In addition, recipients can also go to any Social Security office and request immediate payments, although the storm has forced the closure of five Houston locations, along with offices in Angleton, Beaumont, Conroe, League City, Pasadena, Port Arthur, San Antonio South and Victoria. Call 800-772-1213 (TTY 800-325-0778) or check www.socialsecurity.gov/locator to locate the nearest open offices and operating hours.

Social Security offices in the Louisiana towns of Alexandria, DeRidder, Lake Charles, Leesville and Natchitoches that were previously closed because of storm conditions are now open.

Most Social Security services can be conducted online through a mySocialSecurity account. Those 18 and older can sign up for a mySocialSecurity account.
Jefferson cruises to 11AAA state title over Harrisburg in 2nd year

Head coach Vince Benedetto asks his team the same question after every game: "Can we play better?" But Saturday, "it doesn't matter because we're champions."


Preliminary Final Report

Queanbeyan, Aug 31, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Greatcell Solar Limited ( ASX:GSL ) ( DYSOY:OTCMKTS ) provides the Company's Preliminary Final Report.



(i) Capital Raising



The Company announced a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) on 28 July 2017 at an issue price of $0.18 per share. As a result of the SPP and another investment commitment, the Company successfully secured a capital raising of $5.3 million subsequent to year-end. A total of $2.7 million was contributed by shareholders in the SPP and the balance of the funds will be contributed by Tasnee, its strategic shareholder, through a US$2 million convertible note. The new SPP shares will be issued on 1 September 2017 and are expected to be quoted on 5 September 2017.



(ii) Grants



The Company has received a letter of negotiation (LON) for a $6 million grant under the Advancing Renewables Program (ARP) of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The grant supports a Perovskite Solar Cell Technology - Large Area Module Development Project of two years duration with the award of the grant subject to meeting certain terms and conditions including the execution of a funding agreement. The Company also has a Department of Industry CRC-P grant of $2.5 million to which it has access to $1.9 million exclusive of its partners. The grant supports an 18 month project with a significant part of the grant funding yet to be drawn down, with grant payments subject to achieving agreed quarterly milestones.



(iii) Financing Facility



During the year, the Company established a $2.5 million Financing Facility with Commonwealth Bank, and this facility was increased to $3.3 million in August 2017. We expect that a similar facility to be in place for FY 2018, that will allow the Company to drawdown on a quarterly basis up to 90% of accrued FY 2018 Research and Development Tax Offset credits up to the credit limit of the facility.



(iv) Research and Development Tax Credit



The Company expects to receive in early October 2017 a research and development tax credit for FY 2017, estimated to be $3.9 million. This will be used to discharge the $3.3 million drawdown from the Commonwealth Bank Financing Facility, leaving the Company with an estimated $600k in cash remaining from the Tax offset credit.



In addition to the initiatives set out above, the Directors continue to look at various sources of funding support and other long term investment options to provide the working capital required to implement Greatcell Solar's Technology Development Plan, successful completion of which, the Directors believe, will create a pathway to achieve successful commercialisation and business development. Until this is achieved additional funding will continue to be required and the Board will select the most appropriate strategic investment options.



To view the full report, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/9J2QVE3G





About Greatcell Solar Limited





Greatcell Solar Limited (ASX:GSL) (OTCMKTS:DYSOY) is a global leader in the development and commercialisation of Perovskite Solar Cell (PSC) technology  3rd Generation photovoltaic technology that can be applied to glass, metal, polymers or cement. Greatcell Solar Limited manufactures and supplies high performance materials and is focussed on the successful commercialisation of PSC photovoltaics. It is a publicly listed company: Australian Securities Exchange ASX (GSL) and German Open Market (D5I). Learn more at our website and subscribe to our mailing list in English and German.


Second Offtake MOU Signed with China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd

Sydney, Sep 1, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Limited ( ASX:HAS ) (Hastings or the Company) is pleased to advise that it has signed its second Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China Rare Earth Holdings Limited (CREH). Under the MOU the parties have outlined their intent to enter into a binding commercial offtake agreement for the sale by Hastings and purchase by CREH of Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate ("MREC"), which will be produced from Yangibana, Western Australia. The framework for the commercial offtake agreement is set out in the MOU, and the final terms and conditions will be formalised in a contract.



HIGHLIGHTS



- Hastings announces its second MOU with China Rare Earth Holdings Limited for the future supply of Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate from Hastings' Yangibana project in Western Australia.



- The parties have agreed to enter discussions to formalise a commercial offtake agreement for Hastings to sell 2,000 tonnes of Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) per annum to China Rare Earth Holdings Limited.



- This second MOU agreement is for a period of three years with an option to extend for two years.



INTRODUCTION



The Parties have undertaken to negotiate in good faith to reach agreement for a commercial offtake contract within 12 months from the date of the MOU. Pricing for the MREC will be based on a formula taking into account prevailing market prices prior to shipment.



Charles Lew, Hastings Executive Chairman, said "This second MOU for an offtake agreement with CREH is further confirmation of the confidence of potential customers in Hastings' ability to deliver an MREC to the required specifications in accordance with its planned production timeline. Our carbonate was sent to CREH for analysis and testing and they have validated it to contain exceptionally high neodymium and praseodymium content, in line with our published results following completion of our beneficiation and hydrometallurgy pilot plant tests. "



CREH is an established rare earth and refractory products manufacturer located in Jiangsu Province in the Peoples' Republic of China ("PRC"). The Group has been listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited since 1999 and is the first Chinese private enterprise which engages in the manufacture of rare earth and refractory products that is publicly listed outside the Chinese mainland.



The Parties have additionally acknowledged that any commercial offtake agreement is contingent on Hastings starting operations and production of MREC from the Yangibana mine, and with any additional conditions usually included in commercial off-take contracts.



Hastings estimates an annual production quantity of 15,000 tonnes of MREC, which it will sell to offtake partners, with production projected to commence in 2H 2019.



CREH



CREH is one of the leading and most well-respected rare earth and refractory products manufacturers in the Peoples' Republic of China ("PRC"). The Group has been listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited since 1999. It is the first Chinese private enterprise which engages in the manufacture of rare earth and refractory products and is publicly listed outside the Chinese mainland.



The company began its business in 1987 in the city of Yixing, Jiangsu Province, the PRC. Commencing operations as a rare earth separation and refining plant, it has an annual processing capacity of 6,500 tonnes comprising a smelting workshop, several rare earth extraction lines and numerous cutting edge equipment. It has grown rapidly to become a recognised rare earth producer where its products are also exported overseas to customers such as General Electric, Nippon Electric Glass, Siemens, Shin-Et Chemical, etc. The Group has a research and development centre that focus on improving existing products and developing new products.





About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd





Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas.

Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China.

Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project.

Brockman Project

The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition).

The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project.

Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products.


Full Year Statutory Accounts

Sydney, Sep 1, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD ) provides the Company's Annual Report for the year ended 30 June, 2017.



2017 HIGHLIGHTS



EXPLORATION



KEMPFIELD POLYMETALLIC PROJECT



- Major breakthroughs:



o Kempfield litho-stratigraphy and four key mineralisation host horizons identified; and



o Substantial potential mineralised extensions confirmed by further diamond drilling.



- Two types of gold potential identified:



o VHMS related gold; and



o High grade gold trend - as orogenic gold overprint related to the Trunkey-Kings Plain gold system.



- Significant intersections yielded by diamond drilling:



o 10.2 m @ 1.5 g/t Au from 28.0 m (by hole AKDD197 - new potential southwest extension)



including: 5.0 m @ 2.6 g/t Au from 32.2 m;



which includes the following individual samples:



1.0 m @ 4.4 g/t Au from 32.2 m; and



1.0 m @ 5.1 g/t Au from 34.2 m.



o 20.3 m @ 32 g/t Ag and 1.1 g/t Au from 96.0 m (by hole AKDD195 - potential southeast extension)



including: 7.0 m @ 47 g/t Ag, and 2.4 g/t Au, from 97.0 m; and



including: 3.1 m @ 2.4% Pb, 2.3% Zn, 85 g/t Ag, and 2.3 g/t Au from 100.9 m.



o 16.0 m @ 0.6% Pb, 1.8% Zn, 83 g/t Ag and 0.1 g/t Au from 205.0 m (by hole AKDD200 - potential 1,000 metre northeast extension to the Henry Zone)



including: 7.6 m @ 1.2% Pb, 3.4% Zn, 126 g/t Ag and 0.2 g/t Au from 212.4 m; and



including: 1.0 m @ 2.2% Pb, 8.3% Zn, 250 g/t Ag and 0.2 g/t Au from 213.4 m.



- Kempfield resource update:

o Mineralisation extensions identified - up to twice the existing deposit dimensions, including potential lateral extensions of 1,000 metres to the northeast, 800 metres to the south, significant northwest and southeast extensions, and depth extensions of up to twice that of the known deposit; and



o Metallurgical test programme commenced - focusing on the optimisation of silver, lead and zinc recoveries from primary material as separate concentrates by a standalone flotation process.



PINE RIDGE GOLD MINE



- Maiden JORC 2012 compliant announcement of significant historical gold intersections:



o 21.0 m @ 5.6 g/t Au from 50.0 m (by hole PR010)

including: 1.0 m @ 62.9 g/t Au from 59.0 m;



o 10.0 m @ 3.7 g/t Au from 71.0 m (by hole PR012)

including: 1.0 m @ 11.2 g/t Au from 76.0 m; and



o 18.0 m @ 2.4 g/t Au from 68.0 m (by hole PR023)

including: 1.0 m @ 5.3 g/t Au from 77.0 m.



- Kempfield feedstock potential identified.



WEST WYALONG PORPHYRY COPPER-GOLD-MOLYBDENUM PROJECT



- 50% co-funding of direct drilling costs up to $200,000 awarded by the NSW Government.



- Substantial porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposit confirmed by maiden diamond drilling:



o Multiple intrusives intersected over 2.5 kilometre north-south strike and 1.5 kilometre east-west extent;



o 4 km2 prospective area delineated; and



o Big Cadia and Ok Tedi analogy indicated by the drilling results.



- Argent interest increased to 76.7%:



o Joint venture phase commenced, with cash calls and/or customary dilution terms in operation.



LOCH LILLY PROJECT



- Strategic stake secured in western Tasmania Mount Read Volcanics equivalent belt:



o 1,400 km2 area secured by Loch Lilly project tenements.



- Right to earn up to 90% interest:



o Initial 51% interest to be earned by completing initial drilling programme.



- Maiden drill test of the Netley and Eaglehawk targets:



o Argent continues on from where Anglo American Exploration (Australia) Pty Ltd (Anglo American) ceased work on the project after being instructed by its head office to abort Australian operations; and



- The Netley and Eaglehawk holes (each 500 metre diamond) were designed by Argent with the benefit of geophysics survey work and analysis performed by Dr. Anthony Crawford and Anglo American during 2014/15.



- 75% co-funding of the direct drilling costs up to $150,000 awarded by the NSW Government.



CORPORATE



FUNDING



- A total of $4.03 million before costs was raised during the year through private placements.



- Additional funds totalling $904,490 were received as income, comprising:



o $709,248 under the R&D Tax Incentive Scheme;



o Receipts of $175,878 from the NSW Government under the Cooperative Drilling Round 2 grant awarded to the Company; and



o Interest income of $19,364.



- Argent commenced the 2017/18 financial year with a strong outlook and a cash position of approximately $2.08 million.



To view the full report, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/2M3Y60V5





About Argent Minerals Limited





Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD) is an Australian publicly listed company with a 100% interest in a silver/gold project at Kempfield NSW. Work is underway on the preparation of an EIS and a feasibility study for the first stage of the project which will involve heap leaching some 8.8 million tonnes of mainly oxide and transitional material to produce over 9.5 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold over a 5 year mine life. Argent is also earning up to a 70% interest in two other NSW projects - gold at West Wyalong and base metals at Sunny Corner.
Former IAF Chief S P Tyagi was on Friday chargesheeted by the CBI in a Delhi Court along with nine others in connection with a bribery case in the Rs 3,500 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

72-year old Tyagi is the first chief of the Indian Air Force to be chargesheeted in a corruption or a criminal case by the CBI.

Besides him, the agency has also chargesheeted retired Air Marshal J S Gujral along with eight others, including five foreign nationals, in the charge sheet filed before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar.

The court fixed September 6 to peruse the charge sheet in which the Anglo-Italian company, AgustaWestland, is also one of the accused.

CBI is likely to file more documents and annexures in the court on the next date of hearing.

The agency has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euros 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for supply of VVIP choppers worth Euros 556.262 million.

Others named in the charge sheet are  Tyagis cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, advocate Gautam Khaitan, alleged European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica Chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

They have been chargesheeted for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC in the case relating to alleged bribery of Rs 450 crore.

Tyagi, who had retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on December 9 last year by CBI in the case. These accused are currently on bail.
The Mumbai police told the Bombay High Court that it would complete its probe into the death of the Byculla Jail inmate Manjula Shetye and file a charge sheet against the six arrested prison personnel within three weeks.

Meanwhile, the HC has expressed satisfaction over the investigation after a Mumbai police crime branch counsel submitted its report during the hearing on a PIL in the case.

A division bench of Justices B R Gavai and M S Karnik was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city resident Pradeep Bhalekar seeking a probe by an independent agency into the death of Shetye (45) who was allegedly thrashed by the jail staff.

The jail authorities had initially registered a case of accidental death on June 23 when Shetye died. However, another inmate of the jail lodged an FIR on June 24 alleging that Shetye was assaulted by the jail personnel.

Following the complaint, six women jail personnel were arrested.

After submitting a probe report to the court in a sealed envelope, crime branch counsel Rajeev Patil said the investigations are being carried out properly and the statements of all persons concerned have been recorded.

The probe is likely to be completed in a short span of time and a charge sheet will be filed against the accused within 20 days, Patil said.

He said an independent inquiry was being conducted by a magistrate as required by law in matters of custodial deaths.

Patil also said that an inquiry committee was set up against Dr Vishwas Rote for allegedly giving a false certificate stating that there were no visible injury marks on Shetyes body.

After perusing the report, the bench said it was satisfied with the manner in which the investigation was conducted and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

Shetyes death had triggered a riot by inmates of the jail on June 24.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ruled out the possibility of the strategic Hambantota port being used as a military base by any foreign country, allaying Indias concerns over the Chinese Navys growing presence in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan government on July 29 signed a $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake in the Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, Chinas state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort) is to invest up to $1.1 billion in 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 Lankas infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe used the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to allay Indias concern over Chinese involvement in developing the Hambantota port.

Let me refer to Sri Lankas decision to develop its major sea ports, especially the Hambantota port which some claim to be a military base. I state clearly that Sri Lanka headed by President Maithripala Sirisena does not enter into military alliances with any country or make our bases available to foreign countries, Wickremesinghe said while addressing the Indian Ocean Conference held here last night.

Only the Sri Lanka Armed Forces have the responsibility for military activities in our ports and airports. We are also working with foreign private investors on the commercial development of our ports, he said.

Swaraj, in her speech at the conference on Thursday, said India was ready to face security challenges in the Indian Ocean.

She said it was imperative that those living in the region bear the primary responsibility for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region.

Swaraj said that if the revitalised maritime economy of the Indian Ocean region is to be a force for global economic growth, it is essential that the waters remain peaceful, stable and secure.

The Sri Lankan premier said that in the absence of effective multilateral trade agreements for the Indian Ocean region, Sri Lanka has decided to enter into bilateral agreements with the neighbouring countries.

We already have Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan. We are in the process of deepening our FTA with India to enable greater economic cooperation. We will finalise an FTA with Singapore and then conclude similar trade agreements with other countries in the Bay of Bengal region. We are also negotiating an FTA with China, he said.
Russia and the United States were locked in a fresh diplomatic slugging match Friday after Washington ordered the closure of Moscows San Francisco consulate and two other facilities.

The retaliatory US move came as a September 1 deadline was reached for Washington to comply with a Kremlin demand to slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic mission by 755 personnel.

The spat between the two nuclear-armed power was another blow to US President Donald Trumps pledge to try to improve relations with Russias Vladimir Putin.

Washington said Thursday it had ordered the shuttering of Russias San Francisco consulate and two diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York in the spirit of parity, after Moscows July demand for it to reduce its diplomatic staff.

The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Washington said it hoped the two sides can avoid further retaliatory actions and improve ties but warned it was prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.

Russias foreign ministry expressed regret at the escalation of tensions and said it would examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Clear skies. Low near 35F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 35F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
August 31, 2017

WASHINGTON  Iran is honoring the terms of the landmark 2015 nuclear accord, the UN atomic watchdog said in its latest quarterly assessment today, according to news agencies that obtained the confidential six-page report. The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessment puts the agency charged with overseeing compliance with the nuclear accord at odds with members of the Donald Trump administration who have signaled that they want to declare Iran in breach of the deal.

IAEA officials said they would not help the Trump administration make a false case for abandoning the agreement.

If they want to bring down the deal, they will, an IAEA official told Reuters. We just dont want to give them an excuse to.

The State Department acknowledged the latest IAEA report, the third this year to verify Irans compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. While declining to discuss its details before they are made public, likely at the next IAEA Board of Governors meeting Sept. 11-15, the department effusively praised the IAEA for its Iran monitoring and verification efforts.

We don't typically discuss details of the report before it is made public, a State Department official told Al-Monitor. "We greatly appreciate the continued exemplary efforts of the IAEA to verify and monitor Irans implementation of the JCPOA."

The State Departments praise for the IAEA was at odds with a statement from US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, who bashed Iran for its support of the Palestinian group Hamas and seemed to question whether the agency was being aggressive enough in seeking out sensitive sites in Iran to inspect. The agency has declined to inspect military sites without a good reason, while Iran has dismissed such demands as "merely a dream."

Were not going to visit a military site like Parchin just to send a political signal, the IAEA official told Reuters, referring to an Iranian military base.

If inspections of Iranian military sites are merely a dream, as Iran says, then Iranian compliance with the JCPOA is also a dream, Haley said in a press statement.

But a US official, speaking not for attribution, said that Haley, on her Aug. 23 visit to the IAEA in Vienna, had not in fact asked the IAEA to visit any specific Iranian military sites, nor provided any intelligence to the agency that would reflect concerns meriting a request for such a visit.

"Ambassador Haley did not ask the IAEA to inspect any specific sites, nor did she provide the IAEA with any new intelligence."

The IAEA has the authority to request access to any nuclear-related locations in Iran to verify the declarations Iran submits under its Additional Protocol and Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, the US official told Al-Monitor.

Ambassador Haley did not ask the IAEA to inspect any specific sites, nor did she provide the IAEA with any new intelligence, the US official said. She conveyed that the IAEA will need to continue to robustly exercise its authorities to verify Iran's declaration and monitor the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, including access to undeclared and military-affiliated sites where the agency has questions about nuclear-related activities, the US official said, adding, We have full confidence in the agency and its highly skilled and professional inspectors.

Nuclear experts said the IAEA can request access to Iranian sites, but only if it has specific questions and concerns.

Haley was correct in saying that the IAEA is permitted to seek access to any location in Iran, including military-affiliated sites, where the IAEA has questions about possible nuclear-related activities,' Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor. The key here is the qualifier where the IAEA has questions. The IAEA doesn't have a right to go on a fishing expedition.

According to the JCPOA, it is up to the IAEA (not one or another party to the accord) to request access and determine if Iran's cooperation is sufficient to resolve concerns, Daryl Kimball, with the Arms Control Association, told Al-Monitor via email. If the IAEA requests information and remains unsatisfied with Iran's response, five of the eight members of the Joint Commission can vote on actions to resolve the concerns."

It is essential that the IAEA continues to be vigilant in regard to Iranian compliance and exercise its right to request access to a site of concern if there is a valid concern, or if visiting that site is deemed to be necessary to confirm Iranian compliance with the JCPOA, Kimball said. But its not necessary, nor is it possible, for the agency to visit every military site in Iran in order to verify compliance with the JCPOA."

By insisting that the IAEA seek access to unspecified military sites,'" Kimball added, "Ambassador Haley is undermining the ability of the agency to get Iranian cooperation and access when it counts."
August 31, 2017

CASABLANCA  Eight journalists have been jailed since the beginning of the Hirak, a protest movement in the Rif region in northern Morocco that started in October 2016 following the death of Mouhcine Fikri, a fish vendor who was crushed to death by a garbage truck as he tried to get to his confiscated fish. Most of those arrested are citizen journalists reporting for local websites covering the protests and therefore targeted by the crackdown the Moroccan authorities initiated three months ago. The Moroccan Association of Human Rights told Al-Monitor that at least 300 people have been arrested since May as part of the authorities efforts to silence the movement.

Among those arrested are Mohamed el-Asrihi and Jawad Sabiri of the Rif24 news website, Abdelali Haddou of Araghi TV, Rif Presse photographer Houssein al-Idrissi and Fouad Assaidi of Awar TV. Rabie al-Ablaq, a local correspondent for the Badil Info news site, was hospitalized in early August 36 days into a hunger strike. He is currently detained at the Oukacha prison in Casablanca and treated at the infirmary, according to activists.

Mohamed Hilali, the director of Rif Presse who was sentenced June 30 to five months in prison for insulting police officers in the course of their work and demonstrating without prior authorization, was the only journalist released as part of King Mohammed VI's royal pardoning of some activists arrested for taking part in the Hirak. His release brings the number of journalists who remain detained to seven.

[The journalists] were arrested while providing news coverage in the Rif region and in RSFs view they have no place behind bars, said Reporters Without Borders in an Aug. 18 statement addressed to the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Communication. Morocco was ranked 133rd in Reporters Without Borders 2017 World Press Freedom Index.

Hamid el-Mahdaoui, the director of publication at Badil Info, is known for his widely shared videos that spare the government no criticism. He has also extensively covered and supported the Hirak movement. Mahdaoui was arrested July 20 in al-Hoceima, where the movement was initiated. On July 25, he was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay a 20,000 dirham fine (about $2,200) for inciting a banned protest and shouts.

According to Mahdaouis support committee, Mahdaoui as well as the other journalists were charged with criminal offenses and being prosecuted under the Penal Code instead of Morocco's new press law. In August 2016, a new press code was finally passed after years of delay. Although the new press code doesn't include jail sentences like the previous one, it refers to several penal code articles that call for harsh sentences for subjects that are considered sensitive by the government.

Mahdaoui also faces other charges of failure to denounce a crime threatening national security, but he has not yet been tried. Mahdaoui faced similar problems in the past. In 2015, he has given a four-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 dirham (around $10,700) to the General Directorate of National Security for his reporting on the death of Karim Lachkar, an activist from al-Hoceima who died under unknown circumstances in May 2014 in police custody.

Foreign reporters have also encountered difficulties while covering the Hirak. On May 28, Djamel Alilat, a reporter for El Watan daily, was arrested in Nador and later expelled from Morocco for working without a permit. Spanish reporters Jose Luis Navazo from Correo Diplomatico, who lived in Morocco with his family for 17 years, and Fernando Sanz Moreno, an independent journalist, were forced to leave the country July 25.

These latest moves are just the latest spike in the years of repression of journalists. After a rise in press freedom at the end of King Hassan IIs rule (in the late 1990s) and during the first years of Mohammed VIs reign, the Makhzen (Moroccos state and administration) has progressively silenced independent newspapers through financial sanctions, boycotts and pressure on journalists. Independent newspapers like Le Journal or Nichane, from the Moroccan press' golden age, were forced to shut down in 2010.

There has been a big regression in the last years. Many journalists were imprisoned for their opinions and writings, political analyst and education science professor Mohamed Chtatou told Al-Monitor.

Chtatou said, We are going back to the time of self-censorship. I don't think a journalist can be objective if he is afraid. A lot of newspapers encountered financial losses due to pressure exerted by advertisers. Those who are not following the official line lose their ads and they die.

In Morocco, journalists are well aware of the taboo issues that must not be raised, including the monarchy, Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory and Islam. Although these lines are not precisely determined in any official text, the task of identifying them is left to journalists, who are forbidden to cross them.

While discussion of issues related to the monarchy has become slightly better tolerated, a new line  around the economic Makhzen, big names in business close to the monarchy  has recently emerged, said Soulaiman Raissouni, the founder of the Al Aoual website.

Press freedom has recently shrunk, Raissouni told Al-Monitor, with the growing and unclear red lines. Like many other journalists, Raissouni said he has been targeted and criticized by websites known to be close to the Makhzen.

Before he started Al Aoual last year, Raissouni worked at one of Moroccos main daily newspapers, Al-Massae, where he was sidelined in April 2015 after he wrote an investigative report on the management of the cultural festival of Asilah, which he believes leaders of the municipality disliked. Raissouni said he was not assigned any work for seven months, although he was showing up to work and getting paid.

Like Raissouni, Ali Anouzla was also forced to go online to continue working. In 2010, he launched the Lakome news website, which was shut down in 2013. He has been sued several times for his articles that were deemed disrespectful by the Makhzen. In October 2013, Anouzla published an article that included a link to a blog from the Spanish daily El Pais, which pointed to a video of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb threatening to strike Morocco. He was arrested for inciting terrorism and spent 39 days in jail. The charges have not been dropped.

Despite the difficulties, Anouzla launched Lakome2 in 2015. In 2016, he was accused of undermining Moroccos territorial integrity after using the expression the occupied Western Sahara in an interview with the German newspaper Bild. Anouzla said back then that he did not use the expression and that it was a translation mistake, which the newspaper admitted to and later corrected.

Through the judicial pressure and absence of clear rules, the Makhzen has succeeded in greatly reducing the space for investigative journalism and forced most journalists and editors to practice self-censorship in order to simply be allowed to work and prevent their publications from closing.

It's difficult to be totally independent in Morocco. I am independent but I cannot say everything I want. Of course I self-censor, Raissouni said. If you want to continue to work as a journalist in Morocco, you have to do that.
August 31, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The new Hamas leadership has taken dramatic steps since assuming office in mid-February that suggest its policies will differ significantly from those of previous officials. The new administration has been trying to restore ties that had been cut off or seriously frayed with many parties such as Iran, Egypt, the Syrian regime and the followers of Fatah's dismissed leader Mohammed Dahlan.

Could this be a kinder, gentler, more accommodating Hamas? Many remain unconvinced, but Iran is working toward that goal.

Hamas left Syria at the end of 2011, after the Syrian civil war broke out, out of support for the Syrian people. The regime then completely severed its relationship with the Palestinian movement, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Hamas of supporting some of the armed groups fighting against the Syrian regime.

Hamas, a key pillar in the so-called anti-Israel axis of resistance, which includes Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, did not deny receiving Syrian support for years before it left the country, where it enjoyed great freedom of movement.

A well-informed source in the Iranian regime told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Senior Iranian officials, including speaker of the Shura Council Ali Larijani and adviser to the supreme leader Ali Akbar Velayati, met with Hamas leaders visiting Iran Aug. 4 to participate in the second inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. [The officials] offered to mediate between [Hamas] and the Syrian regime in a bid to restore their broken relations."

The Hamas delegation said it welcomed the offer and would refer it to the group's leadership for consideration, according to the source.

Hamas would not mind bolstering its ties with the Syrian regime, Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor when he met with reporters Aug. 28 in Gaza. He stressed that a breakthrough had occurred in the Syrian crisis, and he said that it would offer an opportunity to improve relations between Hamas and the regime.

We are waiting for the right time to restore that relationship so that Hamas remains out of the power struggles in the region. We are adopting a 'zero-problems' policy with all parties, so as to serve the Palestinian cause, Sinwar said.

Assad has made a clear shift in tone toward the Palestinian resistance movements. During an Aug. 20 speech before a foreign affairs and immigration conference in Damascus, Assad confirmed his support for such movements and for the Palestinian cause. Notably, he didn't exclude Hamas, as he had previously done.

Iranian writer and political researcher Hussein Rweiran said Iran can exert great influence on the Syrian regime to restore relations with Hamas. Hamas is in dire need of restoring this relationship, he noted, as Syria is the only country bordering Palestinian territories that doesn't recognize and maintain relations with Israel. He predicted that although the Syrian regime is preoccupied with internal struggles, its support for the Palestinian cause and the resistance movements will remain strong.

Rweiran said the Syrian regime is unlikely to ask for guarantees in return for restoring its ties with Hamas. The latter has agreed to dismantle its organizational ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and, in a new political document published May 1, introduced itself as strictly a Palestinian resistance movement, rather than one with a more global doctrine. These steps represent a major change in Hamas' ideology and provide a foundation upon which to revive Hamas relations with the Syrian regime now that ties have been restored with Iran and Hezbollah, he added.

Abdul Sattar Qassem, a political science professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus, told Al-Monitor, The talks have been ongoing for months between Hamas on one side and the Iranians and Hezbollah on the other to set the stage for the return of the relationship between Hamas and the Syrian regime.

Hamas has not and will not find a better country than Syria as a safe haven for its political leadership, Qassem said. (Hamas leaders had resided in Qatar but were asked to leave in June under pressure from other Gulf countries.) Hamas is also convinced that it's in its best interest for Syria to control the Golan front in any future military confrontation with Israel.

Qassem said he is confident that Iran will help change the Syrian regimes position toward Hamas, as Iran is eager to return Hamas and the Palestinian resistance movements to the axis of resistance, which those movements left after the conflicts known as the Arab Spring arose in 2010. He also called on Hamas to prove its openness to working with the Syrian regime.

With the momentum Hamas has built up, Iran's efforts to help restore relations between Hamas and the Syrian regime stand a fair chance of success. Hamas has already managed to alleviate much of its tension with other parties in the region  except for Israel, of course.
August 31, 2017

A group of about 300 Islamic State (IS) fighters halted by US airstrikes on Wednesday after retreating from the Lebanese border is heading back into the heart of territory controlled by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, US military officials said today.

The militants were released by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah on Tuesday in exchange for the bodies of Lebanese soldiers and Hezbollah fighters captured by the group. They had been traveling toward the IS-controlled Deir ez-Zor province, where they had hoped to link up with IS fighters in Iraq. The US-led coalition fighting the group in Syria interrupted those plans Wednesday, cratering the road toward the battlefront with airstrikes.

They actually started moving back toward the interior of Syria, and so we're just letting them go, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria, told reporters at the Pentagon via video link from Baghdad. If they try to get to the edge of [IS] territory and link up with [IS] there, we'll work hard to disrupt that.

Its not clear that the strikes will impact the Pentagons long-standing military-to-military relationship with the Lebanese Armed Forces, including the recent delivery of eight M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. As Lebanon has dealt with increased attacks from IS, the United States has bolstered weapons sales to its army, selling it six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft (which are designed for close support and counterinsurgency missions) as well as six Huey helicopters.

The State Department considers Hezbollah, which backed the deal to bus IS fighters into eastern Syria, a terrorist organization.

Townsend, who will pass the commanding role in the coalition to US Army Lt. Gen. Paul Funk and his Ft. Hood-based 3rd Armored Corps next week, said coalition forces had not struck the convoy directly, and that no women and children traveling onboard with the IS fighters had been harmed.

But the departing commander expressed frustration with the Assad regime in Damascus, which announced earlier this week that it had struck a deal with IS to allow the militants safe passage into eastern Syria.

We've seen the Syrian regime bring these [IS] fighters, with their machine guns, which they posted on social media  pictures of masked terrorists on Greyhound-like buses with their machine guns in their laps, Townsend said. This is not really a breakout. This is sort of a break-in.

Townsend did not elaborate on any further ways that the coalition might seek to limit the movement of the detachment of 300 IS fighters as they move back into Syria, saying hed prefer that [IS] find out about that when they make their attempt.

The militants are attempting to reach an Iraqi front that looks increasingly bleak for the group. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi today announced the liberation of Tal Afar and the entire province of Ninevah in northwestern Iraq, completing an 11-day operation that was originally expected to take months.

Townsend attributed the quick fight in Tal Afar to weakening resolve from IS fighters after the grueling nine-month campaign in Mosul, as well as increasing isolation around Ninevahs second-largest city, and a wave of precision strikes aimed at taking down the groups leadership.

He told reporters today that between 500 and 700 militants had been killed or captured in the city, while another 2,000 fighters had retreated to villages north of Tal Afar, where up to 500 militants have already been killed. The US-led coalition said in a statement that Iraqi security forces have retaken more than 90% of IS-held areas.

US military commanders now expect IS leaders to make a final stand in the Middle Euphrates River Valley that straddles the border between Iraq and Syria.
August 31, 2017

The village of Kalta, just east of Raqqa, was recently retaken from the Islamic State by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In June, the local Roj Mine Control Organization (RMCO) came to clear the area before the villagers returned.

The whole area  including homes, a power facility and a school  was mined, RMCO's deputy CEO Roni Teran told Al-Monitor. The villagers asked the four-member team to clear the school first. They were hoping to have the building ready for the start of the semester.

As his team members stood outside, Zana Kalhur, who learned demining in the Syrian military before the revolution, went to work. Despite his precautions, the mines were triggered, throwing the team to the ground and killing Kalhur. Teran said he later saw a picture of the explosive devices, constructed of two big barrels and a metal oxygen container.

He was a real expert and we depended on him a lot, said Teran. He loved what he did.

RMCO has been working for more than a year now, racing across the desert as IS retreats to clean up the enormous amount of explosives left behind. In an area where foreign organizations find it difficult to operate, the group works with what little resources and expertise they have been able to scrape together.

Mine contamination in Syria and Iraq cannot be exaggerated, said Sean Sutton, international communications manager of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). We are calling it the Middle East land mine emergency.

We haven't seen anything like this since the early 1990s, Sutton told Al-Monitor, referring to his organization's work in war-ravaged Cambodia. Sutton commented on the work MAG does in northern Iraq but, like many other NGOs, could not comment on work in Syria for security reasons.

The problem is massive, according to Bjorn Skodvin Hannisdal, an adviser for the disarmament program of Norwegian People's Aid. Due to the ongoing hostilities, the exact extent and location of these threats are hard to determine. Present clearance efforts are mainly determined by access rather than humanitarian need, he told Al-Monitor.

Northern Syria's RMCO was started by four former Syrian regime soldiers. After the revolution, they began clearing mines and booby traps with the People's Protection Units (YPG), the dominant force in the region, although Teran was careful to note that RMCO is not an arm of the YPG. They began accepting volunteers and collecting funds, and later received some limited training and other aid from international NGOs.

Workers are recruited on site, said Teran, because locals know the areas best. They come from different backgrounds  Kurds and Arabs, students and soldiers  many of them desperate for work. Teran himself is a former computer engineer. The organization's staff has grown to 70.

The work isn't getting any easier, he said, explaining, Moving forward we are discovering even more advanced [types] of mines.

It takes time and effort to learn about the new technology. Teran said the group reaches out to other NGOs like MAG and individual experts for advice, adding, There are a lot of people who want to help.

MAG teams also saw mines evolve in complexity as they got closer to Mosul, noted Sutton. They are made on an industrial scale and ever larger, the smallest now weighing 6 kilograms, he said. Before this conflict, such devices weighed an average of 100-200 grams.

Our main purpose is to reach the mine before the people do, said Teran. As soon as an area is liberated, locals rush back home.

The pressure for people to go home after the fighting is finished is enormous, said Sutton, speaking of the situation in Iraq. Many are subsistence farmers who need their land.

But the danger is real. In a village east of Mosul, noted Sutton, 18 homes out of around 500 were booby-trapped. In the 40 families that returned, there were 10 deaths. Mine fields can run around a village or straight through.

Reliable statistics on casualties are hard to come by for the area. RMCO reports having removed over 10,000 mines and explosive ordnance so far in northern Syria. Eight civilians have died in Kobani in the past nine months and 20 in Ain Issa over the past six months. In the Raqqa countryside, a couple of accidents happen every month.

There were 994 Syrians killed and 1,009 injured by mines and unexploded ordnance between June 2011 and the end of 2016, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.

RMCO has started awareness programs, working with the newly established local governments to educate local citizens. As the fighting rages in Raqqa, RMCO remains busy outside of the city.

I believe Raqqa will be a closed city for some time, said Teran. He said his organization is looking for more support in the form of equipment and funding.

We have a lot of villages, a lot of civilians, a lot of facilities that must be cleared before we can move to Raqqa, he said. Right now, the group has no plans to go in.
August 30, 2017

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already launched his campaign for the November 2019 elections. Although not mentioned much in the news, there are two elections scheduled that year; the first will be the municipal races in March. Using any pretext, Erdogan has started assembling his partys local leaderships in rallies, all with live TV coverage. As the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan is campaigning for both elections, but only talking about the presidential election so far. Why?

The best explanation is found in Erdogans own words. On Aug. 20, he was in Istanbul speaking to a large crowd of AKP members. Cheers frequently interrupted his hourlong speech, even though Erdogan was harshly criticizing the audience for their lethargy and arrogance and bluntly talking about replacing them. The crowd was determined to spur on their leader regardless of his anger and resentment. Erdogan passionately emphasized the significance of Istanbul in the elections. He said those who fail to see the city's importance can serve neither it nor the AKP. Several times he stressed that if the AKP loses ground in Istanbul, the party will lose the whole country. Erdogans fear was out in the open during this speech  and he has a point.

For politicians, Istanbul is a city like no other in Turkey. As one seasoned AKP bureaucrat asked Al-Monitor, Is there a Turkey beyond Istanbul? Erdogans history in Istanbul is also significant. Erdogan lost three elections from 1986 until 1994, until he became the mayor of Istanbul by a slim margin, winning 25% of the votes. Since 1994, though the names of the political parties have changed, Erdogans party has been in charge of the government of the city, which is divided into 39 districts. In all general elections, Erdogans political party has won a majority of the votes in Istanbul. For the first time, during the April 16 referendum, Erdogan lost a majority in the big cities, and Istanbul was one of them.

The loss of Istanbul is an alarming signal that the AKP could lose Turkey for two significant reasons. First, to better understand, lets put in perspective why Istanbul matters more than any city. There are about 58 million registered voters in Turkey; 10.5 million of them are in Istanbul. That is, Istanbul holds 18% of the total vote share. Hence, the mayor of Istanbul is the most powerful man in Turkish politics after the president.

Second, Istanbul is the hub of domestic migration. That means the majority of Istanbul's contemporary residents have links to cities all over Turkey. This is particularly important for religious orders and big and midsize businesses.

All religious orders, even those that have emanated from other parts of Turkey, have their centers based in Istanbul. Two prominent districts, Eyup and Uskudar, which have traditionally voted for the AKP, overwhelmingly voted against the April referendum to expand the powers of the presidency.

Mahmut Kar, media bureau chief of Hizbut Tahrir Turkey, confirmed Erdogan is concerned because the vote share in Istanbul for the referendum was lower than the average in Turkey. Istanbul is the trendsetter for the rest of the country, which could be bad news for Erdogan.

For one thing, Kar explained, Muslims and members of several other religious orders have been languishing in prisons for years, put there by the Fethullah Gulen movement when it was still in the government's good graces. But even after the 2016 attempted coup, which is blamed on Gulen, those who were persecuted by the movement haven't been released. If these religious orders turn away from the AKP, it won't be limited to Istanbul, as they coordinate voting behavior all around Turkey.

Istanbul is the trendsetter for the rest of the country, which could be bad news for Erdogan.

Since the July 15 coup attempt, still-devout Muslims are suffering in jails. The Gulen movement cannot still be the sole culprit," Kar said.

Also, Istanbul is the financial capital of Turkey. Almost all major businesses, both domestic and foreign, have their headquarters in the city. Revenues from tourism and hospitality-related industries have declined. Plus, Erdogans urban planning disasters are costing residents money.

Istanbuls environmental degradation  to open the way for major projects such as the controversial third bridge  is a growing burden on the city's budget. For example, the fiasco of poor planning is not limited to cutting corners to avoid audits to construct the bridge, but also the failure to calculate revenues. The toll for the bridge is so high that drivers are seeking alternative travel methods. Truck and bus drivers are fined for using other bridges, but many say it's significantly cheaper to pay the fines than the tolls.

Another major concern is the citys lack of preparedness for natural disasters. Earthquakes remain the biggest fear, as even the locations designated to assemble survivors after a quake have been decimated in the past decade to enable lucrative businesses to emerge. The citys infrastructure failed utterly during a 20-minute July hail storm accompanied by heavy rains and high winds that caused flooding and other damage estimated at as much as 1.2 billion Turkish liras (about $380 million). Istanbul residents were once more reminded that losing green areas of the city has immediate and dangerous consequences on their daily lives.

And that probably is the most crucial message opposition parties need to hear. A senior professor of urban planning and economics who asked to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor, Istanbuls city planning disasters can no longer be hidden behind the facade of glamorous promotional displays. The city is overcrowded, pollution and cement have replaced the local fauna and flora, and basic services are lacking. Residents suffer these difficulties on a daily basis."

In addition, the professor continued, "Youth unemployment and skyrocketing credit card debt due to reckless lending encouraged by the government is felt by a majority of Istanbul residents. For 2019, there will be more young voters who are almost immune to pro-AKP media, which should be the real nightmare for Erdogan.

There are expected to be 2 million first-time voters in the 2019 elections.

Erdogan has failed to keep his promises to Istanbuls most desperate. For example, when Erdogan was campaigning in 1993 to become Istanbul's mayor, he went to brothels, promising to save the "fallen women" from their miserable lives. He told reporters he would like to transform the brothel district into an electric and electronic hub. The brothels are decimated in the area today, but the district never took off as the Silicon Valley of Turkey. Rather, we see street prostitution, and that has expanded into other areas. Several of Erdogans promises on the local level have proven rather counterproductive, yet these people have no plausible alternative to Erdogan.

In the midst of all the difficulty lies an opportunity for the opposition. Erdogans passion and fear of losing Istanbul should be telling for the opposition groups, which have a chance to claim the powerful position of mayor. If the opposition can deliver some relief to Istanbul, prove itself effective in governance and rally first-time voters to the polls in March 2019, it could have a chance to directly challenge Erdogan for the presidency in November 2019. Indeed, this might be the only possible peaceful method to keep Turkey from quickly slithering into tyranny.
September 1, 2017

BAGHDAD  On Aug. 7, Dhi Qar province, south of Iraq, formed a security force to protect its archaeological sites and monuments. The province is one of Iraqs richest in archaeological sites, some of which are 7,000 years old.

The new force intends to enforce strict security measures to curb antiquities trafficking in areas with considerable archaeological sites.

However, local officials have argued that this force is incapable of protecting archaeological areas. They say it lacks adequate equipment, plans and training to thwart attacks on archaeological sites located in open areas with no perimeter fencing.

Prophet Abrahams house, the Ziggurat of Ur, the royal cemetery and Dublal-makh temple, considered the oldest court in history, are located in Dhi Qar province.

According to Ajyal al-Moussawi, the chairman of the Committee of Tourism and Antiquities in Dhi Qar, The province hosts 1,200 archaeological sites in danger due to neglect and trespassing.

Moussawi told Al-Monitor, The security force formed to protect Dhi Qars antiquities is incapable of fulfilling its mission. A force of 155 security guards with basic equipment and vehicles cannot protect 1,200 sites.

Moussawi seemed skeptical about the role of the new security force, arguing that this is due to the poor equipment and lack of plans to provide security for archaeological sites.

Iraq is not only seeking to protect its antiquities from theft. The country is stepping up efforts to have new archaeological sites inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List after the Iraqi marshlands in Dhi Qar joined the list.

Hamid al-Ghazi, the head of the provincial council of Dhi Qar, said, Theres a plan to protect antiquities, including the signing of agreements between Dhi Qar and other bordering provinces to curb  antiquities trafficking activities.

Although the governor spoke of a plan and joint agreements with other provinces, those provinces have not yet taken any measures, while others are unaware of the agreements mentioned by Ghazi.

The chairman of the security committee within Dhi Qars provincial council, Jabbar al-Moussawi, told Al-Monitor, The new security force established to protect the provinces archaeological sites wont be able to do its job. The area and number of sites are considerably large for the force to handle.

Upon visiting Dhi Qars most notable sites, the Ziggurat of Ur and prophet Abrahams house, one would come across a single checkpoint manned with one or two policemen only checking the documents of the cars entering the archaeological city. Inside, theres only one guard in his 50s armed with a Kalashnikov rifle.

Dayef Muhsen is following in the steps of his father and grandfather, who have protected the Ziggurat of Ur since its discovery in 1921. Muhsen told Al-Monitor, Sometimes, some individuals attempt to sneak into the ziggurat at night to steal bricks or look for other things, but Im able to chase them off by myself.

In this regard, Iraqi archaeologist Amer Abdul-Razzaq al-Zubaidi told Al-Monitor, A security force was formed back in 2004 to protect Dhi Qars archaeological sites by the international coalition forces. It was supported by Iraqi citizens and experts. However, theres still a shortage in providing full and adequate security for Iraqi antiquities.

Antiquities theft declined since the security force was formed in 2004, but it did not stop. Also theres a community effort that plays a major role as far as collaborating with security agencies to safeguard antiquities, he added.

An international plan is expected to be announced by UNESCO for the protection of Iraqi antiquities. Its called the Response Plan for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in Liberated Areas of Iraq.

Scattered across Iraq, archaeological sites require protection by a special force that has advanced training, satellites, expertise in detecting smuggled antiquities and a camera security system to monitor the vicinity of the sites.

However, the protection of Iraqi archaeological sites does not seem to be a priority for the Iraqi government. The establishment and equipment of a security force was a local decision made by Dhi Qars provincial council. A unified federal decision is yet to be made to include all of the provinces that host important archaeological sites.

The work of Dhi Qars new security force is limited to field patrols. It has failed to thwart past violations against monuments, raising concern among the members of the Dhi Qar provincial council.

In a city where arms proliferation is common outside official government forces, monuments wont be safe from smuggling. The single guard of the Ziggurat of Ur and prophet Abrahams house will not always be able to thwart smuggling attempts.

The formation of an understaffed security force with poor training and equipment is merely a formality aimed at providing protection for invaluable sites, and one day, this force might serve as an excuse for potential smuggling operations.
September 1, 2017

Many Iranian Kurds appear to support the upcoming Sept. 25 independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is planned to go ahead despite fierce opposition both at home and from the international community.

On numerous occasions in recent weeks, the Kurdish leadership in Erbil has reiterated its commitment to holding the referendum. Other Kurdish officials, however, doubt that the referendum will be held. Bahroz Galali, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan representative in Turkey who was recently expelled by Ankara over the abduction of a number of Turkish secret agents by the Kurdistan Workers Party in Sulaimaniyah province, told reporters at the airport, I am confident that the referendum will not go ahead on Sept. 25.

While Iraqi Kurds suffer from historical disunity and a lack of coordination on the referendum, many Kurds across the eastern border, in Iran, say they would like to see Iraqi Kurdistan become independent. The Kurds residing in Iran who were interviewed by Al-Monitor only spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of repercussions from the authorities in Tehran. It should be noted that Iran has fiercely opposed the referendum, charging Iraqi Kurds with creating instability in the region with the vote  and threatening dire consequences for the region.

"Yes, I am in favor of Kurdistan going independent, and I think they have the right to decide their future," a 20-year-old computer programming student in Iran told Al-Monitor via Facebook. "Enough of oppression. I have also spoken with many other students who say the Kurds deserve their own state.

There are currently around 8 million Kurds in Iran, many of whom complain about discrimination by the central government, whether it be in relation to economic development, human rights or their language. Most Kurds in Iran do not know how to write and read in their mother tongue because the government has barred teaching in the Kurdish language since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, despite the constitution guaranteeing such rights for ethnic minorities.

In the border area near the Iraqi town of Halabja, under sprawling walnut trees where many Iraqi Kurds escape during the heat of the summer, a 69-year-old Iranian Kurd mingled with a group of Iraqi Kurds while pouring tea for them. "Is there anyone in the world who is Kurdish and who is against a Kurdish state? the man whispered rhetorically as he tried to avoid other Iranian Kurds from eavesdropping. "I hope they go ahead with the referendum and create their own state."

Despite the seemingly broad support from among Iranian Kurds, there is genuine opposition against the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan that could potentially derail the process. "I would say that many Kurds here in Iran support the referendum, but there are some who are not happy with the social injustice that exists there [in Iraqi Kurdistan]," a secondary school teacher in Irans Kurdistan province told Al-Monitor via telephone. "Many are well off, while others cannot feed their families." Some Iranian Kurds who lived in Iraqi Kurdistan as political refugees often complained about harassment by the security services, questioning whether a genuine democratic state can be established in Iraqi Kurdistan under the current leadership.

Since early 2014, when Iraqi Kurdistan plunged into a financial crisis because of the drop in oil prices, the war with the Islamic State, an influx of a large number of internally displaced people and colossal mismanagement of the economy, the rate of poverty has increased dramatically. This has created widespread resentment, leading many Iraqi Kurds to try to take revenge on the political elite by opposing the referendum.

Rahman Javanmardi, a Kurd from Iran who campaigns for human rights and is in constant contact with people inside the country, says there is no scientific way of measuring the views of Iranian Kurds. However, he noted to Al-Monitor that based on his own observation of Iranian Kurds on social media, "It is fair to say that eastern Kurds [Kurds from Iran] have sympathy with other Kurds, and in this case, with the Kurds in the [Iraqi] Kurdistan region." Javanmardi believes that federalism has failed in Iraq due to chauvinism and dictatorial tendencies in Baghdad and therefore supports the referendum, charging that most Kurds in Iran "support independence" for Iraqi Kurds, too.

Historically, Iranian Kurds have come to the rescue of Kurds across the border on many occasions. In May 1919, as Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji, the governor of Sulaimaniyah under British tutelage, tried to revolt against the British, it was not the Kurds of Iraq  who suffered from disunity at the time  who came to his support. Rather, a group of 300 armed Iranian Kurds crossed the border and helped Sheikh Mahmoud inflict a humiliating defeat on the British at the entrance to Sulaimaniyah. The same is true today. As the Kurds in Iraq quarrel about the benefit of the referendum, Iranian Kurds  including political parties  are encouraging them to stay united. "The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran considers this referendum  an inalienable right of the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan, read a June 10 statement by the oldest Iranian Kurdish opposition party. In the same statement, the party also called on all its members and supporters to back and help to succeed this historical decision.

Iranian Kurds in the diaspora also appear to support the referendum. Diman Sohrabi, a 28-year-old poet and writer who resides in Germany, took part in a 20,000 strong demonstration on Aug. 26 in Cologne to back the referendum. It is a national and historical duty of any Kurd to support Kurdistans independence because chances like these are rare, Sohrabi told Al-Monitor via Facebook. This is the basic right of Kurds to have their own independent state, and I hope the Kurds would take good advantage of this opportunity and [that]  greater Kurdistan becomes a state one day.
The wait is almost over for Taco Mama fans working and living in downtown Birmingham and on the Southside.

The newest Taco Mama fast-casual Mexican restaurant will open Tuesday, Sept. 5, in The Waites residential and retail development at the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard near UAB.

It is the eighth Taco Mama location, and the fourth in the Birmingham metro area. A ninth location is planned for Nashville in early 2018.

"We are proud to be a part of The Waites development and the big things that are happening in downtown Birmingham," Taco Mama founder and owner Will Haver said in a release to AL.com. "We know our festive atmosphere and fresh, diverse menu is going to be a hit with the large and vibrant academic, medical, financial and professional communities of downtown."

The $16.5-million Waites development is located on the same site as the former Waite's Fine Foods, a bakery and deli that was a Birmingham favorite for 65 years, from 1923 until it closed in 1988.

In addition to Taco Mama, The Waites has 45 apartments on three floors, as well as 16,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Other announced retail tenants include Club Pilates, Farm Burger, Smoothie King, Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, and Roll Up, a sushi restaurant. Taco Mama will be the first of the retail tenants to open at The Waites.

Hours for Taco Mama will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, Haver said.

Taco Mama opened its original location in Mountain Brook's Crestline Village in 2011, and has since opened additional restaurants in Homewood and at the Summit, as well as in Tuscaloosa, Auburn and two locations in Huntsville.

The Waites location is Taco Mama's first venture into Birmingham's downtown/Southside area.

"We are excited about the medical and professional community at UAB and hoping to get some UAB students supporting us, too," Haver told AL.com. "But the main thing is we want to be part of the growth of downtown Birmingham."

Taco Mama is also planning to open its first out-of-state location in Nashville in the Village 21 mixed-used development in the Music City's Hillsboro Village district, close to Vanderbilt and Belmont universities, Haver said.

"We are hoping to have that open the first of (next) year," he said. "We are excited about being in Nashville, especially near Vandy and Belmont."

Wilco Hospitality, Taco Mama's parent company, also operates Otey's Tavern in Mountain Brook.
The Alabama-based EWTN Global Catholic Network has opened a TV studio in England along the path to one of the most famous pilgrimage sites of Medieval times.

"We have this state-of-the-art television studio next to this Medieval pilgrimage site," said Michael Warsaw, CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network. "It's a contrast between things ancient and things new."

In 1061 A.D., an English noblewoman claimed to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary and of the home in which Jesus was raised in Nazareth, and she ordered the construction of a replica called "The Holy House," which became a shrine and pilgrimage place popular in the Middle Ages.

"The tradition holds this woman was given a vision of the Holy House, and was asked to build a replica in Walsingham," Warsaw said.

By the 1500s, the Walsingham shrine had become one of three major Christian pilgrimage sites in England along with Canterbury and Glastonbury. Pilgrimages to Rome and Santiago de Compostela were too far for many pilgrims and were impeded by wars and political troubles.

In 1538, as part of the Reformation suppression of monasteries in England, King Henry VIII had the monastery and shrine at Walsingham burned to the ground and ordered the property sold.

The Slipper Chapel, built in 1340, was the final stop on the pilgrimage, and where pilgrims would take off their shoes to walk the last mile to the Holy House barefoot. The Slipper Chapel was restored and has been a Roman Catholic shrine since 1897.

About 300,000 Catholic pilgrims a year still visit the chapel, take off their shoes and walk the last mile toward the original shrine.

The new EWTN studio is on the path of the last mile of the pilgrimage.

"It's the only Catholic TV studio in the United Kingdom," Warsaw said. "To have this studio next to a shrine that dates to 1061 A.D. is pretty remarkable."

The site of the ruins of the Holy House remains private property.

"The Roman Catholic shrine and the Anglican shrine are on either side of the original grounds," Warsaw said. "Walsingham is a pilgrimage site for the Anglican community as well. It creates this interesting interaction between the two faith communities."

The rector of the Anglican shrine and the assistant priest attended the opening ceremony for the EWTN studio, Warsaw said, along with the Catholic bishop of East Anglia.

"It's a spiritual place with amazing tradition," Warsaw said. "Having a presence there where the pilgrims go past will give us an opportunity to interact and promote EWTN. Walsingham has become a crossroads of the Catholic Church in Britain. For us to have that presence means we have an opportunity to expose what EWTN is doing."

The studio will allow EWTN to tape TV and radio programs featuring church officials from England and elsewhere in Europe, he said.

"This will give us a more visible presence in the UK and content that's more specific to the UK," Warsaw said.

"We will have series and programs that can be produced there for the UK channel and shared across other channels," he said. "It brings a new and interesting dimension."

Two full-time employees run the studio with assistance from the staff of the nearby shrine, Warsaw said.

"We have a production team based in Northern Ireland and they'll use it," Warsaw said.

In addition to its headquarters studios in Irondale, Alabama, EWTN now has TV studios in Rome, Italy; Denver, Colorado; Lima, Peru; Cologne, Germany; and Anaheim, California, at the site of former TV Evangelist Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, which is now a Catholic church called Christ Cathedral.

Much of EWTN's Spanish-language programming is done at the studios in Anaheim and Lima. German-language programming is done in Cologne.

EWTN was founded in Irondale in 1981 by Mother Angelica, a nun who hosted TV talk shows that are still shown by EWTN and seen around the world. She died last year on Easter.

"I shared a little bit about Mother Angelica and the history here in Birmingham," Warsaw said. "I talked about Mother's impact on the interfaith community in Birmingham. She had a profound impact on people's understanding of Catholics."
An Alabama state inmate who escaped from a Talladega County job site earlier this week was recaptured early Friday in North Carolina.

David Eugene Friend, 48, escaped from a job site in Sylacauga on Wednesday, Aug. 30. Authorities said he was taken back into custody in Zebulon, North Carolina at about 2 a.m. on Friday by Wake County sheriff deputies after receiving a tip. Friend surrendered without incident and was taken to the Wake County Jail to await his return to Alabama to face charges for the escape.

Friend is serving a 18-year sentence on a 2012 conviction of introducing prison contraband. He was assigned to the Childersburg Work Release Center before his escape. He fled from an assigned job location in Sylacauga at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.

He was sentenced in February 2012 to 18 years for first-degree promoting prison contraband in Montgomery.
Five residents of Southtown Court have filed a lawsuit over the possible redevelopment of the public housing community in Birmingham's Southside.

Birmingham attorney Richard Rice, who filed the lawsuit, said he plans to seek an injunction to stop redevelopment plans from moving forward. He said the Housing Authority Birmingham District (HABD) is discriminating against Southtown residents and violating the Fair Housing Act.

Rice, of The Rice Firm, and April Collins, of Collins Law, are representing Southtown residents Irene Johnson, Raymond Fuller, Catherine Headen, Linda Green and Rose Crowder in the lawsuit.

The federal lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the Northern District of Alabama. HABD, City of Birmingham and Southside Redevelopment Group are named as defendants in the suit.

"Right now, we believe the current proposed redevelopment would cause many of the current residents to be displaced, and that would have a disproportionate or disparate impact on African American ... residents of Southtown, which would be a violation of the Fair Housing Act," Rice said, during a Friday morning press conference.

According to HABD, Southtown residents will have a seat at the table in redevelopment plans. Johnson is a member an advisory board to the project, the agency said.

Southtown Court is a 455-unit housing project located on 26 acres off University Boulevard between UAB and St. Vincent's Hospital. The real property has an estimated value of $26 million.

HABD commissioners voted unanimously in January to make Bayer Properties, Brasfield & Gorrie, the Benoit Group, A.G. Gaston Construction, SPM Property Management, Corporate Realty, BREC Development partners on developing the project. The companies are calling the partnership Southside Development Company.

The group pitched a mixed-use, mixed-income development, meaning the housing would be a combination of subsidized public housing units and units leased at a market rate. Initial ideas included housing and parking throughout the development, an affordable senior community, office and medical space, green space, many retail parcels and even possibly a hotel.

HABD sought input from the residents in a March meeting.

Michael Lundy HABD chief executive officer, said Southtown residents will be included in an advisory board in the planning process and will participate throughout a several-month-long master planning process.

No business terms have been approved, according to HABD.

Earlier this year, HABD said it would be 12 to 18 months before residents would be displaced due to redevelopment.

"We have not yet seen an official complaint and will respond accordingly once we receive it," Lundy said in a prepared statement. "Meanwhile, we will continue to devote our efforts to providing the best quality affordable housing that we can deliver to our residents."

The Housing Authority maintains a commitment to transparency and fairness throughout this process, he said.

Rice said no impact analysis was conducted by HABD before deciding what kind of redevelopment plan would be implemented. He said he is seeking to stop the current redevelopment plans and make sure residents are "placed front and center" in any effort to redevelop. He wants HABD to put something in writing that there will be low-income affordable housing in the new development and residents can return.

Rice said residents deserve individualized relocation plans, which can include job assistance and home ownership vouchers. "If it is not in writing, then it won't happen," he said.

Johnson, Southtown neighborhood association president, said she is against redevelopment. She said HABD and the developers aren't listening to Southtown residents.

Johnson said she attended meetings on the project as early as November 2015. "No one heard anything I said," she said, adding residents weren't involved in the choosing of the developers.

"I can't sell out the people who live here," she said.

Construction of Southtown was completed in 1941. They were renovated from 2001-2003, according to the lawsuit. About 1,000 people live in the housing development currently, and 99 percent of them are black, the suit states.
A 32-year-old Hoover man died after it appears he fell from a Tuscaloosa County bridge, and now authorities are trying to determine what led to his fall.

The Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit on Friday identified the man as Joseph Michael Chandler III. He was found about 12:15 p.m. Thursday on Fosters Loop Road under the Warrior River Bridge, said Capt. Gary Hood.

A passerby made the discovery, Hood said. It appears Chandler fell from the westbound side of the Interstate 20/59 bridge.

Investigators learned Alabama State Troopers worked a single-vehicle accident involving Chandler's vehicle earlier Thursday, but never made contact with Chandler. Troopers then received a call between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. of a man walking on the interstate near Fosters Bridge.

Troopers never were able to find the man seen walking on the interstate, and can't yet positively confirm it was Chandler.

Authorities are asking that anyone driving along the interstate near the Warrior River Bridge in Fosters Thursday between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. to please contact the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit if they are able to provide additional information.
A man has been charged in the Wednesday shooting of his girlfriend at their apartment on Birmingham's Southside.

Kenneth Scott Bozeman, 42, is charged with attempted murder, according to court documents made public Friday. The shooting happened at Pawnee Square apartments off of 29th Street and Niazuma Avenue on Wednesday morning.

Birmingham police said the victim was shot three times - in the chest, the abdomen and the groin. She was rushed to UAB Hospital with what authorities initially said were critical injuries. Efforts to obtain an updated condition on her were unsuccessful.

A neighbor said the shots woke him up, but it wasn't until later he realized what they were and what had happened. He said the couple lived together in the apartment, and said he had to call the police just last month after he heard the woman screaming for help.

Bozeman was still on the scene when police and firefighters arrived and he was taken into custody. He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail just before 5 p.m. Wednesday and remained behind bars Friday with bond set at $50,000.
It's been a big week for Huntsville science and technology company Dynetics and its partners. The team finished one big project for NASA and broke ground on a new building complex for more rocket work.

On Thursday, Dynetics and its team marked completion of NASA's Space Launch System Core Stage Pathfinder vehicle at the factory of steel fabricators G&G Steel in Cordova, Ala.

The massive mockup - 212 feet long, 27.6 feet wide and weighing 228,000 pounds - will be used by NASA to test operations, transportation, and assembly of key SLS parts at Kennedy Space Center.

Radiance Technologies of Huntsville was also part of the Pathfinder team.

On Tuesday, Dynetics broke ground in Decatur on a three-building complex to test and develop next-generation large rocket components. It will also be used to develop a key part of NASA's Space Launch System.

The complex will have three parts: Test Stand 1, Test Control Center and Hardware Integration Facility. Dynetics will use them to develop and build the Universal Stage Adapter for all SLS flights after the first launch. The company won a $221 million NASA contract to lead development and assembly of the adapter.

"Developing and testing these large structures are significant for Dynetics and the future of space exploration," Dynetics CEO David King said in a statement. "This facility will add another capacity to Alabama's aerospace industry."

Partnering with Dynetics on the adapter is RUAG Space, a Swiss company building its own 130,000-square-foot assembly building on United Launch Alliance's complex in Decatur. RUAG specializes in composite rocket components such as fairings and adapters. Dynetics will be developing a composite adapter to join stages of the larger versions of SLS that will follow the first launch.

These developments - including RUAG's expansion - are parts of this year's surge in aerospace-related development in North Alabama that the state expects to create more than 1,200 jobs and bring $350 million in capital investment. Included in the year's announcements already are:

* ULA's own work on a new next-generation launch vehicle after new investment in its Decatur facility.

* Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, announced in June a large new factory for Huntsville to build the engine for its big new rocket. That will mean 350 new jobs.

* Aerojet Rocketdyne announced earlier this year it will bring 800 new jobs to Huntsville and build a state-of-the art factory to build its next-generation rocket engine.

* Boeing has just won a $349 million Air Force contract to begin designing a new long-range American missile, and some of that work will be done in Huntsville. The company has already announced plans to hire 400 new aerospace workers in Huntsville and invest another $70 million in faciltiies and equipment.

"North Alabama continues to lead in the research and development of aerospace technology and propulsion efforts," U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby said in a statement this week. "The new Dynetics integration and test facility will be a national asset and will build on Alabama's great legacy in this innovative and important work."

Dynetics said it chose the Decatur site because of North Alabama's rocket development history and the access to water transportation on the Tennessee River.

"Alabama was the cradle of the nation's rocket program," state Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said in a statement, "and the state's aerospace companies and organizations will play a significant role in the program's future."
After fleeing Damascus, Gulnar Hajo and Samer Kadri opened an Arabic-language bookstore and cultural centre in Istanbul.

Istanbul, Turkey  In the quiet Istanbul neighbourhood of Fatih, across from a shady square, an inviting doorway beckons to visitors.

Pages Bookstore Cafe was established two years ago by Gulnar Hajo and Samer Kadri, a Syrian couple whose love of publishing and literature has led them on a big adventure.

They started up Bright Fingers, a childrens publisher, in Damascus in 2004, authoring and illustrating some of the titles themselves. But after Syrian security forces raided their offices in 2012, the couple fled the country, winding up in Istanbul. Although the city hosts many Syrian refugees, they could not find a store focused on Arabic-language books  and from this realisation, Pages was born.

The bookstore quickly became a success, serving as a space for members of the Arab community to come together to read, drink coffee, listen to music and watch theatre performances. Last June, Hajo and Kadri expanded their vision, opening a second Pages outlet in Amsterdam.

Al Jazeera sat down with Hajo in Istanbul to chat about Pages, art and the search for community.

READ MORE: Turkeys Syrian refugees carve out their own opportunities

Al Jazeera: You and Samer were publishers initially. What made you decide to create a bookstore cafe and cultural space?

Gulnar Hajo: We were very aware that there were no Arabic-language bookstores here. When we travelled to book fairs in the region, friends would ask us to bring back Arabic books for them. That was how we made the decision, to fill a need.

Syrians and Arabs living here needed that space and wanted to be able to find books in their mother tongue. It was a gamble, but were used to hard work.

Al Jazeera: How about the activities you offer? Have they added to Pages identity?

Hajo: First and foremost, were a bookstore. And we are a library, so if someone wants to come and sit here and read a book and have a tea, theyre welcome.

We also hold cultural activities in Arabic: classes in theatre, cinema and music, and kids art workshops. Every Saturday evening, we host an Aleppan group that plays classical Arabic music. This is in addition to book signings and art exhibitions. Other than the actual sale of books, every activity we offer is free of charge.

Of course, the idea for this place changed as we were working on it, from a bookstore to a cultural centre. And now we have people coming in here to enjoy our activities, which is very rewarding and has expanded our identity.

Al Jazeera: Why did you decide to expand to Amsterdam?

Hajo: The idea came from the many people from northern Europe who passed through here; some were visiting Istanbul and discovered Pages, others looked for it because they had heard about us.

They all said the same thing  they wished there was a similar space in northern Europe. So, we had this idea of expanding northwards, then Samer was invited to visit Amsterdam, where he met some people who offered to support the project.

Al Jazeera: What ideas do you aim to get across through your own writing and illustrations?

Hajo: When I write, I go to childrens problems, what they feel. Many of my books deal with that, such as When I Am Angry, When I Am Sad, and Missing Colours.

With regards to illustration, Ive met a lot of people in the Arab world who dismiss my trade: Oh, youre a childrens illustrator. Illustrating is so important to me; my focus when illustrating is to present our children, Arab children, with art that doesnt lose that Arab identity.

I wouldnt want my work to be very good but a replica of something Western; that defines my work, the inclusion of our culture, not a tourist-packaged culture, but elements of beauty that exist in the Arab world.

Al Jazeera: When you interact with children, do you take inspiration from them?

Hajo: I get a lot from kids workshops. I mean, look, if youre a writer or illustrator for children and cant communicate with them, youre no good. You have to understand what theyre thinking about.

Children are so intelligent and discerning; Ive never dealt with them as cute little things to gurgle at.

Al Jazeera: Some say that places like Pages  where Arabic language, literature and arts are celebrated  slow immigrants integration into their new home. What do you think?

Hajo: I dont know why it has to be so complicated. If you take the average Arab immigrant  theyre Lebanese or Egyptian or Tunisian  in the end, theyre Arab. They shouldnt feel pressure to end that.

I mean, if a Norwegian family moves to Cairo, will they stop reading and speaking in Norwegian? No, they will keep speaking it at home, keep reading it. They will guard their culture that way. But for Arabs, there is a pressure to leave behind their culture, almost as if we lack the self-confidence to maintain who we are.

This interview has been edited for length.
What a team of 10-year-olds building a robot can teach us about sexism and racism in the US.

The boys voices were getting louder. The argument over who had the best design for a sampling probe had devolved into an argument about whos idea was just really stupid.

I sat in the science class, surrounded by Lego at a table designed for eighth graders, listening preoccupied to their argument. My mind was elsewhere, fascinated by the only girl on their team, who was doing something remarkable.

My presence in that classroom two decades ago was the result of a nearly two-year journey. As an anthropology student at The College of Charleston, I had designed a project to try to understand the high attrition rate of underrepresented students in mathematics and science.

My idea: problem-based learning on cooperative teams, rather than the lecture-based and competitive approaches common in schools.

Each class would choose a semester-long problem and a mission to solve the problem, including what success meant. To illustrate the variety of work, collaboration and teamwork go into science, the only stipulation was they had to define cooperative teams.

Our team is going to be the best, one boy in my first class immediately announced.

Then you will fail, I responded gravely.

This is how science works, I said to the class. There is no final exam here. There is only the mission. You succeed at the mission, and you all pass. But if your team thinks its the best while another team fails, then the mission fails. And if the mission fails, every one of you fails this class.

It was a grave message to give to eighth graders. It was also a rather audacious project and one that took some convincing to institute.

The first school principal I brought it to laughed me out of her office, telling me that I should return when I had a degree and an understanding of how to teach children. Fair criticism, if short-sighted. Problem-based learning was certainly nothing new by the late 1990s, but it had yet to enter the gestalt of the South Carolina school system.

Very quickly, I began to feel like the mythical Cassandra, holder of an important truth no one would believe.

Time and time again, I was rejected, but I knew deep down in that place where all unknown and untested truths are known and need no test, that my idea would work, so I was undaunted. After all, Im an American. Our heroes  in both our history and our fiction  are dominantly men (were not so keen on women) who did whatever crazy thing they wanted to do, despite everyone telling them not to.





READ MORE: Luke Cage  How a black boy became a superhero

Fighting the system

The United States loves the underdog, the dissenter who fights stupidity, or oppression, or both until he arises, at last, victorious (and completely unaware of the collateral damage). That tale is instilled in us as canon before many of us know how to read. Its basically the US origin story.

So when faced with rejection by the system, I simply fought the system harder. Finally, a middle school in a Charleston suburb gave me a spot for my first class. That class, enthralled as they were with the then current news of the Mars Pathfinder, chose a similar project. They created teams to do research, public relations, funding, logistics, and the team I was sitting with during the argument: robotics.

The Robotics team consisted of three boys and one girl, Kristen Valles*, who joined the team despite the fact that she couldnt help much because [she didnt] know anything about robots. It was Kristen whom I was so absorbed in watching.

The argument had devolved further from your idea is stupid to youre stupid. Against the backdrop of this invective, Kristen pulled oddly shaped Lego pieces out of the boxes on the table. I thought she was simply playing, doing the Lego equivalent of doodling, until she leaned back and silently tested a working sampling probe designed fundamentally differently than anything the boys were arguing about.

I looked at the boys to see if they realised what had happened, but they were all oblivious to her actions and indeed her very presence. When I looked back at Kristen, she was just as silently deconstructing her work. Then she sat quietly and waited for their argument to end.

In four classes over three years, that gender acculturation would play out so many times one could think it staged. If two or more boys were together, they would argue over who was right. It was as if every boy lived in his own American Cassandra myth, sure that he held the truth, and ready to fight until he was victorious, despite the collateral damage.

Girls, by contrast, would most often just solve the problem. It was common to have girls suggest they try another persons design and then try theirs  a tactic I thought was based on confidence in the others failure until (with remarkable slowness) I recognised that it was actually an efficient way to avoid an argument by giving another person voice, while simultaneously testing all solutions to find the best.

At their heart, science and engineering are not about being right, but about solving problems. It looked to me as though girls obviously had the better strategy for solving problems. The boys core competency seemed to be fighting.





READ MORE: 50 Cent, Johnny Cash and the history of hip-hop

Diversity and inclusion

Recently, one of those argumentative boys  not one of my former students, although he could easily have been  wrote a manifesto at Google challenging diversity and inclusion initiatives. Too many analyses have already been written for me to think I can nail a coffin lid to a horse carcass. Im rather more interested in the broader response itself.

Of the text, one sentence, in particular, struck me: When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Googles left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence.

Here, again, we see our beloved origin story: the brave dissenter, challenging stupidity and oppression. Unfortunately for lovers of that story, the truth is much more mundane, if more uncomfortable.

It is ironic that Google would be seen as a politically correct monoculture. As a company it is something like two percent black and embroiled in a legal battle with the US Department of Labor over discrimination against women [that] is quite extreme, even in this industry.

And Google is not alone, it is merely toeing the party line of the supposed left-leaning Silicon Valley, which is a hi-tech centre that apparently specialises in the creation of headlines on everything from sexual harassment to employees paid so little they are forced to live in garages.

And lest we criticise Silicon Valley alone, it is simply toeing Californias party line, which banned affirmative action programmes in the late 1990s and destroyed minority college enrollment rates, effectively removing any hope of solving the supposed pipeline problem.

California, meanwhile, is really just following the great American standard. Our biggest success in all aspects of diversity is the self-congratulatory suggestion that we look at how much better it is than 50 years ago.

Its understandable that the manifestos author would see things this way. Many who question diversity are rarely conscious of the homogeneity of their immediate surroundings. Our tragic Cassandra feels shamed in a monoculture populated almost entirely by the US holy trinity: straight, white and male. It would be comically ironic, if it werent so frustrating.

I have no doubt the author is surrounded by groupthink liberals whose knee-jerk reaction is mob-like ostracism. Any black American knows that scene as the most mundane American drama. The overlap of racist realities with liberal demographics is generations old and points to an uncomfortable truth those liberals often find too easy to ignore.

Sadly, diversity is the new politically correct, and we all know what a disaster that has become. What was intended as a way to learn a modicum of cultural sensitivity became that wretched assurance to white people that if they said African American instead of black, they were not racist  despite their actual thoughts or actions. Many white peoples understanding never gets further than Whats the right word to call negroes now?

So much of what we hear as politically correct is the result of one white person telling another white person what the right word is, while both are too nervous to ask, or worse, too unconcerned to learn anything from the people they are talking about.

READ MORE: What if your identity was a lie?

Genetic differences

Diversity can easily live out a similar existence as a check mark on white Americas to-do list if it follows a similar methodology of white men wanting to feel good about themselves without inviting anyone else into the room.

Scanning news articles and Medium posts about the Google manifesto illustrates this danger. One immediately notices the overwhelming number of white male responses focusing on what the author did or should have done. Contrast this with the (fewer) number of responses from women, most of which focus on their own experiences.

I would agree there is probably an echo chamber in Google, I just seriously doubt it is echoing anything but the US status quo.

The juxtaposition between the stated core values espoused by Googles senior leadership and the stunning lack of diversity in their employment allows only the most willingly blind observers to trust their motives. It is impossible for any thinking person to believe that a company whose core competency is essentially the ability to find anything would be totally stumped on how to find a single black engineer. The only reasonable conclusion is that they have no real desire to do so.

In his letters from the Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr shamed the white moderate, those of a liberal mind who sided with the oppressed in concept, but who did little to help  or even obstructed  their progress. This is similar to how I see much of liberal America, and certainly much of the technology industry. Diversity is a nice idea in concept, but it can wait for a more convenient season  that season likely being after a companys exit strategy or possibly as a settlement of its sexual harassment lawsuit.

I agree with Kings frustration at the white moderate. At least the manifesto author  and by proxy, the conservative establishment  is honest about the lack of concern for achieving real equity in underrepresented groups. Like King, I would rather deal with his absolute misunderstanding than with the shallow understanding of much of liberal America. The former is at least an unfair fight I might labour to make fair.

When Dylann Roof killed nine innocent people at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, liberal white America was quick to condemn him as an evil individual, not indicative of any broader social construct. As if the Confederate flag flying over the South Carolina statehouse meant nothing. As if the mass incarceration of black men for generations has meant nothing. As if generations of redlining home ownership in liberal white communities has meant nothing. Liberals asked why he did it, never asking Why have I allowed this?

Liberal white America saw in Dylann Roof an other, abhorrent and unlike them in every way. Yet he was an outcome of so much that America  even liberal America  promotes and yet shirks responsibility for. Dylann Roof was an extremist supported as much by the soft silence of liberals as by the racist uncles they share the Christmas table with and do not openly oppose for fear that doing so might make the holiday dinner uncomfortable.

I see a similar disingenuousness in the outcry about this manifesto. Are we so willingly blind that we honestly expected anything less? If so, its remarkable how easy it is to condemn the evil other when we can use that to avoid facing our responsibility for the society we ourselves have created and work to maintain. The opinions of the manifesto and the assurance that they certainly do not reflect our core values are both core American conceits.

During my anthropology research over three years, nearly all eighth-grade girls I interviewed indicated they were not good at science and mathematics  even those planning to choose it as a career. Those girls decided they would simply have to work harder or, in the words of one heartbreaking response, maybe not be as good, but still do my best.

By contrast, most boys thought they were good at maths and science. Even more to the point, most boys thought that girls were not as good as boys at maths and science.

Let this sink in: By the age of 10, the US has successfully conditioned her boys to assume that girls cant do maths and science, at least not as well as they can.

Suggesting women arent suited to hi-tech jobs because of genetic differences is something any one of my 10-year-old boys would have written. Girls arent as good, its innate, no big deal. That author is little more than a mindless drone thoughtlessly promoting the core message of The American Cultural Machine.

Yet our knee-jerk reaction is to condemn him for being The Evil Manifesto Author so we can sleep well knowing the lack of representation and support for underrepresented groups has nothing whatsoever to do with our own actions or lack thereof. Googles solution was to fire him, make a weak statement about core values, and get back to working on that discrimination lawsuit.

Rather than ostracise him into martyrdom, Id rather his manifesto be ignored  or used as an example to teach other 10-year-old boys  while we move forward on actually doing the hard work of social equality that we should, but obviously are not, doing.

At the very least, we should stop dramatically shouting about his wrongness as if we dont implicitly support both his fundamental position and the atmosphere that gave to its publication. Unless youre a brown-skinned lesbian without a trust fund, you need to admit you have some skin in his game.

Even I, as a straight male, am complicit. This was made clear to me two decades before it was even written in the way I embarrassed the only girl on a team by thoughtlessly calling her out in front of her classmates.

Not one of you saw what Kristen did, I said, stupidly unaware of her discomfort. While all of you were arguing, she built a design better than all of yours. Kristen, why did you take it apart?

They were arguing, she said, so I thought their designs were better.

None of them were, but they were willing to fight. And one of them was eventually chosen, because the boy who designed it was confident, assertive, and most of all kept fighting. In the end, Kristen voted for his design, too. Thats a tragic lesson I never meant to teach: Who the beneficiaries are of our cultural biases.

In the US, he who argues loudest and longest reigns victorious, regardless of the collateral damage.

*Name has been changed

John Metta has Bachelors degrees in geology and anthropology and Masters degrees in geography and ecological engineering.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Labour experts hope NAFTA talks will spur action against unions profiting off workers and secure a better deal for them.

Mexico City, Mexico  US President Donald Trump is not known to be a defender of the underpaid, under-protected Mexican labour force, but his administration is making noises about the low salaries and lax regulations that workers in Mexico have to put up with.

There is a reason for that. The Trump administration believes low Mexican wages make for unfair competition for their own workforce and lure in companies that instead might have set up in the United States. With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the negotiating table again after 23 years, the Trump administration, when they are not threatening to pull out of the trade deal, is looking to even up the playing field. The focus on salaries is likely to continue into the second round of renegotiations taking place in Mexico itself from September 1st to 5th.

They are paper unions - ghosts - because legally they exist, they cover all the legal requisites, but the workers aren't included in the process. by Maria Xelhuantzi Lopez, labour expert, UNAM university

But while the US administrations concerns over Mexican workers rights might not be altruistic, they do contain a basic truth. Mexican workers are, on average, the worst paid of the 35 countries in the OECD. Wages have stagnated. According to Mexicos National Autonomous University (UNAM), the real value of the countrys minimum salary has dropped 60 percent in the past 30 years.

The reasons for that are complex, but labour expert Maria Xelhuantzi Lopez of UNAM says one issue lies at the centre of it all.

The cause of the low salaries in Mexico is that there arent any unions that are regulating the working conditions or the salaries, she says.

Since the 1980s, a phenomenon has exploded in Mexico  protectionist trade unions.

The unions work like this: a national or international company sets up in Mexico, and nine times out of 10, according to Lopez, rather than allowing the workers to actually form their own union, the company hires lawyers to produce a protectionist union.

These unions  which exist only on paper  sign a collective contract with the company and becomes the legal representative of the workers.

They are paper unions  ghosts  because legally they exist, they cover all the legal requisites, but the workers arent included in the process, Lopez says.

Experts agree that 90 percent of the unions in the country (follow this model), Lopez says.

It is clear, she says, why these protectionist unions have become so popular with employers. What they do is to keep salaries low, maintain precarious labour conditions, keep workers rights to the minimum and increase the profits of the company, she says.

Lopez says they are often formed before workers are even hired and always operate behind their backs.

READ MORE: What is NAFTA and why does Trump want it renegotiated?

Multinationals and ghost unions

International companies coming to Mexico have also learned that setting up a protectionist union is an easy way to guarantee cheap labour, according to labour expert Graciela Bensusan of UNAM university.

Many multinational companies were complicit in this fraud, Bensusan says. She adds that some multinationals are opting out of the protectionist model but others keep using it, like in the auto industry.

They made me join a union I never saw. What does that union do for the workers? Practically nothing. It's on the side of the company. It takes no notice when we ask for higher salaries and it lessens the benefits we get. by Leonardo Reyes, an employee for Honda

Mexicos auto industry is a key component of NAFTA and many international market leaders have set up in Mexico.

Leonardo Reyes, 38, works for one of them  the Japanese company Honda in a plant in Salto, a town in western Mexico. He says that when he arrived at the firm 17 years ago a collective contract with a protectionist union was already in place.

They made me join a union I never saw. What does that union do for the workers? Practically nothing, he says. Its on the side of the company. It takes no notice when we ask for higher salaries and it lessens the benefits we get.

Reyes says that when he and colleagues tried to form their own union they encountered resistance from the company.

There were a lot of repercussions for the workers who did this. Some got fired, in my case I was the head of machinery and, after I entered the union, the coordinators and managers put me on the assembly line, he says.

With a wage of around $2.25 an hour, Reyes is one of the better-paid workers in the factory. He says his lowest paid colleagues on the assembly line earn about $1.20. That is more than double the minimum wage in Mexico but a fraction of the $16 an hour earned by the lowest paid workers who are members of the US United Automobile Workers union.

Honda and the Mexican Auto Industry Association (AMIA) did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls requesting comment.

Al Jazeera also contacted the Confederation of Mexican Employers (Coparmex) for their perspective on protectionist collective contracts and unions.

The posture of Coparmex is total respect for the labour law and for the punishment of any abuses, said Coparmex spokesman Gustavo Almaraz in a phone interview.

Legal challenges

The problem, according to labour experts, is that ghost unions, although unfair, are totally legal in Mexico.

This year, the government unveiled legislation that could in some way change that. It looks to regulate the creation, elections and activities of unions in Mexico.

But it has faced resistance, and not just from companies. The biggest alliance of Mexican workers unions is the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). It acts as an umbrella organisation for the majority of the countrys unions and is especially powerful in the auto industry.

Labour experts have accused the CTM of taking the side of the companies and going against the very workers it is meant to support, and of having ghost unions in its ranks. Labour expert Bensusan of UNAM says: The CTMs first position was against raising the minimum salary. That doesnt happen anywhere else in the world.

In a press conference this August, CTM leader Carlos Aceves del Olmo was reported as saying that Mexicans earning the same as workers in the US and Canada was a pipe dream. Olmos office declined a request for comment.

WATCH: Can Mexico stand up to Trump? (8:41)

Corrupt union leaders

A lack of transparency is a recurring theme in Mexican unions, even within the minority that are not ghosts and which do exist and work on behalf of employees. These unions are usually behemoths, made up of public sector workers. They grew up in a symbiotic relationship with Mexicos Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, which governed the country for more than 70 uninterrupted years until 2000.

The only thing we can thank President Trump for is the fact that he's making us have a national debate over our economic model. by Graciela Bensusan, labour expert

There is a name for them, too  charro, meaning cowboy.

According to Lopez, the labour expert at UNAM, the moniker is appropriate for the union leaders, who grow rich off membership fees.

Theres no transparency. In most cases, the money goes to towards union corruption, to the pockets of the leaders, she says, adding that this is not their biggest money spinner and that most of it come from kickbacks.

More comes from the same companies that the unions are meant to counterbalance. Its hidden in collective negotiations, she says. Thats the piggy bank of the union leaders and the most powerful cases are when the company has given houses or land to the union.

The leader of the teachers union  Elba Esther Gordillo  has become an emblematic case of corruption. Gordillo is connected to three mansions in San Diego in California (one of which was valued at $4.7m and included a jet ski and a boat), and in 2008, she handed out 59 Hummers to loyal union subordinates. She was eventually imprisoned in 2013 for racketeering and money laundering.

Oil workers leader Carlos Romero Deschamps has also become known for his penchant for luxury yachts and apartments. Various national media outlets reported that he gave his son a Ferrari valued at around $2m. All this on a salary which, last time he allowed it to be known, was around $1,200 a year.

Protection for corrupt union leaders doesnt come just from the companies that benefit from their tractability, but also from the political class  while the leaders make it worth their while. The most famous case of illicit payment from a union to political parties came again from Deschamps oil workers union. In the presidential campaign of 2000, they illegally supplied more than $120m to the candidate of the ruling PRI.

National debate sparked by Trump

But the long entrenched alliance of union leaders, companies and politicians could now be under threat from outside of the country.

When NAFTA was signed in 1992, agreements over labour rights were placed in a poorly enforced sidebar to the main text. Now the US administration is pushing to bring those sidebar policies into the main NAFTA text, forcing the Mexican government to ensure the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

The irony that its President Trump, little loved south of the US border, who is pressing for more rights for Mexican workers is not lost on Bensusan.

The only thing we can thank President Trump for is the fact that hes making us have a national debate over our economic model, she says.

For labour experts, despite the US governments ulterior motives, it still provides hope that the NAFTA renegotiations might be the spur needed to act against ghost unions and get a better deal for the countrys workforce.

Additional reporting by Maria Verza.
The more than one million Rohingya Muslims are described as the worlds most persecuted minority.

The Rohingya are an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. Currently, there are about 1.1 million Rohingya in the Southeast Asian country.

The Rohingya speak Rohingya or Ruaingga, a dialect that is distinct to others spoken throughout Myanmar. They are not considered one of the countrys 135 official ethnic groups and have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, which has effectively rendered them stateless.

Nearly all of the Rohingya in Myanmar live in the western coastal state of Rakhine and are not allowed to leave without government permission. It is one the poorest states in the country, with ghetto-like camps and a lack of basic services and opportunities.

Due to ongoing violence and persecution, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighbouring countries either by land or boat over the course of many decades.

Where are the Rohingya from?

Muslims have lived in the area now known as Myanmar since as early as the 12th century, according to many historians and Rohingya groups.

The Arakan Rohingya National Organisation said: Rohingyas have been living in Arakan from time immemorial, referring to the area now known as Rakhine.

Latest On April 7, five Rohingya were rescued off the island of Sumatra.

During the more than 100 years of British rule (1824-1948), there was a significant amount of migration of labourers to what is now known as Myanmar from todays India and Bangladesh. Because the British administered Myanmar as a province of India, such migration was considered internal, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The migration of labourers was viewed negatively by the majority of the native population.

After independence, the government viewed the migration that took place during British rule as illegal, and it is on this basis that they refuse citizenship to the majority of Rohingya, HRW said in a report issued in 2000.

This has led many Buddhists to consider the Rohingya Bengali, rejecting the term Rohingya as a recent invention created for political reasons.

Why arent they recognised?

Shortly after Myanmars independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. According to a 2015 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, the Rohingya were not included. The act, however, did allow those whose families had lived in Myanmar for at least two generations to apply for identity cards.

Rohingya were initially given such identification or even citizenship under the generational provision. During this time, several Rohingya also served in parliament.

IN PICTURES: Rohingya refugees search for shelter in Bangladesh

After the 1962 military coup in Myanmar, things changed dramatically for the Rohingya.

All citizens were required to obtain national registration cards. The Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited the jobs and educational opportunities they could pursue.

In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed, effectively rendering the Rohingya stateless. Under the law, Rohingya were again not recognised as one of the countrys 135 ethnic groups. The law established three levels of citizenship. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), proof that the persons family lived in Myanmar before 1948 was needed, as well as fluency in one of the national languages. Many Rohingya lack such paperwork because it was either unavailable or denied to them.

As a result of the law, their rights to study, work, travel, marry, practice their religion and access health services have been and continue to be restricted. The Rohingya cannot vote, and even if they navigate the citizenship test, they must identify as naturalised as opposed to Rohingya, and limits are placed on them entering certain professions such as medicine or law or running for office.

How are they persecuted?

Since the 1970s, a number of crackdowns on the Rohingya in Rakhine State have forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, as well as Malaysia, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. During such crackdowns, refugees have often reported rape, torture, arson and murder by Myanmar security forces.

READ MORE: A month of misery for Myanmars Rohingya

After the killings of nine border police in October 2016, the government blamed what it claimed were fighters from an armed Rohingya group and troops started pouring into the villages of Rakhine State. A security crackdown on villages where Rohingya lived ensued, during which government troops were accused of an array of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, rape and arson  allegations the government denied.

In November 2016, a UN official accused the government of carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. It was not the first time such an accusation has been made.

In April 2013, for example, HRW said Myanmar was conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. The government has consistently denied such accusations.

In August, residents and activists have described troops firing indiscriminately at unarmed Rohingya men, women and children. The government, however, has said nearly 100 people were killed after armed men from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched a raid on police outposts in the region.

In February 2018, the Associated Press released a video showing what they say is the site of a massacre and at least five undisclosed mass graves of Rohingya in Myanmar. The UNs special rapporteur to Myanmar said violence against the Rohingya bears the hallmarks of genocide.

Myanmars government razed at least 55 villages once populated by Rohingya, destroying with them evidence of crimes against the minority, according to Human Rights Watch.

The rights groups released images in February that showed between December 2017 and mid-February, areas that were once full of buildings and greenery had been completed cleared.

HRW described the actions by Myanmar security forces as an ethnic cleansing campaign and called on the UN and Myanmars donors to demand an end to the demolitions.

A total of 362 villages have been destroyed either completely or partially since Myanmars military began a campaign against the Rohingya in August last year, according to HRW.

How many Rohingya have fled Myanmar and where have they gone?

Since the late 1970s, nearly one million Rohingya have fled Myanmar due to widespread persecution.

According to the most recently available data from the United Nations in May, more than 168,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since 2012.

Following violence that broke out last year, more than 87,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from October 2016 to July 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration.

READ MORE: I want to take my last breath without fear of attacks

Many Rohingya also risked their lives trying to get to Malaysia by boat across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Between 2012 and 2015, more than 112,000 made the dangerous journey.

Prior to the violence that began in August 2017, the UN estimated that there are as many as 420,000 Rohingya refugees in Southeast Asia. Additionally, it said there were around 120,000 internally displaced Rohingya.

Since the violence in Myanmars northwest began, more than 650,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, the UNHCR said. It added that more than 1,000 people, mostly Rohingya, may have been killed in Myanmar.

What do Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar government say about the Rohingya?

State Chancellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the de facto leader of Myanmar, has refused to really discuss the plight of the Rohingya.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her government do not recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic group and have blamed violence in Rakhine, and subsequent military crackdowns, on those they call terrorists.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate does not have control over the military but has been criticised for her failure to condemn the indiscriminate use of force by troops, as well as to stand up for the rights of the over one million Rohingya in Myanmar.

OPINION: Aung San Suu Kyis inexcusable silence

The government has also repeatedly rejected accusations of abuses. In February 2017, the UN published a report that found that government troops very likely committed crimes against humanity since renewed military crackdowns began in October 2016.

At the time, the government did not directly address the findings of the report and said it had the the right to defend the country by lawful means against increasing terrorist activities, adding that a domestic investigation was enough.

During Pope Francis visit to Myanmar in November 2017, Myanmars army chief told the pope that there was no discrimination in the country and praised the military for maintaining peace and stability.

In September 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi entrusted former UN chief Kofi Annan with finding ways to heal the long-standing divisions in the region. While many welcomed the commission and its findings, which were released this August, Azeem Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy, argued it was just a way for Aung San Suu Kyi to pacify the global public opinion and try to demonstrate to the international community that she is doing what she can to resolve the issue.

Annan was not given the mandate to investigate specific cases of human rights abuses, but rather one to look at long-term economic development, education and healthcare.

REPORTERS NOTEBOOK: They look at us with hope, but we can only document their despair

When setting up the commission, Aung San Suu Kyis government said it would abide by its findings. The commission urged the government to end the highly militarised crackdown on neighbourhoods where Rohingya live, as well as scrap restrictions on movement and citizenship.

Following the release of the August report, the government welcomed the commissions recommendations and said it would give the report full consideration with the view to carrying out the recommendations to the fullest extent  in line with the situation on the ground.

On the latest round of violence, Aung San Suu Kyi blamed a huge iceberg of misinformation on the crisis, without mentioning the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh.

On September 19, she gave a televised address, condemning all human rights violations in Rakhine, without specifically mentioning the Rohingya.

She said that Myanmar was ready at any time to verify the status of those who had fled the violence in the last month. She did not specify who would be qualified to return and did not elaborate on how the verification process would work.

Her speech was criticised by Rohingya refugees, as well as activists who accused her government of burying their heads in the sand.

The government has often restricted access to northern Rakhine State for journalists and aid workers. Aung San Suu Kyis office has also accused aid groups of helping those it considers to be terrorists.

OPINION: Myanmar needs to get serious about peace

In January, Yanghee Lee, a UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said she was denied access to certain parts of Rakhine and was only allowed to speak to Rohingya who had been pre-approved by the government.

The country has also denied visas to members of a UN probe investigating the violence and alleged abuses in Rakhine.





What does Bangladesh say about the Rohingya?

There are more than half a million Rohingya refugees living in mostly makeshift camps in Bangladesh. The majority remain unregistered.

Bangladesh considers most of those who have crossed its borders and are living outside of camps as having illegally infiltrated the country. Bangladesh has often tried to prevent Rohingya refugees from crossing its border.

READ MORE: My name is Arba Khatun, I am Rohingya

In late January, the country resurrected a plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to a remote, flood-prone island that has been called uninhabitable by rights groups. Under the plan, which was originally introduced in 2015, authorities would move undocumented Myanmar nationals to Thengar Char in the Bay of Bengal.

Rights groups have decried the proposal, saying the island completely floods during monsoon season. The UN also called the forced relocation very complex and controversial.

Most recently, Bangladeshs foreign minister labelled the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar a genocide. The countrys National Commission for Human Rights also said it was considering pressing for a trial against Myanmar, and against the Myanmar army at an international tribunal on charges of genocide.

Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited a Rohingya refugee camp in September and called on the UN and the international community to pressure Myanmars government to allow the return of hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees.

READ MORE: Bangladesh medics struggle to cope with Rohingya influx

She said that Bangladesh would offer the refugees temporary shelter and aid, but that Myanmar should soon take their nationals back.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have told Al Jazeera that the governments aid thus far as been inadequate, with many saying they havent received any kind of government help.

Refugees in Bangladesh have been banned from leaving the overcrowded border areas. Police check posts and surveillance have been set up in key transit points from stop Rohingya from travelling to other parts of the country.





What does the international community say about the Rohingya?

The international community has labelled the Rohingya the most persecuted minority in the world.

The UN, as well as several rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have consistently decried the treatment of the Rohingya by Myanmar and neighbouring countries.

The UN has said that it is very likely that the military committed grave human rights abuses in Rakhine that may amount to war crimes, allegations the government denies.

OPINION: Only international pressure can save Rohingya now

In March, the UN adopted a resolution to set up an independent international mission to investigate the alleged abuses. It stopped short of calling for a Commission of Inquiry, the UNs highest level of investigation.

The UN investigators must provide a verbal update in September and a full report next year on their findings.

Rights groups have criticised the governments reluctance to accept the UN investigators.

Human Rights Watch warned that Myanmars government risked getting bracketed with pariah states like North Korea and Syria if it did not allow the UN to investigate alleged crimes.

READ MORE: Myanmar  UN probe can only aggravate Rakhine tension

In response to the latest round of violence, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the risk of ethnic cleansing, calling on Aung San Suu Kyi and the countrys security forces to end the violence.

In early September of last year, Guterres also warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe if the violence did not end.

UN human rights chief Zeid bin Raad al-Hussein urged Myanmar to end its brutal security operation against the Rohingya in Rakhine, calling it a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

Both UN officials said they completely supported the findings of the advisory commission, led by Kofi Annan, and urged the government to fulfil its recommendations.

In November 2017, Pope Francis visited Myanmar and while he did not explicitly use the word Rohingya, he said that there needs to be acceptance and respect for all ethnic groups in the country.

In April, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked the court to rule if it had jurisdiction over the deportations of Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

A ruling affirming its jurisdiction could pave the way for prosecutors to investigate whether crimes against humanity were committed.





OPINION: The Rohingya crisis and the role of the OIC

What is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army?

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as the al-Yaqeen Faith Movement, released a statement under its new name in March 2017, saying it was obligated to defend, salvage and protect [the] Rohingya community.

The group said it would do so with our best capacities as we have the legitimate right under international law to defend ourselves in line with the principle of self-defence.

The group is considered a terrorist organisation by the Myanmar government.

In its March statement, the ARSA added that it does not associate with any terrorist group across the world and does not commit any form of terrorism against any civilian[s] regardless of their religious and ethnic origin.

The statement also said: We [] declare loud and clear that our defensive attacks have only been aimed at the oppressive Burmese regime in accordance with international norms and principles until our demands are fulfilled.

The group has claimed responsibility for an attack on police posts and an army base in Rakhine State. According to the government, nearly 400 people were killed, the majority of whom were members of the ARSA. Rights groups, however, say hundreds of civilians have been killed by security forces.

Rights group Fortify Rights said it has documented that fighters with the ARSA are also accused of killing civilians  suspected government informants  in recent days and months, as well as preventing men and boys from fleeing Maungdaw Township.

On September 9, the group declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire in Rakhine to enable aid groups to address the humanitarian crisis in the area.

ARSA strongly encourages all concerned humanitarian actors to resume their humanitarian assistance to all victims of the humanitarian crisis, irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the ceasefire period, the group said in a statement, adding that it calls on Myanmars military to also temporarily lay down arms.

According to the International Crisis Group, the ARSA has ties to Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia.

The Myanmar government formally categorised the group as a terrorist organisation on August 25.

What is the repatriation deal?

In November 2017, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal for the return of 650,000 Rohingya refugees, who fled in the recent violence.

Both countries agreed to complete a voluntary repatriation in two years. The plan is based on a similar agreement that was signed in the 1990s to repatriate Rohingya who have fled a previous crackdown led by the Myanmar military.

Myanmar set up two reception centres and what it is believed to be a temporary camp near the border of Rakhine to receive the first arrivals.

We have been tortured, killed and our houses burnt, we want Myanmar citizenship and ID cards saying we are Rohingya. I dont want to go to another camp in Myanmar if Bangladesh and the rest of the world can protect our rights, then we will go back, but not yet, Syed Alam, a Rohingya refugee told Al Jazeera.

On the deal, Director of Human Rights Watchs (HRW) refugee rights programme said: Before the start of actual returns, Myanmar should agree to a set of prerequisites for return.

That includes unfettered, independent monitoring of returnees, restoration of lost homes and properties among others.

On April 14, the Myanmar government announced in a Facebook post that a family of five had returned to the country, a move that was denounced by Rohingya rights groups as staged and a publicity stunt.

Images accompanying the social media post on Saturday showed five individuals receiving identification cards  which do not grant citizenship  from uniformed Myanmar officials, and getting medical help and living provisions from health and social workers.

According to the Rohingya Blogger, a watchdog and Rohingya rights website run by activists in Europe, the individuals in the photos are not Rohingya refugees, but family of a local administrator in Taung Pyo Latya.

The reported repatriation came days after Myanmars social welfare minister, Win Myat Aye, visited a Rohingya camp in Bangladeshs border area of Coxs Bazar.

During the visit, Win announced that Myanmar is ready for the repatriation of Rohingya.

But Ursula Mueller, the a UN senior humanitarian official, warned that there critical issues of freedom of movement that Myanmars government needs to address before beginning repatriation, AFP news agency reported.

UNHCR has also said that the conditions in Myanmar are not yet conducive for returns to be safe, dignified and sustainable, adding that the responsibility for creating such conditions remains with the Myanmar authorities, and these must go beyond the preparation of physical infrastructure to facilitate logistical arrangements.
We, as Catalans, want to and have the right to change the terms of our relationship with Spain.

In Spain, the same slogan is repeated over and over again: The independence of Catalonia is impossible. Its absurd to hear such unappealable judgment in the 21st century. If there is one thing we should have learned from politics this century, it is that everything once considered impossible could become unlikely, and what used to be unlikely may end up happening.





Before 2014, no one could have imagined that the Scottish people would get an opportunity to decide on their own future. No one thought the UK could vote to leave the European Union only two years after Scotlands Independence Referendum. Who could have imagined Donald Trump would become president of the United States? In France, who could have thought that Marine Le Pen would make it to the second round of the presidential race? It all seemed impossible, but it all happened. So, why is it still so hard to believe Catalonia could one day be independent?

When Spain began to reconstruct its democracy after General Francisco Francos death in 1975, Catalonia once again began to voice its desire to become an independent state. Today, there is a significant number of Catalans who want to be able to decide the fate of Catalonia.

The Spanish government has reacted defensively to the calls for independence. It has tried to deal with the situation through prosecution rather than political dialogue.

There is a lot to be said about the way the Spanish government handled this issue, but there is a question that needs to be answered before anything else: Does Catalonia have cultural and historical arguments for independence?

The roots of Catalan statehood

The first Catalan county emerged on the map of Europe in 798 and was located between Charlemagnes Frankish Kingdom and al-Andalus. The legend of Catalonias birth was preserved in the manuscripts of that era.

According to the legend, a powerful knight called Otgher Cathalo arrived from the north with nine other knights and conquered Barcelona, which was under the rule of the Goths. The knights repopulated the city and created a political system that later transformed into a kingdom which took the name of its founder, Cathalo.

READ MORE: Catalonia announces October 1 independence referendum

In 1137, the Kingdom of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon to the south united under the crown of Aragon, though Catalan autonomy remained intact. And in 1479, the crowns of Aragon and Castile were united through the marriage of their Catholic monarchs, marking the beginning of the Kingdom of Spain. However, the union was only dynastical at the time  each kingdom was entitled to maintain its own autonomy, traditions, laws, and institutions.

In addition to legends and written historical records about the Catalan people, there are places that, to this day, stand as a proof of their long history, including the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll, where the remains of the first Catalan count rest.

Persecution of the Catalonian nation

The Catalan people endured attempts of assimilation for centuries, but their persecution peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the middle of one of Europes most devastating conflicts, the Religious Wars, Portugal declared its independence from Spain and Catalonia was left fragmented as a result of this conflict. After the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed between France and Spain in 1659, Northern Catalonia was annexed by the Kingdom of France, while Southern Catalonia remained part of the Kingdom of Spain.

It's not right for Spain to turn a deaf ear to the will of a substantial segment of the Catalan people. by

The legal persecution of Catalan language and culture in this era began in Northern Catalonia because France wanted the population living in their new territories to speak French. Louis XIV banned the use of Catalan in education, public administration and in religious celebrations.

In the other Catalan-speaking territories the widespread persecution of the Catalan language and culture began in 1716 with the enactment of the so-called Nueva Planta Decrees, a package of laws passed by Philip V after he succeeded the Spanish Imperial throne following a battle known as the Siege of Barcelona.

In Spain, the persecution of the Catalan nation and the Catalan language continued long after Philips reign. In 1896, the General Directory of Post Offices and Telegraphs in Spain issued a circular banning the use of the Catalan language in telephone calls. In 1900, the Spanish government enacted provisions that made teaching in Catalan illegal.

But the tides turned in favour of the Catalan people in 1931 when the Second Spanish Republics constitution recognised Catalonia as a nation and Catalan as an official language of the republic. But this accommodating attitude did not last long, and after General Francisco Franco led the Nationalists to victory in the Spanish Civil War everything changed. One of Francos main goals was to annihilate Catalan aspirations for independence and he decided to achieve this through repression. In 1940, Catalan leader Lluis Companys was assassinated by Francos dictatorship. Catalonias dream of recognition and independence was once again silenced.

However, when democracy was reinstated in Spain in 1978, everything changed again and Catalonia swiftly received the status of Autonomous Community in 1982. But this was just a temporary solution and the problem remains.

Independence: Yes or no?

According to UNESCO, today Catalan is the most widely used regional or minority language in Europe, with between seven and 10 million speakers in Spain, France and Sardinia. So, the Catalan language and identity is alive and well, but the Spanish state still refuses to discuss the Catalan issue in parliament and does not allow the Catalan people to determine their own destiny.

The government of Catalonia proposed to hold an independence referendum on October 1. However, the Constitutional Court of Spain decided that the Parliament of Catalonia does not have the right to hold such a vote. The Spanish Supreme Court is looking for ways to prosecute anyone who is officially participating in referendum preparations, yet Catalans are determined to have their say.

READ MORE: What would Catalan independence mean for the region?

Given the situation, the Catalan regional government decided to disobey the courts decision, as they stressed the necessity for Catalonias bid for independence to come to a democratic conclusion.

So, can Catalonia become an independent European nation? The answer is yes. It has a historic right to independence. And Catalonia can be an independent nation without having any problems or hostilities with its Spanish neighbour, with whom it shares a bloodline and strong friendship.

We, as Catalans, want to change the terms of our relationship with Spain. Its not right for Spain to turn a deaf ear to the will of a substantial segment of the Catalan people. As Albert Camus once said, Must one therefore give up on this effort to achieve what would seem to be an impossible reconciliation? No. One must simply appreciate the immense difficulty of the undertaking and make it clear to those who in all good faith would like to simplify everything.

Rafa Perez Bel is a Barcelona-based writer and MA student.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.




The President of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, has announced his intention to hold a referendum on Catalan independence on October 1. The Spanish Constitutional Court made it clear that Catalonia does not have the power to call such a referendum, as the question of sovereignty lies with the Spanish people as a whole. Yet Catalan nationalists seem determined once again to disobey the Constitutional Court, as they did on November 9, 2014.





The Spanish constitution is not exceptional in guaranteeing national sovereignty and territorial integrity of its borders, and is, in fact, in line with other Western democratic nations such as the United States, France, Italy and Germany. In a recent ruling on the hypothetical secession of Bavaria, for example, the German Constitutional Court indicated that the federal states are not sovereign but fall within the Federal Republic of Germany where questions of national sovereignty lie with all German people.

Perhaps the most tragic and lasting consequence of this political moment is the effect this is having on public opinion, eroding the idea of the state and the rule of law within a democratic framework that guarantees our individual rights and freedoms. After five years of continuous invective spewed by pro-independence politicians and commentators against the Spanish Constitution of 1978, this sort of depressing antisystemic discourse that would revile our hard-won democratic gains is not only becoming tolerated, but normalised.

It is bad enough that nationalist leaders have managed to normalise a disdain for the rules of our democratic, constitutional system. But what is worse is that they have managed to do it from within the very institutions of the system that they so scorn. To those who would constantly try to caricature Spain as being a nation of low democratic quality, it is worth pointing to The Economists Democracy Index, which in 2016 grouped Spain once again among full democracies, akin to Germany or the United Kingdom.

OPINION: Catalonias declaration of independence

The philosopher Karl Popper described democracys strength not so much as the rule of the people as the rule of law, the restraining of power through constitutions and institutions that acted on behalf of the people. This is the essence of liberal democracy, settled in a system of reciprocal checks and balances designed to guarantee individual rights and freedoms and avoid the abuse of power, whether tyranny or simply overstepping ones authority.

Today in Catalonia we have a government presuming to be the only qualified judge of its own cause, deciding as they please which laws or judicial resolutions are applicable to them and their relatives, and which are not. If we were to accept this, it would also mean accepting, by extension, that everyone else in society has the same right, and could presumably take the law into their own hands. This would lead to nothing less than the wholesale destruction of the democratic state and the rule of law.

The nationalists, set on confrontation with Madrid, have no interest in exploring moderate or compromising solutions. by

The pro-independence parties are starting to dispense with euphemisms, talking less and less about the non-existent right to decide and more about a right codified in international law, the right to self-determination.

They face the problem that, as the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has explained, the case of Catalonia does not fall within any of the circumstances provided by the UN for this right to apply. This right is limited to decolonisation processes and undemocratic regimes that do not respect the rule of law, subject to conditions established by the UN that have nothing to do with the situation in Catalonia.

The nationalists constantly invoke a supposed Catalan sovereignty before the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713), although at that time no peoples in the world could for one moment be considered sovereign.

This is because the concept of sovereignty vested in the people, ie, the concept of national sovereignty as opposed to the sovereignty of the king, did not begin to take hold in practice  at least in continental Europe  until the French Revolution (1789), and did not take shape specifically in Spain until the Courts of Cadiz (1812).

This is where the modern concept of nation stems from, that of a political nation as a collection of free men who are the subjects of rights and obligations, which is developing in Europe and across the Western world to this day and has become synonymous with citizenship.

This political nation, the nation state, the political community of Spain, is the only collective subject of sovereignty this country has known throughout its history. Since it resides in the people, sovereignty in Spain has always resided in the Spanish people as a whole and the Catalans have always played a key role in shaping this framework of coexistence and solidarity based on the unity of sovereignty.

OPINION: Podemos and the Catalan cause

It would be senseless to break this shared history at the behest of a temporary or accidental opinion induced by the propaganda of the Catalan nationalist parties. Furthermore, it does not seem fair for the Catalans to assume the power unilaterally to put an end to that which we, the Spanish people as a whole, have put such an effort into building together.

Two of Spains seven founding fathers, responsible for the countrys current constitution, are of Catalan origin. This constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. Its ratification in 1978 was the result of a broad consensus across diverse parties, including the Catalan nationalists of Puigdemonts party, and received support from more than 90 percent of the Catalan voters in a referendum.





Nevertheless, the fact that our constitution does not contain intangibility clauses means that it can be changed. Thus it is not true that the nationalists have no choice but to put Catalan institutions outside the law. They could try to achieve their political aim through a reform that introduced the right to secession in the Spanish Constitution.

The problem is, they know that reform of our constitution, like that of any other, is a lengthy and expensive process that requires qualified parliamentary majorities, and that is precisely what the nationalists do not have. They do not even have a qualified majority in the Autonomous Parliament of Catalonia itself.

It is worth remembering that the nationalists are launching their challenge when they do not have the support of even half of Catalans. They know that the timing and political circumstances are against them; according to all the opinion polls, support for independence, which reached its peak at the end of 2014, has only decreased since then, coinciding with an improvement in citizens perceptions of the economy.

With good reason, the rise in support for independence coincided at the time with the worst point of the economic crisis, which hit Spain particularly hard. Instead of recognising that their electoral growth had much to do with the uncertainty and social unrest resulting from the crisis, the separatists endeavoured to prove that this progress was because the Catalan people had finally understood their manifest destiny: separation, because Spain doesnt care about us, Theyre robbing us, Theyre treating us badly, They dont let us vote. This is the creed the nationalists have been preaching for years, notwithstanding the ominous consequences of their discourse for coexistence between Catalans, and between them and the rest of the Spanish people.

The nationalists, set on confrontation with Madrid, have no interest in exploring moderate or compromising solutions. In order to hasten independence, they insist on presenting Catalonia and Spain as two opposing phenomena and they are not prepared to accept the plurality of Catalan society, of the citizens of Catalonia, the vast majority of whom feel as much Catalan as Spanish and need not renounce one or the other.

Nacho Martin Blanco is a journalist and political scientist. He writes regularly in the Spanish media, collaborating with newspapers such as El Pais. He is a Professor at the Abat Oliba CEU University of Barcelona.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Former rebel group retains FARC acronym as it transforms into the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force political party

Colombias former FARC rebel group has renamed itself the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force as it transformed into a political party following its disarmament.

By a majority decision in our congress, the name of the new party has been fixed as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, the groups leader Rodrigo Londono wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

In spite of earlier resistance from some members of the movement, the name retains the revolutionary spirit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Marxist rebel group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state in Colombia before signing a peace deal last year.

In Spanish, the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel forces title, so it can continue to be referred to as the FARC.

READ MORE: Colombia  A Nobel Prize to save peace

Delegates from the newly demobilised FARC group have spent the week gathered in a founding congress to choose their political representatives ahead of next years general elections.

The party had yet to give an official English translation for its title.

The week-long congress comes after the group handed in more than 8,000 weapons and nearly 1.3 million pieces of ammunition as it demobilised, the United Nations said last month.

Roughly 7,000 FARC fighters have demobilised under the accord, which allows the group 10 unelected seats in Congress until the end of 2026 and grants amnesty to the majority of ex-fighters.

READ MORE: Colombia  Paramilitary groups take over abandoned FARC territory

The FARC was formed in the early 1960s by fighters affiliated with Colombias communist party intent on resolving long-standing issues such as land disputes and government neglect of rural areas, issues that still resonate in much of the nation today.

Over the next five decades, the conflict between the rebels, government forces and right-wing paramilitaries claimed at least 250,000 lives and left another 60,000 people missing. Millions more were displaced from their homes fleeing the bloodshed.

Londono said at the start of the congress that the group will advocate a democratic political regime that guarantees peace and social justice, respects human rights and guarantees economic development for all of us who live in Colombia.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his government face criticism over what many call inaction in tackling the flooding.

More than 100,000 people have fled their homes because of major flooding in the central state of Benue in Nigeria, according to President Muhammadu Buhari.

I have received with great concern reports of the flooding in Benue state, displacing, from early estimates, more than 100,000 people, Buhari wrote on Twitter late on Thursday.

He said his government will make available all assistance to those affected.

We will surmount this disaster, and, working with the State Govt, bring succour and relief to all affected persons and communities.

The aftermath of torrential rainfalls in Makurdi, Benue State has left close to 3,000 houses submerged and thousands of residents homeless pic.twitter.com/nFE9AaWM9W  The Guardian Nigeria (@GuardianNigeria) August 31, 2017

Helen Teghtegh, head of local NGO Community Links and Human Empowerment Initiative, said the region had been battered by heavy rains over the past two weeks with the level of the Benue river steadily rising.

Many residents in the state capital Makurdi have fled their homes since Wednesday, she added, launching an appeal for donations.

We are still trying to get accurate data, we dont know the number of casualties, but we are having a meeting tomorrow with local groups and emergency services, so we should know better, said Teghtegh.

Photographs of inundated Makurdi began spreading on social media on Thursday, showing cars and thousands of homes completely submerged. Others showed men and women carrying mattresses, bags, and other belongings as they fled on foot.

Buhari and his government have faced criticism in the media and online over what many called the inaction of authorities to tackle the flooding.

FLOODS: Benue state capital, Makurdi has been flooded after series of rainfall. Residents seek emergency intervention. Photos:Ibrahim Obala pic.twitter.com/k1azlSkey0  Sumner Shagari Sambo (@Sumner_Sambo) August 30, 2017

FLOODS: Benue state capital, Makurdi has been flooded after series of rainfall. Residents seek emergency intervention. Photos:Ibrahim Obala pic.twitter.com/k1azlSkey0  Sumner Shagari Sambo (@Sumner_Sambo) August 30, 2017

On Thursday, Buhari said he called for the National Emergency Management Agency to step in.

Two camps have been set up in Makurdi to accommodate those made homeless, but they will not open before the weekend.

Benue state, which is heavily reliant on its agricultural sector, has suffered repeated floods in recent years, caused by heavy rains and the opening of dams in neighbouring Cameroon.

In 2012, Nigeria suffered disastrous floods across 30 of its 36 states. Hundreds of people died, and some two million people were left homeless.
Environmentalists warn suspension of decree allowing commercial mining in Renca reserve might only be a temporary block.

Environmental activists have warned that a vast Amazon reserve in Brazil is still under threat despite the suspension of a government decree that would have opened it up to commercial mining.

The federal court in the capital, Brasilia, said on Wednesday that it had partially granted an injunction to immediately suspend any administrative act aimed at annulling the Renca reserve, which is nearly the size of Denmark.

Judge Rolando Valcir Spanholo also said such as decision could not be made by decree and Brazils Congress would have to be consulted.

However, activists say Brazils Congress is dominated by ranching and mining interests.

Amid reports that the government is planning to appeal the verdict, many fear that the suspension could be a temporary block.

OPINION: Amazon  The final frontier?

The judges decision could be overturned at any moment, said Marcio Astrini, public policy coordinator at Greenpeace Brasil.

Brazils President Michel Temer signed the controversial decree made public last week to annul the Renca reserve which covers four million hectares across the Amazon states of Amapa and Para.

The area is thought to have vast quantities of gold, iron and other minerals.

In a statement emailed to Al Jazeera, Brazils Ministry of Mines and Energy said the objective of the measure is to attract new investments, with the generation of wealth for the country and employment and income for society, in addition to expanding the supply of mineral goods, always based on the precepts of sustainability.

Environmental groups immediately blasted the decree as catastrophic, prompting Temer to issue an updated version on Tuesday which further detailed protection measures to forest conservation units and indigenous territories inside the reserve.

Our culture depends on our land

Al Jazeera visited Alamira village in the Indigenous Wajapi peoples territory, a two-hour drive by dirt road inside the Renca reserve. Men and women go bare chested wearing the tribes traditional dress of a red knee-length skirt with long slits up the sides.





The Wajapis traditional lifestyle involves hunting deer and other forest animals, fishing, growing manioc, bananas and other crops, as well as collecting water and bathing in the rivers.

Our culture depends on our land, said leader Jawaruwa Wajapi, a city council member for the nearest municipality Pedra Branca de Amapari and one of the few Portuguese speakers in the Guarani Tupi speaking village.

When the miners leave the destruction of the land will remain.

Jawaruwa Wajapi said he also feared that the mining companies would attempt to buy off the community with gifts.

The mining companies will offer material things for us. If we accept this, it will be a mistake, he said.

The Wajapi territory was officially demarcated in 1996 in a process that enables indigenous people to receive legal protections for their land. The territory is composed of dozens of villages and around 1,300 indigenous people, according to local estimates.

Before the demarcation, the Wajapi suffered from an influx of illegal miners who flocked to the area after first contact with the tribe was made following the construction of the Perimetral Norte highway through the territory  part of the military governments plan to connect the Amazon in the early to mid-1970s. The highway was never finished.

An illegal mining setup was found earlier this year near the Wajapis territory.

Elsewhere in the Renca reserve, there is another demarcated indigenous territory called Paru d Este, which is home to the Tirio and Apalai indigenous people, as well as a sustainable extractive community of nut pickers called Iratapuru and seven environmental conservation units.

Critics say that none of the three traditional communities inside the reserve were consulted regarding the decision, despite it being a requirement of Brazils constitution.

L ike combatting homicide by legalising murder

The government of Brazil has emphasised that the Wajapi territory and other protected areas will not be will not be affected by the decree and mining will not be permitted there.

Environmentalists, however, strongly refute this claim.

We cant believe this from the same government that is reducing conservation areas in other protected regions in the Amazon, said Astrini, of Greenpeace Brasil, referring to recently proposed legislation to reduce protected forest areas in the Amazon state of Para.

According to Astrini, Brazils Congress is trying to reduce environmental licensing requirements, just as the countrys environmental police, IBAMA, suffers from severe cuts which affects their capacity to make inspections and raids  a combination, he said, that would have disastrous consequences for the reserve if it is annulled.

Our river is dead, life after Fundao dam collapse

Lucia de Queiroz Ferreira Szmrecsanyi, Wajapi programme coordinator at Brazils Institute for Research and Training in Indigenous Education, noted that legislation to allow mining on indigenous territories has been on Congress agenda for a long time.

For the congressmen supporting the government, this project is considered a priority, she said.

The Renca reserve was founded in 1984 by Brazils then-military government as a safeguard for the mineral riches in the region and was part of the governments occupy or lose stance towards the Amazon at the time.

Brazils news portal G1 reported last week, after Temers decree, that a government note said the Renca reserve is no paradise, adding that illegal prospect gold miners already operate in the region and that the annulment of the reserve would regulate these activities.

READ MORE: Brazil court suspends mining on Amazon reserve

Instead of combatting illegal mining, the government wants to legalise it. Its like combatting homicide by legalising murder, said Randolfe Rodrigues, an Amapa senator with the Rede Sustainability party.

According to Marcelo Oliveira from WWF Brasil, illegal mining in Renca reserve has left the rivers with high levels of mercury.

While noting the pollution that large mining projects could cause on the rivers, Oliveira also warned of the social impact.





These large projects will need access and infrastructure, highways, dams. In the beginning, this will attract lots of people to the region, but once construction is complete, very few people are needed and the workers are left in these areas, similar to what happened with Belo Monte, he said, referring to the Belo Monte dam, constructed in the Amazon state of Para.

The city of Altamira where the dam was built attracted many migrant workers and now has one of the highest homicide rates in Brazil.

Antonio Feijao, a three-time former congressman, lawyer, geologist and head of the consulting firm Amazon Global Consult in Amapa, who today provides services for the environmental commission of Brazils Senate, said that infrastructure and job creation are necessary for the state.

Amapa is one of Brazils least developed states with the highest level of unemployment in the country and incomes below the national average, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and statistics.

Seventy-two percent of Amapa state is already conservation area and these dont create jobs, Feijao said.

The extinction of Renca will bring jobs, royalties for the cities and integrated infrastructure like roads that the local populations inside the reserve will also benefit from.

But Rodrigues, of the Rede Sustainability party, refuted claims that the extinction of the reserve will be beneficial for citizens in the state.

Our experience with mining in Amapa has not been positive, he said.

The business owners get rich while the environmental destruction and poverty gets left for the state.
Antonio Guterres deeply concerned by reports of security crackdown which killed hundreds of Rohingya Muslims.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Myanmar after the killing of nearly 400 people  mostly Rohingya Muslims  in the worst outbreak of violence in years.

The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the reports of excesses during the security operations conducted by Myanmars security forces in Rakhine State and urges restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, read a statement issued by his office on Friday.

READ MORE: Who are the Rohingya Muslims?

The violence has sent tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing across the border into Bangladesh, while scores of desperate people have drowned trying to cross a border river in makeshift boats.

Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages have raised fears that the violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.

Guterres said that it was the governments responsibility to provide security and allow aid agencies to reach those in need.

He also noted with appreciation the efforts of Bangladeshi authorities to meet the dire needs of those crossing the border.

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the violence, but there was no formal statement on the crisis.

READ MORE: Theyre firing their guns at us and burning our homes

Meanwhile, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkeys foreign minister, urged Bangladesh to open its doors for fleeing Rohingya, adding that Ankara would pay the expenses.

We also mobilised the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, he said in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

We will hold a summit regarding Arakan [Rakhine state] this year. We need to find a decisive solution to this problem, Cavusoglu added.
Turkeys president blames Washington for May skirmish, but US prosecutors say Turkish guards started the melee.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced as a scandal the decision by US authorities to indict his security guards who were involved in a brawl in Washington, DC, in May.

This is a complete scandal. It is a scandalous sign of how justice works in the United States, he told reporters after prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Adha celebration on Friday in Ankara.

US prosecutors issued indictments for assault against 19 people on Tuesday, including 15 identified as Turkish security officials, for attacking protesters in the US capital during Erdogans visit.

READ MORE: Three more Erdogan guards indicted for Washington brawl

All 19 were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, a felony punishable by a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison. Several face additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Two of the defendants were arrested in June and face an initial court hearing on September 7. The rest remain at large and may have returned to Turkey.

The May 16 skirmish, caught on video, injured 11 people outside the Turkish ambassadors residence and further strained bilateral ties, at a time when the NATO allies are in sharp disagreement over policy in Syria.

US officials strongly criticised Turkeys government and Erdogans security forces for the violence. The Department of State summoned Turkeys ambassador to complain. The Turkish Foreign Ministry then summoned the US ambassador to protest the treatment of the detained security guards.

Turkey blamed the violence on demonstrators linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), while the Washington, DC, police chief described it as a brutal attack on peaceful protesters.

Blaming Gulen, PKK

Erdogan said the United States had failed to provide him protection from members of the PKK during his visit, adding he would discuss the issue with President Donald Trump during his next visit.

The PKK, an organisation affiliated with the independent Kurdish movement, is banned in Turkey.





These developments in the United States are not good at all. The United States is still a country where the FETO gang [Gulens network] is being protected, Erdogan said on Friday, referring to an opposition group led by a former political ally, Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen.

He remains in the US under self-imposed exile in a secluded compound in the state of Pennsylvania.

The United States has literally become a country where the PKK terrorist organisation is under protection. I am having trouble understanding what the United States is trying to do with all these developments, said Erdogan.

The charges against some members of Erdogans security detail sent a clear message that the US does not tolerate individuals who use intimidation and violence to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate political expression, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement in June.

Since a failed coup attempt last year, Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 150,000 officials while sending to jail pending trial some 50,000 people  including soldiers, police, and civil servants.

The crackdown has targeted people whom authorities say they suspect of links to the Gulen network, which Ankara blames for leading the coup, an allegation Gulen has denied.
Many social media users describe the Supreme Courts judgment as a victory for Kenyan democracy.

Kenyans have rushed to social media to express their views on a Supreme Court decision nullifying the result of the August 8 presidential election that declared President Uhuru Kenyatta the winner.

The court on Friday ordered on a new presidential election to be held within 60 days, saying that the electoral board committed irregularities and illegalities during the vote.

Voters of opposition leader Raila Odinga have filled the streets of the capital, Nairobi, cheering their support for the courts decision

At the time of publication, #SupremeCourtDecides and #ElectionsKE2017 were the most popular Twitter hashtags in Kenya.

Many social media users tweeting on the issue said that the courts judgment was a victory for Kenyan democracy.

Kenya! An election annulled. Do you still doubt that the winds of change blow in Africa?  Nancy Kacungira (@kacungira) September 1, 2017

#SupremeCourtDecides

Peace prevailed after justice took it's course. Kenya feels more safer and calm than before.  owinoD (@owino_obunga) September 1, 2017

For the first time fairness has prevailed in Kenya  Nichodemus Mwania (@nichomaingi) September 1, 2017

https://twitter.com/skgjnr/status/900114582240362497

Last months election is the first one to be nullified in the East African country.

The declaration [of Kenyattas win] is invalid, null and void, said Judge David Maraga, announcing the verdict of four out of the six judges.

Following the announcement, many took to Twitter to congratulate the judges for their decision.

So CJ David Maraga is a hero in Africa today and will go down in the history of Kenya! #SupremeCourtDecides #CJDavidMaraga pic.twitter.com/ygBM17Tz97  Rakesh (@RBudhdev) September 1, 2017

One small step for Kenya, one giant leap for democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law in Africa. #SupremeCourtDecides  Wanjiku Revolution (@WanjikuRevolt) September 1, 2017

I was not in Kenya for the election, but I am deeply proud of our Supreme Court today. This is how to grow a democracy.  Binyavanga Wainaina (@BinyavangaW) September 1, 2017

Kenyans now have reason to trust in their institutions. This is good for our political development.  Ken Opalo (@kopalo) September 1, 2017

According to the results announced by the electoral commission before they were nullified, Kenyatta had been declared the winner with 54 percent of the votes.

Some of his supporters also took to social media to express support for the leader of the Jubilee Party.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will still win round two. No worries! #SupremeCourtDecides  JASPER (@JasperEmpire16) September 1, 2017

Retweet if you beleive Uhuru Kenyatta will still be President. #SupremeCourtDecides #ElectionsKE2017 pic.twitter.com/qRTuRroPNe

Retweet if you beleive Uhuru Kenyatta will still be President. #SupremeCourtDecides #ElectionsKE2017 pic.twitter.com/qRTuRroPNe  Morris Kamweru (@KamweruMbathi) September 1, 2017
FM Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will respond harshly to US order to shut consulate as diplomatic tensions escalate.

Russia will respond harshly to any US measures designed to hurt it, the foreign minister said, a day after Washington told Moscow to close its San Francisco consulate and two other facilities.

Moscow will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

The warning came as Russia said it was weighing a response to the US move that will force it to shutter its San Francisco consulate, as well as its trade missions in Washington, DC and New York City by Saturday.

The spat between the two nuclear-armed powers is another blow to US President Donald Trumps pledge to try to improve relations with Russias Vladimir Putin.

OPINION: Is Russia a real threat to the West?

The US ordered the closures in a retaliatory move after the Kremlin demanded Washington slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic missions to 455 personnel with a deadline that ran out on Friday.

Russias demand came after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia in July.

The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed in a statement.

Washington said it hoped the two sides can avoid further retaliatory actions and improve ties but warned it was prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.

Takes two to tango

Russias Lavrov avoided blaming the Trump administration outright for the latest tensions and laid the guilt squarely at the door of Trumps predecessor Barack Obama.

We are open even now for constructive cooperation where it corresponds to Russian interests, Lavrov also said on Friday.

But it takes two to tango and so far our partner is, again and again, doing an individual break dance.

The dispute began when former US President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats in December over allegations of Russian interference in last years presidential election.

Lavrov is to meet his US counterpart Rex Tillerson this month in New York.

READ MORE: Tillerson to Lavrov  Russian meddling led to mistrust

Meanwhile on Friday, Russias foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the FBI planned to search the San Francisco consulate on Saturday and accused US authorities of threatening the security of Russian citizens and violating diplomats immunity.

We are talking about invasion into a consulate and the accommodations of diplomatic staff, Zakharova said in a statement. The demands of the US authorities create a direct threat to the security of Russian citizens.

We express a resolute protest over Washingtons actions that ignore international law, Zakharova said, adding that: We reserve the right to take retaliatory measures.

The State Department has not commented specifically on whether officials plan to search the premises.

But it did say that as of Saturday, access to the consulate will only be granted with State Department permission.
As two million Muslims wrap up the Hajj pilgrimage, many remember those suffering in conflicts around the world.

Millions of Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday as some two million pilgrims carry out the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims on Friday made their way towards a massive multi-storey complex in Mina after dawn to cast pebbles at three large columns.

It is here where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to Gods will.

Muslims believe Ibrahims faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son.

The final days of Hajj coincide with the Eid al-Adha holiday, or Feast of Sacrifice, to commemorate Ibrahims test of faith. For the holiday, Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

For the final three days of Hajj, pilgrims sleep in a large tent valley called Mina and for three days take part in a symbolic stoning of the devil.

Most pilgrims will remain in Mina until Monday before completing the Hajj.

They will then circle the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, Islams most sacred site, before departing.

The Kaaba represents the metaphorical house of God and the oneness of God in Islam. Observant Muslims around the world face towards the Kaaba during the five daily prayers.

The five-day-long Hajj is a series of rituals meant to cleanse the soul of sins and instill a sense of equality and brotherhood among Muslims.

The pilgrimage is required of all Muslims with means to perform once in a lifetime.

During the last three days of Hajj, male pilgrims shave their heads and remove the white terrycloth garments worn during the Hajj. Women cut off a small lock of hair in a sign of spiritual rebirth and renewal.

However, there was some disappointment among residents of Qatar, who bore the brunt of a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.

With Saudi Arabia among the countries blockading Doha by land and air, it was challenging for hopeful pilgrims to travel. Reports say only a few dozen residents of Qatar were able to perform the Hajj this year.

There are more than one billion Muslims around the world.

Many used the occasion of Eid to remember those suffering in conflicts around the world, from Yemen and Syria to Iraq and Myanmar.

Some will celebrate Eid al-Adha instead on Saturday, including many followers of the Islamic faith in Pakistan.

Here are some social media reactions to the festive day as #EidAlAdha trended worldwide on Twitter:

Israel didn't give us permits this year on Eid so this time I won't be in Jerusalem   Nadia (@nadia_daniali) September 1, 2017

Eid ul adha mubarak to everyone around the world. May you all have a happy and blessed one. Look after each other and take care. #EidAlAdha  Junaid khan 83 (@JunaidkhanREAL) September 1, 2017

#EidAlAdha mubarak to all those celebrating today. Spare a thought this day for the #Rohingyas who are fighting a lonely battle  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) August 31, 2017

Eid Mubarak! Sending my best wishes to Muslims celebrating Eid al-Adha & the end of the Hajj today. https://t.co/UjUx5gg0dE pic.twitter.com/4gsVb3gA0a  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 31, 2017

I would like to wish Muslims in Britain and across the world Eid Mubarak. pic.twitter.com/jdKLSai1HB  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 1, 2017

Eid Mubarak to all Muslims as you celebrate #EidAlAdha & its message of solidarity & compassion with the poor & most vulnerable in societies  Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 31, 2017
As humanitarian crises worsens with thousands fleeing violence, army claims to have killed hundreds over five days.

Yangon, Myanmar  As a humanitarian crisis deepens in western Myanmar, the military says it has killed at least 370 Rohingya fighters over the past week in Rakhine state.

According to a statement by the office of Myanmars military commander in chief, Min Aung Hlaing, the army was involved in 90 armed engagements with fighters of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) from August 25-30, including alleged attacks on police outposts and a military base in Maungdaw district of Rakhine.

At least 15 members of Myanmar security forces were also killed over the same period, including two government workers, and one soldier is missing, late Thursdays army statement said.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the armys claims.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly and I am concerned that many thousands of people are increasingly at risk of grave violations of their human rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said in a statement on Friday.

The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently.

The UN estimates that nearly 40,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the area around Coxs Bazar, while thousands more remain stranded between the two countries.

READ MORE: Theyre firing their guns at us and burning our homes

The stream of people fleeing violence has increased rapidly with witnesses telling Al Jazeera the army has fired indiscriminately on Rohingya Muslims in villages.

Hundreds of villagers have been reported missing and hundreds of others are feared dead.

The Burma Army is now fully engaged in scorched-earth tactics against Rohingya villages in many parts of northern Rakhine state, ostensibly targeting fighters, but in reality hitting ordinary villagers, Human Rights Watchs deputy Asia director Phil Robertson told Al Jazeera.

Several refugees  including women and children  have died while making the perilous journey to Bangladesh, which is struggling to cope with the influx and has reportedly turned some Rohingya Muslims away.

Tensions were reignited on August 25 when ARSA fighters claimed responsibility for attacks in Rakhine. While the group announced defensive actions on Twitter, it did not disclose the number of fighters involved or targets killed.

OPINION: Only international pressure can save Rohingya now

The Myanmar government calls ARSA an extremist terrorist group.

Foreign governments and rights organisations fear Rohingya villages are being subjected to collective punishment after the groups attacks on police posts and an army base.

The latest bout of violence extends a decades-long conflict that has seen the displacement of more than 140,000 of Myanmars 1.1 million Rohingya located along the countrys western border.

Myanmars Rohingya are often described as the worlds most persecuted minority, and their ethnic status is not recognised by the government.

The international community needs to demand Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government stop these clearance operations and permit humanitarians, journalists and researchers into these areas to assess the situation and hold those committing abuses accountable, Robertson said.

Situation is dire

The conflict has proved to be an insurmountable test for the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces growing criticism from the international community over her handling of the situation.

The situation is dire, said Matthew Smith, CEO of rights group Fortify Rights. Mass atrocity crimes are continuing. The civilian government and military need to do everything in their power to immediately prevent more attacks.





In addition to the militarys announcement, state media on Friday said that more than 150 fighters staged an attack on security forces near Rakhines Indin village, resulting in the death of one attacker.

Recent fighting has brought back memories of events in 2012 when communal violence in Rakhines capital, Sittwe, led to the deaths of 200 people.

The fighting has also spurred growing anti-Rohingya rhetoric from Buddhist nationalists, including monks, a sentiment mirrored by their followers on social media.

The rhetoric has prompted a wave of hate speech against journalists and NGO workers, continuing a campaign that last month saw several aid workers in Rakhine resign over death threats on social media.

I dont support the violent ways of either side, said 39-year-old Rohingya activist Ro Nay San Lwin. There are Rohingya farmers fighting with knives. If we continue to fight the Burmese military, the Rohingya will no longer be in Arakan and that is my biggest fear.

The wave of attacks follows the release of a report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, looking into solving the sectarian strife.

Follow Philip Heijmans on Twitter: @HeijmansPhilip
Kurdish-led, US-backed group says its fighters have taken full control of the Old City in Raqqa after clashes with ISIL.

US-backed fighters in Syria say they have removed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) from Raqqas Old City, bringing them closer than ever to the armed groups most well-defended positions.

Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqqa after clashes with Daesh, Talal Sello, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told AFP news agency on Friday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained from the beginning





Sello said the SDF was now on the edges of ISILs security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are.

Most of ISILs fighters and up to 25,000 civilians are believed to still be holed up in the city centre.

The SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, first broke into Raqqa in early June and penetrated its Old City a month later.

They were able to enter it after US-led coalition air raids opened up two gaps in the Rafiqah wall, a 2,500-metre barrier surrounding the Old City.

The SDF has captured more than 60 percent of Raqqa city and most of the surrounding northern province.

Along with the Old City, the SDF also captured the neighbourhood of al-Diriya, according to Mustapha Bali, another spokesman for the alliance.

This victory is a present to our people. The greatest present will be the complete liberation of Raqqa city, he said in a statement.

Moral victory

Sello declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of Raqqa, but said operations were proceeding according to schedule.

Control over the Old City  which has historical importance  is a moral victory against ISIL, which is collapsing in Raqqa. Its defeat there is inevitable, he added.

READ MORE: What is left of ISILs caliphate?

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group tracking developments in the countrys war via a network of contacts on the ground, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with ISIL in a small part of the Old City.

UN sees ISIL defeat by October

Meanwhile, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said separately on Friday that ISILs last remaining Syrian strongholds are likely to fall by the end of October.

What we are seeing is, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of this war  what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace, he told the BBC.

The US and the US-backed SDF will probably liberate Raqqa by the end of October, he said, adding that the Syrian government and the Russians are very likely between now and the end of this month or perhaps early October, latest, to actually liberate [Deir Az Zor].

ISIL overran Raqqa in 2014, turning it into the de-facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.

The city was the scene of some of the groups worst atrocities, including public beheadings.
Those barred from entering the US in early days of Trumps original travel ban will be allowed to reapply for visas.

The US government will allow people barred from entering the country in the early days of President Donald Trumps travel ban to reapply for visas following a legal settlement with campaigners.





Under the terms of the agreement, announced on Thursday, the government must contact all individuals who had been turned away at borders as a result of the presidents first executive order that came into force on January 27 and inform them that they may seek re-entry.

It does not guarantee applicants will receive new visas nor does it award them compensation, but obliges the government to act in good faith when processing their paperwork.

The settlement also guarantees that those who reapply for their visas can do so with the help of the Department of Justice liaison for a three month period.

The settlement brings an end to the case Darweesh v Trump, a nationwide class-action suit filed by two Iraqi men detained at New Yorks JFK Airport because of the ban. They were represented by numerous rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Legal fight will continue

It was the first legal challenge to the original Muslim ban and had previously succeeded in gaining an injunction on removing anyone from the United States on the basis of the ban.

Although the government dragged its feet for far too long, it has finally agreed to do the right thing and provide those excluded under the first Muslim ban with proper notice of their right to come to the United States, Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer involved in the case, said.

But the legal fight against Muslim ban 2.0 would continue, he added, with the Supreme Court set to hold another hearing in October.

OPINION: The Muslim ban  Did Trump really win?

Gerlent said it is unclear how many people will benefit from the settlement because the government has refused to disclose the total.

The first order, which banned for three months nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen  and refugees for four months, caused chaos at airports and triggered protests across major cities.

Hundreds of nationals from the countries affected by the ban were detained on arrival despite having valid visas or even residency documents.

It was quickly challenged in court by campaigners and several US states and was suspended on February 3.

A revised version was announced in March, barring nationals from the countries mentioned in the previous ban, except Iraq. The revised order also said that visa and green card holders were exempt.

The administration scored a partial victory in June when the Supreme Court ruled that it could proceed with the ban, though people with a bona fide relationship to a US person or entity were exempt.
Trial seen as a key test of accountability in civil war-torn country where few accused of atrocities ever face justice.

The only foreigner to come forward and give evidence in a high-profile South Sudan trial where army troops are accused of gang rape and murder in a hotel rampage a year ago is urging other survivors to speak up.

The trial is a key test of accountability in a civil war-torn country where few accused of atrocities ever face justice. Twelve South Sudanese soldiers are accused of gang-raping five foreigners, killing a local journalist while forcing survivors to watch, and looting the Terrain Hotel compound in the capital, Juba.

Men have an equal or greater responsibility to come forward, the Italian woman told The Associated Press after testifying last week. Men dont face the same risk of sexual violence and they can stand up against these crimes. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

READ MORE: South Sudan soldiers face trial for rape and murder

The attack occurred shortly after fighting erupted in the capital in July 2016 between President Salva Kiirs forces and troops loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar.





An AP investigation last year exposed graphic details of the Terrain assault, including victims pleas for help to a nearby UN base that brought no immediate response. A UN investigation led to the firing of the commander of the peacekeeping force there. The United States government has pressed South Sudan to hold the soldiers accountable and offered support for the investigation.

The trial almost collapsed last month when judges with the military court threatened to dismiss the charges of rape and murder unless the foreign victims and witnesses testified. The judges initially rejected the possibility of remote testimony via online video interviews, which theyve now accepted.

The Italian woman, who had been working in the humanitarian sector in South Sudan, said she was afraid to return to the unstable East African nation because she was frightened the assault could happen again.

She said she decided to return and testify in order to give a voice to the millions of victims in South Sudan who dont have a voice.

She said she identified four of the accused in the courtroom, saying when she looked at them one by one she immediately recognised them.

Her testimony gave credibility to the trial and filled a gap when it came to the rape charges, said a lawyer representing the assault victims, Philips Anyang Ngong.

Human rights workers monitoring the trial have praised the womans decision to return to South Sudan to give her testimony.

We applaud the victim for appearing at trial. We hope this proceeding is a first step towards addressing the much larger problem of impunity for serious human rights crimes in South Sudan, said Joanne Mariner, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International.

READ MORE: South Sudan: UN reports campaign of killing and rape

Jehanne Henry, senior Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch, said: This case is a test of South Sudans willingness to prosecute soldiers for crimes against civilians, especially sexual violence.

During South Sudans four years of civil war, rape has been used as a weapon with impunity, according to rights groups. The country is suffering from sexual violence on a massive scale, a recent report by Amnesty said.

The trial is expected to continue in late October. It is unclear whether anyone else will give evidence, in person or remotely.
Police tell state media the duo was held in Antalya over probe into Gulen group, which Ankara blames for failed coup.

Authorities in Turkey have detained two Germans of Turkish origin in the southern city of Antalya, according to Turkeys state-run media.

Anadolu Agency said on Friday that the two Germans were taken into custody in relation to an investigation into the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Muslim leader who is accused by Ankara of masterminding a failed coup attempt last year.

Anadolu, quoting police sources, said that the duo was detained in Antalya Airport on Thursday after the police got a tip on them. The agency added that they were still being questioned.

READ MORE: Erdogan links detained rights activists to failed coup

Many European citizens have been detained in Turkey over the past year, accused of involvement in last years failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Were trying to establish what they are charged with, Maria Adebahr, spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry, said at a news conference on Friday.

We must assume that its a political charge, suspicion of terrorism, as with the others, referring to several other German citizens currently in Turkish detention

Diplomats had not been able to contact them, she added, with Fridays public holiday celebrating the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival a possible reason for delays in contacting officials.

READ MORE: Erdogan hails referendum victory

Around 300 people were killed during the failed coup attempt, which led to arrests as well as purges targeting tens of thousands of civil servants.

The government, which declared a state of emergency, says the purges and detentions are legitimate and aimed at removing Gulen supporters from state institutions and other parts of society.

Local and international rights groups, as well as many of Turkeys European allies, have described the measures as arbitrary, claiming that the government is using the coup bid as a pretext to silence opposition in the country.
Pressuring North Korea over its nuclear missile programme is misguided and futile, Russian President Vladimir Putin says, arguing that only dialogue without preconditions can resolve the crisis.

The Korean Peninsula was balancing on the brink of a large-scale conflict, Putin wrote in an article to be published on Friday before a summit of BRICS economies to be held in China on Sunday.

Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile programme is misguided and futile, he wrote in the article sent to media in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  the BRICS member states.

The regions problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions. Provocations, pressure and militarist and insulting rhetoric are a dead-end road.

Explainer: Why didnt Japan shoot down Pyongyangs missiles?

Putin said Russia and China, North Koreas most important ally, had drawn up a plan to ease tensions and create lasting peace without the use of threats or military force.

In Seoul, a senior South Korean official also urged Pyongyang on Friday to return to the negotiating table, while warning against continuing provocations.

Our governments stance that we need to peacefully resolve North Korean nuclear issues and Korean Peninsula issues remains unchanged, Lee Eugene, South Korean Unification Ministry deputy spokesperson, said.

We urge North Korea to stop making rhetorical criticisms and threats and to come out to the path of dialogue and cooperation.

Lee said Seoul and Washington continue to monitor North Koreas activities, acknowledging Pyongyang is capable of conducting another nuclear test at any time within a short period of preparations.

Frances foreign minister said on Friday that North Korea would have the capability to send long-range ballistic missiles in a few months and urged China to be more active diplomatically to resolve the crisis.

The situation is extremely serious We see North Korea setting itself as an objective to have tomorrow or the day after missiles that can transport nuclear weapons. In a few months that will be a reality, Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio.

North Korea must find the path to negotiations. It must be diplomatically active.

Trump rhetoric

The comments came amid US President Donald Trumps ongoing war of words with North Korea, with the US leader warning Pyongyang of fire and fury and North Korea threatening to fire missiles at the US Pacific territory of Guam.





On Tuesday, the reclusive nation fired a ballistic missile over Japan in defiance of UN resolutions and new sanctions imposed last month, which are expected to slash its export revenues by one-third.

The test appeared to have been carried out by North Korea in response to ongoing war exercises between the United States and South Korea.

Analysts say North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un wants a real nuclear deterrent against the United States to ensure the survival of his government, believing it will strengthen his negotiating position when Pyongyang returns to talks.

This year alone, North Korea has launched at least 13 missiles and some analysts believe it could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of Trumps first term in early 2021.

In response to North Koreas latest move, Japanese fighter jets joined US bombers and stealth aircraft in military exercises on Thursday in skies south of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump also said, talking is not the answer to the crisis, without giving more details about his next move.

Last week, Japan and the US imposed new sanctions on entities and individuals that support Pyongyang, including those in China and Russia.










English News BRICS can be new global growth engine

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 1 Septembre 2017



The global pattern is changing. Developed countries have seen the rising influence of emerging economies. But the world is far from being equal. The majority of core resources in global governance is controlled by developed countries.

Source: Peoples Daily and Global Times The BRICS summit will be held in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province next week. The meeting holds particular importance as to whether this mechanism representing developing countries can become key to promoting globalization and win developing countries more discourse power in global governance.



The global pattern is changing. Developed countries have seen the rising influence of emerging economies. But the world is far from being equal. The majority of core resources in global governance is controlled by developed countries.



Newly emerging markets are thriving. If the Western-controlled global opinion sphere is unfriendly and the US-led international financial system does not support their advancement, these newly emerging markets will face higher costs if they are to develop further.



The "BRIC" concept was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neil, but Western opinion holds a negative view of it.



That BRICS nations have lost growth momentum is a popular view in the West, representing the wishes of some Western elites who want to consolidate the central status of the West.



Any emerging power alone cannot withstand the mounting pressure from the West. Emerging countries need to cooperate and coordinate to push the international order to become more equitable.



In this regard, emerging countries have more common interests than their divergences. That is why the BRICS mechanism has a promising future.



Major differences do exist among the five BRICS member countries. Their common interests have been challenged by their competition, which can be exploited by those who have ulterior motives.



But the current status of international relations goes beyond geopolitics. Despite their multiple differences, the biggest interest of BRICS countries lies in development. But these countries have been constrained by some unreasonable facets of the existing international order.



The BRICS mechanism shows that developing nations are aware of their common interests. That they can unify to seek common interests in this globalized era has become possible.



Developed countries own more resources and are highly coordinated. If each of the newly emerging countries stands on its own feet, their influence will remain weak in global competition.



If we compare the world to a metropolis, developed countries are like the old downtown.



If newly emerging countries can coordinate well, they can build a new city center that can compete with the previous one.



Compared with the "West," the term "BRICS" is less known. But perhaps it will become a new blueprint for human development.



A sluggish global economy has affected BRICS countries. But these countries boast enormous potentials given their large population, land area and natural resources.



So far, BRICS has added momentum to each member state. In future, it should serve as a platform where newly emerging countries can maintain and expand their interests.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China accelerates green, low-carbon development World-class astronomical obervation base takes shape in Qinghai province China, Germany should keep to overall direction of bilateral ties from strategic height: Xi Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News BRICS cooperation still has promising future: Peoples Daily

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 1 Septembre 2017



The establishment of the BRICS Business Council, New Development Bank (NDB), and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) all offered important impetus for development of BRICS cooperation in the future.

In addition, it is biased for some media to say that China plays a dominant role in the BRICS bloc because it has the largest economic volume and the most rapid development among the five countries.

By Zhang Huan (People's Daily Online) BRICS cooperation still has a promising future given its significant contribution to the world economy and an ever-improving cooperation mechanism, despite pessimistic voices from some Western media, Peoples Daily reported on Aug. 30.



Although some BRICS countries underwent economic slowdown and development problems in recent years, some Western media are still short-sighted, saying BRICS cooperation has reached its limit.



The International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed out that the BRICS economies contributed to more than half to the world economy growth in the past decade, and their average economic growth reached 5.1 percent in 2016, well above the global average of 2.4 percent.



The economic slowdown of the BRICS countries was to a great extent caused by change in international financial circumstances and economic structural adjustment in order to achieve sustainable growth, and not by cash flow problems, debt crises, and insufficient demand like in the developed countries.



BRICS countries have three long-term advantages in future development, including a large population42.88 percent of the total world population, abundant natural resources, and a huge market.



The BRICS cooperation mechanism continues to improve, and close cooperation among members on economic and trade, politics, culture, and network security, as well as on counter-terrorism, all of which have contributed greatly to world peace, stability, and prosperity, has been established in recent years.



The establishment of the BRICS Business Council, New Development Bank (NDB), and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) all offered important impetus for development of BRICS cooperation in the future.



In addition, it is biased for some media to say that China plays a dominant role in the BRICS bloc because it has the largest economic volume and the most rapid development among the five countries.



NDB, for example, was established based on equal contribution of capital and democratic decision-making, a sharp contrast to some Western countries monopoly in the IMF and the World Bank.



Although NDBs headquarters is in Shanghai, its first president and chairman of the council are elected from other member countries rather than China for the sake of fairness.



BRICS members always seek reciprocity, mutual benefit, and win-win results through cooperation based on equality, democracy, mutual respect, and common progress instead of dominance.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China accelerates green, low-carbon development World-class astronomical obervation base takes shape in Qinghai province China, Germany should keep to overall direction of bilateral ties from strategic height: Xi Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News China calls for deeper BRICS cooperation amid rising protectionism

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 1 Septembre 2017



In the BRICS trade ministers meeting held in August, all five countries reiterated their commitment to safeguarding the multilateral trade system and opposition to protectionism. Such consensus, Zhang believed, would be reinforced in Xiamen next week.

By Chen Lidan (People's Daily Online) BRICS should enhance their collaboration in dealing with the peril of abusing trade remedy measures amid rising protectionism, Chinese officials said on Tuesday in Beijing.



The Chinese government on Wednesday announced Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the 9th BRICS Summit that is set to be held in southeast Chinas coastal city of Xiamen from September 3 to 5. The theme of the meeting is: BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future".



The partnerships future is facing the uncertainty brought in by the setbacks in free trade and globalization. BRICS countries should safeguard trade rules and strive to strike a balance between free trade and domestic interests, said Wang Shouwen, Chinas vice commerce minister, at a BRICS meeting on trade remedies.



WTO data showed last year the number of trade remedy investigations worldwide reached the highest level since 2009, with BRICS nations feeling much of the headwind. As of the mid-2016, the five member states found themselves on the receiving end of over one third of the worlds anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes.



BRICS trade investigators have been expanding exchanges and cooperation and reached more consensus on support for the current multilateral trade system and opposition to all kinds of protectionism, Wang said.



If the blocs five nations can employ the BRICS mechanism as a way to participate in global governance and write better rules for free trade, it would undoubtedly make a great contribution to global growth, particularly for emerging markets and developing countries, Zhang Jianping, director of the commerce ministrys research center for regional economic cooperation, told media.



In the BRICS trade ministers meeting held in August, all five countries reiterated their commitment to safeguarding the multilateral trade system and opposition to protectionism. Such consensus, Zhang believed, would be reinforced in Xiamen next week.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China accelerates green, low-carbon development World-class astronomical obervation base takes shape in Qinghai province China, Germany should keep to overall direction of bilateral ties from strategic height: Xi Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News E-commerce becomes new impetus for BRICS cooperation

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 1 Septembre 2017



By 2022, gross merchandise volume generated via online shopping portals will reach about $3 trillion in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, 59 percent of the worlds total, the report projected.

By Pan Xutao from Peoples Daily E-commerce will prosper among the BRICS countries and connect people of the five countries, a report by Alibaba Group Holdings released on August 29 said.



Chinese products are popular in Brazil. Echello and Biya, a Brazilian couple, told Peoples Daily that Chinese products are cost-effective.



The couple has over 500,000 followers on their social media platform, on which they often share apparel and digital products they bought from Chinese e-commerce platforms.



The Alibaba report found that Chinese consumers are increasingly drawn to Russian candies, Indian handicrafts, Brazilian flip flops and grapefruit from South Africa, while customers in the four countries are most attracted to Chinese apparel and mobile phones.



Russian girl Chistyakova started using Chinese online shopping platforms three years ago when she saw an advertisement about a skirt on AliExpress, Alibabas export subsidiary for overseas buyers. The low price of the skirt impressed her and she has been shopping on Chinese e-commerce platforms ever since.



Now, Chistyakova regularly buys panty hoses and dresses on AliExpress and her husband, Oleg, has become a frequent buyer of hard disks and other computer accessories. Chistyakova said the cell phones she and her husband bought on the platform are very easy to use.



According to the Russian e-commerce association, in 2016, about 245 million more parcels were shipped to Russian online consumers, with China having a 90 percent share.

Many Russian consumers now regard Singles Day, which falls on November 11, as a big day for online shopping. The Russian banking system once broke down due to the large number of transactions during a Singles Day promotion. According to Tmall International, in 2016, the gross volume of Russian goods generated via the portal was 34 times that of 2015.



Havana, a well-known flip flop brand in Brazil, found its way into Tmall at the beginning of 2013. As of this July, over one million Havana flip flops have been sold to Chinese consumers. The company has expanded production because of the good sales, which generated more income for Brazilian rubber growers.



BRICS countries have been exploring more opportunities for e-commerce cooperation. In 2015, the BRICS leaders endorsed the Framework for BRICS E-commerce Cooperation to promote the construction of an integrated market among BRICS countries.



At the start of August, BRICS trade ministers approved a proposal for BRICS e-commerce cooperation, formally kicking off the cooperative process.



The Alibaba report said e-commerce is set to prosper among BRICS countries. In 2016, the number of online shoppers from the five countries reached 1.46 billion, 42.7 percent of the global total. The gross merchandise volume generated via online shopping portals hit $876.1 billion, 47 percent of the worlds total.



By 2022, gross merchandise volume generated via online shopping portals will reach about $3 trillion in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, 59 percent of the worlds total, the report projected.



Zhong Shan, China's Minister of Commerce, recently said Chinese people will soon see more food on their table from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.



Chinese businesses will carry out more cooperation with other BRICS countries in terms of e-commerce sales, logistics and payments, he said, adding that it is predictable that e-commerce will serve as the new impetus to promote economic and trade cooperation among BRICS countries.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > China accelerates green, low-carbon development World-class astronomical obervation base takes shape in Qinghai province China, Germany should keep to overall direction of bilateral ties from strategic height: Xi Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
Statement attributable to Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General: The Secretary-General welcomes the release in Cameroon of a number of leaders from the South West and North West regions and the dropping of all charges against them following a 30 August order by President Paul Biya. The Secretary-General hopes that this positive step will lead []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
The presidential pardoning of six Sudanese human rights activists, including Dr Ibrahim Mudawi and Hafiz Idris, detained since December 2016, is a step in the right direction. The European Union expects this to be followed by further steps allowing for an opening of the political space and reinforced respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
Starting Sept.15, the Luxembourg-based all-cargo airline will offer flights to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and on Oct. 3, the Cameroon city of Douala will also become a Cargolux destination.



Including the cities of Douala and Lubumbashi, Cargolux will now have 35 destinations on the African continent.

Luxembourg-based cargo-only airline Cargolux is adding two cities in Africa to its list of destinations.

Starting Sept.15, the airline will offer flights to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and on Oct. 3, the Cameroon city of Douala also becomes a Cargolux destination.

Flights to Lubumbashi are scheduled to leave Luxembourg each Friday evening and arrive in the Congo at 5:25 am local time Saturday mornings. The return flight is routed via Johannesburg, Nairobi and also serves London Stansted Airport in the UK. Its scheduled to arrive in Luxembourg at 1:25 pm local time on Sundays.

Lubumbashi is the Congos second largest city after the capital Kinshasa, and acts as a hub for the DRCs mining industry. The city produces textiles, food and beverages and copper smelting. Its estimated that Lubumbashi produces over three percent of the worlds copper and half of its cobalt. The city is also home to one of the countrys largest financial institutions, Trust Merchant Bank.

Douala services are scheduled to depart from Luxembourg at 4:15 pm each Wednesday, and will be routed via Bamako International Airport in Mali. Flights are scheduled to arrive in Cameroon at 1:55 am Thursdays, with return flights arriving back in Luxembourg at 10.55 am Thursdays.

Douala, which is Cameroons largest city, is the countrys economic and commercial capital, handling most exports, including oil, cocoa, coffee, fruits, metal and timber. The city is also home to Central Africas biggest seaport, the Port of Douala.

Cargolux said it sees promising potential for growth in the region; including Douala and Lubumbashi, Cargolux will now have 35 destinations on the African continent.

Africa has always been and will always be an important market for Cargolux and we are happy to be able to support the continents trade lanes to Europe, the United States and Asia as well as across the Cargolux network worldwide, Cargolux Regional Director Africa Jonathan Clark said in a statement.
On August 30, 2017 U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres visited the Gaza Strip and expressed the need for humanitarian aid to the area. He did not point out that about three quarters of the Gaza population is dependent on international aid and that UNRWA classifies that proportion of that population as "refugees" 70 years after Arab armies invaded the newly created State of Israel and caused the refugee problem.

Appropriately, Guterres met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to urge resumption of peace talks, but it is meaningful that he did not meet with officials of the Hamas organization in Gaza. He must have been aware of the difficulty of the resumption for at least two reasons. One is that he was aware of the unending belligerence of Hamas after his visit to a tunnel it had dug into Israel. Hamas has been using humanitarian aid to build the tunnels it regards as a strategic weapon for fighting and defeating Israel, to liberate al-Aqsa and the holy places.

The other factor were statements made by Yahya Sinwar, the hard-line terrorist, who was elected in February 2017 as head of the Hamas organization in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, chosen on May 6, 2017 as the new head of the Hamas political bureau, in essence the head of the whole organization.

Haniyeh has been an extreme proponent of jihad and terrorism, of the need to liberate all of "Palestine," and of refusal to recognize the State of Israel. He views jihad as a religious duty and armed resistance as a Palestinian right. Palestine will be liberated from "the river to the sea." He explained that tunnels were a strategic weapon and that Hamas had constructed twice as many tunnels as there were in Vietnam.

Haniyeh's animosity is not confined to Israel; he also expresses opposition to America's "policy of oppression." In response to the killing of Osama bin Laden, "a Muslim Mujahid," he hoped that Allah would declare war on the U.S.

The 55-year-old Sinwar had been a prisoner for more than two decades in an Israeli prison for organizing the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers. He was one of the 1,047 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Schalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006. In 2015, Sinwar was added to the U.S. terrorism blacklist.

Sinwar, who lives in Gaza, replaced Ismail Haniyah, who lives in exile in Qatar, in the rather confusing organizational structure of Hamas, which has four constituencies: activists in Gaza, those in the West Bank, those in exile, and those imprisoned by Israel. Each unit chooses its own local leaders as well as delegates to the Hamas Shura Council. Founded in 1987, as an Islamic offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, during the First Intifada, Hamas had a dual purpose: social welfare and armed struggle against Israel.

A third function was added when the group in 2006 gained representation in the Palestinian Legislative Council and then, after considerable friction with Fatah, took control and governed the Gaza Strip in 2007. But there has always between a struggle between the armed and the political wings of the group, and between those who live in Gaza and those who do not.

From the start, Hamas has been involved in countless terrorist attacks on Israel and in three wars with Israel, the latest in July 2014, when it lost 2,189 people. The Hamas military wing was put on the E.U. terrorist blacklist in December 2001; the political wing was blacklisted in 2003. After a lower European court in December 2016 annulled this on procedural grounds, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled in July 2017 that Hamas should remain on the terrorism blacklist. Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council, have also called it a terrorist group.

Sinwar has a reputation as a tough individual, advocating action. He ordered the execution of a political rival. His first job on joining Hamas was to help found a security organization whose goal was to identify Palestinian collaborators working for Israel. At a press conference on August 28, 2017, Sinwar spoke of his policy and made strong statements, some of which were a challenge to the Gulf states and the U.S. He said he is not interested in war with Israel and does not want a war, but Hamas is building its power, does not fear war, and is fully ready for it. He still advocates kidnapping Israelis as a bargaining chip for Palestinian prisoners. He demands that Israel free 54 Palestinian prisoners released in the Schalit swap who were re-arrested by Israel.

Sinwar boasted that relations with Iran are excellent, and that Iran is the largest supporter, financially and militarily, of the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. Their aid helped in the making and supply of missiles, the rebuilding of tunnels destroyed by Israel, and the training of scuba divers. The paradox is that Shia Iran is sponsor of Hamas, which is part of the Sunni Muslim brotherhood. This is easier now that the Sunni countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are hostile to Iran.

For some years, relations with Iran had cooled because Hamas did not support Syrian President Assad, and Iran reduced its aid. But Iran changed its position.

Sinwar said relations with Egypt have improved drastically, and the two sides have begun to create a buffer zone along their southern Rafah border to tighten security. Egypt has been increasing the power supply to Gaza. Ironically, this arrangement has been helped by Mohammed Dahlan, former Fatah leader in Gaza.

Relations between Hamas and Fatah are in flux. P.A. president Abbas stopped paying Gaza energy bills. In an unusual move, Abbas has been using Turkish President Erdogan as an intermediary, proposing Fatah-Hamas unity and a national unity government. Abbas formulated a seven-point plan, paying Gaza employees of the P.A., allowing electricity and medicine to go to Gaza, and suggesting new elections. Whatever the outcome, neither group has suggested a peace arrangement with Israel.

Curiously, Hamas on May 1, 2017 issued a document that purports to be more politically flexible. It does express support for a Palestinian state in temporary borders in pre-1967 lines with Jerusalem as its capital. But the armed struggle to destroy Israel continues; it argues that the establishment of Israel is entirely illegitimate and that Zionism is an enemy of humanity. It does, however, say that the struggle against the Jews is not because they are Jewish, but because they are Zionists.

If Secretary-General Guterres believes this, he might also consider buying a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
That the Left could besmirch the gentle heroism and kindness depicted in this picture should be evidence enough of the malignant growth that is now casting a pall over America. It is time for Americans to put the vile genie back in its box.

In his slim volume titled A Trumpet for Reason, written in 1970, Leo Rosten gives a "ringing answer to the New Left, the New Right, the militants and extremists and romantic demagogues who have been tearing our country apart." He writes that America stands "in peril of being stampeded by the over-simplifiers, however honest; the fanatic, however idealistic; the unstable, however eloquent; and the naive, however appealing."

Why did we not learn that the "glittering nostrums of spellbinders" such as Obama would prove so disastrous to this country? Rosten wonders if "each generation [must] learn for itself that "when altruists turn militant they become self-righteous tyrants." Thus, "a few days prior to the January 20, 2017 inauguration of Republican President Donald J. Trump, James O'Keefe's investigative journalism organization, Project Veritas, released undercover video footage exposing a cohort of hard-left, self-described 'anarchists,' 'anti-capitalists,' and 'anti-fascists' who -- in an effort to undermine Trump's presidency and strike back at the 'Nazis' who they said supported him -- were plotting to disrupt the inaugural festivities with a massive protest dubbed 'DisruptJ20.' Specifically, the conspirators planned to: (a) create a series of 'clusterf**k blockades' sealing off ingress points all over the capital; (b) shut down the Washington, DC Metro lines by chaining the trains to other physical structures; (c) inject butyric acid into the vent shafts of the National Press Club; and (d) physically assault Trump backers with well-placed, debilitating punches directly to the throat."

In fact, "one of the activists told the Washington Post, the violence 'was purposeful in its symbolism'  meaning that 'vandalism at a Starbucks shop and a Bank of America branch were executed as attacks on capitalism and corporate greed.'"

Antifa members dress entirely in black, and their faces are covered by black masks, hoods, and scarves. According to organizers 'Antifa combines radical left-wing and anarchist politics, revulsion at racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-Semites, and Islamophobes, with the international anti-fascist culture of taking the streets and physically confronting the brownshirts of white supremacy, whoever they may be.'"

Actually, "[a]t its heart, the Antifa movement is a communist phenomenon whose adherents  consisting predominantly of upper-middle-class white males -- believe that conservatives, particularly those who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, are the moral equivalent of Nazis and are therefore not entitled to the free-speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment. Moreover the movement has a strong element of anarchism as well; thus its members are commonly seen waving the red and black flag of anarcho-communism." Their intent is to totally destroy America.

Sadly, "[m]ainstream media outlets have typically refrained from acknowledging just how radical and revolutionary Antifa's objectives and practices are, portraying the movement instead as a well-intentioned alliance of idealists who seek nothing more than to thwart the evils of right-wing 'fascism.' The Washington Post, for instance, has benignly referred to Antifa and its allies as 'antifascist groups'" as has the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News. Other sources -- both mainstream and far left -- have painted Antifa in openly complimentary tones. For example, an April 2017 Esquire magazine article lauded the movement's 'anti-fascist' vigilantes for crashing pro-Trump demonstrations [.]"

Moreover, instead of a social order that promotes free speech, and free thought, we have university campuses becoming bastions of intolerance, violence, and sheer terror as professors assemble a "Campus Antifascist Network (CAN) to serve as a 'big tent' for 'anyone committed to fighting fascism.'" And despite the fact that Antifa groups employ violence to shut down opposing speakers, "the professors insist that they only support 'self-defense' by 'those who are being threatened by fascists.'" Their syllabus, for example, highlights writings from the Southern Poverty Law Center, (SPLC) which has become notorious for the suppression of speech. The SPLC listings of so-called extremists have included Dr. Ben Carson, Rand Paul, the Family Research Council, Charles Murray, Frank Gaffney, Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media, Dinesh D'Souza, and Jeff Sessions as well as tea party and patriot organizations.

It is poignant that at the end of his book, Rosten wonders whether faculty members will ever wonder about the effect on America when a campus becomes "a sanctuary for lawbreaking and an inviolable base, a 'neutral' staging ground, for hit-and-run guerilla raids off campus." Will they have any "guilt about students who were beaten, teachers who were vilified, lecturers who were shouted down by neo-Nazi mob chantings"? Though this was written almost a half a century ago, one is reminded of Professor Melissa Click of the University of Missouri who, in 2015, demanded "some muscle" as she tried to knock down a cameraman and eject a journalist.

That the "guardians, both in the universities and elsewhere, have lost the will and the self-confidence to defend the institutions they are meant to lead will by their own actions destroy the universities and everything they stand for." And, in fact, enrollment is down in universities. Whereas in 1970 Rosten reminded us that "if a whiff of the Weimar republic lies over Britain today, it is not difficult to discern where the blame lies," Melanie Phillips chronicles the eclipse of reason in the West today.

Ever prescient, Rosten emphasized that "the products of 'liberated' curriculums will be bitterly disappointed, unless they retreat into a permanent break with reality.'"

Think snowflakes, perhaps?

In the book titled Cartoonists Against the Holocaust authors Rafael Medoff and Craig Yoe collected cartoons of American political cartoonists who highlighted the acts of real Nazis. A 1933 political cartoon from the Jewish Daily Bulletin where Hitler, Goebbels, and Goering watch as a Nazi thug stomps on an innocent is a mirror image of what the Antifa thugs do today as they repeatedly prove that they are the true totalitarians.

And the black-clad hoodlums who claim allegiance to Marxism need to be reminded that "wherever [their] heroes -- Marx, Mao, Che -- have prevailed, students, writers, teachers, scientists have been punished with hard labor or death. For what? For their opinions, For their poems. For their stories. For insufficient subservience to monolithic dogma."

Yet one of "Antifa's modus operandi is deplatforming -- i.e., depriving conservatives (whom Antifa calls 'fascists') of a speaking platform, by drowning them out with bullhorns, airhorns, and group chants, or shutting down their events with 'human walls' that block anyone from attending. Moreover, Antifa encourages and practices 'doxxing,' the use of cyber attacks to first ascertain the identity of an Internet user, and to then access and make public his or her valuable personal data. Some of those digitally hounded by Antifa members have been forced virtually to seek new identities." Actually, Antifa exemplifies a "hidden, liberal-radical bigotry" often found among middle-class militants.

And then there is the intense desire to erase history. As Rosten explained, "history is not a barren chronicle of dates and names; it is the retracing of human problems, efforts, errors, successes by which we may have some context within which to think and judge, some light to guide our search for causes and effects, some signals of warning, some tested beacons with which to light our voyage toward a wider, deeper humaneness." Larry Elder explains this very well. But as statues and other American historical objects are destroyed, those who engage in this assault are no better than ISIS which obliterates historical artifacts dating back thousands of years.

In fact, "Antifa's propensity for using violence as a means of silencing its enemies is particularly significant. Utterly rejecting any notion of a free and open exchange of ideas, the movement views anyone who holds a contrary political perspective as The Enemy that must be crushed by any means necessary. Thus, in the final analysis, it can accurately be said that the Antifa communists who so passionately denounce fascism, are in fact fascists themselves."

The only force Rosten feared more than "human irrationality [was] irrationality armed with passion." He emphasized that "[i]t is time for those who believe in freedom to come to the defense of freedom -- and reason. Neither can survive if either is destroyed. And both can be destroyed if we allow demagogues, vandals, terrorists, bombers, blackmailers, and romantic bubbleheads with political hallucinations to go unchallenged."

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com
After the Charlottesville melee, a "conservative" on Sean Hannity's radio show went off on Nazis. He called them despicable, bottom-feeders, racists, and hate-mongers. He was happy that Richard Spencer, the white supremacist, got punched during D.C. protests and all but endorsed Antifa violence, saying hate speech can't be allowed, has to be stopped.

So I guess this guy's hate's okay because he hates the right people?

Actually, yes, if the hate's directed at a racist or Nazi, it's not only okay, but encouraged. It's our government's way to shut down opposing views. Their efforts to silence the people isn't new. They continually try to shame us into acquiescence, lecturing, "That's not who we are" or "We're better than that" over the border wall or the travel ban. They label us racists, bigots, homophobes, and Islamophobes.

But even this psychological bludgeoning doesn't silence the American people. So our ruling elite take a different tack: they use the racism/hate trigger to offer up an enemy, a villain people will love to hate. They offer the Alt-Right, Nazis, and white supremacists.

So the Alt-Right becomes the new unspeakable evil. Nazis and white supremacist are so vile, so despicable, that they must be shunned, can't be allowed to protest or march in public even with permits, even if it's a peaceful march. This is why Antifa showed up in Charlottesville: to stop the evil Nazis and KKK from exercising their constitutional rights. Our saviors.

Of course, the blame for the Charlottesville riot rests exclusively with the Alt-Right. These reprobates dared to show their faces in public and held a white nationalist rally to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue. For this infraction, they bear sole responsibility for all that ensued: the riot, the death of a young woman, and the national divide.

President Trump's attempt to soothe the nation's wounds served only to put him in the crosshairs. He failed to call out by name and publicly condemn the Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists. So our noble politicians and media castigated the president for what he didn't say. Hyper-ethical CEOs resigned from the president's business councils, forced by their impossibly high standards to denounce the words the president never said.

Then the president had the audacity to say there were two sides fighting, the Alt-Right and the Alt-Left, and shouldn't both share some blame?

The world goes ballistic. How dare the president attempt to vindicate white supremacists by equating them with the Alt-Left? Many politicians and media rush to defend Antifa, saying shutting down free speech is okay because it's "hate speech" by the repugnant Alt-Right.

Oh, the irony!

This borrowed narrative that certain groups cannot live among us, that they're dangerous enemies to be contained, has a frighteningly familiar ring.

When Hitler rose to power, he seized on Germany's anti-Semitic ideas to scapegoat Jews. His propaganda portrayed Jews as liars and cheaters, a danger to Germany's economy and government.

- Hitler successfully identified an enemy the German people could despise, condemn, and ostracize with a clear conscience.

Now the cabal (government, deep state, and media), in their rise to power seize on American's revulsion for racists, Nazis, and the KKK. The left preaches that Nazis and racists are the root of all evil in America, purveyors of hate and racism, a threat to civilized society.

- The cabal successfully identifies an enemy the American people can despise, condemn, and ostracize with a clear conscience.

The truth is, yes, Nazis are despicable, white supremacists are indeed detestable, but they're no threat to our country. Their numbers are insignificant, their messages obsolete. Had they been left alone to protest, it would have been a non-event, hardly newsworthy,

No, the real threat is our government and media, who made this protest front page news, who blanketed the airways with Charlottesville for days to stoke the flames of racism and hate.

The threat to our liberty comes from our government's move to defend Antifa, the 21st-century storm troopers whose motto appears to be "shut up or we'll shut you up." The threat is from globalists, who seek to interfere in America's internal affairs, and the United Nations, who suggests that the U.S. suppress freedom of expression to combat racism.

The mother of all threats is Americans who feel justified to turn on other Americans, who tacitly agree to ration freedom to state-sanctioned groups.

For those who revel in this self-righteous judgement, remember the fate of those reviled Jews under Hitler. In the end there was no one left to defend them, no one to oppose Hitler's government, to stop the coming holocaust.

For those who rail against white supremacists, go ahead, tout your moral superiority. But note Antifa in black masks lawlessly shutting down free speech and compare that to the lawless KKK in their white robes. Only the color of their hoods changes.

And for those who see yourselves as the "good guys" valiantly fighting hate and racism, ask yourselves who's defining the haters. Who's controlling the hate? Then ask what you'll do if you wake up to a world where you're no longer the "good guy," where you're the despicable scum who needs to be eradicated.

Because the Nazis are only step #1. Soon we'll all be "Nazis," the border wall will be Nazism, deporting illegals Nazism  any part of the Trump agenda will be labeled Nazism. After they've stripped Nazis of their 1st Amendment rights, they'll move to silence others: Christians (already have), Jews, Republicans, conservatives. Any who stand in the way of their absolute rule will be labeled "Alt-Right."

This cabal is making great strides in abolishing free speech. In this Nazi-KKK furor, citizens show they're willing to abandon Americans' constitutional rights to avoid the racist scarlet letter. Many Americans would rather see a racist or Nazi executed without a trial, without due process, than risk the stigma of defending the indefensible.

Our Founding Fathers sacrificed their property, their reputations, even their lives not so we can be talked out of freedom. They warned of tyranny, built a Constitution to withstand attack, yet apparently never imagined Americans could simply be shamed into surrendering their independence.

A sense of urgency is missing from the American discourse, failure to recognize the looming danger. The threat's very real: a public campaign to remove our president and undo our election is carried out daily in the media. This is open sedition. Many of our elected leaders are in on the coup, conspire to block the people's agenda. Americans are denied their constitutional right to assemble and speak, shut down by violent Antifa with our government's blessing.

The window of freedom is closing, my friends. The enemy is at the gate. This new conditional liberty is anathema to democracy. If we remain silent in the face of this oppression, there will be no going back.

America's a big prize, and this cabal's ready to do whatever it takes to win. It's a powerful group, dead-set on taking (back) control of our government. If we sit back and wait for others to carry freedom's torch, if we hope the president can singlehandedly drain the swamp, we risk it all. Our freedom, democracy, everything those before us fought and died for can and will be taken from us if we don't defend our Constitution.

"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power." Patrick Henry

Time's running out, America. Speak now or forever hold your peace.
And neither is Rex Tillerson. But lets consider Mattis first. James Mattis has made a couple of moves which can only be explained by his being quite ill-intentioned. Firstly, in written testimony to his Senate confirmation hearings Mattis stated that Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today. So Mattis believes in global warming. The wonderful thing about global warming is that is a basic litmus test for our public officials, especially for someone so well read as General Mattis. Anyone who still believes what they read in newspapers could be forgiven for thinking and stating that global warming is real and happening.

But General Mattis would have read up on the matter enough to know that it is a discredited scam, and then decided he would come out as a true believer anyway knowing full well the political consequences of that. Global warming was Obamas leitmotif. In his global warming stance, General Mattis may have declared his allegiance to the old regime.

And then there is the matter of Anne Patterson who, as U.S. ambassador to Egypt from 2011 to 2013, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian people hated her while she was there, hated her as much as they hated Obama. Ms. Patterson was fully on board with Obamas desire for Islamists to take over the Middle East. And despite knowing this, as he must have done, Mattis nominated her for the post of undersecretary of defense for policy. Why would any intelligent person do this, unless they had some ulterior motive which was completely at odds to the ethos of the Trump administration?

If you can judge a man by the company he keeps, Mattis scores poorly on that as well. Currently Mattis is Secretary of Defense, General John Nicholson is in charge of the Afghanistan campaign, General Joseph Dunford is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General Joseph Votel is commander of CENTCOM. Back in 2007, then Colonel Nicholson was in charge of Task Force Spartan, which had responsibility for a patch of Afghanistan that included a village called Bati Kot. On March 4, 2007, a Marine special operations company, Fox Company, was ambushed at Bati Kot, successfully fought their way out of the engagement and returned to base. Whereupon they found that they were falsely accused of indiscriminately killing civilians. Within days, Fox Company was ordered out of the war zone under a cloud of shame.

In May 2007, then Colonel Nicholson addressed the Pentagon press corps via satellite from Afghanistan, saying that what the Marine unit had done in Bati Kot represented "a stain on our honor" and a "terrible, terrible mistake. Though later exonerated by a court of inquiry at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Marines of Fox Company had their reputations and careers ruined.

Such is our now-general Nicholson who used an opportunity to thrash the reputations of some under his command so as to appear virtuous, and thus advance his own career. His chief enabler at the time was Votel, then Deputy Commander of Regional Command -- East, to whom he reported. Mattis, then CENTCOM commander, and Dunford, then ISAF commander, were also involved in the witch hunt. In 2016, General Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Since 9/11, the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has largely defined my service." So that is 17 years of failure and counting.

Trump, like Lincoln, is going to have to keep firing his generals until he gets someone who is on his side.

Tillerson also chose poorly on the subject of global warming. As CEO of Exxon, and an engineer himself, he would have had access to very good analyses on the subject and would have been aware of the political goals of the warmers in destroying the wealth of his shareholders and countrymen. But as one of Lenins useful idiots he became a promoter of global warming hysteria and applied Exxons considerable resources to that end. That is understandable in that a lot of CEOs these days are heavily into virtue signalling, but not forgivable. And lets revisit Tillersons role in bringing gay troop leaders to the Boy Scouts of America in 2013. Now, gays are part of humanity and will be with us to the end of time, but only someone with an aberrant moral compass would think they should be left in charge of young boys, especially the ones who want to be troop leaders.

Tillerson hasnt done anything wonderful yet as Secretary of State and on his current trajectory is unlikely to. President Trump has enough momentum from inspired appointments such as Scott Pruitt to head the EPA that he can afford to start changing out people who shouldnt have been chosen in the first place.

David Archibalds latest book is American Gripen: The Solution to the F-35 Nightmare.
Make no mistake. Removing statues and monuments related to the Confederacy, which is driven by the left, is not about redressing the legacy of slavery and racism, but rather its to advance the agenda to takedown the United States. There is, after all, enormous leverage for the left in transforming historic monuments of Americas past into symbols of racism and oppression. Its like giving a new set of crowbars and sledgehammers to Americas internal enemies to help them further pull apart the unity of the American people, divide the electorate, and bludgeon their political opponents and particularly the present populist president, Donald Trump -- to arouse yet more hatred and animosity toward him.

This demolition campaign needs to be understood not only in the context of past and present politics, but also in context of the philosophy of those leading the agenda, the 50-year continuum of secular progressive accomplishments that preceded this, and most importantly why this stage may be the lynchpin in taking the country down.

Philosophically, the lefts secular progressivism has always been rooted in Marxism and its neoMarxist offspring that are predominantly focused on socialist redistribution, environmentalism and race, class and gender warfare. This not only puts them at war with capitalism and free markets, but also with traditional and family values, patriotic symbols, liberties and national sovereignty that are enshrined in and protected by the Constitution -- the legal basis of Americas democratic republic.

Historically, back in the mid-1960s the U.S. welfare system and particularly Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was transformed by radical activist lawyers and community legal aid interest groups, filing hundreds of lawsuits, who succeeded in establishing a federal constitutional right to a minimum adequate income based on the number of children in the single-parent household. The unintended but predictable consequences began showing up fairly quickly in terms of fewer marriages and absentee fathers, as well as negative psychological consequences of robbing people of the dignity of work. Urban black communities became transformed into a new plantation system of patronage by the Democratic Party.

The dissolution of the family was broadened further through the 1970s sexual revolution and the explosion of divorce rates that followed, and within two generations four out of ten white children were being born out of wedlock. The mainstreaming of alternative LGBT relationships and legitimization of gay marriage further polarized the social fabric of the U.S., undermining the special place and central importance of traditional marriage and childbearing. The transgender agenda has been moving apace rapidly with a scope that ranges from encouraging children to question and even experiment with their sexual identities to transforming the armed services from their main purpose of fighting and winning wars. The conservation and environmental movement that is way more than 50 years old, has become so politically transformed by the left with dogma on global warming and climate change that it not only threatens to rearrange the economy with more government regulation and control, but it also seeks to deny skeptics and dissenters their First Amendment rights, prompting former attorney general Loretta Lynch to consider criminal charges and jail time for climate change dissenters.

This legacy combined with the last decades significant growth in food stamp entitlements, a 700% increase in government-backed student loan indebtedness, and the doubling of federal government debt to nearly $20 trillion -- all taking place in just two terms of Barack Obamas administration -- has caused many on the left to feel the conditions for collapse and final transformation of the U.S. are at hand.

The reason that toppling and removing statues and monuments is a lynchpin in taking down America is simple: it serves to sever the present from the past and undermine the value and meaning of the sacrifice of our forebears. Early Americans failings in moral judgment regarding slavery were very real. But the nation paid a huge price for redemption from the sin of slavery by the shedding of the blood of some 800,000 Americans, who were killed in the Civil War -- the largest loss of American life of any war in our history.

The Civil War is remembered by most people as the seminal event that abolished slavery. But the Constitution was equally important, providing the legal mechanism for ending slavery, just as it provided the legal means to continue the process of advancing minority civil rights. In contrast to countries like Japan and Germany, which both made concerted efforts to expunge and cover up their egregious sins of imperialism and racial supremacy that led to World War II, America has faced its past mistakes without denial.

The removal of Confederate monuments and statues not only belittles and diminishes the lives that were sacrificed on both sides, but it also serves to expunge from the American memory the growth and learning that came out of these moral failings. A people who fail to learn from their past -- with all its struggle and sacrifice -- are generally not equipped to think about where they are going. When you sever peoples consciousness of their past, theyre more likely to become sheep who can be led to their own slaughter.

Indeed Americans are some of the most self-critical people in the world, which has shaped the nation in terms of its citizens learning from the nations failings. Facing failure with honesty is not a source of shame. Rather it is part of something we call, American exceptionalism.

Looking back on my public school education in the 1960s, I remember that most students were required to read George Orwells classics Animal Farm and 1984 by their junior year in high school. At that time, there was a heightened concern about the phenomena of totalitarianism as the nation came to terms with shocking revelations from scholarly works on Nazism and also with the equally shocking expansion of brutal communist rule in new Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe. Reading Orwell, it was thought, would help students gain perspective and critical faculties so as to understand socialist totalitarianism and its institutionalization of falsehood and propaganda designed to destroy peoples grasp on reality as well as to understand the dynamics of group think and collectivism, which are anathema to critical and independent thinking -- the basis of a free society in America.

I remember most of my classmates found Orwells narratives entertaining, but preposterous -- especially as in a section in 1984, which read, Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, and every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

We thought then it could never happen in America.

Fast-forward 50 years and we see that it has happened in corruption and the concealing of corruption by the media and ruling elite like never before.

A trip down recent memory lane requires confronting the lies and cover-ups of the Fast and Furious arms sale operations to Mexican drug dealers, the wholesale denial by the IRS of conservative groups first amendment rights, the terrorists attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens, and the national security breaches by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton resulting from her email communication over a private and unsecure computer server, that was itself put in place to mask her conflicts of interests involving pay-for-play fundraising for the Clinton Foundation and her simultaneous duties of being Secretary of State. A level of corruption that is breathtaking.

Then there was the unprecedented deficit spending that doubled the national debt to a staggeringly dangerous level in the Obama years without so much as a peep of warning out of the Federal Reserve.

The establishment media has been dominated by liberals since the Vietnam War, but it has now almost completely gone over to the dark Orwellian side -- showing no compunction at all about falsifying the record by omission, distortion, and even trying to stop history, in an endless present in which the Party is always right.

The concepts of newspeak and doublethink in Orwells 1984 are quite fully manifest in what we experience now as political correctness. Newspeak is the distorted reality accomplished by manipulating the meaning of language and words, while double think is the conditioned mental attitude to ignore reality and common sense and substitute and embrace a distorted or false narrative to the exclusion of other views. As Orwell notes, the whole aim of Newspeak and Doublethink is to narrow the range of thought. This is the goal of political correctness, and it explains why its adherents tend to be so intolerant -- even convinced that people with opposing views be arrested.

One measure of the establishments venality is in their denial of unresolved issues and problems that violate core principles of the Constitution and threaten the nations economic viability. Another measure of corruption is the establishments appeasement and accommodation with extremist anti-American groups on the left as though they have a legitimate role to play in the reform and influence on policy-making, whether in taking down of historic monuments, controlling the nations borders, police protocols in law enforcement, fighting wars overseas or restructuring the economy at home.

Americans sensed the hour was late in November 2016 when they took a chance and voted to elect outsider Donald Trump for President, with all his faults and shortcomings. Cut from different cloth than politicians, Trump was surprisingly transparent, sometimes expressing himself in raw human terms, putting substance ahead of form, connecting with working people across race and ethnicity, and never afraid of speaking directly and repudiating political correctness.

Even failing to get support to pass but a few of his legislative initiatives, President Trump will have a successful presidency with lasting effect if he continues the pursuit of five imperatives: 1) continues to make as many solid judicial appointments as possible; 2) completes the repudiation of the Orwellian media and the political correctness that envelopes the culture; 3) enforces existing laws that protect first amendment rights of speech and religion; 4) protects the nations borders and prescribes sensible limitations on immigration; and 5) selectively prosecutes serious law breakers from the prior administration and others still operating in the national security bureaucracies known as the deep state.

A fitting legacy for the Trump Presidency might well be: The man who came in from the outside and won the presidency against all the odds, and who took on his shoulders the mission to save the American people from their own government and media. Sounds a lot like making America great again.

Scott Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute in Seattle. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
Before being downgraded to a tropical storm, Hurricane Harvey claimed at least 38 lives and unleashed record rainfall, which drove an estimated 32,000 people into shelters. Tragedies occurred across the path of the storm. Six members of the Saldivar family, aged 6 to 84, drowned together when they could not escape their van. A three-year-old girl was rescued while clinging to her dead mother's body. The mother had turned herself into a life raft, sacrificing her own life to save her daughter. A police officer drowned in the line of duty, trying to help others.

Across the psycho-fanatical left wing, people are rejoicing that death and destruction occurred in Texas.

University of Tampa professor Ken Storey likened Hurricane Harvey to karmic retribution against people who support the GOP. Cartoonist Matt Wuerker of Politico didn't wait for all the corpses to float to the surface before he grabbed the chance to mock Christianity and depict flood victims as racist ingrates. The infamous Charlie Hebdo drew Texans giving the Nazi salute as they drowned. There have been many sick statements celebrating the fact that the disaster struck Texas. Nor will Twitter or Fakebook censor this depraved death lust, because it comes from the left.

Psychosis is a mental state in which the individual cannot recognize reality and clings to false, irrational beliefs regardless of strong contradictory evidence. Among the kinds of psychosis, there is fanaticism, which generates a delusional system wherein certain people are viewed as having become possessed by evil spirits. This psychosis is different from a genocidal viewpoint. It is a delusional system that the minds of certain people are demon-possessed, and therefore it is best that they die.

Much of the left wing is insane to the degree that its members react to anyone supporting the president, being conservative, or even voting Republican not as valid, respectable political opinions, but akin to demon possession. Notwithstanding that Houston is a predominantly Democratic city with a Democrat mayor, the psychotic fanaticism that celebrates the hurricane irrationally associates all of Texas as possessed by the spirit of Nazis, racists, the KKK, etc. This is so far removed from objective reality that it must be viewed not merely as a bias or prejudice, but as psychosis paralleling the forces behind atrocities of fanatic superstition such as witch-burning.

The development of this mental imbalance was inevitable. It is commonplace to hear prominent political and media voices make nonsensical and ludicrous statements about people with conservative viewpoints. The current administration is branded white supremacist, the president is called a bitter racist who supports the KKK, and conservatives are sympathetic to Nazism. Recently, Apple, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and George Clooney directed millions of dollars to the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose stock in trade, and primary cash cow, is to call Christianity "hate."

When the most powerful voices tell these lies over and over, the falsehoods congeal into unthinking fanaticism in the weak-minded. That fanaticism looks for supposed carriers of evil spirits  in this case, Texans  and rejoices when death and destruction come to them.
When Bernie Sanders introduces his "Medicare for all" plan this month, there will be plenty of talk about how Democrats are increasingly embracing single-payer health care and how it's becoming more popular with the public.

What a fawning press won't say, however, is that what Sanders is proposing is more left-wing than even what socialist states have attempted. Sanders would have the government pay 100% of all health costs, with no deductibles or co-pays for anything  just pure pork. Even in Sanders's beloved Denmark, people have to pay a chunk of health costs out of pocket. In China, 32% of health care is paid by the Chinese out of their own pockets. And, unlike Sanders's plan, most countries leave some room for private insurance. Not Sanders. He takes it to the full Mao in his worker-ant vision. Like Hugo Chavez, he's promising "heaven."

Sanders is a radical so out of the mainstream that no industrialized nation would touch such a plan as his. Yet mainstream Democrats are now falling in line behind it, promising miracles. Which party, again, has become captive to its fringe?

Check out Investor's Business Daily's full editorial on the nightmare here.
The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has a reputation for going over the top when attacking its subjects. The publication was the target of Muslim vengeance in 2015 when it published several Mohammed cartoons.

The magazine's latest edition has not only gone over the top, but hit the upper reaches of the stratosphere.

The magazine mocks the victims of hurricane Harvey with the headline "God Exists! He Drowned All the Neo-Nazis of Texas." Not content with that shockingly insensitive hed, the magazine featured some artwork, too.

An evil, despicable cover. Also, the losers at Charlie Hebdo have a God-given right to publish it, & no one has the right to shoot them pic.twitter.com/isOVjkXPR0  Tiana Lowe (@TianaTheFirst) August 30, 2017

Fox News:

The weekly magazine is known to cause controversy with its cartoons, which often create a backlash against the magazine  including a terrorist attack in 2015 in which two gunmen opened fire on the publication's staff in their Paris offices for mocking an ISIS leader. More recently, the magazine's cartoonists depicted British Prime Minister Theresa May as decapitated and linked the vehicular terror attack in Barcelona to Islam. The cover showed the words, "Islam: religion of peace ... eternal," with a cartoon showing mowed down people on the street. A Politico cartoonist has also come under fire for, according to critics, mocking Harvey victims in Texas for their alleged hypocrisy. Matt Wuerker portrayed a Texan with a Confederate flag shirt being airlifted out of a flooded house with a sign reading "secede." The cartoon man praised his rescuers as "Angels! Sent by God" only to be corrected that it was "actually Coast Guard ... sent by the government."

Charlie Hebdo is cherry-picking. The business model of the magazine is to shock, repel, enrage, and otherwise disgust ordinary, decent people. Picking on dead victims of a natural disaster is a no-brainer for them.

I don't think any Texans will be booking flights to Paris to seek revenge. But it wouldn't surprise me if there aren't a few Texans who would love five minutes alone in a room with that writer.

While Twitter outrage is the order of the day, Charlie Hebdo is laughing all the way to the bank.
The predictable violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, when police channeled opposing groups into the same confined space and then failed to intervene, requires explanation. Given the alacrity with which Democrat office-holders and the MSM exploited the violence for political gain, reasonable suspicions arise over whether this was intentionally set up as political theater.

It already looks as though the official local investigation is shaping up as a whitewash. The man chosen as the "independent" investigator is a Democrat who reportedly donated to the Charlottesville mayor's election.

That is why a civil suit may be necessary to get to the bottom of matters. Believe it or not, civil litigators have certain advantages over prosecutors and government investigations in that constitutional protections against government abuses less directly apply in litigation. In depositions, for instance, testimony can be compelled and its relevance later determined prior to be shown to a jury. That's why this report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch is a reason for hope:

A Verona-based law group is planning to file a lawsuit against Charlottesville, its police chief and the Virginia State Police for not protecting citizens in the Aug. 12 white nationalist rally . Officials with Nexus Caridades Attorneys say they will sue city and state officials for "standing down" and not intervening in the violence, during which their client, Robert Sanchez Turner, was injured. Attorneys did not specify in which court the lawsuit would be filed. State and federal laws allow civil rights cases to be filed in either local courts or U.S. District Court. The organization will officially announce the lawsuit at an 11 a.m. news conference Friday in Emancipation Park, the site of the rally. "Mr. Turner was assaulted while police officers watched but failed to act to keep him safe or arrest those responsible for the attacks," Jen Little, public relations director for the organization, wrote in an email. "As reported by Mr. Turner and confirmed by footage from dozens of media cameras and hundreds of handheld cameras and phones, police stood down. This stand-down enabled neo-Nazis to inflict a modern-day race war in the streets of Charlottesville," Little wrote.

My understanding is that it can be very difficult to enforce a "responsibility to protect" obligation on law enforcement. But if this lawsuit is allowed to proceed to the deposition stage, we may end up learning a lot of facts about the preparations and orders given now that we know that local authorities were fully warned about the potential for violence.

Update: Add another planned lawsuit, this one apparently from the left, as the law firm specializes in immigration (an SJW favorite). Andrea Noble writes in the Washington Times:

A man who was assaulted during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is suing the city and state police, alleging that officers were ordered to stand down and failed to act even as they witnessed the attack. According to the federal lawsuit, Robert Sanchez Turner was sprayed in the eye with pepper spray and beaten with canes, and had urine thrown on him during the Aug. 12 rally in Charlottesville, as police officers stood less than 10 feet away and did nothing to stop the assault or arrest the assailants. "By commanding their subordinates to stand down while hundreds of white supremacists and their sympathizers assaulted and seriously injured counterprotesters, these defendants were essentially accessories to, and facilitators of, unconstitutional hate crime," states the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times. Nexus Caridades Attorneys, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, is expected to announce additional details about the case Friday.

Hat tip: Mark J. Fitzgibbons
The U.S. State Department has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in San Francisco and two other facilities in retaliation for Russia's order to reduce the number of American diplomats by more than 700.

The move tosses the ball back into Putin's court, as the tit-for-tat game of barred diplomats threatens to worsen the already tense situation between the two nuclear powers.

AFP:

Washington said Thursday it had ordered the shuttering of Russia's San Francisco consulate and two diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York "in the spirit of parity," after Moscow's July demand for it to reduce its diplomatic staff. "The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. Washington said it hoped the two sides "can avoid further retaliatory actions" and improve ties but warned it was "prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted." Russia's foreign ministry expressed "regret at the escalation of tensions" and said it would "examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced." - 'Takes two to tango' - But top diplomat Sergei Lavrov avoided blaming the Trump administration for the latest tensions and laid the guilt squarely at the door of his predecessor Barack Obama. "We are open even now for constructive cooperation where it answers Russian interests," Lavrov said Friday. "But it takes two to tango and so far our partner is, again and again, doing an individual break dance." Lavrov is to meet his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in September in New York. The fresh diplomatic spat is the latest twist in tortured ties between the US and Russia, which have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

Hopefully, Tillerson and Lavrov can halt the diplomatic back-and-forth and put U.S.-Russia relations back on a constructive path.

But while the retaliation against Russia is well deserved (the reduction of more than 750 American diplomats in Russia is unprecedented), improving relations depends more on Russia's behavior in Ukraine than on anything else. Putin's actions in Syria and the Russian government's support for hacking U.S. targets are problematic but not as dangerous as Moscow's continuing efforts to destabilize Ukraine by supporting separatists. Russia's Ukrainian military intervention  the worst kept secret in the world  could draw NATO into the conflict if the separatists try to carve out a Russian enclave in the east. For the moment, Putin seems content to let the pot simmer, but fresh fighting can break out at any time.

Trump's desire to reconfigure U.S.-Russia relations based on the strategic necessity of confronting terrorism is a legitimate goal, but other issues appear to be pushing the two countries farther apart. Putin would welcome cooperation, but only on his own terms. That might not be possible for the U.S., whose patience appears to be running out with Moscow over side issues.
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- ROME - - The new film by director Andrea Segre, "The Order of Things", uses cinema as a way to discuss the relationship between Italy and Libya, putting humanity first and trying to redefine the way of thinking about migration. The film, which will be in Italian theatres on September 7, was sponsored by Amnesty International, Doctors for Human Rights and the non-profit NAGA, and had a special screening at the 74th Venice Film Festival.



In the film, Corrado is a high-level official in the Italian Interior Ministry. The government chooses him to face one of the thorns in the side of Europe's borders: illegal trips from Libya to Italy. "The idea came from the desire to know what happens to a human being who is given the task to put into practice an ethically risky operation," Segre told ANSA. Although work on the film began three years ago, its theme is particularly current. "I met people who are real-life 'Corrados'," Segre said. "We based the plot on their stories, mixing them with stories from the migrants themselves, as well as texts and research from the field," he said. In his work Corrado meets Swada, a Somalian woman who is trying to cross the sea to reach her husband in Europe. Segre said this leads Corrado to commit "the number one mistake" made by those who do this work. "You can't meet a migrant, because after that it becomes difficult to apply the order of things, but the protagonist runs the risk all the same," Segre said. He said the order of things is "the habit to which we're handed over to when we're speaking about migration". "We take it for granted that the topic is whether to accept or to send away migrants. This forces a position in which the reasoning of the State is superior to ethics. We don't understand that this phenomenon is part of a path of common transformation and not of comparison with an external body. This is a risky position. It opens space to questionable operations such as those in Libya," he said. People move for reasons of primary necessity, but also to meet, to work, and for pleasure.



"Are these needs more or less important than the economic power that wants to limit them? And this is the right question, not whether to welcome them or reject them," Segre said.



The film's release will be accompanied by the publication of a pamphlet titled "To Change the Order of Things", with contributions from writers and migrant activists such as Igiaba Scego, Ilvo Diamanti, Luigi Manconi, Andrea Baranes and Pietro Massarotto. "The text is meant to be read after seeing the film.



It doesn't give recipes, but rather the tools necessary to change one's own point of view to be able to imagine new solutions," Segre said. He said that the film's website will allow for commenting on the debate, to enrich it with new thoughts, "in the hopes that this path leads to having the courage to put forward proposals that take away the fate of having to deal with this phenomenon by harming".
- BEIRUT - The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holy city and one of the main centres in Saudi Arabia, concludes on Friday with the Sacrifice Feast.



According to official Saudi sources, this year 2.35 million people from around the world participated in the annual rite, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.



The large majority of the pilgrims who reached Mecca - 1.75 million - came from abroad.



Of those, five percent came from Europe while 60 percent came from non-Arab Asian countries with a strong Muslim presence.



Saudi authorities worked to ensure the pilgrims' safety by dispatching 100,000 police officers and using 3,500 buses and shuttle vans to take the faithful from one station to another across the five-day pilgrimage path. The entire journey was monitored by 5,000 closed-circuit surveillance cameras, in order to avoid dangerous accidents such as the one that took place two years ago in which about 2,500 people died.
- ZAGREB - The name of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the anti-Fascist Partisan leader and head of Communist Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980, was removed on Friday from one of the most picturesque squares in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, 71 years after it was placed there.



The decision to change the name of the square, where the country's national theatre and the University of Zagreb are located and which will now be dedicated to the Republic of Croatia, was approved by the local coalition headed by Mayor Milan Bandic.



Bandic is currently a populist independent but was formerly a Social Democrat and, as a youth, a member of the Communist Party.



Last June, Bandic was reconfirmed for the sixth consecutive time as mayor of Zagreb, but without a majority in the municipal assembly.



In order to govern, Bandic had to reach an agreement with a new far-right party that made the removal of Tito's name from the square one of the essential conditions of the accord.



Controversy has swirled for years over whether to keep the square named after the ethnic Croat Communist leader, who was born in 1896 in Croatia. Groups on the right insist Tito was a Communist dictator responsible for the deaths of thousands of Croats at the end of WWII, when his victorious Partisans killed about 20,000 soldiers of the pro-Fascist Ustase regime, as well as thousands of civilians fleeing Communism.



Left-wing groups see Tito as the glorious face of the populist anti-Fascist fight in the former Yugoslavia, and one of the most important figures in Croatian history.



Those on the left see Friday's decision as further evidence that Croatia is undergoing a deep, negative revision of its anti-Fascist WWII past, which it believes is becoming increasingly seen in a totalitarian light, as a prelude to the Communist dictatorship.
EU tells Orban it 'doesn't fund barriers' EC said it will analyse Hungarian prime minister's requests

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 1 - A European Commission spokesperson said Friday the European Union won't fund border walls but will "analyse requests" from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after Orban asked the EU help pay for the country's 400-million-euro border fence.



"The European Commission supports management of external European borders, but doesn't fund barriers," the spokesperson said.(ANSAmed).




BERLIN - The Hungarian government under Viktor Orban is demanding the EU pay for half of the border fence erected along its southern borders to keep migrants out. The announcement of having sent the bill to European Comission president Jean-Claude Juncker was made by a deputy minister on Thursday.

However a European Commission spokesperson said Friday the European Union won't fund border walls but will "analyse requests" from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after Orban asked the EU help pay for the country's 400-million-euro border fence.

"The European Commission supports management of external European borders, but doesn't fund barriers," the spokesperson said.(

Hungary wants 400 million euros, half the cost of the works initiated in the autumn of 2015 when, amid a refugee emergency, the leader of the conservative and right-wing populist party Fidesz decided to take the opposite approach to that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's opening Germany up to refugees, thereby drawing the hostility of countries in Eastern Europe.

''If we talk of European solidarity, we must also talk about border protection,'' Janos Lazar, former leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group and current Minister of Prime Minister's Office, said, ''and this solidarity must be considered in a pragmatic manner. Thus, the EU should pay its share.'' Hungary has instead always been against the EU ''quota'' policy, which calls for a redistribution of migrants with the right to stay in the EU across all member states.

The 170-km fortified fence was finished in May and consists of a double fence with barbed wire and sensors to intercept anyone trying to cross it illegally. It was built along the country's southern border with Serbia and Croatia. The barrier is physical and psychological and stands as a strong symbol of the stance taken by the populist Hungarian leader to keep foreigners out of the country.
Italy weighing military collaboration with Chad and Niger For Libyan border control, 'no missions planned yet'

(ANSAmed) - TARANTO, SEPTEMBER 1 - Italian defense minister Roberta Pinotti said Thursday that the data showing a drop in migrant arrivals in Italy during the months of July and August are ''very comforting'' and that they show that ''the strategy was right and must be continued''. Italy's involvement in Libya is directed towards this end, she noted, while ''we are speaking to Niger and Chad about possible military collaboration''. She was speaking in Taranto as part of the ceremony for Italy's handover of command of the EU naval mission EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia to Spain. An Italian will remain at the helm of the mission Admiral Enrico Credentino.



The changeover from Italy to Spain - underscored Minister Pinotti, in Taranto on Thursday with her Spanish counterpart, Maria Dolores de Cospedal Garcia - represented ''an important step because Italy has been involved since the very beginning but it is only right that there be greater sharing and solidarity''. Operation Sophia was launched on June 22, 2015 and extended by the EU until December 31, 2018. Thus far it has rescued about 39,000 migrants, arrested 117 suspected human traffickers and 477 vessels have been ''neutralized'' (taken out of the hands of criminal organizations). Pinotti noted that the EU mission ''also trains the Libyan coastguard and that this is connected with what Italy is doing through a bilateral mission, helping Libya with its naval vessels. We believe that it is important to support this, which Libya sees as necessary'', pointing out, though, that ''it is absolutely not a mission that should infringe on Libyan sovereignty''. She went on to say that Italy was pleased with the fact that its strategy regarding Libya and the management of ''clandestine emigration'' was supported in Paris by Germany, France and Spain. ''It is from this standpoint that we are engaging in dialogue with Germany and France as concerns the possibility of cooperation with and support to Niger and Chad as well,'' she added, saying that Italy is talking to the two African countries ''on the basis of possible military collaboration. We are talking about training and border control''. Thus far, though ''no missions have been planned. If these possibilities were to become more solid,'' the minister said, ''we would discuss it in Parliament''. As concerns Libya, Italy is very willing to help restore security management in the country. (ANSAmed).




Serbia: 19 percent more foreign tourists this year

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, 1 SEPTEMBER - From January to July this year, 812,504 foreign tourists visited Serbia, 19 percent more than in 2016, the Tourism Organization of Serbia (Tos) said.



Foreign tourists had 1,759,112 overnight stays, 17 percent more than in the same period last year, Tos said, quoting data from the state statistical authority. In this period, there were 929,857 domestic tourists, seven percent more than in the period from January to July 2016. Domestic tourists had 3,037,424 overnight stays, or seven percent more than in the same period last year, the statement reads. A total of 1,742,361 tourists have been registered, which is 12 percent more than in the same period last year. (ANSAmed)
R Seshasayee, along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys.

Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee on Friday hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" against him. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee on Friday hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

Seshasayee, who along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys after Murthy rallied other co-founders and institutional investors to bring back peer Nandan Nilekani, said he had always been candid and truthful in all his statements concerning Infosys.

"Since my resignation from the board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," he said, adding he was forced to issue a statement after Murthy's "personal attack and patently false and slanderous accusations" at an investor call earlier this week.

Days after installing Nilekani, Murthy had on August 29 stated that his concerns with the previous board led by Seshasayee were poor governance and ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal being paid large severance as 'hush-money'.

Seshasayee said Murthy's statement to the investors "misleadingly attributes words" to him, words taken "completely out of context" to make it appear that he had lied.

Murthy had in his investor call said that Seshasayee had on October 14 told him that the board agreed to pay Bansal large sum of money as it "felt generous". "To quote an anonymous whistle blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," he said.

Also, words that Murthy attributes to independent directors Jeff Lehman and Roopa Kudva from their private conversation with him are also "egregiously taken out of context," he said.

Murthy had stated that Lehman had told him that the reasons for payment to Bansal were confidential while Kudva asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement if he wanted to know the reasons.

"It is regrettable that Murthy's campaign on the alleged governance lapses has continually slipped into personal attacks and slander on individual board members," he said.

Seshasayee said he joined Infosys at the invitation of Murthy, who in February this year issued a press statement to say that "I was a man of high integrity. "I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivations for this persistent vendetta against me," he said.

The same statement went on to quote Jeffrey Lehman, a former of director of Infosys who also resigned recently, to say that Murthy should stop quoting "lies" floated in the anonymous letter on ex-CFO compensation and alleged irregularities in USD 200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya.

"For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop defaming Seshasayee and the other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other cheek when slandered, and who have acted only in the best interests of the company," he said.

He said during his tenure, Seshasayee was "scrupulously and tirelessly devoted to ensuring that the Board comply with all applicable principles of law and governance.

"An anonymous, so-called 'whistle blower' made outrageous charges against management; the Board engaged several sets of outside counsel and investigators of impeccable reputation, and those investigators determined that every charge was false and without any foundation," he said.

The statement also quoted John Etchemendy, another former Director of Infosys who also resigned recently from the Board, to say that Seshasayee is "a man of impeccable integrity. Faced with unfair, false, and outrageous attacks, he has consistently responded with scrupulous honesty and forthrightness".

He said he was "fully conversant with the details of the Rajiv Bansal issue" and can categorically state that at no point did Seshasayee say "anything in public or, to the best of my knowledge, in private that was untrue or did not reflect the collective view of the Board.
The actor was approached for the role of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's love interest, which will now be done by Rajkummar Rao.

Mumbai: National award winning-actor Rajkummar Rao has come on board Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's 'Fanney Khan'.

The actor, who was recently praised for his performance in 'Bareilly Ki Barfi', will join Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Divya Dutta in the new film.

Mehra announced the news on Twitter by welcoming Rao aboard.

Earlier, there were reports about Madhavan being a part of the film, but the actor has confirmed he dropped out of the film due to scheduling conflicts.

"I loved the script and was really keen to be part of an interesting ensemble like 'Fanney Khan', unfortunately, I couldn't commit to the project due to date issues. I wish the team of all the luck," Madhavan said in a statement.

While Arora said, "I think Madhavan is one of the finest actors we have today. I look forward to working with him in the future".
He says he's marching in memory of Heather Heyer, who died when a car plowed into a group of people protesting the white nationalist rally.

One of the pictures Mark Ruffalo shared on Twitter.

Charlottesville: Actor Mark Ruffalo has joined activists marching from Charlottesville, Virginia, to the nation's capital to condemn white supremacy recently on display in the Virginia city.

'The Avengers' star tweeted photos of himself today in 'The March to Confront White Supremacy.'

In a statement, Ruffalo says he's marching in memory of Heather Heyer, who died when a car plowed into a group of people protesting the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12.

Ruffalo also condemned President Donald Trump's response that "both sides" were to blame for the violence.

Ruffalo says there's "no place for racism, violence, and hatred" in the country.

Organizers said they had to stop Thursday's portion of the march early because they received threats from an armed person waiting for them further along the route.
Meanwhile, BMC commissioner ordered a one-member inquiry committee to investigate into the matter and submit its report in 15 days.

Bombay High Court on Friday issued notice to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other respondents and asked them to reply within two weeks over renowned gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkars tragic death after falling into an open manhole on August 29. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: Bombay High Court on Friday issued notice to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other respondents and asked them to reply within two weeks over renowned gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkars tragic death after falling into an open manhole on August 29.

Meanwhile, BMC commissioner ordered a one-member inquiry committee to investigate into the matter and submit its report in 15 days.

Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, who was suspected to have fallen into an open manhole during the Mumbai deluge on Tuesday, was found dead as his body washed ashore at Worli on Thursday.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) Mumbai Chapter has passed a resolution that it would file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the matter of tragic death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar.

The IMA also held BMC responsible for the death of Dr Amrapurkar.

"The entire doctor community across India is quite upset over such a careless and negligent incident. There must be safety measures in place as and when any manhole is opened," the Board said, in a letter to the Municipal Commissioner.

A gastroenterologist by profession, Dr Amarapurkar was missing since Tuesday, after he abandoned his car and decided to walk to his home in Elphinstone Road railway station.

He was carrying an umbrella with him, which was later found near the manhole.

The police had registered a missing persons complaint, and the fire brigade had launched a search operation to trace him.
Four to five vehicles were trapped in debris; rescue operations are still underway.

Four to five vehicles fell into Kondli canal after a garbage dump caved in at Ghazipur landfill site on Friday. (Photos: Twitter | ANI)

New Delhi: Two people died after a garbage dump caved in at a landfill site in east Delhi's Ghazipur.

Five people have been rescued so far, police said.

"Two bodies have been recovered, five persons rescued," Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Mayur Vihar) Ajay Arora told ANI.

Four to five vehicles fell into Kondli canal after a garbage dump caved in at Ghazipur landfill site on Friday.

Rescue operations by an NDRF team is underway at the garbage dump site in Ghazipur.

East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) Commissioner Ranbir Singh said, "Rescue operation is underway. Reason of the incident can be ascertained only after investigation."

Further details are awaited.
Leuthard said she was very happy over the outcome of her talks and that there was scope for further expansion of trade ties.

Swiss President Doris Leuthard and Prime Minister Narendra Modi greet each other before talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: Sondeep Shankar)

New Delhi: Ways to effectively combat black money and tax evasion figured extensively during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swiss President Doris Leuthard, who expressed strong commitment to help India to deal with the problem.

Mr Modi thanked Switzerland for helping India become a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a multilateral export control regime, and consistently supporting New Delhis bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Describing their talks as productive, Mr Modi said transparency in financial transactions is a major global challenge and that cooperation between India and Switzerland over it will continue further.

Be it black money, dirty money, hawala transaction or money related to arms and drugs, our cooperation with Switzerland continues to deal with the global curse, the Prime Minister said. The Swiss President exuded confidence that a law on ensuring automatic exchange of information relating to tax would be cleared by the Swiss Parliament by end of the year and her country will be able to exchange first set of information with India by 2019.

We hope by end of this year, this (law on automatic exchange of information) will be passed, she said.

The issue of black money has been a matter of major debate in India and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for the illicit wealth allegedly stashed abroad by some Indians.

In his comments, Modi also referred to the joint declaration on exchange of information relating to tax signed by the two sides last year. Last year we signed a joint declaration relating to automatic exchange of information relating to tax. As per its provision, after completion of the internal process in Switzerland, information will be shared with us on automatic basis, he said.

Leuthard said her country follows all international rules on financial transaction to ensure transparency, adding we have probably today one of the strongest laws on money laundering.

The two sides also deliberated on further boosting ties in key sectors like trade and investment, infrastructure and energy while agreeing on the need to continue dialogue on a bilateral investment pact.

Giving broad contours of their discussions, Modi said the extensive and productive talks covered bilateral, regional and global issues and that Leuthards visit further strengthened the bilateral ties. The two sides also inked two pacts for cooperation in the railway sector. These arean MoU between Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, and an MoU between Ministry of Railways, India and Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the Swiss Federation on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector.

Modi said there was deliberations on challenges of climate change and both sides agreed to work for implementing the Paris climate accord focusing on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

On trade cooperation, he said FDI has been a major pillar of economic ties and India particularly welcomes Swiss investors. We agreed on the need to continue dialogue on bilateral investment pact. Swiss companies have avenues to be part of Indias growth and development, he said.

The prime minister said there was deliberation on the trade and economic partnership agreement between India and European Free Trade Association and both the countries expressed resolve to conclude the pact.

On Switzerland support to Indias NSG bid, he said, India will be benefited from membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to meet its growing demand of clean energy.

Leuthard said she was very happy over the outcome of her talks and that there was scope for further expansion of trade ties. In this regard, she underlined the need for having an investment protection pact. She said Switzerland can offer India infrastructure of tomorrow in many areas including in railways. Negotiations for it are on. We hope it is important for our investment, she said.
The festival is being celebrated by the Muslims of South Asia at the weekend.

Srinagar: The Pakistan government has banned donation of skins of sacrificial animals by Muslims on Id-ul-Zuha to the organisations and groups which it says are involved in terrorism. Some of the blacklisted outfits are active in Jammu and Kashmir as well.

The neighbouring countrys interior ministry has issued a list of 71 such organisations and groups and said that under the law it is crime to donate the skins of the animals sacrificed on Id-ul-Zuha to these. The festival is being celebrated by the Muslims of South Asia at the weekend.

Under the law of the country, it is a crime to donate the skins (of sacrificial animals) to the organisations which are involved in activities related to terrorism, a notification issued by it said. It appealed to the people to donate the skins of sacrificial animals on the Id only to such aid organisation which are involved in purely charity work and have not been proscribed under any domestic or foreign law.

At least, three of the blacklisted organisations are active in Jammu and Kashmir, as well. These are Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Tehrik-e-Azad-i-Kashmir.

Also figure in the list are Jamaat-ud-Dawah of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed which has had sanctions placed against it as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, the Daish (ISIS) and Al Qaeda.

At least fourteen blacklisted outfits are active in Balochistan. These include Balochistan Liberation United Front, Baluchistan Liberation Army and Baluchistan United Army. Half a dozen outfits which figure in the list are operating in Gilgit, Baltistan region.

The organisations barred from receiving the skins of sacrificial animals, alms and charity for their involved in terrorist activities within Pakistan include Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tehrik-e-Jafriya Pakistan and Hizb-ul-Tehrir. Most of these organisations and outfits have already been banned by the Pakistan government but almost all continue to operate clandestinely.

Pakistanis are projected to spend Rs 200 billion this Id, sacrificing an estimated 3 million sheep, goats, cows, bulls, buffaloes and camels. Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) had after the last years Eid collected nearly 7.5 million hides and skin.
Gajapati Raju & Radha Mohan Singh likely to be shifted; Nitin Gadkari might get a bigger role in Team Modi; Kalraj tipped for governor.

Uma Bharti and Rajiv Pratap Rudy were among four ministers who resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday. (Photos: PTI)

New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi all set to go in for a major Cabinet reshuffle and expansion, three ministers are reported to have been asked to step down, while some more are likely to go.

The ministers who have so far resigned include Rajiv Pratap Rudy, minister of state for skill development, Mahendra Lal Pandey, HRD minister of state, and Sanjiv Baliyan, MoS for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation.

Speculation was rife that several others, including Nirmala Sitharaman, Chowdhury Birendra Singh, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Kalraj Mishra, would also go. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh are also to be shifted.

Shah meets ministers, PM amid rejig reports

In a late-night development, water resources minister Uma Bharti also resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday.

Kalraj Mishra and Sanjiv Balyan also met Shah, who later called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The election in Gujarat is due at the end of this year and the party will soon launch its poll slogan Garaje Gujarat.

President Ram Nath Kovind, who will be on a two-day visit to Tirupati Tirumala from September 1, will be back by Saturday afternoon. Also, Modi is due to leave for the Brics summit in China early Sunday.

Shah, it is learnt, is also due to participate in the Sangh Parivar affiliates meeting in Mathura on Saturday evening, where the RSS top brass, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, will be present. The three-day Sangh coordination meeting is beginning from September 1.

The BJP also named HRD minister of state Mahendra Nath Pandey as Keshav Prasad Mauryas successor as the chief of its Uttar Pradesh unit. Maurya is a part of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanaths Cabinet and one of the states two deputy chief ministers. Maurya, along with the UP CM and three other ministers, will contest the polls for the Legislative Council. Pandey, 59, is an MP from Chandauli and a brahmin.

During the strategy meeting on the Gujarat elections, besides Jaitley, the election co-incharges, including Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, P.P. Chaudhury, state incharge Bhupendra Yadav and state unit chief Jitu Vaghani were also present. The party has set a target of Mission 150 for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly. BJP general secretary (organisation) Ramlal also joined the meeting later
According to the CBI, ex-Air Chief S.P. Tyagi agreed to reduce specification for VVIP helicopters to let Agusta-Westland qualify for the bids.

New Delhi: The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet against former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and eight others over corruption in the Rs 3,500 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal.

In its 30,000-page chargesheet, the CBI named the 72-year-old former IAF Chief, the then Vice-Air Chief, J.S. Gujaral, Mr Tyagis cousin Julie Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan in connection with allegations of `450 crore bribery in the deal.

The CBI has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euros 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010, for the supply of 12 VVIP helicopters worth Euros 556.262 million.

The CBI told the court that it has been able to establish money trail worth Euro 62 million (Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Islands. The bribe money was brought to India through shell companies linked to Mr Khaitan.

Mr Tyagi, who retired in 2007, is the first IAF chief to be chargesheeted in a criminal case by the CBI. The agency has also named five foreign nationals as accused in its chargesheet, filed before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar here.

The foreign nationals who have been named in the chargesheet are alleged European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James and Guido Haschke, former CEO of helicopter-maker AgustaWestland Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica technology groups chairman Giuseppe Orsi. The accused have been chargesheeted for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC.

Mr Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev and Mr Khaitan were arrested on December 9 last year. They all are currently out on bail.

The court fixed September 6 to peruse the chargesheet in which the Anglo-Italian company, AgustaWestland, is also one of the accused. The agency is likely to file more documents on the next date of hearing.

The agency had earlier alleged that during his tenure as Air Chief, Mr Tyagi, and with his approval, the Air Force, agreed to reduce the service ceiling, or the maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally for VVIP helicopters from 6,000 meters to 4,500 meters.
Sources said the autopsy report of Aditya Sachdeva confirmed that his vertebrae were found fractured and he died due to brain injury.

Accused Rocky Yadav at Gaya court after being convicted in Aditya Sachdeva murder case in Gaya. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: The Gaya district court on Thursday pronounced suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devis son Rocky Yadav guilty of murdering teenaged student Aditya Sachdeva. Three others have been found guilty in the case.

Rocky Yadav had killed Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his SUV on the outskirts of Gaya on May 7 last year. According to police reports, Aditya and four of his friends were returning home from Bodh Gaya when the incident occurred.

He succumbed to his injuries immediately after Rocky shot him in the head.

Sources said the autopsy report of Aditya Sachdeva confirmed that his vertebrae were found fractured and he died due to brain injury. Cops investigating the case later found that the bullet which killed Aditya Sachdeva was fired from Rockys pistol.

Lawyers said that the investigations were carried out in a scientific manner. The quantum of the punishment will be pronounced by the court on September 6.

The entire family is now eagerly waiting for the court to announce the quantum of punishment in the case. We are satisfied that the court has convicted him of murdering my son, Adityas mother Chand Sachdeva told reporters in Gaya.

Rocky Yadav had surrendered in the court on October 29 last year, a day after the Supreme Court stayed the bail granted to him by Patna high court.

The Supreme Court had fixed September 5, 2017, as the deadline for the trial in the case. The state government had set up a special investigating team (SIT) to look into the case. Rocky Yadav was arrested on May 10 last year from his fathers factory situated near Bodh Gaya.

The police had also arrested his father, Bindi Yadav, and the bodyguard who was with him during the incident. His mother Manorama Devi was suspended from the JD(U) for misleading the police during the investigation.
A long and varied Festival of India will be held in Thailand, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

A long and varied Festival of India will be held in Thailand, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

This festival will act as a refresher to the people of Thailand, especially the new generation, of our age-old friendship said Bhagwant Bishnoi, Indian ambassador to Thailand.

Deputy head of mission, Ramu Abbagami, stated that the festival took more than six months to formulate, with the support of many state governments and Central ministries.

New Thai ambassador to India Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi stated that the festival would certainly give a boost to tourism in both countries.

One of the early events at the Festival, is a Bharatanatyam dance-drama on the life of Krishna, entitled Shri Krishna on September 2, by the Sri Bharatakala Dance Academy of Chennai.

They will give a second show in the hill-town of Kanchanaburi, three hours from Bangkok.

September and October will see a sumptuous spate of food festivals from different states of India, at the Festival of India.

These include an Uttar Pradesh Food Festival at Bangkok, which will also travel to the beach-towns of Phuket and Krabi, a Punjabi Food Festival in Bangkok and the popular beach resort of Pattaya, and finally, a Northeast Indian Food Festival in Bangkoks prime Shangri la Hotel.

A talk on Ayurveda and Exhibition of various ayurvedic oils, powders, drinks are an important event to be held at the well-known Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre on September 25-26.

One of the unique events at the Festival, is a Language Seminar entitled The Influence of Sanskrit and Pali on South East Asian Languages, with Special Emphasis on Thai at the top Chulalongkorn Varsity.

This will be attended by Thailands popular Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn, a Sanskrit scholar herself. Among the distinguished speakers, will be her Sanskrit guru Prof. Satyavrat Shastri.

Another special event at the Festival of India, will be a Seminar on The Thai Language in India, and will feature members of the TAI community in India, who live in the northeast part, like Assam. Their ancestors are supposed to be from Thailand, and they speak a dialect of Thai called Tai. The group of 18 Tais from Assam, will also perform many of their local songs and dances, at the important Mahachakri Sirindhorn Anthropological Centre .

The most important artiste to perform at the Festival of India in Thailand, is L. Subramaniam, on November 4.

It will no doubt be a sold-out show of a prodigious artistes who has a lobal following, thanks to his amazing mastery of both classical Indian, and Western rhythms, as well as fusion forms. This is his first performance in Bangkok.

A grand art exhibition, featuring some of the top contemporary Indian artists, will be held from September15-October 1, at the prime Bangkok Art and Culture Centre .

The unique Theme of the exhibition is India at 70, and it is curated by Gargi Sethi who has organised similar art exhibitions at other overseas Festivals of India.

Among the artists whose works will be on display, are well-known names like Anjolie Ela Menon, Jatin Das, Ramesheshwar Broota.

A Buddhist sculpture exhibition, with more than 70 grand images of Buddha, both from Thailand and India, would be on display in December, at Bangkoks National Museum. The Indian sculptures are being loaned by New Delhis National Museum.

A very special event at this years Festival of India, will be an aerobatic display by the Indian Air Forces famed Sarang helicopter team.

Their breathtaking aerial antics are sure to excite Thai audiences.

Last but not the least, would be a long spate of yoga and Bollywood workshops, with many local gurus, schools, clubs, to be held at an open-air park from November all the way to January.

After all, both have proved to be extremely popular in the city.

All in all, a holistic Festival of India in Thailand, that should further cement the 70th year of friendship between two close neighbouring countries.
The researchers drew on information submitted to Indian trauma database.

Washington: Comparative analysis of trauma data from India and the United States (US) finds that women in India are nearly 40 times more likely to die after being assaulted than their female counterparts in the US.

The Indian database comprised patients at four hospitals in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi--'megacities' with more than 10 million inhabitants. The US database included patients treated at three level one trauma centres in the medium sized city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The findings have been published in the online journal BMJ Global Health.

The researchers drew on information submitted to Indian (11,670 cases) and US (14,155 cases) trauma databases for 2013 to 2015 for the top three causes of injury: falls; road traffic accidents; and assaults. After rail transport and burn injuries had been excluded, and the cases matched for trauma type/severity, age, and gender, the final analysis included 7505 Indian and 9448 US cases.

Comparative analysis showed that Indian men were more likely to die after sustaining any one of the three categories of injury than either Indian women or US men and women. And US men were three times as likely to die after sustaining a fall than were US women. But the greatest disparity in risk of death emerged for Indian and US women who had been assaulted--a difference the researchers describe as "unparallelled."

Women in India who had been assaulted were nearly 40 times as likely to die of their injuries as were their US counterparts. Both men and women in the US had between five and seven times lower odds of dying after a fall or a road traffic accident than did their counterparts in India. In a bid to explain the findings, the researchers point to previous studies showing that men tend to be more badly affected than women after sustaining trauma, but it's not clear whether this is due to differences in injury type or in recovery.

As to the wide discrepancy in death risk following assault among women, the researchers suggest that women in India who have been assaulted may not seek medical attention promptly. They point to reliable evidence suggesting that only one in four female victims of assault in India actively seek care after experiencing intimate partner violence.

Pre-hospital care services are also not likely to be as well developed as they are in the US, added to which women from low income households may not be able to afford the treatment they need, they suggest. The researchers accept that the two sets of data were not standardised, and that some of the trauma cases might have been miscoded as falls or road traffic accidents when they were in fact assault, both of which would have affected the findings.

"The higher odds of death for Indian females compared with US females suggest that there are other injury and systemic factors that contribute to this discrepancy in mortality odds," they write.
Massachusetts man is suing Golden Corral Corporation for being kicked out of establishment for eating 50 pounds of food.

The welfare recipient was expelled after he spent more than seven hours on site eating a whopping 50 pounds of food, alone. (Photo: Pixabay)

Albert Flemming, from Massachusetts is suing Golden Corral Corporation for $2million for false advertising after he was thrown out of one of the chains restaurants by its employees.

According to witnesses, the welfare recipient was expelled after he spent more than seven hours on site eating a whopping 50 pounds of food, alone.

Despite advertising, an all you can eat buffet, the manager seemingly lost patience at some point telling the now disgruntled customer that his meal would be free but he has to leave.

The managers intervention angered Flemming, and after a brief altercation between the two, he was thrown out of the establishment. Flemming went on to call the police and filed a complaint against the restaurant and says he will hold the employeed accountable for their actions.

As reported by the website 8Shit, Flemming told reporters that it was a serious injustice and he was deeply insulted. He went on to add, With my income, I rarely go to restaurants, so I tried to get as much as I can for my money when I do. This was the worst experience I have ever had in a restaurant. Not only did they kicked me out while I was still hungry, but they looked at me like I was disgusting, like I was not worthy to eat here! Its unacceptable, and I demand compensation!

The restaurant chain quickly issues a press release stating that the decision to expel Flemming was a regrettable personal initiative from an overzealous franchise manager. According to them, they have also offered some financial indemnities to Felmming but it has been refused.

Flemming confirmed that he had been offered a significant amount of money by the company, butt he is convinced that he can get more if he goes to court.
The victim has been identified as Jaspal Singh, posted as joint director in office of registrar general, ministry of home affairs, they added.

On July 4, Mr Singh told the police that Rs 40,000 was withdrawn twice from his account and transferred to another account. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A senior government official fell prey to cyber fraud with cash worth Rs 1.60 lakh being fraudulently withdrawn from his bank account last month, the police said on Thursday. The victim has been identified as Jaspal Singh, posted as joint director in office of registrar general, ministry of home affairs, they added.

The incident occurred last month but a case was lodged on Thursday at Deshbandhu Gupta road police station. On July 4, Mr Singh told the police that Rs 40,000 was withdrawn twice from his account and transferred to another account. Later, Rs 80,000 was withdrawn using his ATM card.

Incidentally, all the while the victims debit card was with him when the transactions took place. Initially, Mr Singh approached the Tilak Marg police station with a complaint, which was later transferred to South Avenue. It was only when senior police officers were apprised that a case was filed.

The police said it is suspected that Mr Singh's debit card was cloned and the transactions were carried out using the cloned card.
The doctor had abandoned his car and decided to walk a stretch of 10 minutes from near the Elphinstone Road railway station.

Mumbai: The body of gastroenterologist Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, who went missing two days ago when torrential rains flooded most parts of the city, was recovered on Thursday morning by Coast Guard divers from Worli seashore where drain waters get discharged.

The police, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) suspect the body was washed ashore after Dr Amrapurkar (58) fell into an open manhole in Lower Parel. They believe he was walking through flooded streets to reach his Prabhadevi-based residence from his workplace, Bombay Hospital in south Mumbai.

The doctors body was identified by his wristwatch.

The doctor had abandoned his car and decided to walk a stretch of 10 minutes from near the Elphinstone Road railway station, while returning home, sources said. Dr Amrapurkars body was identified by the wristwatch he was wearing, as the body was completely bloated.

A fellow doctor, a close friend and neighbour of the deceased said on condition of anonymity that I have known Dr Amrapurkar for more than 10 years now and he has been my mentor and a great friend. He was a respected doctor on a global level, and often in debates, his word used to be the last word.

When asked about the familys condition, the friend said, They are in denial about the whole thing, and say it is nearly impossible to believe that the person who called up and said that he will be home in 10 minutes never turned up.

Both his children left for Mumbai from US after their father was reported missing, and arrived on Wednesday evening for his last rites.

Based on the description that he was last seen near the junction at India Bulls Centre in Parel, when messages started being circulated on social media sites, the Mumbai Fire Brigade team rushed to the spot and was carrying out search operations in the manholes located in the area.

Chief fire officer P. Rahangdale said, After receiving a call we started working, and today morning we received a call about recovering a dead body, which was later identified as that of Dr Amrapurkar with the help of a wristwatch, as the body was completely bloated.

The search team, which included NDRF divers, finally recovered Dr Amrapurkars body stuck in the outer gate of a drainage pipeline opposite Coast Guard headquarters in Worli.
The announcement was latest in tit-for-tat measures between the two nations that have helped to drive relations to a new post-Cold War low.

In an escalating tit-for-tat, the United States forced Russia on Thursday to shutter its consulate in San Francisco and scale back its diplomatic presence in Washington and New York, as relations between the two former Cold War foes continued to unravel. (Photo: AP)

Washington: The United States has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and buildings in Washington and New York that house trade missions, the State Department said on Thursday, in retaliation for Moscow cutting the US diplomatic presence in Russia.

The announcement was the latest in tit-for-tat measures between the two countries that have helped to drive relations to a new post-Cold War low, thwarting hopes on both sides that they might improve after US President Donald Trump took office in January.

Last month, Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people to match the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were imposed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and to punish Russia further for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the United States had completed the reduction.

In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, Nauert said, the United States has required the Russian government to close its San Francisco consulate and two annexes in Washington, DC and New York by Sept. 2. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of the closures in a phone call on Thursday, a senior Trump administration official said. The two men plan to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, the official said.

Lavrov expressed regret about Washingtons decision during the phone call with Tillerson, his ministry said. Moscow will closely study the new measures announced by the Americans, after which our reaction will be conveyed, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. The latest US move caps eight months of back-and-forth retaliatory measures between the two countries spanning two US administrations.

In December, the administration of Barack Obama closed two Russian countryside vacation retreats in Maryland and New York, saying the compounds had been used for intelligence-related purposes. The closures were part of a broader response, including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies, to what US officials have called cyber interference by Moscow in the 2016 elections. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

Trump came into office wanting to improve relations with Russia, a desire that was hamstrung by the election interference allegations. The new sanctions passed by Congress conflicted with Trumps goals, but he grudgingly signed them into law this month.

The United States said last week that it would have to sharply scale back visa services in Russia, a move that will hit Russian business travellers, tourists and students.

The Russian consulate in San Francisco handles work from seven states in the Western United States. There are three other Russian consulates separate from the embassy in Washington. They are in New York, Seattle and Houston.

The consulate in San Francisco is the oldest and most established of Russias consulates in the United States, the senior Trump administration official told reporters. An official residence at the consulate will also be closed. No Russian diplomats are being expelled, and the diplomats assigned to San Francisco can be re-assigned to other posts in the United States, the official said.

The Russians can continue to retain ownership of any of the closed facilities, or sell them, but will not be allowed to carry out diplomatic activities there, the official said.

Even after these closures, Russia will still maintain more diplomatic and consular annexes in the United States than we have in Russia, the official said. Weve chosen to allow the Russian government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.
Rescuers search block by block for survivors of the hurricane with death toll rising to 35.

Crosby(Texas)/Lake Charles (Louisiana): Explosions at a chemical plant near Houston posed a fresh worry for storm-battered Texas on Thursday while rescuers searched block by block for survivors of Hurricane Harvey and the death toll rose to 35 people.

The explosions in Crosby, Texas, were the latest aftermath of the historic flooding brought by the most powerful storm to land in Texas in a half-century, which drove tens of thousands from their homes around the U.S. energy hub.

Portions of the states southeastern coast, including Beaumont and Port Arthur, remained largely cut off because of flooded roadways, even as some commuters began to return to the streets of parts of Houston.

In Crosby, about 48 km northeast of Houston, a sheriffs deputy was taken to a hospital after being exposed to the 40-foot high smoke plume that erupted when chemicals stored at a Arkema SA plant erupted into flames after the refrigerator cooling the truck trailer they were stored in failed. After the multiple blasts, local public safety and company officials insisted there was no risk to the public outside the 2.4-km safety perimeter, even though they said eight more trucks storing the same chemicals would eventually catch fire.

They are going to burn with intensity, said Bob Royall, assistant chief of emergency operations at the Harris County Fire Marshals Office. Most of the material is going to be consumed by a very hot fire.

That was no comfort to Frances Breaux as she pleaded with police at the perimeter to check on an elderly married couple that live two streets from the plant.

The couple, Leo and LeJane Opelia, both in their late 70s, were evacuated from their home but returned Wednesday night to check on their cats and belongings, Breaux said.

I keep trying to call them and I cant reach them, she said through tears. I just want to make sure that they are OK.

Police said the potential for more blasts made it too dangerous to check on the couple. The plume is incredibly dangerous, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long told reporters.

An Arkema company official described the smoke as a noxious irritant created after refrigeration systems on a truck used to store the chemicals failed, causing them to overheat.

By Thursday, Harvey was downgraded to a tropical depression, located about 24 km south of Monroe, Louisiana, but there was potential for more flooding in the brimming rivers and reservoirs it left behind in Texas.

The Houston Fire Department will begin a block-by-block effort on Thursday to rescue stranded survivors and recover bodies, assistant fire chief Richard Mann told reporters.

Nine members of the ad-hoc Cajun Navy  volunteers towing boats behind pickup trucks  gathered in Lake Charles early on Thursday deliberating whether they could safely get in to badly flooded parts of coastal southeastern Texas, including Orange, Port Arthur and Beaumont.

You cant get anywhere by vehicle, said Troy Payne, 56, who had driven in from Atlanta. To me, this is a helicopter function from here on out unless the water level falls.

Nearly 30 inches of rain hit the Port Arthur area.
Army Lt Gen Stephen Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen 'rumor or otherwise' that al-Baghdadi was dead.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. (Photo: File/AP)

Washington: Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander said on Friday, contradicting Russia's claims that it probably killed the top counter terror target months ago.

"Do I believe he's alive? Yes," said Army Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen "rumor or otherwise" that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: "There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive." Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence. Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.

He said this area is shaping up to be the group's "last stand" following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq. The most recent ISIS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants' main stronghold in Iraq.

The Iraqi government announced on Thursday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a "stunningly swift" victory for the Iraqi army, moving "like a steamroller" into the city in a matter of days.

The ISIS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the group's self-styled caliphate.

Townsend said US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting. Assessing his 12 months in command of the US-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive. It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a US-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province. "I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didn't see their government representing them or their interests or their future," he said.

"And I think that's probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis."

Townsend said he hopes the US government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another ISIS-like episode. He said such talks are under way. "We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely," he said, referencing the pullout of US troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraq's subsequent struggles.

"My personal view is I wouldn't want to repeat that," Townsend said. "So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future."

Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II. He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-ISIS campaign.

"The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command," Townsend said. "And I don't know of a commander in our armed forces that doesn't appreciate that." "A key result of that is that we don't get second-guessed a lot," he added.

"Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we don't get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take."
The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi also ordered attachment of properties of Mr Musharraf, who was declared a proclaimed offender in August 2011.

Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Thursday declared former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in the 2007 Benazir Bhutto murder case and sentenced two police officers to 17 years in prison.

The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi also ordered attachment of properties of Mr Musharraf, who was declared a proclaimed offender in August 2011. The court had indicted Mr Musharraf in the case in February 2011.

The court on Thursday sentenced former Rawalpindi city police officer Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town superintendent of police Khurram Shahzad to 17 years in prison, and imposed a fine of 5 lakh Pakistani rupees each.

Bhutto, a two-time PM, was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack after a rally outside Rawalpindis Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007 while Mr Musharraf was the President.
'The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions', Putin said.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang. (Photo: File)

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week.

"The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said. "Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end," a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was "wrong and futile."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang. Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme. US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.

Putin said he feared the peninsula was "on the verge of a major conflict" and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.

He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences."

The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.
The measure was imposed following the death of student Otto Warmbier in June, a few days after the 22-year-old was sent home.

US citizen and aid worker Heidi Linton of Christian Friends of Korea speaks to reporters after arriving at Beijing International Airport from Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo: AP)

Seoul: Washington's ban on US citizens travelling to North Korea came into force on Friday, with the two countries at loggerheads over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions.

The measure was imposed following the death of student Otto Warmbier in June, a few days after the 22-year-old was sent home in a mysterious coma following more than a year in prison in the North. He had been convicted of offences against the state for trying to steal a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel and sentenced to 15 years' hard labour, with President Donald Trump blaming Pyongyang's "brutal regime" for his plight.

On its website the State Department said it took the decision due to "the serious and mounting risk of arrest and long-term detention of US citizens". Three Americans accused of various crimes against the state are behind bars in North Korea, which is engaged in a tense standoff with the Trump administration over its banned missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Earlier this week Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan, in a major escalation, and it has threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam. In July it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.

Exemptions to the travel ban are available for journalists, Red Cross representatives, those travelling for humanitarian purposes, or journeys the State Department deems to be in the national interest of the United States.

But NGOs working in the North privately express concerns about how the process will function and the potential impact on their work. A few remaining US citizens in the country left on Thursday, reports said.

Americans represent around 20 percent of the 5,000 or so Western tourists who visit the North annually although that is expected to fall significantly in 2017 because of the wider tensions as well as the ban with standard one-week trips costing about $2,000 and budget journeys about half that.

Simon Cockerell, general manager of market leader Koryo Tours, said the ban would remove all Americans from the tourism industry but have no effect on the North itself. "It will do nothing other than surrender the opportunity of presenting to even a few local Koreans a more balanced and rounded portrayal of Americans counter to the official portrayal of Americans in national media - of demonic, rapacious wolves," he said from Pyongyang.

"Any soft power advantage the US enjoyed through the decency of its citizens who travelled here has now been removed in a paternalistic and somewhat un-American act." The vast majority of tourists visiting the country are Chinese, and North Korean tourism development officials have said the ban will not affect the economy, with one telling AFP in July: "If the US government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit."

Other curious foreigners still travel to the North, and an art symposium in Pyongyang this week saw foreign artists, most of them European, working together with North Koreans. Norwegian artist Marius Engan Johansen and his North Korean counterpart Ri Pak sculpted clay busts of each other on either side of the same stand.

DMZ Academy organiser Morten Traavik told AFP that one of the events' aim was "to show the wider world in this special critical time that communication is possible".

"By working together and by trying to understand each other it is possible to communicate when both sides have a will and wish to do so," he said.
30 other people were injured, and 13 of them were in serious condition, according to state television.

Besides the schoolgirls, the other person who died was the driver. (Photo: Representational/File)

Tehran: A bus crash on Friday killed 12 people in Iran, all but one of them schoolgirls travelling to the southern city of Shiraz for a sporting and cultural event, state media reported.

The bus overturned at around 4:00 am, the IRNA news agency cited Said Ejraie, the emergency services chief in Darab where the accident occurred, as saying.

Besides the schoolgirls, the other person who died was the driver. Thirty other people were injured, and 13 of them were in serious condition, according to state television.

Despite its roads being in good condition, Iran has a poor record on traffic safety, with accidents caused by reckless drivers killing thousands of people each year.
The reforms are ambitious, balanced and fair. They would help France make up for lost years of high unemployment, says Edouard Philippe.

Paris: The French government said on Thursday it would cap unfair dismissal payouts and give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions in a labour reform Frances biggest union said was disappointing.

The reform, President Emmanuel Macrons first major policy step since his election in May, is also the first big test of his plans to reform the euro zones second-biggest economy. For decades governments of the left and right have tried to reform Frances strict labour rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests.

The government said in a document presenting the reform that it will make it possible to adapt work time, remuneration and workplace mobility to market conditions based on agreementsreached by simplified majority between employers and workers.

Workers compensation for dismissal judged in a labour court to be unfair would be set at three months of wages for two-years in the company with the amount rising progressively depending on how long a worker was with the firm, unions said. However, normal severance pay would be increased from 20 per cent of wages for each year in a company to 25 percent, Liberation reported.

The government consulted with unions for weeks, and only the hardline CGT union, the countrys second biggest, said from the start that it would hold a protest, set for September.
The army says it is conducting clearance operations against 'extremist terrorists' and security forces have been told to protect civilians.

Members of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority sit in a boat to cross a canal at Shah Porir Deep, in Teknak, Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh): Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmars northwest for a week, new official data show, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the countrys Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.

Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.

As of August 31, 38,000 people are estimated to have crossed the border into Bangladesh, the officials said on Friday, in their latest estimate.

The army says it is conducting clearance operations against extremist terrorists and security forces have been told to protect civilians. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings aims to force them out.

The treatment of Myanmars roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

The clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, but also 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday.

By comparison, communal violence in 2012 in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, led to the killing of nearly 200 people and the displacement of about 140,000, most of them Rohingya.
Swaraj, who is here to attend the 2nd Indian Ocean Conference, met Foreign Minister Marapana on the sidelines of the two-day meeting.

Swaraj discussed key aspects of bilateral relations with her Sri Lankan counterpart. (Photo: Twitter)

Colombo: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met her Sri Lankan counterpart Tilak Marapana and discussed key aspects of bilateral cooperation.

Swaraj, who is here to attend the 2nd Indian Ocean Conference, met Foreign Minister Marapana on the sidelines of the two-day meeting. "Partnership for progress and prosperity. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discusses bilateral cooperation with Tilak Marapana, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister," Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Swaraj discussed key aspects of bilateral relations with her Sri Lankan counterpart, the High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted. Swaraj on Thursday met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan.

The conference is being jointly organised by the India Foundation, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo.

As a goodwill gesture, Sri Lanka on Thursday released 76 Indian fishermen, on the occasion of visit of Swaraj to the country.
Mohammed Abu Sakha was arrested in December 2015 because he was suspected of belonging to a Palestinian leftist movement, considered "terrorist". In almost two years the authorities have never laid any real charge. When returning to Jenin, family members and friends welcomed him with a party. He says he will return to the circus, a "source of hope" for the population.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - After 20 months of uninterrupted administrative detention and formal indictment, Israeli authorities released 26-year-old Palestinian clown Mohammad Abu Sakha. He was accused of belonging to a left-wing motion banned by the Jewish state. That's why he spent nearly two years in prison.

Asked by Afp, the young Palestinian circus artist confirmed his release on August 30 last. When he got out of prison, he returned to Jenin, in the north of the West Bank, where his family was waiting for him.

"It was a celebration," the young man pointed out.

Administrative detention enforced by Israel - strongly criticized by NGOs and human rights activists  allows the state to jail people for long periods on mere suspicion without precise charges; it can be unilaterally renewed every six months and is used against both Palestinians and Israelis. For the Palestinian Catholic leader Bernard Sabella, the court order "violates human rights and fair trial".

Following his arrest two years ago, a spokesman for the Israeli army said Mohammed Abu Sakha was part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel deems as terrorist because its members are armed. That is why he represents "a danger to the security of the region".

Claims were also made that his case is based on "confidential information". This formula is used by Israel to justify the administrative detention without having to present evidence for their allegations.

Mohammed Abu Sakha (pictured) has decided to devote his life to improving the lives of children and young people in the West Bank thanks to the circus of art learned within the Palestinian Circus School. He reports that in these 20 months of detention the Israeli authorities never told him the precise reason for his arrest in December 2015, or how long it would have been detained.

The Palestinian artist has already clarified that he wants to "return" to the circus, which he considers a "message" of hope for the local people. "Israel stops people every day - he adds - and locks them up. The circus is a source of hope for them. "

So far, the Israeli army did not want to comment on the matter and did not clarify the reasons for the release of the young man.

Palestinian human rights activist groups report that to date there are at least 6200 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails; of these, approximately 450 are held on the basis of an administrative detention order.
by Oswald Gracias*

The cardinal publishes a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Observe this day as a day of prayer. In the present ecological crisis, "to place our trust in the Lord". On the first Friday of the month, an appeal to "stay together as a family".

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Join Pope Francis "on this day of prayer, and in this way we can become aware of our Christian vocation to be guardians of God's creation." This is the invitation of Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Creation of Creation, which is celebrated today. Resuming the Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis Laudato si, the Cardinal emphasizes that the current "ecological crisis is an appeal to a profound inner conversion." "In the midst of the present ecological crisis of climate change and global warming - he adds - we put our trust in the Lord who 'makes all things new". Below the cardinals message.

Pope Francis has declared September 1st as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The Holy Father has appealed to all Catholics to observe this day as a day of prayer, so that we can become aware of our Christian vocation to be stewards of God's Creation. I invite all our faithful to join Pope Francis in this day of prayer to invoke God's help for the protection of God's Creation.

In his Encyclical Laudato Si', the Holy Father reminds us that "the ecological crisis summons us to a profound spiritual conversation: Christians are called to an ecological conversation, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ becomes evident in their relationship with the world around them." (217)

In prayer and in the Sacraments, we encounter Christ who gives us strength to overcome all hardships and challenges. In the midst of the present ecological crisis of climate change and global warming, we place our trust in the Lord who 'makes all things new.' (Rev. 21:5) It is through prayer we ask God for HIs grace and assistance.

This year, September 1st is also the first Friday of the month. We can come together as a family and thank God for the abundance of blessings we have received from our Creator. I request our parishes to use the Holy half-hour prepared by the Archdiocesan Office of Environment for this occasion. May God Bless you all.

* Archbishop of Bombay and President of the Federation of Asian Bishops (FABC)

(Nirmala Carvahlo collaborated)


by Hoang Chau

Over the last two years, more than 4,000 Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked, many sunk, in Vietnamese waters. The Church backs the fishermens protest. More than 7,000 Catholics in Vinh diocese marched to Ky Anh. The disputes over the territorial claims of the two countries are intensifying. China claims 85 per cent of the South China Sea.

Hanoi (AsiaNews)  More than 2,300 fishermen have been injured, gone missing or died in Vietnamese territorial waters in the South China Sea, this according to Nguyen Van T, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Since early August, more Vietnamese fishing vessels have been attacked and intimidated by Chinas Navy. Over the past two years, Chinas ships have attacked, sunk, destroyed, or robbed more than 4,000 fishing boats of Vietnamese fishermen, said the deputy minister.

On 6 August, Boat No. 40482TS was fishing some 48 nautical miles from the coast, not far from the Con ao Islands when it was sunk by a Chinese ship. The eight men on board ended up in the water; seven were rescued. The body of the owner, Truong Cong On, has not been found yet.

In Quang Ngai Province, the Binh Chau Fishermen's Union reports another episode of violence, also in Vietnamese waters. On 7 August, fishing boat numbered QNg 90289 TS was approached by a Chinese ship numbered 46106. [. . .] Armed Chinese sailors came on board with weapons like knives, crowbars, and iron sticks and destroyed the gear of the Vietnamese fishermen and took the locator machine, fish and food detector as well as all the food reserve. Afterwards, the Chinese sank the boat, abandoning the crew at sea, who were rescued by another fishing boat.

"This is not the first time that fishing boats from Binh inh and Quang Ngai provinces were sunk by 'white ships' (Chinese Coast Guards), said Phan Minh, a fisherman from Binh Chau. My boat was also destroyed by a white ship numbered 46106. The same thing happened on 16 August to five fishing boats from Tinh Ky village. [Chinese] ships are present in the waters of the Paracel Islands and along the coast of Vietnam to frighten fishermen."

"They are very aggressive," said shipowner Nguyen Huu Lam. "We are fishermen working in a vast ocean; we dare not resist armed Chinese sailors. We fish in Vietnamese waters, but in spite of this we are intimidated. We are very worried about our livelihoods."

The crew of 46106 was involved in another act of aggression on 18 August, when they robbed and sunk Huynh Van Khanhs boat.

"Beijing wants to prevent Vietnamese people from fishing in the waters of the South China Sea along the so-called 'ox tongue', international maritime law experts told AsiaNews. Mainland China claims 85 per cent of the 3.5 million square kilometres of the sea.

"The fishing boats of many places are threatened: Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, anang, Binh inh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, etc. Such actions by the Chinese communist regime are affecting the lives of millions of people in Vietnam. In the near future, the countrys fishing industry is likely to disappear."

On 23August, Tran Van Qui, president of the Union of Vietnam Fishermen, signed a letter of protest. The Vietnamese Fisheries Association has called on "Vietnamese authorities and agencies to raise their voice in protest against the Chinese government and to put into place effective measures to protect Vietnamese fishermen in waters under Vietnam's sovereignty."

The local Church has backed fishermens protest. On 27 August, more than 7,000 Catholics in Vinh diocese marched peacefully around the church of Ky Anh. The demonstrators asked the central government to implement "appropriate policies to protect the [Vietnams] sovereignty over the waters and islands as well as to protect fishermen".

At the end of the protest, a prayer Mass was celebrated to demand justice and remember the victims of the Formosa environmental disaster, which hit the central provinces of Vietnam last year, crippling the local economy and putting more than 40,000 fishermen out of work.

In view of some ambiguities in international law, China has laid claim to a huge swath of the South China Sea (85 per cent), including the Spratly and the Paracel Islands, also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia (almost 85% of the territories).

In order to ensure its control over the Seas main maritime routes, China has been building a series of artificial islands, with military installations and lighthouses.

In the past three years, disputes over the territorial claims of the two easternmost nations have intensified.

Most recently, Vietnam has come out against Chinas announcement of upcoming military exercises in the controversial waters of the South China Sea.

For its part, China is upset by Vietnam's attempts to garner support among Southeast Asian nations and its growing ties with the United States, Japan and India.

Due to Chinese pressures, in July, Hanoi suspended oil activity in waters claimed by China.
by Mathias Hariyadi

Manokwari, in the diocese of Manokwari-Sorong, is a predominantly Christian city. The ceremony took place on Monday in the presence of 50 priests, two retired Indonesian bishops, and the provincial superior. Two of the four new clergymen are local; the others come from East Nusa Tenggara province. The previous day, a new church dedicated to Saint Augustine was consecrated.

Sorong (AsiaNews)  The Order of St Augustine (OSA) celebrated four new ordinations in the Diocese of Manokwari-Sorong, West Papua.

Given that the number of Augustinians in Indonesia has greatly dropped in the past few years, this represents an extraordinary event for the local congregation, which falls within the Philippines province.

The ordination ceremony took place last Monday, 28 August, feast day of Saint Augustine, in the faraway island region, in the presence of 50 priests, two retired Indonesian bishops, and the provincial superior of the Order.

Archbishop Datus Hilarion Lega, bishop of Manokwari-Sorong, led the service with Mgr Alfred Gonti Pius Datubara, archbishop emeritus of Manado (North Sumatera), and Mgr Joseph Theodorus Suwatan, Bishop Emeritus of Manado (North Sulawesi).

Father Istoto Raharjo, a Java priest in "home mission" in the diocese, told AsiaNews that the four newly ordained priests are Frs Athanasius Bame, Philip Sedik, Stevanus Alo, and Mikael Janggu.

"Fr Atan Bame and Fr Philip Sedik are native to Papua, said the priest. Fr Mikael and Fr Stefanus Alo come from Manggarai and Sikka Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara province."

During the homily, Mgr Lega invited the new priests to remain faithful to Christ and his Church in their pastoral mission.

"Remain humble," said the bishop. "Being faithful to the Church means that priests are spiritually linked to their commitment to prayer and the safe-keeping of their consecrated lives, despite their pastoral work and activities."

The prelate reiterated that priests are called to pursue a pastoral, not a political mission. In memory of Saint Augustine, every priest and seminarian in the order is required to follow the path of the saint's life, marked by two aspects: simplicity and consecrated life.

The previous day, a new church dedicated to Saint Augustine was consecrated in Manokwari. The city is known in Indonesia as "Bible City " because the majority of its population is Christian, particularly Catholic.
The structure was built without the "necessary permits". The nearest school is kilometres away. The coming winter is a source of concern. It was the third educational facility subject to measures by Israeli military authorities.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - The children of Jubbet al-Dhib, a village near Bethlehem, will continue to study even though their school has been demolished.

On 22 August, Israeli forces tore down the European Union-funded educational facility because it lacked the "necessary permits". The six prefabricated classrooms were located in Area C, under Israeli control, close to military areas.

Activists set up a tent on the ruined foundations to enable some 60 children to continue their lessons each morning.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Khulud Darras, who heads the International and Public Relations and Media Division at the Directorate of Education in Bethlehem of the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said that she travelled to the school with the Director of Education and Higher Education in Bethlehem, Sami Mroua.

She said that the situation is very painful after the school was destroyed by the Israeli military. However, the children are happy even if it was a tent as they used to walk many kilometres to access the school which was the nearest and suitable school from their homes.

She talked to one of the students' mom who expressed her concerns about the future of the school and whether the tent would be a suitable choice especially during the cold and rainy days in the coming winter.

In general, she noted, education has always been a major value for Palestinians as they have a continuous passion for education because it stands as a valuable mean of resistance.

However, children who live in these areas are always subject to barriers posed by the occupation which hinders education in Palestine, particularly in remote communities that are located near settlements, military areas or the Separation Wall, as students are always subject to contiguous harassment on their way to their schools, and are frequently summoned, arrested and intimidated.

Jubbet al-Dhib is the third Palestinian educational facility to be demolished or see its infrastructure confiscated by Israeli forces since the beginning of last month. This includes the only kindergarten for the Jabal al-Baba Bedouin community and the removal of the solar panels  the only source of power  for a school in Abu Nuwar.

The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah expressed "strong concern" in a statement on Thursday. "Every child has the right to safe access to education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfil this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children," the statement read.

In July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that Israeli restrictions in Area C have made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits.

The West Bank is divided into three administrative areas: Area A is under Palestinian control, Area B is under joint administration, and Area C, which covers 60 per cent the West Bank, is under full Israeli military control.

According to OCHA, as a result of such Israeli policies, more than a third of Palestinian communities in Area C lack primary schools, forcing children to travel long distances to obtain an education.
From September 6 to 11 Pope Francis travels to a country emerging from 50 years of civil war. Cardinal Parolin: Reconciliation "is more than just signing a document. Certainly, it is necessary, even indispensable step, but obviously not enough: there is a journey to make, which begins with the signing of these agreements. "

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - A journey in the name of reconciliation, to mark an important moment in Colombia's history, peace after 50 years of conflict, and to encourage concrete translation of the commitment with the support of the Catholic community. This is the 20th apostolic journey that Pope Francis is preparing to undertake, to a country that was an emblem of the longest civil war in Latin America. "The visit to Colombia - said the Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke - will be pastoral, although more than once it will refer to the theme of peace, but will proclaim the Gospel."

The visit, which will have the significant motto "Let's take the first step", will start in Rome on Wednesday, September 6. Francis will arrive in Bogota at 4.30 pm Local time on Thursday and is scheduled to have meetings with civil authorities and bishops, and also with the CELAM Governing Committee, the council that brings together the Latin American bishop. In the afternoon, the Pope will celebrate his first Colombian Mass.

The next day, Friday, September 8, will be dedicated to national reconciliation. Francis will go to Villavicencio where he will celebrate Mass and attend the Great Prayer Meeting for National Reconciliation, with a significant stop at the Cross of Reconciliation (pictured). In this regard, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, speaking to Vatican Radio stressed that the reconciliation process is now "in the phase of application, it is not enough to sign a document. Certainly, he added, this a necessary, indispensable step, but obviously it is not enough: there is a journey to make, which begins with the signing of these agreements. And it is a journey that must be done in everyday life and it is a journey that must involve everyone and that must involve above all, the heart and mind. I believe that the task, the fundamental mission of the Church, at this moment, is to promote reconciliation. This is the central point: it seems to me that much is needed, precisely because peace will not be a present in reality, a reality that is alive and effective unless there is a reconciliation within the Colombian people. And of course one of the main tools of this reconciliation is the ability of forgiveness, the ability to give and receive forgiveness. "

The papal visit will continue on Saturday in Medellin, where the Pope will celebrate Mass and meet priests and religious accompanied by their families and will address the theme of Christian vocation and apostolate.

On Sunday, finally, in Cartagena, the theme of human dignity and human rights will be protagonist. Francis, in fact, will bless the first stone of the houses for the homeless and the Talitha Qum Opera and visit the sanctuary house of St. Peter Claver. In the afternoon, after having celebrated the last Mass of this trip, he will depart for Rome, where he will arrive at 12.40 on Monday, September 11.
by Wang Zhicheng

Xi Jinping is expected to be re-elected as general secretary and get his thoughts put into the partys constitution, like Mao and Deng. With his anti-corruption campaign, he has eliminated personal enemies. His achievements are being promoted on TV and print.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  The Central Committee's Political Bureau (Politburo) yesterday chose 18 October for the opening of the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress.

The 200-strong Central Committee is expected to ratify the date when it meets for its last plenum on 11 October.

[The congress] will formulate an action plan and set out major policy direction that will meet the demands of the era, the Politburo said in a statement.

The congress, which is held every five years, is expected to re-elect Xi Jinping as party general secretary for a second five-year term. Xi is likely to get his own political philosophy included in the partys constitution, placing him on a par with Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and others.

In announcing the date, Xinhua reported that the congress will hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, be guided with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of "Three Represents" [of Jiang Zemin] and the Scientific Outlook on Development [of Hu Jintao], and thoroughly carry out the essence of Xi's series of important remarks and the new governance concepts, thoughts and strategies of the CPC Central Committee.

The Congress is also expected approve the list of new Central Committee members, the departure of those who have reached the retirement age, and the expulsion of those who have been investigated and convicted.

Since his election as party secretary in 2012, Xi has embarked on an aggressive anti-corruption campaign, which has led to the indictment of more than 100,000 officials. More than 120 top officials have been convicted, including dozens of generals.

Many analysts suspect that Xi has used the campaign to eliminate rival factions and political enemies and favour his personal friends. Some of the fallen "tigers" include former security tsar Zhou Yongkang and generals Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong.

As it geared up for the congress, the party has also promoted Xi as the "core" leader, including airing a documentary series on TV praising Xis achievements and publishing a book on his experiences as a youth.
The atomic energy agency's report published yesterday. Tehran welcomes the results as a "vindication" that will surprise the US administration. The US ambassador to the UN had called for tighter controls and inspections at military sites. But the US has never provided a list of suspicious bases.

Vienna (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Iran is complying with the nuclear agreement signed two years ago with the 5 + 1 Group (United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia, France and Germany) state International Atomic Energy Agency (Iaea) inspectors. The IAEA's latest report, sent yesterday to member states, contradicted US President Donald Trump's position that the Islamic Republic is in breach of the treaty.

A week ago, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had gone to Vienna to push the agency to be stricter and ask for access to Iranian military sites. The agency has the power to conduct inspections only in the event of reasonable suspicion of illicit behavior. At the time the United States did not provide the agency with any list of suspicious bases.

Haley did not comment on the report's remarks, welcomed by Iran as a "vindication". Iran's official press agency Irna has made public the main conclusions, adding that "it could be a surprise for US administration."
The full text of this article can be purchased from Informit.

Over a 3-year period Nyegaard collected data from 27 specimens of the new species, at times travelling thousands of miles or relying on the kindness of strangers to take samples of sunfish found stranded on remote beaches.

Finding these fish and storing specimens for studies is a logistical nightmare due to their elusive nature and enormous size. Early on, when I was asked if I would be bringing my own crane to receive a specimen, I knew I was in for a challenging  but awesome  adventure.

Nyegaard began her investigations after noticing genetic differences in sunfish samples from the Australian and New Zealand longline fishery. A Japanese research group first found genetic evidence of an unknown sunfish species in Australian waters 10 years ago, but the fish kept eluding the scientific community because we didnt know what it looked like, she said.

Ocean sunfishes are the heaviest and most distinctive of all bony fishes, with some species weighing in excess of 3 tonnes and growing to 3 metres in length. The newly discovered species, named the hoodwinker sunfish (Mola tecta), is thought to approach a similar size.

An elusive species of ocean sunfish has been discovered by an international team of researchers led by Murdoch University PhD student Marianne Nyegaard.

Low Blood Sugar in Newborns Linked to Later Difficulties

A newborn condition affecting one in six babies has been linked to impairment in some high-level brain functions that show up by a childs fifth birthday.

An international research team following 614 New Zealand babies born at risk of low blood sugar levels found that children who had experienced the condition were up to three times more likely to have difficulties with executive function (skills for problem-solving, planning, memory and attention) and visual-motor co-ordination (skills for fine control of movement, and understanding what you see) at age 4.5 years than children who had normal blood sugar levels.

Overall, the lower the blood sugar levels, or the more often they dropped, the greater the impairment was. Children who had experienced a drop in blood sugar that was not detected using routine blood sugar monitoring were four times more likely to have difficulties with these skills. There was no link with lowered intelligence as measured by IQ.

The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Low blood sugar affects up to 15% of all babies, and is the only common preventable cause of brain damage in infancy. At-risk babies  up to one-third of all born  are those born premature, smaller or larger than usual, and babies whose mothers have diabetes.

Health guidelines say at-risk babies should be tested with heel-prick blood tests in the first few hours after birth. If their blood sugar is too low they are treated with a dextrose gel to return it to normal levels  a breakthrough treatment pioneered in 2013 by study leader Prof Jane Harding of The University of Aucklands Liggins Institute.

At 2 years there was no relationship between blood sugar levels and later brain development, but at age 4.5 years its clear that the children who experienced low blood sugar levels were more likely to have specific difficulties, Harding said. We dont know yet what these impairments mean for the child in practical terms, but executive function and visual motor integration are believed to be important for learning at school, particularly for maths and reading.

To investigate whether the impairments at 4.5 years translate to learning or behaviour difficulties at school, the research team are now starting to follow the children at age 910 years.

What was especially concerning in our 4.5-year results was the fourfold increase in risk of executive function difficulties in children who had experienced low blood sugars that were not detected in routine testing, says the papers lead author, Dr Chris McKinlay of the Liggins Institute. This is the first time this has been shown.

Internationally there is no agreed cut-off for safe versus unsafe levels of blood sugar in newborns, McKinlay says. If we find at age 910 these children are more likely to have reading and maths difficulties, then we may urgently need to rethink what the diagnostic threshold should be, Harding adds. And if even children who were treated are at greater risk of impairment, this raises the possibility that some damage is already done before they receive treatment.

This makes the findings of another study Harding is leading, hPOD, all the more relevant. In hPOD, were looking at whether the dextrose gel treatment could be routinely given to all at-risk babies as a preventative, before they develop low blood sugars  and before any damage could be done, she said.
Researchers say they now know exactly what makes horny cane toads boogie  and the toad tune could help sound the death knell for the pests.

PhD student Ben Muller of James Cook University placed cane toad audio traps with differing characteristics at various sites in the Townsville region. We varied the sound they were playing to have different combinations of volume, frequency and pulse rate, he explained.

The team was particularly interested in attracting female reproductive toads. A female cane toad may lay upwards of 20,000 eggs per clutch, so removing a single female with eggs from the population is more effective for control than removing a single male, Muller said.

While male cane toads didnt seem to care what variation of volume, frequency and pulse rate were used, female toads were much choosier. We found we could manipulate the proportion of females, and reproductive females, that we trapped by changing the calls used as lures.

The team found that approximately 91% of the females trapped using a loud, low frequency tone with a high pulse rate were reproductive. We think that low frequency calls indicate to female toads that they are hearing a large-bodied male, and the high pulse rate means the male making the call has high energy reserves. These things combine to make them believe they have found a good breeding partner,...


(joegough/Bigstock.com) (joegough/Bigstock.com)

The crackdown on unfair treatment of international workers, including backpackers and students, in the farming industry in Australia is continuing with a major investigation in Queensland.The Lockyer Valley, known as the salad bowl of Australia, is popular for vegetable picking and jobs are advertised all over the world, particularly aimed at young people spending a working holiday in the country and students looking to earn money during the holidays.However, a multi-agency operation involving the Fair Work Ombudsman, Queensland Workplace Health and Safety and the Queensland has investigated a number of breaches following a tip off from within the farming industry.The allegations included potential underpayment of wages, workers being provided with unsafe and very poor accommodation, unsafe drinking water, unregistered transport and workers being charged job find fees.A team of 12 inspectors and police conducted unannounced visits to four vegetable farms over two days and are now investigating potential breaches by several contractors.Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said it was encouraging to see businesses taking a proactive interest in ensuring compliance within the horticulture sector. 'The fact that the industry itself is willing to bring forward allegations of suspected non-compliance is a positive sign,' she explained.'It is blatantly unfair for workers and it is unfair for responsible operators that are doing the right thing to have to compete with those who base their business models on unlawful activities. We have a strong message to crooked operators that we are on the case and will use our powers to enforce the law and disrupt their unlawful activities,' she added.James pointed out that while employers must comply with their workplace obligations, it was important for workers to understand their workplace rights and know where to go to seek help.'I strongly encourage all workers engaged in the sector to check out the Fair Work Ombudsman's top tips for backpackers, seasonal workers and growers online,' she said.Jobs on farms in the area are often advertised on Gumtree and a wide variety of websites for young people looking for seasonal work in Australia and there are numerous groups for job seekers on Facebook.A report last year into labour hire in Queensland found that the exploitation and mistreatment of workers, the undercutting of employment conditions, and a range of other illegal or questionable practices were taking place.It said some firms saw labour hire as a way of cost cutting by minimising responsibilities towards their workforce, and that such employees often faced low rates of pay, fewer opportunities for training and higher rates of occupational injury than others.There was evidence of sexual harassment, sub-standard living conditions, employers holding passports, a lack of safety equipment and training, failures to provide payslips, paying below the minimum wage and withholding wages for spurious reasons such as damaging accommodation.
Photo courtesy of Nissan.

Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and other automakers have made cash donations and other contributions to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey in south Texas and other Gulf Coast areas, the automakers have announced.

Ford will raise $3.5 million for affected communities, first responders, dealership employees and their families. Ford Fund will give $500,000 to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other agencies.

Ford is also offering a Texas Is Family assistance package for customers who lost a vehicle, which includes the below-invoice price offered to Ford employees and payments deferred until next year. First responders are eligible to receive a special discount toward the purchase of any Ford or Lincoln vehicle. Read a full breakdown here.

Toyota will provide contributions, vehicles, in-kind, and volunteerism worth $3 million. The contributions, which will include used vehicles, will go to the St. Bernard Project and American Red Cross. Read a full breakdown of the donations here.

Nissan will donate $150,000 and $100,000 in matched employee contributions to the American Red Cross, as well as providing 20 Titan pickups to humanitarian relief organizations in the Gulf Coast region. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. and Infiniti Financial Services will also offer payment deferrals and extensions to those in a FEMA-designated disaster area.

The FCA Foundation will donate $200,000 to several organizations, including Americares, First Response Team of America, and Team Rubicon. Fiat Chrysler's empolyee volunteer program is also working with Disaster Relief at Work to collect cleaning supplies at the company's Auburn Hills headquarters. An employee initiative to gather toiletries, clothing and other supplies has begun.

Volkswagen's foundation will donate $150,000 to the American Red Cross for operations in Texas and other Gulf Coast states. Volkswagen will also match any employee donations.

Subaru is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross in addition to its annual $100,000 donation to the organization. Subaru has also promised to donate vehicles to the Red Cross at a later date to help in recovery efforts. Employee donations will be matched $2 to every $1 given.

Volvo Car USA is making employee pricing available to residents in the area, as well as an additional $1,000 discount off any Volvo vehicle. A portion of each sale will be donated to Houston Texan J.J. Watt's YouCaring Houston Flood Relief Fund.
Photo courtesy of Ford.

Ford Motor Co. is issuing a safety compliance recall for 117,423 2015-2017 Ford F-150 Crew Cab and 2017 F-250 and F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab trucks so that dealers can inspect and, if necessary, replace the left rear inflatable seat belt assembly, Ford said.

In these vehicles, inadequate rivet head thickness may allow separation of the left rear inflatable seat belt buckle from its mounting bracket during a crash. This condition increases the risk of injury, the automaker said. The company, however, noted that it isnt aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this issue.

In addition to the vehicles being recalled in the U.S., another 15,715 will be recalled in Canada and 8,202 will be recalled in Mexico for the same problem.

Dealers will inspect left rear seat belt buckle assembly rivet head thickness and will replace the seat belt buckle assembly if the rivet is found to be inadequate, Ford said in a released statement about the recall. The companys reference number for this recall is 17C12.
Photo of Ford Focus courtesy of Ford.

Ford Motor Co. is issuing a safety compliance recall for 698 2017-model year Ford Focus compact cars in the U.S. so dealers can address a seatback issue, the automaker said.

Ford dealers will inspect and replace the second-row left-side seatback frame if they discover faulty weld penetration between the outboard pivot bracket and the pivot nut joint.

In the affected vehicles, a seatback with inadequate weld penetration between the outboard pivot bracket and the pivot nut joint may have reduced strength  potentially increasing the risk of injury in a crash, Ford said in a released statement about the recall.

Ford noted it isnt aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this problem. The vehicles at issue were built at the Michigan Assembly Plant June 7-12 of this year.

In addition to the vehicles recalled in the U.S., 132 more will be recalled in Canada for the same issue. Five will be recalled in Mexico.

The Ford reference number for this recall is 17C13.
Photo courtesy of Hyundai.

Hyundai Motor will offer a new hydrogen fuel cell utility vehicle that's part of the company's goal of increasing the number of its green vehicle models in the next five years.

The vehicle will be powered hy Hyundai's fourth-generation fuel cell propulsion system that offers a significant improvement over the Tucson Fuel Cell compact SUV now offered with a retail lease.

The new SUV would increase efficiency by 9% over the Tucson Fuel Cell and provide a driving range of 580 kilometers (360 miles) based on Korean testing standards.

Hyundai and Kia hope to introduce 31 eco-friendly models by 2020, including a battery-electric version of Hyundai's 2018 Kona subcompact SUV, a Genesis EV model in 2021, and a long-range EV with a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) after 2021.
Harold Pierce covers education and health for The Californian. He can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter @RoldyPierce
Milt Younger, a former partner at the law firm now called Chain Cohn Stiles who spent decades fighting for the "little guy" and was instrument
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
A plane ran off the runway Friday at Albert Whitted Airport and crashed into the water.

It happened about 10:42 a.m. at the airport on 8th Avenue SE.

Two people rescued from plane, expected to be OK

Airport operations shut down during investigation



St. Petersburg Fire Rescue said it appeared the pilot over shot the runway and skidded into the water.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded and removed two people from the aircraft.

Gerald Kerr, a 78-year-old who piloted the plane, and Elizabeth Reynolds, 72, were taken to a local hospital and were expected to be OK.



Operations at Albert Whitted were shut down as crews worked to get the plane out of the water.



The crash is still under investigation.



Stay with Bay News 9 on-air and online for updates.


In a news conference a day after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Rick Scott has the power to take death-penalty cases away from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, she outlined what her death-penalty review panel will do.

After introducing six members of her death-penalty panel Friday morning, Ayala said that each member  all of them work within her office  has sought death in first-degree murder cases.

"I have chosen this team of experienced prosecutors, who I am extremely confident they will follow the law," she said.

The six prosecutors who make up the death-penalty review panel are:

Gabrielle Sanders

Candra Moore

Deborah Barra

Kelly Hicks

Chris Smith

Kenneth Nunnelley

Ayala explained the process of how the panel will recommend seeking the death penalty. The panel will review each case and look at the same factors that a jury looks at that are outlined in the statute.

The assigned attorney of the case, who is also a part of the panel, will meet with the victim's family, with the next step being that each member must unanimously agree to recommend seeking death, she described, continuing that her office will then file a death notice.

"Every member believes in this panel the death penalty and believes it should be sought, and I expect to be see unanimous decisions to seek death," Ayala said.

She added that she has no intention to usurp the authority she has granted the panel, which will begin reviewing first-degree murder cases immediately.

Ayala believes that with the panel in place, she could legally get back the nearly 30 cases Scott transferred to State Attorney Brad King, but she said she would not do that.

"It is not in the best interest to the families of homicide victims or their cases at this point. There is a difference between giving up and letting go. At this time, I believe the most compassionate and human response is to allow them to remain with the current prosecutor and not be impacted by any ping-pong effect," she said.

Ayala stated a number of times that despite what she believes and how she interpreted the law, she will honor Thursday's Florida Supreme Court ruling and will recognize the law. She also added that she believes that her budget, which was slashed by Scott, will be restored since her panel has been created.

In March, Ayala made a blockbuster announcement that she wouldn't seek the death penalty against Markeith Loyd, the man accused in the shooting deaths of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, and Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton, or anyone else charged with first-degree murder.

In April, Ayala filed a federal lawsuit against Scott because he reassigned nearly two dozen death penalty cases.

However, the high court on Thursday stated the governor does have the authority to remove Ayala death-penalty cases.

"The executive orders reassigning death-penalty eligible cases in the Ninth Circuit to King do not exceed the Governor's authority on the facts of this case. Therefore, we deny Ayala's petition," the court concluded.

The court stated Ayala's "blanket refusal to seek the death penalty in any eligible case" shows that she "at best, (has) a misunderstanding of Florida law."

Ayala said that she will respect the Supreme Court's decision, but in a surprising twist, she announced that she plans on creating a death-penalty review panel.

"The Supreme Court of Florida ruled today that a case-specific determination must be made on first degree murder cases. To ensure todays Courts decision is heeded, I have organized a Death Penalty Review Panel comprised of 7 well-versed and experienced Assistant State Attorneys. This panel will evaluate each first-degree murder case in the 9th Judicial Circuit," she stated in a news release.

She also said that she believes that with this panel in place, her office will prosecute all first-degree murder cases that happen within her jurisdiction.
As floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey recede, motorists are returning to streets to realize there are potentially widespread gasoline shortages in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Regional fuel prices could spike by 50 cents a gallon in the coming days - and perhaps 40 cents nationally - after Harvey forced more than 20 percent of the nation's oil refining capacity offline along the Texas Gulf Coast, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.

The massive Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Houston to much of the Southeast and East Coast, shut down early Thursday as well.

RELATE: Gasoline surges as Harvey closes major U.S. fuel pipeline

Fuel shortages and price spikes may mean long lines at pumps and likely searching for stations that still have fuel, DeHaan said. These problems may last for a month, and possibly longer, as it takes weeks for the region's major refineries to return to full capacity. Some Louisiana refineries that are still operating already are tapping into the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for oil supplies.

"It's the worst-possible scenario," he said. "It's beyond even my worst-case concerns."

Everyone panicking and rushing to fill their tanks, however, will only exacerbate the problems, he said. The problems will be only temporary.

"I don't think motorists realize the power is in their hands. Patience is a virtue. Motorists are going to have to wait for supplies and prices to return to normal. Try to buy only what you need," DeHaan said.

RELATED: U.S. refinery capacity at 7-year low as Harvey rolls east

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton on Thursday afternoon urged calm and argued the state has no shortage of gasoline. "We have more than 230 million barrels of gasoline supply in Texas," he said.

Nevertheless the shortages are real in Houston because so many stations and refineries are offline.

The panic is also real, but it is is creating larger problems than necessary, DeHaan said.

For instance, the League City Police Department put out a statement Thursday warning that citizens in the heavily flooded city should stay home.

"Officers are advising there is no gas available and recommending that citizens stay home and do not waste gas. Stations are unsure when supplies will be available," the department said.

Outside of the Houston area, and in Dallas especially, gas stations are running out of fuel as motorists scramble to fill their tanks ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

Haley Gonzalez, who lives north of Dallas in The Colony, said she visited several stations in search of fuel before finding it in Plano, a northern suburb. Even then, she could only fill about half of her tank before the pump went dry.

"It's insane," said Gonzalez, 23. "It's wild that we're directly affected by something like this so soon."

People were waiting at least 30 minutes to pump, only to end up buying premium fuel after regular ran out. Dallas fuel prices have surged almost 30 cents a gallon since before Harvey made landfall.

Gonzalez and her friends were planning a short Labor Day weekend vacation to Lake Texoma, about 75 miles away. That's now changed.

"We're having to think way more local," she said.
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Military personnel evacuated at least 200 elderly residents from flooded senior care facilities in Port Arthur and brought them to the Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport Wednesday.

The seniors are some of the latest evacuees who have been rescued from flooded waters after the devastation of the remnants of Hurricane Harvey, which continues to lay waste to parts of Texas and Louisiana.

While Hobby Airport and George Bush intercontinental Airport were closed for several days following Hurricane Harvey, the Conroe-North Houston Regional airport never shut its doors.

"The tower was open, the runways were open at this airport," said Haydar Kustu, director of business development and marketing at Black Forest Ventures, a company that owns the Galaxy FBO facility at North-Conroe. "And then we were able to support some of the search and rescue missions from here with the helicopters."

One of those missions involved evacuating residents from nursing homes in Port Arthur to Conroe, which sits 30 miles north of Houston.

"They realized that they needed to evacuate all these patients," he said.

The airport was used as a staging facility and when the seniors arrived, they were then transferred to at least six area shelters and senior care facilities in the region, Kustu said.

The airport served as a hub for military personnel to refuel and land their UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopters at a time when most of Houston was underwater and many of its highways were inaccessible.

"So when a disaster like this strikes, you need this kind of infrastructure to operate the search and rescue missions," Kustu said.

In 2016, Conroe-North was named General Aviation Reliever Airport of the Year by the Texas Department of Transportation, according to Courier reports. 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.

A project worth $6 million to expand Conroe-North's taxiway is expected to be completed sometime next year.
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Jetta Green and Nicha Stevens climbed tentatively out of a helicopter rescue basket, smiling as their feet touched dry pavement.

The sisters and their cat, Beige, were rescued from a flooded second-story apartment in Port Arthur on Thursday morning by the Coast Guard and dropped off at the parking lot near Central Mall where emergency operations are headquartered.

Four hours later, the sisters were still pacing in the parking lot, calling family and friends and waiting to be told where to go.

Many of the shelters in south and mid-Jefferson County are full, even as rescues from the inundated city are ongoing, leaving evacuees stranded and rescuers overwhelmed.

The newly rescued were brought to the staging area, where they were evaluated and offered dry clothes and water.

Eddy Weiss, CEO of C4L, an Iowa consulting and response firm, was running the center for the just-arrived evacuees. He arrived in Texas to help in Houston but heard the distress calls coming from Port Arthur and changed plans. They weren't expecting to run a portable medical unit, he said, but were thrown in where needed.

"This is crazy," he said, waving his hands around a helicopter landing pad marked off by caution tape threaded through overturned shopping carts in front of the Academy sporting goods store. Clad in a neon yellow vest, David McVay stood in the middle of the parking lot, re-directing cars around the lot to keep it clear for the Coast Guard to land.

"I'm homeless," he said, and can't give money or supplies to those in need. "But I've worked traffic control, I'd done this, I just figured I can do my part, so I came up and volunteered," he said as he waved cars away from the caution tape barricade.

Weiss, who was in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina "doing everything from debris removal to body retrieval," said uncertainty about the situation made it difficult to grapple with.

"I hate to compare the two storms," he said "but with Katrina, we knew what happened.""Within two days, we were able to say, this is what happened, what's going on. With this, I don't think we understand yet," he said, calling Harvey "not just a hurricane."

He spent Wednesday night on the phone with his wife "telling her all the things I'd never told her," he said, out of anxiety that he wouldn't make it back, fueled by fear from the explosion at a Crosby chemical plant.

Military and volunteers from around the country joined Weiss in the staging area.

A group of volunteers arrived with a truck full of dog food, toiletries, baby formula and diapers for evacuees after driving 17 hours straight from Florida, losing a bumper to high water along the way.

"We've been through this, we get this," Willis Mullis said of hurricanes. "So we wanted to help."

National Guard members stocked and deployed massive Light Medium Terrain Vehicles, which are high enough to pass through more than 5 feet of water, carrying supplies from the parking lot to shelters in need.

The city is still inundated, with many streets still entirely underwater. Abandoned cars sit windows-deep along Procter Street, where water covers porches and climbs up doors. Streets, yards and driveways are indistinguishable through the neighborhood just inside the seawall, covered in deep water from home to home. Memorial Boulevard was impassable by even a National Guard humvee at points, water covering the roadway up to houses and buildings alongside it.

Sparse dry patches separate flooded areas and make it harder for rescuers to reach them in boats. At some houses spared by piers, high foundations or just the uneven flood patterns, residents sat on porches Thursday, barbecuing and surveying the otherwise empty streets.

Other residents have turned away rescuers, staying in flooded homes because they're undocumented immigrants, one National Guard officer said, afraid they'll be caught by authorities at shelters.

Some of the rescued are taken to shelters within the city, which are difficult to access without high-water vehicles and therefore hard to resupply. Others are taken to churches or shelters in Mid-County, though many of those are at capacity as well.

At Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Red Cross members asked evacuees to move their cots closer together to make room for 100 more. People dug through piles of donated clothes on the grass outside and lined up for food and water.

Leaster Raymond left her flooded home with her husband, young grandchildren and dogs Bella and Sassy, spending hours waiting at a gas station looking for a route to a shelter passable in their car. They were rescued by helicopter and arrived at the shelter Wednesday morning, she said, but didn't eat until Thursday afternoon.

"But you've got to be grateful, and everybody's trying to help," she said. The kids "actually think it's fun," she said.

Like many, Raymond was separated from family: her daughter was at work in Beaumont when she got stranded, and she hadn't heard from her mother-in-law yet, though she ran into neighbors who said her house had flooded.

Over and over, evacuees repeated their shock: In years of living in Port Arthur, through decades of storms and hurricanes, they have "never seen anything like this."

Some were brought to church shelters that were quickly overflowing and then bused to the Jack Brooks Regional Airport to be moved again.

Ednakeshica Reynolds sat in a chair at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport Thursday, leaning her head back against the concrete wall, glancing at the door where several dozen people lined up, many carrying their belongings in trash bags.

"I'm just thankful to be here," she said.

She and her 18-year-old son, who has epilepsy, were rescued in an airport from her flooded Port Arthur apartment, which is "literally under water." They were brought to St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Port Neches, only to be moved, after the shelter reached capacity, to the airport, where they'll be flown to Dallas.

Before leaving the shelter, she returned to her flooded home to retrieve her 21-year-old daughter, who stayed behind thinking the water would recede. It hadn't.

Reynolds has no idea what awaits them - or her family members who are scattered across other shelters. "We're just basically going up there blind," she said.

Outside, hundreds more waited their turn, while those with medical needs sat in the air-conditioned terminal. Officers from the county and agencies around the country loaded passengers into planes, counting them carefully to fill each seat.

Some at the airport, who were marked with numbers on their wrists to determine their boarding order, aren't sure they'll return.

"We may not come back," said Che'yanne Walker, who was flying to Dallas with her mother and other family members. "We may start a new life, because we lost everything.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitz
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When Vidor resident Ginger Faul evacuated her home earlier this week and moved to a friend's house on higher ground in the city, she thought she would be safe.

As water levels continued to rise in Vidor on Thursday morning, Faul realized she once again was in danger. One of many residents left stranded in Vidor, Faul was rescued from the house by the National Guard.

"I've lived here 30 years and I've never seen anything like this," Faul said. "The water was up to the windows, so we had to get out."

Faul, along with many other Vidor residents, was taken to the Orange County Convention Center after being rescued. The National Guard has worked "day and night" with volunteers to get stranded residents out of the area and transported to safe areas, according to Sgt. James Mcgill.

North Main Street in Vidor experienced major flooding, making it difficult for first responders to reach residents on the city's north end.

"We've been here constantly running missions to get people out," Mcgill said. "We're here until the government tells us to go home."

As of Thursday afternoon, water was still rising in Vidor. Orange County has received 30 inches of rain in the past five days, according to the National Weather Service.

A mandatory evacuation was called on Thursday for low-lying parts of Orange County, including Rose City, Pine Forest and unincorporated areas west of 105 and north of Interstate 10, and north of I-10 and east of Texas 87.

Flooding forced the closure of I-10 westbound from the Sabine River to the Neches River and I-10 eastbound from the Neches River to FM 105.

During an emergency board meeting, West Orange-Cove ISD declared a state of emergency and urgent public necessity because of Harvey.

Superintendent Rickie Harris said no major damage has occurred to school buildings, though safety concerns have kept officials from fully examining facilties. The schools districts' buses currently have water up to their bumpers, Harris said.

Vidor residents who aren't stranded have come to help those in need, bringing boats and other large vehicles to flooded parts of the city. Martha Baldwin watched anxiously as her husband went to rescue friends by boat who were stranded near the city's north end.

"We've seen a helicopter land and people are walking through waist-deep water," Baldwin said. "People are trying to make it out however possible."

Baldwin said once everyone is safe, they will attempt to evacuate to Louisiana.

Volunteers from out of state have joined the effort to help Vidor residents.

Keith Savoy, who came from central Louisiana, arrived in town at 4 a.m. Thursday morning. Working alongside a subdivision of the Cajun Navy, Savoy said he used his boat to rescue at least four people stranded in their homes.

"It's pure devastation here," Savoy said. "We're doing whatever we can to help."

MFaye@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/mattGfaye
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Country star Miranda Lambert is coming to the rescue of dogs hit hard by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

"Thanks to some amazing transportation volunteers... We sent over 70 pups to our shelter in Oklahoma today. Our rigs are now rolling into Houston for another load. Continue to send prayers and donations," Lambert wrote in an Instagram post on Wendesday.

SAVED: Dog rescued from Harvey's rushing floodwaters

Lambert and her organization Mutt Nation Foundation have been in Houston for the past three days, transporting Texas dogs away from the flood and to safer ground. The group is working with the Houston Humane Society to transport displaced and lost animals, according to an Instagram post.

Mutt Nation Foundation aims to "ensure that as many dogs as possible would have a safe and happy place to call home." Lambert said on Instagram that more volunteers are on their way to help transport more dogs.

BEWARE: Harvey creates a river of fire ants in Texas

The Houston Humane Society continues to help animals affected by Hurricane Harvey and is collecting donations.

"What an amazing crew at Mutt Nation Foundation! Today, this awesome team showed up at the Houston Humane Society to transport 62 dogs out of Houston!" the group wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

How the owners can reconnect with their recovered dogs was not apparent from the organizations. Chron.com has reached out to both organizations on how to connect the pets with their owners.

Scroll through the slideshow above to see the animals who have been rescued during Hurricane Harvey so far.
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As lines get longer at gas stations across San Antonio, tempers seem to be getting shorter.

At several gas stations, frustrated drivers have gotten out of their cars to yell at each other. At one, a woman physically planted herself in front of a car to prevent it from cutting the line while another woman screamed at a car that had managed to sneak in.

GasBuddy, a gas price tracking firm, reports 270 stations in San Antonio were without fuel after 9:30 p.m., up from seven at 1 p.m.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg sought to calm the panic Thursday afternoon, reminding residents there was no widespread gasoline shortage but rather a delay in fuel production.

"San Antonio, there is no gas shortage," Nirenberg said. "As the result of delayed refinery operations caused by Hurricane Harvey, some stations have run low on gas."

He urged San Antonians to not be "misled by social media, which is causing people to panic and purchase more gas than necessary," and asked drivers to purchase gas as they normally would.

More than 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity is currently shuttered because of the storm, and gas prices are expected to spike, maybe up to 35 cents, in the coming weeks. Gas prices have already risen about 5 cents in San Antonio, according to GasBuddy.

Several gas stations began reporting running out of fuel Thursday morning. By the afternoon more stations were displaying "sold out" signs and as word spread on social media drivers began flocking to the pumps.

Now Playing: Lines extend to the streets on Wednesday, Aug. 31, as gas stations run low after Harvey. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Lines have stretched through parking lots and even into streets, blocking traffic.

Leroy Belk tried six different gas stations before he ran out of fuel at the H-E-B at Wurzbach and Interstate 10. He waited in line for over an hour before making it to a pump, having to physically push his car a few feet every 5 minutes or so.

"Everyone's looking at what's happening on Facebook," he told mySA. "That's the power of Facebook."

Frank Barrera went to eight gas stations on the south side before making the trip up north and enduring the huge lines and occasional shouting match.

"You think this is bad? Go to the South Side. Everyone is fighting," he said.

The manager of a 7-Eleven near Loop 410 and Vance Jackson, who identified himself only as Sonu, frantically directed traffic at his station and said his reserves were nearly depleted.

Next door at a Valero, numerous drivers lined up for fuel, and one of them expressed his concern to mySA that the beginning of the end of the world is upon us.

RELATED: Gas prices in Texas may spike 35 cents in 2 weeks due to Harvey, Labor Day

"Hurricane Harvey has impacted many gas refineries, and Texas is experiencing a gas supply shortage as a result," read a statement from 7-Eleven. "We are doing everything we can to provide gas to our customers as it becomes available."

Braden Reddal, Senior External Affairs Advisor for Chevron, said the company's fuel supply across Texas is currently varied as a result of Harvey.

"We are assessing all options to supply fuel to customers in areas where shortages exist and are working with customers to deliver fuel as product supplies become available," he said in an email.

The average gas price in Texas is now $2.26 per gallon, which is 12 cents higher than one week ago before Harvey made landfall, according to The Associated Press.

QuikTrip, one of the largest convenience store chains in the U.S., will stop selling gas at about half of its 135 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. All locations will remain open, but only half will be selling gas.

Mike Thornbrugh, a spokesman for QuikTrip, told The Associated Press that the company plans to have locations with gas across the metro area.

RELATED: Harvey halts 20 percent U.S. refining operations

Many refineries closed on Friday in preparation for the storm and were attempting to resume operations on Wednesday morning, according to the American Petroleum Institute, but others were flooded and may take weeks to reopen.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 10 refineries along the Gulf Coast are currently shut down. Six have begun assessing damage and restarting, and two are operating at reduced rates.

Though areas across Texas are reporting shortages, national fuel inventory may help offset any long term disruptions to gas supply caused by the storm.

"Nationally, current inventories of crude oil and refined products are relatively high, and these supplies may help offset storm-related supply disruptions to both," wrote Mark Green, editor of the API's blog, on Wednesday.

Refinery operations stretching along the Texas coastline from Corpus Christi to the Louisiana border account for about 3 percent of the U.S. economy and is a major export market for oil and chemicals.

In San Antonio though, some are wondering why so many people are panicking.

Karen McManuis, a local real estate agent, was walking into the H-E-B when she stopped to ponder the madness occurring before her eyes.

"What do they think will happen?" she asked herself. "We'll never have gas again? I know it was a horrible storm but why panic like this?"

Express-News staff writers Rye Druzin and Jennifer Hiller and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

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Twitter: @calebjdowns
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AUSTIN  Physicians in Texas will still be able to perform a common second-trimester abortion procedure at least for the next two weeks, after a federal judge in Austin temporarily blocked a new state law that restricts the method from taking effect Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in favor of abortion providers, who sued the state in July, claiming the law would curb womens access to the safest and most common procedure used after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The ban is on hold until Sept. 14, when Yaekel scheduled a hearing to consider a preliminary injunction.

Plaintiffs in the suit, including Whole Womens Health, applauded the ruling, but said theres more work to be done.

Now, we prepare our case against this restriction that forces doctors to provide lesser care to their patients, tweeted the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of womens health providers in Texas.

Attorney General Ken Paxtons office pledged to keep fighting in court.

Dismemberment abortions are gruesome and inhumane, which makes it troubling that a district court would block Texas lawful authority to protect the life of unborn children from such a barbaric practice, said Marc Rylander, director of communications for the Office of the Attorney General.

The law restricts the use of dilation and evacuation abortions  when a physician uses medical equipment to remove fetal tissue  on living fetuses.

Under the law, physicians would have to initiate fetal demise before beginning the procedure.

The Center for Reproductive Health argued, however, that the three methods used to cause fetal demise are invasive, increase medical risks for the mother and are in some cases untested.

Two states have similar bans on dilation and evacuation abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Others, in Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma, havent taken effect because of court challenges brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to the organization.

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A 52-year-old high school teacher was arrested Thursday after accusations surfaced that she began a sexual relationship with a freshman student last year.

The accused teacher, Alberta Fern Padilla, faces a charge of improper relationship between an educator and student. She remains in the Bexar County Jail on a $20,000 bond.

RELATED: SAPD: Man not cooperating after he was shot in foot on NE side

Padilla, a math teacher at Claudia Taylor Johnson High School in the North East ISD, was the victim's teacher and case manager, and she tutored him in math at a local public library after school, police said.

According to her arrest affidavit, Padilla allowed the victim to move in with her in June 2016 and began to develop feelings for him.

Now Playing: A Pennsylvania high school teacher is facing multiple charges after allegedly having sex with one of her 15-year-old male students  with one of the sexual encounters taking place on a park bench, PEOPLE confirms. Video: People

The teacher reportedly told police she and the victim had sex in a public park off West Avenue that month, and they had sex about 15 to 20 times over the course of the following year. She said the last time they had sex was the week of August 20 of this year, according to the affidavit.

RELATED: SAPD: Man shot in hip during fight at West Side sports bar

The relationship was discovered when Padilla's daughters recorded a phone conversation in which the victim warned the daughters to not tell police about the relationship and said that he was in love with Padilla, authorities said.

Police say the victim also told police that he had had sex with Padilla before.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns
Hospital operations at various facilities took a hit in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which battered the east coast of Texas Friday.

Irving, Texas-based Christus Health, for example, closed several sites in Houston and Beaumont, Texas, due to heavy flooding, a health system spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review via email. However, for the most part, its EHRs remained functional.

"Our South Texas regions' EHR, both for our hospitals and clinics, remained fully functional during the land fall of Harvey," the spokesperson wrote. "We only lost connectivity to a few closed clinics who were dealing with power issues. If any of our patients in the South Texas region lost their paper medical records, and they have been a Christus Spohn patient or a Christus Physician Group or Promptu patient, our providers should have their medical records in digital form."

"We remain aware that we may have disruption of network connectivity which relies on power and telecommunication networks," she continued. "Given those circumstances, we are prepared with the necessary backup response."
Here are the top five most-read health IT stories from August, beginning with the most popular.

1. Judy Faulkner, Joe Biden reportedly clash over patient access to EHRs

Epic reaffirmed its commitment to patients' right to access their medical records, despite recent reports of a tense conversation between the company's CEO Judy Faulkner and former Vice President Joe Biden.

2. In leaked audio, Jared Kushner says VA-Cerner decision happened in '2 weeks'

In a leaked hour-long address to Congressional interns July 31, White House Adviser Jared Kushner said the deal with Cerner is "one of the great successes we've had so far" in reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs.

3. IBM sues former CIO as he nears deal with Amazon

IBM filed a formal complaint against Jeff Smith, its former CIO, Aug. 1 to recoup damages for Mr. Smith's alleged breach of his non-compete agreement with IBM.

4. Trump: Transferring VA medical records is now 'so easy'

President Donald Trump discussed the Department of Veterans Affairs' EHR system at an event honoring American veterans in Struthers, Ohio, July 25.

5. 5 questions with new Cleveland Clinic CIO Edward Marx

Edward Marx, who Cleveland Clinic named its CIO July 18, spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about his leadership strategy in a rapidly changing IT landscape.
The following health IT vendor contracts and go-lives were reported during the past week.

Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System added a genomic decision support tool from ActX to its Epic EHR.

Appriss Health and the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency teamed up to integrate the state's controlled prescription information into EHR and pharmacy management systems across the state.

University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center deployed a solution from NextGate, a provider of patient and provider identification solutions, to help manage provider information.

Boston-based Harvard Health Publications teamed up with Outcome Health, a health IT company that aims to provide physicians and patients with actionable healthcare insights.

Green Bay, Wis.-based Bellin Health Systems partnered with PatientPing, a health technology company that connects providers from multiple networks to help coordinate care for shared patients.

Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare plans to transition its services from legacy solutions to an open-source infrastructure developed by Red Hat.

Teladoc will provide federal employees with general medical and behavioral healthcare services under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan for 2018.

Franciscan Alliance, a 14-hospital system headquartered in Mishawaka, Ind., implemented Vocera Communications' solutions systemwide.
Pascagoula, Miss.-based Singing River Health System CEO Kevin Holland is stepping down, effective Oct. 31, according to a Sun Herald report.

Mr. Holland assumed the hospital's top leadership role in 2014. The board of trustees thanked Mr. Holland for his service to the health system, which spans 20 years.

Mr. Holland led the health system during a period of upheaval and financial instability. In the 2016, the health system reached a proposed settlement and agreed to pay $150 million to release it from liability over its failed pension plan. However, in July of this year, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals failed to approve the proposed settlement, sending it back to back to U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola. Earlier this year, Singing River terminated its neurosurgery services, stating it could "no longer afford the two surgeons required to continue neurological services at its facilities."

According to the report, Mr. Holland said he and his team achieved "significant financial turnaround without ever compromising the hallmark of our organization, our exceptional clinical quality."

However, the health system's financial troubles have not ended as yet. The Jackson County's board of supervisors is looking to engage a turnaround-focused firm to help Singing River overcome these difficulties, according to the report.
Cleveland Clinic appointed Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, president and CEO, effective Jan 1.

Here are six things to know.

1. Dr. Mihaljevic is a cardiothoracic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive and robotically assisted cardiac surgeries.

2. He joined Cleveland Clinic in 2004 and has served as CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi since 2015.

3. Dr. Mihaljevic, a native of Croatia, came to the U.S. in 1995 and started his career at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital.

4. He is the author or co-author of more than 145 articles in medical and peer-reviewed journals, and won the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Award in 2006 and 2007.

5. Dr. Mihaljevic will succeed current CEO Toby Cosgrove, MD, who announced plans to step down from his leadership role in May.

6. Dr. Cosgrove will help transition Dr. Mihaljevic through the end of the year, before taking on an advisory role with Cleveland Clinic.
Tom Huebner, president and CEO of Rutland (Vt.) Regional Medical Center, announced his plans to retire, effective March 31, 2018, according to a Rutland Herald report.

Mr. Huebner is ending a nearly 30-year career with Rutland Regional. He joined the hospital in 1990 as vice president of corporate services. He has served at the helm of the hospital since 1997.

Mr. Huebner serves as the New England representative to the American Hospital Association and on the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems' board of directors, according to VT Digger.

Rutland Regional's board of directors will begin the search for a successor.
The following healthcare layoffs were reported by Becker's Hospital Review in August. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.

1. TLC Health to cut nearly 40 jobs with closure of 2 units

Irving, N.Y.-based TLC Health Network will close its long-term care and medical/surgical units, affecting 38 employees.

2. Holy Cross Hospital in Florida lays off 23

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Holy Cross Hospital laid off 23 employees. Most of the layoffs were management positions.

3. Providence Health & Services lays off 210 employees

Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services cut 210 jobs as part of a systemwide cost-cutting plan.

4. Edward-Elmhurst Health eyes layoffs as part of $50M cost-cutting plan

Naperville, Ill.-based Edward-Elmhurst Health plans to cut $50 million in costs, which will include an unspecified number of layoffs.

5. Dr. Soon-Shiong's NantHealth to cut 300 jobs as losses mount

NantHealth, a personalized medicine company led by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, will cut 300 jobs through layoffs and transferring some staff to Allscripts Healthcare Solutions.

6. Lawmaker claims New Mexico hospital fired his wife over politics

Silver City, N.M.-based Gila Regional Medical Center cut five administrative positions, including a New Mexico lawmaker's wife.

7. Kindred to close Detroit hospital, lay off 145 employees

Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare plans to close its long-term care hospital in Detroit by the end of September, resulting in about 145 layoffs.

8. Medtronic to lay off 185 employees

Medtronic, a Dublin, Ireland-based medical device manufacturer, will close its distribution center in Joliet, Ill., resulting in the lay off of 185 employees.
Hurricane Harvey is now estimated to be the second-costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Here's how you can help Texas residents and care teams directly or from afar.

If you have suggestions or additions to this list, please contact mgamble@beckershealthcare.com.

How to give time and medical aid or support Texas care teams from afar

Victims of Hurricane Harvey are in dire need of quick and easy access to professional medical aid. For physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals who want to donate their clinical skills to help those suffering, consider the following organizations.

1. American Red Cross. The Red Cross needs health and mental health professionals to support Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Click here for more information.

2. Remote Area Medical. The organization is currently looking for volunteers, including physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, among others, to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. Click here for more information.

3. Heart to Heart International. The organization has a disaster response team and mobile medical unit deployed on the ground in Texas. The teams have been treating minor injuries. It is also working with local partners to identify areas with the most need for medical support. Click here for more information.

4. Fastaff Travel Nursing. A nurse staffing agency, Fastaff is filling immediate openings in Texas. The Texas Board of Nursing is also offering expedited temporary licenses to nurses responding to Hurricane Harvey, and Fastaff will reimburse the cost. Click here for more information.

5. Texas Disaster Volunteer Registry. The registry allows health professionals to sign up as responders. The registration system collects basic information and connects health professionals to participating organizations.

6. California Medical Association Foundation. The charitable arm of the California Medical Association, CMAF is raising money to help physicians and their families affected by the storm. Donations can be made here.

7. Texas Medical Association. TMA is collecting funds to help physicians reestablish their practices in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Funds will go to relocating or refurbishing physician office equipment, patient records and helping staff. Donations can be made here.

8. Texas Hospital Association. THA has a hospital employee assistance fund to provide relief for hospital workers who have suffered property loss or damage. Funds are distributed to hospitals based on the need identified and those hospitals can then distribute funds among qualified employees. Donate here.

9. Texas Association of Community Health Centers. This nonprofit association represents Texas' safety net healthcare providers. To donate to its members affected by Harvey, click here  the link to do so on PayPal is at the top of the page.

How to give medical supplies

Several national and regional organizations are accepting medical supplies and monetary donations to distribute medical equipment in Texas and Louisiana. Organizations are listed with information regarding requested supplies, online donation portals and contact information.

1. Americares is a national organization providing medical outreach in Texas by helping healthcare providers prepare for the storm, respond to the storm and recover from the storm by helping rebuild hospitals and clinics in areas of need. Americares is accepting monetary donations for Hurricane Harvey response through an online portal. Access Americares' portal here.

2. Direct Relief is a Goleta, Calif.-based nonprofit distributing medical supplies and medicine to Texas. The organization made available its entire inventory of medical supplies worth more than $100 million for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Direct Relief is accepting monetary donations and vehicle donations. Access Direct Relief's portal here and more information about vehicle donations here.



3. Global Giving, a crowdfunding site, aims to raise $5 million to provide individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey emergency supplies, including medicine, in addition to long-term recovery assistance. To access the site, click here.

4. Portlight, a Charleston, S.C.-based disaster response nonprofit serving disabled populations, is seeking monetary donations to provide emergency assistance and medical supplies to disabled individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey. Access Portlight's online portal here.

5. Little Lobbyists, a Silver Spring, Md.-based advocacy group for children with complex medical needs, is working in partnership with Trach Mommas and several other groups to collect unopened, unused and unexpired medical supplies. Those in the Washington, D.C., area can drop off supplies at the Little Lobbyist headquarters in Maryland (email contact@littlelobbyists.org for details) or the Trach Mommas Louisiana site (see below).

6. Trach Mommas, is a Baton Rouge, La.-based nonprofit distributing medical supplies to children with a tracheostomy, those who are immunocompromised, technology dependent or require medically complex care. Monetary donations can be made via PayPal to support@trachmommas.org and www.trachmommas.org. Medical supplies can be shipped to:

Trach Mommas of Louisiana

11725 Industrialplex Blvd Suite 3

Baton Rouge, LA 70809

Trach Mommas is accepting all home-care medical supplies including but not limited to:

Feeding tube extensions, tracheal T-tubes, sterile Q-Tips, split gauze (drain sponges), bed pads, diapers of all sizes, nebulizers, oxygen concentrators, suction feeding suctions, food pumps, cough assistance-materials, portable IV poles, air purifiers and diabetic supplies. Supplies should be packaged in split-top plastic bins.

7. YWCA Greater Austin is offering free support groups and crisis counseling for Harvey survivors. Cash donations are helpful  $10 allows a person in crisis to join a group therapy session; $25 helps a displaced person, couple or family access crisis counseling sessions. Volunteers are also needed; those interested in volunteering can contact Volunteer and Training Institute Coordinator Haleigh Campbell at 512-326-1222, extension 113.

8. Support the Girls, a Wheaton, Md.-based organization that distributes feminine hygiene products to homeless women nationwide, is collecting pads and tampons for its affiliates in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, which are receiving tens of thousands of evacuees. Feminine hygiene products can be shipped to:

Support the Girls

c/o Grace Whitley

PO Box 581

Wylie, TX 75098

9. The Texas Diaper Bank is seeking diapers for adults and babies, pull-ups, formula and wipes. Find more information about how to donate diapers here or donate funds to support Texas Diaper Bank here.

How to give blood

Hospitals are especially in need of O negative and O positive donations, but people with all blood types are encouraged to donate.

1. The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center is accepting blood donations for Harvey victims. Call 210-731-5590 to schedule an appointment, or find a nearby blood drive or schedule an appointment by clicking here. STBTC has seven blood donor rooms  five in San Antonio, one in New Braunfels and one in Victoria. STBC said donor rooms are at capacity through Sept. 5. Updated links to the donor rooms are available here.

2. Carter BloodCare has locations throughout Texas. Call 1-800-366-2834 or click here for information on donor eligibility or to schedule an appointment. Potential donors may also text DONATE4LIFE to 444-999.

3. In Tyler, Texas, at least three blood drives are scheduled on Carter BloodCare buses:

Tyler Junior College will host a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 1 at 1400 East 5 th St. Call 903- 510-2611 for more information.

will host a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 1 at 1400 East 5 St. Call 903- 510-2611 for more information. Best Buy will host a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 2 at 5514 S. Broadway Ave. Call 903-509-0690 for more information.

will host a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 2 at 5514 S. Broadway Ave. Call 903-509-0690 for more information. New Life Worship Center will host a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 10 at 18535 US Highway 69 South. Call 903-871-8700 for more information.

4. In Austin, blood donors donating Friday can travel to and from their appointments for free via Fasten, a ride-hailing start-up.

5. AABB is encouraging people to donate blood in the wake of Harvey. Donors with O-positive blood are especially needed. Call 301-907-6977 to find a local blood drive or to schedule an appointment.

6. Those who do not live in Texas but want to donate blood can contact these organizations to find a local blood drive or schedule an appointment:

7. The Oklahoma Blood Institute put out a call for Americans to donate blood for Harvey victims. As of earlier this week, the institute already sent 300 units of blood and 25 units of platelets to Harvey-affected areas and aims to provide 400 more units this week. Donors may schedule an appointment by calling 877-340-8777 or booking online. Find the institute's donor center locations and contact information here.

8. United Blood Services has called for donations in the wake of Harvey. Contact information for regional headquarters is available here. Information on scheduling an appointment is available here.

9. LifeSouth, which has donor centers in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, is providing blood to Texans affected by Harvey. Click here to find a donation site. For more information, call LifeSouth at 888-795-2707.

How to give  in other ways

Can't donate expertise, supplies or time, but still want to help out? Consider donating resources to the following causes or groups.

1. Airbnb is tapping its residential hosts in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, central and east Texas, Louisiana and southeast Texas to connect them with evacuees. Airbnb is waiving all service fees for those affected by disaster and checking in between Aug. 23 and Sept. 25.

2. GoFundMe has a page with all its Harvey-related fundraisers. The website also offers an option to donate to the Direct Impact Fund, which will go to verified GoFundMe campaigns.

3. AARP Foundation's Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund is collecting funds to aid victims ages 50 and older. The AARP and AARP Foundation will match contributions up to $1.5 million. Donate here.

4. Houston is in need of translators  the need is greatest for medical translation and Asian language. Per Mayor Steve Adlers website, translators can sign up here to offer their services.

5. Central Texas Food Bank, the largest hunger relief nonprofit in Central Texas, is asking for monetary donations to support "disaster boxes," which will contain easy-use food items for those affected by the storm. Cash donations allow the food bank to more efficiently distribute boxes to those in need. If it is easier to give time, consider organizing a food drive or volunteering. Phone: 512/282-2111.

6. Feeding Texas is also collecting monetary donations to better aid impacted families. Through local outposts, statewide Feeding Texas is already providing food boxes, shelter meals, and cleaning supplies where needed. Donate here, or contact Celia Cole at ccole@feedingtexas.org for in-kind donations.

7. Houston Food Bank is seeking donations to provide nutritious meals for those affected by the storm  $75 provides 225 meals, $500 provides 1,500.

8. Send Relief, the umbrella organization for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, is mobilizing thousands of volunteers to aid in shelters, feeding kitchens and restoring homes. Those who wish to support its long-term relief effort can donate online at namb.net/Harvey or text SENDRELIEF to 41444.

9. Still looking for a cause you're best suited to support? Charity Navigator has a list of all charities supporting relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Charity Navigator team analyzes nonprofit financial documents, publishes relevant information on charities and rates them with a number-based system.
Thirteen months ago, Dan Fabbio had the performance of a lifetime  he played a saxophone solo in the middle of a surgery to remove a tumor in his brain, reports New York Daily News.

The 27-year-old musician was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago after experiencing dizziness and hallucinations. The tumor was located in an area of the brain linked to musical processing, so Mr. Fabbio's care team at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medicine's Translational Brain Mapping program spent six months studying how his brain processed music before the surgery.

"The goals of the program are to remove life-threatening tumors, while preserving the humanity of patients," U of R neuroscientist Brad Mahon, PhD, who helped develop the mapping methodology, told New York Daily News.

Physicians developed a 3-D map of Mr. Fabbio's brain, highlighting crucial areas for music and language processions. The map helped the physicians ensure Mr. Fabbio's music processing skills were not harmed during the July 2016 surgery.

Once they completely removed the tumor, the physicians asked Mr. Fabbio to play a saxophone solo.

"He played it really flawlessly. It was beautiful," Elizabeth Marvin, PhD, a professor of music theory at the University of Rochester told NBC News.

The physicians published a report about Mr. Fabbio's case in Current Biology, which can be accessed here.


Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System signed a letter of intent to merge with Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health Care, forming one of the nation's largest hospital chains.

Under the letter of intent, the two organizations will join their clinical, medical education and research resources to improve access to care and educational opportunities in North Carolina. Together, the two entities would run more than 50 hospitals and employ more than 90,000 people. The new system would have more negotiating power with insurance companies and more capital to eventually construct new hospitals, according to the Charlotte Observer.

They will begin exclusive negotiations with a goal of entering into a final agreement within 180 days. Additionally, the two organizations hope to receive regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission next year, according to the report.

"Together with UNC Health Care, we believe that the opportunities to be a national model and to elevate health in North Carolina are nearly limitless," said Gene Woods, current president and CEO of Carolinas HealthCare System, and future CEO of the new organization.

William Roper, MD, UNC Health Care's CEO and medical school dean, will serve as the executive chair of the new organization.

Many details, including the name of the new organization and location of its headquarters, have yet to be finalized.
Midwest hospital workers will participate in nationwide Labor Day protests advocating for a $15 an hour minimum wage and unionization rights, reports USA Today.

Fast-food workers will also be part of the protests, which are organized by the Service Employees International Union.

Monday's protests are the beginning of an overarching agenda aimed at garnering support from Midwest hospital workers for political candidates who are in favor of the minimum wage and unionization rights, according to the report.

Marie Watteau, vice president of media relations for the American Hospital Association, although not directly talking about the issues involved with the protests, said in a statement obtained by USA Today, "A hospital's workforce is its most vital asset. That's why America's hospitals and health systems value the important work and contributions of the 5 million men and women who care for patients every day."
Hospital officials and the Massachusetts Nurses Association resumed negotiations Aug. 31 to try to reach a labor deal for nurses at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center.

This marked the first negotiation session since approximately 1,200 Tufts nurses went on strike in July.

The MNA said in a statement to Becker's Hospital Review the session lasted approximately eight hours, with nurses primarily working on a proposal that aimed to combine previous offers from nurses and hospital management. Staffing, wages and retirement benefits are among the issues that continue to be part of negotiations.

"The nurses met with management three times throughout the course of the day: once in the morning to begin the day, a second time to present their on-the-record package proposal to management, and a third time to get management's response to that package proposal. A open and civil dialogue followed although, by the end of the day, no tentative agreements were reached," said union officials.

Tufts also released a statement on the most recent negotiation session, reiterating the medical center desires a contract that is fair to both sides, is "committed to productive bargaining sessions," and does not want another strike. Tufts added it also "believe[s] that nurses should be compensated fairly, have a responsible retirement plan, and have adequate resources."

"We had extensive, respectful and open discussions at the bargaining table ... with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. We shared with them our core principles for bargaining in good faith and listened carefully. We look forward to returning to negotiations on Sept. 11 to continue our discussions," said Tufts.

A federal mediator had scheduled negotiations for Aug. 31, Sept. 11 and Sept. 13.

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A University of Utah Hospital nurse says she was unlawfully arrested by a Salt Lake City police detective July 26 for adhering to hospital policy that does not permit blood draws from unconscious patients without a warrant, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Here are seven things to know.

1. A video from the arresting officer's body camera shows nurse Alex Wubbels, RN, and Detective Jeff Payne in a standoff over whether the officer should be allowed to draw blood from an unconscious patient harmed in a motor vehicle accident. In the video, Ms. Wubbels says hospital policy won't permit the blood draw unless the patient has consented, is under arrested or the police have a warrant. In the footage, the detective acknowledges no such requirements have been met, but argues he has the authority to obtain the blood to see if the patient had illicit substances in his body at the time of the crash.

2. The video shows Mr. Payne accusing the nurse of interfering with a criminal case. Ms. Wubbels consults with hospital officials and repeats the policy back to the officer. Mr. Payne then grabs the nurse, pulls her hands behind her back, handcuffs her and forcibly leads her outside. Ms. Wubbels pleads for help as she is arrested.

3. A University of Utah police officer and Department Public Safety officer were present at the time of the arrest, but did not intervene.

4. In a written poklice report, Mr. Payne said he was told by Lt. James Tracy, the watch commander on duty, Ms. Wubbels was interfering with a police investigation if she did not permit him to obtain the blood sample. Mr. Payne also said in the report that he wanted the blood to protect the patient, not for punitive reasons, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

5. In his written report, cited by The Salt Lake Tribune, Mr. Tracy said he believed Mr. Payne had implied consent to obtain the blood sample. Karra Porter, Ms. Wubbells attorney, told The Salt Lake Tribune "implied consent" hasn't been legal in Utah since 2007.

6. Mr. Payne has been suspended from the Salt Lake City police department's blood draw program, but remains on duty with the department. He is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation. No lawsuit has been filed, but Ms. Porter has had discussions with the police department and believes it will use the incident to educate officers.

7. No charges were leveled against Ms. Wubbels.

"University of Utah Health supports nurse Wubbles and her decision to focus first and foremost on the care and well-being of her patient," said Suzanne Winchester, University of Utah Health media relations manager, in a statement emailed to Becker's. "She followed procedures and protocols in this matter and was acting in her patient's best interest. We have worked with our law enforcement partners on this issue to ensure an appropriate process for moving forward."

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Ohio physicians may now only issue seven-day opioid prescriptions to adults and five-day opioid prescription to kids and teens under new acute pain prescribing rules that took effect Thursday, according to Cleveland.com.

Here are five things to know.

1. The state's medical, pharmacy and nursing boards will enforce the new prescribing rules, which were announced in June. The rules are permitted under legislation passed by the state in January, according to a June report from Cleveland.com.

2. The new rules will also require all prescribers to include the diagnosis or procedure code on every opioid prescription beginning Dec. 29. This information will be used to identify patterns of possible overprescribing.

"If you're a dentist, doctor, I don't care who you are, you violate these guidelines, the medical board will come after you," Republican Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday, according to Cleveland.com. "And you will be disciplined and perhaps even lose your license."

3. The new rules do not apply to opioid prescriptions written for cancer patients, chronic pain or palliative and hospice care.

4. The rules also don't apply to medicines used for addiction treatment that contain opioids.

5. More than 4,000 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2016, according to survey results a county coroner's office published in May.

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Louisville, Ky.-based Humana is cutting 180 jobs in its home health division, Insider Louisville reports.

Humana spokesperson Kate Marx told Beckers Hospital Review the cuts reflect "organizational changes."

"While these decisions are never easy, helping our Humana members living with chronic conditions and functional limitations maintain the highest possible quality of life at home remains the goal of our Humana At Home division and a critical element of the company's strategy going forward," Ms. Marx said.

She added some employees may be eligible for employment within the company. The insurer has almost 2,000 open positions nationally.

In February, Humana announced it would lay off about 500 workers in Ohio and Florida by April 3 as it scales back its home health division's workforce.
California public health officials on Thursday fined St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka $40,000 after discovering a physician left a patient in the middle of a hysterectomy to perform an emergency cesarean section in 2014, according to the Eureka Times Standard.

Here are five things to know.

1. The California Department of Public Health said the violation was likely to cause serious injury or death to the patient, according to a 2015 report,. Health department inspectors conducted interviews at the hospital and determined the violation was caused by a lack of available specialists on staff.

2. The physician, an on-call laborist, told investigators there was no general surgeon available to take over the hysterectomy. In its report, the department said the hospital violated state laws regarding staffing and patient safety. Additionally, the department found the physician violated rules barring on-call laborists from scheduling elective surgeries during an on-call shift.

3. The hospital responded to the state's findings in September 2015, saying it corrected the identified issues and made changes to prevent scheduling conflicts among on-call physicians.

4. St. Joseph Hospital's Interim CEO David Southerland told the Times Standard patient safety is a top priority for the hospital.

"We deeply regret that this incident occurred," Mr. Southerland said. "Ensuring patient safety and delivering extraordinary care is fundamental to our hospital's mission and values. We perform rigorous internal reviews of our quality and safety on a regular basis. We are confident that our focus on continuous improvement will uphold our commitment to providing a safe environment for our patients."

5. St. Joseph was among 10 hospitals fined by the state Thursday. In total, the state issued more than $618,000 in fines for violations that occurred between 2012 and 2016.
An aging patient population and an increasingly consumer-driven healthcare environment fuel the demand for quick, convenient surgical procedures. The tools used in these procedures are more sophisticated than previous generations of medical instruments  meaning they are also more difficult to effectively clean.

This article is sponsored by Getinge

Consequently, many hospitals today find themselves reevaluating their sterile processing departments and selecting new equipment to meet their infection control needs. This reexamination is partially driven by the new minimally invasive surgery devices entering the market, a trend that only compounds hospitals' and health systems' deep-rooted commitment to patient safety and infection control compliance.

Hospitals' sterile processing needs are changing



With such serious health and financial consequences, reducing HAIs represents an unwavering priority for hospitals. However, the tools and strategies required to prevent these infections often change in conjunction with industry trends.

Consider that each new surgical device designed to improve patient care requires infection control professionals to develop new, custom protocols to ensure cleanliness and quality for repurposing. Here are four key factors that drive change in hospitals' sterile processing equipment needs.

1. Heightened emphasis on reducing infection rates. The shift toward value-based care, marked by strong incentives to improve quality measures, has renewed clinical emphasis on preventing HAIs.

A 2014 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine estimated 722,000 healthcare-associated infections occurred in acute care hospitals in 2011 alone, resulting in 75,000 deaths. The U.S. healthcare system spends $9.8 billion annually to treat the five most costly HAIs, a third of which is attributed to surgical site infections alone, according to a 2013 study in JAMA Internal Medicine.

CMS' Value-Based Purchasing program adjusts Medicare payments to hospitals based on a set of quality performance measures, which include infection rates. More than 1,600 U.S. hospitals with low infection rates will receive a positive payment adjustment under the program in fiscal year 2017, with the highest performing hospitals receiving an adjustment of more than 4 percent. On the other hand, about 1,300 hospitals with high infection rates will be financially penalized. These financial consequences drive the need for hospitals to follow thorough sterilization processes, which must be supported by the proper sterile processing equipment.

2. An aging population. "One factor that drives most change in all hospitals today is an aging population," says Ric Rumble, president and CEO of TS03 Corp., a Quebec City, Canadabased supplier of sterile reprocessing solutions.

By 2029, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population will be over the age of 65, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This aging patient population generally requires the most medical services, including surgical time, which in turn spurs the need for quicker surgeries using more complex minimally invasive devices that require more difficult sterilization processes, according to Mr. Rumble.

3. Consumerism. Patient expectations have changed dramatically in the last 10 years. Patients today believe their healthcare should be quick, convenient and as painless as possible. Minimally invasive surgery aims to meet these expectations, according to Mr. Rumble. Innovative devices and surgical techniques give patients the quick, yet safe, procedures they desire. However, the tools required to complete these surgeries have grown more complicated, and thus present new challenges to effectively sterilize, according to Mr. Rumble.

"There is less trauma, and the patient is released in a much more timely fashion," he says. "But these procedures require more delicate surgery and very different instrumentation, which drives a need for more sterile processing staff."

4. High employee turnover. "The challenge with many sterilization departments is that they have a reasonably high turnover rate," Mr. Rumble says.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 52,500 sterile processing technicians work in the U.S. However, continuous advancements in surgical devices have fueled a major demand for highly trained central service technicians, which many hospitals struggle to meet or maintain. Hiring and training new employees is time-consuming and costly task for hospitals to regularly conduct, but wise investments in sterile processing equipment can offset human capital costs amid periods of high turnover.

Keeping up-to-date with best practices



It is crucial hospitals stay up to date with recommended guidelines and best practices for proper sterilization amid such a constantly changing field.

"This is not a stagnant industry," Mr. Rumble says. "Instruments are constantly changing. Manufacturers are always making small tweaks to products."

To keep up with these changes and ensure devices are properly cleaned, sterilization departments should first reference a device's operations manual. Manufacturers include updated sterilization instructions in these manuals that correspond to any physical changes made to the device. Manufacturers typically feature the most up-to-date instructions on their websites.

Sterilization best practices are also detailed in the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) standards guide and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurse's (AORN) standards and recommended practices. A sterile processing manager should ensure the department is following the most recent policies and procedures that reflect both changes to the manufacturer's instructions for use and recommended practices, according to a 2014 article published in OR Management.

Sterile processing managers should also regularly review evidence-based research on sterilization processes and equipment to stay informed of updates and make corresponding changes to their sterilization processes, according to Mr. Rumble.

"Look for printed materials," he says. "Is there a substantial amount of literature published in this area? Is there an established hospital practice?"

Evidence-based research, combined with the most recent IFUs and best practice guidelines, enable hospitals to ensure they're providing the safest, most thorough sterilization services possible.

Purchasing the right sterilization equipment for your hospital

Healthcare leaders should purchase sterilization equipment and medical instruments based on their organization's particular surgical caseload and business goals, according to Mr. Rumble.

He estimates sterilization equipment has a lifetime of six to 10 years of use before needing replacement. When looking for a replacement, hospitals should consider three major factors.

1. Caseload. The type and amount of sterilization equipment a hospital needs depends on how many surgical procedures clinicians perform daily, as well as turnaround time between procedures.

2. Clinical convenience. Sterilization equipment today can process numerous types of instruments on the same machine, according to Mr. Rumble. "You want the equipment to do as much as it can," he says. Hospitals should assess their own surgical caseloads and identify commonly used instruments to ensure their new sterilization equipment can effectively and efficiently process the instruments they need in a timely manner. The equipment they purchase will also depend on the maximum size and length of the tools they use, as well as how much space the sterilization department has available to house the machinery.

3. Cost. Hospitals need to consider how they can implement more sterilization services with fewer dollars, according to Mr. Rumble. Those with a tight budget may want to purchase refurbished machinery to cut down on upfront costs. Hospitals should also ensure the equipment they purchase offers generic replacement parts to make any future repairs more cost effective. While new sterilization equipment represents a large upfront investment, over time the technology can lower costs by preventing HAIs and the expensive care associated with these infections, says Mr. Rumble.

Conclusion

"It's an exciting time in our industry," says Mr. Rumble. "The sterile processing department is becoming critical to the operating room." Effective sterile processing is crucial for hospitals to reduce infections and provide exceptional patient care, as well as lower treatment costs and maximize reimbursements under value-based care. Hospitals must acknowledge the numerous factors driving change in the sterilization processing field. Ultimately, hospitals with sterile processing departments that can respond to these constant changes  updating their sterilization procedures and machinery accordingly  will be most successful in preventing infections and reducing costs.
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A recruitment firm in Northern Ireland says it is expanding its workforce here once again, after posting a 14% surge in business. But Hays says jobs in the public sector have fallen by 15% in the last year, due to cuts and the lack of an Executive meaning that departmental budgets cannot be nailed down.

Hays, which is a global firm with operations in Northern Ireland, said it had grown for the seventh year in a row.

Its latest results show job registration levels are up across construction, engineering, technology and finance.

It now employs 68, but managing director John Moore says the company is adding 10 new staff across the three offices. Hays has operations in Belfast, Londonderry and Portadown.

"Our Northern Ireland results mirror those in the Republic, both in comfortable, double-digit growth", Mr Moore said.

"What is encouraging, it's a very balanced picture. Technology, accountancy, construction, engineering and professional services are all up.

"We are seeing extended contracts coming through ... mostly from the private sector."

But while the private sector jobs market appears to be thriving, public sector recruitment has taken a huge hit.

Mr Moore said there is "greater uncertainty within the public sector", due to cuts and a lack of an agreed Budget. Public sector work represents around 35% of Hays' business.

"I would say it has gone back by about 15%. It's a combination of public sector cuts, uncertainty around EU funding, and the uncertainty around Brexit.

"The cuts, and the lack of a Stormont Executive, means budgets are not signed off, or only partial budgets available."

Looking ahead to the company's overall performance this year, Mr Moore said: "I think it is going to be very strong.

"We have sounded out our customers and they are saying there is a bullishness over the next three years. For us, it's about getting qualified professionals back to Northern Ireland, as well as working with Invest NI to attract new firms to Northern Ireland."

Meanwhile, infrastructure work in Londonderry has improved business confidence and job levels in the north west. Globally, Hays has 10,000 staff in 250 offices in 33 countries.

"We have also added new people to our team and will continue to invest in headcount, which reflects the success that we've had and the ongoing opportunities that we are expecting," Mr Moore said.

"Our performance mirrors a significantly improving regional economy, particularly in the private sector, where clients remain positive about their recruitment plans.

"However, two big issues that we are facing are the lack of a functioning Executive at Stormont and of course this is especially compounded with the uncertainties that Brexit may hold for our regional economy."

Across the company, the firm saw fees rising to more than 950m for the year ending June 30. Meanwhile, operating profit rose 17% to 211.5m "driven by international profit growth and exchange rate gains".

Alistair Cox, chief executive, said: "This has been a milestone year for the group. Our international businesses delivered record levels of fees and profit which, together with exchange rate gains, drove overall group operating profit to over 200m for the first time since 2008."
A resurgent economy in the Republic has boosted Grafton Group's bottom line, with its merchanting business contributing more than 20m to its revenues in the first six months of the year.

The group, which owns MacNaughton Blair in Northern Ireland, reported 61.8m organic revenue growth during the first half of the year.

MacNaughton Blair operates 15 builders' merchants stores here, which are now branded MacBlair.

Its Woodies DIY chain in the Republic contributed 4.6m, as the company continued to reap the benefits of store revamps and more confident consumers.

"The Irish economy and the housing market is recovering in such a way that it should be sustainable for the medium to long-term," chief executive Gavin Slark said.

"If you look at the way the Irish market has recovered, it's good for the builders' merchant business."

Grafton's two Irish divisions contributed 5.1m of the total 12.2m group increase in adjusted operating profit growth in the first six months of 2017.

On a group level, revenue at Grafton during the first six months of the year jumped 6.2% on a constant currency basis to 1.33bn.

Grafton's adjusted operating profit, excluding property gains, rose 18.8% to 77m.

The results were better than expected by analysts, but shares in the group remained flat yesterday.

Grafton generated 919m of its revenue in the first half of the year from its UK merchanting business, where it owns chains such as Selco, Buildbase and Plumbase.

In Ireland, its merchanting arm operates under the Chadwicks and Heiton Buckley brands, and accounted for 193m of revenue in the first half of the year.

That was 10.6% higher year-on-year on a constant currency basis.

Profits at the Irish merchanting business rose 30.4% on a constant currency basis, to 15.4m in the first half.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walks down from a Nigeria Naval warship after a visit to the Nigeria Navy at the Naval dockyard in Lagos, Nigeria.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called for a major boost in trade with Nigeria during a visit to the west African country.

Mr Johnson met British military personnel in the capital Lagos who are helping the Nigerian government to combat pirates.

More than 1 20 pirate attacks were reported in the Gulf of Guinea last year, costing around 619 million.

The gulf is targeted because more than 6 billion of west African trade with the UK, and around 15% of oil imported to Britain, moves through the area annually .

Mr Johnson said: "Nigeria is a country of huge promise and big ambitions. British businesses such as Diageo and Unilever are thriving here and I want to see even more British companies succeeding in Nigeria, and more Nigerian companies in Britain.

"The potential of Nigeria's markets, people and natural resources is enormous and helping to secure a prosperous future for our two countries is a key part of our Commonwealth heads of government meeting next year.

"Our military links are close and longstanding. British military training is helping Nigeria to take on Boko Haram and to fight back against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

"This close military co-operation is the cornerstone of our joint efforts to defeat terror and to create the conditions for peace, stability and prosperity."

Mr Johnson, on a joint visit to the country with International Development Secretary Priti Patel, also formally dedicated a new Commonwealth war memorial at the National Military Cemetery.
With so many older people worried about being hard up, it was certainly not "job done" when it comes to ending pensioner poverty, the charity said

Almost one in four people over the age of 65 are struggling financially, showing there is no end to "pensioner poverty", a new report claims.

Age UK said despite so many older people having money problems, around 3.5 billion in financial help was going unclaimed every year in benefits, including help with council tax.

A survey of more than 1,300 people over the age of 65 for the charity found that one in four found life a struggle financially.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: "Today we are at risk as a society of blithely assuming that every older person is comfortably off, but these new figures show that to be way off the mark.

"In fact the most recent Age UK research suggests that one in four are finding it a struggle to manage, adding up to approaching three million pensioners in all.

"With so many older people worried about being hard up it is certainly not 'job done' when it comes to ending pensioner poverty.

"Trying to make ends meet on a low income is a big challenge at any age, but if you are an older person living on your own who is praying your ageing television somehow keeps going, because you know there is no way you'll ever be able to afford to replace it, life becomes especially grim."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "By introducing the triple lock and protecting the poorest through Pension Credit, we have reduced pensioner poverty close to historically low levels, lifting the incomes of millions of older people.

"Other support, such as winter fuel payments, should give older people the assurance that they can turn up their heating when they need to, without the fear of an unaffordable bill."

Margaret Greenwood, shadow minister for employment and inequalities, said: "This report highlights the destructive consequences of the Conservative's brutal and unnecessary austerity programme. Living in poverty is now an everyday reality for many older people in the UK.

"While the Tories said they would scrap the triple-lock on state pensions during the General Election, Labour will guarantee the 'triple lock', as well as maintain the Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes as universal benefits to help tackle pensioner poverty."
Caleb Williamson in hospital getting chemotherapy at just 10 weeks old

An appeal has been launched to help the family of a 17-month old Londonderry toddler fighting cancer of the eyes.

Little Caleb Williamson was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma when he was just nine weeks old and started chemotherapy a week later.

His mum Jacqueline and dad Darran, who have five other children between them, have been by the little fighter's side as he travelled to Belfast and then Dublin for treatment.

Now, with Caleb's illness taking a dramatic turn, they have to travel to Switzerland for specialist treatment every fortnight with the tot.

Although the medical treatment is funded by the NHS, the costs of flights, accommodation and paying household bills back home is mounting.

But friends have stepped in to try and raise money through JustGiving to help ease their financial burden and allow them to be by their child's side for the fight of his life.

"They found a shadow behind Caleb's eye when he was just two days old," his mum Jacqueline explained.

"He was tested for Retinoblastoma - cancer that develops from the immature cells of a retina - because it is hereditary, I had it and so did my dad.

"A few weeks later they confirmed it was cancer. It was the most awful time in our lives. He was just nine weeks old, it was heartbreaking.

"We were brought to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he started chemo.

"He developed sepsis and almost died.

"Thank God he recovered from that. He is a fighter, my boy."

Since then Caleb and his parents have been going between Belfast and Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin for cryotherapy.

So far he has had 20 aggressive tumours and his little body has endured six rounds of chemotherapy, countless surgeries, general anaesthetics, MRIs and laser treatments.

His doctors in Dublin have now referred Caleb to a specialised treatment centre in Switzerland to stop the tumours, which are on his optic nerve, spreading to his brain.

"Caleb now has to get a different kind of chemo to stop the cancer spreading to his brain," Jacqueline added.

"We will have to travel over to Switzerland every fortnight.

"We are very lucky that the treatment is funded by the NHS and the Gavin Glynn Foundation have been amazing at helping us meet flight and accommodation costs, but we are really struggling with every day costs, paying rent and keeping our home going while we are concentrating on getting him better.

"Caleb's daddy and me are by his side through his fight and we won't leave him.

"Our life is on hold, we aren't able to work. It's been a really heavy financial burden on us. It's another thing to worry about when our wee man is fighting for his life."

Retinoblastoma can affect one or both eyes.

The treatment has impacted on Caleb's sight, rendering him partially-sighted, but his mum says treatment is crucial to stop the cancer from spreading to his brain.

"What we need to do now is work to keep this cancer from spreading," added Jacqueline.

"I couldn't even bear to think about that happening, but that is a possibility. Once it's in the nervous system it can go anywhere.

"That is why it is crucial we go to Switzerland, to give him a fighting chance.

"Caleb is just a normal, crazy, happy, lively wee boy.

"Coming into my house you would never know what he has been through.

"He just bounces about and does everyday things. We are drained and exhausted but we are struggling on, fighting on for him."

The family have launched a JustGiving page as part of a crowdfunding drive where people can donate to help meet their costs.

To donate or for more information visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sarah-breslin
The industrial tribunal found the ex-employee's request for reduced hours was not appropriately considered

A former service adviser at car dealer Charles Hurst has been awarded almost 12,000 after her workplace treatment seriously "exacerbated" her mental health problems.

Marie Claire McLaughlin, 31, from Dundrum in Co Down, suffered absences due to bouts of depression and panic attacks.

She applied to reduce her hours at the Belfast-based firm to 40 per week but an industrial tribunal found her request was not appropriately considered.

Charles Hurst said it vehemently opposed all forms of unfair discrimination.

The tribunal said: "It was consistently dealt with as an application for flexible working, with an emphasis on the needs of the business. There was little or no focus on the needs of the claimant."

The panel awarded Ms McLaughlin 11,840 following a case in which she was assisted by the Equality Commission.

It said the time frame for dealing with her request was long drawn out - it took at least four-and-a-half months too long and stretched over a year.

Had the employer focused correctly on making "reasonable adjustments" available under legislation covering disability discrimination and taken a proactive approach she would have had the reduced hours sought earlier, the tribunal added.

Its decision stated: "The treatment which the claimant received at work (the failure to grant her a reasonable adjustment in terms of allowing her to work reduced hours) inevitably compounded and exacerbated to a serious degree any pre-existing condition, and was a major cause of her mental health issues at the relevant time."

Ms McLaughlin believed a reduction in hours would have helped her to cope better and improved her performance at work.

She said: "My employer didn't seem to grasp how serious an impact this was having on my life, inside and outside of work.

"I couldn't believe this was happening to me, the stress of the whole situation did not help my mental health, it just added to the pressure."

A spokesman for Charles Hurst said the case drew attention to key learning issues.

He added: "Charles Hurst Group vehemently opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and notes that the tribunal acknowledged that the company did not discriminate against Ms McLaughlin on the grounds of her disability.

"The tribunal also ruled, unanimously, that neither did the company victimise nor harass the claimant.

"We fully accept, however, the tribunal's one ruling that the length of time which was taken to implement a reduction in working hours was too long and we deeply regret any distress this caused."

Dr Michael Wardlow, chief commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, said the issue was one of increasing concern.

"There is a need for employers to be more pro-active in addressing issues around mental health.

"Proper - and timely - management of this issue should be an important focus for all employers."
Plans to remove the American special envoy from Northern Ireland amid cuts to staff by the Trump administration have been met with disappointment by local politicians.

The move was announced by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who plans to 'retire' at least half of his country's envoys.

Former Democrat Senator Gary Hart was the last to fill the position of envoy to Northern Ireland as part of his role in the Obama administration, but it has now been confirmed that the job will no longer exist.

Removal of the envoy was justified on the basis that Northern Ireland now enjoys peace and stability through the Assembly.

The US State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs will now take responsibility for all relevant matters.

DUP MP Gavin Robinson called the news disappointing, stressing that diplomatic links with America had been hugely beneficial.

"We should all want to see the strongest possible linkages between Northern Ireland and the United States," he added. "It would be very disappointing were the envoy post to Northern Ireland to be retired. Having such a contact with Washington, regardless of the administration in place, is always good for Northern Ireland."

Alliance MLA Stephen Farry agreed it would be a blow but insisted good relations between Northern Ireland and the US would be maintained.

He said: "Successive envoys have played a constructive role assisting different aspects of the peace process here.

"While Alliance's preference is that the position is retained, in the absence of that, we will continue to have ongoing relationships with other senior officials in the State Department and the Consulate General in Belfast. That engagement will continue regardless."

The US State Department in Washington confirmed the position would be scrapped.

A spokesman said: "Regarding the personal representative for Northern Ireland issues, that position will be retired.

The first envoy here ,George Mitchell, played a key role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He was followed by Richard Haass.
Princess Diana shaking hands with one of the residents of Casey House, an AIDS hospice, in Toronto, Canada

Diana talks to members of a Zenica volleyball team who have suffered injuries from landmines

Diana, Princess of Wales, walks in one of the safety corridors of the land mine field of Huambo

With a hug, a handshake or a comforting word, Diana, Princess of Wales helped change public attitudes to people living with HIV or children maimed by landmines.

Julian La Bastide (50), a former senior nurse manager who ran a team caring for HIV patients, described as "groundbreaking" Diana's decision to meet and come into contact with Aids sufferers, ostracised by their families, friends and sometimes the medical profession.

He met Diana four times in the late 1980s and early 1990s while working at the Mildmay Hospice and contrasted the visits of the self-effacing princess with those by the exuberant Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

Mr La Bastide said: "Diana was very quiet, very calm and not your celebrity-type person.

"When Fergie came in, she was like a court jester and she got all the patients laughing, joking. Great fun, but once she's gone, she's gone.

"Diana brought this serenity, this peace. She was just very composed, very quiet and when she left there was awe - all the patients and staff, there was just this sense of everyone feeling awe."

The princess made 17 visits to the Mildmay in Shoreditch, east London - four publicly - sometimes arriving in the evening to chat to staff and patients. During one trip, she made headlines by publicly shaking the hand of a HIV patient.

Mr La Bastide said that, during a visit in 1991, she chatted to a patient for 40 minutes before meeting the next one.

He added of her trips: "She wanted to know that person's story and really understand what it was like for that person. It wasn't like, 'I'm here to have my photo taken' - she wanted to know them.

"It was huge within the HIV community, the impact that had, because there was someone on their side, someone famous.

"As a worker in HIV, the impact was huge because some of that stigma was lifted. You could talk about it without all the negativity and there was a positivity that it brought to the illness."

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The former senior nurse manager, who works as a consultant clinical project manager at the Mildmay, now a hospital for Aids patients, said Diana's visits had an added importance because they were made when society was not as liberal towards the gay community as it is today.

At the time, the age of consent for gay men was higher than their heterosexual peers and the controversial Section 28 rule, banning the promotion of homosexuality by local councils, was in force.

Diana not only supported the Mildmay, but was patron of the campaigning organisation the National Aids Trust (Nat) which was established in 1987.

Deborah Gold, the Nat's chief executive, said Diana was "very passionate" about supporting people with HIV and trying to end the stigma they faced.

"The impression I get from those that knew her (was that) she was particularly drawn to, and sympathetic to, people who were vulnerable or who were excluded from society," she explained.

"That was something she found really important and it motivated her in the types of work that she was therefore getting involved in. It was surprising because it was and remains something that's politically more difficult.

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"It wasn't a simple or easy thing for her to support, and it was something she was willing to use her reputation and her influence to get behind, which both made a difference and involved a level of bravery - of being willing to stand up and be counted."

The princess's campaign to help outlaw landmines saw Diana cuddling a maimed teenager and famously walking through a minefield being cleared by the Halo Trust in Angola in 1997.

But she never saw her work come to fruition because she died before the international treaty to ban the deadly weapons was signed.

James Cowan, the Halo Trust's chief executive, said: "This sudden intervention of Princess Diana, a figure of truly global proportions, transformed the world's view of this problem. As her intervention with HIV focused attention, with landmines she achieved a similar, transformative effect."
The head of the United Nations has said he has confidence in the Irish general in charge of peacekeeping in Lebanon.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres gave Major General Mike Beary his full backing after criticisms that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) mission along the border with Israel is "giving terrorism a pass".

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley launched a personalised broadside a week ago when she claimed the Irish peacekeeping chief was "blind" to Hezbollah's activities in the region.

She claimed there is a "massive flow of illegal weapons" into south Lebanon, a nd accused him of an "embarrassing" lack of understanding of the threat posed by Hezbollah.

Maj Gen Beary took command of the Unifil mission last year and earlier this year said he was not "overly concerned" about the risk Hezbollah may pose in the region.

Forty countries are involved in the mission, with about 380 Irish soldiers.

Unifil was mandated in 1978 to supervise the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the region. It oversees the so-called blue-line that separates the Israeli military from the Lebanese army and Hezbollah.

The UN decided on Wednesday to extend the mission.

In a statement on behalf of Mr Guterres, the UN said: "The secretary-general emphasises the need for the parties to build on the prevailing calm, to focus on the goal of a permanent ceasefire and to act proactively to address all outstanding issues in the implementation of resolution 1701 and other relevant Security Council resolutions.

"Unifil, in close co-ordination with the Office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator, is ready to lend its full support to the parties in this process.

"The secretary-general extends his gratitude to the countries contributing troops to Unifil. He expresses his confidence in the leadership and staff of the mission."

Unifil reports almost daily breaches of UN resolution 1701, passed after the 2006 war in south Lebanon and Israel.

Some relate to simple incursions into Israel or Lebanese territory, while drones, some for surveillance, are a common sight over the unstable region.

The mission also aims to ensure the region is "not utilised for hostile activities of any kind".

The Department of Foreign Affairs said: " Despite the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, Unifil has helped to ensure that southern Lebanon has remained an area of relative calm since 2006.

"Maj Gen Beary's outstanding record of leadership in numerous international peacekeeping roles speaks for itself."
Arlene Foster has called for a new cultural deal and laws supporting the Irish language and Ulster Scots as part of the immediate restoration of Northern Ireland powersharing.

The largest party in nationalism, Sinn Fein, has insisted it will only return to devolved government at Stormont after receiving assurances around a stand-alone Irish language act.

In a major speech on Thursday night, DUP leader and Tory ally Mrs Foster said laws should be introduced in Belfast to address cultural and language issues within a time-limited period. Unless they enjoyed cross-community support the troubled institutions would fall yet again.

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She warned unless agreement can be found between the Stormont parties direct rule from London could be speedily reintroduced.

She said: I am putting forward a common sense solution that can give us the Executive we need and resolve outstanding issues.

Powersharing has been suspended since early this year when late Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness resigned in protest at the DUPs handling of a botched green energy scheme which risks landing the taxpayer in millions of pounds of debt.

Talks aimed at restoring the institutions are due to resume on Monday led by the British and Irish governments, with some prominent DUP MPs warning a return to direct rule from Westminster could be looming.

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The DUP is propping up Theresa Mays minority Conservative Government with support in key votes in exchange for a 1 billion spending package.

Mrs Foster said: I am proposing that we restore an Executive immediately. Put ministers back into posts so that decisions can be made and that Northern Ireland can have a government again.

But we also agree to bring forward legislation to address culture and language issues in Northern Ireland within a time-limited period to be agreed. If we fail to do that in a way that commands cross-community support then the Executive would cease to exist.

She added: We must establish a new cultural deal to provide a comprehensive and long-term approach to the sensitive issue of identity.

Expand Close DUP leader Arlene Foster. (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Mrs Foster met Irish language enthusiasts earlier in the year in a bid to better understand supporters who are not politicised.

She said: We have nothing to fear from the Irish language nor is it any threat to the Union. We have previously supported practical measures for the Irish language and we will do so again if we can reach a wider agreement on these matters.

However what we cannot and will not do is simply agree to one-sided demands.
Boris Johnson has called for a major boost in trade with Nigeria (Sunday Alamba/AP)

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called for a major boost in trade with Nigeria during a visit to the west African country.

Mr Johnson met British military personnel in the capital Lagos who are helping the Nigerian government to combat pirates.

More than 120 pirate attacks were reported in the Gulf of Guinea last year, costing around 619 million.

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The gulf is targeted because more than 6 billion of west African trade with the UK, and around 15% of oil imported to Britain, moves through the area annually.

Mr Johnson said: Nigeria is a country of huge promise and big ambitions. British businesses such as Diageo and Unilever are thriving here and I want to see even more British companies succeeding in Nigeria, and more Nigerian companies in Britain.

The potential of Nigerias markets, people and natural resources is enormous and helping to secure a prosperous future for our two countries is a key part of our Commonwealth heads of government meeting next year.

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Our military links are close and longstanding. British military training is helping Nigeria to take on Boko Haram and to fight back against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

This close military co-operation is the cornerstone of our joint efforts to defeat terror and to create the conditions for peace, stability and prosperity.

Mr Johnson, on a joint visit to the country with International Development Secretary Priti Patel, also formally dedicated a new Commonwealth war memorial at the National Military Cemetery.
Screengrab taken from CCTV of a man police wish to speak with after a takeaway delivery driver had a corrosive substance squirted in his face (Metropolitan Police/PA)

A takeaway delivery driver had a corrosive substance squirted in his face by an attacker who demanded money in east London.

Detectives have released CCTV in an appeal for information after the acid attack outside a residential address in Dane Place, Bow, which resulted in the 21-year-old victim suffering burns to his face.

The incident happened at around 6.20pm on Tuesday May 2 when the victim, a delivery driver of a nearby takeaway, entered details into a sat-nav in his car and the suspect approached him on a pedal cycle and demanded money, Scotland Yard said.

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When the victim said that he did not have any, he was squirted in the face with a chemical that smelt of ammonia.

Police said the suspect tried to open the locked drivers door and eventually got in through the passengers seat as the victim tried to wipe the substance off his face.

The suspect then cycled off as the driver ran into the nearby takeaway and called police.

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Detective Constable Paul Clare, the officer in the case from Tower Hamlets CID, said: This was a horrible assault on a takeaway delivery driver in the early evening.

Witnesses were in the area and saw the assault. We are asking them to come forward and help us with our inquiries.

The suspect is described as a white youth who was wearing a black hooded top, blue jeans, black shoes and a grey/green snood. He was on a black hybrid cycle.

Anyone who can help the investigation is asked to contact Tower Hamlets CID via 101 or by tweeting @MetCC, and to give information anonymously people can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or go to crimestoppers-uk.org.
The Royal Air Force has become the first military service to open up all roles to men and women.

Women can now apply to join the RAFs ground-fighting force after the Government lifted the ban on females serving in close combat roles.

The 2,000 strong RAF Regiment is deployed to protect bases and airfields across the world, and has sustained casualties in Afghanistan.

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Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the change would lead to a more effective military when he announced the move in July.

Individuals who are capable of meeting the standards for the regiment will be given the opportunity to serve, regardless of their gender, he said.

This is a defining moment for the RAF.

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However Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said he was strongly opposed to plans to allow women to serve in the infantry from next year.

He told the BBC: My concern is primarily in terms of physical capabilities and the effects that long-term stresses and strains of infantry training and operations will have on a womans body.

Once you have got through the selection, you then are subjecting yourself to a minimum of four years of intensive physical training day in and day out, which puts enough of a strain on a mans body.

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I think the reality is we will find many more women than men suffer injuries and we will then undoubtedly see very significant compensation payments being made out of the defence budget.

And the nature of womans bodies means that some of the injuries are going to be more significant in terms of being able to bear children and the like.

I am not a doctor, but I have certainly read up on this and that is a problem.

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But former British Army major Judith Webb argued women had been proven to be capable in such roles.

She said: My concern has always been to ensure that research is carried out so that women know exactly what they are in line for.

Being aware of our physical differences is an important aspect, but that is where I feel research has now been carried out.

We want to promote diversity and get the best people, and if we have got women who want to do it, who are capable of doing it  then of course they should be able to do it.

At present women make up 10% of the RAF.
A man places roses at the Pont de lAlma tunnel in Paris where Princess Diana was killed in 1997

People gather in front of flowers, candles and photographs outside Kensington Palace in London

Sir Elton John has honoured the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales describing how 20 years ago "the world lost an angel" as fans of the royal gathered at her former home in tribute.

The 20th anniversary of Diana's death was also marked by her friend Rosa Monckton describing the princess as a "truly extraordinary woman'' while Elizabeth Emanuel, co-designer of Diana's wedding dress, tweeted how she brought joy to all who knew her.

Hundreds made the pilgrimage to the gates of Kensington Palace where bouquets of flowers, messages and pictures had been left in memory of Diana, killed on August 31, 1997 in a Paris car crash.

Diana's die-hard fans vowed to "keep her memory alive'' and brought a large floral display spelling out her name to the gates and a huge cake decorated with an image of the princess. The tributes have grown since the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry visited the site on Wednesday to see the outpouring of love and admiration for their mother.

Sir Elton (70), a close friend of the princess, posted a picture on Instagram with his arm around her and wrote: "20 years ago today, the world lost an angel. #RIP".

The star famously performed an alternative version of his poignant song Candle In The Wind in honour of the princess at her funeral.

Diana was a woman whose warmth, compassion and empathy for those she met earned her the description the "people's princess''.

Twenty years have passed since her death shocked the world but her appeal remains undiminished.

In an interview with The Times, Ms Monckton paid tribute to her friend, saying: "She was everything to everybody. She broke down the walls. She busted the myth of being a fairytale princess.

"I think that given the life she had, when you think what she had to overcome, and all of this in the public eye, I think she was a truly extraordinary woman.

"Very damaged, very flawed, as we all are, but underneath it all this incredible resilience.''

Performer Wayne Sleep remembered Diana, his friend and former dance partner, during a service of remembrance staged by east London's Mildmay Mission Aids hospital, which she visited regularly when it was a hospice caring for HIV patients.

He told the invited guests: "I never realised how close I was to her until she died, and I kept thinking I should have done more for her."

In 1985 he famously danced with Diana to Billy Joel's hit Uptown Girl, at the annual Christmas performance at the Royal Opera House, as a surprise for the Prince of Wales.
German authorities are seeking to end the prosecution of a former SS medic who served at the Auschwitz death camp, saying lengthy delays mean that the elderly suspect is now no longer fit for trial.

Hubert Zafke, who is nearly 97, was examined by experts twice in recent months and found unfit, the prosecutors' office in Schwerin said.

Zafke was charged with 3,681 counts of accessory to murder in 2015 for allegedly helping the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland to function. His lawyer said he did nothing criminal.

In June, three state court judges in the north-eastern city of Neubrandenburg, who repeatedly delayed his trial over questions of his health, were removed after prosecutors and lawyers representing Auschwitz victims and their families complained of bias.

Around 1.1 million people, most of them European Jews, perished between 1940 and 1945 in Auschwitz before it was liberated.
Donald Trump has pledged to give a personal donation to relief efforts to support victims of Hurricane Harvey (AP)

The White House says US President Donald Trump is pledging one million US dollars in personal funds to Hurricane Harvey storm relief efforts.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement at a briefing on Thursday.

She said he is calling on reporters to help decide which specific organisation he will give to.

Mr Trump has been criticised in the past for giving far less of his income to charitable causes than many other multi-billionaires.

Harvey's flood waters have heavily damaged tens of thousands of homes across Texas and killed at least 30 people. The storm is now threatening the region near the Texas-Louisiana state line.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump's 2020 political re-election committee sent out emails and texts to more than 10 million supporters encouraging people to donate to Harvey relief efforts.

The messages provided links to several specific charities: the Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way and local animal rescue operations.

Mr Trump used a similar "reporters decide" gimmick at the beginning of his administration, that time with his presidential salary, which he is declining to accept.

Then-press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a March briefing that Mr Trump "has kindly asked you all determine where that goes".

A few weeks later, the White House announced that Mr Trump had decided to give his first three months of salary to the Interior Department while his second three months worth went to the Education Department.

AP

Mr Trump may visit the Harvey-ravaged Houston area on Saturday.

The president, who visited Texas on Tuesday, is planning a return trip this weekend with first lady Melania Trump.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they may visit the Houston area, as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana, although she stressed the plans are still tentative.

The president travelled to Corpus Christi and Austin on Tuesday.

AP
Acrid, black smoke has been coming from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco a day after the US government ordered its closure.

Firefighters who arrived at the scene were turned away by consulate officials who came from inside the building.

An Associated Press reporter heard people who came from inside the building tell firefighters that there was no problem and that consulate staff were burning unidentified items in a fireplace.

Mindy Talamadge, a spokeswoman from the San Francisco Fire Department, said the department received a call about the smoke and sent a crew to investigate but determined the smoke was coming from the chimney.

"They had a fire going in their fireplace," she said.

Ms Talmadge said she did not know what they were burning on a day when normally cool San Francisco temperatures were particularly high.

"It was not unintentional. They were burning something in their fireplace," she said.

The consulate's workers are hurrying to shut Russia's oldest consulate in the US.

The order for Russia to vacate the consulate and an official diplomatic residence in San Francisco - home to a long-standing community of Russian emigres and technology workers - escalated an already tense diplomatic stand-off between Washington and Moscow.

The deadline for the consulate to close is Saturday.

AP

Russia accused the US of gross violations of international law in its order to Moscow to close the Russian consulate in San Francisco by Saturday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said US "special services" intend to search the consulate on Saturday. S

She said the US also plans to search apartments in San Francisco used by Russian diplomats and their families. Ms Zakharova said that involves the families leaving their apartments for 10 to 12 hours so officials can search.

The State Department is not commenting specifically on whether officials plan to search the premises.

But the State Department said that as of Saturday, access to the consulate will only be granted with State Department permission.

The State Department said it will "secure and maintain the properties in keeping with our responsibilities".

AP
Local residents recover bodies of Rohingya children who drowned after their boat capsized while crossing the Naaf River in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Aug. 31, 2017.

The bodies of 19 Rohingya refugees  nine women and 10 children  washed ashore Thursday in southeastern Bangladesh, local authorities said, as they struggled to control an exodus from Myanmar that swelled to close to 30,000 people within the past week.

Since the influx from an outbreak of violence in the neighboring Myanmar state of Rakhine began on Aug. 24, Bangladesh police said they recovered 23 bodies in all, including the 19 people whose bodies were found Thursday after their boats capsized as the refugees tried to cross the Naaf River that separates the two countries.

All of them are Rohingyas, who were fleeing Myanmar to enter into Bangladesh, Mohammad Main Uddin Khan, officer-in-charge of the local police station, told BenarNews.

On Tuesday night two other boats capsized and local residents had recovered four other bodies, he said.

The Bangladesh government has urged the Myanmar authorities to take back the dead bodies of the Rohingya refugees.

We have forwarded a note verbale to the Myanmar High Commissioners office in Dhaka urging them to receive the dead bodies, Monjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury, chief of the South Asia Desk of the Foreign Ministry, told BenarNews.

The victims were among the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who were fleeing violence that flared after Rohingya insurgents launched coordinated attacks on 30 police outposts in Myanmars Rakhine state last week.

Gunfire and smoke

Reporters on Thursday said gunfire could be heard from across Naaf River, and huge columns of smoke could be seen billowing from the forest in northern Rakhine.

More than 27,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar within the past seven days and about 20,000 others remained stranded in a no-mans land between the two countries, according to a report by Reuters news service, which quoted sources at the United Nations.

Myanmar military officials said the attackers belonged to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an insurgency group that claims it is strictly homegrown and not backed by foreign militants.

Accurate figures on the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing their homes were not immediately available Thursday night, but the International Organization for Migration said that at least 18,500 Rohingyas, including many with bullet and burn injuries, had crossed into Bangladesh since the cycle of violence began.

At least 1,000 Rohingya Muslims were detained on Thursday as they tried to cross the border, Bangladeshi officials said.

But at least 5,000 Rohingya had passed through on Wednesday night alone, a border official said, expressing disappointment for failing to halt the illegal crossings.

They will be pushed back to Myanmar after giving them humanitarian assistance, Bangladesh Border Guard commander Lt. Col. SM Ariful Islam told BenarNews.

Officially we are against allowing entry of Rohingya people. But it is not possible to guard the entire border, another official told BenarNews.

Late Thursday, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said there was no reason to doubt the accuracy of the estimates that more than 27,000 people could have crossed into Bangladesh since Aug. 24.

But even without solid numbers, its clear the volume of people fleeing is increasing rapidly, and there is an urgent need to get them to safety. For this reason, Bangladesh should stop trying to prevent Rohingya from coming into the country, and recognize that they should be treated as refugees in urgent need of humanitarian and medical attention, he told BenarNews.

Under no condition should Bangladesh Border Guards be pushing Rohingya back into harms way by returning them to Burma," Robertson said. "Everyone recognizes that Bangladesh has taken on the largest burden of the neighboring states dealing with the Rohingya crisis, so Dhaka should not be shy about requesting significant support and assistance from the international community in order to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the newly arriving Rohingya."

"The international community has to work together to deal with this crisis, he added.

US condemns violence in Rakhine

Myanmars neighboring countries have expressed alarm over the violence in Rakhine, including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who urged the United States on Wednesday to pressure Myanmar into stopping the influx of Rohingya into her countrys southeastern region.

On Thursday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations issued a statement deploring the violence, including reports that Rohingya homes had been set on fire and civilians killed.

The United States supports democracy for the Burmese people, and we condemn attacks by militant groups in Rakhine State. However, as Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need, Haley said.

Smoke from fires in Myanmar's Rakhine state is seen across the Naaf River in a photo taken from Teknaf, Bangladesh, Aug. 31, 2017. [BenarNews]
Islamic State-inspired Filipino militants who still hold a portion of the battle-ravaged southern city of Marawi have adapted tactics they learned from the Middle East, including in the Iraq and Syria wars, a senior Marine official said Thursday.

Specifically, Maj. Gen. Danilo Pamonag said, sniper attacks had intensified to deter advancing Philippine government troops from retaking militant-held positions.

They used previous war tactics in the Middle East. What they are employing here are the same as in Iraq and Syria, said Pamonag, commander of the Joint Task Force Trident spearheading the assault to retake Marawi, a once bustling city of 200,000 reduced to a virtual wasteland of pockmarked buildings.

Additionally, a 2013 urban assault by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga city, served as a model for the militants, the general said.

The MNLF was a rebel group the signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996, leading to the creation of a Muslim self-rule area in the south. Many MNLF rebels became politicians, but the area remained poor despite the millions of pesos poured into the region for economic development projects.

The MNLF staged the 2013 uprising to protest the peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a breakaway faction that has since signed its own pact with government.

More than 200 rebels and troops were killed in the urban warfare that lasted three weeks before the government finally reestablished control. An estimated 100,000 people were left homeless.

They learned a lot too from the war in Zamboanga because there they strengthened their sniper and bomb-making squad, Pamonag said.

Much of the Philippine city of Marawi is in ruins after more than three months of fighting with militants linked to the Islamic State, Aug. 31, 2017. (Mark Navales/BenarNews)

Scenes of devastation

On Wednesday, troops escorted a group of journalists into the battle zone, specifically to the recently retaken Mapandi bridge, the gateway to Marawis central commercial district where the gunmen and dozens of hostages were believed to be holding out.

A Philippine flag fluttered on a makeshift pole erected by troops, as tanks rolled and troops marched through the devastated community.

Artillery fire and airstrikes continued to pummel militant positions on Thursday as gunfire from the main battle area raged for hours.

Dozens of troops were wounded in the heavy fighting, a source who asked to not be identified told BenarNews while military officials have not responded to inquiries about injuries. Reporters saw several military ambulance vehicles rush from the scene of the fighting.

Previously, military officials said the fighting could be over in days. While the pronouncement was welcome, officers conceded battles could drag on for an extended period.

President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted to underestimating the rebel firepower and has sought the help of the United States and Australia for intelligence assistance. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have offered to assist in anti-terror joint operations, fearing the spread of IS militants to their countries.

Mosques

During a speech Wednesday in Manila, Duterte said it was up to military leaders to determine if they wanted to bomb mosques, a turnaround from an earlier statement that no places of worship would be attacked even if the gunmen were hiding there.

The option is already yours, because we cannot have a stalemate for over one year, Duterte said.

The military rejected Dutertes comment.

We will not bomb a mosque where enemies are hiding along with their hostages. As much as possible we wanted to save the lives of hostages, local army spokeswoman Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay said. If we do that, extremism will increase and we will gain more enemies.

Since May 23, at least 133 troops had been reported killed along with 617 Abu Sayyaf and Maute gunmen along with 45 civilians. At least 1,728 people have been rescued and 667 firearms recovered from the battle zone, according to the military.
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For Immediate Release, August 31, 2017 Contact: Brian Segee, (805) 750-8852, bsegee@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Administration Pushes Ahead on Prototype Wall Without Environmental Review, Public Input Contractors Chosen for Wall That Will Hurt Wildlife, Local Communities TUCSON, Ariz. The Trump administration today selected four companies to build border-wall prototypes near San Diego, Calif., moving forward with a reckless project that endangers critical wildlife habitat, hurts communities and ignores public input. The Department of Homeland Security has exempted itself from environmental and other laws to rush construction of the prototypes and replacement border walls. The Center for Biological Diversity plans to challenge the waiver in court. Trumps border wall obsession is spinning out of control, said Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the Center. These prototypes are the first step toward a wall that will endanger wildlife as well as increase human suffering, sow division and become a monument to Trumps hate and ignorance. The Department of Homeland Securitys waiver would speed construction of the 30-foot-high prototypes in the Otay Mesa area south of San Diego, without any analysis of the environmental impacts or public input. The area is near densely populated communities and contains critical habitat for several endangered species, including the Quino checkerspot butterfly and coastal California gnatcatcher. A recent study by the Center identified more than 90 endangered or threatened species that would be threatened by proposed wall construction along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. A border wall will divide local communities and destroy wildlife. It wont make us safer, Segee said. The public doesnt want this, and the law doesnt allow it. In June the Center filed suit challenging the San Diego prototypes and 14-mile replacement border-wall projects. The Trump administration is ignoring federal laws that require environmental review and public input before building on public land. In April the Center and U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) sued the Trump administration over the proposed border wall and other border-security measures, calling on the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an in-depth investigation of overall border-security environmental impacts. Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity.
For Immediate Release, September 1, 2017 Contact: Robert Ukeiley, Center for Biological Diversity, (720) 496-8568, rukeiley@biologicaldiversity.org

Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council, (215) 567-4004 x 118 Court Rejects Trump Administration's Attempt to Delay Smog Protection for Delaware WASHINGTON A U.S. district court has denied EPA Administrator Scott Pruitts attempt to delay action on a plan to clean up dangerous smog pollution in Delaware. The decision is a blow to the Trump administrations attempt to roll back Obama-era rules preventing power plants, refineries and other industrial operations from producing unlimited amounts of harmful pollution during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions. People in Delaware and across the country deserve clean air, said Robert Ukeiley, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Pruitt and the Trump administration would rather keep their polluting friends happy than make sure people have healthy air to breathe. This court decision is an important step toward getting smog out of our air.



The Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Environmental Health and Clean Air Council sued EPA in July of last year after it failed to make sure plans were in place to clean up areas that are violating EPAs own smog standards, including Delaware. This weeks court decision means Delaware is one step closer to having a plan in place that assures protections around the clock against smog. Think about when you are behind a bus or a truck and the driver steps on the gas. Sometimes it belches a nasty cloud of air pollution, said Alex Bomstein, senior litigation attorney at Clean Air Council. Now imagine living and working near a power plant, a refinery or chemical plant which is allowed to emit these large bursts of pollution day after day. Somehow, Scott Pruitt, with his close ties to the fossil fuel industry, thinks that allowing that could possibly be a good policy. An EPA study found that Clean Air Act programs to reduce ozone pollution prevented more than 4,300 deaths and 3.2 million lost school days in 2010 alone. The Clean Air Act has also helped to keep the U.S. economy healthy by creating jobs, with more than 1.7 million Americans employed in the environmental technology industry helping to keep our air clean. Ozone, the main ingredient in smog, reduces lung function, increases respiratory problems like asthma, increases visits to emergency rooms, and causes premature death. For trees, such as black cherry and cottonwoods, ozone exposure can lead to reduced growth, leaf injury and increased susceptibility to disease, insects and harsh weather.
Harvey: More Devastating Due to Climate Change It's painful to see the suffering wrought by Harvey in Texas and beyond. Our hearts go out to everyone in the path of this catastrophe.



Amid the tragedy we must talk clearly about how climate change made this storm worse. As top climate scientists pointed out this week, sea-level rise in recent decades means the storm surge was likely about a half-foot higher than it would have been otherwise. Ocean temperatures have also risen, which can increase rainfall and flooding. The bottom line: Global warming is making superstorms like Harvey more destructive. Addressing the climate crisis is essential to reduce the risk of similar devastation in the future.



As meteorologist Eric Holthaus put it, "Harvey is what climate change looks like in a world that has decided, over and over, that it doesn't want to take climate change seriously."



Read Holthaus's spot-on analysis in Politico and then check out this piece by the Center for Biological Diversity's Shaye Wolf on Trump's cancellation of coastal flood protections just before Harvey.
Nigerian fintech startup CowryWise has launched its savings platform, focused on making personal savings, asset and wealth management services available to everyone.

CowryWise

Work began on CowryWise in the middle of last year, with the startup completing official registration and licensing  and therefore launching to the public, this June. The startups objective is to democratise asset and wealth management services and make them available to everyone.

These financial services are currently only available to the wealthy. We believe an average man on the street should have unfettered access to these services as he needs them the most to ensure a better financial life, CowryWise co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Razaq Ahmed, told Disrupt Africa.

The startup has started off by offering a high-yield, automated savings platform, allowing users to deposit their money with CowryWise and offering rates of better than twice that of Nigerian banks.

The goal here is to enable users cultivate a consistent savings  and investment  habit, while the platform gives them access to high yield returns, Ahmed said.

Financial inclusion goes beyond opening a bank account. An average person should have access to credit as much as he should have access to other financial services such as asset and wealth management.

Developments in modern payment infrastructure and the penetration of mobile phones and internet have made such a scenario more possible, hence the launch of CowryWise. Ahmed said the startup is looking to raise funds by the end of the year having been bootstrapped thus far.

Our focus at this point is the market and aggressive user acquisition having crossed private beta stage and regulatory requirements, he said.

Trust

Trust is one of the challenges new entrants into the financial services space have to earn.

In a bid to ensure they do just that, CowryWise in June closed a deal with Meristem Trustees, one of the foremost trust service providers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Nigeria. Meristem Trustees has a fiduciary responsibility as a Trust to ensure all CowryWises users savings are adequately covered by the invested assets.

We have also launched Sisi, an AI-powered chatbot to allow our users have access to their savings and investments on the go. We decided to build this on the Facebook Messenger platform to provide easy saving access to the over 18 million Nigerians on that platform, Ahmed said.

He said adoption of the service has been impressive, with the startup further emboldened by the feedback it has received so far to enrich product features.

Our assets under management have been growing steadily over the last few months. We believe we are still scratching the surface and it is our objective to place the service to the notice of as many users as possible, Ahmed said.

At the moment, CowryWises focus market is Nigeria, but it has a two-phased pan-African expansion plan.

First, beyond providing millions of Nigerians easy access to high-yield saving products, we are developing CowryWise to enable Nigerians have access to investment opportunities in other part of Africa and the world through various investment instruments, said Ahmed.

Second, it is a natural progression to enable other African countries have same opportunity to do same.

The startup operates a simple business model, earning spread generated from financial intermediation. We aggregate savings, invest in risk-free instruments and retain a spread above the promised returns to savers. We have plans for other asset classes as well, Ahmed said.

Currently, all savings are invested in risk-free government instruments which fundamentally is a better rated instrument over certificate of deposits with banks, and ironically gives better returns. These types of anomalies exist in the financial markets. It is our duty to ensure an average saver benefit from such anomalies without going through the rigour of studying complex financial instruments. That simplicity is what CowryWise brings to an average person. Save easily and earn decent return. We do the hard lifting.
Prospective SABC board member, Nomvuyiso Batyi, has been accused of "corruption" for not reporting former communications minister Faith Muthambi to the police for trying to "unduly influence" her.

Nomvuso Batyi. Image source SABC

The accusation was leveled against Batyi during interviews for the SABC board in Parliament on Thursday.

"I put it to you that you believe in corruption. Unless you prove to me, you give me the antithesis, I will remain in that kind of belief," said Congress of the People MP Willie Madisha, referring to a Sunday Times report which alleged that Muthambi "attempted to unduly influence," Batyi by offering her the position of chairperson of Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) "in return for you giving a TV broadcasting licence to a Gupta-owned broadcasting company".

"Is this correct? It was put that you threatened the minister when that whole thing [the chairperson's appointment] was not implemented. Why didn't you go to the police to report that whole thing? For you not having done both, then that is corruption. The fact that you did not act, that to me is a major problem," said Madisha.

DA MP Gavin Davis asked how Batyi expects to be trusted to report matters of political interference should she be appointed to the SABC board. "Given your track record, how can we expect you as an SABC board member to stand up to political interference and corruption?"

Rebuttal

Batyi rebutted the claims saying she took legal steps against Muthambi but had to abandon them because it was too costly. "Not at any point did I threaten the minister. However, I had instituted legal proceedings against the minister, which I abandoned. There was no need for me to go to the police because there was no fraud that had happened. And lastly, at the end of it all, no one was licensed during that round [of applications]. I've never been corrupt and will never be corrupt. I hold myself very highly."

Batyi said there were certain changes that made her decide to abandon the matter. "If that is a measure of what makes a person corrupt, the definition that is used by this committee, so be it I am corrupt. Thank you," said a clearly annoyed Batyi.

MPs also heard how former SABC executive Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment saw former board member Rachel Kalidass falling out of favour with Muthambi, leading to her "illegal" removal. "I'm one of the former SABC board members that was unlawfully removed using the Companies Act," said Kalidass adding that her removal was as a result of objecting to certain decisions, such as Motsoeneng's appointment.

"These strategic decisions saw us come out of favour with number of board members and the minister. I was dissenting continuously on those decisions," said Kalidass.

MPs interviewed another 12 candidates on Thursday during the second day of interviews.

Source: BDpro
Tobacco firm British American Tobacco (BAT) said on Thursday it had overhauled its organisational and management structures following the successful acquisition of Reynolds America.

Josef Kube via Wikimedia

The company has now created three regions to encompass activities, with sub-Saharan Africa now paired with the Americas.

The new structure would enable better, more integrated resource allocation and decision making across geographies and categories, BAT said.

Jack Bowles, regional director, Asia-Pacific, would be appointed to the newly created role of chief operating officer for the international business, excluding US, BAT said in a statement. This would take effect on 1 October.

Ricardo Oberlander, regional director for the Americas, would lead the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa region. Tadeu Marroco, regional director, Western Europe, would be appointed director for Europe and North Africa. Johan Vandermeulen, regional director for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, would be appointed director for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

The tobacco firm has come under pressure recently, after news in August that UK authorities would investigate allegations of misconduct made against BAT over its African activities. That news came after the US Food and Drug Administration said it was considering regulating the level of nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels.

In mid-morning trade the company's share price was down 0.11% to R800.33. The company has lost 16.03% in the past three months, but remains up 2.91% so far this year.

Source: BDpro
SA is one of the most protectionist countries when it comes to poultry and has become "masters" at using anti-dumping as a method of keeping out foreign products, says the head of the world's poultry organisation.

The attack by International Poultry Council president James Sumner was made on Wednesday during a presentation at the biannual congress of the Brazilian Association for Animal Protein, which has brought together representatives from the poultry and pork industry, governments and industry associations.

Sumner is also head of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, which was instrumental in forcing SA to accept a 65,000 tonne quota of bone-in chicken imports from the US free of onerous tariffs as a condition of SA's continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

Brazil successfully applied to the World Trade Organisation in 2013 against anti-dumping measures imposed on its chicken imports by SA. Sumner said the US and Brazil - the world's two largest exporters of chicken which together produce 62.4% of global chicken exports - had worked together "to address unfair trade restrictions in SA".

The domestic industry has justified its stance against chicken imports on the grounds that it is fighting against dumping and is trying to protect the local industry from unfair competition. The South African International Trade Administration Commission has been investigating whether to increase the 13.9% tariff on European bone-in chicken imports which was imposed in December 2016 in a bid to block the influx of European chicken.

Sumner told delegates SA had become one of the world's most protectionist countries. "They do not want competition from anywhere, whether it be from the EU or the US.

"They have become masters in using antidumping as a method of keeping out foreign products and protecting their own industry. The policies that they have adopted are at complete odds with rulings of the World Trade Organisation."

It was a matter of great concern, Sumner said. The US had managed "to put SA somewhat in its place" by using Agoa, he said.

"They really do not follow World Trade Organisation guidelines, they write their own guidelines and this is a disservice to the South African consumers the way they protect themselves from the rest of the world. Poultry could be much more affordable in SA where there is certainly a big poverty problem," Sumner said.

SA is the fifth-largest importer of chicken worldwide after Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico and China. SA is also the fourth-largest consumer of chicken per capita in the world - higher even than India and China, though total consumption in these countries is very high.

SA is the sixth-biggest export market for Brazil and the ninth-biggest for the US.
KwaNobuhle's biggest high school, Molly Blackburn High School, received a half-million-rand investment on Tuesday, 29 August, through the donation of mobile science and computer labs aimed at preparing pupils for their future.

The Mobile Science Lab initiative was developed by PPC in collaboration with DieBold Nixdorf to support budding scientists in underprivileged areas, providing them with the tools to develop their skills.

The lab incorporates both technology and the science equipment needed to conduct experiments covered in the high school science syllabus.

PPC CSI manager Kabira Akoob said the science materials, 24 tablets, two laptops, surround sound speakers, cameras and projector, as well 650 gigs of data, two printers and E-Beam convertor, totalled about R500,000.

"There are 17 underprivileged schools across the country where the initiative is being rolled out," Akoob said.

"All of these schools were vetted and chosen according to our marketing department as to where we [PPC] have a big footprint.

"However, we intend to create a lasting impact on the schools hence we also do psychometric tests on Grade 9s at the school to help with subject choices, as well as tests on Grade 11 pupils to assist them in choosing careers.

"We subsequently keep tabs on the Grade 11 pupils, and if we find potential in a pupil we provide R130,000 annual bursary to fund their tertiary education.

"It is a big boost to any child from an underprivileged environment to aid them in their success."

Molly Blackburn High School Grade 11 pupil Luwando Sita, 17, said: "This donation of computers and science equipment will help us gain an advantage and not be left behind because of our backgrounds.

"I am very excited to work on the tablets. It will be the first time we will be working on schoolwork with this type of technology and it will help us adapt to the new technology."

Source: Herald
The former head of Africa's most successful rhino conservation agency has sprung to the defence of KwaZulu-Natal rhino baron John Hume. Dr George Hughes is a zoologist and former game ranger, who rose to become chief executive of the renowned Natal Parks Board.

He lauded Hume's efforts to multiply the species at a time when more than 1000 rhinos were being butchered each year by criminal poaching syndicates.

"John is one of the most successful rhino farmers the country has seen and should be lauded for creating a population of real significance," Hughes said. "He has been doing what the formal conservation agencies have been promoting for decades."

He said Hume should be praised rather than pilloried for his attempts to breed rhinos and sell the horns legally without killing them.

All the world's surviving African white rhinos are descended from a tiny remnant population of about 50 in the iMfolozi Game Reserve. This was guarded and slowly multiplied by the Natal Parks Board by moving them to public and private reserves across the continent.

Hughes has advocated the resumption of controlled horn trading for several decades. He presided over several game auctions, where the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) encouraged private ranchers like Hume to buy rhinos in an attempt to multiply their numbers as an insurance policy against illegal poaching.

Hume is the largest private rhino owner in the world, with a herd of 1500 in the North West province. He has been making global headlines after announcing plans to sell an initial 500kg of his six-ton horn stockpile in an online auction.

Source: Herald
400 leaders from the South African government, United Nations Development Programme and other regional leaders gathered on Thursday, 31 August, for the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development to discuss accelerating and scaling innovations to end poverty, reduce inequalities, address climate change and achieve a healthy and prosperous society in Africa.

The world, just like us here in South Africa and Africa, is looking for new answers, for better transitions and for sharper, higher-impact outcomes, said Jeffrey Radebe, minister for planning, monitoring and evaluation.

All of us gathered at the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development must serve to fashion a sharper message of hope, a more convincing response of action and signal our responsiveness; mindful and eminently aware of that better world we so desperately desire and which we promised. Its about establishing virtuous cycles for development in our respective spheres. The UN SDGs, Agenda 2063 and our very own National Development Plan Vision 2030 demands nothing less.

Technology and agricultural focus

With participants from over 30 different countries, companies came to the forum with a highly optimistic view on Africas development agenda and the economic opportunities for business, with especially strong participation from the technology and agriculture sectors.

"The Sustainable Development Goals and South Africa's National Development Plan provide a framework for individual company responses to pressing socioeconomic issues, and for partnerships with government, labour and civil society organisations, commented Joanne Yawitch, CEO, NBI South Africa. It is important that business identifies what the SDG opportunities are, mobilises the required capital, and invests in the innovations that are necessary for sustained and more inclusive growth."

Highlights of the forum include the launch of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal, with speakers from Uganda, Colombia and South Africa committed to empowering women, and presentations from HPs chief technology officer Shane Wall and Huaweis Jacky Zhang.

Andrew McConville from global agribusiness giant Syngenta added, Assessing where we stand and how we progress further two years after the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals is critically important. The Responsible Business Forum offers a unique platform for companies like Syngenta, and the public sector, to come together to make these goals a reality. I am excited to see the forum come to Africa for the first time and I look forward to seeing outcomes tailored to the incredible potential of this region.
Global hospitality consulting firm, HVS has launched the fourth edition of their(HVI), which includes more markets and increasing progress for Africa, at the THINC Africa conference in Cape Town.

From left, Stephen Rushmore (global CEO and president of HVS), James Vos (Democratic Alliance shadow minister of tourism) and Tim Smith (managing partner HVS South Africa).

The number of markets included in the study continues to grow each year, exemplifying the ever-increasing interest in the African hotel market. In the first edition, we had 14 cities. That grew to 18 in the second edition, the third edition featured 21 cities, and we are now delighted to include 23 cities with the addition of Abidjan, Dakar, Kampala, Maputo in the fourth edition 2017 edition of the HVI, says Tim Smith, managing partner at HVS South Africa.

The HVI provides reliable, accurate data to hotel investors, enabling them to assess risk and reward for future developments. Data is not easily available across Africa - it simply does not exist, or it is old or inconsistent. HVS has access to data through its extensive network and database, which allows in-depth extensive research and data gathering in order to provide accurate data and objective insights on each of the African markets.

Growth in African hotel markets

Smith says that in spite of the challenges of Ebola, the Zika Virus, presidential elections slowing down economies, low oil prices and the threat of terrorism, 17 out of the 23 markets covered increased value in 2016.

In 2015, 10 markets out of 21 cities were growing; in 2016, 14 markets were on the rise and Maputo, Windhoek and Casablanca, among others, have shown an impressive recovery.

The HVI reports that most African countries now have a steady but realistic growth that investors can rely on when making investment decisions. Despite a more conservative outlook, GDP is much higher than many global economies.

The future of hotel demand in Africa will follow a positive trend in the long-term. Signs of recovery and improvement on 2016s relatively tough numbers are already up and most of these markets are continuing to grow, so we are expecting 2017 to be even better, said Smith.

Future for SA tourism looks promising

On South Africa, Smith said hotel values are booming in Cape Town in rand but the return looks far less exciting when converted back in US dollar terms. That all comes down to currency; the rand weakened by 15% in 2016 vs. 2015 and is now up by 10% against the US dollar 2016.

The HVI reports that the future of South Africas tourism is looking promising as the rand has recently strengthened again and more than 2,500 rooms are expected to be added over the next five years, including the new Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Sun International, Marriott, Tsogo Sun and Ibis brands.

The HVI is a hotel valuation benchmark developed by HVS. It monitors annual percentage changes in the values of typically four-star and five-star hotels in 23 major African cities. Additionally, the index allows ranking of each market relative to an African average. The HVI also reports the average value per room, in US dollars, for each market. All data presented is in US dollars.

Consequences of restrictive visa conditions

But restrictive visa conditions have broad economic consequences for the tourism sector. The African Union (AU) launched the Africa Visa Openness Index acknowledging the importance of the movement of people within Africa, marking an encouraging step forward for African economies. Many countries such as Mozambique, Senegal, Ethiopia and Uganda now offer visa on arrival opening their borders to a broader range of tourists.

The African hotel industry will continue to face challenges in the short-term. However, the positive news is that international and African unions are working together to promote the future of tourism in Africa, connectivity is improving at a fast pace and many countries introduced e-visa and visa on arrivals in 2016/17.
NEWSWATCH: Things have no doubt been abuzz at Uber with the announcement of new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Khosrowshahi, the former head of Expedia, wants to take Uber public in the next 18 to 36 months. In addition, the company has officially launched its Movement traffic data tool.

Plans to go public

According to a report on Business Insider, an Uber listing would "most likely be one of the biggest technology IPOs of the decade". The currently private ride-hailing company is worth $68.5 billion.

The report states that after the recent series of scandals - including allegations of sexual harassment and illegal taxi operations - going public would, in many ways, make the company more accountable.

Uber Movement

Uber has also announced the launch of its Movement tool. By giving access to a modified version of its internal demand and usage data, Uber hopes that cities, urban planners, government experts, transportation professionals, and academic organisations can use the data to support projects that would help reduce congestion and generally speed up travel times. In essence, it helps to analyse the impact of events, rush hours, and road closures in cities worldwide.

Currently, Movement is only available in Bogota, Boston, Manila, Sydney, and Washington D.C.

For more:
There are seven new films released this week: A hustler is recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history in American Made; a big shot Wall Street broker is forced to help the kidnappers evade the police chief in exchange for his son's life in First Kill; Marvel's The Inhumans explores the never-before-told epic adventure of the titular race from the Marvel comics; a relationships expert is forced to unveil a painful truth about his past when he falls in love in The Bounce Back; a young street magician uses his sleight of hand to find his kidnapped sister in Sleight; in comedy Fun Mom Dinner, four moms realise they have more in common than motherhood and men; and in Part 2 of the NT Live Angels In America, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, and heaven and hell.

American Made

Tom Cruise and his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, reteam for a new 1980s smuggler film, American Made.

In this international escapade based on the outrageous (and real) exploits of a hustler and pilot, unexpectedly recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history. Smuggler. Informant. Patriot. One of the wealthiest men in 1980s America is someone youve never heard of. With his devilish swagger and zest for life, TWA pilot Barry Seal (Cruise) is the hero of his sleepy Southern town.

Much to the surprise of his wife, Lucy (Sarah Wright Olsen, Walk of Shame), the charming entrepreneur has gone from a well-respected TWA pilot to a key figure in one of the greatest scandals in modern history. Little could they grasp that what started out as transporting contraband would lead to Barrys help in building an army and funding a war.

Once the hotshot airman gets caught up in a shadowy division of the governmentrunning crates of AK-47s and kilos of cocainehe makes a fortune as a key player in the Iran-contra affair. From trading arms for hostages to training forces of Central and South American kingpins, Barry becomes an improbable hero working against the system. So, how does he sleep at night? Its all legal if you do it for the good guys.

The film is from a screenplay by Gary Spinelli (Stash House).

Liman, who refers to the film as a fun lie based on a true story, offers that he has long appreciated stories of improbable heroes working against the system.

Barry Seal took the government, and our country, for an unbelievable ride. Interpreting his story has the makings for an entertaining film that is equal parts satire, suspense and comedyand always surprising, says Liman.

Liman loved the fact that, while so many films have been made about people being run over by the government, Seals story was one of someone who screwed over the White House. Barry is a zealot-like character who really did cross paths with so many household names from the 80sranging from Ronald Reagan and Manuel Noriega to Bill Clinton and Oliver North.\

Cruise admits that he gravitated toward this wild story because hed never met a character like this one. He shares: Mark Twains one of my favourite writers, and I think he informed the tone of Garys writing. Barry Seal lived in a very unique time that well never have again in aviation, or in history. He had this incredibly adventurous life, and one that is just beyond belief. He was a character walking through history. It was just too outrageous to believe, and in this day and age, its something that will never happen again.

First Kill

In this action-thriller, Hayden Christensen (Will) plays a big shot Wall Street broker who tries to reconnect with his son Danny (Ty Shelton), and takes his family on a hunting trip to the cabin where he grew up.

The trip takes a deadly turn when they go hunting and stumble upon several robbers and witness the murder of one of the criminals. After becoming entangled in a bank heist gone bad, which results in the kidnapping of Danny, Will is forced to help the kidnappers evade the police chief, Howell (Bruce Willis) and recover the stolen loot in exchange for his sons life.

It is directed by Steven C. Miller (Motel Hell, Silent Night) and written by Nick Gordon.

Marvels The Inhumans

Marvels The Inhumans will premiere in IMAX theaters on 1 September before its official premiere on ABC television on 29 September.

For the uninitiated, Inhumans  first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1965 before headlining their own title in 1975  are a race of hybrid alien-human super beings whove undergone a transformative terrigenesis, a process that unlocks sometimes strange, but uniquely powerful gifts.

It explores the never-before-told epic adventure of the titular race from the Marvel comics, including Black Bolt, the enigmatic, commanding king of the Inhumans, with a voice so powerful that the slightest whisper can destroy a city.

Executive producers on the series are Scott Buckwho previously worked on the Marvel series Iron Fist and Jeph Loeb, Marvels head of television. Jim Chorywho has worked on Daredevil, Jessica Jones and the upcoming Defenders series among several other Marvel showsalso executive produces.

Roel Reine directs the first two episodes that is screened as a film on 1 September.

The Bounce Back

Father, author and relationships expert, Matthew Taylor (Shemar Moore) is on a whirlwind book tour promoting his new best seller, The Bounce Back. Hes got it all figured out until he meets the acerbic Kristin Peralta (Nadine Velazquez), a talk show circuit therapist whos convinced hes nothing but a charlatan. Matthews life is turned upside down when he inadvertently falls for Kristin and has to face the painful truth of his past relationship. Directed by Youssef Delara.

Sleight

After his mothers death, a young street magician (Jacob Latimore) turns to dealing drugs at parties to support his little sister in Sleight. When she is kidnapped by his supplier, he uses his sleight of hand and keen intelligence to find her.

This ambitious genre mash-up is directed by J.D. Dillard, written by Dillard and Alex Theurer and stars Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Dule Hill, Storm Reid, Sasheer Zamata and Michael Villar.

Full Mom Dinner

In comedy Fun Mom Dinner, four moms whose only common ground is their kids' preschool class, decide to get together for a harmless "fun mom dinner." The night begins as a disaster, but the combination of alcohol, karaoke, and a cute bartender, leads to an unforgettable night where these seemingly different women realise they have more in common than motherhood and men.

Deftly infusing zany hijinks with real feeling, director Alethea Jones and writer Julie Rudd deliver a riotous comedy that spares no rods and spoils no children.

The titular moms (Katie Aselton, Toni Collette, Molly Shannon, and Bridget Everett) make a truly formidable ensemble, dispensing dick jokes and tearful revelations with equal aplomb. Together, they prove that mom is more than a dirty wordits a badge of honour.

Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika

Marianne Elliotts production of Tony Kushners stageplay Angels in America forms part of the NT Live Season.

Part Two: Perestroika, picks up right where Millennium Approaches left off. Prior is in his bed with the angel hovering over him. He tells the angel to go away. The first act also reconnects with the plays other characters. Hannah, Joes mother, takes care of poor Harper, whos having a really hard time with the fact that Joe left her for a man. Roy Cohn, dying of AIDS, checks into a hospital to meet his new nurse, Belize. And Joe and Louis finally consummate their relationship.

This new staging of Tony Kushners multi-award winning two-part play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse).

Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika releases on Saturday, 2 September also for four screenings only on 2, 6, 7 September at 7.30pm and on 3 September at 2.30pm. The running time of Part 2 is 4 hours and 20 minutes, both including two 15 minute intervals.

Read more about the latest film releases: www.writingstudio.co.za
Right2Know Campaign calls for an urgent inquiry into the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA). R2K is alarmed, but not surprised, by the state of disorganisation and disunity at the MDDA. Lack of oversight by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, lack of management stability and political interference in board appointments are some of the reasons for the current state.

 Clare Louise Thomas via Right2Know Facebook

Independent MDDA needed

Given the high concentration of media ownership and lack of diversity in our media, the role of the MDDA in strengthening our democracy is beyond question.

The majority of board members are not appointed by the parliament but seconded from government and big media corporations. CEOs are also usually drawn from either government or the corporate sector. The current CEO was seconded from the GCIS and yet still reports to the GCIS. At the same time, while office bearers or employees of a party, movement or organisation of a political nature are not allowed to be appointed to the board, Ronald Lamola, former deputy president of the ANC Youth League and former acting spokesperson for the Premier of Mpumalanga Province, has been shortlisted as a Board candidate. It is Right2Knows position that the MDDA should be independent from both the executive and corporations, as with the SABC and IEC, it should account only to parliament.

Where are results of 2013 forensic probe?

This is not the first time the ugly head of corruption and maladministration has arisen at the MDDA. In 2013, Phelisa Nkomo, who since then has chaired the board, instituted a forensic probe into similar allegations and the G9 Group, a forensic consulting company based in Johannesburg, conducted the probe. The question is, What happened to the forensic probe and what are the lessons?

An example of lack of follow-up and oversight is the absence of remedial action after then-Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi reported that in 2014/5 the MDDA board was not quorate, had a high vacancy level, only achieved 56% of key deliverables and that of the 32 approved positions, only 19 were filled.

Given the level of maladministration and mismanagement that has been revealed, it is clear that the upcoming board nomination process will require as much, if not more, scrutiny as has been given to the SABC processes. MPs must be vigilant and provide oversight to avoid what happened in 2016, when a convicted criminal was appointed to the board.

Increasing funding, institutional capacity

The MDDA has been historically underfunded for its mandate. This has worsened under the successive neo-liberal governments. Following the logic of the free enterprise, the agency assumes that projects will become sustainable under market conditions, in spite of their failures and evident hostility. R2K is convinced that the MDDA needs more funding in order to adequately carry out its mandate. This money must come from the state, the media industry and voluntary contributions.

Vacancies need filling

In order to capacitate the MDDA further, it will be necessary to fill in vacancies, such as the CEO and CFO. Crucial to the recruitment and retention of suitable leadership and management is the need to maintain high morale and respect for staff. R2K notes that MDDA has a high staff turnover rate, with officers serving only for a few months. Themba Dlamini was appointed as CEO in January 2017 and then took up position in the Public Protectors office in May 2017.

Community newspapers need protecting

R2K is concerned about the impact of MDDAs ineffectiveness on community newspapers, community radio and TV stations, many of whom are reliant on MDDA funding. We note that there are no antitrust provisions protecting small print media from take-overs or unfair competition. In the absence of MDDA funding, community newspapers face collapse.

R2K also notes that there are incessant delays in the disbursement of MDDA funds to approved recipients. In some cases, community media organisations have received their first instalments 11 months after application. Some institutions have come close to having their licenses revoked by Icasa, after temporarily ceasing operations, because of delayed payments from the MDDA.

R2K reiterates the call for an effective, well-funded and independent MDDA.
According to a 2014 Harvard Business Review report , in the US, only 20% of corporate executives were female, with the UK coming in at 16%, Germany 7% and Japan a staggering 1%. In 2016, McKinsey estimated that only 5% of CEOs in Africa were female, highlighting just how much work is required globally to achieve gender parity in the corporate sector.

Tsholofelo Kgosimotho, general manager, Key Capital Partners

Afribiz Invest, a 100% black-owned regional investment company which operates holdings across South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, recognised its women-owned entities during Women's Month.

Key Capital Partners

There are a lot of historical barriers to overcome, says Tsholofelo Kgosimotho, general manager at financial services firm Key Capital Partners. Many of these barriers have to do with true transaction with regards to ownership. While figures are still low now, the promising news is that the government has done its part in terms of empowering women.

Key Capital has identified a challenge in startup and medium-size businesses, where interim cashflow constraints prevent businesses from procuring services and securing the capital necessary to execute projects. Key Capital has a strong track record within the Southern African region of capital raising, including purchase order funding, bridging finance and term loan guarantees for infrastructure projects, as well the financing of imported of goods, general corporate finance and corporate advisory services.

Leeanka Infrastructure Consultants

Thirusha Moonsamy is the founder and MD of Leeanka Infrastructure Consultants. The organisation has five divisions, covering quantity surveying, project and programme management, development management, infrastructure development solutions and facilities management. Moonsamy says that more women working in fields like construction and infrastructure can play a vital role in driving the positive social development the Southern Africa region needs.

Role models are vital, she says. The more women that enter the sector, the better the chances are that tertiary students will see these areas as viable, and valuable.

Mvelaphanda Training Centre

Mvelaphanda Training Centre provides essential training and educational development. The centres training is market driven and its courses prepare learners for challenges in the workplace, with a focus on skills suited to formal employment or entrepreneurial life.

Mvelaphanda is currently operating in Limpopo, and will open a centre in Johannesburg offering technical training in key areas of the construction sector, including welding, plumbing, building, electrics, artisan skills, boiler making and health and safety. The Johannesburg centre will start operating in the first quarter of 2018.

Its a great pleasure to give back to the community and extend local knowledge - in the form of mentorship  within our young and emerging women-owned companies, says Tovhowani Mushathama, one of Mvelaphandas founders. Growth and bottom line success is surely the best way to celebrate women-owned business in Southern Africa.
Gauteng can be the foreign direct investment (FDI) hub for the continent, with Johannesburg being the "New York of Africa", because of the proportion of companies, both local and multinational, headquartered there and venturing out to the rest of the continent in search of growth.

This was said by Professor Ronald Wall of Wits University and the University of Rotterdam in Holland, who addressed the Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference.

The key to changing the face of the continent's cities is an ability to attract FDI. According to the report by the fDi Intelligence magazine, between January 2011 and December 2016, Gauteng attracted a total of 460 FDI projects worth R150bn into its economy.

South Africa's FDI forecast for the four years to 2021 remains nowhere near the peaks reached before the 2008 global financial crisis and relative recovery in 2012, induced by infrastructure spending.

Wall said Gauteng and other African cities need to strengthen their urban core and improve food security and public transport to become viable investment destinations.

Wall has studied the top 2,000 investments across 200 cities in the world to understand FDI flows and what drives them. The report forms part of the UN State of the Cities Report 2018, which is due for release towards the end of this year.

He notes that cities currently account for 70% of the world's GDP and in Africa, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi are already examples of this. Wall also pointed out those cities like Johannesburg "need to leverage urbanisation for structural transformation - while supporting the sustainable transition of informal to formal economies".

Wall's research shows that between 2003 and 2016, Johannesburg was second to Cairo in Egypt in volume and growth in FDI, but Johannesburg is having positive growth ahead of the Egyptian capital. This is possibly partly due to the Arab Spring uprisings in 2010.

FDI between African cities has intensified between 2003 and 2016, with Johannesburg leading, followed by Casablanca in Morocco, Lagos, Nairobi and Cairo. The top destination cities are Cairo, Johannesburg, and Tangier in Morocco, Casablanca and Lagos.

Wall then assessed Joburg's true competitors for FDI. These include market size, the ease of doing business, education and skills level, wages and income distribution and the level of sophistication of its legal and financial system.

He found that Joburg's top competitors are Bogota in Colombia, Chicago in the US, Istanbul in Turkey, Delhi in India and Buenos Aires, Argentina. On the continent, its competitors in order are Cape Town, Casablanca, Nairobi, Cairo and Lagos.

Wall says the leading factors that attract FDI in Africa are domestic or regional market growth potential. Proximity to markets or customers and the regulatory climate are the second and third most important.

A skilled workforce and infrastructure and logistics rank above natural resources and lower costs as factors of attractiveness.

But Wall said Africa needs to raise its population skills level in order to attract production driven FDI.

Other factors that draw FDI to Africa and Johannesburg in particular are political stability, creditworthiness and credit availability and the participation of women in the mainstream economy, which gives Africa an edge over certain Arab Muslim countries, where theocracy stifles the participation of women in economic life.

Source: Business Day
For the third year, Veuve Clicquot, Elle magazine and Old Mutual are celebrating successful women in the 2017 Veuve Clicquot Elle Boss Awards. They are seeking an entrepreneur and corporate winner who demonstrates the clear signs of success and/or exceptional corporate managerial skills and a social conscience. Entrants should have been in business/managerial positions for three years and be between the age of 25-45. Entries close on 29 September 2017.

Partnership with Veuve Clicquots Business Woman Award

"Veuve Clicquot is a proud supporter of women in business internationally, honouring our founder Madame Clicquot, who established herself as one of the first leading female figures in the world of business. Our prestigious Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award seeks to identify and celebrate outstanding women and honour their entrepreneurial spirit. We are therefore extremely proud to partner with Elle magazine in South Africa to present the Veuve Clicquot Elle Boss Award. This award champions the success of South African business women who share the same inspirational qualities as Madame Clicquot: an enterprising spirit, creativity, courage, determination and, of course, success," says Patrick Madendjian, Moet Hennessy Market Manager for South Africa.

Application criteria

Women matching the criteria in the Entrepreneur or Corporate category could self-nominate, with either a mentor or manager, seconding their application or they could be nominated, however they will need to consent to the nomination.

Judges will be selected from a wide range of women in leadership from various industries.

Entrepreneur category:

Age: Not younger than 25 and not older than 45 years of age. Entrepreneurship: Founder/leader of a local business, driving force behind the success of the business. Displays a pioneering approach, business acumen, dynamism, innovation, audacity and tenacity. Financial Success: Sustained profitable growth and a healthy balance sheet with a minimum turnover of R1m. The applicant must have been in business for a minimum of three years. She is the main shareholder of this business. Not for Profit organisations will be considered, however their justification on financial performance and development will be required. Fundamental measures of success are financial viability and year-on-year growth. Social Investment: The candidate must have a genuine commitment to responsible and sustainable business practices, such as environmental policies, employee benefits, workforce diversity and community schemes/relationships. Role Model: Mentoring, succession planning, pushing boundaries, ability to motivate others, relationship building with colleagues/employees, especially for other women. Involvement in business and industry: Profile and participation in the business sector they operate in and public profile. Awards or recognition as a significant achiever: The candidate must show that she has personal brand strength.

Corporate category:

Age: Not younger than 25 and not older than 45 years of age. The candidate must work for a company with a minimum turnover of R15m per annum. Management experience: The candidate should have no less than three years in a senior position and the entry must confirm the candidates advancement in business to date and chronicle success as a manager to date. The candidate should display a pioneering approach, business acumen, dynamism, innovation, audacity and tenacity. She should also demonstrate leadership and team building skills. Role Model: The candidate will be assessed with regards to her contribution to mentoring, succession planning, pushing boundaries, and her ability to motivate others, relationship building with colleagues/employees and especially for other women. Social Leadership: Displays qualities of leading by example in any corporate CSI initiatives, public service. Involvement in business and industry: Profile and participation in the business sector they operate in and public profile. Will need to demonstrate the success of their brand business personality through awards or recognition as a significant achiever.

Note: Importantly, the candidate is not an employer, major shareholder or owner of a business.

What does the winning 2017 Elle Boss receive?

An 2017 winner will be selected from all finalists from both the corporate and entrepreneurial categories. She will be recognised at a bespoke event hosted by Elle South Africa and Veuve Clicquot in Johannesburg on 9 November 2017.

In addition to the public recognition on the evening of the awards, the general press coverage, a lunch with Khanyi Dhlomo to ask personal, career and development questions as well as features in Elle South Africa (magazine and online /digital platforms), the winner will be flown to visit the prestigious Veuve Clicquot Maison and hosted by Veuve Clicquot in Reims, France, the home of Champagne. The trip will take place in 2018 and will include all flights, accommodation and a daily allowance.

The runner-up will receive a special Veuve Clicquot Experience, including a private dinner for her and five guests, to relax and unwind, to savour the recognition of her meaningful achievement to date as a Woman in Business (Terms & Conditions apply).

Four further Elle Boss runners-up will receive a Magnum of Veuve Clicquot.

All finalists will be invited to attend the Elle Boss Awards event on 9 November in Johannesburg. Finalists must fly themselves if they do not live in Johannesburg and be responsible for their own accommodation.

For more information, click here.

Please note that this article has been updated.
The report calls on decision makers to prioritise better management of water  and the rivers, lakes and wetlands from which it is sourced  in order to lay the necessary foundation for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

This is Africas watershed moment. Decisions taken in the next few years about how to manage our freshwater resources will shape the continents development for decades to come, said Fred Kumah, WWF director for Africa. Africa urgently needs to invest in appropriate freshwater infrastructure, management and policies to catalyse economic growth, mitigate water risks and achieve its Sustainable Development Goals  or risk missing the boat.

More than just a key ingredient in our products, water is a precious resource for the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of communities across the continent, said Tony Milikin, chief sustainability and procurement officer at AB InBev. We recognise the need to act as a responsible steward of water in the areas where we operate, but we also recognise that it will take more than one organisation, company or government to tackle the growing freshwater challenges in Africa.

Key themes
Some of the country's top business experts and design professionals will lead Business of Design in Johannesburg and Cape Town in October. The two-day conference, while being inspirational, also offers practical tools to affect immediate growth.

Business of Design founders Cathy O Clery, Laurence Brick, Trevyn McGowan and Julian McGowan. Photo: Greg Cox.

Founded by The Guild Groups Trevyn and Julian McGowan, and Platform Creative Agencys Laurence Brick and Cathy OClery, it takes place 11-12 October at Red & Yellow, 97 Durham Ave, Salt River and on 18-19 October at Vega School, 444 Jan Smuts Ave, Randburg.

Business of Design appeals to anyone who feels they need a business boost, says programme manager, Tracy Lynn Chemaly. We have had over 1,000 delegates in both cities over the course of four conferences, ranging from entrepreneurs and business owners to architects, marketing managers, retail staff, web designers and event planners. A great testament to what we are doing is that many of our delegates return year on year for more lessons and inspiration.

The alumni network has grown, with many success stories of collaboration and exchange coming from the networking sessions held at the end of both days of the conference. Even our speakers benefit from this interaction.

The network of alumni speakers now spans 116 of South Africas top designers, business experts and industry consultants who have provided delegates with an insight into what it is to grow a successful business in this country.

Speakers

The speaker line-up so far includes (see website for speakers in each city):

Adrian Morris/partner and MD, Design Partnership/The Physical Reboot: responding to a changing landscape

Ann Nurock/Africa partner relationship audits and management/Case Studies and Trends from Cannes International Festival of Creativity

Chris Weylandt/founder and CEO Weylandts/The Basics of Retail

Christine Strutt/partner, copyright and trademark attorney, Von Seidels/Building Blocks and Learning Curves from the LegoTape Case

Craig Bright/co-owner Vic Falls Carnival, co-founder Rocking the Daisies/Less is More: refining your core focus

Dave Scott (The Kiffness)/meme-generator, planet-shaker, thought-leader and music-maker/Going Viral on Social Media

David Krynauw/Furniture Designer/Material Ambition

Gordon Cook/co-founder Vega School/Rethinking Almost Everything About How Business Should Operate

Hannerie Visser and Marc Nicolson/founder Studio H and founder Thinking/Creating Engaging Experiences for Brands

Jeremy Stewart/founder and executive director Source IBA/The Art of Presentation

Josef Talotta/executive head: Commercial, Retail & Precinct Development South Point/Curating a City

Justin Letschert/CEO Bio-Oil/Taking a Local Brand Global

Laduma Nxgokolo/founder, MaXhosa by Laduma/Keys to Success

Lufefe Nomjana (Spinach King)/founder, Espinaca Innovations/Keys to Success

Macio Miszewski/co-founder VDMMA / Reimagining a Forgotten Silo District: the architecture of an urban precinct

Mduduzi Simelane/co-founder BlackNation Media/The Future of Content Creation in the SADC Region

Nicola Cooper/trend researcher, Analyst and Cultural Strategist/Trends That Shake Businesses

Rob Stokes/chairman, Red & Yellow/Why Creative Thinking is the Most Important Skill of the 21st Century

Thando Hopa/model, lawyer and activist/Talk title TBC

Thebe Ikalafeng/founder and CEO, Brand Leadership Group, Founder and Chairman, Brand Africa, deputy chairman, South African Tourism/Talk title TBC

Yehuda Raff/founder and director iPartners Africa/Scaling Up: taking your business to the next level

Zurika Nabbi/head of HR, Direct Axis Group/Managing Talent

Costs

Business of Design alumni R3,000

Students R2,500

IID and SACAP members R3,500 (SACAP & IID member CPD credits apply)

Full price R3,950
With the disruption of many industries by entrepreneurial tech-driven startups, and the rise of robots and artificial intelligence, many jobs will disappear in the next 20 years. The impact of this is that organisations need to think more creatively about transforming their businesses, becoming more innovative and focussing on developing so-called soft skills' like empathy and persuasion.

Roisin McCarthy

Employer branding is becoming a key organisational science in attracting talent, talent acquisition and growing talent within an organisation. Much of this has been driven by the millennial generation, our first truly digital generation, who have a different way of working. Organisational culture has never been more important.

As GetSmarter, a sponsor of this Employee Branding Focus report for Bizcommunity.com, states, a major trend is managing the employer brand in relation to the various generational groups that could work alongside each other in your company. From Gen X to Millennials to Gen Z, what attracts and retains one group will be different to what attracts and retains another.

It is key that employer branding needs to be viewed as a strategic, integrated approach, as opposed to being solely the domain of the human resources (HR) department and/or marketing, emphasises employer branding specialist, Celeste Sirin, of Employer Branding SA. It is driven from the top by the CEO and the management team; and dedicated buy-in and participation is required from every stakeholder within every functional/operational division of the business.

 tumsasedgars via 123RF

Recruitment specialist Roisin McCarthy, the founder and managing director of The Sparkplugs Group, says there is definitely more of a trend to selling a company to prospective employees. Companies needed to ask themselves how do I make people feel?" This included getting back to candidates even if they are not the right fit for the organisation, not ignoring CVs, and treating each candidate as a potential employee.

Ive had top candidates refuse to deal with companies even years after, because of a bad experience. Any brand should make you feel good, she says.

These are of some of the top employer branding trends weve identified for 2017/18:

1. Information overload: In our digital-driven society, candidates have more knowledge about employers than ever before and can access a diversity of potential employers. This also provides opportunity for employers to engage with potential talent across a multitude of platforms.

2. Brand fulfilment: Promoting the unique aspects of an employer brand and an organisations culture to set it apart from others in an industry, is key. Listen to your employees - your current workforce is your secret weapon in developing an effective employee brand, says Christian Jost, head of people management at Hays.

3. The freelance gig economy: With the gig economy, remote working and flexible hours is gaining momentum, as is a workforce of contractors, and the challenge for employers is to ensure a sense of belonging is still nurtured and all workers, including freelancers, feel they are part of the common culture of an organisation.

4. Social media influencers: Social media is becoming more important in recruiting brand ambassadors to champion an organisation and build engagement where future employees hang out online. Weve seen how LinkedIn has become an important recruitment tool in recent years, as well as a channel for organisations to build on and promote their employer brand. Authenticity is key  use current employee talent to tell your story.

5. Agile organisations will rule the future: Agility is key in meeting disruption head on and assessing employees needs in upskilling to meet new challenges in the industry. Instead of only recruiting new talent, talent inside organisations needs to be nurtured. The employee experience is important and can be used to amplify social media efforts. Red Panda Software in Cape Town, believes that businesses must realise that providing employees with an avenue to be creative and viewing them as complete individuals will filter through to their professional lives.

6. Creating communities: This is a trend identified by the international HR Trend Institute for organisations to maintain communities for potential employees, thereby creating a potential pool of future talent to tap into. LinkedIn, and Facebook to some extent, is a good way to nurture common interest and expertise within an industry.

7. Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can revolutionise recruitment: This is according to Hays, which highlights how international companies like Deutsche Bahn are using VR to give new recruits the chance to experience a day in the life of a train driver, to see if it is a future career they are interested in. Companies are also giving virtual reality office tours or using AR holograms to interact with candidates.

8. Employer branding and consumer branding are merging, says the HR Trend Institute, which has identified that the disciplines are coming together, especially in organisations where consumer marketing is important. Brand specialist and trend forecaster, Dave Nemeth agrees, pointing out that a strong employer brand creates a healthy culture that can sustain brands during recessionary and uncertain times.

Companies think it is about salaries, but it is work-life balance that means more. Companies are experimenting more and more with flexitime, work from home schemes and remote commuting, added McCarthy.

In fact, a healthy employer brand is critical in engaging with your staff and attracting quality prospective employees, reiterates Employer Branding Focus sponsor, Top Employers Institute.
As I sat there enjoying Olga Kern's virtuoso rendition of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, I felt immensely proud to have contributed, in a small way, to the relaunch of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO). Brand Union, the company I lead, had developed the new brand identity.

The evening was a great success, the music was world-class and the auditorium was packed. The executive mayor of Johannesburg, Mr Herman Mashaba responded by committing millions of rands to the sustainability of the JPO for at least the next three years. He stressed that it was important for Johannesburg to have a vibrant cultural scene.

Bongani Tembe, CEO and artistic director gave a wonderful speech, as did Justice Diking Moseneke, both emphasising the work the JPO will do in reaching out to communities to uplift, inspire and educate through the power of music. Beyond bringing world-class talent to the city, a clear goal of the JPO is to attract a new, younger and more diverse audience to this type of music.

This vision and how the JPO would be different from other orchestras, is clear, but it wasnt always so. It was the work that the JPO did with Brand Union that helped to crystallise what its vision should be.

Exploring, defining and choosing the new brand identity

This point was brought home to me when chatting to Malcolm Segal, one of the JPO board members. While he knew what the JPO wanted to achieve, including this broader social mandate, he couldnt quite see how they should communicate this story to the public. By going through the creative process of exploring, defining and then choosing a brand identity for the JPO, he was able to see what the future of the JPO would look like in the market.

More than the elegant design of the logo itself, it was the picture we painted of what the JPO should stand for that Malcolm found most valuable.

In the concert programme, Bongani started his message to concert-goers by referencing this brand vision. The new identity of the JPO has been inspired by the iconic Nelson Mandela Bridge, coupled with a movement motif. With one note, the audience can be transported across time, place and setting. Music has the ability to transport us, to tap into our emotions and to move us. In a city that has a natural beat and energy, music is very much part of our everyday lives. The JPO exists to bring our stories, culture and city to life through excellence in musical performance and community engagement.

Music brings us together

Our team chose the bridge as the heart of the new logo, because it is an iconic Johannesburg landmark, but also because a bridge is a metaphor for connections. In a city too often known for its divisions, music is something that brings us together. This is an inspiring and unique story for an orchestra to tell.

And that is what great design and branding can do for you. Help you see and articulate the future.

Corporate vision statements have become less popular tool these days. Everyone is about purpose it seems. Corporate visions have been relegated to a dry statement wheeled out for the first few pages of an annual report. Perhaps its time to revisit and re-evaluate their value and role within a business or brand strategy.

So, if you cant quite see what the future of your organisation looks like, you could ask your branding and design consultancy to help you.
Congolese authorities should immediately drop all charges against Jean Pierre Tshibitshabu, a reporter for the independent broadcaster Radio Television KADEKAS, and investigate claims that the journalist was assaulted in custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said.

bram janssens via 123RF

Security forces arrested Tshibitshabu in Lubumbashi on July 31, while he was covering protests calling for elections, according to the journalist's lawyer, David Ilunga Sheria, and the Congolese press freedom advocacy organisation Journalistes en Danger. The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced unrest since December last year, when President Joseph Kabila failed to hold scheduled elections at the end of his term.

Tshibitshabu, who was arrested alongside four activists, has been charged with "incitement and provocation," Ilunga told CPJ. The lawyer told CPJ that when he was leaving Kasapa Central Prison after visiting the journalist on August 18, he witnessed prison inmates repeatedly slap and hit Tshibitshabu, and said that the prison guards did not intervene. The journalist sustained multiple cuts and bruises in the attack. Ilunga said that the prison failed to provide adequate medical treatment and that Tshibitshabu is still suffering from multiple injuries.

CPJ's repeated phone calls to Justin Kutule, the director of Kasapa prison, went unanswered.

"Congolese authorities should immediately release Jean PierreTshibitshabu, drop all charges against the journalist, and take action against those who attacked him in prison," said CPJ Africa program coordinator, Angela Quintal. "Journalists must be permitted to operate freely without fear of harassment or detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially during times of tension."

On the day of his arrest, police confiscated Tshibitshabu's phone and seized about 30,000 Congolese francs (US$19) as well as US$20 in cash, Ilunga told CPJ, adding that the Tshibitshabu planned to file a complaint against the security forces.

When CPJ contacted the Lubumbashi police, a person who identified himself only as Major Paul refused to comment.

Chaertk Ntamdwe, the director of Radio Television KADEKAS, told CPJ the station is contacting international organisations to highlight Tshibitshabu's case and secure his release. The journalist is due to appear in a Lubumbashi court on August 29, his lawyer told CPJ.

CPJ is aware of at least 18 other journalists detained or harassed by Congolese security forces on the same day Tshibitshabu was arrested. The other arrested journalists were released without charge.
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The request was lodged on August 30 during the first meeting of the Thailand-Myanmar Township Border Committee, according to U Myo Naing, an administrator in Payathonzu, also known as Three Pagodas Pass.

Myanmar sealed off the border after road expansion and construction of a drainage ditch on the Thai side caused water to pour into downtown Payathonzu. After negotiations on July 26, the border was reopened to commuters, but local residents say its still partially closed.

U Win Khine, a local resident of Hpayarthonesu, said large items like furniture have not been permitted to pass through the border since it was closed in July. Part of the problem also stems from the poor-quality road.

The road is in terrible condition [and] we couldnt get the transportation permit. As its an illegal road, there is not much imported from Thailand, he said.

The border crossing has been limited to unofficial, small trade and daily commuters due to a territorial feud, though locals say goods smuggling through the crossing is rampant.

Thailand proposed upgrading the temporary border crossing to a permanent one in 1999 and again in 2002, but Myanmar did not accept the outstand disagreements about territory.

Last year, in response to a question on whether the government has any plans to official reopen the border checkpoint as a trade depot, Minister of Commerce U Than Myint told Pyithu Hluttaw it will only be opened after the Thai-Myanmar territory has been re-measured.

The Thai delegation to the August 30 meeting addressed the long-standing gripe. But the Myanmar counterparts repeated the need to solve the underlying dispute.

U Myo Naing said the Thai Township Border Committee members discussed a number of other issues during their inaugural meeting, including the sale of vehicles and motorcycles in the border area, drugs, and increasing cooperation.

They requested bilateral cooperation between the police for drug issues. They asked [Myanmar] not to accept the sale of vehicles and motorcycles since the border checkpoint is not legally opened, he told KIC News on August 31.

Myanmar requested their Thai counterparts to call off the construction that had led to the July flooding and to take down a restroom built on Myanmar territory.
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The Government is being urged to stop focusing on foreign direct investment and instead focus its attention towards indigenous companies.

Minister Eoghan Murphy is set to hear calls for more efforts to grow the economy outside of Dublin at a conference today.
Announced as the newest celebrity ambassador for Make-A-Wish Ireland, Mary Byrne decided to take an active approach and abseil down one of Dublins tallest buildings today.

The event, named Rope for Hope, offers participants the once-in-a-lifetime chance to abseil 115 ft of State Street International on Dublin's Quays, while raising much needed funds for Make-A-Wish Ireland.
Childcare workers say creche fees will increase until the Government provides 100% of their costs.

The warning follows a threat by the Children's Minister Katherine Zappone to cut new subsidies for those caught hiking their prices.
The latest move to break the political deadlock in the North appears to have failed.

Last night, the DUP leader Arlene Foster said the parties should restore the North's executive and the Assembly straight away, rather than resuming talks.

She said she is prepared to do a deal on key issues including the Irish language, once power-sharing resumes.

Sinn Fein rejected the idea, saying it did not trust the DUP to stick to its word. The party has insisted it will only return to devolved government at Stormont after receiving assurances around a stand-alone Irish language act.

In a major speech last night, Mrs Foster said laws should be introduced in Belfast to address cultural and language issues within a "time-limited" period.

She warned unless agreement can be found between the Stormont parties direct rule from London could be speedily reintroduced.

She said: "I am putting forward a common sense solution that can give us the Executive we need and resolve outstanding issues."

Powersharing has been suspended since early this year when late Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness resigned in protest at the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme which risks landing the taxpayer in millions of pounds of debt.

Talks aimed at restoring the institutions are due to resume on Monday led by the Irish and British, with some prominent DUP MPs warning a return to direct rule from Westminster could be looming.

Mrs Foster said: "I am proposing that we restore an Executive immediately. Put ministers back into posts so that decisions can be made and that Northern Ireland can have a government again.

"But we also agree to bring forward legislation to address culture and language issues in Northern Ireland within a time-limited period to be agreed. If we fail to do that in a way that commands cross-community support then the Executive would cease to exist."

She added: "We must establish a new cultural deal to provide a comprehensive and long-term approach to the sensitive issue of identity."

Mrs Foster met Irish language enthusiasts earlier in the year in a bid to better understand supporters who are not politicised.

She said: "We have nothing to fear from the Irish language nor is it any threat to the Union. We have previously supported practical measures for the Irish language and we will do so again if we can reach a wider agreement on these matters.

"However what we cannot and will not do is simply agree to one-sided demands."

After a concerted Sinn Fein campaign for Irish language rights, Mrs Foster accused others of speaking about respect whilst at the same time engaging in a campaign to "denigrate" and "demonise" any and all aspects of British identity in Northern Ireland or insult the largely unionist Ulster-Scots community.

She added: "That is not acceptable."

Unless agreement can be found very quickly then ministers from London would be required to take decisions in Northern Ireland.

She said: "Northern Ireland simply cannot continue without democratic oversight and that means the speedy introduction of direct rule if agreement is not reached."

Sinn Fein's leader in the North Michelle O'Neill said she was committed to the re-establishment of the ministerial Executive and the DUP was well aware of what is required to get the institutions up and running.

She added: "We need to see the implementation of outstanding agreements and an end to the denial of rights enjoyed by citizens everywhere else on these islands on language, marriage and access to coroner's courts."

Mrs O'Neill added: "Establishing an Executive that may collapse after a matter of months on the same issues will only fail all our people.

"Let's agree to quickly conclude talks on implementation and rights, that is the only way to build a sustainable Executive that will last."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Mrs Foster's proposals were not a credible solution. "They are the definition of kicking the can down the road.

"There is little point in restoring the Executive only to face collapse at a further stage. Anything that can be agreed in a time-limited parallel process can be agreed now. Time is not the issue, a critical lack of political generosity is."
Update 10pm: A man in his 30s arrested in connection with the murders of Antoinette Corbally and Clinton Shannon was tonight released without charge.

Gardai will prepare a file for the information of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Sinn Fein has rejected a DUP bid to restore the Assembly and resolve division over cultural issues.

Republican leader Michelle O'Neill said establishing a powersharing administration that may collapse after a matter of months on the same issues would only fail the people.

Democratic Unionist chief Arlene Foster called for a "common sense" solution appointing Stormont ministers alongside a time-limited process for making progress on the red line issue of an Irish language act and Ulster Scots.

Unless proposed laws enjoyed cross-community support the troubled institutions would fall yet again, she said.

Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney said Mrs Foster's intervention was: "A genuine effort to show leadership and reach out towards compromise."

Mrs O'Neill said: "The statement by the DUP leader demonstrates that they have not listened or acknowledged the reasons of Martin (McGuinness)'s resignation.

"Establishing an Executive that may collapse after a matter of months on the same issues will only fail all our people.

"Let's agree to quickly conclude talks on implementation and rights, that is the only way to build a sustainable Executive that will last."

Powersharing has been suspended since early this year when late Sinn Fein deputy first minister Mr McGuinness resigned in protest at the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme which risks landing the taxpayer in millions of pounds of debt.

Talks aimed at restoring the institutions are due to resume on Monday led by the Irish and British governments, with some prominent DUP MPs warning a return to direct rule from Westminster could be looming.
by Greg Murphy

One of Britain's funniest comedians, Jack Whitehall, is embarking on his gap year, but with a bit of a difference - he's dragging his father along for the ride.

The 28-year-old funny man is embarking on the trip of a lifetime to South East Asia with his father, Michael.

The series, entitled Travels with My Father, promises adventure mishaps and escapades from two very different people, with two VERY different perspectives.

Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father will launch in Ireland and all Netflix territories on September 22.
A French politician has been detained after a fight with another politician, police officials said.

M'jid El Guerrab, a member of French President Emmanuel Macron's party, is being questioned over a fight he had on Wednesday with Socialist Party politician Boris Faure, two police officials said.
At least two people were killed when part of a huge mountain of rubbish came crashing down at a landfill in the Indian capital New Delhi, police have said.

The rubbish pushed several vehicles into a nearby canal in the Ghazipur area of the capital, police officer Omvir Singh said.
Church of the Brethren Newsline

August 31, 2017

The following release from the World Council of Churches (WCC) notes an unprecedented honor for a member of Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Rebecca Dali, founder of the Center for Compassion, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI), has received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Kristin Flory, Brethren Service staff working in Geneva, accompanied her at the ceremony on behalf of the Church of the Brethren, and took these photographs. Stan Noffsinger, former general secretary of the Church of the Brethren and now a staff person at the WCC, also was present at the event.

CCEPIs work to aid widows, orphans, and others affected by the violence of the Boko Haram insurgency has received financial and other support through the Nigeria Crisis Response of EYN and the Church of the Brethren. Additional work Dali and CCEPI have done to document the personal stories of those killed by the insurgents has been aided by a partnership of the Church of the Brethren with faculty and students at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. Brethren who attended Annual Conference and National Older Adult Conference in 2015 will remember seeing outcomes of this work in the Walls of Healing that featured the names of thousands of Nigerian Brethren victims.

In addition, the denominations Global Mission and Service office has been supportive of Dalis higher education as well. Dali holds a masters degree and a doctorate. These high-level degrees have given her work with CCEPI increased stature with international partners.

She is tenacious, just tenacious in a deep way, said Jay Wittmeyer, executive director of Global Mission and Service. He expressed admiration for Dalis persistence on behalf of the most vulnerable Nigerians, Christian and Muslim, in an area that for many years was in danger of being ignored by the rest of the world. CCEPI and its accompaniment, he said, has made all the difference for many surviving victims of Boko Haram.

Rebecca Dali: My faith in God motivates me every second

A World Council of Churches release

During World Humanitarian Day on Aug. 21, Dr Rebecca Samuel Dali received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at the United Nations office in Geneva in recognition of her courageous efforts in reintegration of women abducted by the Boko Haram into their local communities in northern Nigeria. In her visit to the Ecumenical Centre, Dali shares the source of her courage and commitment to help the most vulnerable.

At first I was helping vulnerable children, but when the crisis of violence came to Jos, I started helping widows and orphans, recalls Dali, who founded and runs the Center for Caring, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI) in northeast Nigeria. Later, when Boko Haram came, we started working with the whole range of displaced people. We have registered 380,000 households whom we have helped with something, says Dali, who herself was forced to flee with her family when Boko Haram militants took over the town of Michika, Adamawa State, in 2014.

As the situation in the northern states of Nigeria only worsened, the CCEPI relief work grew gradually, resulting in helping 1 million individuals since 2008. In that big, huge congregation, there were widows and orphans again, and I started to focus on the most vulnerable, says Dali. A lot of people coming from Boko Haram insurgencies were neglected, the government did not care, the community rejected themoften including even their own families. When I started opening my arms to them, they started coming to me: some were sick, some were hungry, most of them had experienced trauma, violence, abuse.

Dali, with her colleagues at CCEPI, started to take a more detailed look in their cases, offering specific help. Often help used to be just a handout, small and insufficientbut as I looked at the people and their stories more closely, I was able to offer the help they needed. Starting with trauma healing and providing a shelter, continuing with support in pregnancy and giving birth, support with clothing, food, and housing, and moving on with training and empowering them, enrolling people into the livelihood centersthe CCEPI was and still is there to help.

Sometimes when I am really exhausted, the thoughts of stopping this work come to my mind. But then I remember that God did not reject me, and He is not very tired of meso how can I be tired of people? I believe that God is God of love, and He has said that we should love other people as ourselves. He came to reconcile the world, says Dali, adding that we should act as ones who help others to reconcile too.

Taking a risk for justice

Dalis CCEPI is recognized by UNHCR as the first humanitarian actor to set up a livelihood program for internally displaced persons and returnees in the Madagali and Michika areas of Adamawa region in Nigeria. The center took the risk of reaching areas considered inaccessible and dangerous at the peak of Boko Harams insurgency, at a time when other non-governmental organizations could not.

Even if you are persecutedyou should not be demoralised because of the persecution, but continue to help others, says Dali. Immediately as we were chased away by Boko Haram, on the first day I slept, but on the second day I was among the other displaced peopleregistering them, gathering their stories, listening to their needs, and later starting applying to donor agencies to help them.

Dali was also amongst the first to visit the parents of the 276 Chibok girls after the mass kidnaping by Boko Haram in April 2014. Dalis husband, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Dante Dali, at that time was the president of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN, Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria), to which most of the kidnapped Chibok girls belonged. Located in the northern districts of the country, congregations of the EYN suffered severe attacks by Boko Haram militants, forcing up to 70 percent of the church members to flee and become internally displaced persons.

Courageous efforts of Rebecca Dali and the CCEPI in the reintegration of women abducted by the Boko Haram were recognized by the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, which granted Dali its biennially conferred Humanitarian Award. As the local communities resisted their reintegration, your negotiation skills and reconciliation efforts played an important role in their successful reintegration, states chairman of the foundation and UNHCRs director of External Relations Anne Willem Bijleveld.

We provided medical services and trauma healing for women returning from Boko Haram, says Rebecca Dali. If the women where pregnant, CCEPI supported them and waited until they give birth; took them to the hospital and purchased everything needed for the baby. It is very sad, but after they gave birth, some used to say, this child is from Boko Haram, recalls Dali. Many believed those are children of bad blood and thats why they had a high risk of being killed or just left neglected. We had to be there to encourage the mothers to take care of the babies, as it was not the fault of these childrenthey all are wonderfully created in the image of God, says Dali.

Such encouragement usually worked very well, but the real challenge was families of these women and their husbands, who in many cases refused to accept their women returning from Boko Haram captivity. So we had to do lobbying, going to these families and talking with them, making a lot of phone calls and arranging the meetings, involving local community leaders as well, says Dali. There were cases when it did not work, and there was a need to build houses for these women in other communities who did not know their background. In some such cases reconnection with families happened gradually, after the trauma had gone from both sides.

Dali received the award on Aug. 21 at the United Nations in Geneva, during the annual World Humanitarian Day event aimed to raise awareness of aid work, commemorate workers who have died while in the field, and mark the day in 2003 when 22 people were killed in a bomb attack on UN offices in Iraq, including the head of mission Sergio Vierra de Mello.

Thanking supporters, thanking God

In her moving speech at the award ceremony in the fully packed Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Hall, Dali said: I give thanks to my God who gave me courage and opportunity to serve his childrenmy neighbors.

Reflecting on the current recognition, Dali says she sees the award as a key to further success of CCEPI. There are people who already have approached me with invitations to speak, partnership and donation offers for building of trauma healing clinic and a school. I finished my speech and in less than 20 minutes I met a lot of people who wanted to help. Without the award I would not be known to themso I thank God for this opportunity!

Dali acknowledges that support from donor agenciesChurch of the Brethren USA, Christian Aid Ministries, International Rescue Committee, UNHCRhas been important motivation for her work. You have the funding and resources to help, and you see a lot of needs and suffering of people around youI cant just say Im tired, it motivates me to keep on doing.

But above everything else Dali highlights the love of God and the good of her neighbor as the main drivers of her commitment: Each minute and each second I find motivation in knowing that God is near me and protecting me. Because of Him I am doing this work.

From someone who meets the harshest violence face to face on a daily basis, these are not just words.

 This WCC release is available online at www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/rebecca-dali-my-faith-in-god-motivates-me-every-second .

Go to www.brethren.org/Newsline to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.
With current Commonwealth Bank of Australia ( CBA ) CEO Ian Narev on the way out, the board is predicted to find a replacement through external channels.This prediction comes from Morningstar analysts in an investor note released on Monday (28 August) which said that given the current string of cultural issues, CBA is likely to move away from recent practice and opt for a new CEO from outside of the bank.The CEO succession process, which is expected to be finalised before mid-2018, will create considerable uncertainty for CBA, the analysts said, despite strong leadership needed now more than ever.A recent announcement by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) of an independent inquiry into the bank was a good outcome, analysts said.The regulator will ensure the inquiry is balanced, independent and transparent and in the interest of all stakeholders  customers, staff and shareholders. The inquiry will not be political and will focus on governance, culture and accountability.Importantly, APRA will not be influenced by political and media hysterics.Morningstars analysts approved of CBAs stance that it would fully cooperate with the investigation.We expect the eventual outcome and fallout of the inquiry to be a pivotal point in rebuilding the banks tarnished brand and reputation following several embarrassing and high-profile missteps.But, regulating culture and behaviour in an organisation with around 50,000 staff is easier said than done and it will be up to the board, new CEO and senior management to develop, nurture and reward appropriate staff behaviour.The analysts expect the timing of the new CEO to coincide with the completion of APRAs prudential inquiry. While the required outcomes would recommend ways to solve any shortcomings found at the bank, a temporary capital penalty which imposed a requirement for higher regulatory capital was also a possibility, they said.
Bucks County schools help Give a Christmas reach local families in need

In its 64-year history, the Give-a-Christmas drive has raised $5.26 million to help thousands of families at the holiday season.
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...
The Mayor of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk, Cllr Carol Bower, cut the ribbon to open a new store in Kings Lynn for decorative supplies company Kent Blaxill on Thursday, August 31.

Manager James Livick-Smith with two other members of staff will run the 4,200 sq ft branch at Hansa Road, Kings Lynn, which will serve both the professional decorator and home DIY markets.

The Mayor said: I am very excited to be welcoming a family run company like Kent Blaxill to Kings Lynn. We have a strong trading history and are now a developing and regenerating town.

It will be the 14th branch of the long-established East Anglian based company which was founded more than 175 years ago.

James Livick-Smith, Branch Manager, said: I think the area has great prospects for Kent Blaxill. If we get across the family-run ethos of the firm, it should really appeal to people round here. Kings Lynn is the hub of West Norfolk and we attract people in from Sandringham, Dersingham and Hunstanton, and Downham Market to the south.

Simon Blaxill, Managing Director, said: What we can bring to Kings Lynn in addition to a comprehensive range of products and design advice are high levels of service. We want customers to enjoy their not just their first visit to the store, but the second and third, and every time they come back. We have a great location and we have already had some great feedback from our first customers.

The key to our success here will be having a great team who are all local  James Livick-Smith as manager, along with Mark Wright and Nathaniel Dodman, with Barry Church as our salesman.

The Kings Lynn branch is stocked with an extensive range of paints and related products, with a strong focus on designer paints such as Farrow & Ball, Little Greene and Paint Library, Zoffany, Sandersons and, as well as regular trade brands such as Dulux, Crown and Armstead. The company will also provide a daily decorative materials delivery service for trade professionals.

Our products are aimed at the professional but we also hope to attract consumers interested in the widest range of decorative paint solutions, colour choice and advice. We are really looking forward to building a strong relationship with Kings Lynn, said Simon, who is from the sixth generation of Kents and Blaxills to run the company.
Covers Timber & Builders Merchants is aiming to raise over 30,000 to help local hospices. The companys 13 depots will be supporting 11 hospices for both children and adults across the South East.

Between Monday 11th and Saturday 16th September Covers will be holding their third Help for Hospices week and donating 5 for each registered customer that makes a purchase during the event.

The generous company has pledged to give at least 20,000 of their own money to kick start the campaign and further bolster funds.

On Monday 11th September volunteers from the hospices will join Covers staff at their depots for a builders bake off to sell an array of delicious homemade cakes and biscuits. Whilst on Wednesday 13th September, volunteers from St Wilfrids Hospice will be at Covers Chichester depot will also be selling bacon rolls in exchange for donations. Raffle tickets will be available to purchase throughout the week with great prizes up for grabs including a 500 Covers Home Improvements voucher.

Rupert Green, Chairman of Covers, said: Were delighted to once again be raising money for such fantastic causes. Here at Covers we pride ourselves on offering support to the local community. I look forward to welcoming as many people as possible to our builders bake off and to announcing the total amount raised for our third Help for Hospices week in October.

Tickets for the raffle will cost 1 each or 10 for a book of 10 and are available to purchase in all Covers depots.
Democrats largely prevail in SJ, but reversals loom in two townships

Democratic incumbents held on to many seats, but GOP challengers made inroads in two large townships
The union coal ministry has appointed the current chairman of Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), Gopal Singh as the interim chairman of the world's largest coal miner Coal India, after it failed to select a whole time candidate to head the Maharatna Company.



Sources said, the ministry has communicated to the company - a day after Sutirtha Bhattacharya, the immediate past chairman retired on August 31 - that Gopal Singh will be given the additional charge of chairman of apart from his regular duty to head CCL.



"Singh will continue to head until a regular full time chairman is appointed", a senior company executive said.

Interestingly, Singh had applied for the top job in April this year sending his resume to the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). However, the PESB, rejected Singh along with five other applicants stating that it hasn't found any applicants suitable for the post. Business Standard was the first to report about Singh's application.



"His application was rejected by the PESB as it found him not suitable to head the company. However, he now has been given the interim charge", a company official wondered.



Namely a person from the technical field, Singh took charge as chairman and managing director of CCL on March 2012. Graduating from the Indian School of Mines in 1981 and thereafter obtaining degrees in opencast mining and an MBA in human resources management, Singh had shouldered various responsibilities including Director Technical (Project & Planning) at South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Chief General Manager at the same subsidiary and under other portfolios in CCL.

Amid peers, Singh is credited to have been instrumental in achieving highest production level of 112 million tonne with a record gross profit of Rs 3,777 crore in 2010-11 in SECL which led to this subsidiary being granted a Mini Ratna Category-I status.



Until August 31, top company officials were unaware of these developments as they had no information of what the coal ministry was thinking.



Senior Coal India officials met the coal ministry for a review meeting in end-August and were expecting the ministry to end the suspense. However, no names were declared on who will be heading the monolith.

The trade unions, which are currently negotiating to sign the wage revision agreement, were also in the dark about the future top boss of the company.
Air India Ltd has put employee contracts that were coming up for renewal and proposals for post-retirement engagement on hold amid the Modi government's push for the airline's privatisation, Livemint reported on Friday.
At a time when manufacturers are reportedly cutting production, Korean auto major Hyundai has said it would make India a hub for its Verna sedan for the global market. The company has invested around Rs 1,040 crore in the fifth-generation Verna.
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has removed the restriction on altitude for its Airbus A320neo fleet, despite persistent teething problems. The move comes after engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney informed the airlines that the restriction on altitude wont increase the durability of the air seal around the No 3 bearing compartment.
Electronics has joined the self-driving car race in California with a permit from the state to test the technology on the home turf of Tesla, Google, and Apple.

A California Department of Motor Vehicles website on Friday showed that the South Korean consumer technology giant's name had been added to a list of more than three dozen companies with permits to test self-driving cars in the state.

Names on the list included major car makers, Apple, Baidu, Tesla, and Waymo, which is owned by Google-parent Alphabet.

Electronics early this year got approval in South Korea to test the technology on roads in that country, according to media there.

Electronics last year announced a deal to buy US auto parts maker Harman International Industries for $8 billion in a bid to enter the growing market for automotive technology to produce "connected" cars.

Samsung described the deal as a chance to build a strong foundation in a self-driving car technology expected to boom in the years ahead.

The Samsung group dabbled in carmaking business in the 1990s but was soon forced to sell the business to the French carmaker Renault in the wake of the crippling 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
passenger and commercial vehicles total sales, including exports in August 2017 were at 48,988 vehicles, higher by 14 per cent over 43,105 vehicles sold in August 2016.

The company's domestic sales of passenger and commercial vehicles for August 2017 were at 45,906, higher by 26 per cent, over 36,510 numbers, in August 2016, due to growing demand across segments and increased positive customer sentiments.

The company's sales from exports was at 3 082 numbers in August 2017, a decline of 53 per cent, compared to 6,595 vehicles sold in August 2016, due to continued drop in industry volumes in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Last year in April, senior narcotics officers were discussing the drug problem in Himachal Pradesh at a conference organised by the Institute for Narcotics Studies and Analysis, a think-tank. Most of the talk centred around drug busts and how to tackle marijuana (and opium) farms. Here, Jahan Peston Jamas, 27, went up to talk about legitimising and strengthening the farms.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajay K Agarwal challenging the Delhi High Court order that acquitted the accused in the Bofors pay-off case.

The matter will be heard on October 8.

"The Bofors matter was taken up by the court today. It was mentioned for fixing a specific date for hearing the matter. The court has said that it will allow the application and fix a date for hearing the matter. The court has fixed October 8 as the next hearing of the matter," Agarwal told ANI.

Agarwal added that the matter is pending for the last 12 years before the Supreme Court.

"In 2005, the Delhi High Court framed charges against the Hinduja brothers, namely Srichand P Hinduja, Prakash P Hinduja and Gopichand P Hinduja. These three are accused under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 120 B. But the High Court has quashed the charges. It was totally an illegal judgment, because earlier another judge of the same High Court, J D Kapoor, on February 4, 2004 had declined to frame the charges and pass an order. When they moved a clarification application, the judge said that the only remedy available is to move to the Supreme Court. They had filed a petition before the Supreme Court, but they found that they will not succeed in the top court. Then they filed another application for clarification and by the time J.D. Kapoor had retired. Another judge Justics R.S. Sodhi heard these applications and in those applications he has framed the charges. He rewrote the judgement and there was no finality of the High Court," Agarwal asserted.

He said that he has pleaded before the Supreme Court that if such thing is allowed to be held, then there will be no finality of the High Court judgement and the High Court judges will keep on repeating.

"There is no jurisdiction of Justice R S Sodhi to recall or change the orders passed by another judge of the same High Court. It is a question of jurisdiction and should be heard as early as possible. I want the charge sheet to be revised against the Hinduja brothers and the trial should go on," Agarwal added.

Agarwal had challenged the Delhi High Court's May 31, 2005 judgment that quashed all charges against the Europe-based Hinduja brothers in the case.

On October 18, 2005, the top Court had admitted Agarwal's petition which was filed after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to approach the top court with the appeal within the 90-day deadline following the High Court verdict.

It also allowed Agarwal to file an appeal against the high court verdict in the absence of any appeal by the CBI.

The hearing assumes significance in the wake of a demand in the Parliament by the ruling BJP MPs for reopening of the probe into the Bofors kickback scandal after the media reports quoting Swedish chief investigator Sten Lindstrom's suggested the alleged bribery at the top level.

(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.)
Union Minister of State (Home) Hansraj G Ahir has proposed that 1,000 hectares of forest land be allotted to set up cow sanctuaries in every district of the 16 states where cow slaughter is banned. This, according to the minister, will prevent "violence due to cattle smuggling".
Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday today as some 2 million Muslim pilgrims carry out the final rites of the annual Haj in Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims made their way toward a massive multi-story complex in Mina after dawn today to cast pebbles at three large columns. It is here where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to God's will.

Muslims believe Ibrahim's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son.

In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.

Members of Dawoodi Bohra community offer prayers on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha in Bhopal on Friday. Photo: PTI

For the final three days of Haj, pilgrims sleep in a large tent valley called Mina and for three days take part in a symbolic stoning of the devil. Mina is also where more than 2,400 people have killed two years ago in a stampede and a collision of two crowds that crushed people under the force.

The Saudi government has since widened some roads in Mina to try and improve the safety of the Haj. More than 100,000 security forces are managing the Haj this year, assisting pilgrims and directing the massive crowds that move from one location to another in the areas around Mecca for five days during the Haj.

The government also offers all pilgrims free health care and access to hospitals during the Haj.

Eid celebrations

The Kaaba represents the metaphorical house of God and the oneness of God in Islam. Observant Muslims around the world face toward the Kaaba during the five daily prayers.

The five-day-long Haj is a series of rituals meant to cleanse the soul of sins and instill a sense of equality and brotherhood among Muslims.

The pilgrimage is required of all Muslims with the means to perform once in a lifetime.

During the last three days of Haj, male pilgrims shave their heard terry clothe the terrycloth white garments worn during the Haj. Women cut off a small lock of hair in a sign of spiritual rebirth and renewal.
The world watched with horror this week as the rape conviction and sentencing to 20 years jail of godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh led to massive protests in northern parts of India.

The protests by Ram Rahims followers resulted in the deaths of at least 38 people in Haryana, where the court held its proceedings. Many more were injured, and widescale damage to public property has been reported.
A reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers appeared imminent with minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy resigning on Thursday night amid speculation that some more ministers might quit ahead of the exercise expected before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for China on Sunday.

BJP chief Amit Shah, who held a meeting with some senior ministers at his residence in the morning, met Modi later in the day.

Sources said more ministers might resign as Modi prepares to induct new faces, including those from the JD(U) and AIADMK, into his Council of Ministers.

Rudy is expected to be given an organisational assignment in the BJP, sources close to him said.

Sources said Kalraj Mishra, who had met Shah on Thursday, might also resign. He is well above 75 years, the age bar the party has informally set for ministers.

Earlier in the day, Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey was appointed Uttar Pradesh BJP president in place of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, creating one more vacancy in the Council of Ministers.

The reshuffle might take place before Modi departs for China to attend the BRICS summit.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has also reportedly offered to quit on health grounds.

AIADMK's Thambi Durai and K Venugopal are being seen as among likely representatives of their party in the Cabinet if the Tamil Nadu party joins the Modi government. At least two members of the JD(U) are also likely to join.

There are several vacancies in the government while some senior ministers, including Arun Jaitley and Harsh Vardhan, are holding additional portfolios.

The President is scheduled to leave for Tirupati on Friday. As of now, nothing has been communicated to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, according to sources.
APCO Worldwide, a transnational public relations company, had their most apt pupil in then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The one thing Modi learnt was never to engage with his opponents on issues they want to talk about. He sets the agenda and a hapless opposition and media try to keep up. was a Modi-made disaster. Yet the disaster only served to propel Modi to greater electoral heights, and today, as he towers over a clueless opposition, even the return of 99% of the extinguished notes does not change the narrative of one mans fight against corruption.
The Yogi Adityanath government is looking at saving almost Rs 5,000 crore annually in expenditure through of contracts, which becomes mandatory in government departments and public utilities from Friday.
West Bengal government will provide free software to small traders for filing goods and services tax (GST) returns, state Finance Minister Amit Mitra said here on Thursday.

"We are in touch with the NIC (National Informatics Centre) and work is on to develop the software," Mitra said while addressing a seminar on GST.

West Bengal would be one of the few states to provide under the new tax regime in the country.

Mitra requested the Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations (CWBTA), organiser of the seminar, to submit a detailed project report (DPR) for setting up a trading logistical hub in and around Kolkata.

He also said that CWBTA, being one of the apex trade bodies, should organise an international Trade Summit in Kolkata to highlight the development taking place in the area of trade and e-commerce.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is inviting applications for the post of Superintending Epigraphist (Dravidian Inscription) to be hired by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under Ministry of Culture. Candidates willing to take up the post can apply for the same till September 9, 2017 (Saturday). The number of vacancy is one reserved for UR (1), OBC (0), SC (0) and ST (0). The qualified candidate would be offered the salary as per the 7th CPC Level 11 of the pay Matrix. Total Emoluments Rs. 67700 other allowances as applicable at the time of appointment. The post carries probation of one year and is based in Mysore, but the candidate is liable to serve anywhere in India.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor B P Kanungo on Friday said companies need to collaborate with for better service outcomes for the customers.
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressed a civic reception hosted for him at SV Arts College Ground, Tirupati today (September 1, 2017). He also laid the foundation stone for BR Ambedkar Skill Training Academy and gave sanction letters to beneficiaries of the Stand up India initiative and the Land Purchase Scheme of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Co-operative Finance Corporation. .

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Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the people and history of Andhra Pradesh are a pride for every one of us in India. This is a land of great heroes and great achievements. From the Satavahana Empire of ancient times to the leadership of people like T. Prakasam, whom we remember with reverence as Andhra Kesari", this region has given the country so much. In recent times, Andhra Pradesh has been fortunate to have given birth to at least two far-sighted political leaders the late Chief Minister Shri N.T. Rama Rao and our former Prime Minister, Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao. Andhra Pradeshs social and economic achievements in the past few years mirror the transformation of India. Yet, as we march forward, we must ensure that this is a journey for all and not just a journey for some..

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The President said that the Ambedkar Skills and Training Academy is planned as a modern marvel in Tirupati a world-class job-oriented centre that will focus on youth from marginalised communities. It will train them in skills that will help them get employment in government and private organisations..

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The President said that Stand-Up India is a very important initiative because it provides poor people the chance to become job creators. In Andhra Pradesh, entrepreneurship is in the DNA of society. This is the energy of youth that Stand-up India seeks to channel..

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The President said that the Land Purchase Scheme of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Co-operative Finance Corporation provides agricultural land to women members of traditionally marginalised communities. It boosts the earning potential of women, and gives them a solid economic asset in the form of a land holding. It also empowers them socially and within the family..

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Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu..

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Earlier in the day, the President visited the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, within which is the Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women and inaugurated a new hospital building..

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The Environment Ministry will launch an environment awareness initiative, under which an online environmental quiz competition named Prakriti Khoj" an Environment Quiz to be conducted at the national level. The quiz is being launched on September 5 on the occasion of Teachers Day. It will be an ideal medium to reach out to young minds through a fun-filled interactive learning mode to trigger their sensitivity towards environment protection and conservation. This quiz, in a way, will provide a unique platform for students to measure their awareness level regarding environmental issues. It aims to motivate them towards effective participation in other major programmes related to conservation and protection of the Ministry. .

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The objective of the quiz is to generate interest among school children about the science related to environment, interactions within it and the problems therein. This will help in sensitizing the children/youth to issues related to environment and development and motivate children towards environment conservation-oriented lifestyles. It will trigger their sensitivity towards nature appreciation and conservation, leading to positive environmental actions at different levels..

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The quiz is planned in two phases. For the first phase, it is envisaged that maximum number of children of schools under the National Green Corps (NGC) programme of the Ministry should get an opportunity to participate in this environmental quiz. NGC was initiated by Ministry in 2001-02 for creating environmental awareness among children by formulating Eco-clubs" in schools across the country. There are around 1,00,000 Eco-clubs across the country, making it one of the largest conservation networks, wherein students are involved in various kind of activities such as cleanliness drives, carrying out waste segregation, composting using bio-degradable wastes, subsisting the concept of three Rs, viz, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; Nukkad Nataks etc. Three age groups is planned to be covered in Phase-I which will be open only to Eco-clubs i.e. in the age-groups 8-12 years, 13-15 years and 16-18 years. After this, based on the feedback received from the participants, the second phase of the quiz will be open to students from all schools across the country in the year 2018. .

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The mode of quiz will be online through multiple choice questions. Thematic areas like climate change, biodiversity, forest and wildlife, pollution, waste management, rivers and lakes, natural history, international conventions such as Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora etc. have been chosen for the quiz. A separate webportal - www.ngc.nic.in containing information on the quiz has been developed by Ministry. Dates of the quiz will be updated on the Prakriti Khoj portal, as well as the Ministrys website. The students from Eco-clubs specially registered on the portal will be able to participate in the qualification round from September 18, 2017 onwards. .

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During the first phase, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in cooperation with State nodal agencies of National Green Corps programme, which are State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), State Government Bodies within the Environment Departments, State Science Council will implement the quiz programme through online mode. Quiz will be organized in school premises under the supervision of Principals/Eco-club Coordinators. There will be cash prizes for the winners. All participants will receive an E-certificate of participation, duly signed by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. On June 15, 2017, at the concluding function of Swachhta Pakwada held in National Zoological Park, Delhi, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that environment awareness campaign and its successful implementation relating to protection and conservation, youth across the country should be continued as a movement. Accordingly, under the Swachh Bharat Mission Prakriti Paryavaran aur Hum Green March" was considered to be launched as a continuous activity and campaign. He further suggested that children and youth must be made an integral part of this campaign and should be made aware about the importance of environment related issues. Dr Harsh Vardhan further directed that children/youth should be actively involved in promoting a mass movement. Youth can make a difference at both local and community level, which in due course will lead to awareness at village, city, state and country level. He wanted youth to become Paryavaran Prerak"..

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PM addresses tax administrators at Rajasva Gyan Sangam

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today inaugurated the Rajasva Gyan Sangam at New Delhi, and addressed the tax administrators of both the Union and State Governments.

The Prime Minister exhorted the officers to improve their work-culture, to incorporate both a "sense of urgency", and "measurability", in their performance.

Mentioning the benefits of the GST, the Prime Minister said that besides economic integration of the country, and transparency in the system; more than 17 lakh new traders have been brought into the indirect tax system within two months.

The Prime Minister said that in order to enable all traders to take maximum benefit of GST, we should work towards ensuring that all traders, including even relatively smaller traders with a turnover below Rs. 20 lakhs, should register with the GST system. He asked the officers to make efforts in this regard by designing a system for this category.

The Prime Minister asked the officers to fix clear targets to improve the country's tax administration by 2022, the 75th anniversary of independence. He said that the Union Government is working towards creation of an environment which shatters the confidence of the corrupt, and instills confidence and trust among the honest taxpayer. In this regard, he mentioned steps taken by the Union Government, such as demonetization, and implementation of stringent laws against black money and benami property.

The Prime Minister said human interface must be kept to a minimum in the tax administration's dealings.

He asked for a push to be given to "e-assessment" and anonymity of proceedings using technology, so that vested interests do not impede the due course of law.
Rajiv Kumar takes over as the New Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog; Says, focus will be on carrying forward the spirit of Team India

Dr. Rajiv Kumar has taken charge as the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog today. A renowned economist, he replaces Shri Arvind Panagariya as the head of the premier think tank of the country. Addressing a press conference in the capital after assuming office, he said the priority would be to carry forward the spirit of Team India for a better future, keeping in mind the aspirations of millions across the country.

The new Vice Chairman said there would be more emphasis on improving Government capacity at the state level to ensure the values of co-operative and competitive federalism. He underlined the need to bring in out of the box thinking and ideas to bring about transformational changes in the country to fulfil the Prime Minister's dreams of a Shreshtha Bharat.

Dr. Kumar said policy making should not be elitist, rather it should be rooted in ground realities. He added that participative governance involving various sections of society can ensure that development becomes a mass movement. He said that in the Indian context, cross cutting issues are very important be it agriculture, environment, water, finances, investment and so on. NITI Aayog is well placed to play the role of a platform that cuts across these issues.

The thematic focus will be on generating employment, enhancing investment, improving ease of doing business, transforming agriculture, and reforming education and health.

The new Vice Chairman highlighted the need to tap into the potential of the social capital of the country to have an Indian Model of Development. The focus would be on generating employment to meet the rising aspirations of the people and for India to earn the demographic dividend. There is also the need to capitalize on our intellectual capacity.

The Vice Chairman intends to visit all states over the next three months and to begin with he would visit NE states. He said it would be a good idea to have sub groups of states such as Himalayan or NE/ Gangetic / Blue economy states and they should have state specific blue prints of their own. That would be more effective in reducing regional inequalities. NITI would play the role of a consultant as well as a catalyst to help States achieve their goals.

Terming his new assignment as a dream job for an Economist, Dr Kumar thanked the Prime Minister for the opportunity given to him to serve the country. He lauded the contributions of his predecessor, Dr. Arvind Panagariya for nurturing the NITI Aayog and leaving behind a rich legacy. Members of NITI Aayog, Shri Ramesh Chand, Shri VKSaraswat, Dr. VKPaul and CEO NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant were present on this occasion.
Shri Sunil Arora takes over as new Election Commissioner

Shri Sunil Arora assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner of India, here today.

Born on 13th April, 1956, Shri Arora, 1980 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre, superannuated on 30th April 2016 as Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Government of India . During 36 years of his long service, he held various crucial positions in State Govt. of Rajasthan and in the Central Government.

Prior to joining as Election Commissioner, Shri Arora was serving as Director General (DG), M/o Corporate Affairs since 15th December, 2016 after his superannuation.

He served in several key positions namely Secretary in the M/o Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and M/o Information & Broadcasting in Government of India, Chairman & Managing Director of the then Indian Airlines between 2002 to 2005, member of Board of Directors of Air India, Airport Authority of India Ltd. and National Skill Development Corporation etc..

At the State level, Mr. Arora served as Chairman of Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation (RIICO) between 2005 and 2013, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Government of Rajasthan between 2013 to 2014 and in several other important positions.

Election Commission of India

New Delhi: 01st September, 2017

RM/ RS
Swacch Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017

In his Independence Day address to the nation on 15th August, 2014 Honble Prime Minister called upon that all schools in the country should have toilets with separate toilets for girls. Only then our daughters will not be compelled to leave schools mid way

The Department has taken new initiative for furtherance of Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign and instituted Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in 2016-17 to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in water, sanitation and hygiene practices in schools. Swachhta in schools plays a significant role in determining the health of children, attendance, dropout rate, and learning outcomes. For the first time, government schools have been ranked on the basis of Swachhta on various criteria viz. Water, Sanitation, Hand washing with soap, Operations and Maintenance, Behaviour Change and Capacity Building.

35 States and UTs participated in this Puraskar, at District and State levels, in an online mode. Thereafter, these were evaluated and awarded at district and state levels. Out of 643 schools shortlisted by the states, 172 schools have been selected for the National awards for Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2016-17.

In the national award ceremony held at Dr S. Radhakrishnan Auditorium, Delhi Cantt. HRD Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar gave away the prizes to the national awardees. Shri Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State (HRD) also graced the occasion.

While addressing on the occasion Shri Upendra Kushwaha said that we have to take the cause of Clean India Campaign in the mission mode and we should set the target to achieve it. He stressed to take Sankalp se Siddhi pledge to make our country clean and beautiful.

He added that these awards given by the ministry are in line with Prime Ministers Swachh Bharat Mission. He asked teachers and parents to teach students about cleanliness and regularly monitor them too.

Shri Prakash Javadekar congratulated the winners of Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 and also told that next year this competition will be open to private schools also. This year 2, 68,402 schools from both central and state governments participated voluntarily in the competition which is in itself an achievement and a beginning of New India. Speaking on the occasion the Minister said that the students are cleanliness ambassadors and they will lead the vision of Clean India of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He added that it is the need of the hour to change our mindsets and inculcate the habit of cleanliness everywhere in the country. He also thanked CSR partners, panchayats and various other organizations for their contribution in furthering the cause.

The schools were given an award of Rs. 50,000/- each as additional school grant, to be utilized for swachhta related activities, which was digitally transferred to them, along with a Certificate. School principals/teachers and students from the schools collected the awards. Besides, awards to 11 districts with highest participation for the National Level Awards for Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2016-17 were given to concerned District Collectors/District Education Officers. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan who have been declared top three States with maximum number of schools in Five Star and Four Star ratings (green & blue category) were given a Certificate of Recognition. The best practices in sanitation and maintaining Swachhta in schools by states were also shared on this occasion. UNICEF and ASCI were the technical and knowledge partners with Department of School Education and Literacy in this endeavour.

The Department also released Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Swachhta in schools and started registration for Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 from 1st September, which coincides with the commencement of Swachhata Pakhwada for the Ministry. The registration for Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 closes on 31st October and is open to government, government aided and private schools as well.
Air Marshal C Hari Kumar AVSM VM VSM ADC, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C),Western Air Command, IAF visited Air Force Station Faridabad on 31Aug 17. He was accompanied by Mrs Devika Hari Kumar, President Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional). .

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The AOC-in-C reviewed the operational preparedness of the station and was briefed on the future plans by GpCapt Kaushik Das, Station Commander, Air Force Station Faridabad. He assessed the security preparedness of the station and emphasized on the need to maintain high state of vigilance in view of the prevalent security scenario. He also visited Air Force Dog Training School, which is one of the finest Dog Training Schools of Indian Armed Forces. .

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The Air Marshal interacted with the personnel of the station and complimented them for their efforts, resulting in optimum and efficient functioning of the station. .

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Mrs Devika Hari Kumar, President AFWWA(Regional) visited the welfare ventures run by AFWWA(Local) and interacted with the AFWWA Sanginis. .

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AB/GKJ
Hundreds of chief executives and business leaders in the US have signed a letter urging President not to scrap a programme known as Dreamers that prevents the deportation of young people brought to the country illegally.
Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) on Friday opened to women for the first time, making it the first branch of the military to open every role to female service personnel.

The move follows a landmark decision by the UK government last year to lift the ban on women serving in combat roles in the British Army.

From Friday onwards, even women can apply to join the RAF Regiment, its ground-fighting force.

"A diverse force is a more operationally effective force. Individuals who are capable of meeting the standards for the regiment will be given the opportunity to serve, regardless of their gender," said UK defence secretary Michael Fallon.

The main role of the 2,000-strong RAF Regiment is to patrol and protect RAF bases and airfields.

Women have already been allowed to serve in close combat roles in the Royal Armoured Corps, but it will be another year before they can seek to enter the Royal Marines, which has tougher physical demands.

The ban on women fighting in combat roles was lifted in 2016 under the David Cameron led government.

In July, Fallon had announced that the RAF Regiment would be open to them from September this year - ahead of an original 2018 schedule.
Washington's ban on US citizens travelling to North Korea came into force today, with the two countries at loggerheads over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions.

The measure was imposed following the death of student Otto Warmbier, 22, in June, a few days after he was sent home in a mysterious coma following more than a year in prison in the North.

He had been convicted of offences against the state for trying to steal a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel and sentenced to 15 years' hard labour, with US President Donald Trump blaming Pyongyang's "brutal regime" for his plight.

On its website the State Department says it took the decision due to "the serious and mounting risk of arrest and long-term detention of US citizens".

Three Americans accused of various crimes against the state are behind bars in the North, which is engaged in a tense standoff with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its banned missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Earlier this week Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan, in a major escalation, and it has threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam. In July it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.

Exemptions to the travel ban are available for journalists, Red Cross representatives, those travelling for humanitarian purposes, or journeys the State Department deems to be in the national interest of the United States.

But NGOs working in the North privately express concerns about how the process will function and the potential impact on their work.

A few remaining US citizens in the country left yesterday, reports said.

Americans represent around 20 percent of the 5,000 or so Western tourists who visit the North each year, with standard one-week trips costing about $2,000 and budget journeys about half that. The vast majority of tourists visiting North Korea are Chinese.

North Korean tourism development officials have said the ban will have no effect on the economy, with one telling AFP in July: "If the US government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit."



Other curious foreigners still travel to the North, and an art symposium in Pyongyang this week saw foreign artists, most of them European, working together with North Koreans.

Norwegian artist Marius Engan Johansen and his North Korean counterpart Ri Pak sculpted clay busts of each other on either side of the same stand.

DMZ Academy organiser Morten Traavik told AFP that one of the events' aims was "to show the wider world in this special critical time that communication is possible".

"By working together and by trying to understand each other... It is possible to communicate when both sides have a will and wish to do so," he 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.)
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday that he has signed orders for deployment of new troops in Afghanistan as part of a new South Asia strategy announced recently by US President Donald Trump.

In an interaction with Pentagon reporters, Mattis, however, refused to give any details of the new troop levels in terms of their numbers, deployment and where they are coming from.

"Yes. I've signed orders but it's not completed. In other words, I've signed some of the troops that will go and we're identifying the specific ones," Mattis said.

Mattis' announcement came a day after the Pentagon disclosed that there are about 11,000 as against 8,600 announced earlier.

Unveiling his South Asia strategy ten days ago to win the war on terrorism, Trump said he will prolong the US military intervention in Afghanistan, which he had once described as a "complete waste".

Trump acknowledged that his "instincts" told him to pull out troops from Afghanistan.

"Historically, I like following my instincts," Trump said. "A hasty withdrawal," Trump said, would create a "vacuum" for terrorists.

"Let me just be real clear when you go into Afghanistan and you're carrying a gun you're going into a combat zone. I don't buy it. Don't get me wrong the fight will still be carried by the Afghan security forces plus the 38 other allies who were there alongside us and will be working," Mattis said.

"We have some counterterrorism strike teams that are there as you know. But by and large, this is to enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively. And there are some other things logistics," he said.

Mattis said he would reveal details of the new troop level before the Congress soon.

"There's always some who are going in and probably the specific alignment of those forces are starting to align with the decision to put more enablers in. In other words, you'll start seeing the change in the forces who are there as they become more aligned to the President's new assigned mission," he said.
The CEOs of dozens of big-name US firms from Amazon to Apple and Facebook pressed President Donald Trump on Friday to keep an amnesty for people brought to the United States illegally as children.

In a letter to Trump and top Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the business leaders -- who also included executives at Cisco, eBay, General Motors, Marriott and Microsoft -- warned of the economic impact of forcing almost 800,000 people back into the legal shadows.

The White House reiterated that Trump has not yet decided whether to end the Obama-era programme that allowed children brought to the country illegally before they were 16 to get a two-year renewable work permit.

The programme known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was instituted by then president Barack Obama in 2012 via executive order and could be repealed by Trump with the stroke of a pen.

Recipients of the programme "grew up in America, registered with our government, submitted to extensive background checks and are diligently giving back to our communities and paying income taxes," the CEOs argued in the letter.

These "hardworking young people will lose their ability to work legally in this country, and every one of them will be at immediate risk of deportation. Our would lose $460.3 billion from the national GDP and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions.

Trump had vowed to end the program and is under fierce pressure by anti-immigrant supporters to make good on that promise.

Fox News yesterday reported that Trump would stop issuing DACA permits and allow the existing ones to expire.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the policy was still under review. "A final decision on that front has not been made," she said.

DACA recipients fear their legal status could lapse and authorities would be able to locate them easily for deportation.

The policy has become tied up in a debate about congressional funding for Trump's proposed wall on the border with Mexico.

Some in Congress have suggested a deal could be reached for the permit system to remain in place if Congress agrees to release funding for the wall.

White House officials offered differing views on when Trump may make a decision. Some said it could come this week and others said it would have to wait until after mega-storm Harvey subsides.

Texas alone has issued over 200,000 permits or renewals, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Russian President warned today of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week.

"The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said.

"Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end," a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was "wrong and futile."



Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme.

US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.

Putin said he feared the peninsula was "on the verge of a major conflict" and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.

He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored... The need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences."



The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.
Nearly a year after Wells Fargos fraudulent account scandal burst into public view, the bank said it had turned up more than a million additional accounts that customers may not have authorised.
Police Chief for Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province General Abdul Raziq has called for a nationwide campaign against the Taliban, who he believes are the puppets of other countries.

Speaking to Tolo News, Raziq said that there should be a difference between those who are educated at schools or madrasas, and the Taliban group, which kill the people and destroy public infrastructures.

Referring to Taliban as the terrorists, Raziq said that they are the slaves of Pakistan, Russians, Iran, China and other countries.

Asserting that the Taliban are the killers of the people of Afghanistan, he said, they cannot be given the name 'Taliban' as it means learners.

Reiterating his statement that Taliban are the killers of Afghans and are terrorists, Raziq said,

all Afghans should fight war against them.

He accused Taliban of trying to tarnish the image of Islam by attacking mosques, schools and other public places.

"Where Islam orders to kill children? But the Taliban are doing this. Who allows them to come to mosques and carry out explosions? But they conduct explosions at mosques, at schools, at cemeteries and at shrines. Even copies of the Holy Quran were burnt by them. These acts have nothing to do with Islam. These acts are conducted to tarnish the image of Islam," Tolo News quoted Raziq as saying.

He added that the Taliban was just pursuing their political objectives and not fighting for Islam.

"(Taliban's leader Mullah) Hebatullah also gets weapons from Russia and Iran to kill his own people; therefore, we need to declare Jihad against them and it is our obligation," he said.

Raziq also urged the heads of the administration to fix their issues and help in stabilizing Afghanistan.

Emphasizing that about 20 or 30 percent of problems are from within government, Raziq said that both President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah have problems, but they should resolve it by discussions as vacuum within the government only benefits the enemy.

Dismissing accusations of violation of human rights by him and the soldiers under his command, he said that bearing mercy on killers, who massacre Afghan people, is an act of oppression against the country.

"When they kill our people and soldiers, don't they have human rights, aren't they human, don't they belong to this country," he questioned, while referring to Taliban's attacks against Afghans.

Raziq also criticized the US and NATO for not taking solid action against terrorists' safe havens and training camps outside Afghanistan.

He suggested that eliminating terrorists' safe havens and hideouts inside the Pakistani territory and ending the support of Iran and Russia to the Taliban is the only solution to bring the war to its end in Afghanistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Australian Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism Steven Ciobo took a ride on the Delhi Metro between Aerocity metro station and T3 metro terminal. He also viewed interactive digital advertising screens installed by the Australian company, XTD at the T3 metro terminal to provide high quality broadcast quality media to mass transit users.

Digital advertising project is part of a key initiative by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for increasing non-fare revenue and adopts world class innovative solution currently operational at large scale in Australia.

The digital cross-track video system offers real time intelligent information system designed for metro rail networks. These LED screens entertain commuters with advertising and other relevant information including news, sport, news and commuter updates.

The minister also visited the New Fruit Market in Azadpur to inspect the largest fruit wholesale market in Asia. While Australia currently exports counter season fresh fruit to India including citrus, apples, pears, stone fruits, table grapes, and cherries, Ciobo is keen to see this trade grow and expand.

Australia is also importing fruit from India and has recently increased the number of facilities accredited to import mangoes to Australia.

Australia has world-class technologies and services for the production, handling, storage, and marketing of fresh agri produces that has potential to increase the efficiency of India's food value chains and reduce losses.

Ciobo is currently leading the largest Australian delegation to visit India in several years, including some of Australia's leading agricultural and food companies.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following Supreme Court's order to destroy liquor bottles, officials in Bihar on Friday drained at least one lakh litre of liquor in a pit near crop field in Vaishali.

Speaking to ANI, Excise Superintendent, "We are destroying the liquor stock of the bottling plant here following court's order."

Meanwhile, the villagers alleged on the ruining of crops.

On Aug 28, the Supreme Court refused to grant any relief to Bihar liquor manufacturers, who had knocked its doors seeking permission to take the remaining stock of liquor outside the state.

The Bihar Government had told the Apex Court that approximately Rs 200 crore of old liquor stock was destroyed.

Earlier last month, the Apex Court refused to extend the deadline for Bihar liquor traders to shift their stock of alcohol outside the state.

The court said that the traders' remaining alcohol stock will have to be destroyed after July 31.

A bench headed by Justice A.K. Sikri allowed the plea filed by the manufacturers to extend the deadline from May 31 to July 31.

Earlier, the court had extended till May 31 the deadline of April 30, which was fixed after the Nitish Kumar Government imposed a ban on liquor in the state from April 5 last year.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, submitted before the bench that the firms would be incurring huge losses if they are not allowed to dispose the existing stocks.

On October 7, 2016, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of Patna High Court judgment nullifying the state law prohibiting sale and consumption of all types of liquor in the state.

The order came on Bihar Government's appeal against the High Court verdict quashing the prohibitory order.

The Bihar Government then came out with a new law against sale and drinking of alcohol within a month of the High Court order.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Ambassador to Washington Navtej Sarna said BRICS is a platform for major emerging economies of the to address the issues of counter terrorism and trade.

Ambassador Sarna said " BRICS is a platform for major emerging economies of the to come together and to address these issues and we are looking forward to discussions in China."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China's Xiamen in Fujian province to attend the 9th BRICS summit from September 3 to 5.

Sarna further said, "India have a broad based relationship with China involving multilateral aspects which also includes strong economic and investment ties."

Referring to the end of a months-long military stand-off in a strategically important area of Doklam near the Sikkim-Tibet-Bhutan trijunction, Sarna said,"India has resolved an issue at the border through diplomatic channel".

China on Thursday gave ample indications of a one-to-one meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit next week, saying "China will make proper arrangements."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "During multilateral meetings, arranging bilateral meetings is practice. If time allows, China will make proper arrangements."

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A United States army official has expressed concern over China's militarising of artificial islands in the and alleged that Beijing was increasing its armed presence in the area.

"China is putting on those man-made islands, which they have made, features are becoming militaristic, they are growing military on these man-made islands in the South China Sea," Major General James S Hartsell, mobilisation assistant to the commander US Pacific command, told ANI, on the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference 2017 here on Friday.

"America takes no territorial ...We do take a strong feeling and position on keeping open on global comments and so we would continue to fly, sail and operate wherever law allows that includes south China sea," he added, while referring to China's military presence in .

Maj Gen Hartsell expressed concern over the issue of privacy in the Indian Ocean and said that lot of work has come together over the years to reduce privacy in the region.

Referring to terrorism in the region, he said the United States is working with lot of progress with its allies in the region to counter terrorist organisations which are trying to reconstitute, regroup in this part of the world and South East Asia particularly.

"Code of conduct is for the whole world and America hears to the code of conduct where we go and that's why we demonstrate free navigation operations because it's not about any one particular country, it is about the whole world's global comments," he said.

He further said that the rule of law should apply on regions such as the which have an issue of concern and fear at some places when.

He suggested that dialogue needs to take place on such issues and to demonstrate resolve to present that from happening and one such place where it is happening is south China sea.

In response to a question on India's role in combatting terrorism, Maj. Gen. Hartsell said that there is a great grand relationship between India and America, and the two nations are also indulging in different military exercises.

Noting that U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are very close and are working together, he said that seems like the two are fastening a good relationship which is a good time for both sides.

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DigitalOcean, the cloud for developers on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka Biotechnology & Information Technology Services under the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Govternment of Karnataka to provide cloud infrastructure and support to startups enrolled with the Karnataka Start-up Cell.

The MoU was signed at the government's 'Elevate 100' program which aims to support startups by providing a sum of Rs.400 crore of government funds over a period.

Under the program, DigitalOcean will help startups selected by the Start-up Cell with cloud infrastructure credits and also provide consultation on technical platform and architecture queries. Under the agreement, DigitalOcean will give USD 1000 worth cloud credits for startups that are being funded under the government's initiative.

In addition, DigitalOcean will organize knowledge sharing sessions called 'learnups' which will help startups learn about recent technologies and best practices from subject matter experts to help them scale and run a successful .

"Our goal is to empower developers and startups around the world to build amazing things, and our robust, affordable, and simple infrastructure is making the cloud more accessible than ever. India is poised to unleash a tremendous amount of innovation in the next decade and we want to be there to support every to grow and succeed. We look forward to working with the selected start-ups and partnering with the government in their vision to make Karnataka a true start-up hub," said Prabhakar Jayakumar, Country Manager, DigitalOcean India.

Elevate 100 will help startups by providing them funds and mentors to help them turn their ideas into successful businesses. DigitalOcean's Incubator program named Hatch is an example of the company's focus on ensuring that developers and high-growth startups can seamlessly launch and scale their businesses.

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Elderly Chinese-Americans facing racial biases are becoming twice more likely to consider suicide than those who don't encounter similar discrimination, according to a new study.

The University of Michigan researchers examined how racial discrimination contributed to Chicago-area Chinese-Americans aged 60 and older thinking about taking their lives during a 30-day period.

Discrimination can impair a person's physical and mental well-being, and can be challenging for the elderly, said lead author Lydia Li. The Chinese-American population is rising and aging quickly, but little research has examined this population, especially as it relates to suicidal behavior.

Li and colleagues used data from 3,157 Chinese seniors who immigrated to the United States an average of 20 years before completing the survey. Their average age was 72, and 57 percent of them were women.

In addition to obtaining background information on the participants, such as age, education and marital status, the questionnaire asked about suicidal thoughts. Participants also provided specific experiences of discrimination.

About 4 percent considered suicide in past 30 days and roughly 21 percent reported experiencing discrimination in public places, at work and in other situations. Those who reported discrimination were nearly twice as likely to think about suicide as those who didn't harbor similar thoughts.

"Among older Chinese-Americans, discrimination encounters may not only invoke a sense of alienation and helplessness," Li said. "Assimilation difficulty, cultural beliefs and family pride may preclude them from seeking help. Consequently they may come to see suicide as a viable alternative."

The researchers also found that age, loneliness, pain and depression are significant risk factors for this group, but family support can be a positive protective factor to lessen the risk of suicidal thoughts.

Li said help can also come from clinicians, who must also recognize the impact of discrimination on ethnic minority elders.

The study appears in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

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East Delhi MP Maheish Girri on Friday expressed concern over Ghazipur landfill collapse incident in which two people were killed and said compensation will be given to the family of deceased.

Two people died and five others injured in East Delhi after a part of the Ghazipur garbage landfill caved in on Friday sweeping several people into Kondli canal.

"We need to understand that it was a disaster. The death of those who succumbed to this accident is very unfortunate. I have recently talked to Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. This disaster has happened because of rains. This is a very serious issue," Girri told the media.

He further said that he talked to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal about the matter and will direct the concern authority to start the process of shifting the garbage soon.

"The Lieutenant Governor should take cognizance of this matter soon and start the process of shifting soon," he added.

Meanwhile, a team of Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was pressed for relief and rescue operations.

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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sent a notice to deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif asking him to appear on September 13 in a case related to banning him from taking part in any political activity and delisting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as a political party.

The petition to ban the PML-N as a political party and ban Sharif from taking part in any political activity has been submitted by Raees Abdul Wahid, an advocate of the Islamabad High Court .

The ECP has asked Sharif to either appear before the commission in person or through a counsel at their Islamabad office on September 13 or submit their response on the matter.

The PML-N is registered under the name of Sharif, who has already relinquished the office of party president. Sardar Yaqoob Nasir has been appointed as the acting president of the party, the Express Tribune eported..

The ECP has fixed Wahid's petition for initial hearing on September 13. Sharif is likely to engage a counsel to represent him.

Nawaz Sharif has left for London on Wednesday to meet his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz who has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Kulsoom Nawaz is contesting National Assembly NA-120 by-poll as the PML-N candidate which is due on September 17.

Pakistan's Supreme Court in July disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office after a damning corruption probe into his family wealth in connection with the Panamagate.

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Two of the six people, who were absconding in a case of fraud allegedly committed against Olympic medal-winning shooter Subedar Major Vijay Kumar, have been nabbed by the police in Indore.

The accused, Manmohan Singh and Anil Tanwar, were caught by the police in the Bhaivarkua district. After further interrogation, it was found out that the duo was hiding in the Gurudwaras in Punjab and a number of other temples.

The Indore Police had earlier announced a reward of Rs. 10,000 on each of the six absconding people.

Kumar had lodged a complaint with the police against the accused of defrauding him of over Rs. 2 crore in the pretext of good returns in share market investment.

The ace shooter alleged that the accused had taken the money from him to invest in a firm called the Sher-Khan Training Company. Instead of investing the money in the firm, he transferred the amount in the accounts of their relatives.

Cases of fraud were registered against Manmohan Singh Saini of Limbodi, his father Jaspal Singh, Hazara Singh, Kulvinder Kaur, Virender Kaur and friend Anil Tanwar.

Manmohan Singh has also been accused of defrauding a number of people in the army.

The matter was investigated by Superintendent Mohammad Yousuf Qureshi.

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Gangsters attacked a police party and freed a notorious criminal when he was about to be produced in a court.

The escaped criminal has been identified as Shubham Singh. An Assistant Sub Inspector Sukhjinder Singh received bullet injury and was rushed to a hospital in Jalandhar.

The incident took place in Rayya, 35 kilometers from Amritsar.

Confirming this to ANI, SSP Amritsar (rural) Parampal Singh said, "The police party was bringing gangster named Shubham Singh from Kapurthala for court appearance in Amritsar. As soon as the bus reached Rayya, five to six suspects entered the bus and started scuffle with police party. In this entire incident, gangsters also fired at ASI Sukhjinder Singh and injured him. The suspects managed to flee away gangster Shubham from custody."

The SSP told that in the preliminary probe it had come to light that the one gangster named Sahil was among the attackers.

A case has been registered and police would be working on various angles to crack the case, added SSP.

Head Constable Sajjan Singh, who was accompanying the police party, said that the suspects were very desperate and had pistols which they pointed at the cops.

He told that the accused took Shubham out of the bus and when cops retaliated, they fired on ASI.

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Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016.

The court has referred the petition to the Commission for Backward Classes which will finally decide this issue up to March 31, 2018.

Talking on the court's decision, Assistant Advocate General (AAG) Haryana, Lokesh Singhal said, "The bench has further directed that the state government will place the data collected before the backward class commission or the commission will collect the data on its own. On the basis of which the percentage of reservation, which has to be granted, shall be determined."

Singhal further said that till the time the commission decides, the reservation granted to caste mentioned in Class-III shall remain in abeyance.

In March 2016, the Haryana assembly passed the Haryana Backward Classes Bill which granted reservation to Jats and four other communities in government jobs and education.

The Haryana Backward Classes Bill 2016 was passed unanimously by the state assembly on March 29, 2016 which provided 10 per cent reservation to six communities in government jobs, services and admission in the educational institutes. These six communities are Jats, Sikhs, Mulla Jat Muslims, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis under the backward class category.

Jat community, which constitutes up to 26 per cent of the total population of Haryana, had threatened to start a stir if the court rejected the reservation plea. According to the law implemented by the apex court, the reservation limit should not exceed beyond 50 per cent.

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Amid festive fervor, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. on Friday announced that it has recorded six lakh sales in a single month for the first time.

August 2017 saw total sales grow 26 percent from 492,368 units in August'16 to 622,180 units this year. By adding nearly 50 percent new volumes to the industry and gaining 3 percent market share, Honda is the highest volume gainer and also the highest market share gainer of the two-wheeler industry.

Honda's domestic sales closed at 586,173 units in August 2017, compared to 466,289 units in August 2016.

Honda's motorcycles sale closed at 191,944 units in August 2017, registering 48 percent growth over 129,926 units sold in August 16, while scooter sales grew 17 percent from 336,363 units in August 2016 to 394,229 units in August 2017.

Meanwhile, export sales peaked at an all-time highest mark of 36,007 units in August 2017, registering a 38 percent surge over 26,079 units in August 2016.

"On the back of strong festival demand matched with new additional capacity coming at a very strategic time, Honda has breached 6 lac units sales mark for the first time in August'17. At the same time, our strong overseas demand momentum has resulted in exports crossing 36,000 mark. On the domestic front, both scooters and motorcycles touched their highest sales mark," said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice president - Sales and Marketing.

"We are seeing increased footfalls at dealerships and are fully equipped to cater to the high demand during the festive period," added Guleria.

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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) Mumbai Chapter has passed a resolution that it would file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the matter of tragic death of renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar after falling into an open manhole on August 29.

The IMA also held the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) responsible for the death of Dr. Amrapurkar.

"The entire doctor community across India is quite upset over such a careless and negligent incident. There must be safety measures in place as when any manhole is opened," the Board said, in a letter to the Municipal Commissioner.

They also requested the Municipal Commissioner to investigate the entire episode and take an appropriate action to avoid such incidents in future.

Dr. Amarapurkar was a leading Gastroenterologist at the Bombay Hospital. He fell in an open manhole on the Matkar road in the Elphinston area near Dadar on Wednesday during the heavy rains.

Dr Amrapurkar's funeral was held yesterday around 4 p.m. at the Shivaji Park crematorium after an autopsy was carried out in the civic-run Sion Hospital.

Many senior doctors from Bombay Hospital where Dr. Amrapurkar consulted as well as civic-run KEM Hospital in Parel and state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla were present for the funeral.

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If the statistics furnished by the Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption global civil society organisation, are anything to go by, India has a long way ahead to fulfil one of the many objectives as told by the current Indian government - defeating the malice of corruption.

A recent survey by the Transparency International states that India is the most corrupt country in Asia.

Depicting how pervasive the problem is across Asia, a list released by Forbes - Asia's Five Most Corrupt Countries - says that India beats Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar, when it comes to bribery rate.

The Forbes article, which rates India the highest in the list with 69 per cent bribery rate, describes India as: "In five of the six public services - schools, hospitals, ID documents, police, and utility services - more than half the respondents have had to pay a bribe."

The article goes on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'fight against corruption'.

"However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption has made a mark: 53 per cent of the people think he is going it fairly or very well. And it has led to people feeling empowered, as 63 per cent believe ordinary people can make a difference," it adds.

India is closely followed by Vietnam at 65 per cent bribery rate.

India's neighbour, Pakistan, stands fourth in the list with 40 per cent bribery rate. The article describes the nation as: "In Pakistan, about three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. Of the people who encountered either the police or the courts, nearly seven in ten had to pay a bribe. Sadly, people don't feel things can change-only a third think ordinary people can make a difference."

The 18-month long survey by Transparency International was concluded after talking to more than 20,000 people in 16 countries, regions and territories in the Asia Pacific.

The Berlin-based corruption watchdog had put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its Corruption Perception Index last year.

The country's 2015 corruption perception score remained the same as 2014's - 38/100 - showing lack of improvement.

According to figures published in March, 2017, while citizens of Pakistan were the most likely of any country to be asked for bribes in law and order institutions, for India the police bribery rate was 54 per cent and for China a low 12 per cent.

India had the highest bribery rates of all the countries surveyed for access to public schools (58 per cent) and healthcare (59 per cent).

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India's role is to help the idea of biennial and stable security and economic construction in Indian Ocean region, stated Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant 'Jay' Panda on Friday at the Indian Ocean Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

"One of the lessons that we have to learn is that after Work War II, a global system was emerged where the most powerful country in the world, which is the U.S, played a very biennial and a beneficial role in creating this harmonious economic and stable environment that also the big countries in Asia also need to do," Panda told ANI, on the sidelines of the conference.

Jay Panda further stated that the Indian Ocean region has the potential for economic growth and development, which is going to be the major engine of the "world economy in the forcible future."

"This needs to be tapped properly and historically the kind of links that used to be there that India and other countries ranging all the way across the Indian Ocean had got disrupted by various forces," he said minutes before addressing the mass on the second day of the three-day conference.

Panda added that this is going to have a very positive impact, not just for the dozens of countries in the Indian Ocean region, but also for the whole world.

"Big countries like China also depend upon Indian Ocean for sea transport for trade to get about 80 percent of their fuel and energy requirement; hence it is in everybody's interest to ensure that there is stability rather than disputes," Panda said on the China Sea dispute.

Attending the Indian Ocean Conference Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor Makarand R. Paranjape talked about China and said that when it comes to China's move in the South China Sea, then one can see that it "first lays claims to territories of smaller nations."

"When it comes to China's move in the South China Sea if you have to learn anything from our impasse or standoff at Doklam recently we see that China first lays claims to territories of smaller nations citing sometimes doubtful if not dubious historical reasons and then tries to occupy them and it seems as if in the South China sea as well a certain port in Sri Lanka, China wants to exercise its influence," JNU Professor Paranjape told ANI.

He further said that Indian Ocean conference is a "strong counter" to China's tactics of political and economical muscle flexing.

"If China wants to respect the sovereignty of other countries including India then it should not be building a road through a disputed territory. It's like giving offense and questioning the sovereignty of India," said Paranjape.

Talking about the "one road, one belt," Paranjape said that the one road one belt initiative is to caste into doubt, as Balochistan has become a volatile region itself.

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav, earlier in the day, stated, at the Indian Ocean Conference, "Where China claimed to be not against freedom of navigation, other nations raised their concerns on the issue of freedom of navigation in China Sea."

While Foreign Secretary Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar addressing the second Indian Ocean Conference here, on Friday, said that Indian Ocean must be approached with empathy, not as a business.

On the first day of the event (on August 31), External Affair Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj said that safety and security of the Indian Ocean is paramount for New Delhi.

"Our vision for the Indian Ocean region is to preserve its organic unity, while advancing cooperation. We envisage Indian Ocean as an engine for growth and prosperity in our region and beyond. It is of utmost importance that these waters remain safe and secure. This vision was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2015 when we put forward the concept of SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region). This is a clear high level articulation of India's vision for the Indian Ocean," she said at the conference in Colombo.

India Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank in collaboration with Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo has organized the Indian Ocean Conference 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Foreign Secretary Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday said Indian Ocean must be approached with empathy, not as a business.

While addressing the Second Indian Ocean Conference here, Jaishankar said, "The Indian Ocean must be approached with empathy, not as a business. It must be treated as a partner, not as an arena. The goal must be inter-dependence, not dominance. The Indian Ocean is renewing its status as a zone of encounters and cross-roads of culture."

The Foreign Secretary further said India is ensuring the safety and security of maritime traffic through the Indian Ocean by strengthening skills and logistics of its southern neighbours like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles.

"The time has come for us to devote more energies and attention to a greater understanding of maritime activities and cultures and not regard them simply as an adjunct to the littoral," he said.

Referring to the aspects highlighted by Sri Lankan Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe about the Indian Ocean history, Jaishankar said, "If we are to revive a sharper sense of its own identity, it is important to appreciate and foster this multi-chromatic picture of the Indian Ocean."

He further added that the case for investing more effort into the revival of the identity and community of the Indian Ocean is now gathering greater support.

"It could be said that our collective presence at Colombo is itself an affirmation of those objectives. There are a number of reasons that explain this trend."

He exhorted the Commonwealth countries to collaborate to strengthen capacities in the Indian Ocean region.

"This region boasts of established regional organizations, foremost among them being the ASEAN. The GCC in the Gulf, SADC in Africa or the BIMSTEC in Bay of Bengal can each make their contribution felt towards a larger cause. In fact, it could even be contemplated that larger global organizations like the Commonwealth could collaborate to strengthen capacities in the Indian Ocean region."

Mentioning on how the possibilities of connectivity unfold in Asia, the Foreign Secretary said, "There are today various approaches and initiatives that offer choices to the nations of this region. Many would understandably like to make the best of all these opportunities. But, the experiences of the last decade underline the importance of making mature and considered decisions in this regard."

Foreign Secretary said, "India is today devoting greater resources and energy and assigning greater priority to building connectivity, contacts and cooperation at the heart of its Neighbourhood First policy.

Foreign Secretary also highlighted India's development assistance to Africa, saying the India-Africa story has similarly not got the attention it deserves, partly because it does not play to the gallery.

"In 2011, we had proposed at the 11th Council of Ministers Meeting at Bengaluru that cooperation focus on maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, disaster risk management, academics and S&T, and tourism and cultural exchange," the Foreign Secretary added.

Jaishankar ensured that initiatives announced at the 2016 Bali COM meeting are expeditiously implemented.

India Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank in collaboration with Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo is organizing the Indian Ocean Conference 2017.

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The Supreme Court of Israel has rejected the demand of Jewish gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender association to recognize same-sex marriage.

Justices Elyakim Rubinstein (former deputy to the president), Neal Hendel and Anat Baron rejected the claim that according to interpretations of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, same-sex marriage should be recognized. They said there is no contradiction in the state's current position regarding this issue, the local media reported.

The justices added that it is up to the legislators, and not the High Court, to determine this matter.

It was stated in the verdict that because the Israeli law sees the rabbinical courts as the only authority when it comes to Jewish marriage in the country, the appeal is wrong in its basis because the High Court is a civil court, not a rabbinical one.

According to the Association, the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty should be interpreted to allow same-sex marriage. At the very least, the petitioners claimed, the law not allowing same-sex marriage should not be constitutional.

"To all intents and purposes, Israeli civil law does not recognize same-sex marriage," the court said.

"Therefore, the petitioners' request to have the civil court rule on something under the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts, which applies under certain conditions, is not applicable here. Instead, request is based on establishing as an essential precondition that marriage between two individuals of the same gender exists in Israeli law, and it does not," Jerusalem Post quoted Rubenstein ruling.

In Israel, there is no civil marriage and all marriages are performed under Jewish, Christian or Muslim auspices.

Rubenstein emphasized that the "law preservation" section of the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty is specifically intended to preserve issues regarding personal status. Therefore, he said, you cannot call upon this law in order to assist the petitioners.

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Income tax will "defend its government" as it is part of their job to do so. reacted the Congress party after the Income Tax Department (ITD) said that there has been 44 percent increase in undisclosed income detection.

"Income tax department is interested in conducting a raid rage across with no details available in public domain will naturally defend its government," Congress leader Tom Vadakkan told ANI.

He further said that the facts are before the public and now they will form their opinion.

Speaking on the same, senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, "If there was 30 percent black money, as it was claimed by the government, then that 30 percent black money came in banks and the government was then just a mere spectator, or we could say that this government worked as the middleman."

He further said, the truth is this that the nation's 99 percent cash was in value of 1000 and 500, which became white after getting deposited in banks.

The Income Tax Department (ITD) on Thursday said that about 14,000 properties worth over Rs 1 crore each are under its scrutiny as their owners have not filed income returns.

Releasing a statement they and talking about the impact of demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on black money, it said 'Operation Clean Money' was launched on January 31 to analyse data of persons who deposited large sums of cash post note- ban, with no previous matching returns of income.

While Rs 15,496 crore was admitted as undisclosed income, surveys resulted in seizure of Rs 13,920 crore.

The ITD statement follows the government "defending" demonetisation after the RBI data showed that almost all the Rs 15.44 lakh crore junked currency notes were returned to the banking system.

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At least five police personnel have been injured after terrorists attacked a bus of security personnel at Pantha Chowk area on the outskirts of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of BSF lost his life in ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

More details are awaited.
The Chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisors (CPA), J.Y. Pillay, reportedly of Indian origin, will serve as the acting president of Singapore until a new president is sworn-in, following the end of President Tony Tan's term on August 31.

When the office of president is vacant, the first in line to exercise powers is the CPA chairman, followed by the Speaker of Parliament, The Straits Times reports.

Pillay will act as the president until after the polling day on September 23 or after the nomination day on September 13, if a candidate is elected unopposed.

According to The Straits Times, Pillay is no stranger to exercising the powers of the president.

As CPA chairman since 2005, he has been the acting president each time the president went on an overseas trip. He acted as the president in May, when Dr. Tan made state visits to Europe.

Pillay has served more than 60 such "stints" - the longest of which was 16 days in April and May of 2007, when then President S.R. Nathan visited Africa.

Pillay was a veteran civil servant, whom founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew claimed was "equal to the best brains in America".

He has also served as the permanent secretary in the finance, defence and national development ministries and was also the chairman of the Singapore Exchange and DBS Bank, and managing director of GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

He is well-known for his role as founding chairman of Singapore Airlines (SIA).

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Lieutenant General Paramjit Singh on Friday took over the Command of Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME) as Commandant in Secunderabad.

The General Officer took over the reins of MCEME from Lieutenant General K.K.Aggarwal, who has proceeded to Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army), New Delhi as Director General of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering.

Lieutenant General Singh is an alumnus of Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA).

He is a Post Graduate in Radar Technology and M. Tech in 'Management and Systems' from IIT, Delhi.

The General Officer has tenanted important staff and regimental appointments. He has been Deputy Military Attache (Tech) in Embassy of India, Moscow, MGEME of Western Command and Commander of Army Base Workshop Group before joining MCEME.

For distinguished service of an exceptional order he was decorated with Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM).

Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad was established in 1953.

Over the years the College was developed into a premier training institution of the Indian Army.

The College is proud recipient of Golden Peacock Award for training for five times and also ISO-9001 certified for training standards.

The students' projects made by the College have been awarded Prime Minister's Awards.

MCEME has also received 'Director General of Civil Aviation' accreditation for Type Training Establishment.

The MCEME trains technical personnel of the Army for providing sustainment and engineering support to the equipment of the Indian Army.

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In a situation where 3.2 lakhs farmers have committed suicide in the last 20 years, Mitti, a documentary, is made on farmer issues and majorly talks of farmer suicides in India.

The movie,directed by Anshul Sinha shows solutions in an entertaining way to reach out to common man.

He said, "The film talks of Agriculture crisis in India and farmer suicides. We did a lot of research work under Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

To write the screen play of the film, we have technically learnt agriculture science and farming. We thought of making a documentary film but changed our mind as they leave less impact in audience compared to fiction."

The film portrays 25 major issues pushing farming into crisis.

While talking about the technical aspects of the film, he said, "The challenging part was to show these issues in form of drama for which we have to understand and feel it first. We visited four states Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which are our suicide belts of our country. We learnt seed testing, herbicide testing and vegetable testing for the film."

Sandeep Yadav, a theatre artist who plays the lead in the movie, said, "The only reason I accepted the role was farmer suicide and how they are facing problems. I felt this very relevant. I was offered a farmer role in which I would suffer and fight these issues. It was a challenging role."

The film aims at saving every farmer from giving up farming and their life and making others realise what is wrong with our approach to farming today and what are the possible ways out.

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A federal court in Canada, has in two separate cases involving judicial review applications of Bangladeshi nationals, has declared the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) a terrorist organization.

Federal Court Judge Justice Henry S Brown upheld the immigration official's previous assessment that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the BNP, based on its activities, was a terrorist organization, as defined under Canadian law.

Judge Brown concluded that the BNP willfully engaged in terrorism and violence to further its objectives in Bangladesh.

He dismissed the judicial review application in the two cases on grounds that the applicants were members of the BNP, which there were reasonable grounds to believe was engaged or will engage in "acts of terrorism".

The first ruling was given in the case of Gazi Vs Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) , in which the applicant was Mohammad Jewel Hossain Gazi, an activist of the BNP's volunteer front, the Swechchha Sebak Dal.

In another case, in May 2017, the Federal Court of Canada again labeled the BNP as a terrorist organisation, when Justice J Fothergill issued a verdict on an appeal of a BNP Joint Secretary and former Juba Dal member, who had filed a review petition for immigration to Canada.

Judge Fothergill said he did not find any mistakes in the Immigration Division's review, as, according to Canadian laws, many of the activities of the BNP matched the definition of terror acts and that the party used arms and ammunition, hand bombs, big swords and other means of violence to meet their political objectives.

According to sources, both of these cases are a clear reflection of the image of the BNP.

It is an image that has been built as a result of its actions over the years. In the last two decades, the years that the BNP was in power in Bangladesh witnessed widespread Islamic radicalization in Bangladesh. Further, BNP leaders have blatantly propped up terror groups, using them as proxies and allowing them a free run in the country. For instance, during the BNP rule in the early 2000s, the cadres of the terror outfit Harkat-ul Jehad al islami-Banglaedh (HUJI-BD) were used by the party to carry out attacks against political rivals.

Current Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped one such attack on August 24, 2004, when she was addressing a rally, but 24 of her party members died in this attack.

Similarly, British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury also narrowly escaped a grenade attack in Sylhet in 2004, also carried out by HUJI cadres. The BNP, though out of power since 2009, still continues to indulge in such activities.

During its last term in office, the BNP had formed a coalition with the radical Islamic party, the JeI-BD. This party has now been declared illegal due to its role in the genocide against Bangla-speaking people in 1971.

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After U.S. President Donald Trump denounced Pakistan for allegedly allowing terrorists to maintain safe havens inside its territory, the United States Ambassador to Islamabad, David Hale, made an attempt to pacify the growing resentment in Pakistan, saying that the former did not blame Pakistan for the failure of the 'War on Terror' in Afghanistan.

David Hale gave an assurance to National Security Adviser (NSA) Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Nasser Khan Janjua, during a meeting in Islamabad, as he discussed the Trump administration's new strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia.

Clarifying the American stance, Ambassador Hale said the perceived misconceptions arose due to the press taking the policy apart piece-by-piece instead of interpreting it as a whole, the Dawn reported.

Hale said it was wrong to assume that the policy recommended a purely military solution, or that engagement with Pakistan had been ruled out.

The military strategy, he said, was just one piece of the policy, which espoused a political solution, the Dawn quoted a press release issued by NSA Janjua's spokesperson.

NSA Janjua told the U.S. envoy that Pakistan was taking its time to examine the U.S. policy and considering its options. He added that Islamabad would like to receive further details from the Washington.

"This notwithstanding, President Trump's address at Fort Myers was disappointing and had deeply hurt the feelings of the government and the people of Pakistan," the NSA said.

Janjua told Hale that Pakistan had been "wrongly blamed, threatened and negatively projected to the world, which was unacceptable".

"Our nuclear weapons were wrongly linked to terrorism, which was totally uncalled for. The new policy has created uncertainties and further added to the regional fragility and imbalance," Janjua added.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Hale told NSA Janjua that the U.S. government is "aware of the feelings in Pakistan" regarding the role envisaged for India in the new strategy.

He said the Trump administration was "ready to play its role in reducing tensions between the two neighbours", the NSA spokesperson said.

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Aided by innovative technology Philips India, a leading company in healthcare technology after completion of two years in bringing affordable and accessible healthcare services aims to mobilize investment in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) centres from the current 17 to a total of 36 operational centres by early 2019.

HealthMap signed its second PPP with Government of Jharkhand for all 24 districts. As of now, it is operational in seven locations, across Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, etc. 17 (seventeen) new centres will be added in Jharkhand by early 2016.

The technology spans from basic radiology like ECG, X-ray, ultrasound to high-end CT and MR, depending on presence of specialties like orthopaedics, neurology, cardiology and trauma care.

The PPP centres in Haryana offer high end services only i.e. high MRI's and CT scans 1.5 tesla MRI , High end CT scans.In the state of Haryana, till date, the PPP initiative has completed 150,000 MRI and CT scans.

Haryana, currently, has operational PPP centres across ten locations. Some of these locations are Rohtak, Gurgaon, Panchkula, Mewat, Sonepat (village Khanpur), Bhiwadi, Agroha. Another two centres are in the pipeline.

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India on Friday refused to disclose what Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak at the upcoming BRICS summit in China and said that it would be premature to share it now.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar didn't completely rule out Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.

When asked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Xi Jinping, Kumar said it is a common practice to have such meetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums.

"It is a common practice at such forum that bilateral meetings arranged," he said in a press briefing here.

Replying to the question on the possibility of Doklam standoff discussion during Prime Minister Modi's meeting with Jinping, Kumar said, "It would be premature to share at this stage what are the issues which will be discussed with other leaders."

India and China ended the Doklam standoff on Monday by withdrawing troops from the area, just days before Prime Minister Modi's visit to China to attend the BRICS summit.

Reacting to China's statement that it will not be appropriate to discuss Pakistan's counter-terrorism records at the BRICS summit, Kumar said India's position on terrorism has been very clear and it has been raising the issue at various multilateral forums.

The MEA spokesperson further said that they cannot pre-empt what Prime Minister Modi will say during the restricted and plenary sessions of the summit.

"Our position on terrorism is very clear. It is not possible for me to pre-empt what the Prime Minister will speak during BRICS summit," he said in a press briefing.

Addressing media in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying had on Thursday said, "We noticed that India, when it comes to Pakistan's counter-terrorism, has some concerns. I don't think this is an appropriate topic to be discussed at BRICS summit.

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As the United States special services plan to execute a search at the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said, "the demands of the US authorities create a direct threat to the security of Russian citizens."

"Alongside, yet another raid on expensive objects of Russian state property, which [the US] has blocked and are now persistently offering to put up on sale, this time the demands of the US authorities pose a direct threat to security of Russian citizens," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, as quoted by Sputnik.

The US special services plan to execute a search at the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco on September 2, said the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.

According to them, this search will include the apartments of diplomatic missions.

"US special services are intending to search the San Francisco Consulate General on September 2, including apartments of the staff members who live in the building and have immunity," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Zakharova added that the Russian personnel were told to leave the premises for 10-12 hours "so that they are not in the way of FBI agents," which according to her "is intrusion into a consul's establishment and homes of diplomatic staff."

FBI agents are poised to conduct the search, Zakharova said, noting that the searches directly compromise the workers' diplomatic immunity.

On Thursday (August 31), the United States demanded that Russia shut down its Consulate General in San Francisco and two other diplomatic facilities in New York City and Washington DC by September 2.

Commenting on the closure of Russia's diplomatic facilities in the US, Zakharova said, it "represents a new gross violation of international law, including US obligations under the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic and consular relations," adding that it undermines the potential for bilateral cooperation, including on urgent international issues.

Zakharova further said that Moscow strongly opposes the US State Department's decision to close down three Russian diplomatic compounds in the US.

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India's Ambassador to United States Navtej Sarna said that the India-U.S. relationship have been transformed into a global partnership.

"One major factor that contributes to the India-U.S. global partnership is the challenges that the faces Today, and both the countries stands together on many global issues. They have alignment and strong convergence on countering terrorism and maritime security. There is a challenge to keep your waters free for legitimate navigation, trade and energy transport and again, India have a convergence of connectivity, on various theaters particularly like Afghanistan," Sarna said while delivering a lecture on 'India-U.S. - A Global Partnership in Hawaii, America.

"When U.S .is looking for a partner in its global outreach and finds a democracy, economy with a huge potential, think in similar value system, reform minded leadership and strong defence capabilities, I don't think U.S. can find a better partner than India," Sarna said.

"Indo-U.S. relationship is unique and today it is on a strong bilateral wicket. In all these years both Washington and New Delhi have used the change in administrations as an inflection point for making the relationship stronger.

Elaborating on how the Indo-U.S. ties have thrived during the changes in New Delhi and Washington administrations, Sarna said "It's a relationship between the world's largest and oldest democracy. Its relationship based on convergence of fundamental values, freedoms and individual values."

There are various areas in the economic relations where India is looking at U.S. for more cooperation to balance the trade between the two countries.

"India's civil aviation market is the big sector and during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to U.S. India had placed order for 200 planes," Sarna added.

Talking about the cooperation in the field of energy, Sarna said he had the "privilege of flagging of first shipments of crude oil from U.S. to India as two Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd have placed order for over 6 million barrels of U.S. crude oil and all these purchases will contribute to the balance to US-India trade."

"There is a sea change in our relationship which is much richer and broad based. Both the countries have very strong people to people ties. India has a strong and successful diaspora," Sarna added.

"There has been a bigger boost in the economy as in India now there is a bankruptcy act in place, commercial courts have been set up and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed on moving up the scale of the ease of doing business in India and for that purpose 7000 new changes have been made in business rules and regulations that make easier for foreign countries to do business in the country," Sarna stated.

India's Envoy at Washington said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to United States was 'extremely successful and useful' and the joint statement speaks for itself about the convergences.

Sarna also talked about Indo-U.S joint statement which specifically mentioned about terrorism, "On Terrorism Pakistan should not be using its territories or territory under its control for fomenting terrorism in other countries."

He further said, "There is also a strong statement for cooperation in Afghanistan and how India's role has been recognized and India has been assisting Afghanistan in rehabilitation and reconstruction process.

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Automotive manufacturing company Tata Motors on Friday announced that passenger and commercial vehicles total sales (including exports) in August 2017 were at 48,988 vehicles, thus recording a 14 percent surge compared to August 2016.

The company reported domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles for August 2017, which stood at 45,906 nos., higher by 26 percent, over 36,510 nos., in August 2016, due to growing demand across segments and increased positive customer sentiments.

The overall commercial vehicles sales in August 2017, in the domestic market were at 31,566 nos. higher by 34 percent over August 2016. The sales grew on the back of growing demand across segments supported by the continued ramp-up in production of BSIV vehicles since April this year.

The company also passed on the benefits of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to consumers by reducing the prices of its vehicles across all commercial vehicle segments.

The M&HCV segment saw a strong growth of 52 percene, at 10,926 nos., in August 2017, over 7,190 units, in August 2016. This segment witnessed strong pick-up in demand on the back of continuously increasing acceptance of the SCR technology, and driven by stricter implementation of regulatory norms on overloading, as well as sector specific (Trucks and Construction Tippers) demand.

The I&LCV truck segment also saw an upward trajectory, at 3,881 nos., grew by 44 percent, over 2,703 vehicles, sold in August 2016, due to increased buying with the onset of festive season.

Tata Motors Passenger Carriers sales (including buses), in August 2017 were at 4,078 nos., declined by 4 percent, over 4,238 units, in August 2016, largely due to delay in procurement from the State Transport Undertakings.

The SCV cargo and pickup segment continued the growth momentum at 12,681 nos., higher by 35 percent over 9,377 units, last August 2016, on the back of growing demand for new product introductions of the XL range of Tata Ace and the Tata Xenon Yodha pickup.

In August 2017, the company in its domestic market recorded sales at 14,340 nos., which grew by 10 percent, over August 2016, bolstered by the strong demand for the Tata Tiago and the Tata Tigor. The car segment remained flat at 11,462 nos., and the UV segment grew by 84 percent at 2,878 nos., driven by the Tata HEXA.

Cumulative sales growth of all passenger vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal was at 64,131 nos., recording a growth of 10 percent compared to 58,064 nos., in the last fiscal.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors sales from exports was at 3082 nos. in August 2017, recording a 53 percent decline, compared to 6,595 vehicles sold in August 2016, due to a continued drop in industry volumes in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

"The increased imposition of restrictions on overloading, growing momentum in the infrastructure, mining and construction segments and continued increasing acceptance of the SCR technology has further boosted the demand in the M&HCV segment resulting in a robust 52 percent growth. In line with our turnaround strategy, we will be introducing new products and will continue to undertake appropriate measures to improve our performance across segments," said Girish Wagh, Head - Commercial Vehicle Unit, Tata Motors.

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Two people died and five others were rescued on Friday after a garbage dump caved in at East Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site.

Around four to five vehicles fell into the Kondli canal.

The Delhi Police said that rescue operations are underway.

A team of Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is on the spot to coordinate all relief and rescue operations.

Further details are awaited.

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In a series of diplomatic 'tit-for-tat', the Trump administration has ordered Russia to close its Consulate in San Francisco and to scale back diplomatic presence in New York and Washington.

This latest order comes in response to the Kremlin's decision to force the United States cut its diplomatic staff in Russia.

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson conveyed to Russia's foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in a phone call, bore all of the hallmarks of a Cold War-era grudge match, the New York Times reported.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. law on sanctions against Russia "has become another link in the chain of unfriendly steps and dangerous for international stability, striking a powerful blow to the prospects for bilateral cooperation."

The U.S. gave Russia mere 48 hours to close its San Francisco Consulate, along with smaller Russian posts in Washington and New York.

"The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted," said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. She added the U.S. hoped both countries could now move toward "improved relations" and "increased cooperation."

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians," Nauert, said in a statement, the United States would require Russia to close the three offices by Saturday.

Russian foreign minister Lavrov "expressed regret at the escalation of tension in bilateral relations" and said that the Russian government would study the move before deciding how to respond, the New York Times quoted Anatoly I. Antonov, Russia's new ambassador to the United States as saying.

Russia's new Ambassador to the United States Anatoly I. Antonov was greeted by the news of the U.S. ordering closing down of Russian Consulate in San Francisco. The Russian envoy said that Moscow would respond without "hysterical outbursts."

Antonov said, "It's necessary to calmly sort things out, It's necessary to act calmly and professionally.

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A Syrian rebel has revealed that U.S.troops based at the Al-Tanf base in Syria's southeastern desert were not fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists and were selling weapons and ammunition to them to fight against the Bashar al-Assad forces.

Asaad As-Salem, who defected from the U.S.-backed Maghawir al-Thawra group stationed at the Al-Tanf base in the southern Syria, said U.S. is engaged in pursuing the main aim of expanding the ISIS influence in Syria by assisting them with U.S. made weapons.

Salem, who served as a chief security officer at the Al-Tanf base, said, he, along with a number of other militants defected from the U.S-backed Maghawir al-Thawra group in the southern Syria, and surrendered to the Syrian government forces.

U.S. special forces have been based since last year at at-Tanf which is one of three official border crossings between Syria and Iraq.

Salem said he and his men joined the U.S.-backed rebel group at the base with an intention to fight the Islamic State terrorists, but were never meant to fight the ISIS and rather the U.S. and Norwegian instructors trained the militants to fire the U.S.-made weapons, trained mortar squads and conducted courses on accident-free driving on the battlefield.

"When we learned that our unit's leader was selling weapons to the ISIS terrorists, we reported that to American base command, but following our report no action has been taken, the Americans only ramped up the support to the man, who was appointed our commander and who was dealing with the ISIS," As-Salem said, during an interview with the media channel.

"And he was selling all sorts of weapons our unit possessed, U.S.-made small arms, M-16 and M-4 rifles, recoilless rifles, various machine guns and ammunition for them," Salem added.

Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the information obtained by then rebel should be thoroughly examined by international organisations.

"Certainly, those materials need a thorough examination by competent organisations, including international organisations. These materials tell us that the American coalition, the so-called coalition, does not what was proclaimed, i.e. not fighting terrorists in the southern Syria, but pursues its own goals," Russia Today quoted Zakharova, as saying

"One of the goals is creation of their own sphere of influence in the country, exhausted in the fight against terrorism. In order to achieve that, according to witness reports, various means are being used, including direct transfer of foreign-made weapons to militants, as it happened at the At-Tanf base in the south of the country," she added.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti on Friday refused to comment on speculations over her resignation from the post of Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

She took to Twitter and said, "The speculations that have been floating since yesterday in the media - I will not entertain any questions relating to them."

Meanwhile, Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan has said that he was asked for the resignation and followed the order.

He further said that now he would propagate the party's campaign in western Uttar Pradesh full time.

After resigning from the post of Union Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship yesterday, Rajiv Pratap Rudy earlier in the day said that his resignation from the post was the party's decision and further refuted any strategy behind it.

"This is a decision by the Prime Minister, the government and the party and we are the soldiers of the party. There is no strategy behind this. I am thankful that I got the opportunity to work for the party and will continue to do this. It is their prerogative," he told the media.

Rudy is expected to be given organisational work.

Few other leaders also resigned last evening, hinting towards a mega cabinet reshuffle, ahead of the 2019 general elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a second term, to be held before he begins his visit to China to attend the BRICS summit on Sunday.

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Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 8.62% to Rs 2,194.50 at 14:13 IST on BSE after the company issued a clarification with regard to media reports.

The announcement was made during market hours today, 1 September 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 139.11 points, or 0.44% to 31,869.60.

On the BSE, 1.79 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 55,089 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 2,209 and a low of Rs 2,121.30 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 3,394.95 on 28 October 2016. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,901.65 on 11 August 2017.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 31 August 2017, falling 15.10% compared with 2.30% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 20.87% as against Sensex's 1.46% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one year, falling 34.79% as against Sensex's 11.63% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 82.93 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories said that on 31 August 2017, the United States District Court, for the District of Delaware, issued its judgment in favour of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, ruling that the proposed generic version of Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual film does not infringe US Patents as asserted by Indivior.

Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual film is indicated for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Reckitt Benckiser developed Suboxone sublingual film using MonoSol Rx's PharmFilm technology. In December 2014, Reckitt Benckiser de-merged its pharmaceuticals business as Indivior. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved Suboxone film in four strengths viz. 2 mg /0.5 mg, 4 mg/1 mg, 8 mg/2 mg, and 12 mg/3 mg (buprenorphine/naloxone).

Dr Reddy's Laboratories' consolidated net profit declined 56.6% to Rs 66.60 crore on 2.5% rise in net sales to Rs 3315.90 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories is an integrated global pharmaceutical company.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

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Trading for the September month started on a positive note as key benchmark indices provisionally settled with modest gains as domestic data showing Q1 June 2017 gross domestic product falling to a three-year low raised expectations that the central bank may cut rates to perk up growth. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 144.31 points or 0.45% at 31,874.80, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 gained 53.05 points or 0.53% at 9,970.45, as per the provisional closing data. Firmness in global stocks and private data showing rebound in India's manufacturing activity in August also boosted sentiment. Indices gained for the third day in a row.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally rose 0.95%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index provisionally gained 0.78%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,592 shares rose and 994 shares declined. A total of 150 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3311.10 crore, lower than the turnover of Rs 3695.28 crore registered during the previous trading session.

After opening higher and witnessing a bout of initial volatility, key indices strengthened and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade on firm Asian stocks. After holding firm till afternoon trade, indices extended gains in mid-afternoon trade tracking higher European stocks. A bout of volatility was witnessed in late trade.

Eicher Motors rose 0.83% after total motorcycles sales rose 22% to 67,977 units in August 2017 over August 2016. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 1 September 2017.

Separately, sale volume of VE Commercial Vehicles, an unlisted subsidiary of Eicher Motors rose 9.06% to 4,571 units in August 2017 over August 2016.

Tata Motors jumped 4.04% after the company said passenger and commercial vehicles total sales (including exports) rose 14% at 48,988 vehicles in August 2017 over August 2016. The company's domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles rose 26% to 45,906 units in August 2017 over August 2016, due to growing demand across segments and increased positive customer sentiments. The announcement was made during market hours today, 1 September 2017.

The overall commercial vehicles sales in August 2017, in the domestic market were at 31,566 units higher by 34% over August 2016. The sales grew on the back of growing demand across segments supported by the continued ramp-up in production of BSIV vehicles since April this year. The company also passed on the benefits of GST to consumers by reducing the prices of its vehicles across all commercial vehicle segments. The company's sales from exports fell 53% to 3 082 units in August 2017 over August 2016, due to continued drop in industry volumes in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Bajaj Auto rose 3.9% after total sales rose 3% to 3.35 lakh units in August 2017 over August 2016. Domestic sales was flat at 2 lakh units in August 2017 over August 2016. Export sales rose 7% to 1.34 lakh units in August 2017 over August 2016. The announcement was made before market hours today, 1 September 2017.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories surged 9.48% after the company issued a clarification with regard to media reports. The company said that on 31 August 2017, the United States District Court, for the District of Delaware, issued its judgment in favour of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, ruling that the proposed generic version of Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual film does not infringe US Patents as asserted by Indivior.

Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual film is indicated for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Reckitt Benckiser developed Suboxone sublingual film using MonoSol Rx's PharmFilm technology. In December 2014, Reckitt Benckiser de-merged its pharmaceuticals business as Indivior. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved Suboxone film in four strengths viz. 2 mg /0.5 mg, 4 mg/1 mg, 8 mg/2 mg, and 12 mg/3 mg (buprenorphine/naloxone). The announcement was made during market hours today, 1 September 2017.

Realty stocks jumped on expectations that the Reserve Bank of India may further cut policy rates to perk up growth after the latest data showed Q1 June 2017 GDP falling to 3-year low. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. DLF (up 3.38%), D B Realty (up 5.68%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 5.22%), Unitech (up 2.44%), NBCC (up 1.58%), Godrej Properties (up 2.68%), Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 2.98%), and Oberoi Realty (up 2.48%) edged higher.

Garware-Wall Ropes jumped 9.91% after net profit rose 31.14% to Rs 25.98 crore on 13.71% increase in total income to Rs 250.47 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016. The result was announced during market hours today, 1 September 2017.

On macro data front, which were released after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017, gross domestic product (GDP) at constant (2011-12) prices in Q1 June 2017 is estimated at Rs 31.10 lakh crore, as against Rs 29.42 lakh crore in Q1 June 2016, showing a growth rate of 5.7%. Quarterly gross value added (GVA) at basic price at constant (2011-2012) prices for Q1 of 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 29.04 lakh crore, as against Rs 27.51 lakh crore in Q1 June 2016, showing a growth rate of 5.6%.

The eight core industries comprising 40.27% of the weight of items included in the index of industrial production (IIP) rose 2.4% in July. Its cumulative growth during April to July, 2017-18 was 2.5%.

The fiscal deficit stood at Rs 5.05 trillion ($79.01 billion) for April-July or 92.4% of the budgeted target for the current fiscal year that ends in March 2018, showed a data released by the government. The data furnished by the Comptroller General of Accounts (CAG), showed that the deficit was 73.7% of the full-year target during the corresponding period last year. Net tax receipts in the first four months of the financial year 2017-18 were Rs 2.58 trillion, the data added. The government aims to trim the fiscal deficit to 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017-18 compared with 3.5% in the previous year.

Markit Economics said today, 1 September 2017 that August saw a rebound in manufacturing new orders and output across India. The expansions were modest, but represented a substantial turnaround from July's GST-related contraction. Up from July's 101-month low of 47.9 to 51.2 in August, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) signalled a renewed improvement in the health of the sector. The upturn reflected resumed growth of new orders, production and employment.

India Meteorological Department said cumulative area weighted rainfall for the country as a whole till 30 August 2017 in the ongoing monsoon season was 3% lower than the normal rainfall. The June-September southwest monsoon is critical for the country's agriculture because a considerable part of the country's farmland is dependent on the rains for irrigation.

Overseas, European stocks rose as Euro zone manufacturing activity accelerated in August, clocking the fastest rise in export orders since February 2011 despite a strengthening currency, a business survey showed. IHS Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for the euro zone rose to 57.4 in August, in line with the preliminary reading and up from 56.6 in July.

Asian stocks gained after positive economic data in China. The financial markets looked to the US jobs report for August due later in the global day. China's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in six months in August, a private survey showed, buoyed by a surge in export orders and higher prices. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.6 in August, compared with 51.1 in July.

US stocks advanced yesterday, 31 August 2017, with the main indexes posting their fifth consecutive monthly gain as investors responded to strong economic data and drew some cautious hope from the Donald Trump administration's latest promises for long-awaited details of a tax reform plan.

US consumer spending increased by less than estimated in July, though rising incomes and an upward revision to June purchases put the economy on a stable footing for the second half.

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1- MoU between Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.

2- MoU between Ministry of Railways, India and Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the Swiss Federation on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector.

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NTPC disclosed after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017, that Life Insurance Coporation of India (LIC) raised its stake in the company to 14.24% from 11.15% earlier. LIC purchased 3.089% stake in NTPC via the recently concluded offer for sale of shares. The two-day OFS opened for institutional investors on 29 August 2017, and retail investors got to bid on 30 August 2017. The government received bids for about 7% stake in NTPC, which will fetch over Rs 9000 crore to the exchequer.

ABB India said it will provide solar inverters to 750 railway stations in north India to reduce dependence on traditional sources of energy. Indian Railways, which runs one of the largest railway networks in the world, carries more than 8 billion passengers annually. The 750 stations are located in the busy northern Indian part of the network, one of the most used railway corridors in the world. ABB recently reached a milestone of 5 GW of solar inverters installed, supplying some 40% of India's solar power at approximately 13 GW. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

IRB Infrastructure Developers said its board approved sale of IRB Pathankot Amritsar Toll Road to IRB InvIT Fund for an enterprise value of Rs 1569 crore. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals said that it received European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) Certificate for the audit conducted at the company's formulation facility at Panelav from 8 August 2017 to 10 August 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

Shankara Building Products said it has started new processing facility in Secunderabad in the state of Telangana to capitalize on the growing requirements of the region through our network of Telangana state retail outlets. Further the company has relocated processing capacity from Surat in Gujarat to Chegunta in Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The relocation will ensure better utilization levels on back of increased availability of raw materials which was hampering production and sales in Surat. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

Shriram Transport Finance Company said that the allotment committee in its meeting held on 31 August 2017, allotted 2,000 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 200 crore on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

V-Guard Industries said it has acquired 74% equity shares of GUTS Electro-Mech vide Share Purchase and Subscription Agreement dated 31 August 2017. The total shareholding of the company in GUTS Electro-Mech, including the acquisition of shares made vide Share Purchase Agreement dated 21 August 2017 is 14.54 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each and the same constitutes 74% of the paid-up share capital. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

Allahabad Bank announced reduction in marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) of the bank by 0.05% for various tenors with effect from 1 September 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 31 August 2017.

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Thirteen soldiers were injured on Friday when an Army vehicle plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, police said.

The vehicle went out of the driver's control at Dhansar area. The injured were taken to a hospital, the police said.

--IANS

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A gang of ATM cheaters was busted with the arrest of three persons who had duped 200 persons on the pretext of helping to withdraw money, police said on Friday.

Police said the accused have been identified as Amir, 22, Munna Deswal,32, and Harun Ali, 32, all residents of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. They were arrested on Thursday on a tip off when they came to Maujpur area of east Delhi.

"During investigation of the previous cases of ATM cheating, the police teams identified Amir, Deshwal and Ali behind these crimes in various areas of north and east Delhi. When they came near Maujpur chowk on a stolen bike, they were apprehended. 43 ATM cards of different banks were recovered from their possession," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajit Kumar Singla.

He said that during interrogation, the accused said that they identified the victim and stood in queue behind them to note their ATM card pin number as they punched it to withdraw the money, or sometimes tampered with the ATM that the ATM would not function and the victim was bound to take their help to withdraw money.

"They then swiftly changed the original card with duplicate ones and later used them to withdraw the money from their accounts," said Singla, adding they committed the crime to get money to live a lavish life.

--IANS

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At least 801 people have been killed in the last 102 days in the Philippine city of Marawi as the army continues with its efforts to clear it of Islamic State-backed rebels, authorities said on Friday.

The victims were 620 rebels, 136 soldiers and 45 civilians, according to a statement by the Philippines armed forces.

Around 360,000 people, half of them children, have been displaced by the conflict since May 23, reports Efe news.

The Philippine army says it has closed in on the remaining 50 IS fighters who are still in the city and are finalising a final assault on the rebels to end the stand-off.

The clashes erupted on May 23 when hundreds of Maute group rebels, along with foreign fighters, laid a partial siege to the city.

The army said it has been cautious in its attempts to free Marawi to protect around the 50 civilians, including Teresito Suganob, the vicar general of the city, whom the rebels have allegedly been using as human shields.

--IANS

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Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani, in an Eid al-Adha message on Friday, invited Pakistan for a dialogue after the US accused Islamabad of harbouring insurgents.

"I have a message to Pakistan: We are ready for comprehensive political talks," said Ghani on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, which is set to be celebrated during the weekend.

Ghani also said that peace with Pakistan is Afghanistan's national agenda and it shall come through political means, Efe news reported.

"As a result of our successful foreign policy, we have reached the point where the hopes of the past 40 years will be realised," added the Afghan President.

Ghani's invitation came after US President Donald Trump last week said that Pakistan has been undermining the US's "war against terror" despite receiving billions of dollars in aid.

Kabul and Islamabad have accused each other of harbouring terrorism and giving refuge to insurgent groups carrying out attacks on another's territory, which led to souring of diplomatic relations and clashes along the Durand Line, the Afghan-Pakistani border.

In February, Pakistan closed the border with Afghanistan for more than a month after an attack on a Sufi shrine killed 88 people.

Exchanges of fire between the two countries have left a number of soldiers and civilians dead in recent months.

--IANS

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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has overcome the stages of being ignored and opposed and now it is experiencing its acceptance by the society, a senior RSS functionary said here on Friday.

"There are three stages that any kind of work goes through: being ignored, opposed and acceptance. After overcoming the first two stages, now we are experiencing the acceptance of the society," senior RSS leader Suresh Soni said at the inaugural session of the three-day coordination meeting of the organisation and its affiliates, which began here.

Soni said the RSS and its affiliates would discuss and analyse the state of their collective activities apart from issues of national and global importance during the three day meet, a statement said.

BJP President Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhgawat along with many senior functionaries attended the meet.

The first day of the meet saw the political killings of RSS workers in Kerala being discussed.

Sources said the meeting also appreciated the central government's step taken in Jammu and Kashmir.

The RSS-BJP leaders are also likely to discuss the road map for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

--IANS

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Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Friday was formally accorded the status of India's first World Heritage City with UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova handing over the certificate in this regard to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Speaking on the occasion, Rupani said it was a proud moment for over 6.5 crore people of Gujarat.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did a lot of hard work to get the heritage city tag for Ahmedabad from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

He accused the earlier government for not trying enough in this matter.

The Chief Minister said Ahmedabad was selected out of 250 cities in the race for the coveted status.

He also thanked the UNESCO and the Culture Ministry.

On July 8, India secured the nomination for Ahmedabad on UNESCO's World Heritage list during the 41st Session of World Heritage Committee.

The honour makes the walled city of Ahmedabad the first city in India, and the third in Asia, to be on the list.

India now has a total of 36 World Heritage Inscriptions -- 28 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed sites.

India is second after China in terms of number of world heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia and Pacific) region, and overall seventh in the world.

Founded in the 15th century, the walled city of Ahmedabad, on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati river, presents a rich architectural heritage. It has 28 Archaeological Survey of India's centrally protected monuments.

--IANS

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Actress Anuradha Menon, popular for her avatar Lola Kutty, says she is excited about her "first attempt in writing a dramatic theatrical monologue" through play "Take 35".

"Take 35" will be shown at the 11th edition of The Park's New Festival 2017, which began on Friday and will go on till September 21.

Organised by The Park Hotels, the fest is being held across six cities. It started in Chennai, and will travel to New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

"The play portrays the struggles of a child actor who hasn't quite made it in adulthood. It is my first attempt in writing a dramatic theatrical monologue," Anuradha told IANS over an email.

"It's a one-woman piece on a child actor Anamika as she looks back at her life at age 35....how she failed to make it big professionally, her relationship with her parents, sister and the way she comes to terms with her own failures. It will highlight the everyday things in a woman's life through the eyes of this girl," she added.

The fest focuses on art performances across music, dance and dramatic theatre genres. It is conceptualised and curated by The Park Hotels along with Prakriti Foundation.

Anuradha says when Ranvir Shah, the curator of the festival, approached her, "he insisted that I present something new".

"I've always been fascinated by child artists and the world they inhabit having met quite a few at shoots and auditions," she added.

Apart from Anuradha's play, there will be a classical music performance by renowned vocalist Roopa Mahadevan and a contemporary dance performance by Surjit Nongmeikpam.

--IANS

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Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday said his government is yet to adopt the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy.

Several civil society groups, including the opposition Peoples Party of Arunachal and Congress have opposed the state cabinet's decision on August 12 to adopt and extend the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy 2014 in the state.

"The policy has only been agreed in-principle and not passed in toto. It will be framed only after Arunachal comes up with its own rehabilitation policy only after consultation with all stakeholders," Khandu said at the Solung festival of the indigenous community.

The Chief Minister said that his government will never give away any kind of rights to any refugees, which is detrimental to the interests of indigenous people of Arunachal.

Noting that the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy is a Government of India policy, Khandu said that the policy has been adopted in all states wherever there are Tibetan refugee settlements.

However, he said TRP policy is yet to be fully adopted in Arunachal due to issues over land and jobs.

On the recent cabinet decision to create a department of indigenous faith and cultural affairs (DIFCA), the Chief Minister said the objective of the department is purely to preserve indigenous tribal beliefs and traditions, and is not against any religion.

He said DIFCA is for all tribal faiths and is to protect indigenous beliefs.

"The government will never work in favour or harm the interest of any religion or undermine the secular character of the state," Khandu stated.

He said the department of art and culture has some limitations due to which it is not able to fully support the effort to preserve the local culture.

Exhorting the people on the importance of preservation of indigenous culture, the Chief Minister appealed to the people to speak in their own local dialects. He particularly stressed on the importance of children to learn their local dialect and to have understanding of their local traditions and customs.

"I have four kids but I never bother to send them away abroad or to other states for their studies. I want them to grow in our local environment so that they can be acquainted with their culture and dialect first," Khandu said.

--IANS

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A political blame game erupted in Delhi on Friday following the death of two persons, including a woman, in the collapse of a large portion of a landfill in east Delhi's Ghazipur earlier in the day.

Towards evening, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia reached the accident site and blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled municipal corporation for the accident.

"The DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee) had earlier sent many notices to the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) about the landfill," Kejriwal said.

He said the height of the landfill was more than the permissible limit and added that he would meet Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and they would together put pressure on the MCD.

"Visited Ghazipur site. It's man-made disaster. Criminal. Mountains of garbage. Why doesn't MCD use modern technology to manage solid waste?" Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Sisodia also echoed Kejriwal's views, saying the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) was responsible for the tragedy.

EDMC Mayor Neema Bhagat of the BJP, on the other hand, blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Delhi government for what she called "poor maintenance" of the landfill spread over 70 acres.

Joining the blame game, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken held the AAP government and the BJP-ruled MCDs responsible for the accident and demanded adequate compensation for the victims.

"Governance in Delhi has come to a standstill due to the constant bickering of AAP and BJP," he added.

"This is not just an accident, nor merely a mismanagement by MCD. It's a result of disastrous model of solid waste management," Yogendra Yadav, National President of Swaraj India, said.

--IANS

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The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet in Rs 3,726 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case against former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi and eight others.

The agency submitted the 30,000-page chargesheet before special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Arvind Kumar.

Tyagi's cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan are among four Indians named in the chargesheet which mentioned Khaitan as the "brain" behind the deal.

Others named are Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica's former chief Giuseppe Orsi, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and three European middleman Christian Michel, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

Orsi and Spagnolini have already been sentenced by an Italian court for bribing Indian officials to get the contract from India illegally.

"How the bribe money reached India, how several firms, through which the money travelled, came into existence and that Sanjeev was known to alleged European middleman Carlo Gerosa is mentioned in the chargesheet," an official said.

Tyagi, who was Indian Air Force chief from 2004 to 2007, his brother Sanjeev and Khaitan were allegedly involved in irregularities in the procurement of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters from Britain-based AgustaWestland. They were arrested in December last year by the agency in connection with the case.

The CBI, which registered an FIR in the case on March 12, 2013, has alleged that Tyagi and the other accused received kickbacks from AgustaWestland to help the manufacturer win the contract. The FIR mentioned charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said the company was favoured in lieu of illegal gratification accepted through different companies in the name of consultancy services.

Tyagi, the CBI has alleged, took bribes of several crores, through middlemen and a complex route of companies in several countries, from AgustaWestland to change the specifications of the contract - reducing the operational flight ceiling from 6,000 metres, as originally proposed, to 4,500 metres and bringing down the cabin height to 1.8 metres.

The twin modifications were allegedly meant to rig the deal in favour of AgustaWestland, which eventually walked away with the order to supply 12 choppers for the Communication Squadron of the Indian Air Force for ferrying the President, the Prime Minister and other VVIPs.

Sources said that they mapped the trail of bribes which AgustaWestland paid to bag the deal of Rs 452 crore or 12 per cent of the total value of the deal, out of which Rs 414 crore came to Indian officials.

The CBI probe revealed that several payments were made to the Tyagi brothers by European middlemen Haschke, Gerosa and Michel as part of the alleged bribery.

--IANS

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Leading plywood manufacturer Century Plyboards (India) Ltd has tied up with Chinese company Goldea to form a joint venture (JV) for manufacturing doors at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, a company official said on Friday.

"We have made some arrangements with a Chinese company, Goldea, to form a joint venture to manufacture MDF door. Our share will be 60 per cent while the Chinese company will hold 40 per cent in the JV - Century Goldea Ltd. Under this arrangement, we plan to put up a plant at Hoshiarpur in Punjab," company's Chairman Sajjan Bhajanka told reporters here.

The city-headquartered company has already put medium-density fibreboard (MDF) facility in Hoshiarpur with an investments of Rs 400 crore. The MDF would be used as the raw materials for the manufacturing of the doors, he said, adding that the company is in the process of acquiring some more land nearby its MDF plant for setting up the new door plant.

According to him, the JV will be investing Rs 80 crore in the first phase of the project.

The MDF plant, with a capacity of 1,98,000 cubic metre, has started the trial production and the commercial production is expected to begin soon.

"There are planning for forward integration in the plant by manufacturing value added products such as laminated MDFs, flooring and doors in the next one year. The investment for the forward integration would be around Rs 200 crore," Bhajanka said.

With the implementation of Goods and Services Tax, the company is expecting the share of organised sector in the Rs 20,000-crore plywood market would be close to 50 per cent in the next two years from the current share of just 25 per cent.

Bhajanka, however, said plywood falls in the 28 per cent rate category in the new indirect tax system which is quite high and the industry is hoping that it could be brought down to 18 per cent in the next GST council meet.

--IANS

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The Indian Coast Guard on Friday said it rescued eight Indian fishermen who were stranded off the Gujarat coast for three days due to bad weather.

Their fishing boat Mayur Sagar was caught up in the inclement weather around 1.8 nautical miles off the Saurashtra coast since August 29.

An Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) was sent from Coast Guard air enclave in Porbandar in the morning and the stranded men winched up from the boat and taken to the nearest beach area, Coast Guard officials said.

They were later provided first aid at the district headquarters of Coast Guard.

"All crew members are stable, and were shifted to hospital for further medical care."

--IANS

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The Congress on Friday demanded a white paper on the economy after GDP growth fell to 5.7 per cent and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a 'pracharshastri' (expert propagandist).

Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said that going by the old methodology, the actual GDP growth would have been 4.3 to 4.4 per cent.

Terming the government 'nikkami' (useless), the Congress also sought 10-year GDP statistics.

"Given the numbers that have come out, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had forewarned Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the GDP was going to decline sharply," said Sharma.

"Both took strong umbrage to that. Modi had not shown courtesy and decency and respect to the age and experience of Manmohan Singh, a noted economist. He (Manmohan) was proved right. GDP has been falling for the last six quarters."

On the other hand, the Prime Minister thought that he had better knowledge and understanding of economics. He kept on spreading propaganda that India was developing at a fast pace, Sharma said. "Is this what you call development?"

Accusing Modi of misleading the people, Sharma said Modi had no vision or roadmap to restore the health of the economy.

"The GDP continues to be in constant decline. The sharp dip we have seen now is not 5.7. If we go by the old methodology, it will be between 4.3 and 4.4 per cent. The GDP fall is a big loss for Indian economy.

"That's why we demand that the government should release 10-year GDP numbers... We also demand a white paper on Indian economy."

He also asked the government to release the manufacturing and the Index of Industrial Production numbers as per the old series and new series.

"with such sharp contractions, the Gross Value Addition and Gross Value Production have gone down by 2 per cent. Prime Minister is just doing spot running and the economy is also doing the same," he added.

The Congress leader also said the credit offtake was the lowest in years and Gross Capital Formation was in the negative.

"Jobs are being destroyed, but Modi is inviting ridicule by continuing to claim in international forums that the world has to learn from us and we are the fastest growing. If this is what is the fastest growing, we do not know, what is low growth and what are job losses," said Sharma.

He also hit out at Modi saying the government's initiative Make In India remained just a slogan. "Manufacturing is continuously contracting and Modi has not even bothered about the restructuring or writing off the loans of the students," he said.

Sympathizing with Jaitley, Sharma said: "Though the economy is in such a bad state, with a straight face, he (Jaitley) has to tell everyone that India is beaming and everything is alright."

--IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 1 (AINS) The ongoing 23rd Delhi Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, turned host for a number of events on Friday, including Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma visiting it fair to unveil a book titled "Ru NUTS" by author Shubha Singh.

The event was further followed by an award ceremony for the best two books for the year 2016-17 was given away. "Indica - A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent" published by Penguin Random House India bagged the first prize while the second prize went to Om Book International's "Asha Parekh - The Hit Girl: An Autobiography". "Captain Amarinder Singh - The People's Maharaja" from Hay House Publishers was honoured with a certificate.

On the 7th day, the fair also saw the bibliophiles of the national capital turning up for the event despite sudden showers. Sanjeev Sharma, a Hindi professor from Rohini, said that rain cannot diminish his love for books and hence he came over to the book fair.

"I have a fascination for classic Hindi books like those written by Munshi Prem Chand, Maithili Sharan Gupta and others. And these books can be found mostly in fairs and not shops," he said.

Kaushik Gupta, a lawyer at Calcuta High Court who got various fancy stationaries and the Harry Potter series for his daughter, said: "Book fairs help to inculcate reading habits among youths. It is also responsibility of parents to bring their children to book fairs."

The Delhi Book Fair will conclude on September 3.

--IANS

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The CID West Bengal on Friday issued look out notices against three Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders, including party chief Bimal Gurung, as tensions continued to mount in the northern West Bengal hills following a rift within the Morcha leadership.

Lookout circular was issued against Gurung, Party's General Secretary Roshan Giri as well as party leader Prakash Gurung, sources said, for their alleged role in various incidents, including blasts in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

Gurung's supporters on Friday stepped up rallies and picketing, completely stalling flow of life in the region and effectively negating the suspension of the strike that was announced by GJM Joint Secretary Binay Tamang a day ago.

The GJM leadership which convened a central committee meeting in Sikkim on Friday expelled Tamang and senior party leader Anit Thapa, accusing them of conspiring to derail the Gorkhaland movement.

A GJM activist was allegedly killed in police firing while at least nine party leaders were arrested by the police during a raid in south Sikkim's Namchi.

Thousands of pro-shutdown activists hit the streets at various places in the hills, including Kurseong, Sonada, Rangan and Darjeeling, in shrill condemnation against Tamang and Thapa, who had called off the shutdown for 12 days, starting from September 1.

Hailing Gurung as the undisputed leader of the Gorkhaland movement, the agitators pledged to continue the impasse till the statehood for the region is realised. Slogans like "Binay Tamang murdabad" and "We want Gorkhaland" were raised.

Streets in Darjeeling and other parts of the hills looked deserted. Shops, schools, colleges and offices remained closed since Friday morning.

Gurung, in a purported voice clip from an undisclosed location, has accused some of his party leaders of joining hands with the West Bengal government and of conspiring to foil their agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Terming the renewed agitation in the hills as people's movement, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said people in the hills favoured continuing the shutdown till a separate state of Gorkhaland is created.

"This is a people's movement. The poor people of the hills are ready to suffer even further for the cause of Gorkhaland. We won't let their sacrifice go in vain," Giri said.

Claiming that the situation was under control, police in Darjeeling said they would not intervene if the agitation is conducted in a democratic, peaceful manner.

"Some miscreants tried to create ruckus by pelting stones yesterday night. But we dispersed the crowd. Some activists are agitating again today. Police are keeping a close watch. We will not intervene if the agitation is done in a democratic way," a senior police officer said in Darjeeling.

State Tourism Minister Goutam Deb said the state government is "keeping a close watch" on the situation.

"We hope for an amicable solution to the problem," Deb said.

--IANS

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Italian superbikes-maker Ducati India is looking to grow by at least 18 per cent in the current calendar year and plans to expand its dealer network, a company official said on Friday.

"Last year, we sold 1,000 units and our year-on-year growth was 18 per cent. We expect not only this year (calendar year) but also next one year to grow at least at the same pace," company's Managing Director Sergio Canovas told reporters here.

The premium motorcycles maker, which commenced operations in India in March 2015, has diverse product portfolio of 19 models ranging from 800cc to 1,299cc across six categories. Its price range starts from Rs 7 lakh.

The company had been importing the bikes from Thailand, with which India has a free-trade agreement and has no plan, as of now, to set up any assembling plant in India.

"... the best arrangement now is to import from Thailand. Due to the FTA, the bikes are imported at zero duty," he said on the sideline of the launch of a dealership and service facility in the city.

With dealerships already operational in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kochi, Kolkata is a major expansion to its network in the country, he said, adding that the number of dealerships would rise to 10 in the first half of 2018.

--IANS

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Goa Forward, a member of the ruling alliance, on Friday accused Goa's Roman Catholic Church of being selective in criticism of the BJP-led government and accused it of adding to the aggravating social tension in the state.

Goa Forward spokesperson Trajano D'Mello also questioned the silence of the Church's social arm, the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), on the controversial death of former priest Bismarque Dias in 2015, which the latter's supporters have linked to the real estate mafia.

D'Mello said: "This CSJP is so much disturbed by religious structures being destroyed... There is a hue and cry about the death of Fr. Bismarque. Why has this organisation remained silent on that? Sensitivity is more to a structure than to a human?"

The Bombay High Court bench in Panaji some weeks back ordered the police to re-investigate the mysterious death of Dias, who was found drowned in a natural water-body near Panaji in 2015.

The re-investigation followed a video clip that showed Dias talking to the camera, naming possible suspects, most of them involved in real-estate trade, in the event of his death.

Dias, even during his tenure as a Catholic priest, had been actively protesting rampant, illegal real estate development in and around his native village of Juvem, near Panaji.

"Why is this organisation adding fuel to fire when there is no fire and creating an alarming situation? It will have a negative impact on the Catholic community," D'Mello said.

The influential Catholic church in Goa is at loggerheads with the BJP-led ruling coalition over the series of desecrations in the state over the past few months.

A fact-finding report co-authored by the Council has blamed the state government for not acting tough against hate-speeches by Hindu right-wing leaders in the state and has termed as a sham the police investigation into the desecrations of religious icons, including Catholic crosses, graves and some Hindu places of worship. The report was released on the eve of the August 23 assembly bypoll.

An official magazine published by the Goa Church just before the polls likened the contemporary Goa and India to the Nazi-led Germany, and implored voters not to cast ballot in favour of BJP's candidate and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who eventually won the assembly by-election with a comfortable margin.

The BJP on Wednesday said that the fact-finding report was mischievous and baseless, and also asked Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao to tone down the contents of the magazine.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After creating waves in US literary circles, the provocative memoir of Sujatha Gidla which details her memories of growing up as an "untouchable" in India, is all set to hit bookstores in India.

HarperCollins India announced on Friday that it has acquired the publishing rights for Gidla's much talked about book, "Ants Among Elephants". The publishing house has bought the rights for all languages in the Indian subcontinent.

Until recently, Gidla was just another New Yorker, working as a conductor on the city Subway. But her recent memoir, which not only details her memories of growing up as a Dalit woman in India but also lists the many instances of "discrimination and humiliation" that she and her family were customarily subjected to, has thrust her into the limelight.

Her book, a piercing account of living in desperate poverty, amidst violence and discrimination based on caste and gender, was widely appreciated by critics in the United States. In her memoir, Gidla also looks at the struggles of women like her mother, who have pursued careers in the face of extreme obstacles.

Gidla's grandparents converted to Christianity at the onset of the 20th century and were educated at Canadian missionary schools. She too, with the help of Canadian missionaries, studied physics at the Regional Engineering College in Warangal, in what is Telangana today. She was also a researcher in applied physics at IIT-Madras.

Gidla initially worked as a developer in software design, then moved to banking but lost her job in 2009 during the economic crisis. Finally, she took up the job of a conductor at the New York Subway.

This book, Gidla said in an earlier interview to IANS, initially began as an investigation into the caste system but finally took the shape of a memoir as her family members also enriched its pages with their personal experiences and reflections.

"There have been many types of discrimination in various parts of the world. As far as I know, caste-based discrimination is uniquely cruel. There is racism in America, but I will never compare it with caste and rather say that caste is much worse.

"I will also say this: Blacks here are murdered, they have been lynched. But I have never read about another place where untouchables are fed excreta, made to drink urine and paraded naked. Even under slavery, the slave owners took care to feed their slaves in order to keep them fit to work. Untouchables in India never even had that," Gidla had told IANS earlier.

Diya Kar Hazra, the publisher who acquired the book for HarperCollins, said that the publishing house is proud to be publishing her in India "where caste is, tragically, a reality".

The book has been published in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan publishers and will hit Indian bookstores in December 2017.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Haryana Police have issued 'lookout notice' against two close aides of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief convicted of rape, including a woman, police sources said on Friday.

The lookout notice has been issued against Ram Rahim's adopted daughter Honeypreet Kaur and Dera spokesman Aditya Insaan.

Police sources said raids were being conducted to arrest the two aides. The police issued the notice to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Kaur had accompanied the disgraced chief till the CBI special court in Panchkula on August 25, when he was convicted on two counts of rape.

Kaur had also accompanied Ram Rahim in the government helicopter from Panchkula to Rohtak after his conviction when he was being shifted to the prison near Rohtak.

She has not been seen after she left Rohtak on August 25 evening.

While Aditya Insaan was booked with four other Dera functionaries for sedition and inciting violence, Kaur has been named in the case related to a conspiracy to help the sect chief to escape from the court premises after his conviction.

Haryana's Inspector General K.K. Rao confirmed to the media that a plot had been hatched by top functionaries of the sect to help Ram Rahim escape from the court complex in Panchkula on August 25 if he was convicted for rape.

However, the swift action of some Haryana Police officers and paramilitary forces inside the court premises prevented the escape.

Police sources said the plan was to make the sect chief reach the place where thousands of his followers had assembled in Panchkula, about one km from the court complex.

Had the self-styled godman succeeded in hiding behind his followers, it would have been very difficult for the security forces to arrest him without bloodshed, the sources said.

The Haryana Police had, last week, arrested five of its own commandos, who were in the Z-plus security cover of the sect chief, and two private securitymen.

All were accused and booked for sedition and involvement in the conspiracy to help the sect chief escape.

All the five Haryana Police commandos have been dismissed from service for their involvement in the conspiracy. They were in the security of Ram Rahim for a number of years.

Kaur, who is in her mid-30s is considered closest to Ram Rahim, and has been his heroine in the five films that he has directed, produced and acted in, in the last two-three years.

Though both (Ram Rahim and Honeypreet) call themselves 'father-daughter', her former husband had accused both of having an illicit relationship.

Aditya Insaan, a former eye specialist from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has been the Dera spokesman for a number of years. Considered close to Ram Rahim, he has also gone underground since August 25.

The Haryana Police on Thursday arrested another aide of Ram Rahim, Surender Dhiman, for sedition and inciting violence.

Dhiman, a Dera functionary and journalist with its newspaper 'Sach Kahoon', surrendered before the police in Panchkula. He was taken into custody and presented before a local court which sent him on a seven-day police remand.

Dhiman, along with Aditya Insaan, was among the five people booked by the Haryana Police here last week for inciting violence.

A journalist had complained to the police that he saw the Dera functionaries inciting followers of the sect after the court convicted Ram Rahim of the rape of two female followers in 1999.

At least 38 people died and 264 were injured in large-scale violence by the Dera supporters after the August 25 verdict holding him guilty.

Ram Rahim was handed a 20-year jail sentence on August 28.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Haryana government has directed municipalities not to accept CLU applications from any individual or company for projects with an investment of more than Rs 10 crore and involving a land area of more than one acre for the areas falling in conforming industrial zones of the published Final Development Plan.

A spokesman of the Urban Local Bodies Department said on Friday that in such cases, the applicant would be asked to apply online on the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre (HEPC) portal.

The BJP government in Haryana had earlier decentralised the system of approval of Change of Land Use applications. Before that all CLUs were approved at the highest level in Chandigarh, with allegations of corruption being levelled.

The CLU approvals, especially for residential, commercial and institutional projects, are considered significant in Haryana, especial in the National Capital Region (NCR) areas given the high property value there.

Hundreds of CLUs have been granted in districts like Gurugram (earlier Gurgaon) and Faridabad in the last few years.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than two decades after it triggered a political landslide, a case arising out of the hawala Jain diaries has been closed with a court discharging S.K. Jain, his employee J.K. Jain and others of charges of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act violations.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jyoti Kler, in a judgement pronounced recently, discharged S.K. Jain and J.K. Jain, the alleged writer of the dairies, Mohd Ameer Deen Habib and S.S.O. Syed Arif, saying there was no evidence to prove charges of violation of foreign exchange.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had alleged that S.K. Jain had converted foreign currency into Indian rupees without obtaining permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The ED had chargesheeted J.K. Jain with abetting the crime.

"In order to substantiate the charge under Section 8(1) and 8(2) of FERA, at least the broad essential ingredients of the alleged charge has to be shown. But there is total absence of the ingredients even by way of allegation, much less in matter of prima facie proof," the court said.

"There is no evidence to show that there was any person from whom the foreign exchange was received. There is no evidence as to how the foreign exchange was acquired."

The case was an offshoot of the "Jain Hawala Diary Case" registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1991. The CBI's cases against many political bigwigs had fallen flat in the Supreme Court due to lack of any corroborative evidence.

The CBI had seized documents which it claimed had revealed that J.K. Jain had been receiving money from different sources including S.S.O. Syed Arif for and on behalf of the Jain brothers.

J.K. Jain was working in Bhilai Engineering Corp Co while Habib and Arif were partners of a Mumbai-based company.

During the pendency of the complaints, two accused, N.K. Jain and B.R. Jain, expired.

It was alleged that the foreign exchange was provided by Jains to Ameer and Arif who were businessmen.

The Supreme Court held that entries in books of account alone are not sufficient to charge any person with liability.

"Transaction will also have to be proved and entry can only be used as corroborative evidence to other evidence proving the transaction as such entry amounts an admission against the maker," the court said.

The scandal involved payments allegedly sent by politicians through four hawala brokers.

Those whose names had cropped up in the case included BJP leader L.K. Advani, late Congress leaders V.C. Shukla, Madhavrao Scindia and P. Shiv Shankar and Janatal Dal leader Sharad Yadav. They were all acquitted following the Supreme Court judgement.

The ED had alleged that the accused were involved in 26 illegal transactions and converted around $2,26,50,000 into Indian currency from 1988 to 1991.

The agency said that the foreign exchange was provided by Jains to Habib and Arif and they were in regular touch with one another.

"The phone call details pertaining to 1992-93 and 1995 while transactions pertain to 1988 till 1991. In such a scenario the phone calls between accused (Ameer and Arif) and accused (S.K. Jain) cannot at all be connected with the alleged unauthorized transactions of conversion of foreign exchange," the court said.

The court pointed out that ED had not led any cogent evidence to show that the entries relate to dollars and dollars alone and nothing else.

"No foreign exchange admittedly was recovered during the search of premise of accused. No other proof of any transaction was led by the complainant," the court held.

"No evidence was led by the complainant (ED) to exclude such like possibilities and to suggest that it was nothing else but foreign exchange.

"Burden to prove that it was nothing but foreign exchange conversion rate was upon the complainant."

The accused had contended that the complaint was based on surmises and presumptions raised by the probe agency.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House will ask Congress for emergency funding to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

"The American people are with you," Vice President Mike Pence said during a visit to Texas, BBC reported on Thursday.

"We will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before," he said.

US President Donald Trump is expected to propose an initial $5.9 billion. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier the state might need more than $125 billion from the federal government.

At least 33 people have died in the storm and its aftermath.

Pence said 311,000 people had registered for disaster assistance, and that he hoped for bipartisan support in Congress for the funding request.

Visiting the battered town of Rockport, Pence paid tribute to the people of Texas: "The sights and sounds and conversations we had today were just overwhelming.

"I think the resilience of the people of Texas has been inspiring. To see people who've gone through the horror of one of the largest natural disasters in American history to be standing shoulder to shoulder, passing out food to their neighbours, helping their neighbours clear out their homes with a smile on their face... it's humbling to me and it's deeply inspiring."

The White House also said Trump would donate $1 million of his own money to the relief effort.

Earlier, a senior White House aide said about 100,000 homes, not all of which were fully insured, had been affected by the storm and the flooding that accompanied it.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked the European Union to pay half of the costs of the country's anti-immigrant border protection, Minister of Prime Minister's Office Janos Lazar has said here.

The prime minister made the request to the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in a letter, asking the Brussels-based organization to cover half of the costs of the Hungarian anti-immigrant border protection, which is estimated at some 800 million euros ($952 million), Lazar said at a press conference on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Lazar, the issue of border protection should also be discussed in the case of European solidarity, which should be manifested also in practice. Thus, the European Union must also bear the costs incurred on the Hungarian side.

"We want to have solidarity not only in messages, but also in concrete actions," he said, stressing that since the outbreak of the migration crisis, Hungary kept the Schengen border of the European Union safe by building a frontier fence and by training border guards - financed by Hungarian taxpayers - not only protecting themselves, but also protecting all citizens of the continent against the flood of illegal immigrants.

"It is not an exaggeration to say - that the safety of European citizens is also created by Hungarian police and soldiers," he added.

The EC had already assisted a number of countries; Greece has already received the promised 1 billion euros, Italy 656 million euros, and Bulgaria 100 million euros. It is time for Hungary to submit its request, too, according to Lazar.

Lazar also pointed that the plan for building camps in Libya was in line with the Hungarian standpoint, as well as returning the migrants back to their country of origin and the elimination of the causes of immigration at their roots.

He recalled that the Hungarian government has proposed hot spots for two years now.

The question of building migrants-camps in Libya, where they can present their request, is on the table now in Libya.

He also confirmed that the government extended the crisis situation due to massive immigration until March 7 next year.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will meet this month in an attempt to conclude their long pending negotiations, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday.

"Together with the EFTA countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), we want to go ahead with the FTA," Sitharaman said at a business session with Swiss President Doris Leuthard organised by industry chambers Ficci, CII and Assocham.

"We'll meet in September and want it (FTA) concluded for the benefit of both," she said.

She also said that India would look into "every concern" of foreign investors on intellectual property rights (IPR) and investment protection.

"Investment protection is being negotiated," the minister said.

So far, 16 rounds of negotiations have taken place, talks for which started in 2008. The two sides resumed talks on the agreement here in January after a gap of three years

The proposed agreement covers trade in goods and services, investments, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, IRPR protection and public procurement.

"We want to bring the EFTA free trade negotiations going on since 2008 to an end and we hope that this visit, and the push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the FTA, will help the Minister conclude the pending issues on the agreement," Leuthard said in her address.

"For India to benefit, she has to compete with other Asian countries with whom we are also negotiating. You can compete only by further opening up your economy.

"We Swiss are reliable partners of India and we would like a trade agreement and investment protection framework," the President added, noting that this year marked the 70th anniversary of Indo-Swiss cooperation.

The India-EFTA bilateral trade was worth $19 billion in 2016-17, which was lower than the trade value of $21.5 billion in 2015-16.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has invited French oil and gas company Total S.A. to invest in the country's hydrocarbons infrastructure, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday.

"Met the Chairman & CEO, @Total S.A., Mr. Patrick Pouyanne and his team. Assured to extend all possible support," Pradhan said in a tweet after a meeting here with the Total chairman.

"Encouraged Total to invest in infrastructure, gas pipelines, LNG terminals and petrochemicals," he said in another tweet.

"Welcomed the valuable partnership between @Total & our #OMCs in the areas of LPG, LNG, Gas infrastructure & renewable energies," he added.

Total has multiple business interests in India including lubricants, LPG, bitumen and special fluids, among others, and operates more than 40 outlets to sell gas to automobiles.

Total also markets LPG in India and commissioned a fully integrated LPG import terminal at Mangalore in 1998.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Businesses in India are adapting to water scarcity. Most sectors are feeling the heat of recent droughts, leading to increased costs of raw materials, says a survey of mega companies operating in India.

It says despite flooding in several states, water storage in reservoirs across India is 55 per cent of total capacity compared with 84 per cent on an average during the same period over the past 10 years.

The survey, of over 10 large Indian and multinational companies with a net annual revenue exceeding $10.5 billion, was released on Friday by CarbonCopy on the sidelines of the two-day Business and Climate Summit here that concluded on Thursday.

Citing the case of food manufacturer Kellogg's, which depends on agricultural produce, change in climatic conditions and poor monsoon is said to have caused it additional costs in procuring raw material. Last year saw the highest ever price of corn.

Kellogg takes climate change seriously and has increased its water storage capacity at its manufacturing units.

"We are committed to addressing the critical issues of climate and food security, and we're helping tackle the inter-connected issues of hunger and robust food systems," Kellogg's Asia Pacific President Amit Banati said.

Survey participants linked drought, fossil fuel use and climate change, and were concerned about the future effects of climate change on their operations and customers.

Some businesses are taking strong action to cut emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Several expressed a desire for the government to introduce regulations and incentives to reduce emissions, and to ensure that water supplies continue to be available.

Last year, the drought in Tamil Nadu was the worst in 140 years, causing a 12 per cent drop in tea production in south India.

A coal power plant in West Bengal had to shut most of its power-generating capacity for 10 days in 2016 because it did not have enough water for cooling -- the first time it had done so in its 30-year history.

This year, eight Indian states declared drought, causing the central government to release Rs 25,000 crore prematurely towards its MGNREGA scheme for guaranteed employment.

"We conserve water through water harvesting. We make our plants two to three times water positive by harvesting more water than we use. The government helps us set up water harvesting systems," said Dalmia Cement Group CEO Mahendra Singhi.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A London-based Indian-origin doctor charged with 118 sexual offences, including one involving a 13-year-old girl, has been granted bail by a UK court.

Manish Shah, 47, of Brunel Close, Romford, has been accused of sexually assaulting 54 people at his practice in Havering in east London between 2004 and 2013, BBC reported.

He is charged with 65 counts of assault by penetration, 52 counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault on a child under 13, the Metropolitan Police said.

Shah appeared at Barkingside Magistrates' Court on Thursday where he denied all charges.

He was granted bail on the condition he does not attend his former surgery and does not contact any current or former patients of the surgery or any of its past or current employees.

Shah was also barred from practising as a doctor and from accessing any NHS medical records. An investigation was launched into the doctor after several people went to police in July and August 2013, the report said.

Shah, a family planning specialist, trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, qualifying in 1993.

He was until recently listed as working in a limited capacity at a GP surgery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. None of the alleged offences relate to his time at the Southend practice.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over two decades after it was conceptualised, the first unit of a 60 MW power plant in Mizoram began generating electricity this week -- making it the third power-surplus state in northeastern India after Sikkim and Tripura.

"The first unit (30 MW) of the 60 MW capacity Tuirial hydro-power plant started generation on trial basis from Tuesday (August 29)," North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) General Manager P.K. Bora told IANS.

"The second unit of the project would start generation from either October-end or the first week of November."

With a population of just 1.1 million, Mizoram's current demand of electricity is only 110 MW to 115 MW during peak hours and is being met by the state's few mini power projects and availability of its share of power from regional and central sector projects.

"After the full commissioning of the Tuirial hydro-power project, Mizoram would be a power-surplus state," an official of Mizoram's power department said, adding that the additional power is likely to be supplied to the regional or national grid.

Farmers' protests, agitations, topographical hindrance and administrative hurdles delayed the commissioning of the project, the biggest in Mizoram, which shares a border with Myanmar (510 km) and Bangladesh (318 km).

Government-run NEEPCO, a "Mini Ratna" company under the Union Ministry of Power, commissioned the hydro-power plant utilising the water of the Tuirial river in Kolasib district in northern Mizoram.

"After the project was conceptualised in 1994, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared it on July 7, 1998," Bora said.

However, soon after project work started, farmers and locals launched a series of agitations against the submerging of their standing crops and farmland under the reservoir.

Bora, who is the project head, said work came to a total halt on June 9, 2004, due to the agitation launched by the "abruptly-formed Tuirial Crop Compensation Claimant Association, claiming compensation for the standing crops in the riverine reserve forest".

According to the company's senior engineer, work resumed in 2011 after the Union Power Ministry, NEEPCO and the Mizoram government jointly negotiated with the agitators.

However, the delays and consequent price escalation pushed up the cost of the project, initially pegged at Rs 369 crore, to Rs 1,100 crore.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, while addressing an official meeting in Aizawl earlier this week, said that four more mini power plants are expected to be completed during 2018-19 financial year.

He said the Detailed Project Report for 24 MW Tuirini hydro-power plant, to be taken up under the state sector, has been prepared. The project cost would be Rs 465 crore and it is expected to be completed in four-and-a-half years.

"NEEPCO has also been pursuing the statutory clearance of the 210 MW Tuivai hydro power project and construction work is likely to start soon," the Chief Minister added.

Sikkim is self-sufficient at 95.70 MW while Tripura, whose daily need is 285 MW, is self-reliant in electricity.

Since March last year, Tripura has been supplying 160 MW of power to Bangladesh and is ready to provide an additional 40 MW if the central government permits it to do so.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Moscow will give a tough response to hostile steps by the US, the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after Washington ordered closing down of Russias Consulate General in San Francisco as well as a consular annexe in New York City.

"We will give a tough response to those things that hurt us absolutely without rhyme or reason, and which are dictated only by the desire to spoil our relations with the US," Lavrov said in his address to students of the Moscow MGIMO international relations university.

"We will respond as soon as the assessment is complete," he was quoted as saying by Tass news agency.

"I would like to point out it was not us who initiated this exchange of sanctions, but the (Barack) Obama administration. They sought to rupture Russian-US relations and prevent US President Donald Trump from putting forward any constructive proposals," the Russian top diplomat stressed.

The move by Washington was in response to Moscow's decision to cut American diplomatic staff in Russia to numbers equalling Russian staff in the US and seizing two US properties in Moscow.

Lavrov did not specify what Moscow's next step could be, saying that the US statement was received in the early hours and was yet to be examined.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nearly 36 hours after the 117-year-old Huseini Building collapsed here, agencies looking for survivors in the debris called off their operations on Friday evening as the death toll in Mumbai's worst house collapse during 2017 stood at 33.

The six-storey building on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road in the congested Bhendi Bazaar area collapsed around 8.25 a.m. on Thursday morning, trapping more than 70 persons.

"All the victims are accounted for so far," Chief Fire Officer P. Rahangdale said, indicating that nobody remained trapped under the rubble, after the massive multi-agency search operations was called off.

Dean of Sir J.J. Group of Hospitals (Dr) T.P. Lahane said 24 of the 33 persons killed were males, including a six-year-old boy and a three-week-old infant. The victims included nine women, of whom two were minors -- each aged three.

Around a dozen of those rescued were undergoing treatment in the hospital where their condition was stable, Lahane added.

A case of accident has been registered and a probe would be conducted to fix responsibility in the tragedy, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Sharma.

The decrepit building was declared unfit for occupation by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) way back in 2011, and had been taken over for redevelopment by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), as part of its urban renewal project in that area.

However, it could not be done as several occupants allegedly refused to vacate the dilapidated building owing to issues with the authorities.

The building comprised a commercial warehouse on the ground floor, and 12 tenements housing families, though SBUT said it had already shifted seven families three years ago to transit camps.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the crash site and announced a probe by an official of Additional Chief Secretary rank, while Mumbai Guardian Minister Subhash Desai ordered BMC Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta to submit a detailed report on the incident.

Leaders of the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have squarely held the MHADA responsible for the tragedy and demanded action against the culprits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to bereaved families on Wednesday.

"Collapse of a building in Mumbai is saddening. My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and prayers with the injured," Modi said in a tweet.

This is the first major building collapse after Tuesday's deluge in Mumbai and the second in five days after the Chandivali Crystal Business Park crash of August 26 claimed six lives.

On July 25, 17 persons were killed when the Sai Darshan building crashed in eastern suburb of Ghatkopar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NASA has said its spacecraft on first asteroid sample return mission will pass about 16,000 km above the Earth on September 22.

Using the Earth as a slingshot, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Regolith Explorer) will receive an assist to complete its journey to the asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx is undertaking a challenging mission to visit the near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, collect samples and deliver them safely back to the Earth.

The spacecraft is halfway through its two-year outbound journey, and now OSIRIS-REx needs an extra boost to successfully rendezvous with Bennu.

Bennu's orbit around the Sun is tilted six degrees in comparison to the Earth's. The gravity assist will change OSIRIS-REx's trajectory to put the spacecraft on a course to match the asteroid's path and speed.

"The Earth Gravity Assist is a clever way to move the spacecraft onto Bennu's orbital plane using Earth's own gravity instead of expending fuel," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

OSIRIS-REx will approach the Earth at a speed of about 19,000 mph (30,400 kmph), NASA said on Thursday.

The spacecraft will fly over Australia before reaching its closest point to the Earth over Antarctica, just south of Cape Horn, Chile.

"For about an hour, NASA will be out of contact with the spacecraft as it passes over Antarctica," said Mike Moreau, Flight Dynamics System Lead, OSIRIS-REx Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA will regain communication with OSIRIS-REx roughly 50 minutes after closest approach.

During the gravity assist, OSIRIS-REx will pass through a region of space that is inhabited by Earth-orbiting satellites, and NASA said it has taken precautions to ensure the safety of the spacecraft as it flies through this area.

The team has already made multiple adjustments to the spacecraft's path since launch on September 8, 2016.

In late June of 2018, the team will perform another deep space maneuver to further target the rendezvous with Bennu.

Then beginning in October 2018, a series of asteroid approach maneuvers will be executed to slow the spacecraft with respect to the asteroid.

Once OSIRIS-REx rendezvouses with Bennu in late 2018, the spacecraft will begin surveying the surface, NASA said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The decision to shift the jurisdiction of the NGT court for Goa-related cases to Delhi from Pune was taken on the state government's recommendation, said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday.

"Pune is not convenient for us as, if a lawyer has to be sent to represent any case, it takes three days... Delhi has excellent connectivity (with Goa)," Parrikar told reporters defending the decision of Union Ministry for Environment Forests and Climate Change.

He also said that the state government did not have a legal set-up in Pune as against Delhi, where the government has empanelled lawyers.

Days after the notification was issued, the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court on August 22 stayed the transfer of Goa-related NGT cases to Delhi jurisdiction of the National Green Tribunal, while also issuing notices to the state and central government.

The August 10 notification had shifted Goa from the Western zone jurisdiction of the NGT to the Northern zone, while retaining Gujarat and Maharashtra, both located north of Goa, in the Western zone.

Both green activists as well as the Opposition had dubbed the relocation as harassment to petitioners, because while Pune is about 470 km from Goa, the distance between Goa and Delhi is nearly 2,000 km.

"This is meant to discourage petitioners from approaching the NGT. This is a really draconian move by the government which has been prompted by vested interests," Congress spokesperson Girish Chodankar had said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) activist was allegedly killed in police firing while at least nine party leaders were arrested by the police during a raid in south Sikkim's Namchi on Friday where the hill party held its central committee meeting during the day.

"A boy has been shot dead in Namchi by the police today," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri told IANS.

Police said nine GJM leaders were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), West Bengal, from the all-party meeting venue in Sikkim's Namchi area, around 45 km from here.

"Nine GJM leaders have been arrested by a team of West Bengal CID officials," Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi told IANS.

However, Chaturvedi refuted the report of a person's death in police firing. "We have received no such information yet."

During the meeting, the core committee expelled Binay Tamang from the party, a day after he announced the withdrawal of the bandh in northern West Bengal.

GJM chief Bimal Gurung's supporters, who are against the suspension of the ongoing shutdown, stepped up rallies and picketing, stalling flow of life in the region.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A criminal involved in the 2013 killing of BSP leader Shyam Narayan Pandey was shot dead by police in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Friday, police said.

A member of the Salim-Sohrab gang, Sunil Sharma had escaped from police custody in July during a court appearance.

Some time back, Sharma, who carried a reward of Rs 15,000 on his head, telephone a Lucknow trader to extort money.

As the police approached Munshipuliya area on Friday morning, Sharma tried to escape on a motorcycle but was chased and shot dead near the Gosainganj stadium.

Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said Sharma was asked to surrender but he opened fire at the police and was killed in retaliatory fire. His accomplice escaped.

Sharma was a resident of Siwan in Bihar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Ram Nath Kovind on has invited Swiss technology companies to participate in various initiatives of the Indian government and pursue closer business partnerships in priority sectors like precision and high-tech manufacturing.

Kovind's suggestion came after he received visiting Swiss President Doris Leuthard at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Thursday and subsequently hosted a banquet in her honour.

Leuthard arrived here on Wednesday on a four-day official visit to India.

President Kovind said India was keen to build synergies with Switzerland in all of these endeavours, while working within the framework of a rules-based multilateral system.

"India and Switzerland can grow and diversify their trade, investment and technological exchanges. The two countries need to pursue even closer business partnerships in priority sectors such as precision and high-technology manufacturing, infrastructure, skill development, renewable energy and clean-tech research," Kovind said in his banquet speech.

"The Swiss technology companies should also to take part in initiatives like 'Make in India', 'Start-Up India', 'Swachh Bharat', and 'Skill India'."

The Indian President said there was scope for creating partnerships between research and development labs and institutions of the two countries.

Pointing out that India was a fast growing economy and creating a market throught Goods and Services Tax (GST), Kovind invited the Swiss companies to take advantage of it.

"Switzerland is an important trade and investment partner for India. India is a preferred destination for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) as it is the world's fastest growing large economy. India has made great progress on the 'ease of doing business' and in creating a unified market through GST and other measures. Swiss companies are ideally positioned to take advantage," Kovind said.

Kovind said India was committed to "multilateralism like Switzerland".

"Yet, the multilateral order needs to undergo multiple transformations; namely -- reform and restructuring of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions; tackling urgent challenges of international terrorism and radicalism, as well as of financial and cyber crimes and of Internet governance; and meeting pressing concerns of climate change and attaining the sustainable development goals," he said.

Citing Switzerland as one of the oldest democracies and India as the largest democracy in the world, Kovind recalled signing of a treaty of friendship between the two nations in New Delhi in August 1948.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Rajasthan High Court on Friday restrained the Central and the state governments from deporting Pakistani Hindus forcibly for security purposes, without having special reasons.

A division bench headed by Justice Govind Mathur on Friday, while hearing a suo moto petition, directed that no Pakistan migrant belonging to minority community would be deported if they have applied for a long-term visa.

The court said if deportation is necessary for security reasons, this has to be brought to the notice of the court immediately.

Posting the matter for September 12, the court also sought a progress report in regard to the pending citizenship cases of migrants from Pakistan belonging to minority communities there.

"The High Court has issued as many as seven directions to the government authorities. We have also been asked to suggest the names of two persons having effective knowledge of the entire issue to the Collector to execute all the directions of the court effectively," Sajjan Singh Rathore, one of the amici curiae, told IANS.

Rathore said the names have to be given to the Collector by Saturday and the Collector is directed to consult and have suggestions from the persons nominated.

Besides this, the court has also ordered the Collector to submit a time-bound programme on or before September 11 in regard to granting long-term visas and the citizenship of India to eligible Pakistani national Hindus.

The division bench of Justice Mathur and Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur also felt a dire need for basic amenities and cleanliness at the camps of Pakistani migrants and issued detailed directions regarding it.

The court also directed to invite applications from the Pakistani migrants for their ration cards and to deal with it in ten days.

The High Court had taken suo-moto cognizance a few days back of a news item published in a local newspaper regarding the pathetic situation of Pakistani minorities in India.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rajiv Kumar, who took over as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog on Friday, rejected criticism that demonetisation was responsible for the fall in Gross Domestic Product growth and said it cannot be blamed for that.

"Demonetisation should not be seen as the reason for the fall in GDP. There was a six-week period when cash deficit existed and from January (2017) things were fine," he told reporters after taking charge of the office.

Kumar was appointed Vice Chairman in place of Arvind Panagariya, who opted to return to teaching in Columbia University in the US.

He said destocking by firms was the reason for the GDP fall. "Huge discounts were given and productivity also came down. A deflationary effect was negative after a long time. In every economy whenever there is a fundamental governance reform, such a situation is witnessed."

Kumar said that including governance capacity at the state level was a focus for him.

"Governance for states has to be given shape at NITI Aayog. It is important for the states to be on same page. Policy making is an activity which is to be participative. People and everyone have to come on the same level and what is achieved can be our own model of priority and development."

He said jobs have to be created and private investment is important in this regard. "We have to make sure that domestic investment is protected so that it picks up."

"This is an area where India has a lot of entrepreneurs. So, we have to ensure that their role and participation is appreciable."

He also talked of agricultural transformation and health and education as sectors that needed attention.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the responsibilty given to him, Kumar said, "Let me tell you that this is a dream job and (there is) no doubt about it."

"I started my career from the same building in 1975. I used to come to this building library as part of my research. I want to thank Panagariya ji also for nourishing the NITI Aayog work and has made my work easier," Kumar said.

"One of my biggest works will be to build team NITI. This is going to be a collective glory. We need to turn around initiatives. New NITI can transform the entire nation which is to be done now."

Kumar, a senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), is also Chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and in Pune and the founding director of Pahle India Foundation, a non-profit research organisation that specialises in policy-oriented research and analysis.

Before CPR, he was Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The stage is set for a reshuffle and expansion of the Union Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday with two ministers having resigned and nine others understood to have been asked to quit to pave the way for entry of new faces.

Ministers of State Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Skill Development) and Sanjeev Balyan (Agriculture) have resigned, while a few others have been asked to resign from their posts, ahead of the reshuffle on Sunday morning.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 a.m. on Sunday," officials said.

Union Ministers Uma Bharti, Radha Mohan Singh and Kalraj Mishra (all Cabinet), Giriraj Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Bandaru Dattatreya and Faggan Singh Kulaste (all MoS) are believed to have been nudged by BJP President Amit Shah to put in their papers, informed sources said. Birender Singh, Steel Minister, is also likely to face the axe.

Minister of State for HRD Mahendra Nath Pandey, who was on Friday appointed as the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief, is also on the way out of the Ministry.

Rudy said it was the decision of the party and he had resigned. Balyan said he was asked to resign and he would always follow the party directives. However, Uma Bharti was evasive when asked if she had resigned. "I have not heard your questions. I have no right to speak on the issue. Only those who have been authorised by the party chief can speak," she told reporters.

Sources in the BJP said the decision to seek resignations from ministers was based purely on performance.

"The Prime Minister and the party President has assessed the work of the ministers, and then have taken a call on some of them," a senior BJP leader close to the leadership told IANS on condition of anonymity.

He said ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Manoj Sinha, are likely to be promoted. Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari's name is doing the rounds for the Railway Minister's post. There is speculation that an integrated Ministry of Transport, including all the portfolios held by Gadkari, could be created. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had offered to quit last week in the wake of two major back-to-back train derailments that claimed more than 30 lives. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept it on hold.

Kalraj Mishra, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, may be made a Governor as he has crossed the unofficial bar of 75 years for one to hold a ministerial post at the Centre.

Amit Shah, who is in Vrindavan to attend the three-day RSS coordination meet, is likely to discuss the proposed changes with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat there.

The new faces likely to join the union government include Bhupendra Yadav, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, both Rajya Sabha members, Satyapal Singh, Prahlad Patel, Mahesh Girri and Harish Dwivedi (all members of Lok Sabha).

The reshuffle is mostly likely to see the entry of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) nominees into the ministry, with the party striking an alliance with the BJP in Bihar recently. From the JD-U quota Rajya Sabha MP R.C.P. Singh and Santosh Kumar are strong contenders.

Ally Shiv Sena may get one more berth with Anil Desai, a Rajya Sabha member, making the grade. However, the other new ally AIADMK, about which much has been speculated, is unlikely to get berths for now in view of the fact that the party is undergoing a period of crisis.

Some election-bound states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka, could get greater representation in the Council of Ministers. Prahlad Joshi and Suresh Angadi, both MPs from Karnataka, could make a debut at the Centre. Likewise, Anurag Thakur, Lok Sabha member from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, could get the nod. Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections are due later this year, while Karnataka Assembly polls are slated for next year.

There is speculation that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may shed the additional charge of Defence he is holding now.

A cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards since Manohar Parrikar resigned as Defence Minister to become Chief Minister of Goa in March this year. Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the Defence Ministry since then.

Talk of a reshuffle gained ground after Jaitley on Thursday hinted that he would not continue to hold the Defence portfolio for long. "At least not for very long," Jaitley said on Thursday in response to questions on how long he would continue as Defence Minister.

Besides Jaitley, three other union ministers are also holding additional charges of different ministries.

Textiles Minister Smriti Irani is holding additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, while Narendra Tomar has the Urban Development Ministry along with Rural Development after M. Venkaiah Naidu's exit to become Vice President of India.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan is holding additional charge of the Environment Ministry following the death of Anil Madhav Dave in May.

The last Cabinet reshuffle took place in July last year, in which Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to Cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also dropped.

The size of the ministry at the moment is 73, including the Prime Minister. Of them 24 are of the Cabinet rank, 12 Ministers of State with independent charge while 36 are Ministers of State.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Friday said the impending reshuffle/expansion of the Union Cabinet will make "zero difference" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi believed in total concentration of power, adding he had destroyed the Cabinet form of government.

"It is the Prime Minister's prerogative to shuffle and reshuffle his Cabinet. I don't see much talent that he has. He may appoint anyone and remove anyone and change any portfolios -- but it will make zero difference. Because, the Prime Minister believes in complete concentration of power," party spokesperson Anand Sharma said here.

"... there is a Cabinet form of government, but is it functioning so? Key ministries are without Cabinet Ministers for more than three years, which has never happened before."

"No Cabinet Minister, including Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) moves a Cabinet note. He is not a member of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The Defence Minister is also not a member."

The Congress leader said this was so because all policy papers are prepared in the Prime Minister's Office. "This is what he has been doing as the Gujarat Chief Minister. That's exactly what he is doing now to India," he added.

Sharma, a former Union Commerce Minister, said Modi had virtually done away with the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), even though it existed on paper.

"The ACC, for appointing officials of joint secretary rank and above, used to have three signatures. A note originated under the signature of the Cabinet Minister concerned, signed by the Home Minister and lastly by the Prime Minister. Then only the process was deemed completed," said Sharma.

"Direct orders used to come from the PMO until Modi was reminded that word 'committee' meant two people or more. Then, the Home Minister was also included."

Taking a dig, the Congress leader added: "It cannot be denied either by the Prime Minister or Home Minister Rajnath Singh that the latter gets the file only after Modi signs it. So, it is post facto (approval)."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Coordination Meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates began here on Friday, with BJP President Amit Shah also attending it.

Others attending the three-day meeting of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are its chief Mohan Bhgawat and many senior functionaries.

The RSS-BJP leaders are likely to discuss the road map for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The RSS leadership, it is understood, will also discuss ways to gag many of its frontal organisations who at times speak out of turn, embarrassing the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Among those expected to attend the event are Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and VHP leader Praveen Togadia.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terming Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy's charges against him "patently false", the IT giant's former non-executive Chairman R. Seshasayee on Friday said it was offensive to give an impression that he had lied to the shareholders.

"Murthy's statement to the investors forces me to issue this statement to defend myself against personal attacks and patently false and slanderous accusations," said Seshasayee in a joint statement with Infosys Board's former Independent Directors Jeffery Lehman and John Etchemendy.

"Since my resignation from the Board, I kept away from making any public statement, despite provocations, since I want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," he said.

Seshasayee, 69, resigned from the Board on August 24 along with Executive Vice-Chairman and former CEO Vishal Sikka, Lehman and Etchemendy to pave way for the return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani as the non-executive Chairman eight years after he left the company in 2009.

Asserting that he was always candid and truthful in all statements concerning the IT major, Seshasayee said Murthy's statement misleadingly attributes words to him and were taken completely out of context, making it appear that he was not stating the truth.

"To quote an anonymous whistle-blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," said Seshasayee.

Accusing Murthy of taking the statements of Lehman and another Independent Director, Roopa Kudva, from a private conversation as out of context, Seshasayee said it was regrettable that the founder's campaign on the alleged governance lapses had slipped into personal attacks and slander.

"I would also like to point out that Murthy invited me to join the Board and entrusted to me the Chair of the Audit Committee, while he was still the Chairman. In February, much after the alleged lapses took place, Murthy issued a statement saying that I was a man of high integrity. I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivation for this persistent vendetta against me," he added.

Etchemendy claimed that Seshasasayee was a man of impeccable integrity and although faced with unfair, false and outrageous attacks, he had responded with honesty and forthrightness.

"He (Seshasayee) has been an inspiration to his fellow Board members and the real moral compass of the company for the past three years. I am conversant with details of (former CFO) Rajiv Bansal issue and state that at no point did Seshasayee said anything in public or in private that was untrue or did not reflect the Board's collective view," said Etchemendy in the joint statement.

Echoing Etchemendy, Lehman said he had the privilege of serving on the Board for over 11 years under different chairs.

"During his tenure, Seshasayee devoted to ensuring that the Board comply with all applicable principles of law and governance. An anonymous, so-called 'whistle-blower' made outrageous charges against the management; the Board engaged outside counsels and investigators of repute who have determined that every charge was false and without any foundation," Lehman said.

"For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable and stop defaming Seshasayee and other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity and turned the other cheek when slandered and who have acted in the best interests of the company," added Lehman.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lanka has played down India's concerns regarding Hambantota port, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe saying Colombo won't enter into a military alliance with any country or make its bases available to foreign countries.

Sri Lanka signed a $1.1 billion deal with China in July to lease the Hambantota port to Beijing. A state-run Chinese company will have a 99-year lease on the port. The deal will help Sri Lanka repay billions of dollars borrowed from Beijing.

This had led to concerns by India that the port will be used by the Chinese for military purposes.

However, Wickremesinghe, at the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Conference in Colombo on Thursday, told the delegates that the port will not be used as a base by any foreign military, the Sri Lankan media reported.

Addressing the delegates, including Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he said: "Let me refer to Sri Lanka's decision to develop its major sea ports, especially the Hambantota port which some claim to be a military base. I state clearly that (our) government does not enter into military alliances with any country or make our bases available to foreign countries."

The Prime Minister said his country will continue military cooperation such as training, supply of equipment and taking part in joint exercises with friendly countries.

He said the Indian Ocean Conference was taking place at a time when global and financial economic power shifts point towards Asia.

"Only the Sri Lanka Armed Forces have the responsibility for military activities in our ports and airports. We are also working with foreign private investors on the commercial development of our ports," he added.

He said that in the absence of an effective multilateral trade agreements for the Indian Ocean region, Sri Lanka had decided to enter into bilateral agreements with neighbouring littoral states.

"This is the only option available. We already have Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan. We are in the process of deepening FTA with India to enable greater economic cooperation. We will finalize a FTA with Singapore and then conclude similar agreements with other countries in the Bay of Bengal region. We are also negotiating an FTA with China," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Sri Lankan government on Friday banned the use and manufacture of plastic shopping bags with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the manufacture of food containers, plates, cups and spoons made from expanded polystyrene has also been banned for use, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority, Lal Mervin Dharmasiri, told the media that the ban followed a proposal by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Accordingly the cabinet agreed to ban the production of polythene less than 20 microns.

Polythene and Styrofoam is used by local shops to wrap lunch. Polythene bags will be replaced with reusable cloth bags under the new law, the CEA said.

Sri Lanka's polythene manufacturers said 345,000 employees would lose their jobs.

The government said although the ban was effective from Friday, it will not take legal action on the manufacturers and users till January 2018 in order to give them time to switch to other alternatives.

Anyone found using or manufacturing the banned products thereafter will face a two-year imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($65).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Legal resource group Partners for Law in Development (PLD) on Friday recommended expediting court proceedings and conducting quality and periodic training of Presiding Officers, Public Prosecutors and legal aid lawyers.

While releasing its study on "Pre-Trial and Trial Stages of Rape", PLD's founding member and Executive Director Madhu Mehra pointed to the 2013 amendments which directed that trials be completed within a span of two months.

"The statutory stipulation of concluding trials within a period of two months is neither realistic nor conducive to fair trial rights of the accused," she said.

"As far as possible, proceedings should be conducted on a day-to-day basis. Courts can consider blocking consecutive dates to complete the deposition of a witness, and then resuming after a few months when the next set of dates are available."

Senior advocate Rebecca John suggested that the number of public prosecutors in the court be increased. John said that after 2013, things were improving.

However, lawyer John said the defence questions during cross-examination were inevitably hostile, and often sexually suggestive to insinuate consent. She demanded that such questions be banned.

The PLD demanded that questions should be routed through the Presiding Officer to prevent harassment of the victim.

It also suggested that victim's testimony should be completed at the commencement of the trial, on a day-to-day basis.

The PLD also recommended to establish an independent specialised agency to provide comprehensive support services to the victim.

"It will help the victim to know how to obtain free medical treatment, counselling and guidance on the relevance of medical examination, compensation under the state victim compensation scheme and status of investigation," the study said.

The study was conducted by Partners for Law in Development with support of the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

PLD is a legal resource group committed to realisation of social justice and equality for women.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
State-run oil marketing firms hiked the price of subsidised cooking gas by Rs 7 per LPG cylinder, effective from Friday, as part of the decision to increase prices every month so as to eliminate subsidies.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had informed Parliament in July of the government's decision to raise LPG prices by Rs 4 per cylinder every month to eliminate all the subsidies by the end of the current financial year.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) announced that the price of a subsidised 14.2kg LPG cylinder will now be Rs 487.18 in Delhi, as against Rs 479.77 earlier.

Oil marketing companies (OMCs) revise rates of LPG and jet fuel on the first of every month.

Subsidised LPG rates were raised last by Rs 2.31 per cylinder on August 1.

The price of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy at market rates after exhausting their subsidised quota of 12 cylinders, was also raised by Rs 73.5 to Rs 597.50 per cylinder.

The prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, were also increased from Friday by 4 per cent in line with global rates

ATF now costs Rs 50,020 per kilolitre in Delhi, as against the earlier price of Rs 48,110.

Jet fuel prices vary with airports depending on local taxes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Automobile major Tata Motors on Friday reported a rise of 14 per cent in its domestic passenger and commercial vehicle sales, including exports, for August 2017.

According to the company, the total sales of its passenger and commercial vehicles increased to 48,988 units from 43,105 vehicles sold in August 2016.

Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said: "Tata Motors sales continue to grow on a positive course on the back of strong performance of the new generation cars like Tiago, Tigor and Hexa. With Ganesh Chaturthi, we have entered the festive season and we expect the growth momentum to continue."

Tata Motors' domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles for August 2017 were higher by 26 per cent at 45,906 units from 36,510 units sold during the corresponding month of last year, "due to growing demand across segments and increased positive customer sentiments".

"The overall commercial vehicles sales in August 2017 in the domestic market were at 31,566 nos, higher by 34 per cent over August 2016. The sales grew on the back of growing demand across segments supported by the continued ramp-up in production of BSIV vehicles since April this year," Pareek said.

In August 2017, sales of Tata Motors passenger vehicles in the domestic market were recorded at 14,340 Nos, up by 10 per cent over August 2016. The sales were "bolstered by the strong demand for the Tata Tiago and the Tata Tigor".

The company exported 3,082 units in August 2017, a decline of 53 per cent, compared to 6,595 vehicles sold in August 2016, "due to continued drop in industry volumes in Sri Lanka and Nepal".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Tyler Perry has announced that he is donating $1 million to relief efforts in Texas following the destruction left by Hurricane Harvey.

The 47-year-old made the announcement on Facebook on Thursday, reports tmz.com.

Out of the total amount, Perry will donate $250,000 to pastor Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.

"I know that there's been some controversy about Joel Osteen and him not opening the doors of the church. Joel and Victoria are amazing people -- there's no way that they would lock people out of the church or not let people seek shelter," Perry wrote.

"There were some safety concerns, and I spoke to them on the phone, and it all made perfect sense to me. So, before you just run and judge someone real quick, you need to know the whole circumstances," he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May called on Japanese Emperor Akihito on Friday, the highlight of the last day of her official visit to the Asian country.

Akihito, 83, received May in the Imperial Palace here, where they spoke for around 20 minutes, a spokesperson for the Imperial Household Agency told Efe news.

Among other topics, they talked about Princess Kako, second granddaughter of the emperor, who is moving to the UK this month to study at the University of Leeds, where May's father also studied, the spokesperson said.

The audience with the emperor was the last major event on May's official agenda for Friday, the third and final day of her official visit.

May met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday evening, the discussions dominated by the UK's decision to leave the European Union (EU) and North Korea's launch of a missile which flew over Japan on Tuesday.

Both leaders agreed to work on a future bilateral trade agreement once London formalises its exit from the EU, and pledged to join forces to intensify pressure on Pyongyang about its constant weapons tests.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The interaction with Roland Folger of Mercedes Benz had been planned in Mumbai, close to the companys headquarters and plant in Pune. But launches bring Folger to the national capital often and we agree to have breakfast ahead of a launch. We decide to meet at the K3 restaurant at 8.30 am in the J W Marriott, Aerocity, a venue for most car launches in Delhi. I arrive a few minutes late and Folger is already there, in a Mercedes Benz-branded T-shirt and jeans.
Senior GJM leaders Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa were expelled from the party today for "violating" the party line and alleged anti-party activities.

The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's central committee convened by its supremo Bimal Gurung at an undisclosed location near the Darjeeling- Sikkim border.

"Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa have been expelled from the party for violating the party line and anti-party activities," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI.

Tamang was removed from the post of GJM convener last night for his decision to suspend the Darjeeling shutdown till September 12.

The meeting also decided that the GJM will attend the September 12 talks with the state government scheduled to be held in north Bengal.

Reacting to his expulsion, Tamang said, "This is completely undemocratic. I am a founding member of the GJM. They can't expel me like this. I will seek legal opinion against this decision.

"I am not going to form a separate party," he added.
AIADMK Deputy General Secretary T T V Dinakaran on Friday asked its party members to abstain from the September 12 meetings called by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam, following the merger of the two factions announced earlier last month.
The long awaited of the Narendra Modi government, its third and possibly its final before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, is set to take place by Sunday afternoon.
Concerned over onion price rise, the government on Friday said 2,400 tonnes of onions have been imported by private traders from Egypt to boost supply and indicated facilitating more imports if rates go up unreasonably high.

The consumer affairs ministry is closely monitoring onion prices, which are ruling high in the range of Rs 40-50 per kg in most retail markets depending on the quality.

"Imports are happening from Egypt. Private traders have already placed an order for 2,400 tonnes. The containers are landing at the Mumbai port," a senior ministry official told PTI after the review meeting with traders.

Another shipment of 9,000 tonnes of onion is expected to arrive soon. Private traders have been asked to be prepared for more imports from neighbouring countries if prices rise unreasonably high, he said.

The import related issue was discussed at a review meeting chaired by Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash K Srivastava. Senior officials from commerce and agriculture ministries and private traders were present.

According to the official, the fumigation hurdles being faced by importers were sorted out at the meet to facilitate the easy arrival of shipments.

The government will facilitate shipments via private trade at present. "No decision has been taken yet to rope in public trading agencies for onion imports," he said.

The official also mentioned that the price rise in onion was mainly due to "speculation" as the fundamentals do not support such spike in rates. The new Kharif crop is seen better than last year's turnout.

States have been asked to impose a stock limit on onion traders to curb speculation and a proposal to restrict export is also under consideration, he said.

The country had last imported onion in 2015 on both public and private account.
Four men have been arrested for allegedly duping people of over Rs 1 crore on the pretext of getting them government jobs, the police said today.

During investigation, it was revealed that the accused has duped more than 50 job aspirants since 2014, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad said.

Asif Ali, a resident of Ghaziabad, had approached the police with a complaint that he had given over Rs 3.5 lakh to Rawender Singh (30), who had introduced himself as a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer and promised to get him a job, the police said.

Ali was called to Lucknow where he handed over the cash to Rawender and his cousin Ankit (29). Later, he was asked to fill up a form and called to Kanpur where his signature was obtained on a register saying that it was for training, they said.

The police said Ali was later called to Unnao where he was informed that he has been appointed in the Food Corporation of India (FCI)



He was later told that a court has declared him as a permanent staff of the FCI and Rs 5,000 was taken from him as court fee. He was charged Rs 5,100 and given a card of the FCI's labour union and asked to join at Fatehabad, Haryana in the first week of August.

However, when Ali tried to contact the authorities concerned, he found that he had been and duped, the police said.

Ankit, who too had introduced himself as a CBI sub- inspector, was nabbed on August 27. The identity CBI card produced by him was found to be fake, the police said.

Four forged Railways appointment letters in the names of various candidates were seized from Ankit, which he used to procure from Ajit Pratap Singh (31), they said, adding Ajit was nabbed from near PVR Saket, while Rawender and Gyanendra Kumar (25) were arrested on August 30.

Rawender, the mastermind of the racket, used to charge between Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh from job aspirants, the police officer said, adding role of other persons in the racket is being probed.

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his Eid al-Adha message has reached out to neighbor Pakistan offering "comprehensive negotiations" to bring peace to their troubled relationship.

Like most Muslim countries, Afghanistan celebrates the Islamic holiday today while in Pakistan the holiday is celebrated on Saturday. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

"Peace with Pakistan is our national agenda," said Ghani while also urging insurgents to lay down their weapons. Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of harboring Taliban insurgents, while Islamabad says its enemies have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

The two countries also squabble relentlessly over the border that separates their two countries. Known as the Durand Line, Afghanistan refuses to accept it as the international border. Firefights between the armies have broken out as Pakistan seeks to fence it.

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The "emotional merger" of Air India and Indian Airlines is still to happen, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has said even as he emphasised that he would not like the airline to go the Kingfisher way.

While describing Air India as a "lovely airline" that has served the Indian people well, the minister said there are "legacy issues" and that taxpayers' money cannot be put in for eternity to keep it afloat.

In efforts to revive the loss-making Air India, the Cabinet, in June, had given its in-principle nod for strategic divestment of the airline and its five subsidiaries. A group of ministers is working on the modalities for the process.

Raju said the merging of Indian Airlines with Air India has taken place, "but emotional merger... That is still not happening. So, there are problems".

"Implementing Dharmadhikari (committee recommendations) that is one angle... Still, within the organisation itself there are certain problems," the minister told PTI in an interview.

In 2012, five years after the merger of the two airlines into one, the Dharmadhikari committee had submitted its report on Air India HR issues to the government.

The merger, which happened in 2007, is seen as a major factor for the current state of affairs at Air India -- which for the first time in a decade eked out an operational profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16.

"Its (Air India's) finances are bad, but I, for one, would not like it to go the Kingfisher way because that doesn't help anybody. It crashes and no activity, no employment and no contribution to the economy. That is not what I like. I want it to survive and be a vibrant airline," he stressed.

On whether there would be job losses on account of divestment, the minister said, "I think employees will still continue because in Air India, employees are basically technical (such as) pilots, cabin crew and engineers."



"I don't think there will be much of a problem there. Employees would also like the organisation to survive," he added.

Asked about the divestment plans of Air India, Raju said an alternative mechanism is "applying its mind and let them come out with the things".

On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given its in-principle nod for strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries.

Subsequently, an Air India-specific alternative mechanism was set up to guide the process. The ministerial group is looking into treatment of Air India's unsustainable debt, hiving off of certain assets to a shell company, demerger and strategic disinvestment of three profit-making subsidiaries, among other aspects.

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will not hesitate to take action against vendors who default on their services, the airline's chief Rajiv Bansal said as he works on improving the overall efficiency of the airline.

Taking a serious note of the recent incident where a rodent was spotted on a Delhi-San Francisco flight, Bansal has ordered penalty to be imposed on the caterer concerned after seriously looking into the matter.

"We will take action against anybody who defaults on our SLAs (Service Level Agreements). We will not hesitate to take action if there is a violation," Bansal told PTI in an interview.

Last week, a rodent was spotted on the flight that was set for take-off for San Francisco, following which the service was delayed by more than nine hours. The aircraft was fumigated before the take-off.

About the incident, Bansal said he looked at the matter very seriously with the employees.

"I have told them to do an analysis of where are the possibilities where such a rodent could have come into the aircraft. It could be from the door, belly, flight catering... We did immediate check of catering vans and we found some short-comings. I have ordered a penalty to be imposed on the caterer," he said.

Earlier also, there have been instances of flights getting delayed due to rodent menace and other issues.

Bansal, a senior IAS officer, took charge as the Chairman and Managing Director of on August 24.

"We will plan to work on profitability with a missionary zeal, improve our on-time performance and ensure customer satisfaction," he had said soon after taking over the reins of the airline.

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Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has developed a mobile app for farmers to facilitate registration, testing and certification of certain fruits and vegetables, the commerce ministry today said.

It said the app "Hortinet" is an integrated traceability system developed by APEDA for providing internet-based services to the stakeholders.

The app will facilitate "farm registration, testing and certification of grape, pomegranate and vegetables for export from India to the European Union in compliance with standards".

This initiative is expected to increase the accessibility and reach of the traceability software system among farmers and other stakeholders, it added.

The app would also assist state horticulture and agriculture departments to capture real time details of farmers, farm location, products and details of inspection.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the use of mobile app and traceability system is a great tool in identifying farmers and laboratories from where the produce was sourced and tested.

APEDA should make efforts in enrolling larger number of farmers and exporters through the new technology tool, she said.

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A 35-member business delegation from Australia, which is on a visit to India, today said here that it is keen to build long-term partnerships with the state governments and the private sector companies here in various sectors, including infrastructure and water.

The delegation, which was in the megapolis, held discussions with the officials of the state urban development department, Chief Secretary Sumit Mallick and private sector firms to explore business opportunities in Smart Cities project of Maharashtra.

"We are here to build relationships with the state governments here as well as the private sector companies, which are involved in Smart Cities projects to explore the possibilities of Australian involvement and participation in various such projects," Australian Trade Commissioner Grayson Perry told reporters here today.

He said the Australian companies, with their vast experience in sectors like infrastructure, smart cities, infrastructure, water and waste management among others, can assist Indian companies and the government in its various programs.

"Apart from technological know-how, we have a lot of solutions that we can offer in the government's smart cities program. We want to build relationships with the Indian companies and extend not just technological support but also participate in the entire development chain," Perry said.

The delegation is visiting cities like New Delhi, Bhopal and Mumbai and meeting Niti Aayog officials, heads of various smart cities projects in the state governments and municipalities, and with leading private sector companies.

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A Belgian national has been apprehended for entering a terminal building of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here allegedly using a "fake" travel ticket to see off his woman friend, an official said.

Gautter Nathalie (26) was apprehended yesterday around 9:30 pm when the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, deployed for airport security, found him roaming suspiciously inside the terminal three building, a senior official involved in airport security said.

The Belgian national told the CISF personnel that he had entered the terminal building to see off his woman friend, who was travelling to Bahrain, the official said, adding he told them that he used a cancelled ticket to enter the airport terminal.

The man was subsequently handed over to the police which filed an FIR against him, he said.

Entering airport terminal without a valid ticket is illegal under Indian aviation rules.

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BJP's Karnataka unit today petitioned the Governor to direct appropriate authorities to disqualify eight MLCs -- six from the Congress and two from the JDS -- for allegedly providing false information that they were residents of the city, so as to participate in the Mayoral polls.

The party also requested Vajubhai Vala to initiate action against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for "his role and support to the MLCs to commit the offences."



The BJP's action came just before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was to expand the cabinet with one of the eight MLCs, Ramappa Thimmapur tipped to take oath as the minister.

The eight MLCs have been accused by the BJP of violating Section 31 of theRepresentation of the People Act 1951 by providing falseinformation to the Election Commission with an ulterior motive.

"They falsely claimed to be the residents ofBengaluru and fraudulently got their names registered asvoters in various parts of the city," the BJP said in the petition.

It has accused them of drawing TA/DA by fraudulent means from the Karnataka Legislative Council byshowing addresses in other districts as their ordinaryresidency.

It has also accused them of indulging in foul play by wrongly participating in the elections to the post of Mayor and various standing committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP),the city corporation.

On the basis of the complaint lodged by Padmanabha Reddy, Leader of the Opposition in BBMP, the Election Commissionin July had asked BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad toprobe the matter.

The petition said in his report submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer, the Commissioner, BBMP, has stated that "due procedure has not been followed" forinclusion of names of all these eight MLCs in the electoral list.

"We are of the view that this is a clear case for initiating action in the form ofdisqualifying them from the Membership of the Legislative Council," BJP said.

The eight MLCs are Allum Veeranbhadrappa, Ramappa Thimmapur, Raghu Achar, N S Boseraju, S Ravi, M D Lakshminarayana, C R Manohar and Appaji Gowda.

Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy, whohad earlier served notice to eight MLCs, has said he will soon decide on the issue.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the governor, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar called it a "criminal offence".

"Their conduct being in a responsible position of public representatives is a criminal offence, so they have to be disqualified as members of the legislative council. So we haverequested the governor to direct the appropriate authoritiesto disqualify the eight MLCs," he said.

Pointing out at the possibility of Thimmapur being inducted into the cabinet, Shettardemanded that he should not be inducted as he has violated the Representation of the People Act under which he can be penalised and jailed for one year.

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The Bombay High Court today ordered an interim stay on the enforcement of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) rules, amended by Centre recently, which resulted in eliminating 1,573 notified 'silence zones' in Mumbai ahead of the festival season.

A full bench of Justices Anoop V Mohta, A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla held that the amendment was prima facie "unconstitutional" and violated the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.

Today's stay order restores the "position prior to August 10 notification (amending the rules)", the bench said.

Hearing of the matter earlier before a division bench headed by Justice Oka had led to a confrontation, with the state government alleging that he was "biased". The matter was eventually placed before a full bench, and the state tendered an apology to Justice Oka.

On August 10, the Centre had issued a notification amending the rules, making state governments responsible for specifically notifying silence zones in their jurisdiction.

The Maharashtra government, however, decided against immediately notifying existing silence zones afresh, in effect doing away with noise restrictions near schools, hospitals, courts and religious shrines among other places.

Activists challenged the amendment in the High Court through PILs, alleging that it violated constitutional rights, and was an "appeasement move" ahead of Ganapati and Dahi Handi celebrations when loudspeakers are used liberally.

The amendment also resulted in nullifying a 2016 judgement of the Bombay HC which had forbidden use of loudspeakers within 100 meters of hospitals, educational institutions, courts and religious places even outside the declared silence zones.

The Union government, represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, denied that purpose of the amendment was to "obliterate" the HC judgement.

"If a state government chooses not to exercise its powers to re-declare silence zones, how can that be a ground to challenge the Centre's policy?" Singh argued.

The Maharashtra government refused to commit to imposing fresh noise norms, saying it was granting permission for use of loudspeakers during Ganapati festival using the previous 1,573 silence zones as "guiding principles."



When the court asked whether this meant it would impose restrictions similar to silence zones, the government pleader did not make any categorical statement.

The full bench held that both the Centre and the state had failed to publish prior notification and invite objections from citizens before making the amendment. This was "contrary to the requirements of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and public interest", the judges said.

"If we were to accept the Centre and the state's arguments, then as of today there are no silence zones in the city. One can begin using loudspeakers even within five or ten metres of a hospital or court," the bench said.

"This is in violation of Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution...Especially in the light of the Supreme Court's order upholding that a citizen cannot be compelled to listen," it said.

It also turned down the Centre's request to stay its order (staying the amendment) for four weeks. The Central government's lawyer expressed apprehension that the order "might lead to possible law and order situation."



The court said the state government had conceded that there were no law and order problems when silence zones existed prior to the amendment.

The court sought the Attorney General's reply on the Union government's position by October 6, when the date for final hearing of these petitions would be fixed.

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The last Brazilian peacekeeping soldiers to Haiti have officially wrapped up their 13-year UN military mission to the Caribbean country.

The UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was deployed in 2004 to help stem political violence after the departure of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- but it has not endeared itself to Haitians.

"We arrived in June 2004 when Haiti was experiencing instability and violence," Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said Thursday at a ceremony held in Port-au-Prince to mark the official end of the battalion's mission.

Many Aristide supporters have long perceived the mission as something of an occupying army.

The mission's reputation was further tarnished in 2010, when Nepalese UN peacekeepers introduced cholera, leading to an outbreak that killed more than 9,000 Haitians.

Thursday's ceremony marked an important step in closing MINUSTAH, which according to a unanimous UN Security Council resolution reached in April will fully shut down October 15.

The UN will deploy a successor operation, the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).

That two-year mission involves training Haiti's national police and working to help the country bolster the rule of law.

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The state-run BRD Medical College reported death of 35 children in the past 48 hours taking the toll to 1,304 this year, even as a Gorakhpur court issued non-bailable warrants against seven people.

College principal Dr PK Singh said, "On August 31, 16 children died, while on September 1, 19 others died in the NICU, general and encephalitis wards of the hospital."



Earlier in the day, additional sessions judge Shivanand Singh issued the NBW against seven of the nine people named in the FIR, a day after he sent former principal of the college Dr Rajiv Mishra and his medico-wife Purnima Shukla to 14-day judicial custody.

The warrants were issued against incharge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, anstheist Dr Satish, pharmacist Gajanan Jaiswal, accountant Sudhir Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and gas suppliers Uday Pratap Singh and Manish Bhandari, investigating officer C Abhishek Singh said.

Khan, who was the nodal officer, has already been removed from the post.

Following the deaths, mostly of infants, cases were registered under various sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act against nine persons, including the doctor couple.

Mishra and his wife, who were arrested from Kanpur on Tuesday by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), were produced before the judge, who sent them to the Gorakhpur district jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

They were named in an FIR lodged by the UP government.

Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on August 12 after the deaths were reported. He resigned the same day taking moral responsibility.

There were allegations that the deaths happened due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for several months.

While the Uttar Pradesh government vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar indicted Mishra and others of laxity and other charges.

Mishra was accused of sitting over on the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital.

The doctor couple were booked on the basis of the report submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by the chief secretary.

Adityanath had formed the committee on August 12, a day after the deaths of children were reported at the hospital.

The two doctors were picked up from Kanpur, where they had reportedly gone to consult a lawyer.

The medical college attracted global attention when more than 60 children, mostly infants, died at the hospital within the span of a week last month. The issue also acquired a political colour with the opposition attacking the government over it.

The Allahabad High Court yesterday sought a "detailed report" on the infrastructure and medical facilities at the medical college.

It directed the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to personally visit the medical college hospital and file a report along with photographs of various wards.

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A 26-year-old Bangladeshi origin man arrested for allegedly planning to carry out a terror attack with a Samurai sword near Buckingham Palace earlier this month was originally on his way to Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II's royal residence, some 20 miles away from London.

However, Mohiussunnath Choudhury, a self-employed Uber driver, ended up at a pub by the same name due to his car's GPS error and then decided to drive on to the monarch's London residence instead, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told yesterday.

"Officers approached the vehicle and spoke with the male driver and as they did so the male took hold of a large sword from inside the vehicle and whilst still in the vehicle shouted 'Allahu Akbar' [God is greatest] several times," prosecutor Mark Carroll told the court.

Choudhury, from Luton in the east of England, has been charged with engaging in the preparation to commit an act or acts of terrorism on August 25 and has been remanded in custody to appear before the Old Bailey court in London on September 21.

He is also accused of injuring three police officers in the course of the attack as they approached his Toyota Prius car, used by the self-employed Uber driver.

According to details emerging of Choudhury's life in the UK, he attended St. Lawrence Primary School and Uxbridge High School in west London where he was said to be well liked.

A school friend told 'The Times': "He was really nice to everyone and he was everyone's friend. At school he hung around with all the other brainy kids, I think he was quite intelligent. He always got on with everyone.

"His family were quite nice - there was his mum and his dad and him and his sister."



Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command had earlier revealed details of the attack, which took place on August 25 night when a man stopped his blue Toyota Prius car in a restricted area near a police vehicle on the Mall roundabout near Spur Road.

Officers at the Mall spotted a large bladed weapon in his vehicle and went to arrest him.

During the course of detaining the man, three male police officers suffered minor injuries to their arm.

Two of the injured officers were taken to hospital for treatment and have since been discharged.

Choudhury, who spoke in court only to confirm his name, was also taken to a London hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, had said:"We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage. While we cannot speculate on what the man was intending to do - this will be determined during the course of the investigation - it is only right that we investigate this as a terrorist incident at this time."



A second 30-year-old man was detained on suspicion of terrorism offences a few days later at an address in west London in connection with the palace attack.

He was released without charge earlier this week.

Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family were not in BuckinghamPalaceat the time.

The 91-year-old monarch was at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and other senior members of the royal family are also away during the summer holiday season in the UK.

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Several new faces, including some from the BJP's allies, are expected to join the government when Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertakes a reshuffle of his council of ministers on Sunday.

It will be the third such exercise since he took over in May 2014.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan at around 10 am on Sunday," a top government official said.

Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig.

Two cabinet ministers, Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, have also offered to resign, said BJP sources.

Bharti, who is the water resources minister, said only Shah or anyone on his behalf can speak on the issue.

"The media sought my reaction on reports in circulation since yesterday. I have said that I have not heard the question, will not hear nor will I answer it," she tweeted.

Shah had met Modi yesterday and the two leaders are understood to have finalised the changes in the council of ministers.

BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, party's vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Prahlad Patel, Suresh Angadi, Satyapal Singh and Prahlad Joshi are being talked about within the party as probable ministers.

With the Nitsh Kumar-led JD(U) also likely to join the government, its leaders R C P Singh, who is its parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, and Santosh Kumar are the likely picks from the new NDA constituent.

AIADMK leader Thambidurai had met Shah yesterday, and he, besides party leaders P Venugopal and V Maitreyan, may be the likely representatives from the Tamil Nadu party if it decides to join the government. However, the southern party has not confirmed it so far.

The current strength of the council of ministers, including the prime minister, is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81.

According to a constitutional amendment, the limit cannot exceed beyond 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha which is 545.

While there are some vacancies, a number of senior ministers are also holding dual portfolios.

Arun Jaitley is in charge of two heavyweight ministries- finance and defence- while Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar are also handling additional charges.

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The Bombay High Court today said while it was pained by the death of a senior doctor, who fell into an open manhole while wading through water-logged streets here, it cannot consider a PIL seeking lodging of an FIR against civic officials and award of compensation.

The HC said these matters cannot be considered in a PIL and the relatives of the doctor should file a separate plea or complaint before the correct forum.

The court said it can consider prayers drawing attention to safety concerns over potholes and manholes and directed the Maharashtra government and the BMC to file affidavits responding to these issue.

A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar was hearing the public interest litigation filed by Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association Mumbai seeking that officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) be booked for causing death of a person due to negligence.

The PIL also sought compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the family of the victim.

The body of Dr Deepak Amarapukar, who had gone missing on Tuesday following heavy rains in the megapolis, was recovered yesterday from a nullah near the Coast Guard office in central Mumbai's Worli.

Amrapurkar was a gastroenterologist at the city-based Bombay Hospital.

"We are also very much pained that such an excellent doctor had to meet such a tragic end. But we cannot become emotional. In a public interest litigation there are certain limitations. Prayers seeking the authorities attention to issues of potholes and manholes can be heard by us in this PIL," Chief Justice Chellur said.

But prayers seeking case to be registered under section 304 (II) of IPC and compensation cannot be considered in a PIL. Let the relatives of the doctor file a separate plea or complaint before the correct forum for this, she said.

The court noted that in the present case the situation is not that the family of the victim is poor or not educated.

The court has posted the petition for hearing after two weeks.

The petition sought the court to constitute "an advisory committee of ex-bureaucrats and technocrats for carrying out an inspection of all manholes in the city and to help form a policy to avoid such fatal incidents in future."



"It is apparent that only on account of the gross negligence on the part of BMC and its officers, the victim was deprived of his life," the PIL alleged.

There were no sign boards, no barricading near the manhole cautioning the public at large about the prevailing danger, it said.

It was the legal duty of the BMC and the state to protect and safeguard such areas where work is in progress after taking into consideration the locality, the density of the population, the frequency of the visitors, and so on, the PIL said.

"The corporation and the state are under a legal obligation to take care of, and protect all citizens from accidents," the plea contended.

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Central Coalfields Ltd chief Gopal Singh has been given the additional charge of CMD of Coal India, the world's largest coal miner said today.

Singh succeeds Sutirtha Bhattacharya, who retired yesterday, the state-owned Coal India (CIL) said in a filing to the BSE.

"Sutirtha Bhattacharya, CMD, CIL, on attaining superannuation has relinquished the charge of CMD wef August 31, 2017," the filing stated.

"The Ministry of Coal... Has entrusted the additional charge of CMD CIL to Gopal Singh, CMD, CCL (Central Coalfields Ltd), with immediate effect and until regular appointment is made. He has taken charge with effect from September 1, 2017," the company added.

CCL is a subsidiary of Coal India.

The government had yesterday said it was examining a proposal to set up a committee for selection of chairman-cum- managing director of CIL.

"I am looking at creating a search cum selection committee and have sent in a proposal... To look at newer candidates or assess the suitability of the candidate," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had said.

Government head-hunter PESB has earlier suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for selection of CMD for Coal India as it did not find any of the six candidates interviewed as fit for the top post.

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Century Plyboards (India) Ltd today said it has formed a joint venture with a Chinese company for manufacturing doors and frames.

"We have formed a 60:40 joint venture with a Chinese company, Goldea, for manufacturing doors and frames. We will hold 60 per cent in the company," Century Ply Chairman Sajjan Bhajanka said on the sidelines of the company's annual general meeting here.

He said a new plant for doors and frames will come up close to the company's medium-density fibreboard (MDF) facility at Hoshiarpur, Punjab, which is likely to be commissioned in the next few months.

The company has invested Rs 400 crore in the MDF plant at Hoshiarpur.

Century Ply will initially spend about Rs 80 crore on the doors plant, which will have a capacity to produce 2,000 doors a day in the first phase, Bhajanka said, adding, it could increase to 6,000 doors a day in later phases.

"By 2022, the doors and frames market will be about Rs 40,000 crore and currently there are no organised players in this segment," Century Ply Director Keshav Bhajanka said.

Doors and frames will make for about 10-15 per cent of Century Ply's total production, he said. "We will also go for tiles, furniture and decorative veneer, gradually."



With the Goods and Services Tax in place, the share of the organised plyboard sector is likely to double to 50 per cent of the Rs 18,000-crore industry, he added.

The plyboard maker is aiming for a Rs 2,000-crore topline in FY18, growing at 15-20 per cent over the previous fiscal.

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Chinese Navy today commissioned an advanced supply vessel which is capable of replenishing an aircraft carrier group or other navy fleet on the high sea.

Hulun Nur 965 is the first of a new type of comprehensive supply vessel independently developed by China using globally advanced technologies, state-run Xinhua agency reported, quoting military sources.

Shen Jinlong, commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, conferred the military flag and presented a certificate to the new ship in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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The CBI today filed a charge sheet in a city court against former IAF Chief S P Tyagi and nine others in the Rs 450 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper bribery case.

Besides Tyagi, the agency has named nine others, including his cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, advocate Gautam Khaitan and Michel James, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3500 crore VVIP chopper deal.

The charge sheet, which has also named retired Vice Chief of Air Staff air marshal J S Gujral, was filed before Special CBI judge Arvind Kumar just before the rising of the court.

71-year old Tyagi, who had retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on December 9 by the agency in connection with the case. These accused are currently on bail.

The CBI has booked all the accused under the provisions of the IPC relating to cheating and criminal conspiracy and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

S P Tyagi is the first Chief of the Indian Air Force to be named in a corruption or a criminal case by the CBI.

Others named in the charge sheet include alleged European middlemen in the deal, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke.

The FIR also names former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini, former Finmeccanica Chairman Giuseppe Orsi and the Anglo-Italian company, AgustaWestland, as accused in the case.

CBI has alleged that during his tenure as Air Chief, Tyagi and, with his approval the Air Force, conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 metres to 4500 metres as mandatory, which it had been earlier vehemently opposing on the grounds of security constraints and other reasons.

CBI has claimed that the reduction of the service ceiling, or the maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally, allowed AgustaWestland to come into the fray as, otherwise, its helicopters were not qualified for submission of the bids.

It also alleged that AgustaWestland had managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engines and eventually succeeded in getting the contract for supply of 12 AW-101 VVIP Helicopters from the Defence Ministry, mainly due to softening of the IAF on the service ceiling issue after S P Tyagi took over as its Chief.

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The national awards for the cleanest schools, given by the human resource development ministry, will also be open to private schools across the country from next year, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said today.

The 'Swachchta Vidyalaya Puraskar' was instituted this year by the ministry in collaboration with UNICEF to recognise, inspire and celebrate excellence in water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in schools.

"This year 2,68,402 schools from both central and state governments participated voluntarily in the competition which is in itself an achievement. From next year the competition will be open to private schools as well," Javadekar said while addressing the gathering at the awards function.

According to an HRD ministry official, "35 states and union territories participated in this competition at district and state levels. Out of 643 schools shortlisted by the states, 172 schools were selected for the national awards".

The winner schools were given an award of Rs 50,000 each as additional school grant to be utilised for cleanliness- related activities.

Besides the winner schools, awards for 11 districts with highest participation were given to the concerned district education officers.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, which have been declared the top three states with maximum number of clean schools, were also awarded certificates of recognition.

"Students are our cleanliness ambassadors. It is the need of the hour to change our mindsets and inculcate the habit of cleanliness everywhere in the country," Javadekar said.

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Colombia's FARC former guerrilla force has rebaptised itself the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, as it transformed into a political party following its disarmament.

In spite of earlier resistance from some members of the movement, the name retains the revolutionary spirit of the communist guerrilla group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state before signing a peace deal last year.

"By a majority decision in our congress, the name of the new party has been fixed as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force," the group's leader Rodrigo Londono wrote on Twitter yesterday.

Delegates from the newly demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have spent the week gathered in a founding congress to choose their political representatives ahead of next year's general elections.

The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda -- some FARC leaders wanted to keep the "revolutionary" element while others wanted to soften the group's image by dropping it in favor of "New Colombia."



In Spanish the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel force's title, so it can continue to be referred to as the FARC.

The party had yet to give an official English translation for its title. In its former guise it was known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

The FARC formed as a communist movement in 1964 from a peasant uprising for rural land rights.

The Colombian conflict drew in various rebel forces, paramilitary groups and state forces.

It left some 260,000 people confirmed dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and seven million displaced.

Londono said at the start of the congress that the group will advocate "a democratic political regime that guarantees peace and social justice, respects human rights and guarantees economic development for all of us who live in Colombia.

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A Delhi court today extended by a month the judicial custody of three Kashmiri separatist leaders in a terror funding case.

District Judge Poonam A Bamba extended the judicial custody of Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Mohamad Akbar Khanday till September 27 when they will produced before the court along with four other accused, including the son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Besides Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, popularly known as Altaf Fantoosh, the other accused who are in judicial custody are Peer Saifullah, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Nayeem Khan.

The agency had arrested seven persons on July 24 in the case of alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley to fuel unrest.

The agency had earlier told the court that it had received information that Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamat-ud-Dawah, and the separatists, including members of Hurriyat Conference, had been acting in connivance with banned outfits like Hizb- ul-Muzahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and others to raise and receive funds from India and abroad through illegal channels, including hawala.

The money was allegedly being raised to fund separatist and terror activities in restive Jammu and Kashmir, it had claimed, alleging that the accused were waging war against the country and involved in various offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

It had also claimed that the accused were involved in creating unrest by way of anti-India demonstrations and bandhs, which were done on their and others' instructions.

The raids were part of the NIA's efforts at clamping down on separatist groups allegedly receiving funds for subversive activities in the valley.

The NIA had claimed that it had recovered account books, Rs 2 crore in cash and letterheads of banned terror groups, including the LeT and the HM, during the raids.

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North Korean court sentenced two South Korean journalists and their publishers to death for seriously insulting the dignity of the country by reviewing and interviewing the British authors of a book about life in the North, Reuters reported.

September 1, 2017, 11:30 North Korea sentences 2 South Korean reporters to death

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: As it was noted, the book in English titled North Korea Confidential was authored by James Pearson, a Seoul-based correspondent for Reuters, and Daniel Tudor, former correspondent in South Korea for the Economist magazine.

The book, based on interviews with North Korean defectors, diplomats and traders, depicts a growing market economy where ordinary North Koreans enjoy access to South Korea music and TV dramas, fashion and smuggled Chinese and American films.

The Korean-language edition, published earlier this month was reviewed by South Koreas Dong-A Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo newspapers.

A spokesman for the Norths Central Court said in a statement carried by the countrys official KCNA news agency that the book viciously slandered the reality of the DPRK, the initials for North Koreas official name of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The book painted life in the country as increasingly capitalistic where money can buy power and influence, the spokesman said.
A criminal who had fled from police custody was killed in an encounter in Gomti Nagar area here, police said today.

"Sunil Sharma, carrying reward of Rs 15 thousand, was injured in the encounter in Gomti Nagar area here. He later died during treatment in the hospital," Senior Superintendent of Police, Deepak Kumar said.

Sharma, who was lodged in Hardoi jail, had fled from police custody from Lucknow, where he was bought for a hearing.

He had last month allegedly threatened a businessman in Saroji Nagar area and demanded money from him.

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The Delhi government today organised this year's first mega parent-teacher meeting in its 1,041 schools across the national capital.

"It is evident that the parent teacher engagement which the government aimed to institutionalise through Mega PTMs has been achieved.

"We are happy that this exercise, which used to be limited to big private schools, has now become an integral part of the culture of government schools," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Education Minister, visited several government schools in Hari Nagar and Shakti Nagar to interact with parents, students and teachers.

"For class 9-12, schools informed parents about the changes notified by CBSE in the examination scheme like requirement of 33 per cent marks (27 marks out of 80 marks) for passing and inclusion of complete syllabus in end term/final examination," a senior Directorate of Education (DoE) official said.

The AAP dispensation had last year introduced the concept of PTMs in government schools on the lines of a similar exercise conducted by private schools to keep parents in loop about their ward's performances and areas with scope of improvement.

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Hyderabad police today busted a "bogus" copyright organisation and arrested four persons for allegedly duping over 100 job aspirants to the tune of Rs 3 crore.

Of the over 100 victims, the accused had even appointed around 20 members as junior investigators and "authorised" them to serve notices to those indulging in copyright and trademark violations, police said.

Based on specific inputs, a police team raided the office of Vigilance and Enforcement for Indian Copyrights (VEIC) at Secunderabad and arrested four fraudsters, a release from the city police said.

The four accused, identified as Ch Rathnakar, Aravind Josef, P Ramesh Reddy and Ch Satyanarayana, had established the bogus office and cheated unemployed youths with the false promise of providing jobs in their organisation as junior investigators, it added.

The accused, under the guise of a copyright protection force, claimed that they were working as the chairman, director, chief executive member and supervisor respectively, it said.

"So far, the accused have cheated about 100 to 120 candidates of Rs 3 crore," it said.

According to police, the accused claimed that their establishment has been authenticated by the government to act against piracy and copyrights violations.

"In February this year, they set up the VEIC office claiming that they would raid those establishments, which are found selling or manufacturing duplicate products, and inform the copyright authorities. However, they did not follow the rules and regulations," police said.

Under the promise of providing jobs in the VEIC, they collected study certificates and bio-data from job seekers, and money in the range of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 8 lakh by offering the posts of senior investigator to them, police said.

"After getting the money, the accused prepared fake appointment letters and handed them over to the candidates. To make them believe, they also conducted a one-month training programme, before appointing them as junior investigators," police said.

As per the instructions from the accused, the candidates had even started serving notices to various establishments, accusing them of violation of copyrights, trademark, piracy, etc, police said.

"So far, they had appointed 20 to 30 members as junior investigators and set a 'safari' dress code and deputed them to serve the caution notices in the name of VEIC," the police added.

Police have seized Rs 14.82 lakh in cash, appointment letter pads, empty letter pads, bio-data forms, four walkie talkies, three computers, four cars and other incriminating material from the possession of the accused.

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Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sanjeev Balyan, who resigned as union ministers ahead of Sunday's cabinet rejig today said they followed the directions of the party leadership to step down.

Cabinet minister Uma Bharti has also offered to resign.

Bharti, who is the water resources minister, said only Shah or anyone on his behalf can speak on the issue.

"The media sought my reaction on reports in circulation since yesterday. I have said that I have not heard the question, will not hear nor will I answer it," she tweeted.

Rudy said BJP president Amit Shah conveyed him the decision that he should step down as minister.

"Decision of the party is the best decision," he said.

Balyan said he was asked to resign and he did so immediately.

He said he would work to further strengthen the BJP in western UP.

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The National Green Tribunal has issued bailable warrants against Haryana and Rajasthan governments for not submitting their action plan on cleaning and rejuvenation of the river Ganga.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar took strong objection to the absence of the counsel for both the states and their failure to submit the report despite its July 13 order.

"Nobody is present on behalf of State of Haryana and State of Rajasthan. Consequently, we issue bailable warrant against the Resident Commissioner of State of Haryana and State of Rajasthan at New Delhi in a sum of Rs 5,000 to the satisfaction of the arresting Officer, in exercise of our powers...

"They shall show cause as to why the action plan in terms of the judgement of the Tribunal have not been filed," the bench said.

The green panel also directed the resident commissioners of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar to be present before it on September 4, the next date of hearing.

After passing a slew of measures to rejuvenate the Ganga between Haridwar and Unnao, the NGT has now shifted focus to clean the next stretch of the river passing through Allahabad and Varanasi.

It had noted that the Supreme Court has also transferred the cleaning of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, which is one of the major tributaries of the river, to the tribunal.

The Ganga covers a total distance of 2,525 km and flows through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, and finally drains into the Bay of Bengal.

The important tributaries of the Ganga are the Yamuna, Kali, Ramganga, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi and Sone.

Major cities like Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna and Kolkata, which are located on the banks of the river, draw water from it to meet their requirement and almost the entire waste water generated by these centres is deposited into it.

In a detailed verdict, the NGT had passed a slew of directions to rejuvenate the Ganga, declaring as 'No- Development Zone' an area of 100 metres from the edge of the river between Haridwar and Unnao and prohibiting dumping of waste within 500 metres from the river.

The green panel has divided the work of cleaning the river into different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to the border of UP, the border of UP to the border of Jharkhand and from the border of Jharkhand to the Bay of Bengal.

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Economic growth in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017-18 is expected to soar to 7- 7.5 per cent on the back of good monsoon and clarity over GST, Niti Aayog's new Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said today.

India's GDP growth rate slid to a 3-year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter (April-June), mainly on account of a slump in manufacturing.

"I am confident that in the July-September quarter, economy will grow by 7-7.5 per cent. Destocking, which was in anticipation of GST rollout, has completed and now, there is more clarity on the new tax regime," said Kumar, who took over as Vice-Chairman today replacing Arvind Panagariya. "Also, monsoon is good. Many IPOs are in the offing. FDI and FIIs are also increasing."



The noted economist, however, cautioned against taking the June quarter growth blip as a trend.

On the effect of demonetisation, he held that it impacted growth in the first quarter as by then the currency shortage triggered by the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9 last year was over.

Kumar explained the growth slide in terms of destocking by manufacturers in anticipation of GST rollout from July 1.

Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement that demonetisation would hit economic growth by about 2 per cent, Kumar said quarterly data cannot be used to derive such conclusions.

"With due respect to my mentor Manmohan Singh, this quarterly data cannot be used to say look GDP will drop by 1 -2.5 per cent... There has been successive drop in GDP growth. There is a historical experience, every country which has taken fundamental governance reform has seen shrinkage in output," the vice-chairman of the premier think-tank added.

Pitching for formulating a policy to generate jobs, Kumar said, "We need to develop our own models. That model will have meet the critical task of generating jobs... Whether it is unemployment or under-employment, it's not the point, the point is we have created jobs, we have met aspirations of young people."



Kumar termed issues related to farmer's distress as "real phenomena, not imaginary".

"I am in favour of making agriculture more remunerative. And I also believe that the government should reduce interferences in the agriculture sector," Kumar observed.

Asked by when the Aayog will finalise its 15-year Vision Document, Kumar replied that a great amount of work has gone into it.

The new vice-chairman signalled that he wants external advisors to join the policy body and he would like to work with groups of states.

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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ruled out the possibility of the strategic being used as a "military base" by any foreign country, allaying India's concerns over the Chinese Navy's growing presence in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan government on July 29 signed a $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake in the to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, China's state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort) is to invest up to $1.1 billion in 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.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe used the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to allay India's concern over Chinese involvement in developing the .

"Let me refer to Sri Lanka's decision to develop its major sea ports, especially the Hambantota port which some claim to be a military base. I state clearly that Sri Lanka headed by President Maithripala Sirisena does not enter into military alliances with any country or make our bases available to foreign countries," Wickremesinghe said while addressing the Indian Ocean Conference held here last night.

"Only the Sri Lanka Armed Forces have the responsibility for military activities in our ports and airports. We are also working with foreign private investors on the commercial development of our ports," he said.

Swaraj, in her speech at the conference on Thursday, said India was ready to face security challenges in the Indian Ocean.

She said it was imperative that those living in the region bear the primary responsibility for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region.

Swaraj said that if the revitalised maritime economy of the Indian Ocean region is to be a force for global economic growth, it is essential that the waters remain peaceful, stable and secure.

The Sri Lankan premier said that in the absence of effective multilateral trade agreements for the Indian Ocean region, Sri Lanka has decided to enter into bilateral agreements with the neighbouring countries.

"We already have Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan. We are in the process of deepening our FTA with India to enable greater economic cooperation. We will finalise an FTA with Singapore and then conclude similar trade agreements with other countries in the Bay of Bengal region. We are also negotiating an FTA with China," he said.
Rescue work has intensified in Texas with officials launching search operations and saving people stuck in the receding floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, one of the most destructive storms in American history that claimed at least 47 lives.

Nearly a week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, desperate residents remain stranded without food and water in the wake of unprecedented flooding.

Authorities are searching for survivors and have made helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey climbed to at least 47, the CNN reported.

Thousands of emergency rescue teams officials are helping people affected by the deluge.

The officials are assessing the storm's trail of destruction in Houston as the flood waters slowly started to recede in southeastern Texas.

Brazoria County officials have warning that roughly 517 km of the county will be inundated with water from the Brazos River, which is projected to continue rising.

Yesterday, the Houston Fire Department had received 800 service calls, but only 22 were water-related, a spokesperson said.

Houston remained flooded, and police continued rescuing people as officials searched homes looking for trapped residents.

Beaumont city in southeastern Texas, home to more than 118,000 people, 145-km away from Houston, woke up without drinking water supplyyesterday.

The Baptist Hospital in Beaumont city is evacuating patients and shutting down emergency services because thecity is without a workingwater supply.

"Due to the failure of the city's water pump, it is in the best interest of our current patients totransfer to other acute care facilities," Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas said in a statement yesterday.

"Due to the city-wide lack of services, we have no other alternative but to discontinue all services which will include emergency services. This is being done immediately. The hospital needs about 50,000 gallons of water a day to run," hospital medical director Ali Osman said.

The death toll and the number of people who were homeless by the storm continues to grow.

In Harvey's aftermath, authorities confronted crises on several fronts. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey carried its wrath up the Mississippi Deltayesterday, but not before hammering the Gulf Coast with more punishing cloudbursts and growing threats that included reports of "pops" and "chemical reactions" at a crippled chemical plant and the collapse of the drinking water system in a Texas city.

In Crosby, Texas, about 48 km northeast of Houston, alarming reports emerged about the danger posed by a chemical plant after the French company operating the facility said explosions were possible.

A fire official today said authorities are monitoring a flooded chemical plant near Houston after a blaze caused by an explosion was put out.

The Neches River in east Texas surged far beyond its banks, into streets, houses and businesses in the city of almost 120,000 people 112 km east-northeast of Houston, reaching six feet above the previous record by afternoon, the National Weather Service reported.

This city of nearly 120,000 residents sits near the Texas Gulf Coast about 48 km west of the the Louisiana border.

The police department said it has to wait until water levels recede before it can determine the extent of the damage and make any needed repairs.

Meanwhile, Houston officials ordered mandatory evacuation of areas around the Barker Reservoir, as flooding from that basin, and the nearby Addicks Reservoir, continued to pour into neighborhoods on the city's western edge.

In other parts of the city, floodwaters receded, exposing countless losses and new hazards, like ruined and abandoned vehicles blocking roads, damaged electrical systems, and mold.

As residents of the region tried to assess the damage and some returned to their homes, weather forecasters said more rain are expected early next week.

The White House said President Donald Trump will donate USD 1 million of his personal money for flood relief operations in Texas and Louisiana.

Vice President Mike Pence met with people reeling under the rampage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and promised them of full support by his government until the state is back on its feet.

Tom Bossert, the White House official who is spearheading the administration's storm response, estimated that 100,000 houses in Texas and Louisiana have been damaged or destroyed, and said Trump will seek billions in aid in the coming weeks.

More than 30,000 people remained in shelters in the region.

Houston fire officials said they would begin going door- to-door in search for victims, a process that could take up to two weeks.

"The shelter mission is the biggest battle that we have right now," said Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

FEMA reported that 95,745 people in Texas had been approved for emergency assistance, including rent, repairs and lost property. The agency has so far paid out about USD 57 million.

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The Delhi High Court today sought the responses of the Centre and the AAP government on a PIL praying for a direction to establish a hospital with maternal care and also proper public toilets for women in the Najafgarh area in southwest Delhi.

Concerned over lack of government health facilities and basic amenities in the area, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also posed a query to the counsel for the AAP government about the functioning of the mohalla clinics in Najafgarh area.

It asked the authorities to file status report with four weeks and listed the matter for November 22.

Advocate Kushal Kumar, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the will take instruction on the issue.

The AAP government counsel submitted that their are four mohalla clinics in the Najafgarh area and two dispensaries.

61-year-old social worker, Parmeshwari Devi, through her counsel Abhishek Kumar Choudhary, submitted "one can guarantee delivery of a pizza in 30 minutes in India, but not the arrival of an ambulance."



The woman in her plea highlighted the "massive problem of not having a single government hospital in the area of Najafgarh because of which the pregnant women of the area face great risk and pain when they require a hospital for delivery as the other hospitals are very far off, because of which, both the mother and the baby are put to risk.

"Many times, the woman or the baby's life is lost because of no nearby government hospital. Thus, the Najafgarh area has been a very neglected one," it said, adding "only 54 per cent of pregnant women had at least three ante-natal care visits compared to 83 per cent for the rest of the urban population."



She prayed for a direction to the government to establish government hospitals in the Najafgarh region and also sought better toilet facilities for public, especially women, in the region.

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India is expected to raise its concerns over terrorism strongly at the next week's BRICS Summit, hosted by China, which yesterday said New Delhi's concerns over Pakistan's counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.

India also did not rule out a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Summit on Monday with External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying it is a common practice to arrange bilateral meetings on the sidelines of such multilaterals.

But he refused to divulge details, saying he cannot share timing and other information on bilateral meetings that have already been confirmed including those among BRICS leaders or with guest countries invited by China as part of an outreach exercise.

Modi will leave on September 3 to attend the Brazil- Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) Summit on September 4 in China, from where he will travel to Myanmar on a state visit before returning on September 7.

While Kumar refused to "preempt" as to what Modi will speak during his intervention at the Summit on Monday in the Chinese city of Xiamen, sources said India is expected to flag its concerns over terrorism strongly.

At the last BRICS Summit, hosted by India, Modi had described Pakistan as a "mothership" of terrorism world-wide.

The PM had sought decisive global action such as systematically cutting off funding, weapons supply, training and political support to terror outfits and asserted that selective approach to deal with the menace will be not only futile but also counter-productive.

Leaders are free to speak what they want and it is the joint declaration which is prepared on the basis of consensus, Kumar said when asked about China's view that India's concerns over Pakistan's counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.

"Our position on terrorism is very clear. We have raised it at different fora and multilaterals. It is an important issue.

"I don't want to preempt as to what the prime minister will speak during his intervention during the BRICS restricted session and in the plenary. Also (I cannot say) how and in what shape it is going to come out in the declaration document," the spokesperson said.

He also noted that Indian officials, including the joint secretary in charge of China division in the ministry, were in China currently to discuss the joint declaration.

Asked if recent Dokalam issue will figure during discussions with other leaders, he said it was "premature" to share at this stage what are the issues which will be discussed among the leaders.

This is the first time the two countries will be interacting at the highest level after the resolution of the Dokalam standoff earlier this week. The Chinese and Indian troops were in a face-off situation since June 16 in Dokalam in Sikkim sector after the Indians stopped construction of a road by China's army.

On whether the national security advisors of India and China will meet on the sidelines of the Summit, Kumar said he has no information but noted that they had met last month in China.

On India's view about the expansion of BRICS and China inviting leaders of Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand, the spokesperson said it is the right of a host country to invite guests as part of outreach exercise.

Leaders of the five BRICS countries and guest countries will discuss the importance of cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries.

With a theme of 'BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future', the Summit is expected to deliberate on world economic situation, global economic governance, international & regional hotspot issues, national security and development, according to Chinese foreign ministry.

At the plenary session, the leaders will be focusing their discussions on deepening BRICS cooperation, people to people exchanges, institutional building and other issues. At the plenary session, the BRICS leaders will adopt the BRICS leaders' Xiamen declaration.

The leaders of the five countries will attend the launch ceremony of the BRICS Cultural Festival and also the Photo Exhibition.

They will also have a dialogue with the Business Council, which will submit its report on ways to promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries.

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West Papua should also be given an official voice within the Forum itself, under the umbrella organisation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, AWPA said.

AWPA also urged that the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression be allowed to visit West Papua, with the Pacific Islands Forum driving this call.

In an open letter, AWPA called on the Forums 18 members to keep raising the issue of human rights abuses with Indonesias government and continue applying pressure on Jakarta to allow a fact-finding mission to the Indonesian-ruled territory.

AUCKLAND - The Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) has urged leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum to continue their support of West Papua.

The West Papuan people have been calling for dialogue with Jakarta for years and AWPA believes the PIF can play an important role in helping facilitate such a dialogue between representatives of the West Papuan leadership and the Indonesian government.

AWPA Sydney secretary Joe Collins said the group was ultimately grateful for the support of the Forum.

I would first like to thank the Forum leaders for discussing and raising concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua in the official communiques at the Forum meetings in Port Moresby in 2015 and Pohnpei in 2016.

We are very encouraged that the Forum Leaders agreed that the issue of West Papua should remain on their agenda.

In March, seven Pacific island nations raised grave concerns at the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding human rights violations in West Papua.

Over the past year, eight Pacific Island states have also joined the Pacific Coalition for West Papua in calling for human rights and self-determination to be upheld in the territory.

AWPA's call comes after a month of crackdowns on peaceful displays of freedom of expression by Indonesian security forces and a fatal shooting.

Yulianus Pigai died at the hands of security forces earlier this month in a shooting which also left 16 others wounded in the Deiyai district, leaving some to question whether West Papua will ever see an end to violence.

AWPAs call also comes in the same month a petition spearheaded by West Papua Action Auckland asking for similar support from New Zealands government was rejected.

A British team are currently swimming across Lake Geneva to deliver a petition calling for self-determination in West Papua.
India welcomes President Donald Trump's Afghan and South Asia policy, India's envoy to the US has said, underlining that New Delhi shares America's concern over Pakistan which provides safe havens to terrorists.

President Donald Trump last week hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

India's ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said on terrorism, India and the US have a strategic convergence in a host of areas, including in its fight against terrorism.

"We welcome the new Afghan policy because we share the concerns and the objectives that the safe havens that have been given to terrorists in Pakistan. The cross-border operations that are carried out from there concern us as much they are for the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, we share the policies announced by the Trump Administration which we welcome," Sarna said.

Addressing the Hawaii-based East West Center, a top American think-tank, Sarna said on terrorism there is a very strong joint statement between India and the US, issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in June.

He also said Pakistan should not be using its territory or the territory under its control for fomenting terrorism under its control.

"There is recognition of the fact that connectivity projects, while they're welcome, they have to go by certain basic rules and regulations of transparency, of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensuring that in the process are not trampling the political and economic rights of the countries that are involved," Sarna said.

He also met Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US House of Representative in 2013 is the three-term Democratic Congresswoman.

"There is cooperation in maritime security. PACOM (Pacific Command) here is playing an important role. India today is doing more military exercises with the US than with any other country," he said.

"When you look at actual potential of the two countries, there are various areas in which India is looking to buy more from the US," he said and cited the example of civil aviation and oil sector.

In Hawaii, Sarna met the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris to discuss India-US defence relationship.

The strong global partnership between India and the US was very much evident during the visit of Prime Minister Modi and his discussions with Trump, he said, adding that this should not be seen through the prism of any third country.

"I think in terms of facing the challenges whether there be of global terrorism whether it be of issues of maritime security whether that be the freedom of the seas and navigation and connectivity issues, these are all issues which democracies have to handle and it becomes much easier to handle them together," he was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Radio.

Responding to a question, he refuted reports that the Indo-US relationship is to counterweight China.

"Well you know I'm not very sure whether it is useful to see these relations to the prism of any other relationship. I think the India-US relationship has a strong logic of its own. Its relationship between the world's largest and the world's oldest democracies. It is a relationship based on convergence of fundamental values, freedom of individual liberties," he said.

"Of course there is a very strong people-to-people link, now that we have a very successful and increasingly powerful diaspora of about three million people of Indian-origin in the US. So I would rather take this relationship on its on its own basis and not look at it from the prism of any third country," Sarna said in response to a question.

According to the envoy, India has a very broad-based relationship with China which has multi-lateral aspects and also strong economic and investment.

"Then we have recently resolved an issue (Dokalam standoff) at the border through diplomatic channels. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is something which faces many of the challenges of the world. And it gives a platform for major emerging economies to come together and to implement these issues," he said.
Iraq's victory over the Islamic State group in Tal Afar was the latest in a string of gains against the jihadist group, but Iraqi forces still face massive challenges, experts say.

In 2014, IS staged a rapid advance across northern Iraq, with police and military personnel abandoning their posts to the jihadists with barely a fight.

That allowed IS to seize nearly a third of the country's territory including Mosul, which was fully recaptured by Iraqi forces in July, three years after IS declared its self-styled "caliphate" from a mosque in Iraq's second city.

Today, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office three months after the 2014 military debacle, says the Iraqi state is back -- stronger and better organised.

Under the Shiite premier's command and backed by a US-led multinational coalition, Iraqi forces have retaken Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and, after a gruelling nine-month battle, Mosul.

Today, Abadi announced the recapture of the town of Tal Afar and surrounding areas, bringing the whole of Nineveh province of which Mosul is the capital under government control.

With support from foreign military trainers, Iraqi forces have "gained a lot of combat and coordination capacity in just a year", said a French military official, asking not to be named.

"Relatively well-organised and trained but also well- supported, (they) have been able to stop the jihadists organising along coherent lines of defence," he told AFP.

During the fight for Mosul, described by an American general in Baghdad as "the toughest urban battle since World War II", Iraqi troops suffered heavy losses.

But they have now forced IS out of all its Iraqi territory except the town of Hawija, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and a few pockets of territory near the border with Syria.

In doing so, they have regained "the confidence of their fellow citizens and internationally", said Jassem Hanoun, an Iraqi military expert, after the loss of face of three years ago.

Coalition officials say Iraqi-led decision-making and better sharing of intelligence between Baghdad and the US-led coalition have allowed for quicker, more targeted attacks.

But Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari warned on August 26 that "victory in Iraq will not mean an end to the danger posed by IS".

He said Iraq would continue its military cooperation with the coalition, saying it needed "preventive security" against "terrorist cells working in the shadows".

Hanoun said IS would likely go back to its "original mode of operation", attacking targets such as residential districts and markets.

But a lack of coordination and organisation means the security services struggle to cope with such attacks, he said.

The question of whether and how the coalition will continue to operate in Iraq is a hot political topic both for Baghdad and for Washington, which in 2011 finally withdrew its troops eight years after leading an invasion in 2003.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A student of an Industrial Training Institute in Sonipat in Haryana was allegedly shot at inside the classroom today by his classmate, a senior police official said.

Both the students are in the age group of 16 to 17 years. The accused had brought the country-made pistol concealed in his bag, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sonipat, Rahul Dev said.

"A CCTV footage purportedly shows two boys approaching the victim from behind, who was chatting with other students in the classroom. One of the two boys then took out a pistol from his bag and shot the victim in the back," the DSP said.

"As the victim fell from the bench he was sitting on, both the accused fled from the spot," he said, adding preliminary investigation has revealed that an altercation took place between the victim and the two accused a few days back.

"The victim was rushed to a hospital at Sonipat from where he was referred to PGIMS at Rohtak where he is undergoing treatment," the DSP said.

A case of attempt to murder has been registered against the absconding duo, he said, adding the police are also questioning other students and the authorities concerned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kenya's Supreme Court today nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win last month as unconstitutional and called for new elections within 60 days, shocking a country that had been braced for further protests by opposition supporters.

Kenyatta said he "personally disagrees" with the ruling but respects it, but he lashed out at the judges, saying that "six people have decided they will go against the will of the people." He called for peace in a country where some elections have been followed by deadly violence.

No presidential election in the East African economic hub has ever been nullified. Opposition members danced in the streets, marvelling at the setback for Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between Kenya's leading political families.

"It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa," said opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged the vote. "For the first time in the history of African democratisation, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling."



The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favour of the petition filed by Odinga. He claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favour of Kenyatta, who had won a second term with 54 per cent of the vote.

The court did not place blame on Kenyatta or his party.

It said the election commission "committed illegalities and irregularities ... In the transmission of results, substance of which will be given in the detailed judgment of the court" that will be published within 21 days.

Odinga's lawyer had argued that a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the ballots had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes.

Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said today they will make personal changes before the new vote, and he invited the prosecution of any staffer found to be involved in malpractice.

Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded.

The lead counsel for the president, Ahmednassir Abdulahi, told the court that the nullification was a "very political decision" but said they will live with the consequences.

International election observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said they saw no interference with the vote.

Two dozen countries including the United States, which already had congratulated Kenyatta on his victory, issued a joint statement today saying the court's ruling "demonstrated Kenya's resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The family of a man, who died during treatment here, agitated before the tehsildar office along with the body of their kin, alleging negligence by the rural hospital staff at Korchi taluka, police said today.

The relatives of the deceased yesterday met the tehsildar and handed over a written complaint to her, alleging that doctors at the rural hospital in Korchi gave wrong medication to their kin, which resulted in his death, an officer at the tehsildar office in Korchi said.

According to sources, the deceased, Dhankumar Undirwade (41), a resident of Nandli village, was bitten by a snake while he was sleeping at his house on August 30.

He was taken to the rural hospital in Korchi the next morning.

Undirwade's kin alleged that the doctors did not treat him for snake bite and gave medicines for some other ailment, following which his condition deteriorated.

The doctors then advised them to take the patient to district hospital in Gadchiroli for further treatment.

But there was no ambulance available and it took some time for the relatives to arrange a private vehicle.

Undirwade succumbed while en route to the hospital in Gadchiroli.

The agitated relatives then took the body to the tehsildar office and registered their protest, demanding that criminal cases be booked against the doctors of Korchi hospital.

They warned that the body will not be moved till any action is initiated against the doctors.

It was only after tehsildar, Pushpa Kumre assured them that a proposal to initiate an action against the doctors concerned will be sent to the higher authorities and financial aid will be given to the deceased's kin, the relatives took the body for last rites, the officer said.

When asked about the incident, civil surgeon of Gadchiroli district hospital, Dr Pramod Khandate said there are two ambulances at Korchi (hospital), out of which one is not functioning, while another might have been sent elsewhere.

He said they have not received any such information about the death as of yet.

Dr Sachin Kawadkar, who attended to the patient at the Korchi rural hospital, claimed no symptoms of snake bite were found in the patient, hence, he was not given treatment for snake bite.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has undergone a successful surgery of her throat cancer at a London hospital, a media report said today.

She underwent the surgery for early-stage lymphoma in London yesterday and is expected to stay at the hospital for at least a day before doctors discharge her, Geo reported.

"We are grateful to Allah Almighty for successful surgery of Kalsoom bhabi ... May she get well soon!" Sharif's brother and Punjab province's Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted.

The former first lady, in her mid-60s, is being tipped as the next prime minister of Pakistan, replacing Shahid Khakan Abbasi.

She is contesting the by-poll scheduled for September 17 for a National Assembly seat from Lahore which fell vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif in the Panama Papers case on July 28.

Sharif reportedly pitched his wife to stage his come back in the prime minister's house as 'first gentleman'.

Kulsoom has missed campaiging for the by-election due to the surgery. But her daughter, Maryam Nawaz, chose to stay in Pakistan to run Kulsoom's election campaign while her siblings - Hasan, Hussain and Asma - are in London.

During the surgery, Maryam had tweeted: "Ami (mother) in surgery at the moment. Request you all to pray for her. Thank you."



Sharif remains by the side of his wife in London and arrived in London on Wednesday. In his brief comments, Sharif thanked overseas Pakistanis for their support and promised he will soon address them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif who underwent a successful surgery of her throat cancer in London, was discharged today from hospital, a PML-N leader said.

She underwent the surgery for early-stage lymphoma yesterday. "Now she's back home resting, awaiting further treatment as prescribed by her consultants," Iqbal Sandhu, information secretary at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (UK), told PTI.

Sandhu said Sharif offered his Eid prayers at Pakistan high commission in London this morning. His two sons were also by his side.

"We are grateful to Allah Almighty for successful surgery of Kulsoom bhabi ... May she get well soon!" Sharif's brother and Punjab province's Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted.

The former first lady, in her mid-60s, is being tipped as the next prime minister of Pakistan, replacing Shahid Khakan Abbasi.

She is contesting the by-poll scheduled for September 17 for a National Assembly seat from Lahore which fell vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif in the Panama Papers case on July 28.

Sharif reportedly pitched his wife to stage his come back in the prime minister's house as 'first gentleman'.

Kulsoom has missed campaiging for the by-election due to the surgery. But her daughter, Maryam Nawaz, chose to stay in Pakistan to run Kulsoom's election campaign.

During the surgery, Maryam had tweeted: "Ami (mother) in surgery at the moment. Request you all to pray for her. Thank you."



Sharif arrived in London on Wednesday. In his brief comments, Sharif thanked overseas Pakistanis for their support and promised he will soon address them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese technology giant Lenovo is betting big on the premium tag with introduction of a new series of 'Yoga' PCs that are slated to hit the Indian market during the festive season.

The launch of the products, a sign the company is expanding its premium portfolio, was announced at the annual IFA show here today.

The 'Yoga 920' -- a convertible laptop -- priced over USD 1,399 will hit markets worldwide from October and is expected to be available in India during Diwali, an official said here.

However, the company is yet to announce the launch date and price for the Indian market.

Weighing 1.37 kg, the Windows 10 operating system-powered PC has a long-range voice-activated support, a digital pen, a biometric fingerprint reader for instant log-ins, with an in-built camera.

The second device -- 'Yoga 720' -- (12 inch) is a 2-in-1 convertible weighing 1.15 kg, with prices starting at USD 549.

Lenovo has also announced the launch of 'Miix 520' -- which features a detachable 12.2-inch screen, priced USD 649 onwards. The detachment feature allows the PC to be used as a standalone tablet PC.

Ken Wong, President of Asia Pacific and Senior Vice- President at Lenovo Group told PTI that the Indian market is moving towards more premium products.

"The market is actually moving towards more premium. We actually see more growth from the premium side of the market. On the premium side, I think there are a couple of things coming up (for India)," Wong said here.

According to research firm IDC, Lenovo held a 16.9 per cent market share in the overall traditional PC market in India during the April-June 2017 quarter, occupying the third spot after HP and Dell.

Lenovo has also unveiled a 5.2-inch water-resistant Moto X4 smartphone. Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 630 2.2 GHz octa-core processor, the device will be available worldwide at USD 399 onwards.

"For consumers who refuse to compromise, the stunning glass metal-designed 5.2-inch Moto X4 features an innovative dual rear camera system for the latest in advanced imaging. An adaptive low and light selfie cam will always present you in the best light," said a product guide.

But the show stopper for the Lenovo camp here was the 'Star Wars : Jedi Challengers' app-based augmented reality (AR) device.

Aimed at Star Wars fans, the device offers a real fighting experience the lightsaber against the menacing Star Wars villains like Kylo Ren, Darth Maul, Darth Vader and the others.

The product comes as an exclusive tie-up between Disney and Lenovo. The AR device will be available from October in the US and select countries at an estimated price of 249 euros.

With its 'Different is Better' tagline, Lenovo said it sees lot of potential in the gaming business globally and it is also becoming one of the dynamic segments in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lexus, the luxury vehicle arm of Japanese auto major Toyota, on Friday announced the restructuring of its operations in India and said it would operate independently from its parent brand, nearly five months after entering the country.

Under the reorganised structure, a new organisation, to be known as Lexus India, would stand independently from the broader Toyota presence in India, the company said in a statement.

The leadership has also been strengthened with Akito Tachibana to be the Chairman of . Tachibana will drive the brand's growth strategy.

Takemura will be the President of and will lead the business, while Arun Nair will move into the role of Vice-President, overseeing operations.

Commenting on the change, Takemura said: "India is an extremely important market for Lexus. Today's announcement of a new and independent organisational structure is a signal that we intend to build a business that continues to drive growth not only in India but with India and for India."



Lexus marked its India entry in March this year with the introduction of a hybrid-focused lineup of vehicles featuring sedan ES300h, crossover RX450h, and SUV LX450d.

The company has opened four showrooms in Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Gurgaon.

"Lexus India's independence as a business organisation will enable the brand to build its presence as a luxury lifestyle brand and to position for growth in India, one of the world's fastest growing economies," the company said.
Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was on Friday raised by over Rs 7 per cylinder, in line with the government's decision to hike prices every month so that all subsidies are eliminated by the end of this financial year.

A subsidised 14.2-kg LPG cylinder now costs Rs 487.18 in Delhi as against Rs 479.77 previously, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the nation's largest fuel retailer.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on July 31 told the Lok Sabha that the government had asked state-owned oil companies to raise subsidised cooking gas (LPG) prices by Rs 4 per cylinder every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year.

Rates were, however, raised by Rs 2.31 per cylinder on the previous due date on August 1 and the oil companies have effected a larger hike to equalise that, sources said.

Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases of Rs 2 from July last year, subsidised LPG rates have gone up by over Rs 68 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.

The government had previously asked IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to raise rates of subsidised domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 2 per 14.2-kg cylinder per month (excluding VAT).

(Courtesy: PTI)

Every household is entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year. Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at market price.

The price of non-subsidised LPG or market-priced cooking gas has also been hiked by Rs 73.5 to Rs 597.50 per bottle. Rates were at the last revision cut by Rs 40.

Simultaneously, the oil companies also raised prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by 4 per cent, in keeping with rising global rates.

ATF, or jet fuel, now costs Rs 50,020 per kilolitre, Rs 1,910 more than Rs 48,110 previously. This hike comes on the back of a 2.3 per cent increase effected from August 1.

Also, the price of kerosene sold through public distribution system (PDS) was hiked by about 25 paise per litre.

The government is adopting the same policy as in LPG for eliminating subsidy on kerosene. Since July 1 last year, rates have been hiked by 25 paise per litre each fortnight.

While Delhi has been declared a kerosene-free state, the fuel now costs Rs 22.27 per litre in Mumbai compared to Rs 22 previously. Kerosene was on July 1, 2016, priced at Rs 15.02 per litre in Mumbai.

State-owned oil firms revise rates of LPG and ATF on 1st of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the previous month.

Today's hike in the LPG price is fourth since the May 30 order of the oil ministry to raise rates by Rs 4 per cylinder every month.

There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include 2.6 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.

There are another 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas.
Those statements have now been contradicted by new lands minister Justin Tkatchenko, who has told the media he is setting up a special committee to look at the leases and decide which ones are illegal and which should be cancelled.

In the lead-up to the national election both the prime minister and lands minister made clear statements that gave the impression all the SABL leases were deemed illegal and had been cancelled.

The land grab, affecting over 50,000 square kilometres of customary land, was one of the biggest national issues over the lifetime of the last parliament.

PORT MORESBY - The Papua New Guinean government has lied to the nation over the SABL land grab and people across the country will be angry and disappointed.

It now looks as if this government lied to us all on the issue of the SABL land grab in order to get re-elected.

How can the then lands minister say in April that he is announcing to the country and the people that the government has taken a blanket cancellation of all special agriculture business leases and as we speak, they are all illegal and then four months later his successor say the leases have not been cancelled and the government has not yet decided which are illegal?

In March we even had the prime minister tell the nation on camera that he had made the decisions that I can make, what is legally required of me and the NEC; that is that we have cancelled all the licences. All the SABL licences are illegal in this country.

If it is true the leases have not been cancelled, then the people of PNGhave been deceived.

Act Now is demanding that the government:

Confirm all logging operations in SABL areas have been stopped and ensure the logging companies withdraw; Ensure all oil palm operations in SABL areas are stopped until a final decision is made on the leases; Ensure all police and army personnel are removed from SABL areas; Publish a list of all SABLs and their current status; and Tell the nation which leases they believe are legitimate.

It is now four years since the Commission of Inquiry reported, since then all we have had are lies and false promises.

Numerous committees and decisions have been announced but on the ground nothing has changed and the illegal occupation of customary land and illegal logging continues with the full connivance of the government.
Automobile manufacturers led by Maruti Suzuki posted robust passenger vehicles (PV) sales growth in August riding on strong consumer sentiment ahead of the festive season.

Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda saw their PV sales improve in August compared to the same month last year, although Ford and Toyota witnessed a decline.

Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) domestic sales stood at 1,52,000 units, up 26.7 per cent from 1,19,931 units in August last year.

This was mainly driven by sales of compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Dzire and Baleno which jumped by 62.4 per cent to 74,012 units last month as against 45,579 units in the year-ago period.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Ertiga, S- Cross and compact SUV Vitara Brezza increased by 27.6 per cent to 21,442 units in August, from 16,806 units in the same month of 2016, it added.

However, mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, witnessed a marginal decline to 35,428 units during the month under review from 35,490 units in August 2016, MSI said.

Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) posted 9 per cent increase in domestic sales at 47,103 units in August. It had sold 43,201 units in August 2016.

HMIL Director, sales and marketing, Rakesh Srivastava said August sales were boosted by strong response to the newly launched Verna that received more than 7,000 bookings within 10 days of launch.

Homegrown utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra reported 7.01 per cent increase in domestic sales at 39,534 units last month as compared to 36,944 units in August 2016.

M&M President Automotive Sector Rajan Wadhera said the upsurge in demand has been due to good monsoons and rural penetration.

Compatriot Tata Motors' passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market grew by 10.29 per cent to 14,340 units last month as against 13,002 units in August last year.

The sales growth has been on the back of strong performance of the new generation cars like Tiago, Tigor and Hexa, Tata Motors President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Mayank Pareek said.

"With Ganesh Chaturthi, we have entered the festive season and we expect the growth momentum to continue," he added.

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) posted 24.5 per cent jump in its domestic sales in August at 17,365 units as against 13,941 units in corresponding month last year riding on its popular models City and WR-V.

"The festive purchases have already begun in some parts of the country and we expect the festival season to further boost our sales numbers in the next two months," HCIL President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno said.

Ford India, however, saw its domestic sales decline by 9 per cent to 7,777 units last month as against 8,548 in August last year.

"Constraints in the supply chain severely impacted export as well as domestic production for Ford cars in August," Ford India President and Managing Director Anurag Mehrotra said.

Similarly, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today reported 6.12 per cent decline in domestic sales at 12,017 units in August as against 12,801 units in the same month last year.

"The company faced production limitations which held it back from catching up with high demand and holidays in August also led to lesser number of production days," TKM Director and Senior Vice-President - Sales and Marketing N Raja said.

"Our sales numbers this month are not truly reflective of the existing customer orders. Post the announcement on potential cess hike, there was a considerable rise in customer enquiries and orders," he added.

In the two-wheeler segment, Royal Enfield reported 21.99 per cent increase in total sales at 67,977 units in August.

Bajaj Auto's total motorcycle sales were at 2,83,861 units as against 2,79,911 units in August last year, up 1.4 per cent.

Suzuki Motorcycle India reported a 54.25 per cent jump in sales at 56,745 units in August, its best ever monthly figure.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mel B says her daughters are no fans of Spice Girls, her former band.

The 42-year-old musician says her children - Phoenix, 18, Angel, 10 and Madison, five - don not consider the music of the 90's as music, reported People magazine.

"One of them calls it 'old people's music,'" she said. "(I'm) like, 'What are you talking about? It's '90s pop. It's the best genre of music ever'," says Mel B.

But ex one-fifth of the girl pop band says the vibe of that period's music was "brilliant".

Mel B adds, "I listen to my own music all the time and not just my own solos, but Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys," she said. "I'm a '90s R&B pop girl. I'm always going to be like that.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Militants on Friday opened fire on a police bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in the Pantha Chowk area here, killing a policeman and injuring three others.

The bus carrying personnel of the Armed Police came under fire from the militants in the evening. The vehicle was going from Bemina to Zewan, a police official said.

Four policemen were injured in the attack. They were rushed to the Army's 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment here, where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed to his injuries, he said.

The condition of the three others is stable, he 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.)
Militants today opened fire on a police bus at the Pantha Chowk area here, injuring four personnel.

The attack took place around 8 pm when the bus was going from Bemina to Zewan. The injured policemen have been rushed to the Army's 92 Base Hospital, a police spokesperson said.

The condition of one of the injured policemen is critical, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister believes in the "complete concentration of power" which has "effectively destroyed" the Cabinet form of government, the Congress today said, ahead of a reshuffle in the Council of ministers.

Congress senior spokesperson said the reshuffle would make no difference to the government as there was lack of talent in the Council of ministers.

"I don't see much talent that he has," he said.

While the reshuffle, slated to be held on Sunday, was the prerogative of the prime minister, it would make "zero difference", he said.

"He may appoint anyone and remove anyone and change any portfolios but will make a zero difference because this is the prime minister who believes in the complete concentration of power," Sharma told reporters here.

The former Union minister said there was a Cabinet form of government in the country, but wondered if it was "functioning like one".

He said key ministries for more than three years were without a Cabinet minister, which, he added, had never happened.

"Why? So that all policy papers which originate from the Cabinet minister's signature are prepared in the PMO. This is what he was doing as the chief minister of Gujarat. That is exactly what he is doing now to India," he said.

The Congress leader claimed the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) had "from day one virtually been done away with", even though, he said, it existed on paper.

These were direct orders from the PMO, he said, "until he was reminded that the word 'committee' means two people, more than one. So, the Home Minister was included".

Modi, he added, had "effectively destroyed" the Cabinet form of government.

"No Cabinet minister including the powerful minister moves a Cabinet note. He is not a member of the . The Defence minister is not a Member of the ACC," he said.

Asked about the ongoing RSS meet in Vrindavan, Sharma said the outfit still did not have "the character and courage" to say it was the "parent political party" of the BJP.

Calling the RSS an "octopus" with many affiliated bodies, the Congress leader said the RSS claimed to represent India's culture and Hinduism, but had a political ideology.

"The people, the majority community, to which many of us belong, including myself, have never given the RSS or the BJP the right to represent the Hindus of this country," he said.

Though the RSS said it was a social and cultural body, no decision was taken in the BJP or in the government without the RSS's approval, Sharma claimed.

"They should stand up and own that, yes, we control the political decision making of the BJP and the policy making," he said.

Asked about the likelihood of 21 Congress MLAs of Bihar leaving the party, Sharma said the Congress Legislature Party in Bihar was intact.

"There is no threat. Yes, efforts have been made, which expose the unprincipled of the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. They have failed, and the Congress Party will continue to resist any attempts to weaken its party or the Legislature party," he said.

On Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he said it was "normal" for Congress CMs to meet the Congress chief.

Sharma added that the Congress Party was united in Himachal Pradesh.
Rescuers today called off operations at the Mumbai building collapse site believing that no more persons were trapped under the debris, over 24 hours after the tragedy killed 33 people, including a 20-day-old child.

The 117-year-old building in the congested Bhendi Bazar area in south Mumbai came crashing down yesterday morning, two days after torrential rain brought the maximum city to its knees.

"Rescue operations have been called off as it does not seem that anybody else still remains trapped under the debris. However, some fire brigade personnel along with the police team will remain at the site as a precautionary measure," a senior fire brigade official told PTI.

Personnel of fire brigade, NDRF and the civic body have scoured the debris left by the crash of the five-story building, pulling out the dead and injured.

Around 14 people injured in the collapse are undergoing treatment at the state-run J J Hospital, a senior police official said.

"A total of 33 people have died, including a 20-day old male child. Apart from these, 14 are currently admitted in hospital, out which 11 are residents of the building. Two persons are in a critical state," Dr T P Lahane, Dean of JJ hospital told PTI.

Three fire brigade personnel are also admitted, he said.

The dead include 23 men, nine women and a 20-day-old male child, police said.

Earlier in the day, police sources had put the toll at 34, which was later corrected as 33.

The search operations had continued through last night.

Located in the congested Muslim-dominated Pakmodia Street, the dilapidated Husaini Building housed several families and godowns.

It also housed a play school but children had not arrived yet when the tragedy occurred.

The tragedy struck barely two days after torrential rain brought the city to its knees, crippling road, rail and air services, inundating homes and leaving at least 10 people dead. Many suspect the downpour caused further damage to the ramshackle structure, causing its crash.

Some residents in the locality claimed that several families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was to have undertaken redevelopment of the old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants -- 12 residential and one commercial.

"Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," it said in a statement.

"MHADA notices dated March 28 and May 20, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.

The Maharashtra government had announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited the site yesterday, also said that the entire medical expenses of those injured would be borne by the state government.

This was the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar on July 25, which left 17 people dead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The death toll in the Mumbai building collapse rose to 34 today with 10 more bodies being pulled out from the debris since last night, police said.

The 117-year-old building in the congested Bhendi Bazaar area in south Mumbai came crashing down yesterday morning, two days after torrential rain brought the maximum city to its knees.

Around 15 people injured in the collapse are undergoing treatment at the state-run J J Hospital, a senior police official said.

The dead include 24 men, nine women and a 20-day-old child, police said.

The search operation by personnel of fire brigade, NDRF and the Mumbai civic body was on a war footing as they pulled out 10 bodies from under the rubble since last night.

Located in the congested Muslim-dominated Pakmodia Street, the dilapidated Husaini Building housed several families and godowns.

It also housed a play school but children had not arrived yet when the tragedy occurred.

According to fire brigade officials, some nine families lived in the five-storey building.

The officials said that efforts were underway to rescue more people who might be trapped in the debris.

The tragedy struck barely two days after torrential rain brought the city to its knees, crippling road, rail and air services, inundating homes and leaving at least 10 people dead. Many suspect the downpour caused further damage to the ramshackle structure, causing its crash.

Some residents claimed that about 40 people belonging to nine families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was to have undertaken redevelopment of the old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants -- 12 residential and one commercial.

"Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," it said in a statement.

"MHADA notices dated March 28 and May 20, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday visited the spot and announced a solatium of Rs five lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

He also said that the entire medical expenses of those injured will be borne by the state government.

This was the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar on July 25, which left 17 people dead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amidst indications of his political plunge, Tamil actor Kamal Haasan today met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here and discussed the political situation in neigbouring Tamil Nadu.

He met Vijayan at the latter's official residence 'Cliff House' here. Haasan was treated to a feast arranged as part of the Onam festival celebrations.

On being quizzed about the Tamil Nadu politics, the actor said the governor should intervene in the present situation.

"I do not like to see this drama (going in Tamil Nadu). I am not anyone to call for a floor test or speak to the governor, but I am using this podium to call for it," he said.

When asked about his political affiliation, the 62-year-old actor said he had been in the film industry for 40 years, but "I can tell you one thing, my colour is definitely not saffron".

Haasan said he had come to Kerala for a personal visit.

"Most of the leftist are my heroes. I want to be in the middle of things and not take sides," he said.

"Look at the statistics of Kerala, you are pushing it to the standards of western countries. Mine is not blind admiration, it is sensible - about why choosing Pinarayi Vijayan," he remarked.

Talking about the meeting on his Facebook post, Vijayan said he shared a healthy friendship with the actor.

"Whenever he visits Kerala, he used meets me. However, this is the first meeting after I assumed the office of chief minister," he said.

Though it was a courtesy meeting, politics of south India, especially the situation in Tamil Nadu, also came up for discussion, he added.

Talking to reporters before leaving to meet the Kerala chief minister, the Tamil actor said his visit was "a political education tour."



"Definitely, as far as I am concerned, this is an education tour to me," he said.

"Actually I was supposed to come to Kerala last year itself. But I could not make it as I met with an accident," Haasan said.

The actor had congratulated the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by Vijayan for providing "good governance" when it completed one-year in office in May this year.

Haasan had been vocal against the Tamil Nadu government on the issue of corruption, thus incurring the wrath of several state ministers, who have accused the actor of speaking in general terms and dared him to provide evidence of his charges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid indications that he may join politics, veteran actor Kamal Haasan today addressed the issue of his political affiliation, saying his colour is "definitely not saffron".

Haasan's statement after a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan comes days after he told his fans to be prepared to march to Fort St George in Chennai, the seat of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, to ensure that corrupt politicians are not re-elected in the state.

During the meeting at the chief minister's official residence 'Cliff House' here, Haasan, 62, discussed the political situation in neigbouring Tamil Nadu. The actor was treated to a feast arranged as part of the Onam festival celebrations.

On being quizzed about Tamil Nadu politics, the multilingual actor said the governor should intervene in the present situation.

"I do not like to see this drama (going in Tamil Nadu). I am not anyone to call for a floor test or speak to the governor, but I am using this podium to call for it," he said.

Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran is involved in a tussle for power in Tamil Nadu, and has upped the ante since the merger of the two factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on August 21.

When asked about his political affiliation, the actor said he had been in the film industry for 40 years, but "I can tell you one thing, my colour is definitely not saffron".

Haasan said he had come to Kerala for a personal visit.

"Most of the leftists are my heroes. I want to be in the middle of things and not take sides," he said.

"Look at the statistics of Kerala, you are pushing it to the standards of western countries. Mine is not blind admiration, it is sensible - about why choosing Pinarayi Vijayan," he remarked.

Talking about the meeting on his Facebook post, Vijayan said he shared a healthy friendship with the actor.

"Whenever he visits Kerala, he used meets me. However, this is the first meeting after I assumed the office of chief minister," he said.

Though it was a courtesy meeting, politics of south India, especially the situation in Tamil Nadu, also came up for discussion, he added.

Talking to reporters before leaving to meet the chief minister, the actor said his visit was "a political education tour."



"Definitely, as far as I am concerned, this is an education tour to me," he said.

"Actually I was supposed to come to Kerala last year itself. But I could not make it as I met with an accident," Haasan said.

The actor had congratulated the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by Vijayan for providing "good governance" when it completed one-year in office in May this year.

Haasan had been vocal against the Tamil Nadu government on the issue of corruption, thus incurring the wrath of several state ministers, who have accused the actor of speaking in general terms and dared him to provide evidence of his charges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's anti-graft watchdog has recommended freezing of assets and bank accounts of ousted prime minister and his family members, an official said on Friday.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, has forwarded four cases against the Sharif family to its headquarters in Islamabad, proposing the steps against Sharif and his children.

The NAB's Lahore office has also proposed to confiscate all movable and immovable properties of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

"The NAB teams probing offshore properties and money laundering allegations against and his children - Hasan, Husain, Maryam - his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar and Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar today recommended to its (NAB) chief that their assets and bank accounts should be frozen," a NAB official told PTI.

He said the freezing of assets and banks accounts of the Sharif family members will be part of the four references against them to be filed next week in the accountability court.

"We will plead before the accountability court to freeze the assets of the Sharif family members in the references against them," the official said.

The four references to be filed against the Sharifs include their Avenfield Properties in London, Al-Azizia Company, other companies like Nescoll, Nielsen, F flagship Investments, Hartstone Properties, Que Holdings, Quint Eaton Place 2, Quint Saloane, Quaint, Flagship Securities, Quint Gloucester Place, Quint Paddington, Flagship Developments, Alanna Services (BVI), Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron, Ansbacher, Coomber and Capital FZE, Dubai.

The Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children in connection with the Panama Papers scandal within six weeks.

Sharif, his children and Dar refused to join NAB investigation despite summoned twice.

They said they would not appear before NAB in these cases till decision on their review petitions against the July 28 verdict.

The references against the Sharifs would include the findings of the Joint Investigation Team constituted by the Supreme Court to probe the corruption and money laundering allegations on them. JIT chief Wajid Zia has also recorded his statement before the NAB.

The State Bank of Pakistan and the Security of Exchange Commission of Pakistan had earlier handed over records of the Sharif family's bank accounts and companies to NAB. The Federal Board of Revenue has also submitted tax returns data of Sharif, his family and Dar.
But I wasnt especially surprised at these developments, coming as they did from a conservative and decidedly right-wing government. Abbott had lots of other shocks for us in 2014.

To my mind this was a reversal of the priorities of what I thought should the aims of Australias aid program.

This new focus was to concentrate on the private sector, aid for trade, economic infrastructure, education, gender equality and womens empowerment, humanitarian assistance and social protection.

A short while later they announced a shift in focus. The aid program was no longer to be about helping people in developing countries or people in distress but about promoting Australias national interests by contributing to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction by driving private sector and human development.

TUMBY BAY - In 2015 when the newly elected Abbott government announced it was abolishing AusAID and merging its functions with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ostensibly to cut down on red tape and to achieve financial efficiencies, I wondered where our foreign aid program was headed.

What did surprise me was the apparent blind faith in the efficacy of the neo-liberal economic ideology that was driving these changes.

Surely these politicians must have noticed that such an ideology was on the nose internationally. Why then was our government reaching back in time to a system that had never worked and was clearly breaking down?

In August 2015 foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop released a ministerial statement on engaging the private sector in aid and development.

Some time later she announced what she called a new flagship initiative in foreign aid by inviting businesses and their partners to directly approach the Australian government with proposals for new or redesigned initiatives that create new commercial opportunities whilst addressing specific aid objectives of the Australian government.

Our aid programs were to shift from a humanitarian focus to a mercenary focus.

I realise that targeted economic enhancement is a useful tool in any aid program but this was going too far.

Teaching people to fish rather than giving them fish is an old adage. Now we were going to sell them hooks and lines instead. To cite another cliche, it was akin to putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.

And this was occurring in tandem with the most savage cuts to the Australian aid program in its history.

With all this in mind I was curious to read the latest DFAT report on its aid program, particularly as it related to Papua New Guinea.

This was not as easy as it sounds. The slick report is loaded with statistics and colourful charts that are hard to decipher. Statistics and charts are, after all, a great way to obscure actual outcomes. They are a great way to turn facts into propaganda.

Ive always wondered why governments put so much faith in these kinds of indicators. Back in my public service days I recall fudging and misrepresenting facts and numbers in my own personal performance indicators reports.

When you transfer this bureaucratic propensity to a nations foreign aid program, the distortions become breathtaking. Thus it is with the DFAT report.

How do I know this? Well, its fairly simple, Ive looked at some of the programs and Ive talked to people who have done likewise.

I once cruised up the Aramia River in Western Province and observed the outcome of an aid project designed to deliver safe water to the villagers through the provision of rain water tanks.

What I saw was dozens of tanks abandoned on the river banks or, where they had actually been erected, leaking profusely from the holes caused by teenagers practising their archery skills.

And yet in the statistics this program was lauded as a great success. Some 150 poly-tanks delivered to about 40 villages at a cost of countless kina. What an achievement!

No one from AusAID had bothered to visit the villages to see how it the project had worked out. A bit too far and muddy for them, I suspect.

And they didnt want to know anyway, they were too busy ordering more tanks from one of their business mates for another project on the Purari River.

This kind of thinking, where bureaucratic exigencies outweigh practical results, has dogged Australian aid in Papua New Guinea for decades.

Savagely cutting the money available for the program and then inviting private enterprise in to plunder those funds doesnt seem to me to be a wise use of Australian taxpayers money.

But thats not what it is really about, is it? Its all about helping to line the pockets of the people delivering the aid.

It will be interesting to read the 2016-17 report when it hopefully includes details of Australias successful involvement in the recent PNG elections.
A court here today issued non- bailable warrants against seven people, including former incharge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, in connection with the death of children at the BRD Medical College hospital.

The development comes a day after the former principal of the college Dr Rajiv Mishra and his medico-wife Purnima Shukla were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Additional sessions judge Shivanand Singh issued the NBW against seven of the nine people named in the FIR, investigating officer C Abhishek Singh said.

The warrants were issued against incharge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, anstheist Dr Satish, pharmasist Gajanan Jaiswal, accountant Sudhir Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and gas suppliers Uday Pratap Singh and Manish Bhandari.

Khan, who was the nodal officer, has already been removed from the post.

Following the deaths, mostly of infants, cases were registered under various sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act against nine people, including the doctor couple.

Mishra and his wife, who were arrested from Kanpur on Tuesday by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), were produced before the judge who sent them to the Gorakhpur district jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

They were named in an FIR lodged by the UP government.

Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on August 12 after the deaths were reported. He resigned the same day taking moral responsibility.

There were allegations that the deaths happened due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for months.

While the Uttar Pradesh government vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar indicted Mishra and others of laxity and other charges.

Mishra was accused of sitting over on the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital.

The doctor couple were booked on the basis of the report submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by the chief secretary.

Adityanath had formed the committee on August 12, a day after the deaths of children were reported at the hospital.

The two doctors were picked up from Kanpur, where they had reportedly gone to consult a lawyer.

The medical college attracted global attention when more than 60 children, mostly infants, died at the hospital within the span of a week last month. The issue also acquired a political colour with the opposition attacking the government over it.

The Allahabad High Court yesterday sought a "detailed report" on the infrastructure and medical facilities at Gorakhpurs BRD Medical College.

It directed the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to personally visit the medical college hospital and file a report along with photographs of various wards.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A new round of talks on the conflict in Syria will be held in Astana on September 14-15, Kazakhstan announced today, with key powers looking to shore up safe zones on the ground.

Russia and Iran, which back the Syrian regime, and opposition supporter Turkey will look to work out more details of the "de-escalation zones", including the thorny issue of who will police the northern Idlib region, the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The participants also intend to confirm the maps of the de-escalation zones in the provinces of Idlib, Homs and Eastern Ghouta," it said.

The statement did not mention a fourth zone in the south of Syria, where Israel and the United States have been wary about seeing Iran involved after a ceasefire was agreed between Moscow and Washington in July.

Russia has already deployed military police to the zone in the south; in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus; and in part of Homs under the safe zone deals.

Moscow has been spearheading the Astana peace talks since the start of the year in a bid to pacify Syria after its game-changing intervention on the side of President Bashar al-Assad.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Railways to file an affidavit stating the capacity of the Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad here where a chemical spill took place recently.

Around 450 girl students of the Rani Jhansi School and Government Girls Senior Secondary School, run by the city administration, were hospitalised on May 6 after toxic fumes spread in the surrounding areas due to the leakage.

Most of the students, who complained of irritation in the eyes and breathlessness, were discharged after a few hours but a few had to be kept under observation for a longer time.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar granted the last opportunity to the Environment Ministry to file response to the report of the AIIMS panel, formed by the Centre after the incident.

"Additional Solicitor General of India prays for adjournment, which is not opposed. The matter is adjourned to October 16. In the meanwhile, the railways will place an affidavit on record showing the capacity of container," the bench said.

Advocate Sanjay Upadhyay, who had filed a plea seeking shifting of the container depot, filed maps of four major rail routes of railways showing those routes on which container trains ply from the ports on the western coast of the country for entry of goods not destined to Delhi.

The lawyer said the non-destined goods were being brought to the Tughlaqabad depot despite the fact that alternative container depots were in existence which were equally capable of handling these goods.

He claimed that all container depots were equally placed as Tughlaqabad depot and there was no reasonable basis of bringing non-Delhi destined goods to Delhi and contributing to the already increasing air pollution of the national capital and NCR region.

Earlier, the green panel had directed Dr Y K Gupta, head of the Pharmacology Department of AIIMS, to file the complete report based on his visit to the place. It had also asked the AIIMS to submit a supplementary report and inform about the health of the affected children.

The expert panel of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had earlier said that the residents of the Tughlaqabad area were "sitting on a (ticking) bomb" and opined that the inland container depot should be relocated.

The NGT had asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to state whether such containers carrying toxic material should be permitted in Tughlaqabad.

The tribunal had also directed officials from MoEF, Central Pollution Control Board, department of industries in Haryana and the state pollution control board to conduct a joint inspection of the Sonepat-based agro-chemical company Crystal Crop Protection Pvt Ltd which was the consignee of the leaked 2- chloromethyl- 5 (chloromethyl) in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi government today told a court here that there was no threat to the life of a man who had complained against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others alleging irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines.

The submission was made in a status report of the investigating officer on the behalf of Delhi Police as well as the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of city government pursuant to the court's direction issued on the last date of hearing.

However, the submission was opposed by complainant Rahul Sharma's counsel Rishi Kapoor who said there was ample CCTV footage to support their claim that Sharma and his family were under grave threat.

The court has now put up the matter for arguments on a status report on September 27 when the CCTV footages will also be shown and placed before it.

The court was hearing a complaint of Sharma, founder of NGO Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), seeking lodging of an FIR against Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Bansal, proprietor of a construction firm and a public servant for alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines in Delhi. Bansal died in May this year.

Earlier, Sharma's counsel had argued that Bansal had died under mysterious circumstances and the complainant was facing grave threat to his life.

He had claimed that the ACB had withheld a report given by the special cell of Delhi Police on the threat perception to the complainant, which should be placed before the court.

The court had on July 31 sought a status report regarding the complaint and the alleged threats given to the complainant and his family, while directing the SHO of the probe agency to look into the matter.

The ACB officer and prosecutor Balbir Singh had told the court that previous reports on alleged threat perceptions were already on record and according to the Uttar Pradesh Police, there was no threat to the complainant's life.

During pendency of the complaint in the court, the ACB had registered three FIRs on its own on May 8 regarding alleged irregularities in granting the contracts.

A magisterial court had earlier directed the ACB to assess the threat perception regarding Sharma again after he submitted that on May 30 two unidentified motorcycle-borne persons fired gun shots at him when he was travelling in his car along with a cousin.

In his complaint, Sharma has alleged "deep-rooted corruption" in the road and sewer line projects, claiming that documents showing purchase of material were "concocted and forged" and a loss of over Rs 10 crore had been caused to the public exchequer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
I nfosys former chairman today hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

Seshasayee, who along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys after Murthy rallied other co- founders and institutional investors to bring back peer Nandan Nilekani, said he had always been candid and truthful in all his statements concerning Infosys.

Read the full text of his statement below:



Statement of R.Seshasayee , John Etchemendy, and Jeffrey Lehman





Referring to the recent statements made by Mr. Narayana Murthy to the investors and media, Mr. R. Seshasayee, former Chairman of Infosys said: "Since my resignation from the Board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the Company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past. Mr. Murthy's statement to the investors reported by the Press, however, forces me to issue this statement, which is done only to defend myself against personal attacks and patently false and slanderous accusations.

Mr. Murthy 's statement to the investors misleadingly attributes words to me that are taken completely out of context, making it appear that I was not stating the truth. I wish to categorically state that I have always been candid and truthful in all my statements concerning Infosys. To quote an anonymous whistleblower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive.

The words that Mr. Murthy attributes to Jeff Lehman and Roopa Kudva, from their private conversation with him are also egregiously taken out of context. It is regrettable that Mr. Murthy 's campaign on the alleged governance lapses has continually slipped into personal attacks and slander on individual Board members. I would also like to point out that Mr. Murthy invited me to join the Board and entrusted to me the Chair of the Audit Committee, while he was still the Chairman. As late as February '17, much after the alleged lapses took place, Mr. Murthy also issued a press statement that I was a man of high integrity. I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivations for this persistent vendetta against me."

John Etchemendy, former Director of Infosys who also resigned recently from the Board, said as follows: "Sesh is a man of impeccable integrity. Faced with unfair, false, and outrageous attacks, he has consistently responded with scrupulous honesty and forthrightness. He has been an inspiration to his fellow board members and has been the real moral compass of Infosys for the past three years. I am fully conversant with the details of the Rajiv Bansal issue and I can categorically state that at no point did Sesh say anything in public or, to the best of my knowledge, in private that was untrue or did not reflect the collective view of the Board.

Jeffrey Lehman, former of Director of Infosys who also resigned recently from the Board said as follows: "I had the privilege of serving on the Infosys Board for more than eleven years, under several different chairs. During his tenure, Mr. Seshasayee was scrupulously and tirelessly devoted to ensuring that the Board comply with all applicable principles of law and governance. An anonymous, so-called whistleblower made outrageous charges against management; the Board engaged several sets of outside counsel and investigators of impeccable reputation, and those investigators determined that every charge was false and without any foundation. For the good of Infosys, I wish Mr. Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Mr. Murthy would stop defaming Mr. Seshasayee and the other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other when slandered, and who have acted only in the best interests of the company.
The Supreme Court today sought the response from the states with regard to the status of old age homes in every district on a plea filed by former union minister Ashwini Kumar for protection of rights of senior citizens.

The apex court said it was looking into what all could be done for the elderly people.

"We have to look forward as to what could be done for elderly people. Centre may be wrong but the purpose of the plea is different. States should file their replies to the plea with regard to the status of old age homes in each district," a bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

During the hearing, senior advocate Ashwini Kumar, who was also the Law Minister during the erstwhile UPA government, said the Centre in its affidavit says it was giving Rs 200 as old age pension. He termed it as "not sufficient" for elderly people when the GDP of the country was rising.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for Centre, said the Centre was coming up with new policy for senior citizens and that the pension amount of Rs 200 varied from state to state.

She said Rs 200 old age pension was not uniform across the country. While in Haryana it was Rs 1600 and in Puducherry it was Rs 2,000 for people between 60 and 79 years and Rs 3000 to those above 80.

Anand said the Centre was not looking the plea as an adversarial litigation and trying to evolve an acceptable solution for the elderly people.

Kumar said there should be nationwide uniformity in the pension as well as the criteria for availing benefits from social security schemes.

The bench then asked the ASG about the status of old age home in each district of the country.

She said that construction of such homes was a state subject and the Centre cannot do much in it.

The bench then said it will be better if the states filed their replies to the plea and clarify their position.

The Centre had in May informed the court that it plans to replace the nearly two-decade old national policy on older persons with new norms that will fix uniform age across the sectors for a person to be declared as senior citizen.

Different sectors like railways, insurance, airlines, income tax have different age criteria for a person to be declared as senior citizen for availing various social security schemes.

It had said that keeping in view the changing demographic pattern, socio-economic needs of senior citizens, social value system and advancement in the field of science and technology over the decades it will be bringing out a National Policy for Senior Citizens.

Kumar had claimed that successive governments have come up with various plans and schemes but nothing has reached the ground and elderly people were forced to lead a life of utter neglect as the old age homes were not sufficient.

Earlier, the former union minister had conceded that he had failed both as a minister and a parliamentarian for not being able to protect the rights of senior citizens. He had said that there were around 11 crore such people whose rights were being denied.

Kumar, in his PIL, had said there was a large number of aged people and the number has been increasing, with most of them living in poverty, without any roof over their heads or proper clothes and food. The budgetary allocation for their welfare has also been paltry.

He had referred to a report of the parliamentary standing committee dealing with the demand for grants for 2015-16, saying the amount allocated as the budget estimate stage was Rs 50 crore in 2014-15 which was cut down to Rs 25 crore at the revised estimate stage and only Rs 10.45 crore actually utilised.

The petitioner has sought that adequate number of old age homes be established in the country and direction be given to maintain and operate such homes with adequate standards to enable the elderly live their life with dignity and in accordance with section 19 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (MWP Act).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government not to implement till September 5 its notification making it mandatory for drivers of all vehicles to carry original driving licence.

Justice M Duraiswamy issued the order after recording the submission of Advocate General Vijay Narayan that authorities shall not implement the notification as per which drivers of all vehicles, including two-wheelers, were required to carry the original driving licence while driving from today.

Earlier, the Judge asked the AG to consider the hardship of drivers, particularly two-wheeler riders, and said that any law should not cause hardship to the public.

He was hearing a petition by Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners Federation seeking to forbid the authorities from insisting that the motorists carry their original driving licence.

He later tagged the petition to a public interest litigation (PIL) on the same matter listed before a division bench for hearing on September 4.

"The submission of AG is recorded and it is made clear that the authorities shall not implement the notification till September 5. Post the writ petition along with the PIL before the Division Bench," he said in his order.

Calling the state transport commissioner's notification "improper", the counsel for the petitioner submitted that Rule 139 of Motor Vehicle Rules did not mandate the drivers to carry the original driving licence with them.

He said usually the original driving licence would be deposited by the drivers with their employers and they carry a true copy while plying the vehicles.

He said it would lead to a chaotic situation in transport industry.

The advocate general said as per Section 130 of Central Motor Vehicle Act, a person who drives the vehicle shall carry the driving license issued by the competent authority and not a photocopy of it.

He submitted that a Supreme Court-appointed committee which had gone through various aspects had come to the conclusion that drivers should carry the original licence.

When the judge said if a two-wheeler rider carries the original licence in his pocket it can get wet during rain, the AG said the licence may be kept in a plastic cover.

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In a bid to to help defaulter allottees of various urban authorities, the Punjab government today announced an amnesty scheme which would provide a one-time settlement of interest to the respective parties.

The decision by Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government is also expected to also boost the real estate sector in the state.

The announcement came after a meeting of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority, Department of Housing and Urban Development here.

The meeting was chaired by the Chief Minister, and attended, among others, by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.

The meeting decided, in principle, to provide a one-time opportunity to defaulter allottees of all authorities, according to an official spokesperson.

The rate of interest for settlement of all legal disputes involving property price payment has been finalised at 15 per cent following the chief minister's intervention, who directed the department to lower it further from the proposed 18 per cent.

The scheme would, however, be applicable only to those allottees who are defaulters for less than four years or whose penalty amount is less than 100 per cent of the principal amount, the spokesperson said.

The chief minister also soft-launched the New Punjab Sehri Awas Yojana (PSAY) on the occasion.

The scheme, aimed at providing free or subsidised residential houses to homeless urban poor, was given the go-ahead by the state cabinet on March 18.

Besides providing free housing to eligible homeless SC/BC urban families with an annual income less than Rs 3 lakh in Phase 1 and with an annual income less than Rs 5 lakh in Phase II, the scheme will provide subsidised housing to people in various categories, thus ensuring their social uplift.

The meeting, which followed up and reviewed the progress on various decisions taken at the last meeting, also approved lowering of the annual hike in reserved price, from 10 to 5 per cent, through an amendment to the reserved price fixation policy in order to benefit the urban population.

Thirty per cent reservation to the Scheduled Castes in allotment of property by Punjab Urban Development Authority and various Development Authorities, as per the decision taken by the Cabinet in its meeting held on March 18, was also discussed and approved, said the spokesperson.

Priority will be given to women and senior citizens in this category.

Another initiative discussed at the meeting related to the development of satellite towns around major cities to ease urban pressure.

The chief minister suggested planned development of towns around key cities like Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

A pilot project will soon be launched to study the feasibility of the proposal, which would encompass land acquisition in a manner that enables land owners to get residential and commercial allotments in the new developed satellite townships as compensation for pooling their land through official partners.

Captain Amarinder also directed the department to make efforts to bring in a world-class science and technology university, focused on IT and Bio Technology, in IT City Mohali.

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Vice President Mike Pence met with people reeling under the rampage caused by Hurricane Harvey in the US state of Texas and promised them of full support by his government until the state is back on its feet.

Pence along with several cabinet officials met the people in Corpus Christi yesterday before heading to the town of Rockport.

"The American people are with you," he told a crowd outside a Rockport church that was damaged by the tropical storm.

"We are here today, we will be heretomorrowand we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region is rebuilt bigger and better than ever before," he said.

Taking stock of the damage caused by catastrophic floods brough by Harvey, Pence vowed over and over that Washington will invest whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to ensure a full recovery of the state.

"We promise you, we're going to stay with you every step until we bring Southeast Texas back bigger and better than ever before," he said.

About 21,000 federal workers have been mobilised in response to the storm and the Congress is expected to debate passage of a multi billion-dollar emergency aid package in the coming weeks.

Harvey, now a tropical depression, made the second landfall on Wednesday, slamming into the Louisiana coast near the Texas border hitting the region with record-breaking rainfall and devastating floods.

Harvey has brought the heaviest rainfall in US history, soaking Texas with more than 52 inches since it first made landfall last Friday.

At least 38 people have been killed as a result of the devastating floods and that number was climbing as water receded, revealing the storm's awful toll, officials were quoted as saying by the New York Times.

Storm-battered Texans faced a worrying new threat as potentially harmful smoke spewed from a swamped chemical plant near Houston, as Harvey's floodwaters began to recede in America's fourth-largest city.

President Donald Trump, who visited the area early this week, is expected to return Saturday.

On his visit to Texas after Hurricane Harvey, Pence hugged the survivors, prayed with them and even pitched in to help haul away debris from a damaged home.

"I think the scope is truly breathtaking," Pence told ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl in an interview in Rockport.

"We're gonna be here today,tomorrow, until it's done. It's not months, it's years," he added.

The vice president pledged unwavering the support from the government as he stood by the president's threat of forcing a government shutdown later this month if Congress does not approve of funding for a new border wall along the southern border of the US.

"If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," Trump had said during a campaign rally last week in Arizona.

Pence said," the president has made clear that we're going to stand firm and we're going to build a wall and secure our border.

"But I will tell you, president Trump's made it very clear that our top priority right now is dealing with Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath," he said.

Pence said they will make sure that people of Texas and the region have the resources and the support that they need to rebuild their lives.

Congress has until the end of the month to come up with a plan to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a government default, and pass a spending budget.

Pence's visit came just two days after Trump visited Corpus Christi and Austin and met with state and local officials.

"You've inspired the nation by your resilience and by your courage and we just came here to commend you and to encourage you and to assure you that we will be there," Pence told people of Rockport.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Myanmar on September 5 on his first bilateral state visit during which both sides are expected to ink a number of agreements and deliberate on key issues including exodus of Rohingya community.

Ways to deepen security and defence cooperation, implementation of India-assisted development projects and the issue of cross border activities by certain insurgent groups along the Indo-Myanmar are likely to figure during Modi's talks with leadership of the country during the three-day visit.

On September 6, the Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi covering entire expanse of bilateral relationship, Sripriya Ranganathan, joint secretary in-charge of Bangladesh and Myanmar in the External Affairs Ministry, said.

She said the spate of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state and exodus of the ethnic Rohingya minority will figure in the talks.

The Prime Minister will travel to Nay Pyi Taw, the capital city of Myanmar, from China where he will attend the annual BRICS summit. On August 5, Modi will meet Myanmar President Htin Kyaw who is also hosting a banquet for the Prime Minister, Ranganathan told reporters.

From Nay Pyi Taw, Modi will proceed to an ancient city of Bagan where India is involved in development cooperation project, Ranganathan said.

He will then travel to Yangon where he will have a series of engagements including interaction with the Indian community.

In Yagon, the prime minister will visit the Shwedagon pagoda and will go to martyr's mausoleum to pay tribute to Gen Aung San, the Burmese nationalist leader who was assassinated. Gen. Aung is father of Suu Kyi.

Modi will visit a famous Hindu temple and shrine of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Ranganathan said the visit will be an occasion for India to not only review the ongoing development cooperation partnership but also to focus on new areas of engagement.

"We regard this visit as an important visit and one in a series of ongoing interaction which we hope will continue in future," she said.

Asked about the Indian Army's action last year along the Indo-Myanmar border, Ranganathan said there was no misunderstanding between the two countries over the issue.

"I think it is very well known that actions were carried out along the border. It is a difficult border. It is a border on which the exact location of the boundary sometimes may be difficult to make out.

"I do not think there is any misunderstanding between us and the Myanmar government on what we sought to do," she said.

Myanmar is one of India's strategic neighbours and shares a 1,640-km-long border with a number of northeastern states including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.

She said there is full confidence on both sides about the intention of the governments.

There is concern and desire on both sides to prevent any hostile activities against India from soil of Myanmar, Ranganathan said.

She said the problem of the activities of the insurgents along the Indo-Myanmar remained a matter of discussion between the leadership of Indian and Myanmar.

She said the Kaladan project and the trilateral high-way project will be discussed during the Prime Minister's visit.

India would also convey to Myanmar about the kind of project it has on its priority list and whether it would like to partner with India in their execution. "We will be guided by Myanmar government in its choice of projects," she said.

India has an overall commitment of USD 1.75 billion for developmental programmes in Myanmar.

"Myanmar is a very very important partner in our Act East policy and neighbourhood first policy," said Ranganathan.

On the exodus of Rohingya community, she said, "The issue of the Rakhaine state is a matter of great concern. There has been a prominent attack recently, a large no of people have lost their lives. We have reached out to Myanmar government after the attacks on what can be done.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants a federal major disaster declaration for 15 New York counties, including Cayuga, after severe storms swept through the state this summer.

The request submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, if approved, would make federal aid available to the state, local governments and nonprofit organizations. The funding would be used to make infrastructure repairs and cover cleanup costs.

The counties that would be covered by the disaster declaration are: Broome, Cayuga, Cortland, Essex, Franklin, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Warren, Washington and Wyoming.

In August, federal and state experts estimated that the storm-related costs total more than $30 million. The amount includes debris removal costs, infrastructure repairs and structural damage caused by the storms.

There were at least 115 homes severely damaged by the storms and an additional 230 businesses and homes that had storm-related damage, according to Cuomo's office.

"Whether it's severe flooding, devastating wind storms or intense blizzards, extreme weather is becoming the new normal in New York and  as we've seen  across the nation," Cuomo said in a statement. "I urge the federal government to recognize the severity of damage and take action to provide New Yorkers the funding and assistance they need now."

Seven tornadoes touched down in upstate New York, according to the National Weather Service. One tornado caused more than $3 million in damage near Buffalo.

Severe thunderstorms also produced heavy rainfall. Significant flooding was reported in southern Cayuga County. There was nearly $4 million in infrastructure damage reported in Moravia and surrounding towns.

The governor's office noted that there were swift water rescues in two counties, including Cayuga. The incident in Cayuga County was in the town of Throop, where a swift water rescue was necessary due to a capsized canoe.
President Ram Nath Kovind today described Andhra Pradesh as "most cherished and dynamic" state which has shown the way to the rest of the country in adoption of technology for social development programmes.

At a felicitation accorded to him by the state government at the SV Arts College Grounds, the president said the people of the state are role model for the country in so many areas of human endeavour.

Farmers from this region have contributed substantially to rice production, among other crops, he said.

Andhra IT and infrastructure companies are famous nationally and internationally, he said.

He said Telugu people are scripting success stories world over. In the United States, the dedication and accomplishments of doctors from Andhra Pradesh have won widespread recognition. "This makes all of us proud," he said.

He said this is his only second visit outside Delhi since being elected as the President. "My first visit had taken me to our valiant soldiers in Leh, in Jammu and Kashmir."



"And I am honoured that my second trip has brought me to Andhra Pradesh, which is one of our most dynamic and cherished states. I am doubly blessed at the opportunity of coming to the sacred soil of Tirupati and getting a darshan of Lord Balaji."



The people and history of Andhra Pradesh are a pride for every Indian. This is a land of great heroes and great achievements, he said.

He mentioned the names of former presidents from the region late Dr S Radhakrishnan, V V Giri and N Sanjeeva Reddy, former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and late chief minister N T Rama Rao.

The president also mentioned the name of vice president M Venkaiah Naidu.

The president said the state has made rapid progress in many fields under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu since it made a new beginning three years ago.

"Andhra Pradesh's social and economic achievements in the past few years mirror the transformation of India. Yet, as we march forward, we must ensure that this is a journey for all - and not just a journey for some."



He expressed happiness that the state government was taking all measures for the welfare of the poor and marginalised sections of society.

"This is a vision that is in keeping with what the Father of our Constitution, B R Ambedkar, taught us. He emphasised the values of education and human dignity. Benefits of all welfare schemes must reach the last house in the village."



"And the government of India and the government of Andhra Pradesh are jointly striving in this direction. That is why the purpose of my visit here is so personally satisfying for me."



He said the Ambedkar Skills and Training Academy is planned as a modern marvel in Tirupati - a world-class job-oriented centre that will focus on youth from marginalised communities.

In Andhra Pradesh, entrepreneurship is in the DNA of society. This is the energy of youth that Stand-up India seeks to channel, the president said.

The second parallel initiative is the Land Purchase Scheme of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Co-operative Finance Corporation that provides agricultural land to women members of traditionally marginalised communities.

Congratulating the Andhra Pradesh government for the initiative, the president said it will not just change the life of an individual woman, but that of an entire family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Ram Nath Kovind arrived here today to pay his obeisance at the Lord Venkateswara shrine in Tirumala Hills.

The Andhra Pradesh government hosted a civic reception for him.

The president was accompanied by his wife Kavita Kovind.

After an overnight halt on the sacred Tirumala Hills near here, the president would offer prayers at the shrine at the crack of dawn tomorrow, temple sources told PTI.

Earlier on arrival at the Sri Venkateswara International Airport at Renigunta, 20 km from here, the president was welcomed by Governor E S L Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and some ministers.

Kovind is on his first visit to Andhra Pradesh after being sworn in as the 14th president in July.

The president later drove to Tiruchanur near here where he offered prayers at the Goddess Sri Padmavathi temple. The governor and chief minister accompanied him.

On his arrival at the temple, the president was given a ceremonial traditional reception by the priests and temple management.

Afterwards, the president inaugurated a Rs 140 crore newly built 700-bed hospital attached to the Sri Padmavathi Medical college for Women situated on the TTD run Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Later, he also laid the foundation stone for the B R Ambedkar Skill Training Academy at Kothapalem village, 20 km from here.

He also gave away sanction letters amounting to about Rs 100 crore to as many as 431 beneficiaries of 'Stand-Up India' programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women.

Before he left for Tirumala Hills, the state government felicitated the president at a civic reception at the Sri Venkateswara Arts College.

The governor, chief minister, members of his cabinet, besides MPS and MLAs were also present.

A thick security blanket was thrown over Tirumala, Tirupati and Renigunta in view of his visit.

Before visiting the Lord Venkateswara temple, the president would offer prayers at the Varaha Swamy temple situated on the north-west bank of a holy tank close to the ancient shrine, temple sources said.

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Sunday's reshuffle is likely to take load off four ministers who are holding additional charges after vacancies arose in the cabinet between March and July this year due to various reasons.

In the rejig, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may induct new faces lessening the burden on these ministers.

In March, Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to concentrate on the Goa Assembly polls. He later became the chief minister of the state.

Arun Jaitley, who was holding the portfolio of Finance and Corporate Affairs, was given the additional charge of Defence.

In May, Anil Dave, the then Environment and Forest minister, passed away. Science and Technology minister Harsh Vardhan was given the additional charge of the Environment Ministry.

In July, M Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the union cabinet after being picked up as the NDA nominee for the post of vice president of India. His Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio went to Narendra Singh Tomar as additional charge.

Tomar is the minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Naidu's Information and Broadcasting portfolio went to Smriti Irani, the minister for Textiles.

Besides, Ravi Shankar Prasad holds two portfolios -- Law and Justice and Information-Technology.

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Russian Foreign Minister says Moscow has yet to study the United States' decision to shut its consulate in San Francisco before considering possible retaliation.

The US yesterday abruptly ordered Russia to shutter its San Francisco consulate and close offices in Washington and New York within the next 48 hours, intensifying tensions between the former Cold War foes.

The Trump administration described its action as retaliation for the Kremlin's "unwarranted and detrimental" demand earlier this month that the US cut its diplomatic staff in Russia.

Speaking at Russia's top diplomacy school on Friday, Lavrov said Moscow would react to the decision once it has finished analyzing it.

Lavrov defended Russia's decision to cut US diplomatic staff as reciprocal reaction to the US expelling Russian diplomats last December.
The Supreme Court today agreed to examine a plea of Jammu and Kashmir government challenging a high court order directing the state to provide life-time security cover to retired judges and advocates general.

The apex court sought the assistance of attorney general K K Venugopal in the matter and posted it for hearing on September 4.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to examine the plea of the state government which said that the J and K High Court has committed a "grave error" in directing that a minimum of 1-4 security personnel cover should be provided to all former chief justices and former judges of the High Court for life.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan along with advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for state government, said throughout the country, security cover provided to VIPs/protected persons is done on the basis of threat assessment and as per the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

They said that the Centre has laid down an elaborate mechanism for providing security cover to protected persons.

The bench said it will look into the matter.

The petition filed by the state government said "as such, the field is occupied by a detailed policy which contains the procedure for periodic assessments of threats, providing security on the basis of such assessment. It therefore is not a subject that is unguided by any executive expert policy".

The plea said the directions amount to "usurption of an expert function" by encroaching upon an area which is exclusive expertise of the state and security agencies.

"It is settled law that a court of law shall not interfere with the performance of an expert function or the opinion of experts since it is ill-equipped with executing the same. The functions of an expert body are best left to be performed by the expert body which alone is competent to deal with such matters", the plea said.

The High Court, in its March 14 last year's order, had directed the state to provide round-the-clock security cover at the residences of each former chief justice and judge of High Court along with one personal security officer (PSO). It had said that enhancement of the security cover shall be as per the threat perception.

The High Court had said that even retired district and session judges be provided extended security cover for one year on their retirement.

It had also directed the state to provide 1-3 security guards personnel round the clock at the residence each former advocate general of the state and one PSO shall be provided on demand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on September 4 a plea against deportation of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar on several grounds, including violation of international human rights conventions.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send the Rohingya tribals back to their native land.

The plea, filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), claimed they had taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.

"Proposed deportation is contrary to the constitutional protections of Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty) and Article 51(c) of the Constitution of India, which provides equal rights and liberty to every person.

"This act would also be in contradiction with the principle of 'Non-Refoulement', which has been widely recognised as a principle of Customary International Law," the plea said, while seeking a direction to the government not to deport them and other members of Rohingya community.

It has also sought a direction that Rohingyas be provided "basic amenities to ensure that they can live in human conditions as required by international law".

It also said that India has ratified and is a signatory to various conventions that recognise the Principle of "Non- Refoulement', which prohibits deportation of refugees to a country where they may face threat to their lives.

The principle of non-refoulement - or not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger - is considered part of customary international law and is binding on all states whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not.

"Though India has not ratified the UNCHR Convention on Refugees, India has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

"Further, India is also a signatory to the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced Disappearances, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," the plea said, adding that all these international treaties and conventions lay down the Principle of Non-Refoulement.

The petition further said that India has traditionally been hospitable host of refugees and displaced people, both from South Asia and across the world.

"Considering the mass massacre of the Rohingya community in their home county, India must continue to accord refuge to the Rohingya population residing in India and refrain from deporting them," it said.

Last week, government had raised "serious concern" over reports of renewed violence and attacks in Myanmar and extended its "strong" support to the Myanmarese government at this "challenging moment".

On August 18, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that over 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India. He had also said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

It had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally- staying foreign nationals.

Rohingya community self-identify as a distinct ethnic group, with their own language and culture, and claim a long- standing connection to Rakhine State in Myanmar.

However, successive governments in Myanmar have rejected their claims and were not included in the list of recognised ethnic groups. Most Rohingyas are stateless.

The outbreak of violence against Rohingyas especially in June-October 2012, led to hundreds of cases of injury, death, destruction of property and displacement of 1,40,000 people and around 1,20,000 individuals remain in internally displaced camps in central Rakhine State.

Myanmar has one of the largest stateless populations in the world with some 10,90,000 stateless persons, predominately Rohingya in Rakhine State.

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Over 50 children of the lone primitive tribe in Uttarakhand are being deprived of primary education as a residential school, opened for them by the state government with central assistance, has been closed for want of funds.

The children belong to the Ban Rawat community, also known as Ban Rajis, whose numbers are dwindling fast in the state.

The residential school, opened for them in Jauljibi village near the Indo-Nepal border of the district, has been closedfollowing withdrawal by the NGO that ran it citing non-sanction of funds on time.

"The children from poor Ban Raji families in Kilmkhola, Ganagaon, Chiphaltara and seven other villages near Jauljibi are without primary education this session as theschool does not have teachersandfood.

"No one is managing its affairs after the NGO assigned to the task left in March this year," said Lila Bangyal, asocial workerbased at Jauljibi.

Bangyal today came here with a delegation, including guardians of the tribal children, to draw the attention of the district magistrateto the issue.

"The demonstrators demanded that the school be run fully by the social welfare department of the state. The shy children of the tribefind it diificult to mix with children from other communities in other schools," said Bangyal.

According to Pithoragarh District Magistrate C Ravishankar, the administration has sent a proposal to the state government asking for funds for the salaries and other expenditure of the teachers and staff.

"We hope the funds will reach us soon," the DM said.

According todistrictsocial welfare officerP B Singh, the need for opening a separateresidential primary school forthe children of the tribe arose from their shy disposition which prevented them from mixing with other children and resulted in their withdrawal from schools.

The resedential school was opened in 2001 and was handed over to an NGO -- Seemant Janjati Vikas Sansthan-- run by former MLA Hira Singh Bora. After Boradied in 2013 his successors refused to run the school, complaining of non- availability of timely assistance from the Centre andthe state.

"We are not in a position to run theschool as we do not haveenough funds to run it," saidBhupesh Bora, son of the late MLA and director of the NGO.

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A local court today handed down life imprisonment to a software engineer from Delhi who murdered his wife in cold blood seven years ago and kept her body in a deep freezer for months after chopping it into pieces.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar had convicted Rajesh Gulati yesterday under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (concealing evidence) of the IPC for murdering his wife Anupama.

The judge, while pronouncing the quantum of punishment in a packed courtroom, sentenced him to life in prison, besides imposing upon a fine of Rs 15 lakh, District Prosecution Counsel D P Raturi said.

Out of the total fine ofRs 15 lakh, Rs 14.3 lakh will be invested in a fixed deposit to meet the educational expenses of his minor children from his murdered spouse.

The remaining Rs 70, 000 will be deposited in the state exchequer, Raturi said.

Before the sentence was pronounced, the prosecution pleaded that the case be treated as the rarest of rare and Gulati be handed down the harshest punishment which should send a message to society.

However, Gulati's lawyers pleaded that he should not be given death sentence, a provision which had been done away with by as many as 139 countries across the world.

Moreover, the convict's conduct was "good" during the last seven years in prison while the trial was on, they said in the course of their argument in the court.

Joint Director (law) J S Bisht said the arguments in the case were concluded on August 18 and the verdict was based on the examination of around 40 witnesses during the prolonged trial.

The sensational murder had come to light on December 11, 2010 about two months after it was committed when Anupama's brother went to enquire about her at the couple's residence in Prakash Nagar colony in Cantt area after failing to talk to her for many days.

When Gulati resisted his entry into the house and refused to tell him anything about Anupama's whereabouts, he reported the matter to the police.

Gulati even tried to mislead the police by feigning ignorance about Anupama's whereaboutsbut when they found a deep freezer kept under locks in the house their suspicion deepened.

When it was unlocked, some pieces of Anupama's body were recovered.

It also came to light that Gulati hadthrown some pieces of her corpse into a drain on Mussoorie road after packing them into polythin bags.

According to the prosecution, the couple often had altercations over an alleged extramarital relationship of Gulati.

During one such fight between them on October 17, 2010, Anupama fell unconscious after hitting her head against the bed.

Rajesh then throttled her to death with the help of a pillow.

The next day Rajesh bought a deep freezer and hid her body after chopping it. Later he kept throwing the pieces into a drain on Mussoorie road.

However the matter came to light before he could dispose of the chopped pieces of his wife's body completely.

When his two children enquired about their mother, Rajesh told them that she had gone to their granny's place in Delhi.

Originally from Delhi, Rajesh Gulati had shifted to Dehradun in 2008.

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She knew before joining Bollywood that it is not going to be an easy journey and Esha Gupta says she has stayed away from "networking" to bag films but often feels things would have been different if she had another surname.

The 31-year-old actor made her debut with "Jannat 2" in 2012 and went on to do "Raaz 3D" and "Chakravyuh" in the same year.

"I am proud of the work I've done, it was tough (journey), but I have carved the way on my own. There are times, I wish even if four of my films flop, there is someone producing films for me and making films only with me.

"You think 'I wish I didn't have this surname but that surname (referring to being a star kid)," Esha tells PTI.

The actress says because her father was in the Air Force, they travelled a lot - which meant making new friends and always being an "outsider", something which she still feels in Bollywood.

"I think I am still an outsider. I am still treated like one to quite an extent by the so-called 'industry people'. It's their body language that lets you know. I can't blame them because even I haven't made an effort to be a part of them. I don't want to," says Esha.

The actor says she has been advised by many people to go out and do networking to get films, but she cannot tag behind people to land good projects.

"People say I need to go out more to get more work. I don't know how it works. I don't go out, I just can't. I can't try to mince words, be sweet and rally behind you for work. If you don't like me, don't give me work.

"If you don't like me and still give me work, you'll only try to pull me down. If I am after your life to get a film, you're still going to give work to somebody else and badmouth about me behind my back," she says.

Esha will next be seen in Milan Luthria-directed "Baadshaho", which releases today.

She says though the heist-thriller is a multi-starrer, featuring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and Ileana D'Cruz, she is secure in the space the movie has offered her.

"This is not the kind of film where I need to jostle for space. I am not worried at all. I am not one of those who says, 'My role is important', I am quite secure as to why I am there," says Esha.

In films such as "Commando 2" and "Rustom", the actor played roles with grey shades and she says she enjoys doing such parts.

When asked why female actors are not seen doing more grey roles, Esha says, "They are all so insecure, no one wants to do that role.

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Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan Army chief who vanquished the LTTE, today said that he was prepared to testify in a court against his successor Jagath Jayasuriya in the war crimes investigation.

"When I was the Commander I did receive certain complaints of crimes committed by Jayasuriya's brigade mostly to do with crimes perpetrated on those detained during the war," Fonseka told reporters here.

Fonseka was also accused by human rights groups of being involved in war crimes during the final stages of the nearly three-decades-long civil war that ended in 2009.

"I did not put Jayasuriya in-charge of a fighting brigade. His job was to defend the Army's bunker lines and to be in-charge of supplies to fighting brigades in the battle front. I have details of crimes committed by his brigade," the former army chief said.

Fonseka said he was on the verge of ordering an inquiry against Jayasuriya before he ceased to be the Army chief.

An international rights group this week had filed war crimes charged against Jayasuriya in Brazil and Columbia.

He was serving in Brazil as the Sri Lankan Ambassador and returned to Colombo this week at the end of his tenure.

Fonseka, now a government minister, said it was important for Lanka to maintain the good name of its security forces.

"We must investigate crimes committed by a handful of individuals in order to clear the Army of war crimes charges," he said.

His comments stand in contrast to those of his Cabinet colleague and government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne. He said charges against Jayasuriya was of a very general nature and the Lankan troops did not commit any crime during the war.

Tamil minority and international rights groups claim that Lankan military had killed a large number of civilians and bombed hospital during the civil war.

Sri Lanka had denied committing war crimes in response to consecutive UN Human Rights Council resolutions which sought accountability for rights abuses during the final phase of the conflict.

Fonseka had a fallout with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, under whom he had served, following which he was charged in a number of cases, ranging from corruption to engaging in politics in uniform.

He was also sentenced to 30 months in jail after having mounted a failed bid to unseat Rajapaksa in his January 2010 re-election.

Fonseka, who was nearly assassinated by a LTTE suicide bomber in 2006, was pardoned by Maithripala Sirisena days after he assumed office as the new president last year.

All ranks and medals denied to Fonseka by the Rajapaksa regime along with his pension were restored.

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OSWEGO  Bipartisanship can be a dirty word in Washington, but one of New York's U.S. senators and a Syracuse-area congressman are engaged in a legislative effort that could result in Fort Ontario being established as a national park.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. John Katko visited the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum Thursday. The lawmakers have introduced legislation that would initiate a study to determine whether the fort, which was used as a military installation dating back to the French and Indian War, should receive national park status.

In the final years of World War II, Fort Ontario became the only U.S. site used to house refugees who escaped the Holocaust in Europe. Nearly 1,000 people lived at the facility.

After touring the Safe Haven museum, Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called it "incredible."

"It's really inspiring and it is certainly a place that is worthy of national park designation," she said.

Katko, R-Camillus, recalled visiting the Middle East and telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Fort Ontario. He has shared the fort's story with others outside of central New York, including members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group that supports pro-Israel policies.

He noted the significance of the fort's role in housing refugees. Not all who escaped the Holocaust were fortunate enough to settle in the U.S. The most prominent example is the ocean liner SS St. Louis, which carried more than 900 Jewish people who attempted to escape Nazi Germany in 1939.

The ship was turned away and forced to return to Europe. Some of the passengers wound up dying in the Holocaust.

The U.S. stance on refugees changed when 982 people were brought to Fort Ontario. And that's why Katko believes the fort's history should be celebrated.

"Our vision is to not only make this a park, but make this a monument to what you can do when we properly handle the refugee situations in this world," he said.

Gillibrand and Katko's joint effort began in 2015. Katko introduced a bill to study whether Fort Ontario should become a national park. In early 2016, Gillibrand unveiled legislation in the Senate.

The House passed the bill, but it didn't advance in the Senate. Gillibrand said it nearly passed at the end of 2016. However, an unnamed senator didn't want any more national park-related measures attached to an end of session bill, so the Fort Ontario legislation died.

Gillibrand and Katko reintroduced their bills earlier this year. The House passed the measure and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved it in April.

Because there weren't substantive concerns with the bill, Gillibrand is hopeful that it could be added to a larger spending bill in order to ensure passage. That could happen in September when Congress returns to session.

"I think if we attach it to the next bill that's going to pass that's the way to do it," she said.

If the Senate passes the bill, it will be sent to President Donald Trump for his review.

Katko said the National Park Service will have a head start on the study once the legislation is adopted. A reconnaissance study has been commissioned and the results of that process can be used for the broader special resource study, which will determine whether the fort should be designated as a national park.

The process to establish Fort Ontario as a national park could take years. But Kevin Hill, president of the Safe Haven museum's board of directors, said it's important to ensure the fort's history is preserved.

"Inclusion in the national park system immediately provides us with levels of marketing, promotion and exposure that we just can't achieve on our own," he said.
A state of emergency was extended today in Canada's western province of British Columbia, where thousands of firefighters have been battling wildfires for months.

The announcement marks the fourth time the state of emergency has been renewed in the province since it was issued on July 7.

The order allows for the mobilisation of firefighting resources and the mandatory evacuation of citizens where fires are encroaching on residential areas.

British Columbia has experienced its worst wildfire season ever, as temperatures have soared and precipitation remained unusually low.

Most of the 50,000 people who were forced to flee have been able to return to their homes, but 3,600 are still subject to evacuation orders.

As of today, there were 160 active fires in British Columbia.

Since April, more than one million hectares (nearly 2.5 million acres) of forests have been destroyed by fire -- the largest area burned on record.

The largest of the fires, dubbed Plateau, burned for two months and now covers 493,000 hectares in a sparsely populated mountainous region west of the town of Quesnel.

Some 600 firefighters, 30 helicopters and 89 pieces of heavy machinery for moving dirt have been deployed to battle the Plateau fire, said the wildfire service.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad has traveled to a town recently captured from Islamic State group militants to attend Eid al-Adha prayers.

Syria's state media says President Bashar Assad prayed Friday in Bilal mosque in Qarat, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Damascus. Qarat fell during a joint offensive between Syria's army and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The Lebanese army carried out a separate but simultaneous campaign on the other side of the border, securing the shared frontier for the first time in years.

The offensive was followed by a controversial a Hezbollah-negotiated deal to transport the remaining militants to an IS-held town in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in exchange for revealing the fate of missing Lebanese fighters.

The deal angered Iraq and the US, which launched airstrikes, disrupting the deal.

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RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav accused the Income Tax (I-T) department of being partisan as, according to him, it never sought the details of the BJP's "expensive and hi-tech" rallies organised across the country.

"How many rallies does the RJD hold a year and how many hi-tech rallies does the BJP take out across the country in a year? Did the I-T department ever muster the courage to send a notice to them (BJP), seeking the details of their expenditure on these rallies?" asked the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, while speaking to reporters here.

He said the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) would "certainly furnish" its reply if it received an I-T notice vis-a-vis the expenses of the August 27 rally organised by the party here.

"We are not afraid of such things as they (Centre) can only intimidate us...They do not have the power to do anything beyond this," Tejashwi added.

He, however, did not confirm whether the RJD had received an I-T notice for the rally.

"The party president may have got it," he said.

When contacted, senior I-T officials refused to comment on the issue.

The August 27 RJD rally was attended by Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and rebel Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav among others.

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A man and his son were among the three persons killed today when a landmine exploded in northwest Pakistan's restive tribal region, officials said.

The blast took place in Ambar Tehsil of the Mohmand Agency when the tribesmen were returning home after offering Eid prayers, they said.

According to officials, the blast took place near Shatimena, area in Ambar tehsil of the tribal area leaving three dead and two injured.

The injured have been shifted to Khar Bajaur Agency headquarter hospital.

Police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area after the explosion. A search operation is continuing.

In February, at least five people, including three security forces personnel were killed, while many others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself at the main gate of Mohmand Agency headquarters, Ghallanai.

Last year on September 16, at least 36 people were killed on the third day of Eid when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque during Friday prayers at Paya Khan village near Shati Meena at Ambar.

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A 17-year-old Dalit girl who had moved the Supreme Court against NEET-based medical examinations allegedly committed suicide today.

Anitha was reportedly upset after it became known that Tamil Nadu will not be exempted from the ambit of National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).

Daughter of a daily wage earner, Anitha dreamed of becoming a doctor.

She was found hanging at her house in a village in this district, police said.

The Dalit girl had approached the apex court last month opposing a plea seeking admissions to under graduate medical courses only on the basis of the NEET score.

The police said they were investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, the residents held a 'road roko' in the village, slamming the AIADMK-led state government for the death of the girl.

"District police superintendent, district collector and other senior officials are present on the spot for coordinating the legalities post the death of the girl," a police official told PTI.

The body has been taken to a government hospital for autopsy, he said.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar told reporters that he was deeply pained by the death of the girl.

Education Minister C Sengottaiyan expressed grief and anguish and said steps were being taken to prepare students for any competitive exam. He said such instances must never be repeated.

DMK working president M K Stalin expressed concern over the death of the girl and called the government "inept".

"Students are the future of the nation and they should never attempt to do such things," he said while asking the state government to own up responsibility for the death.

Various political parties have been cornering the state government for its failure to get exemption from the NEET.

Actor Rajinikanth also condoled the death of the teenage girl.

"What has happened to Anitha is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to all the pain and agony she would have undergone before taking the drastic step. My condolences to her family," he said in a tweet.

VCK chief Thol Thirumavalan, a Dalit leader, expressed anguish at the death of the girl and said no student should attempt ending their lives as there were a lot of opportunities to pass examinations.

Anitha had scored an impressive 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in class XII board examinations. In NEET, she did not fair well and missed out on getting a medical seat.

Although she could not get admission to MBBS, she had the high score to secure the admission for several other courses, including engineering.

She was even reportedly offered a seat in the prestigious state-run Madras Institute of Technology here for aeronautical engineering.

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Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today reported 6.86 per cent decline in total sales at 13,081 units in August.

The company had sold a total of 14,045 units in the same month last year, TKM said in a statement.

Domestic sales declined 6.12 per cent at 12,017 units in August as against 12,801 units in the same month last year.

TKM exported 1,064 units of the Etios series in August 2017 as compared to 1,244 units in the same month last year, a decline of 14.47 per cent.

TKM Director and Senior Vice-President - Sales and Marketing N Raja said: "Our sales numbers this month are not truly reflective of the existing customer orders. Post the announcement on potential cess hike, there was a considerable rise in customer enquiries and orders."



He said the company faced production limitations which held it back from catching up with high demand and holidays in August also led to lesser number of production days.

"With the demand on the rise, the current waiting period for Innova has gone up to around 6-8 weeks and Fortuner is around 10-12 weeks respectively," Raja added.

Demand for hybrid product Camry Hybrid has fallen significantly owing to the price hike after GST implementation, he said, adding the company was hoping that the government would reinstate "the preferential (lower) tax rate in favour of clean and green technologies such as strong hybrids similar to pre-GST era".

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US President Donald Trump will host a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations this month to push for reform of the global body that he once dismissed as a "club" for people "to have a good time."



World leaders at the September 18 event will be asked to support a 10-point political declaration that backs UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "in making concrete changes to the United Nations," according to the document obtained by AFP yesterday.

Attending his first UN gathering of world leaders, Trump is scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 19, on the first day of the six-day debate.

His speech will likely to be the most closely watched as Washington's allies and foes grapple with the implications of his "America-First" approach to foreign policy.

Trump has described the United Nations as an "underperformer" but stressed that it has "huge potential" to address the long list of world crises that will be at the centre of this year's UN debate.

The United States is the UN's number one financial contributor, paying 28.5 per cent of the USD 7.3 billion peacekeeping budget and 22 per cent of the core budget of USD 5.4 billion.

The Trump administration has threatened to cut billions in funding to the world body while US Ambassador Nikki Haley was a driving force behind a USD 600 million-cut to the UN peacekeeping budget this year.

To push for reform, the United States has enlisted support from 14 other countries: Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovakia, Thailand and Uruguay.

The 14 countries will co-host the event at UN headquarters that will feature an address from Trump, Haley and Guterres, diplomats said.

In the declaration, countries will "commit to reducing mandate duplication, redundancy, and overlap including among the main organs of the United Nations."



They encourage Guterres to "pursue impactful and field- centric management reforms," the document said.

Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, is pushing for sweeping reforms that touch management at the United Nations as well as its development agencies and its peace and security architecture.

His proposals are to be debated at the assembly in the coming weeks.

The declaration on UN reform is not binding, but reflects political support for changes at the world body, diplomats said.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today criticised the indictment in Washington of members of his security detail who were charged with assaulting protesters during an official White House visit in May.

A total of 19 people including Turkish security officials have been identified from video footage of the May 16 clashes with Kurdish protesters following a meeting between Erdogan and President Donald Trump.

Erdogan said in a televised address that the case was a "scandalous demonstration of how American justice works.

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More than 27,000 have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, the United Nations has said, as corpses of people drowned in desperate attempts to cross the border river washed up on Bangladeshi soil today.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, the UN added in statement late Thursday, but are barred from entry as they run from burning villages and Myanmar army operations.

Rumours of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces  as well as by militants  have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence is spinning out of control.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats, some constructed from flotsam, in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries.

Sixteen bodies washed ashore on the Bangladeshi side of a river on Friday, a border official said, lifting the grim toll over the last two days from apparent boat capsizes to 39.

"They had been floating in the river for a while," according to Mainuddin Khan, police chief of the border town of Teknaf, adding the dead included a young girl.

The latest round of a bitter and bloody five-year crisis began last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 11 state officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched "clearance" operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers pick up sticks and knives and join their cause.

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced -- the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

An AFP reporter on a government-led trip to Maungdaw, this week saw columns of smoke rising from several burning villages, while terrified civilians huddled in schools in the main town.

pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The United States on Thursday urged Myanmar's military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, expressed fears that "grave violations" could take place.

"The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently," she added.

Rakhine State has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands into of people -- the majority from the Muslim minority -- into displacement camps.

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U.S. Rep. John Katko released a letter Friday inviting Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to Auburn and urging him to support putting Harriet Tubman's likeness on the $20 bill.

Katko's letter came one day after Mnuchin wouldn't commit to a newly designed $20 bill with Tubman, a famed abolitionist and civil rights icon, on the front of the note.

The comments surprised Auburn's elected representatives and local supporters of efforts to celebrate Tubman's life.

Tubman's great-great-grandniece, Pauline Copes Johnson, hoped Mnuchin wouldn't reverse the decision that was made in 2016 when his predecessor, Jack Lew, announced that Tubman would appear on paper currency.

"I don't like the sound of it because I think Harriet deserves to be on the $20 bill," she said.

Before Lew's action, Katko, R-Camillus, partnered with U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, to introduce legislation that would require the Treasury to put Tubman's likeness on U.S. paper currency.

The bill had bipartisan support. There were 19 cosponsors  12 Republicans and seven Democrats.

In his letter to Mnuchin, Katko said putting Tubman on the $20 bill "is a fitting tribute to a woman who escaped slavery and devoted her life to advancing the freedom and equality of African-Americans and the rights of women."

Tubman was born in Maryland. After escaping slavery, rescuing others and serving as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War, she settled in Auburn.

Sites relevant to her life, including her brick residence and the Home for the Aged on South Street, are part of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park established in January.

"I invite you to pay a visit to Auburn so that you can fully experience the legacy of Harriet Tubman," Katko wrote to Mnuchin. "Her life has inspired countless individuals and continues to be a beacon of hope and unity for many. It is only fitting that we honor this American hero by memorializing her likeness on the $20 bill."
A local court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for murdering a youth during the 2010 panchayat poll in Uttar Pradesh.

Additional district sessions judge Umesh Chandra also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 each on the convicts -- Tehran and his nephew Ikram.

The duo shot dead Abid when he protested against alleged irregularities at a polling booth at Jahanpura village under Kairana police station of Shamli district on October 14, 2010.

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Mysterious health attacks on the American diplomatic community in Cuba continued as recently as August, the United States said today, despite earlier US assessments that the attacks had long stopped. The US increased the tally of US government personnel affected to 19.

The new US disclosures came the same day that the union that represents American diplomats said mild traumatic brain injury was among the diagnoses given to diplomats victimised in the attacks, offering the most detailed account to date of the growing list of symptoms.

Permanent hearing loss has also been diagnosed, and the American Foreign Service Association said additional symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and "cognitive disruption."



At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US was continually revising its assessments of the scope of the attacks as new information was obtained. She said the investigation had not been completed.

"We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation," Nauert said.

US officials had previously said that the attacks, initially believed to be caused by a potential covert sonic device, had started in fall 2016 and continued until spring 2017. Last week, Nauert had said at least 16 Americans associated with the US Embassy in Havana had been affected, but that the "incidents" were no longer occurring.

The revised assessments suggested that US officials were still a long way away from any thorough understanding of what transpired in the unexplained attacks. US investigators have been searching to identify a device that could have harmed the health of the diplomats, believed to have been attacked in their homes in Havana, but officials have said no device had been found.

"We can't rule out new cases as medical professionals continue to evaluate members of the embassy community," Nauert said. She added that the embassy has a medical officer and has been consistently providing medical care to those who have reported incidents.

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US-backed fighters today ousted the Islamic State group from Raqa's Old City, a spokesman told AFP, bringing them closer than ever to the jihadists' most well-defended positions.

"Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqa after clashes with Daesh," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"We are on the edges of IS's security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are."



Most of IS's fighters and up to 25,000 civilians are expected to still be holed up in the city centre.

The SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters first broke into Raqa in early June and penetrated its Old City a month later.

They were able to enter it after US-led coalition air strikes opened up two gaps in the Rafiqah wall, a 2,500-metre barrier surrounding the Old City.

The SDF has captured more than 60 percent of Raqa city and most of the surrounding northern province.

Sello declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of Raqa, but said operations were proceeding "according to schedule".

"Control over the Old City - which has historical importance - is a moral victory against IS, which is collapsing in Raqa. Its defeat there is inevitable," he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with IS in a small part of the Old City.

IS overran Raqa in 2014, turning it into the de facto capital of its self-declared "caliphate".

The city was the scene of some of the group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings.

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The US has called on the UN Security Council to support the government of Myanmar in safeguarding the "rights and dignity" of all communities in the country.

On August 30, the UN Security Council held consultations on the events that have unfolded in Myanmar.

Following deadly attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), militants at security posts on August 25 and reports of Myanmar's security forces' subsequent response, the escalation in tensions has resulted in thousands reportedly fleeing their homes.

There have also been reports of innocent civilians being killed and injured amid the ongoing violence and of villages being burned down.

At least 18,500 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since fighting erupted in Myanmar's neighbouring Rakhine state The International Organisation for Migration said.

"The US supports democracy for the Myanmarese people, and we condemn attacks by militant groups in Rakhine State," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement yesterday.

The Indian-origin US ambassador to the UN said as Myanmar's security forces act to prevent further violence, "they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need".

"We call on all members of the Security Council to support the Myanmarese government in ensuring the rights and dignity of all communities in Rakhine State and throughout Myanmar," Haley said.

Meanwhile, a UN human rights expert has expressed concern at the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State, affecting not just the Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim populations but also other communities.

"The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently," said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in a statement issued from the Office of UN High Commissioners for Human Rights (OHCHR).

While the world's Muslim communities celebrated Eid al- Adha, the Rohingya remained in a precarious situation, not knowing their future or the fate of their relatives, Lee said.

Latest estimates from UN sources suggest more than 27,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the area around Cox's Bazar, while 20,000 more remain stranded between the two countries.

The Special Rapporteur noted concerns over both extremist attacks and the major security operations undertaken in response to the attacks.

"I am concerned that these events will derail efforts to address the root causes of the systematic discrimination and recurrent violence in Rakhine State," she added.

Lee went on to remind the authorities of their human rights obligations to give equal protection to people from all communities, whether from attacks by extremists or excessive action from the security forces.

Echoing findings in the final report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Lee said that if human rights concerns are not properly addressed and if people remain politically and economically marginalised, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalisation, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists.

Haley said the US has welcomed Myanmar's endorsement of the Annan Commission's recommendations and supports the government's efforts to implement them as quickly as possible.

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Russia and the United States were locked in a fresh diplomatic slugging match today after Washington ordered the closure of Moscow's San Francisco consulate and two other facilities.

The retaliatory US move came as a September 1 deadline was reached for Washington to comply with a Kremlin demand to slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic mission by 755 personnel.

The spat between the two nuclear-armed power was another blow to US President Donald Trump's pledge to try to improve relations with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Washington said yesterday it had ordered the shuttering of Russia's San Francisco consulate and two diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York "in the spirit of parity," after Moscow's July demand for it to reduce its diplomatic staff.

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Washington said it hoped the two sides "can avoid further retaliatory actions" and improve ties but warned it was "prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

Russia's foreign ministry expressed "regret at the escalation of tensions" and said it would "examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced."

But top diplomat Sergei Lavrov avoided blaming the Trump administration for the latest tensions and laid the guilt squarely at the door of his predecessor Barack Obama.

"We are open even now for constructive cooperation where it answers Russian interests," Lavrov said today.

"But it takes two to tango and so far our partner is, again and again, doing an individual break dance."

Lavrov is to meet his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in September in New York.

The fresh diplomatic spat is the latest twist in tortured ties between the US and Russia, which have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

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The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group says a 17-bus convoy of IS militants and their families is stranded in the Syrian desert.

The coalition issued a statement yesterday saying it has sought an unspecified solution that would save the women and children in the convoy from further suffering.

It says the coalition has not attacked the convoy.

But it says it has struck IS fighters and vehicles, including a tank and other armed vehicles, that tried to help the convoy move to the Iraqi border.

The coalition says its officials have contacted Russian counterparts to deliver a message to Syria's government, which had tried to facilitate the convoy's movement earlier this week from western Syria to an area near the Iraqi border.

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The United States today described remarks by a Palestinian Hamas leader boasting of strong military ties with Iran as a "stunning admission" that showed Tehran was violating a UN ban on arms exports.

Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar, who heads the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, told reporters on Monday that Iran was the "biggest supporter" of Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

"The Iranian military support to Hamas and al-Qassam is strategic," said Sinwar, adding that ties with Iran had "become fantastic and returned to its former era."



In a statement, the US mission to the United Nations recalled that Iran is barred from exporting weapons under a key UN resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

"Once again, Iran is showing its true colors," said US Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Iran must abide by UN resolutions or decide "whether it wants to be the leader of a jihadist terrorist movement," she added.

"It's long past time for the international community to hold Iran to the same standard that all countries who actually value peace and security are held to."



A strong supporter of Israel, Haley has repeatedly criticized Iran at the United Nations and cast doubt over its commitment to the nuclear deal.

The United States considers Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, a terrorist organization.

Hamas has run Gaza since 2007 and received Iranian financial and military support for years, but the movement had distanced itself from Iran over Tehran's strong backing of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Sinwar, however, has sought to rebuild relations, sending a high-level delegation to meet Iranian officials.

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Metals and mining conglomerate Resources has plans to invest around Rs 50,000 crore on business expansion in India in coming years, its Chairman Anil Agarwal said today.

He also expressed hope that the retrospective taxation issue between Cairn Plc and the government would soon be sorted out.

"I have promised the government that the group will invest Rs 40,000-50,000 crore. My shareholders and my banks abroad would be very pleased with my plan," Agarwal said.

He further said that this decade will belong to India and it is the best time to invest here.

On the retrospective taxation row, Agarwal said, "The kind of image that India has all over the world, the retrospective tax is one small thing which has to be sorted out... There is a case between the government and Cairn Plc. I highly recommend both parties to sit down and sort out this issue."

The retrospective legislation was used to levy a principal tax liability of Rs 10,247 crore on the UK-based Cairn Energy Plc. That matter too is before an international arbitration panel.

Highlighting some of the reform measures taken by the government, Agarwal said bankruptcy law and Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help improve the business environment and attract global investors.

is a major player in India's Zinc Industry, primary Aluminium market, and refined copper with market shares of 72 per cent, 40 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

Also, it is India's largest private sector Iron Ore exporter and operator of 26 per cent of India's crude oil production through Cairn India.

Meanwhile, the Income-Tax Department has seized $104 million dividend due to Cairn Energy Plc from the remaining stake in the erstwhile subsidiary Cairn India (now called Ltd). The department has already adjusted Rs 1,500 crore of tax refund that was due to Cairn Energy, against the principal amount.

"The government already has holding shares about Rs 6,000-7,000 crore and something should be done to settle the issue. Those shares were of Cairn Plc," he had said.

Vedanta Resources recently merged Cairn India with group company Vedanta Ltd.

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The deputy head of Vietnam's largest oil firm, state-run PetroVietnam, was arrested today as part of a massive fraud case involving dozens of bankers and businessmen, according to the government.

The country is notorious for widespread corruption but in recent months has waged a crackdown on banking executives and government officials accused of graft, mismanagement or worse.

The latest to fall is Ninh Van Quynh, 59, number two at PetroVietnam who is accused of causing losses worth USD 34 million at the massive oil firm.

He allegedly invested the money in Ocean Bank, which nearly collapsed after becoming embroiled in a multimillion dollar fraud scandal of its own.

Quynh is accused of violating state regulations to make the investment.

His arrest comes amid a closely-watched trial of 51 bankers and businessmen, mostly from Ocean Bank.

"The move comes during the second phase of investigation in the Ocean Bank case," the Ministry of Public Security said on its website.

Another PetroVietnam official was arrested along with Quynh and two others placed under house arrest as part of the broadening investigation, it said.

The massive trial under way in Hanoi includes the former chairman of PetroVietnam, as well as the former head of Ocean Bank, who is accused of dodgy loans worth $23 million.

The 20-day trial is the largest banking case in Vietnam, involving 50 defence lawyers and more than 700 witnesses.

It has captivated the public in the communist nation, where stunning economic growth has largely lifted the majority out of poverty, but has also seen a rise in the super-rich.

The government is keen to clean up its image, which analysts say is partly behind its recent anti-corruption drive.

Though some say that convictions and arrests are more about political infighting than an actual commitment to reform.

Last month, Germany accused Hanoi of kidnapping a former PetroVietnam official in a Berlin park over a separate corruption case, calling the move a "scandalous violation".

Hanoi said the official, who was the head of the company's construction unit, turned himself into officials in Vietnam's capital voluntarily.

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A woman and her son were found charred to death in a fire at a house at Chakpara area in Liluah town of Howrah district, police said.

According to police they received information about fire in a house at Chakpara area. They rushed to the spot and found a woman and her son in flames.

Both of them were rushed to hospital. The doctors declared they brought dead, the police added.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to support making Harriet Tubman the new face of the $20 bill.

Schumer, D-N.Y., released a statement one day after Mnuchin wouldn't commit to putting Tubman on the $20 bill during an interview with CNBC.

"It makes absolutely no sense to halt already-approved plans to put American hero and central New York icon Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill," Schumer said. "I strongly urge the U.S. Department of Treasury to get back on track and rightfully commemorate Tubman's life and commitment to the freedom and equality that we cherish as a nation."

In 2016, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that Tubman would replace former President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. The change would coincide with security improvements and a new look for the note.

The news was celebrated in Auburn, where Tubman spent the latter part of her life. Her former residence and the Home for the Aged on South Street are included in the newly established Harriet Tubman National Historical Park.

The park was formally created in January at a ceremony in Washington.

Schumer has been a longtime supporter of the national park effort. He sponsored the legislation to study whether the Tubman sites in Auburn should be added to the national park system. Once the study was completed, he was an original cosponsor of the Senate bill to establish Tubman national parks in Auburn and Maryland.

After the Tubman parks bill was approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in 2014, Schumer visited the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn. He urged the National Park Service to expedite the process of formally establishing the new park.

When the Treasury Department initially announced in 2015 it would seek feedback from the public to determine which famous American woman should be added to the redesigned $10 bill, Schumer called on the agency to hold a forum in Seneca Falls, which hosted the historic women's rights convention in 1848.

Later that year, U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios led a public forum at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls.

While other women were mentioned as possible candidates, Tubman was the favorite to have her likeness added to paper currency. When Women on 20s, a grassroots organization, held an online vote to determine who should appear on a revamped $20 bill, Tubman beat out Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks.

The online contest, which was symbolic, spurred conversation about including women on paper money. And it led to Lew's decision last year to place Tubman on the $20 bill.

"There is no better way of showing our appreciation for Tubman and her impact on countless lives than putting her name and face on our nation's currency," Schumer said.
In a first, the Chhattisgarh police deployed women commandos in a forested area of insurgency-hit Bijapur district to provide security for a bridge repair work.

The bridge, spanning a rivulet which flows into the Indravati river, had been damaged by Naxals 11 years ago. Its repair would benefit over 3,000 residents of four villages in the Bhairamgarh area.

"A squad of 30 women police personnel, trained in carrying out all types of anti-Maoist operations, was deployed at Tindori village to ensure security for the repair work," Deputy Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P told PTI.

The work was completed yesterday.

"It is the first time that such a task was accomplished by women commandos in Bastar," he said.

In 2006, Maoists damaged the bridge, severing the link between Tindori, Daler, Viriabhoomi and Aadwada villages and the rest of Bhairamgarh Development Block, 400 km from state capital Raipur.

Last month, the district authorities decided to get the bridge repaired under round-the-clock security.

Women commandos of Bijapur district police, inducted only last month for anti-Maoist operations after their training was over, joined their male counterparts in guarding the work, the DIG said.

Some surrendered women Naxals too are part of the women commando squad. They were recruited as they know the inhospitable terrain of Bastar very well, Sundarraj said.

Battling heavy rains, the women personnel set up their camps on the outskirts of Tindori and guarded the repair work for the last two weeks, he said.

Roads are being built in the Naxal-affected areas not for strategic purposes but primarily for the benefit of villagers, especially students who can go to the schools located away from villages and women who can visit hospitals, Sundarraj said.

According to police officials, recruitment of women in the police force also helps with intelligence-gathering, as they can communicate better with local women.

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Championed by the Modi-government on international platforms, Yoga has also become a part of everyday life among the swiss citizens.

"Indian teachings such as yoga now are part of everyday life of lot of swiss citizens, also in my life, not everyday but in a weekly life," Swiss President Doris Leuthard said here today while addressing a business session organised by industry chambers.

She also said that there is a fascination in India for Swiss mountains and it is probably supported by Bollywood films.

Following a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations (UN) has declared June 21 as the World Yoga Day.

The Swiss President also said that India enjoys high respect in her country because "you are the world's largest democracy and a country that places as much importance in public political participation as we do".

"We are impressed by India's rich history and culture. They have inspired many Swiss writers and travellers," she added.

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Mumbai-based startup accelerator Zone Startups today announced the launch of the second edition of its programme for women entrepreneurs building technology enabled ventures.

The 'empoWer' initiative is backed by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Microsoft, Capital First, PayU, ICICI Bank, Social Alpha, Cherie Blair Foundation, Amazon, and FlexiLoans, Zone Startups said in a statement here.

Some of the core areas that the program seeks to address include - peer group of like-minded women entrepreneurs, lack of information on markets, addressing procedural delays and complexities, taking risks, seeking financial independence, managing business operations, absence of role models, access to finance, it added.

"The genuine benefit from the program that our first cohort has vouched for, coupled with success from the cohort, has helped us to expand the program beyond just an accelerator. We are really keen to see how this shapes up, and grow from there," Ajay Ramasubramaniam - director (India), Zone Startups said.

EmpoWer 2.0 will be launched in Mumbai, and followed by roadshows across Bangalore, NCR, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad to evangelise the initiative and for attracting applications.

For the six-week bespoke program, 15 women entrepreneurs will be shortlisted.

The program participants will get access to mentoring, workshops, case studies of successful women led startups, industry connects, peer network, investor connect and business development opportunities.

After having started out as a six-week accelerator program, this year onwards empoWer will be a year-long initiative.

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By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON (Reuters) - After Hurricane Harvey roared into Texas, flooding oil refineries and crippling ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast, Latin American countries are scouring the globe for other sources of fuel and zeroing in on a flotilla waiting to unload off the coast of Venezuela.

Almost no fuel tankers have sailed from Texas for Latin America in six days, according to Thomson vessel tracking data. Terminals and refineries shut by the storm are unlikely to fully recover for weeks.

The United States is the world's largest net exporter of refined petroleum products, shipping around 5.05 million barrels of fuel per day. Latin America received almost half of that, or 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Most of it loads from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Latin America's top recipients of U.S. fuel shipments are Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela, which is an OPEC member sitting on the world's largest crude oil reserves. However, Venezuela refineries are in such poor repair that the country cannot meet its domestic fuel needs.

On Tuesday, a trading firm with two cargoes of diesel waiting to discharge in the port of Curacao notified Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA it plans to suspend its delivery contract and divert the shipments to Ecuador, according to a PDVSA source familiar with the firm's international trade.

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and other countries also want to tap some of the about 7 million barrels of fuel sitting in the Caribbean sea, according to three traders and shippers.

Some of the two dozen tankers sitting offshore have been waiting for weeks to discharge, either because cash-strapped PDVSA has been slow to pay for fuels or because of bottlenecks at ports.

"Refiners are waiting for (U.S.) ports to reopen to start shipping what they have in storage, but some companies are desperate," said a trader from an oil firm supplying some regional state-run oil companies.

Mexico, which normally imports two gasoline cargoes per day, is among the countries looking to buy the fuels, the trading sources said.

If trading firms that control the tankers "offer to divert a cargo from Venezuela, they (Mexico) are going to take it," said a source at an oil company with operations in Latin America.

Mexico's state-run oil firm Pemex on Thursday said it planned to import at least six gasoline, jet fuel and diesel cargoes from suppliers in the U.S. East Coast, Alabama and the Bahamas islands in the Caribbean as some U.S. Gulf ports remain closed.

Peruvian oil company Petroperu on Monday launched a tender to buy up to five cargoes of diesel for delivery in September and October, according to a document seen by . Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol has called trading firms to find gasoil cargoes for prompt delivery, a source said.

DESPERATE FOR FUEL

Harvey has caused refinery outages that resulted in about 21 million barrels of gasoline and distillates in lost production as of Wednesday, according to Reuters' estimates based on Energy Information Administration numbers.

U.S. refineries with capacity to produce 4.4 million bpd have shut. That is nearly 4.5 percent of total global fuel supply.

Diverting the cargoes from Venezuela could bring big profits to traders as diesel and gasoline prices are rising fast due to the U.S. supply disruptions. But providers would have to reach agreements with PDVSA before moving the tankers.

PDVSA has failed to prepay for most of the tankers anchored near Venezuelan ports, according to the sources. Even so, traders would seek to agree with Venezuela to swap them for cargoes they could deliver later, rather than violate their end of a contract and damage their relationship with PDVSA.

"For diverting a cargo you need to declare a contract breach and that could lead to a long battle," one trader said.

"It might be easier for traders to negotiate another delivery window for September or October, which could allow charterers to divert these cargoes in the meantime."

Some nations have more fuel in storage than others to cushion the impact on domestic markets of the reduction in U.S. supplies.

Brazil, Latin America's largest buyer of U.S. diesel and a big gasoline importer, has fuel storage constraints, said Adriano Pires, a consultant at Brazil's Center for Infrastructure. But he added that the storm's hit to U.S. shipment capacity has not yet became a problem.

"I don't think those cargoes have a strong commitment to be delivered to PDVSA in the current situation, so South America, especially Brazil, could get something from there," said Robert Campbell from consultancy Energy Aspects.

NOT SO EASY

U.S. sanctions on new Venezuelan debt operations and on officials, including President Nicolas Maduro and PDVSA's Finance Vice President Simon Zerpa, have compounded trading difficulties.

Some banks that routinely provided trade financing for companies importing and exporting Venezuelan oil have stopped issuing letters of credit.

Maduro's government has sought to blame the shortage of essential goods on the United States for imposing financial sanctions that have delayed imports.

The sanctions meant that Venezuela "cannot pay for imported essential goods for the people", said Delcy Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's recently-installed pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper in Rio de Janeiro, Alexandra Ulmer in Caracas and Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City; Editing by Gary McWilliams, Simon Webb and David Gregorio)

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has invited French oil major Total SA to invest in the country's oil and gas infrastructure, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday.

"Encouraged Total to invest in infrastructure, gas pipelines, LNG terminals and petrochemicals," Pradhan said in a tweet after a meeting with Total chairman Patrick Pouyanne.

Total has a 26 percent stake in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in western India and operates 42 outlets to sell gas to automobiles.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Malini Menon)

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Higher prices kept demand for subdued in Asia this week while recent import restrictions in India prompted dealers to cut down on hefty discounts that were being offered over the past couple of weeks.

In India, fresh purchases were limited as local prices jumped to as high as 29,937 per 10 grams earlier this week, the highest level in nearly 10 months.

"People are struggling to digest the sudden price rise. Buyers are on the sidelines, expecting a correction in prices," said Harshad Ajmera, the proprietor of JJ House, a wholesaler in the eastern Indian city Kolkata.

Dealers were offering a discount of up to $6 an ounce this week on official domestic prices, down from $10 last week. The domestic price includes a 10 percent import tax.

Discounts narrowed after a restriction was imposed last week on imports from South Korea. However, traders said the market could swing into a premium over the next few weeks.

The import restrictions were put in place as traders were taking advantage of a recent tax change that enabled them to ship in without paying the customs duty.

"Banks and refiners are slowly importing. They have not been able to sell in the market at hefty discounts," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.

Benchmark spot gold was on track for a weekly gain of over 2 percent, with prices having touched a 9-1/2 month peak on Tuesday amid safe haven demand buoyed by political tensions stemming from North Korea.

"It's been a very quiet week. It takes time for people to adjust to prices above $1,300 an ounce level," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

In top consumer China, premiums were being offered in the $3-$5 range this week, little changed from last week's $2-$5. In Hong Kong, premiums were quoted between 30 and 70 cents over benchmark rates, down from $1-$1.50 in the previous week.

"If prices go back to $1,250, some demand will appear for sure," a Hong Kong-based gold refiner said.

In Japan, gold was being sold at a discount of up to $1. Last week, local prices were between flat and a 25 cent discount.

Premiums in Singapore were between 30 and 60 cents, unchanged from the previous week.
By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis

(Reuters) - Lattice Semiconductor Corp will seek U.S. President Donald Trump's approval for its proposed $1.3 billion sale to China-backed Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, Lattice said on Friday, gambling that the former real estate dealmaker will approve the tie-up against the advice of U.S. national security officials.

It will be the first such deal to hit Trump's desk and only the fourth time in three decades that a deal was put in front of a president after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recommended against it. CFIUS scrutinizes deals for potential national security threats.

The move, first reported by earlier on Friday, comes after Lattice and private equity fund Canyon Bridge, funded in part by China's central government, spent eight months trying unsuccessfully to persuade CFIUS to clear the acquisition.

Lattice shares fell 0.7 percent to $5.62 on Friday, below the deal's $8.30 offer price.

If Trump approves the transaction, it would be unprecedented. U.S. presidents, who have the final authority on such investments, have sided with the committee to block the past three deals. As a result, most companies have been reluctant to ask a president to go against the consensus of the country's national security establishment.

Relations between the United States and China are strained by disagreements over trade and the containment of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Critics of the deal, including some U.S. lawmakers, worry the technology gained through the acquisition of Lattice could be used by China's military, but the companies have argued it poses no such risk.

"Lattice remains of the view that the proposed transaction does not raise any national security concerns that cannot be addressed by the comprehensive mitigation measures that Lattice and Canyon Bridge have proposed to implement," Lattice said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Canyon Bridge supports Lattice's decision and believes "President Trump will recognize the benefits this investment will provide - to keep and grow jobs in the U.S. as well as expand Lattice's product portfolio," it said in an emailed statement.

Canyon Bridge has told CFIUS it will commit to almost doubling the number of Lattice's employees, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because details of the regulatory process are confidential. Portland, Oregon-based Lattice reported 986 full-time employees worldwide at the end of December.

However, the commitment has not swayed CFIUS, the sources added.

The deal's problems underscore U.S. efforts to prevent the transfer of sensitive technology to China. Chinese suitors have faced intense regulatory scrutiny in their pursuit of U.S. chip makers, leading to some deals being quashed in recent years.

The latest 75-day CFIUS review of the Lattice deal, the third since it was announced in November, ended this week with the panel informing Canyon Bridge and Lattice it would recommend Trump block the acquisition if they take it to him for review.

U.S. regulatory scrutiny of the Lattice deal grew after reported in late November that Canyon Bridge, based in Palo Alto, California, was funded partly by cash coming from China's central government and had indirect links to its space program.

Lattice makes programmable chips known as field programmable gate arrays, which allow companies to put their own software on silicon chips for different uses. It does not sell chips to the U.S. military, but its two biggest rivals, Xilinx Inc and Intel Corp's Altera, make chips used in military technology.

Trump's approach to relations with China has been mixed. He has criticized Chinese trade practices but also wants Chinese help in curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

In the most recent example of a direct rejection by a president of a CFIUS application, Barack Obama in December blocked China's Grand Chip Investment GmbH from acquiring German semiconductor equipment supplier Aixtron SE. Axios technology is used to upgrade U.S. and foreign-owned Patriot missile defense systems.

Canyon Bridge, based in Palo Alto, California, is a private equity fund whose major investor is China Reform Holdings Corp, an entity that invests money from China's central government and it has indirect links to the country's space program.

OTHER DEALS AT STAKE

Canyon Bridge's ability to acquire other Western semiconductor companies could be diminished if the Lattice deal collapses. This is because most acquisition targets have U.S. operations, making them subject to a CFIUS review.

Canyon Bridge is currently working on a bid for British semiconductor company Imagination Technology Group Plc, the sources said. If Canyon Bridge clinches that deal, it would be subject to CFIUS review since Imagination Technologies acquired U.S. chip designer MIPS in 2013.

While Canyon Bridge could choose to divest MIPS, which accounts for a small fraction of Imagination Technologies' business, there is no certainty that would be enough to resolve all CFIUS issues, according to the sources.

Imagination Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese buyers are awaiting CFIUS approval on other technology deals, including Unic Capital Management's $580 million acquisition of U.S. semiconductor testing company Xcerra Corp.

Canyon Bridge's direct appeal to Trump may not change anything, according to some experts.

"I worry that the most likely outcome is that they go to the president, the president says no, and that means that other CFIUS deals continue in limbo," said Stewart Baker, a partner at law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP who is not involved in the Lattice deal.

reported in July that CFIUS was objecting to more deals in 2017 than in previous years, indicating that the secretive committee is becoming more risk-averse under Trump.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's exports to China rose for a 10th straight month in August, while shipments to the United States and Europe also gained, trade ministry data showed on Friday.

Exports to China rose 15.6 percent from a year earlier, posting the longest stretch of sales to its bigger neighbour since 2014.

Exports to the United States increased 23.2 percent on-year, while shipments to the European Union surged 43.2 percent, the same data showed.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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Infosys on Friday said it is engaging with shareholders on the future course of action to ensure that high governance standards are maintained, as it attempts to put behind months of acrimony between founders and former Board members over allegations of lapses.

Founders, led by NR Narayana Murthy, had demanded board re-constitution pointing to a variety of reasons, including whistle-blower complaints of irregularities with Infosys' $200 million Panaya acquisition and severance pay to former executives.

On 24 August, the then chairman R Seshasayee quit and co-founder Nandan Nilekani was named non-executive Chairman.

"As announced on 25 August, 2017, the company has started engaging in broad-based shareholder consultations to determine what further actions, if any, the company can take to ensure that it continues to adhere to high governance standards," Infosys said in a BSE filing. It added that during such consultations, "no material unpublished price sensitive information or financial updates will be provided".

Earlier this week, Murthy had said his concerns with the previous board were poor governance, ex-CFO being paid large severance as 'hush- money' and alleged irregularities in Panaya acquisition. Seshasayee, however, hit out at Murthy today for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

On 18 August, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka had quit from his position citing slander. The Infosys board -- which was headed by Seshasayee at that time -- then accused Murthy of running a "misguided" campaign and held him responsible for Sikka's resignation. A week later on 24 August, Seshasayee as well as three other directors quit the Board, giving into Murthy's demand for Seshasayee and other Board members to resign.

Also watch:




E-commerce firm Snapdeal has launhed a three-day sale offering "double-digit" discounts across categories like electronics, fashion, and home between September 1-3.

Snapdeal, which was engaged in merger talks with larger rival Flipkart till last month, will compete against the Bengaluru-based firm and Amazon that are likely to announce their own festive season sales in the coming days.

"With double digit discounts on consumer favourites like electronics and fashion, this 3-day sale is bound to bring much cheer to all Snapdeal users and beyond," Snapdeal said in a statement.

When contacted, a Snapdeal spokesperson said this is the "first of many such special promotions lined up for the festive season".

Snapdeal's announcement comes at a time when most e-commerce companies, including Amazon and Flipkart are gearing up for the festive season. Amazon today announced setting up of its fifth fulfilment centre in Haryana as it looks to ramp up storage capacity.

Overall, it has over 40 such warehouses across the country. The US-based firm said it now has close to 3.3 million cubic feet of storage space in Haryana and the move will enable faster deliveries to customers.


AUBURN  A Binghamton college student was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for having oral sex with a 13-year-old girl in the town of Locke.

Earlier this month, David Leach, of 70 Conklin Ave., pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sex act, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

During his plea, Leach said he had been living with the teen's family in December when he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with the girl. The Cayuga County District Attorney's Office said the 21-year-old had faked homelessness to stay as a visitor in the child's home.

On Thursday, Leach apologized to the victim and her family in court. His attorney, Dennis Sedor, said Leach's behavior stemmed from his own abuse as a child in the town of Ithaca.

Leach also pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in Madison County in a separate matter. There he admitted to possessing a picture of a naked underage girl on his cellphone.

Judge Thomas Leone sentenced him Thursday to two years in prison and 10 years post-release supervision. Leach was also ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fees and fines.

Also in court:

 A convicted felon has admitted to possessing a dangerous weapon while he was incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility.

David Sinkler, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony.

Sinkler told Leone he possessed a "ceramic cutting weapon" while at the prison in March. His defense attorney, Rome Canzano, said Sinkler is currently serving a 22-year sentence for first-degree criminal sex act and second-degree burglary, and "just wanted to put this matter behind him."

Sinkler could face a maximum of 3 1/2 to seven years in prison. However, Judge Leone agreed to sentence him to the minimum of two to four years in exchange for his plea of guilty.

Sentencing was set for Oct. 26.
In what could be a big boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, Swedish aerospace and defence major Saab announced tying up with Gautam Aadani-led Adani Group to bid for manufacturing single engine fighter aircraft in India.

"We are keen to play an instrumental role in making India a place for high-class defence manufacturing. This is in line with PM Modi's Make in India vision. Gripen will be offered to the Indian government under the strategic partnership model," Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group said today.

The partnership will compete with U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin in a two horse-race to win a potential order from India's military for single-engine jets that will be produced locally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" initiative.

The Saab-Adani partnership would be aimed at producing planes under India's new 'strategic partnership' policy, said Ratan Shrivastava, an independent New-Delhi-based consultant and adviser at India's industry lobby group FICCI.

The partnership will likely be announced on Friday, Shrivastava said.

Saab declined to comment. Saab President and Chief Executive Hakan Buskhe will host a media event in New Delhi on Friday, Saab said in a press invitation issued on Wednesday. It did not give details.

There was no immediate comment from Adani, which is a $12 billion group with businesses ranging from energy and logistics to real estate and defence.

Shares in Adani Enterprises Ltd, a group company, rose on Thursday after the news of the planned Saab tie-up and were trading about 2.7 percent higher. Saab shares were up 1.8 percent.

Under India's new defence partnership policy, a foreign aircraft maker will collaborate with an Indian firm to develop a world-class indigenous aeronautical base that India has struggled to build for decades.

Lockheed has already picked India's Tata Advanced Systems as its local partner to produce its F-16 fighter planes that will compete with Saab's Gripen aircraft.

The government will issue a formal request to Lockheed and Saab over the next few days to provide information about their plans to design, develop and produce combat jets in India, a government official told Reuters earlier this week.

India's air force needs hundreds of aircraft to replace its Soviet-era fleet, but Modi wants the planes built in India to help boost the domestic industrial base and cut imports.

With Reuters inputs


India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today reported 23.8 per cent increase in total sales at 1,63,701 units in August as against 1,32,211 units in the year-ago month. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), however, reported a 6.86 per cent decline in total sales.

The company's domestic sales stood at 1,52,000 units, up 26.7 per cent from 1,19,931 units in August last year, MSI said in a statement.

The auto major said sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Dzire and Baleno jumped by 62.4 per cent to 74,012 units last month as against 45,579 units in the year-ago month.

MSI said sales of mid-sized sedan Ciaz grew by 3.9 per cent to 6,457 units during the month.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga, S-Cross and compact SUV Vitara Brezza increased by 27.6 per cent to 21,442 units in August, from 16,806 units in the same month of 2016.

Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today reported 6.86 per cent decline in total sales at 13,081 units in August.

The company had sold a total of 14,045 units in the same month last year, TKM said in a statement.

Domestic sales declined 6.12 per cent at 12,017 units in August as against 12,801 units in the same month last year.

TKM exported 1,064 units of the Etios series in August 2017 as compared to 1,244 units in the same month last year, a decline of 14.47 per cent.

TKM Director and Senior Vice-President - Sales and Marketing N Raja said: "Our sales numbers this month are not truly reflective of the existing customer orders. Post the announcement on potential cess hike, there was a considerable rise in customer enquiries and orders."

He said the company faced production limitations which held it back from catching up with high demand and holidays in August also led to lesser number of production days.

"With the demand on the rise, the current waiting period for Innova has gone up to around 6-8 weeks and Fortuner is around 10-12 weeks respectively," Raja added.

Demand for hybrid product Camry Hybrid has fallen significantly owing to the price hike after GST implementation, he said, adding the company was hoping that the government would reinstate "the preferential (lower) tax rate in favour of clean and green technologies such as strong hybrids similar to pre-GST era".

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on the other hand reported 9 per cent increase in domestic sales at 47,103 units in August. The company had sold 43,201 units in August 2016, HMIL said in a statement.

Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), leading manufacturer of passenger cars in India, registered monthly domestic sales of 17,365 units in August 2017 against 13,941 units in corresponding month last year, registering a growth of 25%.

"HCIL continues to record strong sales in August led by City and WR-V. The festive purchases have already begun in some parts of the country and we expect the festival season to further boost our sales numbers in the next two months. HCIL has announced 'The Great Honda Fest' from today and we want our customers to take this opportunity to get maximum benefits on the purchase of their Honda car," Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd said.



(with PTI inputs)


An elderly passenger of Indian origin passed away while on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Mumbai, official sources said on Friday. The reason behind his demise is said to be cardiac arrest mid flight.

In his mid-60s, the deceased was identified as Charanjit Singh Anand. He breathed his last on the flight LH-756 which touched in Mumbai around 1:20 am.

"Lufthansa can confirm that on flight LH-756 from Frankfurt to Mumbai, one of its passengers suffered a heart attack. Our feelings are with the family of the passenger," the airlines said in an official statement after the incident.

For now, Anand's dead body has been sent to the Cooper Hospital for an autopsy and will be handed over to his family later. The airlines did not disclose whether the passenger was travelling alone, had any prior medical history or about his place of origin, said an IANS report.
The government has deferred a decision on selling a stake in state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) as falling profits and market share in the booming handphone sector dim the prospects of a successful sale, officials said.

Chief Executive Anupam Shrivastava said the government, which fully owns BSNL, should wait until the company returns to profit before attempting to sell a stake.

However, the firm has lost about $7 billion in the last eight years, making it the country's biggest loss-making state-run company after national carrier Air India.

Since the launch of free voice and unlimited data plans by telecoms upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm, the state firm has fallen further behind, Shrivastava said. BSNL offers landline and 3G services in a market dominated by operators that have moved on to 4G connectivity.

"Reliance Jio has hit hard our revenue, particularly in the mobile segment," he said, adding it could take two years to three years before the company posts a net profit.

The entry of Jio, backed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, has shaken the entire sector, not just BSNL.

Internal documents reviewed by Reuters showed that in January the government considered a plan to privatise BSNL. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing ahead with the privatisation of Air India and the closure of a dozen other companies as he seeks to cut state losses and revive private investment to boost economic growth.

But the BSNL plan has been put on the backburner, a senior government official with direct knowledge of the issue said, while the government focuses on Air India. Modi's cabinet approved plans in June to privatise the flag carrier.

The documents show that the government had discussed privatising BSNL's subsidiaries, joint ventures and units and laying off 100,000 of the 200,000 workforce. The firm spends 55 percent of its earnings on wages compared with 5 percent to 7 percent for private operators.

The telecoms union went on strike for a day in July to protest the stake-sale plan and P. Abhimanyu, national convenor of the BSNL Employees' Union, said he would launch an indefinite strike if the government tried to privatise the company. BSNL is battling for survival, he said.

Once India's largest telecom company, the number of BSNL landline subscribers has fallen by 8 million in the last five years to 25 million. Its market share in broadband services fell to 10 percent this year from near 30 percent in 2013.

BSNL's outstanding debt was just over $1.2 billion at the end of March 2016, its latest public financial data shows. The debt has been capped in part by the use of cash reserves of $5 billion.

"There is no strategic need for the government to remain in the telecom sector," said A. Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership. Scarce state resources could be better used elsewhere, he said.


Screen grab of a video on Youtube showing the arrest of University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A Utah police department is making changes after an officer dragged a screaming nurse out of a hospital in handcuffs when she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.

Nurse Alex Wubbels followed hospital policy and advice from her bosses when she told Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Payne that he could not get the blood sample without a warrant or consent from the patient, said her lawyer, Karra Porter.

Police spokeswoman Christina Judd said the agency started an internal investigation within hours of the encounter on July 26 and that the assistant chief has apologized to University Hospital.

Were alarmed by what we saw in the video and take it very, very seriously, Judd said.

Police <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time%E2%80%94continue=110&v=ihQ1-LQOkns target=_blank>body-camera video</a> shows Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, calmly explaining that she could not take blood from a patient who had been injured in a deadly car accident, citing a recent change in law. She told Payne that a patient was required to give consent for a blood sample to determine intoxication or be under arrest.

Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. Payne insisted.

The dispute ended with Payne saying, Were done, youre under arrest and physically moving her outside while she screamed. The department said the frustrated Payne had called his supervisor and that several people went back and forth about the time-sensitive blood draw for over an hour.

Its not an excuse. It definitely doesnt forgive what happened, Judd said.

The detective left Wubbels in a hot police car for 20 minutes before realizing that blood had already been drawn as part of treatment, her attorney said. She was not booked or charged.

This has upended her worldview in a way. She just couldnt believe this could happen, Porter said.

The dramatic video became another flashpoint in a national debate about police use of force and how officers treat civilians.

Payne has been suspended from drawing blood but remains on duty as a detective in the investigations unit. He is among a group of officers who are certified phlebotomists, called upon regularly when a blood sample is required for a police investigation.

Payne could not be reached for comment. Message for the Salt Lake Police Association union was not immediately returned.

In response to the incident, Judd said the department updated its blood draw policy last week to mirror what the hospital staff uses. She said officers have already received additional training but that they are still sorting out the departments response since the law changed.

We want to know where something went wrong, what we didnt know, and why we didnt know it, Judd said.

The agency has met with hospital administration to ensure it does not happen again and to repair their relationship.

Theres a strong bond between fire, police and nurses because they all work together to help save lives, and this caused an unfortunate rift that we are hoping to repair immediately, Judd said.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the patient was a reserve police officer from Idaho who was working his other job as a semi-truck driver when a car fleeing the Utah Highway Patrol crashed into him. The newspaper cites police reports saying Payne was trying to take the blood to clear him of any wrongdoing in the wreck.



Ho reported from Las Vegas. Follow Sally Ho at http://twitter.com/sallyho and Lindsay Whitehurst at https://twitter.com/lwhitehurst .
I walked down North Street to No. 185. She stands shyly, a little hidden among the trees. Her porches need a little work and her yellow paint could stand a fresh coat. She hopes there will be children laughing and playing in her yards again and adults sitting on her repaired porches having a cool drink and discussing the day's events.

The property the house stands on was at one time part of Military Lot No. 37, awarded to George Weaver, who was a private in the Revolutionary War. George Casey moved to Auburn in the fall of 1813 and bought part of this Military Lot and it became The Casey Farm. George Casey farmed this land until he sold it in 1829 to Captain George Brown Chase.

The house at No. 185 was supposed to have been built in 1860, and Captain George Brown Chase's son, George R. Chase, farmed the land and the family is supposed to have lived in it until the 1950s. George married Pauline A. McKinney and they had three daughters, Elizabeth, Eliza A. and Mary P. George became a hardware merchant. I have no information on Eliza A. Chase except she was living in Buffalo in 1918. Mary P. Chase married Charles A. Foster, a botanic physician, and lived in Auburn.

Elizabeth Chase married Dexter A. Smith. He was the son of Alfred Smith and Laura Paddock. Dexter was a veteran of the Civil War and the Spanish American War. He was a hardware merchant with his father-in-law and vice president of the Empire State Telephone and Telegraph Company. Dexter and Elizabeth had a daughter, Pauline Smith.

Pauline married Albert Warren Crocker. He was the son of Warren Crocker and Harriet Jane Bowers. Albert worked at Wegman's Piano Company and Cayuga County National Bank.

Warren Crocker, Albert's father, was a shoe manufacturer with Sartwell, Hough & Crocker and he was also vice president of Wegman's Piano Co. Albert had a brother, Fred J. Crocker, who lived in California, and a sister, Bessie M. Crocker, who married the Rev. Charles Mynderse Herrick and lived in Dansville.

After Pauline's death, the house had already been turned into a two-family home passed out of the family's hand and had several owners.

My sources for this article were information I found at the Cayuga County Historian's Office, The Local History Discovery Center at the Seymour Library and the Cayuga Community College Local History Room.

John R. St. Croix

Auburn
While China has the skills, cash and labor to make the "Belt and Road" initiative a success, it recognizes that it can't achieve this ambitious undertaking alone. Above, the first freight train of the China Railway Express, which connects Prague and Yiwu, Zhejiang province, arrives at the Yiwu West Station on Aug. 4. Photo: IC

There are at least three reasons why it would be unwise to bet against Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): The Asian giant has the resources, finances and industrial base to see through the project thats now impacting more than 60 countries and connecting three continents through five routes spanning six economic corridors on land and sea.

Resource power

China has already proven that it can execute massive infrastructure projects, such as the centuries-old Great Wall. Among its more recent projects is the 20th century Golmud-Lhasa rail route linking Tibet to the eastern coast. Despite tough terrain and high altitudes, Chinese engineers accomplished a nearly impossible task and, in the process, accumulated both expertise and confidence. These skills will help with the BRI.

The BRI will also benefit from overcapacity in Chinas large construction materials industry. With the domestic market saturated, projects along the route provide a ready market for Chinese firms that have bought into the BRI ideology, as outlined below.

According to Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the BRIs foundation rests on four principles: openness, inclusivity, market-orientation and mutual benefits. Thus, no country is excluded from this initiative, and countries outside the BRI region are allowed to participate.

However, as the BRI is modeled after the old Silk Road, it mainly plans to connect Asia, Europe and Africa using the land mass of Eurasia, as well as the Indian and the Pacific oceans. The plan is for five routes. The first links China to Europe through Central Asia and Russia. The second links China to the Middle East via Central Asia, Iran and Turkey by land. The third links China with South Asia and Southeast Asia by land.

The fourth and fifth are sea routes. The fourth connects China to Europe through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea with an extension to the eastern coast of Africa, while the fifth takes a detour to the South Pacific Ocean from the South China Sea. These land and sea routes are divided into six economic corridors:

1. The new Eurasia Land Bridge Economic Corridor that connects China and Europe. The backbone of this corridor is an international railway line from Jiangsu province to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Upon exiting the Xinjiang autonomous region, the railway line cuts through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland, where it joins the European railway network.

2. The China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor will see the Russia Eurasia Land Bridge renovated and Mongolias Steppe Road developed.

3. The China-Central Asia-West Asia economic corridor connects the railway network from Xinjiang through Central Asia and West Asia to the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea. It connects China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey.

4. The China-Indochina Peninsula Economic corridor connects China with five countries in Indochina and extends this to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

5. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor connects Kashgar in the Xinjiang region to Gwadar Port in Pakistan.

6. The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic corridor involves cooperation among these four countries with common borders.

Although the Hong Kong Trade Development Council lists more than 60 countries that would be affected by the BRI, adhering strictly to the corridors described above, we envisage 21 countries that would have direct involvement, excluding China: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Turkey. Kazakhstan, Russia and Myanmar are each included in more than one corridor.

Financial clout

With a gross savings rate equal to 50% of national gross domestic product and more than $3 trillion in foreign reserves, China has the financial power to support the BRI. China-led agencies such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank, also known as the BRICS Bank, the Silk Road Fund and the China Development Bank will provide the financial backing for BRI projects. In fact, at the May 2017 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, President Xi Jinping pledged $113 billion toward the initiative.

Industrial might

China also has a powerful manufacturing sector whose companies are eager to expand abroad. Researchers say some of the more labor-intensive industries in Chinas manufacturing sector are ready to relocate to regions with relatively lower wages. This is not unique to China; it is simply a continuation of the process started by Japan that later spread to South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei China during their industrializations in the 1980s.

China has the skills, cash and labor to make the BRI a success. These three factors are enhanced by the countrys recognition that it cannot achieve this mammoth task alone.

In September 2013, six months after being elected president of the Peoples Republic of China and during a visit to Central Asia, Xi Jinping suggested the idea of jointly building the new Silk Road Economic Belt. A month later, while visiting Southeast Asia, a complementary 21st Century Maritime Silk Road was introduced. These announcements marked the beginning of the BRI, perhaps Chinas most significant international relations initiative in recent times.

When President Xi hosted the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May, he was joined by some 28 heads of state and dozens of senior leaders from countries involved in this gigantic project. It appears they also understand that the BRI is bigger than any single country, and that its success depends on all working together.

Bala Ramasamy is a professor of economics and an associate dean at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). His research focuses on Asian economies, foreign direct investment, corporate social responsibility and international business strategy.

Matthew Yeung is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Open University of Hong Kong, HKSAR. His research interest focuses on Business Analytic, Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity.
In 2003, 24-year-old Juan Catalan heard a knock at the door and opened it to find a SWAT team waiting to arrest him for the murder of a 16-year-old girl. Catalan claimed innocence and said he couldnt have committed the crime because he was at Dodgers Stadium at the time of the murder, watching the Dodgers take on the Atlanta Braves. He presented a ticket stub to prove it but the police and the district attorney didnt believe him.

And so, he sat in prison awaiting trial where he almost certainly would face the death penalty if convicted. His lawyer needed to find a way to prove his client was at Dodgers Stadium when he says he was and he looked to perhaps the most unlikely source of all in order to do so Larry David.

Such is the topic of the new Netflix true crime documentary Long Shot. The trailer for the subscription services latest addition to the genre is out now.

Turns out that an HBO TV crew was at Dodgers Stadium that day filming an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The episode in question, Carpool Lane, revolved around Larry David hiring a prostitute so that he could use the carpool lane in order to get to the Dodgers game in time. The crew shot footage of multiple sections inside the stadium and somewhere in that footage was Catalans only hope of avoiding prison or even death.

The outcome of the case is somewhat well-known (you can read about it here if you dont care about spoilers), but that doesnt mean the story cant be a compelling one. Netflix has become a master of the true crime doc in recent years (and even has a parody of the genre on the way as well).

Long Shot debuts September 29.
CAMEROUN :: Cameroon: Letter to my fellow compatriots, brothers and sisters

The elements of national destabilization have started hunting us at our peaceful hiding grounds. We have seen how our brothers chest and knock them out of Belgium and South African.

They dont understand that their linguistic apartheid has fallen off from a national to and international battle.

These shameless Dinosaurs still have an agenda to come here in the UK which is the struggle hub and stronghold of this independent of Southern Cameroon.

Brothers and sister, I as leader of the Cameroon Reformation Party am with you and for you now and forever. Take my words for it and I am down for it, dont allow such bone headed Entelodonts to manipulate your decisions, choices and ways of life.

We will fight them and even set ablaze at the CPDM Head office call High Commission in London. These bunches of Betty, Bulu and Ewondo elites had never got any sympathy over you. If they can listen to my advice from this message, do not attempt to come into the UK as you risking your lives. Let them tell their supreme Godhead at Etudi that this matter is more than simple ignorance. Its now a matter of death and life.

These bunches of Dinosaurs are coming here in leopards skin to lure you and once they get the opportunity they will prey on you. Do not sorry them and do not have any sympathy over them. Enough is enough.

Back to our brothers, sisters and parents in Cameroon, We love you all and thats why no matter what we are trying and will keep on our best to wage in efforts because we all wish you a brighter future and a government we will hold in trust and where we all will have a say on how its run. Do not rush for elicit education. Be patient we will not failed you we have a good mind and a vision for you.

Stays at home, stay away from places manage by elements la Republique. Be peaceful and put your time in to other resourceful activities. For all our girls, be mindful these elements are rapist and treacherous they might regenerate their kidnapping and raping behaviours on you.

These Betti elites are not coming here for peace there are killer monster with bio-engineer killing behaviours.

I wish we all accept that no southern Cameroonian will be going to school and also that these bunch of killers are not welcome in London come rain come sun.

Down with Paul Biya

Down with the CPDM

Down with Linguistic apartheid

For injustice will never take the place of justice

God Bless Southern Cameroon

God bless Cameroon Reformation Party

With you and for you

Foligar Lang

Leader CRP Party
| BY Ricki Green |

UPDATED  The Epica Awards 2017 are now officially open for entries until September 30, with two new categories and an expanded jury.

Covering advertising, design, PR and digital, Epica has staked a unique place in the landscape as the only creative awards show judged by journalists  including Campaign Brief for Australia and NZ. Every agency that enters Epica has effectively already won, because their work is seen by the very group of people who can spread the word about their talent.

This year, alongside well-known industry journals such as Adweek, Campaign, Creative Review, Shots and Campaign Brief, Epica has added niche titles for individual categories.

For example, in the craft field were joined by German magazine Digital Production, while in the UK, PR specialist The Holmes Report will cast its vote on relevant entries. For the Virtual Reality category, were joined by specialist magazines VRODO and ARVR. And from an entirely different world, the fashion editor of Marie Claire France will weigh in on fashion campaigns.

The 2017 jury president will be Spencer Baim (left), chief strategic officer at VICE Media.

This years awards also feature two new categories: Music Video and Online & Mobile Services (which covers advertising for digital brands such as Airbnb and Uber). The prize-giving ceremony will take place at the Meistersaal in Berlin on the evening of November 16.

As always, every agency that enters will get a free copy of our annual Epica Book  400 pages of creative inspiration.
| BY Lynchy |

Ogilvy China has opened a new office in Shenzhen, a city widely regarded as Chinas Silicon Valley, naming Angela Chou as the offices Managing Director.

Shenzhen is an extremely exciting market, said Chris Reitermann, CEO of Ogilvy China and Co-CEO of Ogilvy APAC. We are seeing a new generation of global tech players emerging in Shenzhen, and we hope that this new office can be a hub facilitating their access to our global Ogilvy and WPP network for their global branding efforts. Following Ogilvys Next Chapter strategy to create a connected organization and client-centric structure, our Shenzhen office will be staffed with some of our best Chinese staff along with global experts experienced in global brand management, and together, they will work seamlessly to make brands matter.

Reitermann added, We are living in a golden age for Chinese brands going global, which could prove to be as huge as the globalization of Western brands in the 1980s. Its an unmissable opportunity for a company like Ogilvy. Angela Chou is a seasoned leader with a wealth of experience in global brand marketing and Chinese client management. I am fully confident that under Angelas leadership, together with our clients, our Shenzhen office will champion a new form of global brand management best suited to serving the needs of Chinese global brands. 
"So I did and within a minute the head of the marketing company fell off the back of his chair laughing and clapping and then ran next door to get other people to watch  we did the very first advert that afternoon."
Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper.
"Julia Gillard was literally the most successful legislator Australia ever had in terms of legislation and actually getting it through, so the fact that we had a female prime minister that was that successful in that respect, and yet we still think Australia isn't ready for another female prime minister, it all comes back to how that ended and what her term was like," she said.
In what it says is an effort to increase access to dental care across Arizona, a coalition of nine groups today plans to submit a petition to authorize a new type of dental care provider in the state.

The mid-level position, called a dental therapist, would work under a dentist in a capacity similar to a physicians assistant, said John Grant, director of The Pew Charitable Trust's dental campaign, which is a member of the coalition. Training for the therapists would cover a narrower range of topics than dental school and they would perform a more limited scope of procedures such as oral examinations, fillings, extractions and crowns, Grant said.

Advocates of the concept point to the statistic that 2.4 million of Arizonas 7 million residents live in federally designated dental health professional shortage areas where there are one or fewer dentists per 5,000 people. They say a dental therapist model will increase the number of providers in the state, bring dental care to more rural or underserved parts of the state and improve care overall.

The Arizona Rural Health Coalition and the Navajo Nation are other members of the coalition, called Dental Care for Arizona. Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, has also signed on as a supporter. In an op-ed, Thorpe called dental therapists a smart, proven solution that has already been implemented in other states.

This model has allowed dentists in these states to successfully practice in remote, rural parts of the state, thus expanding access where needed, the representative wrote.

But the concept has met strong opposition from both the Arizona Dental Association and the American Dental Association.

Creating a dental therapist occupation wont solve the biggest barriers to dental care access, including cost of care, Medicaid coverage and rural availability, said Kevin Earle, executive director with the Arizona Dental Association.

We believe that its the wrong diagnosis and the wrong prescription, Earle said.

He also raised concerns that dental therapists would be allowed to do oral procedures that come with a risk of complications, but wouldnt necessarily need to be under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist. If something were to go wrong in that situation, it could be dangerous for the patient, he said.

On the face, things can seem simple, but they can get complicated once youre in there, Earle said.

For its part, the American Dental Association published a statement saying: "There is no available data that demonstrate new models that replicate what dentists already do well have increased access to care at a lower cost."

This isnt the first time such a debate has occurred in Arizona. Dental Care for Arizona proposed the legalization of licensed dental therapists last year as well but the application was voted down by a legislative review committee. That essentially prevented the proposal from moving on to a formal hearing during the legislative session.

Democratic Sen. David Bradley from Tucson told the Arizona Daily Star in April that proponents didnt adequately address safety concerns and failed to show that access to care was a serious issue in Arizona and was tied to the number of providers.

This time around supporters are hoping for a different outcome, saying they have a stronger coalition, better data showing the need for dental care in the state and more information about testing and licensing structures. According to Arizona law, the review committee is supposed to deliver its recommendation for or against the proposal before Dec. 1.

THREE OTHER STATES, A DOZEN IN PLAY

Three states, Minnesota, Maine and Vermont, allow for licensed dental therapists, while Washington, Oregon and Alaska allow them on tribal land. About a dozen others are considering the concept, Grant said.

In 2015, the Commission on Dental Accreditation created national training standards for dental therapy education, which provide a blueprint for state legislation, he said.

Grant said dental therapists are paid at a lower rate but did not directly answer whether that would bring down the cost of care for patients.

The short answer is its complicated, he said.

He did say that in the case of Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers like North Country HealthCare that provide services on a sliding scale, the addition of therapists could allow them to accept more patients.

Dental therapy supporter Alicia Thompson, coordinator for the Southern Arizona Oral Health Coalition, focused on the potential for the new providers to target rural and underserved areas. She referenced a case study in Alaska native communities where therapists are recruited from communities that need dental service, then trained and sent back to practice in those locations. Thompson said she could see something similar happening in Arizona.

While the therapists would have to be under indirect supervision of a dentist, they would be allowed to travel to remote settings as long as they followed a pre-established treatment plan and stayed in touch with their supervisor via phone or teletechnology, Grant said.

WRONG PRESCRIPTION

Earle agreed that residents dental care needs arent being fulfilled in all parts of the state, but said the problem isnt a lack of dentists. Over the past decade, there has been a net increase in the number of dentists that roughly matches population growth, he said.

For most people, the biggest barrier is the cost of dental care, which is tied to the fact that Medicaid doesn't cover dental services for non-disabled adults, Earle said. That will start to change in October when Medicaid will again cover emergent dental needs, but to truly improve dental health in Arizona the state needs to expand Medicaid coverage to include comprehensive dental care, Earle said.

The goal of dental therapist advocates to increase dental care in rural areas ignores realities that some places don't have enough people to support a clinic, Earle said. The states loan forgiveness program is meant to incentivize healthcare professionals to work in rural areas is also really, really weak, he said.

He suggested teledentistry and mobile dental care programs that are already happening in the state are the best way to address those challenges.

As for Flagstaff dentists, of 10 dentists the Daily Sun contacted this week for comment on the proposal, only one responded before Thursday evening.

Jef Abramowitz said he had heard from the dental association that the dental therapist proposal was unnecessary because there are already enough dentists in the state.

Im really kind of on the fence myself, Abramowitz said. I don't really know one way or another whether they're needed.
PHOENIX -- One of the three doctors accused of prescribing opioids for money is denying he or the others did anything wrong.

Nikesh Seth, the only one of the doctors who returned a call seeking comment about the lawsuit filed Wednesday by Attorney General Mark Brnovich, acknowledged he did get money from Insys Therapeutics to speak about its drug Subsys. In fact, Seth told Capitol Media Services that he along with the other two doctors named in the lawsuit -- Steve Fanto and Sheldon Gingerich -- were the only three in the state that were speakers for Insys.

The lawsuit separately charges the Chandler-based company with misleading patients and doctors about the dangers of the drug and of lying to insurers about the condition of the patients in a bid to get payment for the drug.

But Seth denied any link between the number of prescriptions he wrote for the sublingual version of the powerful opioid fentanyl and the money.

"They were educational programs that we were paid for where multiple providers across the country and in the Valley attended,'' the Scottsdale pain management specialists said. "So they were actual legitimate speaker programs.''

That's not the contention of Brnovich who charges in the lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court that Insys "paid doctors sham 'speaker fees' in exchange for writing prescriptions, all in order to increase the sales of Subsys, without regard for the health and safety of patients.''

To back his contention, Brnovich said that in the two years before Seth began receiving speaker fees he wrote just 11 prescriptions for Subsys.

Then in the three months immediately before his first fee, he wrote 18 per month, a figure that increased to about 23 per month while Seth was actually getting paid an average of $207,000 a month. Yet in the seven months after the fees stopped, Brnovich said Seth was prescribing Subsys at a rate of two a month.

"The fact that we prescribed the product or that I prescribed the product is that it's a very good product and we had an appropriate clientele of patients that got the medication,'' he said. And Seth said most of those patients had "breakthrough cancer pain,'' the only use for which the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the drug.

Seth acknowledged that he and the other doctors prescribed the drug to others experiencing pain, saying patients were warned about the dangers. And there is nothing illegal about "off-label'' use.

Also named in the lawsuit along with Insys and Seth is Steve Fanto who until July was in the practice of pain medication in Scottsdale. His license was suspended after the Arizona Medical Board found he had improperly prescribed Subsys.

Among the board's findings was that he was starting patients off with 800 micrograms of Subsys, the highest available dose, despite FDA-required labeling that said they should be started at 100 micrograms with the dose slowly increased until there was an adequate pain-relieving effect with tolerable side effects. Brnovich said these prescriptions did more than put patients at risk.

"They also generated substantial revenue for Insys,'' he said. "The higher the dose of Subsys, the more money Insys made.''

Also named in the lawsuit is Tucson pain management specialist Sheldon Gingerich. As in the case of Fanto, he did not return calls.

The lawsuit says that before Gingerich started getting speaker fees, he wrote fewer than one Subsys prescription a month. That increased to 10 a month in the three months before the fees started and 16 a month while he was getting paid a total of $83,100 in speaker fees and $7,200 in consulting fees.

All totaled, Brnovich said, the three doctors were paid nearly $600,000. But the attorney general said it was a good investment for Insys, with their additional prescriptions above their historic averages generating more than $25 million for the company.

But Brnovich's harshest claims in the lawsuit were aimed at Insys -- and not just for what the attorney general said was that "sham'' speaker fees program.

He said the Chandler-based firm deceived insurers and pharmaceutical benefit companies into agreeing to pay for the expensive drug by misleading them to believe that the payment request was coming from a doctor's office and not the company making the drug. Brnovich also said those Insys employees misrepresenting the medical conditions of the patients, lying that they had "breakthrough pain, '' lying that the patients had tried other medications, and lying that the patients needed the sublingual spray rather than less expensive pills marketed by other firms because they had difficulty swallowing.

The lawsuit asks a judge to not only enjoin all the defendants from unfair, deceptive or misleading acts in the future but also seeks restitution to customers and an order that they surrender money they obtained "as a result of their illegal conduct.''

There was no response from Insys despite multiple requests for comment.
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 ...
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.

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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
Volkswagen Australia has lifted the veil on the Passat Alltrack Wolfsburg Edition for the 2018 model year.



Just 250 examples of the Wolfsburg Edition will be produced, and compared to the run-of-the-mill Passat Alltrack, this model has a number of distinctive interior and exterior features.

Outside, customers will receive unique 19-inch Albertville wheels, LED headlights with LED daytime running lights, Wolfsburg badging and LED taillights. Paint options are restricted to Atlantic Blue, Manganese Grey metallic and Pure White.

Inside, buyers will find the automakers 12.3-inch Active Info digital gauge cluster, a 9.2-inch Discover Pro infotainment system with gesture control, rear privacy glass, paddle shifters, memory seats, an automatic tailgate and ambient lighting.

The wagon will only be sold in 140TDI Passat Alltrack form meaning it has a 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder with 187 hp (140 kw) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque, delivered to all four wheels courtesy of a six-speed wet-clutch DSG transmission.

PHOTO GALLERY
Confederate Motorcycles recently unveiled its FA-13 Combat Bomber at Pebble Beach but it appears that will soon become the companys last bike.



In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Confederate President Matt Chambers said the company will soon be known as Curtiss Motorcycles. The name is a reference to Glenn Curtiss who was a motorcycle racer and builder but is perhaps best-known for his contributions to the aviation industry.

The decision to drop the Confederate name didnt come lightly but Chambers said part of the motivation came from the names association with the Civil War. Civil unrest following the events in Charlottesville, Virginia also appeared to have played a role.

As Chambers explained, I think we lost a lot a business with that name. He added, Weve missed out on branding opportunities so its time to retire it.

The renaming comes at an opportune time as Curtiss will now focus on electric bikes thanks to a partnership with Zero Motorcycles. The companys first model will be called the Hercules and it will feature two electric motors that develop 175 hp (130 kW) and 290 lb-ft (392 Nm) of torque.

Photo Gallery
North Americas longest-running animation festival, the Ottawa International Animation Festival, will take place next month from September 20-24 in Canadas capital city.

Ottawa, a key gathering point for the international animation community, offers a wide range of competition screenings, workshops, panels, and parties that take place throughout downtown Ottawa.

Below are seven must-see highlights at this years festival:
Photo: Ron Kosma

It's the final weekend of summer holidays for many and with most kids going back to school on Tuesday it's a great weekend to get out and enjoy one of the many local events.

Friday, Sept. 1.

St. Andrew's Friday Night Nine and Dine Mixer is a popular Friday night event in Penticton. Invite friends and family out for a good time. The dinner, music and dancing will start at 7:00 p.m. and tickets generally sell out quick.

Rock the Sun Concert Series Bees and the Barbones and Luke Wallace are a Canadian band that will be playing indie-folk music and an alt-country/folk sound. The free event will be at Gyro Park from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Karaoke Night at the Barley Mill in Penticton is always a fun evening. It starts at 9:00 p.m. and there is no cover.

The Justin Glibbery Quartet at the Dream Cafe. Doors 6 p.m., show 8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 2.

The Penticton Farmer's Market is from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the 100 block of Main St. Enjoy a wide selection of fruit, vegetables, flowers, honey, eggs, homemade baking, preserves, crafts, wines, beers and ciders.

The Penticton Community Market takes place on 200 and 300 blocks of Main St. and along Front St. from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and features homemade goods including clothing, food and jewellery.

Meyer Family Vineyards Harvest Dinner with Joy Road, at their vineyard in Okanagan falls. The dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with family style harvest dinner paired perfectly with wines.

Drift Union Matsuri is a adrenaline filled day at the Penticton Speedway from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Cost of the event is $10.

Angel Forrest at the Dream Cafe. Doors 6 p.m., show 8 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 3.

The Summerland Rotary Sunday Market from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. is a foodies paradise. Main Street in Summerland provides a quaint backdrop for the Summerland Rotary Sunday Market. Farmers, artists, crafters and food vendors fill over 50 stalls with the bounty of Summerland and the Okanagan Valley.

The last day for the Drift Union Matsuri at the Penticton Speedway and it will start at 12:00 p.m. and go until 6:00 p.m. Cost of the event is $10.

Punjabi Mela which is a Punjabi festival will take place in Gyro Park from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The fun event will feature live music and free admission and there will be lots of authentic Indian food for purchase. All proceeds will go towards the BC Cancer Foundation.

WiL at the Dream Cafe. Doors 6 p.m., show 8 p.m.

The weather for the long weekend appears to be nothing but blue skies and sunshine, making it the perfect for one of these many outdoor events.
Photo: Contributed

Traffic is backed up on Highway 97, heading into Kelowna from the Westside.

Multiple vehicles appeared to be involved in a collision prior to the Westside Road interchange.

No word on the extent of injuries, if any.

The crash scene is just being cleared up.
Photo: Google Street View

The manager of a local trucking company says he wants people to know what really happened.

The caller, who preferred not to identify himself, said his driver did knock out power to West Kelowna Wednesday. But he didn't take off.

Power was out for hours after a truck hauling a low-bed trailer clipped some guywires in the Tallus Ridge area and caused a transformer to arc.

"My guy was already committed to the corner, and a car came off Shannon Lake Road  as is their right  which limited his turn radius.

"He had to tighten his turn, and saw his tires hit the grass and clip the guywires."

Google Street View images show the wires are right at the edge of the asphalt. Contrary to earlier reports, the pole was not moved in the incident.

"He felt it safer to immediately remove the equipment from the scene, and called 911 from the truck. He came back to the office, reported it to BC Hydro, and then returned to the scene and gave a statement to the crews there."

The caller said he could see how an observer might have thought the driver was "taking off."

"But we've been in this community a long time and employ a lot of people. We have a responsibility, and with that kind of thing out there, I just wanted to put it right."
Photo: CTV Laura Letts-Beckett drowned near Revelstoke in August 2010.

The Crown wrapped up its case this week against a man accused of murdering his wife.

Peter Beckett and Laura Letts-Beckett were vacationing on Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke in 2010, when the couple went fishing on their Zodiac boat one evening. Letts-Beckett, who wasn't wearing a life jacket, drowned.

A year after her death, Beckett was charged with murder.

Beckett's jury trial began Aug. 21 in Kelowna Supreme Court. The jury has heard about how the Becketts purchased accidental death insurance two months before the drowning and how Letts-Beckett had told a friend she had some challenges in a sympathetic email after learning of the breakdown of a friend's marriage.

Additionally, the jury heard in Beckett's statement to police that he had reeled in his fishing line as his boat drifted away from his drowning wife, before he turned around to attempt a rescue.

A family friend testified that just hours after the drowning, Beckett asked him if Google Earth's map was a live recording, specifically in the area where the drowning took place.

The Crown also brought forth evidence of how Beckett believed he was entitled to his deceased wife's parents' estate once Letts-Beckett had died.

The jury heard testimony from a former cellmate who told the court Beckett had asked him to take care of several witnesses who were set to testify against him in 2012.

The jury was not in the courtroom Wednesday and Thursday, but the nature of the court proceedings cannot be published due to a publication ban on events when the jury is not present.

Defence will open its case Friday.
Alanna Kelly

Getting a child ready to head to school can not only be incredibly stressful and expensive, but many of the costs dont appear until the kid is in the classroom.

Back to school lists created by businesses often dont include the extra costs parents will face once the school year starts.

Shannon Christensen is the executive director of Mamas for Mamas, a non-profit that supports low-income mothers in Kelowna.

Christensen says back to school shopping can end up being costing close to $1,000, compared to the $200 many lists say.

Its nice to have a one-stop shop where parents say, oh my gosh, I had no idea my son needed this calculator for trigonometry, I didn't realize we needed all this extra equipment for gym, new running shoes that don't have black soles, or a whole bunch of extra stuff, she said.

At Mamas for Mamas they see a high demand for high school students needing back to school materials.

Its the teenagers I find that don't get what they are in need of, she said. We really try getting the older kids access to stuff they need.

These things include a proper backpack, a good solid binder, a scientific calculator and a good reusable water bottle.

When you get a list like that it can be really overwhelming for moms, especially if you are just starting with your first kid in kindergarten, she said. You don't really know what they need and you get this giant list of things you feel like you should go buy and then you find out half of it is not needed.

Christensen said a lot of schools are great about waiving fees included for field trips, but some just cant afford to do so.
Photo: CTV News

A convicted kidnapper and rapist has been given a "one-chance" statutory release to live in a halfway house somewhere in the Okanagan.

Brian Edward Abrosimo was released from jail Tuesday.

The 54-year-old had been serving a 14-year, four-month sentence for sexual assault, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, and sexual assault with a weapon.

In 2004, Abrosimo drove a sex trade worker to a secluded spot, handcuffed her and threatened to kill her as she struggled. He pointed a gun at her, gagged her and sexually assaulted her.

The same year, he used his van to hit two children, 11 and 15, who were riding their bikes. He forced the 11 year old victim into his van, gagged her, threw a blanket over her head, drove her to a different location and sexually assaulted her.

Abrosimo was known to frequent "crack houses," and according to the parole board decision, he "demonstrated a pattern of persistent and escalating violent behaviour."

He was screened and accepted to an undisclosed community residential facility in the Okanagan, at his request.

A community assessment was completed on a family member in the Interior who confirmed her willingness to support Abrosimo.

Abrosimo must follow a treatment plan, cannot be in the presence of any female under the age of 18 unless with a responsible adult, abide by a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, can only be signed out for one hour at a time, is not allowed to be near or around any place where children will be, is not allowed any contact with his victims, and is not allowed to consume alcohol or drugs.
Chantelle Deacon

September can be a stressful time of year for students going back to school, resulting in more anxiety and depression, says Sharon Evans, president of the South Okanagan Similkameen Mental Wellness Society.

Approximately, 10 to 20 percent of Canadian youth are impacted by a mental illness or disorder, with about five per cent of males and 12 per cent of females, aged 12 to 19 experiencing a major depressive episode, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association website.

"We've spoken with some of the school principals and I'm not prepared to quote them by name, they have said that where they used to maybe see three or four [suicides] a year, they are seeing one a month or more often than that," Evans said. "Kids are acting up and acting out, including completing suicide."

Sometimes it can be a challenge to notice someone suffering from depression, but with many teens battling mental illness in silence, it is important to know the warning signs.

"Their marks go down, they don't go out with friends, they stay in their rooms, they're not eating," Evans said. "If they tell you they are anxious or depressed, you need to believe them.

It is important to seek help if you, your child, or someone you know has a mental illness. There is many places in the community that youth can go to if they feel they need help or someone to talk to.

"The YES Project has partnered with the public library and we are doing a mental health youth event coming up Sept. 21," said Amberlee Erdmann, YES Project Coordinator. "We are going to have yoga and some instructors to talk about meditation, the importance of self care going back to school, because we all know it can be a stressful time."

"We are also going to have some materials to make stress balls and we are going to have some booths like the schizophrenia society and some resources from Beyond the Blues, just providing some education about what's out there and just reminding youth to take care of themselves."

The free event is Thursday, Sept. 21, at the Penticton Library and is open to anyone ages 13 to 18.
Photo: The Canadian Press Pipes are seen at the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain facility in Edmonton, Alta..

The National Energy Board will hold hearings in British Columbia and Alberta to review proposals by Trans Mountain for its detailed pipeline corridor through the two provinces.

The board will also hold a hearing early next year in Chilliwack to review a proposal by Trans Mountain to relocate nearly two kilometres of its pipeline corridor through the city.

Meanwhile, hearings will be held in Spruce Grove, Edson and Hinton in November and December on the first two segments of the pipeline through Alberta.

More hearings are also planned in both provinces in 2018.

The federal government's approval of the expansion project included a general pipeline corridor from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.

The board says the company, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Canada, has asked for seven variances that affect about four kilometres of the 1,147-kilometre corridor.

The federal regulator says from April to July, it received 452 statements opposing the detailed route that Trans Mountain is proposing.

On Thursday, the energy board said the project has met conditions required for the expansion of its Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.

Trans Mountain has plans to expand the terminal's dock to load three tankers, up from one, and increase the number of delivery lines connected to its other Burnaby terminal.

The expanded terminal is part of a $7.4-billion project that would triple the capacity of the pipeline and increase tanker traffic in the Vancouver area.

Peter Watson, chairman and CEO of the National Energy Board, said the route hearings will focus on concerns from landowners and those affected by the pipeline.

"By listening to their concerns, the NEB can ensure that the pipeline is placed in the best possible location," he said in a statement.
Photo: CTV Vancouver Island

What's being called the Holy Grail of comic books has surfaced in Victoria.

And, it could be yours  for a hefty price.

An anonymous owner is selling a 1963 edition of Amazing Fantasy #15. The comic book is the first time Spiderman character Peter Parker is introduced to the world.

The rare find is expected to fetch up to $1 million.

This is one of the three most iconic comics of all time. First appearance of a major character, its got a great cover, its got great art, everything about it is just iconic, Gareth Gaudin, co-owner of Legends Comics told CTV. When it comes in this pristine of condition, you know youre holding a Holy Grail of the comic book world.

Gaudin is helping facilitate the sale, and says the owner bought it 30 years ago for $450.

For now, the comic is being kept in a secure bank vault.

 with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Photo: CTV Vancouver

UPDATE: 2:30 p.m.

The male victim of a shooting in Abbotsford has been identified.

Sehajdeep Sidhu, 18, was known to police but did not have a criminal record. Police believe his murder was targeted.

Two other victims of the shooting are both expected to survive, according to investigators.

A suspect vehicle, a black Nissan Pathfinder, was found about 30 minutes after the shooting, near the 27000 block of 60th Avenue in Langley.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the investigation.

This was a brazen shooting in a quiet residential area around dinner time. This incident showed a blatant disregard for the safety of the public, said Cpl. Frank Jang of IHIT.

ORIGINAL: 6:20 a.m.

Police are investigating a shooting death near an Abbotsford school.

Officers were called to an area near Gladwin and Huntingdon roads Thursday evening, after reports of gunfire.

Emergency vehicles crowded the scene, and an RCMP helicopter circled overhead.

A body at the scene was covered with a yellow tarp.

Witnesses heard six or seven shots.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Darryl Dyck - CP

Users can now check their drugs for the presence of fentanyl at Vancouver's four overdose prevention sites.

Vancouver Coastal Health has expanded the pilot project as the opioid crisis continues to claim lives across B.C.

The free service had previously been available only at the Insite facility in East Vancouver.

"The overdose crisis is still happening, so it makes sense to offer the tests in more places," VCH spokesperson Tiffany Akins told CTV. "Some people who are taking the test are reducing their dose or throwing out the substance completely if they get a positive."

Staff dip a test strip into a solution of the drug, and if fentanyl is detected, a line appears on the strip.

VCH says a positive test can persuade users to consume more safely  or not at all.

Users can also buy the strips from Ontario-based BTNX.

Testing over the past year has indicated 80 per cent of street drugs in Vancouver contained fentanyl, mostly in heroin, but also in crystal meth, MDMA/ecstasy and cocaine.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: The Canadian Press

Gerry Ritz won't enter the race to lead the Saskatchewan Party, the long-serving Conservative MP said Thursday, after announcing he's leaving federal politics.

"It is out of the question," Ritz said in a telephone interview, suggesting he's finished with political office.

"After 25 years involved at the federal level, I'm not sure there's enough fire in the belly left to take on a challenge at that level."

That doesn't mean he won't be active in supporting someone in the race to replace outgoing Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, Ritz said.

"I just don't see myself in that capacity."

Ritz added that he has been paying close attention to the leadership race, although he hasn't yet picked a favourite to support before the party chooses a new leader in January.

In a statement posted earlier on social media, Ritz confirmed he won't be back in the Commons when House business resumes next month.

"Today, I am announcing my intent to resign as the member of Parliament for Battlefords-Lloydminster," Ritz posted on Twitter. "I will not be returning to my seat in the House of Commons this fall."

Ritz was first elected in 1997 and held his Saskatchewan riding for two decades, first as a Reform party member, then under the Canadian Alliance banner before it merged with the Progressive Conservatives to become the Conservative party.

Between 2007 and 2015, he served as agriculture minister under former prime minister Stephen Harper, overseeing, among other things, the marquee Conservative promise to overhaul the Canadian Wheat Board.
Photo: Facebook Darshan Kang

Calgary MP Darshan Kang resigned late Thursday from the Liberal caucus after sexual harassment allegations from a second woman became public.

In a written statement, Kang said he's leaving the governing party's caucus because "I wish to focus my efforts at this time on clearing my name."

The statement was issued shortly after The Hill Times reported that a woman who worked in Kang's constituency office when he was a member of the Alberta legislature has come forward alleging that Kang sexually harassed her.

The woman alleged in an interview with the parliamentary precinct media outlet that Kang grabbed her breasts, among other inappropriate behaviour, and would not desist in the harassment despite repeatedly being asked to stop.

Kang, who was elected federally in 2015, is already under investigation after a young woman who worked in his federal constituency office complained in June of sexual harassment.

The woman's father told the Toronto Star earlier this week that Kang allegedly offered the staffer as much as $100,000 if she didnt tell her parents about the harassment. The Star cited the womans father, who was not named, alleging that Kang repeatedly harassed his daughter over a period of four or five years.

Among the fathers accusations: Kang gave his daughter unwanted hugs, stroked or held her hand, once took her to an apartment where he tried to remove her jacket and followed her the next day to her hotel and tried to get into her room to talk.

Kang has vehemently denied those allegations and has vowed to defend his reputation "at all costs."
Photo: RNC

The final day of August felt more like winter along the Quebec-Labrador border  it snowed.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary tweeted photos of snow collecting along a highway in Labrador's southwest corner near the Quebec border on Thursday night.

The police force warned people to "slow down!" on the Trans-Labrador Highway because of slippery conditions.

The photographs inspired a mix of shock and resignation on social media, including one Newfoundland woman who insisted they must be "fake news."

The rain and snow mixture was to end at about lunchtime Friday, but temperatures in Labrador West were forecast to remain unseasonably cool  only about 5 degrees.
Photo: CTV

A young man killed in a northwest Toronto mall was chased into the centre and shot dead amid a throng of shoppers, police said Friday as they searched for as many as four people in connection with the incident.

Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said the incident at the Sheridan Mall took place Thursday evening both in the mall parking lot and in the shopping centre itself amid pedestrians and shoppers, though no one else was injured.

Carbone said the incident began around 6:30 p.m. when 22-year-old Jovane Clarke drove to the mall and parked at the south side of the lot.

Four people allegedly approached him in the parking lot and at least two of them are believed to have opened fire, Carbone said, adding that it appears as though Clarke was targeted.

Clarke ran toward one of the mall entrances with at least two suspects in pursuit, Carbone said, adding that the confrontation then spilled into the shopping centre.

He said one of the suspects allegedly followed Clarke inside and fired several shots, at least one of which was fatal.

Clarke was found lying on the floor inside the centre with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Carbone said police are currently searching for four men in their mid 20s who were wearing dark clothing at the time. He said the men may have fled the scene in a vehicle, but said those details are still under investigation as officers review surveillance videos from in the area.

Carbone said police are seeking witnesses to help with the ongoing investigation.

"The surveillance video will be helpful, however ... it's a rather busy mall in a very busy part of the city," he said. "Everyone knows that everyone has some kind of electronic device. I'm hoping that someone would have captured this incident."
Photo: CTV

Vancouver landlords are increasingly turning to drug-sniffing dogs to seek out illegal activity on their properties.

Canadian K9 Group says property managers are using the dogs to sniff common areas for any trace of narcotics that could lead to grow-ops and drug labs.

We had one company that had to deal with a $60,000 cleanup with a grow-op on the fourth floor. They hired us, and in 10 years they havent had the problem again, owner Margrett Donley told CTV.

Black lab Mabel sits and points her nose if she detects drugs.

She will do a sit alert, just sit still and stare, said handler Laureen Choi.

We have more stratas coming, saying we dont want this kind of stuff in our area."

David Hutniak, of landlord advocacy group Landlord BC, is concerned by the practice.

What we want to see is a respectful relationship with the customer, which is the tenant. To me, that seems so heavy-handed, and I dont think its necessary, he said.

If landlords know their tenants and check on suites regularly, that should be enough, he said.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Diamond Creek Fire Facebook

UPDATE: 1:35 p.m.

The BC Wildfire Service said on Friday they estimate just over 2,000 hectares of B.C. land has burned from the Diamond Creek wildfire, which crossed into the province from Washington State on Tuesday night.

The U.S. National Forest Service had estimated 4,000 hectares had burned in B.C. to this point. Both services estimate the wildfire is currently about 24,000 hectares in size.

"We're monitoring it on a constant basis. It is burning in a relatively remote area at this time. And due to the remoteness of the terrain in that area, we're not attacking it directly but we are monitoring it closely, and putting plans and strategies in place depending on what the fire does in the next few days," said Kevin Skrepnek, BWFS Chief Fire Information Officer.

The wildfire is burning between Manning and Cathedral parks.

- with files from Colton Davies

ORIGINAL: 10 a.m.

The massive Diamond Creek wildfire continues to tear into Canada, after crossing the border from Washington State on Tuesday night.

The U.S. National Forest Service said the fire was pushed by winds Thursday down the Ashnola drainage and farther into B.C., where it has now burned an estimated 4,000 hectares. In the United States, the fire has burned almost 24,000 hectares of terrain since it started on July.

Coordination with the British Columbia Ministry of Forest Land and Natural Resource Operations is ongoing, the U.S Forest Services Friday morning update reads.

Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park was evacuated as a precaution on Wednesday, and the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen is asking people to stay out of the back country between Manning and Cathedral parks, south of Placer Mountain.

The B.C. Wildfire Service has not had an update on the fire since Wednesday evening when the pegged the fire at 1,700 hectares, but will likely release more information today.

Castanet will update as more information becomes available.
Photo: Alanna Kelly

It's been a record-breaking summer in the Central Okanagan.

Both July and August established new benchmarks for temperature and precipitation, making them the warmest, and driest ever recorded.

However, it should be noted Kelowna records have only been kept since 1969. Data has been collected since 1908 in Penticton and 1900 in Vernon.

Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau says the average temperature in August was 22.2 C, more than three degrees above the norm.

"In terms of precipitation, 0.2 millimetres of rain fell in August," said Charbonneau. "The normal is 32.1 mm. It's the driest on record."

In July, the city received no precipitation at all.

Charbonneau says the summer of 2017 (June through August) will go down as the driest on record, with just 7.3 mm of precipitation measured in the city. The previous record of 23.6 was established in 2003.

"The warmest on record was 2015, when the average was 21.7 C. This year, we were 21.3 C."

Don't expect relief anytime soon. Charbonneau says September will start much the same way August ended.

"We have a ridge of high pressure that is going to be building Sunday, Monday and into next week," she said.

"We're forecasting temperatures in the Kelowna area in the low 30s into Wednesday."
Photo: BC Wildfire Service

Wildfires that have chewed through more than 10,600 square kilometres of B.C. woodland could smoulder into next year.

Chairman Al Richmond of the Cariboo Regional District predicts hot spots from many of the largest fires likely won't be doused until spring, mirroring the Fort McMurray wildfire that Alberta officials said was finally declared extinguished on Aug. 2.

"It goes down deep into the roots sometimes and then pops up again in the summer," he said. "That's not unusual, so I think the forest service felt we will be out dealing with these fires until well into October. And we will probably be back with many hot spots again come spring."

A small wildfire flared up Friday near Canim Lake, east of 100 Mile House, prompting a tactical evacuation of about 88 properties. There was no formal evacuation order but an alert was in place.

Huge swaths of land that are now just barren stretches of ash-covered ground and charred timber also worry the regional district as it prepares for rain in the fall.

"If we have some rains here, which we will be thankful to have to douse the fires, they could bring a mixed blessing and cause some land slippage too, so it's not a pretty picture," said Richmond.

Scores of wildfires burned across British Columbia on Friday. An 1,800 square kilometre straddling the Cariboo and Thompson-Nicola regional districts flared again.

The BC Wildfire Service said the blaze, sparked at the beginning of July near Ashcroft, was 50 per cent contained but recent scorching heat and gusty winds caused the fire to grow.

All available resources, including structural protection crews were sent to the area, the wildfire service said.

In southeastern B.C., an evacuation alert was issued late Thursday for nearly 500 properties about 35 kilometres east of Nelson as a wildfire caused by lightning that broke out in late July grew to 25 square kilometres.

Wildfire service spokesman Kevin Skrepnek said a full backcountry closure was not planned over the Labour Day weekend, but the province strongly recommended that people stay out of woods in the critically dry Kamloops, Cariboo and southeast fire centres.

Campfires remain banned in those areas. The BC Conservation Service said its officers issued 37 tickets over the last week to people who violated the order.
Photo: pixabay

In the midst of a record-breaking drought, the Penticton area also saw a warmer than usual August.

Environment Canadas Alyssa Charbonneau is reporting Penticton had an average temperature of 21.5 C, above the typical 20.4 C. It was the 11th warmest August on record, dating back to 1908.

The city got no measurable rain, and has not received any real precipitation since June 29; 65-straight days including Friday. The previous longest period without rain was 50 days in 1957.

Needless to say, both July and August have been the driest months on record for the city.

Trace amounts of rain that fell on Aug. 12 and 13 were less than 0.2 mm and not considered measurable.

While she can't speak to an overall pattern, Charbonneau says meteorologists have been told to expect more summers like this moving forward.

And, don't expect any relief anytime soon. Charbonneau says September will start much in the way August ended.

"We have ridge of high pressure that is going to be building Sunday, Monday and into next week," she said.
Photo: RCMP

An unrepentant cigarette butt tosser told police a $575 ticket for the misdeed was "unnecessary and ridiculous."

RCMP fined the driver Thursday for tossing the butt out his car window on Veterans Memorial Parkway, near Victoria.

The incident happened at a stop light, in plain view of a police officer, and the man admitted it was his second time being caught for the offence. This despite B.C.'s ongoing wildfire crisis and extreme fire danger.

The driver reportedly told the officer the fine was insane as he lit up another smoke.

RCMP tweeted a photo of the ticket, which has more than 900 likes.

If you spot a wildfire  or someone flicking a cigarette  call the BC Wildfire Service at 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 from a cellphone.

 with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Photo: Contributed

Tolls came off the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges in the Lower Mainland this morning.

The tolling ended at midnight, living up to NDP Premier Horgan's promise to remove them.

The toll cameras are turned off, but drivers will still have to pay bills for previous crossings.

Transportation Ministry crews are removing toll signage on the Port Mann today, and TransLink is covering signs at the Golden Ears, for removal later.

Getting rid of the tolls "will clear congestion on other routes, so people can spend less time stuck in traffic and more time with their families," says Minister of Transportation Claire Trevena.

A commuter who crosses the Port Mann each day will save about $1,500 a year, while commercial truck drivers making a single round trip a day will save more than $4,500.

Roughly 121,000 vehicles cross the Port Mann Bridge daily; 40,000 cross the Golden Ears.
Maelys de Araujo Wide search underway Pont-de-Beauvoisin.

A man has been detained by French police as a huge search continues in eastern France for a 9-year-old child who vanished from the scene of a wedding at Pont-de-Beauvoisin.near Chambery. Maelys de Araujo was last seen Wednesday at a childrens area of a reception hall. The are conflicting reports as to whether the 34-year-old who is said to be known to police was a wedding guest. He has given an inconsistent account of his whereabouts. Maelys had gone to the wedding with her parents and elder sister as well as other members of her family. Some 180 guests tried to find her before police were called and a search began. Local police, search and rescue teams, divers and cavers have been searching the heavily wooded area but have so far failed to find a trace of her. Sniffer dogs lost the scent from Maelyss cuddly toy in a car park outside the wedding venue, AFP reported, suggesting that she could have been taken away by car. The search was continuing in driving rain on Thursday but a policeman told French TV that the prospect of finding anything was becoming less and less likely.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
As Hurricane Harvey swept through the Gulf Coast of Texas, it brought with it record rainfall, a death toll in the dozens and an enormous financial cost, with an estimated 37,000 homes damaged and more than 7,000 completely destroyed.

Here in Gage County, local residents have been doing what they can to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey: collecting food and money desperately needed by people displaced by the storm.

At the Sonic Drive-In in Beatrice, theres a stack of bottled water cases that reaches about five feet high by six feet wide, and its growing.

In Beaumont, Texas--one of the cities hit hardest by Hurricane Harvey--more than 100,000 residents are living without water service. Even in regions with water flowing from the taps, many municipalities are asking residents to avoid touching the water, due to the risk of chemical contamination.

Thats one of the reasons Sonic Drive-In is collecting clean, bottled water to send to Texas, said Jessica Lyons, a manager at Sonic. The water will be sent to Texas on Monday.

Many of the cases of water were donated by Ace Rent-to-Own in Beatrice, she said, the rest was brought in by customers.

I came in this morning and I was just thrilled to see how much water other customers have brought in, she said. I was excited by what Ace brought, but then to see that all these customers have been so generous too, it's just really awesome.

Customers who bring in a case of water will receive a Sonic Community First card, which offers about $25-worth of coupons, Lyons said.

The water will be driven to Texas by Jill Sasse of Sasse Trucking in Tecumseh. Sasse will also be picking up a load of donated goods from the YMCA and from Joel Wilgers of Rockford.

Wilgers is the coordinator of the Gambler 500 Nebraska, a road rally across dirt paths and back roads. Wilgers organized a drive to collect goods that will benefit victims of the hurricane.

Working alongside Sonic Drive-In and the Southeast Texas Food Bank, the Gambler 500 called for donations of non-perishable food items, canned foods, soap, cleaning supplies, toiletries, bottled water and other personal hygiene items.

On Saturday, from 9 a.m. until noon, Wilgers will be accepting donations in front of Ashley Home Furnishings in Beatrice. Donations can also be dropped off at the Beatrice YMCA through Saturday, or at any time at the One Stop Country Store near Filley, he said.

Its kind of our image, he said of the Gambler 500s involvement in the relief effort. One of our mottos is no man left behind.' Its a pretty big deal for us.

The Beatrice YMCA has a large pile of donated goods in their lobby, which includes cleaning supplies, food and personal items. Staff members at the YMCA are hoping that the pile will get bigger.

Jennifer Elliot, program director of the Beatrice YMCA, said she was inspired by the Facebook post Wilgers made about the donation drive and opened up the YMCA for drop-offs.

Her husband has family in Texas, she said, and while everyone is safe, her in-laws did briefly have to evacuate their home due to flooding. Being able to play a small part in the relief effort, even from hundreds of miles away, is comforting, she said.

You watch all this stuff on TV and you see stuff on Facebook and social media and you feel very helpless, Elliot said. It gives a little sense of knowing that you've done something, that you've helped in some way that you can.

The YMCA is open for donations through Saturday, but they will be closed on Sunday and Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Donations dont need to be physical goods, said Joseph Irvine, a lieutenant with the Salvation Army in Beatrice. In fact, sometimes its better to give financial donations.

While the Beatrice branch of the Salvation Army hasnt been called into emergency disaster response duty yet, several Nebraska branches have, including the group from Lincoln.

Having cash on hand means that the responders can purchase items needed by people affected by the hurricane and it means more time can be devoted to actually helping, Irvine said.

It's very important this time that people not donate clothes and different things like that, Irvine said. This is actually something that's happened in a number of the bigger disasters recently, where they get flooded with all this stuff and they're still trying to deal with the disaster at the same time. Some of it doesn't even get used.

Its been called the second disaster, Irvine said, as rescue workers are inundated with piles of clothes, which oftentimes can be unusable. For Salvation Army workers, trying to sort through clothes just reduces the time they can spend helping, he said.

While it's understandable that people might be wary of donating cash, its a much more effective tool for responders to work with than clothes or household goods, Irvine said. Not only can they buy the items people need, but it pours money back into the local economy after a disaster.

Really, we have to ask ourselves, what are we in this for, what are we doing this for, Irvine said. And, if we're honestly looking at considering the needs of those in the Texas area, then it's not about us, it's about what will do the best for them.

Donations can be made at the Beatrice Salvation Army. For those wanting to donate to the Red Cross, any Caseys General Store will accept donations and Casey's cash registers even have a designated Red Cross donation button. Wal-Mart will also match any donation given to the Red Cross through the company, and will match up to $10 million.
Dear Doctor: I'm 58 years old and have begun leaking urine. Once it was while I was at exercise class and another time when I sneezed. I've never had children, so why is this happening? What can I do?

Dear Reader: First, we'd like to reassure you that you're not alone. Urinary incontinence is quite common among women of all ages. Up to 45 percent of women will experience some degree of urinary incontinence, or UI, during their lifetimes. That's twice the rate of UI as occurs in men.

Urinary incontinence is when, due to a lack of bladder control, urine is accidentally released. Although UI falls into two main categories -- stress incontinence or urge incontinence -- some women will experience a combination of both, known as mixed incontinence.

Stress incontinence is when physical movement places pressure on the bladder and causes urine to leak. Urge incontinence is the strong and sudden need to urinate, followed immediately by involuntary bladder contractions that cause it to empty. With either type of incontinence, how full the bladder is doesn't matter.

People with Alzheimer's disease, individuals with damage to the spinal cord or brain, and people with certain neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease can also often experience UI. Temporary UI may be caused by certain medications, drinking large amounts of fluids, a urinary tract infection and constipation, which can exert pressure on the bladder.

From your description, what you have experienced is stress incontinence. It occurs because the muscles of the pelvic floor, which supports the bladder, and of the urinary sphincter, which controls the release of urine, have weakened. As a result, any physical movement that puts pressure on the bladder -- a cough, laughing, lifting a bag of groceries -- may overcome the impaired resistance of the urinary sphincter and cause urine to be released.

You're correct that the physical changes that take place during pregnancy and childbirth can contribute to UI. However, other factors, like weight gain, obesity, menopause and the physiological changes associated with advancing age, can also play a part.

It's a good idea to check in with your family doctor. He or she may ask for a urine sample to rule out infection, and to check for traces of blood or other problems. Bladder function tests and a review of your medical and family history can help your doctor to pinpoint any external factors playing a role in the onset of the UI.

How much the UI bothers you will factor into what steps you take next. Many patients are comfortable using a panty liner to absorb a minor amount of leakage. In severe cases, surgical interventions are possible. At this time, there are no approved medications in the United States to address UI.

In the majority of cases, doctors recommend certain changes to lifestyle and behavior. It's possible you'll be asked to manage how much you drink and at what times. Losing excess weight is often helpful. And exercises known as Kegels, which work the muscles of the pelvic floor, can return strength and tone to help you to regain control.
Sen. Deb Fischer was confronted Thursday with continuing concern over health care policy that sometimes bordered on fury during a town hall meeting in Lincoln that attracted more than 250 people.

The first question out of the gate at what Fischer prefers to describe as a listening session asked Nebraska's senior senator why Republicans wouldn't attempt to reach a bipartisan agreement with Democrats to amend the Affordable Care Act instead of attempting to repeal Obamacare and strip 23 million Americans of their health care insurance coverage.

"Our friends on the other side haven't been open" to a reasonable compromise, Fischer told the questioner, sparking a loud round of boos.

Democrats are focused on market stabilization, Fischer said, "and I don't think that solves a lot of the issues."

Fischer noted that she had encouraged Republican leadership to hold hearings on the GOP plan and that she voted to begin debate on the legislation "to get to amendments," but a GOP effort to repeal major provisions in the Affordable Care Act collapsed when a motion to launch the debate failed.

Questioner after questioner returned to the health care topic during a lively mid-morning meeting at the Jack J. Huck Continuing Education Center of Southeast Community College, while other topics like climate change, trade policy, tax reform and continued protection for immigrant DACA youths were also raised.

Most of the questions were politely confrontational and several participants held up signs challenging Fischer.

One large banner proclaimed "Medicare for All," and one woman wore a T-shirt that shouted "Lock Him Up," turning the tables on President Donald Trump's campaign chant directed at Hillary Clinton, his Democratic presidential opponent.

Fischer expressed differences with Trump over U.S. trade policy and said she supports ongoing investigations into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race.

"I look forward to seeing what they come up with," she said.

"I am worried about what may happen to NAFTA," Fischer said after declaring that "I differ with the president" on trade issues, including his decision to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

The United States, at the president's direction, is in the process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. That trade pact provides a huge marketplace for Nebraska agricultural products.

Challenged by one questioner as to how she could continue to support the president when he is "tearing the country apart," Fischer said: "I do support the president on many, many issues."

And, she reminded the audience, "Trump carried this state" during last November's election.

"We're going to disagree on things," she told questioners, "but I represent you all."

Fischer acknowledged that she is "disappointed we can't get health care done" and added: "I'm a little pessimistic."

"Everyone should have access to affordable health insurance," Fischer said, and she agrees that there is "government responsibility for those in need."

Asked if she would support a bill that would grant DACA youths some form of permanent protection to legally remain in the U.S., Fischer said that's "a sensitive issue (and) border security should be first and foremost" in dealing with immigration policy.

The predominantly Latino DACA population has legal presence in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive action taken by former President Barack Obama.

Although there were occasional shouts and interruptions, Thursday's meeting remained orderly with a visible police presence.

Among the signs that occasionally were held up was one supporting Jane Raybould, who will likely be Fischer's Democratic challenger in 2018.
CROSBY, Texas  Explosions and fires rocked a flood-crippled chemical plant near Houston early Thursday, sending up a plume of acrid, eye-irritating smoke and adding a new hazard to Hurricane Harvey's aftermath.

The plant's owners warned more explosions could follow because a loss of refrigeration was causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the air for toxic materials found no reason for alarm. And there were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

Dozens of workers were pulled out of the Arkema Inc. plant before the hurricane hit, and a small crew of 11 that had been left behind was evacuated before the blasts for fear of just such a disaster. Officials had also ordered people living within 1 miles (2.4 kilometers) to leave on Tuesday.

Fire and plant officials said the substances that caught fire were organic peroxides, a family of volatile compounds used for making a variety of products, including pharmaceuticals and construction materials.

Authorities urged residents downwind to stay indoors with the windows closed to avoid inhaling the smoke.

Earlier this week, French-owned Arkema warned an explosion was imminent at the plant about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Houston, saying Harvey's floodwaters had knocked out power and backup generators, disabling the refrigeration needed to keep the organic peroxides stable.

On Thursday, Rich Rennard, an executive at Arkema, said the chemical compounds were transferred to refrigerated containers after power was lost. But he said those containers failed too, causing the chemicals in one unit to burn.

He said the company expected more explosions from the eight remaining containers.

The plant is along a stretch near Houston that contains one of the biggest concentrations of refineries, pipelines and chemical plants in the country. Houston is the nation's fourth-largest city, with a population of 2.3 million.

Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the agency had received "no other reports of concern" from other chemical plants in the state.

The blaze at Arkema sent up 30- to 40-foot (9- to 12-meter) flames and black smoke, according to fire officials. Harris County Fire Marshal spokeswoman Rachel Moreno put the quantity of burning organic peroxide at 2 tons.

Fifteen sheriff's deputies who complained of respiratory irritation were examined at a hospital and released, the Harris County sheriff's office said.

The EPA sent employees to monitor the situation and said air samples collected by aircraft showed "there are no concentrations of concern for toxic materials reported at this time."

The EPA's analysis followed comments from Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who told reporters in Washington that "by all means, the plume is incredibly dangerous." Asked about the discrepancy, a FEMA spokesman said Brock would defer to officials closer to the scene.

The Texas environmental agency called the smoke "especially acrid and irritating" and said it can impair breathing and inflame the eyes, nose and throat.

Arkema had warned earlier this week that the chemicals would erupt in an intense fire resembling a gasoline blaze. There was "no way to prevent" the explosion, CEO Rich Rowe said on Wednesday.

Moreno, of the fire marshal's office, said the 1-mile radius was developed in consultation with the Homeland Security Department and other experts.

"The facility is surrounded by water right now, so we don't anticipate the fire going anywhere," she said before the explosions.

Arkema was required to submit a risk management plan to the EPA because it has large amounts of sulfur dioxide, a toxic chemical, and methylpropene, a flammable gas. The plans are supposed to detail the effects of a potential release and how the company would respond.

In its most recently available submission from 2014, Arkema said that in a worst-case scenario, 1.1 million residents could be affected over 23 miles (37 kilometers), according to information compiled by a nonprofit group and posted on a website hosted by the Houston Chronicle.

Arkema argued that that scenario was highly unlikely because it assumed that all of the plant's safety measures failed and that strong winds were blowing directly toward Houston.

In February, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Arkema nearly $110,000  later reduced to just over $90,000  over 10 safety violations found during an inspection at the Crosby plant, according to agency records.

The records contained no details on the violations, but investigators classified them as "serious," meaning they could have resulted in death or serious injury.
Modern parallel computer architectures are capable of processing huge amounts of data at high speed. This allows for the increasing use of imaging techniques as sensors to control machines and process plants. In the new European collaborative project TOMOCON twelve research institutions and 15 renowned industrial companies work together on the development of imaging-based industrial process control. The network is coordinated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).

Beginning of September, the European Doctoral Training Network Smart Tomographic Sensors for Advanced Industrial Process Control (TOMOCON) is going to be launched. Together with our international partners we offer a comprehensive doctoral training to 15 Early Stage Researchers. Beside their academic research projects they will receive industrial training in various companies and attend three summer schools of the network, explains the project coordinator Professor Uwe Hampel from HZDR.

The scientific subject of the network is a hot topic within the context of digitalized industrial processes. Especially with the development of ultrafast parallel-data processing techniques imaging technologies have gained an enormous potential to be employed as sensors for real-time control of industrial processes and plants. Such concepts currently emerge in other fields as well, such as for example in autonomous driving.

Among the many imaging techniques tomographic ones are of highest interest for the industry, as they can provide insight into opaque systems in a contactless way. However, to do so it is imperative to solve some grand challenges coming from industrial processes. Just to name a few: How can we cope with aggressive process conditions and highest data rates? How can control parameters be most intelligently and rapidly extracted from image data? What does human-machine interaction in such systems look like? Hence, the research topics of the 15 Early Stage Researchers are accordingly diverse and connect the scientific fields of sensor technology, process tomography, industrial process control, computational physics and process modelling, human-machine interaction and massive parallel-data processing.

Efficient industrial processes of the future

The TOMOCON project attains a strong practical relevance through four selected technical demonstrations, which are closely accompanied by the many industry partners. In inline-fluid separation liquids of different density are being separated via centrifugation in slim flow channels. Process control with smart tomographic sensors shall suppress the development of emulsions and hence improve the separation quality drastically. This is of vital interest in the chemical and petro-chemical industry and supported by companies like Linde, Shell and TOTAL. Magnetic tomography developed at HZDR shall be developed as a sensor for controlling mold injection in continuous steel casting at highest production speed and will be accompanied by the Austrian company Primetals Technologies and the Dutch TATA Steel. Together with the German companies Votsch Industrietechnik and Pinta Elements the drying of impregnated polymer foams via tomography-controlled microwave heating will be demonstrated. Furthermore TOMOCON will demonstrate ultrasound-controlled industrial crystallization together with Sulzer Switzerland and DuPont from Finland.

At HZDR we are strongly involved in the first two topics, says Uwe Hampel, who is also Endowed Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering at TU Dresden. We are proud that our project also contributes to a sustainable network of academic and industrial partners in Europe and world-wide. For HZDR the activities being pursued in TOMOCON are central to the development of efficient industrial processes of tomorrow.
An Imperial researcher has developed what is thought to be the world's first 3D-printed compostable and recyclable surfboard. Dr Nathaniel Petre, from the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, has 3D printed a surfboard that is comparably cheaper to make, more durable and more sustainable than most conventional surfboards. With seed funding from NASA , Dr Petre and his colleagues in the USA developed a surfboard from a material derived from an invasive diatomic algae along with a nontoxic resin made of lactic acid derived from plant sugars.

The material, manufactured by a company called Algix, can be used with Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) type 3D printers to make objects like a surfboard. Dr Petre also experimented with recycled plastic bottles and turned them into a printable material that could be used to make other portions of the surfboard. The aim was to demonstrate how easy it is to make products using 3D printing techniques out of just about any waste material.

Dr Petre said: It is really satisfying to think that we can take an invasive lake algae, which is literally sucking the air and life out of lakes in the USA and use it as a sustainable material for surfboard manufacture. What is evident from this pilot project is that not only is there a potential future in for printed boards, but that there's an opportunity to print more things from waste or compostable material provided you have a big enough printer.

Dolphin board of awesome

The team dubbed the prototype surfboard the Dolphin Board of Awesome. Dr Petres colleague Zachary Ostroff is currently trialing the Dolphin Board of Awesome along with the beaches in northern and southern California.

Using 3D printing to make surfboards, says Dr Petre, opens up new possibilities to make more complex surfboard designs that mimic qualities of aquatic creatures. For instance, the physical factors that give dolphins the ability to glide and surf waves could be incorporated into designs to optimise how a surfer controls their board in different conditions.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, refers to processes used to create a three-dimensional object, where layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object.

This manufacturing method is already having an impact in many sectors such as the aviation industry where 3D printed components are being used to make planes lighter and more fuel efficient. In healthcare, researchers are developing 3D printed implantable replacements such as teeth and bones, which mimic the qualities of real bone.

For the current prototype, sections of the board were printed and then later assembled. However, Dr Petre recently won a grant from the Imperial College Hackspace as part of their Enterprise Boost funding initiative which will enable him to develop a 3D printer that can manufacture bigger items.

Ultimately, this will enable Dr Petre and the team to print a surfboard in one go, which has advantages in terms speed and ease of construction.

As part of his ongoing outreach activities, Dr Petre has also partnered with one of Europe's largest surf retailers  Surfdome. They aim to make a 3D printed surfboard from recycled beach waste, which will go on permanent display at the Eden project in Cornwall as part of their Eden Blue exhibit.
The hotel in the Carbide and Carbon Building, right, currently the Hard Rock Hotel, will be getting a new name next year: the St. Jane Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Fans of community activist and Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams admire her legacy of advocating for the underprivileged people in Chicago and beyond.

But what they've never done is associate Addams with endorsing or fronting a commercial enterprise.

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That's about to change because St. Jane Chicago  a derivative of Addams' name  will soon be the title of a rebranded Hard Rock Hotel, which is in the landmark Carbide & Carbon Building on North Michigan Avenue.

The hotel's backers say the St. Jane Chicago, which will open in 2018, will pay homage to Addams, who died in 1935.

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That may be true. But leveraging off the reputation of a local historical icon, especially Addams, is a tricky and controversial proposition. So far, the St. Jane Chicago plan is off to a rocky start.

For example, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, located on the University of Illinois Chicago campus, has some trepidation about the move.

When I asked the museum's director about the project, she noted its representatives didn't reach out to the museum staff to discuss stamping their lodging business with Addams' name.

The hotel's building owner, Michigan-based Becker Ventures, is under no legal obligation to contact the museum. But a courtesy call would have been appropriate, not to mention sound community relations.

The company confirmed there was no such outreach, adding the "concept for the St. Jane Chicago has been developed independently," according to an email sent to me from Elizabeth Janis, a spokeswoman for Becker.

The museum staff wants Becker to realize the broader ramifications of attaching its hotel to Addams' star.

"Should they want to deepen their connection to the Addams legacy, perhaps they can create a new hotel model  one that champions equitable and inclusive labor practices, emphasizes public engagement and contributes regularly to causes that promote more humane living in Chicago," museum director Jennifer Scott wrote in the email.

Another, albeit smaller, wrinkle is the "saint" in "St. Jane."

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Addams, who already has a stretch of local tollway named after her, was never canonized by any religion, so that title shouldn't be taken literally.

Instead, "St. Jane" is a nickname neighbors called Addams behind her back, according to American Heritage magazine, and could have been used as a compliment or a pejorative  depending on circumstances.

Then there's the incongruous nature of aligning Addams' name to such a snazzy, multimillion dollar venture in the heart of downtown Chicago.

As the Tribune reported, the St. Jane Chicago intends to fill a niche right below the city's highest-priced hotels.

Is this the most natural alliance for Addams, who ferociously fought with Chicago's powers that be to build affordable housing and other residential accommodations for the West Side's urban poor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

Becker Ventures stresses the hotel is not named after Addams but in her honor. It intends to play an active philanthropic role in the community and the hotel will commit a percentage of revenue to "locally rooted charitable causes," said Janis, the company spokeswoman, in her email.

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The company will make St. Jane Chicago a meeting ground and a place for "Chicagoans and travelers alike to revel, debate, dine and commune," she added.

Press materials boast of St. Jane Chicago's guest rooms having "breathtaking views and beautiful furnishings" along with a full-service restaurant, market cafe and cocktail bar.

Sounds promising.

But is it really the type of place Jane Addams would want using her name?

roreed@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @reedtribbiz
Trains wait on sidings in March 2016 at the BNSF rail yard on Western Avenue near 18th Street in Chicago. The federal Surface Transportation Board has rejected an application from Great Lakes Basin Transportation, which said its proposed tri-state rail line would have bypassed Chicagos busy terminal and reduced congestion. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune )

A proposal to ease rail and traffic congestion by constructing a 261-mile rail line around the Chicago area has been rejected by federal regulators.

Great Lakes Basin Transportation's proposed tri-state rail line, which would have bypassed Chicago's busy terminal and operated through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, was turned down earlier this week by the federal Surface Transportation Board.

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Regulators said the financial information in Great Lakes' application was "fundamentally flawed." The decision came after years of planning and several hearings, followed by a formal application submitted in May.

Great Lakes is "assessing its options" and will have no further comment, said Mike Blaszak, Great Lakes' chief legal and administrative officer.

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Great Lakes didn't provide enough information so that regulators could determine the financial feasibility of the planned rail project, the regulators said.

The balance sheet, according to federal regulators, contained an "unexplained line item" for net income amounting to $1.2 million "that appears to account for a substantial difference between the company's assets, liabilities and stockholders' equity," regulators wrote in the decision.

"GLBT's current assets of $151 are so clearly deficient for purposes of constructing a 261-mile rail line that the Board will not proceed with this application given the impacts on stakeholders and the demands upon Board resources."

On its balance sheet published on the board's website, Great Lakes owes $802,000 and its stockholders' equity is $473,573.

During the vetting process, Great Lakes requested that its list of the project's 10 investors and their financial holdings remain undisclosed to the public, counter to the the regulator's rules.

The board said it made its decision to reject the rail line not to protect Great Lakes, but rather the communities and business that would be disrupted by the project should Great Lakes begin construction and not be able to complete it.

Great Lakes argued the proposed rail line  which stretches in relatively sparsely populated areas from as far north as Milton, Wis., south over the Fox and Illinois rivers and then east to La Porte, Ind.  could reduce 30-hour freight transit times through the Chicago area to 8 hours. In turn, it would provide relief to suburban commuters in cars and trains as more freight trains bypassed the downtown area.

Several opposition groups, including Openlands, a local conservation organization, filed petitions against Great Lakes' plan.

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"We're thrilled to see the STB reject this horrible proposal that would've taken our region in the wrong direction," Stacy Meyers, Openlands' staff attorney, said Friday. "This would've pulled our industrial belt out into the middle of our farm fields and taken some of the most beautiful natural resources that we have."

Meyers said Openlands instead supports CREATE  the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program  a partnership among the U.S. Department of Transportation, the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago, Metra, Amtrak and the nation's freight railroads to improve rail line efficiency.

crshropshire@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @corilyns
Alice Waters is coming to Chicago, and you can have dinner with the legendary chef, author and food activist at Maple & Ash.

Chef Danny Grant and pastry chef Aya Fukai will host An Evening With Alice Waters and Danny Grant on Sept. 18 to celebrate the release of Waters newest book, Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook," and raise funds for the Edible Schoolyard Project, which she founded to advocate for free school lunch for all children and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school.

Looking back at her life, Waters writes that she discovered that the years leading into young adulthood held the seeds of my own edible education and that it was in a sense inevitable she would open a restaurant like Chez Panisse, wrote Tribune reporter Bill Daley about the memoir, to be released Sept. 5.

Tickets to the dinner range from $250 to $1,000, and all include a signed copy of the book. For $250, the evening includes a four-course dinner by Grant and Fukai; for $500, you also get an intimate meet-and-greet cocktail reception with Waters; and a $1,000 VIP Experience includes dinner seating with Waters.

Menu details have not yet been finalized, said a spokesperson.

Maple & Ash, 8 W. Maple St., 312-944-8888, www.mapleandash.com

lchu@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @louisachu

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Related: Read Bill Daley's review of the memoir.






Members of the Rebirth Brass Band performing during the Chicago Jazz Festival, at Pritzker Pavilion, in Millennium Park, at 201 E. Randolph Dr., in Chicago, on Sunday Sept., 3, 2017. (Nuccio DiNuzzo )

Imagine the joy of beholding thousands of admirers singing "Happy Birthday" to you when you reach 90.

Chicago jazz legend George Freeman had that rare pleasure Thursday night at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, where he kicked off the first night of the 39th Chicago Jazz Festival.

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Freeman had attained the milestone in April, and the festivities have continued ever since, most significantly with the recent release of "Live at the Green Mill," featuring the George Freeman/Mike Allemana Organ Quartet, with guest drummer Bernard Purdie. Though recorded when Freeman was a mere 88, the album epitomizes the rambunctious spirit of Freeman's annual Green Mill celebrations, as did his scorching Jazz Festival performance.

"Everybody say, 'Yeah!'" Freeman shouted to the crowd, launching the evening exactly as he does his club sets.

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When the audience roared back, Freeman wanted more.

"Say, 'Hell, yeah!'" he urged, and the crowd instantly obliged.

"Let's get started," he responded, plunging into his "Frantic Diagnosis," the title cut of a vintage Freeman album.

Garbed in black tie, with a flower ensconced in the lapel of his tuxedo, Freeman was dressed to kill and played accordingly. The nimbleness of his lines and flexibility of his rhythms defied the passage of time. That he also took pains to continually change the tone and color of his riffs said a great deal about the enduring acuity of his work at this late date.

Freeman's "Confirmed Truth" reveled in shades of blue, his plaintive melodies punctuated by pungent chords from organist Pete Benson. By now, Freeman was gaining  and generating  considerable momentum, his phrases restlessly dipping and rising in pitch, the guitarist cranking out more sound at every turn. He wrapped it up with a cascade of tremolos, a nonagenarian jazz guitar god asserting his powers.

By contrast, Freeman crafted soft, silvery melody lines and lovely embellishments in his "Mike's Tempo," from the "Live at the Green Mill" album. As always, guitarist Allemana backed his colleague/mentor with warm chordal support and answered him with flurries of notes.

By the time the band reached the set's finale, Freeman's "The Big Finish" (also from the new album), the master's fingers were flying, a sure testament to the power of music to keep you young.

That's when the evening's otherwise way-too-loquacious emcee invited the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to Freeman. The audience delivered it with gusto, reflecting the ebullience of the honoree (the set was broadcast live on WDCB-FM 90.9 in partnership with the WFMT Radio Network).

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Freeman's inspiring show set the stage for another birthday celebration: this year's Dizzy Gillespie centennial, with trumpeter Jon Faddis leading the Chicago Jazz Festival Big Band. Few musicians are better equipped for this assignment, for Faddis  a Gillespie protege  has an idiomatic feel for Gillespie's oeuvre, as he reaffirmed on this occasion.

The set's tour de force came in "Things to Come," a technical challenge under any circumstances but still more formidable at the breakneck tempo Faddis chose. That various sections of the band could play in unison at this speed said a great deal about the caliber of these players, mostly Chicagoans. Guest alto saxophonist Antonio Hart turned in the extended solo of a lifetime, one heated chorus careening into the next.

Faddis, of course, delivered the screaming high notes and speed-of-light figurations for which he's famous.

But he also offered a few moments of introspection, nowhere more eloquently than in Benny Golson's elegiac "I Remember Clifford." Faddis dedicated it to the victims of Hurricane Harvey and to two beloved figures in Chicago jazz who have died in the past year: scholar Richard Wang and trumpeter Larry Bowen. The tonal allure and sensitivity of Faddis' performance illuminated a facet of his musicianship we don't get to hear often enough.

The festival began earlier in the day at the Chicago Cultural Center, with sets in several of its performance spaces. One of the most striking came from the Dave Rempis Quintet, the ensemble revisiting Jackie McLean's album "Action."

Alto saxophonist Rempis and colleagues played this music with vigor and insight, Rempis' searing lines and bebop manner playing off vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz's fierce attacks, trumpeter Russ Johnson's lyric poetry, drummer Mike Reed's crisply stated ideas and bassist Jason Roebke's sonorous expressions.

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But Rempis went beyond performing the music. Between songs, he spoke movingly about McLean's turbulent life and times, showing video segments to expand upon his observations.

Two years ago, Rempis' band had been presented in this "Action" music by the Fulton Street Collective, and that organization was involved in reviving it for this Jazz Festival show.

This suggests the Chicago Jazz Festival is beginning to give the city's jazz presenters a voice in programming. It's a small but welcome step toward much-needed inclusivity.

What to catch at the Jazz Fest

The Chicago Jazz Festival features sets on several stages in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St.; all performances are free; www.chicagojazzfestival.us. Among the highlights:

Friday

Steve Gibons Gypsy Rhythm, 1:10 p.m., Von Freeman Pavilion.

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Stu Katz: Shearing Redux, 3:30 p.m., Jazz and Heritage Pavilion.

Dana Hall's Spring, 5 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

Jason Moran presents "In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959," 8:30 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

Saturday

Kenwood Academy Jazz Band, 2:55 p.m., Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace.

Roosevelt University Jazz Ensemble plays "A Love Supreme," 3:50 p.m., Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace.

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Mary Halvorson Octet, 3:30 p.m., Von Freeman Pavilion.

Dr. Michael White Quartet, 5 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

"Ellabration! 100 Years of Ella Fitzgerald," 8:30 p.m. Pritzker Pavilion.

Sunday

Josh Berman Quartet, 2:20 p.m., Von Freeman Pavilion.

Johnny Blas Afro-Libre Orquesta, 3:30 p.m., Jazz and Heritage Pavilion.

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Roscoe Mitchell's Quartets, 5 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

Sheila Jordan, 6 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

Matt Wilson's Honey and Salt, 7:10 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion.

Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.

hreich@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @howardreich

[ RELATED: Chicago Jazz Fest must connect with city  ]

[ Who to see at 39th Chicago Jazz Festival  ]

[ Dr. Michael White's rebirth after Katrina  ]







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Leaning comfortably on the mic stand with her right hip stuck out and her left knee bent, comedian Laurie Kilmartin surveyed the Thursday night crowd at Zanies, sizing the audience up anew after each punchline and visibly recalibrating where to take things next: go darker, lighten it up or add in some fresh interaction and crowd work.

In a long-sleeved black shirt and jeans, the veteran comic  who has been performing for almost three decades and writing for late-night television for almost two (currently for "Conan")  clearly relished the ups and downs of playing with a full theater, testing the boundaries and the fine line between eliciting laughs, gasps and even the occasional silence. Eyes full of hope and a sly smile on her face, she delivered her unstintingly fatalistic brand of flippant comedy to a receptive crowd.

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Kilmartin  who opened by apologizing for looking like conservative provocateur Ann Coulter  is not one to shy away from the darker aspects of life (or death). Her most recent special (released last year on NBCUniversal streaming service Seeso) was aptly titled "45 Jokes About My Dead Dad" and, as the title suggests, focuses on the passing of her father, with an often irreverent tone. Along those lines, she has a book coming out in February called "Dead People Suck: A Guide for Survivors of the Newly Departed."

So death  her own, her loved ones' and her not-so-loved ones'  isn't just not a taboo topic, it's one of her primary focuses. "My 79-year-old mother moved in with me," she said. "It's temporary. Because she's 79."

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It's not just the specter of our inevitable deaths that she delved into for comedic purposes during her 50-minute set. One of her other main themes is child-rearing, and how emotionally taxing it is. Kilmartin highlights her experiences as a single mom, and in 2012 she co-wrote a parenting guide with an unprintable title that made the New York Times best-seller list, filled with bracingly cynical tips for raising children (and chapter titles like "How to Not Hear the Baby in the Middle of the Night").

"I can't believe my son is 10 years old," she gushed Thursday night. "I remember when he was so tiny he fit on the front steps of a nearby church."

Her material is so dark and her delivery so dry that she frequently has to check back in with the audience, giving a knowing smile and acknowledging the bleak picture she can paint, especially when the topic is her son. At one point she paused seriously to let the audience know that she might make grim jokes about parenthood but she truly loves her son, adding earnestly: "The day my son was born was the best day of that month."

Louis C.K. took bitter-parent humor mainstream around a decade ago, famously venting his frustration with fatherhood, but Kilmartin's take on motherhood feels fresh and unique, especially because she seems so legitimately cheerful about her unhappiness. She's somehow able to deliver lines like this with the friendly smile of a helpful neighbor: "I have terrible news for you: Love dies and children live."

This chipper spin on negativity is what lets Kilmartin land jokes that might sink other performers. ("You should've had another baby," she recounts her son telling her, to which she responds, "I didn't even want to have you.") Her frequent forays into crowd work  asking questions of audience members and getting them to discuss the details of their lives  give her a chance to use her conversational charm more directly and provide space between darker divulgences.

It also lets her audience present its own revelations. "I don't hear joy in your Chicago voice," Kilmartin told an audience member who had said she liked Chicago more than where she had lived previously. "My family is here," the audience member responded by way of explanation. "I get you," Kilmartin said knowingly.

While she always seemed pleased with big laughs, quieter moments didn't seem to get under Kilmartin's skin. "It's easy to get on this crowd's bad side," she remarked at one point after a muted response to a joke. She seemed to take these reactions more as challenges than setbacks.

On "The Jackie and Laurie Show"  the podcast Kilmartin records with comedian Jackie Kashian  the two comics openly discuss long-term life in the stand-up comedy game. Despite her satisfaction and gratefulness for her successful writing jobs  whether it's books or late-night shows  Kilmartin frequently makes it clear that she holds performing for a live audience above all else.

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Whether she's landing jokes or working to win a crowd back, she's constantly having fun.

Laurie Kilmartin is appearing through Saturday at Zanies, 1548 N. Wells St., 312-337-4027, www.zanies.com/chicago

Zach Freeman is a freelance writer.

ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ZachRunsChicago

[ At Zanies, a still hysterical Emo Philips shows why he's Emo Philips  ]

[ Moshe Kasher and Natasha Leggero give relationship advice on 'The Endless Honeymoon Tour'  ]

[ Laughing and crying in a devastating set from Patton Oswalt  ]







Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Circuit Judge Linda Pauel talks about starting a book program for young defendants in her chambers Thursday, August 24, 2017, at the Juvenile Court Building in Chicago. Judge Pauel has a shelf of books in her courtroom that she often lends to juveniles. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Associate Judge Linda J. Pauel's courtroom looks like a classroom, and in many ways it is.

Her bench is perched beneath motivational posters, the one directly above her head reading:

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Watch your thoughts, for they become words

Watch your words, for they become actions

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Watch your actions, for they become habits

Watch your habits, for they become character

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny

On the walls to her right and left are framed pictures of Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Mae Jemison, Sonia Sotomayor  figures who shaped our world and showed us the way.

In the middle of the images on her right stands a towering bookshelf, packed with paperbacks.

"To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee. "Mexican White Boy," by Matt de la Pena. "Kafir Boy," by Mark Mathabane. "The Outsiders," by S.E. Hinton. "A List of Cages," by Robin Roe.

Pauel presides over Cook County Juvenile Court at 1100 S. Hamilton Ave. Young men and women stand before her, day in and day out, look her in the eye and promise to do better.

Sometimes they've skipped the therapy sessions or drug treatments mandated by their probation terms. Sometimes their infractions are violent.

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Pauel determines where they go next  home to their family or group home, sometimes on electronic monitoring, or upstairs to the juvenile temporary detention center.

Before they leave her courtroom, Pauel directs them to her bookshelf and invites them to grab a book or two. To read. To keep. No strings attached.

"I usually go stand next to them when they pick out a book, and it's the first time that I'm not up on this bench," she said. "I'm just a person standing next to them, like, 'What do you like?' We just talk. Sometimes they're just shocked. 'Do I return this to you?'

"I don't think they get a lot of stuff."

Books, Pauel said, help them ponder. Books take them out of their world and into someone else's. She wants them to imagine a different life  one that doesn't involve courtrooms and probation officers and electronic monitoring bracelets.

She wants them to have hope.

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She had the idea to stock her courtoom with books after an exchange with a minor who was repeatedly failing to show up for the various appointments mandated by his probation terms. Pauel asked him what he does all day, and he told her he sits around with his girlfriend.

"Me being a mom, I said, 'Don't you ever read a book?'" Pauel recalled. "He said, 'Yeah I read a book. I have one book.' I said, 'Yeah? What's the book?' He said, 'Of Mice and Men.' He was rereading it over and over."

She was a little chagrined. And determined.

"Instead of telling them, 'Why don't you read a book?' I thought, why don't I just give them books? A lot of them are very heavily gang-involved. They can't just get on a bus and go to a library. The world is very different for them."

Pauel and the public defender and state's attorney who work in her courtroom started a collection. They emailed friends. Books started pouring in. Eventually, Pauel partnered with Bernie's Book Bank, a Chicago-based literacy program that donates new and used books to schools and other facilities.

She has 12 boxes of books in her garage, waiting to restock her courtroom shelves. She said she's trying to talk other judges into taking books and giving them away in their courtrooms. She wants to set up bookshelves in the hallway outside her courtroom.

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"Wouldn't that be great," she said with a grin. "Come to court, and leave with a bag of books?"

Pauel, 51, grew up in Jamaica until she was 13, when her family fled the island's political upheaval and settled in Houston.

"The kids who come in here, they look like the kids where I grew up," Pauel said. "It's hard. It's hard to see this. People say, 'You're a judge. How do we fix this?' I don't know. I don't have the answer. Our kids are getting locked up, and that wasn't the idea. The idea was to rehabilitate them."

Chicago's juvenile justice system is the oldest in the nation. The first juvenile court was established in Cook County in 1899, and other states quickly followed suit. The goal of these early courts was not to punish minors, but to put them on the path toward becoming productive, law-abiding adults.

Pauel has to weigh that mission against a minor's risk of doing harm to the public, and she's all too aware of Chicago's violent crime rate.

"The recidivism rate of locking kids up is outrageous," she said. "Locking kids up doesn't work. But if I have a kid going out and stealing cars and shooting people ..."

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The day I observed Pauel's courtroom, minor after minor appeared before her, flanked by a public defender or private defense attorney, a state's attorney, a probation officer, sometimes a parent or mentor. In one case, a minister.

In several instances, it was clear she recognized the kids.

"I like you, but I don't want to see you anymore," she told one young man. "I mean, I'd like to see you out in the community. But not in front of me."

She asked what he wants to be when he's older. A mechanic, he told her.

"Yeah? A mechanic?" Pauel said. "You're going to be a great mechanic."

She asked a 16-year-old boy his favorite subject in school.

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"Geometry," he told her.

She smiled. Then she asked if he likes to read and directed him to her bookshelves.

When the juveniles are female, Pauel points them toward a chest of drawers after they've selected their books. The drawers are stocked with bags full of discreetly packaged feminine products. Pauel tells their probation officers to come back for refills when the girls need them.

"Some of my friends are like, 'I don't think this is a good assignment for you. You're going to want to bring them all home,' " Pauel said. "There are a few that break your heart."

One boy, she said, accidentally shot and killed his father while they were hunting together. His mom surrendered her parental rights, and he lives in Department of Children and Family Services custody.

"If you met this kid," she said, "you'd love him. First of all, he cracks you up."

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Pauel took her own kids, 13 and 15, on vacation out West, and they stumbled upon a dude ranch for disadvantaged kids.

"I thought, 'I wish I could send this kid to just live out there,'" Pauel said. "He would love it. If he gets off my probation, I'm going to take him fishing in Wisconsin. He just needs somebody. Some family."

In the meantime, she gives out books. If the kids come back and talk to her about what they read, she counts that as five hours of community service.

"We can have a conversation that's not about you being in trouble," she said. "We're no longer talking about, 'Did you do your drug treatment?' 'Why didn't you go to counseling?' We just talk about what they liked, their favorite character. They can know more about something than I do."

Pauel's been in juvenile court for two years after stints in eviction and small claims courts. She said she dreaded the assignment.

"Now I can't imagine going anywhere else," she said. "You get attached to them. You want to see them succeed. It's no different than my own kids.

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"You can pick up the law," she continued. "You can study the law. This is social work. People ask me what I do, I tell them, 'I'm a social worker.' "

Will the books change their lives? She's honestly not sure.

"I just know we have to be a little bit creative in what we're doing," she said.

They're kids. Kids with hopes and fears and futures  or worse, kids without them.

There's a chance that a book won't change their lives. But there's an equal chance that it will.

hstevens@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @heidistevens13

[ Related: She dropped out of school, pregnant, at 14. At 32, she's studying at DePaul.  ]

[ 'Go back to India'  Chicago CEO goes public with racist taunts he receives  ]

[ Chicago writer's book woven with fear and kindness, like the city itself  ]






Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was sitting up in his hospital bed, cracking jokes and checking his email a day after his kidney transplant Wednesday.

But Johnson's recovery won't come soon enough to save his second-in-command, First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Navarro, from arguably the biggest challenge of his career: running the Police Department over the Labor Day weekend, historically one of the deadliest of the year.

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Last year 13 Chicagoans were killed and 46 more were wounded in shootings over the holiday weekend; in 2015, there were 9 dead and also 46 wounded.

Navarro is "a very private person" and was not seeking publicity because he said, "It's not about me," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Chicago Inc. "He's all business," Guglielmi added.

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The department's No. 2 has taken an increasingly high-profile role since Latino aldermen demanded another Latino replace retired First Deputy John Escalante in the wake of the Laquan McDonald scandal. He served as the face of the department's crowd control efforts during the Cubs World Series victory and on several occasions has discussed the city's ongoing violence problem.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

The department also trusted him to handle its response to the politically sensitive investigation of Johnson's fiancee, Lt. Nakia Fenner, who in June was cleared of cheating on a lieutenant's exam.

And more awkward questions followed the city's decision this summer to pay $250,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a motorcyclist badly hurt when he collided with Navarro's police SUV. The motorcyclist had allegedly been racing, and neither Navarro nor the city accepted blame under the settlement.

Another recent embarrassment was the revelation that Navarro had recommended the promotion of an officer now facing dismissal for allegedly concealing an arrest while applying to be a cop and moonlighting as a part-owner of a bar while on the force.

But Navarro  who previously served as a deputy chief of patrol operations on the South Side, as commander of the Area South detective bureau and as a patrol commander in the South Chicago and Grand Central districts  has emerged unscathed to lead the department through one of its toughest weekends of the year.

It's a task he'll need his more than three decades of experience on the force to complete.

kjanssen@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimjnews
Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage, has survived perilous situations during seven seasons of GoT. His alleged true identity is fodder for speculation before Season 8. ( Helen Sloan/AP )

With "Game of Thrones" now off the air for at least a year, maybe longer, I've been staggered by a theory that Tyrion Lannister, the brilliant dwarf, is actually a fetal time traveler.

Unstuck in time like some medieval Billy Pilgrim, he may also have the ability to change events, and may be related to ancient Thebes and Oedipus.

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Or not.

"Is this what you weird dungeon and dragon types do now that you don't have that show to watch?," asked one of the few humans on Earth who doesn't watch "Game of Thrones."

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"You sit around in your 'little groups' and talk about crazy 'fan theories' involving fiction you haven't read or seen that won't be available for years? Is that what you're doing?" the guy asked.

Yeah, kind of. So what?

"That fetal baby time traveler theory has been debunked!" said a "Game of Thrones" fan at work. "You can't just put that out there and say, 'It's on the Internet.' "

No? It is out there. And I didn't put it there. Somebody did on Reddit, I think.

Besides, it's not every day you hear about a Theban fetal time traveler. And given what happened, ultimately, to once-proud Thebes, the reference should send shivers through "Game of Thrones" fans.

But crazy theories, speculation and passionate debates about alternate realities aren't new. This should be familiar to anyone who watched American political punditry during the presidential year.

Many pundits had their own fan theories and desperately wanted one candidate to win.

And when she didn't win, and made that long walk of atonement, many experts lost their minds.

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But that wasn't fiction.

If you're not a "Game of Thrones" fan, you're probably no longer reading this column, but I can't help that. Either you're a fan or you're not.

The theories abound because the series has millions upon millions of fans all over the world.

And now that Season 7 is finished  and many fans know that at least some of them will be dead before Season 8 rolls around  what else is there but theories?

Or do you really think we should go back to that dreary place called "reality" and our "so-called" lives?

"We all should think of that blue flame," said "GoT" expert and Tribune reporter William Lee in an upcoming episode of "The Chicago Way" podcast.

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"Just think of that blue flame cracking against the ice," said Lee. "Think of it."

I wish he said it with a proper Scottish burr, but "GoT" fans know what he meant: That blue flame of a once-dead dragon, now quite evil, and destroying a gigantic wall of ice that was never to fall, but did.

And now a zombie army is swooping down to destroy the fantasy Western civilization called Westeros.

Loyal readers know that the ice wall has its origins in the great Chicago blizzard of 1967, according to what "Game of Thrones" author and Northwestern University graduate George R.R. Martin told me over a nice Cajun lunch.

But two years? We're supposed to wait, thinking of blue dragon fire, for two dang years?

"It has to sustain you," Lee said, and then nodded emphatically.

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I wish he'd said, "It must sustain ye."

Lee and another Tribune colleague, Marwa Eltagouri, are the experts on the podcast when it comes to "Game of Thrones."

Unlike political pundits, they have no hidden agendas.

They're accomplished reporters, able to ferret out everything about the show. They've read all the Martin novels and most of the criticism, they watch each episode many times, taking notes, then read and analyze every weird theory on the internet.

They're compelled, like "Game of Thrones" graduate students going for that Ph.D., and have analyzed all the theories:

The Jaime Lannister kills sister/lover Cersei theory; the Daenerys Targaryen has a baby with her new lover (and nephew) Jon Snow, an otherwise moral man.

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And the Brandon Stark is really the Night King theory.

Sadly, Eltagouri shot down the Tyrion fetal time traveler-from-Thebes theory. She loathes it almost as much as the Brandon/Night King theory.

Bran Stark as the evil, monstrous Night King?

"No," said Eltagouri. "No. This is my least favorite theory ever, and there are a lot of (bad) theories out there. There is a theory that Tyrion is a time-traveling fetus, and I like that theory better than Bran is the Night King."

Yet she didn't like Tyrion as a fetal time traveler all that much either. But she loved the final episode of Season 7.

"We know Jon's heritage now," she said. "The wall came crumbling down. It had everything."

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Let's hope Season 8 doesn't spawn any more Theban theories.

Thebes was a great city-state in ancient Greece. Its most famous general was Epaminondas, of the third century B.C., who astonished the world by smashing the powerful Spartan slave state. He boldly defeated the invincible Spartans at the great battle of Leuctra.

Many years later, haughty Thebes refused to submit to Alexander the Great.

So in a summer battle Alexander slaughtered Thebes' army, sold all Theban survivors into slavery, burned the city and tore down the great halls, every rock and stone.

It grew cold. Someone may have even written a song  now forgotten  about the cold rains. About the rains that wept over what once was Thebes. And not a soul to hear.

Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast: http://wgnradio.com/category/ wgn-plus/thechicagoway.

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jskass@chicagotribune.com
Shortened version of dashcam video of Chicago police responding to a shooting involving Officer Gildardo Sierra and Flint Farmer on June 07, 2011. (Chicago Police Department) (Chicago Police Department/Handout)

The FBI said Friday it has closed its investigation of the fatal shooting of Flint Farmer by a Chicago police officer, indicating that no federal criminal charges will be brought.

The confirmation from the FBI's Chicago office came a day after lawyers on behalf of Farmer's father, Emmett, petitioned for the appointment of a special prosecutor in Cook County to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed.

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"The Chicago FBI Field Office has completed and closed its civil rights investigation regarding the police-involved shooting of Flint Farmer," said the emailed statement from FBI spokesman Garrett Croon. "There is no further information available from this office at this time."

Farmer was unarmed when he was shot and killed by then-Officer Gildardo Sierra in June 2011 in an on-duty incident captured in part by a police dashboard camera.

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The Chicago Tribune broke the story in the fall of 2011 after learning the Farmer shooting was Sierra's third  and second fatal one  in a six-month span.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

In spite of video suggesting Sierra stood over Farmer as he shot him in the back, then-Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez declined to criminally charge Sierra in 2013, saying the officer reasonably mistook a cellphone for a gun pointed at him on a darkened South Side street.

Although Sierra fired his weapon 16 times  hitting Farmer seven times, including three times in the back  prosecutors said they did not think they could show that the shooting was unreasonable, a key component to prove the officer guilty of a crime.

Last year, though, the city's Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates shootings by Chicago police officers, determined Sierra was unjustified in shooting Farmer. But the decision  a rare ruling by the agency in finding a cop at fault for a shooting  came nearly a year after Sierra had resigned.

State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office declined to comment on the request other than to say that "we are reviewing the petition." Foxx has explained in the past that she favors special prosecutors handling investigations of police-involved shootings because she believes the state's attorney's office has an inherent conflict of interest because it works closely with police.

Lawyers who filed the petition on behalf of Farmer intend to appear before Leroy Martin, presiding judge of Cook County's criminal division, next week at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b
Four people were shot, one fatally, in the 8300 block of South Hermitage Avenue early on Sept. 2, 2017, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Two men were killed and a 14-year-old girl was among 14 other people wounded in shootings from late Friday morning to Saturday morning, Chicago police said.

A 26-year-old man was killed in a quadruple shooting about 1:20 a.m. Saturday in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The 26-year-old was in a group sitting on a porch in the 8300 block of South Hermitage Avenue when three men got out of a white sedan parked behind the house, ran through a gangway, jumped over a fence and started shooting, police said. The gunmen ran from the scene.

The gunshot victims were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The 26-year-old was shot in the chest and stomach and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The mother was transported in good condition; a 23-year-old man shot in the shoulder was transported in good condition; a 25-year-old woman shot in the arm and stomach was transported and had her condition stabilized.

In the second killing, a man was found lying outside in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side about 5 a.m. Saturday with a gunshot wound to his head, police said. The man's age is not known, but he appears to be an adult. He was transported from the 1000 block of North Waller Avenue to Stroger Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

In other shootings:

 Just before 3:05 a.m. Saturday, a 27-year-old man was shot in the arm while driving in a vehicle in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said. Someone inside another vehicle pulled up beside him in the 2800 block of North California Avenue and started shooting. The man was in good condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

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 Also on the Northwest Side, a 29-year-old man was shot twice in the leg in the North Austin neighborhood just before 2:40 a.m., police said. He was driving down the street in the 1800 block of North Mason Avenue when someone started shooting at him. He went to West Suburban Medical Center and was transferred to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said.

 Two people were shot in the West Garfield Park neighborhood just before 2:35 a.m. Saturday. A woman, 26, and a man, 27, were standing outside in the 4300 block of West Wilcox Street when someone inside a passing white Jeep fired at them, police said. The man was taken to Stroger in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his stomach. The woman was taken to Stroger in good condition with a gunshot wound to the leg.

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 In another West Garfield Park attack, a 24-year-old man was shot in the chest in 4100 block of West Congress Parkway about 11:20 p.m. Friday, police said. He walked into Loretto Hospital before being transferred to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. He was not cooperating with detectives, police said.

 A double shooting on the South Side in the Englewood neighborhood wounded two men, 31 and 56, about 3:50 p.m., police said. The two were walking on the street in the 6200 block of South May Street when a dark-colored vehicle drove up and shots rang out. The 31-year-old was shot multiple times in the body, and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital. The 56-year-old was shot in each leg, and was taken to St. Bernard Hospital where his condition was stabilized, police said. The eldest man was not the intended target, police said.

 About 20 minutes earlier, a 24-year-old man was shot on the West Side in the Austin neighborhood about 3:30 p.m. in the 900 block of North Lavergne Avenue, police said. He was shot in the hand, and taken in good condition to West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, police said.

 About 2:45 p.m., a 22-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man were wounded in the 6900 block of South Indiana Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side, police said. The woman suffered a wound to the abdomen and was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital. The man was shot in the right leg, and was taken to the same hospital where his condition was stabilized, police said.

 Shortly after 11:30 a.m. in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, a 14-year-old girl was in the 3400 block of West Huron Street when a red sedan pulled up and someone fired shots, police said. The girl was wounded in the leg and took herself to Stroger Hospital, where she was listed in good condition.

No one was in custody, and police were investigating.
HOUSTON  Rescuers began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone  alive or dead  who might have been left behind in Harvey's fetid floodwaters, which have now heavily damaged more than 37,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide.

More than 200 firefighters, police officers and members of an urban search-and-rescue team fanned out across the Meyerland neighborhood for survivors or bodies. They yelled "fire department!" as they pounded with closed fists on doors, peered through windows and checked with neighbors. The streets were dry but heaped with soggy furniture, carpet and wood.

"We don't think we're going to find any humans, but we're prepared if we do," said District Chief James Pennington of the Houston Fire Department.

The confirmed death toll stood at 31, though it is expected to rise. But by midday, the temporary command center in a J.C. Penney parking lot had received no reports of more bodies from the searches, which are expected to take up to two weeks.

Unlike during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans, crews used GPS devices to log the homes they checked rather than spray painting neon X's on the homes, which also avoided alerting potential thieves to vacant homes.

Elsewhere, the loss of power at a chemical plant set off explosions that prompted a public health warning. The blasts at the Arkema Inc. plant northeast of Houston also ignited a 30- to 40-foot flame and sent up a plume of acrid smoke that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency initially described as "incredibly dangerous."

FEMA later backed away from that statement, saying that Administrator Brock Long spoke out of an abundance of caution. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the smoke showed that it posed no immediate threat to public health, the agency said.

The French operator of the plant warned that up to eight more chemical containers could burn and explode as chemicals stored there degraded without refrigeration.

The latest statewide damage surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruction. The figures from the Texas Department of Public Safety did not include the tens of thousands of homes with minor damage.

Rescues continued, as did the search for shelter among people made homeless by the storm. Emergency officials reported 32,000 people in shelters across Texas.

The Harris County FEMA director said the agency was looking at how to house people who have lost their homes to Harvey. The priority is to get them out of shelters and into some form of temporary housing, with hotels being one option, he said.

"Right now nothing is off the table," Tom Fargione said Thursday. "This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope. I want to get thinking beyond traditional methodologies you've seen in the past."

As the water receded in the nation's fourth-largest city, the threat of major damage from the storm shifted to a region near the Texas-Louisiana state line.

Beaumont, Texas, with a population of nearly 120,000, struggled with rising water. The city lost water service after its main pump station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River. That forced Baptist Beaumont Hospital to move patients to other facilities.

A steady stream of ambulances and helicopters arrived at the hospital to pick up the patients, some of whom already had been removed from flooded nursing homes. Hospital spokeswoman Mary Poole said other patients were able to be discharged.

The city's second hospital, Christus St. Elizabeth, said it was using stored water and accepting only critical and emergency patients.

Some people who had not gotten the word were still arriving Thursday seeking medical attention, including J.D. Clark, who said he had a heart condition. He wanted medicine and water but was turned away. Clark said the landlord had turned off the power at his apartment complex.

"We're trying to get up out of here," said his wife, Regina Blackburn. "I'm trying to call for a hotel, but they won't answer. We're leaving. We're getting out of Beaumont."

That's a challenge, though, because most of the highways out of the city are flooded.

Economists said the storm shut down everything from plastics plants to oil refineries to the Houston port  the second-busiest in the nation  which could affect the nation's economy.

Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm, calculates that economic damage could shave between 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points off the nation's economic growth in the July-September quarter. The economy had been expected to grow at an annual rate of about 3 percent from July through September.

Also Thursday, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from an emergency stockpile in a bid to prevent gasoline prices from spiking in the wake of disruptions caused by Harvey.

As the floodwaters dropped, Houston public schools pushed back the start of classes by two weeks because of Harvey. The nation's seventh-largest school district had been scheduled to open Monday, but classes will now resume Sept. 11.

Although it has been downgraded to a tropical depression, Harvey was still expected to dump heavy rain on parts of Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky through Friday. Forecast totals ranged from 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), with some places possibly getting up to a foot.

For much of the Houston area, the rain had passed. But with temperatures likely to climb in to the low 90s over the weekend, residents were warned about the dangers of heat exhaustion, especially for people who lost power or must toil outdoors.

Houston's two major airports were slowly resuming full service. Limited bus and light rail service had also been restored, as well as trash pickup.

Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

Harvey's five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.
Four people were shot, one fatally, in the 8300 block of South Hermitage Avenue early on Sept. 2, 2017, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Updated Sept. 6, 2017 9 a.m.  In the opening hours of a historically violent Labor Day weekend, 13 people were shot, two fatally, in attacks from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, according to Chicago police.

Most of the shootings  including the first homicide  happened over about three hours from about 11:20 p.m. Friday to 2:40 a.m. Saturday.

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In the earlier fatal attack, 26-year-old James McChristian was hit in a quadruple shooting about 1:20 a.m. Saturday in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

McChristian was in a group sitting on a porch in the 8300 block of South Hermitage Avenue when three men got out of a white sedan parked behind the house, ran through a gangway, jumped over a fence and started shooting, police said. The gunmen ran from the scene.

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The gunshot victims were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. McChristian, of the same block where he was killed, was shot in the chest and stomach and was pronounced dead at 2:03 a.m. at the hospital. A 23-year-old woman shot in the thigh was transported in good condition; a 23-year-old man shot in the shoulder was transported in good condition; a 25-year-old woman shot in the arm and stomach was transported and had her condition stabilized.

In the second killing, a 39-year-old man was found lying outside in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side about 5 a.m. Saturday with a gunshot wound to his head, police said.

Mario Battles was transported from the 1000 block of North Waller Avenue to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He lived in the 100 block of North Hillside Street in Hillside, the medical examiner said.

Nearly all of the shootings were concentrated on the South and West sides, where the department also deployed most of its 1,300 extra officers to deter violence. Those parts of the city bear the brunt of shootings, especially on long holiday weekends that tend to draw increased attacks.

Three of the shootings since 3 p.m. Friday, when the Tribune begins its holiday tally, sent multiple victims to the hospital.

In addition to the shooting in Gresham, multiple people were wounded in shootings in Englewood and West Garfield Park, police said.

To combat the expected spike in shootings, officers also on Thursday began arresting some 90 people on the South and West sides, most of them on felony drug and weapons charges, following a six-week operation, police said.

In 2016, at least 13 people were killed and another 65 wounded over Labor Day weekend that ran from Friday afternoon to Tuesday morning, according to Tribune data.

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In other shootings:

 Just before 3:05 a.m. Saturday, a 27-year-old man was shot in the arm while driving in a vehicle in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said. Someone inside another vehicle pulled up beside him in the 2800 block of North California Avenue and started shooting. The man was in good condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

 Also on the Northwest Side, a 29-year-old man was shot twice in the leg in the North Austin neighborhood just before 2:40 a.m., police said. He was driving down the street in the 1800 block of North Mason Avenue when someone started shooting at him. He went to West Suburban Medical Center and was transferred to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said.

 Two people were shot in the West Garfield Park neighborhood just before 2:35 a.m. Saturday. A woman, 26, and a man, 27, were standing outside in the 4300 block of West Wilcox Street when someone inside a passing white Jeep fired at them, police said. The man was taken to Stroger in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his stomach. The woman was taken to Stroger in good condition with a gunshot wound to the leg.

 In another West Garfield Park attack, a 24-year-old man was shot in the chest in 4100 block of West Congress Parkway about 11:20 p.m. Friday, police said. He walked into Loretto Hospital before being transferred to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. He was not cooperating with detectives, police said.

 A double shooting on the South Side in the Englewood neighborhood wounded two men, 31 and 56, about 3:50 p.m., police said. The two were walking in the 6200 block of South May Street when a dark-colored vehicle drove up and shots rang out. The 31-year-old was shot multiple times in the body and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital. The 56-year-old was shot in both legs and was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. The elder man was not the intended target, police said.

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 About 20 minutes earlier, a 24-year-old man was shot on the West Side in the South Austin neighborhood about 3:30 p.m. in the 900 block of North Lavergne Avenue, police said. He was shot in the hand and taken in good condition to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, police said.
The home of Marty Evanson sustained extensive damage over the last several days as a result of flooding along West Anchorage Lane in Fox Lake on Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

More than a month after flooding in Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner asked for federal assistance Friday.

But state officials acknowledged that, with Hurricane Harvey wreaking havoc along the Gulf of Mexico, the timing of help for local flood victims could be affected.

Rauner had declared Kane, Lake and McHenry counties disaster areas after touring flooded areas along the Des Plaines and Fox rivers July 14, and later added Cook County, after some criticism from Democratic lawmakers that it was taking too long.

Local and state officials must document the extent of the damage before seeking federal aid, which takes some time, though it was not clear why the request did not come until now.

"The information gathered during the recent damage assessments illustrates the difficult road many people face as they try to recover from the record and near-record flooding we experienced in July," Rauner said, according to a news release from his office. "Federal assistance would provide the much-needed help many need to repair their homes and replace personal property that was destroyed."

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Officials with the state and federal emergency management agencies helped identify more than 3,200 homes that were damaged, including 244 homes with major damage, and 2,985 with less severe damage related to the floods and storms, according to the news release.

Richard DuBois watches as Mike Lesperance, highway commissioner for Nunda Township, arrives with hundreds of sandbags for residents on Riverside Drive West in the Orchard Heights subdivision of unincorporated McHenry County on July 18, 2017. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

If the request for individual assistance is approved, people in the approved counties would be eligible to apply for grants and low-interest Small Business Administration loans. Affected businesses also would be able to apply for low-interest SBA loans.

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The vast majority of flood damage occurred in Lake County, officials said, with about 2,800 homes affected there.

Among local agencies seeking reimbursement for flood-related spending, the Fox Waterway Agency made the biggest claim, at $4.2 million.

The village of Hawthorne Woods requested $1.1 million, in reimbursement, while the Grant Township Highway Commission and village of Gurnee each asked for about half a million.

But the request for federal assistance for public agencies won't be made until state officials see if they can clear the $18.3 million minimum threshold for overall spending. Lake County alone said it claimed about $12 million in damage, but it wasn't yet clear how much damage the other counties will claim.

Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director James Joseph said the request for a federal disaster declaration was delayed by floodwaters that made many buildings inaccessible for damage assessment for some time, particularly in the Fox Lake area.

Partly as a result, state officials asked for a two-week extension beyond the original 30-day deadline, until Sept. 9, to submit the request, he said.

Even after the floodwaters receded by the end of July, it took time to get in contact with homeowners to get inside their houses, and then it took time for state officials to come out to do a sample validation of damage at some of the homes, Lake County officials said.

Now that Hurricane Harvey has caused such devastation in the Houston area, the federal response may be further delayed for a few weeks or a month, Joseph said.

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"I know a lot of federal resources are supporting that event," he said. "I anticipate potentially a delay in their response."

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This flood was concentrated, setting record-high flood levels on the Des Plaines and Fox rivers, but was not nearly as widespread as some floods in past years that affected as many as 40 counties, Joseph said.

One thing different about this flood, officials said, was that the rain came down so fast that it flooded areas that weren't even in a flood plain but were in areas where storm sewers or sump pumps couldn't handle the sudden inundation.

If President Donald Trump declares a disaster area, federal officials will likely set up a location for residents to sign up for aid near the areas most affected, such as Gurnee or Fox Lake, along with phone and online registration, Joseph said.

The state's purchase of about 4,000 homes in flood plains since 1993 helped reduce the amount of destruction from the rains, Joseph said.

"As devastating as this flood was," he said, "it could have been much worse."

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Authorities have identified a Chicago man who was found dead Thursday morning with multiple gunshot wounds in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Jermaine Jones, 42, was found fatally shot in the same block where he lived, the 1100 block of South Ashland Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

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Jones was discovered about 5 a.m. Thursday with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Judge Richard A. Posner is retiring after more than three decades on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, stepping down effective Saturday, Sept. 1, 2017. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune 2011)

Judge Richard A. Posner, one of the nation's leading appellate judges, whose acerbic wit attracted an almost cultlike following within legal circles, is retiring after more than three decades with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Posner, 78, is stepping down effective Saturday, according to a news release Friday afternoon from the 7th Circuit. He was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and served as its chief judge from 1993 to 2000.

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Posner said in a statement he has written more than 3,300 opinions in his time on the bench and is "proud to have promoted a pragmatic approach to judging." He said he spent his career applying his view that "judicial opinions should be easy to understand and that judges should focus on the right and wrong in every case."

Posner's biting and often brilliant written opinions as well as his unrelenting questioning from the bench have made him an icon of the court for years.

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Known as a conservative at the time of his appointment, Posner's views skewed more libertarian through the years, and he often came down in favor of more liberal issues such as gay marriage and abortion rights.

Lawyers who regularly appeared before the 7th Circuit knew that when Posner was on a panel they had to be ready for a line of questioning that could come out of left field. The salty judge was known to abruptly cut off lawyers who he thought were off-point, often with a dismissive "No, no, no!" delivered in his trademark nasal tone.

"He's a brilliant man who seems to relish in a vigorous dialogue with counsel, even if it didn't always seem to be directly related to the case," said Ronald Safer, a former federal prosecutor and now a partner at Riley, Safer, Holmes & Cancila. "You are always on edge and you have to be at your sharpest whenever he is on the bench."

Posner seemed to be well aware of his image and never backed down from it. In a 2001 profile in The New Yorker, he described himself as having the same personality traits as his beloved cat, Dinah: "Playful, but with a streak of cruelty."

He's also been an outspoken critic of the current state of the U.S. Supreme Court, telling a Hyde Park gathering in an appearance last year that he thought the country's high court was "awful" and the result of a process that had become too political.

"I think it's reached a real nadir," Posner said at the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore. "Probably only a couple of the justices, (Stephen) Breyer and (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg, are qualified. They're OK, they're not great."

Posner was also in the headlines in 2012 when then-Justice Antonin Scalia accused him of lying about the justice's new book in a review published in The New Republic.

In the review, Posner had accused Scalia of deviating from his own strict, text-based approach to interpreting law when he struck down a District of Columbia handgun ban in 2008 by considering the legislative history behind the law.

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Scalia responded to the review by saying, "To say that I used legislative history is simply, to put it bluntly, a lie."

Posner at the time declined to comment on the flap.

Judge Diane Wood, the chief of the 7th Circuit, said in a statement Friday that Posner is one of the "leading public intellectuals" in the world whose impact "is immeasurable."

"His opinions have had an impact around the world," Wood said. "He has produced an unparalleled body of scholarship  books, articles and public commentary  covering virtually every legal topic that can be imagined."

Posner, who serves on the faculty of University of Chicago Law School, said he looks forward to continuing to teach and publish "with a particular focus on social justice reform."

Born in New York, Posner grew up with a left-wing mother who had many radical friends, including a couple who adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the executed Russian spies, according to a Tribune Magazine profile in 2000. Posner has said he once gave away his train set to the Rosenberg kids.

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Posner earned a bachelor's degree in English from Yale University in 1959 and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1962. He later clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. and in 1965 became the assistant to Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice who was then the U.S. solicitor general.

Despite his old-school demeanor, Posner was a hit among young lawyers and law students who often quote his opinions and writings on social media. He even inspired a Twitter profile called "Posner Thoughts" that offered mock musings by the judge on everything from immigration policy to the Supreme Court.

Through the years, Posner also found a certain celebrity as a self-described "cat person" and is known to pepper his opinions with cat metaphors. The New Yorker profile 16 years ago contained a portrait of Posner dressed in a dark suit clutching Dinah to his chest. More recently, he's talked at length in online profiles about his love of his current cat, a furry gray Maine coon named Pixie.

"I don't like to disrespect Dinah, but Pixie is the best cat we've ever had," Posner told the Tribune in 2011. "Very intelligent, very beautiful and affectionate. She likes to give us nuzzles."

But he was best known for his pragmatic legal opinions that had a way of cutting through high-minded legalese.

In a 2014 opinion upholding lower court decisions that found same-sex marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin unconstitutional, for example, he described the gay and lesbian community as among the most "misunderstood, and discriminated-against minorities in the history of the world" and said that the denial of their right to marry has been a source of "continuing pain."

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"Marriage confers respectability on a sexual relationship," wrote Posner. "To exclude a couple from marriage is thus to deny it a coveted status."

Posner had particularly harsh words for the argument made by attorneys for Indiana that marriage is intended only for procreation and therefore only heterosexuals should benefit from the perks of matrimony, such as filing taxes jointly. The judge noted that infertile heterosexuals were free to marry  even first cousins.

He said Indiana had "invented an insidious form of discrimination: favoring first cousins, provided they are not of the same sex, over homosexuals."

At times, Posner clashed with his fellow judges at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, particularly U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, a President Jimmy Carter appointee who ironically is also stepping down from a lengthy career on Friday.

Posner once removed Shadur from a civil case in 2002 because he had supposedly let slip in front of the jury too many of his own views about one side's case.

And in 2009, Posner ripped Shadur's sentence of probation for former Chicago Ald. Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdoyak, who had been convicted in a multimillion-dollar real estate corruption scheme. In a testy exchange with Vrdolyak's lawyers during oral arguments, Posner said sparing Vrdolyak prison time was a "nothing" punishment.

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The Posner-led panel later overturned Shadur's sentence and remanded the case to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, who gave Vrdolyak 10 months in prison.

Posner also was not afraid of criticizing lawyers, sometimes to comical effect. In a 2011 case, he chastised a plaintiff's lawyer for ignoring precedent and referred to the tactic as "ostrich-like." Posner then illustrated his point by including photos of an ostrich and a man in a suit with their heads in the sand in his published opinion.

Joel Bertocchi, a former federal prosecutor and expert in appellate law who has argued before Posner dozens of times, said he learned that Posner's academic style was to use rigorous argument as a way of testing whose views stood up to scrutiny.

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"You sort of had to leave your feelings behind," Bertocchi said. "And you had to learn to take a case on his terms and go where he wanted to go with it."

A prolific writer, Posner has written some four dozen books. He told the Tribune in 2011 that he'd never planned to be a judge, and when he was approached about the position, he hesitated. But he said he was happy with his career, despite knowing he has made mistakes.

"Because American law is very confused, you can't avoid mistakes," Posner said. "I'm sure I've made plenty of mistakes, but if one is bothered by that, you can't do the job. If you take it too seriously and are too concerned that you're making mistakes, then it just becomes unbearable."

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SEOUL, South Korea  The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills with ally South Korea on Thursday, a clear warning after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over Japan earlier this week, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said. North Korea hates such displays of U.S. military might at close range and will likely respond with fury.

Two U.S. B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35B stealth fighter jets joined four South Korean F-15 fighters in live-fire exercises at a military field in eastern South Korea that simulated precision strikes against the North's "core facilities," according to the U.S. Pacific Command and South Korea's Defense Ministry. The B-1Bs were flown in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam while the F-35Bs came from a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Japan.

North Korea, which claims Washington has long threatened it by flaunting the powerful U.S. nuclear arsenal, describes the long-range B-1Bs as "nuclear strategic bombers" although the United States no longer arms them with nuclear weapons.

Hours after the announcements by Washington and Seoul, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency issued a short statement calling the exercises a "rash act of those taken aback" by North Korea's recent missile launch.

The dueling military displays open up the risk that things will get worse as each side seeks to show it won't be intimidated.

North Korea has made it clear that it sees its weapons program, which demands regular testing to perfect, as the only way to contest decades of U.S. hostility, by which it means the huge U.S. military presence in South Korea, Japan and the Pacific. Washington, in turn, seeks with its joint drills with Seoul and bomber flights to show that it will not be pushed from its traditional role of supremacy in the region. More missile tests, more bomber flyovers and three angry armies facing each other across the world's most heavily armed border raises the possibility that a miscalculation could lead to real fighting.

The U.S. Pacific Command said the exercises were conducted in response to North Korea's recent missile launch. Over the course of a 10-hour mission, the B-1Bs, F-35Bs and two Japanese F-15 fighters first flew together over waters near Kyushu, Japan. The U.S. and South Korean warplanes then flew across the Korean Peninsula and participated in the live-fire training before returning to their respective home stations, according to the Pacific Command.

"North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly," Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said in a statement. "This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this common regional threat. Our forward-deployed force will be the first to the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moment's notice if our nation calls."

In Beijing, North Korea's ally China warned that war is not an option in finding a solution to the North's growing nuclear capabilities.

Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Ren Guoqiang told reporters that all parties should exercise restraint and avoid words and actions that escalate tension.

The bombing exercise came as the United States and South Korea wrapped up their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military drills that involved tens of thousands of soldiers. North Korea condemns the annual U.S.-South Korea war games as rehearsals for an invasion and described Tuesday's missile launch over Japan as a response to the drills. Washington and Seoul faced calls to postpone or downsize this year's drills.

The United States often sends its warplanes to South Korea, mostly for patrols, when animosity rises on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

North Korea on Tuesday flew a potentially nuclear-capable Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile over northern Japan and later called it a "meaningful prelude" to containing the U.S. territory of Guam. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the launch was a "curtain-raiser of its resolute countermeasures" against the U.S.-South Korea war games and called for his military to conduct more ballistic missile launches targeting the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea has been maintaining a torrid pace in weapons tests this year as it openly pursues an arsenal of nuclear-armed, intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching deep into the U.S. mainland. Experts say Kim wants a real nuclear deterrent against the United States to ensure the survival of his government and likely believes that it will strengthen his negotiating position when North Korea returns to talks.

North Korea had earlier threatened to fire a salvo of Hwasong-12s toward Guam, which is home to key U.S. military bases and strategic long-range bombers the North finds threatening. It also flight-tested a pair of developmental ICBMs in July.

South Korean analysts said North Korea's threat against Guam and the launch over Japan on Tuesday are likely attempts to make launches over Japan an accepted norm and win itself greater military space in a region dominated by enemies.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries say the Hwasong-12 fired over Japan's northern island of Hokkaido flew about 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles). South Koreans Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk told lawmakers on Thursday that North Korea might have fired the missile at about half its maximum range.
A Billings nurse used different names and faked personal details to obtain narcotics from dozens of medical professionals in six Montana cities, investigators allege.

Amanda Poepping, 42, appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court on Thursday on one felony charge of fraudulently obtaining dangerous drugs.

Poepping said she was placed on administrative leave at Billings Clinic in November 2014. Her current employment status was not immediately clear.

Poepping is accused of filling 157 prescriptions for 6,742 units of medication written by 57 different medical professionals from about January 2012 to November 2014. It was not made clear why charges were filed Thursday, almost three years after the offenses are alleged to have occurred.

The ongoing investigation, headed by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, shows that Poepping obtained and filled prescriptions for narcotic cough syrup, clonazepam, diazepam, hydrocodone, lorazepam, oxydocone and Lyrica.

Poepping is a registered nurse, certified in low-risk, neo-natal care.

When investigators questioned Poepping at her Billings home in December 2014, they told her they knew that earlier that year she had used a false birth date while seeking narcotic pain medications at a Helena hospital.

Poepping denied it was her, saying someone else was using her name. She said her purse was stolen while camping in Helena. Investigators then told her shed been identified in a photo lineup. She replied that it was someone who looked like her.

After saying shed need to consult an attorney before agreeing to a recorded interview, Poepping told the investigators that it was not the case that she didnt want to talk to them.

She was glad the officers were there to get this resolved, charging documents say.

Poepping told investigators she was a registered nurse and had a history of migraine headaches. Shed been prescribed hydrocodone for the headaches in the past but realized that she had become addicted, and her doctor was weaning her off the narcotics. Dr. Lori Forseth, of Laurel, is her primary doctor, according to charging documents.

Poepping showed investigators a letter about her being placed on administrative leave from Billings Clinic. She said that on Nov. 19, 2014, she had taken hydrocodone at work to treat a migraine and her supervisor had commented about her eyes looking strange. Poepping was placed on leave shortly thereafter. Billings Clinic lists her dates of employment as from July, 2000 to May, 2015.

Poepping told investigators she had been married for 14 years and occasionally used her maiden name to obtain narcotic pain medications.

An ongoing problem

The Billings Gazette reported in 2010 that almost one-third of nurses disciplined by the state of Montana were in trouble for stealing drugs from their employers. The review covered the previous five years.

Instead of notifying law enforcement, the state Board of Nursing funneled most of those nurses into an addiction program and placed their licenses on probation.

A handful were prosecuted criminally for diversion, but only because police discovered their crimes before their bosses did.

The state Department of Labor and Industry, which oversees the Board of Nursing, said that focusing on rehabilitation prevented impaired nurses from going undetected and potentially harming patients. But critics, including some in law enforcement, argued that nurses received special treatment that is not afforded people in other professions who abuse narcotics.

In 2011, a Billings nurse, Kara Janel Lemm, was given a deferred sentence for writing herself fraudulent prescriptions for pain medications to which she was addicted. She apologized and said her addiction was complicated by her medical conditions.
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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has reached a settlement with former Montana State Parks administrator Chas Van Genderen, but will not release details or documents related to the agreement.

FWP confirmed the existence of the settlement but says personnel privacy concerns preclude it from releasing more information. The settlement includes a confidentiality clause, FWP's chief legal counsel Becky Dockter said.

Van Genderen was terminated last year by outgoing FWP director Jeff Hagener. The agency has not publicly discussed the reason for the dismissal, nor has it confirmed that Van Genderen was fired, although the termination was confirmed by multiple sources including members of the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board.

FWP director Martha Williams declined to comment on the settlement Thursday.

A message left Wednesday with Van Genderens attorney seeking comment was not returned.

Williams, who advocated transparency and accountability to legislators earlier this year, said Thursday that decisions to enter into confidential settlements that protect employee privacy are balanced with the publics constitutional right to know.

Williams is an attorney and was most recently a law professor at the University of Montana.

Martha Sheehy, an attorney representing the Independent Record, said the state cannot deny access to the records without clearly demonstrating why an individual's privacy exceeds the merits of public disclosure in this case. In an email to Dockter, Sheehy noted that the Montana Supreme Court rejected attempts to seal a settlement agreement between a private citizen and the state in the 2000 case Pengra v. State of Montana.

"The Montana Supreme Court has repeatedly held that public officials have little if any privacy interests in matters concerning their public duties," she wrote, noting that the Montana Constitution and case law both provide "clear legal authority" for disclosure of the agreement with Van Genderen.

When asked about public access to state settlements, Helena attorney Mike Meloy, who specializes in open government law, said by email simply that state settlements are public records.

FWP maintains that state statutes make personal injury or property settlements public records, but not those related to personnel matters.

Van Genderen had filed a grievance with the state, but Dockter would not say if the settlement came as a result.

Speaking generally about settlement payouts, Dockter said the funds typically come from general license dollars or specific programs.

News of the settlement is the latest development in a series of shake-ups with the Montana State Parks division.

Following Van Genderens departure ahead of the 2017 Legislature, lawmakers and media outlets began analyzing the divisions finances. Parks had more than $11.2 million unspent in its ending fund balance, while also facing a structurally imbalanced budget after projections indicated the division will spend more than it receives in the future.

Current FWP officials told legislators that they could not determine why decisions were made that led to the high ending fund balance, as multiple people who may have been involved in those decisions have left the agency.

During the 2017 Legislative Session, House Bill 324 sought to take away authority of the FWP director to hire and fire the state parks administrator and give that responsibility to the board. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock.

News about Montana State Parks remained relatively quiet for months as FWP worked internally to revise the budget.

Then on Aug. 15, the regular board meeting was abruptly canceled at the behest of the governors office.

About a week later Bullock announced the dismissal of board chairman Tom Towe, while vice chair Mary Sexton resigned. Both had been among the most publicly outspoken members, while Towe broke with the administration in supporting HB 324.

Sexton was recently appointed chair of the executive board for Montana Democrats. She was asked to resign with two years left in her term. She told The Billings Gazette that she respected the governors decision to move forward with a new group.

Towe, of Billings, saw his board service terminated after he did not step down at the governors request. Towe, an attorney, said the law is clear that he could not be terminated without cause and a formal hearing. He said at the time and reaffirmed to The Gazette on Thursday that he has not decided his next move.

In addition to appointing four new board members, Bullock directed FWP to create an advisory board to help the parks board build and implement a new vision for parks, as outlined in its 2020 strategic plan.
Adam Frisch keeps calm waiting for all ballots to be counted in CD-3
Carbon County will enact tighter fire restrictions just after Labor Day.

The county announced stage II fire restrictions that will begin on Tuesday. Little area moisture and the "depletion of regional firefighting resources" prompted the decision, according to Carbon County Disaster and Emergency Services.

Campfires are prohibited under the restrictions, as is smoking outside amid flammable material. Internal combustion engines cannot be used directly above "flammable wildland fuels" from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Welding and acetylene torches with open flames are also prohibited during that time frame, as are fireworks and tracer ammunition.

The restrictions will be in effect until further notice. Carbon joins nearby counties like Yellowstone that are under stage II restrictions.

Judith Basin County announced stage II fire restrictions that begin on Friday.

Beginning on Saturday, campfires will be prohibited on Bureau of Land Management lands at Lowery Bridge, Pugsley Bridge, Moffat Bridge and Sullivan Bridge.

Campfires will also be prohibited in the Big and Little Snowy Mountains, as well as the Little Belt Mountains starting Saturday, according to an interagency release from the BLM.
Complex administrative bureaucracy and rural locales have made it difficult for the Veterans Affairs in Montana to fill a glut of vacant positions at its clinics.

Turnover within the VA in Montana in the past year has left 14 of 40 primary care provider positions without a replacement.

"Frustrations with a heavy administrative burden, Choice (the Choice Care program) and the advent of same-day access resulted in a few providers leaving the VA," said Mike Garcia, a spokesman for the Montana VA.

He added, "However, many of our vacancies were due to more routine circumstances like retirement, illness or pursuing school, research or other employment opportunities in and out of state."

James Gordon, an Army veteran who is 30 percent disabled, receives his care through the VA clinic in Billings. He acknowledged the process of trying to get care can be frustrating. He spoke of friends who simply seek providers on their own and pay out of pocket for the services.

"It's ridiculous trying to get in," he said.

Part of that frustration comes from getting connected with a care provider only to have the appointment canceled because that care provider has left the VA.

However, Gordon said that once a veteran gets into the system, it's not bad.

"I'm able to see my doctor pretty easily," he said.

One of the bigger hurdles the VA faces in recruiting is for new doctors in Eastern Montana.

"Despite our best efforts to recruit primary care providers, there has been very little interest among applicants to live in the more remote eastern areas of the state," Garcia said.

The problem is compounded when trying to fill vacancies created by specialists who leave the system. Practicing in the rural corners of the state leaves specialists without the ability to conduct research and it limits their opportunities to treat more complex medical issues, Garcia said.

John Kominsky, an ER doctor in Billings, said he understands the VA's turnover problem.

"A lot of doctors go to the VA because it's pretty posh," he said.

However, they often quickly burn out because of the complex administrative bureaucracy built into the system. Kominsky, who's not a veteran, said his frustration with the VA stems from what he sees in the emergency room.

He said the veterans he treats don't always need urgent care; rather they show up because the VA has instructed them to go to the hospital.

"Because the VA can't get them with a doctor," he said. "Veterans deserve a hell of a lot better than they're getting."

Garcia explained that veterans are sometimes referred to their local hospital ER for a number of reasons, including that an emergency room visit may be the level of care they need.

He said it's also possible that the services they need, be it specialty care or surgery, might be available only at the local hospital. The VA uses its "Nurse Triage Advice Line" where veterans can speak with a registered nurse who can help them determine what level of care they need.

"They use a similar approach," Garcia said. The nurses "determine the clinical urgency and find the nearest availability for VA services or refer to scheduling for a future appointment or recommend going to the ER."

Both the state and the national VA have detailed their efforts to recruit care providers and fill vacancies within the Montana VA. It includes working with job recruiters from the Veterans Integrated Service Networks and pulling from other regional VAs.

Montana has also expanded its "fee-based primary care providers," which connects veterans with other health care providers in the community outside the VA system.

Montana VA is working to expand its telemedicine programs, which allows patients in rural areas to video chat with doctors and specialists at other VAs.

"For several months, we have been aggressively pursuing a wide array of options to recruit highly qualified primary care providers to serve Montana's veterans," Garcia said.
Chinas State Council to promote foreign investment growth

On August 16, the State Council released a circular (Guo Fa [2017] No. 39) that detailed measures to promote foreign investment growth as part of Chinas opening-up strategy.

The circular entails 22 measures that could be divided into five categories, including reducing market entry restrictions for foreign investment, making supportive fiscal and taxation policies, improving the investment environment for national development zones, attracting foreign talent, and optimizing the business environment.

While concrete policy plans to help foreign investors have yet to be issued, foreign investors could take the circular as a positive sign of the governments intent to further relax restrictions on foreign investment. This is particularly the case as specific ministries have been put in charge and implementation timelines have been outlined for each measure in the circular.

Ford Motor, Chinese automaker in talks to build electric car

US-based Ford Motor Company said it is in discussions with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co, a privately owned Chinese brand that specializes in electric vehicles, about setting up a joint venture to develop and manufacture electric cars in China.

The US automaker has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Anhui Zotye to explore the possibility of creating a Chinese brand aimed at producing all-electric cars for the local marketplace, which is the worlds largest for electric cars.

This move is in line with Chinas aggressive push for more electric cars to reduce pollution in major cities. The government has supported sales with subsidies, and authorities are planning a quota system that would require automakers to produce electric cars, or buy credits from others that do.

Earlier this year, Volvo Motor announced plans to make electric cars in China for global sale starting in 2019. General Motors, Volkswagen AG, Nissan Motor and others also have announced plans to make electric vehicles in China.

RELATED: Pre-Investment and Entry Strategy Advisory from Dezan Shira & Associates

China hosts BRICS Summit in Xiamen

Between September 3 and 5, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (known collectively as BRICS) will meet in Xiamen. In addition to BRICS countries, China has invited leaders from Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan, and Thailand to attend the summit as a part of BRICS Plus scheme. Leaders will discuss economic, political, and security cooperation during the summit.

Many analysts expect the summits discussions to focus on climate change and renewable energy initiatives, which are priorities for both China and India, as well as a BRICS credit agency to rival Western credit agencies, which is a priority for China and Russia. Others, however, will closely watch statements made by representatives from China and India; the two countries recently agreed to de-escalate a two-month border dispute.



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This Dezan Shira & Associates 2017 China guide provides a comprehensive background and details of all aspects of setting up and operating an American business in China, including due diligence and compliance issues, IP protection, corporate establishment options, calculating tax liabilities, as well as discussing on-going operational issues such as managing bookkeeping, accounts, banking, HR, Payroll, annual license renewals, audit, FCPA compliance and consolidation with US standards and Head Office reporting.
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A Chinese tourist pays for a tour package with Alipay in Johannesburg, South Africa. [Photo/Xinhua]

Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Financial Services Group said on Aug. 30 that Chinese tourists will be able to use their Alipay to settle their expenses in South Africa.

This is made possible because Ant has extended its partnership with mobile payment and marketing platform Zapper to include 10,000 merchants in South Africa, according to a joint statement.

Chinese tourists can patronize restaurants, bars, theaters, book shops, adventure parks and then pay in yuan through Alipay on their smartphones.

Over 110,000 Chinese tourists visited South Africa in fiscal year 2016, a rise of 38 percent from a year ago, according to data from the South African Department of Tourism.

Zapper also helps connect Alipay with merchants in the UK and other European countries. Globally Alipay's payment service is now linked to over 200,000 brick-and-mortar stores in over 30 countries in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia.
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The subway car model produced by CRRC is seen in Melbourne, Australia, Aug 28, 2017. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Jacinta Allen, public transport minister of the state of Victoria, Australia, visited the subway car model produced by China's largest high-speed railcar maker, CRRC Corporation Limited, in Melbourne on Monday.

The model, 39 meters long, shows off the cutting edge technology of high-volume subway cars.

The new subway train can accommodate 1,380 passengers, while existing ones in Victoria can carry only 900 people.

The train is expected to operate on the Cranbourne - Pakenham line and reach Sunbury in mid-2019.
Social media in China has been ignited by a photo of Ma Huateng, the CEO of China's tech giant Tencent, and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc.

Ma Huateng (L4), chairman and CEO of China's tech giant Tencent, meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook. [Photo/thepaper.cn]

The image shows the two men holding a paper-cutting of a cartoon penguin, Tencent's brand symbol. There's been no explanation for the meeting, which took place at Apple headquarters, or any indication of its outcome.

Apple's next big event, expected to reveal the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus, and updates to the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iOS software, is due to take place on September 12th.

Relations between the two companies have been tense recently, with Tencent closing a popular service on WeChat which allowed iPhone users to offer tips to content creators. Tencent said it was to comply with new rules issued by Apple, which banned developers from including buttons or links that direct customers to purchasing systems outside of its iOS ecosystem.

Apple has also been tough with Tencent, with the new version of the App Store indicating that tipping would be regarded as an in-app purchase, with Apple taking a 30% cut as a result.

Earlier this week, Apple finally allowed Chinese customers to purchase apps in the App Store using WeChat Pay, around six months after Apple allowed payments using Alibaba's Alipay.

According to App Annie, an app market data and insights company, Apple's App Store saw its biggest earnings in the second quarter of 2017, estimated at 2.2 billion US dollars, more than in any other market.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon here on Thursday, agreeing to establish comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Applauding Tajikistan's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said both sides should synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with Tajikistan's national development strategy for the period up to 2030.

The two countries should cooperate more in transportation, energy, ports and network infrastructure development to improve all-round connectivity, Xi said.

The Chinese president suggested both sides break new ground in agriculture, industrial capacity cooperation and scientific innovation.

Xi encouraged Tajikistan to establish links with Chinese financial institutions, the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, saying China is willing to work with Tajikistan to facilitate trade and investment.

As countries with great ancient civilization, China and Tajikistan can have more exchanges in culture, education and youth, according to Xi.

As rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China will work with Tajikistan for SCO progress in politics, the economy, security, culture cooperation and external exchanges, Xi said.

He said the SCO members should intensify partnerships in security, connectivity and trade, and foster an integrated development in the region.

Rahmon described China as a "good neighbor, partner and brother" and praised the close cooperation in politics, culture, trade and investment.

Tajikistan backs the Silk Road Economic Belt and will work with China to expand partnership in finance, agriculture, water resources, energy and mining, among others, Rahmon said.

He said Tajikistan looks forward to more coordination with China in regional and international affairs and more cooperation in law enforcement and security.

Rahmon said his country will give full support for China's work as rotating chair of the SCO.

After the talks, the two heads of state signed a joint statement on establishing comprehensive strategic partnership.

China and Tajikistan agreed to jointly launch cross-border railway, road and natural gas pipeline projects, and explore cooperation in wind and solar energy, according to the joint statement.

Both sides will better share intelligence to fight the "evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as cyber crime, drug smuggling and transnational organized crime, the joint statement said.

Tajikistan follows the one-China policy, opposes any form of Taiwan independence and supports the Chinese government's effort to achieve national reunification, it said.

The two presidents also witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents, including a bilateral cooperation plan, and agreements on science, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, human resources and media.

Prior to the talks, Xi held a red-carpet welcome ceremony for Rahmon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Also on Thursday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang met with Rahmon respectively.

Rahmon is paying a state visit to China from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the invitation of Xi. He will also attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeastern China's Fujian Province.
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Liu Changkai, one of China's most wanted fugitives, has returned to China and turned himself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Monday.

Liu, 56, a former president of Beijing Liyuan Driving School, fled overseas in October 1999 after being accused of fraud, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" for 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

Liu is the 44th on the list to have returned.

Liu's return, once again, is a warning for other fugitives and proves there is no safe haven overseas, according to the statement.
Xinhua News Agency Thursday published the full text of remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping when presiding over a symposium on poverty relief held in north China's Shanxi Province on June 23.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, reiterated the need for joint efforts and precise measures to eradicate extreme poverty.

Areas suffering from abject poverty face the toughest job in poverty alleviation, Xi said.

There must be better support and more effective measures, Xi told the symposium.

China has set a target to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, including complete eradication of poverty. The task becomes more difficult as the process nears its end.

"As long as we pay great attention, think correctly, take effective measures and work in a down-to-earth way, abject poverty is absolutely conquerable," Xi said.

Xi raised a series of requirements on advancing the poverty alleviation effort in areas plagued by extreme poverty.

He said these areas must also meet the national target on eradicating poverty by 2020. Meanwhile, they need to be realistic in setting goals.

Local governments should take the lead in poverty relief with financial capital playing a coordinating role, Xi said, noting that newly added poverty relief funds will primarily be used in the most impoverished areas.

He said China must gather its forces nationwide to ensure the coverage of public services, infrastructure and basic medical services in these areas.

The president promised more residents living in extremely harsh natural environments will receive assistance to relocate, job posts such as forest rangers in ecologically vulnerable regions will be increased, and assistance will be stepped up for those who became impoverished due to medical reasons.

Impoverished areas should improve their economic development model by focusing on industries that will benefit the poor, such as specialty agriculture, labor-intensive manufacturing and services, Xi said.

He also asked developed regions in the country's east and state entities to increase their assistance to the most impoverished areas, and encouraged the participation of the wider society.

Poverty relief in these areas should focus on empowering and stimulating the people and helping them develop basic job skills in non-agricultural industries, he said.

Local authorities should be strict and honest with poverty relief schedules and achievements, he said, adding that China will implement a strict evaluation system and insist on an annual reporting and supervision mechanism.

The full text of Xi's remarks will also be carried in Friday's Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee.
A company based in western North Dakota secured a government grant to build a prototype of a concrete wall for the country's southern border.

Dickinson-based Fisher Industries, which has an office in Billings, was among four companies awarded contracts from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates as part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The awards were announced Thursday. The Associated Press reported that the prototypes will cost $3.6 million and will be built in San Diego.

The Fisher contract is for five years and up to $300,000, according to federal data.

Fisher has branches in Billings, Livingston and Glendive. Its Tempe, Arizona, office was named by the federal government as the one building the prototype.

We are extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this important project, said Thomas Fisher, the company's president, in a press release.

A border wall between the United States and Mexico has been a high-profile piece of President Donald Trump's agenda. Trump often said that Mexico would pay for the wall, though lawmakers have looked at cutting resources like federal disaster aid to fund the project.

The prototype will consist of reinforced concrete that is 18 feet to 30 feet tall, according to the Border Patrol. The agency plans to announce awards for another batch of prototypes, which would be made from materials other than concrete.
People who lost their homes in a May earthquake in Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, have started to move into the new earthquake-resistant homes.

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake rocked Tashkurgan, home of people from the Tajik ethnic group on the Pamir Plateau, on May 11. Eight people were killed and 31 injured, according to local officials.

More than 4,750 houses were destroyed. The biggest reconstruction project is in Quzgun, the quake's epicenter, where all the casualties were reported.

On Wednesday, Quzgun villagers began to move into the first 52 new houses from the disaster-relief tents they have been living in for more than four months.

The family of Gulpiya Meli threw a traditional Tajik housewarming party when they moved into their new home on Wednesday. The earthquake had destroyed her family home. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

"I cannot believe that I can sleep in the new house before school summer break is over," the 15-year-old said while offering guests milk porridge as a gesture of welcome.

In June, the Xinjiang government pledged to build earthquake-resistant houses for those who lost their homes before the harshest cold arrives.

More than 480 million yuan ($72.8 million) has been invested in the reconstruction project. So far, 2,609 houses have been completed and 793 are ready for the locals to move in. The construction work continues.

Mao Ermin, project manager at the Quzgun site, said it is not easy to build so many new houses on the plateau in just 83 days. Tashkurgan sits at 3,090 meters above sea level and is close to the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Many workers suffer from altitude sickness when they came to Tashkurgan in June. They carried on working even with headaches so the villagers could move in before winter arrives," he said.

Mao and his team were invited to the housewarming party and watched the locals dance while some played the traditional Tajik eagle flutes in the new houses.

He said he believes the hard work has paid off.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) views an honour guard with visiting President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon during a welcome ceremony before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2017. Rahmon is paying a state visit to China. During his stay in China, he will attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries held in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China's Fujian Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon on Thursday, agreeing to establish comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Applauding Tajikistan's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said both sides should synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with Tajikistan's national development strategy for the period up to 2030.

The two countries should cooperate more in transportation, energy, ports and network infrastructure development to improve all-round connectivity, Xi said.

The Chinese president suggested both sides break new ground in agriculture, industrial capacity cooperation and scientific innovation.

Xi encouraged Tajikistan to establish links with Chinese financial institutions, the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, saying China is willing to work with Tajikistan to facilitate trade and investment.

As countries with great ancient civilization, China and Tajikistan can have more exchanges in culture, education and youth, according to Xi.

As rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China will work with Tajikistan for SCO progress in politics, the economy, security, culture cooperation and external exchanges, Xi said.

He said the SCO members should intensify partnerships in security, connectivity and trade, and foster an integrated development in the region.

Rahmon described China as a "good neighbor, partner and brother" and praised the close cooperation in politics, culture, trade and investment.

Tajikistan backs the Silk Road Economic Belt and will work with China to expand partnership in finance, agriculture, water resources, energy and mining, among others, Rahmon said.

He said Tajikistan looks forward to more coordination with China in regional and international affairs and more cooperation in law enforcement and security.

Rahmon said his country will give full support for China's work as rotating chair of the SCO.

After the talks, the two heads of state signed a joint statement on establishing comprehensive strategic partnership.

China and Tajikistan agreed to jointly launch cross-border railway, road and natural gas pipeline projects, and explore cooperation in wind and solar energy, according to the joint statement.

Both sides will better share intelligence to fight the "evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as cyber crime, drug smuggling and transnational organized crime, the joint statement said.

Tajikistan follows the one-China policy, opposes any form of Taiwan independence and supports the Chinese government's effort to achieve national reunification, it said.

The two presidents also witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents, including a bilateral cooperation plan, and agreements on science, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, human resources and media.

Prior to the talks, Xi held a red-carpet welcome ceremony for Rahmon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Also on Thursday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang met with Rahmon respectively.

Rahmon is paying a state visit to China from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the invitation of Xi. He will also attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeastern China's Fujian Province.
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Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2017 shows the Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco. [Xinhua]

The United States has ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, the U.S. State Department said Thursday, in response to Moscow's demand that the size of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia be reduced.

The U.S. has also ordered Russia to shutter a chancery annex in Washington D.C. and a consular annex in New York by Saturday, the State Department announced, adding that the move is "in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians."

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."

The tit-for-tat action came after Russian President Vladimir Putin in July ordered the U.S. to reduce the number of diplomatic personnel in Russia by 755, in response to U.S. sanctions on Russia over its alleged intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each," Nauert said. "While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship."

"The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern," she said, adding that the U.S. "is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

The diplomatic row came at a low point of bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow, as the two sides hold differences on a range of issues, including the war in Syria, the conflict in Ukraine, and U.S. accusations that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, a charge Russia strongly denies.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he hoped the U.S. could have good relations with Russia, which would be "good for world peace."

"I hope that we do have good relations with Russia," Trump said at a joint press conference with visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "I say it loud and clear. I have been saying it for years. I think it's a good thing if we have great relationships, or at least good relationships, with Russia."

"I believe someday that will happen...I think that's very good for world peace and other things," the U.S. President added.
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Canada Border Services Agency has already begun sharing information with the U.S. Homeland Security department on all U.S. citizens entering Canada each day, according to Canada Broadcasting Corporation Thursday.

The United States is expected to provide Canada with similar information about Canadians entering the United States.

Under a 2011 security pact, Canada and the United States agreed to set up a co-ordinated system to track the entry and exit information of travellers to bolster security and help enforce other laws related to public health and safety.

The system includes exchanging entry information collected from people at the land border so that data on entry to one country serves as a record of exit from the other.

The first two phases of the program were limited to foreign nationals and permanent residents of Canada and the U.S., but not citizens of either country.
 Flash

Amid a blaming game between the European Union (EU) and Britain, the third round of Brexit talks concluded Thursday without decisive progress, as expected.

"Time is passing quickly and with each day that goes by, we are getting closer to the United Kingdom's withdrawal, on 29 March 2019 at midnight. The fundamental question for which we need an answer is whether on this day, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union in an orderly manner, with an agreement," European Union (EU) chief negotiator Michel Barnier told a joint news conference with Britain's Brexit Secretary David Davis.

Mean Harvest

"Over the course of this week we have made a number of useful clarification on a number of points, for instance the status of border workers. However, we did not get any decisive progress on any of the principle subjects," said Barnier.

"We made real progress on the question of the Common Travel Area, on the basis of guarantees by the United Kingdom, and we clarified, in a constructive manner, what remains to be done, particularly with regards to North-South cooperation in the Good Friday Agreement," said Barnier, reaffirming that time is passing quickly for the two sides to reach a global agreement.

"At the current speed, we are far from being able to recommend to the European Council that there has been sufficient progress in order to start discussions on the future relationship, while we are finalising the withdrawal agreement throughout 2018," he added.

Unlike Barnier's pessimism, Davis believed that the two sides have had long and detailed discussions across multiple areas this week and "I think it is fair to say, that we have seen some concrete progress" especially on citizens' rights.

Both sides have agreed to protect the rights of frontier workers, to cover future social security contributions for those covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and protect existing healthcare rights and arrangements for EU27 citizens in Britain and British nationals in the EU, among others, said Davis.

"And we have had further discussions on the governance of the citizens' rights agreement -- and the wider withdrawal agreement. We have shown a willingness to discuss creative solutions in this area and now is the time for the Commission to match it," he added.

Britain Cannot Have The Cake And Eat It

Saying that EU respects Britain's sovereign decision to leave the Single Market and the Customs Union, Barnier warned that the Single Market, the EU capacity to regulate, to supervise, to enforce our laws, must not and will not be undermined by Brexit.

"The European Council guidelines state that the Union will preserve its autonomy of decision-making. The UK wants to take back control, it wants to adopt its own standards and regulations. But it also wants to have these standards recognised automatically in the EU. That is what UK papers ask for," Barnier told reporters, calling this as "simply impossible."

"You cannot be outside the Single Market and shape its legal order."

For his part, Davis said Britain remains committed to making as much progress as possible on those issues, "but our discussions this week have exposed yet again that the UK's approach is substantially more flexible and pragmatic than that of the EU as it avoids unnecessary disruption for businesses and consumers."

"We have proposed pragmatic solutions to prevent this disruption and we urge the EU to be more imaginative and flexible in their approach to withdrawal on this point," he added.

No Sufficient Trust No Future Relationship

Hailing the first phase of this negotiation as crucial to create trust, Barnier said the two sides have not built sufficient trust on citizens' rights and the financial settlement.

"Over the summer, around one hundred EU and EEA citizens living lawfully in the UK received deportation letters...It reinforces the need to ensure that citizens' rights are directly enforceable in front of national jurisdictions, under the control of the European Court of justice, a point on which we disagree today," said Barnier.

"In July, the UK recognised that it has obligations beyond the Brexit date. But this week the UK explained that these obligations will be limited to their last payment to the EU budget before departure," said Barnier, reminding Britain that "we have joint obligations towards third countries."

"With such uncertainty, how can we build trust and start discussing a future relationship? We need to address together these issues seriously and rigorously," he added.

Responding to Barnier's scolding, Davis insisted that "there is an unavoidable overlap between withdrawal and the future and they cannot be neatly compartmentalised."

"The third round of talks have been productive and are an important stepping stone and key building block for discussions to come. We are peeling away the layers, one by one, working through many issues at speed, and moving towards the core of these important matters," said Davis.

"Let's continue to work together constructively to put people above process," he concluded.

Highly anticipated, the third round Brexit talks kicked off on Monday in EU Commission headquarters. There were three negotiating groups covering citizens' rights, financial settlement and other separation issues. The issues related to Northern Ireland and the governance of the withdrawal agreement were addressed by the Coordinators.
 Flash

Vehicles are stranded in flood in great Houston area, Texas, the United States, Aug. 27, 2017. [Xinhua]

Nearly 40 people died or are feared dead in flooding or circumstances connected to Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, according to local officials.

Medical examiners are in the process of confirming which deaths are related to the historic flooding. Authorities are still searching for some of those believed to have perished during the flooding in the region. Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said Wednesday night it had confirmed 18 storm deaths, all but one of which were accidental drownings. They were investigating 10 additional deaths as potentially storm-related.

Among those deaths is a family of six reported missing after their van was swept away by floodwaters in east Houston near Greens Bayou on Sunday afternoon.

At least six people have died in Galveston County near the Gulf Coast as a result of Harvey-related flooding, officials said Tuesday, and one other death may be storm-related. The total includes three confirmed deaths -- two in Dickinson and one in League City.

Deaths were also reported in four counties in south east of Texas.
A view of China Southern Airline's fleet at Guagnzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province. [Photo/VCG]

China's three major State-owned airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, all pointed out the impact from high-speed trains in their latest half-year earnings reports, and only China Eastern achieved positive growth in net profits.

In the first half year, China Eastern saw its net profits jump 34.46 percent over the previous period. Air China and China Southern saw their net profits fell by 3.79 percent and 11.62 percent, respectively, according to their earnings reports.

For sales revenues, however, all three major airlines achieved positive growth. China Eastern, China Southern and Air China netted sales revenues of 48.02 billion yuan ($7.17 billion), 60.32 billion yuan and 58.16 billion yuan, respectively, up 3.64 percent, 11.54 percent and 8.65 percent year-on-year. In addition, the passenger load factor of all three major airlines stood above 80 percent in the period.

Air China said in its report that China has built the largest high-speed train network on the global, and the routes are expanding to the mid-western area. For medium and short-haul trips, many passengers prefer to choose high-speed trains as their way of transportation, given the high frequencies, cheap prices, on-time arrivals and convenience of high-speed trains, placing the aviation sector at a disadvantage.

Li Guijin, a professor at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, said China's aviation sector should learn from their competitors in the high-speed train sector, and provide more convenient services for the passengers.

"Civil aviation, railways, roads and water routes are all critical parts of comprehensive transportation system. Those methods should deeply integrate with one another, improve the efficiencies through combinations, and achieve healthy competitions."

He also added that Air China is ready to innovate in Terminal 2 of Beijing Capital International Airport, and said China Eastern and China Southern should embrace the opportunities that emerge from the new airport facility.

Meanwhile, besides China Eastern, which is among the first in a batch of State-owned enterprises slated for mixed-ownership reforms, Air China and China Southern also mentioned that they are exploring and pushing forward such reform.

In June, China Eastern Air Holding Co, the State-owned parent company of China Eastern, sold part of its freight business to four private firms, as it stepped up the efforts to diversify its holdings.

The mixed-ownership reform is part of the Chinese's government's push to further rejuvenate State-owned enterprises with private capital, which is expected to provide a number of investment opportunities.
Chinese shipbuilders are becoming more interested in the cruise liner market, as cruise shipbuilding accounted for 43 percent of global new shipbuilding orders last year, sources said.

Fu Chunhong, vice-chairman of the Chinese organizing committee of Marintec China, said: "In addition to China State Shipbuilding Corp, quite a few other Chinese shipbuilders such as China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and China Merchants Heavy Industry, are proactive in cruise liner building."

China's first domestically manufactured cruise liner will be delivered in 2023, followed by a delivery rate of one vessel per year between 2024 and 2028. The cruise liners will be constructed at Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd, a company controlled by CSSC.

At a time when international shipbuilding, offshore equipment and related markets continue to weaken, major shipyards are wrestling with difficulties in securing new orders and delivering vessels. In contrast, the cruise sector remains sound.

"Last year, new cruise liners accounted for 43 percent of total global new shipbuilding orders, and nearly 40 percent of new ship orders are cruise vessels so far this year," said Fu.

Michael Duck, executive vice-president of UBM Asia, said from 2017 to 2026, the world's cruise shipbuilding industry was expected to produce 97 new cruise ships with investment totaling $53 billion, more than twice the figure a decade ago, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) data.

This prospect will provide unprecedented opportunities for Chinese shipbuilders that are ready to shift their focus to cruise vessel manufacturing, considering the limited capacity of European shipyards.

Last year, as many as two million Chinese passengers travelled by cruise liners, representing 9 percent of global total cruise passengers, said Fu.

Developing the cruise industry has been included into the new economic planning of several coastal cities in China, as the sector is able to drive the growth of many related industries, including shipbuilding, port services, logistics, transport, sightseeing, catering, shopping and insurance.

"What should be kept in mind is that Chinese shipyards are short of experience in building cruise liners. They need to learn a lot from their European leaders like Italy-based Fincantieri SpA and Germany's Meyer Werft," said Fu.

Both Fu and Duck made their comments at the first news conference of the biennial Marintec China 2017 to be held from Dec 5 to 8 in Shanghai, which is regarded as this year's world's most influential and largest maritime exhibition.
BEIJING - China continues to enjoy strong growth which is projected at 6.7 percent for 2017, and shows potential to sustain the increasing momentum over the medium term, said International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a recent annual report.

Achievements of past efforts

Key data released by China's State Statistics Bureau in July and August reflect the country has maintained smooth economic development with stable prices and employment in the first half of 2017.

The economy is performing reasonably and stably. According to official figures, the first six months witnessed a year-on-year GDP increase of 6.9 percent, growing 0.2 percent faster, compared with the same period last year. Given the data falling within the range of 6.7-6.9 percent in eight straight quarters, China is improving its stability.

The employment situation is optimized. Against the background of a proactive policies aiming to promote service sector, public entrepreneur and innovation, 8.55 million new jobs have been created in urban areas during the period, a year-over-year increase by 200,000, said Mao Shengyong, a spokesman of the statistics bureau.

Mao added that the urban surveyed unemployment rate remained low, which dropped around 5.1 percent this July, down from a year earlier.

The general price level is stabilized. In the first couple of months, the government managed to bring the prices under control with consumer price index (CPI) slightly rising 1.4 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics office.

International balance of payments has been improved. Data released by the People's Bank of China indicated that by the end of July, the Chinese currency renminbi appreciated to 6.7283 yuan against the US dollar, up 0.69 percent from last month. Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserve has reached 3.0807 trillion dollars, increasing in the sixth month by 23.9 billion.

China's supply-side structural reform, which has gained steam, has greatly improved the development efficiency and quality, backing up a promising market.

As the economy is becoming more efficient, industrial enterprises at national scale have gained a profit increase of 21.2 percent, growing 14.3 faster year on year, National Statistics Bureau confirmed on Aug. 28.

The quality also forges ahead. In a bid to conserve energy and natural resources, clean energy registered a 0.7-percent up in overall energy consumption than that in the same period last year, helping improving the country's environment.

Market expectation trends up. As revealed by the bureau, in July, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) of manufacturing sector continued to be above the critical point of 50 in 12 straight months, and the non-manufacturing PMI remained at or above 54 percent in 10 straight months, maintaining good posture.

Bright future in sight

In IMF's report released on Aug. 15, the organization has come up with suggestions for China on future economic governance, including further deleveraging and boosting public and private consumption, views similar with China's ongoing efforts.

Since China accelerates to its adjustment of economic structure, the development is becoming better coordinated and more sustainable.

The Belt and Road (B&R) Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing in May has lifted domestic and international interconnection to a new level.

According to data from China's General Administration of Customs, from January to July, Chinese exports to B&R members Russia, India and Malaysia rose 28.6 percent, 24.2 percent and 20.9 percent respectively.

China has also made headway in science and technology research and development.

New business models are growing at an incredible speed. The "Internet Plus" initiative promotes integration of online and offline services, in which process the Internet economy with online shopping as a representative has rocketed.

In conclusion, China maintains stable and positive development in the first half of 2017. Its advancing reform stimulates growth momentum and optimizes the structure.

In a world experiencing zigzag economic recovery, China is opening up a bright prospect by performing arduous reform tasks and moving forward one step at a time.
CHICAGO - Chicago Tribune, a leading newspaper in the American Midwest, urged US regulators on Friday to approve a Chinese-led purchase of Chicago Stock Exchange and let more Chinese investments come to Chicago area.

In an editorial titled "Stop stalling, SEC," the paper believes there is nothing frightening about the prospect of a Chinese-led group buying the Chicago Stock Exchange, despite the nervousness being expressed by some officials in Washington.

SEC refers to the Securities and Exchange Commission, an official regulatory body for securities exchanges in the US

"Foreign investment contributes to the US economy, just as it benefits the acquiring country. Foreign money is a vote of confidence." the editorial pointed out.

An investment group led by Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group struck a deal last year to buy CHX Holdings, the Chicago exchange's parent, for $20 million.

However, some US House of Representatives urged the SEC to reject the proposed acquisition, calling it "a threat to the US financial security and Americans' faith in our national financial market infrastructure."

Despite of the fact that another powerful government entity which investigates deals on national security grounds - the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) - approved the Chinese-led acquisition of CHX last December, the SEC postponed its decision on the deal early this month, pending further review.

The 135-year-old Chicago Stock Exchange, which handles now only 0.5 percent of US stock trading, needs capital to grow. Chongqing Casin, which has interests in real estate and other businesses, would lead a group buying 49.5 percent of CHX. American investors would take the rest.

CHX Chief Executive John Kerin reportedly told the SEC that none of the Chinese buyers are controlled by their government.

"There is nothing frightening about the prospect of a Chinese-led group buying the Chicago Stock Exchange, despite the nervousness being expressed by some officials in Washington," the Chicago Tribune said.

It added that if approved, the new owners would invest up to $23 million in CHX. Their strategy calls for the Chicago Stock Exchange to focus on listing emerging growth companies from China and the US

"That's exciting because as China grows, more companies there will want to sell shares to American investors...and when Chinese firms list on the Chicago Stock Exchange, they may set up offices here and hire Chicago professionals to help manage their businesses. Globalization in action." said the editorial.
BEIJING - The New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral financial institution set up by BRICS, is expected to offer loans $totaling 2.5 billion this year, according to a Chinese official Thursday.

While the NDB approved loans totaling $1.55 billion last year to seven programs on sustainable development, more loans are expected to be approved later this year, said Zhou Qiangwu, director of the International Economics and Finance Institute, a think tank under the Ministry of Finance.

According to Zhou, the bank has made a lot of progress since it went into operation more than two years ago. For example, yuan-denominated green bonds with a value of 3 billion yuan ($454.5 million) were issued, while the Africa Regional Center of the NDB in Johannesburg was launched earlier this month.

"The NDB is like a baby of the five nations," Zhou said.

As leaders from the BRICS countries gather during the upcoming summit in China's southeastern coastal city of Xiamen from Sept 3 to 5, the NDB is likely to see more progress, such as agreements to fund new projects in the five countries, Zhou said.
Jacinta Allen (center), public transport minister of the state of Victoria, Australia, visits the subway car model produced by CRRC in Melbourne, on Aug 28, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jacinta Allen, public transport minister of the state of Victoria, Australia, visited the subway car model produced by China's largest high-speed railcar maker, CRRC Corporation Limited, in Melbourne on Monday.

The model, 39 meters long, shows off the cutting edge technology of high-volume subway cars.

The new subway train can accommodate 1,380 passengers, while existing ones in Victoria can carry only 900 people.

The train is expected to operate on the Cranbourne - Pakenham line and reach Sunbury in mid-2019.
China is willing to enhance cooperation with Tajikistan in key areas such as energy, infrastructure construction and manufacturing to bring greater benefits to the people of both countries, Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday.

Li made the remarks when meeting with President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan in Beijing. He said China and Tajikistan are friendly neighbors, and relations between the two countries have taken great strides over the past 25 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties. He added that China is willing to deepen mutual trust with Tajikistan and expand mutually beneficial cooperation under a framework such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and expand people-to-people exchanges.

Li stressed that China firmly supports the development path that Tajikistan people chose for their country, and is willing to link up such a path with the Belt and Road Initiative to improve connectivity in areas such as transportation and telecommunications. He called for the Tajikistan side to offer better convenience.

Rahmon said Tajikistan and China are cooperative partners, and have achieved long term development in areas such as business, trade and people-to-people exchanges. He said Tajikistan is willing to strengthen ties with China in their development strategy, and enhance cooperation in electricity, finance, agriculture, transportation and tourism.
President Xi Jinping greets his Tajikistani counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, at a welcoming ceremony on Thursday outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY

China and Tajikistan signed 13 documents to enhance cooperation in such areas as agriculture, energy, finance and infrastructure on Thursday.

The agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed at the Great Hall of the People. Present were President Xi Jinping and his Tajikistani counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, who is on a seven-day visit to China that started on Wednesday. The two leaders also signed a joint declaration to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

China and Tajikistan are friendly neighbors with close relations, and are strategic partners with high mutual trust, Xi said, adding that the two countries have made fruitful progress in cooperation in such areas as politics, economy, security and people-to-people exchanges.

"We have treated each other as always with mutual respect, understanding and support," Xi told Rahmon.

China highly appreciates Tajikistan's support for the Belt and Road Initiative from the very beginning, Xi said. The two nations should connect their development strategies and strengthen cooperation on transportation, energy, cyberspace and infrastructure, he added.

In June, the two presidents had talks during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. The repeated meetings of the two leaders within three months shows their "special and high level" ties, Xi said.

Xi noted that China and Tajikistan have launched a number of important exchange programs and achieved great progress in military and security areas since Rahmon's last state visit to China in May 2013.

China would like to make joint efforts with Tajikistan to seize the opportunities of the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, strengthen strategic communication and deepen mutual beneficial cooperation, Xi said.

Calling China a good neighbor, friend and brother, Rahmon said that Tajikistan supports the building of the Belt and Road. The two sides should deepen cooperation in such areas as agriculture, production capacity, minerals and science parks, the Tajikistani president said.

Rahmon will attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries, which will be chaired by Xi in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Tuesday. The leaders of the five BRICS countries, as well as the leaders of Egypt, Mexico, Tajikistan, Guinea and Thailand, will attend the dialogue.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday that the dialogue will focus on deepening cooperation and promoting common development, and a statement will be released on the outcomes.

"It is in the interests of all sides to strengthen cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries through the BRICS platform. Therefore China has proposed the BRICS Plus concept based on past experience," Wang said.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said, "BRICS cooperation has not only helped the countries themselves, but enhanced the right to speak on global issues for all developing countries."
Local villagers in Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, move into their new houses on Wednesday after the magnitude 5.5 earthquake in May. [Photo by FU CHAO/CHINA DAILY]

People who lost their homes in a May earthquake in Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, have started to move into the new earthquake-resistant homes.

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake rocked Tashkurgan, home of people from the Tajik ethnic group on the Pamir Plateau, on May 11. Eight people were killed and 31 injured, according to local officials.

More than 4,750 houses were destroyed. The biggest reconstruction project is in Quzgun, the quake's epicenter, where all the casualties were reported.

On Wednesday, Quzgun villagers began to move into the first 52 new houses from the disaster-relief tents they have been living in for more than four months.

The family of Gulpiya Meli threw a traditional Tajik housewarming party when they moved into their new home on Wednesday. The earthquake had destroyed her family home. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

"I cannot believe that I can sleep in the new house before school summer break is over," the 15-year-old said while offering guests milk porridge as a gesture of welcome.

In June, the Xinjiang government pledged to build earthquake-resistant houses for those who lost their homes before the harshest cold arrives.

More than 480 million yuan ($72.8 million) has been invested in the reconstruction project. So far, 2,609 houses have been completed and 793 are ready for the locals to move in. The construction work continues.

Mao Ermin, project manager at the Quzgun site, said it is not easy to build so many new houses on the plateau in just 83 days. Tashkurgan sits at 3,090 meters above sea level and is close to the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan

"Many workers suffer from altitude sickness when they came to Tashkurgan in June. They carried on working even with headaches so the villagers could move in before winter arrives," he said.

Mao and his team were invited to the housewarming party and watched the locals dance while some played the traditional Tajik eagle flutes in the new houses.

He said he believes the hard work has paid off.
Fishery scientists have released tagged fish into a river for the first time in the Tibet autonomous region so they can better monitor the population of three rare species.

Some 470 tagged fish were released into the Lhasa River in August, said Liu Haiping, an associate professor at the Fishery Research Laboratory of the Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences.

"We have been cultivating and releasing fish into rivers to replenish stocks since 2004, but we haven't done research before - because of the lack of money and equipment - to assess the effect of artificial breeding and release," he said.

"This is the first time that we have used marking and tagging methods for fish releases in Tibet. The methods have already been used in other places around China, but the situation might be different here."

Liu said the 470 released fish include three rare species related to carp that are native to Tibet.

"The populations of the three species have been declining in recent years because they are vulnerable to invasive species and habitat destruction, and individual fish are becoming smaller," said Liu, adding that it's urgent to protect and restore fish stocks.

The Lhasa River was chosen for the releases because it is the natural home of the three species and it is also close to downtown Lhasa, Tibet's capital, where technological support is available.

The fish were bred in the laboratory for their ability to survive. Length varies from 15 to 25 centimeters.

Each fish is marked by a fluorescent marker over its head, and also has a small T-shaped plastic tag inserted into the muscle on its back, according to Zhu Tingbing, a researcher from the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute. The tag has a unique identification code that sticks out of the fish's body and includes data about it.

"Each marking method has its own advantage. Fluorescent labeling does less damage to the fish than T-style tagging, but it disappears easily. When that happens, we can't identify an individual fish," Zhu said, adding that both marking methods may be used at the same time for the purpose of comparing their results and figuring out which works better in Tibet.

"The higher the recapture rate is, the more reliable the research data will be," Liu said. "Time and place should be taken into consideration when we start to catch the labeled fish."

The recapturing period will last for a year from the release day.

"We are going to catch the fish once a week within the first month, and then once a month after the first month," he said.

Liu said the recapture area is a 20-kilometer river segment that extends both upstream and downstream from the release site. The migration distance of the three rare species is short, he said.

Various factors can influence the recapture rate, including the type and size of the fish, water quality of the river and human interference. Liu feels optimistic about the survival rate.

"After recapturing, we are going to identify the fish type, measure its size, and evaluate its growth and migration pattern," Zhu said.

"Tagged releases can help assess the effect of the artificially bred fish being released into the Lhasa River. I hope we can use the experience gained to carry out further research and gradually promote it to other parts of Tibet."

Zhang Yi contributed to this story.
Circular sparks objections online, with some calling guideline unfair

A circular issued on Tuesday by education authorities in Shaanxi province quickly attracted public attention as it laid down guidelines for judging whether college students come "from poor families" - a precondition for financial aid.

Students who rent apartments off campus or who go to internet bars frequently cannot be recognized as being impoverished and thus are not eligible to receive financial support from the government, according to the circular from the Education Department of the Shaanxi Provincial Government.

The circular was soon targeted by netizens as unreasonable and unfair. Some people argued that students who often go to internet bars might actually need financial aid the most, as they might be too poor to afford a laptop and have to finish their school assignments on computers in such businesses.

Others said the standard of "often" is vague and not helpful in determining whether a student is poor.

"How often is 'often'? The circular didn't elaborate on how many times," said a student counselor at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology who declined to be named. As internet bars are affordable for most students, many students go to them frequently, the counselor said.

In response, the department said on Wednesday that its off-campus housing standard refers to students who make the choice without a good reason, instead of living in a school dormitory. And it defended its internet bar standard.

"Often showing up in internet bars means a student is ignoring the internet facilities provided by the school and is likely engaging in nonacademic activities," the department told Beijing News.

A department staff member surnamed Luo said the internet is now available at almost all colleges in Shaanxi, and students' online needs can be met without leaving the dormitory.

"Under such circumstances, if students still go to internet bars frequently, we can be sure they are there to spend money playing computer games," he said. "The money should have been saved."

The circular also said the definition of a student from a poor family applies to those who are unable to pay for tuition and daily expenses at college even though they have tried their best to raise funds.

Students with extravagant consumption behavior, such as using a high-end mobile phone or laptop, using expensive cosmetics, wearing expensive clothes or traveling frequently, should not be classed as poor, it added.

The standards were for reference only, the circular said, and colleges in different cities of the province were free to apply their own standards depending on the local economy.
RIVERTON, Wyo.  Investigators say they haven't given up trying to solve the mystery of a woman who disappeared while jogging in the mountains of Wyoming 20 years ago this summer.

Fremont County Undersheriff Ryan Lee says investigators suspect somebody was involved in the disappearance of 24-year-old Amy Wroe Bechtel in 1997.

But he says there is no solid evidence to support that theory. Lee tells the Riverton Ranger there are "persons of interest" in the case but no active suspects.

No remains have been found and no witnesses have come forward since Bechtel vanished while jogging on a road in the Wind River Range. Her unlocked car was found with the keys still in it.

Lee says investigators about a year ago looked into a promising lead that didn't pan out.
Chinese and British researchers are collaborating to combat the spread of avian diseases.

Around 100 experts gathered in London on Thursday at the third annual conference hosted by the UK-China Centre of Excellence for Research on Avian Diseases. Delegates discussed solutions for avian viruses and best management practices.

"China's and the UK's collaboration in avian disease is highly important, given the current situation in China," said Shen Zhiqiang, director at the Shandong Binzhou Academy of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.

The first known human cases of H7N9 bird flu were reported in China in 2013. Since then, more than 1,500 cases have been reported. About 40 percent of those infected have died.

Shen said the UK's advanced avian disease research and disease control technology, as well as its management expertise on poultry farming, can "generate great benefits" for China.

Both China and the UK have established poultry industries, but sustained growth in both countries is hampered by continued challenges from a large number of avian diseases.

Tackling avian disease is high on the Chinese government's agenda. It recently set new policy directions to strengthen the monitoring of poultry farms by 2020.

"To improve best practices on poultry farms, it is crucial for the government to introduce new policy measures ... and academic research is very important to support these policy directions," Shen said.

The UK-China Centre of Excellence for Research on Avian Diseases was established in 2015 with 50 million pounds ($64.6 million) of joint Chinese and British government funding.
The alleged abduction of a Chinese scholar in the US has prompted colleges to emphasize on-campus security, as Li Xueyao and Xia Lin report for Xinhua China Features.

A new school year is beginning in the United States, and as recently arrived international students adjust to the campus environment, security experts are offering tips to help them stay safe.

"The international students are enjoying the area. This may be their first visit, so they are looking around, taking pictures, maybe looking like tourists," said Wade MacAdam, who works for the Police Department's Safety Programs at the University of California, Berkeley.

MacAdam believes that those behaviors will make the new arrivals easy targets "so they need to be more aware of their surroundings".

According to the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report 2016, released by the FBI this year, the number of violent crimes in the US rose by 5.3 percent in the first six months of last year compared with the same period in 2015.

FBI data shows that the number of aggravated assaults rose by 6.5 percent, murders by 5.2 percent, rapes were up by 7.9 percent, and robberies rose by 3.2 percent.

Many international students arrive at their dream school in the US to enjoy a high level of education, but seeking a safe experience should be more important than academic success, the experts said.

That point is illustrated by the story of Zhang Yingying, a physics student from China who attends the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has been missing - allegedly abducted - since June 9. The 26-year-old Fujian province native is presumed dead, and a local man has been arrested in connection with her disappearance.

"Some international students, including those from China, are usually introverted, unfamiliar with the new environment, and even speak poor English," said Qiao Fengxiang, a professor at Texas Southern University in Houston.

"When the police chief introduces security services during school orientation, some may not listen carefully or even fully understand what is being said. So they lack such knowledge."

California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Illinois are the five top destinations for international students, according to the Institute of International Education.

Xinhua interviewed students, local residents, security officers and professors from universities in those states to discover useful safety tips. They provided four essentials for international students.

'Blue light' phones

Most US colleges employ "Blue Light" emergency phones. If a student feels threatened, he or she can push the "call' button on the phone, which will alert campus police who will be dispatched within a few minutes. Students are usually familiarized with the system during campus tours and freshman orientation.

The emergency phone system is a timely way to call campus police, especially in areas where local conditions result in unstable or weak network or wireless coverage.

"Don't necessarily call 911, because it goes straight to the Houston Police Department and they'll call us, causing a delay," said Fred Brown, deputy chief of the police force at Texas Southern University.

MacAdam, from UC Berkeley, agreed. "If you call 911 from your cellphone, it might go to a neighboring department and route to the university police. The big advantage with the blue light phones is that we know where they are located. If you call from your cellphone, we don't know, and you have to relay that information to us," he said.

Security escorts

The security escort service is another useful campus aid students can rely on. The service is usually provided late at night. Different universities have their own specific operating times and locations.

The service offered by New York University is called Safe Ride. It is a shared ride service, which is available for transportation to and from NYU facilities, and on three local mass transit stations during the academic term from midnight to 7:30 am.

Northwestern University, in Illinois, also provides a "Safe Ride" service. "If you are out late, you can call a police officer to walk with you, or even request a squad car," said Shi Jiayan, an NU student.

Similarly, UC Berkeley has the "Bearwalk" program. It operates from sunset to 3 am. The major difference is that with Bearwalk, a uniformed security officer will walk students safely from point A to point B within the campus boundaries.

According to MacAdam, many robberies occur when individuals are walking by themselves. "So if someone is walking with someone in uniform, they are unlikely to be a victim of crime," he said.

Avoid becoming isolated

Even though most of the students interviewed by Xinhua said the general on-campus safety environment is positive, the situation changes when they leave college boundaries, especially at night.

"When you go off-campus, it becomes a little bit more dangerous, at least at night it does," said Molly Hurley, a sophomore at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Qingni Yu, a junior student at UC Berkeley, echoed that view: "I don't usually stay at school very late. If I have to stay at school, I will ask my roommate if we can go home together, or I will take the bus. My apartment is close to the school, so I can walk. However, I avoid walking alone, especially at night."

Yuan Wang, a student at NYU, said, "Whether it is boys or girls staying outside at night or in places with few people, it is better to team up with friends, both for confidence and power."

Awareness

Students and security officers said being alert to the surroundings and not wearing headphones are sensible approaches to staying safe.

According to Shi, from Northwestern University, students should always be aware of their surroundings. "If you buy a ticket at the subway station, you should take account of the surroundings before you take out your wallet, or you should make sure you have the right amount (in your hand) before buying your ticket. You should not wear headphones when you are walking. I think these tips are good for all students."

Henry Cheng, a student at UC Berkeley, also warned of the dangers of a lack of awareness and the use of headphones.

"Don't plug both your ears while you are walking home in the middle of the night because that will make you very vulnerable and an easy target," he said.

MacAdam made the same point. "They (students) should not be on their cellphones, texting, looking at Facebook and therefore advertising their electronic devices. They need to be aware of their surroundings. Also, they should not wear headphones, because that also advertises their electronic devices, and they cannot hear if someone is sneaking up on them."






At 6:02 am on Tuesday, I was suddenly woken by my phone vibrating rapidly. Weak sunlight filtered through the curtains. I didn't immediately realize what was happening, but a siren was wailing and my first thought was that an earthquake had occurred. Small quakes occur constantly in this area.

However, when I looked at my phone, I saw that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had launched a missile and it was heading for northern Japan.

A missile? I was shocked. I quickly packed my bag with my laptop, my research materials and credentials, such as my ID card. Running from my wooden apartment, I arrived at my boyfriend's apartment a few minutes later. When we turned on the television, we saw that all the channels were running the same story with details of how to evacuate and stay safe.

The alarm wailed constantly, warning people to find safe places to hide from the missile. "If you see an unidentified flying object, please take a photo immediately and pass it on to the police," the TV broadcasts repeated. At around 6:13 am, the missile passed over Hokkaido and landed in the Sea of Japan.

The tension eased, but the incident made me review my stay in Japan. The thing that most worries me is strangers entering my apartment. I've lived on my own since I came to study here in September last year. I've never been frightened, but I always lock the door when I am at home.

I think most parts of Japan are pretty safe; some of my friends don't even lock the door of their apartment when they go out. I own a bicycle, which I use to travel to school and to buy groceries. Sometimes I have forgotten to lock it, but that hasn't made a difference because it has never been stolen.

I have heard of students going missing overseas, and I keep track of the terrible stories. However, I don't worry about that too much, I just pay great attention when meeting strangers.

Zhang Yutong spoke with Xin Wen.

Zhang Yutong, a Chinese student at Tsukuba University in northern Ibaraki prefecture, east of Tokyo.
The smiling pig is saved from flooding in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/CHINA DAILY]

A smiling pig has become China's newest online celebrity after a photograph showing it being saved from flooding in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region went viral online recently.

The pig was raised by a farmer in Danliao village in the city of Qinzhou, according to authorities with the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, which is close to the village.

Qinzhou was recently battered by heavy rains, causing local rivers to exceed warning levels and leading to severe flooding, said Wu Fengyou, with the park.

"The village is located on low-lying land, so it was badly affected by flooding. Houses and animals were submerged in the water," Wu said. "We sent rescuers to help with the evacuation."

In the photograph that went viral, two rescuers in green uniforms can be seen lifting the pig out of the water by its ears and legs, while the animal appears to be smiling from ear to ear.

According to one of the rescuers, the picture was taken on Aug 17 at a pig farm. Photographs provided by the rescuers showed that water levels in the area were knee high, submerging parts of the farm. Two other pigs were also saved.

"I'm blown away by the pig's facial expression!" the rescuer wrote on his personal Sina Weibo micro blog account with the photographs attached.

The photograph struck a chord with many social media users. A post containing memes of the pig had been forwarded more than 4,000 times and drawn about 3,000 comments as of 12:30 pm on Monday.

"I hope it will not be turned into sausages after the rescue," wrote Weibo user Bianzedaren, making reference to reports that 18 piglets and two adult pigs saved from a fire in England were reportedly made into sausages for the firefighters that saved them.

"Maybe our 'Second Brother' was trying to encourage us to accept life's difficulties with a smile," wrote another user with the screen name Pinggai. "Second Brother" is the nickname of Zhu Bajie, one of the three helpers of monk Xuanzang in Chinese epic Journey to the West. He takes the form of a pig in the novel, and his name is often used in Chinese culture to indicate pigs.

However, the story was twisted when various media outlets reported that photographs of the pig were taken in Hengjiang, in Sichuan province, which was also hit by heavy rainfall recently.

The rescuer set the record straight by confirming on his WeChat social media account that he had not gone to Sichuan to battle that flood, and the picture had been taken in Qinzhou.

"One of my colleagues was one of the two rescuers holding the pig," Wu said.

The picture has captured the hearts of many people and led to the creation of many memes featuring the pig.

Humorous captions such as "Stop pulling my ears!", "Smiling like a 100-kg child" and "It's over, I'm going to be made into braised pork!" have been circulating on Weibo.




Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) views an honour guard with visiting President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon during a welcome ceremony before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Aug 31, 2017. Rahmon is paying a state visit to China. During his stay in China, he will attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries held in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province. [Photo/Xinhua]
Word spread fast when the Department of Geology at Northwest University in Xi'an, China's Shaanxi province, welcomed its youngest PhD candidate on campus Tuesday.

Fan Yan, 19, from Datong, North China's Shanxi province, has been living in the academic fast lane since he was a child.

His mother said Fan was quite smart, as he could always recite a new Chinese poem quite fast. She started teaching him when he was 3, using primary school textbooks.

When Fan was five, his parents asked him to try studying at the third grade level as he started school.

"It was hard at the beginning, but I adjusted to it, then I went along," Fan said.

He said due to his age he didn't exhibit good academic performance until his third year in middle school, when he found a study method just right for him. He has been an excellent student since then.

"I was always the best student, which gave me more motivation to keep studying, even in class breaks," Fan said.

He took his first college entrance examination at age of 14, four years earlier than usual but didn't stand out. After a year, he was successfully admitted to the Department of Geology at Northwest University in 2013 on his second try.

He maintained excellent grades at college. He received a recommendation for the opportunity to do postgraduate study with no application needed. He had a discussion with his father, deciding to pursue a doctoral degree right after finishing his undergraduate studies.

He succeeded and became one of only five people who started a doctoral degree as an undergraduate in the Geology Department.

His parents have had a big influence on him and offered him help whenever he needed it.

Fan admitted he never had to sign up for any tutorial classes outside the school. "My mom put lots of effort in my study until I graduated from high school," he said.

But his interest in geology is heavily influenced by his father. His father, with an academic background in coal mining, suggested geology to him when he described the major as "a course that you work with nature", raising his son's huge curiosity in the field.

While Fan said he wasn't sure he could make it to proceed to a doctoral degree, his dad said, "There's nothing to be worry about!" to reassure him.

Fan is not too ambitious about the future.

"I just want to accomplish something by making a big effort in studying and researching in my major," he said.
Liu Jiaojiao, 26, cuts an apple for her mother with a knife. [Photo by Hu Hongtao/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

For many undergraduates, finding a job or getting further education is a trouble at their age. However, a Henan girl faced more urgent and much bigger issues when it came to job or further studies, because she had to help her family all by herself before graduating from college.

Liu Jiaojiao, 26, was born in a village of Luyi county in Zhoukou city, Central China's Henan province. After graduation in 2014, she chose to be a teacher in a middle school in her hometown, so she could take care of her paralyzed mother.

Up to now, as the only bread-earner in the family, Liu has taken care of her mother who sufferes with cerebral infarction for five years. She has remained positive and strong to overcome the challenges of life, rather than complain about her fate.

In 2010, after finishing the college entrance examination, Liu was told that her father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer six months ago. Then her father was dead about one year later.

"My grandmother was over 70 years old, and my sister was still in high school at that time, which left my mother and me to raise the family," Liu said.

Hou Panzhi, 50, Liu's mother, has been suffering from mental illness for a long time. Liu said: "She could say something to encourage me at the beginning; I did not feel alone at that time."

In order to save money, she spent less than 10 yuan ($1.5) every day.

Besides doing some part-time jobs at the college, she also worked in other southern cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou in the summer and winter vacations.
More than 300 fishing boats set off towards the fishing grounds. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Fishermen at the Haiyang Island of Changhai County held a ceremony to celebrate the end of the longest closed fishing season in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea on Friday.

This year's fishing moratorium was from May 1 to September 1, being extended a full month than the previous years.

Located in the depths of the Yellow Sea, the island is about 140 kilometers to the northeast of downtown Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province.

The Haiyangdao Fishery is one of China's four major fishing grounds, with rich marine resources and precious seafood, including trepang (a kind of precious sea cucumber), abalone and sea urchin.
President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, wave after arriving at Tegel Airport in Berlin on Tuesday for a state visit. [Photo/Xinhua]

An online post marking the 30th wedding anniversary of President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, jumped in popularity on Friday after its release on a pair of mysterious social media accounts.

The post, titled "September 1, happy 30th anniversary of the marriage of Mr Xi and Ms Peng", includes anecdotes from the marriage. It appeared on the accounts on social networks WeChat and Sina Weibo.

The weibo account suiyuan zhaji (journals with Yuan) has 1.88 million followers. Like an account with the same name on WeChat, it has released stories and photos  many at close range  about Peng, mostly on her overseas trips with Xi. It is unclear who is operating the accounts  no official agency or authorized individual has taken responsibility.

"What could be used as metaphor for the love between them? A cotton quilt," the report said on Friday, telling how Peng took a quilt to Xi from Beijing to Fujian province during a cold winter in the late 1980s. The couple had a long-distance relationship from 1987 to 2007, with Peng working in Beijing while Xi served in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.

The weibo report, forwarded more than 800 times, received over 1,500 likes on Friday afternoon. On WeChat, it had been read more than 100,000 times a few hours after its release.

"It's the best love I have ever seen. I wish our most beautiful sister a lovely, happy forever," WeChat user Wang Xiaoxia said, drawing more than 1,500 likes.
President Xi Jinping meets with his Brazilian counterpart, Michel Temer, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY

Electricity is a major highlight of the 14 cooperative documents signed on Friday after a talk in Beijing between President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart, Michel Temer.

At the document-signing ceremony, which was witnessed by the two leaders, the State Grid, China's State-owned energy giant, was granted permission for construction of the second phase of the ultra-high-voltage direct current transmission project of Brazil's Belo Monte hydropower plant.

Additionally, China National Nuclear Corp signed a memorandum of understanding with Eletronuclear, a leading nuclear power company in Brazil.

During the leaders' talk, Xi said the two countries, which are the largest developing countries in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, should deepen cooperation in areas including infrastructure construction, manufacturing, agriculture, minerals, energy and production capacity.

All three locomotives of bilateral cooperation  trade, investment and financing  have achieved great progress in the past year, Xi said.

Temer said Brazil is a reliable partner of China and is ready to reinforce cooperation with China in such areas as trade, investment, finance and agriculture.

Other areas covered by the documents signed on Friday include production capacity, e-commerce, tourism, finance and sports.

Temer will go to Xiamen, Fujian province, to attend the 9th BRICS Summit, which opens on Sunday.

In a signed article issued through Xinhua News Agency, Temer noted that Chinese enterprises have invested significantly in infrastructure, energy, mining, electronics and telecommunications in Brazil.

Premier Li Keqiang said in a talk with Temer earlier on Friday that the Chinese government supports investment in Brazil by capable Chinese enterprises.

China has been the largest trade partner of Brazil for eight consecutive years, and Brazil is China's largest trade partner in the Latin America region.

President Xi Jinping meets with his Brazilian counterpart, Michel Temer, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.
Nuclear agencies can now be fined up to 5 million yuan ($762,000) if they set up nuclear facilities or conduct related activities without authorization, according to the newly adopted Nuclear Safety Law.

If they ignore warnings from the central government supervision authority, they face suspensions or shutdowns.

The law was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, on Friday, and will take effect in January.

"Not only the nuclear agency but also their officials in charge will be punished, such as salary deductions," said Tong Weidong, a member of the committee's Legal Affairs Commission.

He said the law aims to ensure nuclear safety and to regulate the operation of the industry through stricter punishment.

"Fines sometimes don't work well for nuclear enterprises, as some could earn millions of yuan per day through generating nuclear electricity, so we've decided to expand the punishments," he said.

Meanwhile, nuclear agencies are required to disclose nuclear-related informationincluding a radiation index of the environment around nuclear facilities and their annual safety reporton local government websites.

In addition to more transparency, stricter supervision and heavier punishments, "it's more important to increase the public's knowledge of nuclear safety", said Guo Chengzhan, deputy director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration.

Nuclear agencies are encouraged to cooperate with schools to provide nuclear safety training, while distributing nuclear safety materials and related rules in public places, he added.

On Friday, legislators also voted and passed the National Anthem Law, which stipulates that people who distort or disrespect the national anthem, or maliciously change the song's lyrics or music, will face up to a 15-day administrative detention. More serious cases may involve criminal punishment, according to the law.

The law, which will be effective on Oct 1, clarifies nine situations in which people should use or play the anthem, such as in important sport or diplomatic events, or in ceremonies for government department conferences.

It also states the anthem should not be used as a trademark, in advertisements or as background music in public places, and it cannot be broadcast at private funerals.
New commanders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force and Air Force have taken up their posts.

Han Weiguo, 61, who was commander of the PLA's Central Theatre Command, became commander of the PLA Ground Force. He delivered a speech as commander of the PLA Ground Force at a congress of the Communist Party of China at the Beijing Garrison Command on Thursday, according to a report by Beijing Daily on Friday.

His predecessor, General Li Zuocheng, became chief of the Joint Staff Department under the Central Military Commission, the report said.

Han was appointed commander of the PLA's Central Theatre Command in February last year and was promoted to general in July this year. He was the commander-in-chief of the military parade on July 30 at Zhurihe Training Base in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region marking the 90th anniversary of the PLA.

Han graduated from the PLA's National Defense University and held a master's degree in military studies.

Lieutenant General Ding Laihang, 60, the new commander of the PLA Air Force, inspected more than 2,000 pilot candidates, including more than 1,000 students recruited this year, at Aviation University Air Force, in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, on Friday, the PLA Air Force said on its Sina Weibo account on Friday.

At a speech during the inspection, Ding said unprecedented changes have taken place in China's air force and encouraged the college students to study hard to contribute to a more powerful Chinese air force.

Ding is the 12th commander of PLA Air Force since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, according to a report of the Southern Metropolis Daily on Friday. Ma Xiaotian, his predecessor, who is 68, retired because of age, the report said.

Before assuming his new post, Ding held posts including air force commander of the PLA's Northern Theater Command and president of PLA Air Force Command College, according to the report.

Ding is also a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body.
A child bids farewell to her mother at the gate of the Fangcaodi International School in Beijing on Friday, as a new semester began in the city's middle and primary schools. [Photo/China News Service]

Students who begin Grade 1 this year will find ancient Chinese literature and science in their textbooksthe first time such material has been introduced to new students since the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

According to education authorities, the set of Chinese language textbooks for the six primary grades contain 132 works of ancient Chinese literature, taking up about 30 percent of the content of each textbook.

That's an increase of 80 percent over the set of textbooks previously published by People's Education Press, a publishing company under the Ministry of Education.

Li Jie, a professor of Chinese language and literature, and a researcher of ancient Chinese language at China University of Communication, applauded the change.

"First grade is among the earliest stages for children to learn and absorb knowledge, and students at that age have comparatively more active minds. Learning some ancient literature during this period will lay a firm foundation for them to gain further knowledge of the field," he said.

The increasing proportion of ancient Chinese literature in the curriculum echoes the education ministry's efforts to raise awareness of traditional culture among primary and middle school students.

In March 2014, the ministry called on schools to lecture on traditional Chinese culture according to students' learning ability at different grades.

Students at lower grades could start with some simple ancient poems to enable them to appreciate the beauty of ancient Chinese literature, the ministry said.

Education Minister Chen Baosheng pledged in March to boost students' knowledge of traditional Chinese culture, and one of the measures was to design suitable textbooks.

The new set of textbooks published by People's Education Press was used in some provinces last year, and will be used nationally when the new semester starts in September.

Previously, primary school students across the country used different Chinese language textbookssome used the set published by People's Education Press, while some used textbooks compiled by their provincial or regional education authorities.


Summer marks a time when people flock to receive sanfutie plasters and moxibustion therapy for illness

People queue to receive sanfutie plasters. Chinese generally believe receiving treatment when the weather is warm will help cure illness more effectively. [Photo/China Daily]

The number of young people seeking Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatments for illnesses at hospitals in summer has been on the rise in recent years.

Chinese generally believe that TCM treatments are more effective during summer because this is when yangqithe warm element in the yin-yang balanceis at its highest and hence allows the body to be more responsive to treatment.

Longhua Hospital and Shuguang Hospital, both of which are affiliated to the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reported that the number of patients in their 30s and 40s queuing to receive sanfutie plasters this summer grew by at least 30 percent from last year. However, elderly citizens and children still dominate a lion's share of the market for these herb-coated plasters that are placed on acupoints.

These plasters are commonly used to treat ailments such as rheumatism, asthma, chronic bronchitis and allergic rhinitis. The remedy was first documented in Zhangshi Yitong, a book published more than 300 years ago.

Growing popularity

TCM practitioners said that the fast pace of life in megacities such as Shanghai has also contributed to the growing popularity of sanfutie plasters. They pointed out that the plaster can be used as a prevention against problems common among young white-collar workers such as neck and shoulder pain, insomnia and gastrointestinal discomfort.

"Many white-collar workers in Shanghai have to deal with great pressure at work, get little sleep and often skip meals," says Liu Jianguo, director of the TCM department at Shanghai Ren'ai Hospital. "This in turn affects their health in the long run."

Cai Mengsha, 30, used to suffer from frequent stomachaches and nausea, a result of years of working overtime and excessive alcohol consumption. She says her health has improved after using sanfutie plasters for three years.

"The treatment administered over the last few summers seem to be effective in alleviating the discomfort. Doctors say the treatment would require three years of constant application in order to be effective," says Cai, an employee at a foreign enterprise in the motor industry.

Over at Liang Gong Guan, a chain health institution that offers moxibustion therapy, TCM practitioners say 80 percent of their clients are aged between 30 and 45.

Moxibustion therapy involves burning sticks filled with dried wormwood leaves close to the body to warm meridian points and stimulate the circulation of blood and qi.

"The rise in the number of young people seeking treatment is due to the heightened awareness of health issues today and the preference for non-drug treatments," says Xie Youming, a therapist at Liang Gong Guan.

"For an acute health problem, such as neck or waist pains, results usually appear after just one or two treatments. For chronic issues like insomnia and period cramps, patients will need to receive treatment for at least three months or longer before they feel the difference," he says.

Moxibustion

The rise in popularity of moxibustion had driven 35-year-old Lu Ge to set up a company selling products related to the treatment. He said that many people these days are performing the treatment on themselves as it is cheaper. The most important part of the treatment is finding the right acupuncture points to warm using the moxibustion sticks. Lu says there are many books that teach people how to locate these points.

Lu has also since February been running a subscription service on WeChat account to educate users about moxibustion. The WeChat currently has more than 6,000 active followers.

He explains that the treatment is popular because many perceive it to be a solution to many health problems related to qi, or life energy, that are brought about by modern lifestyle, such as staying up late, eating greasy food and being exposed to air conditioning all day.
LONDON - Candles and flowers have been accumulating at the gates of Princess Diana's former London residence to mark 20 years since her death, which unleashed an unprecedented outpouring of grief in Britain.

"She was this ray of light in a fairly gray world," Prince William said of his mother, Diana, princess of Wales, whose death two decades ago on Thursday shocked the world.

"I still feel that love, I still feel that warmth 20 years on," her elder son said in a new documentary marking the anniversary. "If I can be even a fraction of what she was, I'll be proud."
DHAKA, Bangladesh - The death toll from a boat that sank in Bangladesh while carrying Rohingya people fleeing from Myanmar to 20 on Thursday after another 14 bodies were recovered, said a local police official.

Chailau Marma, additional superintendent of police in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, some 292 kilometers southeast of capital Dhaka, said the bodies were recovered from the coast in the morning.

"Six bodies were recovered by Wednesday night," he said.

The police official said so far there was no exact information about the accident, which occurred on the Naf river.

"We're yet to find a survivor to know what exactly happened at the time and how many Rohingya people were on board the boat, which capsized on the Naf river dividing Bangladesh and Myanmar."

The boat reportedly anchored near the Shah Porir Island in the Bay of Bengal for a couple of days after the Bangladesh forces prevented the vessel from entering Bangladesh territory.

The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that more than 18,000 Rohingya people had fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar's western Rakhine state amid a wave of violence that flared in the region last week.

Sources said thousands of Rohingya, mostly women, children and elderly people, have been waiting in no-man's land along Bangladesh's southeastern Naikhyangchhari border to enter Bangladesh territory.

Bangladesh, which shares about 271 km of border with Myanmar, has refused repeated local and international appeals to accept the Rohingyas, who are fleeing coordinated extremist attacks on border posts.

An incident on Aug 25 left 100 people dead, including about 80 insurgents and 12 members of the security forces.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Bangladesh had taken note of renewed clashes after the attacks on the Myanmar Border Guard Police posts in Rakhine last Friday.

Recalling the influx of Myanmar people into Bangladesh due to similar military operations in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on Oct 9, 2016, which resulted in about 85,000 civilians crossing the border, a Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official expressed serious concern at the possibility of the recurrence of such a situation.

He said Bangladesh already hosts around 400,000 Myanmar nationals.

Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats, which often do not survive the rough waters, as they become increasingly desperate to escape.

Xinhua - Afp

(China Daily 09/01/2017 page12)
Literary critic Li Jingze's latest book Yong Er Gui draws a lot from Confucius' teachings and times. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Confucius once asked his students: "What is your ideal life?"

Some said they wanted to help run the country. Others said they wanted to educate people on morality.

A student named Zeng Xi said: "My ideal life is to go with friends and helpers to swim in the rivers outside the city in spring. And after swimming, we, in our wet clothes, will go up to the Wuyu Tai (an elevated place in the open once used for worship and later converted into a venue where Confucius and his students met). After the gentle breeze dries our clothes, we will return, humming verses."

Compared with what others said, this student's comment seemed trivial, but Confucius nodded and said: "It's my ideal life, too."

This is how Chinese literary critic Li Jingze explains the meaning of the title of his new book, Yong Er Gui (Humming and Returning).

The recently published book is a collection of 55 essays in which Li tries to "sit down and chat over drinks with ancient China's literary masters, such as Confucius, Mencius, Qu Yuan and Si Maqian, and with later writers like Cao Xueqin". He also talks about his understanding of Buddhist texts, his library, drinking and other leisure activities.

"Reading classics does not necessarily require one to be very academic or serious. The books can be relaxing," says Li, 53.

"While we read books by ancient people, we should try to communicate with them not only in awe but also to converse with them as equals, to understand and feel their greatness, wisdom and difficulties.

"In classics, we can learn about how people in ancient times made important decisions about their lives, how they understood the meaning of life and how interesting their lives were, so that we, modern people, know how to understand and live our lives, to find a home for our wandering souls."

In writing the essays, Li has created a new style, a mix of personal thinking and conversationscasual, relaxing and funnyas if he was thinking aloud or talking to a good friend.
The stone statue of Niulang. [Photo/Beijing Youth Daily]

The images of the most authoritative statues of Niulang the cowherd and Zhinyu the weaver girl in Chinese folklore set off heated discussion recently, with netizens complaining they are disappointed by their appearance.

The discussion was triggered by a Weibo post with illustrations regarding the Qixi Festival, which said, "the most standard statues of Niulang and Zhinyu are located at Doumen town in Shaanxi province, where the Emperor Wudi in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) dug a Kunming pool" .

While the pictures show quite a rough carving style of the stone statues, totally contrary to the beautiful story of Niulang and Zhinyu, some netizens complained that "I don't even want to meet once in a year, with such an appearance".

In the romantic legend, Niulang and Zhinyu, separated by the Heavenly Queen, are allowed to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month, on a bridge across the Milky Way formed by magpies. This is celebrated in the Qixi Festival, or the Seventh Night Festival, which can be traced back to the Han Dynasty.

In the photos on Weibo, the faces of Niulang and Zhinyu are large and round, with large noses, which look quite funny. Some netizens jokingly said that, "No wonder that they are separated by Heavenly Queen; if they stay together every day, maybe their eyes won't adapt to it", or "It destroys how I imagine Zhinyu".

According to Beijing Youth Daily, the stone statues of Niulang and Zhinyu from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC  AD 24), are in Changjiazhuang village and a cotton mill in Doumen town in Xixian New Area of Shaanxi province, respectively. A staff member from a local cultural relic bureau said that the two statues happen to stand at the two sides of the Kunming pool ruin, just like Niulang and Zhinyu at the two sides of the Milky Way. Locals used to call the stone statues "stone grandpa" and "stone grandma", and will worship them during festivals to pray for safety and fortune, he said.
The newly opened Q Mex restaurant in Beijing offers authentic Mexican cuisine with ingredients imported from Mexico. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Q Mex is diversifying its offerings with a new location in the Chinese capital. Xu Lin reports.

Q Mex is bringing more of the magic of Mexican cuisine to Beijing with a second location within walking distance of Liangmaqiao subway station. Q Mex Taqueria is offering new dishes made with ingredients imported from Mexico, chef and co-owner Marcus Medina says. The Mexican-American traveled throughout Mexico to learn all he could about the country's fare, he says. The new location's dishes differ from the maiden Q Mex Bar & Grill in Sanlitun, which focuses more on regional cuisine and borrows from his mother's cooking.

"The first restaurant is more spacious, like a party-bar restaurant. The new one is more like a place where you'd like to sit down and enjoy yourself," he says.

Chorizo taco salad is a popular, spicy appetizer made with beef chorizo, grilled bacon, shredded lettuce, cheese, corn chips, tomatoes and pickled onions.

"In Mexico, the salad is a popular street food served in a plastic bag. Then I had an idea: let's serve it in a plate," Medina says.

Mexicans and Chinese both enjoy spice, he points out.

The spiciness of some Mexican areas' dishes resembles that of Sichuan or Hunan provinces', which are his favorite Chinese cuisines.

The new restaurant offers classic guacamolea mashed avocado dip seasoned with lemon juice, onions, fresh tomatoes, chopped cilantro and red chillies.

"Guacamole has become a tradition in the US. Just like the ubiquitous pizza, they don't think it's Italian food anymorethey think it's their food," Medina says.
A girl plays with her newborn brother at a hospital in Nanjing, Jiangsu province,on Oct 24. 2014. [Photo/VCG]

The Nanjing Railway Procuratorate on Monday ordered the arrest of a young man surnamed Duan for suspected child abuse. He was photographed early this month touching an 8-year-old girl's breast in the waiting hall of Nanjing high-speed railway station.

The case drew nationwide attention after the witness who captured the disturbing scene on camera sent the photograph to writer Chen Lan, who published it on her micro blog, which was reposted 13.6 million times. With the help of some people who offered clues, Nanjing railway police found Duan within 24 hours.

Duan now faces criminal charges, and the judicial process is expected to begin soon. And we hope the case will set a precedent for child abuse cases, so as to deter tens of thousands of potential child abusers from turning their evil ideas into practice.

Many may wonder whether there are "tens of thousands" of potential child abusers in the country. The number of potential child abusers is likely to be much higher considering the estimate of Wang Dawei, a professor at People's Public Security University of China, that only one out of seven such cases is reported to police.

Worse, according to the 2016 annual report of Girl Protection, a branch of China Foundation of Culture and Art for Children, the average age of child abuse victims has been decreasing. Of the 778 victims whose ages were made available last year, 125, or 16 percent, were below 7.

These cold numbers show how serious a social problem of child abuse is and how important it is to provide greater protection to children against child abusers. Punishing child abusers for their crime could be a good beginning in this direction.

On June 1, International Children's Day, the Supreme People's Court said that quite a high percentage of child abusers are people who are known to the victims: Relatives, family friends, even family members. That corroborates the report of Girl Protection, which said about 70 percent of child abuses are committed by people who have close relations with the family. Uncovering such cases is much more difficult, because many young children don't know what has happened to them. And even if they, after reaching a certain age, realize they were sexually abused, they might not speak about it, if the abuser was somebody who they trusted.

Apart from the judiciary acting tough against child abusers, the authorities have to improve sex education for children. Children should also be taught how to identify potential abusers and protect themselves from such people. And, most importantly, they should be taught to say "no" and call the police when someone tries to harm them.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn
The US administration says it welcomes foreign investment, but it is politicizing Chinese foreign direct investment yet again. Perhaps the US is paranoid about Chinese FDI. An example of its paranoia about Chinese FDI was the Securities and Exchange Commission's order on Aug 9 to put an indefinite hold on a $20 million acquisition of the Chicago Stock Exchange by a group of buyers led by Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group.

The decision was made after some US congressmen voiced concern that the deal could pose a threat to national security despite the fact that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States cleared the transaction in December.

No wonder a recent report in The Wall Street Journal said: "The Chicago Stock Exchange is a relic of history, trading less than 0.5 percent of US stocks and in such straits that it has been looking for a buyer. That isn't how US officials see it."

Robert Reed, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune, was more explicit in his column last month, "Time to OK Chinese investors' controversial Chicago Stock Exchange deal." In the column, Reed hoped the SEC would not cave to the oversized political anxieties due to doubts that the Chinese government is behind the buyout and could use the exchange to launch cyberattacks or game the US financial market. He said that if given the go-ahead, the deal promises to be a plus for the local economy and a needed lift for the Chicago Stock Exchange. Members of the Chicago City Council also supported the deal.

Reed said it would be a big mistake to slam the door on the deal "because of unspecified and broad-based suspicions about Chinese government influence or venality".

The paranoia exhibited over the Chicago bourse deal is one of the many in the US in recent years. Two months ago, Reuters cited an unreleased Pentagon report warning that China is skirting US oversight and gaining access to sensitive technologies through transactions that currently don't trigger CFIUS review. And US lawmakers are drafting legislation to give CFIUS more power to block foreign technology investments.

In February last year, US Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said the acquisition of Swiss agribusiness company Syngenta by ChemChina would threaten US food security. The then Barack Obama administration complied. Later, no plausible threat could be found and the deal went through.

In 2012, Obama personally intervened to block the acquisition of wind farms in Oregon by Chinese-owned Ralls Corp, citing its proximity to a military facility. In the same year, a House Intelligence Committee report described Chinese telecom equipment giants Huawei and ZTE as posing national security threat. For many in the US, the sheer fact that Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei once served in the People's Liberation Army is enough evidence for such accusation.

If such US paranoia is justified, the Chinese government should look into major US companies to see if any of their founders and top executives served in the US military or intelligence agencies. The close ties of companies such as General Electric, Honeywell and Boeing to the US military should be enough reason to blacklist them for investment in China.

In 2010, MasterCard, VISA, PayPal, Bank of America and Western Union, under US government order, blocked WikiLeaks' banking services after it published US government documents. Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, called these institutions "instruments of US foreign policy".

If that is the case, the Chinese government should more closely scrutinize these companies which are seeking growing presence in China, in order to make sure they won't disrupt the Chinese market under any circumstances. And this is a serious national security issue.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe speaks at the Japan-US Economic Forum at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, May 1, 2015, in Los Angeles. [Photo/Agencies]

Japan's Defense Ministry is seeking by far its highest budget for fiscal 2018 beginning next April, which, if approved, will be the sixth consecutive increase in the country's defense expenditure, reflecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's penchant for military expansion. The proposed 2.5 percent hike will raise the budget to 5.26 trillion yen ($48 billion), which the ministry says is needed to pay for upgraded missile interceptors, six F-35 stealth fighters, four V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and new naval vessels, including a submarine and two compact warships.

A country constitutionally bound to maintain armed forces purely for defensive purposes certainly doesn't need such military equipment for national security, most of which anyway is provided by its military ally, the United States.

Yet Japan, under a bellicose Abe, has been setting one record after another not only in increasing military budgets but also in leading Japan on the dangerous path of militarism. Instead of sincerely reflecting upon Japan's wartime past and atoning for the atrocities the Japanese army committed before and during World War II, Abe has made every effort to revise Japan's pacifist Constitution, so that he can build a strong military.

To justify Abe's military expansion plans, many Japanese media outlets have accused China of posing a threat to Japan. They have used Japan's maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea as an excuse for the hikes in Japan's defense budgets, disregarding the fact that Tokyo was solely responsible for escalating the dispute.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, too, is high on Japan's blame list, and by test-firing a missile over Japan on Tuesday, Pyongyang seems to have played into the hands of Tokyo. The DPRK deserves the strongest condemnation for its provocative action, but it remains unclear as to how great a threat it poses to Japan. More importantly, countering a potential threat by building a bigger arsenal could lead to counterproductive and even dangerous outcomes, not only for Japan but also for the whole of Northeast Asia.

The current deadlock over the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue shows using military action as an option to resolve it will worsen and complicate the situation further. To salvage the situation, which seems to have reached a tipping point, the parties involved need to exercise strategic patience and establish communication.

But what Japan is doing, instead, could trigger an arms race, throwing the strategic equilibrium in the region off balance, setting alight the tinderbox that the peninsula has become.

Should such a scenario become reality, Japan will find the consequences of its military ambition almost impossible to swallow.
Wild animals in the Sanjiangyuan area are thriving, the number of endangered animals, such as the Tibetan antelope and snow leopard, has grown considerably - among which the population of Tibetan antelopes has gone from 40,000 to almost 200,000 on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.[Photo/Xinhua]

THE SANJIANGYUAN NATURAL RESERVE in Northwest China's Qinghai province is the source of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and the Lancang River, making it one of the most important sources of freshwater in the world. But illegal coal and iron ore mining in recent years has seriously damaged the environment and ecology of the reserve and its surrounding areas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Beijing News comments:

Sanjiangyuan contributes 25 percent of the water in the Yangtze River, 49 percent in the Yellow river, and 15 percent in the Lancang River (upper half of the Mekong River).

The mining industry, however, has almost destroyed the vegetation in the reserve, laid the massif bare, and the deserted mines, including open-cast mines, have become sources of pollution, expediting the melting of glaciers and disappearance of lakes. As a result, the region has become one of the worst cases of environmental disaster.

Halting all mining activities is the first step toward cleansing the environmentnot the ecology per seas it will take decades, if not centuries, to just stabilize it.

In 2014, Duozhi county of Qinghai sought a special fund of 38 million yuan ($5.76 million) from the higher authorities to initiate the ecological restoration process, but its application is yet to be approved.

If the government continues to ignore the serious wounds inflicted on the fragile environment and ecology of the area, the pollutants from the deserted mines will soon compromise the health of the entire region, not only contaminating the water in the three rivers but also reducing its volume. In other words, the longer the ecological restoration project is delayed, the more difficult it will be to breathe life back into the area.

The owners of the illegal mines that operated in the natural reserve for years, along with the industrial and environmental supervisors and the administrative officials who allowed them to operate must all be held accountable.

And the central government should consider allocating a special fund to help Qinghai start the ecological restoration project as soon as possible.
A traffic police assistant tickets an improperly parked vehicle in Beijing. WANG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY

THE BEIJING MUNICIPAL COMMISSION OF TRANSPORT issued a report on local parking places on Wednesday, which said by the end of last year, the city's urban districts had parking space for 3.82 million cars, while 3.84 million cars were parked at night. Beijing News comments:

The report seems contrary to what car owners in Beijing sayfor long they have been complaining about the lack of parking space during the day.

The city needs to take proper measures to ensure all available parking spaces are optimally utilized. For example, in many residential communities, the parking spaces can be sold to "outsiders" whose workplaces are in the neighborhood, so that after the community residents leave for work in their cars, their parking spaces, instead of lying vacant, can be used by the "outsiders" to park their cars.

Also, some car owners illegally install devices on public parking spaces to ensure only they can use them. Besides, the number of parking places in Beijing's public buildings is as high as 1.47 million, but only 580,000 are used at night, because many of those are not open to the public.

To solve the parking problem, the illegally installed devices on public parking spaces should be removed, so that other car owners can use them. For that, however, law enforcers have to swing into action.

And government agencies and other public institutions should open their parking lots for public use, which will allow people who live in communities nearby to park their cars there at night.

Some may worry how to keep track of the number of cars and manage the parking lots, but technology has already taken care of that problem. Almost every parking lot today has smart devices that automatically detect how many cars have entered and how many parking spaces are available. What is needed is to use them more efficiently.
Two left-behind children in Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 3, 2014. [Photo/IC]

A WEBSITE promoting pedophilia and inviting paid "members" has been shut down and its operators detained in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan province. Police in some cities have launched a crackdown on such websites after a video of a man groping under a teenage girl's dress at a railway station in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, went viral online. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

There is widespread public anger against pedophiles after the video of an 18-year-old molester "fondling" his stepsister, reportedly adopted by his parents, went viral after being posted online on Aug 12. Nanjing police have found the suspect after a court ordered his arrest, and further investigations are on.

The string of online reports, under real and adopted names, since the incident have forced the closure of the website and led to the busting of a pedophile ring with "membership" of people from almost all walks of life. Those running websites promoting pedophilia are known to coerce unattended children to pose for lewd photographs or make offensive videos, and sell them to the "paid members".

Finding these behind-the-scene players should not be very difficult for police, as enthusiastic netizens have exposed some pedophilia website operators, as well their cellphone numbers and transaction records. The suspects should be held accountable, and police should collect solid evidence against them to make sure they get due punishments.

A bigger question is: How to completely shut down this shady business?

Netizens' tips can be useful to find pedophiles, but more targeted, systematic efforts are needed identify such website operators. Law enforcers at all levels need the help of big data and other internet-driven technologies to trace the transaction records of websites promoting pedophilia and their "members". The fight against pedophiles must continue until all of them are brought to book.
The 24th Beijing International Book Fair, which opened on Wednesday, will present over 300,000 books from 89 countries during its five days.Zou Hong / China Daily

President Xi Jinping's book "Up and Out of Poverty" contains interesting chapters and has a lot of development lessons which Nigeria can learn in transforming its economy. China and Nigeria are united in their determination to eliminate poverty. China success story in poverty reduction is substantially a good development lesson that Nigeria is keen to learn from. Xi's book is a significant window where Nigerian government can look into China's development model and learn from it. The book has gained huge popularity because this is the first time the Chinese government has made the philosophy, ideas, and programs of a serving leader accessible to the world in multiple languages. A vast amount of international attention is being paid to China at the moment based on the huge expectations from the Chinese government. The international community is eager to know what to expect of China under the current leadership.

The book records the thinking and actions of Xi in the area of poverty alleviation. The book showcases Xi's working period in Ningde in Fujian province with his contributions, new strategic plans, and how he implemented them, leading the people into a new phase of development. The thoughts, ideas, and policies laid out in the book in terms of poverty alleviation require a change of attitude and the support of knowledge sharing (education). He addresses the poverty mentality among disadvantaged communities. Development work must begin by addressing the mindset in the communities and the leader's mindset as well. All players must believe that development is possible. Unless the mind is transformed development will not happen. Impoverished regions cannot have impoverished ideasfinding contentment in poverty, wanting government aid, depending on financial grants, requiring poverty allowances, blaming everyone else and not wanting knowledge sharing cannot provide the solution to eliminating poverty. Xi stated that "a weak hatching bird can be the first to fly, and the poorest can be the first to become rich, but we must first have the concept in mind." Xi Jinping book is a good tutorial for development and poverty reduction, especially for developing nations such as Nigeria.

Xi's said that "developing the economy is our political priority", "equal importance to growing the economy and keeping the government clean" were not the only key to Ningde's success in poverty reduction and development, but were also an epitome of the whole nation's successful experience in reform and opening-up. At the moment, these thoughts continue to guide China in meeting its poverty alleviation targets and are highly relevant for other developing nations like Nigeria in their poverty alleviation efforts. The book showed that making headway is not possible without a sound and complete governing mechanism. China development model offered an example to Nigeria if Nigeria intends to set out long-term development objectives including promoting sustainable growth and welfare improvements for the Nigerian people as well as the medium-term strategy for operationalizing Vision 20: 2020.

China has successfully lifted 800 million people out of poverty in the past 35 years and contributed 70 percent to the UN Millennium Development Goal on poverty reduction, creating a miracle in the world development history. In 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, China's GDP was only $18.9 billion, while per capita GDP was $35. China was labeled as one of world's poorest countries at that time. In 1978 when China embarked on its reform and opening-up, its GDP and per capita GDP reached $216.8 billion and $227 respectively, while in 2016 jumped over $10 trillion and $8,000 respectively. Additionally, China's average life expectancy increased from 35 years in 1949 to 76.34 years in 2015. The Chinese government is determined to eradicate poverty regardless of the challenges ahead by setting a new ambitious target to lift at least 10 million people out of poverty every year from 2016 and lift a total of 43.35 million rural residents out of poverty by 2020. However, while combating poverty at home, China also actively assists other developing nations, such as African nations, to address their poverty problems.

In his 10-count deliverables at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit held in Johannesburg in South Africa in December 2015, Xi reaffirmed his country's support to poverty alleviation in Africa under the plan for 2016-2019. Xi believes that to eradicate poverty and boost development in eastern Fujian, he devised innovative ideas, mechanism and methods which he thinks can also assist African nations, especially Nigeria lift its people out of poverty, and he has shared those in the book. The book shows his concern and cares for the people in Ningde in Fujian province, and his confidence and determination to fight poverty. The book offered thoughts, ways and a vision to help country and other developing countries such as Nigeria in fighting poverty. The idea and the summarization of his experience offered a theoretical and political foundation for poverty alleviation in the country, where millions of people have been lifted from misery, a feat as well as the miracle in human history.

There is an old Nigerian proverb which states that "a man cannot sit down alone to plan for prosperity". Growing economic cooperation with China provides Nigeria with a reason to be optimistic about their plans. Xi advocated realizing common development and prosperity and building a community of shared future for mankind, injecting fresh impetus to and opened up a new vista for China-Nigeria cooperation should be a top priority. Poverty remains a crucial issue in Nigeria. According to National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria, no fewer than 115 million Nigerians live below poverty level, while more than 40 million Chinese need to be lifted out of poverty to fulfill China's Promise 2020 of eliminating poverty. The common daunting task will hold China and Nigeria together and open new prospects for the increasingly strengthened China-Nigeria strategic partnership. China will step up the sharing of governance experience with Nigeria without any reservation by maintaining a regular high-level exchange of visits and expanding links between governments, political parties and states or provinces, with a view to jointly exploring a pathway out of poverty and toward prosperity as needed by Nigeria. There is no one-size-fits-all method or panacea to erase poverty. Facing poverty and its collateral challenges, Nigeria cannot mechanically copy but flexibly learn from China's successful experience, however, Nigeria must not aim to be China but surpass China.

Development is the "master key" to solving all problems. China will further synergize development strategies sincerely and deepen practical cooperation with Nigeria enormously. Ultimately, whether Nigeria's Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020) or China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) and supply-side structural reform, they are all designed to satisfy the peoples' wish for a better life. In this vein, China-Nigeria practical collaboration in such areas as agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, minerals and human resources and knowledge sharing has served and will always serve the primary task of development of Nigeria. Like the instances of CGCOC or China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Wempco, and Lee Group, they have rooted in Nigeria for many decades and created tens of thousands of local employments, playing their due role in Nigeria's efforts of poverty alleviation.

In order to realize the world where no one is left behind successful policies and know-how from developed nations and poverty reduction policies that were able to get 800 million Chinese out of poverty should be shared and made available to developing nations, especially African nations trying to lift their population out of poverty, that is the key to achieving the new continental and globally sustainable development goals: African Agenda 2063 and the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As Xi said: "We should not leave any poverty-stricken families or persons behind on the way out of poverty." Let's work together to strengthen coordination and cooperation to fight against poverty, strive for common prosperity, and jointly embrace a brighter future. For that reasons, as Nigeria pursues its ambitious plan to become one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020, China looks forward to being a steady partner to accelerate efforts to end poverty and boost shared prosperity in Africa's largest, most populous country. This, in turn, will also benefit Nigeria's neighbors across West Africa.

Ehizuelen Michael Mitchel Omoruyi is a researcher at the Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University.
Ministries say talks are more powerful than arms, urge all sides to negotiate

China expects parties involved in the ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula to make rational and sensible choices and won't allow anyone to make trouble its doorstep, the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"The current tensions are not screenplays or computer games, but an actual incident that determines the safety of the peoples on the peninsula and the peace in the entire region," Hua Chunying said at a news briefing in Beijing.

She said China insists that sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea must be carried out within the framework of resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council. China strongly opposes the "long-arm jurisdiction" through which some countries want to use their domestic laws on the entities or individuals of another country.

"Previous experiences have shown that problems would not be completely solved if the international community depended only on pressure and sanctions," Hua said.

Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, also said on Thursday that China does not think military means should be an option for the peninsula, calling for calm and restraint to avoid escalations.

He said the military will never allow anyone to make trouble "at our doorstep" and will not tolerate armed conflict or chaos on the peninsula.

Hua said that the fundamental reason behind the complicated problems on the peninsula lies in the lack of trust between the DPRK and the United States, and the lack of trust between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea. Only through dialogue to address their security concerns could these nations find solutions to peacefully resolve problems, she said.

China has proposed the "dual suspension" approachthat Pyongyang halts its nuclear and missile activities while Washington and Seoul cease their massive military drillsto break the deadlock.

"The pity is that some nations have been deliberately ignoring the UN's requirement on dialogue, keeping their eyes on pressure and sanctions. They make trouble and jeopardize China's efforts on dialogue and peaceful solutions and when tensions arise, and they pass the buck and blame others," Hua said. "Such behaviors are destructive to addressing the Korean Peninsula issues."

The DPRK fired an intermediate-range missile that flew over Japan on Tuesday. It said on Wednesday the launch was a first step to military action to "contain" the US territory of Guam after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that "all options are on the table".
NEW DELHI - Five Indian ministers resigned late Thursday evening, fuelling speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reshuffle his Cabinet this weekend.

Those who have resigned are Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, junior Water Resources Minister Sanjeev Balyan and junior Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Giriraj Singh.

The five resignations came after India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah met senior ministers, including Finance and Defense Minister Arun Jaitley, at his residence in the national capital Thursday morning.

Highly placed sources said that at least two more Indian ministers, including Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could put in their papers to make way for new faces in the Cabinet, which is likely to be reshuffled Saturday.

Rudy and Sitharaman are likely to be given party roles ahead of the general elections in 2019 when Modi will seek a second term in office, sources said. The commerce minister could be made the party's national spokesperson, they added.

New faces are likely to be inducted into the cabinet, including some from alliance partners like the ruling regional Janata Dal (United) party of the eastern state of Bihar. The party is led by Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

This is likely to be Modi's last major cabinet reshuffle before the general elections.
Residents hold on to a canoe as they navigate through flood waters brought by Tropical Storm Harvey in Northwest Houston, Texas, US August 30, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

HOUSTON - Nearly 40 people died or are feared dead in flooding or circumstances connected to Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, according to local officials.

Medical examiners are in the process of confirming which deaths are related to the historic flooding. Authorities are still searching for some of those believed to have perished during the flooding in the region. Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said Wednesday night it had confirmed 18 storm deaths, all but one of which were accidental drownings. They were investigating 10 additional deaths as potentially storm-related.

Among those deaths is a family of six reported missing after their van was swept away by floodwaters in east Houston near Greens Bayou on Sunday afternoon.

At least six people have died in Galveston County near the Gulf Coast as a result of Harvey-related flooding, officials said Tuesday, and one other death may be storm-related. The total includes three confirmed deaths -- two in Dickinson and one in League City.

Deaths were also reported in four counties in south east of Texas.
Cha-ching! Thats the sound celebrated at Sen. Jon Testers Last Best Outdoors Fest held in Columbia Falls last week. The theme was that Montanas booming outdoor economy depends on our federal lands that provide hiking trails, climbing rocks, ski slopes, and scenery. According to Business for Montana Outdoors, 86,000 new service jobs were created in Montana between 2000 and 2015, but those jobs included the health care and real estate sectors, which also are booming.

Indeed, public lands provide a loud cha-ching, but that sound is louder in boardrooms of the rock climbing industrial complex than on Main Street Montana. In 2015, for example, North Face reported sales of $12.4 billion, REI sales of $2.4 billion, and Patagonia $750 million.

According to the national Outdoor Industry Association, the clothing and equipment sector boasts annual consumer spending of $7.1 billion in Montana, a small fraction of the $120 billion nationwide. Those sales, however, are not driven by Montana hunters looking to fill their freezers or the family hiking to a nearby waterfall. They are driven by the tourists who visit Yellowstone and Glacier, never venturing farther than a few hundred yards from pavement, and by millennials who don a down parka when the temperature falls below 60 degrees in Silicon Valley.

For those who do venture beyond parking lots, recreation, like the fest, is absolutely free and open to everyone. That free lunch comes at great cost to U.S. taxpayers. Every year the federal government takes in about 20 cents for every dollar it spends according to a study by the Property and Environment Research Center. That means the outdoor industry and its customers are heavily subsidized. In contrast, the same study showed that our federal lands take in almost $20 for every dollar spent on mineral land management.

So why is a practical Eastern Montana farmer and senator hosting an outdoor fest that drains the U.S. Treasury? The answer is that, like robbing a bank because that is where the money is, public lands are where the votes are. According to a Colorado College poll, 63 percent of Montanans call themselves conservationists, and most of these are millennials moving to the state believing that federal lands are not for logging, grazing, mining and oil drilling.

This also explains the $1.4 million ad campaign by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers attacking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinkes national monument review. Yes, he will likely propose reducing the size of monuments such as Bears Ears at 1.35 million acres, but it wont result in roughshod development on federal lands. Only a fraction of Bears Ears contains antiquities, while the rest may contain large oil and gas reserves. By attacking Zinke, such groups are really trying to garner more votes for Tester in the 2018 contest.

Our public lands are not going to go to the highest dollar bidder, but they do go to the highest vote bidder. The problem is that the political market place is neither fiscally nor environmentally prudent, and public land love fests will not change this.

Federal lands could be better managed and could be an asset for the U.S. Treasury. By insisting that they are free, we simply pad the pockets of big business. Real change will only come if those of us who use those lands pay for taking care of them. The same poll showing a plurality of Montanans are conservationists showed that 94 percent support improving and repairing infrastructure in national parks and outdoor destinations. If we actually paid realistic recreation fees, we could be the pipers calling the tune.
Giant panda Mei Xiang rests in her enclosure August 24, 2016 at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. [Photo/VCG]

The National Zoo will close its panda house on Friday to provide the best chance for a successful giant panda cub birth as 19-year-old giant panda Mei Xiang begins the last stage of her pregnancy (or pseudo-pregnancy, whichever the case may be), the zoo announced on Thursday.

Visitors can still see the zoo's male pandas, Tian Tian and Bei Bei, in their outdoor yards, weather permitting.

The indoor pavilion of the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat, the official name of the panda house, has been closed since Aug 18 to keep things quiet for Mei Xiang.

The zoo said Mei Xiang has been showing behavior commonly associated with pregnancy or pseudo-pregnancy. She was artificially inseminated on May 25.

Mei Xiang, meaning "beautiful fragrance" in Chinese, has spent most of her time sleeping, building a nest in her den and eating less.

On Aug 25, the zoo said if Mei Xiang was pregnant, the panda team wants her to give birth indoors where they can quickly provide help if needed.

Veterinarians are continuing to track changes in her uterus with weekly ultrasounds, but it is likely still too early to see a fetus if Mei Xiang is pregnant. The only way to definitely determine if a panda is actually pregnant is to see a fetus on an ultrasound, according to the zoo.

A newborn giant panda cub is tiny, blind and pink with sparse white hair. The average weight is 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces.

Mei Xiang, who weighs 230 pounds, was born on July 22, 1998 at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Pandas in Wolong, Sichuan province.

She has given birth to six cubs at the National Zoo, all fathered by Tian Tian, a male panda who arrived at the National Zoo with Mei Xiang in 2000. Only three of the cubs have survived: Tai Shan, a male, born on July 9, 2005 and moved to China on Feb 4, 2010 to join the breeding program under an agreement between China and the US; Bao Bao, born on Aug 23, 2013 and moved to China last February; and Bei Bei, the current male cub at the zoo, who was born on Aug 22, 2015.

The panda house had two birthday celebrations over the past 10 days when Bei Bei turned two on Aug 22 and Tian Tian turned 20 on Aug 27. Both got panda-friendly frozen cakes made by the zoo staff.
The year of 2017 ushers in the second decade of BRICS cooperation. Over the past decade, BRICS cooperation has gone to greater depth and substance, yielding fruitful and laudable outcomes. Let's look back at the main themes and results of BRICS summits over the past decade.

1st BRIC Summit June 2009 Yekaterinburg, Russia

The BRIC grouping's first formal summit was attended by leaders of BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China. The summit's focused on means of improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions, and discussed the prospects of BRIC dialogue and how the four countries could better cooperate in the future.

The summit issued a joint statement calling for greater say and representation of emerging markets and developing countries in international financial institutions, and adopted a Joint Statement on Global Food Security.

2nd BRIC Summit April 2010 Brasilia, Brazil

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China discussed issues including the global financial crisis, the selection mechanism of World Bank and IMFs senior management, climate change, UN reform, international and regional hot-spot issues and BRIC cooperation.

The summit issued a joint statement and agreed on concrete measures to promote BRIC cooperation and coordination.

South Africa was admitted into the bloc in December 2010.

3rd BRICS Summit April 2011 Sanya, China

Theme: Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity

China took the BRICS rotating presidency and held the Summit in southernmost province of Hainan.

The summit issued the Sanya Declaration and its Action Plan, agreeing to further deepening exchanges and cooperation in finance, think tank, energy, science and technology. South Africa became a member of the bloc, extending the name to BRICS.
Rating: 2.5/5

Movie Name Paisa Vasool Movie Cast Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shriya Sharan Director Puri Jagannadh Music Director Anup Rubens Production Company Bhavya Creations Release Date September 1, 2017

When something what we least expect happens, we raise our eyebrows with surprise and with certain amount of expectations. Coming into films, we have certain combos which are so rare in happening like SS Rajamouli and Mahesh Babu and some others. Puri Jagannadh who happens to be most massy director who is also known for giving the heroes of his film a stylish makeover and a superb attitude. When this typical film maker meets a hero who has super mass following and super dialogue delivery talent for his punch lines, it will be a treat to watch and it happened for his 101 film. After Gauthami Putra Satakarni, when everyone waited for the director who can handle him, surprisingly Puri Jagannadh came on board for the movie Paisa Vasool which is bankrolled by Bhavya Creations. Lets see how it works on us.

Story

Theda Singh (Nandamuri Bala Krishna) comes to Hyderabad, who is a gangster. He comes to the neighbourhood of Harika (Musskan Seth) occupying the house of advocate Prudhvi (Prudhvi Raj). Harika is in search of her sister Sarika (Shreya) who goes to Portugal on her work. Theda Singh follows Harika in the name of love. He is given a secret task by ACP Kiranmai (Kyra Dutt) to end the high profile gangster Bob Marley and his gang. To nab Theda Singh, Bob Marleys gang kidnaps Harika as Theda singh is in love with her where Harika shoots him. Why did she shoot him? What happens to Sarika? Who is Theda Singh? forms the rest of the story.

Cast and Performance

Nandamuri Bala Krishna as Theda Singh is a delight to watch on screen for his mannerisms and dialogues. His is the package of tonnes and tonnes of energy and I think no other hero can match his energy levels. Muskan Seth is good as Harika and Shreya Saran is nice as Sarika. Kyra Dutt is good as ACP Kiranmai. Prudhvi is good. Ali is as regular as he was in Puri Jagannadh movies. Kabir Bedi is good. Vikramjeeth is nice as Bob Marley. Pavitra Lokesh is routine in her caring mother role.

Writing Department

Story of this Paisa Vasool is so regular and in template style of Puri Jagannadh. Screenplay is good and dialogues are whistle worthy.

Technical Departments

Songs composed by Anoop Rubens are good. Mama Ek Peg La and Paisa Vasool title track are superb. His background score is nice. Cinematography by Mukesh is superb. He has shot fantastic visuals for this movie. Editing by Junaid Siddiqui is good. Action sequences are superbly composed. Production values are apt.

Highlights

Nandamuri Balakrishna as Theda Singh

Mama Ek Peg la song

Cinematography

Puri Jagannadh dialogues

Minus

Regular template story

Verdict

When the producers of Paisa Vasool announced that Puri Jagannadh is going to direct Nandamuri Bala Krishna, there is a lot of positivity and buzz has generated. Teaser and trailer lived up to that expectations and this combo has raised eyebrows. When we go into the movie entire first half has nothing much in terms of story but it is driven by Nandamuri Balakrishnas attitude and his mannerisms. His energy and his dialogues made audience entertained throughout this half. Interval block comes as a surprise as every Puri Jagannadh movie has. Second half goes into flashback mode and it has some interesting elements like in every Puri Jagans movie. This movie has nothing in the style of Bala Krishna but it has everything in the style of Puri Jagannadh and it is a treat to watch Bala Krishna in a new avatar. Puri Jagannadh has done superb job as a director and this movie is a better film from him after Temper. To sum up, Paisa Vasool is a film of Puri Jagannadh for Nandamuri Bala Krishna fans which is entertaining in the own way of Puri Jagannadh.
When the Bakken boomed, North Dakota got the bulk of oil development and Montana got most of the radioactive waste. North Dakota prohibited disposal of radioactive filter socks and other radioactive drilling waste. Montana had no rules, so the waste ended up here.

Finally, Montana is moving forward with public health and safety rules specific to radioactive waste from oil and gas drilling. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality proposed rules for disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material or TENORM. This is radioactive material that was in the ground naturally until it was removed and concentrated by the process of drilling or some other human activity.

TENORM poses a radiation health risk not only from direct radiation exposure, but also from inhalation or ingestion of dust particles associated with the material, according to the proposed rules.

During the oil boom, radioactive oil waste, including filter socks, was illegally dumped in Montana and in North Dakota. Its important to have this material disposed of properly.

Ed Thamke, DEQ bureau chief in Helena, said the proposed rules provide a level of certainty for operators and interested citizens. The new rules require:

The landfill operator to do more reporting, documentation and statistical analysis.

Air quality monitoring at the landfill boundaries.

Set a maximum level of radioactivity for waste that specially licensed TENORM landfills can accept.

Require the licensed landfill to monitor the level of radioactivity in material coming into the landfill and to refuse loads that are over the limit.

Seth Newton, whose family raises cattle near the Dawson County disposal site, has seen material that spilled along roads leading to the dump. Although the area is in drought this summer, just three years ago, it had record-high rain in August. Newton recalls that Deer Creek flooded in 1978. The creek bed is near the landfill, which opened in 2013.

The federal government doesnt regulate this type of radioactive material, so most states have adopted their own rules as Montana is just now doing.

Were glad to see rules in writing, Newton said. Northern Plains members and ranchers like myself have been pushing DEQ to do this for years.

Newton said the proposed rules are a step in the right direction, but some need to go further. He wants DEQ to add a requirement that biannual groundwater testing be conducted by an independent business. The proposed rules would require the landfill operator to obtain the test and report results to DEQ.

The rules ought to require that scientific testing and monitoring be done by a lab approved by DEQ. The public deserves assurance the data is accurate and unbiased.

There have been fewer spills since Newtons neighbors, the Kubesh family, sued Montana DEQ and won a settlement that ordered all loads coming to the dump be covered to reduce the risk of spills and leaks. Most loads now arrived tarped, Newton said.

Dawson County neighbors worries could soon be concerns for other folks in Eastern Montana. DEQ has approved TENORM disposal facility permits for a site north of Culbertson and another south of Outlook. An environmental assessment is being conducted on an application for a facility near Sidney. None of these three sites is under construction yet. Meanwhile, North Dakota changed its law to start permitting disposal facilities, but none have actually opened in that state.

Most of the 253,000 tons of waste hauled to the Oaks Facility over the past four years came from out of state. Montana continues to be North Dakotas dumping grounds, Newton said.

The waste has to go somewhere. Montana must adopt and enforce effective rules to protect public health, safety and neighbors property. As Newton said: This is DEQs opportunity to do it right.
Kenyas Supreme Court has declared that the results from the countrys recent election of Uhuru Kenyatta were not legitimate, and are thus null and void.

Kenyatta has served as Kenyas president since 2013 and election results seemed to indicate that he had been elected to serve another term before the Supreme Court ruled that the election had been held in a manner that was unconstitutional.

Kenyattas opponent, Raila Odinga, reportedly lost the election by over one million votes, but the Court found that to be untrue.

According to a report from NPR News, "The opposition claimed a vast conspiracy to rig the election and now in a four-two decision, the Supreme Court has found there were so many irregularities, they affected the integrity of the elections. The court has ordered another election within the next 60 days. But the opposition says they can't trust the same body that bungled this election to carry out a new one."

The NPR report also notes that Kenyan election officials had put effort into creating a rig-proof election system this election by implementing a decentralized electronic reporting system and a biometric identification system. These measures, however, at least according to Odinga and his coalition, still proved unsuccessful at preventing voter fraud and election meddling.





Photo courtesy: Religion News Service

Publication date: September 1, 2017
Much of the world has responded with fire and fury to President Donald Trumps message to North Korea that continued threats will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seenan unmistakable allusion to using nuclear weapons. Given the gravity of this remark, it seems appropriate for onlookers to be unnerved by Americas apparent stance.

Still, not everyone was troubled by it, with some evangelical Christians actually cheering the President on (more on that in a bit). So we have to acknowledge that Christians are divided on nuclear weapons.

As a study by the Presbyterian Church in America (Christian Responsibility in the Nuclear Age, 1987) put it, Given the dilemma of possible escalation to an all-out nuclear war on the one hand, and the near certainty of enslavement to a totalitarian power on the other, it is not clear that the nonuse of nuclear weapons is an absolute moral obligation.

And further, The thought of killing masses of helpless people who are themselves at the mercy of their own government is abhorrent. Only if there were no other way to prevent an even worse catastrophe could nuclear retaliation ever be justified. The language is nuanced, but the point is clear: The use of nuclear weapons is, in extreme cases, morally just.

Others of us emphatically disagree: Under no circumstances would the use of nuclear arms be justified. Our reasons hinge on the sixth commandment, You shall not murder, and the indiscriminate nature of nuclear weapons. Simply put, they end up killing a great many more civilians than combatants, and therefore, their use violates one cardinal principle of just war: proportionality.

Sadly, every war will entail the death of civilians, but as one summary of just war theory put it, The violence in a just war must be proportional to the casualties suffered. Thus, innocent civilians must never be the target of war; soldiers always avoid killing civilians.

While we hear occasional reports of civilians killed by US soldiers in the Middle East, our armed forces go to extraordinary lengths to prevent this. For this they are to be commended. But a nuclear bombby its very naturecannot prevent this and will entail the killing of vast amounts of the innocent. Weve not even begun to consider retaliatory strikes followed by more retaliatory strikes, likely ending in a conflagration that recalls medieval visions of hell.

Good for Nothing But Killing

To be sure, we who repudiate the use of such weapons still haggle over how to eliminate them safely. Christianity Today weighed in on this more than 35 years ago: But how in our atomic world can we best work to secure these goals? A carefully phased negotiation processultimately to encompass all nations, and aiming first at the reduction and then at the repudiation of all weapons, both nuclear and conventionalis the most viable way to work toward these goals. Our views havent changed.

This is not the place to argue the fine points, but it is the place to reiterate that we stand in that stream of Christians who find no justification for the use of nuclear weapons. This is not a politically radical view. Some of the most conservative of Christians and politicians, including evangelist Billy Graham, have also concluded that nuclear weapons are inherently evil or, to not put too fine a point on it, totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization (Ronald Reagan).

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago, former secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, along with William Perry (former secretary of defense) and Sam Nunn (former chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee) wrote, We endorse setting the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

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In light of all this, the fact that our sitting president enjoys an enthusiastic willingness to use nuclear weapons indiscriminately, like the world has never seen, is deeply troubling.

As is the response of some of our evangelical brethren. To Trumps outburst, pastor of the prominent First Baptist Church of Dallas, Robert Jeffress said: In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-un. And this: Romans 13 gives the government  the authority to do whatever, whether its assassination, capital punishment, or evil punishment to quell the actions of evildoers like Kim Jong-un.

One would hope that Christian supporters of the Presidents views would at least qualify and nuance their statements, as did the Presbyterian Church in America. As Mark Tooley put it in the National Review, Most of Christianity, in its political theology, understands that sinful, finite humanity, even at its best, can approach most political decision-making only with modesty, not certitude.

When Christian leaders must weigh in on such issues, we should at least suggest that were dealing with something of great complexity and moral gravity rather than issuing bellicose pronouncements.

Re-reading Romans 13

Like Jeffress, many evangelical Christians read Romans 13 to justify their approach. It is best to quote the passage in question (Rom. 13:1-5) in full here:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is Gods servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are Gods servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

This passage is plainly about Christians response to the governing authority they live under, and does not begin to address how one governing authority is to deal with other nations. In describing the role of government, Paul says that within their jurisdiction, governing authorities bear the sword  to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Pauls point is that Christians who fail to submit to their authorities shouldnt be surprised if they have to pay some sort of price.

This passage is decidedly not about taking out corrupt foreign heads of state. It certainly does not give the state the authority to do whatevera most dangerous phrase if there ever were oneto quell the actions of evildoers.

Were also concerned with the specific reference to assassination. In fact Executive Order 12333 expressly addressed this: No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in or conspire to engage in assassination (article 2.11 of Executive Order 12333 as amended in 2003, 2004, and 2008). It seems to us that to submit to governing authorities means to submit to this as well.

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The President does not have the right to do whatever in response to another world leader. Of course he must forcefully deal with a man like Kim Jong-un. Of course he must defend our nation against all threats, but if he does so in a way that leads to the wanton waste of innocent human life, he will have only saved the village by destroying it.

In Whom Shall We Trust?

It is appropriate to recall the obvious here. Many Christians have supported Trump because they believe he will keep this nation secure. As Jeffress put it during the election: I dont want some meek and mild leader or somebody who's going to turn the other cheek. I've said I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect this nation.

If pressed, these evangelical Christians would say they ultimately trust in God to protect the nation. And they would add that the current President is Gods anointed to do just that. But we have seen a fair amount of evidence to suggest that many evangelicals in the pews are confused about this. The most egregiousand, yes, extremewas the fellow believer who proclaimed in a Facebook post that Donald Trump is our salvation.

None of us, on the left or right, escape the temptation to put our trust in a human leader to guide our nation into peace and justice. But the Bible warns us time and again about this sort of thing:

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. (Ps. 118:-8-9)

And this:

Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. (Ps. 146:3)

And this:

The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils.Why hold them in esteem? (Is. 2:12, 22)

Yes, it is human beings, especially those in authority, who must take the practical steps to defend our nation. Yes, we need a strong military, with appropriate weapons to do just that. But we can never put our confidence in any leader or weapon (especially nuclear warheads). As Psalm 20:7 puts it:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today.
Christians in Sierra Leone are still reeling and recovering from the worst flooding their West African nation has faced in recent memory, after a mudslide covered homes and churches on the outskirts of the capital city two weeks ago.

More than 150 Christians lost their lives and hundreds more have been wounded or displaced in the disaster; the total death toll has surpassed 1,000. This week, bodies swept away by the floods washed up as far away as Guinea, 90 miles up the coast from Freetown.

While most in the mountainside town of Regent were sleeping when the mudslide hit, Power of Praise Ministry was holding an all-night prayer vigil. Pastor David S. Dumbuya, his wife, and his children died. One survivor told the Daily Telegraph that he lost 13 of his relatives who attended the event.

Everybody died. It covered the whole church, said Saidu Kanu, World Hope Internationals country director in Sierra Leone.

Further downhill, the floods landed on the western and central parts of the capital, where the majority of Freetowns Baptist churches are located, according to the Baptist World Alliance.

Samuel Conteh, a leader with the Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone, reported that Bethany Baptist Church lost 60 members, making it one of the hardest-hit congregations reported so far. (Regent, alongside Mount Sugar Loaf, also happens to be home to the first Baptist church in Africa, founded in 1792 by a formerly enslaved African American who migrated there.)

Several other churches, including fellow Baptist and Pentecostal churches, have death tolls in the dozens, according to Jonathan Titus-Williams, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone. Many more believers lost their homes in the disaster.

Christians, who make up just 20 percent of the population in the majority-Muslim nation of approximately 7 million people, have led efforts to minister to victims and mourn the dead.

Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders orchestrated a period of fasting, followed by a citywide prayer event during the week following the mudslide, with as many as 300 victims buried in a single day, Titus-Williams said. The Council of Churches of Sierra Leone held an ecumenical service at the mudslide site last weekend.

Churches continued to meet for weekly worship on Sunday, though Freetown was still at risk of further flooding, particularly in its slums, Kanu said.

Nearly everyone has been impacted by the disaster and the efforts at recovery, as NGOs rally to care for victims and volunteers in the community skip work to help with the cleanup. World Hopes focus has been on protecting children who were victims of the mudslide, making sure they have access to social workers and trauma counseling. Its a highly traumatic situation. Some of have lost whole families, Kanu said.

The massive mudslide comes just a couple years after Sierra Leones Ebola outbreak, and some families have lost loved ones in both.

Enough is enough, United Methodist bishop John Yambasu prayed as he visited the mudslide site with fellow pastors. Have mercy Papa God; have mercy upon this nation.

Bishop emeritus Arnold Temple, a fellow Methodist (the largest Protestant group in Sierra Leone), challenged whether more could be done to mitigate the disaster. Some environmental groups suggested that deforestation and unregulated, sloppy construction alongside the mountain increased the risk of a mudslide.

It may well be over 1,000 Sierra Leoneans we are mourning now. But why should about 1,000 of our compatriots lives end tragically like this? Temple preached from a church near Regent. Who should we really blame? We are bound at a point in the blame game to attribute the blame so that corrective measures can be put in place so that never again should we allow this to happen.

Meanwhile, major cities around the globe have also been swamped by recent flooding, including Hurricane Harvey in Houston and a deadly monsoon in Southeast Asia. Floods in Nepal have damaged or destroyed 16 churches, including five Baptist churches, leaving them unable to gather for worship in the wake of the torrential rain.
Some Christians fear their pastors, ministry partners, and fellow churchgoers could be deported if President Donald Trump ends federal programs granting legal status to immigrants who came to the United States as children.

In response to a threatened September 5 lawsuit by 10 conservative state attorneys general, the President is expected to soon tighten or terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has allowed 800,000 Dreamers over the past five years to work and attend school without the threat of deportation.

Among them are many young church leaders. Hispanic Americans are one of the fastest-growing demographics in evangelicalism, surging in Pentecostal and Assemblies of God traditions as well as among Southern Baptists, where a majority of new church plants are now non-white.

Open the door, Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), told fellow believers this week. Perhaps theyre the next missionaries that youre opening the door for.

Dreamer Juan Garcia, a campus pastor at the University of South Florida, wouldnt have his diploma or his ministry position without the Obama-era program. DACA was one of the doors God used to make him an Assemblies of God Chi Alpha missionary, Salguero said.

The Evangelical Immigration Table, including leaders like National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) president Leith Anderson and Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) president Russell Moore, wrote the President and congressional leaders this week to tell them that Dreamers are leading in our churches and our communities and to find solutions that allow these young people to stay in our country long-term and continue to be a blessing to our communities.

As educators who believe that every human is made in the image of God and thus is endowed with dignity from their Creator, we want to support ambitious, driven, intelligent students who have dreams of contributing to their communities and want to pursue an education, stated Shirley V. Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. We do not believe they should be disqualified from doing so because of acts they did not commit. These are inequities that must be remedied.

Companies like Apple and Amazon defended DACA for the sake of their employees; about three-quarters of top Fortune 500 companies employ Dreamers. World Relief, the NAEs humanitarian arm, added a statement to acknowledge the Dreamers on its own staff.

World Relief has also been richly blessed by several staff members whose work authorization is contingent upon the DACA program, the relief organization said. Our ministry would be harmed if we were no longer able to employ these superb individuals in whom we have invested training and staff development resources.

Lynne Hybels, advocate for global engagement at Willow Creek Community Church, stated that her megachurch has witnessed firsthand the hope that the DACA program has brought to individuals who have wanted nothing more than the chance to pursue an education and lead a productive life, just as our own children have done. To end the program now, without action from Congress first, would be devastatingfor them and for the communities that benefit from their work, ingenuity, and courage.

The threat of Trump repealing DACA has already impacted the programs enrollment, as recipients fear penalties for coming forward with their status. Those fears have come true for some Christians in the program.

A 22-year-old pastors wife, who immigrated from Honduras at age 9, was detained two weeks ago when trying to post bail for a member of her church, even though she had legal status under DACA. Riccy Enriquez Perdomo, a member of Ministerio Jesus Liberta who holds worship nights at her home, spent a week in custody before being released.

As CT previously reported, half of Latino Christians now worry about themselves or someone close to them getting deported, according to Pew Research Center surveys, and more than 4 in 10 have serious concerns about their place in America under Trump.

Trump evangelical adviser and National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) president Samuel Rodriguez has repeatedly asked the administration to keep family unification a priority and to deport only criminals.

As a pastor, I cannot sit idly by while the federal government threatens to forcibly separate families by deportation, stated Rodriguez. In the Scriptures, we read the timeless words, Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate (Mark 10:9). It is no individuals or governments place to rip families apart, let alone millions of them.

If the president breaks his promise to us to protect these children, they should be prepared for a mass exodus of the administrations Hispanic support, he continued. Even the most conservative among us will not sacrifice our children on the altar of political expediency. Let me be clear, should they decide to do so, we will oppose them.

Rodriguez has continued to speak out to the President, saying this week that Trump needs to do more than keep DACA, pushing for a legislative solution to immigration reform:

President Trump must wield the unparalleled influence of the bully pulpit, leveraging every tweet, speech and public statement to demand that Congress move quickly to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Im not talking about blanket amnesty as some would suggest, but a balanced bill that is capable of gaining bipartisan support; one that enforces our borders, incentivizes legal immigration, sends illegal immigrants to the back of the line, and protects Dreamers who have, up until now, been caught up in our destructive political crossfire.

Evangelicals, like most Americans, are more likely to favor a path to citizenship for Dreamers (54%) than undocumented immigrants overall (43%), according to a poll conducted this spring by Morning Consult and Politico. About 16 percent of self-identified evangelicals believe Dreamers should be deported, compared to 25 percent for all undocumented immigrants. In the middle: 24 percent of evangelicals say Dreamers should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but not citizens, if they meet certain legal requirements.

Regardless of whether we feel the [DACA] executive order should have been issued in the first place, thousands of young immigrants who are paying taxes and contributing to their communities stepped forward in good faith to correct a legal situation for which the should not be held responsible, according to the ERLCs position statement on DACA and Dreamers. They should be rewarded, rather than punished, for their attempt to comply with the law.
SPLC Sends Millions of Cash to Tax Haven Accounts

Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Sept. 1, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt "charitable" organization which continually grossly misrepresents and labels pro-family organizations as so-called "hate groups," transfers millions of dollars in cash to foreign accounts in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda.

According to the excellent research done by Joe Schoffstall of The Washington Free Beacon, the SPLC recorded more than $50 million in contributions and $328 million in net assets on its 2015 Form 990, the most recently available tax form from the nonprofit. SPLC's Form 990-T, its 2015 business income tax return, shows that they have 'financial interests' in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda and 2014 forms reveal some of the SPLC's transfers to foreign entities, including hundreds of thousands to an account in the Cayman Islands. SPLC also lists Tiger Global Management LLC, a New York-based private equity financial firm, as an agent. There is a foreign partnership between the SPLC and Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX, L.P., a pooled investment fund in the Cayman Islands and SPLC transferred $960,000 in cash on Nov. 24, 2014 to the fund, along with additional cash transactions to offshore funds.

Schoffstall also found that the SPLC reported a $102,007 cash transfer on Dec. 24, 2014 to BPV-III Cayman X Limited and a $157,574 cash transfer on Dec. 31, 2014 to BPV-III Cayman XI Limited, both foreign entities located in the Cayman Islands with the same PO Box address. In addition, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records, on March 1, 2015, SPLC sent $2,200,000 to an entity incorporated in Camana Bay, Cayman Islands and another $2,200,000 cash transfer was made on the same day to another fund whose business is located at the same address as the previous fund in the Cayman Islands.

The SPLC states it has a staff of 75 lawyers who practice in the area of children's rights, economic justice, immigrant justice, LGBT rights, and criminal justice reform, but reported spending only $61,000 on legal services in 2015. However, the group spent $20 million on salaries in 2015 with the minimum amount paid to an officer, director, trustee, or key employee in 2015 was $140,000 in base salary, not including other compensation. The president and chief executive officer was given $346,218 in base compensation and $20,000 more in other reportable compensation and non-taxable benefits in 2015 and SPLC's chief trial counsel, received a salary of $329,560 with $42,000 in additional reportable compensation and non-taxable benefits.

"For any 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization that receives tax deductibility for allegedly serving the public, transparency is a legal obligation," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The Southern Poverty Law Center transfers millions of dollars overseas, which is the opposite of being transparent. It is shocking that a U.S.-based 'charitable' organization stashes millions of dollars in offshore accounts. I can think of no reason for doing so. The SPLC recklessly mislabels pro-family and conservative organizations as 'hate groups' and incites violence. It is directly connected to Floyd Corkins who was convicted under the Domestic Terrorist Act for attempt to commit mass murder against the Family Research Council," said Staver.

Find more information that exposes the truth about the Southern Poverty Law Center here.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.


Following the disastrous flooding in parts of Fort Bend County caused by Hurricane Harvey, Fort Bend Independent School District announced that it would postpone the first day back to school to Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the earliest.

"Due to staff availability and condition of our schools, we have to delay another week," tweeted Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Charles Dupre. "Hang in there...Back to school soon!"

Teachers will return for a work day on Sept. 11 and classes will resume the following day, according to a statement from the district.

Fort Bend County was hit hard with flooding and the threat of compromised levees as Harvey, which was reduced to a tropical storm, hovered over the Houston region. At least one school, Ridgepoint High School, sustained roof damage late Aug. 25, and it's likely other schools were damaged as well. The district was assessing damages earlier this week and will publicize the damages Friday.

Four district schools opened their doors as shelters for those displaced during the storm, as about 20 percent of the county's population was under mandatory evacuation early in the week.

Thurgood Marshal High School and Kempner High School were still serving as shelters Thursday.

In a message to the community, Dupre emphasized the extent of the displacement and devastation facing many district families and the uncertainty moving forward. He said some schools may take longer to open than others, resulting in some students having to attend different schools for some time. He also expects displaced students from other districts to enroll in Fort Bend ISD.

The Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced that schools in the disaster-stricken counties would be granted a missed school waiver for classes missed through Sept. 1 and districts apply for an additional Missed School Day waiver for up to four additional days as needed for any days missed from Tuesday, Sept. 5 to Friday, Sept. 8.

The district administration is already working with principals to reshape curriculum in light of the circumstances.

"In all cases, it will be our goal to get all students in school as quickly as possible," Dupre said.

He also added that the district is exploring options about providing meal assistance, but does not expect to be able to serve three free meals to all students, as Houston ISD announced it would be doing through a government grant.

Dupre thanked the community for its eagerness to help those most affected by the storm.

"I cannot begin to list all the people who have given of themselves during the past week," Dupre said in the message. "We have much to celebrate as we begin the recovery phase of Hurricane Harvey."

Central Office staff will return to work on Tuesday, September 5.

For up-to-date information, visit fortbendisd.com.
Houston police reported finding a body Thursday evening in Greens Bayou in the city's northeast.

Police were working to retrieve the body, which was found shortly before 8 p.m. in the 12800 block of Wallisville Road. Authorities could not yet say whether the body was a Harvey victim.

This news comes after two volunteer rescuers died and two were reported missing earlier this week after their boat was swept into swollen Greens Bayou in northeast Houston.

Another three men from the boat - including two Daily Mail journalists - were hospitalized after suffering electric shocks.

The group of seven men headed out Monday afternoon to rescue neighbors in the Northshore area, a relative said. They went to help evacuate a wheelchair-bound neighbor.

By nightfall, relatives knew the men were in trouble.

The following afternoon, Houston firefighters found two men's bodies floating in floodwaters in the 12800 block of Texaco, a few blocks from the bayou.

Jorge Raul Perez, 33, and Yahir Rubio-Vizuet, 45, died by drowning, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Relatives said two men - Benjamin Vizuet and Gustavo Rodriguez - remain missing as of Thursday.

Friends and relatives searched on foot through the brush near Greens Bayou for Vizuet and Rodriguez, according to a live Facebook feed posted Thursday afternoon.

The voice of the videographer on the post pleaded with viewers to help find the missing men.

"It's just impossible for us to believe," she said. "We're praying. ... We pray that they are in a hospital."

"My husband has been (in) the Wallisville and Normandy helping people get out of the houses," his wife, Perla Jaquez, wrote on Facebook on Monday evening. "Now we can't locate him or his brothers. ... We are all very concerned. ... (It's) getting dark."
A Cause for Claws Thrift Store (701-751-5828)  Seeks volunteers to sort, test, repair and set up store displays. All profits support a low-cost spay and neuter clinic.

Abused Adult Resource Center (701-222-8370)  Volunteers advocates needed to help answer the crisis calls in the evenings and on weekends. An advocates role is to listen, offer support and give options. Free training provided.

AID Inc. (701-663-2122 or 701-663-1274)  Adults to sort clothing, sort other donations, pricing, cashiering, cleaning, organizing, hanging clothes, sorting, testing and repairing electrical items and other various tasks.

American Cancer Society (701-433-7582)  Volunteer drivers for Road to Recovery Program.

American Red Cross (701-223-6700)  Disaster and Health and Safety Services to teach CPR/first aid courses, aid in disaster response locally and nationwide, training provided. Adults and youth 16 and older.

Arc of Bismarck (701-222-1854)  Work in the thrift store.

Augusta Place Prospera Community (701-323-3274)  Assist residents with activities, bingo and Sunday visits.

Baptist Health Care Center (701-223-3040)  Assist residents with clinic appointments, activities, meals, chapel on Sunday and bingo.

Big Brothers Big Sisters (701-222-0797)  Be a mentor for youth.

Bismarck-Mandan Chapter of SCORE (701-328-5861)  Volunteer management counselors to provide free and confidential mentoring and counseling for those who wish to start a small business. Call or stop by the office at the Bank of North Dakota building on Memorial Highway.

Buckstop Junction/Missouri Valley Historical Society (701-250-8575)  Conduct tours of historic buildings, help with The Shoppe, building or grounds maintenance, general office work, Corn Feed/Old Settlers Day, publicity or adopt a building.

Burleigh County Senior Adult Program (701-255-4648)  Deliver meals to homebound elderly individuals and assist as nutrition servers, gift shop attendants, Wii bowling scorekeeper and answering phones.

Central Dakota Humane Society (701-667-2020)  Provide companionship, exercise and socialization to the dogs and cats; assist with basic animal care; assist with special events.

Charles Hall Youth Services (701-255-2773, ext. 303)  Volunteer mentors needed to commit to supporting, guiding and mentoring at-risk youth. Mentors serve as positive role models, teaching youth healthy and safe ways to have fun and to meet positive academic, career and personal goals. Mentors must be minimum of 21 years of age. Training provided.

CHI St. Alexius Health (701-530-7159)  Deliver mail and flowers, escort patients, help with the gift shop.

CHI St. Alexius Home Health & Hospice (701-530-4500)  Share your time, energy and compassion while enriching your own life and lives of others. Help with a variety of activities such as companionship, errands, respite care, administrative and bereavement support. Volunteers who are a veteran, can play an instrument for music therapy and/or perform pet therapy are particularly needed.

Community Action (701-258-2240)  Help in the donation center and the food pantry.

Cystic Fibrosis Association (701-222-3998)  Help with mailings and fundraising events.

Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch (701-223-7979)  Help in thrift store and perform janitorial duties.

Dakota Zoo (701-223-7543)  Accepting applications for adult volunteers to provide animal conservation programs and animal handling for educational programs. Training provided. Also looking for general volunteers for light building and repair projects. Carpentry, mechanical and fencing skills are a plus but not needed.

Lutheran Social Services Senior Companions (701-838-7800)  Seniors 55 and older who are healthy, active and interested in helping their older neighbors.

Make-A-Wish (701-280-9474)  Help with upcoming special events.

Manchester House (701-223-5600)  Be a mentor for youth. Must be at least 18.

Mandan Golden Age Services (701-663-6528)  Pick up prepared meals at Mandan Senior Center and deliver them to the homes of the elderly.

McLean Family Resource Center (701-462-8643)  Assist with crisis line.

Mental Health America of North Dakota (701-255-3692)  Help with data entry, various office duties.

Neighbors Network Program (701-323-4277)  Volunteers with pickups to help move donated furniture items to clients homes.

New Song Church (701-258-5683)  Janitorial and light maintenance work. For details, email erickson.e.michael@gmail.com.

North Dakota Operation Lifesaver (701-223-6372)  Help spread the message about railroad safety.

Pride Inc. (701-258-7838)  Support people with disabilities in social and recreational activities, especially between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, Monday-Friday, also evenings and weekends. Staff on site to assist at all times.

Public Health Emergency Volunteer Reserve Corps/Medical Reserve Corps (701-328-1334)  Accepting registration of volunteers to assist with public health emergencies. Medical and non-medical volunteers needed. Choose to help only in own county, in the surrounding counties, statewide or anywhere in the U.S. Register at www.ndhealth.gov/EPR/volunteer.

Ruth Meiers House (701-222-2108)  Sorting donations, stocking food pantry shelves, dining room servers, childrens learning center aides, baby boutique program assistants and special event help. More information: www.ruthmeiers.org.

St. Vincents Care Center (701-323-1974)  Entertainers for background music for Sunday social events.

Salvation Army (701-223-1889)  Assist with meals, activities and tutoring in the youth program; stock food pantry shelves; light maintenance work.

Sanford Health (701-323-6011)  Greet and assist visitors in the surgical waiting room, deliver flowers, help in the gift shop and Coffee Corner and assist with special projects.

Sanford Health Hospice (701-323-8400)  Volunteers needed to assist terminally ill patients. Assistance commonly includes visiting, reading and taking walks; child care assistance; bereavement support; and administrative/clerical work. Orientation, training and support provided.

Seeds of Hope store (701-222-8370)  Greeters, price clothes, stock and straighten shelves, Diggers Delight and more. Creative people needed for designing gift baskets and store displays.

Tracys Sanctuary House (701-258-5889)  Perform daily housekeeping tasks, answer phones, stock kitchen and food pantry.

Volunteer Care Givers for the Elderly (701-223-9290)  Assist with transportation, yardwork, light housekeeping, respite care, errands and shopping and other companionship activities with the elderly.
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In the week since Hurricane Harvey dumped 51 inches of rain on Houston, sunny skies and the return of the Astros Saturday didn't hide the reality of a region still reeling.

More than 500,000 people have applied for federal aid. The death toll surged past 50. Flooding spread to new communities in Brazoria County. And hundreds of homeowners faced new evacuation orders in Houston as flooding continued.

President Donald Trump praised Houston's resilience and hard work by the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a quick visit in his role as "comforter in chief."

But problems dogged the region. In Crosby, east of Houston, residents awaited continued explosions at the waterlogged Arkema plant, where three trailers of volatile chemicals already had sent flames and roiling black smoke shooting up into the air.

And school officials across the region discovered extensive damage to campuses, raising further questions about when the academic year would begin  and where  for tens of thousands of students.

"We'll be at this in some for or another, probably up until the New Year, because there are so many people who need help," said Aaron Hall, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as he and others helped families in the Braeswood Place neighborhood.

As the adrenaline ebbed away after a week of chaos, the long wait finally began for many in the Houston area  for floodwaters to recede, for insurance adjustors to arrive, for emergency housing, for missing relatives to be found.

Late Saturday, Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a mandatory evacuation order for 300 people in flooded parts of west Houston, where 4,000 homes and apartments have remained mired in floodwaters from continuing releases from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.

Power will be shut off to the homes at 7 a.m. Sunday to protect residents and first responders.

"The situation of the release of water from the reservoir is not going to change in the next 10 days," Turner said. "Think of the first responders."

In Beaumont, residents went another day without water and officials reported an oil spill from the

Exxon Mobil refinery after a sheen was detected near the plant.

Waiting for assistance

All day Saturday, volunteers mustered in Dickinson and Cypress, in Kingwood and Clear Creek, in Meyerland and Tasfield to gut homes, feed the stranded and help neighbors displaced by Harvey's wrath.

But even as thousands of Houstonians worked to help their friends and fellow residents clean up and begin the long process of moving forward and recovering, tens of thousands remained stuck across the region, looking for a place to stay or waiting to rebuild.

Laporsha Patt sat on her cot at the George R. Brown Convention Center, hunched over, her eyes glued to her phone.

She, her husband, and her young three children had spent six days in the shelter after Harvey's floods filled their Southside apartment with neck-high water.

She filed her FEMA application as soon as her family arrived at the shelter last week, but no vouchers or even a denial of assistance had come.

A quick look at her phone showed the application still pending.

"Why is it still pending? This is a disaster zone, why make us wait?" she asked, as she sighed and rubbed her temples.

When she asked FEMA officials Friday about her application status, she said an agent told her to fax in her lease.

"Where am I going to get a fax machine?" she asked.

She isn't alone. FEMA reported Saturday it had received more than 507,000 applications for aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and had approved $114.7 million to 161,000 people.

About $33.6 million went for housing assistance, such as paying rent for displaced residents, and $81 million to help replace personal property, pay for transportation and provide medical and dental assistance.

More than 2,500 people sheltering at NRG Stadium got a surprise visit from the president, who served food and chatted with evacuees.

"It's been really nice. It's been a wonderful thing," Trump said. "As tough as this was, it's been a wonderful thing. I think even for the country to watch it, for the world to watch. It's been beautiful."

The mayor said he asked the president Saturday to expedite federal aid for first responders, many of whom lost their homes while they helped Houston residents.

Turner said he also asked for help providing transitional housing, for federal funds to assist in the collection and disposal of storm debris, which Turner estimated could cost $200 million to $300 million.

The financial toll of the storm continued to mount, climbing to more than $100 billion, according to recent estimates. That would make Harvey the second costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

A missing baby

Across the region, however, the death toll continued to rise.

In Houston, officials reported the death of an 8-year-old boy who'd suffered an asthma attack during the flooding. And in northwest Harris County, a 25-year-old man was found floating in Cypress Creek.

North of Houston, Walker County authorities said a 6-month-old baby girl is missing and presumed dead. The child was swept out of her parents' arms last Sunday as they tried to flee from their vehicle, which was trapped in floodwaters along Highway 150 near New Waverly. The family had been headed for Louisiana to try and avoid the storm.

In Port Arthur, authorities said Saturday an 88-year-old woman was found dead in a flooded home, pushing the death toll from Harvey to more than 50.

Flooding also continued in low-lying parts of Harris County  particularly near the Addicks and Barker reservoirs - will likely see ongoing flooding as the dams continue to release water downstream  though most of Harvey's floodwaters have traveled downstream.

"It could be two to three weeks before the lowest lying houses are out of water," said Jeff Lindner, meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District.

The Harris County Flood Control District announced it had repaired the breached Inverness Forest levee, and had identified 2,000 cubic yards of material that needed to be removed from bayous.

More than 65 locations were identified along the network of bayous that had sustained significant erosion, he said.

Turner asked residents served by the Houston Water Department's West District and Turkey Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in parts of west Houston conserve resources by not using extra water for showers, baths, laundry, dishes or toilets.

He said the treatment plants had flooded but that the city water remained safe to drink.

Turner said he would reconsider Monday a curfew that has been in place for days, limiting movement from midnight to 5 a.m. He said businesses are concerned about tax dollars lost in bars and restaurants during the curfew.

Flooding continued in other areas, as well. South of Houston in Brazoria County, the swollen Brazos River continued a slow push toward the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to rise to a 32-foot crest by sometime Tuesday morning.

Flooding also spread to a few neighborhoods in northern Lake Jackson and western Richwood, forcing officials to order mandatory evacuations in areas that had previously only seen voluntary evacuation orders.

In west Brazoria County, officials shut down Highway 35, the main road cutting east-west through the county between West Columbia and the Matagorda County line.

Environmental concerns

In Crosby, officials with Arkema Inc. urged residents to stay at least 1.5 miles away from the struggling chemical plant, where volatile chemicals had erupted in previous days after the plant lost its crucial cooling systems in six feet of floodwaters.

One day after fires consumed more trailers at the plant east of Houston, officials issued a statement saying they had dispatched a "special team" to provide assistance to those impacted by the chemical fires. No new fires or smoke had been observed, according to the statement.

The chemicals, which explode when the temperature rises, are used to make plastics. Officials said the smoke can be an irritant.

In Beaumont, officials reported an oil spill from the Exxon Mobil refinery. A company spokeswoman said part of the refinery flooded after water surged over a levee at the plant.

The plant reported seeing a sheen to the government on Gulf States Road, which runs between Exxon Mobil and Arkema facilities toward the Neches River.

Exxon Mobil's chemical plant was still dry, she said Saturday.

Air quality monitors also recorded spikes in ozone that environmentalists blamed on shutdowns and restarts by the petrochemical and industrial facilities in the area. They estimated that local plants released more than 2 million pounds of hazardous pollution into the air during shutdowns of petrochemical plants or from damage to industrial facilities.

"The smog levels add to an already difficult time for Houston," said Elena Craft, senior health scientist for Environmental Defense Fund.

Help continued to pour in, however.

At the Free Indeed Church in northeast Houston, volunteers from as far as San Antonio distributed supplies and food to those taking shelter at the parish and to nearby communities and apartment complexes.

The church opened Friday as the Mission Homestead Shelter and will remain that way for at least the next 60 days to serve those affected by Hurricane Harvey in the Homestead area.

"The first thing we did was make sure that we had room to receive people when they came here," said Jenice Gentry, 41, wife of the pastor. "We decided that we're going to keep the community distribution going as long as we can because we know families are going to need help far along the way. We're in it for the long haul."

Others, meanwhile, rallied to help Virginia Saldivar, the grandmother of the four children who drowned in a van in Greens Bayou.

Belia and Manuel Saldivar, ages 81 and 84, were found in the front seats. The bodies of their four great-grandchildren  ages 16, 14, 8 and 6  were found in the rear of the van.

"They were our life," Saldivar said. "That's what we're remembering  how wonderful they were."

A benefit was held Saturday at the Iglesia Cristiana Principe de Paz for the family, drawing more than 100 friends and family.

"We want everyone to know that we're very thankful for all the love and support," Saldivar said. "It's really and truly been overwhelming."

Others wondered what would come next.

Laura Mendenhall and her husband, Rick, in Katy, were living the active lifestyle of golf-loving retirees a week ago, spending their days at the Fairways at Kelliwood in the Cinco Ranch area.

Then their Fort Bend County home filled with four feet of water, destroying their furniture and other belongings.

For now, the Mendenhalls are staying with family friends. Last week, they signed a year lease in a nearby apartment complex. They move in next Wednesday.

"I've got a john boat and some friends who are really angels, and I'm going back to the house and try and get more out," said Laura Mendenhall.

After conferring with their insurance agent, the couple decided they would need somewhere else to live for at least six months as they undergo the lengthy process of removing the house from its concrete slab and building a new structure.

"We have to rebuild," she said. "We can't just leave the slab."

Chronicle reporters Gregory Fails, Lise Olsen, Monica Rhor, Dug Begley, Mihir Zaveri, Marialuisa Rincon, Katherine Blunt, Cindy George and Jacob Carpenter contributed to this report.
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Janus Lazaris tallies the storm destruction in her home like the well-organized businesswoman that she is.

Most of her upholstered furniture is gone, though she'll try to save a couple of chairs. Wood furniture will be refinished. Rugs already have been picked up for cleaning.

She did an extensive refresh on her kitchen and two bathrooms less than a year ago, and a fair amount of that work will be repeated. Her pretty new wallpaper is a goner for sure.

Now Playing: Document all that you do while drying out the floodwaters from your home. (Chron.com Staff) Video: Houston Chronicle

As an interior designer and owner of Janus Design Group, she already knows who to call for what.

More Information Post-flood cleanup tips Before you do anything, document your damage with photos and/or video. Check with your insurance company to see if that's enough. If you have to remodel, these photos also will serve as a roadmap for any contractors who put it back together. When removing drywall, cut it as straight as possible and remove it at two-foot or four-foot marks to be most efficient. Drywall comes in four-foot sheets and you want as few cuts as possible. Taking a two-foot section off of your wall means you can make a single cut in a sheet of drywall for replacement. Use bleach water in a spray bottle to prevent mold from growing on walls or floors. Be sure to wear rubber gloves, a protective mask and eyewear to avoid injury. Wear old clothes when you do this - bleach will fade any clothing it touches. When removing baseboards and drywall, remove the insulation behind it because it's wet, too. Deal with anything wet as soon as possible. Clothing, bedding and linens that have gotten wet should be laundered in hot water as soon as possible. Don't give up on wood furniture immediately. Remember, wood is natural and it might survive flooding. Furniture such as a table could be taken outside so the sun can help dry it. If you remove carpeting, be careful with sharp carpet tacks glued to the floor. You'll want to take those up so no one gets cut. Rugs may not be salvageable. Before having any cleaned, make sure they're completely dry. Remember that water can be anywhere. Remove electrical outlet covers to see if water seeped in behind them. You don't want a shock when you plug something in. Also, anything in flooded cabinets would have floated and shifted, so open doors carefully. You may not mind if a can of green beans falls out, but you don't want a teacup from your grandmother's china to fall out and break. Check credentials and references of any contractor you hire. Angie's List, the Better Business Bureau and the Greater Houston Builder's Association (ghba.org) all can help. If a contractor offers references, call them. Sources: Jim Nowlin, Kevin Vick, Dixie Friend Gay and Janus Lazaris See More Collapse

Not everyone does, though.

Lazaris, who lives in Meyerland with her husband John, has had first-hand dealings with flooding once before, when Memorial Day storms affected so many others two years ago.

On Saturday she thought the city of Houston might have dodged a bullet with Tropical Storm Harvey. The next morning, though, she knew we had not.

Just 4 inches of rain came into her home two years ago, and the Lazarises used canned goods as risers, swept the water out quickly and started a relatively quick cleanup.

Early Sunday, though, water started coming in and didn't stop until she had 3 feet of it throughout her home. Even her preparations - elevating furniture, putting chairs on top of the table and island, rolling up the rugs - wasn't enough.

Dixie Friend Gay, an artist who lives in the Heights, has a similar story. She dealt with 2 feet of floodwaters during Tropical Storm Allison; Harvey brought about 14 inches of unwanted water.

Both women, although caught off guard, reacted quickly.

Gay said that at 5 a.m. on Sunday, water started coming into her home and she and her children went into action: they moved furniture upstairs and took paintings off of walls. The sofa and bulky mattress and box springs went up. Two recliners were sacrificed instead. Drawers were pulled out of dressers and cabinets and carried upstairs.

When the water left, a second wave of work began: cutting out wet sheetrock, pulling out wet insulation and spraying bleach water on the concrete floors to stave off mold.

The city is in its first phase of recovery: drying out. Before any work can be done to make homes livable, they first need to have all the wet stuff removed to keep mold away.

"My dining room table has a sofa on it, and rolled carpets are on top of that. It will stay that way until we are ready to put things back together," she said.

Drywall

When the water drained, Gay and her crew mopped up, removed water out of walls with a wet dry vacuum and then cut sheetrock off at a 2-foot mark. Box fans are placed all over her home to help dry it completely before anything can be repaired.

Gay's tip on the 24-inch mark on sheetrock was echoed by Jim Nowlin, owner of Remodeling Concepts and a member of the Greater Houston Builder's Association Remodeler's Council.

Since drywall comes in 4-foot sheets, cutting one piece in half is an efficient use of the resource. Taking off drywall in 2-foot increments gets rid of everything that's wet and makes as few cuts as possible in the drywall.

"The biggest thing is to be patient," Nowlin said. "This is not going to move fast. It's just so overwhelming and ... we're all struggling with resources - a lack of them."

Because of the length of time it will take for your home to dry out, Nowlin urged putting bleach water in a spray bottle and using it every day.

"Bugs are a wait-and-see thing. Each house will be different," Nowlin said. "That's a problem with a flood. You will have things in your house you've never seen before."

Electrical concerns

Kevin Vick, owner of Vick Construction, warned of electrical issues, too. If your house flooded, consult an electrician to see if it's safe to turn power back on, he said.

Gay said that a friend had tipped her off to electrical issues, so she turned off power as soon as flooding began. Afterward she removed electrical outlet covers so water could drain.

Post-flood weather is a factor, too, and she said she's got box fans all over her home too help dry it out.

"The quicker I get it dried out, the less likely I'll have mold. That was the idea," Gay said. "Get rid of the sheetrock on exterior walls first because it has insulation and holds the most moisture."

Find a good contractor

Not only do you want to get your home livable again, but you don't want to hand your money over to contractors who may not deliver, Vick said.

"I've been through this before. I was a contractor in Florida when they had five named storms. It's very important that people watch out for fly-by-night companies. We're going to get charlatans in town to try to take advantage of Houston's misery. Be careful; confirm they're a valid company and have references you can check."

Lazaris said that she and her husband are exhausted and still reeling from the strange week.

On Sunday night, when most of her neighbors had evacuated, Lazaris looked out a window to see a helicopter flying nearby.

"I'm looking out the window and this guy in a helicopter says 'Do you need help?' and I'm thinking 'Who is he talking to?' He's talking to me asking if I need to be rescued," she said. "It's surreal."
High water rescues are dangerous. First responders are working around-the-clock to come to the aid of those in distress, offering a chance for residents to evacuate their homes and be relocated to local shelters.

"As they are doing rescues, they are bringing evacuees in," said Angela Hollie at The Sanctuary, which briefly operated a shelter opened on Monday, Aug. 28. Calvary Baptist, St. Mary's and Cornerstone also opened shelters in Cleveland.

Local responders have been provided with backup for assistance with search and rescue efforts. Members of the Coast Guard arrived at the Cleveland Fire Department on Aug. 28 after driving in from the Port Author / Beaumont Sector joining Brad Matheney sent from the Air Force base in Shreveport.

"It is going to take a while for us to overcome this and for people to rebuild," Cleveland Councilwoman Jennifer Bergman explained. "But the people here are very resilient and very hardworking and come together in times of great need."

Streets were flooded in town, some homes have taken in water, and US 59 was submerged in water in certain places completely blocking vehicles from being able to get in or out of town  even groups of volunteers waiting to come in and offer more support and assistance.

"The Red Cross has everything ready. It's just a matter of not being able to get it here," explained Hollie on Monday.

In the meantime, shelters filled and residents stepped in to offer what they can to help their neighbors.

"I've seen a lot of people heartbroken and a lot of people coming together," said Sue Kelly at Calvary Baptist's shelter. "Whatever they have, they are bringing it to give to people who don't have anything."

The needs of evacuees change daily as volunteers keep registering evacuees from all over.

"We have plenty of food and clothing right now. The Red Cross is teaming up with us," explained Shari Willett at The Sanctuary.

Despite many evacuees being scared and in shock, there is also a lot of compassion and support being given on their behalf.

"They are hurting and they are getting loved on," said Kelly.

"The kids are playing and are well taken care of," said Hollie.
Vanesa Brashier

A line of cars circled the block near Covenant for Christ Resale Shop on Friday to pick up bottled water, food and cleaning supplies Friday morning. As noon neared, Christine Shippey, director of Covenant for Christ Ministries, looked at the dwindling stacks of bagged food with the assurance that more was on the way to Cleveland.

"I have shipments from Tennessee and Oklahoma coming tomorrow. We also have shipments from up north and other volunteers coming to help," she said. The bulk of the food distributed Friday came from the Houston Food Bank, but donations also were provided by faith-based and community organizations from across the country.
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The Houston culinary community has been responding to Harvey relief efforts since Sunday by feeding evacuees, police, first responders, the National Guard, and efforts such as the Cajun Navy.

Area chefs and restaurants have opened their hearts and pockets to helping feed the hungry and displaced during the disaster. And their generosity continues as Houston and surrounding communities still struggle with the aftermath of Harvey.

Here are some ways Houston diners can help raise funds for Harvey relief efforts by patronizing local restaurants, as well as other fundraising initiatives to help those in need:

Del Frisco's Restaurant Group: Through Sept. 4 the Texas-based Del Frisco's group (Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, Del Frisco's Grille, and Sullivan's Steakhouse) will donated 20 percent of sales to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. The restaurant group (with 53 restaurants) is seeking to raise more than $1 million to aid Houston-area food banks.

Pappas Restaurants: Houston's Pappas family is coming to the rescue in a big way: The restaurant group that encompasses some of Texas' favorite restaurant brands, including Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, is matching donations in an effort to raise $1 million for the American Red Cross Houston and the United Way of Greater Houston.

King's Biergarten and King's BierHaus: The original Pearland restaurant (1329 E. Broadway) and the new Heights location (2044 E. TC Jester) will have Labor Day fundraisers on Sept. 4 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. where 100 percent of proceeds will be donated directly to Hurricane Harvey victims.

Fogo de Chao: On Labor Day, Sept. 4, Fogo de Chao (which has restaurants in the Woodlands and Houston) will donate $10 from every adult entree purchased to benefit the Houston Food Bank with the goal of raising more than $100,000 nationwide for the effort.

Benjy's and Local Foods: Benjy Levit's two popular Houston restaurant brands will donate 25 percent of sales through Sunday, Sept. 3, to JJ Watt's Houston Flood Relief Fund.

Arnaldo Richards' Picos: During the month of September Picos will donate $5 to the American Red Cross Houston for every Fajitas for Two dinners purchased from Wednesday through Sunday.

Yauatcha: Through Oct. 1, all Yauatcha restaurants worldwide (including the new location in the Galleria), will donate a portion of revenue from special menu selections to Mayor Turner's Harvey Relief Fund.
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A warm cup of tea.

That's all 85-year-old Margaret Reuter wanted after she was plucked from her flooded Meyerland neighborhood by a Blackhawk helicopter and transported to George R. Brown Convention Center on Sunday.

She had been through hell by all accounts, but there she was sitting in truck of friend sipping a cup tea when her family arrived.

"What took you so long?" she said in a rich Scottish accent, barely 5 feet tall and soaking wet.

Her story was like many on that day when the bayou water spilled over into Meyerland, as it had done several times before.

This time seemed much worse. It wouldn't stop raining.

Her son, Keith Reuter, who lived miles away, attempted to drive into the area to rescue her. He couldn't get close enough so, he took to foot, wading through the chest-high water.

Margaret was inside of the house with water closing in on her. She wasn't real steady on her feet, so getting to the roof was impossible.

As this was unfolding, her daughter, Mary Beth Reuter, and her wife, Shana Ross, were in their Heights home on Facebook frantically trying to get help. A friend responded, saying she had a nephew whose wife's brother was a rescue swimmer with the Texas Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue team, which worked with the Blackhawk military helicopter rescue.

It was a long shot, Ross thought.

The swimmer, Lieutenant Matthew Geller, who is also a Dallas firefighter, texted the friend that he and his team were in the area on rescue missions.

The next Facebook note Ross got was that Geller was on his way.

"I broke into tears," Ross said. "I wasn't relieved I was hopeful. Until you touch them, you don't have relief. I was glued to Facebook. I felt like I had set up my own Facebook command center."

Then she got the note: "Five minutes away."

About this time, Keith had finally waded through the water to reached his mother and was on the phone with sister, Mary Beth, when he heard a helicopter overhead.

"That's for her!" Mary Beth screamed through the phone.

As the rain poured, Keith and the rescue crew maneuvered Margaret into the basket and she was hoisted up to safety.



In the five days of flooding, Geller estimated he and team had done about 100 rescues. Each one is risky. "When people need us the most, the conditions are the worst. We try to mitigate as many hazards as possible. It's a full team effort."

Margaret wasn't scared, but the noise from the helicopter hurt her ears.

That's what she told her family as she sipped her tea.
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Less than 24 hours after announcing students would start classes next week, Spring Branch Independent School District officials Friday recall that decision and say school will not start Sept. 6.

There will be no classes from Sept. 4 through Sept. 8, according to a release sent Friday. Officials say they expect to announce a new start date sometime next week, it is undecided at this time.
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A little boy from Richmond is still trapped in his family's neighborhood by Harvey floodwaters, but has still managed to make people smile from afar.

Wes and Emily Claburn posted the above photo of their 4-year-old son, John Wesley Claburn IV, welcoming the National Guard to his Pecan Grove street with an American flag that the family found during Harvey.

BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite photos of the Houston area

"My little man met some real superheroes this morning," Wes Claburn said in his post.

Emily Claburn said 4-year-old J.W. comes from a military family - he's named after his great grandfather, John Wesley Claburn, who was killed in action on July 18, 1944 in Normandy.

"He was simply just showing support to the soldiers that were helping our neighbors," she said. "Probably really excited to see them on our street!"

"He also offered to give the soldiers his favorite Grave Digger monster truck to help others with the flood in a time of need. Our son truly has a heart as big as Texas, and we are so blessed."

PHOTOS: The most moving scenes from Harvey

Emily Claburn said the family did not have plumbing on Friday, but has food and electricity. They are hoping to be able to leave their neighborhood by Sept. 6, which is J.W.'s fifth birthday.

"I'm overcome with joy that (the photo) is lifting the spirits of so many others during these crazy times."
Towering flames and plumes of jet black smoke poured from the flooded Arkema plant in Crosby as volatile chemicals exploded late Friday afternoon.

One container caught fire, and the heat from that fire ignited a second container about 25 feet away, said Arkema executive Richard Rennard. The dramatic display was the latest chapter of a chemical disaster, caused, in part, by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey.

HIDDEN DANGER: Chemical facilities face danger during Harvey shutdowns

Authorities have evacuated residents within a mile and a half of the facility and said the fumes from the fire don't pose an immediate public threat. The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting air and water tests in the area.

Arkema is a maker of organic peroxides commonly used by the plastics and rubber industries. They must be kept in cool temperatures or they can explode. The Arkema plant lost power earlier this week, knocking out the primary supply and backup generators and forcing employees to move the organic peroxides into nine box vans with cooling systems, which soon began to fail.

The company has abandoned the facility and any hope of preventing the chemicals from catching fire. Rennard said the company believes any fires from the containers won't spread to the plant itself.

Despite the explosions and noxious fumes, Arkema has refused to provide a chemical inventory and facility map to the public. Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Arkema CEO Richard Rowe said the company was balancing "the public's right to know and the public's right to be secure."

That answer wasn't good enough for Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.

"There's no good reason they shouldn't be putting this information out," he said. "It makes it look like they're hiding something."

There's little patience or sympathy for Arkema from Crosby residents near the plant.

Philip Mincey had evacuated from his home about a quarter of a mile from Arkema because of floodwaters. He bought the place a year ago. There's enough land that he and his girlfriend can raise four cows, a cat and 30 to 40 chickens. Now, Mincey can't get back to their property. He's worried about their animals, and he's tired of the lack of communication from Arkema about when he will get temporary housing. He doesn't know when he can return home, and he wonders about the dangers of the inevitable explosions from the plant.

"At first, I was understanding; it was an accident," Mincey said. "But now, they're jerking us around."

Late Thursday night, the company provided a list of the chemicals on the site. But the potential hazards they pose remain unclear because the company did not provide the amounts of the chemicals, where those chemicals were located, or in what types of containers the chemicals were stored.

Melissa Wren, a company spokeswoman, said Arkema was advised by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to refer all requests for the detailed chemical inventory, called a Tier Two, to the state agency.

"She's mistaken," said Andrea Morrow, spokeswoman for TCEQ. "(The agency) has told Arkema they are free to release the Tier Two if they so choose."

Morrow said if someone requests the Tier Two from TCEQ, it will have to be through a formal public information request and it would be sent to the Texas Attorney General's Office. That office, under Greg Abbott and now Ken Paxton, has blocked inventories from the public citing a state law that restricts information that might be useful to terrorists.

The Texas Homeland Security Act, passed in 2003, made government information confidential if it could be used to plot terror attacks. For more than a decade, the law was never invoked to block release of chemical inventories. The state reversed course after widespread media interest in the data following the 2013 explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas.

PUBLIC ACCESS DENIED: Arkema backtracks on promise to provide chemical inventory

Arkema has responded to some questions about what led to the emergency. Daryl Roberts, a company safety official, said neutralizing the organic peroxide with another chemical was not practical and that "at no point" did they intend to destroy it.

The company initially considered relocating the chemicals but deemed that process too risky, Roberts said.

"For us to be in a position where we were going to put that material into trailers and try to move it, it runs the risk of not being able to get it out of the area or getting it stuck in traffic, or having a fire or an explosion at a highway or at a public area, versus in the rural area where this site is," he said.

Roberts confirmed two chemicals contained on its government mandated worst-case scenario report -- sulfur dioxide and isobutylene. They were located hundreds of yards from the organic peroxides exploding on the site, he said.

"There's no issues with any of those materials," Roberts said. "No fire or water damage. No degradation in any of the systems that you're asking about."

The company left the material on site with backup generators and a cooling system, but the company didn't say whether the generators were elevated.

"Those were our levels of contingency," Roberts said. "Clearly, that wasn't enough."

Company officials have said they expected the refrigeration to fail in all the trailers and that additional explosions are inevitable for the six remaining containers.

The six containers that remain but located in a more remote location of the plant, said Arkema officials. Bob Royall, assistant chief of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, said he believed they could explode in a matter of days as temperatures continue to rise.

"Wish I had a crystal ball," he said.

Harvey aftermath: Chemical plants imperiled Hurricane Harvey's winds and floodwaters have created emergencies at chemical facilities across the Houston area, from an Exxon Mobil roof collapse at its massive Baytown complex to the risk of an explosion at a chemical plant northeast of Houston. We combined our Chemical Breakdown risk map, based on a facility's potential for harm, with the region's 100-year floodplains. Type in a Harris County address in the search bar above to view which sites with "potential for harm" fall within a two-mile radius of that address.

CHEMICAL BREAKDOWN: In November 2014, four workers died at a DuPont plant in La Porte after being exposed to a toxic gas. Responding emergency workers weren't sure what was in the air. The surrounding community wasn't, either. A Houston Chronicle investigation dives deep into Houston's hidden world of explosions and toxic releases and probes the regulatory failures that put us in jeopardy. Click here to read our series.
Although no flood-related fatalities have been reported in Pasadena so far, Pasadena Police Chief Al Espinoza said his department received hundreds of frantic calls for help during Hurricane Harvey.

"This was one of the most unpredictable storms I've ever seen," he said. "On Saturday night (Aug. 28) around 3 a.m., we were getting several hundred calls at the same time from people who needed to be rescued. Our call-takers - it was a very traumatic experience for them. A lot of people on the line they think they're going to die because their house is filling with water. The challenge is trying to stay calm amidst a typhoon of calls from people needing help. We were able to sort it out and get the job done as best as we could. We didn't lose any lives because of flooding and the storm, at least not that we know of yet. After the clean-up, we may find there were fatalities."
Not sure what to expect when they get there but are willing to do what they can, Lance Heuer, of Washburn, and Molly Zosel, of Mandan, loaded up an American Red Cross emergency response vehicle and hit the road for Austin, Texas.

The two volunteers, who joined the Red Cross as volunteers in April, are joining more than 20 other North Dakota Red Cross volunteers who have already responded to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in the Gulf Coast.

Heuer and Zosel said they arent sure what theyll be doing once they reach the Austin Convention Center but they have experience in hands-on volunteer work and have dealt with devastation before.

Zosels former home in Fargo flooded and she spent weeks sandbagging. And Heuer helped when flooding hit Bismarck-Mandan in 2011.

This is so extreme, said Zosel, comparing Houston to their own flood experiences. Its so widespread; I cant imagine.

But having also experienced displacement, she said she hopes it will help in her interactions with Harveys victims and the loss theyve experienced.

To whom much is given, much will be expected, Zosel said of her motivation for volunteering.

Other aid efforts

North Dakota franchises of Mattress Firm also are answering the call.

Those stores operated by Roberts Brothers Consulting Group are donating $20,000 to the American Red Cross for Harvey relief, funding Emergency Survival Kits that include a pillow, blanket, towel and other essentials.

Mattress Firm was founded in Houston, but more than that, its the right thing to do, Harry Roberts, part-owner of Roberts Brothers Consulting Group, said in a statement.

Dakota Foot and Ankle Clinic is hosting a shoe drive.

New and gently worn shoes can be dropped off at Happy Soles Footwear, 1802 Allison Drive, Bismarck, through Oct. 15.
Bismarck's Capitol Mall was a sea of red Wednesday evening as hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil to pray for and honor Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, whose body was found in Fargo Sunday night.

"She was a sacred giver of life, gone too soon. A beautiful woman on her way to motherhood," said Amber Warman, domestic violence advocate in wellness at United Tribes Technical College.

"She is an angel smiling on her baby. Savanna didn't choose to leave. She was taken. In the days ahead, we must honor her," she said.

Attendees were encouraged to wear red, in honor of indigenous women who are missing and murdered. Candles and glow sticks were waved in LaFontaine-Greywind's memory.

Native American prayer and music filled the air as heart-shaped balloons with handwritten messages for LaFontaine-Greywind were released to the heavens.

"I'm at a loss on finding the right words as to why we're all here tonight," said John Eagle Sr., of the Standing Sioux Tribe. "Savanna's on a journey. We want to make sure she goes where she's supposed to go. To a place with no suffering, no pain...only good."

A sign in one window of the Capitol read, "Prayers for Savanna."

"There's a power that's stronger than us to carry us," said Leander McDonald, president of the United Tribes Technical College. "Keep on praying."

LaFontaine-Greywind was 22 years old and eight-months pregnant when she went missing Aug. 19.

Around 1:30 p.m. that Saturday, LaFontaine-Greywind left her familys north Fargo apartment to help an upstairs neighbor who said she needed a model for a dress she was sewing. LaFontaine-Greywind never returned home.

On Aug. 24, police entered the neighbor's apartment by force, arrested one of the tenants, Brooke Crews, and found a healthy newborn baby girl believed to be LaFontaine-Greywind's.

That same day, police arrested Crews' live-in boyfriend, William Hoehn, at his place of employment. But LaFontaine-Greywind remained missing despite intensive searching.

On Sunday, LaFontaine-Greywind's body was pulled from the Red River near Fargo, wrapped in plastic and duct tape.

Family and friends of LaFontaine-Greywind are asking the public to shine a red light on their front porches for eight nights, symbolizing the number of nights she was missing.

Communities across the state are holding vigils for LaFontaine-Greywind. One will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday at the bridge in New Town.

Another vigil is planned for noon Friday at the tribal office in Fort Yates.
Gasoline pumps are running dry from Houston to San Antonio and Dallas, and nationwide fuel shortages may be looming.

Demand is rising for the Labor Day holiday while more than 20 percent of the nation's refining capacity remains shuttered from Hurricane Harvey.

Houston-area gasoline prices could spike by up to 50 cents a gallon and more than 30 cents nationally, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.

"It's the worst possible scenario," DeHaan said. "It's beyond even my worst-case concerns."

There would be enough fuel to go around if people would avoid panic at the pump, according to Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton.

"It's just like a run on a bank," he said. "It's a run on gas stations."

Texas has 230 million barrels of gasoline at hand, Sitton said.

The problem is, it's not all in the tanks beneath the gas stations.

Many storm-struck Gulf region stations are out. More surprisingly, consumers in San Antonio and Dallas are scrounging for gas.

Frank Barrera said he went to eight gas stations on San Antonio's south side before making the trip up north and enduring the huge lines and an occasional shouting match.

"You think this is bad? Go to the South Side. Everyone is fighting," he said.

Even the massive Buc-ee's in New Braunfels was running short on fuel.

At a Shell station at Interstate 635 in Dallas, manager Tim Flatt had an employee wave away motorists with a paper "Out of Gas" sign after they twice went dry on Thursday. They got a refill at about 10 a.m. and were drained again by 2 p.m.

"People are insane right now," Flatt said. "A lot of people don't need gas, but they're coming to get gas. It's just been crazy."

On Thursday, the massive Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Houston to much of the Southeast and East Coast, shut down, ensuring some supply issues for much of the country.

Refining capacity offline along the Texas Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur may remain shuttered from a week to more than a month.

The nation's largest refinery in Port Arthur - owned by Saudi Arabia's Motiva Enterprises - said it will take time to assess the damages and prepare the complex to start back up. Even the restart process typically takes at least a week or so.

"Given the unprecedented flooding in the city of Port Arthur, it remains uncertain how quickly the flood waters will recede, so we cannot provide a timeline for restart at this time," Motiva said.

Some Louisiana refineries that are still operating began tapping into the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for oil supplies on Thursday.

The result of all this could be fuel shortages and price spikes that go on for a month, and possibly longer.

"Motorists are going to have to wait for supplies and prices to return to normal," DeHaan said. "Try to buy only what you need."

On Thursday, the League City Police Department put out a statement warning that citizens in the heavily flooded city should stay home.

"Officers are advising there is no gas available and recommending that citizens stay home and do not waste gas. Stations are unsure when supplies will be available," the department said.

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is rapidly rising and already hit a 2017 high of $2.45, up 12 cents in a week, according to AAA. The Dallas average is up almost 30 cents in a week, GasBuddy data showed.

Houston prices are harder to calculate for now because the flooding and closures remain problematic.

GasBuddy's activity tracker map for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area says the amount of gas stations that ran out of fuel now exceeds the number of stations still pumping.

The crunch prompted QuikTrip, one of the nation's largest convenience store chains, to temporarily halt gasoline sales at about half its 135 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "Hurricane Harvey has impacted many gas refineries, and Texas is experiencing a gas supply shortage as a result," 7-Eleven wrote in a statement. "We are doing everything we can to provide gas to our customers as it becomes available."

There's potentially less urgency in the Houston area about gasoline because, quite frankly, there are more important things for residents to worry about. Many Houstonians filled up before Harvey made landfall, and many vehicles are no longer drivable.

In Dallas, though, life was going on as usual until motorists began to scramble to fill their tanks ahead of the extended Labor Day weekend.

Haley Gonzalez, who lives north of Dallas in The Colony, said she visited several stations in search of fuel before finding it in Plano, a northern suburb. Even then, she could only fill about half of her tank before the pump went dry.

"It's wild that we're directly affected by something like this so soon," said Gonzalez, 23.

People were waiting at least 30 minutes to pump, only to end up buying premium fuel after regular ran out.

Gonzalez and her friends were planning a short Labor Day weekend vacation to Lake Texoma, about 75 miles away. That's now changed.

"We're having to think way more local," she said.

Chris Tomlinson, the San Antonio Express-News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bismarck and Mandan police departments confirm they have been contacted by Secret Service to plan for a visit to the area by President Donald Trump.

"We will be assisting them with providing traffic control and any other duties they request," said Lt. Patrick Haug, of the Mandan Police Department.

Few details are being revealed about security preparations for the visit which is expected to take place on Wednesday.

"The Bismarck Police Department is working with Secret Service Agents on security, using a model that has been developed over years of partnership," said Lt. Steven Scheuer. "We will not provide specifics about that meeting because that would compromise the safety of not only President Trump, but bystanders, our staff and other agencies staff."

Sen. John Hoeven's office reports that details of the trip are still being determined.

Meanwhile, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., already has issued a challenge.

Any time a president comes to North Dakota, its a great opportunity to lay the groundwork for a better future for our businesses and our families. Now more than ever, I hope President Trump uses this visit to address the kitchen-table issues that keep the North Dakotans Ive met with across the state this past month up at night," said Heitkamp, who expressed interest in hearing more about the president's proposed tax reform plan.

"With low commodity prices, drought-stricken farms and ranches and the need for a strong Farm Bill on the horizon, its imperative that President Trump uses this discussion to help all North Dakotans plan for a better, brighter future that not only improves our tax code, but protects our way of life.

Trump last visited Bismarck during presidential campaigning in May 2016. He spoke at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference at the Bismarck Event Center, where thousands lined up for tickets.
FARGO  Many volunteers here remember responding to Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago, and now theyre doing the same for victims of Hurricane Harvey, with efforts ranging from harvesting corn to donating blood and bedsheets.

A little bit from everybody goes a long way, said Marta Ybarra, manager of St. Francis Thrift Store in Fargo.

Ybarra said the thrift store rounded up lots of linens, 200 pillows, 20 bags of clothes, and hygiene items to contribute to the Dilworth Police Departments plan to fill a trailer headed for Houston this weekend.

The last time Louisiana had the same situation, the Knights of Columbus, we connected with those guys and sent over a whole trailer, Ybarra said.

An American Red Cross volunteer from Grand Forks was recently deployed to Louisiana, where the hurricane also took its toll. Twenty-two other Red Cross volunteers from this region are headed for Houston.

Gretchen Hjelmstad, a local Red Cross spokeswoman, said the Fargo office has seen an influx of volunteers this week, with 70 people showing up for two training sessions. We werent expecting that many people, so that was wonderful, she said.

Volunteers work in two-week cycles, so as the first group is down there now, another group will train and then replace them, she said.

There are also two volunteers who are virtually deployed, meaning they are stationed in North Dakota, but still dedicated to helping with Hurricane Harvey.

Those virtual volunteers support the mental health of boots-on-the-ground volunteers, and they review all donations coming in, making sure they are getting to the right place, Hjelmstad said.

In Wahpeton, Richland County Emergency Management Director Brett Lambrecht coordinated a corn harvest to help Texans affected by flooding.

Lambrecht was looking for volunteers Thursday to help pick sweet corn in the citys charity corn plot to fill totes that will be placed in a refrigerated semi trailer destined for San Antonio. Theyll distribute to the flood victims to help them with food, Lambrecht said.

Hurricane Harvey also triggered calls for blood donors here and across the country. United Blood Services in Fargo is among the organizations sending blood to the disaster-afflicted region.

The timing of this storm is especially concerning as we approach Labor Day  a time when donations dramatically decline across the country due to the three-day holiday weekend, the blood bank said in a news release.
The Bureau of Land Management is considering including a parcel bordering Theodore Roosevelt National Park in a federal oil and gas lease sale.

Conservationists are urging the federal agency not to include the 120-acre parcel that borders the North Unit of the park in the lease sale, raising concerns about oil development on the boundary of the park.

This small parcel is not going to make or break the lease sale, but it could make or break the park as it relates to the visitor experience, said Valerie Naylor, former superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and a consultant for the National Parks Conservation Association.

The BLM received an expression of interest to lease the federal minerals and the agency is taking public input on whether to include it in a sale scheduled in March, said Al Nash, a spokesman for the BLM Montana/Dakotas office.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Superintendent Wendy Ross wrote in comments to the BLM that the National Park Service is concerned about the potential for oil activity in that area to diminish the visitor experience and affect wildlife habitat.

The parks exceptional dark night skies, scenic beauty, natural sound and abundant wildlife offer visitors similar experiences to Theodore Roosevelts adventures in the Little Missouri River Badlands during the 1880s, Ross wrote.

The Badlands Conservation Alliance has protested leasing the parcel. Executive Director Jan Swenson said the land is immediately next to the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness in the North Unit, about 3 miles north of the Caprock Coulee trailhead.

Here the park is named for a guy thats known for his conservation and protection of public land, creation of public land, Swenson said. And were making no room for concession to that fact.

The North Unit in McKenzie County is in the heart of the Bakken, with other oil and gas development bordering the national park. Naylor cautioned about cumulative effects of additional oil development that can be seen and heard from the park.

Just because theres some doesnt mean there should be more, she said. The more there is, the more it is a detriment to the national park.

The BLM is taking comments during what is known as a scoping period. An environmental assessment would be available for a 30-day public review beginning on Sept. 30 if analysis is warranted, the BLM said in a letter to interested parties.

The North Dakota Department of Trust Lands manages the surface of that parcel and the state Common Schools Trust Fund owns minerals in a tract adjacent to the federal minerals, said Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe.

Any operator who seeks to develop the oil and gas minerals using the trust land surface would need an easement from the Board of University and School Lands.

Comments can be emailed to BLM_MT_North_DakotaFO_Lease_EA@blm.gov or mailed to North Dakota Field Office, Attention: Oil and Gas Lease Sale, 99 23rd Ave. W., Suite A Dickinson, N.D., 58601.

More information is available at http://on.doi.gov/2g5FmzC.
The North Dakota Supreme Court has unanimously upheld an East Central District Court ruling that an environmental permit for a sow farm at Buffalo was properly granted.

Plaintiffs in Coon v. North Dakota Department of Health argued that the permit was improper, however East Central District Judge Douglas Herman ruled that the departments permit should stand.

Numerous opposing landowners from the Buffalo area had filed an appeal. They argued unsuccessfully that the health department permit should not have been granted because it failed to reopen a public comment period after Rolling Green farm had provided supplemental information for the permit.

Justice Daniel Crothers wrote in the decision released Wednesday, that, under federal Clean Water Act regulations, a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, only is required to apply for a pollutant discharge elimination system permit if the CAFO actually discharges pollutants. Crothers wrote plaintiffs failed to establish that they will be deprived of a property interest if the farm is established.

We conclude the Department erred by failing to apply its administrative rules but reversing the Departments decision would be futile because Rolling Green could successfully challenge the denial, Crothers wrote.

Strong words

Derrick Braaten, the plaintiffs attorney from Bismarck, called the Supreme Court decision outrageous and that his clients will consider asking for a rehearing or taking the issue to a federal court.

Theyre saying they agree with us and decided its not important to enforce the law in this situation, Braaten says. He believes the state health department has shirked its responsibility to create rules that may be more stringent than they currently are for large CAFOs.

In reality, that is what should happen, he says.

Officials of Pipestone Holdings of Pipestone, Minn., the management company that will be in charge of operations for the Rolling Green project, werent immediately available for comment.

Rolling Green filed its permit application in 2015. The farm initially planned to have 1,120 farrowing sows, 800 nursery pigs, 5,312 gestating sows and another 1,600 finish pigs  8,832 animals in all. The original application included a range of facility plans, zoning and soil information, as well as a nutrient management plan.

A revised application indicated it would have 9,056 head, raising the number of farrowing sows to 1,344, among other things.

On Dec. 8, 2015, the department issued a notice that it planned to approve the permit. The department held a public comment period and a public hearing on March 17, 2016, where more than 130 attended. The company also added more fields for applying manure nutrients, for which the plaintiffs complained about setbacks.

Setback issue

On Sept. 2, 2016, the landowners appealed the departments approval to the district court, saying the department didnt have authority to issue an animal feeding operation permit and that a pollutant discharge elimination system permit was required. They said the department failed to allow comments on the supplemental information.

The appellants claimed that Rolling Green had disclosed there would be 199,680 piglets at the facility annually, a figure that the company hasnt confirmed, and that the piglets must be counted separately from the farrowing sows to determine the setback distance from residences.

The department determined a one-mile setback was required, and that the facility is over a mile from the nearest residence.

The appellants said they needed a 1.5 mile setback because of the number of piglets. The court deferred to the department, which calculated 3,382.4 animal units, a factor used across various animal species. Braaten said that calculation doesnt work for odor issues.

Some members of the plaintiff group have since attended meetings for a separate purebred sow farm being planned in the Devils Lake area. That smaller facility would produce sows that would feed sow farms like Rolling Green, which would produce baby pigs that would go to facilities that would produce market pigs. In both cases, the Pipestone company would provide veterinary and management oversight.
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In partnership with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched the Rebuild Texas Fund Friday morning to pay for immediate relief and long term recovery and rebuilding efforts across the Gulf Coast, following Hurricane Harvey.

The marathon campaign hopes to raise at least $36 million by the end of Labor Day weekend and $100 million overall.

"A state that's as large as Texas requires a response as big as Texas," Abbott said Friday on Good Morning America.

THE LATEST: After Harvey, Houstonians eye long road to recovery

Through matching funds in the foundation, the Dells will contribute $36 million to the fund, Susan Dell said. Half of the $36 million has already been donated, the other half will be added at the end of the weekend.

"We'll look at the needs and all the other efforts across the state that are ongoing," Michael Dell said. "And we'll see the impact where we can help."

Susan Dell said Rebuild Texas will work in partnership with state and federal officials to fill in the gaps in four key areas  health and housing, schools and childcare, workforce and transportation and capital for rebuilding small businesses.

"We're all heartbroken by what's happened," said Michael Dell, a native of Meyerland and graduate of Memorial High School.

The Dell's foundation has given away approximately $1.23 billion to children's issues and community initiatives in the United States, India, South Africa since its inception in 1999. Michael Dell, a University of Texas at Austin alumnus, founded Dell Inc. in 1983.

The fund will consolidate private money from several partners around the state and country, including Verizon, Walmart and automobile billionaire Red McCombs.

Janet Mountain, the foundation's executive director, said the money raised this weekend will not only benefit immediate disaster relief, but will also be applied to ongoing assistance for those affected by Harvey.

"We're going to be keeping an eye out for what's going to happen next week, next month, six months, a year from now," Mountain said. "We're going to put money toward future works as well."

As the flood waters begin to recede, Susan Dell said the biggest challenges still lay ahead.

"All the damages have not been clearly assessed yet, we don't even know if they have occurred yet," she said.

The fund will be housed at OneStar, a non-profit which coordinates charitable work in Texas. OneStar and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation will cover administrative and labor costs.

For every $2 a person donates, the Dells' foundation will match it with an additional dollar.

BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite photos of Houston show extreme damage

To donate text RebuildTX to 91999 or go to rebuildtx.org.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated the goal for this weekend was $100 million raised, that is the overall goal of Rebuild Texas.
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Arkema, the company that owns the chemical plant in Crosby on the verge of more explosions, is refusing to provide a chemical inventory and facility map to the public, one day after promising to provide the information.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Arkema CEO Richard Rowe said the company was balancing "the public's right to know and the public's right to be secure."

Late Thursday night, the company provided a list, detailing the names of the chemicals on the site. It did not provide the amounts of the chemicals, where those chemicals were located or in what types of containers the chemicals were stored in.

THE LATEST: After Harvey, Houstonians eye long road to recovery





It also refused to specify where even more potentially dangerous chemicals are located on site.

Melissa Wren, a company spokesperson, said the company was advised by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to refer all requests for the detailed chemical inventory, called a Tier Two, to the state agency.

"She's mistaken," said Andrea Morrow, spokesperson for TCEQ. "TCEQ has told Arkema they are free to release the Tier Two if they so choose."

READ ALSO: In Crosby, a view of Harvey from the couch at Pooky's

Morrow said if someone requests the Tier Two from TCEQ, it will have to be through a formal public information request and it would be sent to the Texas Attorney General's Office.

That office has blocked inventories from the public citing a state law that restricts information that might be useful to terrorists.

The Texas Homeland Security Act, passed in 2003, made government information confidential if it could be used to plot terror attacks. For more than a decade, the law was never invoked to block release of chemical inventories. The state reversed course after widespread media interest in the data following the 2013 explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas.

Then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, quoting the 2003 law, issued a ruling that allows state and local agencies to withhold inventories.

Abbott told reporters in 2014 that private companies were still required to release them to the public.

"You know where they are if you drive around," Abbott said. "You can ask every facility whether or not they have chemicals ... and if they do, they tell which ones they have."

Former New Jersey congressman James Florio, helped craft the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which requires companies to file the Tier Two inventories if they hold more than a certain amount of a long list oc chemicals.

In a 2016 interview with the Chronicle, Florio called the Texas approach "totally irrational" and said security concerns should be addressed by individual companies. The goal of the federal law "was to hold everyone to a minimal standard of disclosure," he said. "Can you imagine if we relieved nuclear facilities of their security responsibilities, and we just tried to hide where they are?"

Darryl Roberts, a safety official for Arkema, said two chemicals contained on its government mandated worst-case scenario report, sulfur dioxide and isobutylene. were located hundreds of yards from the organic peroxides exploding on the site.

"There's no issues with any of those materials," Roberts said. "No fire or water damage. No degradation in any of the systems."
The Bolivar Peninsula Special Utility District has called for a Stage 5 emergency water shortage condition as flooding around the Lower Neches Valley Authority's surface water plant has caused it to cease operations.

The utility district's website advises residents to bring their water to a rolling boil prior to consumption and cease any non-essential use of water.
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Patricia Dornak and her team at the Ministry Assistance of the Near Northwest Alliance were about to join forces this week with a church to distribute food and water to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

The organization, which provides emergency assistance to families, offers nutrition education information and financial classes, and provides referrals to counseling, gets some of its funding from sales at its small thrift store in northwest Houston. The store is also an official drop-off site for donations to be taken to BBVA Compass to aid storm victims.

But Thursday morning, someone set the store at Rosslyn and West 43rd on fire. All of the contents, from clothes and jewelry to toys and furniture, were destroyed.

"We try to do good, and for someone to come along and do this is just heart-breaking," Dornak said Thursday afternoon, a couple of hours after Houston firefighters extinguished the flames. She said authorities told her they believe the fire was deliberately set, and that the same person who Monday night broke into the back of the store to gain access to a Dollar General discount store next door was responsible.

Police and canines tried to track down the burglar that night, meanwhile, members of MANNA's board of directors repaired the back door, she said.

It was a MANNA board member who alerted her to the fire about 6:40 a.m. Thursday. That member got a phone call from a mutual friend who happened to be driving by the store and saw the flames. Dornak said police speculated that the burglar had returned, again breaking the back door. Before setting the store on fire, the intruder scrawled profanity and "nasty messages" on a refrigerator kept in the store's office area.

"When you see those kind of messages, they don't care," said Dornak, who has been executive director at MANNA for five years.

The fire was especially painful for volunteers, she said. "This is their heart," Dornak said.

As her husband, Tom Dornak, and board members Justin Gordon and Chuck Coon were placing new bolts on the back door, people _ some with donations, others ready to shop _ drove up in trucks and cars to the front of the store. After hearing of the fire, they offered their condolences and then their help.

MANNA rents the property and has insurance, said Dornak, who expects to meet with an adjuster soon. No estimates of damage was available Thursday.

She praised her neighbors at Dollar General, saying they provided surveillance video to fire department officials on Monday and donated plywood to board up the thrift store.

Smoke from the fire permeated to the discount business, where store owner Jeff Berger was cleaning up in Thursday afternoon heat. He couldn't spend much time there, he said, because he had to go to another store, one flooded by Harvey.
Representatives from 12 national, state and local law enforcement agencies have formed a taskforce to investigate and prosecute illegal activity related to Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.

"This disaster has brought and will continue to bring unprecedented human and financial loss to our communities, and victims of this event have already suffered staggering devastation," said acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez in a statement. "Under the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, we bring a comprehensive law enforcement focus to combat any criminal activity arising from the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey and the rebuilding efforts underway."
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The first of nine failing freezer trailers filled with volatile chemicals exploded early Thursday at the problem-plagued Arkema plant in Crosby, sending a plume of black smoke into the community east of Houston and setting off a round-the-clock watch for inevitable explosions to come.

The initial blast about 1 a.m. Thursday sent 15 Harris County sheriff's deputies to the hospital after they inhaled fumes and got smoke in their eyes, but all were discharged by Thursday afternoon.

Crosby officials had been bracing for days for explosions at the plant after six feet of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey knocked out power and generators needed to keep the volatile organic peroxides  used in making plastics and rubber  stored at the facility cool. The chemicals explode if they get too warm, officials said.

The explosion left unanswered questions about how contingency plans failed to keep the chemicals cool and how dangerous the fallout could be to a sprawling metropolitan area recovering from the biggest rain event in continental U.S. history.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long on Thursday called the plume "incredibly dangerous."

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Arkema President Richard Rennard said the health effects are relative.

"They're noxious, certainly," Rennard said. "If you breathe in the smoke, it's going to irritate your lungs."

Arkema CEO Rich Rowe said earlier in the week that the explosions could not be stopped.

"There is no way to prevent an explosion or fire," Rowe said.

THE LATEST: Get rolling updates, newest photos on Harvey here

The company has a history of regulatory problems.

In 2006, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality cited Arkema for a fire caused by improperly stored organic peroxides. In 2011, the same plant was cited for failing to maintain proper temperatures of its thermal oxidizer.

In 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Arkema $91,724 after finding 10 violations at the Crosby site, many involving the mishandling of hazardous materials.

Arkema's CEO Richard Rowe said earlier this week that the company spent millions of dollars on upgrades after the fines and believed all issues cited in the inspections had been addressed.

The Houston area is home to more than 2,500 chemical facilities. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle in 2016 found 55 facilities  including Arkema  with a high potential for harm to the public, based on an analysis performed in conjunction with the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University. The study factored risks based on the amount and type of dangerous chemicals on site and their proximity to the public.

At least 13 of the facilities with the highest potential for harm lie within the 100-year flood plain. The Arkema plant lies within the 500-year flood plain, according to a Chronicle analysis.

Arkema officials wouldn't say the company had the ability to neutralize the chemicals before the situation became so volatile, and wouldn't answer questions about whether the back-up generators were elevated before the storm hit the area late Saturday.

Rennard said that other highly toxic chemicals on the site were in a "remote location," far from the exploding organic peroxides. Officials had not provided a requested map of the facility by late Thursday.

READ ALSO: Politico blasted for cartoon that critics say mocks Harvey victims

The Arkema plant lost power late Monday, knocking out the primary supply and back-up generators and forcing employees to move the organic peroxides into 18-wheeler box vans with cooling systems.

One employee was evacuated Monday night. Eleven other employees were evacuated Tuesday when the refrigeration in the back-up containers also began to fail.

Local officials ordered the evacuation of residents after seeing the chemical inventories for the facility, which the company has not publicly released. Company officials said they expected the refrigeration to fail in all the trailers and that additional explosions were inevitable.

The incident came as chemical facilities throughout the Houston area began drying out and restarting facilities that had been shut down as Hurricane Harvey approached last week.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board issued a safety alert Thursday urging the facilities to take special precautions as they resumed operations.

"Restarting a refinery poses a significant safety risk," CSB Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement. "When operators follow established startup procedures and checklists, it reduces the risk to a catastrophic accident that could cost lives and incur substantial product disruptions."

The environmental damage from those startups can be enormous.

About 2 million pounds of emissions have been released during Harvey-related shutdowns and incidents, compared to more than 5.2 million pounds all of last year. Emissions from Aug. 23 through Monday in the Houston area represented nearly 40 percent of the region's releases for all of 2016, based on pounds of chemicals, according to Luke Metzger, director of the advocacy group Environment Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a relaxing of state environmental reporting laws during Hurricane Harvey, and companies are still reporting leaks and other incidents voluntarily, according to TCEQ spokesperson Andrea Morrow.

Among those voluntary reports was a roof collapse at an ExxonMobil facility in Baytown that caused the release of more than 12,000 pounds of material.

'NO WAY TO PREVENT': Read Wednesday's update on the chemical plant's risk

In Crosby, neighbors in and around the evacuation zone remained worried Thursday, saying they had received little official information and a lack of a clear perimeter.

"But homes two miles away are safe?" asked Alicia Garcia, who had recently returned to the family's home about four miles away after evacuating Sunday because of flooding.

At least one couple didn't leave. Leo and Lajayne Opelia, who are in their 70s, texted friend Frances Breaux that they intended to stay.

"And if they didn't make it, they loved us," Breaux said.





Deputies wouldn't allow Breaux into the neighborhood Thursday to check on the couple.

"You know how older people are," she said. "They just don't want to leave their place."

Derek Davis, 36, lives outside the evacuation zone but shared his neighbors' questions and concerns.

"What was the basis of the blast zone? How was that calculated? How was safety taken into consideration? Do they expect a mile-and-a-half radius? Are they taking a fudge factor into account? Did they consider the wind? What was the fail-safe program they had?" he asked. "It seems like they're trying to save the product and risk the residents."

'IT'S TERRIFYING': Family returns to flooded home, finds new danger nearby

CHEMICAL BREAKDOWN: In November 2014, four workers died at a DuPont plant in La Porte after being exposed to a toxic gas. Responding emergency workers weren't sure what was in the air. The surrounding community wasn't, either. A Houston Chronicle investigation dives deep into Houston's hidden world of explosions and toxic releases and probes the regulatory failures that put us in jeopardy. Click here to read our series.
AUSTIN  State and federal officials Friday said they were drastically escalating the inflow of resources for Texas' recovery from Harvey.

Much of the response effort remained focused on rising waters in the Beaumont area that have displaced 1,000 people so far and will likely force evacuations of thousands more.

Gov. Greg Abbott, in announcing the expanded recovery initiatives, said he thinks a special legislative session can be avoided to address state funding for the state's long-term recovery -- a day after legislative leaders said they are expecting to be called back to Austin as soon as January.

Abbott said enough funds are available in state coffers and in the co-called Rainy Day Fund -- a savings account maintained for emergencies -- to address recovery funding, although legislative leaders had said Thursday they anticipate a special session will be needed to approve transferring the billions of dollars that will be needed and to make up for an expected significant drop in state revenues that could leave the state budget short.

"We won't need a special session for this," Abbott told reporters Friday at an afternoon briefing about Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts at the state's Emergency Operations Center.

He said the state has sufficient resources to "address the needs between now and the next session," and noted that Texas "smartly" kept a lot of money in the Rainy Day Fund.

The Legislature is next scheduled to meet in January 2019. Abbott could call them into a 30-day special session at any time, as he did in July to address 20 priority issues.

Abbott said the Neches River in the Beaumont area, now at a record seven feet above flood stage, will likely continue at that level for the next week, hampering initial damage assessments and recovery efforts.

In the Houston area, he said new forecasts show the Brazos River will remain at its record levels for up to a week, and could require additional evacuations of areas near Richmond.

Abbott said the Port of Corpus Christi reopened Friday to accept a shipment of gasoline, and that other ports along the Texas coast -- including the Port of Houston -- should be open again in coming days to allow shipment of much-needed recovery supplies to begin arriving.

Military aircraft and personnel from 43 states are now in or enroute to Texas, and offers of assistance have been made by all 50 states, as well as a growing presence of up to 24,000 National Guard troops that should be in place by early next week, the governor said.

In addition to aircraft, trucks and personnel, Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson, the four-star commander of the U.S. Northern Command, said two Navy ships are enroute to the Texas coast to assist with search and recovery efforts.
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MIAMI - Hurricane Irma continued its rapid power grab Thursday, with wind speeds increasing by more than 55 mph since Wednesday to become a major Category 3 storm.

In a 5 p.m. advisory, National Hurricane Center forecasters said sustained winds had climbed to 115 mph as the storm headed to the west, northwest at 12 mph. Irma remains in the far east Atlantic, just over 1,700 miles east of the Leeward Islands. Up and down changes in intensity are possible over the next few days, forecasters said, but the storm is expected to remain a major hurricane that could become a Category 4 storm in four days.

What impacts Irma poses to land remain unclear. Models are notoriously unreliable more than five days away, and Irma is not expected to near the Leeward Islands until sometime next week.

Thursday afternoon, forecasters said Irma became an "impressive" hurricane with a tight spin around its small center eye. The storm underwent a remarkable 57 mph increase in wind speed since Wednesday, they said, and satellite images indicate the storm may already be undergoing an eyewall replacement, a shift that occurs in intense storms.

Forecasters said they suspect the eyewall replacement will be the first of many, which could help broaden the storm's reach. Over the next several days, they expect wind shear to remain weak and ocean temperatures moderate. Because of that, the storm's deepening intensity could level off for the next two days. After the weekend, the storm will likely cross much warmer water and again strengthen.

They expect the storm to begin turning west and south over the next few days as a high pressure ridge in the central Atlantic begins steering it. However, models disagree on how much influence the ridge will play, leaving its future path less clear.

Also Thursday, about 1,400 people sought refuge at storm shelters in the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula as a strengthening Tropical Storm Lidia closed in on the area

Lidia spread rains over a broad swath of Mexico, including Mexico City, where it was blamed for flooding that briefly closed the city's airport. An enormous sinkhole about 30 feet in diameter opened on a street in downtown Mexico City.

Civil Defense Commissioner Luis Felipe Puente said strong winds and rain were already lashing Los Cabos at midday. Authorities also warned residents to prepare for a possible dangerous storm surge.
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A federal prison in Beaumont that decided Thursday not to evacuate inmates despite a precarious drinking water situation has come under criticism from the men being held inside.

FCI Beaumont, a federal prison that houses 1,812 low security male inmates, said that although the facility's water source was compromised and had intermittent power, it was "adequately maintained with generator backup power when needed. There is an adequate food and water supply for both inmates and staff," the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement Thursday.

Messages from inmates obtained by Chron.com using a prison email system tell a different story.

EMPTY: In Texas gas shortage, man fills garbage cans at pump in Austin

One of those inmates is a 30-something-year-old man being held at Beaumont for possession of a large quantity of cocaine and possession of three firearms. His identity, and the name of the other inmate who provided messages to Chron.com, has been confirmed, but withheld because they fear retaliation from guards for speaking out against the prison. The man's girlfriend Andrea Hasberry said one way the prison could retaliate is by moving him to another facility farther away.

The man described a scene where a fellow inmate passed out Thursday night because of malnutrition; inmates haven't had a warm meal in more than five days, he said. Because of the water shortage, four portable toilets were brought in to service the man's building. No chemicals were placed in the toilets, which have already been "topped off" with waste, the man said.

"Save me Jesus," the man said in an email. "I never thought nothing like this would happen in prison."

SAVED: Stunning photo of coast guard rescuing infant during Harvey





This was a similar story from another 50-something-year-old inmate shared with Chron.com. He was found guilty of fraud. Communication with this inmate was facilitated by his daughter Morgan Owen.

"We are getting two bottles of water a day thus far. Which is obscene," the inmate said Friday morning over email. "We are getting three brown bags of peanut butter and bologna a day. ... Keep pounding the social media sites and call Washington, D.C. for the Texas senators, congressman, and attorney general Jeff Sessions who is actually in charge of us. The more information they get the better."

Hasberry has been using Facebook to raise awareness around conditions in the prison. She has also shared photos of her emails to her boyfriend on Facebook as well, which have received dozens of comments.

"Just because a person made a mistake they don't deserve to be treated as a animal," Hasberry told Chron.com Friday afternoon. "Animals are treated better then those men. They evacuated all those animals and made sure they were safe, why can't they make sure those men in those units are safe, fed, healthy with clean clothes and enough amount of water; they are people too."

HELPING HAND: Houston family takes in 16 strangers and pets displaced by Harvey

When presented with the exact claims brought up by both inmates, the Federal Bureau of Prisons provided Chron.com the following statement Friday afternoon: "[T]he storm impacted the city water supply; however, the FCC (federal correctional complex) has its own reserve of water for emergency situations to adequately operate the FCC. There is ample food and bottled water for inmates and staff."

On Tuesday, rising floodwaters from the Brazos River forced the relocation of an estimated 1,400 convicts from the Jester 3 and Vance prisons in Richmond to the other 100-plus state lockups across Texas.

Owen hopes her father feels some relief very soon.

"My dad has been without running or drinking water today, without AC and with maybe 1300-1500 calories of food all day. That speaks for itself doesn't it?" Owen told Chron.com Friday afternoon.
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In the week since Harvey made landfall, Houstonians have had to deal with a lot: rain, flooding, evacuations, power outages, post-flood clean up  you name it.

We're a tough bunch of people and the nation knows it.

On Friday, some people have been able to go home for the first time since evacuating during the storm and are faced with the daunting task of cleaning up their damaged homes. Residents of some Houston neighborhoods had to evacuate because water was being released from the Addicks Reservoir.

Today was the first 'trash day' since Harvey struck and the scene has been eerie as thousands of homes have been damaged with people having to throw out everything.

HOPE: Messages of love and support pour in as Harvey hits Texas

Overall, it's been a hard week and Houstonians have worked together to deal with it.

Celebrities like Ivanka Trump and JJ Watt, politicians like Paul Ryan, the Houston Police Department and everyone else began using #HoustonStrong to share messages of resilience and hope for the community as Houston wades its way out of Harvey's floodwaters.

See the #HoustonStrong memes and messages that people have posted on social media in the last week.
State and federal officials along with prosecutors and police on Thursday targeted looting and other disaster-related predatory crimes in a bid to keep law and order across the region.

The effort comes as fewer looters appear to be operating and law enforcement focuses on keyboard criminals and scammers trying to commit identity theft, price gouging and insurance or investment fraud.

Representatives from federal and state law enforcement agencies formed a working group Thursday to investigate and prosecute illegal activity related to Hurricane Harvey, announced acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez.

"The last thing that victims of this damage need is to be victimized again," Martinez said in a news release. "Under the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, we bring a comprehensive law enforcement focus to combat any criminal activity arising from the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey and the rebuilding efforts underway."

The 12 coordinating agencies, including the FBI, the ATF and the Harris County District Attorney's Office will focus on white-collar crimes that emerge during disasters and violent crimes like looting and armed robbery.

Officials with the DA's office said six looters were arrested Wednesday night, capping the total of accused burglars at 46 in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's floods. Two people were arrested for violating curfew, court records show.

Mayor Sylvester Turner issued an open-ended mandatory citywide curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. which began Tuesday.

The curfew implemented across Houston Tuesday seemed to tamp down looting and crime as police across the region transitioned back from rescuing to patrolling.

In north Harris County, a Spring man was arrested for burglarizing a business, accused of looting a liquor store.

Deputies with the Pct. 4 Constable's Office arrived on the scene to arrest 25-year-old Abdu Wiley, who was hiding in a locked bathroom of Capri Liquor, located in the 3000 block of FM 1960.

Because he was arrested for allegedly looting during a natural disaster, he faces the possibility of 20 years in prison if convicted. District Attorney Kim Ogg announced early this week that her office would seek enhanced punishments available during a disaster under Texas law.

Wiley's bond was set at $15,000 after a magistrate judge heard that he was a repeat offender with at least three other convictions for burglary or trespassing with a weapon.

Pct. 4 Constable Mark Herman said Wiley is a career criminal who was arrested after deputies, stationed across that precinct responded to an alarm in less than a minute.

Even though his jurisdiction is outside the curfew implemented in Houston, he said officers are actively watching people driving around at night.

"We work a lot of traffic around here so if you're out there driving around at late hours, there's a high probability you'll get pulled over," he said.

In Montgomery County, deputies said they caught a man looting his neighbor's home in River Plantation late Wednesday, the first reported case of looting in that county.

Caleb Andrew Carmichael, 34, is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $100,000 bond for a felony burglary of a home in the 400 block of Brandon Road around 10 p.m.

Carmichael lives about a block away from the victim's home, according to jail records.

If convicted of looting a home during a disaster, he faces the possibility of life in prison under the enhanced punishment law.

Just days before his arrest, Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon made national news announcing he will be seeking mandatory jail time for those found guilty of looting during the storm.

"Leniency and probation will be off the table for these offenses committed during this time," Ligon stated in a social media post.

To report identity theft, insurance scams and other financial crimes, victims can email the Disaster Fraud Hotline at disaster@leo.gov or call 1-866-720-5721. It is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day. Fax information to 225-334-4707.

To report other scams, price gouging or charities fraud, call the Texas Attorney General's Office Consumer Protection Division at their toll-free hotline at 800-621-0508, send an email to: consumeremergency@oag.texas.gov or file a complaint at: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/cpd/file-a-consumer-complaint.
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Despite rising floodwater, 25-year-old Andrew Pasek headed out Tuesday to try to save his older sister's 15-pound cat.

Her house in Bear Creek Village had already flooded, and the west Harris County subdivision was under voluntary evacuation because of the inundated Addicks Reservoir. Deliberate reservoir releases and additional water backed up upstream from the dam forced thousands of residents, including Andrew's sister, out of their homes for up to three months.

THE LATEST: Recovery efforts, other developments in Harvey's wake

But that didn't stop Pasek, a determined animal lover with a propensity for rescuing strays off the street. His parents, JoDell and Al Pasek, waited anxiously at their home, alongside a dog and a cat Andrew had convinced them to adopt, for news of his success.

Andrew's sister and her fiance had taken their dog from the home, but lacked a carrier for the cat, a Maine Coon named d'Artagna.

So Andrew -- who lived in northwest Houston and worked in the auto repair industry -- headed to the rescue.

He parked his 10-year-old Jeep Cherokee near the entrance to the neighborhood and, with a friend, walked through the floodwaters.

A few blocks in, Andrew screamed to his friend that he felt an electric current.

"Get out of here! Don't touch me!" cried Andrew, a Memorial-area native.

He stumbled in the deep water. He grabbed ahold of a mailbox post to break his fall. A jolt of electric current running through a faulty wire rushed through his body, JoDelle Pasek said.

Andrew's friend called 911. Then, he called his mother, who called JoDell Pasek, 66.

Without a second thought, JoDelle and Al Pasek piled into their car and drove from their home, off of Interstate 10 in Memorial, to Bear Creek Village.

When the Paseks arrived in the subdivision, they looked for Andrew's Jeep - which he had owned since he was a teenager - but couldn't find it.

Then, they spotted EMS vehicles, staffed with first responders who were around the corner from, but still couldn't reach, their son.

They were waiting, the first responders said, for CenterPoint to shut off the electricity coursing through the floodwaters so they could safely get to him.

The Paseks panicked.

"I just need to see my son," a distraught, Al Pasek, 69, said. "I need to help him."

Their 27-year-old daughter and her fiance arrived. The four of them waited over an hour, JoDell Pasek said.

Once the power was off, first responders ventured into the floodwaters.

Andrew was already dead. They brought his body back, wrapped in a black bag.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, as floodwaters recede, the number of fatalities confirmed to be linked to hurricane has reached 18, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Andrew's is the only death so far listed as having been caused by electrocution. But, two men trying to rescue a neighbor in northeast Harris County drowned Monday, after rapid currents flowing through Greens Bayou slammed their boat into a power line.

"The safety of the public and our employees continues to be our highest priority," CenterPoint wrote in a statement about Andrew's death. "Because downed power lines and other hidden issues in flood waters are dangerous, we continue to urge everyone impacted by flooding to be safe during flooding situations. In rare instances when we are instructed by safety or emergency response officials and/or regulators to do so, we will shut off electricity."

That Tuesday, there wasn't time for JoDell Pasek to say goodbye.

Per protocol, the body bag was quickly put into a vehicle, before Pasek got a chance to grab Andrew's cell phone or car keys or wallet.

She knew she wouldn't be allowed to see her son's face, she later said.

But, JoDell Pasek added, she wished she could have at least touched the bag.
DICKINSON -- The long and controversial case involving the dissolution of the Dickinson State University Foundation has reached a final resolution, nearly three years after the first complaint was filed in the court system, the attorney generals office said Thursday.

Stark County District Court Judge William Herauf issued an order on Wednesday, adopting the findings of a special master. Heraufs order gave final approval to a settlement reached between Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and the Foundations major creditors and recognized that it was entered into in an effort to manage the risks associated with lengthy litigation over the priority of claims in the dissolution proceedings.

The order also officially dissolves the Dickinson State University Foundation.

The order noted that from the outset, it was quite apparent there were differing opinions as to the order of distribution or priority of the assets. Herauf noted that had this matter been fully tried, it would have prompted an appeal as only one group of claimants could be satisfied in the priority scheme.

Heraufs order also noted the importance of the donors in the case.

In reading through the transcription, as well as the exhibits filed by various donors, it is painfully obvious that this is a very emotional case for the donors, Herauf wrote. ... The donors are all hardworking individuals who gave out of the kindness of their hearts to help the students. The donors effectively want an answer to the question as to why their assets were dissipated.

However, Herauf said why the Foundation was in such poor financial condition is not the issue before the court, but the assets and the transferring of the assets.

Neither side is made whole, but each side entered into this settlement agreement in an effort to manage the risks associated with one side or the other being declared to have priority which would mean whoever was ultimately determined with priority would receive all the assets, but the other side would get nothing, Herauf wrote.

The Dickinson State University Heritage Foundation, which was formed in 2015, will also be receiving assets from the distribution of the dissolved Dickinson State University Foundation, and will be able to use those assets for the purposes for which they were given, namely to benefit Dickinson State University and its students and faculty.

I agree with Judge Heraufs statement that this has been a very emotional case for donors, and I am pleased that this matter finally will be closed, allowing Dickinson State University, the new Dickinson State University Heritage Foundation and the community of Dickinson to move forward, Stenehjem said in a statement.

Stenehjem noted that since his office brought the action to dissolve the Foundation, he promoted and the Legislature enacted new legislation to ensure better protection and priority for donations in dissolution proceedings.

Going forward we have taken steps to ensure this situation does not occur in the future, Stenehjem said. My office has been in contact with the new Dickinson State University Heritage Foundation and donors should understand that there is now authority for greater oversight over the Foundation to ensure that donor funds are used exclusively for the purposes for which they were given.

Stenehjem hopes the conclusion of this case will give the Dickinson community a fresh start and allow the new Foundation to focus on building support for the university and its students and faculty.

DSU President Thomas Mitzel said he believes the new foundation is already moving forward from the dissolution and is doing its best to reestablish communications with the community.

Weve worked very hard to reestablish communications within the city of Dickinson and within the region of western North Dakota and its nice to finally have some resolution to what happened before, Mitzel said. Well just continue to work with our donors and our alumni to be as good of steward as we are able within the Dickinson area. We continue to look forward to a bright future.
The TV reporters kept saying that people should stay put in their homes, but once the water had started bubbling out of the septic system at Marie Harper's Sienna Plantation home early Monday, she decided she wasn't going to take any chances.

After all, she had six foster children under her care, all of them with special needs.

"I know to cry wolf," Harper said.

She called for help, and within an hour, five trucks and three boats had arrived to transport the kids, aged 7 to 17, one in a wheelchair. Harper and her adult daughter joined them in a Red Cross shelter set up at Thurgood Marshall High School in Missouri City.

Harper made the right call. A mandatory evacuation of her neighborhood was ordered later that morning.

"I got them out of there before it got bad," she said.

She managed to calm the kids until the rescue trucks arrived by keeping them busy and not letting them look out the windows.

"We made it fun," she said, by treating the kids to movies. "They really didn't know what happened."

Even the four nights they spent sleeping in the shelter seemed like an adventure to the kids.

Scores of volunteers were waiting for the evacuees to get them into warm clothes, cook them a meal and set them up with a place to sleep.

More than 50 other kids were running around, playing with donated games and toys.

"They just thought we were at a big game place," Harper said.

She felt the shelter community understood her children were different and accepted them.

But as officials prepared Friday morning to load them into a bus to NRG Center, which is expected to house 10,000 people as shelters throughout the region close and consolidate, Harper was scared.

"I don't really want to leave," she said.

She's afraid that in the mass shelter. her foster children might not be understood or treated with the kindness they've experienced at Marshall.

"I just don't want them to get embarrassed," Harper said, her voice breaking with emotion. "We were protected here."

She has no idea what state her home is in and won't be able to check on it until the mandatory evacuation order is released, so, for now, NRG is their only option.

A FEMA worker came over to push the 17-year-old's wheelchair to the bus as Harper looked on, worried.

"Come on, Ms. Harper," the 17-year-old said.

The worried look turned to one of resolve. She would just have to take extra care of these children.

"This is my calling."
With calls coming in at a clip of 500 to 900 an hour, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers said Friday that their phone lines at times are being overwhelmed.

Sometimes the queues can stretch an hour.

"They're not down. Down means that they're inoperable. They're very much operable, but they're just overwhelmed."

That's from a Department of Homeland Security official answering media calls Friday afternoon but who would not give her name.

The anonymous spokeswoman added that despite reports to the contrary, there have been no system crashes on their main Hurricane Harvey assistance web site: https://www.disasterassistance.gov

That's where storm victims are encouraged to go first, if they have access to the internet.

The spokeswoman noted, however, that some storm victims might be "timing out" on government web pages if they don't have all their needed information at hand.

"If you're going to a web site and you're trying to input information and 10,000 other people are on that web site trying to put in their information, and you don't have all your information in front of you, I don't know if it's timing out or not or what specific issues people are having," she said.

The main problem, the spokeswoman said, is the large number of people seeking help at the same time, especially during business hours.

"There are a lot of people seeking assistance, and there's only so much that we can do to help people," she said.

"The public can really do their part allowing us to help them by being prepared when they do make those phone calls or go to that web site," she said. "If everyone is calling at the same time, then yes, some people are getting stuck in a queue where they're waiting 45 minutes or an hour, and then some people are just getting kicked out because the queue is full, there's just no more ability for it to take calls."

To correct the problem, she said FEMA is posting on its main web site, https://www.disasterassistance.gov, the correct numbers people need to call, depending on their need.

"We're overwhelmed with people who are trying to get assistance both in Houston and Louisiana," she said. "It just gets worse and worse. We're getting calls about everything from people who are looking for jobs, to people who are looking for volunteer opportunities, to people who are looking to do business with the federal government. So there are a lot of different phone calls that are coming in."

She noted that if storm victims call the survivor assistance line (1-800-621-3362), instead of going to the web site, all the information has to be taken verbally. Things go faster if callers have their vital information, such as insurance policy numbers.

"So there are some things the public can do as well," the spokeswoman said. "For instance, when you call to ask for help, make sure you have a pen and paper handy. Something as simple as that."
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WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump is making a return visit to storm-ravaged Texas on Saturday, this time touching down in Houston, where flood-waters are just beginning to recede.

Unlike his first trip on Tuesday, the president is expected to meet with actual storm survivors.

The trip comes as the White House has signaled to congressional leaders that the administration is planning a $7.85 billion request for the first down payment on the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

The request could come as soon as Friday.

The visit will give Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner his first chance to talk to Trump since the storm hit. Trump has been in frequent communication with Gov. Greg Abbott and other elected officials in person and by phone. But Turner said on Thursday he had not spoken with the president, although the White House did call earlier in the week.

On Friday, Turner said he expects to speak with Trump when he arrives to survey damage. "I'm getting word that we will meet with him," Turner told the Chronicle after a press conference at the Houston Emergency Operations Center.

CONTRIBUTION: Trump to 'personally' donate $1 million for Hurricane Harvey relief

Houston U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has predicted that the total bill from the storm and its aftermath could top $150 billion, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he expects a total federal relief package of at least $120 billion.

Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has said that congressional appropriations for the storm damage are likely to come in separate amounts as the cleanup progresses. The first of the Harvey relief spending requests could be taken up as soon as next week, when Congress returns from its August recess.

Now Playing: Trump's USA hat that he wore in Texas is being sold for profit Video: NowThisNews

Trump's visit follows Tuesday's daylong trip where he received briefings from top federal and state officials in Corpus Christi and Austin. It comes a day after Vice President Mike Pence's stopover in Corpus Christi and other points along the flooded Gulf Coast.

White House officials said the ongoing emergency rescue efforts and continued flooding in Houston on Monday prevented him from coming to the city. On Saturday, the president is expected to touch down in Houston and then move on to flood-affected areas along the coast up to Lake Charles, Louisiana.

See the devastating damage Houston incurred in before and after photos.
AUSTIN -- Seeded with a $36 million donation from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday announced a new fund to help rebuild Texas after Hurricane Harvey.

He said he hopes to raise $100 million by the end of the Labor Day weekend.

Abbott, appearing with the Dells on ABC's "Good Morning America," said their donation to the new Rebuild Texas Fund, in partnership with the governor's privately funded One Star Foundation, will include a "long-term vision for the recovery of the affected areas."

Since the storm hit a week ago, companies and individuals across the country have pledged at least another $30 million in donations to help with relief and rebuilding efforts.

"Over the past week we have seen Texans and Americans come together to assist in the relief and recovery efforts and I have no doubt that this generosity will extend to this fund. I thank Michael and Susan Dell for their commitment to the State of Texas and to all those affected by Hurricane Harvey," Abbott said in announcing the $36 million contribution -- the largest single donation so far.

Abbott and the Dells encouraged others across the United States to donate to the new fund that is designed to aid the recovery efforts from what has been billed as the nation's most destructyive natural disaster.

Abbott said donations to the fund are being received at www.rebuildtx.org or by texting 'rebuildtx' to 91999.

"Seeing the way Texans have stepped up to help their fellow Texans in the aftermath of this storm is truely inspiring," Abbott said, calling gift from the Dells, who live in Austin, a "selfless gift (that) is a true representation of the Texas spirit and will go a long way for those in need."

Dell, a native of Houston that was among the hardest hit areas in the storm, said the gift was made because it will speed and support the essential recovery efforts. "This is our home. And we know that it will take all of us working together, over the long term, to rebuild our Texas communities," he said.

"The Rebuild Texas Fund will be a partnership among rally companies, community leaders and individuals to work alongside state and federal officials to provide an additional source of funding and ideas for recovery and rebuilding," he said.
AUSTIN  Samurai swords. Hunting hogs from hot air balloons. Blocking marriages if the bride or groom is under 16. This is just a taste of the new Texas laws in effect Sept. 1.

Other laws make it a hate crime to harm a police officer, ban texting and driving and stiffen the penalties for online bulling.
President Donald Trump plans to visit North Dakota next week, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Forum News Service on Thursday.

The Republican presidents visit to the Bismarck-Mandan area Wednesday will be focused on tax reform, Hoeven said. Another person with knowledge of the plans said earlier Thursday that Trump planned to give a speech at a Mandan refinery, but Hoeven said he could not confirm potential sites.

Were looking at a number of locations, he said. We like the idea of an energy venue.

An email sent to the White House press office was not immediately returned.

The visit would come a week after Trump gave his first major speech on tax reform at a manufacturing company in Missouri, according to Reuters.

Clearly, hes going around the country building support for tax reform, tax relief. Thats good. Thats what he should be doing, Hoeven said. This tax relief is really about small business, its about farmers, ranchers, energy, its about really helping our economy grow and helping us compete globally.

A recent Gallup poll showed Trump's 59 percent approval rating in North Dakota is second only to West Virginia. He easily won North Dakota during last years presidential election with almost 63 percent of the vote.

During a campaign stop in Bismarck last year, Trump said his presidency would be a boon to the states energy industry. He said he supports fracking and said the federal government should get out of the way.

Under my presidency, well accomplish a complete American energy independence. Complete, he said during last years Williston Basin Petroleum Conference.

Trumps visit to North Dakota would be the first by a sitting president since Barack Obama came to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2014.
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All-Conference WEC teams The All-Conference teams for the War Eagle Conference have been announced with multiple MMCRU and South OBrien volleyball players making...

Crane signs off, for now I miss my ol' buddy, sportscaster Keith Crane on the sidelines. I miss his friendly smile, his dedication to his...
Receiving its world premiere at Venice, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei crosses borders with his wide-ranging documentary Human Flow, an angry and compassionate witnessing of what looks like being the greatest man-made tragedy of our times.



No one leaves home lightly, says a female refugee from Iraq. You suffer hardship just to get to safety. It is one of the many voices in Human Flow that presents both a panoramic and at once intimate portrait of the experience of the refugee. Its timely film, as the debate has shifted with the surge in movement from one of occasional sympathy  spurred by images like that of Aylan Kurdi, the drowned child on the Turkish beach  to a callusing of sensibility which has its political expression in the rise of the far-right and its physical expression in the rise of the border walls and fences. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, only eleven countries had such physical barriers marking their borders. Now that number is seventy.

This is just one of the many fascinating facts that are regularly proffered, giving an educational gloss. Likewise, a variety of talking heads  mostly from the UN and various humanitarian NGOs  give soundbites. Though physically present throughout much of the film, Ai refuses to editorialise or interrogate his sources, and its these more conventional moments which tend to be weakest. The strength comes with his embracing of the ragtag communities themselves and the deep empathy the film has. Starting from an omniscient POV, we see first a migrating pass over the sea and then a dinghy packed with men, women and children. We see them land in Greece. With the conflict in Syria and Iraq, these are basically entire countries on the move with people of all ages from babies to grandmothers. Blocked at the border of Macedonia, the refugees make an improvised camp. Soon, the sound of bronchial coughing can be heard above the sound of the rain and the wind snapping at the inadequate tents.

Many of these people have already suffered unimaginable trauma and the response of Europe is shown to be shambolic and increasingly heartless. In Berlin, a refuge is set up at Tempelhof airport. In Paris, they shelter under a bridge. The UK is only glimpsed through barbed wire. So we dont see this as exclusively our problem, Ai takes us to other countries taking in people like Jordan and Lebanon, the latter hosting a significant proportion of its population in refugees. In Africa, Turkey, Italy and the United States the story is the same but the human story is always there. Being a refugee is as varied as any other life experience. We see the boredom, grief and fear of course, but we also see how resilient the children are, delighted to run about in the dirt and photobomb Ais camera. We see the barbershops, the family bonds, the attempts to retain dignity in hovels with the same colourful shabbiness of litter.

Ai himself is an avuncular, chummy presence. Always the artist, his eye picks out the colour of the discarded life jackets and the strange beauty of the burning oil fields and destruction that many are fleeing. Yet he resists anaesthetising us with aesthetics. The drone shots and POVs all serve a purpose: to enquire, to investigate and occasionally to condemn. Ais own stateless status is not mentioned and if anything his privileged position is emphasised as he films constantly with his phone. In one exchange he jokingly swaps his passport with an Iraqi refugee, who more pointedly offers to swap his tent for the artists Berlin studio.

With its epic scale and global reach, Human Flow is a powerful testament to a shameful crime against humanity. Whether the causes are warfare, poverty, famine or climate change, the misery and suffering is undeniable. At a time when certain major political movements are determined to deny it and to play the victims for their own plight, Human Flow  like the hashtag campaign Ai participates  in stands with the refugees.

For our full coverage of this years 74th Venice Film Festival simply follow this link.



John Bleasdale | @drjonty


Daniel McCabes documentary is at times lyrical, at times shocking, frequently eye-opening and constantly fascinating. Its an honest attempt to not only show that this is Congo, but also to ask the all-important question: how did the DRC fall into such disrepair?

To grow up as a child in Congo, according to Gods will, is to grow up in paradise, states a Congolese Colonel. But with the wars, to be a child in Congo is misery. Such is this reviewers ignorance of the country  informed only by Joseph Conrads famous novella, Tim Butchers Blood River and endless news reports of endless wars  that the opening images of hilly sheep country under a damp blanket of mist came as a surprise. It looks like Cumbria. McCabes film is constantly surprising, as well as shocking and tragic, but his unflinching mission is to create a broader understanding of the country, its politics, its geography and landscape, but most importantly its people: and to do so via the voices, so infrequently heard, of the Congolese.

The colonel we first meet is Mamadou Ndala, a career army officer whose patriotism and charisma have set him on a meteoric rise. His courage on the frontline is undoubted but, like a latter day Cincinnatus, he dreams of returning to his farm once the wars have ended. He is a nationalist who believes fully in the newly re-elected President Kabila. A darling of the media, he preens a little as he perches on the edge of an empty swimming pool to give his eulogies about the spirit of the nation and how the army is being modernised and taught, among other things, human rights. Theres some cognitive dissonance as we see one of his men being brutally beaten as he dresses, looking for his belt, but on the whole the impression is that of a new DRC.

Hakiza Nyantaba, on the other hand, is a 58-year-old tailor who hawks his invaluable sewing machine  This is my oil, my salt and my bread he says  into the displacement camp that is his new home, following a rebel attack on his city. We can fully understand the terror of the civilians fleeing as the camera captures a father desperately trying to protect his children as artillery fire deafens. He tells another story of dysentery, deprivation and relentless fear, even as he sits amidst the rubbish of the camp, toiling his trade. Bibianne, also known as Mama Romance, is a portly mineral dealer. She has acquired some wealth and position for herself by illegally trading in the minerals that should make DRC a wealthy country but whose wealth is instead the jealously guarded reserve of the kleptocrats. Even her relatively prosperous condition allows her only a bigger shack and rests on a precarious network of bribery that could collapse at any time.

The rebels also set up selling minerals while a shadowy military insider with a disguised voice gives us his history of Congo with the aid of archive footage. The Congo has never been stable, he says, recounting the CIA-backed ousting of the first post-colonial president in favour of army strongman Mobutu (who, after a business-friendly period of prosperity, renamed the country Zaire began carving it up). The rebel M23 are represented by a chatty general who has claimed a hill for himself and is buying up arms with the funds from mineral sales. Bordering countries Rwanda and Uganda are also apportioned some of the blame for destabilising their neighbour by offering funding and support for the rebel groups, most of whom are ex-soldiers whose dispiriting alphabet soup of acronyms is a fig-leaf to their desire to be paid more.

Its the civilians in the middle who bear the brunt of the violence and lawlessness as the city of Goma  with a million inhabitants  falls first to the rebels and then back to the army, with the consequent destruction of property, rape and murder. There are shocking, horrifying images, but McCabe also shows the funeral of a young pregnant woman who died of dysentery. His camera shows the grief of a village finding the bodies of their murdered family members, a grief which turns to panic as the shooting starts again. This Is Congo is an angry film, yet one which is never blinded by its anger. McCabe offers no solutions  the UN Peacekeeping Force are rounded on at one point by furious locals  and no grounds for optimism. Yet even in its attempts to understand and to communicate that understanding, there is a defiance against the easy fallback of despair.



John Bleasdale | @drjonty
Copiii cu nevoi speciale din Stefan Voda au conditii de reabilitare mai bune, datorita UE si Fundatiei Soros Moldova
Billionaire Warren Buffett says the storm damage in Texas is staggering, but he isnt sure yet how much insurance companies will have to pay in claims.

Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns Geico and several other insurers, so his company will be helping people rebuild. Buffett appeared on CNBC Wednesday before dining with the person who paid nearly $2.7 million in a charity auction for lunch with Buffett.

The effects of this are going to go on for a long time, Buffett said.

The investor expects that 50,000 of the roughly 500,000 vehicles Geico insures in the area will be total losses. But Buffett predicted there will also be large uninsured losses after this storm.

Buffett said Berkshire hasnt written much catastrophe insurance in recent years because prices were too low, so that will limit the Omaha, Nebraska-based companys exposure. By contrast, Berkshire recorded $3.4 billion in hurricane-related losses in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma struck the Gulf Coast.

Buffett predicted that the damage from Harvey wont derail the relatively steady 2 percent growth in the U.S. economy, but it will be devastating to some individuals and families.

Buffett is Berkshires chairman and CEO. The conglomerate owns more than 90 companies, including BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies.

Earlier this week, Berkshire became the largest shareholder in Bank of America to go along with its major stake in Wells Fargo. Buffett said he likes both banks and plans to continue holding their shares.

It will be a long, long time before we sell Bank of America shares, he said.

Buffett also expressed confidence in one of Berkshires few high-tech investments, Apple. Buffett bought more shares of the phone and computer maker in the second quarter to give his company 130.2 million shares.

Ive never sold an Apple share, he said.

Buffett celebrated his 87th birthday Wednesday at the charity lunch that benefits the Glide Foundation, which helps homeless people in San Francisco. Buffett has raised more than $25 million for Glide through the auctions.

The winner of this years lunch auction has remained anonymous. That person received a relative bargain compared to last years record bid of $3,456,789, which tied for the record set in 2012.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
An audit recommends the city of Portland improve the way it promotes safety after it was hit with more than $18 million in legal payouts from 2012 to 2016.

Cases against the Oregon city included workers getting injured, city vehicles hurting people or damaging property and discrimination complaints filed by employees, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Although Portlands risk management has spent nearly $16 million annually to help city bureaus lower injury rates, financial loss and liabilities, the audit found that it is not doing enough to prevent future injuries.

In the last four years, the number of worker injuries has jumped from 526 in 2012 to 605 in 2016.

The risk management division has not followed best practices for setting safety guidelines or shared information across bureaus that would help reduce accidents, prevent loss and protect city employees, according to the audit presented by Portland Auditor Mary Hull Caballero to the City Council on Wednesday.

It also found that the safety information has not passed through a required review by a Loss Control Advisory Committee composed of council members, the city auditor and other high-level city officials. Auditors found no records indicating that the advisory committee has ever come together.

This risk management relationship with City Council is necessary to ensure that (the) council receives adequate information to make cost-benefit decisions about risk when setting priorities and adopting budgets, the audit said.

In a written response to the audit, Portlands Chief Administrative Officer Tom Rinehart, who overlooks the office responsible for the risk management, said his bureau will better adhere to city codes and improve how it provides information, consultation and support to bureaus.

Rinehart and City Risk Manager Kate Wood did not respond to the newspapers requests for comment on Tuesday.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PENINSULA, Ohio - Ever seen a river otter in the wild? Well now you can, as these cute, whiskered creatures have returned to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Otters are extremely sensitive to chemicals in the water, so their return to places like Beaver Marsh north of the Ira Road trailhead and other wetland areas is a sign of the park's improving health, says the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Although river otters are native to Ohio, hunting and habitat destruction had just about wiped them out by the 1900s. Then in 1986, the Ohio Division of Wildlife began a seven-year project, bringing 123 otters from Arkansas and Louisiana to rivers all around Ohio.

Since then otters have been spotted in about two-thirds of Ohio counties, and by 2002 were taken off the state's endangered species list.

A group of swimming otters is called a "raft."

Interestingly, beavers had also been absent from Ohio for decades, trapped out for their fur.

Beaver Marsh had been an auto mechanic's junkyard, but the Portage Group of the Sierra Club cleaned it up in 1984. Around the same time, beavers started returning to the valley and built a system of dams that flooded the area.

Today, it's a great spot for watching wetland birds and other wildlife, including river otters, whose webbed feet make them talented swimmers. In fact, in water otters are so fast they have few natural predators. They're also agile on land, and build burrows close to rivers, lakes, marshlands and similar ecosystems.

How can you tell an otter from a mink?

Otters are about four-feet long, with dark brown or gray fur, a white "mustache," and whitish cheeks. Minks are less than two-feet long, with completely dark brown fur and a distinctive white patch under their chins.

Otters are very active in the early evening and throughout the night, as they hunt for fish and other aquatic animals.

Your best bet for viewing them is early morning at Beaver Marsh or another wetland area in the park, when the creatures are slowing down after hunting all night.

If you get a good photo of a river otter in the national park, email it to the conservancy with your name and contact information.

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BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- The city's Planning & Zoning Commission decided Thursday that it would take a little time to look at the big picture when it comes to allowing drive-thrus in Beachwood.

Michael Arch, the owner of the Starbuck's at 22841 Chagrin Blvd., at the corner of Green Road, once again appeared before the commission seeking approval for a drive-thru at the establishment. Arch went before the commission in June asking that the city code be changed to allow a Starbuck's drive-thru.

The commission opted at that time, as it did Thursday, to table the matter. Beachwood, going back at least 23 years, has prohibited in its code drive-thrus, other than those at banks. The city has three drive-thrus at banks.

Arch is looking to move the Chagrin Boulevard Starbuck's from the westernmost storefront it now occupies within a four-storefront strip, to the easternmost. Up until a couple of years ago, that easternmost storefront, now vacant, had been occupied by a bank and is still equipped with a drive-thru.

In June, and again on Thursday, Beachwood's police and fire departments told of their concerns about allowing a drive-thru in what they see as a busy, small and congested lot. The departments agree that space could be limited for emergency vehicles in the event they are required to maneuver in the strip's lot.

Commission member and Mayor Merle Gorden said he is pro-business, but added, "When it comes to safety issues, that's where the line draws. I've not heard anything positive (about Starbuck's plans) from police or fire."

Arch's architect, William Eberhard, sent a letter to Fire Chief Patrick Kearns Aug. 24 addressing the fire department's concerns. In the letter, Eberhard said Starbuck's design was revised to accommodate more cars so that a line of autos will not extend onto Green Road.

Eberhard said Arch had also agreed to have personnel monitor the stacking of cars in the line and direct excess cars to park or to move around the building to maintain traffic flow.

"The revised site plan shows a greatly increased turning radius at the northeast corner of the property, making any emergency traffic far easier and more safe than the conditions existing today," the letter stated.

As the commission debated the merits of the revised plan and the chiefs' objections, City Planner George Smerigan told members that there is more at stake than allowing Starbuck's a drive-thru.

"This is essentially a policy change," Smerigan said. "We have not allowed drive-thrus in restaurants. We have had many requests over the years to do so.

"Is this the policy change you want to get into?"

Commission Chair Orry Jacobs said that times have changed since the city forbade all drive-thrus except for those at banks, and said that the prohibition should be re-examined. Gorden agreed, as did commission member Brian Zabell.

"I think drive-thrus are more important today than they were some time ago," Zabell said. "I think they're going to be even more important in the future. We need to adapt to the times."

Jacobs suggested that the commission take a closer look at the prohibition on drive-thrus then make a recommendation to City Council as to whether or not they should be permitted.

In June, Arch said he would consider leaving Beachwood after 19 years of operation if Starbuck's did not get approval for a drive-thru.

On Thursday, sensing that if a vote were taken that night on the matter it would not go his way, Arch and his lawyer, Dan Lindner, agreed to have the matter tabled while the commission ponders a possible policy change.

Gorden said that decision would not be finalized in 2017.

Also at Thursday's meeting, the commission approved, without opposition, the final site plan to extend the drive at Corporate Park, off Richmond Road, through to Enterprise Parkway.

The drive currently stops at Enterprise Parkway, where a grade in the drive will have to be altered to allow for the connection.

On a recommendation from Beachwood Police Chief Gary Haba, the commission granted approval based on the condition that a left turn onto Enterprise Parkway cannot be made when exiting the drive. Such a turn, Haba said, could further hold up already heavy northbound traffic coming from Chagrin Boulevard.

Last year, the city had considered making the drive a dedicated road and paying for the work to connect it to Enterprise Parkway.

Property owner Bonnie Reinberg had been prepared to donate the driveway land to the city for the project. When the city decided against the project, Reinberg opted to do it on her own.

She said Thursday that the work would begin next spring.
NORTHFIELD, Ohio - Native Clevelander and 1980s hitmaker Michael Stanley and his band, the Resonators, have a concert scheduled at the Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield Park on Dec. 22.

Tickets to the show go on sale Sept. 8.

Stanley formed the Michael Stanley Band in the early 1970s and gained fame in the Cleveland area, setting attendance records at several Northeast Ohio venues in the late '70s. Those records included a 1979 show at the now-demolished Richfield Coliseum attended by 20,320 people.

The band's biggest hit to date is the 1981 single "He Can't Love You," which reached No. 33 on Billboard's Top 40. The music video for the song was the 47th video ever played on the fledgling television network MTV.

The Michael Stanley Band broke up in 1986, but several of their members migrated to Stanley's current act, the Resonators.
Photo: Lucasfilm/Disney

May the Force Friday II be with you

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The wait is over, Star Wars fans.

Disney lifted the veil off its new line of "Star Wars" merchandise just after midnight as retailers across the globe celebrated "Force Friday II."

There are literally hundreds of new items including toys, collectibles, clothing, gadgets, furniture, you name it that tie into the next chapter in the saga, "The Last Jedi."

Here's a look at our Top 10 favorite products.

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Star Wars Force Link BB-8 2-in-1 Mega Playset

It's an oversized BB-8 action figure. It's a First Order throne room. Stop, you're both right! Comes with two Force Link-activated figures  Supreme Leader Snoke and Elite Praetorian Guard.

Target, $199.99

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The littleBits Droid Inventor Kit lets you build an R2-D2 of your very own https://t.co/ecqbdNlEa2 #littlebits pic.twitter.com/Fa4qR2TlOZ  heystartup (@heystartup) August 31, 2017

Droid Inventor Kit by LittleBits

You don't have a wait for a Jawa garage sale to own your R2 unit. Just build one yourself. After all, everyone could use a trusty, beeping sidekick to help them hack into the First Order's computers and co-pilot their X-Wing.

$100 at Walmart, Amazon, the Apple Store, the Disney Store and littleBits.com.

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Joey Morona, cleveland.com

Star Wars The Black Series Poe Dameron Electronic X-Wing Pilot Helmet

Because who doesn't want to grow up to be the best pilot in the Resistance?

Target, $79.99

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You'll need the force to fly a Star Wars Battle Drone https://t.co/fw9M8JwOiF pic.twitter.com/eJeCA14xPi  Mashable (@mashable) August 31, 2017

Star Wars Propel Drones

You know what's cooler than flying a drone? Flying a "Star Wars" drone. These babies from Propel fly up to 35 mph and are vailable in three varieties: a T-65 X-Wing Starfighter, Tie Advanced XI Starfighter and 74-Z Speeder Bike.

179.99-$199.99 at Brookstone, Best Buy and other retailers

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Hasbro 12" figure 6-pack

Why play with traditional 3.75 inch action figures when you can play with figures three times the size? Our sentiments exactly. Set includes Rey, Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, BB-8 and two Stormtroopers.

$49.99

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Hasbo Electronic Beaks Porg

Try as you might, but you will not be able to resist these cute, cuddly inhabitants of Ahch-To that have been keeping Luke company all these years. Press the Porg's tummy to watch it walk and talk.

Amazon, Target $39.99

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Star Wars: Jedi Challenges  Awaken Your Inner Jedi Awaken your inner Jedi with Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, a smartphone-powered augmented reality experience. Posted by Lenovo United States on Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Lenovo Star Wars: Jedi Challenges augmented reality glasses

Strap on a headset and grab a lightsaber, this smartphone-powered game lets you participate in lightsaber battles, a game of Holochess or strategic combat in beautiful, like-like augmented reality. Watch the video above to get the full effect.

$199.99 at Best Buy

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'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' figures by Funko Pop!

Collectors will snatch up these popular figures quickly, so you may need to do some shopping around to find the one you're looking for. Notable additions to the series that are sure to be hot commodoties include lonely Ahch-To Luke, out of the hologram Supreme Leader Snoke, dark side BB-8 and a cute, cuddly Porg.

Prices vary starting at about $9 at various retailers including Walmart, Target, Toys 'R Us, Amazon, Books a Million, Barnes and Noble and more.

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LEGO playsets

If you're like Anakin Skywalker and good at building things, LEGO has a bunch of new playsets, ships and character figures for you to assemble including Kylo Ren's Tie Fighter, a First Order Assault Walker, Resistance Bomber, Elite Praetorian Guard and more.

Prices range from $7.99-$150+. Availalbe at LEGO Stores, Toys R Us, Target, Amazon and more.

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Sphero app-enabled droid

That semi-autonomous little BB-8 unit you've probably seen scooting around and tripping over at Brookstone now has two friends: his dark side counterpart BB-E9 and Rebellion hero R2-D2.

$149.99-$179.99 at Brookstone, Amazon, Target, Apple and other retailers

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" lands in theaters on December 15.

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Star Wars fans, you're home. #ForceFridayII starts now! Get the latest Star Wars: The Last Jedi gear: http://bit.ly/2gnygai Posted by ThinkGeek on Thursday, August 31, 2017

Chewbacca with Beak Back Buddy (bottom right in above picture)

"He always had Han Solo's back, now he can have yours," says the clever product description of this backpack, which also features Chewie's new best friend, a lovable Porg.

Yes, technially this is No. 11 on a list of 10, but the Porg is just too cute to leave out.

$39.99 exclusively at thinkgeek.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland mayoral candidate Jeff Johnson on Thursday said he was "significantly disappointed" in Greater Cleveland Congregations' decision to withdraw petitions calling for a referendum on the $140 million Quicken Loans Arena transformation.

City Councilman Johnson and Steve Holecko, political director for the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, called a news conference Thursday afternoon to bemoan that Clevelanders will not get a vote on spending tax dollars to upgrade the Q.

"They actually so quickly dismissed all that we have worked for and what we had agreed upon," Johnson said. "I felt the pressure being put on them, I saw people dropping out of their (Greater Cleveland Congregations) organization. So I'm not shocked by it but I was very disappointed."

The Greater Cleveland Congregations opposed the deal because they believed it would have no benefits for struggling Cleveland neighborhoods. Members circulated petitions, earning more than 20,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

On Monday, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced the Q deal was dead, because of the vote that would delay construction and increase the cost to expand the Q. On Thursday, after mounting criticism, Greater Cleveland Congregations withdrew petitions calling for a referendum on the Q deal that were to have led to a referendum vote.

"20,000 signatures. Those people aren't represented," Holecko said, calling the four-way deal with Cuyahoga County, the Cavs and Destination Cleveland "corporate welfare."

The transformation financing is a four-way arrangement among the city, county, Destination Cleveland and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs originally agreed to pay half of the cost of the renovations, plus any unexpected construction costs and the public's share of tax money if taxes were less than expected.

GCC member pastor Rev. Jawanza Colvin said he and group co-chair Rev. Richard Gibson were contacted by the Revs. Larry Macon and C. Jay Matthews of United Pastors in Mission to mediate a discussion with the county to try and renegotiate.

The GCC gave up the fight after being reassured by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish that the county were committed to mental health and substance abuse centers.

"As much as we have done, we recognize there is much more to do, and we are committed to doing more throughout the County (including pursuing additional facilities and services for substance abuse and mental health crises), subject to the availability of resources and determinations of the best practice to follow," Budish wrote in a letter to the United Pastors in Mission.

Other referendum advocates said they were disappointed with the GCC's decision. Anthony Caldwell, public affairs director for the Service Employees International Union District 1199, a labor group representing low-income workers, said his group was not consulted.

"This is a bad deal. It isn't transformational in any way. It doesn't lift people out of poverty," he said.

Caldwell said the GCC caved to pressure from U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Budish.

Supporting the GCC's change of heart, though, were a group of about seven clergymen who came together in a separate press conference Thursday.

"A deal that was dead on Tuesday has the potential to be alive today," Pastor C. Jay Matthews, representing United Pastors in Mission, said.

The Cavs say they're encouraged by the petition withdrawal and are now reconsidering their decision, CEO Len Komoroski said.

We are reviewing the impact of this change and discussing it further with the County, the City and others," Komoroski said.

Cleveland.com reporters Andrew J. Tobias and Kaylee Remington contributed to this report.
MEDINA, Ohio - The Medina Planning Commission gave the Osborne Concrete Company a conditional zoning permit to continue to operate their concrete crushing system despite complaints of noise and dust pollution from residents of two nearby housing developments.

The decision was made Thursday night after an hour-long meeting behind closed doors, which was called when the five members of the commission could not agree on approving or rejecting the permit.

An hour after the start of the executive session, and four hours after the start of the meeting, the commissioners voted 3-to-2 to grant the permit over the angry protests of about 50 residents of the Yorktown and Liberty Woods developments.

Part of the approval included demands that the concrete company create a 22-foot high earthen wall to shield residents from the noise of the concrete crushing machinery. The crushed concrete is recycled.

The company, located at 795 S. Progress Drive, was the first to suggest the dirt wall. The company was also ordered to frequently wet down the machinery and the concrete piles to reduce airborne dust and restrict their operations to Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The company also agreed to abide by the Ohio EPA rules regarding stormwater runoff.

Angry residents said they plan to sue the commission because they believe the executive session was a violation of the Ohio Sunshine law, which guarantees open governmental meetings. Before the members went into the closed meeting, Commissioner Bruce Gold they said they would do so to discuss the permit "without the noise" created by the residents.

When the residents objected, citing the Sunshine law, the commission lawyer Greg Huber said it was proper because he would be discussing legal aspects of the permit. He said that is allowed by the open meeting law.

The residents said they would discuss the matter with an attorney.

Commission members Monica Russell and Rick Grice voted against the permit.

"I can't be sure that granting the permit wouldn't be detrimental to the community," Russell said.

Osborne Vice-President Richard Buccini elicited a chorus of groans when he said that in the 20 years the company was there that they had only received a few complaints and that when he toured the housing developments he could hardly hear any noise.

He reminded the commission that the company was given permission to crush concrete by the city in 2008 by former Medina Service Director Greg Hannan.

"We asked the service director if we needed a permit, he said we did not," said Buccini in an earlier interview. "He said the permission was all we needed and we took him on his word."

Earlier this year, Medina Community Development Director Jonathan Mendel said Hannan did not have the authority to grant the permit. He said Osborne must go through the review to get the conditional zoning to continue its operation of crushing concrete and asphalt debris and processing it for reuse.

Bob Russell, one of the residents complaining about the dust, spoke for more than 20 minutes Thursday night demanding that Osborne's petition be denied.

He questioned an one-time analysis of the air by the Labyrinth Management Co. that determined that the number of silica particles in the air was acceptable. The residents, who say a film of dust covers everything, fear the dust could cause breathing illnesses.

"They took one sample, one, after several straight days of rain and after Osborne employees had wet down the equipment and the stone piles," Russell said. "Of course there was nothing in the air. The test should have been done several times in different conditions."
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Lake, Geauga and Portage counties will have two medical marijuana dispensaries among them, according to updated maps released Friday by the Ohio Pharmacy Board.

That's one more than the counties were originally supposed to get under the Pharmacy Board's initial proposal in July. Northeastern Ohio will still have 18 medical marijuana dispensaries, according to maps released.

Meantime, Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning counties - which were proposed to have three dispensaries - will now have two.

The changes came after the Pharmacy Board considered public feedback on its plan, said board spokesman Cameron McNamee. The Northeast Ohio changes were the only ones to the dispensary plan, which allows for 60 stores across the state.

Urban areas such as Cuyahoga and Franklin counties will each have five dispensaries, which will leave others with none.

Sixty dispensaries will not be enough, said Chris Lindsey, of the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that was working toward a constitutional amendment for medical cannabis before the proposal was legalized in the Ohio legislature. The organization now watches the state as it endeavors to start the program.

"It is just simply not enough so you're going to have to make hard decisions about who doesn't have local access," he said. "It's not what voters would necessarily support."

The Pharmacy Board's McNamee said the number and locations of dispensaries will adjust over time, as the state sees who is seeking medical marijuana and where they're from.

People who suffer from 21 conditions, ranging from cancer to Tourette's syndrome could qualify for cannabis.

In coming months, the state will accept applications from people who want to open dispensaries throughout the state, McNamee said.

The law requires cannabis to be available Sept. 8, 2018, although some question whether Ohio will be able to complete its regulatory responsibilities and address possible lawsuits by then.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As recovery efforts continue after Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 20 trillion gallons of rain on Texas and Louisiana, across the globe, heavy rains crippled India, Bangladesh and Nepal this week, killing more than 1,200.

While Harvey's rain was an unprecedented 1,000-year flood event, indicating a 1 in 1,000 chance of that intense of a flood occurring in any year, the flooding in southeast Asia is considered much less out of the norm, with regular floods during monsoon season, running from June to September.

First, Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4, devastating Houston and surrounding areas with over 50 inches of rain, breaking the all-time record for rainfall by a single storm system in the lower 48. Over 93,000 homes were estimated to be destroyed, says the Texas Division of Emergency Management, with over 32,000 stranded in shelters. 325,000 Texans have already registered for assistance from FEMA, as 80 percent of Texans are uninsured for floods. Shane Hubbard, Ph.D. researcher with the space science and engineering center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told the Washington Post, "In looking at many of these events [in the United States], I've never seen anything of this magnitude or size," he said. "This is something that hasn't happened in our modern era of observations."

Harvey quickly made it into the history books in the U.S., with the latest death toll up to at least 47.

Parallel flooding in southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia, specifically India, are no strangers to this extreme type of flood event, yet this year's floods are still particularly severe. Over the past week, lives were lost as the rain triggered destructive landslides, while locals in other areas "waded through waist-high water trying to get home from work after being stuck there overnight," described USA Today.

The BBC reported 16 million people have been affected across south Asia, with tens of thousands displaced.

The link to climate change.

Headlines surrounding devastating flood damage like during Harvey and southeast Asia's monsoon could become more of the norm with climate change.

No, climate change did not on its own cause the hurricanes and floods. Instead, scientists hypothesize the link is intensity. "Global warming is making a bad situation worse," says the Atlantic. First, the releasing of excess greenhouse gases from human activities prevents solar radiation from bouncing back into space, inadvertently trapping in heat and increasing global temperatures. With warmer air, comes more moisture in the atmosphere, and with more moisture comes heavier rainfall. As the air warms, the ocean does too, allowing Harvey, and tropical cyclones in general, to feed off of it as fuel. Sea-surface temperatures near Texas rose between 2.7 to 7.2 degrees above average as Harvey neared, allowing it to grow from a tropical depression to a Category 4 hurricane in about 48 hours.

"This is the main fuel for the storm," said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, to the Atlantic. "Although these storms occur naturally, the storm is apt to be more intense, maybe a bit bigger, longer-lasting, and with much heavier rainfalls [because of that ocean heat]."

Trenberth believes the human contribution can be up to 30 percent or so of the total rainfall coming out of a storm. In Harvey's perspective, that's over 6 trillion gallons.

Generally speaking, human-induced warming by the end of the 21st century will likely cause tropical cyclones globally to be more intense on average, by 2 to 11 percent, and this change would imply an even larger percentage increase in the destructive potential per storm, concluded the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory with NOAA. "There are even better odds that anthropogenic warming over the next century will lead to an increase in the occurrence of very intense tropical cyclones in some basins -- an increase that would be substantially larger in percentage terms."

With climate change and global warming temperatures, double flood disasters will likely increase in occurrence.

Keep checking cleveland.com/weather for daily weather updates for Northeast Ohio, and don't forget to submit any weather questions you may have!

Kelly Reardon is cleveland.com's meteorologist. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @KelTellsWeather.
Roosevelt Dime

Dime pays homage to Franklin Roosevelt's legacy By Paul Gilkes

COIN WORLD Staff President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sudden death of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, compelled Treasury officials to recommend the...READ MORE
Images courtesy of the U.S. Mint

Cumulative sales of the 2017 225th Anniversary Enhanced Uncirculated Coin set dropped by more than 25,000. The news of the sales decrease was the hottest post on Coin World.

Its that time of the week again, as we catch up on what happened in the numismatic world this week.

Coin World is looking back at its five most-read stories of the week.

Click the links to read the stories. Here they are, in reverse order:

5. Experts identify first Proof 1865 Indian Head gold $3 coin with medal turn: The first Proof 1865 Indian Head gold $3 coin struck with dies oriented in medal turn instead of coin turn has been identified.

4. Is silver positioned to make traditional strong move up in September?: Silver and gold traditionally make their strongest gains in September, according to Mike Fuljenz.

3. 1951 Franklin half dollar Proof 67+ Deep Cameo, CAC, the pinnacle of the issue: This 1951 coin from the Blue Ocean Collection may be, as Heritage observes, the pinnacle of collecting for an advanced Franklin half dollar proof specialist.

2. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin inspects Fort Knox gold: Steven Mnuchins Aug. 21 visit to the gold vaults of the Fort Knox Gold Bullion Depository in Kentucky was the first by a Treasury secretary in 69 years.

1. Sales of 225th Anniversary Enhanced Uncirculated Coin set in downward spiral: Sales of the 2017 225th Anniversary Enhanced Uncirculated Coin set as of Aug. 24 were reduced by more than 25,000 sets in a single week.

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In 2014 Rhode Island metal detectorist James Bailey located a small silver coin from what is now Yemen. Here, the ground was dug for removing the coin.

The silver coin is sometimes called a khums kabir, but is more appropriately known as a comassee. A total of nine examples or partial examples of comassee coins have been located in southern New England. Henry Every, a notorious pirate, helped usher in piracys golden age. His capture of the Gunsway in 1695 may explain detectorist Baileys silver coin find.

A Rhode Island metal detectorists chance discovery of a small silver coin, and his research into the find, offer a compelling look into the world of Red Sea piracy late in the 1600s, and its connections to the economic well-being of early American colonial cities.

James Baileys persistent searches of a field at a farm market in Middletown, Rhode Island, led to a discovery in May 2014 that sent him searching for answers for more than three years. His quest delved into the history of the Red Sea pirates who were ultimately emboldened by and who helped enrich New England colonists.

How can collectors determine a coins value when price guides assign it different values? Also in this weeks print issue, we learn of the first report of a 2017 doubled die variety, found on a Lincoln cent.

Baileys research is presented in the August 2017 edition of The Colonial Newsletter, published by the American Numismatic Society.

Bailey located the coin 8 inches below the ground, but could not identify it even after dirt was no longer caking the coin. He struggled with identifying the coin until by chance viewing Diggers, a metal detecting show on National Geographic, featuring an account of a similar Arabian coin (only partially complete) that had been discovered, also in New England. Despite its poor condition, the coin fragment featured on the program was identified as a 17th century khums kabir from Yemen.

The Yemeni coin, dated to 1693, is historically referred to as a comassee, a piece then valued at 80 to one dollar. It is of the same kind as the example found by Bailey, and is one of nine Arabian coins including eight comassee (five confirmed and three suspected examples) found in southern New England, in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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Bailey makes a persuasive argument that the coin he found, and others like it, can be traced to piracy, given the date of the coins, their slight wear consistent with brief, intermittent, yet far-reaching circulation, and the connections between where the famed trade vessel Gunsway traveled and where pirates with the Gunsways booty fled from capture.

Nearly two dozen pirate vessels sailed between America and the East Indies from 1689 to 1708, and likely many more made the trip without being recorded by history.

Specifically, Bailey offers convincing  though not conclusive  evidence that the coin he found indicates the presence of famed pirate Henry Every in Rhode Island in May 1696.

The American colonies engaged in piracy in the distant Red Sea during the late 17th century, specifically targeting rich Muslim shipping from the Mughal Empire (modern day India).

Capturing the loot

The ship Fancy, led by Every, captured the Mughal trade ship known as the Gunsway, which was owned by Emperor Aurangzeb himself. The September 1695 episode has been described as one of the greatest heists in the history of piracy, according to Bailey.

When taken by Every and his crew, the Gunsway was carrying an enormous quantity of gold and silver coins from the sale of Indian goods along the Red Sea.

The ship was in trade with the East India Company, and the attack on the Gunsway was viewed as an attack on trade itself  the foundation of Englands growing ambitions for empire, Bailey writes.

The English crown responded with the first worldwide manhunt, and King William III issued a proclamation about the desperadoes.

In June of 1696, some of the villains arrived in Ireland in two different groups, drawing attention to themselves by their unrestrained spending and the presence of small silver coinage that locals found unfamiliar  comassee coins like those found more than 300 years later.

Bailey shares evidence for the first time of Everys covert landing in the American colonies (Newport, Rhode Island) aboard a slave ship, the Sea Flower, after which he sailed for England and soon after vanished from the pages of history. Everys exploits ushered in the golden age of piracy from the early 18th century.

The Sea Flowers arrival quickly drew attention, because it featured a cargo of African slaves, demand for which was weak in Newport.

Slaves were rare in Rhode Island, and especially so from Africa, brokers preferring to place in bondage those from the Caribbean. But the fact that these slaves realized little profit was of no consequence to the pirates, who were using them as a decoy to hide the fact they were spiriting in with them small fortunes in looted gold and silver.

Politicians in Rhode Island willingly assisted several pirates to gain their charter for the initial trip, and deflected attention from their arrival post-plunder that would threaten the colonial charter.

Piracy was good business for colonial America. According to Bailey, three of the top five largest cities in colonial America provided the most support to pirates.

But while the colonists happily engaged in or supported piracy, they also took pains to conceal their participation.

The scarcity of these coins in American records may be explained by the taint that they carried as artifacts of piracy.

With a wink and a nod, rough melted slabs of silver or an occasional sack of coins were left in the care of a local silversmith, Bailey writes. In the hands of a skilled craftsman, ill-gotten silver plunder taken by the sword was transformed into attractive silver plate that graced the dinner tables of good and God-fearing American colonists.

Baileys research is exhaustive, totalling 43 pages and citing numerous firsthand records, and is convincing circumstantial evidence of the connections he asserts.

These facts in total make for a persuasive argument, yet exact attribution for the 1693 specimen or any of the recovered coins in this study to a single pirate ship or voyage can never be fully determined.
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Ex-Denali CTO Michael Leeper Pleads Guilty To Computer Fraud, Could Face Up To 10 Years In Prison

Michael Novinson

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Michael Leeper admitted Wednesday to intentionally accessing the computer network of Columbia Sportswear without authorization while employed as CTO of Denali Advanced Integration.

"I know when I was logging into Columbia's network that I would likely encounter information relevant to Denali's business relationship with Columbia," Leeper wrote in a 10-page guilty plea. "In accessing and viewing some of those emails, I was motivated at least in part by my capacity as Denali's CTO, in that I believed those emails might contain information that would be useful to Denali."

Leeper acknowledged that his intrusions into Columbia's network began no later than March 2014 and continued until roughly October 2016, adding that he "accessed the network purely out of curiosity." Leeper joined Denali in March 2014 after spending 14 years in Columbia's IT department, and admitted he used network credentials he had been given as a Columbia employee after he became part of Denali.

[RELATED: Feds Charge Ex-Denali CTO Michael Leeper With Computer Fraud In Columbia Sportswear Hacking Case]

Columbia will receive $34,479 in restitution from Leeper to compensate for the loss associated with his illegal conduct, according to the plea agreement signed by the U.S. Attorney's office and Leeper. The agreement indicates that the maximum sentence for Leeper's computer fraud conviction is 10 years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

"Unauthorized computer intrusion is a serious crime, and those that unlawfully gain sensitive or proprietary information must be held accountable for their illegal conduct," Billy Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a statement.

Redmond, Wash.-based Denali, No. 83 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said it terminated Leeper on March 14, 2017, for violating company policy. Denali was not charged with anything by the U.S. Attorney's office, but is a named defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by Portland, Ore.-based Columbia in March.

"As the criminal charge and plea confirms, Denali played no role in  nor benefited from  Leeper's misconduct," Denali said in a statement posted to the company's website Wednesday. "The company takes pride in its integrity. It does not condone unfair business practices, and will not tolerate illegal conduct."

Denali denied any wrongdoing in the civil case, which is still pending. The company said Wednesday that it remains committed to resolving all issues with Columbia referenced in the civil lawsuit.

Although Leeper could spend up to 10 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office is likely to recommend that he spend just six months in prision in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines. This recommendation would be predicated on Leeper having little or no criminal history.

Aggravating factors associated with Leeper's conviction include his abuse of a position of trust or a special skill, as well as that Columbia's loss exceeded $15,000. Mitigating factors include Leeper's acceptance of responsibility for his unlawful conduct in this case, according to the plea agreement. Leeper is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7 before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jones.

In a 19-page lawsuit filed March 1 with the U.S. District Court in Portland, Columbia accused Leeper of using dummy email accounts on more than 700 occasions to illegal view internal communications concerning deals in which Denali had a financial interest, emails between Columbia and Denali's competitors, and confidential documents related to Columbia's long-range IT budget plans.

As a result of Leeper's time in Columbia's IT department, the company said Leeper had nearly unlimited access to the company's private computer network, including thousands of secure email accounts used by Columbia employees around the world.

In total, Columbia alleges Leeper hacked into at least eight of its employees' email accounts during the late summer and early fall of 2016, and additionally accessed other documents and information stored on Columbia's network.

Columbia is seeking economic and punitive damages, attorneys' fees, and an order prohibiting Denali and Leeper from using any unlawful Columbia information they still possess, according to the lawsuit.
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Here's What 9 Channel Champions Are Doing To Help Hurricane Harvey Victims

Michael Novinson

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As residents and solutions providers in Southeast Texas look to recover from Hurricane Harvey and the tropical storms that followed, several vendors and channel partners have stepped forward with matching donation programs, fundraising drives, and free IT products and support.

Here's a rundown of what nine industry players are doing in the region to lend a helping hand.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Dell Technologies Founder and CEO Michael Dell grew up in Southwest Houston's Meyerland neighborhood, which was sitting under 40 inches of water after Hurricane Harvey came through.

[Related: Dell Family Pledges $36M To Texas Flood Relief; Michael and Susan Dell: 'This Is Our Home']

To support his childhood neighborhood and many others, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is leading the charge to raise $100 million for the Rebuild Texas Fund.

Michael and Susan Dell have given $18 million to launch the fund, and have committed an additional $18 million to a matching campaign that will continue through midnight on Monday Sept. 4. For the first $36 million raised, the Foundation will match $1 for every $2 in donations received.

The fund will support community partners around health and housing, schools and child care, workforce and transportation, and capital for rebuilding small businesses.

Microsoft

Microsoft is contributing $2.5 million in cash, technology and services to support Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and help non-profit and public-sector organizations as they assist the community in recovery, according to Mary Snapp, corporate vice president and head of Microsoft Philanthropies.

The effort included an initial $100,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross to help the organization address its most pressing needs.

Additionally, Microsoft said every dollar contributed by its employees to relief organizations working in the area will be matched dollar for dollar by the Redmond, Wash.-based vendor.

To date, Microsoft said this effort has already raised $100,000 for organizations including the American Red Cross and Team Rubicon, which unite the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams.

ConnectWise

Many of ConnectWise's Houston-based channel partners are struggling to survive each day, and have shared stories of families living out of the office because their homes are underwater.

As a result, the Tampa, Fla.-based IT service management vendor is asking its channel community to come together and help the Houston-based partners survive as entrepreneurs and re-establish their successful businesses.

ConnectWise said it is looking to raise $750,000 to meet their needs and will provide a 2-for-1 match for donations of up to $250,000. Donations can be made at ConnectWise.com/HelpNow.

The company said it's also combining its strength with vendor partners, including HTG Hands that Give, to make sure all of its partners make it through the initial and residual damage.

Cisco

The Cisco Foundation has launched a $500,000 disaster response campaign to support the American Red Cross in its efforts to provide aid to Houston.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it would match donations of up to $10,000 per employee.

Cisco additionally has members of its Tactical Operations and Disaster Incident Response Team in Texas ready to respond to requests from agencies for community support. The support is rendered free of charge.

CompTIA

CompTIA is partnering with Heart to Heart International, a global humanitarian organization focused on responding to the needs of disaster victims, to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.

To incentivize potential donors, the Downers Grove, Ill.-based IT trade organization has agreed to contribute $2 for every $1 pledged to the relief campaign for up to $200,000.

CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux said Heart to Heart had mobile medical unit deployed in Texas ahead of the storm and is already working with local partners to provide medical support and aid distribution.

Donations to the hurricane and flood relief campaign may be made at http://bit.ly/CompTIACares. Specify CompTIA when prompted for a company donation match to ensure the contribution is matched 2-for-1.

SHI

SHI said all of its nearly 1,000 employees in Central, South, and Southeast Texas have been accounted for and are safe, although some might have been displaced from their homes.

The Somerset, N.J.-based company, No. 9 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said it is offering a 2-for-1 match for all employee donations up to $25,000 to the American Red Cross. The total donation amount is therefore expected to be $75,000, according to SHI.

SHI additionally said it is organizing "boots on the ground" relief efforts from its offices in Austin and Dallas, with volunteers departing once officials in the most heavily affected areas indicate they are ready to receive such assistance.

Finally, SHI said it will meet with longtime customers and partners in the affected areas to understand which IT-related equipment, services and support the company can contribute to help relieve the disruption Hurricane Harvey caused to their business and their lives.

Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro's Trust X Alliance partner community has set up a GoFundMe page to help members in Texas and Louisiana that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The community is hoping to receive $10,000 in donations that can go directly to the impacted Trust X Alliance partners. In just three days, the community has raised $2,500 from 16 donors.

Ingram Micro additionally said it has identified the channel partners in the impacted areas and is working with them on an case-by-case basis to help with their cash flow, terms and credit needs now and in the future.

Datto

Datto offered free virtual and imaged SIRIS data protection products to MSPs and small-and-mid sized businesses that needed the immediate capacity to protect additional servers before Hurricane Harvey's arrival.

The Norwalk, Conn.-based vendor has also sent a disaster recovery team to the area with a physical supply of Sirius 3 devices for backup and business continuity, networking appliances to provide routing and internet failover with 4G LTE, and switches and access points to assist with general networking.

These devices are being provided free-of-charge to help MSPs support their SMB customers during this time of need, Datto said.

Datto has finally prioritized all support tickets and tech support staffing for affected areas and added resources to its dedicated support team for critical disaster recovery situations.

DriveSavers

DriveSavers is providing free data recovery services to Texas residents who have lost data as a result of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Austin, Corpus Christi and other affected areas.

The Novato, Calif.-based vendor said customers must contact DriveSavers and ship their device no later than Sept. 15, with a limit of one device per business or household.

Customers needing additional recoveries  and those with multi-disk devices such as RAID, NAS and SAN devices  are eligible for a 50 percent discount off the regular service fees.

DriveSavers said it might limit the number of free recoveries based on the company's workload, cost of parts, and availability of personnel.
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Synnex Completes Westcon Americas Purchase; Partners Look For Consistent Staffing, Service Levels

Michael Novinson

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Westcon Americas partners hope that the close of Synnex's acquisition will result in more cybersecurity investment while not disrupting existing staffing and service levels.

"We are hoping that Synnex allows Westcon to continue operating as a value-added distributor, continually bringing new products to the table and working with us on margin to support us in growing our business," said Danny Timmins, national cyber security leader at Mississauga, Ontario-based MNP LLP.

Although Timmins expects that margins will typically remain low for most products, he would like to see Synnex push Westcon to work with partners like MNP around larger deals so that they can obtain a better margin.

[Related: Synnex Eyes Greenville Hires After Consumer Electronics Distributor Wynit Shuts Headquarters]

The completion of Fremont, Calif.-based Synnex's acquisition of Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Westcon's $2.18 billion North American and Latin American businesses was announced Friday. Synnex had been the only North American broadline distributor not carrying Cisco, while 32 percent  or nearly $700 million  of Westcon America's revenue comes from Cisco.

"We believe this talented team and their recognized leadership in the security, UCC and networking space will enhance our value proposition in the marketplace," Kevin Murai, Synnex's president and CEO, said in a statement. "The acquisition of Westcon-Comstor Americas continues to build on our strategy of positioning the business to where technology is growing."

Synnex will be paying $600 million in cash upfront for the business, as well as up to $200 million in earn-out payments if gross profit performance targets are achieved through February 2018. The distributor said it expects the acquisition to generate $0.70 in diluted non-GAAP earnings per share in the first 12 months after close.

Synnex paid an additional $30 million for a 10 percent stake in Westcon-Comstor's $2.35 billion international business, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Synnex is currently the only North American publicly-traded distributor that doesn't do any business in Europe.

"The strategic partnership between Westcon International and Synnex will provide significant growth opportunities for both businesses while working together to serve vendors and customers globally," Jens Montanana, CEO of Westcon-Comstor parent company Datatec Ltd., said in a statement.

Datatec shareholders voted to approve the acquisition at a general meeting Wednesday, and the company said all other conditions needed to complete the transaction had been satisfied.

Westcon-Comstor said its Americas and International businesses would operate under a single go-to-market structure to ensure that its vendor partners and solution providers receive the same level of service. The $800 million acquisition also gets Synnex into Latin America for the first time thanks to Westcon America's 800-employee, $517.8 million business across 12 countries in the region.

As part of the acquisition, Synnex will have the right to representation on Westcon International's board, as well as certain first rights of refusal should another offer come in for all of part of the $2.35 billion Westcon International business. Synnex will also have the option to acquire an additional 10 percent interest in Westcon International for another $30 million within 12 months of closing.

The acquisition is expected to provide Synnex with a low- to mid-single digit boost to earnings per share in the first year after closing. The deal's profitability is expected to accelerate in the second year after closing thanks to anticipated growth in the combined businesses and synergies around systems and back-office processes, Synnex CEO Kevin Murai said in June.

Datatec Ltd., the parent company of Westcon-Comstor, will acquire a 10.25 percent equity stake in Synnex. Datatec CEO Jens Montanana additionally plans to join Synnex's board of directors, subject to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

Datatec said it plans to retain $130 million of the acquisition proceeds for various operational and working capital and expansion funding requirements. The majority of the remaining $500 million  as well as the entire earn-out  will be returned to Datatec shareholders by way of share repurchases or a special dividend, according to Datatec.

Westcon-Comstor's U.S. partners will benefit from better access to public cloud, storage, and enterprise computing capabilities, WestconGroup CEO Dolph Westerbos told CRN in June. The company recently launched a relationship with Amazon Web Services in Canada, Westerbos said, but doesn't have a relationship with Microsoft Azure or AWS in the United States.

Synnex's strength on both the enterprise storage and compute side should also be appealing to Westcon Americas customers, Westerbos said, particularly as it relates to the distributor's strong relationships with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell and Lenovo.

Synnex's partners, meanwhile, will benefit from Weston-Comstor's phenomenal footprint in unified communications, security and networking, Westerbos said. They can also take advantage of Westcon Americas' relationships with leading data center network vendors like Palo Alto Networks, F5 Networks and FireEye, according to Bob Stegner, Synnex's senior vice president of North American marketing.

Synnex today supports networking, unified communications, and network security through its ConvergeSolv practice, with both Synnex and Westcon-Comstor enjoying relationships with Check Point Software Technologies, Symantec and Avaya, Stegner told CRN in June. He said there wouldn't be any changes to Synnex's ConvergeSolv or Westcon's North American businesses at the very beginning.

Westcon-Comstor partners shouldn't expect any changes in the Latin America business, Stegner said, with the employees supporting those customers remaining in place after the deal closes. As for legacy Synnex partners, Stegner said the distributor would need to work with its current vendors as far as supporting them in Latin America is concerned.
Channel programs News

Pivot3 Expands Partner Program To Widen Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Channel Opportunities

Joseph F. Kovar

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Hyper-converged infrastructure technology developer Pivot3 this week expanded its reach to channel partners with the introduction of its first multi-tier channel program.

Pivot3 also expanded its technology partner ecosystem with the unveiling this week of a number of storage vendors working with Pivot3 on joint offerings related to the Pivot3 Acuity NVMe storage-based hyper-converged infrastructure appliances.

Those new technology partnerships include HyTrust, a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of cloud and virtualized environment management and security products; Veeam, a Baar, Switzerland-based developer of data protection technology; and Liquidware, an Alpharetta, Ga-based developer of desktop management software.

[Related: The 11 Coolest Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Products Of 2017 (So Far)]

While the expansion of Pivot3's channel program includes incentives aimed at helping partners grow their business, it also includes deal registration incentives targeting even the smallest of solution providers, said Mark Maisano, vice president of global channel sales for the Austin, Texas-based company.

"We designed this program to enable partners to grow as Pivot3 grows," Maisano told CRN. "It was designed to work with partners in the SMB and enterprise markets. We what to help them be more effective."

Pivot3 is replacing its former single-tier channel program with a new two-tier program, Maisano. The primary difference between the two is the revenue threshold of $2 million in annual Pivot3 revenue needed to move from the entry-level associate tier to the premier tier, he said. There is no minimum revenue requirements for associate-level partners, he said.

"There will be exceptions based on customer reach or other circumstances," he said. "If we believe the partner's business ramp will get it to the premier threshold level, we may help them get there early."

Partners at both levels will need certifications and specialties, Maisano said. "We want partners, regardless of size, to get certified and become an extension of our business," he said. "We want to make sure smaller partners can also participate in delivery and services."

Deal registration is a big part of the new program, Maisano said. "As partners grow their Pivot3 revenue, they will get additional benefits," he said. "But we want to ensure partners of any size get protection with deal registration. When a partner closes a deal and chooses a distributor, we will lock in its pricing advantage. We promise we will not forward any special pricing to partners who did not register the deal."

New partners at the associate level will be required to have one employee get a baseline sales certification and one get a technical pre-sales certification, both of which can be handled online, Maisano said.

As partners grow, they will have greater access to other benefits including market development funds, custom marketing programs, co-marketing, lead pairing, and more, he said. Pivot3 also offers partners at the highest level dedicated channel account manager support, priority access to engineering, and executive reviews, Maisano said.

Pivot3 has turned out to be a good channel partner and a good complement to other hyper-converged infrastructure providers like San Jose, Calif.-based Nutanix, said Matt Darlington, senior director of solutions and services at Bluerange Technology, a Morrisville, N.C.-based solution provider who works with both vendors.

Bluerange Technology has been working with Pivot3 for a few months and sees the company as the right fit for many of its clients, especially in the education and healthcare markets, Darlington told CRN.

"Sometimes its a matter of price," he said. "Nutanix has great technology and phenomenal management capabilities. But affordability matters to some clients. We're going after more rural hospitals which have tight budgets and resources."

Bluerange Technology also works with school districts which are dispersed over a wide area but which require centralized management which Pivot3 provides, Darlington said.

"Schools are also increasingly starting bring-your-own-device programs," he said. Pivot3 offers the ability to run virtual desktop infrastructure, work with various devices, and handle surveillance, all with no performance issues."

If Pivot3's new channel program works like the company says it will, it will be good for Bluerange Technology, Darlington said. "With our funnel, it would be to our advantage to be in the upper tier," he said. "Deal registration is great, but when we have pre-sales and post-sales questions, Pivot3 is there. We don't need to go around looking for the right resources. They're hand-holding us in the process as we get started."

Stewart Sonneland, CEO of Strategic Integrators, a Spokane, Wash.-based solution provider and early Pivot3 channel partner, said his company has invested in its Pivot3 partnership for the long-run.

"The new higher partner level provides us new opportunities, and more marketing dollars to help us better promote Pivot3," Sonneland told CRN.

Strategic Integrators has found Pivot3's technology superior to many other hyper-converged infrastructure vendors while being backed up to a support system clients love, Sonneland said. "When we deploy a Pivot3 system with a client, we have high confidence the company will take care of the client," he said. "And that's the most important thing."

Pivot3 currently has over 1,000 channel partners in the U.S., and hopes to see about 10 percent of them of them in the premier level by the first quarter of 2018, Maisano said.
In the past two weeks, we have twice looked to the skies. The first time, we watched in wonder at the solar eclipse, observing a rare cosmic choreography in the blue skies above us. The second time, we looked upward in distress at the unwelcome clouds that signaled Harveys arrival.

Two skies that obscured the sun. In one case we could see the moon physically blocking the sun - standing in its way and turning down the volume on the suns light and heat. In the case of Harvey, a dark curtain of clouds swirled above us. The sun was hidden behind it, and we were not able to feel its warmth or see its light.



Two skies that made us feel small. The eclipse made us uncharacteristically aware of our planets motion in the cosmos, highlighting the fact that there are things much bigger than us happening in the quiet expanse of space. The hurricane made us feel small because we were powerless to stop its relentless rain.



We dont think about the sun very often. Most days were aware of it because we feel its heat and measure time by its light: sunrise, noon, sunset. But we dont really think about the sun itself.



On cloudy days or at the end of a long winter, we become more aware of the suns absence and long for its warmth and light. We think about the sun a little more than usual.



On rare occasions (like our eclipse) we pay direct attention to the sun.



Regardless of our ability to see the sun or willingness to notice it, the sun has not changed. It is there, moving through our galaxy, its gravity governing our solar system. It burns with the same heat and shines with the same luminosity. It has not changed.



As the sun is constant, so is our God.



In seasons of life when we dont think much about him, he is there.



In seasons of life when we long for God because dark clouds of suffering have gathered and its hard to see him, he is there.



In seasons of life when we are close to him  looking directly to him for strength and guidance  he is there.



In times of trouble, when we are tempted to view God as distant, apathetic, or uninvolved, we must remind ourselves that God has not changed. Our circumstances may have changed. Our feelings may have changed. God has not.



God is powerful. God is present. Good is good. God is trustworthy. God is love. He is who he is (Exodus 3:14), and he does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the light of the world  whoever follows him will never walk in darkness but have the light of life (John 8:12). His love endures forever, as the Psalmist wrote:



Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. who made the great lights-- His love endures forever. the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1-9)



However the skies of our lives happen to look  God is always there, and he loves us. We are not small to him.



As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39: I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.





RYAN LOKKESMOE (PhD) is the Lead Pastor of Real Hope Community Church in the Houston area. He earned his master's degree in New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and his doctorate in New Testament at The University of Denver. Ryan is the author of Paul and His Team: What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Leadership and Influence (Moody Publishers), and Blurry: Bringing Clarity to the Bible (CLC Publications). He has written Small Group curriculum for LifeWay as well as articles for the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Ryan lives in Richmond, TX with his wife Ashley and their two children.

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @RyLokk and visit http://www.ryanlokkesmoe.com/. You can also pre-order Ryan's newest book "Paul and His Team: What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Leadership and Influence," available October 2017 published by Moody.

Image courtesy: RyanLokkesmoe

Publication date: August 31, 2017
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Residents at one of the five Croydon properties with cladding which did not pass the government's fire safety test have been told to not stay put anymore if a blaze breaks out.

The names of remaining four buildings which have failed cladding tests after the Grenfell Tower fire have not been released publicly until the Advertiser asked the council this week.

They include two residential tower blocks in central Croydon and two blocks in Coulsdon, alongside a block of flats for homeless young people in Upper Norwood.

The four buildings are Citiscape on Frith Road in Croydon town centre, Centrillion Point just to the south of the town centre, and two blocks of flats at Leaden Hill in Coulsdon.

Citiscape, on Frith Road, has cladding on every floor of both of its residential tower blocks, one 10 storeys the other six storeys with a total of 97 apartments, containing aluminium composite material (ACM) - the material coming under scrutiny since the west London fire.

Nearly two weeks after the tragic fire, flat management company FirstPort received test results confirming it was ACM material.

Fire marshals were immediately put in place, 24 hours a day, who walk each floor every 30 minutes.

(Image: David Cook)

On July 20, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) told them how it and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) were testing cladding to establish how combinations of different ACM panels worked with different insulation in a fire.

During this time, changes to fire policies were made at the property, including the stay put policy.

Walls, floors and doors in flats are built to offer residents between 30 and 60 minutes protection if the fire is elsewhere in the building, the London Fire Brigade's (LFB) website states, but the landlord of the property is responsible for fire safety and has to ensure risk assessments are carried out.

Questions were raised over the suitability of the stay put policy at Grenfell Tower after the fatal fire, which is thought to have claimed at least 80 lives.

A spokeswoman for FirstPort said: "Following a review of fire safety with the local fire authority, we also changed from a stay put policy to an evacuation policy in the unlikely event of a fire at the development."

On August 2, the DCLG said the Citiscape wall system failed the test, as it did not adequately resist the spread of fire over the wall to the standard required by Building Regulations guidance.

The blocks was constructed in 2004 by Barratt Developments and is owned by a freeholder.

FirstPort say Barratt Developments has advised it that an independent fire engineer reviewed the building and confirmed it met the necessary fire safety regulation requirements at the time of construction.

The management company said it is in contact with the original developer and freeholder awaiting for the government's advice on acceptable cladding systems, then it will consult residents on the next steps.

The spokeswoman added: "The safety of our residents is our number one priority and we are confident that we have a robust and clear fire safety strategy adopted at the site, supported by the local fire authority, fire safety experts and clearly communicated to our residents."

Centrillion Point, in Mason Avenue, has three types of cladding on the building, one of which has failed the government's test.

Construction on the building by developers Durkan began in 2006. A Durkan spokesman said the cladding installed was in compliance with regulations at the time, allowing the entire building to be signed off by building control.

(Image: David Cook)

Additional safety measures have been brought into place to "ensure the safety and protection of leaseholders" and investigations are continuing as to whether the cladding should be removed.

A spokeswoman for Simarc, the agent for the freeholder Wallace Estates Limited, said: "A specialist team including surveyors and fire and cladding experts are now working closely together in this respect.

"Our site agents have reviewed the blocks fire policy, taken the advice of fire risk assessors/the local fire brigade and implemented their recommendations."

The Advertiser has asked when the cladding was installed and what type it is, though has not received a response.

The final two blocks are in Coulsdon where the cladding is on panels on outside cupboards.

At Leaden Hill, in Brighton Road, approximately 20% of the two blocks are clad in ACM and building owners Optivo said it is inspecting the blocks on a daily basis.

(Image: Google Street View)

A spokesman for Optivo, which has 86 homes at the development, said: "We are exploring the options of removing this cladding and we will continue to keep residents fully updated. Our staff have visited residents and remain in close contact.

"We have up to date fire safety risk assessments for all four blocks and full fire protection measures in place.

"The London Fire Brigade carried out an inspection and have approved the fire safety measures we have in place."

The first building announced to have failed cladding tests was by Evolve Housing + Support about its six-storey flats in Sylvan Hill in Upper Norwood.

The Fitze Millenium Centre, which supports up to 80 single homeless young people from 16 years of age referred there by Croydon Council, was confirmed still safe to occupy by LFB.

It was revealed this week how a new primary school had its cladding removed as a "precaution" after the council found it included ACM and had a sealed polyethylene core.

*Do you live in any of these blocks and want to get in touch with the Advertiser? If so, email Samantha.booth@croydonadvertiser.co.uk or call 01737 305562
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House GOP Leader Themis Klarides says an unspecified number of Democrats have confided to her that they wont support an increase to the state sales tax when their slim majority finally votes on its budget proposal.

The Derby Republicans expectations are tempered, though, after a controversial labor concessions package passed July 31 along party lines in both legislative chambers, with Democratic Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

I said, I will believe that when you hit the red button,  Klarides said of no votes on the budget.

The budget impasse between Republicans and Democrats, who are grappling with a $3.6 billion, two-year deficit, is entering its third month. Its forced Klarides, the first woman to lead the House Republican caucus, to delay making a decision on whether to run for governor in 2018.

My job is House Republican leader and we need to have a budget, Klarides said. (But) its certainly in my mind.

Democrats have proposed raising the state sales tax from 6.35 percent to 6.85 percent, as well as allowing cities and towns to levy an additional 1 percent food and beverage tax.

I appreciate the fact that the minority leader is putting the time into talking with my caucus members, said Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin. I would hope that she is putting in the same amount of effort to come up with a balanced budget proposal. In the meantime, I am going to continue to work with my colleagues on a balanced budget plan that moves our state forward.

Klarides characterized Democrats proposed budget as a nonstarter.

There is a way to do it without tax increases, said Klarides, who is pushing a GOP alternative that relies on cuts. Its not just about cuts. I have a good friend who says, You cant save your way rich. 

Democrat House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz has summoned lawmakers back for session Sept. 14.

http://twitter.com/gettinviggy; nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436
Trying to walk out to Charles Island at Silver Sands State Park in Milford this summer, George Swaby drowned after he and a friend were swept up in a fast current off a sandbar.

Beachgoers watched as a boater rescued his friend that Friday, July 21. The body of Swaby, 28, was not found for two days. Compounding the tragedy was that it happened in sight of the beach, although outside the swimming area.

It was our goal to guard that beach from Thursday through Sunday, said Dennis Schain, spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. They were not able to round up enough guards that day.

Drowning is the sixth most frequent cause of unintentional death in the state making it a public health problem, state officials say. More people drown than die in fires or other outdoor-related accidents. More drown than die in machinery accidents or gun accidents.

Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 29 people per year, or 1 per 100,000, drowned in natural bodies of water, swimming pools or bathtubs in Connecticut, according to Department of Public Health statistics. This is slightly below the national rate of 1.1 per 100,000. Year to year, the numbers fluctuate: 41 in 2013 vs. nine in 2015, for example. Of the 257 drowning deaths, most are children under 5 and men between 20 and 35. The next most vulnerable group is 75-to-84-year-olds, who drown at twice the average rate, DPH said.

Swimming is fun, but can be risky, and state laws and policies do little to minimize the risks. One safeguard  lifeguards  has been undercut by the shrinking state parks budget. Starting in 2010, park revenues began to be funneled to the states increasingly strapped general fund.

Legislative efforts

As the 2017 summer concludes and Connecticut still lacks a budget for the new fiscal year, some Democrats proposed a state park passport that would add as much as $14 million a year for state parks through a $10 surcharge on biannual car and truck registrations. Its impossible to say whether that revenue stream could add back the lifeguard hours cut over the past years in a state that owes billions of dollars. We have to see and understand how thats structured, Schain said.

Bills introduced in the legislature in 2009 and 2013 requiring school districts to offer swimming lessons died in committee. A 2015 bill that would have provided free swimming lessons to children through YMCAs also went nowhere.

DPH epidemiologist Susan Logan said drowning deaths can be prevented.

This is absolutely something we have the capacity to work on, Logan said. The DPH recommends that people wear life vests, not drink alcohol around water, know cardiopulmonary resuscitation and teach children to swim.

Connecticut isnt alone in its struggles to balance cost and safety. Pennsylvania eliminated most of its public-swimming-area lifeguards 18 years ago and by this year was down to guarding only its Lake Erie beach. In California, where more than 50 people a year die in drowning accidents and hundreds are on disability from water injuries, Gov. Edmund G. Brown issued a letter urging constant adult supervision of children around water.

More than just lifeguards

Because lifeguards training includes stopping risky behavior, common wisdom might be that states just need more lifeguards. But drowning expert Shawn DeRosa of DeRosa Aquatic Consulting of State College, Pa., said that a corresponding problem is that parents and friends dont understand how to watch swimmers.

Water accidents happen fast and silently. The only way to prevent them is to be watching all the time, DeRosa said. Wearing lifejackets also prevents accidents, DeRosa said.

So does teaching children to swim, but many families cant afford to pay for lessons. In 2015, at the urging of a group of YMCAs, state Rep. Henry Genga introduced a bill to offer free-swimming lessons to children. The bill died in the Joint Committee on Children.

They told me its going to cost money, and we knew that, Genga, of East Hartford, said. Youre familiar with the state of Connecticut and its financial problems. There was a demonstrated need. But with all the priorities, because it was a new program, it didnt have a chance.

The General Assembly did, however, pass a bill in June requiring that police officers be trained to recognize behavior in autistic children, such as wandering that could lead to drowning. And in May, the state formed a task force on water safety, which has yet to hold a meeting.

The executive director of the Connecticut Alliance of YMCAs, John Cattelan, said his organization is very concerned that there possibly are no lifeguards at state parks during certain hours. We had some initial conversations that didnt go anywhere to work with the state to provide lifeguards. We feel (drownings are) preventable.

Urging awareness

Since 1998, 44 people have drowned at state parks, some of those deaths occurring at parks with lifeguards on duty. Thirteen people have drowned at Squantz Pond State Park, New Fairfield, for example, more than at any other state park, even though it has had lifeguards on patrol at least some of the time.

Theres no way to know how many more deaths at state parks would have been prevented if lifeguards had been patrolling, but a national report found that lifeguards save 100,000 lives a year across the country.

Its so important to have lifeguards, said Karen Cohn, co-founder of the ZAC Foundation, a Fairfield-based nonprofit that promotes swimming safety. She and her husband Brian Cohn started the foundation in 2008 in memory of their 6-year-old son, Zachary, who died in a pool drain entrapment. The foundation advocates for domed drain covers and other safety measures, such as closing pools that lack drain covers.

Lifeguards are trained to save lives, Cohn said. Statistics show that if someone is drowning and they are pulled out of the water and CPR is administered immediately, that saves lives. But she added that vigilant parents and friends, and never swimming alone, can prevent accidents. Cohn will serve on the state task force.

Schain said that the state urges people to be aware and not to depend on lifeguards. DEEP has not been able to fill the jobs for the eight state swimming areas they want to staff four days a week. The department was unable to staff Burr Pond State Park in Torrington at all in 2017, even though someone drowned there last year. For now, it staffs four beach parks and three lakes.

In July, a help-wanted sign for lifeguards greeted motorists on Route 1 in Madison, outside the entrance to Hammonasset Beach State Park. Even at the states most popular park, at times, no one is watching.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org).
BRIDGEPORT - A local man was arrested after police said he gained access to restricted areas of Bridgeport Hospital and stole money from an employees purse.

Damon Cook, 43, of Ruth Street, was charged with criminal trespass and sixth-degree larceny. He was released after posting $5,000 bond.
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BRIDGEPORT - The head of the mayors second chance program for ex-offenders, already under investigation for using a police-style badge to bypass security at the Golden Hill Street courthouse, was charged Friday in connection with a fraudulent check scheme.

And, as a result, he is out of his $57,000 a year municipal job, fired by Mayor Joe Ganim, himself a former felon trying to shatter negative perceptions of people with criminal records.

Louis Reed was booked at the Police Department on charges of third-degree larceny and second-degree forgery.

He was released after posting $30,000 bond pending arraignment in the Golden Hill Street courthouse on Sept. 13.

These charges had nothing to do with his employment or the (early August) incident at the courthouse, said Police Capt. Roderick Porter. This involved him and a young lady and Wells Fargo bank.

Reed, who served 13 years in federal prison, was supposed to be a positive example for fellow ex-felons and the employers wary of hiring them when Ganim tapped the young man last year to oversee a new office in City Hall.

Reed was responsible for reaching out to the estimated 1,100 offenders expected to be released into Bridgeport this year, offering to help them find employment, housing and meet other needs on the outside. He was also seeking private support to strengthen and expand the programs.

Reed could not be reached for comment Friday. His attorney, Frank Riccio Jr., said: Mr. Reed absolutely denies the allegations and looks forward to his day in court to clear his name.

Earlier in the day Ganims office announced that Reed had been suspended with pay pending an investigation into his use of a badge at the courthouse Aug. 8. That incident was previously reported by Hearst Connecticut Media.

Then he was arrested. And at 5:40 p.m. Ganims office told Hearst that Reed was off the payroll.

It raises controversy around an important and very successful program that has and continues to help hundreds of individuals looking for a second chance," Ganim said of the controversies around Reed. "Without judgment on what may or may not have happened, I am accepting of the employment separation of Louis Reed.

The mayors spokesperson, Rowena White, subsequently clarified Reed was terminated.

Forging a future

Reed is accused of presenting two canceled checks to the state Department of Support Services to prove that he had paid $10,000 in back child support to his girlfriend, according to police sources.

However, police sources said the checks were phony. They said one was clearly a copy of an earlier check Reed had given his girlfriend.

In the meantime, the sources said Reed contacted his bank, Wells Fargo, and complained that one of his checks had been stolen, his named forged on it and then cashed.

Police sources said Wells Fargo then reimbursed Reed for the thousands of dollars he claimed the check was cashed for.

Reed was already in trouble in City Hall for using a silver police-style badge to get through courthouse security on Aug. 8.

Normally someone must empty their pockets and take off their belt before going through the metal detector just inside the courthouse door. However, a recent review of the video from the courthouse security camera by Hearst Connecticut Media showed that Reed was waved through after displaying the silver badge.

Reed then signed a log-in book reserved for law enforcement who come into the courthouse.

A judicial marshal became suspicious of Reed, asked to see the badge and then, determining that Reed was not law enforcement, made Reed go back through the metal detector.

Reed had previously denied flashing the badge.

Bad publicity

Reeds arrest is a setback for Ganims ongoing efforts to use the second-chance voters granted him in 2015 to make Bridgeport a welcoming place for individuals returning from prison.

Ganim, a Democrat, was convicted of corruption in 2003 after 12 years in office and spent seven years in federal prison, waging a successful comeback for his old job in 2015.

He has sought to use his reclaimed executive power to make a difference for others with criminal records. The mayors second chance initiative included not only opening the City Hall office run by Reed, but lobbying companies to hire individuals with criminal records and making it easier for contractors with criminal pasts to bid on city work.

I do take a little special pride in that, Ganim said of those efforts in an interview late last year. Its a great opportunity within the parameters of being mayor, someone who has a little louder voice, who has the ability to encourage resources and policies in a certain direction, to speak up on that stuff.

Reed, who served a 13-year federal prison sentence on a number of charges including shooting a 5-year-old boy, had in an interview earlier this year claimed he met Ganim on a prison bus when the then fallen-mayor was starting his corruption sentence.

He called the fact he was now working for the second chance mayor divine convergence of purpose, passion and redemption.

When Ganim announced his administrations second chance programs in June, 2016, Paul Timpanelli, then-head of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, was on hand to offer encouragement.

Now retired, Timpanelli said Friday there was no question Reeds arrest hurts that effort.

People now are more skeptical, Timpanelli said, adding he had been impressed with Reed the one time they met.

He demonstrated himself to be articulate, smart, energetic and committed to this program, Timpanelli said.

Timpanelli said if anything Reeds current problems prove the need for the Ganim administration to continue to work hard at providing ex-offenders aid to try and keep them on the right track.

They still can fall back (into crime). Youve just got to keep at it, Timpanelli said. If my former colleagues, business leaders asked whether I felt the program was still worthwhile, I would say absolutely. Even more-so.

Ganim said the second-chance office will continue under Chief Administrative Officer Kimberly Staley, Reeds supervisor who helped launch the initiative before her promotion last year to current role of key mayoral aide.

Over the past year we have seen significant success and built strong partnerships with employers, community organizations and educators to forge a path for second chance citizens to move forward, gain employment and be contributors to their family and community," Ganim said.
For women in Silicon Valley, 2017 has been a watershed year. Weve seen women technologists share their stories of sexual harassment and bias, shocking industry outsiders and even many male colleagues. Susan Fowlers blog post blew the lid off of Ubers sexual harassment issues and hostile culture. Soon thereafter, a crew of female entrepreneurs turned a spotlight on blatant sexual harassment in the venture capital world. Neither of these stories surprised women or minorities who work in tech, butfinallypeople were listening.

The antidiversity screed penned by ex-Google engineer James Damore isnt so surprising, either. As women and members of minority groups speak out and make gains, its inevitable that well see pushback from those who benefit from the existing system. The points that Damore made in his now-infamous manifesto arent supported by the facts and are profoundly offensive to many, but in todays world of "fake news" theyre fair game as free speech.

Related: That Infamous Google Memo Says Plenty About What's Wrong With Tech and Why It's So Hard to Talk About

Lets be real: Women technologists and other minority tech workers face consistent, entrenched bias every single day. Damores screed is proof of that. Who wants to work with someone who clearly believes that gender makes them less qualified? Who wants to have that same person weighing in on their performance review? And who wants to be prejudged based on their gender before theyve even walked in the door? I think we can all agree that every worker deserves to work in a harassment-free environment where they are evaluated based on their skills, abilities and accomplishments.

Women leave technology careers at a rate twice as high as their male counterparts due to exactly this sort of bias, harassment and cultural hostility. Scandals like the Google memo make it doubly hard for girls and women to feel welcome as they pursue jobs at tech companies.

Related: 3 Reasons Why Gender Equality is an 'Everyone' Issue

Women at Google are in a bind: Speaking out puts them at risk of being targeted. But now is exactly the right time for women and other marginalized technologists to tell their stories and make clear the daily human toll of bias and harassment. They need to talk about what theyve achieved, and the reasons why they live and breathe for engineering and computer science. They need to share their dreams because, counter to prejudicial notions, women actually are ambitious, smart and, yes, even aggressive. They also must confront the bias they live with, along with a stunning lack of opportunity, advancement and recognition.

Related: Uber Under Fire Once Again Following Sexism and Harassment Claims

We all need, now more than ever, to celebrate the women in our midst who are changing the tech world every day. Women and minority technologists will overcome these challenges by staying strong together, and forging stronger connections to the community. Together we can build a world where the people who create technology represent the societies that use it.

Related:

The Tech Industry's Real Problem With Diversity Is Clear. It's Not The Pipeline.

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PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A man with six prior felony convictions will spend the rest of his life in jail after a Jackson County jury found him guilty of aggravated domestic violence..

James Devon Brown, 36, was found guilty on Wednesday of strangling his then-girlfriend in Gautier in February 2013. Circuit Court Judge Kathy King Jackson, under the state's habitual offender law, sentenced Brown to life without the possibility of parole.

Brown had six times previously been convicted of felonies, who of which were violent crime, which qualified him as a life habitual offender.

"I hope this case and the life without parole sentence serves as notice that domestic violence must not and should not be tolerated," said Jackson County District Attorney Tony Lawrence. "This defendant demonstrated his disregard for the laws of this state many times, with six prior convictions. I am proud that his criminal career is over."

The Gautier Police Department investigated the case. Assistant district attorneys George Huffman and NeShondria Ellerby prosecuted the case. Ellerby noted the victim's willingness to come forward and testify was a key element in the case.

"Mr. Brown is a six-time convicted felon whose prior criminal record and his violent act toward the victim in this case show that he has earned a sentence of life without parole," Ellbery said.
GAUTIER, Mississippi -- It's been three years since Desmond Moore disappeared from his mother's Gautier home and police today are no closer to learning what happened to him than they were then.

Moore was reported missing on Sept. 2, 2014 -- three days after he was last seen leaving his mother's house to walk to a nearby Pizza Hut on Ladnier Road to meet friends.

Gautier police put out a new call for information on Moore this week after Lt. Jerry Killingsworth noted the three-year anniversary of Moore's disappearance.

"He asked me if we could release something," said Capt. Scott Wilson, who was the lead detective on the case in 2014. "I told him we could put it out there and see if anything sparked back up. Maybe we missed something or someone new might come forward with information."

Moore was described in 2014 as a black male, 5-9 in height, weighing 140 pounds with shoulder-length dreadlocks. His mother, Delania Moore, told police it was unusual for her son not to contact her to let her know his whereabouts. His girlfriend said the same thing.

Friends and family held a vigil in support of the search for Moore and a Facebook page was created, but no leads developed, Wilson said. Flyers were spread around the community and private searches were conducted around the county. A missing person's report was also filed with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

But three years later, people who claimed to have information on Moore have moved on. Moore's mother moved to Dallas, Wilson said, without notifying local police in case they wanted to contact her about Desmond.

"I've been an investigator a long time," Wilson said. "I've worked capital murder cases, but this is probably the hardest case I've ever worked, as far as no leads, nothing to go on, being twisted in two or three different directions."

Wilson said he and his fellow investigators didn't have anything which suggested foul play was involved. They did have a few flimsy leads that Moore may be alive, but nothing that ever panned out.

"It was really one of those cases that didn't go either way," he said. "I know I sound like a politician, playing it down the middle, but that's really how it is. We have no hard evidence, either way."

Wilson acknowledged that, after three years, there are really only two possibilities -- either Moore is not alive or simply doesn't want to be found.

"If he didn't want to be found, he did it well."
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.
As millions of students start the 2017-18 school year, their ranks will include Barron Trump, the presidents youngest son, who heads off to a private school in the Washington suburbs.

Barron, 11, remained in New York City even after his father became president to finish out the school year at the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in Manhattan. But this fall, hell start classes at St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac, Md., an upscale suburb . In fact, Sept. 5 is the first full day of the school year, according to St. Andrews website.

Historically, schools that have taken on the task of educating presidential children have had to consider things like student privacy and security. So how well will Barronand the schooladjust to the new arrangement?

Richard Jung, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, expects the school will do everything to ensure Barrons experience is as normal as possible.

That seems to be what happened when the Clinton and Obama families sent their daughters to Sidwell Friends School, a Quaker school with campuses in Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland. (In fact, the former first couple is sticking around the nations capitol so that Sasha Obama, their younger daughter, can finish her education there.)

There have may been an extra charge in the air at Sidwell when Chelsea Clinton and the Obama children enrolled, Jung said. But ultimately, the kids did very well, Jung said.

A spokesman for St. Andrewss declined to comment. Sidwell Friends also declined to comment.

St. Andrews likely will be looking for a way to personalize Barrons experiencebecause thats what the school does for all its students, Jung said.

St. Andrews website highlights its connection with Research Schools International, which is led by faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The school also partners with the brain-research team at Johns Hopkins University. St. Andrews is known for its Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, which helps tailor instruction to students individual learning needs, whether they are high achievers or in need of more academic support. St. Andrews graduates often go on to Ivy League colleges, according to its website.

St. Andrews is set up to make adjustments for individual kids. It wouldnt be unique to Barron and his status as the son of a president, Jung said. Its a hallmark of the school.

St. Andrews is particularly interested in training its teachers on brain science and how it can be applied in the classroom, he said. They really walk the walk on this.

And he thinks the school is just far enough removed from Washington to allow Barron to get a break from the pressures of being the first kid. Im very, very happy for the boy, he said.

St. Andrews has about 580 students, according to its website, making it a medium- to large-sized private school for the area. The student-teacher ratio is 6-to-1, a lot lower than the national average of 16.1-to-1 in 2013, according to the National Center for Education Statistics . And tuition at St. Andrews runs from $23,490 for prekindergarten to $40,650 for high school . (For more on the cost of private schools as it relates to recent presidents, go here .)

Historical Perspective

So far, the Trump family seems to have put a premium on Barrons privacy, which is not so different from how the two most recent presidents with minor childrenBill Clinton and Barack Obamahandled the challenge of raising a kid in the White House.

Presidential parents such as the Clintons and Obamas have worked to ensure that their children are given secure private space within the [White House] as well as opportunities to interact openly but privately with peers inside and outside the building and (where possible) in school, said Edward G. Lengel, the chief historian for The White House Historical Association, a non-profit.

In recent years, presidential children have attended area private schools. But that wasnt always the case, Lengel said. Quentin Roosevelt, Charlie Taft, and Amy Carter all attended District of Columbia public schools. And President John F. Kennedys family turned the White House solarium into a classroom. Their own children attended school there alongside the children of other government officials.

The Kennedys were the only first family to use this as an actual schoolroom adhering to the regulations and academic requirements of D.C. public schools, Lengel said.

The need for privacy was part of the reason the Kennedys choose to home-school their kids in the White House, Lengel said. But that, too, wasnt necessary until relatively recently.

Until the 20th century, presidential children lived very much in the public eye and without much attention to security, Lengel said. But by the mid-20th century and beyond, however, security for presidential families became a round-the-clock affair, and as media scrutiny increased, privacy became nearly impossible outside the actual confines of the White House.

St. Andrews wont be working alone in protecting Barrons privacy and security, said Lengels colleague, Evan Phifer, a research historian.

Balancing privacy, education, and security is an effort that incorporates cooperation between schools, first families, and Secret Service, he said.

Baron Trump, son of President-elect Donald Trump, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, for the presidential inauguration of his father.

--Saul Loeb/ AP-File

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill into law Thursday that will help low- and middle-income families pay for tuition at private schools .

But whats generating the most attention, at least among school choice circles, is that students participating in the program will still have to take the same tests as their district school peers.

Thats unique from many other private school choice programs, as my colleague Madeline Will reports for Education Week today :

Illinois requires that schools accepting scholarships administer the annual state test to the scholarship recipients. The state will later have independent researchers compare the outcomes of scholarship recipients to those of public school students across the state. "That requirement differs from most other states' programs, said Jason Bedrick, the director of policy for the pro-school-choice group EdChoice. Typically, programs allow participating schools to choose from a menu of national norm-referenced tests, he said."

Although school choice proponents generally applauded Illinois lawmakers for creating the program, the testing requirements raised a few eyebrowsand hackles.

Students participating in the new Illinois tax credit scholarship program will be required to take the Common Core-aligned PARCC test.  Michael Petrilli (@MichaelPetrilli) August 30, 2017

@MichaelPetrilli , not a good idea. Allow the school to choose between the state test or nationally norm-reference test. I prefer NNR.  Gerard Robinson (@gerard_924) August 30, 2017

Its a terrible idea. Nationally norm-referenced tests would provide a national comparison w/out the negative side effects of a state test.  Jason Bedrick (@JasonBedrick) August 30, 2017

In addition to testing, the bill also included anti-discrimination language, and those requirements take a step toward satisfying the complaints raised by many critics of private school choice who say that such programs are far too lightly regulated.

Trump, DeVos, and the Broader Debate Over Private School Choice

That criticism has notched up significantly as President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos patronage of private school choicestate programs that either use public money or government incentives to send students to private schoolhas increased scrutiny of such programs.

Critics, in particular Democrats and teachers unions, say the lack of transparency and accountability for private schools receiving state aid hurts students. They underscore the fact that private schools are often allowed to deny admission to students based on things such as their religion or sexual orientation, and that students receiving private school vouchers or tax-credit scholarships dont follow as rigorous of a testing regime as public school students. (For details on its legal for private schools to turn away certain students, read more here .)

Illinois Charter Schools Also Notch a Win

The tax-credit scholarship program wasnt the only win for school choice advocates: A provision to provide equitable funding for charter school students was also tucked into the states funding formula bill.

Charter school students in most states do not receive the same per-pupil funding as their district peerssomething that state and national charter school advocacy groups are working aggressively to change.

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A Kenyan woman who nearly died from horrific complications while being forced to undergo a female genital mutilation at the age of 12 has detailed the moment she decided to flee the abuse inflicted by male members of her tribe in order to set up a women-only village where men are banned.

Rebecca Lolosoli was left fighting for her life after her circumcision went wrong; she only survived because she lucky enough to be close to a hospital, however she had to spend the following month having regular blood transfusions to complete her recovery.

And yet FGM is just one of the many forms of terrifying abuse that women in the Sumburu tribe, which Rebecca, now 53, was born into, are subjected to at the hands of their male leaders.

Independt women: Rebecca Lolosoli, pictured right, fled her patriarchal tribe in Kenya after nearly dying when she was forced to undergo female genital mutilation

Girls-only: The 53-year-old founded the village of Umoja in Northern Kenya, a female-only society where men are banned

'When I was a child, I saw so many things happening to the women, the girls,' she said to Deutsche Welle. 'We can be killed anytime. If the husband wants to kill you, he can kill you. We had no right to choose our husbands. We had no right to own anything. We had no right to live'.

The things she saw as a young girl who was treated as if being female made her worthless, inspired Rebecca to create a world where girls could escape the abuses she suffered.

The 53-year-old is now the matriarch of the village of Umoja, just six hours from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where 48 women and as many as 200 children live in a women-only society, where men are not allowed except when hired to do labor, and the rules of a 500-year-old patriarchy don't apply.

Umoja, which means "unity" in Swahili, was founded 27 years ago by Rebecca and 14 other women who hoped to give others girls and women a refuge from horrors that are unfortunately still ingrained in their country's culture, such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, lack of educational opportunities, and rape.

'We didn't build the village as a women's village without men; we were just given this name by the men here,' Rebecca told the German publication. 'Its like a dirty word to them.'

Women's rights remain a sore topic in Kenya, and even though the country's laws have advanced, tradition has been hard to shake off, making life tough for women and girls.

Child marriage was outlawed in 2011 but it's still practiced in many communities, where girls as young as 6 can be married to men as much as 40 years older. Female genital mutilation, which is also against the country's law, has remained a central part of the African nation's culture.

It's a woman's world: Umoja village serves as a refuge for girls and women trying to escape patriarchal traditions like child marriage and FGM

Helping hands: Although men are not allowed to live in the village, the women have hired some to do manual labor such as herding

Back in 1990, the issue of rape, particularly, bonded Umoja's 15 founders, who all shared a history of being raped by British soldiers and, in traditional Kenyan fashion, being shunned by their families and husbands, who no longer considered them pure.

So, led by Rebecca, these women decided to start their own village, where the gender they were born with did not condemn them to a life of abuse.

They took over a patch of dry land with the help of Kenyas then-Ministry of Culture, Heritage and Social Services, and began carving out a society that would treat women as they deserved- as equals to men.

Today, the women own the land that is Umoja village, a place that protects Kenyan women from abuse and allows them to pursue education and be economically independent.

While at the usual Kenyan village men sit in a circle to discuss important matters, not allowing women to express any opinions, in the Umoja matriarchy, leaders gather under the 'tree of speech' to make decisions, per The Guardian.

Residents of Umoja are completely economically independent, earning money from different activities that allow them to support themselves and their children.

The tree of speech: While in other Kenyan villages only men can make decisions, the women of Umoja gather around the 'tree of speech' to discuss important matters

Boys are allowed to learn too: Young boys from other villages are allowed to come into the women-only village if they vow to follow the rules

The core of their economy is beading: making beautiful, colorful, jewelry and adornments that are part of the traditional clothes of the Sumburu people, and selling it to tourists.

They also profit from charging a small entrance fee to people who are curious about what an all-female world would look like, and run a a campsite about half a mile from their village, where tourists on safaris stay.

The women have opened a school on their land which children from other villages are allowed to attend, and the more experienced residents of Umoja often educate women and girls from nearby villages on important issues such as early marriage and female genital mutilation.

Although men are not allowed to live in the village, they are hired by the women to do tasks like herding, and young boys from other villages are allowed inside if they promise to respect the rules.

As for how they procreate without men, the women admit that even if men are not allowed to live with them, they still use them to have children. Girls from Umoja often have boyfriends from other villages and have children who they raise on their own, according to the Guardian.

A new world: Back in 1990, 15 women who had been raped by British soldiers and shunned by their families got together to make a refuge for other women

They still become moms: The women of Umoja often date men from other villages and have children who they then raise and support on their own

This women-only village has become a source of hope for women all over the country who, having heard about it, see a possibility of escaping their destiny of living as a second-class citizen.

It has also served as inspiration for similar villages such as Nachami, Suba and Hangida, all places where women set the rules.

But, even though these brave women have managed to make a world of their own, this break from traditional Kenyan society has not come without a price. Recently, three of Umoja's women lost their lives to malaria, and bandits often come knocking, a common occurrence in northern Kenya.

Besides the usual troubles of rural African life, the women also have to deal with being ostracized by a culture that sees them as traitors.

'When women take on mens responsibilities in our culture like the way these women are doing, they become outcasts,' nearby villager Aleper Lomukunyu said to Deutsche Welle. 'Any woman who goes against our culture becomes a traitor of the community'.

Inspiring others: Umoja has served as the model for other female-only villages in Kenya like Nachami, Suba and Hangida

A tough bunch: Umoja residents have suffered attacks from intruders in the past and now take turns protecting their home overnight

Because they have suffered attacks from intruders in the past, the women now take turns protecting their home overnight.

Still, Rebecca and the women of Umoja plan to continue building their own society. Thanks to a video that told the village's story and recently went viral, the women are receiving plenty of attention and praise from all over the world.

They have partnered with the University of Prince Edward Island to sell their jewelry through Etsy and ship it to North America.

'I think this village will continue to exist for a long time because women need a place to go when they have problems,' Rebecca said. 'Fighting for the rights of women - it's something I have in my heart'.
She was the most photographed woman in the world, and flourished under the spotlight from from shy teenage Sloane in tweed to a symbol of ultimate elegance.

Princess Diana has assumed legendary status as a style icon in the same way as Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn, and 20 years on from her death in Paris her outfits are still the subject of huge fascination - not to mention column inches.

To mark the anniversary, Melanie Hough, curator of Getty Images Hulton archive has identified 10 of the most iconic images of the late royal, which capture both her sense of style and her character.

Surprisingly, many of the royal's best style moments don't involve her most famous outfits, such as her David and Elizabeth Emanuel wedding dress, resplendent with a 25-foot train.

Rather the images have been chosen for the unexpected ways in which Diana proved her power as a style-setter thanks to her knack of picking outfits that were both classic and contemporary, or by injecting a fairytale element into royal occasions.

Diana's white and green pencil skirt and patterned top in Thailand in 1988 was the perfect combination of classic style with a contemporary twist

Charles and Diana in Bangkok, Thailand, 1988

'Despite the heat, Diana looks effortlessly cool in an outfit that was at the height of fashion while bringing together a medley of influences from times past,' Melanie explained.

'The combination of classic and contemporary finds its legacy in the style of todays royals. There is a compelling dynamic to this image as the couple make an exchange mid-step.'

Cannes Film Festival, 1987

'This image of Diana and Charles at the Cannes Film Festival is part-twentieth century royal, part fairytale.

'With crowds gathered in the sun behind, the Prince and Princess are glamorous and serene, set apart in the shade.

'Charles is a debonair James Bond while Diana seems to glide towards the camera in her Catherine Walker silk chiffon dress.'

Diana's Catherine Walker dress at the Cannes Film Festival was the perfect combination of modern royal and fairytale princess

Braemar Games, 1981

'Diana wore this tartan outfit when she attended the Scottish Highlands Braemar Games in 1981, an example of her unfaltering ability to both complement and subvert an occasion with her intelligent sense of style.

'A year into the decade which was to be her making, Diana paired the densely patterned dress with a simple black hat and shoes.

'It was designed by Caroline Charles, a designer who regularly dressed the Princess.

'The photographer has pictured the Princess behind a floral display that matches her dress tonally, accentuating the effect of Diana emerging into view.'

This tartan outfit by Caroline Charles worn to the Braemar Games in 1981, showed Diana's ability to complement and subvert the style of an occasion

WHITE HOUSE, 1985

The image of the Princess dancing with John Travolta is a reminder of Dianas universal charm and the sense of fun that captivated the world.

'Attending a State Dinner at the White House, she is wearing the most elegant of dresses, designed by Victor Edelstein.

'The dress was only worn once more by the Princess - for her last ever portrait picture in 1997.'

The combination of her elegant Victor Edelstein dress and the joy of the image perfectly sums up Diana's sense of both fashion and fun

New York, 1997

'In another stunning design by Catherine Walker, the Princess is seen here attending a Christies Party in New York.

'Paired with gold Jimmy Choos, it is a shorter, more daring outfit than we had previously seen the Princess wearing and reflected her new-found sense of confidence in her role as "the peoples princess".'

Just two months before she died, Diana showed off her increasing confidence in a sequinned dress by Catherine Walker in New York paired with gold Jimmy Choos

HONEYMOON AT BALMORAL, 1981

'The photo was taken during Charles and Dianas honeymoon in Balmoral, Aberdeen.

'Staunchly British, the outfit was designed by Bill Pashley especially for the Princess and is softened with cream shoes from The Chelsea Cobbler.

'Enjoying the rugged landscape of Balmoral, the couple smile for the camera, marrying the traditional style of monarchy with the new.'

This traditional British outfit softened with cream shoes from The Chelsea Cobbler was the perfect blend of the old and new

SAVOY HOTEL, LONDON, 1997

'Attending the Daily Star Gold Award to give a speech on her anti-mining campaign, a cause she was deeply passionate about, Diana is wearing a pastel pink, modest suit that brings vintage Jackie Kennedy to mind.

'The Princess is demure in this image, yet adjusting her handbag it is clear she means business.'

Attending a ceremony at The Savoy Hotel in London to give a speech in landmines, Diana channeled vintage Jackie Kennedy and managed to look both demure and business-like

HONG KONG, 1989

The Princess wore this white silk strapless dress encrusted with pearls and sequins, with a matching bolero jacket, during a royal tour in 1989 and then shortly afterwards at the British Fashion Awards.

Designed by Catherine Walker and described as the Elvis dress, this streamlined ensembles texture and cut creates real red-carpet impact, responding well to the dazzle of flash bulbs.

The 'Elvis' ensembles texture and cut creates real red-carpet impact, responding well to the dazzle of flash bulbs

KUWAIT, 1989

Another wonderful Catherine Walker design, Diana wore this suit with a Philip Somerville hat during her official tour of the Gulf States in 1989.

One senses that the Princess was playful in her wardrobe choices, in this instance experimenting with block colours and strong silhouettes.

Catherine Walkers designs have since been worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, as well as her mother, Carol Middleton.

Princess Diana popularised designs by Catherine Walker, who is now favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge and her mother Carole

DUBAI, 1989

In another image from Princess Dianas official tour of the Gulf States, the sidelong glance and smile off-camera creates a most beguiling portrait.

The dazzling white and royal blue with the angular design of her Catherine Walker suit makes the image pop. Looking flawless, the outfit is enlivened by Dianas pose.
Trust James Nesbitt to come up with the analogy. His Cold Feet co-stars are thinking about how to describe their big reunion, when the cast of the iconic comedy-drama met up again last year to make a new series, after a hiatus of 13 years.

Theres much likening it to meeting up with old university pals, or attending a school reunion. James, who plays Adam, has a more startling recollection, describing looking into the mirror en route to the first day of filming, and seeing abject terror looking back.

It was like meeting up with a load of old lovers, he says. His co-stars look at him as if he is slightly deranged. Well I was nervous, he argues. I was apprehensive. I hadnt seen people for ages!

From left: Hermione Norris, Robert Bathurst, James Nesbitt, John Thomson and Fay Ripley return for the new season of ITV's Cold Feet

There were nerves too from the female members of the gang, as this bunch of now middle-aged friends still think of themselves. The seemingly unflappable Fay Ripley admits that she willed the car taking her to the first day of filming to crash, so sick did she feel at the thought of turning back the clock.

Hermione Norris was beside herself with anxiety  mostly because she had read the script detailing what had become of her character Karen. And lo, Karen had become quite the sex goddess, getting more bedroom action than she ever did in the original series, when she was married to the hapless David, played by Robert Bathurst.

Did she punch the air when she read that script? No she did not. The opposite! she laughs. I mean, I think women loved seeing a woman of Karens age be sexually liberated and having a great time.

But as an actor when you read that script you think oh no. You think my poor husband. Fay nods furiously, and pulls what can only be described as a puke face. You dont want to go to work and kiss someone.

On balance, though, everyone agrees that it is A Good Thing to have a middle-aged female character who still seems to have a pulse. Its so refreshing and nice to see a woman have a good time. Often, thats a very male storyline, says Hermione. And I have to say it was tastefully done. It wasnt Fifty Shades.

Hermione Norris, Robert Bathurst, James Nesbitt, John Thomson and Fay Ripley pictured with Helen Baxendale pictured in the early days of Cold Feet

Brace yourselves, though, Cold Feet fans. It seems the new series  which is pretty much a load of midlife crises all vying for attention  turns even saucier. Fay lets slip that she and John Thomson, who plays her character Jennys husband Pete (who always has his eye on the Pringles), have been filming a passionate scene in their kitchen.

At their age? She explains that its a fantasy flashback. Jenny is grappling with a who am I? phase, convinced that her best friend has dumped her, and while her husband is happy to settle for his lot in life, she wants more. More what, though? Its hard to tell whether shes talking about extra helpings of dinner, or sex. Perhaps both.

There is a lot of food involved, Fay says of this racy scene. It got out of hand. Im not going to lie. You could potentially use it as a cooking video as well. There were some health and safety issues, but I think we got there. John says, worryingly, There were raspberries involved. They said we could improvise.

Adams new love Tina (far left) with Pete, Jenny and David in a highly anticipated scene from the new series

What a blast it is catching up with the cast as they film series two of the revamped comedy-drama. Holed up in their second home  Manchester, where the show is set  they are on relaxed form, much more so than this time last year when no one had the faintest idea whether the show would be welcomed back with garlands  or panned as the most clunky telly revival since Dallas brought Bobby Ewing back from the dead.

Relief, relief and relief, is how Robert Bathurst describes their reaction to the critical acclaim that followed. I mean you can be confident in the script, you can watch a screening and think it works, but ultimately its down to the audience. There were never any guarantees. There still arent. We are all only too aware that we have to earn that affection.

Perhaps its only now that they can be honest about what a gamble it was for all of them to reprise the roles that made them all famous. The show was, of course, based around the lives of three couples, all relatively carefree thirtysomethings.

Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris and James Nesbitt pictured at this years National Television Awards. Hermione says she was affected by the new storylines more than expected

First time round we followed them as they embarked on family life and bought their first homes. Returning to those lives again  in middle age, when disappointments had set in, as well as wrinkles  was always going to be fraught. Hermione in particular shudders at how easy it would have been to be attached to a telly failure.

Historically, the chances of something coming back and not working were quite high. If people had just laughed it off, or been mean about it, it would have been hard. You dont want to regret having done something.

I mean we had all been blown away by the new storylines. I was much more personally affected than I expected. I found that I really cared, particularly about what had happened to Adam and his son Matthew after his wife Rachel died. I was quite weepy about them. But in terms of whether viewers would be as engaged well, we hoped, but you honestly never know.

As it happened, the new Cold Feet  which found Adam remarrying, then regretting it and opening up a whole new chapter of romantic angst  was the triumph of the year. Critics raved about how writer Mike Bullen had managed to engage us once again with characters that were familiar, yet had evolved.

From Left: James Nesbitt, Fay Ripley, John Thomson, Ceallach Spellman, Hermione Norris, Leanne Best and Robert Bathurst pictured ready for the new season to begin

The storyline was striking. The show had never shied from merging the laugh-out-loud funny with the tragic (after the scene in which poor Rachel died when her car was hit by a lorry, the funeral was seen by 10.7 million viewers), but all these years later Mike Bullen tackled the topic of male depression, and had John Thomsons character Pete struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Today, John admits he baulked a little at his script, too. I mean I was a comedy actor, he says. And this was dark stuff. Part of me was thinking, But my pedigree is comedy. I wasnt sure I could do it. But I loved the fact that Mike Bullen thought I could do it.

He wasnt prepared for the emotional toll the role took, though. It was odd for me to step into the dark side, he admits. Part of Petes storyline last season was when an elderly man asked him to help him die.

Even this did have some comic moments but, he says, If youre doing a comedy, you go home with a smile on your face, but when youre dealing with the attempted murder of a pensioner you take a little of it home with you. There were nights after work Id go home and think Phew! Blimey. It was a challenge, most definitely.

The cast previously won the award for 'Most popular comedy' at the 2002 National TV Awards

Sobering too was the reaction Petes depression provoked in viewers. All these people got in touch and said, Petes story is my story. Im going to see a doctor. Im going to get help. It was incredible. I mean I dont see myself as an ambassador for male depression. It was overwhelming because I just set out to play the part, but it struck a chord out there.

There is a danger of a comedy focusing too much on issues though, says Robert Bathurst, adding that the new series is character-based rather than issue-led. As James Nesbitt points out, We arent one of those shows that goes infidelity, done it; abortion next. Its all driven by the characters.

What happens in this new series, though? Well, we kick off with Adam landing a new job with a trendy dotcom company. Cue midlife crisis number one. Hes finding his feet too in his new relationship with Tina, his landlady, who turns out to be quite the commitment-phobe.

WHAT THE GANG HAS BEEN UP TO Adam has been rebuilding the relationship with his son Matthew Jenny is holding her family together through depression and ageing Pete was balancing two jobs to make ends meet and battling with depression David was last seen proposing to Karen as part of his roller-coaster love life Karen has seen the return of her old nanny and her son Josh Tina is being lured by Adam to trust him again ADAM (James Nesbitt): The born charmer who lost his beloved Rachel tied the knot again last season with tycoons daughter Angela, but immediately regretted it. Shes now returned to the Far East and hes in Manchester, where hes struck up a romance with his landlady, Tina. Hes also rebuilding his relationship with his son Matthew, whos a chip off the old block  hes already had a fling with David and Karens daughter Ellie, but now prefers her twin, Olivia! JENNY (Fay Ripley): Funny and fearless, Jennys always the glue holding her family together (except when she had an affair and got pregnant with daughter Chloe). In the last series her marriage to plodding Pete looked in jeopardy as she enjoyed the attention of an admirer. But when she learnt Pete had depression she looked after him. She now has teenage kids, an ageing mum and Pete to deal with, plus her own unfulfilled ambitions. Can she keep up the brave face? PETE (John Thomson): Adams best mate, mostly known as poor Pete. Permanently skint, but with a heart of gold, in the last series he was working two jobs as a taxi driver and a carer for the elderly as well as trying to battle through depression, and he gave us a fright when he talked about killing himself. With an inheritance from the man he cared for coming his way, surely its time something went right for him? DAVID (Robert Bathurst): The posh, pompous suit is just too bumbling to hate. His private life is a disaster: marriage number one, to Karen, was rocky for years before it ended, and marriage number two, to his cold-hearted divorce lawyer Robyn, has now also come a cropper. After a stint in jail on remand for fraud, David found out the charges were to be dropped and in drunken celebration he decided to propose to Karen again. Sadly, millionaire Eddie (played by Art Malik) had the same idea, and the two of them were last seen brawling on a Twister mat. KAREN (Hermione Norris): She once seemed destined to be a bored, long-suffering businessmans wife  now Karen has her own publishing firm and an exhausting love life. Little wonder David seems to regret their split. Lifes been spiced up further by the return of her old nanny Ramona, and of her son Josh, who came home with a surprise boyfriend, Juan. TINA (Leanne Best): She started as Adams landlady, but it was clear shed eventually become his lover. Will it last, though? While he was growing obsessed with her, another lover came out of the woodwork, and Tinas past proves to be as complex as they come. She too has loved and lost  will Adam be able to convince her to trust again? Advertisement

The question of children also comes up, he reveals. Will it be happy-ever-after? Of course not. This is Adam. History has shown us that the minute Adam is content he begins to look for reasons not to be, says James. There has to be some kind of conflict, some element of danger, guilt, self-loathing or tomfoolery.

Central to the new series is that question every fiftysomething asks themselves, he says. Hes a man of 50 faced with that question, What next? Is there a next? Or am I just biding my time? And what other examples of midlife ennui will we encounter? Bicycles, says John Thomson. Thats the classic new sign of the midlife crisis, isnt it? There is a lot of Lycra.

The big question when Cold Feet returned last year was always how the cast would handle the absence of Adams true love, Rachel (played by Helen Baxendale), such a key character from the original line-up.

John Thomson as Pete Gifford and James Nesbitt as Adam Williams pictured in a scene from the new series. John Thomson previously struggled with drink when the show first launched

Her death brought the first run of the show to a shuddering, devastating end. The idea of bringing her back  even in ghost form  had been mooted, but ultimately dismissed when Helen decided not to return. James talks of how difficult he found being on set without her.

There was one particular scene that proved more emotional than he expected, he says. Just before Adam got married again, to Angela, a much younger woman hed met in Singapore, he took his and Rachels son Matthew back to the house where hed spent his early years.

James says that afterwards he was showered with praise for his acting. He leans in. I found that very easy to play, he admits. I was in pieces  for real. I was having to rein it in rather than work to get the emotion there. I missed her terribly. I mean it was such a strong relationship. I think Adam and Rachel had a really great love story, I really do. It was a proper love story.

Imagine being the new Rachel on set, then. Its the tag actress Leanne Best  who plays Tina  has been landed with, having joined the cast for last years series. Not terrifying at all, she says, with a nervous laugh. It was a quirk of fate that caused Leanne to look startlingly like Helen Baxendale, though.

The cast of the series had heard rumours of the shows return for so long that they believed it would never happen

Her short dark bob was very much an accident, she says, a salvage job after a previous role had forced her to bleach her blonde locks once too often. The result is that I now look more like Rachel  which works for the storyline.

There has to be a nod to Rachel. But Tinas very much her own character, with her own back story. Its been lovely seeing how things develop between her and Adam. I dont think Im giving away too much to reveal that its not going to be plain sailing. They both bring a lot of baggage, lets say.

Among the original cast members, there is much talk of how much they had all aged since they last met up. Hermione and Fay pull at their faces and roll their eyes over how brutal the camera can be.

The men dont. I dont really see it. When I look at other people I can see that they have aged, but when I look in the mirror I still think Im looking at a 19-year-old, says the eternally chirpy Jimmy Nesbitt.

Well, Im 25, quips John Thomson. And Robert Bathurst, who has the driest humour of the lot, deadpans about his tips for sliding into middle age. Ive always said that no one over 40 should wear jeans, he says. That was a rule a while back, which seems to be broken. I think so long as you avoid the plum-coloured chinos, you are doing OK.

John Thomson says that nothing prepares actors for fame and that he now feels better prepared to cope with the fame that will come when the season returns

Theres a more serious discussion, though, about whether it is easier to be a male actor than a female one these days. Intelligent people say  Im sure Ive said it  men age better. I mean its what we believe is the tradition, says James. Its nonsense, but we are conditioned to think like that. Women age beautifully, but we are conditioned to think that it is not the case.

Of course we cant talk about ageing without the subject turning to Jamess famous full head of hair. When he had a series of hair transplants, he was surprisingly open about it, but he had his own spitting-tea-over-the-script moment when he read a reference to Adam having a similar procedure.

He put it in, cheeky b*****d! he says of Mike Bullens nod to real life. Today he says he had no option but to go public about a deeply personal matter. It was ridiculous for me not to talk about it. I mean I was bald  then I had hair and I thought, I may as well say it, before someone else does.

Presumably his hair transplant surgeon was delighted to get the publicity? He smiles. I probably did think, Ill get a couple of free ones out of this. You can take the man out of County Antrim

Of course the return of Cold Feet had been mooted for years, to the point where the cast never really thought it would happen. There were always rumours, but I never took it seriously, says Fay Ripley. Her family did take it seriously, however. After one (false) report, eight years ago, they actually threw Fay a party.

Robert Bathurst (pictured centre) believes the opportunities for working class actors to develop are being taken by the middle class due to the expenses of starting out in the industry

It was on the news! she remembers. What happened was that someone had done an interview with Helen Baxendale and she had said, Oh, it will probably come back. That became a headline, which became an item on the BBC Six OClock News. Then my family threw a party.

They had a barbecue and lots of champagne. Oh marvellous. I was saying, But I havent had a call. No one has told me. If it was going to return, I wasnt going to be in it, clearly.

Whats interesting about getting these very diverse actors together (Were like a pop group, everyone has to be a bit different, muses Fay) is that their collective experience of the acting business is immense.

Theres much thanking their lucky stars, though, that Cold Feet changed their lives in the way it did. They all would hate to be starting out in todays industry. Robert Bathurst talks of the rise of the middle-class actor  at the expense of the working-class one.

James says the show will be a gamble for all the actors involved. Cold Feet returns to ITV Friday, 9pm

I dont know how young actors make a living, apart from the ones who are rich to start with. Its the reason why a lot of actors are coming from affluent backgrounds, because they have to be able to support themselves. I used to feed my family doing adverts. I still do voiceovers with no shame attached.

When Cold Feet took off first time round, this lot became household names overnight. That wasnt necessarily a good thing  John Thomson famously went off the rails and had to claw back much of his life after well documented issues with drink. Are they better prepared for the attention this time round? Every single head nods furiously. Definitely, says James. John agrees.

Nothing prepares you for it. There is no drama school that teaches you how to be famous, not one. There is no drama school that I know of that teaches you that you have to pay the bills. There is none that teaches you ambition. You learn about acting being a craft, an art form, but there is no mention of the fact that you have to earn your bread and butter from it.

They all say they will be happy to stay with Cold Feet for as long as Mike Bullen feels the show has legs. No actorly worries about being pigeon-holed, then? James says, if anything, involvement with this sort of show leads to more work. It probably helps, to be honest. If you are successful, they will put you on another show.

John nods. Its very much about profile now. Its kind of like the American model. But its a catch-22. You cant get a profile without work, and you cant get work without a profile.

They all had a lot to lose with the return of Cold Feet (Lets face it, its not as if we were struggling actors desperate to do it, points out James), but the gamble seems to have paid off. Theyve fallen effortlessly back into finishing each others sentences, anyway.

Your memory does funny things, says Fay Ripley. When youre back with those people you start recalling things youd forgotten. What struck me was that a lot of the stuff we had shared was ours alone. The references, I mean. Even our families wouldnt know about them. The power of shared experience is extraordinary. n

Cold Feet, Friday, 9pm, ITV.
To those not in the know, it will seem as if the BBC has made a ghastly error with its new murder mystery Rellik. The monster wanted for a series of grisly acid attack murders is not only identified and pursued in the first episode  he is shot and killed! Not such a mystery then?

Except that this is what makes Rellik a completely fresh concept in TV dramas  it is a crime thriller that is deliberately told in reverse (the clue is in the title: Rellik is Killer spelt backwards).

After a police marksman guns down chief suspect Steven Mills, the action rewinds a few hours and then a few hours more, over the course of the first episode.

New murder mystery Rellik airs on BBC1 later this month showcasing life before and after a disfigurement starring Jodi Balfour and Richard Dormer

Episodes two to five take us further and further back, to the point where the first of the acid murders is being committed and the police investigation gets underway. The final part returns us to the present and reveals the aftermath and consequences of Millss killing in episode one.

Rellik could only have been written by an individual or a team at the very top of their game and confident enough to try something truly radical.

Brothers Jack and Harry Williams are that team. They have already created two plot-turning and twisting series of the hugely successful BBC thriller The Missing, one series of the highly-acclaimed BBC whodunnit One Of Us, and another of their dramas, Liar, starring Joanne Froggatt and Ioan Gruffudd as ex-lovers on a collision course, is about to air on ITV at the same time as Rellik is running on BBC1.

Were always trying to find new ways to tell stories and were interested in the idea of trying to tell a tale backwards, says Harry. But we didnt want it to be just a technical exercise, we wanted to tell a proper story in reverse. That was the starting point for Rellik.

We also knew that we had to find a protagonist the audience could connect with, adds Jack. The idea that our main detective, in the story, had himself been a victim of an acid attack, a victim of the killer our cops are chasing in the series, seemed to work. Telling a story through the lens of someone living with a disfigurement felt like a story worth telling. Who he is  before and after the attack  forms the spine of Rellik.

The detective in question is DCI Gabriel Markham and hes played by 47-year-old Richard Dormer, a Northern Irish actor best known for his roles as Beric Dondarrion in Game Of Thrones and Sheriff Dan Anderssen in Skys Norwegian drama Fortitude. He was also writer David Croft in the BBCs homage to Dads Army, Were Doomed! The Dads Army Story, which aired in 2015.

Rellik is a crime thriller that is deliberately told in reverse - even the name is 'killer' backwards

On set in Londons East End, a stones throw from the London Stadium where Mo Farah and co performed heroics at the 2012 Olympics, Richard is filming one of the later episodes of the thriller. This means he is blessedly free of the prosthetics he needs to wear to play Markham after he suffers an acid attack mid-series which scars much of his face, head and upper body.

I spent much less time in the make-up chair this morning than I was having to earlier this month, laughs Richard. When we started filming, it took the make-up artists two and a half hours to scar me, they then got it down to one and a half hours and then to an hour and ten minutes.

But its never been anything less than painful to have on and very hard to get used to. Weve been filming on warm summer days and the sweat from my brow has become trapped behind the prosthetics and because my heads been covered Ive been constantly overheating. Also, my eye has been squashed down and that has been quite painful at times because my eyelashes have rubbed against my inner eye.

The make-up artists have been brilliant at doing their job and alleviating the discomfort as much as they can and weve done funny accents and silly jokes while Ive been sitting in the chair to keep the atmosphere as light as possible. But filming Rellik has been tough, very tough.

Theres a scene in the first episode where Markham receives therapy for the attack he suffered and is urged to receive treatment for his injuries, at which point he spits out, Not until I catch the [expletive deleted] who did this to my face.

Having had a small taste of what its like to be scarred  people would look away from me in the street when I was filming or look genuinely shocked when they saw my face  I can understand where that anger and frustration comes from.

Relliks unusual timeline has presented a challenge of a different sort to Richard and one thats been equally taxing. You very rarely shoot anything consecutively but largely the character youre playing has a journey where they are moving forward but on this youre going backwards.

Just when you think youve got a handle on it, its like the ground comes out from under your feet, its absolutely crazy!

Im constantly asking myself, Where have I been? Where am I going? and trying to remember everything thats about to happen rather than what has happened. Its making my head spin, Richard says, suddenly looking rather careworn and jaded. I dont even know what day it is.

If working on the show is making the main actors head spin, there must be a danger it could do the same to the audience, that they will find it difficult to follow a story being told in reverse. Even Richard admits, I suspect some people will enjoy Rellik more than others.

His co-star Jodi Balfour, the actress who will be playing Jackie Kennedy in the second series of The Crown and who appears as Gabriel Markhams lover DI Elaine Shepard, even has her own Bible to ensure that her head didnt become too fuzzy during filming.

This is definitely one of the hardest things Ive ever had to do. I suspect that Gabriel Markham might be hard to shake off and hard to get out of my system. -Richard Dormer

The writing team bought me a ring binder and filled it with the storyline in actual time order and that has been extremely useful, says Jodi, 29. I call it my Bible, its that important to me.

Writer Jack Williams appears to acknowledge that Rellik could prove very challenging to audiences when he says, Stories are told forwards for a reason  because the best stories are all about characters who are undergoing some process of discovery and change.

When you take away consequence, you take away a key ingredient of the storytelling process. What weve had to do is find a way to still find room for this kind of narrative, to tell stories about characters, stories that tell us about who these people are.

Rellik is certainly rich in characters, most of them firmly in the orbit of Gabriel Markham. At the end of the first episode, we witness the strained relationship he has with his wife Lisa, by whom he has a 16-year-old daughter, Hannah.

During the course of that episode we are also introduced to Gabriels various colleagues, including his boss Detective Superintendent Edward Benton, played by Ray Stevenson, as well as people whose presence in the overall story will gradually be explained during the six episodes.

Peep Show actor Paterson Joseph plays psychiatrist Isaac Taylor, who has been treating Steven Mills and who arranged to meet him at a roadside cafe in the hours leading up to the latters death. Patrick Barker, played by Paul Rhys, is initially more enigmatic.

An immaculately dressed and charming management consultant, viewers will see him racing to catch a plane in the first episode, and possibly escaping from whatever danger he believes hes in.

No character is as close to Gabriel Markham as his lover Elaine Shepard and the couple enjoy an intimate scene early in the first episode of the series.

Its important to establish the passion between them although dont imagine it was either glamorous or sexy to film, laughs South African-born Jodi. With a scene like that, you go through it in minute detail and then rehearse it and rehearse it. Thankfully, I get on really well with Richard and we had a lot of laughs along the way.

Laughs, in the story itself, are pretty much non-existent and Rellik doesnt shy away from showing the brutal violence of the acid attacks, including the one on Markham himself.

Both leading actors developed means of dealing with such a full-on and potentially disturbing drama, Jodi explains. Im such a wuss when it comes to anything remotely scary that I knew I would have to set boundaries for myself when I filmed this and make sure I maintained a completely separate life away from the character. So I avoided learning my lines close to bedtime as I knew it would affect my dreams and sleep over the course of the five-month shoot.

Richard had so many scenes to film, and worked such long hours, that he took a more direct approach to switching off from Rellik.

I drink a large glass of red wine, he grins. Its been taking me three hours every night, even when weve had a nightshoot and not finished until 5am, to get all the emotions, all the thoughts and fears of what Ive been feeling all day, out of my system. You do absorb it all.

Ive just been sitting down and listening to some classical music and just breathing with a glass of red wine in my hand. Unsurprisingly, Richard reckons Rellik will have a lasting effect on him after the dust has settled and hes returned to some kind of normality.

If 20 years ago Id come to London and become a cop rather than an actor, Markham could have been me so its almost like I am playing myself in some kind of altered reality. I even use my own Northern Irish accent and its part of the reason Gabriel Markham is so remarkably close to who I am.

But its totally scary to expose myself in this way. Its one thing to crawl into somebody else and become a different person but if you are playing yourself, or a kind of yourself, its a lot more raw and not always very comfortable.

This is definitely one of the hardest things Ive ever had to do. I suspect that Gabriel Markham might be hard to shake off and hard to get out of my system. Very hard indeed.

Rellik is on BBC1 later this month.
Arlene Phillips doesnt blame Len Goodman for bowing out of BBC1s Strictly Come Dancing. In fact, in his shoes shed do the same. Strictlys not his life, she says. Hes having a great time with his wife Sue and hes a grandfather now.

Id hate to have to fly between London and Los Angeles [where Len has a 3 million contract with Dancing With The Stars, the US version of the show] every week for ten weeks. I dont blame him for leaving.

What about her old chums, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli? Wont they miss the head judge whos been such a huge part of the show for 12 years, delivering hilarious Len-isms such as pickle me walnuts and spank me gently with a wet chamois?

Eight years after Arlene Phillips was booted off Strictly she reveals what it was really like working on the show

The thing is, at least when I was doing the show, there wasnt a Strictly family for the judges. They kept themselves apart, says Arlene. Len and I never really associated and I dont think Craig did with him either. Bruno travelled to America with him for Dancing With The Stars but... Anyway, the great thing about Strictly is that the show survives beyond any one person.

Shes speaking from ex-perience, of course. Its eight years now since the BBC booted her off the show and received more than 1,350 complaints, mostly accusations of ageism as Arlene-Phillips-66 (her sisters nickname for her) emerged as a reluctant poster girl for the wronged older woman.

In fact, Arlene was so reluctant to talk about it that you brought up the subject at your peril. But, somehow, Strictly has stuck to her like, well, sequins to Lycra leotards.

One man who gave her enormous support at that time was the late Bruce Forsyth, then the shows host, whom she now recalls fondly.

He got in touch and was very upset. It meant so much to me. Shed known Bruce since the 70s. I first met him when his daughter Julie came to the Italia Conti school in London where I was teaching. He was a real family man and a phenomenal dancer.

Arlene Phillips (pictured right with Bruce Forsyth in 2012) was removed from the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series as the age off 66

Ill never forget him backstage on Strictly revving himself up like a car engine so that when he went on stage he was full of energy. I think he liked me because I was a fighter, someone that was determined to break the mould. That was what Bruce always wanted to do.

As this years Strictly comes around again we now know that Len is to be replaced by 56-year-old Shirley Ballas, a former professional dancer who has been a mentor on Dancing With The Stars. Would Arlene have hopped back in the judges chair given the chance?

I dont know that I would, she says. I love the show but She laughs. I just wish Id had nicer clothes. I was always put in black jackets. I wish Id had gorgeous frocks. Thats my only regret. Why did I have to sit in a black jacket?

Why indeed? Today Arlenes wearing a stunning outfit for this Weekend magazine photoshoot. Arlene-Phillips-66 could easily pass for 50. She is, in fact, Arlene-Phillips-74. This bit bothers me, she says, tugging the tiny fold of loose skin under her chin.

In my dreams I look like Sharon Osbourne, but that isnt me. A year ago I had Botox and fillers. I also have laser lifting but if I did this She pulls her face back tautly with her hands. Id look peculiar. I wont have my body touched either  my boobs are my own.

She says she struggled to separate what happened on Strictly from the death of her friend Michael Summerton who died within 24 hours of her being axed from the show

Arlene-Phillips-74 may well have arms as firm as a 50-year-olds but, as a person, shes wondrously loosened up. Take Strictly.

Arlene rarely speaks openly about her feelings surrounding the BBCs treatment of her when they let her go without an explanation. She was axed within 24 hours of her manager and friend Michael Summerton dying from cancer and learned the news from a radio reporter.

I could never separate what happened from Michael being so ill, she says. I lost the very person who was there throughout Strictly. Just when I needed him to pick up the pieces, he wasnt there.

All you can do is get up. I had a show to put on  Connie Fisher was going on tour for the first time in The Sound Of Music. I was in rehearsals the next day. Ive always found that when one door closes another door opens.

Despite being asked many times to write an autobiographical book, Arlene says she's 'never really wanted to'

Indeed, following Strictly, more doors than line the corridors of a plush hotel were opened for Arlene as she waltzed from clothing range to childrens book deal, from jewellery line to choreographing Flashdance The Musical and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers The Wizard Of Oz.

Today, shes working with Andrew on Starlight Express; choreographing a piece for Candoco Dance Company, which represents disabled dancers; helping to take 27 The Musical to the West End; and touring with her autobiographical show, Arlene! The Glitz. The Glamour. The Gossip.

Ive been asked many times to do an autobiographical book but never really wanted to, she says. I often think life stories are boring to everyone other than to the person whose life it is. But its not too many shows  just 17 in total. Not too many? Its a huge workload for someone whos long since passed the age at which they collected their free Oyster card. What keeps her going?

I think old dancers dont die, they just keep going. Youre disciplined and you have a passion for your work. Age doesnt diminish that drive.

She became an overnight dance sensation after her dance act Hot Gossip (pictured) shot to fame in the late 70s

Arlene wanted to dance for as long as she can remember. She grew up in Lancashire in a working-class family. Her father was a barber, her mother a dinner lady, who died from leukaemia when Arlene was 15.

The poverty (the family lined their shoes with newspaper because they couldnt afford to get them soled) and the loss of her mum shaped the feisty, determined woman she was to become.

I dont think the feeling of missing your mother ever goes away, she says. Ive spoken to others who have lost a mother or father when they were young. Youre missing a little piece that other people arent.

Arlenes spent most of her life running full steam ahead. So much so that, in her 30s, when her dance group Hot Gossip had appeared on ITVs Kenny Everett Video Show and become an overnight sensation, she didnt stop to notice the cracks forming in her seven-year marriage to fashion designer Danny Noble.

Soon after their divorce she became pregnant, at 36, with her oldest daughter Alana. Shes never named the father. Arlene met her current partner, set designer Angus Ion, 63, when she was choreographing a Freddie Mercury video. The hilarious story of their courtship is included in her show.

Freddie was sliding this girl along a platform during a dance routine at 2am. He threw her and she hit her head against a wall that had a metal plate in it. He picked her up and said, Oh my God, shes split her head open. Then he said, Ill take her to Mile End hospital myself and get her stitched up. Ill just sign some autographs and theyll let me rush in.

So off they went, while Arlene went into the green room, where one of the carpenters confronted her. He said, That was your fault. I could see he was throwing her closer and closer to that metal and you didnt see it. We started arguing. I said, Hang on, it was just a dance piece. Anyway, you built that set.

He left the room so that was the end of it. Then, a week later, I was at a video shoot with the group AC/DC and the same carpenter was there. He came up to apologise. We started talking and never stopped talking. Weve been together ever since.

The couple have a 27-year-old daughter, Abi, and are blissfully happy. The stability in my home life is very precious, Arlene says. Ive learnt to live in the moment, not looking forward or back, and Im not trying so hard to be perfect. I just accept who I am. I should have done that long ago. Perhaps Im growing up. She laughs out loud. We both do.

Arlene! The Glitz. The Glamour. The Gossip is on tour until 20 November. Visit arlenephillips.com/tour.
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A 28-year-old woman left quadriplegic after suffering a spinal cord injury in a tragic accident has defied the odds to walk down the aisle at her wedding.

Rhiannon Harding, from Wallan in Victoria, married her high school sweetheart Mark Harding in March after he supported her through her excruciating recovery.

The young woman was told she would never walk again following a horrific injury when she was holidaying in Bali in 2009. The then-20-year-old dove into a shallow pool after mistaken it for the deep end.

Not only did she severely break her neck and back, but the fragments of broken bone were piercing into her spinal cord, struggling to move her body in the water.

Fast forward, she has fulfilled her ultimate goal by getting up from her wheelchair to walk down the aisle before exchanging her vows with the love of her life.

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Rhiannon Harding (nee Tracey), from Victoria's Wallan, married her high school sweetheart Mark Harding in March after he supported her through her recovery from a devastating pool plunge

Mrs Harding was declared a quadriplegic after suffering a spinal cord injury but has defied the odds to walk down the aisle in an intimate wedding ceremony

'It was the most magical day for both of our lives,' Mrs Harding told Daily Mail Australia.

'The important part was our ceremony - that was our thing. It was based around our personalities, our three dogs were there - there were lots of laughs and hidden jokes.

'Our wedding day wasn't just about us, but for everyone who played a significant part in our lives - and we were able to share our special day with them.'

Confined to a wheelchair since the age of 20, she was determined to prove doctors wrong by finding the strength to stand on her feet at her dream wedding.

'The walk down the aisle was a breeze,' she said, laughing as she reminisced the incredible moment she was flanked by her father and step-father.

'Honestly, the walk was the last thing I was concerned about on my wedding day. Having a spinal cord injury is so complex because every single day is a different day.

'What freaked me out the most was my health - one day you could feel like c**p and another day you're feeling wonderful. If I wasn't well, I couldn't fix [my health].

'I remember it was nerve wracking. I was so nervous in the car when I was on my way to the ceremony, I don't think I've never felt that much nerves.

'But the heavens opened up on our wedding day, and everything went to plan. The walk itself... I could've done 50 times over that day because I was full of adrenaline.'

'It was the most magical day for both of our lives,' Mrs Harding told Daily Mail Australia

The bride said she was in the middle of a school talk when her boyfriend came and proposed to her in front of all the students

Speaking about her proposal, Mrs Harding said she was lost for words the moment her partner pulled out an engagement ring.

'I knew it was coming but I had no idea how it was happening,' she said, laughing.

'Mark and I are really bad at keeping secrets so he actually came home one day from work and told me that he was in the process of having a ring made.

'I was in the middle of a school talk when he came in and decided to do what he did, he proposed to me in front of all the students.

'I was totally speechless, the first time in my life I had nothing to say to him. I actually hit him 30 times because I was totally embarrassed and overwhelmed.

'It was just an incredible moment. We both always knew we'd end up getting married. We already shared the same dreams for the future - so everything fell into place.'

'I was totally speechless, the first time in my life I had nothing to say to him. I actually hit him 30 times because I was totally embarrassed and overwhelmed,' Mrs Harding said of the moment her husband proposed

For the past eight years, she made a significant progress through hours of physiotherapy as well as undergoing gruelling weight and strength training.

In 2009, the young woman was holidaying with her mother and best friend when she plunged into the shallow end of the pool - believing she was leaping into the deep water.

She found herself face down, struggling to move her body after hitting her head.

'I was under the impression the entire pool was deep but when I dove in, I didn't dive in far enough so I hit my head so hard, I felt my whole body jolt,' she recalled.

'When I couldn't move my body, I thought I was just in shock. It felt like I was in the water for a significant amount of time. But after a few minutes bringing myself back up to the top of the water, I started to panic because I realised I couldn't move. My friends had to pull me out.'

She was rushed to a hospital where she was placed in an induced coma after breaking her neck and back.

'The fragments from my broken bone was piercing through my spinal cord,' she said.

After returning from Bali to Australia, she underwent another surgery at a Melbourne hospital.

'I was very lucky to have travel insurance, it's the reason why I'm alive today,' she said.

For the past eight years, she made progress through hours of physiotherapy as well as undergoing gruelling weight and strength training

When she was diagnosed, Ms Harding said she was told she was never going to walk, get out of bed or feed herself again.

'I was an emotional wreck. I didn't feel like me anymore. I was an emotional rollercoaster,' she said.

'I asked my parents to put me out of my misery... I felt like this was definitely not what I'd expect for a 20-year-old. I remember just two months before my 21st birthday, I asked my parents to put a pillow over my head.

'But my mum was so reassuring. She'd done a lot of research and would tell me all the amazing stories about quadriplegics who were able to turn their lives around. She really gave me a lot of hope with my life.'

And after a seven-month battle in hospital, she was determined to walk again - and she certainly turned that dream into a reality.

'It's great to be able to take some step today, but in all honesty, I know I will not be able to have a functional walk again but my quality of life is so much better now than what it was when I first had the injury,' she said.

'I'm lucky considering my spinal cord wasn't severed. I dedicated the last six years to rehabilitation and I feel so much healthier now. Walking is great but that's not what I'm focusing on. I'm focusing on my quality of life.

'My life is now fulfilled. I'm an motivational speaker so I share my story with anyone who wants to listen. And I'm helping people realise there's so much more to life.

'Life is there to be lived no matter what happens to you, you're the deciding factor. You can push yourself, I know it sounds cliche but if you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything.'

Appearing on Nine's This Time Next Year, Ms Harding made a vow to Karl Stefanovic that she will walk down the aisle to marry her partner

A year later, the Today host was moved to tears when he watched as Ms Harding made her way to the stage on her feet, with Mr Harding right by her side

Her next goal?

'We definitely want to find a big land somewhere to build our dream home,' she said.

'We have three dogs, two cats and a horse at the moment. Sure babies are on the cards somewhere but we're not in any rush, we're just going with the flow.

'We want to do a bit of travelling - I'm sure we have adventures ahead of us. In the meantime, we're definitely having fun and working hard.'

Appearing on Nine's This Time Next Year, Ms Harding made a vow to Karl Stefanovic that she will walk down the aisle to marry her partner.

And a year later, the Today host was moved to tears when he watched as Ms Harding made her way to the stage on her feet, with Mr Harding right by her side.

'She makes me want to be a better human everyday,' her now-husband told Stefanovic.

This Time Next Year continues on Monday at 8.40pm on Nine.

For confidential support, please call the 24-hour Lifeline on 13 11 14.
A little girl has been applauded by viewers of This Morning after describing a 38-year-old soldier who was blinded in Iraq as her 'best friend'.

Temperance Pattinson, 5, from Darlington, County Durham, and Simon Brown, 38, from Leeds, were introduced through Help for Heroes after she decided she wanted to 'give back' to soldiers by completing triathlons and 5k runs for the charity.

Mr Brown became involved with the charity after he was blinded when he was shot by a sniper on a rescue mission in Iraq, which saw him put into a coma for 18 days and left him with just 20 per cent sight in one eye.

Temperance, who likes to be called Tempy, was inspired to help soldiers aged just three, when she found out the meaning behind wearing a Remembrance Day poppy.

The unlikely friends appeared on ITV's This Morning and viewers were touched by their story, with one calling Tempy an 'angel'.

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Temperance Pattinson, 5, from Darlington, County Durham, and Simon Brown, 38, from Leeds, were introduced by Help for Heroes

Eamonn Holmes asked Tempy if Simon was her 'best mate' and she gave a shy nod, saying: 'He's really brave'.

Describing his accident 11 years ago Simon said a bullet went through one cheek and came out of the other, leaving him with almost no vision.

Tempy's mum Emily explained her drive to help soldiers came when she learned about Remembrance Day after buying a poppy.

Emily said: 'She just didn't know what they were, she was only three, so she asked. I explained about giving money to soldiers and families of soldiers who have sadly lost their life.

Tempy started fundraising after her mum explained to her about Remembrance Day and why people wear poppys

'In the literal fashion of a child she didn't understand why we were giving money to soldiers who couldn't spend it, so she wanted to do something to give back to the soldiers that are still here.'

Tempy decided to do a 100 metre swim when she was just three, despite not knowing how to swim, and raised 50 for Help for Heroes from donations from family and friends.

She said: 'I did a 100 metre swim and that was a really big challenge because I couldn't swim then. I didn't drown.'

Simon was clearly impressed by the little girl's passion, adding: '100 metres doggy paddle when you're three, bit intimidating isn't it?'

Tempy then did a triathlon that consisted of another swim, a run and a bike ride, which she did despite not being very comfortable on a bike.

Viewers were blown away by the young fundraiser and took to Twitter to praise her passion

After friends encouraged Tempy's mum to put her fundraising online the charity got in touch and put her in touch with Simon.

Tempy said: 'I'd met three other soldiers before him but he was the bravest one I met.'

Simon got involved with the charity after his injury because he wanted to show people there was a 'person behind the scars'.

He said: 'It was that platform, the support, that got behind us. There was a time when soldiers werent very proud, we werent getting the greatest press and sometimes you were embarrassed to go out in the street with your injuries.

'This platform meant we didnt have to hide the scars and people like this show there are people behind the scars. That platform and facing it together with all the little stars that raise the money and give us these opportunities, it's just phenomenal for me to be involved.'

Mr Brown was shot in the face by an Iraqi sniper in 2006 and was put in a coma for 18 days, with the injury leaving him with just 20 per cent eyesight in one eye

Viewers were touched by the unlikely pair's close bond, with one tweeting: 'Tempy is such a wonderful girl. How lovely to see her video and all the good she is doing.'

'What a hero that little girl really is,' another posted.

A third tweeted: 'This soldier and this little girl, honestly there is good in the world! Amazing guy! Little angel!'

The pair first gained attention early this week when they starred in a Help for Heroes video together in which Simon thanked Tempy for all her fundraising.

In the film, Mr Brown says: 'I got shot in the face but I was lucky. It's because of the challenges you do, and the money you raise and the support you give, that people like me can get better. So that's why people like you are our heroes.'

Tempy and Simon appear in a heartwarming video that has gone viral online

Temperance replies: 'And people like you are mine.'

The video has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times since it was posted on the Help for Heroes Facebook page.

The charity said it is the first in a series to be produced as part of its new Facing It Together campaign, which aims to show the differences that the charity's supporters make to the lives of veterans and their families.

Tempy said she began to support Help for Heroes when she was just three.

She had seen a poppy and asked her mother, Emily, about the sacrifices made by those who put their lives on the line to protect us.

Simon is one of at least 66,000 ex-military personnel with life-changing injuries and illnesses in the UK who are in need of support, the charity said.

The clip features Tempy telling Simon why she decided to raise hundreds of pounds through her triathlon, despite being scared of riding her bike

Since being shot, he has endured 25 operations and hours of surgery to rebuild his shattered face.

Mark Elliott, who helped Bryn and Emma Parry set up the charity in 2007 and is current Advocacy Ambassador for Help for Heroes, said: 'It is so important that people from completely different backgrounds and ages can connect through a common cause, and that is exactly what we see here.

'Help for Heroes is a movement and its inspiration is heroes like Simon Brown.'
New research has shown that "outercourse" could be the answer to reaching orgasm during sex.

According to a Melbourne-based sex therapist and clinical psychologist only 20 percent of women have an orgasm through penetration alone.

'Young men are also very ignorant about women and how to facilitate her orgasm. Because a man doesnt give his partner an orgasm, he facilitates it,' Dr Janet Hall told Mamamia.

'Sex should be about giving and receiving pleasure to the entire body  not just genitals and certainly not just inside the vagina.'

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According to a Melbourne-based sex therapist only 20 percent of women have an orgasm through penetration alone (stock image)

Dr Hall is of the belief that the idea of penetration being the number one player in sex is detrimental.

'Penetration is the male model of ideal sex and they forget that it is the journey and not the destination that is most to be enjoyed,' she said.

'In my clinic, most women say they need clitoral stimulation from any source in order to have an orgasm.

'Though some can have internal stimulation by partners fingers or by vibrator or dildo and have G-spot and A-spot (near cervix) orgasms.'

Dr Hall is of the belief that the idea of penetration being the number one player in sex is detrimental (stock image)

Dr Hall's data was collected over 15 years through a questionnaire on her website and shows that the other 80 percent of women need something else to help them climax.

This is when the term "outercourse" comes in, which includes things such as kissing, massaging, using vibrators, clitoral stimulation and oral sex.

Dr Hall told Mamamia that the term "foreplay" shouldn't be used to describe this because it implies that it isn't an important part of a woman's sexual experience.

She also said that some women feel embarrassed when they can't orgasm only through penetration which often leads women to feeling like they have to fake one.

'This is fed by movies and novels where the woman appears to have an orgasm by being breathed on,' she said.

Dr Hall told Mamamia that the term "foreplay" shouldn't be used to describe this because it implies that it isn't an important part of a woman's sexual experience (stock image)

Dr Hall recommended that women should not put pressure on themselves and should have fun when having sex in order to have a better experience.

'Read books and find websites online which encourage you to try different things out. Use your imagination.'

Previously adult educator and writer, Jane Untamed, told FEMAIL how to keep the spark alive in a relationship.

She suggested that partners should shake things up and 'explore new fantasies and fetishes'.

To do this she said to not always have the same kind of sex at the same location and the same time of day.

'Try out that scene from that movie you just watched together. Find some common kinks,' she advised FEMAIL.

Previously adult educator and writer, Jane Untamed, suggested that partners should shake things up and 'explore new fantasies and fetishes' (stock image)

'More and more we are becoming open to raunchier ways of expressing our sexuality  be it trying a little light bondage, attending some erotic theatre or a sexy theme party.

'Leave your comfort zones  this can often be where the magic happens.'

Dr Nikki Goldstein also spoke to Daily Mail Australia about other ways to ensure you are having the best sex possible.

She explained that although touching and kissing can be very prominent at the start of a relationship, they can die down as time goes on, meaning partners should work on bringing them back into the relationship.

'We're a hyper sexual society that doesnt incorporate a lot of touch. Upping touch not only brings more intimacy, it can help women to get more aroused and into sex,' she said.

Dr Nikki Goldstein (pictured) had also spoken to Daily Mail Australia about other ways to ensure you are having the best sex possible

'Kissing a lot and touching a lot is a great way to reinvigorate your sex life.'

Dr Goldstein said that you should also focus on making your sex about pleasure, to try new things and to see what works.

'Don't be scared to experiment with pleasure and try out things you actually want to do, and not what you think you should want.

'Explore things because of the physical pleasure they might bring not because its taboo.
An Australian woman who posted a photo online of her engagement ring has come under fire for complaining about its size.

The woman took to Twitter to share a snap of the diamond ring with the caption: 'Imagine finally being proposed to & this is the ring you're given' - accompanied by five crying emojis.

Social media users have hit out against the woman's comments with some going as far as to label her actions "shallow" and "unappreciative".

A woman took to Twitter to complain about the size of her engagement ring but sparked an onslaught of outrage

Poll Is the ring too small? Tell us what you REALLY think YES NO Is the ring too small? Tell us what you REALLY think YES 2108 votes

NO 4173 votes Now share your opinion





'A ring doesn't indicate ones integrity, faithfulness, love, or ability to care for their family. Rings can be upgraded shallowness can't,' one commenter, Nikki, noted.

'I got no ring when my husband proposed. We had no money. We worked TOGETHER and he was able to get me my dream ring 2 years after wedding,' said another.

'If the size of the ring is more important to you than the man who is giving it to you, do him a favour and say no. He deserves better,' added Lea.

While plenty of women weighed in, men were also moved to comment with some insisting size wasn't an issue.

'My girlfriend picked out the engagement ring she wants. It's smaller than that,' wrote Chris.

'The size of the ring doesn't matter.'

Another user Kaylor commented on how awful it might feel to have ask someone to marry you only to find out they were complaining about the size of the ring online.

'Imagine mustering up the courage to ask your dream girl to marry you and she bashed the ring you got her on Twitter.'

Twitter users were moved to share their modest engagement rings

The woman's post has also prompted an outpouring of support by others who've rushed to the defence of love by sharing snaps of their own 'small' engagement rings.

One woman posted a photo of her simple diamond solitaire with the comment: 'The ring my dad gave my mother because he wanted to marry her.'

Another woman named Vanessa posted a picture of her wedding rings, noting substance of her marriage was more important to her than the shell.

Vanessa commented that the substance of her marriage was more important than the shell

This person captured the sentiment perfectly with a comment that expressing her appreciation

'Ring I got over a year ago. I love it and my marriage things don't represent your relationship and if they do you shouldn't be in one.

Another captured the sentiment perfectly with a photo and comment expressing her appreciation for her "simple" ring.

'This is the beautiful ring that my fiance proposed with. it didn't matter how simple it was cuz all I want is to marry him.'
A prestigious school in Victoria offered 'modern etiquette classes' to its students, which involved teaching the schoolgirls how to wear high heels.

Following the class, some students at Girton Grammar School hit out at the female-only session.

'On the one hand, we are being expected to excel at STEM subjects alongside the boys,' some students wrote in a letter to the Herald Sun. 'On the other, we are being asked to bring in high heels so that we can learn to work in them.

'It is demeaning and sexist.'

A prestigious school in Victoria has offered 'modern etiquette classes' to its students, which involves teaching the schoolgirls how to wear high heels (stock image)

The etiquette lesson was part of a weekly work shop for the students to help prepare them for life once they leave.

But the concerned students thought that the inclusion of a heel lesson was outdated as they said: 'This is not 1950, this is 2017.'

Due to the concern the anonymous students expressed, the school was forced to scrap the heel workshop.

The etiquette lesson is part of a weekly work shop for the students to help prepare them for life once they leave

Headmaster Matthew Maruff told the Herald Sun the workshops were designed to provide students with information on 'self-conduct in social and work environments'.

'At all times, we encourage our students to speak out respectfully on any issue that concerns them,' he said.

'In this instance, we were very glad that two students let us know that they felt uncomfortable being asked to bring high heels to school as part of the modern etiquette session.

'Several students did elect to seek advice related to wearing high heels after the session and the school was happy to support these students in that choice.'

Headmaster Matthew Maruff said the workshops were designed to provide students with information on 'self-conduct in social and work environments' (stock image)

The elite Bendigo school, which charges up to $13,800 a year, has received backlash over the initial decision.

In a segment on the Today Show the school was slammed by guest speakers.

'This is a deal breaker for me, if I was looking for a school for my daughter in Victoria I would not be considering them, I mean are we in the 1950s?' author Nikki Gimmel said.

'I think it's very interesting that it's a male headmaster who has decided that the girls at his school need etiquette classes involving how to wear heels.

'When I wear high heels I feel disempowered and not as strong as when I'm wearing my flat shoes and I think its a real worry, some girls just don't want to wear high heels,' Nikki said.

'I think it's very interesting that it's a male headmaster who has decided that the girls at his school need etiquette classes involving how to wear heels,' author Nikki Gimmel said

Radio host, Jo Stanley, was of a similar opinion and said it was a 'missed opportunity'.

'There's no doubt school leavers need assistance with presentation and that's male and female... it's really helpful to teach our young people how to present themselves well, smile at people, look at them in the eye and be confident but being confident means being at one and happy in your own skin.

'And if we're forcing young women to [be] teetering around in heels when they're not comfortable... then you're not teaching them how to be confident as themselves.'

Daily Mail Australia reached out to Girton Grammar School but they declined to comment further.
As schools across the country prepare to start the new academic year, principals and district leaders will be forced to confront a perennially thorny issuestudents social media use.

Grappling with concerns around cyberbullying, school safety , and sexting , some districts choose to monitor students online posting , keeping tabs on digitally delivered messages that could signal dangerous behavior in real life.

And some schools, including Lewiston Middle School in Maine, decide to ban cellphones from the premises altogether.

District and school leaders hope the new policy will decrease cyberbullying and classroom distraction, the Sun Journal reported . The ban comes after a wave of what Superintendent Bill Webster called clearly inappropriate, very troubling posts in the wake of two students deaths last school year.

Jayden Cho-Sargent, 13, was killed in November when a vehicle struck him on his way to school, and Anie Graham, also 13, died by suicide in May, the Sun Journal reported. After both deaths, said Webster, students posted mean comments and false information online.

Many of these posts were time-stamped from the middle of the school day, said Lewiston Middle School principal, Jana Mates, in an interview.

Our job when kids are here is to protect them, to keep them safenot just physically, but emotionally as well, she said.

Whether or not to ban cellphones on campus is a contentious issue among school leaders.

Theres some evidence that banning phones correlates with better academic outcomes: A 2015 study released by the Center for Economic Performance at the London School for Economics and Public Policy found that middle school test scores rose in schools that prohibted phone use in class.

But some teachers and education experts see mobile phones, with their potential for internet-enabled collaboration and research , as potentially powerful learning tools . A complete ban on phones in schools may be unrealistic, said Sameer Hinduja, co-author of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying, in a 2014 interview with Education Week.

Instead of having hard-and-fast rules about when students can use devices, and confiscating them if rules are broken, educators should set reasonable standards for responsible use, he said. Kids think adults are out of touch banning things that really cant be banned, said Hinduja.

Even if schools prohibit devices on the premises, students can still send harassing messages and post inappropriate content at home. To get to the root of cyberbullying, Hinduja recommended taking steps to improve school climate. Digital citizenship programs, in which students learn how to engage safely and ethically online, are gaining traction in K-12 schools.

Along with the cellphone ban, Lewiston Middle School is also implementing a digital citizenship program twice a week in homeroom classes. Students will discuss empathy, accepting difference, and the significance of posting publicly online. Once you put things in words on the internet, you cant take them back, said Mates.

Mates acknowledged that students could still post disparaging or bullying messages at home under the new policy.

At the very least, she said, "[the ban] can allow them, when theyre here, to not be anxious that somethings going to be said about them during school hours.

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Sleeping newborns have been captured in a series of adorable baby portraits.

The heartwarming collection, taken by Australian professional photographers, shows the babies snoozing peacefully as they nestled on soft blankets, swaddles and cribs.

Capturing the tender moments, the babies are either dressed in props or surrounded by sentimental items to provide a unique and personal touch to the pictures.

Adorable! Two newborn babies sleep side-by-side in a gold coated crib, with roses, coins, milk bottles and crowns

Delicious! A newborn resting peacefully against a strawberry and cream cake surrounded by kitchen utensils and ice sugar

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil: Photographer Rebecca Colefax has cleverly replicated the Three Wise Monkeys

Somewhere over the rainbow! Smiling newborn swaddled in a fabric as the bundle of joy rest on a light, fluffy cloud

And portrait photographer Jodie Andrews blew away the judges with her four pictures, including a smiling newborn girl napping peacefully on a woolen rug and two babies resting side-by-side.

She was crowned 2017 AIPP Australian Professional Newborn Photographer of the Year.

On Monday night, more than 400 photographers gathered at The Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne for the awards.

AIPP president Vittorio Natoli said the awards represent the best of the best of professional photography.

'APPA is the only awards in the country that celebrates photography in its original form by valuing the photograph, which in its printed finish displays authenticity and permanency,' he said.

'APPA awarded images display visual literacy with exemplary creativity, vision and craft.'

And the winner is: Portrait photographer Jodie Andrews blew away the judges with her four sentimental pictures

Beautiful: Ms Andrews has been crowned the 2017 AIPP Australian Professional Newborn Photographer of the Year

Family tree: The Newborn Photographer of the Year entered this image showing a baby sleeping peacefully on a swing

The heartwarming collection show babies captured snoozing side-by-side on super soft rugs with floral beaded headbands

A little girl sleeping in her wooden cot, with three teddy bears and a bowl of porridge next to her replicating Goldilocks

Swaddled in fabric, this smiling newborn sleeps peacefully on a soft rose-shape fabrics - replicating a giant flower

The heartwarming collection, taken by Australian professional photographers, shows the babies snoozing peacefully

Enough to make your heart melt! A smiling baby snoozing on a large wool, surrounded by autumn leaves

The heartwarming collection, taken by Australian professional photographers, shows the babies snoozing peacefully

Capturing the tender moments, the babies are surrounded by sentimental messages to provide a unique and personal touch

Surrounded by red and white knitted mushrooms, this newborn baby dressed in a woolen fox costume sleeps peacefully

Cheeky veteran: This adorable baby snoozes peacefully on a super soft rug, surrounded by an Australian flag and medals

Surrounded by floral, this adorable baby nestled in the centre of the photograph

Sleeping like a baby: This adorable baby found sleeping peacefully on soft blanket on a book shelve

Sentimental: This cute newborn sleeps peacefully on a black rug, placed on top of a bull head

Swaddled in a white fabric, this newborn baby sleeps peacefully in a leaf-shape mould surrounded by tea candles

Tender moment: The black-and-white photograph shows a newborn baby snoozing peacefully on a super soft surface

The heartwarming collection, taken by Australian professional photographers, shows the baby snoozing peacefully

The photo shows two newborn babies snoozing peacefully together as they nestled on super soft blanket
At first glance, he could be any other proud dad dropping his brood off at the school gates on the first day of the new term.

But this is no ordinary family.

King Philippe of Belgium shunned chauffeurs to personally escort Princess Elisabeth, 15, Prince Gabriel, 14, and Princess Eleonore, 9, to their Catholic school in Brussels today for the start of the new academic year.

The smiling monarch, dapper in a navy blazer, walked hand in hand with his youngest daughter, with Elisabeth and Gabriel close behind.

Princess Elisabeth, Prince Gabriel, and Princess Eleonore were escorted to school by their smiling father, King Philippe of Belgium

The teenage Princess Elisabeth and Prince Gabriel were relatively casually dressed for their first day back at school after the summer holidays

The fee paying Catholic school in the capital is the alma mater of an array of high-profile former pupils, including former Belgian Prime Ministers, Hubert Pierlot and Henry Carton de Wiart, as well as other members of the royal family.

The young royals' brother, Prince Emmanuel, 11, also attends St John Berchman's, but was not photographed with the rest of the family today.

Their mother, Queen Mathilde, appeared to have left childcare duties up to her husband, as she was nowhere in sight today.

Family resemblance: Princess Elisabeth walked side by side with her younger brother, Gabriel

The children were accompanied by their father, King Philippe, but it appeared Queen Mathilde did not join them

Blonde Princess Eleonore, 9, held tight to her father's hand as they arrived at the school

The start of the school term officially marks the end of the summer, which saw the whole family step out to celebrate Belgium's National Day in July.

Queen Mathilde colour co-ordinated with her daughters in shades of pink, as the family of six waved to the crowds outside the 'Te Deum' mass at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.
A former Big Brother star who branded her boyfriend 'unromantic' was shocked when he revealed he had planned their dream wedding for two days after they got engaged.

Ben Womack, 40, from Stockport, started planning the Don't Tell The Bride-style wedding in December without telling his girlfriend, Emma Greenwood.

He finally proposed to her on August 4 - when he revealed that they would be getting married just two days later on August 6 in Scotland.

Ben even got Emma, who appeared on series 5 of Big Brother, to pick out her wedding dress without her suspecting she would be wearing it just a few months later as a bride.

Emma Greenwood on her wedding day - which was just two days after her boyfriend, now husband, proposed to her

Emma said it was such a surprise when her boyfriend Ben Womack told her that they would be getting married just two days after he proposed

Ben started planning their wedding last Christmas after Emma called him 'unromantic'.

He wanted to prove her wrong, so created a secret Facebook group with all of her family and friends involved to plan the perfect day.

Business owner Ben said: 'It all started because last Christmas Emma mentioned how unromantic I was, and I realised it was true and I wanted to do something about it.

'I just thought, I love her to bits, I want to marry her, so let's just do it.

Ben proposed to Emma in the Lake District on their way to what she thought was just a holiday in Scotland - but would actually be their wedding

Emma on her surprise wedding day with young relatives (left) and with new husband Ben (right). Ben even got Emma to pick out her wedding dress without her suspecting that he would be marrying her in just a few months' time

He added: 'I had eight months to plan this wedding and did it all without her knowing a thing.

'I managed to tell her that we were going to Scotland for my 40th birthday, which was actually the date I'd planned the wedding for.

'We always visit Scotland so I knew it was somewhere we'd want to get married, but also it was an easy place to convince her we were just going to [on holiday].

'On August 4, we stopped off at the Lake District on the way to Scotland "for my birthday," and that's where I popped the question.

'Luckily she said yes, and the rest of my surprise could take place.

'As soon as I told her that we were getting married in two days she was so shocked, she thought I was joking.'

Ben Womack and Emma Greenwood after getting engaged in the Lake District

Emma said she had no idea when she was being fitted for her wedding dress that she would be wearing it just a few months later

Emma and Ben with Emma's parents Colin and Karen on their wedding day in Scotland

Despite planning their wedding completely behind Emma's back, Ben made sure that she picked out her own dress, had it fitted and chose her own flowers..

Ben added: 'Our friend has a wedding dress shop, so I got her to "accidentally" bump into us and tell us that she's planning on shutting down her shop.

'So I convinced Emma to go in and pick one out because it'd be cheap, and that we'd use it one day when we got married.

'So she did, she went in, picked out the perfect dress - and I even managed not to see it myself.

'I even managed to get her to have the dress professionally fitted by the woman, after [falsely] telling her that she was fully booked until next year.

'Another one of our friends owns a florist's, and one day when Emma went in to visit her, she said how much she loved a bunch of flowers that she had made for a wedding.

The groom took to Facebook in December 2016 to plan their secret wedding after Emma claimed he was unromantic and wanted to prove her wrong

Emma and Ben then enjoyed a honeymoon in Thailand - which Emma had thought would just be their annual summer holiday

Ben even got his bride-to-be to unexpectedly try on her wedding dress, without her suspecting a thing

'So obviously I just made sure they were the ones we had for our big day!'

Amazingly the wedding went without a hitch, and Emma couldn't have been happier with how her big day was planned.

Emma, 32, added: 'I had absolutely no idea what was going on, I didn't suspect a thing.

'With the wedding dress, I just thought that was classic Ben trying to bag a bargain.

'I was a bit confused when I was having to go to the fitting, but at the same time I just believed what the woman said about being booked up and went along with it.

'I was so relieved when I found out that Ben had arranged the whole wedding, it was so nice not having to have all of the stress that comes with planning your own day.

'I think if I'd planned everything, I'd have woke up on the morning and not even wanted to go because I'd be so nervous.

'There were a couple of people that I'd wished were there, and the meal could have been better but overall the day was absolutely perfect.

'I was so overwhelmed the whole day, I'll never ever forget it.'

The couple then jetted off on their honeymoon to Thailand - something that Ben tricked Emma into believing was their summer holiday just four months before.
Muslim Loose Women star Saira Khan has said she'll never stop wearing bikinis or standing up to extremists in a fiery rant.

Saira, 47, previously posted a bikini snap on Instagram in response to a preacher who said it was a sin for Muslim women to pluck their eyebrows - inviting the woman who made the remark to 'kiss my [bottom]'.

Her defiant post attracted a flood of comments, including one that said 'if you value your life keep the f*** out of Islam', which Saira publicly reported to police via a Tweet.

Today the mother of two revealed her husband Steve Hyde pleaded with her to 'let it go' over fears for the safety of their children, but said she 'can't not speak up'.

Saira Kahn went on a passionate rant on today's Loose Women, saying she wouldn't be silenced by Muslim trolls

Saira posted this risque bikini picture on Instagram, telling Muslim extremists to 'kiss my bottom'

She said on the show she would continue to wear bikinis and be a positive role model for Muslim women.

Saira had been on holiday last month when she discovered that a Muslim convert said women are committing a sin by plucking their eyebrows.

After being contacted by a fellow Muslim woman who said her husband had banned her from working in a salon, Saira said she felt compelled to speak out.

She said: 'I could not believe what I was hearing , here was a woman, of all the things you can preach that's going on in the name of our religion, she chooses eyebrows, and actually makes women feel bad about themselves.

'"It's a sin," she said so I posted that in defiance, saying you are a prehistoric dinosaur for coming out with things like this.'

Saira received the 'worst, vile comments', including death threats, for her defiant post.

Defiant: The mother of two revealed her husband Steve Hyde pleaded with her to 'let it go' over fears for the safety of their children, but said she 'can't not speak up'

At the time a troll, posting under the handle @silverbengle, commented on Saira's Instagram telling her to stay out of Islam if she wanted to live.

Muslim preacher who believes plucking eyebrows is sinful Saira Khan posted in response to comments by a female burqa-wearing Muslim convert teacher who said it was sinful for Islamic women to pluck their eyebrows. Umm Jamaal ud-Din's fiery, two-hour sermon covered the delicate topics of female grooming and obeying Allah. The Islamic instructor from western Sydney, who is also known as Mouna Parkin, said it was sinful, or haram, for women to pluck their eyebrows, even if they believed it was hygienic. Advertisement

They posted: 'Keep your f****** mouth shut! Your not a Muslim nor do you represent anything to do with Islam!!! Your white masters have given you what you desire as a sell out reporter!!! If you value your life keep the f*** out of Islam [sic].'

Saira said her husband warned that extremist 'nutters' could harm their children Zachariah and Aamara, and begged her to 'let it go'.

'My husband pulled me to one side and said ''Look you've got two children, you don't know what nutters are out there. You can't speak about, this just let it go.''

He was so concerned that I just thought, "you know what Steve, you're right," but I can't not speak up because the only image people will have of Muslim women in this world is those extremists,' she explained.

'I want people to know I am a Muslim woman, I want to wear a bikini, I wear it with pride, and I will pluck my eyebrows.

'Killing other people in the name of religion is a sin but not plucking your eyebrows.'

Saira and her husband Steve are seen with their son Zac and adopted daughter Amara in 2010

Her fellow Loose Women panelist Andrea McLean praised Saira for being 'brave', but she said she didn't feel brave for speaking out.

She explained: 'I think it's so wrong and weird for me to feel brave just to call somebody a dinosaur. That's not brave, we should all be allowed to say something like that. The thing that really saddens me, the point I want to end on, my family came here, my mum and dad nothing in their pockets, they came in the '60s I was born in the '70s.

'My generation of people went through the National Front, we went through the BNP, we had skinheads writing names, that generation put their head down, they were grateful to be in the country, they were grateful to get a job, and they wanted to have their kids to be educated and enjoy all the freedoms of this country.

'What I find sad is that there are people of my colour, of my religion, now giving me death threats - fourth, fifth generation on, that's the sad thing and I think that's its a disgrace and that's not why my parents came to this country in the first place.

Instagram user silverbengle send Saira a death threat for her bikini pictures in a now deleted comment

Saira was quick to report the death threat to the police on Twitter, before speaking out about it today

'I think we all have to really stand up, I will not keep my mouth shut. If somebody says to me you cant pluck your eyebrows I will call them a prehistoric dinosaur and I've said it on national telly.'

In May the star Saira publicly criticised a Muslim man who slammed her for baring her body in a Loose Women campaign about body acceptance.

She told the troll to 'go and do one' and dubbed him a 'narrow minded, misogynistic, brainwashed, backward idiot'.
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Michelle Obama looked ever the A-lister as she stepped out for a workout and a yacht trip in Mallorca, Spain.

The former First Lady, 53, shielded herself from the sun with shades and a black hood to enjoy a hike around the island on Thursday.

She was surrounded by members of her staff tagging along for the sweat session, with members of her security team flanking her.

Stylish: Michelle Obama looked ever the A-lister as she stepped out for a workout and a yacht trip in Mallorca, Spain

Travels: The former First Lady, 53, boarded a yacht on Friday, wearing a white crop top and a stylish wrap skirt with a bird pattern, letting the fabric flow to show her toned legs

Sweat session: On the previous day, Michelle shielded herself from the sun with shades and a black hood to enjoy a hike around the island

Attire: Michelle opted to wear capri leggings as she headed out in Mallorca, along with a sports bra and a sleeveless top

Entourage: Michelle was surrounded by members of her staff tagging along during her hike on Thursday

Focused: The former First Lady kept her eyes trained on the ground as she hiked under the sun during her Spain trip

Sartorial choices: At one point on Friday, Michelle changed into different clothes, and was spotted wearing a black outfit and a hat while leaving a restaurant

Busy: The First Lady stopped at a restaurant on the same day she was seen getting on a yacht during her Mallorca stay

Michelle is in Mallorca to visit American diplomat James Costos and his partner, Michael Smith.

Her husband, former President Barack Obama, does not appear to have accompanied her on the international trip.

The day after her hike, Michelle boarded a yacht, wearing a white crop top and a stylish wrap skirt with a bird pattern, letting the fabric flow to show her toned legs.

She accessorized her outfit with a straw bag from Madewell, giving the outfit a chic beachy wibe.

Michelle was seen aboard the yacht later in the evening on Friday, enjoying time with a group of friends.

At one point on Friday, she changed into different clothes, and was spotted wearing a black outfit and a hat while leaving a restaurant.

Both she and her husband will have a Secret Service detail for the rest of their lives, Barack having restored lifetime protection for former presidents in 2013.

Safety: The former First Lady was flanked by members of her staff again as she made her way out of the restaurant

Precautions: Michelle and her husband will have a Secret Service detail for the rest of their lives, since her husband restored lifetime protection for former presidents in 2013

Exercise: As the First Lady, Michelle often advertised the benefits of exercise, and she stayed true to her word by going hiking

Not there: Michelle's husband, former President Barack Obama, does not appear to have accompanied her on the international trip

Summery: The Harvard Law grad accessorized her outfit with a straw bag from Madewell, giving the outfit a chic beachy wibe

Stepping on: Michelle explored the yacht on Friday and was later seen on board of the boat when it sailed in the evening

Careful: Just like the previous day on her hike, Michelle took care to protect her eyes with a pair of sunglasses

Good times: Michelle was seen aboard the yacht later in the evening on Friday, enjoying time with a group of friends

Relaxing: The former First Lady seemed to be admiring the coast during the get-together on Friday evening

Costos and Smith are longtime friends of the Obamas, and have previously hosted the family several times at their residence in Palm Springs, California.

Barack and Michelle jetted off to the glamorous home during their first trip out of Washington, DC on the day of President Donald Trumps inauguration in January.

Smith, a designer, previously redecorated the Oval Office and the Obamas private quarters during their time at the White House.

Later on, he was moved to welcome the first family into his house.

'When they were here, it occurred to me that more than 50 years ago JFK had stayed just down the road at Bing Crosbys home,' Smith told Architectural Digest in 2015.

'The President and Mrs. Obama basically woke up in the morning to the same view of the valley. There was something lovely about that thought. It made me contemplate all the change that has taken place in those decades, contrasting with the timelessness of this beautiful desert landscape.'

Parenting life: Michelle's trip to Mallorca comes the week after she and Barack helped their eldest daughter, 19-year-old Malia, move into her dorm at Harvard (pictured)

Student: Malia (pictured on campus last week) got permission to move in a day early in Cambridge, Massachusetts, meaning her parents were able to drop her off during the solar eclipse that took away some of the attention

Bright future: The new student (pictured on campus last week), who has an interest in film and previously interned for Lena Dunham's TV Show Girls, took a gap year before heading to college

Family: Barack and Michelle (pictured with their daughters in an archive shot) will remain in Washington, DC until their youngest daughter, 16-year-old Sasha, finishes school

Michelle's trip to Mallorca comes the week after she and Barack helped their eldest daughter, 19-year-old Malia, move into her dorm at Harvard.

Both of them looked emotional and kept their faces down as they exited the building with their sunglasses on, keeping their heads down as they promptly headed back to their car.

Malia got permission to move in a day early, meaning her parents were able to drop her off during the solar eclipse that took away some of the attention.

The new student, who has an interest in film and previously interned for Lena Dunham's TV Show Girls, took a gap year before heading to college.

During that time, she interned at Harvey Weistein's production company in New York City, where she stayed on her own earlier this year.
A woman has raised more than $20,000 for victims of Hurricane Harvey, all thanks to photos of a cat.

Rachel Millman, a 29-year-old writer based in Broolyn, New York, asked people to donate to relief organizations on Monday.

She told potential donors on Twitter that if they sent her a receipt of their donation, she would in return provide them with photos of her roommate's cat Jerry misbehaving.

The writer thought her idea would generate $1,000 at most, but donations kept pouring in, and she and Jerry ended up raising an astonishing $20,533 by Thursday.

Impressive: Rachel Millman, a 29-year-old writer based in Broolyn, New York, has raised more than $20,000 for victims of Hurricane Harvey, all thanks to photos of a cat

Idea: The 29-year-old writer based in Broolyn, New York, asked people to donate to relief organizations on Monday in exchange for photos of her roommate's cat Jerry misbehaving

Efficient: As it turned out, fellow Twitter users were eager to see photos of Jerry (front), a sizable animal who has a habit of stealing the food of Rachel's cat Meryl (back)

'Please favorite this tweet if you would like to see a photo of Jerry behaving badly,' she initially wrote, before realizing she could put pictures of Jerry to better use.

'Actually I have a better idea,' Rachel added. '@ me with proof of donating to a charity for south Texas and I will dm you a photo of Jerry behaving badly.'

As it turned out, fellow Twitter users were eager to see photos of the feline, a sizable animal who has a habit of stealing the food of Rachel's cat Meryl.

People promptly, sending her screen shots of their donations to organizations such as the Houston Food Bank, rescue group Dallas DogRRR, and the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund set up by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Proof: People promptly, sending her screen shots of their donations, with one person writing 'Give Jerry pix' on their receipt

Amazing: As more donors contributed, Rachel was amazed to see the amount collected rise above $20,000, a mere 48 hours after her initial tweet

One person even scribbled 'Give Jerry pix' on their receipt, making it clear that their donation was made with the mischievous cat in mind.

As more donors contributed, Rachel was amazed to see the amount collected rise above $20,000, a mere 48 hours after her initial tweet.

'I was shocked,' she told Glamour of the overall success of her campaign.

Rachel, who now has 24,800 followers on Twitter, believes many people participated due to the 'social aspect' of the movement, with social media users hearing about other donors and deciding to get involved too.

'My dad was making fun of me earlier for this being the most millennial fundraising,' she added.

Theory: Rachel (pictured), who now has $24,800 followers on Twitter, believes many people participated due to the 'social aspect' of the movement

Unfair: The pet owner also noted there was currently a 'weird imbalance' in her house because Jerry was being celebrated as a hero instead of Meryl, her better-behaved cat

As for Jerry, he was apparently a tad annoyed at Rachel, who kept grabbing him to record videos as prizes for higher donors.

Rachel also noted there was currently a 'weird imbalance' in her house because Jerry was being celebrated as a hero instead of Meryl, her better-behaved pet.

Thousands of people had to seek refuge in shelters after Harvey dumped historic quantities of rain on southeast Texas, reaching 51.88inches in Cedar Bayou.

At least 46 people are now thought to have died as a consequence of the natural disaster, with officials warning that number is likely to rise.

Experts and officials have warned it could take years for the area to fully recover from the natural disaster.
Former Strictly star Lisa Riley describes herself as a Russian doll of love. Or at least, thats what she is to her boyfriend of three years, Al. Hes had the before me, the middle me and the after me, she says.

The before Lisa was a vocal cheerleader for the big-is-beautiful brigade, who, at her heftiest, was a dress size 28 and swore blind she was happy as a pig in clover. Until two years ago, when she finally confronted the health risks of morbid obesity.

Out went the bottle-and-a-half of wine a night, the crisps, the sweets, the cheese toasties and the rest, for Lisa to emerge as a size 12 middle me.

Again, she said she felt absolutely wonderful, but privately she was filled with self-loathing.

Shrinking Lisa (from left): On Strictly in 2012; then down to a size 12 in 2016; and now, feeling a million dollars in 2017

For this dramatic weight loss  almost 12st in 18 months  left her with unsightly rolls of loose skin on her stomach, groin, thighs and underarms. So much so that when she exercised, the saggy flesh rubbed red raw.

It revolted me to the core, she says. I used to lie in the bath pulling at it. I wanted to rip it off. I was so angry.

I was getting so mentally tortured because wherever I went  to work, to the supermarket, to see my family, to the shops  people were like: Oh my God, look at you, you look amazing!

Id say: Oh, thanks. But inside I was thinking: No I dont. I hate myself.

Id exercise and be really hurting with all this skin flapping about and dragging. I began to wish I was massive again.

When I was a size 28, I was like this huge ball but everything was tight. Then Id worked really hard to get the weight off but Id been left with this huge bundle of of she stops. Shakes her head.

On Tuesday, viewers will be able to see that huge bundle on ITV1s Lisa Rileys Baggy Body Club, which follows the actress and Loose Women presenter through surgery to remove more than a stone of loose skin.

Legacy of dieting: Before her surgery to remove excess skin

The hour-long documentary is not for the faint-hearted, showing, as it does in graphic detail, the two lengthy operations during which consultant plastic surgeon Rob Winterton slices off enough flesh to feed a small village.

Which takes us to the after Lisa who is sitting before me.

Im as rock-solid as Serena Williams, she says, tapping her thighs. Finally, Im sexually confident. Im at my peak. Im 41 years old. But this wasnt vanity for me  it was a necessity.

Ive never once said its cosmetic surgery. Its not. Its corrective surgery. I couldnt have carried on without it.

Lisa is not alone. There are thousands of people in the UK who, having shed large amounts of weight, face the same problem.

She agreed to take part in the documentary in the hope that raising awareness will encourage the Government to make the operation, which costs between 5,000 and 8,000, available on the NHS.

The NHS wants people to lose weight for their health. But once they do, theyre on their own, and left with this whole problem of horrid sagging skin, says Lisa.

I used to tuck all the rolls of skin into my tights and underwear, but it was reaching the stage where it was hard to clean between the folds. It was vile.

On Strictly Come Dancing: Lisa Riley and Robin Windsor do the salsa

Im so lucky I could afford this myself. When you go onto the crowd-funding sites on social media you see the enormity  excuse the pun  of the number of people who need this. When I get out of the shower, I dont wobble any more. Look. She scrolls through the photographs on her iPhone to a picture of the flesh the surgeon removed.

Thats my stomach. Thats my trophy. It makes me really proud. Look at all of that he chopped off. Theres so much of it. And look, thats my breast being rebuilt [after more saggy skin was removed].

These are my golden tickets. I want to keep reminding myself what Ive done  what Ive been through  to get to where I am now.

Having a ball: Today Lisa is much changed from the bouncy fun-seeker who endeared herself to so many viewers in the 2012 series of Strictly Come Dancing

This is for always. Its who I am. I dont recognise the fat, bubbly Lisa any more. Shes dead in my eyes, and long may that last.

Indeed, today Lisa is much changed from the bouncy fun-seeker who endeared herself to so many viewers in the 2012 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering Robin Windsor.

Few of those watching knew that just two months before filming began, her much-loved but indulgent mum Cath had died of cancer. Lisa, one of two children born and raised in Bury, Lancashire, who found fame at 19 as Mandy Dingle in ITVs Emmerdale, nursed Cath through her last months of life.

Mum got breast cancer when she was 51 and it came back to the pancreas five years later, says Lisa. Those two years and four months to her passing I was living on takeaways. I can show you photograph after photograph of how enormous I was. Look. Again she scrolls through her iPhone.

Lisa, one of two children born and raised in Bury, Lancashire, who found fame at 19 as Mandy Dingle in ITVs Emmerdale, nursed Cath through her last months of life

How did I get like that? Who is that person? Its like when you play Monopoly and people say: Why do you get 200 when you pass Go? There is no answer. Fame, perhaps, at such a young age. Mum. Living the high life.

When she got really ill I stopped working in the February and set up the Cath Riley wing at my house. If she had a week or ten weeks left, I had to be there. My mum was my everything and then some.

She passed on July 29. Even now when I walk into Superdrug and see the yellow Dove deodorant  the one she used  it can make me cry. It really can. Its the smell. I want my mum.

There are tears now. She wipes her eyes. Collects herself.

Strictly took the pain away. Robin was the best Calpol. It was giddy the whole time and I loved it.

On Tuesday, viewers will be able to see that huge bundle on ITV1s Lisa Rileys Baggy Body Club, which follows the actress and Loose Women presenter through surgery to remove more than a stone of loose skin. Pictured: Lisa in Emmerdale

Then we went on the Strictly tour. I was drinking really, really heavily: a bottle-and-a-half of Malbec. But youre in a hotel room, you press room service  Can I have a cheese toastie and a portion of French fries? Can I wake up and have four hash browns and three veggie sausages? 

Once again, she is showing me photographs on her phone. This one is of her and Al. She wont say what he does or how they met, but she lights up like the sequins on a Strictly frock when she speaks about him.

Just look how happy we are, she says. I deserve that. Before my mum passed I was doing my little two-month relationships. It was like escapism  a time-passer.

But after Mum, well, its once you stop looking, isnt it? I never thought for one minute Id meet my best friend, my soulmate, someone who gets me.

I need that sanctuary. I used to fill my world with people. He has made me realise I can go home and be by myself. Thats the part of me Ive discovered. Im allowed to be quiet. I dont have to be everywhere for everybody 24/7 because thats what I was.

She said: Strictly took the pain away. Robin was the best Calpol. It was giddy the whole time and I loved it'

Then, two years ago, her 58-year-old father Terry was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and ended up in hospital for several nights.

That was my lightbulb moment, says Lisa. I was sat there with the curtain around me and Dad at midnight as the staff were swapping over. Dads bed was near the nurses station and I heard too much  about amputees, sight loss. And I heard fat too much, all linked to type 2 diabetes.

It just hit me that if I didnt change, that could be me. I thought: OK, I want to make a change. I really want to. 

Everyone I know thought it was another fad. Id done Weight Watchers and Slimming World. For three months Id throw myself into it, then Id get bored and soon the Pringles were being popped again. But this time I didnt stop.

I suppose its when your head and heart are in sync, and all of a sudden I had someone who didnt pander to me but embraced the word No, unlike my mum.

With her, if I made whopper mistakes, shed go: Its OK. Tomorrows another day. But Al would be like: Hold on. I needed that man  a real bloke.

For eight days Lisa consumed just 405 calories a day to shock her body. At the same time she trained like a banshee.

She continues to eat smaller portion sizes, tries not to eat after 6.30pm and exercises daily.

A year ago I gave up drinking, because when I was hung over I was eating for six, and not healthy stuff. It was toasties, French fries and crisps. I dont eat anything like that now.

The weight fell off her, but not the unsightly skin. Lisa had her first seven-hour operation to remove the rolls of flesh from her stomach, groin and thighs on February 15.

I was a wreck the night before, she says. I went on Loose Women, got back and saw my dad. Then I started worrying for him and what I was putting him through, as well as my brother Liam and Al. Its major surgery and I was the only person who had put myself there. I was the one who filled my face with Cadbury Creme Eggs. Only Lisa Riley had done this to herself. Now I had to deal with the consequences and the fact that I might not wake up tomorrow.

I was reasoning things out in all sorts of ways in my head, telling myself: Oh well, Ill be in Heaven with my mum.

The irony was that, having lost the weight, I was the healthiest Id ever been in my life.

Lisa, of course, did wake up. Foolishly, though, she did not follow her doctors orders not to do anything strenuous for 16 days. Very soon after her operation, she and Al moved from Manchester to London. She was vacuuming and moving bookshelves.

She developed a seroma  a collection of fluid under the skin  three weeks after her surgery and the skin infection cellulitis.

It got deeper and deeper and the smell was just the worst thing. Then the other side got infected.

In hospital you have a pain scale of one to ten. This was a 14. I remember that on May 17, around Dads birthday, I didnt even go to see him.

You think youre going to be wearing sexy underwear and looking a million dollars, but you dont  not when youve got a colostomy bag swinging from your thigh. That wasnt what I signed up for. I couldnt even walk to get a cup of coffee.

I thought: What the hell have I done to myself? Again there was no one to blame but me.

Lisa Riley starring in Scott & Bailey

Im like Alice in Wonderland. If something says eat me, Ill eat it. If you say dont touch the iron Ill touch it and then say: Ouch! That hurts. 

Thankfully, Lisa learnt her lesson. Following her second four and a half-hour operation, on June 5, during which the surgeon cut out the cellulitis as well as reshaping her breasts and removing the saggy skin under her arms, she was a model patient.

Today, the after Lisa is as fit as a flea.

I just feel fantastic, she says. I cant stop looking at myself when I get out of the shower and feeling how rock-solid my body is.

I can wear a padded bra. I can wear sexy underwear.

I feel a million dollars and its coming out of every pore in me how brilliant I feel.

When I was younger I always wanted to be Bette Midler. I was there for all big girls and all big men everywhere. That was me. But Im not that person any more.

I realise the reason I drank so much was because I was trying to fit in in Bury, but now Im no longer being the life and soul of the party. Im travelling the world and discovering it with Al.

Ive sold my home in Manchester, moved to a flat in London and minimalised everything. I used to like stuff but I dont need it any more. Everything in my life is light now.

Do you know the irony of all of this? In Fat Friends [the four-season ITV drama series, created by Kay Mellor, which began in 2000 and starred James Corden and Alison Steadman] I play Rebecca. Now Kay Mellors offering me the thin role in Fat Friends the musical. You couldnt make it up, could you?

Indeed, you couldnt.

Lisa Rileys Baggy Body Club is on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

Sorry Ikea, these Swedish treasures are the best variation of this dish you will try

Serves 4

For the meatballs

Salt and pepper

200g (7oz) Maris Piper potatoes, peeled

1 egg

3tbsp butter

1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped

250g (9oz) minced beef

250g (9oz) minced pork

tsp ground allspice

A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

2tbsp single cream

For the allspice sauce

3tbsp unsalted butter

1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

400ml (14fl oz) beef stock

1tbsp plain flour

A pinch of ground allspice

150ml (5fl oz) single cream

1tbsp soy sauce

2tsp redcurrant jelly

For the mashed potatoes

700g (1lb 8oz) Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

25g (1oz) butter

50ml (2fl oz) milk

2tbsp freshly chopped dill, plus a few sprigs to serve

Preheat the oven to 220C/fan 210C/gas 7. To make the meatballs, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the 200g potatoes until tender. Drain, mash and then tip into a large bowl and mix with the egg.

Melt 1tbsp of the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until soft. Remove from the pan and add to the potato mixture. Set aside 1tbsp of the minced beef for the sauce.

Add the remaining beef and all the pork mince to the potato mixture, along with the allspice, half the parsley, the cream, 1tsp salt and a good pinch of pepper. Mix together well, using your hands. Roll the mixture into 3cm balls and set aside.

To make the allspice sauce, melt 2tbsp of the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the reserved minced beef and beef stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes and then strain into a jug.

Using the same pan, melt the remaining 1tbsp butter with the flour and allspice. Slowly pour the beef stock back into the pan, whisking all the time, and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.

Finally, add the cream, soy sauce and redcurrant jelly. Bring up to a simmer and season to taste. Set aside until you are ready to serve.

Next, cook the meatballs. Use the remaining 2tbsp butter to grease a large baking sheet and put in the preheated oven for 3 minutes to heat. When the baking sheet is hot, place all the meatballs on it and return to the oven.

Roast for about 10 minutes, turning halfway, or until the meatballs are browned and cooked through. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the meatballs to an ovenproof serving dish.

Turn the oven off but place the meatballs inside to keep warm.

To make the mash, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and put the potatoes in to cook for 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain the potatoes and mash or pass them through a ricer, if you have one, back into the pan.

Add the butter and milk and mix well. Season to taste and stir in the chopped dill. Reheat the sauce and pour it over the meatballs, sprinkle with the remaining parsley and dill and serve with the mash.
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

Yes avocado is served with everything, but smoked trout is certainly not, this combination is a marriage made in heaven

Serves 4

500g (1lb 2oz) sushi-grade salmon fillet (from fishmongers), skinned, pin boned and diced

200g (7oz) smoked trout fillet, skinned and flaked

1 banana shallot, peeled and finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

A splash of Worcestershire sauce

A pinch of cayenne pepper

200g (7oz) creme fraiche

1tsp horseradish cream

2tbsp finely snipped fresh chives

50g (1oz) pea shoots, plus extra to garnish

2 avocados, peeled and sliced

Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Place the salmon and trout in a bowl with the banana shallot. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add the Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper and mix well, then set aside.

In a separate small bowl, mix the creme fraiche with the horseradish cream and the chives. Set aside.

Assemble the terrine on a serving plate inside 4 ring-shaped moulds  place a layer of salmon and trout on the bottom, top with a layer of pea shoots, then the creme fraiche mixture and finally the avocado slices.

Gently lift away the rings, then add extra pea shoots and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil to serve.
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

Rich in flavour, soft in texture, this dreamy dish is just melt in the mouth

Serves 4

Vegetable oil

3 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced

5cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated

1 medium tomato, chopped

1tsp each dried chilli flakes, turmeric, garam masala, ground ginger, garlic powder, ground cumin, ground coriander and dried fenugreek (methi) leaves

Salt and pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 125g/4oz each), cut into cubes

2 fresh green chillies

1tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Cooked rice, to serve

For the raita

300g (10oz) natural yoghurt

1tsp cumin seeds

 a cucumber, peeled and grated

To make the curry, heat a little vegetable oil in a pan over a medium heat and fry the onions until medium brown.

Add the garlic, ginger and tomato, and stir. Add the spices and season with salt before adding a splash of water. Cover with a lid and leave to cook for 20 minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and whizz with a hand blender to make a smooth masala paste. Stir in the chicken pieces, pierce the green chillies and add these, too. If the sauce needs loosening, add a little more water. Return to the heat and cook for a further 15-20 minutes.

To make the raita, whisk the yoghurt with a fork to make a smooth paste. Dry-fry the cumin seeds over a low heat and then add them to the yoghurt with the grated cucumber. Season to taste.

Garnish the chicken curry with coriander before serving with the raita and rice.
UPDATED

Students in Texas largest school district, Houston, are expected to return to school on September 11, with administrators reporting to work on Sept. 5, the day after Labor Day.

The school year was scheduled to start on Aug. 28, but the opening day was pushed back after then-Tropical Storm Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain in parts of the city, causing severe flooding. The district scheduled a reopening on Sept. 5, but that was also later pushed back.

More than a million students are now affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in some way, according to the Texas Education Agency, as the remnants of the storm shifted east and its devastating effects on the education community continue.

That number is expected to grow as the storm, now downgraded to a tropical depression moved into Louisiana. New Orleans-area schools remained closed for the week.

In Texas, district officials with undamaged schools are scrambling to get students quickly enrolled and back into school to avoid lost learning time. Up to 220 districts have closed at some point due to the storm.

More than 150 school buildings in Texas have some sort of physical damage from the storm, officials around the state said. Houston Superintendent Richard Carranza said 35 of his districts almost 300 school buildings were flooded or lost power. He said the Houston district likely wont open until after Labor Day.

The district said Wednesday that it will offer three free meals for all returning students for the entirety of the school year.

This city is in a lot of pain right now, Carranza told the Associated Press."We want to get back as soon as possible.

The number of districts saying that they will enroll students from Harvey-affected areas continued to grow this week. Austins school officials expect thousands of students displaced from the storm to enroll in their schools in the coming week, and San Antonios superintendent urged principals to enroll their students in school as quickly as possible.

The Corpus Christi school district said it planned to enroll students who were displaced by the storm. Flour-Bluff school district, about 20 miles away from Corpus Christi, also planned to hold an information fair on Friday for students and families affected by Harvey. The district is close to Port Aransas school district, and expects up to 75 percent of Port Aransas students, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Another nearby district, the Gregory-Portland district, was also planning a fair for displaced students on Friday afternoon, the Port Aransas district said on Facebook. The Port Aransas school district is still closed.

Under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, principals must enroll students displaced by a storm no matter if they have the proper documents are not. Homeless students under the act are offered transportation to their home school, free lunch, and basic services they were offered at their prior school, if they decide to transfer.

For more information on the McKinney-Vento Act, click here .

Meanwhile, school districts across the country have stepped up to provide aid and donations to Harveys victims.

BTW HS is collecting personal hygiene items & school supplies at all home football games to support Houston. Drop donations at the pass gate -- NorfolkPublicSchools (@NPSchools) August 29, 2017

Photo: Jay-Vian Johnson, front, plays with a toy helicopter as his father Clayton Riles and mother Jessica Johnson sit on a bench in front of Spring High School in Houston on Aug. 29, where they are sheltering after Tropical Storm Harvey forced them to evacuate their home.

Related:
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

Watch out, cook this for your family and expect endless requests for it in the future

Serves 4-6

2 pork tenderloins (about 450g/1lb each)

Salt and pepper

1tbsp olive oil

10 slices of prosciutto

200g (7oz) spinach leaves, wilted and squeezed dry

2 x 375g packets all-butter puff pastry

Plain flour, for dusting

2 eggs, beaten

For the pate

100g (3oz) unsalted butter

1 banana shallot, peeled and chopped

250g (9oz) chicken livers, trimmed

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1tbsp brandy

tsp mustard powder

For the herb mix

2tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, peeled and diced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

150g (5oz) chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked

2 fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped

1tsp dried chilli flakes

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

To make the pate, melt 60g (2oz) of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, then add the shallot and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until softened. Add the chicken livers and garlic and cook, turning, for 2-3 minutes until the livers are no longer pink.

Pour in the brandy, stir in the mustard powder and bubble for 1 minute, then season with salt and pepper. Place the remaining butter and the liver mixture in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Spoon into a dish, cover the surface with clingfilm and then chill.

Season the pork and rub with oil then sear in a hot pan until golden. Set aside to rest and cool.

For the herb mix, heat the oil and gently fry the shallot for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms and herbs, and fry over a high heat for 5 minutes. Add the chilli flakes and lemon zest, season and allow to cool.

To assemble the Wellington, lay out 2 overlapping sheets of clingfilm so theyre longer and wider than your tenderloins would be if laid side by side. Lay the prosciutto slices across the clingfilm so they overlap to make a large rectangle. Spread with the pate and then place the tenderloins side by side on top. Spread the herb mix on the tenderloins and tuck into any gaps. Lay the spinach on top.

Roll the clingfilm up from one side to form a tight sausage shape, with the prosciutto encasing the tenderloins. Twist the ends of the clingfilm to seal. Roll out one sheet of pastry on a floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin, then cut out a rectangle 4cm larger on each side than the pork parcel.

Unwrap the pork and place in the centre of the pastry. Roll out the second piece of pastry to the thickness of a pound coin. Brush the edges of the bottom piece with egg. Gently lower the second piece over the top and press around the pork. Trim to match the bottom pastry, seal the edges with a fork, then brush the entire Wellington with egg and score the top with the back of a knife.

Chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Brush the pastry with more egg and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden. Rest for 10 minutes, slice and serve.
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

A fresh and flaky fish that makes for an elegant supper

Serves 4

4 x 200g (7oz) cod loin fillets

Salt

125g (4oz) butter

100g (3oz) panko breadcrumbs (from supermarkets)

1 small bunch of fresh dill, finely snipped

1 onion, peeled and sliced

1 celery stick, sliced but leaves kept whole and reserved

Freshly ground black pepper

1ltr (1pt) whole milk

500ml (18fl oz) fresh beef stock

600g (1lb 5oz) Jerusalem artichokes (online or from specialist grocers), peeled and chopped

250g (9oz) potatoes (any type), peeled and chopped

200ml (7fl oz) double cream

4 garlic cloves, peeled and diced

2tbsp olive oil

600g (1lb 5oz) spinach leaves

50g (1oz) whole blanched almonds, crushed

Juice of 1 lemon

Submerge the cod pieces in a bowl of water with 2tbsp salt added and leave to brine for 20 minutes. Remove the cod and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cover with clingfilm and set aside in the fridge.

Melt 50g (1oz) of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, add the breadcrumbs and fry for 1 minute, or until golden. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then stir in the dill and a good pinch of salt and set aside.

Place the onion and celery in a pan with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Add 600ml (1pt) of the milk with 500ml (18fl oz) water and place over a low heat. Bring to 55C (use a food thermometer) then add the fish. Keeping the temperature at 55C, allow the fish to sit submerged for 30-40 minutes, or until just cooked. Add more milk if the fish isnt completely covered.

Meanwhile, reduce the beef stock in another pan over a medium heat until it has halved in volume. Place the Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes in a pan with the cream, the remaining 400ml (14fl oz) milk, the reduced beef stock and a couple of pinches of salt.

Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and breaking up. Strain away most of the liquid (leaving 2tbsp in the pan with the vegetables) and add 50g (1oz) of the butter and some salt, and mash. Fry the garlic in the remainder of the butter and the olive oil for 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook for a further 3 minutes. Finally, stir in the almonds.

Preheat the grill to high. Remove the fish from the poaching milk and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the fish with the breadcrumb mixture and place under the grill for about 2 minutes, or until the topping goes crispy and brown.

Spoon a dollop of the artichoke and potato mash into the middle of each plate and press down into a circle. Top with some spinach and place a piece of fish on top. Season with pepper, sea salt and a dash of freshly squeezed lemon, and garnish with the reserved celery leaves.
Its the new BBC show where family teams battle to be crowned Britains best home cooks. Here we bring you their most tempting recipes, plus some fabulous treats from judge Rosemary Shrager

With filo pasty over shortcrust this pie is lighter and crispier than those you might be used to

Serves 6-8

6 skinless chicken legs

2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large bunch of parsley, leaves roughly chopped

1 large bunch of coriander, leaves roughly chopped

2tsp salt

3tsp ground ginger

2tbsp sugar

2 cinnamon sticks (10cm in total)

A good pinch of saffron

2tsp white peppercorns

1tsp black peppercorns

225g (8oz) unsalted butter

200g (7oz) blanched almonds

1tbsp vegetable oil

3tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

1tsp ground cinnamon

6 large eggs

1 packet of filo pastry sheets

Place the chicken in a large pot along with the onions, parsley, coriander, salt, ground ginger, sugar, cinnamon sticks, saffron, peppercorns, 50g (1oz) of the butter and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and gently simmer for 45-50 minutes. Set aside.

Lightly toast the almonds in the oil in a pan over a low heat. Remove from the heat, cool and then whizz in a small food processor or crush in a large pestle and mortar. Place the ground almonds in a bowl with the icing sugar and ground cinnamon.

Remove the chicken legs from the pot and place in a bowl to cool. Once cooled, shred the meat from the bones. Strain the chicken cooking liquid to remove the solids and return 500ml (18fl oz) of the liquid to the pan.

Put over a medium-high heat and whisk in the eggs. Cook, whisking, until the mixture has thickened, then strain through a sieve lined with muslin and keep to one side. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

Melt the rest of the butter in a pan and use some to grease a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Line the tin with 4 layers of the filo pastry, buttering each layer as it goes in.

Spread the almond mixture on the base, top with the egg mixture and finally the shredded chicken. Fold the edges of the filo over the top and cover with the remaining filo pastry sheets, buttering each layer as before.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until golden and crisp. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the tin and allow to cool a little more. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
A monthly injection that halts the course of breast cancer (file pic) is set to be rejected by health officials

A monthly injection that halts the course of breast cancer is set to be rejected by health officials.

NHS rationing watchdog NICE today publishes a draft decision rejecting the use of cancer drug fulvestrant.

Officials accept that the 7,900-a-year therapy pauses the growth of a certain form of breast cancer for three months longer than existing treatments. But they insisted there was no evidence that this would save lives.

The watchdog may reverse its decision when it publishes its final guidance later this year. If it does so, 1,200 women in England with advanced oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer would benefit each year.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: 'This is very disappointing news. New options for women with this type of breast cancer are long overdue, and, while fulvestrant's ultimate survival benefit remains uncertain, it offers a valuable advance in treatment.

'Fulvestrant can give some women nearly three extra months before their breast cancer progresses compared to the standard treatment of aromatase inhibitors, often with only mild side effects. Crucially, it can also delay the need for some women to begin chemotherapy, time which can be so important to many. But unfortunately fulvestrant finds itself in a position where it cannot win.'

The drug is used to treat post-menopausal women who have not already had treatment with other hormone therapies such as tamoxifen. The NICE committee concluded it was too early to say from the available evidence if the drug leads to an increase in overall survival.

Officials accept that the 7,900-a-year therapy pauses the growth of a certain form of breast cancer (file pic of mammogram) for three months longer than existing treatments. But they insisted there was no evidence that this would save lives

Fulvestrant works by blocking the action of the hormone oestrogen, stopping its ability to help breast cancers grow.

Given by injection once a month, most women take it for two years, putting the average cost of a course of treatment at 15,841. Professor Carole Longson, director of the centre for health technology evaluation at NICE, said: 'NICE has to ensure that the NHS provides treatments that bring benefits which are value for money.

'As fulvestrant has not been shown to be cost-effective, we can't justify diverting NHS funds from other areas of healthcare in order to fund its use.'

A spokesman for British drugs firm AstraZeneca, which makes fulvestrant, said: 'AstraZeneca believes fulvestrant is a significant therapy option for this group of patients who present with advanced disease, who for a variety of reasons have not been diagnosed or received treatment with hormonal therapy for breast cancer previously.

'AstraZeneca is disappointed with this initial draft guidance and will continue the dialogue with NICE to enable this treatment option to be made available for this important group of patients.'
This is the incredible moment that a husband gestured 'I love you' to his wife as he languished in a coma on the brink of death.

Roy Norquoy, 46, from Orkney, was struck down by toxic shock syndrome, which quickly developed into sepsis.

Doctors warned that the pier master could die, and were forced to place him in an induced coma to keep him alive. He was transferred to mainland Scotland.

His wife Sarah, 47, said before the hospital-bed incident, which was captured on footage, he hardly ever said the 'three magic words'.

Mrs Norquoy said: 'Even though weve just been married for six years, he doesnt say the three magic words very often, although he shows me how much he adores me.

'So, this really was the most memorable moment of my whole life.

Roy Norquoy, 46, from Orkney, was struck down by toxic shock syndrome, which quickly developed into sepsis and was placed in a coma. His wife captured the moment he gestured 'I love you' to her as he languished on the brink of death

'Id just been told he could die, so hearing  or at least seeing him sign - I love you, moments later, was magical.'

Mr Norquoy first developed the tell-tale signs of toxic shock syndrome in March 2015, when his right shoulder started hurting after a gym session.

It is caused by bacteria that normally live harmlessly on the skin, nose or mouth, getting deeper into the body and releasing toxins that can damage organs.

This then developed into sepsis  a rare but sometimes lethal complication of an infection  within hours of being admitted to hospital.

He was mindful of his pre-existing condition, autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), that would make him more likely to become unwell.

Mrs Norquoy, a housing support officer, said she just assumed his pain was muscle strain until he woke in the middle of the night, shivering and in agony.

She called 111 and was advised to ring his Mr Norquoy's GP in the morning. But he woke up 'in a terrible way' and couldn't dress himself.

Mrs Norquoy, who decided to try and drive him to A&E, said: 'Putting him into the car, I remember thinking, "hes going to die".

'He was being sick, his eyes were rolling backwards in his head and wasnt able to speak. I thought it was to do with his AIH condition at first.'

She gave up her efforts and rang his GP. They immediately called an ambulance and revealed he had toxic shock syndrome.

Rushed to Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall, 20 miles away from their home, he was taken into his own room, because the hospital doesnt have an intensive care unit.

Mr Norquoy first developed the tell-tale signs of toxic shock syndrome in March 2015, when his right shoulder started hurting after a gym session (pictured with wife Sarah, 47)

He was placed in an induced coma at Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall at around 3pm on March 19, six hours after his original hospital admission

Meanwhile, Mrs Norquoy was ushered to a private family room and told that her husbands condition was deteriorating rapidly.

Doctors said the AIH was not related to his condition, but it made the sepsis more difficult to treat.

Distraught, she phoned his close family  telling his sisters and his children from a previous marriage, Ali, 28, Benny, 26, and Gareth, 24, the news.

Even though weve just been married for six years, he doesnt say the three magic words very often Sarah Norquoy, 47

She said: 'Roy was getting worse and worse before my eyes. I was texting all my friends, telling them Roy was critically ill and asking them to pray for him.

'Doctors said he needed to go to a critical care department in a hospital on the mainland, 155 miles away. But they were worried he was too ill to move.

'Thats when I was told every breath he took could be his last, so they wanted to put him into a coma to allow his body to conserve his strength.'

Unsure how long he would be unconscious for, Mrs Norquoy told him she loved him and that everything would be fine.

Mrs Norquoy was ushered to a private family room and told that her husbands condition was deteriorating rapidly (pictured on their wedding day in 2011)

Mrs Norquoy said before he was transferred to mainland Scotland, she kissed his forehead and told him she'd see him tomorrow. She added: 'I didnt say goodbye to him, that was too final'

He was then placed in an induced coma at around 3pm on March 19, six hours after his original hospital admission.

That night, he was flown by a hospital helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, with his close family and friends visiting him before he flew.

Mrs Norquoy said: 'Just before he went, with tears in my eyes, I kissed his forehead and told him Id see him tomorrow. I didnt say goodbye to him, that was too final.'

Mrs Norquoy, who married her husband in 2011, then took a boat to the mainland the following day, with friend Carrie, 47, arriving in the evening.

At Raigmore Hospital, doctors confirmed his toxic shock syndrome had developed into sepsis. He also had multiple organ failure and pneumonia.

Mrs Norquoy, who has two children Katie, 23 and Elliot, 17, from a previous marriage, remembered seeing her husband, lying in a hospital bed, covered in wires.

She said: 'His eyes were moving, but it was heartbreaking to see the man you love, your soulmate, like that.'

Mr Norquoy said: 'I have no recollection of what happened to me, so watching the video of me signalling "I love you" is like watching someone else'

Mrs Norquoy, who met her husband at church in 2008, added: 'Still, I wanted to keep things normal, and for Roy to hear my voice.

WHAT IS TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME? Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection. It is caused by staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus pyogenes - bacteria that normally live harmlessly on the skin, nose or mouth. But they can invade the body's bloodstream, where they release poisonous toxins. The toxins damage tissue, including skin and organs, and can disturb many vital organ functions. TSS is a medical emergency and sufferers must seek medical help as soon as possible. Signs of TSS include a temperature of 38.9C or above; fainting; widespread; flat, red skin rash; three or more organs affected by infection; infection caused by staphylococcus or streptococcus. If left untreated, TSS can cause shock and organ damage that results in death. Anyone can develop TSS but for reasons that are not fully understood, a significant number of cases are in women who are on their period and using a tampon - particularly those designed to be 'super absorbent'. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

'The medics had said they didnt know how long he would live, but I truly didnt know what I would do if I lost him.

'It took us so long to find each other, I couldnt believe he could be taken from me so quickly.'

But, to her astonishment, just a few minutes into her visit, he started pointing to his stomach.

Mrs Norquoy said: 'The Orkney word for stomach is "puggy", so I said, "is your puggy sore?" He simply shook his head.

'I asked, "do you need a nurse?" Then he started lifting his finger up and pointing at me.

'I asked, "what are you saying?" Then, as he did it again, I understood. He was signalling, "I love you".

'I called out, "he said he loves me!" Tears were running down my cheek, I couldnt believe it.'

Filled with hope, for the next seven days Mrs Norquoy stayed at his bedside as he lay motionless in a coma as people came to see him.

She said: 'I didnt want people to say goodbye, we all said "where theres life, theres hope", so thats how we thought.'

Then, a week later, doctors said his progress meant he could be brought out of his coma. Mrs Norquoy was 'so excited to see him awake'.

Taking small steps, Mr Norquoy, who was determined and desperate to get well again, started to recover, slowly, in hospital.

With the help of physiotherapy and rest, he was allowed home two weeks after being brought out of his coma and has now made a full recovery.

Mr Norquoy said: 'I have no recollection of what happened to me, so watching the video of me signalling "I love you" is like watching someone else.'

With the help of physiotherapy and rest, he was allowed home two weeks after being brought out of his coma and has now made a full recovery
The British Dental Association says it has not factored in rise of dating apps

Now the dentists' union argues its decision is based on flawed data

The JCVI has advised the Government not to recommend the HPV jab for boys

HPV has been linked to an increase in throat cancer diagnoses from oral sex

Michael Douglas made the revelation that his cancer may have been caused by performing oral sex

Dating apps such as Tinder are increasing people's risk of catching a cancer-causing virus passed on through oral sex, dentists warn.

Experts say almost half of adults will be infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) at some point in their life.

And while most infections disappear on their own, without even displaying symptoms, some strains can lead to cancer, notably cervical, which in around 90 per cent of cases is caused by HPV.

It is also linked to penile, anal, throat, head and neck cancer, as well as genital warts. Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, 72, blamed oral sex for giving him throat cancer in 2010.

The HPV vaccination is currently given to girls aged 12 to 13 but not boys.

Now the dentists' union claims the advisory body which has recommended the Government do not to extend the potentially life-saving jab to boys has based its ruling on flawed data and inaccurate estimates of the number of cancers caused by HPV.

The dentists' union argues the decision to continue to exclude boys from the HPV vaccination programme is based on flawed data and does not factor in the recent introduction of dating apps (file photo)

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) announced its interim decision in July that giving the vaccine to teenage boys is not cost-effective.

Dentists are often the first to spot the symptoms of a number of HPV-related cancers during check-ups.

The British Dental Association (BDA) told The Sun: 'Data used to model sexual behaviour are out of date, and factors such as the recent introduction of dating apps may have led to significant changes in behaviour over the last few years, which have not been taken into account.'

Mick Armstrong, chairman of the BDA, said the decision will cost lives and that the JCVI is withholding evidence.

'It is shocking that 400,000 boys can be left at risk of oral cancer thanks to a decision that cannot be properly scrutinised,' he said.

'Based on the scant information the JCVI has made public, its verdict is based on false assumptions.

'Whether by accident or by design they have understated cancer risk, and completely ignored the sexual habits of the Tinder Generation.'

'Herd protection' argument

The JCVI did acknowledge evidence that boys would benefit but says it backs the the herd immunity theory.

Only girls are vaccinated on the grounds that men who only have sex with women would logically also be protected from transmission.

Its statement on the decision said: 'The evidence considered clearly indicates that HPV is associated with a number of cancers which affect both sexes.

Health campaigners argue both sexes deserve equal protection against HPV through vaccination (file photo)

'While there are some additional population level health benefits to both males and females by extending the programme to boys, impact and cost-effectiveness modelling indicates that adding boys is highly unlikely to be cost-effective in the UK.'

But experts have pointed out a weakness in the JCVI's herd protection argument.

Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, has previously said: 'It all comes down to cost and how much benefit will be gained from vaccinating boys.

'As increasing numbers of girls take up the vaccine then risk of heterosexual transmission decreases and the benefit of vaccinating boys diminishes.

WHAT IS HPV? The human papilloma virus (HPV) is the name given to a family of viruses. There are over 100 different types of HPV, with around 40 types that affect the genital area. Different types of HPV are classed as either high risk or low risk, depending on the conditions they can cause. For instance, some types of HPV can cause warts or verrucas. Other types are associated with cervical cancer. In 99 per cent of cases, cervical cancer occurs as a result of a history of infection with high-risk types of HPV. Often, infection with the HPV causes no symptoms. Infection with some high-risk types of HPV can cause abnormal tissue growth as well as other cell changes that can lead to cervical cancer. Infection with other types of HPV may cause genital warts, skin warts and verrucas, vaginal cancer or vulval cancer (although these types of cancer are rare), anal cancer or cancer of the penis, some cancers of the head and neck and laryngeal papillomas (warts on the voice box or vocal cords). Studies have already shown that the vaccine protects against HPV infection for around 10 years, although experts expect protection to be for much longer. Advertisement

'But of course, this reliance on herd immunity doesnt provide optimal benefit for boys who go onto have sex with other men in adulthood.'

JCVI said its final decision would be made after further consultations.

Parents should not have to pay

Mr Armstrong said that only a gender neutral vaccination programme can control the rise of HPV, and that parents should not be forced to reach into their own pockets to protect their sons.

In April pharmacy chain Boots UK launched a new private vaccination service from the age of 12 to 44.

For 12 to 14-year-olds it costs 300 for a course of two vaccinations. For those over 15, three vaccinations is required which costs 450.

But campaigners argue that a free NHS programme will encourage the best uptake,

A recent survey carried out by HPV Action of over 1,500 British GPs and dentists revealed that 95 per cent believe the national HPV vaccination programme should cover both boys and girls.

TV presenter Dr Christian Jessen backs the calls and said it is important to give the jab to boys when they are 12 or 13  before they are sexually active.

'The vaccine will not work effectively if a person has already been infected by HPV,' he previously told MailOnline.
Deadly skin cancer starts as new spots on the skin, not moles, in more than two-thirds of cases, new research reveals.

In 71 per cent of incidences, melanoma, the most life-threatening form of skin cancer, develops as marks on the skin, rather than arising from existing moles, a study found.

For unclear reasons, melanomas from existing moles generally have a better prognosis than those that appear as new spots, the research adds.

Yet, despite these findings, experts still recommend people check their moles regularly for any changes.

The below ABCDE guideline tells you what to look out for.

Deadly skin cancer starts as new spots on the skin, not moles, in more than two-thirds of cases

AVOID MIDNIGHT SNACKS IF YOU SUNBATHE! NOCTURNAL EATING MAKES SKIN MORE VULNERABLE TO UV Eating at strange times makes skin more vulnerable to harmful UV rays, research suggested last month. Feeding mice on abnormal schedules causes their skin to become more damaged when exposed to sunlight, a study found. This is due to them producing less of a specific enzyme that repairs UV damage, the research adds. Study author Dr Joseph Takahashi from the University of Texas, Dallas, said: 'It is likely that if you have a normal eating schedule, then you will be better protected from UV during the daytime.' UV rays are in sunlight and are responsible for nearly all cases of skin cancer worldwide. Advertisement

Some 71% of cases start as spots

Researchers from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy analysed 38 melanoma studies.

Results reveal that less than a third of cases develop from existing moles.

Some 71 per cent appear as new spots on the skin.

For unclear reasons, melanomas that form from existing moles are generally thinner and offer patients a better prognosis.

Lead author Caterina Longo said: 'These results could indicate that patients who monitor their existing moles for suspicious changes could detect melanoma in its early stages, when it's most treatable.

'Because the disease is more likely to appear as a new growth, however, it's important for everyone to familiarise themselves with all the moles on their skin and look for not only changes to those moles, but also any new spots that may appear,' The Sun reported.

As easy as ABCDE

Despite the study's findings, expert still recommend people check their moles regularly to help spot early signs of skin cancer.

The more moles someone has, the higher their risk of developing melanoma.

The following ABCDE guidance can help people identify moles that might need looking over by a doctor.

Asymmetry

Look out for moles with an irregular shape.

Borders

Check for jagged edges.

Colour change

If a mole changes in colour or is a different colour in one part than in another, seek medical advice.

Diameter

Any increase in size should be checked, but be particularly cautious of moles that grow more than about 6mm across.

Elevation

In this graphic, the E section is classed as 'elevation'; warning you to watch out for the mole raising from the surface, particularly if it is irregularly raised.

Yet, Dr David Fisher, director of the Melanoma Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, explains many dermatologists have different classifications for this.

His preferred word is 'evolving'.

Dr Fisher told MailOnline: 'Is it changing? Do you notice anything suspicious or concerning? That is key.

'You need to have a very low threshold for what counts as "concerning". I have yet to find a patient who is mad because it wasn't melanoma. It's always worth checking.'
Asthma inhalers may protect patients from Parkinson's disease, a major new study suggests.

Full of salbutamol, researchers found the medication halves the risk of developing the devastating neurological condition.

It is believed the drug, used in blue inhalers, stops abnormal clumps of a protein from accumulating in the brain - a hallmark of Parkinson's.

The 'landmark' findings, made by Norwegian and US scientists, could open up new avenues for potential new treatments for the incurable disease.

Full of salbutamol, researchers found the medication halves the risk of developing the devastating neurological condition

Study author Professor Trond Riise said: 'These medicines have never been studied in relation to Parkinson's disease.

'Our discoveries may be the start of a totally new possible treatment for this serious disease. We expect that clinical studies will follow these discoveries.'

How was the study carried out?

University of Bergen and Harvard University experts tested promising compounds on lab-grown human neurons and animal ones.

Such nerve cells are destroyed in Parkinson's disease, affecting how much dopamine is released - hampering movement.

This gradual loss of nerve cells leads to the shivering, stiff arms and legs and poor coordination that are typical symptoms of Parkinson's.

More than 1,100 medications, molecules and vitamins were examined, according to the research published in the journal Science.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR PARKINSON'S? A pioneering new stem cell treatment with the 'potential to cure Parkinson's disease' has been devised, it emerged earlier this week. In trials on laboratory monkeys, Japanese scientists were able to restore nerve cells destroyed by a similar condition. In humans, the disease causes a progressive loss of neurons, which release the vital nerve transmitter dopamine that controls movement. Experts hailed the findings, released by Kyoto University, citing the breakthrough study to be 'extremely promising'. Advertisement

What did they find?

They discovered that salbutamol, used in blue asthma inhalers, had positive effects on halting the progressive loss of neurons.

Results showed that the drug turned off the gene responsible for the build-up of alpha-synuclein protein in the brain.

In an attempt to seek if the effects existed in real populations, the experts examined a drug prescribing database in Norway.

More than 100 million prescriptions and their patients that were issued throughout the country in the last 11 years were examined.

The researchers noted how around 0.1 per cent of those who never used the inhaler went onto develop Parkinson's.

This was compared to less than 0.04 per cent in those who relied on salbutamol to keep their asthma symptoms at bay.

Dr Joseph Jankovic, a neurologist based at Baylor College of Medicine, told Science: 'Im sure its going to be a landmark paper.'

What else did they discover?

In contrast to salbutamol, a common blood pressure drug was found to double the risk of developing the devastating disease.

Propranolol, a form of beta blocker, increased alpha-synuclein production in cell experiments, the researchers found.

Parkinsons disease affects one in 500 people and around 127,000 people in the UK live with the condition. It is believed one million Americans also suffer.

David Dexter, deputy research director at Parkinsons UK, said: 'These drugs appear to produce small but significant changes in risk and protect the cells destroyed in Parkinsons, which can only be seen when studying many thousands of people.

'Currently there is no evidence that asthma medications may slow the condition for those who already have it, and this research does not suggest that people with Parkinsons should stop taking drugs that help control blood pressure.

'Also, medication for asthma is inhaled. Taking it orally, as you would need to do to treat Parkinsons, would increase the risk of side effects and this would need to be explored further.'

The new findings come after Dutch researchers in April showed using inhalers may make women obese - but not men.

Filled with corticosteroids, the scientists believed there to be a link between breathing in the drugs and piling on the pounds.
Boasting of natural ingredients, they may seem like a more nutritious alternative to sweet treats when youre feeling a bit peckish.

But if youre looking to watch your weight, it might be worth thinking twice before reaching for a so-called healthy snack bar  as many have more sugar in them than chocolate.

Research by the Daily Mail found some fruit and nut bars have more calories than a Crunchie chocolate bar. And products such as Nakd fruit and nut nibbles contain more sugar than a bag of Maltesers.

While you might think you are opting for a healthy option by choosing a Love Raw almond and coconut bar, it contains 18.5g of sugar  almost as much as a Cadburys Flake.

Nutritionist Jenny Rosborough, of campaign group Action on Sugar, said: These figures are a reminder that the marketing of food products can be misleading or confusing.

When it comes to sugar, remember that honey, syrups and fruit juice concentrates are classified as free sugars, which we should aim to consume less of.

All manufacturers should include clear, colour-coded front of pack nutrition labelling and should produce and promote healthier options that are lower in sugar, salt and saturated fat and higher in fibre.

A survey by YouGov for snack brand The Food Doctor found that nearly half of the 1,113 women questioned had been confused by conflicting messages about healthy eating.

Healthy? Nakd fruit and nut nibbles contain more sugar than a bag of Maltesers

Chocolate sweets: Maltesers contain 19.1g of sugar and 186 calories

Fiona Hunter, an independent nutritionist from London, said: The worst offenders are power balls and cereal bars, which contain what people believe are healthy alternatives to sugar  for example, honey maple syrup. The truth is that these ingredients are no healthier than regular sugar.

Miss Hunter, who was nutrition editor of Good Housekeeping Magazine, said the best snacking alternatives are almonds, oatcakes with hummus and apple slices with peanut butter. She said other options are fresh fruit, a boiled egg or a pot of yoghurt.

Action on Sugar says the maximum recommended sugar consumption is 5 per cent of your daily energy intake  30g, or seven teaspoons, for adults.

Natural Balance, which makes Nakd bars, said: We take a wholefood approach with our products which means using natural ingredients with minimal processing.
Teachers in one of America's largest public school systems are being sickened by mold growing in their classrooms - and their complaints to administrators have gone unanswered for two years.

More than 700 employees of Broward County schools in South Florida, near Miami, have filed complaints about mushrooms and spores growing in their classrooms and causing adverse health effects since 2015.

They claim the mold is making school employees experience headaches, watery eyes, rashes, asthma complications, sinus issues and itchiness.

Teachers are urging the school district to address the problem.

Meanwhile, their union has announced plans to independently investigate the dangers mold presents the teachers and the schoolchildren exposed to it.

Employees from two school systems in South Florida have complained that their classrooms are infected with mold, which is causing them to experience adverse health effects (file photo)

HOW TO CONTROL MOLD The CDC provides some tips for controlling mold in your household: Monitor your house's humidity level

Fix leaking pipes, roofs and windows immediately

Thoroughly clean and dry everything after your house has flooded

Ventilate your laundry, shower and cooking areas

Wipe down your bathrooms with mold-killing cleaning products

Before painting your house, add mold-inhibitors to the paint you plan to use

Consider refraining from carpeting rooms that are hard to keep dry, such as bathrooms Advertisement

Mold, which grows in places with moisture such as wooded areas, can cause people to have a variety of reactions.

Examples of these reactions include stuffiness, wheezing, coughing and eye, throat and skin irritation. Some people who are allergic to mold may experience more severe symptoms.

Additionally, people whose immune systems have been compromised might develop serious infections in their lungs, should they be exposed to mold.

The CDC has said that otherwise healthy children can become sick if exposed to mold indoors. And studies have warned that children who are exposed to mold can develop asthma.

Teachers in Broward County are concerned about the health of school employees and children.

'If youve got people that are off work all summer long and theyre feeling better and theyre breathing better and they get back to school and theyre feeling sick, thats got to be a sign of something,' said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, according to Fox News.

She added: 'I have schools telling me theyve got mushrooms growing out of air vents, spores in students desks, spores on musical instruments, spores coming out of the cracks in the floor, on furniture, on walls, in the halls.'

And Broward County is not the only school district that has recently complained of mold: neighboring county Miami-Dade has done the same.

The mold problem in Miami-Dade schools was so bad that a principal at Miami Sunset Senior High School abruptly resigned, Fox News reported.

'Aside from our colleagues being in these schools with mold, the children are exposed to it, Fusco said.

'We're asking people to take this seriously. We're not just looking out for our colleagues. We're looking out for our children,' she added.

The Broward County Teachers Union is planning to bring in experts to inspect County schools in the next few weeks.
My colleague, Anne Hilton, Assistant Director, Marketing and Communications, is from South Texas, where Harvey continues to do damage. She compiled a brief list of resources and ideas to help educators address this national crisis in their classrooms. If you have additional resources, feel free to add them in the comment section below.

Hurricane Harvey is a natural disaster of monstrous proportions. Youve likely seen the visualizations of the 9 trillion tons of rain that has fallen over South Texas, and the photos of covered highways and houses across Houston. Rockport, the small coastal town that Harvey hit first, has tremendous damage that will take months to repair, if not years.

The effects of Harvey are widespread and the rain hasnt stopped in Houston. Many of us around the nation and, indeed, the world, have been trying to find ways to help out from afar, and educators now have the burdenand opportunityto use Harvey as a lens through which to teach their students to investigate the world and take action. Here are some ideas and resources to help you get started.

How Hurricanes Work

First of all, dont forget the basics. Investigate how hurricanes form, gain strength, and weaken. The National Education Association has a compilation of great resources, as do NOAA , NASA , and the New York Times .

Download blank hurricane tracking sheets from the National Hurricane Center, and have your students track hurricanes and typhoons as they form and move across the Atlantic and Pacific. How do patterns differ for these storms around the world?

How Different Regions Respond to Hurricanes and Natural Disasters

After exploring how hurricanes work, ask your students to consider questions similar to the following and pose their own answers based on research and discussions:



Is there a one-size-fits-all response to hurricanes and typhoons?

Why do some cities and regions demand evacuation, while others dont?

How does the media around the world treat natural disasters? For example, there was a lot of coverage of Hurricane Harvey in both U.S. and international media, but much less coverage of Typhoon Hato, which wreaked havoc across Macau last week.

This is also a good opportunity to work with students to help them recognize and weigh perspectives. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner refused to issue a mandatory evacuation order for the citywhat were his reasons for doing so? Did he make the right choice? Why or why not?

How Climate Change is Affecting Our Weather

One of the reasons Hurricane Harvey was so disastrous was due to climate change . The Gulf of Mexicos water temperature was at record highs this summerso hot, in fact (4 degrees above normal ), that Harvey grew in strength as it neared land, which is incredibly rare.

But in addition to that, Houstons design means that it floods easily and oftenand will only continue to do so as the effects of climate change increase. Houston fights the floods with bayous and levees. Unlike Houston, though, the Netherlands is trying to work withinrather than againstthe constraints of climate change.

Ask your students to explore how other countries are working to combator work withclimate change, especially the countries with the most land below sea level . What policies and practices are countries adopting to combat climate change? Which countries are focusing specifically on our new normal"the extremes in weather? And what are those countries doing to face these extremes?

You can also ask students to explore how climate change disproportionately affects the poor . How do these disparities manifest between countries and within countries? While climate change affects everyone, who suffers the most ? Use Houston as a case study .

Take Action

Most importantly, students will want to help. Find ways to work together with your students to take action. Read FEMAs guide on how to volunteer and donate responsibly after a natural disaster and come up with a project together. Reach out to local nonprofit organizationseven if youre not near Houston or South Texasto see if there are ways you can help.

Its easy to feel helpless in the face of such a terrible natural disaster. But learning about the world and then seeking ways to take action is one small way to mitigate its effects. Even while Harvey is causing severe destruction across South Texas, were seeing moments of hope and inspiration. Help your students take part in that while also learning about hurricanes, climate change, and the world.

Connect with the Center for Global Education on Twitter.

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Defense, Army National Guard Photo by Lt. Zachary West.
The Ghazipur landfill in east Delhi finally gave way under rain, sweeping away seven people into the adjoining Kondli drain and killing two of them.

The national Capital has three giant garbage heaps  known as the Bhalswa (northwest), Okhla (southeast) and Ghazipur (east) landfills. Together, they occupy close to 150 acres of land  twice the size of Europe's Vatican City.

Over 10,000 tonne of filth add to the piles daily that stand at about 50 metre each  the height a 150-storey building.

Over 10,000 tonne of filth is added to the piles daily that stand at about 50m

It was raining around 2.30 pm on Friday when locals heard what sounded like an explosion as a part of the landfill collapsed. A woman was among the two people killed while five were rescued.

Authorities say the area adjacent to the site is still treacherous as parts of the wobbly garbage mound may cave in.

However, Mail Today saw ragpickers were not taking the warning seriously and were climbing atop the giant hill of trash.

The mishap sparked off a political wrangle as the city's ruling AAP blamed the BJP-run MCDs as well as land-owning body DDA, which comes under the Centre's jurisdiction.

The Ghazipur landfill, which is the oldest of its kind in Delhi, was started in 1984 and reached saturation about a decade ago

The collapsed heap first fell on the kuchcha road next to the site and then into the Kondli canal.

The impact was such that the water and the waste leapt out onto the road between the canal and a drain.

Moving vehicles were swept away and dragged into the drain.

The occupants and riders of three vehicles  a sedan, a scooty and a motorcycle  were among the victims along with some pedestrians.

Locals were the ones to initiate rescue work. Activists and courts have repeatedly panned the city's civic agencies for continuing to dump garbage at the saturated landfills and failing to come up with a feasible waste management plan.

But the corporations cite the unavailability of land and blame the DDA. East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat said a portion of the garbage mound collapsed because of rain.

Rescuers trying to pull out a car from a canal that was swept away in it after a part of the Ghazipur garbage landfill collapsed in east Delhi

According to the fire department, they received a call around 2.45 pm and sent four vehicles to the spot but later 11 more fire tenders were dispatched. About 4-5 JCBs also joined them. NDRF teams, comprising 45 personnel, reached the site along with local police.

The rescue operation went on till late Friday evening. The woman who died has been identified as Raj Kumari, who was riding the scooter. The other person found dead was 20-year-old Abhishek.

The five who were rescued have been admitted to LBS Hospital in east Delhi. 'All the vehicles have been removed,' added Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (eastern range).

I saw a huge portion of the site collapsing, and when it fell into the canal the water splashed all over,' a local resident told Mail Today.

The Ghazipur landfill, which is the oldest of its kind in Delhi, was started in 1984 and reached saturation about a decade ago.

'A car fell into the drain and people jumped in to save the occupants. Then the rescue operation by the fire department started and those drowning were pulled out,' said a woman who also lives in the area.

Authorities are planning to close the road that connects Vaishali to Noida.

Experts say the boundary walls along both sides of the road, specifically near the landfill, should be raised to a height of least six feet to keep travellers safe.
The damage the 10-week troop Doklam standoff inflicted on the already frayed India-China relationship will not be easy to repair.

Indeed, the China-India divide over border, water, trade, maritime and other issues, including transportation and economic corridors, may only widen.

There is also the risk that the end of the face-off could prove just a temporary respite from border tensions before confrontation flares anew.

Modi and Doval (right) have made the break-through in clearing the air without backing down

Rival

China's record under communist rule shows that it has at times retreated only to open a new front in the same area or elsewhere.

Still, India - like Japan before it - has shown that if a neighbour is willing to stand up to China, it can be made to back away.

Doklam is a defining event: For the first time since China's success in expanding its control in the South China Sea, a rival power has stalled Chinese construction activity to change the status quo on a disputed territory.

Beijing was left with little choice but to negotiate a deal after India showed that it would not be cowed.

Repeated Chinese warnings to India to back down or face dire consequences fell on deaf ears.

Handshakes at dawn: The damage the 10-week troop Doklam standoff inflicted on the already frayed India-China relationship will not be easy to repair

Eventually, Beijing was forced to eat crow when it agreed to terminate the face-off through mutual disengagement of troops.

Two factors forced Beijing's hand. It wished to save the September 3-5 BRICS summit in Xiamen, China.

More importantly, it wanted to safeguard President Xi Jinping's reputation in the run-up to the critical party congress this autumn.

Had the standoff with India dragged on, it could potentially have taken a toll on Xi's standing.

Despite China's overall military superiority, India, with its terrain and tactical advantages, was in a stronger position in the tri-junction area.

It could have prolonged the face-off until the onset of the harsh Himalayan winter, thus casting a cloud over the Chinese party congress.

A protracted standoff would have exacted increasing diplomatic costs for Beijing, given that India had dared to stand up to it, thus denting China's reputed pre-eminence in Asia.

By reaching the deal, India effectively let China off the hook and did Xi an important favour at a time when he is focused on the party congress, which is expected to see him emerge as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. For New Delhi, salvaging Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit for the BRICS summit, unfortunately, became an important consideration, although that grouping has increasingly come under Chinese sway.

But Beijing is unlikely to return the favour, and India's decision to let China escape a strategic predicament of its own making could come back to haunt it.

China has tactically retreated because, beyond declaring war on India, it was running out of options.

But without the distraction of a looming party congress, China could seek revenge for Doklam at a time and place of its choosing.

Next time, the PLA is unlikely to make the mistake of encroaching onto an area where India enjoys the military advantage. It will choose a place where it can spring a nasty surprise and dictate terms to the Indian army.

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat has cautioned that the country cannot be complacent because Doklam-style encroachments are likely to 'increase in the future'.

Vigilance

With India already facing increasingly persistent PLA efforts to intrude into its borderlands, eternal vigilance holds the key to Himalayan peace.

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat has cautioned that the country cannot be complacent because Doklam-style encroachments are likely to 'increase in the future'.

But while China uses the disputed long border with India as a justification to probe Indian defences and intrude where possible, India remains perennially in a reactive mode.

A grim reminder of the larger challenges in the bilateral relationship is China's breach of legally binding obligations to supply India with hydrological data on upstream river flows in Tibet in order to facilitate flood forecasting and warnings.

Beijing has offered no explanation for its failure this year to honour bilateral accords that require it to transfer data on specific rivers to India annually from May 15 to October 15.

Had China been in India's place, it would have linked the breach of commitment to the downstream floods and deaths. But India has been quiet.

Warnings

Timely transmission of data would have helped generate flood warnings, thus saving lives and reducing material losses in the Northeast.

The data denial apparently is designed to punish India for boycotting Xi's May 14-15 'one belt, one road' summit in Beijing.

When Beijing fails to honour formal bilateral agreements, will it stick to the Doklam deal?

In 2012, China and the Philippines agreed to a deal to withdraw naval vessels from around the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

China gave the impression it was withdrawing its ships, only to return and capture the shoal.

The Doklam affair illustrated China's proclivity to miscalculate and overreach. India's refusal to bend while talking peace offers China's other neighbours an example of how to manage Chinese coercion.

Doklam also raises a broader question: Had the US stood up to China in the South China Sea, would the seven artificial and now-militarised islands have been created?

It is China's success in altering the status quo there - without incurring any international costs - that has emboldened its territorial revisionism in the East China Sea and the Himalayas.
Political turmoil in Washington could trigger a debt crisis in the United States that would be more devastating to the global economy than the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a credit agency has warned.

The US government will hit a so-called 'debt ceiling' by the end of September unless Congress agrees to raise the limit on what the country can borrow on global markets.

Without an agreement, the nation will no longer have permission to borrow any fresh cash, raising the prospect of a catastrophic default.

The US government will hit a so-called 'debt ceiling' by the end of September unless Congress agrees to raise the limit on what the country can borrow on global markets

President Donald Trump must also win backing for a new spending bill by the end of September  or face a government shutdown that would see all but the most essential services suspended and staff go unpaid.

Although the administration is likely to be able to stagger on for another few weeks after the debt ceiling is reached, it is feared a protracted impasse could lead to one of the biggest defaults in history.

Analysts at Standard & Poor's have warned the shock would be worse than when the Lehman bank collapsed in 2008. That was the moment the financial crisis spiralled out of control, costing millions their jobs, homes and savings in Britain and elsewhere.

S&P's chief American economist Beth Ann Bovino said: 'The economy would fall back into recession, wiping out much of the progress made by the recovery.'

Even the US Treasury's website admits failure to raise the debt ceiling would have 'catastrophic economic consequences'.

'It would cause the government to default on its legal obligations  an unprecedented event in American history,' it says.

Trump's Republican party controls both houses in Congress, meaning the chances of a fall-out are low. However, the president has threatened to refuse any increase in spending unless it includes money for a controversial border wall with Mexico.

Many lawmakers will never support the wall, setting the stage for a huge battle of wills.

Bovino said a default would trigger a 'sudden, unplanned contraction of current spending' by the government equivalent to 4 per cent of economic output  or around 580billion.

Failure to agree a spending rise would trigger a government shutdown, meaning nearly 1m public sector staff would go unpaid and crucial services would stop.

Consumer confidence and contracting firms would also take a massive hit. Overall, S&P estimates this could cost the American economy 5.1bn a week.

Barclays analysts also fear the debt ceiling being breached, saying it would 'likely push the economy into recession'.

There were similarly dire warnings in 2011 and 2013, when the government last came close to hitting the debt ceiling.

S&P fears recent political turmoil, coupled with questions over the president's competence, could lead to an unexpected impasse which triggers a default.

'Betting on a rational US government can be risky,' Bovino said. 'We continue to see the likelihood of a shutdown in late September as slim [but] the risks are increasing, with the costs high.'

Goldman Sachs said the chance of shutdown had fallen from 50 per cent to 35 per cent due to Hurricane Harvey.
Sir David in 2008 with Model Kates Moss at a party to celebrate receiving his knighthood

Sir David Tang, who has died aged 63, was not without an impish sense of humour.

Legendary oil man Algy Cluff, 77, who was for a time Tang's boss, says his old friend had the cheek to name one of his dogs after him.

Cluff recalls: 'I was visiting his home once and got quite a shock when David suddenly shouted: 'Come here Algy, you lazy b******!'

Hedge funder Crispin Odey's beleaguered European fund was down 10 per cent in July, after several bearish bets backfired.

It's down 12 per cent this year so far. Still, good to know Crispin, who oversees the fund himself, isn't panicking.

Judging by his Instagram feed, he's currently otherwise engaged on the grouse moor.

Former Chancellor George Osborne will speak at an event next month hosted by The Spectator to mark the tenth anniversary of the banking crisis, where he will be grilled by the magazine's publisher, Andrew Neil.

Last year, Osborne cockily bragged how he'd avoided being interrogated by the BBC's most fearsome interlocutor during his six years as Chancellor.

Mr Neil, I believe your sharpest toasting fork might be in order

Sir Richard Branson pays tribute to Princess Diana on the 20th anniversary of her death, informing his Twitter followers how the Princess would often send him 'thoughtful, handwritten notes' which hang in his home in Necker Island.

He posts a picture of one which reads: 'Dear Richard, Hurray! Love from Diana.' I must say, I've received more thoughtful missives.

The relaunched Great British Bake Off features Essex boy James Hillery, 46, a portly banker from Northern Trust, whose ambition is to open a cafe.

Kissing goodbye to the riches of the City may be easier said than done.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, I'm told last year's semi-finalist, Ghanaian charmer Selasi Gbormittah, 31, remains glued to the trading desk at Deutsche Bank.
Gas panic: The price of petrol has surged 20 per cent in a week in America

PETROL PRICES The price of petrol has surged 20 per cent in a week in America after Hurricane Harvey ripped through Texas, knocking out a fifth of US oil refineries.

It means there are fewer places where crude oil can be turned into fuel for cars, pushing prices above $2 a gallon for the first time since July 2015.

A flotilla of tankers is headed to America from Europe as traders look to make money by plugging the gap.

CHOCOLATE DEAL Sainsburys has signed a contract to stock luxury Godiva chocolates across its stores. The supermarket will become the first British grocer to sell the Belgian chocolates.

BANKS UNITE Six banks are working on an online currency they hope can be used to handle major transactions between finance firms.

The group  which includes British lenders HSBC and Barclays  hopes its utility settlement coin will be launched at the end of 2018.

MAIDEN RESULTS Shares in investment software company Alfa Financial climbed 4.6 per cent, or 20p, to 454p as the City toasted its first results after a 1billion float.

It unveiled revenues of 45.1million for the first half of 2017, up 57 per cent on the same period last year.

REVENUE DIPS Scottish broadcaster STV Group became the latest victim of falling TV advertising revenues as it posted a profit of 7.5million for the six months to the end of June, down from 10.2million for the same period last year.

NEW CHIEF Investing website Seedrs has promoted chief operating officer Jeff Kelisky to the role of chief executive.

Kelisky previously helped build online map start-up MultiMap, and made 2.3million when it was bought by Microsoft in 2007. He replaces Jeff Lynn.

DEBT PROFITS Profits at debt collector Arrow Global rose to 25.8million in the first half of the year, up 35.5 per cent on the opening six months of 2016.

The business also unveiled plans to buy a British and Irish mortgage operation from Mars Capital for 15.5million.

SWITCHING ROLE Former pensions minister Chris Pond has joined a bank account switching committee as a non-executive director.

Ex-Labour MP Pond will help oversee the switching service run by payment group Bacs.

GROCER HIRE Online supermarket Ocado has appointed PR firm Tulchan Communications David Shriver as comms director.
A couple who paid 7,000 for state pension top-ups that proved worthless have finally won a refund, after weeks in which the taxman refused to give their money back.

Taxpayers can make lump sum payments to HMRC to boost the size of their state pension after they retire.

John and Jan Airey decided to make voluntary payments covering five previous years of National Insurance contributions, in the mistaken belief that when they retired it would qualify them for the full new state pension, currently worth 159.55 a week.

Refund plea: Couple who paid state pension top-ups for the wrong years will get money back (stock image)

They did not realise that the Government had changed the already-complicated rules so that paying five years after April 2016 would increase their pension, but paying five years before that date would not.

As a result they were left 7,000 out of pocket, and their appeals - including a personal message to HMRC boss Jon Thompson - to let them use the payments for future tax years which would boost their state pensions fell on deaf ears.

But after the intervention of This is Money, HMRC agreed to repay them as a one-off goodwill gesture.

Mr and Mrs Airey, aged 59 and 58, had accused HMRC of penalising them for an honest mistake and asked why staff hadn't warned them before cashing their cheques.

'Its as serious as if we had paid 7,000 for a second hand car only to find out that the second hand car dealer has run off with our money,' they wrote in an email to HMRC.

The couple, former IT workers who are now property landlords and live in Cumbria, went on: 'Before (and not after) cashing our cheques HMRC should have advised us that we need to check whether paying these voluntary years backdated would increase our pension or not.

Steve Webb: 'There ought to be proper process whereby people who have made a genuine mistake can get redress'

'We werent aware that HMRC had changed the rules and that paying five years after April 2016 would increase our pension but paying five years before April 2016 wouldnt. We have found this out since. How ridiculous is that?'

An HMRC spokesperson said: 'We have examined the unique circumstances in these cases and will be making refunds of the payments made.'

It had previously refused the Aireys on the grounds their payments would give them a qualifying year towards bereavement benefits - although the couple's intention had been to boost their state pensions, not get Government support if one of them died.

Steve Webb, former Pensions Minister and now director of policy at Royal London, said: 'Mr and Mrs Airey undoubtedly feel as if they have been "scammed", having handed over thousands of pounds of their hard-earned cash and got nothing in return.

'Dealing with a government department should not leave you feeling the same as you would if you'd handed over your money to someone who phoned you out of the blue or some dodgy site on the internet.

'There ought to be proper process whereby people who have made a genuine mistake can get redress. Working out whether or not your extra National Insurance Contributions will boost your state pension is not a simple matter.'

He added: 'Where citizens do their best to navigate the complex bureaucracy of the state and go wrong through no fault of their own, things should be put right simply and without fuss.'

How do you work out if it's worth topping up your state pension?

HMRC stresses there is no general right for state pension payments to be refunded, and urges people to consider taking impartial advice before making voluntary top-ups as they might not always improve future entitlements.

But the Aireys' case highlights how confusing it can be to decide if you should pay extra to improve your state pension income in retirement, and the challenges of finding informed help.

After an overhaul in spring 2016 replaced the old two-tier system with a flat-rate state pension, some people have already maxed out any possible benefits from the old basic rate state pension, and will only find it worth buying top-ups for years following the changeover.

However, it depends on your personal National Insurance record, whether you were contracted out of the second state pension at any point, and other individual factors.

And while independent financial advisers will have some knowledge of the state pension system, they are not specialists in the fine detail and paying for their assistance might not be cost effective.

'It's so complicated it's not surprising people get it wrong. It's baffling to work out whether to top up or not,' said Mr Webb.

Can I top up to get full new state pension? This is Money columnist Steve Webb has answered reader questions on this topic here and here.

Last year, he asked HMRC whether it would make refunds in cases where payments were made in error, after growing concerned the system was confusing people.

He received a Freedom of Information response saying refunds would depend on each individual's circumstances and their National Insurance record, but where someone paid contributions for years before 15/16 and did not benefit they were likely to be due. Read the full details below.

In his current post as policy director at pension firm Royal London, Mr Webb wrote a guide to help people decide whether it's worth topping up their state pension.

You can also contact the Government's Future Pension Centre here or on 0345 3000 168. Online state pension forecasts are available here, and in future this site will get a 'what if' function that should tell you immediately if it's worth buying top-ups

The Pensions Advisory Service, which offers free and independent help, is here or on 0300 123 1047

HOW MUCH IS THE STATE PENSION? The basic state pension is 122.30 a week. It is topped up by additional state pension entitlements - S2P and Serps - accrued during working years. That two-tier system has changed for people retiring since 6 April 2016, when it was replaced by a new 'flat rate' state pension. This is worth 159.55 a week. However, people who have contracted out of S2P and Serps over the years get less than this. Workers needed to have 30 years of qualifying National Insurance contributions to get the old state pension, but they now need to have 35 years of contributions to get the new flat rate state pension. But even if you paid in full for a whole 35 years, if you contracted out for some years on top of that it might still reduce what you get. Everyone gets the option of deferring their state pension to get more in their later years. You can check your NI record here.

What did HMRC say about refunds on mistaken NI payments?

Steve Webb received the following reply to his Freedom of Information question on the topic.
German health authorities are handing out potassium iodide tablets to residents in case of an accident at a nuclear power plant in neighbouring Belgium.

Local officials in the Aachen area received permission from the regional government to distribute the tablets as a precaution amid longstanding concerns in Germany over the safety of the Tihange plant, less than 70 kilometers (43 miles) away.

The tablets are meant to prevent thyroid cancer in case of radioactive contamination.

German health authorities are handing out potassium iodide tablets to residents in case of an accident at a nuclear power plant in neighbouring Belgium

WHY TAKE IODINE? Potassium iodine is a salt of stable (not radioactive) iodine that can help block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland, thus protecting this gland from radiation injury. Because KI contains so much stable iodine, the thyroid gland becomes 'full' and cannot absorb any more iodineeither stable or radioactivefor the next 24 hours. Advertisement

From Friday until November 15, people under 46 can apply online for a coupon for the iodine tablets, which they can pick up free at pharmacies.

Germany plans to switch off all its nuclear reactors by 2022 and already has shut its oldest plants.

Last year, the entire population of Belgium was provided with iodine pills in case there was a nuclear accident at one of its ageing power plants.

Iodine pills have previously been given to people living within 14 miles of the Tihange plant near Brussels and the Doel plant in Antwerp.

Belgium's creaking nuclear plants have been causing safety concerns for some time after a series of problems ranging from leaks to cracks.

The reactor pressure vessels at both sites have shown signs of metal degradation, raising fears about their safety.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive, and most likely in hiding, a top U.S. officer in charge of forces fighting the terrorist group said Thursday.

Al-Baghdadi, who declared a caliphate governed by Islamic law from a mosque in Mosul in 2014, was allegedly killed in a Russian airstrike earlier this year.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, said he based his claim on 'lack of evidence' of al-Baghdadi's death as well as intelligence of the contrary.

Still alive? Russia claimed that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, pictured in 2014, had died in an airstrike on Raqqa, Syria, however Kremlin has struggled to prove this

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon over video-link from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said: 'Do I believe he's alive? Yes.'

He said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen - 'rumour or otherwise' - that al-Baghdadi was dead.

He then added: 'There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive.' Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a 'high probability' that al-Baghdadi died when one of their airstrikes hit a gathering of ISIS commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa.

However, come July, Kremlin admitted that they were struggling to confirm that al-Baghdadi had died, and both Western and Iraqi officials have remained skeptical.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting ISIS, said there's 'lack of evidence' of al-Baghdadi's death as well as intelligence he's alive

Last month, Kurdish counter-terrorism official Lahur Talabany said he was 99 per cent sure that al-Baghdadi had simply gone into hiding.

He said: 'Don't forget his roots go back to al-Qaeda days in Iraq. He was hiding from security services. He knows what he is doing.'

The only 'confirmation' has been from the British-based monitoring group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who said in July: '(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank who is Syrian, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor.'

It was reported that ISIS had admitted al-Baghdadis death, seemingly confirming it when a senior member of the group - Abu Haitham al-Obaidi, tdeputy mayor in Hawija in northern Iraq, declared himself the new leader in July.

U.S. and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi, Townsend said, adding that 'if they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him.'

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.

He said this area is shaping up to be the group's 'last stand' following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq.

Losing: ISIS forces have been ousted from nearly all of northern Iraq, including its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, and half of it's de-facto capital Raqqa, in Syria

The most recent IS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants' main stronghold in Iraq.

The Iraqi government announced Thursday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a 'stunningly swift' victory for the Iraqi army, moving 'like a steamroller' into the city in a matter of days.

The IS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the group's self-styled caliphate. Townsend said U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting.

Assessing his 12 months in command of the U.S.-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive. It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a U.S.-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.

'I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didn't see their government representing them or their interests or their future,' he said.

'And I think that's probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis.'

Townsend said he hopes the U.S. government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another IS-like episode. He said such talks are under way.

'We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely,' he said, referencing the pullout of U.S. troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraq's subsequent struggles.

'My personal view is I wouldn't want to repeat that,' Townsend said. 'So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future.'

Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.

He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-IS campaign.

'The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command,' Townsend said. 'And I don't know of a commander in our armed forces that doesn't appreciate that.'

'A key result of that is that we don't get second-guessed a lot,' he added. 'Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we don't get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take.'
Authorities say an ex-convict arrested on a gun charge became radicalized during his incarceration and expressed a desire to join the Islamic State group.

The charges announced on Thursday by federal prosecutors in Richmond against 28-year-old Casey Spain do not include any terror-related counts. Instead, he is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In an FBI affidavit, authorities say Spain, while serving a seven-year prison sentence, had an Islamic State flag tattooed on his back, to go along with the 'Cop Killa' tattoo he already had on his right cheek.

Authorities say an ex-convict arrested on a gun charge became radicalized during his incarceration and expressed a desire to join the Islamic State group

According to an affidavit FBI agent Heather Brown, undercover informants who were incarcerated with Spain reported that he pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The informants also reported that Spain wanted to travel overseas to engage in violent jihad on behalf of the Islamic State.

If he couldn't travel overseas, he was willing to commit violent acts inside the United States, according to the informants.

As a result, the FBI kept him under surveillance after his release from prison earlier this month, after he served a seven-year sentence for abduction with intent to defile.

Undercover informants who met Spain after his release said he frequently expressed his desire to travel overseas to join the Islamic State, as well as a desire to obtain a gun.

He was arrested Thursday after prosecutors say he tried to buy a gun in an FBI sting.

According to an affidavit FBI agent Heather Brown, undercover informants who were incarcerated with Spain reported that he pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured)

The affidavit indicates authorities moved quickly to initiate a sting after learning that Spain might be attempting to buy a gun on his own, and had told an undercover informant he would be willing to shoot and kill any officers who came to arrest him.

According to the affidavit, Spain met with an undercover FBI informant Thursday morning at his home outside Richmond.

When Spain took possession of the weapon, which had been rendered inert, a SWAT team moved in to arrest him, according to the affidavit.

Spain ran and jumped a fence in an effort to evade arrest before being chased down and taken into custody, according to the affidavit.

Since 2014, more than 130 people have been charged in the U.S. with crimes related to the Islamic State, according to the George Washington University Project on Extremism.

But the number of ISIS-related cases has dropped dramatically in recent months. In a speech this week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the number of Americans trying to travel to join the Islamic State has slowed from six to ten per month two years ago, to maybe one a month now.
The Trump administration has taken another step toward building a wall on the US border with Mexico, even as funding for the project remains in question.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced it will award contracts to four companies to build four prototypes for the wall.

The CBP has provided few details of the concrete prototypes and said funding for four other prototypes for a see-through structure will be awarded next week.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced it will award contracts to four companies to build four prototypes for the wall

Four companies were awarded contracts to build reinforced concrete models up to 30 feet (nine meters) high, Acting CBP Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello announced.

The prototypes have to have 'anti-climb' features to deter illegal immigrants from sneaking into the United States.

The prototypes will cost a total of $3.6 million.

On Sunday Trump insisted that Congress must find a way to pay for his promised border wall, branding Mexico a hotbed of violent crime

Donald Trump made the construction of the wall his signature issue in last years presidential campaign. He promised that Mexico would pay for it, but Mexico has refused.

Trump promised in his election campaign last year to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants. For the fiscal 2018 budget, the government has proposed $1.8 billion to begin building what could become a $20 billion project spanning the 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) frontier.

But Congress is deeply split over the budget and worries are that it might not be able to bridge its differences and fund the government before the fiscal year begins on October 1.

On Sunday Trump insisted that Congress must find a way to pay for his promised border wall, branding Mexico a hotbed of violent crime.

And he has warned that he will close down the government if Congress does not give him funding for the wall.
The average worker spends the equivalent of two weeks a year grumbling - with the top gripes about IT, air con and printers, a study has found.

Researchers say the typical employee will also find time to whine about unnecessary staff-all emails - and uncomfortable chairs.

Other problems which drive staff mad are the temperature of the office, commuting, people pulling sickies and a phone call just as you're about to leave.

Common gripes, which generally take up a total of 20 minutes of the working day, include the amount of junk mail received, being copied into emails that are of no concern and someone stealing a favourite mug.

In addition, irritable Brits can't stand it when someone smells out the office with stinky food, or turns on the freezing cold air conditioning.

IT issues form a major part of the top 50 list of grumbles - as workers complain about computers which are too slow or crash, printers jamming or breaking down and a bad phone signal.

The study shows getting a phone call when you're just about to leave the office is the biggest grumble.

Others are frustrated by colleagues who are difficult to work with or who suck up to the boss, and also those who take credit for work they didn't do.

Common British gripes, which take up 20 minutes of the average working day, include junk mail, colleagues who eat strong-smelling food (file pic), and someone stealing a favourite mug

Unrealistic deadlines, 'meetings about meetings', office jargon and everyone ignoring a ringing phone can also make work life irritating.

Others moan about their insensitive boss, or those who choose to micro-manage everything.

Embarrassing team building exercises, having to engage in small talk and being asked to desk share are other common complaints.

TOP 20 OFFICE GRUMBLES 1. Getting a phone call when you're literally about to leave the office 2. Computers being slow 3. IT issues 4. The temperature being too low/high 5. No air conditioning 6. Computers crashing 7. Printers jamming or breaking down 8. Colleagues who are difficult to work with 9. When someone uses your desk when you're away and leaves it messy 10. Freezing cold air conditioning 11. Being in the office when the weather is lovely 12. Having meetings about meetings 13. People not replying to your emails 14. When someone calls in sick when you know they aren't ill 15. Being copied into emails that are of no concern 16. Colleagues who suck up to the boss 17. Colleagues who talk too much 18. People who loudly complain about how busy they are 19. People not saying thank you when you've helped them out 20. The commute Advertisement

Researchers also found two thirds of people are most likely to grumble to other colleagues; one in 20 will start moaning the minute they step foot in the office.

Another 15 per cent admitted they 'whinge all day long'.

But most are unlikely to do anything about their work worries - with more than two thirds owning up to the fact they wouldn't confront a colleague who was annoying them.

Another six in ten would never say anything about their 'ridiculous workload'.

Office workers are most likely to make a noise about IT going wrong, with half of those polled complaining about the state of their computer or printer.

Seven in 10 admitted they often feel irritable at work, and 52 per cent say their whole working day can be ruined by just a few 'bugbears'.

Other factors that affect how good a day is going to be include what the traffic is like on the way in (35 per cent), and how much work there is to do (43 per cent).

A further quarter say their day is affected by whether or not the boss is going to be in, while 27 per cent say how early they wake up can ruin the day ahead.

Geoffrey Dennis, Chief Executive of international animal charity SPANA, which provides free veterinary treatment to working animals in developing countries, said: 'It's clear that there's no shortage of annoyances in the workplace that raise people's blood pressure on a daily basis.

'From pointless meetings to colleagues who use your favourite mug, these frustrations seem to be part and parcel of office life in Britain.

'It can be hard to keep a sense of perspective at times, but we should remember that most of these irritations are trivial and very minor compared to the tough working lives endured by working animals in developing countries around the world.

'These animals often doing back-breaking, dangerous work with little rest and no holidays or retirement at the end of it. That's why they desperately need our support.'
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The scale and scope of Tropical Storm Harvey, which brought devastating flooding to an area of Texas equivalent to the size of New Jersey, has made it a 1-in-1,000-year flood, according to scientific data released on Thursday.

This conclusion easily makes Harvey the most destructive storm system to ever wreak havoc on the United States.

The analysis of the data was performed by Shane Hubbard, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin's Space Science and Engineering Center.

The findings were reported in The Washington Post.

'In looking at many of these events [in the United States], I've never seen anything of this magnitude or size,' Hubbard said.

'This is something that hasn't happened in our modern era of observations.'

The scope of Tropical Storm Harvey, which brought devastating flooding to an area of Texas equivalent to the size of New Jersey, has made it a 1-in-1,000-year flood, according to scientific data released on Thursday. The photo above shows Interstate 10 in Vidor, Texas on Thursday

Because it is considered a 1,000-year event, the chances of Harvey happening in any given year is 0.1 percent, according to Shane Hubbard of the University of Wisconsin

According to Hubbard's calculations, at least 20 inches of rain covered almost 29,000 square miles - an area that is larger than 10 states

According to Hubbard's calculations, at least 20 inches of rain covered almost 29,000 square miles - an area that is larger than 10 states.

That is an area larger than West Virginia and more than twice the size of Maryland.

At least 30 inches of rain covered an area that is roughly the size of Maryland  just over 11,000 square miles.

One measurement in Cedar Bayou, an area in Harris County, Texas, reported that 51.88 inches of rain fell - making it the most rainfall ever recorded in the continental United States, according to The Atlantic.

To put this storm in perspective, more rain has fallen on Houston in the past week than the totals for Boston, or Seattle, or Miami since January 1.

Because it is considered a 1,000-year event, the chances of Harvey happening in any given year is 0.1 percent.

'Or, a better way to think about it is that 99.9 percent of the time, such an event will never happen,' Hubbard said.

There is hardly a scientific consensus with regards to the term '1,000-year flood' given that records of rainfall and floods have only been kept for 100 years.

The photo above shows damage seen from a deployed Coast Guard helicopter crew surveying in response to Hurricane Harvey in Wharton, Texas

The damage caused in Port Arthur, Texas, is seen above in this aerial photo taken from a helicopter on August 30

People remove belongings from their home as they evacuate their flooded west Houston home in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas on August 31

The statistical analysis also does not factor in climate change, which scientists believe is altering precipitation levels and intensifying storm systems.

Climate scientists say that in the coming decades what was considered '500-year events' could become more commonplace.

Hubbard dismisses these concerns, saying that his measurements are the most reliable metric out there when it comes to planning for floods.

He said that the increased frequency of intense rains and flooding could be attributed to other factors besides climate change.

'The challenge is trying to separate when you have these 500-year events happening all the time, what part is a changing climate, what part is changes in urbanization and agriculture and what part is the lack of understanding of what's happened in the past,' he said.

Still, others say that Harvey is a harbinger of things to come.

'Expect #HarveyFlood record will be broken in 5, 15, 25 years from now - sooner rather than later,' tweeted David Titley, professor of meteorology at Penn State.
The cheating scandal in private schools has prompted the exams regulator to launch an inquiry, the schools minister has said.

Nick Gibb said the action was required following the 'unacceptable' incidents at Eton and Winchester to uphold the 'integrity of the exam system'.

Ofqual announced yesterday it would review the rules allowing serving teachers to take part in writing and reviewing question papers.

Top teachers are often invited to help write exam papers as they are considered 'subject specialists'.

The cheating scandal in private schools has prompted the exams regulator to launch an inquiry, the schools minister has said (file photo of Eton)

However, last week it emerged that a deputy head at Eton College had left amid claims he leaked questions from a Pre-U economics exam. Pre-Us are an alternative to A-levels.

Mo Tanweer was investigated by the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) exam board following a tip-off regarding allegations that questions were shared with other teachers ahead of an exam.

The CIE has also been investigating concerns over irregularities surrounding Pre-U art history at both Eton and Winchester College.

Mr Gibb said yesterday: 'The public must have confidence in the integrity of the exam system and cheating of any kind is unacceptable.

'Exam regulator Ofqual is now reviewing the rules under which teachers take part in writing and reviewing question papers and have confirmed to me that they are considering whether action is needed.

'The overwhelming majority of teachers act appropriately when working with exam materials but where they do not, schools have a responsibility to report it.'

Mo Tanweer (right), deputy head teacher at Eton College, quit after an exam board ruled he had breached security. Pictured left: Eton College Headmaster Simon Henderson

Nick Gibb said the action was required following the 'unacceptable' incidents at Eton and Winchester (file photo) to uphold the 'integrity of the exam system'

In a statement regarding Pre-U economics, Eton confirmed that a CIE investigation concluded there had been 'a breach of exam security by one of Eton's teachers'.

The school added: 'The teacher has left the school. While pupils had done nothing wrong, they were inadvertent recipients of confidential information and so the board awarded them assessed marks for that paper.

'Eton College deeply regrets that this incident occurred.'

In the case of Pre-U art history, Eton said that following a CIE probe, pupils who took the exam had also been found to be 'inadvertent recipients' of confidential information for one paper, The Guardian reported.

This related to information that pupils had been sent via a pupil at another school before the exam, and no Eton staff member was involved.

Winchester College said it 'greatly regrets what has happened,' adding:

'No boy was to blame for the irregularity, and the board used standard procedures to award final grades.

Yesterday it was revealed Radley College, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was investigated by exam board OCR over a GCSE art paper but no wrongdoing was found

'One teacher has retired from the school, and all those boys holding university offers dependent on a grade in art history have now had those offers confirmed.'

Yesterday it was revealed Radley College, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was investigated by exam board OCR over a GCSE art paper but no wrongdoing was found.

Ofqual said: 'The involvement of serving teachers in the process of exam setting has many benefits and exam malpractice by teachers is rare.

However, access to live materials must be appropriately controlled.

'We will investigate whether our safeguards are sufficiently robust.'
Britain is being asked to continue funding the EU's foreign aid programme after Brexit, it emerged last night.

The EU's demand for a 90billion 'divorce bill' was branded 'absurd' as details of the claim emerged at a press conference in Brussels.

Its chief negotiator Michel Barnier said there had been 'no decisive progress' at the third round of Brexit talks this week.

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EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, right, criticised the progress of the Brexit talks after the British team described attempts by Brussels to charge the UK 90 billion as 'absurd

David Davis, pictured, clashed repeatedly with the EU team over the divorce settlement

Mr Barnier, right, accused Britain of wanting a nostalgic deal with the European Union

He then revealed some of the EU's financial demands, including that funding for foreign aid, green projects and refugee programmes continues after Britain has left. It also emerged the UK could be asked to keep paying into the EU's coffers during any 'transitional deal'.

Mr Barnier suggested he would try to block progress on a new EU-UK trade deal unless Britain agrees to meet the demands.

But Brexit Secretary David Davis, who clashed repeatedly with Mr Barnier during the press conference, made it clear the UK did not accept the EU's claim, saying: 'We have a duty to our taxpayers to interrogate it rigorously.'

He rebuked Mr Barnier for suggesting British Brexit demands were driven by 'nostalgia' for EU membership, saying: 'I wouldn't confuse a belief in the free market for nostalgia.'

YUK! TONY BLAIR SCHMOOZES HIS EUROPEAN PALS Puckering up, Tony Blair staged something of a love in yesterday as he greeted Jean-Claude Juncker with a kiss. The Europhile former Prime minister greeted the European Commission president like an old friend at a Brussels lunch. Tony Blair was welcomed by European Commission president Jean Claude Junker to Brussels yesterday morning However, the timing of the meeting seemed designed to upstage a distinctly frosty press conference between Brexit Secretary David Davis and his counterpart Michel Barnier  which was taking place in the same building. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson went for a spin on a Royal Navy rigid inflatable boat Over in Nigeria, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared to be puckering up too  but was merely being buffeted by wind as he helped pilot a rib with the Royal Navy. A unit based in Lagos is training the Nigerian navy to tackle the threat of pirates. Advertisement

The apparent deadlock will increase pressure on Theresa May to appeal directly to German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron to begin trade talks in defiance of Brussels. But Mr Barnier issued a stern warning that any attempts to go over the commission's head on the issue would fail.

He struggled to contain his fury that the UK had produced a legal analysis rejecting the basis for the EU's financial claim  and threatened to delay discussions of a future trading relationship unless Britain agrees to pay for a number of schemes. It follows four days of negotiations that brought little progress  Brussels is demanding concessions on the divorce bill so that trade talks can begin, but Mr Davis blamed the bloc's inflexibility for the deadlock.

Mr Barnier also warned that the UK's request for access to the single market without accepting the supremacy of the European Court of Justice was 'impossible'.

He criticised Britain's plan to have EU standards cut and pasted into UK law and be automatically recognised by the EU. 'You cannot be outside the single market and shape its legal order,' he said.

Mr Davis responded: 'We have proposed pragmatic solutions to prevent this disruption and we urge the EU to be more imaginative and flexible in their approach to withdrawal on this point.'

On the divorce bill, Mr Barnier said it 'wouldn't be fair' for Britain not to pay for ongoing commitments undertaken with other members. 'In July, the UK recognised it has obligations beyond the Brexit date but this week the UK explained it felt its obligations were limited to the last payment of the current EU budget,' he added.

The EU negotiator listed commitments he claimed Britain had agreed to that extend beyond the end of the current budget period in 2020  and rounded on the country for refusing to honour them.

He demanded that the UK agree to pay towards green infrastructure, foreign aid for Africa and the Caribbean, and loans to Ukraine.

Among examples of green projects in a European Commission report were bridges for wildlife to cross the road, ladders for fish and green roofs for nesting birds.

Permeable pavements, urban forests and plans to restore bogs were also suggested in the report.

Mr Barnier also demanded Britain continue providing funds for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific through the European Development Fund.

The EU set out a paper in June listing financial commitments it thinks Britain should agree to pay towards as part of the divorce bill. These includes refugees in Turkey, a trust fund for the Central African Republic and Colombia, and the European Asylum Support Office.

But Mr Barnier said yesterday: 'After this week it is clear that the UK does not feel legally obliged to honour these obligations after its departure.'

Discussions on trade were meant to begin in October if Brussels decided 'sufficient progress' had been made on the rights of EU citizens in Britain, the Irish border and the divorce bill.

Mr Barnier yesterday suggested he would try to block trade talks unless progress was made, saying: 'There has been no decisive progress on any of the principle subjects  Time is passing quickly and was short to start with.'

Last night Brexit backer Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'If a member state that was a net recipient of funds left, would the EU be rushing to give it a cheque? Its demands are absurd and no sensible government could yield to them.'

WHAT THEY WANT US TO PAY FOR European Commission Green Infrastructure Strategy: The EU has pledged nearly 6billion to cover green projects, which might include bridges to help wildlife cross roads and ladders to help fish traverse rivers. The European Commission wants extra money for its green infrastructure policy Foreign aid: EU members contribute 12billion to the European Development Fund  the main instrument for distributing payments to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Previous contributions have been spent on trapeze lessons in Tanzania, a study on coconut development and Jamaica trips for EU spin doctors. It also wants Britain to fund foreign aid projects across the globe including a study on coconut development and Jamaica trips for EU spin doctors Loans to Ukraine: Brussels has pledged 10.3billion in long-term loans to Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea and threatened the country. Brussels is seeking cash to provide loans to Ukraine following the Russian dispute Refugee facilities in Turkey: The EU initiative cost 2.76billion in 2016-7 to help the country cope with the number of Syrian refugees it hosted. The EU also wants money for a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey, pictured Advertisement
Staff from a Pizza Hut chain in Texas are braving floodwaters to make very special deliveries to families affected by Hurricane Harvey as the state's Gulf Coast continues to reel from the devastating storm.

Shayda Habib, regional manager of Pizza Hut in Sugar Land, told NBC Houston affiliate KPRC that after hearing families in her community were trapped in their homes, she decided to take action and help those struggling in the aftermath of the hurricane by delivering free pies.

'When I heard there were families in need, I knew we needed to act fast,' Habib told the station. 'I called my husband and asked him to gather up kayaks and meet me at the restaurant.'

Texas Pizza Hut workers in Sugar Land paddle through flood waters to deliver free pizzas by kayak

In some cases, flooding was so bad that Pizza Hut employees braved chest-high water levels in order to deliver food to needy families. Shayda Habib is pictured above

Shayda Habib said she felt compelled to do something for her community following Hurricane Harvey

Pizza Hut employee seen dragging kayak through flooded Texas street to deliver free pizzas to families stuck in their homes

Habib said that after mobilizing a small crew of employees at the restaurant, they went to work cooking pies for people suffering from the storm.

Braving at times chest-high waters, Habib and her crew were able to load delivery pouches stuffed with pizzas into kayaks and deliver them to needy families.

'We packed 120 pizzas into kayaks and took them out to people in their homes,' Habib told Sacramento broadcaster KCRA.

'The people in the houses didn't expect us to come. It was so nice to see their smiles after so much gloom,' she added.

Workers at the Pizza Hut in Sugarland delivered pizzas to the Village of Oak Lake neighborhood on Aug. 29, 2017

She vowed to continue working on behalf of her community until the store ran out of food

Pizza Hut franchisee, James Bodenstedt, praised the Sugar Land crew's humanitarian effort in the wake of the natural disaster.

'We are so proud of our team for seeing a need, stepping up and helping the community in a time of devastation,' Bodenstedt told KPRC.

Habib vowed to keep delivering pizzas until her store ran out of food.

Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast on Friday, causing severe flooding that has left 38 people dead and billions of dollars in estimated damage.

Habib said they were able to load 120 pizzas into kayaks and paddled them to hungry families
Australians are being ripped off at the petrol pump despite enjoying relatively cheap petrol, as fuel companies hike their margins to the highest level since 2002.

A report released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) shows retail mark-ups remain high despite average petrol price in Australias five biggest cities dropping by 4 cents a litre.

Mark-ups made by retailers this year are the highest they have been since 2002, according to the report.

Australians are being ripped off at the petrol pump according to a new report from the ACCC

This chart shows the average retail margins in Australia's five biggest cities in blue

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said he believes motorists should be paying less for petrol.

While motorists are enjoying the cheapest petrol since 2002, we believe prices should have been even lower given the continuing high gross retail margins, Mr Sims said.

Retail hike-ups for 2016-17 were about 12 cents per litre in Melbourne and Perth, the highest in 15 years.

Petrol prices in Brisbane were the highest of Australias five biggest cities, with the average cost in the city being 3.3 cents per litre higher than the average for Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

Increasing costs for retailers especially in New South Wales have contributed to the increased margins but Mr Sims said they do not fully explain the sharp jump.

Regional areas were also affected by high mark-ups.

16 per cent of petrol prices in Australia are made up of 'other costs and margins'

Motorists in Launceston, Armidale and Cairns are paying too much for petrol, Mr Sims said.

We encourage people to use fuel price apps to locate petrol stations in their area with relatively lower prices.

Petrol stations in Cairns were making 38 per cent higher average profits than others around the country.

Drivers are enjoying the cheapest petrol prices since 2002 but could be paying even less




Australian smokers will face another price hike on Friday, with one packet of 25 pre-rolled cigarettes to exceed $35.

Tax on other tobacco products will increase by 17 per cent, bringing the cost of a kilo of tobacco from $771.60 to $901.39.

Liberal Democrats leader David Leyonhjelm has slammed the increase as a 'price hike that will make poor, addicted smokers worse off'.

GST is also imposed on the cigarettes and tobacco, in addition to the soon-to-be 69 per cent excise, which Mr Leyonhjelm has labelled 'a tax on a tax'.

Liberal Democrats leader David Leyonhjelm has slammed the latest increase in the tobacco excise, which will see the price of cigarettes rise beyond $35 a packet

Smokers are now paying 69 per cent in tax for a packet of cigarettes, with a kilo of tobacco now costing more than $900

The NSW Senator on Friday said smokers are now repaying at least 17 times the additional cost burden they place on the government-funded health system.

The Deutsche Bank's 2017 Mapping the World's prices report showed Australia now has the highest prices in the world for cigarettes, closely followed by New Zealand.

Mr Leyonhjelm claimed the continually rising cost of cigarettes was creating a 'booming black market'.

'The extortionate taxation of tobacco, combined with the ban on ecigarettes and plain packaging rules, have generated a booming black market in untaxed, unregulated tobacco run by organised crime,' he said.

The NSW Senator claims smokers are now repaying at least 17 times the additional financial burden they put on the health system

Mr Leyonhjelm says the steady increase in pricing is creating a 'booming black market'

Last month, police seized 14million illegally imported cigarettes from a Melbourne factory. The bust uncovered a tobacco stash with a street value of $9million.

At the time, the Superintendent of Investigations in Victoria, Craig Palmer, said the Australian Border Force has seized more than 400 tonnes of tobacco since its establishment.

He said tobacco smuggling was being monitored because of its link to organised crime and its cost to taxpayers.
A Melbourne taxi driver has been arrested after a passerby filmed him smoking ice in his cab.

Police pulled over the man as he drove in his cab towards the city down the busy Tullamarine Freeway on Thursday night.

The 37-year-old from Noble Park was allegedly found with two bags of white powder, believed to be ice, in his possession.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said the taxi driver tested positive for drugs after taking a roadside test.

A Melbourne taxi driver has been arrested after a passerby filmed him smoking ice in his cab

Police said they had received footage of the driver allegedly smoking the deadly drug in his cab a few days before intercepting him.

The footage was also sent to the Taxi Services Commission by the concerned person who captured the shocking moment.

The taxi driver is expected to be charged with drug driving, drug possession and failing to wear his taxi uniform.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Taxi Services Commission for comment.
Europe's biggest airlines are conspiring to punish UK rivals after Britain leaves the EU.

In a move that would result in rocketing fares and fewer flights for British passengers, some of the Continent's biggest carriers are advocating a tough post-Brexit aviation deal.

Leaked briefing documents seen by the Daily Mail show they want British airlines to be treated as 'third country citizens' in a move that would severely reduce the number of routes they can operate within the EU.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, pictured suggested German and French airlines were lining up to 'shaft' British Airways and EasyJet as a result of the Brexit process

European airlines such as Lufthansa want to stop their British rivals from flying between EU destinations following Brexit which would restrict their access to the market

Germany's Lufthansa, French-owned KLM and TAP Portugal are among the foreign carriers that have backed the briefing  which pushes for the UK to lose its coveted 'cabotage' rights that enable airlines to fly freely in and around the EU.

EasyJet, Jet2 and Monarch would not be able fly within or between EU countries.

The European airlines are also pushing for the UK to be granted an aviation agreement similar to those of Israel and Morocco, conferring only 'third party' status.

In these cases, EU states decide who can fly, how many flights can be operated and where passengers can fly to.

James Daley, of Fairer Finance, said: 'This is just another trap that the British Government are going to have to navigate as they proceed with their Brexit negotiations. It's up to the Government to ensure that they negotiate a fair deal which protects the interest of British citizens.'

WE BELIEVE IN BRITAIN SAYS JAPAN PM Japan's prime minister said yesterday he had full confidence in the UK economy and would work quickly on a post-Brexit trade deal. Shinzo Abe told the chiefs of Japans top firms that Britain would remain a 'compelling' place to do business. Speaking alongside Theresa May in Tokyo, he said: 'I have trust in the UK economy after Brexit.' He said continued investments in Britain over the past year showed bosses belief in the nations future. Mrs May held one-to-one meetings with the heads of Nissan, Toyota and Hitachi. She later told the conference of Japanese business leaders: There are few places where the opportunities of doing so are greater than Japan, the third largest economy in the world. Japanese firms invest in excess of 40billion in the UK and more than 1,000 Japanese firms employ at least 140,000 people in Britain. Advertisement

Emma Coulthurst, of holiday price comparison site Travel Supermarket, said: 'If the number of flights which a UK airline can take to an airport is restricted, prices are likely to rise.'

Airlines UK, whose members include easyJet, Flybe, British Airways, Thomas Cook and Monarch, said it was aware of the briefing document, which has been circulating since May 11.

Tim Alderslade, its chief executive, said: 'We would encourage ministers to seek as liberal and open arrangements as possible, including cabotage rights.

'This is a technical issue that needs to be resolved but  We fully expect flights to be protected because the benefits to both consumers and companies across the UK and the rest of Europe are so significant.'

But Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said: 'The French and Germans aren't sitting on the sidelines. They're going to actively shaft BA and EasyJet. This is a historic opportunity for them and it's in their briefing document  no internal flights between Europe for any UK airline even if there is a bilateral agreement. EasyJet are s******* themselves.'

It came after Mr O'Leary, who earns 3million a year, claimed he is underpaid and feels 'unloved and under-appreciated'.

Discussing Theresa May's proposals to crack down on CEO's salaries, he added: 'I think company bosses are remarkably badly paid. If you can have Wayne Rooney getting 300,000 a week and Alexis Sanchez on 400,000, I am seriously underpaid.

'I don't score as many goals but I employ a lot more people and I make a much bigger contribution to the UK economy.'

Speaking at a London conference, he warned shareholders not to vote against his salary, saying: 'If you dont like it, sell your shares and f*** off. If you dont want to own them, p*** off.'

Mr O'Leary branded the PM's plans to force firms to publish the pay gap between the boss and the average worker and make list of companies where at least 20 per cent of investors vote against boardroom wages as 'inane bureaucratic nonsense'.

Leading economists have agreed with the Ryanair boss on Mrs May's proposals. Julian Jessop of the Institute of Economic Affairs said: 'The aim should be to raise the incomes of the poorest, rather than to penalise success at the top'.
Italians have reacted furiously to British claims that drinking too much Prosecco can damage your teeth.

Earlier this week top UK dentists warned drinking the fizzy and sugary tipple too often can lead to a 'Prosecco smile'  which consists of gaps, receding gums, cavities and rotten teeth.

But Italian political figures have dismissed the claims and even branded the reports 'fake news'.

Italians have reacted furiously to British claims that drinking too much Prosecco (file photo) can damage your teeth

The agricultural minister of Italy, Maurizio Martina, took to twitter to ask for the British media to 'tell the truth.'

He tweeted at one newspaper: 'Dear Guardian, tell the truth  Prosecco makes British people smile too! Stop fake news please.'

Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto Region  a large producer of Prosecco  also replied to an online story on social media.

He wrote: 'It's definitely fake news, so let's just leave it there.

'However, our British friends know very well where there is Prosecco there is a smile, so good that they celebrate it, and consume it more every day.'

The outspoken figure also branded the claims as the 'umpteenth Anglo Saxon crusade against Italian products'.

The governor of northern region Friuli-Venezia-Guilia, Deborah Serrachiani, also tweeted about the claims.

She joked: 'After Brexit, we need to help the people of Great Britain smile again. In modest quantities, our Prosecco works wonders.'

UK dentists warned drinking Prosecco (file photo) too often can lead to a 'Prosecco smile'  which consists of gaps, receding gums, cavities and rotten teeth

The dismissal comes after Italian agricultural union announced that Italy was set for one of its smallest post-war wine harvests.

Britons drank more than 40million litres of Prosecco last year and it is regularly on special offer at supermarkets. The market grew by 34 per cent last year and is expected to continue growing.

Last weekend saw hundreds of people queuing outside Lidl stores to get their hands on bottles of Prosecco selling for 3.33 each.

Dr Mervyn Druian, of the London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry, said earlier this week: 'Women especially enjoy prosecco but unlike wine, which you often have with a meal, it is very easy to just keep sipping prosecco and have a few glasses without noticing.

'It is acidic and it has sugar in it so, while a few glasses are fine, if you drink too much of it you are going to have a problem.

'The signs of prosecco smile are where the teeth come out of the gum. It starts with a white line just below the gum, which if you probe it is a little bit soft, and that is the beginning of tooth decay which can lead to fillings and dental work.'

And Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser for the British Dental Association, said: 'Prosecco offers a triple whammy of carbonation, sweetness and alcohol, which can put your teeth at risk, leading to sensitivity and enamel erosion.

'Carbonated beverages get their fizz from the release of carbon dioxide, which dissolves into carbonic acid. This provides a refreshing taste but also makes these drinks more acidic. Added to that, prosecco comes with about one teaspoon of sugar per flute.'
Tom Schulman is probably a name you don't recognize. He is an award-winning writer of movies, such as Dead Poets Society, What About Bob?, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Medicine Man. In addition to that, he wrote a film called 8 Heads In a Duffel Bag, which he also directed. Coming off of films like Goodfellas, Casino, and My Cousin Vinny, I'm sure Orion Pictures thought they struck gold when they got Joe Pesci to star as a mob guy yet again with a mix of comedy and mafia ties. What transpired felt lazy and utterly over-the-top, despite Pesci's amazing performance and a young supporting role from David Spade.

What is 8 Heads In a Duffel Bag? Well, the title explains it all here as Joe Pesci plays Tommy (yet again), who is transporting 8 severed heads across the country to a mob boss to confirm these poor people are dead. What better way to transport heads than bringing them on a commercial airline flight as checked luggage in a duffel bag? All seems well at first as Tommy sits next to a sweet young man named Charlie who is headed to Mexico to visit his girlfriend (Kristy Swanson) and her parents (George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon) for vacation.

It turns out that Charlie and Tommy have the exact same luggage. Bags are switched and Charlie now has 8 Heads In a Duffel Bag, where Tommy has vacation clothes. The rest of the film has Tommy trying to track down Charlie to retrieve the heads, which leads to a series of ridiculous antics. Tommy even tortures and coerces Charlie's best friends (David Spade and Todd Louiso) into helping him find the heads. What works here is Joe Pesci as Tommy. He's scary and funny all at the same time. He just owns every moment he's on screen.

It's also great to see a young David Spade use his brand of humor here too, which you almost wish he was cast as the lead opposite Pesci here. The rest of the cast is either bland or so obnoxiously over-the-top, that it's difficult to watch. The story itself is silly enough and doesn't take itself too seriously, even when all of the severed heads start singing in harmony, but it's never enough to keep this movie afloat. It's a bizarre entry in Joe Pesci's career for sure, but it's not the worst. However you may feel about this movie, one thing is for sure, there is nothing else like it.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

8 Heads In a Duffel Bag comes with a 50GB Blu-ray Disc from Twilight Time and is Region A Locked. There were only 3,000 copies made. The disc is housed in a clear, hard plastic case with an insert that consists of an essay by Julie Kirgo on the film.
Are summer holidays worth the bother, the expense, the sunburn, the heartbreak, the disappointment, the utter, utter horror?

All year we look forward to our annual break and what happens?

Drunks have sex next to you on the flight, car hire firms rip you off and so do taxi drivers, waiters, landlords and banks. It is 55 for four ice creams in Rome, 8 for a coffee in Paris, 300 a night for a basic hotel room on Formentera, 180 for grilled lobster anywhere near the sea.

In addition, listen to me, you could get carjacked in Miami, mugged in Cape Town and fleeced just about everywhere.

Are summer holidays worth the bother, the expense, the sunburn, the heartbreak, the disappointment, the utter, utter horror?

I've just received a letter from a U.S. hotel I stayed in last year informing me of a 'potential misuse' of my banking information because of a data breach on their reservations system. It's infuriating!

Hotels demand the assurance of all your personal details not upon arrival, but upon booking. They even have the right  I've never understood why  to ring-fence huge amounts of money in your account to guarantee their bill plus random extras.

Yet after extracting every last cent from your online piggy-bank, they can't even ensure that your sensitive details are safe from hackers. Pathetic.

No wonder being a customer of the world these days has turned into such a trying affair.

It is never about the rights of the consumer, always about the traveller being consumed.

Bitter experience has taught me that price is no discriminator. Expensive hotels in capital cities will be just as likely as a cheap B&B to give you a lumpy bed in a dusty room, with crispbreads and jam for breakfast.

Drunks have sex next to you on the flight, car hire firms rip you off and so do taxi drivers, waiters, landlords and banks

The swimming pool that looked so attractive in the brochure? A boiling soup of E.coli, dandruff and kiddy-pee.

And prepare yourself for the real wellspring of misery of any holiday  other people.

Other People are bad enough at the best of times, but Other Tourists are the pits. They fight over sun-loungers, wear unforgivable shorts, recline their seats on planes, sneeze glutinously without using a handkerchief, hog the bar, the buffet and the armrest  and play noisy games on the beach while failing to discipline their rowdy children.

In pursuit of their own enjoyment, they feel no compunction about invading the space and serenity of other holidaymakers, crashing about like a herd of marauding wildebeest in their Primark polyester tops or Vilebrequin trunks.

The normal rules and regulations that keep society more or less functioning are disregarded en bloody vacances.

Earlier this year, Channel 4's Secret Life Of A Holiday Resort series showed Brits on the Costa del Sol chowing down 6,000 calories a day at all-you-can-eat buffets, plus stealing products from hotel cleaning cupboards and even unscrewing and pocketing lightbulbs to take home.

I still burn with national shame at the memory.

You could get carjacked in Miami, mugged in Cape Town and fleeced just about everywhere

Perhaps even more annoying are holidaymakers who think nothing of trying to store tombstone-sized pieces of carry-on luggage in overhead plane lockers, plus three carrier bags, a litre of vodka and a stuffed donkey  then get offended when they are told off.

Yet  big-hearted me!  I still have sympathy with the mother and daughter who were forced to sleep on the floor of Alicante airport after Ryanair refused to let them board their return holiday flight to Manchester because their luggage was 2cm too big.

Yes, rules are rules but even by Ryanair's standards, their treatment seems rather harsh  as was the airline's refusal to work towards a compromise that could have prevented Tania Alston and her 12-year-old daughter sleeping on a concrete floor for 14 hours.

Here was a mother spending her last penny on a holiday she probably couldn't really afford. And like millions of British tourists this year, she was probably shocked at the brutal exchange rate.

But sadly, with passenger experience at British airports getting worse and worse every year, Miss Alston's treatment is becoming the norm.

Expensive hotels in capital cities will be just as likely as a cheap B&B to give you a lumpy bed in a dusty room, with crispbreads and jam for breakfast

Once, it was commonplace to be treated like a customer whose business was worth having, who had paid for a service, facility or provision and had a right to be treated as a valued client.

Now that decency has gone. International travellers are treated like irksome cattle from whom maximum cash is extracted with minimum grace.

The system always works in their favour, never yours. Even the thought of passing through an airport makes me feel ill, while the prospect of renting a car abroad put me off my usual springtime trip to France. I just can't bear the hassle.

So this summer I staycationed in my beloved west Cornwall.

You know where you are down there, with surly service in pubs, derision from outsider-hating locals, spotty weather and bad art in expensive galleries. Yet everyone was having a great time!

I was full of admiration for families who would spend their day on the beach.

International travellers are treated like irksome cattle from whom maximum cash is extracted with minimum grace

Tents would be erected, dads would hammer windbreaks into the sand, mums would unpack picnics while the kids ran around in a whip of fresh air and joy all day.

It didn't cost much but it looked like a lot of fun. A strengthening wind, a crab sandwich, a bucket, a spade and not a Ryanair check-in desk in sight?

If you must insist on having a holiday, you selfish wretches, then perhaps this is the way to go.

VOGUE A PIONEER OF SIZE DIVERSITY? WHAT A FLANNEL

John Humphrys has been accused of being a patronising boor and mansplaining fashion to Alexandra Shulman. Pictured: Vogue favourite Stella Tennant

John Humphrys has been accused of being a patronising boor and mansplaining fashion to Alexandra Shulman. The former editor-in-chief of British Vogue was a guest on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday to discuss the changing face of fashion.

'Sixty years ago the hourglass figure was desirable. Now you've got to be as skinny as a rake,' harrumphed Humphrys, suggesting Vogue was part of the process that promulgated the zero-size problem.

He then wondered aloud why women insisted on wearing high heels that crippled them. How very dare he?

Twitter users were quick to label the 74-year-old Welshman sexist and crashingly offensive. Is that really true?

With good humour, Shulman argued that skinny was 'not what people wanted to be now'; that fashion was more about style than body shape; and that she'd featured Kim Kardashian, the Duchess of Cambridge, Adele and a plus-sized model on the cover of Vogue.

As for high heels, she argued that they make women feel empowered.

All disingenuous, of course. Verging on ostrich-trimmed poppycock, hemmed with standard fashion flannel.

For the truth is, you DO have to be as skinny as a rake to be a model like Vogue favourite Stella Tennant.

Shulman argued fashion was more about style than body shape; and that she'd featured Kim Kardashian, the Duchess of Cambridge and Adele (pictured)

Fashion's dirty secret is that top designers still make clothes that are meant to be displayed on either perfectly proportioned bodies or beanpole creatures with coat-hanger cheekbones who look as if they haven't eaten a carb since primary school.

In the July issue of Vogue, which Shulman edited, the only person who didn't conform to whippety body fascism was a model with a hint of belly in an M&S advert for tummy-slimming swimwear.

One plus-sized model cover and Adele with a face full of contouring make-up in a quarter of a century hardly makes Vogue a pioneer of size diversity.

So no, I don't join in the chorus of disapproval because Humphrys challenged Shulman's 'expertise'. One of them sure is a fraud, but it isn't him.

Oh Fergie! Do try a little decorum

Oh Sarah, will you never learn? The Duchess of York is in mourning over the death of her pal Sir David Tang, whom she called 'Tangito' and knew for 30 years. I sympathise with her bereavement  but wonder if she really had to gush like a sherbet fountain about her dear chum?

'We laughed, we cried and we lived every moment. He made castles in the sky for my girls and I, we travelled the world together  he was my brother Sun and I was sister Moon,' she wrote in tribute to the multi-millionaire businessman.

The Duchess of York is in mourning over the death of her pal Sir David Tang, whom she called 'Tangito'

Wait. She is not finished.

'In addition,' she blathered on, 'he has changed my life. Every time he played the piano or recited a poem, I cried with sheer admiration at such a brilliant mind. Go in peace now Tangito, and thank you for our castles in the sky.'

One understands how distressing and unhingeing it must be, mourning the loss of a very, very dear friend. But sometimes, don't you think, a little decorum around death would not go amiss?

A 74-year-old Scottish pensioner has won the right to continue sunbathing in the buff after complaining he would have to stop if a new school was built next door to his home.

Sunbathing. Naked. In Scotland? The brave man deserves a medal, even if there is nowhere to pin it.

Touching testament to Diana

My bus route to work takes me past Kensington Palace. So I have spent much of this week showing Diana pilgrims where to get off, which crossing is best and what gate to use to enter the park.

They are invariably women of a certain age, who seem rather frayed by life but are determined to pay their respects to the Princess who died 20 years ago.

Their journeys and tributes to a woman they never knew personally are touching rather than mad.

The hundreds paying tribute to Diana bear testament to the incredible reach she had, and how people saw their own unhappiness reflected in her discontent

They bear testament to the incredible reach Diana had, and how people saw their own unhappiness reflected in her discontent.

Yet perhaps the most touching thing of all this week were the then-and-now photographs of William and Harry examining the tributes and flowers tied to the Palace gates. Dianas boys have turned into fine young men.

How sad it is to know that she was a mother who never lived to see her sons grow up, which is what she would have wanted above all else.
The woman who suffered cardiac arrest during a botched cosmetic breast operation performed by a Chinese tourist has died in a Sydney hospital.

Jean Huang, 35, died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where she was taken after being given 10 times the normal dose of a painkiller on Wednesday afternoon.

The Chinese tourist allegedly responsible for the botched procedure, Jie Shao, 33, is behind bars and facing 20 years' jail.

Police confirmed Ms Huang's death on Friday afternoon. 'Inquiries are continuing with a view to further legal action being considered,' a spokesman said.

Daily Mail Australia understands Shao, who has no licence to practise medicine in Australia, met Ms Huang through a mutual friend.

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Jean Huang died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Friday after a botched breast procedure

Jean Huang, 35, went into cardiac arrest after being injected with anaesthetic and painkiller

Jie Shao appeared in court charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and using a poison so as to endanger life

Shao has been charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger the life of Ms Huang.

The 35-year-old victim suffered cardiac arrest during a cosmetic breast procedure at the inner-city Chippendale's Medi Beauty clinic on Wednesday.

Shao had been in the country only four or five days when she was arrested and had a flight home to China booked for Thursday.

Ms Huang, the manager and co-owner of the clinic, was rushed to hospital about 3.30pm on Wednesday.

'If she does not survive there'll be more serious charges laid,' a police prosecutor told Central Local Court on Thursday during Shao's bail application.

Police said if Ms Huang had survived she would likely have suffered brain damage.

The court heard Shao, who appeared via audio-visual link, had made a number of admissions in relation to administering local anaesthetic and breast fillers at the clinic.

'It is clear that she was working at a cosmetic surgery where these sort of treatments were carried out,' the prosecutor said.

Police expected Jean Huang would have suffered brain damage if she had survived

Jean Huang went into cardiac arrest during a cosmetic procedure on Wednesday afternoon

Jean Huang was taken to Royal Prince Alfred hospital where she died on Friday afternoon

Jean Huang was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a critical condition when paramedics arrived at the beauty clinic

Police feared she would continue to practise such procedures if granted bail.

Shao is accused of administering tramadol, an opiod painkiller, and the local anaesthetic lidocaine to Ms Huang.

Shao's solicitor, Mary Underwood, said her client had studied for five years at Canton (Guangdong) Medical University and was a specialist in dermatology. She had practised in China and Great Britain.

Shao had arrived in Australia four or five days before her court appearance with two Chinese passports, one of which was in her handbag at the clinic and the other at the Mercure Hotel near Central train station, where she was staying.

Her tourist visa was due to expire in November.

Ms Underwood said if granted bail Shao would not engage in beauty treatment, not approach employees of the clinic and not apply for further travel documents.

The prosecution argued Shao, who had a flight home to China booked for Thursday, was a risk of interfering with witnesses and a danger to the community.

Ms Huang, 35, (left and right) was rushed to hospital where she died on Friday afternoon

Beauty clinic owner Jean Huang was taken to hospital where she died on Friday afternoon

She had limited ties in Australia and it would be 'diffiucult if not impossible' to impose suitable bail conditions.

Magistrate Sharon Freund agreed and refused bail, saying the prosecution case was strong and the maximum penalty for each of the offences was 10 years in custody.

The matter was adjourned to the same court on Tuesday.

According to its website, the Medi Beauty clinic offers state-of-the-art beauty services based on the latest medical technologies.

'All treatment facilities, materials, resources and products meet the stringent requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration and Medicines Australia,' it states.

Professor David A Scott, president of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetics, told AAP he was worried by what had happened to Ms Huang.

Only practitioners registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency could inject a local anaesthetic, he said on Thursday.

The skincare clinic, which only opened recently in the Central Park Mall, specialises in laser and contour treatment and 'injectable forms of beauty therapy'

Clinic offers non-surgical facelifts, skin tightening, hair removal, fat freezing, 'anti-wrinkle injections', and a 'hyaluronic acid facial' (woman pictured has not been charged)

Referring to reports Ms Huang was given 1.5 grams of tramadol intravenously, Professor Scott said it was 'a massive excess of dose' and 'unsafe'.

'A normal dose would be less than one tenth of that,' he said.

Dr Gazi Hussain, vice president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons told AAP when it came to cosmetic injectables there was a blurred line between medical procedure and beauty therapy.

'You don't need to have any medical training whatsoever to be injecting these substances,' he said.

'It's worrying but it's also the reason why we've seen the explosion of walk-in clinics in shopping centres.

'These are invasive procedures and they do carry significant risks with them.'

Dr Hussain said there needed to be better guidelines on who was able to inject or administer such drugs.
Hundreds of landlords have been fined in a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Penalties totalling 163,000 were handed out after the Right to Rent scheme was rolled out across England, official figures show.

Fines were issued to 236 property owners between the start of February 2016 and June this year - a rate of around one every two days.

Right to Rent requires landlords or householders to establish that tenants or lodgers have a right to be in the country by taking copies of documents such as passports or identity cards.

Failure to comply can lead to fines of up to 3,000 a tenant, while those who knowingly rent to people with no right to be in the country can face up to five years in prison.

Penalties totalling 163,000 were handed out after the Right to Rent scheme was rolled out across England, official figures show. Pictured: A file photograph showing homes for let in London

Ministers introduced the measures to create a hostile environment for those with no right to be in the UK. Illegal immigrants are also barred them from opening bank accounts and driving licences can be refused or revoked.

Figures published by the Home Office reveal the number of landlords fined has more than tripled in just over a year.

Between April and June this year  the latest statistics available  76 penalties worth 47,700 were issued. It compared with 14 fines with a total value of 13,800 in the first three months of 2016.

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said: We believe in creating an immigration system which is fair to people here legally but firm with those who break the rules or who enable others to do so.

The Right to Rent scheme deters people from staying in the UK when they have no right to be here.

We regularly meet with representatives from the private rented sector, local authorities and housing charities, to discuss and monitor the scheme.

Landlords can avoid the risk of a civil penalty by conducting simple and straightforward checks on tenants documents in accordance with Home Office regulations.

But campaigners claim the clampdown fuels discrimination and argued there was little evidence it is having an impact on the crackdown.

Chris Norris, head of policy at the National Landlords Association, said: A growing but small number of landlords have been penalised as a result of the scheme so far, with an average fine of around 600 handed out in conjunction with these cases

Ministers introduced the measures to create a hostile environment for those with no right to be in the UK

This suggests that landlords are more likely to be accidentally falling foul of the law, rather than deliberately or maliciously breaking the rules.

Its important to remember that landlords are neither immigration experts nor border agents, so with time, education and the right support wed hope that these kinds of cases begin to diminish.

However, ultimately this scheme should be judged on whether it tackles or prevents those who knowingly ignore the law and let to people who are in the UK illegally, but so far theres little evidence to suggest it is having the desired effect.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants claimed the Government has provided no evidence that this policy actually encourages undocumented migrants to leave the UK.

Chai Patel, the charitys legal and policy director, said: It is likely that instead the policy is driving vulnerable migrants into the hands of rogue landlords.

Separate figures published earlier this year showed that of 654 individuals who came to authorities attention between the launch of a pilot programme in December 2014 and September last year, 31 were removed from the UK.
An elderly couple have been reunited with the neighbours who saved their lives after sleeping through a fire.

Mele Bijrovic, 79, and his wife were fast asleep when a blaze erupted in the living room of their Melbourne home.

Neighbours Jasmina and her husband saw the inferno and banged on the door of the Bijrovics home - but the couple thought they were burglars and refused to answer.

They then noticed the smoke billowing from outside their bedroom and fled the house.

Mele Bijrovic, 79, and his wife were fast asleep when a blaze erupted in the living room of their Melbourne home

Neighbours Jasmina and her husband saw the inferno and banged on the door of the Bijrovics home - but the couple thought they were burglars and refused to answer

The incident took place on Wednesday night after the elderly couple had gone to bed.

Jasmina, 30, and her husband returned home to find flames burst through the front window of their neighbours' home and immediately called Triple Zero.

'My husband saw the smoke and we just started alerting the neighbourhood,' Jasmina told Seven.

Jasmina (pictured) and her husband returned home to find flames burst through the front window of their neighbours' home and immediately called Triple Zero

Mele can be seen attempting to put out the fire in his Melbourne home on Wednesday evening

Firefighters say they were lucky to escape. They believe a freezer may have shorted and cause the fire

After attempting to wake the Bijrovics, they were met with no reply.

'Mum heard banging and she didn't want to open the door,' their son Kemal Bijrovic said.

The pair, unaware of the blaze, believed they were in the middle of a robbery and were too scared to leave their room.

Fortunately they then saw the smoke billowing from the living room and quickly evacuated the house.

Firefighters say they were lucky to escape. They believe a freezer may have shorted and cause the fire.

Mele was reunited with Jasmina on Thursday morning and gave her a big hug.

'She's a hero,' he said.
A Kuwaiti-born man tried to get on a flight from Brisbane to Perth using a false boarding pass then threatened to bomb the families of police, a court has heard.

Atalah Gazy, who is a permanent Australian resident, could not explain why he allegedly tried to board the Virgin flight on Wednesday night using a ticket in someone else's name.

The 35-year-old appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday when he was granted bail against the wishes of Australian Federal Police.

Gazy's lawyer Julie Pietzner-Hagan told the court her client remembered little of the incident because he was drunk at the time, according to The Courier-Mail.

Atalah Gazy was arrested at Brisbane Airport on Wedneday trying to board a flight to Perth

Atalah Gazy's lawyer said he was drunk when he tried to board a Perth-bound flight in Brisbane

Police allege Atalah Gazy tried to board a Virgin plane in Brisbane with a false boarding pass

He was arrested at a departure gate at Brisbane Airport about 8.55pm on Wednesday while trying to board flight VA476 to Perth after an altercation with staff.

Court documents state Gazy became agitated and spat in the face of an AFP officer.

It is also alleged that while in a police cell Gazy threatened: 'I'll bomb your whole families ... I'll run them over.'

Ms Pietzner-Hagan said her client claimed he had been using a boarding pass in his brother's name, but the court heard there was no reference to his brother in police paperwork.

When asked by Magistrate Jacqui Payne why Gazy was boarding the plane, Ms Pietzner-Hagan said her client remembered 'very little of the time' as he was 'very drunk'.

'He doesn't remember why he was getting on a plane to Western Australia?' Ms Payne asked.

'That's a concerning submission.'

The court heard Gazy had a criminal history of using aliases in Western Australia but Ms Payne said that was not enough to keep him locked up.

Atalah Gazy was attempting to board a Virgin flight at Brisbane when arrested (stock image)

Atalah Gazy, 35, allegedly spat at an AFP officer and threatened to blow up police families

Ms Payne granted bail on condition Gazy report twice a week to police and not go within 100 metres of an airport. He is due back in court on September 22.

The AFP charged Gazy with using false documents at an airport, obstructing a Commonwealth officer and committing a public nuisance.

Queensland police later charged him with seriously assaulting a police officer.

An AFP spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the incident was not considered a national security matter.

'The AFP reminds the travelling public to follow the directions of authorities in the aviation environment,' the spokesperson said.

'Violent and disorderly behaviour will not be tolerated in airports and on-board aircraft.

'It is unacceptable to assault airline staff or police as they carry out their duties to keep the travelling public safe. Anyone who commits such actions can expect to be charged.

'The AFP reminds the travelling public it is a serious offence to use travel documents in a name that is not your own.'
Almost half of the councils in England will not have enough secondary school places in five years' time following a baby boom fuelled by migration.

Council leaders warn that more than 125,000 children face missing out on a secondary school place by the 2022/23 academic year unless urgent action is taken.

Manchester, Leicester and Islington in North London are the worst hit by the crisis, as official figures show they may already have more pupils than places for this coming autumn term.

Councils in Manchester, Leicester and Islington, North London have reported they have more pupils than places available in schools in their respective areas, file photograph

However, the problem is due to spread beyond metropolitan areas, with many regional towns and counties expected to be affected over the next few years.

The projections have been compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA), using Department for Education data. The government has previously acknowledged that a bulge in the pupil population has partly been caused by a higher birth rate among mothers from other countries.

This has previously led to a strain on primary school places, and now the problem is beginning to transfer to secondaries as the children get older.

The LGA projection suggests that in 2018/19, a total of 12 councils are due to run out of places, with the total rising to 23 the following year. By 2022/23, 66 councils face a shortfall  which represents 49 per cent of the 135 councils in the study.

Officials have already been forced to create almost 600,000 additional primary places since 2010 and must now take similar action in secondaries. It may involve housing children in temporary buildings.

Children living in areas where the authorities cannot meet demand may have to commute long distances to other areas.

Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said: 'As the LGA has previously warned, the school places squeeze is now about to hit secondary schools. Without action, more and more families will face growing uncertainty when trying to secure their child's secondary school.

Areas such as Greenwich, Luton, Westminster and Oldham will run out of places next year

'Councils have worked hard to help create almost 600,000 additional primary places since 2010.

'However, as those children move on to secondary schools, the majority of which are now academies, securing new secondary places in the areas where they are needed is becoming increasingly difficult.'

The LGA said councils urgently need to be given powers to force academies and free schools to expand if additional places are needed and voluntary agreements cannot be reached. It added councils also need to be given back powers to build new schools, which currently rest in the hands of Whitehall.

The projection makes the likelihood of more disappointment for parents seeking good schools for their children. Yesterday, it was revealed that 60,886 appeals were lodged by parents denied places at a favoured school.

Last month, a government report revealed that in secondary schools alone, the overall population is projected to reach around 3.3million in 2026, an increase of around 534,000 more pupils  or 19.1 per cent.

A Department for Education spokesman said the LGA projections were misleading, adding: 'Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure there is a school place for every child. We have allocated 5.8billion of basic need funding between 2015 and 2020 to enable them to do this.

'This money is given to councils based on their own estimates of the places they will need.'
Szuhsiung 'Allen' Ho, 67, was sentenced to two years after he stole nuclear energy production information and gave it to China

A Taiwan-born U.S. nuclear engineer has been sentenced in Tennessee to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to helping China build reactors using U.S. technology.

Szuhsiung 'Allen' Ho, 67, insisted he was not trying to help China actually produce nuclear weapons.

He gave China information related to the production of nuclear energy using secret computer programs to steal American nuclear technology reports.

A Tennessee Valley Authority executive admitted that Ho paid him to supply information about nuclear power production.

Ho even traveled to China on the Chinese government's dime.

As a native of Taiwan and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Ho was valuable to China.

Authorities say there was a plot to lure nuclear experts into providing information to allow China to produce nuclear material based on American technology. Pictured is a plant in eastern China

Ho, his firm Energy Technology International and Chinese nuclear power plant China General Nuclear Power were indicted in April 2016.

In addition to the two-year sentence, Ho was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.

Authorities say there was a plot to lure nuclear experts in the U.S. into providing information to allow China to produce nuclear material based on American technology.

It is the first such case in the nation brought under law that regulates the sharing of U.S. nuclear technology with certain countries deemed too untrustworthy to see it, including China.

The Chinese government refuses to acknowledge the indictment of its nuclear power company.

China allegedly paid millions for the information and had American engineers travel to China to consult on nuclear technology.

Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan (pictured) said Ho's case wasn't as serious as offenses involving weapons of mass destruction described in the law that he pleaded guilty under

Ho was valuable to the Chinese because he was born in Taiwan but naturalized in the U.S.

Ho's case wasn't as serious as offenses involving weapons of mass destruction described in the law that he pleaded guilty under, Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan said.

'This is, in fact, an atypical case,' he said. 'The court finds [Ho's] conduct not as serious as those offenses [involving weapons of mass destruction] described [in the law].'

While Ho did not intend to help China produce weapons, they can be a by-product of nuclear power production, and attorneys said that China could not be trusted.

China and a handful of other countries are forbidden from getting any information on American nuclear technology without U.S. approval.

Ho faced as many as 71 months in prison, but his sentence was reduced because he met with authorities about China.

Varlan said he would recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that Ho not be classified as a spy rating maximum security.
French president Emmanuel Macron has rubbished claims he will soon begin Brexit talks with the UK because of problems with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

In a show of EU unity, Mr Macron said: 'I want to be very clear and reiterate our backing of only one negotiator and only one mandate.'

It follows claims that Mr Macron could start Anglo-British trade talks as early as October because of increasing frustration at Mr Barnier's dealings with the UK.

French president Emmanuel Macron has rubbished claims he will soon begin Brexit talks with the UK

Barnier (right) and Brexit Secretary David Davis (left) swapped barbs in Brussels today as talks were left deadlocked after the third round of talks

During a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Paris on Thursday, Mr Macron said: 'The only negotiator is Michel Barnier and I would like to clear up ambiguities regarding false information that was spread.

'It is only once Mr Barnier will acknowledge sufficient progress has been made made that we will be able to work on the next steps,' Mr Macron added.

Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis swapped barbs in Brussels today as talks were left deadlocked after the third round of talks.

The Brexit Secretary and EU Chief Negotiator concluded the August round of negotiations with a frosty press conference that demonstrated little progress.

Mr Davis said he believed 'concrete' moves had been made on some issues but defended Britain's firm rebuttal of the EU's exit bill.

He said EU leaders had to give Mr Barnier more room to negotiate 'imaginative' solutions if the impasse was to be breached.

It followed claims that Mr Macron could start Anglo-British trade talks as early as October

But in a withering response, Mr Barnier accused Britain of 'nostalgia', protested a lack of 'trust' on EU citizens living in Britain and warned he would never allow its single market to be watered down.

Britain and the EU have until March 2019 to agree withdrawal terms and transitional arrangements and so avoid possible chaos.

In the same Paris news conference, the Dutch prime minister said he was worried about the pace of Brexit negotiations.
Snooty playwright Alan Bennett and other Establishment grandees will not approve, but Classic FM is about to celebrate its silver jubilee.

Twenty-five Septembers ago, classical music lovers did not have much variety when it came to radio stations. They could listen to the dauntingly high-brow BBC Radio 3 and, er, that was about it.

Classical broadcasting was in the doldrums. It was regarded as the preserve of bow-tied nerds and mad-haired intellectuals.

Before Classic FM the only choice was the dauntingly high-brow Radio Three

One former presenter on Classic FM was Henry Kelly, pictured, better known for his TV work

It was not just unfashionable; it was often actively uncommercial, and seemed to have little future outside the state-subsidised sector and a few Albert Hall knees-ups. Classical music snobs seemed to want to keep it that way, where they could control it.

At 6am on the dank, misty morning of Monday, September 7, 1992, all that changed when the opening strains of Handels Zadok the Priest came drifting through the ether from an unassuming studio in Londons Camden Town.

Zadok, a great belter of an anthem, was an inspired if immodest choice. It begins tentatively with rhythmic, methodical strings. They build to a slow crescendo which erupts into a tremendous, startling blast of triumphant noise.

It was quite some statement of intent, particularly given that final financing for the commercial broadcaster (I should declare that the Daily Mail Group was one of the first investors) was nailed down only at the 11th hour.

The station was the brainchild of the TV chef Michael Barry, from BBC2s Food And Drink, who set out with the determined aim of founding a popular classical music station, not abstruse or elitist.

The man who presented that first programme, Nick Bailey, will be on hand on the big day next week to read a news bulletin.

Bailey is one of the few survivors from the early years, when presenters included Stephen Fry, former Radio 1 DJs Mike Read and Simon Bates, and the former newscaster Richard Baker, he of the voicebox as varnished as the decks of the old royal yacht.

One former presenter was dear old Henry Kelly, better known at the time as a TV gameshow host.

Music buffs were appalled  appalled!  that a gameshow host should be turned into a classical music announcer. But that was what Classic FM was about: grabbing the interest of non-traditional listeners and saying: This is wonderful music, give it a try.

Kelly, a delightfully quick-witted and well-read man, was a runaway success, and his daily racing tips only created more publicity for the station.

In his diaries, multi-millionaire playwright Alan Bennett described Classic FM listeners as Saga louts (on the inaccurate basis that they were all ancient biddies who went on OAP holidays with Saga). I loathe Classic FM more and more, he sighed in 1996, which was, of course, a terrific encouragement for we middle-brow masses to tune in.

Bennett took umbrage at the stations safety and its wholehearted endorsement of the post-Thatcher world, with [adverts for] medical insurance and Saga holidays rammed down your throat between every item.

A correspondent to the Guardian newspaper (wouldnt you just know it?) agreed, complaining that Classic FM was commodifying great music to sell stuff.

Former Tory cabinet minister David Mellor, left, presents a wonderful Sunday evening show

Others were certain that the newly launched station would be short-lived. They thought listeners would rapidly tire of Classic FMs format of bite-sized melodies and intimate, sugary presenters.

Those naysayers were soon proved wrong, with the station quickly attracting more than two million listeners.

Since then it has continued to grow steadily. Audience numbers are now over 5.8 million  more than twice that of Radio 3  and Classic FM is firmly established as a meritocratic, unaffected voice in our culture.

I have been one of those listeners for the past 20 years.

That is not to say that I am not sometimes driven mad by Classic FM, particularly its repeated exhortations that we should all relax.

One of the daytime presenters, Jane Jones, has a way of saying it that makes the word sound almost sticky. I do wish she wouldnt.

Multi-millionaire playwright Alan Bennett wrongly described Classic FM's listeners as 'Saga Louts' writing off the overwhelmingly middle-brow audience who loved the music

The more they tell me to relax, in excessively soothing tones, the more I want to yell: I am blinking well relaxed! Or at least I was until you told me to be! But no radio station is perfect.

Take the current crop of presenters. Many (John Suchet, Catherine Bott, Alexander Armstrong, Aled Jones) are assured professionals at the top of their game.

Former Tory Cabinet minister David Mellor  he of the sex scandals and imperious manner  presents a Sunday evening show with a quirky range of often-overlooked classics.

Mellor may be a pretty awful man in some ways, but I have to admit  darn it  that his Classic FM show is extremely good and he plainly knows his potatoes when it comes to music.

The stations managing editor, Sam Jackson, explains Classic FMs philosophy thus: We play what our listeners want to hear, rather than what we think they should appreciate.

When Classic FM was launched, some people didnt even know that they liked classical music. It had been inferred to them by the classical music elite that it was not for them. We didnt follow the self-proclaimed rules of the classical music world.

Many Classic FM listeners, says Jackson, may have felt when growing up that classical music was something you had to sit down and listen to with great seriousness. The station took a more jaunty approach.

Henry Kelly had the common touch, and some people in the classical music world turned their noses up at that. But look at the audience figures and I think you can say that we had the last laugh.

In loftier circles, it is still akin to heresy to say that you like Classic FM. I have a few friends who take the Alan Bennett line and insist that the stations playlist is a barbarian imposition, and that its listeners are somehow intellectually inferior to those of Radio 3.

Well, so what if they are? We cant all be delicate aesthetes.

But after listening to Classic FM for a while, are people not likely to become curious about broadening their knowledge? And is that not, dare one say it, a Reithian ideal?

The great thing about the station is that it welcomes newcomers and does not make them feel ignorant. The station recently received an email from a motorist who said he had had to pull over while listening to a piece Classic FM was playing, he thought it was so extraordinary.

The piece in question was Gregorio Allegris 17th-century Miserere. Now, the Miserere is such a well-known piece that many music buffs might snort with derision at the thought of someone who had never heard it. At Classic FM they took a different view: they were delighted to have introduced a new listener to one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

It remains a challenge to persuade some members of the British public that classical music is not just for toffs in white ties and tails.

Listeners to Classic FM love the music soundtracks from some of Hollywood's biggest films

But the younger generation seems to be less deferential, less hung-up on the old notion of classical music being somehow only for people who lived in detached houses and drove a Vanden Plas.

One big area for growth in classical music, after all, is on the soundtracks to video games. Classic FM even did a whole series about it.

That doesnt quite fit in with the Alan Bennett stereotype of Classic listeners just being cardigan-and-slippers oldies.

The tastes of Classic FM listeners have not shifted much over the years  but why would they when much of the music involved is hundreds of years old?

Favourites still include Handels Zadok and Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending, but when certain pieces are played too much, the listeners can go on strike (that happened a few years ago with Nessun Dorma and Greensleeves).

What the listeners do love is film music, whether it be from Titanic  the biggest-selling classical album of the past 25 years  Harry Potter, Out Of Africa or whatever.

I can hear the howls of derision rolling down the snooty avenues of Hampstead, but which of us has not whacked up the volume when John Williamss Star Wars theme, or those towering strings from ET, have come on the wireless.

So, well done to Classic FM on reaching its silver jubilee. Boo-hiss to snobbish Alan Bennett & Co.

Shall we all sing a chorus of Happy Birthday? If we do, wed better make sure it is in tune.
Fears are growing for a missing Mauritius-born mother who has not been seen since disappearing two days ago.

Police are urgently appealing for the public's help in finding the missing 28 year old, Reema Rampertab, who was last seen at a property in Redhill, Surrey, on Wednesday.

On social media profiles Ms Rampertab, who lives in London, says she was born in Port Louis, Mauritius, and she also appears to be a mother.

Officers are growing increasingly concerned for her welfare.

Fears are growing for a missing Mauritius-born mother who has not been seen for two days. Police are urgently appealing for the public's help in finding the missing 28 year old, Reema Rampertab (pictured), who was last seen at a property in Redhill, Surrey, on Wednesday

She is described as Asian, with dark hair and brown eyes, around 5 ft 2 and of a slim build.

Ms Rampertab could be in the Reigate or Redhill areas but may also have traveled further afield.

Police are asking anyone who sees or makes contact with Ms Rampertab or has any information to call 101, or 999 in an emergency, quoting 45170095689.

They are also encouraging Ms Rampertab to make contact with them herself.
Students are angry their elite Melbourne high school published a notice in its newsletter urging parents to vote against gay marriage.

St Peter's College in Cranbourne included two notes from local St Agatha's Catholic parish, one written by its priest Father Joseph Abutu.

'Soon you will be receiving ballot papers to vote on "same-sex marriage",' he wrote at the end of a paragraph about children receiving their first communion.

Students are angry their elite Catholic Melbourne high school St Peter's College published a notice in its newsletter urging parents to vote against gay marriage in postal vote

'I would strongly encourage you to vote NO, to keep marriage between a man and a woman.'

A longer column credited to the parish generically included a whole paragraph about the upcoming postal vote, explaining the date votes needed to be sent back.

'Vote No, to keep marriage as a unique relationship between a woman and a man,' it said at the end of the paragraph.

The column also included a section inviting parents to a letter writing campaign against assisted dying legislation being debated in NSW.

'I would strongly encourage you to vote NO, to keep marriage between a man and a woman,' local parish priest Father Joseph Abutu wrote

A longer column credited to the parish generically (right) included a whole paragraph about the upcoming postal vote, explaining the date votes needed to be sent back

'This is your chance to have your say and to stand up for life!' it said.

Students were outraged that their school would take a political position, saying it was 'disgusting and very upsetting' and made them feel 'unsafe and unwelcome'.

'This has led to a great divide in the school,' one student told 9 News.

'I believe it is highly inappropriate for the school to be publishing a political issue on a public platform.

'Justice needs to be served for those who now fear coming to school knowing that they are not welcomed and supported.'

St Peter's principal Chris Black described the school as a 'proudly Catholic Community with a focus on Christ at the centre of our learning'

Students were outraged that their school would take a political position, saying it was 'disgusting and very upsetting' and made them feel 'unsafe and unwelcome'

St Peter's principal Chris Black described the school as a 'proudly Catholic Community with a focus on Christ at the centre of our learning'.

'As a Catholic school we have a strong belief in the dignity of each child in our care, because each one of us is made in the image of God,' he wrote.

The school's website reads: 'We recognise the dignity of each person and provide a caring and supportive environment for each student to develop to their full potential.'

St Peter's newsletter is in stark contrast to two other prestigious Catholic schools, St Ignatius' College in Sydney and Xavier College in Melbourne.

Father Chris Middleton, the rector of Xavier, called on the Church to look on the huge amount of support among the youth for marriage equality.

Father Chris Middleton, the rector of Xavier Colege in Melbourne, called on the Church to look on the huge amount of support among the youth for marriage equality

St Ignatius' rector Father Ross Jones argued Catholic couples can 'in good conscience' have sexual relationships for reasons besides procreation

'In my experience, there is almost total unanimity amongst the young in favour of same-sex marriage, and arguments against will have almost no impact on them,' he wrote.

He added that young people were driven by a 'strong emotional commitment to equality'  which he said was something to respect and admire.

St Ignatius' rector Father Ross Jones argued Catholic couples can 'in good conscience' have sexual relationships for reasons besides procreation under the 'order of reason' school of Natural Law.

'Presumably, same-sex couples, who make such a commitment to each other in good conscience, do so by reflecting on experience and on what it is to be human, using their God-given reason,' he wrote.
A desperate search is underway a 14-year-old Canberra girl who has been missing since Thursday after she didn't make it home from school.

Kristy-Leigh Wetton was last seen around 3:20pm leaving Melba High School on Conley Drive in Melba.

Her family and police hold fears for safety and would like to reassure her that she is not in trouble.

Kristy-Leigh Wetton (pictured) was last seen around 3:20pm leaving Melba High School on Conley Drive in Melba

Kristy-Leigh is Caucasian, about 170cm tall, of a slim build, with light brown shoulder length hair and brown eyes.

She was wearing grey Melba High School jacket with black stripes on the sleeves, grey Melba High School tracksuit pants, white shoes and carrying a black and yellow backpack.

Officers believe at the time she was planning to walk to Charnwood.

Authorities are seeking the help from the public who may be able to assist in locating the teenager.

Police urge anyone who has seen Kristy-Leigh or has any information about her whereabouts to immediately contact 131-444.
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The mayor of Houston has said the flooded city has turned a corner after electricity was restored to much of the area and shelter numbers were beginning to decline as of Thursday night.

Mayor Sylvester Turner declared in a press conference that Houston is 'open for business' adding that large areas were 'drying out and drying out well' and traffic was returning to the streets.

Flood waters have receded enough for the recovery mission to begin and the death toll is expected to rise past its current count of at least 47 when most of the water is gone from Houston and Harris County by Friday or early Saturday.

As residents wade through the declining murky waters to salvage what is left of their homes, experts warn that it has 'millions of contaminants', including toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste.

More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when Harvey slammed into the Lone Star State last Friday night, and some cities are left without water as the storm continues to dump record-setting amounts of rain.

After touring the devastated Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said more than 300,000 people have applied for disaster aid as the region begins to put the pieces of their lives back together.

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Houston has 'turned a corner', the mayor said on Thursday night. Power to much of the city has been restored and flood waters have receded, with officials claiming most of the water should be gone by Friday night or Saturday morning

More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when Harvey slammed into the Lone Star State last Friday night

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (pictured) declared in a press conference that Houston is 'open for business' adding that large areas were 'drying out and drying out well' and traffic was returning to the streets

More than 300,000 people have applied for disaster aid as the region begins to put the pieces of their lives back together

As residents wade through the declining murky waters to salvage what is left of their homes, experts warn that it has 'millions of contaminants', including toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste

Experts are warning people to stay clear of the dirty water, citing its numerous hazards. They advise people not to play in the water and to wash themselves right after coming into contact with it

People have begun to empty out of shelters in the city, returning home and starting to rebuild their lives

 Slide me  Simonton, Texas, (pictured) was completely overtaken by flood waters, causing the death of preacher Donald Rogers, 65, and his 58-year-old wife Rochelle who drowned on Wednesday when they were swept away by a current in their car

This combo of file photos shows flooded cars near the Addicks Reservoir as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise in Houston on August 29 (top) and vehicles in a car dealership lot sit surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on September 10, 2005, in New Orleans (bottom)

A flooded street is seen after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday in Port Arthur, Texas. At least 47 deaths related to the storm have been reported since Harvey made it's first landfall north of Corpus Christi

FLOOD VICTIMS URGED TO FILE THEIR INSURANCE CLAIMS BY FRIDAY Hurricane Harvey flood victims are being urged to file their insurance claims by Friday before Texas enacts a bill that will result in companies paying out less for damages. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill on May 27 that reduces the penalty interest rate for insurance companies. The law covers lawsuits that have weather-related damages, including hurricanes but not flooding. The rate would drop from 18 percent to 10 percent, meaning policyholders could lose out on money if they were to sue over claims. People are being urged to file before Friday, when the law is activated. Advertisement

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday night, Turner said he expects to move people from the Toyota Center downtown to the nearby George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday.

The convention center, which once housed 10,000 people at one point, sheltered about 8,000 late Thursday.

Officials were also optimistic about the heavily flooded city, expecting the waters to be gone from most of Houston and Harris County by late Friday or early Saturday.

The city is beginning to recover from the catastrophic storm with just 37,000 left without power, down by Wednesday's number of 75,000. Houston has a customer base of around 2.4 million.

As residents begin to return to their homes to assess damage, experts are warning people to stay clear of the dirty water, citing its numerous hazards.

Porfirio Villarreal, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department, said to the New York Times: 'We're telling people to avoid the floodwater as much as possible.

'Don't let your children play in it. And if you do touch it, wash it off. Remember, this is going to go on for weeks.'

Vice President Mike Pence announced that Trump and Melania would be returning to Texas on Saturday, after the president received flack for failing to meet with Hurricane Harvey victims and later claiming he saw wrath of the storm 'first hand' when he went on Tuesday.

In his speech on Thursday, Pence commended state and federal officials who aided the relief effort before proclaiming his admiration of citizen volunteers and encouraged all Americans to find a way to help.

The vice president also revealed that more than 300,000 people affected by the storm have already registered for disaster aid and said that Trump's administration expects Congress to 'move quickly' in funding legislation.

 Slide me  These striking photos of Angleton, Texas on April 6 (left) and August 30 (right) reveal how waters overtook the city which boasts of 20,000 residents. Houses along the stream are presumed to have taken on water after Harvey flooded the land

Alejandro Castillo takes a break from carrying water-soaked items out of her family's home after Hurricane Harvey flood waters receded in Houston

Lucy Liu dumps trash on a pile of debris as she helps her co-worker clean out her flood-damaged house in Houston

Members of the Olson family remove debris and damaged items from their father's home in the Twin Oaks Estate

A member of the Flores family whose home was flooded puts debris and damaged items sit on the sidewalk in the Twin Oaks Estate after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in Houston

Tianna Oliver pauses while helping a crew of volunteers from her work tear out drywall in her flood-damaged house Thursday

Some areas in Houston have seen waters recede enough to try and salvage items from homes. Pictured: Edward Casanova carries a chair as he helps dry out items from a friend's house on Thursday in Houston

John Rose pauses while salvaging items from his flood-damaged house, although some homes are still partially under water

Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey rushes over a roadway in Beaumont, Texas on Thursday after the storm hit last Friday

 Slide me  These images of the tiny city of Simonton, Texas, shows how the community of 800 people had a rush of brown, murky waters flood their homes on August 30 (right). However, on November 20, 2016 (left) streets were still visible from above

Houses in Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday morning. With the rain finally over in Houston and other parts of Texas and the flood waters now receding, recovery missions can start

A satellite image shows Harvey moving away from Texas and towards Mississippi and Tennessee and other states

As of Thursday night;

The death toll is past 47 and is expected to rise quickly as crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery missions

Harvey has been downgraded to a tropical depression and moved out of Texas after six days of torturous rain

It will bring heavy rain through Mississippi, Tennessee and parts of Kentucky before finally tailing off on Friday

100,000 homes have been destroyed by the storm and more damage will reveal itself as the waters recede

Some people in Houston returned home to find their houses ruined while others, expecting to discover them in pieces, cried tears of joy after finding them in tact

The entire city of Beaumont is without running water due to failed water plants, forcing the evacuation of hospitals

An explosion at a chemical plant in Houston leaked toxic substances into the air and water but the fire was out by Thursday night

Rescue efforts continue in parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana

More towns are still being evacuated including Sweeney and neighborhoods near the Addicks reservoir

Texan fire fighters were going door-to-door in a grim search for survivors and victims of Hurricane Harvey as hospitals and homes that were the last to be hit are evacuated on Thursday morning.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said previously that he feared how many bodies his officers would find. His bleak outlook was echoed by Fire Department Chief Terry Garrison at a press conference late on Tuesday night.

As emergency crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery mode on Thursday, the military faced harsh criticism for how it has handled the catastrophe which has been described as a 1,000-year-flood.

Former Joint Task Force Katrina Commander Russel Honore likened the response to 'amateur hour' and blasted the government for not having a better plan.

Harvey has almost cleared out of Texas and is making its way over Louisiana in the less severe form of a tropical depression. By Friday night, it will creep up in a northwest diagonal direction over Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, bringing heavy not not life-threatening rain.

But just as the panic seemed to die down on Thursday, sudden floods caused by burst rivers in Beaumont triggered the evacuations of medical centers and the failure of water plants meant that hospitals filled with patients were suddenly not fit for use.

Two hundred patients were removed from the Baptist Beaumont Hospital on Thursday after its water failed. Elderly patients from the Gulf Medical Center were also transported to other facilities in wheelchairs and on gurneys.

A handout photo made available by the US Coast Guard shows damage seen from a deployed Coast Guard helicopter crew surveying in response to Hurricane Harvey in Wharton, Texas on Thursday

A US Coast Guard crew from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Mugu, Oxnard, California saved more than 29 lives and assisted nearly 70 who were impacted by flooding waters. Pictured: Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday

Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to 'get out or die' on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods. Pictured: Orange, Texas

On Thursday, 40 survivors were rescued from flood water in the city. The emergency services have rescued 3,500 in total since Harvey began. Pictured: Flooded Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday

 Slide me  Officials in Houston estimate that most of the flooded waters will recede before the end of the weekend. Pictured: Rosenberg, Texas, (left on April 3 and right on August 30)

A man stands in his flooded home in a west Houston neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on Thursday

Volunteer rescuer Matt Clarke searches for local residents after a mandatory evacuation was ordered in the area beneath the Barker Reservoir as water is released, after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in Houston

A home in west Houston is marked with an X to indicate that it has been checked and cleared for flood victims

Water swamps Port Arthur, Texas, where thousands were impacted by the wrath of Hurricane Harvey earlier in the week

Houses in Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday morning. The true devastation of Hurricane Harvey unfolded on Wednesday as emergency crews began the grisly mission of recovering bodies from homes and flood water

A house in Orange, Texas, on Thursday where flood waters continue to swallow up homes after Hurricane Harvey

'WE'LL BE GOING DOOR-TO-DOOR': RESCUE TEAMS TURN FOCUS TO FINDING BODIES Houston Fire Chief Terry Garrison said on Wednesday night that the department's focus was now on finding the bodies of the dead. 'We're to start transitioning from a rescue mode to recovery operations. 'We're going to begin what we call a wide area search in the areas that have been most heavily impacted. 'We'll be doing a block by block, door by door search of structures which we believe have had 3ft or greater of water in it to ensure that there are no people that we have left behind.' Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo previously said he was 'worried' about how many bodies his force would find. The realistic death toll will emerge over the coming weeks and months. Advertisement

As Houston prepared to face the hurricane's grisly aftermath, there was still imminent danger and panic in other parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast.

In east Texas, the entire city of Beaumont is now without running water. Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to 'get out or die' on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods.

Anyone who chose to stay behind was told to write their social security number on their arm so that emergency services would later be able to identify their body.

There was also fresh danger in Harris County in Houston after two explosions at a chemical plant. Fifteen police officers were taken to hospital for treatment after being exposed to the harmful substances which were released from Arkema Inc. Plant as a result of the blasts.

The fire was put out but officials are monitoring the site for more blazes.

In Houston alone, the fire department has received 15,000 calls for help since Harvey made landfall. Some areas of the city continue to be at risk as water from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs is released, causing the flood level in areas nearby to rise.

On Thursday, 40 survivors were rescued from flood water in the city. The emergency services have rescued 3,500 in total since Harvey began.

There was harsh criticism of the military over its response to the tragedy from Honore who said of the northern command - the division tasked with overseeing state.

'Something is significantly wrong with out control and command. There comes a point in time with the mission that it is too big for the state national guard and they need to get the hell over it and bring in the big dogs when you've got a big mission,' he said.

In a jibe at President Trump, who has repeatedly congratulated local efforts to address the catastrophe, he went on: 'They need to stop patting each other on the back while these poor people are out here waiting to be rescued.'

Fire fighters in Houston are working 48 hour shifts to recover victims and police officers for the city are not being allowed to go home until the demand for their time is under control.

Local residents evacuate after a mandatory evacuation order in the area beneath the Barker Reservoir as water is released after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in Houston

Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to 'get out or die' on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods. Pictured: Residents who live near the Barker Reservoir evacuating

Light rain will continue in parts of Louisiana, all of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina. There will be heavier rain in parts of Tennessee, northern Mississippi and a small pocket of Arkansas until Friday but the rainfall will come nowhere close to measuring the 51 inches which fell in Texas over the weekend and earlier in the week

Elderly patients were suddenly evacuated out of the Gulf Health Center in Port Arthur on Wednesday as flood waters through it

An elderly patient waits to be removed from the Gulf Medical Center in Port Arthur on Wednesday as flood water rises

A rescuer removes an elderly patient from the Gulf Medical Center in Port Arthur on Wednesday

Rescuers evacuate elderly patients from the Gulf Health Care Center in Port Arthur on Wednesday

Boats move through Highway 96 in Beaumont, Texas, on Thursday looking for anyone in need of rescue. A rescue worker emerges from a Houston home (right) triumphantly holding a gold fish bowl on Thursday

Tonya Sutherland tries to save her injured calf by rolling it along the grass with a barrel in Winnie, Texas

A man helps cows escape from flood water in Winnie, Texas, on Thursday after Hurricane Harvey

A truck underwater in Houston, Texas, on Thursday where floods continued to surge in parts due to the controlled release of water from two over spilling dams

Residents in Port Arthur, Texas, examine the flood water outside their home on Thursday

The swampy Interstate 10 on Thursday in Vidor, Texas, where high water vehicles tow boats past underwater houses

Fire fighters in Houston are working 48 hour shifts to recover victims and police officers for the city are not being allowed to go home until the demand for their time is under control

'Most of our crews are on duty. They have been working non-stop, 48 hour shifts,' Chief Garrison said on Wednesday.

'When they need downtime, we're sending them to cots to rest. We have kept them working and they will continue to do that,' Houston Police Department Asst. Chief Larry Satterwhite added.

In Beaumont, recovery efforts are still a long way off as emergency services frantically work on rescuing people from the rising waters.

On Tuesday night, the Netches river level rose to a terrifying 82ft. It prompted a sudden and dramatic warning from the Tyler County Emergency Department which said in a late night Facebook post: 'The loss of life and property is certain. Get out or die!'

The town of Sweeney, which is home to around 3,700 people, is also being evacuated. Emergency crews will leave there on Friday, its mayor revealed ominously on Thursday.

More water is expected to rush down on Houston from the Barker reservoir which is on the verge of overflowing.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued late on Tuesday for people living near the dam.

Many at-risk neighborhoods in its periphery have already been abandoned.

Despite the fact that Harvey has been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center warned of continuing flooding in parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

'LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT' - FRESH WARNING FOR HARVEY OPPORTUNISTS AS ATTORNEY GENERAL RECEIVES 700 COMPLAINTS OF PRICE GOUGING There were fresh warnings for opportunistic criminals on Thursday who hoped to capitalize from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey - loot and you will be shot. As the humanitarian crisis of the storm unfolds and Good Samaritans rush to help, a handful of evil businesses and individuals have tried to take advantage. Looting is a concern but only four arrests have been made for it. The mayor of Houston has implemented a midnight to 5am curfew to curtail it. Texan business owners are enforcing their own preventative measures. At the Little York Food Mart in Houston, a former law enforcement officer is standing guard with a shot gun. In a video-taped message for looters, he warned: 'I am not afraid to shoot you.' There were signs warning 'looters will be shot' outside homes near the Barker Reservoir too. The Attorney General has so far received more than 700 complaints for price gouging - an illegal act which Governor Greg Abbott condemned as 'reprehensible' and 'un-Texan' on Wednesday. Among culprits was Best Buy which was caught selling packets of water for $42 earlier in the week. They have since apologized. Advertisement

Two explosions at the Arkema Inc. chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, have released harmful substances in to the air and water

There were two explosions at the Arkema Inc. chemical plant in Houston on Thursday morning as a result of the floods

Rescues are still ongoing in some parts of Texas including Buffalo Bayou in Houston, one of the first places to be severely flooded, (left) and Port Arthur (right) which was devastated on Tuesday

A Houston mansion sits in flood water after being swamped by Hurricane Harvey

The cost of the damage, which includes 500,000 ruined cars, is likely to total $160 billion. Even evacuation shelters in parts of the state were not safe from the chaos. Water rushed through the Bob Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur on Tuesday where scores of evacuees were taking shelter.

After his tour of Corpus Christi on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that already more than 300,000 people have registered for disaster aid, adding that the Trump administration expects Congress to 'move quickly' in funding legislation.

He said: 'We expect Congress to move quickly on the initial legislation and we''ll be working very diligently in the opening weeks of Congress to accomplish that.'

Harvey has brought the heaviest rainfall in US history, soaking Texas with more than 51 inches since it first made landfall last Friday.

It will move on and into Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, bringing with it heavy not not life-threatening rain.

Life-threatening flooding is still a concern in pockets of south-east Texas. Other dangers were caused on Thursday by a fire at a chemical plant which released harmful substances in to the air and water.

Many people are still in urgent need of rescue in Beaumont, Lake Charles and Port Arthur.

As rescue teams and volunteers continue rescuing stranded residents from the waters, National Guardsmen and women have been brought back from overseas deployment to help with the disaster.

'SOMETHING IS SIGNIFICANTLY WRONG': KATRINA COMMANDER'S THUNDEROUS CRITICISM OF US MILITARY RESPONSE TO HURRICANE HARVEY On Wednesday, Former Joint Task Force Katrina Commander Russel L. Honore made the following remarks to CNN's Erin Burnett in a scathing condemnation of the US military response to Hurricane Harvey. He has been inundated with gratitude and praise by people in Texas who say his assessment is spot on. 'Night is coming and it is going to get worse before it gets better. We have a lot of citizens that are hanging by the thread of their lives. '12 years ago today I arrived in New Orleans post Katrina. We did an extensive study on readjust how we were going to do business. We put a lot of emphasis on the states being the first responders. The problem is we have 50 different solutions. Katrina Military Cmdr. criticizes federal response to #Harvey: "We have a lot of citizens hanging on by a thread" https://t.co/WZlepit1Cu  OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) August 30, 2017 DECISION NOT TO EVACUATE 'It will be proven wrong because that is not the doctrine of homeland security. You take actions to protect people. We put a lot of money in these state parish and county control so they can be predictive. You don't have to evacuate 6milion people. You evacuate the elderly and the disabled. You evacuate the people in areas that were previously flooded and you allow people to voluntarily evacuate. This is a bankrupt problem. He has been warning people to evacuate for days 'I hope the guy in Miami and Tampa is not listening and thinking this is a success because it is not. Last week I wrote a Twitter saying this whole operation didn't have scale. COMPARISON TO KATRINA 'In Katrina we had 40,000 national guard, 240 helicopters in the first 4 days. They just got 100 helicopters in Texas. This is a lot bigger. I went out in a boat this morning and this is huge. After Katrina, the air elements and components of the northern command created a significant grid system for search and rescue. 'I don't know where that is. Doesn't look like anyone in Texas read that plan. PROBLEMS AT THE TOP 'Something is significantly wrong with our command and control and they need to stop patting each other on the back while these poor people are out here waiting to be rescued. You gotta come in big and be there right at the edge of the storm so that you can come in and rescue people. 'The federal government took their hand off it. They went off to fight terrorism and each time we have a Sandy, or now a Harvey, the solution is different. It's put by the local state. They don't evacuate, they don't preposition troops. 'The American people have put too much confidence in us. We have been too successful overseas to come out in amateur hour and incrementally deploy the force. 'I'm sounding critical but if we don't talk about this nowcause the congress thought we fixed this. 5th army got the mission to supervise army response to civil authorities under northern command, a command you never hear of. There comes a point in time with the mission that it is too big for the state national guard and they need to get the hell over it and bring in the big dogs when you've got a big mission.' Advertisement

A woman and her dog are pushed through the flood water by two men in Port Arthur on Thursday

On Wednesday, police in Houston churn through flood water looking for victims. The death toll will rise significantly from 40 as they continue their recovery mission

Planes are surrounded by flood waters caused by Tropical Storm Harvey at the West Houston Airport in Texas

The US Coast Guard responds to search and rescue requests after Hurricane Harvey in the Beaumont on Wednesday. The Coast Guard is working closely with all federal, state and local emergency operations centers and has established incident command posts to manage search and rescue operations

HURRICANE HARVEY HEALTH RISK Water-borne infections and diseases While the rain might be clean, what it dredges up from the sewers and around the area is not. Floodwater can contain harmful sewage, chemicals and waterborne germs that can cause infections and diseases for people. People in Texas could in turn get viruses from ingesting the water or food that has been in contact with the floodwater, which would cause symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting. Use of hand sanitizers and purified water at shelters is recommended by officials. Objects that have been submerged in water can also cause infection if touched or used after. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends parents to throw out toys for children that were in the rain water unless they are thoroughly cleaned. Trench food - which causes skin to itch, swell up, blister and peel off - is also possible after extended exposure to dirty water. Infected wounds Floodwater can be dangerous for people with open wounds, particularly if they have other health conditions. Sharp objects hidden in the water could create cuts that then become filled with water-borne bacteria, causing infections. And the harmful bacteria dredged up from the sewers and other unsanitary locations could require strong antibiotics than usual. People with open wounds are advised to keep them clean, wrapped and away from any of the dirty water. It's also advised that everyone get a tetanus shot, as glass, metal and other debris could lead to the life-threatening illness. Mosquito infections The pools of stagnant, warm water left after the hurricane ends will be a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes - which can then spread infections. Zika and West Nile were among the diseases that saw increases in areas of Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Poor people are particularly at risk as they don't have the air conditioning and screens that can filter out the parasitic insects. Continuous use of insect repellent is recommended to avoid infection. Mold and cleanup concerns The use of generators to power homes can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, experts warn. Mold is also a health hazard, the CDC warns, and all drywall and insulation tainted by floodwater or sewage should be removed from homes. Mattresses, pillows, carpeting - even stuffed toys - should be tossed out. Hard surfaces can be disinfected with a solution of one cup of bleach to five gallons of water. If mold covers more than 100 square feet, a trained mold remover should be sought out, experts say. Advertisement

There are currently 14,000 troops mobilized in Texas and another 10,000 are on their way, Governor Abbott revealed on Wednesday. The troops already in Texas have conducted more than 8,500 rescues and more than 1,400 shelter-in-place checks, Abbott said.

There are also two US Navy warships being deployed to Texas to help with relief efforts.

The Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship and the Oak Hill, a smaller dock landing ship, were being sent to support 'federal, state and local authorities ongoing relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey,' according to the Navy.

Abbott would not give an official death toll but praised volunteers and first responders for going 'above the call of duty' to save lives.

'I am not amazed because we have seen this before,' he said when asked for his response to the efforts of residents to help one another through the crisis.

'Texans really step up and protect and aide their fellow Texans.

'Whether you're a first responder, neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger - Texans have really stepped up.'

Mexico's Red Cross also sent an envoy of volunteers to storm-devastated Houston on Wednesday, hours after Abbott said the state accepted an offer of aid from the Mexican government, including vehicles, boats, supplies and food.

The support from Mexico's Red Cross, a non-government agency, is separate from the official aid offer.

The convoy of 33 English-speaking volunteers left from Mexico City for Texas, where they plan to work in Houston shelters for 20 days before being replaced by a fresh crop of volunteers.

Abbott said his state would accept the offer of assistance from neighboring Mexico.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson thanked Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, who was visiting Washington, for the offer of assistance.

'They've offered a wide range of assistance coordinating with the governor down in Texas and also through FEMA, but very generous of Mexico to offer their help at this very, very challenging time for our citizens down in Texas and now moving toward the border with Louisiana,' said Tillerson. 'So thank you very much, Mr Secretary.'

The flooding will take up to a week to disappear in Texas, he said, and the clean-up mission will take months.

In Beaumont, 26 inches of rain have already fallen and another 10 inches are due to fall before Harvey moves away and on to its next victim - Louisiana.

Rescue operations are underway in southeast parts of the region with scores still trapped in their homes as water engulfs them.

In Houston, the flood waters have begun to recede but it will take days for them to entirely drain.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena says firefighters will begin searching neighborhoods in southwest Houston starting Thursday morning.

Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mann says the searches are being done to ensure that 'no people were left behind.' Floodwaters in many parts of Houston have receded while other neighborhoods are still dealing with rising waters from bayous and other swollen waterways.

Mann says the fire department will conduct these searches throughout the city. Officials expect the process to take one to two weeks to complete.

Mann says since Harvey inundated the Houston area, the fire department has received more than 15,000 calls for service. He says the volume of calls has stabilized and the fire department is working to transition from rescues calls to a recovery mode.

Abbott also used the press conference to admonish businesses and opportunists who were taking advantage of the catastrophe with price gouging.

Best Buy is among retailers under fire for hiking up prices as panic surges across Texas. It has apologized after photographs emerged of packs of water being sold for $42.

'Price gouging is not only reprehensible, it's illegal. It is un-Texan and we will not tolerate it.

Almost 30,000 gallons of crude oil and about 8,500 gallons of wastewater spilled about 150 miles west of Houston because floodwaters from Harvey toppled two oil storage tanks, state officials said Wednesday.

Burlington Resources Oil and Gas reported the spills in DeWitt County to the Texas Railroad Commission on Wednesday. They include a 16,170-gallon (385 barrels) spill near the town of Westhoff and a 13,272 gallon (316 barrels) spill west of Hochheim.

It was not immediately clear if any of the spilled oil was recovered.

Burlington Resources is a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips. Company representatives did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.

More damage to oil industry infrastructure is expected to emerge as floodwaters recede.

The entire city of Beaumont - which has a population of more than 110,000 - is without running water because of the floods. Above, Barbara Nelson from Coastal Industrial and Specialty gas welding supplies holds a sign outside her store to inform passers-by she had run out of bottled water too

Volunteers set up extra cots at the NRG stadium in Houston, Texas, on Thursday in preparation for more evacuees

There are 32,000 evacuees at shelters across Texas and an estimated 48,000 homes have been destroyed by the storm. Above, a man naps as a young girl next to him sits on a skee ball machine at Max Bowl in Port Arthur

Evacuees rest on cots in a shelter at Woodcrest Church after their homes were damaged from rising flood waters due to Tropical Storm Harvey on Wednesday in Lumberton, Texas

A man and woman pray as they find a spot together at the Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas, on Wednesday

A man sleeps on one of the bowling ball returns on Wednesday as evacuees continue to pour into the Max Bowl, which was converted to a shelter for those displaced by flooding in Port Arthur

GOOD SAMARITAN SAVES 50 PEOPLE - INCLUDING BABIES AND THE SICK - WHO WERE STUCK IN HARVEY FLOODS AFTER RESCUERS DIDN'T SHOW UP Gaelon Phillips, 23, saved the lives of 50 people - including babies and the sick - who were stuck in Harvey floods after rescuers failed to show up to Port Arthur, Texas. A Good Samaritan saved the lives of 50 people - including babies and the sick - who were stuck in Harvey floods after rescuers failed to show up. Gaelon Phillips, 23, took matters into his own hands when he decided to step in and rescue members of his community in Port Arthur, Texas, after the storm caused extensive flooding where he lived. The music producer said he waited hours on his roof to flag down a rescue helicopter but was told his family wasn't a top priority at the moment, leaving him to be rescued by his uncle in a boat later that day. After realizing that emergency responders weren't saving people fast enough, he decided to go around and bring his neighbors to dry land. Speaking to The Sun, Phillips said: 'People were ringing 911 and other departments and getting nowhere. When we went out on the boat I saw more volunteer rescues than official help - I'm talking about nine to one. 'We were all thinking 'Wow why is it taking the officials so long to respond?' They had said they were waiting until 6am to even come out and start rescuing people but the flooding started about 12-1am so that was a long time to wait. 'My uncle and I rescued a good 50 people from our neighborhood. The streets around me had it worse than I've seen in the whole of Port Arthur. People were messaging me their address on Facebook asking to be rescued and I tried to get to as many as I could. 'There were people of all ages from month-old infants to children to adults and the elderly. We even had to carry people into the boat. There was one woman who had just had some kind of surgery to her stomach and she had no feeling in her legs so we had to carry her into the boat and then carry her out of the boat to the US coastguards.' Advertisement

Despite continued reports of damage, Houston's two major airports reopened Wednesday on a limited basis, as floodwaters receded and the skies over the Texas city cleared with monster storm Harvey moving to the east.

The two airports, George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby, were to resume operations at 4pm, after the runways and roads leading to the airport were cleared of water.

No flights were imminent, but airport officials hoped airlines would quickly resume service.

'This is going to be a phased process,' Houston airport system spokesman Bill Begley told AFP, adding that domestic flights would resume first.

'We're focusing on this weekend, probably when we're going to see more and more flights at both airports.'

Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed due to Harvey.

About 800 passengers with connecting flights were stuck at the city's airports as Harvey made landfall over the weekend as a Category Four hurricane.

Evacuees ride on a truck after they were driven from their homes by the flooding from Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday in Port Arthur

A home in Port Arthur is surrounded by water after the flooding of Hurricane Harvey inundated the area

Trucks pass each other along Highway 90 after parts of the road were flooded by Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday in Port Arthur

Chris Wiley keeps an eye out for people needing help in Port Arthur, Texas, on Wednesday

Evacuees are evacuated on a motorboat after being rescued in Port Arthur on Wednesday

Volunteers help handle a boat in a swift current during the rescue of of people from their homes in Beaumont on Wednesday

HARVEY HAD THE MOST RAIN OF ANY ATLANTIC HURRICANE: AREA IN STORM'S PATH HAD MORE RAIN THAN BOSTON AND SEATTLE THIS YEAR Experts have said Hurricane Harvey has brought the most amount of rain than any other Atlantic hurricane. The hurricane dumped a staggering 24.5 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana, and an astonishing 51 inches of rain was recorded by a weather station in Houston, according to reports. The sheer amount of water in just a five-day span has surpassed the amount of rain Miami, Boston and Seattle have seen since January 1, 2017, reported the Atlantic. On Sunday, after the natural disaster made landfall late on Friday night, the Weather Prediction Center said: 'Local rainfall amounts of 50 inches would exceed any previous Texas rainfall record. 'The breadth and intensity of this rainfall are beyond anything experienced before. Catastrophic flooding is now underway and expected to continue for days.' Earlier reports claimed that the area would see around 30 inches of rain. Advertisement

Starting Sunday, air carriers evacuated most of those passengers out of the airports to Dallas, Chicago or Detroit, where they could be connected to flights to their ultimate destinations.

Begley said fully reopening the airports was part of the city's effort to return to a sense of normalcy. It also signaled to airlines that 'it's time to get started,' he said.

'I do believe that it shows that we're moving forward a little bit.' Southwest Airlines announced that it planned to resume flights Saturday.

On Wednesday, Joel Myers of AccuWeather warned that Harvey had surpassed all other storms in terms of destruction.

'This will be the worst natural disaster in American history. The economy's impact, by the time its total destruction is completed, will approach $160 billion, which is similar to the combined effect of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy,' he told The New York Post.

At a midday press conference, Governor Greg Abbott said the worst of the rain was not over in Beaumont and Port Arthur and said the disaster was worse than Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy.

'When you consider the population, size, and square mile size of the area impacted both by the hurricane swathe and the flooding, it's far larger than Katrina, far larger than Sandy.'

At the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, the city's main shelter, 10,000 are cramming in to cots, chairs and on the floor.

Among the places to open their doors to victims of Harvey's flooding is a bowling alley in the coastal Texas city of Port Arthur.

Max Bowl general manager Jeff Tolliver says firefighters called Tuesday night to ask him to turn off the venue's alarm system.

When he left around 2.30am Wednesday, there were 80 to 100 people sheltering there. By afternoon, there were more than 500, as well as 50 to 100 dogs and cats, a lizard and a monkey.

He says the monkey 'was a little surprising,' but that everyone is trying to help. The bowling alley's cafe is feeding people and others have been dropping off clothes, toiletries, water and other things.

Tolliver and his wife left their flooded home to stay with friends. He says he moved to Texas from Michigan a year ago to get away from the snow, but ended up with rain instead.

Jaylen Welch, 10, carries her belongings out of the flood on Tram Road in Beaumont after being rescued from flooding on Wednesday

Volunteers help evacuate children from flooding in Beaumont on Wednesday

People walk along West Port Arthur Road in Beaumont, Texas toward a flooded neighborhood where their family members live after tropical storm Harvey on Wednesday

Vehicles navigate through flood waters caused by Tropical Storm Harvey in Orange, Texas, on Thursday

Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms  a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.

Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey's path of destruction have flood insurance. That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes. Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.

'All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance,' said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America who used to run a federal flood insurance program.

Hunter estimates that total out-of-pocket costs for flooded homeowners could reach $28 billion, the largest in U.S. history.

Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance. With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.

NBA STAR JONATHON SIMMONS DESCRIBES HOW HE RODE ON A BOAT AND THE BACK OF A DUMPSTER TRUCK AFTER ESCAPING HIS HIGH-RISE CONDO IN THE FLOODS NBA player Jonathon Simmons described how he was rescued from Hurricane Harvey's floods on Tuesday NBA player Jonathon Simmons said he had to trek through water, ride on a boat and on the back of a dumpster truck to escape his condo in Houston due to flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. The Magic guard described how he safely evacuated with several children in tow on Tuesday, after he survived off of Ramen noodle packs for a day. Speaking to Magic's official website, Simmons said: 'Saturday night it started raining about 8 oclock, but we had gotten over there about 3 oclock just to be safe. I had bought all of these air mattresses and covers and blankets and food and water for everybody. 'We were good for three days, but my other friends house had started getting flooded early, so he came there to the house, too. So that gave us another 11 extra people and most of them were kids. We had to let the kids eat first, so most of the last two days it was kind of rough (without food). 'There was at least 20 people in the house and probably eight of them were kids. When I was little, my mom always kept the fridge full of stuff (during hurricanes). This time, I ate a pack of Ramen noodles and thats all for like a day-and-a-half.' When Simmons was rescued by a mutual friend, Houston-based rapper Trae the Truth, he said: 'We still had to ride a boat, walk through muddy water and ride on the back of a dumpster truck for like five miles. It was crazy. 'I had to hold up my people and I had some kids with me. Most of the kids were old enough to walk, but one of them I had to carry with me. A lot of people want to help, so thats been nice. I want to do whatever I can to help out anyway that I can when thats possible.' Advertisement

Homeowners insurance typically covers just damage from winds, not floods. For that, you need separate coverage from the federally run National Flood Insurance Program.

The insurance must be bought by homeowners with federally-backed mortgages living in the most vulnerable areas, called Special Flood Hazard Zones.

People in those areas and near them have complained for years that the premiums are too high, though they would be much higher still if not subsidized by the federal government.

Much of the Houston area falls outside those most vulnerable zones and many homeowners who aren't forced to have coverage have decided to do without. Now they are stuck because much of the damage in the nation's fourth largest city won't be covered by their homeowners insurance.

Unlike Corpus Christi and Rockport, much of the Houston area was damaged by flooding, not winds.

'There's going to be a huge uninsured economic loss here,' said Pete Mills, a senior vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A couple are evacuated by boat from flood waters caused by Tropical Storm Harvey in Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday

A group of people carry supplies through flood waters caused by Tropical Storm Harvey in Port Arthur, Texas

Mark Boling keeps an eye out for people needing help in Port Arthur on Wednesday after the flooding of Hurricane Harvey inundated the area

Evacuees make their way through the flood waters that surrounded part of the Max Bowl, which was converted to a shelter for those displaced by flooding in Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday

Evacuees make their way to Max Bowl, which was converted to a shelter for those displaced by flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey in Port Arthur

A woman gets off a bus at the Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas, a bowling alley converted into a shelter as people are displaced from their homes because of flooding from tropical storm Harvey

GAS PRICES HAVE JUMPED BY 10 CENTS SINCE HARVEY HIT - AND PANICKED DRIVERS ARE MAKING THINGS WORSE Gas prices are surging in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and panicked drivers are making things worse Gas prices are surging in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and panicked drivers are making things worse. Prices have seen a 10 cent jump in the aftermath of the storm, making the national average for a gallon now $2.45, according to the AAA. States in the southeast have had an even steeper hike, increasing by 17 cents in Georgia and by 20 cents in South Carolina. Experts forecast that the price will continue to rise another 5 cents, due to Texas shutting down several oil refineries because of massive flooding in the state. Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, said to CNN: 'There's a worry now that most of the Texas refineries could be compromised for weeks rather than days.' And price hikes could be the least of people's worries, as some drivers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area rushed to their pumps to find lines and some stations out of fuel just ahead of the Labor Day weekend, reported the Dallas Morning News. Prices in North Texas have already reached over $3 a gallon, with one downtown Dallas pump advertising for $3.97 a gallon, according to the Associated Press. One gas station Chain, QuikTrip with 135 stations in the Metroplex, said the company is keeping about half of its locations without gas. Spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said: 'QuikTrip is going to designate certain stores in all quadrants of the Metroplex and make sure those particular stores will have gasoline. 'We have been through this in the southeast Atlantic area. If we tried to keep every store full of gasoline, we'd have outages everywhere. Nobody knows the extent of the damage to the pipelines and refineries. They're under water.' Advertisement

To donate to the Red Cross Hurricane Harvey relief fund, click here or call 1-800-435-7669.
North Melbourne legend Glenn Archer challenged a magistrate and vowed to appeal after being convicted and fined $2,000 for assaulting a runner during his son's junior footy match.

The Kangaroos board member jumped the fence when a fight broke out during his son Jackson's under-15s match in June.

As he was leaving the field, he was confronted by the opposition runner Jamie Chilcot, and Archer struck him to the head, breaking his glasses.

The two-time premiership player was convicted of unlawful assault, fined $2,000 and ordered to pay the $955 cost of repairing the runner's glasses.

Although the 44-year-old Archer had pleaded guilty, he challenged the conduct of the hearing, saying: Am I allowed to defend myself? You havent heard the full story. Are we allowed to appeal this?.

His lawyer than advised him to sit down and magistrate Cathy Lamble said "the decision's been made, Mr Archer."

In convicting Archer at Heidelberg Magistrates Court, Lamble described Archer's actions on the day as "abhorrent" and that "it sets such a bad example for children playing sport."

Outside the court, Archer vowed to appeal the sentence.

I actually find it crazy that someone can read out three per cent of the story and someone can be judged on that, Archer said.

Archer played over 300 games for North Melbourne before joining the club's board following his playing career.
Thousands of Muslims congregated at Lakemba Mosque on Friday morning to celebrate Eid Al-Adha.

Pictures show streets full of worshipers standing behind prayer mats as they came together to celebrate the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia - which all able Muslims are expected to make at least once in their life.

Islamic leader Keysar Trad estimates around 20,000 people gathered at the country's biggest mosque to celebrate one of the religion's two major holidays.

'Had it been a weekend, they definitely would have gotten more but on a working day it is hard to get time away from work,' he explained.

Men, women and children attend the event, but women pray separately.

A crowd of what is estimated to be 20,000 Muslims congregated on the streets of Lakemba on Friday morning for prayers and celebration

The group marked Eid Al-Adha, one of two major holidays for the religion,from 7am

The celebration lasts for about two hours, and includes prayers and a sermon, which deals with 'the sacrifice made by Abraham for the betterment of humanity', Mr Trad explained.

'The sermon I was at [in Roselands] also mentioned the plight of other Muslims around the world especially those in less fortunate around the world, and how we must be charitable to those in need,' he continued.

Ahead of the big celebration, there is an 'optional but highly recommended' nine days of fasting, making the festival a full ten days.

'These particular ten days are seen as the most blessed days of the year, with today being the tenth day,' Mr Trad said.

There is a ritual slaughtering of sheep which occurs in the celebration, with one third of the animal intended to be eaten by the family, a third to be given to friends and neighbours and a third to donate to the needy.

The slaughtering is intended to represent the Quranic moment Abraham went to sacrifice his only son, but found a ram had been put there for slaughter in his place.

Men, women and children attend the event, but women pray separately

The large gathering caused a road closure in the suburb of western Sydney

The holiday marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that every able Muslim is expected to complete in their lifetime

Mr Trad says most families will not complete a slaughter themselves, though there will still be meat given to charitable causes.

'What most people do is buy a coupon from a charity, and the meat is sent to people in needy countries,' he said.

'The charities make a deal with an abattoir who slaughters halal and in many cases the meat is frozen or canned - depending on where it is going - and is sent to poor and needy people in other countries.

You'll find many countries around the world benefit from getting free meat sent to them, where it might be scarce or not affordable for them.'

Part of the celebration involves slaughtering an animal to split with their family, friends and the needy - though many families simply donate to a charity who will send meat to those less fortunate on their behalf

Islamic leader Keysar Trad says the celebration is 'a time of exceptional peace and goodwill'

Mr Trad described the holiday as 'a time of exceptional peace and goodwill', and said he would be hosting a barbecue with his family over the weekend to celebrate, with about 100 people, made up of friends and neighbours expected to attend.

'These days of celebration are a time of reflection and festivities to being happiness to your neighbourhood and people around you,' he said.

'On these occasions, a big portion of our prayers is for peace around the world.

'There are many people who don't have peace and are worried about the safety of their families and their little ones, and we wish them peace.'

A spokesperson for the Canterbury-Bankstown Council told Daily Mail Australia they were thrilled the event took place each year.

'Canterbury-Bankstown is a rich multicultural and multi-faith community, with more than 120 spoken languages,' they said.

'Eid, like many activities and religious days of importance, contributes to the diversity of our City, and is a joyous and spiritual occasion for more than 71,000 of our residents who are of Islamic faith.'
Major General Joseph P. Harrington Commander of US operations in Africa

Suggestive messages sent by an US Army general to the wife of an enlisted subordinate has led the military to open an investigation into the high-ranking career officer.

Private Facebook communications sent by Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington, who is in charge of US forces in Africa and is based in Italy, range from flattering to flirtatious, according to USA Today.

In one instance, Harrington writes that the woman is a 'HOTTIE' and 'looking good for sure,' in reference to her appearance.

'You seem to have a great modeling resume! Truly! Though I hadnt noticed! Where is your hubby tonight? Work?,' the general wrote in another series of messages.

Harrington also told the woman that 'U can be my nurse,' and added, 'Id enjoy being in a tent with U.'

U.S. Army Africa hosts the African Alumni Symposium at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center March 6-9, 2017

Another series of message even requests from the woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear that her husband may be the target of retaliation, that she delete them, an indication that Harrington was aware he was violating military ethical standards.

Harrington is a two-star major general who took over the African command in February 2016. The woman was born in Europe and is married to an American soldier.

An expert on military jurisprudence told USA Today that military law, which is more strict than civilian law, bars adultery and other offences 'unbecoming of an officer'.

Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless has been indicted on federal charges in a wide-ranging Navy bribery scandal

'With all the attention we have paid to improper relationships in the military, he just didnt care,' said Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor for the Air Force.

'He should lose his command over this. Its probably time for him to retire.'

The probe was launched after USA Today earlier this year published a series of messages Harrington had written to the woman.

The woman told USA Today that the messages were initially innocuous and mundane, but over time began to cross ethical boundaries.

Christensen said the most concerning pieces of evidence to military prosecutors will be the messages that tacitly convey that the general was aware that his communications are inappropriate.

In one exchange, for instance, Harrington writes to the married European: 'I hope u delete this exchange!' and 'Why not delete after communicating?'

'By asking her to delete the exchanges, he seems to know it wasnt appropriate to be involved with the wife of an enlisted man in his command,' Christensen said.

According to USA Today, this is just the latest scandal concerning high-ranking military officials in a string of recent incidents.

Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis (left) was relieved from his post as a top assistant to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in 2015. Army Maj. Gen. David Haight (right) was disciplined by the military for maintaining an 11-year affair and a 'swinger lifestyle'

Last year, the military was forced to discipline Army Maj. Gen. David Haight, who maintained an 11-year affair and a 'swinger lifestyle' of swapping sexual partners.

The Army was also forced to take action against Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis, former top assistant to then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter, whose strips club visits earned him a military censure in 2015.

Harrington's messages, however, do not rise to the bar of Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, who was indicted on federal charges in a wide-ranging Navy bribery scandal which accuses him of imbibing expensive champagne and using prostitutes.
An elderly man is fighting for his life after being set on fire while sleeping in his Queensland home.

The 65-year-old was doused with petrol and set alight in the alleged attack in Alexandra Hills on Friday morning.

Police say the man has burns to 80 per cent of his body suffered during the alleged attack just after 9am at the property on Teesdale Road.

He was rushed to Royal Brisbane Hospital where he remains in a critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

An elderly man is fighting for his life after being set on fire at his Queensland home

Police say the man has burns to 80 per cent of his body suffered during the alleged attack just after 9am at the property on Teesdale Road

The 65-year-old was doused with petrol and set alight in the alleged attack in Alexandra Hills on Friday morning

The attack allegedly occurred while the elderly man was sleeping in his house, south of Brisbane.

He ran from his home engulfed with flames before he was seen and aided by shocked onlookers who helped extinguish the fire.

Police say they are waiting to speak with witnesses but confirmed the man has suffered significant burns.

'We're sure some kind of flammable liquid's been used  he's been set alight,' Inspector Dave Farley said.

'At this stage we understand there may have been a couple of witnesses but those statements haven't been obtained at this stage.'

Another man, 34, is assisting police with their investigations after taking himself to hospital also suffering from burns to his arms.

The injuries are minor and he is known to the elderly victim.

Police say they are waiting to speak with witnesses but confirmed the man has suffered significant burns
The family of missing German woman Tanja Ebert say they have not given up hope of finding her alive as her husband was buried on Friday, two weeks after he killed himself while being interviewed by police.

Michael Burdon, 41, shot himself at Oulnina Park in outback South Australia on August 16, as police searched the couple's property, eight days after his wife Tanja, 23, disappeared.

The well-liked farmer, who is suspected of killing his wife and leaving her body somewhere on the vast outback property, was buried on Friday as both families promised to make the couple's two children their priority.

Michael Burdon, pictured right, laid to rest after shooting himself as police searched his property for his missing wife Tanja Ebert, pictured

Police resumed their search of Oulnina Park on Wednesday - days before the man was laid to rest by family

Michael Burdon, 41, shot himself at Oulnina Park on August 16, eight days after his wife Tanja Ebert, 23, disappeared during an argument

Ms Ebert's family flew out from Germany and held a media conference on Friday, where their statement was read out by a translator.

'It is very hard not knowing what has happened with Tanja, we do not feel hopeless, it is our hope to find Tanja alive and well,' the family said in a statement.

The family stood with tears in their eyes as a translator read their words, first in their native German and then in English.

'We also grieve for Michael Burdon  his family are in our thoughts and our hearts. We are devastated for them.

'We knew Michael as a wonderful father, a good friend and sociable person.

'We worry about Tanja and Michaels two young sons who are true victims of this tragedy.'

Mr Burdon's family also released a statement ahead of the grazier's burial.

'Michael's sudden and shocking death has devastated our family,' the family said.

'We loved Michael very much, and our primary focus is now the care and support of his two young boys.

'We are still trying to come to terms with the tragic events of the past three weeks.'

Police resumed searching the vast, isolated property on Wednesday and expect to continue their search through Saturday - and are not ruling out further searches until the young mother's body is found.

'We loved Michael very much, and our primary focus is now the care and support of his two young boys,' family said in a statement - the young family pictured shortly before Tanja's disappearance

Ms Ebert and Mr Burdon at their wedding - in happier times - the couple leave behind two children

Their search has been focused in recent days on abandoned mines and wells on the property.

Earlier searches of the massive sheep station were called off after investigators were unable to find clues of her whereabouts.

Ms Ebert went missing on August 8, allegedly following an argument with her husband Mr Burdon.

Police are requesting anyone with dashcam footage from Roseworthy to Mannahill between 7pm and midnight on August 8 to hand it in.

Mr Burdon and Tanja Ebert in happier times - their families are both in Australia mourning the father's death and mother's disappearance

'It is very hard not knowing what has happened with Tanja, we do not feel hopeless, it is our hope to find Tanja alive and well,' Ms Ebert's family said in a statement

They are also appealing for anyone with information or knowledge of Ms Ebert's disappearance to come forward.

'It's actually quite rare for people to commit a murder and not to tell somebody,' said Mr Bray.

On August 18, police officers dug up multiple 'key areas of interest' on the family's property at Oulnina Park Station, north of Adelaide.

Ms Ebert's family thanked South Australian Police for helping them stay in Adelaide as the search for their daughter continues.

'By helping to bring us to SA have ensured we are not suffering alone,' they said.

Police are keen to find the young mother's 'final resting place' so they can bring the murder investigation to a close.
A serial rapist serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of Jill Meagher has been stabbed in a fight with an inmate in Victoria's notorious Barwon Prison.

Adrian Bayley, 46, was reportedly ambushed on Thursday night by an inmate armed with a fork while staying in a wing for prisoners at high risk of being attacked.

Bayley suffered minor injuries and was treated in the prison, a source told The Age.

Serial rapist and murderer Adrian Bayley, 46, has been stabbed in a fight with an inmate in Victoria's notorious Barwon Prison

Bayley is serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher (pictured)

A Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said: 'A prisoner received minor injuries following an incident at Barwon Prison on Thursday afternoon.'

'The prisoner was assessed and treated at the prison, but did not require hospitalisation or any ongoing treatment.'

Ms Meagher was 29 when she went missing in the early hours after a night out with friends in Melbourne's Brunswick in September 2012.

Days later, her body was found in a shallow grave in Gisborne South  and serial sex offender Adrian Ernest Bayley was arrested for her rape and murder.

Her murderer, Bayley, was on parole at the time after serving eight years in prison for 16 counts of rape against five women.

Ms Meagher went missing after a night out with friends. Her body was found six days later in a shallow grave (pictured)

CCTV footage captured Adrian Bayley as he followed Ms Meagher (pictured) before she was raped, strangled and killed just less than 500 metres from her home

ADRIAN BAYLEY'S RAP SHEET * June 1991 - Bayley, then 19, jailed for raping teenager and attempting to rape two other women * 2000 - allegedly raped 18-year-old sex worker in a St Kilda laneway, conviction has been overturned * April 2002 - jailed for 11 years for 16 charges of rape relating to five victims * April 2012 - raped sex worker * July 2012 - raped Dutch backpacker * September 2012 - raped and murdered Jill Meagher * Jailed for life with a non-parole period of 35 years * March 2015 - non-parole period increased to 43 years when sentenced on three rape convictions * By 2016 he had been found guilty of raping 10 women and attempting to rape two others. Advertisement

The crime stunned the community and sparked protests over how Bayley was allowed out of prison despite his extensive criminal history.

Bayley was sentenced to 35 years in prison for Ms Meagher's murder in June 2013.

But he was charged with further offenses when other victims, including sex workers, came forward.

He was sentenced to another 18 years after being convicted of sexual offences against 12 people by early 2015.

Bayley had three years cut off his jail term after a conviction for raping a sex worker in 2000 was overturned by the Victoria Court of Appeal.

He will be able to apply for parole when he is 83.

Legal reform came due to Ms Meagher's death with tighter parole laws in Victoria meaning if a crime is committed while someone is on parole, they are immediately sent back to prison and handed a further sentence and fine.
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The third day of the Burning Man festival on Wednesday was marked by the traditional acts of remembrance inside the Temple before it is burned to the ground.

Couples were seen embracing after they left notes, artifacts, signs, letters, and other remembrances inside the Temple.

Built by artists Steven Brummond, Marisha Farnsworth, and Mark Sinclair, the Temple was created as a place for people to place remembrances, mourn and grieve.

Approximately 70,000 people from all over the world attended the third day of the festival at Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

This year, Burning Man is taking a literal approach as a lightning strike Sunday has caused a massive fire forcing officials to close the main road to the festival.

The main route into Burning Man between Reno, Nevada and the festival was closed Wednesday night but reopened on Thursday.

'The wildfire came up on the side of the road and there was a lot of smoke and wind and they were getting really close to the roadway and it was too dangerous for our drivers,' State Trooper Dan Gordon of the Nevada Highway Patrol-Northern Command West said to ABC News.

'With the winds we're at the beck and call of Mother Nature for stuff like that.'

A lone Burning Man participant cycles through a desert dust storm as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world attend the 3rd day of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada on Wednesday

Burning Man participants arrive from the white out conditions of a desert dust storm into the 2017 Temple created by artists Steven Brummond, Marisha Farnsworth, and Mark Sinclair

Remembrances, tributes and memories left by Burning Man participants are seen inside the Temple

Couples hug inside the Temple, a place for people to place remembrances, mourn and grieve

The interior of the dome of the all wooden Temple is seen in the above photo at the Burning Man festival

A Burning Man participant walks through a desert dust storm in formal clothes on her way to a wedding in the middle of the desert

Burning Man participants and art cars are dwarfed by a large desert dust storm rolling across the desert

Burning Man participants bicycle through a desert dust storm. Those attending Burning Man this year also have to cope with triple-digit temperatures

This year, Burning Man is taking a literal approach as a lightning strike Sunday has caused a massive fire forcing officials to close the main road to the festival

Pianist Murray Hidary plays classical music composed on the fly from an electric piano set up on top of an art car in the middle of the desert

The main route into Burning Man between Reno, Nevada and the festival was closed Wednesday night but reopened on Thursday after a lightning strike on Sunday caused a massive wildfire

Called Tohokum 2 Fire, the wildfire destroyed approximately 30,000 acres and was one of five fires caused by lightning strikes that Gerlach Fire Department and national incident management teams had to manage.

The fire isn't close to the actual festival, starting 70 miles northeast of Reno on State Highway 447 and has a while before it reaches Black Rock Desert.

However, the spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, John Gaffney, told USA Today that he still considers the blaze a 'major safety concern.'

But the heart of the Nevada desert is still alive with color and unusual art installations as the Burning Man festival continues.

Participant Kila Carr-Ince makes her way through the city as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada

It began on Sunday and is due to run until Monday next week with a spectacular burning ritual.

A section of the Black Rock Desert has been transformed into a mini city, and an estimated 70,000 people have traveled from around the world to take part.

Among the artworks on display are a central temple holding the wooden man built to commemorate the Golden Spike, the ceremonial final spike driven to join the rails of America's first transcontinental railroad.

Also on display, a massive 40-foot pink flamingo with a ladder for guests to head inside and escape the heat.

Temperatures are expected to shoot up over the weekend, when forecasters predict the mercury to hit 101F on Saturday.

A fire installation at the heart of the Nevada desert, where tens of thousands are taking part in the festival which marks the end of summer

People from all over the world travel to the Burning Man arts and music festival in Nevada, where a group is pictured gathered around an art installation

A giant bear and two cubs are among the installations at the festival in the heart of the desert in Nevada, where an estimated 70,000 people have traveled to take part

The Temple of Awareness is one of the key features at the Burning Man festival, where participants join in the effort to co-create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis

People ride a mutant vehicle as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival

Participants dressed as furry animals perform on the art installation The Pier at the Burning Man festival, which this year is themed Radical Ritual

A vehicle based on the image of an elephant walks through the Nevada desert as tens of thousands of people from all over the world join in the fun

The festival is a chance for people to show off weird-and-wonderful art installations in the heart of the desert, described by organizers as 'an attempt to reinvent ritual in our post post-modern world'

Hundreds of participants watch a performance yesterday at the Burning Man festival, where artists from around the world create a city in the Black Rock Desert

The Black Rock desert has become a mini city filled with artists and revellers for the annual festival, which encourages participants to 'break down the distinction that divides belief from make-believe'

A fire-breathing dragon is one of the eye-catching vehicles being used as part of the Burning Man festival in the heart of the Nevada desert

A man is pictured next to an art installation, named Ursa Mater, at the festival, which attracts more than 70,000 people from all over the world

A couple, Solene and Daniel, are pictured embracing at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, which this year is themed around challenging belief

A man rides on a large art installation at the festival in the Nevada desert, which attracts thousands from across the world

Organisers say Burning Man is permeated with rituals, and it will end with a large model of a man being burned

A group guides an art piece across the playa area of the festival - a mini city in the middle of the desert - yesterday at the Burning Man event

Day four of the annual Burning Man Festival arrived, marking the halfway point of the eclectic arts celebration

Glimpses of the event have been making their rounds through the social mediasphere and this year, under the theme of Radical Ritual, several impressive structures and sculptures have been erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada

Among the figures on display is a massive 40-foot pink flamingo with a ladder for guests to head inside add escape the heat

On Thursday, daytime highs are forecast to reach the mid- to upper-90s in Gerlach, Nevada, the closest town to the event site

Temperatures will shoot up over the weekend as the high on Saturday is forecast at 101F (Pictured, left and right, Natalia Kapchuk poses at the Burning Man Festival)

Although temperatures are known to rise at the festival's site, numbers peaking above 100F are rare

A number of celebrities have made appearances at the festival including hotel heiress Paris Hilton, Muse songwriter Matt Bellamy and model Elle Evans.

Pictures of the festival on Tuesday show the 'community' inundated with thick choking clouds of sand, with some well prepared participants using gas-masks to fight through the earthly gust while others seem to embrace the natural phenomenon.

Day three of the event has seen tens of thousands facing massive traffic jams to get to a remote stretch of Nevada desert for the annual Burning Man festival.

A number of celebrities have made appearances at the festival including hotel heiress Paris Hilton (right)

Joining Hilton at Burning was musician Matt Bellamy (left) and model Elle Evans (right), who have been dating for two years

Dust storms in the Black Rock Desert have forced participants to don face masks and wear large glasses

The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days from Sunday until September 4 in Black Rock Desert, which is about 120 miles north of Reno.

Black Rock City has been transformed into a 'metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance' where about 70,000 people have descended upon.

In a matter of days, volunteers for the event built what is likely to be the state's busiest airport in the middle of an ancient dry lake-bed.

The airport, formally known as 88NV, is built every year and averages as many as 800 takeoffs and landings a day before it's taken down completely at the end of the event.

According to the event's website, dozens of art installations were constructed before the end of the weekend, some made from wire, others as patterns on the ground and some as immersive experiences.

Stunning photographs show the larger-than-life art installations that are the focal points of this year's festival theme of Radical Ritual.

The Radical Ritual theme this year is to honor rituals that humankind has made, including the festival.

The event's website says: 'Burning Man is permeated with rituals. These rites speak of soulful need; the desire to belong to a place, to belong to a time, to belong to one another, and to belong to something that is greater than ourselves, even in the midst of impermanence.

'Throughout all ages temples have been built in order to induce these feelings.'

Every year, several 'temples' are built according to a theme and on the last day, they are burned down in a ritualistic ceremony.

The festival, which began in 1986 as a bonfire, has erected a temple commemorating the Golden Spike and participants are invited to visit the shrine and make offerings that embody what Burning Man's culture means to them.

The premise of the Burning Man festival is that almost everything is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the experience.

Since money is practically outlawed on the site, 'Burners' are urged to barter for commodities and in the past fans have taken to social media to swap items such as crystals for festival tickets.

The remote week-long rave is often described as 'where Mad Max meets Woodstock'.

Thirty years after its first incarnation, the event is populous with tens of thousands of people attending the dried up lake where the event is held which becomes Black Rock City.

However, the festival risked relocation this year due to a pool of standing water, prompting officials in June to warn there was a possibility that the event could be moved from its location two hours north of Reno in Gerlach.

The desert basin is transformed into mud every year by the run-off of melting snow, but this past season's high precipitation formed the lake, causing fears that the playa would be muddy and impossible to drive across.
A Liberal party boss has opened up about the criticism she has received for opposing same-sex marriage, saying the hostility she has received for her position is worse than racism.

Karina Okotel has written an opinion piece in The Australian saying the discrimination and hate she has received for being opposed to same-sex marriage has been worse than what she has experienced from racists.

Ms Okotel is a Liberal party vice-president based in Melbourne and was born in Australia to Sri Lankan parents.

Liberal vice-president Karina Okotel has opened up about the hostility she has faced

Ms Okotel (pictured with Attorney General George Brandis) is a first-generation Australian born to Sri Lankan parents

I do from time to time experience discrimination on the basis of race, she wrote.

After saying she is scared about what same-sex marriage leads to, Ms Okotel said being labelled a bigot or homophobe is even more disturbing.

I wonder what life will be like for my own kids should they form a view that supports traditional marriage.

To protect them, will I have to caution them to keep their views to themselves, not to ask questions and not speak up?

Ms Okotel said she has been refused service and received insulting comments based on her ethnicity.

In the opinion piece Ms Okotel said legalising same-sex marriage will impact freedom of speech, religion and association.

Ms Okotel said the flak she has received is worse than the discrimination she has faced from racists

She argues that respectful discussion and debate on same-sex marriage is good sense and an important part of the democratic process.

Ms Okotel told Daily Mail Australia she is most concerned about not being able to have a debate about the merits of same-sex marriage if it is legalised.

Postal ballots for the same-sex marriage plebiscite are being sent out this month.
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Texas is just beginning to recover after Harvey wreaked havoc on the state, leaving behind residential areas partially submerged in flooded waters.

New satellite images from DigitalGlobe show the extent of the catastrophic damage that the storm caused, as experts claim that flood damage alone will amount to at least $35billion, about what Katrina cost in 2005.

The stunning photos, taken from November through Wednesday, show areas outside of Houston flooded with murky waters after Harvey dumped more than 19 trillion gallons of water on the region, a stark contrast from the green land just months beforehand.

Officials said most of the flooded waters are expected to recede by the end of the weekend, as residents salvage items from soaking homes and bury loved ones as at least 47 people died because of the life-threatening floods.

 Slide me  These images of the tiny city of Simonton, Texas, shows how the community of 800 people had a rush of brown, murky waters flood their homes on August 30 (right). However, on November 20, 2016 (left) streets were still visible from above

 Slide me  These striking photos of Angleton, Texas on April 6 (left) and August 30 (right) reveal how waters overtook the city which boasts of 20,000 residents. Houses along the stream are presumed to have taken on water after Harvey flooded the land

 Slide me  Simonton, Texas, (pictured) was completely overtaken by flood waters, causing the death of preacher Donald Rogers, 65, and his 58-year-old wife Rochelle who drowned on Wednesday when they were swept away by a current in their car

 Slide me  Home to around to 1,000 people, Holiday Lakes (pictured left on April 3 and right on August 30) had a mandatory evacuation on Saturday afternoon after officials were concerned about catastrophic flooding

More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when Harvey slammed into the Lone Star State last Friday night, and some cities are left without water as the storm continues to dump record-setting amounts of rain.

After touring the devastated Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday more than 300,000 people have applied for disaster aid as the region begins to put the pieces of their lives back together.

Now that flood waters have receded enough for the recovery mission to begin, the death toll is expected to rise past 47 when most of the water is gone from Houston and Harris County by Friday or early Saturday.

Texan fire fighters were going door-to-door in a grim search for survivors and victims of Hurricane Harvey as hospitals and homes that were the last to be hit are evacuated on Thursday.

At least two the dead recovered in the waters were from the areas shown in the striking aerial satellite photos included in this story.

 Slide me  These stunning photos show Brookshire, Texas, (left on November 20 and right on August 20) before and after Harvey dumped more than 19 trillion gallons of water on the region, a stark contrast from the green plains just months beforehand

 Slide me  Officials in Houston estimate that most of the flooded waters will recede before the end of the weekend. Pictured: Rosenberg, Texas, (left on April 3 and right on August 30)

 Slide me  Residents are left weary, having to salvage items from their soaking homes and bury loved ones as more than 40 people died because of the life-threatening floods. Pictured: Wharton, Texas (left on October 9 and right on August 30)

 Slide me  There were two explosions at Arkema Inc. Plant on Thursday morning. Fifteen police officers were taken to hospital for treatment after being exposed to the harmful substances which were released the plant as a result of the blasts. Pictured: Arkema Inc. Plant in Crosby, Texas (left on January 29 and right on August 30)

 Slide me  Texas is just beginning to recover after Harvey wreaked havoc on the state, leaving behind residential areas partially submerged in flooded waters. Pictured: Wharton, Texas (left on October 9 and right on August 30)

FLOOD VICTIMS URGED TO FILE THEIR INSURANCE CLAIMS BY FRIDAY Hurricane Harvey flood victims are being urged to file their insurance claims by Friday before Texas enacts a bill that will result in companies paying out less for damages. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill on May 27 that reduces the penalty interest rate for insurance companies. The law covers lawsuits that have weather-related damages, including hurricanes but not flooding. The rate would drop from 18 percent to 10 percent, meaning policyholders could lose out on money if they were to sue over claims. People are being urged to file before Friday, when the law is activated. Advertisement

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said previously that he feared how many bodies his officers would find. His bleak outlook was echoed by Fire Department Chief Terry Garrison at a press conference late on Tuesday night.

As emergency crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery mode on Thursday, the military faced harsh criticism for how it has handled the catastrophe which has been described as a 1,000-year-flood.

Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to 'get out or die' on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods.

Anyone who chose to stay behind was told to write their social security number on their arm so that emergency services would later be able to identify their body.

There was also fresh danger in Harris County in Houston after two explosions at a chemical plant.

Fifteen police officers were taken to hospital for treatment after being exposed to the harmful substances which were released from Arkema Inc. Plant as a result of the blasts.

The fire was put out but officials are monitoring the site for more blazes.

A handout photo made available by the US Coast Guard shows damage seen from a deployed Coast Guard helicopter crew surveying in response to Hurricane Harvey in Wharton, Texas on Thursday

A US Coast Guard crew from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Mugu, Oxnard, California saved more than 29 lives and assisted nearly 70 who were impacted by flooding waters. Pictured: Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday

On Thursday, 40 survivors were rescued from flood water in the city. The emergency services have rescued 3,500 in total since Harvey began. Pictured: Flooded Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday

Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to 'get out or die' on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods. Pictured: Orange, Texas

Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey rushes over a roadway in Beaumont, Texas on Thursday after the storm hit last Friday

A flooded street is seen after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday in Port Arthur, Texas. At least 47 deaths related to the storm have been reported since Harvey made it's first landfall north of Corpus Christi

In Houston alone, the fire department has received 15,000 calls for help since Harvey made landfall. Some areas of the city continue to be at risk as water from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs is released, causing the flood level in areas nearby to rise.

On Thursday, 40 survivors were rescued from flood water in the city. The emergency services have rescued 3,500 in total since Harvey began.

Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms  a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.

Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey's path of destruction have flood insurance. That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes.

This combo of file photos shows flooded cars near the Addicks Reservoir as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise in Houston on August 29 (top) and vehicles in a car dealership lot sit surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on September 10, 2005, in New Orleans (bottom)

Houston has 'turned a corner', the mayor said on Thursday night. Power to much of the city has been restored and flood waters have receded, with officials claiming most of the water should be gone by Friday night or Saturday morning

Houses in Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday morning. The true devastation of Hurricane Harvey unfolded on Wednesday as emergency crews began the grisly mission of recovering bodies from homes and flood water

Houses in Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday morning. With the rain finally over in Houston and other parts of Texas and the flood waters now receding, recovery missions can start

 Slide me  These photographs show how the I-10 between Houston and Beaumont was submerged during Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday - to the point that waves can be seen rolling feet above the asphalt

Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.

'All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance,' said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America who used to run a federal flood insurance program.

Hunter estimates that total out-of-pocket costs for flooded homeowners could reach $28 billion, the largest in U.S. history.

Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance. With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.

GOOD SAMARITAN SAVES 50 PEOPLE - INCLUDING BABIES AND THE SICK - WHO WERE STUCK IN HARVEY FLOODS AFTER RESCUERS DIDN'T SHOW UP Gaelon Phillips, 23, saved the lives of 50 people - including babies and the sick - who were stuck in Harvey floods after rescuers failed to show up to Port Arthur, Texas. A Good Samaritan saved the lives of 50 people - including babies and the sick - who were stuck in Harvey floods after rescuers failed to show up. Gaelon Phillips, 23, took matters into his own hands when he decided to step in and rescue members of his community in Port Arthur, Texas, after the storm caused extensive flooding where he lived. The music producer said he waited hours on his roof to flag down a rescue helicopter but was told his family wasn't a top priority at the moment, leaving him to be rescued by his uncle in a boat later that day. After realizing that emergency responders weren't saving people fast enough, he decided to go around and bring his neighbors to dry land. Speaking to The Sun, Phillips said: 'People were ringing 911 and other departments and getting nowhere. When we went out on the boat I saw more volunteer rescues than official help - I'm talking about nine to one. 'We were all thinking 'Wow why is it taking the officials so long to respond?' They had said they were waiting until 6am to even come out and start rescuing people but the flooding started about 12-1am so that was a long time to wait. 'My uncle and I rescued a good 50 people from our neighborhood. The streets around me had it worse than I've seen in the whole of Port Arthur. People were messaging me their address on Facebook asking to be rescued and I tried to get to as many as I could. 'There were people of all ages from month-old infants to children to adults and the elderly. We even had to carry people into the boat. There was one woman who had just had some kind of surgery to her stomach and she had no feeling in her legs so we had to carry her into the boat and then carry her out of the boat to the US coastguards.' Advertisement

Water swamps Port Arthur, Texas, where thousands were impacted by the wrath of Hurricane Harvey earlier in the week

A house in Orange, Texas, on Thursday where flood waters continue to swallow up homes after Hurricane Harvey

As residents wade through the declining murky waters to salvage what is left of their homes, experts warn that it has 'millions of contaminants', including toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste

Residents in a neighborhood near the Barker Reservoir return to their homes to collect belongings on Thursday in Houston, Texas. The neighborhoods surrounding the reservoir are still experiencing severe flooding due to the accumulation of historic levels of rainfall, though floodwaters are beginning to recede in many parts of the city

More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when Harvey slammed into the Lone Star State last Friday night

Volunteer rescuer Matt Clarke searches for local residents after a mandatory evacuation was ordered in the area beneath the Barker Reservoir as water is released, after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in Houston

A man stands in his flooded home in a west Houston neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on Thursday

A truck underwater in Houston, Texas, on Thursday where floods continued to surge in parts due to the controlled release of water from two over spilling dams

The mayor of Houston has said the flooded city has turned a corner after electricity was restored to much of the area and shelter numbers were beginning to decline as of Thursday night.

Mayor Sylvester Turner declared in a press conference that Houston is 'open for business' adding that large areas were 'drying out and drying out well' and traffic was returning to the streets.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday night, Turner said he expects to move people from the Toyota Center downtown to the nearby George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday.

The convention center, which once housed 10,000 people at one point, sheltered about 8,000 late Thursday.

Officials were also optimistic about the heavily flooded city, expecting the waters to be gone from most of Houston and Harris County by late Friday or early Saturday.

The city is beginning to recover from the catastrophic storm with just 37,000 left without power, down by Wednesday's number of 75,000. Houston has a customer base of around 2.4 million.

As residents begin to return to their homes to assess damage, experts are warning people to stay clear of the dirty water, citing its numerous hazards.

Porfirio Villarreal, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department, said to the New York Times: 'We're telling people to avoid the floodwater as much as possible.

'Don't let your children play in it. And if you do touch it, wash it off. Remember, this is going to go on for weeks.'

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (pictured) declared in a press conference that Houston is 'open for business' adding that large areas were 'drying out and drying out well' and traffic was returning to the streets

More than 300,000 people have applied for disaster aid as the region begins to put the pieces of their lives back together

Experts are warning people to stay clear of the dirty water, citing its numerous hazards. They advise people not to play in the water and to wash themselves right after coming into contact with it

People have begun to empty out of shelters in the city, returning home and starting to rebuild their lives

As of Thursday night;

The death toll is past 47 and is expected to rise quickly as crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery missions

Harvey has been downgraded to a tropical depression and moved out of Texas after six days of torturous rain

It will bring heavy rain through Mississippi, Tennessee and parts of Kentucky before finally tailing off on Friday

100,000 homes have been destroyed by the storm and more damage will reveal itself as the waters recede

Some people in Houston returned home to find their houses ruined while others, expecting to discover them in pieces, cried tears of joy after finding them in tact

The entire city of Beaumont is without running water due to failed water plants, forcing the evacuation of hospitals

An explosion at a chemical plant in Houston leaked toxic substances into the air and water but the fire was out by Thursday night

Rescue efforts continue in parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana

More towns are still being evacuated including Sweeney and neighborhoods near the Addicks reservoir

Texan fire fighters were going door-to-door in a grim search for survivors and victims of Hurricane Harvey as hospitals and homes that were the last to be hit are evacuated on Thursday morning.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said previously that he feared how many bodies his officers would find. His bleak outlook was echoed by Fire Department Chief Terry Garrison at a press conference late on Tuesday night.

As emergency crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery mode on Thursday, the military faced harsh criticism for how it has handled the catastrophe which has been described as a 1,000-year-flood.

Former Joint Task Force Katrina Commander Russel Honore likened the response to 'amateur hour' and blasted the government for not having a better plan.

Harvey has almost cleared out of Texas and is making its way over Louisiana in the less severe form of a tropical depression. By Friday night, it will creep up in a northwest diagonal direction over Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, bringing heavy not not life-threatening rain.

But just as the panic seemed to die down on Thursday, sudden floods caused by burst rivers in Beaumont triggered the evacuations of medical centers and the failure of water plants meant that hospitals filled with patients were suddenly not fit for use.

Two hundred patients were removed from the Baptist Beaumont Hospital on Thursday after its water failed. Elderly patients from the Gulf Medical Center were also transported to other facilities in wheelchairs and on gurneys.

'SOMETHING IS SIGNIFICANTLY WRONG': KATRINA COMMANDER'S THUNDEROUS CRITICISM OF US MILITARY RESPONSE TO HURRICANE HARVEY On Wednesday, Former Joint Task Force Katrina Commander Russel L. Honore made the following remarks to CNN's Erin Burnett in a scathing condemnation of the US military response to Hurricane Harvey. He has been inundated with gratitude and praise by people in Texas who say his assessment is spot on. 'Night is coming and it is going to get worse before it gets better. We have a lot of citizens that are hanging by the thread of their lives. '12 years ago today I arrived in New Orleans post Katrina. We did an extensive study on readjust how we were going to do business. We put a lot of emphasis on the states being the first responders. The problem is we have 50 different solutions. Katrina Military Cmdr. criticizes federal response to #Harvey: "We have a lot of citizens hanging on by a thread" https://t.co/WZlepit1Cu  OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) August 30, 2017 DECISION NOT TO EVACUATE 'It will be proven wrong because that is not the doctrine of homeland security. You take actions to protect people. We put a lot of money in these state parish and county control so they can be predictive. You don't have to evacuate 6milion people. You evacuate the elderly and the disabled. You evacuate the people in areas that were previously flooded and you allow people to voluntarily evacuate. This is a bankrupt problem. He has been warning people to evacuate for days 'I hope the guy in Miami and Tampa is not listening and thinking this is a success because it is not. Last week I wrote a Twitter saying this whole operation didn't have scale. COMPARISON TO KATRINA 'In Katrina we had 40,000 national guard, 240 helicopters in the first 4 days. They just got 100 helicopters in Texas. This is a lot bigger. I went out in a boat this morning and this is huge. After Katrina, the air elements and components of the northern command created a significant grid system for search and rescue. 'I don't know where that is. Doesn't look like anyone in Texas read that plan. PROBLEMS AT THE TOP 'Something is significantly wrong with our command and control and they need to stop patting each other on the back while these poor people are out here waiting to be rescued. You gotta come in big and be there right at the edge of the storm so that you can come in and rescue people. 'The federal government took their hand off it. They went off to fight terrorism and each time we have a Sandy, or now a Harvey, the solution is different. It's put by the local state. They don't evacuate, they don't preposition troops. 'The American people have put too much confidence in us. We have been too successful overseas to come out in amateur hour and incrementally deploy the force. 'I'm sounding critical but if we don't talk about this nowcause the congress thought we fixed this. 5th army got the mission to supervise army response to civil authorities under northern command, a command you never hear of. There comes a point in time with the mission that it is too big for the state national guard and they need to get the hell over it and bring in the big dogs when you've got a big mission.' Advertisement

Rescue personnel help Hersey Kirk as she is airlifted into a rescue helicopter after being rescued from her home flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey in Rose City, Texas

Vehicles are seen on a flooded highway in Beaumont after Hurricane Harvey in Texas

Astranded stuffed toy is seen in flood waters in Port Arthur after Hurricane Harvey in Texas

Evacuees who were rescued from the flood waters of Tropical Storm Harvey wait to board school buses bound for Louisiana in Vidor, Texas

Heather Craig, carries her 23-month-old son Bryant Craig, as Gabby Hollingsworth, 16, carries Craig's 6-month-old daughter, Kaisley, away from their home along Highway 18 in Fayette, Alabama, after a tornado went through Fayette County

Marine Corps League member Jeff Webb, left, of Montgomery, Texas, and rescue diver Stephan Bradshaw, right, of South Carolina rescue a dog that was chained to a flooded porch in Lumberton, Texas

Homes are surrounded by floodwater after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey in Sugar Land, Texas

Cars sit on a farm surrounded by floodwater left in the wake of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey near Orange, Texas

A home is surrounded by floodwater after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey

'LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT' - FRESH WARNING FOR HARVEY OPPORTUNISTS AS ATTORNEY GENERAL RECEIVES 700 COMPLAINTS OF PRICE GOUGING There were fresh warnings for opportunistic criminals on Thursday who hoped to capitalize from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey - loot and you will be shot. As the humanitarian crisis of the storm unfolds and Good Samaritans rush to help, a handful of evil businesses and individuals have tried to take advantage. Looting is a concern but only four arrests have been made for it. The mayor of Houston has implemented a midnight to 5am curfew to curtail it. Texan business owners are enforcing their own preventative measures. At the Little York Food Mart in Houston, a former law enforcement officer is standing guard with a shot gun. In a video-taped message for looters, he warned: 'I am not afraid to shoot you.' There were signs warning 'looters will be shot' outside homes near the Barker Reservoir too. The Attorney General has so far received more than 700 complaints for price gouging - an illegal act which Governor Greg Abbott condemned as 'reprehensible' and 'un-Texan' on Wednesday. Among culprits was Best Buy which was caught selling packets of water for $42 earlier in the week. They have since apologized. Advertisement

A cow sits in a pasture surrounded by floodwater left in the wake of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey near Orange, Texas

Beaumont firefighters rescue two horses stranded in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in the north end of Beaumont, Texas

Port Arthur residents traverse a flooded lot along Memorial Blvd. in Texas

Vehicles drive through floodwater after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey

To donate to the Red Cross Hurricane Harvey relief fund, click here or call 1-800-435-7669.
Fourteen of the 18 Penn State University fraternity brothers accused in the alcohol-related death of a pledge have been ordered to stand trial, but a judge has dismissed the most serious charges against them.

A judge on Friday threw out involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and simple assault counts filed against members of the now-shuttered Beta Theta Pi fraternity, ordering 12 of the brothers to stand trial on lesser counts.

Two other brothers had previously agreed to waive their preliminary hearing, so a total of fourteen are set to go to trial.

District Justice Allen Sinclair dismissed charges altogether against four of the members.

Scroll down for video

Beta Theta Pi President Brendan Young arrives at court on Friday, just before learning that the three most serious charges against him had been dropped

Young, right, appeared to be in good spirits when he left court on Friday, no longer under the burden of felony charges

Fourteen of the eight fraternity brothers charged in the death of a pledge will still have to face trial, but on far lesser charges. Above, pledge master Daniel Casey is seen arriving at court on Friday, and then hugging a woman after hearing he judge's decision

Piazza's parents, James (left) and Evelyn (right), are seen above arriving at court with their legal time on Friday

The Penn State fraternity brothers to face trial and their charges Previously faced aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and simple assault charges: Brendan Young (president): Reckless endangerment, evidence tampering, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Daniel Casey (pledge master): Reckless endangerment, evidence tampering, hazing,furnishing alcohol to a minor John Neuman: Reckless endangerment, hazing, disorderly conduct, furnishing alcohol to a minor Nicholas Kubera: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Michael Bonatucci: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Gary DiBileo: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Luke Visser: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Joe Sala: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Charges remain unchanged for the following: Michael Angelo Schiavone: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Craig Heimer: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Lars Kenyon: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Parker Jax Yochim: Reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to a minor Ed Gilmartin*: Evidence tampering Ryan Foster*: Evidence tampering *Gilmartin and Foster waived their rights to a preliminary hearing, so their initial charges remain Now exempt from the case: Ryan McCann: Originally charged with evidence tampering Lucas Rockwell: Originally charged with evidence tampering Braxton Becker: Originally charged with evidence tampering Joseph Ems: Originally charged with reckless endangerment Advertisement

Charges remaining range from reckless endangerment to alcohol violations and hazing.

'Obviously now the teeth have really been taken out of the commonwealth's case,' defense attorney Michael Engle said.

One of the brothers, Lars Kenyon, was victorious when he spoke to The Tab on Friday.

He said he was 'incredibly relieved' that the charges had been downgraded for some of his brothers, though his remain the same.

'I think justice was served today, the judge did a good job,' Kenyon said.

The remaining charges are misdemeanors and carry far less serious sentences than aggravated assault, a felony that carries up to a 20 year prison sentence.

However, the brothers might not be out of the woods yet.

District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller says she will seek to have the involuntary manslaughter charges reinstated against eight of the frat brothers.

She said she may also seek to refile felony charges of aggravated assault. Defense attorneys say they will oppose such efforts.

'This was disappointing, unexpected and in our view, not supported by the evidence. It failed to take into account accomplice liability and the serious group actions of the men,' she said in a statement.

The decision followed a hard-fought, unusually long, seven-day preliminary hearing in which the defendants and a platoon of defense attorneys wedged into the courtroom fought against allegations that a night of hazing and heavy drinking caused the death of Tim Piazza on Feb. 4.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller had argued that members of the fraternity pressured Piazza and other pledges to drink heavily, plying them with wine, vodka and beer after a ceremony to mark their decision to pledge the organization.

That pressure included running them through a speed-drinking 'gantlet' and directing them to collectively drain a large bottle of vodka.

The security video recorded Piazza, a 19-year-old sophomore engineering student from Lebanon, New Jersey, appearing intoxicated and being led to a couch after 11 p.m. A few minutes later, he fell head-first down a set of basement stairs and had to be carried back up in an unconscious state.

For several hours members of the fraternity appeared to take half-hearted and even counterproductive measures to tend to their injured friend, pouring liquid on him and strapping on a loaded backpack to prevent him from rolling over and choking on vomit.

In the early morning hours, Piazza was pictured stumbling from the couch to other areas on the vast house's first floor, including falls into a door and onto a stone floor.

Nicholas Kubera is one of the eight fraternity members facing the largest amount of charges. He's pictured arriving at court on Friday

Michael Bonatucci (right) and his fraternity brother Michael Schiavone (left) will only face three charges

Luke Visser (left) and Parker Yochim (right), two of the brothers ordered to stand trial, are seen outside of court on Friday

Joe Sala (center) arrives at the Centre County courthouse on Friday. The judge dismissed the most serious crimes he was accused of

Craig Heimer, left, and Lars Kenyon, right, face charges of reckless endangerment, hazing, and furnishing alcohol to a minor

How much time will the frat brothers serve if convicted? Reckless endangerment: Up to two years in prison, maximum $5,000 fine Evidence tampering: Up to two years in prison, maximum $5,000 fine Hazing: Up to a year in prison, maximum $2,000 fine Furnishing alcohol to a minor: $1,000 fine for first offense, $2,500 fine for a subsequent offense Charges that were dismissed today Aggravated assault: Up to 20 years in prison, maximum $25,000 fine Involuntary manslaughter: Up to five years in prison, maximum $10,000 fine Simple assault: Up to two years in prison, maximum $5,000 fine Advertisement

He somehow ended up back in the basement the next morning and was again carried back upstairs to a couch. It took another 40 minutes for fraternity members to call an ambulance.

Authorities said Piazza had ingested a dangerous amount of alcohol and suffered severe head and abdominal injuries. He soon died at a hospital.

Defense attorneys argued that their clients' roles were minimal or their actions did not amount to criminal behavior. They argued the students had little reason to anticipate tragic results from a night that also included an alcohol-fueled social mixer with a sorority group.

'Yes, there's excessive drinking on college campuses,' defense attorney Theodore Simon said Thursday. 'That does not transform it into criminal behavior.'

Timothy Piazza was just 19 at the time of his death in February while a student at Penn State

Parks Miller said many of the defense arguments would be more suitable for a jury to consider. She disputed a suggestion that defendants would not have known of the danger because no one had died during the fraternity chapter's long history.

'As far as this idea, 'Well, nobody died before,' do they really think they get a free death before someone is held responsible?' Parks Miller told the judge.

Engle argued that 'the voluntariness of the drinking' is an important factor when considering Piazza's fate.

'What we have is evidence from this record that this tragic death was simply not foreseeable here,' Engle said.

He challenged Parks Miller's approach to charging the men as accomplices, arguing that would require a principal actor that was not established.

'You've heard over and over again, all of these individuals are accomplices, but as a matter of law, these individuals can't be accomplices with one another,' he told the judge.

Parks Miller said the speed-drinking gauntlet was designed by the group 'for maximum devastation.'
A mother has revealed she was 'fuming' to find out on the internet that a kindergarten classroom at her son's primary school was being monitored by hidden camera without parents' knowledge.

Ashtonfield Public School at Maitland in New South Wales Hunter Valley installed a hidden camera in a kindergarten classroom without telling parents or police - who were only notified when a casual teacher stumbled across it sitting on a desk.

A parent of a Year Two boy at the school - who Daily Mail Australia has agreed not to name - said she was furious caregivers weren't told pupils would be recorded.

'I was fuming that I had to find out on the internet first. They should've given parents a heads up,' she said.

Ashtonfield Public School in New South Wales set up a hidden camera in a kindergarten classroom

A concerned mother said she was 'fuming' to find out about the camera on the internet (stock image)

'100 per cent parents should have been told before what was going on.'

The woman said other parents at the school are also furious they were not notified about secret recordings being made of students.

'I've spoken to a few parents and they're concerned obviously.'

She said the school's explanation for placing a camera inside the classroom was to 'capture a thief who was stealing things from the classroom'.

The school used a camera to record a classroom of five and six-year-olds without notifying parents of the young children.

Parents with grave concerns have approached their local MP Jenny Aitchison, and she is so troubled by the camera confusion that she has asked for a please explain from NSW Minister for Education Rob Stokes.

Ms Aitchison said parents told her there were two cameras in the classroom, 'one was disguised as a gaming camera and the other as an alarm clock'.

School principal Deb Healey sent this letter to parents on Tuesday saying there was no danger to students or teachers

When contacted by Daily Mail Australia, a NSW Department of Education spokesman said the school put one camera in the classroom in response to a police matter  but a NSW police spokesman said they only became involved once the camera was found.

Police said Central Hunter officers are investigating a series of incidents which happened at the school stretching back to November last year.

These incidents all relate to the harassment and intimidation of a staff member at the school.

In response to being asked about the correct timeline, the Department of Education spokesman said he had no reason to dispute the polices record of events.

He refused to answer why the school didnt alert the police or parents before putting the camera in the classroom, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.

The spokesman said the camera was 'put in plain sight' in the classroom, and the matter being investigated 'does not involve nor put any students at risk'.

Police said they are not investigating why the camera was placed in the classroom.

In a letter to the Minister, Ms Aitchison implored Mr Stokes to get to the bottom of what has happened.

This situation is not good for the morale of anyone in our school community. The longer it takes to resolve the situation, the more uncertainty, stress and anxiety it causes for all concerned.

It is clear that neither the schools nor the Departments current processes for addressing this issue have resolved any of the issues, and have, in fact created more questions than they have answered.

Parents said two cameras were in the classroom disguised as other things (stock image)

'The school community is asking for a clear answer in relation to this situation.

Given there have been a number of conflicting explanations from the Department and the school regarding who placed the camera or cameras, who authorised them, what their purpose was, and whether an investigation is still being undertaken, I would prefer any answers to be in writing.

In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday and obtained by Daily Mail Australia, school principal Deb Healey said a casual teacher found the camera in the classroom and notified other staff.

The camera was then removed.

Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison was contacted by parents with grave concerns about the camera

In the letter, Ms Healey said cameras were placed in one classroom to assist with identifying a perpetrator of repeated acts of vandalism and victimisation at the school.

These acts were occurring when students and the class teacher were not in the classroom. The classroom in question was KS [kindergarten].

There is no danger to any students or teachers at the school. I am unable to comment any further due to ongoing investigations.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump have met numerous times over the course of recent months with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to plead their case for ending the Russia investigation, it was reported on Thursday.

Trump's attorneys submitted a series of written memos to Mueller detailing why they believe the president did not obstruct justice when he fired James Comey as FBI director earlier this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The lawyers told Mueller they believe Comey was unreliable as a witness because he was prone to exaggeration and he has leaked information to the press.

Mueller is investigating whether Trump fired Comey in order to obstruct the federal investigation into alleged collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.

Lawyers for President Donald Trump (left) have met numerous times over the course of recent months with Special Counsel Robert Mueller (right) to plead their case for ending the Russia investigation

Trump's lawyers have argued to Mueller that the president was within his constitutional right to dismiss Comey on May 9.

Mueller reportedly agreed to accept the memos from Trump's attorneys though there is no indication as to whether they succeeded in persuading the special counsel to shift course in his investigation.

The man who heads Trump's legal team, John Down, told the Journal: 'I just don't think it's appropriate to discuss my communications with Special Counsel Mueller. Why should I rupture a relationship with the special counsel?'

Not only does it appear that Mueller was not swayed by Trump's lawyers, but signs are pointing to an investigation that is intensifying and growing in scope.

Trump's attorneys submitted a series of written memos to Mueller detailing why they believe the president did not obstruct justice when he fired James Comey (above) as FBI director earlier this year

Mueller has enlisted the help of top investigative agents at the IRS, The Daily Beast reported on Thursday.

The special counsel has teamed up with the Criminal Investigations unit, a body made up of experts in financial crimes, including tax evasion and money laundering, it was reported.

Muellers team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, Politico reported Wednesday.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, Politico reported Mueller's team, which is investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, and Schneiderman's aides have shared evidence and talked frequently about a potential case in recent weeks.

The cooperation 'could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trumps campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes,' Politico's Josh Dawsey pointed out.

A grand jury used by Mueller has also heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Trump's eldest son.

The Associated Press has learned that Rinat Akhmetshin appeared before Mr Mueller's grand jury in recent weeks.

The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mr Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Mr Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Student Ronald Coyne was filmed burning a 20 in front of a homeless man in Cambridge

A Cambridge University student who sparked fury for burning a 20 note in front of a homeless man will not be expelled.

Shocking mobile phone footage showed Ronald Coyne, who was dressed in a bow tie and coat-tails, taunting a rough sleeper in Cambridge city centre.

The university came under pressure to expel the law student after the video of Mr Coyne offering homeless man Ryan Davies the note - before burning it - went viral online.

But he kept his place at Pembroke College after writing a public apology saying he had been threatened with chemical attacks after he 'forgot what it really meant to study at Cambridge'.

He was promptly expelled from the Cambridge University Conservative Association after his disgraceful behaviour in the early hours of February 2 caused a national furore.

It was likened to the initiation rites of Oxford University's notorious Bullingdon Club attended by Boris Johnson and ex-PM David Cameron.

A petition to 'Remove Ronald Coyne from Cambridge University' was signed by more than 23,000 people.

But bosses at the historic university have repeatedly refused to confirm or deny if disciplinary action would be taken against the first-year student.

Mr Coyne, a distant relative of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, wrote a letter apologising for his actions, but failed to mention the homeless man he taunted.

Now Mr Coyne's college has shared his letter of apology to its students in a bid to 'generate support for Ronald as he prepares to return to College.'

It stated: 'My experience of Cambridge was of a place which is positive, accepting, and friendly.

Shocking video footage showed Mr Coyne burning the 20 note (left) after offering it to rough sleeper Ryan Davies (right)

'Yet on that evening, I forgot what it really meant to study at Cambridge. I misrepresented what it meant to be a student here.

'When the media commentary flared up, strangers sent piles of abusive mail to my family home threatening me with violence, and chemical attacks.

'I have addressed the root causes of my behaviour by attending awareness classes, relating to both alcohol and social inclusion.

'Until now, there had been an ongoing disciplinary process on a university and college level which had meant I couldn't respond publicly.

'Now that these processes have concluded, I am setting out to try to remedy some of the hurt caused by my actions.'

Speaking after watching the video, his mother Sandra McLaughlin, 46, from Livingston, West Lothian, said she could not understand her son's behaviour.
Surveillance footage has captured the moment masked bandits used sledgehammers to break into a Melbourne bakery before making off with eight cheesecakes.

Two men smashed their way into the Hampton Park shop in the early hours of the morning August 24.

Using the sledgehammers to make their way through the front entrance before the pair begin searching for cheesecakes.

Surveillance footage has captured the moment masked bandits used sledgehammers to break into a Melbourne bakery before making off with eight cheesecakes

Two men smashed their way into the Hampton Park shop in the early hours of the morning August 24

One of the men took a cheesecake from the display cabinet in the shop's front as another went to the back into the refrigerated room.

He began sifting through the different varieties, appearing to be searching for a specific flavour.

The man took seven wildberry and marble flavoured cheesecakes from the back room before running out to meet his partner and fleeing.

The husband and wife who own the shop told 9News they are considering closing after five robberies in six years as they live in fear of another.

Using the sledgehammers to make their way through the front entrance before the pair begin searching for cheesecakes

'It's our livelihood, my kids work here, we have a lot of our juniors working here... it means everything to us,' Warren Perera said.

Authorites believe the robbery may linked to another that happened at a hairdressing store.

Thieves broke into the Mt Eliza premises and stole clothing, cash and hair care items.
At least two tons of highly unstable chemicals used in the production of plastics and paint blew up and burned at a flooded plant near Houston, sending up a plume of acrid black smoke that stung the eyes and lungs, raising health concerns.

The fire that began early Thursday at the Arkema Inc chemical plant in suburban Crosby, about 25 miles northeast of Houston, burned out around midday, but emergency crews continued to hold back because of the danger that eight other trailers containing the same highly unstable chemical compound could blow, too.

No serious injuries were reported. But the blast added a new hazard to Harvey's aftermath and raised questions about the adequacy of the company's master plan to protect the public in the event of an emergency in the flood-prone Houston metropolitan area of 5.6 million people.

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Stricken plant: At least 2 tons of highly unstable chemicals at the Arkema Inc chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, blew up Thursday amid flooding

 Slide me  The photo of the left shows the Arkema plant in Crosby on January 29. The image on the right shows the same plant on August 31, after Harvey

A fire burns at the flooded plant of French chemical maker Arkema SA after Tropical Storm Harvey passed in Crosby oin Thursday

Organic peroxides stored at the plant blew up because Harvey's floodwaters engulfed the backup generators and knocked out refrigeration

The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas environmental regulators called the health risks minimal in Crosby, but urged residents downwind from the flood-stricken plant to stay indoors with windows closed to avoid inhaling the noxious smoke drifting from the blast site.

Arkema had warned earlier in the week that an explosion of organic peroxides stored at the plant was imminent because Harvey's floodwaters engulfed the backup generators and knocked out the refrigeration necessary to keep the compounds from degrading and catching fire.

All employees had been pulled from the plant before the explosion, and up to 5,000 people living within one-and-a-half miles had been warned to evacuate on Tuesday.

Two explosions in the middle of the night blew open a trailer containing the chemicals, lighting up the sky with 30- to 40-foot flames in the small farm and ranching community of Crosby, authorities said. Aerial footage showed a trailer carcass, its sides melted, burning in a flooded lot.

The Texas environmental agency called the smoke 'especially acrid and irritating' and said it can impair breathing and inflame the eyes, nose and throat.

Fifteen sheriff's deputies complained of respiratory irritation. They were examined at a hospital and released.

The US Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency, launched an investigation into the accident.

'This should be a wake-up call [for] all kinds of plants that are storing and converting reactive chemicals in areas which have high population densities,' said Nicholas Ashford, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert.

The plant is along a corridor near Houston that contains one of the biggest concentrations of refineries, pipelines and chemical plants in the country.

Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the agency had not received any reports of trouble at other chemical plants in the hurricane-stricken zone.

The flooded plant is seen after fires were reported at the facility on Thursday, just days after Arkema officials had warned that an explosion was imminent

An Arkema executive warned that more explosions were expected in containers storing the highly unstable chemicals used in plastics

Texas A&M chemical safety expert Sam Mannan said the risk management plan that Arkema was required by state and federal law to develop did not address how it would deal with power and refrigeration failures or flooding in the event of a natural disaster like Harvey.

The catastrophic flooding that engulfed Houston in the days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas a week ago has resulted in 47 deaths, but that number is expected to rise.

'Certainly we didnt anticipate having six feet of water in our plant,' Richard Rennard, an Arkema executive, said at a news conference Thursday. 'And this is really the issue that led to the incident we are experiencing now.'

A 2016 analysis he did with university colleagues ranked the Crosby plant among the 70 or so facilities with the biggest potential to cause harm in greater Houston, based on such factors as the type and amount of chemicals and the population density.

Arkema, which is headquartered in France, did not immediately return calls on the plant's contingency planning.

monomers, America for Arkema Inc, on Thursday the plant had been left without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises

Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the fire marshal of Harris County, which encompasses Houston, would not discuss details of the risk management plan, such as how high the plant's backup generators were placed.

Arkema officials did not directly notify local emergency managers of the generator failure, Moreno said. It came, instead, by way of the plant's workers, who told the Crosby Volunteer Fire Department about it when they were rescued during the storm, she said.

Rennard said the chemical compounds were transferred to refrigerated containers after power was lost. But he said those containers failed too, causing the chemicals in one unit to burn. Rennard said more explosions were expected from the remaining containers.

State and federal regulators have cited Arkema for safety and environmental violations at the Crosby plant dating back more than a decade, records show.

Texas' environmental commission penalized the company at least three times for a total of about $27,000, some of which was deferred pending corrective actions. Arkema denied the allegations.

During the last five years of compliance monitoring at the plant, state officials found five Clean Air Act-related deviations and two deviations from federal requirements on waste management, US Environmental Protection Agency records show.

In June 2006, the company had failed to prevent unauthorized emissions during a two-hour warehouse fire. Records show a pallet of organic peroxide was poorly stored, resulting in the blaze, and more than a ton of volatile organic compounds were discharged.

The biggest penalty, about $20,000, came in December 2011 after the commission found Arkema had failed to keep thermal oxidizers, used to decompose hazardous gases, at high enough temperatures over the course of several months.

Mike Cossey, of Bureau Veritas, uses an air monitor to check the quality of air at a police roadblock marking the 1.5-mile perimeter of the evacuation area around Arkema

Just outside Crosby, Texas, a convoy of about 30 emergency medical vehicles are parked on US Route 90, which state police had blocked off to eastbound traffic Thursday

A man talks with officers at a roadblock less than three miles from the Arkema Inc. chemical plant Thursday in Crosby

More recently, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February fined Arkema nearly $110,000 - later reduced to just over $90,000 - because of 10 serious safety violations found during an inspection.

Records obtained by the AP show Arkema had kept using some equipment even when safety systems weren't working properly, and didn't inspect or test it as recommended. In one unit, the company also didn't ensure equipment there was safe or keep employees up to date on their training.

Arkema is also embroiled in a series of lawsuits stemming from a deadly accident involving one of its contracts at a rail yard in New Orleans.

Arkema is defending itself in federal court after one worker died and two others were seriously injured when they were assigned to clean the inside of a rail car tank that had been filled with a harmful chemical. T

he men, who were working for a contractor with a long history of safety problems, were not wearing respirators and collapsed almost immediately, according to lawsuits filed by the survivors and the family of the man who died.

In court documents, Arkema denied responsibility for the accident, saying it had trusted its contractor to run the operation safely.
A man who killed a recent university graduate in a drunken one-punch attack fell asleep as his victim's devastated mother spoke in court.

Hugh Bacalla Garth was convicted of killing Raynor Manalad, 21, outside his friend's 21st house party in Rooty Hill, Sydney, in May 2014.

The newly-graduated nurse was rushed to hospital about 12.30am that morning but died after suffering a massive brain bleed.

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Hugh Bacalla Garth killed a recent nursing graduate Raynor Manalad (C) in a drunken one-punch attack and fell asleep as his victim's devastated mother (R) spoke at his sentencing

Garth was convicted of killing the 21-year-old outside his friend's 21st house party in Rooty Hill, Sydney, in May 2014

Mr Manalad's mother read a tearful victim's impact statement in the NSW District Court on Friday, but Garth dozed off several times while watching from video link.

Garth faces at least eight years and up to 25 years behind bars as the first person convicted under NSW's one punch laws.

But sentencing appeared unlikely before December with his defence team questioning the constitutional validity of the mandatory minimum term.

Ms Manalad showed her frustration at the case's slow progress, declaring: 'Enough'.

'I'm sick and tired of this. I'm tired - let's end this. There are a lot of things I can concentrate on (instead),' she said.

The newly-graduated nurse (pictured) was rushed to hospital about 12.30am that morning but died after suffering a massive brain bleed

'As nurses we are very tolerant people... why do I have to prove how I feel? I've lost my son. That is what it is all about from day one.'

'Me and Mr Manalad, we have accepted it that we are going to go through this until the day we die, we have lost everything  watching him succeed in his career, seeing him marry, seeing him have his own children.'

The grieving mother said the couple would move on together 'in faith and love' and hoped one day they would be able to forgive Garth 'not for others, but for ourselves'.

He would have turned 25 next month and had planned to become a psychiatrist to help those with addictions to alcohol and drugs.

'What a great contribution to society, what a great contribution to the mentally ill, what a great contribution to young people affected by drugs and alcohol,' she said.

Garth (pictured) faces at least eight years and up to 25 years behind bars as the first person convicted under NSW's one punch laws

'Isn't it ironic about how he died and how he was killed? I don't understand at all his death is an enormous loss to the community to which he would have made a big difference.'

Judge Antony Townsden thanked her for her bravery in addressing the court.

'I have to be brave for Ray and this is the justice I can give him. The strong mother, the rock,' Ms Manalad said.

The case is expected to return to the District Court in October.
Kim Jong-un is just 'a few months' away from being able to send nuke-laden rockets to Europe or the US, France has warned.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned North Korea had 'set itself an objective' to create the long-range missiles and that the 'situation is extremely serious'.

It comes amid heightened tensions and a war of words with the US after the dictator fired a rocket over Japan.

Le Drian told RTL radio: 'The situation is extremely serious... we see North Korea setting itself as an objective to have tomorrow or the day after missiles that can transport nuclear weapons. In a few months that will be a reality.

Kim Jong-un is just 'a few months' away from being able to send nuke-laden rockets to Europe or the US, France has warned

It comes amid heightened tensions and a war of words with the US after the dictator fired a rocket over Japan (pictured)

'At that moment, when North Korea has the means to strike the United States, even Europe, but definitely Japan and China, then the situation will be explosive.'

Le Drian, who spoke to his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, said everything had to be done to ensure a latest round of United Nations sanctions was implemented and urged China, Pyongyang's main trade partner, to do its utmost to enforce them.

'North Korea must find the path to negotiations. It must be diplomatically active.'

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a 'major conflict' looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for crisis talks.

Nuclear-armed North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific, escalating tensions over its atomic programme which have led to bellicose exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang.

Putin warned that the region was 'on the brink of a major conflict'.

'The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions,' Putin said in a Kremlin statement, warning that 'threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end.'

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a 'major conflict' looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for crisis talks

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump warned that 'all options' were back on the table after the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile over Japan, snubbing Washington's bid to draw it into talks.

The launch came on the heels of two missile tests last month that appeared to bring much of the US mainland within reach, prompting Trump to threaten Pyongyang with 'fire and fury'.

Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US South Pacific territory of Guam.

The UN Security Council denounced the latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt its nuclear programme and 'all related activities'.

US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live-fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North.

Putin called for all sides to sign on to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.

He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who in a Wednesday telephone call with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson 'underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences.'

The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.
'For f***s sake,' she said, accidentally saying the forbidden word out loud

She was reading a humorous exchange between a fake account and SA treasurer

There's a big difference between reading a speech to Parliament and reading the news live on television.

Former NSW Premier and Sky News presenter Kristina Keneally learned this the hard way on Thursday afternoon as she attempted to read from a Twitter exchange.

Ms Keneally was discussing a humorous exchange between the South Australian treasurer and a fake Twitter account pretending to be the embattled Commonwealth Bank.

MP Tom Koutsantonis tweeted about another investigation launched into the bank, which the parody account responded to.

'For f***s sake Tom, we've got enough to deal with,' the tweet read.

'We don't need you flapping your lips.'

Perhaps the humour overwhelmed the 48-year-old, as she read quickly through the tweet, not stopping herself when she reached the forbidden word.

Kristina Keneally (above) swore on live television while reading out a Twitter exchange between a fake Commonwealth Bank account and the South Australian treasurer

'For f***s sake Tom, we've got enough to deal with,' the tweet said, Ms Keneally read 'For f***s sake' before stopping and excusing her language

'Somebody purporting to be the Commonwealth Bank tweeted back quite critically: For f***s sake - excuse me I just said that on air,' she said.

Though Ms Keneally tried to move on from her mistake, continuing to read the Tweet, her co-hosts couldn't let it go.

'Where's that pause button?,' Peter Overton jokingly asked.

'Excuse me I just said that on air,' the reporter confessed, while her colleagues were evidently amused: 'Where's that pause button?,' Peter Overton joked

'I reckon there's a small chance that gets in the goof reel at the end of the year,' another man added.

Commonwealth Bank's real Twitter account later clarified it wasn't linked with the crude tweet.

'For clarity- previous tweet not from official @CommBank account,' it wrote.


The wreckage of a World War Two RAF plane that helped drive the Nazis from Norway has been found at the bottom of the North Sea 70 years after it vanished without trace.

National Grid engineers were astonished to find a Short Stirling heavy bomber off the Norwegian city of Stavanger.

It is believed to have vanished while taking supplies from Britain to resistance forces in Nazi-occupied Norway towards the end of the war in 1944-5.

National Grid engineers were astonished to find a Short Stirling heavy bomber off the Norwegian city of Stavanger. Pictured: The wheel of the plane wreckage

Mangled: This image shows some of the rusting metal from the plane resting at the bottom of the sea

Power: The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War

Discovery: The wreckage was found off the coast of Stavanger in the south of Norway

The engineers made the discovery while scanning the sea bed with sonar equipment along the proposed route of a UK-Norway electricity cable link.

It is not known exactly how the plane went down but expert Bengt Stangvik said the four-engine aircraft struggled to exceed an altitude of 15,000 feet - making it a target for Luftwaffe fighters.

He said: 'Several Stirlings disappeared without a trace on missions to Norway in winter 1944-45.

The Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force. Wingspan: 30 m Top speed: 410 km/h Length: 27 m Number built: 2,371 Designer: Arthur Gouge First flight: May 14, 1939 National origin: United Kingdom Advertisement

'Based on the location of this wreck, it is probable that it was on a mission to drop supplies to the resistance forces in western Norway.'

Nineteen of the 30 British aircraft which vanished during the Norwegian resistance were Short Stirlings, he added, of which six are unaccounted for.

After finding the wreckage, engineers sent a camera down on a remote-controlled underwater vehicle to inspect it.

Nigel Williams, North Sea Link project director for National Grid, said: 'When images of what appeared to be an aircraft wheel came through, you can imagine our surprise.

'It was only when experts investigated the images in more detail that we learnt there was a strong possibility it could be a British aircraft that served during World War Two.

'Sadly, it appears the pilot and the crew of this particular aircraft were never able to complete their mission.'

The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) at the Ministry of Defence was notified so it could investigate any links to missing British servicemen.

The JCCC said the identity of the aircraft could not be confirmed until it had received positive evidence.

RAF Bomber Command crew loading bombs onto a Short Stirling bomber aircraft

Our boys in WWII: A Short Stirling crew getting ready for their next raid

A spokesman for National Grid said that engineers have made a careful record of the wreckage site. He added: 'We will go around it to ensure that the wreck is not disturbed.'

Under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, the site of the wreckage is protected and could become classed as a war grave.

Sue Raftree of the JCCC said: 'Discoveries at sea are relatively rare due to their very location. A number of aircraft are known to have been lost in the North Sea during the course of the Second World War but we need positive evidence before we can confirm.

'We would class this aircraft as a war grave. It is protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 which covers crashed military aircraft in both UK territorial and international waters.'

The North Sea Link will be the worlds longest sub-sea interconnector when it becomes operational in 2021.

The 447 mile cable will run between Northumberland in the UK and Suldal in Norway.
Colonel Richard Kemp (pictured) has sparked a backlash after suggesting women are not strong enough to serve on the frontline

A British colonel has been branded a 'sexist dinosaur' after suggesting women are not strong enough to serve on the frontline as the RAF becomes the first branch of the Armed Forces to recruit females to all of its roles.

The air force has started accepting females for the RAF Regiment - its ground-fighting force - following on from last year's decision to lift the ban on women serving in close combat roles.

It means women can now apply for any RAF role - including fighter pilot.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon had previously hailed the move as a 'defining moment' for Britain's armed forces.

But Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said he was strongly opposed to plans to allow women to serve in the infantry from next year.

He told the BBC: 'My concern is primarily in terms of physical capabilities and the effects that long-term stresses and strains of infantry training and operations will have on a woman's body.

Furious: Colonel Kemp's comments have led to him being branded a 'sexist dinosaur' on Twitter

'Once you have got through the selection, you then are subjecting yourself to a minimum of four years of intensive physical training day in and day out, which puts enough of a strain on a man's body.

'I think the reality is we will find many more women than men suffer injuries... and we will then undoubtedly see very significant compensation payments being made out of the defence budget.

'And the nature of woman's bodies means that some of the injuries are going to be more significant in terms of being able to bear children and the like.

More women will be able to follow in the footsteps of RAF Tornado pilot Juliette Fleming

Colonel Kemp's comments come as the RAF become the first branch of the Armed Forces to open up recruitment for all of its roles to women

'I am not a doctor, but I have certainly read up on this and that is a problem.'

His comments sparked a backlash online, with Twitter users branded him sexist.

Twitter user Winston Smith said: 'Colonel Richard Kemp being an absolute sexist dinosaur saying women not strong enough to fight on front line.'

Gemma Dellbridge wrote: 'Old fart Richard Kemp on @bbcbreakfast reducing women to baby ovens. Nice.'

Gumdrops75 typed: 'Wow, Colonel Richard Kemp is a true definition of sexism personified.'

Dr Anita Mitra commented: 'Richard Kemp, where is your evidence? Sounds like misogynistic bull to me!'

Controversial: Colonel Kemp said more women in frontline roles would see more injuries and result in an increase in compensation payments out of the defence budget

Angharad said: 'I've woken up in the past. Richard Kemp on #bbcbreakfast saying women can't physically cope with front line. How about let women decide?'

Phil Seymour wrote: 'Where did @BBCBreakfast get Richard Kemp from, the 1960s? Incredible views. I was waiting for him to say "a woman's place is in the home.'

ARE WOMEN REALLY THE WEAKER SEX? Men are deemed physically stronger than their female counterparts, according to a host of medical research. A 17-year-old study, by Queen's University, Ontario, found men had around 26lbs more muscle mass on average. The Journal of Applied Physiology research also displayed women had 40 per cent less upper-body strength and 33 per cent less lower-body strength. Research has also previously found that women are twice as likely to suffer musculoskeletal injuries during initial army training. In terms of speed, the woman's world record holder for the 100m sprint would not even qualify to compete against men. Florence Griffith Joyer claimed the fastest time ever in 1988, finishing in 10.49 seconds, LiveScience reports. Usain Bolt broke the male record in just 9.58 seconds. Advertisement

Tome Levi said: 'Richard Kemp - I'm so appalled with this display of sexism. Women are ABSOLUTELY CAPABLE of 4yrs of intensive training!'

And Sarah Dalesman added: 'furious listening to the outdated sexist @COLRICHKEMP on @BBCBREAKFAST. More injuries due to equipment designed for men not women perhaps?'

And former British Army major Judith Webb argued women had been proven to be capable in such roles.

She said: 'My concern has always been to ensure that research is carried out so that women know exactly what they are in line for.

'Being aware of our physical differences is an important aspect, but that is where I feel research has now been carried out.

'We want to promote diversity and get the best people, and if we have got women who want to do it, who are capable of doing it - then of course they should be able to do it.'

Though the RAF has been opened up to women, they will still have to wait a year before they can apply to be part of army infantry units or the Royal Marines, where there is a greater demand for physicality.

Though the RAF has been opened up to women, they will still have to wait a year before they can apply to be part of army infantry units or the Royal Marines, where there is a greater demand for physicality.

Then Prime Minister David Cameron lifted the ban on women serving in close combat units in 2016.

The 2,000-strong RAF Regiment patrols and protects RAF bases and airfields.

At present women make up 10% of the RAF.
An adorable seal has been caught on camera bidding a fond farewell to an Irish coast guard.

The polite seafarer waved goodbye to the guards from the Howth coast as they finished a training exercise in Dublin Bay earlier this week.

In the cute video, the seal bobs his head above the water and then waves his front flipper at the guards.

The cute seal was spotted off the Howth Coast, as they finished a training exercise in Dublin bay

It was shared on Facebook by the Irish Coast Guards, who wrote: 'The crew from Howth Coast Guard bid farewell to a fellow seafarer after pulling over to discuss with him the importance of wearing a life jacket while on or near the water.

'His exception to the rules was given the seal of approval and he was sent on his way...'

The sweet video was shared online by the Howth division and the Irish coast guard and has been liked thousands of times

One fan joked that the slippery sea animal had been giving the coast guards directions

The sweet sea animal has proved popular, with the video getting thousands of views and likes on the social network.

One fan joked: 'Knowing the lads they were lost and asking the seal for directions.'

Others called the video 'fantastic' and 'magnificent'.
Brussels must not be allowed to 'blackmail' Britain by demanding the Brexit divorce bill is settled before trade talks can start, Liam Fox has said.

The International Trade Secretary warned EU leaders they face a backlash from businesses across the continent if they continue to block discussions.

But in a sign talks are descending into open warfare, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit negotiator, said the EU spent years bending over backwards to accommodate Britain.

The angry comments come after the latest round of Brexit talks ended yesterday in deadlock over the divorce bill.

It emerged that Brussels wants Britain to pour billions of pounds into the EU foreign aid programmes even after we leave.

Liam Fox, pictured with Theresa May and the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, has warned that businesses are getting fed up with the EU's refusal move on to trade talks in Brexit negotiations

The bloc are demanding a divorce settlement of up to 90billion and refusing to move on to trade talks until the issue is resolved.

Speaking while on a trade mission to Japan with Theresa May, Mr Fox was whether it was time for the UK to name its Brexit price.

He told ITV News: 'We can't be blackmailed into paying a price.'

He added: 'We think we should begin discussions on the final settlement because that's good for business, and it's good for the prosperity both of the British people and of the rest of the people of the European Union.'

In a separate interview, he later told Sky News that businesses are getting fed up with the stale mate.

TOP EUROCRAT CLAIMS THE EU BENT OVER BACKWARDS TO PLEASE UK Guy Verhofstadt tore into the UK's demands for greater 'flexibility' in a newspaper article (file photo) A top Eurocrat today claimed the EU spent years bending over backwards trying to please Britain as tensions flare over Brexit. Guy Verhofstadt the European Parliament's chief Brexit coordinator, tore in to the UK over its calls for 'flexibility' in the exit talks. He said the bloc made major concessions to David Cameron's talks ahead of last year's referendum. And he said the UK has always 'enjoyed a bespoke form of membership'. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he attacked comments by former Tory leader Lord Hague who 'implied that the EU forced the UK out by refusing to agree to every one of Mr Cameron's renegotiation requests'. Mr Verhofstadt wrote: 'I was in the room at the time of the renegotiation and substantial additional exceptions were offered. 'A new special status of EU membership, with an opt-out from the core principle of 'ever closer union' and an emergency brake on benefits for EU workers. 'I even offered to work with the UK to develop a new form of associate EU membership, but UK ministers rejected it, as they argued that it would mean losing the UK's seat at the top table. 'If this is not showing flexibility, I do not know what is.' Brexit Secretary David Davis has called for greater 'flexibility and imagination' form the EU in the talks. Advertisement

And he urged the EU to listen to these concerns and kick off trade talks with the UK.

He said: 'I think there is frustration that we have not been able to get on that longer term issue, that were stuck on this separation issue and were not able to get onto the issues that will matter in the longer term for the future prosperity of the UK and the people of Europe.

'And I had representations from businesses from across Europe  from Germany, from Spain  to say, "Can we put more pressure on the Commission to try and get us a better idea of what that final picture will look like because we need to maintain an open and liberal trading environment in Europe".

'To introduce impediments to trade or investment that dont exist today would actually send up a signal to the rest of the world  for example to investors here in Japan  that Europe is no longer open for business.

'What we want to do is first of all provide stability and that theres no break in market access as we leave the EU but give ourselves the options to further liberalise those trade agreements in the future; and thats exactly what were doing.'

His intervention comes after European Commission chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the latest round of Brexit talks ended yesterday with no 'decisive progress'.

He said that on key issues during talks with the UK and trading negotiations were still 'quite far' away.

Mr Verhofstadt has also weighed in on the row, tearing into Mr Davis's calls for more flexibility from the EU's side.

At a press conference yesterday with Brexit Secretary David Davis, Mr Barnier revealed details of some of the projects they are demanding Britain coughs up for after Brexit.

He said the bloc made major concessions to David Cameron's talks ahead of last year's referendum.

And he said the UK has always 'enjoyed a bespoke form of membership'.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he attacked comments by former Tory leader Lord Hague who 'implied that the EU forced the UK out by refusing to agree to every one of Mr Cameron's renegotiation requests'.

Mr Verhofstadt wrote: 'I was in the room at the time of the renegotiation and substantial additional exceptions were offered.

'A new special status of EU membership, with an opt-out from the core principle of 'ever closer union' and an emergency brake on benefits for EU workers.

'I even offered to work with the UK to develop a new form of associate EU membership, but UK ministers rejected it, as they argued that it would mean losing the UK's seat at the top table.

'If this is not showing flexibility, I do not know what is.'

It includes money for foreign aid, green projects and refugee programmes.

It also emerged the UK could be asked to keep paying into the EU's coffers during any 'transitional deal'.

Mr Barnier suggested he would try to block progress on a new EU-UK trade deal unless Britain agrees to meet the demands.
Satellite images have emerged suggesting North Korea is ready to carry out a sixth nuclear bomb test amid fears it could coincide with the state's anniversary next week.

The overhead pictures of Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in the country's north east reveal Kim Jong-un could order a test blast 'at any time with minimal advance warning', experts say.

And there are fears that the tyrant may chose September 9, North Korea's Day of the Foundation of the Republic, to carry out the trial.

The same date was chosen last year by North Korea to conduct its fifth nuclear test, marking the 68 years since Kim Il-sung came to power.

The overhead pictures of Punggye-ri nuclear test site, published by 38 North, reveal Kim Jong-un could order a test blast 'at any time with minimal advance warning', experts say

The satellite images suggest North Korea is ready to carry out a sixth nuclear bomb test amid fears it could coincide with the state's anniversary next week

Satellite pictures released by 38 North show minor movements at Punggye-ri - suggesting that the site remains on 'standby'.

The think tank said: 'As long as the site remains in standby status, we cannot rule out that a sixth nuclear test could be conducted at any time with minimal advance warning.'

But it added that the images do 'not provide observable corroborative evidence that the DPRK is about to conduct another underground nuclear test immediately.'

Instead, 'the DPRK has, since April 2017, continued to maintain the site at a high state of readiness such that it could conduct a test on short notice, whenever the political decision is made to proceed with another test or tests.'

It comes as tensions continued to rise between North Korea and the US following Pyongyang's test firing of a missile over Japan.

Yesterday, South Korean and Japanese jets joined exercises with two supersonic U.S. B-1B bombers above and near the Korean peninsula in the wake of the test launch.

The facility in north eastern North Korea remains on 'standby', according to experts

It comes as tensions continued to rise between North Korea and the US following Pyongyang's test firing of a missile over Japan

Kim Jong-un raised the stakes in its stand-off with the United States and its allies by firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan

The drills, involving four U.S. stealth F-35B jets as well as South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, came at the end of annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises focused mainly on computer simulations.

'North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly,' said General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces Commander, who made an unscheduled visit to Japan.

LONG-RANGE ROCKETS READY 'IN MONTHS' France's foreign minister said on Friday that North Korea would have capability to send long-range ballistic missiles in a few months and urged China to be more active diplomatically to resolve the crisis. 'The situation is extremely serious... we see North Korea setting itself as an objective to have tomorrow or the day after missiles that can transport nuclear weapons. In a few months that will be a reality,' Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio. 'At the moment, when North Korea has the means to strike the United States, even Europe, but definitely Japan and China, then the situation will be explosive,' he said. Le Drian, who spoke to his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, said everything had to be done to ensure a latest round of United Nations sanctions was implemented and urged China, Pyongyang's main trade partner, to do its utmost to enforce them. 'North Korea must find the path to negotiations. It must be diplomatically active.' Advertisement

'This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this common regional threat.'

North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and has recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

On Monday, North Korea, which sees the exercises as preparations for invasion, raised the stakes in its stand-off with the United States and its allies by firing an intermediate-range missile over Japan.

On Thursday, its official news agency, KCNA, denounced the military drills in traditionally robust fashion, calling them 'the rash act of those taken aback' by the missile test, which it described as 'the first military operation in the Pacific.'

President Donald Trump, who has warned that the U.S. military is 'locked and loaded' in case of North Korean provocation, reacted angrily to the latest missile test, declaring on Twitter that 'talking is not the answer' to resolving the crisis over North Korea's weapons programs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was quick on Wednesday to stress that a diplomatic solution remained possible, but on Thursday he told reporters he agreed with Trump that Washington 'should not be talking right now to a nation that is firing missiles over the top of Japan, an ally.'

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders reiterated at a regular briefing on Thursday that all options - diplomatic, economic and military - remained on the table.

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera spoke to Mattis by telephone and agreed to keep putting pressure on North Korea in a 'visible' form, Japan's defence ministry said. Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe said he and visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to urge China, North Korea's lone major ally, to do more to rein in North Korea.

The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills with ally South Korea on Thursday, a clear warning to North Korea. Above, two U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighter jets participating in the live-fire drill

Two U.S. B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35B stealth fighter jets joined four South Korean F-15 fighters in live-fire exercises at a military field in eastern South Korea that simulated precision strikes against the North's 'core facilities'

May and Abe also discussed the possibility of adopting a new U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, a British government source said.

The 15-member U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned the firing of the missile over Japan as 'outrageous' and demanded that North Korea halt its weapons programmes. But the U.S.-drafted statement did not threaten new sanctions.

Japan has been urging Washington to propose new Security Council sanctions, which diplomats said could target North Korean labourers working abroad, oil supplies and textile exports.

However, diplomats expect resistance from Russia and fellow veto-wielding power China, particularly given that new measures were only announced on Aug. 5 after North Korea tested its first two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

A U.S. ban on travel by Americans to North Korea comes into effect on Friday, a step announced after the death of a U.S. student shortly after his release from a 15-year prison sentence in the country, where three other Americans are still detained.

China repeated a call on Thursday for restraint by all parties.

The B-1Bs were flown in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam while the F-35Bs came from a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Japan

Defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang told a monthly briefing China would never allow war or chaos on the Korean peninsula, its doorstep, and military means were not an option.

'China strongly demands all sides to exercise restraint and remain calm and not do anything to worsen tensions,' Ren said, adding that Chinese forces were maintaining a normal state of alert along the North Korean border.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the situation on the peninsula was serious.

'The current tense situation on the peninsula isn't a screenplay or a video game,' she told reporters.

'It's real, and is an immense and serious issue that directly involves the safety of people from both the north and south of the peninsula, as well as peace and stability of the entire region.'
A pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in a dramatic cloud of spray just minutes after taking off from Dublin.

The Aer Lingus flight to New York JFK had climbed to 5,000ft when the pilot noticed there was an issue with the plane's hydraulic systems.

Video footage, filmed from inside the airport, shows the A330 approach the runway for landing.

The person who captured it on camera, described the incident as being 'scary' because they noticed the plane's gear doors were extended.

Video footage captured from inside the airport shows the plane landing in a cloud of spray

The plane had just taken off from Dublin Airport when it had to make a U-turn just minutes later

Emergency services rushed to the scene and doused the brakes to cool them down after the plane touched down in Ireland.

Flight data showed the plane made six loops just off the east Irish coast before it headed back towards the airport.

It was in the air for more than one hour before it landed back in Dublin.

The clip was posted online and the eyewitness wrote: 'It became apparent that there was an issue with the aircraft's hydraulic systems.

'The aircraft climbed to roughly 5,000ft and entered a hold to dump fuel while ATC began stacking everyone and getting ready to switch ops on to runway 16 as it was apparent that when the A330 landed it would have no way of exiting the runway.

Data online showed the plane made six loops before finally landing back at Dublin Airport on Thursday

The person who captured it on camera, described the incident as being 'scary' as the plane came in to land

Emergency crews rushed to the scene after learning the plane would be returning to the airport

'With full emergency crews on standby both airport and local firecrews, the A330 made an approach that was certainly scary to us watching from the terminal, as it had its gear doors extended.

'This looked slightly unnerving as the aircraft touched down on the runway as the clearance between the runway and the gear doors was minute, after some impressive spray and hard braking the aircraft came to a stop on the runway and was surrounded by emergency services who doused the brakes to cool them and made sure everything was safe.

'The engines were then shut down and eventually the aircraft was towed off. I would like to congratulate everyone involved from the controllers, to the firecrews to the pilots themselves for handling the situation as they did, a spectacular landing to say the least!'

An Aer Lingus spokesman said: 'Aer Lingus flight EI 109 travelling from Dublin to New York returned to Dublin on Thursday evening shortly after departure due to a technical issue with the aircraft.

'The aircraft, with 288 guests and crew on board landed safely at Dublin Airport at 17:40 (local time).

'Emergency services were in attendance as a precaution. Guests are being accommodated on next available flights to New York.

'Aer Lingus apologises to guests for the disruption to their travel plans.'
The Kenyan Presidential election has been nullified by the country's Supreme Court after accusations that the results had been tampered with in favour of the winner.

In a first ever ruling, judges voided President Uhuru Kenyatta's win from last month, and called for new elections within 60 days.

Supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga took to the streets en-masse in celebration after the ruling by the court in Nairobi on Friday.

President Kenyatta has said he disagrees with the ruling but respects the court's decision as he called for peace amid fears the celebrations would lead to clashes.

Victory: Opposition leader Raila Odinga raises a fist as a sign of victory to his supporters as he leaves the Supreme Court after president Uhuru Kenyatta's election win was nullified

President Kenyatta has called for calm amid fears the celebrations would lead to clashes

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga kneel down and thank God as they celebrate after hearing the verdict

'The court has made its decision. We respect it. We dont agree with it. And again, I say peace,' Kenyatta told the nation in a televised address.

'That is the nature of democracy.'

Odinga-supporters danced in the streets, marveling at the setback for Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between Kenya's leading political families.

No presidential election in the East African economic hub has ever been nullified before.

'It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa,' said opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged the vote.

'For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling.'

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrate in Uhuru Park, some carrying Kenyan flags and posters of Odinga, as they celebrate after hearing the verdict in Nairobi

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, pictured during last month's election, is set to fight for the presidential post once again within 60 days

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrate after hearing the verdict

A supporter of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrates in front of a police barrier a street opposite the Supreme Court

Opposition leader Raila Odinga smiles and waves to a crowd of his supporters as he leaves the Supreme Court

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrate after hearing the verdict

The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favor of the petition filed by Odinga. He claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of Kenyatta, who had won a second term with 54 percent of the vote.

'A declaration is hereby issued that the presidential election held on Aug. 8 was not conducted in accordance to the constitution and applicable law, rendering the results invalid, null and void,' Chief Justice David Maraga said.

The court did not place blame on Kenyatta or his party. It said the election commission 'committed illegalities and irregularities ... in the transmission of results, substance of which will be given in the detailed judgment of the court' that will be published within 21 days.

Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded and said the opposition will ask that electoral officials be prosecuted.

The lead counsel for the president, Ahmednassir Abdulahi, told the court that the nullification was a 'very political decision' but said they will live with the consequences.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga smiles and waves to a crowd of his supporters as he leaves the Supreme Court

Opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga, right, and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka sit, at the Kenya Supreme Court

Kenyan Supreme Court judges, from left to right, Njoki Ndung'u, Jackton Ojwang, Deputy Chief Justice Philomela Mwilu, Chief Justice David Maraga, Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola preside to deliver the election petition judgement

Kenyan Supreme Court judges, Chief Justice David Maraga, right, deliver the election petition judgement, watched by Philomela Mwilu

Opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga, centre, reacts at the Kenya Supreme Court

Odinga's lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta's win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes.

The electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said they saw no interference with the vote.

'Right or wrong, the Supreme Court has spoken. So what remains is a fresh opportunity for the people of Kenya, in exercise of their sovereign authority, to once again restate with clarity who they want as their president,' electoral commission lawyer Paul Muite said.

Odinga, a longtime opposition candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president, had unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2013 vote that Kenyatta won.

Opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga, centre and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka, left, with their lawyer James Orengo, right, at the Kenya Supreme Court

A lawyer arrives past a line of police guarding the building ahead of an expected verdict in the presidential election petition at the Supreme Court in downtown Nairobi

Police guard the Supreme Court building ahead of an expected verdict in the presidential election petitio

Odinga's supporters at first had said they would not go to court this time but filed a petition two weeks ago.

Kenya had been braced for further protests Friday as the court prepared to rule on the opposition's challenge, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi, and streets near the court were barricaded.

Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

Instead, opposition supporters exploded in celebration.

'Thank you, Jesus!' one woman shouted. 'I'm telling, God is on our side.'

'This has shown all (election) observers did not do their job. We want an apology,' said John Wekesa, who was dancing outside the court.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following the vote was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.
Guilty: John Wilson, 70, abused six female worshipers at his church

A church minister who claimed God told him to 'go into the womb to release evil spirits' has been found guilty of sexually abusing six female worshippers at his church.

Rev John Wilson, 70, was convicted of indecent assaults against members of his congregation at Liberty Pentecostal Church, Keighley, West Yorkshire.

His wife Mary, 79, and his assistant pastor Laurence Peterson, 59, were also found guilty of helping him carry out the vile crimes.

Judge David Hatton QC sent Rev Wilson to immediate custody and warned him he faces a lengthy prison sentence.

Rev Wilson abused the vulnerable women over decades by claiming he was doing God's work by performing humiliating and degrading exorcisms.

He told his female victims that they were full of demons and evil spirits before sexually assaulting them.

A jury found him guilty of a string indecent assaults and further charges of conspiracy to commit sex assaults together with his wife, twice, and Peterson on five occasions.

The crimes took place between 1980 and 2010.

One victim and her husband has already received a 500,000 payout from the Assemblies of God religious organisation, the umbrella group under which Liberty Pentecostal Church operated, and now faces further civil claims for compensation from others.

A jury heard Rev Wilson sexually abused the vulnerable and trusting women over 30 years, and his victims include a mother and daughter, orphaned sisters and a fellow minister's wife.

Wilson admitted assaulting many of the women to perform, what he termed 'deliverances' or 'internal ministries', but claimed he was placing his hands where God directed him, to make them better Christians.

Prosecutor David McGonigal told the trial that Rev Wilson claimed he got no sexual satisfaction from assaulting the females, whose ages spanned from their teens to middle aged at the time of the offences, and said 'it was the work of God'.

Wilson admitted his style of exorcism was not in the Holy Bible or written down anywhere, but told police the method came to him when the Holy Ghost spoke to him in church one day.

Mr McGonigal told the court: 'This case is about the sexual assault of women in the name of religion.'

Husband and wife John Wilson outside Bradford Crown Court, where they were both found guilty

He said in 1981 Rev Wilson formed the Keighley Pentecostal Church with his friend Peterson as assistant pastor and his wife, who helped in services.

Bradford Crown Court heard that all of the complainants were part of the church congregation at some time and Rev Wilson told them they were possessed by evil spirits and demons.

Mr McGonigal said the pastor gained their trust and told them 'God would show him how to help them.'

Rev Wilson later told police that he was amazed by how many women had evil spirits inside them, saying: 'The amount of work that came his way around Keighley was unbelievable.'

The laying on of hands happened in the church, in his home and in the homes of the complainants.

His first two victims were orphaned sisters in their mid teens in the early 1980s.

Rev Wilson told the eldest girl her dead father's ghost had spoken to him and asked him to look after her.

Mr McGonigal told the jury: 'He said he had to touch her wherever the evil spirit was and God would tell him where to touch.'

He took her into the vestry and, as he prayed for her, touched her breasts and unbuttoned her blouse. When she pushed him away he told her it was the evil spirits fighting him. Peterson was also present in the room at the time.

Place of Worship: The incidents took place between 1984 and 2010, while Wilson served at Liberty Pentecostal Church in Keighley, West Yorkshire

Her younger sister explained being in a 'trance-like' state as she was sexually abused, a sensation felt by many of the victims. It is suggested cups of tea offered to them before the sessions began may have been drugged.

Some blacked out and came around naked or semi clothed, or were found wandering in a nearby park in just their bra and knickers.

The court heard he carried out 'internal ministries' on the youngest orphan every week for 10 years until she married aged 24 in 1996. He would shout 'Come out in the name of Jesus' as he sexually assaulted her.

On the final occasion Rev Wilson and Peterson locked her inside a bedroom with them whilst her new husband was outside.

Another victim was the daughter of a fellow Pentecostal church official. She wanted to be a missionary, but Rev Wilson told her parents and her that she was 'riddled with demons'.

Adding he had 'a special ministry to help people grow as Christians.'

The parents entrusted Rev Wilson with their daughter's spiritual care.

Mary Wilson stripped her naked and pinned her down in the vestry as her husband carried out the 'deliverance'.

The daughter moved in next door to the Wilsons and the reverend carried out an internal ministry every week.

Hiding: John Wilson covers his face with his hood as he gets into a car outside Bradford Crown Court

On another occasion between 1985 and 1990 Rev Wilson told the daughter her demon needed love and he lay on top of her squeezing her breasts and nipples, telling her: 'Your body needs to be aroused so the demon comes out.' She could feel that he was sexually aroused.

Rev Wilson married a couple in the Liberty Pentecostal Church, but soon afterwards the wife came to him because she was having trouble in the marital bed. For eight years between January 1990 and December 1998 Rev Wilson tried to help her with her 'sexual demons', Mr McGonigal told the jury.

He would get her to perform oral sex on him and then 'spit out' the demons.

Rev Wilson is accused of raping the wife when he told her he was 'pumping the demons out of her' and that his 'white juice' would clean her up.

'A queen needs to be dethroned and God has made me a king, so I'm allowed to do this,' he told her.

In July 2014 police became involved. When Rev Wilson was questioned he admitted carrying out deliverances, but he was doing it for God and not for his own sexual gratification.
A new mother felt 'humiliated' after being told she could not breastfeed her premature baby in Pizza Express.

Lisa Wilson was on her first day out with eight-week-old Oliver and partner Connor Morrison when they sat down at Pizza Express in Victoria Square, Belfast, for lunch.

The new mother asked for a booth where she could feed Oliver in privacy, but was informed by the manager, 'you cannot breastfeed in this restaurant'.

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Lisa Wilson, left, was on her first day out with eight-week-old Oliver, right, and partner Connor Morrison when they sat down at Pizza Express in Victoria Square, Belfast, for lunch

Discussing Wednesday's incident, Ms Wilson told Belfast Live: 'We were looking forward to it but turned into a horrible, embarrassing and humiliating situation.

'We were told there was no breastfeeding in the restaurant like it was a shameful thing to even consider.'

The make-up-artist, 28, was turned down by Pizza Express despite a nation-wide policy of allowing breastfeeding at its stores.

The make-up-artist, 28, was turned down by Pizza Express despite a nation-wide policy of allowing breastfeeding at its stores

Ms Wilson added: 'It is a total disgrace in 2017 that a woman is basically turned away from anywhere because she plans to breastfeed her child.'

Zoe Bowley, Managing Director of PizzaExpress said: 'We are so sorry that Ms Wilson and Mr Morrison had this experience in one of our restaurants.

'We have a policy which welcomes breastfeeding across all of our restaurants.

'In this instance, our policy was obviously not adhered to and we will make sure to communicate this again to our staff to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone ever again.

'We are in direct contact with the couple to resolve this issue.'
Business / Companies

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials are prejudicing Government of money running into millions of dollars in potential revenue by failing to implement laid down procedures on transit cargo, the authority's board chairman Mrs Willia Bonyongwe said yesterday.Zimra introduced the Electronic Cargo Tracking System and several other measures to curb corruption and reduce fraud. However, Mrs Bonyongwe said it emerged that some Zimra officials at the border post were still violating the practice, in the process prejudicing the Government of millions of dollars. There are reports that cargo cleared as on transit ends up being offloaded in Zimbabwe, a practice that has seen Government failing to collect import duty.Said Mrs Bonyongwe; "We introduced the electronic cargo system, but we still have problems with our own officers not sealing some of the trucks as they should do, but we are enforcing that," she said at an Ernst and Young tax seminar held in Harare. "For instance in Beitbridge they can seal only nine, (and yet) they have enough seals. As a results) the board is very strict on that and taking disciplinary action against management."She, however, said Forbes Border Post had performed better with a 67 percent reduction in transit traffic fraud recorded. She said this could be a sign that a significant amount of transit traffic that passed through the border prior the cargo tracking system was fraudulent.The electronic cargo tracking system requires that all trucks, inclusive of tankers, break-bulk and containerised cargo in transit through Zimbabwe be sealed at the time of entry to facilitate tracking while transiting through the country."Zimra encourages all transporters to ensure that trucks transiting through Zimbabwe have adequate facilities to allow for mounting of electronic seals that enable the authority to track movement of the cargo," she said.Meanwhile Zimra is also proposing stiffer penalties for tax evaders in the country as it works towards increasing revenue collections that can sustain the economy. This comes on the back of low tax compliance among Zimbabweans as well as lenient laws against offenders."People in Zimbabwe generally do not pay taxes. That is why we are working tirelessly to ensure a certain level of compliance. In most countries, if you do not pay tax you go to jail without question. That is why I am advocating that we need to have stiffer penalties for tax evasion than we have right now. We need to make sure that we collect enough to sustain our economy," she said adding that the authority was collecting only a "tip of an iceberg".Earlier this year Mrs Bonyongwe said Zimra, during the first six months of the year, had suspended 21 officials and recovered $120 million through its anti-corruption drive following tip-offs from members of the public.She added that three employees had since been dismissed for corruption-related conduct. In an update on revenue collection for the six months ending June 30, 2017, Mrs Bonyongwe said the tax authority's anti-corruption hotline had become handy as Government intensifies efforts to curb corruption, which has been blamed for frustrating economic growth."The anti-corruption hotline received 394 reports. Of these 218 were fully investigated while the remaining cases are still under different investigations. The investigations yielded about $120 million in assessments, 21 suspensions resulting in three officers who were dismissed as a result of those reports. Some officials are still undergoing disciplinary hearings," she said.
Stephen Bannon may no longer be in the White House, but insiders claim he still has the President's ear.

Sources within the Trump administration claim that the commander-in-chief still regularly calls Bannon when chief of staff John F. Kelly is out of the office.

A person close to the President also told the Washington Post that some of Trump's closest allies brand Kelly 'the church lady' because he is viewed as 'strict and morally superior'.

Sources within the Trump administration claim that he commander-in-chief still regularly calls Bannon when chief of staff John F. Kelly is out of the office

Former Trump aide Roger Stone told the Washington Post that Kelly's approach with the President isn't going to work.

He said: 'General Kelly is trying to treat the president like a mushroom. Keeping him in the dark and feeding him s*** is not going to work. Donald Trump is a free spirit.'

Bannon was fired as chief strategist last month and returned to his position of executive chairman of Brietbart News.

Concerns have been raised within the White House about Trump's relationship with his Chief of Staff, John F Kelly

Trump loyalists have branded Chief of Staff John F. Kelly 'the church lady' because of his morally superior attitude, it has been claimed

At the time he said that the 'Trump presidency we fought for is over', but vowed to continue supporting the President when they were in agreement.

On Tuesday it emerged that Trump and Bannon disagree on the best candidate in Alabama's contested primary election.

Trump endorsed the incumbent, Sen. Luther Strange in an early August tweet, saying Strange has done 'a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama. He has my complete and total endorsement!'

Bannon is, however, backing a different candidate in Alabama, controversial former state chief justice Roy Moore, who has received national coverage over the years for his crusade to display the Ten Commandments.
Vladimir Putin has insisted that imposing sanctions on Kim Jong-un in a bid to block the dictator's nuclear ambitions is a 'dead-end road'.

The Russian President warned that the North Korea crisis is 'balancing on the brink of a large-scale conflict' and that threatening Pyongyang was a 'futile' exercise'.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea - targeting exports such as coal - in response to two long-range missile launches in July.

But Putin wrote in an article: 'Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile programme is misguided and futile.

Vladimir Putin has insisted that imposing sanctions on Kim Jong-un in a bid to block the dictator's nuclear ambitions is a 'dead-end road'

Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea - targeting exports such as coal - in response to two long-range missile launches in July

'The region's problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions. Provocations, pressure and militarist and insulting rhetoric are a dead-end road.'

According to the Russian news agency Tass, the Russian president described the situation on the Korean Peninsula as 'balancing on the brink of a large-scale conflict.'

He said Russia and China 'have created a roadmap for a settlement on the Korean Peninsula that is designed to promote the gradual easing of tensions and the creation of a mechanism for lasting peace and security.'

Putin's comments echoed those of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson 'underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences.'

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang

Referring to the U.S., Lavrov said today that "the one who is smarter and stronger must take the first step" in diplomatic efforts.

Lavrov says Moscow has asked Washington in confidential conversations if it realises that U.S. allies South Korea and Japan would suffer the most if the North's nuclear missile tests provoke a military conflict.

He says the U.S. response was that certain developments would leave military intervention as the only option.

Lavrov didn't offer further details, but said Russia would do all it can to prevent "such horrible developments."

He was speaking with students at Russia's top diplomacy school.

The US has placed sanctions on Russia in the wake of Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. The latest package, approved on August 2, is designed to hurt Russia's energy sector.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that 'all options' were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme.

US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.




A wife has been left blind and unable to speak after her mouth was melted shut when her own husband poured acid all over her face.

Atsede Nigussiem, 26, was at home in Tigrai, Ethiopia, when she opened the door to estranged partner Haimanot Kahsai, 29.

Without warning he launched a sickening acid attack leaving his wife in agony as their five-year-old son Hannibal Kahsai slept inside.

Such is the severity of her injuries, she has to eat and drink through a straw and spends all day crying - one of the few things she can still do.

Atsede Nigussiem, 26, was at home in Ethiopia before the horrific acid attack by her own husband

The horrendous acid attack has left her with injuries so severe that her mouth has been melted shut

The mother's eyesight is all but gone and the awful burns on her face means she is in constant pain

The devastated mother has flown to Bangkok with her sister where burns specialists at the city's Vejthani Hospital are now battling to save the little eyesight she has left and treat her skin

After the attack, Atsede ran screaming into the street for help from neighbours while Kahsai fled into the night.

Two months later Astede is still in pain, her mouth has been melted together so she cannot talk, she is blind in her left eye and at severe risk of losing the sight in her right eye.

She eats and drinks with a straw and spends all day 'crying non stop' - one of the few things she can still do.

Atsede shortly after she was attacked by her husband

Atsede is today receiving treatment from burns specialists in Bangkok, Thailand.

Communicating in writing, she said: 'I don't know why my husband did this. I was at my parents house late at night.

'I just opened the door and it happened. I'm heartbroken and in pain.'

Astede said she had been married for five years to her husband before he moved to neighbouring Yemen for work February and lost contact.

He then returned unexpectedly and launched the unprovoked acid attack after turning up unannounced at 11pm on July 15.

Atsede was rushed to hospital where doctors gave her emergency care for wounds on her face, chest, hands and legs.

But medics recommended travelling abroad for long-term care and treatment.

The devastated mother flew to Bangkok with her sister where burns specialists at the city's Vejthani Hospital are now battling to save the little eyesight she has left and treat her skin.

Regional manager Masha Zhigunova said Atsede 'cries non stop' and cannot talk, eat or drink properly because her 'mouth is melted together'.

She said: 'This is a very difficult case. Astede's face will never be the same again.

'One eye is gone and the second eye is almost gone and her skin is all melted.

'Even she has no idea why the husband did this. She reported this to the police but he had already ran away.'

Atsede Nigussiem, 26, was at home in Tigrai, Ethiopia, when she opened the door to estranged partner Haimanot Kahsai, 29. Without warning he launched a sickening acid attack leaving his wife in agony as their five-year-old son Hannibal Kahsai slept inside

The acid also ripped holes in the back of her head, seen here right and on her legs, seen here left

Atsede Nigussiem, 26, pictured here before she was savagely attacked by her evil husband

Zhigunova said that Astede is being treated by Dr Sivat Luanraksa who is experienced in dealing with severe burns.

She added: 'Astede requires debridement of necrotic tissue on her face and extremities.

'Secondly, she needs debridement and acellular dermal matrix grafting and thirdly, split thickness skin grafting.

'Thankfully now she is the best place with one of the world's best doctors looking after her. We're all supporting her.'

Zhigunova has launched a donations page for Atsede's private medical care.
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Millions of Muslim pilgrims from around the world are taking part in the symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia amid tight security measures two years after a deadly stampede.

The ritual at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina near Mecca marks the final major rite of the hajj, a five-day pilgrimage which all Muslims must perform at least once if physically and financially able.

The stampede in Mina in 2015 claimed the lives of 2,300 people - the worst disaster in the history of the hajj. Saudi Arabia says it has deployed more than 100,000 security personnel to keep pilgrims safe this year.

It comes as millions of Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha holiday, or 'Feast of Sacrifice,' to commemorate Ibrahim's test of faith. For the holiday, Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

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This was the scene as millions of Muslims arrived at Muzdalifah overnight after they performing Waqfa prayer in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Millions of Muslim pilgrims from around the world have taken part in the symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia amid tight security measures two years after a deadly stampede

Muslim pilgrims take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, near Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia says it has deployed more than 100,000 security personnel to keep pilgrims safe this year. Worshippers are pictured taking a rest during the pilgrimage

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims made their way toward a massive multi-story complex in Mina after dawn on Friday to cast pebbles at three large columns. It is here where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to God's will.

Muslims believe Ibrahim's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son.

In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.

The huge crowds took part in the stoning rite under strict surveillance, with police tape guiding the flow of pilgrims, cameras installed everywhere and helicopters hovering overhead.

Huge crowds took part in the stoning rite under strict surveillance, with police tape guiding the flow of pilgrims, cameras installed everywhere and helicopters hovering overhead.

The ritual at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina near Mecca marks the final major rite of the hajj, a five-day pilgrimage which all Muslims must perform at least once if physically and financially able

Muslim worshippers collect pebbles which will be thrown during the stoning of the devil ritual in Mena during the Hajj pilgrimage in Muzdalifah, near Mecca, Saudi Arabia

This was the scene as pilgrims slept in the street as they made their way to Muzdalifah to spend the night and collect the 49 pebbles which will be thrown in the stoning of the devil ritual in Mena, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims made their way toward a massive multi-story complex in Mina after dawn on Friday to cast pebbles at three large columns. It is here where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to God's will

Traditionally, seven pebbles are thrown at a post representing the devil, emulating the actions of Abraham.

Since 2004, it has been replaced by walls to accommodate the rising numbers of pilgrims.

Security forces misted pilgrims with water as they made their way to the Jamarat Bridge under the hot sun.

By 8am, pilgrims were already reaching for their umbrellas as temperatures rose above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

'Two pilgrims fainted in front of me this morning,' said Almas Khattak, a Pakistani volunteer in Mina.

'It's different every year,' said Najat Malik, 45, a Sudanese Red Crescent employee who travelled from Khartoum for the hajj.

'Some years there are less pilgrims because of fears and warnings of disease. But this year, I feel like there are a lot more people here.'

An Iranian man poses with a thumbs-up gesture as another holds the leg of a sheep, at a market in the capital Tehran on September 1, 2017, prior to slaughter as part of the commemoration for the first day of Eid al-Adha

The final days of hajj coincide with the Eid al-Adha holiday, or 'Feast of Sacrifice,' to commemorate Ibrahim's test of faith. For the holiday, Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor

Tradition: Indonesian men skin a goat as a sacrifice during the Eid al-Adha festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, this morning

Myanmar ethnic Rohingya Muslims try to tie a cow with rope before slaughtering it as a sacrifice during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Meat from a slaughtered cow wich was sacrificed is displayed on a cloth during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A man carries a sheep during the Eid al-Adha celebrations in the Adjame district of Abidjan on September 1, 2017

The shadow of the 2015 stampede still looms large over the ritual. it marked the deadliest disaster to ever strike the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam. Hundreds of more lives have been lost in several stampedes during the stoning ritual over the past 20 years.

Amin Hashkir, a 26-year-old from Casablanca in Morocco, travelled to western Saudi Arabia, home of the holiest sites in Islam, together with his sister and mother, who was unable to physically perform the stoning rite herself.

'My father passed away in 2011, and we've been trying to make it here ever since to perform hajj for him,' Hashkir explained on a sidewalk in Mina, near Mecca. 'It was what he felt was missing from his life'.

Hashkir's mother was also counting on her son to fulfill her dream of hajj. 'My mother is sick, so I offered to throw the stones for her.'

The huge crowds, many holding umbrellas to shield them from the sun, took part in the stoning rite under strict surveillance, with police tape guiding the flow of pilgrims, cameras everywhere and helicopters hovering overhead.

A Muslim pilgrim shaves his hair after throwing pebbles at pillars during the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina

During the last three days of hajj, male pilgrims shave their heads and remove the terrycloth white garments worn during the hajj. Women cut off a small lock of hair in a sign of spiritual rebirth and renewal

Muslim pilgrims take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, near Mecca

Hajj pilgrims walk in a tunnel on their way to stone the devil at Jamarat pillars during the first day of Eid Al Adha in Mecca

Security personnel stand guard as Muslim pilgrims, some holding umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, head to take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge

ASSAD MAKES RARE PUBLIC APPEARANCE FOR EID Syria's President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance outside Damascus Friday for morning prayers marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, state media reported. Since the start of Syria's devastating conflict in 2011, Assad has only left the capital on a few occasions. This year, however, he has been able to venture further afield more frequently, including to the central province of Hama and to western Syria, as his forces and their allies have scored victories on the battlefield. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (fifth from right) made a rare public appearance outside Damascus Friday for morning prayers marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, state media reported Since the start of Syria's devastating conflict in 2011, Bashar al-Assad has only left the capital on a few occasions State television showed footage of the Syrian leader smiling in the presence of his supporters inside the mosque in Qara 'President Assad prayed on Eid al-Adha... in the town of Qara' in western Qalamun, near Lebanon, the presidency tweeted, along with a picture of him kneeling in a mosque flanked by other officials. State television showed footage of the Syrian leader smiling in the presence of his supporters inside the mosque in Qara. Last week forces loyal to Assad, including fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, drove Islamic State group jihadists out of western Qalamun. Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest feast days in the Islamic calendar. More than 330,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with anti-government protests. Advertisement

Iran, which reported the largest number of victims in the disaster, did not send its pilgrims to hajj last year, as political tension between Tehran and rival Riyadh was on the rise and authorities in the two countries failed to agree on logistics.

Iranian authorities say more than 86,000 Iranian pilgrims are taking part this year, each equipped with an identity bracelet in case of any accident.

The stoning ritual marks the first day of the Eid al-Adha feast, or the feast of sacrifice, which commemorates the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

The holiday is marked by the sacrifice of a lamb instead by Muslim communities around the world.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan celebrated the annual Eid al-Adha holiday with animal sacrifices and calls for peace and an appeal by the president for insurgent groups to lay down their arms and open talks with the government.

A Filipina Muslim prays during Eid al-Adha in Taguig, a suburb of Manila. Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Adha, the 'Feast of Sacrifice', which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage or hajj to the Saudi holy city of Mecca and in remembrance of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to God

Eid al-Adha is held at the end of the yearly Haj pilgrimage and marks Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son to God. Filipina Muslims gather to pray during Eid al-Adha in Taguig, a suburb of Manila

Thousands of Indonesian Muslims are pictured attending Eid Al-Adha prayer at a mosque in Palembang

Bangladeshi Muslims sit on top of trains as they head to their hometowns ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, in Dhaka

The second of two annual Eid celebrations, Eid al-Adha is being celebrated in a mood of apprehension in the capital, Kabul, following a string of suicide attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the beginning of the year.

Eid al-Adha is held at the end of the yearly Hajj pilgrimage and marks Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son to God. Traditionally marked by the slaughter of animals, whose meat is shared with family members and the poor, it is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice.

'I've come here to sacrifice a sheep for the sake of God,' said Ahmad Parwiz, a Kabul resident standing at a roadside market as butchers cut the throats of cows, sheep and goats brought in for slaughter.

'This is a religious custom of our Islamic religion and everyone who is wealthy can sacrifice a sheep or other animals for the sake of God on this day,' he said.

In his celebration address, President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban, who have been fighting to drive out international forces backing the government and restore strict Islamic rule to Afghanistan, to accept peace.

Turkish soldiers perform Eid Al-Adha prayer at the base camp in Semdinli district of in Hakkari, Turkey earlier today

Iraqi policemen stand guard outside a mosque during prayers marking the beginning of Eid al-Adha in Mosul city, northern Iraq

Muslims arrive to perform the Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) prayer at Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem earlier this morning

Displaced Syrians from Jobar, now living in eastern Ghouta, pray next to graves of relatives in a destroyed cemetary in their hometown on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday

Sunni Muslims perform prayers during Eid al- Adha celebrations at the Al-Ameen Mosque in central Beirut, Lebanon

Prayers: Palestinian Muslims worship on the first day of of Eid al-Adha in Gaza cityEid al-Adha, Gaza City

Egyptian Muslims arrive to perform the Eid Al-Adha prayer at Amr bin As Mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Eid-al Adha is the one of two most important holidays in the Islamic calendar, with prayers and the ritual sacrifice of animals

'It is time for the armed opposition of Afghanistan to choose whether they are fed on the milk of the mothers of this country, and are inspired by this nation, or whether they are the tools for disunity, chaos, used by outsiders,' he said.

In an earlier message, Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada said peace could come once foreign forces left Afghanistan and called on business to invest to strengthen the country and aid groups to continue their work.

'The main obstacle in the way of peace is the occupation. A peaceful solution of the Afghan issue is the main pillar of the policy of the Islamic Emirate, should the occupation come to an end,' he said.

At the marketplace, people whose lives have been shaped by four decades of war, were still waiting.

'I want peace and security,' said Mohammad Dawood. 'We want a peaceful country.'

Afghan police check people as they arrive to offer Eid al-Adha prayers in Helmand, Afghanistan, this afternoon

Children wearing traditional Albanian outfits attend Eid al-Adha prayers outside Sultan Mehmet Fatih mosque in Pristina, Kosovo

This was the scene as thousands of Muslims performed the Eid Al-Adha prayer at Quarter Mosque in St. Petersburg, Russia

Albanian Muslims stand before rows of their shoes as they conduct morning prayers to mark Eid al-Adha in Tirana, Albania

Muslims pray to celebrate the Sacrifice Feast, Eid Al-Adha, in the suburban district of Tor Pignattara in Largo Perestrello, in Rome, Italy
A man accused of shooting an 11-year-old girl in the face following an argument outside a supermarket has been told by supporters to 'stay strong'.

Nathan Richard Campbell, 25, fronted Launceston Magistrates Court in Tasmania on Friday afternoon facing charges of grievous bodily harm and recklessly discharging a firearm.

The girl he is alleged to have shot, Phoenix Newitt, is believed to be in stable condition at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

The man accused of shooting 11-year-old girl Phoenix Newitt (pictured) in the face following an argument outside a supermarket fronted court Friday

The 11-year-old was allegedly shot in the head while sitting in the back seat of car outside a house at Deloraine, near Launceston.

The bullet reportedly entered the right-hand side window and rebounded off the car's passenger door, lodging fragments in Phoenix's neck and head which traveled to her heart.

Campbell's lawyer said the case could not proceed as the girl's condition was 'not yet properly determined'.

He is now expected to remain in police custody with case adjourned until September 7.

Campbell was earlier heard calling out 'love you' to several family members in court as he was taken away by police.

One of the group responded by saying 'love you brother, stay strong'.

Nathan Richard Campbell, 25, faces charges of grievous bodily harm and recklessly discharging a firearm, over the shooting of the schoolgirl (pictured)

At Launceston Magistrates Court (pictured) on Friday, Campbell's lawyer said the case could not proceed as the girl's condition was 'not yet properly determined'

Ms Newitt (pictured with Phoenix) was repotredly involved in an argument with another woman that turned into a fight, leaving her with a cut to her face and the other woman with a bite mark

Police say the shooting occurred after Phoenix's mother was involved in an argument with Campbell's girlfriend at a nearby Woolworths.

It reportedly turned into a fight that left Ms Newitt with a cut to her face and the other woman with a bite mark.

It is alleged Campbell fired at a car where Phoenix, her mother, uncle and four-year-old cousin were sitting after they drove to the house on Stagg Court.

Inspector John King alleged he was carrying a small-calibre rifle which was fired from about 50 metres away.

The tight-knit Deloraine community of around 3,000 had been left shaken over the incident, Meander Valley Mayor Craig Perkins said.

An online fundraising page has been set up to support Phoenix's family, while counselling services are available at her primary school.

Police say the shooting after the pair argued at a nearby Woolworths (pictured) before travelling to a house on Stagg Court
A top US military chief has said the Army's missile defense system in an Alaskan base is '100 per cent' ready to defend against North Korean rockets.

Colonel Kevin Kick, commander of the 100th Missile Defence Brigade, revealed his confidence in the Ground-Based Interceptor anti-missile system at Fort Greely, Alaska.

The WWII military base is home to 33 missile interceptors standing at 60ft with 'kill vehicles' fixed at the tip.

A top US military chief has said its missile defense system in an Alaskan army base is '100 per cent' ready to defend against North Korea rockets. The military base is home to 33 missile interceptors standing at 60ft with 'kill vehicles' fixed at the tip

Colonel Kick told CNN: 'You'd see a flash of flame as that GBI would leave the tube at an incredible speed.'

'[I have] 100 per cent confidence the missile system would work.'

Despite this show of confidence, the anti-missile system has a checkered past.

According to data from the Missile Defense Agency, in 18 tests conducted, interceptors have struck their targets only 10 times.

Fort Greely is a World War II army base which reopened in 2004.

According to ABC News, it is only one of two missile defence facilities in the country with a population of around 500 people.

California's Vandenberg air force Base is used as a back up.

The 68kg 'kill vehicles' are launched at the enemy warheads at speeds of up to four miles per second

Colonel Kevin Kick, commander of the 100th Missile Defence Brigade, revealed his confidence in the Ground-Based Interceptor anti-missile system at Fort Greely, Alaska

This comes at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's provocative missile launches in the region.

Just yesterday, North Korea warned Japan that joining the West in criticizing their nuclear missiles program means 'imminent self-destruction', as Tokyo moves to increase it's military budget.

Tension between North Korea and the rest of the world has soared after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan under the supervision of an overjoyed Kim Jong-Un.

Despite this show of confidence, the anti-missile system has a checkered past. According to data from the Missile Defense Agency, in 18 tests conducted, interceptors have struck their targets only 10 times

As Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with his UK counterpart Theresa May, his defence ministry said it will request a record 37 billion annual budget to beef up its missile defence.

Japan's response to the missile test, which set off global alarms and forced the population of the northern island of Hokkaido to run for shelter, has seemingly angered Pyongyang.

The North's official KCNA news agency decried the former colonial power in a commentary, saying: 'Japan has now come out with its sleeves rolled up in supporting its master's anti-DPRK war moves.'

This comes at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's provocative missile launches in the region. Pictured, the missile defence system at Fort Greely

The allies' 'military nexus' had become a 'serious threat' to the Korean peninsula and Japan was 'unaware' it was 'accelerating self-destruction', the statement late Wednesday said.

It made a specific reference to US forces being based in Hokkaido - the island that the North's missile flew over.

'The DPRK's toughest countermeasures include a warning to Japan going wild, being unaware of its imminent destruction,' and blindly following the US, it added.
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Thousands of people have flocked to a remote town far west Queensland to celebrate the first day of the annual outback festival.

The Birdsville Races, located on the edge of the Simpson Desert, is expected to host 7000 racegoers during the two day carnival.

As people jetted in from across the country and pitched a tent for the two day racing carnival, including One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, the highlight will be the Birdsville Cup, a race celebrating its 135th anniversary.

Race goers stepped out to impress at Birdsville to celebrate the first day of the annual horse racing carnival (pictured)

The races located at the edge of the Simpson Desert in Queensland saw some outrageous and glamorous outfits

Race goers swapped their dress shoes and heels for a pair of comfortable thongs for the outback racing carnival (pictured)

There was a taste of Mexican fiesta at the Birdsville Races which attracted thousands of revelers from across the country

Revellers donned their most creative outfits to kick off the first day of the racing carnival at Birdsville (pictured)

The races are being donned the Melbourne Cup of the Outback with the men sauvely dressed in a shirt and cow boy hats

Hundreds of people have flocked to the Simpson Desert to celebrate the annual horse race carnival at Birdsville (pictured)

Hundreds swapped traditional fascinators for cowboy hats, including Pebbles the Flinstone (pictured centre wearing pink)

Friday marked the first day of the carnival and the Best Dressed Novelty theme for Fashions on the Field, a chance for race goers to showcase their original pieces with humour.

From purple ties paired with flanno shirts to tropical Hawaiian shirts and quirky fancy dress costumes, nothing was off limits with the outrageous fashion choices.

As many sported a sunhat and cold can of beer, some interesting appearances made their way to the town's world-famous horse races, including an Osama bin Laden mask.

Traditional race day fascinators were replaced with cowboy hats and even Pebbles the Flinstone was spotted at the races with a hint of outback flavour.

Interesting characters made their way to the town's world-famous horse races, including bottles of liqueur (pictured)

At least 7000 eager race goers are expected to flock to the annual outback races on Friday and Saturday

Friday marked the first day of the carnival and the Best Dressed Novelty theme for Fashions on the Field (pictured)

Hundreds of people jetted in across the country for the town's world-famous two day horse racing carnival

Interesting characters made their way to the town's world-famous horse races, including as classic Australian beer

Groups of friends flocked to the iconic town, shining some light on their inspiring race day attires

Nothing is off limits when you're in the outback, including feather boas and stuffed toy animals pinned to a floral blouse

A little joey even made an appearance at the first day of the races in Birdsville (pictured centre in the bag)

Celebrating the 135th race at Birdsville, revellers are seen swapping bubbles for beers at the iconic desert race (pictured)

The race horses (pictured) flew through the desert race track with punters hoping to win a lucky buck or two

With all the outrageous fashion choices on display, cameras were at the ready to capture any race day moment

While the theme of the day was outrageous fashion, others decided to keep it simple with an eye catching tie instead

The more colour the better when it comes to spring racing carnivals set in the desert (pictured)

Bubbles were swapped for an icy cold tinny of beer at the Birdsville Races which were well underway Friday

The Birdsville Races, 1590km from Brisbane, is expected to attract more than 7000 race goers for the two day carnival
David Davis today warned Brussels he is a 'charming b**stard' who is not afraid to get 'difficult' with the EU.

The Brexit Secretary acknowledged negotiations are 'tense' and said they will only 'get tougher' as Britain and the bloc thrash out contentious issues.

But he stressed he is a 'determined optimist' who is confident a deal can be done that will be good for the EU and the UK.

He made his comments as he addresses business leaders in America, delivering a speech outlining Britain's refusal to become 'isolationist' after Brexit.

It comes after the third round of Brexit talks ended in a frosty deadlock in Brussels yesterday, with Britain and the EU clashing over the divorce bill.

Speaking to business leaders in Washington today, Mr Davis proudly recalled being described as a 'charming b**tard by negotiator in the EU while negotiating with Brussels as Europe Minister in the mid 1990s.

Brexit Secretary David Davis, pictured in the US today, proudly described himself as a 'charming b**tard as he w warned that Brexit talks will only get tougher

The Cabinet minister, pictured delivering his speech in Washington today, said Brexit are the most complicated negotiations in history and warned there will be more ripples along the way

Mr Davis said: 'He said 'David is a charming b**tard'.

'So the headline on the front page of the Financial Times was charming b**tard and I was rather proud it, because you had to be both  charming but sometimes difficult.

'And that is the nature of what you are seeing now is there are going to be tough times.

TOP EUROCRAT CLAIMS THE EU BENT OVER BACKWARDS TO PLEASE UK Guy Verhofstadt tore into the UK's demands for greater 'flexibility' in a newspaper article (file photo) A top Eurocrat today claimed the EU spent years bending over backwards trying to please Britain as tensions flare over Brexit. Guy Verhofstadt the European Parliament's chief Brexit coordinator, tore in to the UK over its calls for 'flexibility' in the exit talks. He said the bloc made major concessions to David Cameron's talks ahead of last year's referendum. And he said the UK has always 'enjoyed a bespoke form of membership'. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he attacked comments by former Tory leader Lord Hague who 'implied that the EU forced the UK out by refusing to agree to every one of Mr Cameron's renegotiation requests'. Mr Verhofstadt wrote: 'I was in the room at the time of the renegotiation and substantial additional exceptions were offered. 'A new special status of EU membership, with an opt-out from the core principle of 'ever closer union' and an emergency brake on benefits for EU workers. 'I even offered to work with the UK to develop a new form of associate EU membership, but UK ministers rejected it, as they argued that it would mean losing the UK's seat at the top table. 'If this is not showing flexibility, I do not know what is.' Brexit Secretary David Davis has called for greater 'flexibility and imagination' form the EU in the talks. Mr Verhofstdt said there is a real danger trade talks will not start in October because not enough progress has been made. Advertisement

'There are going to be tough times but the trick is to remember that at the end of it we want an outcome which is in everyone's interest. This is not a zero sum game.'

The EU is insisting Britain agrees to pay the bill - reportedly up to 90billion and including cash for foreign aid - before they can move on to trade talks.

And the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday revealed the bloc wants the UK to pour billions into foreign aid projects after we leave.

Mr Davis said Brexit is 'probably the most complicated negotiation in history' and the main 'enemy' is time.

He said: 'We are in a difficult and tough and complicated negotiation. I said from the beginning, it will be turbulent.

'This is the first ripple and there will be many more ripples along the way.'

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Brussels cannot blackmail Britain into accepting a massive bill.

But Mr Davis laughed off questions about whether this is 'helpful' language to deploy in the midst of talks.

Sketching out his vision for post-Brexit future, he said the UK will continue to play a leading role in the world

On the talks, he said: 'I am a determined optimist.

'Because I fundamentally believe that a good deal is in the interests of both the UK and the EU and the whole of the developed world.'

He added: 'By working together with our closest friends and allies...we can tackle some of the greatest social and economic challenges we face.

'But the answer to that concern is not to turn inwards and become isolationist.

'And that is where a strong, outward looking United Kingdom can play an instrumental role.'

Mr Davis and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier swapped barbs at a tense press conference in Brussels yesterday.

Mr Davis said he believed 'concrete' moves had been made on some issues but defended Britain's firm rebuttal of the EU's exit bill.

He said EU leaders had to give Mr Barnier more room to negotiate 'imaginative' solutions if the impasse was to be breached.

But in a withering response, Mr Barnier accused Britain of 'nostalgia', and said 'no decisive progress' has be en made on the talks.

Mr Barnier said he was 'quite far' from recommending to EU leaders they authorise trade talks - and warned that time was fast running out for a deal.

Brexit Secretary David Davis, pictured in Brussels yesterday, will describe himself as an 'optimist' about Brexit as he sets ot his vision for Britain's future outside the bloc in a speech in the US today

Mr Davis, pictured with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels yesterday, will put the EU's gloomy Brexit forecast behind him as he travels to the United States. The third round of Brexit talks ended in frosty deadlock yesterday as the two sides clashed over the divorce bill

And he revealed that the EU wants Britain to carry on pouring money into EU projects on foreign aid even after we quit the bloc.

It also emerged the UK could be asked to keep paying into the EU's coffers during any 'transitional deal'.

Mr Barnier suggested he would try to block progress on a new EU-UK trade deal unless Britain agrees to meet the demands.

The EU agreed in March future UK-EU arrangements must not be discussed until Britain agrees an exit bill, rules on operating the Irish-UK border and reciprocal agreements for citizens after Brexit.

The deadlock makes it likely the next round of talks in September will be dominated by the same issues. European leaders are not due to gather until October.
15 months in jail before being eligible for parole

pleaded guilty to two charges and must serve at least

A teacher who had a nine-month sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student in Western Australia has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

The woman, who was 25 when her affair with the girl began in July 2015, committed the abuse, including sexual penetration, at home and in the school storeroom.

She also kept photographs and videos on her phone of the pair kissing, cuddling and posing naked, the WA District Court heard on Friday.

A lady teacher, had an affair with a girl student in July 2015, a WA court was told (stock image)

Judge Annette Schoombee accepted the sexual activity was initiated by the teenager but said it was not legally consensual and the teacher had committed a gross breach of trust.

'It must have been at least apparent to you early on in the relationship that this was totally inappropriate, illegal, contrary to school rules and was not likely to have a happy ending,' she said.

'It is of the utmost importance that defined standards and clear boundaries are upheld at schools, otherwise parents cannot rest assured that their child is properly cared for and safe at school.'

The court heard the relationship began after the student came to her teacher for advice and they developed a friendship.

'I accept this was not a situation where you manipulated her or groomed her for sexual conduct or where you used favours or threats to get her to comply,' Judge Schoombee said.

In her victim impact statement, the girl expressed support for the teacher.

'She feels that you had been her best friend and partner and she says she misses how things were with you,' Judge Schoombee said.

Teacher pleaded guilty and must serve at least 15 months behind bars to be eligible for parole (stock image)

'She also says that you are a most caring person and that you at times tried to push her away but you were both unable to end the relationship.'

Judge Schoombee accepted the offending was out of character and the teacher had otherwise been a law-abiding and compassionate person, who had contributed to the community.

She also accepted the teacher was remorseful and had sought psychological treatment.

But the judge said general deterrence was very important.

The teacher pleaded guilty to two charges and must serve at least 15 months behind bars before she can be eligible for parole.
A man who owned one of two American Staffy dogs that mauled an elderly woman has escaped jail time.

Jaiden Goodwin had his appeal upheld after arguing the one-year jail term handed to him by a magistrate for failing to control a dangerous dog was 'too harsh', according to 9NEWS.

His dog was among two canines that attacked an 81-year-old in Sydney in 2016, was also fined and prohibited from owning another dog, the court heard on Friday morning.

Mr Goodwin's brother Jai, who owned the other dog involved, was also fined approximately $10,000.

Jaiden Goodwin (pictured), whose American Staffy was among two canines that attacked an 81-year-old in Sydney in 2016, has been sentenced to 12 months jail over the incident

The two Staffordshire dogs, named Roxy and Zeus, were declared 'menacing animals' and were impounded following the attack in September last year.

An elderly woman had been out walking on Fulton Avenue in Sydney's west when she was set-upon by the dogs.

The woman received numerous injuries in the attack, including a broken arm and lacerations to her face, head, arms, legs and torso, Nine reports.

In a statement about the incident the brothers said they felt bad for what had happened and 'would never wish that upon anyone'.

The two Staffordshire dogs, named Roxy and Zeus (pictured), were declared 'menacing animals' and were impounded following the attack in September last year

An elderly woman, as well as a group of strangers who stepped in to help her, were bitten, with images of the bites pictured

The woman's neighbour Nigel Kerr (pictured) was among a group of witnesses whowent to help and said the dogs had circled her 'like sharks'

The woman's neighbour Nigel Kerr was among a group of witnesses who were bitten after rushing to help her.

'They were just circling her, like sharks... They were like they were protecting their piece of meat,' he said.

While another witness said he saw 'the lady lying down and bleeding from her nose and some other parts of her body,' according to Yahoo7.

The dogs had reportedly been chained up in a backyard prior to the incident, co-owner Miichaela-Louise Platt previously said.

The young woman told Daily Mail Australia she had popped out to McDonald's for 20 minutes when she returned she saw police cars lining her street in Wentworthville.

Both animals were sent to a facility in Blacktown and were later put down.
News / Africa

by BBC

Kenya's Supreme Court has annulled the result of the country's recent presidential election.Citing irregularities, the Supreme Court said a new poll should be held within 60 days.The election commission had declared incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of last month's election.But opposition candidate Raila Odinga claimed that the commission's IT system had been hacked to manipulate the results.The BBC's Caroline Karobia in Nairobi says Kenya has made history as the first country in Africa to annul presidential election.Opposition supporters were seen celebrating in court after the ruling was announced.
A British woman has explained why she is risking her life to fight ISIS in Syria.

Kimberley Taylor, originally from Blackburn, is with the Women's Protection Units, or YPJ, fighting ISIS in its unofficial Syrian de-facto capital of Raqqa, in the north of the country.

In the battle of this ISIS stronghold, there are two incentives for the women to fight against ISIS.

First is their chance to carve out a better future with more freedom and rights, and second is that an ISIS terrorist believes they won't get to paradise if killed by a woman.

Having spent almost 18 months in the war-ravaged country, the maths graduate has now opened up on her decision to leave Lancashire and head to one of the most hostile cities in the world.

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Kimberley Taylor, 27, who is seen pictured here in her camouflage carrying a rose in the Syrian desert

Kimberley, right, carries a huge assault rifle ahead of yet another offensive against Islamic State

A smiling Kimberley Taylor with rocket launchers in the background in Syria earlier this year

The University of Liverpool graduate pictured in a field before travelling to the Middle East

The 27-year-old said: 'When women are on the front line against ISIS - yes we are fighting against them physically but we are also fighting against their mindset - that women shouldn't have a voice, that they shouldn't even think about how they want to live their life or how others should live their life.

'They are not allowed to think anything or even speak it.

'So by us women being at the front line, it is also a symbolic action against the mindset of ISIS.

'This is why they attack us so ferociously. They want nothing but oppression.

'This is why they do not accept that we are on front line fighting against them.'

The 27-year-old is believed to be the first female Brit to have travelled to Syria to fight against ISIS  and made headlines earlier this year for her efforts.

Armed members of the YPG sit on a roadside in Syria as Kimberley Taylor sits alongside them

British militant Kimberley Taylor sits in a vehicle next to another YPJ fighter near Raqqa, Syria

Originally planning to visit the region for just a few weeks, Kimberley made the decision to extend her stay indefinitely.

She explained: 'I was invited by a women's organisation to write about the women's revolution.

'I came with two friends and was supposed to be here for, I think, ten days and then we stayed for like fifteen days and then they went home and I decided to stay.

'I realised that this is something that I could be part of.

'Why would I go home to continue studying books about politics and revolution when I can live the life of them?

'Everything that you do here matters and it makes a difference.'

Kimberley Taylor in a truck in Syria on her way to fight ISIS in an attempt to liberate the city

The British fighter and other YPJ soldiers sitting around a fire and eating in Syria

Her latest dramatic post from the frontline appeared only yesterday. She is known by her battlefield name: Zilan Dilber

Kimberley, also known by her adoptive Kurdish name of Zilan Dilber, joined as part of the YPJ's media team but has since joined the fighting on the front line.

Fighting with her are Arab and Kurdish women alike.

One fighter described the freedom she has found on the front line and said: 'My life here is so different. Here there is friendship, sacrifice, you fight for people.

'ISIS ideology is to enslave people, they enclose children's minds and force women to wear black under the pretext of Islam. But true Islam is not like that.

'They do many things in the name of Islam and anyone who does not agree and conform with them, ISIS arrest and behead them.'

Kimberley and a comrade walk through the rough Syrian terrain

Sharing meals and battlefield tactics with the male soldiers of the male People's Protection Units (YPG), the women soldiers wear trousers, uncover their hair and load guns.

Another fighter compares her old life before she joined the YPJ to now.

She said: 'In the past I used to be at home where I could not go out myself. I could not speak and express my rights unless my father permits.

'My three-year-old brother used to have more of my father's trust than me  despite me being an adult woman.

'When I came here I could express my thinking. Now I feel like I am free.'

One Arab soldier joined the movement after witnessing 'girls unwillingly forced to get married at a young age'.

She added: 'The goal we seek is to free nations, regain women's rights from men and the women should have enough strength and courage to speak up and take decisions.'

Aside from fighting for their own freedom, female soldiers also offer a unique insight in battle that men don't have, claims Kimberley.

She said: 'Women are capable of every single thing that a man is capable of and not only that, we bring something different to it. Women have a different mindset than men do.

'When we are going to war, maybe men aren't thinking about the children that are crying but the women do.

'We look at every civilian, we look at every circumstance in a different way than men do.'

Kimberley Taylor, 27, originally from Blackburn, shakes hands with male members of the YPJ

Traditionally, fighting for the liberation of the marginalised Kurdish people, the YPJ and YPG are part of the US-backed coalition working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who together have been steadily advancing on Raqqa.

At present, US sources claim almost half of the city has been captured from ISIS forces since the assault started in June.

The UN estimates there are still between 20,000 to 50,000 civilians in Raqqa and has called for the US-backed coalition to call a temporary halt to its assault in order to evacuate more civilians.

For the YPJ women, fighting on the front line is about more than the immediate battle against ISIS.

Kimberley said: 'I thought I would never agree with war. How can you agree with something that is so bad?

'Like it doesn't seem like an answer, but in the YPJ it is different, it is about protection of the culture, of the land, of the right to live, of the right to have a life.

'Some years ago I would never think that I would do this, but it makes total sense to me now. '

My three-hour firefight with ISIS, by Kimberley: The Lancashire lass who astounded her family and friends by leaving university and running off to join an all-woman militia in Syria

By Paul Bracchi for the Daily Mail

When she was a little girl, Kimberley Taylor was painfully shy. She would hide behind you so no one would notice her, her mother recalls.

Back then, Kimberley  or Kimmie as she is known  lived in Darwen, a quiet market town in the heart of rural Lancashire, with her parents and elder sister Samantha. Their dad was a local teacher.

Kimberley was clever; her favourite subject was maths.

But the thing everyone remembers about her is her quiet, timid nature. Kimberley wouldnt say boo to a goose.

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Kimberley Taylor (pictured) is believed to be the first British woman to travel to Syria to take on ISIS

How could her family  how could anyone who knew her in those days  possibly have imagined what the future held for her?

For Kimberley Taylor, now 27, didnt follow her father into the classroom after studying maths at university. Nor did she get what you might call a normal job like her schoolfriends.

This is immediately obvious to anyone who scrolls down her Facebook page, which is dominated by a photograph of a young woman in full-combat fatigues.

Alongside the picture is whats known as her battlefield name: Zilan Dilber.

Zilan Dilber is apparently a member of an all-female Kurdish militia group fighting Islamic State in Syria. Extraordinarily, Kimberly Kimmie Taylor and Zilan are one and the same.

Miss Taylor, it emerged this week, is believed to be one of the first British women to travel to the hell-hole to take up arms against ISIS.

Her latest dramatic post from the frontline appeared only yesterday.

Wake-up call this morning at 4am when ISIS attacked our base, she wrote. We put up an incredible fight for three hours. Just two friends slightly injured. Im so proud to call these people my comrades. We fight with unconditional resistance.

Kimmie as she is known  lived in Darwen, a quiet market town in the heart of rural Lancashire. In this video (pictured) she explained why she was fighting ISIS

Zilan Dilber, the name taken on by Kimberley, is apparently a member of an all-female Kurdish militia group fighting Islamic State in Syria

I wont go into details about the attack because it [sic] super gory.

Another base was attacked, four comrades were martyred. At the very front, two comrades were martyred.

You gave your lives for peace, democracy, and humanity. Your memory will live on in the revolution.

Her update ends with the words: Sehid nemirin, which, loosely means martyrs never die in Kurdish.

So how did this quiet, bright young woman end up taking herself off to one of the most dangerous places on Earth to fight ISIS?

This is what we know. Miss Taylor joined the Officer Training Corps at Liverpool University and is later understood to have turned down a place at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.

Until now at least, she had no actual military experience.

Video by Nazim Dastan for dihaber

Miss Taylor joined the Officer Training Corps at Liverpool University and is later understood to have turned down a place at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy

She left the UK last March, travelling first to Kurdistan in northern Iraq before crossing into northern Syria to take part in the battle for Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State.

She did not tell her family what she was up to until she arrived. Soon afterwards, Miss Taylor revealed her whereabouts on Facebook  on April Fools Day last year, stressing that it was not a prank. You are absolutely crazy, was the reaction of one friend. Others hailed her as a truly amazing person.

Miss Taylor last spoke to her family on Christmas Day to reassure them that she was safe.

The young woman on Facebook is dressed in the uniform of the all female YPJ, pronounced Yuh-Pah-Juh, which roughly translates as Womens Protection Units. This is the all-female brigade of the YPG, the armed forces of Syrias Kurds.

She is barely recognisable as the lass from Lancashire her family and friends recall.

Died fighting: Maths graduate Miss Taylor, who has enrolled in the Women's Protection Unit, an all-female Kurdish military unit, said four of her friends were killed in another attack on a nearby base

So who is Kimmie Taylor? Her formative years were spent on a newly-built estate in Darwen, Lancashire, where her parents Phil and Mary bought a semi-detached house at the end of a small cul-de-sac.

Kimmie, who clearly overcame the reticence of her early years, developed a reputation, alongside her sister Samantha, for being a tomboy who attracted gangs of kids  boys and girls  from the surrounding area.

Their sometimes raucous behaviour did not always go down well with elderly neighbours in a row of bungalows across from their home.

The Taylors are believed to have left the estate in 2002 when their marriage broke down.

Kay Bottomley, 81, who still lives in the bungalow directly opposite their old home, remembers them well. She says: They were a good, hard-working couple, and the kids were lovely. They were a very nice family and I always got on with them.

The University of Liverpool graduate has spent the past 11 months training with the women fighters, learning Kurdish, weaponry and battlefield tactics

I know some people complained, but children are children. They were never a problem to me.

Kimberly went on to live with her father Phil, 57, in Prescot, Merseyside, when she was 15. She has not spoken to her mother, Mary Lang, 57, from Chorley, properly for years following a family row. This was over something and nothing her mother said this week.

Miss Taylor studied maths at Liverpool University but did not complete the course and spent her early 20s travelling the world and hitch-hiking alone.

Her previous life is vividly captured on social media.

In Ghana, in 2013, she is pictured with a snake and monkey on her arm. In Burkina Faso, West Africa, she is playing with young children. In the Estonian capital, Tallinn, she can be seen busking.

Miss Taylor also studied political science at Stockholm University, eventually returning to Britain early last year.

As we now know, she did not stay long. What motivated her to take such a drastic course of action and risk her life in Syria?

The self-styled revolutionary, who joins 20 other Brits fighting alongside the Kurds, is determined to help bring about the final defeat of ISIS

She attempted to answer that question on Facebook in September last year.

It all began in Athens, Greece, in November 2013, she wrote. My first introduction to people fleeing the Syrian civil war. As they sat with me, sincerity in their eyes, telling me their personal stories of tragedy, fear and loss, the reality of war was brought to life for me . . .

At around that time, the U.S.-backed YPJ took her on as a volunteer with their media team, taking photographs and compiling reports.

The unit is greatly feared by the jihadis, who believe it to be a disgrace and a dishonour to be killed by a woman in battle, as they think this prohibits them from entering paradise.

After speaking to her family on Christmas Day last year to reassure them that she was safe and well, she wrote an accompanying message on Facebook.

Ive come from the frontline to say Merry Christmas to all my family and friends, she announced. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I miss you and love you all.

Miss Taylor now works for the media team of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, taking videos and photos of the battles

Life is powerful. Revolutionary women together on frontline. We are unstoppable. Soon I should be [re] joining the Raqqa operation. The capital city where ISIS keeps Yezidi children and forces them into sex slavery . . . together we are women liberating women. This is history in the making . . .

Shortly afterwards Miss Taylor returned to the battlefront. On January 31, in a disarmingly cheery post, she wrote: Heading to the frontline in Raqqa. Ciao!

Her decision, she said, was influenced by the experience of a friend, an Arab YPJ fighter whose village was ransacked by ISIS last year. Her friends eight-year-old sister was repeatedly run over by a car before being pushed off a building. The friend ran off to join the YPJ, where she met Miss Taylor.

Her dispatches on social media make harrowing reading.

Three days after arriving on the frontline again, she wrote: 19km from Raqqa. Next to her post was a picture of an unexploded mine.

In a subsequent post, she revealed: Three of our comrades were martyred today who were fighting for the freedom of Raqqa. She also uploaded a video of women and children liberated from ISIS, writing: Today, the Syrian Democratic Forces liberated a village from ISIS. This video is of the hundreds of civilians who found safety today, all with very happy faces.

Miss Taylor, pictured in Rojava, northern Syria, now works for the media team of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, taking videos and photos of the battles

In an interview with Sky News in Syria yesterday, Miss Taylor said: The operation of Raqqa is a chance to tell our ideology, tell the reality of the revolution to the outside world.

I see this as maybe the last step towards Daesh [Islamic State] being finished. And for that reason its really important that we create diplomacy for outside. We take this chance now that everybody is listening to tell our ideology, to tell our revolution.

There are thought to be as many as 15 Britons currently fighting alongside the Kurds, but Kimberley Taylor is believed to be the first woman to join their ranks.

Three Britons have been killed fighting against ISIS since the first foreign volunteers arrived in Iraq and Syria in the autumn of 2014.

As the fighting has become more intense in recent weeks, Miss Taylor has been forced to pick up a gun herself, which is apparent from her most recent post yesterday.

It is almost impossible to imagine what her family must be going through now.

Rest day: Miss Taylor, pictured eating ice cream on the Syrian border, has spent the past 11 months training with the women - learning Kurdish, weaponry and battlefield tactics

Her father said: I was upset in the first instance upon learning of Kimmies intentions . . .and worry about her safety.

But to ask her not to follow her beliefs would be like asking her to cut her arm off. She just wants to change the world.

But where most of us think and talk about it, she acts. She is truly one in a million and we are very proud of who she is and what she stands for.

But her sister Samantha struck a more sombre note.

I dont expect her to live, she admitted. But if she did come back, she could get hit by a bus so I think it is better if she died doing what she believed in.

Brave words. But what a terrible agony for any family to live with.
Dr James Forster spent more than a decade targeting residents in Manfield, North Yorkshire, with a bizarre and apparently motiveless crusade

A retired academic who was jailed for waging a cruel campaign of abuse against his neighbours has died aged 83.

Dr James Forster spent more than a decade targeting residents in Manfield, North Yorkshire, with a bizarre and apparently motiveless crusade.

He bombarded people in the village, between Darlington and Richmond, with almost 200 poison pen letters, posters and threats between 1987 and 1999.

The Open University professor was eventually arrested and jailed for four months.

He returned to Manfield upon his release, with villagers saying yesterday that the pensioner had lived quietly with his wife until his sudden death last weekend.

During his campaign of hate, Dr Forster was accused of throwing paint bombs at a house and threatening to drop a bomb down the chimney of a property belonging to an elderly woman, who once returned home to find her locks glued shut.

Referred to in the national press as 'the archetypal dotty professor', the pensioner had long been suspected by local policeman Sgt Mick Griffiths.

A search of his home eventually uncovered evidence that would help to convict him - an incriminating diary, stencilling kit and latex gloves.

His arrest and trial thrust his tiny village into the national spotlight, before he was convicted at Teesside Crown Court.

Judge David Bryant said he had destroyed the fabric of the quiet village 'cruelly and cunningly'.

Dr Forster (right) has died 16 years after he was jailed after being unmasked as a poison pen letter writer (left)

He added: 'A miasma of suspicion must have spread through the lanes of Manfield so that neighbour suspected neighbour and friend began to doubt friend.'

Reflecting upon the impact of a case that captured the nation's attention, one villager said: 'It was awful at the time because nobody knew who was behind those letters.

'People were suspecting each other and it divided the village, there were a lot of people affected and it was a difficult time for everyone.'

One man who knew Dr Forster in later life cast doubt upon the academic's convictions.

He said: 'In the years I've known him, he's done nothing wrong, he was always nice and polite and I wouldn't have thought him capable of doing anything like that, though you never know what goes on behind closed doors.'
The formerly powerful aunt of Kim Jong-un is seriously ill in hospital four years after she disappeared from public view when her husband was executed by firing squad for treason.

Kim Kyong-hui is said to be undergoing hospital treatment near the North Korean capital Pyongyang for a number of illnesses including cancer, dementia, depression and heart disease.

The 71-year-old, once a trusted part of Kim Jong-un's inner circle, has been absent from public events since 2013 when the dictator put her husband Jang Song-thaek to death on charges of plotting to overthrow the regime.

Kim Kyong-hui (right), the formerly powerful aunt of Kim Jong-un (left), is seriously ill in hospital four years after she disappeared from public view when her husband was executed for treason. The dictator and Kim Kyong-hui are pictured in early 2013

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (second row right) rides on an escalator with his aunt Kim Kyong Hui (bottom) in 2011. Her husband Jang Song Thaek (second man behind Kim Jong Un) was executed in 2013

Mrs Kim is the sister of Kim Jong-il, the country's former dictator and Kim Jong-un's father.

Jang, 67, was once Kim Jong-un's political mentor described as the second most powerful figure in North Korea.

But the tyrant had him executed on an array of charges, including treason and corruption in late 2013. He is understood to have been killed by firing squad, despite initial reports suggesting he had been fed to dogs.

Since then, there have been numerous reports that Mrs Kim has suffered ill health.

And in November 2014, it was even reported Ms Kim had died from a stroke during an impassioned argument about her husband's execution.

She was a close aide to her brother for decades, assuming senior positions in the party and becoming a four-star general in 2010.

Mrs Kim is the sister of Kim Jong-il, the country's former dictator and Kim Jong-un's father

The 71-year-old (centre in 2010), once a trusted part of Kim Jong-un's inner circle, has been absent from public events since 2013 when the dictator put her husband Jang Song-thaek to death on charges of plotting to overthrow the regime

Jang Song Thaek, with his hands tied with a rope, is dragged into a court by North Korean officers in Rodong Sinmun on December 13, 2013. He was executed after the hearing

The stroke claims were made by Kang Myung-do, a defector who was son-in-law to North Korea's ex-Prime Minister, Kang Sun San.

Korean media also reported she had taken her own life five days after her husband's killing.

Until 2013, Mre Kim was often the only female face on official photographs of ranks of generals and party leaders, was tasked with transforming her nephew into a figurehead with a reputation for strong military tactics who is able to handle an international crisis.

Jang Song Thaek and Kim Kyong Hui met at university and married in 1972.

They have no surviving children, according to the South Korean government-run Information Centre on North Korea.

Their only child, a daughter, killed herself in 2006 at the age of 29 while studying in Paris, according to South Korean media.

While Ms Kim disappeared from public view for six years after 2003, she re-emerged to a more powerful role, being made a four-star general in 2010.

She also owned the only burger restaurant in Pyongyang, where the menu offers 'minced meat and bread' rather than using the American word 'burger'.
The Jamaica Bobsleigh Team has accepted an apology by a group of men who 'blacked-up' their faces for a float depicting the Jamaican bobsleigh team.

The men had donned black face paint and built a float based around the 1993 comedy film, Cool Runnings, for the annual Bank Holiday carnival in the seaside resort of Aberaeron, West Wales, on Monday.

The decision by organisers to allow the float into the procession provoked fury from the local Labour Party in Ceredigion which described it as 'racism  pure and simple.'

But the men reached out to the actual Jamaica Bobsled Team to apologise  and make a 'generous donation.

Four revellers at Aberaeron Carnival are being investigated by police after they 'blacked-up'

The team posted on their official Facebook page that they believed there was 'no malice intended' and said the men had even made a 'generous donation'

The men who used a wooden bobsleigh sparked a police probe after complaints that their outfits in the street parade in Aberaeron were racist

The men covered themselves in black bodypaint and Lycra bodysuits to dress up as Cool Runnings characters for the carnival

Complaints were made that their outfits in the street parade in West Wales were racist

The bobsled team wrote: 'Members from the "Cool Runnings" inspired float reached out to us today, to offer their apology and insensitivity, of wearing "black face".

'We like to take these opportunities to educate, rather than vilify. We believe there was no malice intended.

'We also thank them for their generous donation, in support of our team.'

It comes after police confirmed they were investigating the controversial float.

And in a post on Facebook, Labour candidate Dinah Mulholland said she was 'utterly horrified' by the float. She added: 'How could this have been considered acceptable, or even legal, by the carnival organisers?'

While some commended her stance, Mrs Mulholland's comments were also derided by hundreds of others on social media, who branded her a 'clown,' described her as 'pathetic' and called for her to 'get a grip.'

Labour politician Dinah Mulholland said the fancy dress choice was 'unacceptable'

Carnivalgoer Hayley Savers posted: 'Aberaeron carnival was yet again absolutely fantastic and all that took part should be immensely proud.

'To try to turn, what was seen by most as people dressing as fictional characters into a row on racism for your own political gain is pathetic and has seemingly backfired.

'The only thing that has been achieved here is actually encouraging hate....mainly towards the Labour Party!'

Stuart Ramsden said: 'No offence was meant. Carnivals are supposed to be fun. These guys are just celebrating one of the greatest films of all time.'

While Dean Holland told Mrs Mulholland her comment was 'political correctness gone wrong.'

'What's the problem it's not racist in any way  it is celebrating several aspects of a sporting team and the problems they went through.'

One critic said she was 'utterly horrified' to see the performance at Aberaeron Carnival

Four revellers at Aberaeron Carnival covered themselves in black bodypaint and Lycra bodysuits to dress up as characters from the 1993 cult comedy film Cool Runnings

The float was one of around 20 that joined in the parade in the seaside town in West Wales

And Mandy Selcon added: 'Omg sense of humour failure! Can someone please inform the police that this woman has had her sense of humour stolen!'

Dyfed Powys police confirmed they were investigating following a report of a 'perceived hate crime' at the carnival.

Elizabeth Evans, a Liberal Democrat councillor in the resort, said she was '100 per cent certain' no offence was intended, although she admitted she knew the float would provoke controversy.

'It is not for me to define what is and what is not deemed as racist,' she said. 'But were those lads on that float being racist? Absolutely not.

The stunt provoked debate online, with some outraged with it and others calling the fury 'pathetic'

'They were merely depicting what was a very popular film and the reaction of the crowd showed they appreciated the effort that had gone into the float.

In the film Cool Runnings, four athletes want to become Jamaica's first bobsleigh team to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics

'It's just a shame that it has resulted in this backlash, because they were not being racist at all. At worst it was a naive act.'

Video footage from the procession shows the men, with blacked up faces, dread-locked wigs and dressed in black Lycra bobsleigh outfits, dancing and larking about in front of the watching crowds.

In a statement the Labour Party said that, even if no offence was intended, the float was 'unacceptable' and in danger of normalising 'casual racism.'

'It was completely unacceptable for the participants to blacken their faces and put on curly wigs, in a 'humorous' caricature,' a spokesman said.

'This is racism, pure and simple, whether intentional or not and at best suggests that those responsible are unaware of the appalling history and associations of 'blacking' up.

The men wore dreadlock wigs and rasta hats and waved Jamaican flags as their bobsled-float was carried on a JCB through the town of Aberaeron

Some residents backed the revellers and slammed Miss Mulholland for 'overreacting'

Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed they received a complaint of racism and are investigating

'There may have been no conscious agenda or racist intent towards involved people of African or Caribbean heritage in the Cool Runnings float, but there is no doubt that offence has been caused and that there is a danger that unchallenged, such behaviour makes casual racism seem okay.'

The organisers of the carnival, which is run by volunteers, failed to respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment.

Cool Runnings is based on the real life story of Jamaica's first bobsleigh team to compete at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Denfer Morgan, clerk to the Aberaeron Town Council, told MailOnline today: 'The Council has received one e-mail from an individual expressing concern about the 'Cool Runnings' float at the Aberaeron Carnival on Bank Holiday Monday.

'The e-mail has been acknowledged and the author advised that that it has been forwarded to the organisers of the event, namely the Aberaeron Town Improvements Committee for their attention.'
This breathtaking footage is not for the faint-hearted.

A soldier in the second battalion, the parachute regiment, caught one of his jumps with a Go Pro as he leapt from the plane.

In the stunning clip the paratrooper follows his colleague out of the plane, leaping feet first.

One of the paratroopers goes ahead of him, dropping quickly from the plane with no hesitation

Next its the GoPro soldier's turn, and he goes feet first to the green field below him

He gets his bearings, looking down into the large field beneath him to find a spot to land.

Around him is the stunning Mediterranean scenery of Corsica, where the paras were training with their French partners.

Above him is the parachute, which has been opened to ensure a smooth landing.

He hits the ground with a little bump and the chute falls down next to him. As he stands, he turns to see dozens of his colleagues dropping down to the ground too.

The Go Pro provides a different perspective, showing what it is like to drop out of the plane with a parachute

As he comes closer to the ground he looks up to his parachute above him, providing a soft fall

The British Army shared the video, which was taken in January 2014, with the caption: 'Ever wondered what it's like jumping as a British paratrooper?

'Heres exclusive Go-Pro footage of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment under French canopies in Corsica during training with their partners 2e Regiment Etranger de Parachutistes.'

A British Army spokesman said: 'The jump was over Calvi, from a French C-160 Transall aircraft under French Ensemble de Parachutage du Combattant (EPC) canopies. It earned the British paratroopers their French parachute wings.

'The training was part of the Airborne Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (ACJEF) which sees British and French airborne forces maintain an operational partnership that is trained and ready to deploy on operations.'

The para looks around after he lands to see dozens of his colleagues hitting the ground too

Speaking in 2014 about the trip to Corsica, Corporal Chris Hooper said: 'Its been a very different experience to see how another army does its business. The legionnaires are a very disciplined and professional outfit and weve worked well together because weve got the same role and mentality.

'Its been a friendly exercise with a lot of war stories swapped  they did an operational jump in Mali last year and weve got a lot to say about Afghanistan.'

The spokesman also said that the ACJEF  made up of 16 Air Assault Brigade and 11e Brigade Parachutiste - will next work together in October, on Exercise SWIFT RESPONSE, which will see troops training together alongside the US Armys 173rd Airborne Brigade.

The multinational force will jump into southern Germany tasked with a simulated mission to restore stability to a troubled region.

The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is an airborne infantry regiment of the British Army. According to the British Army, it is the only line infantry regiment that has not been amalgamated with another unit since the end of the Second World War.

The members provide the capability to deploy an infantry force at short notice, in the most demanding circumstances. As such, it is trained and ready to form the spearhead for the Army's rapid intervention capability.
A second man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl from a wedding in the French Alps last weekend.

Maelys De Araujo has not been seen since 3am on Sunday at a family wedding in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isere, some30 miles north of Grenoble.

The suspects, both 34, reportedly know each other, and one of them is a friend of the bridegroom who turned up to the reception uninvited, police say.

Maelys De Araujo has not been seen since 3am on Sunday at the event in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isere

The suspect arrested on Thursday had turned up late in the evening, and police say indications that he disappeared at the same time as the missing girl.'

Today, a friend of the initial suspect, who was in the area on the night of Maelys' disappearance was taken into police custody.

Both men have 'contradictions' and 'inconsistencies' in their statements regarding Saturday night and Sunday morning, police said today.

A source close to the investigation said the police were looking into a mobile phone that the first suspect had concealed from the authorities.

The first suspect, who lives in a village five miles from Pont-de-Beauvoisin, has previous convictions for vandalism and drug abuse.

Police have expanded their search for the nine-year-old, who investigators fear may have been kidnapped

Police are increasingly worried the young girl may have been bundled in a car in the carpark of the wedding venue in the early hours of Sunday

Police have been searching woodland near the wedding reception venue where Maelys went missing, and today discovered a hair clip

He was not an invited guest at the party, but a friend of the father of the groom, and turned up for a late drink.

When interviewed by detectives on Monday, there were inconsistencies in his stories, said an investigating source.

He has now been placed in custody for further questioning.

There are fears that Maelys was snatched and then driven away in a vehicle that has not yet been identified.

Around 150 police officers are now working on the case, with a kidnapping investigation opened by prosecutors.

Scores of local police, search and rescue teams, divers and cavers are searching the heavily-wooded area for signs of her.

Police divers have been in rivers searching for the missing schoolgirl, who was last seen at around 3am on Sunday

French gendarmes are pictured searching for evidence in Pont-de-Beauvoisin today as concerns grow for the missing nine-year-old

Maelys attended the wedding with her parents - her mother is a cousin of the bride - and her older sister.

Regional police chief Yves Marzian said three sniffer dogs had all lost the scent from Maelys's cuddly toy at 'the same spot' in the car park outside the venue.

'One of the possible theories is that little Maelys left in a car, one way or another,' Marzian said.

'We are not losing hope to find some trace,' gendarme official Jean Pertue told reporters today, in comments shown on BFM television.

The search has been broadened around the town of Pont-de Beauvoisin, and divers, search dogs, volunteer citizens and helicopters are also helping. Homes have also been searched as authorities become increasingly worried about Maelys.

A missing poster erected in the area to help find Maelys De Araujo, who has not been seen since 3am on Sunday

French gendarmes search for evidence in the forest today in the area around Pont-de-Beauvoisin, eastern france, after Maelys De Araujo disappeared

People who were at two other parties are also being questioned.

One of the wedding guests, identified only as Gregory, told Le Parisien: 'The DJ for the evening announced on the microphone that a child had disappeared. Suddenly, everyone started searching, in the main hall and outside.

'It was anguish. To see the disappearance of a nine-year-old, that's not nothing.'

It was initially thought she may be asleep after playing a game of hide-and-seek.

Gregory told the French newspaper he believes the young girl was kidnapped.

A source close to the investigation said 'each passing hour' makes kidnapping more likely than the possibility that Maelys was involved in an accident or ran away.

'It's likely she got into a car,' the source told AFP.

The child's mother and other relatives were receiving psychological counselling, the RTL broadcaster reported.
This is the moment a man hoping to have sex with a child pretended not to speak English as he was snared by paedophile hunters as he attempted a meeting at a busy railway station.

Bahram Hosseini, 49, thought he had been communicating with a 14-year-old boy on social network Kik but had in fact been duped by Guardians of the North.

Hosseini, who came to the UK from Iran as an asylum seeker, arranged to meet up with their decoy at Newcastle Central Station but was confronted by the group and arrested.

Bahram Hosseini was snared by paedophile hunters as he attempted to meet who he thought was a young boy at a busy railway station

Hosseini had travelled to the city from his home in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, by train for the rendezvous in a journey of more than 100 miles.

At Leeds Crown Court yesterday he was spared jail after pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a boy under the age of 16 following grooming.

The judge said it would be a matter for an immigration and asylum tribunal to decide if Hosseini should face deportation.

Catherine Silverton, prosecuting, said Hosseini had sent messages to 'Joey' stating that he was 48 years old and was looking for a boyfriend for 'love or sex'.

Hosseini continued to send sexual messages despite being told that 'Joey' was only 14 years old and lived with his mum.

A spokesperson for Guardians of the North (GOTN) said: 'What shocked us most about this case was the element of planning that went into it.

'Hosseini even took photographs of his tickets while he was on the train and sent them to us.

'When we confronted him he pretended he couldn't speak English which was insulting and made me angry.

Hosseini, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker, arranged to meet up with their decoy at Newcastle Central Station but was confronted by the group and arrested

'He had been communicating with us on social media in perfect English. I am glad we caught him before he went on to abuse a real child.'

Hosseini had been chatting to GOTN's decoy for around a week and a half before a meeting was arranged.

He had exchanged explicit chat with the 'teen' despite being told repeatedly he was only 14 and asked if that was ok.

At court he was given a 13 month jail term, suspended for two years, a two week rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for ten years and handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Hosseini had exchanged explicit chat with the 'teen' despite being told repeatedly he was only 14 and asked if that was ok

Catherine Silverton, prosecuting, said Hosseini had sent messages to 'Joey' stating that he was 48 years old and was looking for a boyfriend for 'love or sex'

When Hosseini arrived at Newcastle Central Station he was followed from his train by Guardians of the North who then confronted him.

He is told: 'You turned up today to meet a child for the purpose of sex and sexual activity. You knew that child was 14.'

Hosseini replies: 'I am sorry I do not speak English.'

But Guardians of the North tell him: 'Yes, you do speak English, we have every message you have sent to this child. You speak perfect English.

'The police are going to be coming, you will be getting arrested.'

Hosseini is then arrested on camera.

The spokesperson for GOTN added: 'I thought the sentence was a disgrace. Giving him a suspended sentence is not a deterrent at all.

Chat logs between Hosseini and 'Joey' who he thought was a young boy but was actually from Guardians of the North

'I am sure he will go on to do it again. He was not in any way remorseful. He poses a definite risk, and there is a good chance he will re-offend.

'Next time a real child could be involved.'

Mohammed Raffiq, mitigating, said Hosseini had no previous convictions and had come to the UK as an asylum seeker.

He said: 'He escaped from the religious intolerance in Iran. This will not make his position any better if he were to go back there.

'He is clearly in danger of his life if he were to go back there.'

The barrister said Hosseini was sorry and ashamed of what he had done and for the embarrassment he had caused his family.

Judge Penelope Belcher said: 'No child was in in fact exposed to risk. But you did not know that and plainly you were willing to meet with a 14-year-old boy.'
Pope Francis has revealed he saw a Jewish psychoanalyst when he was younger to help him 'clarify a few things'.

It is the first time the pontiff had made an admission that he has sought mental therapy.

The revelation is laid bare in a new book called Pope Francis: Politics and Society.

Pope Francis has revealed he saw a Jewish psychoanalyst when he was younger to help him 'clarify a few things'. He is pictured here during the weekly general audience in Vatican, Italy on December 7, 2016

At the time, he was head of the Jesuit order - a society of religious men - in Argentina and went under the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio

The intervention came when he was 42, decades before he was elected Pope.

It was in his native Argentina when he saw the psychoanalyst, and in the book, he said: 'At a certain point, I felt the need to consult an analyst. For six months, I went to her house once a week to clarify a few things,' according to the Telegraph.

At the time, he was head of the Jesuit order - a society of religious men - in Argentina and went under the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio

The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with French sociologist Dominique Wolton, who is writing a soon-to-be-published book.

It was not specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore in the sessions, which took place when he was 42.

La Stampa, an Italian daily, quoting some of the conversations, said Francis went to the analyst's home.

Francis was quoted as saying: 'One day, when she was about to die, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue.'

He added: 'She was a good person. For six months she helped me a lot.'

At the time, Francis was a Jesuit official in his native Argentina, which was ruled by a military dictatorship.
Thousands of Frankfurt residents have begun to evacuate the city ahead of the defusal of an unexploded World War II bomb.

The 1,800-kg British bomb, nicknamed 'blockbuster' during the war for its ability to wipe out whole streets, was discovered on Tuesday during building work near Goethe University Frankfurt, forcing a mass evacuation of the city centre.

A premature infant in an incubator, seen being transported out of the city's main neonatal unit at the Buergerhospital, is just one of 70,000 people ordered out of exclusion zone until the coast is clear.

Safety first: A premature infant in an incubator is taken to an ambulance to be transported from the Buergerhospital to another hospital in Frankfurt ahead of the bomb defusal

Frankfurt's city centre, an area including police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems and Germany's central bank storing 54billion in gold reserves need to be evacuated by Sunday to allow the defusing the bomb.

A spokesman for the German Bundesbank said, however, 'the usual security arrangements' would remain in place while experts worked to disarm the bomb, dropped by the British air force and uncovered during excavation of a building site.

The Bundesbank headquarters, less than 600 metres from the location of the bomb, stores 1,710 tonnes of gold underground, around half the country's reserves.

Officers are guarding the site where the bomb was found, and there 'is currently no danger'.

Police said the bomb in question was a HC 4000, a so-called high capacity bomb used in air raids by British forces.

The Buergerhospital, with the city's largest premature infant care unit, lies in an exclusion zone that has to be evacuated due to the defusing of an unexploded 1.8 tons bomb on Sunday

The smallest evacuee: The baby is one of 70,000 people who need to leave the city centre exclusion zone until the coast is clear

The bomb was discovered on Tuesday during building work near Goethe University Frankfurt

Big boom: The 1,800-kg British bomb was nicknamed 'blockbuster' during World War II for its ability to wipe out whole streets and buildings

'Due to the large size of the bomb, extensive evacuation measures must be taken,' police said.

The Wismarer street where the ordnance was found is close to the city centre and just some 1.5 miles north of the main Zeil shopping area.

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried on German land, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.

One of the biggest such evacuations to date took place last Christmas, when another unexploded British bomb forced 54,000 people out of their homes in the southern city of Augsburg.

Authorities immediately sealed off the scene ahead of this weekend's disposal operation

Officials want to evacuate 70,000 people on Sunday before disposing of the bomb

This was the scene today with a tent covering the spot where the bomb was discovered

Another 50,000 residents had to leave their homes in the northern city of Hanover in May for an operation to defuse several WWII-era bombs.

The 1.8 tonne 'Blockbuster' bomb was dropped by a Lancaster on Frankfurt in a raid on 1944. Officially categorized as an HC 4000, the Blockbuster earned its nickname because of its ability to destroy whole apartment blocks.

Police confirmed Thursday: 'Due to the large size of the bomb, extensive evacuation measures must be taken.'

It is estimated that 150,000 bombs lie unexploded beneath German towns and cities and they grow more unstable with every passing day.

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in explosions in the past decades and thousands placed in danger.

Precaution: The disposal of the bomb is planned for Sunday, September 3

Police insist it is safe leaving the bomb in the ground until Sunday to deal with it

The massive bomb was dropped more than 70 years ago from a Lancaster bomber, file photo=

In 2011 falling water levels on the River Rhine in Koblenz exposed two mammoth RAF bombs capable of causing catastrophic damage if they detonated: some 45,000 people were evacuated.

BLOCKBUSTER BOMBS 'Blockbuster' bombs, also known as cookies, got their name from the press during the Second World War through their ability to destroy entire blocks. They typically weighed either 4,000, 8000 or 12,000lbs and usually contained 50 per cent explosive by weight. Their primary was use was in causing extensive damage to buildings so that smaller 1.8kg incendiary bombs could reach their interiors. In 1943, 25,000 blockbusters were used. This increased to 38,000 the following year, before returning to 25,000 in 1945. A safe height for unleashing the 4,000lb blockbuster was said to be around 5,000ft - any lower and the aircraft risked being caught in the blast. During the Blitz the Germans created improvised blockbuster by attaching naval mines dropped on parachutes. Advertisement

A bomb from an RAF or American Air Force plane from the conflict is discovered on average once a day across the country, sometimes as many as three times a day, costing authorities tens of millions of pounds a year.

The Allies rained 2.7 million tons of bombs on Germany between 1940 and 1944. The academic Journal of Mine Action estimates that as much as HALF of them failed to do their job.

Many of these bombs are of a type containing a vial of acetone in the fuse which was designed to burst on impact. The fluid was meant to trickle down and dissolve a celluloid disk keeping back the cocked firing pin that then ignites the TNT inside.

Those components, as well as the plastic parts of other detonators, are disintegrating at an alarming rate.

Experts warn that within a decade bombs will begin to detonate by themselves - or will be too unstable to defuse if discovered.

That would mean controlled explosions on site with colossal damage to infrastructure around and about.
Russia could use controversial military drills near NATO borders to stage a land grab similar to Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, Ukraine has warned.

Joint war games with pro-Kremlin Belarus could be a mask leading to Moscow forces without insignia trying to seize land in one of the West's most vulnerable zones, Ukrainian officials fear.

Such a scenario could see a bid to grab territory in Poland and Lithuania - both in NATO - to connect the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, with its ally Belarus.

Russia could use controversial military drills near NATO borders to stage a land grab similar to Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, Ukraine has warned

Joint war games with pro-Kremlin Belarus could be a mask leading to Moscow forces without insignia trying to seize land in one of the West's most vulnerable zones, Ukrainian officials fear. Pictures show Russian soldiers during military drills east of Moscow in August

The fears were voiced by Ukrainian armed forces after NATO has demanded more military observers at the Zapad 2017 week-long military drills scheduled to start on September 14.

The war games are based on a Western attack on Belarussian and Russian forces from territory in Poland and Lithuania.

Moscow and Minsk say a total of 12,700 troops will take part in the exercises, but NATO fears the true figure will be 70,000 or more.

Today Belarus announced the bizarre fake names of countries that will make the supposed attack during the war games.

Veishnoria, Vesbaria and Lubenia will stage the attack on parts of Belarus for the purpose of the drills, said Belarus deputy defence minister Oleg Belokonev.

'The core of the scenario is based on a crisis situation of an escalating conflict, linked to increased activity of illegal armed gangs as well as international separatist and terrorism organization that receive external support,' he said.

He even unveiled a flag, passport, ID cards and the national currency of the fictitious Veishnoria - also spelled Viejsnoryjza - which covers part of present-day Belarus.

The fears were voiced by Ukrainian armed forces after NATO has demanded more military observers at the Zapad 2017 week-long military drills scheduled to start on September 14 (file picture)

Social media fans immediately demanded citizenship for the mock country which already has its own T-shirts.

Vesbaria includes part of Lithuania and western and central Latvia.

Lubenia encompasses north-eastern Poland and south-western Lithuania.

This imaginary country includes the Suwalki Gap, a 65 miles stretch of Polish and Lithuanian land there which separates Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad Region.

NATO this year carried out an exercise on protecting this corridor.

But Kiev army chiefs claimed that for Russia it would be 'quite easy to carry out an operation in this gap' deploying forces without insignia to grab the territory.

Such tactics were controversially used by Moscow in Crimea - annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014 - and eastern Ukraine, also called Donbass.

Ukraine warned the West that Russian forces deploying in Belarus for the Zapad drills could remain behind.

'The Suwalki Gap separates Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad Region,' said Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for Ukrainian armed forces HQ.

Belarus announced the bizarre fake names of countries that will make the supposed attack during the war games. They even unveiled a flag, passport (picture), ID cards and the national currency of the fictitious Veishnoria - also spelled Viejsnoryjza - which covers part of present-day Belarus

'The distance is not big. This is Poland and Lithuania. And it is quite easy to carry out such an operation in this gap with 'those who are not there'' he added, referring to soldiers whose presence Russia denies.

'This is what the developments in Crimea ad Donbass showed,' he warned.

NATO is aware that military exercises preceded Russian land grabs in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine six years later.

The alliance wants more observers at the exercises claiming the total number of troops will exceed 13,000.

This is a figure above which foreign countries have the right to monitor exercises under international agreements.

'People are worried this is a Trojan horse,' Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, said last month of Zapad.

'They say, 'We're just doing an exercise,' and then all of a sudden they've moved all these people and capabilities somewhere.'

Putin has confirmed he will personally inspect the exercises alongside his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrei Krasov, deputy head of the Russian parliamentary defence committee, said the West was worrying needlessly.

'Our neighbours in the West have absolutely no reason to worry,' he said.

'All of our servicemen will return to their permanent bases after the events envisaged as part of the drills are over.'

This morning General Ben Hodges, the commander of US ground forces in Europe, called on Russia Friday to expand media access to its upcoming military exercises, adding that Moscow's statements could not be trusted.

'If the Russian Federation is truly interested in stability and security, then be transparent, invite media to see everything that they do,' Hodges told reporters in Lithuania.

'The Russians have not given us a lot of reason to trust the numbers that they say,' Hodges said, echoing remarks by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

The exercises in western Russia and Belarus have caused unease in Poland and the Baltic states, though Moscow has insisted that they will be 'purely defensive' in nature.

'I think this would all be solved and everybody would be relaxed if the Russian Federation would invite media to everything that they do the way that Lithuanian armed forces do, that German armed forces do, that American armed forces do,' Hodges said.

Earlier this week the United States sent extra jet fighters and a company of US Army troops to beef up its presence in Lithuania during the drills.

NATO has also deployed about 1,000 soldiers in each of the Baltic states and Poland in response to growing concern over Russian intentions after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

'I feel confident in the deterrence capability that's actually in this region. But we also have to always remain vigilant,' Hodges said.

'Being alert is the responsibility for all of our security services. But I don't have a good record for predicting the future.'
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

BULAWAYO - The MDC Alliance embarked on a road show as a mobilisation strategy ahead of 2018 elections.MDC-T Bulawayo spokesperson Felix Sibanda confirmed there was a march which involved various parties that signed the alliance.Among the participants were the MDC-T, MDC led by Welshman Ncube among others.The road show started at around 12:30 in the Bulawayo city centre.The parties have joined hands to gang up against Zanu PF regime in the 2018 election. But President Robert Mugabe has described the coalition as zeros which will be crashed by his party.
Police are investigating whether a three-year-old's brother could have accidentally killed her with a shotgun.

The little girl was found dead with a gun shot wound to her neck on Sunday night at a house in Sydney's western suburb, Lalor Park.

The young girl has three brothers aged eight and under and police have tested the three-year-old's brother for gun residue, 7News reported.

Police are investigating whether a three-year-old's (pictured) brother could have accidentally killed her with a shotgun

The young girl has three brothers aged eight and under and police have tested the three-year-old's brother for gun residue, 7News reported

The girl's 43-year-old Arncliffe father was sobbing during his appearance Friday (pictured)

The young girl's father has been in police custody since the shooting and was charged with possessing an illegal and unregistered firearm and breaching an apprehended domestic violence order following the fatal shooting.

The 43-year-old Arncliffe man made a distraught court as he sobbed and shook during his appearance Friday, screaming out to see his daughter one more time.

Barrister William Barber told media the situation was a 'tragic of epic proportion'.

'I have never seen anyone in such a bad way in custody before,' Mr Barber said.

'He is absolutely beside himself, he can't think, he can't talk and the anguish he exhibits is terrible.'

Mr Barber told the court the 43-year-old hadn't slept in five days and was consequentially ordered to receive urgent psychiatric assessment.

The man has not applied for bail and remains in custody.

The little girl was found dead with a gun shot wound to her neck on Sunday night at a house in Sydney's western suburb, Lalor Park

The young girl's father has been in police custody since the shooting and was charged with possessing an illegal and unregistered firearm
Donald Trump confirmed Friday on Twitter that he will return to flood-ravaged Texas on Saturday, saying on Twitter that he 'will be back tomorrow.'

'Texas is heeling [sic] fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard. But still, so much to do,' the president tweeted.

He later reissued the tweet with the typo corrected to 'healing.'

Vice President Mike Pence had said Thursday during a press conference in Corpus Christi that Trump would return to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.

White House press secretary wouldn't say on Thursday whether Trump would huddle with hurricane survivors.

The president received flak for failing to meet with victims when he went on Tuesday and later claiming he saw wrath of the storm 'first hand.'

Scroll down for video

President Donald Trump visited the flood-ravage Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday and will return Saturday

Trump tweeted Friday morning  complete with a typo that he fixed later  that he 'will be back tomorrow'

The president received flak for meeting with emergency recovery officials instead of victims when he went on Tuesday and later claiming he saw wrath of the storm 'first hand'

Trump had also received criticism for his speech to supporters who had gathered outside a fire station, with the president saying, 'What a crowd, what a turnout,' before waving a Texas flag and not mentioning the loss of life and suffering of victims.

In his speech on Thursday, Pence commended state and federal officials who aided the relief effort before proclaiming his admiration of citizen volunteers and encouraged all Americans to find a way to help.

The vice president also revealed that more than 311,000 people affected by the storm have already registered for disaster aid and said that Trump's administration expects Congress to 'move quickly' in funding legislation.

In his speech earlier that day, Pence said: 'I called the president on Air Force Two this morning. I asked him what he wanted me to tell you. And he just said tell 'em we love Texas,' Pence told a small crowd as he viewed some of massive damage wrought by 130 mile-per-hour winds.

Pence offered reassurances and prayers  and repeatedly referenced Trump, who visited Texas on Tuesday but took flack for failing to meet with those whose lives were upended by the massive storm.

He hugged storm victims, and pledged that the region would come back 'bigger and better.'

Vice President Mike Pence said President Trump and Melania would return to Texas on Saturday during a press conference in Corpus Christi on Thursday, after spending the day touring the devastated Texas Gulf Coast

President Mike Pence toured storm damage in Texas, and vowed that the U.S. would see people through the tragedy. Pence (front) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (center in wheel chair) help move debris in the devastated area

On Thursday afternoon, Pence donned a pair of blue work gloves and helped volunteers from Samaritan's Purse International volunteers haul wood from in front of a mobile home toward a curb.

'The fact that Trump and now he's here makes you appreciate what we have,' said Brittney Naro, one of the affected family members there. 'They didn't have to come. What more can you ask for?'

'President Trump sent us here to say we are with you, the American people are with you. We are here today, we will be here tomorrow, and we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuilds bigger and better than ever before,' Trump said, holding a microphone hooked up to a small outdoor PA system.

Pence headed to Corpus Christie and then on to Rockport, which sustained 130 mile-an-hour winds during the storm, and which is still suffering from streets strewn with rubble from damaged buildings.

'President Trump sent us here to ensure that the full resources of the national government are being brought to bear in a consistent way,' Pence said.

Even as he outdid the president with a visit that featured emotional encounters with those whose lives were impacted by the storm, Pence referenced the president at every turn.

The vice president got hands on and carried broken branches to a pile of debris in Rockport, Texas

Pence offered reassurances and prayers  and repeatedly referenced Trump, who visited Texas on Tuesday but took flack for failing to meet with those whose lives were upended by the massive storm

'As the president often says we're one American family,' Pence said. 'When one hurts we all hurt. So on behalf of President Trump, on behalf of this good governor, on behalf of all of us that have the privilege of public responsibilities, just know we are with you, and we will stay with you until Rockport and all of Southeast Texas come back,' he said.

Pence boarded Air Force Two Thursday morning, accompanied by his wife, Karen Pence. Both were sporting jeans, and Karen Pence wore loafers. The vice president wore cowboy boots.

Karen Pence stood at his side as he met with people who gathered in Rockport to hear his remarks.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, center, and first responders move into place to greet Vice President Mike Pence as he arrives to visit areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Corpus Christi, Texas

Marah Kirkland, left, holds her baby, Madelyn, as she and Brittney Naro, holding Wyatt, watch as Vice President Mike Pence visits their neighborhood

Pence's wife, who like the vice president is deeply religious, also actively participated in the event, conducting a prayer for those affected that was carried live by cable networks.

'Heavenly father, we thank you for these amazing people who are an inspiration to us all across the United States and across the world,' Karen Pence told a hushed crowd.
President Donald Trump latched onto a charge this morning that James Comey wanted to announce the end of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton months before she sat down for an interview.

The president's press secretary said Thursday that the accusation made by two Republican senators, including the chairman of the Judiciary committee, proves the president was right to can the former law enforcement official.

Trump echoed her remarks this morning, claiming in a tweet that Comey's actions were evidence of the 'rigged system' he spoke about on the campaign trail.

'Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more. A rigged system!' Trump tweeted.

President Donald Trump latched onto a charge this morning that James Comey wanted to announce the end of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton months before she sat down for an interview

Trump claimed in a tweet that Comey's actions were evidence of the 'rigged system' he spoke about on the campaign trail

The president's press secretary said Thursday that the accusation made by two Republican senators, including the chairman of the Judiciary committee, proves the president was right to can the former law enforcement official

The senators wrote the FBI this week to ask why Comey attempted to draft a statement on the outcome of the case in April or May, even though Clinton had not yet spoken to investigators.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and a judiciary subcommittee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, sent the letter to new FBI chief Christopher Wray and subsequently made it public.

The lawmakers say they have copies of transcripts that were procured in the process of a probe into Comey that refer to his desire to draft a statement 'exonerating' Clinton months before her July 2 interview with the FBI.

They're asking Wray to turn over all documents to the Judiciary Committee pertaining to the discussion between the former FBI director and his employees.

Grassley and Graham say they learned of the conversations through an Office of Special Counsel (OSC) review of Comey that had been requested by Democrats.

Furious lawmakers from Clinton's political party accused Comey of violating the Hatch Act when he announced that the bureau was reopening its investigation into Clinton days before the presidential election.

Clinton and other Democrats have blamed Comey's October surprise for the former secretary of state's surprise loss to Donald Trump.

Two Republican senators have written the FBI to ask why Comey attempted to draft a statement on the outcome of the case in April or May, even though Clinton had not yet spoken to investigators

OSC ended its investigation into Comey when Trump fired him this spring - but not before it began conducting interviews with the former FBI chief's underlings.

The investigative agency spoke to James Rybicki, Comeys chief of staff, and Trisha Anderson, the principal deputy general counsel of National Security and Cyberlaw, before it terminated its probe. OSC turned over highly redacted copies of its interviews with Rybicki and Anderson to Grassley and Graham at their request, the senators said.

The transcripts revealed Comey's interest in drafting a statement on the outcome of the case before the FBI had spoken to Clinton or what the senators described as 17 key witnesses.

'Conclusion first, fact-gathering secondthats no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy,' the senators said in their letter.

News of the request hit just before White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders' daily briefing on Thursday.

'I'm not sure if he is aware of that revelation,' she told a reporter who asked for Trump's take, 'but if it is accurate as they say it is, it would certainly give cause and reason that Jim Comey was not the right person to lead the FBI.'

Comey ultimately let Clinton off the hook, despite a charge that she mishandled classified information. He reopened her case in late October after previously unrecovered emails were discovered on aide Huma Abedin's estranged husband's computer.

Days later Comey called off the dogs once more, but the damage to Clinton's reputation had already been done. She lost the presidential race to Trump on Nov. 8.

'I'm not sure if he is aware of that revelation, but if it is accurate as they say it is, it would certainly give cause and reason that Jim Comey was not the right person to lead the FBI,' White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during her daily briefing

Graham and Grassley received copies of OSC's interviews with Rybicki and Anderson on August 8, the letter to Wray they put out today said, and they have been trying to find out since why they the transcripts were so heavily blacked out.

The unredacted portions led them to Comey's suggestion in April or May to select members of FBI leadership that they begin preparing a statement on Clinton.

A transcript from what they surmise is Rybickis interview says that 'sometime in the spring,' perhaps, 'early spring I would say,' Comey emailed a subset of FBI officials 'to say, you know, again knowing sort of where  knowing the direction the investigation is headed, right, what would be the most forward-leaning thing we could do, right, information that we could put out about.

'And -- and, you know, by that -- you know, so that -- and he sent a draft around of, you know what - what it might look like. . . .' the subject says.

Later, the person said, 'I definitely remember spring. I had in my head like the April timeframe, but May doesn't seem out of the -- out of the realm.'

The person confirmed in the interview that Clinton had not yet been interviewed with Comey proposed the draft statement.

A second person, believed to be Anderson, gave investigators a similar timeline.

'The idea, Im not entirely sure exactly when the idea of the public statement um first emerged. Um it was, I just, I cant put a precise timeframe on it um but [redaction]. And then I believe it was in early May of 2016 that the Director himself wrote a draft of that statement '

Two Republican senators have written the FBI to ask why James Comey attempted to draft a statement on the outcome of the case in April or May, even though Clinton had not yet spoken to investigators. They are Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, left, and a judiciary subcommittee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham

The subject claimed to have received a hard copy of the draft statement that Comey initially put together.

'There were many iterations, at some point there were many iterations of the draft that circulated,' the person said.

Graham and Grassley included those portions of the transcripts in their letter to Wray.

'It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigations outcome while their work was ongoing,' they said. 'However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts.'

The senators are trying to get their hands on the drafts of the statement that were discussed in the transcript now.

'Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Transparency is essential to restoring the publics trust in the FBI,' the letter ends.
The threat from homegrown jihadis has reached unprecedented levels after ISIS ordered their followers to carry out deadly attacks in Britain rather than Syria, it was claimed today.

The terror group 'very cleverly switched tactics' by winding down efforts to lure British extremists to the fight on the frontline, Security Minister Ben Wallace said.

Instead they are throwing their efforts at radicalising people through the internet and ordering them to slaughter fellow Brits in truck attacks at home.

The stark warning comes after dozens of people were murdered and many more injured after four terror attacks in just three months in London and Manchester.

Meanwhile Max Hill QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has called for tougher sentences for those peddling extremist propaganda.

He also called for internet giants like WhatsApp to end encryption of anonymous messages to combat terrorism.

security Minister Ben Wallace (pictured left) and Max Hill QC (pictured right) the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, both said the nature of the terror threat facing Britain has changed with jihadis increasingly radicalised online in their bedrooms and encouraged to carry out attacks in the UK instead

Hundreds of floral tributes are left outside Borough Station in London, where eight people were killed when three jihadis drove their van into pedestrians in nearby London bridge before leaping out and stabbing innocent people enjoying a night out. It was one of four terror attacks on British soil in just three months

Terror chiefs said the mass return of jihaids who have travelled abroad to fight for Islamic State (also known as ISIS and Daesh) has not materialised.

More than 800 British radicals have travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight for the barbaric group, according to estimates.

Around 200 are thought to have been killed on the frontline, while another 350 have already returned, according to Sky News.

But many others remain out there too scared to return to Britain in case they are caught and locked up.

Mr Wallace told Sky News: 'ISIS have very cleverly switched tactics. They have realised that they can't get the supply of fighters into Syria and Iraq, and indeed they have been defeated, predominately , in Iraq.

'And at the same time they need to carry on trying to spread terror.

'So what we have seen them do is use more inspiration, use the internet, to radicalise those people and say ' take action at home and do whatever you can to really kill people'.

Sky News said the threat from homegrown jihadis has reached unprecedented levels.

Mr Hill QC said there has been a fundamental shift in how people are radicalised, with Brits targeted online and through social media rather than 'face to face'.

He told the broadcaster: 'It is very hard to detect a lone individual sitting in a darkened room with a laptop who has a predisposition, perhaps, to some violence, perhaps some low level criminality.

'And over quite a short period of time emerges into a radicalised mindset and then rents a van and then plans or carries out an atrocity.

British jihadi Khalid Masood drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing several, before leaping out and storming the grounds of Parliament where he murdered PC Keith Palmer. It was the first in a series of remarkably similar terror attacks on Britain this year

The Queen speaks to Millie Robson, 15, as she visited victims of the Manchester terror attack in after British suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert. He killed 22 people and injured dozens more in the carnage

'Of course that is very hard to detect.

'Whereas a decade ago we tended dot see physical radicalisation, face to face, we know now that the proliferation of extreme propaganda on the internet and on social media means that sort of material is generally available to individuals who may be predisposed to thinking in certain ways.'

In a separate interview with the Evening Standard, he called for an end to encryption and tougher terror sentences.

He ruled out 'sledgehammer' new laws and called for tech giants such as Google and Facebook to introduce 'verification' checks on social media users.

He said: 'The vast sums of money that tech companies generate  means that we should all be looking to those companies to recycle some of those profits into the fight to take down extreme material.'

On sentencing, he added: 'We are seeing some very hard examples of radicalisation that is swift, online, and involves almost no face-to-face contact between radicalisers and those who are vulnerable to the extremist message.

'In those circumstances we should think again about sentencing.'
Here are a series of texts between Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy that were shown to the court. They appear here chronologically:

June 19, 2014:

Carter: 'But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don't think it would but I'm telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life'

Carter: 'Part of me wants you to try something and fail just so you can go get help'

Roy: 'It doesn't help. Trust me'

Carter: 'So what are you gonna do then? Keep being all talk and no action and everyday go thru saying how badly you wanna kill yourself? Or are you gonna try to get better?'

Roy: 'I can't get better I already made my decision.'

June 23, 2014:

Carter: 'How do you want to harm yourself'

Roy: 'Something idkk yet'

Carter: 'Please don't'

Roy: 'I hate myself I'll always hate myself, I'm never gonna view myself as good I'm so far behind'

Carter: 'What is harming yourself gonna do!? Nothing! It will make it worse!'

Roy: 'Make the pain go away like you said'

Carter: 'It will make the pain go away temporarily, but when you're done, you'll just regret it and feel even worse!'

July 7, 2014:

Roy: 'If you were in my position. honestly what would you do'

Carter: 'I would get help. That's just me tho. When I have a serious problem like that my first instinct is to get help because I know I can't do it on my own'

Later that day, they talk about how he could make carbon monoxide (CO) in order to suffocate to death

Carter: 'Well there's more ways to make CO. Google ways to make it. . . '

Roy: 'Omg'

Carter: 'What'

Roy: 'portable generator that's it'

July 8, 2014:

Carter: 'So are you sure you don't wanna [kill yourself] tonight?'

Roy: 'What do you mean am I sure?'

Carter: 'Like, are you definitely not doing it tonight?'

Roy: 'Idk yet I'll let you know'

Carter: 'Because I'll stay up with you if you wanna do it tonight'

Roy: 'Another day wouldn't hurt'

Carter: 'You can't keep pushing it off, tho, that's all you keep doing'

July 11, 2014:

After Roy suggests putting a generator in the truck to make CO rather than a water pump:

Carter: '...Well in my opinion, I think u should do the generator because I don't know much about the pump and with a generator u can't fail'

July 4-12, 2014:

The following was sent over a nine-day span. The *** symbols show a gap in communications between the two.

Carter: 'You're gonna have to prove me wrong because I just don't think you really want this. You just keeps pushing it off to another night and say you'll do it but you never do'

***

Carter: 'SEE THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. YOU KEEP PUSHING IT OFF! You just said you were gonna do it tonight and now you're saying eventually...'

***

Carter: 'But I bet you're gonna be like 'oh, it didn't work because I didn't tape the tube right or something like that' . . . I bet you're gonna say an excuse like that'

***

Carter: 'Do you have the generator?'

Roy: 'not yet lol'

Carter: 'WELL WHEN ARE YOU GETTING IT'

***

Carter: 'You better not be bulls***ing me and saying you're gonna do this and then purposely get caught'

July 11-12, 2014:

Again, *** shows a gap in communications

Roy: 'I'm just to sensitive. I want my family to know there was nothing they could do. I am entrapped in my own thoughts'

Roy: 'like no I would be happy if they had no guilt about it. because I have a bad feeling tht this is going to create a lot of depression between my parents/sisters'

Roy: 'i'm overthinking everything. . f**k. I gotta stop and just do it'

Carter: 'I think your parents know you're in a really bad place. Im not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can accept it. They know there's nothing they can do, they've tried helping, everyone's tried. But there's a point that comes where there isn't anything anyone can do to save you, not even yourself, and you've hit that point and I think your parents know you've hit that point. You said you're mom saw a suicide thing on your computer and she didn't say anything. I think she knows it's on your mind and she's prepared for it'

Carter: 'Everyone will be sad for a while, but they will get over it and move on. They won't be in depression I won't let that happen. They know how sad you are and they know that you're doing this to be happy, and I think they will understand and accept it. They'll always carry u in their hearts'

***

Roy: 'i don't want anyone hurt in the process though'

Roy: 'I meant when they open the door, all the carbon monoxide is gonna come out they can't see it or smell it. whoever opens the door'

Carter: 'They will see the generator and know that you died of CO. . . .'

***

Roy: 'hey can you do me a favor'

Carter: 'Yes of course'

Roy: 'just be there for my family :)'

Carter: 'Conrad, of course I will be there for your family. I will help them as much as I can to get thru this, ill tell them about how amazing their son/brother truly was'

***

Roy: 'Idk I'm freaking out again'

Roy: I'm overthinking'

Carter: 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it! You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did last time and not think about it and just do it babe. You can't keep doing this every day'

Roy: 'I do want to. but like I'm freaking for my family. I guess'

Roy: 'idkkk'

Carter: 'Conrad. I told you I'll take care of them. Everyone will take care of them to make sure they won't be alone and people will help them get thru it. We talked about this, they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don't think this much and they just do it'

July 12, 2014:

In these exchanges on the day before his body was found, Roy expresses more hesitation about his plan.

Carter: 'So I guess you aren't gonna do it then, all that for nothing'

Carter: 'I'm just confused like you were so ready and determined'

Roy: 'I am gonna eventually'

Roy: 'I really don't know what I'm waiting for. . but I have everything lined up'

Carter: 'No, you're not, Conrad. Last night was it. You keep pushing it off and you say you'll do it but u never do. Its always gonna be that way if u don't take action'

Carter: 'You're just making it harder on yourself by pushing it off, you just have to do it'

Carter: 'Do u wanna do it now?'

Roy: 'Is it too late?'

Roy: 'Idkk it's already light outside'

Roy: I'm gonna go back to sleep, love you I'll text you tomorrow'

Carter: 'No? Its probably the best time now because everyone's sleeping. Just go somewhere in your truck. And no one's really out right now because it's an awkward time'

Carter: 'If u don't do it now you're never gonna do it'

Carter: 'And u can say you'll do it tomorrow but you probably won't'

***

Carter: 'You just need to do it Conrad or I'm gonna get you help'

Carter: 'You can't keep doing this everyday'

Roy: 'Okay I'm gonna do it today'

Carter: 'Do you promise'

Roy: 'I promise babe'

Roy: 'I have to now'

Carter: 'Like right now?'

Roy: 'where do I go? :('

Carter: 'And u can't break a promise. And just go in a quiet parking lot or something.'
A Florida mom has confessed to murdering a teenage boy in revenge for him allegedly raping her six-year-old daughter.

Connie Serbu lured 18-year-old Xavier Sierra to a wooded area in Naples, where she confronted him about the rape, before shooting him dead, police say.

She then called the cops herself, reportedly telling officers: 'So I don't care, he raped my daughter, I dont care, he sodomized my daughter... she told me everything that happened.'

Connie Serbu (left) reportedly lured 18-year-old Xavier Sierra (right) to the woods in July 2016 where she shot him dead

Police discovered the dead body of Sierra by trees in the 700 block of Goodlette-Frank Road on July 7, 2016, the Naples News reports.

The body of Serbu's brother John Vargas, 29, of the Bronx, New York, was discovered nearby.

Serbu had enlisted the help of her brother for the murder but he was killed in the fracas, according to police documents.

The mother-of-two told investigators that her daughter had told her about the rape in May 2016 - several years after the sexual assault took place.

Her daughter begged her mother not to hurt Sierra, but Serbu refused to listen and began plotting his death, court documents reveal.

In July, Serbu texted Sierra inviting him to come over and build a bunk bed for cash.

In July, Serbu texted Sierra (pictured) inviting him to come over and build a bunk bed for cash. But when she went to pick him up, they drove to the woods when he was murdered

Serbu then picked Sierra up, along with her brother Vargas, but instead of returning home, they drove to the woods in Naples.

When they pulled up, Sierra had attempted to flee but was chased down by Serbu and Vargas, court documents show.

Vargas, who was mentally disabled, caught up with the teen, and the two wrestled for the two guns.

Eventually, Sierra was shot six times and died, the documents reveal. Vargas was shot once in the abdomen and later died from his wounds.

Serbu was served with an arrest warrant on 25 August this year, on a charge of second-degree murder, according to documents filed with the Collier County Clerk of Courts this week.

'The arrest brings up a lot of old emotions,' said Zachary Rodriguez, a friend of Sierra.

Police discovered the dead body of Sierra by trees in the 700 block of Goodlette-Frank Road on July 7, 2016 (pictured)

'But it also brings a big weight off my chest and helps me take a deep breath,' he said. 'Things are taking a step in the right direction, and it feels good to know justice is being served.'

The case is still being investigated, according to police.

Serbu had already relinquished custody of her two children to her estranged husband in July 2016 due to the homicide investigation.

The couple had been 'experiencing marital problems' and had an on and off again relationship since 2014, court documents state.
Doctors have warned patients will remain at risk in unregulated Australian beauty clinics should appropriate rules not be put in place for sedation.

Professor David A Scott, the president of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, said cardiac arrest and severe toxic reactions would continue 'until we have appropriate regulations'.

It comes as Jean Huang, 35, died in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Friday, during an alleged botched breast operation.

A doctor has warned following the death of Jean Huang (pictured) that patients will remain at risk in unregulated Australian beauty clinics should appropriate rules not be put in place

The woman reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest during the surgery at The Medi Beauty in Chippendale clinic on Wednesday.

It is alleged she was given 10 times the normal dose of painkiller by 33-year-old Chinese tourist Jie Shao.

Shao has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger a person's life, with police considering further legal action following Ms Huang's death.

Professor Scott said he had written to NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard seeking a meeting to discuss safe sedation following the incident.

He said he wanted to speak with all Australian health ministers about introducing an agreed set of safe standards and guidelines across the country.

Professor Scott said different states currently had different processes to determine which facilities should be appropriately credited.

President of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Professor David A Scott (pictured), is calling on health ministers to introduce an agreed set of safety standards across the country for sedation in clinics

It comes as Chinese tourist Jie Shao (pictured) was charged with causing grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger a person's life after allegedly performing a 'botched breat operation' on Ms Huang

However, the college is seeking clear guidelines to ensure that whenever a procedure requires intravenous sedation or significant amounts of local anaesthetic, it is done in a registered, licensed facility.

Mr Hazzard said he was yet to see Professor Scott's letter, but would meet with ANZCA.

'I am appalled that these circumstances could have occurred at all, but I have to be very careful about what I say as health minister because there are now criminal charges,' he said.

'On the broader issue of procedures being carried out in a non-regulated clinic, there would appear to be some very complex issues which I've asked the Department of Health to review.'

Ms Huang (pictured) died in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Friday following the procedure Wednesday

She was allegedly given 10 times the normal dose of painkiller during the breast augmentation surgery

ANZCA is now seeking clear guidelines to ensure that procedures requireing intravenous sedation or significant local anaesthetic, are done in a registered facility, following Chau's (pictured) arrest

The head of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, Dr Mark Magnusson, said patients should always confirm a facility's accreditation and practitioners' qualifications.

'This includes those providing the treatment and anyone assisting, especially with intravenous medication or anaesthesia,' he said.

In an unrelated case last year, patients of another unregistered practitioner in Sydney were told they could be infected with blood-borne viruses from cosmetic treatments.

NSW Health in 2016 warned people who received treatments by Pu Liu, or Mabel Liu, in her Five Dock apartment to see their GP for blood tests after she allegedly used injectable drugs not approved for use in Australia.

The Health Care Complaints Commission later banned her for three years from providing any cosmetic medical or surgical services.

Meanwhile Shao, who had been in the country only four or five days when she was arrested, was refused bail with the case due to return to court Tuesday.
A 16-year-old is fighting for his life after being shot 13 times in broad daylight in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Gunmen opened fire on Shaquan Baylor as he stood outside Pitkin Ave. near Wyona St. around 2.30pm in what appeared to be a gang-related shooting, according to police.

The NYPD said they believed the attack was carried out in retaliation for Baylor beating up three members of rival gang, The Crips.

Arrest: One of the four men taken into custody by NYPD officers in connection with the double shooting in Brooklyn on Thursday

Raid: Another of the four men is led out of the apartment block which police stormed after a tip off

In the aftermath of yesterday's shooting one gunman is reported to have said: 'They had to sacrifice one of theirs' reported the New York Daily News.

'The victim's crew got into a fist fight with another crew,' another police source told the Daily News.

'As they are at the location, the crew they beat up comes up and starts letting off shots.'

A bystander, a 45-year-old woman, was hit in the right thigh with a bullet.

Debris: Polystyrene cups mark where some of the bullet casings landed on the Brooklyn street

Presence: The NYPD responded to the shooting with plain clothed and uniformed officers

Scene: Police outside the apartment block where the suspects were taken into custody

Police say the attack was caught on a security camera, and four men have been taken into custody.

Cops working on a tip were led to a nearby apartment building and four men were taken into custody.

Baylor is currently being treated at a local hospital and remains in the ICU.

The shooting happened while a memorial was being held in the same street.
A Texas National Guardsman has become an online sensation for saving 70 pets from the floods left by Hurricane Harvey

Josiah Meharg has warmed the hearts of more than 250,000 people who have shared images of the dogs, cats and the pig he has rescued in the path of destruction left by the horrifying storm.

'This post was meant to be encouraging to those worried about the animals left behind,' he told the Daily Dot.

Josiah Meharg, a Texas Army National Guard member, brought joy to the world when he shared a photo album to Imgur of animals he rescued from Harvey

The album - of several saved dogs, cats and one pig - quickly became viral and was viewed more than 250,000 time

'Seeing so many people relieved has helped me cope with the ones we were too late to rescue or couldn't reach.'

So far, Meharg has rescued pit bulls (including one named Wiggles) - German shepherds, Great Danes and Shih Tzus. He's even managed to save a couple of cats as well.

The San Marcos, Texas, native traveled to Houston with a team of 12 on Saturday to help with rescue and relief.

He described the scenes in Houston as 'catastrophic'.

'The extent of the flood is beyond imagination. And only today [Wednedsay night] did the rain finally stop,' he added.

'We were soaked for days but didn't let it get our spirits down.'

So far, Meharg has rescued pit bulls (including one named Wiggles), German shepherds, Great Danes and Shih Tzus

'This post was meant to be encouraging to those worried about the animals left behind,' he said to Daily Dot

The San Marcos, Texas, native traveled to Houston with a team of 12 on Saturday to help with rescue and relief

He added: 'Seeing so many people relieved has helped me cope with the ones we were too late to rescue or couldn't reach'

But through it all, he says that he is motivated by the spirit and resolve of the people of Houston.

'Most people were reluctant to leave their homes. [There were] worried about looters and leaving everything they've worked for but once they were out of their neighborhoods and saw the massiveness of the floods they had a change of heart. Everyone we have picked up has been so brave,' Meharg said.

'No one seemed scared or panicked. Us Texans are strong and these people were a perfect example of that.'
Peter Thiel, the eccentric tech billionaire worth 2.6 billion and supporter of President Donald Trump, is being investigated after helping to fund a controversial offshore test of an experimental herpes vaccine.

It was reported on Thursday that the St. Kitts government is now investigating the questionable trials.

An unidentified former Hollywood filmmaker was also a financial backer who has claimed that the vaccine was successful during clinical trials, according to The Daily Beast.

Scroll down for video

Peter Thiel, the eccentric tech billionaire worth 2.6 billion and supporter of President Donald Trump, is being investigated after helping to fund a controversial offshore test of an experimental herpes vaccine

From left Vice President-elect Mike Pence, PayPal founder Peter Thiel, and Apple CEO Tim Cook listen to Republican presidential-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with technology industry leaders at Trump Tower in New York

The investment group gathered at least $7 million for the research, which they hoped to run in Mexico and Australia.

The trials are part of a $7million experiment being conducted by an American university  with the backing of a group of wealthy libertarians  that is drawing criticism because of its noncompliance with traditional guidelines governing testing on humans, according to Kaiser Health News.

They were reportedly performed in St. Kitts from April to August 2016  without the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration or the oversight of an institutional review board  on a group of 20 people.

St. Kitts officials told The Daily Beast the tests were conducted without government permission.

'The Ministry of Health states categorically that neither the Cabinet, the Ministry of Health, the office of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) nor the St. Kitts and Nevis Medical Board has ever been approached on this project,' a government press release said Wednesday evening.

Jonathan Zenilman, chief of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's Infectious Diseases Division also said: 'You cant just ignore human-subject protections that have evolved since the end of the Second World War.'

Thiel along with a group of wealthy libertarians is helping fund a controversial offshore test of an experimental herpes vaccine

'What they're doing is patently unethical. There's a reason why researchers rely on these protections. People can die.'

The risks of conducting experimental trials with live viruses without these built-in safeguards range from infection to dangerous side effects.

Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease that often produces either mild symptoms or none at all, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

It is no accident that Thiel, the billionaire who struck it rich by co-founding PayPal and investing in Facebook when it was in its infancy, is aiding the effort to bypass the FDA.

Thiel has been on record criticizing the FDA for the manner in which it approves pharmaceuticals.

The trial is being done on 20 participants, most of whom are Americans who were flown to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts (above) several times in order to be vaccinated

He believes that 'you would not be able to invent the polio vaccine today' because of the agency's requirements.

Trump has also long advocated for speedier approvals of medicine by the FDA, which places constraints on pharmaceutical companies in order to ensure consumer safety.

Trump's pick for FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, criticized the agency before his confirmation for what he views as a slow approval process.

Another investor in the vaccine, Bartley Madden, said that Americans are unhappy about 'the FDA standing in the way' of new treatments.

An increasing number of American drug researchers are conducting offshore clinical trials due to what they say is the prohibitive costs of doing these trials in the U.S.

Still, for any drug to be approved in the U.S., it must meet FDA safety standards as mandated by an IRB.

But none of the tests were monitored by the Food and Drug Administration or a safety panel known as an institutional review board. FDA headquarters is seen above in Silver Spring, Maryland

The fact that the Thiel-backed clinical trial has not set up an IRB is puzzling to some.

'There's a tradition of having oversight of human experimentation, and it exists for good reasons,' said Robert Califf, who served as FDA commissioner during the Obama administration.

'It may be legal to be doing it without oversight, but it's wrong.'

But the company conducting the trials, Rational Vaccines, says the safety concerns are overblown because the participants already are infected with herpes.

A co-founder of Rational Vaccines is William Halford, a tenured professor at Southern Illinois University.

The school is one of the patent holders of the vaccine and it has solicited donations for the trial.

Halford died of cancer this past June.

President Trump has also long advocated for speedier approvals of medicine by the FDA, which places constraints on pharmaceutical companies in order to ensure consumer safety. Trump's pick for FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb (above), criticized the agency before his confirmation for what he views as a slow approval process

The university said it has no concerns about safety risks because it believes Halford took the necessary precautions.

'SIU School of Medicine did not have any involvement in Rational Vaccines' clinical trial,' said Karen Carlson, the university's spokeswoman. 'But we are confident that as the chief scientific officer of Rational Vaccines, Dr. Halford followed safety protocols appropriate to the clinical trial.'

This explanation will likely not assuage critics who are aghast at what they say is a reckless experimentation on humans.

Still, the vaccine's researchers insist that safety protocols are being followed and the drug has so far been shown to be safe and effective.

Richard Mancuso, who agreed to participate in the trial, said that the vaccine has 'saved my life.'

He said the drug has stopped his severe herpes outbreaks.

So far, there have been no peer-reviewed journal articles about the vaccine due to concerns over lack of safety.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A SOLIDARITY march organised for First Lady Grace Mugabe by her supporters in Harare yesterday failed to live up to its billing, as it turned into an anti-Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa show, as top Zanu PF officials took turns to lampoon President Robert Mugabe's deputy.Grace's allies accused Mnangagwa of plotting to usurp Mugabe's power.Curiously, both Grace and Mugabe did not attend the event held at the party's headquarters, with the veteran politician addressing an educationists' conference a stone's throw away from the Zanu PF headquarters.Shortly after getting into the programme, some supporters bussed from different parts of the country started walking out after realising that Mugabe and his wife were not going to be part of the programme.Several ministers  including Ignatius Chombo (Home Affairs), Saviour Kasukuwere (Local Government), Nyasha Chikwinya (Women's Affairs), Sydney Sekeramayi (Defence), Christopher Mushohwe (Information) and Oppah Muchinguri (Environment, Water and Climate)  graced the event, but their presence failed to inspire the restive crowd.The event was meant to express solidarity with Grace after she had been at the receiving end of bad publicity following allegations that she assaulted 20-year-old South African model, Gabriella Engels inthat country, while there were insinuations that products from her dairy concern could have been responsible for Mnangagwa's health afflictions.There were posters denigrating Engels, but speakers chose to use the occasion to berate their rivals in Zanu PF succession politics.Some of the posters read "Masvingo yati Engels is not an angel" (Masvingo says Engels is not an angel) and "Masvingo South inoti pasi ne AfriForum" (Masvingo South says down with AfriForum) in reference to a South African civic group pushing for Grace's prosecution.Without mentioning names, speakers said only Mugabe had their blessing to lead the party.Mnangagwa, still smarting from suspected food poisoning, is alleged to be leading a faction within Zanu PF, commonly known as Team Lacoste, angling to take over from Mugabe.Speaking in riddles, Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandiitawepi Chimene said people eat unripe fruit and then claim to have been poisoned when they fall sick, an obvious dig at Mnangagwa, who fell ill at Mugabe's rally in Gwanda three weeks ago."Zanu PF has a straightforward ideology: One leader at a time and President Mugabe at this time," she said."What we are doing now is thinking he has branches. No, he is not a tree."There is no way we are going to respect baba (Mugabe) and ignore amai (Grace) and there is no way we are going to respect amai and ignore baba."I once said it here and I am back again that we are not dealing with these things, but they will give us problems. Let's tell people to be steady."Chimene chided war veterans' leader, Chris Mutsvangwa and his executive, who were expelled from Zanu PF, claiming she did not need the post of chairperson to perform duties.She said those who claim to be the preferred successor should learn from former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who was kicked out of the party yet she thought she was the heir apparent.Chimene said it was untrue that Mugabe was preparing to create a dynasty and hand over power to his wife or family, describing the claims as highly offensive."Grace Mugabe doesn't fear dogs barking outside the yard. We have come as your children to show you that we are with you," she declared. "We stood with President Mugabe and the love that you are giving President Mugabe is the same love we want to give you."We are saying amai, don't tire, don't be moved by any machinations."A war veterans' leader in Chimene's faction, George Mlala, accused Mutsvangwa and his executive of interacting with Zanu PF structures after they were expelled from the ruling party.In response, guest of honour Chombo promised to look into the matter.But Mutsvangwa later told NewsDay that Chombo had no business meddling in war veterans' affairs."Too dull to grasp legal precepts, he accords recognition to Chimene and Mlala as they masquerade as leaders of war veterans in flagrant contempt of a High Court judgment," he said."An incompetent (former) minister of Local Government, he has turned urban centres into neighbourhoods of decay and crime. He has no single skyscraper to his credit after years of stewardship of the key ministry."He has no iota of appreciation of the role of local and foreign capital and business in a modern national economy."Mutsvangwa accused Chombo of soiling the reputation of the police force through extortionate abuse of motorists."He has turned police offices to targets of public hate, ridicule and contempt," he said, claiming the Home Affairs minister harboured his own presidential ambitions.
The latest politician embroiled in a dual-citizenship saga is likely to be an Ecuadorian citizen.

According to the country's former president, Hernan Perez Loose, there is 'no doubt' Labor Senator Katy Gallagher was an Ecuadorian national, reports The New Daily.

Mr Hernan claims that if the basic biographical information Senator Gallagher put on record, then she would be an Ecuadorian citizen.

Hernan Perez Loose claims there is 'no doubt' Labor Senator Katy Gallagher (pictured) was an Ecuadorian national

The initial claim was based on Senator Gallagher's mother's arrival card to Australia (pictured)

The former president believed because Senator Gallagher was born in Australia in 1970 and her mother was born in Ecuador in 1943 (where her mother is a British national), making it likely the Senator was Ecuadorian national by birth.

Mr Hernan said the Senator's mother was Ecuadorian by birth since the 1929 constitution, which means those born in the country gain the nationality as do their children.

The initial claim was based on Senator Gallagher's mother's arrival card to Australia, showing she was born in the South American country.

Until recently, the labor party had escaped any dual citizenship qualms.

The Senator's citizenship status was investigated when she was nominated for the senate as part of an initial vetting process.

'As a result of these investigations it was determined that I had not obtained Ecuadorian citizenship by descent from my mother,' Senator Gallagher previously said in a statement.

'I am not and had never been an Ecuadorian citizen.'

Senator Gallegher has previously said 'I am not and had never been an Ecuadorian citizen'

A News Corp report earlier this week cast doubts over her eligibility to be in the Senate.

Over the past month, the citizenship issue has caught out several senators as well as Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

Under section 44 of the Australian constitution, a person is incapable of being elected to the parliament if they are a 'citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power'.
A Western Australian tradie has died while wingsuit BASE jumping in Italy, his heartbroken family says.

Ben Dummett, 25, slammed into a mountain while BASE jumping with friends in the northern Italian province of Trentino on Monday, the Seven Network reports.

His father, Simon Dummett, says his son died doing what he loved the most.

He would jump off anything, anywhere, at any time of the day or night,' he told Seven on Friday.

Western Australian tradie, Ben Dummett (above), died after he slammed into a mountain while BASE jumping with friends in Italy on Monday

'The chance of getting that phone call in the middle of the night was always a very real, very real thing and, unfortunately, it did happen.'

'You can wrap your kids up in cotton wool but at the end of the day they are who they are and you wouldnt have stopped Ben doing what he loved doing.'

Mr Dummett's parents and brother have flown to Italy to bring him home.

'Fly free my brother, you'll be missed like you wouldn't believe,' Jordan Dummett wrote on Facebook on Friday.

His father, Simon Dummett, says his son died doing what he loved the most: 'He would jump off anything, anywhere, at any time of the day or night,' he said

On Thursday, Jordan thanked friends for their support during the family's difficult time.

'Just an update for everyone asking. We have just flown into Italy and are now driving an hour up to Lavis to where Ben is, to continue getting everything sorted to bring him and his things home.

'Thank you again for all the support.'

Ben had been travelling and BASE jumping around Europe for the past few months with friends.

Tributes have flooded the daredevil's Facebook page; his brother, Jordan, writing: 'Fly free my brother, you'll be missed like you wouldn't believe'

A friend that was jumping with him on Monday was injured when the flagging winds forced him into the side of a mountain.

Mr Drummett spent months in a wheelchair in 2012 after he fractured both ankles and a bone in his spine after a he fell heavily during a skydive in Queensland.

But even then, his love for adventure never ceased, with a friend writing on Facebook he managed to pull off the 'funniest things in a wheelchair.'

Ben had been travelling and BASE jumping around Europe for the past few months with friends

Mr Dummett was from Mandurah, south of Perth, and worked at Bouvard Marine.

In a statement, the company said he 'will be remembered as a top-class tradesman, friend, extreme sportsman and comedian'.

BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth - the four categories of fixed objects people can jump off.
Beth Rae Harris, 36 (pictured), of Chicago, Illinois, was charged after allegedly filming and posting her 23-year-old friend's rape to Snapchat

A Chicago woman allegedly filmed and posted the rape of her unconscious 23-year-old friend on Snapchat after the two fought over a man they met at a party.

Prosecutors say Beth Rae Harris, 36, and the victim were arguing on August 24 but that the two eventually made amends.

They then made their way to a club and a hotel party where the victim drank heavily.

Harris and the victim then returned to Harris's apartment on the 7400 block of North Artesian Avenue where the victim passed out, prosecutors said.

That's when Harris allegedly encouraged at least one man, but possibly more, to rape the 23-year-old.

The victim woke up the next morning completely naked, and sore. Harris told her as she left that a man had sex with her while she was passed out, Assistant State's Attorney Nora Gill said.

Upon arriving home, the victim discovered there were videos posted to her Snapchat account that showed her being raped.

Harris reportedly appears in videos posted to the victim's Snapchat account insulting the 23-year-old and even narrating the rape at times, reported DNAinfo Chicago.

The videos were seen by Snapchat users and Harris was identified as the person who recorded and disseminated the videos of the rape, according to authorities.

Harris was arrested and charged with nonconsensual dissemination of sexual images. She is currently being held at Cook County Jail where bail was set at $150,000 on Thursday.

The incident occurred after the women argued about a man they met a party. The two are said to have made amends and went out drinking. They returned to Harris's apartment on the 7400 block of North Artesian Avenue (pictured) where the victim passed out. That's when Harris allegedly encouraged at least one man, but possibly more, to rape the 23-year-old

Police said no one else has been charged in the sexual assault and they they are working on identifying the man or men involved.

Harris's attorney said she works as a masseuse and a model, and is a student at a beauty school. She has three children.

The 36-year-old also has pending unrelated cases for criminal damage to property and violating probation, court records show.

She has previously been convicted of battery, reckless conduct, resisting arrest and aggravated battery to a peace officer.
Homeland Security and the FBI have deemed antifa 'domestic terrorists' as they warn of escalating violence between the anti-fascist group and neo-Nazis.

Federal officials launched a global investigation into antifa last year to determine whether they may start committing terror attacks, like their right-wing counterparts such as the recent murder of Heather D. Heyer, 32, by a white supremacists who drove his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville.

They also feared that antifa members, who have been seen at counter protests to white supremacist rallies, could travel abroad train with 'foreign anarchist extremist movements' in Greece, Italy and Mexico. Officials fear that as the nationalist movements grow under President Trump, the antifa movement will grow in response.

Homeland Security and the FBI have deemed antifa 'domestic terrorists' as they warn of escalating violence between the anti-fascist group and neo-Nazis (Antifa members and counter protesters gather during a rightwing No-To-Marxism rally on August 27, 2017 at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Berkeley, California)

Federal officials launched a global investigation into antifa last year (Antifa members at a counter protest to the No-To-Marxism rally on August 27)

Even before the recent violent clash in Charlottesville, the Department of Homeland Security had warned that about the growing risk of violence between the left-wing antifa and right-wing groups.

They even formally classified their activities as 'domestic terrorist violence,' law enforcement sourced told Politico.

A senior state law enforcement official told them that 'a whole bunch of them' have been placed on U.S. terrorism watch lists.

Antifa, short for anti-fascist or Anti Fascist Action, has been around since the 1920s where it emerged as a response to the growing Nazism spreading across Europe.

The antifa protesters held a counter demonstration against the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville

Since then, they have existed mainly on the fringes, but have gathered in force over the years to oppose racist, violent fascist groups, from clashes with Nazis on the streets of Germany, Italy, and Spain in the 1930s, to taking on the skinheads of the 1980s.

Now as America's extremist right wing groups become emboldened and more vocal under President Trump, the anti-fascist movement have had a huge boost in popularity as people join the ranks of the left wing group to oppose the alt-right.

An official said anti-fascist protesters began turning up at Trump rallies, confederate events and nationalist marches.

'These antifa guys were showing up with weapons, shields and bike helmets and just beating the s**t out of people,' the official said. 'They're using Molotov cocktails, they're starting fires, they're throwing bombs and smashing windows.'

Authorities blamed the left-wing group for instigating the violence, and say that as they clashed with the right-wing protesters and Trump supporters, they responded with their own weapons and violence.

Riot police stand before Antifa members and counter protesters during a right-wing No To Marxism rally on August 27 in Berkeley

Violence broke out during protests in Berkeley, California, and Sacramento as well as several clashes in Charlottesville before the most recent deadly rally.

The DHS report claimed that at the Sacramento rally, antifa protesters came prepared for violence, and revealed they were highly organized, with 'proficiency in pre-operational planning... raising bail money in preparation for arrests, counter-surveilling law enforcement using three-man scout teams, using handheld radios for communication, and coordinating the event via social media.'

'Everybody is wondering, 'What are we gonna do? How are we gonna deal with this?'' said the senior state law enforcement official. 'Every time they have one of these protests where both sides are bringing guns, there are sphincters tightening in my world. Emotions get high, and fingers get twitchy on the trigger.'

Once seen as rather extreme left wing faction, the antifa are generally anarchists who believe the best way to take on the alt-right is through direct action.

'We are... in the fightin' Nazis business,' said Antifa member and The Nation journalist Natasha Lennard, in a piece titled 'It's time to make Nazis afraid again.

'Antifa is a promise to neo-Nazis and their bedfellows that we will confront them in the streets; we will expose them online and inform their place of employ. We are not venues to deny space to far right events; we are vowing that all far-right events will be bombarded and besieged.'

Antifa-aligned journal It's Going Down warns that members 'have to organize to defend ourselves' against the alt-right.

Members of Antifa cheer as white activists are evicted from Emancipation Park during the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, August 12

'If we allow the alt-right and neo-Nazis to organize in our communities, the consequences will be fatal,' they wrote. 'Charlottesville is just the beginning.'

'We have to stand up to white supremacists, we have to shut down and chase out these bigots every time they try to organize, or else they will kill more people. The police will not protect us.'

Portland, Oregon, has seen some of the worst clashes as the city, a mainstay of liberal, antifa activists, went up against neo-Nazis in a state which once had the highest Ku Klux Klan membership rate in America.

Following Trump's surprise election, masked protesters held demonstrations which saw store windows smashed and vandalism across the city. Violence erupted at a Rally for Trump and Freedom in the suburb of Vancouver after activists threw smoke bombs.

They have clashed again and again since then, including at a June rally, which featured alt-right's Kyle Chapman, who shot to internet fame for attacking an antifa activist with a wooden post. Antifa responded by throwing bricks until the police dispersed them.

Federal authorities told Politico that extremists on both sides have been using the violence to recruit for new members and antifa has established groups in numerous cities.

Despite their rise to prominence, authorities have struggled to penetrate antifa deeply enough to fully understand its capacity and its potential for violence.

But as the alt-right continues to flourish under Trump, the threat of antifa will only grow to meet it, meaning bigger and bloodier clashes.
Sen. John McCain put out a long-form installment of his running back-and-forth with President Donald Trump, writing an op-ed that branded the president as 'often poorly informed.'

The hit comes after Trump repeatedly went after McCain for voting against an Obamacare repeal.

The observation was included in a long piece by the Arizonan calling for Congress return to order and get back to its 'routine duties' as well as bipartisan compromise.

But the Washington Post op-ed also included a searing indictment of the president that few other elected Republicans would dare to put forward.

Arizona Sen. John McCain wrote an op-ed that branded the president as 'often poorly informed'

'That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be in his speech and conduct,' wrote McCain.

'Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important,' he added.

McCain begins his piece with a complete denunciation of white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, a more thinly veiled attack on Trump, who said there were bad people on 'many sides' of the protests that turned violent.

'Americans recoiled from the repugnant spectacle of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville to promote their un-American 'blood and soil' ideology,' McCain wrote. 'There is nothing in their hate-driven racism that can match the strength of a nation conceived in liberty and comprising 323 million souls of different origins and opinions who are equal under the law.'

Then he called out the victim who got mowed down by name. 'Most of us share Heather Heyer's values, not the depravity of the man who took her life.'

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he walks to the White House in Washington, DC, on August 30, 2017 upon his return from Springfield, Missouri, where he spoke about tax reform

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

The salvo was a latest in a running feud between the two men. Trump tore into McCain when he got a question about him last month. 'Senator McCain? You mean the one who voted against 'Obamacare? You mean Senator McCain who voted against us getting good health care?' Trump asked.

Earlier, Trump lauded McCain when he returned from treatment for brain cancer to fly to Washington and cast a vote to proceed to the GOP leadership's Obamacare repeal bill.

'We came very close with health care. Unfortunately, John McCain decided to vote against it at the last minute,' Trump continued. 'You'll have to ask John McCain why he did that.'

Trump's most direct attack came during the campaign when he said 'I like people who weren't captured,' referring to the five years in captivity in Vietnam by the downed Navy pilot.

McCain has taken jabs of his own. In May he called the Russia probe 'Watergate size and scale.'

McCain also blasted Congress with familiar calls for bipartisan action.

'Congress will return from recess next week facing continued gridlock as we lurch from one self-created crisis to another,' he wrote.

'We are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties. Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important.'

Roger Stone, a close personal friend of the president and former adviser to his presidential campaign had a harsh response to McCain's statement on sheriff Joe Arpaio

McCain said last month that Trump's pardon of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio 'undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law.'

Despite his call for bipartisan cooperation, McCain's career has also been punctuated by periods of going along with the leadership strategy and going after Democrats in office. He voted against the George W. Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.
President Donald Trump denied once again that his new chief of staff, John Kelly, is making waves at the White House and he's frustrated with him.

Trump says he 'could not be happier or more impressed' with Kelly, the retired four-star general he transferred from Homeland Security to the White House at the end of July.

The president lauded Kelly at an event Wednesday in Missouri as he spoke about a downswing in illegal border traffic. Secretly, he's chafing at Kelly's command structure, though, the Washington Post said in a report yesterday evening.

President Donald Trump denied once again that his new chief of staff, John Kelly, is making waves at the White House and he's frustrated with him

Trump says he 'could not be happier or more impressed' with Kelly, the retired four-star general he transferred from Homeland Security to the White House at the end of July, in spite of reports describing tension

The Post said the president longs for the pre-Kelly days when aides and friends had unfettered access to him.

Trump respects the general who previously served as his Homeland Security secretary, but he's struggling to adjust to the strict order Kelly introduced at 1600 Penn, aides and friends of the president indicated.

'Hes having a very hard time,' a friend who spoke to Trump just this week said. 'He doesnt like the way the medias handling him. He doesnt like how Kellys handling him. Hes turning on people that are very close to him.'

The president last week blasted 'fake news' on Twitter as he responded to a report in the New York Times that attested to tension with Kelly over his moves to turn the White House into a more professional environment.

'General John Kelly is doing a fantastic job as Chief of Staff. There is tremendous spirit and talent in the W.H. Don't believe the Fake News,' Trump said in a tweet.

Trump came to Kelly's defense again this morning after the Post delved into the details of recent flare ups between the president and his chief of staff.

'General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed - and this Administration continues to.....get things done at a record clip. Many big decisions to be made over the coming days and weeks. AMERICA FIRST!' Trump said.

The Post said Trump roared at Kelly after he found out that a group of his Border Patrol buddies has initially been prevented from entering his Yuma, Arizona, event.

When Trump name-checked Kelly later that evening in Phoenix, attempting to bring his chief of staff to the stage, the general did not appear.

'Wheres John?' Trump had asked. 'Where is he? Wheres General Kelly? Get him out here. Hes great. Hes doing a great job.'

It's not clear where Kelly was at the time, but the Post insinuated that he was off brooding.

The article, which was based on 15 interview with White House officials and friends of the president, present two differing portraits of Kelly.

Senior officials say they're glad he's Trump's friends, some of whom they consider hangers-on, at bay, unless they have an official appointment to see the president and a clear reason for being in the Oval Office.

People who've lost their direct access to Trump complained that Kelly is cramping the president's style and Trump doesn't like it.

The president was also said to be upset with Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, over his claims in an interview that he was under pressure to resign after Trump blamed 'both sides' for the violence in Charlottesville. Kelly and Cohn are seen on Wednesday at the White House

Kelly's arrival led to the latest in a string of staff shake ups at the White House. Former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was the first to go. Then Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived communications director in waiting, followed by Steve Bannon, the president's former chief strategist who had been with him since last year's campaign.

A personnel review that's under way could lead to even more changes. People who talked to the Post suggested Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could be next.

Tillerson distanced himself from the president's remarks on Charlottesville during a Fox News interview last Sunday. He lunched with the president on Monday, though, and appeared to be in a bright mood during Trump's news conference, where he sat in the front row, later that afternoon.

The president was also said to be upset with Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, over his claims in an interview that he was under pressure to resign after Trump blamed 'both sides' for the violence in Charlottesville.

Cohn told CNBC this morning, though, that he and Trump have a 'great relationship.'
Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured) was the pilot of the doomed flight

DID THE PILOT HIJACK HIS OWN PLANE?

Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah planned mass murder because of personal problems, locking his co-pilot out of the cockpit, closing down all communications, depressurising the main cabin and then disabling the aircraft so that it continued flying on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

That was the popular theory in the weeks after the plane's disappearance.

His personal problems, rumours in Kuala Lumpur said, included a split with his wife Fizah Khan, and his fury that a relative, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, had been given a five-year jail sentence for sodomy shortly before he boarded the plane for the flight to Beijing.

But the pilot's wife angrily denied any personal problems and other family members and his friends said he was a devoted family man and loved his job.

This theory was also the conclusion of the first independent study into the disaster by the New Zealand-based air accident investigator, Ewan Wilson.

Wilson, the founder of Kiwi Airlines and a commercial pilot himself, arrived at the shocking conclusion after considering 'every conceivable alternative scenario'.

However, he has not been able to provide any conclusive evidence to support his theory.

The claims are made in the book 'Goodnight Malaysian 370', which Wilson co-wrote with the New Zealand broadsheet journalist, Geoff Taylor.

It's also been rumoured that Zaharie used a flight simulator at his home to plot a path to a remote island.

However, officials in Kuala Lumpur declared that Malaysian police and the FBI's technical experts had found nothing to suggest he was planning to hijack the flight after closely examining his flight simulator.

And there are also theories that t he tragic disappearance may have been a heroic act of sacrifice by the pilot.

Australian aviation enthusiast Michael Gilbert believes the doomed plane caught fire mid-flight, forcing the pilot to plot a course away from heavily populated areas.

IF NOT THE PILOT, WAS THE CO-PILOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MYSTERY?

Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, again for personal problems, was suspected by rumour-spreaders to have overpowered the pilot and disabled the aircraft, flying it to its doom with crew and passengers unable to get through the locked cockpit door.

Theorists have put forward the suggestion that he was having relationship problems and this was his dramatic way of taking his own life.

But he was engaged to be married to Captain Nadira Ramli, 26, a fellow pilot from another airline, and loved his job. There are no known reasons for him to have taken any fatal action.

There have been a series of outlandish theories about the disappearance of the plane

Others have suggested that because he was known to have occasionally invited young women into the cockpit during a flight, he had done so this time and something had gone wrong.

Young Jonti Roos said in March that she spent an entire flight in 2011 in the cockpit being entertained by Hamid, who was smoking.

Interest in the co-pilot was renewed when it was revealed he was the last person to communicate from the cockpit after the communication system was cut off.

DID THE RUSSIANS STEAL MH370 AND FLY THE JET TO KAZAKHSTAN

An expert has claimed the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was hijacked on the orders of Vladimir Putin and secretly landed in Kazakhstan.

Jeff Wise, a U.S. science writer who spearheaded CNN's coverage of the Boeing 777-200E, has based his outlandish theory on pings that the plane gave off for seven hours after it went missing, that were recorded by British telecommunications company Inmarsat.

Wise believes that hijackers 'spoofed' the plane's navigation data to make it seem like it went in another direction, but flew it to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased from Kazakhstan by Russia.

However, Wise admits in New York Magazine that he does not know why Vladimir Putin would want to steal a plane full of people and that his idea is somewhat 'crazy'.

Wise also noted there were three Russian men onboard the flight, two of them Ukrainian passport holders.

Aviation disaster experts analysed satellite data and discovered - like the data recorded by Inmarsat - that the plane flew on for hours after losing contact.

Careful examination of the evidence has revealed that MH370 made three turns after the last radio call, first a turn to the left, then two more, taking the plane west, then south towards Antarctica.

MH370 WAS USED BY TERRORISTS FOR A SUICIDE ATTACK ON THE CHINESE NAVY

This extraordinary claim came from 41-year-old British yachtsman Katherine Tee, from Liverpool, whose initial account of seeing what she thought was a burning plane in the night sky made headlines around the world.

On arrival in Thailand's Phuket after sailing across the Indian Ocean from Cochin, southern India with her husband, she said: 'I could see the outline of the plane - it looked longer than planes usually do.There was what appeared to be black smoke streaming from behind.'

Ms Tee's general description of the time and place was vague and she lost all credibility when she later stated on her blog that she believed MH370 was a kamikaze plane that was aimed at a flotilla of Chinese ships and it was shot down before it could smash into the vessels.

Without solid proof of the satellite data, she wrote on her blog, Saucy Sailoress, the plane she saw was flying at low altitude towards the military convoy she and her husband had seen on recent nights. She added that internet research showed a Chinese flotilla was in the area at the time.

While the debris proved the plane went down in the Indian Ocean, the location of the main underwater wreckage  and its crucial black box data recorders  remains stubbornly elusive.

THE JET LANDED ON THE WATER AND WAS SEEN FLOATING ON THE ANDAMAN SEA

On a flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur that crossed over the Andaman Sea on March 8, Malaysian woman Raja Dalelah, 53, saw what she believed was a plane sitting on the water's surface.

She didn't know about the search that had been started for MH370. She alerted a stewardess who told her to go back to sleep.

'I was shocked to see what looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft on the water,' she said.

It was only when she told her friends on landing in Kuala Lumpur what she had seen that she learned of the missing jet. She had seen the object at about 2.30pm Malaysian time.

She said she had been able to identify several ships and islands before noticing the silver object that she said was a plane.

But her story was laughed off by pilots who said it would have been impossible to have seen part of an aircraft in the water from 35,000ft or seven miles.

Ms Raja filed an official report with police the same day and has kept to her story.

'I know what I saw,' she said.

THE AIRCRAFT SUFFERED A CATASTROPHIC SYSTEMS FAILURE AND CRASH-LANDED ON THE OCEAN

A catastrophic event such as a fire disabling much of the equipment resulted in the pilots turning the plane back towards the Malaysian peninsula in the hope of landing at the nearest airport.

Satellite data, believable or not, suggests the aircraft did make a turn and theorists say there would be no reason for the pilots to change course unless confronted with an emergency.

A fire in a similar Boeing 777 jet parked at Cairo airport in 2011 was found to have been caused by a problem with the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

Stewarts Law, which has litigated in a series of recent air disasters, believes the plane crashed after a fire - similar to the blaze on the Cairo airport runway - broke out in the cockpit.

After an investigation into the Cairo blaze, Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Central Directorate (EAAICD) released their final report which revealed that the fire originated near the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

The cause of the fire could not be conclusively determined, but investigators pinpointed a problem with the cockpit hose used to provide oxygen for the crew in the event of decompression.

Following the 2011 fire, US aircraft owners were instructed to replace the system - it was estimated to cost $2,596 (1,573) per aircraft. It was not known whether Malaysia Airlines had carried out the change.

If either pilot wanted to crash the plane, why turn it around? So the turn-around suggests they were trying to land as soon as possible because of an emergency.

THE US SHOT DOWN THE AIRCRAFT FEARING A TERROR ATTACK ON DIEGO GARCIA

The Boeing 777 was shot down by the Americans who feared the aircraft had been hijacked and was about to be used to attack the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian Ocean. So conspiracy theorists claim.

And former French airline director Marc Dugain said he had been warned by British intelligence that he was taking risks by investigating this angle.

There is no way of checking whether Dugain received such a warning or why he believes the Americans shot down the plane.

But adding to the theory that the aircraft was flown to Diego Garcia, either by the pilot Zaharie or a hijacker, was the claim that on the pilot's home flight simulator was a 'practice' flight to the island.

Professor Glees said: 'The Americans would have no interest in doing anything of the kind and not telling the world.

'In theory, they might wish to shoot down a plane they thought was attacking them but they wouldn't just fire missiles, they'd investigate it first with fighters and would quickly realise that even if it had to be shot down, the world would need to know.'
The president told Congress on Thursday that he plans to slash federal workers' pay raises to save money in 2018.

In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence  who serves as president of the Senate  Donald Trump complained that the scheduled hikes are 'inappropriate.'

Trump's decision won't affect military personnel.

President Donald Trump is reducing the pay raises federal employees will receive in January 2018, cutting base salary increases from 1.9 per cent to 1.4 per cent

Base salary increases for most civilian federal employees are on autopilot, and would have ticked up by 1.9 per cent at the end of the year if Trump hadn't intervened.

Instead, that number will be just 1.4 per cent  far less than the 2.1 per cent increase workers got in January 2017.

But former President Barack Obama gave them just 1.3 per cent extra in 2016.

In addition, Trump said, 'locality pay increases averaging 26.16 percent and costing $26 billion would go into effect in January 2018.'

Trump is adjusting that to an average increase of just 0.5 per cent.

'Locality' bonuses are supplements to base government workers' salaries based on where they live, accounting for differences in the cost of living in various parts of the country.

The lowest amount, paid to employees in rural areas and smallish cities, is just over 15 per cent. The highest, in the San Francisco bay area, is more than 38 per cent.

Also on the chopping block are hikes in 'locality' payments that employees receive on top of their base salaries in varying amounts according to the cost of living. The highest payments are for people who work in the bright green areas above

In his letter to Ryan and Pence, Trump cited his authority to change federal salaries in times of 'national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.'

He didn't name a specific emergency or economic crisis.

But he insisted that the automatic raises would not leave enough money in the federal budget to maintain 'support for key Federal priorities such as those that advance the safety and security of the American people.'

Under Trump's budget proposal, released in May, military servicemen and women will see their pay increase by 2.1 per cent.

'I strongly support our men and women in uniform, who are the greatest fighting force in the world and the guardians of American freedom,' Trump wrote.

'As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, we must work to rebuild our military's readiness and capabilities.'

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 federal employees, carped in a statement that Trump's number for civilians is 'too low especially in light of the fact that federal law calls for a 1.9 percent across-the-board raise and private sector wages are growing at an even faster rate.'

'Add to that, current proposals attacking the federal retirement system would result in a pay cut for federal workers.'
A four-year-old girl who saved her mother's life during a farm accident earlier in the year has become the youngest conferee of a bravery award in NSW.

Georgia Ritter was honoured at the 2017 NSW Ambulance Appreciation Day for courageous act in saving her mother life Natalie, 35, following an accident at their family farm in Bundook, northwest of Newcastle, in May.

Upon witnessing the accident, the little girl had reportedly rushed to her mother's aid and promptly called Triple Zero to request help.

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Georgia Ritter, four, (pictured) has become the youngest recipient of the bravery award

She was honoured for her heroic act in saving her mother's life Natalie, 35, way back in May

Her courageous act had earned her the NSW Ambulance Commendation for Courage Award and the Drop Ribbon medal on Friday at a ceremony which was also attended by her mother, Nine News reports.

'Georgia showed an amazing amount of courage when faced with a situation which would have daunted even the most experienced adults,' NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan told the network.

'Georgia is proof that you are never too young to be a Triple Zero hero.

'Acts of bravery come in all shapes and sizes and so too do the very people who perform them,' he said.

The young girl had watched in horror after her mother lost control of her quad bike and became pinned under the vehicle.

She raced a kilometre towards her mother after watching the crash from the family home - falling over and scratching herself in face while in the process.

Paramedics had to work on the Georgia's mother for several hours before airlifting her to hospital for treatment.

Little Georgia was among 60 children and adults who received similar commendations for their heroic acts by NSW Ambulance, Nine News reports.

The four-year-old girl saved her mother's life after she became stuck underneath her bike

Natalie Ritter, pictured, was saved by her four-year-old daughter Georgia Ritter this year
US-backed fighters on Friday ousted the Islamic State group from Raqqa's Old City bringing them closer than ever to the jihadists' most well-defended positions.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for IS, said: 'Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqa after clashes with Daesh.

'We are on the edges of ISIS's security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are.'

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces keeps guard as his comrades run to hide in front of the Islamic State fighters position in Raqqa, Syria last month

Most of IS's fighters and up to 25,000 civilians are expected to still be holed up in the city centre.

The SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters first broke into Raqqa in early June and penetrated its Old City a month later.

They were able to enter it after US-led coalition air strikes opened up two gaps in the Rafiqah wall, a 2,500-metre (2,735-yard) barrier surrounding the Old City.

The SDF has captured more than 60 percent of Raqqa city and most of the surrounding northern province.

Sello declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of Raqa, but said operations were proceeding 'according to schedule'.

'Control over the Old City - which has historical importance - is a moral victory against IS, which is collapsing in Raqqa. Its defeat there is inevitable,' he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with IS in a small part of the Old City.

IS overran Raqqa in 2014, turning it into the de facto capital of its self-declared 'caliphate'.

The city was the scene of some of the group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings.

Still alive? Russia claimed that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, pictured in 2014, had died in an airstrike on Raqqa, Syria, however Kremlin has struggled to prove this

Among the fighting, the US commander of forces fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria believes the militants' top leader is still alive.

That's contrary to Russia's claims that it probably killed him in an airstrike.

Army Lietenant General Stephen Townsend told reporters he's seen 'some indicators in intelligence channels' that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive.

Russian officials claimed in June there was a 'high probability' that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, in May.

Townsend spoke to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad.

He said US forces are actively searching for Baghdadi and admitted if they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him.

Damaged buildings are pictured during the fight between Syrian Democratic Forces and Islamic State fighters in Hisham Bin Abdelmalik, a district of Raqqa

Islamic State's remaining Syrian strongholds are likely to fall by the end of October, which must be the trigger for the international community to push for free and fair elections, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Friday.

'What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war.

.'hat we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace. And that is where the challenge starts at this very moment,' he said in a BBC radio interview.

What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura

Three places were still far from stabilised, de Mistura said - Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Idlib.

After Raqqa and Deir al-Zor fall, the international community is expected to lend a hand to both the opposition and the government by pushing politicians to accept a real negotiation.

If all goes well, within a year it would be a possibility of having a truly credible election, experts have claimed.

The city of Deir al-Zor has been under siege by ISIS fighters for years, forcing the UN to conduct an unprecedented and expensive high-altitude airdrop campaign to supply the population.

De Mistra said: 'The Syrian government and the Russians are very likely between now and the end of this month or perhaps early October, latest, to actually liberate it.'

Following today's break through in the Old City area, The United States and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces 'will probably liberate Raqqa by the end of October', he said.

The third area, Idlib, is 'full of al Nusra, which is al Qaeda,' de Mistura said, referring to the Nusra Front, a one-time al Qaeda affiliate.

It has been renamed and merged with other groups, but remains the only force in Syria's war, apart from IS, that is designated by the UN as 'terrorists'.

The lesson from the Iraqi city of Mosul, taken over by IS a decade after the United States declared 'mission accomplished' in the war in Iraq, was that Syria's war needed to be followed by a fair UN-managed election, without neglecting minorities.

Syria's war has largely pitted Sunni muslims, backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, an ethnic Alawite, who is backed by Shi'a allies, including Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah militias.

An unrepresentative peace deal would leave the door open to a resurgence of Islamic State, Sunni extremists also known by the Arabic name Daesh.

Even those who believe they won the war 'that is the government' they will need to make a gesture, otherwise Daesh will 'come back in a month or two months' time.

Nobody had an interest in a resurgence of IS in Syria, de Mistura said. Assad's allies in Moscow, recalling the Soviet experience of war in Afghanistan, 'certainly want an exit strategy.'

'We are getting close to some kind of understanding even among those who have been involved in the conflict that the priority is to close it. What we need to do is wrap it up in a way that is stabilised, not just close the conflict.'
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Heal Zimbabwe on Wednesday joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.In a statement the organisation said this special day is commemorated annually on the 30th of August."The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances was passed under resolution 65/209 on 21 December 2010 which expressed great concern on the rising cases of involuntary disappearances. This culminated into the adoption of the International Convention for the protection of all Persons of Enforced Disappearances where 30 August was declared as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances," the trust said."The UN defines an enforced disappearance as when "persons are arrested, detained, or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law." Enforced disappearances remain a gross human rights violation that must not find room and expression in countries such as Zimbabwe that have constitutions that provide for the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and freedoms."He said the commemorations for this year in Zimbabwe are taking place against a background where abducted pro-democracy activist, Itai Dzamara's whereabouts remain unaccounted for."The abduction of Dzamara is not the only recent case of enforced disappearances. From 2015 to date there has been a marked increase in cases of enforced disappearances. During the peaceful protests that rocked the country from 2016 to date, several human rights activists and opposition party supporters have been abducted," said the trust."On 29 June 2017, Fanuel Kaseke, a political science student at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was abducted by unidentified people only to be released on 4 July 2017. Kaseke was accused of inviting MDC-T youths to participate in a demonstration held at the UZ.""The list of enforced disappearances to date among others include Ishmael Kauzani, a courageous pro-democracy activist, who was abducted and severely assaulted on the night of December 1, 2016 by unknown men who accused him of being a member of the pressure group Tajamuka. Kerina Gweshe Dewah, the MDC-T Harare Provincial Vice Chairperson, was also abducted by 18 unknown armed men from her Glen View home and Gift Ostallos Siziba a human rights activist was also abducted during the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) demonstration in Harare in 2016."The trust said as the world commemorate this day, the Zimbabwean Government must use the occasion of this year's commemorations to stop using enforced disappearance as a tool to silence citizens and adhere to the principle of upholding human rights and freedoms."The Government must also update the nation on the progress made in the search for missing human rights activist, Itai Dzamara," said the trust.
A scooter rider has been filmed trying to tie a kitchen stool onto his bike before frustratingly finding out it won't start.

In a bizarre clip, a determined Scot spends five minutes positioning the awkward breakfast bar stool over the seat of the scooter.

After trying what seems every possible combination, it seems success is finally at hand.

The determined Scot spends five minutes positioning the awkward breakfast bar stool over the seat of the scooter

He spends five minutes trying every possible combination to get the seat onto the bike

But in a cruel twist, the scooter refuses to start and the rider is eventually forced to push both bike and kitchen stool through the streets of Edinburgh.

The clip was filmed by Phil Lockwood last week and put online with the caption: 'Only in Leith.'

The video begins with the unknown man, dressed in a black leather jacket, cream trousers and wearing a white helmet, sitting down and trying to work out if he can drive the scooter and hold the chair at the same time.

Realising he can't, he gets off to try a different tactic. He turns the chair upside down with the legs sticking up in the air, desperately trying to balance it on top of the scooter's seat.

The man realises that he won't be able to balance it without any assistance, so he takes the chair off again and retrieves some thin brown rope from the storage compartment underneath the bike's seat.

He continues to struggle with the stool, placing it face down and then realising he would have nowhere to sit - he turns it around so he can sit on the back of the chair while riding.

Once he finally decides how he's going to attach the seat, he starts to weave the rope between the legs of the stool and the back of his scooter frame.

But in a cruel twist, just as he finally straps it on, he finds his bike won't start and he has to push both down the street

After he's satisfied the rope has been threaded through enough and attached a small padlock, he gives it a quick shake to make sure it's secure.

Finally having the stool attached, he sets to head off - but his bike won't start.

He tries multiple times, clearly frustrated, to get the engine to start - but with no luck.

He ends up having to push the scooter down the street.

The clip was filmed by Phil Lockwood last week and put online with the caption: 'Only in Leith.'

Mr Lockwood, from Kirkcaldy, Fife, said: 'We were outside having a smoke when I saw him arrive, park up his scooter and go into the charity shop.

'When he came out carrying the stool and whatever else it was he had I just knew I had to film it.

'I'm used to seeing things like that in Thailand, even whole families on Scooters, but I have never seen anything like it over here.'

Responding on social media, Louis Avinou said: 'I love a trier.'

Alexandra Wallace commented: 'Full marks for initiative!'

Jill Hannah added: 'That's hilarious, seeing him trying every way and thinking no mate you've already tried that.'

Diane McKenzie said: 'Ten out of ten for sheer determination.'
Army assault squads and police rescued three kidnapped cops from a criminal gang in an astonishing daylight shootout that looked like a video game.

Officers took on dozens of heavily armed suspects in the showdown in Madera, Chihuahua state, in north-western Mexico.

Video footage of the gun battle was filmed by a police officer on a helmet camera.

Armed policemen in a shootout with a criminal group, as they tried to rescue three kidnapped police officers

The footage - now seen by tens of thousands of social media users - shows the police and military units blasting hundreds of rounds at the gang.

At one point the officer filming the confrontation shouts: 'Save your ammunition, save your ammunition.'

Security forces reportedly saved the three police officers unharmed.

The video from Mexico shows scenes not out of place in a video game. The police officers were unharmed

Inside two seized vehicles - a black Pontiac and a grey GMC Sierra - police found a small arsenal and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

A .223 caliber rifle , a .45 pistol, and 1,020 rounds of AK-47 Kalashnikov ammunition were reportedly confiscated from the trucks.

Local media reports say the gang members fled after splitting to go their separate ways.
A Houston dad dropped his daughter off at school, and then decided to go to class with her.

Like a lot of parents in the fall, Enock Anassi went with his daughter Kerubo and her mom to move her into New York as she begins a graduate program at The New School.

Enock and his wife's flight home to Houston was delayed indefinitely because of Tropical Storm Harvey.

However, the dad is taking full advantage of his prolonged stay in New York.

As a professor himself, Enock was curious and decided to attend Kerubo's first course, an oral history class, with her.

'Initially my sister thought it was funny, but then got very upset and embarrassed when the joke didn't end and my father didn't leave,' Kerubo's brother Omete told Buzzfeed.

Enock Anassi is a professor from Houston. He decided to attend his daughter Kerubo's first college class after his flight home was delayed indefinitely because of Hurricane Harvey

Enock took a selfie with Kerubo in the classroom and texted it to the family. Kerubo is starting a graduate program at The New School in New York City

Enock video-called his son Omete to tell him the entire story. Omete, 23, is currently living in southern California

The dad proudly texted the entire family a selfie of him sitting in the classroom.

He introduced himself to the entire class, got a syllabus and periodically quizzed Kerubo on the information.

'Kerubo told me to get out,' he said, 'but the teacher said: "he can stay."'

'The teacher loved me because I was very attentive,' he said.

Kerubo was absolutely mortified. Their dad was even taking photos 'audibly' throughout class, 'never turning his phone on silent,' Omete said.

Enock even assigned his daughter extra homework afterward.

Omete was cracking up while listening to his sister's misfortunes, so he shared it on Twitter. The story has now gone viral.

'We tried to explain to my father that he went viral but he had no idea what that means,' Omete said, laughing.

Omete posted the story on Twitter and it went viral

Twitter users thought the story was hilarious. One user loved the fact that Enock got a syllabus

Several users said that it seemed like something their parents would do to them

The president of The New School even saw the story and responded to Omete

Another girl tweeted that her mother was also stranded with her at college

'Dad is just grateful he's been able to spend more time with his family, and that the hotel where he's staying has been accommodating to them during these unpredictable times,' he said.

Despite the humiliation Kerubo is grateful her parents are safe.

The family's home in Houston was not flooded, but other friends and family in the area have seen some serious damage.

Omete, 23, is now living in Los Angeles.

Enock and his wife still do not have a return date.
An alcoholic university lecturer fell over and drowned in his flooded bath after a toothpaste packet he knocked over blocked the plughole as he fell, an inquest heard.

Property manager Colin Lashbrook was found sprawled face-down with his legs sticking out of his bathtub as water cascaded through his pitch-black flat in Reading, Berkshire, when police forced their way in.

Mr Lashbrook, 64, was surrounded by toiletries he had knocked off a shelf while trying to stop his fall.

Officers could not find a suicide note or any indication Mr Lashbrook wanted to take his own life but discovered several empty bottles of cider around his flat and he was more than four times the drink drive limit.

Colin Lashbrook was found by the police face-down after drowning in his bath

Mr Lashbrook had worked at the large, London-based property management firm Goddard and Smith before his death and had lectured about property at Reading University.

Police constable Vince Moore said he rushed to Mr Lashbrook's flat in West Green Court, Berkeley Avenue, Reading, Berks., at around 4am on March 24 after a neighbour said they were concerned about him.

'We knocked very loudly,' he said.

'At this point it was clear we would have to force entry. We got through the front door and as we did so shouted 'hello police'.

Reading Coronor's Court heard how Professor Colin Lashbrook was discovered sprawled in his bath as water cascaded through his home

'We could hear running water from the bathroom, I heard my colleague say 'oh no, he's face down in the bath'.

'I entered the bathroom and turned the taps off and I could see he was well beyond any life saving opportunity - he had no pulse and he was face down.'

The police officers found Mr Lashbrook's legs were sticking out of the bath as though he had fallen forward and they spotted the toothpaste packet wedged in the plug hole.

They could not find a suicide note or any indication he wanted to take his own life but discovered several empty bottles of cider around his flat.

Professor Colin Lashbrook was found face-down in his bath at his home in West Green Court, Reading

The Berkshire coroner, sitting at Reading, heard that Mr Lashbrook had Meniere's disease which affected his balance and a report from his GP said he was an alcoholic.

A toxicology report said blood samples taken from his body had an alcohol content of 328mg per 100ml of blood - more than four times the drink driving limit of 80mg.

'The cause of death was drowning,' a post-mortem report said. It added: 'He was likely to have been suffering from the effects of extreme intoxication at the time of his death.'

Assistant Coroner for Berkshire, Emma Jones, recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

Mr Lashbrook's brother Douglas paid tribute to him after the inquest. He said: 'Colin was well-read and could converse with anyone about anything.

'He was very artistic, he loved the movies and spent a lot of time in the library. His profession was property management and he was highly respected in his field. He could converse with anyone as he was so well-read on every subject.'

Mr Lashbrook's niece Caroline added: 'He was very successful before the alcohol problems.'
A gunman suspected of killing a California sheriff's deputy in a hotel shootout had a long and violent criminal history, court records reveal.

Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, is in a critical condition with life-threatening injuries after the shootout a day before, which wounded two CHP officers, Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. Tony Turnbull said.

Littlecloud had been sentenced to California prisons on four separate occasions since 2004 for assault with a semi-automatic weapon, grand theft and evading a police officer.

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Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, is in a critical condition after the shootout, while Priscilla Prendez, 23, of Oakland faces charges of vehicle theft and felony evasion in connection with Wednesday's events

A deputy was killed and two CHP officers were injured in the shootout, which left suspect Daniel Littlecloud in a serious condition

Federal court records also show a judge ordered his arrest for twice failing to show up in court in July after agreeing to a plea deal to resolve a drug, gun and identity theft case.

Hero: Deputy Robert French was killed in the shootout

Turnbull said Littlecloud used a high-powered rifle Wednesday to shoot through a closed door and wall and injure the two California Highway Patrol officers who were demanding to enter his hotel room.

Turnbull said Littlecloud then went to the room's balcony and fatally shot Deputy Robert French before jumping to the parking lot and speeding away in a stolen car.

Police caught up to Littlecloud a short distance away and arrested him after a brief shootout, Turnbull said.

The violence started after police went to the hotel to investigate a car theft ring and spotted two women drive away in a stolen vehicle.

Officers arrested the two women after a high-speed pursuit. One was on probation.

Several officers returned to the hotel to search her room - and encountered Littlecloud, authorities said.

French, 52, a 21-year veteran of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, was assigned to guard the hotel room balcony while other officers approached the room from the front.

Law enforcement officers, including this Sacramento County sheriff's deputy surrounded the hotel

"Investigators did a knock-and-notice and announced themselves at the motel room door to conduct a probation search," Turnbull said.

Littlecloud opened fire, wounding the two CHP officers, he said. Their identities were not released because they are on an undercover assignment, CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said. The two CHP officers were in stable condition Thursday and expected to recover from their wounds.

Sid Heal, president of the consulting firm California Association of Tactical Officers, said probation searches are mostly routine and peaceful because suspects are on their best behavior.

But he said there can be problems if police let their guard down.

Littlecloud's adult criminal history dates to 2004 and includes a six-year prison sentence for assault with a semi-automatic weapon, a short jail term for possession of an illegal sawed-off shotgun and a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for evading a police officer and possession of a gun

Littlecloud's adult criminal history dates to 2004 and includes a six-year prison sentence for assault with a semi-automatic weapon, a short jail term for possession of an illegal sawed-off shotgun and a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for evading a police officer and possession of a gun.

He also was sentenced to a little more than a year in prison for grand theft in 2004 and then served a similar sentence in 2005 for stealing a car, court records show.

Littlecloud was indicted by a federal grand jury on four felony charges in San Francisco federal court in June 2016. He was released from jail two months later pending trial after his stepmother used a home to secure his $100,000 bail.

The U.S. Marshals' Service was seeking to arrest him.

Littlecloud was found Wednesday with a rifle and a high-capacity magazine, which are illegal to purchase in California, Turnbull said.

Six other sheriff's deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted, and the Sacramento County District Attorney's office will conduct an independent review.

Law enforcement officers, including this Sacramento County sheriff's deputy surround the hotel

Priscilla Prendez, 23, of Oakland faces charges of vehicle theft and felony evasion in connection with Wednesday's events, which began as part of a routine stolen vehicle investigation.

She and another woman who were believed to be in a stolen vehicle were chased for 20 miles (32 kilometers) before being apprehended. Arresting officers learned Prendez was on probation and had booked a room in the hotel.

No details have been disclosed about Prendez's relationship to Littlecloud, and police have not named the second woman in the car, who was detained and released.

Sheriff Scott Jones described French as a well-known, well-respected deputy who trained new officers,

"Words aren't going to make an appropriate appreciation of him as a man or his career," Jones said.

In another California shooting involving police, two officers in Bakersfield were hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday they responded to a call about a disturbance at a home and ended up in a shootout in which the suspect was killed.
President Donald Trump was mocked on Twitter for misspelling 'heal' as 'heel' for the second time in two weeks.

On Friday morning, Trump sent out a tweet addressing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts that read: 'Texas is heeling (sic) fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard.'

The tweet was soon deleted and fixed with the correct spelling but not before social media users were able to ridicule the president for the two-time offense.

President Donald Trump was mocked on Twitter for misspelling 'heal' as 'heel' for the second time in two weeks in a tweet addressing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts

The tweet was soon deleted and fixed with the correct spelling but not before social media users were able to ridicule the president for the two-time offense

One Twitter user wrote: 'He doesn't need the weather channel. He needs to check out a dictionary.'

'Still can't spell "heal" I see...how many tweets to get a 1st grade word correct? Only "heel" around here is YOU. RESIGN!' wrote another.

One user took the opportunity for a vocabulary lesson, writing: 'Heel = your wife's shoes. Heal = what we will be doing for a very long time after you leave office.'

And in a shocking twist, Trump's account seemed to like a tweet that mocked his spelling mistakes.

'Please, after several typo's, he's just not Presidential material,' the tweet read.

But this is not the first time Trump has misspelled 'heel'. Last month, he addressed protesters in Boston following the Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist violence and made the same blunder.

He wrote: 'Our great country has been divided for decades. Sometimes you need protest in order to heel (sic), & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!'

After deleting the initial tweet, Trump reposted it again with the same error. He later corrected it on the third attempt.

Trump then shocked Twitter users by liking a tweet that mocked his several spelling errors

This is not the first time Trump has misspelled 'heal'. Last month, he addressed protesters in Boston following the Charlottesville, Virginia white nationalist violence and made the same blunder

Merriam-Webster sent out a tweet teasing the president the first time he made the spelling error on August 19

Several spelling mistakes have appeared in Trump (pictured, Wednesday) tweets since he took office in January including using 'their' instead of 'there' and 'loose' instead of 'lose'

Trump has been mocked mercilessly for sending out several tweets with spelling since coming into office in January.

On August 24, Trump mixed up the words 'there' and 'their' as well as 'too' and 'to' in tweets defending his varying tones in speeches he delivered this week on Afghanistan, at a rally in Phoenix and at an American Legion convention in Reno, Nevada.

'The Fake News is now complaining about my different types of back to back speeches. Well, their [sic] was Afghanistan (somber), the big Rally..' Trump wrote, before continuing, '..(enthusiastic, dynamic and fun) and the American Legion  V.A. (respectful and strong). To [sic] bad the Dems have no one who can change tones!'

As he has in the past, Trump later deleted the original tweets and reposted each with the correct spelling.

Other spelling mishaps have included confusing 'loose and 'lose' and spelling 'unprecedented' as 'unpresidented'.
Cezar Florea, 29, has been jailed for 16 years for an 'abhorrent' attempted rape of a middle-aged woman in Middlesbrough, 2014

A serial criminal from Romania who was free to come and go from Britain brutally assaulted a grandmother in the street before trying to rape her.

Cezar Florea, 29, targeted his victim as she walked to work at 6am after he had failed in a drunken search for a prostitute.

She suffered a broken nose and broken arm when she was beaten to the ground, kicked in the face and subjected to a prolonged rape attempt that failed only because a passer-by intervened.

In a final insult, Florea snatched her handbag as he fled the scene, then left the country.

Last night, the victims family demanded to know why his movements were not monitored by the authorities.

Florea benefited from EU freedom of movement rules, but in Romania he was a convicted sex attacker with robbery convictions stretching back to his teenage years, when he was first able to travel to the UK and work in Middlesbrough. Over the years he has travelled back and forth between his home country and Britain.

After the attack Florea again returned to Romania, where he was on the run for three years during which he committed another robbery.

His victim was too upset to go to Teesside Crown Court yesterday to see him sentenced to 16 years in prison but her daughter said: How was a man with such a long history of crime allowed to come to Britain without being monitored and do the things he did to my mum?

She was just a lady walking to work, as she did every day, when she came across this person who, to us, should never have been allowed into the country. There has to be closer monitoring of people with the sort of history he had to stop them from walking into whatever country they choose and then disappearing again.

She added: My mum is a changed person after what he did to her  she has never fully recovered.

Florea, who lived in Middlesbrough at the time, admitted attempted rape, assault and robbery. On top of the jail term, he was given an extended period on licence lasting a further six years.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton noted that Florea had visited the UK on and off for a number of years.

He said the victim had been a fun-loving, normal, everyday middle-aged woman before the attack on June 7, 2014.

He told Florea: As a result of what you did, her life has been changed, not so much by the physical injuries  though they are bad enough  but the psychological effect of your attack on her has been catastrophic. You subjected her to a determined, violent and horrific attack. The court was told that Florea ran up behind his victim and seized her around the throat with his arm before punching her repeatedly in the face. While she lay helpless on the ground, he kicked her repeatedly in the head and face, before attempting to rape her.

Florea's victim suffered a broken arm and broken nose during the assault, which only stopped when a passer-by came to her aid. Pictured, Florea in custody

In a victim impact statement, she said: I have suffered life-changing injuries and scars. I was a fun-loving person with a good sense of humour, I would laugh at anything.

I valued going to work, I would walk places, socialise regularly and generally enjoy life.

She added: I was feeling happy and confident on my way to work when I just remember being grabbed from behind. I was screaming and a hand was placed over my mouth. I remember feeling terrified at what this man was going to do.

I thought he wanted my handbag but then I realised he was trying to rape me. I relived the trauma every day on my way to work. It was eight months after he attacked me before I went to work by myself.

Afterwards, after seeing any men of the same origin as the man who tried to rape me, I would cross the road out of fear of the same thing happening again. I had to have my daughter stay with me after what he did to me.

Florea apologised to his victim and blamed the attack on being drunk, as he was sentenced to 16 years in prison at Teesside crown court (pictured)

The court was told that Floreas first conviction in Romania was in 2006 when he was jailed for eight months for robbery.

He was then convicted of theft in November 2007, before being jailed for 20 months for sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16 in December that year.

In September 2008 he was jailed for three years for aggravated robbery and in November 2015  after the attempted rape in Britain  he received another three-year sentence for robbery.

Cleveland Police managed to track him down and were about to arrest him under a European Arrest Warrant when he was caught by police in Romania for his final robbery.

After serving his jail sentence there, he was extradited to face justice in the UK in July.

Adam Norman, the passer-by who intervened, was awarded 250 from the public purse.

Detective Inspector Matt Hollingsworth, of Cleveland Police, said outside court that it was an horrendous crime.

This is the kind of case that gives detectives sleepless nights, he added. It could have been anyones mother, sister or grandmother.

Romania has been a member of the EU since 2007. Under EU rules, the most serious offenders can in theory be prevented from entering on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.
The president's top economic adviser says he and Donald Trump continue to have a 'very good relationship,' even after their public disagreement over Charlottesville.

Cohn nearly quit the administration after Trump blamed 'both sides' for the violence in Virginia last month at a neo-Nazi rally. He spoke openly about his chagrin in an interview that's said to gotten under Trump's skin.

White House officials have claimed publicly that Cohn and Trump are fine, although Trump's snub to Cohn Wednesday during a tax event suggested otherwise.

Trump thanked a long list of lawmakers and senior staff at his Missouri speech on tax cuts but not Cohn, a chief architect of the proposed reforms.

The president's top economic adviser says he and Donald Trump continue to have a 'very good relationship,' even after their public disagreement over Charlottesville

'I have a great relationship with the president,' insisted Friday on CNBC, addressing reports that he and Trump are on the outs. 'We're working well together,' he stated.

Cohn said he and Trump had a 'very open and robust discussion on trade and the economy and economic growth and jobs' this week, and they'll be traveling together again soon to promote the president's tax plan.

'We have a very good relationship and we're always talking about ways to grow the U.S. economy, and put workers back to work and increase wages. That's his mission, that's my mission,' Cohn told CNBC.

A senior White House official hit a similar note during a conversation with DailyMail.com on Thursday.

Cohn is a 'significant player' on issues at the forefront of the president's agenda, the official said, downplaying internal divisions.

'Gary certainly isn't offended, and knows how important he is to the president on his tax reform package and other issues like infrastructure, obviously hurricane relief,' the senior Trump aide posited.

NO COMMENT: Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, left, walks away from reporters after a round of television interviews at the White House this morning

Cohn, whose work directly impacts tax code changes, publicly upbraided the president last week over his comments following Heather Heyer's death in a race-riot.

He's said to have written a resignation letter that he did not submit because he's waiting to see what happens with taxes.

Asked directly about speculation that he plans to leave once Congress approves the administration's suggested reforms, Cohn said Friday on Fox Business: 'Look, tax cuts are really important to me. I think it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

'We haven't done tax cuts in 31 years. So to be a part of an administration that gets something done that hasn't been done in 31 years is enormously challenging, enormously interesting to me,' he said.

'So, yes, I am very excited about being part of that team that is able to work on something that is that important and I think that important to our economy and that important to this country.'

Cohn waved off reporters who tried to follow up with him on the White House's front drive after he finished speaking to the networks.

The president's chief economic adviser Gary Cohn (left) insisted Friday: 'I have a great relationship with the president'

Trump name-dropped a slew of senior officials and politicians on Wednesday as he began a tax reform speech  and later mentioned his daughter Ivanka's work on childcare tax credits - but left out Cohn, even though he was in the audience.

In a litany that resembled an Academy Awards acceptance speech, Trump name-checked six Republican members of Missouri's congressional delegation who were at the Springfield speech: Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, William Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jason Smith and Ann Wagner.

He also gave shout-outs to senior adviser Ivanka Trump, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon, Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and Lt. Gov. Michael Parson.

'Anybody I forgot?' Trump asked, surveying the room. 'Good, I got it.'

President Donald Trump thanked more people than an Oscar winner on Wednesday as he began his tax reform speech in Missouri - but didn't mention Cohn

Cohn (left), is working on the tax package but also criticized Trump loudly last week for his comments after the Charlottesville racial violence

Presidential adviser Ivanka Trump (left), Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (center, background) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were all name-checked by Trump

Mnuchin and Cohn have shared responsibilities in crafting Trump's tax overhaul plan, but only one of them merited a presidential mention.

Cohn, who is Jewish, told the Financial Times last week that after Trump claimed 'both sides' shared responsibility for the violence that broke out between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters, he felt 'enormous pressure' to quit.

'This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities,' Cohn said of white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan mobs.

'As a patriotic American, I am reluctant to leave my post,' he said, adding that 'I also feel compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks. ... Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.'

Trump's tax speech relied heavily on Cohn, who is Jewish and considered quitting this month over Trump's post-Charlottesville comments

The White House said later that Trump wasn't surprised by Cohn's interview.

'The president ... and Gary have spoken many times,' White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters last Friday after the Financial Times story went viral.

'Gary has not held back what his feelings are.'

Sanders told reporters Wednesday on the ride home from Missouri that the president didn't snub Cohn on purpose.

'It's pretty standard practice for us not to specifically call out staff. He regularly mentions Cabinet members but very rarely mentions staff in speeches,' Sanders said.

Aboard Air Force One, Sanders argued that Trump 'doesn't necessarily call out National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster even though he plays a very integral role in that process' when he talks about foreign policy in public.

'Look, Gary is here. The President is here. They're both working hard and extremely committed to providing tax relief for middle-class America,' she concluded.

'The President has made very clear this is a top priority for him, for his administration, and Gary is one of the people leading the charge in that effort for him and will continue to do that.'

Cohn similarly told CNBC in his interview Friday that he and Trump 'spent time talking about taxes' in Missouri this week and they'll 'be out next week traveling and talking about taxes' too.

'He and I are spending time working together on all of the big economic issues that are going to drive economic growth and drive wages in this country. That's what he cares about, and that's what I care about,' Cohn said.
After the public split of one of Sydney's elite power couples, friends claim the pair could be getting back together.

The news comes just three months after Kelly Landry and Anthony Bell ended their bitter court dispute that made the collapse of their relationship painfully public.

Now, one of Mr Bell's associates has told Private Sydney he and his estranged wife were 'working things out'.

One of Anthony Bell's associates told Private Sydney he and his estranged wife Kelly Landry were 'working things out' (pictured together in 2010)

The pair (pictured left) were married in 2011 before the bitter and public court feud in 2016

'From what I understood, he seemed pretty certain they would be getting back together,' an associate of Mr Bell's told Fairfax

'From what I understood, he seemed pretty certain they would be getting back together ... he's been spending a lot of time with Kelly and the girls ... I was flabbergasted,' the associate said

The pair, who share two young daughters Thea, three, and Charlize, five, were among Sydney's elite social circles before the public split.

The high profile marriage collapsed in November 2016 after an alleged fight which left Ms Landry, 38, taking out an apprehended violence order on her husband.

Ms Landry claimed Mr Bell, an 'accountant to the stars', physically assaulted her twice in and that she felt threatened and intimidate by her husband.

The mother-of-two claimed her arm was injured during a scuffle with her husband which also saw one of the girl's heads hit a wall.

Mr Bell, 45, consistently denied all allegations of abusing Landry, physical or otherwise, and argued he provided for the family.

The high profile marriage collapsed in November 2016 after an alleged fight which left Ms Landry, 38, taking out an apprehended violence order on her husband

Ms Landry claimed her arm was injured during a scuffle with Mr Bell (pictured during the court hearing in May) which also saw one of the girl's heads hit a wall

During the court hearings, Ms Landry (pictured in May) was accused of excessive drinking and using the AVO as traction in divorce and custody hearings, which she denied

During the court hearings, Ms Landry was accused of excessive drinking and using the AVO as traction in divorce and custody hearings, which she denied.

After getting married overseas in 2011, a bitter court case followed but the Magistrate did not approve the former Getaway presenter's AVO application against her estranged husband.

It is believed Mr Bell has been living at his friend Michael Clarke's Bondi Beach apartment throughout the last few months as Ms Landry continued living in the $20 million Watsons Bay family home.
Alexander Wheeler, pictured, feared he would come under financial pressure after being sacked for bad time-keeping

A young insurance administrator hanged himself after he could not find a way to tell his parents he had lost his job, an inquest heard.

Alexander Wheeler, whose body was found by a neighbour, feared he would come under financial pressure after being sacked for bad time-keeping.

A coroner heard that the 21-year-old could not admit his problems to his family and ignored his mother's attempts to talk to him before his death.

He lived away from his parents after moving from the family home to study music technology at South Thames College in London.

After graduating, he lived in Hampton Court Parade, East Molesey, Surrey and took a job as an insurance administrator but was fired for 'time-keeping issues'.

His mother Suzanne Middleton-Elliot, of Ruins Barn Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, told the coroner in Woking, Surrey that Alexander's death was 'entirely preventable' and added that she wished he had reached out after losing his job.

'I wasn't aware he was depressed. Not overtly, I wouldn't have labelled him as depressed.

'Since doing some investigating we knew he didn't have a job and no money was coming in.

'I feel his situation was entirely preventable but in the circumstances he didn't give us the opportunity to help him.

'I don't think he would have recognised he was depressed either, he wouldn't have recognised it as depression.

'I know I just wish he'd reached out. We didn't get the opportunity so we are where we are.'

Mr Wheeler's housemate Max Charman said he was 'very quiet' and added: 'He stayed at home often but said he had flexible hours.

After graduating Alexander, pictured, lived in Hampton Court Parade, East Molesey, Surrey and took a job as an insurance administrator but was fired for 'time-keeping issues'

'Alex never mentioned any problems, he didn't do drugs and very rarely drank alcohol.'

The inquest heard that Steven Rands found Alexander hanging outside his flat when he came home at 6am on November 16 last year.

The neighbour desperately tried CPR after getting him to the ground while waiting for paramedics.

He was rushed to hospital but had suffered a hypoxic brain injury which left him battling to survive.

Eventually, on November 22, Mr Wheeler's mother agreed it would be best to stop treatment and he was declared dead with his cause of death listed as hypoxic brain injury caused by hanging.

The inquest heard that Steven Rands found Alexander, pictured hanging outside his flat when he came home at 6am on November 16 last year

Police officers found a typed note on a computer in the shared flat which explained his intentions were to end his life.

In her conclusions, Assistant Coroner for Surrey Anna Loxton said: 'His mother described him as private and introverted. His flatmate Max Charman also said he was quiet.

'He had lost his job due to difficulties with time-keeping.

'Despite his mother trying to contact him he seemingly felt overwhelmed to see her and her finding out the extent of his personal troubles.

'He was found hanging outside his flat by his neighbour.

Alexander, pictured, lived away from his parents after moving from the family home to study music technology at South Thames College in London

'He suffered a hypoxic brain injury and a decision was made in his best interests to withdraw care.

'There is no evidence of Alex having taken any drugs that may have affected his mindset.

'I note he lost his job and may have been under financial pressure on top of the bad feeling of losing his job.

'I do not see this as a cry for help but a successful attempt to end his own life.

'It is clear he had a history of depression and despite support from his family had not been able to seek help for these feelings.'

The verdict was recorded as suicide by the coroner.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or see www.samaritans.org for details
News / National

by Staff reporter

IT'S an abomination!Bulawayo magistrate Adelaide Mbeure this week told Ticharwa Mugabe's mistress Paidamoyo Muranzi to stay away from his wife Cynthia Mugabe.The three were brought together in a case whereby the latter had applied for a peace order barring Muranzi from staying with the couple in their rented one-roomed lodgings.Muranzi was left shaking and in tears."Application to a peace order is granted and the respondent (Paidamoyo Muranzi) is ordered to stay away from the applicant (Cynthia Mugabe)'s matrimonial home and should also not breach any peace against the applicant either verbally or physically," reads part of the magistrate's ruling.This was after Cynthia said she could no longer stomach seeing Muranzi enjoying sex with her husband."I got married to Ticharwa Mugabe in 2015 under the Marriages Act Chapter 5: 11. The respondent is my husband's girlfriend. She has been emotionally abusing me. The abuse started on 24 June this year when she moved in to our one-roomed house claiming she had been chased away by her parents."Since then we have been asking her to move out but she is refusing. Just imagine Muranzi and my husband go to an extent of engaging in sex in my presence and this psychologically disturbs me," said an emotional Cynthia.In response, she said was also customarily married to Ticharwa adding that he was habitually taking turns to indulge in sex with them in full view of each other."I am also married to Ticharwa but customarily. When I got married to him, I was not aware that the two were married under Chapter 5:11. It is true that I am indulging in sex with Ticharwa in her presence. Our husband said we should take turns to engage in sex with him and she is also enjoying it with him in my presence."I am now surprised that she is saying I am abusing her yet she is the one who invited me from the rural areas to come and stay with them. She even phoned me before she gave me money for bus fare to our husband so that I come and stay with them," said Muranzi.Cynthia, however, refuted Muranzi's claims saying she sent her the bus fare after she lied to her that she wanted to come and leave her child so that she could go to school."I never phoned her so that she comes and stays with us. I just wanted her to bring the child after she said she wanted to go school. I even complained about the sex roster to my husband since we are living in a single room," she said.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been triple dipping: holding his post at home, heading President Trump's voter fraud commission, and writing paid columns for Bretibart news.

The controversial public official's paid side gig was revealed by the Kansas City Star, after Kobach wrote his latest piece, an article bashing President Obama's policy of deferred action for people who came here illegally as children.

'DACA is inconsistent with the rule of law, inconsistent with the president's own promises, and inconsistent with the president's principled stand against illegal immigration. It must end,' he wrote.

President-elect Donald Trump greets Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, at the clubhouse at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster Township, N.J. on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016. Breitbart said he writes paid columns for the conservative Breitbart news site

Media reports have shown Trump moving in the same direction on the program.

Confronted about the columns, Kobach told the paper: 'I get paid for my columns  just like you're paid.'

Kobach's work for Trump is advisory and unpaid.

The paper reported that Kobach got the gig in June after getting approached by the conservative site. He has written a total of seven articles with more coming.

During his day job, Kobach has clashed repeatedly with the ACLU and voting rights groups for his efforts to target what he believes is voter fraud.

One suit involves his effort to require Kansans to provide proof of citizenship when the register to vote under the federal 'motor voter' law.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, in a March 2016 file image, joined the transition team for incoming President Donald Trump, saying he planned to help Trump reverse President Obama's immigration policies

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, right, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, center left, speaks at the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, DC on Wednesday, July 19, 2017

A federal judge upheld a $1,000 fine against him for 'misleading the court' for failing to turn over documents in the case, after he was pictured carrying a binder to a meeting with Trump.

Photos revealed the binder said 'Draft Amendments to the National Voter,' which could have been the National Voter Registration Act  or 'motor voter.'

Kobach is the vice chair of a panel formally headed by Vice President Mike Pence. It is formally called the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Trump called for its creation after repeatedly claiming without evidence that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally.

Kansas Sec. State Kris Kobach chairs President Trump's voter fraud commission and writes a paid column for Breitbart News

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, right, shakes hands with Gov. Sam Brownback on Monday, June 8, 2015, at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., after the signing of Senate Bill 34, a bill that grants persecuting power to the Secretary of State for cases of voter fraud

The commission meets in New Hampshire, a place where Trump has also pointed to fraud, this month.

Kobach told the Star he rejected the idea that the site is a gathering place for white nationalists.

'I find that criticism to be completely baseless and if Breitbart had any connection to white nationalism I would not write for the site,' he said.

A paragraph at the bottom of his columns states: 'Kris W. Kobach is the elected secretary of state of Kansas. An expert in immigration law and policy, he coauthored the Arizona SB-1070 immigration law and represented in federal court the 10 ICE agents who sued to stop Obama's 2012 executive amnesty. In 2017 President Trump named him Vice Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.'

It also notes that he is a candidate for governor and gives out the address of his website.
In the middle of CNN's coverage of the deadly aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Texas late Thursday, the cable news network aired an ill-timed commercial advertising the benefits of the HurryCane walking stick.

The 60-second TV spot was shown at 9.30pm Pacific Time, immediately after a CNN Newsroom anchor reported on the rising number of deaths and teased an upcoming segment about Vice President Mike Pence's visit to the flood zone in Houston.

The commercial begins with a voiceover that announces: 'All across America, people are falling in love with the HurryCane.'

Poor timing: In the middle of CNN's coverage of Hurricane Harvey in Texas Thursday, the news network aired a commercial advertising the HurryCane walking stick

The 60-second TV spot was shown right after a CNN Newsroom anchor reported on the rising number of deaths in Texas

An actress portraying a satisfied HurryCane customer then chimes in, saying: 'I love my HurryCane. I wouldn't go a day without it.'

Another actor declares, 'I love how secure I feel with my HurryCane,' before an elderly man fishing in a stream with his grandson proceeds to boast that his HurryCane lets him go everywhere.

The voiceover then come back on, bragging that the HurryCane is the No 1 selling walking stick from coast to coast.

Americans are loving the HurryCane more than ever before, the ad says, as first reported by TMZ.

When CNN Newsroom picks up again at the conclusion of the commercial break, presenter George Howell jumps back into the hurricane coverage, titled 'Harvey's Devastating Hit.'

Happy customers: In the ad, older actors portraying HurryCane customers tout the benefits of the walking stick and repeatedly say, 'I love my HurryCane'

Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, last Friday as a Category 4 hurricane, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm.

Harvey has inundated Houston and the surrounding areas with an unprecedented amount of rain, which has resulted in severe flooding. As of late Friday morning, 46 people have been confirmed dead and more than 42,000 others have been displaced.

HurryCane is a Minnesota-based company that manufactures and sells freestanding walking sticks with a pivoting base. The Freedom Edition of the HurryCane, dubbed 'the all-terrain cane,' features a foldable design and retails for $39.95.

The firm also offers a shower chair called the Hurry Splash.

DailyMail,com on Friday reached out to both CNN and HurryCane for a comment on the timing of the ad.

A spokesperson for the Atlanta-based cable news network stated in an email: 'CNN does not sell or control locally-run advertisements,' later adding that the HurryCane commercial did not run nationwide.
Workers at two British McDonald's restaurants are set to make history next week when they are due to become the first ever to go on strike in this country.

Staff at outlets in Crayford in south-east London and Cambridge will walk out amid a row over conditions and the use of zero-hour contracts.

The action, scheduled to take place on September 4, is being co-ordinated by Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), the UK's biggest food sector trade union, who are demanding a minimum wage of 10-an-hour as well as more secure working hours.

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Staff at McDonald's in Crayford (pictured) in south-east London are set to make history when they become the first of the restaurant's workers to strike in the UK

Crayford workers will be joined by colleagues from the Newmarket Road McDonald's in Cambridge (pictured)

The UK National Living Wage is currently at 7.50 for workers aged 25 and over, and 7.05 for those aged 21 to 24.

The striking McDonald's workers, who voted overwhelmingly to strike, are being backed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Ian Hodson, national president of the BFAWU: 'We, at the BFAWU, fully support the historic decision by these brave McDonald's workers to stand up and fight back against McDonald's  a company that has let them down one too many times.

'McDonald's has had countless opportunities to resolve grievances by offering workers a fair wage and acceptable working conditions.

'Instead, they have chosen to ignore their workers by tightening their purse strings  filling their CEO's pockets, at the expense of workers here in the UK and across the world.

'This is a call for change. Our members demand to be listened too - they have a right to get their voice heard.

'Hopefully, senior figures at McDonald's will be listening, because this behaviour cannot go on any longer.'

The fast food giant is embroiled in an ongoing row with workers. The dispute revolves around conditions and the use of zero-hour contracts

Unions are demanding a pay rise for the restaurant chain's 85,000-strong UK work force

The action is linked to a national demonstration in London.

Shen Batmaz, a McDonald's worker at the Crayford store said: 'In spite of being a global giant and a household name, the conditions McDonald's workers are subjected to across the world are simply not up to scratch.

'This strike in the UK is part of a global movement advocating for fair salaries and decent working conditions. McDonald's should listen to all its employees around the world, and take immediate action.'

A McDonald's UK confirmed action was taking place that would involve less than 0.01% of their UK workforce in two of their 1,270 restaurants in this country.

They added the dispute is based on 'internal grievance procedures' but did not concern pay or contracts.

And in April they confirmed workers would be offered contracts that guaranteed them a minimum number of hours.

The spokesman said: 'McDonald's UK and its franchisees have delivered three pay rises since April 2016, this has increased the average hourly pay rate by 15%.

'We are proud of our people at McDonald's, they are at the heart of all we do and we work hard to ensure that our teams are treated fairly. Our internal processes underpin that commitment.'
The Thai authorities has just two days to find a Ferrari-driving Red Bull heir who is wanted over a hit-and-run which killed a Bangkok policeman have just two days to find him.

Interpol has stepped up the hunt for Vorayuth Yoovidhya and if he is not located in 48 hours, his court case could fall through.

An international request for the arrest of Vorayuth Yoovidhya has been made after he was last seen in London in April this year.

Yoovidhya, 32, who is the billionaire heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, is wanted over a hit-and-run incident that left a traffic policeman dead in Bangkok in 2012.

In April, the international playboy was seen leaving a 6.5million home in Knightsbridge, West London, accompanied by two female companions before climbing into a vehicle with blacked-out windows

Yoovidhya (pictured in London in April) is wanted in Thailand, his home country, over the death of motorcycle officer Wichean Glanprasert who died in 2012 after being rear-ended by a 250,000 Ferrari FF, that he was allegedly driving

England, and specifically London, is a favourite haunt of Yoovidhya who was pictured at the same address with friends in 2016. He has visited this country at least once so far this year, landing in Hampshire on a private jet

His failure to keep appointments with prosecutors means they have been unable to charge him.

At the same time, Thailand's statute of limitations is removing what charges he can face.

It has already removed one, and another - leaving the scene of an accident - will disappear on the fifth anniversary of the officer's death, this Sunday.

The last remaining charge - causing death by reckless driving - has another 10 years to run.

The fugitive, whose family is worth billions, has apparently found a way to disappear.

His last known location is Taiwan and two sources with knowledge of the investigation said he flew there from Singapore, where he had fled shortly before he was supposed to make an April court appearance in Bangkok.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters about the case, said Vorayuth stayed at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental in Taipei before leaving the island May 3.

Since then, the trail has gone cold.

The statute of limitations on the hit-and-run charge Vorayuth faces expires Sunday, though effectively it ends at 5pm Friday, said Prayuth Petchkhun, a deputy spokesman for the attorney general's office.

'After that, even if you found the suspect, you wouldn't be able to bring him to the court until Monday,' he said.

The expiring charge might have been easier to prove than what would be the sole remaining count against him - causing death by reckless driving.

Yoovidhya has avoided the charges against him for the last five years by claiming to be ill or working overseas whenever a hearing is scheduled. In what appears to be a nightclub, Vorayuth (second from right) was seen with friends in 2014

But Vorayuth's social media accounts and those of his friends and relatives paint a very different picture of his international lifestyle. In 2014, Vorayuth (center, in skull T-shirt) spent a night out at a rooftop bar in Makkasan, Thailand

For more than four years, Vorayuth missed court appearances while living a high-flying and even public life. Relying in part on public social-media posts from his family and friends, it was found that Vorayuth had gone to Formula One races, snowboarded in Japan and cruised Venice, all while failing to show up for court dates.

No warrant was issued for his arrest until this April.

'We have informed the police of our decision to file charges against him several months ago and this is police's responsibility to bring the suspect in,' Prayuth said.

In May, Thai authorities revoked Vorayuth's passport and said it would ask Interpol to send an international alert.

The agency's 'red notice,' however, was issued only this week - and it has yet to be posted on Interpol's public website.

An Interpol spokesperson, who asked not to be named according to agency policy, said it keeps red notices off the public site only if 'the requesting country has asked that it not be publicized.'

Vorayuth easily could have another passport, and could be in any of many places - even his home city.

This month it was revealed Vorayuth's family, worth an estimated $9.7 billion, has been using offshore companies to cloak purchases of jets and luxury properties.

'In a country like Thailand, money talks,' said Ken Gamble, of IFW Global, a cyber-intelligence firm used by governments and police agencies.

'Fugitives can often outsmart the authorities if they know what they're doing and they have contacts on the ground. Someone of his caliber, he'll have some pretty good advisers.'

Vorayuth is accused of slamming his Ferrari into motorcycle police Sgt. Maj. Wichean Glanprasert in 2012, dragging the officer's body down a main Bangkok street before racing home.

In hiding from the authorities, Vorayuth is doing more than just evading capture.

He is laying a path to legal impunity through Thailand's statute of limitations.

A speeding charge expired four years ago, and now it appears the hit-and-run charge will follow.

With the hit-and-run count disappearing, the last charge is causing death by reckless driving. For that, Vorayuth has offered a defense: He has consistently told authorities it was the policeman who drove recklessly, not him.

'I am confident that prosecutors can prosecute the suspect on the remaining charge, which will expire in 10 years' time,' Prayuth said.

'We still have time to prosecute the case.'

International attention brought to the case renewed cries of impunity and corruption in Thailand.

In March, Vorayuth again failed to show up for his Bangkok court appointment, this time because, his lawyer said, he was on a mission in the United Kingdom.

Prosecutors again pledged to take action, and set yet another court date - April 27. Vorayuth left the country days before that appointment, this time flying by private jet to Singapore.

He changed his Facebook identity that month from 'Boss Yoovidhya' to 'Bee Toh.' And his family's flow of more than 100 social media posts that included his image - birthdays, family dinners, parties and many Red Bull races - abruptly stopped.

In one snap, Vorayuth (third from left) appeared with a group of all ages in traditional Japanese clothing on a trip to Japan in August 2015

In December 2014, Vorayuth (second from left) was photographed smiling with a group of friends in Thailand

Police Sergeant-Major Wichian Klanprasert, pictured, died while riding his motorbike along Bangkok's Sukhumvit Road when he was hit by a grey Ferrari

Vorayuth's father Chalerm Yoovidhya, the oldest of 11 siblings, holds the final 2 percent. Red Bull reported more than $6 billion in sales last year. Vorayuth is pictured above in March 2012

On April 28, Vorayuth flew to Taiwan. The Mandarin Oriental did not reply to several requests to confirm that he stayed at the hotel.

It's unclear whether Thai police knew he was in Taipei at the time, or, if, they did, whether they requested his arrest.

Thai police spokesman Col. Krissana Pattanacharoen, while refusing to confirm Vorayuth's stay in Taiwan, said that without an Interpol red notice, no police force had any authority to act against a foreign national on its soil.

The sources said that when Vorayuth left Taiwan, his announced destination had been Singapore again, but they disagree over whether he ended up going there.

'I think he's being protected,' said Richard Dailly, of Kroll, a global security consultant.

A glance back at Vorayuth's travel shows he traveled to at least nine countries since the fatal crash, regularly cheering on Team Red Bull at Formula One races, and making annual trips to Japan and the UK.

The family, through an offshore company, owns at least five properties in one of London's most expensive areas.

It's also possible that Vorayuth is back in Thailand, not only because of his resources but also because of weaknesses in Thailand's immigration controls.

Interpol maintains a database of more than 75 million stolen and lost passports, but Thailand does not yet use it systematically.

'Not all 58 formal checkpoints are linked to the online database,' Maj. Gen. Choochat Thareechat, Commander of the Thai Immigration Bureau's Investigation Division, confirmed this week.

He added that immigration police still must investigate any travel document that looks suspicious.

DETAILS OF THE ALLEGED FATAL HIT-AND-RUN BY VORAYUTH 'BOSS' YOOVIDHYA Vorayuth was allegedly racing down Sukhumvit Road, one of Bangkok's main drags, in his Ferrari on September 3, 2012. The super-car reportedly slammed into police Sgt. Maj. Wichean Glanprasert. Over the next few hours after the crash, police traced their way to the Red Bull compound. Initially investigators said a chauffeur had been behind the wheel of the car, windshield now shattered, bumper dangling. But after senior officers arrived, Vorayuth turned himself in, his cap pulled low, his father holding his arm. Vorayuth allegedly killed a police officer, Wichean Glanprasert, in a hit-and-run accident on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok on September 3, 2012. Pictured above, he is escorted by police in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 3, 2012 Later that day, the Yoovidhyas put up $15,000 bail at the police station and went home. For Pornanan Glanprasert, Wichean's brother, and his sisters they were faced with a tragedy beyond belief. In the days after the death, they attended funeral rites at the temple, where Buddhist monks chanted and incense burned. One day Vorayuth and his mother made a surprise, private visit. Dressed in black, they pressed their palms together and bowed to Sgt. Maj. Wichean's portrait. The policeman's family painfully grieved, but they figured at least there would be justice. Wichean was a police officer. Certainly the criminal justice system would hold his killer responsible. Over days and months, the case unfolded. The Yoovidhya family attorney said Vorayuth left the scene not to flee, but because he was going home to tell his father. As for blood tests showing Vorayuth was well over the legal alcohol limit, his attorney said his client was rattled by the crash and so drank 'to relieve his tenseness.' Facing a flurry of public skepticism about whether affluence and influence would let Vorayuth off the hook, Bangkok's Police Commissioner Comronwit Toopgrajank promised integrity. 'We will not let this police officer die without justice. Believe me,' Comronwit said. 'The truth will prevail in this case. I can guarantee it.' But when he retired in 2014, the case was still unresolved. This picture shows the scene of the crash that allegedly saw Yoovidhya crash his Ferrari into a motorcycle police officer - killing him Vorayuth's attorney met with Wichean's family, who accepted a settlement of about $100,000. In turn, they were required to sign a document promising not to press criminal charges, eliminating Thailand's legal option for victims to take suspects to court if police and prosecutors don't take action. Since then, Vorayuth has missed several prosecutor orders to report to court on charges of speeding, hit-and-run, and reckless driving that caused death. Police said Vorayuth admitted he was driving, but not recklessly - the officer swerved in front of him, he said. The speeding charge expired after a year. The more serious charge of deadly hit-and-run, which police say carries a maximum six-month sentence, expires in September. Reckless driving charges expire in another 10 years if they go unchallenged. Complicating matters, Yoovidhya's attorney has repeatedly filed petitions claiming his client is being treated unfairly in the investigation. Police spokesman Col. Krissana Pattanacharoen said his agency has done everything in its power to charge Vorayuth. 'I am not saying it is a case where the rich guy will get away with it.' Krissana said. 'I can't answer that question. But what I can answer is, if you look at the timeline here, what we did, by far there is nothing wrong with the inquiry officers who are carrying out the case.' Advertisement

Vorayuth also could be traveling on a second passport of unknown origin. Many governments sell citizenship as a way of raising revenue, and Thailand's upper class has been known to buy them.

'For the world's elite, they provide something that is less tangible and more desirable than any material object, ensuring personal mobility and security,' said Mara Ispas of Henley & Partners, a citizenship consulting firm.

Private investigators say the biggest threat to Vorayuth's freedom may be the suspect himself.

'He probably likes to eat in nice places, travel to nice places. He's reliant on his servants, and that is always a risk for rich people,' said Gamble, of IFW Global. 'People always give them up. There will be too many people who know where he is and what he's doing.'

While not speaking about Vorayuth specifically, former San Jose police chief Rob Davis, now a law enforcement consultant, said that while money can help fugitives hide, ubiquitous social media - the clues which led to Vorayuth in the first place - makes it tougher.

'Sometimes these people can't help themselves,' he said.
The streets will be 'piled high' with rubbish until New Year a union chief warned today after binmen resumed strikes.

Rubbish collectors have gone back to the picket lines in Birmingham in a row over redundancies.

The dispute has left bin bags full of smelly rubbish piled high in the streets and sparked concerns the city could be overrun by rats and other pests.

The row echoes the notorious winter of discontent in 1978 into 1979, when the country was rocked by widespread strikes which saw rubbish go uncollected in central London.

Howard Beckett, assistant general secretary of the Unite trade union, appeared to invite the comparison as he warned rubbish will be piled high through Christmas.

Scroll down for video

Howard Becket, from the trade union Unite and picture in Birmingham today,said rubbish will be piled high until the new Year and tore into Birmingham Council for its handling of the dispute

The dispute has echoes of the notorious winter of discontent in 1978 into 1979, when binmen went on strike in London, leaving piles of rotting trash going uncollected (London's West End in 1979, pictured left, bar a resemblance to the streets of Birmingham in August, pictured right)

Rubbish has been left to rot on the streets of Birmingham after binmen joined the picket lines in a dispute over redundancies

He branded the council a 'shambles', claiming it had 'reneged' overnight on a deal done which had put an end to seven weeks of strikes.

Mr Beckett said: 'Workers are angry.

'I am angry, and I'm angry for people of Birmingham because what their council has done, with no valid explanation whatsoever, is committed industrial sabotage the like of which I have not seen before.

'They've returned the city to chaos.

'There will be rubbish piled high now for the rest of 2017 - and it is the council which is responsible.'

The city is again in the grip of walk-outs over the plans, first tabled in June, to make Grade three bin lorry workers redundant by October.

Locals in Birmingham have complained that the stinking piles of rubbish could attract rats and other vermin to the area

Piles of binbags and other trash are left heaped on a street corner in Birmingham, which has been rocked by strikes by refuse workers

Council leader John Clancy said the proposals would 'provide a better, more efficient service' for Birmingham's residents, which can run 'within budget'.

But the move has left union members enraged according to Mr Beckett, who met workers on the picket line at a city waste depot on Friday.

He said: 'John Clancy has said there was no deal in place which is just outrageous and completely contrary to the Acas statement that says there's agreement in principle for the Grade 3 to remain, and consequently no redundancy steps are in place.

'The council is in a shambles.'

Mr Beckett also signalled there could be wider strike action, warning 'we will be balloting across the council'.

Bin man Del Broth, a Grade 3 worker on about 19,000 a year, has spent 28 years working on the dust carts.

As he himself is just two years shy of retirement, he said he was fighting for the younger members of the workforce.

The 63-year-old, from Castle Vale in Birmingham, added: 'They want me to go down to Grade 2, so I'd be down about 4,000 per year.'

Binmen members of the Unite trade union join the picket line in Birmingham today in a row

A binman on strike takes a break from the picket line as Birmingham in the row over redundancies. The trade union Unite has warned that rubbish could blight the areas's streets for many months to come unless the row is resolved

He claimed the council had 'never negotiated in good faith' and was in his view moving towards privatisation of the service.

Mr Broth added: 'I think they're trying to slim-line the service and then they'll put it out to tender.'

The draft of an agreement struck at Acas was due to be discussed at a crunch meeting by leading councillors on Friday.

However, the meeting was cancelled at the eleventh hour, and unions informed in a letter from the council chief executive Stella Manzie that notices would be served on staff.

A council spokesman said the local authority wanted to 'continue its ongoing discussion with the trade union through Acas in parallel with seeking alternative jobs'.

However, Mr Beckett branded the alternatives 'nonsense', claiming bin workers would not have the right 'skill-set', and adding the replacement roles were fixed-term, rather than permanent contracts.

Councillor Lisa Trickett, who is in charge of council waste services, added: 'We hope that, in view of the ongoing discussions with Acas, Unite will not take their workforce back out on strike but continue in discussions with us and the other unions.'
Charles Manson follower Catherine Share has told a court the cult leader threatened to have her die a painful death if she left the ranch where they lived.

The 74-year-old told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that Manson, 82, once severely beat her and got a male cult member to vow that if she ever fled the man would hunt her down and drag her back behind a car.

Her testimony, nearly 50 years after Manson's horrific crimes, was to support a parole bid by fellow 'family' member Leslie Van Houten.

Catherine Share (pictured here in 1970) revealed in court Thursday that Charles Manson threatened to have her die a painful death if she left the ranch where they lived

'Some people could not leave. I was one of them that could not leave,' Share said, as she later revealed she regretted coaxing Van Houten to join the cult.

'I don't think (Van Houten) felt like she was free to leave,' Share concluded.

However, in spite of her testimony Share did also acknowledge that she was unsure as to whether or not Van Houten had been prohibited from leaving or not, whilst also admitting that others had left the cult unharmed.

Van Houten, now 68 and serving a life sentence for the deaths, was not expected to attend the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The 74-year-old (pictured here in 1975) told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that Manson, 82, once severely beat her and got a male cult member to vow that if she ever fled the man would hunt her down and drag her back behind a car

With help from her lawyer, Van Houten is attempting to show a state parole board that she was manipulated by Manson and more likely to make bad choices at the mere age of 19.

Van Houten's plea comes after a recent change in California law that enables people who committed crimes when they were younger to seek a hearing later on in life.

The law enables those who committed crimes when they were less than 23 years old to seek a hearing and for these issues to be later discussed at a parole hearing.

Leslie Van Houten (pictured here in 2016) is attempting to show a state parole board that she was manipulated by Manson and more likely to make bad choices at the mere age of 19 - after a recent change in California law that enables people who committed crimes when they were younger to seek a hearing later on in life

She was 19 when she stabbed to death Leno and Rosemary La Bianca in 1969 with fellow cult members

She was 19 when she stabbed to death Leno and Rosemary La Bianca in 1969 with fellow cult members.

She was sentenced to death for the murders, which was later downgraded to life in prison at the California Institution for Women.

Van Houten was the youngest member of a cult led by Manson in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.

Last year, Van Houten, who launched her first parole attempt in 1979 and has applied for parole 20 times, recounted her part in the killing of the La Biancas.

Charles Manson followers, Susan Atkins (L), Patricia Krenwinkel (C) and Van Houten (R)

The former homecoming princess, who described herself as 'a hippie' at the time of the murders, told of how she looked off into the distance until another Manson follower told her to do something before she joined in the stabbing.

She went into graphic detail at a parole hearing last year about how she held down Rosemary La Bianca and secured a pillow with a lamp cord while another member of the Manson family stabbed her repeatedly.

Her husband, Leno, was also stabbed to death before carving the word 'WAR' in his stomach.

Charles Manson, 74, pictured here is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people during the Manson family killings in 1969

She said: 'I don't let myself off the hook. I don't find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself.'

The La Biancas were killed a day after other so-called 'Manson family' members murdered actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, and four others.

Manson and other followers involved in the killings are still jailed.

Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles 'Tex' Watson have each been denied parole multiple times, while fellow defendant Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009.

Former Manson follower Bruce Davis was approved for parole but California Governor Jerry Brown blocked his release in 2014, citing the gravity of his offenses and his refusal to fully accept responsibility for his role in the murders of a stunt man and a musician.
Eight New York Police officers were rushed to the hospital after entering an alleged drug lab in Queens and being overcome, law official said.

NYPD's 112 precinct responded to a call on Friday at Saunders Street in Rego Park about a man who appeared to be high on heroin in Queens, New York.

They detained the man and took him into custody.

NYPD's 112 precinct responded to a call on Friday at Saunders Street in Rego Park about a man who appeared to be high on heroin in Queens, New York

The officers detained the man and took him into custody

But inside the apartment appeared to be a drug mill, where illegal drugs are made.

There they found what they believed was heroin mixed with fentanyl which is a growing trend that is quite deadly.

Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Inside the apartment appeared to be a drug mill where there they allegedly found heroin mixed with fentanyl, which is a growing trend that is quite deadly

Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. The officers, who were rushed to the hospital, are all expected to be fine according to a source to NBC New York

The equivalent for an overdose is just two grains of salt.

This is believed to have caused all seven officers to be sick as the whole midnight shift of the precinct needed medical care after complaining of nausea and light headedness.

The officers, who were rushed to the hospital, are all expected to be fine according to a source to NBC New York.

Police are treating the substance at the scene very carefully as it is a very serious concoction.
Adam Maxwell has paid tribute to wife Kirsty (pictured) on what would have been her 28th birthday

The grieving husband of Kirsty Maxwell has paid tribute to his 'beautiful girl' on what would have been her 28th birthday.

Adam Maxwell released a statement on social media this morning saying he will remember his wife's 'big smile and loving heart' and will cherish all the memories they made together.

The 27-year-old, from Livingston, West Lothian, also revealed that this week will mark their first wedding anniversary as husband and wife.

Adam revealed that the family will be paying tribute to Kirsty this week privately and praised the 28 'lucky' years that family and friends got to spend with her.

He posted the heartfelt message with a previously unreleased personal photograph of Kirsty beaming at the camera.

The touching tribute comes just four months after the tragic newlywed plunged 100ft to her death during a friends hen-do in Benidorm, Spain.

Writing on the Kirsty Maxwell Information Appeal Facebook page, set up by Adam and Kirsty's family, he said: 'After four hard long months we now face another very difficult week without Kirsty.

'Today would have marked Kirsty's 28th birthday. 28 years of wonderful memories, 28 years we were lucky to have her.

'Followed in a few days time by what should have marked our 1st wedding anniversary together as husband and wife.

'So many happy memories amongst so much sadness.

Kirsty Maxwell, from Livingston, fell ten storeys from a Benidorm hotel. Pictured: The drop

A view out of the balcony that Kirsty Maxwell tragically fell from on April 29

'As a family, over the next week we will be paying tribute to our beautiful girl.

'We remember her big smile and loving heart, we will cherish the memories you gave us and celebrate the life we shared.

'The family would appreciate some privacy at this very difficult time, I would also again like to thank you all for the respect, privacy and support you continue to provide.

Kirsty Maxwell, pictured with her husband Adam, both then 27, had been staying at the Costa Blanca hotel with 20 other hen party guests when she fell ten storeys early on April 29

Kirsty, pictured with Adam, is thought to have clambered over a balcony and fallen to her death after walking into the wrong apartment following a night out

It is thought Kirsty, pictured with a friend, was trying to go to a friend's room who was staying on the 10th floor but may have been disorientated and knocked on the wrong door

'It means so much to us as a family. Thank you all so much. Adam.'

The heartbreaking message comes just days after it was revealed that a new crowdfunding campaign had been launched to help Kirsty's family cover legal costs probing into her death.

Kirsty fell 100ft at the Apartamentos Payma block in Benidorm while on a holiday with friends in April.

Ricky Gammon, 31, left, and Callum Northridge, right, appeared at a Spanish court on alongside the three other men after the death of Kirsty Maxwell in Benidorm

Joseph Graham, 32, from Hucknall, was quizzed by police in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy but was not asked to attend court

The four British men arrived at a Benidorm court on Wednesday over the mystery death on April 29

Hiding their identities: Two of the men who were staying in the room from where Kirsty fell arrived at court and covered their faces with their clothing, caps and sunglasses

She is believed to have entered a room on 10th floor of the hotel in error shortly before falling to her death.

Five men have been questioned over the unexplained tragedy.

Kirsty's family lawyer has spoken out in the past, saying he believes she had been trying to flee a sex attack.

Adam and Kirsty's family have been tirelessly appealing for witnesses to come forward in a bid to piece together what happened that night.
An Arizona couple was arrested Wednesday after their babysitter accused them of 'pressuring' her into having a threesome.

Jefferey James Swartz, 27, and Samantha Ohlman, 23, met the now 16-year-old through the victim's brother.

The victim and her brother went to the married couple's home in Tonopah, Arizona, in May to help them with their swimming pool.

The mugshot for Jefferey James Swartz, 27 and Samantha Ohlman, 23. They were arrested Wednesday after being accused of having sex with their teen babysitter

And after meeting them she was hired to babysit their kids.

The victim said the first incident happened the same month, according to AZ Family.

She was asked by Ohlman if she wanted to have sex with her and Swartz.

The victim said she didn't know if she wanted to because it was awkward due to their age differences.

She was 15 years old at the time.

Ohlman then invited the victim to spend the night at their house and she accepted, according to New York Post.

Ohlman later showed the girl several sex toys and some lingerie before Swartz returned home from work.

After several offers and an oil bath drawn for the victim, she had sex with the couple and told detectives she 'felt pressured' to have sex with the couple after their multiple advances.

The second sexual encounter happened in mid-July, police said in which Ohlman recorded the victim having sex with Swartz.

The victim asked Ohlman not to record her but she continued to do so.

After Ohlman and Swartz had sex, Ohlman told the victim 'that they always record the time they have sex with other people'.

The couple made advances onto the then 15 year-old babysitter. She said she felt 'pressured' to have sex with them

Ohlman proceeded to show the victim a video of Jeff having sex with another female.

She told a grandparent on August 1 who then notified Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives interviewed Swartz and Ohlman at their home, where Swartz denied the allegations but Ohlman, in a separate interview, admitted to it.

Swartz and Ohlman were booked on one count of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of furnishing obscene material to a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, and luring a minor for sexual exploitation, according to AZ Family.

Bond was set at $25,000 for each of them.

They are scheduled to appear in court on September 7.
A shocking video has emerged of a grinning reveller grinding against a female police officer at Notting Hill Carnival which some social media users have slammed as being 'sexual assault'.

In the short video from the Carnival in west London last weekend, the man has pinned the officer between his arms and the railing behind her.

The female officer struggles to move her arms to keep her hat steady on her head as the dancer gyrates and thrusts his body against hers.

A shocking video has emerged of a grinning reveller grinding against a female police officer at Notting Hill Carnival which some social media users have slammed as being 'sexual assault'. In the short clip from Europe's biggest street party in west London last weekend, the man (pictured) has pinned the officer between his two arms and the railing behind her

Twitter user Chris Warren said: 'Sexual assault, plain and simple.'

Another commentator on the video, which has been retweeted thousands of times on social media, added: 'Our police are now so terrified of political correctness they submit to what can only be described as sexual assault.'

But others thought the moves might be part of the Carnival spirit.

Kevin McGregor said: 'It looks to me like she's laughing? If she was unhappy she would have pulled out her nightstick or pepper sprayed him.'

A spokesman for the Met Police told MailOnline: 'The female officer has been spoken to and enquiries are ongoing.'

A spokesman for the Met Police said: 'We are aware of the video and enquiries are being made into the circumstances surrounding the incident'. The man walks away at the end of the clip

The footage provides further suggestions of violence and disrespect towards police officers at the Carnival, which led some from the Met to call for the Carnival to be banned and instead turned into a ticket-only event in Hyde Park.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said 31 police officers were attacked during the two-day event, with some slashed with broken bottles, spat at and bitten while others had acid thrown at them.

In one of the worst confrontations, three PCs had bloody spit sprayed in their faces by a man claiming to be HIV positive.

Four people were stabbed, more than 300 arrested and dozens of weapons seized during Europe's biggest street party.
News / National

by Thembani Dube

Latest reliable sources indicate that Mzilikazi II has been arrested by the Police Internal Security and Intelligence Unit (PISI), an intelligence arm of the Zimbabwean Police and has been taken to the Central Police station.It is reported that the intelligence police have also taken all his papers in his house. Mzilikazi II's Lawyer is believed to be headed to the Central Police Station in Bulawayo.He is reported to be detained in Room 4 of the Central Bulawayo Police Station.More reports to follow
An African migrant smuggled his heavily pregnant wife into the UK illegally then turned drug dealer as a means to support his family.

Ali Camara, 25, was sentenced to nine months in prison after being caught with 18 bags of cannabis, worth over 600, and 180 in cash in Newcastle's Granger Market.

Officers who then searched his home found a further 1,970 worth of cannabis.

In May, Camara travelled to Zaragoza in Spain to collect his wife Oulimatoo Touray, from Gambia, and gave her a stolen passport to get into Britain through Stanstead Airport.

The couple were stopped by officials on entry and Camara was arrested and granted bail.

Ali Camara (left) smuggled his then-pregnant wife Oulimatoo Touray (right, with their baby girl) into the UK illegally then turned drug dealer as a means to support his family

Touray who was around seven months into her pregnancy, had permission to stay in Spain and has now been given temporary leave to remain in the UK, the court heard.

She has since given birth, by cesarean section, to a baby girl.

Within days of appearing in court for the immigration offence, Camara, of Grainger Street, Newcastle, started selling drugs.

His wife sobbed as she was told he had been sentenced to nine months and is waiting to find out if she will be deported.

The mother-of-one, 23, was studying banking and finance in Gambia when she met Camara.

'My husband has lived in this apartment for seven years,' she said today. 'He has lived here for longer than that in the UK.

'He came to the UK to work. He worked for a welding company. We met on social media, he came to visit me. I was living in Gambia.

'He came to Gambia twice. The second time we got married in September. After we got married I got pregnant.

Camara travelled to Zaragoza in Spain to collect his wife Oulimatou (pictured), who is from Gambia, and gave her a stolen passport to get into Britain in May

'He was in Gambia for 11 days. We have been married for one year. We were having a long distance relationship, it was hard for me.

'He didn't come and visit me a lot. We kept in contact over phone and social media.

'We talked everyday but when he came in from work it was late in our country, it was 2-3 o'clock at night.

'I was going to come and stay with him because he had to work. He wanted to work to pay for the baby.

Within days of appearing in court for the immigration offence, Camara, of Grainger Street, Newcastle, started selling drugs. Pictured: His wife Oulimatou

'He gave the baby everything and myself too. He really looked after me.'

Oulimatou said she wanted to come to the UK so they could live together as a family.

Camara, who is originally from Guinea but now has British Citizenship, had been working for a glass company and earning 14,000pa before he was arrested for the airport offence.

He pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to a member state and supplying cannabis, which he admitted doing for around three months.

Mr Recorder John Aitken jailed Camara for a total of nine months.

The judge told him: 'I appreciate you may have committed this for reasons of your own emotional involvement but the long term effect of that is that you have breached laws which are in place to provide safeguards for the citizens of this country.

'You have taken an unlawful decision to circumvent rules regarding immigration to bring your wife, and now daughter, into this country.'

The judge added: 'It is put upon the citizens of the UK the burden of looking after our wife and child - medical care, money and housing if they need it.

Camara pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to a member state and supplying cannabis, which he admitted doing for around three months

'Your wife was living in Spain and you simply transported her over to the UK, she wasn't being brought from Guinea or anywhere like that.'

Speaking from the dock, Camara told the court his wife had been in a 'one bedroom flat' in Spain, which he was paying for.

The court heard he did not have enough money to raise the lawyers fees to apply for her to live in the UK legally.

Camara told the court he started dealing drugs to raise money to attend a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, before his case was transferred to Newcastle.

He said from the dock: 'At the time I had nothing. '
Advertisement

A bowling alley has become ground zero for relief efforts in Port Arthur, Texas after historic flooding from tropical storm Harvey which dumped close to the citys annual rainfall in the space of three days.

There were emotional scenes at the Max Bowl on Thursday afternoon as those evacuated from their homes in the small Gulf Coast city struggled to piece together their lives and wondered what the next steps would bring.

People searched through bundles of donated clothing for items, waited in line for hot food and tried to keep children occupied in the leisure center, which was broken open by fire crews on Monday night, after gaining permission from the Good Samaritan owner, to protect displaced people from the life-threatening weather. The original shelter, at the Bob Bowers Civic Center, flooded.

Storm surges swamped Port Arthur and the surrounding area of East Texas earlier in the week after Hurricane Harvey rounded on the Lone Star State for a second time, making landfall as a tropical storm, bringing ferocious winds and torrential rains.

Max Bowl Bowling alley has been open as a safe place for evacuees to take shelter and receive clothing, food and water

It's not the usual fare for bowlers at the Max Bowl snack bar. Hurricane Harvey evacuees are seen getting food from the facility now being used used as a temporary shelter for the flood victims

Storm surges swamped Port Arthur and the surrounding area of East Texas earlier in the week after Hurricane Harvey rounded on the Lone Star State for a second time, making landfall as a tropical storm, bringing ferocious winds and torrential rains

Parents tried to keep children occupied in the leisure center, which was broken open by fire crews on Monday night

People searched through bundles of donated clothing for items, waited in line for hot food after gaining permission from the Good Samaritan owner of the bowling alley

Cots were placed in the 40 lanes of the recreation center

The official death toll from the natural disaster is 47 but officials expect this number to rise as the water recedes and a grim search for bodies gets underway.

Some residents reported walking neck-high through floodwaters holding their pets and most precious possessions above their heads.

Army veteran Keith Francis, 62, was evacuated from his single-story home with his wife, Lora, 53, his 13-year-old daughter Ski, and two German shepherds, Big Boy and Jasper.

The disabled veteran, who suffers from anxiety attacks, heart, blood pressure and back ailments, had made a camp on a bowling lane, carefully laying out his Bible and surviving medication on the cot.

Francis, who served in the 34th signal battalion and volunteered for active duty in the Vietnam War when he was 18, told DailyMail.com that he had lost everything he had ever worked for.

The house is gone, the water and mold got into everything. My wife and I built the house around 2000 in a safe area of Port Arthur where we were told we didnt need flood insurance. We got through Katrina, we got through Rita.

Ive never seen water like this, weve never seen anything like this. We never heard the pumps going. My family has lost everything.

Francis, who is retired from ExxonMobil, added: Look it up on Google Maps: youll say, Wow, what a beautiful home he had.

Army veteran Keith Francis, 62, was evacuated from his single-story home with his wife, Lora, 53, his 13-year-old daughter Ski, and two German shepherds, Big Boy and Jasper

The veteran, who is a devout member of the Beaumont Church of Christ, said that water started seeping under his houses front door and garage on Sunday but at first he wasnt worried because the water pumps drained the flooding. He's setting up a cout on Lane 40

The veteran, who is a devout member of the Beaumont Church of Christ, said that water started seeping under his houses front door and garage on Sunday but at first he wasnt worried because the water pumps drained the flooding.

But by Monday afternoon, the water was on the rise.

Francis said: We called 911 but we couldnt get though, they were completely overwhelmed.

I told my wife and daughter to get in a volunteer rescue boat on Monday around 1.30pm but I couldnt leave my dogs, they were completely traumatized.

HURRICANE STATS  By some local estimates, 54 inches of rain fell over 72 hours in the Port Arthur area  the average annual rainfall for the Port Arthur area is 60 inches  Major shipping channels from the Gulf were closed in the East Texas area after the Neches River reached a historic high - water levels are expected to reach a record 20ft this weekend. The previous record high was 13ft  On Wednesday, the U.S. largest oil refinery, the Saudi Aramco-Motiva facility in Port Arthur, Texas was forced to shut down because of the dangerously high waters in the area after Harvey made its second landfall as a tropical storm. Several feet of water was visible around the refinerys perimeter on Thursday  The affected areas in Texas have seen a combined 20 trillion gallons of rain - enough to support New York Citys water needs for the next 50 years  Texas Governor Greg Abbott estimated that his state would need around $125billion in federal relief for the recovery effort  A new U.S. record storm rainfall at Cedar Bayou in Houston - 51.88 inches [National Weather Service]  About 80 per cent of Hurricane Harvey victims do not have flood insurance Advertisement

The rescuers said they would come back for me but no one came. At 7pm, the house was really starting to fill up with water. The water was up to waist level so I was sitting on the top edge of a chair, propped against the wall.

The power had gone out. I was trying to keep out of the dark water and keep the dogs calm.

He was rescued at 10am on Tuesday by a boat crew. There were no voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders so we stayed, Francis said. When I arrived here [bowling alley], it was hot and humid. There was several hundred people. People were lying on the floors, there werent many cots to go around. People were standing outside in the rain to beat the crowds inside.

We havent seen anyone from FEMA or the Red Cross out here.

All these people are in extremely unsanitary conditions. The volunteers are doing everything they can but we havent seen FEMA or the Red Cross.

There are no showers here and the bathrooms, well, you dont even want to go in there.

With all that standing water comes lots of bacteria and mosquitoes.

The veteran said he hoped that President Trumps administration would make good on their promises of help. Trump said he was going to Make America Great Again. Well, what is he going to do for all these people? If youre the president, act like the president.

He added: A lot of people here have lost everything. The poorest of the poor, at least most of them had a car to get to work but now they dont even have that.

Trump is claiming America is so great. This is like a third world country.

I love the flag and I served the flag. I heard Kennedy when he said, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

But now I need my country to do for me. I cannot eat the flag. People here are in desperate need of help.

Also at the shelter, was 91-year-old Josephine Henry, originally from New Iberia, who moved to Port Arthur in 2008 after her husband passed away.

She told DailyMail.com that she had been at the shelter since Wednesday as all her relatives homes were underwater. She left her first-floor apartment in knee-deep water, bringing her purse, a small case and her family Bible in leather protective cover.

By some local estimates, 54 inches of rain fell over 72 hours in the Port Arthur area  the average annual rainfall for the Port Arthur area is 60 inches

Josephine Henry, 91, wears a flora dress and clutches her family Bible as she waits inside the Max Bowl Bowling Alley waiting for her family to come save her in Port Arthur, Texas.

I had a time getting out of there, she said. The boat picked me up.

The 91-year-old said she was very grateful to have found a place to stay and to get something to eat.

I slept on two chairs because Im unable to lie down anymore but I managed to get some sleep, she told DailyMail.com. By Gods grace and mercy, I am still here.

Minutes later, her daughter Lena Kelly, 61, and son-in-law, Nelson Kelly, 66, arrived to collect her and bring her to their home.

Tomika Williams, 40, cradled her one-year-old son Tison in her arms as she waited with friend Letitcia Herbert, 40, at a Formica table in the bowling alley after they had to abandon their homes with their children when Harvey hit.

Haleem Collins Jr., 14, Tyree Williams, Tomika Williams,40, Letitcia Hebert, 40, and baby Tyson seek refuge from the flooding inside the Max Bowl Bowling Alley in Port Arthur, Texas

Tomika told DailyMail.com: We left the house on Wednesday anticipating that the waters would be rising. At the moment, we dont know if our homes have been damaged. When we left, there was water right up to the porch. We know that the cars are underwater.

Tomika estimated that several hundred people had been staying at the bowling alley, adding that they hadnt slept and it had been difficult for the children to get any rest.

The mothers said they were grateful for the donations of clothing and food. At lunchtime on Thursday, a local Asian restaurant, Sake Sushi Bar and Lounge, was serving free hot meals to those evacuated.

The women said that they were unsure of what was next was in the recovery process and said they had no flood insurance for their possessions because they were renting their homes.

Tomika said: Authorities have told us that we could be put on a plane and end up anywhere  Louisiana, Virginia.

On Thursday afternoon, volunteers were asking if 50 people would like to take up the offer of a shelter in Dallas.

Tomika added: I have never been in a shelter in my own city before. This is a first. Normally we get out and go to family.

Letitcia said: I remember watching [Hurricane] Katrina on TV at home. But when you see the water rise in your own city, then it becomes real. Port Arthur has never seen anything like this before.

Because there wasnt an evacuation order issued, it didnt sound like it was going to be that bad. They waited and thats why so many are stuck here now in this situation.

During [Hurricane] Rita, we were in Austin with relatives, watching TV and saying, those poor people. Now its us. Im not saying its as bad as Katrina - but its bad.

Leading the volunteer efforts at the makeshift shelter was Anton Green, 42, and his wife, Sandra. They had been helping coordinate efforts since Tuesday and prior to that, Anton was conducting house-to-house rescues in a row boat.

Anton Green, 42, is one of the volunteers that is helping keep the bowling alley running as a temporary center. When the rains first started and the waters started to rise he went around on boats rescuing people and bringing them to the bowling alley

The couple, whose children were at home, have been at the shelter around-the-clock because they wanted to give back, feeling fortunate that their home suffered no water damage.

When the storm water started rising up, we started telling people to get out, Anton said. The rain was so powerful, it was stinging your face as it hit.

The Fire Department called the owner of the bowling alley, Jeff Toliver, who gave permission to break in. The crew broke down the door as people were standing out under awnings in pouring rain and lightning.

Normally we would use a civic centre but the Bob Bowers Center is only one foot above sea level and it flooded immediately. We started bringing people to the bowling alley on buses around 11.30pm on Monday.

At capacity, Anton estimated that around 800 people had been taking shelter in Max Bowl. It was shoulder to shoulder in here, he said.

Weve been surviving on what people have brought in to donate. We are trying to make sure we get enough socks and toiletries and then keeping them behind the counter to hand out to people so they dont all disappear at once.

We need more food. People here are tired and hungry.

He added: This is where we live  weve been through [Hurricanes] Rita and Ike but they werent expecting this much water.

Im going to do my very best to help until I cant stay awake anymore and I have to sleep.

Away from the bowling alley, Port Arthur residents were struggling to navigate around a network of impassable streets. Many were becoming stuck in trucks and cars after misjudging the depths of the murky street waters while anxiously trying to retrieve important documents and valuables from their homes and turning off any power supplies.

Hazel Tucker, 84, and her son Jeremy Coburn, were in a truck with her grandson-in-law, Matt Heger, and his brother Steven, when they became stuck on Jimmy Johnson Boulevard trying to return to her home.

Hazel has lived in Port Arthur since 1942 and said that she has seen storms before in the area. She evacuated her home on Tuesday to stay with relatives. She told DailyMail.com: The apartment is on the ground floor and there has been a lot of flooding.

Matt Heger (right) pushes his truck through water to save his grandmother-in-law Hazel Tucker, 84, and her son Jeremy Coburn.

Matt Heger pushes his truck through water to save his grandmother-in-law Hazel Tucker, 84, and her son Jeremy Coburn

We came back to check on the utilities and collect my things but we couldnt get in because the water is so high. We also came to check on the house of Matts grandmother who lives nearby but we werent able to get to the house because of the water.

Ive seen it bad before but usually we dont stay so Im seeing more of the damage first-hand.

Around the corner, Floyd Gaspard, 71, and his wife Francine, 69, were out in their driveway checking on neighbors with Floyds sister, Katie Gaspard, 67, a sister with the Dominican Sisters of Houston and a special education teacher at Port Neches Groves High School.

Katies nephew brought her to stay with her brother and sister-in-law in Port Arthur after she lost power at her home in Vidor. But within hours, the Port Arthur street was filling with water.

Francine told DailyMail.com: The water came right up to the doorstep of the house, so we shut everything down, sat down and prayed together. Thank God, the water started receding.

Sister Katie told DailyMail.com: A lot of the teachers at my school have lost everything. We need FEMA to be here

Floyd Gaspard, 71, and his wife Francine, 69 (left) were out in their driveway checking on neighbors with Floyds sister, Katie Gaspard, 67, a sister with the Dominican Sisters of Houston and a special education teacher at Port Neches Groves High School

Standing water from Hurricane Harvey closed many roads and flooded many homes and vehicles.

The affected areas in Texas have seen a combined 20 trillion gallons of rain - enough to support New York Citys water needs for the next 50 years

The 4-=lane bowling alley has been is a temporary haven for 800 residents of Fort Arthur

People are running out of water, food and gas. We are like an island here, we are totally cut off.

She added: Its going to be a long recovery but we will recover. Texans are unique.

Floyd, who is the director and CEO of the Port Arthur International Public Port, said: The port has been shut down since Friday night. As soon as the seas calm down, we can start to get the boats back in again.

I was born and raised in Port Arthur and Ive never seen anything like this. It is catastrophic.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan urged President Donald Trump on Friday not to rescind an Obama-era program that protects immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children, joining business leaders and others opposing the move.

The Republican president said he would announce by Monday whether to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that protects nearly 800,000 people from deportation. It also makes those covered, so-called Dreamers, eligible for work permits.

'We love the 'Dreamers,'' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Friday President Donald Trump should not rescind an Obama-era program that protects immigrants who entered the country illegally as children

Ryan and Senator Orrin Hatch, both Republicans, on Friday joined a small but growing number of lawmakers from the majority party to speak out against killing DACA, created in 2012 by Democratic former President Barack Obama's executive order and long the target of immigration hard-liners.

'I actually don't think he should do that, and I believe that this is something Congress has to fix,' Ryan said in an interview with WCLO radio in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.

'These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home. And so I really do believe that there needs to be a legislative solution. That's one that we're working on. And I think we want to give people peace of mind,' Ryan added.

Hatch said in a statement rescinding the program would further complicate a U.S. immigration system sorely in need of legislative reform.

The White House insisted Thursday that President Donald Trump has not arrived at a decision yet on DACA, the Obama-era program protecting illegal immigrant children from deportation, even though Fox News says he has

'Like the president, I've long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress,' Hatch said.

Trump made a crackdown on illegal immigrants a centerpiece of his 2016 election campaign and has stepped up deportations since taking office in January. But business leaders say immigrants make important economic contributions and that ending the program would hit economic growth and tax revenue.

Congress under presidents of both parties has been unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Obama in 2014 signed an order providing similar protections as DACA to millions of additional illegal immigrants who were parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, but a group of Republican states led by Texas blocked it with a lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Most of the Dreamer immigrants came from Mexico and other Latin American countries. More than 200,000 live in California, while 100,000 are in Texas. New York, Illinois and Florida also have large numbers.

Protesters marched on Trump Tower on Wednesday urging the president to keep DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in place

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told journalists on Wednesday that the policy was still under review

What to do about Dreamers has been actively debated within the White House and Trump administration. One senior administration official described the debate as a 'tug of war' between factions in favor and against the move.

Leading business figures including Facebook Inc (FB.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg have rallied in defense of the program and the Dreamers.

'These young people represent the future of our country and our economy. They are our friends and family, students and young leaders in our communities,' Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook posting late on Thursday.

Immigrants and advocates across the country are waiting to hear President Donald Trump's decision on whether he will keep DACA which allows young people who immigrated to the U.S. as children to temporarily escape deportation and receive other benefits, started under President Barack Obama in 2012

DACA supporters argue that the people it protects grew up and were educated in the United States and were integrated into American society, with little connection to the countries in which they are citizens. Opponents of the program argue that illegal immigrants take jobs from U.S. citizens.

There are deep divisions in the United States over the fate of roughly 11 million illegal immigrants, most of them Hispanics. Trump as a candidate promised to deport all of them.

Trump in February, four weeks after taking office, signaled he was conflicted over the DACA program, telling a news conference he would 'deal with DACA with heart' and calling the matter 'one of the most difficult subjects I have.' Trump said 'some absolutely incredible kids' were among those covered by DACA, but also gang members and drug dealers.
A pair of pensioners have been ordered to pay nearly 5,000 after going on a drunken rampage in a hotel.

Former chartered surveyor Robert Fergus and his wife Ruth threatened staff with scissors at the MacDonald Kinlock Rannoch Hotel forcing them to flee the building.

The couple were guests at the picturesque three-star hotel in Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire when they started behaving bizarrely after drinking all day.

Mr Fergus, 72 and his 69-year-old wife, from Troon in South Ayrshire, smashed glass doors and threatened to shoot staff during the incident.

Former chartered surveyor Robert Fergus and his wife Ruth (pictured), of Troon, South Ayrshire, threatened staff with scissors at the MacDonald Kinlock Rannoch Hotel, forcing them to flee the building

The couple were guests at the picturesque three-star hotel in Kinloch Rannoch (above), Perthshire, when they started behaving bizarrely after drinking all day

After driving away from the hotel in their 65,000 BMW, the couple then flagged down police, accusing staff of trying to kill them.

Smelling alcohol on the pair, officers breathalysed Mr Fergus and found he was twice over the drink drive limit.

Perth Sherrif Court heard the incident in February began when the couple started banging on hotel guests doors at around 1.45am before threatening staff with violence when they tried to intervene.

Mr Fergus was brandishing a pair of scissors as he screamed abuse in the hotel lobby and his wife shouted at one female member of staff, 'I'm going to get a gun and shoot you'.

He then told another staff member: 'I'm going to slit you and kill you' and also picked up a sign which he used to smash glass-panelled doors.

As terrified staff fled the hotel, the couple returned to their rooms to pack before driving off towards Perth.

Mr Fergus was fined 2,750 and ordered to pay the hotel a further 800 in compensation. He was also banned from driving for 12 months. His wife was fined a further 1,350

The court heard they flagged down a passing police car as they neared Tummel Bridge and accused staff of attacking them. Mr Fergus's intoxicated state swiftly became apparent.

He gave a positive breath test but told officers: 'I had no intention of driving but I was forced to. Our lives were in danger from hotel staff.'

Shortly after attending at the hotel - and after viewing CCTV footage of the past few hours - the officers reached a different conclusion.

The couple, of Balcomie Court in Troon, admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on February 4 this year.

Mr Fergus also admitted smashing glass pane doors within the hotel and causing extensive damage to servers by cutting cables and causing 800 of damage.

He further admitted driving his BMW on the B864 Kinloch Rannoch to Tummel Bridge road while twice the legal alcohol limit (43 micrograms).

Solicitor Ewan Cameron said: 'This was a thoroughly unfortunate incident and it was undoubtedly terrifying for the hotel staff.

'It was abhorrent conduct on the part of Mr Fergus but he is a 72-year-old man with no previous convictions and it is hugely uncharacteristic on his part.

'His memory of what happened is hazy because of the sizeable amount of alcohol he had consumed and evidence of his confused state is apparent when he told police officers he and his wife were the victims.

'He was taken aback at hearing the full details of his wrongdoing.'

The solicitor said the retired chartered surveyor had previously been of good character and was both a senior committee member at his local rugby club and a member of the fundraising committee for a local school for disabled children.

Sheriff Gillian Wade told Mr Fergus: 'This is a very sorry state of affairs and it gives me no pleasure to see you here at the age of 72 and as a first offender.

'It is extremely regrettable but these are obviously serious offences and they must have caused hotel staff considerable concern.'

Mr Fergus was fined 2,750 and ordered to pay the hotel a further 800 in compensation. He was also banned from driving for 12 months.

His wife was fined a further 1,350.

Both Mr Fergus and MacDonald Hotels declined to comment on the incident.
Police in New York City on Thursday captured a 20-year-old murder suspect accused of stabbing to death a Brooklyn man in front of his wife two weeks ago.

Gary Correa was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the August 18 killing of 42-year-old George Carroll near his home in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn.

Carroll was walking with his wife near a local park when he allegedly made eye contact and exchanged words with two men standing on a stoop.

The men chased the victim down the street and one of them, later identified by police as Correa, stabbed him in the chest.

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Caught: Gary Correa, 20, is pictured in handcuffs after he was arrested Thursday in the the August 18 stabbing death of George Carroll in Brooklyn

Correa, who has a long rap sheet, is accused of killing 42-year-old Carroll (pictured right) in front of his wife after the two men had some words

Police carried out Correa's arrest at 1pm on Thursday after he was spotted walking in the area of Norman Avenue and Guernsey Street, just a couple of blocks from the crime scene, reported DNAInfo New York.

Correa was expected to be arraigned on Friday.

On August 18, Carroll had just left dinner with his wife, Christina Romero Carroll, around 9.30pm when they came across a group of people, including Correa.

The 20-year-old was identified as a suspect by NYPD after another man he was hanging out with showed up at the crime scene to pick up his car, which he left behind during the attack, the New York Daily News reported.

That man did not take part in the murder, according to the outlet.

His wife, Christina Romero Carroll, was with him at the time. She broke down in tears as she spoke about his death

Carroll and his wife were walking down Monitor Street in Greenpoint near the group who were hanging out around an SUV, Carroll's wife told NBC 4 a few days after the deadly incident.

One of the men looked at her husband, they made eye contact and he spoke to him.

'It's basically "what are you looking at?" That was it,' Romero Carroll recalled. 'And my husband, he's a Texan, he's like "I'm...looking."'

She said the man then chased her husband, stabbed him, and took off in the SUV. Carroll was taken to Woodhull Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

'Mr Carroll was walking down the street and just some eyes back and forth led to a dispute,' NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

The 20-year-old has a long arrest record, police said, including 13 arrests for robbery, burglary and drug possession.

He was most recently arrested in May and was charged with robbery and grand larceny, NY Daily News reported.

Romero Carroll said one of the men looked at her husband and spoke to him. She said the man then chased her husband, stabbed him and took off in the SUV. Photos of the scene showed yellow police tape surrounding a bloody sidewalk

'Its still not registering We had just seen an apartment  we were going to see two more apartments today. I cant believe were talking about him in the past,' said Christina Romero Carroll about her late husband.

The incident took place near Msgr. McGoldrick Park in Brooklyn.

Photos of the scene showed yellow police tape surrounding a bloody sidewalk.

Carroll was a writer and actor who was originally from Texas, his wife said. He moved to New York in 2001 and they recently moved from East New York to Greenpoint because they thought it would be safer, his wife told NBC.

Despite Greenpoint's rapidly rising rents and high standard of living, residents of the neighborhood say that over at McGolrick Park, less than a block from where Carroll was stabbed, a growing homeless population and raucous youth are causing concerns.

Carroll (pictured with his wife on their wedding day) was a writer and actor who was originally from Texas, his wife said. He moved to New York in 2001 and they recently moved from East New York to Greenpoint because they thought it would be safer

'There has been a group of older teens. They hang out by the schoolhouse or the park. I wont go by them, whether its day or night,' John Allens, a truck driver, told The New York Post.

'Theyre loud, theyre rowdy . . . Neighbors have been complaining, but nothing got done. Within the last few years, the surge of drugs in the neighborhood is incredible. You can smell the reefer everywhere.'

Danielle Pirhaly, 40, a dental assistant in New York City, described the kids who have taken over the park 'young punks.'

'They like to go and cause trouble. There are always fights here . . . They beat up a young kid, stuffed him in the garbage. They broke someones jaw,' she claimed.
The Justice Department has turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller an early draft of President Trump's letter to former FBI Director James Comey setting out the reasons for his sensational firing.

Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller composed the letter in May, the New York Times reported.

The letter was met with immediate opposition by White House counsel Don McGahn, according to the report  an effort that proved successful.

The letter the president ultimate sent to Comey was composed deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained an early draft letter that President Trump and an aide crafted laying out his reasons for firing FBI Director Jamres Comey (pictured)

That letter focused entirely on Comey's conduct during his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails  gripes that Democrats had been voicing for months.

One issue that did not appear in the letter that ultimately got sent was Comey's handling of the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the election and contacts with the Trump campaign that were unknown to the public at that time.

Comey testified in Congress that Trump brought up the probe to him, asking him to let go of an investigation of former national security advisor Mike Flynn.

The Times said it was 'unclear' how much of the letter focused on the Russia investigation.

Trump drafted the letter with White House adviser Stephen Miller

President Trump was said to be furious about the FBI's Russia probe

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, special counsel on the Russian investigation, leaves following a meeting with members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on June 21, 2017

DRAFT DAY: President Donald Trump tweeted his response after a report that Comey began working on a separate letter of his own months before announcing the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton

The Justice Department turned over the document weeks ago, according to the paper.

A Times reporter who asked about the letter at a White House briefing stated that the letter focuses 'principally' on the Russia investigation.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to provide any more information.

'Im not going to get into any of that,' she said. She referred questioners to a statement by attorney Ty Cobb, who is advising Trump from inside the White House.

'To the extent the special prosecutor is interested in these matters we will be further transparent with this investigation,' she said, reading from Cobb's statement.
An MP in French president Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! party has been detained in custody after allegedly putting a rival politician in intensive care by smacking him with a motorbike helmet.

Two police officials explained today that M'jid El Guerrab was being questioned over a fight he had on Wednesday with Socialist Party lawmaker Boris Faure.

It has been alleged in French media that El Guerrab was riding a motorbike in the centre of Paris when he saw Faure - with whom he is said to have fallen out last year - and went over to him.

They briefly spoke before the encounter became violent and they had to be separated by nearby guards.

Rivalry: Socialist Boris Faure (left) is alleged to have been sent to intensive care by En Marche! MP M'jid El Guerrab (right) after a violent altercation in Paris. French media are reporting that El Guerrab struck Faure with his motorbike helmet

But El Guerrab has defended his actions by claiming that Faure grabbed him by the arm and called him a 'dirty Arab' and an 'impostor'.

He added: 'I did not attack Mr Faure.'

Faure's family have rejected the claim that he was racially insulting to El Guerrab and it is understood both men are threatening to file charges.

Earlier today, El Guerrab said on his Facebook page that he is taking a leave of absence from his party.

He acknowledged he had a verbal and physical altercation with Faure and said they were on bad terms since the electoral campaign for legislative elections in June.

Faure's family said yesterday that he had undergone emergency surgery as his state deteriorated.

El Guerrab left the Socialists to join Emmanuel Macron's new party last year, which is said to be the cause of their fall-out

El Guerrab left the Socialists to join Macron's new party last year, which is said to be the cause of their fall-out.

Faure managed the campaign of the candidate that El Guerrab beat in recent parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile En Marche!, El Guerrab's party, has condemned the 'violence' against Faure.
President Donald Trump will deliver his verdict on DACA Tuesday.

Trump suggested Friday that he may not terminate an Obama-era program that shields illegal immigrant children from deportation, saying, 'We love the Dreamers. We love everybody.'

He promised during a briefing on Tropical Storm Harvey reveal his decision 'sometime over the weekend, probably Sunday [or] Saturday. Latest will be Monday.'

His press secretary then said the decision would come Tuesday.

'We're in the process of finalizing that decision and details, and we'll have that announcement on Tuesday of next week,' Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during her daily news conference.

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may not terminate an Obama-era program that shields illegal immigrant children from deportation

Sanders gave little away in her briefing about which way Trump was leaning. She repeatedly told reporters their questions would be answered on Tuesday.

'I hate to sound like a broken record, but since you guys are, then I guess I have no choice to be. But we're continuing to work through this decision process and I'm not going to go any further than that,' she finally said.

She added: 'The president's made a lot of statements on this, and he's going through all the details of this very thoroughly. And once a final decision is made and those details are ironed out, we'll let you guys know on Tuesday.'

The Trump spokeswoman has had to swat down reports every day this week that Trump is angling to get rid of the federal program.

A group of conservative attorneys general is trying to force Trump's hand with a threat to sue the Department of Justice unless Trump disbands the program by Sept. 5.

Leading the charge is Texas AG Ken Paxton. He'll go ahead with the suit, regardless of the disaster relief efforts in his state, his office told the Texas Tribune on Thursday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan meanwhile urged Trump to keep the program, saying Friday on a radio show, 'I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.'

A senior administration official told Fox News yesterday that Trump has already decided to to ax the program.

Sanders told journalists shortly after the item went up that the policy was still under review, though.

'No offense to your colleague from Fox News, but I think I'm a little better informed than they are in terms of when the White House has made a decision,' Sanders told a reporter from the New York Times. 'And as I just said, it has not been finalized and when it is we will certainly let you know.'

An senior adviser to President Trump told DailyMail.com earlier that day that Trump had not 'firmed up' a decision, citing Tropical Storm Harvey and the unexpected amount of time and energy federal officials had spent responding to it.

Trump was in Texas for a briefing with state and local officials Tuesday. The White House has confirmed that he'll make a second trip to Texas, and also Louisiana, tomorrow, most likely to the Houston and Lake Charles areas.

Asked in her briefing if the trip to Texas was a factor in Trump's timing, Sanders said, 'I think the decision itself is weighing on him.'

'This isn't a decision that the president takes lightly. And he's taking time and diligent effort to make sure that he goes through every bit of the process. And he'll continue to do that, and make that announcement on Tuesday,' Sanders declared.

The White House insisted Thursday that President Donald Trump has not arrived at a decision yet on DACA, the Obama-era program protecting illegal immigrant children from deportation

Protesters marched on Trump Tower on Wednesday urging the president to keep DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in place

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told journalists shortly after an item went up claiming that Trump was termininating DACA that the policy was still under review

An administration official told Fox News later in the day that Trump had come to a decision, and he intends to terminate the policy.

Receipts of deferred action will not have their work visas yanked, the official said, meaning that illegal immigrants benefiting from the program can continue to live and work in the country until their documents expire. For some, that could be another two years.

Some 800,000 illegal immigrants who came the the U.S. as children are under the protection of the program Barack Obama created without the approval of Congress.

DACA, the acronym for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allows so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who came to the country as kids, to remain in the United States on a semi-permanent basis. Recipients must reapply every two years for work permits.

As a candidate, Trump said he would end the program that Barack Obama's administration put into place in 2012.

But his White House said as soon as he took office that it had no immediate action planned and that it was mainly focused on the removal of criminals.

Trump said himself in April that Dreamers should 'rest easy' for the same reason.

'This is a case of heart,' he said at the time.

He similarly told ABC News, 'They shouldnt be very worried.' Remarking, 'I do have a big heart.'

An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released Thursday morning affirmed the popularity of the program with Americans.

Nearly two thirds, 64 percent, said they supported DACA, while 30 percent said they are opposed it.

Roughly as many Americans, 68 percent, said in the same poll that they view illegal immigrants as a 'serious problem.

Despite their concerns about illegal immigration broadly, a large percentage of Americans, 71 percent, also said they believed undocumented immigrants working in the United States should have a pathway to a legal status.

The mixed messages suggest Americans have a nuanced view of the country's illegal immigration fight, especially when it comes to Dreamers.

Sanders told reporters yesterday afternoon at the White House that Trump was still mulling his options.

'This is under review. There are a lot of components that need to be looked at and once a decision is made we will certainly let you guys know,' she said.

A senior White House official indicated yesterday morning to DailyMail.com and other outlets that nothing had changed.

'It's been a lengthy review process, and the president still hasn't firmed up his decision,' the official said, bringing up the 'unexpected circumstance of the hurricane which is absorbing the president, the vice president, really the Cabinet's...time and thoughts.'

The official then said, 'Also, we want to hear from Congress.'

Immigrants and advocates across the country are waiting to hear President Donald Trump's decision on whether he will keep DACA which allows young people who immigrated to the U.S. as children to temporarily escape deportation and receive other benefits, started under President Barack Obama in 2012

Reports circulating last week said that Trump was due to make a decision in the coming days.

The adviser who spoke to DailyMail.com said that was not necessarially the case.

'The one thing that we're not really excited about are artificial time frames,' the Trump aide said.

The remark about Congress raised the prospect that the administration would be willing to get behind legislation that grants Dreamers permanent resident status or offers them a pathway to citizenship.

Lawmakers have proposed to do both at times.

'We call on President Trump to protect DACA and Dreamers - and we need every single Member of Congress and Senator to co-sponsor legislation that would allow Dreamers to work and live in the U.S. and demand a vote on the floor of the House and Senate,' FWD.us President Todd Schulte said this week.
Robert Moore (pictured) was confronted by teachers concerned over how 'unusually close' he was to schoolgirls in central London

A highflying banker punched a teacher in the face when she chased him down The Mall after she allegedly spotted him 'exposing himself' while 'filming schoolgirls'.

Robert Moore, 57, was confronted after two teachers became concerned over how 'unusually close' he was to four girls ages 12 to 14, who were on a school trip from Italy, on a bench in St James's Park, central London.

The American, who flits between his 3million two-bed apartment in New York and a 1.3million London pad, was cross-legged with his mobile phone resting over his groin as he sat next to the students, Hammersmith Magistrates Court heard.

When teacher Timothy Dunkerley went around the back of the bench to inspect what Moore was doing he claims he saw Moore's manhood loose from his shorts.

When questioned, Moore walked off before running down The Mall.

Mr Dunkerley's wife and colleague, Nicole Dunkerley, gave chase and managed to grab hold of Moore - who then swung his closed fist to hit her in the mouth.

Police arrested Moore, who later admitted a charge of assault and a public order offence of using abusive words.

But Moore, who appeared in court today, denied a charge of exposure - which was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service before trial due to witnesses from Italy failing to appear in court.

In a statement Moore denied deliberately exposing himself. He said: 'I deny it, I was wearing loose fitting shorts and underwear.'

Moore, who appeared in court today (pictured), denied a charge of exposure - which was dropped before trial due to witnesses from Italy failing to appear in court

Sharon Michaels, prosecuting, said: 'There was a large group, some 32 on a school trip. They were being taken to St James's Park for lunch.

'Around 1.30pm they noticed the defendant. He was not part of the group, he was sat alone. He was unusually close to four of the schoolgirls. He was sat cross-legged with a mobile phone close to his groin area.'

She added: 'His phone was seized by the police and downloads were captured of videos, including footage of girls sitting in the park. It is not suggested it was in a sexual way.'

In her statement Mrs Dunkerley said: 'He swung his arm around violently with a closed fist, hitting the top of my mouth, shouting: 'Get off me.''

Mark Cotter QC, defending, said: 'One of the teachers stated that they could see his penis. It was poking out from the bottom of his short shorts, because of that he was approached and some questions were asked of him.

'There was a discussion, he walked off and was followed. He started to jog away and the female took hold of his collar.

'He swung out with his hand and struck a female on the face.

When questioned by the teachers, Moore ran down The Mall in central London (pictured)

'He said he did not deliberately expose himself. He was wearing loose fitting shorts and underwear. He entered a guilty plea for the common assault.'

He added: 'He is a man of previous good character who is engaged with various charity work.'

Moore, who maintains there was no footage of the park schoolgirls on his phone, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mrs Dunkerley and using threatening behaviour on on July 12.

He was fined a total of 1,216 and ordered to pay 85 costs and a 60 victim surcharge - all of which he told magistrates he 'could pay today'.
Hanover Park Police Department in Chicago, Illinois have warned residents about the rise of the 'zombie' coyote.

According to WNBC, police have told citizens to beware of these creatures who are infected.

The Hanover Park Police department posted a severe warning on their official Facebook page Wednesday along with some photos of normal coyotes verses infected coyotes to inform people.

Hanover Park Police Department in Chicago, Illinois have warned residents about the rise of the 'zombie' coyote. Pictured above are healthy looking coyotes.

Although these animals tend to not be aggressive, police warned they should be avoided at all costs.

The coyotes have something called mange, which is a skin disorder resulting in hair loss.

'Recently we have received several messages and posts from citizens concerned about what appear to be malnourished or neglected stray dogs. These are NOT lost pets, but are in fact coyotes.

'There is unfortunately an increase in sarcoptic mange in the urban coyote populations which has caused these normally nocturnal animals to become more active during the day.

Pictured here is a mange-infested coyote - police have warned residents to keep away from these creatures who are now becoming more active in the day

'Infected animals will often appear mangy - which looks just like it sounds. They suffer hairloss and develop secondary infections, eventually looking like some sort of zombie dog.

'The infections affect their vision, causing them to look for food during the daylight hours. These infected animals are not normally aggressive, but should be avoided at all times.

The Hanover Park Police department posted a severe warning on their official Facebook page Wednesday along with some photos of normal coyotes verses infected coyotes to inform people

'Please DO NOT approach these animals or allow your pets to approach them. You can avoid attracting them to your yards and neighborhoods by not leaving food out and by securing your garbage. Attached are photos of normal coyotes and an infected coyote.'

The coyotes have been spotted in several suburbs including, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, Wheaton, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Bartlett and Elgin.

According the University Of Illinois there hasn't been a documented coyote bite in Illinois in the past 30 years. The mange, however, is contagious to animals.

However, sarcoptic mange can be transmitted to humans who come into prolonged contact with the infested animals.
News / National

by Khuluma Afrika

Harare (Khuluma Afrika) - The first lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr Grace Mugabe has been fingered in a sensational and deliberate plot to ban South African artists Zodwa wa Bantu from performing in the country Khuluma Afrika has learnt.Struggling actress and Zanu PF sympathiser Anne Nhira 'wrote a letter' to the acting Minister of Tourism, Hon Patrick Zhuwao, asking for Zodwa to be banned from performing at the much hyped international carnival set to take place in Zimbabwe.However, a lot of issues have raised stink, pointing to a large plot behind the scenes. While Anne Nhira passes off the issues she raised as some form of initiative to help local artists, her personal relationship with the acting Minister, as well as sources who claim a letter was never delivered at all, have raised further eyebrows.Anne Nhira, and another fellow actress, Tatenda Mavetere, with whom she starred with in the once popular soapie Studio 263 are very close personal friends of Minister Zhuwao.Since 2015, Zhuwao has installed the two in various capacities within the Ministry of Youth. They both were installed in provincial structures for the youth council, while Mavetere was even installed in a parallel structure termed 'Youth Steering Committee'.In 2015, a scandal was muted, after it was discovered that Nhira had signed off and withdrawn monies on behalf of Mashonaland East Province Youth Structures.According to sources within the Ministry, Nhira never wrote a letter, but was only used as an outlet."There was no letter. Zhuwao took instructions from the first lady to ban Zodwa as a sign of revenge because she is still upset about how South Africa responded when she assaulted that lady." the source stated."Truth of the matter is the Mugabe's felt that SA did not treat them with royal gloves as they deserved, and even attempted to charge Amai. So she told her nephew Zhuwao to get the job done. This is just about revenge" he added.This version seemed to be corroborated by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority boss Karikoga Kaseke, who stated that Nhira was being used by "unknown assailants".Phone records from the source also seemed to point out to a deliberate plot and ploy which likely involves the first lady. Communication sent in a WhatsApp group confirmed that Nhira would stand to benefit fame from the venture, and a handsome reward from the first lady.Dr Mugabe stirred a diplomatic storm when she attacked a South African model, and then gave police a run around while waiting for her husband the President to arrive in the country and hide behind diplomatic immunity.She is well known for her vindictive nature, public and private flogging of opponents and a hot temper.
Angela Hircock, 43, pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges after she was discovered drunk at a preschool where she was a teacher

A preschool teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, who was convicted on child endangerment charges after she was found drunk at work showed up to her sentencing meeting drunk on Thursday.

Angela Hircock, 43, was arrested on March 23 after coworkers told police they suspected she was intoxicated at Lil Scholars Too Day Care Center.

Hircock pleaded guilty in July and appeared in court for sentencing on Thursday.

She reportedly showed up drunk again, and blew a .178 BAC, according to court documents. The legal limit to drive in Iowa is .08 BAC.

She was placed in jail, awaiting a pending substance abuse evaluation.

On the day she was arrested Hircock had bloodshot eyes, was unable to stand on her own and that her water bottle smelled strongly of alcohol, according to a responding officer.

Prosecutors said she had a blood alcohol content of .37 - nearly five times the legal limit to drive.

'That would probably be a hospitalization level,' West Des Moines police Sgt. Adam Porath said.

'As soon as we had any clue that there was something going on with her we immediately called her into the office,' Lil Scholars Too director Marci Johnston told KCCI in March.

Coworkers told police they suspected she was intoxicated at Lil Scholars Too on March 23

Lil Scholars Too director Marci Johnston said: I hope Angie gets help'

Hircock admitted to drinking throughout the day and using the water bottle to conceal the alcohol.

Hircock made several statements to other staff members about her condition possibly being related to her diabetes, police said.

She was fired shortly after the incident.

'This center is my life,' Johnston said. 'I'm really sad that Miss. Angie has ruined my reputation.

'I'm just very, very sorry it happened and I hope Angie gets help,' she said.

As an assistant preschool teacher, Hircock was in charge of student safety and welfare.
Sheng Li, 40, has been charged with negligent-homicide after his daughter died on Thursday

A Louisiana father of an 11-month old girl who died after she was left in a hot car was arrested.

Sheng Li, 40, has been charged with negligent-homicide after his daughter Claire Li died on Thursday.

The father loaded his daughter in the car Thursday morning with the intention of dropping her off at daycare at 8.15am before he went to work. Instead, he forgot and left her in the car for hours.

Sheng found his daughter unresponsive in the back of the car after he returned home from work. A 911 call was placed to the Metairie Sheriff's Office at 5.39pm.

The girl's parents primarily speak Mandarin Chinese so they turned to a neighbor for help. The neighbor assisted the parents in taking Claire to East Jefferson General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6.20pm Thursday evening.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, who had just been sworn in hours earlier, expressed sympathy for the parents.

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Sheriff Joseph Lopinto expressed his sympathies for the parents who lost their child

Claire Li was taken to East Jefferson General Hospital where she was pronounced dead

'The parents are going to struggle just like anyone else would struggle. The most we can do is try to prevent the next one so we don't have this interview in the future,' Lopinto said in a news conference in video obtained by WWL-TV.

In Louisiana, negligent homicide is defined as an unintentional yet illegal killing resulting from a 'disregard of the interest of others.' Convictions involving a victim younger than 10 can carry between two and five years in prison.

'Parents with good intentions can make bad mistakes,' Lopinto said. 'No parent wants to lose their child - not me, and not anybody else. The parents are dealing with the ultimate penalty right now.'

The parents also have a 4-year-old son.

If convicted, Sheng Li will spend between two and five years in prison

In the New Orleans area temperatures reached 90 degrees on Thursday which could translate to a lethal interior car temperature exceeding 155 degrees, said San Jose State University research meteorologist Jan Null.

36 children have died across the U.S. this year after being left in hot cars - a phenomenon known as vehicular heatstroke.

Li is being held at the parish jail. Bond had not been set. Jail records did not show whether he's represented by an attorney.
A man who fled his Texas home as Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on his neighborhood returned home to find an alligator in his dining room.

Brian Foster arrived at his Humble, Texas, home on Friday to survey the damage caused by the record-breaking rain brought on by the storm.

As he looked around the home with a rescue crew, he saw the 9ft alligator crawling along the floor.

He immediately called the police so the beast could be removed. Officers taped the gator's mouth shut so it could be taken away.

It then required four officers to carry the alligator through the house, out the front door and into waiting vehicles.

Wildlife officials now plan to move the beast back into its natural habitat.

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Brian Foster came home to find that an alligator had entered his house when it flooded

Constables called Wildernex Wildlife Control who arrived and captured the gator within 20 minutes by taping its jaw shut

Four men were needed to carry the nine-foot reptile out of the house

The alligator was placed in the back of a truck to be transported to its natural habitat

High flood waters have carried wild gators from their natural habitats into suburban areas across southeast Texas.

Flood waters generally seep into comes through doors, windows and other cracks. In this case it is unclear how a nine-foot creature was able to enter the home.

It's possible that walls or windows sagged under the weight of the water and made a gap large enough for the animal.

Authorities warned those affected by floods to leave gators alone and call for help if they find one.

The vast majority of evacuees returning to their homes could only rifle through the damage for prized possessions and clothes to bring with them back to the shelters.

Figures from the American Red Cross show that the numbers of displaced people are only rising, from 33,000 in their shelters Wednesday to 42,000 on Thursday.

The flood damage was strangely inconsistent throughout the city.

A house on one street could be drowned with 4 feet of water while it's neighbor was left completely dry.

For some people, it could take months before their homes are livable.

As of Friday:

The death toll was at 47 but is expected to grow as crews start recovery missions

There was another fire at a chemical plant near Houston on Friday, after the plant had two explosions on Thursday

Harvey has moved out of Texas and will bring flash flooding and isolated tornadoes over Ohio and Tennessee , as well as the southern Appalachians

Hurricane Irma has formed over the Atlantic, but it's uncertain where it might hit in the U.S.

The American Red Cross says 42,000 people slept in their shelters in Texas Thursday night, as well as 15,000 in Louisiana and a handful in Tennessee

100,000 homes have been destroyed by the storm and more damage will reveal itself as the waters recede

Some people in Houston returned home to find their houses ruined while others, expecting to discover them in pieces, cried tears of joy after finding them in tact

1,800 cases of water were delivered to Beaumont, Texas on Friday, which was left without drinking water due to failed water plants

In this arial photo, homes sit in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Harvey in Port Arthur, Texas on Harvey

A man looks at his kitchen of his flooded home in a west Houston neighborhood before evacuating in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston on Thursday

Greg Ingram looks around his water-damaged home after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey drenched the city on Thursday

Tattered flags fly over a pile of water-soaked items as people clean up in a flood ravaged neighborhood of Houston on Thursday

Earlier this week, a woman took a video of two huge alligators floating in her backyard in Missouri City, Texas.

On Tuesday an alligator sanctuary warned that up to 350 alligators could soon be on the loose in southeast Texas due to rising floodwaters.

Water is within a foot of rising over the fences of Gator Country in Beaumont, which houses hundreds of the dangerous reptiles.

The sanctuary's most fearsome residents, which include two 13-foot alligators called Big Al and Big Tex, have been placed in trailers to prevent them from escaping.

But workers have warned there is little they can do to stop the escape of the rest of the alligators from their outdoor enclosures.

'All of these are certified, high fences, but when it won't quit, it won't quit,' sanctuary founder Gary Saurage told KFDM.

'We've worked around the clock and I don't know what else to do. We're truly tired.

'The good news is, we caught all of our crocodiles, all of our venomous snakes.'

Up to 350 alligators could soon be on the loose in southeast Texas due to rising floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey

Water is within a foot of rising over the fences of Gator Country in Beaumont, which houses hundreds of the dangerous reptiles (pictured)

For those who are moving back into their homes, officials have issued warnings not to eat or drink anything that has come into contact with the contaminated floodwaters. Furniture that was exposed to the water should be cleaned with a solution made of one cup bleach to five gallons of water.

Unfortunately, many Houston residents will likely be paying to fix their flood damaged homes themselves because most were not insured.

Standard home insurance policies don't come with flood protection which means homeowners will have to pay for a lot of the damage out of their own pocket.

It's estimated that just 15 to 20 per cent of homes in the Houston area were covered by flood insurance when Harvey hit.
American diplomats who served in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries following mysterious, unexplained health problems.

In addition to mild TBI, which is commonly referred to as a concussion, permanent hearing loss has been diagnosed. ABC News reported that 19 diplomats have been affected.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said: 'We can't rule out new cases as medical professionals continue to evaluate members of the embassy community.'

She described the situation as 'unprecedented'.

The union that represents the US diplomats did not say how many of the diplomats who have spoken to the American Foreign Service Association had been given either diagnosis, but said other symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and 'cognitive disruption.'

The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. The US diplomats working there have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury

The union said that it 'strongly encourages the Department of State and the US Government to do everything possible to provide appropriate care for those affected, and to work to ensure that these incidents cease and are not repeated.'

The late 2016 and early 2017 events leading up to the mysterious diagnosis has remained an elusive mystery.

US investigators continue looking for a device or other possible cause for what the State Department has described as attacks on diplomats' health.

But early indications from US officials has pointed to a possible covert sonic device, although investigators have not said such a device has been found.

The State Department has said it can't conclude who was responsible for the attacks.

Havana, Cuba pictured above. The events leading up to the mysterious diagnosis has remained an elusive mystery to investigators

The hearing-related complaints were initially reported but the mild TBI diagnosis confirmed that the attacks caused more serious damage.

TBI typically results from a bump, jolt or other external force that disrupts normal brain functioning, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Short- and long-term effects can include changes to memory and reasoning, sight and balance, language abilities and emotions.

Not all traumatic brain injuries are the same. Doctors evaluate patients using various clinical metrics such as the Glasgow Coma Scale, in which a numerical score is used to classify TBIs as mild, moderate or severe.

The State Department has said at least 16 Americans associated with the US Embassy in Havana suffered symptoms from attacks.

But the US has declined to describe their symptoms or current conditions, other than to say the 'incidents' that affected them are no longer occurring.
The chief medical officer faced fresh accusations of hypocrisy last night after it emerged she spent more than 3,000 on taxis in nine months.

Dame Sally Davies, nicknamed the country's nanny-in-chief, has repeatedly urged the public to walk short distances to combat rising obesity.

Yet last year her taxpayer-funded taxi trips included journeys that would have taken her just 20 minutes on foot, leading to accusations she is 'not practising what she preaches'.

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Dame Sally Davies (pictured), nicknamed the country's nanny-in-chief, has repeatedly urged the public to walk short distances to combat rising obesity

It comes after Dame Sally previously faced claims of hypocrisy for being pictured drinking after warning women that every drop of alcohol poses a breast cancer risk.

In total, Dame Sally claimed 24,650 on taxis, flights, chauffeur driven cars and rail tickets in the first nine months of last year.

Her business class flights included 4,556 for a trip to Tokyo and 5,273 for a trip to New York, followed by a 4,286 flight back to Edinburgh the following day.

The 210,000-a-year official's taxi bill also sparked criticism due to her comments on diesel cars.

She clashed with motoring groups last year when she said diesels should be gradually taken off the streets to combat pollution  and boasted that her family had replaced their diesel car.

Yet her taxi bill shows she is happy to travel in London black cabs  almost all of which have diesel engines, and typically emit much more dangerous nitrogen oxides than family diesel cars.

Information released by the Department of Health following a Freedom of Information request shows Dame Sally took 139 cab trips in the first half of last year. This included 31 black cabs.

In total she claimed 174 cab trips in the first nine months of last year  costing the taxpayer 3,061. The revelation comes after NHS chief Simon Stevens  who never spends public money on taxis  told staff to take public transport and avoid travelling first class.

Dame Sally, 67, has regularly advised the nation to walk at every opportunity to stay healthy.

But on January 7 last year she made a 9 cab journey from the Department of Health's headquarters in Whitehall to the plush Wolseley restaurant  just a 20-minute walk away in Mayfair.

In December the Mail revealed how Dame Sally billed just over 5,000 for cab trips and a chauffeur-driven car in 2015  more than any other health service official. Pictured: Dame Sally leaving home in a taxi

In the same month she took a cab from the office of the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in Victoria to Millbank. It would have taken her 26 minutes to make the 1.3 mile trip on foot.

The revelations about Dame Sally's habitual use of black cabs has angered motoring campaigners.

Howard Cox, of the FairFuelUK group, said: 'Dame Sally called for diesels to be phased out, but ... the nation's chief medical officer is not coy in using more polluting black cabs when taxpayers are footing the bill.

'Her hypocrisy shows how insincere these so called medical experts are, when they don't practise what they preach.'

In December the Mail revealed how Dame Sally billed just over 5,000 for cab trips and a chauffeur-driven car in 2015  more than any other health service official.

A DoH spokesman said: 'Unlike her predecessors, Professor Davies does not have an official car so using taxis allows her to make best use of both her and the department's time and she often works while on the way to other events. All her expenses are in line with civil service rules.'
Thousands of stateless Muslims have fled 'genocide', telling refugee camp workers their people are being hacked to death.

The UN estimates almost 50,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh, claiming they were forced out by a genocidal army.

About 20,000 remain stuck in no-man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar, whose government has denied attacking the minority and instead blamed 'terrorists' for initiating violence.

Almost 400 Rohingya are estimated to have been killed, as thousands flee 'genocide'

But Hamida Begum from the Rohingya community told CNN how her people are suffering as she sought refuge in Bangladesh.

'They are beating us, shooting at us and hacking our people to death,' she said.

'Many people were killed. Many women were raped and killed. We are very poor.'

She military 'clearance operations' against her community had intensified since Rohingya militants killed 12 security officers in border post attacks on Friday.

'My husband is a day laborer - we used to have two square meals a day,' she said.

'But we lost everything after the war started.'

The minority Muslim group are barred from citizenship in Myanmar despite them living there for generations

Myanmar's military says almost 400 Rohingya have died since then in a Facebook post by the country's top commander.

Muhammad Harun said government hatred forced him to flee.

'Only the Rohingya are hated by the government,' he said.

Nobin Suna told said the military order the community to stay in their homes.

'If we stay inside then they set our houses on fire, shooting at us or slaughtering us.

'Muslims have no rights.'

The minority Muslim group are denied citizenship despite having lived in Myanmar for generations.

The military's statement said all bu 29 of the 399 killed were 'insurgents' and reported 90 armed clashes.

Rohingya are fleeing the overwhelmingly Buddhist country of Myanmar, where attacks against the government have led to reports of genocide

The army launched clearance operations after 30 attacks by insurgents on Friday, with Advocates for Rohingya reporting security forces and vigilantes burned villages and shot civilians, killing hundreds.

They have posted photos, videos and details on social media that they say serve as evidence.

The government in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country say it is the insurgents who are burning homes and killing members of the Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community.

Longstanding tension between the two communities erupted in bloody rioting in 2012, forcing more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps where many still live.

The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), said it acted to protect Rohingya communities.

It is nearly impossible to verify information on both sides because the government has barred most journalists.
Anna Heaton, a picky serial dater and former Take Me Out contestant, went on her 78th date with Daily Mail journalist, Henry Deedes

We are sitting in the oak-panelled bar of a West London hotel. A bottle of chilled champagne has been ordered to calm any jitters. Before me sits an attractive brunette, ten years my junior, fixing me with a smoky, Christine Keeler-type gaze. As first dates go, this is pretty tense.

Anna Heaton is eyeing me like a rare steak shes wondering whether to bite into. Then she takes a deep breath and begins running me through some of the recent men in her life. There have been quite few.

Ive been out with City boys, a rock band drummer, all sorts really. I recently went for a drink with a racing driver who I knew it wouldnt work out with when he ordered a pot of tea  on a Friday night!

But then, she adds breezily, I usually know whether men are right for me within ten minutes. Ten minutes? Weve already been here for three. Time to chase that champagne. Anna and I are on a mid-week date, hastily arranged after she was identified this week as Britains pickiest singleton, following her (thus far) fruitless search for a husband.

An attractive, intelligent and good-humoured 29-year-old, Annas last serious relationship was two years ago. Since then, she has embarked on 77 dates (yes, 77), trying everything from blind dates and dating apps to appearing on the ITV dating show Take Me Out  all, sadly, to no avail.

Anna and Henry (pictured). Henry said: 'I am warming to Anna at this point. I enjoy her matter-of-fact attitude. She clearly knows what she wants  or, at the very least, what she doesnt want'

She has even taken to compiling a spreadsheet, rating each of her first dates on a scale of one to 20, citing looks, personality and spark as a way of rooting out Mr Right.

As date number 78 and, apparently, with only slightly more than five minutes left to make an impression, I begin to feel like a helpless lab rat.

Anna is dressed elegantly in a cream top, a floral patterned skirt and heels. I feel a little square in my work suit, but since Anna has previously said in an interview that she likes a man in a pink shirt, I have managed to rip one off a colleagues back for the occasion.

Oh, I said that ages ago, I wasnt really serious about that, says Anna. Drat. Time to roll out the big guns. Just as I am contemplating my dazzling gambit repertoire, she asks: How old are you?

Ive just turned 39, I reply (note the pathetic just, like a child who says he is five-and-three-quarters).

Never dated anyone that old before, says Anna with a smirk. Crumbs, where the hell is that champagne, I wonder.

She insists that she has no prototype  no Barbie Doll Ken in mind for her Mr Right. A sense of humour is a must, she says. It would also be nice if it was someone who likes running, as she does, but otherwise she is not impressed by fast cars or any flashy accoutrements of wealth.

So, tell me about your last date, I ask. What was wrong with poor old number 77?

Oh he was lovely, she says. We met on Clapham Common last Saturday. He brought along a bottle of Prosecco, I brought some plastic cups. We sat in the sun for a couple of hours chatting. We had a laugh actually.

Someone you spent two hours laughing with? Sounds like marriage material to me.

Nooo, says Anna, pursing her lips. He wasnt good looking enough. He didnt look anything like his photos. Thats the problem with these bloody apps.

Shes right. Like Anna, I have spent the past two years resolutely single. In the four years since my marriage broke up, Ive met only one person of significance. The rest of the time its been an endless treadmill of dead-end dates, many of them arranged via peculiar dating apps.

Anna is hoping to find her dream man before she turns 30 next year

As Anna points out, few compare to actually meeting someone before asking them out, with some turning out to be, shall we say, not entirely as advertised. One person I arranged to meet a few months ago arrived sporting a luminous pink bob.

Anna laughs in agreement. My biggest disaster was a guy who started singing a Whitney Houston song in a restaurant. We were talking about music and songs you like to sing and he belted his favourite out. Mortifying.

Shockers aside, she readily admits to being picky: I just dont see why I should have to settle. My friends sometimes moan at me, saying Im impatient, but its always ones who are in relationships themselves, wanting me to be on their level.

I mean, I would like to have children one day but not like some people do. I am certainly not going to marry someone just so I can have children.

Anna said her 'biggest disaster was a guy who started singing a Whitney Houston song in a restaurant'

That said, it hasnt been totally hopeless. She says she did like a couple of the 77 and even went out with them a few times but they fizzled out and she cant explain why.

Most of the men over the past two years have asked to see me again, she says sipping her champagne, which has finally  mercifully  turned up.

Ah, the second-date dilemma. I admit that I find avoiding these requests rather awkward.

Oh God, you dont ghost, do you? she sighs in mock exasperation. (Ghost? Im feeling my age again.)

Ghosting is when you just ignore somones messages  terrible thing to do. I shuffle a little uneasily. (Actually, I am a bit of a ghoster.)

Im always straight with people, she says. If Im not interested I just reply: I had a fun time but I just didnt feel any spark between us.

Crikey. Quite harsh, surely? Not really, nearly everyone appreciates being told where they stand. I met one guy in New York and told him after 40 minutes that there was just no chemisty between us. He said: You British are direct but I respect your honesty. He even insisted on paying the bill, which was pretty good of him.

I am warming to Anna at this point. I enjoy her matter-of-fact attitude. She clearly knows what she wants  or, at the very least, what she doesnt want  and her self-confidence is beguiling. Indeed, she says her self-confidence has grown since she has been single.

In her early 20s, she jumped from relationship to relationship without much time in between. When she broke up with her last boyfriend, she wanted to spend more time exploring the field and becoming more self-reliant. Appearing on a ropey show like Take Me Out in April was, she says, showing a little of her new-found exuberance.

A lot of my friends were surprised when they saw me on it. It was a side of me they hadnt seen before.

Anna says she gives every man she dates a score and records it on a spreadsheet

Anna certainly isnt what I was expecting. Rather ungallantly, I pictured a terrifying hybrid of Demi Moores emasculating executive in Disclosure and Glenn Closes bunny boiler in Fatal Attraction.

She can laugh about her plight, however, and is well aware of how her fussiness might seem to others. I find it hard to argue with Annas pickiness though; why settle for someone just for the sake of being in a relationship?

But isnt that whole spreadsheet thing a tad extreme?

Annas eyes begin to dart a little tetchily. She insists that it was cooked up by colleagues at the marketing firm where she works, most of whom are in relationships.

You know that thing when people say they want to live vicariously through you? she asks. It was sort of like that really.

So is said spreadsheet currently up to date? Anna squirms. No. Maybe I havent done the past seven. Its on someones computer at work, and we gather round some mornings, filling it in. I dont actually have access to it.

I decide not to probe further. Shes clearly uncomfortable about how this makes her look. Still, I cant help but wonder how I will feature in this dreaded chart.

Ive possibly chatted a bit too much about my exes  normally a strict no-no on dates. Also, the age gap, I suspect, could be a big sticking point, while divorces probably are not ideal to someone so young who has never been married.

It is time to wrap things up, I think. I wave away her thoughtful gesture to pay half the bill (I always offer) and order a taxi to take her home. My phone tells me the cab is four minutes away. Dont worry, she says, smiling, I think I can manage another four minutes with you.

How generous of her. But as Anna ducks out of the London drizzle and into the car, I suspect she will soon be on to number 79.

Annas verdict: I would like to kiss him . . . a little bit

First impressions are everything with me, never more so than on a first date. As a dating veteran, I can confirm that the sight of a tall, dark-haired man, impeccably dressed in a well-cut suit, is an excellent start.

Henry had clearly done his homework. Ive said in the past that a pink shirt does wonders for me, mainly because its a bold colour for a man to choose and shows confidence.

Henry was sporting a particularly pleasant shade of well-ironed rose. As he leaned in for a two-kisses-on-the-cheek kick-off, there was a subtle waft of expensive aftershave with pleasing undertone of attractive man. So far, so very good.

Anna Heaton who has been single for two years said: 'Henry had clearly done his homework. Ive said in the past that a pink shirt does wonders for me, mainly because its a bold colour for a man to choose and shows confidence'

As well as the good looks, pleasant smile (I didnt notice his teeth, Im not a horse breeder), nice dark green eyes and well-shaven, strong jawline, those kisses struck just the right note of intimacy. Some men hug, which is acceptable only if youve met before. Others shake your hand, as though its a business meeting  awful.

Unfortunately, Henry showed his age by taking me to the sort of smart bar where the staff know you by name and keep asking whether you need anything else. It wasnt the buzzy atmosphere Id seek for a first date; it was a bit too quiet and had a whispery, library vibe.

Its the kind of place where Id be terrified that Id break a glass. I need a bit more excitement.

Usually I date men between 28 and 35, but I didnt mind the slight age difference apart from the slightly stuffy location.

Ground was rapidly regained when he enquired whether I would like some champagne, and also asked the waitress to ensure it was chilled  a pleasant touch.

He drank a gin martini. Ive been on first dates with men who have drunk everything from pints to shots of Tequila, but this was a first and I thought it very James Bond. Conversation  thankfully  flowed. We talked about work, family and past relationships, which is standard box-ticking practice in this situation.

Anna wants a man to sweep her off her feet before she hits triple figures in her failed attempts to find her dream man

I have been much villified for my dating spreadsheet, but really, isnt it what everyone does on a first date? We are all judging each other. A first date is a screening process.

I was very impressed by how well Henry listened to me; I once told a man the detailed plans for a family party that weekend. The following week  hed been fortunate enough to get through my initial screening process  he had the audacity to ask what I had done at the weekend. He didnt make it to a third date.

But Henry listened and made all the right responses. He was open, but not overly descriptive, about his past relationships  and endearingly besotted with his dog. I feel that he is perhaps looking to settle down  though not through any desperate vibe.

I know that I cant be bothered to waste time with people I know arent going to go the distance.

P.S. How did Henry score on her spreadsheet? Looks: 4/5 Personality: 4/5 Spark: 3/5 Date Experience: 3/5 Total 14/20 (Average is 10. highest is 17 and lowest is 4) Advertisement

There were even genuine laughs; at the end of the date I offered to pay half and he wouldnt let me and then  and this is rare behaviour indeed  Henry ordered me a cab.

Did we kiss? No. I never kiss on the first date. I like to get a sense of whether I want to or not. And yes, I would like to kiss Henry  a little bit.

There has to be excitement and mystique about the second date. Thats the one where youre standing on the edge of the precipice of a relationship and only one in five men get to that stage.

I made him say first whether hed like to meet again and he said: Yes, yes, would you like to?

I said yes, giggled, and climbed into my taxi. Might he be the one? Well, I dont have alarm bells ringing, so maybe.
Brian Hopkins (pictured) ordered the 3ft 9ins tall anatomically correct doll to be delivered to his home in Plymouth, Devon, last October

A man who imported a child doll from Hong Kong to have sex with has been spared prison.

Brian Hopkins, 40, ordered the 3ft 9in tall doll to be delivered to his home in Plymouth, Devon.

But Border Force officers at Stansted Airport seized the anatomically correct doll in October last year.

Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) searched Hopkins's home in November and discovered hundreds of indecent images of children on his mobile phone - with 247 category A pictures, the most serious.

There were 341 images at category B and 196 at category C.

In an interview, Hopkins admitted he found it exciting to possess the images and said he bought the doll to have sex with - but claimed he did not know that importing it was illegal.

Scroll down for video

He later admitted importing an indecent or obscene article, four counts of possessing indecent images of children and three counts of possessing extreme pornography.

Hopkins was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Plymouth Crown Court and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

The judge also ordered Hopkins to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

In an interview, Hopkins admitted he found it exciting to possess the images and said he bought the doll (pictured) to have sex with - but said he did not know importing it was illegal

Speaking after the case, Hazel Stewart of the NCA said: 'The importation of child sex dolls is a relatively new phenomenon, but time and again importers are also guilty of associated offending against children as with Hopkins.

'They are a real flag of a sexual interest in children.

'We are working hard with our partners in Border Force to stop them entering the country and then investigating and prosecuting the importers.'

Julian Doughty, senior manager for Border Force, said the agency worked closely with others to bring those who import child dolls to justice.

'My front line officers work tirelessly to secure the UK's borders, and this case is one of several where their vigilance has successfully led to the uncovering of offenders with a criminal interest in children,' he said.
Mystery: Isabella Hellmann and Lewis Bennett were on a belated honeymoon cruise

On May 14  Mothers Day in the U.S.  a British yachtsman and his wife were on the final leg of a belated honeymoon cruise through the northern Caribbean on his 37 ft catamaran, Surf Into Summer.

As Lewis Bennett later recounted to the U.S. Coastguard, he had gone to bed in his cabin at 8 pm, exhausted after five days on the water as they sailed from Cuba to Key West in Florida.

Bennett said that his wife, Isabella Hellmann, had been given the helm and left alone in charge of the vessel.

He described how he had been woken at around 1 am by the loud thud of the boat hitting an object, and, that when he went on deck, his wife had disappeared.

Mr Bennett, a 40-year-old businessman and mining engineer from Poole, Dorset, fired his emergency positioning beacon and sent out a distress call after he realised the catamaran was taking on water. Two hours later, he was rescued  safe and sound, but alone  by a U.S. Coastguard helicopter about 30 miles west of the Bahamas.

He was floating in a life raft 1,000 yards from the now half-submerged boat, which he had abandoned after first gathering his possessions. He said he believed the catamaran had hit something. He also told investigators that the mast had been loose and there is a possibility that she may have (fallen) in the water due to an accident with the mast hitting her.

An exhaustive four-day air and sea search for his 41-year-old wife, a beautiful Colombian-born estate agent he had married three months earlier, never found a trace  even though he said she had been wearing a life jacket. At 5ft 4in and 7st 12lb, and dressed only in light clothing, she would probably only have survived in the water for a few hours if she had been conscious.

The tragedy has left motherless the couples daughter Emelia, now 13 months, who was being looked after by Isabellas family in Florida.

This week, the mystery of what exactly happened that night was spectacularly revived as Lewis Bennett was arrested and put behind bars in Florida, charged with a completely different crime.

He has been accused of transporting stolen goods worth at least $5,000, a charge that prosecutors say relates to the theft of a hoard of missing gold and silver coins in total worth about 80,000.

Capsized: Bennetts abandoned catamaran

Intriguingly, they had gone missing from another yacht in the Caribbean last year at a time when Lewis Bennett was sailing it on its owners behalf.

In court papers filed in Florida, prosecutors mentioned that the Coastguard diver who dropped into the sea to rescue Mr Bennett from his life-raft reported that the yachtsman had taken only one item off the raft with him, a backpack that was unusually heavy.

It was never searched, but among his belongings left on the raft the Coastguard found nine plastic tubes holding 158 silver coins celebrating the Lunar Year of the Horse, produced by Britains Royal Mint in 2014, and 77 Canadian Maple Leaf silver coins. Their estimated value was 3,250.

The Coastguard returned the coins to Mr Bennett, but almost immediately discovered they might have been stolen. The case was handed to the FBI, which raided the home in Delray Beach, Florida, which Mr Bennett shared with his wife.

There, according to court papers, they found 162 gold coins  worth more than $26,000  hidden in a pair of boat shoes in a cupboard in the master bedroom.

An exhaustive four-day air and sea search for his 41-year-old wife, a beautiful Colombian-born estate agent (pictured) he had married three months earlier, never found a trace

Prosecutors say the owner of a Gibraltar-registered yacht, Kitty R, has confirmed that all the gold and silver coins discovered in Bennetts possession were just a portion of a collection stolen from the Kitty R while it was moored off the Caribbean island of St Maarten in May 2016.

Mr Bennett had been sailing the boat at the time, and filed a police report about a burglary which had occurred, he claimed, when neither he nor the yachts owner had been on board.

The burglars took the coins from their hiding place by breaking open the vessels floor beneath a pallet of food. Investigators say about a third of the coins have still not been recovered. Mr Bennett, who was remanded in custody by a court in Key West on Wednesday, faced calls from the prosecution at another hearing yesterday that he be denied bail because hes a flight risk.

Lawyers for his wifes family believe the couples daughter, Emelia, is being looked afte by Mr Bennetts parents in Hampshire.

Marc Shiner, Mr Bennetts lawyer, said his client will deny the charge against him over the coins at a plea hearing on September 11. He was arrested on Monday night by FBI agents after reportedly flying in from the UK for an interview with an insurance company.

According to papers filed at court by his sister-in-law Adriana Difeo, in a legal challenge relating to Mr Bennetts control of his wifes finances, just one day after the Coastguard called off its search for her, Bennett asked the service for a letter of presumed death  a document that would speed up the process of sorting out her financial affairs. (In fact Florida law says nobody can be declared legally dead until he or she has been missing for at least five years.)

The latest colourful allegations about plundered boats and stolen treasure have, of course, only deepened the riddle over Ms Hellmanns fate.

The Coastguard returned the coins to Mr Bennett (pictured), but almost immediately discovered they might have been stolen

Isabellas disappearance remains officially under investigation, although no law enforcement agency has said whether or not Mr Bennett is a suspect. However, in a police report relating to the Briton, an officer said he had been told by the U.S. Marshals Service that Mr Bennett was being investigated over his missing spouse.

In an eight-hour search of his car and home in June, FBI agents were spotted leaving his 90,000 flat  bought jointly with his wife last year  with numerous boxes.

Meanwhile, prosecutors chose to include in their outline of the stolen coins case some fascinating travel records. These show that Mr Bennett and Isabella flew to St Maarten in March this year  ten months after the burglary on the yacht Kitty R  and again at the end of April.

What remains clear is that  before this weeks arrest  there has been a very public fallout between Mr Bennett and Isabellas family, with both sides making accusations against the other.

On the one side, her family have accused him to his face, and in front of police, of killing her. He in turn has accused them of stealing from his home.

On May 28, he contacted police in Boca Raton, Florida, where  with his daughter Emelia in tow  he was visiting one of his wifes sisters. He requested the presence of officers as he recovered possessions belonging to his wife  including computers, an engagement ring, clothes and handbags  which he said her family had taken from his home while he was in Cuba after Isabella went missing, scouring its hospitals for his wife.

According to police, as soon as Mr Bennett arrived, his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Rodriguez screamed at him to get out and repeatedly stated that Lewis killed her sister. Mr Bennett and the accompanying officer decided it was best not to pursue the matter and left empty-handed.

Other members of Ms Hellmanns family have revealed they became dubious about Mr Bennetts account because of the unemotional way he reacted to the tragedy. Another of his sisters-in-law, Dayana Rodriguez, recalled: He was calm, he wasnt crying or anything. When I saw him, I ran to him and I hugged him and I said: Where is Isabella? And he said: I dont know. 

She was dumbfounded by the way her brother-in-law, an experienced seaman, had reacted to his wifes disappearance. When she asked him why he didnt stop the boat and drop anchor, he told her he needed to keep the boat on track, she said.

I asked him: Do you think shes alive? Do you think shes dead? And he said: I think shes asleep. That was his answer.

Bennett also told investigators that the mast had been loose and there is a possibility that she may have (fallen) in the water due to an accident with the mast hitting her. Pictured: The family home in Delray Beach

She said her mother had passed out on the floor when Mr Bennett had rejected their pleas to keep baby Emelia in Florida, telling them: Im leaving and youre not going to see the baby again.

In June, weeks after Isabella Hellmanns disappearance, her oldest sister, Adriana Difeo, went to court in order to take over her sisters finances from Mr Bennett. That case has yet to be settled. Asked about her sisters death, Ms Difeo said yesterday: We dont know the truth yet. Were waiting for the FBI report. For his part, Mr Bennett has insisted he is entirely innocent of any involvement in his wifes death, and that it was absolutely devastating to lose the soulmate I had always searched for.

Two months ago, in his first public formal comment since his wifes disappearance, he wrote on Facebook that he had returned to Britain with his daughter to seek the comfort of my friends and family.

He added that he was taking a time for reflection that he hoped might lessen the negativity that I have encountered in this emotionally charged situation, and hope in the future a reconciliation will occur for all parties concerned, if not for my sake but for Emelias.

In recent years, he has preferred to travel far and wide. Having studied at Bangor University in Wales, and then the Camborne School of Mines, part of Exeter University, he moved to Australia, where he worked for several years in mining in Queensland before setting up a solar power business.

He met Isabella Hellmann  who was living in Florida at the time on the internet four years ago, although friends say he hardly ever went to visit her in America, instead having her fly out to meet him in places like Tahiti and Singapore, when he put into port on the yachts on which he was then working.

According to Sarah Cortes, a close friend at the Chase bank where Isabella used to work as a member of the counter staff, her relationship with the British engineer started as a fling but soon became serious, and that she went to meet his parents at their home near Southampton. Ms Hellmann told her friend that Bennett had come into some family money and poured most of it into buying the catamaran, which he used to skipper for paying clients. Hellmanns baby, said Ms Cortes, was her last shot at being a mother.

Ms Cortes claims the couple didnt have an easy relationship as parents, disagreeing over how to bring up their child.

Mr Bennett, she said, was a very hands-on father, and the couple argued over everything from whether to give the girl an English or Latino name to what sort of nappies she should wear, and whether to pierce her ears (a Colombian tradition which Mr Bennett hotly opposed).

More fundamentally, they were at odds over where they should live, according to Ms Cortes. Mr Bennett, she added, had been determined to move back to Australia, while his wife was equally set on staying in the U.S., said her friend.

Despite their differences, the couple were married in February in Atlanta, Georgia.

It was apparently an impulse decision, with Ms Hellmann texting her shocked friend to say: Hey, I just got married.

As for the last days of the fateful honeymoon cruise, nearly two weeks before she vanished, Isabella posted her last message on Facebook in Puerto Rico, saying simply: Another day in paradise.

Her friend Sarah Cortes says Ms Hellmanns family received a final call from the missing woman at 8.30pm on the night she disappeared, to say they had had trouble with the boats satellite phone, but it was now fixed. Were heading home, she told them.

As for Mr Bennett, he does not seem to have been keen to hang around in America.

David Mayer, a neighbour of Bennett in Florida, recounted offering his condolences to him just two days after his wifes disappearance. He said: Yeah. Im going to be leaving for England. Ive got to move on with my life,  he recalled.

Isabella Hellmanns family clearly have their own views on what became of her, while her friends simply say they are holding out for a miracle. But more than three months after that mysterious night in the Caribbean, that seems less likely with every passing day.

Intriguingly, photographs taken at the time have now confirmed that there was a sizeable hole in the starboard hull of the catamaran.

But despite having attached a tracking beacon to the ship, the Coastguard lost track of it, and its presumed to have sunk into the depths of the ocean  perhaps taking with it any hope of finding out what became of Lewis Bennetts wife.
After burning through a chief of staff, a chief strategist, a press secretary and three communications directors, Donald Trump could be losing his professional security muscle.

Body man Keith Schiller, who has been at the president's side as his chief of security since 2005 and first worked for him as a bodyguard in 1999, is telling close associates he plans to leave, according to CNN.

But the White House is disputing that, telling the cable network it's 'not true.'

President Trump's personal security guard Keith Schiller is considering leaving the White House, according to CNN  but the administration says it's 'not true'

Schiller first served as Trump's bodyguard in 1999 and went to work for him full-time in 2005 after leaving the New York City police department, where he was a detective

Schiller occupies a small office directly adjacent to the Oval Office most of the time the president is taking meetings, and supplements his Secret Service protection with more personal attention.

Compared to the $294,000 salary he earned last year at The Trump Organization and through his own private security firm, Schiller's current earnings of $165,000 are a pittance.

Executive branch salaries are capped by the federal government and depend on the rank of the job.

The 6'4" hulking Schiller famously ejected Univision reporter Jorge Ramos from a 2015 Trump press conference after he refused to stop pestering the then-candidate about immigration

Making Schiller 'Director of Oval office Operations' allowed Schiller to earn nearly as much as the White House press secretary and chief of staff.

Still, his friends say, his decision not to stay at the White House is largely a financial one.

Schiller's departure, which could come as soon as a month from now, would follow the recent exit of Steve Bannon, the sixth top-shelf aide to depart since the president moved to Washington. Bannon's ouster also left high-profile national security aide Sebastian Gorka unprotected; he was fired last week.

Others in the West Wing departure lounge have included former national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn, chief of staff Reince Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer and communications directors Jason Miller, Mike Dubke and Anthony Scaramucci.

Trump has also dismissed FBI director James Comey in early May. it was Schiller who hand-carried the official letter to the FBI saying he'd been fired.

if Schiller departs, he will follow shortly after former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who left the West Wing last month

CNN reported on Friday that has Schiller chafed at new chief of staff John Kelly's attempts to professionalize the West Wing and control who meets with the president.

Schiller has complained that if he wants to reach the president, he now has to call the White House switchboard and ask.

Previously, the former New York City police detective had 'walk-in' privileges in the Oval Office, whose door Trump typically kept open between meetings.

If Schiller departs, Trump will only have two remaining aides who followed him to the White House from his real estate firm: interim communications director Hope Hicks and social media guru Dan Scavino.

The 6'4" hulk famously ejected Univision reporter Jorge Ramos from an August 2015 campaign press conference after he refused to stop pestering then-candidate Trump about illegal immigration.
News / National

by Khuluma Afrika

Gweru (Khuluma Afrika) - ZANU PF's faction ridden Midlands province on Friday defied the party's protocol giving peripheral attention to President Mugabe and his wife Grace whilst heaping praises on the party's Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa; a sign that the VP is still in control of the province.Midlands province is believed to be the strong hold for the Lacotse Faction reportedly led by VP Mnangagwa who has denied these claims.Despite spirited efforts by the event's master's of ceremony party youths braved the security and party militia, singing the popular Jah Prayzer 'Mudhara Vachauya song as Mnangagwa made his way to the stadium.This irritated the Zanu Pf youth Chairperson Kudzi Chipanga who warned the DJ that Mugabe was the only one worthy mention as Mudhara whilst Mphoko and Mnangagwa were 'babamnini' (young fathers).Some of the youths wore t-shirts inscribed Vice President Mnangagwa with the visibly shaken master of ceremonies declaring that they should stop their behaviour.As if that was not enough Vice President Mnangagwa received cheers as he uttered the party's introductions, with some of the youths seated in the VIP tent jumping with excitement as the Vice President uttered the slogan.To make it worse, Mugabe was given an embarrassing reception when he gave his speech. Party supporters either ignored him completely or scrambled for attention to be recognised by the Red Cross which was picking up those that were fainting.Meanwhile First Lady Grace Mugabe indirectly attacked the Vice President saying he should not wonder why evil was befalling him as he was in the habit of wanting to take over from Mugabe.There was no mention of the embarrassing saga in South Africa, where she nearly faced arrest.
The Treasury Department's Inspector General is probing Steve Mnuchin's trip to Kentucky on the day of the eclipse where the Treasury Secretary was accompanied by his wife Louise Linton.

'We are reviewing the circumstances of the Secretary's August 21 flight  to determine whether all applicable travel, ethics, and appropriation laws and policies were observed,' said counsel for the IG's office Rich Delmar.

'When our review is complete, we will advise the appropriate officials, in accordance with the Inspector General Act and established procedures,' Delmar told told the The Washington Post.

Cabinet members generally are supposed to fly commercial when possible. Government aircraft are for use only on official business. Mnuchin toured Ft. Knox on the trip as well as attending an event with Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Going for gold? Louise Linton caused a brouhaha on Monday when she shared this image of her and hubby Steven Mnuchin arriving in Kentucky - and tagged her clothing labels

Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had already sought documents related to the trip.

The trip got a burst of exposure after Linton got in an Instagram spat over a photo of she and her new husband arriving at Fort Knox on an official visit.

CREW questioned the timing of that visit, noting that Mnuchin landed in Kentucky in time to view the eclipse.

Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attended a luncheon event shortly before the eclipse.

McConnell posted on Facebook with a sun-lit image of himself and Mnuchin  with no trace of Linton in the shot  outside the front door of Ft. Knox, which Mnuchin toured during the trip on Monday.

'The U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and I in front of the main door to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox before we viewed the #solareclipse today,' McConnell wrote, in an image from Fort Knox, Kentucky.

In fact, government officials said Mnuchin only briefly viewed it on the buildings front lawn.

Nobody's vault but his: Mnuchin was there to talk up Trump's tax plans, but said he would also visit Fort Knox with Sen. Mitch McConnell (both seen left) and watch the eclipse with Linton

Kept in the dark? Now an ethics body is arguing that Mnuchin's trip was arranged to coincide with the eclipse close to where it would be darkest - and wants to see who paid for the flight

Mnuchin's trip to Kentucky - during which he talked up Donald Trump's tax plans - made him just the third sitting Treasury Secretary to visit the bullion depository.

Writing on Monday, the Courier-Journal said that Mnuchin had answered questions at the Olmsted hotel, in a meeting sponsored by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce.

It noted that afterwards Mnuchin, 54, and Linton, 36, were to engage in a tour with McConnell, who was also present.

'The two were headed to Fort Knox with McConnell after the lunch to tour the bullion reserve at the Army post and view the eclipse,' the paper reported.

For CREW, that appears to have set off Fort-Knox-sized alarm bells, with the organization putting in a Freedom of Information Act request for related records.

It wants to see 'all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's use of a government plane to travel to Lexington, Kentucky on Monday, August 21, accompanied by his wife Louise Linton.'

Work it out: The body says Mnuchin shouldn't have used a taxpayer-funded plane if he was there to see the eclipse. His tax talk was paid for by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce

Instagrim: Their visit hit the public eye after Jenni Miller (pictured), scolded Linton for getting a 'free flight' in a comment on her Instagram pic, and Linton responded with an arrogant screed

It also wants 'copies of all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Secretary Mnuchin's use of a government plane for any purpose since his appointment as Treasury Secretary.'

It claims that the documents 'would shed light on the justification for Secretary Mnuchin's use of a government plane, rather than a commercial flight, for a trip that seems to have been planned around the solar eclipse and to enable the Secretary to secure a viewpoint in the path of the eclipse's totality.'

South-west Kentucky - around 100 miles from Fort Knox - was indeed directly positioned to get the best views of the eclipse as it occurred over the country.

CREW added: 'At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget, the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes, and the justification for that use.'

On Monday, a government spokesperson said that Linton's seat on the taxpayer-funded flight had been paid for by Mnuchin.

That announcement was forced out of officials after Linton - a minor TV and film actress from Scotland - blundered into an Instagram argument over her flight.

Plane crass: Linton was slammed for boasting of her $14,540 outfit in a state where 19% live under the poverty line. A spokesperson said her seat on the flight was paid for by Mnuchin

She posted on Monday a photo of herself and Mnuchin getting off the plane in Kentucky - accompanied by hashtags for all of the clothing brands she was wearing.

Her wardrobe totaled more than $14,000, DailyMail.com revealed today.

That incurred the wrath of Jenni Miller, a mother-of-three from Oregon, who commented: 'Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable.'

Linton then responded with an extended rant in which - despite having grown up in a castle - she accused the mother of being 'Adorably out of touch'.

Linton, whose most notable acting role was as a murder victim in a 2007 episode of CSI, also boasted that she and her husband - whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be upward of $500 million - pay more in taxes than Miller.

That quickly led to her being roasted on Twitter, to which Linton responded by locking up both her Twitter and Instagram accounts.

In the furore that followed, Linton became a figure of hate and mockery across the county, with many noting that her CSI victim had been dressed as Marie Antoinette - another rich woman whose mockery of the working classes ended badly.

Linton's publicist released a curt apology on Tuesday, writing: 'I apologize for my post on social media yesterday as well as my response. It was inappropriate and highly insensitive.'
President Donald Trump will hold talks with lawmakers who could make or break his tax reform aims at the White House next week.

Congress returns from its summer recess on Tuesday. Trump will host GOP leaders in the House and Senate at the White House right away.

A bipartisan meeting is on the books for Wednesday. Trump's due to hold a tax reform event in North Dakota, the home state of Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the same day.

President Donald Trump will hold talks with lawmakers who could make or break his tax reform aims at the White House next week

Heitkamp is one of four Senate Democrats the White House is hoping to win over as it searches for votes for the president's tax reform package. The Democratic lawmaker is up for reelection next year.

Trump won her North Dakota by more than 35 points in his November race, which makes Heitkamp ripe for the poaching.

With a 52-seat majority, Republicans are eight votes shy of the super-majority they'd need to approve tax reform legislation with no support from Democrats.

A senior White House official told DailyMail.com yesterday that Heitkamp and Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia were at the top of the administration's pick-up list.

The three senators kept their names off of a letter their colleagues sent the president demanding that the GOP back away from tax cuts for the wealthy.

'So, there's a little bit of hope there that maybe those three and others will see the light and will be able to go back to their states and say to their constituents, "We know you needed tax reform and tax relief and we delivered it to you," ' a Trump aide said of their refusal to sign the letter.

Trump put the squeeze on Sen. Claire McCaskill, another Democrat, during his speech this week in Springfield, Missouri.

'She must do this for you. And if she doesn't do it for you, you have to have to vote her out of office,' he told McCaskill's constituents. 'She's got to make that commitment. She's got to make that commitment.'

The president told his supporters, 'If she doesn't do it, you just can't do this anymore, with the obstruction and the obstructionists.

'If we don't get tax cuts and reform approved, potentially, the biggest ever -- we are looking for the biggest ever -- jobs and our country cannot take off the way they should, and it could be much worse than that. But, at a minimum, they won't take off the way they should.'

It's unclear who else the White House might turn to for votes. Trump won 10 states last year where Democratic senators are up for reelection, including Missouri, North Dakota, West Virginia and Indiana. The White House has intentionally started there.

Asked today by DailyMail.com if the White House has four other Democratic senators in mind for tax reform beyond the four it's already named, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged.

'I would love to see all of them come on board. I cant imagine why anybody wouldnt want to support helping more Americans keep more of their hard-earned money,' she said.

Pressed to say whether the White House is eyeing anyone else, given that it takes 60 to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, Sanders admitted that no one else came to mind.

'Not specifically,' she said. 'Again, Im hoping that the senators from all 50 states get on board to help Americans and do what, frankly, Americans are demanding.'

An email to the president's legislative affairs director after the briefing went unanswered.

Trump's due to hold a tax reform event in North Dakota, the home state of Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the same day

Heitkamp is one of four Senate Democrats the White House is hoping to win over as it searches for votes for the president's tax reform package. The others are Joe Manchin, left, Claire McCaskill, center, and Joe Donnelly, right

The president's meeting Wednesday with a bipartisan group of legislators could reveal other soft points in the Democratic caucus.

Trump has also pushed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the filibuster, bringing the number of votes he'd need in the Senate down to 50 if the vice president acts as a tiebreaker. McConnell has said, though, that he will not abandon 100 years of precedent to force through the president's agenda.

Trump said this week that he wants to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. GOP leaders in the House believe in the same general principle, although they have a higher rate, 20 percent, in mind.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has also endorsed an overhaul of the income tax brackets that would see the number of rates go from seven to three. But he and the administration disagree on what those rates should be.

'We've already agreed on the outlines and now we're refining the micro-details,' Ryan said during an event in Milwaukee this week.

He and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady will come to the White House on Tuesday for a meeting with Trump that McConnell and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch are also supposed to attend.

The lawmakers put out a joint statement at the end of July with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn that said their mission, above all, 'is to protect American jobs and make taxes simpler, fairer, and lower for hard-working American families.'

'We're pushing forward. We're going to continue, again, focused on those four principles using that as the guide and the focal point moving forward,' Sanders affirmed in today's briefing, 'and sit down with a lot of members of Congress to make sure we get this deal done.'
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Talk about going a long way to get a decent meal! A group of Google employees partying at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada shipped a box of live lobster over 3,000 miles from Maine to enjoy during the festivities.

Lobster207, based in Trenton, Maine, shipped a 10lbs box - carrying approximately eight to 10 lobsters - to some members of Google at the festival in the Black Rock Desert.

Manager of Lobster207, David Sullivan said that it was the first time live lobsters made the trip to Burning Man.

Lobster207, based in Trenton, Maine, shipped a 10lbs box - carrying approximately eight to 10 lobsters - to some members of Google at the festival in the Black Rock Desert. The shipment is seen above

From dock to desert! The price for the 10lbs was $140. Manager of Lobster207, David Sullivan said that it was the first time live lobsters made the trip to Burning Man

Stripping off: A reveler at Burnin Man poses for the cameras in the scorching Black Rock Desert

Acrobatics: A performer hangs from material as a crowd of partygoers watches on and cheers

More performers hang out or put their feet up in hammocks at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada

Approximately 70,000 people have descended on the Burning Man arts and music festival as seen in an aerial photo

The Center Camp of Black Rock City is seen in an aerial photo shot over the desert of Nevada on September 1

The 2017 Temple at Burning Man created by artists Steven Brummond, Marisha Farnsworth, and Mark Sinclair as a place for people to place memorials, to mourn and grieve is seen in an aerial photo

According to Sullivan, the order was made on Thursday and arrived to Sunnyvale, California on Friday.

From there, the box made the two-day trip to Black Rock City where 70,000 revelers have convened to live it up.

'So it was $139.58 to ship eight to 10 lobsters to California,' he said to the Reno Gazette-Journal adding that most live lobster shipments actually cost around $160 to $220.

Sullivan added: 'What we were trying to do with Lobster207.com was to make it so that the everyday person who works a 9-to-5 job can afford to get fresh Maine lobsters without having to go to these expensive restaurants.

'I would guess by talking to the guys from Google that they thought it was a really cool idea to say, 'Hey we got Maine lobsters all the way from the east coast from the cold waters of Maine out here to the desert.'

Manager of Lobster207, David Sullivan said that it was the first time live lobsters made the trip to Burning Man, which made it on Sunday. File photos above of a lobster and Google office

Employees thoroughly enjoyed their meal and told Sullivan that the lobster were 'fresh and lively'

Huge crowds gathered for the annual event donning hats and shades to protect themselves from the sun

Lobster207, in Trenton, Maine, shipped a 10lbs box - carrying approximately eight to 10 lobsters - to some members of Google going to the festival in Nevada

Approximately eight to 10 lobsters were delivered to the desert. Above, participants ride pass an art installation on the playa

A participant dances on the playa as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada

Soaring temperatures: Partygoers have been braving the heat and using bicycles to get around the festival

Get on your bike: Hundreds of bicycles are seen above in the dusty desert as they make the best way to get around the festival

'They asked if we could ship them out so they could take them to Burning Man and see if they could survive the journey basically from the ocean floor to the deserts of Nevada,' Sullivan said.

How long the lobsters were arrived for once they got to the desert remains to be seen but according to the manager, the Google employees seemed to enjoy their meal.

'They said it was very fresh and lively,' he said.

'It was everything we were hoping for, too, when we sent them out to the desert.'

Wheelie good time: Some of the hundreds of bicycles at the festival are seen in this photo above
Dijanelle Fowler, 25 (pictured), turned herself into Dekalb County, Georgia police on July 17 and was charged with murder, child cruelty and concealing a death

A 25-year-old woman charged in the death of her one-year-old daughter told her hairdresser that there was 'no rush' and she could 'take your time' while her toddler was left to die in the inside of a car whose temperature reached 129 degrees, prosecutors said on Friday.

Dijanelle Fowler was denied bond on Friday by a judge in a DeKalb County, Georgia courtroom, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

She faces a second-degree murder charge for the death of one-year-old Skylar Fowler.

While Fowler was getting her hair braided at a local salon, her toddler was locked inside of her vehicle for six hours as the heat index (a measurement which combines air temperature and humidity) climbed to 150.

Police say Dijanelle Fowler arrived for her hair appointment in Tucker, Georgia at 10.04am on June 15, and left her one-year-old daughter Skylar in the car with the air conditioning on.

But soon after she entered the salon, the car died and baby Skylar was left to bake in the hot vehicle for six hours without her mother going to check in on her once.

While inside the salon, Skylar reportedly told the hair stylist: 'Take your time.'

Police say Fowler's one-year-old baby daughter Skylar died after her mother left her in a hot car for six hours while she got her hair done (mother and daughter above)

Police believe Fowler meant to leave the air conditioning on for the girl, but the car died and she never went to check on her during the six-hour appointment (mother and daughter above)

She also said there was 'no rush' since she had put her baby in day care.

Fowler traveled to the area from her home in South Carolina. She said she was in town for a job interview.

A relative Fowler had been staying with stopped by the salon while she was being braided. Fowler told the relative that Skylar was with a friend.

Surveillance video shows Fowler returning to her car at 4pm, at which point she didn't call police, but got a man at the salon's help in restarting her car.

After returning to the car, Fowler didn't call police but had a man in the salon jump start her car

Fowler drove to Emory University Hospital and called police at 4.54pm. It appears that she tried to fake a seizure when police arrived on the scene

Police believe that at this point, Fowler's daughter was dead, and that she may have hidden the body from the man with clothes she had in the car.

'Between 4 and 4:54 (p.m.) she texted the childs godfather that she was going to go to an urgent care for headaches,' a detective wrote. '(Fowler) also Googled about signs of seizures.'

Police believe Fowler then drove to Emory University Hospital, where she called 911 from a parking garage around 4.54pm, reporting an unconscious woman.

Police initially believed that the girl died after her mom suffered a seizure in the hot car. But investigators soon found flaws in Fowler's (pictured) story

Officers reported to the scene and found Fowler 'unconscious' and baby Skylar dead in the car.

At the time, Captain Jerry A. Lewis of the homicide squad said they believed Fowler had suffered a seizure, and that her daughter had died after, while trapped in the car.

But a medical examiner later determined that the girl had been dead for much longer.

Police were finally able to come up with the correct timeline by reviewing surveillance footage and Fowler's Google searches.

In early July, investigators had enough to arrest Fowler, but she had fled town.

They say she traveled to South Carolina, New Jersey and Florida before turning herself into authorities on July 17.

She has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to children and concealing death. She is being held without bond at the Dekalb County Jail.

Because investigators believe that Fowler did not mean to kill her daughter, she's only being charged with second-degree murder, and not first-degree murder.

According to baby Skylar's obituary, she was from Charleston, South Carolina and is survived by her parents, Louis R. Williams II and Fowler.
Dan Graham takes time off body-popping by relaxing with his girlfriend Samantha at home in Epsom, Surrey

The dancing PC who stole the show at the Notting Hill Carnival says his soaring fame has one big drawback  suspects want to see his moves.

More than 10 million people have viewed a video of 'Dancing' Dan Graham, 34, showing off his skills in the Bank Holiday weekend sunshine.

Sparking headlines around the world, it captured a stunned DJ shouting: 'He's not Feds, he ain't police  you must be an undercover raver!'

The video is the latest to feature his unusual body-popping skills which catapulted him to the semi-final of Britain's Got Talent earlier this year.

But Pc Graham said his unexpected celebrity status has left some completely baffled, even as they face arrest.

'On patrol one night there were people being a bit rowdy, a bit obnoxious,' he said. 'I was trying to sort it out before it escalated.

'But they were not listening and then suddenly one of the women said: 'It's Dancing Dan!' They got their phones out and played the videos.

'It did help defuse the situation on that occasion but it is getting harder and harder not to be recognised.

'We conducted a search at a suspected cannabis farm the other day and the suspect was in handcuffs. He suddenly looked at me and said: 'Are you Dancing Dan?'

Pc Graham says he has always had a passion for dance since taking the stage in a Butlin's competition when he was just 10 years old.

Inspired by his hero Michael Jackson he put on his famous moonwalk and won, with the prize of another holiday for his family.

He describes his main moves as 'body popping', in which his limbs appear 'disjointed and robotic', saying: 'It's what catches people's attention because it is unique.'

But his skills were only revealed to the world when he featured in a dance video by Kingston Police as part of the Running Man phenomenon last year.

Dancing Dan's moves at Notting Hill have been viewed by over 10million people online

Brought up in Sutton, Surrey, he was posted to a response team in the south west London borough in 2013, three years after signing up as a Pcso.

He was persuaded to lead the choreographed police station car park routine by colleagues who had seen his footwork at a work do.

'We had had a Christmas party and up until that point I had never shown anybody my dance moves,' Pc Graham said. 'I had a few drinks and put on a few and everybody loved it'

The video was watched by millions and he was persuaded to apply to Britain's Got Talent where his distinctive routines made him a household favourite.

'Britain's Got Talent was absolutely mad. It was a brilliant experience and one that I will take to the grave. Certainly not an everyday experience,' he added.

'Even when the cameras were turned off Simon Cowell was friendly and approachable and he doesn't just put an act on for the cameras.'

The dancing PC said he's happy that people are able to relate to an officer through the video

Pc Graham ended up stepping in and helping to arrest a suspected drink driver after one of his TV auditions.

He called in colleagues from neighbouring Surrey Police after coming across the driver in his vehicle, smelling of drink and with booze spilled inside the footwell.

'As police officers we are always on duty,' he said. 'There's a lot of pressure knowing if someone is in trouble you should step up.

'I know my colleagues would have done the same thing as that driver was potentially under influence of drink or drugs and it could be someone's child or relative that gets run over.'

Living in Surrey, with his girlfriend Samantha, 31, Pc Graham hopes to be able to continue to combine his dancing with his career in uniform.

He appeared on Britain's Got Talent earlier this year and performed to carnival-goers

He has recently moved to a neighbourhood team and hopes the more regular hours will enable him to do more 'outreach' work for the force.

Pc Graham said that he is inundated with requests to visit schools, care homes and hospitals to 'talk about safety and do a little dance'.

He said that before the internet videos he had not danced for a long time and he has been forced into the studio to 'sharpen up my skills'.

'When I started with police it took a real back seat because being a police officer is a challenging role plus fitting in family you don't get a lot of social time,' he said.

'I've had to dust off some cobwebs with my dancing because I'm by no means a professional dancer and I just want to sharpen it up again.'

Speaking about the Notting Hill video, he said: 'It has got to be over 10 million views. One site alone has got over 4.5million and there are several others with millions more.

'I really do think it is just a breath of fresh air for people to be able to relate to a police officer like this through music and dance.

'You find it one-to-one when you are working, but to be out there and show to the world something a bit human is something they can really relate to.'
This is the shocking moment a traffic officer body slams a mother holding a child in her arms in the middle of a public street in eastern China.

It is reported that the mother and the police official had been in an argument over illegal parking issues in the city of Shanghai.

The footage has since been shared on Chinese social media and has caused an outcry online. People have accused the police officer of abusing his powers and causing harm to the young child.

A woman in fuchsia top was carrying her daughter while confronting to a policeman in China (left). Soon, she got body slammed by the police and fell onto the pavement (right)

Video, posted by People's Daily Online, shows a woman having an argument with a traffic policeman whilst carrying a young girl in her left arm. Another officer is also present.

She can be seen pushing the officer a few times next to a police car.

The policeman responded by body slamming her onto the ground.

The toddler girl cried out loud as she fell with her mother, hitting the pavement.

The incident is said to have happened at 10:30am local time today in Songjiang district in Shanghai, eastern China.

A propaganda department officer from Songjiang Police Bureau told the Beijing Times that the woman was not happy when she was issued a fine for illegal parking.

The mother and her toddler girl lied on the ground as another policeman came out from the car to join his colleague (left and right)

The woman (left) and her daughter were taken to the hospital later and the policeman (right) is now being suspended until further notice

'She was confronting the officer and pushed him two to three times,' said the officer.

The mother and the girl were taken to the hospital for inspection.

Songjiang police also issued an official statement confirming the incident and will look into the matter for investigation.

The police officers are now suspended until further notice.

The 53-second clip had caused an outcry on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like social media site, this morning.

Web users criticised the officer's physical assault on slamming the mother and girl onto the ground.

'Given that she pushed the policeman at first place, there is really no need to body slam a woman, who was carrying her child in her arms, onto the ground, right?' questioned 'zhangwy_891'.

'Baobaomi' and a few other web users worried of the young girl as 'the children is innocent and should not be involved in this'.

But there are some who believed that policeman had done a good job in handling illegal parking.

'She thinks it's fine to use her daughter as a shield, so she can push the policeman by force? This should teach her a lesson!' wrote 'qiannindeshou'.

'Illegal parking has to be punished! I support the policeman, for justice!' said another web user 'qiutiandehu'.
Not long ago the best advice given to anyone selling a home was to de-clutter, do a spot of decorating, fill the house with the aroma of fresh coffee and leave the rest to the estate agent.

That was before the market became sticky, with sales falling 3 per cent between May and June this year, reaching their lowest level since October 2016.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and vendors are trying all sorts of imaginative ways market their property  often with the backing of their estate agent.

A good idea? The six-bedroom Grade II listed home Dunstan Low put up for sale

In 2011, internet marketer Dunstan Low, 37, bought Melling Manor, a Georgian mansion in Lancashire, for 435,000.

Grade II-listed and dating from 1797, it has a cinema, ballroom, luxury kitchen, six double bedrooms and vast family bathroom.

It was the dream home for his wife Natasha, 33, and children Dylan, 15, and Ozzy, five.

Low also invested 150,000 in improvements, increasing its value, he thought to more than 800,000. But he had over-extended himself financially and was struggling to pay the mortgage.

He put the house up for sale but did not find a buyer, so he hit on the idea of a raffle. He charged 2 a ticket, aiming to sell 500,000 to cover the 845,000 asking price, plus stamp duty and legal fees. The wacky-sounding scheme was a huge success.

Last week, Low handed over the keys to finance worker Marie Segar and donated 30,000 to St Johns Hospice in Lancaster and 10,000 to the National Youth Advocacy Service from money left over.

The tickets went well on social media at first but things really kicked off when Mail Online picked up on it, says Low. Then papers like The Manchester Evening News kept the story going and we appeared on ITV News.

Now Low is setting up an advisory service (winacountryhouse.com) to help others to do the same.

Shanty Helim, of Rainham, East London, marketed her property on Facebook. She held a live 25-minute virtual tour of her three-bedroom semi-detached home in her lunch break. Viewers could ask questions, and the whole shoot became an item on BBC TVs The One Show.

This was our idea  we wanted to test whether it was feasible or not, says Samantha Loveridge, of online estate agents Housesimple, which managed the sale. Shantys personality made her the perfect vendor  and the house sold 12 days after the broadcast.

Sluggish: Sales of homes fell 3 per cent between May and June this year

Resourceful vendors have access to several platforms. Gumtree, the UKs biggest free classified advertisement site, has 16 million visitors a month. Sellers simply upload pictures plus a description.

Some even experiment with eBay, usually associated with LPs, clothes and memorabilia, rather than property. Users pay a 35 charge. Some eBay sellers use an auction-style format, others a classified advertisement, where they set the price.

There is also Easy House Exchange, a house-swapping site where homeowners list their properties for no charge and state what they would like in return. If one property is worth more than the other, the owners agree the difference.

Will we see more of these unusual ways of buying and selling in the future? Some warn that only trailblazers such as Low and Helim can hope for highly effective free publicity. However, others see a future where websites are given over to house-raffles and home presentations on Facebook are commonplace.

In which case, can we expect the role of the estate agent to change?

Customers are going to expect more from us, says Loveridge at Housesimple. Estate agents will have to come up with new marketing ideas and work as a team with their vendors.
They are designed to help us navigate more easily from A to B.

But using a satnav makes people more unaware of their surroundings and less likely to remember the journeys they take, new research has found.

People who used a traditional map in the new study were far more likely to recall landmarks along their route accurately than those who made the same journey using a satnav.

Researchers believe satnavs make people pay less attention to their surroundings because the devices remove the need for the brain to figure out where they are.

In the study, Liverpool Hope University scientists asked 36 students to walk a 40-minute route around the city guided by either a detailed map or a handheld satnav device (file pic)

Chartered psychologist and lead researcher Dr Dan Clark said: 'A satnav means people don't need to pay attention to their environment. The satnav updates their position and says "turn left" or "turn right".

'Whereas people reading a map obviously need to know where they are so they can update their own position to know when to turn. A satnav does that for you.

'It's always been suggested that we glean information about our rotation [where we are and which direction we are facing] automatically, but this would suggest that people are not doing it as well when they use a satnav.

'One explanation could be that the part of our brain that detects where we are is not as active when we use a satnav. Another could be that we are just not paying attention so we're not encoding [information about our surroundings].'

For the study, researchers at Liverpool Hope University asked 36 geography students to walk a 40-minute two mile route around the city guided by either a detailed map or a handheld satnav device.

The participants were not told the purpose of the study and were asked to complete memory tests about their route when they returned.

In one test, students were given an undetailed map - with no buildings or landmarks shown on it - and asked to mark on it the route they had taken.

In another, they were shown photographs of points of interest which they had passed on their walk, including a post office, churches and a television studio, and asked to mark on an undetailed map where they were.

The results showed students who used the map were significantly more accurate at recalling the location of landmarks than those who were guided by the satnav. Students who map-read marked the landmarks an average of 150ft closer to their real-life location.

But there was no difference in the students' ability to remember the route itself.

One explanation could be that the part of our brain (file pic) that detects where we are is not as active when we use a satnav

Dr Clark said: 'What we found was that the route was very well recalled. That may be because it was a very simple, small route experienced at walking pace.

'But it might be that the satnav makes participants pay attention to the route - but it doesn't make them pay attention to their environment. You don't need to take in your surroundings in the same way.'

He added: 'This was the first in a series of experiments we plan to conduct and as such, we currently do not know the mechanism that is producing this difference and would not like to speculate what is driving this affect.'

The research is presented today (FRI) at the British Psychological Society's Cognitive Psychology Section conference in Newcastle.

In future studies the researchers will analyse whether the same effect is seen in rural environments, such as walks over rough terrain, and will consider whether using a satnav affects drivers in the same way.

Satnavs have become a part of everyday life in recent years, with GPS technology now easily available through devices like smartphones and smartwatches.

From December, driving tests in the UK will include a section on using satnavs, as more and more drivers rely on them.

Previous studies have suggested satnavs turns off the part of the brain used for navigation.

A University College London study involved researchers carrying out brain scans on participants as they attempted to navigate a virtual map.

Those finding their way themselves showed spikes of brain activity, while those relying on a satnav showed no additional brain activity.
William Shakespeare may have had a bizarre 'pirate' accent with flecks of nearly every regional UK English dialect - a reflection of the 'melting pot' London he lived in.

To modern ears, he would have also sounded slightly American, and at times Australian, researchers claim.

That strange accent extends to the actors who performed his plays. They would recite lines with a fast pace and in deep tones so they could be heard above the crowds.

Now, one voice artist has recorded exactly what Shakespeare and his actors sounded like 400 years ago.

Scroll down for more video

ORIGINAL PRONUNCIATION - Drew from a mixture of different accents due to people from across the UK moving to London - Had a deeper tone so actors could project over rowdy crowds - Was faster than modern, received pronunciation Advertisement

In a recital to a live audience, voice artist Ben Crystal reads the opening lines of Romeo and Juliet.

Today's Shakespeare productions are often performed using modern, received pronunciation (RP), but Mr Crystal's recital is very different.

He first reads the lines using RP, and then in what he calls Shakespeare's 'original pronunciation' (OP).

'There's definitely been a change over the last 50 to 60 years of Shakespeare performance.

'The trend I think has been to speak the words very beautifully...and carefully  and some might say stoically  and it's very, very different than how it would have been 400 years ago,' he told NPR.

The playwright's legendary Globe Theatre was built in London in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644.

At this time the capital was a 'melting pot' of accents from across the globe, Mr Crystal claims.

People moved to London from all over the UK, meaning that the city's dialect was a diverse blend of regional tones and dialects.

The West Country accent was particularly prominent due to Bristol's status as a major global port town at the time.

Bristol helped to introduce the Australian and American accent to London - traces of which can be heard in Shakespeare's OP.

'Wherever I go whatever age whether it's eight years old or 80 years old and I say what accent does that remind you of and someone goes 'Pirates of the Caribbean', Mr Crystal says.

Voice artist Ben Crytal (pictured) has revealed that Shakespeare's plays would have been recited in a deep tone, with an accent drawn from regions across the UK, US and Australia

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT PEOPLE SOUNDED LIKE 400 YEARS AGO? These are several techniques that linguistic experts have used to decipher how people of Shakespeare's time spoke. Mr Crystal told NPR in 2012 that researchers use three sets of data to figure out how 16th century London sounded. One way is through rhymes and poems - almost two thirds of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets don't rhyme when read in a modern accent. 'You can extrapolate those kind of rhyme schemes across the sonnets, and indeed some of the plays rhyme - that's one set of data,' Mr Crystal said. People of the 16th and 17th century used to spell more like they used to speak, Mr Crystal said. 'So a word like film in Mercutio's Queen Mab speech is spelled philom in the folio, and we know that's a two syllable word like phi-lom.' Linguists of the period also documented how words were pronounced in books. 'All of that data brings us to 90-95 percent right, which isn't bad for 400 years,' Mr Crystal said. Advertisement

'Shakespeare's London was a melting pot of accents, people would come from Norwich and Wales and Scotland and Ireland and Midlands and Somerset and pirate country.

'They come to London and their accents would all mix in together and then of course later on they'd go to Bristol and sail across to America and later still they'd be sent to Bristol and go down to Australia and that's in part where those accents all come from.'

Mr Crystal says that actors in Shakespeare's original productions would have spoken in a deeper tone than today's recitals.

That deeper resonance helped actors project their voice in the open-air Globe theatre, which housed notoriously rowdy crowds.

Mr Crystal says that actors in Shakespeare's original productions would have spoken in a deeper tone modern recitals. That deeper resonance helped actors project their voice over rowdy crowds. Pictured is a modern production of Romeo and Juliet at London's Globe Theatre

THE ORIGINAL PRONUNCIATION EXPERIMENT Mr Crystal's work is based on an experiment by producers working at the modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, which opened on the south bank of London's River Thames in 1997. Actors performed a series of Shakespeare productions using OP in an attempt to recapture the original sound of the playwright's work. Despite producers' fears that the accent would alienate audiences, the OP shows were a huge success. 'If there's something about this accent, rather than it being difficult or more difficult for people to understand ... it has flecks of nearly every regional U.K. English accent, and indeed American and in fact Australian, too,' Mr Crystal told NPR in a 2012 interview. 'It's a sound that makes people  it reminds people of the accent of their home  and so they tend to listen more with their heart than their head.' Advertisement

Actors of Shakespeare's time would have spoken faster than those performing using RP today, Mr Crystal says.

Shakespeare's original productions would have been considerably shorter than modern versions due to the actors' quick dialect

This means the playwright's original productions would have been considerably shorter than modern versions.

While Mr Crystal's video was first published to YouTube in 2014, it came to light again this week when it was shared by LaughingSquid.

Mr Crystal's work is based on an experiment by producers working at the modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, which opened on the south bank of London's River Thames in 1997.

Actors performed a series of Shakespeare productions using OP in an attempt to recapture the original sound of the playwright's work.

Despite producers' fears that the accent would alienate audiences, the OP shows were a huge success.

'If there's something about this accent, rather than it being difficult or more difficult for people to understand..it has flecks of nearly every regional UK English accent, and indeed American and in fact Australian, too,' Mr Crystal told NPR.

The playwright's legendary Globe Theatre was built in London in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644

'It's a sound that makes people  it reminds people of the accent of their home  and so they tend to listen more with their heart than their head.'

'One of the most famous sonnets ... Sonnet 116 ... everybody has [it] in their weddings because it has the word marriage in it: Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments,' he said.

'When I started speaking this sonnet, it changed from something highfalutin and careful and about marriage and it became a real testament of love.''
Once youre comfy on the sofa, theres nothing worse than having to tear yourself away to grab a snack from the fridge.

But having to move from your seat could soon be a thing of the past, if Panasonics latest 'Movable Fridge' prototype is brought to life.

Panasonic has revealed what it believes is the fridge of the future  a device on wheels that can navigate its way around your kitchen autonomously.

The device comes to you when you call it, can provide you with food and drinks and can even clear away your dirty dishes.

Scroll down for video

Panasonic has revealed what it believes is the fridge of the future  a device on wheels that can navigate its way around your kitchen autonomously

ROBOTIC FRIDGE The simple white fridge responds to voice commands, such as Come to the living room, or Go to the kitchen table. It then navigates its way to your chosen destination autonomously. The device learns the layout of the kitchen, but can also respond to unexpected items in its path. A spokesperson for Panasonic told MailOnline: The fridge can see things up to 15 centimetre ahead of it. Advertisement

Panasonic showed the futuristic fridge at the IFA conference in Berlin today, on its Better Living Tomorrow stand.

The simple white fridge responds to voice commands, such as Come to the living room, or Go to the kitchen table.

It then navigates its way to your chosen destination autonomously.

The device learns the layout of the kitchen, but can also respond to unexpected items in its path.

The device is linked to a database that provides details about every bottle of in your Panasonic fridge.

It can then offer up suggestions about the best food to go with your beverage.

It also responds to voice commands and moves around the house to deliver your food and beverages.

A spokesperson for Panasonic told MailOnline: The fridge can see things up to 15 centimetres (6 inches) ahead of it.

So you wouldnt need to worry about it bumping into your children or pets.

As well as storing food, the fridge can also be filled with dirty dishes and take these over to the dishwasher to be cleaned.

While it is currently a prototype, Panasonic suggests that it wont be long before we see the fridge in production.

As well as storing food, the fridge can also be filled with dirty dishes and take these over to the dishwasher to be cleaned

While it is currently a prototype, Panasonic suggests that it wont be long before we see the fridge in production

The Panasonic spokesperson told MailOnline: I think the fridges could be in production within five or six years.

Earlier this month, Panasonic revealed it had created an app-controlled self-driving wheel chair that can take users around the airport and even bring their luggage in a separate wireless vehicle behind them.

Designed specifically for navigating crowded areas, the smart wheel chair also has several other features that make it perfect for airports, such as the ability to link to sensor-equipped luggage carts that automatically follow the wheelchair without getting lost.

Earlier this month, Panasonic revealed it had created an app-controlled self-driving wheel chair that can take users around the airport and even bring their luggage in a separate wireless vehicle behind them

The WHILL NEXT uses sensors and image recognition to detect obstacles and navigate the airport.

'Using autonomous mobility technology developed for the autonomous delivery robot HOSPI, the wheelchair can identify its own position, select routes and automatically move to destinations input via smartphones,' said a spokesperson from Panasonic.

'It can travel specifically to shops or boarding gates.'
News / National

by Khuluma Afrika

Mt Darwin (Khuluma Afrika) - Zimbabwe's Minister of Local Government, Saviour Kasukuwere allegedly spent 14 nights sleeping on his father's grave in a bid to spiritually cleanse himself of 'bad luck' which would expose his corrupt deals, Khuluma Afrika has been told.Kasukuwere, who hogged the limelight recently, after pictures of him visiting a traditional healer went viral on Facebook narrowly escaped the axe from Zanu PF after all provinces passed a motion of no confidence against him.Over the years, Kasukuwere has been accused of looting Youth Funds when he was the Minister in charge of Youth, and Indigenization.As Minister of Environment, Zimbabwe saw one of its sharpest spikes in elephant poaching.Conservationists in Zimbabwe have repeatedly stated that they had evidence to show that Kasukuwere, together with a Chinese national who was awarded bogus citizenship (Khuluma Afrika saw the bogus National ID cards issued under her name), were involved in a high profile smuggling operation.Popular activist Sharon Hoole has repeatedly shared some of this evidence on social network platform twitter. While leader of the conservation task-force Jonny Rodriguez has repeatedly attempted to shed light to activities implication Kasukuwere.Earlier this year, the end appeared nigh for Kasukuwere after massive demonstrations were held against him in his home province, before other Zanu PF provinces joined the fray.During that time Kasukuwere was briefly hospitalized after a hypertensive attack at his home. At one point, online whistle blowers claimed Kasukuwere had tried to move $1 Billion USD to offshore accounts and flee.As a matter of last resort, he visited a prominent traditional healer who told him to spend 14 consecutive nights sleeping on top of his father's grave in Mt Darwin.The Minister, shockingly, complied."We transported him to his home province everyday. He would sleep there by himself on top of the grave and we would return and pick him up in the morning everyday. He even cancelled a scheduled trip to South Africa to complete the ritual" a source close to Kasukuwere's top aide confirmed.Kasukuwere's sangoma trips appear to have worked. He survived by the skin of his teeth after Mugabe's wife intervened.South African based businessman and owner of AMH, publishers of Newsday, Independent and Standard would later accuse Grace Mugabe and Kasukuwere of sleeping together."Since I started adult colouring, I am having amazing dreams. Last night I dreamt @HonKasukuwere was having an affair with Grace Mugabe. I then woke," he wrote on Twitter.Minister Kasukuwere declined all efforts to get a comment altogether.Khuluma Afrika
The tomb of an ancient playwright dubbed the 'Shakespeare of China' has been discovered.

Tang Xianzu was born in 1550, and best known for four plays called the 'Four Dreams'.

Now archaeologists in east China's Jiangxi Province have announced the discovery of his tomb, where he was believed to be buried with his third wife in 1616.

Epitaphs written by the playwright were found at the family graveyard, which reportedly also houses the tombs of Xianzu's first and second wives.

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The tomb (pictured) of an ancient playwright dubbed the 'Shakespeare of China' has been discovered. Tang Xianzu was born in 1550, and best known for four plays called the 'Four Dreams'

WHO WAS TANG XIANZU? The playwright is famous for writing plays involving storylines that see class divisions overcome. He is best known for a series of four plays, often called the 'Four Dreams', and 'The Peony Pavilion', a dramatic romance which is still performed around the world today. XIanzu died at the age of 66 in 1616, the same year Shakespeare died, and people have drawn parallels between the two. China's president Xi Jinping described Tang as 'Shakespeare of the East' during a state visit to the UK in 2015. Advertisement

The discovery of the playwright's tomb, in the city of Fuzhou, was made last year, but was first reported this week by Chinese news website Xinhua Net.

According to Xu Changqing, head of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, a total of 42 tombs were found.

Out of these, 40 are thought to be from the Ming Dynasty, which dated from 1368 to 1644.

Experts from the institute identified the playwright's tomb through the gravestones and the top stone on the sarcophagus.

'This discovery is significant, because it tells us more about Tang's life, his family tree and relationships with other family members,' Mao Peiqi, vice chairman of the Chinese Society on Ming Dynasty History told People's Daily.

'Besides, by learning about the status and lives of Tang's family, we can learn about education, culture and agriculture in the Ming Dynasty as well as the development of society.'

There were also six epitaphs discovered, and Xianzu is thought to have written some of these.

'The epitaphs can help us learn more about the calligraphy, art and literature in Tang's time,' Mr Xu said.

The playwright is famous for writing plays involving storylines that see class divisions overcome.

Experts from the institute identified the playwright's tomb through the gravestones and the top stone on the sarcophagus

According to Xu Changqing, head of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics and Archeology Research Institute, a total of 42 tombs were found. Out of these, 40 are thought to be from the Ming Dynasty, which dated from 1368 to 1644

XIanzu died at the age of 66 in 1616, the same year Shakespeare died, and people have drawn parallels between the two.

Tang Xianzu (artist's impression) is famous for writing plays involving storylines that see class divisions overcome

He is best known for a series of four plays, often called the 'Four Dreams', and 'The Peony Pavilion', a dramatic romance which is still performed around the world today.

China's president Xi Jinping described Tang as 'Shakespeare of the East' during a state visit to the UK in 2015.

Last year the city of Fuzhou, where XIanzu's tomb was found, announced a plan to recreate William Shakespeare's hometown to express their love for The Bard.

'Little Stratford', located in the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi province, is expected to contain replicas of Shakespeare's birthplace and family home as well as the Holy Trinity Church where the playwright was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.

At the time, talking about Chinese people's interest in The Bard, Councillor Christopher Saint said: 'They are certainly keen to embrace Shakespeare and Shakespeare's influence on the works of their own playwright.'

Fuzhou government is yet to announce when the construction of the town, which will be called Sanweng, will begin.

Archaeologists in east China's Jiangxi Province have announced the discovery of famous playwright Tang Xianzu's tomb
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It's a tricky shot to get right, as any pro will tell you.

But done well, an 'over-under' - otherwise known as 'split-level' - shot can present a perspective we are incapable of seeing with the naked eye.

One startling image captures the wide-open mouth of a lemon shark in the Bahamas, its jaws half above and half below the surface.

Another sees two swimmers suspended in a turquoise lagoon, the cliffs surrounding them blue beneath the surface and sand-coloured above it.

Other hard-earned photos include a tangle of lily pads in New England, USA, as well as a collection of icebergs - only ten per cent of their bulk poking above the water.

Here, MailOnline Travel presents a round-up of artfully shot snaps which elevate natural scenes into another world.

Open wide: This lemon shark - a species capable of growing to 11ft - displays its razor-sharp teeth as silvery droplets shoot up from the tip of its nose. It was photographed in the Bahamas

Perfect symphony: A couple (left) sharing a deep-sea moment and (right) a curious horse roaming the ocean floor

A stunning split-level composite shows a basking shark feeding on plankton around St Michael's Mount in Cornwall

Winding stalks: A unique perspective on a patch of lily pads, growing along the shallow edge of a freshwater lake in New England, USA

Crystal clear: Tropical fish glide amid bursts of coral in the waters surrounding Huahine Island in French Polynesia

Shaped by time: They look almost like human teeth, but these images offer a fascinating view of icebergs. Only ten per cent of one is visible from above the surface of the water, the rest of its mass lies beneath it

Doggy paddle: Their heads may be smooth sailing on the surface, but these hounds are peddling furiously beneath it

Heads up: Over in Lake Tahoe, in America's Sierra Nevada Mountains, a swimming yellow labrador displays an outstretched paw

Relay: In Miami, Florida, one swimmer prepares to dive into the pool as another executes an underwater turn

Care for a swim? A captain peers over the deck at a pair of oceanic whitetip sharks beneath the surface at Cat Island in the Bahamas

Land and sea: A healthy garden of coral reef grows near limestone islands in Raja Ampat, Indonesia - the jungle rising up above it

Fish-eye view: A calm lake photographed half underwater in the US state of Oregon - a place known for its rich landscape

Effervesce: Jagged cliffs fall into the murky deep, with the waterfall's frothy air bubbles gushing to the surface

Night-time: As the sun slides under the horizon, a bed of coral slowly enters darkness underneath a thatched hut
Visitors to the Balearic Islands, including Majorca and Ibiza, will be charged twice as much tourist tax next year.

The average fee will jump to three euros (2.75) per person for each days stay during high season on one of the islands, with holiday-makers at city and five-star hotels paying four euros (3.70).

Regional governors announced the anticipated rise at a press conference on Thursday, boasting they would rake in more than 90million thanks to the extra charges.

Expensive Ibiza: Visitors to the Balearic Islands, including Majorca and Ibiza, will be charged twice as much tourist tax next year

The tax rise was immediately criticised, with one local newspaper describing it as 'brutal and unjustified'.

Regional tourism minister, Biel Barcelo, called the rise 'justified' and said the tourist tax, introduced last summer and known popularly as the ecotasa in Spanish, had been 'well-received', insisting the money raised helped reverse the impact of millions of holidaymakers on the islands.

But the Business Federation of Majorca has described the decision as 'a disaster' and it has yet to see any positive results of this year's ecotax collection after it was re-introduced in the Balearics for the first time.

FEHM president, Inma Benito said: 'It's a tax levy and will have an effect on the influx and competitiveness of the destination", warning: "There may be a significant number of people who stop coming to Mallorca throughout the year and not only in high season.'

The Federation says it is seriously worried about the impact the rise will have on tourist spending power as they will have less to spend on eating out, excursions or sport.

In turn, this would be seriously harmful to the whole of the Balearics.

As well as increases for hotel guests aged 16 or over, passengers on all cruise ships stopping in the Balearic Islands - not just those docking for 12 hours or more - will be asked to pay two euros (1.85).

Balearic Islands: The tax rise - which is expected to raise 90million in 2018 alone - was immediately criticised, with one local newspaper describing it as 'brutal and unjustified'

The rate for rural hotels will also double to two euros (1.85) per day during high season, with tourists at campsites and guest houses paying a new rate of one euro (92 pence). Holidaymakers staying at tourist apartments will also pay double under the new charges.

The Government also plans to start charging the tourist tax to all cruise ships that stop at a port in the Balearic Islands regardless of the berth time - up to now it was only charged after 12 hours. The fee will be two euros and is estimated to generate revenue of about 1.8 million euros.

The top rates will be applied from May to October, with existing low-season rates set at half the high-season tourist tax rate also doubling.

Regional governors also warned they were still studying how they could make an additional tax on hire cars work.

Biel Company, president of the opposition PP party in the Balearic Islands, accused regional government chiefs of tourism-phobia, the new word being used following a spate of incidents this year across Spain that saw protesters attack a tourist bus in Barcelona in July and throw confetti over holidaymakers in a restaurant in the Majorcan capital Palma days later.

Confirmation of the tourist tax increases next year came as it emerged Spain received 10.5million tourists more in July than in the same month last year, bringing the total for the first seven months of the year to a staggering 46.9million people.Around 10.9million came from the UK.

Last month - after fresh protests in Spain when hooded demonstrators in Bilbao sprayed bright red paint across the HQ of the Basque Country tourist board - PM Mariano Rajoy branded them 'radical extremists'.

Addressing the concerns that have been expressed in several parts of Spain but especially Barcelona and the Balearics Islands, he said: 'I dont know if we have to receive tourists with placards saying welcome Mr Tourist, but what we cant do is kick those people who come here to spend money.

'That seems to me to be crazy.'
This week Walford in Bloom turns into Walford in Boom when a gas explosion hits the unlucky residents of Albert Square in EastEnders. This comes just seven months after a runaway bus crashed into the market. If you lived in Walford would you even risk leaving the house?

Disasters are rife in Emmerdale and Coronation Street too, with all manner of planes, trains and automobiles ploughing into the residents. And whos keeping count of the number of times the Rovers, Woolpack and Queen Vic have collectively burnt down?

The workmen who have been endlessly digging up the roads cause an almighty gas explosion (pictured) in this week's Eastenders

But increasingly its not the big-budget disaster stories that bring in most viewers, but well-written, compelling storylines, such as EastEnders Who killed Lucy Beale? episodes  which pulled in around four million more viewers than the bus crash did.

Perhaps viewers are growing weary of Hollywood-style stunts and explosions that result in a promised shock death  which usually turns out to be a lesser-known character nobody really cared about in the first place. Will the gas explosion prove any different?

EASTENDERS: WHO LEFT THE GAS ON?

I suppose there had to be a reason why weve had endless scenes of workmen digging up the road in Walford  it was so they could mess up and cause an almighty gas explosion.

Its all hands on deck as residents clamour to reach the injured and search for their loved ones in the aftermath. The explosion awakes traumatic memories for Joyce, and her husband Ted takes the foolish step of getting out his gun for protection. Honestly, never mind the East End  its like the Wild West in Walford these days.

Its all hands on deck as residents clamour to reach the injured and search for their loved ones in the aftermath

Unfortunately, cack-handed Ted ends up accidentally shooting one of the residents. Is it too much to hope its one of the Taylors? At the very least it would be good if the gas explosion could somehow blast Karens wretched bra strap back into place.

After discovering that Max is in on Stevens brain tumour lie, Jane confronts him and says she knows all about his revenge plan. Brilliant. Any chance she could explain it to the rest of us, because we lost track weeks ago?

Max tells Steven that he must silence Jane in order to avoid their secret being exposed. Close to breaking point, Steven decides to burn down Beales restaurant.

CORONATION STREET: ANDY'S GRAVE DANGER

Youve got to hand it to the writers, the story about Andy being kept captive by Pat caught everyone off guard. Opinion is divided over whether it was a stroke of genius or a moment of madness but it gave us something thats become a rarity in soap  a genuine shock.

Andys eight-month imprisonment raises many questions, not least, why his beard isnt three times as long. And how generous a kidnapper must Pat be for Andy to have lost no weight?

Pat reveals that he's dug Andy's grave after he becomes ill in this week's Coronation Street

This week Andy becomes ill and begs Pat to take him to the doctor. Instead Pat reveals that hes dug Andys grave. As Pat becomes more panicked about the situation with Andy, he begins to slip up. Will Nicola start to question what her newly discovered dad is up to?

Its the week of Roberts hearing and he warns Michelle that theres a chance he may not be coming home again. Pyscho Will uses this as an excuse to try and get closer to a distressed Michelle.

On a lighter note, Kirk wins a competition to be Weatherfield Countys Buzzy Bee mascot and a reporter suggests he should run for mayor against Sally. Will Kirk think its a good idea? And can he even spell mayor?

Toyah continues her mission to become a mother by setting up a meeting with a surrogacy agency. Its just so hard to believe that she hasnt got a long-lost child of her own somewhere. Everyone else in Weatherfield has.

EMMERDALE: PETE AND PRIYA OUTED

Pete confides in his mother about his affair with Priya in this week's Emmerdale

Already father to three illegitimate children, Jai Sharma learns he is to have a fourth when Nell reveals she is expecting. Suffice to say nobody is delighted for them. Determined to do the right thing, Jai sets off to buy an engagement ring. With all his exes, youd think he might have one knocking around the house.

Pete confesses to his mum about his affair with Priya and naturally Emma blabs to Leyla, who seems to have forgotten that she also slept with her best friends man when she did the dirty on Megan. No sooner has the tedious Megan and Frank revenge plot ended, than it looks like were in for another.
Sophie Dillman is staring on Home and Away as rebellious teen Ziggy Astoni.

But while Summer Bay calls for many a bikini, the 25-year-old actress says she won't starve herself for swimsuit scenes, even though they leave her 'terrified'.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph she said: 'I hope that women and girls understand that being thin isn't the most important thing. Being happy is much more important.

Not starving: Sophie Dillman is staring on Home and Away but while Summer Bay calls for many a bikini, the 25-year-old actress says she won't starve herself for swimsuit scenes, even though they leave her 'terrified'

She added: 'I remember my first bikini scene and I was petrified. There are a lot of pressures on women but they made me feel very comfortable.'

The blonde beauty says she likes food and 'delicious things,' hence she won't 'starve herself' to avoid them as it would make her 'miserable'.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, Sophie explained that she took the role on the long running soap because she was broke.

Where most actors take up day jobs to guarantee their next paycheck, Sophie had the opposite experience.

Yum! The blonde beauty says she likes food and 'delicious things,' hence she won't 'starve herself' to avoid them as it would make her 'miserable'

Happy: Speaking to the Daily Telegraph she said: 'I hope that women and girls understand that being thin isn't the most important thing. Being happy is much more important'

The qualified nurse revealed she struggled to find a full time job in her profession, so instead turned to acting.

'I always wanted to be an actor but I was encouraged by my family to do something I could fall back on, so I studied nursing,' she said.

'But it just so happened that at the time the Australian government had pulled a lot of funding out of the health system and no graduate nurses were getting jobs so I decided to audition for an acting school and I got in.'

Hard at work: Speaking to the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, Sophie explained that she took the role on the long running soap because she was struggling to find work in nursing

Sophie, debuted alongside Kestie Morassi and Anna Cocquerel, has already been taken under longtime star Ada Nicodemou's wing.

Posting a picture of her new TV family on Instagram, she thanked the actress who has played Leah Patterson-Baker for the last 17 years.

She wrote: 'Ada Nicodemou showing us how it's done!'

Learning from the best! Sophie, who will debut alongside Kestie Morassi and Anna Cocquerel, has already been taken under longtime star Ada Nicodemou's wing




She caused a stir when she was seen wearing ripped denim last year.

Now Felicity Kendal has upped the style stakes, stepping out in a crop top and a pair of trendy jeans with rips and patches.

The 70-year-old actress, who famously played Barbara Good in 1970s sitcom The Good Life, was spotted out and about in London wearing the jeans, which feature a large 'P' on the right thigh and several other patches and badges on both legs.

Miss Kendal also showed off her midriff with a baggy dark blue shirt tied at the bottom to make a crop top, teamed with a large gold necklace, a red leather handbag and dark sandals.

She caused a stir when she was seen wearing ripped denim last year. Now Felicity Kendal (above) has upped the style stakes, stepping out in a crop top and a pair of trendy ripped jeans

Miss Kendal was wearing 199 Polo Ralph Lauren Patch Detail Boyfriend Jeans which are on sale at ASOS - a website popular with teenagers and women in their twenties and thirties and at Harrods for 200.

On the Ralph Lauren website, they state: 'A mix of Polo-themed patches anchor these Astor slim boyfriend jeans in signature RL style. Roll up the cuffs and wear them with heels to complete the borrowed-from-the-boys look with feminine flair.'

The mother-of-two, whose jewellery selection also included several bracelets on her left wrist and a large watch on her right wrist, looked to be keeping a low profile in dark sunglasses.

The 70-year-old actress, who famously played Barbara Good in 1970s sitcom The Good Life (pictured, with co-star Richard Briers as Tom Good), was spotted out in London wearing the jeans, which feature a large 'P' on the right thigh and several patches and badges on both legs

Miss Kendal was also looking remarkably fresh-faced as she strode around London. It has been three years since she revealed she had given up Botox treatments for a more natural look.

She told Good Housekeeping magazine: 'There comes a point where you have to match bits of you with the other bits.'

She now relies on a combination of yoga, Pilates and weightlifting to maintain her looks.
They have been enjoying a romantic Italian getaway this week.

And Georgia Love, 29, and her boyfriend Lee Elliott, 36, looked as loved-up as ever this Thursday when they hit the beach at Positano.

Taking to Instagram to flaunt their enviable getaway, Lee shared a photo of the couple posing on the sand in front of the sprawling cliff-side city, alongside the caption: 'Need I say amore?'

'Need I say amore?' Georgia Love, 29, and her boyfriend Lee Elliott, 36, looked loved-up as ever this Friday when they hit the beach at Positano

As usual, he accompanied his post with several pun hashtags, adding: '#tortelliniinlovewithyou #icannolideal #olivethisplace #youllalwayshaveapizzamyheart.'

Clad in a plunging white wrap dress and straw hat, Georgia also took to her Instagram story to share a selfie of the pair cuddling up in front of the picturesque backdrop.

Later that evening, the enamoured duo visited a swanky sea-side restaurant, with Georgia documenting the occasion by sharing a photo of herself posing at the venue in an off-the-shoulder maroon frock.

With love, from Italy! Clad in a plunging white wrap dress and straw hat, Georgia also took to her Instagram story to share a selfie of the pair cuddling up in front of the picturesque backdrop

'Italian nights,' she simply wrote next to the image, which saw her posing candidly by facing away from the camera.

Days earlier, Georgia revealed that she and Lee witnessed a marriage proposal over the weekend during a visit to the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

Overcome with emotion at the sight, Georgia documented the happy occasion by sharing a clip of the proposal with the caption: 'We just witnessed a proposal! Soooo special!!'

'Italian nights': Later that evening, the enamoured duo visited a swanky sea-side restauarant, with Georgia documenting the occasion by sharing a photo of herself posing at the venue in an off-the-shoulder maroon frock

It follows on from Lee's touching one-year anniversary post earlier this month.

A photo of the couple during last year's grand finale episode of The Bachelorette, was captioned: '1 year ago today you stood across from me with that infectious smile of yours.

'And those eyes I get lost in each and every time I look into them and told me what I had been longing to hear you say...that you had fallen so madly in love with me!

'One year on and I still love hearing you say that just as much as I did that night!

Tying the knot? The genetically blessed couple have sparked engagements rumours after being spotted looking in jewellery stores while in Italy
She was a front runner to steal Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson's heart on The Bachelor.

But on Thursday night, Lisa Carlton's reality show journey surprisingly came to an end when Matty sent her home packing.

The 24-year-old took to her Instagram account after the episode aired to joke about her popularity with viewers and how they had placed bets on her to win this season.

Scroll down for video

Good sport: Lisa Carlton took to her Instagram account after Thursday's episode aired to joke about her popularity with viewers and how they had placed bets on her to win The Bachelor

The statuesque blonde shared a photo of her with Matty during their final encounter, engaged in conversation.

'When Sportsbet stole your money because you were gunning for me to win Matty's heart,' she teased her followers in the snap's caption.

'I'm sorry but I can't refund you,' she added.

'When Sportsbet stole your money because you were gunning for me to win Matty's heart,' she teased her followers in the snap's caption

Her fellow rejected contestant, Simone Ormesher, offered in the comment section: 'Caption game strong'.

Another co-star who is still in the running, Tara Pavlovic, left the note: 'You're a ledge [legend]'.

The model's fans admitted they had put money on her to come out on top in the dating show.

Favourite: The model's fans admitted they had put money on her to come out on top in the dating show

Farewell: On Thursday night, Lisa Carlton's reality show journey surprisingly came to an end when Matty sent her home packing

'This legit happened to me! I chucked $20 on you when your odds were paying $13. Deadset thought I was gonna get rich,' offered one observer.

'The fact that I actually put money on her to win at the start of the show and she posts this, OMG could she get any better,' gushed another follower.

'Stuff Sportsbet. You cost me a slab!' joked one fan, appearing to make reference to a bet involving a carton of beer.
God's Own Country (15)

Rating:

The Yorkshire drama tells the story of a migrant labourer developing an intense emottional relationship with a farmer during lambing season

The divine country of the title is a bleakly beautiful stretch of West Yorkshire, where Johnny Saxby (Josh OConnor) works on the family sheep farm. Times would be hard even if his father (Ian Hart) hadnt been crippled by a stroke.

As Johnnys long-suffering grandmother, Gemma Jones has a role about as far as possible from The Duchess of Duke Street of blessed memory.

Josh O'Connor stars as a worker on the struggling farm, who enlists the help of a migrant, played by Alec Seareanu, seated on the back of the vehicle

Its another Seventies TV series that springs more readily to mind, however. But despite all the lambing and dry-stone walling, this is emphatically not the Yorkshire of All Creatures Great And Small. Its more like Brokeback Fell, in fact, as Johnny  whose semi-repressed homosexuality has hitherto found an outlet only in rough no-strings encounters (including one at a cattle auction, of all places)  falls for Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), a dishy Romanian farm labourer hired by the Saxbys for lambing season.

Until he meets Gheorghe, Johnny is a mess; scarcely able to communicate with his family, drinking too much, and alienating even the few local friends he has with his chippy self-pity.

At first, he is no less obnoxious with Gheorghe, referring to him as gyppo. When Gheorghe snaps and knocks Johnny to the ground, physical contact is established.

A sexual relationship builds between the men as they grow closer working together on the farm

Soon, a sexual relationship develops, but Gheorghe teaches Johnny that sex doesnt have to be urgent and convulsive. Gradually, he becomes a less angry young man.

Gheorghe has been good for the farm in other ways, drawing on his background in rural Romania and asking the Saxbys if they have thought of making cheese from the sheep milk, which naturally they havent.

But his greatest influence is in making a more tender human being of Johnny, who in one moving later scene gives his blighted father a bath.

Gods Own Country, with its sparse dialogue and rather graphic depiction of gay sex, wont be everyones cup of strong Yorkshire tea. Cinema and television alike usually romanticise farming, while this shows it in the raw.

But then thats precisely why director Francis Lee, who was once an actor on Heartbeat, should be proud of his debut feature film. He grew up on a farm in these parts and apparently still lives half-way up a Pennine.

It shows. We are in the safe and doubtless calloused hands of a fine storyteller.

Stratton (15)

Verdict: Unremarkable action thriller

Rating:

Dominic Cooper and Tyler Hoechlin star in boat service commando movie Stratton

Films dont reach the silver screen without plenty of effort on somebodys part, but its difficult to see whos put much work into Stratton, a lazily derivative action-thriller based on Duncan Falconers novels.

Henry Cavill was the original choice to play Special Boat Services hero John Stratton, but quit the project less than a week before shooting was due to begin, citing creative differences. It was an astute career move.

Dominic Cooper stepped in to replace him and does a lot of running, shooting and frowning, sometimes all at the same time, in pursuit of fiendishly sneaky terrorists.

Clearly, English director Simon West (Con Air, The Expendables 2) had the likes of Bond and Bourne in mind, and in fairness he does orchestrate a few striking action sequences. And Derek Jacobi pops up, which is always a good thing.

But Connie Nielsen is badly miscast as the head of the British security services (note to producers: why pick a Dane?) and the script is mediocre, at best.
She has one of the most recognisable faces on Australian breakfast television.

But Sylvia Jeffreys, 31, didn't receive any VIP treatment this Tuesday, spotted waiting for a taxi outside Sydney Airport, just like the rest of us.

Standing with her arms crossed and staring into the distance, it looked like the blonde glamazon had a long wait ahead of her in the snaking queue.

No VIP treatment here! Today show's Sylvia Jeffreys looks stony-faced as she lines up in very long taxi queue at Sydney airport

The starlet looked typically glamorous for her arrival, donning a black pencil dress layered underneath a smart black blazer.

She also accentuated her famous facial features with a formidable application of eye makeup while adding a touch of colour to her look by painting her nails cherry red.

Last week, Sylvia made headlines after she performed a rendition of 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' on live television for charity.

Stylish: The blonde starlet looked typically glamorous, donning a black pencil dress layered underneath a smart black blazer

Dressed in a bouffant wig and 1980s style dress, Sylvia covered the Bonnie Tyler classic to raise money for Queensland-based charity Youngcare.

Sylvia accepted the challenge after Karl committed to donating $2,000 to Youngcare, dedicated to helping to get young people out of aged care.

Ahead of the segment, Karl joked he was worried Sylvia, who is married to his brother Peter, would perform and 'sully' the reputation of his family name.

Cringe! Sylvia wore a wig and belted out 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' on the Today show last week

'I had a phone conference, a phone call with my brother last night, Peter, who is happily married to Sylvia,' he said.

'We are concerned that by doing this she may sully and water down the terrific brand Stefanovic name and we are worried,' he continued.

'How do I have that conversation with her because we don't want the name to be sullied,' he repeated.

Joking: Ahead of the segment, Karl joked he was worried Sylvia, who is married to his brother Peter, would perform and 'sully' the reputation of his family name
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has peddled lies about South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy.He told a rally in his home country that he had asked a Cabinet minister in South Africa why whites remained powerful long after the end of apartheid.How Mugabe phrased the question is instructive. He didn't ask why our democratic government has failed to raise the living standards of black South Africans to the level of whites. He seemed to advocate for South Africa his model of total impoverishment.The unnamed Cabinet minister responded by blaming President Nelson Mandela. The minister told Mugabe that Mandela had insisted on negotiating with the apartheid government on his own.The implication is that Mandela's deal with the apartheid regime was that whites will, as a matter of state policy, always be economically powerful relative to blacks.So far, the South African government hasn't responded to the lies that Mugabe peddled. Could it be that the government endorses the lies told to Mugabe by the unnamed minister?There is a lot of literature about the transition from apartheid to democracy. I wouldn't want to rehash it, save to say it is not classified. There are also many leaders in South Africa who know the inside story of the negotiations. There's no need to list them.More importantly, we have a Constitution which espouses the kind of vision we want to achieve. Of course, the Constitution needs people who believe in it to turn its ideals of healing the divisions of the past, economic and political, into reality.It's shocking that a head of state with struggle credentials would showcase his ignorance. It seems it's not enough for Mugabe that he has impoverished his people, forcing them to spread across the globe to eke out a living. Now he wants to complete the impoverishment process by poisoning their minds.But he can be forgiven for being senile given his advanced age. However, the South African government's failure to immediately call Mugabe to order and to correct the distortion of our history is unforgiveable.It's a matter of public record that the apartheid government tried in vain to offer Mandela conditional release from prison. They even tried to isolate him from the ANC.Had he accepted the offers, there is no doubt the ANC would have split. Freedom would have been delayed. Domestic and international pressure against the apartheid regime would have eased. And Mandela would have betrayed the struggle. But he was a very principled leader. So principled he has puzzled Mugabe.Why doesn't the government or the ANC deal decisively with Mugabe? Could it be that the unnamed minister who told Mugabe the nonsense was merely stating the position of the Jacob Zuma-led ANC and government?It's difficult to believe that an organisation that was once proud of how it executed the struggle, the outcome of which was a constitutional democracy, would find it impossible to denounce lies about it.It has become fashionable in the era of Bell Pottinger and the Guptas to delegitimise South Africa's constitutional democracy. It's not only rhetorical. There's a systematic attack on the Constitution and state institutions. The aim is to divert public attention from government failures and looting of state resources.In a recent article, President Thabo Mbeki raised concerns that the architect of the South African Constitution, the ANC, is working against it. I suspect the lies told to Mugabe by a South African minister, which Mugabe shamelessly peddled, emanated from the context of the ANC disowning what it fought for.If opposition parties, civil society, the courts and media didn't stand up and defend our constitutional democracy, we would live under laws written by Bell Pottinger and the Guptas.The failure of the government to defend and advance the Constitution, the outcome of the transitional negotiations that included many political parties including the ANC, is finding expression in our international relations.We don't have a discernible foreign policy to protect and enhance our international prestige. Nor do we have leadership to conduct a policy grounded in our Constitution.Once regarded as a middle power in world affairs, punching above its weight, South Africa is descending fast. The government's policy of aloofness to Zambia's democratic crisis shows we have become irrelevant.The policy of aloofness was best explained when Zuma told Parliament that the crackdown on opposition parties in Zambia is an "internal matter".As if this embarrassing explanation is not enough, our Number One diplomat, the president, doesn't know why a wife of a head of state who committed a serious crime in South Africa was given diplomatic immunity. The reason the president doesn't know, he tells the nation, is that he is not a lawyer.With this kind of leadership it would be too much to expect an arrogant and ruinous dictator like Mugabe to respect us.- Mpumelelo Mkhabela is a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) at the University of Pretoria.
He's the Cairns-born hunk who went from Summer Bay to the big lights of Tinseltown.

And now, Brenton Thwaites will take on the iconic role of the Robin, also known as Dick Grayson, the sidekick and protege Batman.

The 28-year-old was cast in the lead for the upcoming live action drama, Titans, which is will be released on a DC brand direct-to-audience streaming service.

'It wasn't easy to find him, but we have!' Australian actor Brenton Thwaites has landed the role of Robin in upcoming DC Comics series Titans

'Dick Grayson is one of the most important and iconic heroes in the DC Universe, and it wasn't easy to find him, but we have,' executive producer Geoff Johns said in a statement on Just Jared.

'Brenton has the emotional depth, heart, danger and physical presence of Batman's former protege and the Titans' future leader.'

'We're extremely lucky he's chosen to bring his talents to this project and this character,' he added about the Australian heartthrob.

Role of a lifetime: The 28-year-old will play Dick Grayson, who is known as Batman's side kick, in the series

The comic book is based digital platform and is set to be launched next year.

It will centre on Robin's leading a new group of heroes, including Starfire and Raven, after years fighting crime with his mentor Batman.

Titans is set to be produced by Greg Berlanti, who is responsible for other successful DC comic series' such as Arrow, Supergirl and The Flash.

Brenton's road to success has been a steady rise, starring in supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Maleficent alongside Angelina Jolie, as Prince Philip, and in The Giver with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.

Rising star: Brenton's road to success has been a steady rise, starring in supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Maleficent alongside Angelina Jolie as Prince Philip (pictured)

From Summber Bay to Hollywood: He recently starred opposite of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

He recently starred opposite of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, playing Henry Turner, the son of Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley).

He said working alongside acclaimed actors Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem and Depp was a 'real gift'.

'When I was in a scene with these guys, you learn a lot, you feel a lot, and you learn to improvise and be irreverent,' he told WWD.
Chuck D expects Flavor Flav to perform with Public Enemy despite a lawsuit recently filed by the hype man over a royalties dispute.

The 57-year-old Public Enemy leader responded Thursday to the lawsuit recently filed by Flav, 58.

'Flav has his rights, but took a wrong road on this,' Chuck D, real name Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, told TMZ.

Group leader: Chuck D, shown in June in the UK, has responded to a lawsuit filed by Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav

The New York City native said that Flav, real name William Jonathan Drayton Jr, was upset about third-party merchandisers.

Flav filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Chuck and several Public Enemy producers alleging they owe him recording royalties, merchandising revenue and performance fees, according to TMZ.

The lawsuit alleged that Flav has not been receiving regular songwriting royalties even though he wrote more than 50 Public Enemy songs.

Chuck despite the lawsuit predicted they would continue to perform together.

Civil suit: Flavor Flav, shown in April in New Jersey, sued Chuck D over recording royalties, merchandise revenue and performance fees

'We will be [together] on a future stage' he told TMZ.

He added that he believes Flav 'will again be embarrassed admitting on stage about the way it spun out. Its always this way with him.'

Chuck D has a concert scheduled September 7 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.

International stars: Chuck D and Flavor Flav are shown performing in June 2015 in London

The Public Enemy website lists nine more concert dates culminating with a November 4 performance at Ozzfest in San Bernardino, California.

The seminal hip hop group was formed in 1986 with Chuck D, Flavor Flav, DJ Lord, Professor Griff, Khari Wynn and the S1W Group.

Public Enemy was inducted into the 2013 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The group's 1989 hit song Fight The Power was featured in the Spike Lee film Do The Right thing and has been hailed as one of the greatest songs of all time.
She is known for her edgy sense of style.

And Kristen Stewart took yet another fashion risk on her latest outing as she debuted a bizarre new 'do while strolling around New York City on Friday.

The actress, 27, proudly showed off her short hair while on a lunch date with Victoria's Secret model girlfriend Stella Maxwell, 27.

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Hair-raising! Kristen Stewart took yet another fashion risk on her latest outing as she debuted a bizarre new 'do while strolling around New York City on Friday

On the go: The actress, 27, proudly showed off her short hair while on a lunch date with Victoria's Secret model girlfriend Stella Maxwell, 27

Her previously buzzed head looked to be in the awkward in-between stage as it stuck up and blew in the wind on the trek with the model.

Kristen's outfit was as bold as her hair as she sported a beige-colored coverall much like a custodian or janitor would wear.

She unbuttoned the one-piece garment to show off a plain white T-shirt and cuffed the bottom of the trousers to reveal white socks and all-black Vans sneakers.

The Twilight star accessorized with multiple necklaces including one with a small lock worn as a pendant along with circular shades.

Chill: Kristen's outfit was as bold as her hair as she sported a beige-colored coverall much like a custodian or janitor would wear

Her short blonde locks were disheveled as she let her natural beauty shine by going make-up free.

Stella looked leggy as always in a pair of distressed skinny black jeans and matching leather loafers.

She teamed the all black look with a billowy jacket with the sleeves rolled up over a graphic T-shirt.

Edgy: She unbuttoned the one-piece garment to show off a plain white T-shirt and cuffed the bottom of the trousers to reveal white socks and all-black Vans sneakers

Stella accessorized with a pair of large black designer shades with a matching large bag draped over her shoulder.

Her blonde locks were worn down over her shoulders as he topped off her complimentary make-up with a swipe of pink lip.

Stewart has dated both men and women in the past, infamously cheating on her Twilight co-star boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her Snow White And The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.

Though she said she was 'so gay' during her 2017 monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live, Stewart has admitted she's open to dating men again.

Stunning: Stella looked leggy as always in a pair of distressed skinny black jeans and matching leather loafers

'Yeah, totally. Definitely... Some people aren't like that. Some people know that they like grilled cheese and they'll eat it every day for the rest of their lives. I want to try everything. If I have grilled cheese once I'm like, "That was cool, what's next?"', she told Harper's Bazaar UK.

Maxwell recently returned from a trip to Colorado to film a racy Victoria's Secret ad campaign directed by Michael Bay.

She and her fellow VS Angels took fans along for the journey on Instagram, sharing plenty of behind the scenes shots of the Western-themed lingerie shoot.

Stella has confirmed she will be taking part in Victoria's Secret's next fashion show in Shanghai, China.
She's one of the most recognisable faces in Australian fashion.

But Jennifer Hawkins appeared worlds away from her days as a pageant princess, cutting a glamorous figure at the Myer Spring Racing Collection Launch in Melbourne on Friday.

The 33-year-old looks very different from when she was a cheerleader for the Newcastle Knights in 2001.

My how you've changed! Jennifer Hawkins look very different from her pageant days as she attends the Myer Spring Racing Collection Launch. Pictured left in 2002, right in 2017

Jennifer cut a very chic figure at the Myer party, wearing a figure-hugging orange cocktail dress which featured a daring thigh split.

The former Miss Universe showed off her stunningly smooth complexion and high cheekbones.

Flashing her megawatt smile and pouting for the cameras, Jennifer took centre stage at the event, which was held to promote the start of the racing season.

Picture perfect: The former Miss Universe showed off her stunningly smooth complexion and high cheekbones at the Myer event. Pictured left in 2001, right on Friday

Worked her way to the top! Before she was crowned Miss Universe Jennifer worked as a cheerleader for Newcastle Knights. Pictured left in 2001, right on Friday

The model's latest public engagement comes amid continued speculation Jennifer has changed her appearance with either cosmetic surgery or injections over the years.

In 2011, Jennifer flatly denied having work done, telling Fairfax Media: 'I haven't had plastic surgery and it's been seven years [since winning Miss Universe]  my fitness and skin regime is completely different from seven years ago.'

But when asked the same question in 2014 by The Australian Women's Weekly, the blonde beauty appeared to skirt around giving a definitive answer.

Successful: Since being crowned Miss Universe Jennifer has inked a series of lucrative endorsement deals for brands such as Myer and Mount Franklin. Pictured left in 2004, right in 2017

Rumours: Over the years there has been speculation Jennifer has changed her appearance with either cosmetic surgery or injections over the years. Pictured left in 2004, right in 2017

'When someone says "under the knife" I dont have a reaction. Everyone in the industry gets that. Thats fine. Im cool with that,' Jennifer said.

'Im cool with people having an opinion, but as I said, I am happy with who I am as a person and really just want to live my life.

'I cant live my life around what other people say. They just dont get me, thats how I take it.'

'I haven't had plastic surgery': In 2011, Jennifer flatly denied having work done. Pictured left in 2004, right in 2016
Taylor Lautner was spotted leaving Craig's restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday night with a pretty blonde

She is Lauren Scruggs, the wife of E! News host Jason Kennedy, who she tied the knot with in 2014.

The blonde beauty was a model before she walked into an airplane's spinning propeller in Texas in 2011, losing her left eye and severing her left hand.

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Date night? Taylor Lautner was spotted leaving Craig's restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday night with Lauren Scruggs in tow

Their outing comes less than two months after Taylor's split with his former girlfriend of eight months, actress Billie Lourd.

'They arent together anymore but they are still friendly,' a source told People of their break up in July.

'Shes really focused on her work right now.'

The pair started dating after meeting on the set of Scream Queens, with Taylor supporting the actress through the tragic deaths of her mom Carrie Fisher, 60, and grandma Debbie Reynolds, 84, just one day apart in December.

Taking a step back... The 25-year-old actor was careful to maintain a distance from his companion as they left the popular West Hollywood eatery together

Keeping a distance: The former Twilight hunk trailed behind the blonde beauty as they exited the hot spot and made their way over to a nearby car

Seeing other people... Their outing comes less than two months after Taylor's split with his former girlfriend of eight months, actress Billie Lourd

But it appears as though the Cuckoo actor may have now moved on.

Taylor cut a casual figure on his dinner date stepping out in black sweatpants and black and red sneakers.

He also wore a patterned black T-shirt.

'They arent together anymore but they are still friendly,' a source told People of Taylor's split with actress Billie Lourd

Hot date: The model looked stylish in a pair of baggy blue patchwork jeans. She also wore slip-on black mules and an off-the-shoulder fitted black top

Keeping it casual: Taylor cut a casual figure on his dinner date stepping out in black sweatpants and black and red sneakers

Meanwhile, his companion looked stylish in a pair of baggy blue patchwork jeans.

She also wore slip-on black mules and an off-the-shoulder fitted black top.

The blonde bombshell wore her hair loose and carried a nude colored leather handbag on one shoulder as they made their way home.
She's one of Australia's most sought after models who has never been shy about showing off her famous figure.

And Natalie Roser looked stunning when she stepped out for the Myer Spring Racing Collection launch in Melbourne on Friday.

The 26-year-old showed off her well sculpted legs in a skimpy, electric blue and floral themed mini dress.

Leggy lady! Natalie Roser shows off her trim pins in a quirky floral themed electric blue mini dress at Myer Spring Racing Collection launch

The frock flaunted her svelte pins to good effect while simple black strappy heels gave the already statuesque model extra height.

The stunner accessorised with a pair of blue drop earrings and a black fascinator that kept her blonde locks in place.

Posing playfully with a hand on her hip, Natalie also carried a small black clutch and she finished the ensemble with a light rose shade for her lip and a winged mascara look for her eyes.

Trim pins! The frock flaunted her svelte pins to good effect while simple black strappy heels gave the already statuesque model extra height

Meanwhile, Natalie flaunted the figure that's made her famous in a snap shared to Instagram on Wednesday.

She showed off her washboard stomach and lean legs in a yellow pin-up style bikini.

One element of Natalie's life that's sure to make her smile, is her budding relationship with actor Harley Bonner, 26.

The brand ambassador confirmed she was dating Harley in February, the pair meeting on a promotional trip to New Zealand in November 2016.

Not an inch to pinch! Meanwhile, Natalie flaunted the figure that's made her famous in a snap shared to Instagram on Wednesday

In demand: Natalie's become one of Australia's most sought after swimsuit and lingerie models

Going strong: The brand ambassador confirmed she was dating actor Harley Bonner, 26, in February, the pair meeting on a promotional trip to New Zealand in November 2016

And while previously juggling a long-distance relationship, Natalie revealed to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month: 'We're very lucky that we love each other as much as we do.'

Harley, who Natalie jokingly describes as her 'Instagram husband', is based in Melbourne for his acting work while she splits her time between modelling in the United States, Melbourne and Sydney.

Admitting it was 'really hard' for them to commit to times they could meet up due to work, the two were letting their relationship 'go with the moment'.

'Communication is really good between the two of us which I think is really special, that's how we make it work,' Natalie said.
She's the founder of sportswear brand The Upside and former partner of Australian billionaire James Packer.

And on Friday, Jodhi Meares revealed she was adding R U OK? ambassador to her growing resume.

Spending the day in along the Sydney Harbour, the 46-year-old took to Instagram to make the announcement.

New role: And on Friday, Jodhi Meares revealed she was adding R U OK? ambassador to her growing resume

'Wonderful morning with @ruokday talking to CEO and beautiful man, Brendan Maher about checking in with your mates to make sure they are ok,' she captioned.

'I'm so honoured to announce that I am an ambassador for #ruok - communication is the universal solvent.'

'Always remember to check in with your crew and ask this simple but powerful question, RUOK?,' she continued.

Excited: 'I'm so honoured to announce that I am an ambassador for #ruok - communication is the universal solvent'

Keeping warm with a long camel coloured overcoat on top of her activewear, Jodhi looked stunning.

In another photo, the entrepreneur posed alongside her Upside team, and educated her 26,000 on how to look out for the mental health of friends and family members.

'Follow the 4 steps - 1. Ask 2. Listen 3. Encourage action 4. Check in,' she captioned.

Preaching: In another photo, the entrepreneur posed alongside her Upside team, and educated her 26,000 on how to look out for the mental health of friends and family members

Jodhi's new role will have her join other ambassadors such as Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and Simon Baker.

The Australian suicide prevention charity will hold its annual R U OK? Day on Thursday 14 September.

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
She splits her time between LA and Paris - and Lily Rose Depp proved that she had inherited the stylish French gene as she embarked on a shopping trip in Paris on Thursday.

The model and actress who recently turned 18, oozed understated style in an Air Force inspired boiler suit.

The blue two-piece, cut off at the calves, featured a button-up front and she dressed it with a luxurious clutch bag.

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Turning heads: Lily Rose Depp proved that she had inherited the stylish French gene as she embarked on a shopping trip in Paris on Thursday wearing an Air Force inspired outfit

Ever the designer clothes mule, the outfit, was designed by the late Oscar de la Renta in 1978, and made the most of her statuesque figure.

Scraping her hair back in a sleek ponytail, she made the most of her striking features by opting for minimal make-up.

The actress, who appeared in a Chanel advert at the age of 15, recently hit back at trolls who accused her of riding on the coattails of her parents' fame.

Designer clothes horse: The model and actress who recently turned 18, oozed understated style in an Air Force inspired boiler suit designed by Oscar De La Renta

Lily, whose dad is American Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and mother is French model Vanessa Paradis, argued that she is forced to work twice as hard because of the misconception.

'A lot of people think Im only acting because of my dad, that I have not had to work as hard to be seen or recognized in the industry.

'So I think because of that it makes me want to work twice as hard to prove to everyone that Im not just doing this because its easy to do. Im not just doing it because it runs in the family.'

As far as how she feels about growing up in both Paris and Hollywood, Depp said it has allowed her an interesting perspective.

'Theres something more personable in Europe than there is here,' she began.

'In the States, theres more of a facade that I see people putting on. For me, the French culture is richer. Its also easy to prefer Europe given the present state of things. I would have been nicer to America a year ago. The way politics is going, its hard for me to sit down and point out all the things that I love about America.'

Depp began her acting career with a cameo role in Tusk alongside her friend Harley Quinn Smith, her father, and the film's director Kevin Smith.
Their feud in the house was often explosive, with blazing rows and nasty comments from both parties.

So since Celebrity Big Brother ended, Jemma Lucy is naturally keen to relax as she headed for a holiday in Spain on Thursday yet her in-house nemesis Sarah Harding was reportedly having a wholly less chilled time since their departure.

The 35-year-old Girls Aloud star is reportedly facing financial strife, as The Sun state that the star made a loss of 40,000 on her talent management company in just one year - leading to claims she headed to the house because she 'needed the money'.

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Chilled out: Celebrity Big Brother ended, Jemma Lucy is naturally keen to relax as she headed for a holiday in Spain on Thursday yet her in-house nemesis Sarah Harding was reportedly having a wholly less chilled time since their departure

Jemma and Sarah had a particularly fractious stint in the house when they were seen locked in an array of furious rows, with the inked-up model insisting Sarah was undeserving of being crowned winner.

After the stresses of the house, Jemma appeared ready to relax as she jetted to Spain for some fun and frolics in the ocean.

Beaming, the stunning star was showing off her surgically-enhanced frame in all its glory thanks to the scanty nature of the two-piece - complete with tiny bottoms and a barely-there triangle top.

She scraped her raven tresses into a high bun atop her head with tendrils falling around her face while sporting heavy make-up despite being by the beach.

Upsetting: The 35-year-old Girls Aloud star is reportedly facing financial strife, as The Sun state that the star made a loss of 40,000 on her talent management company in just one year - leading to claims she headed to the house because she 'needed the money'

Chilled out at last: After the stresses of the house, Jemma appeared ready to relax as she jetted to Spain for some fun and frolics in the ocean

Back on home shores, things are said to be less sunny for Sarah as The Sun report that the star's talent company Underdog Management Limited made a huge loss of 39,120 between 2015 and 2016.

It has been claimed that the star 'needed the money from CBB' after she was injured and lost out on The Jump when she pulled a ligament in her leg and could not compete in the show.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Sarah for comment.

Ed Sheeran's cousin Jethro, who uses the moniker Alonestar, was reported to have enjoyed a fling with Sarah and he has since spoken out about the her finances.

Speaking to Now magazine, Jethro said: 'She needed the money. She broke her leg on the last show, so she was in physiotherapy for that and lost out on work.'

Kiss, kiss: Jemma and Sarah had a particularly fractious stint in the house when they were seen locked in an array of furious rows and despite healing the rift, the inked-up model went on to insist she was undeserving of being crowned winner (pictured in a rare moment of harmony)

Despite this, Sarah does not actually scoop the 50,000 prize fund from her win as the show instead donates the money to a charity of her choice.

During their stint on the show, Sarah and Jemma were frequently at loggerheads and afterwards the Ex On The Beach star hit out at the songstress.

She told BBBOTS host Rylan: 'Sarah was just a negative person. I saw that and didn't want to be around it. You know, she'd have a headache and I'd say: 'Take a pill and do something else'. But she wouldn't, she'd sit around and moan about it all day."

On her rival's win, she said: 'Personally, I think Sam should have won. I think he was the most genuine person in the house, along with a lot of other people. I think Sarah... to be honest, no, I don't think she deserves to win, I just think she's got a lot of fans.'
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He's a Hollywood heavyweight who recently welcomed the birth of twins.

And George Clooney, 56, had the happy glow of a new father as he made a handsome appearance alongside co-star Julianne Moore at a photocall to promote new flick Suburbicon at the 74th annual Venice Film Festival on Friday.

The star looked classically handsome as he rocked a fitted navy blue suit, teamed with an ivory open-necked shirt for the glittering appearance at the Hotel Excelsior.

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Wow factor: George Clooney, 56, had the happy glow of a new father as he made a handsome appearance alongside co-star Julianne Moore at a photocall to promote new flick Suburbicon at the 74th annual Venice Film Festival on Friday

A-list: The star looked classically handsome as he rocked a fitted navy blue suit, teamed with an ivory open-necked shirt for the glittering appearance at the Hotel Excelsior

Like a true A-lister he hid his eyes behind aviator sunglasses as he wrapped a friendly arm around his co-star.

Stunning Oscar winner Julianne,56, wowed in a flirty ebony minidress, with featured a semi sheer neckline and a feathered hem, with a lacy scalloped hem as she posed up with her pal.

Her flame red locks were worn sleek and straight, parted in the middle and she accentuated her pretty features with a light dusting of make-up.

Glamorous: Stunning Oscar winner Julianne,56, wowed in a flirty ebony minidress, with featured a semi sheer neckline and a feathered hem, with a lacy scalloped hem as she posed up with her pal

Hello! Making a truly A-list arrival, and in the spirit of the city, the stars jetted into the photocall via luxury boat with George giving a cheery wave as he arrived

European chic: The stars cracked a relaxed smile as they chatted aboard their luxury vessel

Dapper: George looked like a true silver fox as he made a polished appearance at the polished festival

Making waves: George admired the idyllic scenery as the co-stars sailed into the photocall

Good to be back: The new father looked truly content as he arrived to promote his newest flick which he stars in and directs alongside Matt Damon (right) who looked casual cool as he sailed in for a day of promotional duties

The Still Alice star added height with elegant ebony peep toe heels and slipped on a pair of Jackie Onassis style shades.

Making a truly A-list arrival, and in the spirit of the city, the stars jetted into the photocall via luxury boat with George giving a cheery wave as he arrived.

Suburbicon, which also stars Matt Damon, is a crime-comedy film about a peaceful suburban community which hides a dark criminal underbelly.

George once again teamed up with the Coen Brothers and also serves as director on the film, due to be released on October 27.

Paradise: Both stars looked focused as they set sail in the Floating City and stared into the distance

Distinguished: George was the epitome of cool as he strode through Venice in his tailored suit

Making waves: The new father looked polished and relaxed as he sashayed through

Round of applause: The suave star clapped his hands as he prepared to make his grand entrance

Press pack: The star cracked a smile as he mugged for the cameras

Looking good: The star looked like he was posing up for an ad campaign as he arrived by boat

Smile: George looked pretty pleased to be in Italy as he sailed to shore

Chic: Julianne wowed in an all-white outfit and elegant panama hat as she boarded a water taxi the day before

Natural beauty: The star looked polished and confident as she appeared to go make-up free

Handsome: The star showed off his hunky physique in a slate grey striped t-shirt which he paired with navy jeans and black and white sneakers

Hollywood royalty: Susan Sarandon, 70, looked stunning as she donned a leather jacket and Baker Boy cap for her arrival into the festival

Yacht a life: The Dead Man Walking Oscar winner looked glowing and radiant as she arrived by boat

Bourne Identity star Matt, 46, was also seen in the Floating City as he rocked a casually-clad ensemble as he arrived at Lido Beach.

The star showed off his hunky physique in a slate grey striped t-shirt which he paired with navy jeans and black and white sneakers.

He gave a casual wave to fans as he slipped on a pair of shades for his day of promotional duties.

Continuing the wave of moviestars setting sail for Venice, Susan Sarandon, 70, looked stunning as she donned a leather jacket and Baker Boy cap for her arrival into the festival.

Basking: The Stepmom actress cracked a relaxed smile as she soaked up the sun on her water taxi

Glamourpuss: Susan looked like a bombshell as she donned statement sunglasses for her arrival

Toned: The star looked leggy and lithe as she disembarked and waved at her legions of fans

Leggy lady: Chloe Sevigny, 42, was also seen looking pretty in pink for her appearance promoting new drama Lean On Pete

Leading lights: The Boys Don't Cry star also cracked a relaxed smile as she posed up with co-star Charlie Plummer

Laugh out loud: The two actor shared a laugh together as they posed up ahead of the film's premiere

Proud: Chloe shot a friendly look at her dapper co-star as the pair basked in the spotlight

Chloe Sevigny, 42, was also seen looking pretty in pink for her appearance promoting new drama Lean On Pete.

The Oscar nominated star, showed off her toned pins in a thigh-skimming gingham playsuit, which she teamed with bow detail kitten heels.

Her tousled blonde locks were worn in soft waves and she added a further pop of colour with coral lipstick.

The Boys Don't Cry star also cracked a relaxed smile as she posed up with co-star Charlie Plummer.

Here he is: Vince Vaughn, 47, was also seen sailing into the Hotel Excelsior as he made a stylish entrance into the festival

Revered actor: The Hacksaw Ridge actor looked dapper in a navy t-shirt and chocolate jacket as he waved to fans

Vince Vaughn, 47, was also seen sailing into the Hotel Excelsior as he made a stylish entrance into the festival.

The Hacksaw Ridge actor looked dapper in a navy t-shirt and chocolate jacket as he waved to fans.

The day before George and wife Amal made their first appearance in the picturesque Italian city following the birth of twins Ella and Alexander in June, and they were elegantly dressed as they exited the upmarket Hotel Cipriani ahead of a romantic boat ride.

Sporting a sophisticated off-the-shoulder evening dress with spotted embellishments, Amal, 39, continued to show off her impressive post-baby physique while making her way towards a waiting water taxi.

Night out:The day before George and wife Amal made their first appearance in the picturesque Italian city following the birth of twins Ella and Alexander in June, and they were elegantly dressed as they exited the upmarket Hotel Cipriani ahead of a romantic boat ride

Splashing out: The couple took a romantic boat ride in the picturesque Italian city, where George is promoting new movie Suburbicon

The human rights lawyer added to her look with a pair of conventional black stiletto heels, while vivid red lipstick gave an otherwise subdued wardrobe an added splash of colour.

Joining his wife, George, 56, looked appropriately dapper in a grey two-piece suit and matching open neck shirt as they prepared for their romantic evening.

Venturing onto the small boat that waited to whisk them across one of the citys winding waterways, George gallantly helped Amal, who gingerly followed behind her husband.

Here they come: The couple were making their first appearance in the picturesque Italian city following the birth of twins Ella and Alexander in June, and they were elegantly dressed as they exited the upmarket Hotel Cipriani

I've got you: Gallant George assisted his wife as they made their way onto a small boat

Hard to miss: Sporting a sophisticated off-the-shoulder evening dress with spotted embellishments, Amal continued to show off her impressive post-baby physique

The Berkshire based couple have enjoyed a life-changing two months following the birth of their children, with George recently admitting he never dreamed he'd be looking after two infants at his age.

He told Associated Press: 'Suddenly, you're responsible for other people, which is terrifying. She's like an Olympic athlete, she's doing so beautifully.'

'Right now my job is changing diapers and walking them around a little bit. I really didn't think at 56 that I would be the parent of twins.

Walk this way: Amal gingerly followed hr husband as they prepared for a boat ride on Thursday evening

Incoming: Amal readied herself from dry land after the small made their way across a Venetian waterway

My turn: An assistant was on hand to assist the lawyer as she alighted the boat moments later

Easy does it: Amal looked a little unsteady as she climbed from the small boat

Mindful: George watched from behind as his wife made her way onto dry land

That's it: The Hollywood star made sure Amal didn't lose her footing ahead of their night out

'Don't make plans. You always have to just enjoy the ride.'

Clooney is currently preparing for the October premiere of his new thriller Suburbicon which he is directing, which stars Julianne Moore, Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac.

'I just have to clean the barf off of my tux,' he joked. 'It used to be my barf but now it's the twins' barf. So it all works out.'

Clean shaven: The thick white beard George has been sporting of late was gone during his latest outing

Follow me: George led the way as they descended a flight of steps after leaving a nearby hotel

Striking: Amal's vivid red lipstick gave her subdued wardrobe an added splash of colour

Smart: Joining his wife, George looked appropriately dapper in a grey two-piece suit and matching open neck shirt as they prepared for their romantic evening

Genial: The Hollywood star greeted onlookers with a smile as he ventured out with Amal

Close: The couple linked arms as they made their way into a local Venice establishment

Suburbicon peers into the dark racial tensions of 1950s suburbia, which the actor believes is deeply relevant to Donald Trump's America.

'It's a pretty angry film. There's a lot of anger out there. I think that's reflected in the film. I found it interesting to talk about building walls and scapegoating minorities.

'I think that's always an interesting topic but particularly when I was hearing these conversations on the campaign trail.

'I thought: It's always good to look back and remember that nothing really is new and every time we're shocked, we forget that we've had this behavior time and time and time again.'

We're off: George one again led the way as they departed some time later

New parents: The Berkshire based couple have enjoyed a life-changing two months following the birth of their children, with George recently admitting he never dreamed he'd be looking after two infants at his age.

Nerves: 'Suddenly, you're responsible for other people, which is terrifying. She's like an Olympic athlete, she's doing so beautifully,' he told Associated Press

Busy man: Clooney is currently preparing for the October premiere of his new thriller Suburbicon which he is directing, which stars Julianne Moore, Matt Damon and Oscar Isaac

Exciting: 'It's a pretty angry film. There's a lot of anger out there. I think that's reflected in the film. I found it interesting to talk about building walls and scapegoating minorities,' he said of his new project

Reflecting on America's new leader, Clooney didn't hold back.

'It becomes increasingly clear how in over his head and incapable this man is of being president of the United States,' he said. 'The good news is that our other institutions  meaning press, finally, and judges and senators  have proven that the country works. There is a check and balance.'

George and Amal welcomed daughter Ella and son Alexander at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in June.

Gentleman George: The actor assisted Amal as they made their way home

Step by step: As always, the couple were flanked by minders and assistants during their latest outing

Upbeat: George was in high spirits following a night out in the city of his marriage to Amal

Confirming the news in an official statement, a spokesperson for the couple announced: 'This morning Amal and George welcomed Ella and Alexander Clooney into their lives. Ella, Alexander and Amal are all healthy, happy and doing fine.'

The announcement ended with the quip: 'George is sedated and should recover in a few days.'

George and Amal are believed to have paid up to 8,520 ($11,000) for a private suite in the Kensington Wing according to a Tuesday report from the Daily Mirror.

The couple met at a charity fundraiser in 2013 and married in September 2014 in Venice.

Away we go: The couple looked out at the stunning city as their water taxi glided across the water

Venice by night: The couple were transfixed by their surroundings while making their way bck to gtheir hotel on Thursday evening

Taxi for Clooney! The couple stood at the front of their boat as it navigated the choppy Venetian waterway

Proud parents: George and Amal welcomed daughter Ella and son Alexander at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Boy squad: The actor was accompanied by his minder for the short journey back to his hotel with glamorous wife Amal
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwean men have suffered in silence in the UK as they bleed under the cruel squeeze of their wives. The most painful thing is that nobody believes that a man can be violated by a woman or that a man can be a victim of domestic violence. It is very true that in focusing attention on the consequences women face from male-perpetrated violence; we missed a bigger issue, that the majority of victims of violence are men. Zimbabwean men have become slaves of their wives and they have nowhere to report.Men have been labelled because traditionally men used to commit more violent crimes than women. Around 85-90% of convicted murderers are men, a majority of the reported domestic abusers and pretty much all of those committing sexual attacks. However - and this is the part that gets overlooked - almost twice as many men than women are the victims of violence. Society has a great inclination towards women, and is prone to believe everything a woman says about the husband. Most women have become drama queens and when they report their men they describe the incident with such emotion that you wonder how she still has a life. The world gives lots of attention to protecting women against violence. the campaigns all over are tabulating that it's wrong to hit a woman to walking women home, very little seems to be being done to protect men, or to dissuade anyone from the idea that it's also wrong to hit a man. Is male life cheaper?the problem is that on arriving in the UK the women are the first to get a highly paying job. Most care jobs employers give preference to the woman before they even consider a man. So the economic tables tilt very fast and the woman becomes a bread winner. Generally men are lazy and they only do one job while women take any job on offer. This fattens the woman's purse while the man's purse is empty. The woman then throws her weight in the house and switches the roles.Most men are forced to cook wash plates and does the entire child care. If he says any word he is quickly reminded that he is on the wife's visa and that he can be sent home any time. if he dares lift a voice the women just dials 999 and the rest is history.Unlike Zimbabwe the police in England take no explanation from a man in a domestic violence. The Zimbabwean women can act; they call it water works, meaning playing with tears. They will scream in English and do all the poems of pain they have rehearsed. She will sit in a corner and will appear as if she has been thrown in a lion's den. She will be so dramatic and so exaggerating. Some will go to an extent of self-harming just to prove that they have been assaulted.the greatest weapon in the hand of the woman is the visa. If she came first and got the visa first then the man is a dependent of the wife under the family visa or any other dependants they might have applied for. For the couple to prove that the relationship is subsisting the man must stay with the woman for six years before they get indefinite. Those six years are called the years of horror.It takes long to realise that domestic violence is not exclusively male on female: the ONS statistics for 2011-12 show that while 1.2 million women experienced domestic violence, so too did 800,000 men. A 1994 University of Iowa paper by veteran criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz reported that over 40% of US spousal murders are perpetrated by women .Much female-perpetrated violence in the home goes unreported, for reasons of shame, perceived biases in the family courts, and the readiness of police to assume that the male will always be the aggressor. While none of this is to get away from the baseline fact that the committing of acts of physical domestic violence, including murder, is predominantly male, it's not nearly as one-sided as all that. Zimbabwean men have suffered a lot under their female counterparts. What makes this situation bad is that the close family tie which has kept marriages together does not exist in the UK. There are no aunties who sit you down and solve the issues.The Minority Families Advisory a charitable organisation based in the Midlands has reported that most African men have been assaulted by their women, and that they are ashamed to report or to come forward. the system is so anti men such that if a man is chased out of the house he is likely going to be removed from the UK because he is no longer supported by his wife on the visa. if it is a woman she will be given a visa under a domestic violence visa. The odds are against the men.Men suffer in every aspect. Outside the home, your chances of being attacked or killed are much higher if you're a man. in the house you are the wrong one even if you are right.Right across the spectrum from global conflicts to solitary depression, violence is committed chiefly against men. The male rate of suicide is three times that of women, and rising. Suicide in men in their forties and fifties has risen 40% in ten years. And here, at least, in the midst of the gloom, a small beachhead of understanding may be being established: the disintegration, vilification and ridicule of 'traditional' maleness is so pronounced in the Zimbabwean men in diaspora.John Tabvuma from London (I have put his name with his full consent) was accused of having s*xually abused his daughter of four. The wife was adamant that she saw everything and screamed. The police were called. John languished in remand prison for a year before he was acquitted. It transpired that they were divorcing and the woman had to scheme so that she will get the house and the child custody. it was only after the police remembered after a year that there was a CCtv in the House. This shows the extent some women go to elbow their men out of the house or to subdue them and keep them under control.Mr P Dhlamini a social worker said "I have been called to several hoses where there are complaints of abuse only to discover that there is domination fight. The other partner wants to be felt and has to use the abuse card"Women in England have used from physical torture of men to sexual and emotional torture. Most men have been starved by their women and told that I will report you of rape if you try to get it by force." some men are living in that starvation for a long time and they cannot go away as they rely on the woman for papers to stay.The police have always taken sides of women in any report. Unless the man is thoroughly beaten.The emphasis seems to remain on protecting women from harm, but men are afforded no such protection.The gender bias is never spoken of - but why?If society is not to keep assuming it's OK for men to get hurt and killed, it might be worth looking at the male body counts on display. Men have been on the sharp end of the sword. it is surely the saying my brother Richmore always say "shiri ya nhonga rekeni" loosely translated the bird has picked up catapult. Women are overwhelmed by the powers they now have in the UK and have no care for their marriages.When female stereotypes began to be dismantled, much of what was sloughed off was the outdated cultural assumptions. Although they had long behaved with subservience, as society required, women are not somehow biologically suited to subservience - this much we know. And if that is true, then perhaps men are not naturally predisposed to committing violence, much less to being condemned to suffer its effects.Is there a concern that recognising that men have these dual, divergent roles in violence - that they are victims as well as perpetrators - risks taking the focus off women? It doesn't have to, and indeed mustn't. But compassion is not a zero sum game.If we can start to understand that the ultimate distillation of male-on-male violence - male suicide - has causes that can be understood, and that some them are rooted in society's perpetuation of ideas of what men are, we can perhaps begin to imagine that other facets of male violence - perpetration and victimhood - might similarly be understood as cultural constructs that can be dismantled, rather than as forces of nature. When it comes to male violence, focussing the attention exclusively on women is not merely to misunderstand the problem, but to miss the opportunity to start fixing the problem. No-one will be gladder to put a stop to male violence than men.the result of this punishment men are getting in the UK is the high divorce rate, high promiscuity, high suicide and the stress levels are so high. Zimbabwe tops the African citizens in UK in the number of the dead being repatriated monthly. Most of these deaths are down to stress caused by these domestic issues.Most men have and are suffering from mental health due to these problems and the abrupt change of roles in the UK.it must be stated though that some men are the problems themselves, they do not want to help with any work in the house, they are busy boozing and womanising. Some men are worse than the women. The writer will discuss the men's follies in due course.VAZET2000@YAHOO.CO.UK
He first rose to fame on the first season of The Bachelorette Australia.

And on Friday, Sasha Mielczarek found himself playing babysitter to an infant.

Taking to Instagram Stories, the 32-year-old posted a picture of himself allowing a baby to press her lips against his bottle of beer.

Responsible babysitter? On Friday, Sasha Mielczarek shared a photo of himself with a baby sipping on his beer

'I think I'm doing this right?!' captioned Sasha across the picture.

Looking as though he was ready to attend a black tie event, Sasha was dapper in a black suit as he attended along with his Fit Tradie blog partner Chris Weir.

Sitting down on the grass with a beer, he held onto Chris' adorable six-month-old daughter Charlotte as she clenched the bottle and brought it to her face.

Partners in crime: Looking as though he was ready to attend a black tie event, Sasha was looking dapper in a black suit as he attended along with his Fit Tradie blog partner Chris Weir

Baby love? Sitting down on the grass with a beer, Sasha held onto Chris' adorable six-month-old daughter Charlotte as she clenched the bottle and brought it to her face

And it seems the former reality star may be getting a little clucky after he was spotted on a date last month with Nine News anchor Samantha Heathwood.

'Sam has always though he was really hot so was keen to give it a go,' reported the Daily Telegraph on Thursday.

However, Sasha's height seemed to be a setback for the TV journalist according to the publication's source.

New couple? It seems the former reality star may be getting a little clucky after he was spotted on a date last month with Nine News anchor Samantha Heathwood

Sophie and Sasha? It was also rumoured the unlucky-in-love star was set to return to Sophie Monk's season of The Bachelorette as an intruder

'Unfortunately, the night was not a great success, mainly because Sam though Sasha was quite short.'

It was also rumoured the unlucky-in-love star was set to return to Sophie Monk's season of The Bachelorette as an intruder.

This however has been deemed incorrect with Sasha's rep Georgia Harrop telling Daily Mail Australia the speculation was 'rubbish'.
Jessica Cunningham has spoken for the first time since her ex-partner's death.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, The Apprentice star, 30, discussed her grief after Alistair Eccles, 35, was found hanged in his home in Burnley on August 11.

The 30-year-old Celebrity Big Brother contestant - who shared three daughters with Alistair - wrote: 'The past three weeks have been incredibly upsetting, challenging and full of sadness.'

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Grieving: Jessica Cunningham has spoken for the first time since her ex-partner's death three weeks ago. The CBB star shared three daughters with Alistair Eccles

Alongside a picture of three red balloons floating in the sky, she continued: 'I want to thank the special souls that have brought light where there was darkness, helped my children to smile when there were only tears and helped them believe there is life after death.

'The strength and support from those closest to myself and my children has given me faith that they will lead as happy as can be and normal lives and that the hard choices Iv had to make have been the right decisions.

'I feel truly saddened about what has happened as there was so much to live for. [sic]'

Loss: Alistair Eccles, pictured, the ex boyfriend of Ms Cunningham, was found hanged in Burnley, Lancashire. Police say his death is not being treated as suspicious

Tribute: Taking to Instagram on Friday, The Apprentice star, 30, discussed her grief, writing: 'The past three weeks have been incredibly upsetting, challenging and full of sadness'

Jessica's sister recently said the star is 'devastated' over the death of her ex-partner and has taken their three children away to grieve.

Emma Deeks said she was supporting her sibling after the 'shock' of Alistair being found hanged.

Speaking to MailOnline, beautician Ms Deeks said the family were trying to 'absorb' what had happened.

'Devastated': Jessica's sister Emma Deeks (R) says the Apprentice star is 'devastated'

'Me and my sister are very close and I'm trying to support her through this,' she said. 'It's devastating for all our family.

'She's taken the kids away for a few days. They know what has happened and are heartbroken.'

The mother-of-two said her sister, who split from Mr Eccles in 2013, had been 'rebuilding her life' after starting a relationship with Alex Daw.

The couple, who have been dating since March, went public with their relationship in May with Miss Cunningham often posting pictures on social media of the pair.

Ms Deeks, 33 - who runs an online fashion business with Ms Cunningham - said she had no idea what had been troubling Mr Eccles, adding: 'We just don't know but my sister was rebuilding her life and was really happy and now this. It's so sad.'

Mr Eccles was found hanged last month and died later in hospital. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

A spokesman for Ms Cunningham, who also took part in Celebrity Big Brother last year, said: 'Despite their break up, Alistair was a really good father to their children.'

New man: Last month, Ms Cunningham posted this picture of herself and her daughters with Alex Daw, writing how he was helping her face the challenges of being a single parent

Mother: Ms Cunningham (pictured at events earlier this year) had three daughters with Mr Eccles. A spokesman said she is concentrating on supporting them

New man: The reality TV star has recently spoken of how happy she was to have found love again with new boyfriend Alex Daw (pictured together with her daughters)

The spokesman added: 'Jessica is politely asking for some privacy at this devastating time so that she can protect their three girls.'

The reality TV star has recently spoken of how happy she was to have found love again with new boyfriend Alex Daw.

Last month, Ms Cunningham posted a picture on Facebook of herself and her new partner with her daughters.

In the post, she wrote about the challenges she has faced as a single mother and how her new partner was helping her overcome them.

Speaking to MailOnline, beautician Ms Deeks (pictured) said the family were trying to 'absorb' what had happened

She wrote: 'This picture makes me feel so bloody happy. For all the single parents out there... DO NOT SETTLE.

'I always said the right person will come along at the right time and he did.

'Being a single mum can come with insecurities and questions such as 'am I good enough', 'will someone accept me and my children' 'will I be in the same situation again' - I had loads of questions, so I decided not to worry about finding love, but to work harder, be the best version of myself for my children and to give my all in every possible situation.

'Once I started to do that, magic happened, doors opened, opportunities came and the right person came at the right time.

'Whenever you feel scared for the future, feel grateful for whatever goodness you have in the present and concentrate on how to make things better. Know your worth.'

In a statement about Mr Eccles's death, a spokesman for Lancashire Police said: 'We were called shortly before 3am on August 11 following a report that a 35-year-old man had been taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital after he had been found hanging at an address in Burnley.

Family fun: Ms Cunningham, who describes herself as a 'mother of 3 maniacs' on Twitter, regularly posted pictures of herself and her daughters online

'He was sadly pronounced deceased at hospital. His death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be passed to the coroner.'

Friends posted tributes to him online, with one writing to his brother: 'There are no words! Just heartbreaking thoughts and prayers with yours n Alistair's friends family and loved ones tonight xx'

Another friend wrote to his family: 'So sorry to hear of your loss thinking of you all and his precious girls x'

Cute couple: The tragic news came just three months after the former Apprentice star announced she had found a new man, with whom she is now in a relationship

Claim to fame: Ms Cunningham has appeared on two of the UK's biggest TV shows, Celebrity Big Brother (left) and The Apprentice (right)

Mr Eccles and Ms Cunningham ran the Apprentice star's first fashion business Famous Frocks together before it went out of business in 2015.

Ms Cunningham went to school in Blackburn, Lancashire and lived in Colne and Burnley before founding a fashion firm in Sheffield.

She appeared on The Apprentice last year, but went out at the semi-final stage.

She previously spoke about the pressures of dating as a single mother and calls her daughters her 'three queens'.

She wasn't hired: Jessica (fourth from right dressed in green) rose to fame after appearing in the Apprentice with tycoon Sir Alan Sugar

Fashionista: Jessica was running a fashion firm at the time and went out of the show at the semi-final stage

Mr Eccles was previously found guilty of being part of a crime scam in 2013 and admitted money laundering, receiving a 15-month suspended jail sentence.

The publishing scam, which dated back to 2011, saw victims across Britain conned out of 740,000.

Ms Cunningham was said to have ended their relationship shortly after his conviction and went on to TV stardom and business success.
Christina Hendricks has been applauded for representing a different body type in Hollywood - but it hasn't always been that way.

The curvaceous actress - who is best known for her role as Joan Holloway in Mad Men - reveals her anger at being turned down for roles because of her shape in a new interview with The Times.

'I auditioned for things where I knew I killed the audition. I knew I did,' the 42-year-old said of her struggle to get hired before the hit AMC show.

'It's outrageous': Christina Hendricks has opened up about her struggle to get work before Mad Men because Hollywood didn't like her curvaceous figure

'It was like. "Oh, should I give you my sizes now, or...?" And they would call up and say, "We just don't think that a doctor would look like that".

'I would be embarrassed to even say that out loud.' Hendricks admitted.

The Drive star expressed her frustration at how little Hollywood has progressed and the fact it is still an issue.

'There should be a million different body types [on television].' she explained.

'There should be a million different body types [on television].' Hendricks, 42, explained. She is seen as Joan Holloway in the hit AMC show Mad Men

Turned down: The star said she would be told by casting directors things like 'We just don't think that a doctor would look like that'

'It's outrageous that there aren't. And it's outrageous that we're sitting here having this conversation and it's even a thing'

Hendricks shot to fame with her starring role in Mad Men which ran from 2007 to 2015.

But walking into the audition, she wasn't sure she'd get the role.

'I walk [into my audition] a little bit defeated. But I just put on my game face and did it. And I got this role. And ever since then I get all these, like, amazing strong-a**ed, powerful women.'

'It's outrageous that we're sitting here having this conversation and it's even a thing' the actress told The Times

In an interview last year with Weekend magazine, Hendricks said her figure should be celebrated.

'I was born with this figure,' she shrugged. 'And Im very proud of it. I think it should be celebrated, and I love fashion so I try to wear clothes that will make me look good.

'I don't actually think about showing it or not showing it  I just try to choose a beautiful dress that flatters me. I certainly dont not wear something because of my figure. Having said that, I hope Im known for other things too!'
Young Australian actor Andrew Creer says he's more than just a 'hot guy'.

Like Hugh Jackman, Andrew is a former Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts student and is heading to Hollywood.

The 24-year-old says he's much more than just a pretty face in an interview with The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on Saturday.

'My love for acting goes a bit deeper than just playing that sort of character,': Young Australian actor Andrew Creer says it's hard playing the hot guy, with the 24 year old claiming he's much more than just a pretty face

'My love for acting goes a bit deeper than just playing that sort of character,' he told the publication.

'It is more about how can you bring life to any character, rather than playing the hot guy.'

Yes, I did have my shirt off at one point. But even if it is playing the hot guy, acting is about bringing him to life in a unique way.'

Raised on a cattle farm in rural New South Wales, Andrew has been making waves lately, and has a starring role in the newest Australian coming of age film Rip Tide, starring alongside American Disney lead actress Debby Ryan.

Footsteps: Like Hugh Jackman, Andrew is a former Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts student and is heading to Hollywood

'It is more about how can you bring life to any character, rather than playing the hot guy.': Raised on a cattle farm in rural New South Wales, Andrew has been making waves lately

Star in the making: while the role in the film see's him play Debby's on-screen love interest Tom, Andrew believes the future has much more in store for him

Filmed in the Illawarra region of Shellharbour, Rip Tide tells the story of Cora (played by Debby), who moves to Australia after disappointing her parents when a damaging video of her goes viral on the web.

But while the role in the film see's him play Debby's on-screen love interest Tom, Andrew believes the future has much more in store for him.

Just like Hugh!: , Andrew is a former Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts student, and has currently made a bigger move to Hollywood to shoot the reboot of the Lethal Weapon films as a TV series.

Andrew has currently made a bigger move to Hollywood to shoot the reboot of the Lethal Weapon films as a TV series.

He will star alongside the likes of Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford.

'To get a job filming in LA is very rare these days because a lot is filmed in Vancouver and elsewhere, so it has all been a blessing.'

'That said, Id go anywhere for the work. It is very humbling being a part of this world.'
She's been marking her time at the 74th annual Venice Film Festival with an array of sensational sartorial looks.

And Kate Bosworth, 34, failed to disappoint once again as she flashed her long, lean legs in a yellow shift dress leaving the Excelsior hotel on Friday.

The gorgeous Art of More actress flattered her slender frame in the chic ensemble, and posed with fellow actress Zosia Mamet as she left the hotel.

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Lady in yellow: Kate Bosworth, 34, looked incredible as she flashed her long, lean legs in a yellow shift dress leaving the Excelsior hotel on Friday

Kate's frock featured a glittering embellishment fashioned into a bow at her chest, and she further elongated her legs with a pair of metallic pointed courts.

She kept the attention on her dress by styling her blonde locks into a sleek ponytail, and wore a dazzling pair of diamond drop earrings which complemented the glittering accents on her frock.

She sported minimal make up to make the most of her natural beauty, sweeping peach blusher on her cheeks to highlight her cheekbones and a slick of pink lipstick to emphasise her pout.

Pals: The gorgeous Art of More actress flattered her slender frame in the chic ensemble, and posed with fellow actress Zosia Mamet as she left the hotel

Mad Men's Zosia Mamet, 29, opted for a quirky look, wearing a nude shift dress decorated with black bow detailing at the collar.

She wore a trendy pair of kitschy heart sunglasses, and styled her auburn tresses into a plaited up do.

The pair appeared to be in high spirits as they giggled together and posed for photos with their arms around each other, in a display of their warm friendship.

Quirky: Mad Men's Zosia Mamet, 29, opted for a quirky look, wearing a nude shift dress decorated with black bow detailing at the collar

Leggy lady: Kate's frock featured a glittering embellishment fashioned into a bow at her chest, and she further elongated her legs with a pair of metallic pointed courts

Kate recently marked her fourth year of marriage to Michael Polish with an affectionate kiss as they arrived in Venice to promote their ongoing short film series Women's Tales.

Posing for photographers after making her way onto dry land, Kate looked appropriately glamorous in a cream minidress adorned with glittering floral embellishments.

With fringed shoulders providing a distinctive finishing touch, the outfit ensured she commanded attention, while glossy black heels with striking embellished heels rounded things off.

Chic: She kept the attention on her dress by styling her blonde locks into a sleek ponytail, and wore a dazzling pair of diamond drop earrings which complemented the glittering accents on her frock

Kate and Michael - who has a daughter Jasper, 19, from his previous marriage - met when he directed her in a cinematic adaptation of Jack Kerouacs 1962 novel Big Sur in 2011.

The couple tied the knot two years later in a romantic ceremony in Philipsburg, Montana, on August 31, 2013.

Speaking in an interview with British Marie Claire magazine in January 2015, Kate admitted she was cautious about rushing into a relationship with her director while they were filming on set in California.

Stunning: Kate recently marked her fourth year of marriage to Michael Polish with an affectionate kiss as they arrived in Venice to promote their ongoing short film series Women's Tales

She explained: 'There are so many people that hook up on movies, and you wonder if that's real, so we didn't go there.

'I think we were both experienced to know that if this was the real deal, we could wait to see what would happen.'

Having adopted a patient approach to her romance with the director, Kate admits it wasnt long before she discovered he was The One'.

She recalled: 'That's when it hit me, at about a million miles an hour  I almost fell off my chair.
Her HBO sci-fi series Westworld has won her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

But Thandie Newton looked worlds away from her raunchy brothel madam alter-ego as she dazzled in an elegant ensemble while grabbing a bite to eat at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood on Thursday.

The actress, 44, was every inch the vintage vixen as she slipped into a floral-patterned black and white midi-dress while strutting out of the vegan eatery.

Dolled up: Thandie Newton dazzled in an elegant ensemble while grabbing a bite to eat at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood on Thursday

The British star, who plays madam Maeve Millay in the series, wore the pretty floral number tied at the waist to showcase her slim figure.

Thandie soaked up the California sun as she walked the streets wearing towering lace-up heels trimmed with white polka-dots.

The actress wore her naturally curly tresses in a high bun, while flaunting a make-up free face.

Thandie added a pop of color by carrying a pastel yellow tote bag over her shoulder.

Au natural: The actress wore her naturally curly tresses in a high bun, while flaunting a beautiful make-up free face (pictured, right, in May)

Floral fancy: The Westworld star, 44, was every inch the vintage vixen as she slipped into a floral-patterned black and white midi-dress while strutting out of the vegan eatery

The British star plays a human-looking android on Westworld and told Variety how grateful she is for her show's recognition.

The HBO series has been nominated for 22 Emmys, including Thandie's Outstanding Supporting Actress nom.

She said: 'Goodness, it says that our peers are supportive of the work that weve been doing.

'To get that kind of validation is really special because its very hard these days to know what an audience is going to want, because theres so much available.'

Thandie added: 'It means a hell of a lot to be recognized in that way, a hell of a lot.'

HBO released an intriguing teaser for the show's second season at Comic-Con in July, revealing the fates of many characters in the wake of the program's explosive season one finale.

Walking on sunshine: Thandie soaked up the California sun as she walked the streets wearing towering lace-up heels trimmed with white polka-dots

Boho beauty: Thandie added a pop of color by carrying a pastel yellow tote bag

Thandie also revealed secrets about her character, saying: 'In Season 2, were going to see her going back into the world that she has abandoned, which felt to me like an incredibly courageous and ultimately rebellious choice.

'Particularly as Maeve was informed by Jeffrey Wrights Bernard character that everything that shes done, like escaping the park, was programmed.

'I found that deeply disturbing, and Maeve also found it violently disturbing, to feel like your mind is not your own, that these acts of defiance that were brave and rebelling against her oppressors were preordained. Its terrifying.'

As fan await the premier of Westworld season two, Thandie will be eagerly anticipating September 17 for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Thandie is up against Stranger Things actress, Millie Bobby Brown and This Is Us actress, Chrissy Metz, Orange Is The New Black's Uzo Aduba and The Handmaid's Tale stars Ann Dowd and Samira Wiley.

This year's Emmys host will be Stephen Colbert.

Wild west: The star's HBO sci-fi series Westworld has won her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress at the upcoming ceremony on September 17
She caused a stir after excitedly trying on a wedding dress and admitting she thinks about getting married 'all day every day'.

And Stacey Solomon was dropping heavy proposal hints once again on Friday, as she wore her favoured bridal gown during an appearance on Loose Women.

The former X Factor star, 27, didn't seem to scare off her boyfriend of two years Joe Swash though, as he was waiting outside the ITV studios to greet her.

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Here comes the bride? Stacey Solomon was dropping heavy proposal hints once again on Friday, as she wore her favoured bridal gown during an appearance on Loose Women

Stacey beamed as she twirled into the aisle in the dress before sitting comfortably on the panel in the ivory lace-edged gown.

She quipped after her entrance: 'I no longer need to get married! That was amazing.'

Discussing how she got sidetracked earlier this week into trying on wedding dresses, she admitted: 'I just couldn't help myself, I walked into the shop and I was like "I need to try those dresses on".

'I've always dreamed about getting married. If anything I was wishing why don't we have wedding dress parties. For people that just want to try the dress on!'

Awkward! The former X Factor star, 27, didn't seem to scare off her boyfriend of two years Joe Swash though, as he was waiting outside the ITV studios to greet her

Loving life: Stacey beamed as she twirled into the aisle in the dress before sitting comfortably on the panel in the ivory lace-edged gown

Anyone hear wedding bells? The presenter looked radiant in the embellished plunging dress

And it seems her fellow panellists Andrea McLean, Linda Robson and Saira Khan had caught the wedding bug too as they discussed the joys of wearing a wedding dress.

Perhaps aware that beau Joe was waiting outside the studios, Stacey later changed into a black silky dress and white trainers.

Her TV appearance comes after she tried on a head-turning wedding dress as she went frock-shopping ahead of the Pride Of Britain Awards.

Home time: Stacey Solomon was also seen leaving the ITV Studios after a busy day on Loose Women

Casual glamour: Stacey put on a very leggy display in a T-shirt style dress as Joe rocked a denim jacket

Taking to Instagram, the mother-of-two admitted she was supposed to be trying on gowns for the upcoming awards ceremony, but had been side-tracked by bridal dresses.

'I have come to Suzanne Neville for the Pride of Britain Awards and all I want to do is get married- OMG I want to get married so bad,' she gushed before showing off four of her dress options.

But she quickly changed out of the colourful array of frocks, and into a plunging white gown, the corset style bustier embellished with delicate silver mesh.

'I'm going to cry I was born to wear this dress,' she cried, before an assistant added a veil and tiara to her grand ensemble.

She's ready: It looks as though Stacey Solomon may be getting impatient, as she dropped the biggest hint yet for partner Joe Swash to propose

Hint, hint: The Apprentice star, 27, who has been with the ex Eastender, 35, for two years, tried on a head-turning wedding dress as she went frock-shopping ahead of the POB Awards

Catching a plush white bouquet she comforted herself with, 'It's going to me be next!'

And taking an array of videos as she twisted and twirled in the piece, she appeared defeated, admitting: 'I can't wear this to an awards ceremony so it was fun while it lasted.'

And her bridal rampage didn't end there, as she posted an edited version of her insta-story on her profile, writing: 'When you go to try on dresses for an event but you get carried away and start trying on wedding dresses.'

Oops! Taking to Instagram, the mother-of-two admitted she was supposed to be trying on gowns for the upcoming awards ceremony, but had been side-tracked by bridal dresses

Getting side-tracked: She quickly changed out of the colourful array of frocks, and into a plunging white gown, the corset style bustier embellished with delicate silver mesh

And clarifying any misunderstandings, she added somewhat irately: 'I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED, I haven't been proposed to, we aren't even thinking about it (well maybe I am a little bit, or a lot, or all day every day) so don't get carried away!

'I just couldn't resist. I say we should be allowed to wear these dresses for any event or casual brunches or just around the house! Oh my goodness I nearly cried when I had to take it off.

'So if anyone's ever feeling blue get yourself a little try on session it's literally made my day! Hahaha P.S I have made sure to tell Joe to stay off of social media because of some phone eating virus'.

'I'm going to cry I was born to wear this dress,' she cried, before an assistant added a veil and tiara to her grand ensemble

'I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED, I haven't been proposed to, we aren't even thinking about it (well maybe I am a little bit, or a lot, or all day every day) so don't get carried away! she said

Stacey often discusses her boyfriend on Loose Women- who she has been dating for almost two years.

Speaking to MailOnline back in June, the former X Factor star admitted the pair had started talked about marriage - proving their relationship to be going from strength to strength.

She said: 'We definitely do want to get married. We genuinely really care about each other and want our relationship to last.

'I just couldn't resist. I say we should be allowed to wear these dresses for any event or casual brunches or just around the house!' she joked

Keen: Stacey previously admitted her sons adore Joe, the Essex lass even admitted she was keen to have more kids in the future if she and the actor were to take the next step and marry

'I don't think theres a proper way - but we're just doing it the way that it gives us security and we want to make sure it's perfect before we rush into anything.'

She went on to confess that she and Joe are 'super boring' as a couple and live a very normal life, which she believes is the success to her happiness.

The Loose Women star said: 'I've never been so sensible in a relationship. Because we've both got kids and we both really like each other, we want it to be perfect and we don't want anything to mess it up.'

'We definitely do want to get married. We genuinely really care about each other and want our relationship to last, we're just doing it,' they said previously

Stacey is mother to two children from previous relationships: Zachary, nine, with Dean Cox, and Leighton, four, with Aaron Barnham while Joe shares a nine-year-old son Harry with his ex-fiancee Emma Sophocleous.

Gushing that her sons absolutely adore Joe, the Essex lass even admitted she was keen to have more children in the future if she and the actor were to take the next step and marry.

Explaining her desire for a busy household, she said: 'I'm one of seven extended family so when it comes to my step brothers and sisters, I do miss that, and I would love to have a huge family to look out for each other.'
Rating:

Last time we saw her, in the period drama Maudie, Sally Hawkins was playing a woman blighted by galloping arthritis. It was a gloomy film, but its humanity, and that of her character, shone from the slow, bright smile that Hawkins seems able to turn on in increments.

In Guillermo del Toros marvellous fantasy The Shape of Water, which is set in 1962 and which I predict will get a raft of awards (possibly starting here at the Venice Film Festival, where it had its premiere yesterday), shes at it again.

In Guillermo del Toros marvellous fantasy The Shape of Water, which is set in 1962 and which I predict will get a raft of awards, Sally Hawkins (pictured) is a mute yet sensual character

She plays Elisa, who has been mute since childhood, yet has a wonderfully articulate smile. Lots of things make Elisa happy. She loves the movies, loves copying dance steps from the television, and in a platonic way she loves her neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins), an ageing illustrator whose career, it is hinted, has been derailed by his homosexuality. Elisa herself is single, but del Toro leaves us in no doubt that she is a sensual, sexual being.

She works as a cleaner at a government facility in Baltimore, where one day a highly sensitive asset arrives to be housed. Half-man, half-fish, but wholly monstrous, it has been found in the Amazon basin where it was worshipped as a god, and dragged back to the US in the hope that its amphibious powers might be of some use in the raging Cold War.

It is chained up and kept in a water tank where a government agent called Strickland (Michael Shannon) treats it brutally. Indeed, it soon becomes clear that the real monster here is Strickland. He wants the asset to be slaughtered and cut open to reveal its anatomical secrets. But by now, Elisa has bonded with a creature who, like her, lacks the power of speech. She hatches a plan to steal the fish-man, unaware that there is a Soviet spy in the building, planning to do exactly the same thing.

Shock: She works as a cleaner at a government facility in Baltimore, where one day a highly sensitive asset arrives to be housed

Making friends? Half-man, half-fish, but wholly monstrous, it has been found in the Amazon basin where it was worshipped as a god, and dragged back to the US in the hope that its amphibious powers might be of some use in the raging Cold War

Del Toro very cleverly keeps all this racing along with the heart-pumping intensity of a Cold War thriller. His masterpiece is generally assumed to be the 2006 Spanish-language film Pan's Labyrinth, but for my money, this is every bit its equal. And while also keeping it moving as a thriller, he meticulously depicts the domestic lives of his characters. Anyone who saw the TV drama Mad Men, for instance, will see in Strickland, as he goes home each night to his loving, materialistic wife and two carefully-groomed children, more than a glimmer of Jon Hamms Don Draper.

None of this, however, unfolds at the expense of the storys wildly fantastical elements, stunningly shot by cinematographer Dan Laustsen who, as a Dane, might appreciate the Hans Christian Andersen flourishes. There are echoes of King Kong, too, and even more obviously, of Creature From The Black Lagoon. At first I wondered whether this strange, powerful creature might be a metaphor for the atomic bomb, but if anything it represents love. When Elisa does finally manage to spirit it out of Stricklands dastardly clutches, one of cinemas more unusual couplings ensues.

It is hard to over-state how good Hawkins is in this role. Speech is an actors most potent weapon, but she gives a masterclass in how you to move and charm an audience without it. Of course, she also gets superb support. Shannon, such a powerful performer, is as brilliant as ever. And Jenkins is terrific too, as is the always-reliable Octavia Spencer as Elisas trusted workmate, Zelda. But with Daniel Day-Lewis retired, maybe the next Brit to take the Academy Awards by storm will be Hawkins. For if ever I saw one, this is a performance deserving of an Oscar.

Winner: It is hard to over-state how good Hawkins is in this role. Speech is an actors most potent weapon, but she gives a masterclass in how you to move and charm an audience without it
Leah Remini walked away from the Church of Scientology with her family in 2013.

And the actress, 47, credits best friend Jennifer Lopez, 48, for helping her escape its clutches.

Now the star is calling out the organization for hypocrisy and breaking its own rules when it comes to who it allows its members to associate with, in an interview with People magazine.

Party time: Leah Rimini has hit out at the Church of Scientology for hypocrisy and breaking its own rules when it comes to high-profile members (pictured with Jennifer Lopez in July 2016)

Jennifer's father David Lopez is a 30-year follower of the church and he should have 'disconnected' with his famous daughter because she is not a Scientologist and she's friends with Leah, according to the King Of Queens star.

'The [practice] of Scientology says her father should be disconnecting from her because shes connected to me. And that hasnt happened,' Leah told the magazine.

And she maintains the Church elders aren't pushing for that to happen because of Jennifer's fame.

'Although I dont want that to happen to Jennifer or her family, it is Scientology,' she said. 'They do it to everybody else who is not a big name.'

Family ties: The actress, 47, (pictured with husband Angelo Pagan, 59, and daughter Sofia, 13, in 2012) quit the church with her family back in 2013

'Hypocrisy': Jennifer's father David Lopez (pictured) is a 30-year follower of the church and he should have 'disconnected' with his famous daughter, according to Remini

The actress left the controversial religion with husband Angelo Pagan, 59, daughter Sofia, 13, and mother Vicki.

She became disillusioned when she started to question disconnection and the actions of church leader David Miscavige.

Leah has since campaigned to help the 'survivors' of Scientology and to educate outsiders. Last year she launched her Emmy-nominated A&E docu-series Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath.

Cuddling up: Leah (pictured with Angelo in June 2015) has become an ardent campaigner helping survivors of the Church

Now in its second season, the show follows her as she shares fellow ex-Scientologists stories, including allegations of disconnection and abuse.

'I would like to be the face of resistance to abuse,' said Leah.

Scientology denied Leah's accusations in a long statement to People.

Part of it read: 'Her whole anti-Scientology shtick was scripted and choreographed by her, casting herself in her drama as the "victim" so she could cash in on her false narrative while savaging her friends and those who helped her most of her life.'

Leah is set to reunite with her The King Of Queens co-star Kevin James in Season 2 of Kevin Can Wait, returning September 25.
Kendall Jenner is finally seen addressing her Pepsi ad controversy in a preview for the new Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

It's been five months since the model was criticized for appearing in a commercial which was labeled racially 'tone-deaf' before it was pulled by the drinks maker.

'It feels like my life is over,' the 21 year-old is seen confiding in sister Kim Kardashian in a season 14 sneak peek of the E! show.

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'My life is over': Kendall Jenner reacts to the backlash over her Pepsi ad in a clip from the new season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Kim, 36, responds by giving it to her straight 'You made a mistake'.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last month, Kim revealed that while the catwalk queen kept her emotions private, she was devastated and 'at home crying' behind the scenes.

Kim explained in the interview, which celebrated 10 years of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on E!: 'We're not perfect, but you see these things in the media, like Kendall and her Pepsi ad, where I see her at home crying.'

'But in the media she looks another way because she's not addressing it.'

Tough time: Kendall is confiding in older sister Kim, 36, who responds by giving it to her straight, saying 'You made a mistake'

Public persona: 'We're not perfect, but you see these things in the media, like Kendall and her Pepsi ad, where I see her at home crying,' revealed Kim

It's been five months since the model was criticized for appearing in a commercial which was labeled racially 'tone-deaf' before it was pulled by the drinks maker

Hug it out... The close sisters are seen sharing a sweet embrace in a new trailer for the hit reality series

Kendall added: 'I'm the most private one. If there's a moment I don't want anyone to hear, I talk to myself or talk to someone in another room.'

Kim revealed she urged her younger sibling to speak out on the controversy or allow the emotional scenes to feature in the family's reality show.

She added: 'I'm just like, "This is wrong. You need to speak up". She [Kendall] was like, "I don't ever want to show that footage of me crying".

'She was trying to not make excuses or be dramatic, but that was what she was going through at the time.'

On with the show: The women are also seen on their Hollywood Reporter shoot in which they opened up about Kendall's struggle to be filmed when she was upset about the Pepsi backlash

In the same clip, Kourtney is seen being grilled about whether she'd have another baby with ex Scott Disick

Speaking up: Kim revealed she urged her younger sibling to speak out on the controversy or allow the emotional scenes to feature in the family's reality show

Referring to the moment, momager Kris Jenner, 61, concluded: 'There are moments when it's hard to leave something in because it's vulnerable and it exposes us to a deeper level of emotion, and sometimes that's hard to share.'

The Pepsi commercial was pulled within 24 hours of its launch in April, after being met with widespread condemnation.

Kendall is seen stopping a photoshoot when she notices a protest march making its way down the street and offers a police officer a can of Pepsi.

'MILFs gone wild!' Kim declares as the women enjoy a vacation in Mexico

Letting loose: The girls are seen jumping in the pool at their luxury Punta Mita resort

Vacation mode: Mom-ager Kris Jenner was seen making the most of her summer vacation during the show's trailer

A woman wearing a nose-ring and a traditional Muslim headscarf takes a photograph and everybody cheers.

The company pulled the commercial and issued a public apology to poster girl Kendall in the wake of the backlash.

The KUWTK sneak peek also shows the ladies having fun at a winery, and 'MILFs gone wild' in Mexico.

Kourtney also gets grilled on whether she wants to have more children with ex boyfriend Scott Disick.

Season 14 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians premieres Sunday October 1 on E!
Opinion / Letters

I did not even know who this Anne Nhira who purports self-righteousness is until her unjustified tirade against Zodwa Wabantu. At a personal level I may not even be interested in what Zodwa does but still respect her right to express her art and the right of those who like her.In Bulawayo the City of Kings (not and Queens as this nickname relates to its history and not gender equality), she received a rousing welcome which obviously feed into the obvious jealousy of this saintly Nhira.The jealousy is evident in the celebration which was as cynical as it was childish. Why would she go to town about it if it was not a personal agenda clothed as righteousness.However Babongile Sikhonjwa aptly demonstrated the hypocrisy behind the excitement. Limited by her talent she spent more than 10 years in South Africa hoping from production to production looking for a lucky break. She failed not because of her Zimbabwean roots but her lack of talent.She condescendingly refers to Zodwa as "this South African" taking jobs from Zimbabweans. The irony is lost to her that she was afforded opportunities in South Africa and for her to scream about employment over one South African coming for a week on a work permit is disingenuous given that South Africa is home to over 3 million undocumented Zimbabweans running away from the Zimbabwe ruins. I did not even know her but was shocked by her hatred and xenophobic tendencies.One wonders whether not wearing panties is worse than some of the unsavory things which we hear of. For now silence is golden. Her response appears to imply that she believes getting Zodwa banned is a major achievement. What a shame! Anyway thanks to Zodwa I now know her.An empty vessel. Just that the noise is irritating. The fact remains Zodwa came to Bulawayo and received a rousing welcome something that always brings out the worst in the people of Harare.Your faithfully,N. Sibanda
It's four years since her character Billie Reed jetted out of the fictional town of Salem, Illinois, for a plum job in Europe.

But Lisa Rinna confirmed her feisty alter-ego's return to classic soap Days Of Our Lives via her social media channels on Friday.

The actress and Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills cast member, 53, will reprise her role in episodes due to air in early 2018.

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She's back! Lisa Rinna confirmed her feisty alter-ego Billie Reed's return to classic soap Days Of Our Lives via her social media channels on Friday

Lisa has already begun filming her big comeback, but nothing else is known about her return to the NBC show just yet.

The star first joined Days Of Our Lives in 1992, and has since left and returned to the show several times.

She took a seven-year break between 1995 and 2002, was out for a year in 2003 and took another seven years off between 2005 and 2012.

Lisa - who raises daughters Delilah, 19, and Amelia, 16 with actor husband Harry Hamlin, 65 - last appeared on Days in 2013.

Returning to her roots: The actress, 53, first appeared as Billie Reed in 1992 and, after several breaks, was last seen on the soap in 2013 when she jetted off for a job in Europe

So romantic: Lisa also reposted a sexy snap from Rob Estes, 54, who was her love interest in Melrose Place, captioned: 'Throwing it back to the McBride days'

The actress didn't waste any time sharing the good news with her 1.1 million followers on Instagram, posting a teasing snap of herself from the shoulders up on Friday.

Lisa captioned it: 'Billie is Back! #daysofourlives' with an emoji of a heart and a kiss.

She also re-posted a sexy snap from Rob Estes, 54, who was her love interest in Melrose Place, captioned: 'Throwing it back to the McBride days.'

In 2015, Lisa didn't hold back while speaking about her co-star Robert Kelker-Kelly, who played Billie's love interest Bo Brady on the series, describing the pair as a 'very volatile combination'.

'I hated Robert Kelker-Kelly, hated him with a passion. He hated me with a passion," Lisa revealed in a video on Bravotv.com.

Reality star: Lisa has appeared in The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills alongside (L-R) Eileen Davidson, Kyle Richardson, Erika Girardi, Lisa Vanderpump and Dorit Kemsley

'We were a volatile combination, and it looked like love and sexual chemisty on camera, so that was some darn good acting right there.'

The actress-turned-reality star also compared her alter-ego to some of her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-stars.

Lisa joked: 'Billie Holiday Reed was a combination of Kim Richards, Brandi Glanville, myself, Kyle Richards, and a little smidge of Yolanda Foster.

'People seem to connect to Billie Reed. She was a, you know, really f***ed-up mess. She got herself into situations that were tricky and sticky and hard to get out of. Sound familiar?'

Days of Our Lives airs Monday to Friday on NBCs daytime line-up.
They are one of the most loved-up couples in Hollywood, having recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.

And Colin and Livia Firth dazzled as they opted for glamour to host the Chopard as partner for The Green Carpet Fashion Awards at Hotel Cipriani in Venice on Friday.

However, the pair's chic appearance was later met with an obstacle, as they hilariously battled to keep themselves dry against the elements later on in the evening.

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Gorgeous: Colin and Livia Firth dazzled as they opted for glamour to host the Chopard as partner for The Green Carpet Fashion Awards at Hotel Cipriani in Venice on Friday

Actor Colin Firth, 56, looked dapper as he sported a classic black tuxedo to the star-studded Franca Sozzani Award ceremony later on in the evening.

His beautiful wife Livia, 47, opted for a chic white midi dress with a green velvet belt to accentuate her tiny waist, and she elongated her pins with a pair of green strappy heels.

The pair enjoyed a comical moment where they struggled to shelter themselves from an onslaught of rain and blustery gales, seeking solace under an umbrella.

Whoops: However, the pair's chic appearance was later met with an obstacle, as they hilariously battled to keep themselves dry against the elements later on in the evening

Seeking solace: The pair enjoyed a comical moment where they struggled to shelter themselves from an onslaught of rain and blustery gales, seeking solace under an umbrella

They attempted to stop the wind from blowing their tresses out of their carefully coiffured styles by clutching their heads desperately, collapsing into a fit of giggles at the unfortunate weather.

Livia carried her belongings in a chic floral print clutch, and added glamour with a pair of diamond drop star shaped earrings.

At the Chopard party, Livia, who hosted the event, sported a demure beige midi dress which fell to her mid shin.

Glamorous: His beautiful wife Livia, 47, opted for a chic white midi dress with a green velvet belt to accentuate her tiny waist, and she elongated her pins with a pair of green strappy heels

She styled the number with a pair of strappy silver metallic sandals, and carried her belongings in a matching clutch bag.

The dress featured a strappy design, which exposed her decolletage, and complemented her bronzed complexion perfectly.

She worked her raven tresses back into a chic low chignon, and sported minimal make up to make the most of her stunning features.

Demure: At the Chopard party, Livia, who hosted the event, sported a demure beige midi dress which fell to her mid shin

Colin was at his sartorial best with a sharp grey suit, complete with a tailored jacket to flatter his broad frame.

He layered a crisp white shirt underneath the jacket, and added a pair of trendy square framed spectacles.

The Pride and Prejudice star applied to the Italian embassy in London for citizenship of the country earlier in May - reportedly in reaction to Britain voting to leave the EU.

Keeping dry: Actor Colin looked dapper as he sported a classic black tuxedo to the star-studded Franca Sozzani Award ceremony later on in the evening

A source told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare on Monday: Colin was horrified by Brexit and is worried about the consequences.'

It may come as no surprise to fans however, as his wife Livia, previously Giuggioli, was born in the capital city Rome.

While the couple live in Chiswick, West London with their two sons - Luca, 16, and Matteo, thirteen - they also have a holiday home in Umbria, where they spend plenty of time as a family.

All in jest: They attempted to stop the wind from blowing their tresses out of their carefully coiffured styles by clutching their heads desperately, collapsing into a fit of giggles at the unfortunate weather

Colin is also fluent in Italian, after learning the language in the early days of his relationship with Livia ahead of their wedding in 1997.

Firths spokesman confirmed to Shakespeare: Colin applied for dual citizenship (British and Italian) in order to have the same passports as his wife and children.

The actor has built himself a reputation as a true Englishman, thanks to his roles in Pride and Prejudice, The King's Speech, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Importance of Being Earnest.

He was also awarded a CBE for his contributions to drama in 2011, and was made a Freeman of the City of London the following year.

Good cause: Chopard first teamed up with their couple on their quest to create ethical and environmentally friendly jewellery, as Livia is the founder of sustainability consultancy Eco Age

Colin has been very open with his disappointment about Brexit, telling an Australian newspaper late last year: 'For me this is a disaster of unexpected proportions.

'Brexit does not have a single positive aspect. Many colleagues, including Emma Thompson, are, like me, enthusiastic Europeans, and we still cannot believe it.

Chopard first teamed up with their couple on their quest to create ethical and environmentally friendly jewellery, as Livia is the founder of sustainability consultancy Eco Age.

The brand had kicked off their campaign at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, after they launched the Green Carpet Collection - the first luxury jewellery range made with Fairmined gold and ethically sourced diamonds.
He was named star baker this week for his extraordinary BLT sandwich cake.

But it appears Great British Bake Off star Steven Carter-Bailey has had plenty of practice when it comes to illusion cakes.

The 34-year-old has been showing off a variety of creations he rustled up long before appearing on the hit amateur baking competition.

Carter-Baileys Instagram account features shots of various illusion cakes made by the marketing boss prior to his appearance on the show.

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It appears Great British Bake Off star Steven Carter-Bailey has had plenty of practice when it comes to illusion cakes

The 34-year-old has been showing off a variety of creations he rustled up long before appearing on the hit amateur baking competition. Above, Steve's edible Chanel handbag with gold clutch

They included a black and gold Chanel handbag, a plant pot and flowers, and a Minion  an animated childrens character.

Carter-Bailey was crowned the first star baker after creating his bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich cake in Tuesdays episode.

However, his obvious past experience in making illusion cakes has caused controversy for seemingly giving him an advantage over his rivals.

And his previous elaborate designs have helped to install Carter-Bailey as the early favourite to win, as users commented on the pictures with messages of support such as, Youre definitely the one to beat on Bake Off and Youre definitely a potential winner.

Carter-Baileys Instagram account features shots of various illusion cakes made by the marketing boss prior to his appearance on the show, including this Minion creation

The amateur baker from Watford is one of 12 contestants bidding to be crowned Bake Off champion in the first series since the programme moved from the BBC to Channel 4.

The first episode saw the bakers tasked with creating their own illusion cakes, a challenge billed as the hardest first showstopper.

Among the most impressive efforts were cakes made to look like a watermelon, a stack of pancakes and a bowl of noodles.

A representative for Channel 4 said: The different challenges each week test a huge range of skills over the series and were in place before the bakers' identities were known

In his first episode, Carter-Bailey said: My mum, Judi, has been such a massive influence on me.

Using the handle Sponge Cake Square Tin, the account is littered with images of high-quality bakes. The amateur baker from Watford is one of 12 contestants bidding to be crowned Bake Off champion in the first series since the programme moved from the BBC to Channel 4

When she had children, she wanted to provide a warm environment where the oven was always on. Toad in the hole, pies, cakes, she always had something on the go.

The opening episode on Tuesday gave Channel 4 its highest ratings in five years. However, it wasnt just a sweet success for the commercial channel  as last years opener on the BBC had 4.6million more viewers.

An average of 5.8million tuned in to watch Tuesdays episode of the eighth series, while 10.4million watched last years first episode on BBC1. Some decline had been considered inevitable, given that Channel 4 typically draws smaller audiences.

Carter-Bailey was crowned the first star baker after creating his bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich cake in Tuesdays episode

Millions shunned the new 75-minute programme, which had 17 minutes of adverts, and had two new presenters and had lost popular judge Mary Berry.

Each episode of The Great British Bake Off involves three challenges  a signature bake, a technical challenge, and a showstopper.

The signature bake is always something traditional, and involved each contestant making a fruit cake in the latest episode.

The technical challenge this week required each baker to make chocolate mini rolls. And then the showstopper was the illusion cake. The challenges were too much for IT manager Peter, 52, who was chosen as the first baker to leave the tent.

He had scored badly on the technical challenge when piping the wrong type of chocolate on his mini-rolls and was doomed after his decorative bread knife (made of sugar) broke during the showstopper round.
She's a highly sought after actress, fashion designer and mother.

And Reese Witherspoon mixed a little business with pleasure during a lunch meeting in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles on Friday afternoon.

Beating the city's sweltering summer heatwave, the Big Little Lies star, 41, showed off her all-American style ahead of the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend.

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Red hot! Reese Witherspoon mixed a little business with pleasure during a lunch meeting in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles on Friday afternoon

Temperatures reached the 100 degree marker in parts of Los Angeles throughout the week, but Reese kept her cool in a denim mini skirt that showed off her toned legs.

The Sweet Home Alabama actress teamed her short skirt with a bright red blouse with large ruffled cap sleeves, while adding height to her petite 5ft1in frame with a pair of beige espadrille wedges.

Reese's short blonde hair was worn parted to the side as she carried leftovers from lunch in one hand while saying goodbye to an unknown male friend.

Always on brand, the Draper James designer carried the red and blue Quilted Denim Vanderbilt Tote from her collection over her shoulder.

Blonde ambition: Beating the city's sweltering summer heatwave, the Big Little Lies star, 41, showed off her all-American style ahead of the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend

Leggy lady: Temperatures reached the 100 degree marker in parts of Los Angeles throughout the week, but Reese kept her cool in a denim mini skirt that showed off her toned legs

The mother-of-three accessorized with a golden pendant and dark over-sized sunglasses.

The Legally Blonde actress shared the red carpet with daughter Ava, 17, during the premiere of her latest film Home Again on Tuesday evening.

Reese is also mother to son Deacon, 13, with former husband and actor Ryan Phillippe, 42, and son Tennessee, four, with her talent agent husband Jim Toth, 47.

It has just been announced that Reese will appear on the sixth and final season of Hulu's The Mindy Project.

Summer in the city: The Sweet Home Alabama actress teamed her short skirt with a bright red blouse, while adding height to her petite 5ft1in frame with a pair of beige espadrille wedges

Mindy Kaling shared a photo from the set with she and Reese trapped in a cave.

She wrote along with the pic: 'Our special guest star on #themindyproject is the only woman I want to be stuck in a cave with.'

'Looks like this is becoming our thing!', Reese wrote back, giving a nod to their upcoming movie, 2018's A Wrinkle In Time which also stars Oprah and Chris Pine.

On Tuesday, Reese shared her excitement with a picture of her script on Twitter, writing: 'Is it possible to have too much fun on set? Exciting cave-dwelling things to come with @mindykaling and #TheMindyProject!'

Twinning: The Legally Blonde actress shared the red carpet with daughter Ava, 17, during the premiere of her latest film Home Again on Tuesday evening

Reese was previously referenced on The Mindy Project in 2014, with Kaling's celebrity-obsessed character having a Wreath Witherspoon Christmas decoration.

Upon learning that Mindy's fans were copying the idea from Mindy's show - Reese re-posted an image of the variations, writing: 'Love it!!!!'.

The mother-of-three is gearing up for awards season, her hit HBO show Big Little Lies has eight nominations at the Emmy Awards, which will take place on September 17.

Big Little Lies was meant to be a stand-alone series but due to it's popularity, the possibility of a second installment is being explored.

Sneak preview: It has just been announced that Reese will appear on the sixth and final season of Hulu's The Mindy Project
It's the culmination of a whirlwind romance.

Law & Order: SVU star Stephanie March got married Friday to businessman Dan Benton at their Katonah, New York home.

The 43-year-old actress and 58-year-old tech executive had family and friends on hand as they exchanged vows, according to People, with a pal playing the theme from Star Wars on a piano as Stephanie's processional song.

Like the Sound Of Music! Law And Order: SVU's Stephanie March shared a photo from wedding to Dan Benton

Stunning: Photographer Melanie Dunea captured this lovely image

'Both Stephanie and Dans families love Star Wars,' an insider told the publication of the reason behind the choice in tune at the nuptials, which came just more than two years after March's divorce from celebrity chef Bobby Flay was finalized following 10 years of marriage.

The intimate ceremony Friday occurred about five weeks after the pair got engaged on a Greek getaway July 24.

Marchs friend Rebecca Perkins described Friday's festivities as 'an absolutely picture-perfect ceremony.

'Ive never seen Stephanie as happy or as beautiful as she was today,' Perkins told the magazine of the affair. 'She and Dan were surrounded by a close knit group of people who love, support and adore them.'

She can't let go: The actress held on to her new husband who was dashing in a dark suit

Happy duo: They wed at their Katonah, New York home. The couple was seen in July during the Greek vacation they got engaged on

Fashionista: The actress looked elegant at former co-star Mariska Hargitay's gala in NYC in May

Perkins, who founded New York City's Rouge Makeup Salons with March, revealed how the star's inner circle handled many of the traditional duties on the day.

'Stephanies family friend designed the magnificent floral arrangements, I did her makeup, and her best friend played her grandmothers piano as Stephanie walked down the aisle,' she said.

March wore a white Dolce & Gabbana gown with touches of blue hydrangea print, the insider told People.

Beaming: March looked lovely in May as she attended Planned Parenthood's 100th anniversary gala in NYC

On Sunday March gave credits for those involved with putting on her wedding: 'To @mahsakazemifar for feeding us, @tomborgese for flowering us, to @karynstarr for our dresses (and joy), to @revlisazaro for doing the deed, to @jjlee3 for buying & learning the sheet music to #StarWars, to @melaniedunea for capturing the moments, to @rougesalons & @perkins_rebecca for putting a good face on it.

'To Claire for stage managing, and Patty, Anna, Steve, and Mike for turning on the engine and making it run...there aren't words. Thank you, thank you, thank you. #ittakesavillage #weddingwarriors.'

March and Benton, who founded Andor Capital, first crossed paths in October of 2015 by way of a mutual acquaintance who acted as matchmaker. A source told the magazine that 'they met for cocktails at the West Village bar Orient Express and had dinner afterwards.'

On a subsequent occasion, the duo attended a TED Talk and 'talked for four hours' afterwards, the source said, explaining the strong dynamic between the partners in their relationship.

The source said: 'Dan adores her and supports her. He was by her side when she was received the 2016 Board of Governors Award from the World of Children, a nonprofit devoted to improving the lives of children.'
He is perhaps best known for playing intergalactic traveller James T. Kirk in the Star Trek series.

But Chris Pine, 37, is trading his space suit for chain mail armour, as he films scenes for his new role in upcoming Netflix drama Outlaw King.

Riding on horseback, the hunk looked miles apart from his polished Hollywood image as he traversed the grounds outside Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh on Friday.

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Swapping out: Chris Pine, 37, is trading his space suit for chain mail armour, as he films scenes for his new role in upcoming Netflix drama Outlaw King

Chris sported grey in his beard and unkempt hair as he rode his horse across the beautiful setting of the Highlands.

Shetland actor James Cosmo was also present during filming, wearing full grey chain mail armour which suggested that the cast and crew were filming battle scenes.

Based on the real life historical tale of Robert the Bruce - the warrior King of Scots - on set pictures show filming in Linlithgow, Scotland.

Far cry: Riding on horseback, the hunk looked miles apart from his polished Hollywood image as he traversed the grounds outside Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh on Friday

Rugged: Chris sported grey in his beard and unkempt hair as he rode his horse across the beautiful setting of the Highlands

Battle scenes: Shetland actor James Cosmo was also present during filming, wearing full grey chain mail armour which suggested that the cast and crew were filming battle scenes

Exciting: Based on the real life historical tale of Robert the Bruce - the warrior King of Scots - on set pictures show filming in Linlithgow, Scotland

Chris stars as the king, alongside Monarch of the Glen actor Alastair MacKenzie, and the Netflix film hopes to fill the void after popular HBO series Game Of Thrones finally comes to an end.

Alastair, who played Archie MacDonald on the popular Scottish BBC drama, was spotted riding in on a black steed draped in a black robe surround by his fellow soldiers this week.

Clad in rudimentary battle gear, the Scots were famously grizzled warriors fighting clan and clan against the English invaders.

Impressive: Billy Howle, 27, plays the role of Prince of Wales

Tense scenes: Actors prepared to film tense battle scenes with bows and arrows

Historical landmark: Extras and film crew took over the castle to film scenes

Anticipation: Female cast members including Florence Pugh, 21, (R) prepared to film their scenes in the stunning setting of the Highlands

Robert lived from 1274 until 1329 and the film will cover wars with the English, pacts with the Irish, raids of the North and the conflict with King Edward II.

Set in the bitterly cold Scottish highlands, the film tells the story of King Robert who battled against the King of England facing devastating odds.

He is famous for the legend of his encounter with a spider, having been defeated six times on the battle field by the English and forced into retreat.

Action! Florence took direction from cast members as she surveyed the field dressed in a white cloak

Period drama: Florence sported a long blue tunic underneath her cape

Warriors: Clad in rudimentary battle gear, the Scots were famously grizzled warriors fighting clan and clan against the English invaders

Hiding in a cave and close to giving up his quest for freedom from English rule, the king watched a spider attempt to spin its web across the mouth of the cave failing six times.

When the spider, on the seventh attempt, succeeded in its attempts, Robert took heart and resolved to battle on.

The Netflix film will feature the seventh battle where the English king is finally pushed back into his own country.

Drama: Robert lived from 1274 until 1329 and the film will cover wars with the English, pacts with the Irish, raids of the North and the conflict with King Edward II

Incredible: Set in the bitterly cold Scottish highlands, the film tells the story of King Robert who battled against the King of England facing devastating odds
Jeremy Clarkson's attempts to bring his high-octane motoring show home to Chipping Norton have backfired.

Locals have branded plans to locate The Grand Tours iconic tent on the Great Tew estate in Oxfordshire in the autumn as totally inappropriate.

Clarksons TV company, Chump Productions, has faced calls for the project to be blocked because it is detrimental to the community.

Jeremy Clarkson's attempts to bring his high-octane motoring show home to Chipping Norton have backfired

His furious neighbours say the traffic created by the 80-strong film crew and 350 guests invited to each days filming could cause a fatal accident for the walkers, cyclists and horse-riders who use the country lanes around Great Tew. They also fear that filming the 35.8 million Amazon Prime show will create excessive noise.

Neighbour Frederick Hill wrote in one of the eight objection letters sent to West Oxfordshire Council this week: This is a totally inappropriate use of a rural countryside estate location. People should not have to sacrifice their rural lifestyle in West Oxfordshire so that big business can make more money.

Another neighbour, Michael Holland, wrote: The Ledwell Road is already overloaded. When will [the council] recognise that this cannot continue, when one of the many local riders on horseback is killed?

Locals have branded plans to locate The Grand Tours iconic tent on the Great Tew estate in Oxfordshire in the autumn as totally inappropriate

The Great Tew estate, owned by Old Etonian Nicholas Johnston, has been dubbed the hippest 4,000 acres outside London by Tatler, and is home to celebrity haunt Soho Farmhouse.

But locals are revolting against the hordes of wealthy Londoners staying in the hotels 350-per-night faux-rustic huts. They complain the influx of Chelsea tractors has turned the country lanes into a Soho racetrack, and that Clarksons temporary film set will aggravate the already significant traffic problems.

One wrote this week: The development of the Great Tew estate has gone from a rural idyll to an outpost of metropolitan London.

Kate and Jade's big cover up

Is Kate Moss feeling her age? After a long summer of revelry, the 43-year-old ditched her bikini for a one-piece in Ibiza this week.

The Croydon-born model joined Sir Mick Jaggers 45-year-old daughter, Jade, whose Spanish villa has become a fashionable holiday hangout.

Describing themselves as Primal Scream groupies in this snap she shared online, mother-of-three Jade matched Kate in a 214 Melissa Odabash swimsuit.

The Croydon-born model joined Sir Mick Jaggers 45-year-old daughter, Jade, whose Spanish villa has become a fashionable holiday hangout

Cindy's girl in homage to model Mum

Cindy Crawfords lookalike daughter Kaia is following in her footsteps, having secured modelling contracts for Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu while still at school.

But has her wish to emulate her mother gone too far?

The striking brunette went for dinner with her parents at Nobu in Malibu ahead of her 16th birthday tomorrow, in a hoodie emblazoned with a photo of her mother  topless.

Cindy Crawfords lookalike daughter Kaia went for dinner with her parents at Nobu in Malibu ahead of her 16th birthday tomorrow, in a hoodie emblazoned with a photo of her mother  topless

I dont even want to be in a photo next to her because shes incredible, Kaia has said.

She has no problem wearing a picture of her though.

Benet Brandreth, only son of Gyles, has stabbed himself  not in a bid to escape his fathers shadow, but while playing Hamlet at the Park Theatre in North London.

All the other parts in this family drama are played by Brandreth senior or by Benets American wife, Kosha Engler.

The dagger I use has a blunt end so I didnt do too much damage, says Benet, a barrister, who skewered his hand. The family has a talent for self-destruction. Gyles says his parents, Benets grandparents, were Anglo-Welsh  they burned down their own cottage.

All change at the top-drawer furniture company founded by David Linley, the 2nd Earl of Snowdon. I hear Linleys CEO, Paddy Byng, is off to start his own advisory business.

Linley poached Byng from Asprey less than three years ago, but he insists there are no hard feelings. He tells me: I wish Paddy every success in this next stage of his career.
She plays a murderous prostitute hell-bent on revenge in the Wild West in her latest film The Good Time Girls.

But Laura Dern looked worlds away from the role on Friday, as she stole the spotlight in a sartorially savvy ensemble at the 43rd Deauville American Film Festival in Deauville, France.

The 50-year-old Big Little Lies actress stunned in a chic ivory minidress boasting whimsical feather detailing in shades of blue and black at the opening ceremony - where she scooped an achievement award.

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Taking centre-stage: Laura Dern stole the spotlight in a sartorially savvy ensemble at the 43rd Deauville American Film Festival in Deauville, France

Laura, who is mother to two children - 16-year-old Ellery and 12-year-old Jaya - showed off her age-defying beauty in the quirky outfit.

Letting her statement dress do all the talking, the California actress rocked a pair of black barely there heels with diamond-encrusted accents.

Sweeping her golden locks into an elegant chignon, the Jurassic Park star framed her striking features with dewy make-up.

Looking good: The 50-year-old Big Little Lies actress stunned in a chic ivory minidress boasting whimsical feather detailing in shades of blue and black at the opening ceremony - where she scooped an achievement award

Eternally youthful: Laura, who is mother to two children - 16-year-old Ellery and 12-year-old Jaya - showed off her age-defying beauty in the quirky outfit

Having a whale of a time: The actress appeared to be in great spirits as she beamed on the red carpet

Between her roles in the new series of Twin Peaks, Big Little Lies and her upcoming turn in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Laura is in the midst of a serious career high.

But her latest released role might be her toughest yet and sees the 50-year-old mother-of-two taking on the role of a vicious prostitute living in the wild west who sets out to exact murderous revenge on a group of men who have wronged her.

In the short film The Good Time Girls, Laura plays Clementine, who has a score to settle with a group of cowboys passing through town, calling on the help of some other women to set a violent and bloody trap for the villains.

Flawless: Sweeping her golden locks into an elegant chignon, the Jurassic Park star framed her striking features with dewy make-up

Letting her statement dress do all the talking: The California actress rocked a pair of black barely there heels with diamond-encrusted accents

Who, me? The mother-of-two looked baffled during her animated acceptance speech after being honoured for her movie roles

The film is the directorial debut of Courtney Hoffman, who is best known as a renowned costume designer, having worked on the likes of Quentin Tarantinos The Hateful Eight and Matt Ross Captain Fantastic.

Also starring in the film are Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development and Annalise Basso of Captain Fantastic.

At the start of the short clip, Clementine is heard describing her childhood, while she is seen shooting a rifle at an unknown victim who she is confidently striding towards.

Western chic: Laura Dern, 50, takes on the role of a murderous prostitute in the feminist Western The Good Time Girls

Vigilante vixens: The actress's character, Clementine, takes refuge at a brothel, where she lays a trap for a group of violent outlaws

Sweet Clementine: The manipulative woman lies in wait for her prey, who are quickly won over by her feminine charms

'I was born in a whorehouse,' she explains on the voiceover. 'Beds knocking walls was my lullaby.'

She then adds: 'Nothing comforts me more than the sound of men grunting and panting,' while her as-yet faceless victim can be heard moaning with pain in the background.

Taking final aim, she shoots her rifle at the man, as he screams 'no' - before the scene cuts to a flashback from earlier that same day.

Brazen beauty: After killing his fellow gang members, Clementine and her accomplices take out Rufus in a brutal and bloody way

Tall, dark and mysterious: The prostitute and her accomplices get a visit from four members of the Rufus Black gang, led by a vicious lead of the same name
He's the Iraqi-born comedian and actor who is set to star in the new romantic comedy Ali's Wedding.

And Osamah Sami, who wrote the film in which he plays the son of a Muslim cleric, has lashed out at One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, calling her a d**khead.

Speaking to The Fix, the 34-year-old said while he was dismayed by a recent spike in anti-Muslim sentiment, illustrated by Pauline's recent burqa stunt in Parliament, it was something that had been going on for 'decades'.

Strong words: Actor Osamah Sami, who wrote the upcoming film Ali's Wedding in which he plays the son of a Muslim cleric, has lashed out at One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, calling her a d**khead.

'Pauline Hanson has been a d**khead for as long as she's been Pauline Hanson,' he said. 'And I remember when John Howard was prime minister, he said, 'We will decide who comes to this country.'

'And Tony Abbot said something about Jesus not helping everybody, so that's been going on for decades as far as we're concerned.'

Osamah added that Australia's Muslim population had myriad things to offer the country culturally.

Old news: Speaking to The Fix , the 34-year-old said while he was dismayed by a recent spike in anti-Muslim sentiment, illustrated by Pauline's recent burqa stunt in Parliament, it was something that had been going on for 'decades'

'It affects us, but it doesn't determine our destiny,' he said.'We write our own stories. We are part of the Australian narrative - the Pauline Hansons of the world don't believe we are, but we are and we have been for a very long time.'

The film, Ali's Wedding, which Osamah also wrote, follow's the titular character who tries to please his cleric father by lying about getting into medical school and agreeing to an arranged marriage he doesn't want.

Osamah, who told the publication that he hoped the film would give non Muslim Australians an insight into the culture, added that being able to see Muslim stories on the big screen helps foster a sense of inclusion.

Anger: 'Pauline Hanson has been a d**khead for as long as she's been Pauline Hanson,' he said. 'And I remember when John Howard was prime minister, he said, 'We will decide who comes to this country... so that's been going on for decades as far as we're concerned'

'It goes a long way to finding a sense of belonging,' he said. 'Because how can you assimilate when you don't see yourself represented? You can't because you feel like you don't belong.'

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2016, Osamah said he hoped the film would help blaze a trail for other minority groups to tell their stories cinematically.

'It's history making, the first Muslim rom-com, so it's hopefully going to pave the way for many other similar stories,' he said.

'Not just from the Muslim community but from other communities and minorities as well.'
US President Donald Trump participates in a tax reform kickoff event at the Loren Cook Company in Springfield, Missouri, on August 30, 2017

President Donald Trump hit the road to sell reform of America's "self-destructive" tax code Wednesday, a major campaign pledge that remains short on detail and a long way from becoming law.

Trump visited Springfield, Missouri, hoping to pull voters and lawmakers behind what described as a "once in a generation" opportunity to remake the tax code.

Advocating a 15 percent corporate tax rate, and a slew of other reforms, Trump insisted "our self-destructive tax code cost millions of jobs, trillions of dollars, and billions of hours spent on compliance and paper work."

Trump has argued that ambitious reform of the tax code is needed to juice the economy further, and is counting on the Republican-controlled Congress to make that ambition reality.

The economy has been bright spot for Trump's troubled presidency, with unemployment rates falling and growth rates reaching their fastest clip in over two years.

Shortly before Marine One lifted off from the South Lawn of the White House, news came that economic growth had reached Trump's target of three percent in the second quarter.

Ivanka Trump (L) and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin participate in a tax reform kickoff event in Missouri, on August 30, 2017

"I happen to be one that thinks we can go much higher than three percent," Trump said, welcoming the news.

Trump argued that at 26,000 pages the US tax code was out of control, with complex deductions and nominal rates that made the United States uncompetitive.

"It disadvantages ordinary Americans who don't have an army of accountants, while benefiting deep-pocket special interests," he said.

"China and some others that are highly competitive and really doing very well against us," he added. "They are taking us, frankly, to the cleaners."

But he offered little detail of what he wants to change.

It was not clear, for example, whether the goal for 15 percent corporate tax rate was workable or would aim to reduce the nominal rate -- currently 39 percent -- or the actual rate that company's pay, which is closer to 19 percent.

The White House's stated goal is to adopt tax reform by the end of the year, but that's a tall task both technically and politically.

The US tax code has not been modified significantly since 1986, despite numerous efforts.

With most of his legislative agenda stalled and political pressure mounting, Trump took aim at Republican lawmakers, telling them to get tax reform done.

"I don't want to be disappointed by Congress. Do you understand me? Do you understand?" he said. "I think Congress is going to make a comeback. I hope so. I tell you what, the United States is counting on it."

Trump also trained fire at Democrats, crediting them with scuppering his efforts to undo Barack Obama's health care reforms.

US President Donald Trump (L) speaks with US Republican Senator from Missouri Roy Blunt as they depart the White House on August 30, 2017

"The Dems are looking to obstruct tax cuts and tax reform just like they obstructed so many other things, including administration appointments and health care," he said.

Missouri's democratic senator Claire McCaskill, who faces a reelection fight in 2018, was singled out for the Trump treatment.

"She must do this for you, and if she doesn't do it for you, you have to vote. Her. Out. Of. Office," he said.

Trump's problems may however be closer to home. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but there is hardly a consensus on tax reform, and talks on the issue is set to be arduous.

Trump may ultimately be forced to abandon broad reform in favor of more modest, and temporary, tax relief.

Even then he faces opposition from fiscal hawks inside the Republican party, who insist that any cuts must be paid for and not add to the roughly $350 billion deficit.
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Massive flooding unleashed by deadly monster storm Harvey left Houston -- the fourth-largest city in the United States -- isolated for days as its airports and highways shut down

Houston's two major airports reopened Wednesday on a limited basis, as floodwaters receded and the skies over the Texas city cleared with monster storm Harvey moving to the east.

The two airports, George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby, were to resume operations at 4 pm (2100 GMT), after the runways and roads leading to the airport were cleared of water.

No flights were imminent, but airport officials hoped airlines would quickly resume service.

"This is going to be a phased process," Houston airport system spokesman Bill Begley told AFP, adding that domestic flights would resume first.

"We're focusing on this weekend, probably when we're going to see more and more flights at both airports."

Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed due to Harvey.

About 800 passengers with connecting flights were stuck at the city's airports as Harvey made landfall over the weekend as a Category Four hurricane.

Starting Sunday, air carriers evacuated most of those passengers out of the airports to Dallas, Chicago or Detroit, where they could be connected to flights to their ultimate destinations.

Begley said fully reopening the airports was part of the city's effort to return to a sense of normalcy. It also signaled to airlines that "it's time to get started," he said.

"I do believe that it shows that we're moving forward a little bit."

Southwest Airlines announced that it planned to resume flights Saturday.
Rescue workers and residents were searching for survivors in the ruins of the building

At least 18 people died Thursday when a building collapsed in India's financial capital Mumbai following heavy rains that have wreaked havoc in many parts of South Asia.

A dozen others were pulled from the rubble of the four-storey residential building, which gave way around 8:40 am (0310 GMT) in the densely populated area of Bhendi Bazaar.

It was the most recent deadly housing collapse to strike the teeming metropolis -- shining a spotlight on poor construction standards in the Asian country -- and came after flooding in the city killed 10 people.

"Eighteen people have died. Another 12 have been admitted to hospital," Vijay Khabale-Patil, a spokesman for Mumbai's civic authority, told AFP.

Officials estimated that up to 40 people could have been caught up in the disaster. Khabale-Patil said rescue operations would go on into the evening.

Ambulances rushed the injured to the nearby J.J. Hospital in the south of the city while locals joined a 43-member National Disaster Response Force team in picking through piles of debris in a desperate hunt for survivors.

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Building collapses are common in Mumbai, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September, when heavy rains lash the western Indian city, weakening poorly built structures.

Severe downpours caused flooding and chaos across Mumbai and the neighbouring region of Thane on Tuesday although waters had receded by late Wednesday.

Bhendi Bazaar, a scruffy colonial-era market, is one of Mumbai's most historic districts and officials said the collapsed building was 117 years old.

It had been marked for demolition as part of a $600 million redevelopment project that is replacing hundreds of ramshackle, decades-old low-rise buildings with around a dozen glitzy new tower blocks.

- Living in fear -

The building had been marked for demolition as part of a redevelopment project

Distraught residents said they rushed to the scene of the collapsed structure after hearing a loud crash.

"There was a huge noise and we all came running," Naseem Mogradia, who lives two lanes away, told AFP.

Shahid Khan, 52, said he didn't know whether his friend and seven family members who lived on the ground floor were alive or dead.

"I am just trying to help with rescue operations," he told AFP.

Mumbai has been hit by several deadly building collapses in recent years, often caused by shoddy construction, poor quality materials or ageing buildings.

Millions are forced to live in cramped, ramshackle properties because of spiralling real estate prices and a lack of housing for the poor.

Activists say housing societies, private owners and builders often cut corners to save on costs.

Building collapses are common in Mumbai, especially during the monsoon season

Rent control acts mean landlords cannot afford to maintain buildings while poor people choose to remain in homes even after they have been declared unsafe because they have nowhere else to go.

"Most of the buildings in Bhendi Bazaar are old and dilapidated. We always live in fear that they will collapse during monsoons," 63-year-old Mohammed Shaikh told AFP.

In July, 17 people including a three-month-old baby died when a four-storey building gave way in the northern suburb of Ghatkopar.

In 2013, 60 people were killed when a residential block came crashing down in one of Mumbai's worst housing disasters.

On Thursday officials in Mumbai said the death toll from floods in and around the city were expected to rise above 10 as the waters receded.

"We are still on the lookout for more missing persons and the number may go up," Santosh Kadam, spokesman for disaster control in Thane, told AFP.

More than 1,200 have been killed India, Nepal and Bangladesh in devastating floods this monsoon season.
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The United States was the birthplace of electronic music from techno to house, but the genres had always found their true footing in Europe.

Times are changing. Electric Zoo, the three-day festival that opens Friday in New York, comes as promoters see a newfound appetite in the United States for European-style DJ culture.

Donning their brightest rave attire, more than 80,000 people are expected to converge for Electric Zoo on the city's Randall's Island. Headliners include chart-topping French producer DJ Snake, Canadian electro-house artist Deadmau5, and English trance act Above and Beyond.

With the festival in its ninth year and three-day passes sold out, Electric Zoo is no upstart phenomenon. But Electric Zoo has discovered a niche by going past the pop-driven party style -- generally referred to simply as electronic dance music, or EDM -- that has come to dominate US festivals.

Armin van Buuren, a godfather of the free-flowing trance genre, often DJs on vinyl

Armin van Buuren, a godfather of the free-flowing trance genre, said that tastes still differed across continents: Americans, for example, are much more in tune with the hip-hop subset of trap. But the gaps are narrowing, he said.

"I think, especially now with the internet, everything has become more and more global, with Spotify basically being a service without borders," Van Buuren, who plays Electric Zoo on Sunday, told AFP.

Van Buuren -- whose following is so large in his native Netherlands that in May he filled the 54,000-seat Amsterdam Arena for two nights -- said that festivals such as Electric Zoo have raised the standard for electronic music in the United States.

"Dance music was already huge in Europe at the end of the '90s, early 2000s. I think the US has now completely caught on," he said.

- Festivals, not clubs -

German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner will tour the United States later this year to promote his voluminous collection exploring techno's roots

German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner, a leading force in techno -- the fast, hard-driving form that was born in Detroit and reigns in clubs in northern Europe -- said that in North America, only Montreal had the same affinity as New York for underground electronic music.

"These are two cities that have so much European and international influence and the crowd takes it almost like in Europe. Which you can't say about other American cities, where it's much more difficult," Kalkbrenner told AFP.

Kalkbrenner, who later this year will tour the United States to promote his voluminous "Back to the Future" collection that explores techno's roots, said that the rest of the continent was too dominated by rock, rap or Americana genres to develop the same electronic scene.

Despite the artists' bond with New York audiences, the metropolis has one glaring difference from Europe: fewer nightclubs.

Faced with a changing tastes, not to mention skyrocketing rents, the number of New York clubs devoted to electronic music has dwindled to a handful in the past years.

Michael Julian, who oversees Electric Zoo's sales as the chief marketing officer of Made Event, nonetheless saw a bright future for electronic music in New York.

"The paradigm shift happened where kids today are a lot more interested in going somewhere where there is an experience -- a festival, or somewhere outdoors where they can see the sunset, or something in a cool industrial warehouse," he said.

"So the interests have changed, but the people are still there," he said.

- A short future for EDM? -

Culb brands heading to Electric Zoo include Barcelona's elrow, which plans a Bollywood theme with an aptly colorful stage, and Netherlands-based Awakenings which will run a techno-dominated stage that includes Kalkbrenner.

Maarten van Beusekom, an executive at Awakenings, said that techno always had a following in South America, but the growth in the United States has been especially striking.

"America has followed, but it's followed really fast," Van Beusekom said. "I wouldn't say it's mainstream but it's gone a little bit upward from the underground.

Kalkbrenner credits the EDM boom with turning fans on to more inventive, less pre-packaged forms of electronic music.

A firm believer in live mixing, Kalkbrenner suspected that EDM audiences will grow tired of pre-recorded sets as the US audience grows for electronic music.

"EDM needs something to happen; otherwise, I don't see it being there in another 10 years," he said.

"But electronic music itself, especially techno, is a worldwide phenomenon. I don't see it ending, ever!"
A Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jet is seen in 2014

Swedish defence giant Saab will tie up with India's Adani Group to bid for a lucrative multi-billion dollar deal to make fighter jets in the country, an industry source told AFP Thursday.

Saab and its US competitor Lockheed Martin have emerged as the frontrunners to supply single-engine combat planes to the world's largest defence importer which wants to revamp its Soviet-era military hardware.

Together with the Adani Group, Saab will bid to make about 100 single engine fighters, a contract worth nearly $15 billion, a person familiar with the deal told AFP.

"This has been in the works for the last several months," the source said.

A formal announcement of the tie-up is likely on Friday.

Saab's proposal comes amid a push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reduce India's reliance on expensive defence imports as it seeks to bolster its military in the face of China's growing clout in the region.

Modi's government has raised the limit on foreign investment in the defence sector and encouraged tie-ups between foreign and local companies under a 'Make in India' campaign where the Indian partner will remain the majority stakeholder.

India currently imports at least 90 percent of its defence equipment including parts for assembly.

On Thursday India reported a slump in economic growth to 5.7 percent for the first quarter of the current financial year, adding pressure on Modi's government as it tries to create jobs for the tens of thousands joining the work force every month.

Deals to build defence equipment in India would help boost job creation.

Europe's Airbus Group, angling to sell its Panther helicopters, has said that if it wins a contract worth several billion dollars spanning at least a decade, it would make India its global hub for the multi-purpose choppers. The company currently builds them at Marignane in France.

Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and France's Naval Group are also eager to compete for a contract of up to $10 billion to build submarines in the South Asian country.
The Texas National Guard helps rescue people from the floods in Orange, Texas as residents of the US Gulf Coast states of Texas and Louisiana struggle with recovery from floods unleashed by storm Harvey

One week after monster storm Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast, rescue workers on Friday were scouring storm-ravaged southeast Texas for victims trapped in their flooded homes, even as some towns finally found slight relief as waters receded.

Emergency workers were staging dramatic rescues by air and water in Texas towns that were until now cut off by raging floodwaters unleashed by Harvey, which finally began moving inland after crashing into the region as a Category Four hurricane last Friday.

Thousands of rescuers and civilians eager to help battled difficult conditions to reach victims of the unprecedented flooding.

"We felt we'd be alright. We were wrong," said Lonnie Givens, who refused to evacuate his one-story home in the town of Orange. Now, he and wife Missy have about four inches (10 centimeters) of water in the house and no power.

"We really got nowhere to go," Givens said.

His situation echoed those of many in Texas towns inundated by days of torrential rains, with highways still submerged and homes destroyed.

A hospital in the hard-hit town of Beaumont was forced to evacuate its patients -- nearly 200 people -- when the town's water supply went down.

Harvey has been blamed thus far for at least 38 deaths and tens of billions of dollars of damage. A lack of power also triggered twin blasts at a Texas chemical plant, but authorities said the danger was limited.

Flood damaged drywall is removed as residents begin the recovery process from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas

Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma had intensified into a Category 3 system, churning in open waters but heading straight toward the southern Caribbean, where it was forecast to reach early next week.

It was still too early to tell if the storm currently packing 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour winds would impact Florida or the Gulf of Mexico, but anxiety was running high in the aftermath of Harvey's pummeling.

Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert estimated 100,000 homes had been affected by flooding -- some with eight feet (2.4 meters) of water or more -- and said the White House would ask Congress for emergency funds.

- Trump pledges $1 million -

In Houston, America's fourth-largest city, some of the 2.3 million residents got relief as the raging waters receded.

Speaking from the coastal city of Corpus Christi US Vice President Mike Pence hailed rescuers and volunteers for their "compassion and concern."

Storm Harvey

"Every American should know that even in this difficult time and this disastrous storm, the very best are the people of Texas, and the very best are the people of America shining forth," he said.

President Donald Trump, who visited Texas earlier this week and vowed to donate $1 million for relief efforts Thursday, will return to the state on Saturday -- and may visit Louisiana, which has also seen serious flooding.

"He'll pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

In Beaumont, northwest of the coastal city of Port Arthur, the water system was down.

Brock Long, the head of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said his agency was working with the state and the military to open water distribution points for those affected.

Indeed, military trucks fanned out, loaded up with bottled water, military backpacks and personnel ready to help.

The breakdown of the water system forced the evacuation of nearly 200 patients from a Beaumont hospital, some by military helicopters.

"We've practiced this many times before," hospital spokeswoman Mary Poole said.

"We're trying to keep them as close as possible," she said of the evacuated patients. "Part of the healing process is to be with your family."

- 'Out of harm's way' -

Early Thursday, a pair of explosions rocked a flooded chemical plant in Crosby, a town of around 3,000 people some 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Houston, sending a plume of smoke into the air.

A US Coast Guard helicopter conducts search and rescue operations in the Houston area

Officials ordered residents living within 1.5 miles of the facility to evacuate amid concerns about the fumes emanating from the plant, which produces organic peroxides -- compounds that can combust if not cooled to the right temperature.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it was reviewing data from an aircraft that surveyed the scene and had no indication that dangerous amounts of toxic materials have been released.

"We believe along with the local authorities that we've moved everyone out of harm's way, and that no one is in danger," Richard Rennard, a senior executive for French plant owner Arkema, told a news conference.

Fifteen sheriff's deputies who responded to the fire were briefly hospitalized.

Crosby resident Lane Averett, 59, told AFP at a church shelter in the town that he was worried about the animals he had left behind.

"I got a dog and three cats, and a calf shut up in the trailer where they can't get no water or feed or nothing," Averett said.

- Up to $75 billion in damage -

In Louisiana, authorities scrambled to safeguard their state from Harvey, whose onslaught evoked painful memories of Hurricane Katrina's deadly strike 12 years ago -- but New Orleans escaped with minimal rain.

Emergency vehicles wait at a roadblock after a chemical plant operated by the Arkema Group had an explosion during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey

So far, parts of Texas have seen more than 50 inches (1.27 meters) of rain, while in Louisiana, the total neared 24 inches.

More than 30,000 people have found refuge in shelters across Texas, from the giant Houston convention center to small churches, according to FEMA.

In Houston, where Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a nighttime curfew to aid search efforts and thwart potential looting, the two major airports have reopened on a limited basis, signaling a slow return to normality.

In Texas, the storm damage is staggering -- Enki Research put its "best estimate" cost at between $48 billion and $75 billion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with residents of southern Tel Aviv during a tour of the area on August 31, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday visited a rundown Tel Aviv neighbourhood with a large African population and pledged to rid it of illegal immigrants.

His tour came after a supreme court decision on Monday ruled that the state cannot indefinitely detain illegal migrants who refuse to be deported to unnamed third countries.

"We will return south Tel Aviv to the citizens of Israel," he said on the televised trip.

"We are dealing with illegal infiltrators, not with refugees, but illegal infiltrators. And Israel's right is to safeguard its borders and to keep away illegal infiltrators," he said.

Tens of thousands of Africans -- mainly Eritrean and Sudanese -- have entered Israel in recent years, mainly by illegally crossing the desert border from neighbouring Egypt.

Some came for work and others for asylum from harsh regimes in their home countries.

Israel has granted refugee status to only a handful and has a long backlog of applicants.

With many unwilling or afraid to return to their homelands, Israel has reached secret agreements with other unnamed African states to take them in -- but these insist the migrants must agree to go.

According to local media, the Israeli authorities indefinitely detain the migrants if they refuse to leave.

The supreme court ruled this week that detention could not exceed two months.

A court transcript seen by AFP said: "It was decided unanimously that there is no obstacle in principle to removing infiltrators to a third country."

But "the infiltrators' lack of consent to be removed to a third country cannot be seen as refusal to cooperate with expulsion for which they can be detained for more than 60 days".
President Donald Trump travelled to Texas Tuesday for a briefing on the response to Hurricane Harvey

US President Donald Trump will donate $1 million to flood relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Harvey, the White House said Thursday.

"He'll pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

The White House did not say whether the money would come from Trump or his foundation.

During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump came under fire for repeatedly announcing charitable donations but not following through.

Sanders said Trump wanted suggestions from the White House press corps about how to spend the money.

Sanders also announced that Trump has tentative plans to visit "the Houston area" on Saturday as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana.

During a visit to Texas on Tuesday Trump had been unable to visit the flood zone because of difficult logistics and security concerns.
A British soldier patrols a street in the southern city of Basra, Iraq in September 2006

Britain will send a small contingent of expert troops to Iraq to help coalition forces drive out Islamic State jihadists, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said Thursday.

"We are stepping up our contribution to the fight against Daesh (IS) and fulfilling Britain's role as a key player in the global coalition," Fallon said in a statement.

"These extra troops will help support operations to bring the defeat of Daesh a step closer."

The 44 Royal Engineers are to be deployed for six months at the Al-Asad airbase in Anbar Province, in western Iraq, to build infrastructure including accommodation and offices.

This brings the number of British troops at the airbase to more than 300 and the total in Iraq to around 600.

The airbase also houses hundreds of US advisers as well as Iraqi and Danish troops.

Anbar, a sprawling desert province that borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, has long been an insurgent stronghold, and IS already controlled parts of it when it swept through Iraq in 2014 to take control of roughly a third of the country.

Pro-government forces have since retaken most towns and cities in Anbar, but the jihadists still hold several areas along the border with Syria.

Earlier Thursday, Iraq declared that its forces had retaken the northern city of Tal Afar and the surrounding region of Nineveh, in another victory against the jihadist group.

IS now controls barely 10 percent of the country, according to the US-led international coalition ranged against the jihadists.
Day laborers harvest chives at a field in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico's Baja California state, alongside the US border

The United States, Mexico and Canada dove into the details of revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement at a second round of talks Friday, amid threats from President Donald Trump to axe the deal.

After setting an ambitious "accelerated" calendar during the first round -- held in Washington last month -- negotiators got down to the nitty gritty of updating the 1,700-page deal as five days of closed-door talks opened at Mexico City's swank Hyatt Regency hotel.

There are 25 issues on the agenda for this round, each being discussed at a separate roundtable, including e-commerce, the environment, anti-corruption measures, investment and access to property markets.

The thorny issue of "rules of origin" is also on the list, the Mexican economy ministry said.

The United States is pushing to change these rules, including those governing the hotly debated auto sector. It wants to require a certain percentage of cars' components to be built in the US in order to remain duty-free.

Few details were expected to emerge from the discussions. All three countries have agreed to keep mum on specifics until the talks conclude after an estimated seven to nine rounds.

- Failure is an option -

Trump, who demanded the renegotiation, says NAFTA has been disastrous for US industry and jobs.

He doubled down on his anti-NAFTA rhetoric in the build-up to the second round, saying Mexico was "being difficult" and that the United States would "end up probably terminating" the deal.

Mexico, which sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, has dismissed such threats as posturing.

But it says it has a Plan B just in case, focused on diversifying its export destinations.

Trump himself has sent mixed signals about the deal.

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his anti-NAFTA rhetoric in the build-up to the second round talks, saying Mexico is 'being difficult'

On Thursday, he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on the phone and "stressed their hope to reach an agreement by the end of this year," according to the White House.

Most experts say NAFTA is likely to survive with modest changes -- though with Trump, nothing is certain, they warn.

However, the Republican president may ultimately have little room to maneuver, no matter how much he hates the $64 billion US trade deficit with Mexico: some 14 million US jobs depend on trade with Mexico and Canada, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.

"As long as discussions on the technical issues are moving forward, it's a good sign. We hope to separate the political issues from the technical issues," said Moises Kalach of Mexico's Business Coordinating Council.

- Symbol of globalization -

Instituted in 1994, NAFTA eliminated most tariffs across a region representing some 28 percent of the global economy.

To supporters, it has been instrumental in creating tightly integrated supply chains that ensured North America's competitiveness at a time of Asia's rise as an economic power.

To opponents, it is synonymous with the dirty word of globalization and the ills they say it has wrought -- the decline of US manufacturing might, to some; to others, multi-national corporations' drive for ever-cheaper workers and ever-lower labor standards.

Some 200 workers and activists protested outside Mexico's Congress Friday, condemning their government's "sell-out" to neoliberalism.

"We're here to tell them we've got our eye on them, because the bottom line on the past 23 years is not good," said protest organizer Enrique Fabela.

Canadian labor leader Jerry Diaz, head of private-sector union Unifor, urged Mexican workers to stand up for their rights.

"I don't buy the argument that the Mexican negotiators are making that somehow we have to keep our citizens living in poverty in order to get jobs. That's a nonsense argument," he said.

Protesters rally in front the Mexican congress on Tuesday as the second round of NAFTA talks kicked off in Mexico City

"In Canada and the United States, autoworkers can pay for the cars that they make. In Mexico they never can. That's wrong."

Mexico is facing pressure to overhaul its labor laws and deliver wage increases to factory workers who make an average $2.30 an hour, or about one-tenth the average US factory wage.

The US trade balance with Canada is more even, but that relationship also has points of tension in some sectors, including dairy products, wine and grains.
Many of those living in shanty towns around the world have no address, meaning they cannot receive mail, or even have a pizza delivered -- but a UK-developed, grid-based mapping system has come to the rescue

From fostering innovation in one of the world's harshest environments to novel ways to repel mosquitoes and map the world, here are some highlights from the TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

- Seeds of a Somali tech scene -

Somali scientist Abdigani Diriye believes that at some point, his country needs to do more than devote all its resources to fighting piracy, Al-Shabaab and famine.

"We also need to plan long term," he told AFP on the sidelines of the international version of the prestigious TED conference, devoted to "ideas worth spreading".

So about six years ago, he returned from the UK, where his family fled civil war in 1989, to his home in Somaliland to create the country's first start-up incubators and accelerators.

He had already seen interesting products and ideas mushrooming out of a system broken by decades of conflict.

It was not easy, his organisation has had to work with universities and government to make start-ups "cool" and convince people it is a viable career option.

"We hand-pick the most exciting and promising innovators and start-ups and provide them with training, investment and mentoring," he said. So far they have trained more than 25 start-ups.

One of his favourites is Muraadso, a start-up which struggled to establish an online shopping system before realising that Somali customers wanted to see and feel what they were buying as in a real life market.

So they set up an online-offline business model and now have half a dozen stores employing about a dozen people.

Diriye realises tech won't solve all of Somalia's problems, "but it is a great vehicle to address many other challenges" such as healthcare, unemployment and education.

Others have since followed in his footsteps such as the iRise innovation hub which lanched in June in Mogadishu.

- Meet you at 'prices.slippery.traps' -

When you look at a map of a Brazilian favela, or township in South Africa, you may see a few streets and a lot of empty space, whereas a satellite image shows an area packed with homes and shops.

Like billions around the world, these are people living without an address, meaning they cannot get post, an ambulance or even have a pizza delivered.

In 2013 Chris Sheldrick of UK-based company What3Words developed a new system of mapping the world by dividing it into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and giving each of these squares a three word address which will be the same today or in 10 years.

So instead of complex co-ordinates, you could merely find someone at "prices.slippery.traps" -- a specific spot around the Eiffel Tower.

Sheldrick said postal services in Mongolia, Djibouti, Nigeria and Ivory Coast have adopted the system while the UN uses it in disaster areas.

In recent months the British embassies in Yaounde, Cameroon as well as Mongolia have adopted their own three word addresses.

And in the Caribbean, Domino's pizza is using it to finally find their customers before their dinner grows cold.

- Mosquito-repellent sandals -

At 'Mosquito city', as Tanzanian scientist Fredros Okumu affectionately calls his lab -- the world's biggest mosquito farm -- he and his team at the Ifakara health Institute are working on new ways to repel and eliminate the carriers of malaria, dengue and Zika.

Through a rare study of the mating habits of mosquitoes they discovered that male mosquitoes gather in swarms in the exact same location, at the same time, year in and year out to wait for females. They are currently working to map these breeding spots using volunteer villagers so they can identify and destroy the swarms.

While mosquitoes are the deadliest and most studied animal, the best line of defence is still bed nets and insecticides -- to which resistance is growing.

Okumu and his team have developed a repellent that can be worn in trendy "mosquito-repellent sandals" or placed under chairs, that can protect several people in the immediate area and last for up to six months.

This is currently being tested in Tanzania and Brazil, he told AFP.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's largest, failed to adequately monitor billions of dollars in global transactions, a report claims, potentially falling foul of international regulators as it battles similar allegations at home

Australia's biggest bank failed to adequately monitor billions of dollars in global transactions, a report claimed Friday, potentially falling foul of international regulators as it battles similar allegations at home.

Commonwealth Bank is already facing a civil case by Australia's financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC for alleged "serious and systemic non-compliance" of anti-money laundering laws concerning thousands of transactions.

The new allegations suggest the embattled lender could also face scrutiny from international regulators over failing to monitor risk in transfers including in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, London and New York.

According to an internal bank review obtained by Sky News Australia, the company had non-existent or minimal transaction monitoring across almost two-thirds of its institutional banking markets arm.

The review was presented to senior executives in February, which the broadcaster said suggested CBA had known of its failings.

The bank was already in talks with financial regulators, including in Hong Kong and the United States, Sky News added.

Reacting to the report, the Commonwealth -- Australia's largest firm by market capitalisation -- said the review was a "working document" that had proposed technology changes including automating tasks which were currently done manually as part of a "Program of Action".

"The program includes investment in systems to enhance transition monitoring currently performed in Australia and offshore jurisdictions," CBA said in a statement.

"The Commonwealth Bank maintains proactive relationships with all relevant global regulators on these and other matters."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the latest allegations showed that "clearly the board and the management at CBA have some serious, serious work to do".

"There's no sugar coating this, this is a very serious issue and it goes to the heart, obviously, of the credibility of a very important financial institution in Australia," he told Sky News.

The AUSTRAC case has prompted other Australian regulators to launch inquiries into the bank over its handling of the alleged breaches and its organisational culture.

Shares in CBA were 0.86 percent lower at Aus$75.15 in mid-day trade in Sydney.
Richard Anderson, the actor best known for playing Oscar Goldman in the TV series 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and its spin-off 'The Bionic Woman,' has died aged 91

Richard Anderson, the actor best known for playing Oscar Goldman in the TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man" and its spin-off "The Bionic Woman," died on Thursday aged 91.

Anderson, who was born in New Jersey, passed away at his home in Beverly Hills, according to his spokesman Jonathan Taylor. His character Oscar Goldman ran a secret government spy agency in both shows, which ran simultaneously in the 1970s.

"The Six Million Dollar Man" starred Lee Majors as Steve Austin, an astronaut seriously injured in a crash. During each opening sequence, Goldman would intone: "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man."

With his fatherly demeanor, Anderson also took a number of small roles in several major series from the 1960s to the 1980s including "Perry Mason," "Murder, She Wrote," "Dynasty," "The Love Boat," and "The Fugitive."
Iraq's victory over the Islamic State group in Tal Afar was the latest in a string of gains against the jihadist group

Iraq's victory over the Islamic State group in Tal Afar was the latest in a string of gains against the jihadist group, but Iraqi forces still face massive challenges, experts say.

In 2014, as IS staged a rapid advance across northern Iraq, police and military personnel abandoned their posts to the jihadists with barely a fight.

That allowed the group to establish its "caliphate" across parts of Syria and a third of Iraq's territory including second city Mosul.

Today, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office three months after the 2014 military debacle, says the Iraqi state is back, stronger and better organised.

Under the Shiite premier's command and backed by a US-led multinational coalition, Iraqi forces have retaken Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and in July, after a gruelling nine-month battle, Mosul.

On Thursday, Abadi announced the recapture of the town of Tal Afar and surrounding areas, bringing the whole of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, under government control.

"Our battle plans are now being taught in military academies, including tactics for urban guerrilla warfare and demining," said interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan.

Andrew A. Croft, deputy commander of the US-led coalition, praised Iraqi forces for their achievements.

"The fight would have challenged almost any army in the world. The fact that the Iraqis could do it has given their security forces additional confidence," he told AFP.

"They have shown themselves to be capable to manoeuvre against IS in all locations in Iraq."

During the fight for Mosul, described by an American general in Baghdad as "the toughest urban battle since World War II", Iraqi troops suffered heavy losses.

But they have now forced IS out of all its Iraqi territories except the town of Hawija, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and a few pockets of territory near the border with Syria.

In doing so, they have repaired some of the damage done three years ago and regained "the confidence of their fellow citizens and internationally", said Jassem Hanoun, an Iraqi military expert.

- 'Not the end' -

Coalition officials say Iraqi-led decision-making and better sharing of intelligence between Baghdad and the US-led coalition have allowed for quicker, more targeted attacks.

But Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari warned on August 26 that "victory in Iraq will not mean an end to the danger posed by IS".

He said Iraq would continue its military cooperation with the coalition, saying it needed "preventive security" against "terrorist cells working in the shadows".

Hanoun said IS would likely go back to its "original mode of operation", attacking targets such as residential districts and markets.

But a lack of coordination and organisation means the security services struggle to cope with such attacks, he said.

The question of whether and how the coalition will continue to operate in Iraq is a hot political topic both for Baghdad and for Washington, which in 2011 finally withdrew its troops eight years after leading an invasion of the country.

Abadi's cooperation with the US poses a pressing dilemma: what will become of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition, key to the fight against IS but dominated by Shiite militias backed by Iran?

Most Shiite leaders call for the Hashed, currently under the command of the prime minister, to remain in its current form.

But paramilitary groups have played a problematic role in Iraqi politics as far back as the 1930s, according to Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, professor of international history at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

The Hashed "is only the most recent version of a national politico-security configuration that has been combined with a sectarian component since 2003", he said.

The Iraq specialist said the Hashed's existence was an "admission of the failure of an army trained by US administrations at great financial and material cost over 14 years".

Experts say alleged abuses both by government and Hashed fighters battling IS will complicate efforts to regain the confidence of Iraq's Sunni minority, marginalised and out of power since the 2003 fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.

On top of the sectarian question, Iraq faces another challenge to its national unity: a referendum on independence for its autonomous Kurdish region, set for September 25.

The US and coalition members are strongly opposed to the poll, saying it could distract from the fight against IS.

Baghdad is also set to hold provincial and parliamentary elections in spring 2018, posing a test for Abadi.

The premier has "made the success of the military campaign a selling point as a way to prove his 'reforms' are working", said Kirk Sowell, a political risk analyst and publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics.

But Abadi's campaign could suffer from low oil prices, which have hit the Iraqi state's coffers hard.

Sowell said that "as the election will not be held sooner than next April or May, by then the lousy economy could weigh more heavily on voters' minds" than this summer's military victories.

vl-pmh-ak-sbh/dv/par
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said security forces had killed the second-in-command of the Gulf Clan, the country's foremost drug gang

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday said security forces had killed the second-in-command of the Gulf Clan, the country's foremost drug gang.

Writing on Twitter, Santos added authorities would elaborate on the circumstances of the killing of Roberto Vargas Gutierrez, alias "Gavilan," who had been sought for a 500 million pesos ($170,000) reward.

The Gulf Clan, which accounts for some 70 percent of Colombia's cocaine production, was born from the remnants of an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group which fought rebels during the country's half-century civil conflict.

The paramilitaries were officially disbanded in 2006, but authorities say their members are still making money from drugs and violence.

Its leader, Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias Otoniel, is the most wanted man in the country. The US has placed a $5 million bounty on him.

Colombia is the world's leading coca leaf grower and also the biggest source of cocaine, producing 866 tons in 2016, according to the UN.
Stunned supporters of Kenya's opposition rushed onto the streets of Kibera slum and elsewhere across the capital Nairobi to celebrate the court's decision

Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new presidential election within 60 days, in a shock ruling cancelling the results of last month's poll over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of six judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Supporters of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga's wept and cheered, utterly stunned at what they saw as a historic ruling, after losses in successive polls they believe were rigged, from a judiciary long seen as compromised in favour of the ruling elite.

Odinga, 72, hailed the "historic" ruling which is a first in Africa.

"It is now clear that no one in Kenya is above the law," he said.

Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution".

Kenyatta, the first African president to have his re-election overturned by a court ruling, cheerfully took to the streets to address supporters saying he was ready to campaign again.

He slammed Maraga and his fellow judges as "crooks" as he spoke off the cuff, after earlier saying that while he disagreed with the ruling, he respected it.

- 'Kudos to the judges!' -

Kenya has a long history of disputed votes, election violence and a lack of faith in the judiciary's independence.

"It was a surprise because the trend in justice in Kenya is not good, but this time justice has been done," said 39-year-old accountancy student Donna Abongo.

"Kudos to the judges!"

Beaming broadly, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga waved at supporters as he left Nairobi's Supreme Court following the unprecedented decision to annul the election result

"For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen elections for so long," said fishmonger Lynette Akello in western Kisumu.

The run-up to the August 8 election was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and opposition allegations that rigging was certain.

Indeed Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) cried foul shortly after counting began, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

Raila Odinga

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.

- 'Irregularities and illegalities' -

It was the third time in a row that Odinga claimed he had been cheated out of victory at the polls, after his losses in 2007 and 2013.

However, the protests remained isolated and did not reach the levels of the disputed 2007 election which saw politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.

In 2013, Odinga took his grievances to court and lost.

This time he initially refused to take the case to court but changed his mind, saying NASA wanted the truth to come out even if they believed they had no hope of winning.

However, in a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court agreed with the opposition coalition.

Ahead of the ruling, Kenyan police set up barricades near the Supreme Court in Nairobi over fears the outcome could lead to a fresh wave of unrest

Maraga said there had been "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

He said this had compromised the "integrity of the entire presidential election".

The court's full ruling must be made available within 21 days.

- Election commission vows change -

Odinga said he no longer had faith in the current election commission and called for them to step down.

But IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati refused to resign, saying he had not been implicated in any wrongdoing personally, but vowed "internal changes to our personnel".

He called for those guilty of wrongdoing to be prosecuted.

NASA official and lawyer, James Orengo, had argued that irregularities -- including unsigned and fake tally forms, hacked servers and deliberate miscounting -- had affected around one-third of the 15.5 million votes cast.

But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote.

A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets -- known as form 34A -- as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

In addition, the registrar's report found that the electoral commission failed to provide full court-ordered access to its servers, which NASA had demanded in order to back up its allegations of hacking.
Ai Weiwei's documentary "Human Flow" was shot in 23 countries with a crew of 200 people

An impatient toddler chides his mother for not being quick enough in getting him into his pair of newly-acquired boots.

Finally they're on and he wriggles free to put the new footwear to good use: kicking his siblings and friends on the shins.

He might be a refugee, detained in a transit camp with the rest of his family, waiting to hear what the rest of his life might hold in store for him. But in that moment he is just an irrepressible little boy with new boots.

Ai Weiwei chuckles at the memory of the scene, one of many warmly humorous moments that he captured on film as part of "Human Flow", an epic 23-country documentary essay on the global refugee crisis which required a crew of 200 people to put together and has its international premiere at the Venice film festival on Friday.

It is the kind of humanising detail that the celebrated Chinese artist finds lacking in mainstream media coverage of the migration story that has dominated news agendas over recent years in much of the world.

"It is a challenge when you are making a film," Ai told AFP in Venice.

"You see daily news footage about the tragedies. But after you do some studies you realise that those footages are all the same. It is about shocking, it is about violence, it is about crisis.

"Our film is different. It is trying to give refugees a more historical (context), humanity and to relate to daily life: how a woman holds her child, how a child puts on his shoes, how a man is lighting a cigarette.

"All those details relate to everyone. You can understand they are human, even in these conditions that you cannot imagine."

- Lesbos to Gaza -

Ai Weiwei believes media coverage of the global refugee crisis lacks humanising detail

Journalism, he says, has for a long time been too keen to pursue stories around the most shocking images available. And when it comes to refugees, "it has not talked deeply about who they are and what the reason is for them being where they are".

Ai's film takes him on a journey from Lesbos, the Greek island that was at the frontline of Europe's migration crisis when the film was made in 2016, to Kenya's huge Dadaab refugee camp, via the slums of Gaza, the Afghan-Pakistan border area and the battlefields of Iraq, before ending up on the US-Mexico border that President Donald Trump has promised to turn into "a beautiful wall".

Ai has addressed the refugee issue in his work before, notably when he wrapped Berlin's Konzerthaus in thousands of orange life vests recovered from Lesbos and by using his own body to recreate an image of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose washed-up corpse provided one of the current crisis's defining images.

"I tried almost desperately to make a shout, to make my voice heard," Ai says of his previous work.

"But I realised that is not enough for myself to understand the topic. It is so broad and has such deep history, such complexity.

"So I decided to make a film: it is a journey to show how I learned and what, and to have the possibility to show other people."

Ai has produced several documentaries before but this is first attempt at making an essay in film on a global scale, with the final product merging text, often poetry, and still photography with the moving images.

"You don't watch this film, you experience it," says the executive producer, Andrew Cohen.

"It is not didactic or polemical -- it does not preach or take sides. Weiwei is not a fancy reporter with an inflated ego. He is a lifelong refugee himself with a down-to-earth approach that brings us directly in to the experience."

Ai, who has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, was held under house arrest without charge for three months in 2011 and banned from travelling outside China until 2015. He is now based in Berlin.
A Bangladeshi border guard orders Rohingya refugees to return to the Myanmar side of a small canal between the two countries

Mohammad Omar used to cross the border into Bangladesh to sell cigarettes but these days he has a different agenda -- restocking supplies for the fledgling Rohingya militia fighting Myanmar's security forces.

New recruits are being trained and armed in the hillsides across the border in Myanmar's Rakhine State, Omar told AFP, where a week of bloody conflict has left at least 110 confirmed dead and driven nearly 20,000 civilians into Bangladesh.

Omar, 20, said he was among more than 170 fighters from the Rohingya Muslim minority hiding at a jungle redoubt, from where they stage raids to seize guns from Myanmar security outposts.

"We did not have guns so we attacked them like a swarm of hornets shouting 'Allahu Akbar' wielding our sticks and machetes," Omar told AFP of one raid, using a pseudonym to protect his identity. "We outnumbered them 17 to one."

"Most of the soldiers got scared and ran for their lives. Then we grabbed their weapons and ammunition."

Myanmar violence

His account could not be independently verified by AFP, but offers an insight into the cat-and-mouse game between militants and security forces being played out in remote hamlets, fields and forest hideouts in Myanmar's westernmost Rakhine state.

Omar says he is a foot soldier with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which claims it was behind Friday's surprise attacks that killed 11 Myanmar officers and sparked the worst fighting seen in Rakhine in months.

After years in which the Rohingya largely avoided violence, ARSA emerged from the shadows last October when it staged coordinated, deadly attacks on police posts.

That prompted a months-long security crackdown by Myanmar's army which left scores dead and forced 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

The emergence of organised militancy proved a game-changer for Rakhine, a restive state beset by religious violence since 2012, analysts say.

Omar joined the group -- known locally as Harakah al-Yaqin -- in the aftermath of the October assault as Rohingya answered the rallying cry to take up arms and defend their villages.

A Myanmar border policeman mans a check point in a rural road near the Bangladesh border at Maungdaw

He stopped selling goods in Bangladesh but continued using his daily entry permit to stock up on dry food and other supplies to smuggle back to the militia.

The group is steered by Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia, and commanded in the field by experienced guerilla fighters, a report by the International Crisis Group states.

But beyond basic training with some Kalashnikov assault rifles and other firearms, Omar said newcomers had to make do with a meagre cache of basic weapons.

"We have machetes, knives, sticks and some land mines in our possession," Omar said, adding they received a little food from villages sympathetic to their cause.

The group posts images online of its fighters wielding heavy weapons, but Myanmar accuses them of cruder warfare.

- Farmers turned fighters -

The government has in recent days published photos purporting to show seizures of Rohingya militant weapons, including pipe bombs, knives and sticks, some uncovered in backyard pits.

Myanmar classes the militants as "Bengali terrorists" and has accused them of indiscriminate murder and torching both Rohingya homes and those of other communities.

Rohingya refugees head back to Myanmar as Bangladeshi border guards drive them away from Bangladeshi territory

Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other tribal groups were also among the dead after allegedly being targeted by the militants, an AFP reporter was told on a government-led trip to the state's worst-hit areas.

ARSA says it is fighting to protect the Rohingya from abuses by Myanmar security forces and the majority-Buddhist Rakhine community who they accuse of trying to push them out.

Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar as illegal immigrants and roughly one million have been denied citizenship.

The UN believes the army's response to the militant assaults in October may amount to ethnic cleansing, allegations denied by the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the army.

But some Rohingya accuse the rebels of provoking the army into revenge attacks and inviting nothing but misery upon the long-persecuted minority.

"These regular farmers-turned-fighters with few weapons will bring nothing but more woe to Rohingya Muslims," one prominent Rohingya leader, who requested anonymity, told AFP at a Bangladeshi camp.

No caption

The rag-tag unit has a real fight on its hands against Myanmar's well-equipped army, which has been offered military assistance from Bangladesh to root out rebels near the border.

But testimonies gathered by AFP from the displaced reaching Bangladesh suggest some Rohingya men are heeding a call-to-arms by the militants.

Families told AFP their sons and brothers had stayed back to fight or journeyed back across the border once their relatives were away from the violence.

Omar said 64 young Rohingya men had enlisted in his unit over a two-day period, walking from squalid camps in Bangladesh to join the fight.

"Now we are training them in our camp," said the young fighter clad in tracksuit bottoms, a polo shirt and sandals.

"Many men are arriving, and Al Yaqin is getting bigger day by day. Our independence is not very far."
A California Department of Motor Vehicles website on Thursday showed that the South Korean consumer technology giant's name had been added to a list of more than three dozen companies with permits to test self-driving cars in the state

Samsung Electronics has joined the self-driving car race in California with a permit from the state to test the technology on the home turf of Tesla, Google, and Apple.

A California Department of Motor Vehicles website on Thursday showed that the South Korean consumer technology giant's name had been added to a list of more than three dozen companies with permits to test self-driving cars in the state.

Names on the list included major car makers, Apple, Baidu, Tesla, and Waymo, which is owned by Google-parent Alphabet.

Samsung Electronics early this year got approval in South Korea to test the technology on roads in that country, according to media there.

Samsung Electronics last year announced a deal to buy US auto parts maker Harman International Industries for $8 billion in a bid to enter the growing market for automotive technology to produce "connected" cars.

Samsung described the deal as a chance to build a strong foundation in a self-driving car technology expected to boom in the years ahead.

The Samsung group dabbled in carmaking business in the 1990s but was soon forced to sell the business to the French carmaker Renault in the wake of the crippling 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
Kalgoorlie town in West Australia's Goldfields region, where cashless welfare cards will next be rolled out after a pilot scheme showed a sharp drop in problem alcohol, drug and gambling abuse

Australia will expand the roll-out of cashless welfare cards after a pilot scheme showed a sharp drop in problem alcohol, drug and gambling abuse, the country's prime minister said Friday.

The government introduced the debit card -- touted as a world-first -- last year to two remote communities blighted by high levels of welfare dependence coupled with significant social issues fuelled by drink and drugs.

An independent study into its impact in East Kimberley and Ceduna -- both home to large Aboriginal populations -- showed a big drop in alcohol abuse and family violence.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it would now be rolled out into a third site -- the Goldfields region in Western Australia.

"This is an exercise in practical love, in compassion, in ensuring the taxpayers' dollars are not being spent on substance abuse and drugs leading to violence," he told reporters.

"But above all, in ensuring that those families are spending their money where they should be spending it -- on the food, clothing and necessities of life and making them better able to look after those kids."

The card is designed to limit people's access to cash, with 80 percent of a recipient's welfare quarantined and not able to be used to buy alcohol or to gamble.

The other 20 percent is credited to their bank accounts and can be withdrawn as cash.

Turnbull said two-thirds of all domestic assaults in the Goldfields area, where the card will next be introduced, were fuelled by drink, while alcohol-related hospital admissions and death rates were 25 percent higher than the national average.

"Many stakeholders have indicated their desperation to address the very significant harm caused by welfare-fuelled alcohol abuse in the region," he said, adding that it had broad support from community leaders.

"Some noted that children feel safer on the streets than in their homes."

The Australian Greens are opposed to the card, calling it an "ideologically driven attempt to manage the money and hence lives of people living below or near the poverty line on income support".

But Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten said he was open to the idea.

"We've got an open mind but the community has got to want to support it, there has got to be adequate support in the community," he said.

"What I don't want to see is genuine people who are down on their luck being treated with hard measures just to get a headline in the big cities."
Amazon launched its first Echo device in 2014 and has already sold millions of the smart speakers, according to industry trackers

Ordering pizza from the sofa without lifting a finger has joined the list of modern-day conveniences thanks to a hot trend in voice-commanded smart speakers.

Amazon, Apple and Google are duking it out with devices designed to sit out of sight in homes, awaiting spoken commands to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, finding information, playing music, mapping routes, or reading email.

According to Gartner, the market for voice-activated speakers equipped with artificial intelligence and synched to the internet will grow to $3.52 billion in 2021 from $360 million in 2015.

While it is difficult to assess how many people use the devices to order online, industry analysts see it as a trend.

"Shopping through speakers is still an early adopter activity," said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"It's going to be slow. It's not going to be overnight."

Thanks to bargain prices for Amazon Echo devices in particular, smart speakers are becoming mainstream but consumers are not yet ready to fully trust the technology, Milanesi said.

Voice-controlled shopping, for now, involves mainly straight-forward, repeated buys such as laundry soap or dog treats, with people tending to want to actually see big-ticket items, especially if they involve style or color choices, she contended.

- Minimal effort -

Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller speaks during the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), at the San Jose Convention Center, on June 5

Lifestyles revolving around smartphones, with less time spent in front of desktop or laptop computers, were expected to enhance the lure of shopping by voice.

A fan watching a sporting match on television can simply call out for their favorite pizza. Someone cooking can give an oral order to restock olive oil before they forget.

"Convenience is something that drives a lot of behavior," Milanesi said, noting that voice-commands even spare the trouble of tapping a screen to open an app.

"It's human behavior, the least amount of effort for the greatest reward."

Analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associated considered voice-shopping a major trend that has been embraced by distributors and technology firms, Amazon foremost among them.

Amazon launched its first Echo device in 2014 and has already sold millions of the smart speakers, according to industry trackers.

Echo devices are built with Alexa artificial intelligence for conversational style interactions.

Amazon dominates the smart speaker industry, with 70 percent of the market in the US while second-place Google Home has about 24 percent, according to eMarketer.

And with the recent acquisition of trendy Whole Foods organic supermarket chain, Amazon will enable Echo users to order groceries from those shops. It will also sell the smart speakers at Whole Foods, giving the online retailer real-world outlets.

Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana will start talking to each other in a first of its kind alliance of rival digital assistants, the companies said this week.

Echo device users will be able to ask Alexa to bring in Cortana as a "guest" to tend to tasks such as booking meetings or reading work email.

Meanwhile, those with devices powered by Windows 10 software will be able to have Cortana bring in Alexa for tasks such as controlling smart devices in homes or, of course, ordering items from Amazon.

- Spoken loyalty -

Apple this year unveiled a "HomePod" speaker set to begin shipping in December.

Not to be left behind, South Korean consumer electronics colossus Samsung recently announced it is working on a smart speaker.

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, and Google are teaming up in an attempt to challenge Amazon's growing dominance in online shopping.

The venture marries Google's hands-free voice activated Google Home software to Wal-Mart's vast network of US stores to allow customers to order groceries and other items to be home delivered through Google Express.

Voice-commanded shopping is a good way to enhance customer loyalty, and companies could eventually start pushing ads through smart speakers, according to analyst Gold.

"Attracting customers to their marketplaces is exactly what (companies) want," Gold said, warning that the trend could wind up better for businesses than for consumers as shopping gets concentrated, say at Amazon or Google Express.

"It's a continuous strategy."

Analyst Colin Sebastian of Baird expected voice shopping to bite into Google's revenue over time as voice interactions mean fewer online ads served up by the internet company.
North Korea's latest missile launch has ramped up tensions in the tinderbox region

President Vladimir Putin warned Friday of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for crisis talks as France's foreign minister warned of a possible threat to Europe.

Nuclear-armed North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific, escalating tensions over its atomic programme which have led to bellicose exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang.

Putin warned that the region was "on the brink of a major conflict".

"The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said in a Kremlin statement, warning that "threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian meanwhile said North Korea was close to being able to launch long-range missiles.

"The situation is extremely serious... We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow," he told RTL radio.

"In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon, the situation will be explosive," he said, urging Pyongyang to return to talks.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump warned that "all options" were back on the table after the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile over Japan, snubbing Washington's bid to draw it into talks.

The launch came on the heels of two missile tests last month that appeared to bring much of the US mainland within reach, prompting Trump to threaten Pyongyang with "fire and fury".

Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US South Pacific territory of Guam.

The UN Security Council denounced the latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt its nuclear programme and "all related activities".

- Military exercises -

US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live-fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North.

Putin called for all sides to sign on to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.

He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who in a Wednesday telephone call with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences."

The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.
Revenues in Macau were hurt by Chinese President Xi Jinping's corruption crackdown but are beginning to bounce back thanks to a resurgent VIP market and a push to woo tourists and mass market gamblers

Macau on Friday said gaming revenues rose more than 20 percent year-on-year in August, despite the city being hammered by Severe Typhoon Hato, which ripped through the city killing at least 10 people.

The destruction wrought by the typhoon and the government's handling of it prompted the resignation of Macau's weather chief, an apology from the city's leader and the deployment of the People's Liberation Army Macau garrison to help in relief efforts.

Hato plunged the city's gambling resorts into darkness with slot machines and air-conditioning units turned off at some casinos despite backup generators, while some including the Grand Lisboa simply closed after power and water supply was cut.

However, gaming revenues still surged 20.4 percent to 22.68 billion patacas ($2.81 billion) for the month, beating expectations of 18.5 percent in a Bloomberg News survey.

Macau is the only part of China where casino gambling is legal and a favourite haunt of mainland big spenders.

The city was hurt by tumbling revenues after China's President Xi Jinping launched a corruption crackdown in 2012, with many VIPs -- crucial to the casinos' income -- choosing to stay away.

But annual takings are still three times larger than Las Vegas and have rebounded recently thanks to a resurgent VIP market and a push to woo tourists and mass market gamblers with a slew of new mega resorts.

Two more major openings are expected by 2018. MGM Cotai will include a spa, theatre, and 1,500 hotel rooms, while SJM's Grand Lisboa Palace will feature Versace and Lagerfeld hotels.

"Macau is back in a big way," Andrew Scott, CEO of Macau-based Inside Asian Gaming magazine told AFP.

"If it weren't for the typhoon, the increase would have been even more," Scott said.

Casinos brought in more than $28 billion in 2016, representing half of the city's gross domestic product.
A handout picture released by the official Twitter page of the Syrian presidency on September 1, 2017, shows President Bashar al-Assad performing the morning Eid al-Adha prayer at the Grand Mosque of Qara

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance outside Damascus Friday for morning prayers marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, state media reported.

Since the start of Syria's devastating conflict in 2011, Assad has only left the capital on a few occasions.

This year, however, he has been able to venture further afield more frequently, including to the central province of Hama and to western Syria, as his forces and their allies have scored victories on the battlefield.

"President Assad prayed on Eid al-Adha... in the town of Qara" in western Qalamun, near Lebanon, the presidency tweeted, along with a picture of him kneeling in a mosque flanked by other officials.

State television showed footage of the Syrian leader smiling in the presence of his supporters inside the mosque in Qara.

Last week forces loyal to Assad, including fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, drove Islamic State group jihadists out of western Qalamun.

Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest feast days in the Islamic calendar.

More than 330,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with anti-government protests.
Flash flooding in the capital has also been blamed on plastic, after storm drains became clogged

Sri Lanka banned plastic bags and other disposable products on Friday after the collapse of the island's biggest dump led to a rubbish disposal crisis.

Rotting garbage piled up in many parts of the capital after the giant rubbish tip collapsed in April, crushing dozens of homes and killing 32 people.

Many blamed the haphazard use of plastic, which was also cited in flash flooding in the capital after storm water drains became clogged.

In response, President Maithripala Sirisena banned the sale of plastic bags, cups and plates, as well as the burning of refuse containing plastic.

"Any person who fails to comply with the regulations... shall be liable to an offence and punishable under the National Environmental Act," the president said.

Offenders could be fined 10,000 rupees ($66) and jailed for up to two years.
The ritual in Mina east of Mecca emulates Abraham's stoning of the devil

Two million Muslims pilgrims from around the world took part Friday in the symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia, with tight security measures in place two years after a deadly stampede.

The ritual at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina near Mecca marks the final major rite of the hajj, a five-day pilgrimage which all Muslims must perform at least once if physically and financially able.

The stampede in Mina in 2015 claimed the lives of 2,300 people -- the worst disaster in the history of the hajj.

Saudi Arabia says it has deployed more than 100,000 security personnel to keep pilgrims safe this year.

The huge crowds took part in the stoning rite under strict surveillance, with police tape guiding the flow of pilgrims, cameras installed everywhere and helicopters hovering overhead.

Traditionally, seven pebbles are thrown at a post representing the devil, emulating the actions of Abraham.

Since 2004, it has been replaced by walls to accommodate the rising numbers of pilgrims.

Security forces misted pilgrims with water as they made their way to the Jamarat Bridge under the hot sun.

By 8:00 am, pilgrims were already reaching for their umbrellas as temperatures rose above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

"Two pilgrims fainted in front of me this morning," said Almas Khattak, a Pakistani volunteer in Mina.

The shadow of the 2015 stampede still looms large over the ritual.

Iran, which reported the largest number of victims in the disaster, did not send its pilgrims to hajj last year, as political tension between Tehran and rival Riyadh was on the rise and authorities in the two countries failed to agree on logistics.

Iranian authorities say more than 86,000 Iranian pilgrims are taking part this year, each equipped with an identity bracelet in case of any accident.

The stoning ritual marks the first day of the Eid al-Adha feast, or the feast of sacrifice, which commemorates the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

The holiday is marked by the sacrifice of a lamb instead by Muslim communities around the world.
North Korea has conducted a string of missile tests in recent months

France's foreign minister warned Friday that North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe "within months".

Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang "extremely serious" and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiralling tensions.

"We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow," Le Drian told RTL radio.

"In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon, the situation will be explosive."

Early on Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to say that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced Pyongyang's latest missile test, unanimously demanding a halt to its programme.

Le Drian called on Pyongyang to "return to the path of negotiations" in a bid to ease tensions.

A joint mediation effort put forward by China and Russia would involve a mutual pause in both missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.

Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

In July, it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.
Black smoke billows from a chimney on top of the Russian consulate in San Francisco, California

Russia on Saturday summoned the top US envoy in Moscow to protest a search by American officials of a diplomatic facility in Washington, due to be shuttered in the latest twist of the two countries' diplomatic tit-for-tat.

The foreign ministry said it called in acting US mission head Anthony Godfrey and handed him a "note of protest over the intention of the American authorities to conduct a search" at a Russian trade representation.

The search -- which RIA-Novosti reported began after 1800 GMT in the presence of Russian officials -- "could be used by the US intelligence services to organise an anti-Russian provocation involving planting compromising materials," a statement said.

The trade facility in Washington is one of three diplomatic buildings -- including the consulate in San Francisco and an office in New York -- that the US has ordered Moscow to vacate by Saturday.

Russia's foreign ministry said Friday that US intelligence was also planning to search the consulate in San Francisco.

Black smoke was seen rising from a chimney at the consulate on Friday, as firefighters confirmed its occupants were burning unidentified objects.

A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry insisted the smoke was due to measures to "preserve the building" at a time when officials were gearing up to leave.

- Diplomatic saga -

Washington issued an order Thursday for the closure of the Russian compounds in retaliation for Moscow ordering the US to slash its diplomatic mission by 755 personnel by September 1.

Russia says the FBI plans to carry out a search of its San Francisco consulate, which Washington has ordered closed

The number of US diplomatic staff will now be capped at 455, the same number that Russia has in the United States.

The spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed powers is another blow to US President Donald Trump, who said at the start of his presidency in January that he would try and improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ties slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

Last year, tensions again escalated after the US intelligence community accused Putin of masterminding a hacking and influence campaign to tip the presidential vote in favour of Trump.

And in the waning days of his tenure, former president Barack Obama hit out at Russia over the allegations by turfing out 35 diplomats and closing Russian diplomatic compounds in New York and Maryland.

Moscow initially held off from retaliating but when Congress passed new sanctions tying up Trump's hands, the Kremlin decided to belatedly strike back and ordered the US staff cut.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday Moscow is studying the latest US order to shutter the compounds and would then decide how to react.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, crossing into neighbouring Bangladesh which already hosts 400,000 of the ethnic minority

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Myanmar and urged security forces to show restraint after hundreds were reported dead in communal violence and thousands continued to flee.

It is the bloodiest chapter yet in a bitter five-year crisis that has torn apart Rakhine state along ethnic and religious lines, displaced the region's Rohingya community in huge numbers and heaped international condemnation on Myanmar's army and the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Around 400 people -- most of them Rohingya Muslims -- have died in the violence, according to the army chief's office Friday, while the UN says 38,000 have sought refuge across the border in Bangladesh.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats.

Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces -- as well as by militants -- have further amplified tensions, raising fears that violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the reports of excesses during the security operations conducted by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State and urges restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," said a UN spokesman.

Guterres recalled that it was the government's responsibility to provide security and allow aid agencies to reach those in need.

The army chief's office on Friday gave the updated death toll, sketching out the details of an insurgency that has escalated sharply.

"Until August 30, a large number of terrorists carried out 52 waves of attacks on security forces.... in those attacks, 370 bodies of terrorists were found and nine others captured alive," a statement posted on Facebook said.

Fifteen security forces and 14 civilians have also died in eight days of fighting, it added.

- Erdogan says 'genocide' -

Rakhine has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands of people -- the majority from the Muslim minority -- into displacement camps.

The latest round of violence erupted last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 15 officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched "clearance" operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers join their cause.

Rights groups, who believe the true death toll is much higher, allege massacres of Rohingya in remote villages led by Myanmar security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Fortify Rights, an NGO with a focus on Myanmar, said eyewitnesses alleged mobs shot and hacked down Rohingya villagers -- including children -- in a five-hour "killing spree" in the village of Chut Pyin in Rathedaung township on Sunday afternoon.

The allegations could not be independently verified by AFP as the area is off-limits to reporters.

Myanmar's Information Committee appeared earlier this week to confirm a major security operation took place around the village on Sunday afternoon as a patrol clashed with scores of Rohingya militants.

But in a complex situation, further muddied by the swirl of claims and denials by both sides, more accounts emerged accusing Myanmar forces of killings and widespread abuse.

A 23-year-old Rohingya woman from Kyet Yoe Pyin said she had witnessed soldiers and Buddhist mobs rape and kill Muslims in her village over the weekend.

"They mercilessly slaughtered men, women and children," she told AFP by telephone from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh where she has fled. The claims could not be verified by AFP.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Myanmar of "genocide" against the Rohingya in a speech in Istanbul during the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast.

Erdogan said he would bring up the issue at the next UN General Assembly in New York later this month, adding that he had already talked to Guterres and other Muslim leaders.

- Bodies in the water -

Thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries, with dozens drowning in capsizes

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to boats -- or clung to flotsam -- in an effort to cross the Naf river which separates the two countries. But others died trying.

Eighteen bodies washed ashore in Bangladesh on Friday, according to Bangladeshi border officials, lifting the toll over the last two days to 41.

More than 400 Hindus from Rakhine have also crossed into Bangladesh, after armed men attacked their village, killing and looting.

It is the first time in Rakhine's bitter and bloody crisis that Hindus have fled -- a sign violence is billowing out.

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced -- the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

The ARSA emerged as a force in October last year when their attacks killed Myanmar border police, prompting a crackdown by security forces.

The United States on Thursday urged the military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the "worsening cycle of violence" was "of grave concern".

burs-eb/jm
As Pakistan prepares for the sacrificial festival of Eid al-Adha this weekend, one technology firm has made the task of buying a sacrificial animal - goat, sheep, cow - a whole lot more convenient.

Rather than join the queues and haggle with farmers over the price, residents of Islamabad and Karachi are embracing technology and ordering animals straight to their front door through a mobile app instead.

Muslims slaughter an animal on the annual festival in a ritual that stems from the story of the prophet Abraham, commanded by God to slaughter his beloved son Ismail.

Muslims slaughter an animal -- a goat, sheep, cow, bull or camel -- on the annual festival in a ritual that stems from the story of the prophet Abraham, commanded by God to slaughter his beloved son Ismail

Pakistani men walk past a Careem's cab service 'Bakra on wheels' vehicle

The meat is then distributed in equal parts to the poor, to relatives, and consumed by the family themselves.

The centuries-old festival is steeped in tradition, but this year some middle-class Pakistanis are turning to technology to skip the packed markets and ordering their animals via the ride-sharing app Careem.

The app, which is growing in popularity in Pakistan, introduced a 'Bakra (goat) on wheels' initiative in the run-up to Eid, with specially-painted trucks ferrying the animals to customers.

The response was 'substantial', Careem marketing executive Abuzar Khan told AFP, adding they have sold nearly 30 goats so far.

But there was little chance of it threatening demand for animals at the country's bustling cattle markets.

At one market set up temporarily in Islamabad this week farmers from across the country soaped and shampooed goats and camels, some shaving patterns into their coats to make them look more appealing in the eyes of judicious customers.

Eid al-Adha is celebrated throughout the Muslim world as a commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God

Mohammad Altaf, sales executive of Careem's cab service, explains the sacrificial animal home delivery service ahead of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha

Ride-sharing app Careem has introduced a 'Bakra (goat) on wheels' initiative

Social media was flooded with videos showing camels being transported by rickshaw and sheep clinging to the back of motorcycles as Pakistanis shepherded their purchases home.

Experts say that the livestock market in Pakistan is growing by up to four percent annually as more young entrepreneurs are taking interest, and volume is high during Eid, explained trader Syed Hayat Raza Naqvi.

'The minimum price of a bull, which takes two and a half years to groom, is 65,000 rupees ($650) and it goes higher than five or 600,000 rupees ($6,000),' he said.

Getting ready for Eid be like... pic.twitter.com/AaJaY8MfB3  Careem Qatar (@CareemQAT) September 1, 2017

Sales executive Abuzar Khan told AFP, adding they have sold nearly 30 goats so far
Top French officials appear to be divided over what to do about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

France called Friday for a political transition in Syria that would not include Bashar al-Assad, after a series of shifting positions on resolving the six-year-old conflict.

"We cannot build peace with Assad," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on French radio RTL.

"He cannot be the solution," said Le Drian, who was defence minister under the former Socialist government.

"The solution is to establish... a timeline for political transition that can lead to a new constitution and elections, and this transition cannot happen with Bashar al-Assad."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in July that the removal of the Syrian president was not a "prerequisite" for peace in the war-torn country, and that he did not see a "legitimate successor" to the leader who has been in power since 2000.

Paris had been a key supporter of the opposition to Assad's rule since the start of the conflict in 2011 which has since killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions.

But Macron said that the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group was a priority for France, which has endured a string of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015. Some of these were planned in Syria.

France's armed forces are in action as part of the US-led international coalition fighting IS in Syria as well as Iraq.

IS has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries, and thousands of its fighters have been killed since late 2014, when the coalition was set up to defeat the group.

- UN talks in October? -

Le Drian said Friday that IS "will be defeated in Syria," leaving the country with a "single conflict, that of the civil war" pitting an opposition against the Assad government.

Macron has tasked Le Drian with forming a new contact group on Syria to relaunch the stalled political process.

Members of the Syrian Civil Defence stand near the graves of their comrades in the southern city of Daraa as they mark the first day of Eid al-Adha

So far Paris has not been forthcoming on the composition of the group, notably on the question of whether regional power Iran -- a key backer of the Syrian regime along with Russia -- would take part.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said last month that he hopes to launch "real, substantive" peace talks between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October.

De Mistura has hosted seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks in Geneva, with Assad's fate one of the main obstacles to progress.

Kazakhstan has hosted parallel talks, with a new round possible in mid-September.

In May, Russia, Iran and Turkey -- a backer of the rebels -- agreed to establish safe zones across swathes of Syria.

The United States in July shut down a covert programme supporting armed Syrian opposition groups.

The head of the US military's special operations, Tony Thomas, denied that the four-year-old operation was scrapped as a way to placate Russia and earn its support for a ceasefire in southwestern Syria.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. ANGIE BROWN, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. VIRGINIA BEACH SHERIFF'S OFFICE, Defendant - Appellee. No. 17-6525 Decided: August 31, 2017

Before KING, DIAZ, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges. Angie Brown, Appellant Pro Se.

Virginia inmate Angie Brown appeals the district court's order dismissing her 42 U.S.C.  1983 (2012) action against the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office (VBSO) and two of its employees. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand with instructions.

Brown alleged that Defendants Caldwell and Anderson retaliated against her for filing grievances against them. To state a First Amendment retaliation claim, a plaintiff must show: (1) his speech was protected, (2) the alleged retaliatory action adversely affected his protected speech, and (3) a causal relationship between the protected speech and the retaliation. Raub v. Campbell, 785 F.3d 876, 885 (4th Cir. 2015). [F]or purposes of a First Amendment retaliation claim under  1983, a plaintiff suffers adverse action if the defendant's allegedly retaliatory conduct would likely deter a person of ordinary firmness from the exercise of First Amendment rights. Constantine v. Rectors & Visitors of George Mason Univ., 411 F.3d 474, 500 (4th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Relying on Adams v. Rice, 40 F.3d 72 (4th Cir. 1994), the district court ruled that there was no constitutional right to be free of retaliation for filing prison grievances. After the district court dismissed Brown's action, this court decided Booker v. S.C. Dep't of Corr., 855 F.3d 533 (4th Cir. 2017), in which we noted that, although Adams concerns whether inmates have a constitutional entitlement to or liberty interest in accessing grievance procedures[, it] says nothing about whether a prison official violates an inmate's First Amendment rights by retaliating against the inmate for submitting a grievance. Id. at 542. We held that an inmate possesses the right to be free from retaliation for filing grievances, and that this right has been clearly established since at least 2010. Id. at 546-47. Accordingly, we vacate the district court's dismissal of Brown's claims that Caldwell and Anderson retaliated against her for filing a grievance.

In a related claim, Brown contended that Caldwell refused to accept a grievance. Unlike Brown's retaliation claims, this claim concerns access to grievance procedures which, as noted above, is not constitutionally protected. Thus, we affirm the district court's dismissal of this claim based on Adams. Additionally, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Brown's claims against the VBSO because, as the district court correctly noted, state entities like the VBSO are not persons under  1983, and therefore do not qualify as proper defendants in a civil rights action. Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71 (1989).

Accordingly, we vacate the district court's ruling on Brown's retaliation claims against Caldwell and Anderson and remand to the district court. We affirm as to all other claims. Additionally, we note that the district court docket does not include Caldwell and Anderson as Defendants, even though they were identified as such in the complaint, so we instruct that they be added as Defendants on remand. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED

PER CURIAM:
Eight months in the making, three master sculptors have nearly finished the statues of Thongdaeng and Cao Cao, the late King's favorite canines

At a studio near Bangkok, a pair of immaculate metre-high statues of the dogs of Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej are getting a last lick of paint before adorning his funeral pyre.

Bhumibol, a monarch whose reign spanned 70 years, died last October, plunging the country into mourning.

His cremation will take place on October 26, just over a year after his death, in a spectacular funeral to be marked by elaborate palace ceremony and Buddhist ritual.

Eight months in the making, three master sculptors have nearly finished the statues of Tongdaeng and Cao Cao, the late King's favorite canines.

The dogs will soon be installed at the top tier of Bhumibol's 50-metre (165 foot) pyre.

It is "a very special spot that's close to the king," said Chin Prasong, a veteran sculptor who describes his task as "the work of a lifetime."

The late king's pyre has been constructed to resemble the mythical Mount Meru, the centre of the Hindu and Buddhist universe - and is set as a final stage for Bhumibol, who was revered by Thais as a demigod.

Bhumibol's body, currently in the Grand Palace, will be placed at the centre of the pyre and set alight allowing his spirit to travel to the afterlife.

The tower, will be decorated by over 500 sculptures of animals, gods and mythical creatures -- headed by the pair of royal dogs.

The two dogs were made on request of the palace for the special occasion.

Thais prefix references to Tongdaeng with the honorific "Khun" -- roughly translating as ma'am -- in a sign of the reverance commanded by all things royal in Thailand.

The creature was frequently present at Bhumibol's public appearances.

A 2002 book about the dog penned by the King was that year's best-selling title in Thailand.

Critics said it was a homily for how Thais should live with devotion, loyalty and a keen sense of their place within the kingdom's rigid hierarchy.

In 2015 the dog was at the centre of a controversy after a man was charged under a tough royal defamation law for allegedly 'liking' a satirical Facebook post about the favoured canine.

Thailand's monarchy is shielded from any debate and criticism by one of the world's harshest lese majeste laws.

Anyone convicted of insulting the revered King, Queen, heir or regent, can face up to 15 years in jail on each count.

Prosecutions have surged since the army, which styles itself as the champion of the monarchy, grabbed power in 2014.

The artists captured the second dog, a boxer named Cao Cao who was the king's pet in the 1950s, with a pipe in his mouth -- a homage to old photographs taken by former monarch.
A customer tries out a facial recognition payment system at a KFC fast food restaurant in Hangzhou, China

The operator of KFC in China is rolling out a futuristic system of paying at a fast-food counter via facial recognition, as the country embraces the technology for everything from toilet paper to travel.

The "Smile to Pay" system will allow customers at a healthier spin-off of KFC in the eastern city of Hangzhou to keep their wallets in their pockets after ordering on a machine.

Yum China, which operates several major fast-food brands in China including KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, teamed up with Chinese mobile payments firm Alipay -- started by e-commerce giant Alibaba -- on the technology.

Yum China called the concept a "world's first".

The ordering machine will compare the customer's face with the verified picture on their Alipay account.

China is racing ahead in its use of facial recognition technology.

It has even been installed at Beijing's historic Temple of Heaven to stop people pinching rolls of toilet paper.

Airports and train stations are also jumping on the trend, with China Southern Airlines this year using facial recognition in place of boarding passes for the first time.

And in Qingdao, home to China's most famous lager, 25 suspects were recently arrested after they turned up to a beer festival only to be identified by the technology at entrance gates.
Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives against insurgents along the northwestern border

A bomb attack killed three people and wounded two others in a relatively peaceful area of Pakistan's northwestern tribal district early Friday, officials said.

A father and his son were among those killed as they returned home from morning prayers in the Ambar area of Mohmand, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts along the Afghan border.

"The improvised explosive device (IED) planted near the mosque exploded when people were returning home after offering morning prayer," Sikandar Shah, a local government official, told AFP.

All those killed and wounded were civilians, Shah said.

An official from the local tribal police confirmed the incident and casualties.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Shah said that local tribesmen had launched an anti-Taliban militia and the incident might be a reaction to that.

Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives against insurgents along the northwestern border.

But the remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks, particularly in the northwest.
Kenyan opposition supporters were stunned by the court's decision to overturn the election result -- and ecstatically happy

"Baba! Baba!" the men cried, screaming out the nickname of Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga as they rolled about in the middle of a road, clutching a campaign poster with his picture on it.

Moments earlier a man in a full gorilla suit zipped by on a motorbike, standing tall, hooting the horn and waving as people lining the road cheered him on.

As the shocking news spread that the Supreme Court had decided to annul the result of the August 8 presidential election and order a fresh vote within 60 days, scenes of jubilation erupted among opposition supporters across the Kenyan capital.

Crowds of dancing, singing opposition supporters converged on Olympic Junction in Kibera, a teeming shantytown in the capital Nairobi and a stronghold of Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition.

They waved leafy branches, blew whistles, shouted, cried, wept and sang celebrating the Supreme Court's unprecedented decision.

The man of the hour, at least here in Kibera, was not so much Odinga but David Maraga, a taciturn lawyer with a perpetually amused expression -- and the country's chief justice, or CJ.

"He's an African hero!" said Joseph Omullo, an unemployed 25-year-old college graduate among the crowd who was shouting to make himself heard.

"The CJ is exemplary!" he said. "All we wanted was justice to be served."

Nearby an old woman did a shuffle dance, weeping and whooping by turns as she held a five-day-old newspaper above her head, a picture of Maraga on the cover.

Chief Justice David Maraga, centre, was hailed by many as a hero for his unprecedented decision to cancel Kenya's election result and order a fresh poll

"This is the first time we've seen justice in Kenya!" a man cried out.

- 'Justice has been done!' -

Esther Osimbo, a 33-year-old fishwife, strode towards the heart of the crowd. "It is historic. Maraga is a great, great man," she said adding, with a note of regret, that he is married.

A decision to overturn the outcome of the presidential vote, annulling President Uhuru Kenyatta's 54 percent victory, is unprecedented in Africa and rare in the world.

In Kenya it took many by surprise as experience has taught that courts are routinely subservient to the president.

"In the whole world, all eyes were on this Supreme Court and the judge did the right thing," said 36-year-old Frederick Oyieng, a night watchman, who was looking somewhat dazed.

"It was a surprise because the trend in justice in Kenya is not good, but this time justice has been done," said 39-year-old accountancy student Donna Abongo.

"Kudos to the judges!"

Similar scenes played out elsewhere in Nairobi as well as in the western city of Kisumu where people danced through the streets, sweeping the roads with branches and crying out "Uhuru must go!"

"They have stolen elections for so long," said Lynette Akello, a fishmonger, referring to Odinga's claim that he has been cheated in three consecutive elections.

"This is justice for Baba."
The massive trial under way in Hanoi includes the former chairman of PetroVietnam, as well as the former head of Ocean Bank, who is accused of dodgy loans worth $23 million

The deputy head of Vietnam's largest oil firm, state-run PetroVietnam, was arrested Friday as part of a massive fraud case involving dozens of bankers and businessmen, according to the government.

The country is notorious for widespread corruption but in recent months has waged a crackdown on banking executives and government officials accused of graft, mismanagement or worse.

The latest to fall is Ninh Van Quynh, 59, number two at PetroVietnam who is accused of causing losses worth $34 million at the massive oil firm.

He allegedly invested the money in Ocean Bank, which nearly collapsed after becoming embroiled in a multimillion dollar fraud scandal of its own.

Quynh is accused of violating state regulations to make the investment.

His arrest comes amid a closely-watched trial of 51 bankers and businessmen, mostly from Ocean Bank.

"The move comes during the second phase of investigation in the Ocean Bank case," the Ministry of Public Security said on its website.

Another PetroVietnam official was arrested along with Quynh and two others placed under house arrest as part of the broadening investigation, it said.

The massive trial under way in Hanoi includes the former chairman of PetroVietnam, as well as the former head of Ocean Bank, who is accused of dodgy loans worth $23 million.

The 20-day trial is the largest banking case in Vietnam, involving 50 defence lawyers and more than 700 witnesses.

It has captivated the public in the communist nation, where stunning economic growth has largely lifted the majority out of poverty, but has also seen a rise in the super-rich.

The government is keen to clean up its image, which analysts say is partly behind its recent anti-corruption drive.

Though some say that convictions and arrests are more about political infighting than an actual commitment to reform.

Last month, Germany accused Hanoi of kidnapping a former PetroVietnam official in a Berlin park over a separate corruption case, calling the move a "scandalous violation".

Hanoi said the official, who was the head of the company's construction unit, turned himself into officials in Vietnam's capital voluntarily.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Myanmar next week and discuss the exodus of the Rohingya ethnic minority with Aung San Suu Kyi's government

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Myanmar next week and discuss the exodus of the Rohingya ethnic minority with Aung San Suu Kyi's government, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The two-day visit comes as renewed violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state forces thousands of Rohingya Muslims to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, with many drowning as they attempt to cross the border river in makeshift boats.

The stateless ethnic minority are reviled and accused of being illegal immigrants in Myanmar, with thousands fleeing to Bangladesh and on to other countries including India, which this month announced plans to deport some 40,000 Rohingya from the country.

Modi will arrive in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday on his way back from China where he will be attending the BRICS summit, which also includes Russia, Brazil and South Africa.

'We will be discussing how India can help them in addressing the situation that is prevailing in the state,' Sripriya Ranganathan, a senior official in India's foreign ministry, told reporters.

'Lot of countries are impacted... but ultimately it's for the government of Myanmar to address the situation,' she said.

Modi will arrive in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday on his way back from China where he will be attending the BRICS summit, which also includes Russia, Brazil and South Africa

Rohingya are fleeing the overwhelmingly Buddhist country of Myanmar, where attacks against the government have led to reports of genocide

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called on New Delhi to reconsider its plan to deport the Rohingya, saying it should abide by its international obligations.

But Ranganathan said, 'in so far as illegal immigrants are concerned there is a long standing and established procedure on the basis of Indian law which we will continue to follow, there is absolutely no change.'

Despite being home to thousands of refugees, India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Almost 400 Rohingya are estimated to have been killed, as thousands flee 'genocide'
Iraq forces and the paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi say they are preparing to retake Hawija town from the Islamic State group after ousting the jihadists from Mosul and Tal Afar

Iraqi government and paramilitary forces announced Friday plans to launch an assault to retake Hawija, the last Islamic State group's urban bastion in the country, a day after recapturing Tal Afar.

Iraqi forces have now forced IS out of all its Iraqi territories except the town of Hawija, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and three pockets of territory near the border with Syria.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the recapture of Tal Afar town and its surrounding areas, weeks after ousting the jihadists from Iraq's second city Mosul, bringing all of Nineveh province under government control.

"After the Tal Afar mission was successfully accomplished, the troops will head to Hawija," in oil-rich Kirkuk province, Iraq's Joint Operations Centre (JOC) said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group, dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, told AFP the offensive could be launched very soon.

"The operation to liberate Hawija will begin a few days after Eid al-Adha," spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi, said referring to the Muslim holiday marking the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Sunni Muslims began observing Eid al-Adha on Friday, while Iraqi Shiite Muslims will mark the start of the four-day holiday on Saturday.

The JOC said Iraqi aircraft have dropped "millions of leaflets" on Hawija to inform residents that the rule of "the terrorist gangs of IS will soon be over".

Residents were urged to "keep away" from jihadists who could become the target of air strikes by Iraqi forces backed by the US-led coalition.

The leaflets also called on the jihadists to "surrender and give up their weapons".

Assadi said the operation aimed at retaking from IS an area of 9,000 square kilometres (3,500 sq miles), covering the town of Hawija and surrounding the area, including eastern Shargat, a town further west.
Smoke billows in an eastern area of the embattled northern Syrian city of Raqa on August 15, 2017, as Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, battle to retake the city from the Islamic State (IS) group

US-backed Syrian fighters ousted the Islamic State group from Raqa's Old City on Friday, bringing them closer than ever to the jihadist bastion's well-defended and densely populated heart.

Backed by US-led coalition air strikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces first broke into Raqa in early June and penetrated its Old City a month later.

On Friday, they successfully captured the entire historic district from jihadists.

"Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqa after clashes with Daesh," spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"We are on the edges of IS's security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are."

SDF forces are in control of neighbourhoods across Raqa's south, west and east -- constituting more than 60 percent of the city.

IS, in turn, holds part of the north and centre, where up to 25,000 civilians are estimated to still be trapped.

IS's prized "security quarter" lies directly west of the Old City and is home to buildings formerly used by Syria's government but now taken up as bases by IS.

This handout image released by Airbus DS and taken by Pleiades satellites on March 11, 2017, shows the Old City in the Syrian city of Raqa, Islamic State (IS) group's de facto capital

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with IS in a small part of the Old City on Friday.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that around 1,000 jihadists were still left in the whole city.

- 'Sigh of relief' -

IS overran Raqa in 2014, turning it into the de facto capital of its self-declared "caliphate".

The city was the scene of some of the group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings.

The SDF advanced into the Old City two months ago by breaching the Rafiqah Wall, a 2.5-kilometre (one-and-a-half-mile) wall surrounding the district.

US-led coalition air strikes had opened up two breaches in the wall, which dates back to the late 8th century when Raqa was briefly the centre of the Islamic world.

"Control over the Old City -- which has historical importance -- is a moral victory against IS, which is collapsing in Raqa. Its defeat there is inevitable," Sello told AFP.

He declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of Raqa, but said operations were proceeding "according to schedule".

Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP on Friday that he "breathed a sigh of relief" when he learned that IS had been ousted from the Old City.

The battle for Raqa

"Raqa was one of the Abbasid capitals and it means a lot to us. The end of Daesh there would mean the protection of Syrian cultural heritage in an historically important city," he said.

Despite the damage, Abdulkarim said he was reassured that the Rafiqah Wall remained mostly intact and could be restored.

"We didn't lose the most important historical element of the Old City. The wall is the symbol of the city."

The SDF's advance is the latest in a string of setbacks for IS, both in Syria and in neighbouring Iraq.

In Syria's east, Russian-backed government troops are pushing steadily into the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, where IS still holds key territory.

In Iraq, soldiers recaptured the northern city of Tal Afar and the surrounding region from IS on Thursday, just two months after defeating the jihadists in second city Mosul.

The fall of Tal Afar, located in the northern province of Nineveh, deprives IS of what was once a key supply hub between its territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
EgyptAir said in a statement the British ban on personal electronic devices in aircraft cabins "will be lifted tomorrow (September 2) on EgyptAir's planes flying from Cairo to the UK"

Passengers flying with EgyptAir from Cairo to Britain will again be allowed to carry personal electronic devices in aircraft cabins, the North African country's national carrier said on Friday.

The United States instituted the laptop ban in March for eight North African and Middle East countries based on intelligence that the Islamic State group was working to build a bomb into a tablet or laptop.

Britain followed suit and banned similar-sized electronics on direct flights from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

EgyptAir in a statement on Friday cited unidentified "informed resources" in the airline as saying the British ban "will be lifted tomorrow (Saturday) on EgyptAir's planes flying from Cairo to the UK".

The United States lifted its electronics ban on the airline in July.

EgyptAir said the decision to lift the ban came "after UK transportation authorities have lauded and approved the safety and security measures applied to EgyptAir flights to London and made sure it is safe and proportionate to do so".
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL was first set up in 1978 to monitor a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and now has 10,500 troops on the ground

Israel on Friday welcomed the renewal of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in neighbouring Lebanon amid US pressure for the blue berets to take action against Hezbollah militants.

The text of the UN resolution on renewing for a year the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had been the subject of intense negotiations among permanent members of the Security Council.

Washington favoured strengthening UNIFIL's mandate, while France and Italy opposed it.

On Wednesday, the council unanimously backed a French-drafted resolution on UNIFIL, which is tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

France argued that UNIFIL had succeeded in maintaining calm in south Lebanon but the United States pushed for action by the mission against Hezbollah militants it accuses of stockpiling weapons and readying for war.

The resolution highlights that UNIFIL has the authority to "take all necessary actions" in areas where its forces are deployed and must ensure that its area of operations is "not utilised for hostile activities of any kind".

It also requests that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres look at ways to increase UNIFIL's visible presence, through patrols and inspections, but within its existing mandate.

In a statement on Friday, Israel's foreign ministry said "the importance of the resolution was in its call for UNIFIL to act in a meaningful and targeted manner to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its military arsenal in southern Lebanon".

"The resolution reflects the recognition by the Security Council that a change is necessary and that UNIFIL must receive the necessary tools and support to fully implement its mandate," the statement said.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the Jewish state was satisfied because "following diplomatic contacts... we believe that the mandate will be applied more actively and vigorously".

Israel and its US ally believe that the Lebanese Shiite militia is amassing weapons on Lebanon's southern border with Israel in preparation for a new war against Israel after the deadly conflict of summer 2006.

Set up in 1978, UNIFIL was beefed up after the 2006 war, tasked with guaranteeing a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from a demilitarised zone on the border.

UNIFIL now has 10,500 troops on the ground monitoring the ceasefire and helping the Lebanese government secure its borders.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. Bobbette M. BLAKE, PlaintiffAppellant v. MJ OPTICAL, INC., a Nebraska corporation, DefendantAppellee No. 16-3100 Decided: August 31, 2017

Before RILEY, BEAM, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. Terry A. White, Carlson & Burnett, Omaha, NE, for PlaintiffAppellant. Kathryn Anne Dittrick Heebner, David Kennison, Fraser & Stryker, Omaha, NE, for DefendantAppellee.

Bobbette Blake sued her former employer, MJ Optical, Inc., alleging she was the victim of sex discrimination, age discrimination, and a hostile work environment. The district court granted MJ Optical's motion for summary judgment, finding Blake's evidence insufficient to support her federal and state law claims. Blake appeals, and we affirm. See 28 U.S.C.  1291.

I. BACKGROUND

This case involves Blake's relationships with MJ Optical and the Hagge family, both of which began over forty years ago. Blake started working at a company called Shamrock in the early 1970s. Shamrock's owner, Michael Hagge, would sometimes bring his then-adolescent son, Marty Hagge, to help around the shop. It is not entirely clear in the record, but at some point the Hagges went from owning Shamrock to MJ Optical and Blake followed them there. For decades Blake worked as a bench technician in the finishing departmentfitting eyeglass lenses into framesfor Shamrock, and then MJ Optical.

At some point before 1993, Marty became Vice President of MJ Optical. Marty was one step removed from being Blake's direct supervisor, but [h]e supervised the whole shop and Blake interacted with him every day. Blake maintains they had a purely [e]mployer/employee relationship, albeit one that sometimes extended beyond work. For instance, Marty invited Blake to his daughter's wedding, and Blake attended; Marty enrolled in a few college courses with Blake's grandson, and at least once helped the grandson with class work; and Marty lent Blake's church a hog cooker, prompting Blake to introduce him to her pastor. These anecdotes are illustrative of what Blake admits was a good relationship with Marty for a majority of her employment.

Blake claims that all changed at her husband's funeral in 1999. Marty attended the funeral, as did his father and several other MJ Optical employees. Blake says she was standing outside the funeral home when Marty walked by and grabbed [her] fanny. When Blake asked What was that all about? Marty replied, I thought you needed it. That was the entirety of the exchange.

However that was not the end of the conduct Blake now cites as the basis for this action. From that point onward, Marty would occasionally touch Blake's buttocks at [v]arious times during the workday. According to Blake, Marty would either smack it really hard or grab [her] whole cheek of [her] butt. I mean, it was no love pat. Blake flashed a dirty look at least once in response to the touching, but she never verbalized her complaint to Marty or anyone else given her belief it [w]ouldn't have done any good. Marty also began telling Blake she needed to find a man, which Blake took to mean that if [she] had sex with a man, that it would make [her] happy. Again, any frustrations Blake had about these recurring comments were not communicated to Marty or anyone else. Blake also recalls one exchange where she was standing in front of Marty's desk when he commented on her breasts, saying you'd better watch those things because they're going to poke my eyes out and asking whether her nipples were the size of nick[el]s or quarters. [E]mbarrassed by the interaction, Blake says she probably turned red and went home and bought padded underclothes.

Blake found herself on the receiving end of what she perceived to be age-related affronts, too. For instance, Marty would tell Blake he only kept her around to watch her die,  even when other MJ Optical employees were present and could hear. Blake acknowledges the comments were occasionally prompted by her asking Marty why he kept her around and were [s]ometimes meant as a joke. Marty would also tell Blake her hands aren't any good anymore whenever she needed his assistance fitting lenses into difficult frame styles. Yet again, Blake never informed Marty that she did not find the comments funny, nor did she complain to anyone else.

Notwithstanding all of the above, Blake admits she would platonically touch Marty between his shoulders and joke around with Marty [o]n occasion. Sometimes Marty said, I love you, Bobbi, to which Blake would respond, I love you, too, Marty. Furthermore, when asked during a deposition whether she ever thought Marty was treating [her] differently because of [her] gender, Blake replied, No. Other than the comments above, the only time Blake felt treated differently due to her age was when Marty told her she was too old to carry stacks of trays, a limitation she says was unwarranted but one that [d]idn't matter to her.

The chain of events that ultimately led to Blake leaving MJ Optical began on May 9, 2013, when she noticed a problem with a large number of frames. Blake reported the issue to Mary Haggethe president of MJ Optical and Marty's motherwho then tasked Marty with finding and fixing the problem. After Marty determined there was nothing wrong with the tracing machine, he turned his focus to Blake's work in the mounting area. In an attempt to diagnose the problem, Marty temporarily asked [Blake] to refrain from completing her mounting work while two other long-term employees took over for a few days to see if the problem was manual or mechanical. Blake kept busy with other work, did not consider this short-term reassignment to be a demotion, continued at the same pay rate, was not worried she would be fired, and did not complain in any way.

Nonethelessand despite explicit instructions to the contraryBlake resumed her spot at the mounting station two or three days later when she noticed it was unoccupied. As Blake tells it, she was about to start when Marty noticed her from the front of the shop and came at her like a bull moose. He was red in the face, chomping his tongue like he does when he gets angry. Then Marty said, I don't want you doing that, sit down. Let somebody else do it. Marty also accused Blake of being the reason he had to quit school and stay put at MJ Optical, an accusation Blake says Marty would sometimes make to all employees out of bitterness for his own situation. This was not the first time Marty had exhibited his angry demeanor in the workplace, so Blake feared he may become physically aggressive.

After the encounter Blake was shaking and crying so much she couldn't hardly function. Blake sought out Mary and described Marty's outburst, noting how upset it made her. Mary dismissed the notion Marty would have ever hit Blakehe wouldn't do something like thatbut said she would talk to Marty about his anger problem. Despite finally registering a complaint against Marty, Blake did not mention any mistreatment based on her sex or age. (Blake did take this opportunity to air her grievances against her direct supervisor for unrelated reasons.) The conversation ended with Mary telling Blake to go home and plant flowers. Blake did just that and took the afternoon off (with pay).

Rather than return the next day, Blake resigned from MJ Optical by leaving a voicemail for Mary. Blake again told Mary she was afraid of Marty's noncontrollable anger, and also expressed her gratitude to Mary for being a good boss. There is no evidence of any communication between Blake and anyone at MJ Optical between the day Blake quit and the day she filed her discrimination charge. Blake has since elaborated on the reasons she felt compelled to resign. In addition to Marty's anger, the driving force behind Blake's decision seems to have been the problem with the ruined frames and the way the work was coming out. Blake believed the issue was never going to get fixed, meaning she would never return to her old duties because Marty thought that [she] was the problem. Blake also felt like she had no choice but to resign because she was close to retirement age and sensed MJ Optical was weeding out expensive, older employees in favor of a cheaper, younger work force. Notably, Blake testified her decision had nothing to do with any of Marty's sexual or age-related conduct. She also had no idea how her pay compared to younger employees' rates.

In October 2014, Blake sued MJ Optical in federal court for sex and age discrimination in violation of federal and state law. See Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.  2000e, et seq.; Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act, Neb. Rev. Stat.  48-1101, et seq.; Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C.  621, et seq.; Nebraska Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Neb. Rev. Stat.  48-1001, et seq. MJ Optical moved for summary judgment about one year later. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. Despite noting Marty's behavior was without a doubt disgusting, the district court granted MJ Optical's motion and dismissed Blake's claims with prejudice. We must now determine whether that decision was the right one.

II. DISCUSSION

Blake maintains three claims on appeal: (1) disparate treatment based on sex discrimination; (2) disparate treatment based on age discrimination; and (3) hostile work environment. We review the grant of summary judgment on each claim de novo. See Torgerson v. City of Rochester, 643 F.3d 1031, 1042 (8th Cir. 2011) (en banc). We must affirm summary judgment if there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In assessing whether such a dispute exists, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to Blake and afford her all reasonable inferences. See Edwards v. Hiland Roberts Dairy, Co., 860 F.3d 1121, 1125 (8th Cir. 2017). Still, there must be enough evidence to allow  a rational trier of fact  to find for Blake on the required elements of her claims. Torgerson, 643 F.3d at 1042 (quoting Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 586 (2009)); see also Brunsting v. Lutsen Mountains Corp., 601 F.3d 813, 820 (8th Cir. 2010) ([I]f a nonmoving party who has the burden of persuasion at trial does not present sufficient evidence as to any element of the cause of action, then summary judgment is appropriate.).

A. Sex Discrimination

An employer cannot discriminate against an employee because of such individual's  sex. 42 U.S.C.  2000e-2(a)(1); Neb. Rev. Stat.  48-1104(1). Blake can defeat summary judgment by produc[ing] direct evidence of discrimination, or by creat[ing] an inference of discrimination under the burden-shifting framework of McDonnell Douglas. Ames v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 760 F.3d 763, 767 (8th Cir. 2014) (citing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973)). Because each path requires that Blake identify an adverse employment action, we skip to that issue to resolve this claim. See id.

Blake admits she was not fired or asked to resign, and she does not claim she was subjected to a pay cut, demotion, or undesirable transfer on the basis of her sex. Rather, Blake's argument that she suffered an adverse employment action rests entirely upon her claim she was constructively discharged because MJ Optical fail[ed] to control [Marty's] conduct. To prove a constructive discharge, an employee must show that the employer deliberately created intolerable working conditions with the intention of forcing her to quit. Alvarez v. Des Moines Bolt Supply, Inc., 626 F.3d 410, 418 (8th Cir. 2010); see also Tidwell v. Meyer's Bakeries, Inc., 93 F.3d 490, 494 (8th Cir. 1996) (describing the objective nature of the intolerability inquiry). An employee claiming constructive discharge shoulders a substantial burden. See O'Brien v. Dep't of Agric., 532 F.3d 805, 810-11 (8th Cir. 2008).

Blake cannot prove constructive discharge, because [w]e have consistently recognized that an employee is not constructively discharged if she quits without giving [her] employer a reasonable chance to work out a problem.  Trierweiler v. Wells Fargo Bank, 639 F.3d 456, 460 (8th Cir. 2011) (second alteration in original) (quoting Brenneman v. Famous Dave's of Am., Inc., 507 F.3d 1139, 1144 (8th Cir. 2007)); see also, e.g., Tidwell, 93 F.3d at 494. Blake did not give MJ Optical a reasonable chance to remedy the alleged mistreatment here, as she never told anyone there was a problem in need of fixing. The only time Blake complained about Marty came one day before she quit, and that was about conduct unrelated to her sex. Our cases make clear Blake's failure to seek a solution before quittingeither by telling Marty to stop, or by alerting her immediate supervisor or Mary to the alleged harassmentis fatal to her constructive discharge claim. See, e.g., Trierweiler, 639 F.3d at 460-61; Alvarez, 626 F.3d at 418-19.

Blake tries to avoid this result by arguing any attempt to fix the problem would have been futile because Mary wouldn't have done anything about it. Blake does not support this conclusory allegation with any reasoning or concrete example where Mary ignored such a complaintin fact, Blake says she considered Mary to be a good boss and recalls Mary promising to talk with Marty after the one and only time Blake complained about his behavior. Nor does Blake cite any case recognizing her proposed futility exception, likely because our precedent all but forecloses the notion:  Part of an employee's obligation to be reasonable  is an obligation not to assume the worst, and not to jump to conclusions too fast.  Alvarez, 626 F.3d at 419 (quoting Smith v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 895 F.2d 467, 473 (8th Cir. 1990)). Blake knew she could report incidents directly to the company president, Mary, as evidenced by the fact she did just that the day before she quit. We are cognizant of the fact Mary is Marty's mother, and reporting to her may not have been  ideal. Ames, 760 F.3d at 769. Yet Blake had an obligation not to jump to the conclusion that the attempt would not work and that her only reasonable option was to resign. Id. Before being held responsible for whatever problem there was, MJ Optical was entitled to a reasonable chance to address it. MJ Optical did not get such a chance. Thus Blake did not suffer an adverse employment action, meaning her claims for disparate treatment on the basis of sex fail.

B. Age Discrimination

Given our conclusion above, Blake's conventional age-discrimination claims need little discussion. An employer cannot discriminate against an employee because of such individual's age. 29 U.S.C.  623(a)(1); Neb. Rev. Stat.  48-1004(1)(a). Other than a heightened causation requirement for age-discrimination plaintiffs, courts assess age-based claims in the same way they do sex-based claims. See Holmes v. Trinity Health, 729 F.3d 817, 821 (8th Cir. 2013). Again, there must be an adverse employment action. See id. at 821-22. And again, this is where Blake's claims fail. Blake did not alert anyone at MJ Optical to what she perceived to be age discrimination or otherwise attempt to resolve the issue in any way. Therefore she did not provide the company with a reasonable chance to fix the problem before she quit. Our conclusion is the same as it was aboveBlake did not suffer an adverse employment action, so she cannot maintain a claim for disparate treatment on account of her age.

C. Hostile Work Environment

That leaves Blake's allegation she was subjected to a hostile work environment during her time at MJ Optical. Though it is just one way to show sex- or age-based discrimination, a hostile work environment claim is a distinct cause [ ] of action that demands a different evidentiary showing. See Winspear v. Cmty. Dev., Inc., 574 F.3d 604, 607 (8th Cir. 2009) (The claims have different elements,  [and] hostile work environment discrimination can exist absent a tangible employment action.  (quoting Pa. State Police v. Suders, 542 U.S. 129, 143 (2004))). To prove a hostile work environment claim, Blake must show (1) she  is a member of the class of people protected by the statute,  (2) she  was subject to unwelcome harassment,  (3)  the harassment resulted from [her] membership in the protected class,  and (4)  the harassment was severe enough to affect the terms, conditions, or privileges of [her] employment.  Sellers v. Deere & Co., 791 F.3d 938, 945 (8th Cir. 2015) (quoting Ryan v. Capital Contractors, Inc., 679 F.3d 772, 778 (8th Cir. 2012)).

We only address the second element here, which requires proof Blake considered Marty's conduct unwelcome. The element's phrasing is somewhat of an oversimplification, as the  gravamen  of any harassment claim is that the alleged misconduct was  unwelcome.  Quick v. Donaldson Co., 90 F.3d 1372, 1377 (8th Cir. 1996) (quoting Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 68 (1986)). Taking direction from the Supreme Court, we have said [t]he proper inquiry is whether the plaintiff indicated by [her] conduct that the alleged harassment was unwelcome. Id. at 1378 (emphasis added) (citing Meritor, 477 U.S. at 68); see also Jenkins v. Univ. of Minn., 838 F.3d 938, 945 (8th Cir. 2016); Beard v. Flying J, Inc., 266 F.3d 792, 798 (8th Cir. 2001) (A plaintiff must indicate by her conduct that the harassment was unwelcome.). The district court concluded Blake failed to adduce sufficient evidence she indicated Marty's conduct was unwelcome. MJ Optical argues this was right; Blake disagrees. Though the inquiry is necessarily fact dependent, we find guidance in decisions from our court and other courts that have discussed the competing conclusions urged by each party.

The first set of cases are those in which there was insufficient indication the conduct was unwelcome. MJ Optical leans heavily on Stuart v. General Motors Corp., 217 F.3d 621 (8th Cir. 2000). In Stuart, there was evidence the plaintiff was subjected to inappropriate sexual comments on a regular basis; pornographic photos and offensive signs in her locker and workspace; and  saluting by male co-workers who would grab their genitals and make  hoo-ha noises as she passed. Id. at 632. Though we held a reasonable person may consider this conduct to be unwelcome severe or pervasive harassment, we found no evidence the plaintiff considered it unwelcome during the time frame at issue. See id. Our decision rested almost entirely on the fact the plaintiff never made timely complaints about the alleged harassment, either formally or informally. See id. at 632 & nn.16-17. This reasoning has doomed plaintiffs in other cases, too. See, e.g., Souther v. Posen Constr., Inc., 523 Fed.Appx. 352, 355 (6th Cir. 2013) (unpublished) (holding a jury could not find [the] advances unwelcome where the plaintiff never complained to the harasser or anyone else, notwithstanding the plaintiff's after-the-fact statement in her deposition the conduct was unwelcome).

Other cases have looked to the plaintiff's behavior, relationship with the alleged harasser, and history with the company to conclude the plaintiff could not prove the conduct was unwelcome. See, e.g., Scusa v. Nestle U.S.A. Co., 181 F.3d 958, 962, 966 (8th Cir. 1999) (deciding there was insufficient proof where the plaintiff engaged in behavior similar to that which she claimed was unwelcome and offensive, despite timely complaints and journal entries indicating certain behaviors were unwelcome); Souther, 523 Fed.Appx. at 355 (concluding the conduct was not unwelcome based, in part, on the plaintiff's conduct, the fact she continued to return to the company for work, and her almost thirty-year relationship with the alleged harasser including consensual sex during some of that time); see also Ammons-Lewis v. Metro. Water Reclamation Dist. of Greater Chi., 488 F.3d 739, 746-47 (7th Cir. 2007) (addressing an evidentiary dispute and noting that, although a preexisting relationship by no means nullifies otherwise actionable harassment, the existence of a current or former social relationship between the harasser and the harassee can shed light on such relevant questions as whether the complained-of conduct was unwelcome).

The second line of cases are those in which the plaintiff adequately indicated the harassment was unwelcome. Sometimes the plaintiff has satisfied this element by showing she explicitly rebuffed the bad actor's propositions or told the harasser she found the conduct offensive. See, e.g., Williams v. Herron, 687 F.3d 971, 975 (8th Cir. 2012) (deciding the plaintiff adequately communicated the conduct was unwelcome where she twice told the harasser it made her uncomfortable). Other times the plaintiff has reported the conduct to someone with the authority to address the problem. See, e.g., Beach v. Yellow Freight Sys., 312 F.3d 391, 396 (8th Cir. 2002) (holding evidence was sufficient where the plaintiff repeatedly complained to management). We have also found it relevant when the bad actor somehow acknowledged his behavior was unwelcome. See, e.g., Bales v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 143 F.3d 1103, 1108 (8th Cir. 1998) (affirming jury verdict where the harasser admitted the plaintiff had complained to him four or five times about his conduct towards her). Oftentimes the plaintiff has indicated the harassment was unwelcome in more than one of these ways. See, e.g., Jenkins, 838 F.3d at 943, 945 (concluding the plaintiff satisfied her burden where she told the bad actor multiple times she was not interested in him, she notified a counselor and her academic advisor about the harassment, and the bad actor was aware that [the plaintiff] found his advances unwelcome given that he apologized if his expressing interest in [the plaintiff] made her uncomfortable ). There may well be other ways a plaintiff could adequately indicate unwelcomeness, these simply appear to be the most common.

The evidence here puts Blake's claims within the first category of cases. Blake and Marty have known each other for over forty years. See, e.g., Souther, 523 Fed.Appx. at 355. Although we cannot accept MJ Optical's suggestion their relationship was akin to one between an aunt and nephewand in any event we fail to see how such a familial relationship would excuse Marty's behaviorBlake admitted their relationship was positive for most of that time. This is reflected in the various ways their relationship extended beyond the workplace. After the complained-of conduct began in 1999, Blake continued to work at MJ Optical for almost fifteen years without once telling Marty to stop or complaining to anyone else at MJ Optical. See Stuart, 217 F.3d at 632; cf. Williams, 687 F.3d at 975; Beach, 312 F.3d at 396.

During those fifteen years, Blake and Marty joked around with one another; they occasionally exchanged I love yous; and Blake sometimes touched Marty between the shoulders. While we are not under any illusion these acts are similar in kind to Marty's unprofessional and boorish behavior, it does nothing to convey the allegedly severe and pervasive conduct was unwelcome. See also Scusa, 181 F.3d at 966. There is no evidence Marty was aware his conduct distressed Blake, either. Quite the oppositeMarty apparently saw his conduct as an attempt to lighten [the] mood a bit, and Blake recalls Marty would say she need[ed] to be happy. Cf. Jenkins, 838 F.3d at 945; Bales, 143 F.3d at 1108. When Blake finally did go to Mary to complain about how Marty treated her, she did not mention any of the conduct she now claims created a hostile work environment. Other than a dirty lookwhich it is unclear whether anyone even noticedthe first indication Blake gave that she felt discriminated against was when she filed her administrative charge alleging as much. This is too little, too late. Blake cannot show she indicated in a timely manner the complained-of conduct was unwelcome, thus she cannot maintain a claim for hostile work environment.

III. CONCLUSION

We affirm.

FOOTNOTES

. The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska.

. Blake worked for the Hagges' Omaha-based businesses continuously from the early 1970s to May 2013, except for a two-year hiatus in the early 1990s.

. Marty admits he would pat [Blake] on the bottom and tell her that she needed to find a man. To Marty, his poor behavior was an attempt to make [Blake] happy, to lighten her mood a bit. Marty also claims Blake would likewise pat [him] on the bottom, a disputed issue of fact we must ignore at the summary-judgment stage. See Torgerson v. City of Rochester, 643 F.3d 1031, 1042 (8th Cir. 2011) (en banc).

. Blake was born in 1949, meaning she was in her 50s and 60s when the complained-of conduct took place. She was the oldest employee in the nine-person finishing department, but not the oldest employee at MJ Optical.

. None of the three prior outbursts Blake recounted in her deposition (1) directly involved her, (2) resulted in Marty striking an employee, or (3) linked Marty's anger to sex- or age-based animus. To Blake, this final outburst was the topper.

. As it turned out, it appears Blake was not the root of the frame-assembly problem.

. The state acts are patterned after federal law, and given that neither party points to any differences between them, our analyses of Blake's federal claims apply with equal force to Blake's state claims. See Hartley v. Metro. Utils. Dist. of Omaha, 885 N.W.2d 675, 692 (Neb. 2016); Billingsley v. BFM Liquor Mgmt., Inc., 645 N.W.2d 791, 801 (Neb. 2002).

. The district court reaffirmed its conclusion by denying Blake's self-styled motion for reconsideration. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e), 60(b).

. We are receptive to MJ Optical's point that Blake has comingled [sic] causes of action and blurred applicable legal standards in getting to this point. For instance, Blake did not explicitly plead a hostile work environment claim and mentioned the phrase only once in her brief in opposition to summary judgment (and in an explanatory parenthetical, no less), but now treats that theory as her primary argument. The district court organized and dismissed her claims, discussing a hostile work environment claim, and because Blake attacks parts from each section of the district court's thorough analysis, we also will address this claim as well. See Winspear v. Cmty. Dev., Inc., 574 F.3d 604, 607 (8th Cir. 2009) (describing the wholly distinct causes of action for [h]ostile work environment and constructive discharge claims as having different elements).

. Blake does not contend her temporary reassignment constituted an adverse employment action. In any event, all evidence suggests the two-to three-day reassignment was based entirely upon addressing the problem with the frames and had no relation to [Blake's] age or gender. The district court correctly noted this is a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the short-term shift in duties. Blake does not argue this proffered reason was mere pretext. See Torgerson, 643 F.3d at 1046.

. We express no opinion on whether Blake's claim of constructive discharge would fail for any of the other reasons stated by the district court or argued by MJ Optical. For instance, we decline to address whether Blake could prove MJ Optical intended to force her to quit. See Fercello v. County of Ramsey, 612 F.3d 1069, 1083 (8th Cir. 2010). We also pass on resolving the significance of Blake's own testimony that she quit for reasons unrelated to sex- or age-based harassment.

. When the alleged harasser is a non-supervisor, the plaintiff must also prove the employer knew or should have known about the harassment and failed adequately to address it. See Rickard v. Swedish Match N. Am., 773 F.3d 181, 184 & n.2 (8th Cir. 2014). Those elements are not in play here, as Marty was a supervisor.

. Two points merit elaboration. First, unlike in constructive discharge claims, our hostile work environment cases do not yet recognize any bright-line rule requiring a plaintiff to have reported the alleged harassment to management in order to prove conduct was unwelcome. We create no such rule here, eitherto the extent the district court's decision suggested otherwise, it was wrong (or at least premature). Second, Blake stresses the lack of any written harassment or reporting policy at MJ Optical. While we agree this may be unwise (even for a small, family-run company like MJ Optical), it does not excuse the need for some adequate indication of unwelcomeness. In any event, there is no question Blake knew she could report directly to Mary, just as she did the day before she quit.

. We issue no opinion on whether the harassment was based on sex or age (an element MJ Optical challenges), or was severe or pervasive enough to alter a term, condition, or privilege of Blake's employment (a requirement the district court found unsatisfied). See Sellers, 791 F.3d at 945.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.
On Friday, Kenya's Supreme Court rendered a shock ruling cancelling the results of the August 8 election over widespread irregularities

A decision by Kenya's Supreme Court to annul the results of last month's presidential election was hailed Friday by analysts as "historic" and "an example for the rest of the world".

However, they warned that the 60 days within which a new election must be held will bring tension and anxiety, and the restraint of leaders and credibility of the new election will be paramount.

- A 'historic decision' -

On Friday, Kenya's Supreme Court rendered a shock ruling cancelling the results of the August 8 election over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of seven judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had taken the case to court, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

"It is a historic decision, the first of its kind in Africa," Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said.

Mutiga said the ruling "means Kenya, one of the most open societies in Africa, is gradually maturing as a democracy".

The "opposition can now go to court and expect to be served with justice", he added.

According to Nic Cheeseman, a professor in African politics at the University of Birmingham, many observers expected a "conservative" ruling -- similar to the decision in 2013 where Odinga took his grievances to court but eventually lost.

In a statement, Justus Nyang'aya, country director for Amnesty International Kenya, said the decision "demonstrates the independence of Kenya's judiciary and sets an example for the rest of the world".

But while the ruling "upholds the constitution" adopted in 2010, "it will put a lot of question marks on the international observers, who have massively said the election day went well," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

- The unknown -

In the majority decision, Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had been responsible for "irregularities and illegalities" which "affected the integrity of the election".

But until the court's full ruling is released, it is unclear what the judgement is based on.

"They've made one of the most important decisions in Kenyan history," Cheeseman said, "and it's going to be 21 days before we find out why".

Analysts bemoaned the wait, adding that the court's final statement will likely influence the next vote and the people who will be in charge of carrying it out.

"The reason why this election was not well run was because the IEBC had so little time to run it," Cheeseman said, noting that new election commissioners were named a mere seven months before the August poll.

"And so now you have less time".

For his part, the anonymous African diplomat said Kenya could see a rush of other dissatisfied candidates who lost out in governor, senator or MP races turn to the court with election grievances following the ruling.

- 'Show some maturity' -

"A lot of people will be nervous," Cheeseman said. "Kenya just had a difficult and controversial election, and this decision pushes it right back into another electoral campaign, which will start almost immediately".

"The outcome of the next election may be controversial again".

This is why "the reaction of the political leaders will be extremely critical in the next two months," Mutiga said.

"There will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, but political leaders need to show some maturity and make sure that they don't ruin what in my view is a remarkably important step for Kenya's democracy".

Mutiga added however that "restraint will be difficult in this very polarised environment" -- which was also stark before, during and after the August vote due to deep ethnic, economic and political divisions in Kenya.

On Friday, Amnesty International urged "all parties to comply with the judgement," calling "on the police to observe restraint in their handling of any celebrations or protests" that may follow.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.
The Ahrar al-Sham Brigade, whose figters are pictured above, was among several rebel factions that backed the idea to unify the fractured opposition movement in Syria

More than a dozen Syrian rebel factions have thrown their weight behind a proposed plan to create a single "national army" to unify the fractured opposition movement.

The idea was proposed earlier this week by the opposition's interim government in exile and by the Syrian Islamic Council (SIC), a body of Syrian Muslim clerics established in 2014 in Turkey.

"We must end the fractured state we are now facing and unify ranks," said the SIC, calling on rebels "to form one revolutionary army".

The interim government said the unified structure would "bring the downfall of the criminal regime".

By Friday, more than a dozen factions had backed the idea, including the prominent Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham and Turkish-backed rebels.

"We announce our support for the initiative launched by the SIC calling for a united national army," read a joint statement by Ankara-backed groups including the Mutasem Brigades.

Ahrar al-Sham said it was "ready to take all necessary steps to see the initiative succeed".

Since Syria's uprising broke out in March 2011, its various rebel components have tried and failed several times to form a lasting, unified front against President Bashar al-Assad.

In addition to losing territory to Assad's army, rebels have also clashed with jihadists from the Islamic State group and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.

That feeling of isolation may have pushed rebels to back this particular plan, said Charles Lister, an expert on Syria's rebel movement at the Middle East Institute.

"The only reason to say this might be different is because the opposition's situation is much more desperate than ever before," Lister told AFP on Friday.

"This is the only option they have left if they have any hope to be seen as legitimate."

Lister said idea was "very, very much a Turkish initiative" but had gained traction in recent weeks.

In particular, he added, rebels want to demonstrate to the international community that there were alternatives in Syria to Assad loyalists on one hand and jihadists on the other.
A human rights group this week filed two cases against General Jagath Jayasuriya in Colombia and Brazil, who until recently was Sri Lanka's ambassador in several South American countries

Sri Lanka's former army chief on Friday accused his successor of committing crimes against suspects during the island's civil war and said he was ready to testify against the ex-military commander.

A human rights group this week filed two cases against General Jagath Jayasuriya in Colombia and Brazil, who until recently was Sri Lanka's ambassador in several South American countries.

The group alleged that Jayasuriya oversaw torture camps and was responsible for hundreds of disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the final stages of the conflict when he was a senior officer.

He was promoted army chief barely three months after the war ended.

Sarath Fonseka, Jayasuriya's predecessor, told reporters in Colombo Friday that he had received complaints against the post-war commander, who was placed in charge of arrested rebel suspects during the final phase of the war.

"At that time, I had several complaints against him. It was to do with crimes against suspects in his custody," Fonseka said.

"As I started an investigation, the then rulers removed me as army commander."

Fonseka added that he was ready to testify against Jayasuriya, who was not immediately available for comment.

South African-based rights group the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), which filed the cases against Jayasuriya, said it wanted both Brazil and Colombia to revoke his diplomatic immunity.

But two days after the cases were filed, Jayasuriya left Brazil where he has been based since 2015. The foreign ministry in Colombo denied media reports that he fled and said he had completed a two-year term.

International rights groups have said that at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by security forces while crushing the rebels in the final months of Sri Lanka's 37-year civil war, which ended in May 2009.

The UN has estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed between 1972 and 2009.

Tiger rebels have also been accused of using human shields and killing civilians in their guerrilla war for a separate homeland for the minority ethnic Tamil community in the Sinhala majority nation.

Fonseka, who led Sri Lanka's armed forces between December 2005 and July 2009, insisted Friday that troops under his command did not commit atrocities.

Fonseka himself had been accused by rights groups of ordering indiscriminate shelling of hospitals and bombarding civilians. He has denied the allegations.

He said he was pressing for an independent investigation to clear the name of the military and to punish any offenders.

The former Sri Lankan government faced international censure for refusing to acknowledge that civilians were killed while battling Tamil separatists.

However, the new administration which came to power in January 2015 has said it was willing to investigate specific allegations of wrongdoing and pay reparations to victims.
President Robert Mugabe kisses his wife and first lady Grace Mugabe during the country's 37th Independence Day celebrations in April

Zimbabwean first lady Grace Mugabe on Friday made her first public comments since facing assault allegations in South Africa, but she avoided any mention of the incident two weeks ago.

President Robert Mugabe's wife was granted diplomatic immunity by South Africa after she was accused of attacking a 20-year-old model at an upmarket Johannesburg hotel.

Speaking at a rally in the Zimbabwean city of Gweru, she described her 93-year-old husband as a "prophet" for other African leaders and said he would retire when he "feels his body is no longer able to keep up".

Grace Mugabe, 52, is alleged to have assaulted Gabriella Engels with an electrical extension cable at the hotel where the Mugabes' two sons, who are in their 20s, were staying.

South African model Gabriella Engels was allegedly assaulted by Zimbabwe First Lady Grace Mugabe

Engels suffered cuts to her forehead and the back of her head during the alleged August 13 assault.

President Mugabe, who also spoke at Friday's rally, is due to stand for re-election next year.

He has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 in an era marked by repression of dissent, mass emigration and sharp economic decline since land reforms in 2000.
Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi (R) and opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama (L), pictured here in 2015, are expected to sign a peace deal in October

Mozambique's opposition chief Afonso Dhlakama said Friday he expected to sign a peace deal with President Filipe Nyusi by November, as the two sides look to end years of unrest.

The two men met last month in the remote Gorongosa mountains, where Dhlakama retreated in 2015 with 800 former fighters.

"In principle (the peace deal) will be in October and not later than November," Dhlakama told the Canal de Mocambique newspaper, speaking by phone from his forest hideout.

"It is expected that in October we will have another meeting to finalise the agreements," he said.

Dhlakama leads Renamo, an insurgent group that fought a 16-year civil war before becoming an opposition political party that again took up arms in 2013.

Clashes between the ruling Frelimo party government and Renamo last year revived the spectre of Mozambique's civil war that ended in 1992.

Renamo members, who hold seats in parliament, have called for greater decentralisation of the state and better integration of their people into the police and military.
Black smoke billows from a chimney on top of the Russian consulate on September 1, 2017 in San Francisco, California

Mysterious black smoke was seen rising from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco on Friday, as firefighters confirmed its occupants were burning unidentified objects on the eve of the mission's closure.

Washington ordered the shutdown of the facility along with two others on Thursday in a retaliatory move after the Kremlin demanded the US slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic missions.

Firefighters were called to the scene in response to alarmed -- or intrigued -- phone calls from citizens, but later clarified there was no cause for concern.

"The Russian embassy had a fire alarm NOT A FIRE everything is okay and we are clearing," San Francisco Fire tweeted from its official account.

Spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge told AFP that consulate employees "must be" in the middle of burning unknown items.

Firefighters "confirmed there was smoke coming from the chimney but no structural hazard," she added, without saying whether they entered the building.

The move triggered fevered speculation on Twitter about the nature of the material that had gone up in the flames.

"So they had so much to burn up that they set off their alarms with the smoke? Hahaha" wrote one user, while another said: "Much easier to burn than shred."

Another referenced ongoing official investigations into whether President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to help get himself elected: "Must be burning a big stack of Trump's love letters to Vladimir!"

US-Russia ties have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbor, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.
OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on wildfires in the western U.S. (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

Northern California authorities have arrested a man suspected of lighting an illegal campfire that they believe started a blaze that has destroyed 10 homes, damaged five others and threatened hundreds of houses and other structures.

Investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection arrested 29-year-old John Ballenger of Oroville on Wednesday, a day after the fire was reported. He was taken to jail, and jail records don't show whether he's represented by an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Firefighters say the fire isn't contained at all and it is growing in hot and dry weather.

___

11 a.m.

Authorities say a Northern California wildfire has destroyed 10 homes, is threatening 800 more and has forced people to evacuate.

The blaze that began Tuesday near the town of Oroville is among a series of wildfires burning across the U.S. West, including in and around California's Yosemite National Park.

A popular road into the park has been closed and nearby towns evacuated.

The latest wildfire is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Oroville Dam, the nation's tallest. Tens of thousands of residents downstream fled when the dam's spillways crumbled earlier this year and led to fears of catastrophic flooding.

Months later, a wildfire about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the dam destroyed 41 homes in July.

Wildfires in Oregon and Montana also have prompted evacuations.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two weeks before Harvey's flood waters engulfed much of Houston, President Donald Trump quietly rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other structures so they can better withstand future disasters.

Now, with much of the nation's fourth-largest city underwater, Trump's move has new resonance. Critics note the president's order could force Houston and other cities to rebuild hospitals and highways in the same way and in the same flood-prone areas.

"Rebuilding while ignoring future flood events is like treating someone for lung cancer and then giving him a carton of cigarettes on the way out the door," said Michael Gerrard, a professor of environmental and climate change law at Columbia University. "If you're going to rebuild after a bad event, you don't want to expose yourself to the same thing all over again."

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, Interstate 69 is covered by floodwaters from Harvey, in Humble, Texas. Just two weeks ago, President Donald Trump rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other construction so they can better withstand future disasters. That decision is now being questioned with the Texas Gulf Coast and much of Houston under water in the wake of Harvey. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Trump's action is one of several ways the president, who has called climate change a hoax, has tried to wipe away former President Barack Obama's efforts to make the United States more resilient to threats posed by the changing climate.

The order Trump revoked would have permitted the rebuilding to take into account climate scientists' predictions of stronger storms and more frequent flooding.

Bridges and highways, for example, could be rebuilt higher, or with better drainage. The foundation of a new fire station or hospital might be elevated an extra 3 feet (about 1 meter).

While scientists caution against blaming specific weather events like Harvey on climate change, warmer air and warmer water linked to global warming have long been projected to make such storms wetter and more intense. Houston, for example, has experienced three floods in three years that statistically were once considered 1-in-500-year events.

The government was still in the process of implementing Obama's 2015 order when it was rescinded. That means the old standard - rebuilding storm-ravaged facilities in the same way they had been built before - is still in place.

Trump revoked Obama's order as part of an executive order of his own that he touted at an Aug. 15 news conference at Trump Tower. That news conference was supposed to focus on infrastructure, but it was dominated by Trump's comments on the previous weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump didn't specifically mention the revocation, but he said he was making the federal permitting process for the construction of transportation and other infrastructure projects faster and more cost-efficient without harming the environment.

"It's going to be quick, it's going to be a very streamlined process," Trump said.

Asked about the revocation, the White House said in a statement that Obama's order didn't consider potential impacts on the economy and was "applied broadly to the whole country, leaving little room or flexibility for designers to exercise professional judgment or incorporate the particular context" of a project's location.

Obama's now-defunct order also revamped Federal Flood Risk Management Standards, calling for tighter restrictions on new construction in flood-prone areas. Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, opposed the measure, saying it would impede land development and economic growth.

Revoking that order was only the latest step by Trump to undo Obama's actions on climate change.

In March, Trump rescinded a 2013 order that directed federal agencies to encourage states and local communities to build new infrastructure and facilities "smarter and stronger" in anticipation of more frequent extreme weather.

Trump revoked a 2015 Obama memo directing agencies developing national security policies to consider the potential impact of climate change.

The president also disbanded two advisory groups created by Obama: the interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience and the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.

Obama's 2015 order was prompted in part by concerns raised by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper after severe flooding in his state two years earlier. Hickenlooper was dismayed to learn that federal disaster aid rules were preventing state officials from rebuilding "better and smarter than what we had built before."

The "requirements essentially said you had to build it back exactly the way it was, that you couldn't take into consideration improvements in resiliency," Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said Tuesday. "We want to be more prepared for the next event, not less prepared."

Bud Wright, the Federal Highway Administration's executive director during George W. Bush's administration, said this has long been a concern of federal officials.

He recalled a South Dakota road that was "almost perpetually flooded" but was repeatedly rebuilt to the same standard using federal aid because the state didn't have the extra money to pay for enhancements.

"It seemed a little ridiculous that we kept doing that," said Wright, now the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' executive director.

But Kirk Steudle, director of Michigan's Department of Transportation, said states can build more resilient infrastructure than what they had before a disaster by using state or non-emergency federal funds to make up the cost difference.

"That makes sense, otherwise FEMA would be the big checkbook," he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Everybody would be hoping for some disaster so FEMA could come in and build them a brand new road to the 2020 standard instead of the 1970 standard."

Even though Obama's order has been revoked, federal officials have some wiggle room that might allow them to rebuild to higher standards, said Jessica Grannis, who manages the adaptation program at the Georgetown Climate Center.

If local building codes in place before the storm call for new construction to be more resilient to flooding, then federal money can still be used to pay the additional costs.

For example, in Houston regulations require structures to be rebuilt 1 foot (30 centimeters) above the level designated for a 1-in-100-year storm. And in the wake of prior disasters, FEMA has moved to remap floodplains, setting the line for the 1-in-100-year flood higher than it was before.

___

Follow Associated Press environmental writer Michael Biesecker at www.Twitter.com/mbieseck and transportation reporter Joan Lowy at www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

FILE - In this March 22, 2014 file photo, a man walks along the naked beams in the remains of his flood-damaged home in Lyons, Colo., destroyed in Sept. 2013. Houston's population is growing quickly, but when Harvey hit last weekend there were far fewer homes and other properties in the area with flood insurance than just five years ago, according to an Associated Press investigation. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

Residents of a neighborhood in northwest Beaumont are rescued by boat in Beaumont, Texas, after Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday Aug. 30, 2017. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on the deadly shooting at a public library in eastern New Mexico (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

Prosecutors have charged a 16-year-old high school student with murder over a shooting inside a public library in New Mexico that killed two employees and seriously wounded four others.

A woman places flowers at the entrance of the Clovis-Carver Public Library in Clovis, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, a day after a deadly shooting. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

The filing Wednesday lists nearly a dozen counts against Nathaniel Jouett, including first-degree murder, child abuse, assault with intent to commit a violent felony and aggravated battery.

The Clovis High School student is in custody at a juvenile detention center. Prosecutors plan to charge Jouett as an adult and will take the case to a grand jury next week.

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday night to remember the victims of Monday's rampage as residents add to makeshift memorials around the rural community.

More candlelight vigils were planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

___

11:10 p.m.

A pastor says the teenager suspected of killing two people and injuring four others in a public library had been searching for "inner peace" shortly before the shooting.

Pastor David Stevens says Nathaniel Jouett, 16, started attending Living Word Church of God three months ago and appeared to be turning his life around after having contemplated suicide several months earlier.

Jouett is now awaiting charges for Monday's deadly rampage. Authorities say their work has only begun as they talk to his family and friends and comb through social media posts looking for clues as to what may have prompted the violence.

Police Chief Douglas Ford says authorities plan to charge Jouett with two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, four counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of child abuse.

An injured woman is carried to an ambulance in Clovis, N.M., Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, as authorities respond to reports of a shooting inside a public library. A city official says police have taken a person into custody who they believe is responsible for a shooting at the library. (Tony Bullocks/The Eastern New Mexico News via AP)
ISTANBUL (AP) - Seven people were injured in western Turkey after an explosive device was detonated Thursday, according to officials.

The prosecutor's office of Izmir province said in statement an improvised explosive device was planted in a garbage container and exploded at 8:01 am (5:01 GMT) as a bus carrying prison staff passed by.

The injured include the bus driver and six people who worked at Izmir's maximum security Buca prison.

Izmir governor Erol Ayyildiz said one person was hospitalized but none of the injuries was life threatening, according to the country's official Anadolu news agency.

Turkey has been hit by a string of attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and outlawed Kurdish militants in the past two years, as the country combats numerous security threats.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump's eldest son, The Associated Press has learned.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed to the AP that Rinat Akhmetshin had appeared before Mueller's grand jury in recent weeks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret proceedings.

The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

FILE- In this June 21, 2017, file photo, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington. A grand jury used by Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump's eldest son, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The meeting included Donald Trump Jr.; the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Emails released by Trump Jr. show he took the meeting expecting that he would be receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of what was described to him as a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.

The Financial Times first reported Akhmetshin's grand jury appearance. Reached by the AP, Akhmetshin declined comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, also declined comment Wednesday night.

The confirmation of Akhmetshin's grand jury testimony comes after he spoke at length about his involvement in the Trump Tower meeting in an interview with the AP last month.

Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military officer who served in a counterintelligence unit, is also a well-known Washington lobbyist. He has been representing Russian interests trying to undermine the story of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison and is the namesake of a U.S. sanctions law.

Akhmetshin has been reported to have ties to Russian intelligence but he has denied that, calling the allegations a "smear campaign."

Mueller and his team first signaled their interest in the Trump Tower gathering last month by contacting an attorney for at least some of the Russians who attended.

The meeting at issue was disclosed earlier this year to Congress and first revealed by The New York Times.

Trump Jr. has offered evolving explanations for the circumstances of the meeting, initially saying that the purpose was to discuss adoption and later acknowledging that he anticipated receiving information that he thought could be damaging to Clinton.

In addition to Akhmetshin, other attendees at the meeting included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, music publicist Rob Goldstone - who helped arrange the gathering - and a translator. Ike Kaveladze, who also goes by the name Irakly Kaveladze, also attended the meeting. Kaveladze works for a Russian developer who partnered with Trump on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

An email exchange posted to Twitter by Trump Jr. showed him conversing with Goldstone, who wanted him to meet with someone he described as a "Russian government attorney," who supposedly had dirt on Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."

"If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer," Trump Jr. wrote in one email response.

Another contact between Trump associates and Russia was revealed this week when Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, acknowledged that the Trump Organization was pursuing a Trump Tower real estate complex in Moscow in 2015. Cohen said he had reached out to a press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin about approvals.

In a letter this month to the House intelligence committee, Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, dismissed as "false" and "wholly unsubstantiated" claims about Cohen included in a dossier of salacious allegations about the president's connections with Russia.

___

Associated Press writer Desmond Butler contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union and Britain were locked Thursday in a bitter fight over the divorce bill London will have to pay on Brexit, a standoff that fuels concerns over a messy breakup with no deal at all.

Britain is insisting that it has no obligation to meet all the EU's financial demands while the EU says that without clarity on the bottom line, it will refuse to heed Britain's demand to quickly open talks on a future relationship which would be vital for a smooth transition once Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

The two sides remained at loggerheads over a number of issues beyond Britain's financial commitments, including the rights of citizens in each other's areas and the Irish border.

European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, participates in a media conference with British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis at EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The EU and Britain concluded a third round of Brexit negotiations on Thursday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

"We did not get any decisive progress on any principal subjects," Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, said at a press conference after the conclusion of the third round of separation talks.

After the British government triggered the two-year separation proceedings in March, the EU said it will not start talking about a future relationship unless key issues like financial commitments are dealt with. These include everything from staff pensions to commitments made to developing countries.

Britain, for its part, says the EU is taking a "maximalist" approach to such issues, but wants to talk about trade as soon as possible as its actual departure date gets nearer.

In testy comments after four days of talks, Barnier said it would only be logical that Britain pays for commitments it made as far back as 2014 and not leave the remaining 27 EU nations footing the bill.

"It would not be fair," he said. "After this week, it is clear the U.K. does not feel legally obliged to honor its obligations after departure."

According to some estimates, Britain's bill to cover commitments it has made could be around 60 billion euros ($71 billion). Many in the British government have balked at anything that high. Other estimates are even higher.

"We have a duty to our taxpayers to interrogate it rigorously," Britain's chief Brexit negotiator David Davis said, highlighting a gap of billions of euros separating the two.

Barnier said the dispute posed fundamental questions. "With such uncertainty how can we build trust and start discussing a future relationship."

In light of the minimal progress made, Barnier said he was not yet in a position to advise EU leaders meeting in October to throw open the talks to include future relations between them.

Barnier said "we are far from seeing sufficient progress." The notion of "sufficient progress" can only be officially decided by EU leaders, without British Prime Minister Theresa May.

As well as the divorce bill, the EU wants to see progress on guarantees for citizens' rights and issues related to the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland before any trade talks can begin.

While conceding some of the discussions on Ireland had proven "fruitful," Barnier warned Britain that with "every passing day we move closer to the date of departure."

Davis conceded that "significant differences" remain and called on the EU to show "flexibility" to break the logjam in talks. Barnier said the EU was ready to intensify the pace of the negotiations.

European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, participates in a media conference with British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis at EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The EU and Britain concluded a third round of Brexit negotiations on Thursday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The EU and Britain concluded a third round of Brexit negotiations on Thursday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
VENICE, Italy (AP) - Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" is an aquatic "Beauty and the Beast," a transgressive fairy tale about a young woman's love for a scaly creature from the Amazonian depths.

Like the best fables, it's also rooted in the real world: the story of a migrant from the south facing a hostile reception in a security-obsessed United States.

"I think that fantasy is a very political genre," del Toro said Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, where "The Shape of Water" had its red-carpet world premiere. It's one of 21 films competing for the coveted Golden Lion, the festival's top prize.

Director Guillermo Del Toro, from right, actors Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Shape of Water' during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

"Fairy tales were born in times of great trouble. They were born in times of famine, pestilence and war," he added.

Part monster movie, part noir thriller, part Hollywood musical, the film defies categorization, though Del Toro took a stab, suggesting it's "like Douglas Sirk rewriting Pasolini's 'Theorem' with a fish."

Some critics are calling it del Toro's best film since "Pan's Labyrinth" in 2006. The Daily Telegraph summed it up as "an honest-to-God B-movie blood-curdler that's also, somehow, a shimmeringly earnest and boundlessly beautiful melodrama." Screen International called it "exquisite ... del Toro at his most poignant and sweet."

Set in early-1960s Baltimore, the film stars Sally Hawkins as Elisa, a mute orphan who works as a cleaner at a high-security lab. She forges a bond with a captured creature who is at the center of a Cold War tug-of-war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

"It's a movie set in 1962, but it's a movie about today," del Toro told reporters at a Venice news conference. "It's about the issues we have today. When America talks about America being great again, I think they are dreaming of an America that was in gestation in '62 - an America that was futuristic, full of promise ... but at the same time there was racism, sexism, classism."

Del Toro said the creature - played with fittingly fluid movements by Doug Jones - is the only character in the film without a name, because he represents "many things to many people."

For lonely Elisa, "it's the first time somebody, something is looking at her, looking back the way you look back at the person you love." For Michael Shannon's ruthless U.S. government agent Strickland, the creature is "a dark, dirty thing that comes from the south" and must be eliminated.

"I am Mexican, and I know what it is to be looked at as 'the other' no matter what circumstances you're in," the director said - and the character of the creature embodied that otherness.

The film features warm performances from Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins as Elisa's friends - and a mesmerizing turn from Hawkins, who creates a character of depth, passion and compassion without saying a word.

Hawkins said that when del Toro first told her about the movie, she was working on her own project about "a woman who doesn't know she's a mermaid." Some of those ideas fed into the character of Elisa.

"It was just synchronistic," she said. "It was very odd. Those things rarely happen and when they do you know it's something special."

"The Shape of Water" features del Toro's usual rich mix of ingredients: everything from Russian spies to musical interludes. Its overriding message, the director says, is "to choose love over fear."

"We live in times where fear and cynicism are used in a way that is very pervasive and persuasive," del Toro said. "Our first duty when we wake up is to believe in love.

"It's the strongest force in the universe," he said. "The Beatles and Jesus can't be wrong - not both of them at the same time."

___

Follow Jill Lawless on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

From left, director Guillermo Del Toro and actors Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins arrive on the red carpet for the movie "The Shape Of Water" during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival at the Venice Lido, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Actress Sally Hawkins arrives on the red carpet for the movie "The Shape Of Water" during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival at the Venice Lido, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Actress Sally Hawkins arrives on the red carpet for the movie "The Shape Of Water" during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival at the Venice Lido, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Actress Octavia Spencer arrives on the red carpet for the movie "The Shape Of Water" during the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival at the Venice Lido, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, wearing an outfit by Tadashi Shoji (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Director Guillermo Del Toro poses for photographers during the photo call for the film "The Shape of Water" at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Actress Sally Hawkins, left, poses with director Guillermo Del Toro for photographers during the photo call for the film "The Shape of Water" at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Director Guillermo Del Toro poses for photographers during the photo call for the film "The Shape of Water" at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Actress Sally Hawkins poses for photographers during the photo call for the film "The Shape of Water" at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on France's planned labor reforms (all times local):

3:20 p.m.

One measure in the French government's just-announced labor reforms caps the amount that an employee who contests their dismissal in court can be paid, easing concerns of bosses who fear that firing can become too costly.

France's Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud gives a press conference with France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, in Paris, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. France's prime minister says five bold, and divisive, labor reforms are meant to "cure" not "treat the symptoms" of France's high long-standing jobless rate.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

The new changes introduce a scale of remuneration based on the employee's seniority in the company. The reform says an employee dismissed without real cause can receive a maximum of 20 months of salary before taxes - if this employee has worked at least 29 years for the company.

Another measure simplifies the departures of a group of employees if the company needs to adapt its staff. The employer can, with the reforms, negotiated directly with the staff about the conditions of their departure, doing away with rigid rules and bypassing unions.

The French government announced the proposed changes on Thursday.

___

2:15 p.m.

France's prime minister says five bold measures to reform France's rules-laden labor laws will make small- and medium-size companies a priority "for the first time."

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said nine out of 10 companies in France have less than 50 employees and are forgotten in labor negotiations. Now, he says, they are "at the heart" of France's planned labor changes.

With the changes, French companies with fewer than 50 employees can negotiate work rules with an elected colleague, and companies with fewer than 20 employees can negotiate directly with their employees.

Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud said the reforms aim not just to change the rules but "to change the behavior of social dialogue in our country."

The reforms will be posted online.

___

1:20 p.m.

France's prime minister says five bold, and divisive, labor reforms are meant to "cure" not "treat the symptoms" of France's long-standing high jobless rate.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said, while announcing the planned reforms Thursday, the aim is to "make up for lost years, missed occasions." He says "it probably would have been easier and less risky to treat the symptoms rather than cure them."

He stressed that President Francois Macron was elected in May to make changes that have a deep impact on labor law and labor relations.

The five measures will be passed via a special procedure at parliament to avoid lengthy debate and ratified by year's end.

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7 a.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron faces his biggest test yet with the release of a divisive pro-business labor reform that he hopes will foster stronger growth and reduce the country's stubbornly high unemployment rate by revolutionizing the way the French work.

But the high-stakes move Thursday comes just as his popularity is sinking. Unions and political opponents have already called for street protests and strikes in what could be an unusually hot autumn for the recently elected president.

His plans to reform the labor market to make it more flexible were at the heart of Macron's election campaign. However, opponents fear it will weaken hard-won worker protections synonymous with the much-envied French lifestyle.

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7 a.m.

Foreign investors and France's European neighbors are watching President Emmanual Macron's labor reform plan closely - almost as closely as the French workers it will directly affect.

France is the No. 2 economy in the eurozone, but its chronic 10-percent unemployment has long weighed on the region's growth.

The labor overhaul is the central pillar in Macron's promises to create jobs and make his country more globally competitive after repeated failed efforts at reform.

Macron said that changing labor rules was but one "instrument" to attain something larger, "the freeing up of energies."

Macron says "we must see things as they are: We are the only major economy of the European Union which hasn't vanquished mass unemployment in more than three decades."

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7 a.m.

A big question is how much President Emmanuel Macron's labor reforms will reduce the power of national collective bargaining, which has long dominated French labor relations - the reason French unions are so influential despite relatively low union membership. The plan is expected to give businesses more flexibility to define internal working rules instead of being bound by sector-wide rules.

Left-wing opponents fear it will hand too much power to profit-focused bosses, while some conservatives fear it won't go far enough.

One measure is expected to cap the financial penalty for companies sued for firing employees. Other changes aim at simplifying negotiations process between employers and employees.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Wednesday more than 100 meetings with unions and employers organizations were held to prepare the reform. H

Pierre Gattaz, president of France's main employers' organization, Medef, said on BFM television: "We have been awaiting this plan for decades."

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7 a.m.

The reform's success depends heavily on how many unions oppose it. Philippe Martinez, leader of the hard-left CGT, one of France's major unions, has called for protests and strikes Sept. 12, but some others are waiting to see the detail in the decrees.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who finished fourth in the presidential race, has called for another street protest on Sept. 23 against "anti-democratic" measures.

The government decided to use a special procedure at Parliament to avoid a lengthy debate and get the labor plan passed more quickly.

The draft decrees released Thursday aren't final, but nearly so. They are to be formally approved in a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 20 after being endorsed by the Council of State, the country's highest administrative authority. Parliament, dominated by Macron's party, must ratify them by the end of the year.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he was "impressed" by what he heard about the reform. He says "I'm sure this will help (France) to become stronger."

France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe gives a media conference with Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud in Paris, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. France's prime minister says five bold, and divisive, labor reforms are meant to "cure" not "treat the symptoms" of France's high long-standing jobless rate.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe gives a media conference with Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud in Paris, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. France's prime minister says five bold, and divisive, labor reforms are meant to "cure" not "treat the symptoms" of France's high long-standing jobless rate. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, left, and Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud give a media conference in Paris, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. France's prime minister says five bold, and divisive, labor reforms are meant to "cure" not "treat the symptoms" of France's high long-standing jobless rate. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
BEDFORD, Ohio (AP) - A 19-year-old Ohio man has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the beating death of a 15-month-old girl.

A Bedford Municipal Court judge ordered Tariq Debardeleben held without bond Thursday during his first court appearance. He was charged Wednesday.

Police say Morgan Dillard died of injuries Saturday while Debardeleben babysat her and other children at a Warrensville Heights home.

A police report says Morgan was Debardeleben's girlfriend's niece. He told investigators the baby went limp while he dressed her after a bath.

The Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Medical Examiner's Office said she died from blunt impact injuries to the head and abdomen and had a fractured skull.

A defense attorney told the judge Thursday that Debardeleben is obtaining his GED and has no history of violent criminal behavior.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee sheriff says a school resource officer has been charged with assaulting a student.

Rutherford County Sheriff Michael Fitzhugh says 53-year-old Jimmy Sanford of La Vergne is accused of handcuffing and assaulting a 16-year-old male student on Monday at Smyrna West Alternative School before taking him to a juvenile facility in Murfreesboro.

Fitzhugh said in a statement on Wednesday that Sanford was jailed and also faces charges of perjury and filing a false report. He was fired from the agency.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Sanford has an attorney.
MOSCOW (AP) - Police in St. Petersburg say they are searching for unidentified assailants who attempted to set fire to a building housing the studios of a director whose film about the last Russian czar's affair with a ballerina has fueled controversy.

Police said no one was hurt in Thursday's incident and the building suffered no damage except soot left on its facade, according to Interfax.

The building houses the studios of Alexei Uchitel, whose film "Matilda," set for release in October, describes Nicholas II's relationship with ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya.

A man walks past damaged windows of a building housing the studios of director Alexei Uchitel after unidentified assailants attempted to set fire to this building in St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Police in St. Petersburg say they are searching for unidentified assailants who have attempted to set fire to a building housing the studios of director Alexei Uchitel whose film "Matilda," about the last Russian czar's affair with a ballerina has fueled controversy. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The film has drawn harsh criticism from some Orthodox believers and hard-line nationalists, who see it as blasphemy against the emperor, glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. The campaign reflects the growing assertiveness of conservative activists.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's top domestic security said Thursday it has detained two suspects from ex-Soviet Central Asia accused of plotting attacks on civilians in Moscow on behalf of the Islamic State group.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said the suspects were preparing to launch the attacks on Friday, the beginning of the school year in Russia.

The agency said one of the suspects was planning to carry out a suicide bombing. It said a powerful homemade explosive device was found at his apartment.

Another man was preparing to attack civilians with an ax and put out a video statement pledging adherence to the IS. The suspect had contacted IS recruiters and received instructions from the group, the FSB said.

Earlier this month, the FSB arrested four suspects accused of planning suicide bombings on Moscow's transit system and shopping malls.

In May, the FSB arrested another group of suspected IS members who were also accused of plotting terror attacks in the Russian capital.

The arrests follow a suicide bombing in the St. Petersburg's subway that left 16 dead and wounded more than 50 in April.

President Vladimir Putin said in April that some 9,000 militants, about half of them from Russia and the rest from ex-Soviet Central Asian nations, have joined the Islamic State in Syria.

Putin has said that a key goal for the Russian military campaign in Syria is to destroy the militants there and prevent them from coming back home.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Students staging an around-the-clock protest against a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in.

Police oversaw the removal around 9 a.m. of the tables, tarps, signs and other belongings used by the protesters who have been sitting and sleeping for more than a week at the statue known as Silent Sam. The sit-in grew out of an anti-statue demonstration in the aftermath of a violent rally earlier this month in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Organizers vowed to continue the Chapel Hill sit-in even with fewer supplies.

Protesters gather at a Confederate monument known as "Silent Sam" on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Students staging an around-the-clock protest against the statue were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Later in the afternoon, hundreds marched across campus to Silent Sam as part of a previously planned rally that was also decrying proposed changes to the school's Center for Civil Rights.

"The statue is still standing here, so we still have a lot of work to do," said student Tahj Warren, addressing the crowd with a bullhorn. "But the fact that we're standing together means that we are powerful together."

Another student organizer, Gabrielle Johnson, said small groups of about six students have been taking turns spending the night around the statue. Supporters have brought them hot food and water, but others stopped by to make threatening statements - an unnerving prospect despite police watching from nearby.

"I'm not saying we couldn't get real rest out here, but it's a stressful situation being out here in the open," Johnson said.

University officials warned students on Wednesday that belongings would be removed the next day. The university issued a statement that the items violated campus policy restricting temporary structures and signs. The university statement said that "we have a responsibility to maintain the cleanliness and order of all campus open spaces and grounds."

___

Follow Drew at www.twitter.com/jonldrew

Protesters surround the Confederate monument "Silent Sam" on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Students staging an around-the-clock protest against the statue were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Protesters march to a Confederate monument known as "Silent Sam" on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Students staging an around-the-clock protest against the statue were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in.(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Protesters gather and hold a sign around the Confederate monument known as "Silent Sam" on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Students staging an around-the-clock protest against the statue were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Protesters march to the Confederate monument "Silent Sam" on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Students staging an around-the-clock protest against the statue were joined by hundreds of supporters Thursday after police took away picnic tables and other equipment used for the sit-in. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)




Two sales employees at FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga received national recognition at the 2017 FASTSIGNS Outside Sales Summit held in St. Louis, Missouri.David Murphy received two awards including the National Sales Achievement Award, which honors the salesperson with the highest total sales in the FASTSIGNS network from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 and is the highest achievement awarded at the summit. Mr. Murphy also received the Platinum Sales Award, which recognizes sales professionals who achieved sales exceeding $1 million; with more than 660 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers worldwide; only 11 outside sales professionals received this award.Reis Costa received the Silver Sales Award, which recognizes individuals who achieved sales between $500,000 and $699,999; only 29 FASTSIGNS outside sales professionals earned this recognition.We are so proud of our team for their outstanding sales achievements; they always go above and beyond for our customers to ensure they receive excellent service and quality products, said Phil Bacon, who owns FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga with his wife, Cindy.We look forward to continue helping local businesses and organizations solve their visual communications challenges with innovative ideas and creative solutions.FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga has served local businesses and organizations in the area for over 27 years. The business is located at 3763 Powers Court and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Navy commander accused of accepting bribes from a Malaysian contractor who supplied the Japan-based 7th fleet has had the military's equivalent of a preliminary hearing to show if there's probable cause to proceed with a court-martial.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Cmdr. Jason Starmer had the hearing at Naval Station Norfolk on Wednesday.

Starmer is accused of accepting expensive dinners, drinks, and prostitutes from Leonard Francis, otherwise known as "Fat Leonard," in 2012 and 2013. Francis has pleaded guilty to presiding over a conspiracy involving bribes and gifts in exchange for Navy contracts in Southeast Asia.

Coast Guard Lt. Robert Canoy argued that as operations director at the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group in Bangkok, Thailand, his client wasn't important enough to be part of a conspiracy.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
NEW YORK (AP) - A former sales director for a New York charter bus company is accused of stealing 36,000 amusement park admission tickets, worth over $1 million.

According to the Daily News (http://nydn.us/2glhm8V ), prosecutors say Rosemarie Bader used a company credit card to over-purchase tickets from New Jersey's Six Flags Great Adventure and from Pennsylvania's Dorney Park.

Authorities say the tickets were redeemed at the parks - but not through any of the Brooklyn charter bus company's tour packages.

Prosecutors say Best Trails and Travel Corporation discovered the purchases and fired Bader in October. She was arraigned Wednesday on grand larceny and possession of stolen property charges.

Bader's lawyer did not return a call seeking comment.
Prosecutors said Thursday there isn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges in the deadly thrill ride accident at this year's Ohio State Fair that killed a high school student and injured seven other people.

The State Highway Patrol, which led the investigation, said it interviewed over 80 witnesses, including people on the ride when one of its carriages carrying four people broke apart on the midway.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said his review of the patrol findings led him to decide against moving forward with a criminal case.

FILE- In this Thursday, July 27, 2017 file photo, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper removes a ground spike from in front of the fire ball ride at the Ohio State Fair, in Columbus, Ohio. Authorities say there won't be any criminal charges in the deadly thrill ride accident at this year's Ohio State Fair. An 18-year-old high school student was killed and seven other people were hurt on the fair's opening day on July 26 when the Fire Ball ride broke apart as it was swinging with a full load of passengers.(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

The Fire Ball ride broke apart as it was swinging with a full load of passengers on the fair's opening day July 26, killing 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell, of Columbus.

Video taken by a bystander of the swinging, spinning ride in action captured the moment it came apart and two people were ejected and plunged toward the ground. Other riders were still in their seats as they fell.

The ride's Dutch manufacturer, KMG, said excessive corrosion within a support beam wore away the steel wall's thickness over the years, causing the catastrophic failure of the Fire Ball ride.

But its explanation didn't answer why or when the ride began rusting away or how it went unnoticed.

The company shut down similar rides worldwide after the accident and has said it developed new inspection guidelines.

The ride's operator, Amusements of America, submitted paperwork to the Ohio State Fair showing it completed ultrasonic testing of the ride's 24 gondola arm pins last October. But it's not clear whether the tests examined the area where the carriage broke.

Those tests are done based on the manufacturer's recommendations of where to look for potential problems.

The state's own ride inspectors do visual checks of the fair rides to make sure they're assembled and operating properly.
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - Campbell Soup Co. said Thursday that it expects sales to keep falling over the next year as more people skip its canned soups and bottled juices in favor of fresher foods.

"The operating environment for the packaged foods industry remains challenging," CEO Denise Morrison said.

The company's stock fell to a two-year-low Thursday morning.

Campbell Soup and other packaged food companies have been hurting as consumer tastes change. Morrison said more people are shopping in the produce sections of supermarkets and not picking up its unrefrigerated V8 juices and cans of Campbell Soup. She also blamed falling sales on the increased number of stores with private food brands and the growth of ready-to-cook meal delivery companies.

At its soup and juice division, Campbell Soup's biggest business, sales fell 3 percent in the three months that ended July 30 from the same period a year ago. Sales at its biscuits and snacks business unit, which includes Pepperidge Farm cookies and Goldfish crackers, were flat from a year ago. And sales at its fresh food unit, which makes Bolthouse Farms carrots, salad dressings and cold drinks, rose 1 percent.

Overall, the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $318 million, $1.04 per share, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. Earnings adjusted for non-recurring gains were 52 cents per share, missing Wall Street expectations by 3 cents, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The Camden, New Jersey-based company said revenue fell 1.4 percent to $1.66 billion, falling short of the $1.69 billion analysts expected.

For the year, the company reported profit of $887 million, or $2.89 per share. Revenue was reported as $7.89 billion.

Campbell expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.04 to $3.11 per share, and for revenue to fall as much as 2 percent from the year before. Analysts expected earnings of $3.32 per share and for revenue to rise from the year before.

Shares of Campbell Soup fell $2.98, 5.9 percent, to $47.27 in morning trading.

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Elements of this story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CPB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CPB

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Keywords: Campbell Soup, Earnings Report
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Justice is pressing federal regulators to come up with a way of keeping inmates from using cellphones in the nation's prisons.

In a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams told the Federal Communications Commission that addressing the security threat posed by contraband cellphones "should be a chief priority" of both the FCC and Justice, which oversees the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The letter follows an appeal from South Carolina's prisons director to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in June, beseeching the top prosecutor for help pursuing FCC permission to jam cell signals of the phones, which are thrown over fences, smuggled by errant employees, even delivered by drone.

A decades-old law says federal officials can grant permission to jam the public airwaves only to federal agencies, not state or local ones. Telecommunications companies are opposed, saying jamming cell signals could set a bad precedent and interfere with legal cell users nearby.

Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told AP on Thursday he has twice briefed Sessions on the security threats posed by the phones, most recently during a meeting in Charleston two weeks ago about public safety issues.

"I cannot thank the Department of Justice enough for this," Stirling said.

Stirling has been among the most vocal corrections directors in the country to speak out about how dangerous the phones can be in the hands of prisoners. Last year, he took now-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on a tour of a South Carolina prison to show him first-hand the benefit of technologies like jamming, which render cell signals useless.

Earlier this year, Stirling testified at an FCC hearing in Washington alongside a former South Carolina corrections officer who was nearly killed by a hit that was orchestrated by an inmate using an illegal phone. In July, an inmate was able to escape from a maximum-security South Carolina prison, in part thanks to help from a smuggled cellphone. Jimmy Causey was recaptured three days later in Texas.

In her letter, Williams gave other examples: A Tennessee inmate using a smuggled phone to upload child porn images; a North Carolina inmate calling in a hit on a prosecutor's father.

Pai has signaled that the FCC is willing to work with states on the issue. In March, after taking testimony from Stirling and Capt. Robert Johnson, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve rules to streamline the process for using technology to detect and block contraband phones in prisons and jails across the country.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/
WASHINGTON (AP) - An intriguing new theory is gaining traction among conservative foes of the Obama-era health law: Its Medicaid expansion to low-income adults may be fueling the opioid epidemic.

If true, that would represent a shocking outcome for the Affordable Care Act. But there's no evidence to suggest that's happening, say university researchers who study the drug problem and are puzzled by such claims. Some even say Medicaid may be helping mitigate the consequences of the epidemic.

Circulating in conservative media, the Medicaid theory is bolstered by a private analysis produced by the Health and Human Services Department for Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. The analysis says the overdose death rate rose nearly twice as much in states that expanded Medicaid compared with states that didn't.

In this Aug. 1, 2017 photo, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairs a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on Steve King, a prominent GOP insider from Wisconsin, nominated to be ambassador to the Czech Republic, on Capitol Hill Washington. An intriguing new theory is gaining traction among "Obamacare's" conservative foes: The Medicaid expansion to low-income adults under former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act may be fueling the opioid epidemic. If true, that would represent a shocking outcome for government policy. But there's no evidence that's happening, say university researchers who have long studied the drug problem. Some say Medicaid may be having the opposite effect, helping mitigate the epidemic. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Independent experts say the analysis misses some crucial facts and skips standard steps that researchers use to rule out coincidences.

Johnson has asked the agency's internal watchdog to investigate, suggesting that unscrupulous individuals may be using their new Medicaid cards to obtain large quantities of prescription painkillers and diverting the pills to street sales for profit. Diversion of pharmacy drugs has been a long-standing concern of law enforcement.

"These data appear to point to a larger problem," Johnson wrote. "Medicaid expansion may be fueling the opioid epidemic in communities across the country." He stopped just short of fingering Medicaid, saying more research is needed.

But if anything, university researchers say Medicaid seems to be doing the opposite of what conservatives allege.

"Medicaid is doing its job" by increasing treatment for opioid addiction, said Temple University economist Catherine Maclean, who recently published a paper on Medicaid expansion and drug treatment. "As more time passes, we may see a decline in overdoses in expansion states relative to nonexpansion states."

Johnson is a conservative opponent of "Obamacare" who backed GOP efforts to curtail the Medicaid expansion. Wisconsin officials have urged him to push for changes in the health law to ensure the state wouldn't be penalized for rejecting federal dollars to expand Medicaid.

Trump administration officials, including Health Secretary Tom Price and Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have strongly criticized Medicaid, saying the program doesn't deliver acceptable results.

Price's agency would not answer questions about the analysis for Johnson, and released a statement instead.

"Correlation does not necessarily prove causation, and additional research is required before any conclusions can be made," the statement said.

Translation: Just because something happens around the same time as something else, you can't assume cause and effect. The statement said the administration is committed to fighting the opioid crisis.

Medicaid is a federal-state program that covers more than 70 million low-income people, from newborns to elderly nursing home residents and the disabled. Thirty-one states have expanded Medicaid to serve able-bodied adults, while 19 have not. The expansion went into effect in January, 2014, and the most recent national overdose death numbers are for 2015.

That leaves researchers with just a small slice of data. Both sides agree more research is needed.

Still, some patterns are emerging.

Prescriptions for medications used to treat opioid addiction in outpatient settings increased by 43 percent in Medicaid expansion states compared with states that didn't expand, according to Maclean's research with Brendan Saloner of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That indicates Medicaid is paying for treatment.

Maclean and Saloner also found another piece of the puzzle: Overdose death rates were higher to begin with in states that expanded Medicaid.

That's important because it suggests that drug problems may have contributed to state decisions to expand Medicaid. States such as Ohio with high overdose rates might have wanted to leverage more federal money to help fight addiction

Maclean and Saloner looked at deaths from overdoses and fatal alcohol poisoning from 2010-2015, starting well before the Medicaid expansion. The HHS analysis for Sen. Johnson missed that underlying trend because it started with 2013 data.

When Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, talks about why he expanded Medicaid, "it has a lot to do with mental health and substance use disorders," said Republican labor economist Craig Garthwaite of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Garthwaite finds the claim that Medicaid expansion fueled drug deaths "fundamentally flawed."

Still another problem with the Medicaid theory is that it lumps all drug overdoses together. But illicit drugs - heroin and fentanyl - have been driving surges in deaths since 2010. A Medicaid card doesn't provide access to illegal drugs.

"It's worrisome because this is the type of numerical evidence that's used to propose bad policy," Garthwaite said.

Maclean, who reviewed the HHS analysis, said it seemed to rely on raw numbers without controlling for a range of differences among states, a standard technique.

Some researchers see hints that Medicaid expansion may be helping to mitigate the overdose epidemic.

Vanderbilt University economist Andrew Goodman-Bacon and Harvard's Emma Sandoe drilled down to the county level in an informal analysis. From 2010 through 2015, counties with the largest insurance coverage gains experienced smaller increases in drug-related deaths than counties with smaller coverage gains.

More research is needed to provide conclusive evidence.

Relying on faulty research is "dangerous," said Maclean. "It can lead to bad policies and people's lives are at stake here."

___

Johnson reported from Chicago.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is holding up $255 million in military assistance for Pakistan until it cracks down on extremist groups that destabilize Afghanistan.

It's the first major sign of how President Donald Trump will execute his plan to persuade Pakistan to stop harboring insurgents. Trump announced the Pakistan emphasis last week when he unveiled his Afghanistan strategy.

The administration faced a Sept. 30 deadline to say it plans to spend the money, or lose it. The administration is telling Congress it will use the money, but is putting a "pause" on spending it.

State Department officials say the U.S. is looking to see whether Pakistan clamps down on the Haqqani network and other groups blamed for attacks in Afghanistan. The officials weren't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has launched a new YouTube corruption attack against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny's video showed a lavish villa purportedly owned by a son of Putin's friend that the president had allegedly used. The online video accusing Putin of corruption has been seen at least 2 million times since its release Wednesday.

The video included aerial footage of the seaside mansion surrounded by a large park near Vyborg, close to St. Petersburg.

Russian President and Honorary President of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Vladimir Putin is pictured during the opening day of the World Judo Championships in Budapest Papp Laszlo Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Aug. 28, 2017. The international sports event runs until Sept. 3. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

It's the latest in a series of YouTube videos by Navalny exposing alleged ill-gotten assets of senior government officials and Kremlin-friendly tycoons.

Navalny, who rose to prominence with his corruption investigations, has declared his intention to run for president in the March 2018 election. A conviction that he calls politically motivated bars him from running, however.
SEATTLE (AP) - The Latest on three elderly brothers in Washington state who face child pornography charges (all times local):

9:25 a.m.

An 82-year-old man who faces child pornography charges along with two of his elderly brothers was rolled into court in a wheelchair and his attorneys asked that he be given a mental competency evaluation.

Charles Emery did not enter a plea Thursday in King County Superior Court. Thomas Emery, 80, entered a not guilty plea, while 78-year-old Edwin Emery was not in court. The brothers are each being held on $500,000 bail after their arrests this month.

Investigators say a relative discovered evidence of child exploitation as she was cleaning out the garage of a home her uncles had shared for 55 years.

Seattle police say a search found child pornography and children's toys and clothes. A King County prosecutor wrote in court papers that investigators found evidence that the men "shared the majority of their lives sexually abusing children to whom they had access."

___

8:17 a.m.

Three elderly brothers facing child pornography charges are due to be arraigned in a Seattle courtroom.

The men - 82-year-old Charles Emery, 80-year-old Thomas Emery and 78-year-old Edwin Emery - are each being held on $500,000 bail after their arrests this month. Investigators say a relative discovered evidence of child exploitation as she was cleaning out the garage of a home her three uncles had shared for 55 years.

When Seattle police searched the home, they say they found it packed floor-to-ceiling with child pornography and children's toys and clothes - though the men have no children of their own. A King County prosecutor wrote in court papers that investigators found evidence the men "shared the majority of their lives sexually abusing children to whom they had access."

Attorneys for Edwin Emery did not immediately return an email seeking comment. It was not immediately clear if the others had obtained lawyers.
Port Arthur's major roads were swamped by rising waters brought by Harvey, and there were few images showing the devastation that virtually cut off the East Texas city.

So as the sun rose Thursday, that's where Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert took his plane first.

"We heard Port Arthur got hit the worst," Herbert said, a few hours after taking a more than 200-mile aerial journey over Port Arthur, Beaumont and other communities near the Texas and Louisiana coasts. "It seemed like no one could get there."

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey surround homes in Port Arthur, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Herbert, who joined the AP in Washington in 2002 and has worked in the AP's New Orleans bureau since 2010, got his pilot's license four years ago.

"I fell in love with a woman in Shreveport, and I found a better way to get there," he said. The two are now engaged.

While he was finishing his flight training, Herbert bought a Cessna 172, a four-seater single-engine airplane. That's the plane that his friend and fellow pilot Juan Asturias flew on Wednesday, meeting Herbert around dusk in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

They spent the evening planning their flight and were wheels up around 7 a.m., with Asturias at the controls so Herbert could safely shoot pictures.

Port Arthur sits on the Louisiana line 90 miles east of Houston, and the two found large parts of it underwater. Herbert thought the pictures were too important to hold until they got back on the ground. He transmitted them immediately from the air.

"We just kind of circled over Port Arthur while we had a good cell signal," he said.

That done, they went off to check out other communities, including Beaumont and Orange, Texas, as well as Sabine Lake, where they again found neighborhoods, businesses and roads under water. In Louisiana, they found that Holly Beach and Cameron had escaped the flooding.

"I was trying to be eyes and ears as a second navigator, as a co-pilot, for Juan as well, because there was a lot of helicopter traffic in the area," he said. "National Guard, Coast Guard, there were a lot of rescue helicopters flying in and out."

Going up in his airplane gave Herbert the chance to put his many skills to work: shooting video and still photographs, using pilot skills and looking out for traffic.

"It's a mark of pride to be able to get first light and be able to get pictures no one ese could get because of my added skill set of being a pilot with access to a plane," he said.

But he said his on-the-ground work during Harvey is what will stick with him.

Herbert has been working since Sunday to cover the storm, and has been traveling with professional rescue teams as they work to get people out. On Wednesday, he joined members of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Louisiana National Guard in Orange, Texas, for a joint rescue of eight elderly people in an assisted living home.

"What I saw was strength and ability meeting frailty and need," he said. "It was something I'll never forget."

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey surround homes in Port Arthur, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey surround homes in Port Arthur, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey cover streets in Port Arthur, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey surround homes and businesses in Port Arthur, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey surrounds buildings in Sabine Pass, Texas, next to the Gulf of Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A boat sits near flooded homes in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey surround homes in Orange, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Petroleum spill off flows through floodwaters in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Vehicles drive on Interstate 10 which was flooded from Tropical Storm Harvey in Vidor, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Two therapists at Life Care Center of Hixson recently earned certification in LSVT BIG, a physical therapy intervention to combat the effects of Parkinsons disease.

Leanne Salt-Carbone, physical therapist, and Jill Schoolfield, physical therapist assistant, are now trained to teach patients ways to use bigger movements in everyday life. They received the certification on July 17.



The training gave us a compilation of specific treatment and assessments for individuals with Parkinsons disease, said Ms.

Salt-Carbone, who has her doctorate in physical therapy.

Ms. Schoolfield said, We know that Parkinsons is a progressive disease, but we are able to use tools within the protocol to further improve an individuals function and independence, as well as modify tasks that will still make the treatment successful.



The practitioners have put their knowledge into their treatments and have already seen LSVT BIG improve results for patients.



LSVT BIG is the physical therapy component of LSVT Globals approach to Parkinsons. The company also offers certification in LSVT LOU, which teaches patients to use techniques to speak loudly enough to be heard without straining their voices.

We noticed a community need for further Parkinsons care, said Josh Haislip, director of rehabilitation at Life Care Center of Hixson. We have LSVT LOUD-certified therapists on staff, so now we can provide both aspects of care.



Ms. Salt-Carbone and Ms. Schoolfield have put their knowledge into their treatments and have already seen LSVT BIG improve results for patients.



For more information about LSVT BIG and LOUD Parkinsons therapy at Life Care Center of Hixson, call 423 842-0049.






URBINO, Italy (AP) - Six-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi fears he may have broken his right leg after a training accident in Italy on Thursday.

According to Italian media reports, Rossi fell during enduro training and fractured his tibia and fibula.

"I spoke to him, his leg really hurts and Valentino is not optimistic ... it's a disaster," his father, Graziano Rossi, told Italian national news agency Ansa.

FILE -- In this Aug. 27, 2017 file photo, Italy's Valentino Rossi of Movistar Yamaha steers his bike during the Moto GP race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England. Six-time MotoGP champion Rossi has reportedly broken his right leg in a training accident in Italy. According to Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, Rossi fell during enduro training and fractured his tibia and fibula. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

"I know that they still have to do an X-ray and they fear it's broken. To do the X-ray they have to cut off the boot and Valentino told me he is in a lot of pain."

Rossi has been taken to hospital in Urbino, in the east of Italy, and will likely undergo surgery on Thursday night.

It was the same leg the Italian broke in 2010, in a practice session at Mugello, ahead of his home grand prix.

Rossi was third at Silverstone on Sunday in his 300th premier class grand prix.

The 38-year-old, who has finished runner-up the past three seasons, is fourth in the overall standings, 26 points below current leader Andrea Dovizioso.

FILE -- In this Aug. 27, 2017 file photo, Italy's Valentino Rossi of Movistar Yamaha steers his bike during the Moto GP race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England. Six-time MotoGP champion Rossi has reportedly broken his right leg in a training accident in Italy. According to Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, Rossi fell during enduro training and fractured his tibia and fibula. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2017 file photo, Italy's Valentino Rossi of Movistar Yamaha looks on after finishing third in the Moto GP race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England. Six-time MotoGP champion Rossi has reportedly broken his right leg in a training accident in Italy. According to Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, Rossi fell during enduro training and fractured his tibia and fibula. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
HOUSTON (AP) - Imigration advocates are turning to social media and visiting shelters to tell Harvey evacuees who are in the country illegally to put their personal safety above fears of being deported.

A sharp increase in immigration arrests under President Donald Trump and Texas' tough law against cities that don't cooperate with federal immigration authorities had created an uneasy climate even before Harvey struck. Houston has about 600,000 people in the country illegally, the third-largest in the nation, behind New York and Los Angeles.

An organizer at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston got mixed responses after telling evacuees not to worry about immigration agents on the streets during the crisis and to have family members apply for federal disaster aid if they are U.S. citizens.

Alain Cisneros, a community organizer for the Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle, an advocacy group known by its Spanish acronym FIEL, speaks with Adabella Fonseca, a Mexican woman whose parents brought her to the U.S. illegally when she was a year old, with her 10-month-old daughter, as he counsels Harvey evacuees who are in the country illegally at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. (AP Photo by Elliot Spagat)

A Honduran woman told him she was considering leaving the United States with her three children. A Mexican woman said she was scared to leave the massive, makeshift shelter.

Alain Cisneros, a community organizer for the Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle, an advocacy group known by its Spanish acronym FIEL, speaks with Ricxy Sanchez, left, a Honduran woman who came to the U.S. illegally a year ago, and Wendy Zamora, a neighbor who came from Honduras illegally three years ago, as he counsels Harvey evacuees who are in the country illegally at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. (AP Photo by Elliot Spagat)

Alain Cisneros, a community organizer for the Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle, an advocacy group known by its Spanish acronym FIEL, speaks counsels Harvey evacuees who are in the country illegally at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. (AP Photo by Elliot Spagat)

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Steven Blackburn looks out while standing on the bow of an air boat during a search a rescue operation in a neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. John Morris, the Border Patrol's chief of staff in South Texas, said the agency had 35 boats in the city's flooded neighborhoods on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, and had rescued about 450 people since Monday. "The agents and the assets that are here in Houston as part of the recovery effort are absolutely 100 percent only here for rescue and safety," Morris said. "There is no enforcement activity being undertaken while we're doing this safety mission." (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Houston police officer Jeff Banks, right, points out directions with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Steven Blackburn, left, during a search a rescue operation in a neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. John Morris, the Border Patrol's chief of staff in South Texas, said the agency had 35 boats in the city's flooded neighborhoods on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, and had rescued about 450 people since Monday. "The agents and the assets that are here in Houston as part of the recovery effort are absolutely 100 percent only here for rescue and safety," Morris said. "There is no enforcement activity being undertaken while we're doing this safety mission." (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A U.S. Border Patrol air boat moves through neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. John Morris, the Border Patrol's chief of staff in South Texas, said the agency had 35 boats in the city's flooded neighborhoods on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, and had rescued about 450 people since Monday. "The agents and the assets that are here in Houston as part of the recovery effort are absolutely 100 percent only here for rescue and safety," Morris said. "There is no enforcement activity being undertaken while we're doing this safety mission." (AP Photo/LM Otero)

John Paul Klotz, 80, is pulled on a boat by U.S. Border Patrol Agents Steven Blackburn, left, Ramiro Rodriguez, top center, and Juan Flores during a search a rescue operation in a neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. John Morris, the Border Patrol's chief of staff in South Texas, said the agency had 35 boats in the city's flooded neighborhoods on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, and had rescued about 450 people since Monday. "The agents and the assets that are here in Houston as part of the recovery effort are absolutely 100 percent only here for rescue and safety," Morris said. "There is no enforcement activity being undertaken while we're doing this safety mission." (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Eighty-year-old John Paul Klotz, center, pulls his can out of floodwaters as U.S. Border Patrol Agent Steven Blackburn stands by to help Klotz board an boat during a search a rescue operation in a neighborhood inundated by Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. John Morris, the Border Patrol's chief of staff in South Texas, said the agency had 35 boats in the city's flooded neighborhoods on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, and had rescued about 450 people since Monday. "The agents and the assets that are here in Houston as part of the recovery effort are absolutely 100 percent only here for rescue and safety," Morris said. "There is no enforcement activity being undertaken while we're doing this safety mission." (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Black smoke, flames shoot up from Texas chemical plant

HOUSTON (AP) - Thick black smoke and towering orange flames shot up Friday from a flooded Houston-area chemical plant after two trailers of highly unstable compounds blew up a day earlier after losing refrigeration.

It was the second day that flames and smoke could be seen at the Arkema plant in Crosby. Arkema says Harvey's floodwaters engulfed its backup generators and knocked out the refrigeration necessary to keep the organic peroxides from degrading and catching fire. Arkema executive Richard Rennard said two containers caught fire Friday evening, and that the company has six more that it expects will eventually catch fire.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the smoke that came from the plant early Thursday showed no reason for alarm. No serious injuries were reported. EPA spokesman David Gray said the agency was sending its surveillance aircraft through the area again Friday night to monitor any airborne toxic chemicals and "will have information shortly."

A 1 mile buffer (2.4 kilometers) around the plant was established Tuesday when Arkema Inc. warned that chemicals kept there could explode. Employees had been pulled, and up to 5,000 people living nearby were warned to evacuate. Officials remain comfortable with the size of the buffer, Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal Office, said Friday evening.

Arkema spokeswoman Janet Smith reiterated statements executives made earlier Friday that the safest course of action is to simply "let these fires happen and let them burn out."

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AP Exclusive: Fewer Americans buy insurance in coastal areas

PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) - Amanda Spartz nearly did not renew her home's flood insurance policy after her first year in Florida. Two hurricanes came close to the Fort Lauderdale suburbs last year, but they didn't hit and her home isn't in a high-risk flood zone. She figured she could put the $450 annual premium, due next week, to another use.

Then Harvey hit Houston, its historic rains causing massive floods even in low-risk neighborhoods. Spartz, a business analyst, paid the bill this week.

If Spartz had dropped her policy, she would not have been alone. Far fewer Americans compared with five years ago are paying for flood insurance in coastal areas of the United States where hurricanes, storms and tidal surges pose a serious threat, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data. The center for the problem is South Florida, where Spartz lives. The top U.S. official overseeing the National Flood Insurance Program told AP that he wants to double the number of Americans who buy flood insurance.

"I was talking to my husband and I said that if something like Harvey happens here, I don't want to be on the hook," said Spartz, who relocated from Cincinnati. "It isn't a lot of money to save yourself the heartache if it does happen."

What's driving the drop in policies? Congress approved a price hike, making premiums more expensive, and maps of some high-risk areas were redrawn. Banks became lax at enforcing the requirement that any home with a federally insured mortgage in a high-risk area be covered. Memories of New Orleans underwater in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina have faded.

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'Dreamers' decision weighs on Trump as announcement nears

WASHINGTON (AP) - Midday protests. Urgent pleas. Furious campaigning. A president torn.

President Donald Trump stood at the center of a frantic lobbying campaign Friday as he neared a decision on the fate of hundreds of thousands of young people brought into the country illegally as children.

After months of dragging his feet, the president on Tuesday will announce his plans for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants the ability to work legally in the country and a reprieve from deportation.

Despite his fiery pledges during the presidential campaign to end the program, Trump has spent the last week mulling his choices, going over his options again and again, according to several people with knowledge of the deliberations. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations.

"I think that this isn't a decision that the president takes lightly and he's taking time and diligent effort to make sure that he goes through every bit of the process," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday. "I think the decision itself is weighing on him, certainly."

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Utah officer who arrested nurse over blood test put on leave

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah nurse said she was scared to death when a police officer handcuffed and dragged her screaming from a hospital after she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.

After Alex Wubbels and her attorneys released dramatic video of the arrest, prosecutors called for a criminal investigation and Salt Lake City police put Detective Jeff Payne on paid leave Friday.

"This cop bullied me. He bullied me to the utmost extreme," Wubbels said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And nobody stood in his way."

The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor also apologized and changed department policies in line with the guidance Wubbels was following in the July 26 incident.

Wubbels, a former alpine skier who competed in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, said she adhered to her training and hospital protocols to protect the rights of a patient who could not speak for himself.

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From CEOs to bishops, support grows for immigrant program

PHOENIX (AP) - Corporate executives, Roman Catholic bishops, celebrities and immigrants have become unlikely companions in an effort to pressure national leaders to save an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation.

Immigrant groups have been staging daily protests in the scorching Phoenix heat, mobilizing people through phone banks in California, and demonstrating outside House Speaker Paul Ryan's church and office.

Archbishops around the country have been sending letters urging the president to maintain the program. The CEOs of Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Starbucks and other companies also joined the effort, saying the economy will take a hit if the program is eliminated.

The campaign comes as President Donald Trump is weighing whether to eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has allowed nearly 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S. and legally work. The White House says Trump is expected to announce his decision Tuesday.

Immigrants are bracing for the prospect of losing their jobs as their work permits end and possible deportation if the president does away with the program.

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Russia lashes out after Trump orders diplomatic posts closed

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia accused the United States on Friday of a "gross violation of international law" after the Trump administration gave Moscow two days to shutter diplomatic outposts in San Francisco and other American cities.

As Russian diplomats rushed to meet the Saturday deadline, black smoke was seen billowing out of the chimney at the San Francisco consulate, one of three Russian facilities being forcibly closed. Firefighters, who were turned away by Russian officials when they responded to the scene, said the Russians were burning something in their fireplace.

In Moscow, the Russian government claimed that U.S. officials were planning to search both the consulate and apartments used by their diplomats on Saturday, though there were no indications from the U.S. suggesting that was the case. The State Department said merely that it planned to "secure and maintain" the properties and that Russia wouldn't be allowed to use them for "diplomatic, consular, or residential purposes" any longer.

Still, the Kremlin appeared to be wrestling with how forcefully to react to the U.S. order, the latest in a series of escalating retaliatory measures between the former Cold War foes. President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia needs to "think carefully about how we could respond" to one of the thorniest diplomatic confrontations between Washington and Moscow in decades.

"One does not want to go into a frenzy, because someone has to be reasonable and stop," Ushakov said.

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Desperate search for Harvey missing; funerals begin for dead

It's been four days since volunteer rescuers Ben Vizueth and Gustavo Rodriguez went missing in Harvey's murky floodwaters when their boat hit submerged power lines and everyone was pitched overboard.

The bodies of two other men on the boat at the time - Vizueth's brother, 45-year-old Yahir Rubio-Vizuet, and 33-year-old Jorge Perez - were found dead floating in the water soon after. Two journalists for the British newspaper The Daily Mail were aboard and survived.

Vizueth's wife, Perla Jaquez, trudged through a wooded area filled with downed trees and debris Thursday with other volunteers looking for the missing men.

"There's still a lot of faith and a lot of hope that we can recover them," she said in a Facebook Live video .

A week after Harvey came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving a trail of devastation on the Texas Gulf Coast, the search for the missing has become more desperate and funerals have begun. Authorities say 39 people are confirmed dead so far from Harvey and 19 are still believed to be missing. But more bodies are likely to be found.

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Residents in Harvey's path return to find devastation

CROSBY, Texas (AP) - Silvia Casas' eyes welled with tears Friday as she surveyed the damage from Harvey to what once was a working class, mostly Hispanic neighborhood near Crosby, Texas.

Large trees with their roots reaching into the air were pulled from the ground by Harvey's floodwaters. Recreational Vehicles were crumpled like tin cans. Entire houses were picked up and moved 20 or 30 feet from where they once sat, leaving piles of wood and splintered debris and PVC pipes sticking from the ground as the only reminder of once-familiar structures.

Near a 30-foot high pile of debris, once houses and treasured belongings now stacked against a telephone pole, someone had hung a painting of the Virgin de Guadalupe from a tree branch. Around the corner, a sinkhole had swallowed two cars and was filled with brown, mucky water.

A neighborhood stray dog, fed by everyone, weathered the flood by standing on the Casas' roof. Their cinderblock house was one of the few structures that wasn't thrown by floodwaters, but inside, a pile of furniture and splintered belongings sat in the middle of the floor, under a ceiling pocked with peeling paint from the floodwaters.

Silvia stopped to survey the outdoor kitchen that used to stand on the side of the house where several generations would gather.

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Harvey package grows; likely to include debt ceiling hike

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's initial request for a multibillion-dollar down payment for initial Harvey recovery efforts is growing. Republican leaders are already making plans to use the aid package, certain to be overwhelmingly popular, to win speedy approval of a contentious increase in the federal borrowing limit.

A senior House Republican, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations were private, disclosed the approach. It ignores objections from House conservatives who are insisting that disaster money for Harvey should not be paired with the debt limit increase. Other senior GOP aides cautioned that no final decision had been made, and Democrats, whose votes would be needed in the Senate, have not signed off on the approach.

A senior GOP source in Washington said Friday evening that Trump's request to refill rapidly shrinking Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster coffers is going up by about $2 billion, bringing the total for the disaster aid package to about $8 billion. It's expected to be publicly released late Friday.

For GOP lawmakers who support a straightforward increase in the debt limit, pairing it with Harvey money makes the unpopular vote easier to cast. Congress must act by Sept. 29 to increase the United States' $19.9 trillion debt limit, in order to permit the government to continue borrowing money to pay bills like Social Security and interest payments. Failing to raise the debt limit would risk a market-shattering first-ever U.S. default.

"Look, some members are going to vote against the debt ceiling under any circumstances and they want their 'no' vote to be as easy as possible," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. "The issue is not making the debt ceiling vote easier for the 'no' votes. The issue is making it easier for the 'yes' votes."

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Houston tries to safeguard some areas by flooding others

HOUSTON (AP) - Officials in Houston sought Friday to safeguard parts of their devastated city by keeping others flooded in the wake of Harvey, which retained enough rain-making power to raise the risk of flooding in the middle of the country a week after it slammed into Texas.

The mayor announced that ongoing releases of water from two reservoirs could keep thousands of homes flooded for up to 15 days and told residents that if they stayed and later needed help, first responders' resources could be further strained.

In another Texas city with no drinking water, people waited in a line that stretched for more than a mile to get bottled water. And a new fire erupted Friday evening at a crippled Houston-area chemical plant that was the scene of an earlier explosion and fire.

Residents of the still-flooded western part of Houston were asked to evacuate due to the releases from two reservoirs protecting downtown. The ongoing releases were expected to keep flooded homes that had been filled with water earlier in the week. Homes that are not currently flooded probably will not be affected, officials said.

It could take three months for the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which are normally dry, to drain. The Harris County Flood Control District said the water releases had to continue to protect the reservoirs' structural integrity and in case more heavy rain falls.
This photo gallery highlights some of the top news images made by Associated Press photographers in Latin America and the Caribbean that were published in the last week.

Colombians hurried to finish up their preparations to welcome next week's visit by Pope Francis.

Fans of Mexican singing idol Juan Gabriel commemorated the anniversary of his death last year with impersonators performing his songs at Mexico City's legendary Plaza Garibaldi. Thousands of Uruguayans danced to "oldies" music at gatherings across the nation on "Nostalgia Night."

In this Aug. 29, 2017 photo, fashion critic Pilar Castano, left, and designer Regina Bastidas, dress a cardboard cutout of Pope Francis with the vestments he will wear during his visit to Colombia, in Bogota, Colombia. Francis will arrive in Colombia on Sept. 6, as part of a five-day trip to celebrate the South American nation's steps toward ending five decades of armed conflict. It will be the first papal visit to the staunchly Roman Catholic country in 31 years. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Guatemala's highest court blocked President Jimmy Morales from expelling the head of a U.N. anti-corruption commission that has helped local prosecutors crack down on graft, and the leader was battered by criticism from home and abroad.

In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro ordered military maneuvers after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed economic sanctions and hinted military intervention was not off the table in dealing with the country's political crisis.

International rugby was a big draw in Argentina as South Africa's national team defeated the local Los Pumas club. In Mexico City, Cruz Azul and Monterrey played to a 1-1 tie as fans jammed the Cruz Azul stadium, which has been put up for sale.

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This photo gallery was curated by photo editor Tomas Stargardter in Mexico City.

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AP photographers and photo editors on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers

In this Aug. 28, 2017 photo, a Juan Gabriel imitator places a photograph of him below a statue of the superstar where his fans gather on the one year anniversary of his death in Mexico City's Garibaldi plaza. The Latin music icon, who's real name was Alberto Aguilera Valadez, died one year ago today. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

In this Aug. 25, 2017 photo, a reveler leaves the women's bathroom during Nostalgia Night parties in Montevideo, Uruguay. Although the original Nostalgia Night party took place in one venue when it started in 1978, many others took notice an now the party takes place all over the country. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

In this Aug. 29, 2017 photo, Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales, center, stands between Guatemala City Mayor Alvaro Arzu, left, and Villa Nueva Mayor Edwin Escobar during a meeting with city mayors in Guatemala City. Morales appears to be softening his stand in his effort to oust the U.N. anti-corruption commissioner in Guatemala, a move that has left him battered him with criticism at home and abroad. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

In this Aug. 26, 2017 photo, soldiers march during a military drill in Caracas, Venezuela. Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and civilian militias marched alongside soldiers to denounce U.S. economic sanctions and express support for military exercises in defiance of President Donald Trump warning of possible military action to resolve the country's crisis. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

In this Aug. 27, 2017 photo, a doll representing Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wearing prison clothes stands on a cross with his name in Brasilia, Brazil. Demonstrators placed crosses representing the death of corrupt politicians. In July, Lula was found guilty of corruption and money laundering and sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. Now his case goes before a group of magistrates. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this Aug. 29, 2017 photo, a covered body is removed from an apartment building where a woman and two men were executed in the Alta Progreso neighborhood of Acapulco, Mexico. Both men were bound with tape, and all three were shot in the head at an apartment outfitted as an office for a taxi service. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)

In this Aug. 30, 2017 photo, a girl yawns during a procession celebrating the feast day of Santa Rosa de Lima, Peru's patron saint, in downtown Lima, Peru. Santa Rosa de Lima was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized by the Catholic church. She is also the co-patroness of the Philippines, but remains the primary patroness of Peru and Latin America's indigenous. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Aug. 23, 2017 photo, a piggy bank for tips, filled with 5 Bolivar bills, sits on the table of a vegetable vendor at a market in Caracas, Venezuela. Since 2014, the economy has shrunk by 35 percent, more than the U.S. did during the Great Depression. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

In this Aug. 26, 2017 photo, South Africa's Andries Coetzee is tackled by Argentina's Los Pumas Joaquin Tuculet during a Rugby Championship match in Salta, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's hiring and budget plans are raising questions about whether he can deliver the "better-than-ever" recovery he's promised after Hurricane Harvey devastated a swath of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Trump has proposed vast budget cuts and leaving some leadership positions unfilled at agencies involved in disaster management. His Republican allies on Capitol Hill proposed spending some of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster money to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

But in the week since Harvey dumped a record rain blamed for deadly flooding, experts see some bright spots. Among them: Trump's support for FEMA's coordination efforts and its administrator, Brock Long, a veteran of emergency management. The administration is preparing an emergency request for Congress for an initial $5.9 billion to replenish government reserves for relief aid. And that's likely to be followed by supplemental requests for as much federal cash as needed for a rebuilding and recovery expected to last years.

Port Arthur residents traverse a flooded lot along Memorial Blvd. Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017 in Port Arthur, Texas. (Kim Brent/The Beaumont Enterprise via AP)

But much of FEMA's widely-praised response is the product of laws and procedures that grew under Trump's predecessors after the government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Taking a turn as comforter-in-chief this week in flooded Texas, Trump signaled concern for the victims - and an understanding of the potential for a smooth recovery to help steady his turbulent administration. He showered praise on the responders, and Long in particular, even as he warned that "the world is watching."

"We want to do it better than ever before. We want to be looked at five years, 10 years from now, as this is the way to do it," Trump said of the effort.

Trump's signals have been mixed. On one hand, he's promised quick federal aid to those hit by Harvey. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert on Thursday said he's "not worried at all" about having enough money to help the region recover. The president himself has pledged $1 million of his own money toward the effort.

As FEMA spent down its existing disaster aid reserves - just $2.1 billion, with only about $600 million of that officially available for Harvey relief - the administration was expected to ask top lawmakers for permission to move additional money from other programs to ease the cash crunch. Trump was expected to request additional cash infusions later - but it will take weeks or months to assess the cost.

On the other, Trump isn't backing off his budget proposal to cut billions of dollars from those agency budgets, a plan Bossert Thursday said repeatedly is a "responsible" effort to make government more efficient. At FEMA, Trump has proposed cutting the disaster relief budget by $667 million, targeting grants that help state and local governments prepare for national disasters.

That's leading to questions about recovery staffing, oversight and just how much taxpayer money will be available. The recovery from Katrina cost $110 billion and was riddled with corruption.

"FEMA should continue to receive the budgetary support it needs to respond to disaster such as Harvey. It's important to note that cutting FEMA's budget would also cause significant harm to state and local first responders who receive preparedness grants" through the agency, said Samantha C. Phillips, director of National Center for Security & Preparedness and a professor at the State University of New York at Albany. She added in an email that Trump's support for his FEMA administrator puts Long "in a good position to lobby for the personnel he needs, not only to aid in the recovery from Harvey, but simultaneously be ready for future disasters."

Criticized by conservatives for leaving open hundreds of senior federal jobs, Trump tweeted this week that some of those posts will go unfilled because they are not needed. He did not specify which ones, and the White House did not respond to a request for more information.

All told, Trump has not nominated anyone to 366 of 591 positions requiring Senate confirmation, according to a count maintained by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post. The open posts include the secretary of homeland security, assorted deputies at the housing department and the independent inspector general of the Department of Energy, led by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

"What I worry about over the long term is who's in charge of those upper levels - the political appointees - and if they're even committed to the agency missions?" said Bev Cigler, a Penn State University public policy professor who was co-chair of a task force after Katrina. Career civil servants tend to serve in posts requiring Senate confirmation, she said. But "they don't think they have the authority to make big policy decisions. Certainly it's not their job to be the long-term visionary on a problem like this that's going to take years."

At FEMA, Long's two deputies have been nominated but not confirmed. The agency, though, says the government has an effective footprint in storm-ravaged Texas and Louisiana, with 12,400 state and federal employees from 17 departments involved in the response. That includes about 3,200 FEMA employees, the agency said.

Much of the initial efficiency was dictated by a 2006 law that required the FEMA director to have certain credentials and set up national systems for communications across levels of government.

Almost as soon as the storm hit, Long was asked on CNN whether the lack of staffing at FEMA and DHS would affect the government's response. He said he doesn't have time to worry about that now.
SYDNEY (AP) - A woman died on Friday after police say a Chinese tourist with no Australian medical license gave her an anesthetic during a procedure at a Sydney beauty clinic.

Jean Huang had been hospitalized in critical condition since undergoing a breast procedure at Sydney's Medi Beauty Laser and Contour Clinic on Wednesday. She died on Friday, New South Wales police said in a statement.

Shao Jie, a 33-year-old Chinese woman, was charged before Huang's death with causing reckless grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger a person's life. A prosecutor said on Thursday that if Huang died, Shao would face more serious charges.

Police on Friday said they were considering taking further legal action against Shao.

Court documents allege Shao administered "an intoxicating substance," tramadol and Lidocaine to Huang during the procedure. Lidocaine is a numbing agent, and tramadol is a painkiller.

Shao's lawyer, Mary Underwood, said on Thursday that her client was a graduate of a Chinese medical university and had arrived in Australia several days earlier on a tourist visa.

Phone calls to the clinic Friday were not answered. The Health Care Complaints Commission is investigating.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - As the murky flood waters of Hurricane Katrina were slowly pumped out of New Orleans in 2005, the challenges the city faced were only beginning to come into focus.

Housing, health and public safety, what and where to rebuild - all were questions faced by local, state and federal authorities who, it soon became obvious, had not been prepared to deal with the aftermath of levee failures that led to catastrophic flooding.

Some public figures questioned whether New Orleans would, even should, survive. The response dispirited many of those hoping to rebuild and politically scarred the elected officials in charge: President George W. Bush, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin - who won re-election in 2006 but left office four years later with dismal public approval ratings amid a slow recovery.

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2005 file photo, Tanisha Belvin, 5, holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina victim Nita LaGarde, 89, as they are evacuated from the Convention Center in New Orleans, La. Hundreds of people waited several days to be evacuated. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

These days, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the city's boosters point to a reduction in blighted housing, rebuilt schools and public buildings, an influx of entrepreneurs and a revitalized tourist industry as examples of New Orleans' recovery.

But it has been a hard struggle that persists. Infrastructure challenges laid bare or exacerbated by the storm remain - including problems with the city's water system and recently exposed deficiencies in the network of pumps, pipes and power turbines that drain its streets.

As Houston confronts its own challenges following Harvey, New Orleans' challenges could prove instructive.

___

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Amid the finger-pointing, rampant second-guessing and government investigations, there has been plenty of blame to go around for the suffering of New Orleans after Katrina. Nagin, now imprisoned for corruption that took place before and after the storm, was faulted for not calling an evacuation until less than a day before landfall; historian Douglas Brinkley faults Blanco for submitting a vague, boilerplate request for a federal emergency declaration rather than specific calls for help. Bush's critics accused his Republican administration of playing politics in an adversarial relationship with Blanco, a Democrat.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had only two public relations people on the ground ahead of the storm, rather than sending emergency response teams and staging buses nearby but out of harm's way, Brinkley wrote in "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast."

After the storm, then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA administrator Michael Brown were cast as clueless and feckless. Chertoff seemed unaware in a television interview that an estimated 20,000 people had taken refuge in a sweltering convention center in New Orleans. That was in addition to an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 stranded in the equally squalid and under-provisioned Superdome while thousands more awaited rescue from rooftops.

A symbol of how overwhelmed government was: friends and passersby tired of seeing an uncollected corpse rotting at one intersection draped the woman's body with plastic and built a makeshift tomb around it with paving bricks.

___

PUBLIC SAFETY

Katrina brought out the best in some police officers, who performed rescues and struggled to keep order.

But the chaos engulfing New Orleans after the flood brought out the worst in others in a department long plagued by scandal.

There was the deadly shooting of unarmed civilians crossing a bridge in the storm's aftermath and the ultimately failed attempt to cover it up; a police officer fatally shooting another man, apparently unarmed, who approached a police outpost at a strip mall, and the subsequent burning of his body by another officer; and a man shot in the back outside the convention center.

Those were followed by federal investigations and court-ordered reforms that were hailed by civil rights activists but criticized by others who say they are hampering an already understaffed department with bureaucracy.

Reports of rampant looting, including footage of people carrying electronics out of flooded stores prompted Nagin to order a crackdown. But where some saw looting, others saw desperation. After the storm, one officer entered a drug store, handgun drawn, through a pried-open door. He exited after seeing people picking through clothes and hauling off food and water.

Some accusations of lawlessness were grossly exaggerated.

"I think many Americans don't understand the extent to which fears about savage behavior during Katrina were just flat-out wrong," said Tulane University historian Andy Horowitz, who is writing a book about Katrina. "The New Orleans police chief was on television saying there were people raping babies in the Superdome ... but it just didn't happen. There were stories about people being murdered in the Superdome that were all made up. There was nobody murdered in the Superdome."

___

HOUSING

Katrina destroyed 134,000 homes and apartments in New Orleans. One immediate solution was to bring in small travel trailers. The FEMA trailers eventually housed 114,000 people, according to The Data Center of New Orleans. Some parked them on their property as they repaired their homes. Some lived for years in trailer parks constructed in the weeks and months after the storm.

Some endured long waits to get their trailers. Then toxic levels of formaldehyde were found in them.

Flood insurance covered only about 36 percent of the 331,000 owner-occupied houses damaged or destroyed by Katrina. The Road Home Program, a state program supposed to help rebuild, was cumbrous and slow, and grants often didn't cover the cost of repairs. A federal report also found that Louisiana was disproportionately helping homeowners over renters. A 2008 lawsuit alleging the program discriminated against black homeowners in New Orleans was settled with a $62 million payment from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to Louisiana homeowners. And many homes turned out to have been rebuilt with Chinese drywall that emitted sulfur fumes that caused respiratory problems and corroded metal. Lawsuits over that drywall are still in court.

___

POPULATION, RACE AND POLITICS

After Katrina, New Orleans became a smaller and whiter city.

The city's population fell from 484,000 to 230,200 a year after the storm, though it has grown to about 391,500 today. And while about two-thirds of the city used to be African-American, that number is now under 60 percent, leaving about 100,000 fewer African-Americans in the city than before.

Demographers say rebuilding brought in many college-educated newcomers, but about 27 percent of the city's residents still live in poverty, about the same percentage as before the storm.

Various aspects of the rebuilding have been controversial, including the razing of decades-old housing developments for the poor. New Orleans now copes with a dearth of low-income housing.

"Many, many of those public housing apartments had not been flooded," Horowitz said. Mixed-use developments were built on their sites, with far fewer low-rent units.

___

EDUCATION

Rather than a challenge, some say Katrina provided an opportunity for the remaking of a public school system long plagued by poor student performance and administrative corruption. With public schools unable to open after the storm, the state took most over, labeling them as failing. All of the state-run schools are now charter schools, run by independent groups with state oversight.

Progress - including overall student performance and better graduation rates - has been measurable, if uneven and slow. But the takeover was accompanied by the firing of thousands of school employees and criticism that local voters were effectively denied a voice in their schools.

The Legislature has voted to turn the schools back to local control next year. They will still be charter schools, but the Orleans Parish School Board will have oversight.

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2005 file photo, a makeshift tomb assembled on a New Orleans street corner conceals a body that had been lying on the sidewalk for days in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As the murky flood waters of Hurricane Katrina were slowly pumped out of New Orleans in 2005, the challenges the city faced were only beginning to come into focus. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2006 file photo, Champernell Washington, left, is comforted by Donna Banks as Washington grieves for a relative who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while sitting on the levee wall in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina forced water through the levee in two places helping to flood the Lower Ninth Ward. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2005 file photo, Katrina evacuees from New Orleans take shelter in Houston's Astrodome. As Houston confronts its own challenges following 2017's Hurricane Harvey, New Orleans' challenges could prove instructive. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2005 file photo, floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina surround homes in New Orleans. As the murky flood waters of Hurricane Katrina were slowly pumped out of New Orleans in 2005, the challenges the city faced were only beginning to come into focus. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2007 file photo, protesters block equipment from entering a portion of the B.W. Cooper housing development in New Orleans. Demolition of the units had been planned a decade before Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans in 2005, scattering public housing residents and damaging most public housing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, March 16, 2017, file photo, rubble and an address sign mark an empty lot in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. The neighborhood of low-to-moderate-income residents was hit hard by Katrina and has struggled to recover. More than a decade after the hurricane, it still hasn't recovered 50 percent of its population. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this March 23, 2017 file photo, students and faculty from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois work on a home in the Lower 9th Ward that was being built by Habitat for Humanity, in New Orleans. A major rebuilding effort is underway in the New Orleans neighborhood decimated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2007 file photo, a cloud of pepper spray floats over protesters as New Orleans Police re-lock a gate outside the New Orleans City Council chambers as the council was holding a meeting about tearing down public housing buildings in New Orleans. Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2015, file photo, former President George W. Bush greets juniors in a Spanish class at Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans. Bush was in town to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Former first lady Laura Bush is at third right, and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu at fourth right. Rather than a challenge, some say Katrina provided an opportunity for the remaking of a public school system long plagued by poor student performance and administrative corruption. With public schools unable to open after the storm, the state took most over, labeling them as failing. All of the state-run schools are now charter schools, run by independent groups with state oversight. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 28, 2010 file photo, Edwin D. Weber Jr. stands outside the FEMA trailer he shares with his brother in New Orleans. Citing the 221 trailers left in the city as blight, New Orleans officials have given the last folks living in temporary FEMA trailers until the end of the year to move out or face fines. Katrina destroyed 134,000 homes and apartments in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2005 file photo, Vice Adm. Thad Allen, left, and an unidentified man, help lift up a downed power line during a tour of downtown New Orleans with, from third left, Lousiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, President George W. Bush, Lt. Gen. Russell Honore and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, pushing a storm surge that caused the levee system to fail, flooding about 80 percent of New Orleans. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this March 20, 2006 file photo, almost seven months after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, housing trailers arrive by train into the Crescent City. The FEMA trailers eventually housed 114,000 people, according to The Data Center of New Orleans. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)

This combo of file photos shows flooded cars near the Addicks Reservoir as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise in Houston on Aug. 29, 2017, at top, and vehicles in a car dealership lot sit surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 10, 2005, in New Orleans, at bottom. (AP Photo/David Phillip, File)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his Eid al-Adha message has reached out to neighbor Pakistan offering "comprehensive negotiations" to bring peace to their troubled relationship.

Like most Muslim countries, Afghanistan celebrates the Islamic holiday on Friday while in Pakistan the holiday is celebrated on Saturday. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

"Peace with Pakistan is our national agenda," said Ghani while also urging insurgents to lay down their weapons.

Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of harboring Taliban insurgents, while Islamabad says its enemies have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

The two countries also squabble relentlessly over the border that separates their two countries. Known as the Durand Line, Afghanistan refuses to accept it as the international border. Firefights between the armies have broken out as Pakistan seeks to fence it.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Staffers in tears. Pay cuts for small mistakes. Aides who walked out of the office - and never came back.

Working for four-term Republican Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana is an exacting job with long hours, made more difficult by a boss known for micromanaging and yelling at his staff, according to 10 former aides who spoke to The Associated Press.

All but one of the former staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern of retribution from the congressman, who is in a competitive GOP primary for the chance to challenge first-term Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in next year's midterm elections. They include five former congressional staffers, three who worked for Rokita when he was Indiana's secretary of state and two who worked on his political campaigns.

FILE- In this Aug. 9, 2017, file photo, Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita speaks during a news conference outside of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. Working for Rokita is an exacting job with long hours, made more difficult by a boss known for micromanaging and yelling at his staff, according to 10 former aides who spoke to The Associated Press. The lawmaker rejected the criticism and said he demands excellent from his staff and himself. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

In response to the criticism, Rokita said in a statement to The Associated Press: "I have a lot of great employees, and I demand excellence and hard work of them, and myself ... Hoosiers who break their backs putting in 12 and 14 hour days to provide for their families should expect the elected officials and public servants they are paying to work just as hard."

Meticulous and driven, Rokita was the youngest secretary of state in the country when he was first elected in 2002. He served two terms before winning a seat in Congress in 2010, representing parts of western Indiana.

But even in Congress, where ambition and ego can go hand-in-hand, Rokita's behavior is outside the norm, according to the former aides, most of whom have worked for other elected officials.

"Todd's a hard boss to work for. He's got some staff turnover issues," said Tony Will, who was a constituent service representative for Rokita for nearly three years. "But he is a very hard worker."

During the 2010 campaign, a worker was booted from a staff meeting and instructed to clean Rokita's vehicle, which included scrubbing the carpets, according to two people with direct knowledge of the incident.

The reason? A volunteer driver had body odor the night before, they say. Rokita's campaign said the congressman did not recall the incident.

Some aides witnessed fellow workers reduced to tears after he yelled at them. Others said they were expected to work late nights and weekends and regularly worried about angering their boss if they did not quickly respond to an email or phone call during off hours.

Three former congressional staffers said that if Rokita was working, the general expectation was that his staff would as well. Many also felt obligated to do volunteer political work, the three staffers said.

One moment Rokita could charm at a GOP fundraiser. The next he would belittle his aides or question their competence over the route they took to the next event, or their choice of parking spot, three former staffers said. Some say he turned angry over small details, like the kind of letterhead used on office or campaign documents.

Rokita's abrasive nature is not limited to instances described by former staffers. He has rubbed many Indiana Republicans the wrong way, too, leading the GOP-controlled Legislature to cut him out of his district when they redrew congressional maps after the last census. While Rokita was still secretary of state in 2010, the Indiana Senate took the unusual step of calling up an amendment he wanted, only to have the entire chamber, including the amendment's author, vote it down.

His temper has also flared when meeting with students, according to those in attendance.

A Jasper County teacher asked Rokita to leave his high school civics class in November 2016 after a talk that was supposed to be about the Constitution got off on the wrong foot, according to two students.

Rokita had asked the class if they were taught about "American Exceptionalism." But when a number of students seemed puzzled by the concept, he had a testy exchange with their teacher, Paul Norwine, whom he criticized for not including it in the curriculum, the students said.

Tensions eased and the talk proceeded, but the class was dumbfounded, the students said.

"Mr. Rokita got very angry and said, 'You have an American congressman in your class, what are you doing?'" said Marcus Kidwell, 19, a Donald Trump supporter who was a senior at the time. "He seems like a pretty hot-headed guy. That disappointed me because he's a Republican and I was pretty excited to meet him."

Norwine did not respond to a request for comment. Rokita's campaign did not dispute the students' account.

A review of records maintained by the Congress-tracking website Legistorm shows the rate of turnover in Rokita's office is roughly double that of his fellow Indiana Republicans in the congressional delegation. The analysis excludes temporary workers, interns or employees who are shared by multiple members of Congress.

At least two staffers were fired after they said they intended to quit, according to three people with direct knowledge of the firings. Rokita also docked the pay of at least two congressional aides for mistakes, like a minor error in a news release, according to three former aides with knowledge of the actions. Another two staffers simply walked out on the job, according to four former aides.

"It's unfortunate that anonymous, disgruntled ex-staffers are making exaggerated claims that only tell half the story," said Rokita spokesman Tim Edson, who described his boss as honest and blunt.

Rokita was widely mocked for being high-maintenance after Politico reported last month on an eight-page memo, which is given to those who chauffeur Rokita around his district. The document, which was independently obtained by the AP, offers a detailed list of the do's and don'ts of driving the congressman.

Staffers are instructed to arrive at Rokita's house and empty the vehicle's trash before backing it out of the garage. After turning the vehicle around and backing up Rokita's driveway, they must call or email the congressman to let him know they are ready while also taking care not to let exhaust fumes enter the garage. When driving Rokita, the memo instructs staffers not to interrupt him with "unnecessary conversation."

Will, the former constituent services worker who often drove Rokita, said that despite the challenges of the job, he learned a lot and developed a good rapport with his boss.

There were times, however, when he wished "Todd would just take a nap."
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syrian President Bashar Assad traveled Friday to a town recently captured from Islamic State group militants to attend Eid al-Adha prayers.

Assad prayed in Bilal mosque in Qarat, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Damascus. He was surrounded by worshippers after the end of the prayers who chanted in his support.

Qarat fell during a joint weeklong offensive between Syria's army and Lebanon's Hezbollah to oust the militants from an area that straddles the Syria-Lebanon border.

This photo released on the official Facebook page of Syrian Presidency, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, fifth from right, praying on the first day of Eid al-Adha at Bilal mosque in the western Qalamoun town of Qarat, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Damascus, Syria, Friday, Sept 1, 2017. (Syrian Presidency via AP)

The Lebanese army carried out a separate but simultaneous campaign on the other side of the border, securing the shared frontier for the first time in years.

But the offensive was overshadowed by a controversial deal to transport the remaining militants from the area to an IS-held town in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in exchange for revealing the fate of missing Lebanese fighters.

The Hezbollah-negotiated deal angered Iraq and the U.S. and a convoy carrying around 300 militants and as many family members has been stuck since early this week in a government-controlled area in the desert outside Deir el-Zour province.

The U.S-led coalition carried out airstrikes near the convoy, blocking its advance and targeting militants and their vehicles coming from IS areas to meet them.

On Thursday, the convoy was moved to another Syrian government-held area after their passage to Boukamal, the IS-held town on the border with Iraq, was blocked.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that he met personally with Assad in Syria to ask for his help in securing a deal that would help clear the Lebanon-Syria border area and uncover the fate of the Lebanese soldiers, missing since 2014.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some ambulances that were part of the IS convoy were able to cross into IS-held territories in Syria on Thursday. This was followed by the release of the body of a recently captured Iranian Revolutionary Guard member, apparently part of the deal.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah are fighting alongside Assad's forces. Bodies of Hezbollah fighters were also released as part of the deal.

The standoff came as government and allied troops were advancing in the desert area on the edges of oil-rich Deir el-Zour province, which is mostly controlled by IS. Syrian government forces control part of the provincial capital of the same name and its airport, but have been besieged by IS for years.

Russia, which is providing air support to Assad's forces, says capturing Deir el-Zour is the current military priority.
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Chattanoogas largest locally-owned CPA firm, HHM Certified Public Accountants, announced on Thursday the hire of five new employees.

Two dealership specialists, Paula Mashburn and Shanda Taylor, tax director, Barbara Borczak, tax manager, Stephenie Greene, and staff accountant, Marissa Cruz have expanded the firms Chattanooga team.



Ms. Mashburn and Ms. Taylor bring nearly four decades of experience to HHMs dealership services group. They will play a vital role expanding and servicing HHMs portfolio of dealership clients.

Ms. Borczak, as tax director at HHM, will help clients manage all tax aspects of transactions to achieve beneficial results and maximize tax savings opportunities.

Ms. Greene brings over a decade of accounting experience to her new role as tax manager at HHM. She will guide various small-to-middle market companies and partnerships through any and all tax issues.

Ms. Cruz, after serving as a tax intern in 2017, has transitioned to a full-time position working directly with the accounting and assurance department.
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military has dropped criminal charges it had filed against five journalists in cases that drew international criticism for discouraging freedom of expression.

The decision to withdraw the cases involving contact with banned organizations and online defamation under a telecommunications law was announced Friday on the Facebook page of the office of military's commander in chief. The journalists work for The Voice Daily, and The Irrawaddy and Democratic Voice of Burma, two primarily online news services.

The Myanmar Press Council confirmed it has received an official letter from the military announcing the decision and expressed its gratitude.

Although the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi that replaced a military-backed regime last year lifted most censorship rules, authorities have remained hostile to the media.
ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday denounced the indictments in the United States of 19 people, among them 15 Turkish security officials, calling them "scandalous."

The 19 suspects have been accused of attacking peaceful demonstrators gathered outside the Turkish ambassador's Washington home during a visit by Erdogan in May.

Videos show Erdogan supporters and security guards in suits and green uniforms hitting the protestors as police try to quash the violence. Some protestors are heard shouting "Baby killer Erdogan" and "Long live YPG," a Syrian Kurdish militant group that has become a sore spot in U.S.-Turkey relations.

Erdogan said his security detail was protecting him from members of the militant group after U.S. police failed to do so.

Turkey considers the YPG a terror organization and an extension of Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state, but the group is a key U.S. ally in Syria against the Islamic State group.

The bodyguards "performed their duties against this attack," Erdogan said and accused the U.S. of protecting a terror group. Nine people were hurt in the attack.

Sixteen of the defendants were charged in June while a grand jury decision on Tuesday added three more suspects, among them the head of security, Muhsin Kose.

They are indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, carrying a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison if found guilty. The charges all carry a "bias enhancement," which can increase penalties, and several face additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Erdogan called the indictments "a clear and scandalous expression of how justice works in America" and said he would raise the issue with President Donald Trump during a visit to New York this month.

Earlier this week, Turkey's foreign ministry protested the "biased" indictment and announced Turkey would follow legal paths to fight the decision.

Two suspects, who aren't security officers, were arrested in June and are due in court on Sept. 7. The rest remain at large and are thought to have returned to Turkey.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal prosecutors will lead a new Houston-based group created to help law enforcement agencies respond to an inevitable wave of fraud and other criminal activity set off by Harvey's punishing rains.

Authorities are warning residents, volunteers and officials in flood zones in Texas and Louisiana they could be targeted by storm-related scams, contract corruption, document fraud, identify theft and other crimes. They emphasize that the easy availability of personal information and documents on the internet has widened criminal activities and potential victims to anywhere in the U.S.

The new working group, announced Thursday night, was intended to combine Justice Department prosecutors, FBI and other federal law enforcement agents with Texas and Louisiana state officials in a team aimed at quickly identifying criminal trends and deploying resources for investigations and prosecutions.

Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey surrounds buildings in Sabine Pass, Texas, next to the Gulf of Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Houston-based acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez, one of the top officials in the new working group, said storm victims had already suffered devastation and "the last thing that victims of the damage need is to be victimized again."

The working group will be supported by the National Center for Disaster Fraud, a Baton Rouge-based federal task force that has specialized in disaster-related fraud and crimes since its creation in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

The National Center's team of operators will answer an expected crush of complaints in the coming months, while its core of federal prosecutors and agents will help the Houston-based group to identify criminal activities that span areas far from the flood zones.

"We recognize that much of the fraud may occur in areas far removed from the disaster," said Corey R. Amundson, the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana and the executive director of the National Center.

The task force played a role in many of the prosecutions of 1,463 defendants for disaster-related crimes associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Those cases targeted defendants in 49 federal districts across the country - a clear indication that criminal activities spawned by Harvey could originate anywhere.

After Katrina, many of the task force's criminal prosecutions targeted those accused of fraudulently obtaining emergency assistance funds intended to help storm and flood victims. The unit's scrutiny broadened to people and companies that filed fraudulent home repair and disaster loan applications and also to contract and kickback schemes involving corrupt public officials.

"Depending on what the new working group tells us about what kinds of crimes they're dealing with and where crimes are occurring, we can help identify what they need to look out for," Amundson said.

Among officials investigated by the task force after Hurricane Katrina were Benjamin L. Edwards Sr., a former New Orleans city sewerage director who pleaded guilty in 2010 to wire fraud and tax evasion for soliciting more than $750,000 in payoffs from hurricane cleanup contractors. Another was Gregory Brent Warr, the former mayor of Gulfport, Mississippi, who admitted guilt in 2009 for improperly receiving federal disaster funds.

As high water continued to spread Friday, Texas law enforcement officials were already warning residents about flood-related crimes.

"Protect yourself and your wallet from unscrupulous operators," urged a new flyer posted by the Texas attorney general, whose office had received nearly 700 complaints by late Wednesday.

Most of the calls reported price gouging but a few alleged cases of fraud, said Kayleigh Lovvorn, a spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and other relief agencies were accused of loose oversight after Katrina, but they have tightened controls since then, said Walt Green, a Baton Rouge lawyer and former U.S. attorney in Baton Rouge. But even in recent disasters, federal agencies were still targeted by scores of applications using fraudulent addresses, personal information and other spurious documentation.

"Identify fraud is the newest angle," said Green. "You can find long lists of social security numbers of the dark web and people are purchasing them to use after disasters."

Green, who led the federal disaster task force between 2013 and last March, said some criminal activity likely spiked even before Harvey's landfall last week. He said hurricane-related internet addresses - often with wording stressing storm charity and relief - are quickly purchased in the hours before a hurricane's landfall. Some web addresses later surface in charity scams that bilk unsuspecting donors or lure viewers to virus-infected sites.

On Wednesday, the government-funded Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center reported more than 500 domain names associated with Harvey had been registered over the preceding week. The majority of those names, the center reported, used words associated with philanthropy and aid, including "help," ''relief," ''donate" and "victims."

Four domain names referencing Harvey and the words "relief," ''fund" and "recovery" were listed for auction on eBay.com earlier this week, starting at $5,000 each. James Streigel, a northern California man who acknowledged offering them for sale, said he had no malicious intent and intended to sell them to the highest bidder. Streigel said his listings also carried notices saying he would donate 20 percent of his earnings to the American Red Cross.

He acknowledged to The Associated Press that he had no way of preventing prospective buyers from using the domain names for criminal activity. "We can't be sure of anything these days," Streigel said.

Hours later, an eBay spokesman, Ryan Moore, said the listings had been removed from eBay's site. "We've issued a warning to this seller that these listings violate eBay policy," Moore said.

The site's "offensive material policy" prohibits listings that "attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering, or that are insensitive to victims of such events."
BEIJING (AP) - Brazilian President Michel Temer is visiting China as his country seeks investments to shore up its flagging economy.

Temer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday ahead of next week's summit of BRICS nations in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen that also includes the leaders of Russia, India and South Africa.

Temer was greeted with full military honors by President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the ceremonial legislature in the heart of Beijing.

Brazil's President Michel Temer, right, smiles as he walks with China's President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In remarks at the start of their meeting, Xi noted that bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and finance has grown and pointed to new Chinese investment in Brazil in power, agriculture, infrastructure and other fields.

"The Brazil-China relationship has global strategic significance and the two countries should deepen their cooperation and proceed ahead in harmony," Xi said. "I fully concur with this and wish to endeavor with you to bring it to fruition."

Temer said before his departure that he saw China as a major investor in Brazilian airports, shipping terminals and other infrastructure.

Brazilian officials have also said they hope for Chinese technology and financial backing to finish the country's third nuclear power plant.

Temer has been seeking ways to revive the economy and help save his embattled presidency. China is also a huge market for Brazilian food and natural resource exports.

Following their meeting, Temer and Xi presided over the signing of 14 agreements in areas including film production, football, hydropower and railways. No monetary value for the agreements was announced.

Brazil's President Michel Temer, right, and China's President Xi Jinping review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Members of an honor guard shout as they march in formation during a welcome ceremony for visiting Brazil's President Michel Temer outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A Chinese People's Liberation Army soldier adjusts a hat of an honor guard member as they prepare for a welcome ceremony for visiting Brazil's President Michel Temer outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Brazil's President Michel Temer, right, and China's President Xi Jinping review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Members of an honor guard march as they prepare for a welcome ceremony for visiting Brazil's President Michel Temer outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
NEW DELHI (AP) - Two massive, rain-soaked cities on opposite sides of the world are struggling with swirling, brackish waters that have brought death and devastation. For Houston, it's unprecedented. For Mumbai, it's painfully common.

For India's financial capital and other South Asian cities and farmlands, floods are regular, cataclysmic occurrences made worse by breakneck urban development and population booms that will only become more challenging as climate change increases disaster risk.

In the last two months, more than 1,000 people have been killed in flooding events across India, southern Nepal and northern Bangladesh. Some 40 million more have seen their homes, businesses or crops destroyed.

In this Aug. 15, 2017, file photo, flood affected villagers travel by boat in floodwaters in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern state of Assam. This week's flooding in Houston is unprecedented, but such devastation is chronic across South Asia. Experts say local officials are ignoring dangers and pursuing development plans that only increase the risk of flood-related death and destruction as annual monsoon rains challenge cities to cope. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

Mumbai was especially hard hit, with water swamping offices, schools and roads and about 60 people killed - 33 alone in Thursday's collapse of a 117-year-old apartment building whose foundation had been weakened by the flooding.

"The city was brought to its knees," said Darryl D'Monte, a Mumbai-based environmentalist.

Such tragedies happen almost every year in South Asia. The amount of rain Hurricane Harvey dumped on Houston was unprecedented not only for the city but also for the continental U.S. Mumbai, meanwhile, experienced similar flooding just 12 years ago, and several major Indian cities have been inundated since then, including Kolkata in 2007, Hyderabad in 2008, Srinagar in 2014 and Chennai in 2015.

The death toll is often high, as it is this monsoon season, because of factors that include inadequate housing. In Mumbai alone, some 3 million people are crammed into low-lying slums and have few places to flee to when floods hit.

Experts say Indian officials are doing little to reduce the risks. Instead, they allow new construction, paving over floodplains, denuding forests and testing river banks.

Mumbai authorities have ignored plans to upgrade the city's British-era drainage system, clear drains of plastic debris and install pumping stations and flood gates to get any floodwaters out, D'Monte said.

"In most cities, lakes, ponds and even wide-open spaces acted as sponges to absorb excess rainfall. These have all disappeared from our cities and towns as water bodies are filled up and buildings come up in their place," said Chandra Bhushan of the Centre for Science and Environment, an environment think tank in New Delhi.

"We are becoming very good at weather forecasting. But we are very poor in putting that forecast information into decisions and actions," he said.

For north Indian farmer Avdesh Singh, predictions are of no consequence. Days ago, Singh watched as his home and fields sown with lentil crops were submerged in the village of Narayanpur Jaisingh, in state of Uttar Pradesh. He had managed to flee with the five other members of his family to a nearby highway, where they camped in the open for five days before being rescued.

"This was a dry area. We yearned for rain. But not this way," he said. "Our world has turned topsy-turvy and there's no going back."

Scientists have warned that flooding events will only become more frequent, as climate change brings stronger storms and makes rainfall more erratic - a key danger for those living along both the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mexico, which are considered "hurricane alleys" for the strong storms that barrel through.

Already, average temperatures across India have risen some 1.8 degrees Celsius in the last century. That extra heat increases evaporation, which makes storm clouds heavier. Higher temperatures are also increasing snow and ice melt in the Himalayas, sending more water rushing to the plains.

"Extreme rainfall events are going to be a part of our lives. If that is the case, how do we design our cities?" Bhushan said. "The current chaotic, business-as-usual urban sprawl is a recipe for disaster."

In addition, year-round farming is clogging irrigation canals and widespread deforestation has contributed to soil erosion, reducing the ability of land to absorb water. Those were key reasons for India's deadliest flooding of this monsoon season.

Nearly 520 people were killed last month in northern Bihar state, where silt-filled rivers couldn't cope with this year's high volume of water, said Dinesh Mishra, an environmentalist who has studied Bihar's flood patterns for years. He blamed the state's decision in the 1950s to build embankments along those rivers for tripling the area now prone to flooding.

"Instead of constructing these embankments, the government should have pushed ahead with a plan to remove the silt from the rivers," he said.

These problems are not confined to India. Recent floods in neighboring Nepal killed 149 people and left 27 missing, while also damaging or destroying almost a quarter of a million homes.

There, too, experts blamed deforestation and land degradation for a tragedy made worse by a lack of preparation and an institutional inability to cope.

"Some people were given some warning about the flood, but they were not told where to go in such disasters," said geologist Shree Kamal Dwivedi with Nepal's Department of Water Induced Disaster Management in Kathmandu.

It should be urgent now for authorities to figure out how to cope with future flooding, he said, given that "global warming and climate change is contributing to the change in rainfall patterns" and threatening to make things worse.

Many governments in India, Bangladesh and Nepal say they don't have the money to make major changes. Still, there have been some improvements to flood preparations, including test versions of early flood warning systems and better protocols for disaster response. But experts say officials need to heed those warnings, and police and soldiers need disaster management training if they are going to continue to be deployed for rescue efforts.

In Mumbai, there is obvious room for improvement.

On Aug. 24, weather forecasters predicted heavy rain was on the way. But the warning by local authorities to close down schools and asking people to stay home came five days later.

By then, no warning was necessary. The roads were already waist-deep in water.

___

Follow Nirmala George at -www.twitter.com/NirmalaGeorge1

In this Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017, file photo, villagers move past floodwaters with the help of a rope at Katihar district, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. This week's flooding in Houston is unprecedented, but such devastation is chronic across South Asia. Experts say local officials are ignoring dangers and pursuing development plans that only increase the risk of flood-related death and destruction as annual monsoon rains challenge cities to cope. (AP Photo/Aftab Alam Siddiqui, File)

In this Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017, file photo, schoolchildren wade past floodwaters in Gaibandha district, about 120 miles (192 kilometers) north of capital Dhaka, Bangladesh. This week's flooding in Houston is unprecedented, but such devastation is chronic across South Asia. Experts say local officials are ignoring dangers and pursuing development plans that only increase the risk of flood-related death and destruction as annual monsoon rains challenge cities to cope. (AP Photo, File)

In this Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, file photo, villagers fish in floodwaters in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern state of Assam. This week's flooding in Houston is unprecedented, but such devastation is chronic across South Asia. Experts say local officials are ignoring dangers and pursuing development plans that only increase the risk of flood-related death and destruction as annual monsoon rains challenge cities to cope. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, schoolchildren wade past a waterlogged railway street in the rain in Mumbai, India. Two massive, rain-soaked cities on opposite sides of the world are struggling with swirling, brackish waters that have brought death and devastation. For Houston, it's unprecedented. For Mumbai, it's painfully common. India's financial capital was especially hard hit, with water swamping offices, schools and roads and about 60 people killed, 33 alone in Thursday's collapse of a 117-year-old apartment building whose foundation had been weakened by the flooding. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)
TEKNAF, Bangladesh (AP) - Almost 400 people have died in violence in western Myanmar that was triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya ethnic minority, Myanmar's military said, as both sides exchanged charges of atrocities and thousands of Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh.

The death toll, posted on the Facebook page of Myanmar's military commander Friday, is a sharp increase over the previously reported number of just over 100. The statement said all but 29 of the 399 dead were insurgents.

The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes, including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on Aug. 25, making the combat more extensive than previously announced. The army, responding to the attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents.

Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority members walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border near Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say security forces and vigilantes attacked and burned villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee. Hundreds of civilians were killed, they say, posting photos, videos and details on social media as evidence.

The government blames the insurgents for burning their own homes and killing Buddhists in Rakhine. Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012, forcing more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps, where many still live.

As the refugees poured across the border into Bangladesh, a police official in Cox Bazar's Teknaf area said that 21 bodies of Rohingya were found floating in the Naf River. Mohammed Mohiuddin Khan said two of them had bullet wounds.

On Thursday, three boats with refugees capsized, killing at least 26, including women and children, police said.

Among those fleeing the violence was Sham Shu Hoque, 34, who crossed the border with 17 family members. He said he left his village of Ngan Chaung on Aug. 25 after it was attacked by Myanmar security forces who shot at the villagers. He said troops also used rocket-propelled grenades, and helicopters fired some sort of incendiary device.

Five people were killed in front of his house, he said. His family survived the attack but was told by the soldiers to leave. They took a week to reach Bangladesh, hiding in villages along the way, he said.

Estimates from local and police officials, intelligence sources and Rohingya leaders suggest at least 40,000 have crossed into Bangladesh. In the first six days after the Aug. 25 attacks, the International Organization for Migration said at least 18,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi border guards have tried to keep them out, but usually relent when pressured, and thousands could be seen Friday making their way across muddy rice fields. Young people helped carry the elderly, some on makeshift stretchers, and children carried newborns.

Some, carrying bundles of clothes, cooking utensils and small solar panels, said they had walked at least three days to get to the border.

The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army - ARSA - said it acted to protect Rohingya communities.

It is nearly impossible to verify information issued by either the government or Rohingya sympathizers because Myanmar has barred most journalists from the area, except on limited official guided tours.

A human rights group, Fortify Rights, said that witnesses who escaped have supported accusations by Rohingya advocates that government security personnel and civilian vigilantes "committed mass killings of Rohingya Muslim men, women, and children in Chut Pyin village, Rathedaung township, on Aug. 27."

"Survivors and eyewitnesses from Chut Pyin told Fortify Rights that soldiers and armed residents burned every house in the village," the group said in a statement. It said survivors who returned to the village after the attackers left estimated the death toll there to be more than 200.

It quoted a 41-year-old survivor identified by the pseudonym "Abdul Rahman" as saying that soldiers killed and burned his brother along with other victims.

"We found (my other family members) in the fields," it quoted him as saying. "They had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts. My two nephews, their heads were off. One was 6 years old and the other was 9 years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun."

Government accusations of atrocities committed by the insurgents are less detailed.

"Some of the ethnic natives while on their way were brutally butchered by the terrorists applying inhuman ways without any reason," Friday's military statement said. It said the insurgents were "using various terrorism tactics under well-hatched plots, attacking security forces on duty with superior force, mingling with villagers after running away from security forces in hot pursuit of them, cutting off communication lines, and spreading false information to get outside help."

Most of Myanmar's estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution, with the government refusing to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.

The U.S. group Human Rights Watch said it has obtained satellite images that suggest burning villages across a large swathe of Rakhine state. It said the locations match some of the accounts given by people who have fled into Bangladesh of settlements that have been attacked and destroyed by Myanmar soldiers, police and armed civilians.

"The government has to stop this offensive," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "It has to allow humanitarian assistance and let journalists into this area. We have to actually see what's happened because quite clearly human rights violations have taken place."

He said it was possible that violations had occurred on both sides.

The U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, expressed concern "that many thousands of people are increasingly at risk of grave violations of their human rights."

The U.N. secretary-general also urged restraint by Myanmar security forces, a spokesperson said in a statement.

"The current situation underlines the urgency of seeking holistic approaches to addressing the complex root causes of violence," spokesperson Eri Kaneko said.

Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority members walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border near Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ethnic Rohingya carry an elderly man and walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border near Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

An ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar carries an elderly woman as they pass through mud and slush after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border at Khanjorpara village, south of Coxs Bazar, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority members walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border at Khanjorpara village, south of Coxs Bazar, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority members walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border at Khanjorpara village, south of Coxs Bazar, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A young member of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority walks through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border at Khanjorpara village, south of Coxs Bazar, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces. Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Members of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority sit in a boat to cross a canal at Shah Porir Deep, in Teknak, Bangladesh, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar have capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said Thursday. Last week, a group of ethnic minority Rohingya insurgents attacked at least two dozen police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, triggering fighting with security forces that left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Suvra Kanti Das)

Two Rohingya children walk carrying their belongings on their head at Shah Porir Deep, in Teknak, Bangladesh, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar have capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said Thursday. Last week, a group of ethnic minority Rohingya insurgents attacked at least two dozen police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, triggering fighting with security forces that left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Suvra Kanti Das)
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A military official in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region says two bomb blasts have killed at least three soldiers in a remote village.

Col. Abdullahi Ahmed says the simultaneous blasts occurred in Af-Urur as soldiers gathered to buy khat, stimulant leaves often chewed by Somali men.

The blasts occurred amid celebrations for Eid holiday festivities.

Ahmed says at least 10 other people were injured in the blast caused by two bombs concealed in the shop. He blames the Somalia-based al-Shabab extremist group.

Puntland in northern Somalia also faces a growing threat from fighters linked to the Islamic State group who have split from al-Shabab.
BERLIN (AP) - Two more Germans have been arrested in Turkey for what Berlin considers political reasons, Germany's Foreign Ministry said Friday, deepening tensions between the two countries.

The arrests took place Thursday, and airport police in Antalya confirmed to the German Consulate in Izmir information on the arrests that it had received through other channels, ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr told reporters.

She wouldn't elaborate either on the people involved or the circumstances of the arrests. Adebahr said German officials hadn't yet been allowed to speak by phone with the detainees as of Friday.

The arrests bring to 12 the number of Germans held in Turkey for what Berlin considers political reasons, including two journalists and a human rights activist. At least four of the 12 have dual citizenship, though that isn't the case with the latest two.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported that two German citizens of Turkish origin were detained at Antalya Airport for alleged links to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. It said they were a couple, identified only as K.A. and his wife, S.A.

Ankara blames Gulen, a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for last year's coup attempt. Gulen denies the claim.

A crackdown in the aftermath of the coup attempt has led to the imprisonment of more than 50,000 people with alleged links to terror groups. But critics say the purge that initially targeted people suspected of links to the failed coup has expanded to include government opponents.

Friday marked 200 days since the detention of the best-known of the German citizens in custody, German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.

"The situation in which Deniz Yucel has now been for 200 days, and the situation of the other Germans jailed in Turkey, still causes us great concern," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

"We expect of Turkey that the German citizens who are jailed for incomprehensible reasons be freed," Seibert added.

German-Turkish relations have been souring for over a year, particularly since the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and with the arrests that followed.

The countries also have tangled over Turkey blocking German lawmakers' visits to German troops serving in the campaign against the Islamic State group at two Turkish air bases and over authorities' refusal to allow rallies by Turkish government politicians in Germany. The latter spat prompted Erdogan to accuse Germany of "committing Nazi practices."

In July, Germany's foreign minister advised all citizens traveling to Turkey to exercise caution.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, attended a fundraiser for a House Republican who heads the conservative Freedom Caucus.

That's the word from Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina. In a message Friday, Meadows told The Associated Press that Kushner was in North Carolina Thursday night as a surprise guest for a previously scheduled fundraiser.

Meadows said they were able to talk about family-leave policy and the opioid crisis. Meadows added: "He came in his personal capacity and at his personal expense but everyone was grateful for his willingness to come to NC."

In this July 24, 2017 photo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner speaks to reporters outside the White House after meeting on Capitol Hill behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Kushner attended a fundraiser Thursday night for Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who heads the conservative Freedom Caucus. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Kushner is married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and serves as an adviser to the president.

Politico first reported on Kushner's attendance at the fundraiser.
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) - A 22-year-old man whose case divided his small northeast Kansas town was sentenced Friday to more than 27 years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life for raping two of the women who alleged he had assaulted them.

Jacob Ewing of Holton was also ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported .

Ewing was convicted in June of raping and sodomizing one woman in 2016 and raping and committing two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy against another woman in 2014. He was also convicted of battery, possession of drug paraphernalia and charges related to furnishing alcohol to minors.

He was acquitted in April of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He still faces trial in October on charges that include attempted rape and in November on 10 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child. District Judge Norbert Marek ruled earlier that a jury should decide if Ewing knowingly viewed the sexually explicit images of a 17-year-old girl.

Before the sentencing, the two victims asked the judge to give Ewing a long sentence, in part so they could feel safe with him behind bars.

"You might not see my scars but that's all I see," said one victim, who said the trauma she suffered affected her relationships and career.

The mother of one victim looked at Ewing as she described watching her daughter change from an optimistic, outgoing woman to a "shell" of her former self.

"I can do nothing to take the pain away from her," she said. "It is only you Jacob Ewing who is responsible."

Defense attorney Kathleen Ambrosio had asked Marek to sentence Ewing to just under 13 years, noting that he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

"I think by anyone's standards that length is a substantial sentence and will send a message to him and anyone else," Ambrosio said. "He will be marked for life not only by the law but by the community."

Allegations that Ewing, a former state football champion and member of a well-known family, had sexually assaulted five women and a teenager divided Holton, a town of 3,300 residents about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Topeka. Ewing supporters have said the allegations don't fit the person they know. They posted signs in their yards and wore supportive T-shirts to court.

Advocates for the women formed a support group on Facebook and organized volunteers to sit in the courtroom during proceedings.

The sentencing was a relief for the victims and their family said Michelle McCormick, program director for the YWCA's Center for Safety and Empowerment.

"A significant amount of time does justice for a lot of people," she said. "Not just these women, but also those who didn't have cases come forward or didn't speak out."

Lawrence psychologist Robert Barnett testified that an evaluation conducted in August found Ewing didn't suffer from any mental illness. He said his general behavior was "hedonistic and irresponsible," but not requiring mental health treatment beyond substance abuse therapy.

Ewing will stand trial Oct. 2 for charges of attempted rape, aggravated sexual battery and battery. Another trial involving 10 felony counts of sexual exploitation of child is scheduled for Nov. 15.

During a hearing in July, Marek dismissed charges of rape scheduled for trial in August at the request of special prosecutor Jacqie Spradling, who called one of his accusers in that case to testify during the June trial that ended with his conviction. Double jeopardy standards in Kansas prevent prosecution of pending charges if those cases are used as evidence in an earlier trial.

With two trials pending, Ewing's earliest release date would be in fall of 2040. Ewing has been in jail since August 2016 and will remain in county custody through then end of a trial scheduled in November.

___

Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com
Justin Flom Justin Flom KB Trip Lee U-Church Previous Next

Lee University will welcome magician and author Justin Flom on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conn Center to kick off the fall 2017 U-Church series.

Review for Justin Flom:

Flom differentiates himself from traditional magic by using everyday items like cards, soda, candy, and even cellphones for the majority of his illusions. Flom shares his testimony with large crowds everywhere through the power of illusion. He has performed on The Ellen DeGeneres show three times, along with appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the TODAY Show, and the Rachel Ray Show, among others.

He has also starred in SyFys Wizard Wars, performed on Florida Georgia Lines 2015 tour, and starred in several Coke commercials. Flom is currently performing throughout the United States and hosting private events for companies such as Coke, Dave Ramsey, and Walmart, to name a few.

By utilizing social media like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, Flom has been able to reach a larger audience and keep magic modern. His Snapchat was featured on Buzzfeeds 15 Snapchat Enthusiasts That Will Inspire You To Take Better Snaps.

The U-Church series will continue Oct. 22 with a concert by 116 Clique members KB and Trip Lee.

KB, also known as Kevin Burgess, has released a mixtape and three albums. KB has toured nationally with Tenth Avenue North and Trip Lee.

Lee, who has spoken several times for the universitys chapel services, is a rapper and pastor. He has released five albums and authored two books. Lees music has been nominated for several Dove awards and three of his albums have debuted at #1 on Billboard Gospel charts.

U-Church will conclude its fall series Nov. 12 with An Evening with LeeU Worship. This event is a unique worship opportunity designed and led by Lee students. Attendees often encounter diverse styles of worship, including music by LeeU Worship, spoken word, dance, art, and Communion. LeeU Worships debut album is set to release later this fall.

U-Church is a free, non-ticketed event open to students, alumni, and the community. Seating is first come, first served.

Childcare is available for all who attend. Contact Lindsey Sifferman at lsifferman@leeuniversity.edu for more information on childcare.

For more information about U-Church, contact Joyce Lane at jlane@leeuniversity.edu or 614-8347.

For updates and announcements about U-Church events, stay connected by following U-Church on Twitter: @LeeUChurch or on Instagram: @leeuchurch.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The University of Florida says it is not permanently barring a group headed by white nationalist Richard Spencer from speaking at its campus.

The top attorney for UF made the statement in a letter she sent Friday to a Gainesville attorney representing the National Policy Institute and Spencer. Amy Haas said the university will try to accommodate Spencer if he makes a new formal request for a speaking date.

The university last month denied the group's request to hold an event on Sept. 12, citing recent violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. UF President W. Kent Fuchs said the First Amendment doesn't require risking imminent violence to students.

Attorney Gary Edinger this week asked the university to reconsider its decision in order to avoid a federal lawsuit.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Astronaut Peggy Whitson is closing out a space streak unmatched by any other American.

The world's most experienced spacewoman is due back on Earth this weekend following 9  months at the International Space Station. Counting all her flights, she will have logged 665 days in space - the equivalent of more than 1  years.

First stop Saturday night is Kazakhstan as usual for a Russian Soyuz capsule touchdown, then a brief detour to Germany before heading home to storm-crippled Houston.

In this Dec. 8, 2016 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Peggy Whitson floats through a tangle of cables inside the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station. Whitson was operating the Fluids System Servicer to refill coolant loops in multiple modules on the U.S. segment of the station. (NASA via AP)

During her third and latest mission, which began last November, the 57-year-old biochemist became the oldest woman in space. She performed her 10th spacewalk, more than any other woman. And she became the first woman to command the space station twice.

On the eve of her landing, Whitson said she's craving pizza - and flush toilets. "Trust me, you don't want to know the details," she said via email in response to questions from The Associated Press. A formal news conference was canceled earlier in the week because of the storm, so email responses were the next-best thing.

She said her home in Houston is fine, but so many friends and co-workers were not as fortunate. Johnson Space Center in Houston remains closed until Tuesday except for essential personnel, such as those staffing Mission Control for the space station. She said the team was sleeping on cots at the space center at one point.

"Any trepidations I might have about returning in the aftermath of a hurricane are entirely eclipsed by the all those folks keeping our mission going," she said.

Most of the flight went by quickly, she noted, although the last week has seemed to drag by.

"Once the switch is thrown to go home, time seems to move a lot slower," she wrote.

Whitson said she will "hugely miss the freedom of floating and moving with the lightest of touch, especially those first few days after my return when gravity will especially SUCK." She also will miss "the ability to 'go for a walk' in a spaceship built for one," a reference to her spacesuit, and seeing "the enchantingly peaceful limb of our Earth" from on high.

"Until the end of my days, my eyes will search the horizon to see that curve," she wrote.

This flight alone lasted 288 days, much longer than intended. A seat opened up on a Soyuz capsule, and NASA took advantage of it to keep her in orbit three extra months. Only one other American - yearlong spaceman Scott Kelly - has spent more time off the planet in a single shot.

Russians still hold claim to the world's space endurance and spacewalking records. Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who is returning with Whitson and newbie U.S. astronaut Jack Fischer, will have 673 days under his space belt once he's back on the planet, accumulated over five missions. Yurchikhin and Fischer arrived at the orbiting lab in April.

Whitson said she could have stayed in orbit longer and that exercise equipment up there is better than ever for keeping bones and muscles strong. She's been an astronaut since 1996 and is married to a fellow biochemist, Clarence Sams, who works at the space center.

A farm girl from Iowa, Whitson enjoyed growing vegetables on the space station, all part of scientific research, and especially enjoyed sampling some of the results. After so long in space, she longed for fresh produce and did her best to jazz up the freeze-dried and just-add-water space meals.

Last month, Whitson posted a photo of herself on Twitter, "soaking up some sunset time" in the space station's observation deck. "638 days in space and the view is still amazing!" she tweeted.

After landing back on Earth in Kazakhstan (where it will be Sunday), Whitson and Fischer won't be flying straight back to Houston on a NASA plane. The storm delayed NASA's plane from getting there in time to bring the two back right away, said flight director Zeb Scoville. They will meet up with the plane in Cologne, astronaut headquarters for the European Space Agency. A Sunday night arrival in Houston is expected.

What's next for Whitson? "I am not sure what the future holds for me personally, but I envision myself continuing to work on spaceflight programs," she wrote. She also plans on "paying forward some of the advice and mentoring that I received on my journey."

Station officials would like nothing better. "She needs to be our blueprint," said Dan Hartman, the station's deputy program manager.

___

Online:

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

In this Jan. 6, 2017 made available by NASA, astronaut Peggy Whitson works during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Whitson and fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough successfully installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of the six new lithium-ion batteries on the ISS. (NASA via AP)

In this image posted to her Twitter feed on May 30, 2017, astronaut Peggy Whitson holds up Chinese cabbage grown in the International Space Station. During her third and latest mission, which began November 2016, the 57-year-old biochemist became the oldest woman in space. (NASA via AP)

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 14, 2005 file photo, Dr. Peggy Whitson, left, and Lt. Col. Michael Fincke, both NASA astronauts, listen to testimony from Dr. John Phillips live from the International Space Station, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington - the first time a witness has testified live from space. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007 file photo, U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, center, commander of the 16th mission for the International Space Station, smiles just before the launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Whitson, who was the first woman to command the station, was handed a symbolic Kazakh whip to manage the crew. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

FILE - In this Wednesday June 5, 2002 file photo, Space shuttle Endeavour commander Kenneth Cockrell, right, and pilot Paul Lockhart lead the way out of crew quarters followed by, second row from left, Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treschev; third row from left are Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz at Cape Canaveral, Fla., before their launch later in the day. (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mysterious health attacks on the American diplomatic community in Cuba continued as recently as August, the United States said Friday, despite earlier U.S. assessments that the attacks had long stopped. The U.S. increased its tally of government personnel affected to 19.

The new U.S. disclosures came the same day that the union representing American diplomats said mild traumatic brain injury was among the diagnoses given to diplomats victimized in the attacks. In the most detailed account of the symptoms to date, the American Foreign Service Association said permanent hearing loss was another diagnosis, and that additional symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and "cognitive disruption."

At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. was continually revising its assessments of the scope of the attacks as new information was obtained. She said the investigation had not been completed.

In this photo taken Aug. 14, 2015, a U.S. flag flies at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba. American diplomats who served in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury following mysterious, unexplained attacks on their health, the union that represents U.S. diplomats said Friday, in the most detailed account to date of the growing list of symptoms. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

"We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation," Nauert said.

U.S. officials had previously said that the attacks, initially believed to be caused by a potential covert sonic device, had started in fall 2016 and continued until spring 2017. Last week, Nauert had said at least 16 Americans associated with the U.S. Embassy in Havana had been affected, but that the "incidents" were no longer occurring.

The evolving assessment from the U.S. government suggested that investigators were still far off from any thorough understanding of what transpired in the attacks, which officials have described as unlike anything the U.S. has experienced before.

Moreover, the fact there was an incident as recently as August indicated the attacks continued long after the U.S. government became aware of them and ostensibly raised the issue with the Cuban government. That revelation created further uncertainty about the timeline of the attacks and who was responsible.

Notably, the U.S. has avoided accusing Cuba's government of being behind the attacks. The U.S. did expel two Cuban diplomats, but the State Department emphasized that was in protest of the Cubans' failure to protect the safety of American diplomats while on their soil, not an indication the U.S. felt that Havana masterminded it.

U.S. investigators have been searching to identify a device that could have harmed the health of the diplomats, believed to have been attacked in their homes in Havana, but officials have said no device had been found.

"We can't rule out new cases as medical professionals continue to evaluate members of the embassy community," Nauert said. She added that the embassy has a medical officer and has been consistently providing care to those who have reported incidents.

Asked for further details about what the U.S. had learned about the cause or culprit in the attacks, the State Department said it had no more information to share.

But in Canada, a government official said that the Canadian government had first learned in March 2017 that one of its citizens had been affected by the attacks. Ottawa had previously confirmed that at least one Canadian diplomat was involved, but had not revealed any timeline for when it occurred or came to light. The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

It's unclear whether Canadians were intentionally targeted or whether there could have been collateral damage from an attack aimed at Americans, given that diplomats from various countries often live in the same areas of a foreign capital. U.S. officials have said the Americans were targeted in their homes in Havana, not in the Embassy.

Canadian officials have been actively working with U.S. and Cuban authorities to ascertain the cause. A Cuban attack deliberately targeting Canadians would be even more confounding, given that Canada - unlike the U.S. - has long had friendly ties to Cuba.

The American Foreign Service Association, in describing the damage to diplomats' health, said it had met with or spoken to 10 diplomats affected, but did not specify how many of the 10 had been diagnosed with hearing loss or with mild traumatic brain injury, commonly called a concussion.

Yet the confirmation that at least diplomats suffered brain injury suggested the attacks caused more serious damage than the hearing-related complaints that were initially reported.

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, typically results from a bump, jolt or other external force that disrupts normal brain functioning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Short- and long-term effects can include changes to memory and reasoning, sight and balance, language abilities and emotions.

Not all traumatic brain injuries are the same. Doctors evaluate patients using various clinical metrics such as the Glasgow Coma Scale, in which a numerical score is used to classify TBIs as mild, moderate or severe.

"AFSA strongly encourages the Department of State and the U.S. Government to do everything possible to provide appropriate care for those affected, and to work to ensure that these incidents cease and are not repeated," the union said in a statement.

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto and AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group says a 17-bus convoy of IS militants and their families is stranded in the Syrian desert.

The coalition issued a statement Friday saying it has sought an unspecified solution that would save the women and children in the convoy from further suffering.

It says the coalition has not attacked the convoy.

But it says it has struck IS fighters and vehicles, including a tank and other armed vehicles, that tried to help the convoy move to the Iraqi border.

The coalition says its officials have contacted Russian counterparts to deliver a message to Syria's government, which had tried to facilitate the convoy's movement earlier this week from western Syria to an area near the Iraqi border.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Tens of thousands of Argentines demonstrated in cities across the country on Friday holding photos of a missing activist who was last seen when border police evicted a group of indigenous Mapuche from lands in Patagonia owned by Italian clothing company Benetton.

Demonstrators in the Argentine capital marched to the Plaza de Mayo square in front of the presidential palace to demand the government find 28-year-old Santiago Maldonado alive.

The march marked the one-month anniversary of Maldonado's disappearance. Since then, everyone - from soccer great Diego Maradona to Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla to politicians from opposing political parties - have joined human rights activists in a social media campaign under the slogan: "Where is Santiago Maldonado?"

Demonstrators hold photos of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The disappearance has hit a raw nerve in Argentina, where human rights groups estimate that about 30,000 people died or were forcibly disappeared during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

"We've gone back in time 40 years. I can't accept it," said Rosa de Roisinblit, 98, the vice president of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights groups. During the dictatorship years, she marched every week in the same square in Buenos Aires, fighting alongside other women in the group to recover their children and grandchildren.

"I can't believe that this is happening in a constitutional, democratically-elected government," she said.

Friday's march was largely peaceful but at the end clashes erupted between groups that had apparently infiltrated the march and police.

Maldonado's case has become problematic for the government of President Mauricio Macri as human rights groups accuse it of being part of a cover up and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has urged Argentina to find the missing artisan and tattoo artist.

Maldonado's family says border police detained him when he and others were blocking a road in Chubut province, in the southern region of Patagonia. Authorities deny wrongdoing.

Maldonado's case is being investigated as a forced disappearance. But in a report published by local media authored by local prosecutor Silvina Avila to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, she says that there is no proof yet that border police were involved in the disappearance.

Maldonado had joined the Mapuche cause while living in southern Argentina. The Aug. 1 protesters were demanding the release of Facundo Jones Huala, an imprisoned Mapuche leader who is wanted by Chile. The lands belong to Compania de Tierras Sud Argentino, a wool-producing company owned by Benetton. Mapuches claim the lands as their ancestral territory and have been occupying them since 2015.

Some members of the Mapuche indigenous community have told reporters on condition of anonymity that Maldonado was taken by border police. But they have yet to ratify the information to authorities.

"We want a serious and impartial investigation," Santiago's brother, Sergio Maldonado, told demonstrators on Friday. "How much more must we ask ourselves: Where is Santiago?"

__

Associated Press writer Debora Rey contributed to this report.

A demonstrator holds a photo of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Human Rights groups hold photos of of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Human Rights groups hold photos of of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Demonstrators hold photos of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A demonstrator holds a photo of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Demonstrators hold photos of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Demonstrators hold photos of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A demonstrator holds photo of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, with a text that reads in Spanish " Where is Santiago Maldonado," during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

German Maldonado, brother of Santiago Maldonado, talks during a protest for his missing brother, activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A man sells pins with photos of missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Demonstrators march for missing activist Santiago Maldonado, during a protest at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Human rights groups say Maldonado went missing a month ago today, after Argentine border police captured him during an operation against Mapuche Indians who were blocking a highway in Argentina's Patagonia. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan authorities have opened an investigation into the wife of a prominent opposition activist under house arrest after finding a large amount of cash in her car.

On Thursday, authorities discovered some 200 million bolivars in a vehicle belonging to Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo Lopez. That's around $60,000 at the nation's weakest official exchange rate or $10,000 at the black market rate.

Tintori took to Twitter Friday to denounce what she said was a persecution against her family, pointing out that it's not a crime to have cash in one's possession. In a video she showed a document ordering her to appear Tuesday before a local court.

Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, shows a photo of jailed anti-government protesters, during a meeting with foreign journalists in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. At least 123 people died and more than a thousand were arrested during four months of protests against President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

It's not clear what crimes Tintori is being investigated for. She has said the cash was to pay for emergencies including the hospitalization of her 100-year-old grandmother.

Some government supporters have accused Tintori of using the funds to finance "terrorism" - a term they frequently use to describe violent protests that have rocked Venezuela over the past four months - although they have presented no evidence to back the claim.

"They are trying to cause a scandal where there is none," Tintori said in the video shot at her home and wearing a T-shit emblazoned with an image of her husband.

Tarek William Saab, who the pro-government constitutional assembly appointed to replace Venezuela's outspoken chief prosecutor after she was ousted, said on Thursday that her case was under investigation but he provided no more details. Late Friday, Saab's office said it was also investigating in connection to the case two executives from local Banco Occidental de Descuento for allegedly diverting funds from the bank to benefit themselves and third parties.

The citation for Tintori comes as she is expected to travel to Europe next week to urge foreign leaders to join the Trump administration and slap sanctions on President Nicolas Maduro*s socialist government as it moves forward with plans to rewrite Venezuela*s constitution and consolidate power.

Two people close to Tintori told The Associated Press that she will leave Caracas as planned on Saturday and has meetings scheduled with the French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angel Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from the government.

Tintori's husband, Lopez, served three years of a 14-year sentence for leading violent anti-government demonstrations in 2014 before being released from a military prison and placed under house arrest in July in an attempt to even put down an even deadlier wave of protests against Maduro.

His trial and conviction, which was marred by irregularities, has been condemned by numerous foreign governments and the United Nations.

___

Parra wrote from Madrid. AP Writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from Bogota, Colombia
SAO PAULO (AP) - The decision by a Brazilian judge to free a man who was arrested after allegedly ejaculating on a woman on a public bus is causing anger in a country where gender violence is prevalent.

The incident occurred Tuesday as the bus was going down Avenida Paulista, one of the busiest avenues in Sao Paulo. Passengers grabbed the perpetrator and turned him over to police.

But less than 24 hours later, judge Jose Eugenio do Amaral Souza Neto ruled the man had committed a misdemeanor, not a rape, and ordered his release.

The incident did not involve "constraints, violence or threats," Souza Neto said in justifying his decision. "The victim was seated when she was surprised by the ejaculation."

According to the UOL news portal, police records show that Diego Ferreira de Novaes has been detained 16 times since 2009 for committing similar crimes, including five times just this year.

Retired prosecutor Luiza Nagib Eluf told reporters the judge's decision "makes a mockery" of justice.

She said the ruling was unacceptable because it ignored the fact that Brazil's penal code defines rape as a heinous crime.

The Sao Paulo Association of Judges said in a statement Friday that the criticisms were cowardly attacks against the judge for accepting the recommendation of prosecutors to release de Novaes.

The Sao Paulo-based Right to Defense Institute also came to the judge's defense saying in a statement: "The judiciary cannot be held hostage to a punitive wave that casts doubt on judges whenever they rule in the defendant's favor."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Thomas Vanek and the Vancouver Canucks agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal Friday.

The 33-year-old forward had 17 goals and 31 assists in 68 games last season with Florida and Detroit.

"Thomas has been a prolific scorer throughout his career and we're excited to add his offence and experience to help with the continued growth of our forwards," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said. "His skill and ability to contribute on the scoresheet, combined with his lead-by-example style will help our team this year, and will benefit our younger players as they continue to develop their game."

The former University of Minnesota star from Austria has 333 goals and 364 assists in 885 regular-season games with Buffalo, the New York Islanders, Montreal, Minnesota, Detroit and Florida.
Prominent entrepreneur Sir David Tang, a friend of the royals and A-list celebrities, has died.

For the past few weeks, the 63-year-old founder of the Shanghai Tang fashion chain had been at the Royal Marsden Hospital, where he died on Tuesday evening.

Celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Sir Tom Jones and Russell Crowe have since paid tribute to the businessman.

Speaking to the Press Association, Ewan Venters, chief executive of Fortnum & Mason, said the world is a little duller after Sir Davids death.

Mr Venters, 45, who had known him for a decade, said he was informed of the death by Sir Davids wife, Lady Lucy Tang.

He was one of lifes unique people who had an extraordinary network of people from all walks of life. He was a very generous, kind-hearted, spirited individual, Mr Venters said.

Personally, I think the world is a little duller for the loss of David and at such a relatively young age.

RIP dear friend Sir David Tang, the privilege was mine.

Witty, charming, intellectual, salacious , hilarious , loving and funny as f***  Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 30, 2017

Sir David announced earlier this month that he was throwing a farewell to life party at The Dorchester in London after receiving the news he had a couple of months to live.

Mr Venters said the event was due to take place in the ballroom at the luxury Mayfair hotel on September 6, but that sadly he didnt quite make it.

He added: David had been unwell on and off for a period, but actually his recent illness is a relatively short (one)  this has all happened in the last four weeks.

There was an understanding amongst his friends, and hence why he organised a memorial, that by definition he was not going to come through. It was a matter of time.

A most generous, exceptional & loving friend, Sir David Tang,RIP. The stories & laughs will forever echo. Our hearts go out to Lucy & family  Tom Jones (@RealSirTomJones) August 30, 2017

As the news of his death broke, Hollywood actor Russell Crowe tweeted: RIP dear friend Sir David Tang, the privilege was mine. Witty, charming, intellectual, salacious, hilarious, loving and funny as f***.

Veteran entertainer Sir Tom Jones posted: A most generous, exceptional & loving friend, Sir David Tang, RIP. The stories & laughs will forever echo. Our hearts go out to Lucy & family.

Presenter Stephen Fry tweeted: We all knew it was coming, but the death of the great, outrageous, kind, brilliant, original & wholly marvellous David Tang is a rotten blow.

Posting an image of herself with Sir David on Instagram, Naomi Campbell wrote that there would never be another person like him, as she extended her condolences to his family.

The model added: Mind, body and soul and your beyond generous spirit, bursting with this amazing infectious energy. We were all your students.

Campbell also said the loss of Sir David is felt by the world, and that he was a man who lived life to the fullest.

So sad to hear about David Tang. He was so generous and so much fun we will all miss him.  Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) August 30, 2017

Sir Mick Jagger posted on Twitter: So sad to hear about David Tang. He was so generous and so much fun we will all miss him.
A homeless man accused of murdering a mother and her teenage son has appeared in court sitting feet away from grieving family members.

Aaron Barley is charged with killing Tracey Wilkinson, 50, and her 13-year-old son Pierce at their home in Stourbridge, West Midlands, on March 30.

The 24-year-old, wearing a maroon T-shirt and flanked by five security officers, spoke only to confirm his name during a 10-minute hearing at Birmingham Crown Court.

The scene of the attack. (Joe Giddens/PA)

Mrs Wilkinsons husband Peter, who was left seriously injured after being stabbed at his home in Greyhound Lane, Norton, listened to Thursdays proceedings from the public gallery.

His daughter Lydia, a university student who was not at the property during the stabbings, was also present in court.

Sitting around 15 feet away in the glass-panelled dock, Barley stared at the floor as he listened to legal submissions.

He was not required to enter any pleas.

Tracey Wilkinson's daughter Lydia arrives at Birmingham Crown Court. (Aaron Chown/PA)

Lydias boyfriend, her grandfather and three family friends also attended the hearing.

Judge Mark Wall QC remanded Barley in custody until a three-week trial due to begin on October 3.

Mr Wilkinson was well enough to attend his loved ones funeral in June this year, alongside Lydia.

Speaking at their funeral, Miss Wilkinson said her mother and younger brother had been as close as a mother and son could be and shared a true bond of love that could never be broken.

She told mourners at St Marys Church in Oldswinford, near Stourbridge, she was so proud of my happy family.
RE/MAX Renaissance revealed a refreshed RE/MAX brand on Thursday, including the world famous balloon logo and wordmark. The new branding was unveiled to hundreds of franchise owners at the annual RE/MAX Broker Owner Conference in San Francisco by RE/MAX Co CEOs Dave Liniger and Adam Contos.

At RE/MAX Renaissance and RE/MAX Properties, we are excited to incorporate the new branding into our marketing tools," said owners Frances Vantrease and Beth Dodson. "The new logo and refreshed wordmark will continue to enhance the great work our agents do in Chattanooga."

Our new look better represents the enthusiastic entrepreneurs who comprise our network, said Mr. Contos. Great brands evolve and RE/MAX is no different. We believe the updated balloon and wordmark will help our agents grow their business and give them an even bigger competitive advantage in digital, social media and mobile marketing.

The iconic red, white and blue hot air balloon has been updated to be brighter, more modern and more appealing to the home buyers and sellers of today  while being instantly recognizable as RE/MAX, said officials.

According to Pete Crowe, RE/MAX senior vice president of Communications and Marketing, the responses of more than 20,000 consumers factored into the decision to embark on a brand refresh which is the first in the 44 year history of the real estate franchisor.

Its a brand evolution, not a brand revolution, said Mr. Crowe. The subtle adjustments to the most powerful image in real estate was a natural next step across our residential, luxury and commercial brands.

Building on the 2016 launch of the Sign of a RE/MAX Agent campaign, the brand refresh continues to grow alongside current real estate trends. For the fourth straight year, the largest groups of homebuyers are millennials, who compose 34 percent of buyers.

Buyers who are 36-years-old and younger continue to purchase homes at a higher rate than other age groups, said Mr. Crowe. At the same time, real estate tools and technologies have drastically changed the way we help people buy and sell houses. The refreshed brand is a proactive move to continue to position RE/MAX agents as industry leaders for the home buyers and sellers of today and tomorrow.

In the coming months, residents will begin to see the new logo on yard signs, office fronts and advertising. In addition, RE/MAX Renaissance and RE/MAX Properties along with the larger RE/MAX network of 115,000 agents in more than 100 countries and territories will celebrate the refreshed look with local events on a global day of celebration on Sept. 20. RE/MAX Renaissance and RE/MAX Properties will be joining the festivities by hosting an office open house for vendors.




A skipper leading a crew of amateur sailors in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race had to be airlifted to hospital after his thumb was nearly ripped off.

David Hartshorn was conducting a spinnaker drop with his crew, around 450 nautical miles off the coast of Portugal, when the guard rail became caught between his thumb and the sheet.

The incident which happened on board the 70ft Greenings yacht, left the 52-year-old with a partially detached thumb and a serious open fracture  requiring urgent medical attention.

Watch the recent successful medevac of #ClipperRace Skipper David Hartshorn - Race 1 https://t.co/2eHaik4Ccw via @YouTube @greeningsvoyage  Clipper Round the World Yacht Race (@ClipperRace) August 31, 2017

Mr Hartshorn said the guard rail on the yacht acted like a cheese wire as the spinnaker reinflated in the wind after it had collapsed, and pulled his digit along the metal safety rail.

The moment it happened, I knew that I had done something and I knew that something wasnt quite right, he told the Press Association of the incident on Saturday.

On looking down at his hand immediately afterwards, he said he could see his bone sticking out and his thumb flopping off to one side.

Pressed on how he felt looking at his hand, he said: I did 30 years as a police officer, I have seen a lot worse it just so happened to be on me this time.

Im gutted not to be with them now but Ill be back as soon as I can! - David Hartshorn #TeamGreenings #ClipperRace #clipperroundtheworld pic.twitter.com/JJrIotluWH  Greenings Sport (@GreeningsSport) August 30, 2017

With specifically qualified coxswain Jeremy Hilton charged with taking over control of the yacht, a process which happens in situations where the skipper is incapacitated, Mr Hartshorn was taken below deck.

He said crew member Miles Berry, who is a surgeon by trade, acted as the lead medic and  along with Jemma Cowley and Lucas Sebastian Canga Ivica  meticulously cleaned his wound, administering antibiotics and pain relief.

Just days after the race had started, it was then arranged for the injured skipper to be medevaced from the yacht  which took place from the water instead of the deck.

The Greenings yacht (Tim Goode/PA)

That was a very surreal moment to actually step off the boat and watch it disappear and just hope that the helicopter would actually pick me up, he said laughing.

Once airlifted to Hospital de Sao Sebastiao he underwent three hours of surgery on Sunday night, seeing his thumb wired back into place.

The Welsh skipper who lives in Ripley, Surrey, said he would like to get back on the boat in Freemantle, Australia, so he can complete the rest of the race. But with another operation yet to take place, this is dependent on the speed of his recovery.

After the evacuation the Greenings crew headed to Porto in Portugal where deputy race director and former Clipper skipper, Dan Smith, took over the boat.

UPDATE: @greeningsvoyage resumed racing to Punta del Este, Uruguay, late last night after brief diversion to Porto https://t.co/WsMOET1eqA pic.twitter.com/UujHxFvJoN  Clipper Round the World Yacht Race (@ClipperRace) August 30, 2017

Mr Hartshorn, who waved his team off as they re-joined the race on Tuesday, said he knows the crew will benefit from the experience of Mr Smith who came second in the last race edition.

He said: Im gutted not to be with them now but Ill be back as soon as I can.

The Clipper fleet is currently racing through the Atlantic and is expected to arrive in Punta del Este, Uruguay, between September 20 to 25. In what is the eleventh edition of the biennial race, it will visit cities across the world including South Africas Cape Town, Sanya in China and New York.

Following their departure from Liverpools Albert Dock on August 20, the fleet raced by 713 amateur sailors over 40,000 nautical miles, will return to the city on July 28, 2018.
Arlene Foster has called for a new cultural deal and laws supporting the Irish language and Ulster Scots as part of the immediate restoration of Northern Ireland powersharing.

The largest party in nationalism, Sinn Fein, has insisted it will only return to devolved government at Stormont after receiving assurances around a stand-alone Irish language act.

In a major speech on Thursday night, DUP leader and Tory ally Mrs Foster said laws should be introduced in Belfast to address cultural and language issues within a time-limited period. Unless they enjoyed cross-community support the troubled institutions would fall yet again.

Rt Hon Arlene Foster MLA @DUPleader delivering a speech at tonight's meeting in Belfast. Standing strong for NI. pic.twitter.com/DVtqq7QFa6  Gary Middleton MLA (@Gary_Middleton) August 31, 2017

She warned unless agreement can be found between the Stormont parties direct rule from London could be speedily reintroduced.

She said: I am putting forward a common sense solution that can give us the Executive we need and resolve outstanding issues.

Powersharing has been suspended since early this year when late Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness resigned in protest at the DUPs handling of a botched green energy scheme which risks landing the taxpayer in millions of pounds of debt.

Talks aimed at restoring the institutions are due to resume on Monday led by the British and Irish governments, with some prominent DUP MPs warning a return to direct rule from Westminster could be looming.

@DUPleader warns of "speedy introduction of direct rule" if agreement can't be reached pic.twitter.com/vSpTh8OZcr  Enda McClafferty (@endamcclafferty) August 31, 2017

The DUP is propping up Theresa Mays minority Conservative Government with support in key votes in exchange for a 1 billion spending package.

Mrs Foster said: I am proposing that we restore an Executive immediately. Put ministers back into posts so that decisions can be made and that Northern Ireland can have a government again.

But we also agree to bring forward legislation to address culture and language issues in Northern Ireland within a time-limited period to be agreed. If we fail to do that in a way that commands cross-community support then the Executive would cease to exist.

She added: We must establish a new cultural deal to provide a comprehensive and long-term approach to the sensitive issue of identity.

DUP leader Arlene Foster. (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mrs Foster met Irish language enthusiasts earlier in the year in a bid to better understand supporters who are not politicised.

She said: We have nothing to fear from the Irish language nor is it any threat to the Union. We have previously supported practical measures for the Irish language and we will do so again if we can reach a wider agreement on these matters.

However what we cannot and will not do is simply agree to one-sided demands.
Brussels must not be allowed to blackmail the UK into agreeing a divorce bill as the price for starting trade talks, the International Trade Secretary has warned.

Discussions on the future relationship between Britain and the European Union should begin now because they will benefit both sides, Liam Fox said.

European Commission chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said there had been no decisive progress on key issues during talks with the UK and trading negotiations were still quite far away.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox speaks during a business forum in Tokyo (Carl Court/PA)

Mr Fox has been in Japan with a delegation of 15 business leaders from the UK to drum up new trade for the UK.

Asked whether it was time for the UK to name its Brexit price, he told ITV News: We cant be blackmailed into paying a price on the first part.

.@LiamFox speaking to UK business delegates & their Japanese partners about #GlobalBritain in Tokyo during #PMinJapan visit pic.twitter.com/R1SfiZ8ERs  Department for International Trade (@tradegovuk) August 30, 2017

We think we should begin discussions on the final settlement because thats good for business, and its good for the prosperity both of the British people and of the rest of the people of the European Union.

Mr Barnier issued his warning on Thursday after the latest round of Brexit talks in Brussels.

He acknowledged there had been some fruitful discussions on the issues surrounding the relationship between the Republic of Ireland and Ulster, but struck a pessimistic tone overall.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called for a major boost in trade with Nigeria during a visit to the west African country.

Mr Johnson met British military personnel in the capital Lagos who are helping the Nigerian government to combat pirates.

More than 120 pirate attacks were reported in the Gulf of Guinea last year, costing around 619 million.

Boris Johnson has called for a major boost in trade with Nigeria

UK military is helping Nigerian Navy to tackle piracy in Gulf of Guinea. Fantastic to meet great UK servicemen providing invaluable training pic.twitter.com/cY1loshRZT  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 31, 2017

The gulf is targeted because more than 6 billion of west African trade with the UK, and around 15% of oil imported to Britain, moves through the area annually.

Mr Johnson said: Nigeria is a country of huge promise and big ambitions. British businesses such as Diageo and Unilever are thriving here and I want to see even more British companies succeeding in Nigeria, and more Nigerian companies in Britain.

The potential of Nigerias markets, people and natural resources is enormous and helping to secure a prosperous future for our two countries is a key part of our Commonwealth heads of government meeting next year.

Our new UK High Commission building in Nigeria - bringing @foreignoffice @DFID_UK @DefenceHQ under one roof - is now officially open. #1HMG pic.twitter.com/r22hPO8uJK  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 31, 2017

Our military links are close and longstanding. British military training is helping Nigeria to take on Boko Haram and to fight back against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

This close military co-operation is the cornerstone of our joint efforts to defeat terror and to create the conditions for peace, stability and prosperity.

Mr Johnson, on a joint visit to the country with International Development Secretary Priti Patel, also formally dedicated a new Commonwealth war memorial at the National Military Cemetery.
The Government has been urged to appoint a social housing tsar to safeguard tenants interests in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the west London inferno had left a sense of frustration and anger that residents of the council-owned block were ignored.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, he proposed the introduction of a commissioner for social housing residents, tasked with giving tenants a voice on the national stage.

Grenfell Tower in west London (Rick Findler/PA)

The June 14 disaster came against a backdrop of repeated fire safety concerns flagged by the towers residents, which were allegedly ignored by both the council and the organisation managing the building.

Mr Khan said the commissioner would operate independently of Government and hold the legal powers to act as watchdog for social tenants, leaseholders and freeholders.

His intervention follows consternation expressed by both politicians and survivors of Grenfell Tower when the issue of social housing was excluded from a forthcoming public inquiry into the tragedy.

Housing Minister Alok Sharma (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Mrs May said the Governments housing minister, Alok Sharma, would instead carry out a separate review of the issue.

The Mayor of London wrote in his letter: I welcome the Governments decision to establish a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, though as you know I have been concerned that its terms of reference will not cover the issues that relate to social housing.

Whilst it is vital for the inquiry to establish what happened at Grenfell Tower and why the response of Kensington and Chelsea Council was so poor, the tragedy also raises serious questions about what reforms are necessary to ensure that the voices of social housing residents are heard and acted upon in future.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in a release of doves as a show of respect for those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire, during the Notting Hill Carnival Family Day in west London (Yui Mok/PA)

His recommendations included making it easier for tenants to both complain to the housing ombudsman and secure action from the social housing regulator.

He continues: All of us who have spent time talking to Grenfell residents since the fire cannot help but have felt their frustration and anger that policy-makers have ignored them before and following the tragedy.

That is why I propose the Government introduces a Commissioner for Social Housing Residents  an individual independent of Government with a statutory remit to act as a watchdog and champion for social tenants, leaseholders and freeholders  to ensure that their voices are heard on the national stage.

At least 80 died when flames engulfed the 24-storey block, while hundreds more were left homeless.

Both the council and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police on potential corporate manslaughter charges.
Almost 400 people died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya ethnic minority, Burmas military has said.

Both sides exchanged accusations of atrocities as thousands of Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh.

The death toll, posted on the Facebook page of the countrys military commander, is a sharp increase over the previously reported number of just over 100.

Violence in the western state of Rakhine has driven many Rohingya to seek shelter in Bangladesh (Bernat Armangue/AP)

The statement said all but 29 of the 399 dead were insurgents, whom it described as terrorists. It said there had been 90 armed clashes, including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on August 25, making the combat more extensive than previously announced.

The army, responding to the August 25 attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents.

Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma, said security forces and vigilantes attacked and burned Rohingya villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee.

A child is carried in a basket as Rohingya ethnic minority members walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border near Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Hundreds of civilians were killed, they said. They have posted photos, videos and details on social media that they say serve as evidence. The government said it is the insurgents who have been burning homes and killing members of the Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community.

Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012, forcing more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps where many still live.

The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last weeks attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), said it acted to protect Rohingya communities.

Bangladeshi villagers gather around bodies of Rohingya women and children at Shah Porir Deep, in Teknak, Bangladesh (Suvra Kanti Das/AP)

It is nearly impossible to verify information issued by either the government or Rohingya sympathisers because the government has barred most journalists from the area, except on limited official guided tours.

A human rights group, Fortify Rights, said that witnesses who escaped have supported accusations by Rohingya advocates that government security personnel and civilian vigilantes committed mass killings of Rohingya Muslim men, women and children in Chut Pyin village, Rathedaung township, on August 27.

Survivors and eyewitnesses from Chut Pyin told Fortify Rights that soldiers and armed residents burned every house in the village, the group said in a statement.

Burma's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya Bernat Armangue/AP

The violence has driven many Rohingya to seek shelter in Bangladesh. Estimates from local and police officials, intelligence sources and Rohingya leaders suggest at least 40,000 have crossed the border.

In the first six days after the August 25 attacks, the International Organisation for Migration said at least 18,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh.

The exodus continued on Friday. Bangladeshi border guards have tried to keep them out, but usually relent when pressured, and thousands could be seen making their way across muddy rice fields.

Young people helped carry the elderly, some on makeshift stretchers, and children carried newborns. Some, carrying bundles of clothes, cooking utensils and small solar panels, said they had walked at least three days to get to the border.
Las Palmas have announced the signing of striker Loic Remy from Chelsea.

The 30-year-old, a former France international, has joined the LaLiga outfit on a two-year deal.

Remy passed a medical in London on Thursday and will now fly to Gran Canaria and join training on Saturday before his unveiling.

Loic Remy

Wishing Loic Remy the best of luck for the future having today joined Las Palmas in a permanent deal. pic.twitter.com/kQYwh46Qxu  Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 1, 2017

Remy has yet to play in Spain during a career which has also seen him represent Lyon, Nice, Marseille, QPR, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

He is the second former Premier League player to sign for Las Palmas this week, after ex-Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani was also brought in.
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation's biggest lender, confirmed the existence of an internal report warning of shortcomings in its monitoring of offshore transactions after media said it had obtained the report.

News Corp's Sky News Business said CBA's confidential review of its institutional banking and markets division went to senior executives in February, and showed transaction monitoring was "non-existent or minimal across almost two thirds" of that division.

"The document referred to in those media reports was a working document, proposing technology enhancements as part of our ongoing programme of action," CBA said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday.

(Reporting By Anusha Ravindranath in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates; Editing by Byron Kaye)
By My Pham and Matthew Tostevin

HANOI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Tensions are high on the South China Sea as Vietnam faces off against China over their overlapping maritime claims.

But for the boatmen on the junks cruising the calm expanse of Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, another growing Chinese presence in the region is very welcome indeed.

"More than half our tourists are Chinese now," said Nguyen Van Phu, 33, who has spent six years working on the boats that chug between the bays spectacular stone towers. "If they stopped coming it would be a big problem, if not a disaster."

The number of Chinese tourists in Vietnam has surged this year, just one sign of the growing economic ties between two long-time enemies. Chinese investment in Vietnam is also increasing rapidly, as is trade between the two countries.

But while tourists, trade and investment are being welcomed, they also present a challenge for a fiercely independent country like Vietnam, which has been wary of Chinas growing influence in the region.

"The rising economic dependence on China makes it more difficult for Vietnam to decide how far to confront China on the South China Sea," said Nguyen Khac Giang, a researcher at the Vietnam Economics and Policy Research Institution.

Vietnam would suffer far more than China economically in the event of political instability given its smaller size, he said.

China exports more goods to Vietnam than any other country in Southeast Asia, sending textiles to be made into shirts and sneakers, and electronic components for mobile phones and large flat-panel displays. Those completed products are exported around the world, as well as back to China.

Vietnam also makes electronics components for factories in China, and exports computers for Chinese consumers.

Manufacturers see Vietnam as an attractive base, with wages as little as a third of those in coastal regions of China, according to employment consultants.

And while proximity has historically been a source of friction between the two countries - they fought a border war as recently as 1979 and armed clashes flared for years afterwards - for manufacturers it's a boon.

"We strategically invested in Vietnam because of its geographical advantage - closer to China and hence lower cost on materials, transportation and relatively shorter production lead time," said Bosco Law, chief executive of the Hong Kong-based Lawsgroup. The company makes clothes for brands such as Gap, whose global operations include scores of outlets in China.

Businesses contacted by Reuters declined to talk openly about the risks for them of tension between Vietnam and China.

Chinese trade and investment has surged across Southeast Asia in recent years as companies search out new bases for manufacturing and consumers for their goods.

China has also invested in infrastructure and plans to pour development funds into Southeast Asia as part of its sprawling Belt and Road initiative.

That has already had a political effect.

Big recipients of Chinese investment such as Cambodia and Laos are promoting China's line on the South China Sea at regional meetings.

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, meanwhile, has cited Chinese investment pledges as he softens his country's stance on its maritime disputes with China.

MISTRUST

Tensions between Beijing and Hanoi have been high since mid-June, when Chinese pressure forced Vietnam to suspend oil drilling on a block that overlaps the line China says marks its claim to almost all the South China Sea.

As Vietnam has emerged as the most vocal regional opponent of China's maritime claims in Southeast Asia, it has drawn Beijing's ire. Its growing defence links to the United States, Japan and India also make China suspicious.

The Vietnamese government has also had to contend with public pressure at home. A row over Chinese oil drilling in disputed waters in the South China Sea in 2014 sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam in which foreign factories thought to be Chinese were set on fire, before the rig was removed.

Tourism dipped in the aftermath, but quickly bounced back. Trade has also risen steadily since then.

Exports to China jumped nearly 43 percent to $13 billion in the first half of 2017 from a year earlier, according to customs data. Imports rose more slowly, climbing 16 percent.

Chinese tourist arrivals, meanwhile, soared 60 percent to nearly 1.9 million in the first half of 2017 to account for around one third of all foreign visitors.

For the most part, the government has welcomed the boost from Chinese tourism, as it strives to meet a 6.7 percent target for annual economic growth.

INVESTMENTS WELCOMED

Vietnam is also welcoming Chinese investments, if cautiously.

"We should be careful but at the same time we should take advantage," said Nguyen Mai, the president of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises.

The biggest foreign direct investors in Vietnam have long been from South Korea and Japan, particularly in the electronics sector. More than 100,000 Vietnamese work for Samsung alone in Vietnam.

However, Chinese investment is growing quickly, nearly doubling last year to almost 8 percent of total foreign direct investment. Investment went into solar panel and plastics factories, among other areas.

Direct U.S. investment accounts for about 2 percent of the total so far this year; the United States is also Vietnam's second-largest trade partner. (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen)
ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. decision to arrest Turkish security guards involved in a brawl in Washington in May is a scandal, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

"This is a complete scandal. It is a scandalous sign of how justice works in the United States," Erdogan told reporters after prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Adha celebration.

Eleven people were hurt in the brawl during Erdogan's visit to Washington, which the city's police chief described as a brutal attack on peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's residence. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Robert Birsel)
AccuWeather reports four to eight inches of rain and a serious threat of flash flooding in the next 24 hours as Tropical Storm Harvey heads northeast toward the Tennessee Valley and into Kentucky and then to West Virginia.

While the storm will not yield the same amounts of rainfall that occurred in Houston and southeast Texas, the mountainous terrain in parts of the affected regions are prone to water rushing from higher elevations into low-lying areas, causing flash flooding.

"As the rains move into the northeast, residents of these areas should remain extremely vigilant," said AccuWeather Chief Operating Officer and Expert Senior Meteorologist Evan Myers. "Flash flooding presents a serious danger to lives and property. Contingency planning is imperative to ensure safety."

AccuWeather meteorologists continue to track the path of Irma, now a Category 3 hurricane to determine if and where it may make landfall in the U.S. Mr. Myers said, "If Irma builds to a Category 4, and then hits the U.S. mainland, as a Category 4, it will be the first time in more than 100 years the U.S. has been ht by two Category 4 hurricanes in the same year."
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Italy's economy grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter thanks to firm domestic demand, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Friday, confirming its preliminary estimate made last month. Year-on-year growth was confirmed at 1.5 percent, and the first quarter's growth rates of 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 1.2 percent year-on-year were also unrevised. In the second quarter, growth was driven by firm consumer spending, investments and inventory accumulation. Trade flows offered no contribution to quarterly growth, with rises in imports and exports canceling each other out. Italy's economy has been the most sluggish in the euro zone for more than a decade, but growth has strengthened since the start of this year and the recovery looks increasingly solid. Business morale is at a 10-year high and employment is rising. The government of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is expected to raise its forecast for 2017 gross domestic product to around 1.4 percent when it issues new economic targets next month, up from a current target of 1.1 percent. ISTAT said so called "acquired" growth at the end of the second quarter stood at 1.2 percent. This means even if there were no quarterly growth over the second half of the year, full-year growth in 2017 would be up 1.2 percent from the year before. ISTAT gave the following details on contributions to quarterly growth in the first and second quarters of this year. PERCENTAGE POINT CONTRIBUTIONS TO Q/Q GROWTH Q2 Q1 Final domestic demand 0.3 0.1 -Final national consumpton 0.1 0.4 -Consumer spending 0.2 0.3 -Government spending 0.0 0.1 -Gross Fixed Investment 0.1 -0.3 Inventory Changes 0.1 0.3 Net Exports 0.0 0.1 GDP 0.4 0.4 (Gavin Jones, Rome Newsroom + 39 06 85 22 4350, rome.newsroom@news.reuters.com))
Sept 1 (Reuters) - British fashion retailer New Look's chief executive Anders Kristiansen has left the company, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

New Look's UK And Ireland Managing Director Danny Barrasso has been appointed as interim chief executive while South African owner Brait's board seeks a replacement for Kristiansen, the source said.

A New Look spokesman declined to comment, while Brait did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sky News had reported on Thursday that Kristiansen was set to leave New Look and that a announcement would be made on Friday. http://bit.ly/2iN0r3q (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- The Kremlin is looking for a female candidate to become Vladimir Putin's "sparring partner" in the 2018 presidential election, the daily writes, citing its sources.

- Russia's Ministry of Culture is considering introducing a

5 million rouble ($86,051) tax on distributing foreign films in Russian cinemas. The measure will allow the ministry to collect some 1.5 billion roubles ($25.82 million) to support the domestic film industry, the daily reports.

- Mikhail Poluboyarinov, deputy head of Russian state development lender Vnesheconombank, was elected on Thursday to chair the board of directors of Russia's national air carrier Aeroflot.

- Vnesheconombank will give a loan to its subsidiary leasing company to finance Aeroflot's purchase of 20 SuperJet-100 airplanes, Poluboyarinov is quoted as saying.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- Western sanctions imposed on Moscow have seriously pushed Russia's military industry towards developing new technologies, the chief designer of Russia's early warning missile systems, Sergei Boyev, says in a interview.

- Russia's natural resources ministry has urged the prosecutor general's office to check the legality of sales of forests of Sochi natural reserves for logging by the regional authorities of Krasnodar.

- Russia's largest titanium producer VSMPO-AVISMA is still considering plans to invest in the U.S. industry but has no intention to build a company there as big as the one in Russia, VSMPO-AVISMA's head Mikhail Voevodin says in an interview.

- Russian lawmakers have vowed to retaliate for the U.S. decision to close a Russian consulate and two trade annexes in the United States. At the same time, Russia's ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov is quoted as warning against any "hysterical impulses".

RBC

www.rbc.ru

- The government has invested 242 billion roubles ($4.16 billion) in the agrarian sector this year, which is 19 billion roubles ($326.99 million) more than last year, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev says in an interview.

- Russia could produce 110 million tonnes of grain this year, Tkachev says, adding that 20-30 percent of the sown areas have not yet been harvested and an upcoming chilly autumn could affect the crop.

IZVESTIA

www.izvestia.ru

- The presidents of Russia and Belarus plan to inspect joint military exercises, which are code named Zapad 2017 and are to be held from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20. The two leaders will visit one of the military ranges in Russia, the Kremlin is quoted as saying.

- Russian scientists will study the cause reason of the disappearance of salmon in the waters off the island of Sakhalin which could seriously boost market prices for the fish, the daily reports.

ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA

www.rg.ru

- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained two people suspected of being members of Islamic State who were plotting to carry out attacks in Moscow and the Moscow region on Sept. 1. One of the suspects planned to attack civilians with cold arms while the other one intended to commit suicide bombing, the FSB said on Thursday. ($1 = 58.1050 roubles) (Reporting by Tatiana Ustinova)
By Colleen Jenkins

GRAHAM, N.C., Sept 1 (Reuters) - Ever since demonstrators in Durham, North Carolina, toppled a bronze Confederate statue from its tower, Bradley Dixon has worried about the fate of a similar monument 30 miles (48 km) west.

The statue honoring 1,100 Confederate soldiers from Alamance County is one of dozens in the country facing renewed calls for removal after violence at an Aug. 12 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Dixon, a 30-year-old descendant of some of those Civil War soldiers, considers the threat a personal affront.

"It is a direct blow at my family, at my blood," Dixon said from the front porch of his 1930s farmhouse, where chickens wander in the yard and he crafts blacksmithing anvils from old train tracks. "I'm not going to watch that monument fall."

Across the U.S. South and beyond, elected officials are stripping signs of the Confederacy from streets, schools and other public spaces, siding with those offended by memorials to the pro-slavery cause.

But in Alamance County, a former textile hub that President Donald Trump won with 55 percent of the vote last November, county commissioners vow the granite and marble Confederate statue erected there more than 100 years ago will stand.

Echoing the Republican president's sentiments about such monuments, the all-white board said the statue commemorated an important part of local history.

Dixon, a white fire department captain whose family was among the county's earliest settlers, grew up hearing about that history at his family's Sunday lunch table.

To him, the monument pays tribute to ancestors who served to protect the powers reserved for states by the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment. His relatives were not slave owners, he said, and he insists they did not fight to preserve an institution he calls sickening.

Historians cannot speak to every individual soldier's motivations. But Dixon's pride in his heritage sheds light on why he and likeminded supporters are strident in their defense of symbols others say represent a shameful past.

"My family was called to action and they went," he said. "These men deserve recognition for their sacrifice."

'FAIRLY ARCHETYPAL'

The statue is located outside the historic courthouse in the county seat of Graham, watching over quaint storefronts on Main Street from atop a column engraved with Confederate flags.

It was paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization formed during a postwar period marked by virulent white supremacy and violence against black Americans.

Colonel Jacob A. Long, a Confederate veteran who founded the county's branch of the Ku Klux Klan in 1868, spoke at the statue's May 1914 dedication. He invoked white privilege in his remarks, saying it was important to remember the achievements "of our own race and blood."

"The Alamance County statue appears to be fairly archetypal," said Charles Irons, a history professor at Elon University. "To pretend that this monument erected by private, white-only dollars actually represented the sentiments of all citizens of the county is self evidently not true."

But many local residents in the county, which is 75 percent white, favor keeping such statues. That is in line with national polling on the issue.

Several supporters interviewed said they did not view the monument as a symbol of slavery or racial oppression. But some of those same people said that if it came down, tributes to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. should go, too.

"I don't see why they can memorialize theirs if we can't memorialize ours," said Joseph Harris, a white sign company owner. He noted a local businessman hired him to make a sticker featuring the statue and the message: "I ain't never coming down."

Other residents, both black and white, said they were more concerned about avoiding heated clashes.

The August rally in Charlottesville, which was organized by white nationalists, turned deadly when a woman was killed after a man drove into a crowd of counter-protesters.

"Tearing it down causes division, and I think as a community we should just try to keep things peaceful," said Brittany Parrish, 24, a black line cook at a coffeehouse. "It's not doing anybody harm."

Dixon said none of the statue supporters he knows had anything to do with the events in Virginia or with hate groups such as the KKK, which he denounces.

"All the hatred, it's not necessary," he said. "There's not enough love anymore."

Although he has stood guard to protect the Alamance County statue from protesters in Charlottesville's aftermath, Dixon prefers a quiet life with longtime girlfriend Emily Mason on their 11-acre (4-hectare) property dubbed Mason-Dixon Farm.

Mason's ancestors also fought for the Confederacy, but she did not grow up steeped in that history and said she could see both sides of the debate. Dixon's passion for his family's legacy, however, has convinced her the statue should stay.

"It's everything to him," she said. (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney)
By Josiane Kouagheu

YAOUNDE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Dozens of activists from Cameroon's English-speaking community were freed from jail on Friday as the mainly French-speaking nation's president moved to ease months of tension in its minority regions.

President Paul Biya on Wednesday ordered a military court to drop its prosecution of the detainees, who were arrested following protests launched late last year by anglophones demanding equal treatment.

Around 50 were released from two prisons in the capital Yaounde after midnight. Watched by security forces, a crowd of family members and journalists gathered outside to greet the activists, who then boarded buses that took them home.

"I was in jail for five months. My mother couldn't visit me," said one freed detainee, who asked not to be named. "I'm innocent. I was arrested when I went out to see a gathering of leaders ...I was just getting by. Now I have nothing left."

Among others freed were civil society leaders Felix Agbor Balla and Fontem Aforteka'a Neba, arrested in January and being held under anti-terrorism laws enacted in response to incursions in the country's north by Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The pair - who pleaded not guilty in February to charges that included complicity in hostility against the homeland, secession and civil war - had faced a potential death sentence if convicted.

Their case added fuel to long-standing opposition in the North-West and South-West regions against President Biya's francophone-dominated government, which has responded to unrest there with a crackdown.

Biya's office said the decision to release the detainees reflected the president's resolve to find a "peaceful solution to crises".

But an easing of tensions did not appear imminent as others, including well-known radio broadcaster Mancho Bibixy, remained in jail with their cases due to be reviewed at the end of this month.

"Bibixy and the others were only expressing what they thought. They didn't kill anyone," Calvin Tah Ndangoh, his lawyer, told Reuters. "We do not know for sure why he wasn't released."

Anglophone activists have called for a boycott of the start of the new school year next week.

In response, around 1,000 paramilitary police, including 400 reinforcements, were deployed in the two volatile regions due to the "persistent threat of activists" in a security operation due to last 128 days.

(Additional reporting by Anne-Mireille Nzouankeu; Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by John Stonestreet)
BERLIN, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Two further German citizens have been detained in Turkey, a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry said on Friday, adding that Berlin had not yet established contact with the individuals concerned.

The spokeswoman said the Turkish authorities had not immediately informed Germany about the arrests, which she believed had taken place on Friday. "I can't say whether it happened upon arrival at the airport or not," she added.

Large numbers of European citizens have been detained in Turkey over the past year, many accused of involvement in last year's failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including dual German-Turkish citizen Deniz Yucel, whose detention hit the 200-day mark on Friday.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt, editing by Michelle Martin)
By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The EU's executive said on Friday it might consider giving more cash to Hungary for border protection - but not for a fence - and suggested Prime Minister Viktor Orban was asking for "solidarity" from the bloc without showing enough of it himself.

Budapest said on Thursday it would ask the European Commission for about 400 million euros to cover half of the cost Hungary has incurred for border management.

It has fortified its borders with Serbia and EU state Croatia with a fence, police and troops, and says it is protecting the rest of EU from illegal migration.

But Hungary has refused to take in a single asylum-seeker under a 2015 EU-wide plan meant to alleviate the burden on Greece and Italy, struggling with mass arrivals. It has been backed by Poland in a bitter dispute within the bloc.

Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein told a briefing on Friday the Commission would swiftly analyse any additional request for border funding from Hungary, but added:

"We are not financing the construction of fences or barriers at the external borders. We do support border management measures at the external borders - this can be surveillance measures, this can be border control equipment.

"But fences, we do not finance."

Some 1.7 million irregular migrants have reached EU shores since 2014 after perilous voyages across the Mediterranean. The bloc has tightened its migration policies but many in the bloc call Orban's fences inhumane.

"We take note that the Hungarian government now acknowledges that solidarity is an important principle of the EU," Winterstein said.

"Solidarity is a two-way street and all member states should be ready to contribute. This is not some sort of an 'a la carte menu' where you pick one dish, for example border management, whilst refusing another dish, like ... relocation."

Germany, which has taken in the majority of the people who have made it to Europe, also reminded Hungary on Friday that solidarity should be reciprocal.

The EU's top court, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, is due to rule on Sept. 6 on a case brought by Hungary and Slovakia asking it to declare the EU's relocation scheme illegal. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis

Sept 1 (Reuters) - A China-backed private equity fund will seek U.S. President Donald Trump's approval for its proposed $1.3 billion acquisition of U.S. chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corp, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Buyout firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners' decision comes after it spent eight months trying unsuccessfully to persuade the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. government panel which scrutinizes deals for potential national security threats, to clear the Lattice deal.

The U.S. President has the final authority to approve or prohibit such investments. Lattice will be the first CFIUS case to reach Trump's desk, at a time when relations between the United States and China are being strained by disagreements over trade and the containment of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Canyon Bridge had offered CFIUS to commit to almost doubling the number of Lattice's employees, the sources said. The Portland, Oregon-based company reported 986 full-time employees worldwide as of the end of December.

However, this commitment did not sway CFIUS, the sources added.

The sources asked not to be identified because the decision by Canyon Bridge and Lattice has not yet been announced. Lattice, Canyon Bridge and CFIUS could not be immediately reached for comment.

Critics of the deal, including some U.S. lawmakers, worry that technology gained through the acquisition of Lattice could be used by China's military, but the companies have argued that it poses no such risk.

The deal's woes underscore a U.S. drive to prevent the transfer of sensitive technology to China. Chinese suitors have faced intense regulatory scrutiny in their pursuit of U.S. chip makers, which has quashed some deals in recent years.

The latest 75-day CFIUS review of the Lattice deal, the third since it was announced in November, expired this week. CFIUS does not disclose the outcome of individual reviews. Canyon Bridge and Lattice have extended their merger agreement to the end of September.

U.S. regulatory scrutiny of the Lattice deal grew after Reuters reported in late November that Canyon Bridge, based in Palo Alto, California, was funded partly by cash originating from Chinas central government and had indirect links to its space program.

Lattice makes programmable chips known as "field programmable gate arrays" that allow companies to put their own software on silicon chips for different uses. It does not sell chips to the U.S. military, but its two biggest rivals, Xilinx Inc and Intel Corp's Altera, make chips that are used in military technology.

Trump's approach to relations with China has been mixed. He has criticized Chinese trade practices but also wants Chinese cooperation in tackling North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The Lattice deal will be the fourth time in the last three decades that a CFIUS case will go to a U.S. President for review. U.S. Presidents have sided with the committee to block the past three questionable deals. As a result, most companies have been reluctant to ask a U.S. President to defy the consensus of the country's national security establishment.

In the most recent example of a direct rejection by a U.S. President of a CFIUS application, Barack Obama in December blocked China's Grand Chip Investment GmbH from acquiring German semiconductor equipment supplier Aixtron SE.

Canyon Bridge, based in Palo Alto, California, is a private equity fund whose major investor is China Reform Holdings Corp, an entity that invests the money of China's central government and also has indirect links to the country's space program.

OTHER DEALS AT STAKE

Canyon Bridge's ability to acquire other Western semiconductor companies could be diminished should the Lattice deal collapse. This is because most acquisition targets have U.S. operations, making them subject to a CFIUS review.

Canyon Bridge is currently working on a bid for British semiconductor company Imagination Technology Group Plc, the sources said. Were Canyon Bridge to clinch that deal, it would be subject to CFIUS review because Imagination Technologies acquired a U.S. chip designer called MIPS in 2013.

While Canyon Bridge could choose to divest MIPS, which accounts for a small fraction of Imagination Technologies' business, there is no certainty that this measure would resolve all CFIUS issues, according to the sources.

Imagination Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other technology deals with Chinese acquirers are awaiting CFIUS approval, including China's Unic Capital Management's $580 million acquisition of U.S. semiconductor testing company Xcerra Corp.

Some experts said Canyon Bridge's direct appeal to Trump may not change anything.

"I worry that the most likely outcome is that they go to the President, the President says no and that means that other CFIUS deals continue in limbo," said Stewart Baker, a partner at law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP who is not involved in the Lattice deal.

Reuters reported in July that CFIUS was objecting to more deals this year than in previous years, indicating that the secretive committee is becoming more risk-averse under Trump. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdistan has borrowed funds from its oil buyers including Russia's Rosneft to help settle a $1 billion London court case, as it cleans up its finances ahead of an independence referendum.

Industry sources said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had restructured some of its existing crude export finance deals with oil buyers to raise funds to settle a long-running case with UAE-based Dana Gas and its partners.

The settlement, announced on Wednesday, is another sign that the semi-autonomous region is working on getting its finances in order ahead of a planned referendum this month seeking independence from the government in Baghdad.

Kurdistan also signed deals last week with key oil producers on its territory to clear outstanding debts.

"With debts to oil producers cleared and the litigation settled, the KRG is gearing up for the referendum on a positive note. It is obvious that it doesn't want to carry forward any deadweight," said an industry source who helped structure the latest deals.

Majid Jafar, managing director of the board at Dana Gas, said: "The KRG has a publicly stated goal of clearing debts with investors. By doing that they become more attractive for investors, they can develop their reserves faster and ultimately raise more capital."

Kurdistan agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a $2.34 billion lawsuit brought by Dana and its partners in the Pearl consortium over unpaid oil liquids production. The case had run for several years until this week's agreement.

To help raise the money, Kurdistan asked Rosneft and traders led by Trafigura to effectively restructure existing oil export pre-finance deals and defer some payments, sources said.

Rosneft declined to comment.

Trafigura confirmed that it had participated in the fund raising. "We provide ongoing support to the KRG," it said.

Trading houses have been bankrolling Kurdistan for the past three years and have been joined this year by Rosneft, which is seeking to expand abroad and often acts as the Russian government's foreign policy tool.

Prior to the latest round of lending, trading houses as well as Rosneft have loaned the KRG around $3 billion guaranteed by future oil sales.

Out of the $1 billion that the KRG will repay to Dana and its Pearl consortium partners, $400 million will go back to Iraq's semi-autonomous region where the consortium agreed to increase investments to expand gas production. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Susan Fenton)
By Mahmoud Mourad and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

MECCA/LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Iranian pilgrims returned to haj this year for the first time since a deadly crush in 2015, in what could be an important confidence-building measure for dialogue on other thorny issues between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Nearly 800 people were killed, according to Riyadh, when two large groups of pilgrims arrived at a crossroads east of Mecca. Counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed over 2,000 people may have died, including more than 400 Iranians.

Iran's Supreme Leader has said his people would never forget that "catastrophe", but President Hassan Rouhani suggested a trouble-free haj this year could help build confidence in other areas of dispute between the arch-rivals.

So far, Iranian pilgrims say they are satisfied.

"To be honest, the Saudis are doing a great job, working hard to deliver the best service," said Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran's Emergency Medical Services.

"The 2015 incident happened because of mismanagement, but Saudis seem to have fixed that," he told Reuters in a phone interview from Mecca.

Iranian pilgrims participated without incident in the symbolic stoning of the devil on Friday, the riskiest part of the haj because of the large crowds involved, an Iranian journalist accompanying them said.

All told, more than 2.3 million pilgrims are participating in the five-day ritual, a religious duty once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey.

Rouhani said Tehran had sent pilgrims to haj based on Saudi promises of safety. He said he still lacked confidence in Riyadh but hoped it would build goodwill.

"If our pilgrims come back satisfied, and if Saudi Arabia's behaviour is within religious and international frameworks, I think the situation would be more convenient to resolve the issues," he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Relations between Shi'ite-led Iran and Sunni power Saudi Arabia are at their worst in years, with each accusing the other of subverting regional security and supporting opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in January 2016 after a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric was executed, prompting Riyadh to close the embassy.

Saudi Arabia and several other Arab governments severed ties with Qatar in June, citing its support for Iran as one of the main reasons. Iran accused Saudi Arabia of being behind deadly attacks in Tehran claimed by Islamic State, something Riyadh denied.

ID BRACELETS

Until now, no Saudi report on the 2015 crush has been published, and the bodies of dozens of Iranian victims remain unidentified.

Family members of 11 Iranians whose bodies are still missing are travelling to Mecca later this year for DNA tests, an Iranian official said.

This year, Iran issued its nearly 90,000 pilgrims blue electronic bracelets to help organisers trace and identify them.

Dozens of Iranians clad in traditional white clothes and a distinctive red mark arrived in orange buses on Thursday at their encampment in Mount Arafat.

Pilgrims who spoke with Reuters, many with previous experience at the haj, say their facilities and treatment by the Saudi authorities are better than in past years and include air conditioned tents.

"The way that security handled the Iranian pilgrims until now has been good," said Samir Shuahni, an Iranian journalist with the delegation.

"This is what I've noticed for the nearly month that I've been in Mecca and Medina: there is good cooperation and the pilgrims are moving freely."

Iranians said the Saudi authorities had asked them not to hold a traditional Shi'ite prayer in an open space in Medina, citing it as a potential target for Islamic State militants.

Such restrictions have not troubled Iranians still in shock from the IS attack in Tehran which killed at least 18 people.

"I think that is reasonable," said Mahdi Hadibeh, an Iranian photographer in Mecca. "Iranians are holding the ceremonies separately in their hotels."

(Writing by Stephen Kalin; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Here is the upcoming agenda for the Red Bank Commission:

I. Call to Order  Mayor John Roberts



II. Roll Call  City Manager

Mayor Roberts ____, Vice-Mayor Pierce ____, Commissioner LeCompte ____, Commissioner Pope ___, Commissioner Rose ____



III. Invocation 

IV. Pledge of Allegiance 



V. Consideration of the Minutes for approval or correction:



A. August 15, 2017 Agenda Work Session



B. August 15, 2017 Commission Meeting



VI.

Communication from the MayorVII. Commissioners Report A. Vice Mayor PierceB. Commissioner Ed LeCompte C. Commissioner Terry PopeD. Commissioner Carol RoseVIII. City Manager ReportPUBLIC HEARINGThe purpose of the Public Hearing is to receive citizen comments in regard to a request to rezone property located at 311 E. Midvale Avenue from R-1 Residential to RT/Z Residential Townhomes Zero Lot LineIX. Unfinished Business X. New BusinessA. ORDINANCE NO. 17-1096  AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF RED BANK, TENNESSEE, AMENDING ORDINANCE 14-101, ET SEQ. AND THE ZONING MAP TO REZONEPROPERTY LOCATED AT 311 E. MIDVALE AVENUE, HAMILTON COUNTY TAX PARCEL NUMBER 126D-D-018.01 FROM R-1 RESIDENTIAL ZONE TO R-T/Z RESIDENTIAL TOWNHOUSE / ZERO LOT LINE ZONE (FIRST READING)B. RESOLUTION NO. 17-1179  A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF RED BANK TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TML RISK MANAGEMENT POOL SAFETY PARTNERS :DRIVER SAFETY MATCHING GRANT PROGRAMC. RESOLUTION NO. 17-1180  A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF ONE 2017 FORD EXPLORER POLICE INTERCEPTOR UTILITY VEHICLE IN THE AMOUNT OF $33,033.80D. RESOLUTION NO. 17-1081  A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE THE REINSTATEMENT AND SECOND AMENDMENT OF THE MEMORANDUM OD AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF RED BANK AND TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDXI. Citizen Comments from Red Bank Citizens about Red Bank business (3 minute limit)XII. Adjournment
ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the death of hundreds of Rohingya in Myanmar over the past week constituted a genocide aimed at Muslim communities in the region.

Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmar's northwest for a week, new official data showed, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country's Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.

"There is a genocide there. They remain silent towards this... All those looking away from this genocide carried out under the veil of democracy are also part of this massacre," Erdogan said at his ruling AK Party's Eid al-adha celebrations in Istanbul.

The army says it is conducting clearance operations against "extremist terrorists" to protect civilians.

Erdogan, with his roots in political Islam, has long strived to take a position of leadership among the world's Muslim community. He said it was Turkey's moral responsibility to take a stand against the events in Myanmar.

Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.

Erdogan said the issue would be discussed in detail when world leaders convene for the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 12 in New York. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; editing by Ralph Boulton)
CHICAGO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Vietnam lifted its ban on imports of distillers' dried grains with solubles, an animal feed byproduct of corn-based ethanol, a trade group and two U.S. DDGs traders said on Friday.

Cargoes of U.S. animal feed, known as DDGs, will need to be fumigated before being allowed entry into the country, the traders said.

Vietnam, which formerly was the No. 3 destination for the feed, announced a suspension of DDGs imports in October after claiming supplies were contaminated with the Ballion, or Warehouse beetle.

"We are very pleased to hear the news from Vietnam overnight that, as of today, import permits will be issued for U.S. DDGs and new phosphine fumigation protocols will be acceptable for shipments of U.S. corn, DDGs and wheat," Tom Sleight, president of the trade group U.S. Grains Council, said in a statement.

One trader said Vietnamese buyers already were calling him to book cargoes and that he sold a shipment of about 10,000 tonnes. "I'm getting run over by demand," he said.

Through the first six months of the year Vietnam purchased only 2,012 tonnes of U.S. DDGs, down from shipments of 438,468 tonnes in the first six months of 2016, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Total DDGs exports to Vietnam in 2016 were a record of 1.156 million tonnes.

(Reporting by Michael Hirtzer; Editing by Dan Grebler)
By Arno Schuetze and Pamela Barbaglia

FRANKFURT/LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - European insurers Allianz and Baloise Holding and London-based buyout fund Cinven are finalising rival offers for Generali's Belgian unit ahead of a Sept. 8 deadline, sources told Reuters.

The deal could value the business at up to 500 million euros ($595 million) in what would be the Italian insurer's biggest divestment in its latest reorganisation.

Generali, Europe's third-biggest insurer, wants to wrap up the auction by mid-September finding a new owner for a business that provides anything from life insurance to car cover to a network of about 530,000 retail and corporate clients.

It is looking to sell the entire business to a single investor rather than break it up and carve out so-called "back books", which consist of existing contracts with no access to new clients, the sources said.

The Italian company said in November that it wanted to raise at least 1 billion euros by leaving 13 to 15 countries.

CEO Philippe Donnet said on Friday that he is "very confident" the group would meet that goal.

"The sale process is going well, there is a lot of interest for our assets," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti business conference in Italy.

Bermuda-based insurer Athene Holding is also vying for Generali's Belgian business, the sources said, adding that it might only be targeting the "back books".

Allianz, Baloise and Cinven are instead looking to buy the business as a whole, they said.

Generali, Allianz, Baloise, Athene and Cinven declined to comment.

The auction, which is being led by Deutsche Bank, was launched this year as part of Generali's efforts to cut costs in weaker markets and boost profit.

Bidders were asked to submit non-binding offers in July, the sources said, with one adding that first-round bids valued the business at less than 500 million euros.

Generali has been present in Belgium for more than a century, having started operations there in 1901.

Its Belgian unit has 6.3 billion euros of assets under management and reported net profit of about 89 million euros in 2016, with total premium income rising 19.2 percent to 800 million euros.

Generali recently sold its Colombian business to Talanx Group and is working with BNP Paribas to find a new owner for its Dutch business.

It also planning to exit Portugal, the sources said, adding that the process will begin later this year.

Germany's Allianz recently formed a joint venture and strategic partnership with British insurer LV to form the third-largest property and casualty insurer in Britain. It also took control of Nigeria's Ensure Insurance in a push for growth in Africa.

($1 = 0.8405 euros) (Additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes, Oliver Hirt and Valentina Za; Editing by David Evans and David Goodman)
BANGKOK, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Friday endorsed the annual reshuffle of 990 senior military officers, with a balance of officers from different factions moving into top positions.

The reshuffle is always scrutinized carefully for indications as to which factions within the powerful military are in the ascendancy.

A 2014 coup reinforced the military's authority and although elections are promised next year, a new constitution gives the generals an important say for years to come.

As the first appointments since the king took the throne after the death of his father last year, the 2017 reshuffle was even more closely watched.

General Sasin Thongpakdee, the current army chief of staff, who belongs to the army's cavalry faction was appointed Deputy Army Chief, according to the Thai Government Royal Gazette.

Lieutenant General Apirat Kongsompong, the current commander of the first army who belongs to the powerful King's Guard faction, was appointed Assistant Army Chief.

Lieutenant General Weerachai Intusophon, the current chief of the Territorial Defense Command who is part of the Burapha Payak or "Eastern Tigers" military faction that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha belongs to, was appointed Assistant Army Chief as well.

These positions are often stepping stones to the post of the head of the army, widely seen as the most important post in the armed forces.

General Chalermchai Sitthisart, the current Army Chief, will remain in post until his retirement next year.

Other important appointments include General Theppong Tippayachan, the current assistant army chief and a member of the "Eastern Tigers" faction, being appointed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense.

General Thanchaiyan Srisuwan, the current head of the joint chiefs of staff was appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

The appointments officially take effect from Oct. 1. (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Edited by Matthew Tostevin and Toby Chopra)
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said today the government should represent on behalf of the rights of former army commander Jagath Jayasuriya as he was a government servant and had acted legally according to international laws.

JHU General Secretary and Minister Champika Ranawaka told a news conference that General (Rtd) Jayasuriya did not carry out a private duty but he carried out a collective responsibility as an army officer of the Sri Lanka Army belonging to the legally and democratically elected government.

The government should intervene in the case filed against the former army commander. He performed a duty of the army. The government has a responsibility to represent on behalf of this government servant

The duty he performed as the Vanni commander is legal and conforms to local and international laws. He carried out a collective responsibility to protect the President, Cabinet and the people in the country. He contributed to bring in peace to the country, he said.

He said if there were moves to file war crime allegations against the army heads, people in the country would be compelled to demand legal actions against 12,000 LTTEers in Sri Lanka.

About 12,000 LTTErs who surrendered to the army during the war were released by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa without any observation or proper procedure. People in the country would be compelled to demand legal action against them instead of reconciliation if army heads were taken before court for war crimes. It is a regrettable situation, he said.

When asked about the incident of distributing leaflets by a group attached to the LTTE in Jaffna on Wednesday, he said he was unaware if it was done by the LTTE and added that such moves should be prevented without any mercy. (Ajith Siriwardana)

Video by Richan
HINDUSTAN TIMES, 31 August, 2017- Coastguards in Bangladesh found on Thursday the bodies of 16 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boat capsized as they fled an upsurge in violence in Myanmar that has forced at least 18,500 to seek refuge across the border.



Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats, which often do not survive the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape.



The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that at least 18,500 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since fighting erupted in Myanmars neighbouring Rakhine state six days earlier.



But some do not make it.



And on Thursday Nurul Amin Rohingya, a local official, said another boat had capsized killing 16 Rohingya.
No, it doesnt have anything to do with rhinos. But Rhinosinusitis does have something to do with you getting a stuffy nose and a dull headache. We Sri Lankans always fall susceptible to such symptoms in the sometimes dusty, sometimes cold environment. Rhinosinusitis, more commonly known as sinusitis, is a general problem that a lot of people fall victim to. Professor Arjuna De Silva, Professor in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ragama provided an insight on the rampaging common medical malady known to man as Rhinosinusitis.



Sinuses

Professor De Silva explained what sinuses are. Sinuses are small air filled cavities in the skull that are connected to the nose. Sinuses are lined by cells that produce mucous. The mucous produced by the sinuses is drained by small channels to the nose,he said.



Definition

When a person contracts sinusitis, the channels connected to the nose from the sinuses are blocked. This condition leads to the inflammation and irritation of the linings of the sinuses,hence causing sinusitis.



Causes

Professor De Silva listed the causes for rhinosinusitis. It is mainly caused by infections, allergies, air pollution.Allergies to pollen and dust are more likely to cause sinusitis. Viral and bacterial infections also cause sinusitis, explained De Silva. A general fact is the change that takes place in the environment that surrounds us. What happens is different to what happens in other countries.

According to the professor, our surrounding conditions change from dusty to cold and vice versa. This triggers sinusitis more often. That is why sinusitis is common in Sri Lankans, especially in those who live in dusty environments where more mucous is secreted.



Signs and symptoms

There are common tell-tale signs that suggest you have contracted sinusitis. These include thick nasal mucous and phlegm, a blocked nose and heaviness of the head, explained professor De Silva. Other signs include a dull headache, fever, cough, sore throats or even poor sense of smell due to a blocked nose.



Diagnosis

Sinusitis can be clinically diagnosed by an ENT specialist. If its severe, x-rays are also taken to diagnose sinusitis. In more serious and aggravated conditions of sinusitis, a naso- endoscopy is also performed. the professor stated.



Treatment

Generally patients will be asked to avoid allergants that trigger their allergies. Nasal drops are prescribed to relieve nasal blockage. In the case of a bacterial infection, the condition is diagnosed by a doctor and unless the condition is severe, antibiotics arent usually prescribed,stressed De Silva. Painkillers are also said to be prescribed to avoid headaches that a patient experiences when suffering from clogged up sinuses.



Prevention

Avoiding triggering factors that stimulate and arouse ones allergies is important to be kept in mind, accentuated Professor De Silva. Therefore its necessary to avoid dust and other factors that cause allergies. Some cases of sinusitis can be prevented by maintaining proper health hygiene such as ones washing hands. Avoiding smoking is also an important step to avoid contracting rhinosinusitis.The rapid switch from one kind of environment to another such as from dusty conditions to air conditioned conditions is also of concern and should be minimized as much as possible in keeping rhinosinusitis at arms length.
Its the most repeated maxim in all the reporting on Afghanistan: The Americans have the watches, the Taliban have the time.



Dead right! This is Americas longest war ever, 16 years and counting. President Donald Trump, admitting he was reversing his campaign call for pulling out, has now decided to stay in, sending to Afghanistan another 3,900 troops to reinforce the 8,400 there now.



Trump doesnt claim it will do the job of defeating the Taliban. In fact he lays out no long term strategy at all. Its not difficult to imagine that in a decade the same stalemate will exist.



President Barack Obama, blind-sided by the generals, he confided later, pumped up the numbers to 100,000. Before very long, Obama came to realize that even if he did a Lyndon B. Johnson and sent in half a million troops it would end up as it did in Vietnam with stalemate. He ordered the troop numbers down to their present total, the minimum to secure Kabul and provide training for the Afghan army. Unanswered was why, after 16 years and more than $120 billion dollars spent, the Afghan army wasnt trained already. (One could ask the same question in Iraq.)

The argument of the American high command that if the US gets out the extremists might take over is exaggerated. If the US and NATO left Afghanistan the Taliban would take over



Meanwhile, the Taliban gain territory, the number of civilians killed rises as does the number of Taliban. An affiliate of ISIS is now getting itself established. Kabul seems more vulnerable to attack. The government is unable to get on top of the countrys three curses- vicious infighting by the warlords, corruption and poppy growing for heroin manufacture (it is now at an historic high and is 95% of the worlds traded opium). 580,000 people fled their homes last year. A thousand schools were closed because of security concerns- most of them the hard work of western government aid programs and NGOs. The cynics wonder if the US and its Nato allies hang in only because they have their eye on the apparent $1 trillion worth of minerals waiting to be mined.



Eventually, wearied by failure, Obama and his generals came to believe that the only hope was reconciliation- negotiation among the Taliban, the government and the US, to find a compromise. The Taliban showed what they thought of that idea when they sent a missile in the direction of the visiting Secretary of State, John Kerry.



It is the same as it was in Vietnam. If the insurgents are not losing they are winning. This is their home. The US and NATO are far from home. This is what the Soviet army found in its war in the 1980s. Only when Mikhail Gorbachev became president did the Kremlin have the guts to order a retreat. If one wants to know how terrible things came for the Red Army soldiers one should read the Nobel Prizewinning author Svetlana Alexievichs book, Zinky Boys.

Currently the US is at war in at least seven Muslim countries. Non-Muslim forces fighting on Muslim land angers even moderate Muslims



The US and NATO are being undercut by Iran which is supplying the Taliban with weapons, funds and fighters. Trumps hostility to Iran ensures this will grow. Russia, which for so long has supported the Americans, even allowing war materials to be transported on its railways, is now hedging its bets and making overtures to the Taliban. Pakistan plays both ends against the middle. On the one side it is the main logistics route for America. On the other it tolerates the Taliban operating in parts of its northern territory. This dualism reflects its obsession with the growing Indian influence in Afghanistan which Trump has just added to by announcing what Richard Nixon would have called a tilt towards India.

Currently the US is at war in at least seven Muslim countries. Non-Muslim forces fighting on Muslim land angers even moderate Muslims. In Somalia, US support for the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia provoked the earth-scorching Islamist al Shabab group whose influence has spread far and wide outside Somalia. In Yemen US and Saudi Arabian bombing (with planes and armaments from the US and the UK) has increased the number of fighters recruited by al Qaeda.



The argument of the American high command that if the US gets out the extremists might take over is exaggerated. The North Vietnamese are not extremists. In the 1980s, the US military was in Lebanon fighting Hezbollah. A truck bomb blew up the US barracks, killing 241 soldiers. Not long after, President Ronald Reagan, realizing that his troops were not improving the situation, withdrew his forces. Lebanon calmed as Syrian diplomats and troops took over, though infighting among Lebanons factions continued.



If the US and NATO left Afghanistan the Taliban would take over. As happened after the Red Army left there would be internecine warfare, with warlords competing for territory. Maybe girls schools would be closed. But, as before when the Taliban ruled, poppy production would be banned.



Plus one and minus the other. Not a good or tidy solution, but is Trumps?

For 17 years the writer was a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times.
Police have arrested Robert Lee Harley after learning he had forced his wife and daughter into a vehicle, and they were able to intercept it.

Harley, 46, is charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault and inteference with emergency communications.

In the incident on Wednesday, a neighbor of the Harleys at an apartment complex on Lee Highway said Harley's wife called to say he had assaulted her. She could hear screaming.

Police got no answer at the door and found no one inside after obtaining a key.

The neighbor made contact with the wife and found that Harley had forced her and the daughter into her 2005 Chevrolet Impala. The neighbor reached her by phone and handed it to police. Officers were able to find her location before Harley made her put it down.

After the vehicle was stopped and Harley arrested, his wife said they had argued and he started to strike her and to bite her right arm. She said he put his hands around her neck and began choking her.

He told them to get into the car or he would kill the daughter, it was stated.

Police cited Harley's "multiple past domestic assault charges."
Labbaika! Allahumma Labbaika, La Sharikalaka! Innal Hamda Wan Nemata Lak Wal Mulk La Sharieka Lak (I stand up for Thy service, O Allah I stand up! There is no partner with Thee! I stand up! Verily Thine is the praise, the blessing and the kingdom! There is no partner with Thee).



This is how the pilgrims glorify the creator, Allah Subhana Watala, when approaching the holy Kabaa for the first time in their life. At this, Almighty Allah remarks to the angels: Look at my servants, they have come towards me disheveled and scattered while their bodies and clothes are covered with the dust of long journeys. Oh My Angels, I take you to witness that I have forgiven their sins.



The angels will say: O Allah, among them there is that evil man ... At this, Allah will reply: I have forgiven them all. How fortunate the Hajjis are to get huge rewards for their good deeds from the benevolent Creator, Allah Almighty.



Pilgrims undertake pilgrimage to Mecca to perform Hajj barely two months after purifying oneself from the worldly desires and unhealthy habits by fulfilling the obligatory fasting as Allah Almighty has commanded in the Holy Quran: Pilgrimage to the House of Allah is a duty man owes to Allah - upon those who can afford the journey. When Hajjis set out in the path of Allah, they are reminded that they prepare themselves for peaceful exit from the world.



To perform Hajj, Hajjis leave behind their property, intimate friends, relations, kith and kin and also their much cherished motherland for a brief period. Pilgrims realise there will come a time to leave everything mentioned above forever. An everlasting preparation one makes in this world before death is by doing good deeds in complete adherence to the laws of Allah, as clearly narrated in the Holy Quran and in the ways shown by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).



After reaching the Holy city, it is most heartening to see the plain desert of Mecca, in the midst, the Holy Kabaa where pilgrims make Tawaf (circuits) seven times reciting O Allah! I beg of thee forgiveness and peace in the world and the next. O, Lord, give us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the fire.



The noteworthy feature in Hajj is pilgrims all wearing the same, simple and plain white unsewn clothing and living in the same manner. The white cloth the Hajjis wear is unique in the sense that it does not differentiate between kings and laymen, the powerful and the weak and all wearing white and stand equal.



The distinctions of rank and colour, wealth and nationality disappear. The whole humanity that converges in thousands assumes one aspect and one attitude before the Master. The true love of Allah here becomes the reality and the Hajjis are imbued with immense love of the Supreme Being. Hajj leaves a deep and everlasting impact upon one who performs it.



Most of the religious rites pilgrims perform were that of Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Hajarah and their son Ismail (peace be upon them all). It creates on the faithful a tremendous impression how a family at the time of trial and turbulence to be united sincerely and faithfully in obeying the Lord of the Universe, Rabbil Alameen.



To honour the Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) and his family till the dooms day, Almighty Allah has commanded the Hajjis to exercise their virtuous acts like running seven times between the hillocks known as Al-Safa and Al-Marwa.



Hajarah (peace be upon her) was running in search of water in the barren desert to quench the thirst of her baby Ismail. She was astonished to see a spring bubbling from where her baby had been kicking his heels and today every pilgrim from this miraculous well of Zam Zam drink, bathe, launder their Ihram clothes, and further the holy water is stored in millions of gallons to be fetched home.



Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has reported to have said Zam Zam is a cure for all diseases. This famous well of Zam Zam, rebuilt sometime ago with several pipelines sprouting out, provided water for the millions of Hajjis from the time of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) to the last five thousand years without receding, thus proving Almighty Allahs supreme power over his creations.



Hajjis soon after leaving Mecca, their anxious moment was to go to Medina, the city of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).



According to Anas (May Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet said, O Allah, bestow in Medina twice the blessings you bestow on Mecca. Once the Hajjis reached the entrance of Medina, the green dome of the Prophets Masjid comes into sight where the auspicious body of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with his erstwhile colleagues Abu Bakr Siddique and Umar Farook Ralliallahunhum was laid to rest.



Hazrath Ibnu Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet said, The Holy Grave is like one has visited me while I am alive (Mishkat). Hajjis spend more than eight days in the prophets town and are opportune to visit various historic sites and pray for those souls whose sacrifices 1,433 years ago made us to mould our lives according to the teachings of Islam.



While Muslims in Sri Lanka and rest of the world celebrate the Hajj festival as usual, in Mecca, Sri Lankan Hajjis will be busy along with Hajjis worldwide fulfilling Hajj rites in places like Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa.



On the ninth day of Zul-Haj at Arafat, pilgrims make supplication (dua), recite the Holy Quran, engage in Zikr, deliver sermons and earnestly seek the blessings of Allah and his forgiveness, and staying at Arafath from Luhar to Mahrib is the core of the Haj. Like last year this time too, Sri Lankan pilgrims will devote more time for supplication to bestow much needed peace and happiness to our motherland in the House of Allah, Kabaa.



It is most heartening and appropriate to recall Prophet Muhammads (pbuh) first and last Hajj was performed on Hijri 10. His hajj was known as Hajjathul Wida or farewell Hajj.



One hundred and twenty four thousand companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) joined the Hajj. On the 9th day of Arafat, the verse announcing the completion of the religion of Islam was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This day I perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion (5-4).



At the Mount Arafat, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made the farewell sermon. Companions who were present at that sermon began to carry the message - the light of Islam to every nook and corner of the world. We learn from the above that it is a duty of every Hajji who depart from Arafat to take some share in practicing and propagating the teachings of Islam in their environments which alone can bring peace and salvation to the entire world.
DAILY MAIL, 31 August, 2017- Mexicos Red Cross sent an convoy of volunteers to storm-devastated Houston on Wednesday, hours after Texas governor Greg Abbott said the state accepted an offer of aid from the Mexican government, including vehicles, boats, supplies and food.



At least 25 people have been killed and tens of thousands driven from their homes after Harvey came ashore on Friday near Corpus Christi as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than half a century, swamping Houston with record rains and flooding.



The support from Mexicos Red Cross, a non-government agency, is separate from the official aid offer.The convoy of 33 English-speaking volunteers left from Mexico City for Texas, where they plan to work in Houston shelters for 20 days before being replaced by a fresh crop of volunteers.



Abbott said his state would accept the offer of assistance from neighbouring Mexico as Harvey, now a tropical depression, spun across southeastern Texas into Louisiana on Wednesday, sending more people fleeing for shelter.
Little is it known that Sri Lankas Muslims have made a big contribution to Sri Lankas cultural life. They significantly influenced local culture in matters of food, dress, jewellery and pastimes, testifying to the close relations that existed between Muslims and other communities of the island, especially the Sinhalese and Tamils.



Sri Lankan Moors, descendants of Arab merchants who espoused local women, contributed in no mean measure to the islands culinary culture, attire and ornamentation while their Malay co-religionists, whose ancestors hailed from Indonesia contributed not only to local cuisine, but also succeeded in introducing a couple of popular national pastimes.



Food Items

The Arabs and their Moor descendants have made a small, yet significant contribution to Sinhalese society in matters of food. The aluva, a class of popular confections, have their origins in the Arabic halwa sweet suggesting that it was the Arabs who introduced this sweetmeat. This item has been in existence among the Sinhalese for some time. Robert Knox in his Historical Relation of Ceylon (1681) gives alloways as flat sweetmeats in the fashion of a lozenge showing that they were in existence among the Kandyan Sinhalese of his day. A popular beverage sold in Sinhalese wayside booths to this day is saruvat, which is prepared with the juices of various fruits. This drink has its origins in the Arabic sharbat drink. Benjamin Clough in his Sinhalese-English Dictionary (1892) gives saruvat as sherbet showing that it had been known among the Sinhalese for quite some time and may go back several centuries.



Among Muslim introductions to popular food culture may be mentioned the buriyani, a rich rice dish made of fine-grained basmati rice and a copious quantity of mutton or chicken cooked in ghee. Indeed so popular has this meal become that even the local chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken now offers it as part of its regular menu. The same holds true of the dessert known as Vattilappam which is made of eggs, kitul jaggery and spices, which is fast gaining popularity among other communities, so much so that cups of it are now being produced commercially for local consumption. This delectable pudding is perhaps best described by J.P De Fonseka (A Gourmets Guide to Ceylon. Times of Ceylon Christmas Number, 1937) who wrote about it nearly eighty years ago as follows: The Muslims is a sweet tooth. He has a pudding (for which Allah be praised) called wattiliappam, a soft, succulent one of jaggery and eggs and all the spices of the earth, which goes down with a demure sweetness like that of the hour is in paradise.

The Malays also made a small but important contribution to Sinhalese society by way of pastimes. One such is the rabana, a large circular drum played by women during the Sinhala New Year The Arabs and their Moor descendants have made a small, yet significant contribution to Sinhalese society in matters of food. Luxurious lace work known in Sinhala as kasav gold lace, gold fringe also seem to have been introduced by Muslims since the very term derives from Arabic qasab fringe or lace of a garment.



Relishes and pickles

The Malays too have contributed their share to local culinary fare. One such notable contribution is the Sambola, a preparation of grated coconut, onions, chillies, lime juice and salt very often consumed as a relish in Sinhalese homes. This dish could be traced back to the Malay sambal. Another Malay contribution to Sinhalese fare is the pickle known as achcharu made of fruits such as mango, hog plum and wild olive which has its origins in the Malay achar. Among the sweets of Malay origin that still figure in Sinhalese festivities is the bibikkan, a baked brownish cake made of flour, desiccated coconut, sugar and chopped cashew nuts, which has originated from the Malay bikang rice flour cake. Dodol, an oily, dark-brownish sweetmeat made of rice flour, coconut milk and sugar, jaggery or treacle widely prepared in Sinhalese homes likewise has its origins in the Malay sweetmeat of the same name. Another Sinhalese item of Malay origin, though hardly if ever made nowadays is the sinakku which has its origins in the Malay Cheena-kuve Chinese Cake, apparently because they were prepared in little cups or bowls of Chinese origin.



Among other Muslim groups that have contributed to local culinary fare are the Bohras, who were instrumental in introducing a well known item known as godamba rotti, a sort of thin bread made with wheat flour, which is commonly made in local eating houses.



J.P Fonseka in his Gourmets Guide to Ceylon tells us that Borahs specialise in godumba roti, a creation of eggs and flour suggesting that this item was introduced by this group of people. A further embellishment of the godamba rotti is seen in what came to be known as kottu rotti prepared by mixing chopped godamba rotti with a rich mix of vegetables, meat and eggs. This dish too was invented by local Muslims, for commercial purposes to be served in their eating houses. It has today become a very national dish transcending ethnic barriers and has even had Sinhala songs dedicated to it. Such is its popularity.



Sweetmeats

The popular local candy floss known as Bombay Muttai Bombay Sweet was introduced by Indian Muslims known as Moplas. This is supported by Fonsekas 1930s reference to Bombay Muttai

That gossamer-like creation looking like the venerable beard of a holy patriarch being in the hands of the Coast or Indian Moors who resorted here for trade. Tudor Jones (These people make Ceylon. Times of Ceylon Christmas Number 1935) is more specific, telling us that the Moplahs (a type of Indian Moor) go about the streets carrying round tin boxes on their heads. In the boxes they carry Bombay muttai for the Moplahs have a monopoly in this.



Another item which seems to have its origins in the Moplahs or at any rate the Coast Moors is what is popularly known locally as Muscat, an oily sweetmeat made of clarified butter, wheat flour, sugar and cashew nuts and coloured red, green or yellow.



Fonseka mentions in his 1930s account of the fare of the different peoples of his day the muscat of the Coast Moors, who being a mercantile community traded in this commodity and possibly produced it. The item takes its name from the capital of Oman Muscat where this sweet seems to have been produced in large quantities. Andrew Crichton (History of Arabia.1833) refers to the people of Muscat preparing an esteemed sweetmeat, named hulwah, from honey or sugar, with the gluten of wheat, and ghee, and a few almonds.



Articles of Dress

Among the articles of dress introduced by Moor merchants to Sinhalese society may be mentioned the headgear worn by Kandyan men in the olden days. Robert Knox in his Historical Relation of Ceylon (1681) refers to the Kandyan Sinhalese wearing caps as a habit. Even temple paintings of the time of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1782) represent chiefs wearing white caps. This fashion could have arisen as a result of the influence of Muslim merchants,



It is also possible that Muslim traders introduced the moappili, a shawl used to cover the head and the upper part of the body, which figured prominently in the attire of Kandyan women at one time, especially in the days of King Rajadhi Rajasinha (1782-1798) and after as is borne out by temple paintings in Degaldoru and Mulgirigala among others.



Luxurious lace work known in Sinhala as kasav gold lace, gold fringe also seem to have been introduced by Muslims since the very term derives from Arabic qasab fringe or lace of a garment.

The Malays too contributed significantly to local attire. Among these is the sarong, the traditional lower garment of local Sinhalese and Tamil men which differs from the dhoti of India in being a tubular lower garment worn from the waist downwards. The Sinhala term for the garment sarama as well as the local Tamil term for it saram have originated from the Malay sarung or sarong. Likewise, the Sinhala term for ear-studs karabu has its origins in the Malay kerabu showing that it was the Malays of old who introduced this class of ornaments.



Nose Rings

Although the Muslim cultural contribution to local Tamil society has not been very significant, the introduction of nose ornaments is notable. No ornament on the face of the earth enhances a womans allure so much as a nose ring or stud. As such this is a very important contribution of Muslims to feminine culture. As shown by Dr. A.S. Altekar in his Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation (1938), nose ornaments were unknown in India throughout the entire Hindu period and was clearly borrowed from the Muslims. In fact, nose ornaments are attested amongst Muslim peoples, especially Arabs, for several centuries. For instance, Sir Richard Burton in his Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah (1893) refers to the Bedouin women of Arabia wearing nose-rings. Especially interesting in the local context is a horde of jewellery excavated in Anuradhapura in the 1940s which included a ladys nose ornaments in association with a necklace with gold coins in Arabic characters struck in the name of a tenth century Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad (Report on the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1946. Senarat Paranavitana. 1948).



Yoga Vallipuram (Traditionally Yours. Times of Ceylon Annual 1964) tells us that the mookuthi or nose stud in shapes like crescent moon or star was once considered an essential ornament for married Tamil women.



Today she says only girls brought up in orthodox families have their noses pierced for these studs. She adds: But if todays bride does not wear the mookuthi, she certainly does the tiny droplet called pullakku which hangs from the end of her nose, just above her lip. Vallipurams reference to the pulakku or nose-pendant is interesting as both the name and form of the ornament suggests an Arab origin. Captain F.M.Hunter (An Account of the British Settlement of Aden in Arabia. 1877) refers to the Bulakh which Arab women wear as a flat gold crescent, chased and stamped, studded with pearls, having a fringe of pearls on the outside; it is worn suspended from the central membrane of the nose by a semicircular wire which joins the horns of the crescent. Thus it can easily be deduced that the pulakku worn by local Tamil women had its origins in the bulakh of Arabian women, especially since we know that the Tamil language turns an initial b into a p when borrowing from foreign languages.



Popular Pastimes

The Malays also made a small but important contribution to Sinhalese society by way of pastimes. One such is the rabana, a large circular drum played by women during the Sinhala New Year to the accompaniment of songs known as raban pada. This item has its origins in the Malay rebana, especially the type known as rebana ubi. The Malay term itself seems to derive from the Arabic rabbana Our Lord, which figures prominently in Islamic devotional music sung to the accompaniment of the drum.



The popular pastime of kite flying also seems to have been introduced by the Malays. The Sinhala term for kite sarungalaya seems to be connected to the Sundanese sarenkol a small tubed bamboo, crooked at every joint, diverging at some angle from the preceding one or sarang cross laths of split bamboo, it being understood that bamboo is ideal for making kite frames.



This is supported by an observation made by Louis Nell in his Explanatory List of Portuguese Words adopted by the Sinhalese published in The Orientalist over a century ago. He refers to the word gaviam meaning sparrow hawk applied by the Sinhalese of his day to hawk-shaped paper kites for flying, some with an Aeolian contrivance in a vibrating thin ribband of bamboo reed stretched to a bow and emitting a strong sound in a high wind. This, he says, used to be prepared by the Malay population.



This article is based on a presentation made by the writer on the occasion of the launch of the Movement to Promote and Strengthen Sri Lankan Muslim Identity organised by the Muslim Womens Research and Action Forum and

REACH Lanka
66th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SLFP TO BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 3 AT THE CAMPBELL PARK, BORELLA

President Maithripala Sirisena was candid and open minded during an interview with the Daily Mirror two days before the 66th Anniversary Celebration of the SLFP, scheduled for September 3 (tomorrow) at Campbell Park, Borella. President Sirisena discussed a range of issues from giving him the party leadership, the worlds view on Sri Lanka after the establishment of the Yahapalana Government and domestic issues faced by the SLFP and the Unity Government.

Since he won the Presidential Elections in 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena was unanimously elected as the SLFP President. The first major SLFP public rally was held under his leadership at Hyde Park on May 13. Only a few party leaders attended that rally because some people harboured certain misconceptions about him.



The 64th Annual Convention of the SLFP was held in Polonnaruwa on September 2, 2015. It was a fairly successful rally with the participation of about 15,000 SLFP members and party supporters. The convention was also attended by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The 2016 May Day rally was held at Galle and was a huge success. It was attended by more than 100,000 people. The 64th Party Convention held in Kurunegala was also a big success. There was considerable participation by party supporters from the North East for the convention in Kurunegala.



The SLFP May Day rally held in Kandy this year was a major success despite heavy rains. People came in four processions.



Now, the SLFP has decided to organized a huge rally at Campbell Park, Borella which would also be an opportunity to show the strength of the party. The participants are expected to comprise top leaders from all nine provinces, 165 constituents, towns, Pradeshiya Sabhas and also supporters from the grassroots. The SLFP expects to extend invitations to all past and present leaders of the party, constituent partners of the UPFA and all political parties represented in Parliament to attend the convention. The theme of the 66th SLFP convention is A clean political campaign for the future of the nation.



A number of committees have been appointed to ensure that the event turns out to be a success. The party leadership are expected to declare the Future Programme and how the SLFP expects to form a Government on its own in 2020.



Commenting on the performance of the Yahapalana Government during the past two years, President Sirisena said it is quite obvious that the people have been thoroughly disappointed and disenchanted due to party politics. Though Governments have changed the authorities taking over power have failed to establish a system where politicians and public officials dont engage in corruption, embezzling and money laundering. Such practices have gone unchallenged during the past decade, in particular. But President Sirisena affirmed that people mustnt forget that there are honest politicians and officials and those immersed in financial and other crimes dont form the majority. The shady and nefarious acts of this small group, which includes politicians from the Pradeshiya Sabhas to those in Parliament, have distanced them from voters. People have lost their confidence in such politicians. But the President said that he would never forget the fact that 6.2 million people voted him in to power on January 8, 2015. People voted for him to put an end to the oligarchy that oppressed the entire nation. The voters also wanted democratic rule restored in the country and the President said that he had done that. He went on to state that as the common candidate at the 2015 Presidential polls he had given a pledge that a corruption free administration devoid of nepotism and dictatorship would be established. But the president said that he had realized that it isnt an easy task. This is because the same set of politicians and officials have returned to form the establishment. He said that this is why he keeps making a fervent appeal to all right thinking and corruption free politicians to rally round the SLFP and help establish a clean and unblemished administration. These are his thoughts during a time when the SLFP is about to have its 66th convention. The President said he believed the people of this country can begin a new journey and have a clear political ideology. But he said that it would be possible only with the blessings and the cooperation of everyone.

Though the Yahapalana Government hasnt been fully successful it has given hope to all Sri Lankans that the Government is on the right track to remove the seeds of evil planted by the previous regime. No one can deny the fact that the Yahapalana Government has restored democracy, rule of law, media freedom and judicial independence. We have no enemies in the global community. the entire international community respects and is friendly with Sri Lanka. By the time he went to the Sri Lanka Foundation where discussions were held, the SLFP Central Committee had unanimously endorsed his appointment as the party leader. Former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Kumaratunga had been appointed as patrons while former Prime Ministers Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka and D.M.Jayaratna were named as party advisors. The 64th anniversary of the SLFP was held in Polonnaruwa in 2015. It was a fairly successful rally with the participation of about 15,000 SLFP members and party supporters together with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The UNHRC in March this year gave Sri Lanka time until September 2019 to address the issue regarding war crimes allegedly committed at the tail-end of the war.



Commenting on how the party leadership was entrusted upon him by ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he reminded everybody that he is still the party leader of the SLFP. President Sirisena said that Rajapaksa offered him the SLFP leadership (party president) on a platter. He said that he never request for this post. This happened on January 15th in 2015 following a discussion at the residence of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. This is no secret to the whole country. The president said that following the acceptance of the party leadership, he had told the SLFP loyalists, party membership and the people of the country that he had taken the decision to accept this post because he disliked to see the party being divided. He said that in taking this decision the experience of serving the part for over 50 years in various capacities had been helpful. He recalled that that when Rajapaksa had asked him whether he would wish to accept the party leadership he had answered in the affirmative. By the time I went to the Sri Lanka Foundation, where discussions were held, the SLFP Central Committee had unanimously endorsed my appointment as the party Leader. Former Presidents Rajapaksa and Chandrika Kumaratunga had been appointed as party patrons while former Prime Ministers Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka and D.M.Jayaratna were appointed as advisors, President Sirisena said.



The President further said, Its the responsibility of all of us who love the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to ensure unity within the Party. The SLFP has helped protect and develop our motherland. The Central Committee of the SLFP met on the same evening and ratified my appointment as Chairman. I told Rajapaksa that I would appoint new members to the SLFP Central Committee and other key branches and they agreed, President Sirisena said.



President Sirisena said that he didnt understand why Rajapaksa maintains that he is still the chairman of the party. You know that the party leadership cant be snatched away by force even in a smaller party, he affirmed.



The president said that his enemies are taking revenge against him in a different manner. He pointed out that they were using modern communication tools like Facebook, Twitter, SMS and websites to insult him. He added that they were carrying out a campaign to publish canards, fabrications, misinformation and absolute lies against him. He said that this could be because he didnt belong to an elite family and didnt study at prestigious universities like Oxford or Harvard. I am from a humble farmer family. This is a fight between have and have nots. My arrival is an issue for them. he underscored.



The president said that he didnt change the SLFP nor leave the party. He said that what he wanted was to rebuild the defeated party. He pointed out that the new political party-the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)- formed by Rajapaksas and their clan werent clean SLFPers. The president said that he wished to know what the ideology and policy of the people who have formed this new party are? What is their vision? I can see only nepotism as the policy in the SLPP. I have seen former President Rajapaksa working full time for the new party, participating in its rallies, putting banners and attending press briefings. However, we havent fired or driven them away the from the SLFP, he said.



Responding to criticism by the joint opposition that the SLFP is acting according to the fancies of the UNP, President Sirisena inquired why the Yahapalana Government was formed? Why did Rajapaksa go for a Presidential poll two years prematurely? I made a written request not to do that. If I am a conspirator would I have done that? It is a well known fact that Rajapaksa opted for an early Presidential poll because he couldnt face the international community, the UNHRC, tackle the impending economic crisis and debts. The Yahapalana Governments biggest challenge is the repayment of massive commercial loans obtained during the Rajapaksa regime. The debt traps are also affecting the economy badly, the president said.



What would have been the situation if Mahinda Rajapaksa won the Presidential poll in 2015? President Sirisena responding to this question asked how could Sri Lanka have then escaped the wrath of the UNHRC? He pointed out that after this Government rebuilt the image of Sri Lanka and erased the brand tagged to this island as a Pariah State, the response from the UNHRC, other global agencies and the international community is extremely encouraging and positive. He added that these forces tell him not to get exited and continue with the good work that was commenced.



The regaining of the GSP+ and the withdrawal of the ban on exporting fish by the EU are the direct outcomes of this positive image. He said that the Government has been able to build a global community. This Government has been able to dissuade the global community from hauling Sri Lankan leaders from the previous Government before the International Criminal Court. No one now talks about the electric chair, he said.



All the global financial agencies like the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB and the islands traditional friends like India, US, UK, Japan, Germany, Russia, Pakistan, France and many other countries are keen on helping Sri Lanka in numerous ways. For instance, the National Economic Committee was established after consultations with the WB, IMF and the ADB.



He reminded that the countrys detractors are attempting to feed the minds of the SLFPers with the idea that joining the UNP to form the Yahapalana Government wasnt good. But the Unity Government has done a lot for the country. The President said that the global community is very glad the Unity Government was formed. However, its evident that we SLFPers cant do everything that want within a Unity Government or in a coalition Government. The President said that what is most important is that the country has achieved much locally and internationally during the past two and half years.



Sirimavo Bandaranaike faced the same predicament in 1964 when she was accused of joining with the LSSP to form the Government along with17 SLFP frontliners. The ministers in charge of Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation, Power and the Leader of the House left the Government. The Government was beaten by one vote in Parliament following the debate that had been moved following the Governors speech.



But the people havent forgotten how Mahinda Rajapaksa coaxed a group of UNP members to join the UPFA Government in 2007. The President said that he was summoned from an official tour in China early to sign the UNP  UPFA agreement. He asked how the Unity Government was good then, but when it happened in 2015 it was not good? He went on to state that we must view the concept of a Unity Government in a positive manner as it is a new beginning in Sri Lankan politics.



The president said that he can provide a long list of proposals brought before the Yahapalana Government which were not carried out. It was because the SLFP was there. Another advantage of a Unity Government is that two parties can do a balancing act to mitigate the effects of proposals brought by either side that arent so good for the economy, the President said.



The main obstacle to eliminate corruption are the politicians who seek power to earn money. The Preferential Voting system has further aggravated this negative trend by opening an opportunity for corrupt individuals to gain political power at local or national level. The root cause for many of the evils in local politics originates from this system. We all must think about the welfare of the country and people. We must not have personal agendas and not make political office a place for business, the president said.



The Central Committee of the SLFP will decide in December whether to continue with ruling the country as a Unity Government up till 2020 or depart from this system, so that the two main parties can go their separate ways.



It is extremely essential that the Unity Government or the Yahapalana Government must woo only the politicians who have no allegations of corruption and crime against them. Even the Indian Government is following a tough policy regarding corrupt politicians.



The President said that the North - East issue is something the country will have to address sooner than later. He said that this issue should be handled with extreme care. Priority must be given to ensure there will be no violence in the North-East and the people will get their basic amenities, infrastructure and welfare without a hindrance. The president said that efforts must be taken to discuss power devolution not as an issue for a party to gain a few brownie points, but as a way to further strengthen the facilities and benefits of the people.



The main stumbling block in the way of finding a fair solution to the SAITM issue is that it has been irrevocably politicized.



The President said that it wasnt a good practice to conduct Provincial Council polls on a scattered basis. It has opened the doors to many corrupt practices and the wasting of public money. He said that this has to be corrected for the good of the country, democracy and fair play. The President said that the SLFP is ready to face any election with confidence and that the PC polls can be held either at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year in keeping with the time and proposed amendments to the Provincial Council Electoral Act have warranted.



It is a fundamental requirement practiced by any democracy for all cabinet ministers to maintain responsibility. You can criticize, comment or oppose any cabinet proposal within the cabinet, but it is extremely wrong and unacceptable to criticize a cabinet decision after it is approved which then violates the collective responsibility, he stressed.
Seated from left : Erandi Ponnamperuma - Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Niral Kadawatharatchie - Freight Links International, Charge D Affairs Khadheeja Najeeha, Embassy of the Maldives in Sri Lanka, Devinda Lorensuhewa - Kelani Cables and Shenali Panabokke - Eastern & Allied Agencies. Standing from left: Ikram Ghazali-CMA CGM Lanka, Kevin Edwards  E.B. Creasy & Company, Arulanandan  Finlay Insurance Brokers, Hussain Hashim  Malship (Ceylon) Ltd, Priyantha Kolonnage  Pyramid Wilmar (Pvt) Ltd

Sri Lanka  Maldives Business Council (SLMBC) of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce held its 9th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 25 August at the Hilton Colombo Residences and Charge D Affairs Khadheeja Najeeha from the Embassy of the Republic of Maldives was the Chief Guest at the event.



Welcoming members and guests to the event, President of SLMBC, Niral Kadawatharatchie said, As we all know, the main objective of our Business Council is to promote trade and tourism between the two countries and also to facilitate investments. In this context, we have done well. If you look at the figures indicated in the annual report, you will see that the trade has increased from 10 billion in 2015 to Rs. 14 billion in 2016. The tourist arrivals in 2016 has also been increased from 90000 in 2015 to 95000 in 2016. It is just a 5% increase but hopefully it will be better in the years to come.



We have done well in both counts, but I would like to urge all our members in the Council to do more. The secretariat is actively involved in promoting trade, tourism and investments in the Maldives. One of the areas that we are actively promote is the trade exhibitions held in the Maldives. Our members are welcome to take part in the hotel Asia exhibition in the Maldives. We are more than happy to help any Sri Lankan company willing to participate in these exhibitions held in Maldives. This is one and easy way to promote trade. This method has been proven very successful.



Delivering the key note speech, Charge D Affairs Khadheeja Najeeha said, The close bond of friendship that the Maldivian people and the people of Sri Lanka share are unmatched. There are no two countries which are socially, culturally and economically closer to the Maldives than Sri Lanka. These close ties have been further strengthened over the years by none other than closer trade relations between the two countries. Maldivians have from time immemorial relied heavily on purchase of various products from Sri Lanka, and in return Sri Lankans have been fond of fish products from the Maldives.



Today, this traditional merchant-to-merchant trade has been intensified over the decades in the form of supplying shipments in bulk and through various other services. Moreover, trade relations have been further strengthened by the significant increase of Sri Lankan investments in the Maldives and Maldivian business ventures in Sri Lanka.



Niral Kadawatharatchie, President/CEO of Freight Links International (Pvt) Ltd was re-elected as the President of the Sri Lanka  Maldives Business Council for the year 2017/2018.



Shenali Panabokke, Director of Eastern & Allied Agencies Ltd and Devinda Lorensuhewa, Marketing Manager  Exports of Kelani Cables PLC were appointed as the Vice Presidents of the Council and Tikiri Ellepola, Assistant Vice President, Aitken Spence Travels Ltd will serve the committee as the immediate Past President.



As Committee Members of the council for the year 2017/2018, A. Baur & Co. Ltd, CIC Holdings PLC, Cinnamon Hotel Management Limited, CMA CGM Lanka, E.B. Creasy & Company PLC, Finlay Insurance Brokers, International Construction Consortium, Malship (Ceylon) Ltd and Pyramid Wilmar Ltd. were appointed.
REUTERS: A.P. Moller-Maersk has been fortified by the US $ 7.5 billion sale of its oil and gas business to Frances Total, but the companys main sea freight business faces the threat of a new price war in a consolidating industry.



Maersk, the worlds biggest container shipping company, has shifted its focus this year from preserving market share to higher margins, a strategy that was helped by a recovery in freight rates.

Chief Executive Soren Skou told Reuters that the companys second quarter results last week were driven by higher freight rates alone and that underlying industry fundamentals were their best since 2010.



But competitors including Ocean Alliance -- a newly-created partnership between Frances CMA CGM, Chinas Cosco, Hong Kongs OOCL and Taiwans Evergreen -- will this year launch a string of ultra-large vessels and will have little choice but to chase a bigger slice of the market.



This could force Maersk to become defensive and defend its market share, said Lars Jensen, director at Copenhagen-based consultancy SeaIntelligence.



If you dont want to enter a price war, you have to accept losing market share.



The industry last year emerged from a fierce price war over market share that saw freight rates drop, hurting container line profitability as too many ships chased too little business.



But there are already signs of price skirmishes on the trans-Pacific route, which could spread to other regions.



Maersks focus on margins comes after splashing out US $ 4 billion in December to buy smaller German rival Hamburg Sud, strengthening its presence in global trade and Latin America and increasing global market share to 18.6 percent from 15.7 percent.



Although the sale of the oil and gas business has allowed Maersk to shed any conglomerate discount in the way investors value its shares, it also means it can no longer use oil as a hedge against a downturn in the container market.



This strategy had already prompted rating agencies to downgrade the company, although analysts still say it will retain its investment grade - a key metric for the management.



Overall, (the oil sale) is a credit negative event but we doubt it will have much impact on the short end of the curve due to Maersks significant liquidity, Danske Bank credit analyst Brian Borsting said.

Maersk management is very keen on staying financially robust, indicating it wants to be ready for another price war and for new takeovers.



The company has given itself another year to spin off the remaining energy assets, which includes 24 offshore drilling rigs, 158 oil tankers and a supply service operation.



Nordea estimates a valuation for the drilling fleet around US $ 3.9 billion, while Jefferies expect Maersk to fetch around US $ 7.5 billion from those assets.
This beautiful journey through time is called Hajj, an important pillar in the Islamic belief. Every able Muslim who has the finances after attending to family obligations is required to embark on this pilgrimage.



Connecting the past with the present, rituals unfold the tale of the forefather of Abrahamic faiths: Jews, Christians and Muslims; Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), Abraham in the Bible.

This once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage traces back the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the last and final Messenger of God, and to relive the moments of Prophet Abraham (pbuh) and his sons Ishmael and Isaac from whose lineage comes all prophets (peace be upon them all) who brought the message of Monotheism or Oneness of God.



Hajj pilgrimage is the largest gathering in the world, uniting different nations into one Muslim brotherhood. The simple white cloth worn by the pilgrims erases class, race, culture and different backgrounds, thereby bringing together the rich as well as the poor into one worship. This portrays everyone is equal before Allah Almighty except those who excel in piousness and good deeds. This state of mind also reminds the pilgrims the simplicity of how they were born and how they would die, in a simple piece of white clothing irrespective of the material things they seek in this world. The first ritual is circumambulating the cube-shaped structure, the Kabaa, built by Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) and his son Ishmael. Seeing the Kabaa before ones eyes surely brings tears. Some cry hysterically after witnessing the object in the direction to which the Muslims pray five times a day until their death, from dawn to night, without seeing it and now standing right in front of it.



The Kabaa is neither an object of worship nor are there any relics within it; it is simply empty. When Muslims worldwide perform Salaath or the daily five times prayer, not only do they face the direction of the Kabaa, but connects with each other along an invisible line from every corner of earth to the spiritual center of Islam. Whether a Muslim prays alone or as recommended in congregation, this common center links every worshiper who bows down to the one God, the Creator of humanity.

During this beautiful pilgrimage, Muslims recollect the supreme sacrifices made by Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) for the sake of his creator whom the Muslims call Allah Almighty just the way previous prophets called him in all Sematic languages used in the Middle East where all prophets (peace be upon all) lived.



Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) faced extreme trials and his familys faith was tested by Gods commands, but his sincere submission and devotion to the creator, to the will of Allah Almighty, taught mankind a spiritual lesson; a lesson to people of faith who will come till the end of time. His unshaken spirit of faith in the relationship with God shows man the enormous inborn strengths he bestowed upon him to strive and struggle in the face of difficulties ultimately which will lead to a path straight and clear to his maker to whom he would one day return.



In the command of Allah to take his wife Hajarah (peace be upon her) and his son Ishmael (pbuh) to a dry and arid land, the valley of Bekkah thousands of years ago, little did he dream this blessed land would turn to be home to all the prophets whom God Almighty sent through his lineage.



Pilgrims also trace the footsteps of Hajarah (peace be upon her) who ran between two hills in search of water for her baby who was dying of thirst in the scorching sun. God in his last and final testament states he brought forth a spring for her and the baby for the utmost dedication of her husband towards his maker. This spring, to date, gives water to millions of people and is called Zam Zam. This water is universally accepted that it has amazing curative powers.



German Scientist Dr. Knut Pfeiffer said Zam Zam water dramatically increases energy fields in human cells. The faith of the family of Ibrahim (pbuh) was again tested so greatly by the command of God to sacrifice his beloved son Ishmael (pbuh). Though overcome with extreme grief, both the father and son complied with the will of God. The extent of that supreme sacrifice to forgo the most loving worldly possession for the sake of Allah Almighty was replaced by God in the commandment to sacrifice a lamb instead (Quran 37; 102-110).



On the final day of the pilgrimage, all pilgrims head towards mount Arafah, the mount of blessings. This mount is the place where the last and final Messenger of God Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) delivered his last sermon. Fasting is highly recommended for non-pilgrims on Arafah, the day before Haj.



This day I have perfected you your religion, and completed my favour upon you, and approved for you Islam as your religion. This verse was revealed by Allah Almighty on the day of Arafah to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Upon reading this verse in the Quran, the final testament to mankind, a Jewish man told Umar ibn Khattab if this verse was revealed to the Jews we would celebrate this day.

Ibrahim (pbuh) and his family is remembered, honoured and celebrated for their utmost sincere submission to their Creator. The generations after him till the end of time would witness and honour his supreme sacrifice in the face of hardship, solely for the sake of God Almighty. In it we see the grand plan of God for those who submit to his will.
Say support the call to end the MBBS programme at SAITM

As academics and activists, we are concerned about the Governments plans for reform in the education sector.



The report of the Subcommittee on Higher Education of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development (The Parliament of Sri Lanka, 2016) proposes SAITM as a model for expanding private medical education. It promotes Public-Private Partnerships where public universities will support private medical establishments, particularly through infrastructure and personnel.

The focus on SAITM has eclipsed the very great challenges facing us in the sphere of public education. These problems demand a systematic response. Ad hoc measures will be very destructive, and SAITM is such an ad hoc measure



In order to initiate a dialogue and to highlight the dangers involved in such a move, we responded to the report of the Sub-Committee on Higher Education of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development. On August 21, we met with the Sub-Committee to express our concerns.



The Governments plans for reforms in higher education and the proposal to support private education hinges on the fact that 82% of those who qualify for admission are shut out from universities.

They propose private, for-profit, fee-levying institutions to address this problem. For the vast majority of the 82% who will not be able to access private education, the Government proposes loan schemes and voucher systems.



Numerous other ad hoc educational policies are being proposed and passed by the Cabinet without the consultation of the people of the country. Most recently, on August 22nd, the Cabinet approved the allocation of Rs. 2,700 million for a health insurance scheme for 4.5 million school children, proposed by the Minister of Education, once again without public consultation.



These educational reforms pose a serious threat to free education.

The focus on SAITM has eclipsed the very great challenges facing us in the sphere of public education. These problems demand a systematic response. Ad hoc measures will be very destructive, and SAITM is such an ad hoc measure. It, in no way, solves the larger problems of education, such as disparities in access to education based on wealth, regional differences, ethnicity and language.

It cannot address the resource problems that schools face, which prevent many students from pursuing their higher educational interests, or the struggles that universities face in offering educational programmes that fulfil the needs and aspirations of the public.



There is a crisis in Medical Education today.



Students have been boycotting lectures for over six months now. As an immediate solution to the crisis in medical education, we support the call to end the MBBS programme at SAITM. We ask the Government to take immediate steps to commence this process and create the conditions for the return of students to State medical faculties; and halt all activities that expand the privatization agenda specified in the subcommittee report.



The crisis in education calls for a review of the system. We call for a PUBLIC COMMISSION that is committed to hearing what the people have to say undertaken through a consultative process.

The Governments commitment to such a commission would be consistent with the principles of free education. A policy for education, developed through a truly representative process, with a commitment to uphold free education as a fundamental value, will further the process of democratizing education, something that we see as essential to the future of our peoples.



Signed: Dr. Harini Amarasuriya-Open University and University Teachers for Free Education, Geethika Dharmasinghe-Alliance for Economic Democracy, Dr.Ramya Kumar 0University of Jaffna and University Teachers for Free Education, Dr. Shamala Kumar, University of Peradeniya and University Teachers for Free Education, Dr. Athula Samarakoon, Open University, and University Teachers for Social Equity, Niyanthini Kadirgamar, Alliance for Economic Democracy, Anura Karunatileke, University of Kelaniya and University Teachers for Social Equity, Dr. Prabha Manuratne, University of Kelaniya and University Teachers for Free Education, D.W. Asela Rangadewa, Univ. of Visual and Performing Arts and University Teachers for Social Equity, Prof. Sumathy Sivamohan, University of Peradeniya and University Teachers for Free Education, Waradas Thiagarajah, University of Colombo and Education Renaissance Programme, Amali Wedagedera, Alliance for Economic Democracy, Upul Wickramasinghe, Education Renaissance Programme, Dileepa Witharana, Open University and University Teachers for Free Education.

There will be a public meeting on Wednesday, September 13, on the theme WHAT PRICE PRIVATISATION OF EDUCATION at the Mahaweli Centre, Ananda Coomarasamy Road, Colombo 7, from 3-6 pm.
DAILY MAIL, 31 August, 2017 - Thirteen civilians from the same family were killed and another 15 wounded in a US air strike on Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan authorities said Thursday.

US Forces-Afghanistan said it has launched an investigation into the incident which an Afghan official said also killed more than a dozen insurgents hiding in a house in Dasht-e-Bari village in volatile Logar province near Kabul on Wednesday.



It comes days after Afghan officials said the countrys own air force killed up to 13 civilians in separate strikes targeting a Taliban base in the western province of Herat.



In the operation the US forces came under the attack by the Taliban and foreign forces returned fire and forced the Taliban insurgents to hide in the civilian houses nearby, Saleem Saleh, a spokesman for the Logar provincial governor, told AFP.



I heard two big bangs and when I went out of my home I saw the building which was bombarded was totally destroyed, Nazar Khan Kochi told AFP.
What began as the dream big, go tiny project for Chattanooga State construction technology students to experience hands-on, real world, lab exercises within the core Construction ET courses, has expanded to include support from local businesses and organizations.

Last fall, students in Chattanooga States Construction Engineering Technology program, planned a tiny house build based on plans donated by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.

As the house progressed, they received a $15,000 matching grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga (CFGC), one of whose education goals is to expand opportunity for members of the community to receive a high-quality education in a well-paying, high-demand field. Later, as word of the project spread, Lowes and Green's Eco Build and Design came on board to provide material and supplies. Tiny House Chattanooga is offering consulting services as well.

Over the summer, an internal partnership between the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) and Construction Engineering Technology formed. TCAT Industrial Electricity associate instructor Sandra Lambertino led students in the electrical wiring of the house, with students Luke Treadway and Tim Canarela taking the lead for this work. Associate instructor Kyle Lee, of the Industrial Maintenance program, supervised his students as they installed the HVAC and propane systems. The Associated General Contractors (AGC) Student Chapter also hosted two build days this summer to make further progress on the framing.

To learn more about this project and careers in the construction industry, Chattanooga State invites the public to attend the third annual Tennessee Business & Construction Institute (TNBCI) Build Chattanooga event on Thursday, Oct. 19, beginning at 11 a.m. in the CETAS parking lot.

For more information, contact Caitlin Moffitt at 423 697-2649 or email Caitlin.moffitt@chattanoogastate.edu.
Not many Indians are aware that until 1937, Myanmar was administered as a part of India by the British. This led to a dominance of Indians, especially from the Southern states, in the administration of Myanmar. Burmese Indians continued to be prominent in the economy even after Myanmar was separated from Indian administration.

In the '30s, there was a shortage of rice and Indians  primarily being the money lenders  became the target of anti-Indian riots that broke out in Burma.

At the time of Burmas Independence however, the ethnic Rohingyas, who are primarily Muslims domiciled in the state of Rakhine (formerly known as Arakan) demanded that the Mayu Peninsula secede from Myanmar and be merged with East Pakistan. The movement was a flash in the pan and soon fizzled out. Nevertheless, the relations between the ethnic Rohingyas and the Rakhine Buddhists were strained and have since been simmering.

Meanwhile, in 1962, after a coup got him to power, General Ne Win ordered the expulsion of Indians and nationalised many Indian-owned businesses. Having been made scapegoats many Indians returned leaving behind their entire life savings, while some Rohingyas continued their muted demands for a separate state, albeit the secessionists didnt enjoy much support from the people.

They continue to suffer a great deal at the hands of an insensitive government that refuses to recognise them as citizens. The Myanmar government contends that they are illegal immigrants who have entered the country in the '40s and post the India-Pak war of 1971 even though the Rohingyas have been in Myanmar for centuries. With a hostile government and public, the Rohingyas continue to be persecuted.

They live in ghettoised communities with scant scope for human rights and basic dignity. The common Rohingyas are caught in the crossfire between the government forces and the insurgent Rohingya groups.

The Myanmar government forces target ordinary Rohingyas with brute force for the actions of the insurgent groups. The latest exodus was triggered off in 2012 when a conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims resulted in riots in which Muslims of all ethnicities began to be targeted.

And the flashpoint, which is the cause for the current dire situation, are the skirmishes between the Myanmarese forces and an insurgent group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, led by Rohingya rebel Ata Ullah, who was born in Karachi and grew up in Saudi Arabia.

The latest exodus was triggered off in 2012 when a conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims resulted in riots in which Muslims of all ethnicities began to be targeted. Photo: Reuters

Close to a 1,00,000 people have been displaced and have no one to speak up for them. Despite Myanmar returning to a feeble democracy, its Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has been unmoved by the plight of the Rohingyas. She appallingly defended the persecution of the Rohingyas by asking Human Rights activists  Show me a country without human rights issues! Left with no one to care for them, thousands of Rohingyas have fled in sheer desperation and seek to live as refugees rather than face certain death in their home country.

Many have sought refuge in India, but the Indian government too seems unmoved by their heart wrenching plight. The few noises the Indian government is making are restricted to whether we are obliged by the non-refoulement clause  a principle in international law that prohibits nations from deporting asylum seekers to their home country where they are certain to be persecuted.

The legality of the matter aside, India should be magnanimous and accommodate the Rohingyas and help rehabilitate them. The argument that we cannot afford to sustain an influx of so many refugees is rather cruel as the number of Rohingyas in India is only a few thousand. Surely, we can assure them safety and security if not their livelihood, despite our meagre resources.

We must be sensitive to their plight considering our own people were expelled in 1962. As Indians, our public conscience should pay heed to the pain our people suffered in Uganda during the Idi Amin era. When we expected help for our people in the '60s and '70s, why cant we help people in a similar wretched situation today?

Meanwhile, we could use our diplomatic prowess to impress upon the international community to consider using the Responsibility-to-Protect clause of the United Nations to pressure the Myanmar government into acting responsibly and with humanity.
Demonetisation of November 8, 2016, was not only a major economic step but also very much a political gamble. In an impassioned speech in Goa in November 2016, while announcing the demonetisation of the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded it as the cleansing of black money and corruption which had accumulated in the country over 70 years.

However, the last 70 years of governance included Jan Sangh leaders like Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and many others. So PM Modi deliberately posed himself as the cleanser and most honest leader in the last 70 years (actually 69 years from 1947-2016).

Demonetisation was intended therefore not only has a huge economic restructuring, but also a new, completely honest and transparent mode of governance.

However, some critical requirements, including legal ones, were ignored by the NDA government and many critics of demonetisation. In the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, which was amended post demonetisation by the Finance Act, 2017 dated March 31, 2017, Section 24(2) states that the central government may, on the recommendation of the Central Board (of the RBI), direct the non-issue or the discontinuance of issue of such denominational values as it may specify in this behalf.

But the demonetisation of the extent of 86 per cent of the total currency was not passed by the Central Board of the RBI, as the discontinuance of the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes was kept highly secret by the Modi government till midnight of November 8, 2016.

Further, the RBI Act in Section 9 on local boards clearly stated that, a local board shall be constituted for each of the four areas specified in Schedule I and shall consist of five members to be appointed by the central government to represent, as far as possible, territorial and economic interests and the interests of co-operative and indigenous banks.

Despite this, the agricultural cooperative banks were not allowed to take a major role in the demonetisation, despite the fact that the rural areas are substantially under-banked, and suffered most in the demonetisation process. These banks had the least bank outlets, relatively few bank branches/ATMs which were replenished after long intervals, causing severe distress in the rural areas, in particular, with long queues often continuing for days.

Though the Modi sarkar demonetised the high-value Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes on the grounds that it would unearth huge amounts of black money, deprive terrorists of Indian currency and stop counterfeiting of Indian currency, it went against its own logic by printing the Rs 2,000 currency note which was the most high value currency note till date.

The Rs 2,000 note was of little use to the bulk of the population, the poor and the lower middle strata. However, it was a boon for black marketeers. In this instance, the Modi government shot itself in the foot.

Of course, the government of India needed to increase the total value of the currency, which had been slashed by 86 per cent, thus the Rs 2,000 currency note. But it undercut a major issue in the demonetisation campaign itself.

Moreover, demonetisation also was a violation of a Constitutional right. Article 300A lays down, No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. Indian currency notes clearly state that I promise to pay the bearer the sum of two thousand rupees signed by the Governor of the RBI. This promise has not been kept.

Further, as the demonetisation process was violative of the RBI Act, it cannot be considered to be based on an authoritative law.

These, and more issues were raised by some prominent senior advocates. But since these matters arose after demonetisation was in full swing, the courts declined to intervene.

Currently, the Modi government is on weak ground. Its members have given multiple estimates of how much the tax base has increased. But in a country of 1.2 billion, the demographic dividend will always increase the number of 18-year-olds who will add to the tax base. In any case, India is one of the least taxed countries in the world.

The most shocking revelation was the fact that 99 per cent of the demonetised currency had been deposited by the public into the banks. This was clearly indicated by the RBI bulletin of July 7, 2017. But the Modi sarkar took its time to make its announcement.

Earlier, RBI governor Urjit Patel repeatedly told a Parliamentary committee that because of a shortage of currency counting machines, the RBI was slowed down in making its calculations on the impact of demonetisation.

Counterfeit currency that was found was very low. Yet, almost all apprehended terrorists had the new currency notes. And the old currency notes were sold/exchanged at discounts. In the Delhi markets, the Rs 1,000 currency note was sold for Rs 700, and the Rs 500 note was sold for Rs 325-350. Friends, relatives, and the less well-off were made active in these transactions.

The Modi campaign in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections claimed that the rich would be deprived of black money, and this money would be given to the poor. However, there is no law permitting such a transfer.

In sum, the quasi-legal, highly-publicised demonetisation was a Himalayan blunder. The people have suffered greatly from this ideological and political stunt.
Approximately one month ago, the Whitfield County Sheriffs Office received information of a suspicious individual living in the Dawnville community. Officers were informed that the subject was heavily armed and going by the name of Carlos Fonseca, which was a fictitious name.

An investigation was initiated and surveillance was conducted on the residence at 4979 Mitchell Bridge Road. During the investigation, officers were able to determine the subjects real name was Michael Anthony Barr, 37,and that he was a fugitive from the Atlanta area, where he is wanted on felony drug and weapon charges, and probation violation charges.

On Aug. 31, while officers were in the area conducting surveillance the suspect was observed coming out of his residence and walking across the yard, at which time several officers went onto the property and took Barr into custody without incident.

A search warrant was then executed on the residence and property for weapons. Discovered during the search were numerous handguns, and long guns, including assault rifles and an illegal sawed off shotgun. Additional items seized include bullet proof vests, an illegal firearm silencer, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. A felony amount of marijuana, suspected cocaine, drug related items, and other items were also seized.

Barr is being held in the Whitfield County Jail without bond. He is being charged in Whitfield County with possession of firearms by a convicted felon, unlawful possession of a sawed off shotgun, unlawful possession of a silencer, and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act. Additional charges are pending.
Dinesh DSouza will appear Oct. 9 in the 2017 Burkett Miller Distinguished Lecture Series addressing The Moral Case for Capitalism at 12:00 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall of The University of Tennessee at Chattanoogas Fine Arts Center.This event is sponsored by the Scott L. Probasco Jr. Distinguished Chair of Free Enterprise. For more information, contact the Probasco Chair at 423-425-4118 or probasco@utc.edu.

Bio on Dinesh D'Souza:

Dinesh DSouza has a successful career as writer, scholar and public intellectual. He has been named one of Americas most influential conservative thinkers by The New York Times Magazine. The World Affairs Council lists him as one of the nations 500 leading authorities on international issues, and Newsweek cited him as one of the countrys most prominent Asian Americans. He has produced three of the top eight highest grossing political documentaries of our time. DSouza is the author of 18 books, many appearing on The New York Times bestseller lists, his articles have appeared in virtually every major magazine and newspaper, and he is a frequent commentator on national and international news programs.
CULPEPER  A federal judge has dismissed the U.S. Department of Justices religious discrimination lawsuit against Culpeper County that argued that the Board of Supervisors bowed to anti-Muslim bias when it denied a sewer permit last year for the Islamic Center of Culpepers planned mosque.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon made the decision Friday in a 15-page opinion, two weeks after the county argued  for the second time  to dismiss the suit.

The judge found that the case, as the county argued, was now moot, considering that the county has since granted the sewer permit to the Islamic Center, along with $10,000.

Culpepers county attorney, Bobbi Jo Alexis, said Friday that the county was pleased to see the matter ended.

The courts dismissal of the United Statess case is in the best interest of the community and allows the county to return its focus to its important work on behalf of all of its residents, she said.

In his decision to agree to dismiss the civil suit, Moon noted that, in addition to settling the matter with the Islamic Center, the county also has posted nondiscrimination notices, created a complaint process and trained employees about religious discrimination.

The county, per its settlement with the Islamic Center, also agreed not to delay the expeditious approval of any further applications required for building the mosque on Route 229. Construction has not yet started.

In his decision, Moon said there is no hint it will continue to discriminate against the [Islamic Center of Culpeper] or violate [the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act].

At the hearing two weeks ago, the Justice Department attorney arguing against dismissal of the suit said claims in this lawsuit are broader than, and independent of, any interest that a private party, such as the [Islamic Center of Culpeper] may have. But Moon said the department did not explain why the Religious Land Use act or any other case discussing it would make that statement true.

Procedurally, the governments statement is divorced from reality of the complaint it filed, Moon wrote.

The act does not confer on the federal government far-reaching regulatory or rule-making powers, the federal judge said.

The county has provided substantial and convincing evidence that it has taken concrete, binding steps to remedy the complained-of violation and make sure it does not reoccur, Moon wrote.

Taken together, the governments additional measures are marginal quibbles that overlook the forest for the trees, Moon continued. They are based on a presumption of bad faith by the county, a presumption supported by little more than bald assertions and which the county has overcome with compelling and unimpeached evidence.

Moon said localities are protected against federal micromanagement of its land-use decisions so long as the underlying violation has been cured.
FREDERICKSBURG  About 1:30 Wednesday afternoon, six Virginia State Troopers took a break at Sheetz just outside of Madison.

Across U.S. 29, two more troopers were breaking for lunch at the Madison Tastee Freez.

Somewhere in the vicinity, three VDOT vehicles  two crash cushion trucks and a supervisor in a separate vehicle  were also getting a few minutes off.

All 11 state employees were providing security for less than two dozen members of the March to Confront White Supremacy, who were making their way into Madison from Greene County. Marchers are expected to pass through Culpeper today.

The march started Monday in Charlottesville and is scheduled to conclude Wednesday in Washington. State protection is expected to continue the entire nine days that the protesters travel Virginia highways.

Who is paying for this protection? State taxpayers.

How much is this protection costing? Neither the state police nor VDOT will say.

Those [troopers] assigned to this event are working within their normal shifts, so as to minimize any costs associated with overtime, State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller wrote in an email Wednesday in response to questions about the cost.

Geller would also not release the number of troopers assigned to the march or what daily duties they would have been performing otherwise.

For tactical and operational purposes, we do not release the number of personnel assigned to this event, Geller wrote.

Each day, two state police vehicles have preceded the marchers with two more behind the group. The VDOT trucks are also ahead and behind the marchers, with a supervisor somewhere close by in a separate vehicle.

The protection assignment is for the marchers safety and to minimize the impact on traffic, Geller said.
The first lady was spotted wearing spike heels as she left Washington with the president for a visit to storm-battered Houston. Cue the freakout.

Melania Trump had changed into sneakers by the time she got off the plane in Texas. Some in the media took that as contrition for her earlier, and apparently mortal, sin. None of the critics seemed contrite about their own childish, frivolous, and catty snark over footwear.

Eight years ago, a similar uproar ensued over Michelle Obama wearing a sleeveless dress. The controversy was stupid then, and its stupid now.

If critics of a presidential administration want to be taken seriously, they should focus on serious issues  not how people dress.

Excerpted from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Berwyn Grandma, Who Has Been In U.S. 16 Years, Ordered To Leave Country

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Aug 31, 2017 10:15PM



Genoveva Ramirez (fourth from left) / SEIU / YouTube

Genoveva Ramirez came to the U.S. on a visa 16 years ago that has since expired. Since then she has diligently checked in with immigration officials. As recently as two years ago, they told her that she didn't need to continue checking in. But officials' stance toward immigrants like Ramirez has dramatically changed since President Trump was elected; and in May, officials told her to check back in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August, when her fate would again be considered.

Today, immigration officials told Ramirez, 67, a grandmother of 10, community activist and SEIU member, that she has until the end of October to leave, according to the Sun-Times. Here's a video featuring Ramirez created by the SEIU:

She was told at the meeting today with ICE to show proof by the end of September that she will be on her way back to Mexico before October's end. Activists and some other undocumented immigrants showed up to protest and to call attention to Ramirez's plight. Her attorney said that Ramirez has a pending visa application, and everyone is fighting hard to keep Ramirez in the place she's called home for over a decade.

U.S. House Rep. Jan Schakowsky showed up to the protest and was next to Ramirez comforting her grandson:

Jan Schakowsky: "We can't give up. We won't give up. We'll keep fighting." pic.twitter.com/6EpmsqBs7e  Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) August 31, 2017

Activists are asking for supporters to call the local ICE field office and demand an end to deportations:
1,300 Extra Cops To Be Deployed For Historically Violent Labor Day Weekend

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 1, 2017 6:39PM



Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images

Local law enforcement is bracing for the long holiday weekend. An additional 1,300 officers will be deployed across the city over the three-day weekend, the Chicago Police Department announced on Friday.

Like some other warm-weather holiday weekends, last year's Labor Day stretch in Chicago proved notably bloody. Sixty-five people were shot over the Labor Day weekend in 2016, 13 of them fatally. That violent leg pushed the number of homicides beyond the 500 mark.

This year however is a bit of a different story compared to last year's overall numbers. After the record violence of 2016 first spilled into the new year, shootings and homicides then took a dip. Homicides have fallen from 475 to 452 through Sunday, and shootings are way down: 1,930 this year, compared to 2,289 this time in 2016, according to the Tribune.

Police arrested 90 people as part of its six-week strategy ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee on Friday hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" against him. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee on Friday hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

Seshasayee, who along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys after Murthy rallied other co-founders and institutional investors to bring back peer Nandan Nilekani, said he had always been candid and truthful in all his statements concerning Infosys.

"Since my resignation from the board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," he said, adding he was forced to issue a statement after Murthy's "personal attack and patently false and slanderous accusations" at an investor call earlier this week.

Days after installing Nilekani, Murthy had on August 29 stated that his concerns with the previous board led by Seshasayee were poor governance and ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal being paid large severance as 'hush-money'.

Seshasayee said Murthy's statement to the investors "misleadingly attributes words" to him, words taken "completely out of context" to make it appear that he had lied.

Murthy had in his investor call said that Seshasayee had on October 14 told him that the board agreed to pay Bansal large sum of money as it "felt generous". "To quote an anonymous whistle blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," he said.

Also, words that Murthy attributes to independent directors Jeff Lehman and Roopa Kudva from their private conversation with him are also "egregiously taken out of context," he said.

Murthy had stated that Lehman had told him that the reasons for payment to Bansal were confidential while Kudva asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement if he wanted to know the reasons.

"It is regrettable that Murthy's campaign on the alleged governance lapses has continually slipped into personal attacks and slander on individual board members," he said.

Seshasayee said he joined Infosys at the invitation of Murthy, who in February this year issued a press statement to say that "I was a man of high integrity. "I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivations for this persistent vendetta against me," he said.

The same statement went on to quote Jeffrey Lehman, a former of director of Infosys who also resigned recently, to say that Murthy should stop quoting "lies" floated in the anonymous letter on ex-CFO compensation and alleged irregularities in USD 200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya.

"For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop defaming Seshasayee and the other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other cheek when slandered, and who have acted only in the best interests of the company," he said.

He said during his tenure, Seshasayee was "scrupulously and tirelessly devoted to ensuring that the Board comply with all applicable principles of law and governance.

"An anonymous, so-called 'whistle blower' made outrageous charges against management; the Board engaged several sets of outside counsel and investigators of impeccable reputation, and those investigators determined that every charge was false and without any foundation," he said.

The statement also quoted John Etchemendy, another former Director of Infosys who also resigned recently from the Board, to say that Seshasayee is "a man of impeccable integrity. Faced with unfair, false, and outrageous attacks, he has consistently responded with scrupulous honesty and forthrightness".

He said he was "fully conversant with the details of the Rajiv Bansal issue" and can categorically state that at no point did Seshasayee say "anything in public or, to the best of my knowledge, in private that was untrue or did not reflect the collective view of the Board.
New Delhi: Assuming office on Friday, Niti Aayogs vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said it was absolutely wrong to say that demonetisation was responsible for the slip in GDP in the first quarter of the year.

Kumar, who is a noted economist and holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford replaced Arvind Panagariya who resigned to return to academics.

After the Central Statistical Office released GDP data for the first quarter of the fiscal, experts and critics have been attributing the economic slowdown to Narendra Modis shock note ban in 2016. According to a report in The Hindu, Kumar reacted to the criticism by saying: Old man in a bank queue during demonetisation told me why it made sense. Sometimes before you leap forward, you have to take 2-3 steps back.

I am fully confident that the July-September quarter will see 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent growth, he added. He said that there is so much work in progress that the Q1 slowdown should be seen as a mere blip before the next quarter.

Re-iterating the words of Prime Minister Modi, Kumar stressed on the idea of co-operative federalism. The idea of competitive, co-operative federalism will be realized by NITI by working closely with the States, he said.

He said that job creation, entrepreneurship, agriculture, health and nutrition are key priorities to make development a mass movement in India. NITI Aayog will generate out of the box, transformational ideas to make India an economically advanced nation. It will create a platform where all stakeholders across sectors can work together towards India's development, he said.
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader Piyush Goyal has labelled demonetisation as a successful idea, lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'attack' on black money.

Speaking to the media at the FICCI Business and Climate Summit, Goyal reiterated that people possessing black money would not be spared.

"I have no doubts that demonetisation has been a success. I'd like to congratulate Modiji for attacking black money the way they did and making it clear that this government won't spare anyone, who is possessing black money. It took us three years to get rid of this black money," he said.

He stressed that demonetisation has helped people in more than one way.

"A number of shell companies have been revealed. If the money is in the bank, it is a part of the economy and we can use it for the welfare of the people," Goyal said.

Speaking on demonetisation's impact on the GST, he said that nearly 66 per cent people have filed their GST returns, which is more than the limit the government had set.

He also pointed to the fact that the circulation of fake currencies is under the radar now and it would be stopped soon.

Goyal launched a scathing attack on the Congress and accused them of corruption and impoverishing the country.

Goyal said, "Nobody has a better idea about black money than the Congress. We were known to be a corrupt nation at first. They have been involved in numerous scams across the years."

The third annual Business and Climate Summit is underway in New Delhi, India. The summit aims to showcase business leadership in addressing climate change and highlight how business can help governments achieve climate objectives.
Chance The Rapper Has Raised More Than $2M For 20 Chicago Public Schools

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 1, 2017 7:50PM



Chance the Rapper performs at Lollapalooza, 2017 / Photo: Annie Lesser

State lawmakers may have finally delivered an education-funding plan for Illinois (despite its controversial aspects), but there's no doubt that Chicago Public Schools can always use more support. To that end, Chance the Rapper continued his commitment to the district on Friday, when he and his charity organization announced $2.2 million would be donated to CPS. The funds will be distributed to 20 Chicago schools.

Chance said in a release, "As a parent and proud product of CPS, I'm committed to helping Chicago's children have quality learning experiences that include the arts. Over the past month, Ive crisscrossed the city, from Chatham to Chinatown, Humboldt Park to Hyde Park, visiting students and one thing is clear: if we invest in Chicagos children, well change the world." A press conference is scheduled for Friday afternoon at Harold Washington Library.

Chance's initiative focuses on schools that have had to deal with budget cuts or other challenges, according to SocialWorks. Below are the schools that will receive funds under the latest round of donations. Each one will be granted $10,000 over the next three years. Funds will used for a variety measures, including digital literacy, music programs and in some cases construction or conversion of new arts spaces.

Aldridge Elementary

Ambrose Plamondon Elementary

Beethoven Elementary

C.E. Hughes Elementary

Corliss High School

Dett Elementary

Edmund Burke Elementary

Edward White Career Academy

Esmond Elementary

Fiske Elementary

Greenleaf Whittier Elementary

Mahalia Jackson Elementary

Michelle Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School

Mireles Elementary Academy

Ninos Heroes Academy

Oglesby Elementary

Orr Academy High School

Robert A. Black Magnet Elementary

Spry Community Links High School

W.K. New Sullivan Elementary

Check out the list of nine schools that received $10,000 gifts under the previous round of donations here.

Chance announced a $1 million donation back in early March (and memorably chastised Gov. Bruce Rauner to "do your job). Later that month, he revealed that an additional $2.2 million had been raised for CPS and the new Chance Arts and Literature Fund had been launched to help with distribution of funds.

More recently, the Chatham native teamed up with STATE Bags to give out 30,000 backpacks with school supplies at last month's Bud Billiken Parade, for which Chance served as Grand Marshal. (It even earned him a nice hit tap from Obama.) And on Tuesday we learned that he'll be grilling at the new Nando's next weekfor SocialWorks of course.

Also, his Lollapalooza show last month was pretty cool.
The film Naval Enna Jewel has received appreciation from some quarters for its theme and storyline. Foreign actress Reem Kadem, who plays the title role of Naval, reveals a little-known aspect of the film, which the makers had initially said was inspired from true events.

Reyhaneh Jabbari

Reem divulges, My character of Naval is based on a Reyhaneh Jabbari  an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death. The reason we did not share this news earlier is because we did not want any untoward incidents to happen once this fact was known. Amnesty International tried to save Reyhanehs life with a signature campaign to stop her execution but was not successful and she was eventually hanged to death.
Experts say that almost half of adults will be infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) at some point in their life. (Photo: Pixabay)

According to dentists, dating apps such as Tinder are increasing peoples risk of catching cancer causing virus through oral sex.

Experts say that almost half of adults will be infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) at some point in their life.

They go on to add that while most infections disappear on their won, some strains can lead to cancer, notably cervical, which in around 90 per cent of cases is caused by HPV.

Experts further added that it is also linked to penile, anal, throat, head and neck cancer, as well as genital warts..

The HPV vaccination is currently given to girls aged 12 to 13 but not boys.

Now the dentists' union claims the advisory body which has recommended the Government do not to extend the potentially life-saving jab to boys has based its ruling on flawed data and inaccurate estimates of the number of cancers caused by HPV.

Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, 72, blamed oral sex for giving him throat cancer in 2010.
When it comes to age, human do have a limit. (Photo: Pixabay)

If you were hoping to live a really long life, scientists say you can only go as far as 115, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

There is an age limit to out lifespan even though we have better medical, living conditions and nutrition, found a study conducted by Dutch researchers.

The maximum age women can live is 115.7 years and for men is 114.1 years.

Difference between lifespan and life expectancy:

Lifespan - How long an individual lives

Life expectancy - How long individuals in an age group can expect to live

For the study, the team studied data that spanned over 30 years from 75,000 Dutch people whose exact ages were recorded when they died.

"On average, people live longer, but the very oldest among us have not gotten older over the last thirty years," Professor John Einmahl told the Daily Mail.

While Einmahl did point out that life expectancy has increased, the "maximum ceiling itself hasn't changed".

In the meantime, researchers from McGill University are challenge whether there really is a limit to how long we humans can life.
Paris: Lab monkeys with Parkinson's symptoms regained significant mobility after neurons made from human stem cells were inserted into their brains, researchers reported Wednesday in a study hailed as "groundbreaking".

The promising results were presented as the last step before human clinical trials, perhaps as early as next year, the study's senior author, Jun Takahashi, a professor at Kyoto University, said.

Parkinson's is a degenerative disease that erodes motor functions. Typical symptoms include shaking, rigidity and difficulty walking. In advanced stages, depression, anxiety and dementia are also common.

Worldwide, about 10 million people are afflicted with the disease, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. Earlier experiments had shown improvements in patients treated with stem cells taken from human foetal tissue and likewise coaxed into the dopamine-producing brain cells that are attacked by Parkinson's.

Dopamine is a naturally occurring chemical that plays several key roles in the brain and body.

But the use of foetal tissue is fraught with practical and ethical problems.

So Takahashi and his colleagues, in a medical first, substituted so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be easily made from human skin or blood.

Within a year, some monkey's who had could barely stand up gradually recovered mobility.

"They became more active, moving more rapidly and more smoothly," Takahashi said by email. Animals that had taken to just sitting "start walking around in the cage."

"These findings are strong evidence that human iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons can be clinically applicable to treat Parkinson's patients," he said.

Experts not involved in the research described the results as encouraging. The treatment, if proven viable, "has the potential to reverse Parkinson's by replacing the dopamine cells that have been lost -- a groundbreaking feat," said David Dexter, deputy research director at Parkinson's UK.

"Not only did the new cells survive... but they also integrated with the existing neuronal network," he said.

Different donors

Neurons made from foetal tissue grafted into brains have been known to survive for more than a decade, and the researchers said they expected those derived from iPSCs to last just as long.

Tilo Kunath, Parkinson's Senior Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said the outcome was "extremely promising," and highlighted the advantage of avoiding stem cells extracted from human foetal tissue.

"It means that this therapy can be used in any country worldwide," including Ireland and most of South America, where medical use of human embryonic stem cells is banned.

The results, reported in the journal Nature, were not the same for the dozen monkeys in the experiment, each of which received donor neurons from a different person.

"Some were made with cells from healthy donors, while others were made from Parkinson's disease patients," said lead author Tetsuhiro Kikuchi, also from Kyoto University.

The varying outcomes suggested that the quality of the donor cells might play a role, so the researchers looked for genes that might explain the differences. Eleven genes, especially one known as Dlk1, showed up in many of the most successful transplants, suggesting that screening potential donor cells may be critical.

Other experts evaluating the study said that stem cell treatment targets only some symptoms. "No one expects that transplants will address the non-dopamine, non-movement aspects of Parkinson's disease, such as dementia and falls," said Tom Foltynie, a professor at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.

In the experiments, the lab-made nerve cells were injected into the brain through a thin needle during surgery. "The needle is so thin that it causes almost no damage," Takahashi said.

In a companion study, published in Nature Communications, scientists from Takahashi's laboratory tested ways to avoid rejection of implanted neuron cells.

After organ transplants or skin grafts from donors, recipients must take drugs to prevent their immune system from attacking foreign tissue.

In monkey-to-monkey experiments, they found that the neuron transplants worked better across animals who shared similar gene groups responsible for shaping the immune system. The same, they conjecture, will apply to humans.

In addition, if the stem cells came from the patient's own skin or blood, the problem would probably not arise in the first place, Takahashi said.
Police who are likely to include Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR against Delhi cabbie (Photo: Pixabay)

The Delhi cab driver who allegedly raped a seven-month-old female puppy and left it to die will be slapped with case by the police who are likely to include Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR.

However, no arrests have been made so far in connection with the case as officials are awaiting a medical report on the part as per the report published in Mail Today.

Locals on the other hand say that Naresh Kumar is absconding since the incident came to light. His wife, it seems has locked herself in the one room flat they live in.

Locals say that on Wednesday, Naresh had beaten up his wife and had broken her right arm.

Naresh and his elder brother Suresh were found drunk on Thursday as well but since evening the cab driver is absconding.

Speaking to Mail Today, a doctor from Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital had said that the autopsy showed that the pup had died due to excessive blood loss from her privates along with the shock of the horror. Police are also suspecting that it is possible that Naresh might have inserted some foreign object in the private part of the puppy.

Similar incidents have been prevalent in the last few years with one case where a psychopath, Nakul Mishra, was found stabbing dogs to death at the Green Park Metro station and an unemployed Dwarka resident chopped off the hind legs of a puppy with a hacksaw when it scratched him last year.
Chennai: Around 1,300 idols of Lord Vinayaka were immersed peacefully at five different locations in the city on Wednesday. Almost the entire force of the city police was deployed to ensure a smooth procession of events. Four additional commissioners, six joint commissioners, 22 deputy commissioners, 66 assistant commissioners were deployed leading a force numbering 15,000 personnel, according to officials.

Most of the idols were slotted for immersion at Srinivasapuram beach near Marina while the other immersion points included Neelankarai, Kasimedu fishing harbour, Tiruvottiyur and Ramakrishna Nagar in Ennore.

City police said that they have deployed their maximum strength to ensure a peaceful procession. The vans carrying idols are numbered according to the police station limits and a policeman accompanies each van.

The procession started as early as 10 am this time as more groups had registered this time. Apart from our regular force, we also put quick response teams on our Gypsy vehicles, a senior police officer said.

All one could see was trucks and load vans carrying the idols of Lord Ganesha throughout the Karumariamman street leading to Santhome High road and far beyond. Traffic on Santhome high road towards Adyar was completely blocked for the procession.

Drum rolls, slogans, youngsters and elders alike gyrating to the drum beats, curious foreign tourists with huge cameras, small clay idols dotting the beach while their colossal counterparts getting a chance for a dip in the sea all made an appearance this year too with the latest addition in the last few years being- the inevitable, Selfies with Lord Ganesha.
Cabinet reshuffle and expansion will be held on Sunday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Beijing for the BRICS summit. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: Cabinet reshuffle and expansion will be held at 10 am on Sunday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Xiamen, China, for the BRICS summit.

It will be the third such exercise since he took over as the Prime Minister in May 2014.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 am on Sunday," a government official told PTI.

The newly inducted ministers will be sworn in on the same day, ANI reported.

A reshuffle in the cabinet has been due for months now. Two key ministries opened up after M Venkaiah Naidu was named Vice President. The environment ministry was reassigned to Harsh Vardhan as an additional charge after the death of minister Anil Dave.
Anitha, who had challenged the apex court on NEET, told media then that she wanted to be a doctor. (Photo: Youtube Screengrab/ Tamil Channel)

Tamil Nadu: In a shocking incident, a 17-year-old Tamil Nadu student, S Anitha who had filed a case in the Supreme Court against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), has allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself to death at her house at Kuzhumur village near Sendurai on Friday.

Anitha was the daughter of a daily wage labourer and belonged to a Dalit family. She would have qualified for MBBS had admissions been held on the basis of Plus Two marks.

Anitha had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in her higher secondary examination and had a cut off of 196.75 for medicine. But she got mere 86 marks in NEET examination. She could not bag an MBBS seat as NEET score was the basis for medical counselling in 2017.

Anitha, who had challenged the apex court on NEET, told media then that she wanted to be a doctor. She said, "I want to be a doctor and I will be assured of a seat if the admission is based on Plus Two marks."

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy on Friday announced ex-gratia of Rs 7 lakh for the kin of Anitha.

Medical college admissions in Tamil Nadu were conducted solely based on the Plus Two examination marks until 2016. Though the Central government introduced NEET in 2016, Tamil Nadu was exempted from it. This year too, the state government sought exemption and the Legislative Assembly passed amendments to continue the existing practice in medical college admissions.

The Supreme Court on August 22 directed the Tamil Nadu government to complete counselling process for medical admissions in the State on the basis of the NEET merit list by September 4.

Actor Rajinikanth expressed his grief over the death of Anitha and conveyed his condolences to her family.
Hyderabad: The GHMC has lost control of certain roads, now it will lose the revenues they earned as advertisements and rents. The beneficiary is the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation (HRDC).

Banks are willing to lend to the corporation but ask how it will repay the loan as it has no revenues. The government has allotted Rs 500 crore for the corporation in the Budget and extended guarantee for Rs 1500 crore to borrow from commercial banks and financial institutions to implement the road development project.

In face of the questions posed by banks, the government has decided to hand over all rights like advertisements, parking, access and lease from any structure or cess on property to create a revenue stream for the corporation. A senior officer in the municipal administration department said vacant land in the GHMC limits also will be transferred to the corporation. It can give these land parcels on lease or construct commercial buildings to earn revenue.

The corporation was set up with the chief secretary as chairman to enhance quality of city roads. The government has decided to hand over 240 km of roads in the GHMC limits to the corporation in the first phase.

In the past, the roads and buildings department had handed over certain roads in the city to the GHMC. After certain stretches of National Highways within the city limits were denotified.
Hyderabad: A 15-year-old Class X student hanged himself to death at his home in Amberpet on Thursday.

The boy, Nithin Johnathan, was a student of St. Hannah's School. Police said he was doing badly in studies and was warned by the school management several times.

The school authorities summoned his parents many times to tell them about his performance. His father was also a student of St Hannah's school, said inspector A.P. Anand Kumar.

On Wednesday too Nithin's parents were called by the school for reviewing his performance.

They asked parents to keep him at home for 10 days and arrange tuitions, added the inspector.

On Thursday, the boy committed suicide by hanging himself to the ceiling fan of his house at Durganagar. His body was shifted to Osmania Hospital morgue for post-mortem.

Based on a complaint from his father, Amberpet police registered a case under Section 174 (suspicious death) of CrPC (code of criminal conduct) and started an investigation.
12 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Labor Day Weekend



Image courtesy of AVP.

It's Labor Day weekend and that means summer's last hurrah. We've got beach volleyball, music fests, a cat-themed art show and more to make the most of the long weekend!



FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 1

AVP BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Watch the pros spike and serve for free when the AVP Beach Volleyball Gold Series tour hits Oak Street Beach this weekend. General admission viewing is free and seating is first come first served. For an elevated view with shade and food, Club AVP VIP tickets are for sale.

JAZZ FEST: The Chicago Jazz Festival is a Labor Day-weekend tradition in the city, this being the events 39th year downtown. Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center will play host to performances from local musician Jon Faddis, pianist Jason Moran, The Rebirth Brass Band from New Orleans and more, plus tributes to legends Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Ella Fitzgerald. Admission to all Jazz Fest events is free. Visit the event website for the full schedule.

NORTH COAST MUSIC FESTIVAL: North Coast Music Festival returns to Union Park from Sept. 1 - 3, bringing back its unique mixture of electronic (Deadmau5) and organic (Lettuce) dance music with a few outliers (Ween!) that still manage to fit the weekend's vibe. Tickets are available through the NCMF website.

TASTE OF POLONIA: Get your pierogi on at Taste of Polonia this Friday through Monday in Jefferson Park. Theyve got four stages with live music going and a variety of Polish food and beer from locales like Alexs Deli, Smakowski Deli and Home Bakery & Dumpling House. Tickets start at $5.



Image via The Great American Lobster Fest's website.

GREAT AMERICAN LOBSTER FEST: Eat lobster, more lobster and even vegan treats at The Great American Lobster Fest this weekend on Navy Pier. The largest lobster and seafood festival in the midwest will have live music performances, family friendly activities, unique craft shopping and of course food. Vendors will be serving up food from land and sea, including vegetarian options. Tickets start at $10.

BIKES + BITES + BREWS: North Mayfair invites you to explore the Northwest Side neighborhood during Bikes, Bites & Brews this weekend. The bicycle- and family-friendly event will kick off with a ride through the new extension of the North Branch Trail at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Theyll also be showing off some of the neighborhoods eateries and breweries, including Begyle Brewing Company, Lake Effect Brewing Company, Old Irving Brewing Company and others.



"Meowsters of the Universe" by Chris Gallevo. Courtesy of Toy de Jour.

KITTY CAT ATTACK: Show your love for celebrity cats of all breeds at Logan Square shop Toy de Jour's next group art show, Kitty Cat Attack. See artist interpretations ranging from Garfield to Toonces, and Felix to Salem, and even public figures as felines. The opening night party from 6 to 10 p.m. will have food, drink and red dots for people to chase. Free.



SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 2

BACK-LOT BBQ: Party on the backlot with music from Chromeo and Steve Lawler at the ESTATE grounds on Elston on Saturday and Sunday. The Paradigm Back-Lot BBQ runs from noon to 10 p.m. with food, drinks, house, funk and everything in between. Tickets start at $20.

FRIENDS OF SHIRILLA: Greg Shirilla has been holding down the bar at The Continental pretty much since the joint opened, and not once has he judged you for all your terrible late-night decisions. So, you probably owe him. Shirilla took a three-story fall in June while working another job, and broke his wrist and two vertebrae. While he returned to work in a head-spinningly brief amount of time, his medical bills have proved to be substantial, and many folks have been trying to figure out how to help him defray those costs. You'll have a chance to pitch in this Saturday afternoon when The Continental hosts a silent auction and BBQ.



SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 3

LAURIES PLANET OF SOUND TURNS 20: Its Lauries planet, were just living on it. Music lovers in the city will know Lauries Planet of Sound, the Lincoln Square record store thats been there for 20 years. 20 YEARS! To celebrate, theyre throwing a 20th Anniversary Party at Davis Theater. Get tickets (only available at the store) for the special double feature of Head and Record City and then stick around for the after-party next door at Carbon Arc.

BRING THE NOISE: Living Colour are hard-rock legends, and you should grab any chance you have to see them live, since they still put on a vicious show. So imagine our surprise to see them booked in the usually more, shall we say genteel, confines of City Winery this Sunday. Expect the heat coming off the stage to evaporate all the wine in the lines. The band plays two sets, so you don't have an excuse to not get your face melted off.



MONDAY SEPTEMBER4: LABOR DAY

NORTH COAST CLOSING PARTY: When the North Coast music has silenced but youre still raring to go, close out the weekend with Porn & Chicken at The Mid. Theyre throwing the official North Coast Music Festival Closing Party, starting at 10 p.m. with Chicagos Most Wanted, Trap vs Juke and a special guest. Tickets are $10.
Hyderabad: Lakhs of acres have been acquired for various projects but the ownership continues to be with farmers as per revenue records, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Thursday.

Speaking at a conference of collectors and revenue officials, he said officials had neglected their prime duty of maintaining land records over the years as they were engaged in implementing the governments welfare and development programmes. This has now resulted in erroneous land records, disputes and litigations, he said.

We have decided to give Rs 8,000 per acre per year to farmers. When we inquired about the details of farmers and their lands, the reports submitted by the agriculture department and the revenue department did not match. This problem is due to erroneous land records, he said.

We have to find out the details about who owns how much land. There should be clarity on land ownership rights. The government has taken several lakhs of acres from farmers for projects but the records were not updated. The revenue records show that these lands are still in the possession of farmers, which is leading to several problems, the CM said.

There is a need to have clarity on the land ownership rights. In every village, 80 to 95 per cent land has no disputes. Get clarity on these lands first with the help of people and farmers. In the second phase, identify the lands that are under litigation. We can give clarity on these lands based on the verdicts given by the courts. Identify the government, Wakf, endowment lands besides lands under the government offices etc, the CM told officials.

Mr Rao sanctioned Rs 50 lakh to each collector to update land records all over the state in three months.

He asked the collectors, joint collectors, RDOs, MROs to give top priority to the programme and give updated land records as the 2018 New Year gift for land owners.

The conference was meant to finalise norms for the proposed land survey and purification of land records from September 15.

MSP assured for agriculture crops

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said that no farmer would have to sell agriculture produce below the maximum support price after the constitution of farmers councils from the village to the state level.

He said that the farmers councils would henceforth fix the MSP and deal with traders in markets.

With 1.75 lakh members, the councils will become a strong army and programmes for the benefit of farmers will be implemented through this mighty force, Mr Rao said, while speaking at the collectors conference at Pragathi Bhavan.

Farmers should not bring the entire produce to the market at once. The councils in consultation with the traders will fix the MSP. Only then should the farmers in each village bring their produce to the market, he advised.

If there is no MSP, the farmers councils will directly purchase the produce from farmers at the MSP. The government will provide `500 crore to the state-level farmers council besides giving bank guarantee for another `5,000 crore to ensure MSP for farmers from next year, Mr Rao said.

The government will also give the power to process the produce to the council. This helps the farmers to get the MSP, the CM said.

Mr Rao opined that the problems in the agriculture sector were caused by lack of unity and coordination among farmers. To overcome this, the government had decided to organise farmers as a force to reckon with.

In these councils, there will be representation of farmers from SC/ST/BC/Minority communities, Mr Rao said.

Stating that a farmer requires water for cultivation, money for crop investment and MSP for his produce, the CM said that the government would meet all these by June 2018.

We are constructing projects like Kaleswaram and giving 24x7 power to the farm sector. From May 2018, we will provide `8,000 per acre as investment assistance to the farmers. We are forming farmers associations to ensure MSP. All these steps will make agriculture viable for farmers, the CM remarked.

Survey schedule

Sept. 1 to 9: Formation of farmers coordination councils from village-level upwards

Sept. 10 to 15: Conferences of mandal-wise farmers councils.

Sept. 15 to Dec. 31: Updation of land records by taking revenue village as a unit.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would examine whether lifetime ban could be imposed on convicted persons from contesting Assembly or Parliamentary elections polls and whether such a ban would violate Article 14 of the Constitution.

A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha is hearing a batch of petitions filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashiwini Kumar Upadhyay and others seeking a permanent bar on convicted persons from contesting polls. The petitioners also wanted special courts to be set up in each State to dispose of these cases within one year.

Senior counsel Dinesh Diwedi for one of the petitioners argued that if criminals were not barred for life from contesting elections then people like Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who was convicted for rape would become ministers.

To protect democracy and the institution of Legislature and Parliament, such a thing should not happen as otherwise, convicted criminals would become lawmakers.

It was also pleaded that court should issue a direction to the Centre and the EC to take necessary steps to debar persons convicted in criminal cases from contesting elections, forming a political party and becoming office-bearers of any party.

Mr. Upadhyay referred to the counter affidavit filed by the Election Commission supporting such a lifetime ban.

Senior counsel Krishnan Venugopal, said in the Executive and Judiciary, when a person is convicted for any criminal offence, he/she is suspended automatically and debarred from his services for life.

However, this rule is applied differently in case of convicted person in a legislature.
About 120 schools in the Old City have sent letters of refusal to health authorities in regard to the measles  rubella vaccination camps.

Hyderabad: About 120 schools in the Old City have sent letters of refusal to health authorities in regard to the measles  rubella vaccination camps, according to Dr. G. Sudhera, programme officer, health department. The immunisation programme has also been ineffective in certain schools where the staff, swayed by rumours spread through the social media, tendered frank refusals or hindered the in-school immunisation drive, Ms Sudhera said.

In Hyderabad, of the 3,639 schools 2,090 have been covered so far. In 30 per cent of these 2,000-odd schools, nearly 60 per cent of children have refused vaccination in the Old City area, she said. To allay the apprehensions, the Helping Hand Foundation, in association with UNICED, WHO country office, Centre for Disease Control  USA and TS health department held panel discussions on Thursday on Debugging Myths of Measles  Rubella vaccine. Renowned doctors and Muslim scholars were present.

Mufti Mahmood Zubair Qasmi, who was present at discussion, said that there was a conspiracy against the residents of Old City. He urged the mothers and parents to cooperate in the vaccination drive and help eliminate measles and rubella.

MR vaccine fear: State takes help of Muslim elders

Following rumours spread on social media that the ongoing measles and rubella vaccination campaign among students was targeted at making Muslim kids impotent, the Hyderabad revenue department is holding meetings with Muslim religious leaders and madrasa managements. The rumour began in May in Haryana and rural Assam and spread to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka before making its reappearance when the Telangana state administration took up the immunisation drive.

Hyderabad joint collector M. Prashanthi said, Last week we held a meeting with imams, religious leaders and madrasa managements to clarify on the MR vaccine. We are also creating awareness among parents. Senior gynaecologist Dr Anagani Manjula said there was no medicine that makes one impotent. A pediatrician from the city Dr Arif, said the MR vaccine was safe and could be given to children.

Except for side-effects like fever or rashes, children will have no other health related issues, he said. Senior pediatrician Dr Farhan Shaikh said the MR vaccine should be given to children age of between nine months and 15 years to protect them from the diseases. It is compulsory for the good health of every child and parents must not believe rumours floating on social media, he said.
Hyderabad: To support Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudevs nationwide campaign, Rally for Rivers, residents of the city are urged to wear blue coloured clothes on September 1. A rally also will be conducted in the city. Citizens are advised to wear the blue colour in schools, offices, colleges, and other public places. To save rivers and to bring more awareness about them, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of the Isha Foundation, has launched the nationwide campaign in collaboration with the Union ministry of environment and climate affairs.

The Sadhguru will lead the campaign by driving a four-wheeler, covering 16 states. The gurus itinerary will start from Kanyakumari and will pass through the Himalayas, spanning 7,000 km. The rally will start on September 3. The Sadhguru will reach Amravati on September 13 and will come to Hyderabad on September 14. The campaign will end in Delhi on October 2. Lakhs of people, sporting Rally for Rivers. T-shirts, placards, headgears and stickers will stand for three hours from 8 am to 11 am, said Shailaja Kumar, a volunteer of the Isha Foundation.

She added, As part of the campaign, people can send a missed call on 8000980009. Each call will be considered as support for rejuvenating rivers. A rally will start from LB Nagar at 8.30 am and will end at Gachibowli at 10 am on September 1. Pradad Atmakur, a volunteer from the foundation, said, We are working with panchayats in AP and TS to take the campaign to villages. An expert committee, comprising environmetal scientists and lawmakers, are piecing together a draft policy to save rivers and their tributaries in the country.
NEW DELHI: With the CBI claiming that there is enough material against Karti Chidambaram, the son of former finance minister P. Chidambaram, in the INX Media corruption case, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant him permission to go abroad. Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, submitted documents in a sealed envelope to a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and said, There is a good, cogent reason for the issuance of a look-out circular against him. It is not a simple case or that of one company but it involves jugglery of accounts and properties abroad.

The apex court posted the hearing in the matter for September 11, accepting Mr Mehtas submission that Mr Karti should not be allowed to travel abroad at this stage. On August 14, the apex court had stayed a Madras HC order allowing Karti Chidambaram to go abroad and made it clear that he will have to appear before the CBI for questioning.
Hyderabad: Nooruddin, a 21-year-old public service commission aspirant, tweeted to IT minister KTR about a destitute woman near his hostel in Dilsukh Nagar before boarding a bus to his hometown in Sathupally, Khammam district. Little did he know that his tweet would give her a new lease of life as the minister ordered a special drive to locate her.

Nooruddin, who was leaving for the Bakrid holidays, saw the 81-year-old Sathyamma in a bad condition near Konark Theatre in the morning. Moved by her plight and wounds on her head, he sent a tweet to the minister.

We rushed to the spot to locate her. She is physically weak and disoriented, said Mr Ranga Rao, deputy projects officer, Saroornagar.

It was revealed that Sathyamma is a pension holder under the Aasara scheme and has family members. It is alleged that her family threw her out after fleecing her pension funds. Her daughter is a sanitation staff with the GHMC.

Currently, the octogenarian is admitted to the Osmania General Hospital where she has undergone a CT scan. She has been shifted to the general ward and her daughter and daughter-in-law have reached the hospital. As her family has decided to take her back, she will not be shifted to the GHMC old age home.

I have been seeing her ordeal since a few days. I am glad that I could help her, Mr Nooruddin said.
Hyderabad: The government is attempting to clean up land records with a Rs 500-crore project to put an end to land disputes and prevent corruption in wrongful registration of land.

In the next three months, the government has lined up a digital mapping of land using the Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS) and the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to prepare high resolution maps. The government uses LiDAR to build irrigation projects with pinpoint accuracy.

Aerial survey of lands will be done using helicopters equipped with DGPS. Simultaneously, revenue officials will take up a conventional land survey by physically visiting all the sites with the village as a unit.

In this, the government is following the Bihar and Gujarat models. After the aerial survey, revised land maps would be prepared by comparing the data with old land records and the revenue officials survey will decide the ownership and boundaries of a property.

All the details will be posted online and will be accessible to the public. Digital pictures of each parcel of land with its boundaries will be posted online.

Digitised pattadar passbooks similar to the passports with enhanced security features will be issued to land owners soon after, giving no scope for creating fake passbooks or manipulating details later.

These new passbooks will be sent to the land owners only by post like the passport. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been conducting a series of meetings with revenue officials at Pragathi Bhavan for the past three weeks to finalise the measures to cleanse land records and find a permanent solution to land disputes.

Deputy CM Mohd Mahmood Ali, who holds the revenue portfolio, said, The increasing number of land disputes and encroachments are the result of erroneous land records. They have not been filtered for over eight decades. The CM is keen on putting an end to this menace.

He said the Chief Minister was ready to spend more than Rs 500 crore for the project, and the revenue department had been given the go-ahead.

We will use the latest technology available globally to set the right revenue records even if it costs more, he said.

Mr Ali said that the revenue department had begun a pilot project in a few villages in Ranga Reddy and Medak districts to work out the nitty-gritties of conducting such a survey on a massive scale.
Hyderabad: After disqualifying L&T on the grounds of eligibility criteria for constructing 15,660 double bedroom houses at Kollur in Ramachandrapuram Mandal, the GHMC has decided to consider other private sector companies for building works. The firm however, needs to register as a GHMC licensed builder.

The state government has decided that 15, 660 double bedroom houses will be built at a cost of Rs 1,354.59 crore. For awarding this construction work, the eligibility criteria was fixed in the tender that the firm should have special class registration in the state government department or GHMC builder license.

Another condition was that in any one financial year in the last 10 years the firm should have completed, G+2 buildings value worth Rs 630 crore.

In regards to the eligibility criteria of L&T, the GHMC in a report said that L&T is registered as special class civil contractors with the Telangana government and the works executed in the government departments are to the tune of Rs 290 crore in a single year against the tender condition of Rs 630 crore.

Therefore to consider other private sector companies building works, the firm needs to register as a GHMC licensed builder. The state government wants to complete the project in one year where as L&T has asked for a minimum of two years to complete the project.

To get this project works total government & private building works executed in one financial year is about Rs 1000 core will qualify. Under these project infrastructure facilities such as CC roads, storm water drains, under ground drainage, water supply lines, external electrification and others will be created.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said that the cleansing of land records should be done without causing any harm to farmers interests. He said that the list of rectified land details should be publicly displayed in the villages with signatures of the farmers.

Mr Rao was speaking at a review meeting with ministers and officials. Old revenue terms like pahani, sethwari are not Telugu words. Change these terms into simple and colloquial Telugu. There is no need to have so many columns in pahani. The documents should be simple, he said.

He asked officials to constitute 1,193 teams and allot nine villages to each team. It would then take three months to rectify and update the records. The 31 collectors have been authorised to allot the villages to the teams.

This is primarily a land records cleansing programme. With this all the matters that create litigations problems should end. The complicated calculations are leading to land litigations and other issues. The sub numbers system should be scrapped. Farmers should get be rid of land related issues and be able to cultivate peacefully, he said.

Mr Rao said land records should be maintained like core banking system adopted by banks. After the land records updation, all transactions should be updated as was done by the banks digitally. For this, appoint 1,000 IT officials in the revenue departments. Pattadars should be able to get any information online," he noted.

He said mutation should be done immediately after the registration. Farmers should go to the registration office only once. Their passbooks should be sent to their homes via courier. He asked offcials to abolish all the revenue courts except that of the district collector.

The practice of farmers pledging their passbooks with banks for loans should go. Instead, banks should give loans based on online information. Land related issues are within the purview of the state governments and hence the decisions of the state government holds good, Mr Rao said.
Thiruvananthapuram: Of the 690 seats which were vacant in medical colleges in the state before the beginning of spot admissions on Wednesday, around 400 remained vacant after the first day of the spot admissions. Many of the students who were allotted seats did not join due to the high fees. The spot admissions concluded on Thursday, the deadline fixed by the MCI for completing the admissions to MBBS courses. The final statistics of the vacant seats has not been officially released.

The managements were not cooperating with the government decisions. Though the government has offered surety for banks to issue Rs 6-lakh guarantee to students selected for the MBBS course in SF colleges, some managements were insisting on guarantees with collateral security. The students also complained that many individual managers were not willing to provide bank guarantees without collateral security though the state-level bankers panel had agreed to do away with security.

Many students were not allowed to take part in the spot admissions as they had cancelled their admissions earlier because of high fees and bank guarantees.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM will conduct a state-wide campaign against RSS-BJP's communal agenda from September 6 to 12. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said BJP was trying to polarise the country on religious lines for electoral gains and creating a divide between communities. National institutes of excellence, historical research institutions, academic and research centres were being packed with RSS sympathisers to distort and twist history and alter curricula for suiting their divisive agenda. He said public spaces were being communalised to the extent that lynch mobs are having a free run.

CPM state secretariat has appealed to all democratic and secular forces to join the partys campaign. The campaign is to defend countrys social and secular fabric which is under threat from communal and fascist forces. BJP is making all out efforts to polarise the nation on communal lines. During the week-long campaign colourful processions , cultural conferences, discourse will be organised at the local level involving libraries, clubs and other cultural organisations. At a time when communal forces are trying to fan communal and caste feelings misusing even puranas , all secular and democratic forces need to unite to defeat their devious designs.

Kodiyeri said many institutions functioning under the parliamentary democratic system were now being saffronised and communalised at a faster rate. There is a need to build powerful resistance against these blatant attacks on the democratic institutions. The CPM accused Sangh Parivar of terrorising democratic and secular voices and even liquidating them to push their divisive agenda. The attacks in the name of cow have increased manifold with various organisations affiliated to the Sangh Parivar attacking people in the name of gau raksha. The party said the attack on Muslim family in a train in Delhi which led to the ghastly murder of 15-year-old Junaid, exposed their dangerous agenda. These attacks are being carried out by Sangh Parivar to create communal polarisation in the country and reap electoral benefits.

The CPM said it has adopted strident position against majority and minority communalism and that was the main reason why the party was being targeted by communal and fundamentalist forces. The party has taken the lead to bring unity between all democratic and secular forces against communalism. According to CPM, the BJP and Sangh Parivar have started making attempts to create communal divide in Kerala as well. The state has always upheld the slogan of peoples unity and harmony against communal and divisive agenda. The CPM said the birth anniversaries of Sree Narayana Guru and Chattambi Swami fell on September 6 and 11 respectively. Both social reformers had fought against fanaticism and caste discrimination.
Thiruvananthapuram: The state government will seek legal options on the fate of 180 students whose admissions were cancelled by the former Admission Supervisory Committee chaired by Justice J.M. James following irregularities in the last academic year. Any decision to favour the colleges would be considered as an attempt to circumvent merit which has allegedly happened during this year's allotment process. The Supreme Court had later ratified the decision of the committee cancelling the admissions of 180 medical undergraduate students in Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College owing to irregularities in the admission procedures.

The results of these students for the first year MBBS examinations were withheld by the Kerala University of Health Sciences. The students had approached the state government for a favourable response. Health Minister K.K. Shyalaja proposed in the cabinet an ordinance to assist these students to pursue their education. However, this was opposed by many ministers as the decision to cancel the admissions was aimed at sending a message to private professional colleges that there would be zero tolerance to irregularities.

The Supreme Court had upheld the order invalidating the admissions on the ground that the institutions did not publish the corrected prospectus on their websites and were not transparent in furnishing all the details online. The court had also opined that some of the documents submitted for admission seem to have been fabricated.

The Commissioner for Entrance examinations, in a report submitted to the High Court in October 2016, had pointed out that prima facie the college authorities had disobeyed the HC direction to be present before the CEE with all relevant records, including particulars of applications received, those rejected as defective, details of defects, final rank list of students concerned. The report also had pointed out that colleges did not follow the norms and directions of the High court during the spot admissions.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national president Amit Shah will launch BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan's Janaraksha Yatra from Kannur on October 3. Earlier, the yatra was scheduled to take place from September 7 to 23. Mr Kummanam told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Amit Shah will arrive in Kannur on October 3 and take part in the yatra in the district against the political violence in the state.

He will also attend the conclusion at Putharikandam grounds here on October 16 after joining the padayatra at Sreekariyam where RSS leader S. L. Rajesh was killed recently. The state leadership had urged Mr Shah to tour a district in central Travancore for two days. But he will be focussing more on Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where Assembly elections will be held in October-November, he said.
President Ramnath Kovind with Congress leader Anand Sharma, DMKs Kanimozhi, CPIs D Raja, CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury and DMKs Tiruchi Siva in New Delhi on Thursday. The Opposition MPs met the President to seek his intervention for the floor test in TN assembly. (Photo: AP)

Chennai: President Ram Nath Kovind who received a petition from a delegation of opposition leaders demanding action to order floor test for Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami sought time to look into their representation.

The petition of DMK working president M.K. Stalin was given to him by a team including CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Congress MP Anand Sharma, CPI MP D.Raja, DMK Rajya Sabha MPs Kanimozhi, T.K.S. Elangovan, R.S. Bharathi and 'Tiruchy' N. Siva.

Kanimozhi, who spoke to the media about the meeting said the President had promised to consider their demand and hoped that he would take appropriate action.

The petition requested the immediate intervention of the President into the Constitutional impasse and crisis in Tamil Nadu and direct Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao to order for immediate floor test to prove the majority of the government headed by Edappadi K. Palanisami and kindly take all measures to restore the parliamentary system in the State as per the Constitution of India.

A ministry, which had lost the confidence of the House could not by any stretch of imagination be termed as a government collectively responsible to the House, Stalin said in the petition.

As 21 MLAs of ruling AIADMK (Amma) had withdrawn their support and many more MLAs who earlier supported speak in different and dissenting voice, it is now abundantly clear that the Council of Ministers headed by Pananisamy has lost its majority, he said.

Out of 234 members of Assembly, the present government had only the support of 113 MLAs including the Speaker. The MLAs opposed to the government are 120 in numbers with lone vacancy, the petition pointed out.

The Governor had not passed any direction or order over the letter of withdrawal given by 21 ruling party members of Assembly and the letters given by the opposition parties. The Governor's delay in discharging his constitutional duties is causing a minority government to rule in the State unethically and unconstitutionally. The inordinate silence of the Governor without ordering confidence vote is actually thwarting the Parliamentary system and directly encouraging not only horse-trading but also unsavoury and undemocratic political manipulations in the state, petition said.
On August 28 the ministry of external affairs put out a statement: In recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Doklam. During these communications, we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests. On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed to and is on-going. The first part of the statement articulated that through diplomatic channels India had conveyed its concerns and interests about the face-off in Doklam between China and India. It further stated that on the basis of this diplomatic exchange expeditious disengagement of border personnel had been agreed to and was underway. What the statement did not mention was whether the withdrawal was mutual or unilateral by India? What it also did not disclose was whether China had given any explicit or even implicit assurances that they would not construct a road in Doklam  the trigger of the original flashpoint on June 18. Now let us turn to what did China has to say on the issue. Responding to a question on the same day as the Indian statement, the spokesperson of Chinas foreign ministry stated in response to a query.

The question asked was We have learned that on the afternoon of August 28, the Indian border troops and equipment that illegally crossed the Sikkim sector of the China-India border have all been withdrawn to the Indian side, marking an end to the trespassing incident. Do you have more information? The answer was On June 18, the Indian border troops illegally crossed the well-delimited China-India border in the Sikkim Sector into Chinas Dong Lang area. China has lodged representations with the Indian side many times through diplomatic channels, made the facts and truth of this situation known to the international community, clarified Chinas solemn position and explicit demands, and urged India to immediately pull back its border troops to the Indias side. In the meantime, the Chinese military has taken effective counter-measures to ensure the territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests of the state. At about 2.30 pm of August 28, the Indian side withdrew all its border personnel and equipment that were illegally on the Chinese territory to the Indian side. The Chinese personnel onsite have verified this situation. China will continue fulfilling its sovereign rights to safeguard territorial sovereignty in compliance with the stipulations of the border-related historical treaty.

Another question asked was The Indian governments announcement is that there is a mutual disengagement of the troops between the two countries. You havent mentioned the pullback of the Chinese troops. You mentioned only the pullback of the Indian troops. How do you explain? The spokesperson replied saying, The Chinese side has made it clear that the Indian border personnel and equipment that trespassed into Chinas territory have all been withdrawn to the Indian side of the border. The Chinese border troops continue with their patrols and stationing in the Dong Lang area. China will continue with its exercise of sovereign rights to protect territorial sovereignty in accordance with the stipulations of the border-related historical treaty.

In response to a further probe the spokesperson reiterated, I want to stress that the Indian side withdrew all its border personnel and equipment that were illegally on the Chinese territory to the Indian side. The Chinese personnel onsite have verified this situation. The Chinese border troops continue with their patrols and stationing in the Dong Lang area. China will continue fulfilling its sovereign rights to safeguard territorial sovereignty in compliance with the stipulations of the border-related historical treaty. In the meantime, in light of the changing landscape on the ground, China will make necessary adjustments and deployment as it sees fit. Next day, the Chinese spokesperson again responded to a journalistic inquiry about whether China has stopped building roads in the Dong Lang area. He said that China has said clearly that China has long been carrying out infrastructure building, including roads, in the Dong Lang area to meet the needs of guarding the border and to improve the living and working conditions of the troops stationed there and people living there. Taking into account various factors like the weather, we will make proper building plans in light of the actual situation, he added. The Indian side has not controverted any of the official Chinese statements so far. What has emerged is that China disavowed that the disengagement was mutual. It also mentions that Chinese border troops continue with their patrols and stationing in the Donglang area. Note the word stationing.

In laymans English it means staying put. It also is ambiguous, to put it rather mildly, about its road-building plans in the Doklam area. It may just be appropriate to point out that what Chinas call Dong Lang, Bhutan refers to it as Doklam and we as Doka-la. A Sino-Indian confrontation is not in the interest of either country and certainly not the larger Indo-Pacific region. It may have been wise to ignore the high decibel rhetoric emanating from the Chinese side over the past over two months. For clearly the sudden Chinese activity in the Doklam region was connected to the boycott of the One Belt One Road conference by India. Bhutan was the only country out of the region that stood by India and did not attend the conference. However, while government sources have briefed the media off the record that the reason that they have chosen to ignore the latest assertions of the Chinese foreign office is to give China a face saver. Is this a face-saver or an abject surrender?

If indeed we were prepared to swallow our pride, get egg on our face, allow China to grandstand on the global stage and the Prime Minister is still going to Xiamin in China for the Brics summit, then the question arises if China was in the wrong and we were in the right why are we walking the extra nine yards to let China of the hook? That too at a time when it was in Chinas interest to lower tensions in Doklam as they were facing an almost two-front situation with heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula. Will China interpret Indias magnanimity as a gesture of good faith, sign of weakness or conclude that the bombastic rhetoric of muscular nationalism spouted over the past three years was the handiwork of people who turned out to have feet of clay when the push came to a shove? The jury is out on that.
It is not a favourable reflection on the Government of India that the BJP government in Assam has extended the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state by six months after the Centre had declined to give clearance. As a result of the Thursday decision, the entire state has become a disturbed area. It is shocking to see Assam thus being placed on the same footing as J&K, and some of the smaller states of the northeast wracked by insurgent activity for decades. Assam has known intense Ulfa activity in the past. Those bygone days are hard to imagine in todays Assam although some Ulfa activity is not unknown.

But to place this state in the same bracket as the areas hit by interminable political violence known to be aided by foreign elements in various ways is to mock the people of Assam. Evidently, the Centre would have given due consideration to the states request to prolong AFSPA, and weighed all factors, before rejecting it. Assam offers a fit case for making changes to the AFSPA so that a state is disempowered from effecting AFSPA without the go-ahead of the Union government. It also cannot do much good to the spirit of our armed forces to be given the extraordinary powers over life and death that AFSPA confers in designated disturbed areas in a state where life goes on reasonably normally. We will do well to remember that AFSPA has not been imposed in states hit by naxal violence.
In India, we need to empower the youth and apprise them of offence, defence and response, said expert.

In every 10 minutes, one cyber crime took place in the National Capital Region (NCR) and over 22,782 such complaints had been lodged in the first six months of 2017, a cyber security expert said.

Rakshit Tandon, a cyber security expert and consultant, shared this information at a panel discussion -- 'Challenges in Cyberspace' -- at the Amity University's Noida campus.

The event, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology and Amity Business School, was organised in the run-up to the Global Conference on Cyberspace (GCCS) 2017.

"Most of the cyber crime offenders are youth and college students. These days, even a class 6 student knows how to hack a wi-fi password and every such offender claims to be an ethical hacker, whereas there is nothing called an ethical hacker, as per the laws of the country," Tandon said.

He added that most of the offenders were not even aware of the cyber laws.

"In India, we need to empower the youth and apprise them of offence, defence and response. The technology needs to be updated regularly to ensure that the websites are not prone to hacking. When we talk about Digital India, it should actually be Safer Digital India," Tandon said.

CBI Inspector Akanksha Gupta said the police of all the states should have technological expertise and the law enforcement agencies should have dedicated wings to tackle the "cyber warfare".

Col Pankaj Verma, a cyber security expert associated with the TCG Digital, said cyber security could never be foolproof, adding that even the networks of big organisations such as the Linkedin had been hacked in the past.

"The security products used in India -- right from the chips to hardware and software -- are not indigenously manufactured. The entire ecosystem is not in our control. The very critical systems of our country ride on the same ecosystem," he added.

Pawan Duggal, a lawyer specialising in the field of cyber laws and e-commerce, said anything digital or electronic was covered under the cyber laws.

The Global Conference on Cyberspace (GCCS) 2017 will be hosted for the first time in India in November to promote the Digital India mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It will be held in New Delhi.

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The keenly anticipated event will be the first to take place in the Steve Jobs Theater at its new "spaceship" campus in Silicon Valley. (Photo: File)

Apple sent out invitations Thursday to a September 12 media event at which the US tech giant is expected to unveil new iPhone models for the 10th anniversary of the culture-changing smartphones.

The keenly anticipated event will be the first to take place in the Steve Jobs Theater at its new "spaceship" campus in Silicon Valley.

In trademark style, Apple revealed little in the invitation that provided the date, time, location and a message that read "Let's meet at our place."

Apple is under particular pressure to dazzle as the California-based company looks for ways to maintain its image as an innovation leader in a global market showing signs of slowing.

"Clearly, Apple wants to do something different for the 10th anniversary" of the iPhone, NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker told AFP.

Some reports say a new iPhone will include a high-quality, edge-to-edge screen with a notch in the top for an ear-piece and an extra camera supporting 3D facial recognition and selfies.

Some speculate that the new handset will have a glass backing that offers wireless charging.

"We are expecting a major design refresh on Apple," GlobalData analyst Avi Greengart told AFP.

"That has been a sore point, especially in China. People are looking to show off a status symbol, so it needs to look different than Huawei or Xiaomi, and I think it will."

Apple has declined to comment on speculation, which has included talk of as many as three new iPhone handsets, including a premium model priced at around $1,000.

Bye-bye button?

The most dramatic changes were expected in the premium model, which could go so far as to get rid of a 'home' button that has been a main control feature since the iPhone made its debut in 2007.

Flicking or swiping gestures could replace the home button function, enabling the handset face to appear almost all-screen.

The iPhone could also get more rounded corners.

New iPhones would, of course, be designed to showcase capabilities of the latest version of Apple's iOS software for powering mobile devices.

Apple showed iOS 11 to developers at a conference earlier this year, and is likely to release it with the new iPhone models.

The mobile operating system boasted new camera features, Siri digital assistant made smarter, and the potential for augmented reality applications.

The Sept. 12 event could also feature updated versions of Apple TV and Apple Watch.

Notes and Pixels

Global smartphone sales saw a modest decline of 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2017, as market leaders Samsung and Apple consolidated their positions, an IDC survey showed.

The South Korean giant maintained the top spot with a 23.3 percent market share, while Apple held onto second place with 12 percent, according to IDC.

Huawei was the third-largest vendor, with an 11.3 percent market share. The Chinese electronics giant closed the gap with Apple, adding two percentage points to market share from a year earlier, according to the survey.

China-based Oppo and Xiaomi rounded out the top five.

Samsung last week unveiled a new model of its Galaxy Note as it seeks to leave behind the debacle over exploding batteries in the previous generation of the device, and mount a renewed challenge to Apple and its soon-to-come iPhone 8.

A Note 8 "phablet" introduced at an event in New York City left some analysts underwhelmed by its lack of new features beyond a dual-lens camera for telephoto zoom -- already available on the iPhone7 Plus.

The Note 8 will hit shops on September 15, its debut coming on the heels of Samsung launching new Galaxy 8 smartphones.

Meanwhile, Google-made Pixel smartphones that debuted last year will likely get a second generation in the months ahead as rivals field new champions to battle in the prime year-end holiday shopping market.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Trump on Wednesday implied that diplomacy with North Korea is over, tweeting that 'talking is not the answer'. (Photo: File)

Washington: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has refuted claims that he disagrees with President Donald Trump on the best strategy to handle tensions with North Korea, saying his comments were "widely misinterpreted".

Trump on Wednesday implied that diplomacy with North Korea is over, tweeting that "talking is not the answer". When asked about the tweet hours later, Mattis seemed to disagree, saying that "We are never out of diplomatic solutions". But, on Thursday, Mattis stressed that there was "nothing contradictory there" and said reports have "widely misinterpreted" his comments.

"I was asked if there are any diplomatic efforts. And I said, Of course. And diplomatic can include economic sanctions, United Nations, not just talking. It didn't contradict anything the President said. We're not talking to the North Koreans right now. It was widely misinterpreted. I can't help people who misinterpret things," he said. Tensions with North Korea have been high all month as the regime has conducted a series of provocative missile tests and Trump threatened to confront North Korean threats.

On Monday, North Korea launched an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan. Mattis said the firing of North Korean ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan, was reckless. "I agree it was a reckless, provocative act, firing that over Hokkaido. We were watching what they were doing, but I did not know what, in fact, they were thinking, whether or not they were really throttling back or not," he said.

"We will defend ourselves and our allies," he said. Responding to a question, Mattis said North Korea could do something like that (nuclear test) on relatively short notice.
A police officer passes by a blue tent which was set up over a 1,400-tonne bomb dropped by British bombers during World War II, in Franfurt, on Thursday (Photo: AP)

Around 70,000 people in Frankfurt will have to leave their homes this weekend in one of the biggest such evacuations in post-war Germany, police said on Thursday, after an unexploded World War-II bomb nicknamed blockbuster was uncovered.

The operation on Sunday will allow for the safe defusal of the 1,400-tonne British bomb, which German media said was nicknamed Wohnblockknacker (blockbuster) during the war for its ability to wipe out whole streets or buildings.

The unexploded bomb was discovered on Tuesday during building work a stones throw from the Westend Campus of the Goethe University Frankfurt, police said in a statement. Officers are guarding the site and there is currently no danger.

Police said the bomb in question was a HC 4000, a so-called high capacity bomb used in air raids by British forces.

Due to the large size of the bomb, extensive evacuation measures must be taken, police said.

The Wismarer street where the ordnance was found is close to the city centre and just some 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) north of the main Zeil shopping area.

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried on German land, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.

One of the biggest such evacuations to date took place last Christmas, when another unexploded British bomb forced 54,000 people out of their homes in the southern city of Augsburg.

Another 50,000 residents had to leave their homes in the northern city of Hanover in May for an operation to defuse several WWII-era bombs.
Editor's Note: Ranked as Chinas most romantic and leisurely city, Xiamen possesses one of the worlds greatest natural landscapes. It is also the host city for the 9th BRICS Summit in September this year. Here are ten things to do that could help ensure you a memorable trip there.

Views of houses on Gulangyu Island. [Image Credit: VCG]

1. Stay overnight on Gulangyu Island

Gulangyu Island, located to the southwest of Xiamen, is known for its natural beauty, ancient relics, and diverse architecture.

Apart from some renowned attractions, one of the most fun things to do here is enjoying a lovely night. There are numerous inns with different styles, providing a sweet, romantic and cozy atmosphere.

Viewing the gorgeous beach scenery, sipping a fresh Mojito, or just daydreaming can help you escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

2. Cycle along Island Ring Road

The Island Ring Road is a 4-6 lane seaside road that is 43 kilometers in length. It offers tourists a perfect way to bike along beautiful seashores.

The best part of the island ring road starts at Baicheng Beach and ends at Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center, a 10km stretch of amazing views.

You can rent a bike to cycle the route, a trip that takes about 2 hours. You can also visit some interesting places along the way.
The ruling Congress on Thursday was left embarrassed after an audio clip of its women's wing president Lakshmi R Hebbalkar, in which she allegedly makes a pro-Maharashtra statement on the Belagavi boundary dispute, went viral.



During an event in the Basarikatti village, Hebbalkar reportedly said in Marathi that she would be the first to wave the Maharashtra flag and sloganeer if the Supreme Court would rule in favour of Belagavis accession to Maharashtra.



Congress leaders were quick to condemn it, even as Hebbalkar denied having made any such remarks. Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka. Anyone who takes a contrary stand should be condemned. I will first examine what Hebbalkar said. She will be asked to clarify before we take action, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president Dinesh Gundu Rao said.



Whatever Hebbalkar said was her personal opinion and it does not reflect the partys stand on the Belagavi border dispute, said former Minister Satish Jarkiholi. While I am not fully aware of the context in which she made those remarks, I can say that I have never said anything like that despite having 40,000 Marathi votes in my constituency (Yamakanamardi), he said, tacitly expressing his disapproval.



Minister for Small Scale Industries Ramesh Jarkiholi said: I dont have full information on this, but if she has taken a pro-Maharashtra stand, it is wrong.



There is an open fued between the Jarkiholis and Hebbalkar over political uponemanship in their home district of Belagavi.



Kannada leaders Vatal Nagaraj, Sa Ra Govindu and others met Dinesh Gundu Rao, giving the Congress a 24-hour deadline to dismiss Hebbalkar from the party. "Regardless, we will stage a massive protest in Belagavi on Saturday because her comments are an insult to Karnataka," Nagaraj said.



Hebbalkar was appointed as the KPCC womens wing president in 2015. In the 2013 Assembly election, she lost to BJPs Sanjay Patil from the Belagavi Rural constituency.



Energy Minister DK Shivakumar, however, came out in Hebbalkar's defence. She has not done anything wrong. I have seen the entire video clip of her speech. She was only trying to put some sense into youngsters, but only one portion of the clip was aired in the media. This is the handiwork of her political opponents, he said.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, too, defended her. "It must have originated from the BJP or the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti," he said, brushing off the controversy.






BBMP officials who went to acquire a civic amenity site to set up an Indira Canteen near the low-income group quarters in Tilak Nagar were chased away by residents.

Around 2 pm on Thursday, eight to 10 BBMP officials arrived with an earth-mover to demolish a wall to build an Indira Canteen. Madan, a resident, told DH that the mayor had visited the site and the quarters a month ago but they did not know it was with regard to the canteen.

Moreover, these quarters were allotted to us in 1960. It is 57 years old and the plot is for our common amenities, he said. Nearly 100 residents, most of them women from the quarters, blocked the earth-mover.Around 2.30 pm, BBMP engineers were forced to leave with the earth-mover. Around 62 families live in the quarters opposite Swagat Garuda Mall in Tilak Nagar, Madan added.

The plot is marked for an Indira Canteen. We did not demolish the compound because of the residents protest, said Hemanth Kumar, assistant engineer, Jayanagar subdivision.
For the first time since its commercial launch in 2007, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here clocked a record two million passengers for the month of July. A total of 21,17,282 domestic and international passengers contributed to this record monthly footfall.

On an average, the countrys third busiest airport had 68,300 passengers every day during the last month. Statistics accessed from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) also showed 81,59,370 passengers had passed through KIA during the quarter April-July 2017.



The first seven months of 2017 saw passenger numbers cross the one-crore mark. The DGCA figure showed 1,28,86,118 commuters boarded/alighted flights at KIA between January and July, marking another record for the airport.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) president Hari Marar told Deccan Herald that the monthly passenger numbers had consistently exceeded two million since December 2016. However, the numbers dipped during March and April due to reduced Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) during the runway closure. However, the July figure was a record, he added.

Air Traffic Movements (ATM), which include both flight arrivals and take-offs, also saw an increase to 15,896 in July. This accounted for a daily average of 512 ATMs. Marar clarified that the increase cannot be attributed to the opening of two new Rapid Exit Taxiways (RETs), the effect of which can only be quantified in phases.



Since the last two weeks, the RETs have, however, boosted the runway capacity to handle 38 ATMs per hour, up from 34. This is in sync with KIAs upgrade of Terminal 1 to cater to 26.5 million annual passengers. Terminal-2 will eventually increase the capacity by another 25 million, in time for the commissioning of the second runway.

Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad were the top three domestic destinations for passengers from KIA in July 2017. While 3.55 lakh passengers flew between Bengaluru and Delhi, 2.97 lakh air commuters boarded/alighted flights linked to Mumbai. The figure for Hyderabad flights stood at 1.62 lakh.
The US intends to work with Pakistan to take down terrorists, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said, asserting that this is what a "responsible" nation does.



He was responding to questions on Pakistan's reaction to the Afghan and South Asia Policy announced by US President Donald Trump last Monday.



Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.



Mattis did not respond to questions on timeline, if any, for Pakistan to take action against terrorists and terrorist groups.



"We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think that's what a responsible nation does," Mattis said at a media briefing.



His remarks remarks came after the State Department notified to the Congress to place a pause button on USD 255 million foreign military financing for Pakistan.



The Department notified Congress on August 30 of its intent to obligate the amount in 2016 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan.



"At the same time, the Department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI.



"Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan," the official said.



The Trump administration notified Congress on Wednesday that it was putting USD 255 million in military assistance to Pakistan into the equivalent of an escrow account that Islamabad can only access if it does more to crack down on internal terror networks launching attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.



"As this relates to Foreign Military Financing (FMF), before moving forward with funding actual FMF cases, the United States will take into account Pakistan's efforts to address key US concerns, including the threat posed by the Haqqani Networks and other terrorist groups that enjoy safe haven within Pakistan," the spokesperson said.



Pakistan has cancelled at least three high profile meetings with senior American officials, including a visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to the US to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.



Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution alleging that the recent statements of the US President and his senior officials on Pakistan were hostile and threatening.



The US, however, insists that it wants Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups.
The Supreme Court on Friday put for final hearing in October a plea relating to Rs 64-crore Bofors payoff case, amidst recent media reports suggesting a financial quid pro quo for the Rs 1,437 crore Howitzer gun deal in 1986.



A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to consider the matter on an application by BJP leader and advocate Ajay Kumar Agrawal for early hearing.



He had challenged the Delhi High Court May 31, 2005, judgement that had quashed all charges against the Europe-based Hinduja brothers in the case.



The apex court had on October 18, 2005, admitted his petition which was filed after the CBI failed to approach the top court with the appeal within the 90-day deadline following the High Court verdict.



The hearing assumes significance in the wake of a demand in Parliament by ruling BJP MPs for reopening of the probe into the Bofors kickback scandal after the media reports quoting Swedish chief investigator Sten Lindstrom's suggested the alleged bribery at the top level.



Agarwal, who contested the Rai Bareli Lok Sabha elections in 2014 against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, had written a letter to the Enforcement Directorate seeking an investigation into the trail of the kickback money under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.



The HC had in 2005 quashed the charges against the Hinduja brothers and pulled up the CBI for wasting about Rs 250 crore in its probe. Earlier in 2004, the HC had let off former Rajiv Gandhi in the case.




Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, cannot travel abroad till September 11. The Supreme Court on Friday maintained its stay on a Madras High Court order that had suspended a look out circular issued against him. The CBI claimed that there were good and cogent reasons for it.



A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, however, asked the CBI to inform on September 11 about the progress of its investigation into an FIR registered on May 15, pertaining to the INX media company receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore after FIPB's approval during tenure of Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2007.



Senior advocate Gopal Subramanian, representing Karti, that he has already appeared before the CBI here on the court's direction for two days. The court has to see if the look out circular issued by an executive order can be sustained in law following the SC judgement in Maneka Gandhi's case, he said.



In Maneka Gandhi's case, the SC had held the right to travel and go outside the country was included in the fundamental right to personal liberty.



Subramanian also contested statements made in the court on last hearing that Karti had purchased properties all over the world and held bank accounts in several countries. He also reiterated his assertion that Karti had nothing to do with the FIPB clearance granted during his father's tenure. He contended that none of the six-member committee that gave nob for overseas investment has been investigated by the CBI.



Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta repeated his charge and accused Karti of jugglery of keeping several bank accounts and possessing properties in foreign countries. He handed over a sealed envelope to the court, which, he claimed, contained reasons for putting restrictions on Karti's travel abroad.



The court granted the CBI time to file a rejoinder to an affidavit filed by Karti and put the matter for consideration on September 11.




In a fresh turn of events in the Infosys saga, the former board members of IT behemoth have lashed out at companys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy.



In a joint statement, on Friday, companys former chairman R Seshasayee, former directors John Etchemendy and Jeffrey Lehman called the attack by Murthy on Seshasayee as unfortunate.



Murthy's statement to the investors misleadingly attributes words to me that are taken completely out of context, making it appear that I was not stating the truth. I wish to categorically state that I have always been candid and truthful in all my statements concerning Infosys, Seshasayee said.



Former chairman of IT bellwether called Murthys allegations as personal attacks and false and slanderous in nature. Murthy's statement to the investors reported by the Press, however, forces me to issue this statement, which is done only to defend myself against personal attacks and patently false and slanderous accusations, he said, alleging that Murthy has forced him to come up with this statement after his resignation.



Murthy, on his part, has also called the attack on him by the companys board on eve of former CEO and MD Vishal Sikkas resignation as a personal attack.



He also pointed out that it was on Murthys behest he joined Infosys. I would also like to point out that Murthy invited me to join the Board and entrusted to me the Chair of the Audit Committee, while he was still the Chairman. As late as February 2017, much after the alleged lapses took place, Murthy also issued a press statement that I was a man of high integrity. I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivations for this persistent vendetta against me," he added.



Defending Seshasayee, Etchemendy said that the former has never lied in his knowledge about Infosys. I am fully conversant with the details of the Rajiv Bansal (companys former CFO) issue and I can categorically state that at no point did Sesh say anything in public or, to the best of my knowledge, in private that was untrue or did not reflect the collective view of the Board, he said.



Murthy, during his investors call, had reiterated the statement by the whistle-blower, wherein the anonymous whistle-blower had alleged that Seshasayee had lied about Bansals severance pay.



Lehman on his part stated, For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop defaming Seshasayee and the other members of the Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other cheek when slandered, and who have acted only in the best interests of the company.
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on Monday a plea challenging the decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar, on various grounds including that it violated international human rights conventions.



A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send Rohingyas back to their native land.



The plea filed by two Rohingya immigrants that they were facing persecution in Myanmar and that the decision to send them back was in violation of various international conventions.



On August 18, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.



The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.



Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.



He had said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the Union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.



The Centre had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally-staying foreign nationals.
India welcomes President Donald Trump's Afghan and South Asia policy, India's envoy to the US has said, underlining that New Delhi shares America's concern over Pakistan which provides safe havens to terrorists.



President Donald Trump last week hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.



India's ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said on terrorism, India and the US have a strategic convergence in a host of areas, including in its fight against terrorism.



"We welcome the new Afghan policy because we share the concerns and the objectives that the safe havens that have been given to terrorists in Pakistan. The cross-border operations that are carried out from there concern us as much they are for the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, we share the policies announced by the Trump Administration which we welcome," Sarna said.



Addressing the Hawaii-based East West Center, a top American think-tank, Sarna said on terrorism there is a very strong joint statement between India and the US, issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in June.



He also said Pakistan should not be using its territory or the territory under its control for fomenting terrorism under its control.



"There is recognition of the fact that connectivity projects, while theyre welcome, they have to go by certain basic rules and regulations of transparency, of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensuring that in the process are not trampling the political and economic rights of the countries that are involved," Sarna said.



He also met Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US House of Representative in 2013 is the three-term Democratic Congresswoman.



"There is cooperation in maritime security. PACOM (Pacific Command) here is playing an important role. India today is doing more military exercises with the US than with any other country," he said.



"When you look at the actual potential of the two countries, there are various areas in which India is looking to buy more from the US," he said and cited the example of civil aviation and oil sector.



In Hawaii, Sarna met the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris to discuss India-US defence relationship.



The strong global partnership between India and the US was very much evident during the visit of Prime Minister Modi and his discussions with Trump, he said, adding that this should not be seen through the prism of any third country.



"I think in terms of facing the challenges whether there be of global terrorism whether it be of issues of maritime security whether that be the freedom of the seas and navigation and connectivity issues, these are all issues which democracies have to handle and it becomes much easier to handle them together," he was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Radio.



Responding to a question, he refuted reports that the Indo-US relationship is to counterweight China.



"Well you know I'm not very sure whether it is useful to see these relations to the prism of any other relationship. I think the India-US relationship has a strong logic of its own. It's a relationship between the world's largest and the world's oldest democracies. It is a relationship based on the convergence of fundamental values, freedom of individual liberties," he said.



"Of course there is a very strong people-to-people link, now that we have a very successful and increasingly powerful diaspora of about three million people of Indian-origin in the US. So I would rather take this relationship on its on its own basis and not look at it through the prism of any third country," Sarna said in response to a question.



According to the envoy, India has a very broad-based relationship with China which has multi-lateral aspects and also strong economic and investment.



"Then we have recently resolved an issue (Dokalam standoff) at the border through diplomatic channels. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is something which faces many of the challenges of the world. And it gives a platform for major emerging economies to come together and to implement these issues," he said.


A top police officer sentenced to 17 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in the Benazir Bhutto murder case was also the head of the security arrangements for the judge who pronounced the verdict.



Senior Superintendent of Police Khurrum Shehzad was working as head of "Special Branch" and was responsible for the security of anti-terrorism court Judge Asghar Khan.



Khan delivered the verdict yesterday, declaring former dictator Pervez Musharraf a fugitive and sentencing two senior police officers, including Shehzad, to 17 years in jail.



The judge sentenced former Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud Aziz and Shahzad  suspects out on bail  to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh each.



Since the trial was held in Adial Jail, located in suburb of Rawalpindi, the judge had to travel from Rawalpindi city to the jail to announce the verdict which he had reserved on Wednesday at conclusion of the hearing.



As a militant linked with al-Qaeda was also accused of murder and held in the jail, it was feared that the militants might try to target the judge while on his way to the prison.

According to police official, Shehzad reached the jail early and was escorted by police and personally reviewed the security of the route.



"He looked calm and confident unlike his former boss Saud Aziz," the official said.

Aziz was Rawalpindi city police chief and Shehzad was working as Superintendent of Police under him when Bhutto was murdered on December 27, 2007.



Aziz, who retired last month as Additional Inspector General Police, came early like Shehzad to hear the verdict.



Both officers waited for around six hours for the judge, who went to a special courtroom set up inside the jail after getting a green signal about security from Shehzad.



Later, Shehzad found himself at receiving end when he was found guilty by the judge and sentenced for 17 years along with the fine.



Shehzad like his ex-boss was arrested from the court premises to be lodged in the jail. Both convicts, however, can appeal against the sentence in the high court.

Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party chief and a two-time prime minister, was killed along with more than 20 people in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh during an election campaign rally on December 27, 2007. She was 54.
Swedish arms major Saab on Friday announced its collaboration with the Adani group to manufacture Gripen fighter jets in India for the Indian Air Force.



The Saab-Adani partnership is the second tie-up between big industrial houses, eyeing the lucrative contract after the Defence Ministry made public its plan to procure 100 more single-engine combat jets for the IAF.



Earlier US-based Lockheed Martin tied up with the Tata group and offered to shift its F-16 production line to India if a minimum order comes from the Defence Ministry. The Saab-Adani partnership also proposed an assembly line in India.



The collaboration was announced here by Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani group and Hakan Buskhe, chief executive officer and president of Saab AB.



The defence ministry is yet to issue a formal Request for Information to these companies on the contract. The only official document so far is a one-page IAF letter, seeking comments from the foreign vendors if they are willing to build a single-engine fighter aircraft in India in partnership with an Indian firm.



The manufacturing is planned under the Strategic Partnership policy, according to which the defence ministry is to shortlist the foreign vendors and identify the private firms that are equipped to build the aircraft. Then the joint venture will prepare the projects for evaluation.



The defence ministry is yet to down-select the foreign vendor and Indian partners for the project.



Asked what would happen if the Adani group is not chosen by the defence ministry, Buskhe said, We believe the Adani group will sit as the strategic partner. We would not have taken the step unless we believed that the Adani group can be a partner.



Queried on the Adani group's inexperience in the defence and aerospace sector, Ashish Rajvanshi, who heads the vertical pointed out that the business group did not have any past experience when it entered the port or the power sector.



The new strategic partnership policy is an opportunity for the private players to complement and coexist with the defence public sector unit, said the group's chairman Gautam Adani. He, however, did not take any questions from the media.



With the depleting squadron strength because of the phasing out of MiG-21 and MiG-27 jets, IAF is looking at the new proposal to make up for the numbers.




Russian President Vladimir Putin warned today of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week.



"The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said.



"Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end," a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was "wrong and futile."



Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.



Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.



The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme.



US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.



Putin said he feared the peninsula was "on the verge of a major conflict" and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.



He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences."



The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.


Air India has received bids worth more than their reserve price for ten non-core assets it has put for auction, officials said on Friday.



The national carrier had put 14 properties located in different parts of the country for auction and the bidding process concluded on Thursday.



Officials said the properties include residential and commercial land plots as well as office buildings.



They said they have received bids above the reserve price for 10 out of the total 14 properties.



"The proceeds from this will go towards paying debts," they said. Air India's debt stood at Rs 48,876.81 crore as on March 2017. Of this, a Rs17,359.77 crore is aircraft loans and the rest capital loans.



According to a public notice issued earlier, the airline has sought bids for the sale of properties in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa, Lucknow, Gwalior, Gurgaon and Bhuj.



Air India expects to mop up at least Rs500 crore from the sale of these properties, which will go under the hammer in September, according to a senior airline official.



The monetisation of Air Indias noncore assets is part of a strategy chalked out in 2012 to turn around the airline. As part of Turn Around Plan and Financial Restructuring Plan (TAP-FRP). Under the TAP-FRP approved in April 2012, the government had committed to infusing equity of Rs 42,182 crore from 2011-12 to 2031-32.



However, in June this year, the government gave in-principle approval for disinvesting the national carrier. A Group of Ministers led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is preparing the contours of the exercise.




Bizarre it may sound, but its true that Bihars Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister Lallan Singh has blamed the rats in the State for causing a flood in August this year.



This is in sharp contrast to the stand taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who blamed heavy rainfall in neighbouring Nepal for the cause of flood which claimed 514 lives in Bihar and affected 1.5 crore people in 18 out of 38 districts in the State.



I have been informed that rats made deep holes in the embankments (on Kamla Balan river) thereby causing breach at several places. The heavy flow of water gushing down from the upstream Nepal further breached the embankments, already damaged by rats, said WRD Minister Lallan Singh. The minister, however, added that the engineers of his department plugged the breach within 72 hours and helped avert a catastrophe.



Lallans assertion comes four days after Lalu Prasad said at Patna rally on August 27 that this years flood was man-made, not natures wrath. The aim was two-pronged: One, to dissuade Lalu from holding Desh Bachao, BJP Bhagao rally. And second, contractors and engineers could mint money in the name of repairing embankments which get washed away year after year.



On Friday, Lalu laughed at Lallans alibi that rats made holes and caused damage to embankments thereby flooding the areas. Strange are rats of Bihar. Sometime back, rats were reported to have gulped hundreds of litres of liquor seized and stored at the different police station. And now rats are causing a flood, guffawed Lalu.



Lalu was referring to police reports in May this year when the cops accused rodents of guzzling up confiscated liquor from malkhana (store).



No body was ready to buy the bizarre claim of cops that rodents turned drunkards and consumed around 9 lakh litres of seized alcohol stored in different malkhanas of police stations. No one will buy this claim by WRD minister that rats caused the flood in Bihar, said senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who was Finance Minister in Nitish Cabinet until July 26.








A medical aspirant in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, who fought the legal battle against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), has allegedly committed suicide.



Dejected that she could not secure a medical seat, Anitha took the extreme step by hanging herself to death at her house at Kulumur Taluk in Ariyalur district.



The 18-year old student, who secured 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in her State Board plus-2 exams, filed a petition in the Supreme Court to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET.



Having a cut off mark of 196.8, Anitha secured only 86 marks in NEET exam. The marks in NEET could not fetch her a medical seat, which was her long dream.



A Dalit student coming from the poor family, Anitha pleaded herself as one of the respondents along with many students in the Apex court against the implementation of NEET in Tamil Nadu.



Meanwhile, various leaders of political parties including DMK working president blamed Tamil Nadu government for Anitha's suicide and said the State government failed to secure an exemption from NEET.
Raghavji Patel, the former legislator from Jamnagar rural who was in the eye of the storm as his vote was declared invalid by the Election Commission in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls, on Friday joined the BJP as promised.



However, that is not the problem for Congress as he had already made his intent on joining BJP soon after he quit Congress last month. What has hit the Congress party hard is that it has seen over 500 of its workers in the district walk with Raghavji into BJP. The members of Dhrol, Jodiya and Jamanagar taluka panchayats, which were won by Congress last year have now moved to ruling BJP. Not just these panchayats, but it has lost control of Jamnagar and Dhrol marketing yards too.



Raghavji joined BJP formally in presence of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, along with another former legislator from Congress Hakubha Jadeja. Both the men are part of 14 legislators who quit the party and resigned as legislators along with Shankarsinh Vaghela. Other than Raghavji and Jadeja, over half a dozen senior Congressmen from Jamnagar district, presidents, vice-presidents and members of taluka panchayats, as well as 160 sarpanches and vice-sarpanches quit Congress to join BJP at the event.



The 14 legislators who had quit Congress during and after Rajya Sabha elections held recently have been joining BJP in a staggered manner. While three had joined BJP before RS polls, 10 others had already announced their intent to do so soon after voting in RS polls was complete. With the big man Shankarsinh Vaghela claiming that he would not be joining any political party, the BJP has been making a spectacle of the move by these men, holding multiple rallies in the respective constituencies of the rebel former Congress legislators and formally inducting them into the party.



While most of them have formally joined BJP, Shankarsinh Vaghelas son Mahendrasinh Vaghela too is slated to join the saffron party pretty soon. He has already held meetings with BJP president Amit Shah to finalise the formalities.






Congress is planning to rally other opposition parties to launch a joint campaign against the Modi government on the demonetisation 'disaster' and the subsequent slowdown in the economy.



A meeting of opposition leaders has been scheduled for September 10 to discuss ways to chart out a protest programme alongside the 'save composite culture' campaign.



Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had termed demonetisation as a colossal disaster that cost innocent lives and ruined the economy.



On Friday, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma demanded a white paper on the economy, a day after GDP growth fell to 5.7%.



The GDP continues to be in constant decline. The sharp dip we have seen now is not 5.7. If we go by the old methodology, it will be between 4.3 and 4.4 per cent. The GDP fall is a big loss for the Indian economy, Sharma said.



The Congress also demanded that the government release 10-year GDP numbers as well as a white paper on Indian economy.



Given the numbers that have come out, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had forewarned Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the GDP was going to decline sharply, Sharma said.



The CPI(M) had termed demonetisation as a money laundering exercise and demanded that the government bring out a black paper on the issue.



Sharma said both Jaitley and Modi had taken strong umbrage to the former prime minister's counsel after demonetisation. Modi had not shown courtesy and decency and respect the age and experience of Manmohan Singh, a noted economist. He (Manmohan) was proved right. GDP has been falling for the last six quarters, he said.



On the other hand, the Prime Minister thought that he had better knowledge and understanding of economics. He kept on spreading propaganda that India was developing at a fast pace, Sharma said.



Accusing Modi of misleading the people, Sharma said Modi had no vision or roadmap to restore the health of the economy.




The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will prepare curriculum and study materials for pre-school education.



Pre-school module will be prepared for its introduction from next year, the Council's director Hrishikesh Senapaty said at a function organised to observe 57th foundation day of the NCERT here on Friday.



The Art and integrated learning department of the Council will soon undertake the exercise, he added.



This comes amid a move to link all Government schools with the Anganwadi centres across the country to run kindergarten classes with the help of Anganwadi workers. In a joint letter recently, The Union ministries of the Human Resource Development (HRD) and the Women and Child Development asked the States to consider attaching Anganwadi centres to the primary schools.



A senior official of the NCERT later on the sidelines of the function said that one set of pre-school modules, prepared by the council, was already being used at some of the pre-schools in different parts of the country including Delhi.



We will prepare a new pre-school module using the experiences gained from the implementation of the module which is being used in some of the schools (as a pilot), the official added.



In a separate event, meanwhile, WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi released a training module titled, 'Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE),' for the Anganwadi workers.



The Union Minister made a prior announcement of the move at a function on Thursday, saying the special training programme was aimed at enabling the Anganwadi workers to become pre-school teachers as well.



The training module is designed to provide the Anganwadi workers with a basic understanding of the ECCE curriculum and pedagogical approaches to ensure the optimal and holistic development of young children so that they are ready to start formal schooling at the age of six years, Maneka said releasing the module.



It also includes a component on psycho-social development of children below the age of three years, to help Anganwadi workers counsel parents and caregivers on early stimulation, she added.



The ECCE training module is a landmark achievement since the government has for the first time ever prepared norms for Anganwadi workers to impart pre-school education, the WCD Minister said.



She urged the State Governments to complete the training of Anganwadi workers for ECCE within a year so that the new norms can be implemented at the earliest possible.



Secretaries of the women and child development department of various States witnessed the launch of the training module through video conferencing.








S P Tyagi became the first former Air Chief to be charge-sheeted in a corruption on Friday with CBI filing a voluminous charge sheet in the multi-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.



The charge sheet came four years after the irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland came to light and CBI registered a FIR naming Tyagi and 11 others.



Besides Tyagi, those named in the charge sheet are former vice Air chief J S Gujral, Tyagi's cousin Julie Tyagi, former CEOs of AgustaWestland Guiseppe Orsi and Finmeccanica's Bruno Spagnolini, three alleged middlemen Christian Michel, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa and lawyer Gautam Khaitan and the Italian company are named in the charge sheet.



While the court has fixed September 6 to peruse the charge sheet, CBI sources said, the agency will file more documents and annexures in the court next Wednesday.



According to the CBI, there was an estimated loss of Euros 398.21 million (around Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal signed by the UPA government in February 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euros 556.262 million.



Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on 9 December 2016 and are currently on bail. All the accused have denied wrongdoing. Orsi and Spagnolini were convicted by an Italian court on charges of bribing Indian officials for the contract. The Enforcement Directorate had also registered a money laundering case.



CBI officials claimed the investigations brought to light undue favour was shown towards AgustaWestland and accepted illegal vendors through middlemen and relatives.



According to CBI, during his tenure as the IAF chief, Tyagi and "with his approval" the Air Force "conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6,000 m to 4,500 m as mandatory (although) it was vehemently opposing the same on grounds of security constraints and other related reasons".



The CBI has informed the court that it has been able to establish money trail worth Euro 62 million (around Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Island. The CBI had earlier sent Letters Rogatories seeking information from these countries.
Ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka early next year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today inducted three new faces into his council of ministers to fill the vacant slots.



At a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to H M Revanna, R B Thimmapur and Dr M C Mohan Kumari (Geetha Mahadeva Prasad).



Revanna and Thimmapur, both MLCs, were inducted as cabinet rank ministers and Mohan Kumari, a first time MLA, as Minister of State with independent charge.



With this expansion, the chief minister has filled three posts that were lying vacant following Home Minister G Parameshwara's resignation on his continuation as Congress party's state unit chief, Excise minister H Y Meti's exit after an alleged sex CD scandal and the death of Cooperation minister Mahadev Prasad.



Hours before the swearing in, BJP's Karnataka unit had petitioned the governor to direct appropriate authorities to disqualify Thimmapur and seven other MLCs for allegedly providing false information that they were residents of the city, so as to participate in the Mayoral polls.



Of the eight MLCs whose disqualification was sought, six belonged to the Congress and two to the JDS.



Pointing out at the possibility of Thimmapur being inducted into the cabinet, Opposition BJP leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar had demanded that he should not be inducted as he has violated the Representation of the People Act under which he can be penalised and jailed for one year.



Revanna, who belongs to the Kuruba community and Thimmapur the Dalit Left community, had served as ministers in the past.



Mohan Kumari, popularly known as Geetha Mahadeva Prasad in political circles, had recently got elected from the Gundlupet constituency in the by-elections after the death of her husband H S Mahadeva Prasad, who was the cooperation minister.



This is Siddaramaiah government's last cabinet expansion ahead of assembly elections due early next year.



Looking at retaining power, the Congress has announced that Siddaramaiah would be its face for the polls.


Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf formed a three-member committee, headed by Dr S M Mittal, yesterday to probe the matter and file a report within three days.



"The district hospital recorded the deaths of 90 newborns in July and August," Chief Medical and Health Officer, Banswara, Dr H L Tabiyar told PTI.



He said several of them died due to birth asphyxia but exact number of those who perished because of this reason will be known after investigation.



Birth asphyxia is a medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn during the birth process.



The casualties were reported from the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) of of the hospital in Banswara, which is nearly 500 km from the state capital Jaipur.



According to MG hospital's report, from 20 deaths at the SNCU ward in April and 18 in May, the figure rose to 26 in June, 50 in July but downed to 40 in August.



The report also shows that the number of deaths of underweight children, too, has increased significantly-- from 6 in April and 4 in May to 14 in July and 20 in August.



District collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal said of the total number of deaths "40 to 45 per cent occurred due to asphyxia but exact number of asphyxia deaths is yet to be ascertained".



The report comes close on the hills of death of dozens of children at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur amid allegations that the newborns had died due to snapped oxygen supply over unpaid bills.



"It is not (like the) Gorakhpur case. We have launched Pukar Programme in the district on July 12 to encourage pregnant tribal women to undergo proper treatment," he added.



"Several complicated cases of tribals living in far-flung areas come to the hospital due to the initiative and we have saved newborn and mothers. Such deaths go unreported otherwise. 94 per cent institutional deliveries occur in Banswara, but six per cent is a huge number," he said.

At least 90 infants have died at the MG Hospital in Banswara district of Rajasthan in the last two months, prompting the state government to order an inquiry.


In the rejig, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may induct new faces lessening the burden on these ministers.



In March, Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to concentrate on the Goa Assembly polls. He later became the chief minister of the state.



Arun Jaitley, who was holding the portfolio of Finance and Corporate Affairs, was given the additional charge of Defence.



In May, Anil Dave, the then Environment and Forest minister, passed away. Science and Technology minister Harsh Vardhan was given the additional charge of the Environment Ministry.





In July, M Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the union cabinet after being picked up as the NDA nominee for the post of vice president of India. His Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio went to Narendra Singh Tomar as additional charge.



Tomar is the minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.



Naidu's Information and Broadcasting portfolio went to Smriti Irani, the minister for Textiles.



Besides, Ravi Shankar Prasad holds two portfolios -- Law and Justice and Information-Technology.

Sunday's reshuffle is likely to take load off four ministers who are holding additional charges after vacancies arose in the cabinet between March and July this year due to various reasons.
A cop was killed while seven others were injured when militants attacked a bus carrying policemen on Srinagar-Jammu national highway near Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Friday evening.



Police said militants ambushed a vehicle of the state armed police near Pantha Chowk, close to Armys 15-Corps headquarters, on the city's outskirts at around 7.45 pm, and opened indiscriminate fire. "Eight policemen were injured, one of whom succumbed later at the hospital. The condition of three of the injured is stated to be critical," police said.



The slain policeman has been identified as head constable Krishan Lal. Reports said immediately after the attack, which occurred on the eve of Bakr-Idd, the area was cordoned off by security forces and searches started to trace the assailants. However, the militants managed to escape from the spot taking advantage of the darkness, reports added.



A police officer said the attack WAS a hit-n-run by militants and didn't rule out the possibility of similar attacks on the day of Eid. "A fidayeen alert has also been issued in Srinagar and security forces have been asked to remain alert as intelligence inputs have suggested that Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit militants may launch fidayeen (suicide) attack before, during or two days after Eid," he said.



On June 24, a CRPF officer was killed while several others were injured when militants launched a similar attack on Pantha Chowk area. Today's attack occurred just few hundred meters away from June 25 encounter. The area, which is barely a kilometre away from the strategic 15-Corps headquarters, has witnessed a number of militant attacks since last year.

Meanwhile, an assistant sub-inspector of Border Security Force (BSF) was killed when Pakistani troops violated ceasefire in the border district of Poonch in Jammu region. "The ceasefire violation took place at around 6:30 pm from Pakistani army posts at LoC in Balnoi sector of Poonch district with sniper and automatic weapons," a BSF official said.




Chippewa Falls-based chain Gordys Market announced last week that it was heading into receivership, after a Michigan-based food supplier brought a lawsuit against the chain in Chippewa County Court claiming $86 million was owed. To date, the chain has closed seven stores in 2017, and sold two of its Eau Claire stores to Festival Foods.

Chippewa County communities and their leaders expressed sadness, nostalgia and fear on Thursday, roughly 24 hours after Gordys announced through the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development it would be forced to lay off roughly 1,000 employees if it could not find a buyer or buyers for its stores.

Chippewa Falls Mayor Greg Hoffman said the city is sad to see the family-owned grocery chain in its current situation. The Schafer (family) have worked long and hard through the years. Theyve been tremendous stewards of the community, he said.

Dave Staber, chairman of the town of Lafayette, said the public shouldnt give up on Gordys. Give (them) the benefit of the doubtthey need support from the community to stay in business. Yes, their shelves dont have a few things, but instead of going to Walmartwe need to support them as much as we can. Gordys Market has a Lake Wissota store in Lafayette at 17158 County Highway J.

Gordys location in Cornell serves a large elderly community, Cornell mayor Judy Talbot said. Those residents would be forced to drive over 30 miles for groceries  to either Chippewa Falls or Ladysmith  if the store is closed.

It would be very difficult for Cornells citizens, Talbot said. The store has been here for at least 26 years. Weve always had a local grocery store.

Cornells gas stations would be able to handle the communitys need for staples  milk, eggs and butter  for a while, Talbot said. But she said closing Gordy's in Cornell would place a strain on the city's gas station vendors, and fresh produce would still be a 30-mile drive away.

Jeanette Black, a resident of the Cobban area between Cornell and Jim Falls, was shopping at Gordys on Thursday. She said the community feels for the Gordys business, having had a strong connection with the family-owned chain since its beginnings in 1966.

Its very sad for Gordy (Schafer) and the family, Black said.

Black continues to shop at Gordys, but lives with family members who find their groceries in Chippewa Falls. She would consider shopping in Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie if the Cornell location closes.

If the family-owned chain is forced to close more stores, both Talbot and Hoffman expressed hope that other grocery chains would move into the area.

Were hoping and praying that Gordys doesnt end up losing the establishment in Cornellbut (if it does) were hoping for another chain, Talbot said.

John Dipko, communications director of the Department of Workforce Development, said the state agency is reacting to the potential Gordy's layoffs by "coordinating response services" with the Workforce Development Board of West Central Wisconsin, which covers Chippewa County.

State law says a receiver is be appointed if a corporation has been dissolved or is insolvent or is in imminent danger of insolvency or has forfeited its corporate rights.

Under state law, an insolvent company is one whose assets are valued less than the debt it owes, a company who will not hand over its assets, or a company who voluntarily assigns its rights over to another.
Commercial flights from Mysore Airport will resume from September 15, a week before the commencement of Mysuru Dasara.



Mysore Airport Director Manoj Kumar Singh confirmed that TruJet, a 78-seater aircraft, will be operated between Mysuru and Chennai. The flight will arrive in Mysore Airport at 6.40 pm and depart to Chennai at 7.05 pm. As a large number of people visit Mysuru during Dasara, the air service introduced under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, will be a boon for the visitors, the Director said.



Earlier, two private airlines Air Odisha and Turbo Megha Airways had shown interest to operate air services between Mysuru and Chennai. The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments have likewise entered into an agreement to provide the service under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS), popularly known as UDAN.



The service was first introduced in March 2010. Kingfisher Airways introduced the service between Mysuru and Bengaluru. However, it suspended the service in October 2011 due to poor response. SpiceJet introduced flights in January 2013 and stopped the operations in October 2014. Alliance Air operated services for a few days between Bengaluru-Mysuru in 2015. If the air service resumes this year, it will be the fourth time.



The airfare under RCS is capped at Rs 2,500 for a 500-km travel. The airways will operate with funds from Union as well as state governments. The primary objective of RCS is to facilitate regional air connectivity, making it affordable by supporting airline operators through concessions from the Union and state governments and airport operators, so as to reduce the cost of airline operations on regional routes. There will also be financial support to meet the gap between the cost of airline operations and expected revenue on the routes.












Even as the city is gearing up for Dasara festival, the students of Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) are a worried lot as they will miss the much-awaited Dasara CAVA Mela. The mela, organised every year, seems unlikely this time around, as there is no head for the institution.



There is no Dean at CAVA after the previous Dean, Basavaraj S Musavalagi, retired from service on July 31. It is not possible to organise the mela scheduled for September 23 and 24 without the Dean, as he holds the power to manage funds. As per norms, only the Dean can get funds sanctioned for the mela and other activities.



According to sources, an officer working at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), has been appointed as Dean but due to some technical reasons the officer has not taken charge. The authorities are planning to appoint another officer.



The students union of the college Kuncha Kavya Samskruthika Samiti (KKSS), has written to Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree and Principal Secretary of the department, to appoint the Dean soon. Students union joint secretary K A Deekshith said that without the Dean, it has become difficult to prepare for Dasara CAVA Mela as there are no funds.



Ashishkrishna, a student, said that the district administration had provided Rs 3.61 lakh for CAVA Mela last year. We need at least a months time to prepare for the mela, he says. The mela includes an art expo, cultural events, painting and drawing competitions.



The students also alleged that the institution used to organise national level workshops in the month of August or September every year

but this year no announcements have been made in this regard.



Stipend not released

As many as 250 students have been affected as they have not received stipend for the past three months. The institution offers a monthly stipend of

Rs 250, Rs 500 and Rs 750 for students of foundation courses, under graduate and masters, respectively.



In-charge Administrative Officer M Suresh Kumar said that without the Dean it is

difficult to get funds for the festival. I have met officials in Bengaluru in connection with appointing the Dean and they have responded positively. A proposal for Rs 5.5 lakh has been submitted and we hope to organise CAVA Dasara Mela, he said sounding optimistic.


Udupi district unit of Bajrang Dal burnt varieties of Chinese products at the war memorial in Ajjarkadu in support of the Swadeshi Movement by boycotting the products from China.



The nationwide call for boycotting Chinese products was carried out to protest against China and its defence strategies targeting the Indian borders stretching across Sikkim.



Bajarang Dal district convener Sunil K R said that China is indirectly waging war by taking over the countrys economy through the products. China has been extending support to Pakistan in anti-Indian activities and is using intricate strategy to capture the Indian market by sending out all its low-quality products, he alleged.



China, which is fueling the terror activities on Indian soil along with Pakistan should be banned from the trade activities in India. He said the country should wake up at least now and reject Chinese products by hugging out the indigenous products.



Indians should realise that China is the enemy that is encroaching the countrys border through intrusion. If the country stops using the Chinese products, naturally the market for Chinese products in India will collapse. This will be a lesson to arrogant China, he felt. Why Indians should help the enemy towards its economic growth, he questioned and called Indians to embrace ethnic products.




Japanese luxury carmaker Lexus on Friday announced a new restructured organisation in India, with an aim to further grow in the market.



The new organisation, which now stands independently from the broader Toyota presence in India, is to be known, effective immediately, as Lexus India, the company said in a statement.



In line with this change, a new strengthened leadership structure is also being established to drive the brands growth strategy.



Lexus debuted in India in March 2017, with a hybrid-focused line-up of vehicles featuring the ES300h and RX450h, apart from the LX450d.



Since then Lexus has opened four guest experience centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and Gurugram.



The new strengthened leadership team is helmed by Lexus India Chairman Akito Tachibana (who is also Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor), while Akitoshi Takemura as President will lead the Lexus India business. Arun Nair has moved into the role of Vice President for Operations.



India is an extremely important market for Lexus. Todays announcement of a new and independent organisational structure is a signal that we intend to build a business that continues to drive growth not only in India, but with India and for India, Takemura stated.




The Supreme Court would now consider on September 5 a plea for a CBI probe into the suicide of deputy superintendent of police M K Ganapathi on July 7, 2016 at a lodge in Madikeri.



Before his death, Ganapathi, then posted at the office of Inspector General of Police (Western Range), Mangaluru, had in television interviews accused Bengaluru Development Minister K J George and senior IPS officers A M Prasad and Pranab Mohanty of hounding him.



Hearing a plea by Ganapathis father M K Kushalappa for a CBI probe, a bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit on Friday allowed a request by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Karnataka government, for putting the matter for consideration on Tuesday.



Senior advocate A M Singhvi appeared for George.



In its response to Kushalappas petition, the state government, through advocate Joseph Aristotle had claimed a thorough and in-depth investigation has been carried out by Criminal Investigation Department (CID). No prudent and reasonable person can term the investigation as either biased or not free and fair, it said.



During the probe, George had resigned as minister and two IPS officers were also transferred. The state also submitted that a judicial probe by former high court judge Justice Keshavanarayan has already been ordered on demand raised by the Opposition leaders in Karnataka Assembly. The report from Commission of Inquiry was expected shortly, it had said.



Kushalappa and his other son have challenged the High Court of Karnatakas order of October 19, declining a plea for the CBI probe.
The rift between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president G Parameshwara widened on Friday with the former expanding his council of ministers.



Parameshwara and many senior party leaders kept away from Fridays swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan where three new ministers took oath.



Parameshwara is said to be upset with Siddaramaiah for not taking him into confidence before selecting candidates for the expansion, sources in the party said.



The sources said Parameshwara was in favour of Tiptur MLA K Shadakshari under the Lingayat quota since it would have helped him woo the Lingayat community in his constituency, Koratagere, which is adjacent to Tiptur. Parameshwara is of the opinion that though Shadaksharis name was shortlisted, Siddaramaiah decided to induct Geetha Mahadeva Prasad (also a Lingayat) and wife of former minister the late H S Mahadeva Prasad to nurture his own political constituency, sources said.



Mahadeva Prasad was a prominent Lingayat leader in the Mysuru-Chamarajnagar belt and had close ties with the influential Suttur Math. There are a considerable number of Lingayat voters in the 15 Assembly constituencies coming under this belt including Siddaramaiahs Varuna, which he is now grooming for his son Yathindra. Siddaramaiah himself is planning to contest from Chamundeshwari, which also comes under this belt in next years Assembly polls.



It was felt that Geethas induction into the council of ministers will help Congress electorally at a time when the BJP is trying to make inroads in the Mysuru-Chamarajnagar region. Siddaramaiah, it is said, got sufficient feelers in this regard during his two-day stay in the region earlier this week.



Besides, Parameshwara (who is a Dalit Right) had been supporting the demand for inducting a person belonging to Dalit (Right). Instead, the Chief Minister chose Dalit (Left) wing and inducted R B Timmapur, much to the chagrin of Parameshwara.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday assured a delegation of Congress MLAs from Telangana that Karnataka will release 1.8 tmcft of water from Almatti/Narayanapura reservoirs for drinking water purpose of the neighbouring state.



The chief minister told the Telangana MLAs that Karnataka itself has been enduring acute drought conditions, which has also affected drinking water supply.



Telangana has appealed to Karnataka to release 15 tmcft water. To this, Siddaramaiah has said that Karnataka can release another five tmcft water at the most. But, if Karnataka receives more rains, then it would release more water, he said.



When Telanagana MLA from Alampur S A Sampath Kumar, submitted a memorandum requesting the chief minister to expedite works on the Rajoli Banda diversion scheme, the Siddaramaiah said that appropriate measures will be taken after holding a meeting of officials.



The Rajoli Banda Diversion scheme is a multi-state project of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana consisting of an anicut across the River Tungabhadra in Raichur district.



Over the years, the water released to 75 villages in Alampur has reduced, affecting the farmers.
In July, the legislative committee of Dunn County approved a referendum question that is unprecedented in rural America. The question asked Congress and the U.S. president to nationalize health care.

Its chances of success looked good ahead of the Nov. 8 referendum. Results of this referendum could make waves in Wisconsin.
Pat Vergne, Del Mars former chief lifeguard and director of community services, is firing back against the citys allegations that led to his dismissal after nearly 40 years as perhaps the citys most visible and beloved employee.

After a nearly five-month investigation that infuriated a legion of longtime residents who rallied in Vergnes support, the city on Aug. 23 fired Vergne  and moved to fire two of his subordinates alleging a litany of improper actions related to the Powerhouse Community Center, payroll records and a city credit card.

The city had suspended Vergne and Liza Rogers  an administrative assistant in the community services department  in early April after a pair of complaints from two city lifeguards. That led to an exhaustive outside investigation that pored through thousands of records and yielded a 1,700-page report detailing 95 instances between 2015 and 2017 that allegedly cost the city more than $200,000  primarily that Vergne and Rogers allegedly waived fees for renting the Powerhouse Community Center and filed erroneous overtime claims  as well as allowing a part-time employee to bill the city for more than $20,000 in Powerhouse upkeep.

Vergnes attorney, Del Mar resident Dan Crabtree, immediately disputed the allegations, and issued a statement on Aug. 24 saying all the practices have long been known to city officials without any issue ever being raised. Crabtree has also criticized the secretive manner in which the city conducted its investigation.

From the very beginning, Pat was never told about any of the allegations, ever, Crabtree said in an interview. They call this due process, but I look at it and say What country do we live in? He was never given the chance to defend himself and was never given a chance to respond through this whole process. Del Mar, by its residents, has always been known as the Peoples Republic of Del Mar, and theyre living up to that exact billing.

City officials are standing their ground, saying that the investigation uncovered a pattern of behaviors that kept the allegedly improper activities hidden from sight.

We have very clear rules and procedures, these employees just elected to avoid them, City Manager Scott Huth said in an interview. Its so bizarre that its really collusion. When you have a department head and the administrative person whos responsible for tracking the fees  our check-and-balance system  colluding to basically defraud the city, it can be very hard to detect. For some of these events, they didnt fill out any forms at all. We wouldnt have known if not for the employees who brought it to our attention.

City officials say they have handed over their findings to the San Diego County Sheriffs Department. Vergne will decide next week whether to contest his firing in court, Crabtree said.

The largest of the issues consist of discounting or waiving fees for renting Powerhouse Community Center that would have amounted to slightly more than $150,000. Whereas the city claims the discounts were given to friends and acquaintances, Vergnes statement says they were for memorial services and fundraisers by community groups.

Granting discounts at Powerhouse is a long-standing practice that has benefitted the city far more than the $150,000 in missed revenues, according to Vergnes statement.

Everyone in Del Mar understood the transparency of this procedure as it was used to bring the community together and used as a fund raising tool for buildings and projects in Del Mar, according to the statement. Del Mar has raised almost $3 million to build the new Lifeguard Center, other buildings and their maintenance and other projects due to functions at the Powerhouse and the discounts that have been given for their use. No other city along the coast of Southern California can boast of the record Del Mar has achieved in fundraising due in large part to the handling of the Community Center/Powerhouse by Pat Vergne and his staff.

Powerhouse fees were set in 2009 and are specific on what rates to charge, Huth said  typically $3,500 for residents and $5,000 for non-residents. Prior to the investigation, the citys finance department and auditor saw a drop-off in Powerhouse revenues the past two years and questioned Vergne as to why, Huth said.

The excuse given back was that the facility was being used by nonprofits instead of revenue-generating groups, Huth said. And when they tried to get more information, it wasnt forthcoming.

The citys objection isnt with nonprofits using the center, but rather that Vergne and Rogers were waiving fees for events that should have been charged, which the city did not know until Vergne told the investigator, Huth said.

What was told to me was that Pat said he had carte blanche to charge whatever fee he wanted to. No employee, including me, would have that authority, he said. I wasnt aware of it, nor was any of the staff that I talked to. And Im even more worried when someone says its been going on for 17 years. Were talking about a huge amount of taxpayer money thats been diverted.

Councilwoman Sherryl Parks, a 40-year resident who considers Vergne a friend, is unconvinced by the claim that waiving rental fees generated that much revenue for the city.

Thats all speculation, and he didnt have the authority to veer off of what the policy was, Parks said. We dont know how much money he raised  and besides, we cant do business that way. It wouldnt be fair to others who are being charged the $3,500.

Vergne also contests the allegation that the $43,000 in overtime for Rogers was improperly charged.

The total amount of overtime over the last three years has been completely transparent and known to the City Manager as well as the finance department of Del Mar through time cards and time records, according to his statement.

Huth countered that the finance department did raise questions about excessive overtime prior to the investigation, and was met with the response that Rogers was working special events after hours. When the city looked at the events calendar, those claims didnt line up, Huth said.

Its pretty clear from the investigation that theres question as to whether or not that employee was even working 40 hours a week, let alone working overtime, Huth said. Pat acknowledged to the investigator that he didnt oversee it as well as he should have.

The third allegation is that Vergne and Rogers allowed a part-time employee to bill $23,000 as an outside contractor for cleaning and waxing Powerhouses floors. Vergnes statement says it was necessary because the city does not have that equipment.

He worked for the flooring company when he was not working for or being paid by the City of Del Mar and was paid for that second job accordingly, according to Vergnes statement.

But Huth said city policy prohibits contract work for any city employee, and the investigation raises questions as to whether it was a deliberate attempt to side-step the citys limit on how many hours a part-time employee can work.

The company that they were contracting with, from our finance departments perspective, looks like a legitimate contractor to us. That company then subcontracted out to the employee, Huth said. That wasnt apparent to us on the bill. Theres no way for someone to know that. The investigation only stumbled onto that when they were looking at something completely different.

The final allegation focuses on $4,500 charged to a city credit card. Vergne says the credit card was used for equipment used by lifeguards and other city staff, all of which has been tracked with monthly receipts submitted over the past 10 years.

However, the citys findings claim Rogers used the card to buy swimsuits, wetsuits and a bicycle worth more than $1,000 that she used to get to and from work. Vergne then approved the purchases into budgets for the lifeguard department and the parking enforcement budget, Huth said.

None of the feedback that we got is valid, Huth said. The person is not a lifeguard and is not a part of parking enforcement.

The citys investigation unleashed an outpouring of disbelief and outrage among longtime residents who angrily called for Vergnes reinstatement at several city council meetings, heralding his compassion and his devotion to Del Mar that started when he became a lifeguard as a teenager and grew over his 17 years as director of community services. A flood of letters, emails and threads on social media is strewn with admiration for his attentive care in working with children and his tireless work to keep Del Mars beach safe.

As the investigation dragged into July, his supporters blasted the city for taking on the costs of hiring an outside investigator and for paying employees for months of work.

Huth says the city had no choice.

He was very specifically interfering with the investigation, multiple times. So we put him on leave and told him to stay home, and even at home he was still interfering, Huth said. It was a situation where the city was then exposed to liability because we have whistleblower protections. Here we had a manager who was clearly trying to suppress information. It was a real problem.

The city council discussed the investigation  as well as a counter-complaint filed by Vergne accusing Huth of harassment  in more than a half dozen closed sessions over the past two months. In closed session on Aug. 22, the city council unanimously supported the way the investigation was carried out.

Councilmembers were given a 200-page executive summary and will be able to review the full 1,700-page report next week, Parks said. She has been pained by the process but is resolute that the city took the necessary steps.

Hes terrifically popular, and I myself am very fond of him, she said. I know he will be missed. The hardest day of my time on the council was to see a good friend like Pat being called up like this. But we have a hat to wear on the council to move the city forward.

The other four councilmembers did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The city will be posting the bulk of its findings on the city website in response to a pair of public records requests that have been filed, Huth said. The extent and timing is not yet clear.

Purchases and permits are public record, also a fair amount of the emails, he said. But I know that it wont be everything because there are witnesses that we need to protect.
As Del Mars shoreline washes away one wave and winter storm at a time, the citys task force on sea-level rise is struggling to choose from responses that offer partial and impermanent remedy while each wreaking a havoc of their own.

Sea walls and other man-made fortifications protect homes in the short term but exacerbate beach erosion in the long term. Artificial reefs dampen wave action, but to the detriment of surfing. Lifting homes onto stilts buys time but nothing else. Replenishing a beachs sand carries a hefty cost, a fleeting payoff and is notoriously finicky  slight miscalculations in grain size can render a decade-long project null within a few years.

Thats the herculean task ahead as members of the Sea-Level Rise Stakeholder-Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) culminate their two-year, state-funded endeavor to prepare Del Mar for the beach erosion and coastal flooding predicted to come with climate change.

But in the citys beach colony, the endeavor poses a threat far more imminent than the 20- and 50-year forecasts of breached sea walls and inundated streets. For owners in the uber-lavish enclave, the most immediate threat just might be the plan itself.

Per state mandate, the committee is trying to asses exactly what and where the citys vulnerabilities are, identify what corrective measures can be taken, gauge the trade-offs in those measures, and determine what the triggers should be for taking those actions.

The committees plan lays out five courses of action, starting with sand replenishment and changing redevelopment regulations to allow homes to be raised. The list closes with the possibility of removing property.

In the long-term with higher amounts and rates of sea-level rise, removing structures will likely be required to meet the guiding adaptation principles of maintaining a relatively low flood damage risk and a walkable beach, the draft reads.

That prospect filled STACs Aug. 24 meeting with irate homeowners from the beach colony, their tempers already inflamed by the fact that nearly no one in the neighborhood had received notice of the meeting.

STAC chairwoman Terry Gaasterland tried to assure them of the committees priorities.

The beach is important to Del Mar. But our neighbors, all of us, are important to Del Mar, she said. Protecting property is first and foremost. Protecting the beach is part of protecting property. Its a real struggle.

That did little to soothe the rancor, and the meeting repeatedly turned chaotic as the homeowners tried to explain that the mere mention of home removal will devastate the real estate market in the beach colony, which combines to more than $1 billion in assessed property value.

What everybody is trying to tell you is that people arent going to buy houses down there, said beach colony resident Larry Wolfe. Youre going to cut the value of everybodys house by saying If we hit a certain trigger were going to take your house away. Thats what every real estate person weve showed this to is saying, and thats what everybody sitting here has been telling you all night long. Is there not a way that you can just not talk about taking peoples property away from them? Can you start with the beginning of your plan and then if it hits a certain point then we say, OK well come up with another plan, instead of putting it in there now and killing everyones real estate value? Thats what everyones been saying to you all night long. Jiminy Christmas, how many times do we have to say it?

Amanda Lee, a senior planner with the city, tried to explain that removing structures is the last resort. When the uproar didnt abate, she went even further.

Were not going to write that in, she said. Youre looking at an initial draft and well not put anything forward that has any type of regulatory taking. Were trying to be sensitive to your concerns. Were going to be careful with the language. This is very early in the process and we understand.

As the meeting wore on, a semblance of consensus emerged over sand replenishment being Del Mars best option.

Encinitas and Solana Beach are awaiting a $174 million federal project thats been in the works for 20 years. The first deposits are expected within the next year or two. Prevailing currents will bring much of that sand to Del Mar beaches after a few years.

The draft adaptation plan has suggested 1 foot of sea-level rise as the trigger to begin sand replenishment. Several residents and committee members said the city cant afford to wait that long.

We probably needed to start replenishing the beach last year. Thats something we can start thinking about tangibly, as a community, now, Gaasterland said. So maybe the trigger needs to be zero feet of rise. Thats starting to be what Im hearing.

But with sand  and funding  in short supply, strengthening and raising the sea walls that already line most of Del Mars beach may be the only option immediately at hand  a reality that the Surfrider Foundation worries is becoming a de facto policy statewide.

Mandy Sackett, part of a Surfrider contingent that attended the Aug. 24 meeting, contrasted the beach colonys concerns with the interests of millions of Californians who by law have the same rights to the beach.

Hard armoring is killing our beaches, she said. When we meet rising seas with sea walls and revetments, we lose our beaches. That fact is clear. Sea walls protect property, not beaches or ecosystems.

But whereas Surfrider said 30 to 70 percent of sand in a typical beach comes from bluff erosion, STAC member Mark Handzel pointed to a study that found that in Del Mar, bluff erosion contributes about 1 percent of the beachs sand.

As will be detailed in STACs upcoming report on sedimentation, Del Mars sand deficit traces back to the damming of Lake Hodges, Handzel said. But Del Mar isnt likely to effect change at Lake Hodges because the dam is so vital to residents in Rancho Santa Fe, he said.

Sea-level rise is a result of what everyones done. Everyone has contributed to the carbon issue and so everyone has to contribute to the solution, he said. So how do we make compromises that go across everyone? It cant be just the property owners. It cant be just the beach users. It cant be just the surf people. Everyone has to contribute to the final solution.

Committee members hope to put the finishing touches on their draft by STACs Sept. 21 meeting. From there the adaptation plan will go to the city planning commission and city council before eventually being amended into Del Mars Local Coastal Program, which is overseen by the California Coastal Commission.

Read about STACs work, including its draft adaptation plan, at www.delmar.ca.us/sealevelrise.
By Colin Kalmbacher

31 August 2017

(LawNewz)  Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signaled his states intent to accept a controversial offer of aid from neighboring Mexico in order to help victims of Hurricane Harvey.

That aid will include food, automobiles, and boats and could also include assistance from the Mexican armed forces.

Speaking at a press conference in Austin, the states capitol, Abbott responded to questions about taking advantage of the aid package in the affirmative. He said:

Yes. I have, and we are. We had a list of aid and assistance that they have offered to provide that we are accepting.

Mexicos Consul General in Austin, Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, said he was glad the Lone Star State took up the neighboring republic on their offer, We are very pleased with Governor Abbotts response. Mexico looks forward to doing its share.

Mexican Undersecretary for North American Relations, Carlos Sada, said: Texas and Mexico share more than half the border. There are families, marriages, businesses that bind our two sides. This is about being good neighbors

The offer comes at a time when next-door neighbor relations between the two North American countries are tenuous and frayed due to a wellspring of nativism directly emanating from the White House and its allies. []Trump himself has yet to acknowledge Mexicos aid package. Meanwhile, the U.S. president conspicuously accepted and thanked far-away Singapore for their help in dealing with Harveys unchecked devastation. [more]
A new fee for owners of hybrid and electric vehicles under consideration by lawmakers would affect drivers in the Madison and Milwaukee areas most, according to federal data.

Legislators are more than two months late in passing a new two-year spending plan as Republicans in both houses continue to disagree on how to fund road projects and to shore up a $1 billion shortfall in the states transportation budget.

But the idea of imposing a new fee on owners of vehicles that use little or no gasoline has popped up recently as one possible revenue source for Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker  who are divided over whether to borrow more money for road projects.

Their task got harder Thursday, when state Department of Transportation officials said the state received $66.4 million in federal funding  the highest amount the state has ever received  but less than the more than $300 million state officials sought.

The revenue generated from a new $95 annual fee on alternative-fuel vehicles could be enough to make the estimated $8 million annual payments on $100 million in bonding for road projects, according to an Aug. 21 memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, who sits on the Legislatures budget-writing committee.

Budget-writing committee co-chairwoman Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said Thursday lawmakers are discussing a top fee ranging from $75 to $100 for electric vehicles and a smaller fee for hybrid vehicles. Darling said lawmakers havent made a final decision yet on either, however.

Most of the money generated from the fees, if enacted, would come from drivers in Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha and Winnebago counties, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy. The fee would be in addition to the $75 annual registration fee Wisconsin owners of light vehicles typically pay under the idea lawmakers are considering.

Drivers of gas-fueled cars pay 32.9 cents of tax for every gallon of gas purchased. That money goes to maintain roads.

18 states imposed fee

Most of the alternative fuel vehicles in Wisconsin are hybrid-electric, and most of those exist in Milwaukee County, where there are between 150 and 200 such vehicles per five square miles, according to the federal data.

There are between 50 and 60 hybrid-electric vehicles in Dane County per five square miles. In Waukesha County, there are about 40-50 vehicle owners in the same size area and 10-20 vehicle owners in Winnebago County. Those four counties also have the highest number of electric vehicles, according to the data.

If lawmakers pass a new state budget with the new fee, Wisconsin would become the 19th state to impose a hybrid-electric vehicle fee, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures as of July. The fees in other states range from $50 to $200. Some states require higher fees for electric vehicles than hybrid vehicles.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, who sits on the budget-writing committee, said the only reason the hybrid fee is being discussed is because the state needs to borrow another $100 million for road projects.

Erpenbach said he wouldnt support the proposed fee because it doesnt fix the problem, and suggested the committee look at larger vehicles that really tear up the roads.

Some lawmakers floated the idea of imposing a tax on heavy trucks in June, but it quickly died because too many Senate Republicans opposed it.

Hintz, who represents a portion of Winnebago County, characterized the idea as Republicans answer to the best way to punt for the next two years on the states transportation shortfall and questioned whether other kinds of road-users who dont pay gas taxes will be assessed a fee, too, like the Amish, who typically travel via horse and buggy.

Im interested in getting behind a comprehensive transportation solution and if we are just trying to nickel and dime selective people as a way to pass another irresponsible budget, Im not interested, Hintz said.

Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Brookfield, who also sits on the budget-writing committee and represents Waukesha County, said all vehicle owners who use our roads should be responsible for road maintenance costs. Hybrid and electric vehicles should not be exempt.

But she added that she would need to see finalized budget language and continue to talk to constituents before knowing what she would ultimately support.

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, who is the ranking Democrat on the budget-writing committee, said through a spokesman she would not support the fee if proposed.

Senator Taylor is concerned that this fee is punitive and would be a disincentive toward clean energy vehicles, spokesman Jordan Krieger said.

Budget-writing committee co-chairs Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, and Darling said last week that lawmakers on the committee plan to take up the last parts of the budget, including transportation funding, on Tuesday. But Darling said Thursday that the committees work could be pushed beyond that.
WASHINGTON  Suppose we all stood up at exactly the same minute, from Maine to Hawaii, and shouted at the top of our lungs: Infrastructure!

Would it make any difference? Not likely.

You-know-who would probably be tweeting about how badly he is treated, and we'd all be ignored. Again.

As danger, misery and heartache in the form of Hurricane Harvey plague those we love in Texas and Louisiana, we hear again and again that if aging reservoirs, pot-holed roads, outmoded drains and weathered water treatment plants had been in better shape, things might be a little better despite more than 51 inches of rain. The deja vu feelings, so long after Hurricane Katrina, are enough to make us despair.

All over this vast country, things are falling apart. Let alone disaster relief, this is affecting our daily commutes, business opportunities and job availability, with American companies refusing to open new plants in America.

Modernizing our infrastructure  roads, bridges, ports, waterworks, cybersystems, et cetera  was supposed to be doable. Even with Republicans and Democrats barely on speaking terms (that was before the Republican Senate majority leader and the Republican president stopped speaking), fixing our broken infrastructure was an agreed-upon goal, a vital and imperative need.

We knew it would cost at least a trillion dollars and probably much more. But the prospect of modernizing this great country to face the future and compete more strongly with mighty China, for example, made even the cold hearts on Wall Street beat faster.

So is Congress considering infrastructure legislation? Has the president proposed sweeping, detailed plans after promising he would do so? Is he using the bully pulpit to persuade Americans that this is the most important thing we as a nation can do for our children? Are legislators working hard behind the scenes trying to figure out a public-private partnership?

You know the answers. No to all of the above.

But President Donald Trump did rush to Texas three days after the hurricane struck, somehow managing to not see a single raindrop, shake the hand of a single victim, or mention a single first responder by name  not even the one who died. Trump seems to not have a single drop of human empathy in his entire being. Even as the rains came down and first responders went door to door rescuing stranded families, Trump was speculating on when he and other politicians would be able to congratulate each other on a job well done.

And even earlier, days before Hurricane Harvey hit, Trump signed orders reversing federal regulations aimed at making infrastructure more impervious to flooding. Former President Barack Obama had ordered the federal government to take into account flooding risks and sea-level rise caused by climate change when building or rebuilding after disasters. Could Trump give a good rationale for such a heartless, short-sighted action? No. Consequently, many of the billions of dollars that will be spent on rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey and future disasters will be wasted and won't prevent future weather emergencies or mitigate the damage they cause.

Despite all that, we are once again amazed, uplifted and heartened at how wonderfully kind, good-hearted and generous Americans are to each other in times of destitution and desperation. Friend helping friend. Neighbor helping neighbor. Stranger helping stranger. And the first responders! Wow! True heroes. Over and over, the victims try to stop feeling sorry for themselves by one observation: So many people are worse off than they are.

But once the adrenaline stops pumping, the bleakness of thousands of people who have lost everything will become far more poignant and widespread. The knowledge that Trump has decreed that federal standards for rebuilding not take into account future disasters will be even more maddening.

Let's hope the Republicans who control Congress will find the backbones they mislaid after the election and undo what the feckless Trump has wrought.

Our rallying cry? Fix our infrastructure and do it right!
The newly launched flagship smartphone from LG will start selling in its home market on September 21, followed by launches in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The LG V30 is rumoured to be priced around 800,000 KRW (Rs 45,577).

LGs latest flagship smartphone seems to be getting quite a positive response from those who got to see the device at its IFA 2017 launch. We at Digit also had a chance to check out the V30 in Berlin and in our first impressions we noted that it might just be the phone to bring LG back into the flagship game.

LG has confirmed that the V30 will be up for purchase in its home market (South Korea) on September 21, after which the device will be heading to North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It is likely that the device will launch in India sometime between October and December, which mark the festive months in the country. Last year, LG had launched its V20 flagship smartphone in India in December. It was the first device in the world to house Android Nougat out of the box. Unfortunately, Sony beat LG to the punch this year and the Xperia XZ1, XZ1 Compact are first in line this year to offer Android Oreo out of the box.

The LG V30 is packed with features, starting with a beautiful 6-inch OLED QuadHD+ FullVision display surrounded by thin bezels. The smartphone runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and features 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The LG V30 will be available in two storage options - 64GB and 128GB, expandable upto 2TB with a microSD card. The phone is powered by a 3,300mAh battery and runs Android Nougat 7.1.2 out of the box. LG has promised that the V30 will be getting the Android Oreo update in the near future.

The cameras on the V30 are something we look forward to testing. It has a 16MP+13MP dual cam setup at the back and is the first flagship smartphone to feature f1.6 aperture camera lens to let in more light. The 16MP camera features the f1.6 aperture, while the 13MP wide angle camera has a 120 degree angle of view and f1.9 aperture. At the front of the LG V30 is a 5MP wide angle front camera with f2.2 aperture and a 90 degree field of view.

As far as the pricing of the LG V30 is concerned, it is rumored that the phone will be priced somewhere around Rs 45,000 for the 64GB variant, which takes is to the premium category. As per reports, the V30 will cost 800,000 KRW in its home market, which gives us an estimate of what it could cost in India. However, we expect the V30 to be priced lower that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or the upcoming iPhone 8. The Galaxy Note 8 is expected to arrive in India on September 25, which brings its launch timeline very close to the LG V30.

Click here to know more about the LG V30 and also read about how the phone compares with other current flagships.
The Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus should be the smartphone the South Korean company is working on.

Having launched its first dual-camera smartphone, Samsung is now planning to bring the feature to the mid-range, says a report by Etnews. The company is reportedly working on a mid-range dual-camera smartphone already. Though Etnews doesnt explicitly specify it, the device should be the Samsung Galaxy J7 Plus, that leaked recently.

That would also be in line with Samsungs strategy in the mid-range recently. The company has been focusing on the camera in its J-series devices. In our review, we found that the Galaxy J7 Max had a good camera, while the company itself promoted the camera prowess of the Galaxy On Max. The same was also corroborated when we reviewed the device. Samsung has also been quietly flooding the mid-ranged market with above-average features, and a dual-camera would be the way to go against Chinese brands.

There are no details on the pricing or availability of the Galaxy J7 Plus right now, but it should cost you less than Rs. 20,000. The company usually focuses the J-series phones on markets like India, so it should be a matter of time till it makes it here.

Of course, Samsungs focus for the time being would be on bringing the Galaxy Note 8 to India. The device is expected to arrive in India during the second half of September, and is supposedly priced at around Rs. 70,000. Samsung is going to start selling it in select global markets from September 15.
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CALDWELL, Idaho (AP)  Security at Canyon County's tent jail has been improved in the areas where eight inmates were able to escape on six different occasions.

The tent jail, called Pod 5, was built for inmates on work release, but overcrowding in the jail forced officials to relocate inmates outside.





. . .
Bringing pot to Burning Man? It's still illegal on U.S. land

RENO, Nev. (AP)  Nevada has legalized recreational marijuana, but it's still not OK for tens of thousands of Burning Man fans to light up this year.

The broader public  including those that go to Burning Man  seem to think that at Burning Man, anything goes, said Rebecca Gasca, CEO of the Reno-based cannabis consulting firm Pistil and Stigma.

Voters in the state passed a marijuana legalization measure in 2016, and sales began at retail stores on July 1.

But consumption is allowed only in private and even possession remains illegal on federal lands, including the stretch of Black Rock Desert managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management where the counter-culture festival began Sunday and continues through the weekend about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Reno.

You're not exempt from the law at Burning Man, and that is doubly true this year, festival spokeswoman Megan Miller told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

BLM officials say a pot possession arrest can result in a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. But federal agents made no arrests for any crimes last year at Burning Man, or the year before.

Pershing County sheriff's deputies, who also have legal jurisdiction at the event, arrested approximately four dozen people last year, about three dozen of them on drug-related charges, Sheriff Jerry Allen said. He said the most common drug found at Burning Man last year was marijuana, followed by cocaine, ecstasy and acid.

This year, Allen said his deputies will follow state law letting people possess up to one 1 ounce (28 grams) of pot. He said discovery of more than an ounce of marijuana or more than an eighth-ounce of marijuana concentrate can result in a citation or arrest.

Providing alcohol or drugs to a minor and drug trafficking also are illegal and can carry heavier punishments, he said.

If they show up with a hay bale of marijuana, it's definitely going to be more than a citation. It's going to be up to the discretion of the officer, Allen told the newspaper.

In addition, due to the danger posed to oneself and others on the road, anyone who is believed to be under the influence of any controlled substance, based on probable cause, is subject to arrest. Some attendees will be subject to vehicle searches, which may be aided by K-9 units from both the BLM and the sheriff's office.

Participants may refuse law enforcement searches of their vehicles, but refusal of searches requested by Burning Man volunteers at the entry gate can result in denied entry.




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Q. For a quick wise-up on the subject of epistemology, the science of knowledge, what are some fascinating facts about what animals know?

A. Though difficult to assess, the ability to know what others are aware of has been observed in non-human animals such as elephants, chimps, parrots, dolphins and ravens, says Michael Brooks in New Scientist magazine. For example, elephants that have never been at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya, but know others who have, often turn up with injuries that need attention, report workers at the rescue center. It's almost as if the elephants know they will be looked after there, suggesting not only abstract knowledge but relatively sophisticated communication of the knowledge.





. . .
WASHINGTON  President Trump has united us, after all.

He brought together the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Jews.

This modern-day miracle was on display Monday, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Mall, 54 years to the day after the great man gave his greatest speech. There, clergy of all varieties, but mostly rabbis and black ministers, came together in common cause against the despicable anti-Semitism and racism Trump has unleashed, most conspicuously in Charlottesville.

Sharpton has been a controversial figure in the Jewish community for decades, earning criticism during the Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn in 1991 and when he called a Jewish landlord in Harlem a white interloper before a deadly attack on the mans store in 1995.

But that was long ago, and a rehabilitated Sharpton, who has privately expressed regrets to Jewish leaders for his past actions, made Jews the centerpiece of his Thousand Minister March for Justice on Monday. The civil rights leader, joined by Martin Luther King III, stopped in at a pre-march prayer session held by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and addressed the assembly of 300 rabbis, cantors and lay leaders.

Sharpton told the Jews that we could not commemorate this day and face the challenges today without standing together as Dr. King stood 54 years ago. Invoking those murdered in the Freedom Summer of 1964, he went on: We should never forget that it was Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner that died together  two Jews and a black  to give us the right to vote.

Sharpton spoke of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with King at Selma, and he addressed the more recent ill feelings. We have had days good and bad, but from this day forward ... were going to make sure we do our part to keep this family together, he said. When we can see people in 2017 with torches in their hands, talking about Jews will not replace us, its time for us to stop praying to the cheap seats and come together.

Some of the rabbis shouted amen.

Jewish leaders applauding Al Sharpton? Who knew? Miracles out of a mess, proclaimed Reconstructionist Rabbi Malka Binah Klein of Philadelphia. Its tragic that it took Trumps bigotry and the spectacle of Charlottesville to remind Jews and African-Americans of their shared vulnerabilities. But it played out movingly at Mondays march, which was in planning long before the violence in Charlottesville.

Rather than 1 million men, Sharpton asked for 1,000 ministers, and got somewhat more than that among the 3,000 who assembled. Rabbis swayed and clapped to hip-hop and gospel music. There were skullcaps of every color and size, mainline Protestant ministers in white collars and colorful shawls, black evangelicals in bright choir robes, black-robed monks, Buddhists in saffron, a Sikh in a yellow turban. There were Black Lives Matter signs and posters with verses of scripture.

As if by way of greeting, a white-and-green chopper from the Marine One fleet buzzed low over the crowd during the opening prayer. Speaker after speaker, regardless of color or creed, denounced the person who rides in that helicopter, and more than one faulted Jerry Falwell Jr. and other white evangelicals for the sin of silence in the face of the hatred Trump has stirred.

A cantor led the crowd in the Hebrew song Hine Ma Tov  how good it is for brothers to live as one. A black Jewish woman in a tallit  a Jewish prayer shawl  spoke, and a rabbi blew a shofar. A black Catholic nun spoke.

Gods majestic creation, observed Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, head of the Religious Action Center. From the Nazis in Charlottesville, Pesner said, we learned that anti-Semitism and white supremacism are intertwined. They are dual threats that call us to act and confront them together and directly.

African-Americans responded with cries of Yes! and All right! to the rabbis preaching.

Jonah Geffen, a conservative rabbi from New York, in white robe and tallit, liked what he heard from Sharpton. He pronounced him a totally different man from the Sharpton of old.

Joining Sharptons march was Jesse Jackson, of Hymietown fame. But there is no time to dwell on old slights when neo-Nazis are at the door. We dont have a person to lose, King told the Jews at their prayer meeting Monday morning. We are brothers and sisters.Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.
When Andrea McGowan got a dog about three years ago, she had no way of knowing that the dog, and the regimen it demanded of her, would lead to her dream job.

Andrea, a Letterkenny woman, was handling social media in the Belfast offices of an international company and looking forward to moving up through the ranks. But while she said everything may have looked great from the outside, Andrea wasnt happy.

Now, three years later, Andrea has changed careers and is pursuing her passion, working as a personal trainer and training to become a competitive bodybuilder. In those years, she also lost up to six stone in weight.

And she still has the dog, a Labrador-Rottweiler mix named Oscar.

Hes brilliant, Andrea said. She was speaking on the phone earlier this week, while taking Oscar out for a walk.

Thats how her new direction began, about three years ago. At that time, she said, her life revolved around driving to the office for 9am, sitting at her desk all day and driving home again after 5pm. She would lay on the sofa at home all evening, eating takeaway food.

It was only later that she realised that while she had convinced herself that was the life she wanted, she had no passion for the work she was doing. She also realised that she was not happy with how she looked at the time.

I was always the first one making a joke about my weight or my appearance, in case anybody else would have a chance to say something, Andrea said.

When she got Oscar, she knew she would have to go out for a walk every day. I was incredibly lazy, but I knew I had to take him out for his walk  it wasnt fair on him otherwise, she said.

So she started out slowly, and before I knew it I was thinking, This would be over quicker if I could run. So she started jogging, and in time she was running 5ks after work.

Andrea also looked at her eating habits. She said there are two types of people  restrictors, who she said have to restrict themselves; and moderators, who she said can look at tempting food and moderate how much of it they will eat. Andrea recognised that she was what she called a restrictor.

I cut out a lot of what I used to eat  I found it easier to restrict myself totally, she said. If I wasnt allowed it at all, I couldnt overindulge.

Andrea said she had spent her whole life trying to get in shape, and had joined one gym or another, but she could not stick at it.

But the results she saw after her daily walks with Oscar gave her the motivation she needed to continue working at it.

I didnt have an excuse then  I had to walk him, Andrea said. After she caught the running bug, it was an easy move to joining a gym and keep with it. She became so dedicated to fitness that she earned a Level 3 certificate in personal training, receiving it just before last Christmas, and qualified as a gym instructor.

Andrea had moved to Dublin for a similar social media job with a different company, but found the cost of living in Dublin so high that she thought of returning home to Donegal. She had these thoughts of returning home before, but had not been able to find a job to sustain her. Now, she thought, she could try to make a living as a personal trainer.

I would be a bit cautious normally about things like that and I decided, just before Christmas, to try a wee bit on the side and see whats happening, she said.

She made the move to Donegal in June of this year, and has been delivering courses and working as a personal trainer based in Letterkenny. Its fairly small scale at this point, she said, but she hopes to see her work grow.

Andrea believes people may have the wrong idea of what a personal trainer does. She always asks her clients what they want to achieve.

People think if I go to a personal trainer Im going to spend hours on a treadmill, or training for an event I dont want to do, she said. A personal trainer is to take your goals for yourself, and help you achieve them.

If you want to run a 5k theyre going to get you there and in a way that is going to be achievable and enjoyable, Andrea said. If you want to be a bodybuilder theyre going to get you there, and it will be a different journey, but it will still be enjoyable.

Andrea finds her work deeply satisfying. It has been a while since she has been monitoring social media for a large company.

Now Im telling someone, When you came to me four weeks ago you couldnt do this exercise. Now you can do 20 in a row, and look at what youve achieved, she said.

She remembers the look on peoples faces when they accomplish something they thought was beyond them.

Youre actually changing somebodys life right in front of you, she said.

Andrea posts about her classes and her progress in her own training at her AMG Fitness NW Facebook page.

She is training now as a bodybuilder and hopes to be competing on stage within two years.

Im probably two stone heavier now than I was at my lightest, but Im totally working toward a different goal, she said. She finds the amount of food she has to eat now the most difficult part of this type of training.

But it has to be done, she said, adding, The training is brilliant.

Andrea said if she had to pass on one piece of advice it would be this: Dont take on too much.

You cant change your life overnight  it takes time, she said. Make one change, and stick to it, and before you know it youve made all the changes you wanted.

The things that matter

I don't care about what I weigh,Andrea said. That's the last thing I think about.

I care about my health, my clothes size, how much body fat I have - those are the things that matter, not numbers on scales, she said.

She was out of the gym for a few months with an injury but said that now, Im so much more focused on good technique and doing everything at your own pace.
Up to 25 people took part in a protest in Gaoth Dobhair this afternoon against Bank of Ireland plans to remove the Irish language option from their newer ATMs.

I think its a step backwards, local Cllr. John Sheamais O Fearraigh said of the decision to remove the Irish language option.

The protest took place today, Friday, at the branch in Bunbeg, in the Donegal Gaeltacht. The protest was one of a number of protests organised by Sinn Fein today at bank branches across the country.

All we want is for people using the language to be entitled to use the language, whether it is at ATMs or being able to speak the language at any bank in Ireland, he said.

He said work is being done on the governments 20-year strategy for Irish to promote the use of the language, and asked, How is this going to move forward if we see agencies providing service to Gaeltacht areas cutting the language?

Motorists passing by beeped their car horns in support of the protest.

In a statement, the Bank of Ireland said that over the past seven years the bank has been replacing older ATMs (withdrawal) with new LATMs (lodgement and withdrawal) devices nationwide. They said the process is in response to the demand from business and retail customers for increased access to 24/7 banking facilities.

The LATM devices do not offer an option to make a transaction in Irish, the Bank of Ireland said in their statement.

This is due to the fact that, when we analyse our ATMs which provide an Irish option, fewer than 1 per cent of ATM transactions on those devices are completed in Irish, Bank of Ireland said. Given this low level of demand, since the commencement of this programme of replacement in 2010 it has not been viable to provide an Irish language option on these newer devices.

Bank of Ireland continues to provide an Irish language option on all ATMs co-located within retail units, and on some ATMs located within the branch network, they said. They said they are the only Irish bank to provide the Irish language option on these devices.

In their statement, Bank of Ireland said they also support Irish-speaking customers by providing some key services in the Irish language, such as the provision of chequebooks, and withdrawal and lodgement dockets.

Earlier this week Pearse Doherty, Sinn Fein TD and party finance spokesperson, urged Bank of Ireland to reverse its decision.

The banking sector in general has been extremely poor at facilitating Irish language speakers and its impossible to get statements, online banking or any customer service in Irish anywhere, Deputy Doherty said.

He said Bank of Ireland was unique in making an effort to simply facilitate the Irish language at its ATMs with an Irish option and showed its customers that it placed some value on the language.

However, he said, following the announcement about the ATMs, the bank seems to be rowing back on this gesture and this shows a serious lack of consideration regarding the Irish language and the language rights of speakers.
This week in his blog, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, TD, wrote about the work and bravery of the Donegal mothers of Our Children's Voice, the advocacy group campaigning for services for children with life-limiting conditions or high medical/physical needs.

In his Leargas blog, Deputy Adams wrote that in June, at his request, Ashling Nibbs and Gina Grant of Our Childrens Voice came to Stormont to meet him and Michelle ONeill, MLA. The Donegal mothers were accompanied by Sen. Padraig MacLochlainn.

Deputy Adams wrote:

Michelle and I had agreed to meet them to explore how an all-Ireland/cross-border solution could be put in place to ease the distressing trauma faced by desperately ill children in Donegal who urgently need palliative care and treatment for life-limiting conditions. They and their families must travel approximately 140 miles to access treatment and care.

Ashling and Gina explained to us how they have been campaigning for over three years for the level of care that their children need and deserve. Their very personal and harrowing accounts of the distress they and their children have had to endure was upsetting."

He said Ashling had told them of the ordeal experienced by her son Oran, who had mitochondrial disease. Oran faced eight-hour round trips to access medical treatment in Dublin.

Imagine how much these gruelling journeys must have drained Oran of the energy he so badly needed in his fight for life, Deputy Adams wrote.

Oran Nibbs died in January of this year at age 7. Since 2014, when Our Childrens Voice was established, four Donegal children whose parents are part of Our Children's Voice have died.

The parents expressed their anger at the lack of facilities closer to their homes and the physical and emotional strain that the long journey create for them and their children, Deputy Adams wrote in his blog. Michelle and I heard of the indignity one family endured. They had to transport their child's body for over four hours home and then a further ferry trip to the islands.

He wrote that the only respite services currently available to children are accessed through referral to the Dublin-based Laura Lynn Childrens Hospice. Families may be offered fifteen nights per year, in blocks of two or three-night stays. In many cases, the travel outweighs the benefit of respite for children and families. So they go without.

The absence of such services closer to Donegal is an injustice. It is unacceptable that extremely sick children must undertake such lengthy and tiring trips to access vital care and treatment. Children's palliative and end-of-life care should not be determined by geography. Not in a modern wealthy society. Not anywhere.

The reality is that the parents of Our Childrens Voice shouldnt have to protest, lobby or fight to secure the right of their children to have proper access to the required standard of care. But they have to. They have to become activists and campaigners because they have been failed by the state. They have been punished by the marginalising policies implemented by successive governments.

A central objective of Our Children's Voice campaign is for children in Donegal to have access to necessary respite/palliative /hospice care closer to home. That includes the possibility of services within the North as an alternative to having to travel to Dublin. There is obvious potential for an all-island approach to this problem.

When Michelle ONeill was Minister for Health in the North, she launched a ten-year strategy for childrens palliative and end-of-life care (2016-2026). This strategy provides for extending paediatric networks outside of the North to explore access to specialised services on an all-island basis.

Sinn Fein has consistently advocated for health care to be developed on an all-island basis. In fairness other parties have acted on this imperative as well, including the DUP's Edwin Poots. They recognise the mutual benefits of such a policy. The provision of cancer services at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry for the whole of the north west of the island is a model that works. It makes sense. There are health care benefits for all. And ultimately and potentially for the children represented by Our Children Voice.

The courage and bravery of Ashling and Gina and the other parents is amazing. Their tenacity in the face of governmental failure to provide a necessary service is astonishing and uplifting. I believe all public representatives can and should support them. Since our meeting in June we have engaged with the Irish government, the HSE, and even in the absence of Northern Assembly, with the departments and bodies in the North. There is an urgent need to put in place a system of care that is compassionate and effective and meets the needs of terminally ill children and their families. A severely ill child should not be forced to travel such distances to receive the care they need.

Not if we are really serious about cherishing all our children. Equally, Deputy Adams wrote.
Leaders from Jackson County, most municipalities here and local economy-focused organizations met Thursday to compare notes on what theyre doing and what they want to do to help move the local economy toward a brighter future.

With the population of the county and the school system on the decline rather than an uptrend, concern is growing about what can be done to stem that outbound tide.

Some common and familiar themes emerged, including the need for improved and expanding infrastructure, like water and sewer services, so that industries would be more attracted to the area. Theyre needed because they could bring high-paying jobs with career-advancement opportunities that might keep young people and others from migrating away. Thats been a concern for years, but the realization has become more acute and the concern more urgent with growing evidence that the population is dropping.

The community regularly markets itself as prime territory for industry, with existing assets like access to rail, Interstate 10, and other transportation corridors to take goods to market. But without adequate infrastructure to support businesses that consider moving in, those lures can easily lose their quarry.

Whats to be done by rural communities with small populations and few tax dollars or other income to build out those assets?

They should hound their legislators and agencies who hold the purse strings, and do it as one body in seeking assistance, some suggested at the meeting. Unity, most agreed, both in the county and around the rural region, is necessary to make their voices loud enough to hear.

And an overall aggressive attack on the problem of a declining population and a flattened economy is needed, many agreed.

Some called for an end to uber-territorial thinking when prospects are in the area looking for a place to locate, advocating instead for regional cooperation between area communities, so that a united front might present a better picture of the region and get them here to benefit all with jobs employees would gladly commute to fill.

There was also much discussion about the new reality that technology has handed the world. Trying to encourage more small retailers to set up shop may not meet with as much success as it did in the past, since buyers can get pretty much any product they want online, instead.

The better choice, some indicated, is to fully develop assets like parks and other places that would bring visitors and keep residents here to enjoy experiences they cant buy on the internet.

Thats the plan of Sneads City Manager Connie Butts. Shes been working for about three years with Melvin Engineering representative Rick Pettis on a master plan for the enhancement of Sneads Park on Lake Seminole. The plan is nearing completion now, having been through extensive review by the ultimate authority over that asset.

That project is an example of county and town working together, and could be a model for those interested in helping the community come out of its economic slump and negative population trend. Jackson County agreed to make the Sneads Park master plan part of its larger master plan for four state parks the county oversees on Lake SeminoleNeals Landing, Howells Landing, Buena Vista Landing and Paramores Landing. Doing that saved the city money in the project-review process and cast the county as a leader with a holistic and cooperative approach to management of natural resources.

Each municipality at the meeting  Alford, Campbellton, Graceville, Grand Ridge, Greenwood, Jacob, Malone, Marianna and Sneads  had a representative speak about its needs and/or achievements toward a better economy.

The gathering also included representatives who spoke for the Jackson County Commission, the Jackson County School Board, Opportunity Florida, Jackson County Development Council, Chipola College and The Baptist College of Florida.

The meeting was held at Rivertown Community Church in Marianna and hosted by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Tiffany Garling, who served as emcee, indicated that other such meetings may occur in the future.
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Google appears to be planning a Pixel-branded Chromebook and a downsized version of its Home smart speaker, following in the steps of Microsoft and Amazon respectively.

Along with two expected new Pixel phones, Google this fall will unveil a Pixel-branded Chromebook and smaller, lower-priced version of its Home smart speaker, Android Police reported Monday, citing a source familiar with the companys plans.

Chromebooks typically have been popular with budget-conscious schools and penny-pinching consumers, but the Pixel laptop may be setting it sights on a segment of the market thats willing to spend more, the Android Police report suggests.

If so, it wont be Googles first effort to sell a premium Chromebook. It first introduced a Pixel Chromebook in 2013, and it offered an upgrade with a base model price of US$999 in 2015. Neither captured much market share.

If Google should decide to continue its Chromebook line, price could be a big factor in its success.

Chromebooks have never sold as high-end notebooks, said Bob ODonnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

For them to try to do something in the premium area would be challenging, he told TechNewsWorld. That has never been a product category where Chromebooks have sold well.

Benchmark for Others

Sales may be a secondary consideration for Google in the Chromebook market, though. Like Microsoft with its Surface tablet and laptop products, Google likely wants to show other Chromebook makers the platforms potential.

What theyre trying to do is establish a benchmark product that shows the market what the technology can do, and hope the other guys follow suit, noted Jack E. Gold, principal analyst at J.Gold Associates.

I dont think Google is going to play the low-end price game, he told TechNewsWorld. Theyre going to try and show more capabilities and encourage OEMs to get more creative with their Chromebooks.

The impetus behind a new Pixel Chromebook is the same as always, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

It allows Google to demonstrate just how robust and great a Chromebook can be, he told TechNewsWorld.

A high-end Chromebook also could prove the value of the ChromeOS to Googles partners by opening a premium market to them.

Its partners have been reluctant to push the price opportunity for Chromebooks above $400, said Stephen Baker, an analyst with the NPD Group.

To be a viable alternative to Windows, Google has to offer its device partners a path to better revenue and profits with Chromebook, he told TechNewsWorld.

The Pixel Chromebook will be designed to help create a viable more premium market, which the partners want, Baker said, but they cant take the financial risk that Google can in building it.

Bison Spinoff?

Because the Pixel Chromebook likely will be a premium product, it wont be stepping on the sales of existing Chromebook makers, said Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and notebook research at IHS Markit.

I dont see this offering serious competition to their hardware partners, she told TechNewsWorld. Its Google taking a leadership role, showing how things can be done, rather than a volume-hardware play.

Although details were sparse, it seems likely the new Pixel Chromebook will spring from Project Bison, a Google project veiled in secrecy and originally scheduled for release in this years third quarter, the Android Police report suggested.

Bison was intended as a serious competitor to Apples MacBook and Microsofts Surface Pro, according to the report. It was to have a 12.3-inch screen, 32 or 128 gigabytes of storage, 8 or 16 gigabytes of RAM, and an optional Wacom stylus that would be sold separately.

The biggest rumor about the Pixel Chromebook concerns Google integrating support for Android apps, which would be a large, significant step forward, Pund-ITs King said.

It also seems possible that the company could add support for features tied to its Home devices or emerging technologies like Cardboard, he added.

Homes Little Brother

Googles introduction of a little brother for its Home smart speaker is a much-expected move, said Brad Russell, a research analyst at Parks Associates.

They need a low-cost entry point for consumers that arent already in the space, he told TechNewsWorld.

One of the goals of these product lines is ubiquity in the home, Russell pointed out.

The reason Amazons Dot has been so successful is not just because its cheap  its because you can afford to put one in every room if you choose to, he said.

Offering a range of devices enhances a vendors prospects for appealing to a wider audience, noted Jonathan Collins, a research director at ABI Research.

While the idea is to expand the number of devices in the home, vendors ambitions reach beyond the devices.

In the long term, each vendor wants to get their voice assistant platform in the smart home, Collins told TechNewsWorld.

These speakers have become a Trojan horse for the digital assistants, said Technalysis ODonnell.

People are using these speakers to get access to personal assistants more than theyre even using them on their phones, he said, so if Google wants to have more people use Google Assistant, they have to sell more smart speakers.
A grand jury in the Northern District of California indicted a Russian man for running a massive money laundering operation through the BTC-e bitcoin exchange, a group of federal officials announced Wednesday.

The exchange allegedly received up to US$4 billion in proceeds from various criminal activities, including the 2014 hack of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange.

The suspect, 37-year-old Alexander Vinnik, was arrested Tuesday by Greek authorities, and charges in an unsealed indictment were released the following day.

Vinnik was visiting Greece, and U.S. officials were working with Greek authorities on the case, a source familiar with the case told the E-Commerce Times.

Vinnik was charged with operating an unlicensed money service business, conspiracy to commit money laundering, 17 counts of money laundering, and two counts of unlawful monetary transactions.

He faces 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines on each of the money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges; 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines on the monetary transactions charges; and five years on the money service charges.

The company, BTC-e, was assessed a $110 million fine, and Vinnik personally was fined $12 million by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a Treasury Department branch that investigates money laundering and other financial crimes.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin provide people around the world with new and innovative ways of engaging in legitimate commerce, said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Bryan Stretch. As this case demonstrates, however, just as new computer technologies continue to change the way we engage each other and experience the world, so too will criminals subvert these new technologies for their own nefarious purposes.

Birth of an Empire

BTC-e, founded in 2011, grew into one of the worlds largest digital currency exchanges, with more than 700,000 users worldwide. It relied heavily on criminal money laundering for much of its business, according to the indictment.

Vinnik owned and operated various bitcoin accounts and was the owner of Canton Business Corp., the shell company that operated BTC-e, federal officials said.

There were numerous accounts based in the U.S. and specifically in northern California, according to court documents, but they did not indicate who the account holders were or whether the transactions were of a criminal nature or legitimate.

The company received billions in proceeds from numerous criminal activities, based on the indictment, including the hack of Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014 after intruders stole $460 million from it. The former head of that firm, Mark Karpeles, is on trial in Japan.

Vinnik failed to register the BTC-e exchange with the Treasury Department, officials said.

He allegedly used it, along with his now defunct San Francisco-based bitcoin exchange Tradehill, to launder funds from the Mt. Gox incident and other operations.

The BTC-e website states that the company is registered in Bulgaria but organized according to the laws of Cyprus, officials said.

The firm maintained a base of operations in the Seychelles, and had registered Web domains in Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, France and New Zealand.

The grand jury named Vinnik as one of numerous known and unknown people who facilitated the illegal money laundering, according to the indictment.

Solve the Riddle?

The arrest of Vinnik adds a new twist to the case against Karpeles, the former head of Mt. Gox, said Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president of cloud research at Trend Micro.

Anyone can see money move from point A to point B  but unless A and B say who they are, they remain anonymous, he told the E-Commerce Times. In this case, law enforcement is trying to decode a chain that starts with Mt. Gox (A) and ends somewhere (Z). The DoJ is hinting that Mr. Vinnik is in that chain somewhere, which may be a key piece of the puzzle.

The repercussions may extend far beyond Mt. Gox and Karpeles, however.

Stories like these dont help the bitcoin or blockchain market in terms of reputation, said Jessica Groopman, principal analyst at Tractica.

Bitcoin was born of individuals intending to securely conduct transactions while circumventing centralized authorities, she told the E-Commerce Times.

However, the market has bifurcated significantly since early days  now financial services firms and governments are leading in, or at least heavily influencing research, development, and design of blockchain structures, Groopman pointed out.

There have been reputation problems since the early days, as bitcoin has been associated with Silk Road, cybercrime, and the dark Web. The arrest of Alexander Vinnik only resurfaces and reinforces these negative associations, she observed.

This is only exacerbated in light of broader American media coverage of alleged political investigations around money laundering and Russia, noted Groopman. Whether or not this specific case indicates insecurity in bitcoin or the market is less a matter of how it will be perceived, and surely this does not help bitcoins public image.
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There has been a recent focus on the Los Angeles Unified School Districts high school graduation rates, which have reached an all-time high that many attribute to the districts reliance on credit recovery. Credit recovery has gotten a bad rap for reducing the quality and rigor of education. Some believe that when schools use credit recovery and online makeup courses that students are actually being robbed of their right to learn.

Despite the hyperbole, the dangers of a quick-fix approach to graduation are real. In some cases, the use of credit recovery does lead to lowered academic standards. Even when students pass the course, they may not have received the type of instruction that will prepare them for success in college or careers. Additionally, some educators worry about the message we send to students when they fail a class for reasons such as chronic absence, but are then given the chance to recover the class in a two-week crash course. This challenges the values of the importance of hard work and effort that American schools try to instill.

In light of all these issues with credit recovery, why do schools and districts still use this system? Because the pressure to graduate students is tremendous; in fact for school leaders, their jobs depend on it. In addition to qualitative indicators, high school graduation rates are a major factor in a principals overall evaluation.

In New York state, where I serve as an assistant superintendent, graduation rates are one of the criteria used to determine school standing. The consequences for not being in good standing can range from the imposition of additional compliance mandates to inspections by state officials to state takeovers.

No community wants its local school to be labeled failing. But I would argue that the most important reason schools turn to credit recovery is the potential impact the practice can have on students. There is no greater despair than can be found on the face of a 17-year-old student with no hope of graduating from high school. Once students cross the threshold between early adolescence and young adulthood, thoughts of the future weigh heavily on their minds. When they have no sense of a future, well, they have no hope. Thats when dropping out seems to be the only answer. Why come to school day after day if you dont see your way out and your school hasnt provided you with a lifeline so you can stay afloat? That is the reality for many of our overage, undercredited youths who struggle in our traditional schools and seek transfer and alternative schooling in order to graduate. When schools dont create viable pathways to graduation for struggling students, we are effectively pushing those students out of school.

Many of the problems with credit recovery are adult problems. As adults, we can fix them."

Many of the problems with credit recovery are adult problems. As adults, we can fix them. We dont want the standards of our institutions lowered? So dont lower them. We can create high-quality credit-recovery programs by establishing committees of teachers and administrators to establish thoughtful guidelines for these programs. School committees can determine that students have to demonstrate competency in a course.

For example, the students at Forsyth Satellite Academy, a New York City school that uses performance-based assessments, must present their final projects to a committee of faculty and external advisers for evaluation. I once participated in one of their final project committees as an external evaluator and was amazed by the effort these students put into their thesis projects. Some of their projects rivaled work I completed in my freshman year of college.

We can also set limits on how many credit-recovery courses a student is eligible to take in a given semester. Online programs can add value to a credit-recovery program, but we cant just outsource teaching to a computer screen. The best strategy for using an online program is a blended model in which a teacher is present for a portion of the learning, facilitating the lesson and providing support to students as they navigate the programs.

Lastly, we can solve the values problem by reframing the goal of education from re-creating our way of doing school to focusing on the individual and dynamic needs of the students in front of us. If you are sending students to summer school to teach them a lesson, then perhaps there are a few lessons you need to learn. The goal of education is not to reward or punish individuals but to provide students with skills they need to be productive, independent, and critical-thinking adults. Lets use every tool available to make that happen.
After a rocky legislative battle, Illinois has become the 18th state to establish a tax-credit-scholarship program for students to use toward tuition at a nonpublic school.

When taxpayers contribute to the scholarship fund, they will get a tax credit of 75 percent of their donationup to $1 million annually for an individual donor. The state caps the tax credit amount at $75 million, which means the scholarship fund could reach $100 million.

The money may be donated to a specific school or subset of schools, but not to a particular student. Scholarship recipients must have a total household income of less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning $73,800 for a family of four.

The five-year pilot program was tacked on to a larger bill that overhauls school funding in Illinois and funnels more state money into low-income districtslegislation that supporters have called historic. But the tax-credit-scholarship program drew sharp opposition from the state teachers unions, which called it an attack on public schools. Illinois House Democrats initially voted against the bill, before the measure passed with two votes to spare.

GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the bill on Aug. 31.

A Bipartisan Approach

Democratic and Republican lawmakers touted the legislation as a true compromise, saying that nobody liked 100 percent of it.

This has been as much of a bipartisan approach to this type of program as youre going to get, said Josh Cunningham, an education program manager for the National Conference of State Legislatures. He said the measure addresses typical criticisms about issues such as accountability and lack of transparency.

For example, Illinois allows qualifying students to use the scholarships in any eligible private school in the state; most state programs have a list of approved schools, Cunningham said. And Illinois requires the private nonprofits that issue the scholarships to give priority to low-income students and students attending low-performing schools.

Also, Illinois requires that schools accepting scholarships administer the annual state test to the scholarship recipients. The state will later have independent researchers compare the outcomes of scholarship recipients to those of public school students across the state.

That requirement differs from most other states programs, said Jason Bedrick, the director of policy for the pro-school-choice group EdChoice. Typically, programs allow participating schools to choose from a menu of national norm-referenced tests, he said.

If [parents] want something different, it doesnt make sense to use the same type of test [as public schools], he said, adding that he found this requirement problematic.

For the teachers unions, those accountability measures, as well as anti-discrimination language and a five-year sunset clause, are encouraging, said Dan Montgomery, the president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

But it would be easier to swallow that pill if the state was doing its job fiscally elsewhere, he said, pointing out that although the state funding bill includes an additional $350 million for schools, ideally, funding levels would be much higher.

We are really so far away from the mark that its really hard for us to say, Really? Were going to essentially take $75 million out of the states revenue coffers to hand to wealthier people?  Montgomery said. It didnt seem like good policy to us.

Supporters of school choice, though, applauded the program. Adam Peshek, the director of education choice for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, said the program will benefit low-income and special-needs students who arent getting their needs met by public schools.

Critics, however, have said tax-credit scholarship programs in other states usually end up benefitting wealthier families.

The number of Illinois students who will benefit from the program could vary depending on the size of the individual scholarships, which will be drawn from a maximum fund of $100 million. Bedrick estimates that up to 20,000 students will benefit, or about 1 percent of the statewide student population.

Democratic lawmakers have estimated that the number will be closer to 6,000, according to news reports.

More to Come?

A recent nationally representative public-opinion poll from Education Next, a journal published by Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, found that tax-credit-scholarship programs command the highest level of support among all choice proposals , including charter schools.

Peshek said when state legislatures next reconvene, there will likely be additional tax-credit-scholarship legislation proposed.

If you look at the number of tax-credit scholarships enacted, ... more than half of them have been created in the last six years, he said. Theres a growing interest in these programs. Were getting at least one or two a year from states.

And the passage in Illinois proves that states dont need a perfect political situation to pass this sort of choice program, Peshek said. He pointed to places like Florida, where a tax-credit-scholarship program was initially a Republican initiative but has gained support from some Democratic legislators, who have voted on subsequent expansion measures.

Ten years from now, people will look back and find it hard to believe that this wasnt [considered] a win-win for everyone, Peshek said.
Throughout the course of Angela Merkels chancellorship, Germany was called on by its allies to take on more responsibility on foreign policy and defence issues. The current government has made significant new commitments, from the NATO pledge in 2014 to spend 2% of its GDP on defence to last years efforts on leading on EU defence integration.

A continuation of the CDU-SPD grand coalition will most likely provide the greatest continuity of this trend. A CDU-led government with smaller coalition parties such as the Greens or the liberal FDP would likely face strains over defence questions. Should the SPD lead a coalition with the Greens, FDP or even the left party Die Linke, the recent defence policies could be called into question. The right-wing AfD is unlikely to be considered as coalition partner by any of the other parties. No matter the outcome, the current election campaign shows that broader domestic engagement is necessary to clarify Germanys new position in international affairs and its changing military role.

Merkels coalitions foreign policy so far



Merkels first two coalition governments clashed over a number of important foreign policy decisions. In 2005, Merkels first grand-coalition government of the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) had a rocky start due to divisions over the transatlantic relationship and deteriorating West-Russia relations. The 2009 coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) also faced difficulties with the FDP opposed to participating in the Libya intervention and the coalition clashing over nuclear and conventional disarmament, a key policy of the liberals.

The second grand-coalition from 2013 was more successful. The experience of tackling the geopolitical shocks of 2014  namely, responding to Russian intervention in Ukraine and the emergence of ISIS  through difficult compromises brought the CDU and SPD together.

Foreign policy and defence in the election campaigns

Those following the German elections will have noticed that the issue of defence has become central to the parties campaigns. The 2% spending pledge and fears of nuclear proliferation have led to significant criticism of Merkel by the SPD and opposition parties, the Greens and the leftist party die Linke.

Disarmament  the traditional German consensus

The commitment to disarmament, of both nuclear and conventional arms, is deeply rooted in German civil society and has been at the heart of three of the mainstream parties policies, the SPD, Greens and FDP, as well as the left party Die Linke. The CDU is therefore isolated on the issue which has caused disputes in the different coalitions.

Opposition parties, Die Linke and the Greens, call for prioritising nuclear disarmament and criticise the modernisation of the US nuclear arsenal in Germany. This reflects a wide consensus where all parties, in principle, are committed to the removal of nuclear weapons from Germany. However, the opposition have criticised the government for not supporting the nuclear ban treaty, its failure to reduce military exports and restrict investments in the arms industry. The SPD also blamed the CDU for failing to address these issues, although they took a less confrontational approach while they were in government than many would have expected. SPD candidate Martin Schulz tried to counter this just last week by making nuclear disarmament a key campaign pledge.

Government MPs point to increasing geopolitical risks and reject accusations of re-armament. They point out that Germany is living up to its multilateral commitments and filling capability gaps. They emphasise arms control successes, such as Germanys role in the Iran nuclear deal, the decision to purchase a new open skies aircraft, its leadership in the OSCE on conventional arms control and confidence building measures, and its role in the destruction of chemical weapons from Libya.

A key challenge for the new government will be to explain how the commitment to NATO and EU defence integration is not about armament or increasing risks of an arms race. Furthermore, disarmament policy is highly dependent on international environment and particularly on the (inconsistent) position of the United States. Under Trump it will be difficult for the next German government to deliver tangible changes on nuclear disarmament.

Military Spending

NATOs 2% defence spend pledge has been controversial for many of its allies. However, since Germany has been singled out by US President Trump for not spending enough on the defence, the Social Democrats have made their opposition to the pledge central to their campaign. The 2% commitment was made under the current grand coalition, making the SPD strategy risky. Martin Schulz approach is not against advancements in European Defence or the likely increase in defence spending that this will bring. Opposing 2% allows the SPD to appear to counter US pressure, criticise a policy by the defence ministry, currently under CDU control, and emphasise its greater commitment to the European Union, as compared to the CDU.

The CDUs response is that the 2% pledge is about multilateral obligations that Germany has towards its partners. Although a long term goal, due to Donald Trumps interference it has become an uncomfortable commitment. For opposition parties the pledge is also an opportunity to raise the alarm over non-transparent armament in their election campaigns, feeding into accusations of rearmament. These are concerns that resonate with the German public beyond party affiliations, a survey in late 2016 showed that two-thirds of Germans oppose increases military spending.

The 2024 deadline for the 2% pledge is inching closer with each new parliamentary term. Future German governments will find themselves under greater pressure to respond to NATO expectations and explain defence spending to the electorate. Despite the German resistance to the 2% pledge, no German government, even under an unlikely SPD leadership, will want to appear to undermine NATO.

The Bundestags control over the Bundeswehr

Foreign observers often point to the parliamentary control over the German army as the main obstacle to German military intervention. A parliamentary commission led by former defence minister Volker Ruhe recently looked at reforming the Bundestags role. However divisions within and among the coalition parties meant that no new consensus was found. Although disappointing for many in the CDU, the overall take-away was that the parliamentary control is not the real obstacle to German military engagement. Rather it is the underlying divisions in coalition governments.

Clearer communication and more engagement by parliament in developing, for example, the defence white book, as suggested by some CDU MPs, would reduce the risk of hold-ups in parliament. Equally, at the international level, German governments should not use the role of the Bundestag as an excuse not to engage or live up to multilateral commitments but rather manage expectations of what Germany can contribute.

The next German government will be expected to live up to the expectations created by the recent grand coalition over Germanys contribution to European defence through NATO and the EU. This will include upholding deterrence, contributing to European missions in the Sahel, and possibly more action, if not military, on the conflicts in the Middle East. This requires maintaining the consensus built between the CDU and the SPD. The politicised approach towards German foreign policy in the election campaign shows that this consensus requires a more transparent and comprehensive engagement on defence questions to address concerns on the principles of German foreign policy.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time.
Analysts at foreign exchange institution ING suggest a correction in EUR/GBP could see the cross hit 0.91.

Brexit brick wall for the UK and the EU

The ongoing negotiations in Brussels between the UK and the EU filled the headlines on Thursday, but yet again it was not for any reason other than talks were present and happening.

There have been absolutely no revelations and next to no progress.

It pays to remember that these people are being compensated large sums of tax payer money, both on the UK and EU sides, to carry out these talks.

Frustration is an understatement from concerned onlookers, as both sides have positions which they see as rigid and both are testing the resolve of the other.

Much is at stake here and the finest negotiators in Europe, allegedly well versed in game theory, are carrying out a Trumpesque game of chicken.

Given that such games can often cause both participants to fall off a cliff it is not particularly encouraging to see this at such an early stage.

Everyone knows the UK has the most to lose but Europe also is losing one of its economic powerhouses, both must compromise so lets get on with it.

Does the euro look too strong at present levels?

EUR/GBP certainly looks to have overshot recently as it hit 0.93, with little in the way of any fresh news to drive it there.

The sizeable correction on Wednesday looked significant and positioning is so extended that a deeper pullback would not be surprising.

Economists at ING released a note on Thursday in which they see potential for the correction running as low as 0.91 even with Brexit worries back in the cross hairs,

EUR/GBP has reversed sharply off Tuesdays high above 0.93, following the EUR overshoot. We had felt that the 0.93/94 levels were possible this quarter, but that GBP would be extremely under-valued thereBrexit noise will only intensify this week, but we suspect the current correction in EUR/GBP can extend to the 0.9100 area.

The UK may actually favour deadlocked talks

If the Euro/Pound exchange rate cross is a barometer for Brexit, there can be no doubt who the market sees as coming out on top.

There is hope for both sides, but a considerable delay could very well benefit the UK the most as they have looked the least well prepared and it gives them some time to get their affairs in order.

If talks stagnate more, some Pound strength wouldnt be too surprising as most news gets priced in pretty swiftly.
Hello,



I wanted to know your views on applying for Permanent residency through express entry.



Do we need agent to apply for express entry or can be done ourselves, since rules keep changing. anyone applied from India without help of agent, can share their views pls.



Thanks guys,



Rahul
Hi there,



I'm getting my application started for Express entry, however, I'm struggling with the costs, I found this line below:



*****Have your application fee (C$550 each for principal applicant and spouse) and right of permanent resident fee (C$490 each for principal applicant and spouse) ready ***



So I am applying with my husband, and looking to go in for express entry, does this mean It's 550 for me and 550 for him (so total of 1100) or just the one off fee for both of us 550?



OR is it 550 for us on one application and then 490 for us for permanent residency, so total 1040?



I am reading the same thing over again so I'm confusing myself, does anyone know this?



Thank you!
bone$ said: Hello everyone,

My cousin lives in Canada and has his own business, he's a pr and has lived there for over 13 years. It's been in my heart to move over with my family and be able to help my cousin and his buisness.

I don't know where to start with the process please excuse my cloudy mind, I've procrastinated and worried about it for too long now. A friend in work put me onto this site so I'm excited to be here. Thanks in advance for any advice



Kind regards Click to expand...

This should be your road map for the next couple of weeks:1- Get to IRCC to read more about the actual process in terms of what migration programs you qualify for. FSWP would be your best option.2- Get an estimate score in case you decided to use FSWP and make sure your points are above the minimum CRS score of the last few rounds to save time waiting for ITA.3- In case you decided to actually apply , make sure you get your qualifications assessed via WES or any other service provider. Also , arrange for IELTS to be done4- by then you are ready to lodge an EOI and sit down and wait for your ITA.Your cousin being in Canada will help you settle in the first few weeks after arrival If you made it that far and he can be used as a reference in your visa application to support your case for the immigration officer looking into your application. So keep your contacts in Canada in the loop to speed up your visa application.Goodluck!


While there has been much attention on how Brexit is going to affect people from the European Union moving to work in the UK, there are signs that France is also ready to crack down on workers.Recently elected French President Emmanuel Macron has indicated that he might support an EU deal to clamp down on cheap workers moving from Eastern Europe by the end of 2017.He has talked often about the impact of migrant workers on France and now on a visit to Romania he said he believes that there will be some kind of EU wide deal.While he is regarded as a staunch supporter of the EU, it seems that Macron is not so keen on the free movement of all workers between member countries. Unlike other EU leaders, he has issued warnings about the economic and political impact of low paid eastern European taking jobs in larger, more developed nations.He discussed the issue with the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and warned that one of the issues is companies, particularly in the construction trade, paying workers from countries such as Romania and Poland paying so called posted workers less than local workers.Macron wants companies to pay everyone the same, regardless of where they come from and that a deal is needed to protect French workers and a 12 month limit put on posted workers.In 2016 the European Commission proposed new rules to regulate pay for posted and local workers but they were opposed by member states in central and Eastern Europe. Official figures indicate that around 50,000 Romania workers were posted to EU member states last year.Macron has also indicated that he thinks that the 26 country European free passport zone known as the Schengen zone which allows citizens to travel without border controls needs to be beefed up.Currently Romania, for example, does not belong to the Schengen Zone, neither does Bulgaria. Macron believes that border controls need to be improved before others join.There are currently 26 countries in the Schengen area of which 22 are EU members and four are the non-EU member states of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway. The UK and the Republic of Ireland are not part of the zone. Romania, which has been an EU member for 10 years now wants to join.
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The first of nine failing freezer trailers filled with volatile chemicals exploded early Thursday at the problem-plagued Arkema plant in Crosby, sending a plume of black smoke into the community east of Houston and setting off a round-the-clock watch for inevitable explosions to come.

The initial blast about 1 a.m. Thursday sent 15 Harris County sheriff's deputies to the hospital after they inhaled fumes and got smoke in their eyes, but all were discharged by Thursday afternoon.

Crosby officials had been bracing for days for explosions at the plant after six feet of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey knocked out power and generators needed to keep the volatile organic peroxides  used in making plastics and rubber  stored at the facility cool. The chemicals explode if they get too warm, officials said.

The explosion left unanswered questions about how contingency plans failed to keep the chemicals cool and how dangerous the fallout could be to a sprawling metropolitan area recovering from the biggest rain event in continental U.S. history.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long on Thursday called the plume "incredibly dangerous."

Arkema President Richard Rennard said the health effects are relative.

"They're noxious, certainly," Rennard said. "If you breathe in the smoke, it's going to irritate your lungs."

Arkema CEO Rich Rowe said earlier in the week that the explosions could not be stopped.

"There is no way to prevent an explosion or fire," Rowe said.

THE LATEST: Get rolling updates, newest photos on Harvey here

The company has a history of regulatory problems.

In 2006, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality cited Arkema for a fire caused by improperly stored organic peroxides. In 2011, the same plant was cited for failing to maintain proper temperatures of its thermal oxidizer.

In 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Arkema $91,724 after finding 10 violations at the Crosby site, many involving the mishandling of hazardous materials.

Arkema's CEO Richard Rowe said earlier this week that the company spent millions of dollars on upgrades after the fines and believed all issues cited in the inspections had been addressed.

The Houston area is home to more than 2,500 chemical facilities. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle in 2016 found 55 facilities  including Arkema  with a high potential for harm to the public, based on an analysis performed in conjunction with the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University. The study factored risks based on the amount and type of dangerous chemicals on site and their proximity to the public.

At least 13 of the facilities with the highest potential for harm lie within the 100-year flood plain. The Arkema plant lies within the 500-year flood plain, according to a Chronicle analysis.

Arkema officials wouldn't say the company had the ability to neutralize the chemicals before the situation became so volatile, and wouldn't answer questions about whether the back-up generators were elevated before the storm hit the area late Saturday.

Rennard said that other highly toxic chemicals on the site were in a "remote location," far from the exploding organic peroxides. Officials had not provided a requested map of the facility by late Thursday.

READ ALSO: Politico blasted for cartoon that critics say mocks Harvey victims

The Arkema plant lost power late Monday, knocking out the primary supply and back-up generators and forcing employees to move the organic peroxides into 18-wheeler box vans with cooling systems.

One employee was evacuated Monday night. Eleven other employees were evacuated Tuesday when the refrigeration in the back-up containers also began to fail.

Local officials ordered the evacuation of residents after seeing the chemical inventories for the facility, which the company has not publicly released. Company officials said they expected the refrigeration to fail in all the trailers and that additional explosions were inevitable.

The incident came as chemical facilities throughout the Houston area began drying out and restarting facilities that had been shut down as Hurricane Harvey approached last week.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board issued a safety alert Thursday urging the facilities to take special precautions as they resumed operations.

"Restarting a refinery poses a significant safety risk," CSB Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement. "When operators follow established startup procedures and checklists, it reduces the risk to a catastrophic accident that could cost lives and incur substantial product disruptions."

The environmental damage from those startups can be enormous.

About 2 million pounds of emissions have been released during Harvey-related shutdowns and incidents, compared to more than 5.2 million pounds all of last year. Emissions from Aug. 23 through Monday in the Houston area represented nearly 40 percent of the region's releases for all of 2016, based on pounds of chemicals, according to Luke Metzger, director of the advocacy group Environment Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a relaxing of state environmental reporting laws during Hurricane Harvey, and companies are still reporting leaks and other incidents voluntarily, according to TCEQ spokesperson Andrea Morrow.

Among those voluntary reports was a roof collapse at an ExxonMobil facility in Baytown that caused the release of more than 12,000 pounds of material.

'NO WAY TO PREVENT': Read Wednesday's update on the chemical plant's risk

In Crosby, neighbors in and around the evacuation zone remained worried Thursday, saying they had received little official information and a lack of a clear perimeter.

"But homes two miles away are safe?" asked Alicia Garcia, who had recently returned to the family's home about four miles away after evacuating Sunday because of flooding.

At least one couple didn't leave. Leo and Lajayne Opelia, who are in their 70s, texted friend Frances Breaux that they intended to stay.

"And if they didn't make it, they loved us," Breaux said.





Deputies wouldn't allow Breaux into the neighborhood Thursday to check on the couple.

"You know how older people are," she said. "They just don't want to leave their place."

Derek Davis, 36, lives outside the evacuation zone but shared his neighbors' questions and concerns.

"What was the basis of the blast zone? How was that calculated? How was safety taken into consideration? Do they expect a mile-and-a-half radius? Are they taking a fudge factor into account? Did they consider the wind? What was the fail-safe program they had?" he asked. "It seems like they're trying to save the product and risk the residents."

'IT'S TERRIFYING': Family returns to flooded home, finds new danger nearby

CHEMICAL BREAKDOWN: In November 2014, four workers died at a DuPont plant in La Porte after being exposed to a toxic gas. Responding emergency workers weren't sure what was in the air. The surrounding community wasn't, either. A Houston Chronicle investigation dives deep into Houston's hidden world of explosions and toxic releases and probes the regulatory failures that put us in jeopardy. Click here to read our series.
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VICTORIA  First came wind from the east, then water from the west.

And after Hurricane Harvey and the rising Guadalupe River inflicted their damage here, without causing any loss of life, Victoria leaders only could breathe a sigh of relief.

Its a beautiful day. Were blessed. Were cleaning up and people who left are coming back. Were ready to get back to normal down here, Mayor Paul Polasek said Thursday.

The largest city in a cluster of southern counties known as the Golden Crescent, Victoria lies about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, just north of where Hurricane Harvey made landfall Friday night.

The powerful storm, packing winds of at least 130 mph when it struck the coast, smashed houses, toppled trees, flooded the streets and cut off power and water to most of the city of about 68,000 people.

Harveys torrential rains pushed the Guadalupe 10 feet over its flood stage here Wednesday, inundating streets, homes and businesses.

The Guadalupe still was an enormous lake Thursday as it started to slowly recede.

The flooding prompted an evacuation of animals from the small riverside Texas Zoo.

Workers from the San Antonio Zoo and the Fort Worth Zoo were on hand Thursday to assist in the operation, which required a milelong boat ride to reach the facility.

By early afternoon, the first load of small primates, tropical birds and reptiles placed in pet carriers was delivered by airboat to waiting workers.

The zoo got a lot of water. They have generators and pumps going, but they cant keep up. The animals are secure, said Thomas Culberson, the zoos veterinarian, who said all the animals but a hawk survived.

In the 1998 flood, he said, the city was forced to evacuate the entire zoo, a somewhat simpler task back then.

Of course we didnt have lions, tigers and jaguars then, so it was a bit less of an ordeal, he noted.

On the human side, the storm has left widespread damage to dwellings and trees. Large swaths of the city remain without traffic signals or electricity.

The damage was extensive and widespread. We have a lot of damage to homes. One of our hospitals professional buildings took a major hit. Weve got trees down everywhere and a lot of power poles snapped in the wind, said Bryan Simons, a spokesman for the emergency management team.

We had one rescue Thursday morning. The individual was in their house, saw they were getting water in the hosue, so they left in a vehicle, and got caught in the swift water. They were able to call 911, he said.

But by Thursday morning, he said, the focus of the effort was changing.

At this point, were completely in recovery mode. Were out of disaster response, he said.

Vice President Michael Pence, who had flown into nearby Corpus Christi, and other state and federal officials made a surprise visit Thursday afternoon. They dropped in to congratulate rescue workers and local officials, and promise the federal governments support. His entourage included Gov. Greg Abbott and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

That was so cool. It was so exciting to get a picture with Gov. Abbott, said Heather Bolton, 41, am employee of the Faith Family Church, the base for one of the distribution centers.

They were just thanking the people who were volunteering, and Victoria for all we are doing here. I was kind of starstruck, so I didnt get everything they said, she added.

At the church, a huge distribution center set up by Convoy of Hope was handing out water, ice, food and toiletries to about 1,000 people a day, as well as shipping relief supplies to sites all over Texas.

This is our temporary distribution center for Texas. Were serving multiple locations from here, said Stacy Lamb, a Convoy of Hope director working in Victoria.

Were over a million pounds of product in Texas and its increasing every day, he added. Its definitely noteworthy because we havent seen a disaster of this size in years.

While he spoke, cars streamed through the drive-thru line, each receiving emergency supplies from volunteers in blue shirts.

Nearby, people needing tetanus shots and attention to minor injuries waited under an awning at the Heart to Heart International van.

We respond to disasters all over the world. Weve been to Haiti, Nepal, said Phil Meiers, 65, the truck driver. Were providing stopgap medical services. Vaccinations. People who hurt themselves in the cleanup. Weve had several punctures, a broken ankle and people with heart issues.

Working with the patients were four local nurses who volunteered to assist the Heart to Heart medical team.

Among those getting tetanus shots were most of the 30 teachers at OConnor Elementary.

I decided to bring them all here for shots just as a safety precaution, said Vickie Dunseth, the school principal.

They are cleaning up at their houses and on campus. We want to get the students back as quickly as possible so they can get two hot meals a day, she added.

Waiting in line to be treated was Kathryn McDonough, with four children between the ages of three and 11 in tow.

One has a cough. Two have sore throats. I tried calling our clinic but they are closed today. I think this is great, she said.

We lost some roof tiles, our large water pump failed and a tree fell on our ATV. We were at my mothers when her porch blew off, and that was traumatic she added.

At the other end of town, on Moody Street, where many houses and businesses still were underwater Thursday, a group of faithful employees of Moo Moo, a popular old time drive-in eatery, waited patiently for the food truck to arrive.

Were famous for our fried chicken. Hopefully well reopen tomorrow, Moo Moo Manager Linda Garza said.

Garza said her house had been spared, but that of a co-worker, Josie Garcia, had not.

My house was a total loss. Its depressing, Garcia said.

My son and I live together, and right now were living out of our car, she said, motioning to a small gray Hyundai. Ive already cried, so aint no use crying anymore.

jmaccormack@express-news.net
Houston-based Texas Sterling Construction Co. was one of four companies awarded contracts to construct prototypes for concrete border walling, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello announced Thursday.

Today we mark a significant milestone in CBP implementation of the presidents 25 January executive order on border security and immigration enforcement improvements, which among other things directs the secretary of homeland security to take all appropriate steps to plan, design and construct a physical wall along the southern border, Vitiello said at a Washington, D.C., press conference. This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on, so this is the use of the resources that we had available for this year.

Awards for prototype barriers made of other materials are to be announced next week.

The contracts follow a March 17 request for proposals for 30-foot-long and up to 30-foot-high prototypes to be built in San Diego. The prototypes will be competing for the model of the real wall, though Vitiello said different ones could be chosen for different terrains.

Well be looking at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering and then scaling or anti-climb features, he said.

Testing teams will look at some of the common things we are challenged with now, small tools, hand tools, no ballistic kind of things, he added.

Michael Duffy, Texas Sterlings vice president for contracts and development, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Caddell Construction Co., of Montgomery, Alabama; Fisher Industries of Tempe, Arizona; and W.G. Yates and Son Construction of Philadelphia, Mississippi, were the others awarded contracts.

Costs for the prototypes varied, but Vitiello said they ranged from around $400,000 to $500,000.

Once given official notice to proceed, the companies will have 30 days to build their models. Vitiello said construction would likely begin within the next month after companies discuss logistics and agree on timing.

Since the election, President Donald Trump has changed his vision for the big, beautiful wall, saying it would have to be see-through. Vitiello said bidders were asked to put transparent features in their proposals.

The solid walling is meant to be part of a complex of border security that also would include an enforcement zone and clear fencing, some of which was recently erected, he said, with the concrete features going up on the outside of the immediate enforcement zone.

There are other plans underway for other segments, and so well learn from this to plug into those segments, he said. And then theres some other work to replace fencing in other parts of the border, including putting gates up in the Rio Grande Valley. This is the first new initiative that adds to our bigger plans.

The prototyping process will allow CBP to partner with industry to identify the best means and methods to construct a border wall, the agency said in a statement.

Prototyping is an industry-tested approach to identify the best solution when considering a new product or methodology, CBP said in the statement. Through the construction of prototypes, CBP will partner with industry to identify additional means and methods to construct a border wall.

Dozens of companies, many of them in Texas, submitted proposals.

A bid protest by Fort Worth-based Penna Group delayed plans. The complaint was dismissed last week. Penna Group is owned by Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga, who was quoted widely after he said he received death threats for being an Hispanic willing to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Further protests from builders that werent selected are possible.

Funds for the prototypes were included in the 2017 federal budget. The House on July 27 passed a spending bill that complies with Trumps demands to start work on the wall. Republican leaders added $1.6 billion in border-wall funding for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The Senate hasnt taken up the measure.

Trump this month threatened to shut down the federal government if Congress refuses to send him a spending bill that funds the wall, a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story

lbrezosky@express-news.net
A portion of airstrip at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph has been transformed into a sprawling loading dock for semi-trucks delivering supplies to flood-ravaged areas of Southeast Texas, one part of a growing military mobilization to aid victims in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

The supply station, jointly run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency, expands federal relief efforts to assist tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in Houston and other areas pummeled by the storm.

Dozens of trucks rumbled in and out of the military base on a recent day as drivers either dropped off or picked up food, water, clothing and other provisions.

We want to push supplies to the state-run staging areas closer to the areas of need, said Scott Thomas, FEMAs federal coordinating officer for a five-state region that includes Texas. Well try to bring as much as conditions allow.

Flooded roads have slowed delivery of relief aid by ground. Thomas said trucks at a second supply station established at JBSA-Seguin earlier in the week started to roll out with greater frequency Thursday as water levels receded. Some 2 million meals and 2.2 million liters of water had moved by Thursday from the Seguin station to disaster relief areas.

Col. Thomas Miner Jr., commander of the 502nd Security and Readiness Group at JBSA, helped coordinate plans for the supply station at Randolph. His experiences in Iraq, where he has deployed three times, proved useful in assembling teams to carry out the work.

Time is crucial in a situation like this, he said. We wanted to have this up and running so that as roads clear, trucks can pull in, load up and head out.

Efforts to help victims of Harvey involve an array of military units and assets, including active-duty and National Guard components.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated 12,000 members of the Texas National Guard earlier this week to respond to the crisis, and Wednesday called on another 2,000 troops who have recently returned from overseas deployments.

Abbott has requested an additional 10,000 troops from Guard units in other states, and Pentagon officials have said as many as 30,000 Guard troops could deploy to Texas.

More than two dozen National Guard helicopters are running rescue and supply missions. The New York Air National Guard has sent four C-130 cargo planes and five HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters to Fort Hood in support of rescue operations. Crews had flown some 30 missions and rescued nearly 500 people through Thursday morning, a Fort Hood spokesman said.

Active-duty Army units stationed at Fort Hood sent 400 troops and 100 tactical vehicles to assist with relief operations. The base has set up a fuel staging area for FEMA vehicles to avoid further depleting the supply at gas stations in South Texas.

Units with the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy based outside Texas have mobilized more than 6,000 personnel and supplied tactical and amphibious vehicles, aircraft and equipment.

Federal search and rescue teams continue to look for potential survivors. To date, teams have rescued more than 16,800 people and 1,500 pets. The teams come from the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and Department of Defense.

mkuz@express-news.net

Twitter: @MartinKuz
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AUSTIN  Physicians in Texas will still be able to perform a common second-trimester abortion procedure at least for the next two weeks after a federal judge here temporarily blocked a new state law that restricts the method from taking effect today.

U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in favor of abortion providers, who sued the state in July, claiming that the law would curb womens access to the safest and most common procedure used after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The ban is on hold until Sept. 14, the date Yeakel scheduled for a hearing to consider a preliminary injunction.

Plaintiffs in the suit, including Whole Womens Health, applauded the ruling but said theres more work to be done.

Now, we prepare our case against this restriction that forces doctors to provide lesser care to their patients, tweeted the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of womens health providers in Texas.

Attorney General Ken Paxtons office pledged to keep fighting in court.

Dismemberment abortions are gruesome and inhumane, which makes it troubling that a district court would block Texas lawful authority to protect the life of unborn children from such a barbaric practice, said Marc Rylander, director of communications for the attorney general.

The law restricts the use of dilation and evacuation abortions  in which a physician uses medical equipment to remove fetal tissue  on living fetuses.

Under the law, physicians would have to initiate fetal demise before beginning the procedure.

The Center for Reproductive Health argued, however, that the three methods used to cause fetal demise are invasive, increase medical risks for the mother and are in some cases untested.

Two states have similar bans on dilation and evacuation abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Other bans  in Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma  havent taken effect because of court challenges brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to the organization.

amorris@express-news.net
When the order came Wednesday morning, the reservists of the 433rd Airlift Wing were ready.

Within 11 hours, the men and women had loaded pallets with 40 tons of bottled water and medical supplies, muscled the towering stacks into place aboard a huge C-5M cargo plane and headed to Houston on a relief mission, one of many needed after Tropical Storm Harvey laid waste to the Bayou City.
Crews with the San Antonio Water System have successfully pressurized the Port Aransas water system and prepared the island communitys wastewater system for operation, in the wake of serious damage caused by Hurricane Harvey a week ago, the utility said.

More than 20 SAWS workers arrived there with 12 trucks, backhoes and several large power generators, just as recovery efforts began Sunday in the coastal city, which was struck with 130 mph winds and torrential rains. The towns water department buildings and equipment had been severely damaged.

What our crews accomplished was nothing short of amazing, said Robert R. Puente, SAWS CEO & President.

He said the crews encountered dangerous debris, water hazards and snakes while starting to address the towns infrastructure needs, giving Port Aransas utility staff time to deal with their personal situations at home.

Late Wednesday night, SAWS crews restored pressure to the water system after controlling hundreds of open, damaged pipes on private property and repairing main breaks.

Port Aransas officials are advising residents to boil any water used for drinking and cooking.

We got the water back, but its not potable, Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan said.

SAWS also sent a total of 40 employees, about half whom began work Sunday, to help restore the towns wastewater system, which will be operational as soon as power is restored to the area, the utility said.

Bujan said he did not know when power would return to the Mustang Island community.

This is a major catastrophe, Bujan said. It could be a matter of days, but it could be weeks.

About half of the SAWS workers are returning home for the weekend, but will leave two large generators behind until electricity is restored, possibly as early as Monday, Puente said. Others have gone to Rockport to perform similar work there.

shuddleston@express-news.net

Twitter: @shuddlestonSA
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Harvey has devastated Texas. Now board your windows, evacuate the low ground and watch the damage it is poised to unleash on the nation's finances.

Harvey makes landfall in Washington as soon as next week, when President Trump is expected to ask for what could be tens of billions of dollars in storm relief. And paying for storm recovery will be but the first blow to fiscal discipline in what looks to be a particularly active, and calamitous, spending season.

After Harvey comes the debt ceiling, and there are rumblings that the vote to raise the limit actually could be used to increase spending. (In the past, such votes were used by fiscal hawks to cut spending.) At the same time come negotiations to fund the government for fiscal year 2018, and indications are that lawmakers will try to avoid a shutdown with a short-term spending deal that will include a Pentagon slush fund worth tens of billions of dollars.

Then, still forming over the Treasury Department is a fiscal Category 4: Trump and Republicans have given clear signs they are moving away from tax reform (a simplification of the tax code that doesn't necessarily reduce revenue) toward all-out tax cuts, financed by deficit spending.

Trump, who came to power promising to eliminate the $20 trillion debt is poised to oversee an exponential increase in that debt. Republicans, who came to power with demands that Washington tackle the debt problem, could wind up doing at least as much damage to the nation's finances as the Democrats did.

Rising are the floodwaters of hypocrisy. Surging is the tide of amnesia.

If the red ink rises according to forecasts, "we're talking additions to the debt in the trillions," Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, tells me. All from actions to be taken in the next few months. "It turns out the GOP-run Congress is not willing to make the hard choices," she says. "It is a fiscal free-lunch mentality on all sides."

Trump, announcing his tax-reform plan in a speech Wednesday afternoon in Missouri, left little doubt that he'd ditch tax reform for tax cuts. He dutifully read out his principles from the teleprompter - which he uses when giving a speech somebody else wants him to give - but made clear that he isn't expecting Democratic cooperation. "We must lower our taxes, and your senator, [Democrat] Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you," Trump said. "And if she doesn't do it for you, you have to vote her out of office." Democrats, Trump said, "are looking to obstruct tax cuts and tax reform, just like they obstructed so many other things."

There is no way to pass a comprehensive tax-reform plan of the sort Ronald Reagan secured - a simplified code, lower rates and closed loopholes - without bipartisan support. And Democrats want tax reform that doesn't add to the deficit and doesn't benefit the wealthiest 1 percent of households.

Trump's partisan speech confirms other indications that his administration essentially has abandoned tax reform in favor of cuts. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn have not been reaching out to Democrats, party leaders complain. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he plans to use the same "reconciliation" resolution he used on the failed attempt to repeal Obamacare to allow for a party-line vote on a tax cut. That process would nominally prevent Republicans from ballooning the deficit - but they could avoid such concerns by using the well-worn gimmick of having the tax cut expire before 10 years.

Of course, if Trump and GOP leaders were to come right out with a pure tax cut that would add trillions to the debt, the blatant hypocrisy might swamp the effort. But what if that were to come after months in which other storms had saturated the ground and weakened the roots of fiscal responsibility?

First, a Harvey recovery bill without the spending "offsets" so many Republicans demanded of previous bills. Then, a debt-limit increase, possibly secured with promises to spend more money on defense (which would buy GOP votes) and domestic priorities (for Democratic votes). Next, a spending deal that busts previously agreed budget caps by allowing an extra $70 billion or so for an "Overseas Contingency Operations" slush fund. Eventually, a reckless tax cut doesn't seem so crazy - particularly with midterm elections looming and no accomplishments to show.

When it rains, it pours.

Milbank is a Washington Post columnist.
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Cars may have replaced the wagons, and a once-rickety footbridge is now a concrete edifice, but the beating heart of San Antonio is just where it was at its founding  in the juncture between one side of the river and another at the East Commerce Street Bridge downtown.

Street performers play guitar for small change up above, and families dine under brightly colored umbrellas below. The wide concrete bridge near the citys ribbonlike red sculpture, La Antorcha de la Amistad, (the Torch of Friendship) has star-patterned rails, a 7-foot Native American statue and carries both pedestrians and cars through a major, pulsing artery of San Antonio.

Bridges are a reflection of the patterns of development, and thats often one of the things that makes the historical significant, said Patrick Sparks, a local bridge engineer.

The bridge was once a focal point for warring factions in San Antonio history, a link between seemingly disparate communities that soon became one. Now, it serves as a link to that history, which begins when the Mission San Antonio de Valero was established and the city was founded in 1718.

Soon after, Canary Islanders established the military fort called San Antonio de Bexar opposite the mission on the west side of the river.

Its there, between what is now Presa and Losoya streets on Commerce, where a bridge was erected across the San Antonio River for the first time.

It wasnt much  just six wooden beams laid across the ford in 1736 by Spanish padres from the Alamo mission so soldiers and civilians from San Antonio de Bexar could attend church services on the other side of the river.

But complaints of Spanish soldiers harassing the indigenous women made the rounds, leading priests to remove the logs. A political skirmish between the civil and military communities ensued, ending in the resurrection of a small narrow footbridge by the Spanish governor.

In defiance, priests added their own guards to keep the soldiers from crossing.

Fast forward a hundred years, and soldiers  threatened by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Annas army during the famed Battle of the Alamo  ran across that same bridge in retreat. Santa Annas army charged across it to seize the mission. By the battles end, bloody bodies filled the river.

In 1880, an ornamental iron-truss bridge with spires and elegant arches took its place, sparking a golden age for San Antonios infrastructure. It became known as the literary bridge. Many an author took up camp near the bridge and penned their musings about it.

(He) wanders into the fog, and at length, finds himself upon a little iron bridge, one of the score or more in the heart of the city, under which the small tortuous river flows, wrote famed writer O. Henry in his 1912 short story A Fog in San Antone.

The bridge was also memorialized by Sidney Lanier, a Georgia poet who wrote in the early 1870s that one may take ones stand on the Commerce Street Bridge and involve oneself in the life that goes by this way and that.

The iron bridge was moved to the river on Johnson Street in the King William neighborhood in 1914. But its remnants remain on the pedestrian walkway today. A wider concrete span was put in its place, and the bridge was named the Jones Bridge after the former San Antonio Mayor A. H. Jones.

One year later the San Antonio Express, which later become the Express-News, paid the artist Waldine Tauch $1,000 to create The First Inhabitant, a 7-foot-tall statue of a Native American. The statue had a mixed reception: While many admired the artists effort to represent indigenous people, others called the headdress, moccasins and stalks of corn depictions stereotypical.

The bridge has seen many transformations, from stepping stones to a rickety wooden bridge, from iron trusses to the 102-year-old concrete slab it is today. While no longer as ornamental as its predecessor, its current form is wider and more practical.

Its been here 102 years, and its still doing its job, said Sparks, patting the bridge fondly one evening. He said that aspect is the most remarkable thing about it.

Though Sparks did notice some subtle features of grandeur marking the bridge: The star-patterned rails, for example, and the way the bridge juts out on either side into two majestic archways under which tour boats glide.

Its presenting the bridge to the river, said Sparks, examining the bridge from the River Walk below. Theyre thinking about the riverboats, marking the bridge so it makes for a grand passage.

It shows what San Antonio has to be proud of, agreed Douglas Steadman, 90, a local bridge engineer who worked on the Hays Street Bridge renovations.

Writer and editor Margaret Cousins wrote in 1986 about waking from some dream of vanished time to hear hoofbeats and boot heals and the creak and groan/ Of all the wheels of history.

Later in her poem, aptly titled Commerce Street Bridge, she sees two lovers on the bridge, and wonders if they stop to think of its blood-curdling history, or of all the water/ That has flowed under this bridge.

Its true  countless footsteps have traversed the spot of the Commerce Street Bridge, just as endless water has streamed beneath it.

Bustling, throbbing signs of life envelope the bridge. Casa Rio, founded in 1946 and considered the River Walks oldest restaurant, serves traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes just below it.

On the other side of the bridge sits a round building that used to be the office of the man known as the father of the 15-mile River Walk, Robert H. H. Hugman. Nearby are bars, restaurants, the Alamo Plaza and beyond that, the iconic Tower of Americas and La Villita Historical Arts Village.

In 1972, Lanier wrote that if peculiarities were quills, San Antonio de Bexar would be a rare porcupine.

Tourists snap photos at the bridge, posing with the statue or leaning on the rail to convey the river and trees behind them. During lunchtime, many stroll across the bridge, some pausing to look at the life on the River Walk below.

Others can be seen sipping a cool drink on one of the bridges concrete benches, listening to a street performer or simply the rush of cars and water around them.

(The river) is of a rich blue and pure as crystal, flowing rapidly but noiselessly over pebbles and between reedy banks, wrote the designer of New Yorks Central Park, Frederick Law Olmstead, about San Antonio in 1857. One could lean for hours over the bridge rail.

And even now, more than a hundred years later, some still do.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net

COMING SATURDAY: Tricentennial an opportunity for young people to learn, embrace history.
By Nathan Mueller

The winter wheat varieties planted in eastern Nebraska today can yield upward of 140 bu/ac under good management and weather. If you haven't planted wheat in several years, consider today's advanced genetics, many of which were developed through research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While the potential for top yields is important, it's not yield alone that makes winter wheat profitable. Growers can add value through increased revenue, reduced costs, improved pest management, and spreading their workload.

Adding wheat to your eastern Nebraska cropping system can offer many other benefits:
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 29F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 29F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Manassas, VA (20110)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
Manassas, VA (20110)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Karl Lagerfeld has collaborated with Vans on a new fashion range.

Karl Lagerfeld

The 83-year-old fashion designer - who is the creative director of the luxury label Chanel, Fendi as well as his eponymous brand - has teamed up with the footwear brand on a clothing, accessories and footwear line titled The Vans x Karl Lagerfeld, which is set to be released on September 7.

The style icon's capsule follows a monochrome theme, and the brand's traditional styles of shoes, including the Old Skool, the Vans Classic and the Classic Slip On, will receive the special touch of Karl's signature boucle fabric, as well as "K-quilted stitching" into the item.

And the senior footwear designer at Vans named, Angie Dita, has revealed the company wanted to keep the "unique history" of the brand, but also introduce Karl Lagerfeld's "fashion DNA" into the merchandise as a "tribute" to the mogul.

Speaking about the partnership, Angie said: "Working in close partnership, our teams designed this collection to reflect the unique histories of our respective brands. As a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld's fashion DNA, we highlighted elements like boucle fabric and K-quilted stitching, and we reinterpreted Vans' signature checkerboard pattern with Karl's cameo silhouette motif."

And the German creative mastermind is set for a busy year ahead as he is also set to release a homeware range in the near future.

The fashion mogul's line will include a new bed linen range, premium duvet covers, pillows and pillowcases, as well as plush throws, which will be retailed between 28 and 130.

Karl's Flourish collection will also include a grey and white floral printed bed cover, with a matching cushion, as well as an embellished pillow in the form of his beloved cat named Choupette.
Ludi Lin has teased that the 'Aquaman' movie is going to be like an "underwater" 'Star Wars'.

Ludi Lin

The Chinese actor - who recently starred as the Black Ranger in the 'Power Rangers' big screen adventure - has been cast to play Murk in the upcoming DC Extended Universe superhero alongside 'Game of Thrones' star Jason Momoa who takes on the titular role as superhero Arthur Curry.

Lin insists fans of comic movies are in for a surprise because unlike the DCEU titles and the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters 'Aquaman' takes place in a world like no other, because it is mainly set in the undersea nation Atlantis.

James Wan told the cast to imagine it as a self-contained universe much like the world that George Lucas created in his sci-fi space saga.

Speaking to Canadian station Kiss Radio on Wednesday (30.08.17), Lin said: "The thing is, there is so much about 'Aquaman' that I have seen so far in filming. There's so much to this film. The difference between 'Aquaman' and the other superheroes in the DC Universe, is that it exists almost in a different world. James Wan, our director, is amazing. He's described his vision as "'Star Wars' underwater" because it is. All the physics are different, their weapons are different, the characters are very unique. It's just super-cool."

Lin's character Murk in the DC comics is the leader of the frontline army of Atlantis known as the Men-of-War and Aquaman's ally and the actor has revealed his character has gone through "some changes".

He said: "Murk has gone through some changes, like the Black Ranger really. I like it when people pigeon-hole me because then it gives me a chance to try to break out of it. You put a wall in front of me, I want to try to break down that wall. So, this is Murk and I think he's going to be pretty different from the original conception. But he's going to be pretty remarkable as well. It's been a pleasure working with some amazing people."

The cast of 'Aquaman' boasts a number of Hollywood superstars, including Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson and Dolph Lundgren.

It is slated for release in December 2018.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is in talks with its long-established franchise partner Al-Futtaim for the potential purchase and franchising of M&Ss retail business in Hong Kong and Macau. Successful conclusion to these discussions would see Al-Futtaim become the sole franchisee for M&S in Hong Kong and Macau. Al-Futtaim opened the first M&S store in Dubai in 1998.Al-Futtaim operates 43 Marks & Spencer stores across seven markets in the Middle East, as well as in Singapore and Malaysia. Most recently Al-Futtaim has extended the reach of M&Ss popular chilled food to three markets, and will shortly be opening the first standalone M&S food store in the Middle East.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is in talks with its long-established franchise partner Al-Futtaim for the potential purchase and franchising of M&S's retail business in Hong Kong and Macau. Successful conclusion to these discussions would see Al-Futtaim become the sole franchisee for M&S in Hong Kong and Macau. Al-Futtaim opened the first M&S store in Dubai in 1998.#

The talks follow M&Ss strategic review of its international business in November 2016, where M&S proposed to have a greater focus on its established franchise and joint venture partnerships and operate with fewer wholly-owned markets. In Hong Kong, where M&S has traded since 1988, the business is profitable, has strong brand awareness, an established store estate of 27 stores and a loyal customer base.M&S and Al-Futtaim have now entered into discussions on the potential purchase and franchise which includes commencing a period of due diligence, which is expected to take several months to complete. M&S employees will be kept informed of any developments throughout the process and M&S stores in Hong Kong and Macau will continue to trade as normal.Paul Friston, Marks & Spencers international director, said: In November we set out our plans to create a more sustainable, profitable and customer-centric International business for M&S by focussing on our established partnerships. Al-Futtaim is a key partner to M&S in Asia and the Middle East and we are both committed to putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. With significant scale and retail expertise in the region, we are looking forward to discussing the potential extension of our partnership to Hong Kong and Macau as we continue to grow and develop our business together.Stephen Rayfield, senior managing director  Fashion & Lifestyle Division at Al-Futtaim said: As long-term partners of Marks & Spencer, Im delighted that we are now working together to explore the potential expansion of our partnership to Hong Kong and Macau. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
David Tang, the founder of luxury fashion brand Shanghai Tang, passed away on August 29, 2017. The 63-year-old Hong Kong businessman and socialite was battling with liver cancer for quite some time now, according to British media reports. Born in Hong Kong, David moved to England at the age of 13. He is survived by two children and wife Lucy Tang.

Established in 1994 in Hong Kong by David, Shanghai Tang was the first contemporary luxury brand from China. Its modern and sophisticated range of mens and womens clothing, accessories and home decorations combine the style and heritage of the orient with western design influences. With over 30 boutiques, mainly in Asia, Shanghai Tang also has a presence in London and Miami.

Switzerland-based luxury brand Richemont took David's controlling stake in 1998 and acquired 100 per cent ownership in 2008. In June this year, Richemont announced the sale of Shanghai Tang to an entity controlled by Alessandro Bastagli, an Italian entrepreneur.

During an interview with the Financial Times in 2010, David had said that he would like to be remembered by a Hilaire Belloc quote: "When I am dead, I hope it may be said: His sins were scarlet, but his books were read." (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Ninty five Indian companies are participating in the India pavilion set-up by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) at the 49th International Textillegprom in Moscow, a leading textile and light industry expo. The four-day expo ends on September 1.India and Russia are currently celebrating 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Ninty five Indian companies are participating in the India pavilion set-up by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) at the 49th International Textillegprom in Moscow, a leading textile and light industry expo. The four-day expo ends on September 1.#

The Indian delegation includes Karnataka textiles minister Rudrappa Manappa Lamani and union textiles secretary Anant Kumar Singh, according to a FICCI press release. The participants will explore opportunities for business partnerships. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Under the framework of the Economic Development Programme, Honduras 2020, the Central American country is aiming to become textile export leader in the Americas, exporting $7.4 billion of products to the US and Europe. This will be achieved through a textile hub with world class talent that pushes the frontier of knowledge in textile sustainable development.

Honduras is the new destination for textile and apparel investment, announces Honduras 2020, a solid platform of facilities and benefits articulated with the purpose of promoting foreign investment and ventures with outstanding conditions that are strengthened every day.

The existing textile and apparel industry infrastructure in Honduras has outstanding conditions for investment and expansion opportunities. There are 18 industrial parks that together have a construction area of more than 1.8 million square metres, and advantages like availability of airports, ports, highways, telephones, water and electrical supply, customs paperwork, low working costs, machinery and logistics.

Under the framework of the Economic Development Programme, Honduras 2020, the Central American country is aiming to become textile export leader in the Americas, exporting $7.4 billion of products to the US and Europe. This will be achieved through a textile hub with world class talent that pushes the frontier of knowledge in textile sustainable development.#

Owing to the competitive advantage, Hondurass textile industry has recently attracted an investment of $78 million in a synthetic yarn plant, which is expected to manufacture 20,000 tons annually.

In the last few years, the largest roof solar panel installation in Latin America has been implemented in Honduras. It has an installed capacity of 7.5 megawatts of clean energy. The textile and apparel industry has the capacity of biomass production as well as wastewater management technologies allowing high productivity in a sustainable manner.

According to the Honduran Manufacturers Association (AHM), the current investment in the countrys fabric and clothing manufacturing is estimated to be around $7.8 billion. Focused on corporate social responsibility, AHM also promotes training initiatives, housing access opportunities, safety and occupational health standards, and also a new pilot project of child care centres. This provides residential areas with security, stability and comfort for textile and garment sector employees and their families. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Hudson River dumps 300 million clothing fibres into the Atlantic Ocean each day, according to a study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. Many of the fibres come from aging clothes, rinsed out with the laundry and into the environment. Approximately half of the fibres were plastic, while the remainder were spun from natural materials like cotton or wool.Invisible to the naked eye, these fibers can cause health problems for animals and humans. An average-sized, above-ground swimming pool filled with this water would contain about 10,800 microfibres.

The Hudson River dumps 300 million clothing fibres into the Atlantic Ocean each day, according to a study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. Many of the fibres come from aging clothes, rinsed out with the laundry and into the environment. Approximately half of the fibres were plastic, while the remainder were spun from natural materials like cotton or wool.#

The ocean is the endgame for plastics, said marine biologist Abigail Barrows, who is a principal investigator with Adventure Scientists.Barrows, who has been studying microfibre pollution in oceans for more than five years, wanted to learn more about whats happening upstream in freshwater. So last year, Barrows and a team of scientists and volunteers measured microfibre pollution across all 13,300 miles of the Hudson river.They hiked, waded, sailed and even whitewater rafted to urban and rural locations to collect 142 water samples using Barrows grab method analysis. The grab method involves filling a submerged container of water, then filtering the samples through an extremely fine screen, before counting and identifying the material of each microfibre.The team found about one microfibre per liter of water, which seems small until you consider the sheer volume of the Hudson River. An average-sized, above-ground swimming pool filled with this water would contain about 10,800 microfibres, and the entire Hudson River dumps 300 million human-made fibres into the Atlantic Ocean each day.The grab method is Barrows real contribution to the field, said Tim Hoellein, an aquatic ecologist at Loyola University who was not involved in the study. In the past, microfibre researchers typically used a Neuston net to collect samples. The funnel-like net, originally designed to study plankton, collects microfibres and other materials in the water while being towed behind a boat. But, unlike the grab method, tiny fibres can sieve through the net. That is why Hoellein believes the grab method gives a more accurate count of microfibre pollution.It reveals that most likely there is more material than we previously thought, Hoellein said.Rachael Miller, director of the Rozalia Project which is working to curb microfibre in laundry greywater, expected to see a larger concentration of microfibres in locations near wastewater treatment facilities or industrial sites. But instead the pollution was more uniform throughout the river.There was no pattern across the whole Hudson River  from Lake Tear of the Clouds, an alpine remote beauty, down to the heaving, thriving Manhattan, said Miller, who is a co-author on the study. It was a real surprise.If wastewater treatment facilities are not the major culprit, people may want to look their everyday clothes. Fabrics cast off tiny threads at every stage of their life. Even crime scene investigators count on perpetrators leaving behind bits of clothing. These clothes can shed more fibres into the air than laundering, according to Steve Carr, supervising scientist at the Los Angeles County Sanitation District.We are just not conscious of it, Carr said. Its invisible, but everywhere you go and everywhere I go, we are leaving a trail of fibers in our wake.After a microfibre study of the Seine River in 2014, Bruno Tassin, an urban hydrologist at University of Paris-Est, faced the same dilemma: tonnes of pollution without definitive point source. So he conducted a follow-up in Paris in 2016 to determine if microfibres clouded the atmosphere. Tassin found that three to ten tonnes of microfibres rain out of the air onto the 1,098-square-mile region surrounding Paris, each year. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has identified 12 indigenous plants which can be used for manufacturing natural textile dyes. The discovery by the College of Agriculture (CoA), Vellayani, occurred during a study as part of the Western Ghat Development Programme (WGDP). These plants are capable of giving colour to cotton and silk textiles.The new plants will provide an organic option for dyeing, according to a leading daily report.

Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has identified 12 indigenous plants which can be used for manufacturing natural textile dyes. The discovery by the College of Agriculture (CoA), Vellayani, occurred during a study as part of the Western Ghat Development Programme (WGDP). These plants are capable of giving colour to cotton and silk textiles.#

The technology for using these plants for commercial textile industry has been standardised under another research project sponsored by the RKVY (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana). The technology will help the development of eco-friendly and safe clothing, especially for newborns and people allergic to synthetic dyes, the report said.The research has opened up the possibility of using indigenous plants of Kerala as potential dye yielders. We are looking forward to industrial production of natural dyes for commercial textile industry, KAU vice chancellor P Rajendran was quoted as saying in the report.Plant dyes were used for garment dyeing and wall paintings till the advent of synthetic dyes in the 16th century. Awareness about the hazardous effects of chemical dyeing and chemical dye manufacturing has led to rethinking on the issue. The KAU effort was on these lines, the VC noted.He said that the biochemical properties of these natural dye compounds had been deciphered, which would help identify the biomolecules in them. Going back to the safer, cheaper, and durable natural plant dyes would help the ecosystem and protect workers in dye manufacturing industry from harmful effects.Kerala, especially the Western Ghats region, is gifted with a wide array of plants for manufacturing natural textile dyes. We also have a treasure of traditional knowledge on temple wall paintings and in colouring traditional mats, among the rural and tribal people, said P Indira Devi, director of research.The 12 natural dyes with five different mordants, of which three are natural, have been screened. All silk and cotton materials dyed with these pigments have been tested in South Indian Textile Research Laboratory (SITRA ) for colour fastness to light and stability to washing. Through this analysis, combinations of natural dye and natural mordant with good stability have been identified, VG Jayalakshmi, principal investigator, said. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Nilit, a global producer and marketer of high quality Nylon 6.6 fibres for apparel and other products, is set to launch Sensil, its new premium nylon 6.6 brand for apparel, to the denim market at the Keyhouse/Bluezone of the Munich Fabric Start, an international textile trade show, to be held in Germany, from September 5 to 7, 2017, in hall 5, booth 29.Nilit will present a unique apparel collection that illustrates just how naturally Sensil pairs with cotton to create beautiful, modern denim styles that are fashionable and, at the same time, have the performance capabilities to keep up with consumers busy lifestyles. Designed by Augusta Romano from Duplex Style SRL, the special collection was created with advanced denim fabrics made by Berto Industria Tessile. Nilits full range of Sensil performance products gives fabric designers many options to infuse denim with valuable attributes that consumers require in contemporary denim

Nilit, a global producer and marketer of high quality Nylon 6.6 fibres for apparel and other products, is set to launch Sensil, its new premium nylon 6.6 brand for apparel, to the denim market at the Keyhouse/Bluezone of the Munich Fabric Start, an international textile trade show, to be held in Germany, from September 5 to 7, 2017, in hall 5, booth 29.#

Sensil is naturally softer, stronger, more durable, and more moisture-wicking and odour-resistant than other man-made fibres, all important benefits in jeanswear. It blends effortlessly with cotton to create remarkable fabrics with beautiful drape and appearance. Sensil performance yarns are enhanced to provide additional attributes that consumers desire in todays advanced denim products. Sensil Breeze imbues denim with a cooling effect for enhanced comfort. Sensil Body Fresh protects against the odours microbes can cause, which means busy consumers dont have to take time to wash their jeans as often. Sensil Heat warms on chilly days while Sensil Aquarius stays dry on warm days.Nilits Sensil denim collection features an array of fashionable styles that capture all the important aspects of a modern denim collection, from drape and durability to performance and beauty.Pierluigi Berardi, Nilit global marketing director said, Cutting edge jeanswear requires cutting edge fibre technology like Sensil premium Nylon 6.6 performance yarns. Together with our supply chain partners, Sensil creates fabrics that are the smart choice for denim brands that want to effectively respond to these shifting consumer attitudes about clothing and shopping. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India




Tom Falco, Editor/Publisher

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Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BEIJING, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 30th, Yili Group, No.1 in Asia and a member of the top 8 worldwide in the dairy industry, released its financial report of the first half of 2017. According to the report, in the first half of this year, the Company achieved 33.494 billion yuan of total revenue, with a growth rate of 11.32% on a year-on-year basis; the net profit amounted to 3.368 billion yuan, with a 4.52% growth over the same period last year. Yilicontinues tolead theindustry with its scale advantages in revenues, net profits as well as robust growth.

The Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games ("Beijing 2022") and Yili Group officially announced that, Yili Group will be the only official partner of dairy products for the Beijing 2022. Sticking to the idea of "Keep Climbing All the Way and Infuse Vigor into the Chinese Dream", put forward by its Chairman Pan Gang, Yili rekindles the relationship with the Olympics and became the only healthy food supplier for both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Yili has created a new milestone of Chinese dairy industry.

The robust growth of Yili's performance in the first half of this year is derived from Chairman Pan Gang's clear-cut development strategies and accurate judgment of industrial trends as well as the trust from consumers. The high quality of Yili's products serves as an important cornerstone for its cooperation with Beijing 2022, which turns Yili as the first healthy-food provider that meets the "Both Olympic" standards.

During the period of the report, Yili has upgraded the package and flavor of its room-temperature yogurt Ambrosial. With the launch of such popular new products as "Pro-Kido Formula Milk Powder for Infants and Young Children", "Fermented Milk of JoyDay Flavor" and "PureDay Cheese Buttermilk", the capacity for product innovation enables continuous growth.

"Yili represents the highest quality" is a fundamental creed set up by Chairman Pan Gang for the enterprise. Based on its own quality management system featuring "the participation of all the staff and in all the processes in an all-round manner" and the three-level food security risk monitoring, preventing and controlling system covering the "HQ, division and plants", it leads its way in conducting monitoring, analysis, management and prevention of key points in food safety and quality control from source to end.

Quality istop on the agenda for Yili.Pan Gang proposed that innovation and globalization serve as "two wheels" to drive the strategic growth. On the one hand, Yili emphasizesthe golden milk resources of the world, occupying the upstream industry chain. On the other hand, Yili gathers the world's top intellectual resourcesto focus on conducting researches on the forward-looking subjects on nutrition and health as well as high-tech healthy food.

Pan Gang put forward the vision that, up until 2020, Yili willhelp 2 billion consumers across the world enjoy its nutritious and healthy products.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2017 / The Brexit vote in 2016 created a significant economic fallout that now has the European Union reevaluating current trade deals, and pursuing new ones as well. Specifically, the loss of the United Kingdom from the EU has prompted officials in Brussels to hasten their long-held goal of creating a modernized trade agreement with core South American countries, a task that foreign exchange expert Vicente Izquierdo Munoz says is long overdue. The co-founder of a globally recognized financial services company discusses the events leading up to the recent intensifying of dialogue, and the potential benefits that exist for both sides.

The initial groundwork for updated trade deals between the EU and certain South American nations was laid years ago, as Mercosur, (a sub-regional bloc that consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as core members,) first began negotiations with Brussels in 1999. Talks have been stalled for many years since however, with the two parties unable to fully agree on a range of issues, such as farming and related agricultural standards. Political developments in both Europe and the United States within the last year have fostered an immediate interest to come to an agreement sooner rather than later, as both entities seek to protect and expand their financial interests in the midst of a new socio-economic landscape.

The EU now wishes to settle on core principles of a deal by December. At a summit of Mercosur nations in early August, South American leaders agreed in pursuing - at minimum - a finalized political agreement with the EU by the end of the year. "Mercosur's participation in world trade should increase significantly, and that is why these agreements have been prioritised," said Argentinian foreign minister Jorge Faurie. Officials from both sides have stated that clinching a deal in the coming months would signify a clear signal of shared commitments to trade liberalisation, open markets, and international collaboration. Vicente Izquierdo Munoz asserts the potential mutual benefits by noting the South American bloc, which contains several fast emerging economies, boasts a 500-million strong consumer market for European goods. Likewise, EU Commission figures show that in 2016, member countries exported 38.6bn of goods and imported 37.1bn from the region; numbers that are bound to increase once a full agreement is reached between the two.

Vicente Izquierdo Munoz is an acclaimed international economics expert, and co-founder of a leading broker market of Contract for Differences (CFDs.) His company offers CFDs on currencies, indexes, and commodities, and specializes in the trading of financial products in Over the Counter (OTC) and organized stock markets. Munoz provides his clients with advanced technological solutions and the support of a professional finance team in order to achieve sustained success in their investments. With 10 available trading platforms and more than 200 financial instruments, Vicente and his team service both retail and institutional entities in over 180 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Vicente Izquierdo Munoz - Co-Founder of a Leading Brokerage of CFDs: http://vicenteizquierdomunoznews.com

Vicente Izquierdo Munoz - Discusses How Blockchain Technology is Simplifying International Transactions: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vicente-izquierdo-munoz-discusses-blockchain-053000968.html

Contact Information:

VicenteIzquierdoMunozNews.com

contact@vicenteizquierdomunoznews.com

http://vicenteizquierdomunoznews.com

SOURCE: Vicente Izquierdo Munoz
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Venezuela and China agreed to advance with their joint investment portfolio and oil cooperation agreements. The decision was made in the framework of a round table held by the China-Venezuela High-Level Joint Commission in Caracas. Among the agreements is the increase of China's stake in the mixed oil company Sinovensa, which operates in the Orinoco Oil Belt. During the meeting, it was reported that the Chinese oil company CNPC America is interested in taking part in the reactivation of 800 wells in the Orinoco Oil Belt, which would generate an output increase estimated at 42 thousand barrels of crude oil per day. Meanwhile, the Minister of Petroleum Eulogio Del Pino also reported on the development of a new refinery in China, to be projected with CNCP. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
SINGAPORE -- (Marketwired) -- 08/31/17 -- CoAssets Limited ("CoAssets" or the "Company") (ASX: CA8), an online finance platform, today announced two major milestones in line with the Company's next phase of growth to transform into an online financial institution and to create a more diversified credit landscape.

CoAssets has entered into a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SSPA) with Brighten Management Limited (BML), a member company of Styland Holdings Ltd (HK EX code: 211), a Hong Kong main board listed company with a market capitalisation of more than HKD775 million.

Pursuant to the terms of the SSPA, CoAssets will (1) acquire a total of 2,500 fully paid ordinary shares, i.e. 25% of Brighten Finance Limited (BFL) over two equal tranches of 12.5% each in September 2017 and November 2017 for a total consideration of S$1.8million; (2) assume day-to-day management control of BFL at the end of the acquisition process; (3) settlement between the parties will be arranged separately depending on BFL hitting critical milestones.

CoAssets has released the annual report for the Financial Year 2016/2017 and recent operational highlights including a S.M.A.R.T initiative and reach into the corporate loans business.

In line with CoAssets' next phase of growth, announcement of the two major milestones have set the stage to actualise the long-term vision to transform the Company into an online financial institution. CoAssets has been a major provider of matching liquidity to ventures in need of funds with particular emphasis on the funding gap of between S$100,000 and S$5 million, raising over $43 million (US$30 million) through its platform since 2013. The acquisition of BFL enriches CoAssets' capabilities to offer financial services outside of Singapore, as well as position the Company to better serve the market in China, where it has achieved a revenue of more than 3000% in the last 12 months of operations. The acquisition will further serve to synergise CoAssets' commitment to provide credible and alternate financing solutions for all players seeking to succeed in a global economy.

Adding to CoAssets' core competencies, the award of the Capital Market Services (CMS) licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in June 2017, has enabled the Company to once more engage its 55,000-plus users in Singapore and connect qualified investors with opportunities over the platform. The licence will further set the stage for CoAssets to expand their reach into the corporate lending business, where more than S$9.5 million worth of loans have been deployed, with a total write off rate of 1.46%.

S.M.A.R.T. Initiative

The Company has also embarked on a S.M.A.R.T. initiative providing an overarching framework to guide the company's short-term to long-term growth plans. With a view of weaning off traditional business models, key areas of the initiative include: (1) Strategy, (2) Markets, (3) Acquisition, (4) Revenue and (5) Technology, with focus on two core expertise of funding and technology to further cement their position as market leaders in the region. As the S.M.A.R.T. initiative starts to take root, investors, lenders and borrowers can rely on CoAssets to lend more, lend faster and more importantly lend safer.

Commenting on CoAssets' transformation, Getty Goh, CEO and Co-Founder of CoAssets said, "I believe that regional expansion will be key for our long-term viability, having actively grown our presence beyond Singapore in the last few months. As our S.M.A.R.T. initiative starts to take root with key areas of technology and funding in our crosshairs, I believe we will be able to play a bigger role to serve the region's "unbanked" communities and businesses, by offering them access to alternate financing solutions, anywhere and everywhere. As CoAssets is in the business of matching borrowers and lenders, the acquisition of BFL will give the Company a steady supply of secured borrowers. From our due diligence, we found that these secured borrowers are prepared to pay interests of more than 10% per annum. Ultimately, this investment will increase our market reach and assist us to achieve our financial objectives as we gradually transform into an online financial institution. This is a great win for our shareholders, partners, customers and employees".

Mr. Julian So, Chief Business Development Officer and Co-Founder of Brighten Management Limited commented, "We are pleased to partner with CoAssets, having worked with them for a period of time and witnessing CoAssets' proven technology, evolving innovation and a world-class management team. Separately, at the current price, we think that CoAssets makes a worthwhile investment. That is why we are prepared to put our money where our mouth is, and underwrite two rounds of private placement for them. We are lucky that we are one of the first movers to spot this hidden gem. We are confident that with the right type of institution investors support, CoAssets will go far. Ultimately, we are confident that, together, Brighten Management Limited and CoAssets will benefit greatly from this strategic alliance and long-term working relationship".

KEY 2016/2017 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Financial Performance

3,921% increase in revenue from China in the last 12 months

54% increase in interest income for corporate loans

1.46% corporate loan write off rate

S$9.56 million corporate loan amount deployed to date

S$5.45 million worth of corporate loans made in 2017H1, translated to interest income of S$965,000

User Achievement and Notable News

230,540 number of registered users as at 30 June 2017

347% increase in user numbers in the last 12 months

74.8% users from China

173,054 registered users from China

55,150 registered users from Singapore

2,337 registered users from Australia

About CoAssets Limited

CoAssets (www.coassets.com) is one of South-East Asia's leading online finance platforms which is headquartered in Singapore and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Officially launched in Singapore in July 2013, it currently has more than 230,000 registered users. The company won the Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award for 2014, as well as OPP Gold Award for Excellence and currently has offices in Singapore, Australia and China.

About Brighten Finance Limited

Brighten Finance Limited (BFL) is a Hong Kong based financial company established in November 2015 and is a group company of Brighten Management Limited (BML). BFL obtained its moneylender's licence on 9 March 2017 and primarily operates in the Hong Kong residential mortgage business.

For Further Enquiries, please contact:

Keith Jonathan / Shannon Teo

PR Communications Pte Ltd

Tel: (65) 6227 2135

Fax: (65) 6227 3915

Email: Email Contact / Email Contact




Regulatory News:

CARMAT (Paris:ALCAR) (FR0010907956, ALCAR), the designer and developer of the world's most advanced total artificial heart project, aiming to provide a therapeutic alternative for people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, today announces the appointment of Francesco Arecchi as Marketing Manager.

Francesco Arecchi is a Marketing professional with strong experience in global leading companies within the healthcare industry. Biomedical Engineer graduated from Politecnico Milano (Italy) with an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands), he has spent most of his career in Life Sciences companies such as Johnson Johnson and Abbott where he held a number of positions from Sales to Marketing in Cardiology breakthrough technology products such as Cypher and MitraClip. Prior to joining CARMAT, Francesco Arecchi was Product Manager EMEA Structural Heart at Abbott, a leader in Healthcare and particularly in cardiologic devices.

"The marketing strategy of any breakthrough medical device needs to be designed alongside the clinical development. I am proud to be involved in such an exciting project, as CARMAT continues to develop its artificial heart, which has the potential to save thousands of patients suffering from end-stage heart failure," said Francesco Arecchi.

Stephane Piat, CEO of CARMAT, comments: "We are delighted to welcome Francesco as Marketing Manager. He has a strong professional experience in Therapy Development for Cardiology across a number of leading multinationals within the space, which will allow us to design an enhanced Therapy Development Roadmap and improve the execution of our plans. I am convinced that Francesco has the background and necessary leadership skills to prepare the commercialization strategy for our unique product in the best conditions."

About CARMAT: the world's most advanced total artificial heart project

A credible response to end-stage heart failure: CARMAT aims to eventually provide a response to a major public health issue associated with heart disease, the world's leading cause of death: chronic and acute heart failure. By pursuing the development of its total artificial heart, CARMAT intends to overcome the well-known shortfall in heart transplants for the tens of thousands of people suffering from irreversible end-stage heart failure, the most seriously affected of the 20 million patients with this progressive disease in Europe and the United States.

The result of combining two types of unique expertise: the medical expertise of Professor Carpentier, known throughout the world for inventing Carpentier-Edwards heart valves, which are the most used in the world, and the technological expertise of Airbus Group, world aerospace leader.

Imitating the natural heart: given its size, the choice of structural materials and its innovative physiological functions, CARMAT's total artificial heart could, assuming the necessary clinical trials are successful, potentially benefit the lives of thousands of patients a year with no risk of rejection and with a good quality of life.

A project leader acknowledged at a European level: with the backing of the European Commission, CARMAT has been granted the largest subsidy ever given to an SME by Bpifrance; a total of 33 million.

Strongly committed, prestigious founders and shareholders: Airbus Group (Matra Defense), Professor Alain Carpentier, the Centre Chirurgical Marie Lannelongue, Truffle Capital, a leading European venture capital firm, ALIAD, Air Liquide's venture capital investor, CorNovum, an investment holding company held 50-50 by Bpifrance and the French State, the family offices of Pierre Bastid (ZAKA) and of Dr. Antonino Ligresti (Sante Holdings S.R.L.) as well as the thousands of institutional and individual shareholders who have placed their trust in CARMAT.

For more information: www.carmatsa.com

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe to, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe to, shares in CARMAT ("the Company") in any country. This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to the Company's objectives. Such forward-looking statements are based solely on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company's management and involve risk and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, whether the Company will be successful in implementing its strategies, whether there will be continued growth in the relevant market and demand for the Company's products, new products or technological developments introduced by competitors, and risks associated with managing growth. The Company's objectives as mentioned in this press release may not be achieved for any of these reasons or due to other risks and uncertainties.

No guarantee can be given as to any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements, which are subject to inherent risks, including those described in the Document de Reference filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers under number D.16-0200 on March 22, 2017 and changes in economic conditions, the financial markets or the markets in which CARMAT operates. In particular, no guarantee can be given concerning the Company's ability to finalize the development, validation and industrialization of the prosthesis and the equipment required for its use, to manufacture the prostheses, satisfy the requirements of the ANSM, enroll patients, obtain satisfactory clinical results, perform the clinical trials and tests required for CE marking and to obtain the CE mark. CARMAT products are currently exclusively used within the framework of clinical trials.

Name: CARMAT

ISIN code: FR0010907956

Ticker: ALCAR

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170831006145/en/

Contacts:

CARMAT

Stephane Piat

CEO

Benoit de la Motte

CFO

+33 (0)1 39 45 64 50

contact@carmatsas.com

or

Alize RP

Press Relations

Caroline Carmagnol

Wendy Rigal

+33 (0)1 44 54 36 66

carmat@alizerp.com

or

NewCap

Investor Relations Strategic Communication

Dusan Oresansky

Emmanuel Huynh

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

carmat@newcap.eu
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Cabinet office is slated to release the Japan consumer confidence index for August at 1:00 am ET Friday. The index is seen at 43.5, compared to 43.8 in July. Ahead of the data, the yen rose against its major rivals. As of 12:55 am ET, the yen was trading at 130.88 against the euro, 142.18 against the pound, 114.61 against the Swiss franc and 110.02 against the U.S. dollar. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Press release

NNIT data center achieves yet another unique and prestigious certification

NNIT's data center achieves people-focused Tier III certification through internationally acknowledged advisory UptimeInstitute.

Copenhagen, November 3 2017 - NNIT A/S, a leading provider of IT services and consultancy, has achieved the final part of the Tier III certification for its Data Center 1P situated in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, i.e. an Operational certification.

This achievement, which completes a long and demanding certification process, is focused on people.

According to the organization behind the certification, the internationally acknowledged UptimeInstitute, around 70% of the registered incidents in data centers are caused by humans.

For a quality service provider like NNIT this part of the certification is extremely important, explains Ricco Larsen, Senior Vice President, NNIT A/S:

"This achievement is an important proof of quality, because it is about people and the way we work. A data center constitutes the epicenter of all IT-infrastructure, and we can now document that our deliveries and services match the highest market standards."

The data center has previously achieved the rare and prestigious certification for its "design" and "facility".

NNIT achieved the official Tier III certification of its data center facility through UptimeInstitute, an internationally acknowledged and unbiased advisory organization.

Ricco Larsen continues:

"The next step will be the certification of our new data center 2. When this certification is completed, NNIT will be able to offer access to three state-of-the-art data centers with Tier III certifications and become the only IT supplier in Denmark with a complete certification of all our data centers."

NNIT A/S is one of Denmark's leading IT service providers and consultancies. NNIT A/S offers a wide range of IT services and solutions to its customers, primarily in the life sciences sector in Denmark and internationally and to customers in the public, enterprise and finance sectors in Denmark. As of September 30, 2017, NNIT A/S had 2,999 employees. For more information please visit www.nnit.com (http://www.nnit.com/).

Further information

NNIT Data Center Certification (http://hugin.info/163771/R/2145660/823068.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: NNIT A/S via Globenewswire



Helga Heyn, NNIT Communications, +45 30 77 81 41, hhey@nnit.com (mailto:hhey@nnit.com)
HKTDC Communication and Public Affairs Department Selina Fan Tel: +852 2584 4298 Email: selina.mi.fan@hktdc.org

HONG KONG, Sept 1, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Leaders of the watch and watchmaking industry will discuss the latest trends, challenges and opportunities they face at the Hong Kong International Watch Forum, which gets underway on the opening day of the HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair, the world's largest event of its kind.Starting at 2pm on 5 September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), the forum's first session, Market Updates and Industry Trends, will be followed by a second gathering about Challenges & Opportunities in Watch Manufacturing.Speakers offering a European market viewpoint include Patrice Besnard, Director General of France's Chambre Francaise L'horlogerie; Dr Jean-Daniel Pasche, President of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH; and Dr Guido Grohmann, CEO of the Federation of German Jewellery, Watches, Clocks, Silverware and Related Industries. Representing Asia's perspective will be Dae-Boong Kim, Executive Director of the Korea Watch & Clock Industry Cooperative; Ichiro Kubo, General Manager of the Japan Clock & Watch Association; and China Horologe Association Deputy Director General Hongguang Zhang.New smartwatch technology will be a major focus, according to Mr Kim of the Korea Watch & Clock Industry Cooperative. He said multifunction features connected to smartphones via WiFi or Bluetooth are constantly developing to provide news and investment updates, do fitness tracking, record distances and GPS locations.Representing the Swiss industry, Dr Pasche will explore how Hong Kong still accounts for approximately half of all Swiss watch exports. At a separate seminar, he will also discuss attempts to strengthen the Swiss brand, and how a 10 per cent slump in worldwide sales last year has prompted new regulations to restrict "Swiss-Made" labelling.France, the historic birthplace of the mechanical watch and clock industry, will be represented by Mr Besnard of Chambre Francaise L'horlogerie, who will discuss the revival of traditional clock designs.Speaking ahead of the Forum, Mr Besnard said fashion watches for women and stylish items for the young millennial market are also leading the French industry forward. He said many young brands are distributing almost exclusively online, and noted that France meanwhile is reinforcing its own national brand identity and image. The country is creating a hub of the industry around Besancon."Demand for communication and data opens a new era for watches," said Besnard. "The industry has to re-evaluate this evolution, in terms of both distribution and keeping in touch with consumers. But we mustn't forget that people wear a watch all the time."Mr Kubo of the Japan Clock & Watch Association said it is critical to "harmonise business with social circumstances" and react to "current culture". He cited as an example how Japanese animators are creating characters, which, in an era digital technology means that "watch industrialists in Hong Kong and southern China have a wealth of ideas for collaboration"."In the watch industry, old technology is not taken over by new ones. Of course, scales change, but both technologies exist as valuable products," he added. "So we continue to improve on old technology, while also addressing latest developments," he said, reminding his peers it is always important to keep up with the times.A Guide to 'Swiss-Made'Essential insights into new regulations regarding the rights to using the "Swiss-Made" label will be offered at a Forum seminar called "A Guide to the 'Swiss-Made' Label" on 6 September at 11am.The issue is of pressing importance to low-cost manufacturers in particular, since the label now requires at least 60 per cent of the value of a watch to be made, assembled and inspected in Switzerland before it can be labelled as "Swiss". The previous labelling rule called for 50 per cent.In the eyes of Swiss regulators, more affordable brands producing 'Swiss-Made' watches are not upholding the implicit manufacturing standards expected of the traditional 'royalty' of watchmaking. Until now it has been entirely possible to produce a watch with an Asian case, dial, hands, crystals and strap, then purchase the movement or just some parts from Switzerland to qualify for a prestigious 'Swiss-Made' stamp on the dial.The new "Swiss-Made" regulation cracks down on this, requiring greater technical development in Switzerland, most contentiously the movement. With smartwatches included for the first time, significant upheaval of the industry surely lies ahead.At the Forum, a seminar presented by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry will involve its President, Dr Pasche, and Dr Yves Bugmann, head of the federation's legal division. Joining what promises to be a lively discussion are Pascal Winkelmann of the Hong Kong Watch Manufacturers Association, Moses Leung of The Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades & Industries, Shunhua Zhu of the Shenzhen Watch & Clock Association, and Mr Zhang of the China Horologe Association.Fair WebsitesHKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair: www.hktdc.com/hkwatchfair5-9 September: Trade visitors aged 18 or above only (Free Admission)Salon de TE: www.hktdc.com/hkwatchfair/te9 September: Open to public visitors aged 12 or above (Free Admission)For Media:Media representatives wishing to cover the event may register on-site with their business cards and/or media identification.To view press releases in Chinese, please visit http://mediaroom.hktdc.com/tcAbout HKTDCEstablished in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdcTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdcLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Auditions open for Playhouse

COLUMBUS -- The Platte Valley Playhouse will hold auditions for Leading Ladies from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Platte Valley Playhouse, 1158 35th Ave.

This comedy focuses on two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, who are down on their luck. When they hear that an old lady in York, Pennsylvania, is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long-lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The performance will take place Oct. 1922 at Central Community College.

For more information, contact Rita at 402-246-5963.

Dancers marking anniversary

COLUMBUS -- Harolds Squares Square Dance Club of Columbus will host a 40th anniversary dance for Jim and Marilyn Carroll from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday at the VFW Hall.

The caller will be Bryan Bush from Cleghorn, Iowa. A meal will be served following the dance. Club members are asked to bring a salad. Spectators are welcome to stop by and see what square-dancing is about.

For more information, call 402-564-5502.

Local hospital holding sale

COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Community Hospital Volunteers will host a Collective Goods Flash Sale from 9 a.m.4:30 p.m. Sept. 8 in the hospitals third-floor conference center.

The sale will feature many types of books including childrens, cookbooks, early learning titles, gifts, toys and stationary. All major credit and debit cards, cash, checks and post-dated checks will be accepted. Proceeds will be used to help fund medical equipment and program advancement purchases at the hospital.

For more information, call Angie Ramaekers, director of volunteer services, at 402-562-3365 or email at adramaeker@columbushosp.org.
Vilnius, Lithuania, 2017-09-01 08:45 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "Lietuvos energija", UAB, identification code 301844044, registered office placed at Zveju str. 14, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania. The total nominal value of issued bonds 300 000 000 EUR; ISIN code XS1646530565.



In the first half-year of this year, more transparent and efficient activity by the state-owned enterprise enabled to improve the results. Owing to reduced electricity and gas distribution prices for customers, the company received 7 percent less income during the first half-year as compared to the preceding year, however, earned nearly 33 percent more net profit that will be subsequently paid out to the state budget in dividends. Having cut down operating costs during the first half year, Lietuvos energija retained a high rate of return on equity that reached nearly 10 percent.



"Having modernised the management of the group of energy enterprises, we have built a basis to create a higher value for customers and the shareholder - the State of Lithuania. Owing to the reduction of distribution prices, electricity and gas prices decreased for residents and businesses. Time duration of connecting to the grids have reduced by more than ten days. New services have been launched to customers that may be ordered in a faster and simpler way. Meanwhile, by further improving the financial results, we demonstrate to local and international investors that we are a reliable and financially strong enterprise worthy of the high credit rating granted to us. We have proved this by especially successful distribution of the issue of EUR 300 million green bonds. Besides, we do not lag behind the world trends and proceed along the way of energy digitalisation and innovation development. During the first half year we announced not only about the launching of the digitalisation programme, but also about the start of the foundation financing the development of energy innovations", - claims CEO of Lietuvos energija, Dr. Dalius Misiunas.



Key indicators for the first half year 2017 of Lietuvos energija:



-- The Group's EBITDA grew by EUR 5,3 million - up to EUR 120,2 EUR (H1 2016 - EUR 114,9 million), mostly due to better EBITDA results in energy production and reduced operating costs of the group. -- Operating costs reduced due to greater efficiency by EUR 6,2 million - down to EUR 61,2 million (H1 2016 - EUR 67,4 million); -- The group's net comparative profit increased by 33 percent - up to EUR 64,8 million (H1 2016 - EUR 48,8 million); -- The group's income due to reduced electricity and gas distribution prices for customers reduced by 7 percent - down to EUR 539 million (H1 2016 - EUR 580 million); -- Return on equity (ROE) remained high - 9,9 percent (2016 - 10,3 percent); -- Investments reduced by 38,4 percent - down to EUR 82,4 million (H1 2016 - EUR 133,7 million).



Ernesta Dapkiene, Director of Corporate Communications Division at Lietuvos energija Tel.: +370 61143548 Email: ernesta.dapkiene@le.lt



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Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 3:45 am ET Friday, Markit Economics is due to release its manufacturing PMI figures for Italy. PMI reports for France and Germany are due at 3:50 am ET and 3:55 am ET, respectively. The manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone is due 4:00 am ET. Ahead of the reports, the euro showed mixed trading against the other major currencies. While the euro U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the yen and the pound. As of 3:40 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.9203 against the pound, 1.1421 against the Swiss franc, 1.1885 against the U.S. dollar and 130.94 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Eros Now paying subscribers grow at 70% (YTD)

Over 10% increase in Adjusted EBITDA and margin expansion to 24%

Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) ("Eros" or "the Company"), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, today reported its quarterly financial results for the three and six months ended September 30, 2017.

Key Highlights

Eros Now grew its paying subscriber base at over 70% (YTD) from 2.1 million at March 31, 2017 to 3.7 million as of September 30, 2017. As of September 30, 2017, the registered users reached over 75 million. Company re-affirms previous guidance of 6-8 million paying subscribers by FYE 2018.

Eros Now expands global footprint by entering into a partnership with Telecel Global in the South African market.

Eros Now partners and launches with Roku, continuing to increase its global OTT footprint across US, UK, Canada, France, South America.

Eros Now continues to widen its platform agnostic strategy with premium placement on LG SmartTVs worldwide.

Eros has $113 million of cash on the balance sheet as of September 30, 2017.

Consolidated revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was $63.3 million.

Operating profit for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was $14.4 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was $15.1 million which resulted in a margin of 23.9%.

Net debt decreased by 13% to $137.2 million as at September 30, 2017 from $157.6 million as of March 31, 2017.

Eros Now original slate continues to grow, now also including straight to digital feature films, short films and original series.

A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures discussed within this release to our GAAP operating results are included at the end of this release. See also "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Management Comments:

Jyoti Deshpande, Eros' Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director said:

"We are pleased to announce another strong quarterly performance. We continue to transition the company from a leading film studio to a digital company as we build on the momentum of our Eros Now platform which has crossed over 3.7 million paying subscribers. 4G telecom based growth in India continues to be bouyant and Eros Now continues to grow favourably due to the exclusive and dynamic relationships we have built with the leading telcos in India. We are confidently on track to hit our 6-8 million paying subscriber target by the end of fiscal 2018 and at least doubling that by the end of fiscal 2019. Over the past few months we have entered into several new distribution partnerships with both OEM's and distributors including Roku, LG and Telecel Global in South Africa. As we grow our Eros Now userbase outside of India, these partnerships will be very important for us to reach as many new markets and customers as possible growing our base in the most efficient and effective ways.

Throughout the past year, we have strategically chosen to concentrate on medium and lower budget content driven films rather than high budget star driven films. This strategy is paying off as we saw several of our films generate strong returns this quarter, including the hit comedy 'Shubh Mangal Savdhan', 'Munna Michael' and 'Newton" which went on to become India's official entry to this year's Academy Awards. Looking ahead, we will continue to pursue our strategy of content driven films that are green-lit at an appropriate budget with attractive ROI possibilities while leveraging our strong library of films to generate margin-enhancing performance."

Prem Parameswaran, Group Chief Financial Officer and President of North America also commented:

"We delivered strong financial results in the quarter and first six months of Fiscal Year 2018. On the operational side, we had several well-received theatrical releases this quarter as well as robust TV syndication revenues. We posted one of our best ever quarters for digital and ancillary revenues, buoyed by the success of Eros Now and growth in paying subscribers, which we had highlighted last month. For the six months ended September 30, 2017, operating profit increased substantially compared to the year ago period, with operating profit and Adjusted EBITDA margins of 21.1% and 24.9%, respectively. With over $113 million of cash on our balance sheet and a reduction in short-term borrowings, our balance sheet remains strong and we are well capitalized for future growth. Our trailing twelve month net leverage stands at 2.5x and our total debt to capitalisation ratio is 21%."

Recent Operational Highlights

Seven films were released in Q2 Fiscal Year 2018 of which two were medium budget and five were low budget films as compared to 18 films in Q2 Fiscal Year 2017, of which two were high budget, four were medium budget and twelve were low budget films. This is in line with the Eros strategy of developing its own intellectual property by partnering with both Indian talent and international film companies that offer strategic benefits.

Munna Michael (Hindi), Shubh Mangal Savdhan (Hindi), Newton (Hindi), Sniff (Hindi) and the regional slate comprising of Boss 2, Projapoti Biskut and Baap Janam were the main revenue contributing films during the quarter. Shubh Mangal Savdhan, a romantic comedy was well-received by critics and registered solid box office collections, delivering an attractive return on investment.

Newton has been selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film language category at the 2018 Academy Awards. It also received accolades at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Pre-sales and catalogue sales continued in this period and contributed to profitability and strong margins.

Eros has a compelling film slate planned for Fiscal Year 2018, including films such as Happy Bhaag Jayegi 2, Mukkebaaz, Ribbon, Rukh and Nimmo. In addition, Eros looks forward to releasing Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam films during the year.

As previously reported, as of September 30, 2017, Eros Now has exceeded 75 million registered users and 3.7 million paying users worldwide across APP, WAP and Web.

Eros' platform agnostic strategy continues with Eros Now entering into new deals that cover the entire spectrum from OEM to broadband companies to significant platform service providers, all of which provide direct customer interface for Eros Now. Eros Now entered into deals with LG, Roku and Telecel Global. Subscribers as of September 30, 2017 do not include contribution from these deals.

Eros Now and Partnerships

Eros Now holds rights to more than 10,000 films, of which approximately 5,000 films are owned in perpetuity, and across Hindi and regional languages.

Eros Now is committed to bringing exciting fresh content to its audiences. Eros Now's contemporary original programs spanning genres such as comedies, drama, mythological dramas, thrillers as well as satires will release over Fiscal Year 2018 and Fiscal Year 2019. At least 50% of Eros' programs have been conceptualized by its writers' rooms across Trinity and Eros Now. A few of our originals include:

Flesh with Siddharth Anand: An 8 year old girl goes missing and her NRI parents are forced to seek the help of a suspended female cop in their search for her. An ex-human trafficker is blackmailed to join the search or else risk his sinful past catching with him.

Swarajya: On the eve of India's independence, two senior civil servants in Nehru's government find themselves in the center of the storm, having to deal with myriad issues relating to the transfer of power and birth of a new nation.

Minerva Mills Malady: Following the Minerva Mills Case in the 1970s through the eyes of the petitioners.

Kurukshetra with Prakash Kovalamadhi: The tribals thought they were Gods. The army thought they were militants. What they turn out to be, are five children with 'superpowers' emerging from a genetic mutation. And with destinies that, almost uncannily, resemble the trajectory of the Mahabharata.

Hacked with Abbas Tyrewala: A young man must team up with the spirit of a dead hacker that haunts his new laptop to uncover the truth behind his killing, leading them to a bloody conspiracy of murdered nuclear scientists.

In addition to the originals, Eros Now also has 5 straight to digital films in various stages of production. These comprise short films as well as longer format films.

Eros Now continues to focus on numerous partnerships spanning OEMs, Telco's and broadband providers.

Eros Now announced entry into the South African Market with its Telecel Global partnership. Eros Now will be available to Telecel customers as a bundled service with their prepaid and postpaid data plans, IPTV and set-top box with multi-purpose quad service applications. Eros Now will leverage a committed number of annual paid subscribers from this association with Telecel.

Eros Now expanded content availability with LG Smart TVs worldwide with a preferred placement for the Eros Now app in the devices in India. Eros Now's vast library of Bollywood and regional language films, music videos, TV shows, originals and more will be accessible by millions of LG smart TV owners across the globe.

Continuing with its global expansion, Eros Now partnered with Roku Inc. Roku devices can now stream Eros Now's vast library of Bollywood and regional language films, TV shows, and originals in the USA, Canada, France, South America and UK.

Eros International Plc Financial Highlights:

Three Months Ended September 30 Six Months Ended September 30 (dollars in millions) 2017 2016 % change 2017 2016 % change Revenue 63.3 71.9 (12 124.1 143 (13.2 28.2 22.9 Gross profit 23.1 54 46 17.4 Operating profit 14.4 5.5 161.8 26.1 12.7 105.5 Adjusted EBITDA(1) 15.1 13.7 10.2 30.9 31.8 (2.8

(1)Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures discussed within this release to our GAAP operating results are included at the end of this release. See also "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Financial Results for the Three and Six Months Ended September 30, 2017

Revenue

In the three months ended September 30, 2017, the Eros film slate was comprised of seven films of which two were medium budget and five were low budget as compared to 18 films in the three months ended September 30, 2016, of which two were high budget, four were medium budget and twelve were low budget.

In the three months ended September 30, 2017, the Company's slate of seven films comprised of four Hindi film and three regional films as compared to the same period last year where its slate of 18 films comprised five Hindi films, seven Tamil/Telugu films and six regional films.

In the six months ended September 30, 2017, the Eros film slate was comprised of 12 films of which one film was high budget, three were medium budget and eight were low budget films as compared to 32 films in the six months ended September 30, 2016, of which five were high budget, six were medium budget and 21 were low budget.

In the six months ended September 30, 2017, the Company's slate of 12 films comprised of five Hindi films, one Tamil/Telugu film and six regional films as compared to the same period last year where its slate of 32 films comprised of ten Hindi films, thirteen Tamil/Telugu films and nine regional films.

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, revenue decreased by 12% to $63.3 million, compared to $71.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue decreased by 13.2% to $124.1 million, compared to $143 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, aggregate theatrical revenues decreased by 38% to $19.4 million from $31.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016, mainly due to a lower number of films, especially high and medium budget Hindi films. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue decreased by 37.4% to $43 million, compared to $68.7 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016. The decrease in theatrical revenue reflects the mix of films released in each period as mentioned above.

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, aggregate revenues from television syndication decreased by 11.1% to $23.2 million from $26.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016, mainly due to lower new release television revenues partially offset by catalogue revenues. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue decreased by 11.2% to $40.6 million, compared to $45.7 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016. This was due to lower catalogue sales in six months ended September 30, 2017.

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, the aggregate revenues from digital and ancillary increased by 42.1% to $20.6 million from $14.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 primarily on account of contribution from Eros Now and catalogue revenues. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue increased by 41.6% to $40.5 million, compared to $28.6 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Three months ended High Medium Low Total September 30, 2017 0 2 5 7 September 30, 2016 2 4 12 18

Six months ended High Medium Low Total September 30, 2017 1 3 8 12 September 30, 2016 5 6 21 32

Revenue from India decreased by 36.3% to $25.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $39.9 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016 mainly due to lower theatrical revenues associated with fewer films released in the quarter ended September 30, 2017. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue from India decreased by 38.5% to $50.8 million, compared to $82.6 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016. The decrease in overall theatrical revenue was offset by stronger catalogue revenue contribution.

Revenue from Europe increased by 8.5% to $5.1 million in the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $4.7 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. This was due to higher catalogue sales partially offset by lower theatrical revenues associated with fewer films released in the quarter ended September 30, 2017. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue from Europe increased by 58.7% to $14.6 million, compared to $9.2 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Revenue from North America decreased by 20% to $0.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $0.5 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016 mainly due to lower theatrical revenues associated with fewer films released in the quarter ended September 30, 2017. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue from North America decreased by 68.4% to $0.6 million, compared to $1.9 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Revenue from the rest of the world increased by 20.9% to $32.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $26.8 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. This was due to higher catalogue sales partially offset by lower theatrical revenues associated with fewer films released in the quarter ended September 30, 2017. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, revenue from rest of world increased by 18.1% to $58.2 million, compared to $49.3 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Cost of sales

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, cost of sales decreased by 28% to $35.2 million compared to $48.9 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. The decrease was mainly due to lower amortization costs, lower marketing, advertising and distribution costs associated with fewer films released in the quarter ended September 30, 2017. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, cost of sales decreased by 27.7% to $70.1 million, compared to $96.9 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Gross profit

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, gross profit increased by 23.1% to $28.2 million, compared to $22.9 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. As a percentage of revenues, the Company's gross profit margin was 44.4% in the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to 31.8% in the three months ended September 30, 2016. This was mainly due to lower cost of sales linked to film mix and contribution from high margin catalogue revenues. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, gross profit increased by 17.4% to $54 million, compared to $46 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

EBIT (Non- GAAP)

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, EBIT increased by 161.8% to $14.4 million compared to $5.5 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. This was mainly due to lower cost of sales linked to film mix and contribution from high margin catalogue revenues. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, EBIT increased by 105.5% to $26.1 million, compared to $12.7 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Adjusted EBITDA (Non- GAAP)

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, Adjusted EBITDA increased by 10.2% to $15.1 million compared to $13.7 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016 due to fewer theatrical releases in the quarter partially offset by strong catalogue sales. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, adjusted EBITDA decreased by 2.8% to $30.9 million, compared to $31.8 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016 due to fewer theatrical releases in the quarter partially offset by strong catalogue sales.

Administrative costs

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, administrative costs decreased by 21.3% to $13.7 million compared to $17.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 mainly due to decrease in share based compensation. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, administrative costs decreased by 16.5% to 27.9 million, compared to $33.4 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Net finance costs

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, net finance costs increased by 18.2% to $5.2 million, compared to $4.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2016 mainly due to lower income from financing activities and increased borrowing costs. In the six months ended September 30, 2017, net finance costs increased by 39.5% to $10.6 million, compared to $7.6 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Income tax expense

For the six months ended September 30, 2017, income tax expenses decreased by 42.4% to $3.8 million, compared to $6.6 million in the six months ended September 30, 2016. Effective income tax rates were 20.0% and 28.6% for September 30, 2017 and September 30, 2016, respectively excluding non-deductible share-based payment charges and gain/loss on fair valuation of derivative liabilities. The change in effective rate principally reflects a change in the mix of the profits earned from taxable and non- taxable jurisdictions.

Net Income

For the three months ended September 30, 2017, net income increased by 257.1% to $2.2 million, compared to (1.4) million in the three months ended September 30, 2016. For the six months ended September 30, 2017, net income increased by 100% to 4.0 million, compared to $2.0 million in the six months ended September 30, 2016.

Trade Receivables

As of September 30, 2017, Trade Receivables increased to $237.2 million from $226.8 million as of March 31, 2017 mainly due to higher catalogue sales in this quarter. Catalogue sales have payment terms that sometimes extend up to a year. The Company collected over $13 million of trade receivables post September 30, 2017.

Net Debt

As of September 30, 2017, net debt decreased to $137.2 million from $157.6 million as of March 31, 2017.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call on Monday November 27th, 2017, at 8:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

To access the call please dial 718 354 1359 or 877 280 2342 from the United States, or +44 (0)20 3427 1910 or +44 (0)80 0279 5736 from outside the U.S. The conference call I.D. number is 6917202. Participants should dial in 5 to 10 minutes before the scheduled time.

A replay of the call can be accessed through December 3, 2017 by dialing 719 457 0820 or 888 203 1112 from the U.S., or +44 (0)20 7984 7568 or +44 (0)80 8101 1153 from outside the U.S. The conference call I.D. number is 6917202. The call will be available as a live webcast, which can be accessed at Eros' Investor Relations website. A replay of the webcast recording will be available until November 21, 2018.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Net Income

The Company uses the term Net Income, as the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") define the term as synonymous with profit for the period.

Adjusted EBITDA

In addition to the results prepared in accordance with IFRS provided in this release, the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA. The company uses Adjusted EBITDA along with other IFRS measures to evaluate operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA is defined by the Company as net income before interest expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization (excluding amortization of capitalized film content and debt issuance costs) adjusted for impairments of financial assets and available-for-sale financial assets, profit/loss on held for trading liabilities (including profit/loss on derivatives) share based payments and transaction costs related to equity transactions.

Adjusted EBITDA, as used and defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures employed by other companies and is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income, net income, cash flows from operating investing and financing activities, or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA provides no information regarding a company's capital structure, borrowings, interest costs, capital expenditures and working capital movement or tax position. However, our management team believes that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our results of operations because this measure:

is widely used by investors to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of such, term, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors;

help investors to evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the effect of our capital structure from our operating structure; and

is used by our management team for various other purposes, including presentations to our board of directors, as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting.

See the supplemental financial schedules for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the information presented in this press release and in related comments by Eros' management contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, these forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as "aim," ''anticipate,'' ''believe,'' "feel," "contemplate," ''intend,'' ''estimate,'' ''expect,'' ''continue,'' ''should,'' ''could,'' ''may,'' ''plan,'' ''project,'' ''predict,'' ''will,'' "future," "goal," "objective," and similar expressions and include references to assumptions and relate to Eros' future prospects, developments and business strategies. Similarly, statements that describe Eros' strategies, objectives, plans or goals are forward-looking statements and are based on information available to Eros as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the relevant statement. Such risks and uncertainties include a variety of factors, some of which are beyond Eros' control, including but not limited to market conditions and economic conditions. Information concerning these and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements is contained under the caption "Risk Factors" in Eros' Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Eros undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements included herein to reflect any future events or circumstances, except as required by law. Eros' actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from the results expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.

Seasonality

The Groups' financial position and results of operations for any period fluctuate due to film release schedules. Film release schedules take account of holidays and festivals in India and elsewhere, competitor film releases and sporting events.

About Eros International, Plc

Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) is a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media. Eros International Plc was the first Indian media company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Eros International has experience of over three decades in establishing a global platform for Indian cinema. The Company has a competitive advantage through its extensive and growing movie library comprising of over 3,000 films, which include Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films for home entertainment distribution. Eros International has built a dynamic business model by combining the release of new films every year with the exploitation of its film library. The company also owns the rapidly growing OTT platform Eros Now. For further information please visit: www.erosplc.com

EROS INTERNATIONAL PLC UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share data) Note September 30,

2017 March 31,

2017 ASSETS Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 10,018 10,354 Goodwill 4,992 4,992 Intangible assets trade name 14,000 14,000 Intangible assets content 5 889,361 904,628 Intangible assets others 5,500 4,360 Available-for-sale financial assets 29,693 29,613 Trade and other receivables 1 8,606 11,443 Income tax receivable 933 1,051 Restricted deposits 1,307 335 Deferred income tax assets 612 112 Total non-current assets 965,022 980,888 Current assets Inventories 324 214 Trade and other receivables 1 254,072 242,762 Current income tax receivable 234 253 Cash and cash equivalents 113,316 112,267 Restricted deposits 14,297 6,981 Total current assets 382,243 362,477 Total assets 1,347,265 1,343,365 LIABILITIES Current liabilities Trade and other payables 90,414 120,082 Acceptances 3 8,883 8,935 Short-term borrowings 2 156,143 180,029 Current income tax payable 9,263 7,055 Total current liabilities 264,703 316,101 Non-current liabilities Long-term borrowings 2 94,384 89,841 Other long-term liabilities 5,237 5,349 Derivative financial instruments 11,584 12,553 Deferred income tax liabilities 37,161 35,973 Total non-current liabilities 148,366 143,716 Total liabilities 413,069 459,817 EQUITY Share capital 4 31,996 31,877 Share premium 403,606 399,686 Reserves 448,760 436,997 Other components of equity (49,632) (48,118 JSOP reserve (15,985) (15,985 Equity attributable to equity holders of Eros International Plc 818,745 804,457 Non-controlling interest 115,451 79,091 Total equity 934,196 883,548 Total liabilities and shareholder's equity 1,347,265 1,343,365

EROS INTERNATIONAL PLC UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share data) Three Months Ended

September 30, Six Months Ended

September 30, Note 2017 2016 2017 2016 Revenue 8 63,308 71,876 124,140 142,971 Cost of sales (35,155) (48,935 (70,110) (96,945 Gross profit 28,153 22,941 54,030 46,026 Administrative cost (13,708) (17,447 (27,894) (33,352 Operating profit 14,445 5,494 26,136 12,674 Financing costs (5,715) (4,947 (11,533) (8,801 Finance income 546 573 980 1,234 Net finance costs (5,169) (4,374 (10,553 (7,567 Other (losses)/gains 9 (6,229) 1,534 (7,752) 3,566 Profit before tax 3,047 2,654 7,831 8,673 Income tax (831) (4,049 (3,817) (6,629 Profit (Loss) for the period 2,216 (1,395) 4,014 2,044 Attributable to: Equity holders of Eros International Plc (1,931) (3,686) (3,258) (1,699) Non-controlling interest 4,147 2,291 7,272 3,743 Earnings/(loss) per share(cents) Basic earnings/(loss) per share 7 (3.2) (6.3) (5.4) (2.9) Diluted earnings/(loss) per share 7 (3.3) (6.4) (5.6) (3.4)

EROS INTERNATIONAL PLC UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share data) Three Months Ended

September 30, Six Months Ended

September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 Profit (Loss) for the period 2,216 (1,395) 4,014 2,044 Other comprehensive loss: Items that will be subsequently reclassified to profit or loss Exchange differences on translating foreign operations (2,352) 4,448 (2,750) 1,203 Reclassification of the cash flow hedge to the statement of operations, net of tax 201 187 402 Total other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period (2,352) 4,649 (2,563) 1,605 Total comprehensive income for the period, net of tax (136) 3,254 1,451 3,649 Attributable to: Equity holders of Eros International Plc (3,482) 192 (4,771) (313) Non-controlling interest 3,346 3,062 6,222 3,962

EROS INTERNATIONAL PLC UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share data) Six Months Ended

September 30, Note 2017 2016 Cash flows from operating activities: Profit before tax 7,831 8,673 Adjustments for: Depreciation 533 393 Share based payment 6 7,471 14,524 Amortization of intangible film and content rights 60,716 75,143 Amortization of other intangibles assets 725 770 Other non-cash items 10 9,673 (6,466) Net finance costs 10,553 7,567 Gain on sale of available for sale financial asset (58) Loss on sale of property, plant and equipment 4 Changes in trade and other receivables (49,776) (54,539 Changes in inventories 11 19 Changes in trade and other payables (13,520) 17,561 Cash generated from operations 34,221 63,587 Interest paid (11,155) (8,826 Income taxes paid 429 (3,779 Net cash generated from operating activities 23,495 50,982 Cash flows from investing activities: Proceeds from sale of available for sale financial assets 40,221 288 Purchases of property, plant and equipment (125) (511 Proceeds from/(investment in) restricted deposits held with banks (8,185) (554) Purchase of intangible film and content rights (43,004) (58,478 Purchase of other intangible assets (9) Interest received 2,006 1,739 Net cash used in investing activities (9,096) (57,516 Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from disposal of subsidiary shares 466 Proceeds from issue of share capital 78 30,296 Proceeds from issue of shares by subsidiary 1 Proceeds from short-term debt 23,200 25,020 Repayment of short-term debt (17,513) (61,935 Proceeds from long-term borrowings 10,708 1,696 Repayment of long-term borrowings (5,503) (6,000 Proceeds from short-term debt with maturity less than three months (net) (28,062) 2,847 Net cash generated from financing activities (16,626) (8,075) Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (2,227) (14,609 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 3,276 (905 Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 112,267 182,774 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 113,316 167,260

Supplemental Financial Data

1. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES

As at September 30,

2017 March 31,

2017 Trade receivables, net 237,184 226,822 Other receivables 21,598 25,683 Prepaid charges 549 277 Accrued revenues 3,347 1,423 Trade and other receivables 262,678 254,205 Current trade and other receivables 254,072 242,762 Non-current trade and other receivables 8,606 11,443 262,678 254,205

2. BORROWINGS

An analysis of long-term borrowings is shown in the table below.

As at Nominal

Interest Rate Maturity September 30,

2017 March 31,

2017 Asset backed borrowings Vehicle loan 10.0% 12.0% 2017-21 223 325 Term loan BPLR+1.8% 2.75% 2017 1,264 Term loan BPLR+2.75% 2017-18 31 466 Term loan BPLR+2.85% 2019-21 4,766 5,776 Term loan BPLR+2.55% 3.4% 2020-21 10,265 11,945 Term loan 13.75% 2017-22 10,568 Retail bond 6.5% 2021-22 66,990 62,672 Revolving facility LIBOR +7.5% and Mandatory Cost 2017-18 52,736 85,000 Term loan MCLR+3.45% 2021-22 13,567 14,603 159,146 182,051 Other borrowings 10.5% 2021-22 5,353 5,853 5,353 5,853 Nominal value of borrowings 164,499 187,904 Cumulative effect of unamortized costs (1,372) (1,665 Installments due within one year (68,743) (96,398 Long-term borrowings at amortized cost 94,384 89,841

Bank Prime Lending Rate ("BPLR") and Marginal Cost Based Lending Rate ("MCLR") is an Indian equivalent to LIBOR. Asset backed borrowings are secured by fixed and floating charges over certain Group assets.

Analysis of short-term borrowings

As at Nominal interest rate (%) September 30,

2017 March 31,

2017 Asset backed borrowings Export credit bill discounting and overdraft BPLR+1-3.5% 41,414 41,687 Export credit and overdraft LIBOR+3.5% 23,480 24,572 Other short-term loan 13-14.25% 9,404 5,396 Other short-term loan 10.20% 11,412 Term loan MCLR+4.25% 1,690 4,943 87,400 76,598 Unsecured borrowings Other short-term loan 12-14% _ 7,033 Installments due within one year on long-term borrowings 68,743 96,398 Short-term borrowings at amortized cost 156,143 180,029

Fair value of the long-term borrowings as at September 30, 2017 is $135,429 (March 31, 2017: $155,923). Fair values of long-term financial liabilities except retail bonds have been determined by calculating their present values at the reporting date, using fixed effective market interest rates available to the respective entities within the Group. As at September 30, 2017, the fair value of retail bond amounting to $48,868 (March 31, 2017: $43,416) has been determined using quoted prices from the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Carrying amount of short-term borrowings approximates fair value.

3. ACCEPTANCES

September 30,

2017 March 31,

2017 (in thousands) Payable under the film financing arrangements 8,883 8,935 8,883 8,935

Acceptances comprise of credit availed from financial institutions for payment to film producers for film co-production arrangement entered by the group. The carrying value of acceptances are considered a reasonable approximation of fair value.

4. ISSUED SHARE CAPITAL

Number of

Shares GBP Authorized A ordinary shares of 30p each at September 30, 2017 and March 31, 2017 83,333,333 25,000

Number of Shares USD Allotted, called up and fully paid A Ordinary

30p Shares B Ordinary

30p Shares (in thousands) As at March 31, 2016 32,949,314 24,960,654 30,793 Issue of shares on April 1, 2016 1,750 1 Issue of shares on July 29, 2016 20,813 8 Issue of shares in August, 2016 387,613 153 Issue of shares in September, 2016 2,107,010 825 Issue of shares in October, 2016 98,500 36 Issue of shares in November, 2016 117,963 45 Issue of shares in December, 2016 14,580 6 Transfer of B Ordinary to A Ordinary share 5,581,272 (5,581,272 Issue of shares of in January, 2017 4,200 2 Issue of shares of in February, 2017 17,437 5 Issue of shares of in March, 2017 11,750 3 As at March 31, 2017 41,312,202 19,379,382 31,877 Issue of shares on May 11, 2017 12,000 5 Transfer of B Ordinary to A Ordinary share 5,500,000 (5,500,000) Transfer of B Ordinary to A Ordinary share 166,667 (166,667) Issue of shares in July, 2017 56,491 24 Issue of shares in August, 2017 31,800 12 Issue of shares in September, 2017 200,000 78 Transfer of B Ordinary to A Ordinary share 1,000,000 (1,000,000) As at September 30, 2017 48,279,160 12,712,715 31,996

On May 11, 2017, the Company issued 12,000 shares entered into an exit agreement with an employee pursuant to which the Board approved a grant of 12,000 'A' ordinary share awards with Nil exercise price and a fair market value of $10.8 per share.

In May 2017, the company issued 90,000 shares entered into an exit agreement with an employee pursuant to which the Board approved a grant of 90,000 'A' ordinary share awards with Nil exercise price and a fair market value of $10 per share. These shares were issued in July and August 2017.

Between the months of May to September, permitted Class B shares aggregating to 6,666,667 were converted into Class A shares. This was effected through the cancellation of 6,666,667 Class B shares and subsequent issuance of the equivalent amount of Class A shares.

In June 2015, 300,000 'A' ordinary shares awards were granted to the Group CFO with a fair market value of $21.34 per share. Subject to continued employment, these awards with nominal value exercise price vest annually in three tranches beginning June 9, 2016. As at September 30, 2017, 200,000 shares were vested and issued.

As at September30, 2017, none of the awards were forfeited.

5. INTANGIBLE CONTENT ASSETS

Gross

Content

Assets Accumulated

Amortization Net Content

Assets As at September 30, 2017 Film and content rights 1,454,316 (855,323) 598,993 Content advances 286,526 286,526 Film productions 3,842 3,842 Non-current content assets 1,744,684 (855,323) 889,361 As at March 31, 2017 Film and content rights 1,430,523 (796,058 634,465 Content advances 266,232 266,232 Film productions 3,931 3,931 Non-current content assets 1,700,686 (796,058 904,628

6. SHARE BASED COMPENSATION PLANS

The compensation cost recognized with respect to all outstanding plans and by grant of shares, which are all equity settled instruments, is as follows:

Three months ending

September 30, Six months ending

September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 IPO India Plan 349 564 719 1,213 JSOP Plan 906 615 1,811 Option award scheme 2012 96 244 197 497 2014 Share Plan 125 312 384 883 2015 Share Plan 31 113 67 215 Other share option awards 414 2,910 1,762 3,051 Management scheme (staff share grant) 1,267 3,456 3,727 6,854 2,282 8,505 7,471 14,524

7. EARNINGS PER SHARE

Three months ended September 30, Six months ended September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 Basic Diluted Basic Diluted Basic Diluted Basic Diluted Earnings/(loss) attributable to the equity holders of the parent (1,931) (1,931) (3,686) (3,686 (3,258) (3,258) (1,699) (1,699) Potential dilutive effect related to share based compensation scheme in subsidiary undertaking (120) (184 (237) (346) Adjusted earnings/(loss) attributable to equity holders of the parent (1,931) (2,051) (3,686) (3,870 (3,258) (3,495) (1,699) (2,045) Number of shares Weighted average number of shares 60,698,517 60,698,517 58,441,166 58,441,166 60,839,680 60,839,680 58,209,599 58,209,599 Potential dilutive effect related to share based compensation scheme 1,178,111 2,071,224 1,140,748 1,434,295 Adjusted weighted average number of shares 60,698,517 61,876,628 58,441,166 60,512,390 60,839,680 61,980,428 58,209,599 59,643,894 Earnings per share Earning attributable to the equity holders of the parent per share (cents) (3.2) (3.3) (6.3) (6.4) (5.4) (5.6) (2.9) (3.4)

The above table does not split the earnings per share separately for the 'A' ordinary 30p shares and the 'B' ordinary 30p shares as there is no variation in their entitlement to participate in undistributed earnings.

8. BUSINESS SEGMENTAL DATA

Three months ended

September 30, Six months ended

September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 Revenue by customer's location India 27,570 40,801 54,569 84,722 Europe 818 2,406 2,044 5,867 North America 1,090 2,030 2,259 4,727 Rest of the world 33,830 26,639 65,268 47,655 Total Revenue 63,308 71,876 124,140 142,971

Three months ended

September 30, Six months ended

September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 Revenue by group's operation India 25,403 39,852 50,771 82,601 Europe 5,067 4,731 14,633 9,193 North America 397 484 577 1,892 Rest of the world 32,441 26,809 58,159 49,285 Total Revenue 63,308 71,876 124,140 142,971

9. OTHER (LOSSES)/GAINS

Three months ended

September 30, Six months ended

September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 Gains on sale of available for sale financial assets 58 Net foreign exchange (losses)/gains (2,230 (567 (3,932 3,451 Loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (4) Credit impairment losses (3,007) (3,007) Net Losses on derecognition of financial assets measured at amortized cost (1,778 (1,778 Net Gain on held for trading financial liabilities 786 2,101 969 57 (6,229 1,534 (7,752 3,566

The net (losses)/gains on held for trading financial liabilities in the three months ended September 30,2017 and 2016, respectively, principally relate to derivative instruments not designated in a hedging relationship.

10. NON-CASH EXPENSE/(INCOME)

Significant non-cash expenses except loss on sale of assets, share based compensation, depreciation, derivative interest and amortization were as follows:

Six months ended

September 30, 2017 2016 (in thousands) Net gains on held for trading financial liabilities (969) (57) Provisions for trade and other receivables 1,795 132 Impairment loss on content advances 828 Credit impairment losses 3,007 Net Losses on derecognition of financial assets measured at amortized cost 1,778 Unrealized foreign exchange loss/(gain) 4,062 (7,369) 9,673 (6,466)

11. NON GAAP-FINANCIAL MEASURES

Adjusted EBITDA(Non-GAAP)

Three months ended September 30, Six months ended September 30, 2017 2016 2017 2016 (in thousand) Net income (GAAP) 2,216 (1,395) 4,014 2,044 Income tax expense 831 4,049 3,817 6,629 Net finance costs 5,169 4,374 10,553 7,567 Depreciation 270 183 533 393 Amortization(1) 356 76 725 770 EBITDA 8,842 7,287 19,642 17,403 Share based payments(2) 2,282 8,505 7,471 14,524 Gains on sale of available for sale financial assets (58) Credit impairment losses 3,007 3,007 Net losses on derecognition of financial assets measured at amortized cost 1,778 1,778 Loss on sale of property 4 Net losses/(gains) on held for trading financial liabilities (786) (2,101) (969) (57) Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP) 15,123 13,691 30,933 31,812

(1) Includes only amortization of intangible assets other than intangible content assets.

(2) Consists of compensation costs recognized with respect to all outstanding plans and all other equity settled instruments.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171122005298/en/

Contacts:

Eros International Plc

Mark Carbeck, +44 (0)20 7258 9909

Chief Corporate Strategy Officer

mark.carbeck@erosintl.com

or

Media:

Sloane & Company

Kristen Duarte, 212-446-1890

kduarte@sloanepr.com
DUBLIN, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Power Monitoring Market by Component, End-User and Region - Global Forecast to 2022" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

The global power monitoring market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.76% from 2017 to 2022, to reach a market size of USD 4.57 Billion by 2022

This growth is attributed to the efficient utilization of power resources, increasing electricity prices, and maximizing reliability of electrical infrastructure. The increasing requirement of reliable power supply and replacement of existing infrastructure would also boost the demand for power monitoring systems.

In this report, the power monitoring market has been analyzed with respect to five regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America. North America is projected to dominate the global power monitoring market by 2022, owing to smart grid investment and aging T&D infrastructure in the region. The market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2022.

This growth is attributed to growing industrialization and urbanization and rising renewable power generation capacity in the region. Countries, such as India, Japan, and China are driving the power monitoring market in the Asia-Pacific region. The infrastructural developments and investments in the water and wastewater industry in the Middle East & Africa are expected to drive the power monitoring market in the region.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview



6 Power Monitoring Market, By Component



7 Power Monitoring Market, By End-User



8 Power Monitoring Market, By Region



9 Competitive Landscape



10 Company Profiles



ABB Ltd

Eaton Corporation PLC

Emerson Electric Co.

Fluke Corporation

Fuji Electric FA Components & Systems Co., Ltd.

General Electric Company

Littelfuse, Inc.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Omron Corporation

Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Schneider Electric SE

Siemens AG

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k7vqlz/power_monitoring





Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Mondi Limited

Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa

Registered office: 4th Floor, No.3 Melrose Boulevard, Melrose Arch 2196, Gauteng, RSA

Registration number: 1967/013038/06

Tax registration number: 920/0017/71/4P

JSE share code: MND ISIN: ZAE000156550

Mondi plc

Incorporated in England and Wales

Registered office: 1st Floor, Building 1, Aviator Park, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2PG, UK

Registered number: 6209386

Tax registration number: 454 12394 14454

LEI: 213800LOZA69QFDC9N34

JSE share code: MNP ISIN: GB00B1CRLC47

LSE share code: MNDI

As part of the dual listed company structure, Mondi Limited and Mondi plc (together "Mondi Group") notify both the JSE Limited and the London Stock Exchange of matters required to be disclosed under the Listings Requirements of the JSE Limited and/or the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency and Listing Rules of the United Kingdom Listing Authority. To comply with the requirements in Articles 7 and 9 of the regulatory technical standards of the Transparency Directive (2004/109/EC), this announcement is classified as additional regulated information required to be disclosed under the laws of a Member State.

1 September 2017

Mondi Group - 2017 Interim Dividend euro/sterling Exchange Rate

Mondi announced on 3 August 2017 that Mondi Limited and Mondi plc will pay their respective dividends on 19 September 2017 as follows:

Mondi Limited

Mondi Limited will pay its dividend in South African rand cents. The applicable exchange rate is EUR 1 to ZAR 15.70411.

Therefore, the equivalent gross interim dividend in rand cents per ordinary share will be 299.94850.

Mondi plc

Mondi plc will pay its dividend in euro (19.10 euro cents per ordinary share).

However, ordinary shareholders resident in the United Kingdom will receive the dividend in sterling (unless shareholders have elected to receive their dividend in euro). The last date for euro currency elections was 25 August 2017. It was stated in the announcement on 3 August 2017 that the exchange rate for this payment would be set today. Accordingly, it is confirmed that sterling dividend payments will be converted at a rate of EUR 1 to GBP 0.92018. Therefore, the equivalent interim dividend in pence per ordinary share will be 17.57544.

Mondi plc South African branch register shareholders will receive the dividend in South African rand cents, converted at a rate of EUR 1 to ZAR 15.70411. Therefore, the equivalent gross final dividend in rand cents per ordinary share will be 299.94850.

Information relating to the dividend tax applicable to Mondi Limited shareholders and Mondi plc South African branch register shareholders can be found in the ZAR/euro exchange rate announcement released by Mondi on 3 August 2017.

Sponsor in South Africa: UBS South Africa (Pty) Ltd
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Thursday said he is yet to take a decision on putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, as per a CNBC interview. According to Mnuchin, there are a lot more important issues to focus on right now. 'Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment,' he said. The decision would be based on the design of the currency that would help to prevent counterfeiting. Mnuchin said, 'The No. 1 issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting. So the issues of what we change will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes. I've received classified briefings on that. And that's what I'm focused on for the most part.' Jack Lew, secretary of the Treasury under Obama administration, made the proposal last year to put the former slave and abolitionist Tubman on the bill. Tubman was to replace Andrew Jackson, the slave-owning seventh U.S. president. However, President Donald Trump is said to be against replacing Jackson on the denomination, even though he complimented Tubman during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mnuchin's remarks on Thursday have sparked wide discussion on social media. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BEIJING, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HIT Robot Group ("HRG Robotics" or "the Group"), one of China's leading robot manufacturers, unveiled more than 50 products and introduced its vision to build the "Robotics Biosphere" at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

The company announced that it has successfully laid the groundwork of a unique biosphere for global robotic innovation, entrepreneurship and industry.As the company's senior Vice President Yu Zhenzhong put it in his keynote speech on the innovative industrial chain at WRC, "HRG Robotics is committed to building an industrial incubation platform that encompasses the robotic sector as a whole so as to realize optimized integration of all resources based on industrial layouts."

He further added, "In order to deliver on this commitment, HRG Robotics is establishing a system that will provide strong support for start-ups in the form of financial services, R&D, IP services, talent development, market research and consulting as well as branding and design."

The "all-star lineup", covering HRG Robotics's diversified portfolio including industrial robots, service robots and intelligent devices, stands as a full demonstration of the company's expertise in offering smart robotics solutions to clients. Among HRG Robotic's innovations, its Linear Motor Full Closed-loop Middle-speed Wire Cutting Machine has attracted wide attention. This essential device for the production of robots' reduction gears is the first self-innovated five-axis CNC (computer numerical control) machine that offers parts processing with high precision at a micron level and has long-term stability.

The conference also saw the company's launch of the very first learning application for industrial robotics in China. Named Haidu Academy the APP is now available for both Android and iOS. It offers a staged system that targets students at various learning levels, marking a step forward for HRG Robotics in the advancement of nurturing robotics talent.

The brand-new collaborative robot, "T5", has also become a hit. The product can be adapted to varying demands in sectors like machining, food and drugs, and auto production, completing missions including transfer, sorting, packaging and more.

During the event, HRG Robotics signed agreements with three other partners including Shanghai ABB Corporation ("ABB") for cooperation on industrial automation. The company will share key R&D expertise with ABB to jointly advance industrial upgrading so as to contribute their parts to the realization of China's manufacturing strategy of "Made in China 2025".

HRG Robotics will continue its endeavors in integrating industrial resources and enhancing R&D capabilities, thus playing a part in nurturing a sound robotics value chain.

About HIT Robot Group

HIT Robot Group ("HRG Robotics" or "the Group"), founded in 2014, is one of China's high-tech giants in robotics with a joint investment from the Heilongjiang provincial government, the Harbin municipal government and the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). The Group's major businesses include manufacturing of a range of robots and robotic equipment for different industries. The company is also a solution and service provider for technology companies. HRG Robotics has a presence in 13 major Chinese cities as well as offices in Washington D.C., California, Frankfurt, Seoul and Tokyo.

Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/551263/HIT_Robotics_Biosphere.jpg

Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/551264/HIT_Robotics.jpg
WASHINGTON, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

President Donald Trump received the Friends of Zion Award from Dr. Mike Evans founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619082/Friends_of_Zion_Award_Trump.jpg )

The event was attended by Vice President Pence, Senior Advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and faith leaders representing over 150 million Christians globally.

During the ceremony Dr. Evans declared that: "No president in history has ever built such an alliance for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and no president has courageously stood up for the State of Israel on the global stage as you had Mr. President. President Trump's historic recognition of Jerusalem will secure his place in history as the first American president to take that step since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948."

President Trump's historic declaration regarding Jerusalem takes its place as one of Israel's historic millstones from the Balfour Declaration to President Truman's acceptance of Israel into the family of nations. These heroes presented in the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem tell the stories characters throughout history that have stood by the Jewish people and helped establish the State of Israel. These non-Jewish Zionists are engraved in history and millions of people worldwide have learned of their heroism thanks to the groundbreaking work of Dr. Evans and the Friends of Zion Museum.

The Friends of Zion Award was bestowed on world leaders such as President George W. Bush, Prince Albert II of Monaco and President Rosen Plevneliev, 4th President of Bulgaria. Dr. Evans presented these awards with the 9th President of Israel the late President Shimon Peres former Chairman of Friend of Zion Museum, to honor their courageous support of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

The Friends of Zion Heritage Center has become one of the central institutions in the State of Israel influencing the world and strengthening Israel's relations globally while fortifying the pillars of the State of Israel. In addition to more than 31 million members globally the museum has hosted over 100 diplomats such as US Amb. David Freedman, President Rivlin, tens of thousands of Christian and Jewish leaders, NBA and NFL superstars, leading Hollywood actors and singers and has become a must see site in Jerusalem.

Friends of Zion Museum, 20 Yosef Rivlin Street, Jerusalem. A reservation is recommended for museum visits. Website: http://www.fozmuseum.com, email: reservations@fozhc.com, or phone: +972-2-532-9400.

For USA based media enquiries please email: johnnie@thekcompany.co For Israel based media enquires please email: hofit@pr360.co.il
MIAMI, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 09/01/17 -- Kenergy Scientific, Inc. (OTC PINK: KNSC) is pleased to announce it has executed a Letter of Intent pursuant to which "KNSC" will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of an Orlando, FL-based real estate and resort management company. The acquisition should be completed within 30 business days in accordance with the terms and conditions of the share exchange agreement.

The management company holds the sole rights to acquire and develop several properties in and around the Orlando, Florida area. Combined, the properties have in excess of $20 million in assets and over $6 million in annual revenues. Each will be acquired over a period of several months so that each may be properly integrated into KNSC.

At closing, the Company will appoint a slate of directors and officers to guide the additional acquisitions and assure their proper integration as part of the public entity.

The unique niche market and specialty accommodations of these properties serve a very fast growing segment in the resort industry. We believe these properties provide a product and experience that is both the highest quality and is cost effective for the consuming public. We feel certain this endeavor will be beneficial to consumers and shareholders alike, and enjoyed by everyday consumers as well enthusiasts worldwide.

Simultaneously with the acquisition of the management company, KNSC will reverse out the Hibachi Grills and Noodle Bars to Adel Nassar in exchange for his surrendering all shares in the Company.

Safe Harbor Statement:

The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "explores," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.

Kenergy Scientific, Inc.

Phone: 800-277-0321

Email: infoknsc@otcpubco.com




HONG KONG, CHINA and CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/01/17 -- The Board of Directors (the "Board") of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. (the "Corporation" or "Sunshine") (HKEX: 2012) wishes to announce the following executive management changes due to job reallocation and to better align its management organization with the Corporation's future growth and development objectives.

Change of Chief Executive Officer

The Board is pleased to announce that with effect from September 1, 2017, Mr. Qiping Men ("Mr. Men"), currently an Executive Director, President and Chief Operations Officer, has been appointed as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation.

Mr. Men, age 52, became an Executive Director on June 30, 2016. He was appointed as President and Chief Operations Officer of the Corporation on October 20, 2016. He was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation from December 18, 2015 to October 19, 2016. Mr. Men has been serving in the capacity of the Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation since July 21, 2014. Prior to joining the Corporation, most recently, Mr. Men was Vice President of Goldenkey Oil Inc., a private oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta. Prior thereto, Mr. Men was the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of each of Anterra Energy Inc. and Sahara Energy Ltd. which are both publicly traded.

Mr. Men has a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, is a Professional Engineer and an APEGA member. He has an MBA from Dalian University of Technology, as well as a Canadian CPA designation. He is also a member of Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta with a public accountant designation.

Upon Mr. Men's appointment as the Interim Chief Executive Officer, his office as President and Chief Operations Officer of the Corporation ceased at the same time.

Mr. Hong Luo ("Mr. Luo"), currently an Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, will no longer serve as the Chief Executive Officer, effective from September 1, 2017, but remained as an Executive Director.

Change of Chief Technology Officer

On September 1, 2017, Dr. Qi Jiang resigned as Chief Technology Officer.

The Board is pleased to further announce that with effect from September 1, 2017, Mr. Vincent Chung Kiu Lau ("Mr. Lau") is appointed as the Interim Chief Technology Officer of Sunshine.

Mr. Lau joined Sunshine in 2014 and was appointed as Production and Development Manager in 2015. Mr. Lau has over 20 years' experience in the oil industry. Before joining Sunshine, Mr. Lau worked in Pennwest Exploration Ltd as senior exploitation engineer for 2 years and Husky Energy Inc. for 14 years in the production engineering, exploitation engineering and reservoir engineering field.

Mr. Lau has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geological Engineering.

The Board wishes to express its sincere gratitude to Mr. Hong Luo and Dr. Qi Jiang for their contributions to the Company during their tenure of office.

ABOUT SUNSHINE OILSANDS LTD.

The Corporation is a Calgary based public corporation listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since March 1, 2012. The Corporation is focused on the development of its significant holdings of oil sands leases in the Athabasca oil sands region. The Corporation owns interests in approximately one million acres of oil sands and petroleum and natural gas leases in the Athabasca region. The Corporation is currently focused on executing milestone undertakings in the West Ells project area. West Ells has an initial production target of 5,000 barrels per day.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This announcement contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the plans and expectations of the Corporation. Such forward-looking information is subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors. All statements other than statements and information of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of words such as "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "project", "plan", "target", "vision", "goal", "outlook", "may", "will", "should", "believe", "intend", "anticipate", "potential", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Corporation's experience, current beliefs, assumptions, information and perception of historical trends available to the Corporation, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to those associated with resource definition and expected reserves and contingent and prospective resources estimates, unanticipated costs and expenses, regulatory approval, fluctuating oil and gas prices, expected future production, the ability to access sufficient capital to finance future development and credit risks, changes in Alberta's regulatory framework, including changes to regulatory approval process and land-use designations, royalty, tax, environmental, greenhouse gas, carbon and other laws or regulations and the impact thereof and the costs associated with compliance. Although the Corporation believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions and factors discussed in this announcement are not exhaustive and readers are not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as the Corporation's actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subsequent to the date of this announcement, except as required under applicable securities legislation. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement and are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists are not exhaustive and are made as at the date hereof. For a full discussion of the Corporation's material risk factors, see the Corporation's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2016 and risk factors described in other documents we file from time to time with securities regulatory authorities, all of which are available on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at www.hkexnews.hk, on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com or on the Corporation's website at www.sunshineoilsands.com.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

This announcement appears for information purpose only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for securities of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd.

(a corporation incorporated under the Business Corporations Act of the Province of Alberta, Canada with limited liability)

By Order of the Board of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd.

Sun Kwok Ping, Executive Chairman

Hong Kong, September 1, 2017

Calgary, September 1, 2017

As at the date of this announcement, the Board consists of Mr. Kwok Ping Sun, Mr. Hong Luo, Mr. Qiping Men and Ms. Gloria Pui Yun Ho as executive directors; Mr. Michael John Hibberd, Ms. Linna Liu and Ms. Xijuan Jiang as non-executive directors; and Mr. Raymond Shengti Fong, Mr. Jeff Jingfeng Liu, Ms. Joanne Yan and Mr. Yi He as independent non-executive directors.

(i) For identification purposes only

Contacts:

Mr. Qiping Men

Interim Chief Executive Officer

(1) 403 984-5142

investorrelations@sunshineoilsands.com

www.sunshineoilsands.com




COLUMBUS  A 50-year-old Washington man pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon on a busy Columbus street corner a week ago, but he also wanted to tell the judge what made a dispute erupt that morning with a passing motorist.

Sky Keum Kim was accused of spitting on vehicles just before 9 a.m. Aug. 23 as they passed through the intersection of East 23rd Street and East Sixth Avenue.

Kim, who appeared Wednesday in Platte County Court clad in a long-sleeved, button-down dress shirt and jeans, told Judge Frank Skorupa a passing motorist shouted we should have shot you in Vietnam before the argument arose.

If the encounter had ended there, it would have just been a case of disturbing the peace, Skorupa told Kim.

However, according to a Columbus Police investigation, the transient Washington man also reportedly displayed a knife while standing on the southeast corner of the intersection when two different people approached him.

Im not even Vietnamese, Kim told the judge while throwing his hands in the air.

What is your heritage? Skorupa asked Kim.

Im Korean, Kim said.

Skorupa fined Kim, who previously said he has no job or fixed address and is touring the United States, $200 on the weapon charge.

The judge said the fine will be withheld from the $5,000 bond, 10 percent allowed for release, that Kim posted Aug. 25.
DUBLIN, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Offshore Lubricants Market 2017-2021" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

The global offshore lubricants market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.86% during the period 2017-2021.

The report, Global Offshore Lubricants Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

One trend in the market is growth of bio-based lubricants. The use of environment-friendly lubricants such as bio-based lubricants helps in reducing VOCs and toxicity of gases. This helps in maintaining the environmental balance. In developed countries, such as Canada, the US, and Germany, bio-based offshore lubricants are preferred, which are environment-friendly.

According to the report, one driver in the market is increase in offshore exploration and production investments. The increase in demand for energy and the depletion of onshore reserves have made oil and gas companies invest significantly in offshore oil and gas reserves. The growth of drilling activities and the rise in the demand from offshore rigs and FPSO are likely to foster the demand for offshore lubricants. Between 2010 and 2015, the global offshore oil production was at the highest level in 2015 and accounted for around 30% of the global oil production. In 2015, the offshore oil production was recorded at more than 27 million barrels in more than 50 countries.

Further, the report states that one challenge in the market is fluctuation in crude oil prices. Offshore lubricants are mainly manufactured from crude oil by the process of fractioning. Mineral oil-based lubricants accounted for more than 70% share of the global offshore lubricants market. The oil and gas industry is one of the major suppliers of raw materials for the global offshore lubricants market. The fluctuations in the prices of crude oil have severe effects on the prices of the raw materials. Thus, they affect the costs of offshore lubricants as well. In 2016, the price of crude oil per barrel decreased at a rate of nearly 60% as compared to the previous year.

Key vendors

BP

Chevron

ExxonMobil

Shell

Total

Other prominent vendors

Idemitsu Kosan

JX Nippon Oil & Energy

Klber Lubrication

Others



Key Topics Covered:



Part 01: Executive Summary



Part 02: Scope Of The Report



Part 03: Research Methodology



Part 04: Introduction



Part 05: Market Landscape



Part 06: Market Segmentation By Application



Part 07: Market Segmentation By End-User



Part 08: Geographical Segmentation



Part 09: Decision Framework



Part 10: Drivers And Challenges



Part 11: Market Trends



Part 12: Vendor Landscape



Part 13: Key Vendor Analysis



Part 14: Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/72w8sw/global_offshore

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A bicyclist delivering food entered the Lincoln Tunnel on Tuesday night after taking a route suggested on his phone app, according to Port Authority officials. The UberEats delivery man, a Jersey City resident, relied on his GPS app for directions while on a Manhattan dinner delivery run and ended up riding through the busy 1.5-mile long Lincoln Tunnel all the way to New Jersey. Bicycles are prohibited from entering the Lincoln Tunnel. The 26-year-old bicyclist, Hicham Oulhint, was stopped by Port Authority police on the New Jersey side of the tunnel around 7.30 pm. He explained to officers that although he set a course in his GPS for Chelsea, he took the wrong turn through the tunnel to New Jersey. The man showed the officers the app, 'which supported his claim,' Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said. While the incident did not cause a major traffic disruption, the man was issued a traffic summons for trespassing. He was released without any further charges. Oulhint has reportedly lost his job with UberEats after the company learned about the incident. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Natuzzi S.p.A. (NYSE:NTZ) ("Natuzzi" or "the Company") will disclose second quarter and first half 2017 financial results on Friday September 22, 2017 after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Company will host a conference call on Monday September 25, 2017at 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (4.00 p.m. Italian time, or 3.00 p.m. UK time) to discuss financial results.

The dial-in phone numbers for the live conference call are +1 800 946 0716 (toll-free) for persons calling from the U.S. or Canada, or +1 719 325 2435 for those calling from other countries.

A live web cast of the conference call will be available on line at http://www.natuzzi.com/ under the "Investor Relations" section.

A replay of the call will be available shortly after the end of the conference call starting from September 25, 2017 (from 1:00 pm US Eastern time), to October 25, 2017. To access the replay of the conference call, interested persons need to dial +1 844 512 2921 (toll-free) for calls from U.S. and Canada, and +1 412 317 6671 for calls from other countries. The access code for the replay is: 6562318.

About Natuzzi S.p.A.

Founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi, Natuzzi S.p.A. is Italy's largest furniture house and one of the most important global player in the furniture industry with eight manufacturing plants, eleven commercial offices and extensive global retail network. Natuzzi is the Italian lifestyle and best-known brand in the furnishings sector worldwide (Brand Awareness Monitoring Report Ipsos 2015). Continuous stylistic research, creativity, innovation, solid craftsmanship and industrial know-how and integrated management throughout the entire value chain are the mainstays that have made Natuzzi one of the few players with global reach in the furniture market. Natuzzi S.p.A. has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 13 May 1993. Always committed to social responsibility and environmental sustainability, Natuzzi is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified (Quality and Environment), OHSAS 18001 certified (Safety on the Workplace) and FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council).

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170901005523/en/

Contacts:

NATUZZI INVESTOR RELATIONS

Piero Direnzo (IR Manager), tel. +39.080.8820.812

pdirenzo@natuzzi.com

or

NATUZZI CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Vito Basile (Press Office), tel. +39.080.8820.676

vbasile@natuzzi.com
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2017 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:

To: All persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Sequans Communications S.A. ("Sequans") (NYSE: SQNS) between April 29, 2016 and July 31, 2017 . You are hereby notified that a securities class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. To get more information go to:

http://www.zlk.com/pslra-sba/sequans-communications-s-a?wire=1

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

The complaint alleges that throughout the class period Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company was improperly recognizing revenue; and (2) as a result, certain public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 1, 2017, Sequans revealed that its revenue in the second quarter was negatively affected by a product return from an early 2016 sale related to the tablet business. When this news was announced, shares of Sequans declined in value materially, which caused investors harm.

If you suffered a loss in Sequans you have until October 10, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise and experience representing investors in securities litigation, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Joseph E. Levi, Esq.

30 Broad Street - 24th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Toll Free: (877) 363-5972

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentglobal interventional neurology devices marketreport. This research report also lists 13 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170905005369/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global interventional neurology devices market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The global interventional neurology devices market will continue to grow during the forecast period. In 2016, the Americas was the leading contributor to the market followed by EMEA and APAC. Countries like the US, Germany, Japan, and Canada have population with higher income. Increasing income has led to higher spending on healthcare and also increased the adoption of technologically advanced devices.

Competitive vendor landscape

The global interventional neurology devices market is well-established with large global players. The major factors driving the growth of this market are rising incidences of stroke, favorable reimbursement plans, and increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries. The large players have a vast global presence and are supported by their distribution and sales networks.

"The competition is further intensified as these players are adapting to expansion strategies through strategic alliances either to increase their product portfolio or to increase their footprints into new geographies. The global players are increasingly inclined toward inorganic growth by acquiring local players," says Neha Noopur, a lead orthopedics and medical devices research analyst from Technavio

At the same time, the players are increasing investments in R&D to grab the market with their innovative products. The competitive environment in this market is likely to intensify further with an increase in product and service extensions, technological innovations, and M&A.

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

Top five interventional neurology devices market vendors

Abbott

Abbott has a broad and diversified line of healthcare products and services. Abbott markets its products through its worldwide distributor network. It has its sales network in over 150+ countries. It is well established in the world's largest and fastest growing markets.

DePuy Synthes

DePuy Synthes has two major segments: orthopedic and neurological business. It is a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. The company operates in 8 major divisions, which includes joint reconstruction, neurological, spine, trauma, sports medicine, craniomaxillofacial, power tools, and biomaterials.

Medtronic

Medtronic has a global presence and operates in over 160 countries. The company had over 45,000 patents in FY2016. It operates across four core business areas that include: cardiac and vascular group, minimally invasive therapies group, restorative therapies group, and diabetes group.

Stryker

The major revenue generating segment for Stryker has been orthopedics, medical and surgical, neurotechnology, and spine. It also deals with surgical equipment and surgical navigation system, neurosurgical, neurovascular, and spinal devices. The company launched 20 new products in the neurovascular segment in the last five years, resulting in a double-digit growth.

TERUMO

TERUMO operates in three business segments: cardiac and vascular, general hospital, and blood management. It provides a steady supply of the highest quality medical devices and services to patients and medical settings while working proactively at solutions to the wide variety of challenges in healthcare.

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.

Browse Related Reports:

Global Diagnostic Electrodes Market 2017-2021

Global Orthopedic Soft Tissue Repair Devices Market 2017-2021

Global Rigid Endoscopes Market 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 media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170905005369/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

www.technavio.com
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2017 / NOVICIUS CORP. (formerly: Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: NVSIF, CSE: NVS) ("Novicius" or the "Company"), announces that effective August 31, 2017 the Company converted various cash advances to the Company totalling $213,781 into an aggregate of 1,187,672 common shares in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.18 per share (the "Cash Advance Conversion").

Furthermore, the Cash Advance Conversion, along with a prior private placement completed by the Company during November 2016, triggered an obligation of the Company to issue additional securities under anti-dilution provisions (the "Anti-Dilution Securities") negotiated in the subscription terms of a private placement that closed at fiscal year ended August 31, 2016. Accordingly, the Company issued 1,437,173 additional shares and 23,636 common share purchase warrants exercisable at $10.00 per share until November 30, 2019, as Anti-Dilution Securities at fiscal year-ended August 31, 2017.

Pursuant to Canadian securities law, the securities issued pursuant to the Cash Advance Conversion are subject to a statutory four-month and one-day hold period expiring January 1, 2018; pursuant to U.S. securities law, the shares will be restricted pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

A corporation controlled by Mr. Cassina, the Chief Financial Officer and a director of the Company, participated in the Cash Advance Conversion in the amount of $103,846 which has now been converted into an aggregate of 576,922 common shares in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.18 per share. The original cash advances and the Cash Advance Conversion by the corporation controlled by Mr. Cassina constitutes a "related party transaction" as such terms are defined by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company was exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation or minority shareholder approval in connection with the cash advances and the Cash Advance Conversion with the corporation controlled by Mr. Cassina, as the cash advances and the Cash Advance Conversion by the corporation controlled by Mr. Cassina was approved by directors of the Company who are independent in connection with such transactions.

About Novicius Corp.

Novicius Corp is an emergent Media and Internet company that focuses on the experience of the website user. The Company's strategy is to drive revenue through technologies and services that deliver Content, Social and Digital Media, eCommerce and Advertising.

For further information, please contact:

Ritwik Uban, President

Investor Relations: NVSCorpIR@gmail.com

Certain information regarding the Company in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements or future oriented financial information under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information includes, without limitation, successful completion of the proposed transaction, projections or estimates made by us and our management in connection with our business operations. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the forecasts and projections contained in the forward-looking information contained in this press release, which assumptions are based on management's analysis of historical trends, experience, current conditions and expected future developments pertaining to the Company and the industry in which it operates as well as certain assumptions as specifically outlined in the release above. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks, which could cause actual results to vary and in some instances to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described in the forward-looking information contained in this press release. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of performance and is subject to a number of risks or uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive. Forward-looking information is based on the estimates and opinions of the Company's management at the time the information is released and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as expressly required by applicable securities law



Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the company's financial condition or results of operations; (iii) the company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors including the risk disclosed in the Company's Form 20-F and 6-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Novicius Corp.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The blockchain marketplace for student employment is gaining traction with a series of universities, even before its main token sale has started. BitJob, the blockchain platform that aims to create a global marketplace for student employment has established several high profile university partnerships ahead of its official STU token sale on 12 September.

Crypto employment

The project is designed to connect university students with employment opportunities within the digital currency sector, and will shortly be holding its crowd fund. However, even before the formal launch it has garnered significant interest from a series of universities and student groups, signalling a promising future. Like digital currencies themselves, the greater the network effect the more valuable the project becomes for its users - and if the collection of participants to date is anything to go by, BitJob will become one of the primary hubs for recruitment in the blockchain sector.

One of the first participating groups is the University of Florida Bitcoin Club, which was founded in September 2016 by developer and entrepreneur Aaron Schwartz.

'BitJob allows students that are currently in school to be gain real-world experience by working for blockchain companies, and add to their personal portfolioof work, so that when they graduate they will be equipped with the skills and resume to pursue a full-time career within this space. I believed from the beginningthat this was a very worthwhile project to pursue, as I have seen the need for it first hand in the organizations that I help to lead, and I personally would have loved to have had such a resource to help me gain experience within this space while I was in university. Now we are seeing this support first-hand from excited students, companies, and investors all over the world, and it is very special to see others excited about the implications of this new platform.'

- Aaron Schwartz, University of Florida Bitcoin Club

The list of universities and groups that have joined BitJob to date also include University of Florida Bitcoin Club, Blockchain at Berkeley, McGill Cryptocurrency Club, Concordia Fintech Society, The Ivey Business School at Western University, Infolab at The Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM), and The Blockchain Education Network.

Social responsibility

Although the initiative is powered by blockchain technology, BitJob's significance is primarily social, rather than technical - as Dr Theo Mourouzis, one of the project's newest advisers and Programme director of the MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM), explains.

'BitJob is an excellent application of Blockchain technology, that utilizes its decentralization, automation and transparency features for enabling students to earn some income while they are studying. It is not the technology aspect that makes BitJob a great idea but more importantly its social responsibility aspect towards the society and especially the group of youngsters enrolled for studies in universities. It is not only the disruption that it brings in the job-seeking space but the direct elegant solution that it offers that allows students with primarily no solid professional experience to earn a leaving and employees that have an opportunity to search for fresh minds, hungry to show their skills. This directly contributes towards the great gap that exists between demand and supply for technical skills that exists nowadays.'

- Dr Theo Mourouzis, CIIM

Mourouzis, who is also Research Fellow at University College London's Centre for Blockchain Technology, has extensive international consultancy experience in data science, blockchain and information security. In 2013, he was a member of the UCL security group that was awarded the first prize in the UK Cyber Cipher Security Challenge among UK universities. 'The passion and the great knowledge of the founding members about technology and especially blockchain and security convinced me to become a member of this project from the first minute' said Mourouzis. 'As an advisor at BitJob, I make sure that all security standards and best practices are followed contributing towards the solidity of the final product and design.'

BitJob raised $1.5M USD in the first week of its token pre-sale, which ended on 16 August. The official STU token sale will begin on 12 September. For more information or to participate, visit www.bitjob.io.

Media Contact: Freya Stevens, freya@tokenmarket.net
FORT WORTH, TEXAS -- (Marketwired) -- 09/01/17 -- Facing forecasts for yet another hurricane bearing down on the United States, Interstate Restoration is reminding everyone, especially business owners, to take some important steps toward preparation. This foresight is especially critical under current conditions, in which so much of the nation's hurricane-battling resources are directed toward the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, said Interstate Restoration CEO Stacy Mazur.

Interstate Restoration is one of the nation's leading full-service emergency restoration and reconstruction firms; and even as the company is pouring people and equipment into the Houston area, Mazur is keeping a watchful eye on the possibility that a storm called Hurricane Irma could possibly hit the eastern seaboard or gulf coast in the coming days.

"Forecasts are targeting potential landfall impact from Irma within a week to 12 days, and if it happens, it will stretch many of the nation's resources thin," Mazur said. "But we will mobilize and respond as best we can."

Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, another hurricane called Rita hit the U.S. at the west end of that state, causing more damage and heartache in the region.

Interstate Restoration warns that there are myriad issues that businesses should address in terms of hurricane preparedness, Mazur said. But the three main ones are these:

Have an emergency action plan in which you emphasize the safety of your employees and customers; and if you haven't reviewed that plan in a while, this is the time.

Know your insurance policies and consider ways in which you might temporarily replace the critical elements of your business that you might lose, including shelter, power, water, equipment and supplies.

Contact a trusted restoration company, discuss the company's availability (especially vis-a-vis current conditions), and establish some tentative procedures.

Of the many other issues to consider, especially in a hurricane, is the way that you might protect your building from the elements. For instance, if you have time and if you can do it safely, check to make sure your gutters and drains are clear.

"Interstate Restoration focuses recovery efforts on helping people and businesses when they need it most," said Mazur; "and we are most pleased when we arrive on-scene and notice how well people have managed to minimize the storm's impact with preparedness tactics. Some of those simple actions go a long way toward helping us get a business back on its feet as quickly as possible."

About Interstate Restoration

Founded in 1998, Interstate Restoration LLC is an emergency restoration and general contractor specializing in repairing commercial property nationwide. Ft. Worth-based Interstate helps businesses recover quickly from fire, flood, and other natural and manmade disasters. This means companies and people can focus on the important stuff - like getting back to business and back to life.
Senior Member status recognizes experience, leadership, community involvement

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, this year has promoted 150 members to the status of Senior Member. The society is recognizing the individuals for their professional experience, technical leadership, and involvement in the community.

BELLINGHAM, Washington and CARDIFF, Wales, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 150 SPIE members elevated to the rank of SPIE Senior Member this year are being recognized for their professional experience, technical leadership, and active involvement with SPIE and the optics community.

This year's cohort includes optics and photonics experts from across the globe, including the first Icelander, Karl Gudmundsson of the University of Iceland, to be named an SPIE Senior Member. A full list of this year's honorees is at www.spie.org/x19144.xml.

SPIE President Glenn Boreman of University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Plasmonics Inc. congratulated the new Senior Members and thanked the subcommittee that recommended the 150 promotions to the SPIE Board of Directors.

SPIE Fellow Anita Mahadevan-Jansen of Vanderbilt University, chair of the SPIE Membership and Communities Committee, chaired the subcommittee selecting the new Senior Members.

The SPIE Senior Member recognition program began in 2008 as a way to recognize active members earlier in their careers and from a broader constituency.

Nominations for the 2018 cohort of SPIE Senior Members will be accepted through 15 March 2018.

About SPIE

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2016, SPIE provided more than $4 million in support of education and outreach programs. www.spie.org

Contact:

Amy Nelson

Public Relations Manager

amy@spie.org

+1 360 685 5478

@SPIEtweets

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/486033/SPIE_logo_Logo.jpg
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/01/17 -- US Oil Sands Inc. ("US Oil Sands" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: USO), an innovator of oil extraction technologies, announces that Ed Chwyl and Mark Brown have resigned as members of the Board of Directors. US Oil Sands is thankful for the contributions that both Messrs. Chwyl and Brown have made to the Company. The Company is currently evaluating options to address the vacancies created.

ABOUT US OIL SANDS INC.

US Oil Sands is engaged in the exploration and development of oil sands properties and, through its wholly owned United States subsidiary US Oil Sands (Utah) Inc., has a 100% interest in bitumen leases covering 32,005 acres of land in Utah's Uinta Basin. The Company plans to develop its oil sands properties using its proprietary extraction process which uses a bio-solvent to extract bitumen from oil sands without the need for tailings ponds. The Company is in the pre-production stage, anticipating the commencement of bitumen production and sales once it has completed start-up of the PR Spring Project.

The foregoing contains forward-looking information relating to the future performance of the Company. Forward looking information is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the ability of the Company to achieve the necessary oil production in a timely manner in order to continue development of the PR Spring Project, the actual results of operational activities, changes in world commodity markets or equity markets, the risks of the petroleum industry generally including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the oil and gas industry, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities (available at www.SEDAR.com). Forward-looking statements are made based on various assumptions and on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made.

Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking information contained herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these assumptions, beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable law.

Contacts:

US Oil Sands Inc.

Cameron Todd

CEO

+1 403 233 9366



US Oil Sands Inc.

Glen Snarr

President & CFO

+1 403 233 9366

info@usoilsandsinc.com

www.usoilsandsinc.com



Investor Relations

Jack Copping

Manager, Corporate Development

+1 403 233 9366 ext. 27

jack.copping@usoilsandsinc.com




COLUMBUS  A Columbus man who went looking for a dog to adopt and ended up in jail will avoid returning to the pound after being sentenced for second-offense driving under the influence.

Platte County Court Judge Frank Skorupa sentenced 33-year-old Casey Gotschall to nine months of probation and ordered the defendant to pay a $500 fine and complete 240 hours of community service stemming from the May 16 incident.

Skorupa also ordered the defendant to seek alcohol abuse treatment at Seekers of Serenity, with time spent at the facility counting toward his community service. The judge revoked Gotschalls driver's license for 18 months.

Second-offense DUI is a Class W misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

Gotschall, who pleaded guilty to the drunken driving offense, was previously convicted of DUI in Platte County in April 2007.

According to court documents, Gotschall drove to Paws and Claws Adoption Center, parked his red Oldsmobile Alero and went inside looking for a pooch to take home.

Columbus Police were informed of the suspected drunken driver, who was arrested when he returned to his car in the parking lot.

Gotschall, who had an open beer can in his car, refused to perform field sobriety tests, but agreed to a preliminary breath test. The defendants PBT reading at the scene was 0.205, more than twice the legal limit for driving of 0.08.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 09/01/17 -- On4 Communications (OTC: ONCI) today announced it is acquiring its 51% partner in the FMS Safe Driving APP.

CEO Steve Berman states, "The price is 3,500,000 USD and will be paid in 6 installments over the next 6 months. This will be financed by a loan against receivables and will not be dilutive to the company. Our partner also owns a fleet business which adds another sector to our holdings and is an established business in itself.

"All NDAs expire next Friday at which time we will announce the name of the acquired partner as well as the apps currently being sold and beta tested.

"This acquisition allows us to reduce costs dramatically and develop our apps more profitably.

"In addition we have signed a $450,000 contract with a 10 dealer group in Arizona at 150 units per month and $250 per unit.

"We have officially obtained the stamp for Hexagon Holdings Corporation on our application with the Colorado Secretary of State, and our SEC attorney in California can now file with FINRA today.

"I met with Chrysler Corporation yesterday and they asked us to make some specific changes to our software. I spoke with our developers and this change will happen within 30days. After the change we will set up a follow up meeting and determine how to implement our FMS safe driving APP into Chrysler vehicles.

"Both meetings with the offices of the Mayor of San Antonio and the Governor of Michigan have been postponed and will be rescheduled after their involvement in the clean up and rescue in Houston is complete," CEO Steve Berman concludes.

About On4 Communications

On4 is a holdings company with an aggressive focus of acquiring proven and profitable businesses. Our first project is focusing on businesses operating in the $1.7 trillion U.S. healthcare industry. Our newest targeted businesses are operating in the trillion-dollar mobile App space. Our first acquisition in the mobile App space is FMS Marketing a global creator and distributor of mobile Apps for Android and iPhones. We are also targeting businesses to acquire and joint venture within the medical marijuana and emerging MJ ancillary products space.

Forward-Looking Statement

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, as well as statements that include words such as "anticipate," "if," \"believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements, as described in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission which are available for review at www.sec.gov, to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

On4 Communications, Inc.

On4Company@gmail.com

(323) 487-0389




SCM Insurance Services, a Canadian independent, privately owned insurance services provider, received a majority investment from funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus and TorQuest Partners.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The investment will provide SCM with access to capital and strategic resources to continue to grow its business in Canada and its recent entry into the United States.

Led by Bob Fitzgerald, CEO, SCM Insurance Services provides claims adjusting, third-party adjusting (TPA), risk management, investigative, surveillance, risk mitigation, medical services, forensic engineering services, and risk intelligence.

The SCM Insurance Services Group of Companies includes ClaimsPro, International Programs Group (IPG), Xpera Risk Mitigation & Investigation, Cira Health Solutions, Pario Engineering & Environmental Sciences, SCM Risk Management Services (RMS), Opta Information Intelligence, and Nixon & Company, Inc.

has been servicing the insurance and risk management community for the past 31 years with over 200 locations and 2,900 employees.

FinSMEs

31/08/2017
PetPeople, a Worthington, OH-based pet retailer of natural and high-quality dog and cat foods, treats and supplies, received a strategic growth investment from TA Associates.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed. TA Associates has replaced former investor Rosser Capital Partners, which exited its stake in the company as part of the transaction. In conjunction with the funding, William D. Christ and and Jeffrey S. Barber, Managing Directors at TA Associates, will join PetPeoples Board of Directors.

Co-Founded by Trish Elkind and Michael Elkind, PetPeople is a pet retailer of natural dog and cat foods, treats and supplies currently operating 42 locations in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and North Carolina.

The company plans to leverage the investment to continue to expand its market presence.

FinSMEs

01/09/2017
New Delhi: Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday termed sub-6 percent GDP growth as a "catastrophe" and said slow growth, low investment and no jobs were markers of the slide in the economy.

He said the GDP and GVA figures were more evidence of former prime minister Manmohan Singhs indictment of "monumental mismanagement".

"Our worst fears have come true. Sub-6 percent growth is a catastrophe," the Congress leader tweeted.

"1 pc [percent] decline in GDP is a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. 2% decline is a loss of Rs 3 lakh crore (sic)," he posted on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Chidambaram had criticised the demonetisation after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed 99 percent of the demonetised notes returned to the system. He said, "shame on RBI" for recommending the move.

He also questioned the Narendra Modi government whether its demonetisation decision was designed to convert black money into white.

"99% notes legally exchanged! Was demonetisation a scheme designed to convert black money into white?," Chidambaram said on Twitter.

He also said that the economists behind the demonetisation move "deserve Nobel prize" as the RBI gained Rs 16,000 crore, but lost Rs 21,000 crore in printing new notes.

"Rs 16000 cr out of demonetised notes of Rs 1544,000 cr did not come back to RBI. That is 1%. Shame on RBI which 'recommended' demonetisation."

"RBI 'gained' Rs 16000 crore, but 'lost' Rs 21000 crore in printing new notes! The economists deserve Nobel Prize," he said in a series of tweets.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: The government scrambled to defend its attempt to crack down on the shadow economy by banning high denomination banknotes, after data showed almost all of the abolished currency had made it back into the banking system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally led the shock move last November to outlaw 86 percent of the cash in circulation to target undeclared 'black money' and fight corruption.

The idea was to make it difficult for hoarders of undeclared wealth to exchange their undeclared cash for legal tender. But a report released by the central bank late on Wednesday said 99 percent of the 15.44 trillion rupees ($242 billion) of banned notes previously in circulation had since been declared to authorities.

Newspapers, some financial experts and opposition politicians rounded on the government on Thursday, with criticism sharpened by separate data showing the economy had slowed to its weakest growth rate in three years.

It should never have happened, said N R Bhanumurthy, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a Delhi-based think-tank that operates under the finance ministry. It was heavily loaded with politics and less with economics.

At the time, officials said that at least 20 percent of the outlawed currency was expected to be wiped out as tax evaders destroyed notes rather than open themselves to scrutiny by depositing the cash. Modi was quoted by local media as saying that evaders were throwing their notes into the Ganges river.

We thought that all that money would never come back, a senior adviser at the finance ministry told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He and two other finance ministry officials said the government had overestimated how much black money was held in cash, rather than assets such as property or gold, and misunderstood the ways in which tax evaders would be able to game the system and legally deposit cash.

Hashtag campaign

The government on Thursday dispatched officials and ministers to tell the media that the central bank report did not undermine the case for demonetisation.

The finance ministry rushed out a lengthy statement detailing the positive impacts, including improved tax collection, a widening of the tax base and new information on possible tax evaders.

The government said the number of tax returns in the year to end-March had grown 17.3 percent.

Around 1.7 trillion rupees of deposited cash was also being investigated by the tax authorities, officials said.

Several ministers also took to Twitter to defend the note ban, highlighting its benefits by using the hashtag #DemonetisationSuccess.

Long-term benefits

Economists largely expect that, in the long-term, the economy should be boosted by a wider tax base and a shift towards a less cash-based economy. Several analysts said on Thursday it would be wrong to call demonetisation a failure, as there were several positive consequences.

Despite the chaos caused as people spent days queuing to swap old notes for new and cash-dependent businesses suffered a slump in sales, many people supported demonetisation after Modi framed the decision as a fight for the poor against the corrupt rich.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won several state elections since last year, and Modi's approval ratings remain high.

But data on Thursday showing the economy had grown by 5.7 percent in the three months to end-June, its slowest rate in 13 quarters, will raise further questions about whether the longer-term benefits outweigh the short-term pain.

Critics said that the governments response was further evidence that Modis administration had changed its justification for demonetisation to suit the facts.

The government has changed the goalposts more times than they can count, P Chidambaram, finance minister under the previous Congress party government, told Reuters. He was referring to Modis promises to uncover black money, remove counterfeit notes and hit at financing of terrorism.

At a local furniture market in New Delhi, some traders said they felt cheated by the news that most of the abolished currency was back in the system after their businesses had suffered for a cause they were told would hurt the corrupt.

The prime ministers missile on tax evasion missed the target, said Pankaj Revri, president of the market association. Instead of hitting tax evaders, it only hit the economy, businesses and labourers.
Last month, Rohit Bal became the first designer in India to copyright his entire collection. Other prominent fashion designers, Anju Modi and Anita Dongre, soon followed suit and copyrighted their entire collection ahead of Fashion Design Council of Indias (FDCI) India Couture Week this year.

Plagiarism of designs is a growing concern among the Indian fashion industry and is attributed to the lack of awareness surrounding intellectual property rights (IPR) which are available to fashion designers in India. Even as awareness about IPR protection is increasing in India, the law relating to protection of fashion designers rights remains unclear.

Copyright protection for designs

Different IPRs (such as copyrights, trademarks and patents) serve different purposes- patent protects inventions, copyright protects creative works and trademark protects brand-names (or elements of a business which act as source indicators). The Intellectual Property (IP) of a designer, i.e. designer clothes are best described as creative works and are therefore eligible for copyright protection.

While creative works such as artistic works are typically protected under the Indian Copyright Act, designs applied to clothes can be copyrighted under the Designs Act 2000. Under the Designs Act, designs which are applied to a specific class of articles (including garments) can be registered. A design must be registered for a particular class of articles as enumerated in the Third Schedule of the Designs Rules, 2001. Articles of clothes and haberdashery fall in Class 02 under the Designs Rules.

Under Section 11 of the Designs Act, a registered design is copyrighted for a period of 10 years from the date of registration of the design. The copyright protection can be further extended for five years. Piracy of a registered design is prohibited under section 22 of the Designs Act - this makes it unlawful for a person to apply the registered design or any fraudulent of obvious imitation of the design to any class of articles in respect of which the design has been registered. A person who knowingly facilitates the sale of an article which bears a pirated design is also liable for piracy of the design. This means that retailers who consciously sell articles containing pirated designs can also be punished under the Designs Act.

Under section 22 of the Copyright Act, the term of protection granted to copyright-holders subsists during the life of the copyright-owner and for 60 years thereafter. According to section 15 (1) of the Copyright Act, protection under the Copyright Act is not applicable to designs which are registered under the Designs Act. Therefore, once a clothes design is registered under the Designs Act, the Copyright Act will not apply to it and the work will only enjoy protection under the Designs Act. If a design (which is capable of being registered under the Designs Act) has not been registered, it will be protected under section 15(2) of the Copyright Act; however, the copyright protection will expire on an unregistered design if the design has been reproduced on more than 50 articles.

Issues in copyright protection of designer clothing

Two kinds of designs are conceivable in clothes, namely, a drawing applied on any garment and the shape/design of the clothes (which does not necessarily bear any drawing). An example of the first kind of design is a t-shirt which bears the words, I love Mumbai printed on the front. The shape of the t-shirt may be commonplace such as a typical round neck half sleeve t-shirt. In this case, the designer would get the drawing design, i.e. the words, I love Mumbai (printed in a particular manner- using a unique combination of words, colours and figures) registered under the Designs Act.

The second kind of design refers to the design of the clothes itself and includes elements such as shape of the garment, the style in which it has been cut and tailored, and the fabric of the garment. This kind of design is often the subject-matter of IP disputes involving designer clothes. For instance, lehengas designed by Rohit Bal do not have any drawing element, and it is the lehenga, the item itself, on which IP protection is sought. Anybody who copies the style of the lehenga would be fraudulently imitating Rohit Bals lehenga. So if Rohit Bal designs a particular lehenga style originally in pink, and a person creates a knock-out of that lehenga in black, this would still amount to piracy of Rohit Bals designs. This is because under the Designs Act, a design also includes the shape, configuration, pattern, ornament of any article.

In cases of design infringement of clothes relating to their shape/style etc., it may become very difficult for a judge to decide where to draw the line between permissible copying and design piracy. Designer clothes are often improvisations of existing styles of clothes. Therefore, another issue which arises is whether every design is original enough to merit protection?

To illustrate, a Kerala Kasavu sari is a handwoven cream sari with a golden border, worn traditionally by women in Kerala. There are designer Kerala Kasavu saris also available. In designer Kerala Kasavu saris, the basic design (cream sari with a gold border) remains the same. Therefore, the creativity or originality of the designer will perhaps lie merely in the design of the blouse or any print added to the sari. Should such designer saris, which are themselves based on an existing design (namely, the kerala kasavu sari), be afforded copyright protection under the Designs Act? Secondly, if someone designs the same blouse (as the original designer) for a kerala kasavu sari but adds a different print to the sari, will this amount to design piracy of the original design?

In the absence of a landmark judgment in India on the issue of design piracy involving designer clothes, it is best to assume that only obvious/identical imitations or imitations with minor differences (such as colour) would be considered design piracy.



Laws protecting fashion designers

In the UK, the original drawing/graphic work on an item and 2-D items such as textiles are protected under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; the copyright protection under the 1988 Act subsists during the life of the copyright owner and for 70 years thereafter. Similarly in the US, fabric prints are protected for a term spanning the life of the designer plus 70 years. Another form of IPR in the US is design patent which protects the ornamental design of a functional object such as ornamental design of a mobile phone, watch, jewellery, etc.

The term of protection for design patents is 14 years; however, it is difficult to obtain design patents for clothes. Interestingly, in 2012, the Design Piracy Prohibition Bill (also known as the Fashion Bill) was introduced in the US Congress which aimed to provide protection to fashion designs for a term of three years. However, the Bill was not subsequently enacted.

Indian fashion designers have become more vigilant about copycat designers and have taken to shaming those who steal their designs. No doubt, designers invest significant time and resources in designing and marketing their clothes, and incur huge economic losses due to rip-offs of their work. A sui generis (of its own kind) protection for the IP of fashion designers, similar to the Fashion Bill in the US, could be a good way to protect fashion designers rights in India. A law exclusively for fashion designers IPR can also clarify the murky issues in design piracy and infringement of fashion designs relating to clothes.

(The author is a research fellow at Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. She is also a volunteer at Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights (SAHR). Views expressed are personal.)
In late November 2016, when former Prime Minister Mamohan Singh called demonetisation a mammoth tragedy and warned about a 2 percent hit on GDP in the aftermath of the demonetisation, the Narendra Modi government and demonetisation cheerleaders rubbished Singhs speech, a renowned economist and also a former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor.

They refused to take note of the warning seriously, instead called it purely a political speech that lacks substance. Even some of the prominent economists with reputed research houses, laughed at Singh saying his was largely a guess work, not backed by data. After 10 months of demonetisation, with no major tangible gains from the exercise and severe hit on the economy, Singh has the last laugh on the debate.

Indias gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.7 percent, the slowest pace in more than three years, lower than the 6.1 percent and 220 basis points (one bps is one hundredth of a percentage point) less than 7.9 percent reported in the year-ago quarter. The prolonged impact of demonetisation, when 86 percent of currency in circulation was withdrawn overnight without a clearly drawn out plan of execution, has played a major role in the GDP slide.

The impact of de-stocking by companies in the process of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, added to the pain. This invalidates the remaining excuses of the government that demonetisation didnt hurt growth. Remember, the Narendra Modi government went on a celebratory mode after the release of October-December quarter GDP numbers (7 percent) mocking the note ban critics. That time the then economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das had ruled out impact of demonetisation on GDP , The third quarter GDP numbers are out and as you have seen the numbers completely negate the kind of negative projections and speculations made about the impact of demonetisation," Das said, adding, An overestimation was done about the so called negative impact of demonetisation. It is very satisfying to know that it is not there. Because we still remain 7 percent plus growth country.

Das was proved wrong when the March quarter GDP came at 6.1 percent and yet again now, when the June quarter came at even lower at 5.7 percent.

The 5.7 percent figure has come as a shocker to most economists who were forecasting the June quarter GDP on the upside of 6.5 percent. Surprised by the first-quarter GDP figure, most economists have scaled down their full-year projections to closer to 7 percent with a downward bias, from 7.6 percent to 7.8 percent predicted earlier. In a panel discussion on CNBC-TV18, Pronab Sen, former chairman of the National Statistical Commission, said he expects the full-year growth to be even lower at 6.3 percent.

The big drag on the GDP figure is clearly a sharp decline in the manufacturing segment, which grew just 1.2 percent in the June quarter compared with 10.7 percent in the year-ago quarter and 5.3 percent in the preceding quarter.

Such a drop in the manufacturing activity, at multi-year lows now, doesnt augur well for an economy that aspires to displace China and become the manufacturing hub of the world. Besides this, sharp drop was seen in agriculture (2.3 percent compared with 5.2 percent in the year-ago quarter) and mining (contracted by 0.7 percent from 6.4 percent sequentially) while trade, transport etc, finance and real estate, and public administration helped.

But, the bigger shock is the major drop in the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) numbers that indicate the investment activity on the ground. This fell to just 1.6 percent from 5 percent in the year-ago period, although showing a minor improvement sequentially. This is a major area of concern for the economy since investment activity is critical to reboot the economy to a higher a growth trajectory. Both the private and government consumption are yet to take off in a major way. But, the good part is that GDP numbers have finally started reflecting the real situation on the ground and the painful divergence with headline GDP numbers and a range of macroeconomic data is over.

Demonetisation impact has finally become visible on the numbers. Certainly, this is good news from the perspective of quality data since it attaches more credibility to the official numbers, which is critical for the watchers of the Indian economy. The apparent divergent trend between high frequency economic indicators and headline GDP numbers has been perplexing the economists for a while. At a time when the private investment activity is yet to turn the corner, the government will have no options but to scale up public spending in a big way. But, the problem here is that it is in a tight spot with obligation to meet the fiscal deficit road map. It will have to either loosen the purse strings forgetting the FRBM roadmap or find ways to bring in large private investments.

The other option for the government is to force the Monetary Policy Committee to go for more rate cuts. But at a time when the system is already in a surplus mode and the RBI is heavily conducting reverse repo operations to suck out excess cash, there isnt much another rate cut can do to push lending.

Also, banks are saddled with huge bundles of bad loans that acts as a major barrier for them to go for large-scale lending. There isnt an easy way out. Of course, the impact of demonetisation will fade as time progresses but it will take a lot of time for the informal sector and small businesses to come out of the shock. Its time the Modi government woke up to the real economic situation and begins work to repair the economy to get the lost growth momentum back.

(Data contributed by Kishor Kadam)
New Delhi: Swedish defence giant Saab and Indian conglomerate Adani group on Friday announced a collaboration in defence manufacturing entailing billions of dollars of investment, mainly eyeing a contract for single-engine fighter jets for the Indian Air Force.

Announcing the deal, the two companies said the project would encompass design, development and production of Gripen jets for India in line with the Make in India initiative.

The government is set to procure a fleet of single-engine fighters for the IAF and US defence firm Lockheed Martin will be a major competitor for Saab for the deal.

The CEO and President of Saab, Hakan Buskhe, said the partnership is aimed at producing single engine fighter jets and other defence products for India under the country's recently unveiled "strategic partnership" model.

He said Saab plans to set up a world-class design and manufacturing facility for Gripen jets in India and it would like to export the aircraft to various markets globally if the Indian government allows it to do so.

Bushke said the company would not like to expand its current capacity fully in existing manufacturing hubs and would like to make India partner in the global Grippen chain.

"Our plans in India are to create a new defence eco-system that would involve many partners, vendors and suppliers. To achieve this, we need a strong Indian partner who can help create the framework for the infrastructure and eco-system to come into place," Buskhe said at a press conference.

Chairman of Adani Group Gautam Adani said his company's tie-up with Saab is in sync with its plan to get into high-tech defence manufacturing.

"In continuation of our vision of nation building, we are keen to play an instrumental role in helping transform India into a destination for world class high-tech defence manufacturing," he said.

He said the partnership is aimed at producing Gripen jets and many other products.

"Our various collaborations in aerospace and defence sectors will help establish new production lines in India, generate employment and build sustainable skills," he said.

Asked why Saab chose to partner with Adani group, which does not have much experience in the aerospace sector, Buskhe said it is one of the top-most firms in India and has performed impressively in several key sectors.

The companies said the collaboration would include projects, programmes and sharing of technologies of national importance with India.

"The parties plan to develop the relationship into a structure of joint ventures in India for execution of the programmes, including the single engine fighter programme," they said.

Saab said it is also looking at supplying the Indian Navy a version of Gripen with advanced features to take off from aircraft carriers.

Saab had offered Gripen for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal which was eventually awarded to French Dassaults Rafale.

Asked whether technology transfer would be difficult as Gripen jet engine has components developed by US defence majors, particularly under Donald Trump's presidency, Bushke said there should not be any problem over it.

The two companies said the collaboration will combine the technical and product excellence of Saab, along with the industrial engineering, system integration and mega project execution capabilities of Adani with the intention to manufacture defence systems locally in India.

"Saab and Adani will explore how to cooperate to develop a wider aerospace and defence ecosystem in India," they said.
Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Ileana D'Cruz and Esha Gupta's film Badshaaho hits theaters today. It follows a group of Rajasthani thugs who decide to loot the gold confiscated from Rani Geetanjali during the Emergency, and transport it back to Delhi by road.

Baadshaho is set in the emergency era of 1975, and kicks off with a screen filled with Ileana D'Cruz displaying her acting chops.

Ileana plays the role of Rani Geetanjali, and it is currently painful to watch her act, or at least try.

Many things happen in the first 15 minutes of the movie. A 2 year leap, the bombing of an entire palace in Jaipur and the arrest of Rani Geetanjali. The Rani has been taken into police custody for not declaring her gold and giving it to the government.

While she's waiting in a dark cell, she rues how only one person is needed to save her.

Finally, there is some respite for the viewers as Ajay Devgn is introduced in all his glory. Apparently gas bombs don't work on this man?

While sitting in her dilapidated cell, Ileana flashes back to her meeting with Ajay Devgn (who plays the hardened character of Bhavani). Bhavani and Geetanjali's love unfurls as we are given some background into their relationship.

Ajay has been put in charge of Rani Geetanjali's security; and he pledges to always keep her safe. Ajay has his rustic accent down pat, and introduces a subtle comic relief in the film.

Ileana finally becomes bearable as she vibes off Ajay, and the chemistry between the two is real.

Emraan Hashmi is introduced onto the silver screen in a manner that is befitting, keeping all his previous roles in mind. Diving straight into a brothel, Hashmi's kohl lined eyes instantly place him into the rural narrative perfectly.

Enter Sunny Leone in her special appearance as a brothel dancer and we are given a light hearted, yet subtly sensual sequence between the two.

Next we are introduced to Vidyut Jammwal and his bare chest. Because if you have a good body, no matter what the narrative, the makers will find a way to display it. So Jammwal is seen smoking in a train, with barely any clothes on, and your guess is as good as mine as to why that happens.

Jammwal is an army officer who has been entrusted with stealing the gold that was recovered from Geetanjali's palace and safely transport it to Delhi. Ajay on the other hand, has been given the task of making sure that gold never reaches Delhi.

Somewhere amidst all this, Esha Gupta's character is introduced in the movie as Rani Geetanjali's friend.

Special mention to Haashmi for picking up the baton for comic relief in Baadshaho, delivering the lines that have been given to him with precision and impeccable comic timing. Surprisingly it is Haashmi's character that has more appeal to me as a viewer than even Ajay's, displaying different facets and multiple layers to a role that could have otherwise been portrayed in a straight manner.

Sanjay Mishra also makes for a good addition, rounding off the lead cast of this mixed ensemble and lending to the believability and authenticity of Baadshaho.

A beautiful, semi classical melody in the form of the song 'Hoshiyar Rehna' deserves a special mention here, taking the storytelling to a different level and giving the narrative it's first memorable song.

The interval leaves the movie at a massive cliffhanger which works well, leaving the audience with bated breath. Upon return, we are presented with an onslaught of information and the much awaited betrayal and treachery that one would come to expect from a movie about a heist is finally introduced.

With twists and turns galore in the second half of the film, Baadshaho ends on a positive and pleasant note (a smart strategy that makes one forget some of the more terrible parts of Milan Luthria's film).

One of the better things about this movie is the crisp second half. Without stretching the film too much (something that all of Bollywood is very fond of doing), Baadshaho ends at the right moment with a refreshing and, more over, believable conclusion (yes it's a happy ending, but it's not the cliched romance).

Overall, if slightly senseless action thrillers are your thing, then Baadshaho seems like something you can watch without cringing too much.

Side note : Ileana D'Cruz, we might need to talk about some acting classes.
New Delhi: Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's India-set project Beyond The Clouds will have a world premiere at the forthcoming 61st BFI London Film Festival.

Featuring actor Shahid Kapoor's brother Ishaan Khatter and Malavika Mohanan in lead roles, the film covers the nuances of an adorable brother-sister relationship and has been completely shot in India.

Running from 4 October to 16 October, the festival will screen 242 films with 29 world premieres, 8 international premieres and 34 European premieres, reports deadline.com.

Beyond The Clouds is an official selection in the competition category, which will take place on 13 and 14 October.

The lead cast along with Majidi and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman is expected to attend the festival along with producers Shareen Mantri Kedia, Kishor Arora and Zee Studios, read a statement.

Clare Stewart, Festival Director, BFI London Film Festival, has praised the film.

"Acclaimed Iranian director Majid Majidi brings a powerful outsider eye to Mumbai in this compelling, visually stunning film driven by an extraordinary debut performance from Ishaan Khattar. Anil Mehta's breathtaking cinematography and the evocative score by Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman bring additional depth to Majidi's visionary filmmaking," Stewart said.

"We are very proud to present its World Premiere in Official Competition at the BFI London Film Festival," she added.

The film wrapped up in April this year and is into its post production at the moment.

Majidi has decided to make three languages  Hindi, Tamil and English as a part of the script. The film will see an amalgamation of three languages instead of it being shot and dubbed separately. Each language will form a major part of the film and will be used in the scenes and setups that befit those languages.

Vibha Chopra, Head Zee Studios International, said, "The film based in Mumbai masterfully captures the depth and simplicity of human emotions. A project which is completely a 'Make in India' film helmed by Majidi proves that human emotions know no barriers of language and geography."

The first look of the film was unveiled at the Berlin Film Festival in February, and the second poster was released at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Majidi is an Oscar winner and is known for masterpieces like Children of Heaven, The Color of Paradise and Baran.
COLUMBUS  A spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol on Thursday confirmed the law enforcement agency is investigating possible financial irregularities in Platte Countys adult diversion program.

State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas referred all further questions about the investigation to the Platte County Attorneys Office.

Rumors have been swirling that the investigation was initiated amid concerns about the potential mishandling of funds in the county program.

Traci Nelsen, former coordinator of both the county victims' assistance and adult diversion programs, abruptly left her position on Aug. 24.

Nelsen is no longer working as the adult diversion coordinator, County Attorney Carl Hart said on Thursday.

Hart said he couldnt comment on the circumstances of Nelsens departure because it's a personnel issue.

The Platte County Board of Supervisors has two items on its meeting agenda for Tuesday involving discussion and possible action on the adult pretrial diversion program and financial account.

Hart said he would not discuss the agenda items prior to presenting the information to the board on Tuesday.

The adult diversion account had a balance of $1,457 as of July 31, according to the county treasurers office, which is still working on the accounts month-end balance for August.

The county provided $12,000 in startup money for the diversion program when it started in 2014 with hopes that the program would be financially self-sustaining from there.

That didn't happen.

The county transferred $25,000 from the inheritance tax fund into the adult diversion account in December 2015 and authorized another $10,000 transfer in December 2016 after the balance dipped to $1,198.

The diversion program is designed for first-time adult offenders who commit minor offenses. Participants are referred to the program by the county attorneys office and apply for admittance. After completing the program, criminal charges are dismissed.

Participants pay fees that are used to support the program. However, those fees can be reduced or waived based on a participant's income.

Wilma Arp, who previously worked with the countys juvenile diversion program and recently retired, has been named interim coordinator of the adult diversion program.

Nicolette Dannelly, who has been with Platte County victims' assistance for about eight months, was named the new coordinator of that program after Nelsen's departure.

Nelsen was hired as the victims' assistance coordinator in 2009 by then-County Attorney Sandra Allen and named coordinator of the newly created adult diversion program in April 2014.
Ashim Ahluwalia's crime biopic Daddy, featuring Arjun Rampal in the titular role of Mumbai gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawali, has been issued an 'A' certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Rampal, who is also the producer of the film, has welcomed the adult certification and has even claimed that he saw it coming. DNA quotes the actor as saying, "Id have been genuinely surprised if our film was not given an A. The film is about a personality, who shared an ambivalent relationship with the law, so, yes, it is a film for adults."

The same report states that he was also given the option to tone down the rawness of the film in order to make it more compatible for children's viewing but the producer decided against the same. "I was given the choice of an A and a U/A with several cuts. But the cuts would have taken away from the raw and real feel of the film. So, I was advised against it by the CBFC members," says Rampal.

He also adds that the CBFC has directed three verbal cuts in the film which are references to real-life politicians. But Rampal maintains that these make no difference to his film.

Daddy also stars Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat and Shruti Bapna. It is slated to release on 8 September, along with Shreyas Talpade's comedy Poster Boys.
Two months before its 48th edition is scheduled to kick off in Goa, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is undergoing a change of guard.

A Hindustan Times report stated that the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has handed over IFFI's charge to the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). Previously, the Directorate of Film Festivals operated the event.

The same report states that NFDC will sign a memorandum with the I&B Ministry, charting out its plan for the nine-day festival.

There were too many complaints and glitches during the past few editions of IFFI. Complaints ranged from logistical problems to selection of films. But NFDC has barely two months to go, so we will have to see how the changes augur for the festival, a filmmaker, on condition of anonymity, told HT.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today constituted a 40-member 'preview committee' with filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri as its convener to select movies for the international film festival at Goa. Other members of the new committee include Agnihotri's wife and actress Pallavi Joshi, author and Padma Shri-awardee Narendra Kohli and actress Hrishitaa Bhatt, an official statement said.

The move came after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry recently postponed a meeting of the previous preview committee comprising around 20 members who were nominated when M Venkaiah Naidu was the information and broadcasting minister. Film editor Aarti Bajaj, film critic and screenwriter Khalid Mohamed, and film director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury are among the other members of the newly-constituted committee.

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from 20 to 28 November. "The (dissolved) committee was cleared by M Venkaiah Naidu in second week of July. The process was already started and we have seen 150 films so far. We don't know whether they will be seen again or not," a member of the dissolved committee said.

Film critic Saibal Chatterjee is the only member of the earlier committee who has been been retained in the new committee, the member, who wished not to be named, said.

Vivek Agnihotri told PTI over phone, "I am very passionate about such film festivals. I and all the members will try and do a good job. I think what Smriti Irani ji is trying to do is bring in more professionals. All of us want one thing - the film industry should grow and these are small steps."

He said that he is currently in the US and was not aware that his wife Pallavi was also a part of the committee.

Other members of the committee include Padma Shri-awardee Naresh Chander Lal, actor Abhimanyu Singh, journalist Bhawana Somaaya, South film actress Jeevitha Rajasekhar and Gautami Tadimalla, 'Dangal' film director Nitesh Tiwari, and 'Airlift' director Raja Krishna Menon, documentary maker Siddharth Kak, and producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali's sister Bela Segal.

Paediatrician-cum-movie director Santwana Bordoloi, Noida-based filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika, documentary filmmakers from the northeast Dominic Megam Sangma, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) Member Secretary Sachchidanand Joshi, Malayalam film actress Parvathi Menon, and film director Sangee Dorjee Thongdok are also selected in the new committee.

Those members who have been dropped included Rekha Gupta, a prominent BJP member and a member linked to Sanskar Bharti Praveen Arya, a former member said, on condition of anonymity.

Last week, the I and B Ministry had constituted the steering committee and the technical committee for the IFFI.

Filmmaker Jahnu Barua was appointed as the convener of the new 13-member steering committee, while filmmaker and screenwriter Nagesh Kukunoor was made the head of the 12- member technical committee.

With inputs from PTI
Mumbai: Actress Kangana Ranaut, who got involved in a legal battle with Hrithik Roshan last year, says their fight is still not over as she deserves an apology from the actor and his father Rakesh Roshan.

Kangana opened up on the controversy once again on CNN News18's show Now Showing, read a statement by the channel.

The actress says the senior Roshan had tried to fix a meeting between her and Hrithik, but that is yet to happen. "I'm still waiting to meet him face-to-face and exchange two words on this and sort this out, but he's been running and hiding from me," Kangana said.

"He (Hrithik) and his father have made fools of themselves, they should apologise to me in public. Even if they don't, I will clarify to the world what happened to the case. The case has not died down. They couldn't prove anything," she added.

Issues between the two began when Kangana hinted at Hrithik being her "ex-boyfriend" when she said in an interview that she fails to understand "why exes do silly things to get your attention". The actress lodged a legal complaint against Hrithik for "misusing" the confidential emails and photographs of the time when they were together.

Hrithik later filed a complaint with the cyber crime cell, claiming an imposter had been emailing Kangana from a bogus email ID, pretending to be him.

"For me, it's important that he (Hrithik) claimed many things, but couldn't prove anything. You can't go about slapping notices on people. He had been preparing all this for two years. He used to send himself emails from my account because he had my password," Kangana said.

"I stayed quiet till now because I needed time to understand what all they (Roshan family) were doing... Of course it was all lies, but I didn't know what they would do next. I was scared. Look at what happened to the Malayalam actress because she went and complained to the actor's wife. They got her raped... Of course that was much after my case, but I was scared. So many things happen to women. The media would call me, or my sister and say, 'You are not safe... You guys should move to a safe place or go in hiding'," she added.

Without naming anyone, Kangana said she used to get calls from people from the industry who told her, "You should apologise, they are powerful people."

"He (Hrithik) and his father claimed they would expose me and shock the world, but they couldn't prove anything. He (Hrithik) slapped a notice saying she caused great harm to my reputation because she called me a 'silly ex'... I am the silly ex. But, he couldn't prove it. So, he changed his stance and said... She's right, she had an affair, but that wasn't me, it was an imposter. But, he couldn't prove that also," Kangana said.

Watch the full interview here.
Mumbai: After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) next month, Britain-India co-production The Hungry, will have its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) and its Asia premiere at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in India in October.

The Naseeruddin Shah, Tisca Chopra, Neeraj Kabi, Arjun Gupta, Sayani Gupta, Antonio Aakeel and Suraj Sharma starrer movie is a Cinestaan Film Company/Film London co-production.

It follows Tulsi Joshi (Tisca), a widow and bride-to-be who arrives at her own wedding seeking revenge for the brutal murder of her first-born son. Based on William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, the movie explores the violence that exists between power and love - a macabre fairytale set in the elite circles of northern India, read a statement.

Written and directed by Bornila Chatterjee and co-written and produced by Tanaji Dasgupta and Kurban Kassam, The Hungry was born from a desire to forge stronger links between Indian and Britain's film industries.

The two companies involved were supported by the British Council, which enabled a series of workshops to take place as part of last year's 'Shakespeare Lives' celebration, in order to develop the film in anticipation of the current UK/India Year of Culture.

Veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin says it's a film to watch out for. "Bornila is extremely open and receptive to ideas from others, which can be rare with first-time directors. I would rate Bornila as among the best directors I've worked with, and you could sense that in her first film itself," he said.

Recounting her experience of working on the film, Tisca said, "During the course of the film, I hardly slept for about 20 days, not because I didn't have the time but because I was sweating and thinking - I could've done this, I could've done that. The writing has so many layers and levels that you keep peeling things off and there's still more to do."
Before we talk about what Balakrishnas latest film Paisa Vasool is all about, its important to put few things into perspective. Directed by Puri Jagannadh, Paisa Vasool isnt a film, its packaged as a love letter to its lead actor  Balakrishna  and his fans. Balakrishna is a name, but Balayya is an emotion. His fans know it. Even Puri Jagannadh knows it quite well and this time, he has tapped into the phenomenon of Jai BalayyaJai Jai Balayya, a jingle has a Mexican wave-like rhythm. For heavens sake, theres even a song, whose lyrics go like  Coca Cola Pepsi, Balayya Babu SexyJai Balayya, Jai Jai Balayya. The film doesnt even have a The End card. It just says Jai Balayya. You get the drift, right? This isnt a film which cares so much about its story and what it tries to drives home, as much as it focuses on its lead actor and giving a new twist to his onscreen image.

For the longest time, I have suspected that before writing a script, Puri Jagannadh plays a game of darts. He has the map of Europe, particularly South-Western Europe, on one side and that of South East Asia on another. Wherever the dart lands, that becomes the backdrop for whatever story hes going to write. This time, for Paisa Vasool, we land in Portugal, where Theda Singh (Balakrishna) works as a cab driver. Sure, because thats an easy thing to buy. One day, he bumps into a BBC journalist, played by Shriya Saran, and before we known it, he says she black just like him, because all non-whites in Europe are referred to as blacks. And then, theres a Telugu-speaking mafia kingpin who controls the whole world from Portugal. For all you know, he might have been a tourist from India who decided to stay back just for kicks.

Paisa Vasool, especially when everything gets into a serious mode, feels even more superficial because the characters rarely gel well with the setting. They just happen to be there and make no effort to make it look like they have lived there for a while. This isnt restricted to Paisa Vasool alone. Every film which is set abroad, from Puris recent filmography, like ISM, Heart Attack and Iddarammayilatho, falls in the same category. We are, in turn, forced to stretch our imagination to soak it all in and wait for those moments where you get something to cheer for. And thats where Puri Jagannadh unveils his secret weapon  Balakrishna as Theda Singh.

We know that we are watching a different film when Puri Jagannadh writes quirkier punchlines for the lead actor. This time, Balakrishna, who is in top form, gives us at least a dozen punch dialogues. Right from whatever youve seen in the teasers to gems like Only two people are allowed to shoot me  My fans and my family. Outers Not Allowed. We arent supposed to look for logic or meaning here, its all about emotion which comes in the form of Balakrishna. He has clearly had a blast shooting for the film and it shows. Be it his dialogues or action sequences, the actor keeps his fans entertained, and full credit to him for his ability to turn even a cheesy scene into something thats uproariously funny. Take that scene where hes asked, Do you know Bob Marley?. He replies, I only know Mansion House. Or that stress he puts on Wiki when he says, Thats my visible record on Wikipedia. Quite frankly, Paisa Vasool is watchable to an extent only to witness a never-before-seen Balayya, especially in the first half.

In a typical Puri Jagannadhs film environment, we are introduced to a bunch of mafia dons, sidekicks, corrupt politicians, a market yard, bomb blasts, sincere policemen, rats in the system  it takes a genius to play around with these tropes over and over again, and write something afresh. But lets not get too deep into all these things, because everyone in the film exists to extol the awesomeness of Balayya. Even the dreaded mafia dons are scared of his ferocity. And the women swoon over him even if they meet him for two minutes.

In terms of the plot and the twist in the tale, Puri doesnt really bother to do something entirely different this time. For all you know, his major focus might have been to justify Theda Singhs idiosyncrasies. So, he doles out one scene after another, which establish the characters ingenious ways. The problem comes in the second half of the story which beats around the bush for far too long, and it gets weaker and boring, as it progresses. Thats where you realise the emphasis Puri Jagannadh puts on the lead character rather than the story or other characters in the film.

After witnessing the adventures of Theda Singh through Puris eyes, its immaterial what one thinks of Theda Singh or his motives. We only remember the character and Balakrishna who played it with fervour. Nothing else matters here. Paisa Vasool is a product of Puri Jagannadhs assembly line of films. The seal of Balakrishna might look different on the periphery, but once you dig deeper, its all same thing rehashed with new packaging. Two thumbs down for the film. Balakrishnas explosive energy doesnt quite salvage the film in the end.
Chennai: A court here on 31 August stayed the release of Tamil film Puriyatha Puthir after a petition alleged that its producers owed Rs 22.13 lakh to those who had worked in the movie.

The film starring Vijay Sethupathi and Gayathri Shanker was to hit the screens tomorrow.

According to the available documents, a prima facie case was made out. The balance of convenience was in favour of the petitioners, the city civil court said, ordering the interim stay valid till September 14.

The petitioner  the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI)  had sought a stay on the release of the film produced by the JSK Film Corporation contending that the company had to pay Rs 22,13,051 to its members who had worked in the film.

The petitioner's counsel argued that the workers of the federation were "very poor" and there was no written agreement signed between them and the producers.

He claimed the producers had promised the workers to pay their dues before the release of the movie but did not honour it.

If the injunction was not granted, the payment would never be made, he said.
By Sharanya Gopinathan

My favourite scene in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is one where (I feel) Bhumi Pedneker scolds all men on behalf of all women as she yells at Ayushmann Khurrana for falling into a trap of his own making. In a grand show of his love for Suggu (Bhumi Pedneker), Mudit (Ayushmann Khurrana) takes a death-defying leap from a cable car in Rishikesh into the other, where Suggu sits, and misses. He ends up hanging on the cable car from a window on the side, and begs Suggu to give him a hand. She refuses, basically telling him its his own stupid fault hes hanging there and no one ever asked him to jump from a cablecar.

Its a wonderful moment that neatly reflects the frustration and absurdity women feel at the plight of men around them trying to deal with the consequences of toxic masculinity, or struggling to deal with patriarchys negative effects on their own lives.

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, a remake of the Tamil movie Kalyana Samayal Saadham, is the story of the marriage between Sugandha and currently-impotent Mudit. Shy, bumbling-but-also-not Mudit suffers from (temporary) erectile dysfunction, which he and Suggu discover during an ill-fated pre-marital tryst, and the rest of the movie revolves around negotiating parents, in-laws, publics, veterinarians (yes) and their own relationship woes to get married despite it.

Its a surprising topic, and definitely one a lot of people dont talk about. In that way, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan falls squarely into a trend we seem to be smack in the middle of, which is of Bollywood movies deliberately speaking about typically taboo subjects, like Phullu, which is the story of a man who saves the women of his village by inventing sanitary napkins, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, which is Akshay Kumars ode to Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat campaign, and the upcoming Padman, where Akshay Kumar will save the women of the country by, you guessed it, inventing a pad-making machine.

Thats pretty much where the similarity ends though. Toilet, which also featured Bhumi Pedneker, has been described as a long Swachh Bharat ad with songs, and it repeatedly whacks you in the face with a message that honestly seems to be the governments marketing strategy these days: Real men build their women toilets. Phullu valiantly cuts his own hand for blood to test the pads hes making (seems a bit excessive, no?) and fights all odds (including the women around him) to save women. Padman, which tells the story of Tamil Nadu-based Arunachalam Muruganantham, who found a way to provide low-cost pads to women, hasnt been released yet, but its to be headlined by Akshay Kumar, so you can be sure that whatever day it is, Kumar will be surely be the one to save it.

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan isnt in the business of building male heroes, preaching or politics. Theres no moral or message, it isnt issued in public interest and you wont learn anything about the reality or biology of erectile dysfunction if you watch it. Its just a fun movie about the difficulties and hilarities that could possibly come out of a situation involving a couple, erectile dysfunction, a family and a wedding.

Part of the movie's appeal is also in its unexpected moments of irreverence and wry humour. After Toilet, you feel pleasantly surprised seeing Bhumi in a movie that pokes fun at the plan of digital India. Theres also a subtle, hilarious and kind of meta scene where the family is in a theatre, watching a commercial that Bhumis mother stars in: For a GPS tracker that spies on your bahu-beti for their own safety. It somehow feels like Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is littered with these little Easter eggs of feminist jokes for women to laugh at privately in their heads if they get it.

For me, the experience of watching the movie first thing this morning was also uniquely fun. As entertaining as this movie is, it doesnt have the star power or the kind of subject matter that fills up first day first shows, so the theatre I watched it in was mostly empty, except for a handful of other women in twos and threes, and a school kid couple who came to make out. So it felt fine to laugh a little extra-loud, exclaim at the fun bits and look around appreciatively during the jokes, because we were the only people in central Bengaluru who had chosen to spend a weekday morning watching a movie about erectile dysfunction. Surprisingly but also not surprisingly, the boy half of the school kid couple was the only male in the theatre I watched it in.

Back when Kalyana Samayal Saadham, the Tamil original was released, the hero was praised for agreeing to this kind of a role in a time when heroism was synonymous with machismo. In that case, perhaps Ayushmann Khurrana too deserves praise in 2017 for taking on a role that flies in the face of all the machismo and saviour-complexes we continue to demand from our heroes. Ayushmanns heroism doesnt lie in his ability to beat up bad guys (which he does in fact do once in the movie), nor does he even come close to saving anyone (in fact, its Bhumi who saves him). He loves Bhumi: not in a nasty way that invokes mothers or goddesses, just in a real, young, human way. He credits her for his confidence and his remaining security in his masculinity, and in fact says that its Bhumi whos turning him into a man (if this sounds like a weird thing to say, let me assure you that it works in the movie). His real victories arent the ones he wins when he beats lechers on the street, but the more difficult ones, with confidence, and family.

Mudit's masculinity is constructed in the movie by showing you where masculinity doesnt lie: In getting an erection, being sexually aggressive or brash or violent. In the course of the story, youre shown that theres nothing masculine or desirable about being the kind of person who makes decisions for your girlfriend, or who doesnt know how to take no for an answer. If anything, this movie tells you that masculinity isnt about being able to get it up, but it is about anything else you want it to be, and anything that you are. It doesnt teach you that real men build toilets, it doesn't teach you anything at all. And thats a good thing.

In fact, despite being touted as such, this movie isnt even really about erectile dysfunction after all, although that is something that happens in the movie. Its mostly just about figuring your way through love and family in an embarrassing situation, so much so that we dont even get to hear how they get over the whole erectile-dysfunction problem. It was supposed to be enough for us to know that they do, and in fact, it is.

The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine
The Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) has called for an indefinite strike, starting from 1 September, in the wake of Tamil Film Producers Council's (TFPC) maintained stand on not working exclusively with FEFSI members, reports The Hindu.

FEFSI constitutes of 25,000 members from 23 different fields of art. Recently, TFPC had put out an advertisement inviting students of visual communication and film-making in film schools across the state of Tamil Nadu to apply for various positions like editors, cinematographers, make-up artists, costume designers and other positions.

This reportedly irked the FEFSI members and hence they decided to go on strike.

"This is an attempt to destroy the union. All film shootings will be cancelled from tomorrow until they agree to our demands. I dont know what the producers want  we get the feeling that they dont want us to live. This move of theirs to call for more people will create another union and it will destroy the entire industry. I am angry that our efforts have not been appreciated," said FEFSI president RK Selvamani.

Explaining the stand of TFPC, producer SR Prabhu said, "We need personnel. We have tied up with a few institutions so that there is a constant supply of skilled technicians in departments such as editing, camera assistants, etc. This is an effort to fill the gap. Several of them lack technical knowledge. We only have one demand. Dont force us to recruit only from FEFSI. We don't want to be arm-twisted anymore."

The Hindu's report also adds that FEFSI plans to organise a protest against TFPC on 5 September.
The flood crisis in Bihar showed signs of improvement with water receding from several areas, allowing people to return to their homes. The number of deluge-related fatalities remain at 514, with no fresh death reported from the 19 flood-hit districts.

In this crisis situation, helping hands for the marooned people of Bihar have started pouring in. One of those benefactors happens to be Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.

Khan has sent across a cheque of Rs 25 lakh on behalf of his film production company, Aamir Khan Productions Ltd, to the victims, said an official statement, reports PTI.

A report by The Hindustan Times adds that the cheque arrived through courier and was received at the office of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The report further states that Khan has come to the rescue of disaster-struck states in the past as well. He had reportedly donated the same amount (Rs 25 lakh) during the Assam and Gujarat floods too.

Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Gujarat, took to Twitter and thanked Khan for his noble and humanitarian gesture. Sonowal posted:

Thank you @aamir_khan for contributing Rs 25 Lakh towards Assam Chief Minister's Relief Fund through Aamir Khan Productions Pvt. Ltd.  Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) July 31, 2017

Other donations came from BJP Rajya Sabha member C P Thakur who donated Rs 20 lakh from his MPLAD fund for relief work in Sahebganj and Paru blocks of Muzaffarpur.

Art and Culture minister Krishna Kumar Rishi gave a cheque of Rs 1 lakh. Several other MLAs and former legislators also contributed to the flood relief work.

(With inputs from PTI)
Chennai: Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Wednesday said a decision would soon be taken on the next course of action to ease out Chief Minister K Palaniswamy from his post.

Asserting that those who betrayed the party would not be spared, Dhinakaran, commanding the support of 21 of the 134 ruling party MLAs, said he would consult legislators in a day or two and decide the next course of action.

Days after his 19 loyalist MLAs petitioned Governor Vidyasagar Rao to oust Palaniswamy, he said, We will select a good person, somebody who does not harbour thoughts of betrayal.

Stating that his faction was confident that Rao would take a good decision on the representation by MLAs seeking the chief ministers ouster, he quoted a proverb which meant that those with patience will eventually win.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai, he flayed Palaniswamy and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam for betrayal, hankering after posts and being self-centred.

He categorically said that the feud in the party would end only if the duo are removed from their respective posts.

Claiming that only 77 legislators had taken part in a recent party meet chaired by Panneerselvam and Palaniswamy, he said the government no more commanded majority.

The meet had adopted resolutions against the Dhinakaran and the ruling faction had claimed that an overwhelming majority of MLAs had attended it.

Harping on his sleeper cell MLAs, refrain, Dhinakaran said it was not uttered for the sake of the media and reiterated that more MLAs would declare support to him one by one.

On the ruling faction convening the General Council and Executive Committee meetings on 12 September in Chennai,he said only party general secretary VK Sasikala had the authority to do so and in her absence, himself.

If they convene the meet, it is not valid and you will realise it.

Earlier, several party functionaries appointed by him, including former Minister Parithi Ilam Vazhuthi who was named Organising Secretary called on Dhinakaran at his Adyar residence at Chennai.
Chennai: Sidelined AIADMK Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran on Friday told party members not to attend the 12 September general council and executive committee meetings called by the two factions of the party that have merged.

The merged factions were earlier headed by now Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

In a statement issued here, Dinakaran said a meeting of the general council can be convened only when one fifth of the members give it in writing and it can be convened only by the general secretary.

According to him, only the now jailed General Secretary VK Sasikala has the power to convene meetings of the general council and executive committee.

He said the 12 September meetings convened by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam were illegal. Urging party members not to attend them, Dinakaran warned that those who do would face "strong action".

After Chief Minister and General Secretary J Jayalalithaa died in December last year, her close aide Sasikala was chosen the interim General Secretary.

Panneerselvam, who was then Chief Minister, resigned his post and rebelled against Sasikala and demanded her and her family's ouster from the party.

Before going to jail on corruption charges, Sasikala appointed her nephew Dinakaran as the deputy general secretary.

Later, Palaniswami and his faction started to distance themselves from Dinakaran. They also announced that Dinakaran's appointment to the party post was invalid.

The merged faction has called the 12 September meeting mainly to expel Sasikala from the party post.
Even after the disengagement of the Chinese and Indian troops at Doka La, all is not well between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Myanmar on 6 and 7 September assumes significance because one, Beijing has been trying to wield an influence on Myanmar since the 1990s and two, his visit also comes in the backdrop of India's decision to deport the Rohingya Muslims.

The Centre had said that illegal immigrants like the Rohingyas pose grave security challenges as they may be recruited by terror groups and had asked state governments to identify and deport them.

Despite the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issuing identity cards to the Rohingya, Union minister Kiren Rijiju has said that UNHRC registration is irrelevant.

Amid this crisis and criticism for deciding to deport the Rohingyas, all eyes are on Modi and if he will say anything about these refugees living "illegally" in India during his visit to Myanmar on his way back from the BRICS summit in China.

Despite New Delhi spelling out where its commitment lies, with respect to Myanmar's fight against the Rohingyas, in no uncertain terms, 'non-refoulement' or the principal of not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger will haunt India, as The Indian Express points out.

New Delhi has always felt it unwise to make any statements that would be seen in Myanmar as "pro-Rohingya". After the fresh crackdown launched by the Myanmar Army, thousands of Rohingyas are fleeing to Bangladesh and far from improving, the situation only seems to be exacerbating.

In a statement after an attack attributed to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, India said in a statement that it was "seriously concerned by reports of renewed violence and attacks by terrorists in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. We are deeply saddened at the loss of lives among members of the Myanmar security forces."

This statement shows that despite international criticism of Myanmar's handling of the Rohingya crisis, New Delhi will continue its support to Burma on global platforms. The Wire, while referring to a report by the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (which decided to initiate an investigation into the systematic, structural, and institutional discrimination in policy against the Rohingyas), said that Indian representatives implied that New Delhi will not support this proposal.

This response is justified only in the context that India has been seeking deepening ties with Myanmar, which is considered a key pillar in India's Act East policy. India's statement condoling the loss of lives of the Myanmar Army personnel is again a step in consolidating ties because as this Firstpost article points out, "the armed forces continue to hold a dominating position in Myanmar's polity despite the gradual move towards electoral democracy."

Bilateral trade between India and Myanmar has been growing steadily but, it lags behind China and Thailand in terms of presence in the Myanmarese market. India has committed $2 billion for development assistance to Myanmar, but projects have been slow in getting implemented. The Kaladan multi-modal transport project was the first major project undertaken by the Indian government in Myanmar. Modi's visit is expected to give a boost to these projects.

Despite India backing the Myanmar government with the aim of forwarding the Act East policy and countering Beijing's ever growing influence, its insistence on deporting the Rohingyas to please its neighbour will not come without a hurdle.

While India says that it is in touch with Myanmar and Bangladesh about the deportation plan, none of them seem willing to accept the refugees. Myanmar insists on scrutiny of all Rohingyas begore they are allowed back in as citizens. Deporting them to Myanmar where they face torture and persecution may violate their constitutional rights. As Firstpost noted before, the Rohingya who live in India are entitled to right to life and equality.

Bangladesh is also unlikely to allow any more Rohingyas, considering it is already battling with thousands of refugees who have fled Myanmar. The Indian Express quoted Bangladesh's foreign minister Dipu Moni as saying, "Why should the world push us to accept more Rohingyas, we are an over-populated poor country ourselves."

While the Rohingya issue might find a place in discussions between the two sides during Modis visit to Myanmar, the situation is unlikely to alter much. India will continue to express its support to Myanmar because it is key to New Delhi's strategic interests. With insistence on deporting the Rohingya in the backdrop of security concerns, Modi may have to talk to his Myanmar and Bangladesh counterparts and hash out a solution.

Modi is not expected to change stance on the Rohingya issue in a bilateral visit, which India hopes, will give a boost to political and economic ties with a strategic eastern neighbour.

With inputs from agencies
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir's economy might have lost thousands of crores of rupees in the last few years to natural disasters and civil unrest but the state is poised for yet another upheaval, regardless of its hidden cost.

The recent debate on the state's right to autonomy has set off alarm bells in the region. Be it the political leadership or the general public, the stakeholders have categorically warned of dire consequences if Article 35A, which grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is tinkered with. Nisar Ali, a renowned economist from Kashmir, told Firstpost that while the state has suffered severe losses in the recent past, people would not hesitate to hit the streets.

The economic losses he speaks of are massive.

In 2013, the tourism industry bled Rs 4,500 crore as curfew was imposed in the Kashmir Valley after the hanging of Afzal Guru, convicted for attacking the Parliament in 2001. The year after, floods inflicted a loss of Rs 5,700 crore upon the state's economy, particularly tourism, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India, the country's biggest trade association.

In 2016, the shutdowns and violence that prevailed in the valley for five months after security forces killed militant leader Burhan Wani cost the state Rs 16,000 crore, according to Economic Survey 2016. Between July and August last year, the tourism sector faced a loss of Rs 7.52 crore. This amounted to 80 percent slide in revenue compared with the earnings for the same period the previous year.

Mohammad Yasin Khan, the president of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation, understands the financial impact of these events well. Regardless of how the bottom lines of businesses in the region have been taking a hit intermittently, he said the agitation against scrapping Article 35A will be more intense than last year's. He said if the Article is repealed, the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions will also join the Kashmir Valley in the protest.

"The state will be one in protecting its... unique identity and if we dont protest, our identity will be eroded once for all. Ye karo ya maro ki stithi hogi, he said. (It will be a 'do or die' situation.)

Bone of contention

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution says that nobody except permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir can buy property here, settle here or get a job with the state government. Among other things, it grants the state a special, autonomous, status, a privilege no other state in the country enjoys.

An NGO and a lawyer have filed petitions in the Supreme Court, seeking that the Article be struck down. When the court sought the Centre's reply on the petitions, the Attorney General said the government wanted a "larger debate" on the topic. The Supreme Court will now hear petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A after Diwali.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre's stance of entertaining a debate on the Article's validity has been seen as a threat to the state's special status. BJP's spokesperson for Jammu and Kashmir, Virender Gupta, has categorically argued in favour of scrapping the Article 35A.

Jammus provincial president for opposition party National Conference, Davinder Singh Rana, said if Jammu and Kashmir's special status is withdrawn, the local people won't have job opportunities in their own state and shall gradually lose their properties to the outsiders. Echoing Khan's belief, he said the issue is likely to face opposition from the Hindu-dominated Jammu and Muslim-dominated Kashmir alike.

Ali said business houses will want to acquire Jammu and Kashmir's industrial units and the local business community will gradually find itself sidelined. This, he said, will be lethal for the state's economic stability.

"The disastrous impact of removing the special status will be felt after 10 years in the state and the local population will turn into nothing more than a begging community," he said.

Simmering tension

For the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the threat is real. Such is the gravity of the issue that in the second week of August, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reached out to opposition party leader Farooq Abdullah to discuss options to ward off this threat. The chief minister minced no words when at an event 10 days before this meeting she said nobody in Kashmir would bear India's flag if Article 35A was repealed.

The Congress' Jammu and Kashmir spokesperson Salman Anees Soz said political groups in the state need to come together at the earliest to avoid an agitation and loss of life.

The human cost of unrest in the state has been huge. Since 2008, at least 300 people in the state have lost their lives in conflicts. The Amarnath land row had seen 63 deaths, the violence in 2010 had 112 casualties, mostly teenagers, and last year's unrest claimed 145 lives.

For the people of the state, their identity is above everything else. Mohammad Yaqoob Bhat, a resident of old city of Srinagar, recalled how large-scale protests had erupted in the state in 2008 against the Centre's decision of taking control of 99 acres of Amarnath land. "If people could not bear the transfer of even 99 acres to New Delhi, do you think they will remain silent on the transfer of entire land of Kashmir!"

"

Education is another casualty of the agitations, what with about 31 schools burnt down in last year's unrest. Schools in the strife-torn areas remained shut for months and there were widespread concerns that their students' academic year would go waste. The state education board's exams for classes 10 and 12 covered only half of the syllabus. Many teachers who had left the Valley during the uprising are yet to resume work.

With strong undercurrents of another spell of protests, the already beleaguered lot of students is staring at back-to-back years of below-par education.

As the pitch against reconsidering Jammu and Kashmir's autonomous status gets shriller by the day, residents of the state are bracing for what lies ahead. Irfan Rashid, who started a travel agency in Srinagar after graduating from college in 2015, saw his income plummet during last year's unrest. He was hoping 2017 turns out well but is now ridden with anxiety.

"No one can say what will happen tomorrow in Kashmir. Every day I start my work, I keep my fingers crossed."

The author is a Srinagar based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. He tweets @UmarManzoorSha1
Guwahati: For the first time in nearly three decades, the Assam government has exercised its power under the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act by declaring the entire state "disturbed" for six months beginning Friday.

The notification issued by the state home and political department declared Assam 'disturbed' area for a period of six months, unless withdrawn earlier, as per power conferred under the AFSPA 1958, an official release said.

Armed forces deployed in disturbed areas are empowered to arrest, search any premises and even shoot anyone without any warrant.

As per Section 3 of the AFSPA, it can be invoked in places where "the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary". Both the central and the state government can declare any area as 'disturbed' under the Act.

Assam was first declared 'disturbed' area under the AFSPA in 1990 when the state had witnessed massive violence perpetrated by the banned insurgent group ULFA and President's Rule was imposed after dismissing the then AGP government headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

Since then, the central government has been exercising the powers given under the AFSPA.

The move to allow the state government to exercise the powers under the AFSPA came at a time when both the central and the Assam governments are ruled by the BJP.

The official release said the declaration has been made after assessing the present law and order situation in the state which has continued to be a matter of concern due to some violent incidents by underground outfits.

A home ministry official said in New Delhi that there were 75 incidents of violence in Assam in 2016, in which 33 people, including four security personnel, were killed and 14 others were abducted.

The violence was perpetrated in Assam by insurgent groups like ULFA, NDFB and others, the official said.

However, the central government order declaring the 20 km belt in Meghalaya bordering Assam, three districts of Arunachal Pradesh  Tirap, Changlang and Longding  and areas falling within the jurisdiction of 14 police stations in nine other districts in Arunachal Pradesh as 'disturbed' will continue till 30 September.
The sky was overcast when a Union minister landed at Jay Prakash Narayan airport at Patna from Delhi on Thursday afternoon. His phone rang just as he was about to get off the aircraft. He picked up the phone only to realise that BJP president Amit Shah was calling. The conversation was brief and purposeful, with Shah first inquiring from him where he was and then telling him in clear terms to return to Delhi on the same flight back to meet him.

He quickly got his ticket and boarding pass and got back on the return flight. The situation couldn't have been more awkward but he had no option but to follow the directions. The minister sensed that the call and his meeting with Shah could redefine his fate, in the months or even years to come.

While the minister was on board, grappling with his thoughts, several others were getting similar calls. The urgency shown by the BJP president was unprecedented and whosoever got his call was instantaneously gripped by fear. They all knew that the Cabinet reshuffle cum expansion was on the cards and understood what the call could possibly mean.

Meanwhile, the minister landed in Delhi from Patna and was caught in a traffic jam. He got yet another call: "Where are you, and why are you late?"

On reaching Shahs residence, each separately, the ministers were told by the party chief that they needed to resign immediately. He said that the party would, in due course, will consider another assignment for them. They were also told the reason for the urgency: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to expand and reshuffle his council of ministers on Sunday, thus, all resignations needed to be submitted now so that thr official process could be completed in time for the swearing in ceremony.

Sources revealed that by evening, resignations of Rajeev Pratap Rudi, Kalraj Mishra, Uma Bharti, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Pandey were secured.

But that's not the complete list of ministers who were asked to resign. Speculation is rife over other names who tendered their resignation a day earlier. There are some who have kept it a closely guarded secret, hoping against hope that there might be a rethink. Sources said that one such minister met with senior RSS functionaries after resigning and pleaded for continuance in the Cabinet.

There is a good reason for this urgency shown by Shah. President Ram Nath Kovind is out of Delhi on Friday and for a better part of Saturday. The official acceptance of resignation takes time as it has to be recorded on paper at various stages and the file has to move back and forth from PMO and Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The prime minister has to leave on Sunday afternoon for the BRICS summit in China, about three hours after the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

It's interesting to note that immediately after undertaking the last Cabinet expansion cum reshuffle on 5 July, 2016, Modi had left for a five-day foreign tour to Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya.

By all indications, the size and scale of Sundays cabinet reshuffle exercise is going to be big. Modi government has only 18 months left in office to deliver on its promises.

The exit of Bharti and Rudi clearly suggests that Modi considered performance as key criteria. Both these ministers were in-charge of two flagship projects  Skill India and Namami Gange  which had been very close to Modis heart. Three years down the line, they have not shown tangible results.

Kalraj Mishra is over 75-years-old and as per new an unwritten RSS-BJP rule, he has to retire. The key question is whether he would be made governor. If he is made the governor, then he would have to vacate his Lok Sabha seat and three vacancies and three byelections (other two of Yogi Adityanaths Gorakhpur and Keshav Prasad Mauryas Phulpur) in Uttar Pradesh would not augur well for BJP.

The turn of events relating to the Cabinet reshuffle is yet another manifestation of the kind of power Shah wields within the party. With him at the helm, the party is no longer an appendage to the government as it used to be to be the case during the Atal Vajpayee government. Shah has well and truly established his position as the second most powerful person in the country.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hear in October a plea seeking the restoration of charges against Britain-based Hinduja brothers for their alleged involvement in the kickbacks in the purchase of Bofors howitzer guns by India in the mid-1980s.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud directed the final hearing of the matter in the week commencing on 30 October.

This was after petitioner, advocate Ajay Agrawal sought an early hearing of the matter, citing fresh evidence.

Agrawal had moved the court in 2005 challenging a Delhi High Court order quashing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case against the three Hinduja brothers in the case.

He had contended that the High Court order, under challenge, was passed on a clarification application by Hindujas, was illegal and without jurisdiction.

He also argued that though the CBI had clinching evidence against the accused persons, yet it chose not to challenge the high court order before the top court.

Recounting the sequence of events of more than three-decade-old case involving kickbacks in the purchase of 154 howitzers from Sweden, Agrawal has reiterated in his application all the allegations that were raised earlier in the case.

He has recounted the alleged proximity of Gandhi family with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi - one of the accused and alleged recipient of the kickbacks - and the opinion tendered by the senior law officers of the government during the UPA regime.
The ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen is right around the corner and as something of a precursor to the meeting of the leaders of India, Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa, an op-ed by President Vladimir Putin was published in the Friday edition of The Times of India.

Putin, it may be recalled, is no stranger to op-eds, having famously authored one in The New York Times on 11 September, 2013 when the freeze in US-Russia relations (over Syria and Ukraine) was beginning to set in. It's besides the point that he didn't actually write the whole thing himself, but the piece tore into American policy on Syria and the notion of American Exceptionalism espoused by then-president Barack Obama and several of his predecessors.

Friday's piece titled 'BRICS: Towards new horizons of strategic partnership', was nowhere near as scathing. But then, it didn't need to be. After all, this op-ed appeared in the pages of a newspaper published in a friendly country and largely served as a preview of the sorts of topics that are likely to come up in Xiamen. In a lot of ways, it closely resembled a joint statement issued at the end of a summit, with the usual boilerplate language (with the exception of the sign-off that read 'I wholeheartedly wish health and success to Times of India readers and to all people in the BRICS countries'). The themes explored ranging from economic cooperation to collaborating on energy and an alignment of foreign policy at multilateral fora, largely stuck to the BRICS agenda.

Largely, because there were two other inescapable factors that popped up over the course of Putin's missive.

The first was the very thinly-veiled dig at the US and the Donald Trump administration. It's no secret that Putin isn't a member of the club of world leaders calling for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's head, figuratively if not literally. It's equally no secret that Putin considers the Syrian rebels (believed to be armed by the US and its allies) to be a West-driven tool to bring down Assad.

And so, when Putin wrote, "We have delivered a powerful blow to the terrorists and laid the groundwork for launching the movement towards a political settlement and the return of the Syrian people to peace", it's clear he wasn't only referring to the Islamic State.

After Syria, Putin took another dig at the US in the two paragraphs about North Korea. "Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile programme is misguided and futile" could not possibly have been a clearer response to Trump tweeting:

The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

And that's where India comes in.

The second inescapable factor was the mention of North Korea in this op-ed as one of the issues that will be raised at the BRICS Summit. The Ministry of External Affairs website states, "Relations between India and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have been generally characterised by friendship, cooperation and understanding". After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Trump in June, the topic of North Korea was also raised in the joint statement issued by the duo. Now one way or another, New Delhi appears to have been dragged into Washington and Moscow's one-upmanship over Pyongang  condemning North Korea with Trump and apparently seeking the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula with BRICS countries.

Neither India, South Africa, nor Brazil have any direct dealings with North Korea and yet, the country, it appears, will have a prominent place in discussions at the summit. Just how much the issue will be discussed in Xiamen remains to be seen, but for now, two questions have been raised:

One, will India get involved in North Korea's affairs, despite New Delhi's foreign policy being one of non-intervention and of allowing stakeholders to sort issues out among themselves?

Two, if the issue of North Korea is major enough to be included on the agenda, why should the topic of Pakistan be left out?
Let's say if B, R and S side with C on BRI, then I will be left isolated. Similarly, I may also be sidelined if C, R, B and S refuse to endorse its line on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

Without putting the readers through any more confusion, let's be clear. The upcoming Xiamen edition of the annual BRICS Summit could be a defining moment for the emerging-economy grouping as India and China, two key members, seek to reconcile post-Doka La blues and strike some sort of an understanding amid increasingly divergent geopolitical trajectories.

The scenario mentioned above are just two examples of irreconcilable differences that might crop up. China, which seeks the emergence of a Sino-centric global order, won't have difficulty in getting Russia and South Africa to endorse its grandiose Belt and Road Initiative. China has grand plans for Africa within the BRI framework while Russia, which recently struck a $11 billion deal with Beijing for cross-border projects, has made it a fulcrum of bilateral ties.

As far as Brazil is concerned, China is its single-largest investor. A Xinhua report says that in the first four and a half months of 2017, Chinese firms have pumped in "$5.67 billion through mergers and acquisitions in Brazil, representing 37.5 percent of the country's total investment."

Even the most optimistic of Indian negotiators won't take Brazil's support for India's reticence on BRI for granted, leaving India isolated if China plans to use BRICS as yet another platform for BRI hype. India's position on BRI violating its sovereignty (a core concern) is well known. New Delhi was the only major nation to sit out the recently held BRI jamboree.

Similarly, India may find itself sidelined again if it seeks to deliver a strong message against Pakistan's role as the 'mother ship of terrorism', as it did during last year's edition in Goa.

On Thursday, China stopped just short of warning India against raising the issue of terrorism, specifically Pakistan's role in it. "China is willing to work with Pakistan and other countries to enhance cooperation on counter-terrorism and protect regional security and stability. We have taken note of the concerns of the Indian side on counter-terrorism issues of Pakistan, but I don't believe that it should feature prominently during the Xiamen Summit," China's foreign ministry said at a media briefing in Beijing.

The subtext is interesting and points to the deep chasm that exists between India and China even on a topic of global concern such as terrorism  one of the core issues on which BRICS members are expected to reach a consensus. China cannot possibly hope that Pakistan-sponsored terror will stop being a part of India's discourse. Yet in its warning to India and steadfast defence of Pakistan, China is trying to push through that agenda.

For India, more worrying signs emerged on Friday when Russian president Vladimir Putin, writing for The Times of India newspaper, touched on a range of issues to be discussed during BRICS Summit including terrorism but made no mention of Pakistan. In calling for a "broad counterterrorism front" on terrorism, Putin's words were suitably vague, indicating the growing distance between the two nations. It is quite clear that bilateral trade is failing to bridge the geopolitical gap. Putin invoked Syria, tension on Korean Peninsula but had nothing to say about India's long struggle with cross-border terror.

"The fight against terrorists in Syria and other countries and regions must continue. Russia calls for going over from debates to the practical creation of a broad counterterrorism front based on international law and led by the UN. Naturally, we highly appreciate the support and assistance of our BRICS partners in this respect."

These fault lines aren't new but Doka La is sure to make these starker. And as it moves away from the Sino-Pakistan-Russian axis, India will find BRICS progressively less useful because the grouping has now become almost an exclusively Chinese preserve.

As Ananth Krishnan writes in Daily O, "BRICS has assumed even greater importance in recent months as China crafts a more prominent global leadership role for itself, with Beijing viewing it as one of the several key vehicles to push its view of a different world order."

China, though, must find a way to keep India within the BRICS fold, failing which the alliance runs the risk of becoming what ORF fellow Abhijnan Rej terms as "motley of expansionist powers (Russia and China) and perennial basket cases (Brazil and South Africa".)

India, a key proponent of the western liberal world order, lends credence to the coalition. China's recent conciliatory noises may be traced to this factor.

In a recent media briefing, China's foreign minister Wang Yi said: "There is huge potential and space for cooperation between India and China. Such co-operation serves the interest of our two countries and peoples. We hope China and India will join hands and work together for the rejuvenation of Asia and for the development of our region and contribute our share to greater development."

The correlation (if any) between Doka La resolution and BRICS Summit has been well explored. India should have no beef with Chinese position. It certainly doesn't stand to gain by walking out of BRICS. But it must equally consider how best to align BRICS with its core interests. And there needs to be at least a working relationship between New Delhi and Beijing. Short of these conditions, BRICS may rapidly dwindle into a propaganda platform for a China-led global order where India will appear a misfit.
Just a day after a building collapsed in Mumbais Bhendi bazaar, claiming more than 30 lives, another three-storey building in Delhi's Sadar Baazar collapsed on Friday. Six fire tenders were rushed to the spot, media reports said. Although official sources could not confirm any casualties yet, local residents told Firstpost that one person has been injured in the incident.

#BREAKING -- A three-storey building collapsed in Sadar Bazaar. 6 fire tenders at the spot, no casualties reported pic.twitter.com/1zYRZ5RBPn  News18 (@CNNnews18) September 1, 2017

The building was located in the Pan Mandi area of Sadar Baazar. Outlook reported that the fire department received a call from the locals about the building collapse but the officials are yet to confirm the damage.

Locals told Firstpost that it was a very old construction and the structural integrity of the building was likely compromised due to rainfall.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed after a portion of the Ghazipur landfill in East Delhi caved in. A team of 10 fire tenders, two ambulances, and the local police force have reached the spot and rescue operations are still underway.
Mumbai: The Mumbai Police Friday told the Bombay High Court that it would complete its probe into the death of the Byculla Jail inmate Manjula Shetye and file a chargesheet against the six arrested prison personnel within three weeks.

Meanwhile, the high court has expressed satisfaction over the investigation after a Mumbi Police crime branch counsel submitted its report during the hearing on a PIL in the case.

A division bench of Justices BR Gavai and MS Karnik was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city resident Pradeep Bhalekar seeking a probe by an independent agency into the death of Shetye (45) who was allegedly thrashed by the jail staff.

The jail authorities had initially registered a case of accidental death on 23 June when Shetye died. However, another inmate of the jail lodged an FIR on 24 June alleging that Shetye was assaulted by the jail personnel.

Following the complaint, six women jail personnel were arrested. After submitting a probe report to the court in a sealed envelope, crime branch counsel Rajeev Patil said the investigations are being carried out properly and the statements of all persons concerned have been recorded.

"The probe is likely to be completed in a short span of time and a charge sheet will be filed against the accused within 20 days," Patil said. He said an independent inquiry was being conducted by a magistrate as required by law in matters of custodial deaths.

Patil also said that an inquiry committee was set up against Dr Vishwas Rote for allegedly giving a false certificate stating that there were no visible injury marks on Shetye's body.

After perusing the report, the bench said it was satisfied with the manner in which the investigation was conducted and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. Shetye's death had triggered a riot by inmates of the jail on 24 June.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a reshuffle of his council of ministers at 10 am on Sunday, a top government official said.

It will be the third such exercise since he took over in May 2014. The reshuffle is expected to take place before Modi leaves for China on Sunday afternoon.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 am on Sunday," the official said.

Four junior ministers  Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey  have resigned ahead of the rejig. Two cabinet ministers have also offered to resign, said BJP sources.

A cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards since Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to become the chief minister of Goa. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the defence ministry since then.

Talks of a reshuffle gained traction after Jaitley hinted on Thursday that he would not continue to hold the defence portfolio for long. "At least not for very long," Jaitley said in response to questions on how long he would continue as the defence minister. Jaitley isn't the only minister holding additional charges, three other Union ministers are also handling multiple charges in different ministries.

Textiles Minister Smriti Irani is currently holding additional charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar has the additional charge of urban development ministry. After M Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the vice-president, he also resigned from his ministerial responsibilities of Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting to take up the high office.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan is holding additional charge of the environment ministry following the death of Anil Madhav Dave in May.

Some election-bound states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka, could get greater representation in the Council of Ministers. Karnataka will also have assembly poll next year.

The last Cabinet reshuffle took place in July last year, in which Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to Cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also dropped.

With inputs from IANS.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal government to advertise the norms and guidelines related to animal slaughter in print and the electronic media.

The direction came in response to a PIL complaining of inaction on the part of the state government and alleging rampant slaughter in contravention of the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950.

The petitioner's counsel Meghnad Dutta submitted that Section 4 of the Act provides that only those animals which are unfit, aged or suffering from incurable disease, as certified by a veterinary doctor, can be slaughtered.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice T Chakraborty directed the state government to advertise restrictions provided in the Act.

The high court directed the state government to advertise the provisions provided in the Act in news channels from Friday and to publish it in morning newspapers.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed dismay over the prevalence of the practice of child marriage despite the existence of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act and termed as unfortunate that this was being done mostly at the behest of girl child's parents.

The court was hearing a plea questioning the validity of a provision permitting a man to have physical relationship with his wife, even if she was aged between 15 and 18 years.

During the hearing, the top court said striking down of such provision in section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) would amount to creating an offence.

Section 375 of the IPC, which defines the offence of rape, has an exception clause that says intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife, not below 15 years, is not rape.

"It is a hard reality and is unfortunate that most of the child marriages happening in the country are done by parents of the girl child. However, to this, there are odd exceptions when a minor boy and girl fall in love and marry on their own," a bench of Justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

It also sought to know whether it can create an offence by striking down the exception 2 of section 375 of IPC which the Parliament has refused to do.

Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appearing for NGO Independent Thought, said by amendment to CrPC in 2013, the age of consent for sexual intercourse by a girl, which was earlier 16 years has now been increased to 18 years.

He said that exception 2 to section 375 of the IPC still retains the age of consent as 15 years, due to which there is a huge gap of three years in the age of consent for a married girl child and an unmarried girl.

Agarwal, assisted by advocate Vikram Shrivatava, said that exception 2 to section 375 of the IPC was discriminatory and violate Article 14 of the Constitution.

Taking note of the arguments, the bench said, "We have to accept this hard reality. These kind of marriages are still happening in the country and if we are going to strike down this exception, then what would happen to the child born from such marriages. We have to keep all aspects in mind."

Agarwal said the court can strike down the exception like it did recently in the practice of triple talaq among Muslims for being arbitrary and discriminatory.

He contended that this classification has no rationale nexus with the object sought to be achieved as the reasoning behind increasing the age of consent to 18 years in 2013, was that a girl below that age is incapable of realising the consequences of her consent.

"If this is the object for increasing the age of consent to 18 years of age, then marriage of girl between the age of 15-17 years does not make the girl mature enough (mentally or physically) for the purpose of consent. Thus, it is discriminatory," Agarwal said.

He cited the fourth National Family Health Survey of 2015-16, and said there were 26.8 per cent of brides in the country who were married below the age of 18 years of age.

In the third Survey of 2005-06, the figure was even larger and 46 per cent of women (23 million brides) were married before the age of 18 in the country, he added.

The Centre, in its affidavits, had admitted that child marriage were still happening in the country due to uneven economic and educational development.

"It has been therefore decided to retain the age of 15 years under exception 2 of section 375 of IPC, so as to give protection to husband and wife against criminalising the sexual activity between them," it had said.

It had said that lawmakers had taken a pragmatic view regarding the issue of 'marital rape' as marriage being a social institution was the bedrock of any society and hence, needs to be protected.

"Exception 2 of section 375 of IPC envisages that if the marriage is solemnized at the age of 15 years due to traditions, it should not be a reason to book the husband in the case of offence under the IPC," it had said.

The Centre also gave details of number of prosecutions that have been instituted over the last three years.

The apex court had on 9 August said the raging issue whether to make forced marital intercourse and sexual acts, part of offence of rape in penal law, has been extensively debated and it cannot be considered as a criminal act.

Earlier, the apex court had in 2015, made National Commission for Women (NCW) party to explain how the offence of rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) afforded an exception to a man to have physical relationship with his minor wife and still not qualify it as crime.

The NGO in its petition sought direction to declare exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC as "violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution to the extent that it permits intrusive sexual intercourse with a girl child aged between 15 and 18 years, only on the ground that she has been married."

It has also referred to the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, and said these provisions were contrary to the IPC provision.

The POCSO provision provides that physical relationship with a minor constitutes the offence of rape and it does not exclude such relationship between a man and his minor wife.
Agartala: Union Minister SS Ahluwalia on Friday pitched for a negotiated settlement involving bi-partite or tri-partite talks to resolve the impasse in Darjeeling.

"As an MP from Darjeeling, I will say that all problems can be solved through negotiation. If problems can be solved through bipartite talks it is good and if it fails then we have to opt for tripartite talks between central and West Bengal governments and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha," the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Agriculture told PTI.

"Earlier, Jyoti Basu, Buddhadev Bhattacharya and Mamata Banerjee could restore peace in Darjeeling through tripartite talks," he said.

Ahluwalia also appealed to the West Bengal government to initiate the process for a dialogue to resolve the crisis. "The state government needs to exhaust all its options before seeking central intervention."

He said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had herself acknowledged in the 29 August meeting with the Darjeeling parties the right of Gorkhas to demand a separate state but clarified her position saying it was "beyond her jurisdiction".

"As chief minister, she has to initiate the dialogue and talk to GJM leaders. Only when she fails to resolve the crisis can she ask for a central intervention. Then New Delhi can intervene. She cannot run away from her responsibilities," he said.

The indefinite shutdown demanding a separate Gorkhaland state in Darjeeling is on for its 79th day on Friday and has hit life in the hills.

On the question of statehood demands in Tripura, Ahluwalia said, "The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura has demanded a separate state by carving out the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, which forms two-third of the state territory.

"In case of forming a new state by carving out any territory, the respective state would have to send official proposals and have to furnish logic behind forming new state. The Tripura government have so far not sent any such proposal. So, the question of forming a new state in Tripura does not arise."

The Centre is interested in empowering the tribal councils and in that case too specific proposals have to be sent to the Centre on the basis of which action plans can be chalked out. If there are specific proposals from the state for development of tribal areas of Tripura, the Centre would respond to it, the union minister added.

Ahluwalia had on Thursday ruled out the possibility of forming separate states in West Bengal's Darjeeling hills and in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.

"Neither West Bengal nor Tripura governments had so far sent any such proposal to the Centre. They have not even furnished any logic behind forming a new state," he had said.

The indefinite strike in the Darjeeling hills continued today after GJM supremo Bimal Gurung removed party convener Binay Tamang from his post and revoked his decision to suspend the shutdown till 12 September.
The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notice to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar and asked it to reply within two weeks, media reports said. Following this, the BMC, on it's part has ordered a one-member inquiry committee to investigate the matter and submit its report in 15 days, ANI reported.

The high court was hearing a plea against BMC and others in the matter of death of Amrapurkar, a renowned gastroenterologist of Bombay Hospital who reportedly died after falling in open manhole on 29 August.

The PIL, filed by the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association, has claimed that Amrapurkar fell into the open manhole as there was no Danger sign or barricade near it, The Indian Express reported, a gross negligence on part of the BMC.

According to The Times of India, the plea demanded registration of a criminal case under section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of Indian Penal Code against civic commissioner Ajoy Mehta and other officers of the Storm Water Drains department and a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to be given to any charitable organization.

Amarapurkar had gone missing after Tuesday's heavy downpour. His body was found two days later near the Worli seashore. According to eyewitnesses, Amarapurkar fell into a manhole in a flooded street in Lower Parel on Tuesday. The police later recovered his umbrella from near the site.

The deceased was in a car on his way home to Ameya Cooperative Housing Society on Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, when he found himself stuck in traffic due to water logging . He told his driver to drop him near the Elphinstone Road station and he would walk home since it was a short journey.

When Amrapurkar failed to reach home, members of his family showed his photograph to people along his supposed route.

A missing complaint was later lodged and a search operation with the help of fire brigade and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation personnel was started to find Amrapurkar.

Torrential rains pounded the city throughout the day on Tuesday. Mumbai gauged an equivalent of 11 days of average daily monsoon rainfall in 12 hours, the highest in a day in August since 1997.
Sambhal (Uttar Pradesh): In a strict order, local authorities Friday warned that the stringent Gangsters Act would be invoked against those who sacrifice cow, buffalo, camel, or ox as qurbani during Bakrid on Saturday.

"All police stations under Sambhal tehsil have been alerted to invoke the Gangsters Act against anyone sacrificing cow, buffalo, camel or ox on the occasion of Bakrid tomorrow," sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Sambhal Rashid Khan said.

Till 2016, animal sacrifice was carried out at government slaughterhouses, but their closure has created a difficult situation in UP, and confusion is prevailing among the Muslim community on the eve of Bakrid.

Besides, the movable and immovable property of those involved in such a sacrifice will be impounded, he said.

The SHOs have been asked to take strict action against anyone sacrificing these animals on the festival day, the SDM said. Khan said the SHOs have been asked to extensively tour their areas and see that no such incident takes place from 2 to 4 September.

The Uttar Pradesh police had issued a terse warning in June that those involved in cow slaughter and illegal transport of milch animals will be booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and Gangsters Act.

Under NSA, the government can detain a person for as long as it wishes, and the authorities need not disclose the grounds of detention. A person booked under the provision of Gangsters Act becomes part of a gang listed in police records.

It entitles the police to keep track of those booked under the Act and issue summons to them for attendance at the local police station for questioning even if no fresh case is lodged against them. The Act permits the police to seek remand of an accused for a maximum of 60 days as compared to a maximum of 14 days under normal circumstances.

A government order to ban cow slaughter and illegal transport of milch animals was passed during the previous SP government in the state, but was never strictly implemented.

The Centre has recently issued a notification imposing a blanket ban on the slaughtering of cattle  cows, bulls, buffaloes, camels, heifers  bought from animal markets.
Gorakhpur: The state-run BRD Medical College reported the death of 35 children in the past 48 hours taking the toll to 1,304 in 2017, even as a Gorakhpur court issued non-bailable warrants against seven people.

College principal Dr PK Singh said, "On 31 August, 16 children died, while on 1 September, 19 others died in the NICU, general and encephalitis wards of the hospital."

Earlier in the day, additional sessions judge Shivanand Singh issued the NBW against seven of the nine people named in the FIR, a day after he sent former principal of the college Dr Rajiv Mishra and his medico-wife Purnima Shukla to 14-day judicial custody.

The warrants were issued against in charge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, anesthetist Dr Satish, pharmacist Gajanan Jaiswal, accountant Sudhir Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and gas suppliers Uday Pratap Singh and Manish Bhandari, investigating officer C Abhishek Singh said.

Khan, who was the nodal officer, has already been removed from the post.

Following the deaths, mostly of infants, cases were registered under various sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act against nine persons, including the doctor couple.

Mishra and his wife, who were arrested from Kanpur on Tuesday by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), were produced before the judge, who sent them to the Gorakhpur district jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

They were named in a FIR lodged by the UP government.

Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on 12 August after the deaths were reported. He resigned the same day taking moral responsibility.

There were allegations that the deaths happened due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for several months.

While the Uttar Pradesh government vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar indicted Mishra and others of laxity and other charges.

Mishra was accused of sitting over on the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital.

The doctor couple was booked on the basis of the report submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by the chief secretary.

Adityanath had formed the committee on 12 August, a day after the deaths of children was reported at the hospital.

The two doctors were picked up from Kanpur, where they had reportedly gone to consult a lawyer.

The medical college attracted global attention when more than 60 children, mostly infants, died at the hospital within the span of a week last month. The issue also acquired a political colour with the opposition attacking the government over it.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday sought a "detailed report" on the infrastructure and medical facilities at the medical college.

It directed the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to personally visit the medical college hospital and file a report along with photographs of various wards.
The last few days have been monumental for the Indian judiciary. The ban on triple talaq and the declaration of privacy as a fundamental right are exemplary judgments for the progress of the nation, and have largely been greeted with appreciation.

The third judgment  that of the conviction and sentencing of self-proclaimed godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim  although in the spirit of justice, was met with outrage and violence by his band of followers, and the subsequent imposition of Section 144 in eleven districts of the Delhi NCR region.

In my article last week on a uniform civil code for India, I emphasized the necessity of delinking religion and government in the country. This incident provides a fitting demonstration of how the intertwining of the two, including support to and patronage of so-called godmen by political parties, can result in the kind of anarchy and appropriation of the law that we witnessed in the aftermath of the Ram Rahim judgment.

In my perception, the phenomenon of the godman is simply an individual that garners a cult following. In this context, an entertainer or sportsman with a cult following could also be designated a godman. In popular imagination, however, the term has come to acquire certain connotations, and it therefore becomes imperative to draw a distinction between religious/spiritual leaders, and the notorious brand of godmen that has seemingly become pervasive in the country.

Individuals like the Dalai Lama and Baba Ramdev preach and propagate ideas and certain kinds of lifestyles, which may include the exercise of yoga and meditation as a path towards spiritual relief and inner peace. Ramdev is often criticized for capitalizing on his popular following to market his brand and his products, but I dont see this as something to condemn. Whatever his flaws may be, he simply recognized an opportunity, and by tapping into a centuries-old Indian belief, he has been able to establish an alternative to Western brands for domestic consumers. In the process, he has created a space for Ayurveda in the FMCG market, and is now successfully competing with the world's biggest multinationals.

It would be exciting, for instance, for the Dalai Lama to curate a food line, as we get to know what he recommends for a healthy body, along with his ideas about mindfulness and peace for a healthy mind. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being commercial, and we shouldnt judge them for it, as long as their means are honest and transparent.

The men and women in this category shouldnt ideally be the subjects of our criticism and disdain  it should be those individuals who claim to cure diseases and change destinies through the force of their powers, and in the process accumulate piles of cash to lead extravagant lifestyles by duping thousands of innocent people.

Their modus operandi usually is to claim some form of supernatural authority. Unlike priests or pandits, who are practitioners of some ideology or theory, and considered merely the conduits for communication between man and god, godmen claim to be the embodiment of god, vested with god-like powers. They seek to be revered and worshipped, they attempt to create a religion around and about themselves. In short, they are nothing more than charlatans and swindlers capitalizing and preying on the helplessness and naivety of people.

Religious and spiritual leaders are merely representatives of an ideology or a religion, not their embodiment. The Dalai Lama, for instance, is much more than a religious leader  you dont have to be a Buddhist to follow his ideas, and there is much value to be extracted from his philosophy and teachings for members of all faiths. Here, there is scope for disagreement and debate, one can challenge and contemplate the merits and demerits of these ideologies, approaches and practices.

In contrast, anyone who has watched Ram Rahims film Messenger of God can testify to the fact that it endorses blind faith in and allegiance to a man harnessing the power of god to perform miracles and 'reform' the lives of individuals.

If you seek the opinion of an atheist, they would condemn all religions as senseless, and godmen as simply another symptom of the overwhelming sway of religious belief. However, even for a believer, the cult of godmen should belong in the realm of fantasy fiction  youre either a god or a mortal man, there is no in-between.

Legally and constitutionally, there may be no recourse against godmen unless they commit crimes as heinous as Ram Rahim, but there are certainly grave ethical and moral implications for a society that allows and encourages such individuals to flourish.
After the tragic deaths of children at hospitals in Gorakhpur and Jharkhand, India's medical facilities came under question again as Cobrapost released the details of an investigation conducted by them detailing the malpractices committed by hospitals at the institutional level.

Christened "Operation White Coat", the investigation covered 20 major private multi-specialty hospitals in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. These include well-known private health-care providers like Fortis, Columbia, MAX, Apollo, Nanavati, Hiranandani and Jaslok among others. Cobrapost interviewed marketing officials at these hospitals who admitted on camera that they were offering rewards to doctors and smaller hospitals in exchange for sending their patients to these larger hospitals for serious ailments.

Cobrapost summed up its findings in the following six points:

 To make more business out of patients miseries, all these hospitals offer handsome commissions to individual doctors, nursing homes and smaller hospitals, which cannot handle serious ailments, on all referrals.

 Each hospital has an elaborate process for such referrals and pay-offs thereof.

 Commissions to individual doctors are paid out to them as consultation fee.

 In addition to regular cuts, some of these hospitals give such doctors expensive gifts.

 All these hospitals have a well-oiled network of doctors and small nursing homes and hospitals, to help them generate a steady business out of patients needs for specialised treatment.

 Despite knowing that this is a malpractice under the MCI guidelines, they still indulge in it.

Chapter 6 of the Medical Council of India (MCI) Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002 specifically prohibits the giving of any gifts or commission for referrals.

The cuts given to the doctors and smaller hospitals is generally 10 percent. Cobrapost spoke to Senior Manager Ram Naresh Bhagat of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi who said that one can get a 10 percent cut on referrals for almost all medical procedures, and the payments are usually made by cheque favouring only those with whom the hospital has entered into an agreement.

They also spoke to Deputy Manager Nishant Chauhan of Fortis Hospital, Noida who offered them a 10 percent cut. Chauhan also offered a fixed referral cut between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for every procedure package. Similarly the Senior Manager at Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai offered 15 percent referral cut for surgical cases. Fortis had different referral cuts for different procedures.

Even the famous Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai engages in this practice. The marketing manager there told Cobrapost that a 10 percent cut on investigation bills is given to the professionals referring patients to it.

The practice is yet another blot on India's medical system which has come under fire after incidents at Gorakhpur and Jharkhand. In Gorakhpur, the latest jolt was the death of 42 children in 48 hours at the BRD Medical College and Hospital. This is the same hospital where nearly 60 children had died due to lack of oxygen supply between 7 and 11 August, in what was clearly a case of grave medical negligence. Though the exact reasons behind recent 42 deaths are not confirmed, The Indian Express quoted top officials at the hospital saying that seven children were suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). The others, the official told the newspaper, died of other diseases.

On Sunday, it was reported that 52 infants had died over 30 days at Jamshedpur's Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College hospital. The medical superintendent of the hospital told IndiaSpend that the number of deaths was not extraordinary as "more deaths were reported this month because more children were admitted."

It had earlier been pointed out that the empowered elites and the upwardly mobile middle class who were setting the public discourse in India, have been totally disinterested in lacklustre government services. They have instead put their faith in private service, leaving the government to take care of the masses who have little political agency except during electoral season. However, this investigation by Cobrapost shows that the medical problems are not limited to only the poor. Even at the most well-known hospitals across the country, there is a tendency to rip off patients looking for quality healthcare. There is thus a clear need for the government and the MCI to look into the malpractice and ensure that we don't have to go to hospitals worried for both our physical as well as financial health.
Washington: India welcomes President Donald Trump's Afghan and South Asia policy, India's envoy to the US has said, underlining that New Delhi shares America's concern over Pakistan which provides safe havens to terrorists.

President Donald Trump last week hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

India's ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said on terrorism, India and the US have a strategic convergence in a host of areas, including in its fight against terrorism.

"We welcome the new Afghan policy because we share the concerns and the objectives that the safe havens that have been given to terrorists in Pakistan. The cross-border operations that are carried out from there concern us as much they are for the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, we share the policies announced by the Trump Administration which we welcome," Sarna said.

Addressing the Hawaii-based East West Center, a top American think-tank, Sarna said on terrorism there is a very strong joint statement between India and the US, issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in June.

He also said Pakistan should not be using its territory or the territory under its control for fomenting terrorism under its control.

"There is recognition of the fact that connectivity projects, while theyre welcome, they have to go by certain basic rules and regulations of transparency, of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensuring that in the process are not trampling the political and economic rights of the countries that are involved," Sarna said.

He also met Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US House of Representative in 2013 is the three-term Democratic Congresswoman.

"There is cooperation in maritime security. PACOM (Pacific Command) here is playing an important role. India today is doing more military exercises with the US than with any other country," he said.

"When you look at actual potential of the two countries, there are various areas in which India is looking to buy more from the US," he said and cited the example of civil aviation and oil sector.

In Hawaii, Sarna met the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris to discuss India-US defence relationship.

The strong global partnership between India and the US was very much evident during the visit of Prime Minister Modi and his discussions with Trump, he said, adding that this should not be seen through the prism of any third country.

"I think in terms of facing the challenges whether there be of global terrorism whether it be of issues of maritime security whether that be the freedom of the seas and navigation and connectivity issues, these are all issues which democracies have to handle and it becomes much easier to handle them together," he was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Radio.

Responding to a question, he refuted reports that the Indo-US relationship is to counterweight China.

"Well you know I'm not very sure whether it is useful to see these relations to the prism of any other relationship. I think the India-US relationship has a strong logic of its own. Its relationship between the world's largest and the world's oldest democracies. It is a relationship based on convergence of fundamental values, freedom of individual liberties," he said.

"Of course there is a very strong people-to-people link, now that we have a very successful and increasingly powerful diaspora of about three million people of Indian-origin in the US. So I would rather take this relationship on its on its own basis and not look at it from the prism of any third country," Sarna said in response to a question.

According to the envoy, India has a very broad-based relationship with China which has multilateral aspects and also strong economic and investment.

"Then we have recently resolved an issue (Dokalam standoff) at the border through diplomatic channels. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is something which faces many of the challenges of the world. And it gives a platform for major emerging economies to come together and to implement these issues," he said.
New Delhi: The CBI on Friday justified in the Supreme Court the issuance of lookout circulars (LOCs) against Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram, in an alleged graft case saying there were "good, cogent" reasons to back its step.

The FIR, lodged by the CBI on 15 May, had alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Karti's father was the finance minister.

A bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra also took on record the documents placed by the CBI in a sealed cover in connection with the case and allowed it to furnish other documentary proof about Karti's alleged foreign accounts and properties abroad.

The bench, also comprising justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, asked the CBI to respond to the affidavit filed by Karti in connection with his questioning by investigators before whom he had appeared on 23 and 28 August.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta told the bench that there was "a good, cogent reason for issuance of lookout circular against him (Karti). It is not a simple case or that of one company but it involves jugglery of accounts

and properties abroad".

Appearing for Karti, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam submitted: "What is the subject matter of enquiry is not me but my father who happened to be the finance minister giving FIPB approvals to a company in 2007 and it is alleged that one of the conditions had been violated".

He said that not a single person of the six-member FIPB, who were secretary-level officers, were examined in the case.

During the brief hearing, Subramaniam said it was alleged that Karti had bank accounts at offshore destinations and "properties all over the Universe".

"However, no questions were asked on these," he said.

The court also asked the CBI to file a rejoinder to the affidavit filed by Karti on his questioning and fixed the matter for hearing on 11 September.

The apex court also did not allow the plea of senior advocate Raju Ramchandran, representing co-accused Ravi Vishwanathan, that his client be allowed to travel abroad for the admission of his son.

On 18 August, the court had asked Karti to appear before the investigating officer at the CBI headquarters here for questioning in the case.

The bench had given the probe agency the liberty to question Karti as many times it wanted and posted the CBI's plea, challenging the Madras high court order staying the LOCs issued against him and others, for further hearing on Friday.

Prior to this, the apex court had said that Karti would not be allowed to leave India without subjecting himself to investigation in the case. The court had then stayed the Madras high court order putting on hold the LOC issued by the Centre against Karti.

The CBI had claimed that the FDI proposal of the media house, cleared by Chidambaram, was "fallacious".

The FIR was registered on 15 May before the special CBI judge and the registration of the case was followed by searches at the residences and offices of Karti and his friends on 16 May.
Srinagar: Protests broke out in Kupwara district on Friday when a man went missing and another was hospitalised in a critical condition with the locals alleging that they were taken into custody by Army personnel, the police said.

Residents of Kakar Diver in Lolab area staged a protest demanding to know the whereabouts of Manzoor Ahmad Khan who, along with Nasrullah Khan, was allegedly taken into custody by troops of 27 Rashtriya Rifles on Thursday night, a police official

said.

He said the protesters alleged that while Nasrullah was released by the Army this morning, there was no word on the whereabouts of Manzoor.

Nasrullah was admitted at a local hospital for treatment but the doctors referred him to SKIMS hospital here, the official said.

The Srinagar-based defence spokesman could not be reached for comments on the allegations.
Srinagar: Wary of last year's protests, security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir are extra vigilant for maintaining the law and order situation ahead of Eid-ul-Adha on Saturday. The government has decided not to allow the Eid prayers at the TRC ground in Srinagar, which is very close to city centre, Lal Chowk.

Kashmir has become vulnerable to protests for past few years. These protests have become more spontaneous from the last one year mostly after Friday or Eid prayers. This time the situation is expected to be no different and it's more vulnerable when the call for protests has come from joint separatist leadership comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. They have asked people to stage protests after Eid prayers against tinkering with Article 35A, the arrest of Hurriyat leaders and businessmen by NIA and implementation of Goods and Services Tax regime.

Issues like the abrogation of Article 35A, NIA raids and implementation of GST have remained the hot topics in Kashmir in recent past. People have protested against these. However, from the past few months the separatists have failed in attracting the attention of people in the Valley. The calls for protests from the leadership have witnessed more of a negative response.

Just a day before Eid-ul-Adha, markets in the Valley are filled with people shopping for Eid. The scene is in contrast to last year's situation when everything was under siege after the killing of a militant commander, Burhan Wani in July. This reporter had travelled to many areas of south Kashmir at that time where people had blocked roads and protests were intense. The situation had slipped out of hands of the security agencies. Soon after Eid prayers, protests took place across the Valley. The authorities had already stopped congregational Eid prayers in Kashmir's main mosques or at Eidgahs but prayers were held by people in local mosques. Despite precautionary measures taken by the state police and paramilitary forces, two protesters were killed and around 60 got injured.

"Though there has been a sensitive situation from early 90's things have become more fragile from last one year. The situation is unpredictable, anything can happen," a businessman in south Kashmir Javid Ahmad told Firstpost.

It has been a routine in the Valley for the police and paramilitary forces to brace for the possible eruption of protests on congregational prayers whether on Friday, Shab-I-Qadar or Eid prayers.

However many believe that this time there is less possibility of worsening of the situation.

"People are wary of hartals in the Valley which is evident from the recent past in which people refused to follow the hartal calls. And one more thing that last year unrest has broken the backbone of Kashmir's economy thereby taking a toll on people's livelihood," Nisar Ahmad, who works in a private firm, told Firstpost.

The protests might have gone down which flared up last year, yet another challenge that is worrisome for the security agencies are the militant attacks on security forces or the killing of political activists and local policemen in the state.

Recently a major suicide attack that hit district police complex in Pulwama sent shock waves across the security establishment in which eight security forces and three militants got killed. These type of attacks are very rare in Kashmir but policemen and political workers from south Kashmir have remained the soft targets for militants.

There were many incidents in the past in which police and political workers got killed at the hands of militants. They are more vulnerable at the time of gatherings like festivities or marriages.

In one such instance in May this year, a young army major, Umer Fayaz was abducted from his relative's marriage and later killed by the unknown gunmen in Shopian district. The Jammu and Kashmir Police have already issued an advisory in April to its field personnel directing them to not to visit their native places due to possible attacks from militants. Again in June on the eve of Eid-Ul-Fitr another advisory was issued by the police asking its officials to not to attend the Eid prayers in public mosques or Eidgahs. However, police personnel prefer to remain outside on festivities.

"I have to attend the duty on Eid-Ul-Adha but that is fine rather than being at home and come under people's eye. I have been avoiding coming home on festivities or attend gatherings. For me Eid lies in the safety and well being of all of us, no matter whether we are with family or not," a police personnel from south Kashmir told Firstpost.

However many criticise the government's move for disallowing people to offer Eid prayers.

"If everything is fine why don't they allow people to attend prayers. It has a direct impact on the minds of people who get angrier for being kept a bay from Eid prayers," said a student who wished not be named.

Whatever the situation turns out to be on Eid, one thing is clear that security agencies are struggling to bring the situation under control while people look forward to a peaceful situation in the coming days and months after this festival.
New Delhi: The CPM on Friday criticised the CBI for charging its Kerala leader P Jayarajan under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in connection with the killing of an RSS activist, saying it was "gross misuse" of the law.

The CPM Politburo said the CBI made a "deliberate effort" to target Jayarajan, the party's Kannur district secretary.

Kannur, the home turf of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has been a hotbed of clashes between workers of the RSS-BJP combine and the CPM.

"The Politburo strongly opposes the use of the UAPA to file charges against Jayarajan. This is a gross misuse of its provisions and a deliberate effort to target a political leader," it said in a statement.

The CBI had yesterday named Jayarajan as the "principal conspirator" in the murder of an RSS functionary, Elanthottathil Manoj, in Kannur three years ago.

It charged him under the stringent law for the killing, which it described as a "terrorist act".
Haryana police has issued an alert at airports and other exit points for Honeypreet Insan, the adopted daughter of convicted rapist Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, according to media reports.

A 'lookout notice' was issued against Honeypreet on the charges of hatching a conspiracy to help Ram Rahim flee from the police, said The Times of India. A similar notice has also been issued for Dera Sacha Sauda's spokesperson Aditya Insan, who is on the run after being charged with inciting violence after Ram Rahim's conviction.

She has not been seen after she left Rohtak on 25 August evening.

The report quoted Hayana deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Manbir Singh as saying that Honeypreet allegedly conspired to free Ram Rahim from the security detail taking him to jail.

NDTV describes how after being declared guilty, Ram Rahim had demanded a red bag which he had carried from Sirsa. This was the signal to his followers to cause disturbance. The police also suspect that Ram Rahim and Honeypreet were stalling for time by lingering in the court complex while they waited for mobs of supporters. When the police tried to shift him to a police car, his security guards ringed around him, according to the report. Later a route change had to be devised to take him to the helicopter.

Had the self-styled godman succeeded in hiding behind his followers, it would have been very difficult for the security forces to arrest him without bloodshed, sources said.

The Haryana government is already looking into how Honeypreet was allowed to board that helicopter, reports Financial Express. The report says that Honeypreet has gone into hiding after the sentencing of the Dera chief.

The Haryana Police had last week arrested five of its own commandos, who were in the Z-plus security cover of the sect chief, and two private security men. All were accused and booked for sedition and involvement in the conspiracy to help the sect chief escape.

All the five Haryana Police commandos have been dismissed from service for their involvement in the conspiracy. They were in the security of Ram Rahim for a number of years.

Honeypreet is the adopted daughter of Ram Rahim Singh whose conviction in a rape case triggered mob violence that killed 36 people across Haryana. Considered a confidant of the Dera chief, she has also emerged as his likely successor to head the controversial sect. She accompanied Ram Rahim Singh when he was brought to the special CBI court in Panchkula for the pronouncement of the verdict in the 15-year-old rape case.

Though both Ram Rahim and Honeypreet call themselves 'father-daughter', her former husband had accused both of having an illicit relationship.

On her Twitter and Facebook accounts, she mentions herself as "PAPA's ANGEL, Philanthropist, Director, Editor, Actress!! Passionate to transform my Rockstar Papa's directions into actions!"

She has also acted, edited and directed movies on Ram Rahim Singh. Honeypreet acted in 'MSG 2 -The Messenger' and later had a special appearance in 'MSG-The Warrior Lion Heart'. Ram Rahim Singh is married to Harjeet Kaur. They have two daughters, Charanpreet and Amanpreet, both of whom are married, and a son Jasmeet.

The Haryana Police on Thursday also arrested another aide of Ram Rahim, Surender Dhiman, for sedition and inciting violence. Dhiman, a Dera functionary and journalist with its newspaper 'Sach Kahoon', surrendered before the police in Panchkula. He was taken into custody and presented before a local court which sent him on a seven-day police remand.

Dhiman, along with Aditya Insan, was among the five people booked by the Haryana Police last week for inciting violence.

Lookout notice against 2 close aides of jailed Dera chief

The Haryana Police also issued a lookout notice against the jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief's another key aide following apprehensions that they might try to "escape from the country".

The step was taken following questioning of another arrested functionary of the sect in connection with an alleged conspiracy to facilitate Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's escape after he was convicted of raping two disciples, police said.

Panchkula Police Commissioner AS Chawla said they have to question Honeypreet and Dera spokesperson Aditya Insaan in the wake of new "revelations" and have issued a look out notice against them.

Honepreet is among those considered as likely successor of Ram Rahim. However, a sect leader Vipashna Insaan had said earlier that there was no move to immediately name a successor.

Chawla said, "On being interrogated, Surinder Dhiman Insaan, who was arrested earlier, revealed that Honeypreet Insaan and Aditya Insaan might escape from the country. So we have issued lookout notice against them,"

Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak, had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a CBI court for raping two of his disciples in 2002.

Police are looking into allegations that the Dera chief's aides had colluded with police personnel to try facilitate his escape after he was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula.

Airports and bus and railway stations across the country have been put on alert, Chawla said.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the violence and arson after the Dera head's conviction rose to 41.

The total number of deaths in Panchkula was 35 while six persons died in Sirsa, the sect's headquarters, he said

Five Haryana policemen, who were part of Dera Sacha Sauda chief's security, were charged with sedition and dismissed from service over the alleged conspiracy.

A FIR was earlier lodged in Panchkula police station following a statement by a newspaper reporter against Aditya and Surinder Dhiman Insaan. The duo have been booked for sedition.

Dhiman was taken into custody and sent to police remand for a week by a court in Panchkula on Thursday.

With family and non-family claimants to the legacy of the disgraced sect chief, there is uncertainty over who will lead the cash-rich sect, though Honeypreet is considered among the frontrunners.

Dera's counsel SK Garg Narwana said that they would soon appeal to the High Court against the CBI court order.

Sect insiders say that, as of now, an arrangement needs to be in place to manage the affairs of the sect and to give direction to its followers.

Within the family of the sect's jailed leader, the name of his 33-year-old son, Jasmeet Singh Insan, is being propped up to manage the affairs of the sect in Ram Rahim's absence.

Those behind the move include Ram Rahim's aged mother Naseeb Kaur and wife Harjeet Kaur, who normally keep a low profile compared to the rather flashy and even controversial lifestyle of Ram Rahim himself.

The bid to promote Jasmeet's name by the family, which is said to be now in the Dera complex in Gursar Modia in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district, from where Ram Rahim hails, is being seen as an attempt to scuttle any move by non-family claimants to take control of the sect or even to manage its affairs.

Jasmeet is the son-in-law of Harminder Singh Jassi, Congress leader and former legislator from Punjab.

A Sunaria jail inmate, who has come out on bail, told media in Rohtak that no special treatment is given to the Dera head. He said that the Dera head, who is in visible discomfort, seldom eats meals.

With inputs from agencies.
The collapse of the Husaini building in Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai, which led to the death of 34 people (including a 20-day-old baby), was followed by an ugly and convoluted blame-game in which every organisation connected with the building is shifting the blame on another group.

One of the several reasons behind the collapse, however, definitely was poor cluster redevelopment policy in the state.

Cluster redevelopment refers to the repair or redevelopment of several buildings together in an area, rather than looking after individual buildings.

The Husaini building was part of the city's first cluster redevelopment project. The project was taken up by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Project (SBUT) on 16.5 acres in Bhendi Bazaar.

According to The Hindu, the SBUT cluster development project covered 250 old residential buildings and 1,250 commercial setups. The entire area is home to 3,200 families and the Rs 4,000 crore project is divided into phases. Work was being done on Phase One of the project, covering Clusters 1 and 3.

The report further said that even though Husaini building was a part of Cluster 8, residents of the building had been told to evacuate already because of the poor condition of the building.

But an aspect of the cluster redevelopment policy caused a delay in rehabilitation of the Husaini building residents.

"As per the government policy, in redevelopment, the promoter has to either return the same portion of the land to government or pay 100 percent land value as per the government rates," DNA quoted an SBUT official as saying. Since it is difficult to get land in Mumbai or pay the 100 percent value, the SBUT offered the government 25 percent of the land value but the request had not been looked into, according to the SBUT official.

This points out an important point which was conveniently ignored during the blame game.

First off, the BMC blamed MHADA. The BMC mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar had said that since the building was a MHADA building, "they are responsible".

It was a MHADA (Maharashtra Housing &Area Development Authority) building, they are responsible: BMC Mayor on Bhendi Bazar building collapse pic.twitter.com/sVGvdUyIX1  ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2017

The MHADA, on the other hand, pointed out that it had warned the residents about the building's dilapidated status in 2011 and given a no-objection certificate in 2013 to the building for re-development. It said that since the SBUT had taken up the redevelopment project, MHADA could only send out notices and the ultimate burden of evacuating people from the building rested on the residents.

However, SBUT claiming that their request for offering the government 25 percent of the land value was gathering dust shows that even the trust had taken some steps to finish the redevelopment.

Moreover, many residents did not want to move out of the building. "Redevelopment project had been approved by the agencies, and subsequently this building was supposed to be demolished. The final approval for demolition was granted in May 2016, but a few families opted to stay in the dilapidated building which led to this unfortunate loss of life," PTI had quoted chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as saying.

In fact, a resident who had left the Husaini building earlier, had said that SBUT representatives had been approaching the residents for consent for redevelopment. "It was only a year earlier that Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) had bought the building and their representatives had been approaching us for consent for redevelopment. I decided that I would give consent only if they gave us alternate accommodation," The Times of India quoted the person as saying.

With inputs from PTI
Mumbai: The death toll in the Mumbai building collapse rose to 34 on Friday with 10 more bodies being pulled out from the debris since last night, police said.

The 117-year-old building in the congested Bhendi Bazaar area in south Mumbai came crashing down on Thursday morning, two days after torrential rain brought the maximum city to its knees.

Around 15 people injured in the collapse are undergoing treatment at the state-run JJ Hospital, a senior police official said.

The dead include 24 men, nine women and a 20-day-old child, police said.

The search operation by personnel of fire brigade, NDRF and the Mumbai civic body was on a war footing as they pulled out 10 bodies from under the rubble since Thursday night.

But the survivors and families of those still missing held on to hope, as neighbours and residents of the nearby societies helped search for people, served tea and biscuits and comforted the families.

Twenty-five-year-old Mohammed Rafiq recounts the horror, "I had come to collect my belongings last night before leaving for my native place in Uttar Pradesh this (Thursday) morning. I ran out as soon as I heard a loud noise," Rafiq said.

Some people in his room were brushing teeth when they heard cries outside, "Run... the building is about to crumble."

"I dont know how many people were there in the building. I ran out immediately. My mobile phone and bag remained inside, but I am relieved that I am alive," he said.

Another man, living in the opposite building, said, "The incident happened at around 8.30 am. There was a big noise. When we heard it, we came out and saw that the building had crumbled like a pack of cards."

Located in the congested Muslim-dominated Pakmodia Street, the dilapidated Husaini Building housed several families and godowns.

It also housed a play school but children had not arrived yet when the tragedy occurred.

According to fire brigade officials, some nine families lived in the five-storey building.

The officials said that efforts were underway to rescue more people who might be trapped in the debris.

The tragedy struck barely two days after torrential rain brought the city to its knees, crippling road, rail and air services, inundating homes and leaving at least 10 people dead. Many suspect the downpour caused further damage to the ramshackle structure, causing its crash.

Some residents claimed that about 40 people belonging to nine families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was to have undertaken redevelopment of the old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants  12 residential and one commercial.

"Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14", it said in a statement.

"MHADA notices dated 28 March and 20 May, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday visited the spot and announced a solatium of Rs five lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

He also said that the entire medical expenses of those injured will be borne by the state government.

This was the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar on 25 July, which left 17 people dead.
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CNN-News18 and India Today TV are reporting that the death toll has now risen to 3.

Ten fire engines, two JCBs, cranes and other machineries were deployed to clear the massive heap of rubble and extricate the victims underneath.  IANS

According to the Fire Brigade, the building had two wings which have completely collapsed.

"It was over a century old and dilapidated like many of the buildings in the locality. But it is not clear whether it is included on the list of dangerous buildings," Shah told mediapersons from the crash site.

South Mumbai BJP corporator Atul Shah said the crashed Arsiwala Builidng was a ground-plus-four storeyed structure, housing a godown and around 10 families.

The death toll is likely to rise as news reports are saying that 15 people are seriously injured.

A woman said the building also housed a nursery-cum-playgroup. It was scheduled to open at 10 a.m., two hours after the building collapsed.  IANS

Collapsed building had nursery-cum-playgroup which was scheduled to open at 10 am today

"This particular building was already marked for redevelopment as it was dilapidated. A meeting will soon be held with the chief minister and an action plan will be prepared to rehabilitate those residing in such structures so that these incidents do not occur again," Desai said.  PTI

A meeting would be held with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to chalk out an action plan to rehabilitate those living in dilapidated buildings.

"Our priority is to pull out at the earliest those trapped under the rubble of the dilapidated building. Once the rescue work gets over, the government will conduct a probe to ascertain the factors behind the building collapse. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty," the industries minister, who is also the guardian minister for Mumbai, told reporters.

The Maharashtra government will conduct an inquiry into the Bhendi Bazaar building collapse in which at least seven people lost their lives, state minister Subhash Desai said.

"MHADA notices dated 28-03-2011 and 20-05-2011 declaring the building dilapidated were issued along with offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," said the trust's press release.

As a 125-year-old building collapsed claiming at least a dozen lives, the BMC mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar has said that the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority must be blamed for the mishap.

One fireman was also injured during the rescue operations. who is admitted to the Saifee Hospital.

Assistant Commissioner C ward Jiva Gheghadmal told Firstpost that the death toll has touched 13, including 2 women while 16 other people are injured. Most of the injured are undergoing treatment at the JJ Hospital.

Debris still being cleared as at least 10 more people are feared trapped

Fire broke out at Bhendi Bazar Collapse site which has been doused

He said that the people lacked trust and did not want ka move out of their homes despite repeated warnings and requests.

Speaking to CNN-News 18, Prakash Mehta, the state Housing Development minister said that it was not right to blame the government as redevelopment orders had been isued in 2016 and all the necessary permissions were also granted.

Maharashtra minister blames residents, says people not willing to leave crumbling homes despite redevelopment orders

The government has, however, claimed that the delays were caused due to the resident's reluctance to move out of their homes.

The Maharashtra government had allocated a budget of Rs 400 Crore for the redevelopment and renovation of the old buildings in the Bhendi Bazaar area. However, residents claim that therenovation work has been progressing at a snails pace.

State govt allotted Rs 400 Crore for redevelopment of old buildings in the area

A report on India Today TV stated that a nursery school was run on the first floor of the building, which crumbled down on Thursday. However, all the children could escape the strategy as the school starts at around 10.30 am, but the incident occurred at 08.30 am.

He said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will chair a meeting to chalk out an action plan to rehabilitate those living in dilapidated buildings. This particular building was already marked for redevelopment as it was dilapidated. The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), run by the Bohra community, was granted the rights to redevelop the cluster of old buildings in congested Bhendi Bazar.

"We will probe how the developer concerned failed to redevelop the project when it was granted the NOC way back in 2011. This is the time to provide rescue and relief to the victims and their aggrieved relatives. Later, we will fix responsibility," he said.

The Maharashtra government will conduct an inquiry into the Bhendi Bazaar building collapse in which at least 16 people lost their lives, state minister Subhash Desai announced on Thursday.

The chief minister also announced Rs 5 lakh compenstaion for the kin of those, who lost their lives.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the government had issued the No Objection Certificate for redevelopment back in 2011. He said that the government will launch an enquiry into the matter. He also said that the last notice for demolition was sent in 2016, despite that 13 families were still living in the building.

"I had come to collect my belongings last night before leaving for my native place in Uttar Pradesh this morning. I ran out as soon as I heard a loud noise," Rafiq said. Some people in his room were brushing teeth when they heard cries outside, "Run... the building is about to crumble."

Twenty-five-year-old Mohammed Rafiq had a hairbreadth escape as he managed to dash out of the dilapidated Husaini Building in Bhendi Bazaar moments before it collapsed, leaving at least 16 dead.

From now on we will evict people forcefully if they don't vacate dilapidated buildings: State Housing Development Minister

However, advocate Dilip Shah mentions that "the overall liability is significantly higher for developers". The building is part of the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) cluster development project. The SBUT says that the authorities are "on-ground to provide complete support to families and authorities".

The notice also mentions that if the clauses of the MHADA warning notice were not obeyed, the residents would be "forcibly evicted" with the help of the police and the fire brigade. The document explicitly mentions that MHADA "will not be responsible for any loss of life and property situated in the said premises... This (eviction) must be brought to the notice of all occupants," the notice added.

A MHADA document reveals that authorities were warned about the building's dilapidated status in 2011. The observations were made during a pre-monsoon survey six years ago. The notice recommended that the premises should be evacuated immediately under Chapter 8 of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976.

Bhendi Bazaar building collapse: SBUT or MHADA, who is to blame for incident in Mumbai?

SBUT - We had given eviction notices to all the residents and had even moved out seven familie to transit homes, who were willing to relocate

Maharashtra Govt - We had given all relevant clearances, NOCs in time. The last notice to demolish the building was sent in 2016. MHADA is not responsible because redevelopment contract was given to Saifee Burhan Upliftment Trust (SBUT).

As many as 19 people lost their lives when a 117-year-old building crumpled in a heap of rubble early morning on Thursday. However as the day progressed and the story moved beyond the immediate shock of loss of life, the authorities passed the blame on to each other. Here's what all the stakeholders have said so far.

Mumbai Mirror quoted JJ Hospital sources, stating that the death toll in the tragedy has shot up to 22. The number is expected to rise further as 10 people are still feared trapped.

JJ Hospital has released a list of names of the deceased identified so far, reported Mumbai Mirror.

List of the names of deceased in the tragedy

Experts said that heavy rains combined with strong winds may have worsened the health of the building.

According to an article in India Today , experts said that waterlogging may have made the foundation of the building weaker.

"Then all further processes and action has to be taken by the developer (SBUT). We had in 2016 given permission to the SBUT to demolish the structure as this building posed a risk."  PTI

Asked about the process MHADA follows once a building is declared unfit for housing, she said, "In technical processes, once we give an NOC for redevelopment, all further responsibilities lie with the developer."

She said MHADA had been constantly conveying to the families it was a "dangerous" building and that it had also apprised the SBUT of the risk.

"We had in 2011 given the NOC for redevelopment of the building and we had been constantly pursuing the issue. We have all the papers and information with us regarding it," MHADA chief public relations officer Vaishali Wagh told local news channels.

The SBUT, run by the Bohra community, was granted the rights to redevelop a cluster of old buildings in the area, including the collapsed building.

#WATCH #MumbaiBuildingCollapse : Operations continue in Bhendi Bazar; 13 rescued safely, 31 deaths in the incident so far. pic.twitter.com/IXwnS0lQXL

The officials said that eight fire engines, one rescue van and ambulances have been are at the collapse site to assist the personnel in rescue operations.  PTI

Six officials of the fire department and one from the NDRF also suffered injuries in the operation.

Fire brigade officials said that another nine people were rescued with injuries from the debris and admitted to the JJ Hospital.

The Bhendi Bazaar incident is unfortunate. The disaster management team is on-ground to provide complete support to families & authorities.

Experts said that heavy rains combined with strong winds may have worsened the health of the building.

According to an article in India Today , experts said that waterlogging may have made the foundation of the building weaker.

#MumbaiBuildingCollapse : Fire Brigade rescues man trapped under debris after 3 hrs with help of search camera,another man similarly rescued pic.twitter.com/xJPTgHCsXG

"Then all further processes and action has to be taken by the developer (SBUT). We had in 2016 given permission to the SBUT to demolish the structure as this building posed a risk."  PTI

Asked about the process MHADA follows once a building is declared unfit for housing, she said, "In technical processes, once we give an NOC for redevelopment, all further responsibilities lie with the developer."

She said MHADA had been constantly conveying to the families it was a "dangerous" building and that it had also apprised the SBUT of the risk.

"We had in 2011 given the NOC for redevelopment of the building and we had been constantly pursuing the issue. We have all the papers and information with us regarding it," MHADA chief public relations officer Vaishali Wagh told local news channels.

The SBUT, run by the Bohra community, was granted the rights to redevelop a cluster of old buildings in the area, including the collapsed building.

A rickety 117-year-old building with residences, godowns and a play school collapsed in the congested Bhendi Bazaar in south Mumbai on Thursday, killing 22 people and wounding 12 others, officials said.

Eight to 10 people were still suspected trapped under the rubble of the five-storey structure, they said.

Thirty-four people were pulled out of the massive stone-and-twisted-steel debris, of whom 21 were either declared brought dead at the state-run JJ Hospital or succumbed during treatment. These included five women.

The tragedy struck barely two days after torrential rain brought the city to its knees, crippling road, rail and air services, inundating homes and leaving at least 10 people dead. Many suspect the downpour caused further damage to the ramshackle structure, causing its crash.

Five fire brigade personnel and an NDRF jawan also sustained injuries during the rescue operations and were shifted to the JJ hospital. Two of them were said to be critical, while four others were discharged after treatment.

Fire brigade officials said some nine families lived in the dilapidated Husaini Building, which also housed a play school. The children had a providential escape as the building came crashing down minutes before they arrived.

The ill-fated building had got clearance for redevelopment in 2011, and was supposed to be vacated, Minister of State for Housing Ravindra Waikar said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited the spot, ordered an inquiry by the state's additional chief secretary.

He also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased. The government will bear all medical expenses of those injured, he said.

Additional chief secretary has been asked to conduct a probe to find out what led to this unfortunate incident, the chief minister said.

"The redevelopment project had been approved by the agencies concerned, and subsequently this building was supposed to be demolished. The final approval for demolition was granted in May 2016, but a few families opted to stay in the dilapidated building which led to this unfortunate loss of life," he said.

Soon after the building crumbled around 8.30 am, rescue workers in hard hats were seen clambering up the mound and banging large concrete slabs with hammers to reach underneath to pull out the survivors and bodies. Cranes and bulldozers were deployed to scoop up the debris. Residents helped with the rescue efforts, hauling concrete slabs with bare hands.

Siren blaring ambulances had a trying time navitating the narrow streets in the presence of large crowds that had gathered around the place.

Prabhat Rahangdale, the city's chief fire officer, told PTI that salvage operations will continue overnight. "The operations will continue till the time the entire debris has been cleared and all bodies and survivors pulled out," he said.

A 90-member team of the National Disaster Response Force is also involved in the operations.

Some residents claimed that about 40 people belonging to nine families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was to have undertaken redevelopment of the 117-year-old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants - 12 residential and one commercial. "Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," it said in a statement.

"MHADA notices dated March 28 and May 20, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.

This is the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar on 25 July which left 17 people dead.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: The Congress on Friday dubbed the central government "useless" for having "no vision" for the economy in the backdrop of falling GDP numbers, and sought a white paper on the state of affairs. The Opposition party also demanded the release of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for last 10 years based on both old and new methodologies.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said, "The GDP growth, which is falling for the last six quarters, is around 4.3 percent as per old methodology. The GDP continues to be in constant decline," he told reporters.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has betrayed the people of India. He and his government have proved to be useless. Modi has pulled the country behind and shut the window of opportunities for the country's youths," he said.

"We have also demanded that the government release the 10 year GDP numbers as per old methodology as well as on the new series. Also, the government must come out with a white paper on the state of the economy. They have been stonewalling this demand of Congress for long," he said.

The former Union minister further stated, "the Q2 GDP numbers, our concern and fear is, will again be low. So 2017-18 like 2016-17 is going to be a bad year for the Indian economy".

The Congress also hit out at Modi and his finance minister (Arun Jaitley) for "having no vision or road map" to restore the health of the economy.

"Our advice to the prime minister, his finance minister and other propagandists is to stop making boastful claims, be serious in coursed correction and give the account of your failures," Sharma said.

He said Modi was inviting "ridicule" by continuing to claim in international fora that the "world needs to learn from India, it being the fastest growing".

"If this is what is fastest growing, we do not know what is low growth and job losses," he said. Sharma also asked the government to release manufacturing and IIP numbers as per old and new series.

"By changing the methodology, a failed student does not get merit or first class," he quipped.

The former commerce minister said there was a sharp decline of seven percent in private and public sector investment, adding that one-third of existing industrial capacity was not utilised.

"All this means huge job losses," he said. Sharma added that the unorganised sector was delivered a "body blow" by demonetisation and was yet to recover.

He said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had forewarned the present dispensation that the GDP was going to decline sharply.

"But Modi and his finance minister took strong umbrage to the advice. The prime minister thinks that he has a better knowledge and understanding of Economics," he said.

Sharma alleged that the 'Make in India' call by Modi continued to remain a slogan.
On Friday, militants opened fire on a police bus at the Pantha Chowk area in Srinagar even as the Valley was preparing to celebrate Eid-al-Azha on Saturday.

#Visuals J&K: Terrorists attacked a bus of security personnel in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk. Five policemen injured. pic.twitter.com/gjVNHeyBqs  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

The attack took place at around 8 pm when the bus was going from Bemina to Zewan. The injured policemen have been rushed to the Army's 92 Base Hospital, a police spokesperson said. The condition of one of the injured policemen is critical, while one policeman succumbed to his injuries, he said. A counter-operation is underway to nab the terrorists involved in the incident.

The Times of India reported that "the policemen sustained serious bullet injuries." Terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba claimed responsibility for the attack, as per Times Now:

Lashkar claims responsibility on the attack #EidForBloodBath https://t.co/LitwoCX3NF  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 1, 2017

In previous instances, according to Firstpost, eight security personnel, including four CRPF men, were killed when militants carried out a suicide attack on a district police complex in south Kashmir's Pulwama on Saturday, triggering a massive gunfight in which the three militants were killed.

The last week's terror strike had taken place at the crack of dawn when the militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, entered the police complex in the worst-hit Pulwama district, 25 kilometres from Srinagar.

With inputs from PTI
Jaipur: At least 90 infants have died at the MG Hospital in Banswara district of Rajasthan in the last two months, prompting the state government to order an inquiry.

Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf formed a three-member committee, headed by DrS M Mittal, Thursday to probe the matter and file a report within three days.

"The district hospital recorded the deaths of 90 newborns in July and August," Chief Medical and Health Officer, Banswara, Dr HL Tabiyar told PTI.

He said several of them died due to birth asphyxia but the exact number of those who perished because of this reason will be known after an investigation.

Birth asphyxia is a medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn during the birth process.

The casualties were reported from the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) of of the hospital in Banswara, which is nearly 500 km from the state capital Jaipur.

According to MG hospital's report, from 20 deaths at the SNCU ward in April and 18 in May, the figure rose to 26 in June, 50 in July but downed to 40 in August.

The report also shows that the number of deaths of underweight children, too, has increased significantly  from 6 in April and 4 in May to 14 in July and 20 in August.

District collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal said of the total number of deaths "40 to 45 percent occurred due to asphyxia but the exact number of asphyxia deaths is yet to be ascertained".

The report comes close on the hills of the death of dozens of children at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur amid allegations that the newborns had died due to snapped oxygen supply over unpaid bills.

"It is not (like the) Gorakhpur case. We have launched Pukar Programme in the district on 12 July to encourage pregnant tribal women to undergo proper treatment," he added.

"Several complicated cases of tribals living in far-flung areas come to the hospital due to the initiative and we have saved newborn and mothers. Such deaths go unreported otherwise. 94 percent institutional deliveries occur in Banswara, but six per cent is a huge number," he said.
New Delhi: Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on Thursday said the CBI probe against his company over the land deals in Bikaner was yet another attempt of "malicious persecution".

Hitting out at the BJP government for involving the central probe agency in the case, he said this was a "sinister attempt" and asked whether the Rajasthan government had lost faith in its own police.

"Another attempt of malicious persecution, exposed. Having failed with the police FIR and chargesheets, they unleashed the Enforcement Directorate to harass and hound. Enforcement Directorate has conducted raids, seized documents and harassed in every possible manner. As they fail, they make one more sinister attempt to rope in the CBI. Has the Rajasthan government lost faith in its own police and investigation?!," Vadra said in a statement.

His comments came after the CBI began its probe into 18 cases referred to it by the Rajasthan government for alleged irregularities in land deals in Bikaner by companies, including one linked to Vadra. "Please hound, persecute and harass as much as you want, such lies will never undermine the truth," the businessman said in the statement that was posted on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Vadra said the "Rajasthan Police filed an FIR on 26 August, 2014 and filed the chargesheet in 3 years, summoned documents, as also company officials, yet found not an iota of evidence." Neither the FIR nor the chargesheets raised a finger at the companies associated with me, in any manner whatsoever, he added.

The Rajasthan government had on 31 December, 2014 cancelled 18 mutations (transfer of ownership) in Bikaner after allegedly finding them to be illegal. It is alleged that the land was illegally allotted or possessed in 2006-07 by some villagers, who were "wrongfully" shown as farmers displaced by the acquisition of land for the Mahajan Field Firing Range for the Army.

It was alleged that Vadra's company also purchased chunks of land. However, the farmers who were actually displaced were allotted land between 1992 and 1996.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday a plea challenging the decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar, on various grounds including that it violated international human rights conventions.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send Rohingyas back to their native land.

The plea filed by two Rohingya immigrants that they were facing persecution in Myanmar and that the decision to send them back was in violation of various international conventions.

On 18 August, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on 9 August that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.

He had said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the Union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations. The Centre had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally-staying foreign nationals.
A GJM central committee will be meeting here on Thursday to discuss the outcome of the 29 August talks with the West Bengal government and whether to continue the shutdown in the hills, which has entered its 78th day.

The meeting of the party's central committee comes at a time when sharp differences have emerged between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha convenor Binay Tamang and party chief Bimal Gurung. Though the GJM leadership remained tight-lipped about the meeting, but a section of senior leaders want the differences between Tamang and Gurung to be sorted out soon.

"We feel that there has been some sort of misunderstanding and miscommunication between the two. We want this miscommunication to be sorted out soon, as we do not want others to take advantage out of it," a senior GJM leader told PTI.

"We will discuss the outcome of the meeting and declare our next course of action," he said. Tamang is scheduled to reach the hills on Thursday and hold a public meeting at Kurseong.

Gurung had ruled out the possibility of withdrawing the shutdown until talks begin only on the issue of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Since 15 August, picketing was withdrawn by the GJM from various parts of the hills. But fresh picketing was visible in Mirik, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Sonada and other areas from Thursday morning. A vehicle was damaged in Sonada area on Wednesday night, police said.
The Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi on Thursday acquitted five people involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, while it sentenced two people to prison. The court also declared former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf absconder in the case, ANI reported.

5 acquitted, 2 sentenced to prison & Pervez Musharraf declared absconder in Benazir Bhutto assassination case: Pakistan Media  ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2017

The court also sentenced former Rawalpindi Central Police Office Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town SP Khurram Shahzad to 17 years each in jail, the news.com.pk reported. Both the police officials were arrested from the courtroom, according to a report from IANS.

Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge Asghar Ali Khan reserved the verdict on Wednesday after conducting day-to-day proceedings in the case, reported Dawn.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief prosecutor Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry in his concluding arguments disowned prosecution evidence of audio record and transcript of telephonic conversation of the former chief of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) with a cleric in which he had congratulated five terrorists on carrying out the successful attack on Bhutto.

In November 2008, an ATC indicted Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Rafaqat Hussain and Hasnain Gul for killing, hatching a criminal conspiracy to kill, abetting the perpetrators, using illegal explosive material and spreading terrorism.

In the attack, 22 people, including the former prime minister, were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh, when she was leaving after attending an election rally.

As the defence and prosecution completed their arguments on Wednesday, ATC Rawalpindi Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan reserved verdict in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, which was announced on Thursday.

In the case, Musharraf was accused of conspiring to kill Bhutto because he perceived her a potential threat to his rule. After the verdict, the court will then resume trial against Musharraf after his return to Pakistan.

Bhutto, who was the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief and a two-time prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a suicide attack at an election campaign rally on 27 December, 2007.

With inputs from agencies
Vipul Vivek and Alison Saldanha

With the recent lynching of two men in West Bengal over the suspicion of stealing cows, the states count of such killings has risen to five persons this year, making it the deadliest state for bovine-related violence in 2017 till date, shows an IndiaSpend database that records such violence.

As of 31 August, 2017, West Bengal accounted for 55 percent  or five of nine  deaths recorded in bovine-related attacks reported across India, IndiaSpend's database shows. With six deaths recorded since 2010, West Bengal is now on a par with Uttar Pradesh, which recorded as many deaths in 12 incidents of such violence over eight years. In this same period, West Bengal has reported three incidents - all of which reported fatalities.

In the early hours of 27 August, 2017, Nazrul Islam (25), Anwar Hussain (19) and Hafizul Sheikh (19) were transporting cattle from the Dhupguri cattle market to Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district, north-east Bengal, when they were apprehended by a mob near Barohalia village in Jalpaiguri, a senior police officer told IndiaSpend on condition of anonymity. While Sheikh was from Dhubri town in eastern Assam, Islam and Hussain belonged to Pundibari village in Cooch Behar, according to the Dhupguri police.

The men had purchased seven cattle from the market and had lost their way to Tufanganj in the middle of the night, the police officer told IndiaSpend. This was when a group of people, suspecting them to be cattle thieves, attacked them.

Noticing that the men were travelling with cattle, the mob demanded Rs 50,000 to let them pass the area. When the victims said they did not have the money to pay them, the villagers beat them to death, said Anwars father Mahamadul Hussain, The Hindu reported on 28 August, 2017.

Nazrul Islam, the driver of the vehicle transporting the cattle, escaped, but the 19-year-olds could not. The mob accosted the two men and beat them up at around 3 am on 27 August, 2017, a local reporter of the district who did not want to be identified, told IndiaSpend. Residents have been complaining of cow theft for a year now.

So far we have managed to arrest three Barohalia villagers - Dilip Mondol, Samiyar Rehman and Monohar Sarkar. We have already produced them before the magistrate and now the courts will decide their justice, said the police officer.

We are now on the lookout to catch the others who formed part of the mob. The arrested (men) are under questioning, the officer said.

Since the arrests, Barohalia residents say they do not know who killed the two teenaged boys. They say the spate of cow thefts over the past year might have led to this extremely violent reaction as the three men were seen transporting cattle at night, said the local reporter.

At the time of filing this report, Hussains family was yet to file a complaint against the villagers, according to the Pundibari police. IndiaSpend could not verify whether Sheikhs family had filed a complaint.

Two months ago, on 22 June, 2017, three Muslim men were lynched for allegedly trying to steal cows from North Dinajpur districts Chopra block in north Bengal, The Indian Express reported.

Between 2010 and 2017, only one incident of such violence was recorded in the state: 2010 is the starting point of the IndiaSpend database of bovine-related violence. On 8 May, 2016, a mob lynched a Hindu youth on suspicion of stealing a buffalo, The Times Of India reported on 10 May, 2016.

87% Victims Are Muslims; Rumour Triggered 9 Of Every 10 Incidents

Across India, such violence has claimed 30 lives since 2010. At least 210 people were injured in these 75 attacks, including 14 women, two of whom were gang-raped.

Of 75 incidents recorded over eight years, 94 percent  or 71  were triggered by rumours of cattle theft, IndiaSpend's database shows.

Muslims were the target of 53 percent (40 of 75) incidents of violence centred on bovine issues in 2010-17 and comprised 87 percent (26 of 30) killed in 75 incidents, data show.

Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English media  which tend to have the widest nationwide news spread  the database shows that 97 percent (73 of 75) of such incidents were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modis government came to power in May 2014. More than half or 52 percent of the bovine-related violence  39 of 75 incidents  were reported in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the time, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until 31 August, 2017.

In 46 percent  35 of 75  incidents reported, police registered cases against victims/survivors, an analysis of IndiaSpend's database revealed.

A feeling of unease, a sense of insecurity is creeping in among Muslims, outgoing vice-president Hamid Ansari said in his parting interview to Rajya Sabha TV, published on 10 August, 2017.

National or state crime data do not distinguish general violence from bovine-related attacks and lynchings, so the IndiaSpend database is the first such statistical perspective to a growing national debate over such violence.

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 25 July, 2017.

The National Crime Records Bureau, that collects and analyses crime data from across the country, plans to collect data on lynchings as well, The Indian Express reported on 9 July, 2017.

(Vivek is an analyst and Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.)
With a flurry of visits by BJP national leaders planned this month and a comprehensive strategy targeting 150 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly under its belt, BJP has blown the poll bugle for Gujarat Assembly Election slated to take place later this year.

Starting with the visit of finance minister Arun Jaitley on 3 September as poll in-charge to oversee the election preparations, Gujarat will see the party president Amit Shah visiting the state a week later.

Shah is expected to address a Town Hall from Gandhinagar and video conference with people who will be present in 100 different locations.

A week after Shahs visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will touch down in his home state along with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe for the ground breaking ceremony of the high speed rail network between Ahmedabad and Mumbai at Sabarmati railway station in Ahmedabad, livemint.com said.

Modi will return to Gujarat on 17 September  on his birth day  to participate in the culmination of the Narmada Mahotsav Yatra and address a public rally possibly in Sadhu Bet, a riverine island facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada, and the location of the Statue of Unity, a large statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the website said.

Modi is expected to announce at least three dam-related projects that day coupled with 80 Narmada yatras to travel across Gujarat with political messaging from the BJP The Hindu said in its report.

With Modi's visit, the ruling party is hoping to leave behind the setback it suffered earlier in August when it failed to block the re-nomination of veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election.

The high profile visits were preceded by the appointment of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley as in-charge of the poll-bound state along with Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, PP Chaudhary as co-in-charges in August.

On 31 August, party chief Amit Shah held a session at his residence with the party leaders tasked with leading its charge in the election and chalked out a blueprint to achieve partys mission of winning 150 seats, The Indian Express reported.

In the last elections in 2012, when Modi was the states chief minister, the BJP had won 116 seats. In 2007 and 2002, two other polls it fought under Modi, it had won 117 and 127 seats.

With Modi now the prime minister, the party strives to win 150 seats, Shah had told party leaders in Gujarat earlier, The Indian Express said.

Talking about the challenges before BJP, the party is aware that the Patidar agitation in 2015 and the Una flogging incident that targeted Dalits need to be dealt with seriously but leaders are quite upbeat for having weaned 15 MLAs of the Congress away, with the Oppositions main leader Shankersinh Vaghela declaring himself as a dissident and quitting his MLA seat as well.

Congress, on the other hand, has seen a silver lining of hope after the recent victory of Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election. It now aims to put its weight behind booth-level workers and plans to deploy four dedicated party workers at each booth of 100 votes and 25 of them at 1,000-vote booths, Business Standard reported.

The daily further said that Congress is also banking upon its vice president Rahul Gandhi to give a boost to its campaign by attending a workers' meeting in Ahmedabad on 4 September.

In an interview with PTI, Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said Congress is set to make 'happiness index' its poll plank to garner support in poll-bound Gujarat as a counter to BJP's agenda of development and growth in the state.

"We will make this election as 'happiness index' versus the development touted by the BJP. This election will be fought not on development but on 'happiness index," the state Congress president said.

Solanki also said that the party is carrying out surveys to select its candidates and will try and evolve a consensus among various contenders to stop infighting.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffles his Council of Ministers on Sunday morning, Prakash Javadekar could turn to be the biggest newsmaker of the day.

The buzz in the power corridors in the National Capital suggests that he could well be the new defence minister of the country. If the prime minister indeed springs that surprise then it would be a huge elevation for Javadekar. As defence minister, he would not only be the custodian of the external security of the country but also part of the so-called big four ministers -- the ministers who occupy four most critical ministry as per the pecking order in the government located on North Block and South Block on the Raisina Hills.

Javadekar had begun in the Narendra Modi government as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Information and Broadcasting, then to the Ministry of Forest and Environment in July 2016 and elevated to the Cabinet rank with the Human Resource and Development portfolio.

If Javadekar is shifted to defence then the country will see the third HRD minister in three years time. The HRD is considered to be a heavyweight ministry.

The other big newsmaker could be Nitin Gadkari. Sources told Firstpost that it is certain that Suresh Prabhu would be exited from railway ministry. Given Gadkaris performance in the highways and shipping ministry he can be trusted by the prime minister to change the face of Indian Railways. If that happens, he can be the first minister since Independence to command all three modes of surface transport -- highways, shipping and railways. In terms of the size of his ministerial work, he could perhaps be the most important minister in the Modi government.

Now that current skill development minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy is gone it would be important to see who gets in there. The same could be the situation with the water resources and Ganga rejuvenation ministry. Uma Bharti too appears to be on her way out. Skill development and Ganga rejuvenation or Namami Gange are the two flagship projects which are close to Modis heart. Prabhu can fill in the gaps either in the forest and environment ministry or in the water resources ministry.

The urban development ministry is another important ministry, which has to come up with popular expectations and Modis promises  smart cities, metro rail projects and housing for all.

While there are vacancies in key ministries, the question of lack of strong talent pool has come back to haunt the Modi government. Three years ago in November 2014 in the first Cabinet reshuffle, Modi had brought Manohar Parrikar from Goa and Prabhu from outside BJPs bench strength. This time around Modi and Amit Shah would be scouting for talent within the BJP. Party leader from Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, former Karnataka BJP chief Prahlad Joshi, Madhya Pradesh leader Prahlad Patel, Rajya Sabha MP and a close confidante of Modi and Shah, OP Mathur, former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh are some of the names which are expected to be in for swearing in.

JD(U) and AIADMK will be making entry as part of the Modi government. From JD(U) side RCP Singh is sure to be inducted into the Cabinet. From AIADMK two of its leaders  M Thambidurai and V Maitreyan  could be made ministers. Both of them have met Shah.
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh BJP leaders on Thursday accused the Virbhadra Singh government of trying to "derail" investigations into the Kotkhai rape and murder case to "save the real culprits".

The party also sought the resignation of the government on the issue.

The latest developments in the investigation into the case has exposed the virtual absence of governance, leading to loss of faith of the people and the civil society in the government, Union Health Minister JP Nadda alleged.

The intention behind constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the state government was to ensure fair and impartial probe, but its conduct has come under cloud, he claimed.

"Though the investigation is underway and the matter is subjudice, the actual culprits of the dastardly act are yet to be nabbed. The arrest of the complete SIT by the CBI is not something routine...it shows that officers sitting at the top tried to influence and give a twist to the direction of this case," Nadda said.

The minister's remarks come after the CBI on Tuesday arrested the inspector-general of the Himachal Pradesh police, Zahur Haidar Zaidi, and seven other policemen in connection with the custodial death of an accused in a rape case.

He said that the entire BJP state unit had been demanding a fair and unbiased probe into the case, and had echoed the sentiments of the people.

"The entire tenure of the present government is synonymous to nepotism, corruption and inefficiency, and now towards its fag end, things have gone from bad to worse," the minister said.

The chief minister and the party are at loggerheads, andbusy making a beeline in Delhi rather than caring for minimal governance for which they have been mandated, he claimed.

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader PK Dhumal alleged that the very purpose of constituting the SIT was to give a "twist" to the probe and "save" the real culprits.

"Virbhadra Singh has pushed the state into morass of crime and there has been spurt in incidents of heinous crimes due to protection given by the government to criminals and he must resign, and pave the way for a fresh assembly polls in the state," he said, adding "the sooner he quits the government, better it would be for the state".

Dhumal said that the chief minister has no right to remain in power and he should resign in view of the arrests by the CBI.

Accusing the chief minister for misusing the police to serve his vested interests, he said that the rape and murder case had "sullied" the image of the entire police force.

"It is unfortunate that the chief minister not only misled the Assembly and the people, but also patted the SIT for good work," he said.

"To derail the probe, it has become a habit of the chief minister to give clean chit to culprits even before the investigations are completed, and in this case also, efforts were made to twist the facts to save the real culprits," Dhumal said in a statement.

Meanwhile, BJP MP from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur demanded the resignation of Singh on the issue.

State BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti and chief party spokesman Rajiv Bindal have also accused the government of trying to save the culprits by implicating the wrong people in the case.
Bengaluru: BJP's Karnataka unit on Friday petitioned the Governor to direct appropriate authorities to disqualify eight MLCs  six from the Congress and two from the JDS  for allegedly providing false information that they were residents of the city, so as to participate in the mayoral polls.

The party also requested Vajubhai Vala to initiate action against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for "his role and support to the MLCs to commit the offences."

The BJP's action came just before Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was to expand the cabinet with one of the eight MLCs, Ramappa Thimmapur tipped to take oath as the minister.

The eight MLCs have been accused by the BJP of violating Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 by providing false information to the Election Commission with an ulterior motive.

"They falsely claimed to be the residents of Bengaluru and fraudulently got their names registered as voters in various parts of the city," the BJP said in the petition.

It has accused them of drawing TA/DA by fraudulent means from the Karnataka Legislative Council by showing addresses in other districts as their ordinary residency.

It has also accused them of indulging in foul play by wrongly participating in the elections to the post of mayor and various standing committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city corporation.

On the basis of the complaint lodged by Padmanabha Reddy, Leader of the Opposition in BBMP, the Election Commission in July had asked BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad to probe the matter.

The petition said in his report submitted to the chief electoral officer, the commissioner, BBMP, has stated that "due procedure has not been followed" for inclusion of names of all these eight MLCs in the electoral list.

"We are of the view that this is a clear case for initiating action in the form of disqualifying them from the Membership of the Legislative Council," BJP said.

The eight MLCs are Allum Veeranbhadrappa, Ramappa Thimmapur, Raghu Achar, N S Boseraju, S Ravi, M D Lakshminarayana, C R Manohar and Appaji Gowda.

Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman DH Shankaramurthy, who had earlier served notice to eight MLCs, has said he will soon decide on the issue.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the governor, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar called it a "criminal offence".

"Their conduct being in a responsible position of public representatives is a criminal offence, so they have to be disqualified as members of the legislative council. So we have requested the governor to direct the appropriate authorities to disqualify the eight MLCs," he said.

Pointing out at the possibility of Thimmapur being inducted into the cabinet, Shettar demanded that he should not be inducted as he has violated the Representation of the People Act under which he can be penalised and jailed for one year.
Vrindavan: RSS leaders on Friday appreciated the steps taken by the Centre to reduce stone-pelting in Kashmir Valley at a Sangh Parivar meeting in Vrindavan, the first after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year.

The issue of security in Jammu and Kashmir was discussed on the first day of the three-day conclave with top leaders of the saffron combine, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP president Amit Shah, in attendance.

The inaugural session was addressed by RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi and senior functionary Suresh Soni, who spoke on the agenda of the meeting.

Forty allied organisations of the Sangh are also taking part in the event being chaired by Bhagwat.

A senior functionary of the RSS, Arun Kumar, spoke on the situation in Kashmir, according to the Sangh's Sahkar Bharti Mahamatri, Uday Joshi.

"Kumar spoke about the internal security situation in Kashmir and stressed on bringing stone-pelters to the mainstream," he said.

"He also said that cases related to stone-pelting and terror incidents have come down in recent time, for which the central government must be appreciated," Joshi said.

Kumar is the former prant pracharak of the Jammu and Kashmir chapter for the RSS.

The meeting, being held at Keshav Dham in Vrindavan, will take stock of the work done by the Sangh's various organisations, an RSS leader, who did not want to be named, said.

Senior Sangh functionaries Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal, and VHP's Pravin Togadia were present at the meeting.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to join the conclave on Saturday, the RSS leader said.

Shah, along with BJP organisation secretary Ram Lal, reached Vrindavan earlier on Saturday after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital.

Issues such as attacks on RSS cadre in the Left-ruled Kerala and the recent violence in Haryana after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in rape cases will also be discussed, he said.

This is the first major meeting of the RSS in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP came to power in the state earlier this year.

Some state BJP leaders are also expected to attend the meeting.

RSS prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya had called the meet a routine affair and said it was a platform for all sections of the Sangh to share details on the work done by them in their respective fields.
The Narendra Modi government is all set for an expansion-cum-reshuffle on 3 September early morning, BJP sources have told Firstpost. A Cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards since Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to become the Chief Minister of Goa. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the defence ministry since then. While the view in the political leadership is that a Cabinet reshuffle is certainly required, the big question is about the timing.

That date seems to have been set more by necessity than choice as Friday is the only time in next few days when President Ram Nath Kovind, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will be in the national Capital. While the President has not been officially intimated about the move yet, the reshuffle is expected to take place before Modi leaves for China, according to the IBN7 research team.

The resignations: Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mahendra Nath Pandey out

The major move which has kicked-off the process is the resignation of skills development minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and the appointment of Mahendra Nath Pandey, former minister of state (MoS) in the HRD ministry, as the state president of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit. Pandey is expected to resign from the Cabinet due to the party's one man-one post rule. Party sources also revealed that several other BJP leaders have already submitted their resignation. Some of the names that have come to Firstpost's notice include Giriraj Singh (MoS for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and Sanjeev Baliyan, MoS for agriculture and food processing.

According to the IBN7 research team, more than half a dozen ministers are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet in this reshuffle.

Water resources minister Uma Bharati has offered to quit on health grounds, reports The Times of India. Kalraj Mishra, the minister for medium and small scale industries, is above 75 years of age (the informal age-limit for NDA ministers) and could be moved out to a Raj Bhavan.

NDTV has reported that agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh too has resigned after facing flak over the death of protesting farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitaraman could also quit to go back to being the BJP's main spokesperson as she is seen as a strong voice to effectively project the party's stand ahead of key Assembly elections.

India Today also adds the names of Vishnu Deo Sai (MoS for Steel and Mines), Krishna Raj (MoS for Women and Child Development) and Vijay Sampla (MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment) to the list of those moving out.

Amid those joining in, rumours have it that Hemanta Biswa Sarma, who quit Congress to join BJP in 2016, and former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh are likely to be inducted in the cabinet.

Cabinet reshuffle necessary as many ministers currently hold multiple portfolios

Reshuffle talks gained further ground after Jaitley on Thursday hinted that he would not continue to hold the defence portfolio for long. "At least not for very long," Jaitley said in response to questions on how long he would continue as Defence Minister. He has also been tasked as in-charge for Gujarat elections.

Besides Jaitley, three other union ministers are holding additional charges of different ministries. Textiles minister Smriti Irani is holding additional charge of the information and broadcasting ministry portfolio, while rural development minister Narendra Tomar has additional charge of the urban development ministry after M Venkaiah Naidu resigned to contest the vice-presidential election. Union science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan is holding additional charge of the environment portfolio following the death of Anil Madhav Dave in May.

Right now, the council of ministers has 72 ministers - 24 of cabinet rank, 12 MoS (independent charge) and 36 MoS, according to India Today. The total number of ministers in the council cannot exceed 81. This means Modi can add nine more ministers for now. However, while he will try to fill the vacant seats, he might still keep some unoccupied for now.

"A major reshuffle is likely in BJP in the coming days. The party leadership wants to bring back some of the former general secretaries who had played decisive roles in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. These senior leaders would be appointed in-charge of a specific state," Livemint quoted a BJP leader as saying.

The additions: JD(U) leaders, Ram Madhav could join Cabinet

After the Janata Dal (United) faction led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, some of its leaders too are expected to join the Union Cabinet. According to a report in The Times of India, JD(U) leaders Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and Purnea MP Santosh Kushwaha  could be sworn into the Cabinet.

AIADMK leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai met Shah on Thursday, leading to speculation that the party might become part of the Union Council of Minister. However, sources said the AIADMK's entry might be delayed till the problems in the party were resolved.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has been under pressure after a spate of train derailments and could be shifted out. He is likely to take over as environment minister, a role he had performed earlier in under the Vajpayee government. The Times of India says that parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar could take over the urban development ministry, relieving Narendra Singh Tomar from his additional charge.

India Today also reports that JP Nadda could become the chief ministerial candidate of BJP's Himachal Pradesh unit and former Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal could replace him at the centre.

The NDTV report also says that Bhupendra Yadav, who is in-charge of BJP's Gujarat unit, could be inducted in the Cabinet alsong with Prahlad Patel, a BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh. Party heavyweight Ram Madhav, who has been instrumental in the BJP's gains in the Northeast, could also get a Cabinet berth, according to DNA.

News18 has reported that ministers seen as doing good work  like power minister Piyush Goyal and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan  could get elevated. India Today says Manoj Sinha (minister of communication (independent charge) and MoS for railways) and Jitendra Singh (MoS (independent charge) for development of north eastern region and PMO) too are being considered for elevation. It also speculated that either TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi could take charge of the railway ministry or that a mega transport and mobility ministry could be created under Nitin Gadkari, who has a good track record as highways and shipping minister.

With 18 months to next elections, this reshuffle is important for Modi

The last cabinet reshuffle took place in July 2016 in which Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated MoS for Environment Prakash Javadekar to cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also dropped.

Firstpost had earlier written that Modi has another 18 months to deliver before the 2019 General Elections to Lok Sabha begins. He thus needs to weed out the dead wood from the government and infuse new blood in the cabinet. The PMO has undertaken a performance review of ministers. This cabinet reshuffle could be an occasion for Modi to give a message to the nation that he cares for performance and merit.

With inputs from agencies
tech2 News Staff

Lenovo has announced two convertible laptops in its Yoga series  Yoga 920 and Yoga 720. While the Yoga 720 houses the 7th gen Intel core processors, the flagship Yoga 920 comes with the latest 8th gen Intel core processors inside. So without further ado, let's get straight to the point.

Lenovo Yoga 920

The Yoga 900 series represents the top end of Lenovo's multimode, convertible laptops. The Yoga 92o is the flagship model in the series now with up to 8th gen Intel Core i7 quad-core processor on board, up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, support for up to 1 TB PCIe SSD storage, among other things. The Yoga 920 comes with a 13.9-inch Full HD display or Ultra HD display, depending on your budget. The panel is an IPS LCD touchscreen one. You still get Lenovo's trademark, watchband-like aluminum hinge on the Yoga 920.

The Yoga 920 comes with a fingerprint scanner to log into your system using Windows Hello. It also offers Lenovo Active Pen 2 support, which lets you use a stylus on its touch screen. The pen supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and the screen is apparently a low lag one. The Active Pen 2 will have to be bought separately.

One of the most interesting features on the Yoga 920 is the presence of far-field microphones. This lets you speak to Cortana from a distance of up to 13 feet away. The device includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports and also supports Dolby Atmos sound for an "immersive" viewing experience.

The Lenovo Yoga 920 is priced from $1,330 onwards and it will start shipping in October.

Lenovo Yoga 720 (12)

This is a more mainstream laptop coming in the 12-inch Full HD form factor. The model currently available houses a 13-inch screen.

The new 720 houses the 7th gen Intel dual-core chips. It has a more traditional design language. There is an audio jack on the left hand side and on the right hand side, there is a USB port, a USB Type-C port and a power button. There is a fingerprint scanner on the Yoga 720 as well. It's not yet clear if the device supports Thunderbolt 3.

The Yoga 720 is priced at $650 onwards and it will start shipping from October onwards.
tech2 News Staff

Motorola, the Lenovo-owned company, has officially unveiled the Moto X4 at an event at IFA 2017 in Berlin.

Recently, a tweet from Roland Quandt and a teaser released in Philipines suggested the release of the phone.

According to the official website the Motorola Moto X4 comes with a dual-camera setup on the rear with a 12 MP dual autofocus Pixel sensor and an "ultra wide-angle" unit with an 8 MP sensor. The front camera comes with a 16 MP sensor, f/2.0 aperture and features a selfie flash for taking pictures in low lighting conditions. The 12 MP rear sensor has an f/2.0 aperture and the 8 MP has an f/2.2 aperture. The phone's camera is capable of recording 4k/2160p video at 30 fps and 1080p video at 60 fps.

he Moto X4 features a 5.2-inch Full HD display (1080x1920) with Gorilla Glass protection and IP68 water and dust resistance rating. The device is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery and comes with Motorola's Turbo Charger for quick charging. Motorola has provided USB Type CTM Port for charging and a 3.5 mm headphone jack for using a headphone/earphone with the device.

It is powered by the Snapdragon 630 platform which features a 2.2 GHz octa-core processor and an Adreno 508 GPU.

Motorola has also included support for Amazon's Alexa and a person can access it without unlocking the device. The company has also provided NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 as connectivity options.

The Moto X4 comes with 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage that can be extended upto 2 TB with a microSD card and features a single Nano SIM card slot that supports 4G LTE.

The device runs on Android Nougat 7.1, features a front facing (below the screen) fingerprint sensor and will be available in two color variants: Super Black and Sterling Blue.

The price for the device has not been announced by the company but as reported earlier, it is expected to cost EUR 350 (around Rs 26,388). Registrations are open for customers interested in buying the phone.
tech2 News Staff

The US agency in charge of enforcing labour law on Thursday filed a complaint against electric carmaker Tesla Inc, saying it found merit to workers complaints about unfair labour practices.

According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint, Tesla violated workers rights by requiring them to sign a confidentiality agreement that could bar them from talking about their working conditions and safety issues at the companys facility in Fremont, California.

The agency also investigated charges by the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them and violated workers rights under federal labour law.

Tesla has denied the allegations.

The company must respond to the charges by 14 September. The NLRB has scheduled a hearing for 14 November before an administrative law judge in Oakland, California.

These allegations, which have been filed by the same contingent of union organizers who have been so outspoken with media, are entirely without merit, Tesla said in a statement.

Complaints were filed by three employees and the United Auto Workers union, which has encouraged Tesla employees to unionize.

The workers said Tesla made them sign a document that they may face termination or criminal prosecution for speaking publicly, or to the media, about anything they observed at work or their working conditions, NLRB said.

As per earlier reports, Tesla Inc next month plans to unveil an electric big-rig truck with a working range of 200 to 300 miles, Reuters has learned, a sign that the electric car maker is targeting regional hauling for its entry into the commercial freight market. Chief Executive Elon Musk has promised to release a prototype of its Tesla Semi truck next month in a bid to expand the company's market beyond luxury cars. The entrepreneur has tantalized the trucking industry with the prospect of a battery-powered heavy-duty vehicle that can compete with conventional diesels, which can travel up to 1,000 miles on a single tank of fuel.

(With inputs from Reuters)
tech2 News Staff

The Civil Aviation Administration of China on Friday announced the opening of the country's first test-flight base for civilian drones in Shanghai.

The base, located in the district of Qingpu, will provide service to thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in a country where private drones have become very popular, reports Efe news. Drones in China are required to fly at a height below 150 metres and all test flights to be monitored for safety reasons to avoid obstructing air operations.

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of China, there are over 120,000 registered drones in the country. China has approximately 500 drone manufacturers, controlling almost 70 percent of market share.

The use of UAV, initially used in videography, for recreational purposes, security and agriculture, has expanded dramatically.

As per earlier reports, China has started commercial production of its CH-5 Rainbow drone, touted to be a rival to the US unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-9 Reaper, which could attack targets on the ground. Wang Song, an associate professor with the school of aeronautic science and engineering at China's Beihang University, said the first flight of a mass-produced CH-5 Rainbow, a heavy military drone, on Friday last week signals China's readiness to export it.

He said the drones equal the performance of the US General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, but at around half the cost.

(With inputs from IANS)
Kabul: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in his Eid al-Adha message has reached out to neighbor Pakistan offering "comprehensive negotiations" to bring peace to their troubled relationship.

Like most Muslim countries, Afghanistan celebrates the Islamic holiday on Friday while in Pakistan the holiday is celebrated on Saturday. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

"Peace with Pakistan is our national agenda," said Ghani while also urging insurgents to lay down their weapons.

Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of harboring Taliban insurgents, while Islamabad says its enemies have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

The two countries also squabble relentlessly over the border that separates their two countries. Known as the Durand Line, Afghanistan refuses to accept it as the international border. Firefights between the armies have broken out as Pakistan seeks to fence it.
Islamabad: A top police officer sentenced to 17 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in the Benazir Bhutto murder case was also the head of the security arrangements for the judge who pronounced the verdict.

Senior Superintendent of Police Khurrum Shehzad was working as head of "Special Branch" and was responsible for the security of anti-terrorism court Judge Asghar Khan.

Khan delivered the verdict on Thursday, declaring former dictator Pervez Musharraf a fugitive and sentencing two senior police officers, including Shehzad, to 17 years in jail.

The judge sentenced former Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud Aziz and Shahzad  suspects out on bail  to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh each.

Since the trial was held in Adial Jail, located in suburb of Rawalpindi, the judge had to travel from Rawalpindi city to the jail to announce the verdict which he had reserved on Wednesday at conclusion of the hearing.

As a militant linked with al-Qaeda was also accused of murder and held in the jail, it was feared that the militants might try to target the judge while on his way to the prison.

According to police official, Shehzad reached the jail early and was escorted by police and personally reviewed the security of the route.

"He looked calm and confident unlike his former boss Saud Aziz," the official said.

Aziz was Rawalpindi city police chief and Shehzad was working as Superintendent of Police under him when Bhutto was murdered on 27 December, 2007.

Aziz, who retired last month as Additional Inspector General Police, came early like Shehzad to hear the verdict.

Both officers waited for around six hours for the judge, who went to a special courtroom set up inside the jail after getting a green signal about security from Shehzad.

Later, Shehzad found himself at receiving end when he was found guilty by the judge and sentenced to 17 years along with the fine.

Shehzad like his ex-boss was arrested from the court premises to be lodged in the jail. Both convicts, however, can appeal against the sentence in the high court.

Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party chief, and a two-time prime minister was killed along with more than 20 people in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh during an election campaign rally on 27 December, 2007. She was 54.
Nairobi: Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new presidential election within 60 days after cancelling the results of August's poll in a shock decision in favour of the Opposition.

Joyous celebrations erupted outside the court and in Opposition strongholds after the second term victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared "invalid, null and void".

The decision came as a rare political victory for veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, 72, who hailed a "historic" ruling which he said was a first in Africa.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of seven judges, with two dissenting, found that Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the Constitution".

Kenyatta's lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi criticised the court's decision as "very political", but said they would "live with the consequences".

Thousands of Odinga supporters flooded the streets of Nairobi's Kibera slum and his strongholds in the western city of Kisumu.

"This is justice for us the people of Kisumu. They (police) came to beat and shoot at us when we protested the election results, but now the truth is out," said Jackson Oduor in Kisumu.

"For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen the election for long," said fishmonger Lynette Akello.

'Irregularities and illegalities'

Kenya has a long history of disputed votes, election violence and a lack of faith in the judiciary's independence.

The run-up to the 8 August election was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and Opposition allegations that rigging was certain.

Indeed Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) cried foul shortly after counting began, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

The 11 August declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote  with not all the tallying forms in  sparked two days of demonstrations and riots in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.

It was the third time in a row that Odinga cried foul, having claimed he was cheated out of rightful victory after losing elections in 2007 and 2013.

However protests remained isolated and did not reach the levels of the disputed 2007 election which saw politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.

In 2013, Odinga took his grievances to court and lost.

This time he initially refused to take the case to court but changed his mind, saying NASA wanted the truth to come out even if they believed they had no hope of winning.

However, in a dramatic and widely unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court agreed with the opposition coalition.

Maraga said there had been "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

He said this had compromised the "integrity of the entire presidential election".

And he ordered that a new election be held within 60 days.

Poll commissioners 'must go'

"We are ready for elections but we don't have confidence in the IEBC", said Odinga.

"Those commissioners must go," he said.

"Most of them belong in jail."

Maraga said the panel of judges had not yet had time to write a "reasoned and well-considered judgement" since hearings closed on Tuesday night, so he only read out the court decision, promising a full ruling later.

NASA official and lawyer, James Orengo, had argued that irregularities  including unsigned and fake tally forms, hacked servers and deliberate miscounting  had affected around one-third of the 15.5 million votes cast.

But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote.

A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets  known as form 34A  as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

In addition, the registrar's report found that the electoral commission failed to provide full court-ordered access to its servers, which NASA had demanded in order to back up its allegations of hacking.
Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh): Around 400 people  most of them Rohingya Muslims  have died in communal violence searing through Myanmar's Rakhine state, the army chief's office said Friday, with tens of thousands forced to flee across the border into Bangladesh.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats.

Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces  as well as by militants  have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.

"Until 30 August, a large number of terrorists carried out 52 waves of attacks on security forces .... in those attacks, 370 bodies of terrorists were found and nine others captured alive," a statement posted on the Facebook page of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing's office said Friday.

Fifteen security forces and 14 civilians have also died in eight days of fighting, it added.

It was unclear if the deaths of 78 militants killed last Friday in raids on police posts that sparked the current round of violence had been included in the toll.

Either way, it is the bloodiest chapter yet in a bitter five-year crisis that has torn apart Rakhine state along ethnic and religious lines, displaced the Rohingya in huge numbers and heaped international condemnation on Myanmar's army and the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rights groups say the true toll is likely much higher.

They allege massacres of Rohingya led by Myanmar security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

Fortify Rights, an NGO with a focus on Myanmar, said eyewitnesses alleged mobs shot and hacked down Rohingya villagers  including children  in a five-hour "killing spree" in the village of Chut Pyin in Rathedaung township on Sunday afternoon.

The allegations could not be independently verified by AFP as the area is off-limits to reporters.

Myanmar's Information Committee appeared earlier this week to confirm a major security operation took place around the village on Sunday afternoon as a patrol clashed with scores of Rohingya militants.

But it is hard to pin down exact details amid the claims and counter-claims of abuses and violence by the opposing sides.

The Rohingya are reviled in Mynamar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats in an effort to cross the Naf river which separates the two countries.

The UN says at least 27,000 have made it across.

Bangladesh already hosts 400,000 Rohingya and does not want more.
Washington: People who were denied from entering the US under president Donald Trump's first travel ban can now reapply for American visas, according to a settlement reached in a case that temporarily blocked the executive order in January.

In the brief period after the first travel ban went into effect on 27 January, a number of people with valid visas were denied entry into the US and put on planes back to where they came from, reports CNN.

Two of those people, Iraqi nationals Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, filed a suit after being detained at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.

The court ruling temporarily blocked the travel ban from being implemented nationwide because the case was filed as a class action lawsuit.

According to the settlement issued on Thursday, all of those people who were denied entry but had proper documentation can now reapply for visas to enter the US, CNN reported.

The government now plans to send letters to notify those who were denied entry.

The letters will include a list of free legal service providers who can help the applicants reapply, and they will be written in English, Farsi and Arabic, according to the settlement.

While the government has not provided a list of the people who will receive the letter, the settlement states that those who "provided contact information in visa applications" and "applied for admission at a port of entry in the United States, were found inadmissible solely as a result of the Executive Order, withdrew their applications for admission, and since their withdrawal have neither entered the US nor sought a visa for future travel to the US" will receive the letters.

About 2,000 people were detained during the almost 24-hour time period from when the first travel ban went into effect to when the temporary stay blocked the travel ban from being implemented.

The Department of Justice will designate a liaison to review these applications for three months after the letters have been sent out, according to the settlement.

The plaintiffs, Darweesh and Alshawi, agreed to drop any claims they had against the government in the settlement, CNN reported.

No monetary compensation was awarded to either plaintiff.

In June, the Supreme Court allowed parts of Trump's second travel ban Executive Order to go into effect and will hear oral arguments on the case in October.
Miami: Hurricane Irma on Thursday strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane over the eastern Atlantic and was headed towards the Caribbean, the US National Hurricane Center(NHC) said in its latest advisory.

The hurricane was about 720 miles (1,160 km) west of the Cabo Verde islands, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kph), the Miami-based weather forecaster said.

NHC forecast models were showing it heading for the US territory of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti with possible landfall by the middle of next week.

Irma gathered strength quickly, rising to hurricane status less than 24 hours after forming as a tropical storm.
Miami: Hurricane Irma in the central Atlantic is expected to remain a "powerful hurricane" as it heads towards the Caribbean, US weather monitors said on Friday.

Irma, a Category 2 storm, formed just days after the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season, Harvey, unleashed massive rain and floods over Texas.

The hurricane is packing winds of 110 miles (175 kilometers) per hour, and is moving west at a speed of 13 miles per hour.

Irma is swirling in the mid-Atlantic some 1,580 miles east of the Leeward Islands, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said at 1500 GMT.

Its tropical storm-strength winds extend outward up to 90 miles, meaning these strong winds have already reached Puerto Rico and the Antilles Islands.

The storm reached powerful Category 3 status on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale Thursday when its winds were clocked at 115 miles per hour.

"Irma is forecast to remain a powerful hurricane for days," the NHC said, adding that strength fluctuations "are possible" over the weekend.

The hurricane's center is forecast to reach the Lesser Antilles islands on Tuesday.

South Florida meteorologist Craig Setzer said it was too early to tell if the storm would impact Florida or the Gulf of Mexico region.

Anxiety is running high over the risk of another storm in the southern United States after Harvey pounded the Texas coast, making landfall last week as a Category Four hurricane.
Washington: Escalating a diplomatic tit-for-tat, the United States abruptly ordered Russia on Thursday to shutter its San Francisco consulate and close offices in Washington and New York, intensifying tensions between the former Cold War foes.

Washington gave Moscow 48 hours to comply.

The Trump administration described its action as retaliation for the Kremlins unwarranted and detrimental demand earlier this month that the US cut its diplomatic staff in Russia. But Moscow declared it a major escalation, with a top Russian lawmaker saying the move heralded the hot phase of diplomatic war.

The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Still, she said the US hoped both countries could now move toward improved relations and increased cooperation.

It was a harsh welcome to Washington for new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, who arrived only hours after the US announcement. At the airport, Antonov cited a maxim of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin as he urged caution and professionalism.

We dont need hysterical impulses, Russian news agencies quoted Antonov as saying.

The closures on both US coasts marked perhaps the most drastic diplomatic measure by the United States against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each others diplomats.

And it comes amid some of the broadest strains in their relationship ever since. The two countries have clashed over the wars in Ukraine and Syria, but most significantly over American allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election to boost president Donald Trumps chances of victory. Investigations continue into whether Trumps campaign colluded with Moscow.

By Saturday, the Russians must close their consulate in San Francisco and an official residence there. Though Russia can keep its New York consulate and Washington embassy, trade missions housed in satellite offices in both of those cities must shut down, a senior Trump administration official said. The official briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Outside the consulate building high atop a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, there were no visible signs of an exodus Thursday. Consular officials walked in and out of the stately building, and Russian citizens who had scheduled appointments said they were able to pick up or renew their passports.

Its sad, because Ive lived many years in the US and there are strong ties between the countries, said Kate Stanton, a San Francisco real estate agent who said she holds dual US-Russian citizenship.

American counterintelligence officials have long kept a watchful eye on Russias outpost in San Francisco, concerned that people posted to the consulate as diplomats were engaged in espionage. The US late last year kicked out several Russians who posted there, calling it a response to election interference.

The US isnt expelling any Russian officials this time. Those who work at the shuttered offices can be reassigned elsewhere in the United States, the senior official said.

One of the buildings is believed to be leased, but Russia will maintain ownership over the others, said the official, adding that Moscow can determine if it wants to sell them or otherwise dispose of the properties.

The forced closures are the latest in an intensifying exchange of diplomatic broadsides.

In December, former President Barack Obama kicked out dozens of Russian officials, closed Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland, and imposed sanctions on Russian people and businesses. Russian President Vladimir Putin withheld from retaliating. The next month, Trump took office after campaigning on promises to improve US-Russia ties.

But earlier this month, Trump begrudgingly signed into law stepped-up sanctions on Russia that Congress pushed to prevent him from easing up on Moscow. The Kremlin retaliated by telling the US to cut embassy and consulate staff down to 455 personnel, from a level hundreds higher.

Russia said 755 personnel in all would have to go to reach the new limit. The US never confirmed how many diplomatic staff it had in the country at the time. As of Thursday, the US has complied with the order to reduce staff to 455, officials said.

The reductions are having consequences for Russia. The US has temporarily suspended non-immigrant visa processing for Russians seeking to visit the United States and will only resume soon at a much-reduced rate. The US will process visas only at the embassy in Moscow, meaning Russians can no longer apply at US consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

Despite the exchange of penalties, there have been narrow signs of US-Russian cooperation that have transcended the worsening ties. In July, Trump and Putin signed off on a deal with Jordan for a cease-fire in southwest Syria. The US says the truce has largely held.

But the Kremlin may now respond in kind. American officials argued that Russia should refrain from retaliation, noting that Moscows ordering of US diplomatic cuts was premised on bringing the two countries diplomatic presences into parity.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides, the State Departments Nauert said.

Both countries now maintain three consulates on each others territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.
Islamabad: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, has forwarded four references, prepared against the Sharif family, to its headquarters in Islamabad proposing seizure of the entire assets of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz and freezing of their bank accounts.

The references were sent to Pakistan's anti-corruption body's headquarters after the bureau's regional board gave consent to all the decisions. The meeting was chaired by director general NAB Lahore Major Shehzad Salim (Retd), the News International reported on Friday.

The bureau's regional office also proposed action against finance minister Ishaq Dar besides confiscating all his moveable and immoveable property, the report said. The board also proposed that Dar's name be placed on the Exist Control List (ECL).

NAB Lahore had already recommended that names of all the members of Sharif's family be put on the ECL.

It is expected that NAB Rawalpindi will also give consent for action against the Sharif family soon, sources told the daily and added that after approval from NAB Rawalpindi, references will be filed formally in the accountability court.

On 28 July , a five-member bench of the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office following a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probe that exposed illegal family wealth stashed abroad.

The apex court had directed the anti-corruption body to file four reference cases by 8 September against Sharif, his children and Dar. These relate to the Sharif family's four upscale flats in London and 16 offshore companies held by the family.

The reference against Dar was over owning assets beyond his means.
Washington: The CEOs of dozens of big-name US firms from Amazon to Apple and Facebook pressed President Donald Trump on Friday to keep an amnesty for people brought to the United States illegally as children.

In a letter to Trump and top Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the business leaders  who also included executives at Cisco, eBay, General Motors, Marriott and Microsoft  warned of the economic impact of forcing almost 800,000 people back into the legal shadows.

The White House reiterated that Trump has not yet decided whether to end the Obama-era programme that allowed children brought to the country illegally before they were 16 to get a two-year renewable work permit.

The programme known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was instituted by then president Barack Obama in 2012 via executive order and could be repealed by Trump with the stroke of a pen.

Recipients of the programme "grew up in America, registered with our government, submitted to extensive background checks and are diligently giving back to our communities and paying income taxes," the CEOs argued in the letter.

These "hardworking young people will lose their ability to work legally in this country, and every one of them will be at immediate risk of deportation. Our economy would lose $460.3 billion from the national GDP and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions.

Trump had vowed to end the program and is under fierce pressure by anti-immigrant supporters to make good on that promise.

Fox News on Thursday reported that Trump would stop issuing DACA permits and allow the existing ones to expire.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the policy was still under review. "A final decision on that front has not been made," she said.

DACA recipients fear their legal status could lapse and authorities would be able to locate them easily for deportation.

The policy has become tied up in a debate about congressional funding for Trump's proposed wall on the border with Mexico.

Some in Congress have suggested a deal could be reached for the permit system to remain in place if Congress agrees to release funding for the wall.

White House officials offered differing views on when Trump may make a decision. Some said it could come this week and others said it would have to wait until after mega-storm Harvey subsides.

Texas alone has issued over 200,000 permits or renewals, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Yangon: More than 27,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, the United Nations has said, as corpses of people drowned in desperate attempts to cross the border river washed up on Bangladeshi soil on Friday.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, the UN added in statement late Thursday, but are barred from entry as they run from burning villages and Myanmar army operations. Rumours of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces  as well as by militants  have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence is spinning out of control.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats, some constructed from flotsam, in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries.

Sixteen bodies washed ashore on the Bangladeshi side of a river on Friday, a border official said, lifting the grim toll over the last two days from apparent boat capsizes to 39. "They had been floating in the river for a while," according to Mainuddin Khan, police chief of the border town of Teknaf, adding the dead included a young girl. The latest round of a bitter and bloody five-year crisis began last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 11 state officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched "clearance" operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers pick up sticks and knives and join their cause.

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced  the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). An AFP reporter on a government-led trip to Maungdaw, this week saw columns of smoke rising from several burning villages, while terrified civilians huddled in schools in the main town.

International pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The United States on Thursday urged Myanmar's military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, expressed fears that "grave violations" could take place. "The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently," she added. Rakhine State has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands into of people  the majority from the Muslim minority  into displacement camps.
PinnacleHealth announced Friday that it has officially merged with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

PinnacleHealth will now be known as UPMC Pinnacle. Under the deal announced Friday, Pinnacle hospitals, including Carlisle Regional Medical Center, will retain a local 12-member governing board, with UPMC adding six members. UPMC Pinnacle hospitals will also honor contracts with regional insurers not affiliated with UPMC and its health plan.

We are pleased that the affiliation is complete, and we look forward to starting a new chapter of collaboration with UPMC, said Philip W. Guarneschelli, president and CEO of UPMC Pinnacle. Together, PinnacleHealth and UPMC will bring expanded health care services and advanced quality initiatives to patients across central Pennsylvania, allowing us to continue to provide high-value, nationally recognized care.

UPMC, western Pennsylvanias dominant health network, operates more than 25 hospitals and employs more than 70,000 people, making it the largest nongovernment employer in the state.

UPMC Pinnacle operates hospitals in Carlisle, Hanover, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lititz, Mechanicsburg and York.

We are excited to welcome Pinnacle to UPMC, said Jeffrey A. Romoff, president and CEO of UPMC. We have a long track record of successful affiliations, all of which have resulted in significant investment and growth in advanced specialty care, primary care and community services accessible locally to residents of many diverse communities. Together we will enhance UPMC Pinnacles position as the leading provider of world-class care in the central Pennsylvania region.

UPMC Pinnacles local governance will continue under the board of directors consisting of 12 Pinnacle-designated volunteer business and community members along with six newly appointed members from UPMC. The UPMC Pinnacle Board will be responsible for central Pennsylvania operations including quality of care, access to care, insurance contracts, medical staff development and growth initiatives.

The agreement does not affect patients care or insurance coverage, according to the news release. UPMC Pinnacle will continue to honor the contracts it has in place with regional insurers and has reaffirmed its commitment to continuing to work with multiple payers in the future. UPMC Pinnacle will also participate with all UPMC insurance products available in this market. Highmark members in central Pennsylvania will continue to have access to care provided by UPMC Pinnacle under a long-term contract extension signed by Highmark Blue Shield and PinnacleHealth in August.

The UPMC Pinnacle Board of Directors also announced Friday that UPMC Pinnacle completed its affiliation with Hanover Healthcare PLUS, the parent company of Hanover Hospital, after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals. The effective date was Friday.

UPMC Pinnacle officials said they are working with health plans/insurers to continue contracts in place at the hospital to support continued network participation for patients and payers. The hospital will maintain its current name on all signage and communications for a period of time.

The agreement includes a commitment from UPMC Pinnacle to retain the current leadership team and employees in good standing for at least 12 months, to ensure that all charitable donations given to Hanover Hospital will remain in the community, and to have the local board of directors play a role in governing the organization.

Hanover Hospital continues its nonprofit status and has adopted UPMC Pinnacles charity care policies, mission, vision and values.

UPMC Pinnacle acquired Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Heart of Lancaster, Lancaster Regional Medical Center and Memorial Hospital of York in July 2017. On Friday, UPMC Pinnacle acquired All Better Care Urgent Care Centers. With the addition of Hanover Hospital, UPMC Pinnacle now owns and operates eight hospitals with approximately 11,000 employees and 2,900 total medical staff members, and 150 outpatient and ancillary facilities.
Washington: The US intends to work with Pakistan to take down terrorists, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday, asserting that this is what a responsible nation does.

He was responding to questions on Pakistan's reaction to the Afghan and South Asia Policy announced by US President Donald Trump last Monday.

Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

Mattis did not respond to questions on timeline, if any, for Pakistan to take action against terrorists and terrorist groups.

"We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think that's what a responsible nation does," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

His remarks remarks came after the State Department notified to the Congress to place a pause button on USD 255 million foreign military financing for Pakistan.

The Department notified Congress on 30 August of its intent to obligate the amount in FY 2016 Foreign Military Financing for Pakistan.

"At the same time, the Department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI.

"Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan," the official said.

The Trump administration notified Congress on Wednesday that it was putting USD 255 million in military assistance to Pakistan into the equivalent of an escrow account that Islamabad can only access if it does more to crack down on internal terror networks launching attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

"As this relates to FY 16 Foreign Military Financing (FMF), before moving forward with funding actual FMF cases, the United States will take into account Pakistan's efforts to address key US concerns, including the threat posed by the Haqqani Networks and other terrorist groups that enjoy safe haven within Pakistan," the spokesperson said.

Pakistan has cancelled at least three high profile meetings with senior American officials, including a visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to the US to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution alleging that the recent statements of the US President and his senior officials on Pakistan were hostile and threatening.

The US, however, insists that it wants Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups.
BETHLEHEM  Pennsylvania's Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey predicted on Thursday that Congress will move quickly on an emergency aid package for victims of Hurricane Harvey when lawmakers return from their August recess next week.

Toomey, at a televised town hall, said he expects legislation that will "provide immediate assistance" and help Harvey victims "get the services and care that they need urgently." He said Harvey aid could be paired with a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown as well as an increase in the government's borrowing authority.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Toomey warned lawmakers against larding any relief bill with spending unrelated to the devastating storm, which dumped about 52 inches of rain on part of Texas and caused dozens of deaths. Toomey said that's why he voted against a Superstorm Sandy aid package in 2013.

"If it becomes a Christmas tree where every member of Congress adds whatever his or her favorite pork barrel spending program, well, then, I'm going to fight that," he said. "That's what Sandy became."

At the town hall, Toomey, who has pushed to repeal President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, expressed disappointment at the Senate's failure to pass a health care overhaul. He promised that majority Republicans will keep at it.

"We're not giving up," he said.

Toomey praised President Donald Trump's cabinet picks and several elements of his Republican agenda, but he also took some shots.

The conservative senator said he hopes investigators get to the bottom of Russian interference in the 2016 election, panned Trump's response to the recent deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and criticized the president's pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The town hall, broadcast live by the PBS affiliate in Bethlehem, was limited to 54 people, 24 of whom were hand-picked by local Republican and Democratic groups. The remaining 30 tickets were made available to the public.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the station, calling the town hall a sham and urging Toomey to meet with a wider range of constituents in a larger venue.

"People can't even have a dialogue with the senator," said Jude Denis, executive director of the community group POWER Northeast.

Toomey was jeered at times during the live broadcast. One of his questioners denounced the event as a "fake town hall" and asked: "What will it take to have a real town hall with hundreds of people and real dialogue?"

Toomey replied that he talks to constituents all the time. But he said, "I'm not that interested in a disruptive event."

Toomey was considered one of the nation's most vulnerable incumbents heading into last November's election but won a narrow victory for his second term.

Trump has derided the Russia investigation as "a fake story." He has defended his response to the violence in Virginia and his pardon of the sheriff.
Washington Post writer Fredrick Kunkle on Friday ripped the newspapers owner Jeff Bezos in a scathing op-ed, accusing the Amazon founder of mistreating workers within his business empire.

Kunkle, who writes for the Washington Posts Metro desk and serves as co-chair of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, challenged Bezos for expressing a desire to increase his philanthropic efforts despite a record of "treating [his employees] poorly." In the op-ed, he writes that Bezos should remember that his vast wealth came in part from labor.

As the owner of an institution thats critical to democracy, he should go out of his way to set a tone of progressive stewardship toward employees in all his businesses, Kunkle wrote in an op-ed published by the Huffington Post. Instead, Bezos has shown that he views his employees as parts in a high-tech machine, that income inequality is someone elses problem, and that modern corporations owe little more to their employees than a paycheck.

Kunkle accuses Bezos of various missteps within the Post newsroom, including cutting retirement benefits, freezing a company pension plan and holding severance payments hostage by requiring outgoing employees to drop any legal claims to receive payment.

The Washington Post declined to comment on Kunkles op-ed.

Bezos, who purchased the Washington Post in 2013, previously drew criticism in 2015 after a New York Times expose criticized Amazons bruising workplace culture. The article alleged that Amazons employees are encouraged to tear apart one anothers ideas in meeting, toil long and late, and held to standards that the company boasts are unreasonably high.

The New York Times story drew a sharp rebuke from Amazon. Company spokesman Jay Carney defended the company in an open letter, while Bezos penned a separate letter to shareholders explaining his view on corporate culture.

Kunkle referenced the New York Times story in his op-ed, stating that Amazons history of dodging taxes, its mistreatment of workers, and its ruthlessness toward even the smallest competitors have been well documented.

Bezos has engaged in a years-long feud with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Amazon for its business practices and alleged Bezos ownership of the Post represents a conflict of interest.

Finally trashed by @realDonaldTrump. Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #sendDonaldtospace https://t.co/9OypFoxZk3  Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 7, 2015

Bezos fired back at Trump in December 2015, writing on Twitter that he had finally gotten trashed by the eventual president.
One of the benefits of dividend investing is the comfort that comes from the regular income stream. But market downturns can many times throw that sense of security out the window. What income investors need are dividend stocks that can also thrive in bear markets.

We asked three Motley Fool investors to highlight a stock that can thrive in good times and bad. See why Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) may be poised to perform in bear markets.

Any time is a good time to own this healthcare giant

Keith Speights (Johnson & Johnson): I liked one of the internet memes going around recently that said the eclipse would go blind if it stared at Chuck Norris. Johnson & Johnson might not be as tough as Chuck Norris is purported to be, but this healthcare giant can withstand a lot and keep on going. Any time is a good time to own J&J stock.

One way to know how a stock might perform in a bear market is to look at how it fared in the last bear market. In 2008, for example, Johnson & Johnson stock fell around 9% for the year. Granted, shares dropped more from the high level in 2008. However, J&J still outperformed most stocks on the market.

It's important to understand why that was true then -- and why it should be the case in the next bear market, whenever it comes. One reason is Johnson & Johnson's solid dividend. During rough times, dividends can be the only positive thing going for investors. It only makes sense that strong dividend stocks like J&J, which has increased its dividend for a remarkable 55 years in a row, would be attractive during a downturn.

Another key reason for J&J's strength during a storm is the nature of its products. People won't quit buying Tylenol and baby shampoo because the stock market is falling. Cancer patients won't stop taking J&J's Imbruvica during a bear market. Johnson & Johnson's share price might decline during the next major market correction, but it should perform better than most and will undoubtedly bounce back.

Fortify your portfolio with consumer staples

Keith Noonan (Procter & Gamble): If you're looking for stocks that are likely to be resilient in a bear market, consumer staples companies are a great place to start. Bear markets are typically accompanied by more cautious consumer spending habits, and selecting companies that deal in products with demand that's likely to remain relatively steady even as purse strings tighten is a good way insulate your portfolio against a downturn. Brand strength also tends to be a big advantage during bear markets because it keeps customers coming back and helps companies maintain pricing power.

With a product catalog that includes Colgate toothpaste, Speed Stick deodorant, Ajax cleaning products, and more than 20 other billion-dollar brands, I think Colgate-Palmolive stands out as a great stock for beating the bear market.

As the chart above shows, Colgate-Palmolive dramatically outperformed the S&P 500 index during the 2008-2009 recession. Past performance doesn't guarantee that the stock will thrive in the next bear market, but its product catalog, improving margins, and returned income component suggest it stands a good chance of remaining sturdy when turbulence hits the broader market.

The stock packs a roughly 2.3% dividend yield, which might not be huge, but it's still comfortably above the S&P 500's yield of 1.9%, and continued payout growth appears to be a safe bet. Colgate has delivered annual payout increases for 60 years running, and the forward cost of distributing its current dividend represents just 55% of trailing earning and 56% of trailing free cash flow, so the company's dividend legacy should only get better from here on out.

Painting strength with broad strokes

Rich Duprey (Sherwin-Williams): Paint doesn't seem to be something that should be particularly impervious to bear markets, but because a can is one of the simplest and cheapest ways to spruce up a home, it makes for an ideal investment in a market downturn, and Sherwin-Williams is one paint and coverings specialist all investors should take note of.

Sherwin-Williams has returned over 18% annually for the past 15 years, and since 2000, it has returned over 1,560%. Not bad for a period that includes both the Tech Wreck and the Great Recession. In comparison, the S&P 500 has returned less than 93% over the past 17 years.

The reasoning is simple: When times are good, Sherwin-Williams benefits from the construction boom that typically follows, while hard times, as noted above, have customers hunkering down and sprucing up what they already own.

As the world's largest paint and coverings specialist following its purchase of rival Valspar, Sherwin-Williams now also has geographic diversity. Heretofore, it generated some 84% of its revenues from domestic markets; Valspar brings with it almost half of its $4.4 billion in annual revenues from international markets, mainly China, where it realizes 12% of its sales, and Australia, which accounts for another 7%.

Sherwin-Williams has raised its dividend every year since 1979, making it part of the exclusive club of stocks known as Dividend Aristocrats, or companies that have hiked their payouts for 25 years or more. While the $3.40 per share dividend currently only yields 1% annually, investors also have the peace of mind of knowing that even in a bear market, the stock will hold up, and the payout will be secure.

10 stocks we like better than Sherwin-WilliamsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now and Sherwin-Williams wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool recommends Sherwin-Williams. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
There's no question they're bad for your health. But given their addictive nature, both beer and cigarettes have proven to be investments with enviable returns. That's why so many investors flock to Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) and Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD).

But which of these dividend-paying stalwarts is a better bet for your portfolio today? While that's not a question that can be answered with 100% certainty, there are ways to getting some more clarity on the decision. If we break it down to three simple categories, the picture gets clearer.

Sustainable competitive advantage

This is by far the most important thing to keep an eye on for long-term investors. A sustainable competitive advantage -- otherwise referred to as a "moat" -- is what differentiates one company from the next. Because there's nothing prohibiting start-ups from making their own beer or cigarettes, the key moat for both of these companies is the strength of their brands.

Philip Morris operates outside of the United States, and is parent company to Marlboro, L&M, and many other brands. Marlboro alone is ranked as the 25th most valuable brand in the world by Forbes, valued at over $24 billion. While this includes the brand strength in America -- which falls under the purview of Altria -- it speaks to the brand's ubiquity. Indeed, if we remove China from the equation (it has a state-run cigarette company), Marlboro and L&M are respectively the most and third-most popular brands globally.

Anheuser, on the other hand, recently bought SAB Miller. As a result, it is the world's largest beer maker. The company is parent to Budweiser, Corona, Stella, and a host of other smaller global brands. Forbes ranks Budweiser as the 22nd most valuable brand globally, valued at $24.6 billion.

Given both companies' ubiquity globally, and the apparent pricing power that comes with those brands, I'm calling this one a tie.

Winner: Tie

Financial fortitude

The main draw for investors in these companies is the dividend that they pay out. With recognizable brands and comparatively low input costs, they both spit out lots of cash.

But while we'll get to those payments in a minute, it's worth considering how much cash the company keeps on hand for a rainy day as well. While such an allocation might be boring, it is also crucial. That's because every company, at one point or another, is bound to experience difficult economic times. Those that have cash on hand have options: buy back shares on the cheap, acquire weaker rivals at a discount, or outspend the competition into bankruptcy.

Debt-heavy companies are in the opposite boat, forced to narrow their focus just to make ends meet.

Here's how these two stack up, keeping in mind that Anheuser is valued at a 25% premium -- via market capitalization -- to Philip Morris.

To be honest, I'm not terribly impressed with either company's balance sheet. While reliable free cash flow means that neither has much to worry about when it comes to meeting their debt obligations, both companies have a fair amount of leverage.

Both companies have identical cash-to-debt ratios, but the differentiator is Philip Morris' free cash flow, which is far superior to Anheuser-Busch, even though the latter is a bigger company.

Winner: Philip Morris

Valuation

And then we have valuation. There's no one metric that can tell you just how expensive a stock is. Instead, I like to use a number of data points to get a more holistic picture.

On the surface it might seem that Philip Morris is cheaper than Anheuser -- on both an earnings and free cash flow basis. But it's important to remember that the latter's numbers are slightly skewed given the acquisition of SAB Miller.

That's where the PEG ratio -- which factors normalized growth into the equation -- comes in. On that metric, Anheuser appears to be trading at a 40% discount to Philip Morris. With both companies having relatively similar and strong yields, the scale tips ever-so-slightly in favor of Anheuser-Busch.

Winner: Anheuser-Busch InBev

The winner is...

So there you have it: We have a draw. Both companies have strong moats provided by their ubiquitous brands. Philip Morris has the stronger cash flows for now, while investors appear to be getting a better bargain on Anheuser-Busch InBev at current price levels.

10 stocks we like better than Philip Morris InternationalWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Philip Morris International wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017

Brian Stoffel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
PHILADELPHIA  The wheels are in motion for Philadelphias next gathering of naked bicyclists.

Organizers of the Philly Naked Bike Ride said Tuesday the ninth annual event will take place throughout the citys streets Sept. 9.

Around 3,000 riders are expected to pass by sites including Independence Hall and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps while training as Rocky.

Ride organizers say participants can go as bare as they dare. Last year some riders wore nothing at all or sported body paint while others wore underwear.

Los Angeles artist Matt Deifer (DY-fer) is among those wholl be in Philadelphia to paint the naked cyclists before they pedal away.

The ride is to protest against dependence on fossil fuels, advocate for the safety of cyclists and promote positive body image.
The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday released 1 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a White House adviser said more could flow after Tropical Storm Harvey inundated Gulf Coast refineries and drove up motor fuel prices.

In the first tapping of the reserve for an emergency since Hurricane Isaac in 2012, two emergency exchanges of oil of 500,000 barrels will be delivered to the Phillips 66 <PSX.N> refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the department said.

That plant has not been hit by Harvey, which hammered Houston and the Gulf Coast with catastrophic flooding and shut about a quarter of U.S. refinery capacity.

The release of 1 million barrels is small compared with U.S. demand of nearly 20 million barrels per day. The move did not halt rapidly rising gasoline prices, which surged more than 13 percent on Thursday to a two-year high above $2 a gallon ahead of the high-demand Labor Day holiday.

An adviser to President Donald Trump told a White House briefing that more oil could be sprung from the SPR.

"I think we would be very comfortable tapping into that and providing that alleviated resource, homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told reporters.

Under the exchange, 400,000 barrels of sweet crude and 600,000 barrels of sour crude oil will be sent via pipeline from an SPR cavern in Louisiana to the refinery. The government will lend the crude to Phillips 66, which is required to replace the oil at a later date.

The SPR, established in the early 1970s after the Arab oil embargo caused widespread fuel supply panics, contains 679 million barrels of oil, enough to meet total U.S. needs for 33 days, in heavily guarded underground caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

SENATOR URGES RELEASE FROM GASOLINE RESERVE

U.S. gasoline prices surged anew after Colonial Pipeline Co <COLPI.UL>, which operates the biggest U.S. fuel transport system, said it would shut its main lines to the Northeast amid outages at pumping points and lack of supply from refiners.

The Energy Department "provide assistance as deemed necessary, and will continue to review incoming requests for SPR crude oil," spokeswoman Jess Szymanski said.

The department did not comment on whether it was asking the Paris-based International Energy Agency to plan a coordinated drawdown of crude from spare supplies. The IEA has said it does not see a need to act for the moment, as the global market is amply supplied.

Democratic Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts urged the department this week also to release gasoline from the country's emergency gasoline reserve, which holds a total of 1 million barrels of gasoline in three locations in the Northeast: New York Harbor, Boston and Maine. That reserve, which has never been used, was created after Superstorm Sandy wrecked fuel infrastructure in New York in 2012.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney)
As a general rule, I love companies that pay big dividends -- and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) pays some of the best dividends on the planet. That said, there's one very good reason why GlaxoSmithKline should not be paying a dividend, and that reason is debt.

Currently, GlaxoSmithKline pays its shareholders an annual dividend of $1.04 per share (there are two British "common shares" in each of the American Depositary Receipts bought on the NYSE). Thus, Glaxo's $1.04-per-share dividend works out to a 5.2% dividend yield on every one of the $39-and-change stock's U.S. ADRs.

GlaxoSmithKline's dividend is so large partly because its stock price is so small. Glaxo's profits, you see, are currently depressed by large, and ongoing, restructuring charges, and with profits in the tank, investors have dumped GlaxoSmithKline stock, which is down 9% over the past year in a market that has seen the S&P 500 rise 12%.

A second consequence of Glaxo's weak profits is that the company's payout ratio (the percentage of Glaxo's profits that are paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends) now exceeds 200%. Put another way, for every $1 Glaxo earns in profits, the company pays its shareholders $2 in dividends -- $1 that it has, and $1 that it has to borrow. This is not a sustainable dividend policy.

A history of largesse

And that's not all. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, GlaxoSmithKline stock has paid out nearly $53.4 billion in dividends over the past decade. That sounds like a good thing. But here's another reason why it isn't, necessarily.

For investors who bought Glaxo stock for the dividend, the company has paid off in spades. For investors who own Glaxo stock because they want to be long-term partners in a successful business, the company's generous dividends pose more of a problem.

To see why, take a look at the balance sheet. GlaxoSmithKline currently boasts $5.3 billion in cash in the bank -- but it also carries $24.4 billion in debt. Had Glaxo held onto its cash, rather than paying it out as dividends, the $53.4 billion that Glaxo has paid out over the past decade would have been enough to pay off its debt two times over, leaving the company in much better financial condition.

Dividend rich, debt-poor

Granted, not everyone sees things this way. Citing improved results for GlaxoSmithKline's respiratory and infectious-disease businesses, and the company's 2015 Novartis asset-swap, my Foolish colleague Sean Williams thinks things are looking up for GlaxoSmithKline stock. Wall Street analysts, too, expect the company to grow its profits at a near-7% rate over the next five years. On the other hand, sub-7% is a slower growth rate than Wall Street projects for any of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Merck, or Eli Lilly.

One reason Glaxo is expected to under-grow its competition, I suspect, is the company's burdensome debt load. S&P Global Marketplace Intelligence puts Glaxo's debt-to-equity ratio at 4.3, which is far more debt than Glaxo's rivals bear:

Bristol-Myers, for example, carries only $1.7 billion in net, and on a larger market capitalization.

Eli Lilly, only slightly smaller than Glaxo, carries only one-third Glaxo's net debt -- $7.1 billion.

Merck, at $172.6 billion in market cap, is nearly twice Glaxo's size, while its net debt of $13 billion is half what Glaxo carries.

And Novartis, at $218.4 billion in market cap, is more than twice Glaxo's size, while its $22.1 billion net debt is less than Glaxo's.

Relative to its competition, GlaxoSmithKline has so much debt it leaves itself financially hobbled. Glaxo's interest payments gobble up a lot of the company's profits ($940 million over the last 12 months), and are one factor depressing the company's profit margin below those of any of the other Big Pharmas named. Even so, Glaxo is paying by far the richest dividend of the group -- nearly two full percentage points more than the next most generous dividend payer (Novartis, with its 3.2% dividend yield).

Despite all this, Glaxo's total liabilities have grown for two straight years, and seem likely to grow again in 2017. This, in a nutshell, is why I think GlaxoSmithKline is wasting money paying a dividend. Instead, Glaxo should pay down its debt.

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U.S. hiring slowed a bit in August, but manufacturing and construction jobs turned in a solid month with the housing market on the mend.

The construction industry recorded 28,000 net new jobs last month, bouncing back from a July decline of 3,000 jobs. Manufacturing jobs grew by 36,000, or 10,000 more than the prior month.

Mike Montgomery, a U.S. economist at IHS Markit, said the sharp increases were largely noise, but the sectors remain on an upward trajectory.

A seasonal boost in motor vehicles and parts accounted for much of the manufacturing sectors August growth. The auto industry accounted for 13,700 new jobs at a time when U.S. auto sales have cooled off. Meanwhile, construction activity weakened in the second quarter and into July. The August report indicates that construction jobs are catching up to demand, particularly in homebuilding. Housing starts, or the construction of new homes, remain below historical norms and continue to recover from the recession.

The construction industry also appears to have a busy period ahead in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which officials say affected roughly 100,000 homes in the Houston area.

Construction got bounced around by weather, but its still in an uptrend, Montgomery said. Construction employment will get a lift from Harvey, probably into the middle of next year.

Montgomery also noted that construction activity supports manufacturing jobs. Parts fabrication, which includes products like HVAC ductwork and other building materials, is directly tied to construction. Manufacturing jobs in general are in a strong recovery, he said.

The Trump administrations pledge to roll back regulations and cut business taxes has raised expectations for job growth, particularly in manufacturing. Factory activity hit a six-year high last month, according to a Friday report from the Institute for Supply Management. Its index rose to 58.8, compared to 56.3 in July, signaling greater expansion in the sector as sales and hiring grow at a faster pace.
The U.S. Energy Secretary has approved up to 4.5 million barrels of crude oil to be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the impact from Tropical Storm Harvey, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy said on Friday.

That marks an additional 3.5 million barrels on top of the 1 million barrels of oil approved as of Thursday.

"In response to the impacts from Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Secretary of Energy has authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to negotiate and execute emergency exchange agreements for up to 4.5 million barrels of crude oil from SPR's West Hackberry and Bayou Choctaw sites," Jess Szymanski, a Department of Energy spokeswoman, said via email.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington DC; Writing by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
While President Donald Trump committed to middle class tax cuts during a speech in Missouri earlier this week, National Economic Director Gary Cohn said the wealthiest Americans could still see some sort of reduction in rates.

Cohn told FOX Business on Friday that there may be a cut, but added that by trying to eliminate certain loopholes in the tax code, ideally the wealthier would be paying on a bigger swath of their income.

If we lower the rate just a little bit, but have you pay on more of your income, your effective rate is going up, he explained.

Republicans could face some resistance from Democrats over even a small cut for the wealthiest Americans. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the GOPs blueprint a billionaires-first, trickle-down tax scheme on Wednesday, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has indicated Democrats will not vote for any bill that benefits the top 1% of earners.

On Friday, Cohn insisted the emphasis of the tax relief effort will be directed at the middle class and said he hoped for bipartisan support. He said a key way to even out the playing field for Americans is by eliminating loopholes.

What the president [has] spent his time on and what weve been working on here in the White House is a middle class tax cut, he said. [Trump] talked about simplifying the tax system and he talked about getting rid of loopholes. The middle class doesnt take advantage of the loopholes, the wealthy takes advantage of the loopholes. So when he talks about getting rid of loopholes, hes talking about areas where the wealthy have used the tax code to their advantage to lower their taxes while the middle class does not have [that same] advantage.

Cohn said the administration, at least on the economic side, has been spending 100% of its time on tax reform. President Trump is expected to meet with the key players involved in crafting tax reform legislation on Tuesday at the White House.

When asked about rumors he is only staying on with the Trump administration to pass tax cuts, the presidents top economic advisor didnt directly answer the question, but emphatically stated tax cuts are really important to [him].

I think its a once in a lifetime opportunity, we havent done tax cuts in 31 years, he said. So, yes, Im very excited about being part of that team that is able to work on something thats that important.

A source told Fox News last week that Cohn had drafted a resignation letter and met with Trump two weeks ago. While it was unclear whether the president ever received that letter, in an interview with The Financial Times last Friday, Cohn said he felt pressure to quit following the presidents response to the white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and said the Trump administration needed to do better.
Mark Ruffalo called for President Trump to be removed from office during a march against white supremacy.

The "Hulk" actor was among activists marching from Charlottesville, Virginia, to the nation's capital to condemn white supremacy sentiments recently on display in the Virginia city.

The actor tweeted photos of himself Thursday at "The March to Confront White Supremacy."

In a since-deleted tweet captured by Breitbart, Ruffalo said he is "marching because a central demand of this march is for Donald Trump to be removed from office following his statement supporting white supremacists and neo-Nazis."

In a statement, Ruffalo said he's marching in memory of Heather Heyer, who died when a car plowed into a group of people protesting the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. Ruffalo also condemned Trump's response that "both sides" were to blame for the violence.

Ruffalo says there's "no place for racism, violence, and hatred" in the country.

Organizers said they had to stop Wednesday's portion of the march early because they received threats of an armed person waiting for them further along the route.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Madeas Family Reunion director Tyler Perry donated $1 million to Hurricane Harvey victims with a share of it going to Joel Osteens Lakewood Church.

Perry, 47, posted a video of his announcement Thursday pledging $250,000 of the $1 million to Osteens church. Osteen was heavily criticized this week after his church posted on Facebook that its doors would remain shut due to the severe flooding but a series of social media posts seemed to indicate that the church avoided flooding.

I know that theres been some controversy about Joel Osteen and him not opening the doors of the church, Perry said.

Joel and Victoria are amazing people  theres no way that they would lock people out of the church or not let people seek shelter.

JOEL OSTEEN ADDRESSES HARVEY OUTCRY, SAYS LAKEWOOD CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT HELPING OTHER PEOPLE

There were some safety concerns, and I spoke to them on the phone, and it all made perfect sense to me, Perry continued. So, before you just run and judge someone real quick, you need to know the whole circumstances.

On Tuesday, Osteen opened his 16,800-seat Lakewood Church in Houston to flooding evacuees. He said the decision to open the church resulted from pre-planned discussions.

"You know, we work with the city all the time," Osteen said about the lead-up to the storm. At that time the city was asking us to use city shelters, Harris county shelters and then when they got filled up thats when we said, 'Hey, you need more room, Lakewood would love to help out.'"

HURRICANE HARVEY: STARS REACT, DONATE MONEY IN SUPPORT OF RELIEF EFFORTS

Besides donating to Osteen, Perry said he was also pledging $250,000 to Rudy Rasmus, Beyonces pastor.

Perry said he was considering other places to donate to but urged viewers: Make sure you are giving to people that are getting the monies directly to the people that need it.

Perry concluded, If you want to give, I will challenge you to find someone who has boots on the ground and who can really be effective."
Four bakers at El Bolillo Bakery in Houston were forced to take shelter in their own shop after flooding from Hurricane Harvey trapped them indoors.

But instead of hunkering down and waiting to be rescued, they poured their energy into baking bread for hurricane victims throughout the city.

It all began on Saturday afternoon, as the shop was trying to fulfill orders for the local community as the rains came down. Bakery manager Brian Alvarado told The Washington Post that they didnt anticipate how severe the storm would be, and that the workers ended up staying late, trying to bake enough bread for locals.

PIZZAS DELIVERED BY KAYAK TO HARVEY FLOOD VICTIMS

"The rain increased, dropping like 10 inches in three hours and it flooded the area where they were," said Kirk Michaelis, owner of El Bolillo Bakery, to CBS News. "There was no exit for them. They couldn't get out.

Even though they were desperate to get home to their families, the bakers decided to make the best of the troubling circumstances.

For the next 48 hours, the workers used 4,400 pounds of flour to prepare hundreds of loaves of bolillos, kolaches and pan dulce for storm victims. As Harvey raged on, they found motivation in the good their work would do for the community. "They knew it was going to be needed," Michaelis said.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH BREWERY PAUSES BEER PRODUCTION TO CAN EMERGENCY DRINKING WATER

Luckily, though floodwaters rushed El Bolillos doors, they never lost power, said Alvarado.

When Michaelis was finally able to trudge through on Monday morning to evacuate his staff, he was pleasantly surprised to find the bakerys cases and cooling racks filled to the brim with freshly baked goods. Knowing what poor shape Houston was in, Michaelis loaded up his jeep and brought it to shelters, nursing homes and law enforcement officials, CBS reports.

"We're not anything compared to some of the people out there working and doing amazing things," Michaelis said. "We're just doing our little part."

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The goodwill of the El Bolillo bakers has since gone viral, and won them praise as local heroes. Even former Mexican president and vocal critic of President Trump, Vicente Fox Quesada, chimed in to applaud their benevolence.

The bakery has since fully reopened, with employees planning to continue baking 24/7 as Houston recovers in the wake of Harvey. A GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $10,000.
A Houston police officer battling stage 4 metastatic colon cancer has helped to rescue hundreds from the floodwaters left behind by historic storm Harvey.

Norbert Ramon, who has been with the Houston Police Departments Traffic Enforcement division for 24 years, received the call from his sergeant as the rain started to fall on Saturday.

He went and they started preparing everything and thats when the rain started in, Cindy Ramon, the 55-year-olds wife, told Fox News. By Sunday morning when he woke up, there was so much rain and standing water that he could not go to his regular duty in downtown Houston.

THE WEEK IN PICTURES

Ramon followed protocol and notified his sergeant, and then set out to report to the nearest patrol unit, which was the Houston Lake Patrol.

From then it was a madhouse, Cindy said. They started going out rescuing people in all parts of Houston. Thats where it started from and its been non-stop.

Cindy said Ramons cancer quickly became the furthest thing from his mind. He was put on desk duty three weeks ago out of concern for his health, but as a part of the Lake Patrol he has had a hand in helping to rescue 1,500 residents from floodwaters.

'I NEEDED TO BE NEXT TO MY PATIENT': THE CANCER WHO BRAVED HARVEY TO REACH HIS HOSPITAL

Hes been so caught up in the emotions and the excitement of trying to rescue people, he had no time to even think about it, Cindy said. You wouldnt even think he had cancer, hes plugging along like he doesnt.

Ramon was scheduled to fly to Oklahoma on Wednesday, where he has been receiving chemotherapy every two weeks at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, in Tulsa. When he learned that his flight was canceled due to the flooding, he and Cindy piled into the car on Thursday for the nearly nine-hour drive.

He chose the Tulsa location after seeking a second opinion, and Cindy said the support they have received from the staff during his treatments, and since the storm hit, has been overwhelming.

The people actually reached out to me, they called us and said Hey how are you guys doing, were seeing all the photos and we wanted to check up on you.

TEXAS HOSPITAL FORCED TO EVACUATE PATIENTS DUE TO LACK OF WATER

Cindy said she sent them a picture of Ramon in the water performing a rescue, and that while they were concerned for his health they immediately called him a hero.

Its just an emotional roller coaster, Cindy said of the storm. Its just crazy, watching everybody struggle  people lose everything.
A remarkable thing hbcas happened in the last two weeks.

You might have missed it, because while it happened in plain sight, it also happened in increments. You had to put the pieces together to appreciate the magnitude of it.

America has repudiated its president.

This, of course, was in response to that pathetic performance in the wake of the tragedy in Charlottesville, Va., when he suggested moral equivalence between white supremacists and those who protest them. In response, America  a pretty broad swath of it, at least  has condemned him.

The reference is not to the shellacking he took from pundits or the reprovals of GOP leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. These things were to be expected.

But you did not expect the chairman and CEO of Merck to quit the presidents American Manufacturing Council. And Ken Fraziers departure, which he framed as a matter of personal conscience, was just the opening salvo. He was followed through the door by members of that panel and others. Within days, two presidential business advisory groups had ceased to exist and plans for a third had been scrapped. Members of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities also resigned en masse.

Meantime, Mar-a-Lago, Trumps club and de facto presidential getaway in Florida, saw a rash of charities canceling their fundraising events. The Washington Post listed the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Susan G. Komen and the American Cancer Society among those who have chosen to hold their galas elsewhere.

And there is yet more. Bob Corker, a respected Republican senator who has heretofore sought to engage with the president, raised sharp questions not just about Trumps competence, but also his stability, and called for radical changes in the White House. Five military chiefs also spoke out against the bigotry in Charlottesville, in a striking reproach of their commander.

Graduates of Liberty University called on fellow alumni to return their diplomas to protest LU president Jerry Falwell Jr.s support for Trump. And last Saturday it was announced that the president would not be attending the Kennedy Center Honors in December, nor host the traditional White House reception for the five honorees after three of them had spoken of boycotting the event. And really: How toxic are you when Lionel Richie doesnt want to shake your hand?

It seems that a great many Americans reached a moment of decision and reacted as you would have hoped. Trump and his apologists and enablers should take note, because this does not bode well for them.

For all its powers of lawmaking, war making, budget drafting, and diplomacy, the presidency also embodies the power of moral suasion. A president uses what Theodore Roosevelt called the bully pulpit  the honor and prestige of his office  to stand for what is right and remind us to do likewise.

Problematically, that office is occupied now by a man with no moral compass, a man whose only true North is self. So what happened last week was sadly predictable.

What was not predictable was this chorus of castigation from such a wide spectrum of American life. The stunning rebuke offers heartening evidence that we have not yet completely abandoned who and what we are supposed to be.

Again, this is a moment of decision. Those who chose to separate themselves from Trump last week declared their values  and character.

Those who supported him did, too.

Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Timing was everything for this cancer patient. Scientists had already harvested billions of cells in a cutting-edge lab for months. The doctors had performed a handful of rounds of chemotherapy to weaken the tumor. Now came the most crucial part: infusing those cultivated cells back into the patient. If the experimental treatment worked, Dr. Adi Diab felt the patient might have a shot at beating late-stage melanoma.

The Houston oncologist had his patient travel over 100 miles from Louisiana to be admitted at MD Anderson Treatment Center in advance of the infusion. In the midst of chemotherapy, the storm that would become Harvey slowly spun west through the Caribbean Sea, picked up speed, and crashed into the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 130 miles an hour. Harvey made landfall Friday night  just days before the high-stakes procedure had to occur.

Over the weekend, as Harvey dumped feet of torrential rain on Houston, a team of providers at MD Anderson debated whether theyd need to postpone the procedure scheduled for Monday. But not moving ahead would essentially mean starting over. So the team made the call Sunday to find a way to get to MD Anderson the following morning. They did so as flooding turned deadly elsewhere in the city, and despite the fact that parts of the medical center had flooded.

TEXAS HOSPITAL FORCED TO EVACUATE PATIENTS DUE TO LACK OF WATER

We always promise our patients one thing: Theyll never walk alone, Diab, an oncologist who specializes in melanoma treatment, told STAT. I didnt know how long it would take. I had to go. I needed to be next to my patient.

Diab was one of six providers  three lab techs, two doctors, and a nurse  who worked with this melanoma patient. On Monday morning, as Brays Bayou poured out into Houstons streets, Diab walked roughly three miles, wading through stretches shin-deep waters, from his home toward his office.

His patient, who has the Stage IV melanoma, is one of about 50 adults enrolled in a Phase II clinical trial studying a form of Adoptive T-cell Therapy. Tumors typically prevent the immune systems T-cells from tracking down and destroying cancer cells. But Diab says this experimental immunotherapy works by harvesting the tumor for any potential T-cells. We like those T-cells, he explained. Theyre in the cancer for a reason, but werent able to completely kill the tumor.

By the time he arrived at MD Anderson around 10 a.m., Marie-Andree Forget, a senior research scientist, was

already in the laboratory preparing the harvested T-cells for the infusion. Her trek had been less perilous  but shed left behind a water stain in her ceiling that had grown about two feet wide. She didnt know if shed return to a flooded apartment.

But being there early was important: She had to test 14.5 billion T-cells harvested from the patient to make sure it was safe to proceed with the infusion.

All weekend Id been super nervous, Forget said. It was not because of Harvey, or the water stain getting bigger, but the life of the patient. The minute I started processing cells, I was not nervous anymore.

AS TEXAS FLOODWATERS RECEDE, DANGERS ABOUND

Two months earlier, scientists in Forgets lab took a tumor removed from the patient and cut it into small fragments, placing them onto culture plates. Over the course of several weeks, the T-cells grew by the millions until the point where scientist froze the plates until the patient could come in. Two weeks before the infusion, Forgets team transferred the samples into five one-liter flasks that sat at room temperature to allow the T-cells to keep growing. Finally, on the morning of the infusion, the cells were run through a centrifuge, washed clean of culture media, and tested to make sure they were sterile.

Our therapy is like the army, Forget said. The [T-cells] were outnumbered. In the lab, they go through boot camp, so when we re-inject them into the patient, they [become] soldiers ready to attack the tumor.

With Diab and other team members in place on Monday, Forget concentrated the cells into a single infusion bag  a process that took most of the day to finish. The bag was then transported from the lab to the procedure room. Around 5 p.m., the infusion got underway.

One of Dr. Diabs fellow doctors, who was already on-call, ended up handling the infusion. The process works similarly to a blood transfusion, except slower. It usually takes no more than an hour to complete  medical personnel move slowly to monitor vitals and reduce the chances of side effects including fever, chills, or low blood pressure. As the patient receives the harvested T-cells, the team also administers a dose of Interleukin-2, a group of proteins designed to boost the immune system during cancer treatment. The goal of it all is simple: give T-cells a better shot at defeating cancer.

Diab stuck around to make sure his patient felt all right. The patient did, despite all the uncertainty in Houston and back at home in Louisiana, where his family faced an incoming storm.

The patient was grateful, Forget said. It was emotional for us.

Days after the procedure, Diab said his patient ultimately tolerated the treatment well. For the next portion of the clinical trial, the patient will likely undergo a therapy regiment that includes more doses of Interleukin-2 followed by the drug Keytruda, which enables the immune system to assault tumor cells.

The patients road back to health, like Houstons after Harvey, remains a long one. But Diab and Forget say their team is willing to keep walking with the patient for however long it takes.

I know this might sound like a heroic story, but this is a regular story that happens in many different flavors for many patients at many other care providers, Diab said. Im not trying to be humble. [But] I was not the only one.
South Florida teachers in one of the nation's largest public school districts claim moldy classrooms and hallways are making them sick, with the Broward Teachers Union claiming complaints to district administrators are going largely unanswered. Over 700 Broward school employees claim to have suffered sinus issues, watery eyes, headaches, itching, rashes and asthma as a result of mold, the Miami Herald reported.

I have schools telling me theyve got mushrooms growing out of air vents, spores in students desks, spores on musical instruments, spores coming out of the cracks in the floor, on furniture, on walls, in the halls, Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, told the Miami Herald. If youve got people that are off work all summer long and theyre feeling better and theyre breathing better and they get back to school and theyre feeling sick, thats got to be a sign of something.

BABY'S LEAD POISONING CAUSED BY 'HOMEOPATHIC MAGNETIC' BRACELET

Efforts to combat the issues have been too slow, the employees claim, with the union alleging that some orders for clean-up were placed two years ago.

Tracy Clark, Broward Schools spokeswoman, told the Miami Herald that the district takes mold complaints seriously, and is committed to providing a safe and healthy learning environment for students and employees. She added that the district is replacing the work order system.

Any staff member with a concern is encouraged to immediately notify his or her school administrator and site-based maintenance teams, she told the news outlet.

The problem is not exclusive to Broward, with teachers in Miami-Dade also complaining of health issues. A spokeswoman told the Miami Herald that the district sent licensed mold remediation contractors to two schools in the past, and that they are scheduled to be renovated as part of the districts $1.2 billion school improvement.

'I NEEDED TO BE NEXT TO MY PATIENT': THE CANCER DOCTOR WHO BRAVED HARVEY TO REACH HIS HOSPITAL

The issues were reportedly so bad at Miami Sunset Senior High School in Kendall that the principal abruptly resigned. And in Pembroke Pines, one high school teacher claims complaints about mold on ceiling tiles and air vents have gone unanswered for six years.

Aside from our colleagues being in these schools with mold, the children are exposed to it, Fusco told the Miami Herald. Were asking people to take this seriously. Were not just looking out for our colleages. Were looking out for our children.

The union is planning to bring independent experts in to inspect schools within the coming weeks.
Its an old UN game trotted out whenever Americans get fed up with throwing money down the UN drain or paying for a global platform used to trash the USAs best interests and spew anti-semitism. It goes by the name of UN reform. And President Trump appears to have taken the bait -- hook, line and sinker.

One day ahead of the presidents first appearance at the General Assembly on September 19, he will host a UN Reform High Level Event for the purpose of adopting a UN Reform Political Declaration. The Declaration, with ten points, has just been released and its primary characteristic is vagueness  the only kind of reform plan capable of garnering any support at the UN.

While Americas Ambassador Nikki Haley is taking ownership of the initiative, there is no doubt that the reform mantra is a UN-contrived antidote to White House noises about slashing UN funding. UN expenditures have ballooned to about $48 billion a year, of which approximately $10 billion comes from U.S. pocketbooks.

The only leverage that registers at the UN is money, and the willingness of its number one funder  the United States  to use it.

Its more of an ocean than a swamp. With the Secretary-General headlining the reform event along with the president, and the Declaration proclaiming the Secretary-General will lead organizational reform, the UN just bought itself a chunk of time.

The rationale for altering U.S. support for the UN is suggested by periodic measurements of our UN successes. In mid-August of this year, the State Department delivered its Congressionally-mandated report on voting patterns at the UN. It is a tally of how American interests and values line up with UN outcomes and the votes of countries that enjoy taking foreign aid with no strings attached.

The new report makes the following computation: In 2016, counting all the final draft resolutions of the full plenary of the General Assembly  that were adopted by a vote and on which the U.S. voted yes or no  "coincidence of voting," or how often other countries voted the same way as the United States, was a mere 37 percent. The U.S. lost every one of 18 votes slamming Israel.

The State Department responded to this data, however, by reassuring Congress that most resolutions at the General Assembly are adopted by consensus and not by a vote. They neglected to mention how consensus at the UN works. It looks like this.

Step one: On December 24, 2016 the U.S. voted to defeat a resolution that funded a UN Human Rights Council Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign directed at Israel. The vote took place at the committee level and the loss was 151 against a proposal not to fund, 6 in favor (including the United States), and 6 abstentions.

Step two: Later that same day, the entire UN 2016-2017 budget came to a vote in the General Assembly plenary. Now the budget incorporated funding for the BDS campaign  a program that includes the production of a blacklist of American companies doing business with Israel. And at this stage, the U.S. proceeded to join consensus  having given up the fight.

In comes UN-reform to waylay disappointed donors.

Perhaps no one performed the routine better than former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. On the verge of being fired because of the Oil-for-food kick-back scheme that enriched his UN cronies, and involved his own son, Annan contrived a UN reform plan. The UNs top human rights body, the Commission on Human Rights, was a standing joke, particularly after Libya was elected to chair it. Annan championeda change of name, and saved his job.

A few more tweaks were thrown into the metamorphosis of the Commission into a Human Rights Council, but the only proposed change that really mattered was the (American) idea of introducing criteria for membership. This true reform proposal went nowhere, and today, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, China and company are firmly ensconced as members and UN human rights authorities.

The pre-reform Commission had one agenda item dedicated to Israel-bashing at every session, and one item for considering all other states in the world. The reformed Council immediately replicated the double-standard. Ambassador Haley wants to reform the reform, and will pay the Councils bills in the meantime. Music to UN ears.

In short, UN reform is a mugs game.

The only leverage that registers at the UN is money, and the willingness of its number one funder  the United States  to use it.

Alas, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is working on a State Authorizations Bill that, for reasons unknown, says absolutely nothing about the UN. A draft appropriations bill in the House touches the UN, but most anticipate it will go nowhere and by the end of September only a continuing resolution extending Aprils omnibus appropriations bill will go forward. UN fans with a perverse stranglehold on a GOP-led Congress will decide to spend and the president will be left saying yes, sir  orations about seriously cutting US-UN contributions notwithstanding.

Some existing funding provisos require the Secretary of State to certify UN action is in the national interest. They provide a little wiggle room  if Secretary Tillerson is so inclined. And if the president quit the Human Rights Council today, we would no longer be paying for a boycott of our own businesses and attempting to destroy our ally Israel.

Instead, were gearing up to bankroll a UN-led reform of the unreformable. Making America feeble again.
Two types of people come back from the war in Afghanistan, those who say that wasnt for me and those who come home in love with the country where they fought - it gets in your blood. For the latter, one often leaves a piece of themselves behind in that strange, stark, foreign land. Im of the latter.

I came home craving to go back - not as some kind of war junkie, but because I fell in love with Afghan people and I wanted to help them. Which is why Im profoundly torn at the prospect of this truly being a forever war  both the Afghan and the American people deserve an end to this conflict.

But, after 16 years of war  during which Ive served a combat tour in the Army and several years with the CIAs Afghan Desk  Ive come to but one conclusion: I dont know how or when the fighting in Afghanistan will end, but I do believe that it will end sooner, and on better terms for U.S. national security, when the Taliban and those who support them in Pakistan and elsewhere, become convinced that we will support our Afghan allies as long as they need it.

The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS all practice the policy of no forgiveness for traitors. They hunt down our translators, fixers and other essential local personnel, hold sham trials at which they find them guilty of being apostates and then make snuff films of their murders.

Keeping faith with the interpreters who make it possible for us to do that can help convince them.

I have no idea if President Trumps surge will work. I pray that it does. I pray that this war ends today. But however and whenever it ends, the president is right that it is in our national security interest to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a terrorist safe haven.

What is guaranteed, however, is that our enduring commitment to Afghanistan, and the Afghan people, will result in the continued need for the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program  a lifesaving promise we extend to those brave Afghans who voluntarily joined our mutual cause knowing that doing so could likely result in a death sentence.

The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS all practice the policy of no forgiveness for traitors. They hunt down our translators, fixers, intelligence sources, and other essential local personnel, hold sham trials at which they find them guilty of being apostates and then make snuff films of their murders.

My Afghan translator - Janis - was the most important factor to my survival in the war. He saved my life by killing two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me in a battle. He was my eyes and ears, my voice to the Afghan people, and their voice to me. He was the critical link  without him I could not have conducted my mission to train and develop the Afghan Army and Police.

The Taliban knew the importance of our translators, its why they would target them during battles. Kill the Terp and we couldnt communicate with the world around us, let alone begin to understand it.

As I watched the speech from Pittsburgh where my organization No One Left Behind just launched a new chapter with the help of Steelers left tackle (#78) and Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva, I couldnt help but think of all the Afghans who will continue to stand Shona ba Shona  Shoulder to Shoulder  with us. Will we do right by them and uphold our promise to bring them and their families to safety in exchange for their years of honorable, faithful, and valuable service to our country? Only Congress can answer that.

Congress is currently debating whether or not they should even keep the SIV program. And, should they make it home to America, will our nation pull together to help them begin their new lives? Will we honor them for their profound sacrifice?

These men and women have served our country with the same valor as my fellow soldiers. Veterans status is earned through service to our country, not placement in the birth lottery. Just because Janis was born in Afghanistan, doesnt make his eight years of combat service any less honorable than my one tour. In fact, Id argue, hes the real veteran between the two of us. I got to come home at the end of my tour. He went on to the next unit and the next mission.

If we are going to continue our commitment to Afghanistan, I believe two things must occur.

First, Congress must make the SIV program permanent. Currently, it must be reauthorized annually, and, in years past, weve nearly lost it.

Second, Congress should declare the Afghan and Iraqi wartime allies who fought with us to be Honorary Veterans. Ive lost count at the number of times Ive tried to enlist other veteran organizations to help No One Left Behind in our mission to resettle our wartime allies only to be told, Well, we cant assist you because theyre not technically veterans. Yet, no less than General Pete Chiarelli, former Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has said that these brave people were just as much a soldier as I am."

All five post-9/11 Secretaries of Defense have endorsed this idea as a united show of respect for our wartime allies.

Congress has the power to unleash the power of the private sector to help us care for these fellow veterans.

The world is watching. Please stand with No One Left Behind and let Congress know these people deserve our profound thanks by signing our Change.org petition:

https://www.change.org/p/afghan-and-iraqi-translators-saved-american-lives-make-them-honorary-veterans
Hunting and fishing have long been at the cornerstone of Americas outdoor heritage, with countless men and women participating in these cherished activities since our nations founding.

Since the advent of modern fish and wildlife conservation, sportsmen have played a key role in funding conservation efforts at the national, state, and local levels. The reasoning for this is simple, and can be credited to Americas original conservationist, Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter, fisherman and NRA Life Member.

President Roosevelt recognized that our natural resources need to be responsibly utilized. To that end, he championed wildlife management based on scientific principles, an approach that serves as the foundation of our entire system.

Importantly, President Roosevelt also recognized that hunters and anglers were the lynchpin to the systems success and serve as our nations greatest resource defenders.

The revitalization of Americas wildlife resources marks the greatest conservation success story in history, ensuring that Americas wild spaces and the fish and wildlife species that rely on them can be enjoyed by all.

For the past eight years unfortunately, the Roosevelt model has been undermined by an out-of-control federal government. This is why the appointment of Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior was celebrated by Americas hunting community and those who care about our wildlife resources. If there ever was an Interior Secretary cut from the Roosevelt mold, its Ryan Zinke.

A lifelong advocate of hunting and fishing, Zinkes public service career has been focused on protecting our natural resources while recognizing that hunting and fishing are critical to our ongoing success. He clearly understands that without sportsmen at the center of the equation, fish and wildlife are at risk. Thats why he prioritized hunting and fishing access from day one at the Interior Department and his comprehensive review of national monument designations was so critically important to Americas sportsmen.

Throughout the review process, he has kept hunters and anglers front and center and we should all applaud his tireless effort on our behalf. Those who claim that the Secretary does not have our pro-conservation interests at heart are either misinformed, lying, or both.

Zinke knows that Americas hunters and anglers are the backbone of successful fish and wildlife management in the United States. In 2016 alone, $1.1 billion in hunter and angler excise revenues was invested by the 50 state fish and wildlife agencies to fund wildlife projects benefitting all wildlife -- game and nongame species alike.

But he also understands that its not just finances where Americas hunters and anglers make a difference. Within our own local communities, hunting and angling is an important tradition thats often passed down through the generations and enjoyed by the entire family, helping to forge life-long support of wildlife conservation and the full appreciation of our fish and wildlife resources.

Ryan Zinke knows of this deep appreciation because its how hes lived his entire life. And its precisely why his monument review was so important to sportsmen and our cherished traditions.

None can claim greater dedication to wildlife conservation than our nations hunters and anglers. Sportsmen embody President Roosevelts ever-living wildlife management philosophy -- which is also embraced and championed by Secretary Zinke -- responsible hunting and fishing are at the core of conservation. Under Zinke's leadership, our precious wildlife resources will be effectively managed to protect them for current and future generations.
Editor's note: The following column is excerpted from "I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of CalcuttaA Secret Revealed" by Paul Murray.

I had my first glimpse of Mother Teresa more than thirty years ago. The place where we met was an unexpected place: not in the streets of Calcutta among the poorest of the poor, not in a hospice for the dying, or in an orphanage for small children, but in a normal-sized university classroom in Rome.

Like almost everyone else in the world, at that time, I had heard stories about her great goodness and love for the poor. But nothing could have prepared me for the impact she made on me at that first encounter.

She spoke for just over thirty minutes, beginning her talk with a prayer and ending with a prayer.

Together with my fellow students, I had listened, over the months, to many words being spoken in that particular classroom. But I had never realized that words of such simplicity and candour could so deeply penetrate the mind and heart.

It is almost impossible to describe the quality of Mother Teresas voice. Her words, when she spoke, were not the expression of thoughts merely, or even of convictions, but somehow the expression of her entire being.

She spoke slowly, her voice grave for the most part, and yet never mournful. Once or twice she repeated a sentence or two from the New Testament, but her first words were about hunger: "Jesus has made the hunger of the poor His hunger and their thirst His thirst. He is that close to us. Will we turn away?"

Then she quoted from the First Letter of St John: "How can you say you love God whom you cannot see if you do not love your neighbour whom you can see?"

She spoke, for a few moments, of the extent of suffering in the world and of the great hardship which the poor have to endure. But she went on, at once, to say that perhaps the greatest hunger in the world, the most terrible anguish, was not physical poverty or deprivation. It was the anguish of not being wanted, of being forgotten or rejected, of having no one.

Three years later, on June 10, 1977, I met Mother Teresa again, in Cambridge, England, and this time I was able to speak with her for a few moments alone.

What struck me at once was something which has been remarked on many times over the years by those fortunate enough to meet Mother Teresa, and that is the radiant joy which shone in her face, a joy which, from moment to moment, seemed to illumine her every expression.

At the time I wondered if I had ever, in my whole life, met anyone so radiant.

Excerpted from "I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of CalcuttaA Secret Revealed" by Paul Murray. Used by permission of Paraclete Press.

Copyright  2008 by Paul Murray.

Mother Teresa's words copyright  2008 by Missionaries of Charity.
The following in an open letter to the violent extremist group Antifa.

To the hatemongers of Antifa:

Youve had quite a run spreading violence across our nation in the past few months. And while you claim your name means youre anti-fascist, youve shown by your actions that youre really anti-American and anti-freedom.

Youve assaulted hundreds of President Trumps supporters at rallies. Youve vandalized property in the nations capital after the Trump inauguration. And youve gone on an arson rampage because you were upset that former Breitbart News Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos was supposed to speak at the University of California, Berkeley.

In Charlottesville, you arrived on the scene with clubs and shields, prepared to commit violence. Instead, your sick plans were superseded by the monstrous behavior of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and other right-wing extremists as lunatic as you are. But they dont have much of the liberal media working as agit-prop wings for them every day, like you do.

If theres anything you Antifa members hate its free speech, the Bill of Rights and the United States of America. In this, you have a lot in common with the fascists you denounce, as well as communist tyrants.

Last Sunday, near your operational headquarters in Berkeley, you proved again that you are a nest of Marxist vipers. You went on yet another violent rampage, attacking innocent conservative men and women who were holding a peaceful rally.

Thats your modus operandi: intimidation of anyone you deem your enemy through organized violence. You believe you are always right, those you disagree with you are always wrong, and as a result you are justified in physically attacking them to shut them up.

If theres anything you Antifa members hate its free speech, the Bill of Rights and the United States of America. In this, you have a lot in common with the fascists you denounce, as well as communist tyrants.

You so-called anti-fascists are really nothing more than communists yourselves, arent you? Im sure its no coincidence that your banner resembles the German Communist Party flag from the 1920s.

No doubt you believe that youre on a roll and that through further assaults and intimidation youll be able to change the political climate and remake our nation into Soviet American Union.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Heres whats going to happen:

Your group is going to be destroyed  either by law enforcement, or by average Americans, or by both.

At the end of the day, you will be piled on the ash heap of history with a myriad of other thugs, authoritarian movements and tyrants from the past.

Youve had a field day picking on college millennials and unarmed reporters. Youve cold-cocked Trump supporters with rocks and attacked conservative women with pepper spray. And all the while, local police were forced to look on helplessly, under orders from liberal mayors who support the resistance.

Newsflash for you: You havent actually met the real resistance yet, but with your determination for violence and bloodshed you probably will.

The real resistance consists of millions of veterans, patriots and hard-working Americans who are sick and tired of Antifa violence and suppression of free speech. Many of these patriots would rather die than let the Bill of Rights be trampled on and incinerated by domestic terrorists like you.

Of course, you could just stop being violent, stop suppressing free speech and go home. Then we could all live peacefully as free men and women in the greatest country on earth.

But history has taught us that people like you are not going to stop. Therefore, youd be wise to heed the words of the Bible and Matthew: Those who live by the sword die by the sword.

You might want to put down your copy of "Rules for Radicals," take off your goggles and masks, and think about that.

More and more Americans are on to you. Despite your name, we know you are outlaws who embrace violence and hatred of America in the same way as the communists, the Nazis, Al Qaeda and ISIS.
An Al Qaeda affiliate has seized control of uranium mines in Africa with the intent of supplying the material to Iran, according to a diplomatic letter from a top Somali official appealing to the U.S. for "immediate military assistance."

The letter, reviewed by Fox News, was addressed to U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Stephen Schwartz. Somalia's Ambassador to the U.S. Ahmed Awad confirmed to Fox News on Thursday that the letter "has indeed been issued" by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Garaad Omar, whose signature is on the document.

The Aug. 11-dated letter delivered an urgent warning to the U.S. that the al-Shabaab terror network has linked up with the regional ISIS faction and is "capturing territory" in the central part of the country.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL LETTER

'Every day that passes without intervention provides America's enemies with additional material for nuclear weapons.'  Letter from Somalia's foreign minister to U.S. ambassador

"This issue can be summed up in a single word: uranium," the letter said. Al-Shabaab forces have captured critical surface exposed uranium deposits in the Galmudug region and are strip mining triuranium octoxide for transport to Iran.

For the Trump administration, the warning represents yet another potential security threat, as the U.S. government simultaneously grapples with a nuclear standoff with North Korea, the prospect of a stalemate in Afghanistan and ISIS activity across the Middle East and North Africa.

But the letter said "now is not the time to look away," urging the U.S. ambassador to consider the request for intelligence and military assistance.

Only the United States has the capacity to identify and smash Al-Shabaab elements operating within our country. The time for surgical strikes and limited engagement has passed, as Somalias problems have metastasized into the Worlds problems, the letter said. "Every day that passes without intervention provides America's enemies with additional material for nuclear weapons. There can be no doubt that global stability is at stake."

Awad told Fox News that the letter has been acknowledged by the State Department.

The State Department would not comment on the diplomatic letter, but did not dispute its authenticity and referred Fox News to the government of Somalia. Iran was supposed to pull back on its nuclear program under the terms of the agreement struck with the Obama administration.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced his resignation on July 21 but notably said that he would continue to serve in the White House through August. As the end of the month approached on Thursday, Spicer sent a final email to White House staff, noting that his role working for President Trump had been the honor of a lifetime.

I especially want to thank the President and the First Lady for their support during my tenure and for giving me this opportunity. Walking into the White House every day is a privilege that few in our country experience and I am grateful for it, Spicer wrote.

FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS, FROM BANNON TO COMEY

Spicer, who sparred frequently with the media, credited the support he had during his time behind the podium in the White House briefing room.

I would not have been able to [do] my job without the amazing team the President has assembled, especially the dedicated members of the communications, digital and press teams, Spicer said. I also am eternally grateful to the countless additional staffers who support the White House daily -- including the service members of White House Military Office, the Secret Service, the Residence Staff, and so many other talented individuals.

He added, As I sign off this email address for a final time, I want to say thanks. I am proud to have worked with each and every one of you.

Spicer resigned following the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as the White Houses communications director -- but Scaramucci would last only 10 days in the role before being removed on the recommendation of newly installed Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Former Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was announced as Spicer's replacement.

Fox News Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.
As thousands of flood victims in Texas face the harsh reality and devastation left behind by Hurricane Harvey, the focus now shifts to relief efforts -- including how the federal government will respond.

One key player is Elaine Duke, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, who is just one month into her new role.

Duke took the job when Gen. John Kelly, the previous secretary of Homeland Security, became President Trumps chief of staff at the White House.

In a recent interview with NPR, Duke outlined how DHS planned to operate in the aftermath of Harvey. She described how DHS coordinates efforts with its sub-units, including FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Safety is the key concern, Duke said.

We surge with FEMA. So some of our resources in DHS join FEMA to support its support of the governor -- in this case, Texas," Duke said. "But we also have to ensure the safety and law enforcement throughout the country. So we find that right balance of surging resources to FEMA and continuing our current operations.

In the week since Harvey made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane, DHS has activated its Surge Capacity Force, a voluntary program that allows DHS employees outside FEMA to assist in disaster response efforts, pending DHS approval.

ICE has deployed 200 agents to provide security in areas affected by Harvey, as well as aid in search-and-rescue efforts.

Duke, who served as deputy secretary of DHS before taking the top job on an interim basis, has served in the federal government for nearly three decades.

As deputy secretary, Duke led all efforts related to the strategic execution of DHSs vital missions, her DHS biography states.

Duke is also a big proponent of President Trumps plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, writing in USA Today this month that it will save countless innocent lives.

Our Border Patrol agents have seen firsthand the success of a border wall in Yuma, Ariz.  which serves as a prime example of how investments in personnel, technology and a border wall can turn the tide against a flood of illegal immigration and secure our homeland, Duke wrote.

Congress will have a large to-do list when it returns from recess after Labor Day. First and foremost will likely be allocating funding for Harvey relief efforts. President Trump is reportedly calling for $6 billion in aid.
A former IT aide for Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz pleaded not guilty on Friday to multiple federal charges including bank fraud and conspiracy.

A grand jury had returned an indictment last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, with a total of four charges.

Awan's wife and children have already left the country and are back in the family's homeland of Pakistan, according to the FBI.

Awan, after entering the not guilty plea, is due back in court on Oct. 16 for a status hearing.

Awan and other IT aides for House Democrats have been on investigators radar for months over concerns of possible double-billing, alleged equipment theft, and access to sensitive computer systems. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz had kept him on until his arrest in July.

The indictment itself addresses separate allegations that Awan and his wife engaged in a conspiracy to obtain home equity lines of credit from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by giving false information about two properties  and then sending the proceeds to individuals in Pakistan.

The case has put renewed scrutiny on Wasserman Schultz for keeping Awan on the payroll for months, even after a criminal investigation was revealed and he was barred from the House IT network.

In a recent interview published in the Sun Sentinel, Wasserman Schultz blamed the right-wing media circus fringe for the attention on Awan. The former head of the Democratic National Committee suggested it's all part of an effort to distract from the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible ties to President Trump's team.

After Awan was arrested at Dulles airport in Virginia trying to board a plane to Pakistan, attorney Christopher Gowen told Fox News that federal authorities have no evidence of misconduct by Awan relating to his IT duties.

Fox News Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Well before the deadly Aug. 12 rally in Charlottesville and the ongoing violent clashes with white supremacists and other groups, federal authorities warned local officials the actions of left-wing extremists were becoming increasingly confrontational and dangerous.

Federal agencies warned of the growing likelihood of lethal violence between left-wing anarchists and right-wing white supremacists.

Some even classified their activities as domestic terrorist violence.

In previously unreported documents dating back to April 2016 and viewed by Fox News, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security wrote that anarchist extremists and Antifa groups were the primary instigators of violence at public rallies. They blamed these groups for attacks on police, government and political institutions, racists, fascists and symbols of capitalism.

The agencies warned the rise of fascist, nationalist, racist or anti-immigrant groups in U.S. political discourse could lead to violent backlash from these anarchist extremists.

The FBI and DHS had no comment on the assessments, saying they were not intended to be made public.

POLITICO was the first to report on the documents Friday.

Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer who monitors domestic militants at the Center for Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, cautioned calling all members of the Antifa movement domestic terrorists, and said not all tolerate the use of violence while protesting.

People in this movement allow for confronting, jostling, committing low-level types of offenses, but there has been for some time a core that have tipped the movement to confrontational violence, he told Fox News on Friday. The hardest edge in the Antifa spectrum comes under that category...not all Antifa are busting heads

He added the same could be said for members of the alt-right, some of whom tolerate and justify the use of violence.

In recent decades, authorities have focused almost exclusively on right-wing groups as the most likely instigators of domestic terrorist violence, especially after Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.

But groups such as Antifa, which is short for anti-fascist, have been growing in numbers and becoming more tolerant about using violence.

The violent clashes in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 that left one woman dead was only one recent event that drew dozens -- and in some cases hundreds -- of people on both sides, many of whom were armed and looking for a fight.

Some DHS and FBI intelligence reports began flagging protesters before the election, POLITICO reported.

The socio-political landscape has changed, Levin said. The same way white nationalists used Obama as a figure to rally about...now Antifa and anarchists see in Trump a broad-base [enemy] that has united them.

He added: There is a sense that we are getting divided.

Some law enforcement officials told POLITICO Trumps election in November also gave Antifa activists a new target, separate from white nationalist groups: Trump supporters.

It was in that period [as the Trump campaign emerged] that we really became aware of them, a senior law enforcement official tracking domestic extremists told POLITICO. These Antifa guys were showing up with weapons, shields and bike helmets and just beating the s--- out of people...Theyre using Molotov cocktails, theyre starting fires, theyre throwing bombs and smashing windows.

Specifically, the target became those from white supremacist and nationalist groups who came out in droves hailing Trumps win and calling for further crackdowns on illegal immigrants and other groups. Those forces -- along with more traditional and less controversial demonstrators -- have also turned out to protest the removal of Confederate statues, which is what spurred the rally in Virginia.

Law enforcement officials said Trumps rhetoric and policies further fueled motivations on both sides.

Every time they have one of these protests where both sides are bringing guns, there are sphincters tightening in my world. Emotions get high, and fingers get twitchy on the trigger, one official told POLITICO.

Levin called it an escalating arms race that spill onto social media and then back onto the streets with more people.

POLITICO reported recent FBI and DHS reports confirm they are actively monitoring conduct deemed potentially suspicious and indicative of terrorist activity by Antifa groups.

But one report acknowledged several significant intelligence gaps, including an inability to penetrate the groups diffuse and decentralized organizational structure. They said this makes it harder for law enforcement to identify violent groups and individuals.

Theres a lot more we dont know about these groups than what we do know about them, one New Jersey law enforcement official told POLITICO.

Levin said its hard to forecast what will happen in the future, calling it a fluid situation, but to expect clashes to continue -- and grow larger and more frequent.

[Antifas] list of what is fascist has grown far beyond the loathsome, Swastika-carrying white nationalists, to controversial conservatives, speakers, the police, journalists and random people who get in their way, he said.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Gov. Rick Scott (R.) has the power to remove cases from controversial state's attorney Aramis Ayala (D.).

The ruling, 5-2, means that it was within Scott's legal authority under the state Constitution to remove 24 capital cases from Ayala's purview, the Orlando Political Observer reports.

The court initially heard the case in July. It was prompted by Ayala's refusal in March, just three months after entering office, to seek the death penalty in the case of Markeith Lloyd, charged with killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton. She insisted further on never seeking the death penalty, saying it is costly, inhumane, and can cause proceedings to drag on for years.

In response, Gov. Scott removed Ayala from the case and 23 others, condemning her "complete refusal to consider capital punishment" as "an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice." Ayala responded by filing the suit decided Thursday.

The court was explicitly critical of Ayala's handling of the case in its majority opinion, authored by Justice C. Alan Lawson, a Scott appointee.

"by effectively banning the death penalty in the Ninth Circuitas opposed to making case-specific determinations as to whether the facts of each death-penalty eligible case justify seeking the death penaltyAyala has exercised no discretion at all," Lawson wrote.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.
Congressional Republicans are looking to revive legislation that could give a deportation reprieve to thousands of illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, in turn easing the pressure on President Trump as he faces a deadline to decide the fate of a related Obama-era program.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is leading the charge on a conservative version of the so-called Dream Act. The talks come as Trump prepares to announce whether hell keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program  which was former President Barack Obamas unilateral, executive-action version of Dream Act legislation.

The timing for a Trump announcement has been fluid. In the most recent guidance, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the decision will be made next Tuesday.

Trump initially had said the call could come as early as Friday or this weekend, without going into detail. Asked if Dreamers, or those affected by the policy, should be worried, Trump told reporters: "We love Dreamers. We love everybody."

One official told Fox News earlier that Trump ultimately is expected to end DACA, while allowing those in the country who qualified under the program to stay until their work permits expire.

Such a move would infuriate Democrats  as well as some moderate Republicans. However, if lawmakers can draft legislation that accomplishes similar goals, it could give Trump some leeway to end DACA without significant impact.

A senior administration official suggested Friday that the onus was back on Congress to pursue a legislative solution.

"Congress has to do this, the official told Fox News.

Some Republicans support the goals of Obamas DACA but think the former president committed an overreach by doing it through executive action. Tillis office pointed to this distinction in describing his legislative effort.

Regardless of the policy itself, DACA is an executive overreach that sets immigration policy through executive order instead of the proper channellegislation, Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin told Fox News. Its the responsibility of Congress, not the President to offer a long-term legislative fix.

Congress has been considering legislation to shield young illegal immigrants from deportation for years, dating back to the George W. Bush administration. Lawmakers tried again to pass a bill during the Obama administration, but couldnt muster the votes amid flagging Republican support. The Obama administration announced the DACA policy in 2012.

According to Keylin, Tillis will be working with Republicans on conservative legislation to address the long-term uncertainty undocumented minors face. Kelyin told Fox News that they needed to create a fair but rigorous process for legal status, requiring individuals 18 or older to either be employed, pursue post-secondary education, or serve in the Armed Forces.

While the legislation is still being drafted, McClatchy reported that Tillis' bill is expected to be similar to one introduced by Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. Curbelos bill, the Recognizing Americas Children Act, would offer an eventual path to U.S. citizenship to immigrants who entered illegally before Jan. 1, 2012 and were 16 years old or younger, according to the Miami Herald.

The White House has sent a very strong message by preserving the executive order that protects these young people, Curbelo said in an interview with the Miami Herald in March. We know that theyve been very aggressive when it comes to immigration policy, so it certainly stands out that they have left the DACA executive order untouched.

On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he supported a legislative solution to protect undocumented minors, but also urged the president to reconsider scrapping DACA.

"I actually don't think he should do that and I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix," Ryan said on radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wis., Friday. "President Obama did not have a legislative authority to do what he did."

Ryan added: "There are people who are in limbo. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home. And so I really do believe that there needs to be a legislative solution."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also weighed in on the issue, calling on the president to halt rescinding DACA, saying it would further complicate a system in serious need of permanent, legislative solution.

Hatch added that the solution must come from Congress, and that he will be working with colleagues and the administration to pass meaningful immigration reform and provide a workable path forward for the Dreamer population.

Then-candidate Trump promised to terminate DACA during the 2016 presidential campaign, but since taking office has weighed whether to preserve components of it.

Looming in the background is the threat of potential legal action by state attorneys general led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other AGs who oppose DACA. Paxton said Thursday that his office would stick to a previously determined Sept. 5 deadline set by officials from Texas for a decision.

Fox News John Roberts, Chad Pergram and Kelly Chernenkoff contributed to this report.
Are President Trumps top lieutenants revolting against his policies?

Or is that a narrative cooked up by the media?

Three incidentsinvolving Rex Tillerson, Gary Cohn and Jim Mattishave created a tipping point for this emerging story line.

I happen to think its within the presidents discretion not to dump Cabinet officers or senior White House officials for distancing themselves from him, as long as its not a pattern and he thinks theyre doing a good job.

But some Trump allies tell me they think one or more of the dissenters should have been fired and that it reflects the presidents weakened position. In this view, Tillerson in particular committed an act of insubordination.

You might think that the onetime star of The Apprentice would be quick to show subordinates the door if they cant get with the program. But theres a degree of realpolitik involved: dumping the secretary of State or Defense would cause a huge uproar and it would take a couple of months or more to get a replacement confirmed.

Its not hard to find lots of stories about these internal tensions.

Two of President Trump's highest-ranking Cabinet officials just took a giant step backward from their boss, raising the question of whether Trump's inner circle is seriously considering abandoning him, the Washington Post says, adding that its rare for so many advisers to speak out so publicly against their boss, and in such stark terms, on matters of such magnitude.



A Politico piece is headlined Trump Unusually Silent After Aides Challenge Him.

Some close to Trump note that he needs Cohn and Tillerson, seen as stabilizing forces in his administration, more than they need him at this point, says Politico.

In case youve been concentrating more on Hurricane Harvey than White House machinations:

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked Tillerson about Trumps both-sides formulation about the violence in Charlottesville.

The president speaks for himself, Tillerson said.

Asked if he was separating himself from his boss, the secretary said: Ive made my own comment as to our values.

In the wake of Charlottesville, Cohn, Trumps chief economic adviser, said he was speaking out as a Jewish American and that this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities.

The Mattis episode is slightly different in that he was addressing some troops and the video surfaced on Facebook. The Pentagon chief said America would get the power of inspiration backOur country right now, its got problems we dont have in the military  You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.

Mattis is also acting as a bit of a brake on his boss. After Trump tweeted that the U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!", Mattis offered a different message. Were never out of diplomatic solutions, he told reporters. Mattis is also slow-walking the proposed Trump ban on transgender people serving in the military.

The retired general, for his part, told reporters yesterday that we all have an obligation to serve ... First time I met with President Trump, we disagreed on three things in my first 40 minutes with him, on NATO, on torture, and on something else, and he hired me, Mattis said.

Each incident is different, but collectively they convey a sense that Trumps inner circle isnt shy about speaking out.

National Review Editor Rich Lowry argues that these are firing offenses: The president is experiencing a bout of insubordination from his top officials the likes of which we haven't witnessed in the modern era.

Lowry also says Trump aides may have been emboldened by Jeff Sessions hanging on as attorney general despite the presidents public criticism of him. But, he says, nothing good can come from top officials of the U.S. government making it obvious that they believe, to borrow Tillersons phrase, that the president speaks for himselfand no one else.



Viewed in a positive light, you could say Trump has enough confidence that hes giving his top deputies an unusual amount of leeway to disagree with him.

Viewed in a negative light, you could say Trumps senior aides feel the need to distance themselves from him without fear of consequence.

But either way, its hard to miss at this point.
A federal judge has denied Sen. Bob Menendezs "unique" request to schedule his upcoming corruption trial around key Senate votes, telling the Democratic lawmaker he is no more special than the radio repairman, the cab driver and the businessman.

The ruling virtually assures the trial will kick off next week in Newark as scheduled, even as Congress returns from recess.

Federal prosecutors have previewed an aggressive bribery case against the New Jersey senator, claiming he had a corrupt pact with a wealthy doctor who rewarded him with private plane flights, Caribbean vacations and campaign donations.

U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls, in his Thursday ruling, chastised the senator's legal team for asking the court to allow schedule changes when there are critical votes in the Senate.

The court will not serve as concierge to any party or lawyer, Walls wrote. Defendant Menendez claims that he is in a unique situation because his voting duties are on a schedule not of his own making. But so are the duties of the radio repairman, the cab driver, and the businessman. Yet none would claim the right to dictate the schedule of their own criminal trial.

The Justice Department had opposed Menendez's request for "special treatment."

Walls, appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, said Menendez, like any defendant, could choose not to be present during the trial. But he accused the senator of seeking flexibility so he can impress the jury.

The court suspects that the trial strategy behind this motion, if granted, would be to impress the jurors with the public importance of the defendant senator and his duties, Walls said. No other plausible reason comes to mind.

'The court suspects that the trial strategy behind this motion, if granted, would be to impress the jurors with the public importance of the defendant senator and his duties.'  U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls

In a trial that could have significant political ramifications in Washington, Menendez is accused of using his Senate seat to advance the interests of a doctor named Salomon Melgen.

Ahead of Wednesdays opening arguments, the Department of Justice previewed its bribery case against Menendez and Melgen.

In a 30-page brief filed earlier this week, prosecutors accused them of a corrupt pact spanning seven years, in which Melgen showered many more things of value on the New Jersey senator than just flights on a private jet, and Menendez reciprocated with official action advancing the South Florida eye doctors personal whims and business interests.

In a new development, prosecutors also revealed that then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was enlisted by Menendez in 2011 to advocate for Melgen in an ongoing dispute the doctor had with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The documents say Reid reached out to the White House deputy chief of staff about Menendez being upset about how a Florida ophthalmologist was being treated by CMS. But prosecutors said the White House aide demurred because it involved a dispute between a single doctor and an administrative agency, not a policy matter.

'...a corrupt pact spanning seven years, in which Melgen showered many more things of value on the New Jersey senator than just flights on a private jet...'  federal prosecutors

The documents detail years of Melgen treating Menendez to lavish vacations.

The defendants bribery scheme began shortly after Menendezs elevation to the Senate in 2006, when Melgen began a pattern of treating Menendez to weekend and week-long getaways in the Dominican Republic that would continue for the next several years, the prosecutors said.

Oftentimes, the trips to Melgens villa at Casa de Campo included free roundtrip flights on Melgens private jet for Menendez and his various guests, they said.

Prosecutors said the senator tried to conceal the trips.

Menendez enjoyed these flights and vacations free of charge, they said. But, in a scheme to hide the trips from public view and keep the corrupt pact secret, Menendez mentioned nothing of the gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms.

Prosecutors argue Menendez paid Melgen back by using his position as senator to take official action to benefit the South Florida doctor.

Email exchanges between the defendants, their agents, and officials from Executive Branch agencies will show Menendezs considerable efforts to pressure the Executive Branch on Melgens behalf, they said.

Among actions alleged by prosecutors: Menendez helped Melgen obtain visas for foreign girlfriends to visit the United States; Menendez got involved when Melgen purchased a cargo screening contract in the Dominican Republic; Menendez advocated on Melgens behalf during his dispute with Medicare over his billing practices.

Both Menendez and Melgen have denied the accusations.

Melgen has since been convicted of Medicare fraud. But prosecutors said Menendez worked to help the doctor when Medicare asked him to repay Medicare $8.9 million in overbillings between 2007 and 2008. At one point, Menendez arranged a call with CMSs Director of the Center for Medicare about the issue, the documents say.

On Wednesday, Menendez attorney Raymond Brown protested the Department of Justices brief detailing the allegations.

In a letter to the judge, Brown wrote that the document seems designed solely to generate adverse pretrial publicity for the defendants, giving the media a rhetorically florid preview of the prosecutors opening argument.

TRIAL THREATENS TO SIDELINE SENATOR JUST AS DEMS PLOT TRUMP RESISTANCE

Wednesday's trial could also have damaging consequences for Democrats, whether or not Menendez is convicted.

The timing of the trial falls as Congress returns from the August recess and Republicans prepare to vote on President Trumps legislative agenda -- potentially covering everything from tax reform to health care to the budget and debt ceiling.

Neither party can afford to lose a single member from the Senate floor. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority, and its possible the absence of a single reliable Democratic vote could tip the balance on key votes this fall, including possibly another attempt at repealing former President Barack Obamas health care law.

But there's more at stake in the Menendez case than this fall's votes.

Republicans are salivating over the prospect of a more lasting political consequence should Menendez be convicted and should he leave Congress in the next few months: New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie would name his replacement, meaning the GOP could pick up another vote in the Senate.

Fox News' Kathleen Foster contributed to this report.
Former President Barack Obama will cost taxpayers $1,153,000 next year, according to a Congressional Research Service memo.

That amount will make Obama's expenses the highest of the five living ex-presidents, the Washington Times reported.

The Former Presidents Act, which became law in 1958, provides former White House occupants with lifetime benefits after leaving office. Each ex-president receives a base pension of $205,700 annually, but the budget requests they submit to Congress may also address additional expenses, such as for staff salaries, office allowances, travel and Secret Service protection.

Obamas $1,153,00 budget request for 2018 is nearly $100,000 more than that of former President George W. Bush, and around $200,000 higher than for former President Bill Clinton.

Former President George H.W. Bush has requested $942,000, while former President Jimmy Carter comes in at $456,000, the Times reported.

A large portion of the former presidents budgets go toward leasing office space, such as the $536,000 cost for Obamas office in Washington, $518,000 for Clintons setup in New York City, and $497,000 for Bush 43's office in Dallas.

Bush 41's space is much cheaper, located in Houston and costing $286,000, while Carters space in Atlanta is a relative bargain at only $115,000, the Times reported.
President Trump is requesting that nearly $6 billion be made available for the Harvey recovery process.

The administration urged Congress on Thursday to approve and provide $5.95 billion for the initial response and recovery efforts related to the devastating hurricane affecting parts of Texas and Louisiana, Axios reported.

A senior administration official told the website that White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will be calling Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill this week, asking them for their support on the funding plan.

The official added that the Trump administration believes the requested amount will be more than enough to support hurricane recovery efforts until year's end.

If approved by Congress, $5.5 billion would go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for its disaster relief operations and $450 million to the Small Business Administration to assist affected businesses.

To access the funding, the U.S. debt limit would have to be increased  a move that would aim at lowering the risk of default, Bloomberg Politics reported.

A separate official told the news site that the White House was looking to extend the limit long enough to move back the threat of default until Congress is able to draft a budget for the full federal fiscal year.

Trump has expressed his desire to move swiftly on recovery efforts and rebuild damaged areas in Houston and southeast Texas. Some Democrats have said that the area could need more than $150 billion in federal aid. The initial request is expected to be a down payment on a larger federal aid package, the Washington Post reported.

The news came on the same day that President Trump pledged $1 million of his personal money to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey in both Texas and Louisiana.

The president is pledging a million dollars of personal money to help, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Thursday.

Sanders said the president asked that she check with reporters for suggestions on groups and organizations that would be best and most effective in providing aid.

The press secretary was asked whether Trump would pay the $1 million from his personal funds, or from the Trump Organization.

I know the president said he was going to give  I dont know the legal part of exactly that, but he said his personal money, Sanders answered. So I assume that comes directly from him.

Fox News Brooke Singman contributed reporting to this story.
President Trump took to Twitter early Friday praising his new Chief of Staff John Kelly after just four weeks on the job.

General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed and this Administration continues toget things done at a record clip, Trump tweeted. Many big decisions to be made over the coming days and weeks. AMERICA FIRST!

The president in late July named Kelly, who at the time was serving as secretary of Homeland Security, to replace Reince Priebus as chief of staff amid a series of White House shakeups.

Since then, Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, has sought to impose order on the day-to-day operations at the White House. This has fueled press reports as recently as Friday that efforts to restrict access and screen visitors and callers have at times frustrated the president.

Trump, though, has touted the fantastic work Kelly is doing at the White House.

It is unclear which specific big decisions Trump was referring to in Friday's tweet, but the White House has a full plate of agenda items. The president, as early as Friday, could announce plans to end the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, programthough the White House suggested Thursday that the program was still under review.

A final decision on that front has not been made, and when it is, we will certainly inform everybody in this room, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday.

The administration also is urging Congress to approve and provide billions for initial recovery efforts related to the damage from Hurricane Harvey, affecting areas in Texas and Louisiana.

And with Congress getting back to work after their August recess, lawmakers and the president will have to work together on a new spending package as well as an increase in the debt ceiling -- and Trump's call for tax reform.
A $100 million search for intelligent aliens has spied 15 bizarre, repeating flashes of light coming from a distant galaxy.

The galaxy  a dwarf known as FRB 121102 that lies 3 billion light-years from Earth  is a known source of such brief, high-energy fast radio bursts (FRBs). But the newly detected pulses stand out, astronomers said.

"Bursts from this source have never been seen at this high a frequency," Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement. [Are Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts Propelling Alien Spacecraft? (Video)]

Siemion is a team member with Breakthrough Listen, a $100 million project that's searching for potential signals from alien civilizations from the 1 million stars closest to the sun, the 100 galaxies nearest our own Milky Way, and the galactic plane.

Some researchers think FRBs  which were discovered in 2007 and remain mysterious today  could be such alien signals. For example, astronomers have speculated that FRBs may be generated by powerful lasers designed to blast alien craft through space at high speeds  a propulsion method akin to that being developed by Breakthrough Listen's ambitious sister project, Breakthrough Starshot. (Aliens aren't the only possible explanation, of course; some scientists think FRBs are likely emitted by fast-rotating neutron stars, for instance.)

So, FRB 121102  which, as its name suggests, was discovered on Nov. 2, 2012  was a natural target for the Breakthrough Listen team, researchers said. The scientists, led by Berkeley SETI Research Center postdoctoral researcher Vishal Gajjar, detected the 15 new pulses on Saturday (Aug. 26) using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

"As well as confirming that the source is in a newly active state, the high resolution of the data obtained by the Listen instrument will allow measurement of the properties of these mysterious bursts at a higher precision than ever possible before," Gajjar said in the same statement.

To be clear, the Breakthrough Listen team isn't claiming that FRB 121102's pulses are evidence of alien life. But the new observations, and others like it, could lead to a better understanding of FRBs and other puzzling phenomena, researchers said.

"Whether or not fast radio bursts turn out to be signatures of extraterrestrial technology, Breakthrough Listen is helping to push the frontiers of a new and rapidly growing area of our understanding of the universe around us," Siemion said.

The Breakthrough Listen project was announced in July 2015 by billionaire entrepreneur Yuri Milner and a team of scientists, including famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com.
For years people have connected with others in many different ways. Sailors would throw a message inside a bottle overboard in hopes of someday getting a response. Others would become pen pals with complete strangers from another land. And once the computer age took over, people used chat rooms and social media to talk to people they have never met in person.

Over the last few weeks a communication phenomenon began in the Parkland. Total strangers are taking a moment to meet using art, rocks and Facebook.

The latest trend bringing the community together is called rock art. It is where people paint different designs on one side of a rock and on the other side ask the person who found the rock to take a picture, post it on Facebook and tell everyone where the rock was found. Once the task is completed, the person can keep the rock or hide the rock again.

Spearheading some of this new family-oriented pastime are two local moms - Amber McFarland and Krista Wilson - sisters-in-law who came upon the activity by sheer accident.

We were at Six Flags for a family outing when Ambers son, Layton, found a painted rock sitting behind a bench, Wilson said. We saw where it said, 'post pic, Springfield, Illinois.' So we got on their page and posted our picture.

McFarland said finding the rock was fun and exciting for all of them.

It was kind of a joyful moment, McFarland said. I know its kind of silly, but we were all so excited about finding a painted rock.

On the way home from the park, McFarland and Wilson began talking more about their find and how fun it would be if the Parkland area had something like this.

Amber remembered seeing a blog where people were doing this everywhere, Wilson said. But we didnt know anyone who was doing it in our area.

Using that one rock as the cornerstone of something bigger, the two began on a journey of bringing rock art to the area, or at least bringing it to the attention of more people. Using their imagination and Facebook, McFarland and Wilson created RockArt 573.

On our way home from Six Flags we created our homepage, Wilson said. It took us a while to come up with a name. We wanted something catchy but not specific to just Farmington or Park Hills. We wanted the entire community to be involved because we feel like we are a close-knit community.

In under three weeks of starting their homepage, RockArt 573 already had 1,300 people join their Facebook page and the postings on the site are almost more than anyone can keep up with.

The response we are having is amazing. We are actually having a hard time keeping up with all the posts, Wilson said. We have seen some of our rocks show up in Michigan, California and Tennessee. So our rocks are really starting to get around.

With all the postings on RockArt 573, the hunt for painted rocks has become a popular past-time in the Parkland area - which both women see as a positive thing.

I think it is taking off because it is something positive, Wilson said. We read so many stories that are negative. This is a way for people to make others smile and spread a little joy and kindness along the way.

In addition, the treasure hunt for painted rocks has also created family time ... not only between parents and their children ... the two say children and grandparents are spending time in parks searching together.

We have a 9-year-old and a 77-year-old looking for rocks together, McFarland said. Kristas daughter Halle has gone out with her grandmother to look for rocks. It is so much fun when you can have the whole family involved.

Besides hunting for rocks, both moms say part of the fun is also designing and painting your own rock.

We have fun just setting up our supplies and painting our own designs, Wilson said. You can buy just a little bit and it goes a long way.

McFarland added the artwork on some of the rocks they have found are just incredible.

The artwork (is) from all forms of artistic ability, McFarland said. We have some that are just amazing. I just think people like coming up with their own designs.

Although Wilson and McFarland agree that decorating the rocks is a lot of fun, Wilsons daughter, Halle, prefers hiding and searching for the rocks instead. In fact, Wilson said her daughter is very good at spotting rocks, and quite frequently sees them in town while the family is driving.

You would not believe how many times she has seen a rock when we have been driving down the street, Wilson said. So then I have to turn around and go back for it.

McFarland and Wilson are hoping they can keep the momentum going once summer is over.

"We also thought with homecoming coming up we could get the different schools to do spirit rocks and place them along the parade route.

For both women, the success of their quest to bring rock art to the area is more than just finding fancy rocks. It is more about brightening up someones day and bringing family and community together for something positive.
CALGARY, Alberta  The fossilized remains of two pterosaurs  winged reptiles that flew sky high during the dinosaur age  suggest that the soaring truck- and plane-size beasts were closely related to the gigantic Quetzalcoatlus northropi, the largest pterosaur on record, new research finds.

Both pterosaurs date back to the Maastrichtian, a period that occurred between 72 million and 66 million years ago. It ended when a 6-mile-wide (10 kilometers) asteroid slammed into Earth, ending the reign of the nonavian dinosaurs and countless reptiles, including the pterosaurs.

The newly unearthed pterosaurs were found in Jordan in 2005 and 2008, and both belong to a family of pterosaurs called Azhdarchids, which includes the famous Q. northropi  a pterosaur the size of an airplane, with an almost-40-foot (12 meters) wingspan. [Photos of Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs]

In general, pterosaurs had long wings supported by an elongated fourth digit (the ring finger on humans) and long, pointy beaks that helped them catch fish, and some had elaborate crests on their heads, said study lead researcher Kierstin Rosenbach, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan.

"The pterosaurs from Jordan are both very big," Rosenbach told Live Science. "The 'small' one is a new species, and it would have had a wingspan of around 5 m [16 feet]." In contrast, the giant pterosaur was almost as humongous as Q. northropi, she said.

"It probably belongs to Arambourgiania philadelphiae, a giant pterosaur from Jordan first described in the 1950s," Rosenbach said.

Unlike most pterosaur fossils, which are "totally crushed when we find them, because their bones are hollow, like birds' bones," the newfound pterosaurs bones are preserved in three dimensions, she noted.

"Since these bones retain their original shape, they can tell us a lot about how pterosaurs functioned," Rosenbach said. "We're going to study these fossils to understand more about internal bone structure and how it relates to things like body mass, flight capabilities and the pterosaur respiratory system."

Many pterosaurs had bizarre teeth, but the Jordan duo are toothless, Rosenbach added. "It's characteristic of their group," she said. "We know the teeth aren't just missing, because there are no tooth sockets in the jaw  [there's] just a smooth, sharp edge."

The findings are also remarkable because of where they were unearthed, the researchers said. During the Late Cretaceous, Africa was connected to Arabia as one continent. The two land masses had recently separated from what is now South America, India and Australia.

"But for some reason, we find way fewer fossils from Afro-Arabia than from its neighbors during this time," Rosenbach said. "So, each new discovery from the Late Cretaceous of Afro-Arabia gives us valuable information about what this continent was like leading up to the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and many other groups."

Other fossil finds dating to the Maastrichtian of Jordan include marine vertebrates, such as sharks, turtles, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodilians, as well as nine specimens of A. philadelphiae, the researchers said.

This research  a joint collaboration of the University of Michigan and the Natural Resources Authority in Jordan  which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented here Aug. 23 at the 2017 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.

Original article on Live Science.
Kylo Ren stood in front of me, and since he already had his lightsaber drawn, I assumed he wasn't there to calmly chat about the relative merits of the First Order. Indeed, the would-be Sith Lord slashed at me with his lightsaber, but my Force sense flashed before my eyes, showing two yellow lines where I could hold my own lightsaber to parry his attacks. Soon, we were trading blows, and I think Rey herself would have been impressed with my mastery of the Force.



My own personal battle with Kylo Ren came courtesy of the $199 Star Wars Jedi Challenges, a joint effort between Disney and Lenovo to bring the Jedi experience right before your eyes via augmented reality. Strap on the Lenovo-built headset, grab your lightsaber and you're ready to bring an adventure from a galaxy far, far away to your very own room.

In addition to Lenovo's Mirage AR headset and lightsaber controller  which bears more than a passing resemblance to the one Luke Skywalker used to wield  the Star Wars Jedi Challenges includes a tracking beacon, which helps pinpoint your location for all those battles with the likes of Kylo Ren and Darth Maul. Jedi Challenges is now available for preorder at Best Buy before it arrives in time for the holidays.

Having wires dangling from the back of a headset might trip up even the nimblest of Jedis, so Lenovo designed the Jedi Challenge headset to be powered by a smartphone, giving you some freedom of movement. You slide your smartphone into the top of the headset  similar to how Google's Daydream View works  and you're ready to ready to battle the Dark Side of the Force.

199 On Best Buy Star Wars Jedi Challenges (Pre-Order) 199 On Best Buy

Lenovo's headset should work with a broader range of phones than the ones you can use with Daydream View. For starters, the headset works with the iPhone  the iPhone 6 and later is supported, a Lenovo rep told me. On the Android side, the Mirage AR headset works with Samsung's Galaxy S6 and later as well as a host of Motorola handsets.

The 1.04-pound headset sat comfortably on my head when I took Jedi Challenges out for a test battle, and though I was bopping around the floor like the Star Wars kid from that viral video, the headset never slipped out of place. Likewise, the 12.4 x 1.9 inch lightsaber was comfortable to hold, even during extended play sessions.

As impressive as the hardware is  and Lenovo's built a pretty slick, inexpensive headset that uses two fisheye cameras for its inside-out positional tracking  the software struck me as the star of the show. Disney sees augmented reality as a great platform for telling new types of stories, and Jedi Challenges offers three categories of games with more than 30 challenges. So don't expect that headset and lightsaber to gather dust in the back of a closet after a few gaming sessions.

My only hands-on time with Jedi Challenges was in the Lightsaber Battles mode, which gives you the opportunity to build up your fighting skills so that you can eventually take on Darth Vader. I wish I would have had the chance to try out Strategic Combat, which lets you direct a virtual battle that unfolds across your floor. Imagine recreating the Battle of Hoth, positioning rebel forces, gun turrets and other weapons to stop the onslaught of Imperial AT-ATs and stormtroopers.

Jedi Challenges' third mode recreates the Holochess game from Episode IV. You decide which monsters to place on the circular chessboard. As each monster has different strengths and weaknesses, there's some degree of strategy involved beyond just letting the wookiee win. And in addition to harnessing brainpower, Jedi Challenges will also get you up and moving, as my huffing and puffing after fighting off Kylo Ren can attest.

You're playing on the Light Side of the Force in Jedi Challenges. It might add an element of intrigue if you could choose between the Light and Dark sides as you can in other Star Wars games like in Knights of the Old Republic and Battlefront. Disney's focusing on the current iteration of Jedi Challenges, but I think it's safe to say I wasn't the first person to suggest that possibility to the Disney reps I talked to.

And you can see why Disney would like to keep the focus on this new release of Star Wars Jedi Challenges. From what we've seen so far, it's a promising blend of software and hardware that puts you smack dab in the Star Wars universe.
Sitting slumped in your chair all day at work? AI agents are here to ruin your nap.

In the near future, experts say an AI will know who is producing the most work and who is slacking off by spending too much time surfing the web and drinking coffee.

AI will soon be able to measure productivity based on the quality of work produced, said Ran Craycraft, a Managing Partner at the machine learning company Wildebeest. Writers productivity could easily be measured based on the volume, complexity, and emotion of the stories they produce. In sales, the number of emails sent and the ratio of positive to negative responses could be an additional metric that factors into a salesperson's compensation.

HOW AI FIGHTS FAKE NEWS

Dana Gibber, an executive at software firm Headliner Labs, said these AI agents will be perceived as incredibly valuable because they will provide key insights about employee behavior, encourage best practices, and increase efficiency.

Heres just one example. Lets say theres a team of software developers. An AI could track how much code each person produces each day, how many breaks they take, and the quality of the work. If one team member is slacking off, the boss would know.

AI will continuously track each individual's performance and report data to employers on a review cycle of their choice, said Andre Lavoie, the CEO and cofounder of the talent acquisition and management firm ClearCompany. If necessary, it can also track the amount of time spent browsing on the internet versus relevant activity, and even time periods of inactivity.

CAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELP THWART RANSOMWARE?

Theres already a precedent for this type of productivity monitoring.

Matt Fleckenstein, a spokesperson for workflow company Nintex, told Fox News that many companies already track employee browsing habits. Its a way to make sure workers do not violate workplace regulations, and the software is already widely used.

He said, where AI can help is to determine the intent. Someone might be browsing articles all day, but there might be a good reason for that -- such as conducting research.

HOW AI AND TECH COULD STRENGTHEN AMERICAS BORDER WALL

AI can help identify web surfing patterns and then correlate those behaviors back to impact on actual job performance  is that behavior helping an individual to close more (or fewer) sales deals, be more (or less) effective at giving sales pitches, or is that behavior simply irrelevant to performance, he added, noting that the AI would improve productivity, not spy on slackers. He says the goal would be to point out to workers where they can be more efficient.

Microsoft is already well on the path to sniffing out productivity problems. The Workplace Analytics add-on for Microsoft Office can tell who has sent the most emails in a day, and its able to see if meetings you attend might not make sense for your role at a company.

A spokesperson at Microsoft said the data is never used to identify slackers, however. The data is always aggregated and de-identified as a way to maintain privacy.

HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COULD BATTLE SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Of course, the experts say these AI agents will be a welcome innovation for bosses.

When an employee is nabbed for doing something a boss couldn't see with her own eyes, that's when we start to get into a grey area, said Craycraft. If you're not working as hard as you can and your productivity is measurable with AI, your job may soon be at risk. Employees will not welcome an increase in surveillance with open arms. Workers will likely organize and begin to fight back against AI similarly to how unions have historically fought automation.

The word of caution? AI will be presented as a productivity enhancer. Yet, if you goof off, the experts say there is a good chance the AI might auto-generate a pink slip.
With more than 3,300 pounds of weapons, the fierce Super Tucano can swoop in to unleash hefty firepower from above and save lives of warfighters on the ground.

The A-29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft looks like a Latin spin throwback to the World War II era of iconic American fighters- but make no mistake this aircraft is a modern hybrid of low tech and high tech fit to fight current threats.

The Super Tucano is currently taking part in the U.S. Air Force's exciting Light Attack Experiment. The A-29 that is part of the Experiment is a partnership between Brazilian firm Embraer and U.S. firm Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). The aircraft is built in Jacksonville, Florida.

The U.S. Air Force has also selected the Super Tucano for Afghanistan.

Providing the best possible close air support for American forces on the ground is incredibly important. Aircraft like the Super Tucano that are participating in the Light Attack Experiment offer some different advantages to deploying fighter jets.

MEET THE WOLVERINE - WWII STYLE WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART TECH

The planes rugged landing gear, as just one example, means that it can land on mere dirt and does not need to operate from major bases with lots of runway so it provides the opportunity to have aircraft closer by at forward operating bases when forces are in need.

On the outside the plane may look retro, but that airframe is armored and designed to withstand +7G/-3.5G loads. And that is just for starters, because it is chock filled with advanced tech  including an impressive array of weapons.

How Super Tucano fights from above

With the 1,600 SHP Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68/3 turboprop engine, it can reach the fight fast with a maximum speed of about 370 mph.

Once there, Super Tucano can also keep constantly near the fight  even within thousands of feet is possible  as opposed to flying in large multiple-mile radius circles. This means that the aircraft can more immediately react and respond to things evolving on the ground.

MEET THE COMBAT CROP DUSTER, ARMED AND ARMORED TO JOIN THE FIGHT

In fact, Super Tucano can fight from the air at less than 1,000 feet above the ground battle.

From there, the aircraft can protect forces unleashing weapons from above for more than three hours  whereas fast jets may only be able to help for a mere fraction of that time before they need to refuel at bases that are often a great distance away.

Flying this close can also importantly help pilots prevent friendly fire accidents in the midst of intense, rapidly changing firefights.

3,300 pounds of weapons

Super Tucano carries an array of weapons that no enemy would want to see heading their way.

AMAZING EXPERIMENTAL ATTACK PLANES ON SHOW

In fact, five hard points under the wing and fuselage allow the aircraft to bring more than 3,300 pounds of weapons to a fight.

In addition to two internal machine guns, it can bring two .50" machine guns in the wings, with each unleashing 200 rounds for powerful close support of ground forces.

Rocket launchers like the LAU-68 and bombs like the Mk 81 or Mk 82 equipped with guidance kits are two other sorts of firepower it can unload to defeat enemy forces.

If the Super Tucano is under attack from an enemy plane, then it can unleash short-range air-air missiles like the AIM-9 Sidewinders  just like jets.

POWERFUL AIRCRAFT FROM AROUND THE WORLD IMPRESS AT UK MILITARY AIRSHOW

In addition to armor, the air crews safety is enhanced with advanced tech like MAWS (Missile Approach Warning System) and RWR (Radar Warning Receiver). It also has cunning modern tech like chaff and flares to defeat enemy attacks.

GO INSIDE A DANGEROUS MISSION WITH THIS MARINE CORPS FIGHTER PILOT

Modern targeting for precise attacks

Modern missions often happen at night. The aircraft has been designed to be compatible with this need - from NVG Gen. III infra-red vision capability to details like cockpit and external lights that are compatible with NVG.

The electro optical infrared system helps the pilots recognize targets by collecting images around the clock, both day and night. FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) supplies digitized thermal imaging.

The advanced laser designator and pointer is integrated with the weapons system and enhances precise attack.

Low tech, high tech Hybrid

The armament is synced up with a state-of-the-art avionics and sensor systems.

Inside that classic retro look, it isnt just the approach to weaponry that blends low tech and high tech for maximum impact.

NEW KING STALLION HELICOPTER BOOSTS MARINES' AERIAL POWER

There is also highly advanced tracking, interception and surveillance tech. The planes communications are highly advanced.

The Super Tucano has an encrypted digital anti-interception and jamming V/UHF radio, so sending and receiving data like targets can be secure.

How the Navy SEALs transformed the Tucano into a Super Tucano

U.S. Navy SEALs often identify the very best technology and then trailblaze with it.

The SEALS spotted the potential of the Tucano and fought hard for it to be adopted to provide better close air support, transforming it into the Super Tucano.

LEARN WHAT LIFE IS TRULY LIKE INSIDE SEAL TEAM 6 WITH THIS SNIPER

Brazilian company Embraer built Tucano especially to provide close-in air power for typical South American and African firefight scenarios. Tucano had a proven track record of being well suited to fight wars in Latin America.

The Navy refitted a Tucano, ramped it up and tested it.

PARIS AIR SHOW: 4 EXCITING NEW AIRCRAFT FEATURED

The result? The birth of the A-29B Super Tucano and an aircraft that would prove the SEALS right time and again downrange. It performed so well that the Super Tucano stable grew.

The Super Tucano is a great example of how Navy SEAL teams quietly revolutionize how tech is used to provide critical advantages. Thanks to their early adoption, innovations sometimes eventually make their way into hands of wider American forces equipping them with better advantages too.
You know what also takes a hit when disaster strikes? Opinion slingers like me, who are sidelined as we become -- like you -- witnesses to real news. When all you have are visuals of human misery and human spirit, who needs me? The only thing that matters is helping the helpless.

And as real news erupts, crud like identity politics, MTV Awards and Kathy Griffin return to where they belong: toys in the closet, suddenly outgrown and forgettable.

Shallow minds can't survive a flood. Although some have tried: Slate calls the heroism we've seen a "myth"; climate change apostles use crisis to mock skeptics; academics joke about karma; the media knocks Melania for her shoes and knock Mr. Trump for lack of empathy.

To that last point: What did emotional expression get you in Katrina? Governor Blanco shed tears, while delaying National Guard troops for days. Mayor Nagin shouted on TV, but what about those buses left unused then ruined, or the Red Cross being delayed entry to New Orleans? Ultimately, Blanco went away, Nagin's in jail and President Bush won't be noted for turning the other cheek when both blamed him for their errors.

Now, it's too soon to judge Mr. Trump. But you know it's coming. Just weeks ago the media used an evil act in Charlottesville to indict America. Now Harvey arrives to repudiate that notion, righting a perspective that had been wrong for so long.

We aren't what the media says we are: divided, hateful, evil. What the news has been telling us for years has been dispelled in just a few days. There's no room for spin when you see those rescues with your own eyes. Americans are what those pictures are: selfless, colorblind, inspiring.

The news may be bad, but for once it shows us who you really are in times of crisis: good.
Fans at this weekends Chicago Cubs games shouldnt be surprised to see a picket line out in front of Wrigley Field  but its not the parks employees who are up in arms.

The Chicago Business Journal reports that two labor unions representing American Airlines mechanics are planning to protest outside the stadium over fears that their jobs will be outsourced to South America and China. According to the Dallas News, the Transit Workers Union had also been negotiating for a new contract with the carrier since 2015, following Americans merger with U.S. Airways.

CHICAGO CUBS RELEASE THREE CEREALS FOLLOWING WORLD SERIES WIN

As for why theyre picketing at Wrigley Field? American Airlines was chosen as the official airline of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field in 2015, and American serves as the Cubs' only airline sponsor.

American Airlines, meanwhile, claims the company has recently offered the TWU a new contract, but the workers have yet to respond.

In a statement obtained by Fox News, a spokesperson for the airline said American is proud to employ more maintenance and fleet service team members, and do more maintenance and fleet service work in-house, than any other U.S. airline. Thats the case today and will remain the case under the proposal we have presented to the TWU-IAM Association.

"Were incredibly thankful for our skilled and well-trained team and want to get them an industry-leading contract as soon as possible. We look forward to the Associations response to our comprehensive proposal we offered last month.

AMERICAN AIRLINES 'UNABLE TO SUBSTANTIATE' LENA DUNHAM'S CLAIMS

The backlash over American Airlines business plans can be traced back as far as March, shortly after workers at the airlines maintenance plants in the United States learned of the companys plans to build a multi-million dollar maintenance facility in Brazil. In response to this, as well as the contract dispute, AA workers organized a picket line at the Dallas Fort Worth National Airport in July, attracting more than a thousand picketers, according to Dallas News.

But in March, the airline also claimed that the opening of its Brazil facility will not impact work already done in Tulsa and the U.S., and that the hangar will be used for only light repairs and mantenance, rather than complete rebuilds, reported News On 6.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The groups also saw an increase in pay as far back as August 2016, but a union leader told CBS Dallas he's not just worried about money.

Its not about the pay. Its about everything that goes around the pay, Greg Cosey, the vice president of Local 513, told CBS Dallas shortly before the July protest. Its about benefits. Its about the future of our members, really.
The hotel parent company that manages the inn which barred a Texas family from lodging their three dogs after they evacuated their home as a result of Hurricane Harvey has issued a public apology to the family.

The InterContinental Hotels Group said in a statement Wednesday that it apologizes to the Parker family for their experience at this hotel, which has been accepting guests pets during the storm.

HARVEY VICTIMS DOGS NOT WELCOME AT THIS HOTEL

We are working to understand what occurred in this instance, and are communicating to our franchisees in the impacted areas to do all they can to accommodate pets.

The Parker family was left stunned Sunday night after they fled their home in New Territory and traveled to the area of Katy where they found the only open hotel they could  a Holiday Inn Express and Suites, which cited its no-pet policy as a reason why the family was not allowed to bring their dogs inside.

AT LEAST 100 DOGS FROM TEXAS SHELTER AIRLIFTED TO NEW JERSEY

The hotel company added, As the region continues to feel impacts from the storm, we are highly sensitive to the needs of those affected during this extremely difficult time and are working diligently to best accommodate guests and their needs, and comfort those seeking relief at IHG hotels.

TEXANS BRAVE HARVEY TO SAVE THEIR DOGS

The Parkers have since left the hotel and sought shelter at a relatives home.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.
The suspect accused of killing a California sheriffs deputy Wednesday has a criminal history, court documents show.

Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, was in critical condition Thursday with life-threatening injuries after a brief shootout with police. Littlecloud is suspected of fatally shooting 52-year-old Sacramento County Sheriffs Deputy Robert French at a hotel, according to the county sheriffs Sgt. Tony Turnbull.

Littlecloud is also suspected of wounding two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers who are expected to survive.

Turnbull said Littlecloud used a high-powered rifle Wednesday to shoot through a closed door and wall and injure the two CHP officers who were demanding to enter his hotel room.

CALIFORNIA DEPUTY KILLED AT SACRAMENTO HOTEL, TWO STATE TROOPERS WOUNDED

The sergeant said Littlecloud then went to the rooms balcony, and fatally shot French before jumping down to the parking lot and speeding away in a stolen car.

Police caught Littlecloud and arrested him after a brief shootout.

Since 2004, Littlecloud had been sentenced four separate times to California prison for a variety of offenses: assault with a semi-automatic weapon, grand theft and evading a police officer.

Court records also show that a judge ordered Littleclouds arrest after he didnt show up for court twice in July, after he agreed to a plea deal to resolve a drug, gun and identity theft case.

Littlecloud served six years in prison for assault with a semi-automatic weapon, a jail term for possession of an illegal sawed-off shotgun, and served three years in 2013 for evading a police officer and possession of a gun.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury on four felony charges in San Francisco federal court in June 2016. He was released from jail two months later pending trial after his stepmother used a home to secure his $100,000 bail.

The U.S. Marshals Service was looking to arrest Littlecloud.

In Sacramento on Wednesday, the two CHP officers were on an undercover assignment to investigate a car theft ring when they saw two women driving away in a stolen vehicle, which led to a high-speed pursuit.

THREE CALIFORNIA OFFICERS SHOT AT SACRAMENTO HOTEL, SUSPECTS ARRESTED

The officers went back to one of the womens hotel rooms, where they encountered Littlecloud.

Littlecloud was found with a rifle and a high-capacity magazine, which are illegal to buy in California, Turnbull said.

Six other sheriff's deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted, and the Sacramento County District Attorney's office will conduct an independent review.

Its unclear how the woman whose hotel room police searched, Priscilla Prendez, 23, is connected to Littlecloud.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
When a would-be kidnapper attacked 10-year-old Georgia boy Sebastian Solache, the child put his karate knowledge to the test.

An intruder approached the Solache home in Hall County late Tuesday afternoon, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Solache was in the driveway when a man grabbed him from behind and attempted to drag him toward the back of a neighboring house.

The young boy decided to use his understanding of karate to protect himself from the stranger.

He drags me and I elbow him in the ribs, Solache told Fox 5. From there he slammed me on the floor and ran.

Thats when Solache ran into his home, where his mom discovered him frightened.

"I was fixing them something to eat when I heard him slam the door and lock it. He was just crying, having a panic attack. He told me, 'somebody tried to take me, mommy, Flor Solache said, before noting she saw the man running away when she looked out the window.

I just felt proud of myself that I was able to escape, Sebastian said.

BOY, 11, RAISES THOUSANDS TO SAVE HIS SICK DOG'S LIFE

Hall County Sheriffs Deputy Stephen Wilbanks told Fox 5 that Sebastian did everything right during the encounter  screamed and fought back.

"Criminals and predators such as this are looking for easy prey. Our advice is, don't be that victim, fight with everything you have," Wilbanks said.

Investigators described the unknown man as white, with dark pants and a white shirt, with a black cloth covering his face.

Click here to read more from Fox 5 Atlanta.
The Latest on a court hearing for a follower of Charles Manson who is seeking to introduce evidence of the role her youth may have played in two murders she committed (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

A former member of Charles Manson's "family" has testified that the cult leader once threatened to have her killed if she left the group.

Catherine Share testified Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of fellow member Leslie Van Houten.

Van Houten's lawyer wants to show a state parole board next week that his client was under the sway of the charismatic and violent leader when she was a teen.

A change in California law allows the board to consider that criminals under age 23 are more likely to make bad decisions.

Share says Manson got another member to agree to hunt her down if she ever left the ranch where they lived.

Share did not know if Van Houten was ever threatened or told she couldn't leave.

___

9:47 a.m.

A former member of Charles Manson's murderous cult is expected to get a court hearing to evaluate the role of her young age in the killing of a California couple four decades ago.

Leslie Van Houten is not expected to attend the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.

The 68-year-old is serving a life sentence at the California Institution for Women.

A recent change in California law enables those who committed crimes when they were less than 23 years old to seek a hearing and for these issues to be later discussed at a parole hearing.

Van Houten was 19 when she stabbed to death Leno and Rosemary La Bianca in 1969 with fellow cult members.
As the Labor Day weekend arrives, Parkland motorists are experiencing sticker shock as the typical holiday rise in gas prices takes hold coupled with this week's shutdown of refineries along the Gulf Coast.

Petroleum industry experts have been warning that gasoline prices could jump 10 percent or more nationwide by Labor Day weekend and it appears that southeast Missouri is seeing quite a substantial increase in prices.

To offer some perspective, one year ago the average cost for a regular gallon of gas in the state was $2.074; a month ago, $2.070; a week ago, $2,094; and Thursday, $2.405.

Locally, the range of gas prices is unusually broad and motorists wanting to fill up could save some cash by doing some comparison shopping. For instance, as of Thursday evening, customers filling up at local pumps could pay as little as $1.99 a gallon in Doe Run and Park Hills or as much as $2.29 to $2.49 a gallon at Rhodes 101 stations in Farmington and Desloge.

The average price for a gallon of regular appeared to be selling in the $2.24 to $2.29 range. Note, however, that prices are rising so quickly, that the prices mentioned in this story may no longer be accurate by Friday morning.

The good news is that the price jump is expected to be temporary if refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast can get back in operation quickly. However, there is a risk that prices could go much higher if there is any damage to a major refinery or pipeline  or it takes a long time to bring the refineries back online.

According to industry experts, more than 2 million barrels of refining capacity were taken offline as Hurricane Harvey pounded the state of Texas with record-breaking rain and flooding.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy, had said he expected to see gas prices start to move up Tuesday and Wednesday as retailers made adjustments to rising wholesale prices.

"The Gulf Coast over the next week will probably see prices go up anywhere from 15 cents to 30 cents per gallon," he said. Prices for some parts of the Midwest like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio will probably rise about 15 to 25 cents, he said.

Analysts said it is unclear whether any Houston area refineries have had serious damage, since operators are not providing much information. It is also unclear how soon workers will be able to return to their jobs.


Flooding from Harvey is expected to continue for days following the storm's final landfall in the United States.

Record-breaking rainfall has occurred in parts of Texas, including Beaumont, which has been drenched by more than 40 inches of rain between Aug. 26 and Aug. 29.

Shelters are swelling to capacity as hundreds of thousands of displaced people seek help following the storm. Water damage, mold and disease-ridden water will possibly render parts of Houston inhabitable for weeks and possibly months.

The number of people killed by the storm is also expected to rise as rescuers slowly begin to shift to the recovery phase in impacted areas. So far, Harvey has claimed the lives of at least 36 people.

Dr. Joel N. Myers, AccuWeather's founder, president and chairman, stated that Harvey will be "the worst natural disaster in American history."



10 photos that capture the utter devastation from Harvey



Harvey's shelter crisis: Where are the thousands of evacuees?



Rescuers work tirelessly to protect animals amid Harvey's calamity



Flooding catastrophe from Harvey to persist in Texas, Louisiana as locally severe storms erupt

7:00 p.m. CDT Thursday: Rescue efforts are still ongoing even though rain from Harvey ended days ago.

The US Coast Guard has rescued or assisted at least 6,000 people sting rescue efforts began. Some rescue teams have had to break through the roofs of houses to reach the people trapped inside.





People that may be in contact with flood waters should use caution as they can be dangerous and lead to illness.

"A Texas A&M University analysis of floodwater samples from the Houston area shows E. coli levels that are 125 times higher than is considered safe for swimming," the Associated Press said.



6:10 p.m. CDT Thursday: The threat of tornadoes will continue across parts of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi into tonight.

An emergency manager reported tornado damage near Mount Pleasant, Tennessee after a severe storm moved through the area earlier in the afternoon. Another storm capable of producing a tornado also tracked near Nashville, Tennessee.



5:40 p.m. CDT Thursday: Some gas stations near areas hit hard by Harvey are running out of fuel.

Price gouging has been reported in the Dallas Fort-Worth area as people line up to fill their cars with gas.





The head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry is urging people to wait three or four days to fill their cars and trucks with gasoline if they can, the Associated Press said.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 10 Gulf Coast refineries shut down, according to the Energy Department.



4:05 p.m. CDT Thursday: Several tornadoes have touched down in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee with thunderstorms associated with Harvey.

These tornadoes have lead to some damage, including bringing down trees and power lines in Booneville, Mississippi.





Meanwhile, Houston public schools have announced that classes will start on Sept. 11 due to Harvey. This is two weeks later than when school was originally scheduled to begin.

1:52 p.m. CDT Thursday: Major health risks could arise this weekend as temperatures will be in the lower 90s in the Houston area through Saturday. Combined with high humidity levels, it will feel rather uncomfortable, especially for those outside cleaning up after Harvey.

"Temperatures will be in the lower 90s in the Houston area [and] RealFeel temperatures will be well into the 100s F during the afternoon. Air quality levels, largely due to ozone, will be unhealthy for sensitive groups," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Jordan Root.

Those conditions could be particularly dangerous for anyone who remains stranded in flooded areas or without power in their homes.


A man in Texas is behind bars after he falsely claimed he was assaulted by another man, but actually assaulted himself, according to a report.

Frank Stuart Nixon Jr., of Wichita Falls, alerted authorities to an intersection Wednesday morning, where they found him sitting on a curb with a piece of bloodied cloth held to his head, the Times Record News reported.

Nixon told police that two men jumped from a pickup truck and one of them hit him in the head with a hammer.

KARATE KID: GEORGIA BOY FIGHTS OFF ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPER WITH MARTIAL ARTS

Nixon was taken to a hospital for treatment, where he gave police more details of his alleged assault. Nixon said he and his attacker had had confrontations before, and that the two were texting back and forth throughout the morning when the attacker told Nixon hed attack him again.

Thats when an emergency room nurse told law enforcement that Nixons story conflicted with a woman's story, and that the woman wanted to speak to the police, according to the Times Record report.

The woman said Nixons wound was actually self-inflicted: he had hit his own head with a cinder block.

She added that Nixon was angry when she wouldnt leave with him. Nixon allegedly grabbed the womans phone, which was near her face, and left scratch marks on her.

Nixon has been charged with assault family violence and giving a false police report, and is being held in the Wichita County Jail.
After Harvey's wrath subsided, a Texas man stopped by his flooded home to grab a few things  but not before taking a moment to play his piano and "see the beauty in the suffering."

In a video posted to Instagram, Friendswood resident Aric Harding, took a few moments to play a simple song on his piano, all while sitting in knee-deep water.

Harding, in the post's caption, wrote: "I went back to our street today because as you guys have probably seen the water has come back with a vengeance. I hope this was its high point," he said, before adding he stopped home in Friendswood to pick up some of his kids' favorite toys to keep them occupied.

"I think it's all finally sinking in a little," the post continued. "What we used to have going as a city is gone," the post continued.

TROPICAL STORM HARVEY REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: GETTING BACK TO NORMAL, SLOWLY

As a man of faith, Harding said he believes "God is going to do something completely new here. I am excited to see the new beauty in the suffering," before quoting a Bible passage from the book of Romans.

Harding told the Star-Telegram that the water in his home receded Wednesday morning, and that, with help from his church, the clean-up process at his house has started.

Coastal town Friendswood, around 40 minutes south of Houston, was hit particularly hard on Saturday night when Harvey made landfall, but Harding told the Telegram the town is eager to help in the aftermath.

"The whole town is buzzing with people helping each other," he said.
Alligators, toxic waters, mold and risk of electrocution are just a few of the myriad dangers greeting Houston residents returning to their flood-ravaged homes on Friday, as the toll of Hurricane Harvey continues to be felt long after the rains have subsided.

Even as the Lone Star State began to dry out, the stagnant water pooled in streets and drenched into carpets continued to make life perilous.

Theres no need to test it, Houston Health Department spokesperson Porfirio Villarreal told The New York Times. Its contaminated. Theres millions of contaminants.

Simply stepping in the water posed risks.

Were telling people to avoid the floodwater as much as possible, Villarreal said. Dont let your children play in it. And if you do touch it, wash it off. Remember, this is going to go on for weeks.

Other officials warned household chemicals stored under sinks and in cabinets would now be mixed in with the several feet of flood waters that flowed into homes, further contaminating the area.

In many areas, streets had begun to dry out but remained clogged with soggy furniture, carpet and wood.

Health experts warned that sewage in the floodwater could make people sick and that mosquito populations could explode in the coming weeks because stagnant water offers abundant breeding grounds.

The residents of Beaumont, near the Texas-Louisiana line, lost their public water supply, and Texas abundance of private wells supplying drinking water also posed another problem.

Dr. David Persee, Houstons director of Emergency Medical Services, told The New York Times, though officials were monitoring the drinking water, the well owner was ultimately responsible for ensuring the water was safe for drinking.

In the City of Houston, we have folks that use well water but we strongly recommend against it  and this will sound awful  we dont take responsibility for it, Persse said.

Electrical dangers also loomed.

On Tuesday in Houston, Andrew Pasek died after he stepped into a yard where a landscape light had electrified the flood water, KTRK reported.

They couldn't even help my son. They couldn't resuscitate him. He was in electrified water, Andrews mother, Jodell Pasek, said.

Harvey has already claimed at least 39 lives, and rescue workers searching door-to-door knew that figure could still rise.

"We don't think we're going to find any humans, but we're prepared if we do," said District Chief James Pennington of the Houston Fire Department.

After electricity and backup generators failed at a Crosby chemical plant, temperature controls ceased to work and explosions began to spontaneously occur.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas environmental regulators called the health risks minimal in Crosby, but urged residents downwind to stay indoors with windows closed to avoid inhaling the smoke.

The Texas environmental agency called the smoke especially acrid and irritating and said it could impair breathing and inflame the eyes, nose and throat."

In Anahuac, armed alligator farm employees took to boats to guard their flooding business, ready to stop the 350 alligators inside from making their way out, The Washington Post reported.

Meanwhile, despite food drives and donations, a Port Arthur police sergeant told The Washington Post his city was running out of food and people were continuing to pour into its shelters.

With temperatures likely to climb to the low 90s over the weekend, residents were warned about the dangers of heat exhaustion, especially for people who lost power or must toil outdoors.
Chicago's Field Museum is making a prehistoric change next year, replacing the worlds biggest T. rex, known as Sue, with the largest land animal on record, Patagotitan mayorum.

A fiberglass skeleton of the 122-foot-long plant-eater, which roamed the Earth 100 million years ago, will take the spot of Sue next spring in the museums Stanley Field Hall.

The model, which will contain several genuine fossils that will be on display for two years, is being cast from fossils of seven Patagotitan individuals.

Sue will get an anatomy makeover, as well as a change in its stance before being placed in its new exhibit in spring of 2019.

We are making several adjustments to the skeleton to reflect new and improved knowledge, paleontologist Pete Makovicky, the museums associate curator of dinosaurs, told Reuters.

The museum bought the T. rex in 1990 at an auction for $8.4 million. It was named after the woman who discovered the dinosaur in South Dakota.
A tattoo-covered man, doing time for a bank robbery and an assault in prison, was captured Thursday night in Pennsylvania after he escaped from a New Hampshire halfway house Monday.

Eric Judkins, 42, fled the house in Manchester, N.H., prompting a manhunt, according to the Boston Globe. The U.S. Marshals released a mugshot of Judkins, reasoning the public could easily spot the uniquely tattooed man. The felons face, arms, head and neck are coated in black ink tattoos.

AUTHORITIES SEARCHING FOR HEAVILY TATTOOED ESCAPED INMATE

Mr. Judkins was an inmate at the Hampshire House Half-Way House in Manchester, N.H., and failed to return to the facility, a statement from the U.S. Marshals said. Judkins was serving part of a 27-month sentence for a serious assault that occurred while he was in a federal prison. This assault on an inmate occurred while Judkins was serving a 210-month sentence for a 1999 New Hampshire Bank Robbery.

Judkins was discovered and arrested at a residence in Howard, Pa., WBZ reported. The U.S. Marshal Service said they received a number of tips leading to his arrest.

Judkins was located in the company of another fugitive, Quintin Titus, 22, who was arrested on a probation violation, stemming from an original conviction for theft, the U.S. Marshals Service told WBZ.

This dangerous fugitive was quickly arrested due in part to the large number of tips that came into our office, combined with the tireless work of the investigators in both New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, U.S. Marshal David Cargill, Jr. told WBZ.

PENNSYLVANIA PARENTS WAIVE HEARING ON CRIB SUFFOCATION DEATH

Judkins and Titus were both in custody at the Lycoming County Prison in Williamsport, Pa., WBZ reported.

Judkins was scheduled to appear in court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Friday. It wasn't immediately known if he had a lawyer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A death-row inmate scheduled to be executed in Texas next week has received a three-month reprieve because of Hurricane Harvey.

A Bexar County judge issued an order Wednesday to delay the execution of 36-year-old Juan Castillo of San Antonio, which had been scheduled for next Thursday, because some members of Castillo's defense team work in Houston, the Texas Tribune reported.

The Bexar County District Attorneys Office, not the defense team, requested the delay.

"A portion of Mr. Castillo's defense team resides and works in Harris County and the surrounding areas, and has been affected by Hurricane Harvey," Assistant Criminal District Attorney Matthew Howard said, referring to the county that includes Houston. "Under the extraordinary circumstances, the State would move to withdraw the execution date and seek a new date."

Castillo was convicted of the 2003 robbery and murder of Tommy Garcia Jr. Court records say Castillo and three others planned to rob the man after luring him with the promise of sex, the Texas Tribune reported. When Garcia tried to escape, Castillo shot him.

After nearly 12 years in prison, Castillo will face execution Dec. 14.
A deputy district attorney was the victim of a gruesome gang attack in Orange County, Calif., in an apparent attempt to prevent her from giving closing arguments in a gang murder trial.

The woman, whose name has been withheld, stumbled -- bloody and bruised -- into the Newport Workout gym in Newport Beach early Thursday morning, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported. A trainer inside the gym came to her aid.

"It looked as if a bucket of red-blood paint was poured over her head and every part of her face and shirt was red," trainer Ron Cary told Fox 11, adding that he initially thought the woman had fallen while jogging.

"One of the trainers yelled, 'Call the police.' She didn't run and fall, she was attacked," Cary said. "I overheard her saying she either works for the DA or is the DA of San Bernardino and she's either in a trial or acting for the murder trial.

San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office spokesman Christopher Lee confirmed to Fox 11 the following: "A member of our office was involved in an incident that is currently under investigation."

Lee declined to comment further.

A law enforcement source told the local news station that the woman was about to give closing arguments in a gang murder trial and may have been targeted by gang members and that she's been followed before.

"I heard things coming out of her mouth like, 'Was I raped?,' 'I was unconscious. I don't know how long,' 'Are they here?,' 'Are they coming?' Still a little scatterbrained," Cary said. "We turned around and saw a woman who could barely walk covered head-to-toe in blood.

Newport Beach police say the woman was not sexually assaulted or robbed. The victim doesn't remember anything about her attackers, police said.

There were no arrests as of early Friday morning.

Click here for more from Fox 11 Los Angeles
Police in Missouri say they may have caught the "Indian Creek Killer," a serial murder suspect believed responsible for the deaths of five white middle-aged men in Kansas City over the last year.

Suspect Frederick Demond Scott, 22, allegedly fatally shot the five men between Aug. 19, 2016, and Aug. 13 this year. The first four victims were killed in remote areas, often near hiking spots as they walked dogs or visited parks, authorities said. Three of the men were shot in the back of the head.

Scott was captured following the fifth slaying, when, according to police, he deviated from his pattern of killing in secluded areas and instead attacked a man who had stepped off a bus in broad daylight, the Kansas City Star reported.

The motive for the killings remains unknown, police said, but Scott reportedly said his victims didnt see it coming.

According to court documents from a prior harassment case, Scott threatened in 2014 to shoot up a school Columbine-style, a reference to a 1999 mass slaying in Colorado, and wanted to kill all white people, the Kansas City Star reported. He was then sentenced to 180 days behind bars, but the sentence was later suspended and Scott was given probation.

The suspect's mother, however, denies her son harbors any race-based hostility.

As far as I know, Fredrick never had a problem with white people, she told the Star, adding that, He would do odd jobs for people and some of those people were white men.

Scott has so far been charged in two of the murders. All five men were shot with various types of ammunition, but mostly in just one shot, police said.

The most recent victim was 57-year-old Steven Gibbons, who was attacked in broad daylight in Kansas City after stepping off a bus and not noticing that the suspect was following him, police said.

Gibbons was shot in the back of his head while the killer fled the scene on another bus. The injured man survived for a day on life support before succumbing, police said.

Scott was identified through video footage acquired by police. In addition, Scott's DNA was found on a bottle and a cigarette at the scene, police said.

During questioning, Scott admitted his 9mm handgun killed Gibbons, but insisted the weapon fired accidentally, police said.

So far, he has been charged with the murders of Gibbons and John Palmer, 54.

Police said they believe Scott also may have killed David Lenox, 67; Timothy Rice, 57; and Mike Darby, 61.
The Labor Day holiday will be highlighted by tranquil and rain-free conditions for most of the country.

However, wet weather may put a damper on the holiday across parts of the Midwest.

Meanwhile, thunderstorms will bubble up along the Gulf coast, possibly slowing the recession of waters in communities hit by Harveys disastrous flooding.

Rain to return to Gulf Coast as devastating flooding persists

Thunderstorms with localized downpours will stretch from Texas to Florida as moisture flows northward from the Gulf of Mexico.

Any additional rainfall will only add insult to injury across southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, slowing the recession of floodwaters from Harvey and making it even more difficult for communities to get back on their feet.

The stormy conditions will stem from an area of disturbed weather over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Downpours will be enhanced should this system organize and gather strength. However, this scenario appears unlikely at this point.





Those spending the holiday at the beaches along the Gulf coast should be on the lookout for towering and darkening clouds. Head indoors or to a vehicle at the first rumble of thunder or stroke of lightning.

The interior South will enjoy a dry, sunny and warm holiday.

Storms to rattle Midwest

Those with outdoor plans from Michigan to Missouri may have to run for cover at a moments notice as showers and thunderstorms blossom late Monday afternoon and evening.

The stormy conditions will erupt ahead of a push of cool air more reminiscent of late-September.

While the risk for widespread severe weather with these storms is low, some of the storms could turn strong, AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said.

Any storm that does erupt could bring brief heavy rain, dangerous lightning strikes and gusty winds. Tents and other outdoor items should be properly secured to prevent them from blowing over.

Holiday gatherings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago and Detroit could be impacted by the stormy weather following a dry and sunny start to the day. Storms may hold off in St. Louis until Monday night.

Dangerous heat, wildfires threat to persist out West

Unseasonably hot air will continue to be on the rise across the West, making it a necessity for those spending time outdoors to wear light-colored clothing and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

With the hot and dry conditions, anyone who plans on setting off fireworks to celebrate the holiday will need to be very careful, as there will be a risk of starting a wildfire, Adamson said.

Those with respiratory sensitivities may need to limit time outdoors due to poor air quality from nearby wildfires.

Northeast to dry out in time for the holiday

After dealing with damp and cool conditions from Harvey through Sunday, the Northeast will dry out and warm up on Monday.

Any lingering rain from Harvey will end early in the day across northern Maine.

Temperatures will recover to the 70s and 80s F on Monday afternoon after being stuck 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit below normal on Saturday and Sunday.
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A Massachusetts man convicted of child rape and animal abuse has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced 33-year-old Gary Roses sentencing Thursday.

Prosecutors say the Fall River man sexually and physically assaulted his girlfriends children, fatally poisoned the family cat with automotive fluid and kicked two family dogs. One dog was kicked in the face and lost teeth while the other was kicked down a stairwell.

CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER CONVICTED OF CHILD RAPE FREED EARLY

He was arrested in 2015 and charged with rape of a child, strangulation, indecent assault and battery on a person under 14 and animal cruelty.

Quinn describes Rose as having a sick and demented mind. He says the mans prison sentence will protect the victims, who have since moved out of the state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this week accepted Mexicos offer of assistance as the state grapples with the effects of Hurricane Harvey.

In a diplomatic note to Abbott, Mexicos undersecretary for North American relations, Carlos Sada, offered a laundry list of items the country could send to the Lone Star State as it deals with the historic and devastating flooding caused by Harvey. The list included offers of troops, food, medicine, portable showers and water among other items.

"Texas and Mexico share more than half the border," Sada said. "There are families, marriages, businesses that bind our two sides. This is about being good neighbors."

More on this...

Mexicos offer to help comes at a time of strained relations between the country and the United States as President Trump repeatedly calls on Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall.

Adding to the tension are the negotiations beginning Friday between the U.S., Mexico and Canada to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave. Also adding to the tension is the expected announcement by Trump to do away with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, the Obama administration program that protected from deportation hundreds of thousands of young people living in the country illegally.

"We're in a critical and delicate negotiation with NAFTA," Ricardo Ainslie, director of the Mexico Center at the University of Texas at Austin, told Governing. "Mexico has been the brunt of a lot of highly pressured, hostile rhetoric. So I think it's very interesting that Mexico is saying in so many words, 'Hey, we're present, and we're critical to things that happen in Texas.' They're showing real political maturity."

Trump has yet to publicly weigh in on Mexicos aid offer, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this week praised the generosity of America's southern neighbor.

Its very generous for Mexico to offer to help in this very, very challenging time, Tillerson said, according to the Washington Post.

Department of Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert added that the leaders of Canada and Mexico had called the White House to offer condolences and assistance.

"The president was deeply touched by those phone calls," Bossert said, noting that no decisions on the federal level have been made regarding the offers.

This is not the first time that Mexico has offered assistance to the U.S. following a major natural disaster. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mexico sent troops in a convoy of 45 vehicles to Texas, where they set up camp at the former Kelly Air Force Base near San Antonio and served 170,000 meals, distributed 184,000 tons of supplies and conducted hundreds of medical consultations. The country also sent humanitarian aid to New Orleans after Katrina.

While the Mexicans were in the U.S., former President George W. Bush met with their military personnel to personally thank them for their help.

Mexico and Canada aren't the only countries to offer to help with Harvey relief efforts. Trump earlier this week accepted Singapores offer to lend four of its CH-47 Chinook helicopters for rescue efforts. The European Union is sharing its satellite mapping technology with U.S. emergency responders, and Venezuela  suffering its own political and economic crisis  offered $5 million in aid to the U.S.

Still, experts say, offers of foreign aid have been much less than during previous disasters and this may be linked to global resentment over Trumps America First policy.

"Foreign governments are holding back, and that hasnt been the case historically, Markos Kounalakis, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, told Politico. They appear to be much more cautious, whether its for domestic political reasons or displeasure with President Trump. Do they want to be seen as helping Trump?

Other observers, however, said that the dearth of aid offers has less do with Trump and more to do with a feeling that the U.S. has the situation with Harvey more under control than it did with Katrina.

Also, offers of foreign aid are usually about gaining some sort of political favor because "there's actually very few areas where the United States needs foreign assistance," Heritage Foundation official James Carafano told Politico.
Eight Penn State frat brothers wont face manslaughter and assault charges for a sophomore pledge's death during a booze-filled hazing ritual, a judge ruled Friday.

Tim Piazza, 19, fell down a set of stairs and suffered fatal injuries after prosecutors said pledges were forced to down nearly a half-gallon of vodka and were then made to run a gauntlet of booze-drinking stations.

District Justice Allen Sinclair threw out the felony charges against the eight Beta Thea Pi fraternity members but let stand lesser charges against them and six others. He dismissed charges altogether against four of the members of the now-shuttered fraternity.

Piazzas parents, Jim and Evelyn, of Lebanon, N.J., who sat in the front row for the proceedings, declined to comment on the ruling as they left the courthouse, Philly.com reported.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said the Piazzas were shocked by the ruling, the website reported.

The fraternity members and parents were relieved, according to Philly.com.

Security video of the incident recorded Piazza appearing intoxicated and being led to a couch after 11 p.m. A few minutes later, he fell head-first down a set of basement stairs and had to be carried back up in an unconscious state.

For several hours, members of the fraternity appeared to take half-hearted and even counterproductive measures to tend to their injured friend, pouring liquid on him and strapping on a loaded backpack to prevent him from rolling over and choking on vomit.

Prosecutors said said some of the frat brothers typed What do to for a head injury on Google while Piazza was unconscious.

Charges that remain range from reckless endangerment to alcohol violations and hazing.

"Obviously now the teeth have really been taken out of the commonwealth's case," defense attorney Michael Engle said.

Sinclairs ruling came after a 7-day preliminary hearing.

Miller said she will seek to have involuntary manslaughter charges reinstated. She said may also seek to refile felony charges of aggravated assault. Defense attorneys say they will oppose such efforts.

Defense attorneys argued that their clients' roles were minimal or their actions did not amount to criminal behavior. They argued the students had little reason to anticipate tragic results from a night that also included an alcohol-fueled social mixer with a sorority group.

"Yes, there's excessive drinking on college campuses," defense attorney Theodore Simon said Thursday. "That does not transform it into criminal behavior."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Iowa preschool teacher convicted of being drunk at work appeared in court Thursday -- intoxicated again, court records showed.

Angela Hircock, 43, from Winterset, was arrested in March after co-workers told authorities they thought she was drunk at her preschool teaching job at "Lil Scholars Too Day Care Center" in West Des Moines.

Cops said a breathalyzer test showed Hircocks blood alcohol content was 0.37 -- nearly five times the legal limit of 0.08 and high enough to possibly warrant hospitalization. She was immediately fired from the preschool and charged with child endangerment and public intoxication, pleading guilty in July. Her expected sentence was two years probation.

But during her sentencing Thursday, Hircock showed up drunk again, this time blowing a .178 BAC, according to court documents. She was placed in jail, awaiting a pending substance abuse evaluation.

On the day she was initially arrested at work, Hircock allegedly admitted to police she had been drinking throughout the day using her water bottle to hide the alcohol, The Des Moines Register reported. Hircock also told co-workers her intoxication may have been related to her diabetes condition, according to a police report.

Authorities said at the time of her arrest, she had bloodshot eyes, was unable to stand on her own and swayed in her seat.

Lil Scholars Too director Marci Johnston told KCCI Hircock went to lunch for a while and, when she returned, staff members found her in the break room.

That day, Hircock had been supervising young children but reportedly didnt interact with any students after drinking.

As soon as we had any clue there was something going on with her we immediately called her into the office," Johnston said.

Hircock is scheduled for a new court hearing Sept. 8.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A federal judge has ordered the FBI to disclose more details on how the agency handled Hillary Clintons secret email account.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said court papers that describe the grand jury subpoenas the FBI obtained to press for information from Clintons internet service providers can be made available to the public, the Washington Times reported.

After reviewing the document in camera, the court concludes that it largely rehashes information already made public, thus obviating any need for secrecy, the judge said.

Two groups, Judicial Watch and Cause of Action Institute, have been pressing the government for more information about the Clinton emails, and they say the ruling is a victory for transparency.

This order makes public details submitted by the government about the FBIs efforts to recover then-Secretary Clintons unlawfully removed emails. Americans deserve to know the full scope of that investigation, COA President John J. Vecchione told the newspaper.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said he doesnt understand why the Trump administration was still backing the Obama administrations fight against transparency.

President Trump ought to be outraged his appointees are protecting Hillary Clinton, Fitton said. The State Department should initiate action with the Justice Department  and both agencies should finally take the necessary steps to recover all the government emails Hillary Clinton unlawfully removed.

Clintons critics have said the FBI needs to make a more robust effort to try to recover those messages that were lost after the server, which was kept at her private home, was wiped clean.

The FBI this week also refused an open-records request from a lawyer seeking the bureaus file on the investigation, claiming there was too little public interest in the case to outweigh Clintons privacy interests.

Click here for more from the Washington Times
After millions of raindrops, thousands of evacuations, spectacular shows of Texas grit, humanity and humility, what lies ahead for Houston is now here  and sometimes its bittersweet.

Its in the tears of 8-year-old Tony Holmes. The years have been tough for the second grader. He lost both parents by the age of 3. He lives with his aunt Angela and her four kids. He knows the sharp sting of reality. It isnt going to get any better. Not immediately anyway.

He knows it because hes lived it.

Tony is one of 30,000 still in Houston-area shelters.

For Houstonians like him, moments when you lose everything you thought you knew, loved, cherished when they are gone in an instant, you look at life differently.

The sharp sting of reality is that life isnt going to get any better for Tony. Not immediately, anyway.

But like Tonys world, Houston will eventually heal.

Houston Strong  the city will still stand proudly long after the media vans now piled on top of one another drive away from the George R. Brown Convention Center, and after headline-grabbing gator fears pass through the news cycle and after the spotlight of the nation is turned to another corner of the country.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that getting his state back in order would be a massive, massive clean-up process. Its going to be larger than Katrina, he said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced more than 37,000 homes have had major damage and another 7,000 have been destroyed by Harvey. FEMA puts the number of houses impacted by the monster storm at 100,000.

First responders and other search and rescue teams launched block-by-block recovery operations Thursday after the rain finally seemed to stop, though some cities and towns on Friday were still feeling the immediate threat.

In Richmond, Texas, the river was still rising early Friday morning. The police department there is surrounded by water.

This is ridiculous, a Miami-based first responder told me at a Houston hotel. All around the country, hundreds of police, DEA and other law enforcement have been flocking to the city to help Houston get back on its feet.

We go wherever were needed and we dont complain, one DEA officer said. Were here to help and thats what were going to do.

Though there is still a lot of destruction there are signs that things are getting back to normal.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, after taking an aerial tour of the city Thursday, declared the area was mostly dry and open for business.

Harveys widespread flooding prevented more than a quarter million students from going back to school this week. The city announced some schools would reopen on Sept. 11. Thats good news for Tony.

Asked if he was prepared for homework he said, Yeah. I can handle Harvey. I can handle homework.

Over the weekend, Houston will be getting some more high profile visits. On Friday, a day before President Trump is set to return to the Lone Star State, he signed a declaration making Sunday a "Day of Prayer" for victims of Harvey.

Abbott said the state will pray Sunday for those affected by the storm, for first responders and for those who know the real work of recovery has only just begun.

Throughout this disaster, we have seen the power of Texans helping Texans, and I am hopeful this proclamation will bring people together once more, Abbott said. We have remained strong throughout this ordeal, and this Day of Prayer will make us even stronger.
Some 16,000 Muslims from the United States are in Saudi Arabia this week to perform the hajj pilgrimage, one of Islam's most sacred experiences. If the hajj is performed with sincere intentions, Muslims believe it can wipe away past sins, purify the soul and alleviate worldly stresses.

This year, however, Muslims say they have never been more anxious traveling abroad than now, under the Trump administration's rules, which unleashed protests across the country and confusion at airports earlier this year.

Those performing the hajj say that while it's never been exactly stress-free to fly as a Muslim in America, the new climate under President Donald Trump has heightened anxieties about traveling to Saudi Arabia, where the hajj is performed. The hajj, which runs for five days and ends Monday, draws some 2 million people from around the world each year. All Muslims with the means to do so are required to make the pilgrimage at least once.

"We do find the anxiety level rising at this current time," said Sulaimaan Hamed, who operates Hajj Pros, an Atlanta-based company organizing hajj trips. "It is a reality with the heightened scrutiny."

Hamed, who is in his 17th year organizing the pilgrimages, has a client who opted not to take the trip this year. The West African native had renewed her green card because of a misspelling and the new document didn't arrive in time for traveling.

"She's fearing ... she might not be able to get back" into the U.S., Hamed said. "The environment of heightened scrutiny has her nervous enough. She's waiting until next year."

Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered a temporary ban on refugees and a travel ban affecting Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen, plus Iraq. His administration had also initially said citizens of those countries who hold permanent U.S. residency green cards would be barred from re-entering the country.

Trump said the controversial measures were needed to protect the U.S. from terrorists, but opponents said it was unfairly harsh and was intended to meet his campaign promise to keep Muslims out of the United States. Two months ago the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trump's executive order, which no longer includes people from Iraq.

Abdull Warsame, a Somali-American who lives in Minnesota, is leading 420 people to hajj this year from the United States. His company, Mina Hajj Travel, consulted with an immigration attorney to address concerns before the trip.

He said only about three or four people chose to cancel their pilgrimage this year because they didn't want to deal with the unknowns the travel ban might bring if they are not allowed to return to the U.S.

Tussles in the courts over Trump's executive order, and the gradual dissipation of a ban on major electronics and laptops in cabins of flights from 10 mostly Muslim cities  including Jiddah, the main entry point for pilgrims on hajj  left many unsure about what their rights are while traveling.

"There is still a lot of confusion from travelers and we are hearing from people who are coming back from hajj and worried about what they will face at the border," said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Shamsi, the director of the National Security Project at the ACLU, said there has been a rise in reported incidents of Muslim citizens and legal permanent residents being questioned inappropriately about their religious and political beliefs while traveling.

"This has happened under previous administrations, but we and colleague organizations have certainly seen a rise, at least in anecdotal accounts, of that kind of questioning and screening," she said.

Suehaila Amen, part of Michigan's large Arab American and Muslim community, had concerns when traveling to Lebanon earlier this year after the initial Trump order was issued.

Amen, who's on the hajj this year, says she always makes sure to fly internationally from Detroit because the Muslim community in Michigan has a good working relationship with government agencies there. It makes flying more comfortable, she said.

"I actually go out of my way to go through customs in Detroit and not anywhere else," she said.

To prepare Americans for traveling to the hajj, the Council on American-Islamic Relations conducted a webinar that discussed people's rights while traveling at customs, U.S. entry points and airport security checkpoints.

"We have tremendous rights as we travel, but these rights are only meaningful if you know them and understand them," CAIR Florida's Executive Director Hassan Shibly said during the webinar.

Some of the examples CAIR gave include the rights of female travelers to request a female TSA agent for pat downs and the right to request that the hijab, or head cover worn by Muslim women, not be removed in public.

CAIR's senior litigation attorney, Gadeir Abbas, told The Associated Press the Trump administration's conduct has heightened an already tense situation among Muslims, who have come to expect a certain level of extra scrutiny while traveling.

Abbas said the Trump administration has reintroduced the practice of placing U.S. Muslim citizens on a no-fly list while they're abroad and thus exiling them until they can successfully petition the government and courts to board a flight back home. He said the practice was first introduced under the Obama administration, but had disappeared since 2014.

After Trump took office, at least one person every month has been added to the no-fly list while abroad. Among those was a mosque leader, or imam, from Salt Lake City who was in Kenya to meet his wife and children over the summer. CAIR was able to litigate on his behalf and he was removed from the no-fly list. The imam is now leading a group of pilgrims for the hajj.

"It has never been more stressful to travel as a Muslim in America," Abbas said.

After all the preparations, Hamed the hajj tour operator said Muslims must step out in faith.

"We have to help them understand that God is greater, as is the obligation to fulfill your religious rite, than being scared of flying on an airplane or fearing what one may experience going through customs," he said.

___

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jeffkaroub and Aya Batrawy at https://twitter.com/ayaelb
Twelve years after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, New Orleans has never fully recovered. Hundreds of thousands fled and never came back. Its population today is 80 percent of what it was before the storm. New Orleans is not alone.

After Hurricane Ike, Galveston, Texas lost 20 percent of its population. Hurricane Andrew forced out about 30,000 people or 35 percent of the population of Homestead, Florida.

Yet many believe Houston and surrounding environs may be spared a similar fate. "It will recover. It will absorb this shock. And how long it's going to take depends on how big the shock is, but it will recover," says Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy.

Her optimism is based on Houston's unique strength as an engine of the American economy and New Orleans' particular weakness.

Former Louisiana Congressman Billy Tauzin, who switched from Democrat to Republican, often said of his state: "Half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment."

After Katrina, one Louisiana Senate seat flipped Republican, and so did the governors office. New Orleans Democratic Mayor Ray Nagin was sent to jail on bribery charges in 2014, as was former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson in 2009. Jefferson infamously used a Louisiana National Guard detachment to recover personal belongings from his home, even as rescue operations were still underway a few days after Katrina.

Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, told Reuters in 2008 that the Bayou State's tolerance for corruption, "drove many companies away and kept them away."

"My sense is we will not see that in Texas, both because the leadership, the community leadership, and the political leadership in Houston is far more effective," Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, told Fox News. "The political culture in Texas is far more pro-market, pro-economic growth, pro- business than Louisiana," he said.

For hundreds of thousands of Texas homeowners, and small businesses facing an uncertain future, there is a silver lining. The nation needs Houston, its workers, and its economy.

One third of the US gasoline supply is refined there. Many fuel pipelines that pump industry's life blood emanate from the Texas gulf coast. "So theres a lot at stake in terms of getting it back up and running," says Glen Hall, U.S. Editor at the Wall Street Journal.

"The port in Houston is a very, very big deal, says Brian Brenberg, Chair of the Program in Business and Finance at King's College. "It accounts for $250 billion-plus of economic activity across the state of Texas and beyond every year. Texas itself is a big deal. Almost 10 percent of U.S. economic output is coming from Texas," he says.

It is that reality that has shifted debate in Washington, too. The returning Republican Congress' priorities have suddenly been reset. "For one thing, I do not expect that President Trump is going to continue talking about a potential shut-down," says de Rugy. "I also think that a lot of Republicans will be eager to provide help alongside with Democrats."

But Congress' new priority of emergency spending illustrates another reality - that a country with a $20 trillion debt is not in a great financial position to bail out victims of unforeseen disasters to come.
Oregon is struggling to deal with the largest wildfires to rip through the state in 13 years.

The fires, which have been burning mainly in the southwest part of the state since July, have led to evacuations and warnings about hazardous air quality. Indeed, the air quality in some parts of Oregon has ranked among the worst in the country due to the smoke.

Smoke and air quality have been a huge concern, Jason Bayless, a spokesman for the Illinois Valley Fire District, told Fox News. Weve had unhealthy conditions for a few days.

Authorities fear that warmer weather in the next few days could make the fires worse. Temperatures are expected to hit triple digits, and anticipated storms could bring lightning that could spark fires. Lightning strikes ignited the fires now raging.

The Oregon National Guard had been called up to battle the flames.

Wildfires are also a problem in Montana. Part of the Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park in northern Montana burned down as firefighters tried to protect it. High winds on Thursday blew the fire towards the building, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

Montanas National Guard is also working fire lines. Montana had about 30 fires burning over 400 acres of timber and grass.

Fires started by lightning were also burning in Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, the newspaper reported. Dense smoke was hampering efforts to track the fires from the air.

In Oregon, the biggest fire is in an area called Chetco Bar. A blaze there that covered a quarter acre in July has spread to 130,000 acres, said Jim Gersbach, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestrys Fire Protection Division.

It expanded rapidly in August, Gersbach said. Before that it was creeping along, consuming brush, then it [mushroomed] over a weekend because of weather conditions.

The wildfires have hardly been contained, only about five percent, and are likely to burn until October, when it gets cooler and theres more rainfall, authorities say.

Elsewhere in the state, separate wildfires are each burning more than 10,000 acres, officials say.

Recently, Gov. Kate Brown urged residents of Brookings, a town just a few miles from the fires, to be ready should they have to evacuate.

Conditions can change extremely quickly, she said.

A few days ago, Oregon physician Jeff Katz told KOIN-TV: Not that this will cause lung disease over just a couple of days, but if you already have asthma or (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) or other heart and lung conditions, its a major issue for you.

Officials said that since most fires caused by lightning usually take hold in remote, hard-to-reach areas, it can take days for anyone to know, and by then the blaze is usually a lot bigger.
A Chicago woman was charged last week after she allegedly filmed her unconscious friend being sexually assaulted -- and broadcast the attack on social media.

Beth Rae Harris, 36, is accused of posting videos and photographs of a 23-year-old female friend who had passed out after drinking at a party Aug. 24.

Harris and the victim got into a heated argument over a "mutual male acquaintance" while they were at a party together, before they left to attend another event, and eventually returned to the 36-year-olds apartment, Assistant State's Attorney Nora Gill said Thursday during a bond hearing at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Prosecutors said the 23 year old had been drinking heavily during the night, and she fell asleep shortly after getting to Harris' home.

They also allege, that after returning to the apartment, Harris allowed at least one or potentially several men to sexually assault the victim while she slept.

Gill told the court in one of the videos the victim lay naked as an unidentified man grabbed her buttocks and exposed her vagina to the camera, and that Harris allegedly can be heard narrating the assault on the video, at one point warning the man not to wake the victim, according to the Sun-Times.

The woman reportedly woke up the following morning completely naked and sore, and, before she left the apartment, Harris allegedly told her a man had had sex with her while she was passed out.

The victim realized after she returned home Harris had posted a number of images from the incident on the victims own Snapchat account, prosecutors said.

They also said the videos and images were seen by multiple users.

Harris was arrested after she was identified by a friend of the victim who saw one of the videos, officials said.

Harris' public defender said the accused has three children and works as a masseuse and model while studying at beauty school.

Her bail was set at $150,000.
Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 42F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 42F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A judge on Thursday reportedly denied bond for white nationalist Christopher Cantwell, who was seen crying in a video apparently afraid of getting arrested in connection with the violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month.

The 36-year-old from Keene, New Hampshire, appeared Thursday in court, where Albemarle County Judge William Barkley initially set bond at $25,000, WVIR reported.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY

Prosecutors appealed, and after a separate hearing in the afternoon, another judge reversed the decision, according to The Daily Progress. Prosecutors claimed he was a flight risk, which his defense team denied.

Cantwell faces charges including malicious bodily injury by means of a caustic substance or agent. He told The Associated Press that he pepper-sprayed a counter-demonstrator in self-defense during an August 11 protest on the Charlottesville campus, a day before the much larger white nationalist rally.

The video of the teary-eyed Cantwell led social media commenters to name him "the crying Nazi," but he told the Daily Beast, "One minute I'm a f---ing white supremacist terrorist and the next minute I'm a f---ing crybaby?"

He described himself in testimony as a "shock jock" but ultimately admitted he hosted "a racist podcast," The Daily Progress added.

This community has been through so much since back in May, and it all ties in together. We just gotta figure out, first of all, how to stop this nonsense from ever happening again. Secondly, what we do moving forward to reunite this community and rally forward and bring about a healing. This was an important step towards that, community activist Don Gathers told WVIR.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his Eid al-Adha message has reached out to neighbor Pakistan offering "comprehensive negotiations" to bring peace to their troubled relationship.

Like most Muslim countries, Afghanistan celebrates the Islamic holiday on Friday while in Pakistan the holiday is celebrated on Saturday. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

"Peace with Pakistan is our national agenda," said Ghani while also urging insurgents to lay down their weapons.

Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of harboring Taliban insurgents, while Islamabad says its enemies have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

The two countries also squabble relentlessly over the border that separates their two countries. Known as the Durand Line, Afghanistan refuses to accept it as the international border. Firefights between the armies have broken out as Pakistan seeks to fence it.
A convoy of ISIS militants found itself with nowhere to go after getting stuck Thursday in Syria following U.S.led airstrikes that blocked it in.

More than 300 militants and their families were in the convoy of buses after vacating the Lebanon-Syria border as part of a Hezbollah-negotiated deal to transport them to an ISIS-held town in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.

The deal has angered Iraq and the U.S., which launched airstrikes Wednesday to block the convoys advance.

SYRIA PRESIDENT TO NEWLY CAPTURED TOWN FOR EID PRAYERS

Theyre on the move. Theyre trying a different route; were watching all the way through, Col. Ryan Dillon, the American coalition spokesman, told The New York Times. "If ISIS wants to continue to send known ISIS fighters and vehicles toward this convoy, we will continue to fight them."

After being stuck for hours at an exchange point, the buses moved further north to a government-controlled area while negotiations continued in search of a new way to reach an ISIS-held area further east.

Earlier in the day, ISIS handed over to Hezbollah the body of a recently captured Iranian Revolutionary Guard member as part of the deal.

The Lebanese Hezbollah group, which negotiated the controversial agreement, said it had received the body of Mohsen Hojaji and would conduct DNA tests before sending his remains onward to Iran. The handover was reported by the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV.

The militants revealed the locations of the remains of Lebanese soldiers captured in 2014 in exchange for safe passage through Syrian government-held territory into ISIS-held area near the Iraqi border.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in person and asked for his help in securing the deal that would help clear the Lebanon-Syria border area.

REPORT: NORWAY CHARGES MAN FOR FIGHTING WITH ISIS IN SYRIA

"I went to President Assad...I went to Damascus," he said, adding that he sought to convince Assad to let the convoy pass through government territory.

"He [Assad] told me, this is embarrassing for us, but no problem," Nasrallah told supporters gathered in eastern Lebanon for a "victory rally" to celebrate the expulsion of ISIS from the border area.

"The Syrian government has put up with the embarrassment for the sake of Lebanon," he said.

U.S. airstrikes on Wednesday destroyed a small bridge and cratered a road, forcing the convoy to halt. The U.S. has not targeted the evacuees themselves, but has struck other groups of ISIS militants in eastern Syria. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some ambulances that were part of the ISIS convoy were able to cross into ISIS-held territories in Syria.

He said the group was looking for ways the convoy could cross into ISIS-held areas without being struck by the U.S-led coalition.

Dillon said the coalition continued to monitor the buses.

"The buses have not made it to ISIS-held territory and we will stick with what we said yesterday, and that is we can strike ISIS elements without harming civilians whenever and wherever we will," Dillon said.

Also Thursday, Syrian troops and allied forces captured a strategic mountain overlooking the Deir el-Zour province, which was mostly under ISIS control, according to Iranian state television.

Russia, which is providing air support to Assad's forces, said capturing the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province is the current military priority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election victory last month was thrown out Friday by Kenya's Supreme Court, which ordered new voting within 60 days in a stunning decision that plunged the East African country back into political chaos.

The move to nullify an election was unprecedented on the African continent.

It gave new hope to opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had alleged the electronic results of the Aug. 8 balloting were manipulated. He had lost by about 1.4 million votes out of roughly 15 million cast.

The court ruled 4-2 in Odinga's favor, saying the electoral commission committed "illegalities and irregularities." The court, whose full decision with details of its findings is expected to be released within 21 days, did not blame Kenyatta or his party.

Kenyatta said that while he respected the ruling, he "personally disagrees" with it. He urged calm in a country that has a history of postelection violence.

"Six people have decided they will go against the will of the people," the president said, later telling his supporters that Chief Justice David Maraga "and his crooks" had taken away his victory. The official results had given Kenyatta 54 percent of the vote to Odinga's 44 percent.

Opposition members danced in the streets, marveling at the setback for Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between the country's top political families.

"It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa," Odinga said. "For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling."

No African country has annulled a national election due to irregularities, Ronald Slye, a law professor at Seattle University, told The Associated Press. Slye was among those who participated in Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission set up after violence killed more than 1,000 people following the 2007 election.

Electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said personnel changes will be made before the new vote, and he said any employee found to be involved in manipulating the results should be prosecuted.

Odinga, 72, called for the election commission to be disbanded. He also said the role of international observers who came to Kenya for the vote must be examined because they put stability ahead of credibility and had "moved fast to sanitize fraud."

The international observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said on election day that they had seen no interference with the vote. The Carter Center said Friday that Kerry's mission had noted that "the electronic transmission of results proved unreliable."

After the court's ruling, envoys from two dozen countries, including the United States, France and Germany, issued a joint statement that said the decision "demonstrated Kenya's resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law."

"All electoral processes can be improved, and we will continue to support Kenya's institutions in this important work," the statement said.

Many countries, including the United States, had already congratulated Kenyatta.

Odinga, a longtime opposition candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president, had unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2013 vote that Kenyatta won. Odinga's supporters at first had said they would not go to court this time but filed a petition two weeks ago.

Kenya had been braced for further protests before the ruling, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi, and streets near the court were barricaded. Human rights groups have said that police killed at least 24 people in unrest after the election.

Instead, opposition supporters exploded in celebration.

"Thank you, Jesus!" one woman shouted. "I'm telling, God is on our side."

"This has shown all (election) observers did not do their job. We want an apology," said John Wekesa, who danced outside the court.

Tensions ran high when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the balloting.
Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday as some 2 million Muslim pilgrims carry out the final rites of the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The pilgrimage is required of all Muslims with the means to perform once in a lifetime. For the final three days of hajj, pilgrims sleep in a large tent valley called Mina to take part in a symbolic stoning of the devil.

On Friday, pilgrims made their way toward a massive multi-story complex in Mina where pilgrims cast pebbles at three large columns. It is here where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to God's will.

Mina is also where more than 2,400 people were killed two years ago when they were crushed in a stampede.
A program that puts police officers inside Toronto's public schools to protect students has been temporarily scrapped following complaints by Black Lives Matter and pro-immigration groups.

The School Resource Officers program has been in place since 2008. It was started in response to the 2007 fatal shooting of 15-year-old student Jordan Manners, the first death in a Toronto school.

On Wednesday night, trustees with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) voted to temporarily suspend the program following months campaigning by a local chapter of Black Lives Matter and other left-leaning groups, the CBC reported.

The program will be halted at least until November as it is reviewed and assessed. According to TDSB chair Robin Pilkey, officers had to be removed from schools while the review is underway to ensure no one is intimidated by their presence.

It was felt that the presence of (officers) during the review when we were asking people to talk about them might be intimidating and create a potential bias, Pilkey told the Toronto Star.

Among the most vocal opponents of the program is a local chapter of Black Lives Matter, which wants to see it scrapped to combat perceived anti-black racism in education. The group hailed the decision to suspend the plan as an important step forward," but warned it was not a full victory yet.

Community action works! wrote official Toronto Black Lives Matter Facebook page. While this is not a full victory, this is an important step forward. After years of activism from groups like Education Not Incarceration (ENI), and the Latinx, Afro-Latin-America, Abya Yala Education Network (LAEN), the TDSB has undertaken a thorough review of the program to happen throughout the fall.

The activists then criticized the police for conducting their own review of the program, saying We remain skeptical of any instance in which cops are reviewing other cops.

The statement added: "It's time to hear from students themselves about their experiences with police surveillance, criminalization, profiling, and their experiences with armed police officers in their classrooms. The work has only begun."

The Latin American Education Network co-chair Andrea Vasquez Jimenez also celebrated the decision, claiming she cried when the trustees suspended the program as it hurt undocumented students.

"We've had administration call out their undocumented status in front of SRO's, in front of police officers," she told CBC, adding that there is the fear that Toronto police and the Canada Border Services Agency are working together.

Not everyone, however, was against police in schools. Ethan Thompson, a Northern Secondary School student, claimed the officer in his school also taught students about the law and was just a helpful, nice guy in our school.

"I personally liked him. He wasn't a police officer to us. He came into our class and taught us about law and kind of gave us an inside scoop on his take. It wasn't really a police officer figure," said Thompson, according to CBC. "It was just a helpful, nice guy in our school."

The Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, has also come out against the school boards decision, saying it would have been better to conduct the review  without temporarily scrapping the program  to address the concerns of some students.

"I thought the school board would do what we were doing at the Police Services Board, which is to have a very thorough review, which takes very particular account of some of the concerns that have been expressed in the negative about this program, listen to all points of view in all parts of the community, and then make a decision," he said.

"They've chosen to go a different route, which is to do away for now with a program that I think had some supporters, quite a few, and then do the review, which isn't the way I'd do it."
Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned the United States on Friday not to apply too much pressure on North Korea regarding its nuclear weapon program, saying the strained relationship between the two countries was on the verge of a large-scale conflict.

Putin posted the warning on the Kremlin website before he left for the BRICS nations summit in China, Reuters reported. Putin called on the two nations to open up dialogue with one another.

"It is essential to resolve the region's problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions [for such talks]," Putin wrote. "Provocations, pressure and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere."

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RETALIATES AGAINST RUSSIA, FORCES CLOSURE OF US POSTS

Putin wrote that relations between the two countries had worsened to the point that it had balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict.

"In Russia's opinion the calculation that it is possible to halt North Korea's nuclear missile programs exclusively by putting pressure on Pyongyang is erroneous and futile," Putin wrote.

On Tuesday, North Korea escalated the conflict, launching a midrange ballistic missile over U.S. ally Japan. Kim Jong Un, the leader of the Hermit Kingdom, called the launch a meaningful prelude to containing Guam, which is home to a number of key U.S. military bases.

President Trump said Tuesday that all options are on the table after the missile launch.

RUSSIA CAUTIONS NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS COULD BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS

The world has received North Koreas latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior, Trump said in a written statement released by the White House.

Following Trump's remarks, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his country would join the U.S. and go to war with North Korea if asked. Turnbull believed that war was not the only answer, and stressed economic sanctions could work as well.

If North Korea were to attack the United States, as they often threaten to do, there would be a conflict which would be a suicide note from North Koreas point of view, Turnbull said. Kim Jong-un is playing a game of very, very dangerous brinkmanship.

He added: "If he starts a war, he will lose it instantly."

China's Defense Ministry said war was not an option in finding a solution to the growing North Korean crisis. Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Ren Guoqiang told reporters Thursday all parties should exercise restraint and avoid words and actions that escalate tension.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that any new sanctions against North Korea would be dangerous. Lavrov spoke to Tillerson several hours after Trump tweeted that talking is not the answer when it comes to dealing with North Korea.

Lavrov told Tillerson that Russia urged all parties to avoid a military solution to the crisis and added that Moscow views any potential sanctions against North Korea as counterproductive and dangerous.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russia's foreign minister is urging the United States to negotiate a deal with North Korea to avert war, voicing concern that tensions might spiral out of control.

Referring to the U.S., Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that "the one who is smarter and stronger must take the first step" in diplomatic efforts.

Lavrov says Moscow has asked Washington in confidential conversations if it realizes that U.S. allies South Korea and Japan would suffer the most if the North's nuclear missile tests provoke a military conflict.

He says the U.S. response was that certain developments would leave military intervention as the only option.

Lavrov didn't offer further details, but said Russia would do all it can to prevent "such horrible developments."

He was speaking with students at Russia's top diplomacy school.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has traveled to a town recently captured from Islamic State group militants to attend Eid al-Adha prayers.

Syria's state media says President Bashar Assad prayed Friday in Bilal mosque in Qarat, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Damascus. Qarat fell during a joint offensive between Syria's army and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Lebanese army carried out a separate but simultaneous campaign on the other side of the border, securing the shared frontier for the first time in years.

The offensive was followed by a controversial a Hezbollah-negotiated deal to transport the remaining militants to an IS-held town in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in exchange for revealing the fate of missing Lebanese fighters.

The deal angered Iraq and the U.S., which launched airstrikes, disrupting the deal.
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More than a dozen people arrested during a Ku Klux Klan rally in Charlottesville in July appeared in general district court Thursday morning  including one man who immediately pleaded guilty.

Thomas Freeman, 52, was charged with obstruction of free passage when he and a group of counter-protesters linked arms in an effort to stop the KKK from entering Justice Park to hold a demonstration on July 8.

Although the city prosecutor had offered most protesters the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction on record by performing public service, Freeman instead pleaded guilty, saying he felt obligated.

I feel guilty, Freeman said following his hearing. I have all the privileges of being a white male and yet I remember my childhood  I remember the violence  and I remember being there and watching it.

And I am ashamed, he said. I find its my obligation now to stand up and say, No, were not going back there. Were never going to do that again.

Charlottesville Commonwealths Attorney Dave Chapman said he respected Freemans decision to accept a criminal conviction.

The gentleman described to the judge how his preference was in keeping with his conception of civil disobedience, Chapman said in a statement. We applaud and admire a citizen who stands by his or her principles in a manner such as was exhibited today.

Chapman said that during the Klan rally, Freeman and more than a dozen other protesters willingly submitted to arrest and walked with an officer to the court for processing. Those who willingly went with officers were offered a continuance of their cases until October to allow protesters to complete 10 hours of public service in exchange for the cases being processed without a criminal conviction.

We will continue to offer the opportunity for citizens to avoid convictions in those free passage cases in which the citizen demonstrated the strength of his or her convictions and then willingly cooperated with law enforcement officers, Chapman said.

Freeman said he made his decision to plead guilty and accept a criminal record based on his childhood experiences. He said he grew up in Hampton in the 1970s, where he witnessed the lingering pain of segregation and prejudice against people of color.

As a young boy, he said his parents drove him to a pool across town so that they would not have to swim with people of color.

I remember the hate, Freeman said.

Freeman said he stood in front of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to send them a message that their bigotry and hate would not be accepted in Charlottesville. He said he felt he had to intervene because it was the right thing to do.

Were not going to allow it anymore, Freeman said. Were going to stop violence. If we have to, well intervene. When DeAndre Harris was being beaten over there, people went in and stopped it.

Its also important for us to stand behind people of color, behind people of different sexual identities, behind the people who pray to God differently than I do  stand behind them and say, Were with you; we have your back, he said.

Freeman will serve 10 hours of community service for pleading guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of free passage.

Along with Freeman, 15 other individuals arrested on July 8 appeared in court. All of their hearings were continued until October.

Cameron Bills, Kendall Bills, Jo Donahue, Veronica Fitzhugh, Nicolas McCarthy-Rivera, John Neavear, Jeanne Peterson, Sara Tansey, Evan Viglietta and Whitney Whiting each face a charge of obstructing free passage.

Kandace Baker, Morgan Niles, Tracye Redd and Erika Ries each face a charge of obstructing justice.

Rashaa Langston faces a charge of failing to disperse in a riot.
A Henrico County man released last month from state prison, where he allegedly became radicalized adopting extremist Islamic views, is facing federal charges of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Casey Charles Spain, 28, wearing a T-shirt that bared tattoos on his neck, back, chest and arms, made an initial appearance before U.S. magistrate Judge Roderick C. Young Thursday afternoon. The judge set a detention hearing for Sept. 6 after the government asked that Spain be held in custody.

Spain was arrested shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday after he was delivered a handgun that was made inert in a transaction arranged by the FBI.

A six-page criminal complaint and affidavit filed by Heather J. Brown, an FBI agent assigned to the Richmond Joint Terrorism Task Force, alleges that Spain, released from prison on Aug. 11, came to the attention of the FBI on information received from the Virginia Department of Corrections.

While incarcerated, Spain became radicalized and adopted extremist Islamic views. He obtained a tattoo on his cheek that reads Cop Killa, and a tattoo of the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS  a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization) on his back, Brown wrote.

She alleged that two confidential sources who had contact with Spain in prison separately reported that Spain had sworn a pledge of loyalty, known as a bayat, to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.

Spain also told both that he wanted to travel overseas to engage in jihad on behalf of ISIS, and if upon his release he were not permitted to travel he would engage in jihad, to include acts of violence against targets in the United States, she wrote.

She reported that as a result the FBI conducted an intensive surveillance of Spain since his release. The surveillance included making covert contact with Spain with undercover FBI employees and the use of a confidential source who was introduced to Spain on Aug. 19.

Spain allegedly spoke a number of times to the source about wanting to travel overseas to support ISIS and to obtain a handgun. He allegedly threatened that he would kill as many (police) officers as he could rather than go back to prison, a threat he did not follow through on.

Brown said the sources statements were corroborated by recorded conversations Spain had with still-incarcerated inmates. Additionally, Spain claimed in a recorded conversation to have had discussions with ISIS members currently overseas since his release, she said.

On Tuesday, Spain allegedly communicated via text with the undercover FBI employee about general plans for the employee to sell Spain a semiautomatic handgun. On Wednesday the covert agent and another undercover FBI employee met with Spain and learned he was making arrangements to buy a firearm from an individual over the internet.

Because of Spains violent history and his intentions, Brown said the FBI made a controlled delivery of an inert handgun to Spain early Thursday outside Spains residence on Harvie Road in Henrico. When he took possession of the 9 mm Glock, he was pursued by an FBI SWAT team and quickly caught.

During the foot chase, Spain attempted to dispose of a cellular telephone that he had in his possession by throwing it while running, and moments before he was apprehended he also threw down the firearm, Brown said. Both items were recovered, she said.

The Department of Corrections said Spain was convicted in 2006 in Henrico County for malicious wounding and in 2010 in Henrico County of abduction with the intent to defile.

In his most recent trip to state prison, he has been held at the Mecklenburg, Augusta, Buckingham and Greensville correctional centers. He was released from Greensville on Aug. 11. His mug shot was taken for the Virginia State Police sex offender registry on Aug. 14.
The Virginia State Police has charged a fellow inmate in an Aug. 12 assault at the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville that resulted in the death of a 34-year-old Culpeper man.

Jason Patrick Sisson arrived at the jail on July 13 to serve a nine-month stint, according to the Culpeper County Sheriffs Office, which handles prisoner transport for the county.

According to state police spokesperson Corinne Geller, the agency charged George M. Chute, 35, an inmate at the jail, with malicious wounding in the attack on Sisson, who died 10 days later. Geller said the charge was the result of an investigation by the VSPs Bureau of Criminal Investigations Appomattox Field Office, in conjunction with authorities from the Piedmont Regional Jail.

Troopers initiated the investigation on Aug. 21 at the request of the Prince Edward County commonwealths attorney.

The Chief Medical Examiners Office in Richmond confirmed that Sisson was transported there for an autopsy last week. On Thursday, the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was complications of blunt force injury to the head and listed Sissons manner of death as homicide.

Sisson was arrested in Culpeper on April 13, 2016, and charged with possession of a controlled substance. The criminal complaint said a sheriffs deputy was dispatched to Sissons residence for a reported overdose after his girlfriend returned from shopping and found him on the kitchen floor.

About 0.23 grams of a light tan powder, later determined to be heroin, was found inside a folded dollar bill in the bathroom next to the kitchen, as well as several needles, according to court records. Sisson had been alone in the house.

He was sentenced on July 5 in Culpeper Circuit Court to 10 years in prison, with all but nine months suspended. In addition, his drivers license was suspended for six months.

The family held a well-attended funeral Sunday at Found & Sons in Culpeper. Vicky Sisson, Jasons mother, gave the eulogy for her son.

He was larger than life. He was loved by so many people, the grieving mother said.

Sisson leaves behind a young son, Carter.

His family has retained a lawyer, Jonathan Slater, of Slater & Smith in Orange.

The family is heartbroken over Jasons death. It would be premature to comment on any specifics of the case, as the investigation remains ongoing, said Slater on Tuesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, and we are doing everything we can to help them through this difficult time.

Repeated calls to Piedmont Regional Jail Superintendent Donald Hunter were not returned.

Four inmates died at Piedmont Regional Jail between June 1, 2013, and Sept. 3, 2016, according to the Richmond TimesDispatch. Sisson makes five.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a report in 2012 that found prisoners at Piedmont Regional Jail were at unreasonable risk of serious harm because of shortcomings in the jails medical and mental health care.

Our initial inquiry was prompted, in part, by a series of allegedly preventable deaths in the jail between 2006 and 2009, according to the findings of the investigation. We learned from our inquiry that the circumstances of some of these deaths indicated a possible pattern of deliberate indifference to prisoners serious medical needs.

As a result, the DOJ required the jail to employ adequate and credentialed health care staff and to perform timely health screenings and assessments, among other changes.

Due to crowding at Culpepers jail, the county transports as many as 100 local inmates for holding at any given timeat a cost of about $30 per dayto either Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange or the Piedmont jail, which is about 100 miles south of Culpeper.

Thirty-seven-year-old Shawn Berry, of Rapidan, died Aug. 9, 2014, at the CVRJ. Berrys mother, Sherri Thornhill, of Culpeper, filed a $22.5 million lawsuit against the jail, claiming her son received inadequate medical treatment while at CVRJ.

That case is set for a two-week trial beginning Nov. 6.
The General Assembly would occupy a new 15-story building that would face Capitol Square with a 105-year-old facade in a proposed design unveiled by the state on Thursday.

The Virginia General Assembly is proposing a building design that would place most public functions on the four lower floors, from committee meeting rooms to the cafeteria, while moving legislative and staff offices to the upper levels of the 426,000-square-foot General Assembly Building.

Virginias Art and Architectural Review Board will review the proposed design on Friday morning, but legislative leaders expressed confidence that the states plan will serve the public while preserving the architectural integrity of Capitol Square.

The classical design of the new [General Assembly Building], incorporating the 1912 facade, will blend the new facility into the historic fabric of the Capitol and Capitol Square, Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, RHanover, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, in a statement on Thursday.

House Speaker William J. Howell, RStafford, who will leave the legislature in January after a 30-year in the House of Delegates and 15 years as speaker, said, Our goal is to have a new GAB that not only works well for the public and those who will work in it but also honors the architectural legacy of Capitol Square.

The General Assembly already has moved its offices and operations into the Pocahontas Building between Bank and East Main streets on the south side of the Capitol. The legislature will remain there until after the 2021 General Assembly session.

Legislative leaders, as well as the clerks of the House and Senate, used sledgehammers on the old General Assembly Building for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the legislatures new home on Aug. 21 at the height of the solar eclipse.

The old building, riddled with asbestos and other hazards, will be demolished with the exception of the facade from the Life Insurance Company of Virginia building, the oldest of four structures that were stitched together in 1976 to house the General Assemblys offices and operations.

The state design team of Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP and Glave & Holmes Architecture will present the schematic design of the new building to the review board on Friday morning at The Branch House in Richmond.

If the board approves the proposal, the assembly and its design team then will begin the preliminary design phase.

In late April, the architectural review board approved the states plan for demolishing the building while preserving the six-story facade, which extends 154 feet along the south side facing Capitol Square and 62 feet along North 10th Street on the east side next to Old City Hall.

At the time, legislators estimated the cost of saving the facade, a top priority of historic preservation groups, at about $2 million, or less than 1 percent of the projects cost.

The replacement of the General Assembly Building is part of a $300 million capital project that also includes extensive renovation of Old City Hall and construction of a parking deck on the corner of North Ninth and East Broad streets. The state has not attached a price tag to any piece of the package for competitive bidding reasons.

The Capitol Square Preservation Council and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources have endorsed the states demolition plan, as has a coalition of preservation groups. However, the coalition, led by Historic Richmond, continues to seek changes to plans for the parking garage, which it would prefer to remain below street level and with offices and retail above.

Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar, who is shepherding the project with House Clerk G. Paul Nardo, said the parking facility is planned to be above ground, with state offices at street level and a tunnel beneath Ninth Street to the new assembly building.
Frank Neal Hall, 83, formerly of Williamsburg, VA, departed this life for his eternal home in Heaven on August 30, 2017, in Fredericksburg, VA. Frank was an engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation working on many of Virginia's largest highway projects during his forty-year career. Prior to his move to the Fredericksburg area in 2016, Frank had been a long-standing deacon and teacher at Walnut Hills Baptist Church in Williamsburg, VA where he served faithfully for nearly forty years. Frank was a master woodcrafter blessing friends, family and children with many loving custom wood gifts throughout the years. He was also an avid railroad hobbyist specializing in the historic trains of Virginia. Frank is survived by his sisters Zella Busick and Katherine Reed; his two children Beckie Lee Campbell of Stafford, VA, and Randy Hall of Pawling, NY; his two grandchildren Brwyan Campbell and Aaron Campbell; one great-granddaughter Evelynn Faye; numerous nieces, nephews and friends whom he loved and who will miss him. He was preceded in death by his father, Vivian Lee Hall; his mother, Lydia Davis Hall; his sister, Mary Elizabeth Delp; his wife, Julia C. Hall and his son, David Hall. The family would like to thank the dedicated nurses and staff of both Poet's Walk Memory Care Community in Fredericksburg and Heartfields Assisted Living Residence for their care of Frank over the last 14 months. Visitation will be held from 3:00 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 2, 2017 at Nelsen Funeral Home, 3785 Strawberry Plains Rd, Williamsburg, VA. A graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 3, 2017, at Rosewood Memorial Park, 631 N Witchduck Rd, Virginia Beach, VA. Condolences to his family may be shared online at www.nelsencares.com.
DOES ANYBODY want little kids to scrape their knees on the playground? Of course not.

Heres a harder question: Should taxpayers pay to resurface a church playground to make it softer and safereven if the state constitution explicitly prohibits spending public money directly or indirectly, in aid of any church?

Yes, the Supreme Court said last month, raising cheersand fearsthat the court is chipping away at the wall of separation between church and state.

While the federal government does fund faith-based social programs, it traditionally has steered clear of seeming to favor one religion over another.

The court ruled 7 to 2 in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri v. Comer that Missouri violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it denied the church a public benefit purely on the basis of its religious status. Put another way: Churches have as much right as any other nonprofit group to tap public funds.

The lopsided margin doesnt reflect the differences in attitudes on the court, where justices went toe-to-toe over, well, a footnote. More on that shortly.

The court also returned four cases related to public funding for private and religious schools to state courts in Colorado and New Mexico.

Those states and dozens of other states, including Virginia, have similar constitutional restrictions against using public funds for religious organizations.

Writing for the majority in the Trinity Lutheran case, Chief Justice John Roberts said it was odious to our Constitution for Missouri to exclude Trinity Lutheran Church from a public benefit solely because it is a church.

But in a blistering dissent, Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote: This case is about nothing less than the relationship between religious institutions and the civil governmentthat is, between church and state.

The court profoundly changes that relationship by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church, she wrote, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Two other liberal-leaning justices sided with the Roberts majority.

In 2012, Trinity Lutheran wanted to upgrade its pea gravel playground. It applied for a state grant from a program that reimburses the cost of installing a rubberized surface made of recycled tires. The church sought $20,000 for the $30,580 project.

The state denied the grant, citing the state constitutions provision against using public funds to promote religious views, and the church went to court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed a lower courts decision, siding with the state.

Following the highest courts ruling in favor of the church, advocates of school choice and vouchers for religious schools claimed victory.

We fully expect to see governors and legislatures have renewed discussions about school choice programs in their states in light of this momentous decision, Greg Block, executive director for the American Federation for Children, said in a statement.

But there was that curious, if non-binding, footnote.

This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination, Roberts wrote.

But Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas wrote they would not have limited the ruling to the playground or child safety. They favor expanding taxpayer funding for religious endeavors.

The general principles here do not permit discrimination against religious exercise, Gorsuch wrote, whether on the playground or anywhere else.

The court could have avoided the issue entirely. In April, before the court heard oral arguments, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, changed state policy to allow churches to participate in the grant program.

Keeping public money and the collection plate separate is a valuable tradition that benefits both parties, say proponents of separation of church and state.

This ruling undermines the bedrock principle that no American should be forced to support a religion against his or her will, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement.

That principle is in jeopardy with the Roberts court, which, Sotomayor warned, may be leading us to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment.

Marsha Mercer writes from Washington. You may contact her at marsha.mercer@yahoo.com.
LET US avert our eyes from the presidents display of instability in Phoenix. We knew what to expect. When Donald Trump occasionally goes presidential, as he did the day before on Afghanistan, a tantrum is sure to follow. You could set your watch by it.

Many Republicans are quietly planning for a post-Trump era, when public debate may again center on policies and not on wacky politics. Democrats must do so as well, and a good start would be an issue on which Trump has great traction with the public. That would be immigration.

Republicans oppose illegal immigration. Polls show that Democrats and independents, though not so obsessed over unlawful immigration, are plenty concerned about it, too. The operative word here is illegal, but the entire program needs a going-over.

The labor market is a market, and the entry of large numbers of low-skilled workers cant help but reduce the prospects for low-skilled natives and immigrants here legally. The cheap-labor right and diversity left often go into contortions dismissing the laws of supply and demandand fail.

George Borjas of Harvard offers the most clear-eyed view of mass immigrations impact. The influx of immigrants can potentially be a net good for the nation, increasing the total wealth of the population, he writes. But that wealth is not evenly divided. Somebodys lower wage is always somebody elses higher profit.

Immigrants admitted in the past two decades have increased the size of the low-skilled workforce by 25 percent, according to Borjas research. As a result, annual earnings by high school dropouts have fallen by between $800 and $1,500 a year.

Bernie Sanders gets this. And so did Barack Obama. In fact, federal immigration officials under Trump are removing fewer of the undocumented than they did during the slowest years of Obamas presidency, Politico reports. Arrests have soared under Trump, but arrests dont equal deportations.

One reason for this may be that fewer people are trying to sneak across the border in the wake of Trumps harsh rhetoric. But suffice it to say, Obama was on the case. In addition, Obama faced opposition from diversity advocates in his own party, who attacked him as deporter in chief.

Americans across the political spectrum generally support a generous immigration program, as long as its orderly. Trumps disordered responsesfrom his ethnic smears to plans for wasting colossal sums of taxpayer money on a wall with Mexicogive Democrats a great opportunity to support humane and more intelligent alternatives.

They may start by giving a respectful hearing to a new Senate Republican proposal for immigration reform. A points-based system favoring immigrants with needed skills makes great economic sense. Australia and Canada do it.

That does not preclude admitting a good number of low-skilled people rich in ambition and work ethic. Just adjust the numbers for changing economic conditions.

Chain migration now accounts for two-thirds of legal immigration and needs curbing. Of course, immigrants spouses and young children should be admitted. But rules prioritizing extended family members reduce opportunities for those from other places and possessing higher skills.

Canadians also have mixed feelings about their large immigration program, but enforcement of the law helps maintain support for it. When more than 3,000 people, mostly Haitian asylum-seekers, crossed into Canada from the United States in July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned against entering the country irregularly.

There are rigorous immigration and customs rules that will be followed, he said. Make no mistake.

Democrats must also make no mistake that immigration rules will be followed. And their politicians need not fear accusations of racism from some on the left (and right). They can thank Trump for giving them space.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at creators.com.
When natural disasters strike, Americans are reminded that even well-planned lives can suddenly be upended by forces beyond their control. Case in point is the ongoing catastrophe in southern Texas, where Hurricane Harvey roared ashore on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane.

According to the National Weather Service, Harvey dumped 51.88 inches of rain in Cedar Bayou, Texasthe most total rainfall ever from a tropical storm in the continental U.S.

Massive flooding from this devastating storm inundated Houston, the nations fourth largest city, and surrounding areas. The full extent of the destruction is not yet known, but it will no doubt be enormous. An estimated 30,000 residents driven from their homes by rising floodwaters are currently in emergency shelters, and 195,000 people have already registered for federal emergency financial assistance.

While natural catastrophes of this magnitude are not under human control, our response to them certainly is. Unfortunately, some politicians and members of the media used previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, to play an unseemly blame game to score political points.

But such calamities are a time for national unity, not sectarian division.

At a joint press conference in Corpus Christi on Tuesday with President Donald Trump, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long and other members of Trumps Cabinet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed his deep gratitude for the federal governments behind-the-scenes support as state officials began preparing for the storm two weeks before Harvey made landfall.

At every step of the way, as the hurricane came across the shore, and as the flooding began in Houston, Texas, the president and his Cabinet remained in constant contact with me and my staff, and they all had one thing to say: Texas, what do you need? How can we help? You can count on us, Abbott told reporters.

Abbott and Defense Secretary James Mattis set up a Dual Status Command to provide a centralized chain of command, a vast improvement over the chaotic conditions in New Orleans after Katrina struck.

Long, who pointed out that FEMA was delivering food, water and other necessities to shelters and distribution points set up by the National Guard, alluded to the confusion surrounding Katrina when he pointed out that This is not the Superdome.

There are currently 8,500 federal employees on the scene, and the Pentagon announced it would be calling up to 30,000 additional National Guard troops to assist in law enforcement and the restoration of essential services. Trump also promised very rapid action from Congress, certainly from the president, on approving disaster funding for the counties in Texas and Louisiana most affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Experienced first responders from other states, including Virginia, were also sent to Texas to assist in the massive search and rescue effort. Many charitable groups are already on the ground providing disaster relief, aided by an army of volunteers who used their own private boats to ferry hurricane victims to safety.

Accompanying the heart-wrenching scenes of destruction in Houston were stirring stories of people trapped by the rising floodwaters being rescued by their fellow Americans, who put their own lives on the line to come to the aid of victims without regard to their political, racial, ethnic, religious or ideological status.

Trump summed up what should be the nations only response to natural disasters: We are one American family. We hurt together, we struggle together. And believe me, we endure together, the president said. 'We are one family. To the people of Texas and Louisiana, we are 100 percent with you.

Especially during such times of national tragedy, all Americans should remember that despite our differences, we are one nation under God, indivisibleand act accordingly.
When natural disasters strike, Americans are reminded that even well-planned lives can suddenly be upended by forces beyond their control. Case in point is the ongoing catastrophe in southern Texas, where Hurricane Harvey roared ashore on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane.

According to the National Weather Service, Harvey dumped 51.88 inches of rain in Cedar Bayou, Texasthe most total rainfall ever from a tropical storm in the continental U.S.

Massive flooding from this devastating storm inundated Houston, the nations fourth largest city, and surrounding areas. The full extent of the destruction is not yet known, but it will no doubt be enormous. An estimated 32,000 residents driven from their homes by rising floodwaters are currently in emergency shelters, and 195,000 people have already registered for federal emergency financial assistance.

While natural catastrophes of this magnitude are not under human control, our response to them certainly is. Unfortunately, some politicians and members of the media used previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, to play an unseemly blame game to score political points.

But such calamities are a time for national unity, not sectarian division.

At a joint press conference in Corpus Christi on Tuesday with President Donald Trump, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long and other members of Trumps Cabinet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed his deep gratitude for the federal governments behind-the-scenes support as state officials began preparing for the storm two weeks before Harvey made landfall.

At every step of the way, as the hurricane came across the shore, and as the flooding began in Houston, Texas, the president and his Cabinet remained in constant contact with me and my staff, and they all had one thing to say: Texas, what do you need? How can we help? You can count on us, Abbott told reporters.

Abbott and Defense Secretary James Mattis set up a Dual Status Command to provide a centralized chain of command, a vast improvement over the chaotic conditions in New Orleans after Katrina struck.

Long, who pointed out that FEMA was delivering food, water and other necessities to shelters and distribution points set up by the National Guard, alluded to the confusion surrounding Katrina when he pointed out, This is not the Superdome.

There are 8,500 federal employees on the scene, and the Pentagon announced it would be calling up to 30,000 additional National Guard troops to assist law enforcement and help with the restoration of essential services. Trump also promised very rapid action from Congress, certainly from the president, on approving disaster funding for the counties in Texas and Louisiana most affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Experienced first responders from other states, including Virginia, were also sent to Texas to assist in the massive search-and-rescue effort. Many charitable groups are already on the ground providing disaster relief, aided by an army of volunteers who used their own private boats to ferry hurricane victims to safety.

Accompanying the heart-wrenching scenes of destruction in Houston were stirring stories of people trapped by the rising floodwaters being rescued by their fellow Americans, who put their own lives on the line to come to the aid of victims without regard to their political, racial, ethnic, religious or ideological status.

Trump summed up what should be the nations only response to natural disasters: We are one American family. We hurt together, we struggle together. And believe me, we endure together, the president said. We are one family. To the people of Texas and Louisiana, we are 100 percent with you.

Especially during such times of national tragedy, all Americans should remember that despite our differences, we are one nation under God, indivisibleand act accordingly.
Beilers relevant facts on Civil War dont quite add up

In his column, Putting the Confederacy in Perspective on Aug. 27, David Beiler accuses historians of presenting a distorted view of the Confederacy and suggests that he will provide the relevant facts, but he then presents arguments that are inconsistent with the relevant facts.

He argues that secession was as much about things like tariffs as it was about slavery. He claims, for instance, that the South was harmed because retaliatory tariffs abroad raised the cost of their [Southern] exports, slashing sales and profits. He doesnt provide relevant facts about retaliatory tariffs because there are none. The Souths primary export was cotton, the primary importer was Britain, and by 1845 the tariff on cotton imports to Britain was zero.

Moreover, Beiler omits the most relevant fact: Confederate states issued declarations explaining why they seceded. South Carolina did not mention tariffs but did declare that northern states have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. Mississippi declared, Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slaverythe greatest material interest of the world. Texas was interested in maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slaverythe servitude of the African to the white race. Virginia refers to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States, not the Southern free trade states.

Historians point to slavery as the cause of secession because that is where the evidence points. Mr. Beiler wants to distract us with talk of tariffs and public spending. Confederate states, however, were not reluctant to say that they seceded to preserve the enslavement of people of African descent. Discussions about Confederate monuments should begin by being as honest about the origins of the Confederacy as Confederates themselves were.

Bradley Hansen

Fredericksburg
IMHO looters and rioters like ANTIFA should be shot, with real bullets, what is wrong with our Country when Police let looters run rampant during riots. This PC crap has gotten out of hand, and I can see a day coming when the people of this Country start taking the law into their own hands, and personally I think that day can't come soon enough!
A dairy farmer has been fined 1,000 for polluting a waterway in Northern Ireland.

It comes after environmental inspectors observed what appeared to be a milky white agricultural discharge flowing from a PVC pipe into the watercourse.

Stephen Carson, of Tievenny Road, Strabane, County Tyrone, was convicted at Strabane Magistrates Court on Thursday (31 August).

See also: Ways to reduce the risk of water pollution

He pleaded guilty and was fined 1,000 plus 15 offenders levy.

Water quality inspectors acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency had inspected a tributary of the River Derg at Tievenny Road, Ardstraw, on 13 October 2016.

The inspectors walked upstream and observed pollution in the form of heavy fungal growth at various points along the waterway.

The inspectors entered the farm and spoke with Mr Carson.

A milking parlour constructed in July 2016 and misconnected pipework were discussed.

When offered one portion of the statutory sample Mr Carson declined to accept this.

The milky discharge to the waterway was still occurring when inspectors made a follow up visit to the farm on 22 November 2016.

By the time of a further visit on 9 December, pipework had been installed to take the effluent from the milking parlour to a slurry tank and no discharge to the waterway was noted.

However, the discharge had already visibly impacted the waterway for a distance of some 670 metres, the inspectors said.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life.
WREN RYAN CLARY Free Access Zach and Erica Clary of Gaffney announce the birth of their daughter, Wren Ryan Clary, born August 17, 2022. Wren has a sister, Reese. Grandparents are Eric and Teresa Bennett...

Fresh fruit and veggies for Thanksgiving Free Access Families can receive a box of fresh fruits and vegetables just in time for the Thanksgiving holidays. FoodShare Cherokee provides opportunities for all residents to order fresh food boxes every...

Museum, Limestone collaborating on textile history program Free Access The Cherokee County Museum is partnering with Limestone Universitys communications class and local educator Tim Lipsey to conduct a history program on textiles. If you or your family has worked...
goober said: These anarchists have to be stopped Click to expand...

You do realize that antifa is an anarcho communist group. Concidered far left. And that they are not displaying any attributes that people who generally identify as anarchists hold in any value.They are violent, leftist authoritarians.NAP is a key attribute of anarchy.But I get how you would like to try and shuffle the political ideology over towards me.Taking responsibility is not something that leftists are known for.
Story Highlights Six in 10 Democrats vs. 35% of Republicans view movie industry positively

Partisan gap toward movies is greatest of 25 business and industry sectors

Gap nearly as large for oil and gas industry, with GOP more positive

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At a time when partisan differences abound in American public opinion, Gallup finds the images of U.S. businesses and industries are not immune: There is a significant difference in how Republicans and Democrats rate nine of 25 business and industry sectors in the United States. The movie and oil and gas industries generate the most polarized reviews, with Democrats much more positive about the movie industry and Republicans much more positive about oil and gas.

U.S. Business and Industry Sectors With Partisan Images Figures in parentheses indicate difference between Democrats' and Republicans' positive ratings Viewed more positively by Democrats Viewed more positively by Republicans Movie industry (+25) Oil and gas industry (+23) Publishing industry (+16) Electric and gas utilities (+12) Television and radio industry (+14) Retail industry (+11) Computer industry (+13) Education (+10) Advertising and public relations (+9) Gallup, Aug. 2-6, 2017

More generally, Democrats (including Democratic-leaning independents) are more likely than Republicans (including Republican-leaning independents) to have very or somewhat positive views of six industries, while Republicans hold more positive impressions than Democrats of three industries.

Gallup has measured public attitudes about U.S. business and industry sectors as part of its Work and Education poll each August since 2001, asking respondents whether their overall view of each industry is very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative or very negative. This year's survey was conducted Aug. 2-6.

Democrats Have More Positive Image of Communications Industries

The movie industry has a partisan gap in positive ratings of 25 percentage points: 60% of Democrats view it positively vs. 35% of Republicans. It also stands out as one of a handful of sectors that have seen their image become more polarized over the course of the Gallup trend.

Additionally, there is greater Democratic positivity toward the publishing, computer, television and radio, and advertising and public relations industries, as well as the field of education.

U.S. Industry Sectors Viewed More Positively by Democrats Total percentage very positive/somewhat positive shown Democrats/Democratic leaners Republicans/Republican leaners Difference % % pct. pts. Movie industry 60 35 +25 Publishing industry 53 37 +16 Television and radio 53 39 +14 Computer industry 83 70 +13 Education 61 51 +10 Advertising and public relations 41 32 +9 Gallup, Aug. 2-6, 2017

Democrats' more positive views of information industries like publishing and television make sense in the current political environment, with a Republican president who is at war with the media -- however, these patterns are not new. Democrats have tended to view these industries more positively in previous years.

Still, it is possible that the movie industry has been swept up into the partisan landscape, given many high-profile actors' association with the Democratic Party and its causes. And the partisan gap on education may tie in with a recent Gallup finding that many Republicans believe higher education is too liberal.

Predict business outcomes and build a data-driven culture.

Gallup's advanced analytics services help you harness the power of data. Learn more

Energy Sectors Viewed Better by Republicans

In addition to the oil and gas industry, which 50% of Republicans and 27% of Democrats view positively, Republicans hold more positive views than Democrats of electric and gas utilities and the retail industry. At least half of Republicans view all three sectors positively, compared with less than half of Democrats.

U.S. Industry Sectors Viewed More Positively by Republicans Total percentage very positive/somewhat positive shown Republicans/Republican leaners Democrats/Democratic leaners Difference % % pct. pts. Oil and gas industry 50 27 +23 Electric and gas utilities 51 39 +12 Retail industry 58 47 +11 Gallup, Aug. 2-6, 2017

Republicans' higher ratings of the two energy-related industries may reflect the close connection between these industries and public policy, including oil exploration and environmental protection. Republicans tend to side with oil and gas industry interests on these issues, while Democrats tend to side with environmental interests.

This year's 23-point difference in Republicans' and Democrats' positive views of the oil and gas industry is larger than normal, but is overall reflective of Republicans' consistently more positive view of the industry.

No other business or industry sector in the poll this year is associated with a statistically significant gap in Republican and Democratic ratings. This includes the accounting, airline, automobile, banking, farming, grocery, healthcare, internet, legal, pharmaceutical, real estate, restaurant, sports, telephone and travel industries, as well as the federal government.

Bottom Line

Americans' impressions of the country's major business and industry sectors are the most positive, on average, that Gallup has found in 17 years of measurement. A majority of Americans view nine sectors positively, the most in any year since 2003. However, these ratings are not uniform -- rather, Republicans and Democrats have significantly different attitudes toward about a third of these industries.

The party gaps in favorability toward the movie, publishing, TV and radio, and energy-related sectors are most notable because they result from fundamentally different reactions from the two parties. Majorities of one party, compared with far less than half of the other, have a positive impression of each. By contrast, while sizable partisan gaps are also seen toward the computer industry and education, majorities of both party groups view these sectors favorably.

Still, Americans evaluate most of the industries measured without a partisan lens, giving these sectors the opportunity to build or, in some cases, repair their brands without having to battle fixed political mindsets.
FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
A Pinch of Salt: The election is over, I think, so what now?
At the start of an assembly Wednesday in the Corvallis High School gym, it took a few tries for the first speaker to quiet the crowd.

But the chatty group that required hushing did not include students just back from summer break. Instead, it was mostly teachers.

This was the start of the Corvallis School Districts back-to-school rally Wednesday morning. The rally kicked off a day of inspiration and professional development to get staff ready to head back to the classroom next week.

Most of the districts 750 employees attended the event, a district representative said.

The rally featured a speech by Manny Scott, one of the Freedom Writers depicted in the 2007 Hillary Swank film of the same name. The district paid Scott $8,500 for the appearance, and district officials told audience members not to take photos of Scott because his contract with the district prohibited Scott from being photographed.

The film is based on the true story of a high school teacher in Long Beach, California, who had her at-risk students turn their journals into a book, "The Freedom Writers Diary."

Superintendent Ryan Noss also spoke at the event, saying the districts goals have not changed: to have every student graduate, to create alternative pathways for students and to help all students make progress.

Equity continues to be an area I think about and focus on because I want every student to have an opportunity when they leave here, he said.

Noss also said the economy used to value knowledge, but in an era where knowledge can easily be accessed on a smartphone, teachers need develop skills in their students.

How do we prepare kids for a skill economy? he said.

Noss suggested some of the answers might come from innovation grants the district was funding in schools. These include a Adams Elementary School teacher who is having kids raise salmon in the classroom, a new student equity advocacy project at Corvallis High School that aims to encourage meaningful conversations about race and a project at Crescent Valley High School in which students will build underwater robots for work in Yaquina Bay.

Noss also talked about the next steps in the districts plan to ask voters to approve a bond to rebuild its schools in May 2018.

Noss said the district will be holding community forums at all district schools in October to gather input. Then the Long Range Facilities committee that created a draft plan in the spring will meet a final time in November. Noss said the plan is for the board, at its December meeting, to approve a proposal to place before district voters in a May 2018 election.

Several of the proposals in the draft plan earned cheers from the staff in the audience, such as replacing classrooms in modular buildings with permanent rooms and adding dedicated space for art and music in elementary classrooms.

Noss said that he was excited for the school year to begin this coming Wednesday, saying if he could have shortened the break, he would have.

Im excited to see all the things that happen in the year to come, he said.
Mid-valley residents headed to the great outdoors for the Labor Day weekend could be in for a scorcher, with an excessive heat watch in effect for the Corvallis-Albany area from Friday through Monday.

Beginning (Friday) were going to see highs into the low 90s, and from Saturday through Monday, probably even Tuesday, the highs will climb into the upper 90s, said Colby Neuman, a meteorologist with the Portland bureau of the National Weather Service.

Theres even a day or two when we could be flirting with 100 degrees in there.

A ridge of high pressure over the Willamette Valley is driving the heat wave, bringing relentless sunshine and keeping the prevailing westerly winds from blowing cool, moist air from the Pacific Ocean, Neuman explained.

Instead, easterly winds are expected to exacerbate the situation, bringing hot, dry air from Central Oregon into the area, along with another unwelcome guest  clouds of smoke from the numerous wildfires burning in the Cascade Range.

Basically, I think everyone in the Willamette Valley should expect the smoke to return Saturday, Neuman said. Its probably not going to go anywhere until at least Monday, maybe Tuesday.

The hot, dry conditions also heighten concerns about the possibility of new fires starting. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for Friday and a fire weather watch for the long holiday weekend.

People heading out for the traditional end-of-summer camping trip may have to give up on the idea of roasting weenies and toasting marshmallows over an open flame: campfire bans remain in effect at many public recreation sites.

Public land managers are asking people to be extremely cautious with fire during the heat wave.

"We're already at the peak of fire season," warned Jim Gersbach of the Oregon Department of Forestry.

"We want people to have a good time over the Labor Day weekend, but we don't want them to relax their guard."

The sweltering temperatures also increase the danger of heat-related illness.

The National Weather Service is advising people to drink plenty of water, avoid outdoor activities in the afternoon and be sure not to leave kids or pets in the car, even for short periods. If you feel overcome by the heat, go someplace with air conditioning. And if you think you might have heat stroke, call 911.
A Benton County judge sentenced a Corvallis man to prison Thursday for his involvement in the armed robbery of a Subway restaurant in July.

Authorities originally charged Steven Lance Thompson with first-degree robbery but lessened the charge to attempted first-degree robbery in accordance with a plea deal with state prosecutors. The plea agreement called for Thompson to be sentenced to 56 months, or about four-and-a-half years, behind bars.

Circuit Court Judge David Connell agreed to accept the plea agreement. He also sentenced Thompson to three years of post-prison supervision.

The plea deal was contingent upon Thompson cooperating with prosecutors, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Jordan said. Thompsons defense attorney, John Rich, said last month Thompson planned to testify in front of a grand jury against his co-defendants.

Police have said Thompson conspired to plan and carry out the armed robbery along with Patrick Ambrose Daly, 28, of Albany, and Kevin Maurice Mitchell, 18, of Corvallis.

Daly pleaded guilty last Friday to attempting to commit a Class A felony, according to court records. Connell sentenced Daly to five years in prison and three years of post-prison supervision.

Neither Thompson nor Daly will be allowed to visit any Subway location following their releases from prison, according to their sentences. Both must also pay restitution.

Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, menacing, unlawful use of a weapon, conspiracy to commit a Class A felony and two counts of second-degree theft. He remained in the Benton County Jail as of Thursday on $312,500 bond.

According to police, a man wearing a mask entered the restaurant at 2479 NW Monroe Ave. about 3:45 a.m. on July 18. The suspect showed a handgun to an employee and left with an undisclosed amount of cash. He fled before officers arrived at the scene, police said. No one was injured during the robbery.
May 31, 1947  August 25, 2017

Mac McConnell passed away, at the age of 70, on August 25 in a motor vehicle accident on Highway 20.

He is survived by wife of 45 years, Cindy McConnell; son, Thomas and family (Karin, Katlyn, Jacob, and Carson); daughter Rachel and family (Charles, Michaela, Rebecca, and Spencer); son Shiloh and family (Monica, Melia, Ellie, Cameron, and Cahli); son, Shane and family (Jessica, Hamish and Tessa); and sisters Anna, Kim, and Georgia and their families.

He was born in Ogden, Utah on May 31, 1947 to Charles and Roberta. He was raised in Sacramento, California and went to college in New York, Utah, and Oregon where he received several degrees in English, Literature, and Biology. From there he went on to teach at an international school in Iran. Upon returning stateside he continued teaching in Oregon.

Mac was an owner and founder of businesses for almost 40 years culminating in the establishment of American Home and Stone in Philomath. His business reached from the Coast to the Cascades.

Other entrepreneurial ventures included a feed store, chainsaw/lawn mower repair, furniture manufacture, lumber yard, builder and contractor, home center store, hot tub and spa sales, environmental investigator (toxic mold assessment and indoor air quality specialist), ranching, and property management.

He was also the previous Commodore of the Newport Yacht Club and the President of the Western Belted Galloway Association. Mac always volunteered; willing to lend his heart and a helping hand all the time. He was an avid traveler, entrepreneur, rancher, aviator, diver, sailor, reader, writer, and the most dedicated father and grandfather.

Mac was so well traveled to the point of his family not knowing everywhere he had been or even where he was. Some of his destinations included Ireland, Mexico, Belize, several European countries, the Middle East, and most of the states.

Mac was enormous not only in stature but in his presence and his love for family and friends. His deep laugh, big strong hands, kind voice, and contagious smile were always the foundation for the strong family bond that we all share. He was a kind father and great role model, spending the last year of his life building houses for his grandkids. He was known as the grandpa taxi because between the swim meets, the taekwondo practice, recitals, and various other activities he was always their Number One Fan!

He gave and gave without ever expecting anything in return. He was always available to give his time and invaluable knowledge and wisdom to anyone who was willing to receive it.

A great storyteller would be an understatement. He could take you all over the world without even taking you out of town. His snuggles and his bear hugs warmed you to the core, and his eggs benedict never left you unfulfilled. He was a lover of great food and Celtic music and was a connoisseur of many ales!

In lieu of flowers or donations give a hug to your family, send good thoughts to a friend, or help somebody in need.

A celebration of life will be at 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 2 at the McConnell residence at 1348 Nashville Road. Please bring your favorite dish to share and camping gear if you would like to stay for the night.
The Corvallis City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the downtown fire station, 400 NW Harrison Blvd. with the latest land-use skirmish on Timberhill topping the agenda.

Councilors are scheduled to hold a 7:30 p.m. public hearing on an appeal by developers who requested the removal of a planned development overlay from 200-plus acres of property they own north of the Kings Boulevard-Walnut Boulevard intersection.

Removing the overlay would make it easier for the developers to build on the property, but Paul Bilotta, community development director, rejected the request Aug. 9. The developers, GPA 1 and Forest Heights, appealed Bilottas decision to the City Council.

Also on the agenda are an ordinance establishing a climate action advisory board, a special ordinance that would remove a historical preservation overlay from the First Christian Church at 602 SW Madison Ave., and a request from Mayor Biff Traber that the council allocate funds for the mens cold weather shelter.

In other public meetings:

Tuesday

 The Benton County Board of Commissioners will meet at noon in the county boardrooms, 205 NW Fifth St. There is no new business on the agenda.

 The Philomath Park Advisory Board meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 980 Applegate St. The board is scheduled to discuss planning for next year, the dog park and development code issues involving park facilities.

 The Benton County Planning Commission meets at 7 p.m. at the Sunset Building, 4077 SW Research Way, to deliberate on proposals by Oregon State University to expand its trail system in the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest and make other upgrades. The record in the case is closed, so no public testimony will be taken.

Wednesday

 The Corvallis Housing and Community Development Advisory Board meets at 11:30 a.m. at the Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 SW Madison Ave.

 The Corvallis Community Police Review Advisory Board meets at 3 p.m. at the Walnut Community Room, 4950 NW Fair Oaks Drive.

 The Corvallis Community Involvement and Diversity Advisory Board meets at 5 p.m. at the Madison room.

 The Corvallis Planning Commission meets at 7 p.m. at the downtown fire station and will hold a public hearing on a conditional use permit and property line adjustment by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. The fellowship wants to sell a single-family home adjacent to its facility at 2945 N.W. Circle Blvd. to the Corvallis Zen Circle, which plans to convert the building into a meditation center.

 The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library Advisory Board meets at 7:30 p.m. at the library, 645 NW Monroe Ave.

Thursday

 The Finance and Administration Committee of the Oregon State University Board of Trustees will meet by telephone from 2:30 to 4 p.m. The public can listen to the meeting in the Allworth Conference Room of OSUs Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, or by calling 877-474-7020 and entering conference number 22516#.

 The Corvallis City Council meets in a 4 p.m. work session at the Madison room and will hold a second discussion on priorities. City Manager Mark Shepard distilled the lengthy list of goals and initiatives councilors discussed at an Aug. 10 session to five main priorities: land use, charter review, continuing council initiatives in progress, public safety and a sustainable budget.

 A public comment session for Oregon State Universitys new natural hazard mitigation plan is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St. A draft of the plan is available online at http://emergency.oregonstate.edu/nhmp.
 ROSE (roz) n. One of the most beautiful of all flowers, a symbol of fragrance and loveliness. Often given as a sign of appreciation.

 RASPBERRY (razbere) n. A sharp, scornful comment, criticism or rebuke; a derisive, splatting noise, often called the Bronx cheer.

We hereby deliver:

 ROSES to you, if you're planning to enjoy the Labor Day weekend, but are taking steps to do so safely.

The weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, but it's likely to be unusually hot and dry, conditions that will require some additional care on your part. We'll be sweating all weekend under an excessive heat watch issued by the National Weather Service. So be smart in dealing with the heat.

Also, if you're camping, be sure you don't do anything to extend what already has been a brutal wildfire season.

And, as you drive to and from your destination, be aware that you'll likely be dealing with thick holiday traffic. Be patient. Stay sober. Wear your seat belt. Hands off that smartphone.

We'll see you back here on Tuesday, as the mid-valley settles in for another school year.

 Speaking of the start of the school year, ROSES to all those teachers and school administrators who already are working to make sure that this next year is a terrific one for their students. These are tough jobs, and they're not getting any easier, and yet they return to the classroom every year knowing that their work makes a big difference in a lot of lives.

A related note, though: The Corvallis School District held a back-to-school rally for its employees and brought in an inspirational speaker, Manny Scott. Scott, one of the "Freedom Writers" portrayed in the Hillary Swank movie of the same name, has an excellent reputation and loves to inspire teachers. But he also came with an $8,500 price tag. We have another idea: Pick a couple of students who have overcome the odds to become outstanding students, have them tell their stories at the rally, and give them $4,000 scholarships.

 RASPBERRIES to an increase in prices at the gas pump, just in time for the Labor Day weekend. You might expect that prices would increase because of Harvey, but experts at AAA Oregon/Idaho say that Oregon doesn't depend on the Gulf Coast for its gasoline. (Eventually, though, we have to think that Harvey will have an effect on pump prices nationwide, including here.)

Most recently, though, gas prices in Oregon rose just because the Labor Day weekend was coming up, meaning that lots of people would need gasoline for their holiday trips.

Harvey did help drive a fairly large boost across the nation, which rose 4 cents to an average of $2.38 per gallon. The average price in Oregon? $2.84 a gallon.

 ROSES to this week's rededication of a Wilsonville landmark with Oregon State University connections. The Grove of the States, a historic arboretum containing trees for each U.S. state and the District of Columbia, was rededicated at a Monday ceremony. The grove is located at the French Prairie rest area southbound on Interstate 5 south of Wilsonville.

The grove was first planted in 1967. It was restored through a plan developed by Brad Hamel when he was a graduate student at the OSU College of Forestry. Paul Ries of the College of Forestry was a member of the committee working on the project. OSU horticulture students developed a plan for the grove. It's nice to see such a unique roadside attraction get a new lease on life.

 ROSES to the new solar array at the Corvallis Municipal Airport. The city of Corvallis owns the array, which is expected to produce enough energy to power most of the airport's daily needs. The array was dedicated on Monday in a ceremony that featured city, state and Pacific Power officials.

Pacific Power's Blue Sky program, which allows customers to support renewable energy by paying a premium on their bills, funded the bulk of the $278,000 project, with additional funds provided by the Energy Trust of Oregon. Best of all: The array sits on land that used to be a Superfund site. We'd say this is a terrific deal all around. (mm)
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
American settlement : White Dinner in Plittersdorf

Plittersdorf Dress in white and head to the White Dinner in the American settlement neighborhood on Saturday. All are welcome as long visitors come in white.

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The citizen initiative Rettet die Amerikanische Siedlung (Rescue the American Settlement) is inviting everyone to their third annual White Dinner. It will begin at 6pm on Saturday, September 2 on the grounds between Europastrae and Steubenring.
Fire in Bonns Heerstrae : Police investigating suspected arson

Bonn The Bonn Fire Department rescued 18 persons from a burning building early Friday morning in the north of Bonn. Police are now investigating a case of suspected arson.

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Police report that they were called to a fire at the corner of Heerstrae and Thomastrae at 3:45am on Friday morning. There was a fire in the hallway of a multi-family apartment house. The passage led to the rear of the building.

Heavy smoke prevented residents from using the stairway to evacuate the building. The fire department had to use ladders to safely remove 18 persons and a bird in a cage from the front side of the apartment house.

The fire was extinguished at 6am, with the rear of the house free of fire and smoke. Affected residents were brought to a public transportation bus from SWB and they received care from workers at the scene. Altogether, 16 persons were taken to Bonn hospitals with suspected smoke inhalation.

The bird was brought to an animal shelter. For the time being, the apartment house is not habitable. Authorities were not yet able to provide information about the cause of the fire or the level of damage.

Initial findings of investigators point to a garbage container in the foyer which had been set on fire. The fire then spread through the building. Police are now investigating on suspicion of arson and looking for witnesses who might have observed something between 2am and 4am. Any tips can be phoned in to police at (0228) 1 50.
Oregon State Police officials say Terence Jay Shaw, 51, of Riverside, California, was the only person injured in an explosive tractor-trailer collision that shut down Interstate 5 southbound at Highway 20 shortly after midnight Friday morning.

The incident happened when a 2016 Freightliner pulling a trailer and operated by Shaw was traveling northbound on I-5 when, for unknown reasons, the vehicle drifted out of the travel lane. The vehicle traveled through the gore point at Exit 233, struck a guardrail and then struck a vertical pillar supporting the Highway 20 overpass.

A passing driver stopped and helped pull Shaw from the vehicle before it became engulfed in flames. Shaw was transported to a Portland-area hospital for injuries sustained in the crash and subsequent fire.

I-5 northbound was closed until 7 a.m. The Albany Police Department, the Albany and Tangent Fire departments, and the Oregon Department of Transportation assisted State Police at the scene.

A handful of bystanders watched on the east side of the crash as smoke and flames billowed from the cab and the trailer.

A man taking pictures at the scene said several explosions woke him up from his sleep at a nearby hotel.
Mid-valley residents headed out to enjoy the last long weekend of summer may find the going a bit challenging compared to other years, but the good news is camping spaces still are available on a first-come, first-served basis in Linn County parks.

What weekend vacationers can expect:

 Gasoline prices are climbing in part due to a reduction in production from the Gulf Coast refineries due to Tropical Storm Harvey.

 Numerous wildfires have flared up throughout the Willamette and Deschutes national forests, filling the air with smoke and, in many cases, closing roads and hiking trails from Detroit to Sisters.

 And to top it all off, mid-valley temperatures are expected to bounce around triple digits: 97 on Friday, 101 on Saturday, 99 on Sunday, 100 on Monday and 101 on Tuesday. (See the related story.)

Brian Carroll, director of the Linn County Parks and Recreation Department, said several camping spaces remain available at Sunnyside, Waterloo, Whitcomb Creek and John Neal parks, which are all first-come-first-served sites. A few spaces remain at Edgewater Marina, for which reservations can be made.

Business has been good, but a little up and down, Carroll said. People tend to stay home when it is super hot and there has been some confusion about where campfires are permitted. They are in our campgrounds if they are contained in a metal ring. They are not allowed in the Forest Service campgrounds we manage along the South Santiam River or at Edgewater Marina, which is in the Sweet Home city limits.

Gas prices had been hovering at a low of about $2.29 to $2.49 per gallon for regular until the solar eclipse, when some stations bumped prices by 25 cents or more for a short time.

This week, low gas prices were about $2.59 per gallon, with several Albany area stations in the $2.63 to $2.69 range.

In Benton County, prices are trending a bit higher, with a low of $2.66 to $2.71.

In Linn County, stations near Interstate 5 have already hit the $3 mark for a gallon of regular gasoline, and youll have to dig deep into the billfold for a gallon of premium at up to $3.49.

Although the overall gasoline supply remains strong, experts expect price bumps because the futures market is up 15 percent in the last week. The national average has climbed 3 percent in the same time to $2.40 a gallon.

Some 14 Gulf Coast refineries have closed due to the storm and others have reduced operations.

In addition to the storms effects on the actual plants, employees are finding it difficult to get to work due to the extreme flooding.

The national average is about $2.40 per gallon  up about 22 cents from the same time a year ago  and the Oregon average is $2.81.
LEBANON  The Lebanon School Board has decided not to hold a public hearing on a complaint filed against the superintendent and previous board members.

Retired teacher Jennifer Walter had filed the complaint July 30, requesting an independent review of board and district actions in connection with the superintendent's romantic relationship with a district principal.

In a statement issued by Chairman Tom Oliver, the board said it already has asked an independent attorney to review the district's policies and procedures related to hiring and supervision of family members.

That attorney also has been asked to review how the district handles investigations into board and personnel conduct, the statement says. The results of both reviews will be discussed in public session once received, according to the statement.

Walter said she is disappointed the board appears to be unwilling to publicly review past practices and said she thinks that decision "will make it much more difficult to restore community and staff confidence in the district."
While the international community focuses on North Korea's missile launch over Japan, a group of US experts has a warning about Pyongyang's missile development. They have given NHK an exclusive.

They say based on analysis of a previous launch, the North could have the ability to strike the US mainland with an ICBM within months.

On July 28th, North Korea fired a Hwasong-14 missile, which it claims to be an ICBM.

It is estimated to have flown for 45 minutes before plunging into the Sea of Japan.

NHK cameras in northern Japan caught a flash of the missile before it landed.

The US experts analyzed the footage to determine if what was caught on camera was a re-entry vehicle, the part of the ICBM that would deliver a nuclear weapon.

They estimate that the object was falling at the speed of 6 kilometers per second at the height of 44 kilometers.

They say it is slower than the normal speed of a "re-entry vehicle" that is coming back to Earth.

James Acton of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says, "If it's the reentry vehicle and it is tumbling --that would give us some questions about the exact status of North Korea's program."

But their analysis wasn't conclusive whether it was the re-entry vehicle or another part of the missile.

Acton also says, "The North Koreans successfully launched the missile. It climbed to a very, very high altitude and it fell almost all the way back to earth as it should've done, and it was only at the very end of the flight that something went wrong."

They say the underlying point is that the test was nearly successful and in terms of missile development, that means a lot.

Acton says, "North Korean scientists are very capable. They have proven themselves over time to be good and effective engineers. If they don't have an ICBM that can hit the U.S. today, they will have it in the very near future."

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S.Korea's 2018 defense budget to rise most in 9 years

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense budget in 2018 would rise the most in nine years to counter rising threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), financial ministry said Tuesday.

According to the 2018 budget plan submitted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance to the National Assembly, a total of 43.12 trillion won (38.3 billion U.S. dollars) was allotted to the defense budget next year.

It was up 6.9 percent from the previous year, marking the fastest yearly increase since 2009.

Costs to improve defense readiness stood at 13.48 trillion won for the 2018 defense budget, up 10.5 percent from the previous year, while the military management costs would grow 5.3 percent to 29.64 trillion won.

Among the defense improvement costs, 4.36 trillion won would be spent next year on budget to counter the DPRK's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats.

The 4.36 trillion won budget would be spent mainly on the so-called three pillars of the Korean version, including the Kill Chain, the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) systems.

The Kill Chain is designed to preemptively strike the DPRK's missile launch sites when signs of the first strike are spotted. The KMPR is a project to preemptively strike the DPRK's leadership and headquarters with massive missile attacks when Pyongyang's first strike signs are detected.

The KAMD is a project to develop its indigenous missile defense system to shoot down incoming DPRK missiles at multiple layers. The project includes the development of interceptors such as medium-range surface-to-air missiles (M-SAM) and long-range surface-to-air missiles (L-SAM) that can intercept missiles at an altitude of less than 100 km.

The growing defense budget followed the DPRK's tests in July of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Early Tuesday, Pyongyang fired an unidentified ballistic missile that flew over the Japanese territory. The missile test came just three days after the DPRK's test on Saturday of three short-range missiles.

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Venezuela: Human rights violations indicate policy to repress - UN report

GENEVA (30 August 2017)  Extensive human rights violations and abuses have been committed in the context of anti-Government protests in Venezuela and point to the existence of a policy to repress political dissent and instil fear in the population to curb demonstrations, a report* by the UN Human Rights Office has found.

The generalized and systematic use of excessive force during demonstrations and the arbitrary detention of protestors and perceived political opponents indicate that these were not the illegal or rogue acts of isolated officials, the report says.

The report calls on the UN Human Rights Council to consider taking measures to prevent the human rights situation in Venezuela, currently a Council member, from worsening.

Analysis by the UN Human Rights Office indicates that of the 124 deaths linked to the protests being investigated by the Attorney Generals Office as of 31 July, the security forces were reportedly responsible for 46 and pro-Government armed groups, known as armed colectivos, for 27. Responsibility for the remaining 51 deaths has not yet been determined.

During the period covered by the report, 1 April to 31 July, the Attorney-Generals Office opened investigations into at least 1,958 cases of reported injuries in the context of demonstrations. The reports analysis of injuries shows the use of force progressively escalated. In the first half of April, the majority of injuries were from inhaling tear gas; by July, medical personnel were treating gunshot injuries.

The policies pursued by the authorities in their response to the protests have been at the cost of Venezuelans rights and freedoms, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein. The Government must ensure there are prompt, independent and effective investigations of the human rights violations allegedly committed by the security forces and of the abuses involving armed colectivos or violent protesters. This includes ensuring that the investigations initiated by the Attorney General during the period covered by this report continue and are scrupulously and visibly impartial, he stressed.

The right to peaceful assembly was systematically violated, with protestors and people identified as political opponents detained in great numbers. The report also identifies serious violations of due process and patterns of ill-treatment, in some cases amounting to torture, Zeid said.

According to reliable estimates from a local NGO, more than 5,000 people were detained since 1 April, with more than 1,000 reportedly still held as of 31 July. At least 609 civilians arrested in the context of protests were presented before military tribunals. The report calls on the Government to halt arbitrary detention and the use of military courts to try civilians.

Loosely organised groups of anti-Government protestors resorted to violent means, using improvised weapons ranging from rocks and slingshots to Molotov cocktails and homemade mortars, the report says. At least four people were allegedly killed by anti-Government groups or individuals and, according to the Government, nine members of the security forces had been killed as of 31 July. The report calls on the opposition parties to condemn all acts of violence, in particular when these originated from groups of violent protesters.

The report documents attacks against journalists and media workers by security forces that were apparently aimed at preventing them from covering demonstrations. Demonstrators and journalists were labelled by high-level authorities as enemies and terrorists  words that did little to counter, and may even have contributed to, the climate of violence and polarization, the High Commissioner said.

While acknowledging that the number of demonstrations, detentions and deaths have decreased since 1 August, Zeid expressed concern about recent measures taken by authorities to criminalize leaders of the political opposition through the Commission of Truth, Justice and Peace.

The Commission, recently established by the Constituent Assembly, does not meet the basic requirements of transparency and impartiality, to conduct investigations that are independent and free from political motivation on human rights violations and abuses, he said.

The High Commissioner warned that amid continuing economic and social crises and rising political tensions, there is a grave risk the situation in Venezuela will deteriorate further.

I encourage the Venezuelan Government to follow up on the recommendations made in the report and to use its findings as guidelines to seek truth and justice for the victims of human rights violations and abuses. I once again call on the Government to renounce any measure that could increase political tension in the country and appeal to all parties to pursue meaningful dialogue to bring an end to this crisis, Zeid said.

ENDS

*As the Venezuelan Government did not respond to requests for access, a team of human rights investigators conducted remote monitoring from 6 June to 31 July. The report is based on their analysis of the information they gathered, including through some 135 interviews with victims and their families, witnesses, civil society organisations, journalists, lawyers, doctors, first responders and the Attorney Generals Office.

Read the full report here: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/VE/HCReportVenezuela_1April-31July2017_EN.pdf

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Compass Call dominates OIR with electronic warfare

By Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Hehnly, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs / Published August 31, 2017

Often times when we think about how air power is used in the fight against ISIS, we think about cargo aircraft delivering critical supplies and personnel to the front lines or bombs being dropped on targets. Whats not often thought of is how the Air Force has the non-kinetic ability to disrupt enemy communications on the ground and therefore the ability to turn the tables on the battlefield.The 386th Air Expeditionary Wing has the capability to deliver decisive airpower not only through its C-130 airlift mission, but through the highly sought after non-kinetic ability of the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft operated by the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron. These heavily modified airframes are responsible for a highly specialized, unique mission: electronic warfare.The mission of the 43rd EECS is to deliver precision electronic attack effects to deny or degrade enemy command and control, protect friendly forces and to achieve the combatant commanders objectives to defeat our adversaries anytime, anywhere in the joint operations area, said Capt. Joshua, a 43rd EECS electronic warfare officer.Compass Call is an airborne tactical weapon system that uses noise jamming to disrupt enemy command and control communications and deny time-critical adversary coordination essential for enemy force management.The 43rd EECS provides the Combined Forces Air Component commander, or CFACC, with a critical non-kinetic option, said Lt. Col. Matthew Cunningham, an EC-130 aircraft commander. EC-130H employment of airborne electronic attacks functions as a force multiplier by degrading ISIS command and control. All military operations, to include those of our adversaries, require clear lines of communication between commanders and their forces. When we deny, disrupt or degrade these lines of communications, we reduce the adversary's battlefield effectiveness and give friendly forces a decisive advantage in individual engagements.EC-130H crews are currently performing tactical command, control and communications countermeasures in support of U.S. and coalition forces throughout the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility from the massive re-taking of Mosul, Iraq to smaller, single-event missions, said Joshua.The desired effects provided by the EC-130Hs unique communications jamming capability make the aircraft and its crew a low density high demand asset in the Operation Inherent Resolve battlespace. The autonomous electronic attack capability is unique to Compass Call and cannot be duplicated by any other airborne communications jamming assets.Compass Call is the Air Force's premier electronic attack platform, said Cunningham. It is the CFACC's only autonomous communications jamming, electronic attack asset. This unique autonomy is attributed to a crew of about a dozen highly-specialized, competent Airmen.The EC-130Hs flight deck personnel responsible for the aircraft flight and navigation are the same as found in most C-130 variants. In the back of the aircraft, however, are a number of linguists actively monitoring ISIS communications, while electronic warfare officers, or EWO, simultaneously employ the Compass Calls electronic attack weapons system. The EWO, serving as the mission crew commander, acts as the conduit between the partner forces on the ground and the mission crew to ensure the right effects are being placed on the right targets at the right time.Because the EC-130H aircraft requires unique and specialized maintenance support to keep the aircraft and weapon systems mission ready, maintenance Airmen from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, deploy with the Compass Call aircraft and aircrews.Operations and maintenance work together at home station and we fight together in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said Cunningham. They are a valued and integral part of our 43rd EECS team. We do not fly our mission without our maintainers dedication and effort.This non-kinetic capability allows the Air Force to reshape the combat environment by injecting unforeseeable command and control challenges on adversaries and dominating the electromagnetic spectrum, which in turn, enables joint and coalition military forces to seize initiative and dominate the battlefield.Non-kinetic warfare is, as the name implies, warfare without the utilization of kinetic resources such as missiles or bombs, said Joshua. The spectrum of non-kinetic warfare can include, but is not limited to, electronic attack, cyber operations, and information operations. Non-kinetic warfare will continue to grow as we proceed into the future and face evolving and dynamic threats.

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U.S. Fifth-Generation Fighters, Strategic Bombers Conduct Show of Force with Allies in Response to North Korea Missile Launch

By CDR David Benham | U.S. Pacific Command | August 31, 2017

CAMP H.M. SMITH, Hawaii  The United States newest and most advanced fighter, the U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, joined U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers for the first time in a sequenced bilateral mission with Japan and Republic of Korea air forces in Northeast Asia August 30.

Two B-1Bs from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; four U.S. Marine F-35Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan; two Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) F-15Js; and four Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) F-15Ks executed this mission to emphasize the combined ironclad commitment to the defense of Allies and the U.S. homeland. Enhancing combined military readiness through integrated missions ensures national leaders of viable and ready military options.

This mission was conducted in direct response to North Koreas intermediate-range ballistic missile launch, which flew directly over northern Japan on August 28 amid rising tension over North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile development programs.

"North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly, said Gen. Terrence J. OShaughnessy, Commander, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, who just returned from an unscheduled visit to Japan to meet with his counterparts. This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this common regional threat. Our forward-deployed force will be the first to the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moments notice if our nation calls."

Over the course of the 10-hour mission, the F-35Bs, B-1B bombers and Koku Jieitai fighters flew together over waters near Kyushu, Japan. The U.S. and ROKAF aircraft then flew across the Korean Peninsula and practiced attack capabilities by releasing live weapons at the Pilsung Range training area before returning to their respective home stations.

"The F-35 embodies our commitment to our allies and contributes to the overall security and stability of the Indo-Asia Pacific region," said Lt. Gen. David H. Berger, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific. "By forward-basing the F-35, the most advanced aircraft in the world, here in the Pacific, we are enabling the Marine Corps to respond quickly during a crisis in support of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and all our regional partners."

U.S. Pacific Command maintains strategic bomber and fighter capabilities in the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater, retaining the ability to respond to any regional threat at a moments notice.

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U.S. Defense Chief Signs Orders Sending More Troops To Afghanistan

August 31, 2017 18:12 GMT

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he has signed the orders to send additional troops to Afghanistan as part of President Donald Trump's new strategy to fight the 16-year war against the Taliban and other insurgents.

Mattis told reporters on August 31 that the fresh troops will enable the Afghan force to fight more effectively. It is more advisers, it is more enablers -- fire support, for example."

He added, though, that the deployment orders were not complete and that military leaders were still identifying specific additional troops to include as part of the deployment.

Mattis did not disclose the number of troops to be added to the U.S. contingent in Afghanistan, although officials have indicated it will be about 4,000.

The Pentagon on August 30 sharply raised its estimate of the number of U.S. troops already serving in Afghanistan, putting the figure at approximately 11,000.

The Pentagon had previously listed 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan but said the new figure was determined after a comprehensive review and a desire to give a more transparent accounting of the size of the U.S. force.

U.S. troops have led a NATO force assisting the Afghan government in the fight against the Taliban since 2001.

At its peak, the U.S. military had some 100,000 troops in the country before scaling back and handing active combat operations over to Afghan forces.

Based on reporting by AP, APF, and Reuters

Source:

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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New Diplomatic Tit-For-Tat As U.S. Orders Russian Consulate In San Francisco Closed

August 31, 2017 17:35 GMT Mike Eckel

WASHINGTON -- The United States has ordered the closure of Russias consulate in San Francisco, escalating a diplomatic tit-for-tat that followed Moscows order for a sharp cut in U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia.

The State Department said in a statement August 31 that two other diplomatic buildings in Washington and New York must also be shuttered.

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City," the statement said. "These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2."

The move followed last months order by Russia that the United States cut its diplomatic personnel in the country to 455 people. Russian officials cited a new sanctions law passed by Congress as the cause for the cut.

"We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries," the department said.

The shuttering of the San Francisco facility will leave Russia with the main embassy facility in Washington and three other consular posts on the territory of the United States -- in Seattle, on the northwestern Pacific coast; in Houston, in the southern state of Texas; and in New York City, on the East Coast.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern, the statement said.

The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted, it said.

The order to close the San Francisco facility was a marked escalation in the back-and-forth between Moscow and Washington and a reflection of just how poisoned bilateral relations have become.

President Donald Trumps election was openly welcomed in Moscow, where many officials anticipated warmer ties, something Trump himself had repeatedly called for.

That optimism has quieted, however, as the Trump administration has not moved to make any of the concrete conciliatory gestures Moscow has requested. Foremost among those requests was the return of two diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New Yorks Long Island that had been ordered closed by Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, for what he said was retaliation for Russias interference in last years presidential election.

U.S. officials alleged the facilities were used for intelligence gathering.

In July, after it became clear that Washington did not intend to return those facilities, Russia said it was seizing a bucolic riverside property in Moscow used by U.S. diplomats for years, along with a warehouse.

The reports of Russian interference has dogged Trump since he took office in January, with four different congressional committees investigating either that alleged meddling or interactions between Trump associates and Russian officials.

The FBI has had a criminal investigation into those interactions ongoing since July and the probe is now being overseen by a special counsel, Robert Mueller, who has reportedly used a grand jury to get testimony from both Americans and Russians.

In a statement released shortly after the State Department announcement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on August 31.

Lavrov expressed regret at the escalation of tensions in bilateral relations, not started by us, and stated that Moscow is closely studying the announcement by the Americans of new measures, after which our response will be communicated, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry has already complained about the reduction in U.S. diplomatic personnel, in particular U.S. announcements that processing of nonimmigrant visas will be severely curtailed, if not halted altogether.

Source:

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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India Wants 36 More French-Made Rafale Fighter Jets

Sputnik News

00:34 31.08.2017(updated 03:14 31.08.2017)

India is looking to place a follow-up order for 36 more fourth-generation Dassault Rafale multirole fighter jets for its Air Force. After four years of negotiations, French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation signed a deal worth 7.87 million euros with the Indian government last September to sell the jets, which are expected to be delivered starting November 2019 and likely ending in mid-2022.

No Early Delivery of Rafale Jets for India

West Bengal, near the border with Bangladesh and Myanmar, will host the first squadron of Rafale fighters, while Haryana, near the Pakistani border, will house the second. Space for an additional squadron of 18 aircraft each is available at both Indian Air Force (IAF) bases, which according to the service "will cut down the induction costs of the 36 additional fighters," the Diplomat reports.

According to the Times of India, the IAF made "some presentations" on the operational need for three dozen more of the twin-engine, multirole fighters, which would be more cost effective than the proposed Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), or Perspective Multirole Fighter (PMF), a stalled co-development project with Russia.

Armed with Scalp air-to-ground missiles, Meteor air-to-air-missiles and potentially an air-launched version of the BrahMos cruise missile, the canard delta wing Rafales have nuclear weapon capabilities and according to the IAF will be "a huge deterrent" against regional foes like Pakistan and China.

As Tension Heightens On China Border, IAF Seeks To Hasten Rafale Jet Delivery

In order to maintain an advantage over Beijing and Islamabad, India purportedly needs an additional 200 to 250 medium-weight fighter jet aircraft, and the IAF currently fields 33 fighter squadrons at varying levels of operationalization. By 2027 that number is expected to increase to 42.

Indias Navy may be interested in the naval version of the Dassault Rafale fighter, which is currently used on the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and other senior officials in the service have been pushing for more Rafales, and Raha said in a 2016 interview with the Diplomat that the fighter is "tremendously capable in all its roles. It is a multirole aircraft and can be used very effectively. It can prove its worth in any situation."

Though "we have just ordered 36 aircraft," Raha said then, "we require more aircraft in this middle weight category to give entire spectrum of capability."

According to Dassault, the Rafale encompasses elements of flexibility, interoperability, versatility and survivability that are "relevant against both traditional and asymmetrical threats," the companys website says. The jet also "addresses the emerging needs of the armed forces in a changing geopolitical context, and it remains at the forefront of technical innovation."

 Sputnik

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The Oregon State Credit Union near Heritage Mall, 1394 Clay St. SE, was robbed by a man wearing a bowler hat on Thursday afternoon and police quickly apprehended a suspect, according to the Albany Police Department.

A call about the robbery was received by authorities at 4:14 p.m.

By 5:15 p.m., police had arrested Terry Bowman of Albany at the apartment complex he lives at in the 2200 block of Waverly Drive Southeast.

Bowman faces charges of at least first-degree theft and third-degree robbery, said Lt. Alan Lynn, but authorities are continuing to investigate the case. A search warrant will be served on Bowman's apartment.

Police reviewed videotape of the incident and recognized Bowman from prior contacts, Lynn added.

The suspect demanded cash inside the bank, left with an unknown amount of money and was last seen walking northbound in the parking lot, Lynn said. Lynn was initially unsure if the suspect had brandished a weapon.

Six employees and 12 customers were in the bank at the time of the robbery.

"Everybody's fine," said Mike Corwin, assistant vice president of public relations and business development for Oregon State Credit Union. "We're cooperating with authorities who are on site, both the Albany police and the FBI."

Bowman would have been familiar to authorities for good reason.

On Monday, he pleaded no contest in Linn County Circuit Court to a charge of felon in possession of body armor and was sentenced to 10 days in custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections, with credit for time served and a year of post-prison supervision, according to Oregon's online court database.

Bowman was arrested on the charge in mid-August, after the Linn Interagency Narcotics Enforcement task force served a search warrant in the 2200 block of Waverly Drive. That arrest came as part of a drug bust that included a search warrant served on a Scio residence.

In 2001, Bowman was convicted of first-degree burglary in Lane County. Based on a probation violation in the burglary case, in January 2016, he was sentenced to 19 months in prison, with credit for good time. He also received three years post-prison supervision in that case, according to Oregon's online court database.
The Russian Defense Ministry has approved the initial design of the new Project 23560 Lider-class (Leader) destroyer, which will be equipped with a nuclear reactor to power the vessel, a source in Russias defense industry told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The announcement comes after Igor Ponomarev, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) vice president for military shipbuilding told Sputnik that the Russian Defense Ministry approved the initial design for the destroyer, but did not specify which type of reactor the ministry chose.

The design project implies the presence of a nuclear [reactor] on the perspective destroyer. This project was approved by the Russian Defense Ministry, the source told Sputnik on Thursday.

 Wikipedia/ Artem Tkachenko Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer

The new Lider-class destroyer is planned to have a displacement of 17,500 tonnes, length of 200 meters (over 650 feet) and a width of 20 meters. It will have anti-aircraft, anti-ballistic missile, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also specified that the ship would equipped with advanced Grach visual optical interference stations , which are capable of "blinding" enemy troops and optoelectronic devices, such as night vision equipment, binocular glasses and laser ranging devices with bright flares of light.

The Severnoye Design Bureau, the country's leading company for designing surface ships, has been refining its plans for the construction of the ocean-going Leader-class destroyer since 2010.

The universal battleship is expected to be set up in 2019 and is expected to replace three classes of ships, including project 1155 anti-submarine destroyers.

 Sputnik

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Battle to regain Raqqa must not be about defeating ISIL at all costs  Zeid

GENEVA (31 August 2017)  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein on Thursday stressed that the battle to regain Al-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor from ISIL must not be waged at the expense of the lives of civilians trapped and besieged in these areas.

Surely the purpose of defeating ISIL should be to protect and assist civilians who have been suffering under their murderous regime, High Commissioner Zeid said. Given the extremely high number of reports of civilian casualties this month and the intensity of the airstrikes on Raqqa, coupled with ISILs use of civilians as human shields, I am deeply concerned that civilians  who should be protected at all times - are paying an unacceptable price and that forces involved in battling ISIL are losing sight of the ultimate goal of this battle.

Between 1 and 29 August, the Coalition reports that it conducted 1,094 airstrikes on and near Raqqa city up from 645 in July. In July, throughout the whole of Syria, a total of 885 airstrikes were conducted by the Coalition.

The Russian air force, which operates separately from the Coalition, reported publicly that it had carried out 990 combat flights in Syria from 1 to 21 August and that 2,518 aviation strikes had been conducted.

Airstrikes and ground-based strikes on Raqqa have resulted in a large number of civilians casualties. While it is difficult to get a full picture, the UN Human Rights Office has managed to verify the following incidents since 1 August 2017 in each of which more than 20 civilians were reportedly killed  a total of 151 civilian deaths in six incidents alone:

 On 21 August afternoon, airstrikes hit a residential area in ISIL-held Al-Skhani neighbourhood and allegedly killed 32 civilians, including at least 11 women and six children. The same afternoon, airstrikes hit residential areas in Al-Badu neighbourhood, reportedly killing at least 21 civilians, including six women and four children.

 On 20 August afternoon, airstrikes hit a three-storey residential building in Al-Badu neighbourhood, allegedly killing at least 27 civilians, seven of them children.

 On 17 August evening, airstrikes hit residential areas in Madrasat Muawiya neighbourhood and reportedly killed at least 22 civilians, including six women and at least nine children.

 On 8 August morning, airstrikes hit a residential area in ISIL-controlled Al-Thaqna neighbourhood and allegedly killed at least 22 civilians, nine of them women and 11 children. Those killed reportedly were two entire families who had earlier been displaced from Palmyra in Homs Governorate.

 On 1 August morning, airstrikes hit residential areas in Albo Saraya neighbourhood, reportedly killing at least 27 civilians, including 12 children and eight women.

I am extremely concerned that in its conduct of hostilities, the attacking forces may be failing to abide by the international humanitarian law principles of precautions, distinction, and proportionality, High Commissioner Zeid said. Meanwhile ISIL fighters continue to prevent civilians from fleeing the area, although some manage to leave after paying large amounts of money to smugglers. We have reports of smugglers also being publicly executed by ISIL.

So as airstrikes bombard Al-Raqqa, some 20,000 civilians are either trapped, or risk their lives to flee and end up confined in makeshift camps in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces under horrendous conditions until prolonged security procedures are completed, with no oversight on how they are treated and screened, Zeid said.

The High Commissioner called on all those with involvement or influence in the conflict to facilitate the rapid, safe departure of civilians wishing to leave Al-Raqqa city, and to ensure the protection of those who remain.

The UN Human Rights Office has also received information about ISIL forcibly conscripting civilians in Deir-ez-Zor, including children.

Once Al-Raqqa is retaken from ISIL, the next big battle will be Deir-ez-Zor. I appeal to all the parties involved in the conflict in Syria to fully respect their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population and civilian objects. Individuals who are suspected for having committed serious violations of international law should be promptly investigated and if necessary prosecuted in accordance with international standards, he said.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 97 67 / rcolville@ohchr.org), Ravina Shamdasani (mailto:rshamdasani@ohchr.org+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or or LizThrossell (+41 22 917 94 66 / ethrossell@ohchr.org)

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Myanmar: Worsening cycle of violence in Rakhine must be broken urgently, UN expert warns

GENEVA (31 August 2017)  A United Nations human rights expert has expressed alarm at the deteriorating situation in Myanmars Rakhine State, affecting not just the Rakhine and Muslim populations but also other communities. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are now reported to be fleeing towards Bangladesh.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly and I am concerned that many thousands of people are increasingly at risk of grave violations of their human rights, said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee.

The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently.

Ms. Lee said the suffering of the Rohingya was particularly poignant this week, while the worlds Muslim communities celebrated Eid al-Adha on 1 September but the Rohingya remained in a precarious situation, not knowing their future or the fate of their relatives.

Latest estimates from UN sources suggest more than 27,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the area around Coxs Bazar, while 20,000 more remain stranded between the two countries. The number continues to grow.

The Special Rapporteur noted concerns over both the extremist attacks which followed the release of the final report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the major security operations undertaken in response to the attacks.

I am concerned that these events will derail efforts to address the root causes of the systematic discrimination and recurrent violence in Rakhine State, said the Special Rapporteur.

If human rights concerns are not properly addressed, and if people remain politically and economically marginalized, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalization, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists, said Ms. Lee. These concerns were raised by the Advisory Commission and I share them fully.

I am saddened to receive reports that, while the authorities are helping Rakhine and other communities living in affected townships evacuate to safer locations, this assistance is not being extended to the Rohingya Muslims, she added.



The situation had worsened considerably since extremist attacks on 25 August, with credible multiple sources reporting violations which include Rohingyas being indiscriminately killed and injured by military gunfire, even while fleeing, and helicopters and rocket-propelled grenades being used against the civilian population.

Ms. Lee reminded the authorities of their human rights obligations to give equal protection to people from all communities, whether from attacks by extremists or excessive action from the security forces. She has previously expressed concern over the military build-up in Rakhine State, urging the security forces to exercise restraint in all circumstances and to respect human rights.

I express the strongest condemnation of the attacks carried out by militant extremists and urge them to immediately halt further violence against the innocent civilian population.

I call on the Government to ensure the immediate provision of assistance to all affected communities in Rakhine State, and grant unfettered access to the United Nations to provide humanitarian assistance, including to address protection concerns, and to monitor the situation. Even before last Fridays attacks, access for humanitarian actors had been very limited in northern Rakhine, negatively impacting the support they provide.

This statement has been endorsed by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, and the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes.

ENDS

The Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights in Myanmar, Professor Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, and the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr. Fernand de Varennes, are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Councils independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.

UN Human Rights, country page: Myanmar

For more information and media requests, please contact Ms. Azwa Petra (+ 44 22 928 9103 / apetra@ohchr.org) or write to sr-myanmar@ohchr.org.

For more information and media requests, please contact Ms. Azwa Petra (+ 44 22 928 9103 / apetra@ohchr.org) or write to sr-myanmar@ohchr.org.

Concerned about the world we live in? Then STAND UP for someones rights today. #Standup4humanrights and visit the web page at http://www.standup4humanrights.org
Is 'Make America Great Again' Racist?

August 31, 2017 11:04 AM Marissa Melton VOA

Daryl Davis, a black musician who has made a practice of befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan, says he knows exactly what racists hear in the slogan "Make America Great Again."

Donald Trump "won the election on one word, one word only. And that word was 'again,' " Davis says.

"When was 'again?' " Davis asked during an interview at his home in May, discussing race relations in the age of President Trump. "Was it back when I was drinking from a separate water fountain? Was it when I couldn't eat in that restaurant over there? ... Make America Great Again -- before I had equality?"

Trump told The Washington Post he thought of the slogan in 2012 and trademarked it immediately, although similar words have been used by politicians as far back as President Ronald Reagan.

President Bill Clinton is on record as having used it during his presidential campaign in 1991, although not as an official slogan. Yet, in 2008, while campaigning for his wife, he noted: "If you're a white Southerner, you know exactly what it means, don't you?"

Is it possible that Trump was elected to the presidency with a racially charged slogan? Or are supporters and critics just hearing what they want to hear?

Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi who now works to help other white supremacists leave the movement, says the slogan fits into the alt-right's efforts to make its message more attractive by toning down the rhetoric.

"That was a concerted effort," Picciolini says in an informational video for Vox news. "We knew we were turning more people away that we could eventually have on our side if we just softened the message. These days with our political climate we see a lot of coded language, or dog whistles." (Picciolini's use of "dog whistle" refers to a subtle message meant to be understood only by a particular group of people, like a whistle pitched high enough that a dog might hear it, but a human would not.)

"Make America Great Again?" Picciolini asks rhetorically. "Well, to them, that means make America white again."

In June 2016, a Tennessee politician even put that on a billboard. Rick Tyler, running for a congressional seat in mostly white Polk County, Tennessee, explained that his "Make America White Again" billboard was meant to evoke the mood of 1950s America, when television shows idealized the image of the happy white family.

In a Facebook post, Tyler said, "It was an America where doors were left unlocked, violent crime was a mere fraction of today's rate of occurrence, there were no car jackings, home invasions, Islamic Mosques or radical Jihadist sleeper cells."

Tyler's billboard quickly drew negative national attention and was taken down within a few days.

Better economic times

President Trump says he merely meant the slogan to refer to better economic times.

"I felt that jobs were hurting," Trump told the Post in January. "I looked at the many types of illness our country had, and whether it's at the border, whether it's security, whether it's law and order or lack of law and order."

Trump said the slogan "inspired me, because to me, it meant jobs. It meant industry. And it meant military strength. It meant taking care of our veterans. It meant so much."

David Axelrod, chief political strategist for former president Barack Obama, credits Trump with understanding his audience and crafting a message whose flexibility was part of its appeal.

Trump, Axelrod told the Post, "understood the market that he was trying to reach. You can't deny him that." He added, "In terms of galvanizing the market that he was talking to, he did it single-mindedly and ingeniously."

So who is Trump's market? According to surveys, at its core are white men in the blue-collar sector -- the demographic with the most to lose when women and minorities started gaining more rights and earning power over the past few decades. But people who find promise in "Make America Great Again" come from more than just that narrow category.

Jason Rankin, a real estate agent in Knoxville, Tennessee, described his thoughts about the slogan this way: "Making America Great Again to me means at least the following things: less national debt, more secure borders, more freedom of speech, more gun rights, more job opportunities across the country (but especially in rural areas), higher GDP, stronger national security & a stronger military, more money in every American's bank account."

Tony Goicochea, an audio engineer in Washington, D.C., said Make America Great Again "has a vision to it," as well as a reference that, to him, speaks of greater economic prosperity in the past, and financial lives unburdened by crippling debt.

Growing up in the 1980s, Goicochea said, "I saw people go to college, they graduated, and they got a job. That was it. They were able to move out on their own and start a life for themselves. So I think about our economics, how much better our economics were."

Now, Goicochea noted, American families are experiencing a boomerang syndrome -- recent graduates who have moved back in with their parents because they cannot make enough money to support themselves and pay off college debt.

Shannon Crannick, a retail consultant in Festus, Missouri, says she believes making America great again means "putting an end to all the hate that has come around in the last few years. Making it safe to walk down the street again. Less debt, secure borders, more support for the military, freedom of speech coming back, better help for the poor and people loving each other again."

Better for whom?

In a Washington Post/ABC News poll taken in September 2016, three-quarters of self-identified Trump supporters said America's greatest days are in the past.

When the same question was asked of other demographic groups, however, five out of six African-Americans disagreed.

The polltakers concluded that one's estimation of the country's greatness depends on factors such as gender, race and education level -- the kinds of factors that have a direct impact on income and political representation.

Hence, "Make America Great Again," doesn't just appeal to people who hear it as racist coded language, but also those who have felt a loss of status as other groups have become more empowered.

Marketing consultant Eva Van Brunt, a critic of the president, says the malleability of the words "great" and "again" are a common marketing trick: using words that sound positive, but lack specific meaning.

"By leaving a definitional vacuum around the word 'great,' it became very easy for groups to co-opt it, ascribing to it the meaning they wanted it to have," Van Brunt says. "The same way a mother rests easy because her baby's food has 'all-natural' written on the jar, Nazis, the KKK, and other white supremacists were able to feel good about Trump because 'great' became interchangeable with white, heterosexual, male, hate, oppress, deport.

As for the word "again," VanBrunt notes that it limits the audience to those who think America was once great and no longer is.

"That excludes those who never thought America was great for them and those who think America is great for them now," she says. "Looked at from that vantage point, it's hard to imagine that the co-opting by certain groups was accidental."

Different interpretations

For better or worse, the phrase is a loaded one, with potential to cause trouble between people who do not share the same interpretation.

On August 19 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., two white teenage girls on a summer enrichment trip entered a campus cafeteria while wearing "Make America Great Again" trucker hats that they had recently bought at a suburban mall.

The girls, part of a group of students from Union City High School in Pennsylvania, say they were unaware Howard was an historically black university.

"I don't even think our advisers really knew," 16-year-old Allie Vandee, one of the hat-wearers, told Buzzfeed. "We just thought of Howard University, we know it's historic, so we kinda went," she said.

Howard University students who witnessed the event say students chastised the teenage visitors for wearing the slogan. One walked up and snatched at their hats. Another one cursed at them. The teenage girls left the cafeteria and shared their experience on Twitter. They say they were unfairly harassed.

The incident prompted discussions online and on campus at Howard. It has resulted in no major protests, turf wars or Twitter feuds. But it was an indicator of deeply different interpretations of that particular four-word phrase.

Student Merdie Nzanga, a junior at Howard, was in the cafeteria when the teenagers walked in. She said several of her friends confronted the teenagers for being insensitive.

"I didn't say anything," she told Buzzfeed. But, "to myself, I thought, 'This is going to be trouble.'"

By

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DRC Opposition Leader Calls for Civil Disobedience to Force Kabila From Power

VOA - August 31, 2017 1:05 PM

WASHINGTON  A Congolese opposition leader is calling for widespread civil disobedience beginning on October 1 to protest the absence of elections. The protest across the Democratic Republic of the Congo would include refusing to pay taxes or pay for public services.

Felix Tshisekedi, the son of deceased opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and president of the opposition alliance known as the Rassemblement de lopposition Congolaise (Rassop), told VOAs French to Africa Service that the campaign is aimed at showing President Joseph Kabila that he no longer has credibility in the eyes of the public.

From October 1 onward, we will launch the disobedience and, for us, Joseph Kabila will no longer be anything, he told VOA. He will be a simple citizen who can no longer represent or speak in the name of the DRC. That must be clear.

Kabila has been in power for 17 years and, although his term officially ended last December, he continues to hold power and has set no timetable for elections.

An agreement negotiated last year with the help of the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo stated that Kabila must organize elections and abandon any plans to modify the Constitution. However, the DRCs national elections commissioner has said elections this year are not possible due to the ongoing conflict in the Kasai region and the need for a national registry of eligible voters.

Opponents have called this a stalling tactic and said the DRC could logistically hold elections this year with the help of the United Nations and other international partners.

I strongly believe elections can happen. If it doesnt happen, its because Kabila doesnt want them to happen, Tshisekedi said.

Demonstration or destabilization?

Some have worried that the oppositions call for disobedience and withholding taxes could further destabilize the country. Tshisekedi denies it will make matters worse.

The country is already dying. These taxes are stolen or misspent, Tshisekedi said. They dont go toward the well-being of the state. And when the funds arent stolen, theyre used to buy arms to kill the people.

The regional economic bloc, the Southern African Development Commission (SADC) plans to send an emissary to the Congo in the hopes of kickstarting further negotiations.

The SADC has agreed with the elections commissioner that polls in 2017 are impossible. Instead, they asked the DRCs Independent National Electoral Commission to publish a revised electoral calendar and set dates for the elections.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki was among those urging the SADC to help broker a solution to the conflict, warning that more people may very well die if the matter is not resolved.

Tshisekedi said his party has no interest in negotiating with Kabila or his government.

You cannot go to the person who was the arsonist when he acts like he wants to play the firefighter, Tshisekedi told VOA. ... He is no longer a reliable negotiating partner.

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teleSUR TASS - CGTN - Global Times - RT - Worldview

China will be partnering with Russia on space exploration and technology, including plans for a space station and lunar missions.

China and Russia are set to sign a landmark deal to cooperate on space exploration in October, aiming to develop advanced space technology, research, space station infrastructure, and even manned moon missions, Chinese news agency CGTN reported.

Russian aerospace company Glavkosmos confirmed the reports on Thursday, telling TASS that "Work is nearing completion with the direct role of Glavkosmos to draw up a program of Russian-Chinese space cooperation for 2018-2022, which should be signed in the autumn of 2017.

The agreement will last from 2018 to 2022, and will cover lunar and deep space exploration, advanced material development, satellite systems, Earth remote sensing, and space debris research, CGTN reported. Talks have been ongoing since June.

While it has one of the oldest and most advanced space programs in the world, Russia's efforts have in recent years been affected by lack of funding since the collapse of the Soviet Union. China hopes that Russian experience and technology can be complemented by Chinese resources.

Russia could offer previous experience and aeronautic infrastructure and China could contribute new ideas and needed resource, which would also avoid overlapping investment on the same projects, Wang Ya'nan, an editor at Aerospace Knowledge magazine said to Global Times.

Wang emphasized that China's approach to space exploration will likely be different from the West, in that it places a heavier emphasis on using it to develop technologies with practical application for economic and social development.

While China has been engaged in space exploration for a number of years, and has previously announced plans to develop a space station within the next decade and even a future lunar base, its ambitious plans have been hampered by a lack of technological cooperation with the West. Aerospace technology is closely related to military fields, which has limited technological exchange, Wang said.

The rapid pace of China's space program has caught the attention of international observers. if the pace continues, I think the Chinese space program could overtake (Russian and United States) space programs over the next 20 years, Australian space analyst Morris Jones said to CGTN.

For Russia's part, the recent imposition of sanctions from the U.S. also limits the possibility of technological collaboration. They are increasingly looking to build other international partnerships to build their program. Beyond China, they are interested in creating deals with the BRICS countries, Iran, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Source: teleSUR

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The National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) flight tests of a modified B61-12 gravity nuclear bomb were neither a confrontational move nor a specific "message" to Russia, Michael O'Hanlon, Director of Research for the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution, told Radio Sputnik.

Washington's flight test of its B61-12 gravity nuclear bombs in Nevada doesn't appear to be a confrontational move, Michael O'Hanlon, Director of Research for the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution, told Radio Sputnik, adding that the creation of a new bomb is more about reliability and safety rather than developing a new class of warhead.

"The test here is essentially everything around the bomb: it's the aerodynamics by which the bomb would be delivered, you know, it's the basic desire to have the weapon be accurate it's trying to make the weapon, I think, more reliable and that's the essence of what the ongoing US nuclear warhead modernization is all about," O'Hanlon said.

The scholar called attention to the fact that neither the United States, nor Russia nor any other established nuclear power has tested nuclear weapons with an actual nuclear detonation in about 20 years.

In fact all these years the global players have been complying with the UN's Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) of 1996 although it has never been ratified, the American scholar noted.

According to O'Hanlon, the comprehensive program of replacing old B61 bombs stationed in Europe with the modified B61-12 is "not meaningful in military terms." The scholar stressed that he saw it primarily as "an issue of reliability and safety and maybe some slightly improved performance on accuracy."

"The weapon itself, the warhead and the detonation mechanisms, the basic physics of the nuclear package  these are not changing," O'Hanlon told Sputnik.

The scholar bemoaned the deterioration of US-Russian relations: according to O'Hanlon, "both Russia and the US are still locked in a little bit of legacy of nuclear rivalry in the context of the overall relationship that's been strained for several years."

On the other hand, the scholar noted, the number of nuclear bombs currently deployed in Europe, about a hundred and fifty, is relatively "modest" in comparison with total arsenal of Russia or the United States.

Still, "It's a big number when you think about the explosive power of these weapons, that's why I wish we were talking about how to get rid of all of them rather than how to replace them," the American scholar remarked.

"The good news is that I don't see it as improving military offensive capabilities, I see this primarily in terms of reliability and safety," O'Hanlon reiterated.

He surmised that the test was by no means a signal to US geopolitical competitors or a sort of confrontational or provocative move. Likewise, the scholar rejected the idea that the US' recent B61-12 test was a "message" to North Korea, "except in the sense of a general reminder that [the US] has a powerful nuclear force."

However, it appears that American nuclear expert Dr. Hans Kristensen shares a different stance.

Speaking to Radio Sputnik on Wednesday Kristensen assumed that the B61-12 flight test sent a signal to Moscow.

"Nuclear weapons are used to signal," Kristensen said. "The ones [deployed] in Europe now have been used to signal, from NATO's point of view, the defense of NATO against a potential attack from Russia and these new weapons, which will come to Europe in the early part of the next decade, will also serve that role."

He also called attention to the fact that the modified bombs which are due to be deployed in Europe will be mounted on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth aircraft, which reportedly has "better penetration capabilities."

On August 29 the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced the successful conclusion of flight tests of its B61-12 gravity bombs without nuclear warheads. The qualification tests were conducted on August 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. The bombs were dropped from F-15E fighter jets.

The NNSA said in an official statement that the "tests are part of a series over the next three years to qualify the B61-12 for service." The first qualification flight test was conducted in March 2017.

 Sputnik

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Kenya President to Accept Courts Ruling on Election Results, Though He Disagrees

September 01, 2017 10:09 AM VOA News

NAIROBI, KENYA  Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Friday he would honor the Supreme Court ruling that nullified his election win last month, even though he personally disagrees with the decision.

While he said he would accept the ruling, Kenyatta criticized the court, saying six people have decided they will go against the will of the people.

Kenya's Supreme Court nullified the results of the election due to irregularities and illegalities committed by the electoral board during the vote, which the court said harmed the integrity of the election.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga had petitioned the court to throw out the results of the August vote. Odinga says the results that had him losing to Kenyatta by about 1.4 million votes were false.

Kenya's constitution says fresh elections now must be held in 60 days.

Since Election Day, the National Super Alliance, or NASA, opposition coalition has argued that the voting system was hacked, leading to a "stolen election."

Kenya's treasury says the government allocated $483 million for the election with $415 million directed to the electoral commission, known as the IEBC.

Kenyan researcher Nanjala Nuyabola says despite these large sums, there still were problems with the voter registry, the transmission of vote counts and a delay in the release of polling station tally forms.

"We were promised a digital election. We didn't have a digital election," Nuyabola says. "The only thing that was digital was the voter registration. Everything else was 100 percent manual. So it make you wonder, what did we spend all this money on?"

One week before the election, the electoral commission's chief of IT systems, Chris Msando, was found tortured and murdered. Scheaffer Okore, a program officer at political engagement organization Siasa Place, says he doubts that authorities are investigating the murder.

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SWEET HOME  The summer wildland fire team at the Oregon Department of Forestry in Sweet Home is fully staffed for what might be a tough weekend, with temperatures expected to climb into the triple digits, humidity dropping to less than 20 percent and mid-valley residents hitting the roads to enjoy the last holiday outing of summer.

Its definitely go time, Unit Forester Craig Pettinger said.

Pettinger said the valley will likely be under a red flag warning and the Department of Forestry plans to move its fire danger level to extreme. A red flag warning signifies a serious chance of growth for existing and new fires.

That basically means no use of motorized equipment or anything that emits sparks, he said. We are geared up and paying attention.

Pettinger said it has been nearly 80 days since the mid-valley has received any measurable rain, and grasses and woody materials have cured out.

We usually get a shot of rain in August and we havent seen anything this summer, he said. We really need rain, but its not in the forecast. And, there is some potential for lightning to come through next week.

Pettinger said smoke is expected to return to the mid-valley this weekend as well.

More than 320,000 acres are on fire in Oregon. The Chetco Bar Fire near Brookings Harbor is at more than 100,000.

Wildland firefighting resources are stretched thin due to the large number of Northwest fires, coupled with the massive relief effort underway in the Gulf of Mexico due to Tropical Storm Harvey, operations chief Jay Lusher told residents of the McKenzie Bridge area earlier this week.

We are at a prep level 5, which means all resources are deployed, Lusher said. There are others at level 5 as well in Northern California and Montana. Our firefighting resources are depleted, and there are very few other resources available to deploy.

Lusher said the strategy is to focus our efforts to protect the most valued resources at risk. That includes homes, infrastructure and timber.

Numerous fires are burning on the Willamette and Deschutes national forests.
(All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars)

TORONTO, Aug. 31, 2017 /CNW/ - LeadFX Inc. (the "Company" or "LeadFX") (TSX: LFX) today announces that further to the Company's news release dated August 29, 2017, the Company has closed the first tranche (the "First Tranche") of its non-brokered private placement financing for the issue of up to 3,125,000 common shares ("Common Shares") of the Company at $0.80 per Common Share for gross proceeds of approximately $2.5 million (the "Offering").

The Common Shares sold under the First Tranche are subject to a four month hold period which, under applicable Canadian securities laws, expires on January 1, 2018.

Under the First Tranche, Sentient Global Resources Fund IV, LP ("Sentient") has purchased 607,312 Common Shares and InCoR Energy Materials Limited ("InCoR") has purchased 642,688 Common Shares for gross proceeds of $1 million. Proceeds of the First Tranche will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital needs of the Company based on an agreed schedule of budgeted expenditure.

The second and final tranche of the Offering is expected to close on or before October 31, 2017.

In addition, the Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of David Warner as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Warner is an accomplished and experienced professional accountant and former Partner at KPMG LLP, having retired in September 2010 after 36 years of service. During this time, Mr. Warner worked primarily with public companies in the areas of mining, oil and gas, regulated industries and real estate. Mr. Warner has extensive board and audit committee experience as an executive and as a director of numerous public and private companies.

"The Board and Management team are delighted that David has accepted the role of Chairman and we wish him much success in this new role," said Rob Scargill, President and CEO. "David's background in finance and audit and his thorough understanding of the Company will provide a steady hand as we transition into the next phase of the Company's development."

About LeadFX

LeadFX is a Canadian-based mining company focused on the development of lead-silver projects located in stable jurisdictions. Our current portfolio includes a restart-ready lead operation in Western Australia and a development project in Utah, USA. The Company continues to seek opportunities at its new properties in North America to underpin future cash flow and growth. LeadFX trades under the symbol "LFX" on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. An example of forward-looking information in this news release includes but is not limited to statements and information concerning timing of the closing of the second tranche of the Offering. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as ''seek'', ''anticipate'', ''contemplate'', ''target'', ''believe'', ''plan'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', and ''intend'' and statements that an event or result ''may'', ''will'', ''can'', ''should'', ''could'' or ''might'' occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. Forward-looking information by its nature requires assumptions and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. These statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievement may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained in this news release. These risk factors should be carefully considered and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which is current only as of the date of this news release. All subsequent forward-looking information attributable to LeadFX herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements contained in or referred to herein. LeadFX does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to this forward-looking information to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this news release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE LeadFX Inc.
VANCOUVER, September 1, 2017 - Roughrider Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: REL) ("Roughrider" or the "Company") - announces that it has transferred funds to Kivalliq Energy Corp. ("Kivalliq") to undertake a new work program on the Genesis Uranium Project in Saskatchewan starting September 2017. The transfer of funds completes Roughrider's expenditure commitment obligations allowing Roughrider to earn its 50% Initial Interest (the "Initial Interest") in the Genesis Property, pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, as amended December 21, 2015 (the "Option Agreement"). The new work program will be announced upon final contracting of service providers.

Roughrider also announces that it has received the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") approval for certain share issuances pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, under which the Company holds the right to acquire up to an 85% interest in the Genesis Property, from Kivalliq Energy Corp. ("Kivalliq").

Pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, a cash payment of $175,000 (the "Option Payment") was required by August 31, 2017 to earn the 50% Initial Interest. In accordance with the terms of the Option Agreement, Roughrider elected to satisfy the Option Payment through the issuance of 2,500,000 Shares at a deemed value per share of $0.07 (the "Share Payment"). The Share Payment has been made.

The Option Agreement also provides that future payments of $250,000 and $450,000 due on August 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, are required to earn the additional 35% interest in the Genesis Property. Subject to Exchange approval, Roughrider may elect to pay these payments through the issuance of common shares at a price per share equal to the volume weighted average price of the Company's shares traded through the facilities of the Exchange on the 20 trading days preceding August 21 of the applicable year. Should Roughrider elect to satisfy future payments through share issuances, Exchange approval will be sought at the time such election is made.

In addition to any statutory or Exchange hold period, any shares issued in connection with the Option Agreement will be subject to a one year hold period from date of issuance.

Prior to the transaction, Kivalliq held 3,939,656 common shares, representing approximately 10.8% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Roughrider. Following issuance of the 2,500,000 Share Payment, Kivalliq owns in aggregate 6,439,656 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 16.4% of the current issued and outstanding common shares. Kivalliq acquired these securities for investment purposes and may in the future acquire or dispose of securities of Roughrider, through the market, privately or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant.

The Share Payment constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company relied upon the applicable exemptions under sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(b) respectively of MI 61-101 from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements in relation to the Share Payment. The transaction has been approved by all directors of the Company. There has been no prior valuation of the common shares and warrants issued as there has not been any necessity to do so.

For further details regarding the terms of the Option Agreement, please refer to the news release dated December 22, 2015 filed on www.sedar.com.

About Roughrider Exploration Limited

Roughrider's focus is exploring the 131,412 hectare (324,728 acre) Genesis uranium project located in the Wollaston-Mudjatik geological trend extending northeast from Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin. Roughrider has the option to earn an 85% interest in Genesis from Kivalliq Energy Corp..

For further information, please contact:

Scott Gibson

Chief Executive Officer

604-6970028

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release, including any information as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance, constitutes "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, geological and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not limited to: fluctuations in market prices, exploration and exploitation successes, continued availability of capital and financing, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, expropriation or nationalization of property and general political, economic, market or business conditions. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release, or incorporated by reference, are qualified by these cautionary statements. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.



SOURCE: Roughrider Exploration Ltd.


Vancouver, September 1, 2017 - Emgold Mining Corp. (TSXV: EMR) ("Emgold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received the necessary regulatory approval for a consolidation (the "Consolidation") of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares (each a "Share") on the basis of ten (10) pre-Consolidation Shares for one (1) post-Consolidation Shares. The Consolidation was previously announced in the Company's press release dated July 18, 2017.Prior to the Consolidation, Emgold had 79,712,350 Shares issued and outstanding. Post-Consolidation, the Company has 7,971,206 Shares issued and outstanding. Any fractional Share will be converted to nearest whole Share. The Shares will trade under the new CUSIP Number 290928407 and ISIN number CA2909284077. The Company's name and trading symbol will remain the same. The Shares are expected to begin trading on a consolidated basis on or about September 1, 2017.No action is required to be taken by shareholders who hold their shares through a securities broker, dealer, bank or trust company. Emgold's transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc. ("Computershare"), has sent a letter of transmittal to the registered shareholders that are required to submit a duly-completed letter of transmittal and their pre-Consolidation Share certificates to Computershare in exchange for a post-Consolidation Share certificate. If necessary, additional copies of the letter of transmittal can be obtained by contacting Computershare at 1-800-564-6253 or by e-mail at corporateactions@computershare.com.As previously announced, Emgold is proceeding with its acquisition of an 80% interest in the Golden Arrow gold-silver property in Nevada (the "Golden Arrow Property"). The Golden Arrow Property is an advanced-stage exploration property with a comprehensive exploration database including geochemical sampling, geophysics, and over 190,000 feet of reverse circulation and diamond core drilling. A description of the property and details of the acquisition can be found in the Company's press release dated July 18, 2017.Also as previously announced, Emgold intends to complete an equity financing (the "Offering") in conjunction with the execution of a definitive option agreement for the Golden Arrow Property. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to fund the initial acquisition cost of the Golden Arrow Property, to conduct exploration on the property and Emgold's other properties, and for general working capital purposes. Details of this financing will be forthcoming.Emgold is a junior gold exploration and mine development company that has several exploration properties located in the western United States and Canada. These include the Buckskin Rawhide East, Buckskin Rawhide West, and Koegel Rawhide gold and silver properties in Nevada, and the Stewart and Rozan poly-metallic properties in British Columbia.This news release does not constitute an offer of sale of any of the above-mentioned securities in the United States. The foregoing securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.On behalf of the Board of DirectorsDavid G. Watkinson, P.Eng.President & CEODavid G. Watkinson, P.Eng.Tel: 530-271-0679 Ext 101Email: info@emgold.comThis release was prepared by the Company's management. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.emgold.com.This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, the successful negotiation and execution of a definitive option agreement for the Golden Arrow Property and the successful completion of associated financing activities are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, issues raised during the Company's due diligence on the Golden Arrow Property, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development activities, actual results of exploration activities, the estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, title disputes, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, including TSX-V acceptance of any current or future property acquisitions or financings and other planned activities, the timing and possible outcome of any pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and risks related to joint venture operations, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management's Discussion and Analysis and filed with certain securities commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.**NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES**
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

VANCOUVER, Sept. 1, 2017 /CNW/ - Notice is hereby given that the annual general and special meeting of Rockwell will be held at the offices of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Suite 2400, 333 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2T6 on Monday, 2 October 2017 at 10h00 a.m. (Toronto time) or 4:00 p.m. (South Africa time) ("Meeting").

Shareholders are hereby advised that Rockwell's abridged financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2017 were dispatched to shareholders in South Africa on 1 September 2017, and will be dispatched to shareholders in Canada on the same date, together with the Meeting Notice ("Notice"), Management Information Circular ("Circular") and Form of Proxy. The full audited consolidated financial results published on 31 May 2017 are available on Rockwell's website at www.rockwelldiamonds.com.

Shareholders who wish to participate in the Meeting are referred to the Proxy Information contained in the Circular which will be available on www.sedar.com as from today.

In respect of the Company's South African register, only shareholders of record as of Friday, 22 September 2017 ("the Record Date") are entitled to vote at the Meeting.

Details on the manner in which Shareholders can register themselves for the Meeting are contained in the Circular.

All voting instructions must reach the relevant transfer secretaries as detailed in the Circular by no later than 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) or 04:00p.m. (South African time) on Thursday, 28 September 2017.

About Rockwell Diamonds

Rockwell is engaged in the business of operating and developing alluvial diamond deposits. The Company also evaluates consolidation opportunities that have the potential to expand its mineral resources and production and provide accretive value to the Company.

Rockwell has set a strategic goal to become a mid-tier diamond production company with specific focus on the Middle Orange River region in South Africa.

As at the date of this document, Rockwell's subsidiary in South Africa (Rockwell Resources RSA Pty Limited) and its two subsidiaries (HC van Wyk Diamonds Limited and Saxendrift Mine Pty Limited) were being operated under Business Rescue Management as ordered by the Court, following an application by creditors of the three South African subsidiaries on May 18, 2017.

Rockwell's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the JSE Ltd under the symbol "RDI". Trading of Rockwell's shares remains suspended at the request of the Company.

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include uncertainties and costs related to the transaction and the ability of each party to satisfy the conditions precedent in a timely manner or at all, exploration and development activities, such as those related to determining whether mineral resources exist on a property; uncertainties related to expected production rates, timing of production and cash and total costs of production and milling; uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary licenses, permits, electricity, surface rights and title for development projects; operating and technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities; uncertainties related to the accuracy of our mineral resource estimates and our estimates of future production and future cash and total costs of production and diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources; uncertainties related to unexpected judicial or regulatory procedures or changes in, and the effects of, the laws, regulations and government policies affecting our mining operations; changes in general economic conditions, the financial markets and the demand and market price for mineral commodities such as diesel fuel, steel, concrete, electricity, and other forms of energy, mining equipment, and fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly with respect to the value of the US dollar, Canadian dollar and South African Rand; changes in accounting policies and methods that we use to report our financial condition, including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates; environmental issues and liabilities associated with mining and processing; geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in countries in which we operate; and labour strikes, work stoppages, or other interruptions to, or difficulties in, the employment of labour in markets in which we operate our mines, or environmental hazards, industrial accidents or other events or occurrences, including third party interference that interrupt operation of our mines or development projects.

For further information on Rockwell, Investors should review Rockwell's home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE Rockwell Diamonds Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - September 01, 2017) - GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GQC) (FRANKFURT: M1W) (BERLIN: M1W) ("GoldQuest" or the "Company") today announced the retirement of the CEO, Mr. Julio Espaillat effective on the occasion of his 60th birthday, September 12, 2017. Mr. Espaillat will remain on the board of GoldQuest, and will continue to offer guidance and direction to the management. Going forward, the Company's Executive Chairman Bill Fisher will assume the role of CEO.

Mr. Espaillat has been active in the Dominican Republic's mining and exploration communities for 35 years and joined GoldQuest as CEO in 2011. He was instrumental in guiding the company to the gold discoveries at Romero and more recently, at Cachimbo. He also has been the driving force behind the process for the Romero PEA, Pre-feasibility studies and permitting in collaboration with Dominican authorities.

Day-to-day in country operations will continue under the Company's Country Manager, Mr. Felix Mercedes. Mr. Mercedes joined the Company in September 2006, and has run operations ever since. He graduated in 1987 in Geology and Mining Engineering from PUCMM University, Santiago and completed an MBA from INTEC University, Santo Domingo in 2001. He has extensive exploration, management and permitting experience, having worked in for companies such as Energold Exploration, Battle Mountain and Canyon Resources as well as a stint with the DR government's Ministry of Mines.

"We wish Julio the very best wishes for a happy retirement," commented Bill Fisher, GoldQuest's Executive Chairman. "The board will continue to have access to his valuable insight as we advance steadily through the permitting processes toward eventual development and mining. As we move forward the company will benefit from Felix's wealth of experience managing our projects over a decade within the GoldQuest family. His experience offers continuity to the operations, and we look forward to the next chapter of the Company's development, for both mining and exploration."

The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Jeremy Niemi, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration of GoldQuest and a Qualified Person for the technical information in this press release under NI 43 101 standards.

About GoldQuest

GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration company with projects in the Dominican Republic. GoldQuest is traded on the TSX V under the symbol GQC and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W, with 254,007,384 shares outstanding (291,057,724 on a fully diluted basis) as at the date of this release.

Forward looking statements:

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the 2015 drill program, the results of the drill program and the interpretation of the results of the drill program, further drilling, the timing of drilling and assay results, mineral resource estimates, the merits of the Company's mineral properties, future drill programs and studies, and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "likelihood", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Forward looking statements are based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable, including expectations regarding mineral exploration and development costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral resource estimates; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Election results can change in just minutes and have major political ramifications nationwide. While traditional reporting tries to account for as many of those nuances as possible, sometimes the most immediate coverage comes in the form of just 280 characters.
Wilmington Responds

Not a Partisan Issue

Jonathan Alexander Hayes was driving while high on opioids. It was the morning of Nov. 1, 2016, and the 24-year-old was approaching the busy intersection of Oleander Drive and Independence Boulevard in Wilmington, N.C., when he overdosed.Ahead of Hayes' truck was the Richardson family. Mason, who was three days shy of his third birthday, was riding with his mother and four-year-old brother when Hayes rear-ended their car.Hayes truck was traveling so fast that it kept going, striking another car before finally coming to a stop roughly 100 yards down the street, according to the Wilmington Police Department.Two-year-old Mason was killed in the collision.Emergency personnel at the scene revived Hayes with a dose of the drug naloxone, which is administered to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It, was by some estimates, the fourth time Hayes had received the drug in less than six months.For the city of Wilmington, the incident was a wake-up call -- one that will make it an incubator for addressing the opioid epidemic. The flashpoint was the death of Mason, says Mayor Bill Saffo.Wilmington, which sits along the southern swath of North Carolinas coast and whose Antebellum homes and beautiful beaches attract thousands of tourists each year, is now the nations capital for opioid abuse, according to a study by Castlight, a health-care information company. More than 1 in 10 Wilmington residents who received an opioid prescription abuses the drug.The spike in opioid addiction and overdoses caught Wilmington flat-footed back in 2012. "I dont know why," says Saffo, "but we got hit pretty damn hard down here.Between 2014 to 2016, opioid overdose deaths more than doubled from 24 to 53 -- and those, says Saffo, "are just the deaths we know about."Crime also increased. We started to notice the presence of heroin on the street and the drug gangs [were] becoming more active, says Mitch Cunningham, deputy police chief. The number of shots fired was up, as were aggravated assaults.After Mason's death, city officials began to rethink their approach. We asked ourselves, Do we need to take a step back and look at what is the best way to handle [opioid abuse]? says Tony McEwen, assistant to the city manager for legislative affairs.Saffo formed a task force made up of law enforcement, medical professionals and politicians to address Wilmingtons opioid crisis. The group started its work in January and by early spring settled on a three-part plan.Under the first part of the plan, Wilmington emergency responders will continue to carry naloxone. The drug was first deployed in the city in March 2016, and since then it has saved 87 lives and been administered more than 100 times.But opioid users were being revived only to return immediately to using, says Cunningham. It was a revolving door. So, as part of the plan, a "rapid response team" of medical and social work professionals will visit a user within 72 hours of receiving naloxone. They will ask, not coerce or force, the user to enter treatment. If he or she refuses, the team will make additional visits until the person agrees to get help.The rapid response team is modeled after a program in Colerain Township, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Like in Wilmington, officials there saw a spike in opioid addictions and overdoses. Initial numbers from its rapid response program have been promising. Colerain flaunched its rapid response program in 2015, and in the first year reported a 40 percent reduction in overdoses and a 74 percent success rate in getting addicts into treatment.Wilmington will also hire health-care navigators, says McEwen. Many of those addicted to opioids lack health care and are often not capable of wading through the reams of paperwork necessary to connect them with treatment options.The price tag for the rapid response team in Wilmington is $500,000 over two years. Another $500,000 will pay for the healthcare navigators. Wilmington will implement the program once it gets the funding from the state, which city officials expect to receive in the next 90 days.Finally, the third part of the plan is already under way. In June, Wilmington launched the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, which instead of arresting people for possession allows officers to divert them to treatment. Instead of criminalizing someone with an addiction issue, we are giving law enforcement the discretion to get them to more appropriate services, says Olivia Herndon, director of continuing education, mental health and public health at the South East Area Health Education Center in Wilmington.Opioid addiction is a national crisis. But no region has been as hard hit as the South. Of the 25 cities which have recorded the highest rate of opioid abuse, 22 are in the South. Four of those cities are in North Carolina.In June, reported that the volume of deaths from the opioid crisis was reminiscent of the crack epidemic of the 1980s. Back then, the federal government responded with the War on Drugs , which favored a tough on crime approach. As a result, incarceration rates skyrocketed. It was seen largely as a failure.So this time around, law enforcement and state and local leaders are taking a different approach. They are viewing the opioid crisis as a public health problem. In other words, law enforcement is in many ways decriminalizing addiction and working with public health professionals From a law enforcement perspective," Herndon says, "they are saying they cannot arrest their way out of this.In June, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed the Stop Opioid Misuse Prevention Act . The law prohibits doctors from prescribing more than a five-day supply of opioids on an initial visit. Health-care providers are required to register their prescriptions electronically with the state to prevent doctor shopping, where patients shop around for physicians who will give them access to opioids.The bill was a bipartisan effort, as was appropriating funding for Wilmington's plan to address its opioid crisis. In an era of partisan gridlock, such cooperation is rare, especially in North Carolina. But the politics on opioids seem not to matter, says Saffo. For the statehouse to give us this money so quickly speaks to how important this issue is to everyone across the country. What I have found in this whole debate is that its hitting every community in this state, urban and rural, and its hitting every strata, rich and poor.Wilmington will report its findings from its programs to the state in hopes that what city leaders learn there can be applied statewide and nationwide It had been said that Wilmington was an epicenter for this problem," says McEwen, "and we want to be an innovation hub for it."
Budget glitch

Gov. Paul LePage has told legislative leaders that he will call an emergency legislative session to amend a food sovereignty bill that the federal government has criticized as unlawful.A separate issue LePage says needs fixing during a special session is a funding snafu involving the Maine Office of Geographic Information System, which was identified in early August.The food sovereignty bill, LD 725, proposed by Senate Minority Leader Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, received strong support in the Legislature and was signed into law by LePage in June. It allows municipalities to regulate local food systems, including production, processing, consumption and direct producer-to-consumer exchanges, which are currently regulated at the state and federal levels.The law, which is the first of its kind in the country, will take effect Nov. 1, but LePage said in an Aug. 29 letter to lawmakers that it needs to be amended immediately. Specifically, he wrote that meat and poultry must be excluded from the bill so that state officials can continue to regulate those products."Although I appreciate the intent of this bill, it must be amended to ensure compliance with federal law. ... The United States Secretary of Agriculture, as he is required, has served notice to me that he is preparing to exercise federal control of all meat and poultry slaughter and processing unless LD 725 is changed immediately," wrote LePage.The Maine Meat and Poultry Inspection program operates by permission of the federal government, but only as long as the federal Department of Agriculture maintains statewide jurisdiction, according to LePage. The USDA has threatened to put Maine into "designation status" for federal inspections unless changes are made to the law.Jackson said Wednesday that he had seen LePage's letter but so far has not received any correspondence from the federal government."I was a little shocked by that letter," said Jackson. "I would like to see what the USDA is talking about. I guess it's just a little too early to comment right now."According to a July 6 letter from the USDA to Maine Agriculture Commissioner Walt Whitcomb, states must maintain meat and poultry inspection programs that are "at least equal to" federal rules."We will not be able to continue growing this local food sector of the Maine rural economy by subjecting Maine farms and businesses to inspectors and regulations based in Washington," wrote LePage. "If the state program is eliminated, small farms will lose the most."The funding issue involving the Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems arose because of a LePage proposal to create a state Department of Technology Services, which the Legislature rejected. The Legislature did not restore previous funding streams for the office, which coordinates mapping activities in Maine that support a range of services.The office is currently operating on funds that were carried forward from the previous fiscal year but LePage said available funds "will dry up before November."LePage did not say when he would call a special session. The Senate was expected to return this fall to take confirmation votes on a number of gubernatorial appointments but the House is not scheduled to come back until January. The Legislature adjourned last month with a couple of other outstanding issues, including marijuana legalization and the ranked-choice voting law.
A judge on Wednesday ruled that a 2016 law barring towns, cities and counties from requiring employers to provide additional employee benefits is unconstitutional.The decision from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joshua Rogers said the law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Doug Ducey violates a voter-approved law known as the Voter Protection Act. That law forbids the Legislature from modifying voter-passed initiatives unless three-fourths of the lawmakers approve and if the changes "further the purposes" of the initiative.The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and 32 Democratic lawmakers sued, arguing the 2016 law illegally overruled a 2006 initiative that raised the state's minimum wage and gave counties, cities and towns the right to enact higher wages or boost fringe benefits.The law was another example of the Legislature trying to bar liberal-leaning municipalities from enacting laws they don't like, but this time the law was rejected. Earlier this year, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld another law passed by the Legislature that penalizes cities that enact ordinances that conflict with state law."I think this ruling does a nice job of saying 'well at least when it comes to wages and benefits, the municipalities have complete authority,'" said Jim Barton, the attorney that represented the union and the Democratic lawmaker. He said that in light of the Supreme Court ruling, "it's really helpful to have this one come down."
The Fiscal Impact of Hurricane Harvey

Will Harvey Lead to Rating Downgrades?

And Now For Something Completely Different

It will take several months to work out the financial impacts of the storm on localities in the Gulf Coast region, but a look at past major storms can give us a few ideas of what to expect.One of the obvious impacts will be on sales and property taxes. Hurricanes cause temporary and sometimes permanent population shifts. This was certainly true of Hurricane Ike in 2008. It hit southeastern Texas in September, ultimately causing more than $30 billion in damages. Galveston, the coastal tourism community where Ike made landfall, saw a huge population drop afterwards. The county's 2009 financial report notes that the population loss lowered demand for goods and services and left fewer homeowners to pay property taxes, the county's major source of revenue. The county's property tax revenue growth slowed in the years following Ike. In Galveston, sales tax collections dropped by roughly 16 percent to $15.2 million the year following Ike.Other areas saw similar losses in tax receipts. Sales tax revenue in metro areas like Houston, Corpus Christie and Longview all experienced double-digit drops in 2009, according to aanalysis. The Great Recession played a role, but these losses are far greater than the single-digit drops that year in most of the state's other metro areas.Another impact will be on the tourism industry. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, travel to New Orleans was practically nonexistent for months. Roughly 450 conventions were canceled in the wake of the storm, representing nearly 2.25 million room nights for the lodging industry. The impact had legs: even two years later, the city's convention business had only reached 70 percent of its pre-Katrina level.Past storms have also shown us that, in the short-term, liquidity is a big issue. Municipalities need to have enough of a financial cushion to begin paying for recovery costs before federal reimbursements kick in and to absorb any losses in tax revenue over the coming year. There's good news on that front as the municipalities ravaged by the storm, such as Houston, Harris County, Galveston city and county, and Rockport, all have between 11 and 30 percent of their budget in reserves, acccording to their latest financial reports.Looking back at Ike's physical impact, many places reported robust rebuilding efforts soon after the storm. Despite the devastation and seemingly slow pace of initial recovery, the region has, indeed, recovered significantly in the intervening one and one-half years than many would have predicted immediately after the storm, according to Galveston County's 2009 report.Assessing the long-term impact is more difficult, given Harvey's unprecedented nature. Ike seemed to have a longer-lasting effect only in smaller, coastal communities. But that was also in part because it caused more damage in those cities. This time around could be very different as Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, experienced so much flooding. Harvey could be the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, at about $160 billion, according to one estimate by Accuweather . Others are more conservative, putting the cost of the hurricane at $75 billion.Credit rating agencies are weighing in this week on the potential impact of the hurricane on local finance credit quality. They all are taking a wait-and-see approach, noting that no place will be downgradedbecause of the hurricane. It's all about how they deal with the aftermath, says S&P Global Ratings.The agency noted that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey showed great resilience following 2012's Superstorm Sandy, resuming the majority of service within two weeks. On the other hand, the New Orleans International Airport saw extensive damage following 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Its business was affected for years.The preliminary analyses from the agencies this week were loaded with caution, all saying the unprecedented magnitude of Harvey made it tough to predict anything. There's no question the hurricane's devastation of the fourth-largest city in the U.S. could have a negative effect on the credit quality of various local government issuers, wrote S&P, but it's too soon to tell.Fitch Ratings said Houston's large and diverse regional economy should begin to recover promptly once the floodwaters recede." But both agencies cautioned that smaller local governments with less cash-on-hand could see significant stress. new ruling in California could make it easier for tax increases to pass on a ballot. The state's Supreme Court found that the same restrictive laws that apply to tax increases proposed by a local government's legislative body does not apply to citizen-led initiatives.Since 1996, Proposition 216 has restricted local governments' tax-raising abilities by requiring any new tax measures be approved by voters in the next general election. In a Southern California case regarding a citizen's initiative that proposed a marijuana dispensary fee, the high court found that such initiatives should be subject to a special election rather than waiting for the next general election.Special elections tend to draw low voter turnout, which would likely favor the backers of whatever initiative is up for a vote. That has many saying that this week's ruling could make it easier to raise taxes in California localities. Other states with similarly restrictive tax measures, such as Colorado and Missouri, may also see copycat suits.But taxes are an extremely divisive issue, so its important not to underestimate the ability of powerful lobbying forces to turn a mild-mannered special election into a political fight of epic proportions. We saw that to some extent this summer, when Georgia's 6th district special election to fill the House seat vacated by Republican Tom Price became a proxy referendum on President Trump. The special election ended up being the most expensive House race in history.
Cooperative purchasing

Strategic sourcing

Internal work groups

Buy solutions, not specs

Set standards early

Two sets of rules

Build procurement muscle

Centralized contracting

Leave it open

Make e-procurement holistic

Centralize buying

Greg Veatch just wanted to buy some software. How hard could that be?As senior legal technology specialist in the Ohio Attorney Generals office, Veatch needed digital tools to better enable review of legal documents in the discovery process. Procurement took nine grueling months.I came into this from the private sector where all youd do is say, Hey, I need this! and you got it. I thought that was a practical approach, he said. This is really, really too long.Government purchasing is notoriously slow, especially around technology. The same safeguards that ensure open competition, all the rules and regulations that guarantee taxpayer dollars are wisely spent, also cause the gears to grind.Systemic problems worsen this issue. The latest survey from the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) found that 74 percent of state procurement officials report increased procurement responsibilities are not being matched by additional staff. A recent Governing Institute survey found that only a third of government buyers have up-to-date spending information and market metrics in their databases, even though nearly two-thirds cite such areas as critical to success.Despite such hurdles, government technology leaders say that much can be done  and is being done  to make government IT buying more efficient. Need it now, and not next spring? We asked top gov-tech leaders for their most effective procurement strategies. They gave us 11 ways to speed up the process while still protecting the public interest.When Steve Emanuel served as New Jersey CIO, he teamed up with Massachusetts to cooperatively purchase hardware and services. In this scheme, one state vets vendors on behalf of the cooperative, saving others the need to run redundant RFPs. When you have commodities, cooperatives can be very strong. It can save a year or two years of individual RFPs to acquire the same thing your neighbor two blocks down the road just purchased, said Emanuel, now an adviser to IT service provider TenFour.Its not a foolproof system: When a service provider dropped off the Massachusetts list, Emanuel had to rebid the work through Pennsylvanias co-op. Still, he said, it was faster than had he gone after those services on his own.One way to speed procurement is to tailor the RFP. Get beyond the generic and fine-tune IT requests to align them with the actual landscape of products and services. Former Oregon CIO Dugan Petty calls this strategic sourcing.You look at how much you are spending and what you are spending it on. Then you focus on how that market actually works, said Petty, now a senior fellow at the Center for Digital Government.* So instead of putting out the same RFP you use for office supplies, you address those markets differently.Maybe you can still buy PCs the way you buy staplers: Its a mature, commodity-style market. But for more sophisticated IT needs  managed services, cloud products, Internet of Things  you need to hone the process. This needs to involve the business owner, he said. Deeper engagement over system requirements may demand more conversations up front, but it will lead to a smoother, swifter process overall.In Utah, Jaron Janson manages Salesforce use statewide for the Governors Office of Economic Development, where he recently acquired Conga Contracts as a tool to enhance the softwares contract management capabilities. He says the way to efficiently procure current software is to tap the user base.We formed a Salesforce user group for the state public sector where we discuss the different needs we have. That gives us buying power; we can vet each others needs and identify solutions together, he said. Thats cut down on acquisition time because we can discuss pros and cons up front, [and] talk about the pitfalls weve run into. That helps us identify new vendors and speeds up implementation on the back end.As Arizona state procurement administrator until 2014, Jean Clark found that procurement tended to slow down when IT leaders focused too precisely on the specs. The way to shake things loose, she said, is to view procurement through a wider lens.What are we trying to achieve and what do we want the outcomes to be? said Clark, now president of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) Commodity/Services Code practice at Periscope Holdings. Government still has a tendency to be extremely prescriptive on how things need to happen, versus focusing on the larger outcome. The specifications can get extremely detailed, when the real question should be: What do we want the outcome to be? If we want to increase our processing by 20 percent, that is how the RFP should be worded.Buying technology will be slow and painful if you have to start from ground zero every time. IT leaders can speed up the process by defining terms and standards around emerging technology, creating a common parlance that can be used anytime government buys such services.As Colorado CIO, Kristin Russell led a process to align the vendor community and multiple state CIOs around policies and contract language for cloud and other newer technologies. We did this so that we as state CIOs could go back to our legislatures with a standard contract. That made it more fluid, so that not every contract was new and starting from scratch, said Russell, now global president of Arrow Intelligent Systems.By forging consensus early on, its possible to write RFPs with the assurance that they will find a receptive market. The vendors can say what they will accept and what is reasonable, and you do that before there is even a deal on the table, she said. If we can get more standard language between the vendor and state government, thats a big deal in terms of cutting the acquisition time.As Emanuel watched the rise of cloud and service-based IT offerings, he saw that the standard procurement process didnt always apply. The classic sticking point: unlimited liability. Government contracts hold vendors infinitely liable; cloud suppliers cant play that way, because of the many variables that are outside of their control.Emanuels solution: Craft two sets of rules, one for regular stuff, another for next-gen IT offerings. It was no small thing to pull off. We knew most state organizations didnt want to have two different sets of terms and conditions, but thats what was needed, he said. To make it fly, he built what he refers to as his internal United Nations. I spoke technology, my procurement person spoke procurement, my legal person spoke legal, he said. Together we learned to speak the language of the people we needed to convince, to help all the different decisionmakers understand what was needed.Procurement is wonky. Its an insiders game best played by experienced professionals, and yet many of the most seasoned veterans are leaving as part of the baby boomer retirement wave. Even when they get good replacements they still have to retain them, they have to pay them competitively, which in turn puts tremendous pressure on training, Petty said.Efficient IT procurement requires a savvy workforce. Michigan state officials have coordinated with the university community to develop a supply management curriculum. In Oregon, state and local procurement officials participate in robust, certification-based training. That way we could be sure that the people who exercise procurement responsibilities have the competency to do that work, Petty said.States can bring in interns, they can work to create relationships with major universities. All that helps to bring a fresh view into the organization, he said.Heres one scenario: Every time you need something, put out another RFP. Heres a better plan: Contract with a single vendor for a wide range of IT services. Let that vendor vet the others and then buy off their list. Thats how Janson got his latest Salesforce upgrade, buying Conga through reseller Carahsoft.In the past it was very splintered. We would do an individual RFP and an individual contract with each vendor, he said. Now we have one contract with Carahsoft and they have relationships with all the different vendors, so they can do all the bidding and contracting. That allows us a lot of flexibility to bring on new applications and new vendors immediately.In the case of Conga, we found this vendor that was offering the perfect solution for us, and instead of having to go through an RFP with all the vendors who offer a similar solution, we were able to get the whole process done in a month and a half, he said.Public accountability requires the government buyer to still research each vendor individually to ensure suitability  Janson doesnt give carte blanche to the central entity. Even so, he says, its a lot faster than issuing individual RFPs.Sometimes a successful RFP gets you part of the way there. An IT need gets filled, but the project expands or an ancillary need arises. In the conventional procurement model, its back to the drawing board, with news specs and new bids.Periscopes Clark proposes an alternative, structuring contract language so that services offered under the initial RFP can still be on the table and available, even after an award is made. One vendor takes you part way to the goal line, then another steps in to carry the ball. Its legally doable, but it takes some finesse.You have to identify it in the original solicitation and you have to have the policies and procedures to support it. You have to have that legal foundation, Clark said. IT can look to social services for cues here. RFPs around group homes and foster care often will leave open the possibility of double-dipping, since the government need and the vendor supply do not always sync up on the first try.State and local entities typically have some form of e-procurement in place. For many, it may be time to revisit these systems and consider streamlining.Many times you see organizations where finance or IT has driven the solution for e-procurement. As a result, they may fall short from a contract management perspective or even from a business intelligence and reporting perspective, she said. Such systems may lack transparency, integration or ease of use.To get the most out of e-procurement, it makes sense to take a more holistic approach. You want to ensure it is a system that addresses things from the lowest to the highest levels, from requisition through invoicing. You want it as seamless as possible, she said. Procurement cuts across multiple jurisdictions; e-procurement should do the same.In Colorado, Russell helped build the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA), a centralized buying entity for state, county and local authorities. SIPA pre-qualifies a range of IT products and services, allowing government to buy without issuing an RFP.The General Services Administration (GSA) does much the same at the federal level. Russell says there is value in bringing that model down closer to home. The complaint I always heard about GSA is that it wasnt relevant to what people were looking to do, and they didnt think the GSA prices were as aggressive as what they could negotiate at the state level, Russell said.A consolidated source like SIPA can speed procurement, but it takes care and feeding. Its not one of those things that is just one-and-done, you sign up a vendor and they are golden forever, she said. There has to be governance in place so that you are constantly protecting the interests of the state and also the vendors.All these strategies can help to move the needle when it comes to technology procurement, but it takes a certain amount of nerve. Government buying is excruciating for good reason: All that foot-dragging aims to protect the public interest. It takes courage to do it differently. Many find it easier to take the plunge when those further up the chain are also willing to dive in.Flexibility is key, and that goes all the way to the governors office and the legislature, said NASPO Executive Director DeLaine Bender. If the legislature and the governor agree that there can be room for innovation in state government, then you get a whole new atmosphere in terms of the way that agencies can function.It helps, too, if IT leaders and procurement professionals can learn to think outside their areas of expertise.Those who succeed in speeding procurement are the people who try to understand the goals and challenges of the entire organization, not just what is going on in their department, said Brent Maas, executive director of business strategy and relationships at NIGP. We can all be very successful technicians, but to do this we need to ascend beyond our specialized roles.Finally, a word about integrity. It seems important to note that every gov-tech leader we talked to for this article began the conversation by stating a firm commitment to the rationale behind clunky government buying. Open competition, transparency, sensible stewardship of taxpayer dollars: It is clear that as much as these professionals may want to see procurement sped up, they are unwavering in their belief that it must always be done right.Government Technologys
(TNS) -- The newly formed Applied Research Institute identified its first multimillion-dollar project Thursday as an investment in streamlining the research and development of microelectronics.The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Foundation used a $15 million portion of the grant money it received from a greater $42 million from Lilly Endowment in 2015 to found the institute with a central goal of recruiting, managing and facilitating research teams. The institute will connect researchers to state laboratories, equipment and research facilities across the state.It will also invest up to $3.5 million over the next two years in the development of widely applicable technology thats resistant to counterfeit and cyber attacks.We hope to borrow the best from IU, Purdue, Notre Dame and other places, Applied Research Institute chairman and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart said. We want to take advantage of those relationships not only for the technical expertise, but for the connective tissue.Renuart is one of eight members on the nonprofits board, which features leaders from state government, the defense sector, industry and research universities. The board had its first official meeting Thursday in Bloomington. Each member brings with them another path for research to follow, as the Applied Research Institute looks to call upon facilities at the Crane Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indiana University, Purdue University and the Battery Innovation Center near Crane.Microelectronics may be used in the defense sector to detect when someone has tampered with an electronic device, or they may have other cross-sector applications in the health sector related to implanted medical devices. Already, representatives from NSWC Crane, IU and Purdue have been tapped to provide data, analysis, manufacturing principles, hardware development and testing for the project.These projects are going to take on a life of their own, and its the Applied Research Institutes job to make sure theyre not pulled down the rabbit hole, Renuart said. As we look at these things, you begin to see a convergence. We may start down the path with microelectronics, and this thing may branch down four other paths tomorrow.The institute will look to build a base staff of a dozen or so dedicated employees as it begins exploring three other key areas of focus beyond microelectronics: multi-spectral data fusion and security; high density power storage and management; and advanced material science. The board of directors approved hiring Bill Kiser as chief science and technology officer for the institute.These are big issues to tackle, said Paul Mitchell, president and CEO of Energy Systems Network, a CICP company. Youd have to have scores of researchers. Indiana has a tremendous set of assets and resources, but they havent always been aligned. This requires a lot of behind-the-scenes coordination to ensure that one-stop-shop access for researchers.Early recruitment will focus on projects that will show a return on investment in the next three to five years.You have to understand we are purpose-driven, Renuart said. We want to have a meaningful impact on a problem, today.Although that return may be financial in the form of matching grants from the U.S. Department of Defense or other major grants from public and private institutions, the greater goal of this regenerative fund is to see a return thats less of a research paper and more of a research application.A return on investment for the Applied Research Institute is national recognition, or pre-eminence, in a research area and in generating innovation, Mitchell said. To some extent, were trying to innovate breakthroughs in technology.ARI Board of Directors Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. Gen. Gene Renuart, United States Air Force (Retired)  ARI chairman. Phil Burkholder, president of Defense Aerospace, North America, Rolls-Royce. Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University. Steve Ferguson, chairman of Cook Group (past advisory board chairman). Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University Brett Seidle, technical director with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (ex-officio). Melanie Walker, president and CEO, Tsuchiya Group North America, TASUS Corp.
(TNS) -- PORTLAND, Maine  The government is listening. The local government, that is.Using more than a dozen sound monitoring devices installed throughout Portland, the city has begun gathering data that it will use to review local noise regulations.But the devices dont record actual audio, only sound levels, the city said The devices were installed after years of noise complaints from East End and Peaks Island residents, who hear music drifting from the frequent concerts at the Maine State Pier, and from downtown hotel and business owners, who are perturbed by raised voices and loud music coming from bars.While the impetus for collecting this data derived from noise in the Old Port and concerts, the devices will allow the city to get a baseline for all daily activities that produce noise, city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said in a statement.Last December, when the City Council approved a new season of shows at the State Pier, councilors also suggested they would like to do real-time sound monitoring to make sure that the citys noise limits are appropriate, the Portland Press Herald reported.Over the next three months, the city will use the 13 sound monitoring devices to gather information that will eventually be developed into a report to be presented to the city councils health and human services committee for discussion.The city paid $50,000 to a consulting company, Acentech, to install the devices and write up the eventual report, Grondin said. The sound equipment will ultimately be returned to the company, she said.
It was Craig Fugate, Brock Long's predecessor who made sure that for forecasted disasters like Hurricane Harvey FEMA would get ahead of the response curve. Pre-positioning of people and supplies allows for immediate relief operations to happen as soon as state and local officials make requests for federal assistance.Those lessons have carried forward to the current administration and Long. As noted in this Op-ed in the Washington Post, FEMA avoids disaster in Houston  so far. The real storm is coming when 100,000 home owners, most who don't have flood insurance, find out that their house is decimated and the only one on the hook for repairing the structure and making it whole is--themselves. FEMA's maximum grant is $34,000 and most people will get less than $10,000.For those who can qualify, they can apply for and get Small Business Administration home loans, but, they have to be able to qualify and these are loans, not grants. Basically they will end up with two mortgages.I expect outrage to ensue pretty quickly as people figure out the financial straits they are now in. This is not FEMA's fault, but they could get some blame from angry people who want "someone" to blame other than themselves. As I noted in an earlier blog post as Harvey was headed for landfall , it is the FEMA Disaster Reservist program that will be put to the test. Will they have enough trained and experienced people to meet all the needs to assess and administer assistance to state and local governments that have suffered infrastructure damages.Expect lots of hearings in Congress featuring angry constituents.Claire Rubin, Recovery Diva shared the Washington Post article above.
1. Gov. Dannel Malloy announced a sizable cybersecurity initiative in July. What will it mean for the state?

2. How is the state innovating around procurement, a traditional pain point for government?

3. Which initiatives are top of mind for you today?

4. Where does Connecticut stand on its cloud migration journey?

Perhaps the best way to describe Connecticuts Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology under the leadership of CIO Mark Raymond is measured and deliberate. Raymond has served in the states lead tech spot since 2011, adding a stint as NASCIO president to his resume as well. Raymond shared his perspective on Gov. Dannel Malloys recently announced cybersecurity initiative, how the state is adapting its IT procurement strategy and what the near-term looks like in a state struggling to cement a budget.The strategy called for seven principles that we believe are required for the state to improve its cybersecurity posture, and then outlined the need for an action plan. Specific things that we are working on: The first is agency cybersecurity risk assessments and scorecards to share with agency heads and the governors office.We have an identity management strategy underway to synchronize how we deal with citizen identities and digital identities. Part of the philosophy is that we need to improve identity proofing and security and get rid of user IDs and passwords and add greater degrees of authentication, whether that is multifactor authentication or other methods. Making sure we have a clean view of the citizens and what their multiple touchpoints or interactions are will enable us to improve identity proofing related to government services.Our purchases are actually pretty efficient. In the Department of Children and Families, weve moved to replacing our child welfare system and were doing it in an agile fashion. We changed how we procure to enable a multi-vendor, iterative delivery process. We just selected the final set of vendors and are selecting the individual contracts that will allow us a mini-pool of folks all capable of implementing different sprints for our child welfare system.In the Department of Social Services, we have an integrated eligibility system. They have six go-live dates by offices. Five of them are done and the system is running great. The sixth office will come on board in September, so we will be wrapped up with that implementation, which is close to a million citizens and all of the health and human services benefits.In the Criminal Justice Information System, we have a far-reaching and innovative program to collect and improve the workflow and data-searching capabilities across our entire criminal justice community, from local police officers to the courts to the state police and prisons and parole, making information more available to people at the time that they need it. The first of three releases of that application are live, and the remaining releases will be wrapping up by February 2018.We have our first agency moving to Microsoft cloud  so we are still early on that, but a year from now we should have a substantial amount of work done.Were pursuing [the cloud] where it makes sense. What weve found is that because weve been very efficient and frugal on how we spend on technology, for some of the things we do it would actually be more expensive to move to the cloud. Given that we dont have a budget yet  were operating under the emergency powers of the governor  were in no position to spend any more on anything. We look at cloud, software-as-a-service and productivity tools, but where it remains more cost-effective for us to run it internally, we do so. We dont have a cloud-first strategy; we are looking to find the absolute right solution for each one of the problems that we have.
LOS ANGELES  The California Supreme Court decided Thursday, Aug. 31, that data from millions of vehicle license plate images collected by the Los Angeles police and sheriffs departments are not confidential investigative records that can be kept from public disclosure.The unanimous opinion came as civil liberties groups raise concerns about the increasing use of police cameras mounted on cruisers or street poles to take photographs of passing vehicles. The devices use software to almost instantly compare the plates with vehicles linked to crimes and the information can be stored for years.Law enforcement officials say the data are invaluable for tracking down stolen cars, catching fugitives or solving other types of crimes. But the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have criticized the indiscriminate nature of the surveillance and how the movements of innocent drivers are captured alongside potential criminals.The latest legal dispute arose when the two groups sought data from about 3 million license plate images that the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department collected in a week. The organizations said they planned to analyze the data to determine if police were disproportionately capturing license plates in particular neighborhoods.The Supreme Court stopped short of ordering the agencies to release the raw data, saying that doing so would violate the privacy of motorists whose licenses were captured. But the justices said there may be other ways to make the information publicly available by redacting some of the information or replacing each license plate number with a random unique identifier.It is an enormous win for disclosure and transparency, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the ACLU of California. The court recognized Californias sweeping public records exemption for police investigations doesnt cover the mass collection of data.The city and county did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The civil liberties groups submitted their requests in 2012. At the time, the LAPD gathered about 1.2 million images of vehicle plates a week while the Sheriffs Department collected as many as 1.8 million, the Supreme Court said. The data are stored on confidential computer networks. The LAPD keeps its data for five years; the Sheriffs Department keeps its for two.The two departments declined to release the data, arguing that they were investigative records protected from disclosure.But the Supreme Court disagreed, noting that the vast majority of the images were from vehicles not linked to any crime. The justices said at least some disclosure should be attempted.It is hard to imagine that the Legislature intended for the records of investigations exemption to reach the large volume of data that plate scanners  now enable agencies to collect indiscriminately, the court noted. It pointed out that the scans are not gathered as part of a targeted investigation.The court cautioned, however, that disclosing the raw data could help someone figure out where a motorist lives, works or frequently visits.The act of revealing the data would itself jeopardize the privacy of everyone associated with a scanned plate, the court said, adding that with so many scanned images, the threat to privacy is significant.The justices sent the case back to the trial court to consider whether the raw data can be redacted or turned over in another form that protects the identity of drivers.Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the courts privacy qualms validate her organizations concerns about police collecting huge volumes of data to track the movements of millions of people. Agencies could misuse the data to obtain personal information about department critics or target people based solely on their political activities, she said.Location data like this, thats collected on innocent drivers, reveals sensitive information about where they have been and when, whether thats their home, their doctors office, or their house of worship, she said.
Hurricane Harvey has dumped trillions of gallons of rainwater on Houston, causing catastrophic flooding that's reaping destruction and death throughout the city. Recovery efforts are likely to continue for months, if not years, and now as they commence, experts are stressing that open data and tech are instrumental in the long process to come.

The most direct impact of big data is likely to be on damage assessment, a foundational step in distributing the insurance payouts and federal aid people need to get back into their houses, as well as in soliciting donations from the private sector and volunteers. By using geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology, responders can create a quick, thorough and easy-to-access dataset, one that shows stakeholders  from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to potential donors  who needs help, where they are, and exactly how much damage has occurred.

Zack Rosenburg, the co-founder and CEO of the non-profit disaster recovery organization SBP , said this sort of data is crucial to effective emergency response efforts. In the wake of events like Hurricane Harvey that garner widespread national headlines, hordes of volunteers are willing to work hard and work fast, but every minute matters. Their efforts must be applied with precision. If they lack tangible goals, any hard work they provide runs a risk of being wasted. The aftermath of a severe emergency is by nature chaotic, and data needed to form goals can be hard to come by.

In recent years, however, SBP has used a GIS platform called Loveland . Rosenburg says that with Loveland, his volunteers can go door to door, stand in front of a home, answer a series of questions on a device, and feed accurate information to a database in real time, along with pictures that precisely illustrate damage. SBP can then use that data to direct volunteers, and, perhaps more important, to show governmental response agencies at all levels exactly whats happening on the ground and who is still in need. Simply put, mapped GIS data is a vital reference.

In disaster recovery, to do anything more than work hard  to work hard and achieve clear results  you have to have goals, real clear goals that are both outcome based and time sensitive, Rosenburg said. Any outcome-based time-sensitive goal is a stab in the dark unless you have data telling you what the real answer is.

Just imagine youve arrived in Houston to help. This GIS data can show you what houses are damaged and how badly, down to a dollar amount. While Rosenburg said GIS tech has proven invaluable relative to past methods of damage assessment, some of which didnt even use technology, he envisions more advancements soon.

I am convinced that our Loveland technology, while great, could and should be made quickly obsolete by using big data and satellites and flyovers, Rosenburg said.

Since its founding in 2006, SBP has provided relief in the wake of a wide range of natural disasters, from floods to tornadoes, all across the country. Rosenburg says tech has improved drastically since then. His dream now, however, is to hold a closed-door roundtable with the heads of a bunch of big data firms, tech firms, practitioners at FEMA and HUD [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development], with an assessment of what success is, and then creative brainstorming about ways that technology and data science can help government meet needs.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, steps have been taken toward a more aerial-based assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has flown planes with cameras above affected areas, circumventing cloud cover that can sometimes interfere with imaging from space. Another private GIS company, Esri , has a disaster response program designed to provide disaster support , which has used GIS tech to identify heavily flooded areas.

Aside from mapping technologies, which have made major advancements in recent years, other diverse uses of data are underway to ease the impact of Hurricane Harvey. Jonathan Jay, a data scientist and doctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has turned to data to gauge what Houston can expect in terms of mosquitos as it works to recover.

Jay said he remembers stories of recovery efforts being slowed in the wake of 1992s Hurricane Andrew due to nightmarish clouds of Floridian mosquitoes so thick they made it impossible to be outside. Jay has drawn public data about mosquito populations released in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and recent severe flooding in Louisville to predict what will happen in Houston, and not just because mosquitos are irritating.

Were more concerned about mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus, Zika and dengue, Jay said.

His findings have shown that floods in a warm month like August usher in a major increase of mosquitos, if not during the storm, then very soon after. In terms of diseases, Jay said its a bit difficult to get all the info he needs, because while many cities trap and study mosquitos, Chicago is the only major jurisdiction that releases its findings. But ultimately, the more responders know about where mosquitos will be and which carry dangerous diseases, the more efficiently they can deploy resources such as mosquito spraying, removing the danger and facilitating faster disaster recovery.

During the actual storm, tech also played a valuable role, especially social media. As Harvey hit land, phone lines went down, and social media proved an invaluable resource, with residents using Twitter and Facebook to alert authorities that they needed rescue or other help

Rafael Lemaitre, who served as national director of public affairs at FEMA under the Obama Administration from 2014 until January 2017, said that through social media, federal agencies can also use their massive communications reach to direct the flow of donations and volunteers. This streamlining of recovery efforts ensures that those affected by the storms get things they actually need, rather than, say, a surplus of donated shoes or other items they may not be lacking.

Lemaitre, however, was careful not to paint tech and open data as a cure all, or even as something that can save lives when a mega storm hits.

Tech was constantly at the forefront of our work to keep Americans safe, Lemaitre said. That being said, we knew tech wasnt going to be the silver bullet to keep Americans safe from disaster. We knew that Twitter wasnt going to keep anyone safe from drowning.

To many experts, however, open data is an increasingly vital part of orchestrating a compassionate recovery, one that makes the most of donations and volunteers, getting people compensated and back in their homes as efficiently as possible.
(TNS) -- CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  The Linn County election commissioner has retained a Corridor-based cybersecurity firm to review the countys voter registration and election system.Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said the review of the system by ProCircular will support the countywide school board elections Sept. 12.This is a continuation of our efforts to improve the integrity of the voting process to ensure that our systems and records are secure, and that every vote is accurately counted, Miller said.He also cited a sense of urgency because of the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys recent declaration that voting systems are considered critical infrastructure.Miller recently attended breakout sessions on security at an Election Center convention that caused him to conduct a self-audit.But certainly the voter data incident caused me to think about other areas of risk/vulnerability, Miller said.The last four digits of about 216,000 Linn County voters Social Security numbers were accidentally released in early August. The auditors staff was filling a standing request for weekly updates of voter registration information, which, other than the Social Security numbers, is public information.ProCircular will inventory Linn Countys election system and voting equipment to confirm compliance with official certified versions, according to Aaron Warner, CEO of ProCircular. The North Liberty firm is a cybersecurity and compliance firm that provides customized, high-quality solutions to organizations by applying decades of real-life expertise.Also, voting equipment deployed to polling places will be evaluated for vulnerabilities and systems used by Linn County employees to access and update voter registration records will be reviewed for proper safeguards, Warner said.Weve brought together a team of cybersecurity, electronics and voting systems experts to help better secure voting in Linn County, Warner said.ProCir5culars experts also participated in DefCons voter hacking event in Las Vegas this August to bring attention to potential vulnerabilities associated with current voting systems.
combined. More recently-- like last week-- a Harvard-Harris Poll showed hate both Trump and Hillary, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The public rejects these people-- yet they still are managing to control the levers of power in Washington. The whole corrupt, money-fueled system stinks to High Heaven. About a year ago, Pew released a survey about party affiliation in the U.S. One conclusion you would have drawn is that registered voters who identify as independent might soon outnumber both Republicans and Democrats--. More recently-- like last week-- a Harvard-Harris Poll showed net favorability for some of the country's most prominent political leaders . The only leaders from either party with statistically more positive support than negativity are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. People-- as in registered voters-- absolutelyboth Trump and Hillary, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The public rejects these people-- yet they still are managing to control the levers of power in Washington. The whole corrupt, money-fueled system stinks to High Heaven.





It's hard to imagine Pelosi being able to hold on much longer. Her support inside the House Democratic caucus is finally evaporating. Virtually no one I speak to-- neither incumbents nor challengers-- want to see her leading the party again and the only thing that keeps her in place are the alternatives-- all of which are far worse than she is: Steny Hoyer, Joe Crowley, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tim Ryan-- or is he on to the presidential sweepstakes now? I called an even dozen House candidates yesterday and even the ones-- about half-- who said they would vote for her as Speaker in 2018, refused to let me use their names. "She's pretty toxic among the independent voters here," one candidate told me. "I don't have anything against her but it isn't just Republicans who hate her. Many Democrats want to see her just move on and make room for someone else... Her time is over."





Washington Post went to a Republican candidates' primary forum and found that Yesterday was even worse for Paul Ryan in that regard. Dave Weigel, reporting from Minnesota for thewent to a Republican candidates' primary forum and found that GOP candidates are as sick of Ryan as Republican voters are . When the a member of the audience asked the 5 Republican congressional candidates if they plan to vote for Ryan to lead their party, 4 refused to back him. Watch at the 56 minute mark:





I think hes going in the wrong direction, said state Rep. Tim Miller.



I would prefer someone else, said commercial pilot Dave Hughes.



Well see who runs for speaker, said businessman Jim Hagedorn.



He might not even run for speaker, said St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber.



...Public polling, however, has seen Ryans favorable rating and approval rating tumble since the start of the Trump presidency. According to HuffPosts poll tracker, Ryans approval rating was barely underwater, 35/41, the week of Trumps inauguration. Today, its underwater by close to 20 points, 30/49; Pelosis rating is 29/49. A Bloomberg poll, conducted shortly before the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed in the Senate, found 61 percent of Republican voters approving of Ryan, with every other voting bloc viewing him negatively.



His numbers are no better than mine, Pelosi said after Democrats lost a special election in Georgias 6th District. The difference is we dont engage in the politics of personal destruction.



Republicans remain confident that Pelosi, who after Hillary Clintons defeat has become the focus of most negative conservative ads, is far more polarizing than Ryan. The Democrats 2018 House map, skewed by gerrymandering in key Rust Belt states and parts of the south, sets up races in suburbs where Pelosi remains toxic.



But the reluctance on display in Minnesota came from candidates running in three of the cycles 12 Trump/Democrat districts-- places where 2016 voters broke Republican for president, but sent a Democrat back to Congress. Trumps surge among rural white voters nearly took out Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), whose 1st District in the southern part of the state backed Barack Obama by 1.4 points, then backed Trump by 14.9 points.



Hagedorn, who was nearly elected by that swing, was among the candidates who refused to take a stand on Ryan this week. Saying he did not want to alienate any potential supporters, even Washington Republicans, he suggested that it was too early to ask candidates who theyd back for speaker.



...Only one of those candidates, trucking company owner and 7th District hopeful Matt Prosch, said he would back Ryan for speaker. His rivals, Hughes and Miller, veered between criticism of Ryan and hope that he could redeem himself.



Weve got to have to have leadership that ensures we do the will of the people, Miller said. Whoever that is, Id support that. Hughes, who lost to incumbent Rep. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN) in 2016, suggested that he was not impressed with Ryan and would see who else ran.



Stauber, who has no primary challenger as he seeks to defeat Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.), was just as lukewarm about Ryan. When Im in Congress, Ill let you know, because people can change their views, change their ways, he said. People have the ability to change, and I hope he does.



Answers like that could come back to haunt Republican candidates. In 2016, the CLF and the affiliated American Action Network spent $4.8 million on advertising against Nolan, a resilient campaigner who held on by just 2,072 votes. This year, as the CLF has focused on defending incumbents, its made clear that Republicans who buck Ryan wont get help. That was demonstrated first when Rep. David Youngs (R-IA) initial opposition to the ACA repeal effort ended the CLFs investment in his district.



Our mission is to ensure that Paul D. Ryan remains Speaker after 2018, said CLF executive director Corry Bliss. Obviously in allocating resources to accomplish that goal, CLF will prioritize friends and family first.

Stauber, the goon running against progressive Democrat Rick Nolan said that "I wont ask Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to come to my district." He better hope Nolan doesn't either. The sprawling 8th district, which goes from the exurbs not of Minneapolis west to Brainerd and north to Hibbing, Duluth and the Canadian border. Although Obama won the district comfortably both times he ran, MN-08 Democrats couldn't have asked for a worse candidate than Hillary Clinton. The blue collar district flipped to Trump and gave him a 54.2% to 38.8% win. Clinton underperformed Obama by 13 points. Bernie won the MN-08 caucuses by a gigantic margin-- 65.2% to 34.8%. District-wide, he had 12,096 caucus votes to Trump's 3,324. Bernie beat Hillary in every single one of the district's 18 counties and he beat Trump in all 18 as well. Stauber better hope Nolan doesn't invite him to the district. Bernie is, after all, the most popular national political leader in the district. I'm sure Nolan would love to see Bernie debate Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell or, best of all, Senor Trumpanzee, right up in Duluth.








Jacques Villeneuve says he has repeatedly turned down offers to conduct the post-race interviews on the F1 podium.

The 1997 world champion attends grands prix as a television pundit for Italian television.

But unlike other drivers who do the podium interviews, the 46-year-old Canadian says he is not officially retired.

"When you get this kind of request, you are a driver who no longer races -- a 'has-been'. But I'm not there yet. Not yet," he told Le Journal de Montreal newspaper at Monza.

"I'll leave it to the others."

However, Villeneuve did accept a request to drive F1's official two-seater 'F1 Experiences' car at Monza, with the programme run by Paul Stoddart and Mike Gascoyne.

"I agreed because it's Monza -- the temple of speed. It's a circuit I've always loved and it's so rich in history," Villeneuve said.

He said he has not forgotten how to drive an F1 car at speed.

"No, you don't lose it," said the former Williams and Honda driver.

"You get to the first corner and know exactly what to do. I admit to having some nausea because my ears are no longer used to the acceleration.

"The engine is 880 horse power so it's amazing, and the steering and the braking are very precise too -- it's great," Villeneuve added.

(GMM)
Fernando Alonso says he may travel to Japan to meet with Honda chiefs before deciding his next move.

Prior to Monza, it was reported the fiery Spaniard had issued an ultimatum to McLaren -- either dump its works Japanese engine supplier or lose him.

"That is completely wrong -- it's a lie," Alonso insisted at Monza.

"McLaren is a team with 1000 employees and I am just one -- and all of us want to change the situation."

Indeed, it appears that Alonso is in fact almost completely out of options, as Williams denied holding talks with the 35-year-old and Renault said it is not ready to give him a title-winning car.

Asked about Renault, the two-time world champion said: "Renault will always be in my heart.

"At my kart circuit in Spain I even have an arrangement with them. But talking about racing, I'm very pleased with McLaren. We have everything we need to win the title.

"And Renault has said repeatedly and very honestly that they doubt their readiness to fight for the title next year," Alonso added.

Honda has struggled since 2015, but on the track the Japanese manufacturer is now bringing steady improvements.

When asked about his deliberations about 2018, Alonso said: "I have to sit with McLaren and with Honda to see what their expectations are in detail.

"Maybe I will have to fly to Japan and see firsthand before I make a decision," he is quoted by the Spanish media.

"Ferrari managed to make its engine competitive in one winter, and Honda can too," Alonso continued.

"They now have three years of experience and are helped from the outside in the right direction."

And so Alonso denied that his relationship with Honda is now completely broken, and said claims he faked an engine failure at Spa a week ago are wrong.

"Have you forgotten that I have been in this situation for three years?" he asked. "In Bahrain last year I even wanted to race with a broken rib.

"I never give up."

(GMM)
Luca di Montezemolo says Ferrari did not invite him to Monza for this weekend's celebrations.

Ahead of the Italian grand prix, the great Maranello team is celebrating its 70th anniversary with special branding and events.

Curiously, Montezemolo was also born in 1947 - exactly 70 years ago - and the team's former long-time president also celebrated his birthday this week.

But the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I have not been invited to Monza.

"But that does not matter much. The main thing is that Ferrari wins again," Montezemolo added.

When he was ousted in 2014, Montezemolo publicly fell out with new Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.

He continued: "I miss Ferrari very much and also the races, but even more so the factory, the men and the women of Maranello."

(GMM)
Fools swear they wise, wise men know they foolish
Today, the refinery uses approximately 180,000 tons of hydrogen per year in its various plants. The hydrogen is currently produced as a byproduct of the refining process or through natural gas reforming; electrolysis instead uses electricity to split water into the base components of hydrogen and oxygen. Electrolysis using low-cost renewable electricity could be a key technology for CO 2 -free hydrogen production in the Shell Rheinland Refinery.

Shell, together with ITM Power, plans to install a 10MW electrolyzer to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex. This would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the worlds largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyzer.

Shell, through Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH, and Shell Energy Europe Ltd, with consortium partners ITM Power PLC, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy, have been invited to the preparation of a grant agreement by the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU), following a competitive call for proposals.

The project aims to enable the construction and operation of a large-scale 10 MW electrolyzer that can produce high-quality and CO 2 -free hydrogen while demonstrating technology and cost improvements through upscaling and new business applications.

The hydrogen produced could be integrated into the refinery processes. The location will also allow the refinery to later expand its facilities to supply hydrogen to potential new customers outside the refinery.

The envisaged hydrogen electrolysis would be a step into the futureopening the door to many new development options for the refinery. This project would allow us to test new technologies in the refinery context. Dr. Thomas Zengerly, General Manager for Shell Rheinland Refinery

Hydrogen is a promising technology, even beyond direct use as a cleaner fuel for transport. In the future, it is also expected to play a key role in integrating energy storage and power grid balancing, thus enabling a reliable and growing share of renewables in the energy system. Brian Davis, Vice President of Integrated Energy Solutions at Shell

Shell is also taking part in various initiatives to encourage the adoption of hydrogen as a transport fuel. In Germany, Shell is working with the government and industry partners in a cross-sector joint venture, H2 Mobility Germany, to support the development of a nationwide expansion of hydrogen refueling stations. Outside Germany, Shell already has hydrogen stations in the UK and California.

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking is a public-private partnership supporting research, technological development and demonstration activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe. Its aim is to accelerate the market introduction of these technologies. The three members of the FCH 2 JU are the European Commission, fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by the Industry Grouping Hydrogen Europe and the research community represented by the Research Grouping N.ERGHY.
Fueled by hydrogen from renewable sources (green hydrogen), eight 18-meter articulated buses from the Bus Rapid Transit service line (BHNS) will be operating on the streets of Pau within two years. The buses will form an artery of the new transportation network designed by the City within its urban redevelopment project aimed at improving the perception and use of public spaces in a sustainable way.

A consortium comprising bus-maker Van Hool, ITM Power, SMTU-PPP and Engie will deploy the first hydrogen bus route in France, in Pau. Francois Bayrou, President of the community of Pau Bearn Pyrenees, made the announcement about the creation of this zero emission bus rapid transit (BRT) route, which will be operated by the Pau transport operator companies SMTU-PPP and STAP starting in September 2019 between the hospital and the railway station in Pau.

The hydrogen hybrid buses feature a passenger capacity of 125; long driving range (350 km / 217 miles); and rapid refueling (10 minutes). These attributes provide them, amid the various zero-emission bus technology options, with the highest level of operational flexibility and productivity for a bus operator.

The BHNS buses also offer a high-end experience for the traveler (comfort, safety, availability, information); high frequency with short waiting time; and a predominantly dedicated bus lane. The BHNS is an effective alternative to the introduction of a rail mode transport, such as the tramway.

The bus will be designed and manufactured by Van Hool, the European manufacturer with the most expertise in hydrogen mobility with more than 50 fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) hydrogen buses already in operation. Van Hool is developing, from its electric platform, an articulated 18-meter fuel cell bus model for the needs of this BRT(BHNS) line.

Engie, via its GNVERT subsidiary, responsible for the distribution of alternative fuels, will take charge of the construction and operation of the hydrogen refueling station for these buses. The hydrogen will be produced on site by an ITM Power PEM electrolyzer powered by local renewable electricity, thus providing completely decarbonized energy for propulsion.
Residents will see more sixth-penny tax work going on throughout Green River.

According to a media release from the city, the intersection of Hitching Post Drive and Shoshone Avenue will close Sept. 5 for the next phase of construction work on Hitching Post Drive. Residents are recommended to use West Teton Boulevard and Monroe Avenue to get around the construction work. Residents can also expect to see the intersection of Crossbow Drive and Hitching Post Drive to open the same day.

The project consists of replacing a 12 water main and adding a new 30 storm sewer system, as well as pa...
With less than two weeks until the start of Jacob Angleseys trial in the 2009 death of Connor Allen, his defense sought a postponement due to concerns of not receiving everything on file at the Sweetwater County Attorneys Office.

A motion filed to postpone the trial was denied by District Court Judge Richard Lavery, keeping the Sept. 11 date to start the trial. However, the judge also said the county attorneys office would have to file affidavits certifying that all information pertaining to the case has been turned over to Angleseys attorney, as well as certifying that they hav...
Justin Lee Simmons, 37, of Green River, passed away Aug. 21, 2017, at his home.

Simmons was lifetime resident of Green River.

He was born on Aug. 9, 1980, in Rock Springs, the son of Dean Paul Simmons and Jackie Lee Behunin. Simmons attended schools in Green River and was a 1999 graduate of the Green River High School. He also attended school in Riverton.

He worked as a roustabout for Crossfire LLC in Rock Springs.

Simmons enjoyed spending time with his family, being an artist, hunting, fishing, and being in the mountains. He was a loving soul that simply lost his battle with depression....
RENO (AP)  Triple-digit heat across much of the U.S. West hampered crews battling dozens of wildfires Thursday, including one threatening the main travel route to the Burning Man counterculture festival in the Nevada desert.

Thousands of people have been driven from their homes amid hot weather in Oregon, Montana and California, where a blaze burned 10 homes and threatened 500 more near a hard-hit community and another kept a popular road to Yosemite National Park closed.

A fire in Montana, about 60 miles south of the Canadian border, destroyed five cabins and five other structures and threatened 130 more buildings, fire officials said.

In Nevada, more than 70,000 people were expected at the Burning Man art and music celebration in the Black Rock Desert by the time it culminates Saturday night with the burning of a towering effigy, and the vast majority get there by a state highway that was closed for several hours because of the fire.

The traffic is moving, but you had a lot of congestion built up so its very slow going, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Gordon said of State Route 447.

The lightning-sparked fire has burned about 45 square miles and is about 40 miles south of the festival. There were no reports of injuries.

Its not close to Burning Man at this time, Interagency Fire spokesman John Gaffney said. Theres a considerable distance between the fire and the festival. At this point, the goal is to keep the road open as much as we can.

Interagency Fire spokesman John Gaffney said the heat, expected to rise to 100 degrees, was one of the biggest concerns for crews fighting the flames by the air and ground. Its chewing through brush thats 1 to 2 feet high, he said, and high temperatures were expected through the weekend.

Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham said in an email that the local festival airstrip, which is built each year, is open and the celebration was continuing as scheduled.

At the moment there is no impact, he said.

Other fires in Nevada closed a 65-mile stretch of highway just south of the state line with California and burned a remote part of a vast former nuclear proving ground.

Nevada National Security Site spokeswoman Tracy Bower said the lightning-sparked fire covered almost 4 square miles but wasnt considered a threat to people or buildings.

Elsewhere, thousands of people have fled about two dozen fires in Oregon alone, and more than 1,000 homes and businesses have evacuated near a popular vacation spot at a Montana lake as dozens of other blazes burned.

In Northern California, more than 1,000 firefighters were able to slow the growth of a nearly 5-square-mile wildfire overnight near the town of Oroville, an area already hard-hit by fire and a massive evacuation earlier this year caused by damage to sections of the nations tallest dam.

Fires also burned near Yosemite National Park, evacuating nearby towns and keeping a popular road into the park shut down. About 58 homes near the park were destroyed earlier this summer.
Toxic algae discovered in waterways off Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP)  Water officials are continuing to monitor toxic blue-green algae that developed in several waterways in a residential community in South Lake Tahoe.

The algae discovered in recent weeks caused officials to post signs warning residents to stay away from the water. Tahoe Keys Property Owners Associations water quality team tested the water and found low levels of toxins Anatoxin-A and microcystins.

The Lahontan Water Board ran additional tests that supported the results. Doug Smith, the boards supervising engineering geologist, says a combination of warm temperatures, sunlight and nutrient-rich water can cause a rapid growth of the algae. The algaes toxins can cause illness in both people and animals.

Smith says he recommends the Property Owners Association keep the warning signs in place as the algae is monitored.

Shooting of 8 Idaho cows prompts investigation

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP)  Authorities in Idaho are investigating the shooting deaths of eight heads of cattle.

The Post Register reports the commercial Angus beef cattle were killed during the weekend in the Swan Valley area, prompting the Bonneville County Sheriffs Office to investigate.

Lt. Kevin Casper says the cattle belong to the Fall Creek Basin Cattlemens Association, a group of cattle producers who share grazing land. He says the cattle have an estimated value of $1,500 each, resulting in $12,000 in losses.

Barb Croft, who is affiliated with the Fall Creek Basin Cattlemens Association, says all the cattle were shot in the head.

Casper says cattle shootings occur about once a year but not to this degree.

Idaho tent jail improves security

CALDWELL, Idaho (AP)  The loopholes at an Idaho tent jail where eight inmates were able to escape on six different occasions have been fixed, putting the jail back in good standing with the city of Caldwell, officials said.

Canyon Countys tent jail, called Pod 5, was built in 2005 for inmates on work release, but overcrowding at the neighboring indoor jail forced officials to start using it for minimum-security inmates in 2010.

County officials, including the sheriff, advised that the outdoor facility was not sufficient at the time for housing those inmates.

The concerned officials pushed for voter approval to build a new jail on county-owned land, but efforts were unsuccessful. Officials concerns became real when eight inmates  who were all eventually recaptured  escaped from the facility between December 2015 and December 2016.

City officials required the jail to secure the outdoor facility, which it recently did by installing an expanded metal lid over the kitchen area, a secure exterior door leading from the kitchen outdoors, a roof over the recreation yard and a 10-foot wire perimeter fence that encloses most of the tent jail.
Sept. 1, 1939

World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland. History.com says that at 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On Sept. 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. In the News & Record nearly six decades later, reporter Don Patterson interviewed Eva and Shelly Weiner, who lived in Poland and spent two years hiding from the Nazis:  How did we survive? she asks her daughter, Shelly Weiner. How did we survive? ... Through all the hardships, Eva Weiner had one objective: to keep her daughter alive. ... The Weiners lived in Rovno, Poland, a town of about 57,000 people 60 miles from the Russian border. ... When the Germans invaded the area in the summer of 1941, they turned Rovno into a killing field. In July and August, they murdered some 3,000 people. I remember dead bodies on the street, says Shelly Weiner, who once had a rifle pointed at her head by a German soldier. I still dont know ... why he didnt shoot me. They would do it for sport. 
Friday was a big day for Travis Fox and his girlfriend, Katherine Meisen.

Fox got his police badge.

Meisen, well, she got a proposal and a diamond ring.

This is the best day of my life, Fox told her as he dropped to one knee at the Winston-Salem Police Basic Law Enforcement Training graduation. I couldnt do this without you. Will you marry me?

The crowd erupted in applause as she cried yes and embraced her new fiance.

Fox, one of 14 graduating officers, and Meisen met when they were 14 while attending high school in New York.

Fox, 21, said he had been planning the proposal for months.

I cant believe it. It was a surprise, said Meisen, who wore a blue flower in her hair. This is incredible.

The couple will start their lives together in Winston-Salem along with the other graduates, six of whom are from New York.

Ive been dreaming of the day I would become a police officer and the day I would propose, said Fox, who has wanted to be a police officer since he was 5. I never imagined they would be the same day. Im the luckiest man alive.

Foxs mother, Linda Fox, said the day was like a dream.

Were very proud of him and so happy for the two of them, she said. Its just overwhelming in the best way.

The feeling of pride was widespread as family members and friends clambered for the attention of the new officers after they crossed the stage and accepted their badges in the newly renovated Benton Convention Center.

The 71st class of new officers completed 28 weeks of classroom work and training, totaling more than 1,000 hours.

There are real dangers in this profession, but we have the skills necessary to protect the city. We have a responsibility to the city, rookie Officer Joshua Floyd said as he spoke to the hundreds gathered. I find myself blessed to be a part of this family.

Former Chief Barry Rountree spent his first day of retirement passing on words of wisdom to the newest generation of Winston-Salem police officers.

He warned them it would not be easy but said they had a responsibility to protect the city.

If it was easy, this stage would be full, Rountree, the keynote speaker, told the graduates. Youll run into some haters and naysayers along the way, but you have to stay the course. Go out every day to make today better than yesterday.

The 14 graduates were selected from 361 applicants, said Ed McNeal, the city of Winston-Salems director of marketing and communications. Typically, there would have been 1,000 applicants, but recruiting is a problem departments across the country are facing, he said.

A generous portion of the graduates come as the result of New York recruiting trips, including New York native Michael Kressner.

Kressner said he had never heard of Winston-Salem but immediately fell in love with the city and was excited to begin as an officer.

Today is the culmination of a lot of hard work, Kressner said. Becoming a police officer is not about me. Its about changing everyone elses world.

Awards were given to three of the graduates  Officers Cameron Gulledge, Cole Penn and Satara Radford  to commemorate their hard work during training.

Can you imagine a city without police officers? Rountree asked. Just imagine that. Life as we know it would not exist.  It would be total chaos. What you do every day is important  and people are counting on you.

Police Chief Catrina Thompson, who began her tenure as chief on Friday, echoed the sentiment, noting she was appreciative of all the recruits hard work.

We know that you will not let us down, Thompson said. Were very proud of you.
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REIDSVILLE  Under Cone Health, the Community Care Clara F. Gunn Center is back in business, providing medical care from 922 Third Ave., Reidsville.

Located at the New Reidsville Housing Authority, the center re-opened on Aug. 21 with new ownership to re-establish local medical service. The community came together for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 31.

The location was once a three-bedroom housing unit before it was renovated to feature three exam rooms and administration space and opened in 2014, according to Stokes Ann Hunt, Director of Cone Health Community Outreach and the Annie Penn Hospital Foundation.

In early April, we found out that Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine, or TAPM as we call it, would close their doors and that was effective June 15, Hunt said. They worked very closely to help us fill the gap to take care of the patients that were being seen with medical care at this location.

Under Cone Health management, the center can treat adults over the age of 18 and provide services including blood pressure checks, heart rate checks, blood sugar checks, urine analysis, rapid strep tests and pregnancy tests.

Visitors in need of more complex services can meet virtually with a physician through an online portal called MDLive. Through MDLive, licensed North Carolina physicians can evaluate and diagnose patients and prescribe medicine and treatment.

The center focuses on figuring out what each patient needs and helping them get exactly what they need for care, according to Kathy Colville, Cone Health Director of Healthy Communities.

When you come to this clinic, you may just be able to talk with a nurse and get some information and some questions answered, Colville said. You may have something where we can get you on the video screen and talking with an MD or it may well be that (the nurses) are actually going to connect you to one of our other care providers in the community.

Annie Penn Hospitals congregational nurse program People Engaged in Neighborhood Nursing, better known as PENN, will provide care at the center, including a registered nurse and a bilingual licensed practical nurse.

What you see here today we lovingly call a congregational nurse program on steroids, Moore said. As you've heard addressed, there is nothing like this in the United States. We hope that this is going to be a model not only for Cone Health but for other places in the country.

The center will continue to prominently feature the name of Clara F. Gunn as it had under TAPM.

We're honoring Clara F. Gunn who was a long time community volunteer in this community, Hunt said. She had a lot of love and respect for Rockingham County and those of us that knew herand I know several of you here today did know her as I didknow that she had a true passion for others, and Cone Health is so proud that we're keeping her name on this center.
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With her filmmaking debut, "Home Again," a romantic comedy about a 40ish single mom who embarks on a fling with a much younger man, Hallie Meyers-Shyer proves that she's her mother's daughter.

Mom, in this case, is filmmaker Nancy Meyers, a cinematic powerhouse with a track record of hit rom-coms that includes "What Women Want," "Something's Gotta Give," "The Holiday," "It's Complicated" and "The Intern" - along with a reputation for luxe production values that has earned her the sobriquet of "queen of interior design porn." No slouch in the romantic comedy biz himself, Hallie's father, and Nancy's ex, is writer-director-producer Charles Shyer ("Father of the Bride").

In "Home Again," there's no mistaking the influence of Meyers, who was a producer on the new film. The story centers on interior decorator Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon), who, after an ugly breakup, has moved from New York to the comfortable Los Angeles home she grew up in with her late filmmaker father and retired actress mother (Candice Bergen). True to the values of a Nancy Meyers movie, that house - which is sure to inspire design lust - takes center stage. It's there that Alice takes in three 20-something filmmakers as lodgers: a sensitive writer (Jon Rudnitzky), a tech-savvy actor (Nat Wolff), and a sexy director (Pico Alexander). The latter becomes, briefly, Alice's boy toy.

Meyers-Shyer, 30, spoke by phone from Los Angeles about her debt to her parents and her desire to make her own way in the Hollywood jungle.

Q: The apple obviously doesn't fall far from the tree. Your mother's influence is apparent, particularly in your film's attention to meticulously curated domestic interiors. I was struck by one scene around the breakfast table that featured platters of bacon on blue-and-white china. It was so mouthwatering and pretty, it was almost distracting. How important is production design to you?

A: Of all possible things I learned about from my mom, food on the table is just the smallest possible thing that she could have taught me. The larger lessons - about having great heroines and great stories, about how warm and inviting her films are and how feminine they are - are the themes I hope I carry on from her, more than anything having to do with set design or food. That said, my film does take place largely in a home - and many of her films do as well - where the house is a big character. I really hope that "Home Again" reflects me and my sensibilities.

Q: After graduating from the New School in Manhattan, you spent a year studying film at USC. But you've said your real education came on your parents' film sets growing up. If you're trying to cut the apron strings, why work with your mother?

A: Carrying on the family business is a hard thing. As a debut filmmaker, you want to feel like you are paving your own way. But there was nobody better to have with me than someone who has been making, for so many years, romantic comedies with strong female characters. The thing I learned most from my mom was about layering my characters and making them nuanced, and not just types.

Q: Alice's parents, like yours, are filmmakers. They seem to have been based on director John Cassavetes and his actress wife, Gena Rowlands. Is that deliberate?

A: You're absolutely right. The character of (Alice's father) is an amalgam of several 1970s filmmakers: Cassavettes; (Peter) Bogdanovich; (Paul) Mazursky. They were my influences while writing the film. The way in which I wanted to portray Los Angeles was inspired a lot by '70s films. I wanted to find a way to infuse that into the story, so I made him a '70s filmmaker. I wanted him to be someone who these three boys - who are true lovers of cinema - would be excited about to thumb through his scripts and photo albums. I consider the movie a love letter to film and Hollywood.

Q: Are you a particular fan of '70s American cinema?

A: Yes, I am. It's my favorite era. I watched a lot of movies from that period for research.

Q: You weren't even born until 1987. How did you fall in love with that period?

A: I went to film school for a bit. Mostly, though, I watched a lot of movies with my parents. Movies of the '70s feel very grounded and character-driven to me. I love Jack Nicholson. I love Warren Beatty in "Heaven Can Wait" and "Shampoo."

Q: Who do you relate to most in this film?

A: I find a little of myself in every character. I relate to Alice, of course, but also to the three boys trying to make it in Hollywood. I relate to Alice's anxious older daughter, but also to the youngest daughter, because I also have an older sister. I can even relate to Alice's ex, Michael Sheen, back in New York City. I put myself in every character.

Q: Do you perceive a decline - or, as some have said, a crisis - in romantic comedy?

A: It used to be a more commercial genre for studios, for sure, one in which big actors would star, going back to Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It had great actors, major studios, big budgets. But it's not just romantic comedies that have declined, as I see it. Movies about human beings are not being made as often. They've been replaced by superhero movies, action films. It's not as easy to get a romantic comedy made, but there is an audience for it. "The Big Sick" was a great example, and it showed that people want to embrace the genre.

Q: Is there a gender divide in the audience? Is there something about rom-coms that has ghettoized them as women's films?

A: "Home Again" is a woman's story, through and through. Women do like romantic comedies, but in my experience, men love them, too. I'm excited that an underserved audience is being served in this film.

Q: And that underserved audience is ...?

A: Women.

Q: ... or simply people who don't want to see another movie about space aliens?

A: Absolutely, that, too. One hundred percent.

Q: There's a great line in the film about how, between the three guys who are living in Alice's pool house, she has managed to combine the package into one perfect man: One's her babysitter, one's her tech-support guru and the other is her lover.

A: I can't take credit for that line. The reference to the brains, the heart and the nerve is from "The Wizard of Oz."

Q: It's a sad commentary on the male gender that it takes three of us to make one whole person.

A: I think "Home Again" is a really empowering movie for men. These are three passionate men who have real interests. It shows men in a really positive way.

Q: There's another funny line, where a sleazy Hollywood movie producer tries to get the "boys" to change their vision for their first movie from a black-and-white art-house drama to a "found-footage love story." Sounds ilke that one might come from personal experience.

A: Yes. When you're writing, you get to make a little bit of snide commentary. I definitely drew from past meetings with producers.

Q: The guy and the girl don't end up happily ever after. Are you trying to rewrite the rules with your first movie?

A: That's just how the rom-com genre has been characterized. "Home Again" looks and feels like a romantic comedy, but ultimately that's not what this movie is about. It's not about a woman finding a man. It's about a woman finding herself.
GREENWICH  A new carrier will be flying from the Westchester County Airport just over the border from Greenwich, amid continuing concerns about noise and expansion at the site.

In making the announcement that Elite Airways will begin twice-weekly service to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida, aviation and government officials stressed the new carrier would have a minimal impact on the surrounding region.

Wed like to emphasize this airport is a regional airport, and will remain a community airport, said George Oros, director of the Westchester County Office of Economic Development, speaking of the county-owned facility near Armonk, N.Y. He said the latest passenger line to fly out of Westchester did not represent a significant expansion.

The new service to the west-central coast of Florida will begin Nov. 10, and two flights a week are scheduled, said a marketing executive for Elite Airways, Mike McBride. He said there was a demand for plane service between the tri-state region and the Sarasota area where many North-Easterners have winter homes.

The airline uses new Bombardier jet planes carrying 50 or 70 passengers and which are among the quieter passenger aircraft in use, according to McBride. The flights will all take place in daylight hours.

Its not going to have a large impact on the community, said McBride.

There is a possibility that Elite Airways could expand service in coming months based on demand, he said.

Community groups have been monitoring long-term plans for the airport, fearful that the regional airport could be transformed into a much larger facility. Noise concerns are also a source of anxiety in the Westchester communities abutting the site, as well as northern Greenwich. A voluntary curfew keeps most planes from flying between midnight and 6:30 a.m. but there are no enforcement mechanisms.

McBride said the airline wouldnt fly during nighttime hours.

Jonathan Wang, an organizer with Citizens for a Responsible County Airport, a watchdog group, said the new arrival did not appear to be a source of worry.

I think it sounds like a reasonable plan, said Wang, an aviator himself who lives in Purchase, N.Y. Im glad they were aware of the curfew.

Plans by the Westchester County administration to turn the airport over to a private company are generating anxiety about long-term plans for the facility. Greenwich residents have been critical about the noise, lights and impacts on property values through the years.

A forum on the privatization proposal will be held Sept. 26 at the Ethical Culture Society, 7 Saxon Woods Road, White Plains. The community forum, with comments by elected officials, will begin at 7 p.m.

A number of other carriers at the Westchester airport also provide service to destinations in Florida.

Oros, the Westchester County representative, said there could be benefits to the region from new service to and from Florida.

Tourism is one of our major economics hubs in Westchester County, he said. Wed like Florida people to come up here and not only go to New York City, but spend some time in the Hudson Valley.

Elite Airways began as a charter company in 2006. It has recently been expanding into commercial service, primarily on the East Coast.
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GREENWICH  Greenwich Public Schools students will not have school on September 12, the Board of Education voted Thursday evening, due to a primary for the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

Superintendent Jill Gildea recommended that schools be closed to students that day because 10 Greenwich Public Schools are also polling places that must be accessible to voters. Connecticut public schools are closed on normal election days, per state statute.

The school board approved the idea unanimously. The change will reduce the school year from 181 to 180 days. Teachers will have professional development on Sept. 12.

We understand this will be hard for working families, said Gildea.

The school district has contacted community child care organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club to advise them to expect higher attendance on Sept. 12, Gildea said. The organizations have confirmed they will be ready.

Seven Republicans are vying for a spot on the towns Board of Estimate and Taxation. Incumbents Michael Mason, Nancy Weissler and William Drake, and newcomers Debra Hess, Andrew Duus and Karen Fassulioitis were endorsed by the Republican Town Committee for seats; incumbent Leslie Tarkington petitioned onto the ballot in mid-August.

The primary will be the first for the BET since the Democratic side of the board held one in 1993.

The Town Charter prevents any party from holding a majority on the 12-person board. Though technically an elected panel, competition usually ends when each party picks its slate of six candidates. Most members, even those who are on for many years, never have to campaign for a single vote.

Now the Republicans find themselves thrust into a sudden contest at a time of year when many people are not yet paying attention to local politics, presenting concerns about voter turnout. The League of Women Voters of Greenwich will hold a debate among the seven candidates on Sept. 5.

emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter; @emiliemunson
People wont stop eating bluefin tuna. Photo: Leisa Tyler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Scientists have warned for years that Pacific-bluefin-tuna stocks are imperiled, and that the species could collapse. Last year, environmental groups including Greenpeace demanded that the fish be listed as endangered to better protect it. A few months later, the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean released a report that indicated that the fishs population was at just 2.6 percent of historic levels. This has happened in recent decades as a result of advancements in fishing technology that made catching the fish significantly easier, and its a damning portrait of overfishing left unchecked for decades.

Despite this, many people continue to eat Pacific bluefin without a second thought, and it remains a prized ingredient flaunted by high-end restaurants (particularly sushi spots). And as was reported would happen, Japan has already exceeded its annual quota, along with Mexico. Scientists and environmentalists pleas to protect the fish appeared to have fallen on deaf ears, but it seems the tuna will finally catch a break. The countries that fish tuna have agreed to rebuild the stocks, with the compromise that there wont be a total moratorium.

During a weeklong meeting in South Korea, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the American Tropical Tuna Commission agreed on a plan to bring the fish back. Their first target is bringing stocks back to 20 percent of historic levels by 2034, which is considered the minimum necessary by scientists to ensure the speciess future. If chances to meet that target fall below 60 percent, catch levels will be further reduced.

The two groups will also develop a plan for documenting catches, as a means to prevent illegal fishing, by 2020. Bluefin is prized in Japan, which is responsible for 80 percent of the worlds catch, and the countrys fishermen had been resistant to these measures. The election of climate-change-denying President Donald Trump was being used as a scapegoat by the fishermen, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology professor Toshio Katsukawa tells the Washington Post, but Japan has agreed to go along with the plan.

The problem is still far from solved. Pew Charitable Trusts global-tuna-conservation officer James Gibbons cautions that its only the first step. And it wont stop the fact that warming waters are threatening many species and the balance of life in the oceans.
All good things must end, and so it is with one of the oddest items to ever grace a McDonalds menu: McPizza. The all-American culinary fail-safe was introduced with much fanfare in the 80s, and two locations  in Pomeroy, Ohio, and Spencer, West Virginia, run by the same franchisee, Greg Mills  never took them off the menu. At least, that was the case until yesterday, when the era was forced to end by decree from McCorporate.

An official statement from McDonalds explained this move was to streamline the stores menus, though both locations would continue to offer a wide variety of items for our customers to try and enjoy. Mills clearly wasnt happy about corporates eighty-sixing of his nostalgic menu item. According to the local paper, the Pomeroy store posted a sign that read:

Effective August 31st we will no longer be allowed to sell McPizza. This decision was made by McDonalds Corporate office, Not your local staff. It was our Pleasure and Honor to be one of only two McDonalds in The USA to carry this Great product for the past 15 years. We apologize to you our valued Guest and thank you for your support of McPizza over the past 15 years.

The locations basically went out with a McPizza fire sale. It was an all-hands local media event in Pomeroy in particular, and the stores last two pizzas went to a couple whod flown in from Vancouver. One customer told WSAZ that her family ate there every day, sometimes two times a day, because her 5-year-old son wont eat [pizza] anywhere else.

Technically, the chain never called the item a McPizza, but whatever you call it, the original plan called for full family-size pies, with hopes of luring customers in for sit-down dinners. The short-lived item was eventually offered in a personal size, and could come with a variety of basic toppings (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, onions). It was meant to siphon business from Pizza Hut, Dominos, and the other pizza chains, which obviously didnt happen.

You cant say the McDonalds R&D and marketing teams didnt give it their best shot, though. As this ad from 1992 explains, it took the company seven years and sorting through 145 different kinds of pepperoni before they liked the recipe.
While T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon have all announced their plans to carry the newly-unveiled LG V30, Sprint has gone ahead and done something different. The carrier has revealed that it will be offering the LG V30+.

The revelation was made by none other than the carrier's CEO in a tweet.

The difference between the LG V30 and V30+ is storage. While the former comes with 64GB, the plus variant packs in 128GB. Given that no other major US carrier has announced its plans for the V30+, it's reasonable to assume that the model will be a Sprint exclusive, at least at launch.

There's currently no information on when the variant will go on sale and what price tag it will carry. Meanwhile, the V30 has made it to Netflix's list of HDR enabled mobile devices. The only other device that's there in that list is the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

Source | Via | Netflix
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The Japanese company Sharp that launched the Aquos S2 with tri-bezel-less screen might arrive in Europe next summer. President and CEO of Sharp Jeng-Wu Tai confirmed this at an event in Berlin at IFA 2017. The first Sharp smartphones for the European market would appear at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona.

Sharp Aquos R

Sharp introduced its Aquos R flagship which was simply to show the strength of the brand, Tai later told journalists. The phone has a Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4 GB RAM with one 22.6 MP camera on the back with f/1.7 aperture and OIS. This device is a testament that Sharp is aiming to get into the ballpark of big players such as Samsung, LG, and Sony.

Sharp introduced earlier this year the Aquos S2 with an almost full-screen display. The phone had minuscule bezels on three of the sides with the bottom also having a tiny bezel. We just have to wait until next year to see if the flagship would arrive in Europe or the company is already working on another smartphone.

Via (in Dutch)
Conquering the Indian market is definitely the next big cornerstone to pursue on the smartphone road map. Xiaomi clearly has its sights set on the price ever since it started catering to a demographic Google so affectionately refers to as "the next billion users".

.@XiaomiIndia has sold more than 25 Mn phones till now, since our first phone launch in July 2014, 3 years & 1 month ago. #25MillionMi (1/2) pic.twitter.com/z3jmWVhbYN  Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) August 31, 2017

The Chinese company's VP Manu Kumar Jain took to twitter today to put the success in perspective, boasting the fastest ever climb to 25 million unit sales. The feat only took 3 years and 1 month and is a local record.

That roughly boils down to a whopping 22 000 smartphone sales per day, primarily from the company's value Redmi line. And while Xiaomi still gets its fair share of criticism, mainly for insufficient support reach throughout the vast country, its achievements deserve admiration.

The same goes for Xiaomi's future plans for the region, specifically its partnership with Google on Android One.

RT my 1st tweet announcing 25 Mn sales mark, and I will give out ... wait-for-it ... a Mi MIX to a lucky winner  @XiaomiIndia https://t.co/2mFXMGZk3p  Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) August 31, 2017

In celebration of the event, Manu Kumar Jain has also promised to give away a Xiaomi Mi Mix unit to one lucky winner. All you have to do to enter is re-tweet his announcement post and keep your fingers crossed.

Source
Hillsong United visited Folsom State Prison in Represa, California on July 23. The Australian worship band decided to visit the prison after inmate Lothar Preston wrote them a letter to them. Band leaders Matt Crocker, Jonathon Douglass and Taya Smith performed "How Great Thou Art," "Amazing Grace," and "Oceans" in a packed prison chapel, according to Serving California, an organization that seeks to encourage prisoners in the state.

Last week, Hillsong United took to their YouTube page to share their feelings about the experience. It was there that Douglass explained why the worship band wanted to visit the prison.

"Today is really special because we also want to go to places and to people who don't have social media. We received this letter a little while ago from an inmate," he explained. "This guy has been behind bars for a very long time but through the music that we've been able to create, it's basically led him to Jesus. So we are going to Folson prison to surprise this inmate and get the opportunity to lead worship."

Inmate Preston reveals why he wrote to the band and requested their visit: "The reason that I wrote you guys was this. That one day in my cell I heard the Miami concert," Preston revealed. "The music in that concert touched me in such a way that I will never be the same. It's taught me three things ... the Holy Spirit, grace, and how much God loves me."

He added, "I will sing like a man with no sickness in my body and like no prison wall can hold me."

"The only word that I can really come up with, it's all about love. Certain concepts, certain words it's all about total surrender and abandonment to the belief that God has a plan for you," he said. "And he says a verse I love in the Bible, 'For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

The experience was life changing for the band who got a chance to see the world from a wholly different perspective.

"Even though they've got prisoner written on all of their clothes they're like, 'We are not our crime.' I'm so grateful for the grace that we've got from Jesus to be able to give that grace," Douglass said. "It's for you, it's for everyone. And they're everyone, so it's pretty cool."

Tags : Hillsong United Hillsong United Folsom State Prison
By William Schwartz | Published on 2017/08/31

It bugs me sometimes just how obviously "Criminal Minds" is an adaptation of an American drama. While the death penalty is still a possible legal sentence in South Korea, there's been a moratorium on it for the last twenty years. It's just not a thing that happens, certainly not to the extent that people would have political demonstrations about it. I liked how listless the extras were holding their signs. Even they had no idea how someone could have a strong opinion on the subject.

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I did like, though, that apparently South Korea still does execution by hanging. Was that in the original version (season one, episode fourteen for reference's sake)? I just found it funny that the death of obviously evil serial killer Yeong-hoon (played by Gong Jung-hwan) is clearly supposed to be just and good, but the whole hanging aspect makes it look barbaric. Oh you silly Koreans. Don't you know that state-sanctioned murder is supposed to happen via lethal injection, which can be horrifically more painful but we pretend it's better since it doesn't look as medieval?

The message is further muddled by how Yeong-hoon's wife Yeo-jin (played by Kim Ho-jung) may be on death row unjustly. Emotionally we're supposed to like Yeo-jin more because, unlike Yeong-hoon, she seems thoughtful and nice. Legally speaking, though, any notion of her innocence seems pedantic, since Yeo-jin was at minimum an accomplice to Yeong-hoon's crimes, regardless of whether or not she killed anyone herself directly.

Which brings me to perhaps the most glaringly obvious question of all- why is all the conflict built around the notion of Yeo-jin's legal innocence when that is the job of lawyers, rather than criminal profilers? Why is the team even involved here in the first place? To find out if there were any extra victims? To collect more data for their criminal profiling database or experience subset or whatever?

No matter the reason, this is a pretty questionable story to do for the odd hour-and-a-half format "Criminal Minds" goes for every so often. Since Yeong-hoon dies by the end the only thing left to do is try and talk to Yeo-jin some more, and I can't see how the question of what Yeo-jin did to her son could possibly be relevant to any future cases. Unless it turns out that he became a serial killer too down the road. That would certainly be an interesting, if terrifying story direction, but I doubt the original "Criminal Minds" went there, so this one won't either.

Review by William Schwartz

"Criminal Minds" is directed by Lee Jeong-hyo and Yang Yoon-ho, written by Hong Seung-hyeon and features Son Hyun-joo, Lee Joon-gi, Moon Chae-won, Lee Sun-bin, Yoo Sun and Go Yoon.
US demands closure of Russian consulate in San Francisco

The United States has demanded that Russia close down sites in San Francisco, New York and Washington DC in response to Russias demands that the size of the US mission in Russia be cut, according to the State Department. The US has ordered Russia to close diplomatic offices in the three cities within the next two days (before September 2) in the latest round of punitive measures between the two countries that began at the end of last year. Last month, Russia ordered the US to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia. The secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call on Thursday. Lavrov said Moscow regrets an escalation of tension not initiated by Russia. A senior US administration official said the call was professional and that Lavrov agreed to the sentiment that it was important to find a way to improve our relations. No Russians will be expelled in this latest move, and US officials said staff at the offices affected could be reassigned to other Russian diplomatic missions around the country. But they made it clear that the buildings had to be vacated and would have to be sold or have their leases ended.
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an accountant and three others with insider trading on market-moving news about the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company where the accountant formerly worked.

The SECs complaint, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Evan R. Kita, a CPA and former accountant at Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc., tipped two of his friends with confidential information about the clinical trial results for Celators cancer drug and its acquisition by Dublin-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc almost three months later. Celators stock rose more than 400 percent in March 2016 when it announced positive results for its drug to treat leukemia, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals offered to pay a hefty premium in May 2016 to acquire Celator.

According to the SECs complaint, Daniel Perez and Richard Yu purchased Celator stock based on Kitas tips before the two announcements and agreed to share their trading profits with him. The SEC alleges that Richard Yu passed Kitas tips to his father, Chiang Yu, who also traded in advance of both announcements. To avoid detection, Kita allegedly communicated with Perez and Richard Yu through an encrypted smartphone application.

The investing public relies on accountants and other gatekeepers to safeguard confidential information, not use it for personal profit, said Kelly L. Gibson, Associate Director of the SECs Philadelphia Regional Office. When gatekeepers violate that public trust as Kita allegedly did, the SEC is committed to holding them accountable.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey today filed criminal charges against Kita, Perez, Richard Yu, and Chiang Yu.
Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

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SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

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Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

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I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments
Derek Bottler Devoy at the funeral of his sister, Antoinette Corbally-Devoy

Convicted criminal Derek 'Bottler' Devoy mourned at his murdered sister's funeral yesterday - despite being warned by gardai that his life is in danger.

Mother-of-six Antoinette Corbally-Devoy (47) was shot dead at her mother's home on Balbutcher Drive, Ballymun, two weeks ago as two gunmen attempted to kill Devoy.

Bottler's friend Clinton Shannon (30), who had driven him to the house, was also killed in a hail of bullets.

Mr Shannon had just dropped off his friend in Balbutcher Drive when machine gun fire rang out.

There was a large garda presence around Ballymun yesterday morning as the funeral cortege made its way to St Joseph's Church.

Antoinette's coffin was brought to the altar to the sound of Romeo And Juliet by Dire Straits.

Devoy held a young blonde child throughout the mass, and the family embraced each other regularly.

Brutal

Bottler sat to the right of his mother Nancy, and she kissed him on the head occasionally.

Mourners were told how Antoinette had died in a "senseless, violent and brutal" way.

"It was a dark day for the family," said the priest conducting requiem Mass.

He told how Antoinette's daughter Andrea had just come back from visiting Antoinette's mother Nancy in hospital.

She had just got her Leaving Cert results that day and was telling Antoinette about them.

The priest told how Antoinette had told her they would celebrate that weekend. But a few minutes later she was dead.

"Violence is not the way," said the priest.

Grief-stricken Andrea also spoke briefly at the end of the ceremony.

"My mother was a wonderful woman, she was the best in the world," she said.

"We'll love her forever and she will always be with us no matter what, she's our family's hero."

The garda helicopter and armed response unit observed the funeral to ensure it went safely.

Around 60 people attended the service, and afterwards Antoinette's remains were brought to Dardistown Cemetery for cremation.

On Wednesday, Bottler was snapped by the Herald as he strutted topless outside the house where his sister and best friend were shot.

Despite his life still being under threat, Devoy stepped out in Ballymun ahead of Antoinette's funeral and was seen visiting the house where Antoinette was lying in repose.

Wearing just tracksuit bottoms and trainers, he was spotted comforting a woman.

Devoy is believed to have been the intended target of the bothced hit on August 16.

Dropped

He was carrying a child in his arms when the gunmen attacked, dropped the youngster and fled through Antoinette's house to escape the hail of bullets.

But his sister and Mr Shannon died in the burst of gunfire.

Associates of Devoy blame the killings on a north inner city hit team associated with the Hutch mob that had been planning to murder the criminal.

"Bottler's crew firmly believe that the fellas that carried out this are from the north inner city. They don't care what the cops think," a source said.

Among the two criminals being blamed by Devoy's gang is the chief suspect for the 2014 slaying of Bottler's brother, Michael 'Mad Mickey' Devoy (41), who was murdered shortly after his release from Portlaoise Prison.

His body was discovered riddled with bullets on the side of a road in Bohernabreena, at the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, on January 18, 2014.

The military-trained hitman behind the attack on 'Bottler' is aged in his mid-20s and is also a suspect in the Hutch/Kinahan feud murder of Michael Keogh, killed by the Hutch mob in the north inner city in May.

Provos

A senior source previously told the Herald: "This gun for hire is a heavy hitter in terms of organised crime and he has close links to a number of gangs, including both sides of the feud.

"He is involved in extortion and debt collection and is associated with Provos in the north inner city."

The other suspected hitman has been closely monitored by gardai.

They believe he could be used at a "minute's notice" to carry out the murder of a rival Kinahan cartel member.

Aged in his 40s, he has been out of jail since 2013. He served a lengthy prison sentence after being busted following a surveillance operation by the gardai's Organised Crime Unit.
A top Kinahan gang member, who has been languishing in a Spanish jail since he was arrested by heavily armed police, has been moved to a high-security prison in Madrid.

The move was ordered by prison officials after the 34-year-old gangster received a "suspicious visit" by a "mystery man".

The thug - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was arrested in north-east Spain last month in connection with the murder of Eamon 'The Don' Dunne, a major crime figure.

Dunne was gunned down at The Fassaugh House Pub in Cabra in 2010.

Confusion remained last night over whether the north inner city thug was willing to be extradited to Ireland.

Sources said gardai have not received notice of an extradition court hearing in Madrid.

Expand Close Heavily-armed Spanish police make their way along hotel corridors to the gangsters room / Facebook

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Whatsapp Heavily-armed Spanish police make their way along hotel corridors to the gangsters room

Tough

The gangster has been locked up since August 9, when Spanish police - operating on a gardai tip-off - stormed a hotel room in Tarragona, 60 miles south of Barcelona.

However, it has now emerged that, just days after his incarceration, he was transferred to a tough jail in Madrid.

"An Irishman claiming to be a relative attempted to visit him," said a source. "But prison guards became suspicious of the mystery man and he was denied access."

The gangster was then moved to a more secure prison, where he is allowed no visitors.

Details of his life on the run emerged last night, including a recent bizarre incident in which he narrowly escaped arrest while on holiday in Portugal. Before local police could pounce, the gangster - a slightly- built fitness fanatic - escaped through a bedroom window.

"This man was on the run for almost seven years and, because of his links to the cartel, he was never short of money at any stage," said a source.

"He travelled around on a false passport.

"A fuller picture of his life on the run is emerging all the time and it seems that he spent much of it in southern Spain moving from apartment to apartment.

"He always stayed in ground-floor properties, so that he could jump out a window if police came knocking."

The gangster is considered a "trusted" member of the international crime syndicate with access to large amounts of cash.

He is believed to have used a number of aliases since he went on the run and is wanted by police throughout Europe for various crimes.

The north inner city flats where he lived are now the focus of heavily-armed gardai checkpoints as officers try to keep a lid on the long-running Kinahan-Hutch feud.

Days after the gangster was arrested as he slept beside a woman in a hotel room, Spanish police released a video of the raid.

Footage showed the elite team, armed with semi-automatic weapons fitted with flashlights, burst into the room.

They can be heard shouting, "las manos, las manos" - Spanish for "hands up, hands up" - before yelling in English, "don't move".

The gangster had checked into the hotel using a false identity.

The armed police were part of a special operations group in Catalonia that is often called on to rescue hostages or take out terrorists.

Spanish police revealed they had come close to catching the wanted gangster in November at Malaga Airport on the Costa del Sol.

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He escaped after crossing a busy motorway as officers closed in on him when he went to meet relatives arriving from Ireland.

The gangster is a close associate of another key cartel thug and a criminal who was arrested in connection with the murder of Dunne.

It is believed Dunne was killed because the murders he was involved in were drawing gardai attention to the cartel's crime network.

Dunne had assumed control of the Finglas-based drugs and armed operation previously led by Martin 'Marlo' Hyland.

His gang was a major importer of drugs, supplying them to smaller operations throughout the country.

Dunne is suspected of being involved in up to 15 gangland killings before his murder by the cartel.
The Special Criminal Court has refused to drop a murder charge against Frederick 'Freddie' Thompson.

The 36-year-old is accused of killing father-of-one David Douglas (55) in Dublin on July 1 last year.

Mr Douglas, of Killala Road, Cabra, was shot several times outside a shop owned by his wife, Yumei, in Bridgefoot Street.

Hospital

The former zookeeper was taken to St James's Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Mr Thompson, of Loreto Road, Maryland, has not yet entered a plea and applied to the non-jury court to dismiss the murder charge.

The court last month heard submissions from his barrister, Michael O'Higgins, under Section 4E of the Criminal Justice Act 1999. Sean Gillane made submissions for the prosecution.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, presiding, said yesterday morning that the three-judge court had refused the application because it was satisfied that there was enough evidence to put Mr Thompson on trial.

Mr Thompson was arrested on November 1 and detained at Kilmainham Garda Station.

At his first hearing, Detective Inspector Paul Cleary gave evidence that "in reply to the charge after caution he said 'no comment".

Evidence

Bail cannot be considered in murder cases and the defendant will have to make an application to the High Court to get released pending trial.

A book of evidence has yet to be completed and served.

In April, State solicitor Elaine Fitzmaurice told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions was applying for an order to have Mr Thompson tried at the Special Criminal Court.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, made the order.
Three men arrested in connection with a massive arms find allegedly linked to the Kinahan cartel have been sent forward for trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

The trio made their latest appearance at Dublin District Court on Wednesday, where they were each served with books of evidence.

James Walsh (33), Jonathan Harding (44) and Declan Brady (51) were first brought before Dublin District Court in January, charged in connection with the haul at an industrial estate.

Raided

The find was made when officers from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) raided a warehouse at Grants Drive in the Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, in a dawn operation on January 24.

Mr Walsh, of Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin; Mr Harding, of McNeill Court, Sallins, Co Kildare; and Mr Brady, from The Park, Wolston Abbey, Celbridge, also in Kildare, are each accused of three offences under the Firearms Act.

They are charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of a silencer and having five handguns.

These are alleged to have been a Zastava M83-02 six-shot revolver, two special calibre Smith & Wesson model five-shot revolvers, and two Rossi five-shot revolvers.

All three men first appeared in Dublin District Court on Friday, January 27, and have made a number of appearances before Cloverhill District Court since then via video-link.

At the first hearing, each case was dealt with individually and the accused spoke only to give their names, greet the judge and confirm that they could see and hear the proceedings.

Unmarked

The accused were brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice by gardai in unmarked cars with blacked-out windows.

In April, the High Court refused to grant bail to Mr Brady.

He is also charged with three counts - under Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act - of possession of 22kg of cocaine, 11kg of heroin and 53g of cannabis, with an estimated street value of 3.2m.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy rejected Mr Brady's bail application.
Ovidiu Pricopi faces two charges arising from the incident

A man knocked his then work colleague out with a single punch after he turned up without permission while off duty and began shouting obscenities, it is alleged.

Ovidiu Pricopi, of Cushlawn Drive, Tallaght, is charged with assault causing harm to the man at Citywest Business Campus on November 27 last year.

According to gardai, Mr Pricopi (42) refused to leave the premises and struck his co-worker in the face, knocking him to the floor.

He has not yet entered a plea and Judge David McHugh adjourned the case at Blanchardstown District Court.

Mr Pricopi is also charged with trespassing and using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Judge McHugh was told the Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the case being dealt with at district court level.

Drinking

Outlining the prosecution's case, Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan said the incident was alleged to have happened at 12.30am on the day in question.

It was alleged the accused made his way to the premises at Citywest while he was off duty.

According to the prosecution, he had been drinking and went there with a friend.

He entered the loading bay and began shouting obscenities, it was alleged.

One of his co-workers, the alleged victim, asked him to leave and he refused.

It was alleged Mr Pricopi struck the worker with one punch to the left side of his face, knocking him to the ground, where he lay unconscious for a couple of seconds.

He was taken to Tallaght Hospital, where he underwent a CT scan. A medical report was presented to the court.

Having read this, Judge McHugh said he was accepting jurisdiction and remanded the defendant on bail to appear in court again on September 28.
A dog is recovering after being shot in the neck in west Dublin.

The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) has appealed for information following the shocking incident.

The dog, named by staff as Victoria, was shot with what is believed to be a handgun.

The female German shepherd was brought to the DSPCA's office after being presented to a veterinary surgery in the Dublin 15 area last Thursday.

Wounds

She had a number of wounds, one of which was very deep on her neck. Following an X-ray, it was found that the dog had a bullet lodged in her neck, very close to her spine.

After careful examination, further X-rays and surgery at the DSPCA, the bullet was removed.

The DSPCA veterinary team said Victoria was "very lucky", as the bullet it did not do any major damage and was removed without complications.

She is said to be recovering well but is still very nervous.

The bullet has been handed over to gardai in Rathfarnham for forensic testing.

It is believed it did not come from a shotgun, nor is it from a pellet gun or an air rifle.

DSPCA spokeswoman Gillian Bird said that the charity is appealing for anyone with information about the shooting of Victoria to come forward.

She said the circumstances of the shocking incident are still unclear.

"We are looking for any information," she said.

"We don't know if it was deliberate or an accident. We are waiting on a ballistics report which will tell us more."

The testing should be able to determine if the weapon is linked to any previous crimes.

The search is also under way for Victoria's owner. She is microchipped but registered to the breeder. The DSPCA is keen to reunite the injured dog with her owner.
The family of a young man who was shot dead in a botched double gangland murder hold "no animosity" following the killing, his funeral has heard.

Hundreds of mourners filed into the seaside Church of the Sacred Heart in Laytown, Co Meath, yesterday to bid farewell to Clinton 'Clint' Shannon (30).

The locksmith was one of two innocent people shot dead in north Dublin last month.

Bravado

The congregation heard how Mr Shannon radiated joy to everybody he met, and that his family "have no hatred in their hearts" despite the callous murder of their loved one.

Chief celebrant Fr David McNelis also issued a powerful message to those responsible for the double murder.

"We don't know who was responsible for the killing in Ballymun, and it is irrelevant if it was part of a drugs war or local feud. One thing of what we are certain is that two people, who were innocent, died," he told mourners.

"Those who did this are not free. They must constantly look behind their backs, imprison themselves in bulletproof vests.

"For all the gun power and bravado, what quality of life have they?

"The mindless tit-for-tat circle of vengeance is spiralling out of control and is moving them further away from the peace God gives."

A picture of a smiling Mr Shannon was placed on top of his coffin throughout the ceremony.

"Clint's parents would have every right to be enraged. Instead they hold no animosity and no hatred in their hearts," said Fr McNelis in his homily.

"Even though they are burdened down by deep sorrow they are free of thoughts of revenge."

The chief mourners included Mr Shannon's parents, Tommy and Kathleen, siblings Caroline, Tomas and Keith, and his partner, Ciara.

Following the ceremony, the brown coffin was carried to a black hearse, which transferred Mr Shannon's remains to Glasnevin Cemetery for burial.

Birthday

He was gunned down just two days before he was due to celebrate his 31st birthday.

Mr Shannon was struck around 10 times as he was sitting in his car outside a house on Balbutcher Drive, Ballymun.

He was a locksmith by trade and had no involvement in criminality.
Criminal case initiated in connection with Nairi plant fire

A criminal case was initiated in the Investigative Division of Shengavit administrative district of Yerevan Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee on fire broken out in storages of flammable materials of Nairit factory CJSC, investigation is conducted to find the causes of the fire, the Investigative Committee reports. Materials were received in the Investigative Division of Shengavit administrative district of Yerevan Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee informing that on August 28, 2017 at about 13:10 fire broke out in the storages of flammable materials of Nairit factory CJSC. As a result, chemical flammable material called lacquer-ethanol stored in storage containers of flammable materials of the section 2-11 of the company was burnt, the roofs of concrete containers were partially crumbled, metal banisters of the roof were deformed, dry vegetation of the nearest area was burnt. On September 1 a criminal case was initiated in the Investigative Division of Shengavit administrative district of Yerevan Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee according to the Part 1 of the Article 240 of RA Criminal Code. Working hypotheses have been worked out and urgent investigatory measures are taken to find the causes of the fire. Inspection of the site was conducted, fire-technical, chemical, construction-technical and merchandising examinations were conducted. Note: Everyone charged with alleged crime offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.
NGOs condemn obstruction of journalist's work in Yerevan court

A number of NGOs in Armenia have condemned the handling of A1+s journalist and cameraman by judicial bailiffs. On September 1, the professional activity of A1+s journalist Robert Ananyan and cameraman Bagrat Saroyan was hindered in a Yerevan court during the trial of Jirayr Sefilyan and others. When the two tried to film the crackdown on civil activist Vardges Gaspari who was staging a protest against public defenders, one of the court bailiffs shut the camera, thereby preventing the cameraman from shooting the incident, twisted the journalists hands and removed them from the courtroom. During public trials journalists are allowed to film everything with the exception of witnesses testimony. Thus, the bailiff has abused his authority. A1+ has been unable to identify the man, but his face is clearly seen in the video below. This is not the first case when courts in Armenia impose illegal restrictions on media representatives. Todays incident is unacceptable also in the sense that the two men were covering a trial of public interest. Considering the aforesaid facts, we, the undersigned, demand that the Judicial Department identify the bailiff who has abused his powers and make him accountable Judge Tatevik Grigoryan call for proper conduct of judicial bailiffs and, taking into consideration public interest in the case, exclude unlawful actions against media representatives. Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression Yerevan Press Club Media Initiatives Center Asparez Journalists' Club Public Journalism Club Journalists for the Future NGO Journalists for Human Rights NGO, Armenia Goris Press Club
BRISTOL, Tenn.  Rhonda Coffey lost her son, David, two years ago to a drug overdose.

Today would have been his 36th birthday.

On July 26, 2015, the dynamic of my family changed forever, Coffey said I lost my firstborn son. My son Chris lost his brother.

After Davids passing, Coffey founded The ADDICTS Family with her son Chris. Its a nonprofit support group for those who have a family member in active addiction or who have lost a loved one.

I knew I had to be the voice for David that he could not be for himself, she said.

The City of Bristol marked International Overdose Day on Thursday with a program at Tennessee High School. The event, put together in less than a month, was hosted by The ADDICTS Family and Watauga Recovery Centers.

The program featured speakers, music, a candlelight ceremony and the colors purple and silver.

Purple and silver have been the adopted as remembrance colors for overdose awareness, Coffey said.

Organizations from throughout the region were at the event to shed light on the subject of drug overdose  assisting with education, creating community awareness and offering support.

City of Bristol Mayor Jack Young read a proclamation to declare Aug. 31 International Overdose Awareness Day.

I know we have folks here who have experience with a family member dealing with addiction, or [are] here themselves recovering, Young said. [Addiction] affects all socioeconomic households; it affects all neighborhoods in our city, in our county and in our nation.

About 144 people die from a drug overdose every day, according to Penny McElroy, director of marketing for Watauga Recovery Centers.

Across the street from Tennessee High, at Edgemont Presbyterian Church, there are 144 crosses on display as a solemn reminder.

Heroin and fentanyl are readily available in the area, McElroy said.

I started [working for Watauga] six years ago, and I would see someone addicted to heroin about once a week, McElroy said. Now I see two to three a day.

There are 619 beds in the Sullivan County Jail, and as of 3 p.m. on Thursday, there were 837 inmates, according to Kristen Quon, public information officer for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office.

Approximately 80 to 83 percent of our inmates have a drug-related charge, Quon added.

Bristol Tennessee Police Chief Blaine Wade discussed how his department is reacting to the opioid crisis.

The opioid crisis is rising quickly and we are responding to more calls, Wade said.

The police department has implemented a training program on how to treat an emergency overdose, and officers carry a single dosage of Narcan on them at all times.

The top five drugs prescribed in Tennessee are opioids, according to Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus.

We live in such a beautiful part of the world, with mountains, lakes, great music and generous people, but underneath that is this ugliness of drug addiction, Staubus said.

Fifteen years ago, the opioids crisis wasnt an issue, Staubus added.

Im not a utopian in thinking we can eliminate drug addiction completely, he said. But we got to fight the good fight.

Two years ago, Christina Humphreys completed 18 months in rehab, after battling a drug addiction for about 10 to 12 years.

Ive been through several overdoses, Humphreys said. If I made it, anybody can.

Humphreys wrote her first book, Sin, while in rehab.

It is my testimony, she said. I am a living testimony.

During the candlelight ceremony, 219 names were read of those who died from an addiction.

I was overwhelmed with responses from mothers from all across America that asked for us to read their childs name, Coffey said.

ADDICTS member Marsha Schorr partly joined the group because she lost her son eight years ago to an OxyContin addiction.

Being in the group has helped with the grieving, she said.

ADDICTS can help turn a negative into a positive and stop someone else from being in my shoes, Schorr said.

The nonprofit has a large online following, and they meet regularly on the second and fourth Friday of each month at Windsor Avenue Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Tennessee.

When Coffey spoke to the crowd, she asked them to open their hearts and remember they [the addicts] need love more than anything else.

No one is safe, Coffey said. No one decides that one day theyre going to be an addict. No one asked to be this way.

276-669-2181 Extension: 3371

Twitter: @jessmnocera
Hard-right Virginia Republicans are becoming more influential in the run-up to Novembers gubernatorial election in which Republican nominee Ed Gillespie is trying to shed his nice-guy image and become more abrasive in the manner of President Donald Trump.

Gillespie has hired as his aide Jack Morgan, a minister from Southwest Virginia and a former Trump campaign activist. Morgan has called moves to dismantle Confederate monuments from public spaces a communist plot to undermine America. He also believes civil war is near.

Meanwhile, the popular conservative blog Bearing Drift has called out Fredy Burgos, a member of the Central Committee of the Virginia Republican Party.

Writing on the blog, D.J. Spiker says that statements made by Burgos on Facebook and elsewhere show that he is not the kind of person that state Republicans should want guiding their party.

In one such post, Burgos complained about Cultural Marxists hijacking the state GOP. He wrote in an Aug. 20 post: Cultural Marxists have promoted the idea that white people, instead of birthing white babies, should interracially marry or adopt non-white children. Cultural Marxism is a racist, anti-white, anti-God ideology.

Responding on Bearing Drift, Spiker wrote, This is bigotry. It is disgusting, and reprehensible.

Burgos has dubbed Islam a death cult organized by Satan. The statement angered Nadia Elgendy, chair of the College Republican Federation of Virginia and a Muslim, according to Spiker. Burgos apparently apologized.

Such scuffles show the Trumpian trauma that the Virginia Republican Party is undergoing. Not that long ago, the GOP seemed almost genteel as they pursued their pro-business, anti-regulation policies.

Behind all of this, of course, is Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County. Known for his strong anti-immigrant views, Stewart spread terror among establishment Republicans by coming a hairs length from knocking off Gillespie in Junes primary.

Since then, Gillespie has been under tremendous pressure to double down and become more Trumplike because doing so worked very well for Stewart, who now is running for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

Thats not easy for Gillespie, a mild-mannered former lobbyist who worked in the administration of President George W. Bush and once headed the Republican National Committee. Some of Gillespies television ads warmly feature his immigrant family. That is a huge contradiction to his hiring of Morgan.

Equally easy-going is his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a physician who cruised to victory in the primary.

The likes of Morgan and Burgos show just how desperately the state GOP is trying to shore up rural voters who tend to favor Trumps vengefulness and think the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson should be left alone.

This shows, again, how Trumps political style brings out the worst in people and plays to white supremacists.
Rachel Carson's expose shocked the world. And we're better for it

columns
Like many back-to-schoolers, Ed April is preparing to return to classes. An eager student, he has already read through his required text on the Spanish American War. In just a few weeks, Ed will join with the thousands of students on the campus of Northwestern University, as he heads into his ninth year at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Northwestern University (OLLI). Though Ed is more than 55 years older than the average college student, he shares that returning to campus each year for continuing education keeps his mind sharp.

As Ed's daughter, I can attest to his enthusiasm for lifelong learning. For a summer class on the study of evolution, my father took himself on a field trip via airplane to the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. When he wasn't visiting with his granddaughter (my niece, also a Northwestern student), he was snapping photos of dinosaurs and other ancient fossils to share with his classmates back on campus.

For most of the years as an OLLI student, the 77-year-old "advanced collegian" has been a course leader. This semester the retired Chicago area radiologist is co-leading a class with three fellow seniors. Ed shares that one of the reasons he loves adult education courses is that grades are not a factor and that learning is for learning's sake.

While OLLI students may cross the campus a little more slowly than the rest of the student body, they answer questions in class just as quickly-and with a bit more thought. Studies confirm Ed's statements, with current research showing that the use of vocabulary is preserved as we age, and the use of reason strengthens as we grow older.

Like my dad, 75-year-old Elise Schilowitz of Maitland is a life-long-learner. The returning student at The Learning Institute for Elders at UCF shares that the two-year waiting list was well worth the delay. Each Tuesday morning from September through May, she attends a rotating lecture series on a topic selected by and for the membership, who are 55 years and up.

Elise notes that the keynote speakers make just about any topic fascinating, and that she leaves each class with an overflow of new information. One of the most interesting speaker groups was the team of UCF students who developed a "bionic" limb through the university's school of engineering. Now that she's "in," Elise plans on attending for as long "she can drive," with hopes that husband, Henry, will become a fellow classmate once he retires.

My husband, Tony, recently registered to enter The Rollins Center for Lifelong Learning (RCLL) at the Hamilton Holt School at Rollins College in Winter Park, geared to students who are 50 plus. He is looking forward to the innovative and enriching programs offered to "Senior Tars," known as the STARS program. One of the few perks of turning 50 next month is that I, too, will be eligible for continuing ed. Hope to see you on campus soon!

Looking to add some class to your days? Continuing education near you...

Life-long learner, Elise Schilowitz, getting ready for fall classes at the University of Central Florida's Learning Institute for Elders.

Osher Life Long Learning Institute has many locations throughout the country, with several in the state of Florida. Visit http://osherfoundation.org/index.php?olli_list for locations nationwide.

To find out more about The Learning Institute for Elders at UCF visit https://life.ucf.edu.

To find out more about the Stars Program at Rollins College visit http://www.rollins.edu/evening/rollins-center-lifelong-learning/senior-enrichment-classes/index.html.

Tidbits from the Sandwich Generation is a series of blogs by Pamela Ruben, Jewish Pavilion marketing director, about managing the multi-generations. Check out additional posts at http://www.jewishpavilion.org/blog. For no cost help for issues pertaining to older adults contact the Orlando Senior Help Desk, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, at 407-678-9363 or visit http://www.jewishpavilion.org.
A beginner in the Jewish genealogy search, Jane Edelstein recently attended the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference held in Orlando. This is the second article about her experience finding her roots.

If you're building your family tree online, you may be tired of reviewing old historical documents that aren't even in English. It's one thing to focus on relatives that you or your parents had once met, but once you've gone back two or more generations, how do you increase your personal connection to the past?

"You want to make history more personal and meaningful," noted Janette Silverman, senior genealogist research manager at AncestryProGenealogists, speaking at the recent International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) conference in Orlando. "It helps tremendously if you can link a historical event to an ancestor."

Silverman related how she once tied a historical date to a relative who she knew was aligned with that event. "Sometimes you have to integrate information from two or more different sources-and only then does a connection become clear," she said.

Here are some other tips that Silverman shared to help make your genealogical search more personal:

 Pay extra attention to old ketubas (wedding contracts) you may find. "They often conveyed the place where they were written," Silverman said. This could help link a person to a town.

 Consider that a gravestone is more than just the writing that's on it. "What kind of stone is it? How is the stone constructed?" Silverman queried, explaining additional types of information that can be obtained.

 Consider a source of information that is relatively new in terms of categorization-individual synagogue yahrzeit (anniversary of death) plaques and memorial records. "A plaque can connect a person to a place that may not be documented elsewhere," Silverman noted.

Indeed, JewishGen.com has just within the past couple of years begun indexing and categorizing yahrzeit plaques in a searchable database. "As of December of last year, we had 136,000 memorial records from 225 synagogues," noted Avraham Groll, director, JewishGen. The database is growing rapidly. (The database may be viewed at JewishGen.com; click on the link to Memorial Plaques Database.).
TENAFLY, N.J. (JTA)Ayala Hodak usually cooks the way her mother taught her: adding a pinch of spice here or relying on her eyesnever a measuring cup!to judge how much liquid to add.

But on a recent Tuesday, she was being much more precise.

At her spacious home in this suburban town less than 15 miles from New York City, Hodak, 52, who grew up in an Iranian family in Israel, measured the amount of salt and pepper she added to a stew. She also paused to demonstrate how thickly to cut a piece of beef.

Her reason for the accuracy: Hodaks recipe was being recorded by a new nonprofit, the Jewish Food Society, which aims to be an archive of Jewish recipes from around the world.

Its kibbutz-born founder, who once promoted Israeli culture as an employee of the Israeli Consulate in New York, was inspired by the diversity of food traditions in Israel and her desire to preserve them in the Diaspora.

I realized there is an urgency in capturing these stories because the older generation is about to leave the world, and many of these recipes are labor- and time-consuming in a way that we should really protect them, the societys founder, Naama Shefi, told JTA. These are skills that would just disappear if no one could capture them in a methodic way.

The project, which launched officially in March and receives financial support from several Jewish foundations, has added over a dozen recipes to its online archive, and more are on the way. Along with the recipes are photographs and stories of the cooks family history, as well as how he or she learned to make the dish.

Each week, Shefi, 36, who lives on New Yorks Lower East Side, interviews a chef and takes down his or her story. If distance permits, Shefi or an Israel-based employee will meet with the cook in person; if not, they communicate long distance. All ingredients are measured, and dishes are then re-created in a test kitchen and adjusted accordingly.

Though some participants work in the food industryHodak is the manager and co-owner of Taboon, a Midtown Manhattan restaurant serving Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired foodothers are home cooks.

Shefi came up with the idea after a Shabbat meal in 2005 at the home of her now-husbands grandmother, who was born in Turkey but also lived in Greece and South Africa prior to immigrating to Israel with her family.

The flavors really represented all of their previous immigration stories and journeys, and some worlds that do not even exist anymore, she said. It was such a vivid expression of disappearing worlds, and of bitter and sweet memories. It was just moving, so I told him, lets just spend a day with her try to capture a few recipes. It was just really inspiring.

Shefi has always had an interest in food, though she did not get it at home.

Good food wasnt part of my childhood, said Shefi, who grew up on Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha in central Israel. Between the [kibbutzs] communal dining room and the fact that my mom is not the best cook in the world, good food was out of reach.

But as a young girl, she would urge her parents to take her to Tel Avivs Carmel Market or a nearby Yemenite neighborhood to try different types of cuisines.

It became my lifes passion, Shefi said. At the beginning just because it tasted really good, but later because I realized it tells a fantastic story about families and people and cultures.

In 2008, when she took the consulate job, she could use that passion in a professional way. Having just graduated from the New School with a masters degree in film, Shefi was tasked with promoting Israeli culture. She decided to do so through food, hosting Israel-themed dinners, wine tastings and panels in New York. She also organized trips to the Jewish state for American food writers.

In 2013, Shefi launched the Kubbeh Project, a three-week pop-up in Greenwich Village serving kubbeh soup, an Iraqi Jewish dish featuring meat-filled semolina dumplings in vegetable broth. The project received wide media coverage and had people lining up for hours for a taste of the delicacy.

The first day I came to the venue at 2 p.m., I saw this line around the block, almost like a Shakespeare in the Park line, she said, referring to the popular free performances in Central Park. And I was just amazed that these people are waiting for us. This line never stopped for these three weeks and people stood hours and hours in the snow.

Now the Jewish Food Society, for which Shefi works full time, provides a way to combine her two passions: food and storytelling.

For a while I was really interested in storytelling through filmmaking, she said. Still my main interest is storytelling, but the medium changed to food.

In addition to the weekly cooking session, the nonprofit puts on larger-scale events, such as a Passover seder that showcased three Mexico-born Jewish chefs, and Schmaltzy, a yearly storytelling event where people share the stories behind family recipes. A Moroccan-style Mimouna, a bread-filled celebration held the day after Passover, is in the works, Shefi said.

Her family are Polish Jews, not Sephardi, but said such distinctions blur in Israeli kitchens.

Israel is a not just a melting pot, its a pressure cooker, so a Polish girl like me considered kubbeh as my own, she told The New York Times

Shefis long-term goal for the Jewish Food Society extends beyond the archive of recipes. She wants to establish a center for Jewish food in New York, where visitors would be able to take cooking classes and learn about their familys culinary histories. Shefi describes her vision as the James Beard Foundation for Jewish food.

For now, the Jewish Food Society provides a way for Jews to engage with their culture, Shefi said.

These [recipes and stories] are just huge parts of our lives, of our history as a people, and I feel that for many people that are less connected to Jewish culture and Jewish life, its a very inviting window to engage and to explore their identity, she said.

Food also provides a lens through which to understand Jewish history, she added.

I feel that recipes really carry our cultural DNA because they tell stories not just about a particular time in history, but also about how people used to live, how people used to celebrate, how people used to mourn, how people used to get together, Shefi said. Its not just about the flavor and the food, its really about the experience.

For her part, Hodak is excited to have her mothers dishesincluding Ghormeh Sabzi, a herb beef stew that her family would eat for Shabbat dinner, and a yogurt soup with cucumber and mint eaten on Shavuotrecorded for future generations.

I thought its a great opportunity to spread my tradition, she said, to talk about my mothers food and to keep it alive.
NEW YORK (JTA)On the night of Rosh Hashanah, thousands of people will leave work, gather in congregations across the globe and worship God, the ruler of the world. Ten days later they will begin a fast and gather again to pray, this time atoning for their sins.

On both occasions they will praise Jesus Christ and pray for his return.

They are not Jews, nor are they Jews for Jesus. Rather, these congregants are members of an evangelical Christian movement called the Living Church of God. On the days Jews know as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, these Christians celebrate what they call the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement.

Were not trying to be Jewish, said Dexter Wakefield, a Living Church minister and the churchs spokesman. Were obeying Gods commandments. The holy days have great meaning for the Christians who keep them.

Living Church of God is one of a few evangelical groups that observes Christianity as it believes Jesus observed it, according to the dictates of the Hebrew Bible. That means no Christmas and no Easterholidays the church rejects as pagan in origin. It also means that members observe their Sabbath like the Jews: from Friday night to Saturday night. The mainstream Christian custom of observing the Sabbath on Sunday, they believe, is another deviation from the authentic Christianity of Christ.

Though the Living Church of God, which has about 10,000 members, advocates observing the Sabbath on Saturday as well as Jewish holidays, they are not Messianic Jews, who self-identify as Jewish and use Hebrew scripture and liturgy. Nor are they Seventh-day Adventists, who observe a Saturday Sabbath but no other Jewish holidays.

The church has nearly 400 congregations on six continents, and most of its membership is in North America, with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is governed by a Council of Elders and is an ideological outgrowth of the philosophy of Herbert Armstrong, whose preaching of Old Testament observance inspired several churches that see themselves outside of the evangelical mainstream.

For the Living Church of God, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurthe former begins this year on the evening of Sept. 20 and the latter at sunset Sept. 29are two of seven festivals celebrated across the year. Those festivals correspond to the five Jewish holidays commanded in the TorahRosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot. The church gets to seven by treating Shemini Atzeret, the holiday at the end of Sukkot, as a separate festival, and by splitting Passover in twothe first day and everything that comes afterward.

These days were clearly commanded in the Old Testament, and their observance by Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament certainly ratifies them for the Christian Church, the churchs founder, Roderick Meredith, wrote in a pamphlet. True Christians are to keep holy the days God made holy. And we are to follow the example of Jesus and the original Apostles in so doing.

These holidays correspond to the annual agricultural cycle, and have also taken on Jewish historical significance. But for the church, they reflect steps in the second coming of Jesus and the worlds ultimate redemption.

Rather than marking the New Year, Rosh Hashanaha one-day holiday called the Feast of Trumpets, a reasonably literal translation of its name in the Torah, Yom Truahmarks the day when Jesus will appear again hailed by trumpets. Yom Kippur, translated as the Day of Atonement, marks the day when Satan will finally be defeated.

The church celebrates each day with a serviceshort by Jewish High Holiday standardsthat includes a short and long sermon on the theme of the day, bookended by hymns. Like observant Jews, on the Day of Atonement congregants will take the day off and abstain from eating and drinking. But on the High Holidays they dispense with Jewish rituals like dipping apples in honey, wearing white robes known as kittels or blowing a shofar.

And while Jews have special prayer books meant just for the High Holidays, Wakefield said there isnt a traditional set of hymns to sing on either day.

Occasionally someone will bring a shofar just for the fun of it, said Wakefield, who served as a pastor to several Florida churches before moving to work in the churchs headquarters. Its not a particular ritual that we do. Its a delightful thing to do.

Four days after the Day of Atonement, the churchs congregations will leave their homes for a temporary dwelling, as Jews do on Sukkot. But that dwelling will be a resort or motelnot a sukkah made of cloth, wood and branches. The church sees the holiday as a time to leave home and gather in another place, but that place need not be open to the elements.

The church also observes several other Old Testament commandments. Members refrain from eating foods expressly prohibited in the Biblelike shellfishand abstain from work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, mostly corresponding to the Jewish Shabbat. But there is no set of prohibited practices on Saturday.

We teach that you do not do your weekly labor, Wakefield said. If you work at the factory during the week, youre not working by sundown Friday.

While most evangelical groups do not observe the Old Testament like the Living Church of God, many do ascribe significance to some of its commandments. Many evangelical leaders, for example, have cited Leviticus in their opposition to same-sex marriage. And some evangelical groups have voiced support for displaying the Ten Commandments at courthouses.

Cynthia Lindner, director of Ministry Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, says Christians are drawn to these verses because they define codes of interpersonal conduct.

There are [Old Testament] texts that are focused on prescribing behavior far more so than in the New Testament, she said. The texts and codes of the Hebrew Bible are easily appropriated when you want to make an argument about behavior.

In recent years, some evangelical groups have held Passover seders, partly as a re-enactment of Jesus Last Supper, considered to have been itself a seder. Other Christian groups, including some Christian Zionists, have taken on other Jewish rituals, such as wearing a prayer shawl or blowing a shofar.

I think a lot of Christians have the idea that Judaism is more authentic, more ancient, closer to the will of God than what a lot of the churches have become in modern times, said Jon Levenson, a professor of the Hebrew Bible at Harvard Divinity School. Theres this notion that church tradition has gotten farther and farther from the real word of God, and that somehow the Jews and their Bible is closer to the real word of God, and we should start taking those things on.

But for the Living Church of God, Rosh Hashanah is about more than hearkening back to ancient times. Its about the imminent redemption of the world through Jesus.

Can we picture a massive trumpet blast literally shaking the earth to announce Christs return as King of Kings? Merediths pamphlet reads. Can we picture the true saints of Godwho follow Him wherever He goesrising to meet Christ in the air, to join forever with their Savior and assist Him in ruling this rebellious planet? All of these things will be heralded by the seventh trumpet!
Debra Rosenfeld (l), Outside Sales Professional at FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central, receiving the Silver Sales Award from Catherine Monson (right), CEO of FASTSIGNS International, Inc. at the 2017 FASTSIGNS Outside Sales Summit.

Debra Rosenfeld, Outside Sales Professional at FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central, received the Silver Sales Award at the 2017 FASTSIGNS Outside Sales Summit, recently held in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Silver Sales Award recognizes Outside Sales Professionals who achieved sales between $500,000 and $699,999 from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. With more than 660 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers worldwide, only 29 Outside Sales Professionals received this award.

During the 2017 FASTSIGNS Outside Sales Summit, Rosenfeld also participated as a panelist in the Panel of the Pros, which included top sales professionals discussing best practices and how they achieved success.

"We are so proud of Debra for her outstanding sales achievements; she always goes above and beyond for our customers to ensure they receive excellent service and quality products," said Renee Friedman, FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central franchisee. "We look forward to continue helping local businesses and organizations solve their visual communications challenges with innovative ideas and creative solutions."

Debra Rosenfeld joined FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central in 2014. She helps businesses and organizations of all sizes and industries increase their visibility, communicate targeted messages and accomplish their visual marketing goals.

FASTSIGNS of Orlando-Central is located at 5000 E. Colonial Drive and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
On Aug. 17, the Florida Atlantic University professor and president of the Islamic Society of Boca Raton, Fla., Bassem Alhalabi, agreed to publicly defend the Shariah Islamiyya (Islamic Law) but ran away in shame from the venue minutes before the programs starting time.

The title of the meeting was Interfaith Cafe: Sharia Law and U.S. Law Nothing To Fear. Dr. Alhalabi was to defend Islamic law, making the case that non-Muslims have nothing to fear from Shariah.

Deep down Dr. Alhalabi knows the facts are not on his side. What Dr. Alhalabi fears most are Americans who are educated on Islamic Law and use Islamic sources with consensus to distinguish his lies from truth.

When people from The United West showed up to film the talk, Dr. Alhalabi ran out of the venue faster than you can say chop, chop adios. Dr. Alhalabi left his audience and event organizers dumbfounded.

Back on May 23, 2016, Dr. Alhalabi was a participant on a Muslim Student Association panel discussion on Islamophobia at FAU. That event haunts him to this day. Dr. Alhalabi made the case that chopping off the hands of thieves is good for society, as per the Shariah.

Professor Chop Chop Alhalabi, as hes affectionately known in South Florida, didnt realize members of The United West caught the entire exchange on tape. On the panel was Wilfredo Ruiz, legal counsel for The Council On American Islamic RelationsFlorida, who said nothing.

Except for Rabbi Barry Silver, nobody on that Islamophobia panel was outraged. There was no outrage from the followers of Islam on the panel because Dr. Bassem Chop Chop Alhalabi said nothing that contradicted Islamic Law/Sharia.

Sadly for the Delray Beach Interfaith Cafe Community, their other speaker in the discussion, Dr. Mark Schneider, professor emeritus from Southern Illinois University said, Non-Muslims have nothing to worry about, since Mohammed, and/or the Quran, never commanded Muslims to kill. Audience member Roger Gangitano informed Dr. Schneider that Quran Verse 4:89 states, Those who reject Islam seize them and slay them wherever you find them.

Dr. Schneider replied, That is a lie and ended that uncomfortable moment without any personal reflection or honesty.

In the Islamic culture it is stated, The most cherished cultural value is honor. No effort and care is spared in order to avoid shame...

Dr. Bassem Alhalabi left the building rather than be shamed, however, he has lost face in the South Florida Islamic and interfaith communities. I suspect the cumulative effect of Dr. Alhalabis running away from a scheduled speaking engagement for no good reason, defending the chopping off of thieves hands, his arrest for assault, and illegally selling thermal imaging equipment to Syria should render him toxic in American lexicon and without honor in the Islamic culture.

Ladies and Gentleman Florida Atlantic University Professor Dr. Bassem Alhalabi has left the building in shame and dishonor.
The turn out for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando's Annual Meeting wasn't as large as in past years. Perhaps the weather, casting a gloomy, gray, cloud-covered sky that threatened rain, put a damper on many families' plans to come because this year's annual meeting was also billed as Family Fun Day that included a picnic.

Another change in the meeting was the agenda. It was much shorter -less than an hour to go through all the protocol: the approval of last year's minutes, the announcement of the Federation's strategic vision, nominating committee report, election and installation of new officers and Board members, the president's report, and recognizing the Mensch Hall of Fame recipients.

The only award given during the hour was the Heritage Human Service Award, given by Jeff Gaeser to Sara Stern, who received a standing ovation as she came to the podium to accept the award (and another standing ovation after she gave her acceptance speech).

Michael Soll, immediate past president, speaking on behalf of Board President Rhonda Forest who was called away on a family emergency, expressed appreciation for Olga Yorish, outgoing executive director, who came during hard times for the Federation and taught the board members and officers to believe in themselves. With that mindset, much was accomplished: the Campus 2020 campaign raised and leveraged $2.5 million, reducing the $5.8 million debt to $3.2 million; The Jewish Academy building is now under contract for $2.75 million and a memory-care facility will eventually fill the space; the PJ Library/PJ Our Way program started and grew to one of the largest in the country; and Israel Connections, a program for mothers to visit Israel, launched with the third group to travel to Israel this coming November.

Now the Federation is setting the stage for the future, and the path forward is strategic re-alignment and adapting with a new generation in mind. More emphasis will be put on stewardship, security and support.

Soll shared a few 2018 initiatives coming up: an online community directory; an as-needed, part-time grant writer to be available to programs or organizations that need a grant writer; and more agency-centric leadership development. Until an executive director is hired, a task force will be in place to support the day-to-day operations, which will be handled by the Board officers; define the vision of strategy, re-alignment and research; and assigning or forming a committee to do the search for a new executive director.

Upcoming events include a discussion on campus security for local Jewish organizations in October, and in November, a communitywide Men's event, which will involve all the synagogue Men's Clubs.

At the conclusion of the "business" part of the meeting, attendees ventured outside-or opted to stay indoors-with their Bagel King meals. At 1 p.m., the Campus 2020 Donor's Grove was dedicated. Honored were the 24 families and individuals who generously supported the Campus 2020 Debt Retirement Campaign.
Holocaust survivors Genia Kutner and Gerald Biegel will share their stories with high school students (and anyone else who would like to attend) at Oviedo High School on Sept. 12. The program, dedicated to unity, is titled "One Day Starts Today." It is presented by JSU and Stand With Us. The event is open to the public and is free of charge.

JSU is an after-school club, run by the teenagers, that strives to build a community where unity is the priority.

Oviedo High School is located at 601 King St., Oviedo. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The program is also sponsored by JOIN Orlando. For more information, contact Daniel Nabatian at dnabatian@joinorlando.org or call 516-426-8484.
The winner of a Lebanese beauty pageant has been stripped of her title after it was revealed she had visited Israel.

Dual Swedish-Lebanese citizen Amanda Hanna, who won the Miss Lebanon Emigrant 2017 competition earlier this month, was told she would be stripped of her title after visiting Israel, using her Swedish passport on an academic trip in 2016.

"After communicating our decision with Lebanon's Minister of Tourism, he decided that Hanna should be stripped of her title because her visit to Israel violates our country's laws," according to a statement by The Festival of Lebanese Emigrants in Dhour Al Choueir provided to Lebanese newspaper Al Modon.

Israel and Lebanon technically remain in a "state of war," and it is illegal for Lebanese citizens to travel to the Jewish state.

This is not the first controversy over a Lebanese beauty queen and Israel. In 2015, Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, nearly lost her title after she posted a photo on social media appearing with Miss Israel, Doron Matalon.

Lebanon also recently banned the blockbuster "Wonder Woman" movie due to the casting of Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, in the movie's lead role.
NEW YORK (JTA)-After the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, voices abounded calling the demonstration an affront to American values.

Rabbi Shai Held called it an attack on God.

"One of the most fundamental claims Judaism makes about the world is that every human being on the face of the earth-black and white, male and female-is created in the image of God and is therefore infinitely valuable," Held wrote last week in an essay on CNN.com. "An attack on other people's humanity is by definition an assault on God."

Persuading more people to talk about God has been at the core of Held's message as his profile has risen this year. One of the founders of Mechon Hadar, a traditional egalitarian yeshiva in New York City, Held has emerged as a public voice on everything from President Donald Trump to race relations to masculinity. Along with regular CNN columns, his essays on the weekly Torah portion reach 7,000 people. They are now being published as a two-volume book, "The Heart of Torah" (Jewish Publication Society), due out in September.

Through all of it, Held wants you to know that God is compassionate and wants you to be compassionate. That compassion, he says, also extends to politics.

"I'm not primarily interested in 'is there a God or not?' but what kind of a God is there," Held, 46, said earlier this month, surrounded by shelves upon shelves of religious books in his suburban New York home-with more still in boxes. "I'm trying to make the case for a God who is about love and who asks human beings to live lives of love."

On its face, the idea that Judaism should focus on God is anything but radical. But though Judaism pioneered the concept of monotheism, observant Jews tend to focus much of their energy on dissecting and analyzing Jewish law-poring over the legalistic Talmud in school and often defining their piety in terms of study and observance rather than "faith."

Held, the son of a renowned Jewish Bible scholar, grew up with similar Talmudic inclinations. Though his home was secular, his parents sent him to Orthodox day school, where he learned to study complex rabbinic texts at an early age. He became observant on his own, studying in yeshivas in Israel before attending Harvard and gaining rabbinic ordination at the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary. He co-founded Mechon Hadar in 2007, an outgrowth of the pioneering Kehilat Hadar independent congregation on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

"If you say to a Jew who prays three times a day, 'Do you talk to God?' many of them will be like, 'I'm not sure,'" Held said. "That's kind of fascinating. I'm trying to be alive to the question 'What does the Lord, your God, ask of you?' I'm inviting people into that conversation."

The Jewish emphasis on observance, Held says, has led religious Jews to surrender theological language to Christians. In his book, Held tries to reclaim it, writing about God's "grace" and "election" of the Jews-terms historically central to Protestant Christianity. He also displays his affection for Christian biblical commentary. Held cites Christian scholars in the book and Walter Moberly, a Christian theologian, has a blurb on the back cover.

"Jews in America have often ceded some of the basic terms of Jewish theology and spirituality to Christianity," Held said, joking that some readers ask if he's "a little Christian." (The answer is no.) "So Christianity owns love, Christianity owns grace. The problem with that is that love and grace are really fundamental Jewish theology, and we abandon those terms at a tremendous spiritual loss to ourselves."

Held's personal life has also steered him toward emphasizing God's grace. His father, Moshe Held, a professor of Semitic languages and cultures at Columbia University, died when Shai was a teenager, which led to difficult years with his mother. And he lives with a chronic illness that causes pain in his back, spine and legs, and subjects him to what he calls "debilitating fatigue," sometimes forcing him to stop work for hours or days at a time. At times, Held says, the illness makes him focus on himself at the expense of others. But at its best, it allows him to understand the pain of others.

"I don't mean you're ill and you become kinder-I think often the opposite is the case-but certain kinds of capacities are born within you or expand within you," he said. "The question of seeing people who are not seen became incredibly important to me in part through the experience of invisible illness."

Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, a leading modern Orthodox theologian, notes this quality in his introduction to Held's weekly Torah commentaries.

"[W]hat lifts this book from being an outstanding Torah commentary to a great work of religious thought and human moral development is Held's profound theology that the heart of Judaism's religious life lies in our relationship to God and fellow human beings," he said.

Held's theology of love courses through his essays on even the most legalistic of Torah portions. In his essay on Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36), which details how to give several sacrifices, Held notes that the thanksgiving sacrifice must be eaten on the day it is offered-whether by the sacrificer, his relatives or nearby poor people. From that verse, he draws out that giving thanks also means sharing your good fortune with others.

"We are not meant to rest content with being recipients of God's gifts but are asked to become givers ourselves," Held writes. "God's gifts are meant to flow through us and not merely to us."

But Held doesn't restrict himself to platitudes about the importance of gratitude and charity; across his writing, his message is explicitly political. His book, a collection of essays written before the 2016 presidential campaign, is rife with exhortations to love the stranger and take responsibility for poor people.

"The society we live in will be judged by how it treats those who are weakest and most vulnerable," Held told JTA. "I want to overcome 'secular Jews are political activists and religious Jews do mitzvahs.' I've never heard of a more false dichotomy."

And while Held wants his book to appeal to Jews across the spectrum, his commitment to traditional, egalitarian Jewish observance is clear in everything from his philosophy to his word choice. He makes a point of keeping God gender neutral, never using "He" or "She." Held also devotes attention to historically marginalized groups like immigrants and people with disabilities. That's partly because, although he talks constantly about God, Held says Torah is really about caring for people.

"We built the Hadar beit midrash as a place where no human experience was ruled as outside the bounds," he said, using the Hebrew term for "house of study." "If there's a human experience, Torah has to engage with it."
(JNS.org)-In the wake of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's ousting, reports detailing his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have started to emerge.

Bannon reportedly aggressively petitioned President Donald Trump to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but was blocked by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Vanity Fair reported Sunday.

Trump promised to relocate the embassy during his election campaign in 2016, but he signed a six-month waiver June 1 to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv-in line with every president's actions since Congress passed legislation calling on the U.S. to move the embassy in 1995.

Bannon also reportedly lobbied Trump to take a more aggressive stance regarding Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. When Abbas visited the White House in May, Bannon boycotted the meeting, sending a text message to a friend stating that he would not "breathe the same air as that terrorist," according to Vanity Fair.

With Bannon's departure, his alleged West Wing rival, Kushner, and others are slated to have greater influence over Trump's decision-making regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and overall foreign policy.
Tuesday evening, Aug. 22, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center hosted a panel discussion on free speech vs. hate speech. The timely dialogue was arranged as a result of the Charlottesville protest/counterprotest.

Michael Friedman, president of HMREC, welcomed the more than 500 people in attendance, and stated that we should all treat people with respect even if we disagree. "The way we respond to Charlottesville defines us as a country," he stated.

Moderator Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel columnist, opened with a few comments explaining the goal of this meeting-encouraging the audience to keep an open mind, try not to form "labels" for people, and be informed. Above all, he shared, "stay in the room" when confronted with something we do not agree with.

Not that anyone was going to get up and leave, but his point was that we can all be better listeners and not rush to conclusions with preconceived ideas.

Terri Day, a professor at Barry University's School of Law in Orlando, stated that often, "we don't listen." The situation becomes "us versus them" and a shouting match ensues, accomplishing nothing.

Rachel Allen, coordinator of the Peace & Justice Institute at Valencia College, stated that we should listen deeply. "Listen intently to what is said; listen to the feelings beneath the words. Strive to achieve a balance between listening and reflecting, speaking and acting."

Mitch Bloomer, HMREC resource teacher, agreed and stated that impulsive responses are not affective. One of the ways neo-Nazis work is to appeal to emotions, provoking anger in those who oppose their views. Once they incite violence, they can "play the victim."

Panelist Angela King, a former skinhead and now deputy director and co-founder of the nonprofit Life After Hate, shared that violent extremists try to provoke a response. If they can do that, they have some amount of control. "Take power back!" she stated. "These groups have become emboldened. We must build resilience and take the power back from them."

What is hate speech? Day explained that hate speech is offensive speech, and it is protected by the First Amendment. Why? She answered that the government can't discriminate. "Do we want the government telling us what's good or bad?" she asked. "Freedom of speech is the freedom from government infringement on what we can say."

When the topic of white supremacist Richard Spencer was brought up, two panelists-respectfully-disagreed with each other. Spencer had requested to speak at the University of Florida. UF president, Dr. Kent Fuchs, denied his request because students said they'd protest. Police Chief John Mina said Dr. Kent was right to refuse him a soapbox because we should promote safety first. He believes that if there is any likelihood of violence, the speech should be stopped before it happens.

Day firmly stated that he should have been allowed to speak according to the First Amendment. The government can't and won't restrict speech.

Former Democratic state Senator Geraldine Thompson chimed in that just because a speaker comes doesn't mean students have to come to his/her lecture. She expressed that recently happened at a Bethune-Cookman University graduation ceremony. Many of the students did not agree with the speaker and turned their backs.

There are many ways to peacefully confront hate speakers. "You can't let their view go unchallenged," said Bloomer, who then suggested talking one-on-one with the person. Take the heat and politics out of the situation. And rather than "thunderously calling someone down," tell a personal story that explains your own point of view.

"Get to know each other," said Thompson, "and get out of your comfort zone."

Angela King

Even when talking with a loved one who says something offensive, King said to call them out on it. "It's not easy to say to a loved one 'that is not acceptable.' [But] I know the cost of words to dehumanize others."

Speaking up is a risk worth taking. Bloomer encouraged doing so because hearts and minds can be won over.

The takeaway is: keep your cool, don't allow anyone to control your emotions; get educated so that you can calmly address dehumanizing words or ideas; and realize that free speech is Americans' greatest asset, the government can't infringe on this right.

To learn more about how to address hate speech, visit these websites: Life after Hate, http://www.lifeafterhate.org and the Peace and Justice Institute, valenciacollege.edu/pji.
During the last several years, Israel has witnessed the crumbling of its neighborhood as civil wars, internal strife and Islamic extremism have taken hold throughout the Middle East. As the Jewish states foes and allies alike face ongoing strife, the Kurdish people of northern Iraq have emerged as a striking source of stability, with the willingness to confront these threats.

A century after being denied statehood by European powers after the Ottoman Empire fell, the Kurds are slated to hold a referendum on independence from Iraq Sept. 25. For Israelwhich has long courted support from the Kurds, most of whom are Sunni Muslimsan independent Kurdistan may prove to be a new and unexpected ally in the fight against Islamic extremism.

During a recent meeting with a visiting delegation of 33 Republican members of the U.S. Congress last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his positive attitude towards an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, saying the Kurds are a brave, pro-Western people who share our values, The Jerusalem Post reported.

For Israel, the Kurdish referendum comes amid increased fears over Irans growing inroads in the region, especially in Syria and Iraq, and to a lesser extent in Yemen. It was recently reported that Iran is building a facility in northwestern Syria to manufacture long-range SCUD missiles, while Iranian-backed militias have been involved in the fight against Islamic State in Iraq.

Our policy is clear: We vehemently oppose the military buildup by Iran and its proxies, primarily Hezbollah, in Syria, and we will do whatever it takes to protect Israels security, Netanyahu said.

Prof. Ofra Bengio, head of the Kurdish Studies Program at Tel Aviv Universitys Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told JNS.org that an independent Kurdistan is likely to be more stable, tolerant, pro-Western and secular than its other neighbors, values that can be good glue for relations with Israel.

Both Kurdistan and Israel would have common strategic interests in countering radical Islam of both the Sunni and Shia persuasion, such as from Islamic State and Iran, said Bengio, author of the 2012 book The Kurds of Iraq: Building a State within a State.

As brave fighters, the Kurdish Peshmerga [forces] have already proved their mettle in such encounters, so they are likely to help contain such radicals in the future as well, she said.

Kurdistan and US-Israel relations

Despite tacit Israeli support, next months referendumwhich experts believe is likely to support independencecomes against the backdrop of opposition from most of the international community, including the U.S.

Washington has long considered the Kurdish people to be a vital ally, especially in its bid to rid Iraq of Islamic State. But the U.S. fears the vote could ignite further conflict within Iraq and turn into another regional flashpoint.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has quietly called on the Kurdistan Regional Government to postpone the referendum, a request Kurdish leaders have dismissed.

Kurdish officials, who were recently revealed to have visited Israel, are hoping to enlist Israeli assistance in persuading the U.S. to back the bid for independence.

They say that Israel has a strong lobby, and the ear of [President Donald] Trump, and that they would be very happy if we could help, Member of Knesset Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union), who chairs a caucus on Israeli-Kurdish relations, told The Jerusalem Post.

Bengio believes it is not the right of any nation to decide for another people whether independence is necessary, and at what point in time.

After a hundred years of oppression, denial and genocide by the Baghdad governments, the Kurds of Iraq have reached the conclusion that they do not have any alternative but to rule themselves by themselves, and that now is the golden opportunity to fulfill this right, she said.

Turkey-Israel ties

One concern regarding Israels recognition of Kurdish statehood is how the move may affect its relations with Turkey, with whom the Jewish state repaired ties in 2016 after a six-year rupture.

Turkey, which is home to a substantial number of Kurds comprising up to 25 percent of its population, has long been opposed to the creation of a Kurdish state out of fears that it could embolden its own Kurdish population to break away from the country.

Despite these concerns, the Turkish government has forged strong ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq in recent years, cooperating on projects such as a Kurdish oil pipeline through Turkey.

Turkey has developed a kind of dichotomy with regards to the bad Kurds in Turkey and the good Kurds in Iraq, Bengio said, adding that Israels recognition of [independence for] the so-called good Kurds would not hurt Ankaras security perceptions.

At the same time, Israel maintains relations with Turkey despite the fact that President Recep Tayyip Erdogans regime openly supports the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

Ankara does not have qualms to support Hamas, which endeavors to eliminate Israel, so why should Israel have any problem in developing relations with the Kurds of Iraq, which not only do not threaten to eliminate Turkey, but are its strategic ally? Bengio asked.

In fact, she said, Israel should be assertive on the issue reciprocity.
Jews are asking if were back in the 1920s. To me, the scene outside a Charlottesville synagogue is more like Odessa in 1905.

Across from the synagogue stood three white supremacists with semi-automatic weapons. During the Friday night torchlight parade that passed the synagogue, the alt-right marchers, hands in the salute formation, hurled slogans reminiscent of the Nazi era. The armed men in fatigues looked as if they were ready to carry out the threats.

The police were called. They did not show. Did the city council want blood spilled to advance an agenda?

We are told by one distraught police officer that the police were told to let the two groups of demonstrators have contact with each other and then stand downa scenario designed for chaos and crafted outrage.

Although this is from an anonymous source, video footage of the event posted by the Virginia ACLU shows just that. The Virginia ACLU repeated on Twitter that the police were told to stand down.

Inside the synagogue, the rabbi and the congregation were helpless. I imagine that, like most synagogues, it prides itself on being a gun-free zone, or in the lexicon of gun advocates, an easy target.

If someone wants to kill you, hanging a sign isnt the deterrent you might think it is. If the neo-Nazis, KKK members and white supremacists entered the synagogue, they could have slaughtered all the worshippers before the first police car could arrive at the scene.

The congregants left through the back door, and were told to walk in groups instead of dispersing. In fact, a group only provides more targets in close proximity. The congregants have a lot to learn.

But what does this have to do with Odessa in 1905? Odessa was the scene of the bloodiest pogrom to take place in Russia, whose Jews sustained a long series of brutal massacres.

Although many Jews (estimates vary from 400 to 2,000) died in the Odessa pogrom of 1905, the Jews had created organized, armed militias and fought back, taking a toll on police and soldiers that were actively involved in the pogrom, along with the Okhrana, the czarist secret police.

Two Russian Jews who took special note of the Odessa pogrom were Zeev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor. Jabotinsky, at the time, was a leading Russian-Jewish intellectual. Trumpeldor was a decorated military hero who lost an arm in the Russo-Japanese War.

Influenced by the events in Odessa, the two set about to create Jewish militias, teaching the repelled pogromists that pitchforks, torches and knives were no match for trained and disciplined men with guns. Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor left their mark through the fact that the Russians learned killing Jews just wasnt what it used to be.

Surviving pogroms in Charlottesville isnt very different from surviving them in Odessa.

If Jews want to survive, they need to arm and train themselves. Their other option? Walking out the back door of the synagogue and praying white supremacists dont shoot them as they gather together in groups to make themselves easier targets. Or better yet, Jews can stay home where it is safe.

Those are the choices. Remember, the police never showed, and the average police response time in the nation is 11 minutes when they do arrive.

When a gun-toting hate group showed up outside a mosque in Texas, they were met by armed congregants who greatly outnumbered them. Nobody walked out the back door of the mosque that day.

The NRA was not formed to defend Southern blacks. But ex-marine Robert Williams and his gun club made it possible for blacks in Monroe County, N.C., to create a chapter of the NAACP. Williams and his gun club fought off the KKK, which previously harassed, injured and murdered blacks at will. His NAACP chapter went on to integrate the local library and swimming pool.

During the turmoil of the civil rights era in Louisiana, the Deacons for Defense, made up of veterans, armed themselves to protect young civil rights workers from the savagery of KKK violence. The Deacons also protected blacks who wanted to register to vote.

Unprotected by the Los Angeles Police during the Rodney King riots, Korean business owners organized and defended their businesses with guns.

Yes, it is America in 2017. But for Jews, its beginning to look like Russia during the era of the pogroms. Jews need to learn from their own tragic history and from other ethnic groups that acted to defend themselves. Walking out the back door of a synagogue should never be the recommended option. Jews being told to walk in groups is the stuff of nightmares.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a distinguished fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on Twitter: @salomoncenter.
We live in a time when, as the U.S. State Department has noted, a rising tide of anti-Semitism has swept across the globe. Anti-Semitism has crept into the mainstream from the margins of society in the West, as a coalition of intellectual elites and Muslims has produced a surge of venom against Israel and Jews who identify with it. That movement has found a foothold on American campuses and among left-wing groups, resulting in Jews being stigmatized and isolated in the public square, and students being subjected to violence and intimidation.

But the growth of this noxious form of hate is not what most American Jews are most worried about. Instead, it is the spectacle of neo-Nazis and their Ku Klux Klan and alt-right allies parading in Charlottesville, Va., that scares Jews the most.

A reasonable argument can be put forward to assert that, even now, with far-right anti-Semites being more active than in recent memory, their left-wing counterparts pose a more serious menace to global Jewish security. But fear of the anti-Semitic right is always going to be the threat that resonates the most in the Jewish community. The thought process leading to the conclusion behind this mindset might be debatable, but it also reflects a disturbing truth about the persistence of anti-Semitism and the failure of both liberals and conservatives to think clearly about the issue.

Part of the reason why right-wing anti-Semites are scarier to American Jews is a function of imagery and historical memory. The spectacle in Charlottesville of large numbers of neo-Nazis and Klan members holding a torchlight parade while chanting anti-Semitic slogans is chilling in of itself, but also because it is reminiscent of the Holocaust. These thugs arent anything close to being the threat the Nazis were in Germany, but their brazenness provides a visceral shock that even the most vicious and perhaps more influential Jew-haters on the left cant provoke.

The increasingly central role anti-Semitic attitudes are playing on the left often flies under the flag of anti-Zionism rather than open Jew-hatred. But that is a distinction without a difference. Even in the U.S., where it is less prevalent than in Europe, this has meant boycotts and even violence, as well as inflammatory rhetoriccoming from many prominent members of the anti-Trump resistancethat demonizes affiliated Jews as racist oppressors.

Liberal Jews have been slow to respond to this threat because it requires them to confront erstwhile allies who are part of the Democratic Party base or groups they view with sympathy, like Black Lives Matter or organizations that purport to represent the LGBTQ community.

But liberals arent the only ones who have ignored things that didnt fit into their worldview. Republicans have become a lockstep pro-Israel party, and the main organs of conservatism like National Review chased anti-Semites out long ago. This has led Jewish conservatives to believe the virus of right-wing anti-Semitism was dead and buried. But anti-Semitism on the right has made a comeback in the form of a virulent and violent alt-right movement that rejects mainstream conservatism.

Neo-Nazis and the Klan, and their alt-right allies, may be small in number and make up only an infinitesimal fraction of the coalition that elected Trump. But their impact is magnified by Trumps reluctance to consistently take them on. Trump is no anti-Semite and has governed as a staunch friend of Israel. Yet he has encouraged right-wing anti-Semites by alleging a false moral equivalence with those who oppose them, while also signaling sympathy with the cause (preserving Confederate statues) that the anti-Semites and racists turned out to support in Charlottesville.

Neo-Nazis may seem scarier than Jew-haters on the left, but the challenge for American Jews now lies in trying to rise above the partisan loyalties that can blind us to both sides of the anti-Semitic coin.

Liberals prefer to ignore the potent influence of those who promulgate anti-Semitic boycotts of Israel while encouraging intimidation and attacks against Jews. Many seem to think calling out left-wing anti-Semites in the anti-Trump resistance is not as important as opposing the administration. At the same time, conservatives need to acknowledge that speaking up about the anti-Semitic right isnt chasing ghosts. They need to understand that calling out Trump for his encouragement of alt-right anti-Semites will neither betray Israel nor aid left-wing Jew-haters.

What is needed is a Jewish community with the wisdom to take up the fight against hate and bigotry no matter its origin. Until that happens, liberals and conservatives alike will continue to fail to adequately address a problem that ought to transcend politics.

Jonathan S. Tobin is opinion editor of JNS.org and a contributing writer for National Review. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
The scene is Paris in the late 19th century. At a glittering ball, a handful of eligible gentilhommes eagerly circled the charming Comtesse de La Rochefoucauldsomething of an Ivanka Trump in her dayin the hope of being granted a dance. But when the comtesse finally took to the dance floor, the man on her arm was Arthur Meyer, the scion of a rabbinical family who had risen from modest origins to become a newspaper magnate.

The spectacle of the comtesse dancing with Meyer the Jew was shocking to the anti-Semites in Franceand, this being the time of the Dreyfus Trial, there were plenty of those around, as there are now. Their figurehead, the writer and propagandist Edouard Drumont, took pen to paper thusly: This adorable young woman, this ravishing Aryan, with her proud, virginal figure, whom one would not even dare to look at too intensely for fear of harming the pure bloom on the maturing fruithonestly, Im not making this upshe gives herself to one of these frightful cosmopolitans, mangy, evil-smelling, a man who used to hawk oranges on the quays of Tunis or Alexandria, or who worked as a waiter in some Russian village inn.

And then, as an ending, Drumont provided this flourish: Everything falls to the Jew.

Now fast forward to Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Sitting down for an interview with a reporter from Vice, a neo-Nazi activist named Christopher Cantwell worked himself up into a Drumont-esque frenzy of sexual jealousy expressed in the language of anti-Semitism. The reason for his anger was Ivanka Trumps ongoing marriage to Jared Kushner, and his disgust that Donald Trumpa president he likes, but wishes was more racisthad given his daughter to a Jew.

Flashing a defiantly adolescent grin at the Vice reporter, Cantwell warmed to this theme even more. I dont think you can feel about race the way I do and watch that Kushner bastard walk around with that beautiful girl, okay? he panted, shortly after informing viewers that he was increasing his capability for violence with a pistol in his pocket and regular visits to the gym.

You dont need to be a Freud or a Jung or a Lacan to figure out what these two stories have in common. While Drumont is indubitably more flowery and eloquent than Cantwellwho became a Nazi after failing spectacularly in his previous careers as a drug dealer and congressional candidatethe underlying psychosis is exactly the same. Just as Drumont was driven into his rage by his unrequited fantasies of the fair comtesse, Cantwell apparently believes that all that stands between him and the fair Ivanka is a pesky Jew. Like Drumont, Cantwell is driven slowly mad by the realization that things just dont add up: Jews like Kushner are weak, selfish, grasping and oilyall the things he is convinced, as a proud Aryan, that he isntand yet its the same Kushner who is taking Ivanka to the prom.

For Nazis as for all totalitarian ideologies, the notion that life is sometimes unfair, that you dont always land the girl of your dreams, that you might lose your job or your home because of bad debts, and all the other day-to-day miseries of modern existence, is too hard to bear. That isas Edouard Drumont noted many timesthe simple elegance of anti-Semitism: it gives you both an answer and a target as to why the world is such a dreadful place without demanding that you consider your own weaknesses, failings and idiocies first. From this psychic matter are such emasculated individuals as Cantwell created.

Many scholars of anti-Semitismsuch as Stephen Wilson, whose excellent book Ideology and Experience includes the above quote from Drumonthave closely examined the threads that link anti-Semitism with unfulfilled sexual desire. The great paradox that the Jew representsa racial and political polluter, and yet successful in winning the affections of Aryan womenis never resolved, but only exacerbated with words like bestial and lustful that are soaked in sexual envy. Indeed, this very theme was the driving force behind the lurid propaganda of the Nazi rag Der Sturmer, edited by Julius Streichera close friend of Hitlers well before the Nazi leader became Fuhrer.

Todays American racists are similarly obsessed, which is why they pepper their ravings with words like cucka reference to a man whose wife indulges in extra-marital sex, often with black men. That they can be so transparent and yet still win supporters tells us that there are plenty of other angry white men out there who share Cantwells neurosis. More than a century separates them from Edouard Drumont, and still we havent found a cure.

Ben Cohen writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Wall Street Journal and many other publications.
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Meerkats, a skunk and a zorilla are among the residents settling in at a new zoo in Cheshunt.

Cedars Nature Centre at Cedars Park is open between 11am and 1pm daily for previews ahead of full opening later in September.

Already on show are meerkats, two breeds of owl, a parakeet, a peacock, rabbits, a skunk and Ziggy the zorilla  a member of the weasel family and the only one of its kind on display in Europe.

Work is almost complete on the tropical house, which will house a pancake tortoise, three breeds of python including a 30kg, 14ft long Burmese python, armadillos and a tenrec, which looks similar to a hedgehog.

The opening follows a year of toil by co-owners Nick Spellman and Stuart Short to build the enclosures and secure a zoo licence.

Nick said: "It has been a very hard year  I've had 12 days off in 365, but it has been worth it.

"We have never worked so hard in our lives, but the day we got the licence made it all worthwhile."

Nick, a dad of two originally from Hoddesdon, has 28 years of experience giving presentations in person and on television shows, and has been working with Stuart for more than a decade.

While Nick has been in charge of the construction, Stuart has been working tirelessly on securing the zoo licence.

"It's a perfect partnership. It's been fun, it's been fraught at times, but we've never lost sight of what we are doing," Nick added.

"I was way out of my depth and there were times when I thought 'I'm never going to make this'.

The free-to-enter zoo is located on the former pet's corner in Cedars Park, leased from Broxbourne Borough Council.

Although the council has supported the project via non-financial means, it is entirely funded via donations and Nick and Stuart's own pockets.

They have quickly forged links with the community, with the Wednesday Volunteers and Herts Mind groups offering their help and receiving donations of services, materials and funds from SOE Contracts, Hoddesdon-based Beaumont Forest and former mayoral consort Freddy Pearce.

"He was enthralled by our enthusiasm and ideas, he wanted to donate some money for the materials. It was terribly generous," Nick said.

"We are ridiculously proud and humbled by the reaction we've had.

"It means you don't give up  I'm not just doing this for myself now, everyone has bought into it."

Stuart said: "We like to think of ourselves as part of the community.

We wanted to create somewhere open to the public for free."

Nick added: "We are aware there are people in the borough who don't have 20 to 40 to take the kids out for the day. People donate what they feel they can."

The enclosures, which feature specially-designed zoo mesh, low windows for children and fully accessible for wheelchair users, will bear the names of some of the independent local firms which have contributed to the project and Nick and Stuart would like to hear from other firms as they prepare for future phases.

They include creating an amphitheatre around the stage area, a tent entrance, a classroom for visiting schools and converting the barn for breeding projects, starting with a project to reintroduce Hazel dormice to the wild.

Stuart said: "We want to pull our weight in the zoo world with large enclosures for small species."

To donate to Cedars Nature Centre see here, or for more information, email info@cedarsnaturecentre.co.uk or visit their Facebook page.
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The local newspapers on Monday were awash with photographs of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in celebratory mode after his by-election victory. In one photograph, flanked by a dozen supporters, Parrikar does a victory round riding an open jeep through the streets of Panaji, the constituency he won yesterday for the sixth time. More interesting yet, are two photographs of the BJP chief minister with folded hands inside the iconic Panjim Church giving thanks and receiving the blessings of the parish priest. The symbolism of these pictures is lost on no one. An unambiguous warning sent out through a church magazine, cautioned voters to consider the larger picture of growing intolerance and the rise of fascism in the country.

There was an attempt to polarise the vote and create a fear factor, but corruption and communalism does not work with me, Parrikar said after the results came in. He won the seat the BJP has held for 23 years by defeating the former Youth Congress leader Girish Chodankar by 4800 votes. But the comfortable margin  much lower than what he polled in 2012  doesnt quite reflect the anxiety in the BJP camp in the run-up to the poll after the Congress candidates campaign began to pick up. From a position of total command, because the Congress didnt even have a candidate to take on Parrikar after its former MLA Babush Monserrate switched allegiance to the BJP ally Goa Forward virtually on the eve of the election, and others were persuaded to withdraw from the contest, the chief minister was compelled to press ministers and allies who were once his worst critics, into campaign mode.

The BJPs victory in the two seats, Panaji and Valpoi, which was convincingly picked up by Vishvajit Rane, the son of former Congress chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, is a morale booster for Parrikar and the BJP which has been criticised for the dubious manner in which it came to power in Goa after its defeat in the February 4 election. But it is certainly no stamp of approval, as Parrikar argued on Monday, for the motley coalition that currently runs Goa. Mondays result takes the BJPs tally up by just one seat to 14, in the 40-member house. The Congress with 16 seats and the NCP with one, are still in a position to pose a threat to the government which is being run by the BJP with the backing of three Goa Forward (GF) members, three Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) MLAs and three independents.

Goa has a history of political instability in times of fractured mandates, and the coalition arrangement in power is probably one of the most ideologically diverse, cobbled together purely for the fruits of power. Till a few months ago, Goa Forward leader Vijai Sardesai ran a strident campaign on an anti-BJP plank. A former Congress member, Sardesais very continuance in power today depends on the political health of the BJP and its chief minister.

So far, Manohar Parrikar has run the government these past five months on a pragmatic agenda of appeasing his allies. The MGP and GF have cornered all the plum portfolios, from tourism to transport to PWD and town and country planning. But the BJP can no longer claim the high moral ground. Sitting in its very ranks and on the cabinet team are MLAs it had put on notice for corruption when in the Congress. Rane Jr (as Vishvajit is known here), Mauvin Godinho, Pandurang Madkaikar, Vijai Sardesai, to name just a few.

One of the few states in the country where it hasnt been trampled into oblivion, the Congress finds itself in danger of losing one of its strongest pockets. The defection of Pratapsingh Ranes son Vishvajit to the BJPfather and son now face each other from opposite sides in the state legislative assemblyis bound to have serious repercussions for the Congress in three constituencies in the Sattari taluka. In Panaji too, the partys lack of an organisational structure at the grassroots was apparent. Waiting for a groundswell of support to stir up on its own serves no purpose, specially since the BJP seems prepared to go to any lengths and make political compromises of all sorts for a Congress-less India.

Devika Sequeira is a senior journalist based in Goa

The views expressed are personal
The first thing you notice about G Ravinder Reddys sculptures are the eyes. Throughout his work across the decades, an unwavering stare can be seen in his figures  wide-eyed, bold and sensual. The second is a sense of familiarity. These arent mythical creatures. Theyre the women who sell fish and vegetables. Students going to college. A woman on her way to work.

When Reddy, 61, was a student in the early 1980s, he found that many of his contemporaries were influenced by European sculptors. It was a school of thought he didnt wish to follow. Why should we do something that were not familiar with and import from European masters? he asked in an interview.

Why should I not do something that anybody can understand?

Reddys head sculptures exude unabashed sexuality. (Nikhita Venugopal)

One of Indias most eminent modern artists today, Reddy is currently holding a retrospective of his lifes work in his first Indian solo show in almost a decade. Heads and Bodies: Icons and Idols is being held as The Gallerys debut show at RMZ Ecoworld, Bangalore. The exhibit traces more than two dozen landmark pieces from his early years to present day, including a monumental bust called Devi thats now a part of the tech parks permanent collection. Though Reddy has taken part in group shows in recent years, he previously was unable to find a space in India large enough to exhibit his entire range of work. Now with this show, Indians can finally journey through Reddys artistic career from his student days to his later, celebrated pieces.

Reddy was born in Suryapet village in Andhra Pradesh and his academic life took him to MS University in Baroda, Londons Goldsmith College of Arts and the Royal College of Art. He later taught at Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, from 1990 till about nine years ago, and is still based in the city. His sculptures have been exhibited across the world, from New York to Tokyo, and he has received several awards, including the National Academy Award in Sculpture from the Lalit Kala Akademi and the Sanskriti Award in Arts.

Reddy has exhibited his work across the world  from New York to Tokyo. (Courtesy Ravinder Reddy)

Nobody has seen such a body of work [of Ravinder Reddy] for the last 10 years, says Premilla Baid, who runs Gallery Sumukha in Bangalore and was a consultant on the show at RMZ Ecoworld. Its basically the evolution of an artist where you can see the gradual shift of his work.

Baid describes Reddys work as having an Indian flavour but with a global appeal, which has enabled his national and international success. While his work has evolved over time, experts say he remains deeply honest in his use of iconography that represents the everyday, whether through his full-bodied statues, his terracotta works or his iconic busts.

Girl with Umbrella, a 1981 fibreglass sculpture, was inspired by the people of Mumbai. (Nikhita Venugopal)

Its not difficult to see why: Reddys monumental head sculptures, particularly their features  kohl-lined bulging eyes, the strong inclined nose, the red protruding lips  are instantly captivating. Though they lack full bodies, they exude a kind of unabashed sexuality, according to V Ramesh, a fine arts professor at Andhra University.

Theres something about the head thats mesmerising, he says. Theres no coy sexuality, no coy femininity there.

The Journey of an Artist

Describing his days as a young artist, Reddy says, I would portray whatever used to strike me directly. Take his piece, Girl with Umbrella, a 1981 fibreglass sculpture. It depicts a woman in motion as she places one foot in front of the other. Her eyes are masked by sunglasses and a folded umbrella dangles from her hand. That image, inspired by the people of Mumbai, was significant to him. I was struck because I went from a village to a city, he says.

That portrayal of city life can be seen in three early statues that stand side by side in the gallery, titled Relief I, II and III. They are brightly-coloured modern college women wearing jeans and dresses and sandals with a bag slung over ones shoulder. One figure is a thinly-veiled nude, yet, as with Reddys other work exhibited at the show, she stands tall, proud and unflinching.

Reddy saw success with his terracotta works too. (Nikhita Venugopal)

Rajeev Lochan, the former director of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, notes that, He has been very conscious about doing exactly what he wants to do. This speaks to the inner personality of the artist.

Theres a casual sexuality to the stance of those three reliefs, says art and culture writer Vaishna Roy, but while Reddys journey revolves around attempts to capture what he observes every day, its not a casual sexuality that hes likely to have seen on the street. Instead, Reddy imbues these statues with a kind of power by presenting them in that way, she says.

With time and age, Reddy says his way of thinking and perspective matured. He began to eliminate images from his mind that he deemed transient or fleeting. Instead, he focused on those that stayed in his thoughts.

Reddys head sculptures have particularly striking features  kohl-lined bulging eyes, strong inclined noses, and the red protruding lips. (Nikhita Venugopal)

But if one theme persists in his work, it is the strength of his female figures. Sculptures that depict a woman tying her hair or another squatting and bathing show women in their natural state, with folds of flesh, a wide girth and often exaggerated features. Its a woman who is not ashamed of herself, he says. Shes proud of her body. Reddy notes that rather than an exact likeness of an individual, he often uses some physical elements of real people, which inspire his work.

The love with which he portrays them makes it all beautiful, Roy comments.

In later years, Reddys more recent work possibly turned into his most recognisable. Stroll into The Bay at RMZ Ecoworld and youll come face to face with the 15-feet gold-skinned Devi, one of his monumental busts. With the sculpture, he emulates the south Indian woman as he sees her  her jet-black hair covered with jasmine buds and crimson red flowers, her nose and ears adorned with jewellery. Baid says they wanted an iconic work of Reddys to display permanently in the tech park, and in recent times, that has meant the artists head sculptures.

The artist at work. (Courtesy RMZ Corp )

It is the head that perhaps encapsulates the quintessential Ravinder Reddy, Ramesh says. Some feel that Reddys own personality is reflected in the heads  a quietness, coupled with a strength to live and work without bowing to society.

Finding Commercial Success

Reddys recognition as one of Indias top artists also turned him into one of its most expensive. His head sculptures grew in popularity around 2007 in the East, particularly China, according to the Arts Trust, a group that tracks and analyses market trends for modern and contemporary art. The average value of his work soared after 2006, with one fibreglass bust selling for $3,46,070, or Rs 1.48 crores in 2007. Though the 2008 crash had a devastating effect on the domestic and international art markets, auctions in recent years suggest that the value of Reddys work managed to recover. (The Arts Trust has not published a record of Reddys commercial success beyond 2014).

Between 2010 and 2011, Reddy sold at least two gold-skinned heads for more than Rs 1.1 crores, according to leading auction house Saffronart. Another head sculpture was sold in 2014 for $157,377, or Rs 96 lakh. And in 2015, a version of his Devi, standing at about nine feet, sold for a whopping $415,385, or Rs 2.7 crore rupees, data from Saffronart shows.

Baid, who is also a collector of Reddys work, notes several factors that go into the price and demand of an artists work. That includes having a solid record of exhibiting at international shows, museums and some of the best galleries in India like Sakshi and Vadehra, as Reddy does.

His works have an Indian flavour with a global appeal. (Courtesy RMZ Corp)

And consistency, both in quality and pricing, cannot be sacrificed. If youre consistent with your work and consistent with your market, the price will go up, Baid says.

As Reddy recalls, his value was neither high nor steady in the early part of his career. He barely made a sale during his first 15 to 16 years and began supporting himself through teaching and other activities. Instead of allowing his work to be dictated by trends or buyers, he made a conscious decision to avoid worrying about sales. Once that concern [with selling] comes, your creativity goes, he said.

Now based in Visakhapatnam, where the art scene is almost non-existent, Reddy continues to separate himself from the pressure and expense of living in big cities.

You follow your inner path, rather than what the world tells you to do, Lochan says. With Ravinder, thats what I see.

In his experience, Reddy found that art buyers in the 80s were fewer, but were often more knowledgeable. Later, particularly the early 2000s, art turned into a prime investment and buyers began to seek out an original Ravinder Reddy to add to their collection. Baid notes that Reddy is very rigid when it comes to the value of his pieces and does not waver on price, one of the reasons his work and appeal have stayed steady in an often-turbulent market.

A Bold Scale, A Bold Style

Seeing the arc of Reddys work from student to present day offers a glimpse into the artists change in sensibility, in terms of the material he uses and his perception of women.

Words like sexual, kitsch and pop art have been used in describing Reddys work over the years, but to his followers, the shift in style has been apparent. Reddys work is getting more stylised and less realistic. The scale has increased and hes making reliefs like he used to, earlier in the 1980s, says Geetha Mehra, director of Sakshi Gallery, over email.

Its a shift that he accomplishes without compromising the quality of his pieces or the honesty of his vision that so many recognise.

Reddys work is iconic. Its difficult to forget and has an instant recognition, giving it immense repeat value, Mehra said.

As Reddy grew as an artist into the 90s, there was a shift in his perception and style. He describes a period when he would travel to see works by other sculptors, unsatisfied by what he was finding in books. It was during a trip to the Museum of Mankind in London that he was deeply impacted by terracotta sculptures. He also found inspiration in African art from Egypt and other countries, as well as Mexico.

If Reddys work appeared to move away from the traditional styles of his contemporaries, his rebellion continued in his choice of material. Stone, wood and bronze were common materials used for sculpting, but the artist grew tired of appreciation being given to the material, rather than the work itself.

His sculptures show women in their natural state, with folds of flesh, a wide girth and often exaggerated features. (Nikhita Venugopal)

So, he took a different route. Though he had had success working with terracotta, it had its own limitations. At this point in his career, Reddy had the urge to blow up his work in size and scale, and fragility of terracotta would not allow for that. Bronze would be too expensive and cumbersome to work with. His search for an alternate material finally led to fibreglass and eventually, the head sculptures.

To friends who have known the artist for decades, Reddy is a simple, unassuming man who is rooted in culture and tradition, yet is willing to bridge a gap that makes it relevant to modern times.

Ravinders work is like this because nothing has swayed him, Lochan says.

But Reddy is not quite prepared to predict where his work will lead to in the future. All he knows is that a stylistic evolution cannot be forced or rushed. If he finds that he is unsatisfied with a piece, that leads to work to overcome those deficiencies. Those deficiencies will lead to a new style.

Style has to evolve out of your needs, he says.

(Published in arrangement with GRIST Media)

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Div Shu Nag Jung, the youngest of the two Chinese soldiers who served time in India for espionage before settling in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, died on Wednesday with his last two wishes  visiting China again and getting Indian citizenship  remaining unfulfilled.

Jung, 70, died of brain haemorrhage in a hospital in Nagpur.

My father wanted to visit China once before his death. His desire arose after fellow PLA soldier, Wang Qi, who had also been arrested for spying ... had visited China early this year ... Sunil Janbandhu, his son told HT.

Wang Qi had a large number of relatives in China, whereas my father had none. Who would look after him there? Even then we were thinking of other options since he was so keen. Jungs desire to become an Indian citizen also remained unfulfilled.

He had applied several times, and did the rounds of the offices, but nothing happened, said Sunil.

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Public health engineering (PHE) and jail minister in Madhya Pradesh Kusum Mahdele caused a flutter in the government and the ruling party when she tweeted to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union minister for road transport and highways and also her party demanding repairing of certain national highways in Madhya Pradesh.

The septuagenarian ministers tweet on Thursday gave a shot in the arms of the Congress which has been blaming the state and central government for a long time for neglected and potholed highways in Madhya Pradesh.

She said in the tweet condition of the road from Satna to Panna, Panna to Chhatarpur and Rewa to Satna was in a pathetic condition. Khajuraho to Lavkushnagar (highway) is not motorable. Pls issue an order to get the same repaired, she said.

As per official sources, the tweet caused a flutter in the government. This is perhaps first time when any minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan government publicly admitted that the condition of highways in Madhya Pradesh is in a bad shape.

No comment was the comment by the minister Kusum Mahdele when asked about her tweet.

The government looked defensive. The state governments spokesperson and parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra said he would look into the tweet and then comment on it.

State Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said the ministers statement corroborated the Congress charges that the BJP government in the state and at the Centre had done lip service only regarding providing good roads to people. The government must apologise to public for making false claims and baseless statements.

Defending the minister state BJP chief spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said the minister had raised the issue concerning her assembly constituency. It didnt reflect the scenario of the entire state.

MINISTERS CAUSE EMBARRASSMENT TO GOVT, PARTY

Earlier, PWD minister Rampal Singh caused embarrassment to the government and the party when he said, though on a lighter vein, the potholed roads were kept in Madhya Pradesh in such a state as these were reminiscence of Congress rule.

Though Rampal Singh who is supposed to be close to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan didnt give any clarification later, the state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan defended him saying what he said did not mean it and that he said this jokingly.

Two other ministers too hit headlines for wrong reasons in a short span of time.

Minister of state for medical education Sharad Jain said death was in hand of the God. The best the state government could do was to provide utmost medical facilities till the last breath.

Jains statement came a couple of days back. However, later he said his statement was distorted by media.

Earlier, health minister Rustam Singh attributed alarming rise in swine flu cases to people catching infection in neighbouring states.
A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling in his house in Jabalpur after he was scolded by mother of a 5-year-old girl on sexual harassment of the girl by him. The boy later died in a hospital.

According to police, the boy in a village under Marhotal police station was playing with the girl in the neighbourhood while the girls mother was busy in a sewing work on Sunday. The girls mother later saw the boy indulging in an indecent act with the girl.

The girls mother scolded the boy and told him that she would complain to his parents about his act.

On returning home the boy hanged himself. His parents were out of the village when he committed the act. His younger brothers cried for help. Neighbours rushed to the house and took the boy to a hospital from where he was referred to the government medical college in Jabalpur.

On Monday, the girls mother lodged a complaint with police under Protection of Children under Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. On Tuesday evening the boy died in the medical colleges teaching hospital.

Additional superintendent of police Yangchen Dolkar Bhutia said police were investigating the incident.

NCRB ON JUVENILE CRIMES

Madhya Pradesh topped the chart of rape crimes committed by juveniles in 2015 as per national crime record bureau (NCRB) report. The state reported 282 cases of rape allegedly committed by juveniles in the year followed by Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

MP again topped the chart of crimes committed by juveniles in the category of Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty under section 354 of IPC with 364 such cases. There were 100 cases of sexual harassment against such accused with the state occupying 2nd top position after Maharashtra (151).

STUDY ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS

As per a study conducted by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) report on which was made public in June 2015 says, A majority (70.3%) of the children who were serving in the detention centres were quite unaware about the consequences of their acts. It is inferred that driven by the immediate rewards and other unique characteristics such as impulsiveness, adventurism/risk taking and susceptibility to peer influence, they tend to make wrong choices. They are less likely than adults to think ahead before acting.

On the family particularly the parents role the report says, Families and particularly parents play the pivotal role in instilling in the children the pro social norms, values, beliefs, and ideals. Their failure to accomplish this task may result in serious consequences for the individual as well as for the society at large.
Due to incessant rains for last few days, the water level of Narmada River has crossed the danger mark in the submergence area of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) dam in the Narmada valley, creating apprehensions among affected people about possible inundation of their homes in the coming days.

With authorities closing the sluice gates of SSP on June 17, the water level is rising in the 214 km stretch upstream of Narmada in correlation with the intensity of the rain in catchment of Narmada river.

Collector Dhar Tejaswi Naik told HT that the danger mark in Narmada at Rajghat was 123.2 metre. The water level crossed the danger mark on Wednesday afternoon and it is still rising beyond 123.5 metres. We closed the Old Bridge at Rajghat for traffic. We are keeping a tab on the developments and all officials concerned have been alerted. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been alerted, he said.

Naik said given the unpredictability of rain in the catchment area, he appealed to the project affected people who were yet to shift and vacate their houses so that there was no danger to their life or property in the coming days .

The deadline fixed by Supreme Court for SSP affected people to vacate their houses in the submergence area expired on July 31. But a significant number of project affected families in Dhar and Barwani districts are still defiant in the face of imminent submergence of their homes and farms in the Narmada waters.

If they dont vacate their houses soon, the state government can use force to evict them from the submergence area. But having burnt its fingers in Mandsaur where five farmers were killed in police firing in June, it is treading cautiously.

However with intermittent rains lashing Narmada valley, water level in the Narmada and possible floods in its vast catchment area upstream will decide when the government will have to evict people.

NBA leader Rehmat told HT that water was rising in Narmada but affected families were still defiant as they wanted justice first. Though people have become apprehensive about the rising waters, the families will vacate their houses only when the authorities provide justice to all the affected families and ensure complete rehabilitation, he said.

Meanwhile Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, started Narmada Yatra for justice from Tuesday in project affected areas. She was released from jail on August 24. She lashed out at the state government for being apathetic towards the issues of the project affected people.

She said as the water level would rise, over 40,000 families in 214 km stretch upstream Narmada were at the risk of drowning .

The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, Gujarat, which is implementing the SSP, says the project will provide irrigation to 18.45 lakh hectares in Gujarat, 2.4 lakh hectares in Rajasthan and 37,500 hecatres in Maharashtra. SSP will provide drinking water to 9490 villages and 173 urban centres in Gujarat and 1336 villages in Rajasthan. The power generated by SSP is shared by three states- Madhya Pradesh (57%), Maharashtra (27%) and Gujarat (16%).
A woman delivered a baby girl in the toilet of a hospital after doctors allegedly refused to attend to her, an allegation refuted by the hospital authorities.

Seven-month pregnant Muskan (24) was admitted to Sultania Women Government Hospital on Wednesday after her condition deteriorated.

According to her mother-in-law Heera Bai said, Muskan complained of severe pain in her stomach on Thursday morning but on-duty doctor refused to attend to her.

In an acute pain, Muskan went to the toilet where she delivered the baby. The baby got stuck in the commode. When Muskan didnt come out for 45 minutes, I knocked the door and found the baby was stuck in the toilet and I called the hospital staff.

I scolded them for their negligence but instead of accepting their mistake, they pushed me out, said Heera Bai.

The baby was rushed to the Hamidia hospital where she is said to be in a critical condition on ventilator.

However, the hospital superintendent Karan Peepre refuted the allegations and said doctors were attending her properly.

The baby is stated to be critical because the woman delivered a premature baby weighing less than 1 kg. The allegations of negligence on the part of doctors and staff members are baseless.

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That is the thing with children, you can never predict how they are going to behave. Toddler Taimur Ali Khan is no exception. We have seen him as the ever smiling royal kid, always posing with a happy face - but recently, Taimur Ali Khan was spotted crying in the arms of his mommy, Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Kareena Kapoor left for Delhi late Thursday as she gears up to begin shooting for Veere Di Wedding along side Sonam Kapoor and Swara Bhaskar. While we do not know what upset the little baby, Kareena sure knew how to handle the situation.

Spotted at the Mumbai airport, Kareena smiled for the shutterbugs even as Taimur showed up with a rather glum face. She did her best to cheer up the little one but he was in no mood to pose. Well, kids will be kids.

While Kareena sported a jeans and grey tshirt, Taimur wore a blue and white overall.

 . . . #taimuralikhan #taimur #kareena #bebo A post shared by PRINCE OF HEARTS  (@taimurpage) on Aug 31, 2017 at 5:35am PDT

Amidst speculation that Taimur may make a guest appearance in Veere Di Wedding, Bollywoodlife quoted Kareenas spokesperson as saying, Taimur does not make a guest appearance in Veere Di Wedding and this is purely a figment of someones imagination.

Shashanka Ghosh will direct Veere Di Wedding that is being produced by Sonams sister Rhea.

Speaking about all the attention Taimur gets, grandpa Randhir Kapoor had earlier told HT, We all love Taimur so much and we are very being cautious that he doesnt get spoiled by all the attention that hes getting [from the media].

Recently, Taimur was on a vacation along with his mom Kareena and dad Saif in Gstaad, Switzerland. If you hold a gun to my head and ask for my last wish, Id want one last holiday in Gstaad. Its the most beautiful and romantic place in the world, Kareena had earlier told Mirror.

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She knew before joining Bollywood that it is not going to be an easy journey and Esha Gupta says she has stayed away from networking to bag films but often feels things would have been different if she had another surname. The 31-year-old actor made her debut with Jannat 2 in 2012 and went on to do Raaz 3D and Chakravyuh in the same year. I am proud of the work Ive done, it was tough (journey), but I have carved the way on my own. There are times, I wish even if four of my films flop, there is someone producing films for me and making films only with me. You think I wish I didnt have this surname but that surname (referring to being a star kid), said Esha.

The actor says because her father was in the Air Force, they travelled a lot - which meant making new friends and always being an outsider, something which she still feels in Bollywood. I think I am still an outsider. I am still treated like one to quite an extent by the so-called industry people. Its their body language that lets you know. I cant blame them because even I havent made an effort to be a part of them. I dont want to, says Esha.

The actor says she has been advised by many people to go out and do networking to get films, but she cannot tag behind people to land good projects. People say I need to go out more to get more work. I dont know how it works. I dont go out, I just cant. I cant try to mince words, be sweet and rally behind you for work. If you dont like me, dont give me work. If you dont like me and still give me work, youll only try to pull me down. If I am after your life to get a film, youre still going to give work to somebody else and badmouth about me behind my back, she says.

Esha will next be seen in Milan Luthria-directed Baadshaho, which releases today. She says though the heist-thriller is a multi-starrer, featuring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and Ileana DCruz, she is secure in the space the movie has offered her. This is not the kind of film where I need to jostle for space. I am not worried at all. I am not one of those who says, My role is important, I am quite secure as to why I am there, says Esha.

In films such as Commando 2 and Rustom, the actor played roles with grey shades and she says she enjoys doing such parts. When asked why female actors are not seen doing more grey roles, Esha says, They are all so insecure, no one wants to do that role.
Indias slowing economy is unlikely to rebound for at least a quarter, with economists fearing that a bumpy rollout of a new nationwide tax has dampened business activity.

Government data showed on Thursday the gross domestic product grew 5.7% in the latest quarter, its slowest pace since the January-March quarter 2014.

While the data will be unwelcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has faced criticism since a shock recall of high-value banknotes last year, numbers indicate the government may not be able to arrest the economys slide just yet.

The new tax regime has seemingly disrupted a lot of economic activity and, as an effect, a turnaround in the economy is unlikely in the next two quarters.

The next quarter impact will be of GST (goods and services tax), which will have an adverse impact on growth overall, Anjali Verma, economist, Phillipcapital India, told Reuters.

Gross fixed capital formation, which reflects how much companies are investing or are willing to do so, also continues to be a concern. According to the latest data, it has grown at 1.6% compared to 7.4% in the same quarter last year. The number shows companies have not gained back their confidence since the cash ban.

Industry chamber Ficci also said the persistent slack in private domestic investments remained a concern. It asked the Reserve Bank of India for a steeper rate cut.

Mihir Sharma, senior fellow, Observer Research Foundation told NDTV: We do not have private investment growing, therefore we cant get GDP growth.

Industry lobby Assocham said policymakers should take urgent steps to revive private investments. The chamber cautioned the government that further downward risks to the growth still prevail in the form of rising crude oil prices due to the Gulf crisis and inventory drawdown in the US that will have its adverse effects on current account deficit and exchange rate.

With companies still grappling with the new tax rules, business surveys are pointing to more pain ahead.

Credit rating agency Icra said the likelihood of economic growth surpassing 7% for the ongoing fiscal has diminished after the bleak Q1 data.

Economist Hugo Erken, who correctly predicted that the GDP growth would slump to 5.7% in Q1, told Mint the rollout of GST is expected to weigh on the second quarter. Our Q2 GDP forecast is somewhere near 5.9-6%, the senior economist at Rabobanks RaboResearch Global Economics and Markets said.

However, in a silver lining for Asias third-largest economy, the services sector gathered steam, posting a growth of 8.7% in the latest quarter, up from 7.2% in the previous three months.

Capital investment also rebounded from a 2.1% contraction in the March quarter.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Axis Bank on Friday said the Reserve Bank has asked it to finalise the resolution plan for 12 accounts by December 13, failing which insolvency proceedings will have to initiated against them.

In a regulatory filing, the private sector lender said it has a total exposure of Rs 2,492 crore in these 12 accounts.

Of this, total fund based outstanding of the bank was Rs 1,843 crore and non-fund based outstanding was Rs 649 crore.

The Reserve Bank of India has issued directions in their communication dated August 28 advising banks to finalise and implement viable resolution plan in select accounts by December 13, 2017, failing which, insolvency proceedings should be initiated in all the accounts mentioned and accordingly mandated provisions should be made by March 31, 2018, Axis Bank said.

It, however, did not disclose which companies were on the list.

It said around 75% of the outstanding was secured and the provision held for this outstanding was Rs 862 crore.

The Axis Bank stock closed 1.4% up at Rs 507.65 on BSE.
Hugo Erken, senior economist at Rabobanks RaboResearch Global Economics and Markets, is credited for rightly predicting that first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth in India will decelerate to 5.7%. Netherlands-based Erkens forecast was the most accurate in Bloomberg and Reuters surveys, where the median forecast for GDP was 6.5% and 6.6% respectively.

In a telephone interview after the release of official growth numbers on Thursday, Erken said sluggish private investment, as a result of the lasting impact of demonetisation, was expected to impact growth.

He said that while the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) is expected to weigh on second quarter GDP growth, on a medium- to long-term basis, the Indian economy has the potential to reach a higher growth rate. Various reforms undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are the main reason for his optimism.

Edited excerpts of the interview:

You rightly predicted Q1 GDP to decelerate to 5.7%. What was the basis of this prediction?

At Rabobank, we use NiGEM, an econometric world trade model, for our economic forecasts. Partly the sluggish consumption in private sector was expected due to lasting impact of demonetisation. This was visible in the previous quarter as well. Another factor that we looked at growth of bank loans, which was negative and decreasing. Part of this was because of build-up of stressed assets. In our forecasts we also take into account the impact of GST, which will probably weigh on growth in the July-September quarter.

What are your thoughts on demonetisation?

I think it is little bit too early to say if the exercise was useful. We still have to see what will eventually happen with tax collection and revenues. Personally, I think it was a bold decision, but in the end it will be beneficial to India because of continuing formalisation of the economy.

In the short-term, it is disruptive and as the GDP numbers show, India is paying a price for it. However, in the medium-term we are still confident that India GDP growth will pick up quite rapidly to somewhere near 8% towards the October-December quarter. We are quite bullish on India in the medium- to longer-term.

What is the basis for your optimism?

We think that the reforms undertaken by the Modi administration so far are will generate a positive impact on growth. Also, by the end of year, transitory and negative impact of GST, as well as demonetisation, will peter out. The central bank (Reserve Bank of India) has also taken steps to clean (up) bad loans. We think this will improve the health of the banking sector, especially public banks, and help aid private investment.

What is your GDP forecast for Q2?

We believe GST will continue to weigh on Q2 GDP as seen from the July purchasing managers index, which fell sharply. Our Q2 GDP forecast is somewhere near 5.9-6%.
Asking inconvenient questions is what professional journalists are meant to do, so let me ask it upfront: Was Hemant Karkare, the Maharashtra police officer who was martyred during the 26/11 terror attack, a consummate liar and a pawn in the hands of the political establishment?

I ask this because in the light of the bail granted to Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, there is an underlying narrative being pushed that the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) headed by Karkare had fixed a nationalist hero like Purohit only because the then UPA government wanted to raise the bogey of saffron terror.

I also ask this question because I knew the soft-spoken Karkare as an honourable police officer with whom I had several long off the record conversations. A day before the attack, Karkare had rung up to say he wanted to finally speak out. The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna had run a sustained campaign against the officer, describing him as anti-Hindu. He sounded very anxious. I promised to come down to Mumbai and do the interview over the weekend. Only the very next day, Mumbai was bloodied by terror and Karkare made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Now, almost a decade later, I am troubled: Could it be that the officer who was cremated with full national honours has suddenly become a suspect in the eyes of the investigating agencies? The National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet in the Malegaon case claims that at least two important witnesses were forced to give false incriminating statements against the accused, including Purohit. It is the divergence in the chargesheets filed by the NIA and the Maharashtra ATS that has been cited as an important reason for granting bail to Purohit.

Where once we had a Congress home minister who spoke loosely of Hindu terror, now the BJP home minister is the very individual who had openly defended Sadhvi Pragya, the key Malegaon blast accused. When the political superiors of the prosecuting agencies have such widely publicly differing positions on a serious terror charge, can one reasonably expect the investigation to be truly non-partisan and independent?

The truth is, a sharply-polarising political narrative has shadowed almost every major terror investigation in India. Where once we were told that Right-wing groups like Abhinav Bharat had emerged to counter Islamicist terror, now it seems that such terror modules were simply manufactured by the UPA government to embarrass the BJP and Sangh parivar. Where once we were provided detailed transcripts of terror tapes involving individuals like Purohit and Pragya (the audio conversations run into several hours), now we are being told to completely disregard them as planted information. Witnesses suddenly turn hostile even as a public prosecutor resigns saying she was asked to go slow by the NIA post 2014. The Gujarat police officers who were arrested as fake encounter specialists are now being released and lionised as heroes.

Look at the mess then that a country whose leadership promises zero tolerance to terror finds itself in. We now have completely contrarian versions being offered to the Samjhauta Express blasts of 2007: Was it the LeT-ISI-SIMI nexus or were Sangh supporters like Swami Aseemanand involved? Then, be it the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, Ajmer blasts, or the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad where the original case was built up against local Muslims only to be later pinned on Right-wing Hindu groups, the countrys track record in successfully prosecuting terror cases is highly dodgy.

Sadly, by projecting terror through a partisan Hindu-Muslim prism, Indias political class has dangerously compromised national security. It is increasingly apparent now: Either the previous Congress-led government was lying or the present government is protecting the accused. There is now an equally disturbing nationalist narrative that has crept in: Challenging the official version is now an anti-national act, making it virtually impossible to separate hard facts from the ceaseless propaganda.

Where does this leave Karkare? Dead men cant defend themselves so one can only hope that the State comes clean: Either expose Karkares investigation as a hit-job or stand firmly by him. The political tug of war over national security has left a professional policemans honour at stake.

Post-script: Just a few days before Purohit was granted bail, 10 anonymous Muslim men walked free after spending more than a decade in jail after the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in the 2005 Hyderabad suicide bomb case. Only this time, there were no noisy prime time debates, no nationalist outrage. The acquitted, quite simply it seems, belonged to the wrong religion.

Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author

The views expressed are personal

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In recent weeks an article posted on social media proved a curious artefact. It was boldly plugged, Is ancient India overrated? A mind-blowing analysis by Chinese ex Professor from University of Toronto. No, the writer argues, if anything, ancient India is sorely underrated.

This had appeal on several levels: A personal interest in the ancient heritage of the subcontinent; that it was supposedly written by a Chinese or Chinese-origin person while the Doklam impasse continued, and finally, that the author was a Toronto resident.

A search through the University of Toronto faculty directory, however, delivered no entries for the ex-professor Pak L Huide, so I approached contacts to try and locate this former professor. The response: No records. Seems like a fake, I was told in confidence since there were privacy issues involved.

To be fair, there may be plenty of reasons for this: A Chinese national may be unwilling to be seen writing a pro-India piece during the prevailing cross-border confrontation. Or maybe it was matter of semantics  could the person be from a University in Toronto? Thats doubtful since the manner of writing of the piece itself didnt lend itself to the belief that he or she was particularly adept at playing around with the English language.

Given the places where this appeared and soon spread online, this could also have been counter-propaganda. If that is the case, it once again underscored Indias inability to communicate its message effectively.

Doklam itself is an example of that. While sections of think-tankdom agree India may have succeeded in not conceding an inch, American media isnt giving column centimetres to that contention.

India really has no institutionalised mechanism to make its point. The Chinese are blunt, with the kind of brazen badgering that doesnt appear in global diplomacy outside the hilarious if fake Twitter handle of the Pyongyang regime. China flaunts fake facts on racist videos, but still gains greater traction than the statements from Indias ministry of external affairs.

Sure, the intent in New Delhi may have been to not raise temperatures with intemperate outbursts, but the presentation of its case was so dully bureaucratic, it went cold.

Thats ironic. With a free and fiery media and a film industry thats getting edgier and more sophisticated, you would think theres a talent pool to trawl to outclass the opposing view. But all that talk of soft power is not yet being heard. Official minimalism can be supplemented with informal channelling of spin.

The Chinese make an effort to communicate, however amateurish that may be: From having the Global Times, the party propaganda publication, appear in my mailbox in New York and subsequently in Toronto; to news channels like the unfortunately named CCTV, spouting the closed circuit messages of the Communist regime, popping up on cable; and official statements that offer red meat. Indias outreach is so staid and stoic, it gets lost in the static.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on American affairs

The views expressed are personal

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The additional and session court in Dehradun will pronounce today the sentence for Delhi techie Rajesh Gulati, who was convicted on Thursday for killing and chopping his wife Anupama into 72 pieces.

The incident came to the light after Anupamas brother Sujan Pradhan filed a missing police complaint with the local police on December 11, 2010.

A file picture of Anupama

A day later, police interrogated Rajesh who confessed of killing wife in a fit of anger by slamming her head against the wall on the night of October 17, 2010. The next morning he purchased a deep freezer, cut Anupamas body into 72 pieces and kept the parts in the freezer. Whenever his two kids or relatives would ask about her, he would say Anupama is out.

In its charge sheet filed on March 10, 2011, police named Gulati as the prime and only accused under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).

In the 350-page charge sheet, the motive behind the murder of Anupama (33) was described as the strained relations between the couple and alleged second marriage of Rajesh with Jhuma Dutta of Kolkata.

It took almost seven years for the case to come to the conclusion. According to government counsel GP Raturi, the court has held Rajesh guilty for murdering wife and hiding proofs related to the murder.

We will seek maximum term for the guilty, Raturi said.

Sources hinted the court of Justice Vinod Kumar could pronounce lifetime imprisonment or hanging till death for the accused.

Rajesh and Anupama both hail from the national capital. The couple decided to settle in Dehradun following their return to India after spending almost 18 years in the United States.

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DEHRADUN: With their mother no more and father behind bars, the Gulati kids were for the last seven years with their maternal relatives who did everything to ensure the best possible care and affection to the now grown-up children.

Anupama had given birth to twins  a boy and a girl  in 2006 when the couple was living in the United States. The twins were four years when their software engineer father Rajesh murdered their mother, chopped her body into 72 pieces and stored them in a deep freezer to hide the crime in October 2010. Seven years later, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for the brutal crime that shocked the state.

Rajesh doesnt exist for Anupamas family. His name is never uttered in front of the two kids in Anupamas maternal household.

We never discuss anything about their father or even about the case with the kids...were taking great care to bring them up sensitively and try to keep them away from anything (related to Rajesh) that may impact them (adversely), Anupamas brother Sujan Kumar Pradhan told HT.

Sujan had waged a legal fight for seven years to get justice for his sister.

In class 6 now, the twins have been living with their maternal grandparents, maternal uncle, aunt and their two children in Delhi. The effect (of being bereft of parents) becomes apparent during the parents-teachers meeting at their school, he said, adding that the kids once innocently asked him if they could call him Papa.

As the children were born in the US, their American citizenship remains valid. Now that Rajesh has been convicted, we will file for the official guardianship of the kids, Sujan said. During the course of the trial, Rajeshs family had earlier applied for the custody of the kids but a family court dismissed the plea.

Following the murder, Rajesh, who hid Anupamas mutilated body in a deep freezer, had taken his children to Mussoorie on a joyride. It was later revealed that he was looking for a getaway to dispose of the chopped body parts in black polythene bags at the Mussoorie hills.

The court took cognizance of the childrens plight and ordered for a monetary fine of R 15 lakh on Rajesh, of which Rs 14.30 lakh will be turned into a fixed deposit for the welfare of the twins.

When the defence lawyer prayed against a possible death sentence citing Article 21 of the Constitution (which promises protection of life and personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law), the prosecution argued how the provision was violated with the victim and her children. Because of what happened, the minor kids today recognise neither their mother nor fatherthe brutal crime deprived the childrens right to a happy life, district government counsel GP Raturi had told the court.

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The Uttarakhand BJP doesnt appear hopeful about any of its four remaining parliamentarians being picked for the Union Cabinet on Sunday.

The Cabinet reshuffle reports gained credence after half-a-dozen ministers put in their papers late on Thursday night. Those who resigned include Mahendra Nath Pandey, who was moved to Uttar Pradesh for heading the BJP.

The resignations followed amid rumours that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking for competent hands as his ministerial colleagues. Analysts feel the move aims to salvage his image which suffered a dent lately for two key factors: a major slowdown in economic growth and the demonetisation gamble having come a cropper.

The possibility a major reshuffle in the Union Cabinet though has evoked a lukewarm response from the BJPs state unit. That is surprising considering that all the five parliamentarians from Uttarakhand belong to the saffron party. So far, only one of them  Almora MP Ajay Tamta  has got the representation in the Union Cabinet. Prime Minister Modi chose the partys Dalit face from Uttarakhand during the Cabinet reshuffle he carried out in July last year.

That, many BJP insiders see, as one of the reasons behind a tiny state like Uttarakhand unlikely to get a further representation in the Modi Cabinet. I dont think the Prime Minister can afford to induct another local parliamentarian into his Cabinet, a senior party leader said, adding a major reason behind that is the small size of our state, which boasts of just five Lok Sabha seats.

Besides, he added, all other equations too come in the way of any of our remaining four MPs landing a Cabinet berth. The four MPs are BC Khanduri (Pauri), Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Nainital), Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank (Haridwar) and Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah (Tehri). Of these four parliamentarians, Khanduri, Koshiyari and Nishank have helmed the state as former chief ministers. They are our party veterans yet there is a little likelihood of Modiji inducting them into his Cabinet owing to various factors, another BJP leader said.

One, he clarified, two former chief ministers  octogenarian Khanduri and former BJP state chief Koshiyari  were out of reckoning due to their advanced age. They have crossed the age limit of 75 which Modi had set for inducting his party men into the Union Cabinet, said the BJP leader.

According to him, Nishank, 55, could have stood a chance but his image was sullied by his rivals within the party by playing up corruption charges against him. As a result, the high command replaced him with Khanduri as the partys mascot for the 2012 assembly polls, a former state BJP office bearer said, adding that no corruption charge was proved against Nishank in the court.

Besides, BJP insiders were unanimous that none of the four party MPs including Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah stood the chance to land a Cabinet berth on the criterion of merit. Modi plans a Cabinet rejig to ensure that his ministers perform efficiently so that he is able to arrest the economic downslide ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls, for which less than two years are left, a BJP leader said.

Officially, the BJP refused to comment on the issue. Constitutionally, selecting members of his Cabinet is the Prime Ministers sole prerogative. So, I cant make any comment on who he should induct into his Cabinet, BJP state president Ajay Bhatt told Hindustan Times.

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This festive season, Durga idols from Chittaranjan Park might not go all the way to Okhla for immersion in the Yamuna.

According to a Delhi government proposal, the visarjans (immersion) might happen in the Bengali neighbourhood itself.

We have done a series of meetings with 12 puja committees in Chittaranjan Park, Greater Kailash I, Greater Kailash II and Alaknanda. Also had a meeting with Delhi Jal Board chairman and water minister Rajendra Gautam and have given the proposal of creating artificial ponds in GK II and CR Park. These temporary immersion sites will be on DJB land. Once it happens here, which is almost mini Bengal, it sends a nationwide message and can get replicated, Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj told Hindustan Times.

According to the local MLA, already many puja committees are on board with the idea. Organisers such as Milan Samiti, E Block, D Block, Cooperative and GK II are very excited about the idea. The organisers in Alaknanda might also come on board. B Block and Pocket 52 have already been doing this on their own compounds. A few like Mela Ground and Nabapally havent agreed. We wont force anyone but will give them all options, Bhardwaj said.

A steering committee for this has already been formed with a representative of every puja committee part of it. It will decide on time slots for immersion for different organisers -- 3.30pm, 4.30pm. 5.30pm and so on -- so that congestion because of immersion processions can be avoided.

But some are still sitting on the fence regarding the proposed move. Ashish Datta of the Kali Mandir Samiti says it is an emotional decision, which cant be taken easily.

This is a ritual which has been going on for decades. Peoples sentiments are involved. The proposal has been given by Bhardwaj and it is true the stretch at Okhla where our immersion takes place has become more of a nallah and there is no remnant of a river. We are still debating it and will take a decision in another 5-6 days, Datta said.

One of the Mela Ground puja organisers said it was not logistically possible for them to have immersion at a site in CR Park. Our idols are 15-16ft in height. You need an enclosure, which is over 20ft. Where do we get that here? We cant dig up our grounds. We will go to the Yamuna for the immersions, Shekhar Guha of the Mela Ground committee said.

There are 200-odd Durga Pujas, including the NCR towns of Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, which head to the different Yamuna ghats for immersion every year.

The National Green Tribunal in 2015 had banned immersion of idols made from non-biodegradable material such as quick-setting gypsum plaster, also known as Plaster of Paris, or plastic in the Yamuna.

It had said that idol immersion should be done from a designated place so that the river doesnt get polluted. The bench said it cannot allow the river to get polluted and hence in an earlier order had prohibited throwing of puja material from anywhere, except from designated ghats.

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A juvenile on Thursday apprehended and another man arrested from northwest Delhis Bharat Nagar for allegedly killing a 16-year-old boy in front of his mother, following a fight over sharing whitener for inhalation to get a high, the police said.

In the afternoon, the police were informed that a teenager was declared brought dead by the doctors at a hospital after being attacked with a broken glass bottle.

The deceased, Shahrukh, was a resident of Kabir Nagar.

The deceased and the accused were said to be addicted to whitener. The two used to frequently fight with each other over sharing the substance, the police said.

The accused, also a resident of the same area, told the police that as Shahrukh had refused to share whitener with him, he decided to confront him.

Another man, Dinesh Chegi, was also present when the altercation between the accused and the deceased took place and all three were sitting by the Kabir Nagar railway tracks, the police said.

Dinesh allegedly instigated the accused to launch an attack on Shahrukh, said a senior police officer.

The accused subsequently slit the victims neck with a broken glass bottle and along with Chegi, fled the spot, he added.

Meanwhile, the deceaseds mother was informed of the scuffle between her son and the accused. She reached the spot and saw Shahrukh collapse, the officer said.

With the help of the locals, she rushed her son to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead by the doctors.

A case was registered on a complaint by the deceaseds mother, the police said, adding that subsequently, Dinesh was arrested and the juvenile accused apprehended.

Shahrukhs body was sent for a post-mortem, the police said.
A gangster who escaped from Uttar Pradeshs Mainpuri jail in March was arrested by the Delhi Police crime branch after a brief shootout in the lanes of Old Delhi.

Police said 27-year-old Munshad is a member of the Mukim Kala gang and had a reward of Rs 15,000 on his arrest. He has more than 20 criminal cases such as murder, extortion, robbery, rioting against him. Police recovered a pistol and three cartridges from him.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), crime, Rajesh Deo said the crime branch had information about members of the Mukim Kala gang who were present in the Jama Masjid area.

Deo said crime branch officials reached the spot around 7.30 pm after a tip-off and waited for the men. Near Jama Masjid, police saw the three men and asked them for their identity.

When we stopped them, they panicked. One of them, whom we later identified as Munshad, whipped out his pistol and fired at constables Parvinder and Prashant who managed to dodge the bullets. They ran towards the market but our officers chased them. One of them tried to fire again at the police team near Jama Masjid but our officers overpowered him. The other two managed to flee, said DCP Deo.

Munshad was arrested and a loaded pistol with three bullets was recovered from him. Police said Munshad and his associates had scaled the boundary wall of the Mainpuri jail in March 2017 and fled prison.

The Uttar Pradesh police had announced a reward of Rs 15,000 on his arrest. Munsad told the police his gang was active in the National Capital Region and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The gang has been involved in robbing jewellers of UP and Haryana. After murdering two Kairana-based businessmen in 2014, the Kala gang started spreading their extortion racket in Kairana.

After escaping from prison, he and his gang members had come to Shakurpur and were staying at a flat owned by a man named Ayub. Police are probing Ayubs role.
Senior officers of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) rushed to Yamuna bank on Friday to dismantle a mysterious road that had cropped up on the river. The move came a day after Hindustan Times had reported about the path under the Delhi Metro bridge between Yamuna Bank and Indraprastha.

Following their visit, DDA officials confirmed that the road had been illegally constructed and was choking the river.

Officials also said that they had stumbled upon a large ditch on the river island from where they suspect sand was being mined illegally. The road was being used to transport sand from the island to the river banks.

The road made of debris that connected the eastern bank of Yamuna with a riverine island. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo)

Their findings strengthened the claims that the road construction was the handiwork of sand mafia. DDA has lodged a complaint with the Shakarpur police station claiming that anti-social elements had dumped debris in the river to construct a road.

Before the road was dismantled, one of our guards walked up to the river island. He found a ditch  at least 10 feet by 20 feet. Our suspicion about the role of sand mafia has become stronger after we found the hole, a senior official said.

A 12-member quick response team of DDAs eastern division, headed by an executive engineer and two assistant engineers, rushed to the spot on Friday. JCB machines were used to dismantle the road. The DDA also plans to bring in a Poplane machine to clear the remaining debris from the riverbed after Eid al-Adha.

After visiting the site, senior engineers of the DDA claimed that the construction of the road would have taken at least three to four months and over 200 trucks of debris could have been used.

The road was around 125 metre long and around 4 metre wide. The river bed where the road was built was at least 5 feet deep. This means it took tonnes of waste and several months to build that road, an official said.

Activists, however, questioned how the authorities  the police and the DDA  had failed to detect that a road was being built on the river bed.

It is clear the road was not built by any government agency. It was built illegally by unscrupulous persons. But it was not built overnight. So what were the authorities doing? This could not have happened without the help and connivance of a section of government officials, said Manoj Mishra, a river activist.

Environmentalists were shocked to see the new road and claimed that this would damage the rivers ecology as every activity of the river from silt transportation, groundwater recharge and revival of subsoil bacteria would be affected.

DDA officials said that they have roped in a private security agency to guard the Yamuna banks and prevent dumping of wastes and debris in the river.

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Delhi Police on Friday morning sent a team to suite number 345 of the Leela Palace Hotel in the Capital where former Congress minister Shashi Throor wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in January 2014.

While the police refused to divulge any information, it said that a team visited the room as part of the investigation. The special investigation team is on the job and the visit was a part of the ongoing probe. We cannot share anymore details, said DCP Manish Chandra.

The move comes a day after the high court asked Delhi Police to inform it after two weeks the status of the probe into the death of Pushkar.

A bench of Justices GS Sistani and Chander Shekhar said so after Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain submitted that the court can look into the status of the investigation they have carried out so far.

It also criticised the police for slow progress into the case and said the probe cannot be unending.

The Additional Solicitor General also submitted that the court could talk to senior Delhi police officials involved with the case inside the chamber as there was no laxity on part of the police in investigating the matter.

He claimed that the lag was not at the individual level but due to the delay in getting the scientific reports.

On hearing this, the bench said it was not fair to look into or monitor the investigation, but would certainly like to know where the investigation stands as of today.

The incident is of January 2014 and we are in middle of 2017. Its almost over three years but nothing concrete has come as of today, the bench said, adding certainly it cannot be unending.

We have no hesitation to look into your report, but it is a bad habit to monitor the probe, it said.

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The recent submission by the government of India in the Delhi High Court arguing that marital rape should not be made a criminal offence is a regressive stand, and one that has the potential to be extremely harmful to victims of sexual abuse in the country. The government has argued that criminalising rape within a marriage may destabilise the institution of marriage and could become a tool of harassment of husbands. Adding insult to injury was the Twitter statement of Swaraj Kaushal, Mizoram Governor and husband of the minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj that if marital rape were to be criminalised, there will be more husbands in the jail, than in the house

Rape is an act of sexual assault inflicted upon a person against their will. Whether the perpetrator of such an act is married to the victim or not, the nature of the act, the violence inflicted on the victim, and the emotional trauma faced by the victim does not change. If anything, the trauma is worse because the victim must continue to live with the perpetrator even after the assault. To inflict upon a person the sort of brutal emotional and physical violence that takes away even the sanctity of their own body in the way that rape does is to deny them their basic humanity. It is not simply a question of social sanction for sexual relations that marriage in conservative societies provides; it is a far more basic question of a persons right to their own body. Sexual relations with even ones own spouse without their consent cannot be considered anything other than rape.

By suggesting that such a law will be misused to persecute men, Mr. Kaushal and the government are attempting to perpetuate a patriarchal mindset that makes men afraid that disgruntled women would seek revenge upon their husbands by the use of this law. It is an argument that diminishes the struggle and emotional abuse that thousands of women, stuck in marriages that they have been forced into and cannot leave for fear of social ostracism, face every single day. It diminishes also the courage and the perseverance that victims of sexual abuse  irrespective of gender  show when they admit to having been raped in a society that continues to blame and shame the victims of such abuse. As for misuse, that is a possibility with almost every law. It stands to reason that convictions and punishments will be meted out only after appropriate investigations.

India is a land of glaring inequalities of class, caste, religion, and gender. Arguments against the criminalisation of marital rape will only add to these inequalities. What we need instead is to establish mechanisms that will allow victims to not only come forward to report such incidents, but also to help them cope with the trauma that they endure.
The government is studying a proposal for screening educational content in cinema halls in small towns across the country, officials in the human resource development (HRD) ministry told HT.

The move was initiated by NASSCOM, an umbrella body of the IT industry in India.

If approved, the ministry will relay courses through its DTH channel, Swayam Prabha, to cinema halls in tier-II towns and urban habitations with a population of less than one lakh.

The unutilised potential of several thousand cinema theatres spread across the country can be tapped through this simple measure. Educational content can be screened between 7 am and 11 am or school timings of the concerned area, a senior HRD official said. The screening can also done on Sundays and other school holidays, they added.

There are a number of single-screen cinema halls and they remain unutilised. By relaying educational content through these halls we can reach out to a number of students at a time especially in smaller towns, the official said.

Officials said mass viewing of educational content on giant screens by high school and higher secondary school students, especially in classes 9 and 12, can have a big impact. However, issues related to the cost of the project and other modalities are yet to be worked out.

The ministry had launched 32 educational channels for providing high quality instruction for higher education, including three that will help students prepare for IIT entrance examination.

The content of these channels has been prepared by IIT professors and other experts.

The ministry cleared the Swayam Prabha scheme in August last year. After watching the content, students can clear their doubts through a toll-free helpline number.

Although more than three crore youth are pursuing higher education, the standard of education is not uniform, raising the issue of quality access to knowledge. Youth in the backward pockets of India need a fair deal in accessing high-quality knowledge to confidently enter the job market, another official said.

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The executive director of a tool manufacturing company - Nagata India pvt ltd - in Manesar was stabbed to death in Gurgaon on Wednesday evening.

Though the police are probing the incident from all angles, they suspects robbery as the cause of the murder.

The body of the victim, 53-year-old Ramesh Vij, was found by locals around 10pm near the CCA School in Sector 4.

The incident happened when the victims wife, his son, daughter and son-in-law had gone to a mall to celebrate the birthday of his daughter on Wednesday.

A case of murder has been registered at the Sector 9-A police station on the complaint of Gaurav Khanna, son-in-law of the victim.

His Toyota Corolla Altis car, provided to him by the company, was found some distance away crashed to an electric pole, Khanna told police.

He had withdrawn cash from an ATM on Old Railway road near the New Colony curve, said the police. An amount of Rs 30,000 has been recovered from his car. All the angles are being probed but it seems to be a robbery gone wrong but noting can be ruled out, said sub-inspector Krishan Kumar, the investigating officer.

Kumar said they received information around 10pm and immediately rushed to the spot, where they found Vij lying dead on the ground.

He was found fatally stabbed in the chest and the details about his injuries would become clear after the postmortem report is out, said the investigating officer. The police are trying to obtain the CCTV footage of the ATM and the area around it where the victim was stabbed.

The victim was a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in die manufacturing, tool tryouts and was an expert in die design for all kinds of skin panels for major automotive companies including Ford, Suzuki, Maruti, General motors and other companies. Also, he had a house in Sector 5 part 3.

Vij was also the plant head at Nagata India Pvt Ltd, a tool and die manufacturing company in IMT Manesar, said police.

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The BCG vaccine, the only one against tuberculosis, could offer protection against the disease for nearly twice as long than previously thought, a new study has found.

The new case-control study led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that if administered around 12-13 years, the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine protected over 50% of the children in the United Kingdom against tuberculosis for at least 20 years and then waned. It was earlier believed to be effective for 10-15 years.

Although some studies in countries such as Brazil and Norway have indicated that BCG might be effective for longer than first thought, this study provides the most robust evidence to date, says the report published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

With no new tuberculosis vaccine imminently available, the researchers say their findings highlight the important role BCG is playing in preventing the spread of the disease and the need for focussed vaccination coverage in high-risk areas.

In India, BCG vaccine is part of the routine immunisation programme under which about 65% children are fully immunised, about 35% partially immunised and there is still about 7% that dont get immunised at all.

Tuberculosis is a major, and preventable, cause of death and disease that mainly affects the lungs.

Tuberculosis is less than half as likely to occur in vaccinated children as compared to unvaccinated children 10 to 20 years later, says the report.

Our study showed it offers moderate protection for longer than had been recognised. This could help countries who are moving towards being low-risk areas assess the cost-effectiveness of BCG in the prevention of the disease, and also be a new yardstick against which new TB vaccines in development can be measured, lead author Dr Punam Mangtani, an associate professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said.

BCG vaccine is given in infancy in 158 countries with an estimated 88% coverage overall. Its protective effect can be lower closer to the equator where environmental non-tuberculous mycobacteria or TB infection are more common and, if they occur before vaccination, can mask or block its effect.

Although the World Health Organisations End TB strategy highlights the importance of continuing infant BCG vaccination in high prevalence settings, this study suggests it may have a bigger role to play.

BCG given at school age may help in the control of TB, including reducing the risk of multi drug resistant disease, as those vaccinated around 13 years of age have been protected into adulthood when transmission of the infection was more likely. Health officials should consider recommending childhood BCG vaccination where TB risk is high and where infant vaccination has not been given, Dr Mangtani said.

BCG is not perfect but until a new, more effective vaccine is approved and rolled out, we should be maximising its potential. We should also be supporting the various agencies that make sure BCG is readily available.

Two to three billion of the worlds population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 10% of whom progress to clinical disease. An estimated 10.4 million new cases of TB and 1.8 million deaths happened globally in 2015.

In India, 28 lakh new tuberculosis infections are reported in a year and the disease kills an estimated 4.8 lakh people annually.

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At least 90 infants have died at the MG Hospital in Banswara district of Rajasthan in the last two months, prompting the state government to order an inquiry.

Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf formed a three-member committee, headed by Dr SM Mittal, on Thursday to probe the matter and file a report within three days.

The district hospital recorded the deaths of 90 newborns in July and August, Chief Medical and Health Officer, Banswara, Dr HL Tabiyar told PTI.

He said several of them died due to birth asphyxia but exact number of those who perished because of this reason will be known after investigation.

Birth asphyxia is a medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn during the birth process.

The casualties were reported from the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) of the hospital in Banswara, which is nearly 500 km from the state capital Jaipur.

According to MG hospitals report, from 20 deaths at the SNCU ward in April and 18 in May, the figure rose to 26 in June, 50 in July but downed to 40 in August.

The report also shows that the number of deaths of underweight children, too, has increased significantly-- from 6 in April and 4 in May to 14 in July and 20 in August.

District collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal said of the total number of deaths 40 to 45% occurred due to asphyxia but exact number of asphyxia deaths is yet to be ascertained.

The report comes close on the hills of death of dozens of children at a government hospital in Uttar Pradeshs Gorakhpur amid allegations that the newborns had died due to snapped oxygen supply over unpaid bills.

It is not (like the) Gorakhpur case. We have launched Pukar Programme in the district on July 12 to encourage pregnant tribal women to undergo proper treatment, he added.

Several complicated cases of tribals living in far-flung areas come to the hospital due to the initiative and we have saved newborn and mothers. Such deaths go unreported otherwise. 94% institutional deliveries occur in Banswara, but 6% is a huge number, he said.
Two massive, rain-soaked cities on opposite sides of the world are struggling with swirling, brackish waters that have brought death and devastation. For Houston, its unprecedented. For Mumbai, its painfully common.

For Indias financial capital and other South Asian cities and farmlands, floods are regular, cataclysmic occurrences made worse by breakneck urban development and population booms that will only become more challenging as climate change increases disaster risk.

In the last two months, more than 1,000 people have been killed in flooding events across India, southern Nepal and northern Bangladesh. Some 40 million more have seen their homes, businesses or crops destroyed.

Mumbai was especially hard hit, with water swamping offices, schools and roads and about 60 people killed  33 alone in Thursdays collapse of a 117-year-old apartment building whose foundation had been weakened by the flooding.

The city was brought to its knees, said Darryl DMonte, a Mumbai-based environmentalist.

Residents in a neighbourhood near the Barker Reservoir return to their homes to collect belongings August 31, 2017 in Houston, Texas. The neighborhoods surrounding the reservoir are still experiencing severe flooding due to the accumulation of historic levels of rainfall, though floodwaters are beginning to recede in many parts of the city. (AFP)

Such tragedies happen almost every year in South Asia. The amount of rain Hurricane Harvey dumped on Houston over the past week was unprecedented not only for the city but also for the continental US. Mumbai, however, experienced similar flooding just 12 years ago, and several major Indian cities have been inundated since then, including Kolkata in 2007, Hyderabad in 2008, Srinagar in 2014 and Chennai in 2015.

The death toll is often high, as it is this monsoon season, because of factors that include inadequate housing. In Mumbai alone, some 3 million people are crammed into low-lying slums and have few places to flee to when floods hit.

Experts say Indian officials are doing little to reduce the risks. Instead, they allow new construction, paving over floodplains, denuding forests and testing river banks.

Mumbai authorities have ignored plans to upgrade the citys British-era drainage system, clear drains of plastic debris and install pumping stations and flood gates to get any floodwaters out, DMonte said.

In most cities, lakes, ponds and even wide-open spaces acted as sponges to absorb excess rainfall. These have all disappeared from our cities and towns as water bodies are filled up and buildings come up in their place, said Chandra Bhushan of the Centre for Science and Environment, an environment think tank in New Delhi.

We are becoming very good at weather forecasting. But we are very poor in putting that forecast information into decisions and actions, he said.

Pakistani commuters travel on a flooded street following a heavy rainfall in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. Monsoon rains in Pakistan's port city of Karachi left at least eight people dead in flood-related mishaps, officials said Thursday. (AP)

For north Indian farmer Avdesh Singh, predictions are of no consequence. Days ago, Singh watched as his home and fields sown with lentil crops were submerged in the village of Narayanpur Jaisingh, in state of Uttar Pradesh. He had managed to flee with the five other members of his family to a nearby highway, where they camped in the open for five days before being rescued.

This was a dry area. We yearned for rain. But not this way, he said. Our world has turned topsy-turvy and theres no going back.

Scientists have warned that flooding events will only become more frequent, as climate change brings stronger storms and makes rainfall more erratic  a key danger for those living along both the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mexico, which are considered hurricane alleys for the strong storms that barrel through.

Already, average temperatures across India have risen some 1.8 degrees Celsius in the last century. That extra heat increases evaporation, which makes storm clouds heavier. Higher temperatures are also increasing snow and ice melt in the Himalayas, sending more water rushing to the plains.

Extreme rainfall events are going to be a part of our lives. If that is the case, how do we design our cities? Bhushan said. The current chaotic, business-as-usual urban sprawl is a recipe for disaster.

In addition, year-round farming is clogging irrigation canals and widespread deforestation has contributed to soil erosion, reducing the ability of land to absorb water. Those were key reasons for Indias deadliest flooding of this monsoon season.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, people walk past a waterlogged railway station during heavy rainfall in Mumbai, India. For India's financial capital Mumbai and other South Asian cities and farmlands, floods are regular, cataclysmic occurrences made worse by breakneck urban development and population booms that will only become more challenging as climate change increases disaster risk. (AP)

Nearly 520 people were killed last month in northern Bihar state, where silt-filled rivers couldnt cope with this years high volume of water, said Dinesh Mishra, an environmentalist who has studied Bihars flood patterns for years. He blamed the states decision in the 1950s to build embankments along those rivers for tripling the area now prone to flooding.

Instead of constructing these embankments, the government should have pushed ahead with a plan to remove the silt from the rivers, he said.

These problems are not confined to India. Recent floods in neighbouring Nepal killed 149 people and left 27 missing, while also damaging or destroying almost a quarter of a million homes.

There, too, experts blamed deforestation and land degradation for a tragedy made worse by a lack of preparation and an institutional inability to cope.

Some people were given some warning about the flood, but they were not told where to go in such disasters, said geologist Shree Kamal Dwivedi with Nepals Department of Water Induced Disaster Management in Kathmandu.

It should be urgent now for authorities to figure out how to cope with future flooding, he said, given that global warming and climate change is contributing to the change in rainfall patterns and threatening to make things worse.

Men push a water tank through a partially flooded street at a residential area in Mumbai, India, August 30, 2017. (REUTERS)

Many governments in India, Bangladesh and Nepal say they dont have the money to make major changes. Still, there have been some improvements to flood preparations, including test versions of early flood warning systems and better protocols for disaster response. But experts say officials need to heed those warnings, and police and soldiers need disaster management training if they are going to continue to be deployed for rescue efforts.

In Mumbai, there is obvious room for improvement.

On Aug. 24, weather forecasters predicted heavy rain was on the way. But the warning by local authorities to close down schools and asking people to stay home came five days later.

By then, no warning was necessary. The roads were already waist-deep in water.
India has 23 million child brides and criminalising the consummation of the marriages as rape would not be appropriate, the Centre has told the Supreme Court, opposing a petition that wants 18 to be the age of consent for all girls.

In India, rape and child marriage laws disagree on age of consent. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code says sex with a girl who is below 18 is rape but it has an exception, which says sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is 15 or above, is not rape even if it is without her consent.

The provision is contrary counter to the child marriage restraint act that puts 18 as the age of marriage for girls and 21 for men.

Demanding the discrepancy be fixed, an NGO, Independent Thought, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the inconsistency had split girls below the age of 18 into two categories.

One, those who are not married and for them, the age of sexual consent is 18. Then there are those who are married and a husband can have sexual intercourse with his wife if she is above the age if 15, irrespective of her consent, advocate Gaurav Agarwal said, slamming the government for its stand.

Defending Exception 2 in Section 375, the government has said in an affidavit that 46% of the married women between the ages of 18 and 29 had their wedding ceremony before they were 18. Hence criminalising the consummation of the marriage union as a serious offence such as rape would not be appropriate and practical, it said.

In effect, Indias child brides do not have protection under Section 375, a point that has also been raised by activists who want marital rape to be declared a criminal offence.

Independent Thought has challenged the discrepancies that emerged after Parliament in 2013 passed a law that raised the age of consent for a girl from 16 to 18. Indian law doesnt have a provision of age of consent for boys.

The rationale for raising the age of consent was that a younger girl was incapable of realising the consequences of her decision. She was a minor, who was mentally and physically not mature enough to give consent.

But, the government has told the court that child marriages a reality in India where economic and educational development was uneven. It had therefore decided to retain the exception in Section 375.

Agarwal demanded the exception be done away with.

Citing the courts recent order banning the controversial Islamic practice of instant divorce, Agarwal said like the triple talaq, this provision in the Indian Penal Code, too, is arbitrary and must be struck down.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheeted former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi on Friday, nearly nine months after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Rs 423-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

The probe agency also named eight others Tyagis cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, Infotech legal advisor Gautam Khaitan, former Air Force vice-chief JS Gujral, former AgustaWestland chief executive officer Bruno Spagnolini, former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi and alleged middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Guido Haschke and Christian Michel  in its chargesheet.

Three companies  Italy based Finmeccanica, its UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland and IDS Tunisia  also figured in the document running into around 30,000 pages.

Tyagi, 71, had retired as the Air Force chief in 2007. On December 9 last year, he was held along with Sanjeev and Khaitan on charges of receiving and facilitating bribes in a Rs 3,727-crore deal involving the purchase of 12 AgustaWestland choppers for ferrying senior government dignitaries.

Tyagi is the first former service chief in Indias military history to be arrested or chargesheeted for corruption.

According to sources, the CBI investigation revealed that Tyagi allegedly conspired to reduce the Air Forces service ceiling for choppers from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres  thereby helping AgustaWestland enter the bidding process. The firms choppers are not capable of flying up to 6,000 metres.

The probe also revealed that middlemen from a Tunisia-based company inked several consultancy contracts with AgustaWestland from 2004 to 2005. They then entered into consultancy contracts with Tyagis cousin on a back-to-back basis. Investigators allege that the flow of remittances into Tyagis account and the softening of the Air Forces stand on service ceiling happened around the same time.

On January 1, 2014, India scrapped the contract with AgustaWestland over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore for securing the deal.

According to the chargesheet, the CBI has been able to establish a money trail worth Euros 62 million (Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Islands. It further alleges that the exchequer would have incurred a potential loss of Euros 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) through the deal signed on February 8, 2010.

The CBI had named 13 people in an FIR filed in March 2013. Besides the ones already mentioned in the chargesheet (with the exception of Gujral), it had identified Tyagis cousins Rajeev and Sandeep; former Union minister Santosh Bagrodias brother Satish; IDS Infotech managing director Partap Aggarwal; and Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi as the accused in the case.

Apart from Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland and IDS Tunisia, three other companies Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix, Mohali-based IDS Infotech and IDS Mauritius  also figured in the FIR.

CBI sources said they were still investigating the rest of the accused.

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The BJP president Amit Shah reached Vrindavan town in Uttar Pradeshs Mathura district on Friday to attend the inaugural session of the three-day annual meeting of his partys ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

Sources in the RSS said the meeting is an annual exercise in which the right-wing organisation reviews its affiliates activities over the past year. The office bearers of more than three dozen organisations affiliated to the Sangh are also attending the inaugural session organised at Keshav Dham.

Shah will meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who is already in Vrindavan since Monday evening and holding preparatory meetings, to discuss a number of issues the BJP ruling states have been facing in the recent past.

The violence in Haryana after followers of Dera Sacha Sauda cult ran riot and burned down public and private property at many locations have drawn criticism for the chief minister ML Khattar, who is a member of the BJP, is likely to come up during the meeting.

The incidents triggered allegations that Khattar went soft on them to protect a crucial vote bank.

Read | RSS, BJP bosses to meet for annual review this week, may discuss Haryana, UP issues

Khattars Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, expected to reach Keshav Dham on Saturday, was also criticised of negligence after more than 60 children died in a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur that ran out of its oxygen supply because suppliers were not paid on time.

The RSS has underlined the need for better coordination in Uttar Pradesh between the party and Sangh, cautioning that in the absence of doing so, the government could end up failing to deliver on its promises of good governance.

Most of the senior RSS leaders, including Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Manmohan Vaidya, Dattatreya Hosbole, Dr Krishna Gopal, are also in the town for the meeting.

Sources said Union minister for home Rajnath Singh and Union minister for finance and defence Arun Jaitley are expected to reach on Saturday to participate in sessions on national security and economic issues.

Media gathered at the venue has been kept away and most events are likely to be held behind closed doors.

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With the recent lynching of two men in Bengal over the suspicion of stealing cows, the states count of such killings has risen to five persons this year, making it the deadliest state for bovine-related violence in 2017 till date, shows an IndiaSpend database that records such violence.

As of August 31, 2017, Bengal accounted for 55%or five of ninedeaths recorded in bovine-related attacks reported across India, our database shows. With six deaths recorded since 2010, Bengal is now on a par with Uttar Pradesh, which recorded as many deaths in 12 incidents of such violence over eight years. In this same period, Bengal has reported three incidentsall of which reported fatalities.

In the early hours of August 27, 2017, Nazrul Islam (25), Anwar Hussain (19) and Hafizul Sheikh (19) were transporting cattle from the Dhupguri cattle market to Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district, north-east Bengal, when they were apprehended by a mob near Barohalia village in Jalpaiguri, a senior police officer told IndiaSpend on condition of anonymity. While Sheikh was from Dhubri town in eastern Assam, Islam and Hussain belonged to Pundibari village in Cooch Behar, according to the Dhupguri police.

The men had purchased seven cattle from the market and had lost their way to Tufanganj in the middle of the night, the police officer told IndiaSpend. This was when a group of people, suspecting them to be cattle thieves, attacked them.

Noticing that the men were travelling with cattle, the mob demanded Rs 50,000 to let them pass the area. When the victims said they did not have the money to pay them, the villagers beat them to death, said Anwars father Mahamadul Hussain.

Nazrul Islam, the driver of the vehicle transporting the cattle, escaped, but the 19-year-olds could not. The mob accosted the two men and beat them up at around 3 am on August 27, 2017, a local reporter of the district who did not want to be identified, told IndiaSpend. Residents have been complaining of cow theft for a year now.

So far we have managed to arrest three Barohalia villagersDilip Mondol, Samiyar Rehman and Monohar Sarkar. We have already produced them before the magistrate and now the courts will decide their justice, said the police officer.

Incidence Of Cow-Related Violence In India (2010-2017)

We are now on the lookout to catch the others who formed part of the mob. The arrested (men) are under questioning, the officer said.

Since the arrests, Barohalia residents say they do not know who killed the two teenaged boys. They say the spate of cow thefts over the past year might have led to this extremely violent reaction as the three men were seen transporting cattle at night, said the local reporter.

At the time of filing this report, Hussains family was yet to file a complaint against the villagers, according to the Pundibari police. IndiaSpend could not verify whether Sheikhs family had filed a complaint.

Since 2010: 30 Killed, At Least 210 Injured, 87% Victims Are Muslims; Rumour Triggered 9 Of Every 10 Incidents

Across India, such violence has claimed 30 lives since 2010. At least 210 people were injured in these 75 attacks, including 14 women, two of whom were gang-raped.

Of 75 incidents recorded over eight years, 94%or 71were triggered by rumours of cattle theft, our database shows.

Muslims were the target of 53% (40 of 75) incidents of violence centred on bovine issues in 2010-17 and comprised 87% (26 of 30) killed in 75 incidents, data show.

Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English mediawhich tend to have the widest nationwide news spreadthe database shows that 97% (73 of 75) of such incidents were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modis government came to power in May 2014. More than half or 52% of the bovine-related violence39 of 75 incidentswere reported in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the time, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until August 31, 2017.

Spread of Cow related violence in India (2010-2017)

In 46%35 of 75incidents reported, police registered cases against victims/survivors, an analysis of our database revealed.

A feeling of unease, a sense of insecurity is creeping in among Muslims, outgoing vice-president Hamid Ansari said in his parting interview to Rajya Sabha TV, published on August 10, 2017.

National or state crime data do not distinguish general violence from bovine-related attacks and lynchings, so the IndiaSpend database is the first such statistical perspective to a growing national debate over such violence.

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.
A parliamentary panels observation that sought to question the reliability of GDP data drew sharp reactions from BJP MPs who questioned the basis of such conclusions and demanded the removal of the paragraph concerned from the committees draft report.

Sources privy to the deliberations of the parliamentary standing committee on finance last Tuesday said the panel observed in the draft report that Indias GDP data didnt seem to fully capture and corroborate the prevailing economic situation. This gave rise to apprehensions that the new methodology might result in projecting inaccurate and possibly inflated GDP and related figures. The panel was chaired by Congress leader Veerappa Moily.

BJP MPs led by Nishikant Dubey, however, stalled the adoption of the report on the review of NSSO and CSO and streamlining of statistics collection machinery. With Moilys term getting over on Thursday, his successor is now expected

to take a call on the demand made by BJP MPs on the committee.

Former PM Manmohan Singh, who is also a member of the panel, remained silent as BJP MPs protested against the panels observation. The BJP MP from Godda sought Singhs intervention but the former PM heard the arguments and refused to get drawn into the debate.

The accuracy and reliability of GDP estimates and coherence of methodologies used remains a matter of concern for the committee, said the panel in its draft report. It stated that the GDP data should ideally reflect the momentum of all economic activities.

The government has earlier told the panel that central statistics office (CSO) compiled GDP estimates, which was based on UN Guidelines on System of National Accounts.

Asked how the adoption of UN Fundamental Principles on statistics improved the quality of GDP statistics, the government told the panel that official statistics were public goods and they had to comply with certain basic principles such as professional independence, impartiality, accountability and transparency about methods of collection, compilation and dissemination of statistics.
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal filed by BJP leader Ajay Kumar Agarwal challenging a 2005 Delhi High Court order quashing charges against Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off scam case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said that it would list the appeal for hearing in the week commencing from October 30 this year.

The order came on an interim application filed by Agarwal seeking early hearing and adjudication of the appeal filed against the Delhi High Court order in the Rs 64-crore scam case.

The CBI, which investigated the scam case, had not filed any appeal in the top court against the quashing of charges against certain accused within the stipulated 90-day period.

Agarwal, in his personal capacity, filed the appeal which was admitted by the apex court on October 18, 2005.

The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army was sealed on March 24, 1986. The Swedish Radio had on April 16, 1987 claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel.

The CBI had on January 22, 1990 registered the FIR for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery under the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then President of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

The CBI had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed.

The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999 against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, then defence secretary SK Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company. A supplementary charge sheet against the Hinduja brothers was filed on October 9, 2000.

A special CBI court in Delhi had on March 4, 2011, discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country cannot afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which has already cost Rs 250 crore.
A BSF assistant sub inspector was killed by a Pakistani sniper from across the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch district, 250 km northeast of Jammu on Friday evening.

At about 1745 hrs, ASI Kamaljit Singh of Border Security Force, sustained bullet injuries due to enemy fire initiated from across the Line of Control while he was deployed at a forward post in Krishna Ghati Sector, a BSF officer said.

He was provided immediate first aid and evacuated from the post but unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries, said the officer.

Read more: BSF kills 3 Pakistani Rangers in retaliatory fire in Jammu

Martyr Kamaljit Singh (50), had joined BSF in 1988 and hailed from Malkana village in Bhatinda district of Punjab.

In this hour of grief, Border Security Force stands in solidarity with the bereaved family of the martyr and remains committed to their dignity and well being, the officer added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to induct about a dozen new faces in his council of ministers and re-allocate some important portfolios on Sunday, probably the last major revamp of his team ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The new ministers will be sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which will start at 10 am. The Prime Minister will leave for China to attend the BRICS summit Sunday afternoon.

Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya resigned on Friday, adding to the list of at least seven ministers who have put in their papers in the past forty-eight hours to make way for new faces.

In rejigging his team, Modi is expected to strike a balance between his agenda of governance  by plugging gaps in terms of competence and dynamism in his council of ministers  and political expediency  by giving representation to about half-a-dozen states going to polls by the end of 2018 and reflecting the ruling partys new social engineering formula.

BJP sources said he is likely to put a premium on performance in the re-allocation of portfolios, as was the hint from the list of ministers who were asked to put in their papers.

Of the 73 members of the Union council of ministers, at least eight are likely to be edged out. There can be a maximum of 81 members, which gives the Prime Minister the option of inducting at least 15 new faces in the government. He is, however, unlikely to fill up all vacancies.

Modi and BJP president Amit Shah met on Thursday evening and the two were understood to have discussed the names that could be considered for induction. The JD(U), which joined the NDA recently, is likely to get two ministerial berths.

Among the names doing the rounds in BJP circles as likely contenders for ministerial posts were Vinay Sahasrabuddhe from Maharashtra, former Mumbai police commissioner Satypal Singh, Harish Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh, Prahlad Joshi, Suresh Angadi and Shobha Karandlaje from Karnataka, Prabhat Jha, Rakesh Singh and Prahlad Patel from Madhya Pradesh, Ashwini Choubey from Bihar and Mahesh Giri from Delhi.

BJP sources said that some ministers with independent charges, including Piyush Goyal, Manoj Sinha, and Dharmendra Pradhan, could be in contention for promotion as Cabinet ministers.

Two JD(U) leaders, RCP Singh and Santosh Kumar, are tipped to be the partys nominees for ministerial positions at the Centre.

AIADMK leader Thambidurai met Amit Shah on Friday evening, but sources in the Tamil party said there was no decision on joining the NDA yet.

The ministers who have already resigned include two cabinet ministersKalraj Mishra and Uma Bharti and five ministers of state-- Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who held independent charge of skill development ministry, Sanjeev Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahendra Nath Pandey, and Giriraj Singh.

Water resources and Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharti tweeted on Friday that she would not react to reports about her resignation and only BJP chief Amit Shah or someone authorised by him could comment on it.

Incidentally, a day after resigning, Bharti drove to Vrindavan on Thursday where top BJP and RSS leaders are gathered for a coordination meeting.

Some important portfolios, held as additional charges by ministers, are likely to be re-allocated. Finance minister Arun Jaitley, for instance, holds the additional charge of defence ministry. Asked about this dual charge at a function on Thursday evening, Jaitley said, At least, I hope, not very long.

Suresh Prabhu offered to quit as railway minister after a train accident last week. The PM has asked him to wait. There is an old proposal to integrate infrastructure ministries including road transport & highways, shipping and the railways.

The PM has not given any indication whether the proposal is back on his table, but BJP sources did not rule out its possibility.

The other ministries given to four ministers as additional charge are information and broadcasting, environment and forests, and urban development and housing.

There was speculation in the ruling party circles about the likelihood of Smriti Irani retaining I&B ministry but HT could not independently confirm it.

The Congress said it was the Prime Ministers prerogative to shuffle and reshuffle his council of ministers. I dont see much talent that he has. He may appoint anyone and remove anyone and change any portfolios (but) that will make zero difference because this is the Prime Minister who believes in complete concentration of power, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said.

We have a cabinet form of government, but is it functioning like a cabinet form? Key ministries for more than three years are without a cabinet minister which has never happened. Why? So, that all policy papers which originate from the cabinet ministers signature, are prepared in the PMO. This is what he was doing as the chief minister of Gujarat. That is exactly what he is doing now to India.
They came to Assam from Punjab nearly 200 years ago as soldiers but settled down and assimilated into Assamese society while retaining their religious identity. Now, Assamese Sikhs, who number around 12,000, fear losing their unique identity and want special status and facilities from the state government.

They found a voice this week through a delegation of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) that met chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and apprised him of the problems faced by the Assamese Sikhs.

The Assamese Sikhs are a microscopic minority community but they have been ignored by successive governments. If this continues, the community may become extinct, said DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Taking note of a report in Hindustan Times ahead of last years assembly polls on how the community gets neglected by parties and successive state governments, the DSGMC reached out to the Assamese Sikhs .

Apart from special status, the delegation wants setting up of a world-class education complex at Borkhola in Nagaon for the community and reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. They also sought reservation in the state assembly, urban and rural local bodies, establishment of a skill development centre and plots of land in Guwahati and Nagaon to set up social welfare projects.

Financial help to repair historic Sikh gurdwaras in Assam and assistance to Assamese Sikhs to go on pilgrimage to prominent religious sites as given to other minority communities were among the demands.

The chief minister gave a very patient hearing and assured us that the problems faced by the community would be addressed. He also appointed a senior IAS officer as nodal officer to look into and implement our demands, said Sirsa. Most of the Assamese Sikhs are descendants of 500 soldiers who were sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab to help Ahom king Chandra Kanta Singha fight invaders in 1822.

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A court in Uttarakhands capital Dehradun sentenced Delhi software engineer Rajesh Gulati on Friday to life imprisonment for killing and chopping his wife Anupama into 72 pieces in 2010.

Gulati was convicted of murdering his wife and hiding evidence related to the murder by the additional and sessions court in Dehradun on Thursday.

Anupamas brother Sujan Pradhan filed a missing police complaint with the local police on December 11, 2010. A day later, police interrogated Rajesh who confessed to killing his 33-year-old wife in a fit of anger by slamming her head against the wall on the night of October 17, 2010.

Rajesh Gulati killed his wife Anupama in a fit of anger. (File Photo)

The next morning he cut Anupama into 72 pieces and kept the parts in a deep freezer he bought to hide her body. Whenever his two kids or relatives would ask about her, he would tell them Anupama was out.

When it was unlocked, some pieces of Anupamas body were recovered. It also came to light that Gulati had thrown some pieces of her corpse into a drain on Mussoorie road after packing them into a polythene bag.

According to the prosecution, the couple often had altercations over an alleged extra-marital affair of Gulati and during one such fight between them on October 17, Anupama fell unconscious after hitting her head against the bed.

Rajesh then throttled her to death with the help of a pillow.

Rajesh kept throwing chopped up pieces of her body into the drain gradually in instalments. However, the matter came to light before he could dispose of the chopped pieces of his wifes body completely.

Police named Gulati as the prime and only accused under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code in its charge sheet filed on March 10, 2011.

In the 350-page charge sheet, the police said the motive behind Anupamas murder was the strained relations between the couple and alleged second marriage of Rajesh with Jhuma Dutta of Kolkata.

Rajesh and Anupama both hail from the national capital. The couple decided to settle in Dehradun following their return to India after spending almost 18 years in the United States.

(With PTI inputs)

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The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a larger bench a plea of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking direction to all states for mandatorily giving information to it about any encounter killings in their jurisdiction for the purposes of enquiry.

A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R Banumathi said it would be appropriate if a larger three-judge bench decides the issues raised in the petition.

Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the Commission, said it is a pure question of law as the Act provided for it to enquire on its own or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any person on his behalf into any complaint of violation of human rights by a public servant.

The apex court said a larger bench will look into all the issues.

The court had on July 4 directed various states to file their replies in eight weeks to the NHRCs plea seeking direction for mandatory giving information about any encounter killings.

The NHRC, in its plea filed in 2014, has sought direction to state governments and police authorities that they should continue to provide the information asked for by it in accordance with the guidelines and provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, to probe the cases of encounter killings.

It also sought direction to the state governments that they should not refuse to comply with the recommendations made by Commission.

The NHRC said that due to the apex court verdict of 2014 by which certain guidelines were framed, its role in such enquiries has virtually been nullified.

It had said that Section 12(a) of the Act makes it a mandatory obligation upon the NHRC to inquire on its own or on a petition presented to it by a victim, into the complaints of human rights violation by a public servant.

The plea also said the NHRC has issued guidelines from time to time regarding the procedure to be adopted in cases of encounter killings.

The latest guidelines were issued by the Commission in May, 2010, which provided that an information of encounter killing should be given to NHRC within 48 hours after the incident and a second report along with the post-mortem report, Magisterial Enquiry Report and forensic report should be submitted to the Commission within three months, it said.
The Haryana government on Thursday dismissed five police personnel, who were deployed in the security detail of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, for allegedly stopping security personnel from taking the self-styled godman in custody after his conviction by a CBI court on August 25.

The five police personnel were dismissed from service as they did not cooperate with the police on August 25, director general of police (DGP) BS Sandhu said.

The five, who were arrested on August 25 evening, have been identified as sub-inspector (SI) Krishan Dass, head constables Ram Singh, Vijay Singh and Ajay and constable Balwan Singh.

While two each hail from Sirsa and Hisar, one is from Kaithal. They were part of the inner security cordon of the dera head, who had Z-plus security. The security cover of the dera head now stands withdrawn after his conviction and sentencing for 20 years in rape cases.

On August 26, they were booked under section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon); 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object); 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person) 307 (attempt to murder), 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the government of India), 121-A, 130 (aiding escape of, rescuing or harbouring such prisoner), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 25-54-59 of the Arms Act.

The police had said the five had tried to help the dera chief flee when he was brought outside the Panchkula court complex immediately after his conviction.

On Wednesday, they were produced in a court which sent them to seven-day police remand.
The communication ministry has issued new rules that allow the government to temporarily shut down phone and internet services during a public emergency or for public safety, according to a recent government notification.

Experts say the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules meant internet shutdowns could be carried out in a more organised manner, but they raised concerns over arbitrary censorship.

The notification said directions to suspend services shall not be issued except by the secretary to the government in the home ministry or by the secretary to the state government in-charge of the home department. It wasnt immediately clear if the district magistrates would cease to have the power to order such internet blackouts. The government previously used Section 144 of the CrPC-- aimed at preventing obstruction, annoyance or injury -- to impose internet restrictions.

...in unavoidable circumstances, where obtaining of prior direction is not feasible, such order may be issued by an officer, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India, who has been duly authorised by the Union Home Secretary or the State Home Secretary, the notification said.

India has shut down the internet more than 40 times in 2017, according to Software Freedom Law Centres Internet Shutdowns tracker. In June, the government attributed four such blackouts to violent protests in various states.

The new rules were notified by the Department of Telecommunications on August 8. They dont clearly define public emergency or public safety.

These new rules are important. It (internet shutdown) was earlier happening on an ad hoc basis earlier. In Gujarat, the government once suspended the internet because it didnt want people to cheat (in an exam), Nikhil Pahwa, co-founder of Internet Freedom Foundation, told Hindustan Times .

There were more cases of internet shutdown this year than the past year and they affect fundamental rights. One concern with the new rules is that they were issued without any public consultation or review by an independent panel. This is not the right approach, especially when it comes to something as important as internet use, Pahwa said.

He said the government should start giving the reasons for internet shutdowns so the decisions are open to public scrutiny.

In May this year, the government said a clampdown was necessary for public safety in Kashmir after videos depicting alleged abuse of civilians by security forces sparked protests. There have been internet shutdowns the Valley more than 30 times in the past five years.

Steven Butler, Committee to Protect Journalist Asias programme coordinator, was quoted in an article as saying: This new rule is a worrying sign India plans to continue arbitrarily shutting down the internet, a practice it needs to stop.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, an organisation that advocates net neutrality, freedom and privacy, has listed its concerns over the new rules:

Government has *finally* made legal rules that provide a basis for internet shutdowns. But, many problems remain. https://t.co/8nuAMbxSaR  IFF (@internetfreedom) August 29, 2017

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The government will ease out 13 senior defence ministry bureaucrats for the repeated failures of the state-owned ordnance factories to meet the shortfall in ammunition and poor quality of products.

The Indian Ordnance Factories Service officers, who would be given a three-month termination notice, were being prematurely retired after an assessment of their performance, the ministry said on Thursday.

The government is taking various steps to improve the performance of ordnance factories by making its officers accountable to ensure delivery of quality products to armed forces in prescribed timelines, the ministry said in a statement.

In a report tabled in Parliament in July, the national auditor warned that the armys ammunition stock was running low and the shortage would limit the forces ability to fight a prolonged war. The Comptroller and Auditor General also raised questions about quality and quantity of ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board, which oversees 39 manuunits.

The ministry, sources said, was also examining a proposal to revamp the board in line with the recommendations made by an expert panel, headed by lieutenant general DB Shekatkar (retd).

The government on Wednesday said it had started implementing 65 of the 188 recommendations but those pertaining to restructuring the factory board were still under consideration.

The boards factories make tanks, armoured personnel carriers, ammunition, bombs, rockets, anti-aircraft guns, parachutes and small arms. The auditor had also blamed the board for delays in replacing rejected and unserviceable ammunition.

The IOFS is tasked with ensuring that the ordnance factories meet the militarys needs.

Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd), one of the experts on the Shekatkar panel, told HT the boards revamp was critical as the quality of ammunition was not only suspect but also more expensive than stuff available outside.

The recommendations that are being implemented are the low-hanging fruit. More needs to be done, said Bhatia, who heads the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, a defence ministry think tank.
The sky over Cherpal village in Chhattisgarhs Bijapur is laden with dark rain clouds. In the vast corn fields, Anita Chetty, a 25-year-old tribal woman, moves swiftly and surreptitiously, creating a soft ruffling sound. Clad in a worn-out blue and red suit, her face covered with a brown shawl, she rushes towards a straw and mud hut next to a pond and knocks on the rusty tin door. Its me, Anita murmurs through a small crack on the door, her forehead dotted with shiny beads of sweat.

You shouldnt be here, her mother responds in a voice faint with fear, wanting Anita to leave immediately. They came asking for you.

Anita quickly disappears into the corn fields. In the next few weeks, she will make another risky attempt to visit her home in the heart of Maoist territory in central India  only, she says, if she stays alive.

I thought I had joined Chhattisgarh police. I didnt know I would be mortgaging my life, she says.

In 2005, when Salwa Judum  a government-sponsored vigilante movement to fight Maoists  was active, it mobilised Anita, along with more than 6,000 tribal youth in Chhattisgarhs Maoist-affected districts to work as special police officers (SPOs). In 2011, when the Supreme Court banned Judum and ordered the state government to stop using SPOs in counter-insurgency operations, more than half of the SPOs were absorbed as assistant constables. Many, including Anita, were removed from the force without any explanation.

Watch: Life of a former SPO in Chhattisgarh

Having stood out for taking a position against Maoists, these former SPOs now find their lives oscillating between uncertainty and terror. They do odd jobs, dont go home because they fear for their lives, shudder each time they hear of former SPOs being killed by Maoists, and are unsure if the government will consider them for any jobs in the future.

I cannot restart a life in my village because I am on the radar of Maoists. And the government that recruited me as an SPO now finds me useless, says Anita, who works as a domestic help in a colony 20km from her native village.

All this is in stark contrast to the life she imagined while signing up for the police ki naukri and getting trained in physical combat and operating a .303 rifle. Now I regret joining the force but back then, I felt good wearing the uniform, says Anita, who began getting Rs 1,500 per month which was later raised to Rs 3,000. Her duties included accompanying police and CRPF troops on road-opening duties, night patrols, combing operations and operating the wireless set. The last of which, she says, she misses the most.

Photogallery: Chhattisgarh - SPOs who were supposed to fight Maoists are struggling to make a living

For the state, SPOs such as Anita were dispensable foot soldiers. The Union Home Ministry had told the Supreme Court that the SPOs were to be the states version of the Maoist jan militia (peoples force) as they were locally recruited and were familiar with the terrain, dialect and local population.

The then Chhattisgarh DGP OP Rathore had told a national daily that there was no alternative to training local tribal people to defend themselves, with firearms if necessary.

Maoists killed 43 SPOs between 2010 and 2016, as per government data.

WE FEEL ORPHANED

Its the house exhaling smoke thats how villagers in Shanti Nagar, one of the oldest resettlement colonies in Bijapur, direct us to Parvati Jhaara, a former SPOs house.

When Judum was active, the state government relocated SPOs to such residential clusters known as camps which are replicas of a typical city slum.

Shanti Nagar is a maze of open drains, narrow lanes and light blue-coloured mud-and-brick tiny houses. Stray animals and poultry strut around the colonys streets. Clothes are hung to dry on power lines.

Parvati, a 26-year-old gaunt, tribal woman with sharp features, is busy distilling mahua (tribal liquor) behind her house in a passage, just wide enough for one person. You will have to wait for a while. If I dont finish this order, I will not be able to feed my kids today, she says in a matter-of-fact tone, wiping her watery eyes.

Parvati has been at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the grievances of former SPOs. She led a group of 20 such officers who met the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Bastar range, last month, demanding government jobs.

When Parvatis fellow SPOs applied for assistant constables jobs, she says that she could not appear for the fitness test because she was pregnant with her first child. Earlier, they made everyone SPOs, including minors, illiterates, people from scheduled castes, other backward castes. There was no parameter. People were treated like cattle. But now when the same people want to work as assistant constables, the government says it will consider age, education and other factors. This is unfair, she says.

Parvati Jhaara, 25, says that the police threatened her to become an SPO, refusing which she would have been declared a Naxalite. Parvati does odd jobs and makes mahua (tribal liquor) for a living. She is instrumental in mobilising former SPOs to demand an alternative government job. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Parvatis neighbours, most of whom, have worked as SPOs say that they dont want bandook ki naukri (referring to job profile similar to SPO) but any government job because that was the promise which made them leave their villages in the first place.

We feel like orphans. The government should not have offered us jobs if it was not certain about them, says 28-year-old Sahendra Jhaari, former SPO who now runs a grocery shop in Shanti Nagar.

Sahendra says that he got the first hint of him losing the job when his superiors in the police station asked him to submit his rifle. I was told to take a break until I was recruited as an assistant constable. But that never happened, he says. Mine is a genuine case. Mere paas aadesh aur vardi hai, (I have the joining letter and uniform), says an anxious Sahendra, referring to his credentials as a former SPO.

The joining letter says Sahendras job is temporary and he is not entitled for any perks, privileges and pension. In this case, the government may not have a legal obligation but it certainly has a moral one. When the government discontinued the services of some SPOs after the SC order in 2011, they not only lost a job, but also became vulnerable because they were not in a position to go back to their villages, says Bastar-based activist Bela Bhatia.Vivekanand, IGP, Bastar range, told HT that more than 90 per cent of former SPOs have been absorbed as assistant constables and other positions for which they were found suitable, and the rest will be given jobs in the next three to four months. You have to understand that there are many villagers who abruptly stopped coming on duty and now they have suddenly reappeared demanding jobs. We are still trying to accommodate as many of them as possible, says the IGP.

In 2006, Sahendra Jhaara and his family relocated to a Salwa Judum camp in Bijapur. They have not returned to their native village since. He says he could not have been removed from the force for dereliction of duty as he was sincere, disciplined and never took leave. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Bastar-based activist Soni Sori refutes the IGPs version. Her estimate is that there are at least 300 former SPOs waiting for government jobs, and thats just in Bijapur. The number will be much higher if one considers people in other districts. For the longest time, they did not come forward because they were unaware of their rights. Only now they have begun organising themselves. For every one former SPO who is talking on record, there are ten who are silent, she says.

TOUGH CHOICES

The choice was between the devil and the deep blue sea. Former SPOs told HT that when Salwa Judum members  congregations of men affiliated to political parties, district and village bodies  toured villages instructing people to become SPOs, saying no to them was not an option. Har ghar se ek aadmi ko hathiyar uthaana hai (At least one man from every family has to take up arms), 45-year-old Rama Jumde, a former SPO, recalls the message that was doing the rounds in his village. We were under tremendous pressure. Refusing the order meant being declared Naxalites, Jumde says.

He adds that Salwa Judum members threatened people with violence if they did not turn up for their rallies and processions. Their (Judums) men would get to know of families which stayed back, and target them, looting their ration and cattle, burning their houses, and beating the men mercilessly, he says.

Those who attended these meetings had vermillion smeared on their foreheads as a mark of allegiance to the campaign.

Videos of the meetings, made by both the police and independent sources, show the police marshalling large crowds dutifully waving bows and arrows and shouting slogans of Salwa Judum Zindabad, Naxalwad Murdabad (long live Salwa Judum, death to Naxalism), academic Nandini Sundar writes in her book The Burning Forest: Indias War in Bastar. Sundar was also the co-petitioner in the case that led to the ban on Salwa Judum.

These accounts contradict the state governments description of Judum  a peaceful Gandhian movement created by a spontaneous reaction of the tribal people to counter Maoist atrocities.

Lack of alterative employment propelled many villagers to join as SPOs knowing that they could never return home. Anita Chetty said that the village headman spread the word that even people like her, a minor who had studied only till class nine, could get the job. It was like a mass recruitment drive. Who does not want a police job? she says.

The headmen were in a difficult position: they were damned by the Maoists if they took people to the Judum, and damned by the police if they did not, notes Sundar.

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Political killings of its workers in Kerala and West Bengal and the central governments efforts to normalise the situation in Kashmir figured prominently during the first day of the coordination meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Vrindavan.

The sad state of affairs in West Bengal and Kerala was highlighted which most people dont have the courage to talk about a senior RSS leader who attended the meeting told IANS.

The issue of Kashmir was also discussed where stone-pelting has drastically come down due to efforts of the central government, he said.

He added that the BJP-led NDA governments tough stand on the Kashmir issue was appreciated by the RSS.

A total of 16 sessions are scheduled over the three-day event, of which six were held on Friday.

During the inaugural session of the meet, senior RSS leader Suresh Soni said that people had started accepting the RSS.

There are three stages that any kind of work goes through: being ignored, opposed and acceptance. After overcoming the first two stages, now we are experiencing the acceptance of the society, he said.

Soni said the RSS and its affiliates would discuss and analyse the state of their collective activities apart from issues of national and global importance during the three day meet, a statement said.

BJP president Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhgawat along with many senior functionaries attended the meet.

The RSS-BJP leaders are also likely to discuss the road map for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The Congress party on Friday said the RSS does not have the character and courage to admit that they are the parent political party of the BJP and stressed that they do not have the right to represent the Hindus.

The majority community of this country has never given RSS or BJP the right to represent the Hindus. This shows their thinking is perverse. Potent mix of religion with politics is what BJP and RSS are doing, the Congress said.

Despite talking about the affiliates meeting (in Vrindavan), the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) still does not have the character and courage to say that they are the parent political party of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma.

Comparing the RSS with an octopus, Sharma said: It has so many affiliate organisations. They claim to be representing Indias culture and Hinduism. RSS and Hindutva are political ideologies, not the culture, not the philosophy of Hinduism, said Sharma.

The majority community of this country has never given RSS or BJP the right to represent the Hindus. This shows their thinking is perverse. Potent mix of religion with politics is what BJP and RSS are doing, he added.

Sharma further said: RSS still claims to be a social and cultural organisation. However, no decision is taken in the BJP or in the government without the stamp of RSS. They should stand up and own that they control the political decision-making of the BJP and the policy making.

A Coordination Meeting of the RSS and its affiliates began in Vrindavan on Friday, which BJP president Amit Shah is also attending.
At least 33 people have been confirmed killed in the Mumbai building collapse, with rescuers pulling out more bodies overnight from the rubble in one of the most congested localities in Maharashtras capital.

PTI quoted officials as saying the toll could rise as there was possibility of more bodies under the rubble of the building, a 117-year-old five-storey structure which collapsed in the congested Bhendi Bazaar area on Thursday.

They said nine more bodies were pulled out from the debris in the overnight search and rescue operations. The deceased include 24 men and nine women. More than 15 people were injured in the accident.

Six officials of the fire department and one from the NDRF also suffered injuries in the operations.

Though the cause of the collapse was yet to be confirmed, officials believe torrential rain in Mumbai over the past few days  could have weakened the foundations of the building where fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim once lived.

Thirteen tenants, including 12 families, were living in the building at Pakmodia Street. Reports said it also housed a play school but the children had not arrived when the building collapsed.

Five patients are in critical condition and have been kept under observation in the Intensive Care Unit. They have suffered multiple injuries and fractures. Rest are currently stable, JJ Hospitals Dr TP Lahane said.

Nearly 125 fire brigade officials and 90 members of the National Disaster Relief Fund engaged in the rescue operations. Three adjoining buildings were also being evacuated to ensure safety, said BMC officials.

Rescue workers in hard hats clambered up the large mound of concrete rubble and steel rods and hammered at concrete slabs to reach below the debris. Cranes and bulldozers were also deployed as residents helped with bare hands.

According to news agency PTI, at least three people were pulled out alive from the rubble.

The collapse is the third in Mumbai in over the last two months. So far, 33 people have been killed in these collapses.

The building came under the ambitious Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project that envisages cluster redevelopment of the entire densely populated locality crammed with shops, narrow alleys, and old buildings, spread across 16.5 acres.

The trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) had issued notices declaring the building to be dilapidated along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants, Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which has undertaken the redevelopment project worth Rs. 4,000 crore, said in a statement.

Local corporator Rais Shaikh held the development authority responsible for the collapse.

The authorities should have evacuated the tenants a long time back as this building is unsafe. An inquiry should be instituted under a retired high court judge about this collapse, Shaikh told HT.

Meanwhile, the city was slowly limping back to normalcy after it was paralysed by heavy downpours for two days.

Train services and public transport were halted and airports shut on Tuesday as roads turned into rivers and floodwaters seeped into many low-lying buildings. In many places, people had to abandon their vehicles and wade through waist-deep water to reach their homes.

Schools, colleges and offices that were shut Wednesday opened Thursday, but attendance was sparse.

(With agency inputs)
Patna The Janata Dal (United) is counting on being included in the Union cabinet when Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffles it on Sunday.

The JD(U) national executive committee meeting held on August 19 endorsed the proposal to join the NDA, an alliance Nitish Kumar walked away from in 2013 but returned dramatically last month, dumping his poll partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress to renew an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A top party source said there was no deal as such for a ministerial berth when it joined the NDA and the JD(U) was yet to get a call asking for nominations.

At the most, we may be asked a name or two, the source said.

The JD(U) has two members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and seven in the Rajya Sabha  after two of its MPs Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar decided to toe a different line.

Modi set the reshuffle of his council of ministers in motion with the resignation of at least half-a-dozen ministers, according to sources in the ruling BJP and the government.

Small and medium enterprises minister Kalraj Mishra, water resources and Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharti, skill development minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, minister of state for human resource development Mahendra Nath Pandey and minister of state for water resources Sanjiv Baliyan have quit the government.

Though the party is not enthusiastic over getting a ministerial berth as there are just 18 months left for the next general elections, the name prominently doing the rounds is that of its newly-appointed leader in the Rajya Sabha, Ramchandra Prasad Singh, better known as RCP in political circles.

Sources claimed RCP, a close confidant of Kumar and a second time Rajya Sabha MP, could get an important portfolio in the Union cabinet based on the fact that as the chief minister allotted key ministries to BJP leaders in Bihar, after JD(U) and the saffron party joined hands to form the government late last month.

Another JD(U) ministerial hopeful is said to be Ram Nath Thakur, a Rajya Sabha MP and son of former Bihar CM late Karpoori Thakur. If party sources are to be believed, there is a toss up between Thakur and first time Lok Sabha MP from Purnia Santosh Kumar Kushwaha.

Kushwaha, who was earlier a BJP MLA before joining JD(U) ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls, defeated the sitting BJP MP and also has age on his side.

However, the last call would be taken by Kumar, who is also known for springing surprises.

BLURB

The JD(U) has two members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and seven in the Rajya Sabha  after two of its MPs, Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar, decided to toe a different line

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Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang (Source: VNA)



In reply to reporters queries about the move of China, Hang asserted Vietnams stance that all activities of foreign countries in the waters belonging to Vietnams sovereign right and jurisdiction should comply with Vietnams legal regulations and international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Vietnam asks China to end and to not repeat actions that complicate the situation in the East Sea, she said.

On August 31st, a representative from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry met a counterpart from the Embassy of China in Hanoi to make clear Vietnams stance on the issue, Hang said./.
A policeman was killed and three others injured when militants attacked a bus transporting security personnel in the suburbs of Srinagar on Friday evening.

Militants fired at the police vehicle in Zeewan area around 8 pm, sources said. A police spokesperson later disclosed the identity of the deceased as head constable Kishan Lal, and the injured policemen as Meharajudin, Abdul Hamid and Shabir Ahmed.

Local residents of the area reportedly helped ferry the injured policemen to the hospital. Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came a day before the Eid festivities were set to begin in the Valley.

Days ago, director general of state police SP Vaid had told HT that Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was planning attacks on security forces in Kashmir during the festive season.

Last month, a fidayeen attack by the JeM on the Pulwama district police lines left four CRPF jawans and four policemen, besides three foreign militants, dead.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee has learnt a new skill: how to take a selfie.

The 81-year-old took to Twitter on Thursday to share how it was a pleasure to meet children, and how a young Hamza Saifi taught him to click selfies.

It is always a pleasure to meet children.

Seen here with young visitor Hamza Saifi who taught me how to take a #selfie#CitizenMukherjee pic.twitter.com/GPQ4mvpPdj  Pranab Mukherjee (@CitiznMukherjee) August 31, 2017

Twitterati hasnt stopped gushing about the selfie and called it the cutest selfie in recent times. The tweet has been liked over 3.5K times.

Thats so adorable moment!  Sushri Sangita Puhan (@Sangita0703) August 31, 2017

This is the cutest selfie I have seen in the recent times...  amateur_photogr (@oneyedlenswoman) August 31, 2017

Hahaha ! That's the reason pranab mukherjee is a great person,as he knows the values of individual  Nigar Khan (@NigarKhan5) August 31, 2017

Pranab Da you are right, everyday is a learning experience, especially in the presence of the young!  Balakrishnan G Nair (@BalakrishnanGN) August 31, 2017

Some concerned people cautioned Mukherjee against picking up a bad habit at this age.

Nice pic. Very cute kid. But please don't get addicted to selfie habits.  Tirth (@dhristadyumn) August 31, 2017

Sir, don't pick up bad habits at this age.  Ashirvad Deb (@ashirvadeb) August 31, 2017

Mukherjee launched one of Indias biggest selfie social scheme  Selfie with Daughter, as part of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative, in June this year. The former president has been a regular on Twitter even after leaving office and has switched his Twitter handle to Citizen Mukherjee to reflect his changed status.
Mithu Singh Insans tall frame convulsed as he dropped to his knees, covered his eyes, and let out a long, painful cry. The 72-year-old Dera premi (follower of Dera Sacha Sauda) said he hadnt heard anything until asked by HT if he had a survival plan following Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhs 20-year imprisonment for rape.

Earlier in the day, a police officer had told him to pack up. Singh, whose family has followed the sect since the time of Mastana ji, the founder, had hoped to return.

His steady, daily wage of Rs100 working as a motor operator in a farm at the 150-acre Salabatpura Dera, the biggest estate of the sect in Punjab, has probably ended.

Only three months ago, he had taken a bus from his village in Rajasthans Hanumangarh district to the Salabatpura Dera. Back home, it was becoming hard to find work as an old man, said Singh, whose landless Dalit family  brothers, cousins, sons  works as agricultural labourers in Rajasthan.

Mithu Singh Insan, a 72-year-old follower of Dera Sacha Sauda. (HT Photo)

He did what most working-class Dera premis across north India, a majority of whom are Dalits, do to earn their living: work at a Dera.

Thousands work across the Deras properties and thousands more get indirect employment. There are no conclusive employment figures for the Dera, which is estimated to have as many as 60 million followers.

Now, like thousands of other sewadars who work as drivers, cooks, plumbers, and carpenters at the Deras estates, Singh doesnt know how he is going to get by. Baithe rahenge. Jo likha hai, woh bhugtenge (I will sit back and suffer what is fated for me), he said as he boarded a bus for home.

Founded in 1946, Dera Sacha Saudas influence as a force for social reform and humanitarian services in Punjab and Haryana has been commonly cited by followers since Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of raping two disciples 15 years ago.

What has escaped public attention is the economic dependence of the sects working-class followers on the Deras multi-billion empire spanning residential properties, farms, factories, shops and pharmacies.

As state police units and central armed police forces swoop down on Deras headquarters and regional units  evacuating, sanitising and sealing properties in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh  its the future of the sects poorest followers thats most at stake.

Evacuated from the Deras 700-acre headquarters in Sirsa on August 30 along with 500 other Dera premis, Balmat Singh was leaving what was his home and workplace for 17 years. A skilled worker by Deras definition, Singh, who came to Sirsa from Jind, earned Rs 11,000 a month as a driver besides free housing and meals.

Now 56 years old, he does not know if he will find work elsewhere. Squeezing into an autorickshaw arranged by the police for people to leave the Dera headquarters, he said he was shocked by events surrounding the sect and would not return. Satish Kumar, deputy director at public relations department of Haryana Police, told HT that around 700 followers had left the property since August 29.

Other Dera-dependents such as Sajjan Insaan, 29, who only sells MSG products launched by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at his grocery store, are jittery too.

Sajjan, a Dalit, hasnt opened his shop in Haryanas Bajeka village in a week fearing trouble. Half of Bajekas population is Dalit, but Sajjan is still wary. He is uncertain about the future of the MSG brand, which supplies a range of products  rice, wheat, honey, pickles, noodles  to more than 200 stores in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi NCR and Rajasthan.

The future of so many Dalit youth depends on Dera, starting with village kids who go to its schools and colleges, he said. I hope the situation becomes normal soon.

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The Rajasthan High Court on Friday restrained the Central and the state governments from deporting Pakistani Hindus forcibly for security purposes, without having special reasons.

A division bench headed by Justice Govind Mathur on Friday, while hearing a suo moto petition, directed that no Pakistan migrant belonging to minority community would be deported if they have applied for a long-term visa.

The court said if deportation is necessary for security reasons, this has to be brought to the notice of the court immediately.

Posting the matter for September 12, the court also sought a progress report in regard to the pending citizenship cases of migrants from Pakistan belonging to minority communities there.

The High Court has issued as many as seven directions to the government authorities. We have also been asked to suggest the names of two persons having effective knowledge of the entire issue to the Collector to execute all the directions of the court effectively, Sajjan Singh Rathore, one of the amici curiae, told IANS.

Rathore said the names have to be given to the Collector by Saturday and the Collector is directed to consult and have suggestions from the persons nominated.

Besides this, the court has also ordered the Collector to submit a time-bound programme on or before September 11 in regard to granting long-term visas and the citizenship of India to eligible Pakistani national Hindus.

The division bench of Justice Mathur and Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur also felt a dire need for basic amenities and cleanliness at the camps of Pakistani migrants and issued detailed directions regarding it.

The court also directed to invite applications from the Pakistani migrants for their ration cards and to deal with it in ten days.

The High Court had taken suo-moto cognizance a few days back of a news item published in a local newspaper regarding the pathetic situation of Pakistani minorities in India.
The thought of demonetisation sends shivers down N K Gopis spine. The 53-year old papad-maker of temple town Guruvayoor in Thiruvananthapuram recalls how he was forced to shut the shop and discontinue the service of his workers for many days after the governments shock recall of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes. Eight months on, doubts about benefits of demonetisation still linger

It seems it was a thoughtless decision. What did we achieve? All say in the long term it is good for the country. If present is not perfect how can you think about future? I hope the government will not try an experiment like this in future, he says, adding hes yet to come out of the aftershocks of the cash crunch.

Demonetisation was billed as a one-shot fight against black money and tax freeloaders. But the move hobbled the economy and gobbled up thousands of jobs, especially in the rural and informal sectors, where businesses struggled to stay afloat without cash.

This week, the Reserve Bank of India revealed that all but 1% of demonetised banknotes was returned to the banking system, putting a question on the efficacy of the move that was widely blamed for angry farm protests in June that claimed several lives. A day later, the economy slowed down to its lowest growth rate in three years.

Last year, Hindustan Times tracked people from various walks of life across the country to investigate how they were coping with a life bereft of cash. This week, as criticism of demonetisation mounted, HT went back to the same people to ask if their lives were back to normal, and whether the pain was worth it.

Sunil Ghatiya was one of hundreds of farmers agitating for better crop prices and a loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh this June. A soyabean trader, Ghatiya blamed demonetisation notes for finishing off the market as the government insisted on cheque payments. Two and half months later, Ghatiya feels the situation has improved, but slightly. The problem of liquidity still remains, and the farmers still want cash for their produce, he says.

Ghatiya questions the merit of demonetisation when it is seen to have widened a rift between farmers and traders, and was held responsible for the Mandsaur protests. Our only solace is the governments claim that it will help the economy in the long run, he said.

Vegetable farmers such as Nek Singh in Punjabs Patiala said that adverse effect still lingered. Traders who used to deal in cash earlier cant function the same way. Plus theres a limit of Rs 2 lakh cash dealing, it has made vegetable trade impractical, he said.

But Ramesh Mistry in the West Bengals Sunderbans sounded a differing note. The SBI banking correspondent, who is the only source of fresh currency notes for residents of the remote region inhabited by the Royal Bengal tiger and and crocodiles, says the situation is back to normal. The long queues have vanished and people are now getting notes of smaller denomination. Several notes which were black were destroyed. I support this move.

(with inputs from Gurpreet Nibber in Chandigarh and Joydeep Thakur in Delhi)
Belying the claims of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who earlier this year had said Haryanas sex ratio had touched the 950-mark for the first time in its history, the figure has been found to be exaggerated in a Right to Information (RTI) query.

The figure the CM cited  950 girls for 1,000 boys  was the sex ratio at birth recorded only for March this year. Data procured from the health department through RTI revealed the number is incorrect. The RTI plea was filed by this reporter.

The record shows that in the numbers the government publicised in its 950-mark claim, the figures for Narnaul district were inflated. The figures for few other districts were also inflated slightly.

The government data stated that Narnaul recorded a sex ratio at birth of 1,279 for March. The revised number, however, is 858. This, clubbed with other errors brings down the March sex ratio at birth to 939 from 950. Though this number is not bad for a state ranked abysmally low in terms of gender gap, the governments lack of will to correct its error for which it continues to claim accolades is worrisome.

The state saw an increase in sex ratio at birth under the BJP government as it cracked down on illegal practices to successfully implement Prime Minister Narendra Modis Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign.

Rakesh Gupta, additional principal secretary to CM and coordinator of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, said, It was a manual error which could happen to anyone. It was corrected and, therefore, it appeared correct in the data provided by health department.

But the CM, his ministers, MLAs and even BJP national president Amit Shah have apparently not been apprised of the error as they continue to boast of their government for touching the 950-mark in their speeches.

Gupta said the data they gather for every month is provisional until the end of the year, when their internal inquiry reports are checked to correct the numbers. "Even if some numbers are corrected, we can say the state has come a long way. We are expecting the final number at the end of 2017 could be 925. This is good progress from what the numbers used to be before the implementation of the Beti Bachao scheme, and all coordinators working hard should be appreciated."

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The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on September 4 a plea against deportation of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar on several grounds, including violation of international human rights conventions.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send the Rohingya tribals back to their native land.

The plea, filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), claimed they had taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.

Proposed deportation is contrary to the constitutional protections of Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty) and Article 51(c) of the Constitution of India, which provides equal rights and liberty to every person.

This act would also be in contradiction with the principle of Non-Refoulement, which has been widely recognised as a principle of Customary International Law, the plea said, while seeking a direction to the government not to deport them and other members of Rohingya community.

Rohingya refugee children attend a madrasa at a camp set up for the refugees on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Wednesday, Aug. 16,2017. (AP)

It has also sought a direction that Rohingyas be provided basic amenities to ensure that they can live in human conditions as required by international law.

It also said that India has ratified and is a signatory to various conventions that recognise the Principle of Non- Refoulement, which prohibits deportation of refugees to a country where they may face threat to their lives.

The principle of non-refoulement  or not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger  is considered part of customary international law and is binding on all states whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not.

Though India has not ratified the UNCHR Convention on Refugees, India has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Further, India is also a signatory to the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced Disappearances, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the plea said, adding that all these international treaties and conventions lay down the Principle of Non-Refoulement.

The petition further said that India has traditionally been hospitable host of refugees and displaced people, both from South Asia and across the world.

A Rohingya refugee Mohammad Sirajullah displays his UNHCR card as he sits inside his shanty at a temporary shelter in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. (AP)

Considering the mass massacre of the Rohingya community in their home county, India must continue to accord refuge to the Rohingya population residing in India and refrain from deporting them, it said.

Last week, government had raised serious concern over reports of renewed violence and attacks in Myanmar and extended its strong support to the Myanmarese government at this challenging moment.

On August 18, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that over 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India. He had also said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

It had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally- staying foreign nationals.

A UNHCR aid worker gathers details about the Rohingya muslim refugees from Mayanmar at a makeshift camp on World Refugee Day in the outskirts of the Indian city Jammu on June 20, 2017. (AFP)

Rohingya community self-identify as a distinct ethnic group, with their own language and culture, and claim a long- standing connection to Rakhine State in Myanmar.

However, successive governments in Myanmar have rejected their claims and were not included in the list of recognised ethnic groups. Most Rohingyas are stateless.

The outbreak of violence against Rohingyas especially in June-October 2012, led to hundreds of cases of injury, death, destruction of property and displacement of 1,40,000 people and around 1,20,000 individuals remain in internally displaced camps in central Rakhine State.

Myanmar has one of the largest stateless populations in the world with some 10,90,000 stateless persons, predominately Rohingya in Rakhine State.
Former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, under attack from BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, for coming into ownership of property the funding of which remained unexplained, on Friday,sought to reverse the gun at the man who succeeded him to the post of deputy CM, in late July.

At a press conference here, the RJD leader , on Friday, charged Modi with falsely claiming that he had nothing to do with his brother RK Modis business interests. In this context, he released documents purporting to show how Modi had given power of attorney to his brother and nephews to purchase flats in New Delhi.

Tejashwi, who is currently Leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, said Modi had given power of attorney to his brother in 2006 to purchase a flat in Vaishali, New Delhi and also power of attorney to his nephews Mayank Modi and Rohit Modi in 2010, to purchase another flat at Aashiana Upvan in Gautam Budh Nagar, UP.

Tejashwi, who was accompanied by former MP Jagdanand Singh, said Modi did not mention the source of money used for purchasing the Vaishali flat but preferred to mention the mode of payment against sale of the same flat in 2015 at a price of Rs 15 lakh.

If an FIR can be lodged against us by the CBI for unknown source of income, why cant the same be done against Sushil Modi, he asked.

The was a reference to an FIR lodged by the CBI in July against Tejashwi and his mother Rabri Devi, among others, for acquiring ownership of land in Patna, which, the agency believes, came in lieu of leases for railways hotels in Puri and Ranchi being given to a private party during Lalus tenure as railways minister (2004-90).

Tejashwi recalled Modi had publicly claimed that R K Modi or his sons had nothing to do with him. He should now explain why he entered into an agreement to sell off the flat through power of attorney to R K Modi or his sons. We saty Sushil Modi has business links with their shell companies and the flat deal was done to turn black money white, he said.

He also questioned Modis financial credentials claiming he booked the flat only in 2006 after becoming Bihars finance minister. One cannot overlook the fact that he has been the custodian of Bihars treasury for a long time and had been the MP from Bhagalpur, the place where Srijan scam took place. So, there is more to it than meets the eye, he said.

Both Tejashwi and Jagdanand said RJD would expose Modis other properties in New Delhi and adjoining areas.

It is a matter of probe how R K Modis fortunes soared after Sushil Modi became DCM and Aashiana Homes expanded its business all over the country. Many of the companies of R K Modi have the same address in a dingy room in Chowrangee area in Kolkata where 200 more such shady companies are registered. We will approach federal agencies for investigation into the matter, Tejaswhi said.

Later in the day, Sushil Modi refuted Tejashwis charges, stating that he had bought the flat by taking a loan of Rs 10 lakh from bank and paying the rest amount through cheque and all information was listed in his IT returns and election commission affidavit.

I am a legislator and minister for the past 25 years. I can account for every penny I have earned. But can RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi and Rabri Devi account for their Rs1,000 crore benaami property acquired through dubious means and how they became owners of shell companies, Modi asked.

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A Delhi court on Friday extended by a month the judicial custody of three Kashmiri separatist leaders in a terror funding case.

District Judge Poonam A Bamba extended the judicial custody of Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Mohamad Akbar Khanday till September 27 when they will produced before the court along with four other accused, including the son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Besides Geelanis son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, popularly known as Altaf Fantoosh, the other accused who are in judicial custody are Peer Saifullah, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Nayeem Khan.

The agency had arrested seven persons on July 24 in the case of alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley to fuel unrest.

The agency had earlier told the court that it had received information that Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamat-ud-Dawah, and the separatists, including members of Hurriyat Conference, had been acting in connivance with banned outfits like Hizb- ul-Muzahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and others to raise and receive funds from India and abroad through illegal channels, including hawala.

The money was allegedly being raised to fund separatist and terror activities in restive Jammu and Kashmir, it had claimed, alleging that the accused were waging war against the country and involved in various offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

It had also claimed that the accused were involved in creating unrest by way of anti-India demonstrations and bandhs, which were done on their and others instructions.

The raids were part of the NIAs efforts at clamping down on separatist groups allegedly receiving funds for subversive activities in the valley.

The NIA had claimed that it had recovered account books, Rs 2 crore in cash and letterheads of banned terror groups, including the LeT and the HM, during the raids.
The Trinamool Congress on Friday issued a show cause notice to party MP Idris Ali for making comments against Ishrat Jahan, a petitioner in the triple talaq case, without being authorised by the party, a senior TMC leader said

Idris Ali has been given a show cause notice for making comments on television channels without being authorised by the party and the comments were not in consonance with the party line, the leader told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The television clips were sent to party general secretary Subrata Bakshi, and after a discussion within the party, the decision to issue the show cause notice was taken.

He has been given seven days time. Within these seven days he has to reply why disciplinary action should not be taken against him, the TMC leader said.

When contacted Idris Ali said, I dont want to make any comment on the internal matter of the party. I am a loyal soldier of the party.
Forty-nine newborn children died at the government-run Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Farrukhabad between July 21 and August 20.

The hospital authorities have blamed most of the deaths on children being extremely underweight and their delayed arrival to the hospital in a critical condition.

A total 30 children died in the sick newly born care unit (SNCU) of the hospital alone. The 19 others died at the time of delivery or soon after delivery at the hospital.

District magistrate Ravindra Kumar has ordered a magisterial inquiry after 19 of his notices to the hospital authorities went unheeded.

The city magistrate is investigating the deaths of children. His report will come in a day or two, Kumar said, admitting the number of deaths in a month werent without negligence at the hospital.

The investigation will cover all aspects, he said.

During this period, 211 children were admitted at SNCU and 30 of them died. Similarly, 461 children were born at the hospital and 19 of them could not survive.

Dr Kailash Kumar, the SNCU in-charge, mentions many reasons for the deaths ranging from children born prematurely to being underweight.

Mortality in such children is quite high. Often, we get children who weigh less than a kilo or two kilos, he said.

At times, the children are born with complications or there is a delay in being referred to the hospital from primary health centres. All these are the reasons, he said.

But Dr Archana, who works in the hospitals maternity wing, blamed lack of awareness among the mothers. They (mothers) are not educated, not aware. Their children have water or blood deficiency but they will not come to know unless the issue becomes complicated, she said about the deaths of 19 infants under her watch.

Often they delay the surgery, taking much time in deciding if they should go for it, she said.

Dr Akhilesh Agarwal, chief medical superintendent of women hospital, explained that 24 of the 30 children who died were born in private hospitals or elsewhere. When they were brought to the government hospital, their condition was already grim, Dr Agarwal said.

The medical authorities, however, skirt questions about the death of 19 children who were born at the hospital. They havent responded to 19 notices that the district magistrates office sent after reports of children dying in hospital began to surface.

The district magistrate said the hospital couldnt escape the explanation about the deaths of children born at the hospital.

Let the city magistrates report come in, effective action will be initiated, he said.
Three municipal bodies in Tonk district Friday withdrew an earlier order directing meat shops in their respective areas to remain closed for 12 days in a row till September 5. Bakr-Eid (Eid-ul-Adha) falls on September 2.

Hindustan Times was the first to highlight how the three municipal bodies --- Tonk, Malpura and Niwai --- had attributed their orders to routine directives issued by the directorate of local self bodies (DLB) of Rajasthan on July 24 and August 22 instructing all civic bodies of the state to keep meat shops closed on August 25, August 26 and September 5, in view of the Jain festival of Paryushan and Hindu festival of Anant Chaturdashi.

In a fresh order published in vernacular dailies, the civic authorities Tonk and Malpura withdrew the earlier order.

As per the earlier orders of the chairperson of Tonk municipal council, issued on August 25, meat shops of were meant to be kept closed from August 26 to September 5 in view of the Paryushan festival of Jain community. The order shall now be considered cancelled, the notification issued by the Tonk municipal council read.

The Malpura municipality clarified that notification dated August 24 for keeping meat shops closed from August 26 to September 5 should have been read as August 26 and September 5.

While Niwai municipality did not issue a fresh notification, director, DLB, Pawan Arora said the civicbodys notification stands withdrawn.

Meat shops will not remain closed on Bakr-Eid on September 2, Arora reiterated.

He also reiterated that said his order was clearly for three days and not for 12 days in a row. Perhaps the three municipal bodies of Tonk misunderstood the orders, he reiterated, adding the municipal bodies cannot issue such orders on their own.

The notifications issued by the three civic bodies had created unrest in Muslim community and among meat shop owners in view of the Bakr-Eid. As part of the Eid celebrations, a large number of goats and sheep are sacrificed. Tonk has a sizeable Muslim population.
JODHPUR:

The Rajasthan high court ordered the Jodhpur district administration on Friday to issue ration cards to Pakistani refugees and asked for an action plan by September 11 to give Indian citizenship to the eligible ones.

A division bench of justice Govind Mathur and justice Vinit Kumar Mathur took suo motu cognisance of deportation of Pakistani nationals from minority communities on Thar Express.

The high court had recently stayed deportation of nine Pakistani Hindus, but before the order was executed, the Thar express, by which they were deported, had entered Pakistani territory.

The court ordered Jodhpur collector to produce the action plan for compliance of the Centres June 27 notification for giving Indian citizenship to eligible Pak refugees. After preparing the plan, the court said, citizenship should be granted within 45 days.

The state government shall also not deport any Pakistan migrant belonging to minority communities, if the migrant has applied for long-term visa or otherwise intends for that without having special reasons for security purposes. If the deportation is necessary for security reasons, then that fact shall also be brought into the notice of the court immediately, the HC bench said.

The court directed the collector to instruct the Jodhpur district supply officer to invite applications from Pakistani migrants from minority communities for ration cards. After a migrant submits an application for a ration card, a decision has to be taken as far as possible within ten days, the court ordered.

The collector was directed to instruct local authorities to ensure cleanliness and necessary amenities at the camps where the migrants from Pakistan were staying.

The states additional advocate general, KL Thakur, told the HC on Wednesday that the number of registered Pak nationals in Jodhpur in 2016 was 2381, of which 1046 were living on long-term visas and about 410 were permanently sent back to Pakistan.

In 2017, Jodhpur has 1734 registered Pakistani nationals, of which 933 are on long-term visas and 194 have been sent back.
Seeking to trace the possible route and remnants of the mythical Saraswati river, a four-member team from Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board reached Jaisalmer Friday.

The team, led by deputy president of the Board, Prasant Bhardwaj, visited Ranau, Tanot, Kishangarh, Kuriya Beri and Dharmi Kuwa villages of the district to explore possible existence of the river that finds mention in the Rig Veda and other ancient literature and is believed to have disappeared some 4,000 years ago.

Accompanied by Surajbhan Bishnoi, superintendent engineer of Rajasthan ground water department and senior geologist N D Inkhiya, Bhardwajs team collected several samples.

Soon after coming to power in May 2014, the NDA government at the Centre revived the efforts to trace the river considered holy by the Hindus. Haryana and Rajasthan, both ruled by the BJP, have separately launched efforts to revive the mythical river.

Talking to reporters, Bhardwaj said that Haryana government has embarked on the project only after collecting all the necessary data. The Boards work is based on the evidences and data collected from the ISRO, ONGC, ground water departments of Rajasthan and Haryana, and scientific research carried out in the past, he said.

According to the data available, the river flowed through the area that comprises present day Rajasthan and Gujarat. Considering this, the two state governments should join hands on this project, which is related to our culture, civilization and heritage, Bhardwaj said. He added that the project would go a long way in promoting heritage tourism and water management.

While Haryana set up the Saraswati Heritage Development Board, tasking it with the responsibility of field work closely to be done in close association with other agencies including the UNESCO and Archaeological Survey of India among others.

In Rajasthan, the Vasundhara Raje government constituted the state River Basin and Water Resources Planning Authority in 2015 to help revive the Saraswati and look into various issues connected with river basins, including intra-basin river water transfer. The authority is working in coordination with institutions such as ISRO, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), state ground water board and national institute of hydrology.

In June, a two-member CGWB team had visited the bordering Barmer district to explore possible remnants of the Saraswati.

Tall claims of Raje government fall flat

Barmer: Even as Haryana government is working on war footing to explore and revive Saraswati, the Rajasthan governments plans seem to be in a limbo. The state government had sent a detailed project report (DPR) of Rs 68.87 crore to the Centre for tracing the route of the ancient river and rejuvenating it. The proposal is still pending for approval. Also, then minister of public health engineering department Kiran Maheshwari had in 2015 said announced that if Centre does not release the budget for the project by the end of year then state government will release funds on its own. The claim seems to have fallen flat.

Ganga: NGT issues warrant against Rajasthan, Haryana

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has issued bailable warrants against Rajasthan and Haryana governments for not submitting their action plan on cleaning and rejuvenation of the River Ganga.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar took strong objection to the absence of the counsel for both the states and their failure to submit the report despite its July 13 order.

Nobody is present on behalf of Haryana and RajasthanConsequently, we issue bailable warrant against the resident commissioners of Haryana and Rajasthan at New DelhiThey shall show cause as to why the action plan in terms of the judgement of the Tribunal have not been filed, the bench said.
Till Thursday small milk parlours and tea stalls used to open for business and water tankers plied in Darjeeling as residents became tired of the shutdown that continued for 78 days at a stretch in the north Bengal hills. That tentative trickle of business in a few small retail outlets, too, vanished on Friday morning as the bandh returned in all its fury with Gorkhaland agitators vowing to continue the shutdown within minutes of a section of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders announcing a 12-day suspension of the bandh on Thursday.

From Friday morning, the 79th day of the bandh, the shutdown turned complete and nothing is moving or are open for business, said Suraj Gupta (46), a businessman from Kurseong.

Read: Darjeeling talks: Separate Gorkhaland beyond our jurisdiction, says Mamata

Right from the morning angry GJM supporters brought out rallies in Darjeeling and Kurseong. They shouted slogans in favour of Gorkhaland, Morcha president Bimal Gurung and declared their resolve to carry out the bandh.

GJM leader Binay Tamang, who led the five-member Morcha team to the meeting with the chief minister is under fire from Bimal Gurung and may be expelled from the party on Friday. (Bikram Sashanker)

On Thursday night Gurung issued a statement saying there is no need for the meeting with the state government on September 12 which was announced by chief minister. His logic: since she has said the creation of a separate state was beyond the jurisdiction of the state government, there was no need of talks with her.

Though none would comment, senior police officers apprehended law and order problem in the hills as clashes may break out between supporters of Binay Gurung-Anit Thapa faction and those of Bimal Gurung.

Read: Darjeeling unrest: Mamata Banerjees stand will fuel Gorkhaland demand

The developments delivered a rude shock to the promise of a return to normalcy in the hills after the meeting on August 29 between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and representatives of GJM, Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and Jan Andolan Party (JAP), the most prominent political parties in the hills.

The state of Sikkim, too, has been adversely affected due to the indefinite shutdown since the national highway that connects the state with the rest of the country passes through the bandh-affected areas. (HT Photo)

GJM President Bimal Gurung, who is in hiding after being charged under UA(P)A sections recently, will hold a central committee meeting of GJM on Friday. In this meeting punitive actions are likely to ba taken against Tamang and Anit Thapa, the two leaders Gurung considers have conspired against him. Both may be expelled from the Morcha.

On Thursday itself, GJM chief coordinator Binay Tamang, who led the Morcha team of five to the meeting at the state secretariat, was removed from his position by Gurung.

Read: Sikkim did not merge with India to become a sandwich between China and Bengal: CM Pawan Chamling

The chief minister is scheduled to have another meeting with hills parties on September 12. Till then, the bandh will remained suspended, Tamang said in Kurseong after presiding over a GJM central committee meeting in which about 30 out of 93 members attended.

Soon Bimal Gurung issued a statement saying the bandh will continue and the meeting chaired by Tamang had no legitimacy.

On Thursday night unconfirmed reports said Romala Rai, 48, died after she was hit on the head by a police baton when the forces made a lathi charge to disperse agitators who came out in support of the bandh.

The dream of the agitators of securing a separate state were dashed when Union home minister Rajnath Singh told a visiting team in Delhi on August 13 that the Centre had nothing to do with it and they should hold talks with Bengal chief minister who has vowed not to allow a partition of the state.

Gurung has indicated he will again send a team to Delhi to lobby with the NDA, of which GJM is an ally.

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The Allahabad high court on Friday refused to grant any relief in a petition seeking permission to slaughter big animals like buffaloes in the open on Eid-al-Adha.

The petition was filed by Mohammad Imran of Kaushambi and was dismissed as withdrawn.

The bench comprising justice Tarun Agarwala and justice Ashok Kumar was of the view that slaughtering animals in the open or in any religious place was not an appropriate practice, even if permitted in any religion or custom.

The petitioner pleaded that as per his religious practice, he may be allowed to slaughter a buffalo during the upcoming festival.

He contended that while small animals could be slaughtered in houses, for big animals like buffaloes one needed open space. And according to custom, he wanted to slaughter a buffalo.

Read more: On Eid al-Adha holiday, Houstons mosques open to Harvey evacuees

After coming to power in state, the BJP government passed an order to shut down all illegal slaughterhouses and placed curbs on all mechanical abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh.
Pilibhit, which is quite often in the news for tiger attacks, has now found something to cheer about.

Environmentalists recently discovered a new species of dragonfly in the forest of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and they claim it is an exotic species, native to South-East Asian countries.

The environmentalists chanced upon the red winged dragonfly, with a characteristic de-pigmentation on the edges of its wings, while observing activities in the reserve forest.

We spotted it in the bushes in buffer zone of the reserve. I found its wing colour and patches to be unique, said Wasif Jamshed, an environmentalist in the team.

The experts took pictures of the eight-legged insect and, on sample matching, concluded that it was a red-winged dragonfly (neurothermis terminata).

The finding was surprising because, according to available records, the species is only found in Malaysia and other South-East Asian countries. No records of it being spotted in India before are available, claimed Jamshed.

The claim also finds strength in the fact that International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) -- the body that keeps record of all kinds of ecological species on the planet and allots different conservation status -- in its 2009 assessment report, confirmed that red winged dragonfly was native only to Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Palau and the Philippines.

The pictures and videos of the dragonfly have been shared with the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). ZSI experts have already started preliminary identification of the insect and are comparing it with available data. Once we get the results of the preliminary investigation, we will request the forest department to collect some insects for detailed investigation, said Dr Kailash Chandra, director ZSI.

Scientifically, the sighting of the dragonfly is a big deal, says Omkar Upadhyay, head of the department of zoology in Lucknow University and a leading entomologist.

Only 30 to 40% of animal species are known to us and the remaining ones are yet to be discovered. Also, our knowledge about the spread of known species is limited. So, it is fascinating if an exotic species is naturally found in our country, he said.

The finding has also raised hopes to restore the credibility of the forest department, which is currently under fire after failing to prevent tiger attacks.

It is a sign that our conservation efforts are providing habitat for exotic species to flourish. We have decided to co-ordinate with the ZSI for identification of the dragonfly, said forest conservator VK Singh.

Pilibhit forest, declared a tiger reserve in 2014 and the youngest tiger reserve of the country, is home to over 50 tigers at present. The forest also has over 100 leopards, bears, nilgais, antelopes, wild boars and different species of birds. The reserve status of the forest has provided the much-needed security to these animals, which has resulted in marked rise in their population.
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)  one of the apex bodies in India to rate and certify a system as a green system  has certified Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) a green metro rail system, awarding platinum certificate to all its eight Metro stations on the priority corridor from Transport Nagar to Charbagh due for inauguration on September 5.

Highlights For achieving the highest rating LMRC has planted more than 5000 saplings at various location, has made arrangement to collect 100% rain water runoff during rains, generate about 2MW of solar energy, extensive use of LED lighting, maximum use of day lighting, effective waste management etc. Also, LMRCs documents and sites were put to rigorous tests and inspections by the IGBC-CII team before awarding the Platinum certification. LMRC is planning to register for the upcoming stations under Green MRTS rating and to start implementing green practices to get them certified too.

Platinum certificates and plaques for 8 stations of the priority corridor were handed over to managing director LMRC Kumar Keshav by S Raghupathy, deputy director general, CII- IGBC.

Expressing happiness, Kumar Keshav said, It will have a recurring effect on saving of energy at the station. This platinum certification is an important step towards making Lucknow Metro sustainable.

Lucknow Metro registered 8 stations under green mass rapid transport rating system developed by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)  Indian Green Building Council, at the very beginning of the project itself.

The audit by external agency continued for two years, continuous monitoring the project by site visit and collecting information at different stages.

Read more: Lucknow hopes for ride to a cleaner tomorrow

Kumar Keshav said, The broad purpose of getting this certificate is to achieve the twin goals of sustainable development and low carbon growth and minimising threats of climate change. With benefits ranging from water conservation, energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, rain water harvesting, material conservation and commuter facilities, LMRCs Platinum certified stations are set to provide world class experience to the people of Lucknow.

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Imam of Eidgah and member, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali has appealed to people to not embrace each other while offering greetings after the Eid-ul-Azha namaz, keeping in view the spread of swine flu in the state capital.

Cases in Lucknow 67 cases of swine flu 02 cases of dengue

One can exchange greetings with salam instead of embracing each other to check swine flu from spreading. Swine flu can spread from one person to another hence it is advised to keep a distance, said Maulana Khalid Rasheed. We have appealed as already over 1,600 cases of swine flu have been reported in Lucknow and it is spreading in other districts of the state as well, he said during an interaction at HT on Thursday.

Whatever is important to keep people safe from diseases should be adopted by one and all. In such diseases, it is not only important to keep oneself safe but also to ensure that others are not at risk , he said.

Doctors have also advised people to follow certain steps to ensure they do not catch the infection. they said crowded places should be avoided and if some one shows symptoms of swine flu, he should visit a hospital that has test facilities.

One can exchange greetings with salam instead of embracing each other to check swine flu from spreading.--Maulana Khalid Rasheed

As 477 children between the age of 3 to 18 years have fallen ill due to swine flu, doctors have advised parents to keep their children safe as they have poor immunity.

In Lucknow, 1,622 swine flu cases have been reported till now . During the day, 67 fresh cases and death of a woman, suspected to be suffering with swine flu, was reported. The woman was a resident of Siddharthnagar and was admitted to a hospital here for treatment.
Under attack for Japanese encephalitis deaths at Gorakhpurs BRD Medical College,Uttar Pradesh health and family welfare department has sought assistance from various agencies to identify the pathogen infecting children in the region.

The health department will take help from experts at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and US-based agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to check the spread of Japanese encephalitis in Gorakhpur region.

In April, the department had launched an intensive vaccination drive in 20 districts prone to Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES).

About 93 lakh children were vaccinated before the onset of monsoon. Though the number of JE patients came down, AES cases continued to grow.

Talking to HT, secretary (health and family welfare) V Hekali Zhimomi said, The clinical and laboratory test of the samples of patients serum attributed 50% of AES cases to scrub typhus, Coxsackie virus, enterovirus (polio entrovirus, echo virus), malaria, herpes, meningoencephalitis, tuberculous encephalitis while the remaining 50% of the pathogens remained unknown.

The initial study attributed scrub typhus to mites and unhygienic conditions.

A team of experts from ICMR visited BRD Medical College and government hospitals after the death of the 30 children on August 10 and 11 to take stock of ground reality.

Later, the team led by ICMR director-general Soumya Swaminathan met chief minister Yogi Adityanath to discuss the measures required to strengthen health facilities.

During the meeting, the health department officers drew the attention of ICMR scientists towards unidentified pathogens that were infecting children in Gorakhpur and adjoining districts.

The ICMR officers assured assistance and recommended better health services in rural areas and mobilising human resource at government hospitals, Zhimomi said.

She said since quacks and healers active in rural areas were the first contact person for patients, the health department was planning to involve them in fighting the menace.

Quacks, popular as jhola chhap doctor in east UP, will be given training to guide suspected AES patients.

Auxiliary nursing midwives (ANM), accredited social health activists (ASHA) and anganbari workers in villages are being trained to create awareness among the people.

The department has also decided to deploy health education officers in awareness programme.

The focus will be on early admission of patients at nearby primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs). The officers will also create awareness among villagers through information- education-communication (IEC) regarding preventive measures, symptom of the disease and early examination by medical practitioners.

The department has identified 676 high-risk villages in Gorakhpur region where maximum cases of JE/AES have been reported. The district magistrates have been directed to launch sanitation drive in villages, organise awareness campaigns and carry out fogging to eliminate mosquitoes and mites which are the carriers of the virus, she said.

Services of Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore and PATH Foundation will be taken to train government doctors managing critical care units at the hospital.

The health department is also working to build confidence of government doctors at PHCs and CHCs.

It was found during the study that instead of handling patients, the doctors at health centres referred them to BRD Medical College.

The aim is to reduce the burden of medical college which receives huge number of patients from Bihar and Nepal as well. The state government is improving facilities at district hospitals and CHCs.

The doctors have been asked to admit JE/AES patients to the hospital rather than referring them to medical college, she said.

Talking to HT, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the state government had decided to seek the assistance of private doctors and members of the Indian Medical Association to check AES.

The unit of National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, located in Gorakhpur, will be strengthened to conduct research work.

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When UP health minister Siddharthnath Singh presented the figures of previous years to claim that the month of August witnessed high number of childrens death, he was not completely wrong.

In March-April and August-September every year, the number of children dying at government hospital goes up.

In Bareilly division comprising Bareilly, Badaun, Pilibhit and Shahjehanpur, the number of deaths in August-September last year crossed 300 which is over three times the average deaths.

In Bareilly alone, more than 70 deaths were reported from different parts of the district.

WHAT AILS BAREILLY DISTRICT HOSPITAL The hospital has 25 doctors against the requirement of 43 There is no super-specialist at the hospital The hospital has an acute shortage of pharmacists, technicians, nurses and other support staff. Only 3 of 100 patients return for follow up at the district hospital as compared to 28 in private hospitals.

Most of the patients were brought to the hospital with symptoms similar to encephalitis and died before their ailment could be diagnosed.

The outpatient department of Bareillys Maharana Pratap district hospital  the biggest government hospital in the region  receives over 3,000 new patients every day during late monsoon and the onset of summers.

Flu-like symptoms and stomach infections are common in this season.

New patients are inspected by general physicians who suggest medications based on symptoms. Those with mild fever and throat infection are suggested a three-day dose of antipyretic with mild sedative or painkiller (Paracetamol).

These patients, who comprise 70-80% of the people having flu-like symptoms, are termed as sardi, khansi wale in local medical parlance.

Read more: Death too frequent a visitor at Gorakhpurs BRD Medical College

About 10% patients have exaggerated symptoms like high fever and lethargy. They are asked to go for blood test and are given DNS (dextrose neutral solution) with Paracetamol.

The remaining patients with other symptoms are directed to other wards for treatment.

We admit about 125 patients with exaggerated symptoms. Majority of patients with mild symptoms are returned the same day, said chief medical superintendent (CMS) of the hospital Dr KC Gupta.

HISTORY

Maharana Pratap district hospital was established as a military hospital in the fag end of 19th century by the British.

It was opened for general public in 1940s and was made district hospital in 1970s. Since then, an operation theatre, an emergency ward, separate female ward and digital X-ray room have been added to the hospital.

More advanced developments were limited to the offices of the chief medical superintendent (CMS) and the chief medical officer (CMO).

PROBLEMS AND ISSUES

Despite the high number of patients it receives, the hospital has 25 doctors against the requirement of 43. None of the doctors are super-specialists.

We have vacancies of super-specialists in dermatology, cardiology, neurology, nephrology and pathology. Fresh appointments have not been made since years, CMS Dr KC Gupta said.

The hospital has an acute shortage of pharmacists, technicians, nurses and other support staff.

Patients visiting the hospital have no other place to go. They are marginal farmers, labourers, homeless and jobless people. The hospital is their last hope but we do not have enough people to help them. We do not have facilities, Dr Gupta said.

The same holds true for 6 community health centres (CHCs) and 10 primary health centres (PHC) spread across the district.

We have only two nursing staff at the PHC. We receive around 300 patients every day. Over a dozen of them are serious but we either have to return them or refer them to the district hospital, said the in-charge of a PHC on condition of anonymity.

We have informed the authorities about the shortage but nothing has been done to improve the facilities, he added.

As advised by the government, we highlight the problems of staff shortage and lack of facilities at the hospital in every report that we submit. We are assured of support but no concrete action is taken, Dr Gupta lamented.

WHAT AILS SARKARI ILAAZ

Despite the high number of patients received at the district hospital, it is surprising that only a small percentage continues treatment or returns for follow up.

According to the data of district hospital and two private hospitals collected by HT, only 3 of 100 patients return for follow up at the district hospital as compared to 28 in private hospitals.

Though doctors hold patients responsible for the problem but for the common man, getting treatment at a government hospital is a pain in itself.

Main to yahan phans gaya hun (I am stuck here). Doctors hardly care about patients. The hospital staff behaves rudely and the wards stink, said Sudhir Singh, 28, a bank employee who was admitted to the emergency ward after he complained of severe pain in abdomen.

When the X-ray confirmed stones in his kidney, Sudhir visited a private hospital for surgery.

Patients who can afford treatment at private hospital avoid visiting the district hospital.

I bathe my father, change his diapers and even wash his bed sheets when the hospital staff refuses to change it, said Pradeep Singh, a marginal farmer whose father is undergoing treatment at the district hospital.

We dont have enough money to go to a private hospital. Agar paise hote to bhool ke bhi yahan nahin aate, he said.

Read more| Gorakhpurs BRD deaths: Things would have been different if victims were children of VIPs, says distraught father

PRIVATE HOSPITAL THRIVES

If a patient arrives at the OPD of district hospital, it takes four hours to get examined by physicians and get medicines from dispensary.

This is when the doctor arrives in time and pharmacists at the dispensary are not on strike.

The same procedure requires less than an hour at a private nursing home.

Private practice by doctors is another issue that plagues health care. A large number of patients from government hospitals are directed to private nursing homes and hospitals.

Doctors and nurses at the district hospital often advise patients to visit private hospitals. Many government doctors are engaged in private practice at hospitals owned by their family members or themselves.

Laxman Yadav, a milkman, took a loan of Rs 60,000 to pay for appendix operation at a private hospital. The operation involves basic surgery and can be performed in less than 18 minutes.

Yadav has taken up the job of a watchman to repay the loan and works for 20 hours a day. There are many who have to sell their cattle, jewellery and land to pay their medical bills.

There have been instances when health officials came to the rescue of private hospitals. Earlier this year, the leg of an infant had to be amputated due to an infection that occurred after a minor surgery at a private hospital.

The CMO office allegedly delayed investigation into the case.

The city has over 400 registered hospitals and an equal number of diagnostic and ultrasound centres. There are four private medical colleges and a dozen nursing and dental colleges in the city.

The Bareilly chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has over 700 private doctors as members.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against eight members of a self-radicalised module of the Islamic State (ISIS) at the special NIA court in Lucknow on Thursday.

According to the charge sheet, the group members tried to migrate to the territories held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq to formally join the organisation.

The NIA has charged the accused with being the members of the terror group as they had conspired to carry out acts of violence to further the activities of ISIS in India.

The members of the module had also conducted a recce of Sufi shrine Dewa Sharif in Barabanki and other religious places.

The module was busted in March this year after three members of the module  Atif Muzzafar, Mohammad Danish and Sayed Meer  planted a bomb in Ujjain-Bhopal passenger train im March this year. Many people were hurt in the explosion and the group members were arrested after some time.

On the basis of the information provided by them, the UP anti-terror squad arrested four people and gunned down one Saifullah in a 20-hour encounter in Lucknow.

The NIA has charged Atif Muzaffar, the head of the module, Mohammad Faisal, Ghaus Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Azhar, Mohammad Danish, Syed Meer, Asif Iqbal and Mohammad Atif with carrying out terror activities.

Syed Meer is a resident of Kannauj and the remaining members are from Kanpur.

The case was initially registered by the ATS (crime no 03/2017) on March 8.

NIA filed the charge sheet under sections 121, 121-A, 122 & 123 of the IPC, sections 17, 18, 18A, 18B, 23 and 38 of the UA (P) Act, 1967, sections 3, 25 and 35 of the Arms Act and sections 4/5 of Explosive Substance Act, 1908.

Charges against Saifullah were withdrawn since he is dead.

It came to light after a three-month long investigation that all the men, aged between 22 and 26 years (except for Ghaus Mohammad), had allegiance to ISIS.

They recruited people, raised funds, held training camps and carried out acts of terror.

The accused propagated the ideology of the ISIS to attract, motivate and recruit youths.

When the group failed to formally join ISIS, it procured arms and explosives with the intention to carry out terrorist activities in India.

Explosives and other incriminating material were recovered from their hideouts in Lucknow.

Interrogation revealed that Mohammad Faisal, Atif Muzaffar and Saifulla had earlier killed one Ramesh Chandra Shukla in Kanpur on October 24, 2016.
Kidnap

Director - Luis Prieto

Cast - Halle Berry

Rating - 2.5/5

What Kidnap doesnt get is that were already on its side. No one wants to see a child being taken  and even if he is, theres no way in hell anyones rooting for the kidnapper.

So it doesnt make sense for the movie to spend an inordinate amount of time  10 excruciatingly saccharine minutes  on developing the relationship between the mother (played by Halle Berry) and the child (Sage Correa). Perhaps out of indecision, or a general lack of confidence, Kidnap opens with a record-breaking number of cliches crammed into roughly the same amount of time it would take you to read this.

Shes an overworked, underpaid waitress, caught in the middle of a custody battle with her more successful ex-husband. But all she wants is for her shift at the diner to end so that she can take her kid to the amusement park.

There, she gets a call from her lawyer; the ex wants full custody. She turns her back for a moment, leaving Freddie (thats her kid) to his own devices, and asks the lawyer what her next move should be. Shes a waitress, and her ex is in real estate. His new fiance is a pediatrician, for Gods sake. You do the math. But just when things are about to get heated, her phones battery runs out. Looking even more exhausted than she did back at the diner, she returns to Freddie.

But hes gone.

Karla  thats Halle Berrys character  frantically goes from one person to another, asking them if theyve seen a six-year-old. And then, she spots him. Hes in the parking lot, being shoved into a light blue jalopy. She does quick calculations, and figures her best move is to give chase in her minivan.

And then the movie turns into  and this is admittedly a great premise  an extended car chase  like Mad Max: Fury Road, but with all the panache of a bored high schoolers summer project.

While the idea of a (phoneless) mother chasing her sons kidnappers on the highway sounds like an exciting set-up, it takes a filmmaker of considerable talent to sustain it for the length of an entire movie. Luis Prieto isnt that guy. Coincidentally, Halle Berry starred in another film with a rather similar kidnapping-themed premise  The Call  but the reason that movie turned out to be a blast is probably because it was directed by Brad Anderson, a tremendous B-movie filmmaker.

This one, however, decides that the only way forward is to throw in as many arbitrary plot twists  each one more ludicrous than the last  until the whole thing goes completely off the map in the third act.

Kidnap is a shoddily-directed movie  filled with ADHD editing, ridiculous twists, and a tone that irresponsibly swerves between gritty thriller and Road Runner cartoon. Whats most irritating is that theres always the sense that it couldve been a much better movie had a little more care been put into it  again, all you have to do is to watch The Call, or even the first Taken movie to tell the difference. Im not even going to mention Denis Villeneuves Prisoners, because that film is on an entirely different level of quality.

But as Karla takes the law into her own hands  in a very realistically-drawn world, mind you  its only natural to wonder where the cops are. Surely a highway chase would attract some sort of attention  considering especially the wake of destruction Karlas minivan is leaving behind.

But no, every cop who appears in this movie  and there arent too many of them  is a loon. The rest of the time, the inexplicable lack of law enforcement is just confusing.

None of this, it should be made very clear, is Halle Berrys fault. In fact, you can confidently say that shes the best thing about the movie  committed, sincere, and wrenchingly emotional when she needs to be. But the movie itself is none of these things.

At 85 minutes long, it doesnt really overstay its welcome, but it kinda invited itself anyway. So

Watch the trailer for Kidnap here

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @RohanNaahar

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan

Director: RS Prasanna

Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Ayushmann Khuranna

Rating: 2/5

Bollywood takes a step ahead with Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Shubh Mangal Saavdhan - the film that breaks taboos on erectile dysfunction. Directed by RS Prasanna, the film is a remake of Prasannas Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Saadham and hits theatres on Friday.

With an interesting and bold subject, the fun-filled milieu of a north Indian wedding and an ensemble of good supporting actors, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan could have been a gem of a film. Except, it isnt.

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is the story of Mudit and Sugandha who fall in love at first sight but Sugandha wants to explore the relationship before taking things further. Mudit, on the other hand, fails to find the courage to speak to her and decides to send an online rishta instead. Our heroine is upset but takes it upon herself to turn this arranged marriage into a love marriage. However, one passionate night before the wedding, they discover that Mudit has erectile dysfunction. Efforts to get him cured form the rest of the film as families and relatives also get involved.

Bhumi takes charge of things when they turn sour.

While Prasanna aims to make us laugh, he mostly disappoints. To begin with, he focusses on the lead characters, making the supporting actors look like the unnecessary crowd around them. For us to empathise and identify with a story like this, the entire family and friends need to be well-established in the film, along with the lead characters  this is a traditional nort Indian family set-up where even a hero cannot escape the wrath of the chacha/fufa. For the uncles anger to feel genuine or the friends taunts to feel real, we also need to know them a little more.

There is an almost forced lecture on feminism, few interesting takes on erectile dysfunction and pre-marital sex and some scenes showcasing the typical middle-class, DDA flat-residing families. However, the film does not hold it all together  there are only patches of brilliance and fun in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan.

The film, nonetheless, has its moments that make you laugh out loud. Especially the scene where Sugandha and her mom have a discussion on sex. Of course, the mom doesnt utter the word and goes hey bhagwan when the daughter does. But the analogies of gufa, the porn-poetry the mom claims to have written on her wedding night, all form the perfect package of fun and laughter.

Bhumi is quite comfortable in her role as she has essayed similar ones in her previous films (Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Toilet Ek Prem Katha) - the woman next door who struggles with gender issues amidst a traditional setup and emerges the winner.

It is a pity that Prasanna does not give enough meat to his supporting actors to chew on. What a waste when you have people like Beijendra Kala and Seema Pahwa.

It is Ayushmann who emerges as the star among all the actors. He is funny, lovely and irritable - totally at ease with his character.

Prasanna presents Shubh Mangal Saavdhan in a rather flat manner and refuses to give space to characters other than the hero and heroine, leaving behind one mess of what could have been a fun-filled entertainer.

The author tweets @swetakaushal

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Even as the Maharashtra government is taking all the precautions to make the process for giving farm loan waiver benefits transparent, it has come to light that more than 14,000 farmers from Mumbai have applied for loan waiver. Of them, around 13,000 are from city alone.

Farmers from Lucknow, Raebareli and Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh too have applied for the waiver despite the government making efforts to ensure the process is easy and transparent.

So far, 47.75 lakh farmers have registered with the state government through its online process started on July 24 at 26,000 Aaple Sarkar centres across the state.

Of the total farmers, 14,121 are from Mumbai, including 13,204 from the city and 917 from the suburbs. This has confused state officials considering there are no farms in the megapolis.

Sources in the government believe that Aadhaar card is the reason that it looks like farmers from Mumbai have applied for loan waiver.

Since we have made Aadhaar mandatory for the application, it may be the case that some of them made their Aadhaar cards in Mumbai, but they own farmland in Konkan or other districts, said a senior official from the cooperation department.

There was an uproar after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had first tweeted a list of possible farmer beneficiaries, which had included 813 farmers from Mumbai.

There were questions asked as to how there were farmers in the city and if loan waiver benefit would go to ineligible candidates. The officials also now fear if the list may increase in the coming days as the last day for filing application is September 15.

Currently, we are under the process of receiving applications from farmers. These applications will be verified through two-fold process, once with the list of loan defaulters from the banks and second from the list of Aadhaar linked ration card holders. After verification will come to know whether there are any irregularities or not, said V K Gautam, principal secretary of Information Technology department told HT.

Following unprecedented strike and agitation by the farmers, the Maharashtra government declared Rs 36,000-crore package to waive off farm loans. The government claimed the loan waiver, which includes a one-time settlement option and Rs25,000 compensation to those who repay loans regularly, will benefit nearly 89 lakh farmers.

Once verification is completed, the government will release three types of list  green, red and yellow. Green list will stand for accepted applications, red for rejected applications and yellow, where there is some confusion which needs to be resolved.

By September 30, the government is expecting to release its first list of eligible farmers.

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The Thane Municipal Corporation evacuated a three-decade-old building in Mumbra on Friday, after it tilted dangerously.

Contrary to the civic bodys claims, residents said they had not been served a notice stating that the building was in a dangerous state. They have now demanded accommodation in rental homes.

The four-floor Noorani Mahal building was constructed in 1984. Residents said it began tilting sometime over the past 15 days.

We received complaints that the building had tilted, however tenants were unwilling to move out. Following the Bhendi Bazaar collapse, we decided to evacuate the residents forcefully as a precautionary measure, said Santosh Kadam, regional disaster management officer.

The building has 16 flats and nine shops.

A civic official came to my flat on Friday morning and asked me to vacate it. He said tenants were served eviction notices, which is untrue. Civic officials have turned off our electricity and water supply, said Ishrat Mohammad Shaikh, 53, a tenant.

He added that while evacuating was not a hassle, he needed alternative accommodation. My family has six members. We do not have a place to stay. We are willing to vacate the building only if the civic body gives us accommodation. For now, they will shift us to a civic school nearby. There is no clarity how long we can stay there or if officials will pay our rent if we decide to move, he said.

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The Shiv Sena on Friday slammed the Narendra Modi-government over demonetisation, stating that the decision to ban the Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes failed to propel the economy like a racehorse as promoted by the Centre, and has become a loss of face for the government.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) disclosed that 99 per cent of the demonetised Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes have been returned to the banking system. On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes will not be legal tender from November 9.

Sena, in an aggressive editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, which is the partys mouthpiece, said that the party was the first to criticise the decision, pointing out that it would severely hamper the economy of the country, but people speaking against the demonetisation were described as anti-nationals.

Nearly 99% of the demonetised currency is back in the system. The remaining one percent was not black money. The common man got tired of standing in the queue, or the time period to deposit old notes was less. So the people who spoke the rude language of demonetisation should seek a public apology, the editorial read.

The Sena attacked Modi, saying that the PM announced the demonetisation as a historic move to tackle the spread of counterfeit currency. When note ban was announced, it promised two things. One, that it would break the financial backbone of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups. Instead, our soldiers died on the borders. And second, that it would curb the supply of counterfeit currency. From the first day after the new Rs 2,000 notes were introduced, fake notes were in the system, the editorial added. It added that as many as 7,62,072 pieces of counterfeit notes were detected in the banking system.
Following the death of a doctor who fell into a manhole, civic chief Ajoy Mehta has asked local civic officials to probe the incident and submit a report to him. While the Shiv Sena said that PM Modis demonetisation move has become a loss of face for the government, the party expects a second seat in the cabinet after the rejig on Sunday. Annoyed by the unavailability of local train service since past three days, agitated commuters blocked railway tracks in protest at Vasind station on Friday morning. Also, 34 people have died of the 46 who have been rescued in the Bhendi Bazaar collapse in Mumbai.

Here are todays top five picks:

1. Mumbai civic chief calls for report on death of doctor who fell into an open manhole

Following the death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, who died after falling into an open manhole at Elphinstone Road junction during Tuesdays flood in Mumbai, civic chief Ajoy Mehta has asked local civic officials to probe the incident and submit a report to him. The shocking incident has brought the safety protocol of manholes back to the spotlight.

2. Shiv Sena expects second cabinet berth in latest reshuffle of union cabinet

With the union cabinet reshuffle around the corner, the Shiv Sena, which has one minister at the Centre, is expecting an additional cabinet berth that party leaders say has been due since a long time. Sources from the party said that while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government does not seem completely opposed to the Senas demand, there have not been any formal discussions yet.

3. Demonetisation has led to loss of face for the government, says Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Friday slammed the Narendra Modi-government over demonetisation, stating that the decision to ban the Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes failed to propel the economy like a racehorse as promoted by the Centre, and has become a loss of face for the government. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) disclosed that 99 per cent of the demonetised Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes have been returned to the banking system.

4. Angry about delayed trains, commuters block railway tracks at Vasind

Annoyed by the unavailability of local train service since past three days, agitated commuters blocked railway tracks in protest at Vasind station on Friday morning. The agitation delayed a few long distance trains but it did not have any major impact on suburban services, which are running upto 20 minutes late. According to the Government Railway Police (GRP) control room sources, the commuters were angry as outstation trains, which are their only mode of transport, were running late following shutting of suburban train services between Titwala and Kasara after the derailment of Nagpur-Mumbai Duranto Express on Tuesday morning.

5. Mumbai building collapse: Death toll rises to 34, a few more likely to be trapped

According to the police, 34 people have died of the 46 who have been rescued in the Bhendi Bazaar collapse in Mumbai, as the rescue operations continued overnight. The 117-year-old Hussaini building collapsed on Thursday morning at the congested locality, and rescue operations are still on at the site, more than 24 hours after the collapse. Fire brigade officials said that a few more people are likely to be stuck under the debris.
The Bombay high court has paved the way for the demolition of seven ground-plus-three storied unauthorised buildings within the influence zone of the proposed green-field airport being constructed in Navi Mumbai.

This is not a case where a common man has erected a small structure, said the division bench of justice Abhay Oka and justice Vibha Kankanwadi, dismissing the petition filed by Manoj Prajapati, proprietor of the firm New Prajapati Builders & Developers, which constructed the unauthorised structures.

This is a case of a professional builder who has high-handedly proceeded to construct seven buildings consisting of ground plus three floors in a most brazen manner, said the bench, adding, Therefore, in writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, no relief can be granted to the petitioner.

Prajapati had approached the high court challenging demolition notice issued by The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), and seeking protection for the 70,000 square feet construction on the basis of purported construction permission and completion certificate granted by the gram panchayat of Adai village. Besides, he also relied on the non-agricultural permission granted by the collector, Raigad and the no-objection certificate issued by Cidco to the Collector for grant of the non-agricultural permission.

According to the developer, the village panchayat had granted him construction permission and completion certificates. He said he commenced the construction work while his application for non-agricultural permission was pending by paying fine of Rs70,000 to the office of the Collector.

Cidco, however, issued notices calling upon the developer initially to stop the construction work, claiming that the construction was illegal. Relying on the January 2013 notification appointing Cidoc as a special town planning authority for Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area, the authority issued further notices to the developer saying that the construction was illegal and therefore needs to be demolished.

Taking note of the fact that the village panchayat and the headman of village Adai had taken undue interest in the matter and played a role in granting construction permission and also completion certificates to the developer, the high court has also directed the state government to inquire into their role and take action in accordance with law.
Nine days after Navi Mumbai resident Lalit Jain, 36, fell off his bike trying to avoid a ditch, he died at a private hospital in Mulund.

Jain, who owns a marble shop in Khambalpada, was returning home at 8 pm on August 23.

He suffered severe head injuries after he fell into a ditch on Khambalpada Road in Dombivli MIDC on August 23.

He also accidentally swallowed some of the chemical water in the ditch, which had been released by a nearby factory. This worsened his condition, said sources.

An autorickshaw driver took him to a private hospital. He was shifted to Thane hospital after his condition deteriorated.

The Khambalpada Road, which connects Kalyan and Dombivli, is in bad shape.

Not only has the public works department (PWD) dug up a stretch and not refilled it for the past three months, but potholes have surfaced on the rest, said residents.

Following the incident, Lalits relatives asked the Tilak Nagar police to register a complaint. Police filed a case of accidental death. They were unable to record Lalits statement as he was critical.

As we have registered a case of accidental death, we will investigate and take action, said an officer of Tilak Nagar police station.

Residents living near the Khambalpada stretch said the areas streetlights do not function.

They have now demanded action against PWD officials, citing negligence.

The road was dug up three months ago. It has not been refilled since then. The road has several potholes. The road was asphalted a year ago and its condition has deteriorated since. The police should investigate and act against the PWD, said Rajesh Kadam, a resident of Dombivli.

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The mystery remains over how city doctor Deepak Amrapurkar, 58, disappeared while wading through the flood waters near the Elphinstone Road signal in central Mumbai during the deluge on Tuesday, only for his body to be found along the seaface in Worli on Thursday.

Locals at Elphintstone told HT that he fell into an open manhole though it was barricaded with bamboo strips. People, who refused to be identified saying they didnt want trouble with the cops, claimed locals yelled out to an elderly man, who they think was Dr Amrapurkar telling him to be careful, but he kept wading in the waist-deep water and disappeared into the manhole before anyone could do anything.

One resident claimed this man stepped over the bamboo strips and that a passer- by rushed to rescue him but could only grab his umbrella.

The spot where the incident took place. (Bhushan Koyande)

Prathmesh Mahekar, the only local resident who was willing to identify himself, said, The floodwater was flowing into the hole like a strong whirlpool and one could see that. People warned the doctor not to head that way. I did not see what happened but I heard he was walking toward Prabhadevi.

The manhole had been opened up for the floodwater to flow away, said locals. Now a blame-game is going on between locals and the civic body over who opened it. Residents and local shop owners told HT that there were bamboo barricades to indicate the treacherous opening.

V H Khandkar, deputy chief engineer in the civic body, said, The BMC opens manholes for maintenance only during April-May and between October-December. So, it was not opened for any maintenance work. However, it is evident from the damaged edge that someone opened it using a crowbar.

Assistant commissioner of police (Dadar division) Sunil Deshmukh told HT, We have filed an accidental death report and investigation is on. We are in the process of recording statements.

According to locals, there were more manholes open in the area at the time for the water to flow down. Although it is unclear who opened up the manholes, locals said it is the civic bodys responsibility to make checks, especially when the city is flooding.
Thursdays Bhendi Bazaar building collapse has highlighted just how dilapidated 25,000 structures across Mumbai are.

Lakhs of tenants are currently living in dangerous conditions. Reasons: poor maintenance, time taken to obtain the consent of landlords and tenants, false promises by builders and red tape.

The Builders Association of India (BAI) has blamed the government for the plight of tenants, saying collapses have become an annual event.

What is the point of getting redevelopment consent from tenants when the building is about to collapse anytime? The process takes years and serves no purpose, said Anand Gupta, BAI member.

It is time to give these building owners and ultimatum. If they do not appoint a builder within a specified deadline, the state can issue redevelopment tenders and initiate the process, he added.

There are currently 14,375 dilapidated structures in the island city and the 10,500 in the suburbs.

All these structures were constructed before 1969 and are in bad shape.The rules and regulations to redevelop these structures are complex and the process takes years to complete.

There needs to be 100 % consensus among the landlords and 70 % among tenants with regard to appointing a builder. The state now plans to reduce consensus among tenants to 51 % as this might help speed up the process.

Builders are competitive. To bag revamp rights, they usually resort to unscrupulous methods such as driving a wedge among tenants, using strong-arm tactics and making unrealistic promises, said residents.

According to Congress Mumbaidevi legislator Amin Patel, builders are to be blamed for this impasse. Tenants have no confidence in the builders as many have reneged on their promises and rendered them homeless, said Patel.

People prefer to risk living in rickety structures rather than opt for redevelopment, he added.

While the state government has said that the tenants should shift to transit camps, they are reluctant to do so. Records indicate that those who moved to transit camps in the 1970s have been forced to make it their permanent dwellings.

This is because the redevelopment of their structures was stalled owing to several reasons  either the building fell prey to road-widening projects, was reserved as a playground or was stuck in litigation.

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After Tuesdays downpour paralysed Mumbai, the weather bureau said they will work with the BMC to identify flood-prone areas in the city and create a weather warning system for large cities.

A day after the city recorded its highest 24-hour August rain, KJ Ramesh, director general, India Meteorological Department (IMD) told HT that there is a need for improved planning to prevent such disasters. Rather than blaming the system, we need to treat such emergencies as a lesson learnt for the future, he said. We intend to issue detailed forecasts for each city about how any extremely heavy (above 200mm) rainfall can impact, which is called impact based forecasting.

The IMD chief said they will provide risk-based warnings. We will interpret focused weather models and issue warnings for low lying areas susceptible to water logging, lifeline infrastructure such as railway stations, trains, multistoried buildings, airports, hospitals, ports etc, explained Ramesh adding, We will assess the impact and provide more value added information for a faster response system.

He added that IMD had already begun discussions with BMC and after the recent flood, the process will be expedited. This activity will be done over the next two years but its impact will be reflected from next monsoon itself. Mumbai will be selected as a model city where such approaches will be tested, he said.

HT reported on Thursday that a red alert had been issued by IMD warning rainfall in north Konkan would surpass 200mm mark but BMCs disaster management cell said Mumbai was not included in the forecast.

New Delhi based policy research organisation, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), had developed the Maharashtra State Action Plan for Climate Change which was submitted to the state government in 2013. However, TERI officials said it was yet to be adopted. The action plan had indicated the possibility of increase in rainfall in the Konkan region including change in the number of rainy days, which could lead to the occurrence of intense rainfall events. It had also identified areas in the city that get flooded due to heavy rains.

The city of Mumbai falls under the coastal belt characterised by high rainfall. At the same time the natural soil strata of the region is laterite (rich in aluminum and iron). This soil type encourages good drainage of water, said Dr Anjali Parasnis, associate director, TERI Western Regional Centre. However due to urbanisation, we have now covered most of the open surfaces with material like tar and concrete, not allowing the water to drain out. Moreover, the original areas between islands are reclaimed resulting in shallow low lying stretches.

She added that under such circumstances, urban planning and infrastructure plays an important role. Navi Mumbai, a well-developed twin city of Mumbai is a classic example, she said. In spite of receiving similar rainfall, the water logging is avoided due to good city planning, which is a case study worth considering.

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Even as the city received negligible rainfall on Thursday, it recorded its highest rain in the month of August since 2010.

Rainfall recorded during the month was 950.3mm as against average rainfall of 529.7mm. In August 2010, Mumbai had recorded 1036.5mm, which is the highest for the month in a decade.

Till August 31, the suburbs recorded 23% excess rain for the first three months of the four-month monsoon season. From June 12 to August 31, Santacruz recorded 2343.1mm as against a normal of 1905.8. However, south Mumbai recorded 2% deficient rainfall till August 31 with 1733.4mm recorded against a normal of 1760.3mm rain.

Mumbai recorded 331.4mm rain between Tuesday 8.30am and Wednesday 8.30am, which brought the city to a standstill with water logging and traffic snarls at different parts of the city. Heavy rains led to the death of 19 people and thousands injured. However, a sharp decline in rainfall was seen from Wednesday morning onwards as only 9.2mm was recorded between 8.30am Wednesday and 8.30am Thursday.

Officials from the weather bureau said that Maharashtra could expect very light showers till next Thursday. The low pressure area (weather system) that was responsible for the heavy downpour on Tuesday moved westwards into the Arabian Sea and its impact has died down. The monsoon current is currently giving rains at the Himalayan foothills. Thus, monsoon conditions over the state have weakened and only light rain is expected, said Shubhangi Bhute, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weather department predicted a few spells of light rain for Mumbai on Friday.

Meanwhile, a drop in rainfall led to a rise in day temperatures both in the city and suburbs. While Santacruz recorded 31.3 degrees Celsius, 1.6 degree Celsius above normal and 31 degrees Celsius was recorded at Colaba, which was 1.3 degree Celsius above normal. The night temperature was close to the normal mark at Colaba and 1.2 degree Celsius above normal at Santacruz, which recorded 25.8 degrees Celsius.

For the three months of monsoon so far, Maharashtra recorded 2% deficient rainfall with 807.4mm rain recorded till August 31 against a normal of 827.3mm rain. While the Konkan coast recorded 4% excess rain, 15% excess rain was recorded at central Maharashtra. However, both Marathwada and Vidarbha recorded 4% and 24% deficient rainfall.

Thane (31%), Palghar (28%), Raigad (13%), Nasik (46%) and Pune (55%), all recorded excess rain till August 31.

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Gopalrao Sohail, 42, and his son Kapil, 17, were disheartened on Friday after their goat found no buyers. The animal was priced at Rs 51,00,786.

The two had travelled from Ajmer and arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday to sell their 16-month-old white goat with brown spots, which they call the Allah wala bakra (Gods own goat). The goat was first priced at Rs 1,00,00,786, but the price was reduced to almost half following the Tuesdays downpour.

For the first time in history, we have seen a goat that has the Arabic symbol of Allah  in brown  on its neck, the Arabic symbol of Amin (trustworthy) under the right ear, moon and star under the left ear and symbol of Mohammed on the other side of the its neck, said Kapil. All these symbols clearly depict the importance of the goat and that it has been sent from God to us.

He added that after an announcement was made about the price of the goat, hundreds of visitors rushed to their shed. They kept bargaining, but we did not budge, he said.

Gopalrao, painter by profession, said passers-by did not understand the significance of the goat and rubbished their claims. We had shown the marks on this goat to the Maulana in Jaipur and maulvis and qazis in Ajmer. However, people told us it is overpriced, he said. We will wait till Saturday morning to sell the goat.

Every year, Gopalrao and his son travel from Ajmer to Mumbai with 50 goats to Deonar abattoir. This year they had banked on the Allah wala bakra and got another 30 goats, which were priced at Rs 15,000 each.

We took a loan of Rs 5 lakh to acquire the goats, travel to Mumbai and other miscellaneous expenses. We sold all 30 goats and made Rs 6.5 lakh. But after paying off the loan, train tickets and transportation costs, we will be left with a profit of Rs45,000, which is the lowest in five years for us, said Gopalrao, adding that this has been a disappointing Eid for the family so far.

If sold, Gopalraos goat will be the most expensive sale at the abattoir this year.

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With the union cabinet reshuffle around the corner, the Shiv Sena, which has one minister at the Centre, is expecting an additional cabinet berth that party leaders say has been due since a long time.

Sources from the party said that while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government does not seem completely opposed to the Senas demand, there have not been any formal discussions yet.

A senior Shiv Sena leader said, The party should definitely get one more cabinet seat. The BJP is not opposed to it. But, a final decision can be hammered out only once there are official discussions with the Sena chief.

So far senior BJP leaders have not had any official discussions with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on the subject, he added.

Party sources said that the Sena is likely to nominate either Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Anil Desai or Lok Sabha MP Anandrao Adsul.

At the moment, Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet has just one Sena minister, Anant Geete, in charge of the heavy industries and public sector enterprises portfolio. Geete has been in the cabinet since the formation of the Modi government in May 2014.

The Shiv Sena, which has 18 parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha, was expecting additional cabinet portfolios in the very first cabinet expansion in November 2014, when Modi inducted 21 new ministers. However, after much drama, the Sena, which did not get a piece of the pie, boycotted the oath-taking ceremony. The Sena leadership wanted a cabinet berth while PM Modi had reportedly offered a junior ministers post. Senas Desai, who had left for Delhi for the ceremony, on Thackerays orders, returned to Mumbai from the Delhi airport itself. The Sena leaders have refused to give any public comments on the issue yet, even as some BJP ministers have resigned as part of the reshuffle.

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Eighteen out of 29 private developers, who have failed to give possession to homebuyers, are likely to face action from the Ghaziabad development authority, as it is considering the option of filing FIRs against them. The developers under the scanner had committed to a deadline of delivering flats before a three-member ministerial panel on August 30.

The panel, headed by UPs urban development minister Suresh Khanna, had arrived at the GDA headquarters along with two other ministers, Suresh Rana and Satish Mahana. They held a detailed meeting with homebuyers and also with private developers who promised a time frame to deliver flats.

Initially, six developers failed to turn up for the meeting on August 30 but they arrived a day later. Now, we are tracking 18 developers who are under pressure to deliver within the set deadlines. We have asked them to submit a fortnightly work progress report and our enforcement department will also keep a check on ground level work at the site. In case they fail to deliver within the set time frames, we will file FIRs, Kanchan Verma, vice-chairperson, GDA, said.

Of 29 developers, there are many who delivered flats on time, but failed to provide basic facilities and utilities. There are some cases on which a decision by the state administration is awaited. Such cases mostly pertain to EWS/LIG flats which are to be delivered under the Integrated Township Policy. Some developers want prices of the flats to be increased. So, such cases will not be considered while filing FIRs, as the decision from the state officials is awaited, Verma said.

Read I Buyers question CM Yogis decision to stay away from jinxed Noida

The officer said that the authoritys enforcement department will also keep a tab on construction activities and will ensure that proportionate work is completed by the developer according to the time frame given by him before the ministerial panel.

On August 30, the authority had invited representatives of nearly 10,000 homebuyers to GDA headquarters to present their issues before the ministerial panel which was set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to resolve issues of homebuyers, especially in the NCR areas of Noida and Ghaziabad.

The ministers have visited both Noida and Ghaziabad and will submit their report to the state government on the basis of which progress and action against the erring developers will be decided later on.

We are here to resolve issues that have been lingering on for years now. Buyers interest is supreme. They invested money and are still living on rent. We have all options open and can also file FIRs against the erring builders if they dont deliver flats/plots to buyers on time, Khanna had said during the meeting on August 30.

The GDA is now finalising the minutes and will roll out the names of the developers against whom the FIRs could be filed if they fail to deliver within the deadlines set by them.

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Eight persons of a family had a narrow escape after a speeding mini truck hit their car on GT Road in Ghaziabad and severely damaged the vehicle. The incident took place near Ghanta Ghar Kotwali early Friday morning when the family, including five minor children, was travelling from Delhi to Bulandshahr.

According to the police, the incident took place around 5.45am when the car, belonging to one Riyasat Ali, was hit by a speeding truck from behind when it slowed down on the GT Road.

I had just applied brakes due to a speed breaker and a speeding truck rammed our vehicle from behind. Our vehicle got crushed from behind and also from the front after it hit the divider and overturned. Locals and police reached the spot and pulled out the children and women. Our party comprised a total of 11 persons who were travelling from Delhi to Bulandshahr, said Riyasat, who was driving the EECO car.

Eight members of the family suffered minor injuries following the collision and were rushed by the police to MMG Hospital and were given medical aid. Two women, wives of Riyasat and his brother, Liyagat, were also among the injured and were treated at the hospital.

The police said that following the collision, the truck driver fled the spot and abandoned his vehicle. The family is from Moti Nagar in Delhi and was headed to Jahangirabad in Bulandshahr to celebrate Eid.

The family members did not suffer major injuries and were saved. The police were also called and helped in the rescue efforts. They later left to their hometown and said that they will take up further treatment there, said Anil Sarin, post warden, civil defence, who also rushed to the incident site.

The police officers, on the other hand, said that they have seized the truck but are yet to trace the driver.

We will register a case based on a complaint by the family. The registration number of the truck will be checked to trace the driver. The family did not suffer any major injuries but were given medical aid, a police spokesperson said.

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Two persons, aged 21 and 12, were crushed to death by a speeding truck near the Girls Inter College in Jewar on Friday morning.

The duo was riding a motorcycle in the morning when a speeding truck hit their vehicle, killing them instantly on the spot, the police said. The accident enraged local residents, who blocked the Jewar-Tappal Road for a couple of hours. Normal traffic was restored after the protesters were pacified by the area MLA and police.

According to the police, the incident took place on Friday morning around 7am on Jhajjar Road when the boys were returning from a nearby shop after buying milk.

The victims were identified as Sukhveer (21) and his cousin Dheeraj (12), both residents of Jewar village. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination.

The police said the driver of the speeding Rajasthan-bound truck might have lost control of the vehicle and rammed the bike. The duo was crushed under the rear wheel of the truck, the police said.

Dheeraj was a student of class 3 of government school and died on the spot, while Sukhveer was rushed to a nearby private hospital but was declared dead. He used to work as a mechanic in Jewar, the police said.

The station house officer of Jewar police station, Rajpal Singh Tomar, said, Soon after the accident, the truck driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot.

The accident rattled the locals, who gathered at the accident site in large numbers and staged a protest. The locals blocked the Jewar-Tappal Road for a couple of hours and raised slogans.

MLA Dhirendra Singh reached the spot and pacified the locals and the police also assured them of swift action, following which they cleared the road.

The police seized the truck and registered a case in the matter. They said that efforts are on to identify and arrest the truck driver.
The Noida authority officials have refused to remove heaps of waste material and garbage in the Noida Stadium ahead of Ramlila celebrations and said that the presence of garbage does not pose a health hazard.

PK Garg, the project engineer of Noida authority, told Hindustan Times, Why should the authority clean the premises? We have set up a temporary garbage collection centre inside the stadium for people to dump garbage and we ensure that the garbage is picked up every day. However, we are not responsible for garbage that is thrown at undesignated spaces inside the stadium.

The issue was raised by Shri Ram Mitra Mandal, a committee that organises Ramlila every year at Noida Stadium. The organisers alleged that the place is filled with garbage, construction debris and wild bushes that make it difficult for them to undertake preparations for the forthcoming Ramlila.

The bhoomi puja for Ramlila is scheduled for September 3, after which our artists and workers will be flocking the stadium to prepare for the festival. We have to erect multiple tents and build effigies of Ravan, Meghnad and Kumbhkaran. However, the entire space is filled with garbage and wild bushes. How are we supposed to practice and perform in this space? said Munna Kumar Sharma, general secretary, Shri Ram Mitra Mandal.

The entire festival will be celebrated from September 21 to October 1. Jhanki (religious procession) of Lord Ram, Lord Laxman and Sita will also start from September 24.

Sharma further alleged that when he approached Noida authority officials to get the premises cleaned and the bushes removed, they passed on the responsibility from one official to another.

We first asked the deputy director of Horticulture department to clean the premises ahead of our Ramlila, who shrugged off the responsibility on the grounds that the stadium cleaning is not part of their duties. We then approached PK Garg, the project engineer, who assured us that the authority will get the spot cleaned ahead of bhoomi puja, said Sharma.

However, when Hindustan Times contacted Garg, he refuted the claims and said that the filth doesnt spoil the beauty of the stadium.

The presence of debris and wild bushes doesnt pose any health hazard to the residents and public. We have been taking care of the stadium for more than 20 years and for its beautification, we have also constructed a boundary wall, said Garg.

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PM expects regulations of Energy Efficiency Fund to be approved in Sep, EUR 50 mln to be sent by EU in 2018

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman expects that the regulations of the Energy Efficiency Fund and the provisions on its supervisory board will be approved in September 2017.

"In September, articles of association of the Fund and the provisions of its Supervisory Board are expected to be approved," the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported after a phone talk of the prime minister with European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

The press service said that members of the supervisory board will be selected in a separate tender, in which, on the proposal of Groysman, representatives of the EU and international financial organizations will be engaged.

"We highly appreciate the previous decision of the European Commission on the allocation of EUR 50 million to support the establishment of the Energy Efficiency Fund and we count on the completion of all negotiation formalities by the end of the year. I can assure that the government will continue reforms in the field of energy efficiency, so that next year we could receive additional financial assistance from the EU to the tune of EUR 50 million," the press service said citing Groysman.

The prime minister also expressed gratitude to the other participants of the project in financing the Energy Efficiency Fund, namely the Government of Germany, the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.
Fourteen years ago, on this day, I was a 13-year-old, home from boarding school, and excited to attend my aunts wedding.

In 2003, Chamalwas, 10-km-away from the town of Banihal in Jammu, was still a sleepy hamlet. There were no DTH televisions or mobile phones. All we knew of was a landline, installed at our Jammu home, solely for the use of my politician father. We had migrated from Chamalwas to Jammu and Kashmirs winter capital in the late 90s after Papa received death threats. He did not seem bothered about such trivial matters as his life being endangered, however, and continued dedicating himself to the service of the people with unabated vigour. Nevertheless, I digress.

It was the night of September 1. A gang of cousins, including this writer, sat glued to the television watching Suraag, a popular detective series telecast on Doordarshan those days. Once Sudesh Berry as the protagonist CID officer had conveniently solved the latest crime, we dispersed: some to lend a hand with the wedding preparations, some to nick sweets when elders were distracted, some, as most adolescents are wont to do, to flirt with young women. Being Papas boy, however, I did not join in any of these uninteresting (at the time) pursuits and instead chose to tail Papa as he walked around the house, inspecting the arrangements and discussing them with his brothers.

The family elders and I ended up in the kitchen and had just settled down to cups of hot tea, when someone knocked on the door. The door opened and a militant armed with an AK47 gun entered the kitchen. Without any preamble, he asked Papa to step outside. The atmosphere in the kitchen turned from joy to fear swiftly. As Papa rose from his seat, his brothers rallied around him. Dont get up, they whispered imploringly.

Tche wal sa nebyar, commander saebas che kath karin (Come out, our commander sahib wants to speak to you), the militant told Papa. Heeding his brothers plea, Papa remained where he was. The militant backed out of the room and I started to cry. Papa looked at me and said, Tche ma wad mai gaes ni kehn (Dont cry, nothing will happen to me).

Before he could say anything else, the militant was back. He repeated his order aggressively. My uncles had already conferred amongst themselves in quick whispers and one of them now approached the man, talking to him in the soothing, charming manner of a gracious host, inviting him to sit down and eat dinner with us, assuring him Papa would be with him after we were all fed and watered. As the man appeared to capitulate and started to sit, a distinct sigh of relief seemed to go around the room like a breeze. The next second, however, the man opened fire.

Three bullets hit my father. As my uncles converged upon the militant, other family members came running into the kitchen. Six other militants who had been waiting outside stormed in and started firing indiscriminately.

To this day, I do not know how I survived. All I recall is the haze, the screams, the stench of smoke, bullets and blood, and a hand -- I will never know whose -- seizing me and throwing me out of the kitchen. After centuries, it seemed, the screaming stopped and the wailing began. My grandmother had limped into the room, whose very walls seemed to be painted with blood, only to find half her sons murdered. I crawled over the bodies of my 15-year-old cousin and my pregnant aunt to get to Papa. I closed his eyes, unhooked his wristwatch, removed his wallet and walked unseeing into the other room. People were starting to barge into the house -- the firing had roused the entire village and enough time had lapsed that the villagers were confident the militants had disappeared into the darkness, and any immediate danger of slaughter had passed.

Three bullets hit my father. As my uncles converged upon the militant, other family members came running into the kitchen. Six other militants who had been waiting outside stormed in and started firing indiscriminately.

I stood outside the kitchen, guarding what, I dont know until I saw my brother and sister running towards me, my mother in the lead. I held her off. For the first time in my life, I realised I had become taller than Mumma. Papas dead, I told her baldly. I needed to tell you this before you went in, before you saw -- she collapsed in my arms.

Five people in my family died that night. Nine children lost their fathers and two their mother. A night that was too long, a night whose dawn we feared would never come. And even if it did, who cared?

Every year since, the night of September 1, I recall the horror. The helplessness, the hopelessness. And Papas last words to me. Every year, the grief catches me unawares, never lessening in its intensity, rising and ebbing like a tide, buffeting my heart this way and that, while I am powerless to stop any of it. Just as I was powerless to stop it the first time.

A couple of months after the night are a blur. Most memories tinged with ringing wails and quiet mourning. One memory stands out: My seven-year-old cousin, nonplussed, pulling at my shirt. Sab ro rahe hain, par bade ho ke to sab marte hain (Everyones crying, but everyone dies when they get older, dont they?).

I didnt have the will to explain the difference between a peaceful death and murder to an innocent.

Qatil Ne Kis Safai Se Dhoyi Hai Aasteen

Us Ko Khabar Nahi KI Lahu Bolta Bhi Hai

(How meticulously the murderer has washed his sleeves, he has no idea blood leaves marks deeper than just the stain)

-- Anonymous

(Sohil Sehran is a correspondent with Hindustan Times, covering the National Capital Region. He tweets @SohilSehran)

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When political parties find their gambits failing, they try and spin it into something else. And the normal thing to do is to change the goalposts and claim that their real intentions were something else.

On Wednesday, when the Reserve Bank of India reported that 99% of the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was back with banks and currency chests, leaving only a presumed Rs 16,000 crore of black or forgotten money outside the system, the government put out a statement saying, in effect, Hey, that was our very intent. We wanted the money lounging as undeclared currency or black money to come into the system, and we achieved that.

Not in those precise words, obviously, but close. Heres what the finance ministry said when the RBI put out the demonetisation numbers in its balance-sheet for 2016-17: The government had expected all the SBNs (specified bank notes) to come back to the banking system to become effectively usable currency. The fact that the bulk of SBNs have come back  shows that the banking system and the RBI were able to effectively respond to the challenge of collecting such a large number of SBNs in a limited time.

It then went on to note how a significant portion of SBNs deposited could possibly be representing unexplained/black money. Accordingly, Operation Clean Money was launched on January 31, 2017. Scrutiny of about 18 lakh accounts, prima facie, did not appear to be in line with their tax profile. And so on and so forth, which the taxman will now chase for tax dues through investigations, seizures, raids, et al.

The first part of the statement, that the government had expected all the SBNs (specified bank notes) to come back to the banking system does not accord with what was being discussed both in the media and in policy-making circles in early November, in the first fortnight after demonetisation. Rather, the expectation was that a lot of the money wont come in, and, to this extent, the RBIs liabilities will be extinguished once the deadline ended. After that, the government could legitimately claim that so many lakh crore of black money had been trapped outside the system and was now mere paper. The money would now belong to the country, including the poor.

Discussions in the media and blogs focused on whether money that did not come in could be declared as RBI profit and given to government as dividend, not that large amounts would not come in. Some economists were, in fact, writing about how the government should distribute this bonanza. Economist Swaminathan Aiyar wrote: If Rs 3 lakh crore of notes remain unencashed at December-end, this implies a corresponding fall in the RBIs liabilities, giving it a huge windfall. But Modi can demand  and the RBI Governor will surely agree  to hand over almost all the Rs 3 lakh crore to the government as a special dividend. What will Modi do with this windfall? He can transfer a whopping Rs 10,000 into each of 250 million Jan Dhan accounts that have been opened since he came to power. This will absorb Rs 2.5 lakh crore, leaving Rs 50,000 crore for other purposes like infrastructure.

But far from having a fiscal windfall, the government actually got a drastic cut in dividend from the RBI, which had to foot the demonetisation bills, including printing millions of new notes. Its dividends to the government more than halved from Rs 65,896 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 30,659 crore last year, which means the government lost revenues of Rs 35,237 crore, mostly due to the cost of running its demonetisation project.

As against this cost, if the RBI now says that barely Rs 16,000 crore didnt come back, the sheer operational cost of demonetisation was a net loser, not to speak of the GDP loss, the jobs loss and other collateral damage.

But theres more cause for worry.

The Rs 16,000 crore of liabilities extinguished came after the government literally went back on its commitment to accept the old notes during January-March 2017 at RBI counters. If this window had stayed open as long, it is anybodys guess how much more would have come in.

The RBI also stopped accepting currency deposited with district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) after 14 November 2016. Thus, another source of inflows was stopped in its tracks.

Plus, Indian rupees held in Nepal  with which India has different currency arrangements  could add more to the pile coming back into the system. In its annual report, the RBI said that of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore of SBNs outstanding with the public as on 8 November, Rs 15.28 lakh crore had been deposited by June 30, 2017.

The RBI annual report notes that its figures are subject to adjustments to be made after the completion of the verification process of the SBNs received, as also for the notes to be received from DCCBs and Nepalese citizens/financial Institutions.

Some intriguing possibilities arise.

If the deposits finally returning to the RBI exceed Rs 15.44 lakh crore, it would be an embarrassment to both the government and the RBI, for it would mean that there is a loss of control on money with the public.

This has three possible explanations.

One, more Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes may have been printed that what was shown in the RBIs books as on November 8, 2016. This would be akin to a Telgi scam.

Two, some of the notes that came back could be counterfeits; this again would rebound on the government, for banks may well have let fake notes be deposited between November 8 and December 31, either in cahoots with crooks or due to an inability to carefully check the notes when queues to deposit the cash were long and tempers fraying.

Three, old and soiled notes sent for destruction before 8 November may have come back to the system without being fully destroyed. If this is even a remote possibility, it would again need the RBI to re-examine its security procedures for disposing of old notes.

There is no evidence that any of the above three situations occurred. But if the final number turns out to be more than Rs 15.44 lakh crore, there will be egg on the RBIs face.

These questions will be with us for some time. The final word on what cash came back after November 8 is still to be written.

R Jagannathan is editorial director, Swarajya.

The views expressed are personal
The announcement of redeploying 57,000 personnel for combat duties as recommended by the Shekatkar Committee  which was tasked to ensure Indias combat capabilities and potential are enhanced, with a better teeth-to-tail combat ratio, and to re-balance the overall defence expenditure in view of the escalating salary and pension bills  is said to be far-reaching. The Prime Minister had wanted the military to be agile, mobile and driven by technology. As conveyed publicly, it was to cut the flab. While the objective is laudable, and desirable, the approach may not produce any tangible results.

The entities being addressed  military farms, postal services and base workshops  are all predominantly, if not entirely, manned by civilian non-combatants who cannot be assigned combat roles. The saving on their establishment costs would need to be redirected towards meeting the outsourcing costs, because such services cannot be dispensed with. Undoubtedly, the military farms would release substantial land which, having been engulfed by urbanisation, constitutes prime real estate. As to how this land will be handled and utilised is another matter.

Military force structuring and budgetary allocation are centred on two yardsticks: Teeth to Tail Ratio and Revenue to Capital Expenditure. National security is ultimately a question of evaluating security threats and national interests, and deciding on capabilities to meet or secure them. Capabilities in turn mean expenditure. The first must take the shape of a Strategic Defence Review and define our military capabilities to be created and maintained. As this is over the long term, corresponding long-term budgetary commitments have also to be stated. In our context, we are unique in never having formally articulated our security concerns and how we intend to address them. The unilateral cut in the induction of Rafale fighters and putting on hold and then scaling down the raising of the mountain strike corps  both requirements originally arrived at after a decade of debate  are symptomatic of the absence of such an approach. Stephen Cohen, an authority on South East Asia and the Indian Armed Forces, sums it up in his book, Arming Without Aiming.

What needs pruning

Teeth to Tail Ratio is generally perceived to be the ratio of combatants to support personnel. Besides the uniformed support services, the vast manpower embedded in the defence support establishments  Defence Research and Development Organisation, Director General of Defence Estates, Director General of Quality Assurance, Ordnance Factory Board, ordnance factories, defence public sector undertakings and so on  all forming part of the defence expenditure  need to be taken into account. This tail too needs major pruning and restructuring. Interestingly, defence civilians account for 40% of the defence pension budget. The recommendations of the committee on these structures is unlikely to see implementation.

In our context, the army is invariably seen as a manpower-heavy organisation fit for cutting flab and therefore defence revenue expenditure. It is not well appreciated that our security commitments, emanating primarily from unsettled borders, and the role of the army are manpower-intensive. This will only increase post-Doklam.

Given the requirement of maintaining a young age profile of the forces, and consequent retirement of a large proportion between 35 and 45 years of age, one of the repeated recommendations which could affect substantial savings is inducting this manpower laterally into the central police organisations such as BSF, CRPF and SSB. This would provide trained manpower and defer the military pension commitment for 15-25 years as also cut the overall pension commitment. This forms part of the committee recommendations.

In light of the cut

The perceived imbalance in the other area related to revenue-vs-capital expenditure is due to our overall allotment for defence declining in real terms over the years and the corresponding expenditure on maintenance (pay, pension, fuel) progressively increasing. The defence budget this year is the lowest in GDP terms since 1962. The ratio of revenue to capital expenditure thus appears disproportionate. The Kargil operation with the army chief stating, We will fight with what we have, said it all.

The decade of the 1980s saw the highest defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP. With no systematic acquisitions and replacements for the next three decades, the balloon of equipment turning obsolete and requiring substantial capital expenditure stares us in the face today. Depleting fighter strength of the air force and submarines of the navy are publically acknowledged. Shortages in ammunition and war-like stores leading to hollowness in war wastage reserves in the armed forces are revenue expenditures adding to the perception of excessive demands for revenue expenditure. Rationalising the classification of expenditure heads would perhaps give a truer picture of defence expenditure.

This committee is not the first and certainly not the last. All have recommended major structural changes and refining budgetary approach to defence spending. Needless to say, their implementation has been half-hearted and selective, if at all. Incremental tinkering is unlikely to make it agile, mobile and driven by technology. That will require political will.

(The writer is a former deputy chief of integrated defence staff. Views expressed are his personal.)
Violating culture. Threatening the family. Against the order of nature. Threatening our religion.

Several arguments have been deployed in Indias 70 years of independence to deny its citizens civil rights but all are stitched together by a common strand: A lazy reliance on regressive community standards as the convenient status-quo crutch.

The latest episode in the depressing saga was acted out on Tuesday before Delhi high courts acting chief justice Gita Mittal, in the form of the governments submission on criminalising marital rape. Under Indian laws, sexual intercourse by a man with his wife aged 15 years or above is not rape even if it is without her consent  a grave transgression of a womans rights, activists say.

The central governments concerns in the case could be summarised under four heads: One, that criminalising rape within marriages will deal a body blow to the institution of marriage. Two, it will throw open the floodgates of misuse and send hundreds of men behind bars. Three, that the resolution of marital rape complaints would be tricky with no lasting evidence. And lastly, four, that such changes in law need to be accompanied by social shifts, without which theres no meaning in blindly aping the west in a poor country.

Of course, none of these arguments are new. Umpteen governments and conservative groups have made similar arguments to dismiss the demand for strong anti-dowry laws, to decriminalise homosexuality, fortify sexual harassment statutes, and if we go back into history, outlawing polygamy and ensuring inheritance for women.

In each of these cases  and in the recently announced right to privacy verdict  it was argued that India wasnt ready for reform, that its crumbling society was too poor and impoverished to entertain thoughts of emancipation, individual rights and progress beyond what a paternalistic government decided for them.

But such argumentation ignores some of the founding tenets of our nation.

One, that a democratically elected government cannot be obsessing about the preservation of an institution at the cost of an individuals civil rights. Marriage has been the site of egregious violations that has been gradually reformed through the centuries  from the banning of sati to legalising widow remarriage to inheritance, divorce  to make it a more equitable institution. Marriage is a social vehicle and must transform and the government cannot be the agent to hold back women in exploitative relationships. If marriage as we know it stands on a bedrock of sexual assault and women losing autonomy over their bodies and sexuality, then it is better that we let that institution lapse.

Two, that the bogie of misuse cannot be the founding basis for any progressive legislation. For decades, the same argument has been used to hold back domestic violence law, anti-rape law and anti-sexual harassment statutes. Curiously, the low levels of conviction in such cases never tells these opponents that it still remains incredibly difficult for women to prove such charges, or that the number of false cases have never been statistically high. Or, that the countries where marital rape is criminalized  most of Europe, Australia, and even Nepal  havent turned into post-apocalypse zones where men are only found behind bars.

Three, that there is a public value to such a law that extends far beyond the courts. The merit of an anti-marital rape law lies in raising consciousness about a crime that is not spoken of, that women often only acknowledge in moments of extreme distress, to their peers, in private, for fear of rebuke, infamy, abuse or worse  a crime that is considered normal behavior by men who will be men. In a world where the threat of divorce is often far graver than death and husbands hold disproportionate power in relationships, letting men know that sexual abuse wont be condoned by the state is a powerful statement.

Arguments against expanding rights for women are not new. India erupted in the 50s over the proposed Hindu code bill. Whats of concern is that the shade of argumentation has changed little  giving inheritance rights to women is a grave threat to Hinduism, banning polygamy is an attack on the institution of marriage, and that the state should get out of the bedroom. The government didnt give in to the opposition then, and Indias first law minister BR Ambedkar staked his career on the bill. It is a shame that our country appears to have progressed littel in the seven decades since. One only hopes that the current government learns from its predecessors and acknowledges that women have the right to decide over their bodies. The time for this debate is past.

The author tweets @dhrubo127

The views expressed are personal

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Bellingham in Whatcom County of Washington State in the US saw racial riots on September 4, 1907, when early Indian, Japanese and Chinese workers were forced to leave. A mob of some 500 local White people attacked them, scattered their belongings, and forced them out.

Sikh historian Seema Sohi, who got her doctorate from the University of Washington and wrote a book about these riots, Echoes of Mutiny, says there are uncanny parallels between then and now. However, the citizens of Bellingham are making amends for the misdeeds of the past by erecting a red-stone Arch of Healing and Reconciliation and honouring the immigrants  the Indians were mostly Sikhs  in their persistence to defy racism in the US. The stone has been brought from India and the arch will come up in April next year on the lawns of the Bellingham Public Library.

This has been reported by the Bellingham Herald newspaper which incidentally had also reported the 1907 riots. At that time the early Sikh immigrants were termed Hindus and the banner headline of the daily on September 5, 1907, cried out, Hindus hounded from city, with the subhead saying, Mob drives foreigners from lodging houses and mills.

A committee has been set up in Bellingham to build the arch, and deep research went into the study of these riots.

The tempo for the riots then had been built within the local white community with the coming of Sikh immigrants, which was described as the turban tide and the dusky peril with one news-sheet screaming, Hindu hordes invading the state.

However, over a century later comes the healing project in which all communities have participated. It is backed by deep research by white American scholars such as Paul Englesberg and Johanna Ogden. Welcoming the project, political analyst and chronicler of the Ghadar Party, Harish Puri says, This is a heartwarming endeavour. The 1907 riots at Bellingham and the 1910 riots against early Sikh immigrants paved the way a few years later for the formation of the Ghadar Party. The 1907 riots by white hoodlums were the first brush of Punjabi immigrants with racial hatred.

Puri adds that such efforts should be made in India too to heal the wounds of Partition violence of 1947 and the killings of Sikhs in November 1984. If this is not done, wounds fester and result in continuing violence and hatred.

The Bellingham Herald quotes Satpal Sidhu, a Whatcom County member and chairperson of the Arch Committee, thus: We are celebrating that these people did persevere, and look where we are today.

Englesberg adds, We are hoping it makes people think and reflect on the past.

The Arch Committee is working to raise about $2 million. Most of that money will go towards a scholarship fund to help the children of first-generation immigrants go to college.

(Photo sourced from Arch of Healing archives)
Punjab tourism and local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged transactions of former director, tourism, cultural affairs, museum and archives, Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa, with a businessman accused of smuggling antiques.

In a letter to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Sidhu stated that smuggling of antiques from the state was a serious matter. The government should get it probed by the CBI, which is the designated agency for investigating smuggling of antiques out of the country, he wrote. The minister, who also referred to Randhawas long stint in the department, personally handed over the letter to the chief minister during a meeting on Friday.

Sidhus recommendation came after the Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) wrote to the chief secretary on August 23 to initiate suitable action against the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) official under the conduct rules.

The minister, who had got Randhawa shifted out of his department over two months ago, said the smuggling of antiques was akin to loot of heritage of the state. There is no inventory of antiques being maintained by the department. The official could not have done all of this without others being involved. The inquiry is needed to get to the bottom of this whole thing, Sidhu said, adding that he will also write to the governor.

Randhawa could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.

Know the case

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence case relates to smuggling of furniture designed by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and his associate and cousin Pierre Jeanneret, by India-born US citizen Vijay Nanda.

During investigation, role of Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa in arranging antiquities for Nanda, participating and bidding in international auction of antiquities through him, and sale of furniture of various government offices and universities situated in Punjab to Nanda and Devesh Goel has come to light, DRI additional director general Shrawan Kumar had stated in his letter to the Punjab chief secretary on August 23.

During investigation, Goel, who is a Delhi-based exporter and a close associate of Nanda, had submitted documents containing his cash transactions, wherein details of cash payments allegedly made to Randhawa as well as amounts spent on entertaining him were recorded, according to the letter. The DRI had also questioned Randhawa on May 1 about his dealings with Nanda and Goel.
Even though Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh last week refused any compensation to families of Dera Sacha Sauda followers killed in clashes with police in Panchkula after the sect head was convicted of rape, health minister Brahm Mohindra on Friday batted for monetary relief for them, only to later back out.

Considered next to the CM in the cabinet hierarchy, the Congress leader from the CMs hometown Patiala issued a statement, through the public relations department at 6.47pm, saying that premis  the loving ones, as the followers call themselves  also deserve our praise for maintaining peace in Punjab. While Panchkula in Haryana saw more than 30 deaths in police action on dera followers, sect headquarters Sirsa, also in Haryana, saw six deaths. At least eight of the dead were from Punjab. But the state only saw stray arson.

The statement  headlined Premis are also human beings: Brahm Mohindra, and withdrawn an hour after issuance  was sent to journalists through the district public relations office. Underlining that the guilty had already been punished, in it Mohindra promised the devotees all the security and whatever help and support they need from the state government.

It must be underlined that Mohindras constituency, Patiala Rural, has significant population of dera followers.

They are our own people and part of our society, the statement said, adding that they could be not punished for someone elses fault: The law has taken its own course, and whosoever was guilty has been brought to book... The followers cannot be held responsible, it said

It also expressed his sympathies with the bereaved families, and declared, The state government is examining each and every case. And added that he will raise the matter with the CM. Not all those people who were killed or injured in the police firing were guilty. They were either misled or caught unawares, conveyed the statement.

It stressed, Congress party and chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh do not believe in discrimination. We stand by the victims who were caught unawares in the police action and express our sympathies to all of them. Strict instructions have been issued for the safety and security of premis all over the state.

The statement had even hailed the CMs decision of not closing any naam charcha ghar (congregation centre) of the dera in Punjab. People are free to practise and follow any faith they want, and our chief minister has already ensured that.
The 10-year-old rape survivor, who had recently delivered a baby girl, along with her mother on Thursday recorded their testimonies before the local court as the day-to-day trial began in the rape case. However, the contents are not yet known.

A local court on Wednesday had framed charges against the maternal uncle of the rape survivor under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The rape came to light after she complained of stomach ache. The doctor confirmed that the minor girl was pregnant. After getting details from the girl child, the mother who is the complainant in the case, allegedly came to know that its the maternal uncle who had committed the crime. The police said the accused had raped the girl six to seven times. The accused is a native of Nepal and used to stay in Sector 37 where his sister (mother of 10-year-old) used to stay.

The rape survivor on August 17 had delivered a baby girl after the Supreme Court had dismissed plea seeking medical termination of pregnancy. The rape survivors family had given up the custody of the newborn who is presently in Ashiana, a childrens home in Sector 15. The police are yet to submit the DNA test report of the accused and the child.
The Akal Takht jathedar has shown haste for the second time.

On Tuesday, welcoming the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda back into the Sikh fold, Giani Gurbachan Singh, head of the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, said it would be a ghar wapsi (homecoming) for them.

Sikhs are a huge community, much bigger than any dera. There are Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)-run schools and colleges where their children can get education. The SGPC also has schemes to help the downtrodden and needy, he said.

The call came on a day after Sirsa-headquartered dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sent to jail for 20 years after his conviction for raping two of his woman disciples.

Social boycott of dera followers

In 2007, the then Akal Takht jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti had issued an edict for a social boycott of dera followers after Ram Rahim imitated Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth master of Sikhs.

Now when the dera chief has been jailed, the incumbent jathedar says his followers, also called premis, are target of ridicule, in panic and need a hand-holding.

However, the questions that arise in the minds of Sikhs are: Is it an apt time for the Akal Takht jathedar to welcome them back? Does the edict of 2007 stand withdrawn? Are the affairs at the highest temporal seat of Sikhs run in an arbitrary manner?

The call to the dera followers comes in haste, and is absolutely wrong. We are welcoming those who are patit (fallen) and had intentionally renounced the Sikhism, Pirthipal Singh Kapur, a Sikh scholar said while talking to HT.

He said such welcome calls are not in conformity with the Sikh traditions.

Also read | Ram Rahims conviction humiliates Akal Takht jathedar who pardoned him in 2015

Jathedar defends

They (premis) may accept my call or not, but I feel it appropriate to give a message that those who have gone to the unscrupulous deras can come back into the (Sikh) fold. I think theres no haste in welcoming as they are in panic and worried, Giani Gurbachan Singh told HT over telephone.

Reacting to the call to join the Sikh fold, Jora Singh, head of Dera Sacha Saudas Punjab headquarters at Salabatpura (in Bathinda), said the current situation will expose those dera followers who have double standards.

We are still with the dera. Some people are mistaken that our faith has shaken. That will not happen, he said.

Akal Takhts earlier flip-flop

Earlier in September 2015, a flip-flop by the Akal Takht in giving pardon to Ram Rahim (for his act of imitating the tenth Sikh Guru) and withdrawing the pardon three weeks later was much criticised.

Then, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK had said the jathedar acted in haste in giving pardon and later revoking it.

Giani Gurbachan Singh has clarified that the 2007 hukamnama cant be withdrawn, because to withdraw a hukamnama, forgiveness had to be sought and in case of dera (Sacha Sauda), theres no scope now.

Cancelling the edict of 2007 and welcoming dera premis are two different things, he maintained. The premis come from different religions and castes.

Supporting the Akal Takht jathedar, SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar had announced of intensifying dharma parchar to ensure homecoming for misled Sikhs and initiate a dialogue to contact dera followers.

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The National Students Union of India has turned out to be a strong contender among the 21 student organisations, in the run up to Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections. Divided due to factionalism and internal politics last year, the student body of the Congress has so far put up a united front in their campaign for victory in the polls.

PROMINENT LEADERS Manoj Lubana: He joined PU in 2011 and got associated with the NSUI in 2013. He continues to be a law student here. He has managed the elections since 2013, but never contested them. Siya Minocha: She joined PU in 2011 and got associated with the NSUI in 2013. Till 2015, she was managing the media for the organisation. She fought the elections as the partys presidential candidate in 2016. She is pursuing her masters in law and is the senior president of NSUI. Jeewanjyot Singh Chahal: Having joined the PU in the department of languages in 2011, he has continued here by taking admission in a diploma programme. Jeewan, popularly known as Jugnu, was the campus president in 2013 when NSUI won the elections. Jugnu was also leading the group which broke into a faction group, Students Front, last year.

Senior leaders and separated members have once again joined hands to campaign together in classrooms and hostels, claiming that they will repeat their victorious streak from 2013 and 2014. The NSUI fought its first election in 2007 and swept the polls in 2013 and 2014. The party is trying its best to make a comeback after a two-year drought.

In 2012, Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy and Brinder Dhillon joined the NSUI and led the student body to victory for two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014. However, the party clocked in third in 2015 and secured the fourth position in 2016.

Senior leaders of the party said if the NSUI won the election this time, the streak will continue for the next four to five years. If not, it will be difficult for them to make a comeback at PU.

The national president of the NSUI, Firoz Khan, said, The team is strong this time and we are looking forward to making it big. There are no more faction groups if there ever were; we are a united NSUI. The team has taken up challenge and will make a clean sweep in the elections.

CAN THEY OR NOT?

Khan added that the Congress government coming to power in Punjab will have limited influence on the student elections.

However, it could also be a major bonus for the student wing of the Congress. With the party in power in the state, it will help the NSUI manage the polls better. The faction group, which separated to form the Students Front (NSUI-SF) last year, reunited with the NSUI this year. Goldy will be a significant influence having been an active NSUI president as well as PUCSC president. He is regarded as a youth icon by on campus.

But, thats not all. The NSUIs master strategists such as Brinder Dhillon and Harpreet Multani are no more a part of the election campaign. The leaders who helped the NSUI win 2014 polls have separated themselves from it. It also lacks a strong leadership as of now.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has welcomed the Ukrainians with the entry into force of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states on the one hand and Ukraine on the other.

"September 1, 2017 is the day that will forever go down in the history of our strong and independent Ukraine. Today, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU comes into force," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday morning.

He recalled that an in-depth and comprehensive free trade zone of Ukraine with the European Union has been functioning from the beginning of 2016.

"Since January 1, 2016, we have an in-depth and comprehensive free trade zone functioning with the European Union. The foreign trade in goods and services of Ukraine with the EU countries has grown by 22% during six months of this year. Almost 40% of our trade is accounted for the European Union. A historical change of the geographical structure of Ukrainian exports has taken place in favor of increasing its volume to the EU countries. This is already irreversible processes of integration of the Ukrainian economy to the EU market," the Ukrainian president said.

Earlier, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Hugues Mingarelli, said that from September 1, the Association Agreement would enter the stage of its implementation, which would "promote the policy of association and integration of the Ukrainian economy into the European market."

Since 2014, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has operated in a limited amount.

The political part of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement was signed on March 21, 2014 during the Brussels summit. The first signatures from the EU were put by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The first signature from the Ukrainian side was put by the then Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The economic part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which provides for the creation of a free trade zone (FTA), was signed on June 27, 2014 at the EU summit in Brussels. On the European side, the document was signed by Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Ukrainian side was signed by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

Poroshenko called signing the Association Agreement with the European Union one of the most important days in the history of the Ukrainian state.

To enter into force, the Association Agreement should be ratified by all 28 EU member states and Ukraine.

The European Parliament ratified the Association Agreement in sync with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 16, 2014. Voting in two parliaments was broadcast in a videoconference via a TV link-up.

Romania, Lithuania and Latvia were the first of the EU member states to ratify the document, the last - Cyprus, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, the issue of ratifying the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine was submitted to a consultative referendum on which, on April 6, 2016, 61% of the Dutch voted against it. However, the results of the referendum are not binding on the Dutch government. As a result, the lower house of the Parliament of the Netherlands ratified the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement on February 23, 2017, and the Senate of the Netherlands (upper house) did it on May 30.

After the ratification of the Association Agreement by the Parliament of the Netherlands, all legislative obstacles that blocked the official launch of the Ukraine-EU Association were lifted. The Netherlands sent ratification documents to the EU, and on July 11, 2017, the Council of the European Union announced the completion of all formalities in the ratification process, since the last instrument of ratification was deposited.

After that, the document comes into force on the first day of the second month after the completion of all procedures - September 1, 2017.
Launching an attack on the Sikh leadership that is in-charge of institutions like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Akal Takht, Punjab technical education minister Charanjeet Singh Channi claimed that they were to blame for proliferation of dera culture in the state.

Contemporary Sikh organisations that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has patronised, blatantly ignored the weaker and the underprivileged sections of society in the state. Due to this alienation, Sikhs gradually moved towards deras, said Channi on the sidelines of a job fair that he launched.

Channi claimed that present Sikh organisations had miserably failed to practice the basic tenets of Sikhism including harmony, equality and brotherhood in the right earnest. This fortified the position of deras in the state, he claimed.

On another query, the minister said that the state government had decided to set up a Research and Design (R&D) centre at Maharaja Ranjit Singh State Technical University, Bathinda, to restructure the syllabus of technical institutions as per industry requirement.
Arjun Reddy, the surprise Telugu hit starring Vijay Devarakonda and Shalini, may have impressed many, but some womens organisations have now asked for a ban on it. Members of womens organisations such as the AP Mahila Samakhya and the AP Mahila Congress have been protesting against the film and demanding it to be banned, says a report in The Hindu.

Padmasri Sunkara, president of AP Mahila Congress alleged that the Sandeep Reddy film is against Telugu culture and the contents of the film could mislead youth. The movie encourages drugs and such films will only cause harm to society, she was quoted as saying. She also asked chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to watch it with his family and ban it.

Prior to the films release, people objected to a lip-lock that featured in the film.

APMS president and National Federation of Indian Women, AP general secretary P Durga Bhavani objected to the film saying that it promoted dating culture among students. We have seen the movie and found it objectionable. I would like to ask the producers and directors of the movie if they want to promote dating culture during college life among the students. Screening of the movie should be immediately stopped.

Bhavani asked if the producer of Arjun Reddy was willing to watch it with his family members.

Arjun Reddy has been creating ways since its release on August 24. Releasing on the same day as Ajiths Vivegam, the film has been called bold, intense, raw and honest. A host of Tollywood celebs ranging from SS Rajamouli, Rana Daggubati and Samantha Ruth Prabhu have heaped praise on the film.

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A Chennai court on Thursday stayed the release of Tamil film Puriyatha Puthir after a petition alleged that its producers owed Rs 22.13 lakh to those who had worked in the movie.

The film starring Vijay Sethupathi and Gayathrie was to hit the screens on Friday.

According to the available documents, a prima facie case was made out. Balance of convenience was in favour of the petitioners, the city civil court said, ordering the interim stay valid till September 14.

The petitioner -- the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) -- had sought a stay on the release of the film produced by the JSK Film Corporation contending that the company had to pay Rs 22,13,051 to its members who had worked in the film.

The petitioners counsel argued that the workers of the federation were very poor and there was no written agreement signed between them and the producers.

He claimed the producers had promised the workers to pay their dues before the release of the movie, but did not honour it.

If injunction was not granted, the payment would never be made, he said.

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Seventeen-year-old medical aspirant Anita S decided to end her struggle on Friday, a few months after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by her and a few other students against the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET).

The Dalit girl from Ariyalur district, who believed that the newly launched entrance test was detrimental to the interests of students from rural areas, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her home early that morning.

Anita was depressed by the Supreme Courts dismissal of the plea against NEET. (HT Photo)

Describing Anita as a bright and hardworking student, a relative told mediapersons that her dream was to become a doctor and serve disadvantaged people.

The Dalit student had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 in the Plus Two examinations. However, she lost out on a medical seat because her NEET score was a paltry 86 out of 720 marks.

Her suicide sparked a few protests across Tamil Nadu by student organisations and representatives of Dalit parties.

In Chennai, several students were also taken in to custody over the protests and later released.

The daughter of a daily wage worker, Anita reportedly sank into depression after the SC dismissed the plea against NEET. Anita and the other petitioners had maintained that they be allowed to take admissions as per the TN governments policy because students from rural schools will not be able to compete against their urban counterparts under the new test.

AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi, who supports the TTV Dhinakaran faction in the party, blamed both the central and state governments for Anitas suicide. I feel very sorry for the girl. Though Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised that Tamil students will be exempted from NEET this year, the Centre eventually backtracked on the promise, she said.

She came down heavily on the E Palanisami government saying, the chief minister and his cabinet members went to Delhi so many times, but what came out of it? They even met the PM in this regard, Saraswathi said.

Anitas HSC marksheet, which shows her scoring 1,176 marks out of 1,200. (HT photo)

However, ruling AIADMK faction leader C Ponnaian chose to pass the buck to the judiciary. Despite their best efforts, the central and state governments could not do anything because the courts stepped in, he said.

State health minister C Vijayabhaskar also came out in defence of the state government.

We tried very hard, but could not succeed in getting exemption from NEET. But students get three opportunities, and they should not take drastic steps like these, he said.

It is very unfortunate that the girl lost her life, and the blood is on the hands of the central government. And whatever happened to the state governments promise of exempting Tamil Nadu students from NEET? DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi asked.

While DMK acting president MK Stalin blamed the Modi government and the non-existent Tamil Nadu government for the girls death, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol Thirumavalavan termed NEET as anti-poor and anti-rural.

Kin refuses body

Meanwhile, relatives and friends of Anitha refused to take her body after post mortem and were sitting in protest at the government hospital at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

The protesters are demanding that the state and central governments own responsibility for the death of Anitha.

Meanwhile, CM Edapaddi Palanisami has announced an ex-gratia of Rs7 lakhs to Anitas family members and a government job to a family member.

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Narcos (Season 3)

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Damian Alcazar, Matias Varela

Rating: 3.5/5

For two years, the best thing about Narcos was Wagner Moura and how he made us feel guilty for rooting for the biggest drug lord there ever was, Pablo Escobar. With the kingpin lying dead on a rooftop at the end of season 2, we were almost sure that it was our last tryst with the show. Certainly, nothing could eclipse the grandiose, drug peddling ways of potbellied villain. Which is why the idea of a season 3 didnt feel inviting. But now, those premature doubts are all buried deep into the ground, much like Escobars dirty money.

This time around, the focus shifts from the cartel in Medellin to the one in Cali. We were introduced to them last season but this time, they take the foreground. Since Escobars takedown, Cali cartel too has started considering giving up the thug life. It may be run like a Fortune 500 company or Narcos Incorporated with four godfathers at its helm, but even they can feel the DEA noose tighten around their necks. The drug lords and their partners are given six months to surrender by the Colombian government, with the promise of minimal punishment. They decide to pump up the gas (taking it to horrifyingly literal terms) and make enough cash for their retirement funds in the time allowed.

The DEA, this time represented by Pedro Pascal, has other plans. They want to dismount the four horsemen without letting them strike a clearly very lenient deal. And thus begins the cat-and-mouse chase.

After his charming and rather mind-blowing act in Game of Thrones, no one really doubted Pedro Pascals ability to a headline a show of his own. With Narcos finally giving the boot to Boyd Holbrooks dull Steve Murphy, Pascal takes the reins of the show and even of his role as the narrator. And he does it without making it sound like he is getting turned on by the cartels power. He fits the bill as a more serious, more focused man of the law, frustrated at losing in the drug war even as he wins every battle.

However, its the bad guys and their not-so-bad minions who take the best performance awards. Matias Varela as Jorge Salcedo, the Rodriguez brothers head of security, is the highlight of the show. He plays the enabler of the bad and thinks he is not made dirty by swimming in filthy waters just because he hasnt killed anybody or sold drugs personally. He is so deluded that it comes as a surprise to him that even he could be tried in the court of law for working so closely with a drug cartel. Slowly, he spirals into making threatening visits to persons of interests, abducting children, hiding money from DEA and still doesnt quite get a grip on the reality. He wishes to walk away, live a better life but without realising that he cannot blame everyone else for the one he lives right now.

History would have you believe that Cali cartel was far less violent than the Medellin cartel. They believed in bribing people rather than getting their hands and faces bloodied, chopping people up with axes in a fake prison they created for themselves. However, none of that translates much into the show. The violence may have gone down a notch but it is still here, pulsating under the thick stacks of dollar bills, threatening to pop up every time you expect a deal to go south.

What season 3 lacks in a terrifying but masterfully humanised villain, it makes up for in thrilling sequences in almost every episode. Each hour, you will be pushed to the edge of your seat as a thick cloud of tension starts swirling over your head. A man slow dancing with the intention to kill, another rushing to hide wads of cash from DEA agents, or one waiting for a showdown in a hair salon are scenes powerful enough to jolt you out of the heaviest bout of drowsiness.

Nothing has been quite the same since the first season of the show which, without any doubt, the few very best hours I ever spent on Netflix. But walking into its third season and without the towering presence of Wagner Moura, the show still manages to not make you wonder if he could somehow come back. Thats a feat in itself.

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The author tweets @soumya1405

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Sanjeeda Sheikhs sister-in-law Zakerabanu Zakir Hussain Bagban has filed a domestic violence case against the TV actor, her brother Anas Abdul Rahim Sheikh and their mother Anisha. According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Zakeerabanu has alleged that Sanjeeda, along with her brother and mom, beat her up as they wanted her out of their Mumbai house. The 22-year-old woman claims she was speaking with her father over the phone on May 27 when the actors family started yelling at her and beating her up, saying that they didnt want her in their home anymore.

Zakerabanu claimed that she returned to her parents home in Ahmedabad and had to be admitted to a local hospital in Sarkhej Roza, Ahmedabad. She lodged an FIR at Sarkhej Police Station in the city after she was discharged on May 29, the tabloid added.

Sanjeedas lawyers apparently countered the FIR with allegations that Zakeerabanu had a disturbed relationship with her father and hence, could not adjust to the liberal environment of her marital home, the report said.

It quoted Sanjeedas lawyer Sunny Punamiya as saying, The Honble Court has passed an order in favour of my client by stating that the investigating agency should not take any coercive steps against her. In other words, the Honble Court accepted our submission that the FIR is baseless, bad in jurisdiction and merely filed to harass my client.

Sanjeedas family claims that the TV actor was not at home on that day and Zakerabanu left the home after telling Anas that she was going to her parents house as she was not feeling well.

Sanjeeda is currently seen in the soap, Love Ka Hai Intezaar. She has also participated in the popular dance reality show, Nach Baliye twice.

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Seventy-eight years ago, Adolf Hitlers Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, starting what was going to be the one of the deadliest wars in the history of mankind.

Here are some of the key moments of the World War 2:

Blitzkrieg

German term for lightning war was a military tactic used by Hitlers army. In 1940, the Wehrmacht unleashed blitzkrieg on Netherlands, Belgium and France, on May 10. The Allies were taken aback by the German war machine setback and the setback forced Britain prime minister Neville Chamberlain to resign. He was replaced by Winston Churchill.

Thousands of British and allied troops who were sandwiched between the sea and German soldiers were evacuated from France. The daring evacuation at Dunkirk is this years much celebrated Christopher Nolan war movie.

Invasion of USSR

Hitlers invasion of Russia pushed the Allies and the Soviet Union into an unlikely alliance. On June 22, 1941, millions of German troops marched into the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.

This was a key moment in World War 2 that contributed to Nazi Germanys eventual loss as it forced Hitlers troops to fight a two-front war with powerful enemies.

A map issued by the Nazis in 1937, found in Czechoslovakia, and published as a poster in England shows how Hitler's Third Reich aimed at conquering most of Europe, including Great Britain by 1948. The British anti-war propaganda poster reads "Now the Policy of Grab-Grab-Grab is at last halted". (AFP Photo)

Stalingrad

Although the invasion of USSR began in 1941, it was the defeat in battle of Stalingrad that is considered crucial to the Nazi forces morale.

Soviet Unions rough terrain was site of the bloodiest battle in the World War 2. Owing to its name, both Hitler and Stalin were determined to claim victory in the city that carried Volga river. Stalin had famously ordered his army to take not one step back. Nearly two million people were killed, injured and captured in the battle and civilians caught in the crossfire. In February of 1943, the Red Army stubbed the Nazi offensive, dealing a blow to Hitlers Germany.

Pearl Harbour

In a massive surprise attack, 360 Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It turned out to be a boon for Britain and France as the strike forced US, then led by president Franklin D Roosevelt, to join the World War 2 against the Axis powers.

Italy surrenders

Allied advance into in 1943 Italy proved to be detrimental to the Axis alliance. After deposing dictator Benito Mussolini, the Italian government tried to change sides. The secret armstice and left Germany to take up the mantle of defence in the Mediterrannean country.

D-Day

On June 6,1944, Allied forces launched the largest seaborne invasion of Normandy to liberate northwestern Europe from Nazi control.

Allies suffered huge casualties in the Battle of Normandy, which lasted till August. The men landed under heavy gunfire, the shores were mined and there were other obstacles such as metal tripods and barbed wires. Code-named Operation Overload, it is said the Normandy landings were the beginning of the end of World War 2.

Liberation of Auschwitz

Auschwitz -- one of the most barbaric concentration camps where Jews, prisoners of war and dissidents were systematically killed by the anti-Semitic Germany -- was liberated on January 27, 1945. Some 1.1 million people, most of them European Jews, perished in five years in Auschwitz before it was liberated by the Soviet forces.

Hitler is dead

As Berlin was ransacked by the Red Army, Adolf Hitler -- after marrying his wife Eva Braun -- commited suicide April 30, 1945 in the crumbling capital of Germany. Their bodies were burnt and hastily buried after the couple committed suicide by eating cyanide at the bunker where they were hiding.

January 2, 1948: German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's teared and blood stained uniform worn by the dictator on the day German officers attempted to kill him in a bomb attack 20 June 1944. The picture was taken just before the uniform was secretly burnt in the presence of top Allied Army officers 27 August 1947. The suit was destroyed so that it never became a Nazi cult object. (AFP Photo)

Hiroshima, Nagasaki

The deadly war finally ended after the US dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The two bombings killed over a lakh but scores were injured -- for many, it ran through generations -- due to the toxic radioactive material used in nuclear weapons.
US President Donald Trumps attacks on the media are part of a global trend of hostility to freedom of speech and damage the US public interest, a UN human rights expert said on Friday.

David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on the freedom of expression, said Trumps attacks, such as a Feb. 17 tweet listing news outlets that he considered the enemy of the American People, were not without purpose.

They have concrete aims: to intimidate reporters into certain kinds of coverage, or clarify for his favoured outlets what coverage he desires, or plant the seeds of doubt about news stories (such as the Russia investigation led by Robert Mueller).

The presidents broadsides also served to silence criticism of his policies and to undermine the publics right to know what the government was doing with their tax dollars, he said.

The primary victim of Trumps campaign against independent news is the American public. He may see it as valuable politically, but its wrong, and it risks doing long-term damage to a core value, Kaye wrote in an article published on the Just Security online forum.

When we tie together the jeremiads and rhetoric with what the Trump administration is doing in other governing spaces, the practice of attacking the press becomes clearer as policy than solely reckless rant.

Kayes analysis of Trumps attacks on the media comes two days after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein raised the question of whether Trumps remarks amounted to an incitement to attack journalists.

President Trumps statements are indeed reckless, but they are consistent with a troubling trend of hostility toward open and honest government, Kaye wrote. And sadly, from the global perspective, its part of a general trend of hostility to freedom of expression, online and off.

Freedom of the press existed, Kaye said, because the public had a right to information. He referred to an Aug. 4 press conference where Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanded that the culture of leaking must stop.

Sessions intent was not only to deter sources and whistleblowers but to deprive the public of stories of the highest public interest about the administration, Kaye said.

He said Trump was a regular purveyor of fake news, defined as intentionally fraudulent information given to the public, and his administration operated as if it had something to hide.
The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine has said that the European Union is unwavering in its support for the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to reform the country's institutions and economy, which would unlock the full potential of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

"Today, the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine enters fully into force. The Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), is the main tool for bringing Ukraine and the EU closer together: it promotes deeper political ties and stronger economic links, as well as respect for common European values," the EU Delegation to Ukraine said on the occasion of full entering into force the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement on Friday.

The DCFTA provides a framework for modernising Ukraine's trade relations and economic development by opening up markets and harmonising laws, standards and regulations with EU and international norms.

"The European Union is unwavering in its support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the continuing, ambitious efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to reform the country's institutions and economy, which would unlock the full potential of the Association Agreement and bring its full benefits to the Ukrainian people," the EU Delegation said.

Under the Association Agreement, Ukraine has committed to structural reforms in the areas of democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance, trade and sustainable development.

Enhanced cooperation on environmental protection, social development and protection, transport, consumer protection, equal opportunities, education, youth and culture, industry and energy is also foreseen in the Association Agreement.

"The entry into force of the agreement will give a new impetus to the cooperation in areas such as foreign and security policy, justice, taxation, public finance management, science and technology, education and digital technology," the EU Delegation said.

"Today, in spite of all the challenges, we have made it. With the entry into force of the Association Agreement with Ukraine, the European Union is delivering on its promise to our Ukrainian friends. I thank all those who made it possible: those who stood on Maidan and those who are working hard to reform the country for the better," President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission Federica Mogherini said that the Association Agreement "means closer ties between our citizens, bigger markets and more opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs."

"This means closer ties between our citizens, bigger markets and more opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs, increased sharing of experience, information and expertise. It shows that we share the same objectives and that the Ukrainian people can count on the European Union's support and cooperation for the years to come," she said.

"Generations of Ukrainian citizens to come will reap the benefits of closer association with the EU. The first concrete results of implementation of the Agreement can already be seen: Ukraine's exports to the EU have increased and the EU has confirmed its position as Ukraine's first trading partner. Ukraine's recent reform efforts have been unprecedented, while much work remains such as in the fight against corruption, which must be pursued. The European Union will continue its support for Ukraine's reform efforts, with both expertise and financial support," European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said.

European Council President Donald Tusk said on his Twitter page also greeted Ukraine on the full entry of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

"On 1 September we celebrate the full entry of our EU-Ukraine Association Agreement," he wrote.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed disappointment and shock at the verdict in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, which was announced by an anti-terrorism court almost a decade after she was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi.

The PPP said in a statement issued on Friday that it believes justice has not been done, nor seems to have been done, by the court, which sentenced two senior police officers to 17 years in prison for mishandling security for Bhutto and the investigation following her death.

The court also acquitted five suspected members of the Pakistani Taliban and declared former dictator Pervez Musharraf a proclaimed offender or fugitive. Musharraf had been charged of being culpable in the murder for not providing adequate security to Bhutto, a two-time prime minister.

The PPP statement said: The acquittal of Taliban members against whom evidence had been provided is most surprising and raises several questions. On its face, the verdict seems to be a triumph for militants, it added.

In a separate note, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Benazir Bhutto, described the verdict as disappointing. "We have waited for so long for this and we feel we have been cheated," he told reporters at Bilawal House, the partys headquarters, on Friday.

The party also noted that while two police officers had been convicted and sentenced, the question of who had ordered them to wash the scene of the crime and destroy crucial evidence hours after Bhuttos death had not been addressed.

The conviction of the police officers will remain weak unless those giving orders to them were also tried and convicted, it said.

The PPP statement also noted that prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was assassinated just when he was preparing to oppose the bail application filed by Musharraf. This murder did not figure in the court hearings, it said.

The statement recalled the apprehension expressed by Bhutto regarding a plot to assassinate her. It is common knowledge that she had stated Musharraf had threatened that her life would be in danger if she returned to Pakistan before the (2008) elections, it said.

The statement concluded by saying that since the PPP was not a party to the case, the government should immediately appeal against the verdict. "The PPP will also employ legal instruments to mount its claim to become a party to the case and file an appeal against the verdict, it added.
Chinese President is a diplomatic pioneer whose ideology has transcended centuries of Western international relations theory, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday, lauding Xi ahead of a congress of the Communist Party.

China has become more assertive in its foreign policy under Xi, who has touted his global Belt and Road infrastructure plan and sought to position China as a pillar of globalisation.

China has also extended its global military reach, opening its first overseas base in Djibouti and using its expanding navy to take a more assertive stance in maritime disputes with neighbours.

Xis diplomatic thought was a compass for foreign relations under new conditions and had become a marker of Chinas soft power, Wang said in an article in the Study Times, the official paper of the Central Party School that trains officials.

It also innovates upon and transcends the past 300 years of traditional Western international relations theory, said Wang, who has been taking an increasingly high profile as China expands its presence on the global stage.

Wang credited Xi with seeking friends and partners not allies, putting aside differences to seek common ground, and doing away with the Cold War thinking of he who is not my friend is my enemy.

With the resolution of a reformer and a pioneer, Xi had answered the call of the times to put forward many new ideas that his predecessors had not, Wang said.

Wang credited China with successes under Xi, including promoting talks and denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula, as well as helping to counter global threats posed by international terrorism, climate change and cyber security issues.

Since assuming office almost five years ago, Xi has consolidated power, including heading a group leading economic reform and appointing himself commander-in-chief of the military, though as head of the Central Military Commission he already controls the armed forces.

The party will open a once-every-five-years congress on Oct. 18, at which a new Standing Committee, the pinnacle of power in China, will be constituted.

Diplomatic sources believe Wang could take over later this year as Chinas top diplomat from State Councillor Yang Jiechi, 67, Wangs predecessor. Yang outranks Wang.
Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ruled out the possibility of the strategic Hambantota port being used as a military base by any foreign country, allaying Indias concerns over the Chinese Navys growing presence in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan government on July 29 signed a USD 1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake of the Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, Chinas state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort) is to invest up to USD 1.1 billion in 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 Lankas infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe used the presence of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to allay Indias concern over Chinese involvement in developing the Hambantota port.

Let me refer to Sri Lankas decision to develop its major sea ports, especially the Hambantota port which some claim to be a military base. I state clearly that Sri Lanka headed by President Maithripala Sirisena does not enter into military alliances with any country or make our bases available to foreign countries, Wickremesinghe said while addressing the Indian Ocean conference held on Thursday.

Only the Sri Lanka Armed Forces have the responsibility for military activities in our ports and airports. We are also working with foreign private investors on the commercial development of our ports, he said.

Swaraj, in her speech at the conference, said India was ready to face security challenges in the Indian Ocean.

She said it was imperative that those living in the region bear the primary responsibility for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region.

Swaraj said that if the revitalised maritime economy of the Indian Ocean region is to be a force for global economic growth, it is essential that the waters remain peaceful, stable and secure.

The Sri Lankan premier said that in the absence of an effective multilateral trade agreements for the Indian Ocean region, Sri Lanka has decided to enter into bilateral agreements with the neighbouring countries.

We already have Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan. We are in the process of deepening our FTA with India to enable greater economic cooperation. We will finalise a FTA with Singapore and then to conclude similar trade agreements with other countries in the Bay of Bengal region. We are also negotiating an FTA with China, he said.
Theirs is a typical family of four, living normal lives, dining, playing, spending time together. That they follow the worlds fifth largest religion  Sikhism, which originated in India  doesnt make them different, they say, for they are proud Americans, sharing the same American values as others.

This is the message delivered in a 30-second ad, which tries to clear the air over their identities, as they have been mistaken for people from other ethnicity  but especially as terrorists, because of their beards and turbans.

Simply called Proud, the ad is among two that began airing in April, at the end of a long drawn-out process that started at President Barack Obamas second inaugural ball in 2013, just a few months after the massacre of six Sikh men and women at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The ad airs a final time on Friday.

The tragedy was a turning point for the community of 500,000 that has battled ignorance and apathy about their religion and paid for it with their blood  they were the victims of the backlash over the September 11, 2001 World Trade Centre attacks, mistaken for a west-Asian.

We were the only two men in turban at the ball that night, said Rajwant Singh, recounting the start of the We are Sikhs campaign that he co-founded with the other Sikh then, Gurwin Singh Ahuja.

They got talking, with the memory of the Oak Creek massacre very fresh in their minds.

It didnt have to be, Singh recalled saying to each other. And thus was born a national campaign.

And there are several others running concurrently, backed by other groups in the community, focussed on other aspects  to reintroduce Americans to their Sikh neighbours, colleagues and classmates.

Big Names Behind Ads

The first ads aired in April on CNN, and on MSNBC subsequently, following months of polling Americans on what they knew of Sikhs, scripting the message based on the findings, which were then tested on a larger cohort of Americans.

All of it was done by some of the biggest names in the world of consultancy, marketing and communication. Hart Research Associates, pollsters for Hillary Clintons 2008 presidential bid, did the initial polling. AKPD, founded by President Obamas adviser and chief strategist David Axelrod, did the strategising, and FP1, a firm that had worked with President George W Bush in 2000 and 2004, did the marketing.

They were paid, Singh said, but each of them went much beyond the limits of their contracts, especially Hart and AKPD  They felt for it... they were so motivated to help  this is what Americans needed.

Content for their website came from President Bill Clintons speechwriter, free.

Getting the Message Across

The messaging, Singh said, was focussed on introducing Americans to a religion and a community that coexisted among them but without their understanding and empathy. There was a need for a proud community to be integrated into the larger body fabric with the message that they held the same values.

And it worked, to a considerable extent. A poll in 2014, a year and half after the Oak Creek massacre, found that 65% of Americans had no clue about Sikhism as a religion or the community, and only 3% had heard of them and 8% said they might have heard about them.

A poll conducted in Californias Central Valley before and after the poll captured the contrast well  59% said they know at least something about Sikhs who live in America, 68% saw Sikhs as good neighbours and 64% saw Sikhs as generous and kind.

All of this at a cost of $1.6 million, raised through donations only.

Thats progress, and impressive progress. But the organisers are not giving up, and acknowledge the immensity of the challenge ahead, as discrimination, both covertly and overtly, continues.

A Sikh man was shot at in Washington state earlier this year by a masked man who told him to go back to his country.
Hungarys prime minister has asked the European Union to pay for half of the cost of anti-migrant fences it built on its southern borders, or about 440 million euros ($523 million).

In a letter dated Thursday to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the fences erected in 2015 on the borders with Serbia and Croatia have practically eliminated the migrant flow through Hungary, guarding more than just his country.

The move comes days before Europes top court is expected to reject an appeal by Hungary and Slovakia against an EU agreement obliging them to take in refugees from Greece and Italy.

With the construction of the fence, training and placing 3,000 border hunters into active service, our country is protecting not only itself but entire Europe against the flood of illegal migrants, Orban said in the letter. I hope that, in the spirit of European solidarity, we can rightly expect that the European Commission ... will reimburse half of our extraordinary border protection expenses in the foreseeable future.

But European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein encouraged Hungary to put in a formal application to use funds already earmarked in the 2014-2020 EU budget.

We are not financing the construction of fences or barriers at external borders. We do support border management measures at external borders. This can be surveillance measures. This can be border control equipment. But fences, we do not finance, Winterstein said Friday. We wont change our stance on that.

The border hunter corps was set up within the police force a year ago and its officers dedicated to border protection duties and guarding the fence. Hungarian soldiers have also been aiding police in the tasks.

Orban said Europe needed to show solidarity with Hungarys border protection efforts, not just with Greece and Italy, the countries which have received the brunt of the migration influx.

EU leaders have criticized Hungary for failing to show solidarity because it refuses to take in any asylum-seekers sought to be relocated from Greece and Italy until their asylum requests are decided.

Solidarity is a two-way street and all member states should be ready to contribute. This is not some sort of a la carte menu where you pick one dish, for example border management, while refusing another dish, like compliance with relocation decisions, Winterstein said.

Orbans demand comes less than a week before the European Court of Justice is scheduled to rule on a legal challenge to the relocation scheme by his government and Slovakia. A top legal adviser recommended in July that the appeal by Hungary and Slovakia be rejected next Wednesday.

The European Commission has also launched its own legal action against Hungary, plus the Czech Republic and Poland, for failing to respect their commitment to take in refugees.

Orbans government has promoted a Lets Stop Brussels billboard and publicity campaign rejecting the EUs migration policies. Last year, over 98 percent of participating voters said the EU shouldnt settle anyone in Hungary without the consent of the Hungarian parliament, but the referendum was invalid because of low voter turnout.

As Orban and other government officials earlier made it a point of pride that Hungary had paid for nearly all the costs of the fences and their maintenance with local funds, the change of heart could also let Orban generate another conflict with the EU, should it reject the reasonable request for reimbursement.
Indo-Canadian MP Darshan Kang, embroiled in charges of sexual harassment, has resigned from the caucus of the ruling Liberal Party even as a second woman levelled similar allegations against him.

Kang will no longer be part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus bench of MPs in the House of Commons.

I wish to focus my efforts at this time in clearing my name, Kang said in a statement.

The MP from Calgary in the province of Alberta faces allegations of sexual harassment brought forth by a 24-year-old female staffer, who worked on the campaign that saw him elected to House of Commons for the first time in October 2015.

He could face further trouble since another former staffer has alleged she too was sexually harassed by Kang while he was an MLA in the provincial legislature.

The Hill Times, an Ottawa-based media outlet, identified her as Kirstin Morrell and quoted her as saying, He doesnt understand or seem to care about the word no, or about the word stop.

In his statement, Kang said, I do not want my present circumstances to further distract from any of the good work being carried out by my colleagues in the government.

These allegations have been an embarrassment for the Prime Minister Trudeau, who has been repeatedly asked to comment on the matter this week. The Toronto Star reported the House of Commons chief human resources officer, who is investigating Kangs conduct, will also look into the new allegations by the second staffer.

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Elusive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is probably still alive and likely hiding in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, a senior US general said Thursday.

Were looking for him every day. I dont think hes dead, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, commander of the counter-IS coalition in Iraq and Syria, told reporters in a conference call.

Townsend admitted he didnt have a clue where Baghdad is precisely, but believes he may have fled with many other IS soldiers into the Middle Euphrates region stretching from Syria to Iraq, after coalition and local force assaults on the IS bastions of Mosul, Raqa and Tal Afar.

The last stand of ISIS will be in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, Townsend said.

When we find him, I think well just try to kill him first. Its probably not worth all the trouble to try and capture him.

With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Iraq-born Baghdadi has successfully avoided an intense effort to seek him out for six years or more.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime conflict monitor, said in mid-June that it had heard from senior IS leaders in Syrias Deir Ezzor province that Baghdadi was dead.

Russias army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed him in a May air strike in Syria.

Ive seen no convincing evidence, intelligence, or open-source or other rumor or otherwise that hes dead.... There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that hes still alive, said Townsend.
At least 23 people, including seven children, have been killed by flooding in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, large parts of which were under water on Friday following a prolonged period of rainfall that started on Wednesday night.

The heavy rain continued through Friday and the local media reported that many neighbourhoods were flooded, with scores of cars and motorcycles under the water, as bodies of animals floated through the streets.

People push a vehicle after heavy rainfall in Karachi on August 31, 2017. (AP)

Most of the deaths were caused by electrocution and other rain-related incidents. Some 400 houses in settlements along the Lyari river were inundated.

Most major thoroughfares were flooded while there were reports of parts of buildings and portions of roads collapsing.

A man rides a motorcycle along a flooded street after heavy rains in Karachi on August 31, 2017. (Reuters)

Pakistans largest city received up to 130 mm (5.11 inches) of rainfall on Thursday. The army and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers were directed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to help clear roads and re-establish communication in the city of some 15 million.

The army, the militarys media wing said, is extending full assistance to civilian authorities and has despatched water extraction pumps to the affected areas. The Pakistan Navy too was assisting the citys administration and had provided water pumps to drain several areas of the metropolis, a navy spokesperson said.

The navy also sent boats and divers to assist in rescue and relief operations.

A boy wades through a flooded street after heavy rains in Karachi on August 31, 2017. (Reuters)

The heavy rainfall severely disrupted transport across the city and affected dozens of flights at Jinnah international airport.

A Pakistani family tries to remove rainwater from its inundated home following heavy monsoon rains in Karachi on August 31, 2017. (AP)

The deaths in Karachi were the latest in a disaster that has so far killed more than 1,200 people across the region encompassing India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Countries in the region suffer frequent flooding during the monsoon season, but international aid agencies say things have been worse than normal this year.
Tourism numbers in London are projected to rise sharply by 2025, boosted by a 90% increase in the number of Indian visitors despite Brexit expected in 2019, according to mayor Sadiq Khans Tourism Vision for London released on Thursday.

The number of visitors arriving in London from India is projected to reach 0.52 million a year by 2025 (up from 0.27 million in 2016), according to data released on the occasion. The fastest growing markets for visitors to London are China (103%) and India (90%).

The amount of money Indian visitors spend during a trip to London is also set to rise sharply from 258 million to 721 million by 2025  an increase of 180%, it added. Culture, the arts, history and heritage are the main reasons visitors come to London for.

London is the worlds greatest city, so it comes as no surprise that we lead the way when it comes to international tourism, Khan said, adding, Visitors to the capital bring huge benefits - the industry boosts Londons economy, as well as supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and showing the world that London is an open, welcoming and diverse city.

By inspiring visitors to come to our great city during quieter periods like autumn and to find hidden gems off the beaten track, we can ensure that the projected growth in visitor numbers is sustainable and that the tourism and cultural industries work for everyone.

It was also announced on the occasion that according to Google, London leads worldwide searches for city and short breaks ahead of Barcelona, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam, with the overall number of searches up by 17% year on year.

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Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmars northwest for a week, new official data show, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the countrys Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.

Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.

As of August 31, 38,000 people are estimated to have crossed the border into Bangladesh, the officials said on Friday, in their latest estimate.

The army says it is conducting clearance operations against extremist terrorists and security forces have been told to protect civilians. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings aims to force them out.

The treatment of Myanmars roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

The clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, but also 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday.

By comparison, communal violence in 2012 in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, led to the killing of nearly 200 people and the displacement of about 140,000, most of them Rohingya.

The fighting is a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when similar but much smaller Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.

Myanmar evacuated more than 11,700 ethnic residents from the area affected by fighting, the army said, referring to the non-Muslim population of northern Rakhine.

More than 150 Rohingya insurgents staged fresh attacks on security forces on Thursday near villages occupied by Hindus, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that about 700 members of such families had been evacuated.

Four of the terrorists were arrested, including one 13-year-old boy, it said, adding that security forces had arrested two more men near a Maungdaw police outpost on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.

About 20,000 more Rohingya trying to flee are stuck in no mans land at the border, the U.N. sources said, as aid workers in Bangladesh struggle to alleviate the sufferings of a sudden influx of thousands of hungry and traumatised people.

While some Rohingya try to cross by land, others attempt a perilous boat journey across the Naf River separating the two countries.

Bangladesh border guards found the bodies of 15 Rohingya Muslims, 11 children among them, floating in the river on Friday, area commander Lt. Col. Ariful Islam told Reuters.

That takes to about 40 the total of Rohingya known to have died by drowning.
Public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz provided for transit of 61.95 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in January-August 2017, and this was 23.4% more than a year ago. This is the highest figure since 2011.

The company reported on Friday, referring to information from the central dispatch department, imports of natural gas from the EU countries rose by 95.8% in January-August 2017 year-over-year, to 9.4 bcm.

Ukrtransgaz said that 7.1 bcm was imported from Slovakia, 1.5 bcm from Hungary and 0.8 bcm from Poland. Ukraine has not been importing natural gas under the contract with PJSC Gazprom since November 26, 2015, purchasing resources exclusively on its western border.

As reported, Ukraine in 2016 increased transit of natural gas through its gas transportation system by 22.5% compared with 2015, to 82.2 bcm.

Ukrtransgaz, fully owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates a system of trunk gas pipelines and 12 underground gas storage facilities in the country.
The gymnasium at the Champions Islamic Center is covered with mats and blankets, donated clothes and boxes of food lining its walls.

On the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival, one of Islams holiest days, its become the temporary home for 15 of the thousands of Harvey evacuees, Muslim and non-Muslim. And though it will host hundreds of people during the Friday morning prayer for the so-called festival of sacrifice, the mosques leaders have been adamant: No matter how many people attend the prayers, the evacuees arent going anywhere.

They are the No. 1 priority. They will not be disturbed, they will not be displaced, they will not be moved, said M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which operates the Champions mosque and several others that are providing shelter. People who come, if they have to pray in the parking lot, theyll pray in the parking lot.

As in other catastrophes, from Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, American Muslims have been counted both as victims and as participants in the recovery. Houstons Muslim community, an estimated 200,000 people, has opened many of its community centers and sent hundreds of volunteers to serve food and deliver donations. Some have rescued neighbors from high water.

Despite Harveys historic flooding hitting the Houston area just days ago, the rituals of fasting, an iftar dinner and prayers continue at the Champions mosque, also known as Masjid al-Salam, and other community centers in Houston. But some families who participate in those rituals will spend the night at a mosque because they cant return to their homes. Others will head from prayers Friday morning to volunteer at food banks and shelters. Still others find themselves at one of the citys mega-shelters, unable to get to a mosque for the holiday.

Islamic leaders and scholars say the work underscores the spirit of the festival, which coincides with the hajj, or pilgrimage to the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor, commemorating the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim  also known as Abraham to Christians and Jews  to sacrifice his son in accordance with Gods will, though in the end God provides him a sheep to sacrifice instead.

The ultimate goal of holding and practicing all of these rituals ... is to help others, said Imam Hassan Qazwini, leader of a Detroit-area mosque and one of the top Shiite Muslim leaders in the United States. His mosque, the Islamic Institute of America, is dedicating this Eid to raising money for storm victims, and state and national Islamic organizations also have been spearheading similar efforts.

I believe opening your door on the day of Eid for refugees and people in need is a form of worship itself, he said.

Sitting in a chair inside the Champions mosques gymnasium, Mabel Rozier recounted how she was rescued from her third-floor apartment as the floods outside reached the second floor. A sheriffs deputy dropped her at the mosque, which at its peak took in around 35 people.

Rozier she said she was grateful to have a comfortable place to eat and sleep while she waited to return home.

Muslims are just like any other type of person. Theyre caring, loving, giving people, said Katherine McCusker, also staying in the gymnasium. I feel very fortunate that they were open and willing to come and have this space.

At the George R. Brown Convention Center, which gave shelter to around 10,000 people at its peak, a handful of Muslim evacuees were organizing a small Eid prayer for Friday.

Hasan Logan, 33, has been meeting with other Muslims during the several days theyve stayed inside the convention center, sometimes blocking off a small prayer space with chairs and their shoes.

Its going to be hard (observing Eid), but Im going to do it, Logan said.

Nearby, Ismail and Rabia Vaid were volunteering with the American Red Cross, which has run the shelter and expanded it as it doubled its original 5,000-person capacity. For several nights after their shifts ended, they slept in cots set aside for volunteers and then returned to do more.

Its not about religion, Ismail Vaid said. When a problem or chaos happens  whether its natural or man-made  as a Muslim and as humanity, we have to participate.

Liyakat Takim, a professor of global Islam at McMaster University in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario, said whats happening in Houston is the best example of Islam in action  and what is most important to the faith.

Muslims are very much part of American society and they should contribute in any way possible, he said. If you cannot be a good human being, you cannot be a good Muslim. ... The primary identity is not as a Muslim  the primary identity is humanity.
People who were denied entry into the US under President Donald Trumps first travel ban can now reapply for American visas, according to a settlement reached in a case that temporarily blocked the executive order in January.

In the brief period after the first travel ban came into effect on January 27, a number of people with valid visas were denied entry into the US and put on planes back to where they came from, reports CNN.

Two of those people -- Iraqi nationals Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi -- filed a suit after being detained at New Yorks John F Kennedy International Airport.

The court ruling temporarily blocked the travel ban from being implemented nationwide because the case was filed as a class action lawsuit.

According to the settlement issued on Thursday, all of those people who were denied entry but had proper documentation can now reapply for visas to enter the US, CNN reported.

The government now plans to send letters to notify those who were denied entry.

The letters will include a list of free legal service providers who can help the applicants reapply, and they will be written in English, Farsi and Arabic, according to the settlement.

While the government has not provided a list of the people who will receive the letter, the settlement states that those who provided contact information in visa applications and applied for admission at a port of entry in the United States, were found inadmissible solely as a result of the Executive Order, withdrew their applications for admission, and since their withdrawal have neither entered the US nor sought a visa for future travel to the US will receive the letters.

About 2,000 people were detained during the almost 24-hour time period from when the first travel ban went into effect to when the temporary stay blocked the travel ban from being implemented.

The Department of Justice will designate a liaison to review these applications for three months after the letters have been sent out, according to the settlement.

The plaintiffs, Darweesh and Alshawi, agreed to drop any claims they had against the government in the settlement, CNN reported.

No monetary compensation was awarded to either plaintiff.

In June, the Supreme Court allowed parts of Trumps second travel ban executive order to go into effect and will hear oral arguments on the case in October.
Pope Francis says that when he was 42 he had sessions weekly with a psychoanalyst who was female and Jewish to clarify some things.

It wasnt specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore. The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with French sociologist Dominique Wolton, writing a soon-to-be-published book.

La Stampa, an Italian daily, quoting from some of the conversations on Friday, said Francis went to the analysts home. Francis was quoted as saying: one day, when she was about to die, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue.

She was a good person. For six months she helped me a lot, Francis said.

Francis then was a Jesuit official in his native Argentina ruled by military dictatorship.

In the conversations with the French author, Francis speaks highly of the positive influence women have had on his life.

Those whom I known helped me a lot when I needed to consult with them, Francis is quoted his saying.

The 81-year-old pope also speaks of his state of mind now. I feel free. Sure, Im in a cage here at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing makes me afraid.

What bothers him, he ventured, are people with straitjacket point-of-views.

He singled out rigid priests, who are afraid to communicate. Its a form of fundamentalism. Whenever I run into a rigid person, especially if young, I tell myself that hes sick.

But Francis concludes that in reality, they are persons looking for security.

In past remarks, the pope has indicated he struggled with how to use authority in his first roles of leadership as a Jesuit.

The Catholic Church used to project a sense of mistrust regarding psychoanalysis.

But over time, the diffidence seems diminished.

Updated Vatican guidelines for use on seminaries in training future priests describe psychologists as valuable in assessing the psychological health of candidates.
Moscow will give a tough response to hostile steps by the US, the countrys foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after Washington ordered closing down of Russias Consulate General in San Francisco as well as a consular annexe in New York City.

We will give a tough response to those things that hurt us absolutely without rhyme or reason, and which are dictated only by the desire to spoil our relations with the US, Lavrov said in his address to students of the Moscow MGIMO international relations university.

We will respond as soon as the assessment is complete, he was quoted as saying by Tass news agency.

I would like to point out it was not us who initiated this exchange of sanctions, but the (Barack) Obama administration. They sought to rupture Russian-US relations and prevent US President Donald Trump from putting forward any constructive proposals, the Russian top diplomat stressed.

The move by Washington was in response to Moscows decision to cut American diplomatic staff in Russia to numbers equalling Russian staff in the US and seizing two US properties in Moscow.

Lavrov did not specify what Moscows next step could be, saying that the US statement was received in the early hours and was yet to be examined.
Saudi Arabia on Friday reported no major security incidents or health scares at this years pilgrimage, as the Muslim faithful embarked on the last leg of the five-day hajj.

The Stoning of the Devil ritual in the western city of Mina that started at dawn was the scene of a 2015 stampede that killed 2,300 pilgrims in the worst crisis ever to hit the annual pilgrimage.

According to the Saudi state news agency SPA, 2.35 million Muslims are participating in the latest pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, including 1.75 million from outside the kingdom.

Speaking at a press conference in nearby Mina, Major General Mansour al-Turki, an interior ministry spokesman, said his country was determined to ensure a smooth pilgrimage.

Our plan for nafra (the ritual return from Mina to Mecca) lived up to the required standard, said Colonel Sami al-Shweirekh of Saudi Arabias General Security, hailing the success of security measures.

Tight security was in place to safeguard this years pilgrimage launched on Wednesday, with authorities saying they had deployed more than 100,000 personnel to oversee the hajj.

Authorities also put to rest concerns over potential health hazards.

To date, there are no epidemic diseases reported, said Meshaal al-Rabiyan, a health ministry spokesman.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is required of all financially and physically able Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

The stoning ritual, which lasts until Sunday, marks the first day of the Eid al-Adha feast, or the feast of sacrifice, which commemorates Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son.

The holiday is marked by the sacrifice of sheep instead by Muslim communities around the world.
A South Korean software developer was fined today for editing then leading presidential candidate Moon Jae-Ins Wikipedia entry to say that he was North Korean.

The 53-year-old man, surnamed Yang, was fined four million won (around $3,500) by the Seoul Central District Court for altering the online encyclopedias Korean edition in February to say that Moon, who was vying for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination at the time, was a North Korean politician.

He made the same alteration to the page of Seongnam city mayor Lee Je-Myung, a popular leftist politician.

Moon, the son of North Korean refugees, backs engagement with Pyongyang as well as sanctions to bring it to the negotiating table, and his opponents have long sought to portray him as sympathetic to the neighbour.

The accused altered the nationality of the two people as North Korean, an act that could undermine their public images and spread a false perception among voters that they were pro-Pyongyang, the court said.

South Korea is one of the worlds most connected countries.

The court said the fact that readers were unlikely to take what Yang wrote as true was a mitigating factor, as was his correction of it six hours later.

Moon went on to secure the party nomination and was elected by an overwhelming margin in a snap poll in May after his predecessor Park Geun-Hye was impeached over a massive corruption case.
Sri Lanka banned plastic bags and other disposable products on Friday after the collapse of the islands biggest dump led to a rubbish disposal crisis.

Rotting garbage piled up in many parts of the capital after the giant rubbish tip collapsed in April, crushing dozens of homes and killing 32 people.

Many blamed the haphazard use of plastic, which was also cited in flash flooding in the capital after storm water drains became clogged.

In response, President Maithripala Sirisena banned the sale of plastic bags, cups and plates, as well as the burning of refuse containing plastic.

Any person who fails to comply with the regulations... shall be liable to an offence and punishable under the National Environmental Act, the president said.

Offenders could be fined 10,000 rupees ($66) and jailed for up to two years.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offer prayers on Friday for Islams Eid al-Adha festival in the town of Qara, near an enclave surrendered on Monday by Islamic State fighters.

Confined to Damascus for long periods in the early part of Syrias six-year civil war, Assad has grown more confident in travelling around government-held areas as the army and its allies have won a series of victories.

The departure of Islamic State and other groups from the Western Qalamoun district means the border with Lebanon is Syrias first to be controlled entirely by its army since early in the conflict.

The IS fighters who evacuated the district remained stuck in a convoy on Friday, two days after U.S.-led coalition against the jihadists used air strikes to block it from crossing into their main territory in eastern Syria.

Qara is only a few miles from the pale, dry mountains delineating the frontier with Lebanon, straddling which Islamic State and other militant groups held territory until August.

The Islamic State fighters in the border pocket accepted a truce and evacuation deal after simultaneous but separate offensives by the Lebanese army on one front and the Syrian army and Hezbollah on the other.

Part of an agreed exchange went ahead on Thursday as wounded IS fighters were swapped for bodies of pro-government forces.

But the fate of the main part of the convoy is uncertain after the coalition said it had seen the buses turning back into Syrian government territory on Thursday.
More than 27,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, the United Nations has said, as corpses of people drowned in desperate attempts to cross the border river washed up on Bangladeshi soil on Friday.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, the UN added in statement late on Thursday, but are barred from entry as they run from burning villages and Myanmar army operations.

Rumours of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces -- as well as by militants -- have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence is spinning out of control.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats, some constructed from flotsam, in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries.

Sixteen bodies washed ashore on the Bangladeshi side of a river on Friday, a border official said, lifting the grim toll over the last two days from apparent boat capsizes to 39.

They had been floating in the river for a while, according to Mainuddin Khan, police chief of the border town of Teknaf, adding the dead included a young girl.

The latest round of a bitter and bloody five-year crisis began last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 11 state officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched clearance operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers pick up sticks and knives and join their cause.

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced -- the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

An AFP reporter on a government-led trip to Maungdaw, this week saw columns of smoke rising from several burning villages, while terrified civilians huddled in schools in the main town.

International pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The United States on Thursday urged Myanmars military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UNs special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, expressed fears that grave violations could take place.

The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently, she added.

Rakhine State has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands into of people -- the majority from the Muslim minority -- into displacement camps.
A police lieutenant in Georgia who was recorded on video during a traffic stop saying we only shoot black people is being fired, the police chief said Thursday.

Dashcam video from July 2016 shows a car stopped on the side of a road and a woman can be heard telling Cobb County police Lt. Greg Abbott she was scared to move her hands in order to get her cellphone. Abbott, who is white, interrupts her and says, But youre not black. Remember, we only shoot black people. Yeah. We only shoot black people, right?

Announcing his decision to fire Abbott, Police Chief Mike Register remarked that theres really no place for these types of comments in law enforcement. Speaking at a news conference, Register added, I feel that no matter what context you try to take those comments in, the statements were inexcusable and inappropriate. Theyre not indicative of the values that Im trying to instill within the Cobb County police department and that I believe the county holds.

Race soldier pretending to be a cop in GA named Lt. Greg Abbott, admits to a white motorist that "law-enforcement" only kills Black drivers pic.twitter.com/Y84QzIdzZr  Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) August 31, 2017

Register said he learned of the comments after television station WSB-TV obtained the video and made the department aware of it. Abbott, who had been an officer for 28 years, was placed on administrative duties while the department investigated the video.

Abbotts attorney, Lance LoRusso, did not immediately respond to an email Thursday seeking comment on the firing. He had earlier said in a statement that Abbott was cooperating with the investigation, and his comments were meant to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger.

Register said hes worked hard since becoming chief in June to strengthen the relationship between the department and the community.

Its sad to think that several seconds of video has the potential of tearing that apart, and I hope that is not the case, he said, later adding, This badge and this uniform should mean that theres justice and fairness for all.

The department plans to rework its policies for reviewing videos to better catch problems, Register said.

Register said hes known Abbott for many years and has known him to be an honourable man. The report from the internal review indicates that Abbott was trying to be sarcastic and to address the situation as he perceived it, Register said.

He made a mistake, Register said. I dont know whats in his heart but I certainly know what came out of his mouth. Its inexcusable.

Black community leaders applauded Registers quick action.

Although we applaud them for their transparency in this regard, the officers interjection of race into the stop was particularly troubling and may be systematic, a deeper issue in the department, said Deane Bonner of the Cobb County chapter of the NAACP.

Police misconduct is not news, said Ben Williams, chairman of the Cobb County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The real story here, in my opinion, is the behaviour of this police chief in Cobb County, Georgia.

To be here today and to stand with Chief Register as he pulls the shades up and exposes the sunrise here in Cobb County as that pertains to the conduct of the Cobb County Police Department, thats the news, he added.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) has permitted Rosiland Engineering Limited (Cyprus), affiliated with DCH Group of businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, to acquire a stake in Trading House LLC of Kharkiv Tractor Plant (KhTZ Trading House).

According to the press service of the AMC, the corresponding acquisition will provide the buyer with over 50% of the voting shares on the issuer's board.

As reported, DCH Group this year has received all necessary permits from the AMC to acquire PJSC Kharkiv Tractor Plant, thereby completing the acquisition of the plant.

KhTZ Trading House LLC with a charter capital of UAH 426,200 was registered in 2005. According to the state register, 100% of its shares belong to Private Investment Company LLC (Kyiv), the ultimate beneficiary is Oleksandr Nosulia, registered at the address in Luhansk.

As reported, KhTZ in early February 2017 resumed its work after a ten-month standstill. For the period from February to June it had produced about 500 tractors for Ukraine and the CIS countries.

The plant plans to produce 150 tractors a month. At the same time, 30% of products are to be supplied to the domestic market, the rest to be exported to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
The US intends to work with Pakistan to take down terrorists, defense secretary Jim Mattis has said, asserting that this is what a responsible nation does.

He was responding to questions on Pakistans reaction to the Afghan and South Asia Policy announced by US President Donald Trump.

Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has much to lose by harbouring terrorists.

Mattis did not respond to questions on timeline, if any, for Pakistan to take action against terrorists and terrorist groups.

We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think thats what a responsible nation does, Mattis said at a media briefing.

His remarks came after the State Department notified to the Congress to place a pause button on $255 million foreign military financing for Pakistan.

The Department notified the Congress on August 30 of its intent to obligate the amount in 2016 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan.

At the same time, the Department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts, a State Department spokesperson told PTI.

Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan, the official said.

The Trump administration notified the Congress on Wednesday that it was putting $255 million in military assistance to Pakistan into the equivalent of an escrow account that Islamabad can only access if it does more to crack down on internal terror networks launching attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

As this relates to Foreign Military Financing (FMF), before moving forward with funding actual FMF cases, the United States will take into account Pakistans efforts to address key US concerns, including the threat posed by the Haqqani Networks and other terrorist groups that enjoy safe haven within Pakistan, the spokesperson said.

Pakistan has cancelled at least three high profile meetings with senior American officials, including a visit of Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif to the US to meet secretary of state Rex Tillerson.

Pakistans National Assembly passed a resolution alleging that the recent statements of the US President and his senior officials on Pakistan were hostile and threatening.

The US, however, insists that it wants Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups.
China urged Vietnam on Friday to take a calm and rational view of its military drills in the South China Sea, after Vietnam expressed opposition, as tension between the neighbours worsens over the disputed strategic waterway.

China has appeared uneasy at Vietnams efforts to rally Southeast Asian countries over the busy waterway as well as at its neighbours growing defence ties with the United States, Japan and India.

In July, under pressure from Beijing, Vietnam suspended oil drilling in offshore waters that are also claimed by China.

Vietnam was deeply concerned about the exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin area, at the north end of the South China Sea, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement, but did not make clear what drills were being referred to.

Vietnam proposes China to cease and refrain from repeating acts that complicate the situation in the East Sea, Hang said, employing Vietnams name for the South China Sea.

All foreign activities in Vietnamese waters must comply with Vietnamese and international laws, she added.

Vietnams foreign ministry conveyed its position to a Chinese embassy representative on Thursday, the statement added, without saying when Chinas announcement was made or when any drill might take place.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the drills were routine annual exercises and were being carried out in the northwestern part of the South China Sea.

The relevant sea is under Chinas jurisdiction, she told a daily news briefing on Friday, adding that China had the right to carry out such drills in the waters there.

We hope the relevant side can calmly and rationally view it, she added.

Last month, the Maritime Safety Administration of Chinas southern province of Hainan, which oversees the South China Sea, said military drills would take place south of the province and east of Vietnam from Aug. 29 until Sept. 4.

There would be live fire drills around the Paracel Islands, which Vietnam claims, until Sunday, it added.

China claims nearly all the South China Sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion in international trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have claims.
News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Tuesday, October 25, 4:30  7 p.m.

Orr Area EMS Open House

Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798.

Orr Fire Hall

4540 Lake St., Orr

Tuesday, October 25, 12  6 p.m.

Essentia Health Job Fair

Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org.

901 9th St. N., Virginia
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has announced the creation of the Startup Support Fund in 2018.

"There is no opportunity to transform your invention into a real economy in Ukraine. For this we need to strengthen copyright. We will create the Startup Support Fund next year, we will support, we will invest in this, because this is, by and large, a huge success for our entire country," the premier said at a meeting with the students of the Erudite educational complex in Solomiansky district of Kyiv.

He noted that many successful startups in the world were created by Ukrainians.
Donegal's finest opened up the Main Stage at Electric Picnic with tons of energy and the songs to back it up.

The road from the North-West reaches of Donegal to the fields of Stradball, Co. Laois is certainly a long one. As the lads from Little Hours note, they made the journey only this morning. You'd forgive them for seeming a tad tired as they walk onto the Main Stage at Electric Picnic, but nothing of the sort is in store for the crowds who filter in to see them.

Their piano-led melodies are done their due diligence and belted out with real energy. The crowd are doing their bit too, whether it's the group singing along at the front or those chilling at the fringes filling up the number count.

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Tracks like last year's hit 'Water' are magnetic in their nature and provide easy competition to the dance music in the Case Bacardi stage across the way.
Does prospect of that next TV series binge temp you as we move into autumn, or are you just in the mood for a good movie? If either of those answers were yes, then what's coming to Netflix this September will undoubtedly leave you giddy with excitement.

September 1

Narcos: Season 3

The rules have changed in the aftermath of the bloody hunt for Escobar as the DEA turns its attention to his successors: the Cali Cartel.

Little Evil

In this horror-comedy, a recently married man who wants to bond with his stepson begins to fear that the boy is a demon.

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September 8

BoJack Horseman: Season 4

While BoJack wrestles with self-loathing and loss, Todd helps Mr. Peanutbutter run for governor of California and Diane gets a job at a hip blog.

September 15

First They Killed My Father

An unflinching portrayal of the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror and genocide, from the view of a five-year-old survivor cut off from her family in 1975.

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September 19

Jerry Before Seinfeld

In a special that blends live stand-up with a personal retrospective, Jerry Seinfeld returns to the New York comedy club that launched his career.

September 22

The Bad Batch

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Banished to a wasteland of undesirables, a young woman struggles to find her feet among a drug-soaked desert society and an enclave of cannibals.

September 25

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 1

The iconic franchise returns with a fresh series, new characters and a new ship. Their mission: Explore new worlds, bring hope to a new generation.

September 29

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Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father: Season 1

Comic Jack Whitehall invites his stodgy, unadventurous father to travel with him to odd locations and events in an attempt to strengthen their bond.

Our Souls at Night

Seeking a connection, a widow, Addie Moore (Jane Fonda), pays an unexpected visit to her Colorado neighbour, Louis Waters (Robert Redford), a widower.
A half day seminar looking at European strategies to achieve gender balance in the film and television industries will take place in Dublin later this month.

Entitled 'Balancing the Industry  The European Perspective', this half day seminar takes place on 15 September in The Dean Hotel on Harcourt Street,Dublin 2, 9am-1.30pm.

Given the current momentum to increase the number of women in the film and television industry, it is vital to look at how this is happening across Europe and what the Irish industry can learn.

Creative Europe Desk Ireland MEDIA & Women in Film and Television Ireland (WFT Ireland) are bringing some of the most reputable filmmakers and industry professionals in Europe under one roof to share best practice, consider insights, and provide a once-off platform to comprehensively review gender balance in the industry.

Producer Helene Granqvist, President of WFT Sweden and former president of WFT Europe, will give an overview of gender equality in the film and TV industries across Europe, in an interview with Dr Susan Liddy.

They will then focus on the Swedish industry where incentives have led to a 50/50 gender ratio working in the audiovisual industry.

Helen Granqvist will be joined by Sanna Lenken, director of the Berlinale Crystal Bear 2015 winner My Skinny Sister and Soni Jorgensen, screenwriter and story consultant, in a discussion chaired by director/producer Liz Gill on what its like working at ground level in that industry.

Moving across Europe they will then hear the Slovakian point of view. Producer Katarina Krnacova, will present a case study of the Berlinale Crystal Bear 2017 winner Little Harbour.

Krnacova will discuss the Slovakian model and her experiences working with the female-led Little Harbour production.

Following these discussions, a panel of Irish industry professionals, chaired by producer Martha ONeill, will reflect on the Irish situation and assess how the industry can achieve gender equality - from funders to film set.

We are delighted to be working with WFT Ireland on this exciting event which will explore the challenges and opportunities that face the issue of gender equality in the wider European Film and TV industry, Orla Clancy of Creative Europe Ireland tells Hot Press.

By focusing on specific examples, I expect that those who attend will learn positive tips and achievable actions that we can all do to attain our goal of equality in the Irish Film and TV industries.

Dr Susan Liddy (WFT Ireland) tells us: This is a wonderful opportunity to engage in a conversation with the wider European industry about the practical ways we can translate a 50/50 gender equality goal into specific and measurable strategies.

I think its particularly heartening to see so many organisations working together to bring about such long-awaited change.

"But there is no room for complacency and events such as this are invaluable in maintaining momentum and identifying ways to create solid and lasting change on the ground.

Registration is at 9am, there is a tea/coffee break at 11.30am, and complimentary lunch at 1.30pm.

All are welcome, and the event is free of charge, but to register a place please book on Billetto.ie by Tuesday, 12 September. Please note that places are limited. This event is supported by the BAI Sectoral Development Fund.

You can book free tickets at:

https://billetto.ie/e/balancing-the-industry-the-european-perspective-tickets-213394
AUSTIN -- The first step in combating insurance fraud is to try to prevent it.

As a result, the Texas Department of Insurance is offering tips to help Harvey victims avoid "fraud perpetrated by someone looking for fast money and an even faster exit."

There are three types of schemes that TDI's fraud unit saw after Hurricane Ike in 2008 and anticipate in Harvey's wake, said Chris Davis, the unit's director.

They are contractors who falsify the types of damages in order to inflate insurance claims, dishonest public adjusters who inflate claims to initiate lawsuits against insurers to get higher damages, and home and business owners seeking to falsify claims to obtain more money from insurers, according to Davis.

"Our initial message to the consumer is about being careful when they're starting that process of looking for the person to help rebuild their home," said Capt. David Englert of TDI's fraud unit.

TDI's post-disaster tips are:

Review your insurance policies carefully. If you don't know the answers to these questions, ask your agent. Which losses are covered? How much coverage do I have? What are my deductibles?

Contact your insurance company as soon as possible to report your claim. Be prepared to answer questions about the extent and severity of the damage and keep a record of any contact you have with the company.

If you have comprehensive coverage on your auto policy, call your auto insurance company to report auto damage claims. Without comprehensive coverage, your company won't cover wind, floor or storm damage to your car.

If you have a flood policy, call the National Flood Insurance Program at 1-800-638-6620. If you have a separate wind policy, call the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association at 1-800-788-8247. For information about your rights as a TWIA policyholder, call TDI's Coastal Outreach and Assistance Services Team at 1-855-352-6278.

Make a list and take pictures of videos of any damage. Don't throw away damaged items until your insurance adjuster has seen them.

Make temporary repairs to protect your home and property from further damage. Don't make permanent repairs until your insurance company says it's OK. Keep a record of your repair expenses and save all receipts.

Remove any standing water and dry the area as soon as possible. Move water-soaked items to a dry, well-ventilated area. If you must move items outdoors, put them in a secure area.

Make sure your address is visible. Post a sign with your address and the name of your insurance company in a spot easily viewed from the street.

Try to be present when the adjuster inspects your property.

If you hire a public insurance adjuster, call the TDI Consumer Help Line at 1-800-252-3439 to ask if the adjuster is licensed. Public adjusters charge fees to help negotiate claims settlements with insurance companies. If you hire a public adjuster, make sure the fees are listed in the contract.

Find a reputable contractor to make repairs. Have a written contract before repairs begin and pay only as the contractor completes the repairs.

Be on the lookout for insurance fraud. To report suspected insurance fraud, call the TDI Consumer Help Line at 1-800-252-3439.

TDI's tips on how to select a contractor are:

Do not feel pressured into signing any documents/contracts, if you have any concerns, research the company and ask for references.

Get everything in writing  cost, work to be done, time schedule. Do not sign if there are blanks in the contract.

Use Better Business Bureau and search engines.

How many years has the contractor been in business? Place of business? Local area?

Who is going to be on your roof? Who is the Supervisor? Do they have to register with city/county?

Check up on progress  are they doing the work you are paying them for?

Are they members of any type of professional association?

Any warranty? (If out of state, who will conduct any warranty work?)

It's a good idea to obtain multiple bids.

Who is paying the deductible? If they offer to pay the deductible, you may not get everything you should be getting.

Are they willing to work with the insurance company in submitting any supplements? Remember, your contractor cannot also negotiate your claim.

Have they asked for any upfront money?

Be aware of selecting your contractor from a business card on your door.

Is the company insured? Liability and workers' compensation?

Can the contractor obtain the required permits?
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The sky darkened. Rain pelted down. Hurricane Harvey was arriving, and I had no idea where to go.

I had left my home in Houston that Saturday evening with one intention: getting to central Fort Bend County, a suburban area of the city that I regularly cover.

Torrential rain was fast-approaching, my editor had warned. I wouldn't be able to get there the next morning. It was time to go.

I called another reporter on the way. Would a hotel 10 miles from county emergency operations be too far? Was I a wimp for being scared to do this?

Together, we made a decision. I gripped the steering wheel and continued ahead, finding a detour when police closed the highway in front of me.

And then, finally, I arrived to the only destination that felt like it made sense.

A Red Cross shelter.

Shaken and on edge, I walked through the doors. I felt embarrassed. It seemed like I should have had somewhere else to go. But I also felt safe. I hoped they wouldn't turn me away.

A woman, clad in a Red Cross vest, greeted me with calm.

Of course I could stay.

Never did I imagine that I would be among those across the region turning to a shelter for help. Never did I know how much relief I would feel at being welcomed with open arms.

Thousands of people in the days following, like me, would rely on the Red Cross. They would sleep side-by-side on green cots like the one I slept on. They would hear snoring men, as I did. Crying children. Squeaking shoes.

In those first days, they would be jolted awake by the blare of flash flood warnings and tornado watches, which erupted often from phones.

All of us, for the moment, needed the same thing: a place to be safe.

It was around 8 p.m. Saturday when I arrived to the shelter, housed in a church in Richmond, the Fort Bend County seat. I joined a small group of evacuees; around seven people had come so far for the night.

Mandatory orders to leave nearby neighborhoods would be rolled out in the coming hours and days, sending in a steady flow of people. But for now it remained relatively quiet, clean, apprehensive.

Emily Foxhall

A volunteer manned the front desk at all times. A family, who had driven from Houston to help, finished pulling out more cots.

"We're doing what we can do," the father said.

He had been through flooding before himself, when Hurricane Rita hit. I felt awestruck he had chosen to be here. After hearing about the shelter on TV, he had shown up at the church, asking what his family could do.

He was the first of many such people I would encounter while reporting in the storm, people who put themselves at risk in order to help others. There were those who drove trucks into floodwaters, navigated boats up to homes or simply waded in to try to bring people out.

I gathered my bag, hastily packed, from the car. I hoped it would be enough to get me through the next few days -- or however long disaster would reign.

Several individuals made up their cots. A thick, dark gray blanket on bottom. The softer, white blanket on top. A family of four rested on theirs until the food arrived.

I had met them before, at a shelter during last year's floods. They told me they had lost everything that time. They lived in motels for as long as they could. Without money to make the necessary fixes to their home, they moved eventually into their garage.

They hoped in the morning to get back and get out their appliances, if they could.

"It's too hard to start again," the father said.

It startled me. But, again, theirs was a story that would repeat among the tales of devastation to come. Two days later, I met a family still living on the second floor of their home, unable to repair the downstairs all at once. They had gone more than a year without a kitchen. Their home would probably be flooded again.

A local restaurant, Buena Vista, donated dinner: rice and beans and cheese enchiladas. The establishment would feed many people eager for a rare, hot meal throughout the storm.

Everyone ate. The shelter quieted. At 10:30 p.m., volunteers turned the lights out.

Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

I bunched up my rain jacket and wrapped a t-shirt around it. This would be my pillow. I shuffled into the bathroom. Next to a stranger, I brushed my teeth. I pulled on a sweater and, rather than be assigned one, picked a cot in the corner. Rain pattered on the roof. I couldn't sleep. The snores. The children. The weather threats still unknown. In the early morning hours, I wandered to the T.V. now turned on in the entry. The lead volunteer offered me a newly delivered airplane kit. It had earplugs. An eye mask.

I had it as good as anyone could.

There was no way to be comfortable here. Who knew what the morning would bring, what we would eat, whether the lack of a police officer would be a problem, how the shelter volunteers would possibly keep up their stamina with a relief team stuck in the floods.

I pulled the mask over my eyes. I squeezed in the earplugs. I stopped looking at Twitter, warning of devastation all around.

I slept. I woke. I felt surrounded by people I wanted to embrace.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It grips the steering wheel and continues ahead, finding a detour when police close the highway in front of it.
After violent protests rocked Charlottesville, Virginia last month, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, took to Twitter to condemn hatred and bigotry and urge President Donald Trump to speak out more forcefully.

Then pro-Russian bots got activated on social media.

Within hours, an online campaign attacking McCain -- a frequent Trump critic -- began circulating, amplified with the help of automated and human-coordinated networks known as bots and cyborgs linking to blogs on "Traitor McCain" and the hashtag #ExplainMcCain.

After the 2016 U.S. presidential race was subject to Russian cyber meddling, analysts say, the ferocity of more recent assaults is a preview of what could be coming in the 2018 elections, when Republicans will be defending their control of both chambers of Congress.

"They haven't stood still since 2016," said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow in information defense at the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council in Washington, which tracked the activity. "People have woken up to the idea that bots equal influence and lots of people will be wanting to be influencing the midterms."

While special counsel and former FBI chief Robert Mueller keeps investigating the 2016 race, Nimmo's work is among a number of initiatives cropping up at think tanks, startups, and even the Pentagon seeking to grasp how bots and influence operations are rapidly evolving. Blamed for steering political debate last year, bots used for Russian propaganda and other causes are only becoming more emboldened, researchers say.

"They're prepping the battlefield and sowing seeds of discord" and "potentially laying the groundwork for what they're going to do in 2018 or 2020," said Laura Rosenberger, senior fellow and director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.

The alliance last month unveiled Hamilton 68, an online dashboard designed to track Russian influence operations on Twitter with the hope of better highlighting sources of information.

The site culls real-time data from 600 Twitter users, analyzing trending hashtags, topics and links. The dashboard's developers say the accounts they selected cover those likely controlled by Russian government influence operations. Other accounts are pro-Russia users that may be loosely connected to the government and some are people influenced by the first two groups and who are active in bolstering Russian media themes. Some are bot accounts.

"Our view is that exposure is a really important element of beginning to push back on some of these efforts," said Rosenberger, who served at the National Security Council and the State Department in the Obama administration.

Short for "robot," internet bots come in a couple of forms. There are automated versions in which software pumps out posts from social media accounts, often at rates that a human couldn't conceivably do. Others are dubbed cyborgs -- some of their content is automatically spit out, but a person also takes over posting at times. They can also be human-run accounts that are hacked or taken over by a robot.

Not all bots are nefarious. Although researchers say pro-Russian operatives exploiting social media have made headlines lately, the use of bots is broadening as they prove they can be influential in moving narratives from niche circles and the fringes of the internet to a wider audience by spreading links to blogs and news sites, as well as popularizing memes and hashtags. That will make them a potentially potent tool for competing interests trying to influence U.S. political debate in 2018 and beyond.

It's hard to determine from where bots originate. Analysts are able to monitor the messaging that bots latch on to, such as advocating for Russian and alt-right narratives or anti-NATO stances. Nation-states or groups helping political campaigns might look to employ bots given their power to shift debates.

And while many online campaigns are clearly fake, bots are also used in more sophisticated efforts that start from a basis in truth.

A top theme users boosted the week after the Charlottesville clashes was "alt-right alarmism" about the left-wing anti-fascist movement, known as Antifa, according to the dashboard findings. The most-tweeted link in the Russian-linked network followed by the researchers was a petition to declare Antifa a terrorist group.

On Twitter, pro-Russian bots and cyborgs helped promote accusations that McCain allied with neo-Nazis in the past, such as during Ukraine's civil unrest in 2013. At the time, the Arizona Republican, who is known for his tough stance against Russian meddling in Ukraine, met with and appeared on a stage with nationalist leader Oleh Tyahnybok, whose group has neo-Nazi roots.

McCain's office didn't respond to repeated requests for comment on his appearance with Tyahnybok.

One Twitter account tracked by Nimmo's lab, @TeamTrumpRussia, is what the researchers call a "pro-Kremlin cyborg site." It averages a rate of more than 220 tweets a day, including memes about McCain in the week after the Charlottesville unrest, which left one person dead.

Top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly rejected accusations the country meddled in the U.S. election, a finding at odds with the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community. In January, the nation's top intelligence agencies agreed that Russia interfered in the election to discredit Hillary Clinton and boost Trump, who has often appeared reluctant to embrace the findings. Trump's intelligence chiefs, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, have agreed with the conclusions.

Putin told NBC News in June that there's "no proof" of any involvement by Russia at the "state level." But he did say that "patriotically minded" Russians could have been behind intrusions into Clinton's campaign.

The drumbeat of news about Russia's role in the election have only helped push relations with the U.S. to post-Cold War lows. Nonetheless, analysts say Russia's longer-term goal is less focused on Trump than on helping disrupt or undermine U.S. democratic institutions -- an effort that has been under way for decades but which now has a more technological edge.

Researchers say Twitter isn't the only domain for bots. They're increasingly expanding to other platforms like YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. They even operate interactive "chatbots" on mobile applications available on Facebook, said Nitin Agarwal, an information science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

"The level of sophistication among these bots is increasing and becoming more and more advanced to try to evade bot detection and suspension from Twitter and other platforms," said Agarwal, who's spent a decade studying the use of social media for influence operations. They're also trying to "mimic human behavior so that they can gain your trust and they can influence your behaviors," he said.

Because the use of bots is still new, trying to understand how they operate has become a cutting-edge field. It's even caught the attention of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA.

In May, the agency awarded Agarwal and Intelligent Automation Inc., a Rockville, Maryland-based technology company, a contract of up to $1.5 million over three years -- if research milestones are met -- to study the classification of "social bots," what their intent is and how they're applied on social media.

For researchers, Twitter is a data gold mine because users' accounts are usually publicly available. It's harder to access private content on Facebook.

When asked how it was responding to growing sophistication by bots, a Twitter spokeswoman referred to a June 14 blog post by Colin Crowell, the company's vice president of public policy, government and corporate philanthropy. Crowell outlined how Twitter is curbing "bots and other networks of manipulation," including growing its team and resources and working "hard to detect spammy behaviors."

"Twitter's open and real-time nature is a powerful antidote to the spreading of all types of false information," Crowell wrote. "This is important because we cannot distinguish whether every single Tweet from every person is truthful or not. We, as a company, should not be the arbiter of truth."

Since the election, Twitter and Facebook have taken steps to counter false news and kill off fake accounts. In August, Facebook said it created a software algorithm to flag stories that may be suspicious and send them to third-party fact checkers. But bots are also getting savvier at dodging detection. That poses a challenge to social media companies trying to crack down on fake accounts -- and fake news.

And with bot activity accelerating as the U.S. heads into another election season in 2018, social media companies could face further risks from these networks.

A challenge for social media companies is "how good their algorithms are at weeding out bot strikes," Nimmo said. "That's something that they need to be thinking of."

--With assistance from Sarah Frier
The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn't appropriated to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal.

Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Donald Trump has threatened to shut down the government if lawmakers don't include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.

"Build that wall," Trump said at the Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix. "Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall."

But two days later, White House officials quietly notified Congress that the $1.6 billion would not need to be in a "continuing resolution" that was meant to fund government operations from October until sometime in early December, a senior GOP congressional aide said.

White House officials have signaled to lawmakers, however, that the wall's eventual construction remains a top priority for Trump. He wants this funding to be included in the December budget bill, GOP congressional aides said.

Trump could still follow through on a threat to shut down the government in December, but this marks the second time he has pulled back from the wall demand in order to allow lawmakers to pass a budget bill. The first time came in May, when lawmakers voted to authorize government funding through September and refrained from including money that would allow for the construction of a new wall. That law, however, did allow the U.S. government to replace existing border wall with a new barrier where necessary.

Trump has been threatening to shut down the government for months. In May, he said in another tweet that the government needed a "good shutdown" to break the gridlock in Congress.

Trump and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney have stressed repeatedly to Congress that the wall money must be appropriated, and the House of Representatives approved a bill in late July that would fund the government and included $1.6 billion for the wall construction. But the Senate refused to take up that bill, in part because Senate GOP leaders knew Democrats would not support it and they needed support from Democrats to bring a new spending measure up for a vote.

There were other worries.

Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling by Sept. 29, or Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that he might not have enough flexibility to pay all of the government's bill. Because those deadlines were so close, Mnuchin and other White House officials did not want a fight over the budget to become entangled with a measure to raise the debt ceiling.

Even some of the White House's most ardent supporters in Congress agreed that now was now the time to risk a government shutdown over the wall money.

"Obviously I'm supportive of the wall and putting the wall funding in [the government funding bill], but from a pragmatic standpoint, even if we pass a [bill] that has the wall funding in there, it will get stripped out in the Senate," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R - N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, which represents the chamber's most conservative members.

Meadows said he would vote for a spending bill that included funding for the wall "but you can't be intellectually honest and believe that this fight is going to happen in September."

Now, congressional leaders plan to introduce a bill that would essentially finance government operations at existing levels from Oct. 1 into some time in December. Such a bill would require support from Senate Democrats to pass, and many Democrats oppose construction of the border wall.

That's one reason many Republicans in Congress have told Trump to focus on other parts of his agenda and postpone having a fight about constructing the border wall for now.

If Trump decided to veto a funding bill passed by Congress, it would lead to a partial government shutdown. National parks would close, and many government agencies would send employees home without pay, causing delays at Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service and at numerous other agencies. The last time there was a government shutdown was in 2013.

Building a wall along the Mexico border was one of Trump's biggest promises during his campaign, often thrilling his supporters at rallies with chants of "Build That Wall." A key part of the promise, however, was that Mexico would pay for the wall's construction. Mexican officials have refused to play any part of paying for the wall, leading Trump to insist that the money first come from the U.S. Congress so that construction can begin.
Production of natural gas in Ukraine in the eight months of 2017 increased by 3% compared to the same period in 2016 and amounted to about 13.8 billion cubic meters, such operational data were reported by PJSC Ukrtransgaz, the operator of the national gas transportation system.

According to the report, gas consumption in Ukraine for this period slightly decreased, by 0.5%, to 17.9 billion cubic meters (bcm).

Ukrtransgaz also reported that since the beginning of the year it has pumped 7 billion cubic meters of gas into underground gas storage facilities (UGS), which is 71% more than in the same period last year, while gas taking decreased by 26.7%, to 4.1 bcm.

"At present 14.8 billion cubic meters of gas have been stored in Ukrainian UGS, which is 18.4% more than a year ago," the company said.

Ukraine began the heating season of 2016/2017 in mid-October with the reserves of 14.7 billion cubic meters.

The plan of measures for preparing the fuel and energy complex for the 2017/2018 autumn-winter period, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, assumes that Ukraine should by November 1, 2017 accumulate 17 billion cubic meters of gas in UGS.
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Eight days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, some 250 Houston apartment owners and managers gathered for an emergency meeting at City Hall. Most of them agreed to participate in a massive new public housing program that city officials had just invented to accommodate evacuees pouring into Houston.

"We improvised, immediately, a voucher program to get people from shelters into apartments," then-Mayor Bill White recalled Thursday. The federally funded program would eventually house some 35,000 families for up to a year, giving them a secure, reasonably comfortable place to stay while they looked for work and set about fashioning new lives in a strange city.

Twelve years later, Tropical Storm Harvey has again presented Houston leaders with the challenge of helping thousands of storm victims find a place to live while they rebuild their homes or secure new ones. This time, though, it's our own people, not neighbors from the east, who need assistance.

Erica Washington, for example, recently moved to Houston from Atlanta. She and her son Jimmy, 3, were staying with friends in the Pasadena area when the flood hit; now she's among the flood victims at NRG center.

"I'm trying to get assistance, a house, a hotel, a room," Washington told my colleague Nancy Sarnoff. "I just want to be OK with my son."

Washington was among an estimated 30,000 people in Houston area shelters Thursday. While that's far fewer than the 150,000 or so Katrina evacuees who came to Houston, post-shelter housing still represents a big challenge. Houston's experience after Katrina provides a good illustration of what works and what doesn't.

After past storms, the standard FEMA pattern was to move people from shelters to motel rooms, and from there to a mobile home - the infamous "FEMA trailer" - or other manufactured housing. This model is far from ideal.

"You had these big villages of trailer homes in Arkansas and Louisiana," said White. "What jobs are there in a trailer city?"

A modest apartment with an affordable rent, by contrast, provides a measure of dignity and independence, White said. It's also less expensive: The cost of Houston's voucher program was $180 million to $200 million, while "FEMA spent billions to build these cities of prefabricated housing which housed fewer people at peak than we did."

White spoke to me by phone during a break from tearing out Sheetrock from his house in the Memorial area, which was flooded Sunday. As first reported by Peter Holley in the Washington Post, White waded to higher ground through waist-deep water.

A flooded house, of course, isn't the same kind of crisis for White as it is for families of lesser means. "I arise each day lucky to be alive, and I know there are people who don't have the safety net that my family does," White told the Post.

Families who received post-Katrina rental vouchers in Houston were mostly low-income, and they paid reduced rents modeled on federal guidelines. The housing program earned Houston a reputation for extending generosity to distressed neighbors that persists to this day.

White, while acknowledging significant differences between the post-Katrina issues and the current crisis, said he believes the 2005 model could be adapted to house people affected by Harvey.

FEMA might be able to provide apartment vouchers through a partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said John Henneberger, an Austin nonprofit leader and disaster recovery expert. This would free the city from the task of running the program, a massive undertaking at a time when its officials are coping with many other challenges that Houston didn't face after Katrina.

"I agree that the best thing to do is to house people in the community," said Henneberger, the co-director of the Texas Low-Income Housing Information Service.

I asked FEMA official Tom Fargione Thursday whether the agency would consider providing apartment vouchers for people affected by Harvey.

"Right now, nothing is off the table," said Fargione, FEMA's Houston team leader.

The challenges Houston faces in recovering from Harvey are so vast that they can seem overwhelming. White understands this better than most, but he seemed sincerely optimistic during our conversation.

"We're gonna rebuild and be back," he said, "but who knows how long it will take?"

White was talking about his personal situation, but the statement could also apply to the city he once led.
Daniela Vesco/Associated Press

Beyonce is following up on her promise "to help as many as we can" in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

The Houston native launched BeyGOOD Houston on Thursday, an initiative that is reaching out directly to local residents affected by the historic storm.
AUSTIN - As unofficial damage estimates from Hurricane Harvey continued to grow, state officials acknowledged Thursday for the first time that another special legislative session could be necessary next year to address the state's growing tab.

In addition, legislative leaders warned that the killer storm could have a devastating impact on the state budget, as property tax revenues in the hardest-hit areas take a dive and as heavily damaged or destroyed businesses take months to reopen -- an impact that could mean the state's projected budget revenues will run short during the next two years.

"My personal assumption right now is that we will probably be back in Austin at work no later than January," said Senate Republican Caucus Chair Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, echoing the sentiments of other House and Senate members.

"The governor and the Legislative Budget Board have the ability to move around quite a bit of money in current appropriations, but it probably won't be enough when all the bills come in. This storm is going to cost more than (hurricanes) Katrina and Sandy put together, and I'm thinking we'll be breaking the $200 billion mark before this over."

While the state would be liable for only a fraction of that amount, after insurance and federal payments come in, but whatever that (remaining) amount is will be something the Legislature will probably have to address."

Using Rainy Day Fund

That, say other lawmakers, will most likely involve a politically charged debate over tapping the state's so-called Rainy Day Fund - a $10 billion account officially known as the Economic Stabilization Fund - to pay for some of the storm-damage tab.

Conservative Republicans have steadfastly opposed tapping the fund in recent years to pay for routine state expenses, while moderate GOP members and Democrats have pushed to use that money to restore deep cuts in recent years to core education and health programs.

For the first time, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told the Chronicle on Thursday that he will support using Rainy Day Fund monies to pay the Harvey repair bills, even though no decisions have been made about "when we will tap the Rainy Day Fund or how much we will tap it."

"I'll be supportive of doing so but that will be determined in the future," Patrick said. "This is one of the reasons we have it and must always protect it for its intended purposes."

"This is why we drew a line in the sand in the Senate on not spending one dollar of the Rainy Day Fund during the regular and special session on anything outside its intended purpose," he said.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who is in the midst of overseeing hurricane recovery operations, has said he will make up to $100 million in funding for disaster recovery grants available and signed a proclamation a week ago - as Harvey first started pounding the Texas coast - to allow making state funding immediately for the emergency.

In a Thursday letter to House members, House Speaker Joe Straus said he will be issuing selective interim charges - directives for legislative recommendations - "in the near future to address these challenges" resulting from the massive destruction caused by Harvey, especially to schools.

"The House Appropriations Committee will identify state resources that can be applied toward the recovery and relief efforts being incurred today, as well as long-term investments the state can make to minimize future storms," the San Antonio Republican said in his letter. "When the appropriate time comes, other committees will review the state's response and delivery of services."

The Legislative Budget Board, jointly headed by Patrick and Straus, can make key decisions on reallocating state funds to meet emergency needs - up to a point, officials said. Half of its members - three senators and two House members - represent areas devastated by Harvey.

Most damaging storm

At the same time, well over a third of the entire Legislature represents areas heavily damaged or impact by Harvey -- likely a record.

The 1900 hurricane that leveled Galveston and killed between 6,000-12,000 people is listed as the worst hurricane in terms of loss of life. The death toll from Harvey reached at least 38 on Thursday, officials said.

On Thursday, as lawmakers mulled the mounting tab for damages from what is now being billed as the most damaging storm in U.S. history, discussions seemed to center on how much will be needed from the Rainy Day Fund and when the Legislature might have to meet in a special session to approve that transfer.

But lawmakers in both the House and Senate warned that in addition to tapping the Rainy Day Fund to pay for the recovery, the state's current, two-year $217 billion budget is almost certain to take a significant hit from tax revenues that will most certainly fall short of expectations in a wide part of Texas' economy.

That does not include significant budget shortfalls that local governments will certainly face in storm-thrashed areas, as their tax revenues dip, and in schools that face hefty rebuilding costs as their state payments will dip because thousands of students will not be in school.

"This is the exact kind of thing that we have the Rainy Day Fund for, and we move forward with the recovery from this storm I'm thankful that the fund is there and that we saved as much in it as we did," said state Sen. Joan Huffman, a conservative Houston Republican and member of the Legislative Budget Board.

As rescue and recovery operations continue from Corpus Christi to the Louisiana state line east of Beaumont, Abbott has not yet addressed the rising costs. He and other officials have stressed that enough funding is available to cover any and all emergency operations.
Harvey has delivered not only tragedy to many of my fellow Texans, but it's brought back memories from another terrible moment from our history, which occurred around Labor Day weekend six years ago.

On Sept. 4, 2011, the perfect storm of wind, heat and downed power lines created "The Bastrop Complex Fires," the most devastating wildfire in Texas history and one of the five worst in the U.S. For a month, I helped manage the city of Smithville's distribution center, where we saw to it that evacuees, and those whose homes had burned, received basic living essentials.

Long before the ominous plumes of smoke appeared that Labor Day weekend, I'd watched with sadness how addicted my fellow Texans (and Americans) had grown to a daily fix of anger and righteousness. And, if I thought that addiction was bad six years ago, it pales in comparison to its current intensity. Today, we imbibe so fully and frequently in hating one another that doing so has become a craving on steroids.

Thanks, in large part, to those who control our media - right and left leaning - we salivate, Pavlovian-like, at the first signs of diverging opinion. Conflict is eagerly exaggerated to keep us snacking on fury, hungry for the blood of those who don't subscribe to our same dot-to-dot ideology. But as the fires continued - an exhausting 26-days - flames smacked down not only our beloved loblolly pines but the onslaught of our "differences." Those evil dissimilarities instigated non-stop via Twitter, Facebook, TV, blogs, radio talk shows and newspapers.

Since so many of our so-called differences lack real substance, the fires exposed the junk-food quality of our perpetual pissed-offness. I'm not naive; sadly, I knew most of those divisions would grow back long before the post-fire pine seedlings and as soon as folks trekked back up Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And, they did.

But while those September 2011 flames fumed, ultimately consuming over 1,700 homes and rendering nearly 10,000 central-Texans homeless, the fire scorched those artificial boundaries between us. It cleared ground so that "liberal" and "conservative" discovered how much they really have in common. Buddhists, agonistics, atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews. Environmentalists and oil men, too. Once the heat silenced the voices of the "definers," the ones who provide official guidelines for our many divisions, we naturally worked together. We heard what no voice, no moral authority needed to tell us: that good people help one another.

Like Harvey, the fires affected the very wealthy to the undocumented immigrant. An equal-opportunity act of nature. Folks in every social-economic group lost every possession.

But, as they meandered in listless circles, it wasn't really "stuff" they missed. No, regardless of ideology, nationality or even social standing, folks from both sides of the aisle longed for familiar patterns and routines. The peace that came with the predictable. They longed for what we all simply call, "My life."

Ashes - and now dirty water - laid bare the essentials of what constituted "My life." It didn't include incendiary AM talk radio or cynical shows led by cynical comedians. It's much simpler than that. It includes: "the pillow I'm used to"; "privacy when using the restroom"; "knowing where my paperwork is"; "the comfort of my cat on my lap (instead of not knowing if she is dead or trying to return to a home that no longer exists)."

Support poured in from throughout the nation, demonstrating to fire victims that they were cared for, that others had compassion. Regardless of what they believed or even if they spoke English. Texans spent their own money to rent U-Hauls, filled them with donations and drove them all the way down from Dallas-Fort Worth, eight hours from El Paso. One woman called from Mississippi and told me she'd made it through Katrina so, dammit, we'd make it through this, calling me "Girlfriend" with her deep southern twang the whole while. A Midwestern family of four mailed us cards, handmade by the children, while a family in Oklahoma sent a box full of stuffed animals they'd collected from their community. And one man drove five hours to Smithville from Galveston, his Toyota pickup loaded with rakes and shovels because, since he'd been through Ike, he knew we'd need them. He was right. We did. Desperately.

And not one person - not one! - asked how many Baptists, illegals, pro-choicers, progressives, pro-lifers, tea-partiers, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, Mexicans, blacks, bunny-huggers, or gays we had. No one asked any of that before reaching out a hand in comfort and assistance.

The response to Harvey has been just as generous. Once again, a beautiful outpouring of unconditional love is coming to those in need from all corners of our state and country. This time, y'all, let's hold onto to that love. Let's hold onto the good this tragedy has brought our way so tightly that the flood waters can't take it with them when they go.

Parker is a freelance writer who resides in central Texas.
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Rusnak and President of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) Eugene Czolij on Friday, September 1, discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and criteria for Ukraine's membership in NATO, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service said.

"The two discussed many topical issues of bilateral cooperation, in particular, Ukraine's achievement of criteria necessary for NATO membership, the language training for Ukrainian servicemen and teachers," the report said.

Czolij said UWC supports Ukraine in counteracting the Russian aggression. "The World Congress of Ukrainians will continue to make every effort to ensure that the international community knows what is really happening in Ukraine. This is an important factor in our common struggle against the hybrid warfare that has been taking place on Ukrainian territory for more than three years," he said.
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Weve got one of the worst family violence rates in the world and we know that one in seven children report being hurt by a parent so it impacts thousands of kids across the country.

Campbells comments come just days after the Warehouse Group was recognised at the Diversity Awards New Zealand for its Family Violence  Its Not OK initiative.

The program, which includes 10 days paid leave for victims of violence and unpaid leave for anyone supporting a victim, is widely considered the most comprehensive employee support package in New Zealand.

With 12,000 team members across the country, we realised that some of our team would be affected by family violence and we wanted to be part of the solution rather than ignoring a really big problem for New Zealand, says Campbell.

Its an attitude that Campbell says other employers should be adopting.
Anton_Sokolov via Getty Images

The year 2013-14 came with a reputation building licence for many who were trying to break into Scottish politics. Amidst the febrile atmosphere of the referendum, individuals from both sides, who were previously only known to political anoraks, became household names. Since then, Scottish politics has been infused with new talent, of varying degrees of quality, by incorporating those who stood up, spoke out, and helped make their case during those dramatic days. There are candidates, MPs, MSPs, and many others who, to use a mafia expression, "made their bones" during the independence referendum of 2014. I am happy to include myself in the diverse graduating class of the 2014 referendum. Had it not been for a series of invitations from the Better Together campaign to take part in debates - a particular aptitude of mine - across the country, it is difficult to imagine that I would have had the career I have today. Essentially, I had a very good referendum and not just because of the resounding victory for the union for which I was, and remain, an advocate.

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Why this navel-gazing opening? Well, it's only fair that the reader knows a little about my background (which also includes working with the Remain campaign in the EU referendum before I returned to "undecided" - a state I remain in to this day) before I make the argument that follows; because despite referendum(s) having been very good business for me personally, I would rather we didn't have any more and especially not on the questions we've already answered.

Firstly, referendums are often built on an unkeepable promise - that of finality. During the Scottish independence referendum, for example, the Scottish people were told repeatedly that the September 18 vote was a "once in a lifetime" event and would settle the matter for "a generation". The vote was held, the "No" side won, and, predictably, the rumblings of a second referendum on the same question began almost immediately.

I do not, as some more cynical unionists might, blame the SNP or the Scottish Government for failing to stand by the referendum commitment of "once in a generation". Their fault was in making the promise in the first place because it is not in the nature of any electorate, especially one as bloody-minded as my follow Scots, to simply "like it or lump it". The demands for a second referendum, whatever the outcome, were inevitable well before the first sleepy polling station employee got out of bed on voting day. The losing side were never going to accept that the matter was over - people just aren't wired that way. For further evidence, tune into the white noise currently being made about second votes on this-or-that following the Brexit plebiscite.

My second objection to referendums, in general, is that they do to complex political questions what modern artists do to paintings - simplify them to the point of meaninglessness. By presenting either Scotland's place within the UK or Britain's relationship with the EU as a binary, yin or yang , yes or no, remain or leave choice, all the other possibilities are excluded from the narrative. Scotland couldn't just be within the United Kingdom or fully independent, there are a number of other possibilities like federalism, increased devolution, or home rule. Likewise, there was room for a more nuanced consideration of the UK's relationship with the EU which was constrained by a leave or remain narrative. The lesson being; if you ask a simple question, don't be surprised if you receive that most overrated of political virtues, a simple answer.

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Thirdly, holding referendums to answer difficult questions lets our elected politicians off the hook. How many times, when pressed for answers, did we hear a politician of whatever stripe tell us something like "well, it's up to the people to decide". Whenever I heard this I would mentally ask, "Oh gee... that's right. If only we had some kind of system where we voted for people who made decisions for us. What might a system like that be called?" Possibly, it might be called representative democracy, or something, but it would certainly be in direct conflict with referendums.
NurPhoto via Getty Images

And so it is over for another year. Doubtless, in what seems the blink of eye, the 2018 Notting Hill Carnival will be with us and again it'll give those who have no time for UK Police another opportunity to throw around allegations of racism and intimidation.

Overlooked are the huge difficulties of policing Carnival and the simple fact is that the primary objective of officers, from the Commissioner to the young constable, is to keep people safe.

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Back in 2006, the ITV programme Skycops gave its viewers a bird's eye view of the problems faced by police at Carnival. Large gangs of youths could be clearly seen marauding through crowds 'steaming' and fighting rivals.

Gradually, however, a strategy has evolved whereby police endeavour to keep London's street gangs away from Carnival altogether. In 2008, YouTube footage shows the Met intercepting a crowd of 150 youths making their way from South London to Notting Hill. This was attacked as a racist infringement of their human rights.

The violence at last year's Carnival in which four stabbing victims nearly died despite pre-carnival raids and various forms of banning orders has been followed by a surge in knife and gun crime across London. This has been accompanied by the frightening spectre of acid attacks and terrorist incidents.

As the year progressed, concerns and fears in respect of potential gang violence at the Notting Hill Carnival grew which in turn prompted the Metropolitan Police to increase their pre-emptive intelligence gathering efforts. The objective would be to disrupt those intent on causing disorder at Carnival.

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The authoritative study chaired by Ian Duncan Smith which resulted in a lengthy report entitled, 'Dying to belong: An in-depth review if street gangs in Britain' confirmed that which police officers were and are only too well aware; namely that: 'The street-level drugs market is intricately linked to gangs.'

Criticism of the Met's controversial tactic of disrupting street gangs likely to cause disorder at Carnival by means of pan-London raids, primarily for drugs, led to the following comment by Commander Dave Musker. "I will arrest anyone, anywhere, if we have intelligence they are involved in crime and they intend to travel to the carnival to cause trouble."

Heroin, Catford and Stormzy

The above statement was in direct response to the criticism by Stormzy and others of the Met's linking a heroin seizure in Catford to Carnival. Commander Musker, declared that it was "naive" to suggest that criminals with heroin could have no links to the Carnival or plans to attend the event, the implication being that those arrested in Catford and indeed elsewhere, were likely to attend Carnival.

Carnival stop and search

Glastonbury v Notting Hill - a ludicrous comparison

Critics attracted much derision by comparing Glastonbury to Notting Hill. At the risk of stating the obvious, Glastonbury is an expensive pay to enter event, held in open fields on private property where there is no history of rival gangs clashing, knife crime or of police being abused and attacked. Arrests tend to be for drugs and simple theft.

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Those who say crime has been low at Notting Hill in relation to the number of people attending miss the point. Last year's near fatal stabbings and other knife and violent crime took place across a tiny area of London that is arguably, for those two days. the most heavily policed place on earth. All this against a background where a major panic in confined spaces could result in tragedy that would dwarf Hillsborough.

Knife and Gun crime

The fear of potential carnage at Carnival caused by rival street gangs is linked to the aforementioned rise in gun and knife crime. An examination of the montage of London's teen victims tells its own story. These youngsters are not victims of racist attacks such as that which saw the murder of Steven Lawrence. Most street gun and knife crime victims in London are disproportionally black or mixed race as are the perpetrators and indeed are gang members.

London's tragic young victims 2017: RIP

A common factor to all areas where gangs are an issue, regardless of demographics, is socio-economic deprivation and neglect. It could well be argued that this is the responsibilty of both national and local politicians across the political spectrum; this of course is now being accentuated by austerity. As in so many other fields, it's the austerity hit police who have to apply the sticking plasters.

Criticism of 'racist' stop and search has emanated from the then Home Secretary Theresa May, former Prime Minister, David Cameron, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the former Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe as well as from activists. As stop and search plummeted so did the number of arrests while knife and gun crime increased.

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In an effort to curb knife and gun crime, the Met introduced Operation Sceptre which, however the Met's hierarchy attempt to spin it, is essentially a stop a search operation. The Met have yet to release relevant figures but the fact that in just one week of the operation, 500 arrests were made and 400 weapons seized, have hopefully resulted in a slowing of attacks.

Could Operation Sceptre combined with those controversial pre-carnival 'raids' which resulted in more than 600 arrests mainly of those linked to London gangs, have contributed to the reduced violence at Carnival? The answer, in my opinion, is almost certainly yes yet there will be little praise from police critics at the reduction of spilt blood either on London's streets or at Carnival.

Critics.

Stormzy was but one of a number of critics to lay into the Met in the days leading up to Notting Hill. Local MP Emma Dent Coad gave an interview on BBC Breakfast the day before Carnival that clearly ruffled many within the police community.

She has also been criticised for failing to utter any words of praise in respect of the Carnival policing over the two days. Her tweeted blog entitled 'My thoughts on #carnival2017' did not contain any mention of police although she was pictured, with the mayor, posing next to the Met's Carnival spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Robyn Williams.

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So I became a reveller.

As I'm going to write about it, I thought perhaps I should pop along and I did; for the first time since I was a young PC. I walked past the steel barrier staffed by traffic and the Met's transport officers, then 200 yards further on past a filter line of officers. This was where much stop and search was carried out. It was done professionally, often with smiles on both sides and there was not a murmur of dissent from the thousands entering Carnival.

Within the Carnival, pairs of officers kept a benevolent eye on things answering questions, joking with the crowds and agreeing to requests to take photographs. It was hardly intrusive or overbearing.

There were confrontations, especially after Carnival closure but the 'vibe' generally was excellent despite provocative behaviour by several small groups of youths.

The 33 assaults on police, although down from last year, is however totally unacceptable while crime is still too high. Like or loathe Carnival however, the efforts of front line officers will ensure it happens again next year.

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So how would you police Carnival?

It would be interesting to ask the police critics how they would police carnival.
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Bullying. It's an awful word isn't it? Chances are, yourself or someone you may know has been a victim of this horrible thing.

I'm Joshua, not a victim but a survivor of bullying, a survivor of discrimination, and a survivor of hate. This is my story!

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With a string of medical conditions including Asperger's Syndrome and Tourette's Syndrome, I was always the pick of the school to be bullied. Though things took a drastic turn back in September 2011, aged 13, when I was bullied out of high school and into home education. My Tourette's took a very noticeable direction, with a tic sounding as I was clearing my throat, but many times worse. Before I left school I was followed around the playground, with a dozen pupils following me, mocking me every single time I ticked. For me, this was hell!

When I left school and was studying in my house, this felt like Heaven. I was in the surroundings I felt most comfortable, with the people I loved, and with some of the most caring, patient tutors. Though this peace and happiness could only last so long.

I received a message on BlackBerry Messenger, thinking this was from my small, select group of friends. Now I must say, they were included in what I got sent. I opened up the app, and listened to a voice-note sent by the class. "Touretted Retard. Kill yourself! Twitchy. Twitchy. Twitchy." I thought to myself, "Did I just hear that right? I don't think I'm hallucinating?"

It felt as if my life was crumbling around me. These were some of the people I went right through nursery and school with. I'd known them almost 10 years!

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I logged on Facebook for the daily happenings. Something was brought to my attention. A thread of threatening online comment, about me. Users saying they were going to kill me. Looking directions to my house. Mocking who I was. Death-threats from one person almost double my age. I'd finally hit rock bottom!

My mental health quickly deteriorated rapidly to the point I shaved my head and walked down to a local bridge, and was there hoping to die. My life flashed before my eyes. But this was it, I said to myself. Let me die.

It was only when a police officer snuck up, and got me off the bridge. He saved my life, and I owe all my thanks to him.

I was hospitalised.

Fast-forward three years later.

I'm a new man! I've found my passions through Vlogging on my YouTube Channel, 'The Hewitt Collective.' Documenting my life's adventures from a relief trip to Uganda, to hostelling in Norway, from difficult stages in my life, and to some of the best. I use this platform to try and motivate and inspire those of all ages and backgrounds that life gets better.

I found this path after becoming inspired by work from Influencers such as Ben Brown, Nicole Eddy, Zoe Sugg, and Alfie Deyes. I'm extremely thankful for their influence in my life.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine declares the urgent need to resolve the problem of searching for missing persons and identifying the dead in Donbas, indicating that more than 400 people are missing in the ATO zone.

"The search for missing persons and the identification of the bodies of those killed as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in Donbas remains one of the most painful humanitarian problems that need urgent resolution. According to the United Center for the Coordination of Search, release of persons illegally deprived of their liberty, hostages and locating of people went missing in the ATO area, more than 400 people are now reported missing," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared.

The Foreign Ministry sais that the search for these persons is impossible because of the obstacles on the part of the Russian-terrorist forces and their systematic access to international humanitarian organizations to the territory of certain regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

As for the situation in the occupied Crimea, among the violations committed by Russia, particular indignation is caused by the facts of the abduction and disappearance of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who are pursued by the occupation authorities for a political or civic position.

"The Ukrainian side is deeply grateful to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a neutral facilitator for active participation in the resolution of the problem of missing persons and providing support to their families. We hope for the continuation of this important humanitarian mission of the ICRC, in particular in the occupied territories, access to which is temporary unavailable for the Ukrainian side," the statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reads.
Switzerland is an absolutely beautiful place with fun traditions like fondue, bells, wine and Alphorn

Image credit: Domaine Crouix-Duplex - used with permission

I fell in love with Switzerland when I had a crush on a boy in school whose parents were Swiss. I think I still do have a crush on Switzerland... More recently I spoke at a conference in Montreaux and learned all about Swiss wines and the Swiss wine-growing regions, taking time to visit vineyards.

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My love of Switzerland has seen me often in and around Geneva - and it is from Geneva that you can access the rest of Switzerland easily by train. I fly Swiss mostly as they go from Heathrow and can be inexpensive but with 8kgs in cabin baggage you need a hold bag too. Easier is EasyJet with heavy-as-you-want cabin bags. I recommend *not* returning to Gatwick late if you live outside London and take public transport as I've experienced trouble every time. Hard lessons learned by a frequent traveller.

Getting from Geneva airport is very easy as the main rail station at the airport takes you practically anywhere you need to go and the direct train to Lausanne takes less than an hour. I recommend buying only the ticket you require or there is Swiss Transfer Ticket to get you to and from Lausanne. Once you arrive at Lausanne make sure you get the Lausanne Transport Card from your hotel. It gives free use of all Lausanne public transport to every visitor staying in a hotel in Lausanne and you also benefit from substantial discounts on the boat crossing between Lausanne-Ouchy and Evian (yes, it's a real place not just a bottle of water), souvenirs and the admission price to various municipal and private museums.

You'll be too busy eating to remember to take any photos on this cruise

Image Credit:  CGN Cruise - used with permission

Once you are in Lausanne, one of the nicest hotels is the Hotel Royal-Savoy on the Avenue d'Ouchy but you'll love the more reasonable Swiss Wine Hotel or the budget Lausanne Guest House. Once settled the city has so many delights and as Swiss has a 7am flight, you'll have time. Why not head to one of the many chocolate shops and grab something sweet? I do love Laderach's milk chocolate almond bark plus they have origin chocolate. As you'll have the afternoon I recommend a quick stop at the Cafe de Grancy on Avenue du Rond-Point for a snack and a rest then get yourself booked on the amazing gastronomic cruise by CGN Cruise on Lake Geneva. If you still have life in you after the cruise, why not pop to The Great Escape on Rue de la Madelene which has the best terrace and is near Lausanne cathedral.

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The vineyards at Domaine Crouix-Duplex are absolutely breathtaking and when you see them you'll understand why they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Image credit:Domaine Crouix-Duplex - used with permission

Saturday I recommend packing it in so get breakfast in you (most hotels will include it) and start the day with a guided city tour on foot. Make sure to get booked on one that includes the old city, the beautiful 13th century Gothic Cathedral, the pedestrian area, the city hall dating back to the 16th century and Lausanne's lake side promenade in Ouchy. After all that walking, head to the Traditional Market for a spot of cheese shopping before leaving the city centre for a lunch in a vineyard. Don't miss the opportunity to experience Chasselas wine country during harvest and go to Domaine Crouix-Duplex where you can get a lunch and a wine tasting in a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After your boozy lunch take in some of the culture of Lausanne through their many museums and art galleries. Personally, I think extra tastings in the vineyards sounds better but Lausanne has many museums and shops worth visiting. Walk off that lunch and head for a traditional Swiss dinner at Cafe du Grutii on Rue Mercene because CHEESE FONDUE! After all that cheese fondue or whatever you've chosen you'll want to walk it off before bed so why not continue your wine adventure by walking around to Vintage Wine Bar on Rue Langallerie.

The jetty is an amazing place to sit and watch the world go by so don't miss a chance on a lazy Sunday to discover this gem

Image credit:  Lucas Girardet - used with permission

Sunday should be a day of rest but there are museums and more to get in before you leave! Remember to give yourself enough time to get to the airport but why not visit the Olympic museum or buy a few more bottles of Swiss wine to take with you (there is lots in duty free in GVA airport near the escalators to the other gates) or even just relax at brunch at La Jetee de la Compagnie by the lake!
Across the globe today, national borders typically reflect ethnic, linguistic, and sometimes religious divisions.

Take Europe: countries like Italy and Spain are largely home to people who speak Italian and Spanish. Similarly, in places such as Croatia and Hungary the predominant ethnicity is Croatian and Hungarian, respectively. For many across South Asia however, it is a different story altogether. These nations are largely defined by the idiocies of colonialism, and not by the heritage of its indigenous people. The region of Panjab is an obvious case.

The partition of Panjab in 1947 initiated one of the harshest and most enduring ironies of decolonization. It is estimated that up to 18 million people were displaced and two million killed in the sectarian violence that followed.

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The power broker behind the partition of Panjab was the departing British, whose exit was clumsily improvised. The hastily-arranged decision to split Panjab triggered a perilous era of economic, social and religious subjugation within the region.

As preceding rulers of Panjab and natives to the land, the Sikhs were actively engaged in fighting to remove the British, who had taken official occupation of Panjab in 1849. The activism was no surprise, as the Sikh mandate to acquire political power can be traced back to the Sikh Gurus themselves, who not only exercised sovereignty but also made it an integral part of the Sikh movement. Love for freedom and justice had become basic elements of the Sikh psyche and the soil of Panjab is soaked with the blood of Sikh martyrs; a testament to the continued movement to protect Sikh sovereignty.

However, in many ways 1947 signalled an inevitable turning point for the Sikhs, as the effects of the colonial encounter, which overtly began in 1849, coupled with the intrusion from their Indian counterparts, wreaked havoc on their political aptitude. Sikh psyche had endured wave-after-wave of attack during British occupation of the region. Now armed with a foreign notion of activism, the colonised Sikhs resorted to placing hopes of liberty and freedom in the hands of another.

Many insist that it was the promises made by the likes of Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru which convinced the Sikhs to throw their lot in with the Indians. Both Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh, two prominent leaders of the Sikh community, were influenced by the politicking of Indian leadership into believing the best solution for the Panjabi-Sikh populace scattered across Panjab was to join India.

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Whether the decision to throw their lot in with the Indians came through betrayal or blunder, is an irrelevant matter of opinion. The harsh reality remains that it was a clear deviation from the polity of the Khalsa Panth that was prevalent under Banda Singh Bahadur's Sikh Republic of 1710, and the sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy that followed in the 18th Century.

It is imperative to remember that following the creation of India, both Sikh members of the Constituent Assembly refused to sign the Constitution. They declared vehemently that "the Sikhs do not accept this Constitution. The Sikhs reject this Constitution Act." In subsequent years, all the personal laws of the Sikhs were abolished and eventually replaced by Hindu statutes, such as the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.

The words of renowned Sikh academic and scholar Prof Puran Singh proved true when in 1932 he had predicted a bleak prophecy of civil turmoil. He wrote "self-government in India means Government by the very few cunning and aggressive people who, once put in possession of the authority, would twist all letters of law and constitutions to their individual wills and make them work on the communal or the so called religious bias".

Under the guise of democracy and secularism, the social, historical and geographic wounds of Panjab caused by the barbarity of colonial policies were ripped open for Sikhs by Indian legislation.

For the next 30 years Sikhs attempted to initiate various movements to preserve their identity, language and culture. During this time Panjab was reduced to a mere fraction of its size, with river water diverted to neighbouring states. The capital, Chandigarh, fell under the direct control of Central Government. The efforts to agitate for civil rights were compromised because the mode of activism, fell largely within the constraints of Indian law and not from a position of sovereign authority.

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The futility of their actions is best exemplified when we attempt to draw a parallel with someone like Banda Singh Bahadur. How absurd would it sound if we were told he tried to petition the Mughal government for civil rights or led protests against their injustice and called for them to recognise his rights? For him, and many others that followed, the mandate from the Guru was clear; acquire political power and establish Khalsa Raj.

By the early 80s, a concerted effort was made to realign Sikh psyche with the Guru's mandate. The Sikhs became astutely aware of the pitfalls of placing all hope in the Indian establishment, no matter how democratic the system appeared.

Inevitably the declaration for a separate Sikh homeland was made on 26 April 1986. Despite efforts to suppress Sikh political activism in Panjab, the resolution passed in 1986 received unanimous support and remains the political mandate of the Sikh people. Today, some of the largest gatherings amongst the Sikh diaspora are made in support of that resolution with protests usually taking place every year in the month of June. The show of solidarity not only commemorates the fallen freedom fighters of the Sikh movement but also reaffirms the calls for an independent Sikh homeland.

It was Guru Nanak who first openly criticised and challenged those indulged in corruption and it is He who advocates that a person in authority should honour his/her office and do so conscientiously.

Sikhs took inspiration from the writings of the Guru, for example (when referring to the Pathan administration) He writes "the ruler administers justice if his palm is greased". The Sikhs understood that the whole paraphernalia of government in India was corrupt and people at every rung of the establishment indulged in such acts.

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Today an informed Sikh recognises that their liberty will only truly arrive when they exercise the sovereignty bestowed upon them by the Guru.

This was the example set by illustrious Sikh leaders from the pre-colonial era who acquired and exercised political power. Sikh rulers such Banda Singh Bahadur who founded the first Sikh Republic or Nawab Kapur Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, to name just two leaders from the sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy. The same traits were found in rare gems such as Bhai Maharaj Singh and the Babbar Akali from the late 19th century and early 20th century, who swore their allegiance to none other than the Khalsa Panth. They were staunch anti-colonialists and understood the need for Sikhs to re-establish political power to fulfil the requirements of the House of Guru Nanak.

In the years leading up to 1984, Sant Jarnail Singh, Bhai Fauja Singh and their Sikh compatriots became the most recent in a long line of illustrious leaders to have rekindled the spirit of Sikh sovereignty from centuries past. From the way that they dressed to the manner of their speech, they seemed to challenge the effects of colonialism that had engulfed so many of their contemporaries. Having pledged their allegiance to the House of Guru Nanak, they encouraged Sikhs to re-enter Anandpur, if they were to truly liberate themselves and deliver on the Guru's mandate.
As Theresa May stumbles through her doomed stint as PM, the Tories continue to search for their next leader. Their task: finding someone who can stop Corbyn's political juggernaut. Welcome to the stage Jacob Rees Mogg - the well-mannered, tweed-jacketed MP for North-East Somerset. Until recently, Mogg was little more than an eccentric backbencher known for his long words and dated mannerisms. But as the Brexit negotiations roll on and no obvious leader emerges, some are looking to Mogg as the answer.

On one level, his appeal is obvious. In a political era that has snubbed conventional politicians and embraced the mavericks, Mogg certainly offers the Conservatives something that Theresa May never could. Partly, this is due to his political 'authenticity'. In the same way that voters took to Corbyn's sincerity and Trump's frankness, Mogg's candour might find an audience. His views are clear, uncompromising and bold. The fact that he never pretends otherwise has won him unlikely plaudits, including from Labour's Jess Phillips who admitted that "he is no identikit politician; he is always completely authentic."

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His personality also helps. Mogg's unique blend of self-deprecating humour and verbal acrobatics, as showcased in his panel show appearances and use of social media, has proven popular with a certain type of voter. Mogg has over 40,000 Instagram followers and over 50,000 twitter subscribers. His meme paged, titled Middle Class Memes For Rees-Moggian Teens, has a further 43,000 likes. Some within the party take this online status to be indicative of a leader capable of connecting with the new generation.

Measuring politics through meme pages is obviously a bad idea. But to the extent that memes do indicate the political preferences of the young, the fact that Sassy Socialist Memes has over 940,000 likes should give Mogg-supporters pause for thought. Nevertheless, Mogg does enjoy a cult of personality, and people have taken to his aristocratic charm. But being popular as a quirky, marginal political figure is not the same as being fit to lead a political party. There are a number of reasons why Mogg could never make the step up.

The most obvious obstacle is the unpopularity of his opinions. Mogg an emphatic social conservative. He has consistently voted against gay rights, criticised abortion laws for being "a form of contraception" and was guest speaker at the annual dinner of Traditional Britain - a group that wants to repatriate ethnic minorities.

As well as being pretty disgraceful, Mogg's views have no popular backing. Social conservatism is not tolerated in mainstream UK politics, despite its resurgence elsewhere. Take Tim Farron's 2017 campaign as an example. His evangelical Christian ethics, and his reluctance to admit that being gay is not a sin, blighted his agenda. In his resignation speech, he claimed that he was "torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader" - perhaps showing us roughly where the electoral ceiling of a socially conservative politician lies.

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This is not just a problem for leaders of 'liberal' parties. The Tories' proposal to repeal the fox-hunting ban was met by unanimous criticism. Their 'rape clause' policy - which ruled that rape victims should provide evidence before they receive their tax credits - was rightly criticised from all sides. From Iain Duncan Smith to Michael Gove, there is an understanding amongst Conservatives that they have to ditch their 'nasty party' status. Mogg would only make it worse.

But Mogg also faces other problems. Although some cast him as 'authentic' like Trump or Corbyn, he lacks the key characteristic: relatability. Trump's authenticity owes a lot to his plain speaking. Like Reagan before him, Trump talks about politics in a way that is accessible and therefore persuasive. Similarly, people can identify with Corbyn's decidedly modest lifestyle, which lends his politics an aura of honesty and naturalness. Both Trump and Corbyn seem to be people first and politicians second, which gives their words weight. Mogg, on the other hand, lives in a 17th century manor and uses intentionally esoteric language. His lifestyle and shtick is all about exclusiveness, privilege and elitism. His eccentric style therefore may be endearing to some, but it probably rings hollow to most.

Perhaps the biggest problem for Mogg comes from within his own party. The Tories are already splitting at the seams under the leadership of a relatively neutral leader. With his uncompromising hard-line stances, Mogg would deepen the divisions. He would not only alienate pro-European Tories (e.g. Kenneth Clarke, Damian Green, Nicky Morgan), he would also estrange the so-called 'wet' Tories like Stephen McFarland, Heidi Allen and Robert Halfon. Given the Tories' slim majority, the lack of support from his own party would torpedo Mogg's ability to get his radical agenda through parliament. He would either have to make compromises, and therefore lose his political USP, or face an utterly redundant leadership.
Hans Solcer via Getty Images

I didn't think too much of it when my right eye started getting a little puffy. When my vision went blurry, I thought a trip to the optician was a good idea. I didn't expect to end up losing my eye to cancer.

I was 26 when I was diagnosed with an adenocarcinoma of the lacrimal gland, which is a very rare and aggressive cancer in my tear gland. It was resistant to chemotherapy so the only way for me to survive was to have my whole right eye removed. Three months later, I went under the knife.

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I was petrified for myself and what my life would be like with only one eye. I had no time to mentally prepare for what this would mean, how I would cope and, most importantly, how it would impact on my children, who were only three and four years old at the time.

I did my best to explain to them that my poorly eye had to be taken out to stop me from being very ill, and I hoped that they understood. It broke my heart. I didn't want them to have to suffer any comments from their young friends who may not understand what had happened.

After the surgery, my children were amazing. My son was a little frightened at first and my daughter was simply fascinated. But, even though I was so glad the cancer had gone, I was shocked by how deep the hole was and I worried about how others would react. I needed to find a way to pick my own confidence up enough so I could do the school run without fear of embarrassing myself or my kids. I also didn't want to miss out on such an important part of parenting and I couldn't stay hiding behind closed doors forever.

I had spent the first few weeks after the surgery wearing a huge white patch over my eye while the healing process began, which hid the massive hole where my eye used to be. I also bought a black eye patch from the local pharmacy to disguise the surgical gauze, which helped me to feel a little less self-conscious. But I still knew that people were looking at me and making comments - more than a few times people joked that I was dressed like a pirate. It was a friend who suggested I should embellish the eye patch a little - if people were going to stare at me then I may as well give them something to really look at.

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I stuck a few diamante gems on my trusty black eye patch and I wore it to an appointment at the Moorfields Eye Hospital. The surgeon praised my efforts saying I should sell them. From that moment, I haven't really looked back.

I set up a Facebook group and started a profile on Etsy under the name of Bling-k of an eye and I was soon getting a couple of orders a month. I aim to make my eye patches sparkly and glamorous but also practical and comfortable. I also make personalised ones to suit specific people or for certain occasions, such as Easter or Christmas. Creating eye patches and sending them to people throughout the UK and even to the USA and Canada is empowering, therapeutic and personally really rewarding. It's great to be able to help other people of all ages who are in a similar situation to myself or have suffered eye injuries.

I had a prosthetic eye fitted earlier this year, and I am amazed at how natural it looks. There are currently no signs of the cancer coming back but I have to wait five years to get the full all-clear. But, I can honestly say I am happier and more confident now than I ever have been before. I am so pleased to be Toni with two eyes again and that my cancer experience has made a positive contribution to the lives of other people who are handed such a life-changing diagnosis. I may have lost an eye but now I can see more clearly than ever what's important in life.
The union and the hospital have been at odds over how to manage staffing levels during contract negotiations.

BMC Nurses Release Contents Of 'Unsafe Staffing' Reports

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  After hitting a stalemate in negotiations, the nursing union has released 437 "unsafe staffing forms" that it says document specific instances when nurses felt they needed more help.

The local chapter of the Massachusetts Nursing Association, representing registered nurses at Berkshire Medical Center, have been negotiations with Berkshire Health Systems on a new contract. Particularly, the nurses say they hope to a contractual agreement to bolster staffing.

But, months ago the hospital had already put forth its "best and final offer," which the nurses rejected.

Since then, there have been multiple bargaining sessions but both sides remain apart. The MNA says it is concerned with patient safety and has been pushing "safe staffing" as a major talking point. Recently, the nurses have sought out members of the health systems' board of trustees to join their side and are looking for public support.

Over the last 22 months, the nurses documented instances when they felt staffing was subpar and those instances were made public on Wednesday as the MNA continues to seek support. Those specific incidents are detailed below after the union released the paperwork to the media on Wednesday.

"We are concerned by our administration's continued disregard for the negotiating process, and more importantly, for our documented patient safety incidents by their continued refusal to work with us to improve staffing to ensure the highest quality care," Alex Neary, a registered nurse and co-chair of MNA's bargaining committee.

Citing a number of patient safety awards the hospital has received, BHS administrators said the release of those reports is a one-sided attempt to "disparage" the hospital. Chief Operating Office Diane Kelly, also a registered nurse, said the documents lack follow up information and fail to show that the instances truly put patients in danger.

"We're deeply troubled at the union's continued campaign to disparage the hospital," Kelly said. "The forms released are not Berkshire Medical Center forms."

She said the supervisors, on some of the occasions, responded to the change in patent numbers or needs and got help, but that part wasn't documented. She said there were occasions on the list in which a supervisor heard the complaint and investigated it, only to find out that the situation wasn't as dire as the complaint made it seem. She called the forms a "scorekeeping card" showing only one perspective.

"If there is a need to respond, [supervisors] respond," Kelly said.

Kelly said the hospital has an internal quality assurance process to handle any such situation. The forms released by the union were not part of that process; the forms the MNA released were union documents.

"They can write whatever they choose," Kelly said.

The union says the nurses wouldn't have taken the time out of their day to write the report if the situation wasn't serious. The reports are made when the nurses feel patient safety is in jeopardy. The documentation includes the date, the unit, the shift, how many patients were on the unit at the time, the staffing level, how much staff should be needed according to staffing grids, the supervisor's response, and a brief summary of the incident.

"For years, we have been raising concerns and attempting to convince management to address what is a clear pattern of unsafe patient care incidents that we continue to document in real time with these unsafe staffing reports," Neary said.

"We have brought these forms to nearly every meeting we have had with management at the hospital prior to negotiations and repeatedly during contract negotiations, yet management continues to dismiss our concerns and reject our proposals to address this problem. Since management refuses to acknowledge these situations, we are sharing them with the public so they can understand what we are dealing with, and hopefully, understand that they have the most to lose if management continues to ignore our call for staffing improvements. The nurses just want to be able to provide the safe and effective care their patients deserve."

The nurses say the documentation is "tangible evidence of a chronic lack of staffing needed to keep patients safe."

The union said address staffing deficiencies has been the main point of its negotiations and at first pushed to include specific staffing ratios, based on the number of patients and levels of sickness into the contract. That would have held management accountable for breaking the contract if and when these type of instances occur.

The hospital, however, said specific ratio would take away too much of management's control over how to staff the hospital. The hospital wants flexibility when it comes to making those decisions and says it uses a team approach, by not just counting the number of nurses but including staff from all disciplines.

The hospital put forth the concept of a new staffing committee. That committee would meet regularly and include nurses, union officials, and management to discuss the data and make recommendations as to how to best staff a unit.

"We agree that we should have a format of face to face conversation [about staffing]," Kelly said. "That is why it is in our best and final proposal."

The nurses, however, says there is already a staffing committee that is clearly not working. The union moved off from its position of a specific matrix but still pushes for language that includes having charge nurses unassigned to patients, freeing them up to manage the unit.

Chief Nursing Officer Brenda Cadorette, a registered nurse, responded by saying the new committee would be different because it would focus more on the individual units and because it is contractual, both sides will be forced to participate in the meetings and process.

"The new proposal is about the nursing manager and their staff," she said. "It is much more specific than it had been before."

In May, the hospital had presented its best and final offer. At the end of that month, the nurses rejected it by a vote. Both sides returned to the table, with the union putting forth the charge nurse proposal. The hospital hasn't countered and instead continues to support its final offer. The nurses have accused the hospital of rejecting any path toward coming to an agreement.

The hospital, however, says for the first year of negotiations management had revised its proposal multiple times based on union feedback, while the union hadn't budged nearly as much.

"For the first 14 months, Berkshire Medical Center made many, many changes," Kelly said. "We believe in our best and final offer."

The union's bargaining committee has the authorization to call a one-day strike, which requires a 10-day notice. And the hospital has already made plans to bring in replacement nurses for an entire week should that happen. The nurses have not yet called a strike, but the possibility looms.

Unsafe Staffing Forms by iBerkshires.com on Scribd
Fire District Clerk/Treasurer Corydon Thurston, left, and Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley look at some of the preliminary engineering work the district has acquired on Main Street's 'Lehovec property.'

Williamstown Fire District Plans Outreach on Land Acquisition

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Fire District officials will take their case for acquiring a Main Street parcel to Town Hall before an expected October special meeting to approve the purchase.

The Prudential Committee plans to ask Fire District voters to approve $400,000 for the purchase of the 3.7-acre so-called Lehovec property next to the new Aubuchon Hardware on Main Street (Route 2).

At a special meeting of the three-person committee on Wednesday, the Prudential Committee discussed its outreach initiatives to generate support for the acquisition.

This is the second time the district has attempted to purchase the same property for a prospective new fire station. The last time, in 2013, the district was accused of not keeping the town abreast of its intentions, Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley said.

Ultimately, the land deal was defeated twice in special Fire District meetings  both times winning approval from the majority of voters present but not the two-thirds "super majority" needed for success.

Notsley told his colleagues that he has asked to be included on the Board of Selectmen's agenda for its Sept. 11 meeting, and the committee discussed overtures to over town officials, including, perhaps, the Conservation Commission, which could have concerns about stormwater management at the site.

The committee decided to ask the town's conservation agent, Andrew Groff, to sit down and discuss the potential for work on the site.

"We can communicate what we propose to do and also say we plan to improve the site and make it more presentable for the town," Fire District clerk/treasurer Corydon Thurston said. "We can ask for [Groff's] recommendations and the Con Comm's recommendations."

And they can hope that the Selectmen support the land purchase, particularly since the idea of a joint police-fire facility, which was raised back in 2013, is off the table. Earlier this year, the town announced its intention to purchase the former Turner House veterans home on Simonds Road for a new police station.

"Since we made our first attempt, we had the Public Safety Building Study Committee that came up with nothing as far as a site for a combined facility," Notsley said.

The Fire District, unlike the Police Department, operates separate and apart from the rest of town government. After the second failed attempt to purchase the Lehovec site in 2013, the town and district formed a joint special committee to explore options for a shared building.

Both the police and firefighters are operating in structures that are too small and outdated for their needs. In the case of the Fire District, it specifically needs a structure that can accommodate its current apparatus as well as a tanker truck to meet the town's needs, officials say.

The current fire station has 4,325 square feet of space on a 1/2-acre lot. On the advice of a consulting engineer based on Connecticut, the Fire District hopes someday to a facility in the neighborhood of 20,000 square feet.

"We've always wanted a tanker truck so we can respond to your house if you live outside the area served by hydrants," Fire Chief Craig Pedercini said at a 2012 hearing before the first try to acquire the Lehovec site. "Our biggest trucks carry 1,000 gallons [of water] each."

Tanker trucks carry three times that much water.

A properly outfitted Fire Department will protect the town and could pay dividends for residents, district officials say.

"I wouldn't mind mentioning the insurance piece again," Thurston said on Wednesday when discussing the upcoming outreach campaign. "When we talk about future needs, at our next [Insurance Services Office] inspection, a tanker will impact the insurance rating.  That alone will decrease people's homeowners insurance rates. I don't know how much.

"That plus the liability issues, the tight space [at the current fire house], and, of course, the bunk space if needed down the road. We're having more females among the firefighters, and we don't have facilities for women."

Prudential Committee member Ed Briggs said Wednesday that his conversation with the designer included the notion of potential expansions at some unforeseen date  like for bunk rooms  is something worth considering when selecting a site for the new fire house.

The location of the Lehovec lot on a main artery and the extra acreage for parking and training of the town's call-volunteer firefighters also make it an attractive location for the district.
Five things to remember about the new downtown parking system :

1. Always enter your license plate number - even for the FREE first 30 minutes.

2. On-street parking is $1 per hour; lot parking is 50 cents per hour. There are also nearly 400 free parking spaces on the city's side streets.

3. You can pay by coin, credit card, or by downloading the Passport parking app.

4. You do not need to display the parking receipt on your dashboard.
A Ukrainian court has arrested for 40 days pending extradition two French citizens wanted for committing economic crimes in the European Union, Ukraine's SBU Security Service has said.

The SBU press center on Friday said that on August 15, 2017 they received information from their French colleagues about a criminal sentenced to seven years in jail for stealing EUR 200 million from European companies and banks, including state-controlled banks.

"Their group illegally transferred funds of leading French and European companies to fictitious companies," the SBU said.

The press service said SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak met with the first secretary of the French embassy in Ukraine following the arrest of the men.
The actions of state agencies of Ukraine if former Odesa governor Mikheil Saakashvili attempts to return to Ukraine are the responsibility of the Interior Ministry, the State Migration Service and State Border Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during a visit on Friday to Kharkiv.

"When the State Migration Service presented to the citizenship commission documents showing inaccurate or false information for Saakashvili to receive citizenship, I had to act in accordance with the law and the Constitution. Any other steps would have been criminal. Therefore, in conformity with the report of the State Migration Service and Commission, I signed the decree [stripping Saakashvili of citizenship]. The same would apply for any Ukrainian citizens, in whose applications for citizenship false or inaccurate information was discovered," Poroshenko said.

Saakashvili responded to Poroshenko's statement saying that stripping him of Ukrainian citizenship was the president's idea in the first place.

"It was not done legally. It was a violation, and this will be proven in court. It will be impossible to cover up the fact that this was Poroshenko's initiative  fuelled by his fear and wish to eliminate a troublesome critic by throwing him out of the country. This will not stand," Saakashvili said on his Facebook page.

Saakashvili earlier announced plans to return to Ukraine on September 10.

Poroshenko on July 26 issued a decree stripping Saakashvili of Georgian citizenship.
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Imperial Valley News Center

How to encourage kids to learn history

Washington, DC - Educator and award-winning author Robyn Gioia encourages the use of historical fiction to stimulate a love of reading and--more important--of learning, says David Bruce Smith, co-founder of the Grateful American Book Prize.

In fact, her Web site features a space for teachers looking to find classroom resources that will excite young learners about the genre http://www.robyngioia.com/teacher-resources .

It is "back to school time" and Robyn's notions of how best to teach a dry subject such as social studies might be a timely topic for first PTA meetings, according to Smith.

In her most recent blog, Gioia writes that "historical fiction ... transports you into the past where life and a culture previously existed. You become part of a world where you walk-the-walk alongside characters dealing with the trials and tribulations of an era long gone." The piece describes how she uses factually accurate books, including fiction, to stimulate discussion among her students.

One reviewer noted that "she has been referred to as Scheherazade because of her character driven, can't-put-them-down, page turning stories"-the kinds of history books that can inspire kids and leave them wanting more. Her America's REAL First Thanksgiving, St. Augustine, Florida, Sept.8, 1565, created quite a stir for challenging the idea that the holiday was first celebrated by the Pilgrims.

Gioia's technique for teaching social studies to her pupils brings results. She reads works of historical fiction out loud to her class in "my best dramatic voice." It's her way of bringing the past to life. And, she inspires them to ask questions in order to elicit curiosity. In fact, she says, many actually ask her if they can take notes as she reads-a sure sign that she is getting through to them. "I know that annotating their thoughts helps them to develop a stronger understanding of the material and organize the details."

Smith, also an author, points out that the Prize he established with Dr. Bruce Cole, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, was created for the express purpose of "rousing authors and publishers to produce more works of engrossing historical fiction and nonfiction so that students in middle and high school could be spared the boredom of textbooks."

In its three years of existence, the Grateful American Book Prize has established itself as an important award in the publishing field. "It has put a new focus on historically factual books," says Smith. The 2017 winner will be celebrated at an October 12th reception at The National Archives in Washington, DC.

Gioia had this to say about the Prize: "The forging of America was entering unknown territory, historically speaking. Diverse peoples from many countries vied for a place in the new world, a land that grew to be one of the most powerful in the world. It did not happen without sacrifice, hardship, survival, and forward-thinking vision. Engaging historical fiction, imaginative illustration, and intriguing non-fiction books, transports us back in time. It helps readers internalize the unique events that created our country by breathing life into a subject that would have otherwise been unrelatable to many young minds. The Grateful American Book Prize highlights the importance of our history by encouraging young readers to experience the trials and tribulations of a nation that fought to become America."
Imperial Valley News Center

Achieving Parity in Diplomatic Missions

Washington, DC - The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia. We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.

In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2.

With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each. While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern. The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.
Imperial Valley News Center

Wanted: A New Way to Find Pilots for U.S. Navy Unmanned Aircraft

Arlington, Virginia - Georgia Tech and the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research are sponsoring the development of a series of new specialized tests to assess cognitive abilities and personality traits, and identify potential Navy and Marine Corps unmanned aviation systems (UAS) operators. It's called the Selection for UAS Personnel, or SUPer.

Before acceptance to flight school, aspiring naval pilots must pass the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB) - a rigorous intellectual exercise that evaluates aviation and nautical knowledge, math and engineering skills, and personality traits.



Since training a single pilot costs the U.S. Navy over $1 million, the ASTB is a critical tool for finding the right candidates to fly manned aircraft, such as fighter jets. But the Navy doesn't have ASTB-style tests to qualify pilots of today's latest aircraft - remotely-operated, unmanned aviation systems, popularly called drones.



Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, UAS have played larger roles in intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other missions. Consequently, there's an increasing need for well-trained UAS pilots.



"The temperament and personality of F-18 pilots won't necessarily be the same as those flying surveillance aircraft," said Cmdr. Brent Olde, a program officer in ONR's warfighter performance department. "Neither will the required skill set be identical, so it's important that we create a standardized way to assess the abilities of future UAS operators."



In recent years, the Air Force established its own formal screening process for UAS operators, and the Marine Corps designated a UAS career path for its ranks. The Navy, however, doesn't have an official selection and training pipeline specifically for UAS operators. Historically, the service took aviators who already earned their wings, gave them on-the-job, UAS-specific training, and placed them in temporary positions.



SUPer comprises both written and computerized tests covering skills like math knowledge, spatial orientation, reading cockpit dials and critical thinking. SUPer participants also study computer maps featuring prominent natural or manmade landmarks and then remember object locations on larger, less defined maps.



Tests are followed by training exercises on a flight simulator designed to mirror common UAS missions. Participants also complete psychological and personality tests to ascertain if they would excel as UAS pilots - which often involves 12-hour shifts sitting in front of a control station, inside of an isolated command center.



"SUPer will be a valuable tool in helping the Navy pick the best people to become UAS operators, and determine who will be an optimal fit and find satisfaction in the role," said Dr. Phillip Ackerman, a Georgia Tech psychology professor overseeing SUPer's development.



Approximately 350 civilian and military volunteers are participating as SUPer research subjects at Ackerman's Georgia Tech laboratory and various Navy and Air Force training centers. The current version of the SUPer test battery takes approximately four hours to complete.



At the end of September, Ackerman and his research team will review the results, design a standardized exam for validation by prospective Navy and Air Force UAS pilots, and, hopefully, have a product ready for fleet implementation in 2018.



"Training pilots for manned and unmanned systems is time-intensive and expensive," said Lt. Cmdr. Tatana Olson, deputy director of the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at the Naval Medical Research Unit, Dayton, and who serves as SUPer's government lead. "SUPer will define and assess the knowledge, skills and abilities required to be a successful UAS operator, and, ultimately, optimize naval use of human resources for unmanned aviation."
Governor Brown to Attend Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok

Sacramento, California - After traveling to Chengdu, Nanjing and Beijing earlier this year to strengthen Californias clean energy partnership with China, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia next week to further expand Californias trans-Pacific collaboration to combat climate change.

This Pacific forum on trade isnt just an occasion to promote investment, its an opportunity to strengthen our commitment to decarbonizing the economy, said Governor Brown. Every government and every business is responsible for making this radical turn and from Victorville to Vladivostok, California will continue to lead the charge.

The Governor will depart California on Sunday, September 3, 2017 and stop in Nome, Alaska to meet with scientists and researchers studying the impacts of climate change. He will arrive in Vladivostok  a Pacific port city located in the far Southeast corner of Russia near the borders of China and North Korea  on Tuesday, September 5, 2017, local time. The Governor is expected to return to California by Friday, September 8, 2017.

At the third annual Eastern Economic Forum, Governor Brown will call for further climate action in remarks at the opening plenary and later on a panel titled The RussiaChinaJapanUS Quadrangle: Are There Opportunities for Cooperation? The Governor will also speak on climate change at the Far Eastern Federal University and at the sixth Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education, also being held in Vladivostok.

The Eastern Economic Forum is organized to improve relations between the international investment community, business, and national and local governments and dozens of business and government leaders from around the world are expected to participate.

Later in September, Governor Brown will travel to New York City for events connected to Climate Week NYC and the 72nd Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In November, the Governor is expected to take part in a number of international gatherings in Europe focused on fighting global warming, including a climate symposium organized by the Vatican and this years United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn, Germany.

In June, Governor Brown was named Special Advisor for States and Regions ahead of COP 23 by Fijis Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama  incoming president of COP 23. This followed meetings with Chinas President Xi Jinping during the Governor's week-long trip to China and with Germany's top environmental official, Minister Barbara Hendricks, in San Francisco.

Governor Brown continues to build strong coalitions of partners committed to curbing carbon pollution in both the United States through the U.S. Climate Alliance and around the globe with the Under2 Coalition. Governor Brown also launched America's Pledge on climate change with Michael Bloomberg earlier this year to help compile and quantify the actions of states, cities and businesses in the United States to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In September 2018, the State of California will convene the world's climate leaders in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit, where representatives from subnational governments, businesses, investors and civil society will gather with the direct goal of supporting the Paris Agreement.
Governor Brown Declares State of Emergency in Trinity County Due to Helena Fire

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued an emergency proclamation for Trinity County due to the effects of the Helena Fire, which has burned thousands of acres, damaged critical infrastructure, destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of residents.

PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY



WHEREAS on August 30, 2017, the Helena Fire started in Trinity County and has rapidly burned thousands of acres of land and continues to burn; and

WHEREAS this fire has destroyed multiple homes and is threatening hundreds of additional homes and other structures, necessitating the evacuation of residents; and

WHEREAS the fire has damaged and continues to threaten critical infrastructure, including power lines, and has forced the closure of major highways and local roads; and

WHEREAS extreme weather conditions and high temperatures have further increased the risk of fires; and

WHEREAS the circumstances of this fire by reason of its magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat; and

WHEREAS under the provisions of section 8558(b) of the Government Code, I find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exists in Trinity County due to the Helena Fire; and

WHEREAS under the provisions of section 8571 of the Government Code, I find that strict compliance with the various statutes and regulations specified in this order would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the Helena Fire.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular, section 8625 of the Government Code, HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist in Trinity County.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. All agencies of the state government utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan. Also, all citizens are to heed the advice of emergency officials with regard to this emergency in order to protect their safety.

2. The California National Guard shall mobilize as necessary under Military and Veterans Code section 146 (mobilization in case of catastrophic fires) to support disaster response and relief efforts and shall coordinate with all relevant state agencies, including the Office of Emergency Services, and all relevant state and local emergency responders and law enforcement within the impacted areas.

3. The Office of Emergency Services shall provide local government assistance to Trinity County, if appropriate, under the authority of the California Disaster Assistance Act, Government Code section 8680 et seq., and California Code of Regulations, Title 19, section 2900 et seq.

4. The provisions of Unemployment Insurance Code section 1253 imposing a one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance applicants are suspended as to all applicants who are unemployed as a direct result of the Helena Fire who applied for unemployment insurance benefits during the time period beginning August 30, 2017 and ending on the close of business on February 28, 2018, and who are otherwise eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

5. Vehicle Code sections 9265(a), 9867, 14901, 14902, and 15255.2, requiring the imposition of fees, are suspended with regard to any request for replacement of a driver's identification card, vehicle registration certificate, or certificate of title, by any individual who lost such records as a result of the Helena Fire. Such records shall be replaced without charge.

6. The provisions of Vehicle Code sections 4602 and 5902, requiring the timely registration or transfer of title are suspended with regard to any registration or transfer of title by any resident of Trinity County who is unable to comply with those requirements as a result of the Helena Fire. The time covered by this suspension shall not be included in calculating any late penalty pursuant to Vehicle Code section 9554.

7. Health and Safety Code sections 103525.5 and 103625, and Penal Code section 14251, requiring the imposition of fees, are hereby suspended with regard to any request for copies of certificates of birth, death, marriage, and dissolution of marriage records, by any individual who lost such records as a result of the Helena Fire. Such copies shall be provided without charge.

8. State statutes, rules, regulations and requirements are hereby suspended to the extent they apply to the following activities: (a) removal, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste and debris resulting from the Helena Fire that has burned and continues to burn in areas that are subject to the jurisdiction of agencies within the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency; and (b) necessary restoration and rehabilitation of timberland, streams, rivers, and other waterways. Such statutes, rules, regulations and requirements are hereby suspended only to the extent necessary for expediting the removal and cleanup of debris from the Helena Fire, and for implementing any restoration plan. Individuals who desire to conduct activities under this suspension of statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements shall first request that the appropriate Agency Secretary, or his delegate, make a determination that the proposed activities are eligible to be conducted under this suspension. The Secretary for the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency shall use sound discretion in applying this Executive Order to ensure that the suspension serves the purpose of accelerating cleanup and recovery, while at the same time protecting public health and the environment. This order shall apply to, but is not necessarily limited to: solid waste facility permits; waste discharge requirements for storage and disposal; emergency timber harvesting; emergency construction activities; and waste discharge requirements and/or Water Quality Certification for discharges of fill material or pollutants. To the extent it is within their administrative authority, the boards, departments and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency shall expedite the granting of other authorizations, waivers or permits necessary for the removal, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous debris resulting from the Helena Fire, and for other actions necessary for the protection of public health and the environment.

9. As necessary to assist local governments and for the protection of public health and the environment, state agencies shall enter into contracts to arrange for the procurement of materials, goods, and services necessary to quickly assist with the response to and recovery from the impacts of the fire. Applicable provisions of the Government Code and the Public Contract Code, including but not limited to travel, advertising, and competitive bidding requirements, are suspended to the extent necessary to address the effects of the fires.

I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this Proclamation be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this Proclamation.



IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 31st day of August 2017.





_____________________________

EDMUND G. BROWN JR.

Governor of California



ATTEST:





_____________________________

ALEX PADILLA

Secretary of State
Governor Brown Issues Statement on Death of U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued the following statement regarding the death of U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief Gary Helming:

Anne and I were saddened to learn of the death of Chief Helming, a veteran firefighter who bravely served for more than 20 years. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues with the U.S. Forest Service.

Chief Helming, 47, of Pismo Beach, was fatally injured today in a traffic collision while returning from his assignment at the Railroad Fire burning outside of Yosemite National Park.

Chief Helming was a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and served in a variety of roles, most recently as a battalion chief stationed in Santa Maria at the Los Padres National Forest. He is survived by his wife and three children.

In honor of Chief Helming, Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff.
Wasp Departs to be Forward Deployed to Japan

Norfolk, Virginia - Amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) departed for Sasebo, Japan, yesterday, where it will assume duties as the forward-deployed flagship of the amphibious force of the U.S. 7th Fleet.

The shift will introduce an F-35B Joint Strike Fighter-capable amphibious assault ship to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, pairing it with the F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121).



"This move ensures that our most technologically-advanced air warfare platforms are forward deployed," said Wasp Commanding Officer Capt. Andrew Smith. "Our capabilities, paired with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, increases our Navy's precision strike capabilities within the 7th Fleet region. Wasp will help America's commitment to the maritime security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific."



Wasp completed a six-month deployment late last year, during which the crew completed a certification validation, ensuring the ship's readiness to join 7th Fleet. The ship represents the naval centerpiece of the Up-Gunned Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) concept, which increases the capability of the traditional three-ship amphibious ready group to defend itself and project power.



As Wasp takes over for USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) for a regularly-scheduled deployment next year, the crew will serve as the flagship for the Wasp ESG, which will include amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD 20) and one of two forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ships. The ESG also embarks Naval Beach Unit 7, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 and ground, air, and logistics elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.



The Up-Gunned ESG-MEU team is the premiere crisis response force in the western Pacific. In addition to maintaining security in the region through presence and deterrence, the Wasp ESG will respond at a moment's notice to any type of contingency, to include humanitarian aid and disaster relief.



The 31st MEU and forward-deployed amphibious ships like Wasp combine to form U.S. Pacific Command's premier crisis response force. Together, the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team has the capability to conduct stability operations or deliver disaster relief at a moment's notice.
On the Occasion of Eid al-Adha

Washington, DC - As the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca and Medina comes to a close, I wish Muslims across the globe a meaningful and blessed Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, is a special time when millions of Muslims perform acts of charity, remember those who are less fortunate, and celebrate with family and friends. It is a time in which Muslims from diverse backgrounds pray together and reflect on peace.

The U.S. Department of State wishes all Muslims around the world a happy Eid.

Eid Mubarak and Hajj Mabrour. ~ Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson
Kyrgyz Independence Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, congratulations and best wishes to the government and people of the Kyrgyz Republic in celebration of the Kyrgyz Republics 26th anniversary of independence on August 31.

"Today, the United States joins the people of the Kyrgyz Republic in celebrating both this special anniversary and our 26-year partnership. Since Kyrgyz independence, the United States has worked hand-in-hand with the people of the Kyrgyz Republic to promote economic opportunities, democratic values, mutual understanding, and people-to-people connections.

"The United States looks forward to deepening our relationship with the people of the Kyrgyz Republic over the coming years on the basis of trust, equality, and mutual respect."
Vietnam National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I offer congratulations to the people of Vietnam as you celebrate your National Day on September 2nd.

"Since the normalization of bilateral ties 22 years ago, relations between our two countries have grown in ways many would have never predicted. We have moved past conflict and division, towards a flourishing partnership that spans political, security, economic, and people-to-people ties.

"The recent visits of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, and Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich to the United States have reinforced this positive momentum between our two nations, and President Trumps commitment to travel to Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting promises to elevate our partnership to new heights.

"On this occasion, I wish all Vietnamese people peace and prosperity in the coming year."
Sentencing of Mohammad Ali Taheri to Death in Iran

Washington, DC - We are deeply concerned by reports that an Iranian court has sentenced Mohammad Ali Taheri, the founder of an Iranian spiritual movement, to death. The charges of founding a religious cult and spreading corruption on earth are inconsistent with Irans international obligations to respect and ensure his freedoms of expression and religion or belief and to reserve the death penalty only for the most serious crimes. We are also deeply disturbed by reports that a number of Taheris followers have been recently arrested on similar objectionable charges.

We call on the Iranian Government to take whatever steps necessary to reverse Taheris conviction and death sentence. We join our voice with those who call on Iran to uphold its obligations under Iranian and international law and to ensure that the human rights of all individuals in Iran are respected and guaranteed.




This Isnt Our Last Love Letter



Dear Don Don,

Way back in 92



I walked into the room and knew



Never felt this way before



I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes



And the feeling grew



As I took a seat I knew



A love that would have my heart



Forever



I knew



Way back in 92





They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true



We were the exception to that rule



Our love had no where to hide



A spark set fire



As if this is how the universe started





I never doubted our love or what we could do



Together we grew



Forming a bond everlasting



That became our glue



My euphoria was YOU



Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared



For how fortunate we were :



to have and to hold

through sickness and in health

Til death do us part



Until we are together again



This isnt our last love letter



I love you with all my heart and soul



Yours forever,



Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow)





Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus.









A True American Hero

I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus.



I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years.



I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years.

But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us.

In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about.



Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle.

I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life.

I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life.

No one will ever do what he did.

I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO





David Jurist

IMUS IN THE MORNING

FIRST DAY BACK!
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Could understanding jihadist poetry be the key to fighting extremism?

Dr Elisabeth Kendall thinks it might.

The Oxford University research fellow became an expert in Arabic literature after feeling compelled to read the novels of Egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz, after he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

After years of studying and feeling frustrated that her expertise couldnt be any real use, she began looking into poetry written by jihadis.

I wanted to bring the depth and breadth of my years of training in Arabic language and literature to bear on something that I felt was useful, she told The Independent.

I noticed that jihadist publications in Arabic contained a great deal of poetry. It wasnt just there as a space filler. And they werent composing it for fun.

As it turns out, every jihad from Osama Bin Laden to Ayman al-Zawahiri  the current leader of al-Qaida  has taken a punt at poetry. Even Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS leader, did his PhD thesis on the written art.

(Elisabeth Kendall (Elisabeth Kendall)

Kendall monitors various jihadist poetry groups via the heavily-encrypted messenger app, Telegram, and even has a playlist of poems on her phone.

Given the level of introspection required to produce a piece of poetry, she believes that the study of jihadist poetry could be a crucial insight into the complex mind of a Jihad.

Analysing the poems give us an insight into jihadist hearts and minds and can reveal clues about jihadists' motivation, group dynamics and cultural concerns, which helps to illuminate the contemporary political landscape in which the poetry is deployed, she said.

Whilst unconventional, it is an approach that she believes intelligence professionals could benefit from.

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Professionals tend to focus on jihadists' operational capacities, and also perhaps on their doctrinal positioning. The poetry has been almost entirely neglected - skipped over in favour of more direct pronouncements, rulings and position statements, she explained.

While that material is important, its not really what sticks in peoples minds. The poetry provokes passion, and passion can provoke action.

Kendall was surprised to find that many of the poems take a classical form. Rather than writing in local dialects that could be understood easily, they typically take a more complex ode form.

She was also struck by how much passion pervaded the verse, whether it be sorrow, delight or pride.

Where are you as Muhammad's community burns in flames?

Where are you as dignity screams at the Sons of the Cross?

Jihadists are aware of Kendall due to her studies; she once found herself mentioned in a jihadist communications group.

She also thinks that al-Qaeda members once came to see her in Yemen whilst working in tribal communities.

"They knew who I was. They knew what I'd published. They knew how to argue," she told the BBC.

Does this frighten her at all?

(Elisabeth Kendall (Elisabeth Kendall)

To a certain extent, yes, but with Special Forces and drones hunting them down currently, I think they have more on their minds than worrying about a jihadist poetry critic, she confessed.

Plus, I have an incredibly capable group of trusted tribesmen, from a cross-section of the three main eastern tribal confederations who move about with me. Ive known most of them for about five years and theyre heavily armed.

Some of the poetry Kendall uncovered in the back room of a bookshop in Yemen (Elisabeth Kendall)

I dont pay them anything and that is very important - this is about honour, respect and collaboration. If our arrangement were about money, then they could simply sell me to a higher bidder.

They normally tell me, 'Dont worry Duktuura, there will be 50 men dead before you'. Not sure how reassuring that was!

Some of the lines she finds most fascinating  as seen below - revolve around suicide bombing.

I will fasten my explosive belt,

I will shudder like a lightening bolt

and rush by like a torrential stream

and resound like stormy thunder.

In my heart is the heart of a volcano.

I will sweep through the land like a flood.

For I live by the Qur'an

as I remember the Merciful.

(Elisabeth Kendall (Elisabeth Kendall)

They reconstruct the power rush felt of a suicide bomber, Kendall explains.

The suicide belt is obviously a very new invention, so it is highly manipulative that it should be placed in the context of age-old traditional desert imagery of pre-Islamic poetry (lightening, thunder, torrential stream, flood, volcano). And also legitimate the act of a suicide bombing by mentioning the Quran and the Merciful (Allah).

Kendall is currently writing a comparative study of al-Qaeda and Islamic States use of propaganda  including film, audio, print media & messaging apps.

My special focus is on how they use cultural material and latch onto local causes, then gradually and insidiously turn these to the service of a global jihad, she said.

(Elisabeth Kendall (Elisabeth Kendall)

Im also looking at the extent to which each group is able or willing to adapt to changing conditions, including an analysis of how women are addressed and engaged and how this might be changing.

My focus is solely on the Arabic language materials because this is what speaks to in-country audiences. And it is on these audiences that jihadist groups rely to have an address, a safe haven in which to train and to which foreign fighters can travel.

The materials I research are really important because they help to show us why such groups might be passively tolerated on the ground - often among populations that are already well-armed, especially in Yemen - even where they are not actively supported.
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Parents vying to secure a secondary school for their children in the next five years face the worrying possibility of not getting a place, as councils warn of an impending crisis over a lack of pupil capacity across Britain.

Almost half (49 per cent) of councils are at risk of being unable to meet rising demand for places within the next five years. This means up to 125,000 children are predicted to miss out in September 2022, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

The LGAs analysis claims 12 local authorities would face a shortfall in secondary school places from 2018/2019 without changes.

That figure rises to 23 in 2019/20, 41 in 2020/21, 57 in 2021/22 and 66 in 2022/23, it argues.

The forecast comes as new figures this week show tens of thousands of appeals were lodged by parents in 2017, after their children were denied a place at their favoured school.

As millions of pupils prepare to return to school this week, the LGA said new powers are urgently needed to empower local authorities to force academies and free schools into expanding  currently, neither are obliged to comply with local authority requests.

The number of children attending primary school has increased in recent years, fuelled by a rising birth rate in the early 2000s.

The increase in primary age children has placed a strain on the system, but an actual lack of places has been avoided until now because most primary schools still fall in under local authority jurisdiction.

However, academies and free schools currently answer directly to the Department of Education, bypassing local state education control.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (a merger between the countrys largest teaching unions) said the government needs to take urgent action to give power back to local authorities.

Local authorities must have their powers to open new schools restored. It beggars belief that while councils have a legal duty to ensure there are sufficient school places locally, Conservative reforms mean they no longer have the power to open new local authority-maintained schools.

In addition, councils must have the authority to direct academies and free schools to expand where they have capacity  a power they do have in respect of maintained schools.

But New Schools Network, the body working with the government to open new free schools, said the answer lay with them: The way to meet the need for new places is not to stick Portacabins in playgrounds, but to open more free schools.

They are more popular with parents than any other type of school, and more likely to be rated Outstanding by Ofsted and more likely to get good results.

Academies were first set up under Tony Blairs Labour government and the scheme was extended by the coalition government after the 2010 general election.

Since 2010, all newly built schools must be opened as academies or free schools, with all existing schools allowed to apply for academy status.

They are state-funded, but free from local council control with power over areas such as curriculum and teachers pay. Local authority also has no power to expand its own school places.

Currently around two thirds of secondary schools are now academies, and the Government has since pledged to open 500 by September 2020.

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Unions have remained critical of the governments free school programme, arguing too many schools are being opened in regions where no places are needed, while other local authorities struggle at full capacity.

Manchester is said to be worst affected, with schools across the city already oversubscribed and operating at 103 per cent capacity. The coming spike in secondary age children in the area means that in Manchester alone, an additional 12,886 places will need to be found.

A further 6,657 places will be needed in Leicester, with schools currently operating at 104 per cent capacity, rising to 135 per cent by 2022.

Councillor Richard Watts, chairman of the LGAs Children and Young People Board, said councils had worked hard to create almost 600,000 additional primary places since 2010.

This is no small feat, he added. However, as those children move on to secondary schools, the majority of which are now academies, securing new secondary places in the areas where they are needed is becoming increasingly difficult.

Councils are working with one hand behind their backs to help as many pupils as possible receive a place at their first choice school.

If we are to avoid this looming secondary school places crisis, councils need to be able to force existing academy schools to expand if voluntary agreement is impossible, and must be given back powers to open new maintained schools themselves.

Responding to the LGA figures, Mr Courtney labelled the new schools programme an irrational and inefficient mechanism for delivering school places that came at vast expense to taxpayers.

Mr Courtney added: Many academies and free schools have, in addition, stubbornly refused to expand relinquishing their responsibility to local families.

The school places crisis will not be resolved unless action is taken to correct these damaging policy failures.

The market place is failing education and the Secretary of State has a responsibility to step in and take the necessary steps to ensure that all families have access to the secondary school places they desperately need within their local community.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: These figures are thoroughly misleading. Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is a school place available for every child.

We have allocated 5.8bn of basic need funding between 2015 and 2020 to enable them to do this, and over 735,000 additional pupil places were created between 2010 and 2016.

This money is given to councils based on their own estimates of the number of places they will need.
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Three potentially habitable Earth-sized planets in another solar system are likely to contain substantial amounts of water, say astronomers.

The discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope increases the chances of life evolving on planets orbiting Trappist-1, a dwarf star 40 light years from the sun.

Each of the worlds orbits in the star's "habitable zone", the narrow corridor where temperatures are mild enough to permit bodies of surface water such as lakes and oceans.

A total of seven planets similar in size to Earth are believed to circle the cool star.

The new research suggests that the outer planets in the system still harbour large quantities of water, despite powerful radiation from the star leading to enormous levels of water loss.

Dr Amaury Triaud, a member of the international team from the University of Birmingham, said: "Hubble's observations are of great significance, since they inform us on the irradiative environment of the Trappist-1 planets, notably on whether they can remain habitable for billions of years, like Earth has.

"However, some of our conclusions about the habitability of Trappist-1's seven are somewhat dampened by our fuzzy knowledge about the masses of the planets. Crucial observations, able to refine the planetary masses, are being obtained as we write."

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Ultraviolet radiation from a star can cause planets to dry out through a process called disassociation which causes water molecules to break up.

The astronomers studied levels of UV radiation emitted by Trappist-1 which suggest its inner planets could have lost 20 times more water in the last eight billion years than all the Earth's oceans combined.

But the system's outer planets - including the three in the habitable zone - may have lost less than three Earth-oceans worth of water. This means the planets could have retained "substantial" amounts of water on their surfaces, said the scientists.

Nasa unveils space tourism posters Show all 6 1 /6 Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters Nasa's canny decision to commission sumptuous vintage-inspired posters by Seattle design firm Invisible Creature has firmly placed space travel back where it belongs: in the imagination of travellers Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters It is particularly fitting that the Nasa commission went to Don and Ryan Clark, who have been running Invisible Creature since 2006, undertaking projects for the likes of Nike and Target Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters "We were ecstatic, just because our grandfather was an illustrator at Nasa for 30 years," says Clark Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters The artwork harks back to the Jet Age-era posters commissioned by Howard Hughes' Trans World Airlines and its rival United in the 1950s and 1960s, when the work of David Klein (for TWA) and Stan Galli (for United) glamorised and essentially branded this new age of air travel Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters It doesn't matter that Nasa has no plans for a "Grand Tour" of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters If global travel is for daydreamers, going beyond the atmosphere is for true space cadets Nasa

The research is published in the Astronomical Journal.

Press Association
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Police have vowed to continue arresting people for supplying laughing gas despite the collapse of the first contested court cases under a new law.

Charities and legal experts have called on prosecutions to be suspended after three people accused of trying to sell nitrous oxide at music festivals walked free.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is reviewing the potential impact of the hearings in London and Somerset, where a judge and the Governments own expert witness found that nitrous oxide was exempt from the law.

But police forces questioned by The Independent have said they will continue arresting and pursuing suspects unless new guidelines are released, while the Home Office insists laughing gas is still illegal.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said it would not be pre-judging the CPS conclusions and will continue arrests until any change is made.

Greater Manchester Police also confirmed they had no plans to update guidance for officers, as did Kent Police and several other forces, with Police Scotland adding: We do not make the law and we are not in a position to comment on it.

West Yorkshire Police is the only force so far confirm it is considering any change.

We are aware of the cases in other parts of the country and are reviewing our current position, a spokesperson said.

Nitrous oxide comes in canisters and can be used recreationally (Getty) (Getty Images)

Arrests have been enabled by the Psychoactive Substances Act, which came into effect in May last year.

It aimed to ban drugs previously known as legal highs but critics have labelled it unworkable over a contested definition for psychoactive substances.

The Act contains an exemption for medicinal products, which was taken by the two courts to apply to laughing gas.

The substance is used as an anaesthetic for some medical treatment, as well as in catering, including inside whipped cream cans or in food packaging to prevent the food from rotting.

But when inhaled it can produce feelings of euphoria and relaxation, dizziness, uncontrollable fits of laughing and hallucinations.

As well as the risk of users being endangered by reckless behaviour, nitrous oxide can cause unconsciousness or death from a lack of oxygen, as well as a form of anaemia, vitamin B deficiency and nerve damage.

The deaths of at least 22 people have been linked to laughing gas in the UK since 1994 and the mother of a student who died after taking the drug in Brighton was among those campaigning for legal changes.

Some people get harmed, some people die. I know many people that have lost people over this, Maryon Stewart told the Evening Standard.

It was something that I clearly felt couldnt continue, it was something that people needed to understand that children had been duped.

Protesters stage a mass inhalation of nitrous oxide in central London (Getty)

Two men accused of possessing nitrous oxide with intent to supply at Glastonbury Festival saw the case dismissed during a hearing on 25 August, after a judge at Taunton Crown Court concluded it plainly is an exempted substance.

Four days later, the trial of a man accused of intending to sell the substance at another music festival was thrown out of Southwark Crown Court.

A prosecutor told the court that the Crown's own expert witness  an Oxford psychopharmacology professor  had expressed the firm view that nitrous oxide, as the legislation is currently worded, is an exempt substance.

A spokesperson for the CPS said the cases had been charged in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and that any review of existing law was a matter for the Home Office.

But as the CPS only takes prosecutions forward if there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, the collapsed cases could have an impact on its future decisions.

Release, a charity that provides legal advice to people charged with drugs possession, is among the groups calling for current cases to be halted and convictions to be urgently reviewed.

Kirstie Douse, its head of legal services, said that while the two court cases did not set a legal precedent, they could have a general application for all laughing gas prosecutions.

At the very least there should be a full review of the law, with all arrests and prosecutions suspended whilst this is carried out, the solicitor told The Independent.

For the CPS to continue on regardless, ignoring the interpretations of judges and professors is irresponsible, though perhaps unsurprising given the Governments history with disregarding expert evidence in relation to drug policy.

World's 10 deadliest street drugs Show all 10 1 /10 World's 10 deadliest street drugs World's 10 deadliest street drugs Whoonga Whoonga is a combination of antiretroviral drugs, used to treat HIV, and various cutting agents such as detergents and poisons. The drug is widely available in South Africa due to South Africas high rate of HIV sufferers, and is believed to be popular due to how cheap it is when compared to prescribed antiretrovirals. The drug is highly addictive and can cause major health issues such as internal bleeding, stomach ulcers and ultimately death Getty World's 10 deadliest street drugs Scopolamine Scopolamine is a derivative from the nightshade plant found in the Northern Indian region of South America (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela). It is generally found in a refined powder form, but can also be found as a tea. The drug is more often used by criminals due its high toxicity level (one gram is believed to be able to kill up to 20 people) making it a strong poison. However, it is also believed that the drug is blown into the faces of unexpecting victims, later causing them to lose all sense of self-control and becoming incapable of forming memories during the time they are under the influence of the drug. This tactic has reportedly been used by gangs in Colombia where there have been reports of people using scopolamine as way to convince victims to rob their own homes World's 10 deadliest street drugs Heroin Founded in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, heroin is one of the worlds oldest drugs. Originally it was prescribed as a strong painkiller used to treat chronic pain and physical trauma. However in 1971 it was made illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Since then it has become one of the most destructive substances in the world, tearing apart communities and destroying families. The side effects of heroin include inflammation of the gums, cold sweats, a weak immune system, muscular weakness and insomnia. It can also damage blood vessels which can later cause gangrene if left untreated World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crack cocaine Crack cocaine first came about in the 1980s when cocaine became a widespread commodity within the drug trafficking world. Originally cocaine would have attracted a high price tag due to its rarity and difficulty to produce, but once it became more widespread the price dropped significantly. This resulted in drug dealers forming their cocaine into rock like shapes by using baking soda as a way of distilling the powder down into rock form. People were doing this because it allowed for them to sell cocaine at a lower quantity and to a higher number of people. The side effects of crack cocaine include liver, kidney and lung damage, as well as permanent damage to blood vessels, which can often lead to heart attacks, strokes, and ultimately death World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crystal meth Not just famous because of a certain Walter H White, but also because it is one of the most destructive drugs in the world. First developed in 1887, it became widely used during the Second World War when both sides would give it to their troops to keep them awake. It is also believed that the Japanese gave it to their Kamikaze pilots before their suicide missions. After the war crystal meth was prescribed as a diet aid and remained legal until the 1970s. Since then it has fallen into the hands of Mexican gangs and has become a worldwide phenomenon, spreading throughout Europe and Asia. The effects of crystal meth are devastating. In the short-term users will become sleep depraved and anxious, and in the long-term it will cause their flesh to sink, as well as brain damage and damage of the blood vessels World's 10 deadliest street drugs AH-7921 AH-7921 is a synthetic opioid that was previously available to legally purchase online from vendors until it became a Class A in January 2015. The drug is believed to have 80% of the potency of morphine, and became known as the legal heroin. While there has only been one death related to AH-7921 in the UK, it is believed to be highly dangerous and capable of causing respiratory arrest and gangrene World's 10 deadliest street drugs Flakka Flakka is a stimulant with a similar chemical make-up to the amphetamine-like drug found in bath salts. While the drug was originally marketed as a legal high alternative to ecstasy, the effects are significantly different. The user will feel an elevated heart rate, enhanced emotions, and, if enough is digested, strong hallucinations. The drug can cause permanent psychological damage due to it affecting the mood regulating neurons that keep the minds serotonin and dopamine in check, as well as possibly causing heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Bath salts Bath salts are a synthetic crystalline drug that is prevalent in the US. While they may sound harmless, they certainly arent the sort of salts you drop into a warm bath when having a relaxing night in, they are most similar to mephedrone, and have recently been featured throughout social media due to the zombification of its. The name comes from the fact that the drug was originally sold online, and widely disguised as bath salts. The side effects include unusual psychiatric behaviour, psychosis, panic attacks and violent behaviour, as well as the possibility of a heart attack and an elevated body temperature World's 10 deadliest street drugs Purple Drank One of the more unusual drugs around at the moment, purple drank was popularised in 90s hip hop culture, with the likes of Jay Z and Big Moe all mentioning it in their songs. It is a concoction of soda water, sweets and cold medicine, and is drunk due to cold medicines high codeine content, which gives the user a woozy feeling. However it can also cause respiratory issues and heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Krokodil Krokodil is Russias secret addiction. It is believed that over one million Russians are addicted to the drug. Users of krokodil are attracted to the drug due to its low price; it is sold at 20 a gram while heroin is sold for 60. However, krokodil is considered more dangerous than heroin because it is often homemade, with ingredients including painkillers, iodine, lighter fluid and industrial cleaning agents. This chemical make-up makes the drug highly dangerous and likely to cause gangrene, and eventually rotting of the flesh

Release believe there is potential for previous convictions to be overturned, and complaints around any arrests and prosecutions that happen following these decisions.

Rudi Fortson QC, a professor at Queen Mary University of London who specialises in drug law and gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into new psychoactive substances, said it would be absurd to label all nitrous oxide a medicinal product.

Neither case is a precedent that decides a legal principle so the cases are very specific depending on the facts, he told The Independent.

Maybe the answer is for Parliament to make some adjustment, or further guidelines to be issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), but what constitutes a medical product is a question for the courts to answer as and when the issue arises.

Mr Fortson said the definition of a medical product using laughing gas should depend on the circumstances and that it would take time for jurisprudence to build up around the new law.

Theres no doubt that laughing gas appears to be widely used, so the success of the Act depends on the definition of success, he added.

This is a piece of legislation designed to deal with a particular problem of retail outlets selling drugs on open market when nothing was known about them.

Its too early to say whether these two cases represent a knock-out blow to the legislation.

 Legal Highs in Newcastle

Campaigners and experts have argued that the definition of controlled substances as capable of producing a psychoactive effect was too broad, given the absence of scientific evidence and human trials using targeted drugs like the synthetic cannabis substitute Spice and ecstasy-like mephedrone.

Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP, said a blanket ban had always been unworkable, adding: This latest failure reeks of government incompetence.

They have brought forward a law that is both unnecessary and undeliverable.

It is time the Government started to look at the evidence. We must follow what works, not ham-fistedly force through draconian laws.

More than 300 retailers in the UK have been shut down or forced to stop selling drugs formally known as legal highs since the Psychoactive Substances Act came into force, while suppliers have been arrested by police and the National Crime Agency has targeted online sales.

A spokesman for the Home Office said it would not be reviewing the legislation in light of the two court cases.

Nitrous oxide is covered by the Psychoactive Substances Act and is illegal to supply for its psychoactive effect, he added.

However, the Act provides an exemption for medical products. Whether a substance is covered by this exemption is ultimately one for a court to determine based on the circumstances of each individual case.

These dangerous drugs have already cost far too many lives and the Psychoactive Substances Act is sending out a clear message  this Government will take whatever action is necessary to keep our families and communities safe.
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Footage has emerged of a man being kicked off a tram in Sheffield for foul mouthed Islamophobic tirade.

The man is seen talking to the person recording him, making slurs about the god that they worship.

It was captured late one night earlier this week.

Witnesses said the man was making loud, racial slurrings about immigrants to attract the attention of the passengers sat in front of them.

The man said he was "with Tommy Robinson" the founder of the English Defence League, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon.

"I'm on this," he said. "I'm with Britain First on this."

After making comments about Allah, he added: "I'm not being racist, I'm quoting things from the Quran.

As other passengers confronted him about what he said, he then stood up and began arguing with people.

He is seen telling a man not to put his hand up at him and threatens to knock him straight out before swearing at him.

An argument then broke out between the pair and the man was ordered off the tram by the conductor.

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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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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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. 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He walked off while other passengers told him to shut up but could still be heard shouting once he was on the platform.

Victoria Hindle, who filmed the incident, tweeted it to South Yorkshire Police and said she was disgusted by what she heard.

She told The Star that she had initially started filming the woman next to him as she was complaining about immigration. The man confronted her even as the woman told him to stop.

She said: Initially the pair were talking very loudly and the woman was shouting that she worked and paid taxes and these were all going to immigrants.

She said that they were coming to our country but wouldn't let us go to theirs. They were really wanting to get the attention of the couple in front.

The man in the video then started shouting what are you looking at? So I said I was looking at you being racist. The whole incident was quite scary. He was one of those people that were all mouth and I just wanted to film it to show people what he was doing.

It just makes me angry that people can be so ignorant. But there were a few other people on the tram who did not say anything. I can understand that it's hard when people like that are shouting it can be very intimidating but I think we have to say something.

A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police told The Independent: "We are aware of the incident and we are investigating. Incidents of this nature are taken extremely seriously."
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An American man has been told by a judge that he must leave the UK despite having a disabled British wife of seven years who is reliant on him to provide her care.

Dale McIntier, 62, came to the UK on a visitors visa with his wife Sandra in April 2015 in order for her to receive medical treatment, with a plan to stay for six months and then return to their home in Idaho.

But this plan changed after five months when Ms McIntier, 65, who already suffered from a genetic bone condition, was diagnosed with a fast-growing cancer which led to her requiring round-the-clock care.

The couple, currently living in Largs, Scotland, then decided that it would be best to stay in the UK for the foreseeable future, so Mr McIntier applied for a spousal visa before his visitor status ran out in October.

However, five months later he received a letter from the Home Office giving him five days to leave of the country. It stated that the couple had failed to provide relevant paperwork from a doctor stating Ms McIntier's inability to travel, a requirement they say they had not been aware of.

After mounting an appeal against the decision, the couple were told by a court in a first-tier tribunal that Mr McIntier must return to the US in order to reapply for a spousal visa  a move that would leave his wife without a carer and having to rely on state support.

Under UK immigration law, spousal visa applications must be submitted from outside the UK, but lawyers representing Mr McIntier have said the "compelling circumstances" of the case mean the Home Office should allow the appeal to take place outside such laws, allowing him to stay in the UK to care for his elderly wife.

Speaking to The Independent, Mr McIntier said his wifes complex conditions would require more state-funded care without him in the country.

Ive had to look after her pretty closely. She has seizures in the night. Shes been diagnosed with a mild form of epilepsy, which was made worse by medication she was put on in the States, he said.

She really cant travel much. We can hardly take a day out without it wiping her out for sometimes days afterwards. She goes into depression really easily. She has no intention of going back to the States.

Ever since we got married weve just needed each other. If I do have to leave, well probably both be in depression. It takes a certain amount to run a household. She would need someone to come in and take care of her. She needs me here pretty much 24 hours a day.

She has a tendency to pass out. She has seizures at night and sometimes during the day. She cant be left unattended for a very long time. And I dont trust that the Government is going to have someone doing that if I leave.

Ms McIntier was born in the UK and lived and worked here until 2002, when she went on a trip to the US and met Dale, marrying him several years later. She said she felt as though the couple were being divorced without their consent.

It doesnt make sense for Dale to have to go out of the country to apply to come back in. Weve already been told he meets the financial criteria. Would they rather pay out money for the Government to provide workers for me? she said.

The prospect of him having to leave has made me really depressed. It feels like were being divorced without our consent, like someone is unofficially divorcing us.

We dont want to be separated. Its not going to be good for him or me either. I dont want to return to America and I could not do that journey again. It nearly killed me coming over.

There would also be heavy financial implications if Mr McIntier has to go back to the US, as with no family who can house him there he would have to pay rent. He said that with the cost of living and the airfare, as well as rent, it would take up to a year before he would be able to reapply for a visa.

The cost of going back to reapply would end up amounting to more than I get in a month. And it takes months for the spousal visa to go through, so Id have to have my life stabilised over there before I could have enough money to even start on the visa.

Were talking, between paying rent, living, getting the car fixed so I can drive it, a minimum on a year before I could even start on getting a visa, which would mean leaving my wife for that long.

During the first-tier tribunal, the couples solicitor argued that Mr McIntier was the only person who could provide his wife with all the support she requires, and that his departure to the US would cause "great hardship" for both of them.

Mr McIntier provides her with physical, emotional and moral support. What alternatives would be open for her care needs if she returned to the US?" the solicitor said.

Any care that she might be provided would only be physical and would not meet her emotional needs. Only her husband could provide both. His wife had cancer and she needs emotional support.

He cannot leave his wife on her own and she would have to go back with him. If he had to return this would cause great hardship for both him and his wife. He cannot leave his wife even temporarily. She requires day and night care and no one else can provide this.

The solicitor added that there were very compelling circumstances under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights  which protects the right to a private and family life  justifying allowing the appeal to take place outside the immigration rules.

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But the judge said there was insufficient supporting evidence about how this would impact on his wife if they had to live apart, claiming the public interest in maintaining effective immigration control was justified and was proportionate in this case.

He added that while it might be difficult for the couple, it would not be sufficiently so to amount to an exceptional circumstance", saying that if Mr McIntier returns to America and she stays in the UK, they can maintain contact with his wife using modern means of communication".

The couple's solicitor, who did not want to be named while the appeal is still ongoing, said the judge had not applied the law in the right way. The Home Office meanwhile declined to comment.
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A tougher emissions-testing regime for newly launched cars has come into force.

New models must undergo a more robust laboratory examination as well as be driven on open roads while equipment is attached to exhaust pipes.

The tests are part of European regulations designed to improve air quality and tackle climate change by giving more accurate measurements of emissions such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, as well as fuel consumption.

The real-world driving requirement is designed to stop manufacturers cheating emissions tests.

Volkswagen Group fitted software to diesel models which manipulated examinations by detecting when the vehicles were on a rolling road.

The manufacturer said 11 million of its vehicles were affected worldwide including almost 1.2 million in the UK.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: "We welcome this challenging new regime, which will provide hard evidence that the industry's ongoing investment in ever more advanced technology is delivering on air quality goals.

"Combined, these new and demanding tests will soon give consumers emissions performance information that is far closer to what they experience behind the wheel - and inspire greater confidence that the new cars they buy are not only the cleanest, but the most fuel efficient ever produced."

A Government testing programme last year found that modern diesel cars emit six times more nitrogen oxide in the real world than in the lab.

Under the new rules, manufacturers will have to slash those emissions by two-thirds but they will still be allowed at a higher level than acceptable laboratory limits.

A further reduction in emissions will be required from September 2020.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "The new real-world emission tests are essential in the fight to combat toxic air and protect all our lung health.

"This will end the inconsistency between lab emissions and real-world testing and ensure manufacturers can't cheat the test.

"It will give drivers accurate information about harmful vehicle emissions, so they can make informed choices about what to buy."

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Air pollution causes an estimated 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK and is linked to health problems from childhood illnesses to heart disease and even dementia.

The Government announced in July that new diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned from 2040 as part of efforts to tackle air pollution.

It also pledged to work with local authorities to developing targeted diesel scrappage schemes.
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The former Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has died after a battle with cancer.

The 85-year-old, who became leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales in March 2000 before retiring from his role in 2009, was admitted to hospital last month.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Church in England and Wales said he died at 3.15pm on Friday.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the current Archbishop of Westminster, said in August Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's health had "taken a defining turn".

In a message to Cardinal Vincent published on the Catholic Church's website on Friday afternoon, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said he had been "privileged" to serve the diocese of Westminster.

He said: "At this time, the words I pray every night are never far from my thoughts: 'Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit'. Please tell them that I am at peace and have no fear of what is to come. I have received many blessings in my life, especially from my family and friends.

"I thank God for the many priests, religious and lay faithful who have helped and sustained me in my Episcopal life. Nor should I forget the many Anglican and Free Church colleagues whose friendship I have valued very much.

"Above all, as I now commend myself to the loving mercy of God, I ask them all to pray for me as I remember and pray for them."

Announcing his predecessor's death, Cardinal Vincent said: "I am writing to let you know the sad news that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor died peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by his family and friends.

"Please pray for the repose of his soul. Pray, too, for his family, and those many friends and colleagues from the Diocese and far beyond who mourn his loss.

"Information about the funeral rites for the Cardinal will be circulated as soon as possible."

Born in Reading on February 24, 1932, to parents who originally came from County Cork, in Ireland, he rose to become the leading Roman Catholic prelate in the United Kingdom.

Throughout his life, he was an outspoken figure, particularly on the issues of contraception and abortion and more than once found himself at odds with Tony Blair, the then prime minister, who himself was to turn to the Roman Catholic Church.

He was installed as the tenth Archbishop of Westminster in March 2000 and the following year he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was educated at Presentation College, Reading, before attending Prior Park College, Bath. He began training for the priesthood in 1950 at the Venerable English College in Rome.

He was ordained bishop of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in 1977, at which p

oint he became chairman of numerous committees and other Church bodies.

The head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, paid tribute to the cardinal, saying people saw in him "something of Christ".

Mr Welby said: "The news of the death of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor today represents a loss to his innumerable friends, to the church and to the country.

"Cormac was a bishop for four decades but was first and foremost a servant of God and disciple of Jesus Christ. His humility, sense and holiness made him a church leader of immense impact.

"When he was called from the Diocese Arundel and Brighton to be Archbishop of Westminster, Pope St John Paul II made reference to the fact that he had already been a bishop for a number of years and that it was natural that he should turn to him to succeed Cardinal Hume as Archbishop. It was natural because in Cormac people saw something of Christ."

PA
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Far-right commentator Paul Joseph Watson has been schooled by a historian for claiming George Orwell would have been opposed to Antifa.

Mr Watson, who is editor of far-right conspiracy site Info Wars, claimed he had read all of Orwells books and insisted the left-wing novelist would have been against the modern day anti-fascist movement.

Antifa, shorthand for anti-fascist organisations, refers to a loose decentralised coalition of groups who are in favour of opposing fascism via popular grassroots action rather than relying on the police or the state. While the movement dates back to the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1920s, it has gained increasing attention for clashing with white supremacist groups in Charlottesville last month.

 White supremacist cries on camera after realising he might be arrested

Mike Stuchbery, an English historical researcher who has spent the last 15 years teaching the Spanish Civil War in schools, challenged Mr Watsons assertion about Orwell and urged him to read a book.

Paul, again, Orwell signed up to fight with the militia of a Spanish Marxist party, via the British Independent Labour Party. That's how much he despised fascists, Mr Stuchbery said during a Twitter spat.

Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Show all 9 1 /9 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Protesters clash and several are injured White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. A state of emergency is declared, August 12 2017 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Trump supporters at the protest A white nationalist demonstrator walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville State police stand ready in riot gear Virginia State Police cordon off an area around the site where a car ran into a group of protesters after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Militia armed with assault rifles White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' with body armor and combat weapons evacuate comrades who were pepper sprayed after the 'Unite the Right' rally was declared a unlawful gathering by Virginia State Police. Militia members marched through the city earlier in the day, armed with assault rifles. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee stands behind a crowd of hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' during the 'Unite the Right' rally 12 August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are protesting the removal of the statue from Emancipation Park in the city. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Racial tensions sparked the violence White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally Getty Violence on the streets of Charlottesville A car plows through protesters A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident resulted in multiple injuries, some life-threatening, and one death. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Rescue personnel help injured people after a car ran into a large group of protesters after an white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville President Donald Trump speaks about the ongoing situation in Charlottesville, Virginia from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He spoke about "loyalty" and "healing wounds" left by decades of racism.

You'd think Paul Joseph Watson might think twice about trying to change the meaning of words after invoking Orwell, he added.

He argued people were coddled if they saw the anti-fascist movement as an existential threat to their own way of life.

Orwell, who recorded his personal experiences of the Spanish War in Homage to Catalonia, served in the militia of the POUM - a Spanish Marxist party. He was in hospital in Barcelona for many weeks and was badly injured fighting fascists.

Mr Stuchbery told The Independent it was imperative for people to understand how Orwells experiences in the Spanish Civil War influenced his position on fascism.

Recommended Antifa are on the ground in Texas helping Harvey flood victims

He said: It's vital that we understand that his experiences in the Spanish Civil War informed his attitudes not only towards fascism but Marxism and Stalinism too. We see traces of Franco's regime, as well as Stalin and Hitler's in Orwell's later novels.

While I chose to highlight Orwell's attitudes towards fascism in my thread, we must also understand that he came to resent all totalitarian governments. One can come to despise the extremes of both ends of the political spectrum simultaneously - it's not an either or situation."

He added: I encourage Paul to widen his reading beyond the message boards and Facebook communities of the 'alt-Right' and develop a little nuance in his attitudes.

But Mr Watson, a conspiracy theorist and YouTuber, remained adamant Orwell would have been vehemently opposed to Antifa.

He tweeted: Mentions are literally full of verified libtards claiming George Orwell was Antifa. Please keep sending them. Incredible material".

He added: Does any other libtard want to claim that 'George Orwell would have been Antifa'? You'll be guaranteed a place in my next video.

Responding to the criticism, Mr Watson has now said: "Of course I know that Orwell fought fascists in Spain."

This is not the first time Mr Watson has engaged in a debate with Mr Stuchbery. At the end of July, Mr Watson complained about the BBC portraying Roman Britain as ethnically diverse.

Thank God the BBC is portraying Roman Britain as ethnically diverse. I mean, who cares about historical accuracy, right? he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Stuchbery came forward to give him another history lesson on ethnic diversity in Roman Britain.

Roman Britain was ethnically diverse, almost by design. To begin, occupying legions were drawn from other parts of the Empire, he said.

Every year we dig up new remains that suggest that Roman Britain, anywhere larger than a military outpost, was an ethnically diverse place.

Mr Watson, who grew up in Sheffield, has over one million subscribers on his YouTube channel and recently published videos with titles including 20 Questions for Burka Wearers, Finsbury Mosque Terror: What Theyre NOT Telling You, Staged Video Shows Refugee Fake Drowning, The Truth about Refugees and Why Leftists Submit to Terror.

The New York Times recently branded his videos straightforward nativist polemics, with a particular focus on Europe" and also drew attention to his opposition to modernist architecture and modern art.
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The immigration amnesty offered to Grenfell Tower victims has been dubbed meaningless after it emerged a minuscule number of people have contacted the Government seeking to access the support.

A policy announced by the Home Office in July offered immigrants who survived the fire the chance to claim a 12-month period of limited leave to remain in the UK with access to state support and assistance.

But The Independent has learnt that a very small number of immigrants affected by the blaze have taken up the offer.

The Home Office refused to give a figure on how many people had approached them to access the support, but a spokesperson made it clear that the number was very low.

Campaigners said this was evidence that the amnesty was meaningless for vulnerable victims, with the 12-month limit meaning survivors would ultimately be at risk of deportation if they come forward.

Organisations and support groups who have worked with immigrants who survived the fire meanwhile told The Independent they had seen a number of undocumented victims who had not taken the support, due to fear of giving their details to the Government and being removed from the country.

Jolyon Maugham QC, a prominent barrister who has volunteered his services to Grenfell victims for free, said the small number of people accepting the amnesty was evidence that it was a cynical and unattractive offer, suggesting the Government knew full well undocumented migrants wouldnt accept it.

The low number of people coming forward evidences the cynical and unattractive offer that was made by the Government to a number of people abysmally let down by the establishment, he said.

Recommended Grenfell Tower survivors who seek help now risk deportation

There must be at least a suspicion that what the Government has done here is make a meaningless offer that it knows full well undocumented migrants cant accept, so as to appear to be responding responsibly to the disaster at Grenfell.

The fact that so many statements were made by the Government in relation to this issue of undocumented migrants rather evidences that Government was well aware that it was a substantial problem.

Mr Maugham said a number of vulnerable people who had lost family members, suffered injuries and lost their possessions were afraid to come forward to state services because they feared their details would be passed onto the Government.

There is enormous anecdotal evidence that there were significant numbers of undocumented migrants affected by the disaster at Grenfell, he said.

Ive been told by a number of different sources that individuals were receiving medical treatment outside the NHS from charities because they were afraid to come forward to the NHS because they feared it would lead to their information being passed to the Home Office.

These are people who would have had close family members burnt to death, who will have suffered profound personal injury, lost substantially all of their possessions.

Chai Patel, legal and policy director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said it was unsurprising that very few people had taken up the offer, urging that it was wrong to call it an amnesty.

Its simply wrong to call this offer an amnesty. Its a temporary reprieve that requires undocumented migrants to give their personal information to people who will be trying to remove them from the UK in a mere 12 months, he told The Independent.

Its unsurprising the Government has failed to find many takers.

Emma Norton, head of casework at human rights group Liberty, echoed these concerns, claiming that the offer was a false amnesty designed to bring immigrants to the attention of the authorities.

An extended deadline doesnt change the fact that this is a false amnesty aimed at bringing vulnerable foreigners to the attention of the Home Office, she said.

The very need for the extension suggests people have seen this nasty policy for what it is  a time-limited trick which will strip them of everything in a years time, before detaining and deporting them.

The only way to ensure undocumented survivors access the vital services they need to rebuild their lives is to grant a permanent amnesty.

The amnesty was supposed to end this month, but the Home Office announced they had extended by three months on Thursday in an apparent bid to give people more time to come forward.

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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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. 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A spokesperson said it would be publishing how many people had taken up the offer in due course. Announcing the extension of the offer on Thursday, immigration minister Brandon Lewis said: The welfare of survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire is a priority for this Government.

We believe that extending this policy for a further three months gives survivors further opportunity to come forward, both to receive support for the exceptionally traumatic events they have experienced and to provide essential first-hand accounts of the fire.

I also hope this extension will help to dispel peoples fears about coming forward to assist the inquiry into this horrific and unprecedented incident due to their immigration status.
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British troop numbers in Iraq are being bolstered as the fight to wipe out Isis in the country enters its final push, the Defence Secretary has announced.

Some 44 Royal Engineers are being sent to Al Asad airbase in Anbar province, western Iraq, Sir Michael Fallon said.

It takes the number of British personnel at the camp to more than 300 and the total in Iraq to around 600.

Isis, also known as Isis and Daesh, has been on the verge of collapse in Iraq, losing control of strongholds including the city of Mosul.

On Thursday, Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said the group had been ousted from the north-west town of Tal Afar.

Troops from 5 Armoured Engineer Squadron, 22 Engineer Regiment, in Tidworth are being deployed for six months to build infrastructure, including accommodation and offices in the coalition forces camp.

The sprawling Al Asad air base, around 100 miles west of Baghdad, houses Iraqi, US, Danish and British troops.

 Iraq PM Haider al-Abadi hails 'big victory' in Mosul

It has been used by the British to train and mentor Iraqi forces taking on IS jihadis, with soldiers also involved in providing security at the international base.

RAF aircraft based in Akrotiri, Cyprus, meanwhile have carried out around 1,400 strikes against IS as part of the international effort to destroy the terror group.

Recommended Britain faces higher threat as Isis loses fights in Syria and Iraq

Sir Michael said: "We are stepping up our contribution to the fight against Daesh and fulfilling Britain's role as a key player in the global coalition.

"Daesh is being defeated. Iraqi forces, backed by coalition air strikes, have now liberated 70% of the territory Daesh held and the victims of its barbarism are being helped by our humanitarian support.

"These extra troops will help support operations to bring the defeat of Daesh a step closer."

Around 120,000 members of the British armed forces and civilians served in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003, but the UK's combat role ended in April 2009.

During the operation, 179 UK troops were killed.

PA
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The UK is home to up to 25,000 Islamist extremists who could pose a threat, the EUs top terror official has warned.

Officials have warned that the threat from home-grown jihadis who are prevented from joining Isis in Syria and Iraq is increasing, with the group inciting global terror attacks to maintain momentum.

Gilles de Kerchove, the EUs counter-terror coordinator, said he expected more atrocities following the deadly car rammings in Barcelona and Cambrils.

We are going to suffer more attacks, he told Spains El Mundo newspaper.

The majority, except Brussels and Paris, were not directed from Raqqa but inspired, and then Isis claimed responsibility.

The groups propaganda no longer calls so much for people to travel to the caliphate, but to launch attacks in their places of origin or of residence, even on a small scale with homemade weapons.

Mr de Kerchove said the UK was home to the highest known number of Islamist radicals in Europe  between 20,000 and 25,000 people  with 3,000 considered a direct threat by MI5 and 500 under constant surveillance.

 London terror attack suspect named

Among those known to security services but not considered an imminent danger were the perpetrators of the three Isis-linked terror attacks that have killed 35 victims in Britain this year.

Westminster attacker Khalid Masood was described a peripheral figure by Theresa May, while the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was known to MI5 but not under active investigation and the ringleader of the London Bridge attack, Khuram Butt, was not thought to be a risk despite being a known member of Anjem Choudarys banned network.

Raffaello Pantucci, the director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said it was concerning that people from the wider pool of extremists were launching attacks.

Theyre becoming very isolated - theyre not talking to people about what theyre doing, he told The Independent.

The flash to bang is really short. They decide to do something and a week later they do it.

And people arent necessarily using bombs, theyre using knives and cars and everyday itemsso where is the trigger to escalate attention from the security services?

Mr de Kerchove acknowledged the difficulty in determining the difference between a non-violent extremist and someone who could launch an attack.

He said there was a grey area between radicalism and terrorism, adding: Being radical is not a crime. Being orthodox, aggressive towards the West in your rhetoric is not a crime.

London Bridge Terror Attack Show all 16 1 /16 London Bridge Terror Attack London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police Officers outside the Barrowboy and Banker Public House on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police deal with a 'major incident' at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services near the scene of the incident Screengrab London Bridge Terror Attack People run down Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services arrive at the scene near Borough market at London Bridge Carl Court/Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency personnel on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police sniffer dogs on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack A second helicopter lands on London Bridge as police are responding to three incidents in the capital, amid reports that a vehicle collided with pedestrians on London Bridge, Scotland Yard said. Officers are dealing with reports of stabbings in Borough Market, where armed officers attended and shots were fired. They are also at an incident in the Vauxhall area PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London REUTERS London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack A police officer escorts members of the public to safety at London Bridge Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters

When the intelligence services identify a radical, they must decide what to do.

Those who are of concern must be identified and the most dangerous should be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Recommended Isis uses American child to issue threat to Donald Trump

The task is an impossible one for overstretched security services, with 24-hour surveillance putting an extreme strain on personnel who are forced to prioritise targets because of constraints on resources.

Mr Pantucci said intelligence agencies select extremists to put under surveillance because of a combination of the resources question and the threat picture.

The 25,000 number is residual, it includes people who might have featured in investigations, been to prison, or funded an extremist group 10 years ago, he added.

Intelligence agencies are aware of their existence but theyre not doing anything to escalate their behaviour.

A lot of that 25,000 probably arent really a concern but authorities were worried about them once but you cant forget about them, because people dont really forget about jihad.

Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was among the terrorists known to security services (PA/GMP)

He called for improved mental health provision and education to be part of counter-radicalisation programmes, as well as efforts to better understand the new patterns of behaviour leading up to attacks.

The Government has been increasing efforts to combat the online presence of online propaganda and communications between militants using encrypted messaging apps.

As well as domestic extremists, security services are attempting to manage the threat posed by returning foreign fighters.

The arrival of up to 300 British jihadis from Isis former territories in Syria and Iraq was initially feared, but the actual number is now expected to be significantly lower.

Of around 850 people who left the UK for the so-called Islamic State, around 350 have already returned and an estimated 200 have been killed.

Mr de Kerchove said high numbers of returnees have not been seen anywhere in Europe, despite significant defeats for Isis in the battle for Mosul and other Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.

But he warned of the danger posed by any former militants, even if they are in prison, adding: Fanatics trained there and they will end up being released.

If the evidence against them is not very strong they are getting sentences of three or four years.

In prison, the will reinforce their beliefs and leave even more furious with the West.


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Terrorists friends and families should be jailed for failing to alert authorities to possible attacks, the Governments most senior adviser on terror laws has said.

Max Hill QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said some existing powers are underused or carry sentences that are too light to work as an effective deterrent.

With the benefit of experience and hindsight it may be the case that some offences have insufficient discretionary maximum sentences, which should be reviewed, he told the Press Association.

Mr Hill, who has prosecuted in cases trialling members of the IRA, al-Qaeda and Isis, highlighted section 38B of the Terrorism Act 2000.

It makes it a criminal offence for anyone who believes someone might be planning an act of terrorism to not disclose the information as soon as reasonably practicable.

The law covers terror attacks as well as other offences including undergoing weapons training, leading a terrorist organisation, possessing or collecting material for terrorist purposes or passing on information about the armed forces.

A number of defendants who assisted the plotters behind the failed 21 July bombings in 2005 were convicted under the section, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Mr Hill, who prosecuted in the case, said: It seems to me that that should be reviewed for a decision on whether that is actually sufficient.

Max Hill QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation (Home Office)

Longer sentences for some terror-related offences are already being considered in a review ordered by the Government in the wake of the atrocities in London and Manchester.

In the aftermath of the atrocities it emerged that several perpetrators were known to the security services and had been reported to authorities over extremist statements in the past.

But there have not yet been any UK prosecutions linked to the massacres in Westminster, Manchester and Finsbury Park.

The brother of the Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi, is to stand trial in Libya over accusations he supported the plot and bought materials for his device.

The parents of a suspected foreign fighter, Jihadi Jack Letts, have also been prosecuted for sending him money in Syria  they said the funds were for their young sons living costs but police said it could be used for terrorism purposes.

Raffaello Pantucci, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said that many terrorists viewed were part of radical families or friendship groups.

Some of the deadliest attacks in Europe, including the recent atrocities in Spain and Isiss Brussels and Paris attacks, have been carried out by brothers and cousins, and many British citizens who joined the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria left the UK with relatives or childhood friends.

Abdullah Deghayes died days after his 18th birthday while fighting for Jabhat al-Nusra with his brother in Syria in 2014 (Facebook)

Even in cases where men have launched attacks alone, investigations have revealed large social networks or online contacts that had aided their radicalisation.

Weve done research that shows that in more than half of cases of lone wolves, individuals have told someone or clearly telegraphed that intent, usually to family members, Mr Pantucci told The Independent.

But it can be difficult to tell statements indicating an attack is being planned from their normal patterns of behaviour.

Some people dont realise what theyre seeing. What may seem innocuous can turn into a problem.

Mr Pantucci said mental health services and the education of teachers and other authorities to spot the signs of radicalisation was important.

He cautioned that powers to prosecute terrorists loved ones should be used judiciously, because it because can be very difficult to prove [what they knew] and the danger is you look like a vindictive state.

He added: You can try to scare them into helping authorities but we must be careful diverting sources when there is such a diverse threat picture.

A report carried out by Mr Hills office earlier this year found that some British Muslims felt alienated and vilified by the Prevent scheme and Government response to terror attacks.

The EUs counter-terror coordinator previously said the UK was home to up to 25,000 Islamist extremists who could pose a threat  the known highest number in Europe.

London Bridge Terror Attack Show all 16 1 /16 London Bridge Terror Attack London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police Officers outside the Barrowboy and Banker Public House on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police deal with a 'major incident' at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services near the scene of the incident Screengrab London Bridge Terror Attack People run down Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services arrive at the scene near Borough market at London Bridge Carl Court/Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency personnel on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police sniffer dogs on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack A second helicopter lands on London Bridge as police are responding to three incidents in the capital, amid reports that a vehicle collided with pedestrians on London Bridge, Scotland Yard said. Officers are dealing with reports of stabbings in Borough Market, where armed officers attended and shots were fired. They are also at an incident in the Vauxhall area PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London REUTERS London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack A police officer escorts members of the public to safety at London Bridge Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters

Mr de Kerchove said 3,000 people were considered a direct threat by MI5 and 500 had been put under constant surveillance, with the wider pool of at least 20,000 former subjects of interest being kept under review.

Among those known to security services but not considered an imminent danger were the perpetrators of the three Isis-linked terror attacks that have killed 35 victims in Britain this year.

Westminster attacker Khalid Masood was described a peripheral figure by Theresa May, while Abedi was known to MI5 but not under active investigation and the ringleader of the London Bridge attack, Khuram Butt, was not thought to be a risk despite being a known member of Anjem Choudarys banned network.

Mr Hill said the number of jihadis who represent an individual risk is much lower than the 25,000 figure.

The fact that there has been such repeated success in disrupting plots and activity demonstrates that on almost every occasion the security services successfully go through the process of assessing what they are dealing with, he added.

Six terror plots were foiled in the four months that saw the attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, but the UKs threat level remains at severe  meaning another attack remains highly likely.

Officials have warned that the threat from home-grown jihadis who are prevented from joining Isis in Syria and Iraq is increasing, with the group inciting global terror attacks to maintain momentum.

Mr Hill, who started in his role three weeks before Masoods attack in March, said it was terrible in every sense of the word that plots had got through.

We are seeing attacks planned or perpetrated by the use of a vehicle and a knife, as opposed to more sophisticated attack, he added.

And we are seeing attacks that are inspired and put together in a comparatively short period of time, perhaps less evidence of long-term radicalisation, more evidence of individuals with the mindset to turn their mind to terrorism, inspired by online propaganda and little else.

Ambulances line Westminster Bridge after a car and knife attack on 22 March (Getty)

Security services have also been bracing for the return of Isis fighters driven out of the groups waning territories in Syria and Iraq, although far lower numbers are now expected than the hundreds first hypothesised.

Of around 850 people who left the UK for the so-called Islamic State, around 350 have already returned and an estimated 200 have been killed.

I dont see the prospect of very large numbers of returning UK citizens but we are told that there may be some, Mr Hill said.

And thats where, alongside the power to prosecute, the power to place individuals on of Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims) should be considered.

The controversial orders are used to put restrictions on suspects who cannot be deported or prosecuted, with six in place at the end of May.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent last month, Mr Hill argued that the Government should abolish any terror laws found to be unnecessary in the fight against extremists.

The barrister said the sheer number of dedicated terrorism offences sometimes overlapped with conventional crime, while some have become outdated or expanded beyond their initial scope.

Judges already have powers to increase sentences for crimes like murder and assault if there is evidence of a terrorist motive.

In an ideal world we wouldnt have specific terror offences, Mr Hill added.

We should not legislate in haste, we should not use the mantra of something has to be done as an excuse for creating new laws.

We should make use of what we have.
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You cant see them, but laws are all around us. Here are the main ones that are going to be taking effect in the UK in September and shaping how our society functions, or is at least supposed to function.

Failure to prevent tax evasion

Many businesses are unaware of new measures to fight tax evasion (GETTY IMAGES)

Tax evasion is bad and already illegal. The new law, introduced under the Criminal Finances Act 2017, will make businesses liable for criminal acts committed by their employees who encourage or assist tax evasion by other individuals, such as their customers or suppliers.

Finance website Accountancy Age reports that law firm Pinsent Masons found 76% of UK businesses were unaware of the new measures and need to take action to minimise the risk of a criminal prosecution.

The new law is strict, and businesses will be liable even in cases where senior management were either uninvolved or unaware of the illegal acts.

30 hours free childcare a week

You may be entitled to claim twice as much free childcare from September 2017 (Rex)

Beginning this month, the government is upping the amount of free childcare available to some parents. The universal entitlement for kids aged 3 - 4 is 15 hours a week, but for working parents with children aged 3 - 4 and who earn less than 100,000 a year in total, but more than 16 hours a week, they can claim an additional 15 hours of free childcare.

You can apply through the government's online childcare service. Or you can ring the childcare service helpline on 0300 123 4097.

Changes to divorce/dissolution petitions

A more accessible divorce form is thought to herald the introduction of online divorce (Getty/iStock)

Could we all be about to start quicky divorce proceedings online with only minimal help from legal authorities? It could be on the cards.

A dramatic change in the look and style of the traditional divorce petition, has been described as undoubtedly a pre-cursor to online divorce, according to legal publisher Lexus Nexus.

The main changes will make the petition document more comprehensible to lay parties.

Familylaw.co.uk says it will be a big change in the preparation of the divorce petition, and they say the changes mean it can be undertaken by many clients themselves with only limited involvement with their solicitors.

Welsh local authority social services annual reports

Mountains in Wales

Bit of a niche one this. If you are a local authority providing social services in Wales, then the way in which you file annual reports has been updated and takes effect this month.

The Government has produced a handy checklist.

The changes will update the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. They will only apply to Wales.
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The RAF has become the first branch of the British Armed Forces to allow women into all its roles, after the lifting of a ban on recruiting females for ground close combat.

From Friday, the RAF Regiment  the air forces ground fighting force for protecting air bases  will start accepting applications from women wanting to join the unit.

The historic move comes after the RAF Regiment, which sustained casualties in Afghanistan, confirmed that having reviewed its work practices it would be ready to accept women recruits ahead of its original 2018 schedule.

It means the RAF has become the first Armed Forces branch to admit women to all roles  ahead of the Army and the Royal Navy, which will start accepting female recruits for the Infantry and Royal Marines by the end of 2018.

The acceptance of women into ground close combat roles comes after David Cameron, then the Prime Minister, announced last year that the British military would overturn hundreds of years of tradition and let women serve where the primary role is to close with and kill the enemy.

This decision has attracted criticism from some former officers. As the RAF Regiment prepared to accept its first female applicants, Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, confirmed he remained vehemently opposed to allowing women into the Infantry.

He has previously written in The Telegraph that the price for this social engineering experiment will be paid in blood.

He said: This extremely dangerous ... foolish move will reduce the capability of the Infantry, undermine our national defences and put lives in danger.

The people who have demanded this change  politicians desperate to be seen as progressive, feminist zealots and ideologues hell-bent on equality of opportunity without exception  would never dream of volunteering.

I have not heard a single serving or retired infantryman say that admitting women is the right thing to do  unless their wives or senior officers are listening.

 Female Kurdish army fight Isis

He added: It has been my privilege to command many women and I have the utmost admiration for the contribution they make.

But the tactics and equipment, and the demands placed upon the Infantry, are in their essentials unchanged in 100 years. Infantry soldiers must still be able to march for miles over harsh terrain in searing heat, bent under the weight of 100 pounds of combat equipment, and then fight face-to-face with a ruthless, tough and determined enemy.

The continued need for extreme standards of physical fitness was reinforced time and again during the campaign in Helmand.

The Armys own research shows that women are twice as likely as men to suffer musculoskeletal injuries during military training.

Through no fault of their own, women will often become the weak link in an Infantry team.

However, former Army major Judith Webb defended the RAF Regiments move, and said women were well capable of combat roles.

She told the BBC: We want to promote diversity and get the best people, and if we have got women who want to do it, who are capable of doing it, then of course they should be able to do it.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male 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news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA

The decision to allow women into ground close combat roles came after a review overseen by Sir Nick Carter, chief of the General Staff.

It stated that few women would be able to achieve the pre-employment standards for ground close combat roles.

The Armys research had suggested that fewer than 5 per cent of its 7,000 women would pass its current infantry fitness test, and in 2014 the RAF Regiment had estimated it might accept about ten women a year.

It also accepted that female Army recruits were twice as likely to suffer musculoskeletal damage in training as men, and that the risks of such injuries were likely to increase during the more arduous Infantry training and on operations.

But the review also suggested a series of mitigation strategies that included improvements to injury prevention and physical training, and setting robust physical standards for all combat roles, for both men and women, by the end of 2018.

Senior officers also pointed out that women had already found themselves in combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the nature of the conflict effectively put them on the frontline even in non-combat jobs.

An earlier review, published in 2014, had already overturned the long-held belief that mixing men and women in close combat roles would adversely affect the togetherness of a unit.

Sir Nick Carter welcomed the lifting of the close combat ban, saying: By allowing women to serve in all roles, we will truly help to maximise the talent available to the army and make the Armed Forces a modern employer.

When Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon announced in July that the RAF Regiment planned to start recruiting women from September, he called it a defining moment for the RAF.

A diverse force is a more operationally effective force, he said. Im delighted that individuals who are capable of meeting the standards for the regiment will be given the opportunity to serve, regardless of their gender.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, added: We want the best and most talented individuals to join the Air Force, regardless of their gender, race, or background.

Women accepted into the RAF Regiment will not be the first females in the British Armed Forces to serve in ground close combat roles, because earlier this year the Royal Armoured Corps  part of the Army  started admitting women to such jobs.

The first female officer was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment in April.

Women have also been flying in the RAF fast jet combat units since the 1990s.

Sally Cox, the first woman to pass through the RAFs fast-jet flying training system, later told The Independent: I was a trained killer. Transitioning from that to motherhood was a stretch.

I got out [of the RAF] in enough time to recover. Another few years and I would have either not had children, or struggled to bond effectively with them.

She warned: I believe we set up our willing young men and women in the armed services for a lifetime of emotional disability that impacts any families they become part of, all in the name of loyalty to the Crown.

They dont make the decision to kill. It is made for them. They just follow instructions and suffer the consequences.
Anti-dumping probe into US rubber not countermove to Section 301 investigation: Ministry of Commerce

Chinas Ministry of Commerce

Chinas recent anti-dumping investigation into hydrogenated butyl rubber from the United Sates, the European Union, and Singapore is not a countermove to the Section 301 investigation initiated by the U.S., according to Chinas Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng.

At a routine press conference held on Aug. 31, Gao said that the case is just a normal trade remedy investigation and it has no relation with other cases.

In mid-August, the ministry received an application from related domestic enterprises that requested the organ to launch an anti-dumping probe into these rubber imports, Gao noted.

The ministry later approved the application and announced the investigation on Aug. 30.

Gao stressed that the ministry will deal with the case fairly based on WTO rules.
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Leaving the customs union would be reckless and economically dangerous, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relations has warned.

Labours Chuka Umunna and Tory Anna Soubry, who co-chair the newly-formed group, led calls from cross-party MPs for the Government to permanently remain in the customs union.

They said making an ideological choice to wrench Britain out of the free trade group would unilaterally surrender the best economic option for our country.

Recommended Our politicians are not capable of negotiating Brexit

A report by the group, titled The Case for Continued Customs Union Membership, states that the cost of leaving the customs union would be an estimated 25bn annually.

It adds that only through continued membership of the customs union can frictionless trade between the UK and EU continue.

The group issued 10 challenges to the Government, asking it to reveal how they would deliver the same trade benefits outside the customs union and how they could make a new customs union work before Britain left the EU.

They also asked the Government to provide greater clarity about how it intended to negotiate and sign new trade deals whilst still operating within an interim customs arrangement with the EU.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

In a foreword, Mr Umunna and Ms Soubry said: Leaving the customs union would be a reckless and economically dangerous self-inflicted wound. It doesnt have to be that way.

Ministers have shown greater pragmatism on several Brexit issues in recent weeks, which is welcome.

But on the issue of customs, rhetoric simply does not match reality.

Their hasty choice to leave the customs union, and their lack of realism and preparation regarding real alternatives, increases the chances that we could face a crash into chaos and confusion in our customs system after Brexit.

They said new proposals put forward for leaving the customs union look nothing short of a Brexit bureaucracy bombshell for British businesses, despite cuts to red tape being one of the purported benefits of leaving the EU.

In our view, a total commitment to full membership of the customs union is what is required in the national interest, not just for a transitional period but for the long-term future, they added.
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The Governments so-called Great Repeal Bill should in fact be known as the Great Continuity Bill, the Brexit Secretary has said.

Speaking during a trip to Washington to address the US Chamber of Commerce, David Davis coined the phrase to reassure representatives of American businesses that they would be able to trade with the UK on the same terms as the EU for now.

When I return to Britain over the weekend the first thing I do when I get back to Parliament will be taking through a thing we used to call the Great Repeal Bill, which actually is the Great Continuity Bill  it keeps in our law all the standards that are there now, he said.

The Secretary of States comments follow a claim by EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier that the UK appears to be experiencing a nostalgia for the benefits of the European Union. Mr Barnier, who was standing next to Mr Davis at the time, said the consequences of leaving the EU did not appear to have been considered in sufficient depth in the UK.

Mr Davis said the UKs overarching aim in the Brexit talks was to secure a successful future partnership with the EU which delivers the most seamless and frictionless trade in goods and services possible.

Mr Davis added: There are many that doubt this is possible but when I spoke to my European counterpart Michel Barnier I said to him once: The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

And as ever on that front I am a determined optimist in this  we will get to those opportunities.

Theresa May was also keen to highlight Britains continuity with EU standards on her visit to Japan this week. The British Government hopes to piggy back on work done in the upcoming EU-Japan trade deal to ensure a UK-Japan can come online swiftly as well.

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

Negotiations so far have centred on Britains EU budget obligations, with the EU insisting the bill be agreed before talks can proceed to discuss areas like international trade.

Mr Davis declined to say whether Britain would be open to paying for access to the single market during any post-Brexit transition period and said London was closely examining the bill for exiting the EU.

It is getting a bit tense. I rule nothing in, nothing out, Mr Davis said.

Britain would also expect to conclude a free-trade agreement with the United States once a transition period with the EU ends, Mr Davis said in Washington. But he cautioned that any deal between two large economies such as Britain and the United States would be quite complex.

The US Chamber of Commerces head of international affairs, Myron Brilliant, called on Mr Davis to lay out a clear path for Brexit for the 7,500 US companies with operations in Britain  one that had predictable transition periods that minimised business disruption.

The Brexit Secretary also appeared to issue a warning to Donald Trump, arguing that world leaders must not turn our back on globalisation.

Addressing the problems of the world economy, he said: My message is clear. The answer to these challenges is not to turn inwards and become isolationist.

On the campaign trail and since becoming president in January, Mr Trump has exhibited a protectionist and isolationist agenda on trade, critics have said.

Upon taking office, the President abandoned the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, an ambitious multinational trade agreement brokered by his predecessor Barack Obama. He called the pact another disaster for US workers, and has suggested that the US would now only form trade agreements with individual allies.

In July, Mr Trump touted plans for a major trade deal with a post-Brexit UK while also criticising the EU.

Working on major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. Could be very big & exciting. JOBS! The E.U. is very protectionist with the U.S. STOP! the US President tweeted.

Mr Trumps tweet came as Liam Fox, the UK International Trade Secretary, visited Washington to begin discussions for a new trade pact. The UK is prohibited from holding formal trade negotiations with any other country until it leaves the EU.

Mr Trumps prioritising of a US-UK trade agreement appears to be a reversal of the Obama administrations position toward the matter. Mr Trumps predecessor had warned that Britain would be at the back of the queue for any trade talks with the US should it leave the EU.

Even though Mr Trump has said he wants to see the two countries quickly seal a bilateral trade deal, it often takes years to negotiate tariff and non-tariff barriers in areas such as agriculture and the car industry. The agreement will also require the approval of US Congress.

The President has also indicated he will only sign trade agreements that he views will benefit American workers and will keep jobs in the US.
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Britain must not be blackmailed by Brussels into settling the so-called divorce bill before starting trade talks, Liam Fox has said.

The International Trade Secretary issued the warning as negotiations stalled during the latest round of crunch talks in Brussels and expressed frustration at the European Unions wish to first agree a financial settlement for when the UK leaves the bloc.

The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted that Britain wants an impossible Brexit deal, and that there has been little progress on key issues, despite Brexit Secretary David Davis saying the high-stress week of negotiations had delivered some concrete progress.

 Liam Fox: European business leaders want more pressure on EU

Speaking during a trade trip to Japan, Mr Fox told ITV News: We cant be blackmailed into paying a price on the first part.

We think we should begin discussions on the final settlement because thats good for business, and its good for the prosperity both of the British people and of the rest of the people of the European Union.

Business leaders across Europe want clarity on the shape of the final deal, Mr Fox later told Sky News.

He said: I think there is frustration that we have not been able to get on that longer-term issue, that were stuck on this separation issue and were not able to get onto the issues that will matter in the longer term for the future prosperity of the UK and the people of Europe.

Mr Davis took a more positive stance than his Tory colleague, as he prepared to tell business leaders in Washington DC that he was a determined optimist about the Brexit negotiations.

In a keynote speech to the US Chamber of Commerce on Friday, he offered assurances that Britain will remain outward looking after leaving the EU.

The Brexit Secretary was expected to say: I am a determined optimist ... I fundamentally believe that a good deal is in the interests of both the UK and the EU and the whole of the developed world.

It comes as a cross-party group of MPs also warned that leaving the customs union could cost 25bn a year, branding the move as reckless and economically dangerous.

Labours Chuka Umunna and Tory Anna Soubry, who co-chair the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relations, urged the Government to permanently remain in the customs union.

However, the European Parliament chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt dismissed proposals to recreate EU structures as not serious, fair or even possible given the negotiating time remaining.

Writing in The Telegraph, he said the UK had to be more honest about the complexities of Brexit and to get serious about working out the financial settlement.

He also hit out at calls for flexibility on the deal, as he claimed Britain already enjoyed a unique arrangement with the EU with its own deal on membership of the Euro and the Schengen Agreement.

Mr Verhofstadt said As the costs of Brexit become clearer, I have no doubt the hardliners who promised the British people utopia will once again seek to blame Brussels for a lack of progress in the talks.

But is a further poisoning of the atmosphere really in Britains interest?
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Dawn Butler has been appointed as Labours Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, taking over from Sarah Champion.

Ms Champion resigned earlier in the month after receiving criticism for writing an article, published in The Sun, in which she said Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.

She later apologised for causing offence and for the extremely poor choice of words in The Sun article.

Recommended Sarah Champion resigns from Labour frontbench over Sun article

Ms Butler, the Brent Central MP, served as Jeremy Corbyns Shadow Minister for Diverse Communities before resigning in February in order to defy the Labour whip and vote against the triggering of Article 50.

She was re-appointed to the post in June following the General Election, in which she significantly increased her majority.

Ms Butler served as MP for Brent Central between 2005 and 2010 before losing her seat to the Liberal Democrats, winning it back in 2015.

She is on the left of the Labour Party and is seen as an ally of Mr Corbyn.

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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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 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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. 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

Announcing the appointment, Mr Corbyn said: Dawn is a great champion for women, equality for all and our country's diverse communities. I look forward to working closely with her to advance our agenda of a truly equal society that works for the many not the few."

Ms Butler said: "I am honoured to accept this appointment and would like to thank Sarah Champion for all the hard work she has done in the role.

"Labour will tackle all forms of discrimination and the ways they interact.

"Equality is equality, you can't pick and choose. I have always fought for those who feel voiceless and I will fight to deliver real equality in our country."

Mr Corbyn said last week that Ms Champion had been right to resign from the post because she had been wrong to designate an entire community as the problem of sexual grooming.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the Trump administration the continuing hostility between the US and North Korea was close to deteriorating into a large-scale conflict and said the only way to de-escalate tensions was through talks.

Mr Putin, whose country shares a border with North Korea, also said that it would be a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang into halting its nuclear missile program.

It is essential to resolve the regions problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks), the Russian president wrote on the Kremlins website.

Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, echoed Mr Putin, saying Washington not Pyongyang should take the initiative on constructive talks to reduce tensions between the countries.

Mr Putin, whose nuclear-capable bombers recently flew over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force, said the situation had deteriorated so badly that it was now balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict, Reuters reported.

In Russias opinion the calculation that it is possible to halt North Koreas nuclear missile programs exclusively by putting pressure on Pyongyang is erroneous and futile, Mr Putin wrote.

The Russian Presidents warning comes after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile that flew directly over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

 North Korea release launch footage of missile that flew over Japan

The missile hurtled toward Japan as the United States and South Korea were conducting joint military exercises that North Korea has consistently denounced as an act of aggression.

Pyongyang has also threatened to surround the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean with a ring of fire, by launching four missiles aimed at hitting the sea around the tiny island that is home to US military bases.

 North Korea's estimated missile ranges

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the countrys latest missile test over a meaningful prelude to containing Guam and said his country should conduct more missile tests into the Pacific Ocean.

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

In response to the provocation US President Donald Trump said the US had been "talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years! Talking is not the answer!

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Kenyas Supreme Court has overturned the election of incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, in an unprecedented decision nullifying the results of early August polls due to irregularities.

It is the first election in Kenyas history to be overturned and an unexpected victory for embattled four-time opposition candidate Raila Odinga, whose Nasa party petitioned the court to overturn the results.

The ruling from the Supreme Court rendered the results invalid, null and void, violating the constitution and thereby requiring a fresh presidential election to be conducted within 60 days. Mr Odinga had lost by about 1.4 million votes out of roughly 15 million cast.

Recommended Kenya has the task of choosing between the lesser of two evils

Mr Odinga alleged the polls to be fraudulent and rigged against him by both the Presidents ruling Jubilee party and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the body responsible for carrying out the polling, tallying and transmission of the results. Both have denied such allegations.

The court ruled 4-2 in Mr Odingas favour. The court, whose full decision with details of its findings is expected to be released within 21 days, did not blame Mr Kenyatta or his party.

The move was not only a shocking blow to Mr Kenyatta, who was declared the winner on August with just over 54 per cent of the vote, but an indictment of the electoral commission and Western observers, who endorsed the election as credible and transparent.

In the weeks following the election, the electoral commission has been widely criticised for failing to produce the complete paperwork to support the electronic tally of the vote.

As the decision was announced on Friday morning, crowds of jubilant Odinga supporters outside the court broke out into cheers and political party chants. Throughout the day, supporters converged, marching from the slums  Odinga strongholds  to Nairobis central business district.

Kenyan election annulled Show all 13 1 /13 Kenyan election annulled Kenyan election annulled Supporters celebrate in Mathare slum after President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win was declared invalid by a court REUTERS/Siegfried Modola Kenyan election annulled Judges stand to deliver their verdict at the Supreme Court in Nairobi, ordering a new presidential election within 60 days after cancelling the results of last month's poll AFP/Simon Maina Kenyan election annulled Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga waves at supporters as he leaves the Supreme Court AFP/Simon Maina Kenyan election annulled Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga cheer outside court after President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win was declared invalid in Nairobi Reuters/Baz Ratner Kenyan election annulled Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrate in Kibera slum after President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win was declared invalid by a court in Nairobi Reuters/Thomas Mukoya Kenyan election annulled A supporter of opposition leader Raila Odinga eats a cob of corn and does the splits as he celebrates after hearing the verdict AP Photo/Ben Curtis Kenyan election annulled Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrate after hearing the verdict AP Photo/Khalil Senosi Kenyan election annulled Supporters of The National Super Alliance (NASA) opposition coalition and its presidential candidate Raila Odinga celebrate in front of the Supreme Court after learning that the court ruled in favor of Odinga EPA/Dai Kurokawa Kenyan election annulled Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga kneel down and thank God as they celebrate after hearing the verdict, on a street opposite the Supreme Court AP Photo/Ben Curtis Kenyan election annulled Supporters of Raila Odinga celebrate after hearing the verdict AP Photo/Khalil Senosi Kenyan election annulled Supporter of opposition leader Raila Odinga celebrates after hearing the verdict AP Photo/Khalil Senosi Kenyan election annulled Supporters celebrate after hearing the verdict AP Photo/Khalil Senosi Kenyan election annulled Supporters of Kenya's opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) leader, Raila Odinga celebrate in the streets of Mathare slum in Nairobi Tony Karumba/AFP

Despite a heavy police presence, celebrations remained peaceful as supporters celebrated the unexpected news, chanting Justice has been done and Uhuru must go.

Its incredible. In Kenya, people never believed in the Supreme Court, opposition supporter Steven Nyai told The Independent. For us, the long night of injustice is over and its finally daybreak.

In 2013, Mr Odinga contested the election at the Supreme Court on similar grounds and his petition was overturned, upholding Mr Kenyattas win.

Mr Odinga himself called the ruling a history day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa.

Supporters in the streets told The Independent they felt the international community pressured Kenyans to accept the sham in order to maintain post-election peace and security.

Following a contested election in 2007, more than 1,200 Kenyans were killed and 600,000 displaced due to politically motivated, tribal violence.

Pressure from the international community was high going into the recent polls as diplomats reaffirmed the need for stability for Kenya to maintain its status as a regional economic and humanitarian hub.

 Riots break out after Kenya election's contested result

Teams from the United States, across Africa, and a robust European Union monitoring mission backed the election as free and fair.

The day after the early August vote, a team of international elections monitors sent by the Carter Centre and led by former US Secretary of State John Kerry enthusiastically endorsed the electoral process calling it and urged all Kenyans to accept the result peacefully.

We call on all Kenyans to carefully evaluate ... the details of the process the IEBC has put in place and has been painstakingly following, the statement read. We hope they will agree with us that fairly implemented to completion, it provides for the integrity of the election, Mr Kerry said in a statement following the elections.

Shame on them! Steve Maingi, an Odinga supporter, said outside the court.

The international community supported thieves, Hamisi Wafula added. It is not for people from foreign countries to choose our leaders. Now we have the justice we have been denied before.

A joint statement issued by US ambassador Robert Godec and UK High Commissioner Nic Hailey along with other diplomats failed to address the perception that foreign pressure rushed the announcement of presidential results.

The courts independent review has demonstrated Kenyas resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law ... All electoral processes can be improved, and we will continue to support Kenyas institutions in this important work, the statement read.

President Kenyatta addressed the nation on Friday afternoon, calling for calm and peace amongst Kenyans but reiterating that while he respects the rule of law, he firmly disagrees with the courts decision.

Mr Kenyatta went on to say the majority of the country is behind him and called out the justices.

Six people have decided they will go against the will of the people, he said in the televised address.

Later, addressing supporters in Nairobi, he lashed out, condemning the court ruling in stronger terms and accusing the judges of being in the pockets of whites.

Mr Odinga aimed his criticism squarely at the electoral commission, insisting the body be disbanded before a new election can take place.

It is now clear that the entire edifice of IEBC is rotten, the four-time presidential candidate said at a press conference. The commission was taken over by criminals ... they must face criminal prosecution.

He repeated his call for the commission to be dissolved, adding: We cannot repeat the election with this commission.

The chairman of the election board, Wafula Chebukati, insisted he would not resign but promised personnel changes and prosecutions of staff members deemed to be involved with tampering of the August vote.

To protect the integrity of [the] sovereign will of the people, the commission intends to make internal changes, Mr Chebukati said.

Both candidates were confident on Friday as they addressed supporters and the media, insisting they were ready for a fight and would win the rerun.
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Los Angeles is removing Christopher Columbus name from the calendar, and will replace it with a nod to the indigenous people of America.

The citys council voted to rename the holiday dedicated to the man popularly believed to have discovered the North American continent, and will instead celebrate the people who were already living in the Americas when the famed Italian explorer first set foot on Caribbean islands back in 1492.

Columbus Day, with is recognised as a federal holiday, is celebrated on the second Monday of October in the US.

Efforts to rename the holiday in the large Californian city have been underway since 2015, when Councilman Mitch OFarrell introduced the proposal, saying that Columbus legacy was one of extreme violence, enslavement, and brutality. Mr OFarrell, a member of the Wyandotte Nation tribe, also said that Columbus legacy was one of the suffering, destruction of cultures, and subjugation of Los Angeles original indigenous people, who were here thousands of years before anyone else.

Columbus history in the United States has been divisive. While many young Americans are told a spectacular story of Columbus setting sail in 1492 to prove that the Earth is round, and became the first man of Europe to discover the new world, others are skeptical of this history. Columbus is also said to have written favorably about the indigenous people he encountered on his voyages in his diaries.

Those critical of the national honoring of Columbus note that there are several problems with that storyline. Columbus, they note, did not need to prove that the Earth was round because the ancient Greeks had done that long before the modern calendar even began at zero. The explorer likely wasnt even the first European to land in the Americas, either. And, to top off that history, Columbus has been accused of ravaging indigenous people once he got to America, demanding that they bring him gold and cutting of their hands  or executing them  if they failed to provide the goods.
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President Donald Trump spent the final days of August dutifully performing his job. He tended to the massive recovery from Hurricane Harvey. He hit the road to sell his tax-cut plan. And he convened policy meetings on the federal budget and the North Korean nuclear threat.

Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis, however, Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media, or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods.

And some of Trump's friends fear that the short-tempered President is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Trump chafes at some of the retired Marine Corps general's moves to restrict access to him since he took the job almost a month ago, said several people close to the President. They run counter to Trump's love of spontaneity and brashness, prompting some Trump loyalists to derisively dub Kelly the church lady because they consider him strict and morally superior.

He's having a very hard time, one friend who spoke with Trump this week said of the President. He doesn't like the way the media's handling him. He doesn't like how Kelly's handling him. He's turning on people that are very close to him.

Aides say Trump admires Kelly's credentials, respects his leadership and management skills, and praises him often, both in private meetings and at public events. In a tax policy speech on Wednesday in Missouri, Trump singled out Kelly's work to decrease the number of illegal border crossings when he was secretary of homeland security.

Meanwhile, people close to the president said he is simmering with displeasure over what he considers personal disloyalty from National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who criticised Trump's responses to a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on 12 August. He also has grown increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has clashed with the president on issues including Afghanistan troop levels, the blockade on Qatar and Cuba policy.

This portrait of Trump as he enters what could be his most consequential month in office is based on interviews with 15 senior White House officials, outside advisers and friends of the president, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid assessments.

In September, Trump will face deadlines to raise the federal debt ceiling and pass a spending bill possibly tied to his campaign promise to build a wall along the US-Mexico border; make his first big push for tax cuts; and oversee a potentially historic disaster recovery in Texas and Louisiana.

If Trump's 75-minute rally performance on 22 August in Phoenix served as a public testimonial to his rage over the media and Congress, he is agitating privately about other concerns as well.

Trump lashed out at George Gigicos, one of his original campaign staff members, for what the president considered unflattering television camera angles at the Phoenix rally, which Bloomberg News first reported. The president also was distressed by a New York Times report that was posted a few hours before the event documenting the turmoil between him and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican-Kentucky.

Trump was especially angered by something he learned about at his stop earlier in the day, a border visit in Yuma, Arizona, several of his associates said.

A group of border patrol agents who had endorsed him and become campaign-trail buddies initially were blocked by the Trump administration from attending. Although the agents eventually were allowed into the event, the President made his displeasure about their treatment known to Kelly, said multiple people who were briefed about the incident. Two of those people said Trump raised his voice with his chief of staff, whom he faulted for trying to restrict outside friends from having direct access to him.

That evening in Phoenix, Trump attempted to call Kelly onto the stage. Where's John? he asked. Where is he? Where's General Kelly? Get him out here. He's great. He's doing a great job.

Kelly did not join his boss in front of the crowd.

It is not unusual for staffers to hear him bluster about things, said Barry Bennett, a former campaign adviser. That doesn't mean it's real. There were people on the campaign staff that he said to fire a dozen times, but he never did it. It was just bark. And some people don't know the difference between the bark and the bite.

Kelly took the job with the express goal of implementing strict order on a West Wing that had become rife with turmoil, infighting and damaging leaks to the media.

Friends used to be able to call the White House and be patched directly through to Trump; now those calls are routed through Kelly, and do not always make it to the president. Friends used to drop by the West Wing when they had time to kill, wandering to the Oval Office to say hello; now they must have an official appointment - and a clear reason - to visit.

The changes are largely welcomed by senior administration officials, who say the President's time is too valuable to be wasted on chitchat and hangers-on.

But Trump sometimes defies - and even resents - the new structure. He has been especially sensitive to the way Kelly's rigid structure is portrayed in the media, and strives to disabuse people of the notion that he is being managed. The President continues to call business friends and outside advisers, including former chief strategist Steve Bannon, from his personal phone when Kelly is not around, said people with knowledge of the calls.

Donald Trump resists being handled, said Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser and longtime confidant. Nobody tells him who to see, who to listen to, what to read, what he can say.

Stone added, General Kelly is trying to treat the president like a mushroom. Keeping him in the dark and feeding him s- is not going to work. Donald Trump is a free spirit.

Kelly has told colleagues that he has no intention of controlling what Trump says or tweets. Although he has tried to manage the information the President receives, Kelly recognises that there are limits to what he can do, according to White House officials.

The president can turn on the television, the president can call people and the president can read the newspaper, said one Republican close to the White House. This person said the onus is on Trump, not his staff, to control his impulses.

Trump has jettisoned some of the more controversial figures in his administration this summer. For instance, the firing of communications director Anthony Scaramucci after just 10 days earned the flamboyant aide the moniker suicide bomber in the West Wing, for having taken down with him Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Trump also parted ways with Bannon, who often channelled the president's nationalist instincts.

More changes may be afoot under Kelly, who is continuing his personnel review and is said to be targeting aides without clear portfolios of responsibility.

On Tillerson, Trump has come to see his top diplomat's approach to world affairs as totally establishment, in the words of one Trump associate. Several people close to Trump said they would be surprised if Tillerson stays in his post past his one-year mark in January. They hinted that his departure may come far sooner, with one describing it as imminent.

And some who have recently seen Tillerson say the former ExxonMobil chief executive - unaccustomed to taking orders from a superior, let alone one as capricious as Trump - also seems to be ready to end his State Department tenure. Tillerson has grumbled privately to Kelly about Trump's recent controversies, according to two people familiar with their relationship.

Others, however, caution that Tillerson remains fully enmeshed in the administration. After lunching with the President on Monday, Tillerson sat in the front row of Trump's joint press conference with the President of Finland and was a key member of Cabinet discussions focused on handling Hurricane Harvey.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Wednesday that Trump absolutely has confidence in Tillerson.

Tillerson made headlines over the weekend when he was asked on Fox News Sunday, in the context of Charlottesville, whether Trump speaks for American values. The President speaks for himself, Tillerson told anchor Chris Wallace.

Many Trump insiders were aghast at the diplomat's apparent denunciation of the president, but several senior White House officials said Trump's frustration with Tillerson has been over specific policies. The Fox interview did not bother Trump, one official said, even though the president was upset about Cohn's scolding of him to The Financial Times.

Trump was especially upset that Cohn went public with his complaints about the President's handling of Charlottesville, even after Trump listened to Cohn vent during a private meeting on 18 August in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The president has been quietly fuming about Cohn for the past week, but has resisted dismissing him in part because he has been the face, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, of the administration's tax cut strategy.

Still, Trump has other ways to slight Cohn. The economic adviser travelled with Trump on Wednesday to Springfield, Missouri, for his taxes speech, yet when the president ticked through the many distinguished guests in attendance he did not mention Cohn. Afterwards, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, tweeted a call for tax reform with a picture of Trump backstage flanked by her and Mnuchin. Notably absent was the plan's co-architect, Cohn.

Asked about the perceived insults, Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One on the flight home to Washington that it was pretty standard tactics for Trump not to call out staffers in his remarks.

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Show all 19 1 /19 The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A tattered U.S. flag damaged in Hurricane Harvey, flies in Conroe, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Lisa Rehr holds her four-year old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated with their belongings from Rockport, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People line up for food as others rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center AP Photo/LM Otero The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Volunteers with The American Red Cross register evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard help the residents of Cyprus Creek Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents wade through floodwater Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents walk along the flooded roadway of Texas 249 as they evacuate their adjacent neighborhoods EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A man floats past a truck submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued by airboat as they evacuate from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey James Archiable carries his bike through the flooded intersection at Taylor and Usenet near downtown Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A massive sinkhole opened up on a motorway in Rosenburg, a city 25 miles southwest of Houston, Texas Rosenberg Police The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in an armored police mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey on a boat in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees are airlifted in a US Coast Guard helicopter after flooding due to Hurricane Harvey inundated neighborhoods in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees leave a US Coast Guard helicopter after being rescued from flooding due to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents look on at a submerged motorway during a break in the rain in Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People photograph the submerged motorway interchange EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Debris lies on the ground after a building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Dominic Dominguez searches for his boat in a boat storage facility that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Rockport, Texas EPA

Pressed on the state of Trump and Cohn's relationship, Sanders said only that both men were committed to tax reform.

Well, look, she said, Gary is here. The President is here.

The Washington Post
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Every politician knows how tough it can be to get things done - even when you pay for the pleasure.

YouTube comedian Elijah Daniel handed over $100 for the right to be the mayor of Hell, Michigan, for a day, sought to outlaw heterosexuality and then found himself being duly impeached.

My ban is a copy-and-paste of Trumps Muslim ban, but with heterosexuals instead, said Mr Daniel, who also written a gay-themed erotic novel about the President.

Mr Daniel, who lives in California, told the Huffington Post he was looking for an an easy way to buy himself a political position. It was at that point that he learned about Hell, a township of 73 people 20 miles northwest of the college town of Ann Arbor.

First settled in 1838 by a man called George Reeves, who set up a mill, the community reportedly earned its name by Mr Reevess habit of paying farmers for their grain with home-distilled whiskey. The wives of the sozzled farmers, had the habit of declaring of their husbands: Hes gone to Hell again

 Trump defends Arpaio pardon

More recently, the town has sold itself as a tourist destination and wedding location. The community website proclaims that more people get told to go to their town than anywhere else. It also offers people the chance to become mayor for a day before being "impeached".

I was looking for a town willing to make me mayor, Mr Daniel told the website. Theyll do it in Hell for $100, so I caught a redeye to Michigan and got sworn in.

Soon after becoming mayor, the 23-year-old, who is gay, issued a proclamation declaring that heterosexuality had been outlawed.

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

Growing up, I was always told that homosexuals would go to Hell, he wrote in his declaration, which was posted on Twitter. Now the heterosexuals are trying to take that from us too.

He added: I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical heterosexuals out of our town. We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our town the very heterosexual threats we are fighting against.

The straights coming into our town procreating, having more straight children to take our rightfully gay jobs. We only want to admit those into our town who will support our town and love deeply our people.

He said that while he would not allow straight people to enter the town, those who already lived there could stay if they paid a fine of $84,000 - to be returned after one year of abstinence from any heterosexual activities.

The ban apparently did not extend to Mr Trump. Its a great place to visit, he said. Donald Trump should go to Hell anytime.

Soon after declaring his heterosexual ban, Mr Daniel was impeached and the job went back to the former mayor, Odum Plenty.

Mr Daniel has no regrets. Being impeached was fun @realDonaldTrump, he wrote on Twitter. You should try it.
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Mexico is sending aid to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, even as a row with Donald Trumps administration over a US-Mexico border wall continued.

At least 31 people have died after the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years came ashore, bringing record rains and flooding to Houston.

Mexico extended its offer to send boats, vehicles, supplies and food on Sunday, but the White House only officially responded on Wednesday.

 Mattress chain owner offers up his stores for Harvey evacuees: 'We said to hell with profits'

Mr Trump's promise to build a wall on the southern US border to keep out illegal immigrants and make the Latin American nation pay for it became a battlecry of his presidential campaign, with supporters chanting "Build that wall!" at rallies while opponents looked on with incredulity and revulsion.

After Mexico refused to pay, the US President demanded Congress foot the bill and vowed to shut down the government if it failed to do so.

Progress towards the construction of the wall was made on Thursday, as US Customs and Border Protection announced it will award contracts to four companies to build four prototypes.

Funding for four other samples of more transparent structures will be awarded next week. The prototypes will cost a total of $3.6m (2.8m).

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday thanked Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso for offering a generous assistance package to Texas.

Youre absolutely welcome, Mr Caso said. We are here to help. We are neighbours. We are friends, and thats what friends do."

It was announced hours later that an additional team of more than 30 volunteers from Mexicos Red Cross would be sent to Houston. This aid was separate from the official rescue package.

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

The Mexican government has yet to provide full details of the aid it will deliver. But it has suggested it is willing to repeat an aid mission to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the Mexican army sent 200 troops with food, water and medicine.

The White House was preparing on Friday to make a request for an initial $5.9bn (4.6bn) aid package, a first instalment to ensure initial recovery efforts were adequately funded.

Much larger payments will be needed in the future, but the first package will replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster reserves, which stood at just $2.1bn (1.6bn) on Thursday and were being spent at a high rate.

A domestic spending bill facing a House vote next week currently includes a $876m (678m) cut to FEMA disaster funds to help pay for Mr Trump's $1.6bn (1.2bn) request for the US-Mexico border wall. Republicans said that would change before the vote.
Live streaming sites have turned giant pandas into online celebrities and promoted panda-related industries. However, experts point out the industrialization might disturb giant pandas.

The live round-the-clock broadcasts of giant pandas have gained great popularity among netizens in recent years. Online videos featuring pandas grabbing onto feeders legs or attempting a prison break make people feel closer to the national treasure.

Ipanda.com, the panda channel of China Central Television, has over 10 million followers around the world, enjoying over 200,000 visits a day.

I spend most of my spare time watching giant pandas online and sometimes I watch them for a couple of hours. It is a therapeutic and joyful thing even to watch them sleep, said a panda lover, adding that the videos can spread more knowledge about the pandas.

Panda products and cultural and creative products have become a hit. Giant pandas have also become a super intellectual property, meaning a bright future for panda-themed animations and films.

However, panda sensation has aroused anxiety among experts. A professor of rare plants and animals in Sichuan said due to the low fertility rate of giant pandas, its early to be too optimistic about their future, though theyve been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable.

Some unprofessional camera teams with little knowledge about the pandas might severely disturb the pandas and scare them. Some people even mistreat them by staging a show or using them for commercial performances to garner hits and money.

Developing high-tech products and tightening protection and supervision of panda-related intellectual properties are two ways to promote and protect the giant pandas, experts pointed out.
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A fleet of monster trucks has been helping rescue efforts in Texan cities hit by Hurricane Harvey.

Volunteer Josh James recruited his friends from Dallas racetrack, Rednecks with Paychecks, to drive five monster trucks to flooded areas.

One large-wheeled vehicle was filmed pulling an army truck from the flood waters in Copperfield, northwest Houston, in front of a cheering crowd.

Mr James, a mechanic, said that along with other volunteers, he had to swim up to second stories of buildings to rescue people trapped in their homes.

"When people need help and I can help, I'm out there," he told ABC News.

The monster trucks have also helped to get emergency services personell into areas where the flooding is most severe.

At least 31 people have died after the most powerful storm to hit Texas in more than half a century years brought record levels of flooding to Houston and the surrounding areas.

The fleet of modified vehicles was part of a larger response to the disaster, involving 200 boats, 300 lorries and 600 people.

Local news broadcasts and social media posts are helping coordinate the response.

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Show all 19 1 /19 The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A tattered U.S. flag damaged in Hurricane Harvey, flies in Conroe, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Lisa Rehr holds her four-year old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated with their belongings from Rockport, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People line up for food as others rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center AP Photo/LM Otero The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Volunteers with The American Red Cross register evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard help the residents of Cyprus Creek Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents wade through floodwater Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents walk along the flooded roadway of Texas 249 as they evacuate their adjacent neighborhoods EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A man floats past a truck submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued by airboat as they evacuate from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey James Archiable carries his bike through the flooded intersection at Taylor and Usenet near downtown Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A massive sinkhole opened up on a motorway in Rosenburg, a city 25 miles southwest of Houston, Texas Rosenberg Police The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in an armored police mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey on a boat in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees are airlifted in a US Coast Guard helicopter after flooding due to Hurricane Harvey inundated neighborhoods in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees leave a US Coast Guard helicopter after being rescued from flooding due to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents look on at a submerged motorway during a break in the rain in Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People photograph the submerged motorway interchange EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Debris lies on the ground after a building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Dominic Dominguez searches for his boat in a boat storage facility that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Rockport, Texas EPA

An estimated 24.5 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on the US Gulf Coast since the hurricane hit. Harvey has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes after Houston and the surrounding areas were hit by unprecedented levels of flooding.

The White House was preparing to make a request for an initial $5.9bn (4.6bn) aid package - a first instalment to ensure initial recovery efforts were adequately funded.
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A Chinese restaurant open in Santa Cruz, California, for almost four decades has closed its doors after a boycott and online backlash against the owner's 2016 campaign donation to former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that O'mei Szechuan Chinese Restaurant closed, perhaps permanently, after a news site revealed that owner Roger Grigsby donated $500 to Duke's unsuccessful 2016 US Senate campaign in Louisiana.

Grigsby told the newspaper he's been dealing with political terror and an attack on his business as word of his donation has spread online.

Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Show all 9 1 /9 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Protesters clash and several are injured White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. A state of emergency is declared, August 12 2017 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Trump supporters at the protest A white nationalist demonstrator walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville State police stand ready in riot gear Virginia State Police cordon off an area around the site where a car ran into a group of protesters after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Militia armed with assault rifles White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' with body armor and combat weapons evacuate comrades who were pepper sprayed after the 'Unite the Right' rally was declared a unlawful gathering by Virginia State Police. Militia members marched through the city earlier in the day, armed with assault rifles. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee stands behind a crowd of hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' during the 'Unite the Right' rally 12 August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are protesting the removal of the statue from Emancipation Park in the city. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Racial tensions sparked the violence White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally Getty Violence on the streets of Charlottesville A car plows through protesters A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident resulted in multiple injuries, some life-threatening, and one death. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Rescue personnel help injured people after a car ran into a large group of protesters after an white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville President Donald Trump speaks about the ongoing situation in Charlottesville, Virginia from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He spoke about "loyalty" and "healing wounds" left by decades of racism.

He defended his support of Duke's campaign, saying Duke is unfairly characterised by the news media as a hate caricature.

Duke was leader of the KKK from 1974 to 1978.

AP
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A man who walked into a mixed martial arts studio with a loaded gun ended up heading to hospital after he was "subdued by another male inside the facilty", police said.

Matthew Lloyd was carrying a black messenger-style bag" as he entered Defiant MMA in Burbank, California.

It is unclear what his intentions were, but local media reported that police suspect the 30-year-old was about to attempt an armed robbery.

When police arrived at the scene, Lloyd was being subdued by another male inside the facility."

Lightweight MMA fighter Jacobe Powell, knocked a bag containing a gun out of the suspect's hand and pinned him down until officers arrived to take him into custody, Burbank Police said in a statement.

Boxing vs MMA: A history Show all 8 1 /8 Boxing vs MMA: A history Boxing vs MMA: A history Boxing vs MMA: A history Floyd Mayweather's fight with Conor McGregor will not be the first time two stars from the worlds of boxing and MMA collide. Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki This 15-round flop was declared a draw, with The Greatest throwing just six punches. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Royce Gracie vs Art Jimmerson Poor 'one-glove' Jimmerson didn't stand a chance against Brazilian jiu jitsu star Gracie at the first UFC. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Ray Mercer vs Tim Sylvia 'Merciless' Mercer finished Sylvia in the cage, when the UFC heavyweight champion renegaded on a gentleman's agreement not to throw kicks. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Kimbo Slice vs Brian Green Kimbo, real name, Kevin Ferguson , had spells in both MMA and boxing but never replicated the success of his infamous back-alley brawls. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Ricardo Mayorga vs Wesley Tiffer Mayorga thought he had stopped mixed martial artist Tiffer in the cage, only to be disqualified because of an illegal knee to the spine. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Randy Couture vs James Toney Toney talked up his chances inside the Octagon. But it took UFC legend Couture just three minutes and 19-seconds to beat him via an arm-triangle choke. Getty Images Boxing vs MMA: A history Boxing vs MMA: A history A number of other high-profile boxing vs MMA clashes have been mooted, only never to transpire. Anderson Silva vs Roy Jones Jr falls into this category. Getty Images

In order to protect himself, the instructor used martial arts techniques to control and subdue the suspect until police arrived, they added. It was learned the suspect was in fact armed with a loaded handgun, which was inside the messenger bag.

No shots were fired within the gym.

Burbank PD has not filed charges against Lloyd, but the spokesperson said the case will be forwarded to the Los Angeles District Attorneys office.
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A woman from Florida has been arrested on suspicion of murder over the death of a teenager who she allegedly lured into a wood and shot dead because she suspected him of raping her young daughter several years previously.

Connie Serbu, a mother of two, called police herself after the attack, and told them she had confronted her victim, 18-year-old Xavier Sierra, about the rape of her daughter, who was six-years-old at the time, and then shot him dead.

Serbu said she had also recruited her brother, John Vargas, 29, to help with her plot. Vargas was also shot during a fracas at the crime scene and later died of his wounds.

Serbu was served with an arrest warrant on 25 August on a charge of second-degree murder, according to documents filed with the Collier County Clerk of Courts this week.

According to court documents, Serbu told investigators its all my fault and said she didnt want her brother to get in trouble.

She asked police to arrest her and reportedly said: So I dont care, he raped my daughter ... she told me everything that happened, the documents say.

Police said that Serbu had been told by her daughter of the alleged rape in May 2016 which she said happened on two occasions several years before.

After learning of the attack, Serbu repeatedly discussed murdering Sierra with friends and other acquaintances, court documents state.

Police said Serbus daughter asked her mother not to hurt Sierra, and a friend told Serbu to go to the police rather than take matters into her own hands.

Detectives discovered text messages between Serbu and Sierra, a family friend, sent in July 2016 in which she asked him to come to the house to help construct a bunk bed in exchange for money.

Serbu persuaded her brother Vargas to come with her when she picked Sierra up

According to court documents, Vargas asked Sierra about the alleged rape while Serbu drove them out to the wooded area in Naples, Florida.

When they arrived, Sierra then got out of the car and tried to run away, but Vargas and Serbu chased him.

Police said Sierra wrestled with Vargas for one of two guns, and Sierra was ultimately shot with both guns a total of six times.

Vargas was shot once in the abdomen, police said. Court documents dont say who shot Vargas but states he was shot first.

Both weapons were found at the scene, with testing showing Serbu had held at least one of the guns.

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

Police were later told that Vargas had mental limitations and was easily persuaded to go along with anything, the Naples Daily News reported.

Police said they could not comment on the case because it was still being investigated.
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A nurse was allegedly assaulted and illegally arrested when she told a detective she could not take a blood sample from an unconscious patient.

Alex Wubbels told a police officer she could not take blood from the victim of a lorry crash because he could not consent, and the officer had produced no warrant.

Footage taken by University Hospital, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Detective Jeff Payne's body camera show he threatened Ms Wubbels with jail if she did not comply, despite her having checked the policy with her bosses, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Recommended Police vow to continue arrests for laughing gas despite court ruling

As Ms Wubbels, a former Winter Olympian, is dragged from the hospital to a police patrol car, she can be heard to scream: "Help! Help! Somebody help me! Stop! Stop! I did nothing wrong!"

In the end she was not charged but told the paper: "It hurts to relive it."

University Hospital's policy states blood cannot be drawn from an unconscious patient unless they have been arrested, a warrant for the procedure is granted, or the patient consents, the Tribune reported.

Detective Payne cited a now-outdated "implied consent" law to make his case, it said.

Ms Wubbels' lawyer told the paper she had not filed a lawsuit, but that following discussions with Salt Lake City police, she believed the department would now educate its officers.

Salt Lake City police told the Tribune they were investigating the incident, but that Detective Payne remained on duty.

It has provided training for other officers following Ms Wubbels' arrest.
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Donald Trump has pledged $1m of his own money to help Harvey victims as thousands of people continue to be rescued in the aftermath of the storm.

Hell pledge proudly a million dollars of his own personal money to help the people of both Texas and Louisiana, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a White House briefing. He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of people we have seen across the country do.

The President has not yet decided where he will donate the money, Ms Sanders said.

He actually asked that I check with the folks in this room since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organisations that are best and most effective in helping and providing aid, and he'd like some suggestions from the folks here and I'd be happy to take those, Ms Sanders told reporters.

Mr Trump, a real estate magnate, has been blasted in the past for giving far less of his income to charitable causes than other multi-billionaires.

Harvey came ashore over the weekend as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in a half-century.

Vice President Mike Pence flew to Texas on Thursday to survey the wreckage. He landed in Corpus Christi, near where Harvey made landfall last Friday, and travelled to Rockport  a small coastal city of about 10,000 people that had also been hit by the storm.

You've inspired the nation by your resilience and by your courage and we just came here to commend you and to encourage you and to assure you that we will be there, Mr Pence told Rockport residents, according to ABC.

Mr Pence later said the Trump administration expects Congress to move quickly to send federal cash to people and businesses in Hurricane Harvey's disaster zone, adding that more than 300,000 people have registered for disaster aid.

The Vice President said that the White House will support Harvey victims, pledging to be with you every day until Texas rebuilds stronger and better than before.

Mr Trump, who also visited hurricane-ravaged Texas earlier this week, is expected to return to the region on Saturday.

Ms Sanders said he is likely to visit Houston  which was paralysed by the storm earlier this week  and Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Harvey headed after dumping record rainfall on Texas.

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Show all 19 1 /19 The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A tattered U.S. flag damaged in Hurricane Harvey, flies in Conroe, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Lisa Rehr holds her four-year old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated with their belongings from Rockport, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People line up for food as others rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center AP Photo/LM Otero The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Volunteers with The American Red Cross register evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard help the residents of Cyprus Creek Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents wade through floodwater Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents walk along the flooded roadway of Texas 249 as they evacuate their adjacent neighborhoods EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A man floats past a truck submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued by airboat as they evacuate from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey James Archiable carries his bike through the flooded intersection at Taylor and Usenet near downtown Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A massive sinkhole opened up on a motorway in Rosenburg, a city 25 miles southwest of Houston, Texas Rosenberg Police The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in an armored police mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey on a boat in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees are airlifted in a US Coast Guard helicopter after flooding due to Hurricane Harvey inundated neighborhoods in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees leave a US Coast Guard helicopter after being rescued from flooding due to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents look on at a submerged motorway during a break in the rain in Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People photograph the submerged motorway interchange EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Debris lies on the ground after a building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Dominic Dominguez searches for his boat in a boat storage facility that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Rockport, Texas EPA

The Lone Star State is still reeling from unprecedented flooding caused by the storm.

Soldiers and police in helicopters and special high-water trucks on Thursday rescued thousands of Texans stranded by floodwater. The confirmed death toll has crept up to 37 people.

In Beaumont, Texas, doctors and nurses evacuated some 190 people from a hospital that halted operations after water service in the city of almost 120,000 people was knocked out by the storm.

We don't have any water. Water shut down. We can't run (kidney) dialysis, and other procedures, said hospital security guard Devan Campbell, standing outside as about 190 patients were led out.

Houston-area hospitals are bracing for an influx of patients as record flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey recedes, an effort likely to be complicated by potential staff shortages because of the storm's disruption of employees' lives.

More than two dozen hospital administrators met in Houston on Thursday to discuss how to coordinate care in anticipation of more patients visiting medical facilities in coming days as roadways became more accessible.

About 1,500 patients had to be evacuated from 20 facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, said Darrell Pile, chief executive of the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, whose catastrophic medical operations center is coordinating hospital response.

Overall, some 779,000 Texans had been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 had fled on their own amid concerns that swollen reservoirs and rivers could bring new flooding even as Harvey, downgraded to a tropical depression, headed inland, according to Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke.

In Houston, firefighters conducted a block-by-block search of homes to rescue stranded survivors and recover bodies.

The flooding also caused a series of explosions at a chemical factory northeast of Houston, where officials warned that more blasts were likely to come.

Orange County, which borders Beaumont around 50 miles (80 kms) east of Houston, on Thursday ordered remaining residents to evacuate the area amid a forecast that the Neches River would crest on Friday, threatening homes.

We're having some issues with flooding on the Neches, Orange County Judge Stephen Brint Carlton said. It could certainly affect thousands of homes, but we're not sure how many people are still inside of them.

Reuters contributed to this report
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Foreigners who were barred from entering the US as a result of Donald Trumps Muslim travel ban will get official help to reapply for visas, as the government settled the first legal challenge to the Presidents original executive order.

Mr Trumps order, signed on 27 January, halted all refugee admissions and temporarily banned people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country. It sparked chaos at airports around the world, and widespread protests against the Presidents actions.

The move also set off a series of legal challenges to Mr Trumps move. One of these - Darweesh v Trump, which was filed by two Iraqis who had worked for the US in Iraq for a decade and exposed themselves to no small danger - has now been settled.

Civil rights lawyers and the Trump administration told a federal judge in New York they had settled the case that related to the treatment of hundreds of travellers who were detained at US airports over that January weekend.

The case was filed on behalf of the two Iraqis detained at New Yorks JFK airport, who had spent the last decade helping the interests of Washington Iraq. One of the men Hameed Khalid Darweesh, worked as an interpreter for the Armys 101st Airborne Division in Baghdad and Mosul, starting shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The lawsuit filed on his behalf said that Mr Darweesh, 53, who arrived with his wife and three children, was directly targeted twice for his association with the US Armed Forces.

The second man, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, had flown to the US to join his wife, who had worked for a US contractor.

Under the terms of the deal, the government has agreed to notify anyone overseas who was banned that they can reapply for visas with the help of a Department of Justice liaison. The plaintiffs said they would drop all their claims.

Several courts ordered the initial ban lifted. A revised version has replaced it under limitations set by the Supreme Court.

The two men were represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) at the Urban Justice Centre, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP.

 Trump urges Muslim leaders to fight Islamic extremism

When he was informed of the settlement, Mr Darweesh, said: It means a lot to me to be in America. The United States is a great country because of its people. Im glad that the lawsuit is over.

Me and my family are safe; my kids go to school; we can now live a normal life. I suffered back home, but I have my rights now. Im a human.

Becca Heller, Director of International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Centre, said Mr Darweesh and hundreds of others attempted to legally enter the United States.

They were detained, handcuffed and, in many cases, deported. This settlement forces the government to individually reach out to everyone illegally kept out of the country, and begin to remedy that wrong, she said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But it is only a first step - we continue to fight against the illegal, discriminatory, and un-American provisions of the second Muslim ban.

Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, said in a statement: Although the government dragged its feet for far too long, it has finally agreed to do the right thing and provide those excluded under the first Muslim ban with proper notice of their right to come to the United States.

While this closes one chapter in our challenge to Trump's efforts to institute his unconstitutional ban, we continue our legal fight against Muslim ban 2.0 at the Supreme Court in October.

At least 700 foreign nationals were detained for questioning in airports across the nation in the wake of the order, according to the ACLU.

The original ban was found unconstitutional, and revised in March. Other district courts across the country, including in Seattle and Hawaii, continue to challenge the ban.

A federal court in Seattle began hearing arguments this week in the governments appeal of a July order allowing grandmothers and other family members of those already in the country to enter the United States.

The US Supreme Court has permitted an abridged version of the ban to stand until it hears the case in October.



The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to inquiries.
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Republicans dont appear to care as much about prioritising the construction of a border wall as Donald Trump.

Mark Meadows, the chair of the Freedom Caucus  a group of 31 conservative hardliners in the House of Representatives  said he and many of his members want to avert a government shutdown, even if Congress provides no funding to build a wall along the USs southern border.

In talking to a number of my members, if there was a vote for a continuing resolution next week that did not include border wall funding, the majority of those members would be supportive of that, Mr Meadows said in an interview on ABCs Powerhouse Politics podcast.

Government funding will run out at the end of September, and Congress is reportedly looking to put forth legislation  a continuing resolution  that will keep the government running through at least the rest of 2017.

At a rally in Phoenix last week, Mr Trump suggested that he would allow a government shutdown to happen if Congress does not provide funding for his oft-promised wall. During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump said Mexico would pay for the barrier along the border.

Believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall, Mr Trump declared to his supporters in Phoenix.

But a government shutdown could be a disaster for Republicans.

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

I don't think a government shutdown is necessary and I don't think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included, House Speaker Paul Ryan said last week.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a longtime critic of Mr Trump, has thrown punches at the border wall proposal.

This notion of a 2,000-mile wall has always been just  for anybody who spends time on the border  just a bit, you know, out there, the Arizona senator said.

The President taunted Mr Flake in Phoenix, saying he was weak on borders, weak on crime.

My position is, I work with the president, Mr Flake said in an interview with an ABC affiliate. Vote with the president when I think hes right, and I oppose him when I think hes wrong.
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Plans for a border wall dividing America from Mexico took a small step forward as the government announced who had won contracts to build prototypes for the barrier.

While a Customs and Border Patrol official portrayed the news as a significant step for Donald Trumps signature campaign promise, the wall Mr Trump promised his supporters has faced legal challenges and ongoing questions about Congress willingness to allocate the billions needed for construction. An internal Department of Homeland Security study that leaked to the media estimated the cost at $21.6 billion.

That total dwarfs the cost of awarding contracts to four companies chosen to build concrete models at a cost of around $400,000 to $500,000 each according to United States Customs and Border Patrol said. A call for proposals stipulated structures that are 30 feet tall, deter climbing and are see-through - as the president demanded.

In a conference announcing the contracts, Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello displayed images of an 150-foot enforcement zone that border agents would be able to monitor.

Were not just asking for a physical structure. Were asking for all the tools that help us secure the border, Mr Vitiello said.

Theres nothing lethal in this, Mr Vitiello added in response to a question about features allowing agents to halt would-be border crossers.

Life on the US-Mexican border Show all 12 1 /12 Life on the US-Mexican border Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A house stands next to a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico The border fence in Tijuana stretches all the way to beach Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Migrants can often be spotted trying to cross the rusty barrier Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A shack stands next to a section of the border fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Tourists pose for a picture at the border Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A family burns rubbish near the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin makes a living by selling rubbish Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Neither Trump nor the wall is going to stop anyone, says Pedro Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexicans have built homes right next to the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexican Carlos, 27, who says that he was deported from the United States, heats up tortillas at his house near the double fence that separates Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A girl climbs stairs near a section of the fence

The announcement came as Donald Trump has struggled to finance his central campaign promise. Mexico has flatly rejected paying for it, despite Mr Trump assuring his supporters to the contrary, and Mr Trump has threatened a government shutdown if Congress does not allocate needed funding.

Despite those headwinds, Mr Vitiello portrayed the contract awards as a significant milestone.

This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on, Mr Vitiello said, adding that this is the first new initiative that adds to our bigger plans.
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A woman is facing criminal charges after pulling a gun on two other women in a row over a school notebook.

The argument, captured on video filmed by a bystander, broke out between two pairs of women over the last notebook at a 'Back to School' sale at the Walmart in Novi, a city near Detroit, in Michigan.

The fight between the women  two aged 46 and 32 and a mother and daughter aged 51 and 20  reportedly began when the 20-year-old reached for the last notebook on the shelf at the same time as one of the other two women.

The argument then escalated as the first two women started pulling the younger girls hair. Her mother then pulled out a gun to protect her daughter, local police said.

Local police officer Detective Scott Baetens told Fox News Detroit: "One girl was going to buy a notebook. There was one left, some pushing resulted.

"They began to argue who was the rightful purchaser of that notebook.

"She pulled out her firearm and tells them to stop attacking her daughter while pointing the gun at them."

Other customers then began to flee and police were called.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the senseless act of violence and all four women are facing charge.

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

Prosecutors are still trying to determine whether the woman who pulled the gun, who is a licensed gun owner, was truly acting in self defence to determine what charges to press.

Det Baetens said: A simple assault could be just a local ordinance, a 90-day misdemeanor.

All the way up to felonious assault with a firearm, which is a felony.

He said the gun was loaded but that there was no round in the chamber and no one was hurt.

It is unclear who got the notebook.
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In recent days, thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, have made their way to neighbouring Bangladesh, fleeing an aggressive Burmese military campaign that ravaged dozens of villages in the country's restive state of Rakhine. An official from the International Organisation for Migration told reporters at least 18,500 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border in the past six days, joining the nearly 400,000 Rohingya already housed in squalid camps in Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are quite simply one of the most helpless and forsaken peoples of the world. An ethnic minority disdained by the Burmese public and ignored by the Burmese government, the Rohingya do not have full citizenship rights. About 1.1 million Rohingya live in apartheid-like conditions in northern Rakhine. They need to seek official permission to marry or even travel outside their villages.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Rohingya families have called Rakhine home for generations, the government views them as "Bengali" interlopers from across the border. Bangladeshi authorities, meanwhile, have struggled to cope with the influx, frequently turn away Rohingya civilians seeking entry and do not view them as formal refugees.

Though international attention falls on them from time to time, the Rohingya remain bureaucratically stateless, persecuted at home and unloved abroad. In 2009, a UN spokeswoman even described the Rohingya as "probably the most friendless people in the world."

The most recent exodus to Bangladesh follows an upsurge in violence in Rakhine. Last week, militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an insurgent group allegedly formed by Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia, launched a brazen string of attacks on police posts and sought to break into a military base. Since then, government forces have embarked on a widespread crackdown that led to reports of extrajudicial executions of civilians.

Media access is strictly curtailed in Rakhine, so it's hard to obtain clear accounts of what's taking place. Burmese authorities claimed at least 77 militants, 12 members of the security forces and 14 civilians have been killed since last week. But it's likely the death toll, particularly that of slain civilians, is higher.

Aid workers have told horror stories of desperate refugees staggering to safety despite bullet wounds and burn injuries. Others report rapes and beatings carried out by the Burmese army, which has reportedly set fire to thousands of Rohingya homes as it seeks to flush out the militants.

Analysing satellite imagery, Human Rights Watch documented at least ten areas over a 100 km stretch of land in Rakhine where massive fires are blazing. It noted a similar phenomenon from October to November 2016, the last time major violence flared in the region, triggering an exodus of some 87,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh. A UN official at the time described government reprisals as acts tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

Burmese authorities attribute the fires to the work of "extremist terrorists." Others are less convinced. "Shuffling all the blame on insurgents doesn't spare the Burmese government from its international obligations to stop abuses and investigate alleged violations," said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, in a statement.

In Burma- a fractious, underdeveloped, multiethnic country that is home to numerous insurgencies - the Rohingya occupy a special status of neglect and abuse. Over the past decade, the world has seen waves of Rohingya attempting to flee Burma. They have often met grisly fates at the hands of human traffickers and even the coastguards of other nations.

But their struggles generate little sympathy among the majority-Buddhist Burmese population. A round of communal violence in various parts of the country in 2012 cemented widespread anti-Muslim feeling, which was in part stoked by a coterie of ultra-nationalist monks.

The most notorious among them is a saffron-robed cleric named Ashin Wirathu, whose anti-Muslim vitriol is so pronounced it earned him a spot on a Time magazine cover in 2013, with the caption "The Face of Buddhist Terror." On Wednesday, Wirathu appeared before hundreds of Burmese nationalists rallying in the country's largest city, Rangoon, and called for strong military action against the Rohingya for their alleged collusion with extremist groups.

"Only the military's commander in chief can protect the lives and the properties of the people," Wirathu said. "The military is the only one that can give a lesson to tame the Bengali terrorists."

Burma's civilian leaders, including the country's acclaimed Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, are barely more sympathetic. Suu Kyi, celebrated for her role in fighting for democratic rights in Burma, has remained conspicuously insensitive to Rohingya grievances. In repeated statements, her office has sought to downplay both the extent of the abuses facing the persecuted minority and accused aid groups and international organisations of exaggerating the scale of the crisis.

Just last week, a commission led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan filed a report urging the Burmese government to restore citizenship rights to the Rohingya, which were stripped by the military regime in 1982. It's hard to imagine that Suu Kyi, eager not to rock the boat with Burma's long-meddling military, would accede to that demand.

"The current crisis was neither unpredicted nor unpreventable," noted a statement by the International Crisis Group. "The anti-Muslim violence of 2012, and the emergence of the new insurgent group last year were both clear signals that the volatile dynamics of Rakhine state urgently need a political, not just a security, response to address the concerns of all communities in the state."

If that doesn't happen, both the plight of the Rohingya and that of the Burmese state may get worse.

Rohingya mothers face persecution Show all 10 1 /10 Rohingya mothers face persecution Rohingya mothers face persecution Ramida Begum holds her 10-day-old daughter in their shelter in Kutupalang, an unregistered refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. 'The military caught my husband and burnt our house down a week before I left Myanmar. Since then I don't know whether my husband is dead or alive' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Minara Begum sits inside the shelter, cradling her one-month-old son Ayub. Minara fled to Bangladesh from Nasha Phuru village in Myanmar with her husband and mother-in-law. 'My child doesn't get enough breast milk as I don't eat enough nutritious food. I have to buy milk powder from local market though it's not very good for my son' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Amina, pictured with her 16-day-old daughter Sumaiyin, is in a refugee camp Balukhali that neighbours Ramida and Minara's. 'One and a half months ago the military came to our village and kept firing their guns. I ran away with my neighbours to save our lives. You see us alive here only because the God was so kind. They caught my uncle and my younger brother and we don't know whether they are dead or alive' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Fatema sits beside her one-day-old daughter Aasma in Kutupalang. Fatema fled to Bangladesh from Jambuinna village in Myanmar two months ago after her house was burnt down by the military. She crossed Naf River by boat during the night. 'Our situation is better than many other refugees as my husband Mohammad Alom works here as a day labourer. Many of the new refugees have no work here, so they have to rely on relief' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Jamalida cradles her two-month-old daughter Shahida. Jamalida came to Bangladesh with her husband from Nasha Phuru village in Myanmar Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Rehana Begum lays her one-day-old daughter in front of her inside their tarpaulin shelter. Rehana fled her village of Jambuinna in Myanmar three months ago. 'We were in our home and suddenly the military came to our village and started shooting. When we heard the sound of gun shots we immediately went to our relatives. We walked for four hours without any food and water to reach the border at 1 a.m. We paid 25,000 Myanmar kyat (14) to a broker to cross.' Intercepted by Bangladesh border guards, Rehana's family narrowly escaped being sent home. 'They wanted to send us back, but then we heard gunshots from the Myanmar side and the guards released us, saying, "Stay in Bangladesh and save your lives"' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Noor Begum sits next to her one-day-old daughter Sumaiya as she stares into the camera. Noor came to the camp one-and-a-half months ago from Nagpura village with her husband Jahangir Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Rajuma Begum observes her one-month-old son Raihan. 'I fled to Bangladesh because of fear, because I needed to save my children. I was pregnant and suffering from fever while crossing the border. I also have an 11-month-old boy, so it was very difficult to reach the border from our village Wabek in Myanmar. I had to rest frequently. After six hours of horrible walking we finally reached the border at 2am and crossed after paying a broker' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Eighteen-year-old Asmot Ara rests her newly born daughter on her lap. Asmot said she came to the camp one month ago with neighbours from Nagpura village. In Myanmar her father-in-law was killed and their home burnt down by the Myanmar military Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution As Marijaan holds her 25-day-old daughter Noor Habi, her son peers over her shoulder. Marijaan fled to Bangladesh from Khyeri Prang village in Myanmar one month ago after her house was burnt down by the Myanmar military. 'I reached the border at night and crossed by the boat. I paid the boatman to cross the Naf River' Reuters

"There is no evidence that ARSA's goals or members support a transnational jihadist agenda, despite indications that the group may have received some training from members of such outfits. That will not stop those who resent all Muslim groups and grievances from characterising it as such," wrote the Crisis Group, warning of further polarisation. "On the other side, another harsh military response and the continued displacement of scores of thousands to camps in Bangladesh will create conditions ripe for exploitation by transnational jihadists."

The Washington Post
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More than 100 Rohingya Muslims are alleged to have been killed in a massacre by Burmese security forces and Buddhist vigilantes.

The attack is said to have occurred in the Rathedaung area of Rakhine state on Sunday, when security forces cordoned off the village of Chut Pyin.

Women and children are said to be among the 130 people killed.

Rohingyas - a Muslim ethnic minority of about 1.1 million - suffer discrimination and violence from other sectors of Burma's predominantly Buddhist population of more than 52 million.

Tensions had boiled over some days before the alleged massacre when Rohingya insurgents attacked a police post, ABC reported.

Recommended Bodies of 20 Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma wash up in Bangladesh

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project pressure group, told the broadcaster: "So far reportsI think quite crediblemention about 130 people including women and children killed.

"That happened on Sunday when suddenly security forces cordoned [off] the whole area, together with Rakhine villagers. It seems like this has been a major massacre in Rathedaung."

Mass graves were dug in a village south of Chut Pyin, while security forces burned other bodies, the broadcaster reported.

A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Burma's Rakhine state has led to a huge military crackdown.

Burma has itself evacuated thousands of Buddhists from the area.

The clashes have killed some 400 people, largely insurgents, but also 13 security troopers, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Burmese military said.

About 38,000 Rohingya, many sick and some with bullet wounds, have managed to slip across the border with Bangladesh since Friday, according to the UN.

Charu Lata Hogg, an associate fellow in Chatham House's Asia programme, told The Independent: "Thousands of people, men, women and children are desperately trying to flee a very insecure environment in Rakhine state.

"The fact that access is extremely limited and there are no independent monitors makes the situation very difficult to assess.

 Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma recall the horrors they left

"No journalists are being allowed in and the UN is focused on humanitarian effort and relief provision rather than human rights monitoring.

"However, even as it's impossible to assess numbers being attacked, killed or subject to other egregious human rights violations, its clear that the situation is rapidly escalating.

"The fact that the UK has raised this as an issue affecting international peace and security at the Security Council is a testament to this crisis."

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

The treatment of Burma's roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

The Burmese government has repeatedly denied claims the ethnic group is facing genocide in the country's remote Rakhine state. It previously brushed away evidence of human rights violations as fake news and "propaganda".

Earlier this week Ms San Suu Kyi said the "terrorist" attacks were "a calculated attempt to undermine the efforts of those seeking to build peace and harmony in Rakhine state".

The Burmese embassy in the UK has been contacted for comment.

Additional reporting by agencies
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India's government has rejected calls to outlaw marital rape after saying it could "destabilise the institution of marriage" and put husbands at risk of "harrassment".

A plea from campaigners and victims is currently being heard by the Dehli High Court. Judge's asked for the government's stance on the issue.

There is currently no crime in the country's law about rape taking place within marriage and the section of the Indian Penal Code that outlaws rape includes an exception stating that "sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.

In their submission to the court, government lawyers said: What may appear to be marital rape to an individual wife, may not appear so to others. As to what constitutes marital rape and what would constitute marital non-rape, it needs to be defined precisely before a view on its criminalisation is taken.

Changes to the law on rape should not happen without broad based social consensus, they added.

The law should not be changed until there are guarantees to ensure adequately that marital rape does not become a phenomenon that may destabilise the institution of marriage [and become] an easy tool for harassing husbands, they said.

As in other countries, marital rape in India is thought to be far more common than assaults carried out by a man who is not the victims husband. An analysis by the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics found that 98 per cent of rapes of women were committed by their husbands.

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

However, the Indian government suggested that those seeking to stop women being raped by their husbands were blindly following Western customs, The Times of India reported.

The fact that other countries, mostly Western, have criminalised marital rape does not necessarily mean India should also follow them blindly, the government said. This country has its own unique problems due to various factors like literacy, lack of financial empowerment of the majority of females, mindset of the society, vast diversity, poverty, etc. and these should be considered carefully before criminalising marital rape."

Several womens rights groups in India have already filed petitions seeking to remove the legal exception that allows marital rape.

A number of high-profile cases of assault on women in recent years have drawn attention to Indias rape laws and the fact that millions of women are being abused, mostly without seeing their attackers brought to justice.

Last month, a guru was jailed for 20 years was convicted of raping two of his followers.

Lawyers said Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh may have committed crimes against at least 48 other women.
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Women in India are 40 times more likely to die after being a victim of sexual assault than female victims in the US, according to a new study that compares cases from various hospitals in both countries.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Tata Institutes of Social Sciences in India and Sweden as well as the University of Pittsburgh, analysed the gender and outcome differences of different types of trauma - including sexual assault.

The data, collected from 2013 to 2015, showed the top three causes of injury for women were falls, road traffic incidents, and assault.

Recommended Uber faces California lawsuit over India rape investigation

However, the studys questionable parameters could be a reason for the high - what researchers called "unparalleled" - discrepancy in death risk rather than an actual higher risk in India versus the US.

The Indian database researchers relied upon drew on cases submitted from four hospitals in the countrys three largest cities with 10 million or more residents - Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata.Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata.

The US database did not have a comparable highly populated American citys submissions but instead included cases from three trauma centres in just one, medium-sized city - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has a population of a little over 300,000.

Researchers suggested the discrepancy was mostly due to a social stigma and lack of access to affordable care in India, leading women to not seek immediate medical care for injuries.

But, victims advocacy groups in the US like Planned Parenthood, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), and other victims advocacy groups have cited similar problems for American women who are victims of sexual assault and rape.

In the US in particular, there is the issue of thousands of kits - the results from medical examinations following a sexual assault or rape - that remain untested, sometimes for years at a time.

The study, other reliable data, and several anecdotal news reports certainly point to a problem of fatal sexual assault cases in India, however.

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

In 2012, the brutal gang rape on a Delhi bus of Jyoti Singh Pandey made global headlines as thousands of people in India took to the streets to protest the lack of legal protections for victims of sexual assault, the courts slow or lack of processing such cases, harmful police practises, and the underlying societal issues that have led to a problem in the country.

More recently, a judge in Delhi sentenced a popular so-called spiritual guru to a total of 20 years in prison for raping two female followers.

In Delhi alone, there was an estimated six reported rape and molestation cases a day despite a dip in overall crime rate as of February 2017.

Indias National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported that at least 34,651 cases of rape were reported across India in 2015.

The total number of sexual harassment, attempts to undress, importation of girls from foreign countries, cruelty by husbands or other relatives, kidnapping and abductions, among others was closer to 330,000 that same year, according to Al Jazeera.

To put those numbers in perspective, in the US in 2014 the number of reported sexual assaults and rapes was a little over 320,000 according to RAINN.

The group estimates that every 98 seconds another American is sexually assaulted.

While the Tata Institutes-University of Pittsburgh study is accurate in explaining that pre-hospital care services are also not likely to be as well developed in India as compared to the US, the situation with the American healthcare system and the debate over access to healthcare insurance in Congress may mean millions of American women are shut out from services despite the advanced level of care.

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association, told Al Jazeera, however unreported cases are likely higher in India not just due to the population but social stigma.

"The heart of the issue is structures in India that continue to restrict women's autonomy, and especially sexual autonomy, often justified in the name of culture."
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Police are investigating allegations that a 12-year-old killed herself after a teacher humiliated her for a period stain on her uniform, highlighting the taboo of menstruation in India.

The girl jumped off a building near her home in southern India's Tamil Nadu state on Monday, officials said, leaving a note saying her teacher had tortured her.

When other students told the girl she had blood on her clothes, she asked for help. But the female teacher made the girl show the stain in class, local media reported her mother as saying.

"The teacher did not even take into account that there were boys in the class," The News Minute quoted her as saying.

"She asked my daughter to lift (the) top of her salwar (kameez) up and then gave her (a) duster cloth to use as a pad."

In India, menstruating women and girls are often considered unclean and impure and are subjected to discrimination during their periods when, for example, they may not be allowed to go to the temple, or prepare and touch certain food.

The parents heard about the incident from their daughter's classmates and have demanded action against the teacher.

Investigations into the allegations are ongoing and school teachers and students are being questioned, police said.

Recommended Nepal passes law to end practice of exiling women for menstruating

In a suicide note to her parents, the girl said her teacher was picking on her but she did not mention the incident with her period, officials said.

Activists say the suicide highlights the need to make it easier for adolescent girls to attend school.

They are often forced to stay at home during their periods due to stigma and lack of toilets or pads.

"The school did not have sanitary pad dispensing machines," Dev Anand, the district child protection officer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"They did not even give the girl a regular pad. These are questions that the management needs to answer."

One Indian company is offering "menstrual leave" to female staff to combat the social taboos around menstruation which contribute to health problems and low self-esteem for millions of women and girls.

Thomson Reuters Foundation
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Japan's defence chiefs are seeking a record $48bn budget next year that includes $1.6bn (1.2bn) for missile defence and an extra $160m for research and development.

The announcement comes less than a week after North Korea fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile over Japan's northern Hokkaido region, provoking a storm of outrage around the world.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounced the launch as an "unprecedented, serious and grave threat" to the region.

Recommended US conducts computer war simulation in response to North Korea missile

The defence ministry's latest budget request includes funds, totalling a reported $1.6bn (1.2bn), for upgrades to the nation's ballistic missile defence systems designed to shoot down incoming projectiles.

Part of the smaller allocation would go towards development of longer-range missiles that could potentially be used in a strike capacity.

Such a weapon would be politically controversial in Japan, whose post-WW2 constitution, imposed by the US during occupation, has a pacifist and defensive stance.

The document has not prevented Japan from amassing a highly capable military force, however.

Mr Abe has proposed altering the constitution to "establish the status of the Self-Defence Forces explicitly" in order to "leave no room for contending the SDF could be unconstitutional".

Military historian John Kuehn told CNN last year: "Pilot for pilot, ship for ship, Japan can stand toe to toe with anybody."

Following the budget request, one member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said: "Striking enemy bases after an attack to stop subsequent launches would seem like a natural thing to do, but that would be difficult for people in Japan to accept under the current constitution."

 Theresa May: China must put pressure on North Korea to halt missile launches

A second portion of the $160msome $90mwill go on studying hypersonic missiles to quickly penetrate enemy defences.

"The research and development is for island defence," a Ministry of Defence official told a briefing, referring to the southwestern Okinawa island chain skirting the East China Sea, where Japan is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China.

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

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Japan had consistently hyped the so-called "China threat" to increase its defence spending, and urged it to learn the lessons of history and pay heed to its neighbours' security concerns.

"Regardless of what its reasons are, Japan's defence spending is increasing every year and has reached a new historical high. We express concern about this," Ms Hua told a regular press briefing.

The latest funds will pay for ballistic missile defence upgrades, six F-35 stealth fighters, four V-22 Osprey tilt rotor troop carriers, besides orders for new naval vessels, including a submarine and two compact warships.

They have yet to be approved by the government.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Legislation requiring people to "stick to traditional national clothes and culture" has been introduced in Tajikistan - a move widely interpreted as an attempt to stop women from wearing Islamic clothing.

Women in the central Asian country traditionally wear a scarf tied behind the head, rather than a hijab, which wraps under the chin.

Despite being a majority Muslim country, Tajikistan's Minister of Culture, Shamsiddin Orumbekzoda, told Radio Free Europe Islamic dress was "really dangerous".

Recommended German parliament approves partial burqa ban

He said that "everyone" looked at women wearing hijabs "with concern, worried that they could be hiding something under their hijab."

Although the legislation  an amendment to an existing law on traditions in the country  did not mention the hijab specifically, authorities have previously said the Islamic veil represents an "alien culture".

Under existing laws, women wearing hijabs are already banned from entering the country's government offices.

At the beginning of August, officials approached more than 8,000 women wearing hijabs in the capital of Dushanbe and ordered them to wear their scarves in the Tajik style.

The new legislation does not introduce a penalty for breaking the rule, but some have claimed that fines could be introduced at a later date.
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Almost 400 people have died in clashes between security forces and Rohingya Muslims in Burma, the country's military commander has said.

The numbers, posted on the military's official Facebook page, are a sharp increase on the previously reported toll of just over 100. The statement said all but 29 of the 399 dead were insurgents, whom it described as terrorists.

The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on 25 August, making the combat more extensive than previously announced.

 Pope Francis defends right of Burma's Rohingya Muslims to 'live their faith'

Recommended Bangladesh struggles to cope with influx of Rohingya refugees

Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma, say hundreds of Rohingya civilians have been killed by security forces.

According to the UN, some 38,000 have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh.

It comes after Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project pressure group, told ABC: "So far reportsI think quite crediblemention about 130 people including women and children killed.

"That happened on Sunday when suddenly security forces cordoned [off] the whole area, together with Rakhine villagers. It seems like this has been a major massacre in Rathedaung."

The latest violence follows an attack by Rohingya insurgents on police posts in the remote region, prompting a huge military crackdown.

The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, said it acted to protect Rohingya communities.

Rohingya mothers face persecution Show all 10 1 /10 Rohingya mothers face persecution Rohingya mothers face persecution Ramida Begum holds her 10-day-old daughter in their shelter in Kutupalang, an unregistered refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. 'The military caught my husband and burnt our house down a week before I left Myanmar. Since then I don't know whether my husband is dead or alive' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Minara Begum sits inside the shelter, cradling her one-month-old son Ayub. Minara fled to Bangladesh from Nasha Phuru village in Myanmar with her husband and mother-in-law. 'My child doesn't get enough breast milk as I don't eat enough nutritious food. I have to buy milk powder from local market though it's not very good for my son' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Amina, pictured with her 16-day-old daughter Sumaiyin, is in a refugee camp Balukhali that neighbours Ramida and Minara's. 'One and a half months ago the military came to our village and kept firing their guns. I ran away with my neighbours to save our lives. You see us alive here only because the God was so kind. They caught my uncle and my younger brother and we don't know whether they are dead or alive' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Fatema sits beside her one-day-old daughter Aasma in Kutupalang. Fatema fled to Bangladesh from Jambuinna village in Myanmar two months ago after her house was burnt down by the military. She crossed Naf River by boat during the night. 'Our situation is better than many other refugees as my husband Mohammad Alom works here as a day labourer. Many of the new refugees have no work here, so they have to rely on relief' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Jamalida cradles her two-month-old daughter Shahida. Jamalida came to Bangladesh with her husband from Nasha Phuru village in Myanmar Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Rehana Begum lays her one-day-old daughter in front of her inside their tarpaulin shelter. Rehana fled her village of Jambuinna in Myanmar three months ago. 'We were in our home and suddenly the military came to our village and started shooting. When we heard the sound of gun shots we immediately went to our relatives. We walked for four hours without any food and water to reach the border at 1 a.m. We paid 25,000 Myanmar kyat (14) to a broker to cross.' Intercepted by Bangladesh border guards, Rehana's family narrowly escaped being sent home. 'They wanted to send us back, but then we heard gunshots from the Myanmar side and the guards released us, saying, "Stay in Bangladesh and save your lives"' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Noor Begum sits next to her one-day-old daughter Sumaiya as she stares into the camera. Noor came to the camp one-and-a-half months ago from Nagpura village with her husband Jahangir Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Rajuma Begum observes her one-month-old son Raihan. 'I fled to Bangladesh because of fear, because I needed to save my children. I was pregnant and suffering from fever while crossing the border. I also have an 11-month-old boy, so it was very difficult to reach the border from our village Wabek in Myanmar. I had to rest frequently. After six hours of horrible walking we finally reached the border at 2am and crossed after paying a broker' Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution Eighteen-year-old Asmot Ara rests her newly born daughter on her lap. Asmot said she came to the camp one month ago with neighbours from Nagpura village. In Myanmar her father-in-law was killed and their home burnt down by the Myanmar military Reuters Rohingya mothers face persecution As Marijaan holds her 25-day-old daughter Noor Habi, her son peers over her shoulder. Marijaan fled to Bangladesh from Khyeri Prang village in Myanmar one month ago after her house was burnt down by the Myanmar military. 'I reached the border at night and crossed by the boat. I paid the boatman to cross the Naf River' Reuters

Burma's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi has said the "terrorist" attacks were "a calculated attempt to undermine the efforts of those seeking to build peace and harmony in Rakhine state".

The Burmese government has repeatedly denied claims the Rohingya are facing genocide. It previously brushed away evidence of human rights violations as fake news and "propaganda".

Bangladeshi border guards have tried to keep out the fleeing Rohingya, but thousands could be seen on Friday making their way across muddy rice fields.

Young people helped carry the elderly, some on makeshift stretchers, and children carried newborns.

Some, carrying bundles of clothes, cooking utensils and small solar panels, said they had walked at least three days to get to the border.

Sham Shu Hoque, 34, crossed the border with 17 family members. He said he left his village of Ngan Chaung on 25 August after it was attacked by Burmese security forces who shot at the villagers. He said troops also used rocket-propelled grenades, and helicopters fired some sort of incendiary device.

Five people were killed in front of his house, he said. His family survived the attack but was told by the soldiers to leave. They took a week to reach Bangladesh, hiding in villages along the way, he said.

Most of Burma's estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution, with the government refusing to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.

Additional reporting by agencies
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A case against a 96-year-old former SS medic is set to be thrown out after prosecutors said he was unfit to stand trial.

Hubert Zafke was accused of helping to kill 3,681 people at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in a period of several weeks in 1944.

Mr Zafke's defence team argued that he did nothing criminal and said he should not stand trial because he suffered from poor health, including dementia, high blood pressure and suicidal thoughts.

The prosecutors' office in Schwerin said on Thursday that Mr Zafke was examined by experts twice in recent months and found to be unfit.

Stefan Urbanek, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor's office, told AFP: "Now the dementia has reached a severity that the defendant is no longer able, inside and outside the courtroom, to reasonably assess his interests or coherently follow or give testimony."

The court case, which started in February 2016 in Neubrandenburg, has been paused three times because of concerns about Mr Zafke's health.

Three judges were removed from the trial in June after lawyers representing Auschwitz victims and their families complained of bias.

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The International Auschwitz Committee, which represents Holocaust survivors, previously accused the German prosecutors of "complete disinterest in reaching a judgement.

But a lawyer for the two plaintiffs, who are sons of a woman murdered in Auschwitz, said the new decision to throw out the court case "complied with the rule of law".

Some 1.1 million people died between 1940 and 1945 in Auschwitz before it was liberated by Soviet soldiers.

More than 70 years after the most senior members of the Third Reich were prosecuted at Nuremberg, Germany is struggling to prosecute the last members of the Nazi regime.

Recent trials have used a new standard of evidence, which says that anyone working at a death camp can be prosecuted, regardless of whether they were proven to have murdered specific individuals.
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Pope Francis visited a psychoanalyst to clarify some things, he has said.

He admitted the weekly sessions with a Jewish therapist as part of discussions he had with a French sociologist who is writing a book about him.

The Pope said hed visited her when he was 42, and the sessions spanned a six-month period. He didnt say what he wanted to explore, but they came while he was working as a senior Jesuit official in Argentina, when it was under military rule.

Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Live and let live.' GETTY IMAGES Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Proceed calmly" in life' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Be giving of yourself to others' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Sunday is for family' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Respect and take care of nature' OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Stop being negative' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: Respect others' beliefs' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive' FP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness AFP/Getty Images

La Stampa, an Italian daily, quoting some of the conversations, said Francis went to the analysts home.

Recommended Pope Francis urges political leaders to accept climate change reality

Francis was quoted as saying: One day, when she was about to die, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue.

He added: She was a good person. For six months she helped me a lot.

At the time, Francis  or Fr Jorge Mario Bergoglio as he was then  was the head of the Jesuit order in his native Argentina, which was ruled by a military dictatorship.

He is believed to be the first Pope in history to have visited a psychoanalyst  or at least to have admitted to it.

The Vatican has long had an attitude of distrust towards psychoanalysis and therapy. But it has recently shown more of an interest in the technique, and says that psychologists can be a useful way of looking at the psychological health of potential priests.

The 80-year-old Pope also speaks of his state of mind now.

I feel free. Sure, Im in a cage here at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing makes me afraid.

What bothers him, he said, are people with straitjacket points of view.

He singled out rigid priests who are afraid to communicate. Its a form of fundamentalism. Whenever I run into a rigid person, especially if young, I tell myself that hes sick.

But Francis concludes that in reality, they are persons looking for security.

In past remarks, the pontiff has indicated he struggled with how to use authority in his first roles of leadership as a Jesuit.

Additional reporting by agencies
Taro Aso (file photo)

Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso sparked outrage on Tuesday after his pro-Nazi remark, even though he later retracted it. Chinas Foreign Ministry responded by saying that no wrong words or deeds that deviate from the international social ethics and human conscience will be tolerated.

Asos comment was interpreted as defending the reasoning behind Adolf Hitlers Nazi Germany carrying out the Holocaust during World War II. He later retracted it.

On Aug. 31, Japans national daily the Mainichi Shimbun published an editorial titled, Asos Hitler remark can't be let slide, saying it is not something Aso can get away with by just retracting his comment because it caused misunderstanding.

The article said it was not the first time Aso made comments in support of Nazi Germany. In 2013, Aso said Japan should learn from Nazi Germany. The comment later sparked an international outcry, with a Jewish human rights group releasing a statement condemning his remarks.

The latest remarks are just proof that he has not learned anything from the 2013 gaffe, the editorial argued, emphasizing that arguments in support of the Nazis can also be seen and heard in Japan.

Japans daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun also criticized Aso for his incredible and disturbing thoughtlessness. Since Aso doesnt do any serious soul-searching over his remarks, he will commit similar gaffes again, the newspaper said.

In the West, senior government officials would immediately face strong pressure to resign if they make any remark expressing a positive view about the Nazis or Hitler, it added.

There is still a group of Japanese politicians clinging to the wrong perception of history, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in response to Asos statements at a regular press conference on Aug. 31.

I have seen relevant reports. We always say that history is the best textbook and it is also a bright mirror. When it comes to historical issues that concern cardinal matters of right and wrong, no wrong words or deeds that deviate from the international social ethics and human conscience will be tolerated, Hua said.

We once again urge those forces in Japan to straighten their view on history, genuinely learn lessons from history, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community, she stressed.

Chinese netizens expressed their outrage toward Asos remarks. A lot of common Japanese people are also victims of Japans militarism, some commented on Chinas social media giant Sina Weibo.

Japan claims itself a democratic country, but what kind of democracy would choose a politician like Aso? others questioned.
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More than two million Muslim have been performing the final rites of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Today is Eid al-Adha, the second of the two Eid holidays, when Muslims commemorate the testing of the prophet Ibrahims faith.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered at an enormous complex in Mina, just outside Mecca, to cast stones at three stone pillars that mark the spot where it is believed the devil tried to talk Ibrahim out of submitting himself to the will of God.

Hajj 2017 Show all 16 1 /16 Hajj 2017 Hajj 2017 A Muslim pilgrim partakes in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, near Mecca, which marks the final major rite of the hajj Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim pilgrims take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina, near Mecca, which marks the final major rite of the hajj Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 A Muslim pilgrim partakes in the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 A Muslim pilgrim has his head shaven after throwing pebbles at pillars during the symbolic stoning of the devil Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 A Muslim pilgrim's head is shaved, after throwing pebbles at pillars during the symbolic stoning of the devil Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 A Saudi policeman spays Muslim pilgrims with water to cool them off near the Grand Mosque Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim pilgrims pray at Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca Bandar Aldandani/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim pilgrims at the Grand Mosque Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Iranian Muslim pilgrims wait at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim worshippers perform prayers around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 An Iranian Muslim pilgrim reads the Koran as she waits at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia, prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Saudi Red Crescent paramedics show the press their emergency equipment Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim worshippers perform prayers around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim worshippers perform prayers around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim worshippers walk around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP Hajj 2017 Muslim pilgrims sit around the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca Karim Sahib/AFP

In the Koran, Ibrahims faith was tested when God commanded him to kill his son Ismail, only to stay his hand at the last minute.

In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, the prophet known as Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.

On the Eid al-Adha holiday, or feast of sacrifice', Muslims slaughter lifestock and donate the meat to the poor.

For the last three days of hajj, pilgrims sleep in a tent city in Mina with capacity for three million people to take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil.

This was the location of a tragic stampede in 2015, when more than 2,500 people were killed after two crowds collided.

The Saudi government has since widened roads in and around Mina to increase capacity, and this year has laid on more than 100,000 security forces to manage the crowd.

Most pilgrims will remain in Mina until Monday before completing the hajj by circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, Islam's most sacred site.

The Kaaba represents the house of God and the unity of God in Islam. It is what observant Muslims face five times a day when they pray.

If they have the means, every Muslim is expected to perform hajj at least once in their lifetime.
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Some 16,000 Muslims from the United States are in Saudi Arabia this week to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, one of Islam's most sacred experiences. If the Hajj is performed with sincere intentions, Muslims believe it can wipe away past sins, purify the soul and alleviate worldly stresses.

This year, however, Muslims say they have never been more anxious travelling abroad than now, under the Trump administration's rules, which unleashed protests across the country and confusion at airports earlier this year.

Those performing the Hajj say that while it's never been exactly stress-free to fly as a Muslim in America, the new climate under President Donald Trump has heightened anxieties about travelling to Saudi Arabia, where the Hajj is performed. The Hajj, which runs for five days and ends Monday, draws some two million people from around the world each year. All Muslims with the means to do so are required to make the pilgrimage at least once.

We do find the anxiety level rising at this current time, said Sulaimaan Hamed, who operates Hajj Pros, an Atlanta-based company organising Hajj trips. It is a reality with the heightened scrutiny.

Hamed, who is in his 17th year organising the pilgrimages, has a client who opted not to take the trip this year. The West African native had renewed her green card because of a misspelling and the new document didn't arrive in time for travelling.

She's fearing... she might not be able to get back into the US, Hamed said. The environment of heightened scrutiny has her nervous enough. She's waiting until next year.

Recommended Trump administration settles in Muslim travel ban case

Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered a temporary ban on refugees and a travel ban affecting Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen, plus Iraq. His administration had also initially said citizens of those countries who hold permanent US residency green cards would be barred from re-entering the country.

Trump said the controversial measures were needed to protect the US from terrorists, but opponents said it was unfairly harsh and was intended to meet his campaign promise to keep Muslims out of the United States. Two months ago the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trump's executive order, which no longer includes people from Iraq.

Abdull Warsame, a Somali-American who lives in Minnesota, is leading 420 people to Hajj this year from the United States. His company, Mina Hajj Travel, consulted with an immigration attorney to address concerns before the trip.

He said only about three or four people chose to cancel their pilgrimage this year because they didn't want to deal with the unknowns the travel ban might bring if they are not allowed to return to the US.

Tussles in the courts over Trump's executive order, and the gradual dissipation of a ban on major electronics and laptops in cabins of flights from 10 mostly Muslim cities  including Jiddah, the main entry point for pilgrims on Hajj  left many unsure about what their rights are while travelling.

There is still a lot of confusion from travellers and we are hearing from people who are coming back from Hajj and worried about what they will face at the border, said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Shamsi, the director of the National Security Project at the ACLU, said there has been a rise in reported incidents of Muslim citizens and legal permanent residents being questioned inappropriately about their religious and political beliefs while travelling.

This has happened under previous administrations, but we and colleague organisations have certainly seen a rise, at least in anecdotal accounts, of that kind of questioning and screening, she said.

Suehaila Amen, part of Michigan's large Arab American and Muslim community, had concerns when travelling to Lebanon earlier this year after the initial Trump order was issued.

Amen, who's on the hajj this year, says she always makes sure to fly internationally from Detroit because the Muslim community in Michigan has a good working relationship with government agencies there. It makes flying more comfortable, she said.

I actually go out of my way to go through customs in Detroit and not anywhere else, she said.

To prepare Americans for travelling to the hajj, the Council on American-Islamic Relations conducted a webinar that discussed people's rights while travelling at customs, US entry points and airport security checkpoints.

We have tremendous rights as we travel, but these rights are only meaningful if you know them and understand them, CAIR Florida's Executive Director Hassan Shibly said during the webinar.

Some of the examples CAIR gave include the rights of female travellers to request a female TSA agent for pat downs and the right to request that the hijab, or head cover worn by Muslim women, not be removed in public.

CAIR's senior litigation attorney, Gadeir Abbas, told the Associated Press the Trump administration's conduct has heightened an already tense situation among Muslims, who have come to expect a certain level of extra scrutiny while travelling.

Abbas said the Trump administration has reintroduced the practice of placing US Muslim citizens on a no-fly list while they're abroad and thus exiling them until they can successfully petition the government and courts to board a flight back home. He said the practice was first introduced under the Obama administration, but had disappeared since 2014.

After Trump took office, at least one person every month has been added to the no-fly list while abroad. Among those was a mosque leader, or imam, from Salt Lake City who was in Kenya to meet his wife and children over the summer. CAIR was able to litigate on his behalf and he was removed from the no-fly list. The imam is now leading a group of pilgrims for the hajj.

Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Show all 11 1 /11 Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty Activists protest Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban People listen to speakers at a demonstration against racism and conservative presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent remarks concerning Muslims on December 10, 2015 in New York City. Dozens or demonstrators and activists converged at Columbus Circle to denounce the politics of Trump and the treatment of Muslim refugees both in America and Europe. Spencer Platt/Getty

It has never been more stressful to travel as a Muslim in America, Abbas said.

After all the preparations, Hamed the Hajj tour operator said Muslims must step out in faith.

We have to help them understand that God is greater, as is the obligation to fulfil your religious rite, than being scared of flying on an airplane or fearing what one may experience going through customs, he said.

AP
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A decision by US authorities to arrest Turkish security guards involved in a brawl in Washington in May is a scandal, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

US prosecutors charged a dozen Turkish security and police officers with assault after an attack on protesters in Washington during Erdogan's visit to the US capital in May.

This is a complete scandal. It is a scandalous sign of how justice works in the United States, he told reporters after prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Adha celebration.

The 16 May skirmish, caught on video, injured 11 people outside the Turkish ambassador's residence and further strained bilateral ties at a time when the Nato allies are in sharp disagreement over policy in Syria.

Turkey blamed the violence on demonstrators linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), while the Washington police chief described it as a brutal attack on peaceful protesters.

Recommended Erdogan guards face three new indictments over Washington DC brawl

Erdogan said the United States had failed to provide him protection from members of the PKK during his visit, and added he would discuss the issue with President Donald Trump in his next visit.

The charges against some members of Erdogan's security detail sent a clear message that the United States does not tolerate individuals who use intimidation and violence to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate political expression, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

Since a failed coup attempt last year, Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 150,000 officials in purges, while sending to jail pending trial some 50,000 people including soldiers, police, civil servants.

The crackdown has targeted people whom authorities say they suspect of links to the network of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Ankara blames Gulen for the coup. He denies any involvement.

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

These developments in the United States are not good at all. The United States is still a country where the FETO gang (Gulen's network) is being protected. The United States has literally become a country where the PKK terrorist organisation is under protection, Erdogan said.

I am having trouble understanding what the United States is trying to do with all these developments.

Reuters
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A vast 1,700 year old Roman settlement has been discovered off the coast of Tunisia after several years of archaeological exploration in search of the ancient city of Neapolis.

Neapolis is believed to have been submerged after a tsunami in the 4th century AD destroyed most of it, as recorded by Roman soldier and historian Ammien Marcellin. The natural disaster also badly damaged Alexandria in modern Egypt and the Greek island of Crete.

Very little has been recorded about the city because the citizens of Neapolis sided with Carthage rather than Rome during the Third Punic War in 149146 BC, which ultimately destroyed the rival civilisation and brought its territory under Roman control.

There are so few references to Neapolis over an extended period of Roman literature it is thought the city was punished for its allegiances.

A joint Tunisian-Italian archaeological mission has been looking for evidence of Neapolis since 2010. Their work was finally rewarded after good weather conditions this summer allowed divers in Nabeul to glimpse the more than 20 hectares site for the first time in centuries.

It's a major discovery, the missions leader Mounir Fantar told AFP on Thursday, which confirms Marcellins theory about the citys fate.

Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Show all 12 1 /12 Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Ancient pottery shards found on the site Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem The ruins were found on the site of the famous Schneller Orphanage which operated until the Second World War Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem The archaeologists also found evidence of a Roman bathhouse Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem A brick stamped with the insignia of the Tenth Roman Legion who garrisoned the province Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem An ancient candle holder Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Shards of pottery unearthed from the site Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Archaeologists believe the site to be around 1,600 years old Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Archaeologists also found evidence of an earlier Jewish home on the site Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Jerusalem district archaeologist Amit Re'em said the find showed 'the magic' of the city Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem An ancient Roman estate has been found on the site of the Schneller Orphanage in Jerusalem Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Excavation Director Alex Wiegmann holds up a candle holder used in the Roman period Israel Antiquities Authority Ancient Roman estate found in Jerusalem Archaeologists found a wine press in the centre of the complex Israel Antiquities Authority

The team not only found streets and monuments showing the citys sophistication and wealth, but 100 tanks which were used to make garum, a fish-based fermented condiment which was a delicacy in the ancient Roman world, the AFP said.

This discovery has allowed us to establish with certainty that Neapolis was a major centre for the manufacture of garum and salt fish, probably the largest centre in the Roman world, Mr Fantar added.

Probably the notables of Neapolis owed their fortune to garum.

Founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th Century BC in what is now modern Tunisia, the ancient civilisation of Carthage developed into a great trading empire. Over the course of the three Punic Wars with Rome, its power was eventually weakened and ultimately submitted to Roman control in the 2nd Century AD.

A second Roman Carthage was built over the ruins of the first.
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Thousands of Yemenis are uploading photos of themselves with one eye closed and using a hand to open the other eye wider to show solidarity with the plight of a toddler who lost her entire family in an air strike on Sanaa last week.

Five-year-old Bouthania al-Rimis mother, father and all six of her siblings were killed on 25 August in a Saudi-led coalition strike which hit a residential building in the neighbourhood of Faj Attan.

Three families who lived in the targeted three-storey house lost loved ones in the overnight attack, which also destroyed several nearby houses. Fourteen people died and 16 were injured in the incident in total, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

A picture of Bouthania with facial fractures trying to open her bruised eyes after she was rescued by her uncle was uploaded to Twitter by Yemeni activists, where it was quickly shared thousands of times.

Like the distressing photos of Omran Daqneesh, the boy in the Aleppo ambulance chair, and Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who washed up on a beach in Turkey after his family drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean, her image has become to many a symbol of the suffering inflicted on children by the Middle Easts many conflicts.

Riyadh and its allies have extensively bombed Houthi rebels in charge of Yemens capital and north since March 2015 at the request of the exiled, internationally recognised president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, fearing Iranian influence.

The campaign has been repeatedly criticised for causing an excessive loss of civilian life. Saudi blockades on Yemens ports and airspace have also been blamed for causing the famine now facing seven million people as well as the worst cholera outbreak in modern history, which has infected 500,000 people. More than 10,000 are thought to have been killed as a result of the conflict to date.

In an attempt to draw attention to the dire humanitarian situation, Yemenis are now sharing pictures of themselves opening one eye, like Bouthania, using her name and I speak for Bouthania as hashtags.

Bouthaina is telling the world 'open your eyes', Istanbul-based documentary maker Abdulrahman Algamily posted.

Oh my little one, no matter how much you try to open your eyes, the world is, unfortunately, a dark place, he added.

The Saudi-led military coalition said in a statement that the strike which killed Bouthanias family was the result of a technical mistake.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and 56 other international non-governmental organisations urged the United Nations to establish an international body to investigate abuses they say may amount to war crimes committed by all the warring parties in Yemen.
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Inflight blankets and earphones are the latest casualties in the transatlantic budget airline war.

One month from today, Aer Lingus will remove these frills for passengers on the cheapest fares from Dublin to North American destinations.

Passengers who purchase the Irish airlines new Saver tickets will also the lose the right to select a seat in advance and check in a bag free of charge. Only one 10kg piece of cabin baggage is allowed.

But they will save 40 (36.80) each way on the next-lowest fares, known as Smart.

Aer Lingus, which is a sister airline to British Airways, says: Designed to meet the diverse needs of todays traveller, Saver is here to offer more choice and flexibility.

Passengers choosing the cheapest option are told: Well allocate you one of the remaining seats at check-in, free of charge. They will still receive an inflight meal. Use of a blanket will cost 3 on each flight, with earphones on sale for 5.

The move reflects the intense competition between budget airlines across the Atlantic.

From Manchester, Thomas Cook has created a significant American network. Norwegian is offering a range of US links using wide-bodied aircraft from Gatwick and smaller jets from Edinburgh and Belfast.

London no longer rules the Atlantic route, as Dublin and Manchester start to compete on prices to the US (Aer Lingus)

The two Icelandic international carriers, Icelandair and Wow Air, are competing via Reykjavik to an expanding number of US and Canadian cities.

A Danish carrier, Primera Air, aims to launch links to Boston and New York from Birmingham and Stansted.

Meanwhile, British Airways is cutting seat costs by densifying its fleet of Gatwick-based Boeing 777 aircraft. BA is squeezing an extra 52 passengers on each plane, mainly by adding an extra seat to every row in economy, with 10 instead of nine abreast.

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Dublin is an increasingly popular choice among British travellers heading for the US and Canada. It is the only major airport in Europe to offer pre-clearance of American passport and customs formalities.

With US Customs and Border Protection checks conducted before departure, passengers are treated as domestic travellers when they touch down.

If passengers are prepared to tolerate a small degree of risk, they can also reduce their Air Passenger Duty liability by buying separate tickets.

Travelling from Manchester via Dublin to New York on 1 October for a week, a Manchester-Dublin-New York ticket is priced at 475 return. Buying an Aer Lingus return to Dublin and a Saver onward to JFK airport cuts around 50 from the through fare.

On the chosen dates, however, Thomas Cook is offering a non-stop Manchester-New York return of 360, including 23kg of luggage, blankets and earphones  at no extra charge.
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Northern Irelands Giants Causeway is the most disappointing tourist attraction in the world, according to a survey conducted by the Irish Times.

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the Niagara Falls were also heavily criticised by respondents.

The newspaper asked on social media: What is the most overrated and underwhelming tourist attraction you have ever visited?

Giants Causeway, a National Trust property, elicited hundreds of responses. One said of the interlocking basalt columns, it is a very long walk for a small gathering of rocks.

Recommended 7 tourist sites that tourism has ruined

A previous TripAdvisor review from Mary K said: It's the biggest rip off I have ever seen, from entering the car park, what a disgrace. Another respondent said: The National Trust are using it as a cash cow.

Of those disappointed by their visit to one of Irelands top attractions, the cost of entry was a major cause of their anger.

However, of 7,808 TripAdvisor reviews, 71 per cent rate it excellent and 21 per cent deem it very good, with relatively few rating it average, poor or terrible.

The Mona Lisa in the Musee du Louvre, Paris, also came under fire in the survey. Niamh MacSweeney said: The Mona Lisa has to be up there? Its tiny and boring.

Another respondent said: I walked by her umpteen times. Her sad face combined with its tiny size just didn't live up to the history books. Despite this, 72 per cent of TripAdvisor entries rate the Musee du Louvre as excellent.

The Manneken Pis statue in Brussels was described as being a bit of a joke by one person responding in the survey. Leonie Khan said: Its teeny and hidden away on a dark corner.

Other derided tourist attractions included the Empire State Building, The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Click here to find hotels near other UNESCO sites
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In these days of climate change denial, Trofim Lysenko is a name that you need to know.

Half of Texas might be underwater due to the sort of extreme weather event that climate scientists  not to mention the risk modelling of insurance companies  have been predicting will become increasingly common, but this seems not to matter to the peddlers of the myth that this has nothing to do with human activity.

Ann Coulter might be a professional troll  shes basically Americas Katie Hopkins  but when she tweets: I dont believe Hurricane Harvey is Gods punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that is more credible than climate change, an awful lot of Conservatives cheer her on.

Thanks to the election of Donald Trump, the fictions of a small number of charlatans are in the ascendant.

They are the new Lysenko-ists: the advocates of a fake science that suits a political ideology.

 People form a human chain to save an elderly man whose car is trapped in flood waters caused by Storm Harvey

But first, a brief explanation of the man who thrust Soviet agrobiology into the dark ages  for those who havent studied Russian history and/or genetics.

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet scientist who managed to catch the eye of Joseph Stalin. A plain-speaking man of peasant stock, his ideas, and especially his background, chimed with the politics of the time.

He rejected natural selection and Mendelian genetics, advocating instead (among other things) that acquired characteristics could be inherited, and that his theories and processes could dramatically improve crop yields.

Bunk. But the appeal of a man with a politically correct background claiming that a Soviet science could produce miracles, at a time when the country was struggling to feed itself, was obvious. The fact that he cast himself in opposition to the materialist scientific consensus made him all the more alluring to Uncle Joe.

Lysenkos rise was rapid, and thanks to his all-powerful patron, mainstream scientists found it all but impossible to expose his rubbish. Some of them died for trying.

The new Lysenko-ist myth similarly suits the politics of the time. Its advocates often like to cast themselves as outsiders, backing the American people against alleged leftists advocating measures that would destroy jobs. Theyre trying to do America down!

In Trump, they have a powerful patron. And while their opponents dont find themselves sent to Siberia (or worse), they have been losing their jobs at places such as Americas Environmental Protection Agency.

Meanwhile, funding is readily available to those who will sing from the deniers hymn sheet, despite the fact that theyre setting themselves against virtually every respectable scientist on Planet Earth.

Ive yet to see the phrase American science to characterise their claims in the same way that Soviet science was used by Lysenko, but how long can it be before that happens?

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

It doesnt seem to be enough that evidence contradicting their myths has come from no less than the likes of NASA, or that the economic cost of taking no action is mounting by the day. The new Lysenko-ists are immune.

It is also a depressing fact that the mainstream media has played a role in aiding their cause by according them false equivalence with real scientists.

There are climate change deniers on these shores, and the BBC has been guilty of giving them a leg up. It recently invited Nigel Lawson onto its flagship Today programme, to peddle a series of falsehoods that largely went unchallenged. No, it is not getting cooler.

The Beeb might just as well have invited Ken Ham from Kentuckys Creation Museum to discuss Darwin, or anti-vaxxer Ken Heckenlively to talk about the MMR jab. By the way, did I forget to mention that Trump is also fond of the anti-vaccination movement?

Trouble is, the stubborn resilience of what they serve up demonstrates that, even if the mainstream media treated climate deniers with the contempt that they usually receive, it might not change anything .

The internet has facilitated the rise of alternative media outlets that delight in peddling alternative facts, to quote infamous Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway. They can be relied upon to keep the bandwagon rolling.

Funding, and the political support of powerful people, is all it takes to keep these people from being consigned to Kooksville where live the flat Earthers, 9/11 truthers, and the people who claim that the planet is hollow.

I wish the experience of Soviet Russia would give for optimism for the future. I wish I could say that Lysenko was exposed by the patent falsehoods he traded in. Unfortunately, his power only started to wane when Stalin began to become irritated by his popularity. And it took not only the death of his original patron, but the fall of his successor Nikita Khrushchev, for him and his mad theories to be formally debunked.

In other words, it took a change in the political climate, as opposed to any practical or scientific considerations.

It remains vitally important that we continue to expose charlatans peddling pseudoscience, and that we continue to confront their myths and untruths with facts.

But we might still have to wait for the same thing to happen for Lysenkos inheritors to be consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong.

Were there an afterlife, and were a crafty Georgian with a big bushy moustache able to look down on us from it, hed be laughing right now. As would his protege.
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Donald Trump and his Russian connections are back in the headlines. After a break, during which the focus had moved on to other crises of his extraordinary administration, the question of whether the President was the successful Muscovian candidate in the US election is once more coming under the spotlight.

What is emerging is a tale far more complex and riveting than the initial claims of electoral interference by the Kremlin. The colourful cast now involves people who moved not only in the world of realpolitik but in that of espionage and terrorism; money-laundering and organised crime; secret real estate deals and fraud.

Characters who featured in the early days of revelations about Trump and the Russians have resurfaced. There is Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who produced an explosive and contentious report on Trump (which the President vigorously disputed). There is Michael Cohen, Trumps lawyer and a former executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation. And, then we have Felix Sater (aka Felix Sheferovsky), a Russian-born criminal once jailed for stabbing a man in the face, who is also a former associate of gangsters and of Trump and was once an FBI informant who, it has been claimed, supplied information on the mafia and al-Qaeda.

There is another man, seldom mentioned, who is likely to play an important role in what unfolds  someone who is not good news for Trump. As a federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann once signed a plea bargaining deal with Sater. Now he is in the team of Justice Department special counsel, former FBI chief Robert Mueller, who is investigating Trump.

It is the presence of Weissmann and others like him  people who know where to find buried skeletons  which has caused particular alarm among Trump and his supporters and led to the threats of closing down Muellers inquiry. These highly experienced and able investigators and prosecutors are gathering evidence about the President which could decide what happens to him in the future.

While Trump has been lurching from one drama to another  sacking former FBI director James Comey; losing his national security adviser Michael Flynn, chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus; failing to ditch Obamacare; and defending the Charlottesville neo-Nazis  the Mueller team has been digging away with some success. The home of Trumps former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has been raided, while others who worked for Trump have been subpoenaed and questioned: a grand jury has been empanelled.

There were concerted attempts made to discredit Steeles report when news of it broke last year. But many of his claims proved subsequently to be credible.

The former MI6 officer, for instance, had claimed that Cohen was a key conduit between the Trump camp and the Russians and that Vladimir Putins spokesman Dmitri Peskov was tasked with carrying out a covert campaign to undermine Hilary Clintons presidential bid (which Peskov denied). Cohen had initially denied having any dealings whatsoever with the Russians in his work for Trump. But newly leaked emails show that Cohen asked for Peskovs help with a Trump real estate project, the Trump Tower, in Moscow in 2016. This was when Trump was already campaigning to secure the Republican nomination for the presidency, thus raising fundamental issues of conflicts of interest.

 Eric Trump says his father ignores much criticism so he doesn't kill himself

The Trump Tower project introduces Sater, born Felix Sheferovsky, whose family emigrated to America from Russia when he was six, and who had been a friend of Cohen since they were teenagers. Sater was convinced that Putin would help Trump to get to the White House and he and Cohen would receive the due credit. Can you believe two guys from Brooklyn are going to elect a president? was the excited email sent to Cohen at one stage.

He had stated, in earlier messages, that Putin would back the development of Trump Tower in Moscow and that this would be part of a grand plan. Our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer itI will get Putin on this programme and we will get Trump elected. Cohen says the emails were evidence of Sater trying to persuade his friend of the valuable role he could play, highlighting that if Trump could show his ability to get along with foreign leaders he would mark himself out from other presidential candidates.

Sater the kingmaker had come a long way from the time he was convicted in 1991 of slashing a man with a broken cocktail glass (he was drinking a margarita) and jailed for a year. He was prosecuted again in 1998 for his role in an investment scam in which Russian and American organised crime groups targeted the elderly, some of whom were holocaust survivors.

Sater avoided prison (and a potential sentence of 20 years) that time by becoming an informer, eventually paying a $25,000 fine. There are various versions of what he passed on to the US security agencies. Sater himself claimed he had used his contacts in the Russian underworld to help the CIA buy back Stinger anti-aircraft missiles supplied to the Afghan mujahidin. There is, however, no reason why Russian gangsters would have any knowledge of what happened to the Stingers and nothing has been presented publicly to back up his account.

But, in a recently unsealed transcript of a hearing in New York in which the Justice Department sought to keep details of Saters cooperation secret, a Federal lawyer, Todd Kaminsky, described what their prized snitch had done. The deposition, in which Sater is referred to as John Doe makes compulsive reading.

Unlike some cooperators who cooperate within one type of organised crime family or over one type of crime, Mr Does cooperation runs a gamut that is seldom seen. It involves violent organisations such as al-Qaeda, it involves foreign governments, it involves Russian organised crime. And, most particularly, it involves various families of la cosa nostra. By that, specifically, I mean an individual on the ruling board of the Genovese crime family, a captain in the Bonanno crime family, a soldier in the Gambino crime family, the list goes on and on. Now, at the time of the sealing in 1998 and through the beginning of 2008, Mr Doe worked in a proactive capacity actively aiding grand jury investigations that involved surreptitious recordings of individuals as well as other undercover actions.

Sater doesnt deny that he worked for the government, although he says he did not inform on mafia members.

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

This then was the man Trump went into business with.

Sater had become involved with a company called the Bayrock Group, set up by Tevfik Arif, a real estate firm which had a suite of offices two floors beneath the Trump Organisations headquarters in Trump Tower for eight years. Eventually Sater became Bayrocks managing director and the company went into partnership with Trump in connection with the construction of the Trump Soho hotel. The two men appeared at ribbon cutting ceremonies for joint projects and went on business trips together. Sater used Trump Organisation business cards, though the Trump Organisation maintains he was not an employee.

Sater boasted that he was so close to the Trump family that he was asked by Donald to squire Donald Junior and Ivanka on a trip to Moscow and that during it he arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putins chair in the Presidents office in the Kremlin. Ivanka says that her trip to Moscow included a brief tour of Red Square and the Kremlin and this may have involved sitting at Putins desk; although she could not quite remember whether she had done so.

Trump, however, claims that he hardly knew Sater. If he were sitting in this room right now I really wouldnt know what he looks like, he insisted. It is not the first time, of course, that the President has tried to distance himself from those who had become problematic over the Russia investigation. He had held, for instance, that Manafort, his former campaign manager, was really only in the fringes of his campaign.

Manafort has been one of the foremost targets of Muellers investigation to date. The New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman is now helping the search into his financial affairs including allegations of money laundering. According to American media one of the aims is to obtain Manaforts cooperation in the wider inquiry into Trump. Manafort denies all wrongdoing.

Sater, as we have seen, has been quite prepared in the past to betray his associates to save his own skin. Andrew Weissmann, the Mueller team believe, may find himself reprising a version of the deal he once signed with the former informer.

That may not be a happy prospect for Donald Trump as he struggles to conceal the secrets and lies of his own colourful past.
Statues of Zhi Nu (left) and Niu Lang

The official statues of Zhi Nu and Niu Lang, heroes of the romantic legend behind Chinas Qixi Festival, were commented as rough, wild, and eye-stinging by Weibo users especially when compared with graceful Greek statues. But analysts point out different climates contributed to the two different sculpture styles in ancient China and ancient Greek.

Qixi, Chinese Valentines Day, originates from a love story between a fairy and an orphan cowherd. The two statues unearthed in Xian were made in the Han Dynasty, over 2,000 years ago. Today, they are of historical importance as the first evidence of the romantic legend.

The Han sculptures seem far from romantic compared with the story. Some net users roasted the wild style of the two statues and even questioned the standard of beauty in the eyes of ancient China people.

Contemporary statues in ancient Greek, like the Venus de Milo, are more beautiful and aesthetic, argued some netizens.

However, historical records tell the truth. The elegant Venus, one of the three treasures in Louvre, was manually restored to its grace. When firstly discovered by a farmer near an island, the goddess was just a heap of pieces. What is now the graceful and renowned statue was joined with glues and marble powders.

Different climates contributed to the two different sculpture styles in ancient China and ancient Greek. With various dressing styles, ancient people in China and the West nurtured different aesthetic styles.

Ancient China excelled at scripture craft, which can be shown by many delicate relics, such as the Terra Cotta Warriors. It is therefore unfair to compare the two types of art out of their historical, cultural, and geographical contexts.
Gardai in the midlands are warning farmers to be vigilant after recent thefts from farmyards in North Tipperary.

A number of farms were targetted in North Tipperary recently, including a prominent IFA member.

Willie Moloney, who farms near the Silvermines, had a mobile calf feeder taken from his farm on Sunday night/Monday morning.

He told the Nenagh Guardian that the feeder was seen being transported in the direction of Nenagh around 2am, close to Kilmore graveyard.

Moloney warned other farmers in the region to be vigilant, as it comes after a number of other thefts in the North Tipperary area in recent weeks, while Gardai are warning farmers to take security measures.

Three Dublin men appeared in court following a garda investigation into a number of other incidents in the Nenagh area, the paper also reports.

It says that these include a burglary at the Tippo premises at Kilkeary over the August bank holiday weekend.

And Gardai are looking for the public's assistance in tracing the owners of property they have recovered.

In May of this year Gardai conducting a checkpoint on Stockhole Lane, Cloughran, Co. Dublin stopped a van containing a large amount of new and second hand power tools. The tools, with an approximate value of up to 26,000 were seized.

Many of the tools seized are specialised items that would only be used by car or heavy goods mechanics and may have been taken from such garages.
KBC Ireland's chief operations officer, Evert Vandenbussche, is expected to step down from the role shortly, according to sources close to the Belgian bank.

It is understood a search for Mr Vandenbussche's replacement is under way.

His move comes at a time of churn in Irish banking circles with a looming change of the guard at Bank of Ireland as long-serving CEO Richie Boucher hands over the reins to a high-ranking ex-HSBC executive, Francesca McDonagh.

The reshuffle at KBC's Irish unit, which remains saddled by a high volume of non-performing loans, follows the lender's decision earlier this year to remain a long-term player here.

The Belgian bank, which in the pre-crisis era had focused on corporate and real estate lending, suffered heavy losses after the crash but opted against an exit.

After the conclusion of a strategic review KBC announced it intended to remain in Ireland in February.

A spokesperson for the lender said it was "unable to provide a comment".
A RESURGENT Irish economy has boosted Grafton Group's bottom line, with its merchanting business here contributing more than 20m (21.7m) to the company's 61.8m (67.1m) organic revenue growth during the first half of the year.

Its Woodies DIY chain contributed 4.6m (5m), as the company continued to reap the benefits of store revamps and more confident consumers.

"The Irish economy and the housing market is recovering in such a way that it should be sustainable for the medium to long-term," chief executive Gavin Slark, pictured, told the Irish Independent.

"If you look at the way the Irish market has recovered, it's good for the builders' merchant business."

Grafton's two Irish divisions contributed 5.1m of the total 12.2m group increase in adjusted operating profit growth in the first six months of 2017.

On a group level, revenue at Grafton during the first six months of the year jumped 6.2pc on a constant currency basis to 1.33bn (1.44bn). Grafton's adjusted operating profit, excluding property gains, rose 18.8pc to 77m (83.6m). The results were better than expected by analysts, but shares in the group remained flat during the day.

Grafton generated 919m of its revenue in the first half from its UK merchanting business, where it owns chains such as Selco, Buildbase and Plumbase.

In Ireland, its merchanting arm operates under the Chadwicks and Heiton Buckley brands, and accounted for 193m of revenue in the first half of the year. That was 10.6pc higher year-on-year on a constant currency basis.

Profits at the Irish merchanting business rose 30.4pc on a constant currency basis, to 15.4m in the first half.

The chief executive of Grafton's Selco business, which includes 56 branches, has left his post and has been temporarily succeeded by Declan Ronayne, the chief executive of Woodies. Mr Slark said Mr Ronayne will return to his Woodies role at the end of this year.

Grafton's business in the UK also performed strongly in the first half. Merchanting revenue there was 4pc higher, while the adjusted operating profit before property gains was 6.8pc higher at 50.1m.

Mr Slark said he remains confident about the UK's economic prospects, despite Brexit.

"I've got reasonable confidence in the UK in the medium term," he said.

"It's got 60 million people. There's been an under-supply in the UK for some considerable time, so the underlying fundamentals of the new-build market in the UK should remain quite resilient."
Global fruit and vegetable distributor Total Produce made a 39m pre-tax profit in the first half of the year - an 11.8pc increase on the first half of 2016. Revenue was 12.2pc higher at 2.15bn in the period.

The results benefited from the contribution of recent acquisitions, offset in part by a negative impact on the translation to euro of the results of foreign currency denominated operations, the group said.

Total Produce, whose chief executive is Rory Byrne, described trading conditions in the period as "satisfactory".

"In the early part of year, unusual weather conditions in southern Europe led to temporary shortages of certain salad and vegetable lines," the company noted.

"However, given the group's diversified business model this did not have a material impact.

"Our North American division experienced relatively less favourable trading conditions in the period," it added. "While overall volumes in this division have increased on a like-for-like basis from prior year, the result was impacted by lower pricing due to greater volumes of product in the market and weather conditions that negatively impacted quality."

Total Produce generated 903.1m of its revenue in the eurozone during the first half of the year and 800m from non-eurozone European countries. International operations delivered revenue of 471.3m.

Non-eurozone European countries accounted for the biggest slice of profits, posting adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 22.1m, from a group figure of 42.4m. The group figure was 12pc higher year-on-year.

During the first half of the year, Total Produce paid 28.4m to increase its shareholding in the Canada-based Oppenheimer group from 35pc to 65pc. The Oppenheimer Group, or Oppy, as it's also known, has annual sales of about C$1bn (671m), and provides fresh produce to retailers, wholesalers and food services customers throughout the US and Canada.

Total Produce spent 60m on acquisitions last year, including 17m in contingent consideration. It bought a 65pc stake in Los Angeles-based Progressive Produce for an initial 28m, with a contingent consideration of 10.5m.

Total Produce's net debt stood at 153.3m at the end of June, compared to 95.7m a year earlier. But net debt relative to annualised adjusted EBITDA was just 1.5 times at the end of June this year.

Chairman Carl McCann said Total Produce continues to hunt for acquisitions.
William Dunne (20), Luke Cagney (21) and Daire O'Brien (23) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys

"A bag of cans, and a decent deck chair, Luke Cagney (21) says talking through his festival check list.

"The music comes after that."

Luke or 'King Cags' as he prefers to be known was one of the 55,000 people heading to Stradbally for Electric Picnic this weekend.

While Cags' must-haves were short and sweet others arrived wheeling suitcases or riding in rickshaws and wheelbarrows.

Expand Close Luke Cagney (21) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys / Facebook

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Whatsapp Luke Cagney (21) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys

Getting into the site is horrific, Melissa Simms (20) from Kilinney said. Weve got way more stuff. We're going to have to make three trips back to the car. I'm sweating already.

Determined to make the most of the three day festival, thousands had set off early arriving at the camp site before 9am with tent poles and yoga mats under their arms.

Sarah Kelly (20) from Celbridge wandered about underneath a duvet. I like my home comforts, she said. If it gets dirty? Its old, it doesnt mater.

But it looked like everyone may avoid the mud, for the time being at least, as a haze around Stradbally lifted revealing blue skies.

"As long as the rain stays away that's all I care about," Caoimhe Martin from Cork said.

While veteran EP goers waked with a sense of purpose towards the campsite, others took their time - soaking up the atmosphere.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Emily Brennan (30) from Kilkenny, Fiona Whelan (30) from Kildare, Emily Connor (30) from Mayo and Therese McManus (30) from Melbourne Australia at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Michelle Kearney from Castledermot Kildare, Tori McGeer (18) from Carlow, Pamela McGeer and Maggie McGeer both from Castledermot pitching their tent at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Sophie O'Brien (22) , Leah Fleming (21) and Alison Kelleher (21) all from Cork at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Revellers making their way to Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Katie Spillane (19) and Laura Storan (18) both from Nenagh Co Tipperary at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Melissa Simms (20) and Lauren Dent (21) both from Killiney Dublin at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Revellers making their way to Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Cousins Niamh Bryson (21) from Knocklyon and Deirdre Whyte (23) from Tempelogue at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Emma Naughton (21) , Alison Walsh (19) , Grace Campbell (19) amd Olivia Naughton (18) all from Naas Co Kildare with their Rickshaw at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Revellers making their way to Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Niamh Donohoe (20) and Tanya Nazipova (20) both from Mountmellick Laois at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Robyn Collins from Castleknock taking a look at the Yarn Bombers area by Sr. Columba at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois. Melissa Simms (20) and Lauren Dent (21) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Revellers making their way to Electric Picnic at Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Michelle Kearney from Castledermot KIldare, Tori McGeer (18) from Carlow, Pamela McGeer and Maggie McGeer making their way to Electric Picnic at Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Cousins Niamh Bryson (21) from Knocklyon and Deirdre Whyte (23) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Sarah Kelly (20) and Leah Farrell (20) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Emma Naughton (21), Alison Walsh (19), Grace Campbell (19) and Olivia Naughton (18) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Cait Sweeney (25) from Phibsboro Dublin and Christina Karlsson (24) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys William Dunne (20), Luke Cagney (21) and Daire O'Brien (23) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys Luke Cagney (21) at Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co Laois. Picture: Steve Humphreys / Facebook

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Whatsapp Emily Brennan (30) from Kilkenny, Fiona Whelan (30) from Kildare, Emily Connor (30) from Mayo and Therese McManus (30) from Melbourne Australia at Electric Picnic at Stradbally Co Laois.

its our first time here, Katie Spillane (19) from Tipperary said. Ive got my outfits for every day and night planned - Ive brought two suitcases and a sleeping bag. Everything bar the kitchen table really.

Make up artist Tanya Nazipova (20) from Laois was returning to the festival. You have to have eyelashes, glitter and a gazebo, she said.

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It was a college reunion for Emily Brennan, Fiona Whelan, Emily Connon and Therese McManus.

I live in Melbourne so this is a great catch up, Therese said. Its buzzing in the campsite and the weather is great. Its brilliant craic already.

Check out all the arrivals at day one of Electric Picnic at our gallery below:
Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has joined the growing list of Hollywood stars helping the relief effort for Storm Harvey and has announced that a telethon fundraiser will take place.

The actor said on Thursday that he has given 25,000 dollars (19,000) to charity crowdfunding site Global Giving, joining those such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock in making donations.

Foxx, 49, also said the telethon would take place on September 12 to aid those afflicted by the hurricane and mass flooding in Texas and Louisiana that has created tens of thousands of evacuees.

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Foxx, from Terrell, Texas, added: I just want to let everyone in Texas know that weve got you. From a fellow Texan, my heart goes out, my prayers go out.

US celebrity website TMZ reported that Ariana Grandes manager Scooter Braun is organising the event, which will also be hosted by Reese Witherspoon.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Bullock donated one million dollars (775,000) each to charities aiding the relief effort.

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But it is not just Hollywood chipping in, as President Donald Trump will also personally make a one million dollar donation, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged by flood waters while at least 30 people have been killed since the storm reached shores on August 25.

Comedian and actor Kevin Hart donated 50,000 dollars (39,000), set up a crowdfunding page that has exceeded one million dollars and challenged other stars to join in.

Both DJ Khaled and Dwayne The Rock Johnson responded by making 25,000-dollar pledges.

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The Kardashians announced they would collectively donate 500,000 dollars (387,000) split between the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, while Beyonce said her philanthropic organisation BeyGOOD would be providing support.
Deutshe Bank is owed more than 690m by a group of companies controlled by Galway businessman Gerry Barrett, the High Court has heard.

Last month seven companies that form part of the Edward Capital Group were granted the protection of the High Court after the bank appointed a receiver over the firms, which employ more than 330 full time and part time staff.

The companies sought the appointment of an examiner after the bank appointed a receiver over the companies.

Insolvency Practitioner Neil Hughes of Baker Tily Hughes Blacke was appointed interim examiner over ML Meyrick Ltd, MT Mono Trading Ltd, Edward Leisure Assets UnLimited Company, Niche Hotels Unlimited Company, Style City Limited, Radical Properties Unlimited Company, and Kitty Hall Holdings Limited.

The assets of the various firms include the 4-star Meyrick Hotel, the 5-star G Hotel, the Eye Cinema which are all in Galway. They also hold various property assets including 38 apartments, a retail park, a house and sites in the Galway area.

The total value of the seven firm's assets has been estimated at between 55m and 60m.

The other companies in the Lord Edward group are not affected by the examinership application.

The group's assets include landmark hotels and shopping centres and it had also operated a successful construction company. It had previously owned the world famous Ashford Castle Hotel in Co Mayo, which was sold four years ago.

The companies represented by Gary McCarthy SC and Ross Gorman Bl sought the appointment of the examiner as the companies were insolvent and unable to pay their debts as they fall due.

It sought the appointment of an examiner after Deutsche Bank appointed a receiver over the seven companies.

The companies whose directors are Gerry Barrett and Catherine Barrett of Drimbawn House Chestnut Lane, Lower Dangan, Galway accept the group is "very significantly indebted" to the bank to the tune of 698m.

While the companies can service a certain level they say a large amount of what is owed can never be repaid.

The companies' loans portfolio had been acquired by NAMA, but was sold for an undisclosed sum to Deutsche Bank in 2015.

Since then the group has sold assets it held and refinanced some of the debt owed to the bank. It has also engaged with the bank's representatives with a view to coming to an arrangement over the debts, including the disposal of assets.

No agreement was reached and last month the bank issued a letter demanding full repayment of what it claims is due and owing. The bank then proceeded to appoint a receiver over the seven companies.

This resulted in the companies coming to the High Court and seeking the appointment of Mr Hughes as interim examiner. The companies argue that while they are insolvent they have a good prospect of survival if certain steps are taken. Their position is supported by an independent experts report.

The companies claim their trade has improved since 2014 and their underlying trade is profitable, the key problem being that they cannot service the level of debt owed to the bank by the group.

There has also been extensive discussions with a third party interested in investing in the group. It was also argued that the creditors and the employees would do a lot better in an examinership rather than if they are wound up.

The companies also submitted that the confirmation of an examiner would being certainty to the employees positions.

The examiner has up to 100 days to put together a scheme of arrangement which, if approved by the firms creditors and the High Court, will allow the companies continue to trade as going concerns.

The matter returned before the High Court on Friday when Mr Justice Henry Abbott approved the payment of a number of minor pre-petition debts. There were no objections to the application. The Judge adjourned the matter to a date later this month.
Brendan Courtney has praised proposals to reform the Fair Deal scheme to ease the cost of nursing home care for pensioners - but says it's not enough to fix the problem.

Health Minister Simon Harris and Older People Minister Jim Daly are in favour of reducing costs.

Nursing home residents currently contribute around 80pc of their income towards nursing home costs while it is hoped this will be brought down to 70pc.

Presenter Courtney, who filmed a documentary called 'We Need To Talk About Dad' which followed his family's efforts to find adequate care for his father Frank after he suffered a stroke, believes statutory home care is the answer.

"It's great. I have spoken to Simon Harris on many occasions about it. The Fair Deal is not the answer. It's opening it up to home care.

"Reducing the costs is a welcome addition but statutory home care is the answer. Older people should be entitled to home care after 65, irrespective of who they are," he said.

After researching care for elderly people while filming the documentary, Courtney believes the funding is there to make significant changes.

"We care for our children, kids get children's allowance, why can't we care for our older people as well? That was the main body of my work in the last year," he told the Irish Independent.

"Seeing if the funding was there and it is, we're just spending it in the wrong ways. The will is there now because we are all living older."

Courtney was speaking at the launch of Irish Heart's focus on stroke prevention for over 40s.

Today marks the beginning of a month-long awareness campaign supported by the HSE and focuses on preventing strokes among men and women over 40.

Research has shown as many as 2,000 working-age people are affected by strokes every year in Ireland, with 60pc of over 45s having high blood pressure.
The new 300m National Maternity Hospital will be owned by the State, Health Minister Simon Harris has revealed.

The hospital will be built with public funds and sited at the campus of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

The building was granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanala yesterday.

The hospital will move from its outdated and cramped building in Holles Street to the site a few miles away in south Dublin.

The proposed hospital was at the centre of controversy earlier this year after it emerged the Order of the Sisters of Charity, which is the main shareholder in St Vincent's Healthcare Group, would own the hospital.

A public outcry followed amid fears a Catholic ethos may lead to some procedures not being offered to patients.

This was defused after the religious order announced it would be withdrawing from St Vincent's Healthcare Group and have no involvement in the maternity hospital.

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The minister said yesterday that under a new proposed agreement, the State would finance the building of the hospital and retain ownership.

He said there had been intensive and very constructive engagement between the Department of Health and St Vincent's Healthcare Group over recent months. It was aimed at agreeing arrangements for the building and ownership of the new hospital, he said.

The parties are now finalising an agreement with St Vincent's and Holles Street. It is envisaged the new hospital building will remain in State ownership.

"Under the proposed agreement, the National Maternity Hospital would operate the hospital and have the use of the building. Very good progress has been made to date on this agreement, but some further work is needed," the minister said.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has said sending the IRA murderers of an innocent farmer to prison would be 'totally and absolutely counterproductive'.

In a controversial radio interview Mr Adams responded to calls for him to intervene in the investigation into the 1991 murder of Co Louth farmer Tom Oliver.

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The politician said filling the Irish prisons with IRA killers would serve no purpose adding that it wouldn't 'help the process'.

Last week Independent.ie revealed that gardai had reignited their investigation into the murder of Mr Oliver.

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The sheep farmer was abducted from his home in Riverstown, Co Louth on July 19, 1991 before being tortured and murdered by the IRA.

His body was discovered less than 24 hours later in Belleek, South Armagh. He had been shot in the head.

The IRA issued a statement shortly after in which they said that Mr Oliver was shot because he was a Garda informer, but this claim was refuted by family, friends and the Gardai.

A garda review was launched into the case some three months ago by officers in Ardee station under the direction of Superintendent Fergus Treanor.

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And a fresh investigation was commenced after this review uncovered a "number of new lines of inquiry".

This new breakthrough has led to calls for Gerry Adams to help with the investigation.

However, speaking 'The Michael Reade Show on LMFM radio show yesterday, the Co Louth TD dismissed this.

Mr Adams said filling the prisons with IRA killers would serve no purpose.

I dont think it would assist the wider process that all of us are engaged in, he said.

Asked on whether he believed Mr Oliver was an informer, the Sinn Fein leader replied: Its not my responsibility to investigate any of these matters. Thats a matter for An Garda Siochana.

Pressed on whether he would like to see the killers brought to justice, Mr Adams said: I would have a very strong position, while defending the right of the family to prosecutions  I think it [jailing his killers] would be totally and absolutely counterproductive.

He also described the attack on Mr Oliver as a politically motivated killing.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin told the Irish Independent the comments are absolutely extraordinary and quite frankly bizarre. He said Mr Adams remains primarily an apologist for the IRA.

They actually illustrate a lack of moral compass, as Tom Oliver was brutally murdered in cold blood. Those who actually murdered him should, of course, be brought to justice, he told the newspaper.

Witnesses can contact Ardee Garda Station 041 6871130, The Garda Confidential Line 1 800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Convicted killer and rapist Adrian Bayley has been stabbed with a fork in and Australian prison, according to reports.

Bayley is serving at least 40 years in prison for the rape and murder of Irishwoman Jill Meagher in 2012.

Corrections Victoria confirmed this morning that a prisoner received minor injuries following an incident and was treated at the scene.

A number of Australian media outlets are reporting that a fork was used to stab Bayley at Barwon Prison in West Melbourne on Thursday.

The Herald Sun says the prisoner has been held outside the mainstream jail units because of fears he would be a target for other prisoners.

Police have been called to investigate the attack.

Jill Meagher (29), from Co Louth, was murdered and raped while walking home from a pub in Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne, in September 2012.

Bayley (46) was jailed for at least 35 years for the attack. He was found guilty in May 2015 of three more violent rapes and was sentenced to 18 years in jail for those crimes.
Gerry Adams is quite right. The Independent group of newspapers will have a little field day the Sinn Fein president said, amid another all-too-familiar mess of weasel words which amount to equivocation and a reordering of historic fact.

He was talking about the case of Tom Oliver, a hard-working father-of-seven, brutally murdered at the age of 37, and then crudely vilified by the IRA.

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Mr Olivers murder was a crime in July 1991 of such brutality it caused thousands, from every corner of Ireland, to join his neighbours on the Cooley Peninsula in Louth in a major protest rally.

He had six young daughters and one little son. I will never forget, as long as I live, the screams of his wife and the children when they went to the morgue, or the awful silence of the people who went into the yard outside to wait for them coming out, a neighbour later recalled.

Mr Olivers case stands out from among the other 1,770 IRA murders, in part due to the contemptible efforts to calumniate his memory. His killers falsely claimed he was an IRA collaborator who often stored arms and equipment on his farm, and later informed gardai.

The claims enraged locals who believed he had found an IRA arms cache on his land which he told gardai about. The local GAA club formed a guard of honour at his funeral, played their next game wearing black armbands, and hosted the protest rally. In the ensuing years, his killers were not found. But unbowed by the passage of time, gardai have reopened the case. Mr Adams, now a TD for Louth, has been urged by many to help. Mr Adams, who was never in the IRA, also insists he knows nothing about Mr Olivers murder.

My information on this is limited to what I read about at the time, he said.

He is not short of kind, retrospective words for the Oliver family. But he is adamant he was ill-used in his efforts to help the family of murdered prison officer Brian Stack find out about his fate at the hands of IRA killers. Unsurprisingly, Mr Adams argues the British authorities are to blame here also. He says the December 2014 Stormont House Agreement has a provision for investigating historic cases such as this. But the British government has failed to legislate for it.

How very convenient. The reality is the bulk of the Stormont House Agreement has not been acted on. The failure of Sinn Fein and the DUP to do adult politics together is the big stumbling block, from dealing with a Brexit future to resolving a very disquieting past. It is the duty of this and other media organisations to point out these realities.

Mr Adamss stance will also be noted by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, who is having to cope with colleagues coalition overtures to Sinn Fein. It is another reminder of Sinn Feins still murky past.

If Mr Adams and his Sinn Fein allies see this as the Irish Independent and its sister publications having a little field day so be it. We will bear up and get on with things.

So there you have it, Mr Adams. We can finally agree on at least one thing.

At the Independent group of newspapers, we are indeed unswerving when it comes to brutal murder and efforts to calumniate a murder victims memory.
The predatory paedophile, previously branded "a grave risk to society" by an Irish judge, has a long history of convictions across the UK and Ireland.

A notorious paedophile, who claims he was hounded out of Ireland, has started a new life in Scotland.

Anthony Luckwill received widespread coverage in the Irish media after being released from a jail term imposed for sexually assaulting young boys after he posed as a TV casting agent.

The predatory paedophile, previously branded "a grave risk to society" by an Irish judge, has a long history of convictions across the UK and Ireland.

Luckwill (44) has moved into a new home in Fife and a 10-year order aimed at protecting the public from him will expire on September 14.

It is open to Police Scotland to apply for a new order to put in place.

Luckwill left Ireland after he was assaulted by an angry group of locals in Dublin and his home was torched.

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However, Luckwill, who now prefers to be known as Colin Gregory, was arrested soon after he arrived in Scotland for breaching the terms of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

The 10-year order was imposed in Wales in 2007. Luckwill managed to avoid the restrictions of the order back in his native Ireland, where the order did not apply.

He claimed he thought the SOPO did not apply in Scotland and was found in possession of banned devices, including a laptop.

He originally appeared from custody at Dunfermline Sheriff Court in June.

On that occasion, defence solicitor Elaine Buist said: "He left Ireland because he had some very disturbing press coverage. On May 23 he arrived at Stranraer, spoke to police, said he had a pre-booked hotel in Inverkeithing."

When police went to the hotel they found the devices and they were taken from him.

Whats he doing here? asked Sheriff James Williamson.

Well, hes not being in Ireland, replied Ms Buist.

Bail was granted despite being opposed by the Crown. The court was told Luckwill planned to buy a property in west Fife.

When Luckwill returned to Dunfermline Sheriff Court this week he admitted breaching the terms of the SOPO imposed at Mold Crown Court, Wales, by having ownership and possession of a laptop computer, two cameras and a mobile phone at an Inverkeithing hotel on June 4.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said: When he spoke to police after arriving in Scotland it appeared his history had caught up with him in Ireland.

He said hed been assaulted and his previous accommodation had been set on fire. He said he was fearful for his safety.

The depute said with the existing order ending soon, police could apply to a sheriff to have a new one put in place.

When Mr Kapadia said the Crown was moving for forfeiture of the devices, Luckwill became agitated in the dock and spoke heatedly to his solicitor.

Ms Buist told the court: "Hes not happy at the notion of the equipment being seized."

Sheriff Alison McKay deferred sentence until October 23 to await the outcome of any new SOPO application from the police. Consideration of the forfeiture motion has also been continued to that date.

Luckwill, originally from Dublin, has numerous convictions for child-related sex offences in Ireland, Wales and the Channel Islands.

In 2012, he was jailed for five months after arriving in Guernsey and trying to lure a 14-year-old boy to his hotel room.

In June 2013, he was jailed for four-and-a-half years in Ireland for sexually assaulting two boys who thought they were going to TV auditions.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said he will be looking at Budget measures to support Irish exporters in the face of the looming sterling crisis.

Speaking after a meeting with the British Chancellor Philip Hammond in Dublin last night, Mr Donohoe said the dramatic fall-off in the value of sterling against the euro since last year's Brexit vote was "exceptionally important" to the Irish economy.

"If you look where we are across 2015, we saw one euro buying around 70p. We now are in a situation as we moved into this week where we saw one euro get to 92p. This is the kind of development that we need to monitor very, very carefully within our economy."

However he said that, despite the massive currency fluctuation, Irish exporters had grown their UK performance by 13pc.

"This is something which is going to be a very important consideration as we frame Budget 2018. It demonstrates the need for us to have a solid foundation for our economy to make right decisions in relation to how we support exporters.

"I will be engaging with my colleagues, particularly Minister Creed and Minister Fitzgerald in relation to what kind of measures to consider that will support exporters in terms of market diversification and in terms of selling our goods and services abroad as we see these kind of currency developments."

Meanwhile, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has claimed that "genuine progress" has been made on Irish matters in the latest round of Brexit talks - a rare moment of positivity in a news conference yesterday that laid bare the gulf between the UK and the EU.

Irish sources believe progress has been made on the issues discussed this week relating to the common travel area (CTA) and the Good Friday Agreement, but that much more technical work remains to be done on the latter, particularly in relation to the maintenance of North/south co-operation post-Brexit.

More broadly, Mr Barnier warned that no decisive progress had been made overall as he stood alongside his British counterpart, David Davis, at the close of the third round of negotiations. He chastised Britain for demanding "the impossible" in its position papers, including having a say on the EU's single-market rules even after it leaves. He said both sides disagreed again on the EU's demand the European Court of Justice had authority in the enforcement of rights of EU citizens in Britain after Brexit.

"The UK wants to take back control, wants to adopt its own standards and regulations - but it also wants to have these standards recognised automatically in the EU," Mr Barnier said. "This is simply impossible. You cannot be outside the single market and shape its legal order."

Clear divisions remain regarding the amount of money the UK owes the EU, with Mr Barnier acknowledging that the two parties remain far apart. So to hear that the discussions on Ireland had been "fruitful" was at least one welcome development.

Irish issues were discussed at length on Wednesday, with the EU team putting a range of technical questions to their UK counterparts in terms of the working of the CTA post-Brexit. It is understood these questions included British treatment of other EU citizens vis-a-vis the CTA, with the EU side welcoming the commitment in the UK's position paper that London would have no problem with EU citizens travelling within Ireland.

Mr Davis said the two sides had made "some concrete progress" and that there was a "high degree of convergence" on Irish issues. But on matters relating to the Good Friday Agreement, while there are no differences in principle, much more technical work is said to be required in terms of how North/south co-operation can be maintained, in the absence of common EU rules, after the UK's withdrawal.

It is also understood there are questions around the rights of Irish citizens in Northern Ireland post-Brexit and how they will be defined under EU law.

Sources here seem content with how matters have progressed in relation to Irish issues.

The thornier Border question in terms of trade and goods, however, has not been dealt with in any substantive way yet.
Author Mikal O'Boyle moved to Ireland in 2009 to study at NUI Galway, where she met her future husband Adrian. Mikal's new mother-in-law had grown up in the thatched cottage, so when the couple were expecting their first child, Adrian's mother suggested restoring it to its former glory so that the young family would have a home.

The cottage had lain empty for about 35 years, so it was no easy feat for Mikal's father-in-law and brother-in-law to bring it back to habitable condition. They added two bedrooms to the upstairs loft, a kitchen, and renovated the hag - a three-walled room just large enough for a mattress that was traditionally located behind the hearth so that a bed-bound grandparent could keep warm yet be within earshot of the story-telling action in the living room. The family then hired Mayo thatcher Denis Wright to repair the thatch.

For the author of Snake the Gypsy, who grew up in a US home where the temperature was controlled with a flick of the thermostat, living in a thatched cottage in the west of Ireland has proven to be a learning curve.

Restoring and living in a traditional cottage is a longing held by many but not always a practical one. Through the restoration the O'Boyle family discovered both sides of the thatched dream.

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"The biggest challenge is heating the house," Mikal says. "I had to learn how to keep the range on all day by throwing in coal, turf and wood so it heats the radiators.

"To look at the outside of the cottage, you'd think you'd walk in and step back in time. But we do have Wi-Fi and I tutor English over Skype."

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In the 19th century, up to half of the Irish population slept under thatched roofs. But they began to fall out of fashion after the introduction in the mid-20th century of government grants that encouraged homeowners to replace thatch with easier-to-maintain slates or tiles. Thatched cottages became associated with housing for the poor and gradually were left to decay, according to The Irish Cottage: History, Culture and Design, a new book by Marion McGarry that has just been published.

Michael Masterson, a 62-year-old builder from Moyne, Co Longford who focuses on restoring old properties, says: "Slate came to be everything - it was an indication of an improvement in your standing or status - and the thatchers began to die out."

Indeed, there are now only 40 thatchers in Ireland, according to Thatch, a guide to the repairing of thatched roofs published by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in 2015. The guide estimates that there are 3,000 thatched buildings left in Ireland.

But people like Mikal O'Boyle and Michael Masterson are part of a burgeoning movement that is seeing homeowners eschew the comforts of new-builds for restoring thatched cottages, either to live in or to let out through Airbnb. For them, these timepieces are characterful slices of heritage that maintain a link with the past.

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In the early Noughties, Michael bought a patch of land with a collection of old buildings, including the dance hall where his parents met, with an eye on renovating them. Among them were the ruins of a thatched cob (with walls of compacted earth) cottage that Michael estimates was initially built in the mid-1700s.

"Growing up, that house had the first television in the village, in the 1960s," he says. "We'd go there to watch Tolka Row and The Riordans; my mother would bring three or four of us to the house and dress us up like we were going to the movies."

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In the meitheal tradition, Michael rebuilt the 18th-century cottage with the help of his four children and some neighbours in 2009. Despite getting a grant of 4,500 for thatching the cottage, the cold winters of 2009 and 2010 delayed him from roofing it. The work was finally carried out in 2012 by a nearby thatcher and artist called Orla O'Neill, using reeds Michael had bought in the Co Limerick village of Foynes, on the banks of the Shannon estuary.

"Orla was a curator at an art gallery in Scotland, and I brought her back to do the thatch," he says.

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Michael, whose grandmother lived in a thatched cottage until it fell in the 1960s, moved into his own cottage in 2013 but lets it out on Airbnb during the summer.

"The French have a great appreciation for it," he says. "I've also had a family from Lanzarote come to stay, and a man from Israel who lives in a yurt and builds yurts."

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Emma Byrne, a graphic designer who celebrated the beauty of the country's thatched cottages in her 2015 book Irish Thatch, fell in love with her four-bed cottage in north Wexford in 2007.

"I had been looking for a house in Dublin at the height of the boom and I realised that all I could get for my budget was small and poky," she says. "I asked if I could work from home a couple of days a week from Wexford, where I was hoping to buy a place with a bit of character. I found this thatched cottage, though some people told me I was mad because it was an old house that would require a lot of maintenance."

In 2014, when it was time for Emma to rethatch the cottage, she set out to research the craft and to find a suitable thatcher. But there was a dearth of information online, so she began to drive around the country to examine the work of thatchers and photograph it.

Emma's research into her own Wexford cottage revealed that it had been built in 1840, but that it was on the site of an older house that locals said had been there during the 1798 rebellion.

"Mice try and come in during the winter because the thatch is nice and warm," she says. "When an old socket blew upstairs and came off the wall, there was a mouse inside, curved around the middle; it was a feat of gymnastics. Then crows arrived and were pecking holes in the thatch, so I put up a dead crow on the roof to deter them."

Emma hired a master thatcher called Peter Childs after being impressed by examples of his work on other cottages. Some 80pc of the cost of the work was covered by a grant. Emma and her family continued living in the cottage while Peter Childs spent eight weeks stripping off the old thatch and redoing it, but she believes it was worth it.

"A new house doesn't appeal to everyone - there are other ways to live," she says. "I was cold during my first winter here, but I've never had a cold living here. And it's hardly a Victorian lifestyle: I have a shower, a bath, broadband, a dishwasher and a washing machine; I'm not exactly doing all my washing on a scrubbing board."
I once got a new sofa stuck in the stairwell. I had measured - of course - but I got it wrong. That sofa was totally jammed. There was no way it was getting in the door. Since we live in a terraced house with no rear entrance, the only option was to send the sofa back. Disaster! Once I'd got over the trauma, I ordered a smaller sofa from a different company.

Six weeks later, the second sofa arrived. Only it wasn't the modest two-seater that I had ordered - it was a lovely big three-seater, upholstered in my fabric of choice. Somewhere along the line, a mistake had been made. This was the right sofa - but the wrong size. I decided to stay quiet about the mistake until we discovered if it would make it through the stairwell.

"Would you give me a hand downstairs with that?" I asked the delivery men.

Miraculously, the sofa fitted through the door. I decided to say nothing to anyone, especially as I had paid for a cheaper sofa than the one that was delivered. I'm not defending the ethics of my actions, but it was a salutary lesson. If you live in a small space, be careful that the furniture that you buy is the correct size.

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Irish living spaces are getting smaller. In 2015, the updated guidelines for apartment development reduced the minimum size of a single-bedroom apartment from 55sq m to 45sq m; a two-bedroom apartment from 90sq m to 73sq m; and a three-bedroom apartment from 100sq m to 90sq m.

In London, the minimum size of new apartments is calculated slightly differently. Their standards require at least 37sq m for one person; 50sq m for two people sharing a bedroom; and 61sq m for three people in two bedrooms. By global standards, this isn't exactly cramped. In Hong Kong, the average person has only 15sq m of floor space. That's tiny!

This summer, the Swedish designers Johan Dalin and Pia Kriisin took on the challenge of equipping a 15sq m apartment using products from Ikea. Multipurpose furniture played a starring role. "The kitchen table is foldable and doubles up as a place to work. The sofa has storage underneath and behind it, just right for books and magazines. And you can even take a nap on it," the designers explained. That's the Ekebol three-seat sofa (395). The wire coffee table also doubles as a storage unit and the pouffe hangs on the wall when not in use. In short, almost everything in the apartment is designed to do more than one job. If you didn't keep it tidy it would be chaos.

Tiny as it was, the apartment had one big advantage. The duplex arrangement with a loft-style sleeping space allowed for a very high ceiling in the living room. The designers made use of the height to free up floor space, with a row of Ivar cabinets (53) high on the wall. You can reach them with a lightweight ladder, which is also used to access the loft. History doesn't relate where the toilet is.

The kitchen is a riff on Ikea's Sunnersta mini-kitchen (148) which is basically a sink on a trolley with various add-ons and the Lixhult kitchen cabinets (35) have blackboard doors. These are called Uddevalla (22) and will work best if the person who uses them is artistic or has neat handwriting.

Overall, it's a low cost ensemble, cleverly photographed to appear bigger than it is. In general it's not a great idea to furnish an entire room from just one shop - however handy. There's a sameness about the look that soon becomes wearisome. But, if you look at the apartment as an exercise of what can be done cheaply in a small space, it includes plenty of useful ideas.

Expand Close The lark armchair with footstool - also from DFS / Facebook

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"One of the main issues that apartment dwellers have is storage - or the lack of it," says the interior designer Roisin Lafferty.

"A lot of apartments are designed so that storage is overlooked. Then it has to be brought in, and that can be bulky." The solution varies. Renters can often do very little to an apartment but owner-occupiers are in a stronger position. "The first thing that you need to do is look at the circulation and the flow," she says. "Less is more in terms of the finishes. A small space painted a single colour, with a single floor finish, will look like a considered continuous space rather than several bitty sections."

Lafferty also recommends space-saving pocket doors, which retreat into the wall, and suggests replacing some of the interior walls with storage units that also serve as partitions.

Lafferty's company, KLD, has just finished work on a number of show apartments at Roisin Lafferty Marianella, Dublin 6. The complex was built by Cairns Development and the photographs are by Ruth Maria Murphy.

In the three-bedroom apartment, she made a small bedroom seem larger by mirroring an entire wall. "It's a simple thing that you can do yourself and it makes a room much nicer to be in," she explains.

In several of the apartments, Lafferty used sofas and chairs from the DFS Capsule Collection, which is specifically designed for smaller spaces. "There's an elegance about the furniture," she says. "All the pieces have raised legs so you can see the flooring underneath them, and that creates the illusion of space." Her favourite is the Lark (545), a neat little tub chair with pretty tapered legs. The Capsule Collection is affordable - sofa prices start at 589 - and fully customisable in terms of materials. Stylistically, they range from the unobtrusive Bask and Truth sofas, to the mid-century Laze and the slightly Scandi Lull. There's also an accompanying suite of footstools.

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Crucially, all the sofas come with compact arm widths and bolt-off removable arms to make sure that they fit through narrow stairways or small doorframes.

If you live in a small space, it's important to consider the shape of the furniture and whether it fits in the door. I learnt that one the hard way.

See dfs.ie, kingstonlaffertydesign.com, and ikea.ie.
Cathay Pacific will operate four flights a week to Hong Kong

Ireland is to get its first ever direct Asia-Pacific air route, with the announcement of flights to Hong Kong from Dublin Airport.

Cathay Pacific will operate a four-times weekly service from June 2, 2018.

The Dublin flight will be serviced by an Airbus A350-900 aircraft in a three-class configuration, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Return fares are currently priced from 642 on cathaypacific.com.

"We are thrilled to welcome Cathay Pacific to Dublin Airport and to Ireland," said Dublin Airport managing director Vincent Harrison.

The route is a major milestone, with trade between Ireland and China now worth more than 8bn a year and some 100 Irish firms with operations there.

Dublin Chamber of Commerce CEO Mary Rose Burke said the route "opens up a whole new world of opportunities for Irish businesses" and offers a gateway into "the increasingly lucrative Chinese market".

An estimated 4,000 Irish people live in Hong Kong, according to the Irish Embassy in China.

The route is also expected to boost inbound tourism from China - one of the world's fastest-growing markets.
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Prince Alexander of Sweden and Princess Sofia of Sweden arrive for a thanksgiving service on the occasion of The Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden's 40th birthday celebrations at the Royal Palace on July 14, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden

Princess Sofia of Sweden; Prince Carl Philip of Sweden attend a concert to celebrate the 38th birthday of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden at Borgholmon July 14, 2015 in Oland, Sweden. (Photo by Luca Teuchmann/Getty Images)

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Sofia Hellqvist arrive to board the SS Stockholm boat before the pre-wedding dinner the night before their royal wedding on June 12, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Prince Carl Philip and princess Sofia of Sweden arrive for a gala dinner at the Operahouse in Oslo on May 10, 2017 in celebration of the 80th birthdays of King Harald of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway. / AFP PHOTO / NTB scanpix AND NTB Scanpix / Nesvold, Jon Olav / Norway OUTNESVOLD, JON OLAV/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (L) meets the media at the Danderyds hospital in North Stockholm where Princess Sofia (unseen) gave birth to a son on August 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / TT News Agency / Fredrik SANDBERG / Sweden OUTFREDRIK SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Carl Phillip, Princess Sofia, and Prince Alexander of Sweden participate in a ceremony celebrating Sweden's national day at the Royal Palace on June 6, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Princess Sofia leave the christening of Prince Oscar at the Royal Chapel in Stockholm on May 27, 2016. / AFP / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND (Photo credit should read JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Prince Carl Philip (L) and Princess Sofia with Prince Alexander are pictured at Palace Chapel in Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm during the christening of the five month-old Prince

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Prince Alexander of Sweden and Princess Sofia of Sweden arrive for a thanksgiving service on the occasion of The Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden's 40th birthday celebrations at the Royal Palace on July 14, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden

Princess Sofia of Sweden and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden are seen after the christening of Prince Oscar of Sweden at Royal Palace of Stockholm on May 27, 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and his wife Princess Sofia of Sweden salute the crowd after their marriage ceremony on June 13, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Images)

Sweden's Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia have announced the birth of their second child.

The 37-year-old prince held a press conference on Thursday to mark the birth of their son at Danderyds hospital in North Stockholm and The Royal Palace released a statement with more details on the baby news.

The Office of The Marshal of the Realm is delighted to announce that HRH Princess Sofia gave birth to a healthy child Thursday the 31st August 2017 at 11:24 a.m. At Danderyd Hospital. Both mother and child are in good health," the statement reads.

The baby's name is still being kept under wraps, but new father Carl Philip gushed: "We are really happy. Its a very cute boy."

Expand Close Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Prince Alexander of Sweden and Princess Sofia of Sweden arrive for a thanksgiving service on the occasion of The Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden's 40th birthday celebrations at the Royal Palace on July 14, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden / Facebook

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The prince 32-year-old Sofia (nee Hellqvist) already have two-year-old son Prince Carl Alexander, whom they welcomed last May.

The couple, who have been together for eight years, announced the pregnancy on social media in March, just 11 months after welcoming their first child.

Expand Close Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (L) meets the media at the Danderyds hospital in North Stockholm where Princess Sofia (unseen) gave birth to a son on August 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / TT News Agency / Fredrik SANDBERG / Sweden OUTFREDRIK SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (L) meets the media at the Danderyds hospital in North Stockholm where Princess Sofia (unseen) gave birth to a son on August 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / TT News Agency / Fredrik SANDBERG / Sweden OUTFREDRIK SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images

"We are pleased to announce that we are expecting a child, a sibling of Prince Alexander. We look forward to welcoming a new member of our family," they said.

Sofia, a former model and reality tv star, described motherhood as "amazing".

Expand Close Prince Carl Philip and princess Sofia of Sweden arrive for a gala dinner at the Operahouse in Oslo on May 10, 2017 in celebration of the 80th birthdays of King Harald of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway. / AFP PHOTO / NTB scanpix AND NTB Scanpix / Nesvold, Jon Olav / Norway OUTNESVOLD, JON OLAV/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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"He is very sweet and well-behaved. Hes a mixture of us both," she told Swedish publication Svenskdam last summer.

"The first time does take some adjustment. But its still absolutely amazing and wonderful. It changes your whole life."
2016: Missy Keating, pictured with mum Yvonne Connolly, now has her sights set on a Hollywood career. Photo: Kieran Harnett.

Missy Keating at the Irish premiere of theSuicide Squad at The Savoy Cinema, O'Connell Street, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

(L to R) Jack, Storm, Ronan, Ali and Missie Keating at the Marks & Spencer Ireland Marie Keating Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic at the K Club. Picture: Kieran Harnett

Missy Keating at the final of Miss Universe Ireland 2017 at the Mansion House. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Missy Keating at the Miss Universe Ireland 2017 finals at The Mansion House. Picture: Cathal Burke / VIPIRELAND.COM

Killer style clearly runs in the family.

Missy Keating (16) seems to have inherited her mother Yvonne Connolly's model confidence as she took centre stage at Thursday night's Miss Universe Ireland pageant. Missy, who is the eldest daughter of Yvonne and ex-husband Ronan Keating, was dressed to impress in a rouched LBD with caged heels as she came out to support her cousin competing at the event.

She is no stranger to red carpet events, but usually attends alongside one of her famous parents.

Jill Connolly was representing Dublin at last night's competition, which saw 23-year-old Miss Cork Cailin Aine Ni Toibin take home the crown.

Expand Close Missy Keating at the final of Miss Universe Ireland 2017 at the Mansion House. Picture: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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Despite her young age, Missy has already become something of a social media sensation, with nearly 20,000 followers on Instagram documenting her envious lifestyle - filled with luxury holidays and insight into her unique family life.

She has just returned from trips to Greece and New York and recently, has been sharing sweet photos with her new little brother Cooper which Ronan welcomed with wife Storm in May.

The former Boyzone member married at the luxurious Archerfield House in East Lothian, Scotland, on August 17 2015, with the blessing of all his children, who played best man and bridesmaids.

"It feels like we were always meant to be together," Ronan told Hello! at the time.

Expand Close (L to R) Jack, Storm, Ronan, Ali and Missie Keating at the Marks & Spencer Ireland Marie Keating Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic at the K Club. Picture: Kieran Harnett / Facebook

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Speaking about his children, he added: "They can see how happy I am. And it's about making them know they are loved."

Storm added: "It makes me very proud when I refer to 'my husband'. And for the kids, too.

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"I'm sure it gives them more security knowing that we're officially a family now and I'm not someone who may one day walk out of their lives."
A man allegedly filmed slitting a kangaroos throat while his friend looked on and laughed has been charged with killing protected wildlife and could face up to two years in an Australian jail.

The video of the killing, which went viral on Chinese social media, shows a man with a large knife strolling up to the already injured kangaroo as it snarls and struggles to get to its feet.

In an act described as "abhorrent" by Australian officials, the man grabs the animals tail, places his foot on its hind quarters and slashes at its neck about 18 times.

His friend, filming the killing on a smartphone, can be heard laughing. The man killing the kangaroo can reportedly be heard saying in Mandarin: "Just face it, thats your fate. Let me finish this as quickly as I can."

The video, thought to have been filmed somewhere in the Australian bush, closes with the man sitting down to rest from his exertions, his bloodstained knife clearly visible.

After the video was viewed almost 4 million times and Chinese internet users condemned the cruelty, officers from the Australian state of Victorias Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) arrested a 43-year-old man in Melbournes eastern suburbs.

The man, arrested on Wednesday night and reported to be from Shenyang city in north-east China, has now been charged with one count of destroying protected wildlife, an offence which upon conviction carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

The DELWP issued a statement which revealed: "Evidence including firearms, knives and mobile phones was also seized from the property.

"The man was granted bail and will appear at Ringwood Magistrates Court at a later date."

DELWP Compliance Operations Manager Glenn Sharp added: "We take all alleged cases of animal cruelty very seriously."

"The wildlife offences captured in this video are particularly abhorrent.

"Wed like to thank members of the public who came forward with information about the alleged offences and enabled us to act quickly in response.

The kangaroo killed in the video appears to have been an Eastern Grey Kangaroo, a species which along with all other native Australian wildlife is protected in the state of Victoria under the Wildlife Act 1975.

Under the act, the penalties associated with killing or destroying protected wildlife range from $7,928 Australian dollars (4,861) to $38,056 (23,335) and/or six to 24 months imprisonment.

In common with many other parts of Australia, the Victoria State Government does allow kangaroos to be killed in areas where they have become a crop pest or pose a threat to humans because of issues like the risk of traffic accidents.

Such culling, however, can only be carried out where non-lethal control methods are considered ineffective or impractical. And in Victoria anyone seeking to control kangaroos on their property  either lethally or non-lethally  must apply to the state government for an Authority to Control Wildlife.

The Victoria State Government also stipulates that where killing is necessary "Shooting is considered to be the most effective and humane method and should be done in accordance with the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies."

In Australia as a whole there are an estimated 500 million kangaroos in the wild. Human intervention including land clearance has resulted in an abundance of grass and a relative absence of predators, allowing the kangaroo population to grow to the point where many farmers regard them as a pest.

Official statistics show that more than 1.5 million kangaroos were killed in 2015, and in 2013 it was estimated that about 90 million kangaroos and wallabies had been lawfully killed in the previous 20 years, with some of the meat being sold in supermarkets or restaurants.
The pupil says he was subject to abuse in the midst of the media uproar YouTube

A Cambridge University student who was filmed burning a 20 note in front of a homeless man will return to university this autumn after penning a letter of apology.

Ronald Coyne, who has claimed he is related to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, taunted a homeless person by setting fire to the note after he asked for change back in February.

At the time phone footage of the Pembroke College law student burning a note in front of unemployed crane operator Ryan Davies while dressed in a white bow-tie and tails went viral and led to him being kicked out of the universitys Conservative Association.

The student, who is preparing to recommence his studies at the prestigious institution next month, has admitted he abused his privilege in the apology note. He said he had been on awareness courses about alcohol and social inclusion.

Mr Coyne said that due to the ongoing disciplinary process by the University he had been unable to respond publicly until now.

I made a terrible mistake, and I quite rightly faced disciplinary action for it, he said in the letter.

He added: I acknowledge that my behaviour put the entire university in a negative light, and for that I am sorry. For the effect that my behaviour had on you as a community, I am also sorry.

The incident triggered widespread indignation at the time and more than 23,000 people signed a petition for him to be expelled from the university.

The pupil said he had been subject to abuse in the midst of the media uproar, saying: When the media commentary flared up, strangers sent piles of abusive mail to my family home threatening me with violence, and chemical attacks. I received some sympathetic letters and emails from people who thought that the online abuse went too far. To those people, I am still grateful.

But his apology has drawn criticism on social media and people have questioned why he did not directly apologise to the homeless man himself. Critics also took issue with the fact the letter failed to mention how his actions affected the homeless man.

Cambridge has distributed the letter in the hope it will generate support for him in advance of his return.

Just after the incident, Mr Davies told Cambridge News of how Mr Coyne mocked him after he asked bystanders if they could spare any change.

He said the teenager said: Hows that for change, Ive changed it into flames.

Mr Davies, who had been homeless for three months, said: He says lets see what Ive got and pulls out a 20 note and went to pass it to me.

I couldnt believe my luck, know what I mean. But then he pulled it back and lit it, burnt it and he says 'How's that for change, Ive changed it into flames. It was absolutely disgusting. It was horrible. Just plain nasty.

At the time the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) committee told The Independent: "CUCA unequivocally condemns the actions of Ronald Coyne and revoked his membership once the committee was made aware of the incident."

Burning a 50 note is rumoured to be an initiation ceremony for the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University which was attended by ex-PM David Cameron, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and current Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
A red heart-shaped bouquet of flowers is displayed in front of the Flame of Liberty statue near the Pont de lAlma tunnel where Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago. Photo: Getty Images

The 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana was marked at an Aids hospital she regularly visited yesterday.

Her sons William and Harry had already paid tribute to their mother, visiting the floral tributes and pictures left at the gates of her former home Kensington Palace.

Yesterday, people gathered outside. The brothers toured the site on Wednesday and laid flowers on behalf of well-wishers who had arrived to see the royals.

It may be 20 years since her death shocked the world but her appeal remains undiminished.

The princes have spoken candidly about their mother in the run-up to the anniversary, describing the personal anguish they experienced and grief they still feel.

Prince Harry, interviewed for an ITV documentary about his mother, said: "There's not a day that William and I don't wish that she was... still around."

One of the most famous women in the world, she was killed aged 36 on August 31, 1997, when her limousine crashed in a Paris tunnel as it sped away from paparazzi giving chase on motorbikes.

Her death prompted the biggest outpouring of grief seen in Britain in recent times and hurt the monarchy, which was accused of reacting coldly.

The events that followed, when Queen Elizabeth promised to learn from the princess's life, are regarded as a turning point in the modernisation of the country and how the royal family relates to the public.

"She brought a breath of fresh air to the royal family," said Caryll Foster (57), who got to the palace for 3am to mark the time when the news of the princess's death broke.

"The royal family can be a bit cold, and she was warm hearted and kind. She was very special and we want to keep her memory alive," she said.

Yesterday, people gathered in the dark to lay candles and remember a woman who married Prince Charles, heir to the throne, in a glittering 1981 wedding ceremony before their bitter divorce in 1996.

The 20th anniversary of her death has prompted a renewed fascination with the 'People's Princess', as she was dubbed by then-prime minister Tony Blair, with her two sons leading the tributes.

Newspaper front pages showed the two royals examining flowers and notes left for their mother, next to the same image taken 20 years ago when, aged 15 and 12, they met mourners and read some of the thousands of messages left at the gates.

In documentaries broadcast in recent weeks, the two men have spoken about the trauma they suffered and their sense of confusion and bewilderment at the country's grief.

The 'Times' newspaper said the fact the princes could speak so openly about their emotions showed the lasting legacy of their mother, one of the first royal figures to talk about her emotions.

"Their courage to be openly vulnerable and to talk about these issues is a mark of how the royal family has changed," it said in an editorial. "The princes have led the way in dispensing with the stiff upper lip against which Diana railed."

Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary to the queen who worked for Charles and Diana, said her influence lives on.

He said: "Diana's legacy is William and Harry. That's it, they're carrying on her work. She was a brilliant parent, Charles was a brilliant parent.

"They got the best of both worlds, the high street from Diana and they got the countryside and environment from their dad. So they're well-rounded, well capable of doing what is required of them."

The princess has been described as a boss who was appreciative of her staff and liked to celebrate their birthdays personally, something Mr Arbiter said he experienced.

"I remember the personal touch - she gave me a 50th birthday party in her apartment," he said. "A lunch with party poppers and helium balloons in 1990."

Kathy Martin was creating picture collages of the princess as the crowds flocked to the Kensington Palace gates.

She said: "She was a beautiful young princess that should never have left this world, and now I'm so sad that she's gone."

Ms Martin, originally from Australia, but now living in Beckenham, south-east London, said on the day the princess died she was woken by a phone call from her sister.

"I turned the TV on and I was crying my eyes out. It's silly, well, it's not silly really because I felt like I knew her," she added.
Kenya's Supreme Court has nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win last month, ruling it unconstitutional and calling for new elections within 60 days.

Mr Kenyatta said he "personally disagrees" with the ruling but respects it, although he lashed out at the judges, saying that "six people have decided they will go against the will of the people".

He also called for peace in a country where some elections have been followed by deadly violence.

No presidential election in the East African economic hub has ever been nullified.

Opposition members danced in the streets, revelling in the setback for Mr Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between Kenya's leading political families.

"It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa," said opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged the vote.

"For the first time in the history of African democratisation, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling."

The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favour of the petition filed by Mr Odinga.

He claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favour of Mr Kenyatta, who had won a second term with 54% of the vote.

"A declaration is hereby issued that the presidential election held on August 8 was not conducted in accordance to the constitution and applicable law, rendering the results invalid, null and void," Chief Justice David Maraga said.

The court did not place blame on Mr Kenyatta or his party.

It said the election commission "committed illegalities and irregularities ... in the transmission of results, substance of which will be given in the detailed judgment of the court" that will be published within 21 days.

Mr Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded and said the opposition will ask that electoral officials be prosecuted.

The lead counsel for the president, Ahmednassir Abdulahi, told the court that the nullification was a "very political decision" but said they will live with the consequences.

Mr Odinga's lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Mr Kenyatta's win, saying scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had found anomalies that affected nearly five million votes.

The electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed.

International election observers, including former US secretary of state John Kerry, had said they saw no interference with the vote.

"Right or wrong, the Supreme Court has spoken. So what remains is a fresh opportunity for the people of Kenya, in exercise of their sovereign authority, to once again restate with clarity who they want as their president," electoral commission lawyer Paul Muite said.

Two dozen countries including the United States, which had already congratulated Mr Kenyatta on his victory, issued a joint statement saying the court's ruling "demonstrated Kenya's resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law".

Mr Odinga, a longtime opposition candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president, had unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2013 vote that Mr Kenyatta won.

At first, Mr Odinga's supporters said they would not go to court this time but then filed a petition two weeks ago.

Kenya had been braced for further protests as the court prepared to rule on the opposition's challenge, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital Nairobi and streets near the court barricaded.

Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the August 8 vote.

Instead, opposition supporters exploded in celebration.

"This has shown all (election) observers did not do their job. We want an apology," said John Wekesa, who was dancing outside the court.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote.

But the unrest following the vote was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

"We are not at war with our brothers and sisters in the opposition because we are all Kenyans," Mr Kenyatta said on national television.

But he added: "Five or six people cannot change the will of 45 million people."
Firefighters walk around debris removed from homes during a door-to-door survey of a neighbourhood that was hit by floodwaters from in Houston (AP Photo/LM Otero)

More people have been forced out of their homes nearly a week after Hurricane Harvey, as heavy rain hit Louisiana and knocked out the entire drinking water system in a Texas city of almost 120,000 people.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Houston pleaded for more high-water vehicles and more search-and-rescue equipment as the US's fourth-largest city continued looking for any survivors or bodies that might have somehow escaped notice in flood-ravaged neighbourhoods.

Sylvester Turner also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide more workers to process applications from thousands of people seeking government help.

Harvey victims expect the FEMA to work "with the greatest degree of urgency", Mr Turner said.

The mayor said he will request a preliminary financial aid package of 75 million dollars (58 million) for debris removal alone.

The remnants of the storm were dying as they pushed deeper inland but remained powerful enough to raise the risk of flooding as far north as Kentucky.

More than 1,500 people were staying at shelters in Louisiana and that number was climbing as more people evacuate from flood-ravaged communities in Texas.

The state opened a seventh shelter on Friday in Shreveport for up to 2,400 people, said Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards.

The city of Beaumont, near the Texas-Louisiana line, was evacuating and trying to bring in enough bottled water for people who stayed behind after a water pumping station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River.

In Houston, officials turned their attention to immediate needs such as finding temporary housing for those in shelters, but also to the city's long-term recovery, which will take years and billions of dollars.

Authorities raised the death toll from the storm to 39 late on Thursday, while rescue workers conducted a street-by-street search of tens of thousands of Houston homes that rescuers began on Thursday.

The latest statewide damage surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruction.

An estimated 136,000 structures in Harris County, or 10% of all structures in the county database, were flooded, according to the flood control district for the county, which includes Houston.

Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist for the agency, called that a conservative estimate.

It is 36,000 more homes than were flooded by Tropical Storm Allison in 1989, the area's previous epic flood.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said more than 37,000 homes were heavily damaged and nearly 7,000 were destroyed, figures that did not include the tens of thousands of homes with minor damage.

About 325,000 people have already sought federal emergency aid in the wake of Harvey.

More than 57 million dollars (44 million) in individual assistance has already been paid out, FEMA officials said.

Houston fire chief Sam Pena said his department had responded to nearly 16,000 calls since the storm hit on Saturday, more than 7,600 of them for water rescues.

The search for more survivors and bodies began on Thursday when more than 200 firefighters, police officers and members of an urban search-and-rescue team fanned out across the Meyerland neighbourhood.

"We don't think we're going to find any humans, but we're prepared if we do," said district chief James Pennington, of the Houston Fire Department.

Unlike during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans, crews used GPS devices to log the homes they checked rather than painting neon Xs on the outside.

That avoided alerting potential thieves to vacant homes.

Governor Greg Abbott warned it could take years for Texas to "dig out from this catastrophe".

President Donald Trump tweeted that there is still "so much to do" in Texas's recovery.

Harris County FEMA director Tom Fargione said the agency was looking for ways to house people who lost their homes to Harvey, with 32,000 people reported in shelters across Texas.

Some evacuees have begun returning to their homes but the George R Brown Convention Centre, where 10,000 people took shelter, still housed 8,000 evacuees late on Thursday.

The priority is to get those who are not able to return to their homes into some form of temporary housing, Mr Fargione said.

"Right now, nothing is off the table. This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope."

Authorities were also monitoring a flood-crippled chemical plant near Houston, where the loss of power set off explosions and a fire on Thursday.

The blasts at the Arkema plant north-east of Houston sent up a plume of acrid black smoke that stung the eyes and lungs.

The plant's owners warned more explosions could follow because a loss of refrigeration was causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn.

With widespread reports of fuel shortages, the head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry urged drivers to wait three or four days to fill up their tanks.

Panic buying is causing a run on fuel and empty fuel pumps, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said.

Energy secretary Rick Perry said he would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from an emergency stockpile in a bid to prevent petrol prices from spiking.

Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on August 25, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

The storm brought five straight days of rain totalling close to 52in, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental US.

AP
British Brexit secretary David Davis (L) and European Union (EU) chief negotiator Michel Barnier attend a joint press briefing in Brussels, Belgium, Aug. 31, 2017. No decisive progress has been reached in the third round of Brexit talks, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said here Thursday, warning that the talk mandate given by the European Parliament should not be underestimated. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

Amid a blaming game between the European Union (EU) and Britain, the third round of Brexit talks concluded Thursday without decisive progress, as expected.

"Time is passing quickly and with each day that goes by, we are getting closer to the United Kingdom's withdrawal, on 29 March 2019 at midnight. The fundamental question for which we need an answer is whether on this day, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union in an orderly manner, with an agreement," European Union (EU) chief negotiator Michel Barnier told a joint news conference with Britain's Brexit Secretary David Davis.

MEAN HARVEST

"Over the course of this week we have made a number of useful clarification on a number of points, for instance the status of border workers. However, we did not get any decisive progress on any of the principle subjects," said Barnier.

"We made real progress on the question of the Common Travel Area, on the basis of guarantees by the United Kingdom, and we clarified, in a constructive manner, what remains to be done, particularly with regards to North-South cooperation in the Good Friday Agreement," said Barnier, reaffirming that time is passing quickly for the two sides to reach a global agreement.

"At the current speed, we are far from being able to recommend to the European Council that there has been sufficient progress in order to start discussions on the future relationship, while we are finalising the withdrawal agreement throughout 2018," he added.

Unlike Barnier's pessimism, Davis believed that the two sides have had long and detailed discussions across multiple areas this week and "I think it is fair to say, that we have seen some concrete progress" especially on citizens' rights.

Both sides have agreed to protect the rights of frontier workers, to cover future social security contributions for those covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and protect existing healthcare rights and arrangements for EU27 citizens in Britain and British nationals in the EU, among others, said Davis.

"And we have had further discussions on the governance of the citizens' rights agreement -- and the wider withdrawal agreement. We have shown a willingness to discuss creative solutions in this area and now is the time for the Commission to match it," he added.

BRITAIN CANNOT HAVE THE CAKE AND EAT IT

Saying that EU respects Britain's sovereign decision to leave the Single Market and the Customs Union, Barnier warned that the Single Market, the EU capacity to regulate, to supervise, to enforce our laws, must not and will not be undermined by Brexit.

"The European Council guidelines state that the Union will preserve its autonomy of decision-making. The UK wants to take back control, it wants to adopt its own standards and regulations. But it also wants to have these standards recognised automatically in the EU. That is what UK papers ask for," Barnier told reporters, calling this as "simply impossible."

"You cannot be outside the Single Market and shape its legal order."

For his part, Davis said Britain remains committed to making as much progress as possible on those issues, "but our discussions this week have exposed yet again that the UK's approach is substantially more flexible and pragmatic than that of the EU as it avoids unnecessary disruption for businesses and consumers."

"We have proposed pragmatic solutions to prevent this disruption and we urge the EU to be more imaginative and flexible in their approach to withdrawal on this point," he added.

NO SUFFICIENT TRUST NO FUTURE RELATIONSHIP

Hailing the first phase of this negotiation as crucial to create trust, Barnier said the two sides have not built sufficient trust on citizens' rights and the financial settlement.

"Over the summer, around one hundred EU and EEA citizens living lawfully in the UK received deportation letters...It reinforces the need to ensure that citizens' rights are directly enforceable in front of national jurisdictions, under the control of the European Court of justice, a point on which we disagree today," said Barnier.

"In July, the UK recognised that it has obligations beyond the Brexit date. But this week the UK explained that these obligations will be limited to their last payment to the EU budget before departure," said Barnier, reminding Britain that "we have joint obligations towards third countries."

"With such uncertainty, how can we build trust and start discussing a future relationship? We need to address together these issues seriously and rigorously," he added.

Responding to Barnier's scolding, Davis insisted that "there is an unavoidable overlap between withdrawal and the future and they cannot be neatly compartmentalised."

"The third round of talks have been productive and are an important stepping stone and key building block for discussions to come. We are peeling away the layers, one by one, working through many issues at speed, and moving towards the core of these important matters," said Davis.

"Let's continue to work together constructively to put people above process," he concluded.

Highly anticipated, the third round Brexit talks kicked off on Monday in EU Commission headquarters. There were three negotiating groups covering citizens' rights, financial settlement and other separation issues. The issues related to Northern Ireland and the governance of the withdrawal agreement were addressed by the Coordinators.
Trump administration orders three Russian diplomatic facilities in US closed

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has ordered three Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States closed following the expulsion of American diplomats from Russia, the State Department said Thursday.

Last month, Russia demanded that the U.S. diplomatic presence there be reduced by hundreds of people. In retaliation, the State Department has ordered the Russian government to close its consulate general in San Francisco, California, a chancery annex in Washington, District of Columbia, and a consular annex in New York City. These closures must be complete by Saturday.

The diplomatic reprisals underscore the continued deterioration of relations between the nuclear-armed nations, with more acts of payback to come. And they appear to place President Donald Trump's hope for closer ties with Russia farther out of reach.

The Trump administration has struggled at times to send a consistent message to the Kremlin. Some White House aides appeared to support Russia's desire to have sanctions lifted early in the administration, but Trump ended up signing legislation in July slapping new punitive sanctions on Russia over election meddling. The State Department expressed disappointment when Russia expelled U.S. diplomats, but Trump made light of the situation, thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin "because we're trying to cut down on payroll."

On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted the White House wants to "halt the downward spiral" between the countries.

"We're going to look for opportunities to do that, but we're also going to make sure that we make decisions that are best for our country," Sanders said.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia's newly named ambassador to Washington, cautioned against any "outbursts" on either side.

"Now we need to sort this out calmly, very calmly, and act in a professional manner," Antonov said, according to the state-run TASS news agency. "My comrades and I will fulfill our work in a professional manner."

Experts said it was likely that Russia would respond to the latest U.S. action, potentially by shuttering specific parts of the U.S. diplomatic mission like one of its consulates or other annexes.

"Then it will be up to the United States to react or not to react, but I hope that after this we will finally put this full stop in this cycle of action and counteraction and at least try to manage our relationship," said Dmitry Suslov, a program director for the Valdai International Discussion Club in Moscow.

When Russia expelled U.S. diplomats this summer, it said it was retaliating for new U.S. sanctions and the seizure of two Russian compounds in the United States. The Kremlin said its response sought "parity" in the number of diplomats from each country working in the other, but it was read as a clear sign that Putin had written off chances of a rapprochement under Trump.

"The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said relations are at their worst point since the Cold War and that national security demands that the United States try to improve them, but the Trump administration has shown no real success.

Russia's role in the 2016 election also hangs over the latest back and forth. The United States claims that Russia meddled in the election with the goal of harming Democrat Hillary Clinton and helping Trump, a Republican businessman who had openly admired Putin and said he hoped for improved ties.

Russia denies interference and Trump denies any collusion. A special counsel and congressional panels are investigating, complicating the political climate for any U.S. outreach.

Putin hoped that Trump's arrival in the White House would offer a fresh start - in particular a reversal of economic sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama because of Russia's actions in Ukraine. Additional sanctions and the expulsion of some Russian diplomats came in response to a U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia had attempted to influence the November election.

In what was seen as a welcoming gesture to Trump, Putin held off for months on any retaliation for those actions and the seizure of two Russian recreation compounds in the United States.

The Russian expulsions in July were his answer, and Thursday's announcement by the United States is, in turn, a response to that action, which Nauert called "unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."

Tillerson told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call Thursday that the United States had complied with the Russian demand by the Aug. 31 deadline, and informed him of the new U.S. demands, a State Department official said.

A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov "expressed his regret at the escalation of tensions in bilateral relations, which were not started by us."

While the United States called its decision a reaction to Russia's curtailing of U.S. diplomatic staff in the country, Russia has blamed the United States for setting off a cycle of sanctions and responses that seems likely to continue.

Lavrov told Tillerson that "Moscow would carefully study the new measures announced by the Americans, after which it would announce our reaction," the Russian statement said.

Likewise, Nauert warned that the United States could also "take further action as necessary and as warranted."

Tillerson and Lavrov agreed to meet in September, probably on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly session in New York, a State Department official said.

It's not clear whether Trump and Putin will also met at the U.N. session. The two leaders have met on one other occasion, also on the sidelines of an international gathering.

Russia retains three other consulates as well as smaller diplomatic facilities in the United States. Russia has more facilities in the United States than the United States has in Russia. The State Department said it is not demanding absolute parity as a way to open the door for better relations.

The United States has not returned the diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New York that it seized in December, despite Russian demands. The compounds have been the subject of lower-level discussions between the two nations, and their return has been considered as a U.S. gesture of goodwill.

Russia owns two of the facilities that now must be closed and leases the third, the State Department official said. Russia will retain ownership but cannot use the facilities for diplomatic purposes. The facilities in Washington and New York house trade missions, while the larger San Francisco office handles visas and broader diplomatic work.

The official, who requested anonymity to discuss details of the diplomatic order, said no Russians will be expelled as a result of the new order. It was not clear how many Russian personnel are affected.

Each country accuses the other of using its diplomatic facilities to mask espionage. U.S. officials said the two recreational facilities seized in December had been misused, and the San Francisco site is suspected in economic espionage.

"Shutting down the San Francisco facility will hamper Moscow's ability to target America's tech industry using intelligence officers posing as diplomats," said Edward Price, a former CIA analyst and a National Security Council spokesman in the Obama administration. "Closing the other facilities will force Russia to make difficult choices when it comes to deciding whether to prioritize its diplomatic mission or its covert intelligence-gathering activities."

- - -

The Washington Post's Andrew Roth in Moscow and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.

russia-policy-1stld-writethru

Washington Post News Service (DC)

8/31/2017 7:00:23 PM Central Daylight Time
Bollywood actress Kriti Sanon, who holds a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, was on Friday announced brand ambassador of Education New Zealand.

The move is aimed at strengthening bilateral educational ties between India and New Zealand. Kriti will drive the initiative aimed to attract aspiring students who are looking for a successful career overseas, read a statement.

Kriti, fresh off the success of her latest film "Bareilly Ki Barfi", is thrilled. "Education has played an important role in my growth, the emphasis on learning has been essential in our house.

"I have had several friends and close family members who have chosen to study overseas and as a student I always enjoyed to explore new opportunities.

"With New Zealand's diverse offerings across courses and institutions, I look forward to engaging with the youth of our country about the same," she said.

The actress was a "perfect fit" for the role as she has a good educational background as well as a fan following among the youth, said John Laxon, Education New Zealand's Regional Director - India, South East Asia and Middle East.

New Zealand has been looking to improve its Indian engagements in the tourism and education sectors. Earlier, they roped in Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra to endorse Tourism New Zealand.
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
In what is turning into one of the worst disasters in Indian medical history, 63 children died at the state-run Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur after the supply of oxygen cylinders to the hospital was disrupted.

Who is to be blamed? Of course, it's the country's lackadaisical health care system. From news of poor people being denied ambulance to children dying due to lack of timely intervention, it's a staple in our country and shameful to say the least.

In the past few years, there have been a number of other such heartrending tragedies resulting in death of several innocent people.

1. Gorakhpur hospital tragedy claims 60

PTI

Deaths of children at Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College continues unabated, with as many as 42 kids dying within a span of two days, taking the current count to 60.

30 kids died in hospital without oxygen. This is not a tragedy. It's a massacre. Is this what 70 years of freedom means for our children?  Kailash Satyarthi (@k_satyarthi) 11 August 2017

The reasons for the deaths at the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College hospital included everything from encephalitis to shortage of oxygen supply. The tragedy at the Gorakhpur hospital had prompted a public outcry.

The families of the children have claimed that the doctors were not treating them well and the hospital was not even providing the medicines which were required for the treatment.

2. 800 children die in Jharkhand hospitals

PTI

Following the Gorakhpur tragedy, 800 children died in two hospitals in Jharkhand, with most deaths blamed on encephalitis. A total of 660 children have died at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, its Director B.L. Sherwal said.

Another 164 deaths have been reported in the last four months from Jamshedpurs Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

This year 4,855 children were admitted and 4,195 were discharged after being cured, Sherwal said. (A total of) 660 children could not be saved. We have treated and cured 86.40 per cent of children.

3. Infant dies after doctors argue during a C-section

An argument between two doctors inside the operation theatre at a hospital in Jodhpur cost a woman her baby. The senior doctors were busy massaging their egos indulging in a fight in the middle of performing a caesarean operating on a woman in the operation theatre.

#WATCH Rajasthan: Verbal spat between two doctors in OT during the surgery of a pregnant woman in Jodhpur's Umaid Hospital (29.8.17) pic.twitter.com/eZfHHISQGB  ANI (@ANI) 30 August 2017

A video showed gynaecologist Dr Ashok Neniwal, clashing with anaesthetist Dr ML Tak at the Umaid hospital in Jodhpur.

The accused doctors were eventually suspended. Both doctors have been removed immediately, and disciplinary action will be taken against them, Umaid Hospital Principal AL Bhat told ANI. The surgery was resumed soon but the doctors failed to save the baby.

4. Cuttack, Shishu Bhawan hospital fire

PTI

In November 2015, a fire broke out at Shishu Bhawan hospital in Cuttack that destroyed machines worth Rs 11 lakh.

The hospital was already infamous for mismanagement and over the deaths of several infants due to negligence of doctors.

5. Chhattisgarh Sterilisation Campaign

PTI

In November 2014, 15 women died after a state-run mass sterilisation campaign in India went horribly wrong. Their families told local media they were forced by health workers to attend the camp.

According to reports, at the same camp 80 women underwent surgery for laparoscopic tubectomies at a free government-run camp in the central state of Chhattisgarh, About 60 fell ill shortly afterwards, officials said. At least 14 were in a very serious condition. The incident took place in a government-run hospital called Nemi Chand in the Pendari area of Bilaspur.

6. Bhubaneshwar hospital fire claims 22 lives

Twenty-two people were killed and 120 injured in a major fire at SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening.

Fire broke out in ICU ward of Institute of Medical Sciences & Sum Hospital, Bhubaneswar. 5 fire tenders at the spot. Fire fighting ops on. pic.twitter.com/BrBAeWJcVx  ANI (@ANI) 17 October 2016

Fire service sources said the fire originated around 7.30 pm in the dialysis ward in the second floor of the hospital. While seven critical patients with ventilators were admitted to the dialysis ward, 11 patients were present in nearby ICU.

7. Erwadi mental asylum tragedy leaves 28 dead

On August 6, 2001, the Moideen Badusha Mental Home in Erwadi Village in Tamil Nadu was witness to a devastating fire that left 28 patients (or inmates) dead.

The 28 patients in the mental asylum died in an inferno when they failed to escape the wards because they were chained to posts.

A week later, all of the mental homes were closed and more than 500 inmates were taken under government care.

8. Kolkata hospital tragedy leaves 89 dead

PTI

On December 2011, a major fire broke out in AMRI hospital in Kolkata, leaving 89 dead. The fire began in the basement, where highly inflammable material was allegedly stored. Eyewitnesses said they first spotted and reported smoke streaming from the hospital around 3 a.m, but the first fire engine arrived only two hours later.

9. PBM hospital, Bikaner tragedy, claims the lives of four infants

YouTube Screenshot/Khaas Khabar

In January 2013, four infants were injured when a fire broke out in the nursery ward of PBM government hospital in Bikaner in the wee hours .

The fire broke out at around 2am due to a short circuit in the air-conditioner in the ward where 22 children, mostly infants were admitted.The wires could not carry the load due to which the mishap occurred.
Seeking justice in an alleged fake case against him, a tribal man carried his elderly parents on his shoulders and walked for nearly 40 km.

#WATCH: Tribal man in Odisha's Mayurbhanj travels 40 kms on foot carrying his parents seeking justice in an alleged fake case against him. pic.twitter.com/ULn6KGLLba  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

Kartik Singh, who hails from Moroda in Odisha's district of Mayurbhanj, said that the Moroda Police filed a 'fake' FIR against him and kept him locked up in jail for eighteen days in 2009. As a consequence, he was declared an "outcast" by the villagers.

ani

Singh, who is an educated man, has no income source or money as a backup as the villages refused to give him work. Moving out to find work elsewhere isn't an option either because he has old parents to look after.

ani

Hence, akin to the story of 'Shravan Kumar', Singh carried his parents on his shoulders - with them sitting on wooden baskets on either side - and walked for 40 km to seek justice.

ani

Advocate Prabhudan Marandi said that Moroda Police of Mayurbhanj had a reputation of filing fake cases and Singh's case has been in court since six to seven years.

All Singh wants is to prove that he is innocent before his parents pass away.
Faced with recent setbacks after losing some of its top commanders in Kashmir, Pakistan based terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has banned its militants from using mobile phones and social media.

File Image

According to police newly appointed Hizbul commander in Kashmir, Riyaz Naikoo has asked his men to surrender their mobile phones to avoid surveillance.

Police believe the terrorists operating in Kashmir may have either destroyed their old SIMs or have stopped using mobile phones recently. The decision is said to have been taken after the Syed Salahuddin-led outfit lost some top commanders in Kashmir in August alone.

Lashkar commander Abu Dujana, Hizbul Militants Yasin Yatoo and Ayub Lelhari who were killed by Indian forces last month were believe to be tracked using their mobile and online activity.

Naikoo was appointed the Hizbul commander following the death of Yatoo last month.

Intelligence agencies believe that the restriction on using mobile phones and social media will affect Hizbul's ability to carry out strikes in the valley.

More than carrying out attacks, the ban on social media is likely to affect Hizbul's propaganda.

The outfit had managed to create a following in the valley through social media. Hizbul commanders including Burhan Wani, Abu Dujana and former commander Zakir Musa all had mastered the art of using various social media platforms to spread their propaganda.

It also comes at a time when the outfit is trying to curtail the growing influence of Zakir Musa who rebelled against Hizbul and parted ways to join hands with Al-Qaida to launch in Kashmir.
With newer technology being adopted by the Indian government to avoid train mishaps, here comes is the latest addition to its developmental endeavours.

The government has collaborated with Switzerland in order to develop trains which tilt on approaching a bend, similar to what motorbikes do on a winding road. On Thursday, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries regarding the same.

Apart from Switzerland, these tilting trains are actively operational in 10 other countries like Italy, Slovenia, Portugal, Finland, Russia, the Czech republic, UK, Germany, Romania and China.

representational image : reuters

Officials explained the workings of this new type of train and said that as a train rounds a curve at speed it causes objects to slide about. While it makes seated passengers feel squashed by the armrest, standing passengers tend to lose their balance. The design of the tilting trains counteract this, an official told PTI. During a curve to the left, the train tilts to the left and vice versa, the official said.

The railway ministry of India signed two MoUs with the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport and Communications of the Swiss Confederation for technical cooperation in rail sector in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The second MoU was signed between Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology which will help the former in establishing the George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology (GFITT) at Goa especially for assimilation and dissemination of knowledge in the field of tunnelling, the officials said.
Artificial Intelligence experts may not all agree on how dangerous autonomous robots could be. But one thing they do agree on is that theyll eventually take a lot of human jobs, and we need to prepare for the consequences.

However, their fear isnt shared by everyone, especially where millennials are concerned. In fact, young adults today believe that advancing technology is actually creating more jobs than its taking away.

In the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers 2017 survey, thousands of participants between the ages between 18 and 35 from 186 countries answered various questions concerning the economy, technology, and their ideas about the future.

Of the 24,000 respondents, 78.6 per cent said they believe technology helps create jobs, while the rest insisted its eliminating them for humans. That ratio is higher in more financially well off countries, with lower-income nations having just 61 percent voting for creating.

Additionally, it seems young people also believe Artificial Intelligence is the next big technology trend, with 28 per cent of the participants voting for it. Biotechnology, in second place, got 11.5 percent of the votes, robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) 9.3 per cent each, and driverless cars 7.1 per cent.

Its only natural, considering the younger generations have grown up in a world where technology is prevalent and easily accessible. In addition, AI is currently poised to take the kinds of jobs most arent drawn towards anyways; that of drivers, data analysers, and such.

Millennials are not entirely complacent, however. Half of those questioned said they wouldnt trust decisions made by a robot on their behalf, while the other 50 per cent was split between those who would, and those on the fence.

If nothing else, at least we can make sure the next few generations are keyed in and have watched the Terminator movie at least once.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday congratulated Sapar Isakov on his new role as Kyrgyz prime minister.

In his message, Li spoke highly of the good momentum in the development of the China-Kyrgyzstan strategic partnership as well as remarkable results in bilateral cooperation in various areas.

Li expressed China's willingness to work with Kyrgyzstan to push forward bilateral relations, better benefiting the two peoples.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev signed decrees on Aug. 26 appointing the new prime minister and the cabinet members.

Isakov, 40, who was previously the chief of the President's office, is the youngest prime minister in the history of the Central Asian nation.
Since its acquisition by Glacier Media in April of 2018, we have been working hard on developing exciting new products, and updating our legacy products to better serve the Mining Industry.

In that interest, we have begun the process of retiring the InfoMine brand, and moving its best products onto new platforms.

Over the coming month, EventsMine will be retired and no longer be accessible.

If you have questions regarding this change, feel free to contact us here .
It was a heroic performance for Dr. Stephen Kimmel, a general pediatric surgeon at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas,as the doctor rushed out of his home when he received a call about Jacob Terrazas, who faced permanent damage if the surgery wasnt performed immediately.

Despite the fact that his own home was flooding because of Hurricane Harvey, a Houston area doctor was determined to perform emergency surgery on the 16-year-old boy that he used whatever means necessary to reach the hospital.

Dr Kimmel said he headed out in his car, but had to turn back because of the flooding, so we ran through the flooded streets and it was pretty windy and rainy. We went by canoe and then by (a firefighters) pickup truck and by canoe again. And I felt that these guys knew what they were doing, so I didnt worry about myself at all the whole time he said.

He continued to say, somebody had to take care of this young man, and so I thought, well if I can do it, I certainly should. He was on the way to our institution and Im glad I was able to make it.

Source: ( Linda Ikeji )
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians to set aside their differences and push for unity as Muslims mark the celebration of this years Eid-El-Kabir.

In a statement released by the State House on behalf of the president, Mr. Buhari also congratulated Nigerians who are currently in Saudi Arabia to participate in the rites of the Hajj.

He also thanked Nigerians for praying for his recovery.

Indeed, your fervent and sincere prayers, which cut across religion, political and ethnic divides, has energised me to re-dedicate myself and this administration to the task of building a great Nigeria.

As we celebrate, I sincerely believe that our nation can make rapid progress on all fronts if we re-enact the exemplary virtues, typified by Prophet (Abraham) Ibrahim, through his sacrifice, patience, steadfastness, generosity and obedience to Allahs command and constituted authority.

We must learn to see ourselves as brothers and sisters from the same heritage, who must come to terms with the African proverb that a family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.

Source: ( Premium Times )
Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Abdullahi Mohammed, has disclosed that the number of Nigerian pilgrims who have died at the on going Hajj has risen to seven.

It had been reported on Tuesday that four Nigerian pilgrims to this years hajj in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, died during the religious event at the Islams holiest city.

Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, (NAHCON), Abdullahi Mohammed, disclosed in an interview with newsmen at Mount Arafat, Saudi Arabia yesterday that the number of Nigerian pilgrims who have died at the on going Hajj has risen to seven.

Although the identities of the dead pilgrims were not disclosed, the chairman said the pilgrims were from Kwara, Kogi, Katsina and Kaduna states and had died due to natural illness.

We have lost seven pilgrims due to natural illness. Male and female, particularly from Kwara, Kogi, Katsina, Kaduna. No single accident recorded this year. All pilgrims were evacuated in good time.

We will have to say that, so far so good; even the mortality recorded this year is the lowest in the last 10 to 15 years. We pray that will be the end of any mortality that we are going to record, he noted.

Mohammad expressed optimism that the movement to Mustalifah, back to the pilgrims tents and the observation of stoning of the Jamarat will also be well coordinated, peaceful and that the pilgrims will finish their hajj rites safely.

Importantly, the commission has introduced an emergency call centre. We have officers who man that call centre 24 hours. So, any pilgrim, under any distress situation, should call 90008251, 920008251, he said.

He added that the commission has an effective and well-coordinated medical team with ambulances stationed in various medical camps to attend to emergency needs of pilgrims.

Mohammed said the commission is also coordinating well with state officials to attend to the needs of the pilgrims and expressed satisfaction over hitch-free movement of pilgrims from Makkah to Muna and to Arafat.
Romelu Lukaku and Thomas Meunier both scored hat-tricks as Belgium beat Gibraltar 9-0 despite playing a man short for 42 minutes.

Paris St-Germain right-back Meunier also provided four assists, setting up two of Manchester United striker Lukakus three goals, while Chelseas Eden Hazard also scored on his return from an ankle injury.

Belgium were reduced to 10 men when midfielder Axel Witsel, scorer of their fourth goal, was sent off for a dangerous challenge five minutes before half-time.

Gibraltar defender Erin Barnett was then sent off in the 82nd minute for a professional foul on Kevin De Bruyne, before Lukaku completed his hat-trick with the resulting penalty.

Roberto Martinezs side increased their lead at the top of Group H to six points after Greece, in second, were held 0-0 at home by Estonia.

It means Belgium will secure qualification for the finals in Russia if they win in Greece on Sunday.

Bosnia-Herzegovina missed the chance to move above Greece, letting slip a two-goal lead as they lost 3-2 in Cyprus.

The home side scored three goals in the final 25 minutes, with Pieros Sotirious deflected winner set up by Southend full-back Jason Demetriou.

Source: ( BBC Sports )
British authorities have lifted a ban imposed on electronic devices in aircraft cabins on flights from Cairo to the UK, EgyptAir said on Friday.

Authorities lifted the ban, effective Friday, after ensuring that security procedures on EgyptAir flights meet the requirements of the British Transportation Security Administration, the countrys national carrier said in a statement.

The United States and the UK in March imposed a ban on carrying electronic devices larger than mobile phones aboard cabins on flights travelling from certain airports in several Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The United States lifted the ban in July.

The ban was imposed at 10 airports in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey over concerns bombs could be hidden in electronic devices.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested a fraudster, identified as Ajayi Olalekan Ezekiel, for issuance of fake Argentina visas. The suspect who is a member of a syndicate of visa racketeers, allegedly procured fake Argentina visas for the duo of Oseni Ibrahim and Idudhe Ovuokero.

Narrating his ordeal to operatives of the Cybercrime Unit of the Commissions Lagos office, one of the victims, Ibrahim, alleged that he came across one Olajide Kehinde sometime in 2016, during his quest to travel abroad, who initially agreed to procure a Ghanaian visa for him for the sum of N200, 000.

Ibrahim also alleged that he gave Kehinde the sum of N170, 000 as part payment. However, Kehinde, who could not procure the Ghanaian visa, was said to have advised Ibrahim to pay the sum of N270, 000 to enable him procure an Argentina Visa instead.

Ibrahim said Kehinde eventually gave him an Argentina Visa which he told him was procured through the assistance of the suspect, Ezekiel, after he had paid an additional N100, 000, totalling N270, 000.

When Ibrahim e-mailed the Visa to the Argentina Embassy in Abuja for authentication, he was informed that the Visa was not genuine, a situation that prompted him to immediately contact the suspect.

Ezekiel, in his efforts to pacify Ibrahim, allegedly promised to procure the South Africa visa for him, but he never did.

Ezekiel, who operates an unregistered ticketing agency, will soon be charged to court after investigations are concluded.

Source: ( Linda Ikeji )
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II has urged Muslim faithful to pray for the peace in the country, using this period of Eid-el-Kabir to reflect on positive virtues that has existed in the country.

The Oba made this appeal in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Desmond Agbama on Thursday and made available to newsmen in Benin.

The traditional ruler reminded Muslims on the importance of praying for the well-being of their leaders to enable them to succeed.

He said the Nigerias leaders needed good health, knowledge and wisdom to be able to rule well.

Muslims should also pray for the leaders to have understanding and the political will to lead the country on the path of progress, fairness, equity and justice, the monarch said.

The statement added that the royal father wished the Muslim faithful a successful celebration.

Source: ( PM News )
Members of opposition party , the Peoples Democratic Party,( PDP ) on Thursday, accused the ruling party, All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of destroying the independence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.

The EFCC and ICPC were created during its 16-year reign to curb the menace of corruption in the country, this was made known in a statement by the PDP Head of Publicity Department, Mrs. Chinwe Nnorom.

But the APC, the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecutions, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla; and the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), berated the PDP for saying that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration destroyed the independence of the anti-graft agencies.

The statement said the PDP, which was established on August 31, 1998, had remained the only viable, prosperous and most visionary political party in Nigeria.

The PDP statement by Nnorom stated, (The) PDP administration established two major anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to curb the menace of corruption in the country.

These efforts reduced corrupt practices and further increased the confidence of foreign investors that resulted in huge investment inflows into the country.

The APC-led government of today has destroyed the independence of these agencies with their selective approach of using deodorants when APC members are involved and insecticides when it concerns the PDP members and other Nigerians.

The statement said the PDP therefore remained the best political party in Nigeria.

It therefore appealed to Nigerians to return the former ruling party to power in 2019, saying it had learnt from its past mistakes.

The PDP stated that the chairman of the partys National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, congratulated members and supporters of the former ruling party on the achievement.

As s a human organisation, there might have been some issues or areas we could not cover when we were governing. We promise to make amends as and when given the opportunity again in 2019, the statement added.

The former ruling party believes Nigerians have not forgotten the enormous infrastructural developments, policies and programmes developed by it in contrast to the current APC-led government.

It added, The PDP no doubt, initiated several reforms that transformed the country from the decay of long years of military dictatorship/failed civilian administration and never resorted to self- pity, blame and propaganda as its seen today.

For the record, in 1999 the image of Nigeria internationally was in a deplorable state with very poor human rights records. The PDP took conscious steps to change that perception and within a very short period, it restored the country to its pride of place among the comity of nations. We promise to do it again come 2019.

It recalled how former President Olusegun Obasanjo worked diligently with other western powers to settle all our foreign debts accumulated by the military, thereby detaching Nigerias economy from the burden.

The PDP noted that Nigerias unity remained the core principle of the founding fathers, saying throughout the 16 years of the PDP government, the party took deliberate actions to sustain and maintain this principle by building bridges across the nation.

This, it said, could not be said of the APC-led administration given its alleged lopsided appointments, which it argued had aggravated the agitations for self-determination and secession by some sections of the country.

The PDP, however, declared that the party would not support such agitations.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with Muslim faithful in Nigeria as they celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir in some days to come. Buhari urged all Muslims to rise against the odds, keep our prejudices aside and strengthen the bonds of friendship and unity to keep our country together.

Here is Buharis Sallah message.

Fellow Compatriots,

I felicitate with you all, particularly the Muslim faithful, on the celebration of this years Eid-El-Kabir. Congratulate our Muslim brothers and sisters who are currently in Saudi Arabia to participate in the rites of the Hajj.

From the outset, I want to use this opportunity to thank all Nigerians who prayed for my recovery and have continued to extend their goodwill and support after my return to the country.

Indeed your fervent and sincere prayers, which cut across religion, political and ethnic divides, has energised me to re-dedicate myself and this administration to the task of building a great Nigeria.

On the joyous occasion of this years Eid-El-Kabir celebration, I appeal to all Nigerians to rise against the odds, keep our prejudices aside and strengthen the bonds of friendship and unity to keep our country together.

For Muslims all over the world, this celebration is to commemorate the trials and triumph of Prophet (Abraham) Ibrahim.

As we celebrate, I sincerely believe that our nation can make rapid progress on all fronts if we re-enact the exemplary virtues, typified by Prophet (Abraham) Ibrahim, through his sacrifice, patience, steadfastness, generosity and obedience to Allahs command and constituted authority.

We must learn to see ourselves as brothers and sisters from the same heritage, who must come to terms with the African proverb that a family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.

Once again, I assure you that this administration, which has made the security, economic well-being and prosperity of all Nigerians its priority, will not rest on its oars until we see the Nigeria of our dream.

I wish everyone happy Sallah celebrations.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI

August 31, 2017
An undergraduate has shocked many people by going on a spending spree after over N300 million was mistakenly paid into her account.

A student who received a staggering 850,000 (N392million) instead of her usual 85 monthly university food grant is in hot water after going on a massive 73 day spending spree with her pals.

According to Sun UK, the Accountancy student identified as Sibongile Mani, 27, who was on benefits to allow her to study was said to have undergone a Cinderella like transformation overnight after the cash blunder.

It was gathered that student leader Sibongile usually receives 85 each month in her bank account in food and book allowances at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa before the sad error saw her account blow to a staggering N392 million.

But people started raising eyebrows when her neat corn-row hairstyle was replaced with 180-a-time Peruvian weaves and she began wearing designer outfits and bought a brand new i-phone 7.

She began flashing the cash kitting out her closest friends with new outfits and drinking 50-a-time bottles of whisky and jetting herself and her pals round the country to wild parties.

Suspicions grew when a till receipt from a local SPAR shop was leaked showing that she had 810,000 in her account and her wild spending became more lavish and talked about.

She was finally outed by Samkelo Mqhayi, deputy branch secretary of the South African Students Congress (SASCO), who reported her to the National Students Financial Aids Scheme.

He told Herald Live: She threw surprise birthday parties for her friends and showered them with expensive gifts and flew them to events where she bought the best seats.

When the SPAR receipt was leaked showing a balance of R13.6-million (810,000) in her account I called NSFAS and they checked their records and confirmed that the initial amount was R14-million (850,000).

By the time they reigned her in after her two-and-a-half-month spending spree they discovered she had been blowing 666 a day which is a staggering amount in South Africa.

The total missing from the account is 50,000. A fellow student said: She went from a hard up, humdrum run-of-the-mill student to one who was leading a lavish lifestyle and seemed to have no bottom to her purse and lived the high life.

She became very glamorous in beautiful dresses with all the accessories and we thought she must have won the Lottery. She must have thought she had won it too when she got that cash!.

In a Facebook post Miss Mani claimed she had reported the error to the authorities.

She said: Today my personal life has become a social media scandal. I have been named and shamed in public. Today, I am a bad person, a person who stole the money of students.

With that being said, and being named a thief, but as we all know in every story there is truth and there are lies with the very same story.

She said she was not denying anything but would tell her side later but she has fled the campus and gone into hiding and shut down her Facebook page.

Miss Mani told the Daily Daily Dispatch: It is very clear that I didnt make the error.

Walter Sisulu University spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said the 850,000 payment did not affect other students saying: All students who were due to receive NSFAS payments got them.

She will have to repay the money.

Intellimali chief executive Michael Ansell said: Legal action will be taken against the student. A forensic investigator had been appointed.

The university has 30,500 students of whom 18,000 are funded by the NSFAS who are meant to spend their monthly grants on food and books.

Legal experts have said Miss Mani could face a charge of theft.
A serving Nigerian Senator who is the Chairman Senate Committee on Navy, who was publicly accused of carrying a forged retirement letter, has been summoned by the Police Service Commission.

The Police Service Commission (PSC), has invited Senator Isah Misau, Chairman Senate Committee on Navy, to appear before its Special Panel investigating allegations of special promotions in the Nigeria Police Force.

The senator is expected to appear before the panel on Sept 6.

The Nigeria Police Force on August 27, declared Misau a deserter and accused him of carrying a forged retirement letter.

Senator Misau had, in series of interviews with newsmen, accused the Inspector General of Police of taking bribe to post police officers as well as diverting money paid by private companies for police duties.

The Head, Press and Public Relations of the commission, Ikechukwu Ani, announced n a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, that the invitation letter was signed by the Chairman of the Special Panel , retired Justice O. Adekeye.

He said that the immediate issue for investigation was the genuineness or otherwise of the two letters of retirement supposed to have emanated from the commission.

He said that the commission received correspondence from the Nigeria Police Force Special Investigation Panel (SIP)on Aug. 24 relating to Misaus retirement from the Nigeria Police Force.

The Police Service Commission, the only organ saddled with the statutory responsibility of issuing letters of retirement to all Police Officers except the IGP, has a vital role to play in determining the authenticity of this letter, he said.

He said Misau was to appear before the panel with the original copy of his letter of retirement for authentication.
The Catholic Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (CAMPAN) has decided to the Nigerian Muslims to celebrate this years Eid el-Kabir on Friday, according to the National President, Patrick Osu.

According to Osu in a statement in Abuja, as he urged Muslims and Nigerians in general to use the period to pray for the unity and peace of Nigeria and shun hate campaigns.

He said Muslims should also use the period and beyond to preach and spread love, peace, unity and togetherness, adding that in unity, we are stronger as a nation.

We must not allow anything to divide us; but learn to live together as one indivisible country no matter our diverse ethnic groups.

We pray that Allah will hear the prayers and supplications of Muslims from Nigeria currently on holy pilgrimage in the Holy Land of Makkah for peace to continue to reign in the country and among Nigerians.

We also pray that Allah in His mercy and compassion will bring them back home in good health of mind, body and soul.

Source: ( PM News )
While speaking at a programme on Management of Domestic Violence, organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs in Lagos, the state commissioner opened up on how many women are the cause of domestic violence in their homes.

Dr Lola Akande, Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), on Thursday said that many women, by their actions, are the cause of the rate of domestic violence in Nigeria.

Akande, who was represented by Mrs Olushola Falana, Director, Women Development Department, WAPA, made the observation at a programme on Management of Domestic Violence, organised by the ministry in Lagos.

According to her, negligence, sophistication, misguided utterances, infidelity, use of abusive words and gullibility on the part of the women, are factors that drive domestic violence.

It is no longer news that many women have lost their lives through domestic violence. The more we try to put the blame on the men folk, the more we will continue to turn blind eyes to the fact that many women are the cause of the domestic violence we see today.

This is because we fail to understand some important aspects of how most men are wired. Some women also cause violence by using abusive words and misguided utterances that can provoke the men.

But let me also state that a man who beats a woman is a beast, and does not deserve to live with humans. No matter how provoked you may be as a man, please, never raise your hand to beat your wife,  she said.

The commissioner advised men and women to be understanding, tolerant and communicate more, to prevent violence in marriages.

Akande said the programme was organised due to Gov. Akinwunmi Ambodes commitment to exploring all avenues to nip the scourge of domestic violence in the bud, and reduce it.

Earlier, Mr Praise Fowowe, Principal Consultant, Centre for S*x Education and Family Life, said that communication and dialogue should be explored to resolve family issues, rather than resorting to violence

Fowowe said that dialogue could prevent needless deaths from domestic violence as well as promote the dignity of humanity, where there would be respect for life.

I commend the Lagos State Government for this sensitisation programme because awareness is key to making individuals who have temper issues to learn how to call for help and go for therapy.

Men should desist from beating their wives, but see them as co-creators, help mate and friends, so, we can build a team-centred family, society and country, and create the nation of our dream,  Fowowe said.

Also speaking, Mrs Oluwabukola Salami, Director, Lagos State Office of Public Defender, urged women to get empowered so as not to be liabilities to the men.

According to her, it will be difficult for any man to beat his wife when she is empowered and contributes meaningfully in the home.

Salami urged women who were in abusive marriages to report to appropriate agencies to get help and safeguard their lives.

She urged the public to be their brothers keeper, and report any form of domestic violence in their neighborhood.
The study, published in Nature, used a combination of new geochemical measurements and novel global climate modelling to show that the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was associated with a geologically rapid doubling of atmospheric CO2 in less than 25 thousand years  with volcanoes squarely to blame.

The PETM is the most rapid and extreme natural global warming event of the last 66 million years. It lasted for around 150 thousand years and global temperatures increased by at least 5oC  a temperature increase comparable with projections of modern climate beyond the end of this century. While it has long been suggested that the PETM event was caused by the injection of carbon into the ocean and atmosphere; the ultimate trigger, the source of this carbon, and the total amount released, have up to now all remained elusive.

It had been known that the PETM roughly coincided with the formation of massive 'flood basalts'  large stretches of ocean floor coated in lava, resulting from of a series of huge eruptions. These occurred as Greenland first started separating from north-western Europe, thereby creating the North Atlantic Ocean, the vestiges of which are still continuing in miniature in Iceland today. What has been missing is evidence linking these huge volcanic outpourings to the carbon release and warming that marks the PETM.

Dr Marcus Gutjahr, who led the study while a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Southampton, and is now at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel Germany, explained: In order to identify the source of carbon we first generated a new record of the change in ocean pH (a measure of its acidity) through the PETM, by measuring changes in the balance of isotopes of the element boron in ancient marine fossils called foraminifera.

The geochemical facilities at the University of Southampton is one of few locations in the world where this kind of work can be carried out. Foraminifera are tiny marine plankton that live near the sea surface and the chemical makeup of their microscopic shells records the environmental conditions of the time when they lived, millions of years ago.

Professor Andy Ridgwell from University of California, Riverside continued Ocean pH tells us about the amount of carbon absorbed by ancient seawater, but we can get even more information by also considering changes in the isotopes of carbon, as these provide an indication of its source. When we force a numerical global climate model to take into account both sets of changes, the results point to the large-scale volcanism associated with the opening of the North Atlantic as the primary driver of the PETM.

The team found that the PETM was associated with a total input of more than 10,000 petagrams of carbon from a predominantly volcanic source. This is a vast amount of carbon  some 30 times larger than all the fossil fuels burned to date and equivalent to all current conventional and unconventional fossil fuel reserves. In their computer model simulations, it resulted in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 increasing from 800 parts per million to above 2000 ppm. The Earth's mantle contains more than enough carbon to explain this dramatic rise and it would have been released as magma, pouring from volcanic rifts at the Earth's surface.

Professor Gavin Foster from the University of Southampton said: How the ancient Earth system responded to this carbon injection at the PETM can tell us a great deal about how it might respond in the future to man-made climate change. For instance, we found that Earth's warming at the PETM was about what we would expect given the CO2 emitted and what we know about the sensitivity of the climate system based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. However, compared with today's human-made carbon emissions, the rate of carbon addition during the PETM was much slower, by about a factor of 20.

Dr Philip Sexton from the Open University in Milton Keynes continues: We found that carbon cycle feedbacks, like methane release from gas hydrates which were once the favoured explanation of the PETM, did not play a major role in driving the event. On the other hand, one unexpected result of our study was that enhanced organic matter burial was important in ultimately drawing down the released carbon out of the atmosphere and ocean and thereby accelerating the recovery of the Earth system. This shows the real value of studying these ancient warming events as they provide really valuable insights into how Earth behaves when its climate system and carbon cycle are dramatically perturbed.

###

Notes to Editors

1) The paper Very large release of mostly volcanic carbon during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum is published in the journal Nature. Journalists can request a copy from Media Relations.

2) Images are available from Media Relations.

3) This collaborative study, also involving the University of Bristol, Cardiff University, University of Bremen, University of California San Diego and Yale University, is an output from 'Abrupt Ocean Acidification Events' jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as part of the UK ocean acidification research programme.

4) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top one per cent of institutions globally. Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 24,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www. southampton. ac. uk

5) Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton has a well-established reputation for outstanding research and teaching. Our unique waterfront campus at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) attracts prominent researchers and educators from around the world, who join us to work within the areas of geochemistry, geology and geophysics, marine biogeochemistry, marine biology and ecology, palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate and physical oceanography. Following publication of the national Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF2014), OES was ranked second in the UK, for proportion of research recognised as world-leading (4*) in the Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Unit of Assessment. http://www. southampton. ac. uk/ oes/ index. page

6) The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 1.8 million students and has almost 170,000 current students, including more than 15,000 overseas.

Over 70% of students are in full-time or part-time employment, and four out of five FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff to take OU courses.

In the latest assessment exercise for university research (Research Excellence Framework, 2014), nearly three quarters (72%) of The Open University's research was assessed as 4 or 3 star  the highest ratings available  and awarded to research that is world-leading or internationally excellent. The Open University is unique among UK universities having both an access mission and demonstrating research excellence.

Regarded as the UK's major e-learning institution, the OU is a world leader in developing technology to increase access to education on a global scale. Its vast 'open content portfolio' includes free study units, as well as games, videos and academic articles and has reached audiences of up to 9.8 million across a variety of online formats including OpenLearn, YouTube and iTunes U. For further information please visit: http://www. open. ac. uk
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Russia on Friday promised a "tough response" to a U.S. order to shut the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and offices in Washington and New York, the latest round in a diplomatic tit-for-tat.

The U.S. issued its order Thursday and gave Russia 48 hours to comply, intensifying tensions between the two countries.

President Donald Trump's administration described its action as retaliation for the Kremlin's "unwarranted and detrimental" demand earlier this month that the U.S. cut its diplomatic staff in Russia.

"The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Still, she said that Washington hoped both countries could now move toward "improved relations" and "increased cooperation."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Moscow will reply with firmness, but still must decide on the precise response.

"We will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States," he said in a televised meeting with students at Russia's top diplomacy school.

American officials argued that Russia should refrain from retaliation, noting that Moscow's ordering of U.S. diplomatic cuts was premised on bringing the two countries' diplomatic presences into "parity."

"The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides," Nauert said.

Both countries now maintain three consulates on each other's territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.

Lavrov on Friday also defended Trump, saying that the new package of sanctions against Russia that Congress adopted last month not only hits Russia but also is designed to "tie Trump's hands, not let him use his constitutional powers to the full to make foreign policy."

Several hours after the U.S. announcement, new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov arrived in Washington to start his new posting.

At the airport, Antonov cited a maxim of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin as he urged caution and professionalism.

"We don't need hysterical impulses," Russian news agencies quoted Antonov as saying.

The closures on both U.S. coasts marked perhaps the most drastic diplomatic measure by the United States against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each other's diplomats.

And it comes amid some of the broadest strains in their relationship ever since. The two countries have clashed over the wars in Ukraine and Syria, but most significantly over American allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump's chances of victory. Investigations continue into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow.

By Saturday, the Russians must close their consulate in San Francisco and an official residence there. Though Russia can keep its New York consulate and Washington embassy, trade missions housed in satellite offices in both of those cities must shut down, a senior Trump administration official said. The official briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Outside the consulate building high atop a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, there were no visible signs of an exodus Thursday. Consular officials walked in and out of the stately building, and Russian citizens who had scheduled appointments said they were able to pick up or renew their passports.

American counterintelligence officials have long kept a watchful eye on Russia's outpost in San Francisco, concerned that people posted to the consulate as diplomats were engaged in espionage. The U.S. late last year kicked out several Russians posted there, calling it a response to election interference.

The U.S. isn't expelling any Russian officials this time. Those who work at the shuttered offices can be reassigned elsewhere in the United States, the senior official said.

One of the buildings is believed to be leased, but Russia will maintain ownership over the others, said the official, adding that Moscow can determine if it wants to sell them or otherwise dispose of the properties.

The forced closures are the latest in an intensifying exchange of diplomatic broadsides.

In December, President Barack Obama kicked out dozens of Russian officials, closed Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland, and imposed sanctions on Russian people and businesses. Russian President Vladimir Putin withheld from retaliating. The next month, Trump took office after campaigning on promises to improve U.S.-Russia ties.

But earlier this month, Trump begrudgingly signed into law stepped-up sanctions on Russia that Congress pushed to prevent him from easing up on Moscow.

The Kremlin retaliated by telling the U.S. to cut embassy and consulate staff down to 455 personnel, from a level hundreds higher.

Russia said 755 personnel in all would have to go to reach the new limit. The U.S. never confirmed how many diplomatic staff it had in the country at the time. As of Thursday, the U.S. has complied with the order to reduce staff to 455, officials said.

The reductions are having consequences for Russia. The U.S. last month temporarily suspended non-immigrant visa processing for Russians seeking to visit the United States and resumed it on Friday at a "much-reduced rate." The U.S. will process visas only at the embassy in Moscow, meaning Russians can no longer apply at U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

Even before the cuts at the U.S. mission were announced, typical waiting time for visa applicants in Russia to be interviewed was longer than a month.

Nadezhda Sianule was going to go to her daughter's wedding in the United States in mid-September and got an appointment in July to be interviewed on Thursday. Now these plans are in disarray.

"I came yesterday and they said that I'm not on the list, they said that the old lists have been canceled," she said outside the U.S. Embassy Friday morning where she went to make inquiries.

Despite the exchange of penalties, there have been narrow signs of U.S.-Russian cooperation that have transcended the worsening ties. In July, Trump and Putin signed off on a deal with Jordan for a cease-fire in southwest Syria. The U.S. says the truce has largely held.

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Update 9/5/17  Connecticut-based Westy Self Storage and online storage marketplace SpareFoot have also announced programs to assist victims of Hurricane Harvey.

All Westy storage facilities have been designated as drop-off locations for baby products, cleaning supplies, non-perishable food items and personal-hygiene products. The company will provide temporary storage for donated items and deliver them to Feeding America, a nonprofit network of more than 200 food banks. The organization will then deliver collected products to the most affected areas in Texas, according to the source.

SpareFoot has offered to compensate Harvey sufferers for a full month of self-storage by issuing reimbursement gift cards from Amazon.com. Victims who reserve a storage unit through the SpareFoot.com website are eligible to receive the free gift. The company is also helping hurricane victims find offers for free self-storage move-ins through its online platform by highlighting those listings in green in user search results.

Founded in 1990, Westy Self Storage is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. The company's portfolio of 15 facilities spans the tri-state area of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

SpareFoot.com helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 12,000 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com and Penske Truck Rental.

8/31/17  Lockaway Storage, Metro Storage LLC and U-Haul International Inc. are among the self-storage operators offering assistance to businesses and residents impacted by Hurricane Harvey. All three have designated facilities to provide at least 30 days of free self-storage, as well as other services, to those affected.

The storm has caused widespread flooding and damage throughout Southeast Texas, with some areas receiving more than 50 inches of rain. The weather system has dumped an estimated 24.5 trillion gallons of water across Louisiana and Texas, killing at least 31 people and causing thousands to evacuate. As many as 40,000 homes in the Houston area have been destroyed by floodwaters, with 32,000 residents registered in Texas shelters. In all, 325,000 people had registered for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as of Thursday, according to ABC News.

On Monday, Lockaway officials announced the company would provide a free month of storage to Texas storm victims at any of its 29 facilities in the San Antonio metro area. The operator has also partnered with UNITS Moving and Portable Storage to provide free use of mobile-storage units.

Our professional self-storage property managers are prepared to help [victims] figure out the proper size of storage unit to protect [their] belongings after the storm, Lockaway officials said in a blog post on the company website.

Portable storage from UNITS is available for use as onsite storage and temporary office space, according to the blog. The company is catering to construction businesses that may need to use the containers onsite at properties undergoing repairs and renovations.

Metro Storage announced today that it will offer two months of free rent at six of its facilities in the Houston area. Four of the locations are within the city border, while the other facilities are in Kingwood and La Marque. None sustained damage during the storm, according to a press release.

"People that have damage and are beginning the recovery and cleanup process are looking for a safe, dry place to store their belongings," said Blair Nagel, CEO of Metro Storage. "We're fortunate to be in a position where we can offer assistance to residents in this time of need."

Prior to the Category 4 hurricane making landfall along the Gulf Coast, six U-Haul companies announced that 41 facilities across eight Texas cities would offer a month of free storage to those affected. The U-Haul Cos. of Corpus Christi, Gulf Coast Texas, East Houston, West Houston, San Antonio East and San Antonio West operate participating facilities in Corpus Christi, Houston, Kingwood, League City, Pasadena, San Antonio, Spring and Webster.

As Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm but veered toward Louisiana earlier this week, weather forecasters predicted continued rainfall in parts of Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas to reach 3 to 6 inches by Friday, with some areas receiving up to 10 inches, according to Business Insider.

On Tuesday, the U-Haul Cos. of Northern Louisiana and Southern Louisiana announced 12 facilities in nine cities across the state would offer 30 days of free storage to residents impacted by the storm. Participating facilities are in Gretna, Harvey, Kenner, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Leesville, Marrero, New Orleans and Slidell.

In addition to providing self-storage, participating U-Haul facilities are also offering supplies to help with storm recovery, including boxes, tarps, propane and propane tanks. U-Haul is an official American Red Cross Disaster Responder, according to a press release.

Lockaway operates more than 40 self-storage properties in Texas, with locations in Boerne, Converse, Leon Valley, San Antonio, Schertz and Texarkana.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Metro Storage operates the Metro Self Storage brand. The privately owned, fully integrated real estate specializes in the acquisition, development and management of self-storage facilities nationwide. It operates 130 locations in 13 states comprising more than 8.1 million square feet of storage space.

Established in 1945, U-Haul owns and manages more than 52 million square feet of storage space throughout North America.
SpareFoot, an online marketplace for self-storage consumers, has surpassed $1 billion in revenue generated for storage operators since launching in August 2008. Through nine years of operation, consumers using the SpareFoot platform have rented more than 95 million square feet of storage space, according to company officials.

Based on an average storage-unit height of 8 feet, SpareFoot estimates users have rented more than 765 million cubic square feet of space. To put it in perspective, our customers have rented enough space to fill the equivalent of more than 20 Empire State Buildings, CEO Chuck Gordon said in a company blog post.

The SpareFoot online platform allows consumers to compare pricing and services offered by moving, self-storage, valet-storage and vehicle-storage businesses. The companys listings include more than 4,000 U.S. cities and 12,000 storage facilities.

SpareFoot.com helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 12,000 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com and Penske Truck Rental.
James Gibson, CEO of U.K. self-storage operator Big Yellow Group PLC, has invested 100,000 in CityStasher, a Web-based startup that connects travelers who need to temporarily store backpacks, luggage and other items with businesses willing to harbor them. Gibson is also serving as a mentor to CityStasher founders Anthony Collias, Matt Majewski and Jacob Wedderburn-Day, who came up with the idea while studying at Oxford University, according to the source.

Though he isnt involved with the day-to-day aspects of the startup, Gibson is considered a non-executive director of the company. We can contact him any time, and when we need advice, hes always there for us, Majewski told the source.

Since launching last September, CityStasher has amassed more than 100 StashPoints in 23 cities across the United Kingdom. More than 25,000 items have been stored at participating businesses, which include convenient stores, hotels and shops that sell newspapers and magazines.

Customers have ranged from students and tourists to academics and business professionals. Those who need to store an item pay 4 for up to three hours and 6 for up to 24 hours. Participating StashPoint businesses receive 50 percent of customer fees, the source reported. Reservations can be made via smartphones and tablets, with 750 of insurance included in the cost.

Collias, Majewski and Wedderburn-Day each invested 200 as startup funding. The entrepreneurs hope to raise 750,000 in additional funds to help fuel expansion. The company has a goal of 300 U.K. StashPoints by the end of next year and is eyeing opportunities throughout Europe. StashPoints are already available in Amsterdam, according to the source.

Future services could allow customers to drop an item at one location and later retrieve it from another destination, the source reported.

Big Yellow Group operates 89 self-storage locations in the United Kingdom under the Big Yellow Self Storage and Armadillo Self Storage brand names, with most concentrated in Greater London. Its total portfolio comprises 5.3 million square feet.
O&H Investments, which operates seven Affordable Family Storage facilities in Iowa and Missouri, plans to convert a former Kmart in Topeka, Kans., to self-storage. The company purchased the site at 240 S.E. 29th, which also includes two leased spaces, in July, according to the source. The plan is to retain the existing tenants, Harbor Freight and Car Toyz Audio, intact.

Expected to cost $3.1 million, the conversion will add 450-500 climate-controlled units to the interior of the building, which closed in 2002. The project will include an extensive facelift for the dilapidated structure as well as a roof replacement, and landscaping and utility upgrades.

We take centers similar to this and do a higher-end self-storage, an adaptive reuse, said Trent Overhue, project manager. This particular property will be kind of unique for Topeka. It will be a drive-through facility, so youll actually pull in the building and out the other side. It should be nice, bright, clean. We like big open boxes like that. They fit well for what we do. This one just needs a little bit more work than most.

Crews have already begun clearing out the building, and construction will begin once the city approves the final development plans. The facility is slated to open in early 2018, Overhue said.

O&H has asked for the formation of a community improvement district (CID) of $955,000 to support the renovations. The CID would be a 1 percent sales tax on all eligible retail sales in the district, with projected sales showing it would be complete by 2039. The Topeka City Council will discuss the request at its Sept. 5 meeting, the source reported.

Based in Council Bluffs, Iowa, family-owned O&H operates two facilities in Council Bluffs and Des Moines, Iowa, and five in Billings, Brookline, Jefferson City, Ozark and Republic, Mo. It also owns NSI Investments and TriStates Investments.
General Ben Hodges, the commander of US ground forces in Europe, called on Russia Friday to expand media access to its upcoming military exercises, adding that Moscow's statements could not be trusted.

"If the Russian Federation is truly interested in stability and security, then be transparent, invite media to see everything that they do," Hodges told reporters in Lithuania.

Moscow has said 12,700 troops from Russia and Belarus will participate in the Zapad drills along the NATO's eastern flank from September 14 to 20.

However, western officials have said the preparations suggest it will be a much larger exercise, which would mean that Moscow should allow international observers to monitor the drills.

"The Russians have not given us a lot of reason to trust the numbers that they say," Hodges said, echoing remarks by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

The exercises in western Russia and Belarus have caused unease in Poland and the Baltic states, though Moscow has insisted that they will be "purely defensive" in nature.

"I think this would all be solved and everybody would be relaxed if the Russian Federation would invite media to everything that they do the way that Lithuanian armed forces do, that German armed forces do, that American armed forces do," Hodges said.

Earlier this week the United States sent extra jet fighters and a company of US Army troops to beef up its presence in Lithuania during the drills.

NATO has also deployed about 1,000 soldiers in each of the Baltic states and Poland in response to growing concern over Russian intentions after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

"I feel confident in the deterrence capability that's actually in this region. But we also have to always remain vigilant," Hodges said.

"Being alert is the responsibility for all of our security services. But I don't have a good record for predicting the future."

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Safeguard Self Storage, which operates facilities throughout the eastern states, is on track to complete its new facility in East Rockaway, N.Y., by February. Once finished, the property at 499 Ocean Ave. will include 600 climate-controlled units, 12 of which will be designed for commercial tenants, according to the source.

The company requested a sign variance during an Aug. 23 zoning-board meeting. The code states signs can only be 3 feet wide, which wouldnt be on scale with the size of the facility, according to Stanley Bonilla, senior vice president of development for Safeguard. Were trying to find something that works with the town and something that works with the neighborhood, said Bonilla, wholl address the matter with the board again next month.

The site formerly housed W.M. Berg Inc., a manufacturer of aircraft parts and one of the areas biggest employers. The company vacated the property in 2007 when it moved its operation to Milwaukee. The building was demolished a year ago due to extensive mold damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the source reported.

Prior to construction, Safeguard was granted permission to make a payment in lieu of taxes from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency for 15 years, Bonilla said. The tax break was given due to the operators additional development sites in the county as well as the employment of 80 construction workers for each project. The agreement enables the business to pay the same amount it would pay in taxes every few months to the village, town, school district and county, rather than pay taxes on a regular basis. It first, and most important, does not reduce the taxes, Bonilla said.

In March, Safeguard opened a new facility in the East Tremont neighborhood of Bronx, N.Y. It comprises 50,750 rentable square feet of storage space in 905 climate-controlled units.

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Atlanta, Safeguard operates facilities in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The company is owned and operated by Morgan Stanleys Prime Property Fund.
Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada), August 31, 2017  Louis-Philippe Dumoulin is about to participate in the last event of the year on a road circuit which will occur on September 2 and 3 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario. At this stage, nothing can tarnish the motivation and ambition of the #47 WeatherTech Canada / Groupe Bellemare team to climb on the highest step of the podium.

Weve finished one step from podium at the Trois-Rivieres Grand Prix. The road circuit car is fast, and were going to show up this weekend to realize the potential of the work accomplished by the whole crew, who are just as motivated to win. Its our goal for all three of the remaining races, explains the driver of the #47 WeatherTech Canada / Groupe Bellemare team.

The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) is synonymous with success for Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, and he knows how much the pit stop strategy is essential: The CTMP is a circuit thats very, very fast, we have to take advantage of the momentum, since everything happens at such a high speed. Its the kind of circuit I really appreciate. For the audience, its quite a show, and for the drivers, its quite a challenge, he explains with enthusiasm.

THE RACE AGAINST CANCER

September 16th: The Descent: Soapbox challenge

Dumoulin Competitions Great Romp fundraiser for the Quebec Cancer Foundation is continuing this weekend. Every gesture is a step towards the podium. Next activity: On September 16th, Jeune Chambre de la Mauricie is organizing The Descent: Soapbox challenge. Jean-Francois and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin are honorary presidents of the event. The teams will compete against each other on cote Pere-Marquette (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) to raise funds for the Quebec Cancer Foundation.

Come join us, many surprises are planned!

 Weekend schedule available at http://hometracks.nascar.com/racedayschedule/nps-ctmp-9317-schedule

 Follow the race online at http://hometracks.nascar.com/nps/race-central-live-2017-ctmp-2

 The race will be broadcast on TSN on Saturday September 9 at 2:30 pm and on RDS on Saturday September 30 at 1:30 pm.

Passion  Performance  Partnerships

Media Contacts:

Jessica Menard, Ph.D., Les Equipes Caissie-Menard inc.,

medias@dumoulincompetition.com, 819 448-6514 (voicemail)
Texas and Louisiana have been traumatized by the wrath of Hurricane Harvey. Parts of the states lie submerged in Harveys murky flood waters - and insurance professionals, claims adjusters and catastrophe services have flocked to assist.Crawford Catastrophe Services is one claims management company that has deployed a team to the catastrophe stricken areas. Ken Tolson, CEO of US Property & Casualty at Crawford & Company, has explained the companys top priorities.The number one priority is to respond quickly and in a highly co-ordinated fashion once we can get into the worst affected locations, said Tolson. Initial indications are that the majority of claims will be caused by the rising flood waters with wind damage having a lesser impact.In many cases, direct instruction and pre-nomination by our clients has enabled Crawford to deploy adjusters locally in advance. This was extremely effective after Superstorm Sandy in 2012; reducing delay and enabling us to avoid bottlenecks caused by publicly imposed travel restrictions in affected states.A primary battle for claims adjusters over the coming days will be access challenges and notification delays, according to Tolson. Houston is a particularly challenging spot for insurance professionals because excess rainfall and catastrophic flooding has left thousands of homes and businesses unoccupied. As such, the company is taking to the skies with drones to assist with the claims process.Our 2,000 drone operators will be available to carry out roof and property inspections once the Federal Aviation Administration lifts flight restrictions. Airspace for emergency services is the current priority, said Rohit Verma, global chief operating officer.We are heavily involved in assessing auto and heavy equipment damage caused by the storm. Contractor Connection, Crawfords managed repair network, is already receiving claims and is providing water mitigation, board up, tree removal, roofing, and temporary housing service requests, among other needs. Once the storm moves out, Crawford is also prepared to receive requests for forensic accounting services to support business interruption analyses.Tolson added: Sadly this emphasizes the vulnerability of our key industries, and the hundreds of thousands of US citizens who work in them, to the effects of catastrophic weather. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have sadly lost their lives and Crawford will be doing everything it can to support people in returning to their homes as quickly as possible.
Photo: Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Giles/DoD

The total residential insured and uninsured flood loss for Hurricane Harvey could be between $25 billion and $37 billion, according to CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider  and its estimates are likely to be as accurate as any, after all, its right there helping the brokers on the frontline.The companys scientists, data analysts and modelling engineers have been working around the clock to try to project and validate exactly whats happening, said Tom Larson, senior director, content strategy, CoreLogic.It has been a full-on challenge every day since last Wednesday, Larson told Insurance Business. Everyone is working like crazy in order to pull together the data we have and set up a reasonable model of whats happening in order to help our clients begin recovery.Our task is to show people how to respond to a catastrophe like this. We need to show them the scale of the situation and how big their response needs to be. Underlining this is about 500,000 damaged homes. Its a people event that were working diligently to try to assist with.CoreLogics preliminary loss estimates suggest that approximately 70% of projected flood damage in the 70-county area in Texas and Louisiana is uninsured, with residential uninsured flood loss estimated to be between $18 billion and $27 billion. According to data analysis, only $6.5 billion to $9.5 billion flood loss in the same area is covered by insurance, which includes inland, flash and storm surge flooding. An additional estimated $1 billion to $2 billion in insured loss is attributed to wind damage.Insurance companies, agents and brokers have been approaching CoreLogic with all sorts of questions tailored to various markets, according to Larson. Insurers are trying to anticipate how many claims they might have to deal with, and the reinsurers and financial markets are trying to project what economic losses they might face.We are working really hard to make sure our clients are getting the numbers they need, said Larson. In the next week or so, we will do more clarifying and more break-down in order to help people better understand the situation.The flooding aspect of Harvey has made it much more challenging than other catastrophes. If you look back at Hurricane Sandy, it was a huge storm but doesnt seem to have impacted as many homes. Hurricane Katrina was extremely difficult, but Harvey is different in that its covering a huge area of land and has caused severe flooding.Catastrophe modelling, like the work of CoreLogic, is relatively new in the insurance industry  but its benefits have been felt keenly throughout Texas and Louisiana in the past week. The availability of big data and modelling technology can help across all insurance aspects from underwriting to claims.Flood risk models are moderately new in the US as far as the insurance industry goes, Larson added. I expect Hurricane Harvey and the flooding it has caused will be a turning point for flood risk modelling, and people will grow more confident about data projections.
Police in Massachusetts are warning of fake social media accounts that have popped up after a woman won the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot.

Chicopee police say fake accounts are being created on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram stating that they are Mavis Wanczyk, who was announced as the winner last week.

Police say the fake social media accounts are saying that following and answering private messages will result in getting money. Officers are warning people not to give personal information.

Massachusetts State Lottery officials say the 53-year-old Wanczyk, of Chicopee, chose to take a lump sum payment of $480 million, or $336 million after taxes. Its the largest grand prize won by a single lottery ticket in U.S. history.

Lottery officials say Wanczyk bought a total of five tickets.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Law Enforcement Massachusetts
Japans government plans to sell shares in Japan Post Holdings Co. as soon as this month, the first sale since the companys massive 2015 listing, a government source familiar with the deal said on Friday.

The finance ministry will meet with underwriters on Monday to discuss the sale, said this source and two other people familiar with the deal. Such meetings of an underwriter syndicate usually indicate the share offering process is nearing the final stages.

The size of the sale could not be immediately confirmed.

A ministry spokesman said he had no knowledge of the sale. A Japan Post spokeswoman said the timing of a share sale had not been decided and declined to comment further.

A share sale has been expected since the government picked six investment banks in March to underwrite the potentially large offering.

The finance ministry eventually plans to sell some 4 trillion yen ($36 billion) in the conglomerate, partly to fund reconstruction of areas in northern Japan hit by a catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan Post, which spans mail delivery, banking and insurance, made an unprecedented three-way initial public offering in November 2015. The government sold about $12 billion worth of shares in the holding company and its bank and insurance units.

The next sale could come quickly. When the government held a secondary sale of shares in Japan Tobacco Inc in February 2013, the sale launched six days after the meeting with underwriters.

The government, which now owns about 80 percent of Japan Post, expects to launch the secondary sale this month but might wait until October, especially if markets should become volatile, the government source said.

Shares of Japan Post jumped more than 40 percent in the weeks after the firms market debut, but they have recently traded below the IPO price of 1,400 yen. The stock rose 0.4 percent on Friday to 1,371 yen.

($1=110.08 yen) (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; editing by William Mallard and Neil Fullick)
Japans Sompo Holdings Inc. announced it has agreed to sell Lloyds re/insurer Sompo Canopius AG to a private equity consortium led by Centerbridge Partners for $952 million.

On completion of the purchase, Canopius will become a standalone business led by incumbent Executive Chairman Michael Watson and Chief Underwriting Officer Mike Duffy.

Disposal of Canopius is part of Sompos wider strategic plan, returning cash to provide Sompo increased flexibility for its growth ambitions, while also creating a secure future for Canopius, Sompo said in a statement. Sompo Internationals Lloyds business (previously called Endurance at Lloyds) will not be affected by the deal.

Canopius was originally formed via a management buyout in December 2003 and was purchased in 2014 by Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sompo Holdings, for 594 million ($766.5 million). Sompo Canopius is one of the top 10 insurers in the Lloyds insurance market, writing in excess of $1.6 billion premium in 2016, Canopius said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals.

Following the announcement of the acquisition of Endurance Specialty Holdings in October 2016, we carefully reviewed the potential for Sompo Canopius to be integrated into the new global, commercial business platform, Sompo International, said Kengo Sakurada, president and group CEO of Sompo Holdings Inc.

However, it became increasingly clear that the culture and business mix of the two companies were very distinct and that the combination would not necessarily be advantageous to either party, he added.

We are delighted to have reached the agreement announced today with Centerbridge, one which recognizes the value inherent in Canopius, and takes full advantage of the strengths of the existing management team, Sakurada said. The future of the staff has been a key consideration in this process. We believe having a financial partner such as Centerbridge represents a great opportunity for Canopius to achieve its growth ambitions.

He noted that the transaction returns significant funds to Sompo, which will enable it to pursue its global strategic objectives through Sompo International.

Discussing the new path for Canopius, Duffy said the company will continue to focus on those classes where we add value to our clients and brokers and seek profitable diversification through the recruitment of new teams and entry into new classes.

We are very pleased to announce the acquisition and greatly look forward to working with Michael Watson and all the team at Canopius, said Ben Langworthy, senior managing director at Centerbridge.

We believe that Canopius expertise and successful track record in the global insurance market offers a compelling proposition in the insurance space, Langworthy continued.

Canopius is an established and high quality global re/insurer, offering skilled underwriting, excellent risk management and a truly open-minded approach. Our aim will be to support continuity of the management team and business to build on the very impressive success achieved to date, he went on to say.

Sompo Canopius operates in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bermuda, U.S. and Singapore.

Source: Sompo Canopius/Sompo Holdings

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Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, officials say the citys water treatment plant doesnt function as promised and so are suing the engineering firm that designed it.

The Sioux City Journal reports that the city sued Veenstra & Kimm Inc. in Woodbury County District Court.

The lawsuit says the West Des Moines firm was paid more than $4.5 million to design the plant. The lawsuit also says the city has incurred higher costs for chemicals, labor and repairs since the plant opened in 2011 because it wasnt designed properly and cant operate at the contracted capacity.

Veenstra & Kimm President Bob Veenstra has declined to comment.

The city has said its water is safe and that residents shouldnt worry about using or drinking it.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Iowa
A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down an Obama administration rule that would have extended mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million U.S. workers, siding with business groups and 21 states that had challenged it.

The decision came after the same judge last year blocked the rule from taking effect pending his final decision. The Trump administration had already said it would make changes to the rule, which riled trade groups and companies when it was adopted.

The rule would have doubled to about $47,000 the maximum salary a worker could earn and still be automatically eligible for overtime pay.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant in Sherman, Texas, said the salary level was set so high that it could sweep in some management workers who are supposed to be exempt from overtimeprotections.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who represents the 21 states that sued over the rule, applauded the decision in a statement. He said the rule would have forced states to spend millions of dollars on overtime pay and led to private-sector job losses.

The ruling also drew immediate praise from business groups. The National Restaurant Association in a statement said the Obama administration had overstepped its authority in adopting the rule. The group said it would work with the Trump administration to ensure workable changes to the overtime rule are enacted.

[Charles Symington, senior vice president of external, industry and government affairs for the the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big I) issued this statement:

Last year the Big I, working with a number of other business groups, was the only insurance trade association to sue the Department of Labor (DOL) for promulgating an overreaching and overly complex rule on overtime pay. The Big I is pleased to announce that a motion for summary judgment has been granted to invalidate the rule. The court decision is a win for Big I members and their employees across the country and acknowledges the negative impacts the rule could have had on small businesses and their workers had it gone into effect. The Big I looks forward to continuing to work with the DOL and the Trump Administration to pursue appropriate small business regulation, and to ensure that any potential, future changes to the overtime rule are workable.]

But the union-backed National Employment Law Project said the judge ignored that the U.S. Department of Labor spent two years working on the rule and reviewed nearly 300,000 public comments before adopting it.

Before last year, federal overtime pay regulations had not been changed since 2004, when the salary level was set at $23,660. Workers rights groups and many Democrats said that threshold unfairly excluded many workers who do not perform any management duties.

The Labor Department last year had appealed Mazzants decision temporarily blocking the Obama administration rule, weeks before President Donald Trump took office.

In June, the department reversed course and asked a federal appeals court to uphold the judges decision. But the agency also urged the court to clarify that it can use a salary threshold in overtime pay regulations.

On Thursday, Mazzant said the department does have the ability to use a salary test but must base eligibility for overtime pay on a combination of workers duties and wages.

The decision granting summary judgment came in the case of State of Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman)

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Dallas-based insurance and risk management firm Dexter & Company has added Jeff Twitty to its team as senior vice president.

A seasoned insurance professional with more than 30 years of commercial insurance experience, Twitty joins Dexter from Frost Insurance where he was market president in Dallas. Prior to joining Frost, Twitty was senior vice president of Operations and chief operations officer at McGriff, Seibels & Williams, a full-service insurance brokerage.

Founded in 1876, Dexter & Company has offices in Dallas, College Station and Plano, Texas. The firm offers a full menu of services ranging from personal health insurance, standard property insurance, and high-net-worth coverage to a complete range of commercial coverages including cyber liability, officers and directors liability, and workers compensation policies.

Source: Dexter & Company
An unprecedented amount of rain has fallen on the Houston area due to Hurricane Harvey, causing whats likely the worst flooding event that the nations sixth-largest metropolitan area has ever experienced  even worse than 2001s Tropical Storm Allison.

This may seem like a freak occurrence. But its the third catastrophic flooding event this region of 6.5 million people has experienced in three years. And scientists and other experts say that much of the devastation could have been prevented. While the Houston areas history is punctuated by major flooding events, they argue that local officials  under political and legal pressure from developers  have dug themselves into a hole for decades by flouting smarter development policies. They say local officials need to account for more frequent and intense rains that are sure to come with climate change, rather than looking to what has happened in the past in their search for solutions.

Heres what local leaders could have done to protect the region  and what they must do to prevent such disasters in the future.

Preserve and restore as much prairie land as possible

Much of northwest Houston used to be covered in prairie land, where tall grasses could absorb huge amounts of floodwater. But most of it has been paved over in the past two decades amid rapid development and a massive influx of people. Between 2000 and 2010, this part of Houston grew by nearly 70 percent to a population of 587,142  equivalent to that of Milwaukee. Restoring or preserving prairie cant prevent flooding altogether, but it can be a tremendous help in mitigating the damage.

Some local officials flat-out disagree with this conclusion; they believe you can erect public works projects to catch and manage runoff  essentially fighting water with concrete  and dont need more green space.

But the vast majority of scientists believe the region needs to impose stricter regulations on those who want to develop prairie land.

Restrict development in floodplains and buy flood-prone homes

Buildings continue to go up in vulnerable floodplains all over Harris County. A few years ago the city of Houston tried to ban new development in the most flood-prone areas. But developers sued, and the policy was severely weakened by the city council. Although some have chosen to elevate their lots to protect homes and businesses from rising floodwaters, that strategy may only increase the flood risk for those around them.

Local officials also have pursued some buyouts  purchasing homes that have been badly damaged by floods or that are known to flood repeatedly. But Harris County hasnt done enough. The county will need a lot more money to buy out more homes, and local owners will have to be willing to move.

Plan for climate change

In planning for flooding from future storms, local officials largely look to past rainfall totals and weather patterns. But climate change will heighten the risks that the region already faces. Thats particularly true because it sits so close to the Gulf of Mexico, where sea levels are rising and waters have been warming as the planet gets hotter. Warm water means more evaporation and more water vapor in the air  so when a storm comes along, theres more water to pick up and dump on nearby land. This is exactly whats happening with Tropical Storm Harvey.

The exact same storm that comes along today has more rain associated with it than it would have 50 or 100 years ago, renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told The Texas Tribune last year. Hayhoe said Houston needs to plan for more frequent and intense rainstorms, just like many other cities in the country. But local county officials have previously said they have no intention of doing so.

Educate the public

Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to the Houston area in recent decades; its consistently ranked as one of the nations fastest-growing cities. But people who move to flood-prone areas are often unaware of the risks. They purchase homes in low-lying areas and assume that if theyre not in the 100-year floodplain, they wont flood. But homes often flood outside floodplains in Houston  and realtors dont always tell homebuyers that.

Some past efforts the city made to educate Houstonians have been met with pushback. A few years ago, government officials put up visible flood gauges in low-lying coastal areas meant to show how the high water could get during hurricanes, but real estate agents revolted and the signposts were removed. Local officials need to be willing to tell their constituents some hard truths.

Editors note: This story was cross-published in the Los Angeles Times.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/29/four-things-houston-area-leaders-must-do-prevent-future-flooding-disas/.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Topics Trends Texas Flood
In its devastatingly slow crawl up the industrial Gulf Coast, Hurricane Harvey is proving to be the biggest test yet of the safety and vulnerabilities of the U.S. chemicals industry.

A Houston-area chemical plant was hit by explosions overnight after floods caused by Harvey knocked out power supplies needed to refrigerate volatile peroxides. Fifteen police officers were treated at the hospital for smoke irritation from the plant. Earlier evacuations of the site and surrounding community prevented more serious injuries. The plant is owned by French chemical company Arkema SA.

The remaining chemicals will eventually burn up in the fire, Richard Rennard, a company president, told reporters Thursday.

It is not anything we think is a danger to the community at all, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a press conference early Thursday. U.S. Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency are monitoring the disaster. No concentrations of toxic materials have raised any concerns at this point, the EPA said in a statement.

The incident underscored the risks confronting the industry after dozens of chemical plants shut down in the path of the storm from South Texas to Louisiana, knocking out more than half of U.S. production of some of the most-used chemicals and plastics.

With its crucial access to ports for shipping and receiving, the Gulf Coast is the epicenter of the nations chemical industry, where many of the materials indispensable to modern society are produced. The plants provide the basic building blocks for making everything from cars and computers to household furnishings and appliances.

The massive industrial centers also deal with complex chemical processes that pose hazards from lethal explosions to toxic spills when things go wrong. The danger is greatest when plants are shutting down and starting up.

That is when bad things happen, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the chief energy officer at the University of Houston.

Uncharted Territory

Gulf Coast chemical plants are designed to withstand hurricane force winds and floods, but Harvey has put the industry into uncharted territory, Sam Mannan, director of the Mary Kay OConnor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University, which studies plant safety.

The newest plants come with sensors and control towers that provide multiple barriers to prevent accidents, said UHs Krishnamoorti. But some plants are 60 years old, and the average age is about 30 years, he said. While large operators such as Exxon Mobil Corp. are constantly updating their facilities, much more work remains needs to be done  especially if theyre going to withstand the kinds of floods brought by Harvey.

We want to be good, not just lucky, Krishnamoorti said.

Continuing Crisis

Though plants have been dealing with a multitude of problems and there have been no serious injuries, the crisis is far from over. It will take weeks, if not months, for all the plants to assess damage, make repairs and restart operations in the wake of the floods.

This whole thing is testing how well we have thought through our safety systems and programs and how robust the plants are, said Mannan. I dont know if anybody is ready for this level of flooding.

Harvey made landfall on Aug. 25, bringing torrential rain and historic flooding along the Gulf Coast, and knocking out almost a quarter of U.S. refining capacity. While Harveys shut down of U.S. crude processing capacity has grabbed headlines and led to spiking gasoline prices, less known is the storms outsize impact on chemical production.

It seems like Harvey came with a plan to follow the chemical industry on the Gulf Coast, said Mannan.

Production Halted

About 61 percent of U.S. ethylene production had been halted because of Harvey as of Wednesday afternoon, according to PetroChemwire. The storm has closed about 51 percent of U.S. capacity for making polyethylene, the worlds most used plastic resin, according to Kevin McCarthy, an equity analyst at Vertical Research Partners. As much as 65 percent of polypropylene production and one-third of chlorine output may cease, or run at reduced rates, according to consultant IHS Markit.

The combination of Harveys path, duration and rainfall total is wreaking havoc with the supply side of the U.S. chemicals industry on an unprecedented scale, McCarthy said. We certainly havent seen anything quite like it in our 18 years of following chemical stocks on Wall Street.

While some chemical makers are expected to begin restarting plants in the next few days, it may take many more weeks for production to reach pre-Harvey levels, IHS Markit said in a report Thursday. Obtaining raw materials, transportation bottlenecks and the complexity of resuming some processes, such as ethylene production, are among the challenges. Houston is one of at least 11 ports in Texas and Louisiana that are closed due to Harvey, according to the Coast Guard.

Shipping Delays

Producers of basic plastics such as polypropylene that are still producing could face an average delay of two weeks to ship their product via rail because of the storm, according to IHS. Some resin buyers are seeking supplies outside the U.S. in case of an extended U.S. disruption, the consultancy said. Prices have begun to rise for products including caustic soda and polyethylene.

One complicating factor post-Harvey is the urban sprawl gradually engulfing chemical plants, according to Andrea Sella, a professor of inorganic chemistry at UCL university in London. Because accidents are unusual, planners can come to underestimate the severity of what are likely to be quite rare events, he said by email.

Arkemas site in Crosby, which is about 25 miles from downtown Houston, is situated in an area with no hospitals, schools, correctional facilities, recreational areas or industrial and commercial areas in the vicinity, according to the Colombes, France-based company.

Explosions, Smoke

Two explosions and black smoke were reported at 2 a.m. local time, after the plant lost power and backup generators in the storms flood, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Arkema stores organic peroxides at several locations on the site. Sheriff Gonzalez said 13 of the 15 deputies treated for smoke exposure had been released from the hospital.

The best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out, the company said. The chemicals made at the plant are used to make plastics.

At Crosby, we prepared for what we recognized could be a worst-case scenario, Rich Rowe, who overseas Arkemas U.S. operation, said in a statement. We had redundant contingency plans in place. The flood waters, which reached 6 feet inside the plant, have begun to recede, Rennard, the company president, said Thursday morning.

Arkema shares were trading 2.1 percent lower at 91.13 euros as of 4:32 p.m. in Paris.

Arkema had lobbied on EPA Risk Management Program regulations during the last six quarters, according to federal disclosures. In 2016, the company submitted comments on a proposed version of the rule identifying three concerns over cost or compliance.

The regulations, which EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt delayed for 20 months in June, were designed to reduce the likelihood of accidental releases at chemical facilities and improve emergency response activities when those releases occur, according to the Obama-era EPA. The rule didnt specifically address natural disasters.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Texas Flood Pollution Chemicals Risk Management
Officials say chemical fumes have sickened 24 workers at a Tennessee plant that makes filters.

Chattanooga Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner told media the incident was reported about 10 a.m. Wednesday at Southern Filter Media. He said workers were using a new chemical with heat and it began emitting fumes that made them sick. He said the employees evacuated the facility and called emergency crews.

Garner said a handful of workers complained of nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath. Others had less severe symptoms. Crews took 24 workers to area hospitals to get checked out as a precaution.

According to the companys website, South Filter Media produces dry filtration filter bags.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Tennessee Chemicals
A Tennessee city will revisit flood protection plans following flooding in Texas from Tropical Storm Harvey, which came ashore last week as a hurricane.

WPLN-FM reports the Nashville Metro Council will meet next month to consider building a floodwall system, a proposition that had been effectively tabled earlier this year. The first batch of funding for the $100 million barrier and pumping system was pulled from Mayor Megan Barrys construction budget in June on a 24-10 vote, over concerns that the plan was too focused on Nashvilles urban core.

Barry pointed to the flooding in Houston and the 2010 flooding of the Cumberland River to advocate for the flood protection system.

Vice Mayor David Briley says a decision on the project should be reached so downtown developers can prepare accordingly.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood
Rains from Harvey are inundating coastal Alabama with floodwaters and forcing the Tennessee Valley Authority to lower lake levels in north Alabama.

Authorities say numerous roads were covered with water in Mobile and Baldwin counties Wednesday morning, and conditions could get worse as more storms move into the area around Mobile Bay.

The National Weather Service reported rainfall totals of more than 3 inches on the Alabama coast, and some areas got even more rain with storms still moving in.

In north Alabama, TVA says it is dropping lake levels in anticipation of heavy rain from Harvey. The National Weather Service office in Huntsville says up to 5 inches of rain are possible, with some areas receiving higher amounts.

The storm also has spawned at least one tornado in Mississippi, and created bands of strong winds that damaged homes and toppled some trees.

The National Weather Service says the tornado touched down Wednesday in the southern Mississippi town of Petal, which is near Hattiesburg. Local news outlets showed photos of damaged fences and shingles pulled off a home. No injuries were immediately reported.

The weather service was trying to determine whether damage further south was caused by tornadoes or other strong winds. Meteorologist Alek Krautmann says damage was reported in Pearl River County, in the city of Biloxi and in a subdivision between Ocean Springs and Gautier (GO-shay).

He says Harvey also caused flash flooding before dawn Wednesday in parts of Pascagoula.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Alabama
International Tax Review received a record number of nominations this year for the 2017 Tax Controversy Leaders guide, reflecting the increasing amount of expertise in dealing with complex tax matters during a time of heightened controversy, with multinationals and tax authorities around the world busy challenging or defending tax strategies and viewpoints at various stages of a dispute.

The global tax controversy landscape is only going to get more complex. As taxpayers and authorities adjust to new standards and mechanisms, enhanced enforcement actions, new reporting requirements, automatic exchange of information, and multilateral risk assessment processes are likely to lead to increased audits and disputes, creating new challenges and corresponding uncertainty for taxpayers.

Aside from BEPS, state aid cases in the European Union, disputes arising from the controversial diverted profits tax in the UK and Australia, and maybe soon New Zealand too, are creating debate over the right approach to tax practices. Moreover, new indirect tax regimes in India and the Gulf Cooperation Council's member states will inevitably lead to disputes that will ultimately evolve how the rules are applied. In the US, meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service continues to pursue transfer pricing issues and is aggressively litigating such cases. However, its loss against Amazon showed it cannot always win, and its pending appeal against Medtronic's TP practices will once again raise debate and interest in TP matters.

Reliable expert advice regarding such tax disputes and litigation has never before been more valuable for businesses and governments alike.

With all of this in mind, it is clear that taxpayers need access to lawyers and advisers with experience in all stages of tax controversy. The remit of tax controversy advisers now extends far beyond the courtroom with many taxpayers seeking advice on tax dispute prevention techniques. In addition, many tax controversy advisers provide services on tax audit management practices, global strategic planning of tax audits and disputes, tax risk management, analysis and disclosure, mutual agreement procedures, advance pricing agreements and alternative tax dispute resolution.

Therefore, International Tax Review presents this seventh edition of the Tax Controversy Leaders guide so you can obtain reliable and trustworthy advice in each of the areas highlighted above, in each of the 60 jurisdictions covered.
The group operates 141 shops in Ireland and said its Ladbrokes Ireland business  which went through the examinership process two years ago  reduced operating costs by 9% in the six months to the end of June, resulting in operating profit rising by 14%.

On a group-wide basis, Ladbrokes-Coral  formed through last years $3.4bn merger between the two - reported a 7% rise in first-half operating profit, driven by strong trading online.
Dalton Philips will take up the role in October for seven years, succeeding Kevin Toland whose departure was announced in May. Cork Airport is under the authority of the DAA, as well as Dublin Airport.

Insiders within the DAA described Mr Philips as having a strong background in retail, especially in the marketing side.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said he hoped Mr Philips would expand on the successful growth of Cork Airport in recent years.

We had a very positive relationship with Mr Toland and significant progress was made. We look forward to working with the new chief executive to further develop, grow and invest in Cork Airport. It is hugely important for business and tourism in Munster, not just Cork. Passenger growth leads to new routes, he said.

Chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, Eoghan OMara Walsh said Corks growth of 8% in the past year was testament to its value.

The DAA has a duty to expand both Dublin and Cork, and we look forward to that under the new chief executive. Cork is obviously the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way, and there is so much potential there, he said.

Cork Airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said Mr Philips was a welcome appointment.

He has a strong international private sector commercial background and we look forward to working with him in the continuing turnaround of Cork Airport. We have seen very strong support from DAA Plc in recent years and this has been critical to that turnaround, he said.

Dublin Airport was the fastest growing major European airport in 2016 when it handled nearly 28 million passengers, while numbers at Cork Airport increased by 8% to 2.2 million.

Numbers out in the coming days are expected to confirm Cork as the fastest growing airport in Ireland.

Mr Philips has held a number of senior leadership roles in retail and related industries, working in 14 countries for companies including Walmart, Canadas leading retailer Loblaw and UK supermarket Morrisons and a stint as chief executive of Brown Thomas.

DAA chairman Padraig O Riordain, said: His leadership will be critical to DAA as we address the challenges of Brexit and the delivery of the north runway at Dublin Airport, while maintaining growth of our airports and international businesses.
Ryanair has until October 2 to make a binding bid for all or part of the Italian carrier, which has been put under special administration for the second time in less than a decade.

We will be submitting an offer for the 90 jet aircraft, with their pilots, cabin crew, routes etc, Mr OLeary told journalists at a press briefing in London.

Ryanair would operate the 90 leased planes using existing staff, but the offer would be dependent on some redundancies, changes to staff conditions and renegotiation of the leases, he said.

As Ryanair exclusively uses Boeing planes, Alitalia staff would be required to maintain the 90 Airbus planes, he said. Ryanair, which only currently operates short-haul routes, would also take on long-haul routes under the deal, Mr OLeary said.

I think one of the aspects of Alitalia that is really attractive is the long haul fleet. There is the capacity to grow very strongly, he said.

Ryanair would be interested in bidding for the whole of Alitalia, which has around 120 planes, but such a deal would likely be blocked by regulators as it would leave Ryanair in control of over 50% of the Italian market, Mr OLeary said.

Wed be very willing to buy Alitalia. But I suspect...given were the number one airline in Italy wed be blocked under EU competition rules, he said.

Ryanair is one of around ten parties that has expressed an interest in a bid for all or part of the carrier. Mr OLeary said Alitalia would likely be broken up whoever buys it and that any takeover would include competition remedies.

Meanwhile, Germanys tourism trade body has blamed aviation regulation for the failure of the countrys second largest airline Air Berlin. Although it has expressed interest in certain assets - mainly airport slots - of Air Berlin, Mr OLeary formally said on Wednesday that Ryanair would not be bidding for any of the German carriers assets.

Reuters
The call has come from the IFAs three regional chairmen, who fear if the Mackinnon proposals are implemented they will ruin Cork County Councils ability to run its services, especially in already disadvantaged rural areas.

The Mackinnon group called for the retention of Corks two local authorities in tandem with a significant city boundary expansion to include areas such as Cork Airport, Douglas, Grange, Frankfield, Rochestown, Ballincollig to the west, Tower, Blarney, Monard and Rathpeacon to the north, and Glanmire, Little Island, and Carrigtwohill to the east. If sanctioned, it would increase the citys population by 100,000 to 225,000.

Harold Kingston, chairman of the IFAs Cork Central branch, which covers the areas proposed in the extension, described it as a rates grab, citing the fact that the extension goes into the industrial bases of Little Island and Carrigtwohill and encompassed the EMC plant at Ovens.

Mr Kingston said his members are completely opposed to the proposed huge extension which would also see Cork Airport, Ballincollig, Blarney and Glanmire come under the jurisdiction of the city council.

Corney Buckley, the West Cork IFA chairman who farms near Bantry, said some infrastructure in rural areas was already in a shocking state and would only get worse if the county council lost 50m a year in revenue from householders and businesses in the proposed takeover areas.

He said farming represented a significant part of the Cork economy supporting an additional 6,500 jobs in processing and generating annual exports worth 1.6bn.

He said infrastructure was vital to farming, the biggest industry in West Cork, and if this infrastructure decayed even more it would put farmers out of business and lead to another wave of migration from the region.

Mr Kingston said the loss of such revenue to the county council was completely at odds with the Governments aim of rural-proofing.

IFA North Cork chairman Billy Cotter said if adopted the expanded city would see 800 people living in every hectare of land, compared to Dublins 4,822.

It makes no sense at all. Its totally flawed. Cork will become the most sparsely populated second city in the world. Some of our rural towns would have a bigger population density, he said.

The city council spends 479 extra per head on its population than the county council, when it should be the other way around. The county council is more efficient. The city council has roughly 1,600 employees whereas the county council has just over 2,000 yet administers a huge area of 7,500sq km.

Mr Kingston said the IFA agreed the city boundary should be extended, but not to the scale proposed.

The county council has said it is prepared to cede land it controls in Grange, Frankfield, Douglas and Ballyvolane to the city. Mr Kingston said this and other undeveloped land in the city should suffice for growth.

He maintained rather than weaken one local authority it would be better to amalgamate the two, as suggested in the Smiddy report and said it was time for reasoned debate surrounding what has become a very devisive issue.

In recent weeks a war of words has broken out between the Lord Mayor of Cork and the Mayor of County Cork over the boundary extension.

The implementation group is set to meet next week to start work on mapping an exact boundary for the proposed extension.

Sabotage claims over city boundary poll denied

Cork County Council has rejected claims it tried to sabotage a poll on the controversial Cork city boundary extension issue, writes Eoin English.

Against the backdrop of mounting tensions over the boundary issue, The Opinion Line on Corks 96FM asked listeners just after 9.20am yesterday to text yes or no in favour of the city boundary extension proposed by the Mackinnon group, which would see county areas like Ballincollig, Blarney, Cork Airport, Glanmire and Carrigtwohill transfer to the city.

However, the Irish Examiner has learned that an email was sent from the county councils communications office just after 10am, on foot of instructions from the council executive, advising staff and councillors of the poll, and supplying text numbers.

In a statement last night, the council said it has been its policy to keep elected members and staff informed of developments in relation to the boundary issue as they occur.

It said a series of internal communications have been issued to staff in recent months, and that it was entirely appropriate to make members and staff aware of the radio debate and poll.

Council members and staff (who live in both the city and the county) were informed of the feature and could choose whether or not they wished to participate, it said.

The council did not influence or indeed encourage participation in the poll, or indeed the manner in which people could vote.

The choice to vote yes, or no, or not vote at all, rested entirely with the elected member or staff member.

The email, which was sent to the 1,000-plus council staff with an email address, and to 54 of its 55 county councillors with an email address, was too late to influence the poll.

The Opinion Line editor, Deirdre OShaughnessy, said 77% of the hundreds of listeners who voted before the poll closed at 10am were against the Mackinnon boundary proposals.

But she said it was clear after 10am that an orchestrated campaign was under way with hundreds more texts flooding in, including 25 no votes from the same phone number.

Two former lords mayor accused the county of blatantly trying to influence the results of the radio text poll by emailing its staff and county councillors about it, and supplying the text numbers.

Fianna Fail city councillor Terry Shannon and his Sinn Fein colleague, Chris OLeary, branded the move as outrageous.

A nudge is as good as a wink. There is no question that they tried to influence, or sabotage the poll. This is blatant interference, Mr OLeary said.

Its very clear now that whats happening in certain satellite towns in terms of a campaign against the boundary extension is being orchestrated at the highest levels in County Hall.

Mr Shannon said it was clear the council had attempted to skew the poll results.

Its an outrageous thing for them to do  but this is symptomatic of how they have been engaging in this entire process since day one.

The first draft of the citys extended boundary should emerge next week.
The guidelines were produced following discussions with Galway-based psychotherapist, Vincent Doyle of Coping International and Doyle Psychotherapy, whose late father was a priest.

The bishops said that while priests, upon ordination, promise to live a life of celibacy, if, contrary to this obligation, a priest fathers a child, the wellbeing of his child should be his first consideration.
The current Vat rate on sunbed sessions is at the reduced rate of 13.5% and according to Revenue they are considered care of the human body  despite being ranked in the highest cancer risk category, alongside tobacco and plutonium by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The Irish Cancer Society wants the Government to raise the Vat rate on sunbed sessions to the standard Vat rate of 23% as an initial step to stop young people using them.

The society has found that while sunbed use is slowly decreasing, more young people are using them with alarming regularity. It wants the minister for finance, Paschal Donohoe, to increase Vat on sunbeds to 23% in Budget 2018.

Its time for Government to address the bizarre anomaly which currently sees Vat levied at a reduced rate on sunbed sessions, while Vat on sunscreen is charged at 23%, said Donal Buggy, the societys head of advocacy and services.

The survey shows that overall sunbed use has decreased slowly from 9% of the Irish population in 2003 to 4% this year.

Of concern, however, is that 46,000 more people aged between 15 to 34 are using sunbeds than in the societys 2010 survey. This is despite the fact that nine out of 10 people in this age group are aware of the cancer risk.

The latest survey shows that 17% of individuals aged between 15 to 34 have used a sunbed in the past year, compared to 3% of those aged 35 to 54.

In the societys 2010 survey, 9% of those aged 15 to 34 had used a sunbed, compared to 7% of those aged between 35 and 64.

Young people are most at risk from sunbeds. There is a 75% increased risk of developing the most serious form of skin cancer when people begin tanning regularly before the age of 35.

People in Ireland are using sunbeds with alarming regularity with 24% of sunbed users tanning once a week and 51% using them at least every two months, said Mr Buggy.

The latest survey shows that the age of first use is getting younger  85% had their first sunbed session before the age of 24, compared to 63% in the societys 2010 survey.

Mr Buggy said increasing the Vat rate on sunbed sessions was just a stepping stone. In the long term we would like to see further exploration of a ban, or partial ban, on sunbeds, as Brazil and Australia have done.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland and is the most preventable. There were 181 deaths from skin cancer last year. Around 1,000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every year and about 1,000 will have melanoma, the most dangerous form of cancer.

Given our rising skin cancer rates and our fair-skinned population, the Government should be considering a ban on commercial sunbed use, said Mr Buggy.

In 2014 the Government imposed an underage ban on sunbed use. However, a recent study showed it was having no impact on sunbed use by teenagers.
The Central Statistics Office has published new figures from Census 2016 which show that 2,962,550 people said they travel to work, school, or college  an increase of 9.3% on the 2011 Census findings.

It recorded 1,875,773 people commuting to work in April 2016, up 10.7% on 2011, but also found commuting times rose in every county in Ireland compared to five years previously.

The national average commuting time in April 2016 was 28.2 minutes, up from 26.6 minutes in 2011.

Commuters in counties surrounding Dublin had the longest average commuting time. Commuters in Meath and Wicklow travelled for almost 35 minutes to get to work.

Some one in 10 said they spent an hour or more commuting to work, up almost 50,000 (31%) on 2011.

Last year 81,897 parents with children under the age of 15 said they spent an hour or more commuting to work; of these, 43,372 were parents of pre-school children  an increase of 8,000 (23%) on 2011.

One in five parents of children aged four or younger in Wicklow, Meath, Laois, Kildare, and Westmeath said they had a commute of more than an hour.

The number of those leaving home before 7am increased to 365,000 (up 34%) since April 2011, with 25% of male commuters and 13% of females leaving before 7am.

The census noted large increases in bus (up 22%) and train use (19.7%), while the number cycling to work rose by 43% on five years previously.

A total of 111,436 commuters said they use the bus to get to work, compared to 63,133 rail commuters.

The figures represent only a slight increase on those recorded in Census 2011. More than 9% (174,569) of working commuters used public transport in April 2016, compared with 8.5% in 2011.

There was a significant rise in the numbers cycling to work, however.

On Census night 56,837 people said they cycled to work, up 43% since 2011. Three out of four of these cyclists were males and two-thirds of all cyclists were in Dublin City and suburbs, with 38,870 people cycling to work.

However, just 2,330 people cycled to work in Cork City and suburbs, 1,874 in Galway, 968 in Limerick, and 395 in Waterford.

Despite these increases, the car is still by far the most common mode of transport for workers, with the census recording 1,229,966, or 65.6%, of those commuting to work, doing so by driving themselves or by travelling as a passenger in a car.

The numbers walking to work increased by 4,570 to 175,080, accounting for 9.3% of the commuting population.

The census also showed that commuters in Cork had a higher dependency on cars compared to the national figures.

In Cork City and county, 155,860, or 72.8%, of all commuters travelled to work by car compared to 65.6% of commuters nationally.

While 9.3% of working commuters across Ireland used public transport, just 4.5% of those in Cork did so. Just 1.5% cycled, compared to 3% of commuters nationwide.

Outside of the workforce, there was an increase in the number of children going to primary school by car (59.8%), but a 7% drop on 2011 figures in those travelling by bus.

Those walking and cycling accounted for 25% of primary school commuters in 2016.

A notable urban-rural divide was revealed by the commuting figures for secondary school students. More than 42% of rural secondary students were reliant on the bus to get to school, compared to nearly one in five urban students.

Overall 43.3% went to secondary school by car, while 28.4% used the bus.

The bus overtook driving as the most popular means of vehicular travel for third-level students. Last year 23.5% of college commuters said they drove compared to 24% of all third-level commuters, an increase of 13.5% on the 2011 figure.

Walking was the most common means of travel to college, accounting for 26% of students.
Courtmacsherry Bay and Rincarna Pools in Galway were found to have breached the highest permitted level of nitrogen.

Nitrogen is set as an assessment standard in coastal waters under surface water regulations.

These findings are from the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) latest water quality assessment, which reviewed lakes, rivers, coastal and transitional (estuaries and lagoons) waters and groundwater from the beginning of 2010 to 2015.

Overall, 21% of coastal water was ranked as having a less than good status.

However, when it came to the actual surface area, 86% of all monitored coastal water was classified as high or good.

Other water bodies monitored includes lakes and rivers.

Rivers seemed to have faired poorly in this assessment period, with six being classified as badly polluted.

These were the Tolka between Clonee and Clonsilla in Dublin, the Avoca in Co Wicklow, the Aughboy in Co Wexford, the Bredagh near Moville in Co Donegal, the Laurencetown stream in Co Galway and the Srah river which runs into Lough Mask near Tourmakeady in Co Mayo.

Furthermore, 43% of monitored rivers have a less than good ecological status.

However, the most alarming finding relates to the number of rivers which have had a pristine status in the past.

The latest assessment period showed that there were only 21 rivers in Ireland classified at the highest rating of pristine, whereas in the late 1980s there were 500.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan described this decline as one of the great environmental failings of our time.

To turn these figures around we need a new national land use plan. We have to move away from the current intensive farming model and adopt High Nature Value agriculture instead. This has to benefit the farmer as wel l as the environment, said Deputy Ryan.

When it came to lakes there were similar findings, with 103 classified as high or good and 122 ranked as less than good.

There were 225 lakes monitored in total.

Between 2010 and 2015, the status of 48 lakes declined compared with the 2007-2009 assessment period and 35 lakes failed the assessment for exceeding the highest permittable level of hazardous substances.

However, 38 lakes registered an improved status compared with the 2007-2009 assessment.

Yesterday, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) expressed its disappointment at the findings.

From an ecological and angling-tourism perspective, our rivers and lakes are vital national resources, said Ciaran Byrne, CEO of IFI.

It is essential that we protect and conserve these assets and water quality has a significant impact on fisheries habitats and populations, he added.

The IFI cautioned against singling out any particular sector for the standard in water quality across Irelands river basins and lakes, backing the EPAs findings that multiple factors are at play.

The IFI CEO also commented on the total number of reported fish kills (97) between 2013 and 2015, which in some instances, the exact cause was unknown and several influences may have played a part.

There were 31 separate fish kills across the country last year, said Mr Byrne, but just eight of those were directly attributable to agricultural activities.

In addition to the agricultural-related kills, two fish kills were as a result of municipal works and one by industrial works. In four instances, the exact cause of the fish kill was difficult to ascertain while 16 incidents of fish kills were as a result of disease and natural causes.

The EPA assessment concluded that while there has been little overall change in water quality from 2010 to 2015, there has been a failure to meet the planned national target of 13% improvement in water status for the period.
Details of deserters, acts of heroism and men killed in the Irish revolution are dotted throughout the new online database of men who served at Ballincollig military barracks in Co Cork.

It was home to a number of different regiments from the early 19th century through to the earliest months of Irish independence almost a century ago.

Local historian Anne Donaldson has spent several years piecing together details of 2,187 people, based mainly on the baptism, marriage and burial records of the garrison chapel. They span the period from 1810 up to the departure of the last regiment based in Ballincollig after the Anglo-Irish Treaty at the end of the War of Independence.

The XIX, the Green Howards, Alexandra Princess of Waless own (Yorkshire) Regiment together with the RAOC [Royal Army Ordnance Corps] evacuated Ballincollig Military Barracks on Wednesday morning 17th May 1922 at 11 oc, the last chaplain wrote in the final pages of the chapel preachers book.

This was just one of the items used by Ms Donaldson compiling the detailed spreadsheet that can be browsed and searched from today on the website of the Representative Church Body (RCB) Library.

The preliminary work involved extracting names and details of soldiers mentioned from various records, including baptism registers covering the entire period from 1810 to 1921.

As evidenced also by the marriage registers for 1823 to 1842, the barracks and surrounding property were home not just to soldiers and officers, but also to many of their families.

Ms Donaldson also used burial records associated with the garrison chapel covering more than a century up to 1920.

The registers were all kept carefully by the parish church of Carrigrohane, the Church of Ireland parish in which Ballincollig is situated.

But as Carrigrohane Union rector, Revd Ian Jonas points out, the diverse backgrounds of the soldiers show that the modern idea of multiculturalism was a feature of 19th-century Irish life, with Catholic and Irish men among those serving at the barracks.

Among dozens of deserters whose records Ms Donaldson found in other archives were Irish-born soldiers like 23-year-old Cork-born Henry Good and Richard Foorde, from Galway, who both deserted the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1876.

The database includes three young bandsmen of the Manchester Regiment abducted and killed by the IRA in 1921.

Other members of the Ballincollig garrison were David Christie Murray, who recalled being quartered there in 1866 in an autobiography, The Making of a Novelist. Ms Donaldson also lists Private WF Wheeler of the 17th Lancers who was decorated in 1897 for saving another soldier from drowning in the River Lee.

She undertook the project to counteract a deficiency of lost evidence. One of her aims was to compile a searchable record for research by historians, genealogists and family members.

Secondly, the project is about reconciliation, celebrating Irelands rich and varied multi-culturalism, and cherishing different identities, she said.

www.ireland.anglican.org/library/archive
Thats according to a new culinary inspiration magazine launched by Bord Bia, which carried out a study of the newest innovations being undertaken by Michelin star chefs and high-end restaurateurs from London and Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, Tokyo and New York.

The study aims to better inform Irelands food industry on the latest flavours, ingredients and cooking techniques at the leading edge of the culinary world.

Some of the unusual innovations include the use of dream weavers, psychologists and flavour chemists to personalise diners meals, a menu containing emojis that responds to the lighting and music selection in the restaurant, edible candles made from beef dripping and tapping birch trees for water to add freshness to dishes.

The Thinking House, Bord Bias Insight Centre, will now work with food producers to translate these trends into commercially successful innovations.

David Deeley of Bord Bias Insight Team said the research would help inspire Irelands food and drink industry to greater heights.

This type of research helps Irelands food and drink industry to look forward and acts as a catalyst for new thoughts and ideas, providing inspiration for new product development and commercial growth, he said.

Mr Deeley said that leading Michelin star chefs and restauranteurs are now embracing Nordic-style cuisine which focuses on sustainability and seasonality.

If we jump back to the early 00s, you would see that fine dining was all about molecular gastronomy with foams, emulsions and science. Fast forward 10 years, and we see organic farming, foraging and less cooking starting to emerge with fine dining now seen as accessible to everyone.

The Maitre D culture is also regressing in place of more engaging, personalised and social experiences by using the environment, theatre and fun, to enhance taste. The worlds leading restaurants are paying closer attention to individual wants and needs, as opposed to dictating exactly what and how their guests will eat, he said.

Bord Bias first study identifies four themes at play in the high-end culinary world  all natural, storytelling, adaptive cuisine and beyond taste.
Speaking to reporters as Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe separately labelled Britains current Brexit proposals as unworkable, Mr Varadkar said Ireland will not back down on its demands.

At an event in Dublin before meeting British chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond, Mr Varadkar said while this weeks talks between Britain and the EU are welcome, progress has been very limited to date.

We believe the best way that we can ensure that all our interests are protected, citizens rights, our economic interests, our trade interests, are by Britain remaining in the European Union, he said.

The progress has to be the kind of progress that we want, and crucially what we want is that the common travel area be retained, be strengthened if anything.

We will be looking for peace funding for Northern Ireland to be maintained, we will be looking for a commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. Also we will be saying we dont want any trade border on the island.

His tough stance was added to by Mr Donohoe, who also met with Mr Hammond in Dublin.

While welcoming the opportunity to discuss ongoing Brexit issues Mr Donohoe said significant work still needed to take place, and added that Britains existing policies are simply not capable of meeting Ireland and the EUs needs.

What was valuable was that the British government put down on paper what its thinking, what those papers also demonstrated for us was how much more work has to be done in this area.

The nature of a customs union or as close to that is the best framework all of these can be developed. But as we stand at the moment we dont believe those proposals as laid out are capable of meeting the needs Ireland and the EU has, he said.

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney underlined the view in a statement last night.

Meanwhile,, outspoken Brexit campaigner and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage told RTE Radios Today With Sean ORourke programme he believes his countrys legitimate proposals are being deliberately blocked by Brussels officials.
How can I tell him to fix this without hurting his feelings?

 Maria, Barcelona and Douglas, its extra bad in the morning.

Thats when his friends call him Youghal. I feel your pain though. The worst thing about that is its a complete no-no for morning sex. My Conors breath smells like a second-hand underwear shop in Killorglin.

I can sense him in the bed next to me some mornings, getting ready to make a move. Thats when I say, My Conor, youd have a better chance of persuading me to go for a swim in Atlantic Pond. That does the trick.

Howre oo goin on? Herself is after falling in with a pack of entrepreneurs and didnt she come home last night and say that I have no head for business. Well see about that, says I. Now I appreciate its a long shot, but do you think there is any chance Conor McGregor would agree to fight my prize bull, Risteard? I know Conor isnt really a matador, but then he isnt a boxer either. Would you have a phone number for him by any chance?

 Dan Paddy Andy, Kinsale, I have a cousin inside in C103, so media coverage shouldnt be a problem.

I cant see anything wrong with this. Mainly because I had a second G&T after lunch and I reckon everything is fantastic.

The only hurdle would be persuading McGregors people that Las Vegas has anything in common with Kinsale. One is an over-priced pleasure palace where you can indulge in all sorts of perversion. And the other is Las Vegas.

Hey man. Im like totally arriving in Cork soon to scout locations for the European HQ of my start-up. (We have this cool app that takes your job and gives it to a robot, right in front of your kids.) Anyway, my millionaire friend, Kkris with two Ks, has an office in Cork and he says nobody stops at pedestrian crossing over there. Is that like true?

 Karl, San Francisco, Kkris with two Ks tell me that Mahon is nice.

I like a man with a sense of humour. I asked my posh cousin if its safe to use a pedestrian crossing in Cork. She said not if the streets are named after Irish patriots. I said why. She said because that means the area is full of Norries. I said so what?

She said so what if one of them jumped into my white Range Rover and said hello, girl, would you like a look at my budgie. I said would you not be devastated if you knocked somebody down? She said of course I would, if they were from Blackrock.

Ciao. I just got an email from my twin brother, Marco, in Cork. He wants me to fly over from Italy and take three of his girlfriends off his hands, because he cant cope with the demand. He thought hed face more competition from Irish men, but they all wear tight jeans and pointy brown leather shoes. Im laughing down the sleeve of my immaculate shirt at the photos he sends me of your Irish men. Do you think I should fly over?

 Pepe, Milan, what are you doing Saturday?

Standing at arrivals in Cork Airport in a virtually non-existent mini-skirt. I should be easy enough to spot unless there is a flight in from the Canaries. (The Norries love dressing too sexy.) I know what you mean about Irish mens fashion. My Conors clothes look like the brainchild of someone who did a Diploma in Dressin Swanky at the Kilmallock School of Slacks. He walked in the other day and said, do I remind you of Nathan Carter. I said yes, unfortunately.

Conas ata tu, girl? I dont want you to be thinking Ive anything against foreigners, but I sent my son to Gaelscoil so he wouldnt have to sit next to one. After just three days this week, he do have more words than my cupla focail. It turns out theyre teaching him as Gaeilge there. Youd swear they are trying to promote the Irish language or something. Anyway, where can I brush up on my own Irish, to keep up with the young fella.

 Colm, Glasheen, some of my closest friends do be immigrants.

Id say they do be dying to return home. I tried listening to Radio na Gaeltachta last year in an attempt to improve my Irish. I ended up listening to a documentary about a guy called Paidi Mike, who couldnt stop crying because of the thing that happened back on the island. Or maybe it was a cookery show. Honestly, it was hard to make out.

The presenter was speaking Connemara Irish, so I might as well have been listening to Radio Abu Dhabi.
WE ARE soon set to be convulsed by a referendum debate over the thousands of Irish women who end their pregnancies in abortion each year, but the chances are we will continue to ignore the ones who are desperate to get pregnant and turn to science for help.

The assisted human reproduction (AHR) sector is a multimillion-euro industry in Ireland, responsible for around 3% of all Irish births every year, but successive governments have almost tried to pretend that it does not exist.

This is an exceptionally vulnerable group  couples and individuals who are desperate to have a baby.

They receive no financial assistance for treatment, and nor do they get the protection of specific laws to govern how our seven or so fertility clinics, which carry out thousands of IVF cycles each year, operate. Two of these clinics are non-Irish owned.

Nobody knows exactly how many Irish women undergo treatment each year (at an average cost of 6,000 per round of it) or exactly what additions to the more basic treatment they may be offered (even if they have doubts about the effectiveness of those, who is going to say no if there is even the slightest chance it could result in a pregnancy?)

A womans best chance of success, and this is given her age and other considerations with AHR, is 50% but for most it is 30%, and that decreases with every year she ages.

Yet youd need to be a statistician to make sense of some of the statistics offered on websites by clinics in Ireland because they are under no obligation to standardise the data they report. This makes it impossible for couples to compare the success rates, as you can elsewhere, between clinics.

For instance, a clinic could pick a rate relating to a particular procedure with a particular group of women where the success rate had been particularly high and quote this on their website. It may be highly misleading, but at present, because of the refusal to tackle the situation by politicians, there is nothing to stop them. At a European level, data is collected to detail the number of AHR treatments and their success rates in each country, but only around half of the Irish clinics supply their figures.

Add to that the lack of regulation around surrogacy, egg donation, embryos and donor sperm. Donor sperm is mainly imported. Did you know, for instance, that the same sperm donor will only be used for three Irish families given the relatively small size of the country, to avoid the possibility of half siblings getting married?

However this rule is not laid down in a regulation anywhere  it came about as a result of the embryologists in different clinics coming together and deciding, on ethical grounds, this was the best thing to do. In this instance the clinics have behaved very responsibly, but it is voluntary and what happens if one of them decides not to partake anymore in relation to donor sperm?

These issues have been hanging around a long time and inevitably in an area that is so fast moving in terms of science, with massive ethical implications, the politics will fall behind. But we are so far behind now that it is quite unbelievable, and a serious injustice to those who are undergoing treatment.

These issues and more are addressed in a new book The Fertility Handbook by Prof Mary Wingfield. Its a great up-to-date and plain speaking guide for the one in six Irish couples who are affected by fertility issues.

The Irish Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction was set up in 2000 and included Prof Wingfield among its members. It did its work extremely well, making 40 recommendations. These were published in 2005, 12 years ago.

Top of the list was that a regulatory body should be established by an Act of the Oireachtas to regulate AHR services in Ireland. The 39 others related to all of the things previously mentioned, not least the protection of children and access to treatment. The report gathers dust on a shelf in the Department of Health.

The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 was introduced in April 2015, to modernise Irish laws on parentage, banning anonymous donation and providing for the setting up of a national donor conceived person register. But, in what Prof Wingfield describes as a typical Irish fashion, the official position is that certain parts of the act, which deal with donors, were never commenced and will not until appointed by the Minister for Health.

As a result Irish people undergoing treatment with donor sperm, eggs and embryos, and their children, are left in an uncertain situation.

Its clear from her book that Prof Wingfield, clinical director of Merrion Fertility Clinic, and those she works with, are weary and frustrated from the lack of political action. The Merrion is a non profit-making charitable organisation but Prof Wingfield speaks of the implications of the growing commercialisation of the sector.

According to a statement this week from the Department of Health, officials are drafting a bill to regulate the broader area of assisted human reproduction and work is well advanced.

Youd be inclined to believe that when you see it in law.

As Prof Wingfield points out people who have never experienced infertility or who have not had to consider having treatment can be dismissive of the very genuine and heartbreaking needs of those who cannot have a baby. It is absolutely a medical disorder with major life and health consequences.

The lack of sympathy and understanding makes it even harder for this group who are not very vocal anyway, given the feelings of failure often surrounding an inability to have a baby.

Almost two years ago Leo Varadkar, then the health minister, pledged that fertility treatments, out of reach financially for so many couples, would be publicly funded through the public health system. As with everything else to do with this area there has been talk but not action.

Prof Wingfield says she is not aware of any other valid medical treatment that is not available on our public health service. Ireland is one of only three countries in the EU where fertility treatments are not funded by the State.

The level of public funding to this sector has been shown to affect medical practice. Research has shown, for instance, that decisions around how many embryos to transfer to a woman has major cost implications for the State since compared to singleton pregnancies, twin pregnancies costs three times more, and a triplet pregnancy 10 times.

In Ireland at present there is no incentive for patients or clinics to advocate just using one embryo per IVF cycle. Our already stressed maternity system is put under further pressure by multiple pregnancies as a result of these fertility treatments.

Prof Wingfield points out that increasing numbers of Irish couples are travelling abroad to countries that have less expensive clinics and this is how many of the multiple pregnancies occur. It is the Irish taxpayer who bears the substantial cost of caring for these mothers and babies.is this false economy for our Government? she asks.

Its a basic question but not a bad one for the Government to at least finally make a start on.
Friday, September 1st, 2017 (12:01 am) - Score 1,305

The Citizens Advice agency has claimed that over 1 in 3 people who moved house during the past two years has suffered an unexpected delay in getting their broadband working, with some facing a delay of more than 2 weeks. The charity demands that ISPs pay compensation for such delays.

The survey itself was carried out by YouGov via an online interview of 2,009 adults (i.e. those who had moved to a new address within the last 2 years), which was conducted between 6th March to the 15th March 2017. The survey found that the most common broadband problems experienced by people who transferred or setup a new service when they last moved house are the connection being slow or unreliable when initiated (15%), engineers having to make multiple visits (11%) and engineers appointments being rescheduled (9%).

On top of that 8% of people who tried to set-up broadband in their new home received a router that did not work properly and 5% hadnt received one at all (its unclear if this was intentional due to the package choice because not all ISPs bundle a free router). Citizens Advice is thus calling for Ofcom to put in place the mandatory scheme it proposed earlier this year for automatically compensating people affected by delayed set-ups or repairs to their broadband or landline (here).

The regulators proposed system would require subscribers to be compensated to the tune of 6 for each calendar day of delay beyond and including the promised activation date. An alternative voluntary proposal from BT, Sky Broadband and Virgin Media is believed to have pushed for the lower figure of 4 per day (here).

Gillian Guy, CEO of Citizens Advice, said: People paying to have their broadband set-up all too often face big set-backs. Moving house can be a difficult and stressful experience and delays in getting the internet can make this worse, if providers fail to keep to promised dates or engineering visits dont materialise. Broadband is now such an essential service that people moving house will often rely on it for crucial tasks, like changing their address for household bills or ordering essentials. It is fundamentally unfair that in some cases customers are paying for a service they dont receive for weeks or even months at a time after moving. Ofcom has rightly proposed a scheme that would automatically compensate customers who face delays or missed appointments, regardless of their provider  but this is now at risk of being watered down by a rival industry proposal that would be voluntary and lower the amount paid out by at least 52 million. To hold providers to account for breaking promises to their customers, the regulator should move forward with its mandatory automatic compensation scheme. This would make it clear to people what they are entitled to when they get poor service and put an end to customers having to negotiate how much they get back for their wasted time.

Apparently some people who decided to switch providers, often after becoming frustrated at having had no broadband for weeks following their house move, were also told that they would have to pay exit fees of hundreds of pounds to switch to a different service. We note that some ISPs offer a 14 day cancellation period but if the problem lasts longer then that can create a dispute over exit fees when you try to leave.

Ideally people should never be charged if the ISP has failed to provide the contracted service within a reasonable timeframe; although sometimes delays do occur (often these occur because of problems with a supplier like Openreach, rather than the ISP itself). In this sort of situation its usually best to wait for the problem to be resolved because switching ISP might not fix it, particularly if the same suppliers are involved.

Complications can also arise if people fail to answer the door when an engineer arrives. This is surprisingly easy to do because they often dont hang around for very long, which is tricky if youre using the toilet at the time. Sometimes an engineer may also go to the wrong address and fail to realise, which can result in the customer being unfairly blamed.

House movers may also suffer other complications, especially if the previous occupant hasnt cancelled their service quickly enough or neglected to cancel it at all. Similarly new build homes can also face the challenge of simply being recognised as existing (i.e. sometimes it can take months for databases to recognise your new address). Suffice to say that these and many more issues can play havoc with service provision and often arent the ISPs fault.

Ofcom has already proposed that ISPs should pay 30 for a missed engineer appointment (ISPs have proposed a figure of closer to 20), although as above it could be difficult to correctly apportion responsibility for such delays. In other situations there may be unavoidable faults with the network, which have to be resolved before the new service can be put live (e.g. no spare ports at the cabinet or a damaged cable).

Andrew Glover, Chair of ISPA, said: Moving home can be a stressful undertaking and while the transfer of a broadband service might not seem to be a high priority task, I would advise home movers to notify their providers early on to ensure a smooth transfer. Early notification will also reveal the few cases where it might not be possible to transfer a service because the provider or technology chosen by the consumer is not present in the area the customer is planning to move to. In such cases, just as with other contracts, such as gym membership, a contract termination might be necessary and this could come with an early termination charge. Most of the service transfers for home movers are done without a problem and Ofcom indicates that the clear majority of consumers are generally happy with their service. However, when things go wrong, the industry agrees that customers are entitled to compensation and we are working with Ofcom to implement an automatic compensation policy that recognises the dynamics and complexities of the UK broadband market and provides compensation levels that are in proportion to the generally low prices for broadband services in the UK.

We should clarify that its normal to expect a wait of a couple of weeks or more when you order a new line and broadband provision, which is often required when moving house (the ISP should give you a clear activation date). The delays being discussed above are thus largely related to issues that occur beyond this activation date; at least we hope the survey has made that key distinction.

Elsewhere the latest data from Openreach (BT) states that the operator completes 94.91% of its new line installs on time (up from 93.93% last year) and it currently takes an average of 8.2 working days to install a service when no engineer is required (e.g. FTTC self-install) or 12.16 days if you need an engineer to visit.

Sadly we dont know how other networks, such as Virgin Media, perform because they are not held to the same standard.
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Herbalife Ltd. placed this week share-price minimum and maximum limits on its proposed accelerated $600 million share-repurchase program.

The company has more than 1,000 employees at its East Coast manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem.

The limits give the company the right, but not the obligation, to terminate the cash tender offer made Aug. 21 if the share price falls below $57 or rises above $71.40.

The initial share price targets with the share-buyback program were $60 and $68, with the caveat that the share price not increase or decrease by more than 10 percent from $61.95. That was the closing price on Aug. 18, the last full trading day before the tender offer was commenced.

The 10 percent increase trigger was reached Aug. 22 with the closing price of $69.36.

The 52-week share price range is $47.62 to $74.49. The share price closed Thursday down 20 cents at $69.01.

The company unveiled its decision to accelerating the $1.5 billion, three-year share-repurchase program  announced Feb. 23  after disclosing Aug. 18 it had flirted with selling the company to a private investment group.

A company typically buys back its shares from the marketplace to reduce the number of outstanding stock shares. Because there are fewer outstanding shares, those remaining can become more valuable.

Companies also buy back shares when they believe the shares are undervalued.

The company already has spent $299 million on the program since Feb. 23.

The repurchases will be conducted under the modified Dutch auction method. Companies use that method to repurchase a predetermined value of shares within a set price range in a relatively short amount of time, typically one to two months, according to analysts with SeekingAlpha.com.

In this instance, Herbalife said the tender offer is scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. Sept. 19.

Demonstrating their commitment and belief in the long-term success of Herbalife, the board, executive management members and largest individual investor Carl Icahn said they will not provide shares for the share-repurchase program.

All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged including grant of the non-transferable contractual contingent value right for each share tendered, allowing participants to receive a contingent cash payment should Herbalife be acquired in a going-private transaction within two years of the commencement of the tender offer, the company said.

Herbalife did not name Icahn as the private investor.

The most recent Herbalife filing disclosing Icahns ownership was March 3, which had him at a 19.66 percent stake, or 18.29 million shares. That was down from 24.1 percent in February.

MSNMoney.com has Icahn listed with an 18.3 percent stake, or 17 million shares.

Herbalife and Icahn agreed that Icahn would not expand his stake beyond 50 percent for two years unless he and the company reach an agreement for him to acquire 100 percent of the company. The board has approved authorizing Icahn to own up to 34.99 percent of the company.

Bowman Gray IV, a local independent stockbroker, called it an extraordinary move for the company to offer the contingency value right to shareholders.

I have seen many Dutch auctions in my 20 years in the business, but never before have I seen one with a promise that if there is a buyout offer for the company at a higher price within two years, that investors would receive additional cash for their previously tendered shares, Gray said.

Timothy Ramey, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, said Thursday that the Dutch auction is a complete game changer. Ramey has been bullish on Herbalifes stock.

We expect the company to continue to modify the terms of its auction as is necessary right up to the Sept. 19 expiration and Herbalife is intent on buying shares, in our opinion, Ramey said,

We believe the company is prepared to pay any reasonable price  below $80?  to get this done.

Ramey said Herbalife has appetite to buy more than the $600 million of shares disclosed in the offer.

We would not be surprised if the company meaningfully upsizes the deal near the Sept. 19 date. Upsizing to $1 billion would not be an unreasonable expectation.

Ramey said he continues to believe that rational holders of Herbalife will tender their shares into the deal, knowing they risk selling only 10 percent or 15 percent should the deal be upsized to $1 billion of their position in the transition.

Tendering shares is logical and the most obvious strategy since the holder will not only receive the tender price in cash, but the conditional value right which will pay the difference between the tender price and the price of any go-private transaction within a two-year period ending Aug. 21, 2019.

Ramey concluded that he maintains his share price target of $120 in 2018, based in part on the share repurchase program and with potential for 2 percent to 5 percent organic growth.

Volume in the trading is shockingly low and the share repurchase must accelerate, Ramey said. Herbalife is an extremely interesting buy.
Q: Where have the bats gone? My backyard has always had hundreds of bats circling high overhead in the evenings, however in the last two years Ive noticed a significant decline in number. Along with that we have had a influx of moths. Is there a connection? And what can be done about moths if the bats arent around to feed on them?

A.P.

Answer: While Im not sure the degree to which the readers bats are gone, it is well documented that many bat populations in the U.S. have been declining due to human disturbance of hibernacula (the places where bats seek refuge) and maternity colonies, but more recently and problematically due to an emergent fungal disease, said James Tomberlin, a mountain region wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

White nose syndrome is a disease named for the white fungus that appears on the muzzles of hibernating bats.

Other symptoms include bats flying outside during the day in cold temperatures; bats clustered near the entrance of the hibernacula; and dead or dying bats on the ground or on buildings, trees or other structures.

It was first discovered in New York back in 2006 and was detected in North Carolina during Wildlife Resource Commission bat monitoring work in 2011, he said.

This disease is most prominent in our mountain counties and has resulted in some local bat populations declining by as much as 99 percent. Unfortunately, the first case of white nose syndrome was detected in Stokes County this past winter and marks the farthest east record in North Carolina.

He said that the Wildlife Resource Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina State Parks and volunteers are partnering to expand monitoring efforts in the Piedmont and coastal counties to document and ascertain the scope of this disease across North Carolina.

At this point, education is our best defense against the further spread of the disease, which can be exacerbated by human activity, as well as ways to manage bat habitat in your area, he said.

More information on bats in NC is available at www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Conserving/documents/Profiles/Bats_Species_Profile.pdf. And for more information on white nose syndrome and its symptoms, you can go to www.whitenosesyndrome.org/faqs.

As for moths, Since bats are a key predator of moths, its possible there is a connection between the lack of bats in the area and increase in moths, Tomberlin said. Not sure much needs to be done about the moths, but thats best handled by the homeowner and their pest control provider.

Kendrick Weeks, western wildlife diversity supervisor with the Wildlife Resources Commission, added that bats are one of two types of aerial insectivores in the state, the others being nightjars such as whip-poor-wills, chuck-wills-widows and nighthawks.

Smaller owls, like eastern screech owls, will also eat moths along with other insects and small mammals, but they are not significant predators of moths, he said. We have seen a decline of nightjars in the recent past, but not to the extent of those bat species affected by white nose syndrome.
The woman who accused Kalvin Michael Smith of assaulting her is now facing assault charges herself, according to an arrest warrant.

Sharika Elandra Alexander, 31, of Weatherwood Court, was charged with simple assault, breaking and entering and injury to real property, the arrest warrant said.

Alexander has alleged that Smith punched her on Aug. 27, after she stepped in to stop an argument between Smith and her friend. Winston-Salem police said Alexander told police that her friend was dating Smith. Smith said Thursday in a brief interview that he is not in a relationship with Alexanders friend. Police said Alexander had a swollen lip and some minor swelling to her left eye.

According to an Aug. 29 arrest warrant, Alexander is accused of assaulting Candice Monique Johnson, the same friend Alexander said was dating Smith. The arrest warrant alleged that Alexander pulled Johnsons hair and punched her in the eye. According to the arrest warrant, Alexander broke into Johnsons apartment, which is also on Weatherwood Court, and caused damage to the exterior door.

Alexander was initially given a $2,500 bond. She is now in Forsyth County Jail on a $1,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on Sept. 28.

Smith spent nearly 20 years in prison after a Forsyth County jury convicted him in the 1995 assault of Jill Marker, an assistant manager at the former Silk Plant Forest store off Silas Creek Parkway. Marker was beaten so badly that she almost died and was in a coma when she gave birth to her son. She now lives in Ohio, where she requires 24-hour care.

Smith has maintained his innocence in the attack on Marker and has sought to have his conviction overturned. A five-part series in the Winston-Salem Journal raised questions about the Winston-Salem Police Departments investigation of the case as well as the subsequent prosecution. The series focused on whether Markers brain injuries would have enabled her to identify Smith as her attacker and on the actions of detective Don Williams.

Smith was released from prison in November 2016 after attorneys Walter Holton and Cheryl Andrews filed a motion alleging that his trial attorney, William Speaks, failed to present certain evidence that might have reduced Smiths sentence. Judge Todd Burke of Forsyth Superior Court granted the motion.

Five months after he was released, Smith was shot and found lying on the sidewalk along North Jackson Avenue. Winston-Salem police have not made any arrests or named any suspects in that incident.
Carolinas HealthCare System, the Charlotte regions dominant hospital chain, will partner with UNC Health Care of Chapel Hill to form a medical giant  one that leaders of the two systems predict will expand access to care, improve quality and boost the states economy.

The two hospital systems announced Thursday that they plan to create a joint operating company that would allow them to work together in myriad ways, from building new hospitals to negotiating with insurance companies.

The new organization will deliver world-class care to people in North Carolina by creating the most comprehensive network of primary, specialty and on-demand care in the Southeast, the two systems said in a news release.

Gene Woods, currently CEO of Carolinas HealthCare, is expected to become chief executive of the new entity. Bill Roper, the CEO of UNC Health Care, will chair the board that will oversee the combined system.

The new system would run more than 50 hospitals and employ more than 90,000 people, making it one of the nations largest hospital chains.

In the Triad, UNC Health Care operates High Point Regional Hospital.

The two systems on Wednesday signed a letter of intent to join their clinical, medical education and research resources.

Roper and Woods insisted the partnership is not a merger, in which both organizations pool their assets to create a new entity. But it brings many of the benefits of the merger without the legal burdens.

Many details  such as what their new organization would be called and where it would be headquartered  have not yet been hammered out. The two systems hope to finalize their plan within 180 days, and to secure regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission next year.

This is like a marriage, Roper told reporters from The Charlotte Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer. What Im describing to you today is we just got engaged. The wedding is still several months away.

Experts in hospital consolidation caution that deals like these tend to drive up health care costs. Thats because larger systems have more leverage to negotiate higher payments from insurance companies.

But leaders of the two systems stressed the benefits of collaboration, saying they will work together to improve cancer treatment, mental health care and substance abuse treatment. They also said they would push to improve access to care in rural areas, which suffer from a shortage of doctors and services.

Is bigger better?

While hospital officials around the country have touted mergers and other combinations as a way to control their costs, critics point to evidence that consolidation tends to make patients pay more.

Carolinas HealthCare  a public nonprofit hospital system is already the states largest hospital chain. The planned megadeal comes at a time when CHS dominance of the local health care market is under close federal scrutiny.

A federal antitrust lawsuit filed last year contends that patients in the Charlotte region face higher health care costs and fewer choices because of CHS efforts to prevent competition.

The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Justice Department and the N.C. Attorney Generals office, alleges that the system illegally reduces competition in the local health care market, using its dominance to get its way with insurers.

Kevin Schulman, an expert in hospital consolidation who teaches medicine and business at Duke University, said its clear that the deal between CHS and UNC will give the systems more leverage with insurance companies. That will likely translate into higher insurance premiums or co-pays for patients, he said.

Its hard to see how its going to lower costs for patients, he said.

Leaders of the two systems said they did not believe their partnership would reduce competition. They noted that the two systems operate in different geographic areas.

There will continue to be strong health care competition in the Charlotte area, and there will continue to be strong competition in the Triangle area.  Were not doing this to extract monopoly rents from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Roper said, referring to the states largest insurer.

In the Charlotte region, CHS largest competitor is Novant Health, which owns 14 hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia. A Novant spokeswoman wouldnt comment on the proposed CHS deal.

N.C. Attorney General Josh Steins office was noncommittal on the proposal but said the office will be reviewing it closely to ensure that it benefits consumers.
General Assembly leaves Raleigh

RALEIGH  The North Carolina General Assembly plans to return to work in October after wrapping up a two-week session in which they passed legislative redistricting maps, overrode two vetoes and passed one other bill.

The House and Senate officially adjourned Thursday their work session that started Aug. 18. Before leaving they agreed to reconvene Oct. 4, setting rules that make broad the actions and legislation that they can consider. They include proposed constitutional amendments, election regulations and the redrawing of judicial districts for District Court and Superior Court seats. The House already has approved a special committee to consider judicial maps.

Lawmakers also could face redrawing General Assembly districts again if federal judges believe the boundaries approved this week fail to fix racial bias problems they found in the 2011 maps.

The Associated Press

Lawmakers OK funds to clean Cape Fear River

RALEIGH  North Carolina legislators have approved money to clean up and monitor a little-studied chemical dumped into a river that serves as drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people.

Wilmington-area residents are worried after learning recently about GenX, a chemical that a plant discharged for years into the Cape Fear River. There are no federal health standards for evaluating GenX.

The bill the General Assembly approved Thursday allocates funds for local water utilities to remove GenX from river water they take in and for UNC-Wilmington to test the rivers chemicals.

The measure now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper, who wanted several times more money to improve statewide water quality regulation.

The Associated Press

Norovirus outbreak reported at UNC

CHAPEL HILL  Health officials at UNC-Chapel Hill are reporting an apparent outbreak of norovirus throughout the Greek community, leading the Panhellenic Council to postpone sorority recruitment.

Local news outlets report the council took the recommendation of campus health and the Orange County Health Department to cancel events scheduled for Thursday and today.

UNC Campus Health says it has treated a number of students for gastro-related symptoms that resemble the norovirus. No cases have been confirmed so far.

The Associated Press

NCs 6 black justices honored

RALEIGH  The six living black justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court have been honored with a special ceremony.

The two current and four former justices attended Thursdays event inside the Supreme Courts courtroom. Former Govs. Jim Hunt and Beverly Perdue spoke at the event, as did current Chief Justice Mark Martin.

Among the six are Henry Frye, who was the first black associate justice and chief justice, serving for 17 years overall through 2000, and Jim Wynn, now serving on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The two current black associate justices are Cheri Beasley and Michael Morgan. Past associate justices are Patricia Timmons-Goodson, a leader on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and current U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.

The Associated Press
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Wednesday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a former West Point cadets lawsuit alleging that superior officers violated her rights when she was allegedly raped by a fellow cadet. Plaintiff Jane Doe alleged that her Fifth Amendment right to equal protection was violated. In a 2-1 opinion, the court concluded that adjudicating Does claim would require judicial interference into a wide range of military function, triggering the incident-to-service rule The dissent, written by Judge Denny Chin, disagreed with the majoritys use of prior doctrine to bar Does claims. While West Point is indeed a military facility, it is quintessentially an educational institution.  [S]he was engaged in purely recreational activity.  [S]he was a student attending college.  There was nothing characteristically military about what she was doing, and her injuries did not arise out of military employment. Plaintiffs counsel has said [NYT report] her client is considering her future legal options in this case.

Constitutional rights of service members have been a hot topic in the US recently. Earlier this month civil rights groups filed [JURIST report] two separate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of President Donald Trumps ban on transgender people serving in the US military. The same week Trump formally issued [JURIST report] the ban on transgender individuals serving in the US military. In addition to the ban, Trump also prohibited the use of military resources funding sex reassignment surgical procedures for military members except to the extent necessary to protect the health of an individual who has already begun a course of treatment to reassign his or her sex. Also in August five unnamed transgender military service members filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against President Donald Trump and various officials in his administration, claiming the presidents declaration on Twitter that transgender individuals would no longer be accepted or allowed to serve in the military violated the Due Process and Equal Protection components of the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Texas on Wednesday temporarily blocked [order, PDF] the implementation and enforcement of Texas Senate Bill 4 (SB4) [text, PDF], which sought to ban so-called sanctuary cities. Judge Orlando Garcia enjoined the state of Texas from enforcing, endorsing or otherwise implementing various sections of SB4 that would have prohibited local agencies from enforcing policies that bar officers from inquiring as to an individuals immigration status even during routine traffic stops. Some of these provisions also provide for fines or discipline such as removal from office against local officials who refuse to or otherwise fail to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [official website] released a statement [press release] vowing to appeal the ruling, joining Governor Greg Abbotts [official website] own calls for appeal. American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Director of Immigrants Rights Project, Lee Gelernt, welcomed the order [ACLU press release] granting the injunction stating that: Senate Bill 4 would have led to rampant discrimination and made communities less safe. Thats why police chiefs and mayors themselves were among its harshest critics  they recognized it would harm, not help, their communities.\\\

The city of El Cenizo initiated this suit in early May, and the cities of San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Dallas, Houston and Travis subsequently joined via intervention or consolidation. Earlier this month, the Austin division of the same court dismissed [JURIST report] the states action seeking a declaration that SB4 is constitutional. Specifically, federal judge Sam Sparks dismissed the action as moot stating that there was no justiciable injury to Texas, since there was not yet a challenge to the bills constitutionality. The existence and functioning of sanctuary cities have come under fire since the very first week of President Donald Trumps [official profile] administration. From the beginning of the year, some states and cities have proposed legislation to crackdown on sanctuary policies, while some cities continue to stand behind their policies [JURIST op-ed]. In June the California State Assembly passed [JURIST report] two bills which, if passed by the senate, will strengthen protections for undocumented immigrant students in public schools from kindergarten through college by preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement [official website] officers from entering a school site without a valid judicial warrant and approval from the superintendent. In March, the Mississippi Senate approved a bill [JURIST report] to prohibit local sanctuary immigration policies. In February, the Alabama House approved [JURIST report] a bill to block funding for sanctuary universities. Earlier the same month, San Francisco filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the Trump administration over an executive order that would cut federal funding from sanctuary cities, including San Francisco.
A Pakistan anti-terrorism court declared former president and army general Pervez Musharraf [Britannica profile] a fugitive from the law [Reuters report] on Thursday concerning the assassination of former prime minister, and first female leader in the Muslim world, Benazir Bhutto [Britannica profile]. The court further ordered the seizure of Musharafs property in Pakistan and acquitted five members of the Pakistan wing of Taliban for lack of evidence of their involvement in the assassination. However, Khawaja Mohammad Imtiaz, the special prosecutor for the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency, expressed his surprise at the acquittal, adding that three of the five men confessed to their roles in the assassination. Additionally, the court found a police officer guilty of mishandling security and another officer guilty of tampering with the crime scene. Specifically, Imtiaz said that one officer oversaw a deliberate security lapse, while the other washed away the crime scene within two hours of the assassination and also delayed the post mortem. Both officers have been sentenced to 17 years in prison and a fine [Al Jazeera report] of PKR 500,000 or US $4,700. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the current leader of the slain Bhuttos Pakistan Peoples Party [official website] called the release of the five individuals dangerous and unacceptable, while Bhuttos daughter Aseefa Zardari stated in a tweet: There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes!

Musharraf has been actively pursued by Pakistan authorities for a number of years now. Musharraf was indicted in August 2013 [Al Jazeera report] for his involvement in Bhuttos assassination, but was allowed to leave the country for health reasons in 2016, and has been in self-imposed exile ever since in Dubai. In March 2013, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] Pakistan to hold Musharraf accountable for alleged human rights abuses upon his return to the country. In August 2011, a court ordered [JURIST report] seizure of Musharrafs property and froze his bank account after he failed to respond to multiple subpoenas regarding the assassination investigation. In February 2011, Pakistan authorities issued an arrest warrant [JURIST report] for Musharraf but were unable to serve the warrant because he was in London. The warrant was issued weeks after investigations revealed [JURIST report] that Musharraf had issued orders to the police officers accused of failing to protect Bhutto to remove security detail for her departure on the day of her assassination.
[JURIST] Thailands Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday cleared former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva [BBC bio] and his then-deputy Suthep Thaugsuban of murder and attempted murder during a crackdown in 2010 on anti-government protesters. More than 90 people were killed [Reuters report] during the crackdown. The court affirmed [Bangkok Post report] the two lower courts decision that the Department for Special Investigation, which brought the case, did not have sufficient jurisdiction. The Supreme Court said that any proceedings must be filed with the National Anti-Corruption Commission [official website].

This decision follows the acquittal [JURIST report] of two other prime ministers earlier this month for a similar crackdown on protesters in 2008. Last week another former prime minister fled the country [JURIST report] before facing a verdict on her corruption charges. Also in August a Thai activist was imprisoned or sharing a BBC article about the countrys king, and a prominent Thai journalist was charged [JURIST reports] with sedition.
[JURIST] Kyrgyzstans Supreme Court [official website, in Kyrgyz] on Thursday upheld the rejection of a petition to put opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev on the ballot for the October presidential election. Tekebaev was convicted [RFE/RL report] earlier this month for accepting bribes, which his party believes is a false conviction by the ruling party. He is currently serving eight years in prison. Although the petition collected about 39,000 signatures (9,000 more than required), the Central Election Commission said the signatures were invalid because the petition was not financed by Tekebaevs election fund.

In December Kyrgzystan voted to amend the constitution to increase government power after the Kyrgyzstan Supreme Court in September voted [JURIST reports] in favor of holding a constitutional referendum that would give more power to the countrys prime minister. In January 2016 a spokesperson for the Kyrgyzstan government discussed [JURIST report] with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty proposed legislation that would allow the Kyrgyz government to shut down media outlets without requiring a court decision.
[JURIST] Forces fighting Islamic State (IS) [Al Jazeera backgrounder] insurgents to regain lost territory in Syria must not sacrifice lives of civilians still trapped in the areas, UN High Commissioner Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] stated [UN press release] Thursday. Zeid had also previously urged [JURIST report] in May that civilians needed to be protected from airstrikes in Syria. According to Coalition report figures, from August 1 to August 29 the Coalition conducted 1,094 airstrikes on and near Raqqa city. This is a drastic rise from the 645 reported in July. There have been various reports of civilian deaths from many of these airstrikes in August. The High Commissioner professed his concern that the purpose of underlying the defeat of IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is ultimately the protection and well-being of civilians in the country.

I am extremely concerned that in its conduct of hostilities, the attacking forces may be failing to abide by the international humanitarian law principles of precautions, distinction, and proportionality. Meanwhile ISIL fighters continue to prevent civilians from fleeing the area, although some manage to leave after paying large amounts of money to smugglers. We have reports of smugglers also being publicly executed by ISIL. So as airstrikes bombard Al-Raqqa, some 20,000 civilians are either trapped, or risk their lives to flee and end up confined in makeshift camps in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces under horrendous conditions until prolonged security procedures are completed, with no oversight on how they are treated and screened.

There continues to be reports on forcible conscription of civilians by ISIL, while the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has verified that at least 151 deaths have occurred since August 1.

The war in Syria [JURIST backgrounder] continues to have a devastating impact on the country. Earlier this week UNICEF voiced [JURIST report] its concern that children in war-torn countries, including Syria, have a lack of safe drinking water. Earlier in May the US House of Representatives passed a bill [JURIST report] to impose sanctions on supporters of Syrias Assad regime. The same month Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported new evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in at least four recent attacks [JURIST report] targeting civilians.
[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Florida [official website] on Thursday denied [opinion, PDF] a petition by State Attorney Aramis Ayala [official website] challenging Governor Rick Scotts [official website] power to reassign her death penalty eligible cases. Ayala announced in March of this year that she would no longer be seeking the death penalty [JURIST report] in cases handled by her office. In response, Scott issued numerous executive orders assigning Ayalas ability to prosecute such cases to State Attorney for Floridas Fifth Judicial Circuit Brad King [official website]. Scott argued that the Florida Constitution [text] empowered him to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The court concluded that the power to reassign death penalty eligible cases to another state attorney was well within Scotts constitutional and statutory powers. The court added, Ayalas blanket refusal to seek the death penalty in any eligible case  does not reflect an exercise of prosecutorial discretion; it embodies, at best, a misunderstanding of Florida law. Local news sources have reported [Miami Herald report] that Ayala respects the decision of the court and will begin working with fellow state attorneys to resume evaluating first-degree murder cases in her jurisdiction.

The death penalty has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. In June a federal appeals court reversed [JURIST report] a lower court decision and found Ohios execution protocol to be constitutional. In that same week a federal judge ordered [JURIST report] major changes to Arizona death penalty procedures due to prisoner complaints. Earlier in June the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that psychiatric assistance must be provided for indigent defendants sentenced to the death penalty. In May the Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill [JURIST report] that would reinstate the death penalty. Floridas new bill [JURIST report] declaring that the death penalty may only be imposed by a judge upon unanimous recommendation from the jury was signed into law in March. In January the US Supreme Court refused [JURIST report] to consider a challenge to Alabamas death penalty system.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Myanmar of "genocide" against the Rohingya Muslim minority, who have fled in the tens of thousands across the border into Bangladesh to escape ethnic violence.

"There is a genocide there," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul during the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast, which commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

"Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators".

Around 400 people -- most of them Rohingya Muslims -- have died in violence searing through Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state, the army chief's office said Friday.

Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces -- as well as by militants -- have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control.

To escape the violence, about 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats.

Erdogan said he would bring up the issue at the next UN General Assembly in New York later this month, adding that he had already talked to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other Muslim leaders.

According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Bangladeshi authorities to "open your doors," adding that the country would cover the costs associated with letting in more Rohingya.

Bangladesh already hosts 400,000 Rohingya and does not want more.

"We have called upon the Organization of Islamic Cooperation," Cavusoglu said. "We will organise a summit this year" on the issue. "We have to find a definitive solution to this problem".

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss the violence, but there was no formal statement on the crisis.

On Friday, Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the situation in Myanmar and called for "restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe".

The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
KEARNEY  A Kearney man has been convicted of two counts of misdemeanor child abuse for hitting a child at a Kearney home.

Lawrence D. Helmick, 65, pleaded no contest Wednesday in Buffalo County Court to the charges following an April incident. He had originally pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A no-contest plea is neither an admittance nor denial of guilt, but the plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.

Judge John Rademacher accepted Helmicks plea and found him guilty. Rademacher ordered the state probation office to do a pre-sentence investigation report on Helmick and to include an alcohol evaluation.

Such reports detail the defendants background, including family and criminal history, employment, and psychological and chemical dependency. The report will be provided to Rademacher to help him issue an appropriate sentence. Sentencing will be in October.

In exchange for Helmicks plea, Deputy Buffalo County Attorney Patrick Lee has agreed to ask Rademacher to sentence Helmick to supervised probation and that Helmick complete an anger management course. Lee will also ask that Helmick serve 15 days in jail.

Rademacher doesnt have to follow the attorneys sentencing agreement and can sentence Helmick as he sees fit.

Court records say on April 30, a woman reported to Buffalo County Sheriffs Office deputies that Helmick struck a child at a Kearney home. Helmick was contacted after the incident, arrested and posted bond.

Helmick is a Kearney physician.

@HubChic
KEARNEY  The suspect in a Wednesday morning armed robbery loitered in the Motel 6 lobby for several hours making conversation with the clerk before allegedly holding her at knife-point and demanding money.

Elwood Furrowh Jr., 48, of Kearney was arrested at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. He was contacted by Kearney Police Department officers at a convenience store at 39th Street and Avenue N and arrested without incident.

He was charged Thursday in Buffalo County Court with robbery and using a weapon to commit a felony. Late this morning he was being held at the Buffalo County Jail on a $150,000 bond.

Court records outline the case against him:

A Motel 6 clerk reported to Kearney police that an African-American man sat in the lobby talking with her for several hours early Wednesday morning. During their conversation, the man asked how much a weekly rate was, and the clerk told him.

Several times the man, who had a red drawstring bag with him, walked in and out of the lobby area and talked to someone on the phone.

When the clerk went behind a wall at the front desk to make coffee, she returned to find the man was on her side of the desk with a knife in his hand. The suspect allegedly put the knife to her throat and told her to get the money out of the register and the safe.

After the clerk gave the suspect the cash, he told her to wait in the bathroom with the door locked. The woman didnt see which direction the suspect fled but was able to describe the man to police when she reported the incident at 6:55 a.m.

At about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, clothes were found just off the hike-bike trail under Second Avenue, and Kearney police found a bank bag with the words Motel 6 on it.

Police went to neighboring businesses in an effort to locate video surveillance of the suspect fleeing the area. One business video allegedly showed the suspect running from the trail area around 7 a.m. carrying a red drawstring bag.

The suspect, later identified as Furrowh, was contacted at about 4 p.m. Wednesday in the area of 39th Street and Avenue N. He was taken to the Law Enforcement Center where he was interviewed and later arrested.

Early today, Furrowh was in the Buffalo County Jail.

@HubChic
As a Nebraskan, you are one of the millions of Americans living in one of 28 Right to Work states. You might not know it from Right to Work opponents rhetorical posturing, but Right to Work laws are simple and straightforward.

A Right to Work law ensures that no employee can be forced to join or pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of employment. This leaves the decision of union membership and financial support where it belongs: with each individual working person.

Right to Work should be embraced simply on the basis of protecting each workers freedom of association, but the advantages do not stop there. Enshrining workplace freedom also brings significant economic benefits to the 28 states that have passed Right to Work laws.

Right to Work states have enjoyed higher private-sector job growth 1 times more than in forced unionism states, according to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research.

NILRR data also shows larger wage increases over the past decade than their forced unionism counterparts. Not only that, but after adjusting for states differing costs of living, residents in Right to Work states enjoy $2,500 more disposable income than their non-Right to Work neighbors.

The connection between Right to Work laws and better economic performance is not a surprise. Business experts consistently rank the presence of Right to Work laws as one of the most important factors companies consider when deciding where to expand or relocate.

Right to Work laws also encourage more flexible and responsive union officials in the workplace. Where workers cannot be forced to join or pay dues, union brass has to work harder to retain employee support. This encourages union officials to put workers interests first, rather than promoting their own power or pushing an agenda that is out of step with the rank-and-file.

If you are still unsure where you stand on the Right to Work issue, ask yourself a simple question: Why should union officials not play by the same rules as every other private organization?

Mark Mix, Washington, D.C.
As rains fell and floodwaters rose in Houston, President Donald Trump tweeted: Wow  Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!

How refreshing it is when the president directs our attention to the words of experts  people who ascertain facts, study the issues, dissect the causes of problems, and put their biases and suppositions aside to figure out solutions.

If Trump himself were to consult the experts  such as, you know, climate scientists  he would learn that global warming is real. Hed also learn that although warming did not cause Hurricane Harvey, it certainly makes such storms stronger, more unpredictable and quicker to intensify. Experts  theres that word again  say that warmer air temperatures mean more evaporation of moisture from the seas to the skies, and thus more rainfall from storms. Warmer seas  including the Gulf of Mexico  intensify storms, from their size to their wind speeds, and amplify storm surges.

Ironically, the president two weeks ago rescinded Obama administration standards requiring the federal government to account for the impact of climate change when designing and building new infrastructure projects. Of course, that makes no difference to the current status of Houston, but Harveys terrible impact certainly spotlights the foolishness of ignoring climate change. Experts (ahem) in Trumps own Pentagon know that climate change is real, and they recognize that more extreme heat, droughts, floods and famines threaten international stability while rising seas imperil military bases  especially naval installations.

But rising seas also threaten civilian shipping ports, coastal neighborhoods and sensitive freshwater estuaries. Saline ocean water is already seeping into the Everglades, threatening the freshwater supply of millions of people in southern Florida. Infrastructure must be adapted to account for such changes. This is the hot, hard reality the world faces, and as weve noted before, Trump, along with his Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other proponents of increasing fossil fuel production, are leading the nation in a dangerous direction.

Los Angeles Times
The Mindset List has been published every fall since 1998. Compiled by faculty of Beloit College in Wisconsin, the list details notable cultural, historical, and technological events from the year that college freshmen were born. Students entering college this fall were born in 1999, representing the last class to be born in the 20th century.

They have never known a world without emojis or Amazon.com. Humorous and written to convey the perspective of young adults entering college, the Mindset List provides a poignant reminder of how quickly American society, culture and technology change.

Mindset Lists provide an important reminder of the need for long-term perspective. All too often policy discussions, especially those led by special interests, focus on immediate payoffs and benefits.

Students entering college and vocational programs this fall will likely be working in jobs two decades from now using technologies we have not yet envisioned. When they began kindergarten 12 years ago, the iPhone was incomprehensible to most. Today they enter college with more technology in the palm of their hand than was available to the original Apollo astronauts when they landed on the moon. It is shortsighted and illogical for us to assume that the technologies and skills required for jobs in 2017 will be the same skills required for a successful career in 2037.

The emphasis on vocational skills and career readiness in K-12 and higher education has a valuable short-term goal and arises from good intentions. However, the dramatic changes demonstrated by the Mindset List reminds us that these programs should not substitute or crowd out an emphasis on strong intellectual and analytical skills.

Proficiency in reading, strong quantitative skills, and problem-solving abilities enable and equip all students to learn and develop skills for success in their first jobs as well as throughout their careers and working life. Career readiness has become equated with a trade rather than a strong foundation for lifelong learning and career advancement.

As we seek to expand high skill manufacturing jobs and train students specifically for those roles, we must learn from the experience of our neighboring states. Communities in Iowa and Kansas have seen significant economic stress created by layoffs and plant closures. These are the very high-tech, high skill, high paying manufacturing jobs we are rushing to train students for in career academies and vocational programs. Despite having held highly technical positions, retraining for new jobs has proven costly and time consuming, in large part due to the need to remediate basic reading and quantitative skills in adult workers. The lack of a strong, comprehensive education has proven a barrier to successful reentry into new jobs.

My niece, who started kindergarten this year, will graduate high school using technologies and likely pursuing a career that do not even exist today. A comprehensive educational foundation will be vital to her future.

Short-term goals and immediate policy outcomes are important. However, they should not come at the price of future disadvantage. As we begin a new school year and marvel at how things have changed for this generation, we should be sure we are equipping all Nebraskans with the intellectual skills to be adaptable for whatever the future holds.

Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell represents District 38 in the Nebraska Legislature. The district encompasses southwest Buffalo County and all of Clay, Franklin, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps and Webster counties.
Traffic passes a sculpture by New York artist Del Geist, which is called "Bowfort Towers" and is located near Canada Olympic Park in Calgary on Aug. 9, 2017. Calgary's mayor and seven chiefs in southern Alberta say a controversial sculpture along a city interchange was never meant to be Indigenous art. Naheed Nenshi and Treaty 7 leaders have released a joint statement about the Bowfort Towers sculpture, which some critics say appears to emulate Indigenous burial scaffolding. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
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A man on the top of a van waves a flag during a farmers' protest in Mexico City on Aug. 7, 2017. A round of NAFTA negotiations is about to start in a country that's served as Donald Trump's political whipping boy. Increasingly, there are indications Mexico is willing to whip back. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Gustavo Martinez Contreras
A sinkhole covers an intersection in downtown Mexico City, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. An enormous sinkhole about 30 feet (10 meters) in diameter opened on the street, caused by an accumulation of water, according to civil protection. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
FILE--In this Feb. 3, 2017, file photo, actor Ryan Reynolds is shown during a roast at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. A U.S. judge is striking down a Utah law that landed a movie theater in trouble for serving alcohol during a showing of superhero film "Deadpool." Deadpool star Reynolds donated $5,000 to help pay the theater's legal bills. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)
Pam Seidl experienced the worst day of her life 24 years ago.

On Thursday, she got the chance to finally thank two first responders who helped her family through it.

On Aug. 10, 1993, a shooting left three dead, one injured and countless lives forever changed.

On that sunny afternoon, 26-year-old Dion Terres dressed in jungle fatigues, walked into the McDonalds restaurant at 75th Street and Pershing Boulevard and fired three random shots from a .44 Magnum revolver, killing two customers and wounding a third.

Then Terres opened his mouth, pointed the gun inside and took his own life.

Among the deceased was Seidls sister, Sandra Kenaga, who owned a salon near the restaurant.

Kenaga, 42, was shot in the stomach as she dined with co-workers.

Kenaga, a cousin of Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, died 13 hours later at Kenosha Medical Center.

A horrible day

It was a terrible thing for Kenosha, Seidl said. I was going there to meet her that day but I got there late. I worked right across the street from McDonalds. We were going there because they just came out with the fajitas from McDonalds and we were both hooked on them. I was meeting her, and I live by Ace Hardware, and something told me to go home and get the mail first. I went home to get the mail.

Seidl then called Kenagas beauty shop to ask if she had left and they said she left.

Seidl made her way to McDonalds and as she pulled up she saw multiple law enforcement officers pointing their weapons at the restaurant.

Because Seidl did not see her sisters vehicle, she went back to work at American Family Insurance.

I thought, Well, I dont need to eat, anyway, Seidl said, adding she could not get into the insurance company because the doors were locked.

So I went to her beauty shop, Seidl said. Soon after, a police officer and personal friend pulled up and said, Pam, get in my squad. Your sisters been shot and shes in McDonalds.

The bullet went through Kenagas liver, kidneys, spine and colon.

She would have been paralyzed for the rest of her life, Seidl said, adding that she was tasked with telling immediate family about the situation. It was a nightmare.

Kenaga, who had been diagnosed with MS shortly before her murder, told an officer at the scene that she had no feelings in her legs and to tell her family she loves them.

Seidl has never been back inside the restaurant.

An unexpected encounter

Seidl, 64, took retired Kenosha firefighters Mike Hopkins, 60, and Capt. Ramon Ray Bloxdorf, 85, out for dinner Thursday evening at Texas Roadhouse to thank them for their efforts 24 years ago. Hopkins and Bloxdorf were among the first to respond to the scene, and Bloxdorf worked to keep Kenaga alive and comfortable.

Bloxdorf said he will never forget that day.

She was bleeding so bad. She was having trouble breathing. She was pumping blood like you cant believe. We were trying to control breathing and circulating, Bloxdorf said. She kept saying I cant breathe. I cant breathe.

Seidl and Hopkins said they believe God brought them together this summer.

Its too coincidental, Hopkins said.

Seidl, an insurance agent, had no idea the elderly man who popped into her office Aug. 9 had provided emergency care for her sister at the scene and heard some of her last words.

Seidl, who calls herself a Facebook queen posts about her sisters death every year on the anniversary of it. Hopkins, who was not a Facebook friend of hers, saw her post this year and left a message explaining what he and Bloxdorf did for her sister. They even sent her orange roses.

Seidl was dumbfounded.

It just gave me goosebumps. I started literally crying, Seidl said. We finally were able to connect.

Seidl said all three will be friends for life.

I love these guys, Seidl said.

Texas Roadhouse even picked up their tab because Bartley Carlson, principal of the restaurant wanted to do that for us, Seidl added.

Larger death count averted

The loss of life could could have been considerably worse than it was, Lieut. Steve Pataska told reporters at the time.

A semi-automatic weapon was found next to Terres car in the McDonalds parking lot. Inside the vehicle was a 30-round clip for the weapon and he had another 30 rounds.

Terres may have accidentally locked the clip in his vehicle and, forgetting he had another 30 bullets, dropped the automatic rifle on the ground.

Also in Terres car was a videotaped suicide note made the day before the shooting. It revealed a highly disturbed man who told of sexual abuse, hearing voices and fantasies of exhuming the body of Abraham Lincoln and putting it in a bathtub. He also talked of killing family members and displayed a spirit pouch.

He hinted some terrible act would precede his own suicide. I cant say how or why, Terres said on the videotape.

Media swarmed to Kenosha to report the bizarre shootings, which were reported worldwide.

Bruce Bojesen, a 50-year-old Silver Lake carpenter who had come to Kenosha to buy a dog collar, died on the spot.

Eighteen-year-old Kirk Hauptmann was wounded, but escaped from the restaurant to a nearby supermarket to summon police. When officers arrived on the scene, they found Terres dead.

Hundreds of Kenoshans mourned the victims. Even those who didnt know them but were nonetheless touched and disturbed attended a community candlelight vigil in their honor, according to Kenosha News archives.
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Nothing seemed to help the patient  and hospice staff didnt know why.

They sent home more painkillers for weeks. But the elderly woman, who had severe dementia and incurable breast cancer, kept calling out in pain.

The answer came when the womans daughter, who was taking care of her at home, showed up in the emergency room with a life-threatening overdose of morphine and oxycodone. It turned out she was high on her mothers medications, stolen from the hospice-issued stash.

Dr. Leslie Blackhall handled that case and two others at the University of Virginias palliative care clinic, and uncovered a wider problem: As more people die at home on hospice, some of the powerful, addictive drugs they are prescribed are ending up in the wrong hands.

Hospices have largely been exempt from the national crackdown on opioid prescriptions because dying people may need high doses of opioids. But as the nations opioid epidemic continues, some experts say hospices arent doing enough to identify families and staff who might be stealing pills. And now, amid urgent cries for action over rising overdose deaths, several states have passed laws giving hospice staff the power to destroy leftover pills after patients die.

Blackhall first sounded the alarm about drug diversion in 2013, when she found that most Virginia hospices she surveyed didnt have mandatory training and policies on the misuse and theft of drugs. Her study spurred the Virginia Association for Hospices and Palliative Care to create new guidelines, and prompted national discussion.

Most hospice patients receive care in the place they call home. These settings can be hard to monitor, but a Kaiser Health News review of government inspection records sheds light on what can go wrong. According to these reports:

In Mobile, Ala., a hospice nurse found a man at home in tears, holding his abdomen, complaining of pain at the top of a 10-point scale. The patient was dying of cancer, and his neighbors were stealing his opioid painkillers, day after day.

In Monroe, Mich., parents kept losing medications for a child dying at home of brain cancer, including a bottle of the painkiller methadone.

In Clinton, Mo., a woman at home on hospice began vomiting from anxiety from a tense family conflict: Her son had to physically fight off her daughter, who was stealing her medications. Her son implored the hospice to move his mom to a nursing home to escape the situation.

In other cases, paid caregivers or hospice workers, who work largely unsupervised in the home, steal patients pills. In June, a former hospice nurse in Albuquerque, N.M., pleaded guilty to diverting oxycodone pills first by recommending prescriptions for hospice patients who didnt need them and then intercepting the packages with the intention of selling the drugs herself.

Hospice, available to patients who are expected to die within six months, is seeing a dramatic rise in enrollment as more patients choose to focus on comfort, instead of a cure, at the end of life.

The fast-growing industry serves more than 1.6 million people a year. Most of hospice care is covered by Medicare, which pays for hospices to send nurses, aides, social workers and chaplains, as well as hospital beds, oxygen machines and medications to the home.

Theres no national data on how frequently these medications go missing. But problems related to abuse of, diversion of or addiction to prescription medications are very common in the hospice population, as they are in other populations, said Dr. Joe Rotella, chief medical officer of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, a professional association for hospice workers.

Its an everyday problem that hospice teams address, Rotella said. In many cases, opioid painkillers or other controlled substances are the best treatment for these patients, he said. Hospice patients, about half of whom sign up within two weeks of death, often face significant pain, shortness of breath, broken bones, or aching joints from lying in bed, he said. These are the sickest of the sick.

Earlier this year in Missouri, government investigators installed a hidden camera in a 95-year-old hospice patients kitchen to investigate suspected theft. A personal care aide was charged with stealing the patients hydrocodone pills, opiate painkillers, and replacing them with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Hospice nurses in Louisiana and Massachusetts also have been charged in recent years with stealing medication from patients homes.

But many suspected thefts dont get caught on hidden cameras, or even reported.

In Oxnard, Calif., in 2015, a person claiming to be a hospice employee entered the homes of five patients and tried to steal their morphine, succeeding twice. The state cited the hospice for failing to report the incidents.

In Norwich, Vt., in 2013, a family looked for morphine to ease a dying patients shortness of breath. But the bottle was missing from the hospice-issued comfort care kit. The family suspected that an aide, who no longer worked in the home, had stolen the drug, but they had no proof. State inspectors cited the hospice, Bayada Home Health Care, for failing to investigate.

David Totaro, spokesman for Bayada Home Health Care, told KHN that situations like that are very rare at the hospice, which takes precautions, such as limiting medication supply, to prevent misuse.

There is no publicly available national data on the volume of opioids hospices prescribe. But OnePoint Patient Care, a national hospice-focused pharmacy, estimates that 25 to 30 percent of the medications it delivers to hospice patients are controlled substances, according to Erik Jung, a vice president of pharmacy operations.

Jung said company drivers deliver medications in unmarked cars to prevent attempted robberies, which have happened on occasion.

Two recent studies suggest hospice doctors and social workers across the country are not prepared to screen patients and families for drug misuse, nor to address the theft of pain medication.

For family members struggling with addiction, bottles of pills lying around the house can be hard to resist. Sarah B., a 43-year-old construction worker in Vancouver, Wash., said when her father entered hospice care at his home in Oregon, she was addicted to opioids, stemming from a hydrocodone prescription for sciatica.

After he died, hundreds of pills were left on his bedside table. She took them all, enough Norco, oxycodone and morphine to last a month.

I have some shame about it, said Sarah, who declined to give her full last name because of the nature of her actions.

Sarah, who was one of her fathers primary caretakers, said the hospice didnt talk about addiction or ask if any one of us were addicts or any of that.

No one gave us instructions on how to dispose of all the medications that were left, she added.

Medicare requires hospices to establish a safe way to administer drugs to each patient  by identifying a reliable caregiver, staff member or volunteer to manage the drugs or, if need be, relocating the patient. And it requires hospices to set policies, and talk to families, about how to safely manage and dispose of medications.

But theres little oversight: Unlike nursing homes, hospices may go years without inspection, and even when they are cited for noncompliance, they rarely face any consequence except coming up with a plan to improve.

And in most states, hospices have little control over the pills after a patient dies. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration encourages hospice staff to help families destroy leftover medications, but forbids staff from destroying the meds themselves unless allowed by state law. Leftover pills belong to the family, which has no legal obligation to destroy them or give them up.

However, some states are taking action. In the past three years, Ohio, Delaware, New Jersey and South Carolina have passed laws giving hospice staff authority to destroy unused drugs after patients die. Similar bills moved forward in Illinois, Wisconsin and Georgia this year.

In Massachusetts, one of the states hit hardest by drug overdose deaths, VNA Care Hospice and Palliative Care advises families to empty leftover pills into kitty litter or coffee grounds before disposal  a common practice to prevent reuse, since flushing them down the toilet is now considered environmentally hazardous.

But families dont have to comply, said VNA Care medical director Dr. Joel Bauman. Our experience is maybe only half do. We dont know what happens to these medications. And we have no right, really, to further inquire.

Hospices across the country told KHN they take precautions, including counting pills when nurses visit the homes, limiting the volume of each drug delivery, giving families locked boxes for medication and giving patients random urine tests. They also said they prescribe medications that are harder to misuse, such as methadone.

Some, like VNA Care, have also started screening families of patients for history of drug addiction, and writing up agreements with families outlining the consequences if drugs go missing.

But theres so much moral distress about punishing dying patients for family members actions, said Bauman. He said he tries to avoid doing that: Why should we fire a patient for having inappropriate pill counts, when it may not be their fault in the first place?

Though Blackhall helped spark a national discussion about hospice drug diversion, she said shes also worried about restricting access to painkillers. Hospices must strike a balance, she said.

Its important to treat the horrible suffering that people have from cancer, said Blackhall. But substance abuse is another form of suffering which is horrible for anyone in the family or community that might end up getting those medications.

Melissa Bailey is a correspondent, Kaiser Health News, where this article originally appeared.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Despite assurances over the course of his presidency that undocumented immigrants brought to the United States by their parents would be protected by this administration, President Trump has announced recently that he is considering ending the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) program.

DACA was announced by former President Obama in August 2012 as an initiative providing individuals who came to the United States as children and who meet certain other requirements the opportunity to stay in the United States without fear of deportation as well as the ability to obtain work permits. DACA has given these individuals access to jobs, advanced degrees, drivers licenses, and often, access to health care through employer-provided insurance.

The Trump administration has been openly struggling with its official stance on DACA since the campaign, at which time they called the program illegal amnesty. Since taking office, the president has softened his stance, stating that he would deal with DACA with heart and that DACA recipients could, for the time being, rest easy. At this time, the administration faces pressure by a group of Republican state lawmakers, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who have threatened to fight DACA in court if the president does not rescind the executive order himself.

To qualify for DACA, undocumented individuals must have entered the United States before age 16, have continuously resided in this country since 2007, must be currently enrolled in school or have a GED, must not have been convicted of felonies or three or more misdemeanors. As of September 2016, almost 800,000 individuals have been approved for DACA.

Unequivocally, DACA has been shown to raise attainment of higher education, improve employment rates, raise family incomes, and improve health outcomes among immigrant populations. DACA recipients have even gone on to apply to medical school, and there are currently almost 200 enrolled at medical schools around the country. There are 5.4 million undocumented immigrants ineligible for healthcare coverage in the United States and DACA recipients training in healthcare are uniquely positioned to bring their personal experiences in order to advocate for these populations. Ending DACA would be a disservice to these students, and perhaps more importantly, to the populations they would have served.

The events in Charlottesville this past month as well as the recent pardoning of Arizona sheriff Joseph Arpaio, were reminders of the racial tensions and hatred that continue to exist in this country. It has, for many Americans, as well as for many physicians, highlighted the importance of advocating for all of our vulnerable populations. Rescinding DACA would be devastating to our immigrant patient populations, and would destroy the fabric of their communities.

Isha M. Di Bartolo is an internal medicine resident.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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In my first year in the hospital, as a third-year medical student, there was one refrain I often heard from physicians and staff alike: This is a hospital, not a hotel. It was an expression of the frustration engendered by needy patients, those who were upset that their breakfast was late or that the room was too hot or that they couldnt speak with the physician just this second. Often, when their demands werent satisfactorily met, these patients would unload their ire on the medical team. I remember thinking ruefully that I wished these patients understood how it behooved them to be nice to those taking care of them, as their behavior had a real impact on team morale and attentiveness.

I also knew just what it was like to be an impatient patient. To be frustrated and scared and yes, needy: needy of attention, of the impossible reassurance that everything would be OK. I was a medical student when my father was dying in the hospital. I had no qualms about requesting yet another family meeting with his doctors to tell me what I already knew, which was that things were not looking okay at all, and no one could predict much more than that.

Thus, the problem of blaming patients for their behavior was quite clear to me: Patients dont choose to be in the hospital. They are in the hospital because they are sick, suffering and scared, and they are often alone. A hospital is not a hotel, indeed.

Patients often complain of being treated like diseases rather than people, and it is not hard to see why. Any basic human desire or comfort, like an extra five minutes to talk, the correct beverage at the bedside, a nurse responding to ones bathroom request in, say, less than thirty minutes, is liable to be seen as excessive, extraneous to what everyone is here for: medical care. Evidently, medical is synonymous with disease, and the other things a provider might care for are luxuries, to be granted only if time permits. How can a patient be upset about something so trivial, is the general staff impression, when we are working around the clock to salvage his failing heart and kidneys? Maybe because that triviality is the one thing at this moment that makes the patient feel just a little better.

And yet, it is also a sorry mistake to place the responsibility, and the blame, squarely at the feet of individuals. A hospital functions as a hierarchy necessary to manage the innumerable complexities of patient care, though this very hierarchy often results in a significant lag between a request and its completion, with messages filtering and repeating through the wrong channels. It is a not a nurses fault if she doesnt know the doctors latest recommendation, which hasnt yet been inputted into the computer, any more than it is the doctors fault if the cleaning staff has not come on time. It is not only impossible but irresponsible for staff to do each others jobs, and yet this is the implicit expectation when a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, or several links are simply missing in action depending on the burden of care that day.

Understandably, patients are frustrated when a staff member places the responsibility for a delay or an error on somebody else. Yet often this is simply the truth: That we dont know whats happening outside of our purview and that we would have to neglect our actual time-sensitive responsibilities and patients to find out. It is not so simple for someone juggling fourteen balls to chase after the fifteenth that somebody else dropped.

But you signed up for this, is the other sentiment that I often sense from non-physicians. Unlike patients, who did not choose to be in the hospital, we did. The stereotype remains that doctors are rich and comfortable, or that we simply cant be bothered to spend extra time with patients without robbing them. Speaking for my generation of physicians, this just couldnt be further from the truth. With debt in the hundreds of thousands from eight years of college and medical school, hourly wages as low as $13 per hour for up to seven years of post-graduate residency training with eighty-hour work weeks followed by similarly low-wage, high-workload fellowships, and future earnings and schedule forever dependent on the demands set by the insurance industry, being a doctor is hardly lucrative or easy.

Not only that, and perhaps even more importantly, the demands of professional life inevitably come at an extreme cost to ones personal relationships and general well-being. Residency training is at least three years, depending on the specialty, at whichever hospital a new physician is matched (a long, competitive selection process analogous to rushing in college Greek life)  a tremendously disruptive move to a person in his or her mid-twenties with long-term professional consequences.

Yet, young medical students and physicians largely have no choice but to complete this long and arduous path once started due to the aforementioned debt and the uselessness of our medical degree without post-graduate training. Then, inside the hospital, a physician is expected to be compassionate and empathetic yet forever professional; in other words, to witness suffering day in and day out without ever displaying the impact of this suffering, or other personal suffering, ourselves. This is while coping with crushing workloads that often necessitate the neglect of loved ones and the most basic personal care. Thus it is no coincidence that doctors have the highest suicide rate of any profession and addiction rates estimated at 10 to 15 percent, compared to 8 to 10 percent of the general public.

So yes, we chose this. We chose immense sacrifice in order to help others, to make a lifes work out of sickness, while trying to not be crushed ourselves. Sometimes being berated about a cup of water is a bit too much for us, too.

The medical system is far from perfect, and the grievances from all parties are warranted. As a soon-to-be-doctor, straddling the line between civilian and physician, I have just one suggestion: That patients and doctors give each other the benefit of the doubt, and that we each recognize what the other has suffered and sacrificed. In this way, patients and doctors can face illness side-by-side, rather than turning against the very partner we need most.

Weisheng Mao is a medical student.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
China on Thursday said a key Chinese Communist Party meeting held once every five years will start on Oct. 18, marking the formal countdown to the gathering at which President Xi Jinping will begin his second five-year term as head of the ruling party.

The 19th National Party Congress will also see the selection of new members of key bodies, including the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee that Xi is expected to pack with allies to the detriment of rival factions. The congress typically runs for about 10 days.

Xi has emerged as China's most powerful leader in decades, dominating the party, government, military and state economy. The congress will also be scrutinized for signs that Xi intends to remain beyond the 10-year terms served by his predecessors, the most telling of which would be the failure of a clear successor to emerge.


The Trump administration announced in July that it was barring American citizens from traveling to North Korea from Sept. 1 over concerns about detentions of Americans who travel there. Earlier this year, U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier was sent home in a coma and later died after spending more than a year in North Korean detention.

Among those on the flight from the North Korean capital were aid workers who hoped to be allowed to return to continue humanitarian work.

A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on Thursday on a flight to Beijing, a day before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea.

Overall, though nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident, at least 16 have been detained in the last decade, American officials say.

The ban also goes into effect amid heightened U.S. concern about Pyongyang's recent advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. The ban includes potential exceptions for journalists and humanitarian workers, and expires after one year unless extended.

Heidi Linton, director of the U.S.-based charity Christian Friends of Korea, said she wasn't sure how long it could take for travel approval to come through. The organization, which fights tuberculosis and hepatitis, has been working in North Korea for more than 20 years.

"The devil is always in the detail," she said, after landing in Beijing. "These trips take a long time to plan and organize and so, if travel approval doesn't come in a timely way, it's a de facto denial."

Linton said the organization appreciated the U.S. government's concern for its people, but said there was a "tremendous need" for humanitarian work in North Korea. "I think it's very important that there be opportunities for people to understand one another in person," Linton said.

Another Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang is due to land in Shanghai on Thursday evening.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo brought up possible redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons here as he met with his U.S. counterpart James Mattis and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Wednesday.

The U.S. withdrew its nukes from South Korea in 1991, but now the prospect of North Korea developing its own nuclear-tipped missiles is becoming increasingly real.

A senior government official here quoted Song as telling McMaster that opposition parties and the media here are calling for re-deployment of the nukes. How the U.S. officials reacted is not known.

Cheong Wa Dae said Song did not mean that the government wants the U.S. nukes to return, but just reported these opinions. Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk told the National Assembly Defense Committee, "Song and Mattis merely exchanged comments on the issue but didn't have any serious discussion about it."

"There has been no detailed discussion about it between Seoul and Washington, and Washington has no strong opinion either," he added.
SHANGHAI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Finance auctioned 10 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) of 3-month bills in the interbank market on Friday at an average yield of 2.9874 percent, traders said.

The auction yield came in below Thursday's benchmark secondary market yield of 3.0032 percent for 3-month government bonds .

For stories on Chinese debt issues, click on . ($1 = 6.5799 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
Sept 1 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

* Brexit negotiators impatient over scant progress. * Volkswagen offers UK drivers up to 7,000 pounds to scrap diesel cars. * French government unveils jobs market liberalisation. Overview

* Britain's exit negotiations with the European Union this week failed to make the kind of progress needed to open talks on their future relationship in October, the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Thursday.

* Volkswagen is offering drivers in Britain up to 7,000 pounds to scrap their old diesel cars for newer models hours after rival Toyota unveiled a similar scheme.

* French President Emmanuel Macron's government announced reforms to loosen labour regulations and drive down unemployment, drawing criticism from unions but limited support for the street protests that have hindered previous reform bids.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
(Repeats story from late on Thursday)

* Institutions not permitted to issue NCDs of longer than 1 year

* PBOC says new rule will not have big impact on NCD market

* Banks used floating-coupon NCDs as loophole for funding through interbank market

By Andrew Galbraith and Elias Glenn

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Aug 31 (Reuters) - China's central bank has barred financial institutions from issuing certain kinds of interbank loans as a funding loophole, as it continues to keep a tight grip on the potential for speculative financing.

Institutions will not be allowed to issue negotiable certificates of deposit (NCD) - a popular short-term debt instrument for smaller banks in the interbank market - with a tenor exceeding one year from Sept. 1, the People's Bank of China said on Thursday. NCDs with a tenor of one year or less - which have fixed coupons - can still be issued, it said.

While NCD issuance has recently attracted the attention of authorities attempting to crack down on risky financial practices, the move took some in the market by surprise.

"Everyone is still trying to decipher the impact of this move. Just now, the price of one-year Shibor interest-rate swaps jumped around within a 1 basis-point range, but the direction wasn't very clear," said a trader at a regional bank in Shanghai.

But analysts at CIB research said in a note the broader impact of the latest announcement may be limited as longer tenors comprise a small fraction of the overall market.

NCDs with tenors exceeding one year make up just 1.67 percent of a total 8.4 trillion yuan ($1.27 trillion) of NCDs, CIB research said.

Yun Xiong, partner at Lingwang Fund in Shanghai, said the move reflected central bank efforts to prevent banks from using these longer-tenor NCDs, which have floating coupons, to raise funds.

Banks have "used investors' (lower) sensitivity to credit spread on floating coupon bonds to reduce...funding cost," he said. "This normally never happens in developed markets, so PBOC's announcement will cut off such deals."

The PBOC said earlier this month it would start to include NCDs with tenors of up to one year, issued by banks with assets of more than 500 billion yuan ($75.1 billion), in its quarterly macroprudential assessment (MPA), from the first quarter of 2018.

But longer-tenor NCDs were never to be included in that assessment.

Issuance of NCDs has risen quickly over the last year, with smaller lenders aggressively raising money via the instruments, and then using the proceeds to make higher-yield, risky investments. ($1 = 6.5996 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk, and Winni Zhou in Shanghai; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
SEOUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's crude oil imports rose 15 percent in August from a year earlier to 99 million barrels, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed on Friday.

Final data will be released later this month by state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

Details of preliminary imports and previous actual figures are as follows:

(In millions of barrels)

August 2017 July 2017* August 2016* Crude Oil 99.0 93.6 86.1

* Actual import figures

Note: The ministry does not break down imports by country of origin. South Korea's total crude imports in July climbed 3.9 percent to 93.6 million barrels year-on-year, according to KNOC data last month. (Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
(Adds impact on revised GDP, economist's quote)

* Q2 capex +1.5 pct yr/yr, seasonally-adjusted -2.8 pct m/m

* Suggests downward revision to revised Q2 GDP data out Sept. 8

* Recurring profits +22.6 pct yr/yr, showing solid gains

By Stanley White

TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Japanese companies curbed their pace of investment in plant and equipment in April-June, suggesting the government will revise down its initial rosy estimate of economic growth for the second quarter.

Capital expenditure in April-June rose 1.5 percent from the same period last year, slower than a 4.5 percent annual expansion in January-March, hit by a decline in spending by auto makers and manufacturing equipment makers.

Excluding software, capital expenditure fell 2.8 percent from the previous quarter on a seasonally-adjusted basis, versus a downwardly revised 0.9 percent increase in the January-March, finance ministry data showed on Friday.

A preliminary estimate showed Japan's economy grew by an annualised 4.0 percent in April-June, which analysts believed to be due to a long awaited pick-up in domestic demand.

But the slowdown in capital expenditure suggests this could be revised down to around 3.0 percent annualised growth, which could weaken confidence in the government's economic policies.

"Many companies want to invest, but they realise that the potential growth rate is very low, so they don't want to invest excessively," said Hiroaki Muto, economist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co.

"This is a GDP downgrade. We are looking at annualised growth above 3.0 percent, but it's not all bad because we still have exports and industrial output."

Revised gross domestic product (GDP) for April-June is due on Sept. 8 at 0850 JST (2350 GMT Sept. 7).

The initial reading of 4.0 percent annualised growth was the fastest pace in more than two years.

Some economists have said this pace is unsustainable, and the economy is likely to slow in the current quarter.

Many economists remain optimistic that the economy can continue to grow, but recent economic data paint a mixed picture.

Household spending unexpectedly fell in July, but growth in retail sales slowed less than economists expected.

Industrial output fell more than expected in July, pulling back from the previous month's gain, but manufacturers forecast factory output would rebound in August, underscoring the view that the economy will continue to grow. (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Kim Coghill)
(Adds details on mutual funds and ETFs, analyst quote, table, byline)

By Trevor Hunnicutt

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. fund investors regained their risk appetite during the latest week, draining money market funds and pouring their cash into stocks after six straight weeks of withdrawals.

Stock exchange-traded funds in the United States attracted $9.2 billion during the week ended Aug. 30, the most since June, according to Lipper data on Thursday.

That more than offset the $3.1 billion that bled from equity mutual funds in the same period, the research service said. Mutual funds are heavily favored by retail investors, while ETFs draw a diverse set of clients, including fast-trading hedge funds.

Tom Roseen, head of research services for Thomson Reuters' Lipper unit, said there is plenty to worry about with ongoing conflict between North Korea and the United States as well as "lofty" U.S. stock prices. Yet the global economy looks good.

"People were a little bit more aggressive," Roseen said of ETF investors. "They were just focused on the good news."

Funds focused on domestic shares pulled in $3.9 billion, the most since June. Internationally focused equity funds pulled in $2.2 billion, the most since July, Lipper said.

Money market funds, which have pulled in tens of billions this summer as calm markets turned turbulent, posted $19.9 billion in withdrawals during the latest week, the data showed.

But Roseen said uncertainty is keeping demand up for some safe-haven investments. Gold is trading at $1,321 an ounce, up nearly 9 percent from early July.

Precious metals commodities funds, which invest directly in gold and other similar assets, pulled in $766 million in their largest week of inflows since June. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF pulled in $213 million, the most since March. That fund buys shares in companies that produce bullion.

The following is a breakdown of the flows for the week, including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds: Sector Flow Chg % Assets Assets Count

($blns) ($blns) All Equity Funds 6.136 0.10 6,126.670 11,448 Domestic Equities 3.928 0.09 4,199.973 8,165 Non-Domestic Equities 2.208 0.12 1,926.697 3,283 All Taxable Bond Funds 1.575 0.06 2,505.414 5,774 All Money Market Funds -19.912 -0.77 2,560.250 1,092 All Municipal Bond Funds -0.124 -0.03 393.861 1,409 (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Andrew Hay)
MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Caspian oil pipeline cut supplies by about 1 percent in August from July, to 4.417 million tonnes, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said on Friday.

In January-August, CPC's exports rose to 36.1 million tonnes from 28.08 million tonnes in the year-earlier period, in accordance with its expansion plans.

Last month, the consortium said it had curtailed its export target for this year to 56.5 million tonnes of crude oil (1.13 million barrels per day) due to a global oil output cut deal reached by OPEC and non-OPEC producers. Initially, it had planned to export almost 65 million tonnes this year.

The pipeline connects the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, and a number of other fields, to the sea terminal near Novorossiisk in Russia.

(Reporting by Alla Afanasyeva; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Susan Fenton)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke on the telephone with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second day on Thursday night to discuss the North Korean threat.

Abes office said the two leaders spoke for about half an hour. Afterwards Abe told reporters, "I cannot tell you about our forthcoming response to North Korea, but we have just completely agreed on it."

Abe and Trump have spoken on the phone 10 times so far, making Abe the rare example of an international leader who gets on with the erratic president.

Japans Yomiuri Shimbun daily said Tokyo's goal is to convince the UN Security Council to agree additional sanctions against North Korea, including a ban on crude oil supplies, and Trump has agreed.

The UNSC has agreed eight sets of sanctions against North Korea since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, but attempts to cut off crude oil supplies have always floundered on opposition from Beijing and Moscow, which have a veto.


TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Japan's government plans to sell shares in Japan Post Holdings Co as soon as this month, the first sale since the company's massive 2015 listing, a government source familiar with the deal said on Friday.

The finance ministry will meet with underwriters on Monday to discuss the sale, said this source and two other people familiar with the deal. Such meetings of an underwriter syndicate usually indicate the share offering process is nearing the final stages.

The size of the sale could not immediately be confirmed.

A ministry spokesman said he had no knowledge of the sale. A Japan Post spokeswoman said the timing of a further share sale has not been decided and declined to further comment.

(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by William Mallard)
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Friday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):

PMI Markit to release its August PMI index at 0700.

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

In the first five months of the year polish automotive industry's exports rose 11.4 percent year-on-year to 11 billion euros, and may rise 3 billion to 26 billion euros ($30.93 billion) in the full year, Rzeczpospolita daily reported quoting AutomotiveSuppliers.pl data.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****

For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 0.8407 euros)

(Reporting by Warsaw Bureau; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
HANOI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0451 GMT.

September 1 USD/VND mid-point 22,443 USD/VND interbank 22,729/22,731 USD/VND unofficial 22,730/22,750 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.43/36.65

Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.4-1.2

1 week 0.7-1.2

1 month 1.4-1.9

3 months 3.0-3.6

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.

For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
ZURICH, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Swiss blue-chip SMI was seen opening 0.1 percent higher at 8,933 points on Friday, according to premarket indications by bank Julius Baer .

The following are some of the main factors expected to affect Swiss stocks:

NOVARTIS The company's new gene-modifying cancer therapy's $475,000-per-patient sticker price has drawn fire from advocate groups calling for cheaper drugs, but analysts said the Swiss drugmaker may initially struggle to break even. For more news, click SONOVA Sonova Friday named Arnd Kaldowski as its new chief executive as the Swiss company renews leadership following acquisitions and product introductions aimed at protecting its perch as the world's largest hearing aid maker. For more news, click ZURICH INSURANCE Zurich said it has hired Alison Martin as its new chief risk officer, taking over from Cecilia Reyes. For more news, click COMPANY STATEMENTS * Also Holding said it completed successful placement of a promissory note for 154 million euros ($183.24 million) * Orior said it has issued a 110 million franc bond with a coupon of 0.625 percent and a maturity of 6 years. * CFT said first-half net profit group share was at 27.4 million Swiss francs. * IVF Hartmann said first-half net income was down 10.5 percent at 7.5 million Swiss francs. * Bachem said Anne-Kathrin Stoller will succeed Jose de Chastonay as chief marketing officer on Jan. 1, 2018. * Givaudan said it has completed the acquisition of Vika B.V. * Mikron said its board of directors is proposing Paul Zumbuehl be elected to the board at the next ordinary annual general meeting on April 12, 2018. * Zug Estates said first-half property income grew 5.4 percent year on year to 20.8 million Swiss francs. * Conzzeta announced the closing of its Otto Bock Kunststoff acquisition. * PLAZZA said first-half net profit excl. revaluation at 4.2 million Swiss francs. ECONOMY * Retail sales data for July due at 0715 GMT.

* Manufacturing PMI data for August due at 0730 GMT.

($1 = 0.8404 euros)

(Reporting by Zurich newsroom)

Daily Swiss stock market report in German................ All SMI constituent stocks............................ News on major Swiss stock price moves.................. FTSE Eurotop 300 index................................ DJ STOXX index........................................ Top 10 STOXX sectors............................. Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors........................ Top 10 Eurotop 300 sectors....................... Top 25 European pct gainers... , losers... Swiss mid-cap index SMI futures Swiss all-share index Market statistics Swiss market digest Sector overview All Swiss news Swiss research news All equity news INTERNET ADDRESSES: Swiss Exchange / Eurex STOXX Ltd SPEED GUIDES: ))

Keywords: MARKETS SWISS STOCKS/
(Updates)

September 1 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co on Thursday raised the estimate of accounts opened without customers' knowledge by 1.4 million, bringing the total to about 3.5 million.

The scandal over phony accounts came to light last September after the company announced a $185 million settlement with regulators to atone for the sales abuses.

The third-largest U.S. bank by assets has since encountered numerous government probes and lawsuits.

In response, Wells Fargo has fired senior managers, changed pay incentives for branch staff, separated the role of chairman and CEO and faced a difficult shareholder vote at its annual meeting. John Stumpf, the company's CEO when the scandal broke, also announced his retirement in October, following weeks of intense public pressure. He was succeeded by Tim Sloan.

The bank still faces probes from federal, state and local government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a number of private lawsuits, according to regulatory filings.

Here are the important events that took place since news of the sales scandal emerged:

DATE USN NEWS Sept. 8, Agrees to pay $185 million in fines and $5 million in penalties to 2016 customers, as part of settlement with Los Angeles officials who

accused the bank of pushing customers into multiple, fee-generating

accounts that they never requested. Mid Sept, Bank's independent directors launch investigation into sales 2016 practices; engage law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP. Sept. 19, CEO John Stumpf appears before the Senate Banking Committee, comes 2016 under fire for his oversight. Says customers who had bogus accounts

opened in their names will be compensated for damage to credit rating.

Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren ask him to

resign. Warren says Stumpf should return his salary and be criminally

investigated. Sept. 27, Carrie Tolstedt, head of the retail division at the center of the 2016 sales scandal, leaves ahead of her scheduled retirement on Dec. 31; to

get no severance or equity awards.

Stumpf to forgo equity awards worth $41 million and salary. Sept. 27, Bank eliminates product sales goals in retail division. 2016

Oct. 10, Forms new payments, virtual solutions and innovation business group. 2016

Appoints new members to its operating committee, and leaders for

consumer lending and wholesale banking. Oct. 12, Stumpf retires as CEO and chairman. Tim Sloan appointed CEO. 2016 Names Steve Sanger independent chairman and Betsy

Duke independent vice chair. Oct 14, Reports 3.7 percent drop in Q3 profit as it sets aside funds for 2016 potential legal costs. Nov. 29, Amends by-laws to ensure board chairman and any vice chairman be 2016 independent directors. Jan. 10, Introduces new incentive compensation plan for team 2017 members in retail branches and call centres. Jan 13, Q4 profit falls 6.4 percent; says still analyzing whether additional 2017 unauthorized accounts were opened in 2009 and 2010. Feb 20, Board elects two new independent directors, Karen Peetz and Ron 2017 Sargent. Feb 21, Terminates employment of four current and former managers in Community 2017 Bank division due to the sales practices. Says none will receive a

2016 bonus and each will forfeit all outstanding equity awards and

stock options. March 1, Says no 2016 cash bonuses for eight senior executives, including CEO 2017 Sloan and CFO John Shrewsberry; reduces three-year equity awards made

in 2014 by up to 50 pct for the executives. April 13, ; Posts nearly flat Q1 profit. Berkshire Hathaway says to sell 9 million 2017 shares and withdraw its application for permission to boost its

ownership stake above 10 percent. April 25, Shareholders rebuke the bank at the annual meeting; offer scant 2017 support for a dozen directors, including chairman May 6, 2017 "At Wells Fargo, there were three significant mistakes, but one dwarfs

all of the others ... You have to be careful what you incentivize.

There was an incentive system built around cross-selling ... That was

incentivizing the wrong kind of behavior," Warren Buffett at

Berkshire's 52nd annual meeting

"The main problem was they didn't act when they learned about it." May 11, Doubles cost-cutting target at investor day 2017 June 13, Branch employees paid for the first time in May using new goals that 2017 focus on customer service, says branch banking chief Mary Mack at an

investor conference. June 28, Receives no objection to its 2017 capital plan from the U.S. Federal 2017 Reserve. July 13, The Federal Reserve is prepared to act against the directors of Wells 2017 Fargo if an investigation deems it appropriate, Chair Janet Yellen

said while testifying before the Senate Banking Committee July 14, Q2 revenue misses estimates; bank indicates costs may remain elevated 2017 in the near term August 31, Says 1.4 million additional accounts were potentially opened without 2017 permission, bringing the total estimate to 3.5 million accounts opened

Source: Company filings, company presentations, Reuters

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Wells Fargo's bumpy ride ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
(Adds new info, details)

BAKU, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's new dollar bonds, issued as part of a restructuring of the state-run bank IBA, started trading on Friday, with two of the issues big enough to be eligible for the main emerging debt benchmark, JPMorgan EMBI Global.

The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) earlier this year angered investors with a plan to restructure $3.3 billion in debt and said in July it had received approval from creditors holding 93.9 percent of the affected credits.

The scheme allowed bondholders to swap into new dollar issues from the Azeri sovereign as well as IBA.

IBA issued a $1 billion Eurobond due in 2024 with a 3.5 percent coupon, the bank's documents showed. IBA also said in a statement the Azeri finance ministy had approved seven of its own new Eurobonds, due from December 2017 until September 2032 and with a total worth of $2.266 billion.

Traders in London said some of the new bonds were trading fairly actively, with Tradeweb data showing the $300 million 2029 issue quoted at 104 cents and the 2032 $1 billion bond at 87 cents .

The 2029 IBA bond was quoted around 87 cents .

Inclusion of the 2029 and 2032 bonds into the EMBI index will raise Azerbaijan's weight in the benchmark, analysts said.

Lazard acted as financial adviser to the bank for the restructuring.

Below is a table of all the new issues:

The Republic of 0.850% 01.12.2017 U.S.$184,508,000 0.850 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2017 The Republic of 2.820% 01.09.2018 U.S.$173,524,000 2.820 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2018 The Republic of 2.820% 01.09.2019 U.S.$173,524,000 2.820 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2019 The Republic of 2.820% 01.09.2020 U.S.$173,524,000 2.820 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2020 The Republic of 2.820% 01.09.2021 U.S.$173,524,000 2.820 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2021 The Republic of 5.125% 01.09.2029 U.S.$310,718,000 5.125 per cent. Azerbaijan Notes due 2029 The Republic of 3.500% 01.09.2032 U.S.$1,076,578,000 3.500 per Azerbaijan cent. Notes due 2032 International 3.500% 01.09.2024 U.S.$1,000,000,000 3.500 per Bank of cent. Notes due 2024 Azerbaijan

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Margarita Antidze and Sujata Rao; editing by Richard Balmforth)
(Adds details from report)

BRASILIA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Brazil's trade surplus set a monthly record on August as commodity prices rose, contributing to a gradual economic recovery and a stable currency, official data showed on Friday.

Brazil posted a trade surplus of $5.599 billion in August, the biggest for the month since the current data series began in 1989, the Trade Ministry said.

Exports totaled $19.475 billion and imports $13.876 billion.

Brazil had a trade surplus of $48.109 billion between January and August, also a record. The surplus in the year to date exceeds the $47.7 billion surplus for all of 2016.

Exports rose across the board in August, from raw materials such as soybeans to manufactured goods such as automobiles. Higher prices of iron ore, oil, coffee and sugar contributed to the record surplus, ministry data showed.

Economists expect a record-high trade surplus of $61.35 billion this year, according to a weekly central bank survey released on Monday. (Reporting by Silvio Cascione; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Chizu Nomiyama)
* Govt plans to raise business income tax to 20 pct from 17 pct

* Aims to raise tax on foreign investors' cash dividends to 21 pct

* Tax revenue reduction estimated at T$5.9 bln-T$6.9 bln a year

* Plans are subject to cabinet approval

(Adds comments, details)

By Faith Hung

TAIPEI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan plans to raise taxes on corporate income and those from foreign investors' share dividends but cut personal taxes as part of broader reforms, the finance ministry said on Friday.

The government plans to raise the business income tax to 20 percent from 17 percent and lower the cap on personal income tax to 40 percent from 45 percent, finance minister Sheu Yu-Jer told a news conference.

Foreign investors' cash dividends from shares would be taxed at a rate of 21 percent, up from 20 percent now, he said.

The ministry said the changes are intended to achieve a more equitable distribution of the tax burden, as the government has long been criticised for favouring foreign investors over domestic investors, while allowing companies to transfer more of their major shareholders' income to corporate income.

"Our current business income tax of 17 percent is relatively low compared with other major countries," the minister said. "We are aiming to build a fair tax system that follows global trends and is more globally competitive, which would be to everyone's benefit."

Tax on foreign investors' cash dividends from shares would be raised as it is much lower than the current 45 percent local investors have to pay, he said.

The tax restructuring, subject to cabinet approval, would result in a net reduction in tax revenue of T$5.9 billion to T$6.9 billion ($196.08 million - $229.32 million) annually, the minister said.

($1 = 30.0890 Taiwan dollars)

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
The U.S. sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers and four F-35B stealth fighters to South Korean skies on Thursday afternoon in response to North Korea's latest launch of a mid-range ballistic missile.

The aircraft practiced dropping a total of 18 bombs in Gangwon Province.

The B-1Bs from Guam and F-35Bs from Japan flew alongside a squadron of South Korean F-15K fighter jets and practiced firing precision air-to-ground missiles at key North Korean facilities at a firing range in Gangwon Province, an Air Force spokesman here said.

A U.S. KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft joined them.


Prosecutors on Thursday dropped some 95 witnesses who were to testify against ex-President Park Geun-hye, apparently emboldened by the guilty verdict in the related trial of Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it slashed the witness list to exclude those who have already testified in other trials related to the influence-peddling and corruption scandal involving Park and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.

But prosecutors still want to call Choi, who is on trial alongside her, as well as former Cheong Wa Dae officials An Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong and others.
Dominion Senior Living hires new senior director of operations





KNOXVILLE  Dominion Senior Living has named Michael Holtzclaw as its new senior director of operations. Holtzclaw brings more than 15 years of senior living experience to the company, which owns and operates faith-based assisted living and memory care communities. Mark Taylor, president of Dominion Senior Living, made the announcement of his hiring, emphasizing that Holtzclaws experience will greatly benefit residents and their families.





Michael Holtzclaw



Michael has well-rounded experience in senior living operations, and his deep insight makes him the perfect addition to our team, said Taylor. Michael excels in his ability to empathize with residents, develop team members and cultivate relationships overall. He shares our dedication to the mission of honoring God through the service to seniors, and he wants to make a difference in the lives of seniors and their families. Michaels strong work ethic and knowledge of the industry will contribute to our success. We look forward to seeing the positive influence he will have on our communities.



I am overjoyed to join the Dominion Senior Living team, said Holtzclaw. I pinch myself daily to believe God sent this opportunity my way. Working in senior living has helped me find the compassionate side of life and made me who I am today. This position allows me to take everything I know about this industry and use it to help Dominion Senior Living deliver on its mission. Our goal is to enrich the lives of seniors, families and team members, and I am grateful for the opportunity to make a positive impact each and every day.



Michael joined the Navy right out of high school and served for 13 years. Following his return from Naples, Italy, he started working for a friend at a senior living community in South Carolina. He planned to spend 90 days in that position, but ended up staying because of his connection to the residents. He says that witnessing the change in the residents lives made an impact on his own life and made it a career. Since then, he has worked at several communities across the country where he exceeded marketing goals, set sales records and stabilized occupancy. Holtzclaw previously served in various positions including health care administrator, senior director of sales and marketing, senior director of sales operations and a traveling sales consultant.



Dominion Senior Living has so much growth potential, and I am excited to be a part of where we are going and the lives we will change, which is the most important part, Holtzclaw said.



Holtzclaw is in the process of working with the executive team to implement the new Principal, Role Model Program for Dominion Senior Living. Through this program, executive directors are empowered and given opportunities in profit sharing, decision-making and flexibility. Holtzclaw will continue to nurture the new model and help change the future of senior living. In this model, our Principal, Role Models will have the opportunity to operate their communities in a capacity never before experienced in this industry. We have a very unique culture and business model and it is my desire to extend this opportunity to a very strategic, select group of individuals.

Published August 31, 2017










NRC names new senior resident inspector at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant





ATLANTA  Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in Atlanta have named David Hardage as the agencys senior resident inspector at the Tennessee Valley Authoritys Sequoyah nuclear power plant, located near Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., about 16 miles northeast of Chattanooga.





David Hardage



Hardage previously served as the resident inspector and senior resident inspector at the Hatch nuclear power plant in Georgia. Prior to moving to the Hatch plant, he was a project engineer in the Resident Inspector Development Program in the Region II office in Atlanta.



Before joining the NRC, Hardage was a U.S. Navy submarine officer and after leaving the Navy, held a number of positions at the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants in Florida.



Hardage received a bachelors degree, specializing in chemistry, from the University of Georgia in 1981 and a masters degree in civil engineering from Florida Atlantic University in 1999. He also held a senior reactor operator license while he was at the Turkey Point and St. Lucie plants. In addition, Hardage is a licensed professional engineer in Georgia.



Dave Hardage has the knowledge and experience to help ensure the Sequoyah plant meets NRC safety regulations, said NRC Region II Administrator Cathy Haney.



At least two NRC resident inspectors are assigned to each U.S. commercial nuclear plant. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the facility, conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects and interacting with plant workers and the public. Resident inspectors can serve at one site for up to seven years.





Published August 31, 2017










Kentucky Air National Guard deploys troops for Hurricane Harvey rescue

By Lt. Col. Dale Greer, 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs

LOUISVILLE, KY (AFNS)  Forty-three additional Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard departed for Texas Aug. 29, 2017 to assist with Hurricane Harvey rescue operations, including aeromedical evacuations.



An eight-person assessment team from the 123rd Contingency Response Group deployed aboard a Kentucky ANG C-130 Hercules at 1:15 p.m. Aug. 29, 2017, en route to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Once on the ground, they will assess the physical condition of the airport and evaluate its ability to support relief operations, according to Col. Bruce Bancroft, the units commander.



Staff Sgt. Joseph Mendoza, a Kentucky Air National Guards 123rd Logistics Readiness Squadron aerial transportation specialist, secures a forklift onto a Tennessee ANG C-17 Globemaster III at the Kentucky ANG base in Louisville, Ky., Aug. 29, 2017 in preparation for Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts in Texas. More than 40 Airmen from the Kentucky and Mississippi ANG are deploying to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where they will rapidly establish airfield, aeromedical evacuation and cargo operations. (U.S. Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Phil Speck)



A second group of 35 Airmen from the same unit, augmented by six Airmen from the Mississippi ANG, departed the evening of Aug. 29, 2017, aboard two C-17 Globemaster IIIs, also en route to George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Airmen on those flights deployed with all the equipment needed to rapidly establish airfield, aeromedical evacuation and cargo operations, including communications gear, power generators and all-terrain forklifts for the off-loading of humanitarian assistance arriving by airlift.



We expect to be operational within a few hours of landing in Houston, Bancroft said. Our first task will be to facilitate the aeromedical evacuation of patients. To make that happen, we will be offloading one C-5 aircraft thats bringing in the equipment and personnel for a DASF, or Disaster Aeromedical Staging Facility.



A DASF is a field medical unit, staffed by specially trained doctors and nurses, that provides for the care of patients who are being evacuated to hospitals or other care facilities.



Follow-on missions are expected, Bancroft said . These could include the off-loading, staging and forward movement of a wide range of humanitarian cargo  everything from food and water to blankets and medical supplies.



Bancroft noted that the 123rd CRG has extensive experience in responding to natural disasters. The unit was hand-picked in 2010 to establish and operate one of two overseas airlift hubs supporting earthquake-recovery efforts in Haiti, directing the delivery of hundreds of tons of relief supplies into the Dominican Republic for subsequent trucking to Haiti.



The 123rd CRG also deployed to Senegal in 2014 to establish and operate an Aerial Port of Debarkation/Intermediate Staging Base in support of Operation United Assistance, the international effort to fight the largest Ebola outbreak in history. The Airmen processed 193 aircraft and 1,200 short tons of cargo, including blood, plasma and tactical vehicles during the two-month deployment.



We are 100 percent ready to execute this mission and get relief to the people of Texas, Bancroft said. Our prayers and thoughts are with the folks in Houston, and were looking forward to the opportunity to put our skills into action. At a time like this, were all Texans.



Meanwhile, another group of 18 Kentucky Air National Guardsmen who deployed to Texas on Aug. 27, 2017, are currently conducting airfield operations at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston and rescue missions in Pearland and Friendswood, Texas.



We have 12 Airmen who went out in motorboats (Aug. 29, 2017), patrolling in Pearland and Friendswood looking for opportune rescues  people who are trapped in their homes or on rooftops because of the flooding, said Maj. Aaron Zamora, the director of operations for the Kentucky ANGs 123rd Special Tactics Squadron. Once the residents are safely in the boats, our Airmen are providing medical care if needed and transporting them to the nearest shelter.



Like Kentucky ANGs 123rd CRG, the special operators have extensive experience responding to natural disasters. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, members of the unit established and operated a helicopter landing zone on a highway overpass in New Orleans, helping evacuate nearly 12,000 residents.




Navy squadrons rescue 227 on first day in Houston

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Christopher Lindahl



COLLEGE STATION, Texas (NNS) -- Two Navy helicopter squadron detachments have relocated to Easterwood Airport today after making 227 helicopter rescues while flying from Fort Worth just yesterday.



COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Aug. 29, 2017) An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 7 returns to Easterwood Airport in College Station, Texas after a search and rescue mission over the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. HSC-7 and HSC-28 sent personnel and aircraft to the area to bolster Northern Command's support of FEMA's disaster response efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Christopher Lindahl/Released)



The 112 Sailors from the Dusty Dogs and Dragon Whales of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadrons (HSC) 7 and 28 (respectively) moved their staging site and six MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters in order to be even closer to the disaster zone in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The new site will allow for a drastically reduced response time.



Regardless of response time though, the large cabin space, infrared capabilities, search and rescue trained crews and robust, dynamic lighting capabilities make the Knighthawk and her crew an ideal choice for the mission.



"We have multiple systems within the helicopter that allow us to fly at night, with the forward looking infrared camera, or FLIR ball, as we call it, up forward that allows us to look around at night, said helicopter pilot Lt. Grant Kingsbery, a Uvaldi, Texas native and Texas A&M graduate. "We have spotlight and floodlight that allows us to look around and everyone in the crew is wearing night-vision goggles to help us see better."



In addition to the visibility aides, the helicopters are equipped with an onboard rescue hoist, the ability to hover at night and an average of 3 hours of fuel to aide in the efforts.



In a typical Navy scenario, HSC squadrons serve aboard ships, often hovering over the ocean and serving as plane guards for other aircraft that may launch off ships. The city scape, however, proved to be a drastic change for the crew from their typical flights.



"In the open ocean you don't have to worry about towers  you're 70 feet over the water, you don't have to worry about running in to anything," Kingsbery said. "Here, especially with the power outage, the street lights are out and most of the towers are unlit now because their battery backup has run out."



Lt. Benjamin Bontrager, a pilot from yesterday's rescue mission and native of Mishawaka, Indiana, said, "my goal the entire night was to fly as fast as I can, as safely as I can and as precisely as I can to make sure that those people get out of the terrible situation they were in."



About the conditions as they compare to typical Navy flights, Bontrager said it's a much more crew intensive environment.



"It poses a greater safety risk with the towers and other aircraft flying around. We've got, you know, 40 aircraft flying around at one time in a small area all trying to do the same thing," he said. "It's a very task-saturated environment, and when you add nighttime to it, it's just that - times ten."



Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Danny Harlow, a rescue swimmer who assisted in the rescues yesterday and native of San Diego, CA told the story of a memorable rescue.



"We were flying around looking for opportunities and I saw a family waving white towels from their balcony so I immediately called my pilot 'right' and we came over the spot," Harlow said. "There were two kids down there with asthma, their mother, and their uncle - who just underwent a kidney transplant  and luckily I was able to get the opportunity to get in there and get them up into the helicopter and into safety."





Harlow spoke vividly of the emotions involved.



"We actually had a wide range of emotions, some were extremely grateful, some were terrified, some were crying. Some of the kids were actually having fun because they were in a helicopter," he said. "So it really was a wide range, but definitely gratifying. Getting them out and having those 'Thank Yous' is definitely a gratifying experience."



Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Jose Rodriguez, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, is flying his first rescue mission tonight and is anxious to help his fellow Texans. He spoke to the mission of the aircrew and the training of the rescue swimmers.



"We'll send the (rescue) swimmer down and he'll pick up whoever he needs to," he said. "When we send him down, he tries to calm the person down - whether he's in the water or on top of a house, wherever he's at, that's the first thing he does - and then he tells them who he is, how he's going to help them out, and how we're going to bring him back in to the aircraft."



With regards to his own family, Rodriguez assures that they are safe.



"My family ended up staying in Corpus Christi - they live on the outskirts - everything is okay with their home," he said. "They ended up losing power but I believe it is back on now."



HSC-7 has 77 Sailors and four helicopters while HSC-28 has 35 Sailors and two helicopters assigned to the relief efforts. At the start of the day, they had flown 13 sorties with 37 hours in the air, 227 rescues (21 by hoist), including 11 dogs and one kitten.




USS Kearsarge, USS Oak Hill support Hurricane Harvey relief



NORFOLK, VA (NNS)  Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Adm. Phil Davidson, has ordered the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) to get underway from their Norfolk, Va., homeports to support federal, state and local authorities ongoing relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.



Official U.S. Navy file photo of the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3).



Kearsarge along with Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit will depart Naval Station Norfolk on Thursday, Aug. 31. Oak Hill will depart from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.



These ships are capable of providing medical support, maritime civil affairs, maritime security, expeditionary logistic support, medium and heavy lift air support, and bring a diverse capability including assessment and security.



State and local agencies are in the lead for this response effort. We recognize recovery from this catastrophic disaster will be a long-term effort. We are leaning forward to fully support FEMA and Texas with DoD assistance as requested.




Sixteen U.S. Postal Service workers charged with accepting bribes to deliver cocaine





ATLANTA  In three separate federal indictments unsealed on Tuesday, August 29, 2017, 16 U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees working in locations across the metro-Atlanta area have been charged with accepting bribes to deliver packages of kilogram-quantities of cocaine in a wide-reaching sting operation.



Postal employees are entrusted to perform a vital service as they travel through our communities, often visiting our homes and interacting personally with our citizens, said U.S. Attorney John Horn. The defendants in this case allegedly sold that trust out to someone they knew to be a drug dealer, and simply for cash in their pockets they were willing to endanger themselves and the residents on their routes and bring harmful drugs into the community.



The allegations contained in these federal indictments are disturbing to say the least. The blatant abdication of the public trust through the criminal conduct of these sixteen U.S. Postal Service employees, absolutely stains the established trust of their peers and those that went before them at the U.S. Postal Service. While it is hoped that this extensive joint investigation and resulting federal prosecution will serve as a deterrent for others, the FBI makes it clear that public corruption remains our number one criminal program priority and, as such, we have dedicated significant resources toward the identification, investigation, and presentation for prosecution of any individuals involved in similar such conduct, said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.



The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office is equally committed to aggressively combating public corruption. This case highlights the importance of interagency cooperation to effectively identify, investigate, and prosecute those who abuse their positions of public trust regardless of geographical borders, said DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.



While the vast majority of U.S. Postal Service personnel are hard-working and trustworthy individuals who are dedicated to delivering mail and would never consider engaging in criminal behavior, these charges reflect the select few who decided to betray the trust. This type of behavior within the Postal Service is not tolerated and when employees engage in criminal behavior, the special agents of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) vigorously investigate these matters, along with other federal and local law enforcement agencies, to hold accountable those employees who violate that public trust, said Paul L. Bowman, USPS OIG Special Agent in Charge, Capital Metro Area Field Office.



According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the indictments, and other information presented in court: USPS employees allegedly accepted bribes from a person they believed was a drug trafficker using the U.S. mail to ship cocaine  multiple kilograms at a time  into the Atlanta area. The USPS employees are as follows:



Cydra Rochelle Alexander, 31, of Riverdale, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Ralph McGill Carrier Annex and Central City Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Aurthamis O. Burch, a/k/a Tank, 46, of Snellville, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Doraville Post Office.



Kawana Rashun Champion, 35, of Jonesboro, Georgia, a clerk assigned to the North Springs Branch of the Sandy Springs Post Office and Central City Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Eleanor Lolita Golden, a/k/a Eleanor Johnson, 54, of East Point, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the West End Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Tonie Harris, 54, of Decatur, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Sandy Springs Post Office.



Leea Janel Holt, 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Old National Branch of the Riverdale Post Office.



Clifton Curtis Lee, a/k/a Cliff, 41, of Lithonia, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Sandy Springs Post Office.



Shakeed Anilah Magee, 40, of College Park, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the West End Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Horace Manson, 40, of Roswell, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the West End Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Olivia Marita Moore, 25, of Atlanta, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Old National Branch of the Riverdale Post Office.



Eddie Nash, 63, of Decatur, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the West End Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Jeffrey A. Pearson, 59, of Austell, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Decatur Post Office.



Rodney Antwain Salter, 33, of Jonesboro, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Martech Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Frank Webb, 40, of Lithonia, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Central City Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Katrina Nicole Wilson, a/k/a Trina, 38, of Fairburn, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the West End Branch of the Atlanta Post Office.



Harvel Donta Young, a/k/a Dante, 39, of Atlanta, Georgia, a letter carrier assigned to the Westside Annex Branch of the Marietta Post Office.



In exchange for the bribe payments, these individuals allegedly provided special addresses that the drug trafficker could use to ship packages of cocaine. The defendants then intercepted the packages and delivered them to the drug trafficker. Unbeknownst to them, the drug trafficker was actually working with law enforcement and the packages they delivered contained fake drugs.



Some of the postal employees went on to recruit additional USPS employees to join the criminal scheme, and accepted additional money for drug packages delivered by their recruits.



Dexter Bernard Frazier, a/k/a Dec, 56, of Fairburn, Georgia, was also charged based on his role in introducing several of the defendants to the drug trafficker and coordinating logistics of the scheme in exchange for payments.



Alexander, Burch, Champion, Frazier, Golden, Harris, Holt, Lee, Magee, Manson, Moore, Nash, Salter, Webb, Wilson, and Young have been arrested and will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker.



This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DeKalb County District Attorneys Office, and U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.



The U.S. Attorneys Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.



Published August 31, 2017
Korea International Trade Association CEO Kim In-ho, right, shakes hands with Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, during a reception at the Grand InterContinental Seoul, Tuesday. They announced a joint statement on the promotion of economic growth and prosperity between Korea and the U.S. / Yonhap



By Park Jae-hyuk

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are on a visit to Korea to meet businesspeople here.

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said Wednesday it invited Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and other representatives to a reception held Tuesday at the Grand InterContinental Seoul.

Including Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is also a chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, the reception was attended by 90 Korean executives from Korean Air, Hyundai Motor, POSCO, SK, SeAH and Hyosung.

The U.S. attendees included Co-chair of Congressional Caucus on Korea Ami Bera, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Ted Yoho, Committee on Foreign Affairs member Brad Schneider and Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Jennifer Gonzalez.

The attendees at the reception discussed pending issues, including the amendment of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) and security on the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean executives were given a chance to introduce each of their companies' businesses in the United States and talked about their difficulties to those who are in charge of the superpower's domestic and foreign policies on politics and economics.

Rep. Royce and Rep. Bera especially showed keen interest in Korean companies investing in the U.S., visiting head offices of CJ and SPC, both of which invested in California, the congressional district of the two politicians.

During the reception, Rep. Royce and KITA CEO Kim In-ho announced a joint statement on the promotion of economic growth and prosperity between Korea and the U.S.

They vowed to hold friendly discussions on strengthening the two countries' bilateral relationship, the importance of foreign direct investment in the U.S. and the mutual benefits of the KORUS FTA, with the aim of fostering greater cooperation in business, trade and investment between the two.

"The economic ties between Korea and the U.S. have mutually benefited the two," Kim said. "The KORUS FTA is a symbol of the successful economic cooperation that has allowed practical benefits and faster growth for both countries over the past five years."

Rep. Royce also admitted that the two countries' alliance has continued to become stronger, as businesspeople in the two countries have spared no efforts for this.
By Yoon Ja-young



The government will order changes in the breeding and raising of poultry to focus on "animal welfare" instead of factory farming. Additionally, young people who dedicate themselves to farming will get government subsidies and consulting services. These were two key policies presented by the agriculture ministry to President Moon Jae-in, Wednesday.



In a policy briefing for the President held in Sejong, an administrative city 130 kilometers south of Seoul, Agriculture Minister Kim Young-rok said that the ministry will ensure the safety of eggs and chickens, following the recent scandal of pesticide contaminated eggs.



"We will seek a paradigm shift in poultry farming, from caged farming to methods which respect animal welfare. We will also strengthen safety controls of poultry products," the minister said.



From next year, new chicken farms will have to either follow the EU Standard in breeding, which is one chicken per 0.075 square meters, or adopt methods that focus on "animal welfare."



The measure will be applied to all chicken farms from 2025. Currently floor space about the size of a sheet of A4 paper is provided for each chicken in the factory farming system; and experts have pointed out that the use of pesticides was inevitable. Those designated as "free-range farms," meanwhile, allow chickens to roam around spacious areas of land.



"To expand free-range farms, we will provide incentives for those switching from factory farming," Kim said.



From next year, farmers will have to mark eggs to show in which surroundings the chickens were bred. All eggs will have to be collected and sold via egg grading and packing centers.



Creating jobs and attracting young people to rural areas is also a key issue for the ministry. It plans to introduce support packages for young people who want to be farmers. As well as being provided subsidies, land, and consulting services, agricultural corporations will adopt internship programs and start-ups engaged in bio, high-tech agricultural equipment and health supplement industries will get support in research as well as funding. The ministry also cited the pet industry as a new growth engine that will be nurtured to create more jobs.



The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, meanwhile, said that it would focus on rebuilding the shipping industry, which was hit by the collapse of Hanjin Shipping.



It plans to set up the Korea Maritime Corporation, which will support shippers and shipbuilders.



Those switching to environment-friendly ships will get subsidies from 2018. The ministry expects the measure to create demand for around 100 ships. The government will also buy more ships.



It plans to set up the Korea Shipping Partnership among local shipping companies so that they can restructure overlapping routes while developing new ones. The ministry said that a "mega port development plan" will be produced within this year to nurture Busan Port, on top of bolstering infrastructure for a new port in Incheon.



"The marine and fisheries industries form an important pillar of the economy and they are also an industry for the future that enriches regional economies," Oceans Minister Kim Young-choon said. "We will do our utmost to make Korea a global marine powerhouse."




Legal definition of base wage to get clearer



By Nam Hyun-woo



Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon pledged Friday a prompt revision of the Labor Standards Act in order to clarify the legal definition of "base wage" after a court ruling in favor of Kia Motors' labor union.



"To resolve problems more fundamentally, the government will push for a prompt law revision to make the legal boundaries of base wage clearer," Kim said during a meeting with other ministers. "Also, the government will strengthen its monitoring on businesses to prevent unnecessary labor-management conflict."



A day earlier, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Kia Motors to pay 422.3 billion won ($370 million) to its employees, ruling that regular bonuses should count as part of the base wage.



It was ruling on a 2011 suit filed by 27,424 union members calling for the company to recognize regular bonuses, meal allowances and daily expenses as part of the base wage, which is used as a basis for calculating compensation, severance pay and retirement benefits.



Kia Motors said it estimates the verdict will cost it up to 1 trillion won in additional personnel costs.



The court decision is significant because not only the carmaker but also 115 other companies are engaged in similar legal disputes at district courts nationwide. The Korea Employers Federation said companies may have to pay between 20 trillion and 38 trillion won in unpaid wages.



However, the Labor Standards Act clause on the base wage has caused confusion among workers and employers. For example, management and trade unions have had different ideas over whether lump-sum bonuses paid regularly -- but not every month -- should be included.



In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that salaries which are paid "regularly, uniformly and permanently" can be included in base wage.



Currently, two bills are pending at the National Assembly and both are more favorable to workers than employers in defining the base wage. If one of the two bills passes the Assembly, employers are expected to face further costs.

Kim fell short of elaborating on what revision he is planning.




By Kim Jae-kyoung

"All options are on the table," U.S. President Donald Trump said, following North Korea's provocative launch of a long-range ballistic missile Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted, "The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer."

Then, what other options are left for Trump?

There are growing calls in America that Trump should consider using the military option but experts say such unilateral action would not be viable because it could hurt the U.S.'s relations with its East Asian allies and damage its status in the region.

They say the U.S. will have to seek ways to push for negotiations with the North while strengthening sanctions.

Balbina Hwang, a visiting professor at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies, indicated the military option would be the last resort for Trump because it would incur significant diplomatic losses to the U.S.

"The entire security situation on the peninsula and throughout East Asia would have to be dramatically altered for the U.S. to even possibly consider launching a completely unilateral military attack on the North, without even a minimum notification to South Korea, or certainly without some sort of cooperation or agreement with the South," she told The Korea Times.

"Doing so will completely destroy the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and even perhaps the U.S.-Japan alliance, and even others in the region, such as U.S.-Australia, etc."

Against this backdrop, she said such a scenario seems impossible to even conceive of as a reality, expecting that Trump won't opt for military action without coordination with Seoul.
This image uploaded to Facebook on July 23 shows journalist Geoffrey Cain, center, dining in a Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh with Samathida Kem, right, daughter of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha. The third man is an Indian national working in Cambodia as a lawyer. This picture fueled conspiracy theories that the CNRP is collaborating with the CIA.



By Jon Dunbar



Geoffrey Cain got the surprise of his life when the country of Cambodia ousted him as an American spy.

"I'm not a spy," Cain told The Korea Times. "I'm a journalist. Dictators often fail to draw a line between the two. The allegations are a serious matter for everyone being accused. I'm past joking about it."

Around Aug. 24, an article appeared on Fresh News Asia, which Cain says is "a minor state-aligned tabloid," claiming Cain, under the cover of being an independent journalist, was the "mastermind" in the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye, claiming he "co-founded" a Korean opposition party that overthrew her and wrote articles inciting the grassroots protest movement that unseated her.

"The spy has been coerced by the South Korean opposition party to overthrow Park Geun-hye," the article said.

It claimed due to his success, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) hired him to overthrow Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The news has met with incredulity in Korea, as the U.S., under both ex-President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, has remained neutral in Korea's political upheaval earlier this year. As well, the impeachment of Park and election of President Moon Jae-in could hardly be considered in America's best interest, as Moon has been slow to cooperate on some mutual defense issues, such as the installation of a U.S. anti-missile shield.

"Anyone who thinks I'm an instigator of mass uprisings because of a photo of me getting Korean barbecue is delusional," Cain said. He denied any involvement with the impeachment protests. Instead, he was finishing up his upcoming book about Samsung.

The article also shared a picture of him dining in a Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh with CNRP President Kem Sokha's daughter Samathida Kem. Cain says they became friends in 2007 when they were both university students in America.

"Nothing says secret agent' more than Korean BBQ," she posted on Facebook. "Did you know that each time secret agents meet, they always ask the waitress to take their picture and they post it on Facebook? The clues are all there!"

The story circulated through social media and was picked up by a mainstream newspaper and TV news broadcast. On Aug. 28, the Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, Cambodia's biggest daily newspaper, reported the Ministry of Interior was investigating alleged revolutionary forces working with the CNRP, citing the Fresh News report and alleging ties between Kem's daughter and a CIA agent, likely referring to Cain.

"Any suggestion that the United States is supporting or has supported revolution is categorically false and is intended to draw attention away from the recent deterioration in Cambodia's political climate," U.S. Embassy in Cambodia deputy spokesman David Josar was quoted telling the Phnom Penh Post.

Cambodia today is a constitutional monarchy. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power since 1998, and his government is often accused of ignoring human rights and suppressing political dissent.

"Cambodia has a dark history of ferreting out foreign spies," Cain said, citing the execution of random Westerners under the Khmer Rouge (1975-79). Earlier this year, Cambodia imprisoned Australian filmmaker James Ricketson on charges of espionage, for flying a drone over a political rally.

Cain characterized these actions as "paranoid."

"As an election approaches next summer, they are looking to prove there is an American conspiracy to help the opposition overthrow the ruling party and foment chaos. They used to point to the Arab Spring. Now they're pointing to the impeachment of President Park, and pinning the blame on me."

He suspects the accusation against him is a pretense to suppress political opposition leaders in Cambodia.

Cain worked as a foreign correspondent in Cambodia in 2008 and 2009, writing for The Economist and the Far Eastern Economic Review. He moved to Korea in 2012, writing for Time magazine, then became GlobalPosts's senior correspondent.

Cain, who is currently in Thailand, said he is unlikely to visit Cambodia for a while due to the risk of arrest.

"I'm not worried about Korea, though," he added. "Would anyone there believe that I, this lone foreign correspondent, would have been behind the impeachment of Park?"

The Cambodian Embassy did not answer a request for interview.
By Park Si-soo



The U.S. military is considering the deployment of strategic military equipment to South Korea to counter North Korea's increasing military provocations, a presidential office official said Tuesday.

The statement came shortly after North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and traveled nearly 2,700 kilometers early on Tuesday.. The missile fell about 1,180 kilometers east of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

The equipment includes the B-52, B-2 and B-1B bombers; F-35 fighter jets; and aircraft carriers usually housed at U.S. bases in South Korea, Japan or Guam.

Presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said South Korea had conducted bombing drills near the inter-Korean border shortly after the missile launch.

Four F-15K fighter jets staged a live-bombing drill against North Korea's leadership, the Air Force announced.

The aircraft dropped eight MK-84 bombs, each weighing about a ton, on a simulated target at the Pilseung Range in the eastern province of Gangwon.

The bombs hit the target accurately in an exercise aimed at sharpening the ability to destroy "the enemy's leadership" in an emergency.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-hwa agreed to consider tougher sanctions.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo, left, and Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Harry Harris salute while inspecting an honor guard before their meeting at the headquarters of the command in Hawaii, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye

Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), vowed Friday to maintain combat preparedness against the growing threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

He made the comments at a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo during the latter's visit to PACOM in Hawaii.

"Adm. Harris reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty, which states that a North Korean attack on one is an attack on both nations," said PACOM spokeswoman Marine Capt. Cassandra Gesecki. "He emphasized U.S. preparedness to fight tonight if called upon, using its full range of military options in defense of the U.S. homeland and its allies."

Adm. Harris also called for greater trilateral cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the U.S. to better deter the North's threats.

The meeting took place after the Kim Jong-un regime launched what was presumed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan, Tuesday, which traveled about 2,700 kilometers before landing in the North Pacific Ocean.

The provocation was construed as the North showing its ability to strike areas around Guam as it previously threatened to do with four Hwasong-12 IRBMs. Guam is located about 3,000 kilometers from Pyongyang.
President Moon Jae-in's pick for a new Constitutional Court justice withdrew her nomination on Friday amid growing controversy over her dubious equity investment.

Lee You-jung, an attorney and law professor, said in a statement that she is pulling out because she does not want to be a "burden on the President and the court." She was nominated on Aug. 8 to fill the vacancy in the nine-member court.

Lee, 49, has faced scrutiny over her recent stock investment, which earned her some 1.2 billion won ($1.08 million) for the past 18 months. Records show she reaped 570 million won by trading shares in a company which is a client of her law firm.

The nation's financial watchdog reportedly decided on Thursday to investigate allegations that she may have used insider information.
















By Lee Kyung-min







Lee You-jung, President Moon Jae-in's pick for Constitutional Court justice, withdrew her nomination Friday over allegations of dubious gains from stock transactions.



Lee has reaped 530 million won ($472,000) from trading a number of stocks listed on the Seoul bourse in the relatively short period of eight months, drawing suspicion she might have relied on insider information.



In a statement, the lawyer and a law professor at Ewha Law School said she did not wish to burden President Moon and the Constitutional Court.



"I categorically deny allegations that I somehow resorted to illicit means such as using insider information to seek financial profit," Lee said.



"However, I understand, by being embroiled in this controversy, I failed to meet the public's scrutiny and expectations required of one of the highest public posts. I therefore will step down as nominee."



Still, she urged the Moon administration to continue its efforts to diversify the makeup of the Constitutional Court.



Her withdrawal came only days after a National Assembly confirmation hearing Monday where the allegation was first raised that her wealth surged in only a couple of years mainly through stock transactions.



According to data submitted during the hearing, Lee gained 1.2 billion won through stock trading in less than 19 months after the value of the shares she owned increased nearly five-fold from 290 million won to 1.5 billion won.



Out of her personal wealth of about 1.65 billion won, 91 percent, or 1.51 billion won was held in the form of shares.



She is suspected of buying shares in Naturalendo Tech, a biopharmaceutical company, with the knowledge that it would soon be listed on the stock market.



Lee allegedly got the information from one of her clients who had access to the company's plan.



She bought the stocks in September 2014 and sold them in May 2015, which netted her a 530 million won profit.



Meanwhile, the Financial Services Commission, the country's financial watchdog is expected to launch an investigation into the allegations following a petition filed by Rep. Oh Shin-hwan of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee."Lee sold off the stocks when the price was high, and bought soon after they plunged, which is a typical pattern of selling and buying used by stock manipulators," said Oh, a member of the Bareun Party.



The main opposition Liberty Korea Party said Lee stepping down as nominee was the only right course of action.



"Lee claimed to be a human rights advocate but in reality she was an interest advocate. Her stepping down is an expected outcome," the party said.



Both the LKP and the Bareun Party demanded that the Cheong Wa Dae personnel screening system as a whole be thoroughly scrutinized following what they called a "disaster caused by recruiting only based on political and ideological orientation."



"President Moon's closest aides that recommended Lee should be held duly accountable. They are apparently failing him by sidelining the fair or politically neutral voices of concern," the LKP said "Also, the matter concerning illegal stock trading requires further investigation and subsequent judicial determination."



In response, Cheong Wa Dae said it respected Lee's decision but stressed that the allegation remains unconfirmed.




More than 60 percent of posters opposed the annual Pride parade in a poll on the Seoul city government's online forum. The poll was closed Monday after hate comments flooded the website. / Screen capture from mvoting.seoul.go.kr



By You Soo-sun



An online poll on the annual queer parade in Seoul was disabled Monday after hate comments flooded the site. News about the poll, which has been on the city government's online forum site since July 16, went viral just last week after it spread to websites run by ultra-conservatives here including Ilbe.

The forum asked, "What do you think about the Queer Culture Festival in Korea?" It offered respondents two voting options: "support" and "oppose." By Monday when it closed, 59,731 people had voted; 33,561 people or 61 percent voted "oppose" while 23,330 people or 39 percent voted "support."

According to a city official, a member of the public set up the poll on the city-run website seeking others' thoughts on the parade. But the government took it down after hate comments flooded the forum, leading to phone complaints.

"We decided to take action because of the comments," the official said. "Hearing people were hurt by the forum, the author of the poll requested we take it down, fearing it was heading in an unintended direction."

The poll was shut down prior to its original deadline, slated for Oct 22.

The official further noted the forum only became heated after last Saturday as members of conservative websites shared news about it encouraging others to vote against the festival. The forum saw little participation in the preceding weeks. It was also spread through conservative Christian websites. Later, it gained attention from LGBT community members, who rushed to compete with the overwhelming opposition votes. They did gain some momentum, with the supporting views going up in number from less than 2 percent to almost 40 percent from Saturday to Monday.

Simon Hunter-Williams was one of the few who phoned the city government, seeking moderation and an apology for the hate comments that flooded the website. "They were nasty, filled with hatred and accusations," Hunter-Williams told The Korea Times in a phone interview Tuesday. In regards to the action taken by the government he said, "I guess it's fair enough, but I did expect some sort of an apology for failing to moderate it."

Some of the comments he mentioned were: "The worst of human decadence is homosexuality. A society that calls it a culture is a crazy one." Another read, "Gay Mayor Park Won-soon must go!" Many others made false accusations, such as that homosexuality is the cause of HIV and AIDS.

But many were also offended by the poll. "Sexual identity is not something that's up for agreement and opposition. Just as me being a Korean national cannot be agreed to or opposed to, it's just what it is," one read. "The festival exists for (LGBTQ members) to display (their) identity because their human rights are not protected, as this clearly shows."

Although the government took down comments, the poll result as of Monday evening is available at:

https://mvoting.seoul.go.kr/mvoting/voting/ourselves/selectOurselves.do?vote_no=41329&fref=gc

The government official explained the posts and comments are monitored by about 40 volunteer citizens, who may request removal if comments go against the forum standards. These violations include directly attacking people based on their traits or posting defamatory remarks aimed at specific figures. All registered members of the voting website may participate in its polls and unregistered members may participate through their phone or social media accounts.
By Kim Hyo-jin





Rep. Lee Hye-hoon

Bareun Party Chairwoman Lee Hye-hoon is in the hot seat over an allegation that she received illegal funds from a businessman in exchange for business favors.



The prosecution said Friday it will begin looking into the allegation early next week as the businessman filed a petition with the prosecution Thursday. Rep. Lee said she did borrow money from the businessman some time ago but paid it all back, denying it was political funding.



The businessman, surnamed Ok, claimed earlier this week that he had provided 60 million won ($53,000) to Lee from October 2015 in the lead-up to the general election. He said in an interview with local broadcasters that he handed over cash and designer items including bags, watches, belts and clothes on multiple occasions at a coffee shop, a hotel, and her office until March.



Ok claimed Lee asked for some money, saying she would help his business if elected. He showed a purported text message from Lee expressing appreciation, as "evidence."



Ok said in return for the money, Lee arranged meetings between him and vice presidents of a big company and a bank; but added that "there was no case where I signed a business contract with anyone with Lee's help."



Lee denied the accusation, saying she repaid the loan with no strings attached.



"He approached me first, saying he wanted to help me with his wide network in the media and political circles," Lee said, noting a senior politician who is close to former President Park Geun-hye introduced him to her.



"He frequently contacted me and offered money, saying I could pay it back later. I paid back little by little and settled the amount I owed about three to four months ago."



Lee added she also paid for designer items which Ok offered her.



She claimed Ok had recently requested money saying his business was having trouble, so she started keeping her distance from him.



"He gave a distorted version of the story to the media because I did not respond to him," the party leader said.



Lee said she learned later that Ok had been jailed before on charges of fraud.



"I heard that he approached other politicians the same way," she said.



Despite Lee's explanation, there may be an inevitable impact on the minor opposition party, party officials say.



The party broke away from the former ruling Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the current main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), after the corruption scandal involving former President Park.



While putting forward a signature phrase of seeking "clean and just" politics, the 20-seat minor party has been struggling to expand its support among the public.



Some party members say Lee should resign as chairwoman if the controversy continues. Asked whether Lee should retain the post, party floor leader Joo Ho-young said, "It is something Lee will decide according to how the situation grows, but party members will form a consensus." He agreed that Lee's leadership had been damaged.



Others say that it should seek an alliance with the LKP ahead of the local election slated for June next year in order to gain momentum.
By Kim Bo-eun



Union members of public broadcasters KBS and MBC plan to go on a simultaneous strike next week.



The move comes five years since the broadcasters staged a walkout in 2012, in protest against the then-Lee Myung-bak administration's attempt to control the media.



This time the broadcasters are calling for the resignation of managers.



The National Union of Media Workers' KBS branch and KBS's labor union will begin their strikes on Sunday midnight and Thursday midnight, respectively.



KBS's strike is a resumption of a protest which was temporarily halted in February. The two unions had conducted a vote in November for the strike.



The members are calling for the resignation of CEO Ko Dae-young, for attempting to regulate news content critical of the government.



At KBS, 1,130 producers and reporters have already stopped working.



"This general strike will be the last fight to end nine years of fabrication, forgery, oppression and yielding," the union said in a statement.



Meanwhile, 93.2 percent of the National Union of Media Workers' MBC branch voted for a general strike this week _ the highest consent rate yet.



Although the date has not been confirmed, workers are set to begin their strike on Monday.



MBC workers have been protesting against unjust transfers after producing news critical of former President Lee, being forced to cut scenes of bereaved family members of the Sewol tragedy shedding tears, and having their pitches about the National Intelligence Agency refused.



The protest escalated after it was found that the company had created a blacklist of video journalists based on news content, and subjected them to disadvantages.




By Shahid Javed Burki





SINGAPORE  In a rare presidential address last week at Fort Myer, Virginia, Donald Trump outlined his administration's strategy for the United States' future engagement in Afghanistan. Trump avoided admitting outright that he was authorizing an increase in the number of US troops in that troubled country, saying instead that military leaders would make such decisions. Yet the reality is that Trump's plan will deepen American involvement in a military mission that has already lasted for 16 years.

Trump, who campaigned on the promise to extricate the US from foreign conflicts, reiterated in his speech that he shared the "American people's frustration" about a foreign policy that has already cost too much time, energy, and money, and too many lives. His new strategy, he said, is the result of deep reflection by him and his national-security team, about how to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes the source of a terrorist attack on the US like that of September 11, 2001.

Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush sought the same goal. In fact, though Trump attempted to portray his strategy as a stark break from those of his immediate predecessors, many of the steps he announced have been tried already. Still, there are key differences in Trump's approach, which will have serious long-term consequences for Afghanistan.

For starters, Trump has dropped the "nation-building" element of America's Afghan strategy. Criticizing previous efforts to "rebuild countries" in America's "own image," rather than putting US security interests first, Trump asserted that the US will no longer engage in explicit state-building, aimed at helping Afghanistan to become a relatively modern political and economic entity. It will, however, demand that the Afghan government deal effectively with corruption, improve governance, and make better use of the resources it receives from the international community.

Second, Trump brought Pakistan much more explicitly into his Afghan policy than Bush or Obama did, arguing that the country will face significantly increased US pressure to crack down on the terrorist sanctuaries along its border, from which insurgents launch attacks on Afghan and NATO forces. If Pakistan fails to do so, Trump declared, it will "have much to lose." Already, Trump has determined that Pakistan should no longer be paid for providing valuable services to American, NATO, and Afghan forces, and has even blocked a large payment to the country that was already due.

Finally, Trump has invited India to play a larger role in Afghanistan, despite the risks India faces in a country that Pakistan views as a second front in its historic struggle with its southern neighbor. Trump appreciates what India has already done, but is urging it to do even more, using its vast earnings from exports to the US to help rebuild Afghanistan's economy. He also suggested that the US will work with India to create an Indo-Pacific security zone. In any case, it seems that the potential for US-India security cooperation in the region, while only hinted at in Trump's speech, has already been discussed by the two governments.

The implications of Trump's speech extend beyond America's policy in Afghanistan. The address also sharpened the contours  already limned during his May visit to Saudi Arabia and his July visit to Poland  of what might be called the "Trump doctrine."

Trump, it seems, sees a world split between the West and the "rest," with conflict all but inevitable. In Saudi Arabia, Trump invited Muslim-majority countries to join the West in eliminating adherents of Islamic radicalism. In Poland, he challenged the West to demonstrate its will to resist the impact  physical and philosophical  of its adversaries.

Trump is not targeting only the Muslim world. His speech on Afghanistan also pointed to his efforts to contain China. While Trump seemed briefly to be more interested in securing the Chinese government's help in reining in North Korea, Trump seems eager, now that the North Korean nuclear crisis has apparently been returned to the back burner, to resume his administration's focus on constraining the Asian giant.

But the Trump doctrine seems no more capable of limiting China than it does of eliminating the terrorist threat to the West. In fact, in the long term, the strategy Trump laid out at Fort Myer will probably have the opposite impact.

If military force has not succeeded in stabilizing Afghanistan in the last 16 years, it is difficult to imagine how Trump thinks it will work now. What is needed is precisely what Trump rejects: a serious and sustained effort to build the Afghan state and economy, in order to give hope to Afghanistan's young population (the median age is only 18.6). Young men will lay down their weapons only if they have confidence in the future.

Moreover, cornering Pakistan will serve only to force its government to align itself more openly with actors like the Haqqani network, a guerrilla group that has been fighting NATO and Afghan forces. This would strengthen insurgent groups' control over border areas, effectively creating a buffer state between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As funding from the US declines, Pakistan probably will also deepen its ties with China. It has already sent its foreign secretary to Beijing to meet with her Chinese counterpart. In the statement issued after the meeting, China pledged total and unconditional support to Pakistan.

If the goal of the Trump doctrine is to create a stable global backdrop against which America can pursue its own interests, it is doomed to fail. In fact, it is likely to have the opposite effect, unleashing a destabilizing genie that will be almost impossible to put back in its bottle.





Shahid Javed Burki, former Finance Minister of Pakistan and Vice President of the World Bank, is currently Chairman of the Shahid Javed Burki Institute of Public Policy in Lahore. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate.
Hyundai Motors is suffering an unprecedented ordeal in China due to the world's second-largest economy's retaliation against South Korea for deploying Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a U.S. missile defense battery.



In a boycott campaign against South Korean products, Hyundai's sales in China dropped as much as 41 percent in the first seven months of the year, compared with last year.



The sales plunge clipped its cash flow and the automaker had no choice but to halt operations at four out of five plants due to the suspension of parts supply last week, though the plants were able to resume production thanks to emergency measures Wednesday.



Hyundai is not the sole victim of the retaliatory measures. Of 99 Lotte Marts outlets in China, 87 were forced to close for "unlikely" reasons such as violations of the Fire Services Law.



On top of the retaliatory action against Seoul's deployment of the self-defense system is the group travel ban by the neighboring country. Economic damage caused by the anti-Korea campaign is estimated to reach 22 trillion won ($19.6 billion).



There is little doubt that the "shameful" retaliation is being orchestrated by the Chinese government and state-run media outlets are at the forefront to fan the no-buy campaign against South Korean products. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is all out to criticize Seoul over the THAAD deployment, whipping up China's easy-to-boil national sentiment, while the media act as if parroting Xi's line and amplifying it many times. Xi even refused to have a summit with President Moon Jae-in to celebrate the two countries' 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties.



The Chinese government's behavior clearly violates global trade norms and the World Trade Organization's (WTO) ban against obstructing the market access by foreign products.



Looking into what China is doing now testifies to a simple truth that the country definitely does not deserve to be a superpower. This bullying only makes its neighbors wary of its behavior, and forces them to have doubts about China's grand projects such as the "One Belt, One Road" that is aimed at linking the world together.




Verdict calls for end to NIS meddling in politics







The Seoul High Court sentenced former National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Won Sei-hoon to four years in prison Wednesday for interfering in the 2012 presidential election through illegal cyber operations.



The former intelligence agency chief was appointed in 2009 by the then President Lee Myung-bak and served in the post until 2013. He has faced suspicions that he helped former President Park Geun-hye ahead of the 2012 election in which she won over then-opposition candidate Moon Jae-in by a narrow margin.



Won's case has gone through a number of courts since June 2013 when he was indicted on charges of meddling in the 2012 election. The sentencing Wednesday came more than two years after the Supreme Court returned the case to the lower court in July 2015 for retrial, questioning the validity of some of the evidence.



The Seoul High Court ruled that Won was at the top of the spy agency's online smear campaign against Moon and violated laws governing both elections and the spy agency. "It is hard to find a precedent in which a state agency had meddled in politics and elections over such a long period," the court said. However, Won's legal battle is still unfinished as his lawyers said he would appeal.



Through the retrial, it has become clear that the NIS under the Lee administration engaged actively in political intervention and election meddling. This throws the validity of the outcome of the 2012 presidential election into question.



Despite the court's verdict, there are still some lingering questions, such as exact connections between Lee's Cheong Wa Dae and Won's cyber warfare to sway public opinion in favor of Park when she was a candidate. The prosecution should further find out how former President Lee and his aides had to do with smear campaigns against the opposition. Both Park and Lee were conservative candidates coming from the same party. The prosecution is looking into allegations that the NIS had reported its cyber operations to Cheong Wa Dae and that it had taken orders from the presidential office.



Public confidence in the NIS has been hugely undermined by Won's case. He reportedly told his subordinates that it was the intelligence agency's job to "harass the media when it was doing something wrong" or that they should clear out the "pro-Northerners"from the internet, among other irrational orders.



The verdict on Won should be an occasion for the NIS to renew its resolve to separate itself completely from politics from now on.




Alternative is to keep US nuclear submarine on standby



Defense Minister Song Young-moo raised the possibility of a need for the reintroduction of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to counter the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threat during his meeting with his U.S. counterpart James Mattis in Washington, Wednesday.



Immediately, the defense ministry downplayed Song's reference as nothing concrete and said it was only to convey to the U.S. side Korea's domestic view, pushed by the opposition parties. The supporters for nuclear armament argue that the U.S. tactical nukes are an alternative to the nation's own nuclear weapons programs that will certainly entail backlash of untold proportions.



But if these "small" nukes are brought back into the country, it could pose three problems. First, Korea will not be in a position to demand the North denuclearize. The North has violated multiple nuclear weapons agreements, while the South together with the international community is calling for it to give up its nuclear program. The North would certainly try to legitimize its nuclear program by pointing a finger at a nuclear-armed South.



Second, tactical weapons are not proportional to strategic nuclear weapons, an arsenal of which the North is building. Of course, there are tactical types that have comparable yields to small-scale strategic nuclear weapons but the two have different purposes. Thirdly, we see a great deal of opposition by residents in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, to the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a U.S. missile interceptor. With nukes, the opposition could be far greater.



The alternatives are to have one or more U.S. ballistic missile submarines rotate and stand by in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula. It is possible that already U.S. submarines have been engaged in such operations. Revealing a Korea-U.S. decision for sub deployment could provide real deterrence and keep the North at bay. The U.S. Navy's Ohio class _ 14 in operation _ each has 24 Trident missiles with strategic thermonuclear warheads on board.



The Lockheed Martin-made Trident has a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MITRV) warhead to go after many targets with one shot. In contrast, the North is said to engage in missile tests launched from a primitive sub carrying only one silo.



Also in need is a more manifest declaration of the U.S. willingness to defend the South against the North's nuclear attack. Washington has promised to provide Korea with "extended deterrence," previously known as a "nuclear umbrella" but a more specific and strong show of U.S. commitment is called for.



U.S. President Donald Trump talked about the defense of Japan by all means including nuclear weapons during a summit with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but fell short of repeating it for Korea.



This combination of word and action will certainly send a message to the North and calm Korean people's jitters, offering a better deterrence than having the nukes back in the South.




By Jason Lim





I've always found B.R. Myers a very interesting voice in Korea studies. His idea that North Korea is not a Marxist-Leninist or a Stalinist state but an ethnonational-socialist country patterned more after Imperial Japan than Soviet Union really struck a nerve when I first read it. It was jarring but also very insightful. It was certainly a shock to my subconscious sense of ethno-nationalism that admittedly informed my analytical paradigm and hermeneutics when it came to Korea.



In that sense, I found his recent blog posting on President Moon Jae-in's recent address commemorating August 15th especially provocative. For those who might not be aware, Koreans celebrate August 15th, 1945 as Independence Day because that was the day that Imperial Japan surrendered to the U.S. Myers writes, "I've always found it odd that South Koreans would want to celebrate their transition from colonial rule to military occupation It says a lot about South Koreans' lack of identification with their republic, a problem relevant to discussion of the nuclear crisis, that they should still consider August 15, 1945 worthier of commemoration than August 15, 1948, the date the holiday was created to honor"



The actual date that the Republic of Korea was founded should seem a simple matter of historical fact. But it's not. Historically, it is true that the official government of the Republic of Korea was established on August 15, 1948 with Syngman Rhee as the president. But is that the same thing as the founding of a nation?



In his address, Moon references 1919 as the year in which the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was founded. In fact, the preamble to the constitution of the Republic of Korea reads thus: "We, the people of Korea, proud of a resplendent history and traditions dating from time immemorial, upholding the cause of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea born of the March First Independence Movement of 1919 and the democratic ideals of the April Nineteenth Uprising of 1960 against injustice."



Note that the preamble specifically mentions two dates from which the ROK derives its legitimacy and mandate to govern. Especially relevant to this debate is the first date of March 1, 1919, when thousands of ordinary Koreans rose up to protest the Japanese usurpation of their country. This resulted in a country-wide crackdown by the Japanese authorities on independence activists and led to the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.



Myers has a problem with this narrative. He writes, "With those and other words, the president declared himself the heir to a nationalist and not a constitutional-democratic tradition, a man who will rule more in the spirit of the exile government that strove to liberate the minjok(Korean ethnic people) than of the republic that joined America in resisting North Korean aggression.



According to Myers, it is this sense of "minjok" that warps South Korea's sentiments and approach to North Korea since South Korea views North Korea as part of the same "minjok." Despite the horrific Korean War, there is a palpable sense of common ethnic identity that permeates through the collective psyche of the South Korean people when dealing with North Korea. The fear is that South Korea would choose "minjok" over liberal, democratic principles when it comes to any grand bargains with the North that would lead to reunification.



Admittedly, I never thought of the concept of "minjok" being in competition with the survival of South Korea's liberal democracy. It's not inconceivable that those two values might chafe against one another at some point as the Koreas lurch toward eventual reunification. However, today's Korea (both North and South) is a product of history. As such, ethno-nationalism that exists in both countries  although modulated through democratic institutions in the South while cultivated to fascist status to serve a cult of personality in the North  is a reactive cultural trait that kept the Korean people cohesive and intact through huge upheavals in the 20th century. This is more than skin deep. It goes to the bone.



If Myers is right and "minjok" and the republic are at odds, wouldn't this mean that South Korea has to give up its vision of reunification. If North Korea is just another country, then it would mean a conquest, not reunification, to rule over all of Korea, wouldn't it? And it would also mean that North Koreans are just another people, not real Koreans. North Korea is no longer the crazy uncle living in the attic. Turns out that he's not related to them at all.



In other words, the question then becomes, "Can South Koreans give up their sense of collective ethno-identity that includes the North Koreans and develop the distance to deal with North Korea as they would with another hostile, belligerent country? Can North Korea be just another country to South Korea?"



Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. Reach him at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook.com/jasonlimkoreatimes or @jasonlim2012.
Science and ICT Minister Yoo Young-min speaks in a press conference at the Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. This is the first time he has held a press conference since taking office last month. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Science and ICT

By Lee Min-hyung

The government has pledged to adopt tough regulatory measures against overseas internet giants  such as Facebook and Google  amid growing calls to stop discrimination against their local counterparts in taxes and a series of regulations.

"We have so far been unprepared for the issue, so the ministry is coming up with countermeasures to stop the discrimination," Science and ICT Minister Yoo Young-min said in his first press conference, Tuesday.

"I advised working-level officials to benchmark policies pushed by our Chinese counterpart," he said without further elaboration.

The years-long dispute came as the local subsidiaries of the U.S.-based tech giants operate their business here as a limited liability company which is not obliged to share their earnings and tax-paying information with the Korean government.

For this reason, their counterparts  including the nation's top portal operator Naver  called for the government to implement the same regulations on them, so that Korean companies do not fall victim to what they call legal discrimination.

This is not the first time that Yoo has underlined the need to push ahead with the same local regulations on the overseas firms reaping profits here.

In a confirmation hearing last month, he said: "I think both Korean and overseas companies should comply with the legal systems here."

Kim Yong-soo, the second vice science minister, said the government would continue to garner efforts to implement proper sanctions on the overseas companies.

"Europe is also seeking to devise sanctions for a similar issue," he said. "There are a variety of factors that need to be considered  including taxes and ICT regulations. The ministry is still working on settling the issue, but has yet to come up with any satisfactory outcome."





Telecom fee reduction at deadlock

In the press conference, the science minister also said the government is seeking to come to terms with mobile carriers over the controversial telecom fee reduction drive.

The policy is outlined with raising the discount rate for people's telecom subscriptions from 20 percent to 25 percent.

But this has caused a controversy, as the government said only those who sign up for a subscription with a mobile carrier after Sept. 15 can benefit from the policy.

"We are in talks with the carriers to expand the benefits to existing users as well, but in reality, this is very tough," Yoo said.

"The ministry will continue to narrow the difference with mobile carriers for them to keep up with our policy drive," he said. "We do not want to change the current legal systems to mandate them to join the policy."

Earlier this year, President Moon Jae-in pledged to abolish the basic monthly fee of 11,000 won ($9.77) as part of his key campaign pledges. But this has invited fierce opposition from the carriers  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.

The government has since de facto given up realizing the pledge, and shifted the policy focus to raising the discount rate.

"The last thing we want is to bring the issue to court at a time when we need to resolve other pending issues to keep pace with the upcoming 5G telecom era," the minister added.
By Yoon Sung-won



Mobile carriers will be able to offer greater discounts for new smartphones as the subsidy cap is scheduled to be discontinued next month, according to industry sources, Wednesday.



"When we adopted the new Telecom Act, we introduced the subsidy cap to quickly normalize the market in October 2014 for three years. This will be abolished Sept. 30," said an official at the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).



"Once the subsidy cap is gone, we will introduce other measures to stabilize the market, aimed at preventing indiscriminate provisions of subsidies in the future."



The government has limited the maximum subsidy that telecom companies can offer to customers when they purchase a new handset to 330,000 won ($294.44). This was introduced as a part of the new Telecom Act that aimed to promote fairer competition among mobile carriers and to encourage handset makers to cut prices. The government will automatically abolish it unless there is a change of plan.



The sunset law, however, has also drawn criticism that it led mobile carriers to offer less discount benefits to customers.



"Smartphones introduced more than 15 months ago are not subject to the subsidy cap. For this reason, mobile carriers have offered much bigger discounts for them to dispose of stock before the release of new models," a telecom industry source said.



"Without the subsidy cap, customers will be able to buy more diverse smartphones, which were introduced less than a year at much cheaper prices before the release of a new device."



Following the announcement, expectations have spread among customers that they may purchase brand new handsets such as Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 8 and LG Electronics V30 at cheaper prices starting October. The two smartphones are scheduled to hit shelves on Sept. 15.



"I have been a fan of the Note series and my original plan was to preorder the Note 8," said Lee Jung-ho, an office worker in Seoul. "But I changed the plan and decided to wait until October after the news that the telecom companies may offer more subsidies for new smartphones."



On the other hand, telecom industry insiders projected that it is unlikely mobile carriers will offer subsidies that are much more than the cap for new smartphones even after it is abolished.



"Even without the subsidy cap, mobile carriers will not offer bigger subsidies for the Note 8. If they don't, it will be much better for the customers to choose the 25 percent monthly telecom fee discount over the one-off subsidy," another telecom industry source said.



The government has introduced the monthly telecom fee discount so that those who sign up for a subscription contract with a mobile carrier can choose. Under the Moon Jae-in administration's aggressive push to further reduce household telecom expenses, the government will expand the discount rate to 25 percent from what was 20 percent off from monthly telecom fees.



Expectations are that the telecom companies would be willing to spend more in offering bigger subsidies as they face greater expenses following the government's move to expand the monthly fee discount rate.



The KCC also said it will run a special task force in October to monitor excessive provisions of subsidies right after the abolition of the subsidy cap. "If the amount of subsidies rapidly fluctuates, the market will be unstable. We will oversee the market to prevent it."




A pencil is broken in this captured image of an LG Electronics commercial. Critics say the pencil would remind people of the S Pen, the stylus of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note series. LG and Samsung have staged a decades-long rivalry in handsets although recently LG has lagged behind Samsung.



By Lee Min-hyung



LG Electronics seems to be waging a war of commercials against Samsung Electronics, sarcastically denouncing key features of the latter's flagship Galaxy Note smartphone.



In a commercial for LG's upcoming premium handset, the V30, a model breaks a pencil, which observers say represents the S Pen, the stylus of the Samsung Galaxy Note series.



The model also tore up a piece of notebook paper in what critics say alludes to the Galaxy Note series.



This is the first time the company has sought attention with such a potentially provoking commercial. The aggressive marketing tactic comes ahead of the launch of the V30 this week during this year's IFA tradeshow in Germany.



"We have created the V30 commercial with the aim of boosting public attention ahead of its debut," an LG Electronics official said.



Such marketing strategies are widely used among companies in a strong rivalry such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola.



Despite the fact LG is losing ground to Samsung in the smartphone business, the former still holds a decades-long image as the biggest rival of the latter, at least in the Korean market.



Unlike the recently launched Galaxy Note 8, LG has unveiled major features for the V30 ahead of its debut this week.



They include a six-inch organic light-emitting-diode (OLED) 18:9 ratio FullVision display. To push for a design renovation from its predecessor, the V20, the company also downsized the bezels for the upcoming device.



Without taking risks with eye-catching renovation in design and functionality, the company is expected to continue pushing ahead with its "back-to-the-basics" strategy by enhancing camera and audio features for the upcoming device.



This is in line with the strategy for its G6 smartphone unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress in February. The device came with a string of enhanced basic features, with the company discontinuing its interchangeable modular ecosystem adopted for its predecessor, the G5.



In particular, the new V lineup will offer easy-to-use audio features by adding the Hi-Fi quad digital-to-analog converter. The company has also teamed up with luxury audio maker B&O for refined audio capabilities of the device.



"The V30 will become the best multimedia-focused smartphone by combining the high-end audio system and the unmatched image generation operated by the OLED display," the company official said.
Hero of Mollywood's first musical hit 'Thiramala' shares his Hollywood stint, directing Prem Nazir and more
S-Oil CEO Othman Al-Ghamdi and employees pledge to implement core corporate values during a ceremony at the refiner's headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday. S-Oil said it will strengthen refining and chemical businesses, and secure new growth engines to become the most competitive and respected refiner in the Asia-Pacific region. The company also wants to double its operating profit to 3 trillion won ($2.65 billion) by 2025 and help bolster its market cap to 25 trillion won. / Courtesy of S-Oil



By Lee Hyo-sik

S-Oil has pledged to double its operating profit to 3 trillion won ($2.65 billion) by 2025 and help increase its market cap to 25 trillion won, becoming the most competitive and respected refiner in the Asia-Pacific region.

To achieve such goals, the company will implement its five core values; excellence, passion, integrity, collaboration and sharing. It will also mobilize all available resources to expand its refining and chemical businesses, and secure new growth engines.

"We need to secure a clear competitive edge that allows us to achieve sustainable growth under any circumstances. We will need to be fully prepared to deal with any business uncertainties," CEO Othman Al-Ghamdi told employees during the "Vision 2025" unveiling ceremony, Wednesday.

"S-Oil's core strength comes from its passionate and creative employees. Let us achieve the new vision with the best operational efficiency and differentiated investment strategies," he said. "Our goal is to increase our operating profit to 3 trillion won and bolster our market capitalization to 25 trillion won by 2025. It will significantly enhance our corporate value and shareholders' interests."

In 2016, the refiner posted a 1.62 trillion won operating profit. Its market cap stood at 14.35 trillion won as of Aug. 30. Saudi Aramco, the world's largest crude exporter, has a 63.4 percent stake in S-Oil.

Al-Ghamdi said the refiner will work harder to strengthen its refining and chemical businesses, and find new growth engines.

"Armed with the five core values, we should spare no effort to achieve the 2025 vision and overhaul our corporate culture," said the CEO, who took the company helm last September.

He said Korea's third-largest refiner by revenue should successfully complete the 4.8 trillion won project to build residue enhancement and olefin production facilities in the industrial city of Ulsan.

The facilities, scheduled to be completed by June 2018, will convert bunker C oil and other heavy fuel oils into gasoline, propylene and other high-value products.



"The new plants will certainly bolster our growth potential. Using its success as a springboard, we will look for more opportunities to invest and find new growth engines," Al-Ghamdi said.
This editorial is in the September 1, 2017 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Will Americans Heed the

Wake-Up Call from Houston?

[Print version of this editorial]

Speaking via telephone from Houston, Texas on Aug. 29, LaRouche PAC Policy Committee member Kesha Rogers reported the following:

Im standing right here in a grocery store. You look at the conditions.... Now theyre talking about how the water supply in the Houston area might be compromised; we dont know how far that goes or how serious it is going to get, but you have lines in the grocery store that are back out the door and wrapped around the grocery store building, with hundreds of people waiting to buy groceries, to buy food, because they have been out of food supplies for a very long time. I was standing in line, talking to people who have lost their homes, lost everythingthey had water in their houses coming all the way up to their chestsand these were people who were able to get out with family members, who were rescued and taken to other locations.

In talking to some of these people on the ground here about this situation, what is obvious is that this is not going to be a quick fix herethis is not just about infrastructure breakdown, but youve got tens of thousands of people who have just lost everything. It makes the point very clear how important it is that our solution, including Glass-Steagallthe economic recovery program that Lyndon LaRouche has put on the tablecannot be just a piece of legislation that people get to when they get to it. I dont think you can simply say Its going to cost $300 billion or $200 billion, or whatever number theyre putting out. It really has to be a federal credit program, to do everything that has to be done to put people back into living conditions, such that they can have homes and have a life again. This is not about how much insurance policy was lost. . . The main thing is that this is a wake-up call. Were going to have a lot of leadership to provide, a lot of work to do, not just to build up this state, but to use this as an opportunity to build up the nation.

We Must Measure Up to the Challenge

The world is watching the devastation in Houston, and the American people are watching. Some are responding with volunteer labor, with donations, and with other charitable actions. But what have the American people done to prevent such disasters? Houston is notoriously unprepared to deal with flooding even during annual storms, let alone hurricanes or the current 1,000-year flood. Already in 2012, five years agothe American Society of Civil Engineers gave the city a C-minus on its report card regarding flood control. The two primary flood control dams for Houston, both on the verge of overflow or even collapse in the current storm, were built in the 1940s, and are twenty years past their life expectancy.

Houston is no different from essentially every part of these United States. Our greatest city, New York, is undergoing a general breakdown in transportation, sanitation, water, and morea reality addressed on Aug. 26 at a LaRouche PAC forum in Manhattan. The infrastructure deficit has created powder-kegs across the nation, only needing a spark to set them off, as we saw with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, with super-storm Sandy in New York City, and with the drought in the Southwest.

American infrastructure is collapsing, and has been for years. As emphasized by Kesha Rogers, the issue is not about dollars and cents, but about human lives, and the futures of millions of families who are now suffering or at risk. We, as a nation, have sat by and let this disastrous situation come to this point.

China and Hamilton

Compare this American inaction to the Spring of Hope vision that is becoming a reality as the New Silk Road is bringing large-scale infrastructure across Asia, Africa, and Ibero-Americainfrastructure which was denied them throughout the colonial and post-colonial eras. In particular, two of the Great Projects proposed by Lyndon LaRouche over the past decadesthe Kra Canal in southern Thailand, and the Transaqua project for the replenishing of the nearly-depleted Lake Chad in Africa through diversion of water from the Congoare now close to being launched. In both of these Great Projects, the role of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative is the central driving force, viewing mankind not as subjects of an oligarchy, but as the reason for the existence of governments.

Why cant the United States and Europe participate in this world-changing development process? The only reason is the continuing power of the bankrupt financial empire centered in London and New Yorkthe degeneration of the Western banking system into a sprawling gambling-casino, only willing to invest in speculative binges, driving an ever-greater decay of the physical economy and the standard of living of the lower 90% of the population. This is the dreadful reality which brought about the election of Donald Trump. This is also the reality which is driving the ongoing coup attempt against President Trump by the powers of London and Wall Street and their slavish, totally-owned political leaders and media whores. The same financial and media elites now pushing for Trumps ousterthese are the same people who demand, The United States must not be allowed to join the New Silk Road; the government must not interfere in Wall Street. And these are the same moneyed interests who are conspiring for U.S. war preparations against Russia.

Houston must serve as a wake-up call. Many Americans will actbut even the courage being shown daily in the rescue of stranded neighbors is not enough. We must also, finally, act to restore the Public Credit System of Alexander Hamiltonand the only way to do that is through the implementation of the policies enunciated in Lyndon LaRouches Four Laws. The necessary steps, as elaborated by LaRouche, must be taken. The only way to prevent more Houstons is to generate the credit needed to rebuild our cities at a modern level: our transportation networks, water systems, power generation, and schools and hospitals. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche said at the Aug. 26 Manhattan forum on the infrastructure crisis, Why not build 50 new cities? China has done it, and is taking it around the world through the Belt and Road. We can, and must, join them.
PRESS RELEASE

China: We Wont Allow Chaos on Our Doorstep

Aug. 31, 2017 (EIRNS)China and Russia are both standing by their contention that there is no military solution to the problem of North Koreas nuclear and missile tests, even in the wake of the latest test on Aug. 29, when North Korea launched a medium-range missile that flew over Japan and landed in the ocean about 1,200 km east of Hokkaido.

Senior Col. Ren Guoqiang, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, made clear today that while China objects to such missile testing, it will not allow war to come to the Korean Peninsula.

"We firmly oppose any trouble-making or trouble-provoking actions at the doorstep of China, definitely allow no war or chaos on the peninsula, and strongly urge that all relevant parties would exercise restraint instead of provoking each other and escalating regional tensions,"

he said during the ministrys monthly press briefing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a similar message for U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Aug. 30, during a phone call initiated by the U.S. side.

Back in Washington, Secretary of Defense James Mattis hosted South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo yesterday, for discussions on the U.S.-South Korean alliance. They expressed support for "ongoing diplomatic efforts" for the denuclearization of the North, while also stressing the importance of the alliance, according top the readout issued by the Pentagon.

The U.S.-South Korean Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise concluded today. While the exercise did not involve U.S. strategic assets, such as B-1B bombers, a separate exercise, reported to be in direct response to the most recent North Korea missile launch, took place, involving not only two bombers and South Korean F-15K fighter jets, but also four U.S. Marine Corps F-35B joint strike fighters flying from their base in Japan. They staged air-to-ground precision-strike drills against the Norths core facilities over the Pilseung Range in the eastern mountainous province of Gangwon, reported the Yonhap news agency.

"The U.S. did not dispatch bombers (to Korea) during the exercise in hopes that the reduced scale would send a positive signal to North Korea and the region,"

an unnamed U.S. Forces Korea official said. But instead the North responded to the gesture with a series of provocative acts, said the official.
PRESS RELEASE

Continued Scare-Mongering against RussiaNATO Demands More Transparency from Russia on Zapad Exercise

Aug. 31, 2017 (EIRNS)NATO is sending three experts to observe the Russian-Belarusian Zapad 2017 exercise, which is scheduled to run from Sept. 14-20, but is still complaining that it doesnt have the access it wants. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the three experts will attend "Visitors Days" in Belarus and Russia after they were invited to attend, reports the Associated Press. But she said international rulesshe is referring to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Vienna Document that governs transparency of military exercises by both NATO and Russiapermit monitors to have much wider access, including briefings on the exercise, opportunities to talk to soldiers, and overflights.

Lungescu claimed that the invitations that NATO received are not a substitute for real observation under the Vienna Document.

"Russia and Belarus are instead choosing a selective approach that falls short. Such avoidance of mandatory transparency only raises questions about the nature and purpose of the exercise,"

she said.

Adding to such scare-mongering is the deployment of additional U.S. F-15C fighter jets to Lithuania during the period of the Zapad exercise. The U.S. has taken over the Baltic air policing mission this quarter, but instead of deploying the usual four aircraft, sent seven instead, to join the extra 600 airborne troops that have also been deployed in Lithuania.

Russia, of course, has rejected the claims made against the Zapad exercise by NATO and sympathetic news media outlets. Pushback is also coming from some unexpected directions, such as the Latvian Ambassador to Moscow Maris Riekstins, who warned against such hysterics during an appearance on national television earlier today. "We should be vigilant, but do not need to be hysterical," he said. Riekstins called the invitations of Russia and Belarus to send Latvias monitors to the drills a positive gesture, but said that there still should be more transparency. Latvia is among those countries that have been invited to send observers and is sending three.

Simon Saradzhyan, a research fellow at Harvards Belfer Center, writing in an article on the Belfer Center "Russia Matters" blog, not only debunks the fear-mongering about the exercise, but also takes on the matter of transparency that NATO is putting so much stress on. While transparency could be improved, it
PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Rohrabacher Calls Russiagate a Con Job; Looks To Brief Trump on the Truth

Aug. 31, 2017 (EIRNS)Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), speaking last night on the "Hannity" program on Fox News, said that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, with whom he met recently in London, is "doing us a great service," in terms of the truth that the DNC [Democratic National Committee] revelations in Summer, 2016, were leaked, not hacked. This exchange took place with host Sean Hannity, who plans to have Rohrabacher back next week:

HANNITY: Do you believe that this Trump-Russia collusion narrative will be proven false? And do you believe he holds the key?

ROHRABACHER: The answer is absolutely yes, and I think that this Russia narrative that youre talking about, his idea, this unrelenting sinister, you know, story about how Trump colluded with the Russians in order to steal the election is a total con job. Its a fraud. And its masking a power grab because what theyre doing is theyre trying to undermine the ability of the person the voters voted for totheyre undermining hishis ability to assume the power and authority and appointments that the president of the United States....

[He said later in the interview:]

I think what we have here is really important for the truth to be known, and I think the president of the United States needs to hear what the detail is. And I understand that a meeting with myself and the president is being arranged. So at that point, the purpose is to alert the American people to the truth of what, of this whole situation.
Novelist Kamila Shamsie picks up after just two distinctive British double ringtones, from her home in London. When asked how she is, Shamsie laughs, a full-throated contralto chuckle. Im pretty great this morning! Thats because her newest book, Home Fire, has made the long list for the Man Booker Prize, Great Britains most prestigious literary award.

While that would be good news for any writer, its even better news for an artist who has chosen to adapt one of the worlds most significant dramas. Home Fire (Riverhead: 288 pp., $26) is Shamsies retelling of Sophocles Antigone, one of his three Theban Plays (the others are Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus). Antigone centers on its eponymous heroine, her sister Ismene and their dead warrior brother Polyneices, who has been denied proper burial by the King of Thebes, Creon. Further explication of the plot might send your eyeballs spinning; the important things to know about the play are its twin focuses on family loyalty and civil disobedience.

When Shamsie, who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, makes Ismene into Isma, Antigone into Aneeka and Polyneices into Parvaiz and sets the action in London and Karachi, she takes those themes and makes them shockingly relevant. It is a rather daunting play to take on, says the author. When the idea was given to me, I literally went on Wikipedia to refresh my memory of the plot!

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It is a rather daunting play to take on.  Kamila Shamsi

It starts with Isma detained at Heathrow; after years taking care of her younger siblings, she is en route to the United States to finally begin a PhD program. The story also follows her sister in London, her brother in Istanbul, and the dark legacy their father has left them. Ismas efforts to not attract attention  she carries no Koran, no family photos  present a harrowing view of the anxiety people of Muslim heritage feel while traveling in the post-9/11 world.

That feeling comes partly from Shamsies personal experience. For years, I was detained regularly due to a computer glitch, and there would always be a note saying, Shes just here because of a computer glitch, and still I would be nervous, she says. Really nervous. Do I have the right documentation? Do I have the telephone numbers of people nearby who can vouch for my identity if necessary?

Born in Pakistan, Shamsie spent some time in America, but when she decided to settle, it was, for the most part, in Great Britain. My time in America was in small college towns, she says, and Im a big-city person. For a time, her post-grad-school life was nomadic: time in Amherst, Mass, where she got her MFA at the University of Massachusetts, winter in Karachi, then some months in London. Some time in my mid-30s, she says, I realized I wanted one place, one place where I could keep an expensive set of kitchen knives.

It feels very physical, to write that kind of ending.  Kamila Shamsi

However, Shamsie still spends winters in Karachi, when the weather there is heavenly, unlike in London, and its important to her that the characters in Home Fire identify as Pakistani British. For all of them, London is home, she says. Even Eamonns father, Karamat, the King Creon character, is sympathetic to me in his hard-headed view about Englishness, because he is simply trying to be at home. Theres a part of him that yearns for his cultural heritage, but hes put himself in a strange position and doesnt know how to get back to the part of him that loves Pakistan as well as England.

The tensions of fatherhood, duty and belonging extend to one of her characters, Parvaiz. Quite early on, I knew that Parvaiz would be the one least interested in religion  but hed be the one going off to join the Islamic State, Shamsie says. MI6 reports that people who go from Britain to join Islamic states have very little by way of religion in their background; they may be Muslim, but religion is not a big part of their lives. What is a big part of their lives is missing certain things about masculinity. Parvaizs father is gone to him, but when he is approached by one of these militant recruiters, he can be swayed by wanting to belong, wanting to have agency, wanting to be a man like his father was.

Basing a book on a Greek tragedy has certain hazards. The final scene of Home Fire was pretty awful to write, Shamsie says. It feels very physical, to write that kind of ending, you sort of write it and have to get up and walk, or run. When I was writing it, I was at a retreat I regularly attend in Tuscany, and there are some wonderful dogs there. I finished writing and had to get up and go outside and play with the dogs.

Patrick is a writer and critic whose work appears in the Washington Post and on NPR Books.
In June 2016, the National Enquirer turned its typically overexcited attention to Richard Simmons, the fitness guru. Simmons had been out of the public eye for two years, and the Enquirer claimed to know why.

RICHARD SIMMONS: HES NOW A WOMAN! the newspaper blasted across its front page.

Supermarket shoppers who made it to the story inside were told that the then-67-year-old entertainer has undergone shocking sex swap surgery that included breast implants, and was living as a gal named Fiona. There were photos of Simmons in drag.

Simmons, who says not a speck of that was true, filed a libel suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the newspapers owner, American Media. This week, Judge Gregory Keosian issued a tentative ruling that could strike a major blow for gender equality before the law. He found that whether its true or not that Simmons underwent the transition as the Enquirer reported, its simply not libelous or defamatory to call someone transgender.

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Misidentification of a person as transgender is not actionable defamation .... The court will not validate those prejudices by legally recognizing them.  Judge Gregory Keosian

Keosians tentative ruling dismisses Simmons lawsuit. Its still up to the judge to make his ruling final, but his meticulously argued 15-page opinion leaves scant room for doubt about what the final version will say. Keosian places sexual identity on the same plane where imputations about race and homosexuality have been for years  as not inherently defamatory.

The ruling is potentially important for several reasons. As Keosian observes, its the first such ruling in California, which makes it seem like a harbinger of legal rulings to come nationwide. It also chips away at what may be the last legally acceptable standard of prejudice under the law, which is that directed at transgender persons and those exploring their gender identity.

There are plenty of signs that the impulse to discriminate in American society has moved from race and homosexuality to gender identity. Thats what underpins President Trumps announced ban on transgender people serving in the military. Laws regulating which bathrooms transgender persons may use and which gender identity they must use on official documents such as drivers licenses are still on the books in some states and making their way through legislatures in others.

(Dont be fooled by Trumps claim that the medical needs of transgender service people are too expensive. A 2016 Rand Corp. study placed the annual cost at a relatively low $8.4 million a year, maximum  thats 10% of what the military spends on erectile dysfunction pills and a fraction of what the country spends ferrying Trump to Mar-a-Lago and his other weekend getaways.) Interestingly, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis seems to be slow-walking Trumps order by referring it to a study committee; that could be a sign that distaste for transgender discrimination is more widespread than Trump calculated. Negative reactions by businesses and individuals to anti-transgender laws in Indiana and North Carolina offer further indications that transgender discrimination is becoming socially unacceptable.

Neville Johnson, a lawyer for Simmons, says society hasnt reached that point yet. Transgender people are still considered immoral and distasteful and looked at with disapprobation in much of the community, Johnson told me. Theres still a question about what bathrooms they can use, and they cant serve in the military.

Those factors and others signify that labeling someone transgender is defamatory, Johnson says. A further indication is that the Enquirers own article was designed to humiliate and embarrass Simmons for allegedly transitioning gender, not to honor him for purportedly seeking out his true gender identity. (Simmons also introduced evidence that the supposed source for the Enquirer disavowed telling the publication Simmons was transgender.)

The court cant legislate mores, Johnson says. The question the judge should weigh in deciding whether to let the lawsuit proceed is not what society should be, but what it is. He says hes disappointed in the tentative ruling, but hopes Keosian may change his mind in the wake of a lengthy hearing held on Wednesday, and allow the question whether calling someone transgender is defamatory to be placed before a jury. Attorneys for American Media werent available for comment.

In his tentative ruling, the judge hewed closely to American Medias position that statements that someone is transgender or transitioning do not impute the kind of inherently shameful or odious characteristic that can support a defamation claim in modern times.

Keosian further observed that the history of courts allowing public prejudices to govern libel law is long and discreditable. At one time or another, judges have found that its defamatory to accuse someone of having cancer or some other loathsome disease, of having been born out of wedlock, of being black or being gay.

Recognizing that such social prejudices are transitory, the courts have steadily moved away from accepting them as grounds for defamation judgments. Tom Cruise won a $10-million libel judgment in California against a gay porn actor who falsely said hed had an affair with Cruise. But that was in 2003 and its not at all clear that hed win now. In New York, state and federal judges scrapped the imputation of homosexuality as grounds for defamation in 2012.

Keosian cites a 1989 Georgia ruling that private biases may be outside the reach of the law, but the law cannot, directly or indirectly, give them effect. The Massachusetts state Supreme Court, in its landmark 2003 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, expressed much the same viewpoint  the court acknowledged that a segment of the community regarded homosexuality as immoral, but public opinion was irrelevant: If this Court were to agree that calling someone a homosexual is defamatory per se, the judges ruled, it would, in effect, validate that sentiment and legitimize relegating homosexuals to second-class status.

Treating transgender as an actionable slur is especially problematic in California, Keosian ruled, because discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression is specifically outlawed. So, too, is the trans panic defense in murder cases, which would allow defendants to argue that discovery of the victims actual gender or gender identity in a romantic or sexual context was a reasonable provocation for homicide.

But the principle the judge laid out is much more broadly applicable. Even if there is a sizable portion of the population who hold prejudices against these characteristics, misidentification of a person as transgender is not actionable defamation, he wrote. The court will not validate those prejudices by legally recognizing them.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.

UPDATES:

1:35 p.m.: This post has been updated with comments from Neville Johnson, Simmons attorney.
President Trump talks incessantly about how the Affordable Care Act has failed. He has threatened to make it implode. Now he has taken a major step toward making his own predictions and threats come true.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it is cutting the advertising budget for the upcoming open enrollment period for individual insurance policies by a stunning 90%, to $10 million from last years $100 million. The HHS also is cutting funds for nonprofit groups that employ navigators, those who help people in the individual market understand their options and sign up, by roughly 40%, to $36.8 million from $62.5 million.

The budget is for advertising and outreach only in the 39 states relying on the federal marketplace, healthcare.gov, for ACA enrollment. State-based marketplaces have their own budgets. California, where the ACA has been an unqualified success, is planning to spend $111.5 million for the 2017-18 open enrollment period, an increase of $5.3 million.

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This Novembers open enrollment period is gonna be one hell of a mess, thats for sure.  Charles Gaba, ACASignups.net

Thats eleven times the entire federal marketing budget, for just one state. With about 1.6 million enrollees, California accounts for about one-eighth of ACA exchange enrollment nationwide.

HHS officials maintained in a conference call with reporters Thursday that the 2016-17 open enrollment period, which ran from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31 for 2017 coverage, showed that advertising was producing diminishing returns. Enrollment actually declined in 2017 compared with the previous year, despite a doubling of the advertising budget by the Obama administration. The HHS officials said that after four years of marketplace exchange operation, Americans already were sufficiently aware of the ACA and didnt need to be reminded at the same level as before.

Theyre wrong on both counts. Spectacularly, cynically wrong.

First, the entire shortfall in 2017 enrollments compared with 2016 occurred in the last days of the enrollment period at the end of January. Thats when the incoming Trump administration abruptly canceled the customary last-minute advertising blitz. The surge in enrollments with the approach of the Jan. 31 deadline, which had been seen in every previous year, vanished.

Through mid-January, enrollments had been running neck and neck with 2016, or even slightly ahead; ultimately, enrollments fell more than 5% behind 2016. Among the 12 state-based marketplaces (including the District of Columbia), enrollments increased by an average of 1.8%.

By the estimate of Obamacare-tracker Charles Gaba, if the Trump administration hadnt yanked advertising and issued Obamacare is dead pronouncements in the middle of the critical final week, HealthCare.Gov enrollment would likely have been at least 500,000-600,000 people higher.

In other words, the experience of 2017 open enrollment vividly demonstrated the importance of continued advertising and outreach, not its diminishing returns.

The HHS argument that Americans know so much about the ACA that advertising is unnecessary is especially fatuous. As a businessman, Trump must know as well as anybody how quickly consumers can desert an unadvertised brand. Thats why Coca-Cola, which may be the most ubiquitous consumer brand in the world, is still supported by more than $3 billion in ad spending per year.

Advertising may be especially crucial for the ACA this year because the public may be more confused about the law and the terms of open enrollment than at any time since its inception. The rhetoric from Trump and the Republican establishment about the ACAs purported failure may be leading many potential enrollees to doubt that the program even exists anymore.

Moreover, this year, the administration slashed the length of open enrollment in half, from three months to six weeks. The period during which people can sign up will run only from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15. Without a vigorous advertising campaign, many potential enrollees may miss the deadline, thinking they have until the end of January to sign up. That could make the ACA marketplace enrollment pool generally older and sicker because younger and healthier people typically are those who wait the longest to enroll  often until the very last minute. The result could be higher premiums for everyone.

This November open enrollment period is gonna be one hell of a mess, says Gaba, thats for sure.

HHS says it will concentrate its meager ad spending on digital media, email and text messages, which it says have proven the most effective in reaching existing and new enrollees. Thats a dubious claim. In fact, the evidence suggests that television advertising, which will be cut back to almost nothing, has been a highly effective means of outreach. A study published earlier this year found a direct relationship between the volume of TV ads and the reduction of uninsured populations, with government-sponsored advertising particularly effective.

Trump often has asserted that Democrats will get the blame for the ACAs collapse. His latest step will help ensure that wont be so. If ACA enrollment falls for 2018, no one will miss whose fingerprints are on the assault weapon.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.
The Republican push to oust Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau soon might get a boost from an unexpected source: Cordray himself.

Cordrays term as the bureaus first and only director doesnt expire until next summer. But there is widespread speculation that he will run for the Democratic nomination for governor of his home state of Ohio.

His departure could leave the controversial watchdog agency, created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in limbo for months and jeopardize regulations covering consumer arbitration clauses and payday lending.

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A former Ohio attorney general, Cordray would need to step down soon to launch a bid for the 2018 election. The first Democratic candidates debate is Sept. 12. He could announce his intentions as early as Monday, when he is scheduled to speak at the AFL-CIOs annual Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati.

Cordrays departure probably would trigger a messy succession fight at the bureau. The Obama-era creation has been praised by consumer advocates for high-profile enforcement actions that have led to billions of dollars in refunds and penalties. But Republicans complain it is too powerful and limits Americans access to credit.

Its unclear who would take over as acting director. And Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who conceived of the idea for such an agency, are expected to mount a fierce campaign against whomever President Trump nominates as a replacement.

I think there will be a very big controversy, and it will become very contentious, said Alan S. Kaplinsky, head of the consumer financial services group at the Ballard Spahr law firm. Its certainly not going to be clear sailing.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which created the bureau, says the deputy director becomes the acting head in the absence or unavailability of the director.

David Silberman, associate director of the bureaus Research, Markets and Regulations Division, has been serving as acting deputy director since January 2016.

But the law is unclear about whether the deputy director would take over in the case of a directors resignation, said Kaplinsky, who closely tracks the bureaus activities.

That could open the door for Trump to pick an outsider as acting director in accordance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. That person would run the agency while a nominee moved through what could be a lengthy Senate confirmation process.

The vacancy law allows the president to designate someone who already has been confirmed by the Senate to perform acting duties. Kaplinsky said that could be Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, who would take on the CFPB duties in addition to his Treasury role.

There is precedent for such an arrangement. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner oversaw the bureau until Cordray became director in early 2012.

A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Trumps plans to fill a potential bureau vacancy.

If Silberman is running the bureau, its going to look a lot like it looks with Cordray running the bureau. I think you could say theyre two peas in a pod, Kaplinsky said. If Mnuchin is running it, I would expect to see changes.

Those changes could involve ditching new bureau rules that would allow consumers to bring class-action lawsuits against banks instead of being forced into private arbitration.

Banks strongly oppose the rule, and Republicans in Congress are trying to overturn it. If Congress fails in that effort, a new acting bureau director could move to delay or kill the rule before it takes effect in March.

The bureau also is finishing work on new rules expected to crack down on payday, auto title and other short-term loans. An acting director could scrap or delay those as well.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), one of the leading critics of the bureau, wrote to Cordray on Monday questioning whether he was trying to rush out the payday rules before leaving to launch a gubernatorial campaign.

Hensarling wrote that reports of such a move suggest that your personal political ambitions may be informing decisions about the rules and could lead them to be legally challenged. He also repeated an earlier request for Cordray to state whether he intended to serve out his term, which expires in July 2018, or give a resignation date.

Hensarling and some other Republicans have called on Trump to fire Cordray. But Dodd-Frank says the bureau director can be removed only for cause. A federal court panel ruled last year the president could remove the director for any reason, but that case now is being considered by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Cordray responded to Hensarling in a letter on Wednesday, saying, I categorically deny that political considerations have been involved in any decisions regarding the payday lending rules.

As he has done before, Cordray dodged the question about his future.

At this time, I have no further insights to provide on that subject, Cordray said.

The exchange highlighted the political dispute over the bureau.

Democrats defend it as a necessary watchdog for consumers in the financial marketplace.

They note it has provided consumers about $12 billion in refunds, mortgage principal reductions and other relief since opening in 2011. The bureau also played a key role in penalizing Wells Fargo & Co. for its creation of unauthorized accounts.

In June, the Republican-controlled House voted along party lines to scale back key parts of Dodd-Frank, including sharply reducing the bureaus authority.

Republicans would like to politically wound Cordray, who analysts have said would be the leading Democratic candidate for Ohio governor if he decides to run.

In August, the Republican Governors Assn. demanded that Cordray release his public schedule to show whether hes been engaged in political activity while still serving as bureau director. Such activity would be a violation of federal law.

Ohioans deserve to know if Cordray used his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau office improperly for political gain, said Jon Thompson, the groups spokesman.

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com
Chris Hernandez, 59, is sector vice president of research, technology and engineering at Northrop Grumman Corp. He oversees the Aerospace Systems units 11,000 engineers, who are located in Redondo Beach, Palmdale, Rancho Bernardo and Melbourne, Fla. Hernandez also leads part of Northrop Grummans NG Next division, which focuses on basic research, applied technology, advanced design and rapid prototyping.

Making an impression

As a teenager growing up in Norwalk, Hernandez worked as a busboy in a Lakewood prime rib dinner house. One of his regular customers was Ed Smith, the space shuttle program manager for North American Rockwell, later Rockwell International Corp. The two bonded over their mutual love of flying airplanes  a skill Hernandez was learning in exchange for washing planes on weekends at a small Huntington Beach airport.

The program manager eventually offered Hernandez a spot in Rockwells co-op for young engineering students, and the teenager began working for the aerospace firm as a high school senior. Hernandez had initially planned to become a U.S. Marine, like his father, or a police officer, but chatting with Rockwell employees changed his mind.

I didnt know what an engineer was, so I started talking to them, asking them, What is it that you do, how do you do it, what did it take to get to where you are, he said. I said, Well, this is not bad. I think I could do this.

An intriguing prospect

Hernandez later graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and spent 11 years working on the shuttle program at Rockwell.

The Space Shuttle Columbia is rolled out of the hangar at the Rockwell plant in Palmdale in 1979 to begin its 38-mile trip to Edwards Air Force Base. (Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times) (Rick Meyer)

In the early 1980s, Northrop Corp. bought Ford Motor Co.s huge, vacant auto plant in Pico Rivera. No one knew what it would be used for but Hernandezs mentors, including the program manager who recruited him, began to leave Rockwell for jobs at Northrop.

That program manager spent several years coaxing Hernandez to join him, giving no details about the job but promising it would be worth his while. In 1987, Hernandez finally relented, signed the required security forms and was escorted into a huge room with a high bay in the middle of Northrops Pico Rivera plant.

Theres a curtain, and they pull the curtain back and right there is a full-scale wooden mock-up of the B-2 bomber, Hernandez remembers. She looked like she was from outer space. They said, Thats what youre going to work on.

Mr. Fix It

Hernandezs 12 years in the B-2 program, including his time as chief engineer, taught him about the importance of solving problems. Early on, Hernandez and a small group led an analysis of a wiring issue on the B-2.

After briefing a three-star U.S. Air Force general and other top company executives and high-ranking government officials about the cause of the problem, Hernandez was asked when he would fix it. He tried to explain that he was only responsible for the analysis, but was told, Now, you fix. Hernandez and a group of engineers eventually re-worked the wiring for the B-2 to prepare the bomber for its first flight.

I speak to young people on a regular basis and I say, Figure out how to find things that are kind of messed up and jump in the middle of them and make them better, he said.

The U.S. Air Forces B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber flies over Northrop Grumman Corp.'s facility at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale in 2014. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

More success stories from How I Made It 

The more diverse the group is in solving a problem, the better the solutions going to be.  Chris Hernandez

Learning to listen

In the mid-1990s, Northrop sent Hernandez to the MIT Sloan Fellows program to get a masters degree in management. His classmates came from all walks of life  an Air Force general, a future U.S. postmaster general  and from more than 10 countries. That gave the kid from Norwalk a broader perspective on the world.

When the cohort discussed topics, Hernandez found himself shifting his perspective based on his classmates arguments, rather than staunchly sticking to his own opinions. Now, when someone comes to him with an opinion, he tries to shut down his own thoughts on the topic and listen to their argument. If its more powerful than his own, he considers changing his mind.

If everybody does what you want done, then theres that absence of diversity in thought which companies strive for, Hernandez said. The more diverse the group is in solving a problem, the better the solutions going to be.

Second career thoughts

Four years ago, Hernandez seriously considered retiring from Northrop to become a high school math teacher. He had always thought his lifes mission was to help others; at Northrop, he was helping those who already made it. He hoped he could excite students about science, technology, engineering and math and give them a leg up, much like the Rockwell shuttle program manager had reached out to him.

Then he was offered his dream job  running a new organization within Northrop called NG Next, which would combine research and technology efforts with advanced design and rapid prototyping.

The organization can take an idea and develop it all the way to an early prototype. The group includes Scaled Composites, a cutting-edge Mojave aerospace firm that was acquired by Northrop. Hernandez now heads the research and technology component of NG Next.

Having the engineering piece and the technology piece in this organization and then being able to watch things move from just an idea to a flight line, I just couldnt say no, he said.

Importance of music

Playing music is soothing for Hernandez. Around 2008, he bought a guitar at the urging of one of his two sons, Christopher, who wanted his dad to join him and his friends to play music. One year later, Christopher died in a car accident at age 17.

Hernandez began to take guitar lessons. He improved enough to join Christophers musician friends and put on concerts in his memory over the years for friends and family. Hes learned to play songs from some of Christophers favorite bands, and has also re-written lyrics from others, like Radioheads High & Dry, to honor his son.

When I play, I can feel a connection with my son, Hernandez said. When I have any time extra, thats what Ill do  pick up the guitar and play.

He said his sons death helped him realize the importance of living in the present.

Being comfortable with who you are and loving other human beings is a really, really good way to live, Hernandez said. Focus in the moment, be the absolute best you can be right now.

Personal

Hernandez lives in Redondo Beach, though he frequently travels for his job and can also be found on his boat in San Diego. His son James lives in New York. Hernandez is also involved with the Mexican American Opportunity Fund and the advisory council of the dean of Cal State Long Beachs college of engineering.

Northrop Grumman Corp. executive Chris Hernandez learned to play the guitar at the urging of one of his sons. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga
Dozens of tech industry leaders have signed a letter expressing concern about reports that President Trump is considering ending a program that protected from deportation more than 750,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The open letter, released Thursday by tech industry advocacy group FWD.us, includes heavyweights such as Apple Inc.s Tim Cook, Facebook Inc.s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Amazon.com Inc.s Jeff Bezos, Google Inc.s Sundar Pichai and Snap Inc.s Evan Spiegel among its signatories.

Executives from companies such as Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Microsoft and General Motors also signed on.

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The letter calls on Trump to continue the Obama-era federal program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and asks Congress to pass legislation that would allow the young people affected to remain in the U.S. permanently.

It says they are vital to the future of our companies and our economy. With them, we grow and create jobs. They are part of why we will continue to have a global competitive advantage.

In a separate blog post Thursday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the software company was deeply concerned about reports of changes to DACA. Of Microsofts more than 73,000 employees in the United States, 27 are DACA beneficiaries.

Each of them is actively participating in our collective mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, Smith wrote.

During his campaign, Trump said he would end the program. But after taking office, he has indicated he is sympathetic to the plight of young immigrants who did not enter the country under their own volition.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

ALSO

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UPDATES:

8:20 a.m.: This article was updated to include that Uber signed the FWD.us letter.

This article was originally published at 7:55 a.m.
From film shoots to exclusive Hollywood parties, this Venice beach house has seen it all. Its owner, costume designer Susan Chevalier, has listed the breezy bungalow for $9.245 million.

The 3,023-square-foot compound, built in 1924, has been a vacation playground for Hollywood heavyweights for the last four decades  and for good reason.

Sitting 50 steps from the sand, the three-bedroom home has an open floor plan with a gourmet kitchen and beamed ceilings, perfect for entertaining elite directors and cinematographers passing through town.

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Bay windows let natural light into the living room and kitchen, which has a farmhouse sink and marble counters. An all-white winding staircase leads to a loft and patio area overlooking the ocean.

The 6,502-square-foot lot features a bougainvillea-draped yard, a three-story guest house and 10 parking spaces.

Oliver Stone shot a portion of his 1991 film The Doors, featuring Val Kilmer and Meg Ryan, on the property, and the home has also starred in commercials and television shows such as Nip/Tuck.

In addition, the bungalow has played host to Deus Ex Machina founder Dare Jennings and a Canadian special effects company that was in town for the Emmys after being nominated for their work on Game of Thrones.

Tami Pardee of Halton Pardee and Partners holds the listing.

Chevalier has worked on campaigns for Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Sony and Apple during her 40-year career.

jack.flemming@latimes.com

Twitter: @jflem94

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The massive, 36,000-acre Rancho San Rafael  a gift from the Spanish governor of California to Jose Maria Verdugo in 1784  can fairly be called the mother of Northeast Los Angeles.

The neighborhoods that were carved from the hilly, scenic expanse of land to the east of the L.A. River include Atwater Village, Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Glassell Park.

Lost by the Verdugo family in foreclosure proceedings and snapped up by Andrew Glassell and Alfred Chapman  two Southern lawyers who had made their way west in the years before the Civil War  the rancho was then split by the men into 31 separate tracts in the Great Partition of 1871.

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Glassell and Chapman ended up with fewer than 6,000 acres on the eastern banks of the rio, where the narrow alluvial plains of the Elysian Valley give way to the rolling landscape of the San Rafael Hills. Glassell built a hilltop home for himself and his family on the current site of Washington Irving Middle School and in 1888 founded the agricultural city of Orange.

When Glassell died in 1901, his family began selling off chunks of his holdings (in the 1920s they would sell the land that would become Forest Lawn), and as investors snapped up the acres they began to develop the tract that would bear his name.

Modest Craftsman bungalows began to sprout up along winding streets named after Glassells children, and in 1912 the burgeoning hillside community was annexed by the city of Los Angeles.

Because it was served by the Los Angeles Railways Eagle Rock line, the neighborhood was a convenient location for commuters who worked downtown or in the rail yards just north of the city. In 1923, the opening of the Southern Pacific Railroads Taylor Yard boosted growth in Glassell Park and further reinforced the neighborhoods ties to the railroad.

Construction of the 2 Freeway, which cut the neighborhood in two in the early 1950s, signaled a shift to the suburbs that was taking place across the city. As many earlier residents followed the freeways out into the valleys (San Fernando and San Gabriel), Glassell Park became a popular destination for newly arrived immigrants from Latin America.

Today, Glassell Park is facing the demographic changes that come in the wake of increased property values and redevelopment of its historic homes and commercial corridors.

(Angelica Quintero / @latimesgraphics)

Neighborhood highlights

Bungalow heaven: Glassell Parks charming bungalows and hillside vistas are a big draw for home buyers looking for historic character and classic California living.

Riverside: The old Taylor Yard has been transformed into Rio de Los Angeles State Park, and the citys river revitalization project aims to reclaim even more land for green space.

Good eats: In keeping with its rustic roots, Glassell Park is home to a number of eateries that serve hearty, unpretentious offerings of everything from tamales to pub fare.

Neighborhood challenge

Managing change: As the Glassell Park real estate market heats up, the neighborhood could become the latest to wrestle with managing the effects of gentrification.

Expert insight

Alyssa Valentine, a listing agent with Courtney + Kurt Real Estate, has been working in Glassell Park for 11 years. She said she has recently noticed excitement brewing in the community.

Glassell Park lacks some of the big commercial corridors of its neighbors like Highland Park and Mount Washington, so its traditionally been a sleepier area with a residential vibe, Valentine said. But as of late, there are more and more restaurants and cafes popping up.

Valentine noted that theres a wide variety of housing stock in the area. Because the value is a little better than in the surrounding neighborhoods, the market is hot.

Glassell Park has a few pockets people arent as familiar with, so buyers should seek those out and be prepared to make plenty of offers, she said.

Market snapshot

In the 90065 ZIP Code, based on 26 sales, the median sales price in July for single-family homes was $705,000, according to CoreLogic. That was a 2.8% increase in median sales price year over year.

Report card

Schools inside the boundaries include Fletcher Drive Elementary and Glassell Park Elementary, which scored 746 and 742, respectively, in the 2013 Academic Performance Index.

Bright spots in the area include Delevan Drive Elementary, which scored 915. Mount Washington Elementary scored 915, and Cerritos Elementary scored 874.

Times staff writer Jack Flemming contributed to this report.

hotproperty@latimes.com

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A firing this week by a Washington think tank has exposed the deep and often hidden influence of tech companies that are driving key governmental decisions affecting people both on and off the Internet.

On Wednesday, the New America Foundation  a think tank funded by Google as well as one of its cofounders, Eric Schmidt  ousted members of its Open Markets program, its anti-monopoly research arm, that had openly criticized the Web giants growing power. Google and New America have said this specific decision was not motivated by the groups remarks. But critics say the episode highlights the tech industrys enormous power to set the terms of public debate in the nations capital.

The funding of think tanks is just one way Silicon Valley is quietly expanding its influence in Washington.

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A Washington Post analysis shows just how broad tech companies political interests have become. According to corporate disclosures that were submitted to the Senate Office of Public Records and screened by the Center for Responsive Politics, some of these tech giants are regularly setting records in their spending on lobbying and are pushing as many as 100 issues  or more  every year. The proliferation of issues in tech companies lobbying portfolio helps illustrate the industrys growing influence on everyday consumer life.

To take one example, Amazon.com Inc.'s earliest lobbying efforts in 2008 focused on just a handful of issues, including electronic payments, the taxation of online sales and consumer product safety  all matters that deal directly with Amazons core business as an e-commerce company. (Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post.)

But that portfolio soon grew in accordance with Amazons sprawling business interests: By 2010, as hacking and data theft was on the rise, the Seattle company had begun lobbying on cybersecurity issues; in 2012, its lobbyists began addressing international postal regulations. A year later, it expanded again to consider online wine sales and flying drones. As it moved into streaming music and mobile apps, Amazon added copyright issues and music licensing to its filings, as well as mobile payments processing.

Most analyses of corporate lobbying focus on spending. And its true that Silicon Valley has devoted ever-increasing amounts of money to lobbying over the last decade. This summer, Google reported that it spent more than ever before on lobbying in a single quarter  joining Uber, Amazon and Apple Inc., which also set new spending records. Googles latest report reflected as much as a 40% increase from the same period last year  a giant jump in spending.

But as many longtime Washington hands can attest, lobbying involves much more than simply throwing money at a problem, which is why analyzing the range of issues a company lobbies on can be just as informative. It provides an indication of a companys policy priorities, and evidence of how a companys strategy is evolving over time.

The rapid proliferation of issues in Ubers lobbying portfolio closely tracks its rise as a transportation and technology behemoth. Its earliest reports, from 2013, disclose the San Francisco companys outreach on innovation in the transportation marketplace. But as Uber faced mounting questions about how it classified its drivers as contractors, not employees, it started to tell government officials more about its self-described role as a job creator and contributor to highway safety. By 2016 it was lobbying on the defense budget and issues related to its drivers access to military bases; this year, it added self-driving cars to the list.

Google  whose parent company is Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet Inc.  may have begun as a narrowly focused search engine whose earliest priorities in Washington were limited to issues such as spyware and online pharmacies. But by 2009, as it ramped up its investments in YouTube and moonshot projects, Google was meeting with officials on patents and copyright, as well as geothermal and other renewable energies.

Google made no mention of surveillance in its lobbying disclosures leading up to summer 2013, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden uncovered details of the NSAs massive spying apparatus. But by that October, Google began routinely lobbying on issues related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and national security orders, the secret, controversial government demands for user data.

Facebook Inc. began as a social network for college students, and its earliest lobbying disclosures in 2009 list only a handful of issues, including information security, privacy and the international regulation of software. But as the Menlo Park, Calif., company expanded into a global media platform, so did its priorities on Capitol Hill. By 2012, Facebook was lobbying elected officials and federal agencies on freedom of expression and childrens privacy. And the companys expanding business interests were present too, on issues such as online advertising and high-tech worker visas.

Facebook started lobbying on issues tied to terrorism in spring 2015, tracking the rising profile of the Islamic State group. Throughout the year, the social network met with federal officials as lawmakers urged social media companies to play a larger role reporting extremist content on their networks. Since the first terrorism-related lobbying disclosure, Facebook and other tech platforms have become more assertive in policing speech not just from violent, extremist groups abroad, but also from hate groups with followings in the United States.

These lobbying shifts paint the portrait of an industry that has evolved from its early days of providing new and relatively self-contained services into enormous, market-dominating behemoths that touch almost every aspect of our modern existence.

Amazon, Apple and Uber declined to comment. Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fung and Shaban write for the Washington Post.
The idea that artistic geniuses were generally men was a hard one to shake in the 1970s, especially in Mexico. Enter a generation of Mexican women who helped bust those preconceptions wide open with work that pushed the boundaries of both materials and subject matter.

Those women  along with women from across Latin America  are the focus of the exhibition Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-85, which opens at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on Sept. 15.

Early this spring, The Times gathered a group of the shows Mexican artists at the home and studio of artist Monica Mayer in Mexico City for a wide-ranging discussion. The lineup included Mayer, a key Mexican feminist artist, as well as printmaker Carla Rippey, and photographers Lourdes Grobet and Ana Victoria Jimenez. Joining the discussion were historians Karen Cordero and Julia Antivilo Pena, who have contributed essays to the exhibition catalog.

Separately, I interviewed artists Maris Bustamante (who, with Mayer, established the iconic feminist collective Polvo de Gallina Negra) and Magali Lara, an artist known for her intimate assemblages exploring aspects of female sexuality.

In this edited oral history, they discuss what the Mexican art scene was like when they first emerged, the controversial nature of identifying as feminist, and the ways in which their works helped evolve the art of the time. Plus, theres that one fiery anecdote about a dozen bored university students and a handful of firecrackers.

A political tradition

Monica Mayer: I think you have to understand that Mexican art has a long tradition of political art  a very long tradition. [In the 1970s] art was collective and it was political  at a time when practices such as performance, installation, ephemeral art, all of those things  became more prominent.

Artist Monica Mayer is a key Mexican feminist artist. (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Mexico, not Europe, first

Magali Lara: In school, it was all about technique, about formal qualities, about the connection to Western ideas about the universal. But it was my generation that said, We live here. Why talk about Mexico if everything we have to do focuses on European thinking? It was a period in Mexico in which anthropological studies were very strong, and there was this whole recuperation of indigenous culture  not as something of the past, but of the present.

The male mindset

Carla Rippey: Among los grupos [the collectives that became popular in Mexican art in the 70s], I think they did function as collectives. But the men were generally thought of as the leaders. I was in the grupo Peyote y la Compania, and it was always seen as being led by Adolfo Patino  even though I organized as many things as he did. But people saw him as the leader and the rest of us as the group. It was very typical.

Artist Carla Rippey, who is also the director of La Esmeralda, Mexicos National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Yes, women paint

Magali Lara: I was at the Academy of San Carlos [now part of the National Autonomous University, known as UNAM]. We used to have these discussions which today would be considered absolutely ridiculous, but back then were very serious. Wed talk about whether women could or couldnt be painters because of our maternal qualities, and how women were good students but not good creators. This idea that we were very docile and easily influenced  thats how they treated us.

Breaking the feminist stigma

Maris Bustamante: I remember Monica and I decided to establish a feminist art group. So we organized a meeting. We invited like 50 or 60 women: curators, writers, sculptors, illustrators  everyone! We had coffee and cookies. And everyone told us they didnt want to be in the group.

They gave several reasons. One was, I dont have a problem being a woman artist. Some said, I dont want to have any problems exhibiting because as it is, its hard enough. The galleries were run principally by men. The word feminist, it created this conflict.

RELATED: How Mexico's super rudas 'Radical Women' are rewriting the history of Latin American art 

The libber label

Carla Rippey: In the 1970s, nobody liked to say feminist  even in the United States. They would say womens libbers, which sounds terrible. Not even womens liberation. It was womens libbers.

La edad de las ilusiones (The Age of Illusions), 1984, by Carla Rippey. (Monica Mayer and Victor Lerma)

Lucha liberation

Lourdes Grobet: I always questioned the whole concept of feminism because I always felt as if it was imported from Europe or the United States. Its a word that struck me as very middle class. And this issue of the influence of European culture, Ive always been wary of that. Mexican women are different, and especially Mexican rural women. So its another context. Thats why Ive been dedicated to things like lucha libre [Mexican wrestling] instead of keeping my eye on whats happening in Paris. All of my colleagues were always in Paris.

La Venus, 1981-82, by Lourdes Grobet, from the series La Doble Lucha. (Collection of Lourdes Grobet)

White and bourgeois?

Monica Mayer: Since the 70s people have repeated the idea that feminism is white and bourgeois  even feminists themselves. And that overlooks a whole other struggle, which is the struggle between women and the left.

Legitimacy

Julia Antivilo Pena: Thats what the left used to say, that it was bourgeois, in order to delegitimize the movement.  But in the 70s, and even before then, there was a feminist movement here.

Feminist congress

Karen Cordero: Mexico has had a feminist movement since the 19th century  and a very visible one. The first feminist congress in Mexico took place in 1916, in Yucatan, and since then, there has been visibility for feminism in Mexico.

Historian Karen Cordero, who contributed an essay to the Hammer Museums catalog for Radical Women. (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Making babies

Ana Victoria Jimenez: Its very complicated. Weve always gotten into this discussion. Whether it was good feminism because it came from England in the 1800s or bad feminism because it came out of U.S. imperialism in the 1900s. And that has separated us a lot.

There were things about the leftist movements of the 1970s that I was not in agreement with. They were not in favor of abortion, because they wanted children for the revolution: the concept of a parir madres Latinas [a 20th century leftist hymn that encouraged women to give birth to future revolutionaries].

A parir madres, frankly, used to make my hair stand on end. You are fighting for independence, for the liberation of women, for a dignified life  and someone comes along to tell us that if were not good at making babies, then you dont count. Those concepts from the 70s, to me, were really problematic.

Photographer Ana Victoria Jimenez Alvarez has documented countless feminist happenings in Mexico. (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Diego 50, Frida 20

Magali Lara: In 76 or 77, I showed these drawings that showed objects like scissors and cameras having these somewhat sexual interactions with bits of text. And it was chaos because it was made by a woman. They also werent paintings, they were drawings. In the gallery, they would erase my name and write whore and dirty in place of the wall text. It was a huge surprise.

My generation was a big fan of Frida Kahlo because she was using herself as a subject, commenting on the subjectivity of the body. She used paint in a European way but painted indigenous forms. She had this aspect that was very high culture but also very populist. It was a real mix of things. This was when nobody went to Fridas museum. We were the only ones who went. And there was one book about Frida Kahlo, which was 20 pages about Frida and 50 about Diego [Rivera].

Ventanas [Windows], 1977-78, by Magali Lara. (Acervo Museo de Arte Moderno. / INBA-Secretaria de Cultura, Mexico City) (Acervo Museo de Arte Moderno. / INBA-Secretaria de Cultura, Mex)

The taco patent

Monica Mayer: From 75 on we were making works of feminist art. And in 1977, the exhibition Collage Intimo [Intimate Collage] was held, which was the first self-described show of feminist art.

In 83, Maris and I formed the collective Polvo de Gallina Negra, and our idea was that we would make a public art, and that it should be public in the most massive way possible. We had an opportunity to present on television because Guillermo Ochoa [who hosted a television talk show] approached Maris after hearing that she had patented the taco. She had done a conceptual piece where she patented the taco  she was listed as its intellectual author. It caught his eye, and so we did a performance.

Firecracker discipline

Maris Bustamante: The lectures that Monica and I gave, we talked about the work of women artists and recuperating the work of women artists who had died. And we always appeared wearing an apron  because people always said, Women in the kitchen. So we would come from the proverbial kitchen to the stage.

There was one event, when the students found out what the theme of the talk was, like 12 of them got up to leave. I was always prepared. In my apron, I carried all kinds of things: pingpong balls and water pistols. I had these little firecrackers. You throw them, and they make a pop. So these 12 or 15 young people stand up, and I grab the firecrackers, and I throw them on the table, and they explode perfectly. And I say, From a lecture on feminist art, nobody leaves! It was a joke. But the students sat back down. We laughed so hard.

Maris Bustamante, left, and Monica Mayer, center, staged performances that made it onto TV talk shows, such as A Brazo Partido, from 1983-84. (Collection of Monica Mayer and Victor Lerma)

A striptease scandal

Lourdes Grobet: I remember a piece that I did on a tour with other women artists. I organized a striptease. I do a striptease, but I dont take off my clothes. I had photographed myself doing a striptease, and I go removing the photos, and I end up nude in the photos. You dont even know how much that irritated people. In San Cristobal, it was a scandal.

Afterwards, I was invited to a colloquium on photography in Pachuca, and I presented the striptease. My photographer colleagues were horrified. Someone asked me, Do you have children? And I said, Yes! Four. [Laughs.] They were horrified that I had shown myself nude like that.

Photographer Lourdes Grobet, left, and historian Julia Antivilo Pena. (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Turning the tables on soft-core

Carla Rippey: I worked a lot with the female nude. I would take images of Victorian soft-core porn but try to re-imagine them from the point of view of the woman  of the pleasure they felt. I made other types of works, too. Some of the feminists had problems with my work. They would say things like, What are you trying to do? Is this feminism or not?

Internalizing art

Karen Cordero: Feminism in Mexico hasnt gotten very close to art. At the feminist study program at the Colegio de Mexico at UNAM, the thing that has least been internalized is art.

An image from the series Cuaderno de tareas (Assignment book), 1978-81, by Ana Victoria Jimenez. (Ana Victoria Jimenez)

Mythbusters

Magali Lara: I think what Radical Women is doing is very important. It will eliminate a lot of myths about contemporary Latin American art. In the European view of art, the Latin Americans who were there, who were part of some of these very important movements, are often missing. Well, in the Latin American view of art, the women who were also there  from the beginning  are also missing. Its important to show it.

The post-35 drop-off

Carla Rippey: There has been change. The current minister of culture is a woman. The head of the Palace of Fine Arts is a woman. But you still see some of the same problems. The womens portfolios are excellent  as good or better than the men. But once everyone reaches 35 years of age, when careers are taking shape and artists are being considered for fellowships and grants, the women fall off. Thats something that we still need to understand.

The women behind Radical Women gather for a roundtable discussion in Mexico City at the home and studio of Monica Mayer. (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times) (Susana Gonzalez / For The Times)

Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985

Where: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles

When: Sept. 15 to Dec. 31

Info: hammer.ucla.edu

carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah

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Argentine slums and a Unabomber cabin: How 'Home' at LACMA rethinks ideas about Latin American art
The electric-yellow facade of the soon-to-debut Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, has brought a bolt of color  not to mention some action  to an industrial pocket of the downtown Arts District. This afternoon, a crew is digging in the courtyard, filling the air with sand, while museum workers stream in and out of a temporary side entrance.

Inside the former warehouse, a scissor lift cuts through the unfinished lobby, sharp with the smell of fresh paint, while workers configure custom furniture and pry open crates of art.

Just look at this. Isnt it wild? museum Director Elsa Longhauser says, breathy. She languidly spins a quarter turn, taking in the view. Its really a moment.

After a journey of more than two years, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, once in the Bergamot Station arts complex, will open to the public Sept. 9 as ICA LA. Longhauser leads The Times on an early tour of the building, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of the Culver City firm wHY. The inaugural exhibition features the late Mexican outsider artist Martin Ramirez in the main gallery, an airy space with a double bow truss ceiling; a project room will have a sculptural installation by New York artist Abigail DeVille, and the courtyard will have a three-dimensional painting by L.A. artist Sarah Cain. Opening weekend activities include tours in Spanish and English and a musical performance by the L.A.-based Los Jornaleros del Norte (The Day Laborers of the North).

Given all this activity, ICA LAs signature color, that electric yellow, seems especially fitting.

We want this to be an active space, crackling with energy, Longhauser says. This is such a vibrant urban community, and were part of the streetscape.

Art preparer Brendan Leech unpacks work by Martin Ramirez for the inaugural exhibit of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in the downtown Arts District. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The free institution is the newest addition to Los Angeles rapidly expanding museum landscape. The Broad opened in late 2015 across the street from downtowns Museum of Contemporary Art. The Main Museum, also downtown, debuted quietly in October. The Marciano Art Foundation opened this May in a former Masonic temple on Wilshire Boulevard near Koreatown. And the future looks even more culturally crowded: In Exposition Park, George Lucas  $1-billion Museum of Narrative Art is aiming for a 2021 debut. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art s $600-million makeover is scheduled to break ground next year.

And that doesnt include the relatively new Hauser & Wirth gallery, which is museum-like in its size and ambition, or the Hammer Museum, which this year announced its own expansion on the Westside.

But how much contemporary art can Los Angeles sustain before its institutions begin chipping away at one anothers audiences?

I dont think you can have too many contemporary art institutions, Longhauser says. All of the institutions in the neighborhood are different. Here you get a very active, ever-changing, very up-to-date curatorial perspective that can also be experimental. Its much more intimate.

Were a Kunsthalle, she adds, citing the German word for art hall, the kind of flexible exhibition space popular in Europe. We dont have a permanent collection of art. Were a collection of ideas.

Longhauser strolls into the main gallery, where Ramirezs framed drawings  psychedelic depictions of train cars, tunnels and cowboys on horses  rest on the ground, waiting to be hung. Its a respite from the lobby hubbub. Sublime, Longhauser says. She steps into a beam of sunlight under a skylight, surveying the space with glassy eyes, as in disbelief. ICA LAs journey here has been an intense adventure, she says.

The 33-year-old institution had been at Bergamot Station for 17 years. After disagreements over Bergamots redevelopment  or lack thereof  and a rent increase, the museum shut its doors in May 2015 and its three remaining employees moved into temporary offices in Century City, calling themselves SMMoA Unbound.

That gave us time to think, to plan, to determine how to go forward, Longhauser says.

It retained about half its board members, she says. The organization began searching for a new home and, as it wasnt tethered to Santa Monica anymore, a new identity. New board member Yuval Bar-Zemer of Linear City Development brought the 12,700-square-foot downtown warehouse space to Longhausers attention and the newly named ICA LA  staffed up and equipped with a logo by artist Mark Bradford  embarked on a $5-million campaign for building renovations and its first year of operating costs and programming. Its about 2% away from reaching that goal, Longhauser says.

Were in a state right now, politically, where we have to harness as much creative energy and intellectual energy as possible.  Curator Jamillah James on the political role of artists and curators

Last year, ICA LA hired Jamillah James, an assistant curator from the Hammer who had been a curatorial fellow at the Studio Museum in Harlem before that. As of fall 2018, ICA LA will reflect her full curatorial vision. A primary goal, she says  in addition to engaging the neighborhood and giving shows to local artists who may have been overlooked by L.A.s cultural institutions  is creating ambitious exhibitions by artists who address todays turbulent political climate.

Were in a state right now, politically, where we have to harness as much creative energy and intellectual energy as possible to address the issues were facing collectively. Were sliding backwards in a way thats really alarming in this country right now, James says. And we need to foreground the smartest and brightest and most creative [people] to push against that. Artists are well positioned to do that with the perspective they offer.

James has 7,500 square feet to work with, almost double the exhibition space of SMMoA. Martin Ramirez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation, which Longhauser curated before James arrival, includes about 50 works by the artist, who in 1931 was a migrant laborer in Northern California when he was picked up, placed in a mental institution and diagnosed with schizophrenia. Over about 30 years of institutionalization, he created art on the backs of doctors reports, examining-table paper, envelopes and crushed paper cups.

After having been very hastily diagnosed  or misdiagnosed, we dont know, because the doctor didnt speak Spanish and he didnt speak English  in spite of that, or maybe because of the very difficult circumstances under which he lived, he became an artist, Longhauser says.

Elsa Longhauser looking at one of the works by Martin Ramirez. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The show, which includes an 18-foot-long, never-before-exhibited scroll that ICA LA had conserved, aims to present Ramirez in a new light. Many works are smaller abstract pieces depicting Ramirezs repetitive line work and giving voice to his creative process. I wanted to focus on Ramirez the artist, Longhauser says. Its a show about his evolution and his incredible artistic facility.

Its the artists first solo show in Southern California and the museums offering for the Gettys Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative. Its about immigration, a timely topic, and it touches on the power of art to sustain the spirit, something Longhauser says she knows about.

Sitting on a yellow and gray bench, Ramirezs works strewn around her, Longhauser lets out a little sigh.

Ramirezs determination and his ability to charge through all kinds of difficulties and obstacles in order to fulfill his creative vision, I do feel aligned with that, she says.

Going from one place in Santa Monica and figuring out how to end with grace and honor and then reinvent yourself and move forward in a new state of evolution  finding a building, getting a lease, raising $5 million, convincing people they should support it  its a big deal. We did it in a very short time, and its required a lot of work. But failure was not an option.

         

ICA-LA

Where: 1717 E. 7th St., L.A.

When: Opening weekend celebration runs 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 9-10. Ongoing hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Wed.  Fri.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat.-Sun.

Cost: Free

Info: www.theicala.org

deborah.vankin@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @debvankin
When he signed on to direct Blade Runner 2049, which hits theaters Oct. 6, Denis Villeneuve was determined to carry on the groundbreaking aesthetic of director Ridley Scotts original 1982 neo-noir sci-fi thriller. At the same time, he didnt want to create a mere replica  or replicant, as the case may be.

The movie we did is deeply inspired by the first movie, but we tried not to become a pastiche or parody, says the French Canadian director behind such films as Arrival and Sicario. We used elements from the first movie with humility and tried to find a strength in them. But this movie has its own personality.

Adapted from Philip K. Dicks 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Scotts original film  the tale of hard-bitten cop Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who hunts down renegade androids  has cast a large shadow over the pop culture landscape with its gritty, haunting cyberpunk rendering of a dystopian Los Angeles. Set three decades later, after the events of the first movie, the sequel centers on a young LAPD blade runner (Ryan Gosling) who uncovers a secret that leads him on a quest to find Deckard.

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 A new blade runner, played by Ryan Gosling, discovers a secret that could plunge whats left of society into chaos. The discovery leads him on a quest to find a former blade runner, played by Harrison Ford, who has been missing for 30 years.

FULL COVERAGE: Fall 2017 movie preview 

Working alongside cinematographer Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner, Villeneuve, 49, sought to bring the world of Scotts seminal classic back to life while pushing it visually in new directions. Here, Villeneuve walks us through the film, one scene at a time.

Ubiquitous advertising was a recurring visual feature of the original Blade Runner, and Villeneuve picks up that motif in this scene, as Goslings Officer K gazes at (and is gazed at by) an immense holographic ad. We constructed the bridge on the set, filled the stage with rain and fog, and we projected the actress on that gigantic screen, Villeneuve says. So the impact of the light is all real  its not something created by a computer.

Gassner was responsible for the production design on Blade Runner 2049, but for this scene, in which Officer K looks out at a ruined cityscape, Villeneuve worked with original Blade Runner concept artist Syd Mead. For me, it was important to have one moment where Syd Mead would express himself, he says. I had the chance to meet the master and ask him to give me the gift to create a specific place. And when I saw his drawings, I was so moved.

Officer K sits behind the wheel of his futuristic police cruiser, known as a spinner. We had a few different vehicles  some were used for flight and others to drive, Villeneuve says. I love science fiction, but I never thought as a filmmaker that Id have the joy to construct cars from the future like that.

Officer K walks past cramped boxes in which some of the citys poorest residents live, an idea inspired by real-life Hong Kong low-income housing units called coffin cubicles. Part of L.A. is in ruins and doesnt have power anymore, and there are a lot of refugees coming from eastern Asia and Russia, Villeneuve says. To have your own apartment is a big luxury, and there are a lot of people living in boxes.

Actress Sylvia Hoeks, who plays a character called Luv, looks into a retinal scanner alongside Goslings Officer K. The image of the eye was very important in Ridley Scotts universe and those elements are in 2049 as well, Villeneuve says. Theres the cliche that the eyes are windows of the soul, and were dealing with replicants who dont have a soul.

For Villeneuve, shown here on the set, it was critically important to incorporate real, tangible props, like this table with decanters and cocktails, with which the actors could interact. At the end of the day, the actors need realism around them to be inspired, the director says. They can go deeper into the scene and deeper into the psyche of the character if they dont have to deal with a fake glass on a fake table.

In the original Blade Runner, Fords Deckard was constantly soaked by rain, but in the new film, the weather is much less predictable. In the intervening years, the climate has gone berserk due to rampant pollution, turning Los Angeles into a chilly, desolate place. As much as the first movie had an atmosphere of constant rain, in this one it would be colder, the director says. Basically, you could say that the first movie was made by a man from London, England, and the second one was made by someone from Montreal, Canada.

With the new Blade Runner, Villeneuve wanted to carry forward the neo-noir aesthetic of the original film, with stark, dramatic lighting as in this scene featuring Gosling and Ford. Its a world that is quite bleak and dark and claustrophobic, but I tried to find an equilibrium with explosions of color that would express some emotions and some themes, he says. The color yellow is very important in the movie and is linked with different aspects, story-wise. 

With Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve was determined to keep the production as old school as he could, putting his cast onto real sets, like this building through which K and Deckard are running. The first question Ryan asked me was, Will we do the whole movie in front of green screen? he says. You need to allow the space for the actors to find new ideas on the set  and those ideas are not coming in front of a green screen. For me, I understand the power of it, but I hate it.

Villeneuve, shown here in front of one of the films spinners, says trying to revive and expand the sci-fi universe that Scott created 35 years ago is by far the biggest artistic challenge hes ever undertaken. My respect and admiration for Ridley Scott cannot be higher than now after having done this movie, he says. From a design point of view, he is a genius. Once you try to do it yourself, you realize how difficult what he did is.

This story is part of The Times fall 2017 movie preview. Check out the complete coverage here.

josh.rottenberg@latimes.com

Twitter: @joshrottenberg

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The rope tugs and Robert Vargas is hoisted with brushes and paint to the unfinished face of a child. Lips, nose, chin, she begins to bloom from the side of a building. An eye, five stories up, gleams. She is the color of clay and earth and soon she will be complete, looking over the homeless, glancing at rich girls and Escalades, peeking across the skyline toward the ocean.

Hey, man, someone yells from below. You painted that, right?

Vargas nods.

Its good, man.

The voice disappears down the alley. Vargas, suspended on a rig for high-rise window washers, turns back to the mural that is coming to life on a 12-story apartment building across from Pershing Square in downtown L.A.. When hes done later this year, the canvas, 60,000 square feet of wall and windows, will tell the tale of the city with images of the L.A. River, Gustavo Dudamel, indigenous Tongva Indians, an ancient sycamore and three bright-winged angels.

Im starting to build a relationship with the wall, Vargas, who began his work weeks ago, said beneath a spattered straw hat. Im in beast-mode now.

Robert Vargas says he will continue painting every day for the next two months. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) Robert Vargas. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) Robert Vargas. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) Robert Vargas says he will continue painting his mural on the corner of 5th and Hill streets every day for the next two months. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times)

Rising from Venice Beach to Little Tokyo, murals are vivid narratives of the city, montages of politics, identity, civil rights and surrealness that portray characters including Che Guevara, Marilyn Monroe, Filipino farmworkers and the restored Anthony Quinn at the old Victor Clothing Co. They are compressed and towering, shining from brick walls and car washes, glimmering in alleys. Many murals began appearing at least a half-century ago as part of the Mexican American heritage movement; they were banned for a decade, and have been undergoing a resurgence since 2013.

Born to a roofer and a onetime cashier at Cliftons, Vargas, who grew up in a Victorian in Boyle Heights, is a mercurial son of the city. Hes a skilled self-promoter known for portraits and street art, including the Our Lady of DTLA mural at 6th and Spring streets. Vargas at his essence is a populist, an artist who sees in Los Angeles the roots of self and the rebirth of a neglected historic core, where as a child he hopped in his fathers car and rolled past dressed-up crowds and faces peeking from the architecture around the old movie palaces on Broadway.

My grandmother used to come to downtown to see James Brown and Little Stevie Wonder at the Million Dollar Theater. Some of my relatives were involved in the Zoot Suit riots, he said. Boyle Heights gave me a clear sight line to the downtown skyline. Downtown always loomed very large in my periphery. I think because of that I was destined to draw big and paint big.

Downtown always loomed very large in my periphery. I think because of that I was destined to draw big and paint big.  Robert Vargas

Vargas was an early supporter of the monthly Downtown Art Walks, crouching over canvases on a sidewalk and sketching portraits of hipsters, homeless, tourists and other passersby. He does about 800 portraits a year, including those in his show at Sur le Mur Gallery at the Pacific Design Center, where he drew actor William H. Macy as a crowd gathered. His Our Lady of DTLA summons the spirit of a reawakened city under the gaze of a vigilant heroine.

She says, This is my downtown. I protect and I welcome, said Vargas, who used four models for the face. I painted her in black and white as a nod to historic architecture, and the halo of gold metallic is a nod to religious icons. Shes got light eyes but dark hair. And without being in full color, she becomes much more universal.

Vargas new mural near Pershing Square, called Angelus to symbolize unity, is a few blocks from Our Lady of DTLA. They represent the story of a painter and his city, a piecing together of art and history in an evolving aesthetic that is at once singular and shared. It is happening as downtowns borders are increasingly blurred, and the much-talked-about renaissance edges into skid row and once abandoned neighborhoods that are now home to galleries, clubs, curious fashions, food trucks and valet parking.

At night downtown L.A., especially around Spring Street, can feel like a scattering of overlapping worlds. Cranes go silent, construction workers head home and, as dusk slips to dark, movie crews appear amid clubbers, musicians, celebrities, Hare Krishnas banging tin cymbals, scents of perfume and dope, and the dispossessed, talking to themselves and wandering through what seems a strange carnival of incongruities.

The city center is being rediscovered, said Vargas, who has trips planned to Europe and Asia as part of his Paint the World series that includes exhibits and murals. Buildings are being brought back to their glory. L.A. is becoming an art capital that rivals New York, Paris and London. It is entering this creative golden age not just in visual arts but in fashion, music and performance. Were New York in the early 80s, were Paris at the turn of the last century.

Isabel Rojas-Williams, an expert on murals who has known Vargas since he was a boy, said, Robert is one of the artists from the younger generation who is making downtown Los Angeles what it is. As a teenager, he had skill and ambition to be what he is today. His ability to create portraits of people in minutes is amazing. She added that Vargas is a master marketer, often inviting musicians and actors to his events.

When youre a muralist, she said, you have to have a big personality.

Robert Vargas examines his new mural from Pershing Square. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times)

A Man About Town

Vargas is compact, his brushstrokes quick. He often ties his hair up under a black hat, giving him the air of a man whos just heard an intriguing bit of news.

With a battered, paint-speckled smartphone, he scrolls through Instagram and is keen to the difference between flash and relevance. He fills every hour, leaving his downtown loft and disappearing across sidewalks. His sense of humor comes with a wink. At a sushi restaurant he was told by a companion to go ahead and eat and not wait: Its not like itll get cold, he said.

A onetime booking agent at the Conga Room, where he got to know Jennifer Lopez , Jimmy Smits and the Buena Vista Social Club, he hosted a Star Wars event downtown last year with Lucas Films and Disney that featured 300 artists and animators re-imagining Stormtrooper helmets. In 2010, he started the Red Zebra  a collision of art, music, dance and performance  held at the Crocker Club, a converted 1920s bank on Spring Street.

Robert Vargas poses in front of his Our Lady of DTLA wall mural at 6th and Spring streets in 2013. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent night, past a security guard smoking a cigar and The Maltese Falcon playing on a TV above the bar, the club was reminiscent of an Andy Warhol party: a guitar band played hallucinogenic chords, two dancers pranced in furry boots, a punk-rock geisha glided by a dreadlocked tattoo artist, a Joan Didion look-alike whispered to a friend, and a woman wearing not much except Christmas lights greeted guests until she got restless, unplugged herself and went for a drink.

What were doing here, Vargas said as he knelt before a canvas to sketch a woman, is opening up the creative process. The crowd pressed in. Its not so much what the person looks like but the path of discovery we both take while Im creating the portrait, he had said earlier. The silent dialogues that come when I am painting someone are the most captivating for me. Im painting more than a likeness of someones face. Im painting their essence.

Vargas, who studied at Pratt Institute in New York, began drawing as a boy. When he was in the sixth grade, he won a citywide art contest sponsored by the DARE program to celebrate drug-free lives. His collage, including a self portrait, was picked to hang in Mayor Tom Bradleys office. When he was 16 and 17 two of his murals were featured in the lobby of Wells Fargo theater in the Autry Museum.

His influences often emanated from Boyle Heights and Jewish, Japanese, African American and Latino neighbors. A lot of inspiration was coming from these cultures as well as the muralists of the Chicano movement of the 60s and early 80s. But the neighborhoods changed a bit now, its predominately more Mexican, he said. Boyle Heights, traditionally an Ellis Island for newcomers, has now become a flashpoint in a racially tinged battle against gentrification.

It went from no walls to lets put up a wall and not let anyone in, said Vargas, who painted the mural of a mariachi on Eastside Luv bar in Boyle Heights. I didnt grow up in a neighborhood that felt like that.

Before starting the Angelus mural, Vargas invited Gabrielino-Tongva tribal chairman Bernie Acu n a to bless the site as a gesture to the citys first settlers. The federal and state governments are trying to dilute the blood of the Tongva so we no longer exist, said Acuna. Things like what Robert is doing are amazing for our tribe. Hes letting people see the real history of Los Angeles.

Vargas is suspended above the traffic most days, brushing and swirling paint against the wall. He uses no grids, no sketched patterns, only images on a phone he consults from time to time to make sure an eye is just right, a chin sharp enough. He stands no more than 12 inches from the wall  cans of paint at his feet  as if a man searching for fixed points or apparitions on an open sea.

Robert Vargas new mural as seen from Pershing Square. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times) (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times)

He climbed down the other day and walked across the street to study his handiwork. A half-finished Tongva child stared back at him. She seemed to float. Shes the anchor, he said. A pyramid will rise over her and the mural will spread in all directions. On the Spring Equinox, the sun will cast light and shadows on a sequence of images, including three angels and the Los Angeles River, in a metaphor of rebirth.

The mural will greet those driving in from the west or ascending the escalator from the Metro. Standing between the old city and the new, it is a marker, a testament to the layers that shape and change a place. Its tapestry of characters will rise above the ramblings of the homeless, the vapes of hipsters and the sons and daughters of immigrants hustling for buses. But not yet. There are faces to finish.

Voices of the City

This is one in a series of stories profiling those who create and shape the artistic landscape of Los Angeles  and have been shaped by the city themselves.

Twitter: @JeffreyLAT

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com
Sieranevada, Cristi Puius nonsensically titled, formally accomplished and richly engrossing new movie, unfolds during a dour family gathering in a cramped apartment in Bucharest, Romania. The date is Jan. 10, 2015, roughly a quarter-century after the fall of the countrys communist dictatorship, 14 years after the Sept. 11 attacks and just three days after the shooting rampage at the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, to name a few of the historical convulsions referenced over an afternoon of lively squabbling.

The purpose of the occasion, however, is to commemorate an altogether more mundane tragedy. Forty days have passed since the death of an elderly patriarch named Emil Mirica, and his relatives have met to consecrate his clothes and other possessions  an Orthodox ceremony whose air of forced solemnity hardly constricts the natural flow of bickersome chatter and unruly emotions.

Puiu, as is his custom, does not appear to orchestrate the proceedings so much as observe them, with a sustained intensity that gradually becomes nothing short of spellbinding.

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The sole Los Angeles theatrical showing of Sieranevada will be held at the Downtown Independent on Saturday  a credit to the efforts of the Acropolis Cinema screening series, but also a testament to the lamentable state of foreign-language film distribution in this country. A nearly three-hour talkfest that plays out in something close to real time may sound daunting on paper, but if you can make it past the opening shot, you will find yourself gripped for the duration.

For seven minutes the camera watches from an unblinking distance as a man slowly steers his car down a busy, jammed street, looking for a temporary parking space while his wife drops off their young daughter at a home nearby. What follows is the sort of everyday logistical frustration that will be immediately recognizable to anyone whos ever had to juggle errands, bad tempers and worse traffic, and it neatly establishes Puius preferred method of staging, which amounts to a virtuoso exercise in crowd control.

By the time the man, a doctor named Lary (Mimi Branescu), and his wife, Laura (Catalina Moga), arrive at the memorial, Emils old apartment is already bustling with activity. The cinematographer, Barbu Balasoiu, likes to plant the camera in the middle of a room or hallway and send it spinning left or right on its axis, as if it were an unseen guest whose gaze were continually being redirected by some fresh source of dramatic interest.

From time to time we catch sight of a baby being cared for behind a succession of quickly opening and closing doors. Larys younger sister, Sandra (Judith State), slaves away in the kitchen while their mother, Nusa (Dana Dogaru), rules over the proceedings with practiced testiness. To single out more of the characters individually would seem almost inappropriate, not because they arent vivid screen presences (they are), but because they so seamlessly achieve the hectic, sprawling intimacy and spontaneity of a family unit in motion. This is ensemble acting of a remarkably high order.

Lary, a genial, hulking bear of a man, acts as something of a stabilizing force under these circumstances, a human anchor around which gossip swirls and a few subplots develop. There are disruptive visits from not one but two unexpected guests. The food that Sandra is preparing is left to sit out, unconsumed, as the Miricas wait and wait for a priest, who must confer his blessings on the apartment before the meal can begin.

This particular complication turns Sieranevada into something of a wry Eastern European riff on The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luis Bunuels classic 1972 satire about a dinner party that is forever being comically and perhaps cosmically forestalled. Bunuel was a gifted surrealist and a sharp critic of organized religion, neither of which quite applies to Puiu, a committed realist who seems genuinely curious about Gods place in the 21st-century world. In this film he doesnt seem to be skewering spiritual belief so much as the ease with which it can calcify into hollow, self-serving pieties.

Religion, an object of insincere devotion and sincere contempt, is one of many subjects that come in for serious debate during the sharp, darkly funny and wide-ranging conversations that make up the bulk of Sieranevada. As the talk veers from a young mans elaborate 9/11 conspiracy theories to an older womans repellent glamorization of life under the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the film becomes both an acerbic essay on the subjectivity of truth and a multigenerational microcosm of Romanian society. But even to describe it in these terms, much as they may suggest the complexity and fair-mindedness of Puius filmmaking, is to risk bleeding the movie of its thorny, unpredictable verve.

This is a gentler but no less exacting picture than Puius 2006 masterpiece, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which turned a sick mans final hours into a scalding indictment of a broken society. But like that movie, as well as Cristian Mungius exceptional recent Graduation, it speaks to the creative vigor and vitality of the films that have emerged from Romania over more than a decade, even if Puius particular genius cant be explained by the trends and traditions of one national cinema alone.

Above all, his is an art of rigorous, under-the-glass scrutiny that somehow escapes its own sense of entrapment. In Sieranevada, a simple shot of an apartments gloomy interior contains the ever-present scars of a nations cruel history, even as the characters breathing, talking, laughing and raging within those walls suggest the promise of a still-unwritten future.

------------

Sieranevada

In Romanian with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 2 hours, 53 minutes

Where: Downtown Independent, Los Angeles

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: $12

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

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justin.chang@latimes.com

@JustinCChang
The off-screen drama around Tulip Fever and its much-delayed release threatens to tarnish the film before audiences see a single frame. However, director Justin Chadwicks movie is neither the disaster the Weinstein Co.s strategy portends nor the masterpiece the studio would have hoped for with its period setting, strong cast and script by Tom Stoppard from Deborah Moggachs novel. Instead, its simply a minor mess of a film that exhibits evidence of Harvey Weinsteins notoriously enthusiastic editing.

Set in 17th century Amsterdam, Tulip Fever begins with narration from Maria (Holliday Grainger). She explains the economics of the tulip market, where a single rare bulb can send bidders into a frenzy with hopes over what color might bloom. Meanwhile, orphan Sophia (Alicia Vikander) is pushed into a marriage with Cornelis Sandvoort (Christoph Waltz), a wealthy spice merchant desperate for an heir from his much younger wife. Maria, their servant, longs for visits from fishmonger Willem (Jack OConnell), who begins betting on tulips to save money for their wedding. When he inexplicably disappears, Maria is despondent.

Her mistress life gets more exciting when Cornelis hires a painter to capture himself and Sophia on canvas for posterity. Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan) is a struggling artist, and he and Sophia quickly begin an affair. Together with Maria, the lovers concoct an elaborate scheme that will free Sophia from her boorish husband and allow her to be with Jan.

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At 107 minutes, Tulip Fever has been trimmed of every ounce of fat. But connective tissue, muscle and even the heart are gone too, leaving a lifeless frame. Theres no character development; were not invested in Sophia and Jan because they arent fully formed people and theres little time for chemistry to develop between them. Despite evidence of their talent in other films, Vikander is simply a mannequin for exquisite dresses, and DeHaan is merely a goatee. What Chadwicks film misses in its bare-bones approach is that passion doesnt reside just in skin-filled sex scenes. Theres no romance in this period romance.

The costume drama careens from brief scene to brief scene, never giving the story time to breathe. Each transition leaves viewers dizzy and dazed, wondering if they somehow missed an important look or line of dialogue that would support whats happening and the characters choices. When Sofia tells her husband that she no longer wants Jan to paint their portrait, it surprises both Cornelis and the audience. There has been no on-screen evidence of her desire for the painter, and as good an actress as Vikander is, she doesnt communicate this feeling in the short time with DeHaan.

Where Tulip Fever is likely to evoke the most passion is its costumes. Designed by Oscar winner Michael OConnor, the ruff collars, lace details and lush fabrics will garner a gasp quicker than any of the nudity thats exposed when theyre removed. All this effort adds texture to the film, but it cant elevate the movie beyond what is essentially a museum exhibit. We get glimpses of Dutch life in 1634 but no real insight into who these people are or why they behave as they do.

-------------

Tulip Fever

Rating: R, for for sexual content and nudity

Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes

Playing: In general release

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calendar@latimes.com
After seeing Domhnall Gleesons 2017 filmography, no one can ever accuse him of being typecast. The 34-year-old Irish actor has four wildly different projects arriving this fall, each pushing Gleeson into new emotional territory.

What I like about it is theyre all different sorts of films, Gleeson says, sitting on a couch in the Soho Hotel in London. I was reading an interview awhile ago with an actor I really like  I think it was Ryan Reynolds  and he said what he would like to do is to be in different genres of film and try to contribute to all of them. I think thats a good model for a career.

The range of Gleesons roles this year include CIA handler Monty Schafer in Doug Limans American Made (Sept. 29), childrens book author A.A. Milne in the biopic Goodbye Christopher Robin (Oct. 13), an as yet undisclosed role in Darren Aronofskys thriller Mother! (Sept. 15) and the actor is back as the villainous Gen. Hux in Star Wars: The Last Jedi this December. Gleeson selected much of the work based on the projects director, particularly with the Tom Cruise-starrer American Made. The actor auditioned for the film shortly after finishing work on The Revenant.

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It was a reaction against The Revenant, Gleeson says. This was six weeks in Atlanta with Doug and Tom  they famously shoot very quickly and very energetically  and it was playing a guy who had a lot of power despite the fact that he was not supposed to have any. And it was funny. The Revenant is many things, but theres not a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. It was a chance to do something very different.

It was that quest for something unique that Liman was looking for with Gleeson as well in American Made, which is based on actual drug and arms deals involving the U.S. government and Central America in the 1980s. Figuring out the character of Monty and figuring how to make him original went hand in hand with the casting of Domhnall Gleeson. Domhnall works so hard and is so passionate about what he does.

Gleeson shot Mother! around the same time as the upcoming Star Wars film, but the project is being kept under such tight wraps that he can say almost nothing about it. He notes that he loved the script so much he felt like he would do anything to be in it, the same immediate reaction he had with the 2014 critical hit Ex Machina. The actor flew to meet Aronofsky and soon was cast alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem.

I dont think I can talk about anything apart from the fact that I did it, Gleeson says. But those actors, man. Thats the level you dream about working with. However briefly getting to be a part of that? Id do that for the rest of my life.

The challenge of Mother! a dark drama with elements of horror, paled in comparison with that of Goodbye Christopher Robin, a pensive look at how post-war PTSD impacted the famed Winnie the Pooh author. At first, Gleeson wasnt sure he wanted to take on the project.

I was unsure, Gleeson says. When I first read it I was like, Have I played a guy like this before? I feel like maybe I have. My agent said, Im not sure you have. Do read it again. And then I got scared and I was like, You know what, I think I actually cant play it. And thats when you say yes. It was really hard to get to the place I had to get to and make it feel natural and not like acting. Its easy to shout and roar and give a big performance, but to make it feel like its happening in the room is really, really hard.

But proper work makes you scared, adds the actor, who is currently shooting The Little Stranger with Room director Lenny Abrahamson. Goodbye Christopher Robin made me scared because there was a delicacy with a weight and trauma behind it. Mother! was scary in a more elemental way. Every time you take a job theres a point halfway through where you just think, Im screwing this up for everyone. But thats happened on enough jobs that have turned out well where I know its part of the process. You learn you just have to keep working.

calendar@latimes.com

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Not so very long ago, a visit to a new restaurant meant something very predictable happened. You entered under specific signage through heavy doors into a swank universe. There a hostess or maitre d greeted you like a favorite relative, ushered you to a draped table, through a performance of uniformed servers and low music and diners clustered in geometric order. This is not a lost world, but it is no longer the world we live in. And, maybe more to the point, it is not the world most chefs live in, especially chefs wanting to open their own restaurants, without access to deep-pocketted investors and elaborate support systems.

To find Barbara Jean, the restaurant that chef Jason Fullilove opened in June in the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles, you stroll past the clothing boutiques and tattoo shops that line Melrose Avenue, into the Melrose Umbrella Co., a dim, wood-lined bar. The place looks like a slightly dusty set from Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition: high ceilings, exposed Douglas fir beams, retro-clad folks gathered around a watering hole. Pass the drinkers and their highball glasses, up some stairs, past a tiny, crowded kitchen and into the small patio in the back. This is the restaurant, almost hidden at the back of the bar like a reverse speakeasy, and which looks like an art installation crossed with someones 50s-era garage.

There are utilitarian tables and banquettes, and an olive tree dominating the corner. Strung lights traverse the ceiling of the sky  theres a retractable roof  and a sign spelling the restaurants name on the back wall, which is a sliding door decorated like a quilt on the inside, on the outside with arty graffiti. The walls are painted forest green, hung with empty picture frames and haphazard bookshelves. The concrete floor is scuffed and irregularly painted. Helicopters and birds sometimes wheel overhead.

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Fullilove, who just turned 40, is a tall man, his long hair is braided and pulled back, and his face can rearrange into a broad smile when he chooses to unveil it. The route he took to this restaurant, named after his mother and serving what he calls soul food  vaguely Southern comfort food made with fine-dining technique  is as long and circuitous as a cross-country road trip.

Theres something indelibly Los Angeles about that journey, beginning elsewhere (Cleveland) and winding its way through some of the more iconic of this towns restaurants  Campanile, now a legend of L.A. dining; Joachim Splichals Patina; Cliftons century-old downtown cafeteria; and a fine-dining restaurant on the Malibu Pier that lasted about as long as a show at the Pantages.

This is the restaurant, almost hidden at the back of the bar like a reverse speakeasy,

Heirloom tomato with fig (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Fullilove began his career conventionally enough. Born in Cleveland, he grew up in Amherst, Mass., where his mother got her doctorate in international education, and lived in New York and for a time in Africa, where his mother set up relief programs. Cooking school at the CIA in New York for continuing education; stints at restaurants in New York and then the Ritz-Carlton in the Virgin Islands. Then, as so many before him, he found himself pulled west.

I was reading a lot about chefs I admired, and everyone I read about had worked in California, Fullilove said recently, sitting in one of Barbara Jeans banquettes. But it was 2009, not a great time to be a looking for a job in any industry. It was a really tough time. Fine dining was dying out. It was really hard to find a big restaurant company to take me in or work for a hotel  people who had those jobs were just holding on to them.

Then Fullilove ran into chef Ilan Hall at a farmers market  the Los Angeles version of a job fair  and Hall hired him to help open the Gorbals, the Top Chef winners downtown restaurant. From there, Fullilove went to work for chef Mark Peel at Campanile and the Tar Pit and for chef Joachim Splichal at his LACMA Cafe, where Fullilove did a series of pop-up dinners based on the works of Stanley Kubrick and Danny Boyle. Then came an opportunity to open an upscale restaurant on the Malibu Pier, and after that the chance to reopen Cliftons, the 1935 downtown L.A. cafeteria.

Hush puppies with truffle honey at Barbara Jean restaurant. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Working in other folks restaurants is an exhausting and often transitory life. Owners change, restaurants close, crazy things happen over which you have little or no control. And for most chefs, the goal is always to open their own place anyway. Whats changed over the last few years is how to get there.

What do you really need to have a good restaurant? Fullilove asked rhetorically under the sky in Barbara Jeans dining room. After Cliftons, and a restorative trip to Europe, the chef earned a living doing catering and working special events. And hed started doing pop-ups, the temporary restaurants done as chef take-overs that began to gain momentum in the post-recession dining world, with the site Feastly, which has been described as a kind of Airbnb for chefs. His dinners evolved  and with them his idea of a restaurant  over months, at Feastlys Arts District location, as well as stints in Puerto Vallarta and in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail.

Barbara Jean was born in that migratory landscape, a restaurant built in Fulliloves head and on the repeating plates of those ad hoc meals. And then he found a residency after Smoke.Oil.Salt closed and the owners suddenly needed a chef  and his food and his followers  to fill it.

I was, like: Hey, guys, want to open a restaurant in 48 hours? said Fullilove, describing what hed said to the small staff hes gathered over years of cooking. After that residency ended, the chef says he went out and looked around for another restaurant that had recently closed, approached the owners, and did pretty much the same thing with the current iteration of Barbara Jean.

Curry fried chicken (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

I could show people what the restaurant was, Fullilove said of his new business model. I could show people what I could do with literally nothing.

Its a very versatile and collaborative situation, said Austin Melrose, who owns the Melrose Umbrella Co. with Zach Patterson, about their partnership with Fullilove, which also includes the bar menu. Remember the Test Kitchen? asked Patterson, recalling the circa 2010 Bill Chait project that worked like a restaurant incubator, letting chefs cook for short runs while their restaurants were in development. Were able to get creative and do something fun. If it works, it continues working; if it doesnt, we do something else. This give us the ability to test the waters and play.

As for Fulliloves ability to adapt to such a situation and even thrive in it, Peel says: Hes got a lot of courage. Hes not afraid to try an unconventional venue.

Thus Barbara Jean, a roofless restaurant backed into a bar, helmed by a chef who can assemble his lifes work almost overnight, like some edible Banksy mural. And this is not DIY casual cooking: Fullilovessoul food comes in plates of hush puppies shaped like a pastry chefs quenelles; fried chicken torqued with curry and paired with kimchi and Thai chile aioli; chicken arranged like a Richard Serra sculpture around a disk not of sauce or mashed potatoes, but a latke woven from shredded yams.

If the restaurant standard was china and white tablecloths, Id never have this opportunity, Fullilove said. Its a very different world.

7465 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 718-5142, barbarajeanla.com

amy.scattergood@latimes.com

@ascattergood
California health officials said Friday that three people have died of West Nile virus this summer, marking the first deaths in what could be a particularly dangerous season for the disease.

The three people lived in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Kern counties, according to state health officials. L.A. County health officials said the local patient who died was from the San Fernando Valley area and was hospitalized in early August.

West Nile virus is an illness that mostly exists in birds, but can be transmitted to mosquitoes that bite infected birds. Humans get the disease when theyre bitten by those mosquitoes.

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West Nile season typically begins with warmer weather in the summer and continues into the fall.

West Nile virus can cause a deadly infection in humans, and the elderly are particularly susceptible, said Karen Smith, director of the state Department of Public Health. August and September are peak periods of West Nile virus transmission in the state, so we urge everyone to take every possible precaution to protect themselves against mosquito bites.

Experts say that heavy rains this winter in California have led to more mosquitoes in the region. State data show that the number of mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile is higher this year than the states most recent five-year average.

Most people who contract the illness dont notice any symptoms. But a very small number can develop encephalitis or meningitis that can be fatal.

Last year, 19 Californians died of West Nile virus.

Health officials recommend wearing insect repellent and long pants and long-sleeve shirts outdoors, especially during dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most likely to be active. They also recommend draining any standing water, like in flower pots or buckets, where mosquitoes can lay their eggs.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla

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Prototypes for President Donald Trumps border wall may be completed by the end of October.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello said he expected construction to begin in a couple of weeks, and companies will have 30 days to complete their projects.

Once finished, border experts will test the walls for aesthetics, anti-climbing features, resistance to tampering and penetrability with small hand tools.

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Contractors also are required to account for other technological features, such as sensors, cameras and lighting, that would accompany the physical walls.

Theres a more holistic view here, Vitiello said. This is a much safer environment than what weve planned for before.

After testing, Border Patrol may choose to leave the structures in place, move them or get rid of them, Vitiello said.

Contractors will be responsible for providing their own security, according to Joshua Wilson, spokesman for the San Diego chapter of the National Border Patrol Council.

Because they will be building so close to the border, Wilson said, Border Patrol will be monitoring the area.

There has been a lot of planning thats gone into this, Wilson said, adding that he couldnt go into specifics. All the appropriate measures are being taken.

For residents who live near the construction site, Wilson said he would expect increased traffic in the area, although he did not know of any scheduled road closures.

Were looking forward to the construction of an improved physical barrier, and were quite interested to see what kind of innovation private industry is going to bring to the process, Wilson said. Its going to mean increased border security and enhanced public safety.

Prototype construction initially was scheduled for June but was pushed back to November after two companies questioned their exclusion from a list of finalists. The last of those protests was dismissed Friday by the federal agency responsible for reviewing them.

The prototype project still could face further delays. Companies that think they were wrongfully left out of the running will have another chance to protest, which would put an additional pause on construction.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based environmental advocacy group, filed a lawsuit over the planned prototypes and wall extensions. Since former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly implemented a waiver to avoid delays caused by required environmental reviews, the center has been working on an amendment to its case to challenge the waiver in court.

A hearing for the case is scheduled in mid-December, but given the construction timeline, Brian Segee, a senior attorney working on the case, said the center will ask a judge to block construction until the case is decided.

The group is concerned about several endangered species that would be affected by prototype and actual wall construction, including the checkerspot butterfly, coastal California gnatcatcher and San Diego fairy shrimp.

The butterfly cant fly very high, Segee said, so even though it has wings, walls meeting the projects height requirements would cut it off from migration to Baja.

Thats not the only environmental danger, Segee said. Much of the existing border barriers were built using similar waivers that skirted environmental review.

The government went forward blindly with construction and has largely kept the blindfold on after construction, Segee said. Thats a byproduct of lawless border wall building. We know much less than we should about the impacts of the existing wall.

Some, including Christian Ramirez, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, criticized the administration for making the announcement so soon after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. He also thought that other border issues, such as sewage in the Tijuana River, would be a better use of the funding.

Ramirez, who is against building a border wall, was skeptical that, with acting heads of the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, the Trump administration would be able to meet the timeline outlined with the announced contracts.

Kate Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com

@bgirledukate on Twitter

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

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The heat wave that has gripped California for a week took a dramatic turn Thursday as lightning storms sparked brush fires, knocked out power to thousands and caused downpours across the region.

Forecasters said the extreme weather will continue through the weekend, with some parts of Northern California flirting with all-time record high temperatures.

Lightning strikes were reported in many areas Thursday, with some sparking a series of brush fires near the 5 Freeway in the Santa Clarita Valley.

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In Santa Monica on Thursday evening, city officials asked beachgoers to immediately evacuate all ocean areas and seek cover until the storm ended.

Intense storm cells danced around the region, delivering bursts of heavy rain through the evening.

Residents in Colton lost power Thursday after lightning hit a power substation.

Meanwhile, the record heat continued to tax the power grid.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers used more electricity on Thursday battling the heat wave than has ever been used in the agencys history, DWP officials announced. Customers hit a peak demand of 6,502 megawatts at 4:15 p.m., shattering the previous record of 6,396 megawatts on Sept. 16, 2014. The agency expects a new record to be set Friday as the heat wave continues.

The California Independent System Operator called for voluntary electricity conservation on Friday.

In Boyle Heights, an estimated 11,000 residents were without power overnight Wednesday as high demand overloaded equipment to the point of failure. Power was restored by 6 a.m. Thursday, officials said.

Southern Californias heat wave should peak by Friday. But in Northern California, triple-digit temperatures are expected to continue through the Labor Day weekend. Thats worrisome because there are already more than a dozen wildfires burning in the Sierra Nevada, and smoke is settling in the populated valley below.

The fire, heat and smoke  its going to be blech, a hot weekend, Bill Rasch of the National Weather Service said from his Bay Area office Thursday. Its miserable up there.

And it may be unprecedented.

1 / 29 Crissie Sumerlin, a visitor from Baltimore, takes in the view and the cool breeze at Santa Monica Pier as a heat wave continues to bake Southern California. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 29 Jasmine Ejan cools off with a cone of chocolate ice cream on a warm afternoon in Venice Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 29 A vendor shelters from the sun while selling umbrellas, beach towels and boogie boards along the boardwalk near the Santa Monica Pier on a warm Southern California afternoon. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 29 Mariachi player Natolio Nunez, who has been playing trumpet for 40 years, practices in the shade while silhouetted against a mural amid a heat wave where temperature reached 93 degrees at Mariachi Plaza de Los Angeles in Boyle Heights. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 29 Rain falls behind power lines near Adelanto at the end of a scorching hot day. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 29 Cumulus clouds frame Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles as scorching heat continues across the Southland. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 29 Isaac Padron, 24, of Canoga Park, cools off, while taking a break from skateboarding at Lanark Park. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 29 Lilly Santiago, 5, left, cools off with her mother Lupita, 56, after playing basketball at Lanark Park on Thursday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 29 Mariachi player Natolio Nunez, who has been playing trumpet for 40 years, practices in the shade in Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 29 Sophia Madrigal, 5, cools off at the Sylmar Recreation Center. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 29 Crystalie Merino, 23, does her cardio workout in triple-digit heat in Warner Park in Woodland Hills. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 29 Josh Navarro and niece Frankie, 2, enjoy Lyle Creek in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 29 Keeping cool in the Grand Park fountain in downtown Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 29 Kenia Rivera, 26, sits in the shade in Lyle Creek in San Bernardino with Alex Navarro, left, and Jacob Navarro. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 29 Reginaldo Ramirez gulps cold water after working in San Bernardino, which hit 111 degrees on Wednesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 29 Workers toil in 111-degree temperatures in San Bernardino. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 29 A windsurfer at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 29 Edgar Eduardo Herrera drinks from a fountain at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, where the mercury reached into the high 90s. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 29 A woman shelters in the shade of the entrance to the California Science Center in Exposition Park. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 29 Edwin Cruz of Los Angeles sells cotton candy and toys to families at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte on Sunday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 29 Kids play in the water at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. Forecasters said a record-breaking heat wave will linger in Southern California until at least Thursday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 29 Kids play in the water at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte on a hot Sunday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 29 Gilman Orozco and his son Ian Orozco, 2, both of Los Angeles cool down in a hammock at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas on Sunday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 29 To cool off, Jeffery Sofia Puga, 3, left, with her father Carlos Puga, 23, both of Torrance, eat ice cream and soak in the lake at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 29 Victor Dudchenko tosses his friends daughter Julia Bogachuk in the air while they play in the lake at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 29 Visitors cool down in the lake at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas on Sunday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 29 Luis Alvarez swings in a hammock with his 11-month-old son, Adrian Alvarez of Los Angeles, in the shade at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 29 Kids fish and play in the water at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 29 A person is silhouetted while relaxing in a tent by the water at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

According to UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, the heat this weekend may reach levels never before seen in recorded history in some Northern California cities. Sacramento, no stranger to warm summer days, could see a week of 100-degree heat. Thats never happened there in September, the National Weather Service said.

It could be just as brutal in the coastal valley city of Livermore, where the hottest temperature on record is 115 degrees, said Steve Anderson of the National Weather Service. Its expected to hit 113 degrees there on Friday and 114 degrees on Saturday.

When were approaching all-time record highs, thats very unusual, Anderson said.

The heat wave is part of a larger high-pressure system that has settled over the Great Basin and has been broiling states from California to Utah and Arizona to New Mexico.

The weather pattern is also at least partially responsible for the behavior of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The system acted as a barrier that blocked Harveys path inland. The storm was stopped in its tracks right over Houston, where it continued sucking up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and raining it down on the flooded landscape below.

Until the large-scale pattern changes, it will continue to soak Texas, Patzert said.

In California, if a community isnt prepared for the enduring heat, it can become dangerous. Concord, Santa Rosa and Antioch have opened cooling centers for the weekend.

So we get into a situation where 110 in the desert isnt a big deal at all but 110 in one of the coastal valleys is a very big deal indeed. And it affects human health to a considerable degree, Rasch said. They have a very hard time physically when the weather gets that warm.

Crews battling 16 wildfires in California also have had to cope with the heat along with the excruciating physical demands of the job.

In Butte County, more than 1,100 firefighters who are tackling the Ponderosa fire trudged through rugged woodlands east of Oroville in broiling temperatures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The heat does not work in our favor by any means, said Paul Lowenthal, a Cal Fire spokesman.

Fire crews had hoped to make significant gains battling the 3,500-acre blaze overnight, but weather conditions remained hot and dry.

The weather also takes a toll on the states infrastructure. The California Independent System Operators flex alert on Friday is the fourth this year and the second this week. The message to consumers: Conserve energy.

When temperatures dont drop at night, people keep their fans and air conditioners on longer, and electrical equipment in the grid doesnt have a chance to cool. Those issues led to multiple power outages across Southern California this week and caused thousands to lose power in the Bay Area during the last major heat wave in June.

For Southern California, relief could come next week, according to forecasters.The regions heat advisory expires Saturday, and thunderstorms and cooler temperatures are expected Monday, Swain said.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

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A woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly pushing an 81-year-old woman off a train platform in San Francisco because she is Asian, police said.

Jacqueline Miller, 51, of San Francisco was arrested that morning and booked on suspicion of aggravated assault and elder abuse, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Police said they plan to seek additional hate crime charges.

Miller told authorities that she shoved the woman off the platform near the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency rail line on 3rd Street because of her ethnicity, police said. After pushing the woman, police said, Miller left the area.

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The woman, who was not identified, fell onto the roadway and hit her head on pavement, police said.

When officers arrived, they found her using a napkin to control the bleeding from her head wound. She was hospitalized and is expected to recover, police said.

Minutes later, Miller was detained nearby.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

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Already suffering under a heat wave, Southern California faced intense summer storms that moved in Thursday afternoon, bringing lightning strikes that set off brush fires as well as intense downpours.

A 25-acre brush fire erupted near the 5 Freeway about 4:36 p.m. amid a lightning storm, said Fire Inspector Gustavo Medina, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The blaze started as two smaller fires north of Lake Hughes Road and triggered the closure of the freeways northbound lanes, he said. There was no estimate for when lanes would be reopened.

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About 3,400 lightning strikes have been reported since 1 p.m. in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

You should see it on my screen. It looks like a swarm of bees, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

In Santa Monica, city officials asked beachgoers to immediately evacuate all ocean areas and seek cover until the storm ended.

Triple-digit temperatures were the order of the day for many inland areas, and the weather service said numerous communities hit new high temperatures for the day, including Riverside and Ramona.

As thunderstorms moved through San Bernardino County to Los Angeles County, heavy rain pummeled parts of the Santa Clarita Valley, forecasters said.

In a tweet Thursday afternoon, the weather service warned residents, Thunderstorms from Malibu to Santa Monica. People should leave the beaches and go indoors or in your cars immediately!!!

That rare August rain and a little thunder in Studio City. #larain pic.twitter.com/j3662EUeM4  Jonathan Lloyd (@JonLloydLA) September 1, 2017

Flash-flood warnings were issued for parts of the Inland Empire, including Riverside, Fontana and Rialto. Forecasters said lightning strikes were also likely.

Residents of Colton lost power Thursday after a lightning strike hit a power substation.

Even without the lightning, the heat continued to tax the power grid. The California Independent System Operator called for voluntary electricity conservation Friday.

In Boyle Heights, an estimated 11,000 residents were without power between Wednesday night and Thursday morning as high demand overloaded equipment to the point of failure. Power was restored by 6 a.m., officials said.

Southern Californias heat wave should peak by Friday. But in Northern California, triple-digit temperatures will be continue through the Labor Day weekend. This is sparking concerns because there are already more than a dozen wildfires burning in the Sierra Nevada, and smoke is settling onto the people in the valley below.

The @NWSLosAngeles has issued a thunderstorm warning for the LA County coastline. Make sure to seek appropriate shelter. pic.twitter.com/TLYxhWgft6  LACoFD Lifeguards (@LACoLifeguards) September 1, 2017

Getting some good downdrafts from a thunderstorm drifting over Van Nuys, plus a few raindrops. #LARain #CAMonsoon pic.twitter.com/duAQMjOx9p  LAFD Weather (@lafdweather) September 1, 2017

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

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UPDATES:

6:20 p.m.: This article was updated with city officials in Santa Monica urging beachgoers to seek cover amid the lightning storm.

This article was originally published at 5:55 p.m.
The California Supreme Court decided Thursday that data from millions of vehicle license plate images collected by the Los Angeles police and sheriffs departments are not confidential investigative records that can be kept from public disclosure.

The unanimous opinion came as civil liberties groups raise concerns about the increasing use of police cameras mounted on cruisers or street poles to take photographs of passing vehicles. The devices use software to almost instantly compare the plates with vehicles linked to crimes and the information can be stored for years.

Law enforcement officials say the data are invaluable for tracking down stolen cars, catching fugitives or solving other types of crimes. But the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have criticized the indiscriminate nature of the surveillance and how the movements of innocent drivers are captured alongside potential criminals.

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The latest legal dispute arose when the two groups sought data from about 3 million license plate images that the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A. County Sheriffs Department collected in a week. The organizations said they planned to analyze the data to determine if police were disproportionately capturing license plates in particular neighborhoods.

The Supreme Court stopped short of ordering the agencies to release the raw data, saying that doing so would violate the privacy of motorists whose licenses were captured. But the justices said there may be other ways to make the information publicly available by redacting some of the information or replacing each license plate number with a random unique identifier.

It is an enormous win for disclosure and transparency, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the ACLU of California. The court recognized Californias sweeping public records exemption for police investigations doesnt cover the mass collection of data.

Dean Gialamas, director of the Sheriffs Departments Technology and Support Division, said the decision was the best blend because it protects the privacy rights of individuals.

It is a win for privacy and law enforcement, he said, noting that the agency did not want the individual personal information of each motorist to be public.

What if someone had a stalker who got this information? Gialamas asked. The idea of redactions that the lower court will now consider is far better.

The city attorneys office did not respond to a request for comment.

The civil liberties groups submitted their requests in 2012. At the time, the LAPD gathered about 1.2 million images of vehicle plates a week while the Sheriffs Department collected as many as 1.8 million, the Supreme Court said. The data are stored on confidential computer networks. The LAPD keeps its data for five years; the Sheriffs Department keeps its for two.

The two departments declined to release the data, arguing that they were investigative records protected from disclosure.

But the Supreme Court disagreed, noting that the vast majority of the images were from vehicles not linked to any crime. The justices said at least some disclosure should be attempted.

It is hard to imagine that the Legislature intended for the records of investigations exemption to reach the large volume of data that plate scanners  now enable agencies to collect indiscriminately, the court noted. It pointed out that the scans are not gathered as part of a targeted investigation.

The court cautioned, however, that disclosing the raw data could help someone figure out where a motorist lives, works or frequently visits.

The act of revealing the data would itself jeopardize the privacy of everyone associated with a scanned plate, the court said, adding that with so many scanned images, the threat to privacy is significant.

The justices sent the case back to the trial court to consider whether the raw data can be redacted or turned over in another form that protects the identity of drivers.

Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the courts privacy qualms validate her organizations concerns about police collecting huge volumes of data to track the movements of millions of people. Agencies could misuse the data to obtain personal information about department critics or target people based solely on their political activities, she said.

Location data like this, thats collected on innocent drivers, reveals sensitive information about where they have been and when, whether thats their home, their doctors office, or their house of worship, she said.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes

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UPDATES:

7:20 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from a sheriffs official.

This article was originally published at 6:05 p.m.
A column of black smoke was seen billowing from the Russian Consulate office in San Francisco Friday, a day after Trump administration ordered its closure, along with two other consular offices in the United States.

The smoke sparked concerns and triggered a call about 11:41 a.m. to the San Francisco Police Department, said Mindy Talmadge, a department spokeswoman.

The caller didnt know where the smoke was coming from, she said, so firefighters decided to investigate.

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When firefighters arrived, Talmadge said, they determined the smoke was rising from a chimney inside the consular office in the 2700 block of Green Street.

Russia has until Saturday to close the office in San Francisco, the chancery annex in Washington and the consular annex in New York, the State Department announced.

Black smoke billows from roof of #Russian consulate a day before occupants are to vacate. #sffd responds to reports of fire. pic.twitter.com/FEllrdS0xW  Justin Sullivan (@sullyfoto) September 1, 2017

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

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Car believed to contain the bodies of two missing Thai students is hoisted from Kings River

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Two bodies  believed to be those of students from Thailand who went missing  were pulled Friday from a mangled car that had been trapped for weeks in the middle of a treacherous Kings River gorge in Central California.

The car, a red Hyundai Sonata, had plummeted 500 feet after plowing through a guardrail on Highway 180 on July 26, authorities said. Since then, the smashed vehicle has rested on a pile of boulders amid raging waters.

Search-and-rescue crews from the Fresno County Sheriffs Office pulled the sedan to the riverbank on Friday, then retrieved the bodies from the car, according to Tony Botti, a spokesman for the sheriffs office.

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The bodies were flown in a California Highway Patrol helicopter to a nearby roadside for transfer to the Fresno County coroners office.

The bodies are believed to be those of University of South Florida exchange students Pakapol Chairatnathrongporn, 28, and Thiwadee Saengsuriyarit, 24. The couple were visiting Kings Canyon National Park when the manager of the motel they were staying in reported them missing.

The students family members were on hand Friday during the recovery effort. Botti said the two bodies will be formally identified during an autopsy.

Sheriff Margaret Mims thanked the families of the two missing students for their patience during the weeks-long wait to recover the bodies.

Its always been our goal to deliver peace to you so that you could hold the necessary services for your loved ones, Mims said in a statement.

Recovery of the bodies was delayed because of the hazardous location of the pairs rental car, officials said.

The car was trapped in the middle of a rapid that lies between two canyon faces more than 500 feet high, with a 75-foot drop about 100 feet downriver, Botti said. Those conditions made its recovery dangerous, he said.

Theres absolutely a risk for our personnel, and they have to be sure to cover all their bases, he told The Times. Its about having the right weather conditions along with the proper equipment.  Theres a lot of back and forth with our experts on what the best approach is.

Officials said the car was left in the canyon on Friday and would be recovered at a later time.

Authorities also found signs of another couple who disappeared recently from Sequoia National Park and also may have driven off the same section of highway, roughly 75 miles east of Fresno.

Yinan Wang, 31, and his wife, Jie Song, 30, were last seen at Sequoia National Parks Crystal Cave on Aug. 6. They were expected to drive north and stay the night in Fresno before continuing on to Yosemite National Park.The California license plate from the couples rental car was spotted about 40 yards upstream from the Thai couples vehicle.

javier.panzar@latimes.com

Twitter: @jpanzar

matt.hamillton@latimes.com

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UPDATES:

9:45 p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation that two bodies were pulled from the wrecked car.

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the car being hoisted from the river.

9:35 a.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from Botti.

This article was originally published at 8:05 a.m.
Shelley Berman, who tapped into the neuroses and frustrations of post-World War II America and brought an actors sensibility to his monologues to become one of the top comedians of the late 1950s and early 60s, died Friday at his home near Thousand Oaks.

Berman, who acted throughout his career and had a late career resurgence when he played Larry Davids father on the hit HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm, died of complications from Alzheimers disease, according to spokesman Glenn Schwartz. He was 92.



For the record: The headline on an earlier version of this story said Berman died at the age of 91. He was 92.

The Chicago-born Berman, who came to stand-up comedy via the theater and Chicagos improvisational Compass Players, defied stand-up comedy convention: He did his act sitting down.

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Perched on a bar stool, Berman did not deliver a string of jokes. Instead, he was known for acting out small, angst-filled vignettes, portraying a man in agony over modern life  over his own life, as Gerald Nachman wrote in the book Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. His routines helped pave the way for Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld and Bob Newhart, comedians who built their acts around the frustrations of everyday life.

Describing Berman as the founding father of the school of persecuted comedians  the first of the method comics, Nachman said Berman appeared in good mental health, in his sober dark suit and neatly barbered facade, but he sounded like he might unravel at any moment.

In one classic routine, about the safety of flying, Berman tells the flight attendant who is offering him a pillow, Oh, Miss, the wing is on fire out there.

Oh, really? she says.

Yes, really. Take a look out there. The wing is a sheet of flame. Take a look.

Coffee, tea, or milk? she airily responds.

We dont have time for coffee, tea, or milk. Were doomed!

Well, then, how about a martini?

Berman, the neurotic Comedic Everyman  or Everymanic-depressive, as Time magazine called him in a 1961 story  was best-known for his telephone routines, the phone always mimed with his hand, never a prop.

In one of them, he portrays an increasingly frustrated office worker who phones the department store across the street to report a woman hanging from a window ledge about 10 flights up:

Describe her? What for? Im looking at the building right now; shes the only one hanging out of a window.

The phone routines, which predated those of Newhart on the national scene, grew out of Bermans days doing improvisations with the Compass Players, a precursor to Second City.

I couldnt find a partner to work with one night, he once explained, so I simply used the telephone.

Two years after Berman launched his stand-up career at Mister Kellys in Chicago, his 1959 debut comedy album, Inside Shelley Berman, became the first comedy album to earn a gold record and was the first to win a Grammy.

Berman appeared frequently on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jack Paar Show and other top TV variety shows, and he is said to be the first stand-up comedian to perform in concert at Carnegie Hall.

At the height of his fame in 1963, Berman was the subject of a TV documentary, Comedian Backstage, which unexpectedly sent his career into a tailspin.

The hourlong documentary, which aired on NBCs The Du Pont Show of the Week, offered a close-up look at the chain-smoking comedian on stage and off, including an engagement in a Florida hotel.

On stage, hes shown doing a semi-autobiographical routine at the end of his act in which a Yiddish-accented father reluctantly gives in to his sons request for $100 to go to acting school. The routine ends with the father saying, Sheldon, dont change your name. Goodbye, Sheldon.

It was a poignant piece of material that was shattered, ironically, by the sound of a telephone ringing backstage.

Berman completed the piece and ended his show. But, as recounted in a 2005 Times story, the seething comedian went backstage and yelled at his road manager, [then] he jerked the phone off the hook and paced, appearing inconsolable.

Seen today, it is not so much remarkable for the behavior it exposes as the pain of the man, on naked display, a perfectly good show ruined, in his mind, by one or two seconds of ringing telephone. Wound tight the entire hour, Berman gives the special its climax  he comes undone.

After the documentary aired, Bermans on-camera loss of temper turned him into what Los Angeles Times TV reporter Hal Humphrey described at the time as the most cussed and discussed comedian in the country.

Berman told Humphrey that comedians expect drunks and hecklers to interrupt their acts, but I thought I had taken care of this phone. It had rung earlier in the week, and I ordered it taken care of.

But for dramatic purposes when the film was edited, the second intruding phone call that had him fuming was placed first.

Although Berman had control over what went into the documentary, he later said he did not think the backstage incident made him look bad. Instead, he told Phil Berger, author of The Last Laugh, a 1975 book on stand-up comics, I thought it made me look like I cared. ... I was more wrong than I ever dreamed.

Indeed, the infamous moment that was captured on film had a profoundly negative effect on Bermans career, one with long-lasting repercussions.

A lot happened and a lot didnt happen, Berman said in the 2005 interview. So that this thing that aired in 1963 would result a few years later in personal bankruptcy, would result in having people be on edge with me, wondering when Im going to blow up. This would result in my trying to over, over-compensate by [saying], please and thank you, no matter what happened.

It became, very simply, that I was difficult.

Not that there wasnt some truth behind the allegations; Berman had a reputation in the business for being a perfectionist, temperamental and demanding.

Because his act was more theatrical in nature than that of other comedians, he always was concerned about having the proper lighting and eliminating unnecessary distractions  bartenders, for example, were told not to use blenders during his act. And, according to various accounts, he was known to insult, with no trace of humor, hecklers and other audience members who interrupted his act.

Bermans intensity, according to Nachmans book, lessened after his 12-year-old son, Joshua, died of a brain tumor in the late `70s.

I used to think of my performances as life-and-death, Berman said in a 1977 interview. They are not life-and-death. This I know. I used to be antagonistic, arrogant and far too worried about my own performance. If an audience didnt laugh, I was devastated!

But, he candidly admitted, I havent been cleansed. I still think Im a son of a bitch. When Im working I dont want anyone to screw me up. I dont want anyone to play around with my lights, my microphone.

He was born Sheldon Leonard Berman in Chicago on Feb. 3, 1925. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he enrolled as a drama student at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where he met aspiring actress Sarah Herman, whom he married in 1947.

He eventually ended up in New York City. While making the rounds of auditions, he wrote sketches for Steve Allens Tonight show in the mid-`50s, then returned to Chicago to join the Compass Players.

Doing improvisations with fellow performers such as Mike Nichols, Elaine May and Barbara Harris, Berman earned a reputation for what has been described as his compulsion to dominate the scenes in which he appeared.

I was hungry for recognition, he told Janet Coleman, author of The Compass, a 1990 book about the influential improvisational group.

During his stand-up comedy heyday, Berman appeared in the short-lived 1959 Broadway musical revue The Girls Against the Boys and starred in the 1962 Broadway musical comedy A Family Affair. He returned to Broadway in 1980 with a one-man show.

Berman always viewed acting as his first love, and he had guest roles on numerous TV series over the years, as well as playing the recurring role of eccentric Judge Robert Sanders on Boston Legal (I will not tolerate jibber-jabber in my courtroom!).

He also acted in movies, including The Best Man and You Dont Mess with the Zohan, and he taught a graduate class in humor writing at USC.

Late in his career, he played Nat David, father of Larry David, on HBOs Curb Your Enthusiasm. With dialogue improvised by its cast, the comedy series gave Berman the opportunity to return to his improv roots and introduced him to a new generation of TV viewers. He also appeared in the movie Meet the Fockers before retiring in 2014.

Berman is survived by his wife and a daughter, Rachel.

Dennis McLellan is a former Times staff writer.

A Times staff writer contributed to this article.

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Tobe Hooper, Texas Chain Saw Massacre director, dies at 74
In 1971, a young high school English teacher named Susan Vreeland visited the Louvre and left with a pledge to make art her lifes companion  to fill my mind with rich, glorious, long-established culture wrought by human desire, daring and faith.

Once filled, her mind spun out a string of novels, blending visual art, literature and fiction, several that became New York Times bestsellers and established Vreeland as one of San Diegos most admired authors. Her novel Girl in Hyacinth Blue inspired the 2003 television movie Brush with Fate, starring Glenn Close and Ellen Burstyn.

Vreeland died Aug. 23 in San Diego after heart surgery. She was 71.

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Born in Racine, Wis., Vreeland grew up in North Hollywood, where trips to the library with her father, an aviation production manager, introduced her to the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, the short stories of Guy de Maupassant and the power of words.

I was a too-sensitive child, she later would write, unable to distinguish between truth and fiction, prone to nightmares, gouged by cruelty. Parental attempts at soothing her  Its only a story  carried little weight then and would strike her as ironic later, after her own literary career took hold.

From her mother came a love of the visual arts, passed down through relatives who painted portraits and landscapes.

After the family moved to San Diego, a neighbor going out of town on a trip asked Vreeland to water the plants. The neighbor was Harriet Haskell, an English professor at San Diego State University, and her house was filled with art books, pottery and weavings that filled the 12-year-old with a sense of exotic wonder that decades later she turned into one of her first published short stories.

After majoring in literature at San Diego State, Vreeland spent 30 years in the classrooms at Madison and University City high schools teaching and began writing articles about art, culture and travel. But the idea of writing a book intimidated her until a friend suggested she take it one step at a time: Can you write a chapter?

Her first novel, What Love Sees, told the story of Forrest and Jean Holly, a blind couple who raised four children on a ranch in Ramona. It was turned into a TV movie in 1996.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which traces a purported Vermeer painting across the centuries and through the lives of the people who owned it, was published in 1999, while the author was battling lymphoma. It was a Times bestseller.

True to the spirit of Vermeer, Vreeland uses art as a vehicle for capturing special moments in the lives of ordinary people, Booklist said in its review. True, too, to Vermeers legacy, she creates art that brings a unique pleasure into the lives of ordinary readers.

Six more books followed, including The Passion of Artemisia in 2002, about an Italian Baroque painter; Luncheon of the Boating Party (2007), about Renoir; and Clara and Mr. Tiffany (2011), about the artist behind the leaded-glass lamps. All were Times bestsellers. Her books have been translated into more than 26 languages.

In a 2014 interview with the Union-Tribune, Vreeland said, Writers have to be observant. Every nuance, every inflection in a voice, the quality of air even  they all get mixed up in this soup of the story developing in our minds. We cant ignore these little intuitions because sometimes thats where you find treasures.

Vreeland is survived by her husband, Kip Gray.

Wilkens writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
As some Houston residents Friday faced the heartache of evacuating their homes again due to water expected from reservoir releases, parts of Texas south of the city were bracing for potentially deadly flooding from overflowing rivers.

The coastal city of Lake Jackson, about an hour south of Houston, Friday issued emergency mandatory evacuation orders for two subdivisions threatened by the overflowing Brazos River. Voluntary evacuation orders were also extended to thousands of other residents along the Brazos and San Bernard rivers, said Brazoria County spokeswoman Sharon Trower.

The deal is that were at the end of the line, everybody elses rainfall is pouring into our rivers, so were being affected now, Trower said.

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Meanwhile, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner asked people in 15,000 to 20,000 homes that had already been inundated in the western part of the city to evacuate again because reservoir releases were likely to send still more water pouring into their neighborhoods.

The releases from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which are likely to continue for about two weeks, are part of the effort to control more widespread flooding that has plagued the nations fourth-largest city since Hurricane Harvey made landfall a week ago.

The new evacuation requests came just as apprehensive residents across the region began making their way back to swamped dwellings, being warned only to return in daylight and to keep a wary eye out for wildlife, especially snakes. One Lake Houston resident came home to a 6-foot alligator in the living room.

In a partially flooded neighborhood three blocks north of the Buffalo Bayou, in western Houston, residents were resigned to the news that their homes might remain flooded for the foreseeable future. In hip waders and boats, they moved in and out of the water to gather their belongings. Someone handwrote a sign and hung it from a street sign, If you loot, we shoot, with a drawing of a gun.

John Latrobe, a lawyer, 44, hauled paintings and a picture through the water in a plastic tub. He hadnt heard the news that flood officials think the dam releases might continue 10 to 15 more days. His home had survived the initial round of flooding.

When the releases came, however, it was a different story, and his property was inundated. Fortunately, Latrobe said he had flood insurance, which hed gotten approved right before the storm, on Aug. 18. Best $360 I ever spent.

Lacy Johnson and her family of four evacuated from their home Wednesday and were hoping to return to the Lakeside Place subdivision, but the reservoir releases may make that impossible anytime soon.

When officials started releasing water from the reservoir Tuesday night, neighbors closer to the bayou woke up to find themselves flooded and trapped in their houses, she said.

As airboats rescued neighbors and military planes circled overhead, she and others called neighborhood officials. Johnson said she pleaded with them not to release any more water because it was flooding out here.

Johnson, 39, an assistant professor of creative writing at Rice University, left with her husband and two children, ages 6 and 10. Their home of four years was still dry, and had never flooded before, but as rushing water rose in the street, they decided to escape while they still could.

Its really hard to live with two small kids in an island of fetid water, said Johnson, whose family was staying with friends in northwest Houston.

Still, Johnson said of the releases, Theyre doing the right thing. Its an inconvenience. But if our neighborhood has to be flooded to save the city, so be it.

By the latest count, the storm killed at least 47 people, forced the rescue of more than 72,000 and caused as much as a $100 billion in damage.

1 / 87 Samir Novruzov wades through water to get to a vehicle after spending the day clearing out his flooded home in Katy, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 87 Melissa Teague, right, instructs her children Andrew and Emily as they clear out their flooded home in Katy, Texas, on Monday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 87 People ride through floodwaters in Katy, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 87 People hop off Chris Ginters truck as he helps ferry residents around Katy, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 87 Two men collect a disposed mattress as residents in the Trinity/Houston Garden area of northeast Houston gut their flooded homes. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 87 Wayne Christopher, center, weeps as his wife, Helen, looks on during a Sunday service at First United Methodist Church in Dickinson, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 87 Hurricane Harvey severely damaged the First Baptist Church in Rockport, Texas. Worshipers on Sunday brought their own chairs to take part in an outdoor service. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 87 Ken Garrett, right, hugs Pastor Jordan Mims after they both delivered prayers on the grounds of the First Baptist Church in Rockport, Texas. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 87 University of Houston law professor Johnny Buckles props up an American flag on the debris pile from his flood-damaged home in the Kingwood area of north Houston. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 87 Jose Esquivel flags down motorists to visit a parking lot full of donated clothes, supples, water and brisket in Refugio, Texas. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 87 Despite heavy damage and no electricity, a homeowner displays his patriotism while clean up and recovery efforts continue in his devastated neighborhood of Rockport. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 87 Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, Yusuf Seager, from left, Rahib Ahmed, Rahman Nasir, and Khalil Nasir help tear out drywall damaged by floodwater in the Westbury neighborhood in Houston. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 87 Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association help residents of the Westbury neighborhood in Houston clear debris from their homes. It is also the Islamic holiday of Eid-ul-Adha. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 87 Many roads and Interstates in Texas remain flooded, including this one in west Houston. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 87 Jenna Fountain and her father Kevin carry a bucket down Regency Drive to try to recover items from their flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas on Thursday. (Emily Kask / AFP / Getty Images) 16 / 87 Lillie Roberts talks with family members as contractor Jerry Garza begins the process of repairing her Houston home on Friday. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) 17 / 87 Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association to perform holy prayer as they help local residents in the Kashmere Gardens area of Houston clean out their flooded homes. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 87 Volunteers assist Cornell Beasley with repairs to his damaged home in Houston on Friday. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) 19 / 87 Katie Estridge organizes hundreds of soaked family photographs on the front lawn of her fathers home in northeast Houston. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 87 Wes Higgins wipes sweat from his face after spending five days patrolling flooded Houston neighborhoods in his boat. Higgins, from Knott, Texas, organized a volunteer team of 10 boats to help Houston residents. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 87 Members of the California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing, Senior Airman George McKenzie, left, and Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster, right, help a man carry his infant, who has a serious medical condition, to a hospital in Orange, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 87 A search-and-rescue crew speeds along Maple Rock Drive in west Houston looking for flood victims. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 87 A woman and a child are among those rescued by California Air National Guardsmen in Lumberton, north of Beaumont. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 87 California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wings Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster searches for people in need of help near Lumberton. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 87 A man prepares his dinner at home near Lumberton. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 87 Boys sit on a damaged railroad track near Lumberton. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 87 A woman waves to a California Air National Guard helicopter from her neighborhood near Lumberton. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 87 A drop-off point for boat rescues in Lumberton. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 87 Baseball fields in Lumberton are inundated. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 87 Coca-Cola delivery trucks are trapped by floodwater in Lumberton, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 87 A military search and rescue helicopter refuels mid-flight before resuming nighttime missions over areas flooded in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 87 Houston police search a flooded home after hearing that an elderly couple lived there. The house was empty. Police later learned the couple had safely evacuated. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 87 West Houston resident Pedro Albiso uses trash bags to protect his shoes and pants as he prepares to cross a flooded street. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 87 Patients are evacuated from Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas after the city of Beaumont lost its water supply. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 87 Fatima Flores, 12, gets her hair done by cousins Shelly Flores, 7, left, and Ashley Flores, 7, as their family takes shelter at Max Bowl, a bowling alley in Port Arthur, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 87 James Benoit, left, and George Clipton sought refuge at Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 87 June Ayrow spent the night with his oxygen tanks underneath a table at Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 87 Floodwaters surround homes Thursday in Port Arthur, Texas. (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press) 39 / 87 Volunteers rescue patients from the Cypress Glen nursing home where floodwaters trapped dozens of elderly patients in Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 87 Residents lie on sofas as they wait to be evacuated from the Cypress Glen senior care facility in Port Arthur, Texas, which was inundated with floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Wednesday. (Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 87 Emergency crews help rescue elderly residents from the Golden Years Assisted Living home in Orange, Texas, on Wednesday. (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press) 42 / 87 Rescuer workers help a woman from her flooded home n Port Arthur, Texas. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 43 / 87 Evacuees ride on a truck after they were driven from their homes by the flooding in Port Arthur, Texas. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 44 / 87 People wait in line to buy groceries at a Food Town during the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) 45 / 87 Juan Figueroa removes damaged furniture from his mothers northeast Houston home where residents begin rebuilding from the devastating effects of the storm. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 87 Rafael Minor, left, and Miguel Ramirez remove the contents from a flooded home in northeast Houston on Wednesday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 87 A construction crew cleans out a home that was flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer / Associated Press) 48 / 87 A flooded residential neighborhood near Interstate 10 in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 87 A flooded residential neighborhood near Interstate 10 in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 87 People come out to view the flooded areas near their homes in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 87 CaroLine Kirkpatrick of Salt Lake City, Utah, is evacuated from the Omni Hotel by rescue worker Adam Caballero in Addicks, a suburb of Houston, Texas. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 87 People displaced by flooding fill the shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. (LM Otero / Associated Press) 53 / 87 Mark Ocosta and his baby, Aubrey, take shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 54 / 87 Frantzy Thenor receives an embrace from a fellow evacuee after he helped her leave from the flooded Omni Hotel, in the Addicks area of Houston, Texas. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 87 Storm clouds over Houston skyline. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 87 Recreational vehicles sit on their sides in flood water in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 87 A woman carries a dog above the rising floodwaters near Addicks Reservoir. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 87 Eduardo Retiz, 21, drives his elevated pickup truck through a flooded street near Addicks Reservoir. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 87 Mike Hoskovec, left, walks to a boat after helping friend Ben Berg, behind, move some photo albums to the second floor of his Nottingham Woods home. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 87 Matthew Koser looks for important papers and heirlooms inside his grandfathers house after it was flooded by heavy rains. (Erich Schlegel / Getty Images) 61 / 87 Residents wade through floodwaters as they evacuate their homes near the Addicks Reservoir Tuesday. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press) 62 / 87 Larry Koser Jr., left and his son Matthew look for important papers and heirlooms inside Larry Koser Sr.'s house after it was flooded by heavy rains. (Erich Schlegel / Getty Images) 63 / 87 Portions of Interstate 10 remain flooded in Houston, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 87 Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 87 Comfort Morgan is helped to dry land after being rescued from her flooded home in Twin Oaks Village in Clodine. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 87 Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine, where a collection of small boat owners, including some with pool toys, coordinated to bring most to dry ground. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 87 Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine, where an collection of small boat owners coordinated to bring most to dry ground. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 87 Hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village are evacuated in Clodine Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 87 Residents are stranded at Twin Oaks Village in Clodine due to rising flood water. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 87 Stranded residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine are evacuated from the rising flood water. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 87 Jan Tullos, 32, searches a flooded home for an injured woman who was reportedly stranded inside in Clodine, Texas. The home was empty. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 87 People walk down a flooded Houston street as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with rains from Tropical Storm Harvey. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 73 / 87 Dean Mize holds children as he and Jason Legnon use an airboat to rescue people from flooded homes in Houston on Monday. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 74 / 87 Dean Mize, left and Jason Legnon carry a person to an airboat as they rescue people in Houston. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 75 / 87 Evacuees walk down a flooded street after leaaving their homes Monday in Houston. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 76 / 87 Dean Mize holds a child as he helps evacuate people in Houston as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to drench southeastern Texas and Louisiana with heavy rains and surging floodwaters. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 77 / 87 People evacuate their flooded homes on Monday in Houston. By Monday morning, 911 operators had received 56,000 calls, city officials said. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 78 / 87 Adults use a kiddie pool to transport children as they evacuate on Monday. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 79 / 87 People catch a ride on a construction vehicle down a flooded Houston street. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 80 / 87 Alexendre Jorge evacuates Ethan Colman, 4, from a Houston neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey. (Charlie Riedel / AP) 81 / 87 People push a stalled pickup to through a flooded street in Houston on Sunday, as Tropical Storm Harvey dumped heavy rains. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press) 82 / 87 A Houston police officer helps Frank Andrews, 74, into his walking chair after rescuing him from his flooded home in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, southwest of Houston, on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 83 / 87 Wilford Martinez, right, is rescued from his flooded car by Harris County Sheriffs Department Richard Wagner along Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press) 84 / 87 Daniel Gross, 15, is rescued by Houston police after he was stranded on top of his car in southwest Houston. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 85 / 87 Andrew White, left, helps a neighbor down a street after rescuing her from her home in his boat in the upscale River Oaks neighborhood after it was inundated with flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) 86 / 87 Volunteers and officers from the neighborhood security patrol help rescue residents in Houstons River Oaks neighborhood Sunday. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) 87 / 87 Jesus Nunez carries his daughter Genesis, 6, as he and numerous family members flee their flooded home, walking nearly four hours to the safety of a relatives house on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

White House officials indicated earlier that they were putting together an initial, emergency financial aid package of about $6 billion.

President Trump offered words of encouragement Friday.

Texas is healing fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard, Trump tweeted. But still, so much to do. Will be back tomorrow! Trump, who misspelled healing as heeling in the original tweet, plans to visit Texas and Louisiana on Saturday and has proclaimed Sunday a national day of prayer for storm victims.

Parts of Kentucky were projected to receive more than four inches of rain from Harveys remnants over the next 24 hours, with flash floods the main concern in the states mountainous regions.

Just as emergency officials are getting a chance to step back and assess the scope of the damage from Harvey, concern was switching to another powerful storm, Irma, brewing in the open Atlantic.

Despite clear skies over much of Texas, many rivers along the states coastal plains remained at major or record-high flood stages, which are projected to last for days, and waters remained high in many parts of Texas and western Louisiana.

About 70% of Harris Countys 1,777 square miles was covered with 1 feet of water at some point after the deluge, flooding about 136,000 buildings, according to county officials.

Government offices in Beaumont remained closed after the region was hit with floods, costing the city its water supply and cutting off access to medical services such as dialysis and forcing hospital patients to evacuate.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, noting that low-lying places along rivers swollen with runoff remain deadly dangerous, announced the launch of the Rebuild Texas Fund with a $36-million pledge from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The aim was to raise $100 million over Labor Day weekend to support recovery efforts.

West of Houston, the city of Rosenberg announced that its shelters would be closing as the waters moved on.

Meanwhile, federal officials have launched an investigation into a fire at a chemical plant in Crosby, east of Houston, that lost electrical power needed to cool volatile organic peroxide, leading to a pair of explosions Thursday. The plant, owned by Arkema Inc., has had Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations in the past, including a $110,000 fine this year for 10 violations found during an inspection.

In a call with reporters early Friday, Arkema officials said there are nine refrigerated trailers containing about 500,000 pounds of liquid organic peroxide at three various locations at the Crosby plant, and only one of them has exploded so far. Officials said there is a good chance the others could ignite.

Times staff writers Matt Pearce reported from Beaumont, Texas, Molly Hennessy-Fiske from Houston and Jack Dolan from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Laura J. Nelson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

ALSO

Harvey is one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. Most of the victims have no flood insurance

For Texas immigrants, Harvey came at an already tense time

I think hes barbecuing: A helicopter view of the Texas flood with the California National Guard

UPDATES:

3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from residents coping with flooding.

1:10 p.m.: This article was updated with information on reservoir releases and overflowing rivers.

This story was originally published at 6:50 a.m
The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter skimmed a few hundred feet over the trees, patrolling for targets.

The crew of six scanned the trees and buildings below for anything resembling the human form. Except this wasnt Baghdad or Kabul. It was East Texas.

We got a mission, one of the crew members radioed. Its a woman and a child that needs pickup.

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Across this blue-collar refinery town, a buzzing sound has filled the air in the days since floods from Tropical Storm Harvey rampaged across the coastal plains of southeast Texas.

At Jack Brooks Regional Airport, the tarmac was filled with a fleet of aircraft on missions of mercy, including C-130 military transport planes, medical helicopters, a CH-47 Chinook and several other military helicopters.

A crew with the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard based out of San Jose was conducting search and rescue missions Thursday in flood-inundated areas that were difficult to reach by car or even boat.

A fleet of Coca-Cola delivery trucks sits in floodwaters in Lumberton, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The extent of the floods destruction was apparent not long after takeoff. Lt. Col Thomas Keegan, the mission leader and the director of public affairs, and Maj. Drew Turner sat in pilot seats in the front; Staff Sgt. Tom Ryan and Tech Sgt. Sage Savage sat in gunners windows in the middle of the chopper; and Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster and Senior Airman George McKenzie sat with their legs dangling out of open doors in the back.

Below them: A partially flooded graveyard. Warehouses that were mostly under water. An RV dealership with dozens of half-drowned motor homes. A fleet of Coca-Cola delivery trucks with water up to their wheels. A horse standing forlornly in the middle of a flooded pasture. Columns of trucks fording lagoons where roads used to be, leaving contrails in their wake.

And ruined houses everywhere.

Rising floodwater surrounds homes in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey near Lumberton, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The chopper motored toward an address in the city of Orange, on the border with Louisiana. As the crew circled a neighborhood below, a woman emerged from a house and waved a red towel.

We dont have a way to communicate with them, other than with hand and arm signal, Keegan explained later. The hard part is figuring out who were supposed to pick up. ... Well get, like, a street address and a patient status -- someone who has called 911 -- and then its the crews job to find that person once theyre on the ground and evaluate where they need to go.

In this case, residents had called their local emergency management system for help, which relayed the request to the military. The helicopter circled until the crew found an open space nearby to land -- an elaborate operation in itself, which required avoiding trees and power lines.

A crowd gathered from the nearby houses as the helicopter set down in a grassy field and two rescuers in orange helmets hopped out to find who needed help.

Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster signals to his crew as he follows up on an evacuation call in a neighborhood surrounded by floodwater in Orange, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Soon, a woman and her son appeared on the dirt road. I had a double lung transplant, she explained. I have cystic fibrosis. With the floods, she said, her family felt it was not safe for her to wait it out in the partially flooded but hard-to-access neighborhood.

The other patient for pickup arrived not long after: a 9-month-old boy with a heart condition who had been using an oxygen tank to breathe. His parents nervously brought him to the helicopter crew in a baby carrier. As more than two dozen neighbors watched, the crew moved quickly, loading the two families onto the helicopter.

As it took off, the babys father fanned the child with a hat in the stifling heat. The woman with cystic fibrosis and her young son, meanwhile, looked nervous being on a helicopter; they barely looked up from the floor of the cabin at the watery scenery outside.

Members of the California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing help a man carry his infant with a serious heart condition in Orange, Texas, on Thursday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The trip was uneventful. After the pilot dropped off both families in Beaumont, the crew congratulated each other on the radio: A baby counts for two.

Great job, fellas.

Next mission: Recon.

In the setting sun, a haze clung to the trees that stretched out everywhere. Beneath their canopies, water often lurked beneath, and the disembodied chatter of the crew narrated the unusual landscape as they scanned the flooded area around Lumberton, which had been hit especially hard.

Just a couch floating.

Wow, thats up to the rooftop.

One thing missing was any sign of people.

What about the next town?

I got a bunch of houses here at 9 oclock, meaning to the left.

The chopper came across two military armored personnel carriers that had been turned into water ferries to push through the floodwaters to reach an isolated group of homes and pick up stranded residents. Separate teams of rescuers had also pulled up to the house in boats.

The chopper headed onward until it spotted and circled curiously around a railroad track in the woods that was mostly flooded. Several people were sitting on it as the water rushed underneath. The crew began barking reports to each other as the chopper made loops to see if those below had been trapped by advancing floodwaters.

Then doubt grew.

Looks like they are just having a beverage and hanging out.

Stupid place to hang out.

People sit on a railroad track near Lumberton, Texas, as floodwaters rush beneath them. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Not satisfied, the chopper pilot scouted a little, spotting a nearby portion of the tracks nearby that had been overtopped by floodwaters. Then he steered back to the people who had been sitting on the tracks.

Theyre walking and giving a thumbs-up. Taking pictures of us.

Pretty stupid, one crew member responded. But it is pretty down there.

Even from the ground, the spot must have afforded a great view of the flood. It certainly did from the air.

A dim square appeared nearby, just beneath the surface of the water: the roof of a submerged car. Eight horses stood tightly together in the middle of a flooded field, their owner nowhere in sight. Two cows were loose and stood in a flooded road. The chopper moved over some newly developed land.

These are brand-new houses. That sucks.

Then came the strangest sight.

A two-story home sat surrounded by water, with a white horse standing in chest-deep floodwaters, as a man stood on a second-story deck. The helicopter paused to hover overhead.

Hes pretty much surrounded.

And yet...

Hes giving a thumbs-up and taking a picture.

I think hes barbecuing.

A pause.

I dont know what his plan is.

A man barbecues despite floods surrounding his home near Lumberton, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The rescuers moved on. The setting sun turned into a coin of red fire on the horizon. Time to refuel.

A large fuel plane flew into the area and both the Pave Hawk and a second California Air National Guard helicopter conducting search and rescue work pulled up behind it.

Two hoses with funnels at the end began extending from out the back of the large plane. The helicopters, which had long refueling rods attached to their noses, carefully pulled up behind the hoses and, in mid-air, inserted the refueling rods into the funnels -- an amazing operation to take place over an American city.

The crew wasnt done. They pulled out night-vision binoculars that made the pitch-black landscape below glow in a bright and clear green. It was time to keep going.

A military search and rescue helicopter refuels midflight before resuming nighttime missions over in Lumberton, Texas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

matt.pearce@latimes.com

Matt Pearce is a national reporter for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @mattdpearce.

ALSO

Harvey is likely to be the second-most costly natural disaster in U.S. history

Texas residents sort through wreckage left by Harvey as death toll reaches at least 46

Harvey has knocked out a significant portion of the nations oil refining capacity
With Hurricane Harvey barreling toward his house in Corpus Christi and his family waiting it out in San Antonio, the young mans mother made a comment that will stick with him.

If theres nothing left when we get back to Corpus Christi, she said, were going back to Mexico.

It caught 22-year-old Alain by surprise. He and his mother are living in the country illegally, but he is a student at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and had been granted some protection from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. His family brought him to the U.S. when he was 8. His mother was joking about leaving  he thinks.

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She said it for a reason, said Alain, who asked that his full name be withheld to avoid drawing the attention of authorities. When someone tells you you cant live here anymore or they want to put you in another category as a human being, it hurts.

Even before Hurricane Harvey came ashore, bringing chaos and death, it was a tense time to be an immigrant living without papers in Texas.

Senate Bill 4  a hotly debated new anti-sanctuary-city law that requires local police to comply with federal immigration requests to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally  was set to go into effect Friday.

On Wednesday night, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio temporarily halted its implementation in response to a lawsuit filed by five Texas cities, as well as several counties and sheriffs and advocacy groups, that challenged its constitutionality.

Civil rights activists in Texas said that even the rhetoric used in the debate over the bill had badly eroded trust between immigrants and law enforcement.

It didnt help, they said, that as people in Texas were glued to their TVs and radios on Aug. 25 for news about Harvey, they learned that President Trump had pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff in Arizona who had been convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to end racial profiling of Latinos. Or that Trump could potentially rescind DACA, as he has threatened. The White House said Friday that a decision on DACA would be announced Tuesday.

Some Harvey victims have been reluctant to seek shelter or other assistance because they are in the country illegally, said Amy Fischer, policy director for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES, an immigrant legal advocacy group based in San Antonio.

Theyre feeling very much under attack, Fischer said. The level of trust between immigrants and law enforcement officials has deteriorated so severely, it remains to be seen how much of that can be brought back as people are having to seek assistance after the storm.

Juanita Posada, who flew a Mexican flag in front of her flooded house this week in Houstons Lakewood neighborhood, said she had friends who were worried about seeking help after the storm because of their immigration status.

They are scared, Posada said. Rumors are scaring them more and more to get help because once they ask, more could happen.

The Houston area has an estimated 575,000 immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, the largest cluster outside New York and Los Angeles, according to the Pew Research Center.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that agents are not conducting immigration enforcement operations in the affected areas.

In fact, ICE said it had received disturbing reports about people impersonating immigration agents and knocking on doors in Houston, presumably to burglarize empty homes.

Still, immigrant rights activists say authorities have conveyed mixed messages during the disaster. The Border Patrol said it closed highway checkpoints that were in Harveys path but did not suspend operations beyond that.

In a joint statement, ICE and the Border Patrol included this warning: The laws will not be suspended, and we will be vigilant against any effort by criminals to exploit disruptions caused by the storm.

But Tom Bossert, White House homeland security advisor, said that no individual human being should worry about their immigration status unless theyve committed a crime on top of coming here illegally, when it comes to getting food, water and shelter.

Among immigrants, concern has spread quickly. When word got out that authorities were taking fingerprints at an evacuee shelter at the Lively Pointe Youth Center in Irving, Texas, people were afraid to come for fear of being turned over to ICE.

Officer James McLellan, a Irving Police Department spokesman, said everyone who came to the shelter had fingerprints, name and date of birth taken, and the information was run through a state criminal history database. He said that officers were following required safety protocols and that they already had identified one sex offender who was moved to another location and kept away from children.

I cant stress enough, were not the immigration police, McLellan said. We dont care about immigration issues or peoples legal status. Were here to help. Theres no ulterior motive.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat whose district includes parts of San Antonio, said that people working in evacuee shelters had reached out to his office, asking what to do if ICE agents showed up.

Doggett was attending a rally Thursday in front of the federal courthouse in San Antonio, where immigration advocates called the halting of SB 4, although temporary, a bright spot in an otherwise horrific week. The law, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed in May, would prevent municipalities from adopting their own policies to limit enforcement of immigration laws.

Kimberley Hall Seger, an attorney and director of immigration services at Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi, lamented how much people feared the potential implementation of SB 4 days after the storm.

On top of the stress of having to evacuate, worried youre going to drown or get separated from your family, youre concerned about getting deported, she said. The concern is very real.

Seger said anxiety was so high that even people with green cards were calling her, asking whether they would get deported. They fear being singled out for being Latino, she said.

If I got pulled over, they wouldnt ask me for my papers. Im white, she said. There are people here that are very brown and very legal.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson

Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed to this report from Houston.

ALSO

After storms fury, a sorrowful task: Gathering up the dead

Harvey pounded the nations chemical epicenter. Whats in the foul-smelling floodwater left behind?

How a Texas bowling alley became a beacon of hope

UPDATES:

1:40 p.m.: This article was updated to report that the White House says a decision on the DACA program will be announced Tuesday.

This article was originally published at 3 a.m.
Many Americans live where it is unsafe to breathe. About 40% of the U.S. population  more than 126 million people  live in areas that do not comply with national ambient air quality standards.

This public health problem poses a particular threat to Latinos, who are exposed disproportionately to high levels of the main pollutants that can aggravate asthma: ozone and fine particulate matter.

Latinos and Asian Americans are more likely than any other racial or ethic group to live in counties that dont meet standards for particulate matter, according to a 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, the agencys most recent report on air quality that includes demographic information. At the time of the study, 26.6% of Latinos lived in counties that did not meet standards for particulate matter, while the same was true for only 9.7% of whites. More than 48% of Latinos lived in counties that did not meet standards for ozone.

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President Trump is undermining efforts to improve air quality for Americans. His administration has attempted to delay the implementation of new ozone standards adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2015, and it is seeking cuts to the EPAs budget that would severely compromise the agencys ability to enforce all air quality standards.

The Trump administrations deportation crackdown means that Latino immigrants are less likely to seek medical attention.

For Latinos, the Trump administration is compounding the problem even more, through its efforts to roll back healthcare and its aggressive deportation policies.

Healthcare is critically important for asthma patients, particularly children. Latino children who have health insurance are more likely than white children with insurance to visit emergency rooms or be hospitalized for asthma, according to a 2011 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But Latinos have less access to healthcare than other groups. According to 2015 CDC data, Latino populations have an uninsured rate of 19.4%, compared with 6.2% of white Americans. The NRDC report estimates that two out of five Latinos are either uninsured or underinsured.

If the Trump administration and Republicans roll back any part of the Affordable Care Act, the rates of uninsured are certain to grow. Before the ACA, one out of three adult Latinos lacked coverage, according to a 2013 report by Kaiser. The enrollment rate among Latinos then grew 7.2% under Obamacare, according to a New York Times investigation. And because Latinos have comparatively high rates of asthma, diabetes and obesity, they in particular have benefited from the ACAs protection for people with preexisting conditions.

Whats more, the Trump administrations deportation crackdown means that Latino immigrants are already less likely to seek medical attention, as concerns mount over immigration raids at hospitals and the potential transfer of personal information from healthcare systems to immigration authorities.

Although it is Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy to avoid conducting sweeps at healthcare facilities, which are classified as sensitive locations, ICE agents reportedly targeted several individuals at hospitals this summer. In one case, undocumented Latino parents were intercepted at a Texas childrens hospital after they registered a child who had been transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit. In another, ICE agents moved a critically ill Salvadoran woman who was awaiting emergency surgery to a detention facility.

In recent weeks, the New York Times and Politico documented a growing trend of immigrant populations forgoing medical care due to fears of deportation. And in a June op-ed in the Washington Post, a Chicago doctor argued that immigration concerns are preventing children from getting medical care.

A number of hospital chief executives have issued open letters acknowledging the problem and encouraging immigrants to seek care. But a large body of research has shown that immigrants tend to avoid healthcare providers when fears of deportation are running high. As a result, many Latinos with asthma, among other conditions, are less likely to receive the medical attention they need.

Trump should want to protect air quality for all citizens and residents, including Latinos. His administration could do this by vigorously enforcing EPA standards and avoiding policies that directly or indirectly limit access to medical care. Instead, sadly, his policies are making things worse.

Ignacia S. Moreno is a founding principal of the iMoreno Group. She served as assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2013. Richard L. Revesz is a Lawrence King Professor of Law and dean emeritus at New York University School of Law.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
In late August, we published the first academic analysis of ExxonMobils 40-year history of communications on climate change. We published our findings in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal and made our method and evidence transparent and auditable by publishing 121 pages of supplementary materials. The result: a systematic discrepancy between what ExxonMobil scientists communicated in their scientific articles and internal reports, and what the company told the public in advertorials  advertisements in the New York Times masquerading as editorials. In other words, our study showed that ExxonMobil misled the public about climate science and its implications for decades.

Reviewing 187 ExxonMobil documents, we found that 83% of peer-reviewed papers authored by ExxonMobil scientists and 80% of the companys internal communications acknowledged that climate change was real and human-caused. In contrast, only 12% of ExxonMobils advertorials directed at the public did so, with 81% instead expressing doubt.

How did the worlds largest publicly traded oil and gas company respond? With a straw man, a falsehood, cherry picking and character assassination.

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The straw man: ExxonMobil claims that we accused them of hiding or suppressing climate science research, but to quote verbatim from our study, We stress that the question is not whether ExxonMobil suppressed climate change research, but rather how they communicated about it. What our analysis does say  and show  is that ExxonMobil misled the public. On this point the company remains silent.

We published science, ExxonMobil offered spin.

The falsehood: ExxonMobil says we have admitted that our previous allegations that the company hid its climate science research were wrong. Thats not true. One journalist asked where he could find the link to the allegations; the answer is he couldnt because we never made them. ExxonMobil has put words in our mouths and then claimed we retracted them.

Cherry picking: ExxonMobil argues that a handful of sentences within two advertorials undercut our analysis of 187 documents. But those two advertorials were included in our study. This is the kind of cherry picking of which ExxonMobil has repeatedly accused others.

Character assassination: ExxonMobil says we are in it for the money. The fact is, Naomi Oreskes did this work as a Harvard professor, with no additional payment from any source. She has never been on the payroll of any NGO or activist organization. Geoffrey Supran did two months of this work on a postdoctoral salary paid by the Rockefeller Family Fund and 11 more months on his own dime, in parallel with other, funded research projects. And who do you think gets paid more, an oil industry executive or a postdoc?

We did begin our research with views on ExxonMobil and its climate communications, just as most solar cell engineers have views on renewable energy and most medical researchers have views on public health. Objectivity doesnt mean having no opinions. It means using objective methods and being willing to revise your views in light of evidence. The point of our new study was to read the documents that ExxonMobil claimed would exonerate them.

In sum, ExxonMobil is now misleading the public about its history of misleading the public. This is just the latest round in a long and troubling record of doubt-mongering and misdirection by the fossil fuel industry and libertarian think tanks in response to the scientific evidence of climate change.

Its become a familiar pattern. We published science, ExxonMobil offered spin.

Separating the two is peer review. The idea is simple: Every scientific claim  unlike every company press release  is vetted by independent analysis. At minimum, peer reviewers look for mistakes in data gathering, analysis and interpretation. Usually they go further, addressing the quality and quantity of data, the reasoning linking the evidence to its interpretation, the mathematics or computer simulations used to analyze and interpret the data, and even the prior reputation of the claimant. If the person is thought to do sloppy work, has previously been involved in spurious claims or has not disclosed potential conflicts of interest, he or she can expect to attract tougher scrutiny. Scientific authors are required to take reviewers criticisms seriously, and to fix any mistakes that have been found. (We did this with our paper.)

The reviewers must be experts and they must be independent. They can be as tough as they need to be, because they are anonymous. Editors spend considerable time finding reviewers who meet these criteria.

People have gone to the moon, cured diseases, invented new materials, spliced the gene and split the atom  all on the basis of peer-reviewed science. Its how you knew when and where to watch the solar eclipse.

ExxonMobil has a track record of disparaging peer-reviewed climate science. Now they are disparaging peer-reviewed social science too. We think that makes it pretty clear who can be trusted  and who cant  when it comes to facts about the past and decisions we need to make about our future.

Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science at Harvard and co-author of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Geoffrey Supran is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of the history of science at Harvard and in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
California in Congress

Sept. 1, 2017, 3:25 p.m. Reporting from Washington

California Republicans ask House Speaker to consider bill to help Dreamers as nation awaits Trump DACA decision

Rep. David G. Valadao, left, meets a constituent. (Gary Kazanjian / For The Times)

Central Valley Reps. David Valadao of Hanford and Jeff Denham of Turlock are asking House Speaker Paul Ryan to allow the House to consider legislation to protect from deportation the hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children.

Many of these so-called Dreamers came forward and underwent background checks, handed over personal data and even their fingerprints after President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. In exchange they got assurances they wouldnt be deported for two years if they follow the law and are working, enrolled in school or serving in the military.

More than a quarter of the estimated 800,000 recipients are thought to live in California. Valadao and Denham were among 10 House Republicans who signed a letter to Ryan, stressing that Congress must find a solution.

We did not support the way that President Obama established this program and usurped Congressional law making authority. However, these individuals have come forward and provided the federal government with their personal information and biometrics. It would be wrong to go back on our word and subject these individuals to deportation, the Republicans letter states. These individuals status in the United States should not be left to the political winds of different administrations that come to power.

Denham and Valadao represent districts with large Latino populations and are among Democrats targets in 2018. They joined a handful of Republicans in a recent letter urging President Trump not to end the program, and are co-sponsors of legislation aimed at finding a fix.

Ryan told radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wis., Friday that he didnt think Trump should end the program and that a legislative solution is needed.

"[T]here are people who are in limbo, Ryan said. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and dont know another home.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco sent her own letter to Ryan on Friday, calling his remarks heartening and asking him to meet with House Democrats and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about possible legislation when Congress returns next week from the August recess.
California farmworkers will have to undergo sexual assault prevention training By Jazmine Ulloa Gov. Jerry Brown/ (Monica Davey/ EPA) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation to ensure farm labor contractors train employees on how to prevent and report sexual assault, a response to a 2013 PBS Frontline investigation that found sexual violence against women was a pervasive problem in California fields. Senate Bill 295 by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) makes sexual harassment training mandatory at all businesses that supervise farm employees or provide them with lodging, transportation or other services. The training has to be conducted or interpreted in a language that employees can understand, the law stipulates, and farm labor contractors will have to provide proof of all of their materials and resources to the Farm Labor Commission as part of the license renewal process. Under the new law, the state labor commission also will be able to charge a $100 civil fine for any violation of the new requirements. The PBS Frontline investigative documenatory, Rape in the Fields, The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America found more than half a million women work in U.S. fields. Most do not have legal residency in the country, and sexual harassment and violence often go unreported. A 2012 Human Rights Watch survey found 80% of 150 women in Californias Central Valley had experienced some form of the abuse. Facebook

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Los Angeles voters can cast ballots in Assembly race on Tuesday By Chris Megerian Wendy Carrillo is one of 13 people running for a state Assembly seat. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The political dominoes from U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxers retirement are almost done falling. Her decision two years ago to forgo reelection led to a reshuffling that eventually left vacant a state Assembly seat in Los Angeles. There are 13 candidates running in the special election, and the primary is Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Gov. Brown signs major housing legislation By Liam Dillon At a signing ceremony in San Francisco on Friday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 bills aimed at addressing the states mounting housing problems. It is a big challenge, Brown said. We have risen to it this year. The bills could add nearly $1 billion in new funding for low-income housing developments in the near term as well as lessen regulations that slow growth. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills to tackle Californias housing crisis Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers are gathered in San Francisco for the signing into law of a package of proposals designed to tackle some of the most pressing parts of Californias housing crisis. Read More Facebook

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Businesses in California will be required to tell customers exactly how much their automatic renewal will cost By Mina Corpuz California will require online businesses that offer free trials to tell customers exactly how much an automatic renewal will cost under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. The laws author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), thinks the bill, known as SB 313, will make it easier for customers to cancel service. Consumers need to know what they are signing up for and that they can just as easily cancel any service or subscription online as when they started it online, Hertzberg said in a statement. Streaming services like Hulu and Spotify and the file-sharing site Dropbox have elicited lawsuits and consumer complaints about their automatic service renewals, according to Hertzbergs statement. The law goes into effect in July. Facebook

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Heres why Californias early primary in 2020 is destined to pick the next president. (Nah, not really) By Mark Z. Barabak (Harry Chase / Los Angeles Times) Today we answer questions. Woo-hoo! Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the bill, it looks like California is moving up its 2020 presidential primary. Finally! Uh. No more watching from the sidelines as small-fry states like Iowa and New Hampshire throw their weight around. Um. Im already fluffing pillows and prepping the guestroom for all the 2020 hopefuls wholl be camped out. Er. What? You dont seem too excited. Look, it would be great if California voted in a truly meaningful presidential primary. Its been about 50 years since that happened. But its about as likely in 2020 as President Trump dumping Vice President Pence and running for reelection on a unity ticket with Hillary Clinton. How can that be? Lots of reasons, both political and practical. Do tell. Read More Facebook

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Poll: Californians like Obamacare more than ever but are divided on single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Members of the California Nurses Assn. and other supporters rally at the state Capitol for a single-payer health plan June 28. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) As the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act fizzles, the law has reached its highest popularity in California in four years, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Nearly 60% of the Californians hold a generally favorable view of the healthcare law, and just over a third of Californians see it unfavorably  the highest approval rating since PPIC began tracking the laws popularity in 2013. But while Democrats and independents back the law, known as Obamacare, with strong majorities, three-quarters of Republicans have negative views of it. Only 18% of Californians believe congressional Republicans should try again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and 58% of adults want to see bipartisan efforts to improve the law. Underscoring the GOPs challenge in dramatically reducing governments role in healthcare, two-thirds of the states adults believe it is the federal governments responsibility to ensure that all Americans have health coverage. But Californians are divided on whether to substantially increase government involvement through a single-payer system, such as the Medicare for All proposal recently introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). A national single-payer insurance program such as Medicare for All gets support from 35% of Californians, according to the poll. Support is higher among Democrats  44%  and independents  34%  than among Republicans. Only 6% of Republicans back such a system. But the current system, a patchwork of government and private insurance options, isnt particularly adored by Californians. Just under 30% of adults support continuing with a mix of private and public insurance options, while 36% of Democrats, 21% of Republicans and 31% of independents see that mixed system as the best way to provide health coverage. Facebook

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Half of Californias likely voters think Sen. Dianne Feinstein should retire, poll finds By Phil Willon (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) As Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein contemplates a 2018 bid for reelection, a new poll has found that 50% of Californias likely voters think she shouldnt run again. Just 43% of likely voters support Feinstein running for a sixth term, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday. The results are similar among all California adults, not just likely voters, with 46% saying she should not run for another term and 41% saying she should run. Feinstein, 84, has come under increased pressure from members of Californias left, many of whom were infuriated when earlier this month she called for patience with President Trump and refused to back demands for his impeachment. Still, the poll found that Feinstein remains popular. More than half of likely voters  54%  approve of the job shes doing, compared with 38% who disapprove. Thats on par with Gov. Jerry Browns approval rating, and it bests the marks for Californias other Democratic senator, Kamala Harris. When likely voters were asked about Harris, the former state attorney general elected to the Senate in November, 47% approved of the job she was doing in Washington and 30% disapproved. Almost a quarter of voters didnt offer an opinion about Harris. The contrasting results on Feinstein are difficult to decipher but at the very least indicate voters remain restless. Partly, this is a holdover from last years election in which you saw many Democrats wanting a more liberal alternative at the presidential level and you saw many independents wanting an outsider, said Mark Baldassare, president of Public Policy Institute of California. As people are looking to next year, theres a desire for something new. Speculation continues that Feinstein may face a Democratic challenger. Among those who have been mentioned is state Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), who is weighing his next political move after he terms out of office in 2018. De Leon lashed out at Feinstein after her comments about Trump in early September. In her last election, Feinstein trounced her Republican opponent, Elizabeth Emken, by a 25-percentage-point margin in 2012. She won by almost an identical margin in 2006 when challenged by former Republican state Sen. Richard Mountjoy. However, California has since switched to a top-two primary system. The two candidates who receive the most voters in the June primary election will advance to the 2018 general election, regardless of their party. Two Democrats faced off in the finale of Californias 2016 U.S. Senate election, with Harris besting then-Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Facebook

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Barbara Boxer says if Sen. Dianne Feinstein runs for another term, she should expect a tough race By Mina Corpuz Former Sen. Barbara Boxer (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) Its one of the hottest political parlor games in California right now: Will she run again? Everyone is waiting for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to announce if shell seek a sixth term. And even though they served as colleagues in Washington for more than two decades, former Sen. Barbara Boxer said she has no inside intel on what Feinstein will do in 2018. I believe she is running until I see any other indication, Boxer said Wednesday at a Sacramento Press Club lunch. Every single race is hard.... Anyone who runs against her will give her a tough race. Feinstein, 84, has made clear she is taking her time, even as ambitious politicians eye the seat she has held since 1992. One long-shot Democrat already is raising money for the race, and Feinstein recently drew criticism from California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, who has not ruled out a primary challenge against her. Boxer said Wednesday her own priority for next years midterm election is flipping several Republican-held House seats in Southern California. Theres no such thing as an off election year, she said. Its an on year. Much of this work will be done through the political action committee Boxer founded, PAC for a Change. The organization also supports electing more Democrats to the Senate and standing up to President Trumps policies, she said. Since leaving the Senate in January, Boxer has also given speeches and promoted her book, The Art of Tough. She doesnt like to consider herself a retiree. Boxer also skirted a question about her pick for governor in a race that already is crowded with several Democrats. All of the candidates, she joked, are like my sons and daughters. Facebook

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Californias top elections officer now says his agencys website wasnt the one scanned by Russian hackers By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (John Myers / Los Angeles Times) Five days after saying he had been told Russian hackers scanned the states main elections website for weaknesses in 2016, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Wednesday that it turns out it didnt actually happen that way. Padilla said that his office was given incorrect information by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and that the Russian operation was instead focused on scanning the network of the state Department of Technology. Our notification from DHS last Friday was not only a year late, it also turned out to be bad information, Padilla said in a statement. Bryce Brown, a spokesman for the states information technology agency, said officials had long known about suspect activity that occurred on our network last summer but didnt know anything else until the notification from federal officials. Although we did not have knowledge of the source until now, we have confirmed our security systems worked as planned and the activity was blocked as it happened in 2016, he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that federal officials also reversed course in a notification they had made to Wisconsin elections officials about Russian activity. In June, federal officials told Congress that 21 states elections systems were targeted by Russian activity. Padilla insisted last week that the scanning incident found no vulnerabilities or access to any California voter information, and he criticized DHS officials for the delay in sharing information about 2016 activities. On Wednesday, he said hopes that federal officials will continue to work with the states in preventing cyberattacks. I remain committed to a partnership with DHS and other intelligence agencies; however, elections officials and the American public expect and deserve timely and accurate information, Padilla said. Facebook

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Hollywood tour buses could get more rules slapped on them under the law Gov. Jerry Brown just signed By Patrick McGreevy A tour bus passes the late Carrie Fishers gated home in Beverly Hills. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at reining in the proliferation of tour buses offering to take fans to the homes and gathering spots of celebrities in Hollywood and other trendy neighborhoods. The measure allows cities and counties to adopt rules that restrict the routes or streets used by the tour buses, and prohibit the use of loudspeakers on open-topped buses and vans. Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) introduced the proposal in response to a report by NBC Los Angeles that found some tour buses were operating unsafely without proper permits. He also cited complaints about topless buses on narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills, Malibu and Bel-Air. Facebook

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Latino state lawmakers back Antonio Villaraigosa for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa gives a pep talk in Los Angeles at Cathedral High School, where he once was also a student. ((Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) The Legislatures California Latino Caucus on Wednesday endorsed former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for governor. While expected, the nod from the politically influential caucus is a boon for Villaraigosa, a former Democratic Assembly speaker and the only major Latino candidate running for governor. Villaraigosa has lagged behind Lt. Gov. Gavin Newson in early polls and fundraising. As Assembly speaker and Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa worked to strengthen our economy, expand our healthcare, improve our schools and invest in strategic infrastructure projects that create middle-class jobs, Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), chair of the caucus, said in a statement Wednesday morning. An intriguing aspect of the endorsement is that one of the most prominent members of the California Latino Caucus is Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). In Sacramento, speculation abounds over whether De Leon may run for governor, and the Villaraigosa endorsement could indicate De Leon has other plans for his political future. Villaraigosa joins a slate of other Latino statewide candidates endorsed by the caucus: Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa) for lieutenant governor; current appointee Xavier Becerra for attorney general; incumbent Alex Padilla for secretary of state; Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) for insurance commissioner; and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) for superintendent of public instruction. Facebook

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California is trying to educate people about marijuana before recreational sales start By Patrick McGreevy Months before California allows the sale of marijuana for recreational use, the state has launched an education campaign about the drug, including highlighting the potential harms of cannabis for minors and pregnant women. The state is scheduled to issue licenses starting Jan. 2 for growing and selling marijuana for recreational use, expanding a program that currently allows cannabis use for medical purposes. In response, the California Department of Public Health has created a website to educate Californians about the drug and its impacts, including how to purchase and safely store cannabis. We are committed to providing Californians with science-based information to ensure safe and informed choices, said State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. The website, Lets Talk Cannabis, notes it is illegal for people under 21 to buy marijuana for non-medical use and warns that using cannabis regularly in your teens and early 20s may lead to physical changes in your brain. The site also warns that marijuana edibles may have higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. If you eat too much, too fast you are at higher risk for poisoning, the website warns. The state urges parents and guardians to talk to their teenagers about legal and health issues surrounding marijuana use. The state officials also say consuming cannabis is not recommended for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or who plan to become pregnant soon, noting that it can affect the health of your baby. The website got good marks from legalization activist Ellen Komp, deputy director of Californias chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The website is fairly accurate, she said, but added, The risks with pregnancy are somewhat overstated, telling women they should not use cannabis for nausea or even if they are thinking of getting pregnant. Some 43% of Californians have used marijuana for recreational purposes and 54% said they have not, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll last November. Among those who have not used it, just 2% said they are much more likely to use it if Proposition 64 passed, which it did, while 5% said they are somewhat more likely to use it, and 89% said they are no more likely to smoke pot if it was legalized. Other advice from the states site: driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal and increases the chance of a car accident, and cannabis should be stored in a locked area to avoid poisoning children and pets. Updated at 11:30 am to include data from poll on marijuana use. Facebook

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Todays newsletter: Republicans fail again to repeal Obamacare By John Myers Todays Essential Politics newsletter details the last gasp of the Republican efforts in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act, efforts that President Trump insisted on Tuesday arent over. We also take a look at the win by Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, in a Senate runoff that saw the president back the losing candidate. And weve got the details of what happens if Gov. Jerry Brown, as expected, signs the sanctuary state bill into law. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook

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After meeting with Trump, California Democrats say they want a seat at the tax reform table By Sarah D. Wire Ahead of Republicans plans to unveil a more detailed overview of their tax reform plan Wednesday, President Trump sat down with a bipartisan group of members that included California Democratic Reps. Linda Sanchez and Mike Thompson. Sanchez, of Whittier, who serves on the House committee that has authority over tax legislation, said members didnt learn much about the details of the plan Tuesday. There were kind of generalities but no specificity, which is why were interested to see what they put out tomorrow, because clearly its not something thats had Democratic input, Sanchez said. According to a White House transcript of part of the meeting, Trump said the plan is focused on making the tax code simple and fair, increasing the deduction most families can take, lowering the business tax rate and bringing wealth stored overseas back to the United States. Thompson, of St. Helena, said the president listened to what Democrats had to say, but he didnt get the impression that the policy plan would change before it becomes public Wednesday. I dont think it was that kind of meeting. We all agreed we wanted a fair, easy-to-work-with tax code that generates more jobs, said Thompson, who is also on the committee. He said repeatedly he wants to be successful. Republicans are set to unveil a consensus document Wednesday they say will be a much more detailed overview than previous tax policy papers theyve released. But it is not expected to be an actual plan or bill. Republicans will huddle with Vice President Mike Pence for half of Wednesday to discuss tax reform. Democrats are holding their own tax reform forum too. Its been 30 years since Congress has passed a major tax overhaul, and Republican leaders have set an ambitious timeline for passing a tax-reform measure, indicating they want to get it to Trumps desk by the end of the year. Sanchez said she tried to stress in the meeting that Democrats should play a role in writing the final bill. There wasnt discussion about the group sitting down with Trump again, she said. The president was very pleased that it was a bipartisan effort, which sort of confused me because that was the first meeting where there were members of the Democratic side of the Ways and Means Committee there, Sanchez said. I dont know if theyve been telling him that the process is bipartisan or if he knew it wasnt bipartisan but didnt care, but I thought that was kind of odd. Facebook

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Judge rewrites summary of proposed gas tax repeal initiative, saying it was fundamentally flawed By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) A judge on Monday rewrote the title and summary for a proposed initiative that would repeal recent gas tax increases in California. He rejected a title and summary written by the state attorney generals office as fundamentally flawed. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley criticized the attorney generals office for not mentioning in the title that the ballot measure would repeal newly approved taxes or fees. This is not a situation where reasonable minds may differ, Frawley wrote in his ruling. The Attorney Generals title and summary ... must be changed to avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure. The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees in order to generate $5.2 billion for road repairs and to improve mass transit. The title and summary will be placed on petitions to be circulated by those trying to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. The title and summary are also placed on the ballot if enough signatures are collected. The original title written by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerras office was: Eliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes. Allens attorneys argued the voter could read that to mean that the Legislature identified existing funds for transportation and the initiative would take those funds away. The judges title says: Repeals recently enacted gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Eliminates road repair and transportation programs funded by these taxes and fees. The judge also made it clear in the summary that an Independent Office of Audits and Investigations that would be eliminated by the initiative is newly established. Representatives of the attorney generals office were not immediately available to comment on whether the ruling would be appealed. Facebook

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Democrats to try to force vote on Dream Act with rarely successful procedural move By Sarah D. Wire House Democrats are trying to force a vote on Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allards version of the Dream Act, they announced in a news conference Monday. The House and Senate have less than six months to address the legal status of people brought into the country illegally as children before the program protecting them from deportation ends in March. In the weeks since President Trump announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Democrats have pushed for a quick vote on Roybal-Allards bill, which is backed by every House Democrat and four Republicans. There are also a handful of other Republican-sponsored bills that could be considered. To force a vote, Democrats would need a majority of the House  218 members  to sign whats called a discharge petition to pull the bill from the House Judiciary Committee and bring it to the House floor. Roybal-Allard, a Democrat from Downey, said she believes there is enough support to pass the bill if Democrats can get it to the House floor. Democratic leaders said they expect all House Democrats will sign the petition. The American people overwhelmingly oppose deporting our Dreamers, Roybal-Allard said. But the Republican leadership is ignoring the wishes of a majority of the American people. Democrats hold only 194 seats, and would have to convince 24 Republicans to buck their party leaders and sign the petition. House leaders control which bills come to the floor for a vote and when. Although discharge petitions have been used in the past to shame congressional leadership into letting a bill move forward, the procedural move is rarely successful. This month, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act, a Republican- sponsored bill to address the legal status of people brought to the country illegally as children. Five members of Congress had signed on as of Monday. FOR THE RECORD Sept 26, 12:38 p.m.: An earlier version of this post identified the member of Congress who filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act as Rep. Mike Thompson. It was Rep. Mike Coffman. Facebook

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California lawmakers grant some megaprojects relief from environmental law, but not others By Liam Dillon Developers plan to build two skyscrapers near the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press) When professional sports team owners, Facebook and big developers have asked California lawmakers for some relief from the states main environmental law over growth, the answer usually has been yes. The law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires developers to disclose and reduce a projects effects on the environment  a process that often can get tied up in lengthy litigation. This year, legislators passed a measure aiming to shorten any potential environmental lawsuit against Facebooks expansion of its headquarters, two skyscrapers planned in Hollywood and other megaprojects to less than nine months. Doing so has led many to question why only big projects get such relief. Read More Facebook

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The fate of Californias biggest campaign donor disclosure bill may hinge on some small details By John Myers Members of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) You wouldnt expect to see the leader of Californias campaign watchdog agency rooting for Gov. Jerry Brown to veto sweeping new disclosure rules for political donors. And yet, thats where things stand in a seven-year debate over helping voters follow the money. I think we can do better than this bill, said Jodi Remke, chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Remke and her staff have raised a red flag about the fine print tucked inside Assembly Bill 249, the California Disclose Act, that rewrites rules for campaign contributions that are earmarked. Read More Facebook

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Oceanside lifeguard receives Californias highest public safety honor By Mina Corpuz Medal of Valor recipient David Wilson stands with his parents, a family friend, Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra. (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) An Oceanside Fire Department officer who risked his life to save a boater received the states highest award for public safety officers on Monday. Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra presented David Wilson with the Public Safety Medal of Valor at a ceremony at the state Capitol. In July 2016, Wilson rescued a man whose boat crashed into a jetty in Oceanside Harbor. The victim was barely conscious and jammed between two rocks. With only a short window between each set of waves, Wilson dove underneath the water and swam into the boulders to free the victims legs. You earned it, Brown said at the ceremony. You were assaulted by the waves and the rocks, and you went ahead anyways. Thats why you are the only one getting a medal of honor. A review board made up of law enforcement officers reviewed 21 nominations for the Medal of Valor. The award is given out once a year. There can be more than one recipient, but this year Brown chose one. Facebook

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7.5 million Californians could lose coverage under latest Obamacare repeal effort, state health insurance exchange says By Melanie Mason Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, the states health insurance exchange, in 2013. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Californians who get their health coverage on the individual market could face dire consequences under the current Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, warned a new analysis released Monday by Covered California, the states health insurance exchange. Under the latest plan, which is being led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), 7.5 million Californians could lose their health insurance by 2027, the analysis said. It also said the repeal could trigger a collapse of the states individual insurance market. The Graham-Cassidy plan takes resources away from California and from the majority of states, which means that far fewer Americans would have insurance or the existing protections from insurers, said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, in a statement. The effect on California would be devastating, and lead not only to there being more uninsured people than there were before the Affordable Care Act, but would also cause huge negative impacts on the health care delivery system, the economy and on those with employer-based coverage, Lee said. The report comes on the heels of another grim analysis by Gov. Jerry Browns administration, which estimated that the Senate proposal would strip California of nearly $139 billion in federal funds from 2020 to 2027. The Covered California report looked at two different scenarios for how state officials could respond to such a slash in federal dollars. If the state chose to prioritize protecting Medi-Cal, which provides coverage for low-income Californians, the analysis projects the collapse of the individual insurance market by 2021. If officials chose to direct attention to the individual market by stepping in to cover subsidies now paid for by the federal government, that could lead to large reductions in the Medi-Cal program. In both scenarios, the result would be up to 7.5 million fewer Californians with health insurance, according to the report. Proponents claim Graham-Cassidy gives states flexibility and choice, but in reality it puts states into a lose-lose situation, Lee said. Under this plan, California and states across the nation would be forced to either turn their backs on their most needy residents, or let the individual market be destroyed. Either way, millions lose coverage. Read More Facebook

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Todays newsletter: Sports spat starts with California teams By Christina Bellantoni Todays Essential Politics newsletter details President Trumps sports spat, which originated with California teams before becoming national political drama on football fields across America. It also notes last falls USC/Los Angeles Times poll, which found huge partisan divisions in how California voters viewed Colin Kaepernick at the time. Democrats liked him more, while he had just 6% favorability among tea party Republicans here. The state was evenly divided on whether to support his protest during the national anthem. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook

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Attorney running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hosting Hollywood fundraiser By Christine Mai-Duc Pat Harris may be a long-shot candidate for U.S. Senate, but hes not fundraising like one. On Monday Harris, a Democrat challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is set to tread territory familiar to many prominent statewide candidates looking for cash: the Hollywood fundraiser. The event is to be held at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunset Boulevard and is being billed as a CD release party for Carol Welman, a jazz musician and Harris wife. Tickets range from $150 for a single ticket to $2,700 for a VIP dinner for two. (An email to Welmans subscriber list earlier this week advertised tickets for as little as $30). Harris announced that he was running last month on a platform that includes support for single-payer healthcare and a pledge that he will only take campaign donations from individuals. Facing pressure from progressive activists, Feinstein has been coy so far about whether shell retire or run again in 2018. Either way, shes stockpiled $3.5 million in her campaign war chest. As of June 30, Harris had raised no money except for $104,685 he loaned his own campaign. Three other candidates have also filed to run against Feinstein: Democrats Steve Stokes and David Hildebrand, and independent Jerry Carroll. Facebook

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Rep. Keith Ellison headlines dinner for Orange County Democrats, who declare orange is the new blue By Christine Mai-Duc The focus was on 2018 as Orange County Democrats gathered Saturday night in Costa Mesa to bask in their high hopes here. Headliner and deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, urged unity as dozens of Democrats navigate crowded primaries throughout the state. Ellison getting star treatment tonight, speaking to VIP attendees & meeting congressional candidates & gubernatorial hopeful @DelaineEastin pic.twitter.com/2Bh8K5H1Qu  Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 Much of focus tonight on flipping 4 GOP congressional seats in OC. Ellison: "We need 24 more seats...I figure 4 of em we can get right here" pic.twitter.com/CDDbGWpNnT  Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 The theme of the annual awards dinner was Orange is the New Blue, a twist on the title of a popular Netflix show and the latest indication of Democrats rosy outlook as they try to flip the countys four GOP-held House seats next year. Ellison told the crowd it was not the proper role of the DNC to choose among the many primary contenders. But you will sort it out running spirited campaigns, you will sort it out over ideas, and when it is over we need you to hold hands and support the Democrat. Ellison pushed for a return to grass-roots organizing and outreach to voters of all stripes  and not just during election years. We cannot come a month before the election, tell them ... Come vote for us, Ellison said. Weve got to be in their lives in a physical, palpable way. Then we do have to have the right words, we do have to stand up for them. Ellison on more permanent solution for DACA: no wall, no increase in detention beds "but there might be some other things" Dems can agree to pic.twitter.com/yrmOGfXYan  Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 In an interview, Ellison also stressed the need to pass legislation for young people brought to the country illegally who were allowed to stay and work under the Obama Administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Ellison said Democrats are open to negotiating certain immigration enforcement provisions in order pass a replacement for DACA, which President Trump announced he will end in March. But he said Democrats wont acquiesce to Trumps demand for a border wall or allow additional capacity for immigration detentions. There are certain things that are simply not on the table  the wall or more detention beds, were just not doing that, he said. Facebook

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Russians tried to find weaknesses in Californias election website last year, say state officials By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Californias chief elections officer said U.S. government officials believe Russian hackers tried to find weaknesses in the states election website during the 2016 campaign, but that theres no evidence their effort was successful. Secretary of State Alex Padilla said the Department of Homeland Security only told him on Friday of last years attempt. He described the attack as a scanning of the states website in hopes of finding weaknesses in its computer network. Our office actively monitors scanning activity as part of our routine cybersecurity protocols, Padilla said in a statement. We have no information or evidence that our systems have been breached in any way or that any voter information was compromised. Those involved were Russian cyber actors according to Padillas description of information he received from federal officials. In June, a top federal official told the Senate Intelligence Committee that systems in 21 states were believed to have been scoured by cyberattackers. The election website, www.sos.ca.gov, contains public information about voting procedures as well as data on past election results and current issues. More sensitive data, including the electronic files of some 17 million registered voters, are not included on the website. A leaked National Security Agency document earlier this year outlined a Russian effort to hack into devices made by a Florida-based voting software company. One California county, Humboldt, used the companys software, but did not find any evidence of tampering. Padilla, a frequent critic of President Trumps special panel investigating the potential of voter fraud, said federal officials should have notified him much earlier of the attempted breach. The practice of withholding critical information from elections officials is a detriment to the security of our elections and our democracy, he said. Facebook

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Antonio Villaraigosa jabs at Gavin Newsom over his apparent embrace of single-payer healthcare bill By Melanie Mason Supporters of a measure to establish single-payer healthcare in California were thrilled by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsoms embrace of their bill on Friday, but a rival gubernatorial campaign was less impressed with his position. A spokesman for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accused the lieutenant governor of flip-flopping because after Newsom was asked if he explicitly endorsed the legislation  Senate Bill 562  he responded that he endorsed getting this debate going again. This is an outrageous parsing of words when millions of people are at risk of losing their healthcare, Villaraigosa spokesman Luis Vizcaino said in a statement. It is a yes or no question, lieutenant governor. Are you for SB 562 or not? The nurses and California voters deserve the truth, Vizcaino added. The question of backing SB 562 is thorny since it was shelved earlier this year after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) called it woefully incomplete. Backers have said theyd be willing to make changes to the measure, but the contours of those proposed changes have not been made public. Vizcaino said Villaraigosa has always supported universal healthcare and the concept of single payer, but agreed with Speaker Rendon that the bill couldnt be sent to the governor without a funding plan. Speaking to reporters, Newsom said he saw a single-payer system in which the government covers healthcare costs as the best way to achieve universal coverage and said he would be actively engaged in designing and developing it if SB 562 does not pass next year. RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, said she saw Newsoms remarks as a clear endorsement of their measure and a stance she said was not surprising. We always knew Gavin would support our bill, DeMoro said. She lambasted Villaraigosa  who does not support SB 562  for criticizing Newsom, whom her group endorsed nearly two years ago. I want Villaraigosa to explain to the Latino community why he doesnt think they should have ... comprehensive healthcare, she said. Villaraigosas being disingenuous. He knows better. Hes just politically posturing trying to find a wedge issue and he knows better. UPDATE 4:32 p.m.: This post was updated with an additional statement from Villaraigosas spokesperson on the former L.A. mayors support for universal healthcare. Read More Facebook

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In San Francisco, Bernie Sanders plays two roles: Obamacare defender and single-payer advocate By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Sen. Bernie Sanders headed west to drum up support for his recently unveiled Medicare for All proposal Friday, but first trained his sights on the Obamacare repeal bill currently gripping Congress. Sanders (I-Vt.), whose speech was the cornerstone of a California Nurses Assn. gathering in San Francisco, blasted the Republican plan led by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina as horrific legislation. How cruel, how immoral it is, to say to those millions of Americans, we are going to take away that health insurance that keeps you alive, Sanders said. Sen. John McCain announced on Friday he could not support the measure, dealing the GOP plan a blow. Sanders thanked McCain for his stance, prompting the liberal crowd to cheer the Arizona Republican. Some Democrats had worried that Sanders push for his single-payer plan could distract from efforts to oppose the repeal bill. But the senator was explicit in his appeal to the approximately 2,000 supporters in attendance to focus their energy on defeating the repeal measure. Our job is to continue to make sure the Republicans do not get the 50 votes they need ... I beg of you, please, do everything you can to stop the bill, he said. Still, the crux of Sanders speech focused on his single-payer bill, which he sold as an improvement over the status quo. The Affordable Care Act, as we all know, made significant improvements to our healthcare system, Sanders said, citing the expansion of the number of Americans with health insurance and the ban on insurance companies ability to deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions. But we must be honest and acknowledge that with all the gains of the Affordable Care Act, it does not go far enough, he added. The bill expands the Medicare program to cover the healthcare costs of all Americans with no out-of-pocket payments for patients. The measure does not include a plan to finance such a system, but Sanders has released a report laying out various ways to cover the costs, including a progressive income tax. During his pitch, Sanders said the implications extended beyond health policy. It is a struggle about what this great nation stands for, Sanders said. It is a struggle about whether or not every working person in this country has healthcare as a right or whether we allow insurance companies and drug companies to continue to rip us off. Facebook

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Gas tax foes win victory as they try to get a repeal on November 2018 ballot By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) In a rare court rebuke of the state Attorney Generals Office, a judge said Friday that the title and summary written for a proposed initiative is misleading  and that hed do a rewrite himself to make it clear the measure would repeal recently approved increases to gas taxes and vehicle fees. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley said he would draft a new title and summary to be placed on petitions for the initiative after attorneys for the state and proponents of the ballot measure could not agree on compromise language. In this circumstance, I honestly believe that the circulated title and summary that has been prepared is misleading, Frawley told attorneys during a court hearing Friday. He hopes to release the new title and summary by Monday. The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees to generate $5.2 billion annually to fix the states roads and bridges and improve mass transit. Allen and his attorneys said the state attorney general sought to confuse voters with a title that does not use the words taxes or fees. The title was proposed to say: Eliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes. Allen, who is running for governor in 2018, said the court decision showed the attorney general was trying to sway voters against the initiative. Justice is being served for the voters of California, Allen said after the court hearing. I think that he [the judge] has properly seen that the attorney general has tried to intentionally mislead the voters of California because he has tried to prejudice their vote and tried to keep increased taxes for Californians. A coalition of business, labor and government officials called Fix Our Roads, which supports the gas tax legislation, had representatives in the courtroom who later criticized Allen for seeking political gain at the expense of California motorists. This is more about Travis Allens gubernatorial race than anything else, said coalition spokeswoman Kathy Fairbanks. Hes condemning voters to driving on potholed roads and being stuck in traffic. Allen said the initiative and his campaign for governor are both aimed at giving voters power to fight higher taxes. Finally ordinary Californians are understanding that they actually can hold Sacramento accountable, Allen said. This is why Im running to be the next governor of California, because for too long Sacramento has been run by out-of-touch elitists that are coming from Sacramento and the Bay Area of San Francisco. A second initiative to repeal the gas tax has been proposed by a different group of Republican activists. Allen said he supports the second initiative but noted it has to collect many more signatures because it seeks to change the state constitution. It has a long way to go, Allen said. If the judge issues a new title and summary Monday, Allen said the petitions will hit the streets immediately and he is confident they will get the 365,880 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. Facebook

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We will have universal healthcare in the state of California, Gavin Newsom promises single-payer advocates By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made his most explicit endorsement yet of a controversial single-payer healthcare proposal that has roiled Democratic politics in California. Newsom appeared Friday before the California Nurses Assn., the most ardent backers of SB 562, a stalled bill to establish a system in which the state would cover all residents healthcare costs. Theres no reason to wait around on universal healthcare and single-payer in California, Newsom said. Its time to move 562. Its time to get it out of committee. The line prompted cheers and a standing ovation from the audience of about 1,500 members of the nurses union. He capped off his remarks with a promise: If we cant get it done next year, you have my firm and absolute commitment as your next governor that I will lead the effort to get it done. We will have universal healthcare in the state of California. Enthusiastic nurses in the room heard an unequivocal backing of their effort to push forward with the bill. When he says hes going to get this done, he means, seriously, that he will pass SB 562 and make sure that there is healthcare for all Californians, said Catherine Kennedy, a neonatal nurse from Roseville. But speaking to reporters after his address, Newsom was less clear in embracing the specifics of the proposal. I 100% support moving this process along, getting this debate going again and addressing the concerns, the open-ended issues that the nurses themselves have acknowledged as it relates to the need of going through the legislative process and to fill in the blanks on the financing plan, among other issues, he said. Facebook

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President Obama appears in an Assembly race mailer in California  but read it closely By Christina Bellantoni The race to replace Jimmy Gomez, who was elected to Congress earlier this year, has so far been waged by mail and door-knocking in northeast Los Angeles. Most of the mailers feature local leaders and endorsements from groups including Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club. But one mailer that arrived in my mailbox Thursday has a much more familiar face  former President Barack Obama. While it might seem like one to the casual voter sorting through junk mail, this isnt an endorsement. Want to know what kind of job Gabriel Sandoval will do in the Assembly? Listen to the people hes worked with in the past, the mailer reads, above Obamas official White House portrait. In small type, it notes that Sandoval served as a Senior Civil Rights Attorney and Senior Advisor for a White House initiative within the Department of Education. It features a glowing quote over an image of a July 12, 2013, letter from the president to Sandoval written on White House letterhead. Facebook

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Healthcare a hot issue in race for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Gavin Newsom (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images; Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) With the hyperpartisan politics surrounding healthcare stirred up by efforts to repeal Obamacare and calls for a single-payer system, both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa are claiming the mantle of healthcare visionary. On the campaign trail the two Democratic candidates for governor are touting their signature healthcare accomplishments from earlier in their political careers as their bona fides. For Newsom, its about Healthy San Francisco, the nations first municipal universal healthcare program, approved while he was mayor; and for Villaraigosa, its Healthy Families, which provided healthcare coverage to the children of Californias working poor, legislation he authored as a California assemblyman. But do they deserve all the credit? It sure doesnt look that way. Healthy San Francisco is one of the many topics Newsom is expected to highlight when he speaks to the California Nurses Assn. convention in the Bay Area on Friday morning. On Thursday night, Newsom took a shot at the latest Republican effort in Washington to roll back the Affordable Care Act  a bill written by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) The numbers on this make my skin crawl. Under Graham-Cassidy, an individual with metastatic cancer could see their premiums increase by $142,650. Diabetes? $5,600. Want to tackle the opioid crisis? Gets a lot tougher if an individual suffering from drug dependence sees their premiums go up by $20,450, Newsom said in an email sent out by his campaign. This is not a game. Lives are at stake. Read More Facebook

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Rep. Duncan Hunter calls for preemptive strike against North Korea By Joshua Stewart, San Diego Union-Tribune Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) introduces U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions at a news conference. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Rep. Duncan Hunter said that the United States needs to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea in order to prevent the rogue nation from harming the U.S. first. You could assume, right now, that we have a nuclear missile aimed at the United States, and here in San Diego. Why would they not aim here, at Hawaii, Guam, our major naval bases? Hunter, an Alpine Republican, said Thursday during an appearance on San Diego television station KUSI. The question is, do you wait for one of those? Or two? Do you preemptively strike them? And thats what the president has to wrestle with. I would preemptively strike them. You could call it declaring war, call it whatever you want, Hunter continued. Hunter, a member of a House Armed Services Committee and the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the United States nuclear arsenal, did not say whether the military should strike North Korea with conventional or nuclear weapons. Read More Facebook

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Will Bernie Sanders push for Medicare for All help or hinder the California effort for single-payer? By Melanie Mason When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to lead the country and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer healthcare. On Friday, hell return to California for a San Francisco speech trumpeting his own higher-stakes plan  a bill to drastically overhaul the nations healthcare system by covering everyone through Medicare. The push for single-payer, in which the government pays for residents medical care, has already rattled Californias political landscape. Now, the Sanders measure brings an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race. Read More Facebook

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What will Kevin de Leon do when his term in the California Senate expires next year? By Patrick McGreevy State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, speaks during the last regular Senate floor session of the year. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)) As he gaveled down what may be his last full year as leader of the California Senate on Saturday, Kevin de Leon had still not said what he planned to do next. Will he run for governor or U.S. Senate? Does he want to be mayor of Los Angeles some day? De Leon told reporters they will have to wait to find out. His advisors, supporters and political observers have their own ideas what De Leon could do next. Read More Facebook

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Skelton: The presidential election bills on Gov. Browns desk may be satisfying politics, but theyre risky ideas By George Skelton Two presidential election bills are on Gov. Jerry Browns desk, sent to him by the Democratic Legislature. Both should be tossed in the trash. No doubt Im in the minority on this. These bills do offer some fun, even if theyre flawed. One has strong pluses that are outweighed by unacceptable minuses. The second is a mean-spirited gotcha bill aimed at the Democrats No. 1 enemy: President Trump. It may be satisfying politics, but it sets a risky precedent. The first bill moves up Californias presidential primary from June to March. Great idea. But it also moves up the state primary along with it. A horrible idea. The second measure would require all presidential candidates to release their tax returns for the last five years. Anyone who refused wouldnt be allowed on the California ballot. Thats a sharp poke at Trump, who in 2016 was the first presidential candidate in 40 years not to release his taxes. Yes, watching Trump squirm would be entertaining. And maybe the tax information would be useful for some voters. But even if the disclosure requirement were constitutional  and theres substantial doubt about that  its a crummy precedent. Read More Facebook

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California Senate leader preparing for legal fight over sanctuary state legislation By Sarah D. Wire California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown hasnt yet signed legislation making California a so-called sanctuary state, but state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon is preparing to defend it in court. In between several immigration events in Washington on Wednesday, De Leon (D-Los Angeles) said he met with former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr.  who has served as outside counsel to the Legislature for much of the year  to continue to further discuss inoculating California from [U.S. Atty. Gen.] Jeff Sessions Department of Justice. Passed early Saturday by the Legislature, the sanctuary state bill would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. Sessions has threatened to withhold some federal grant funds from cities and counties that refuse to assist federal immigration agents. Holder and other former Justice Department lawyers believe the bill is defendable, and if the Trump administration tries to compel California cities to act by withholding funds, it will find itself in court, De Leon said. Defenders of so-called sanctuary cities often rely on a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that cited the 10th Amendment and found the federal government cant compel local governments to cooperate with enforcing federal laws. It is immoral, and quite frankly un-American, that Americas top law enforcement official would withhold dollars that our local police officers need  precious dollars we need desperately to counter terrorism, to deal with the issue of human trafficking as well as international drug cartels, De Leon said. On Tuesday, Sessions urged Brown not to sign the bill, calling it unconscionable and a threat to public safety. Brown responded to Sessions comment on CNN by calling the legislation well-balanced. It protects public safety, but it also protects hardworking people who contribute a lot to California, Brown said. He has until Oct. 15 to sign the bill. De Leon also shot back against Sessions statement that the federal money isnt an entitlement, saying Californians pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal funding. Thats not a gift or a grant from the Department of Justice to California. Those are our dollars; they belong to the people of California, he said. Facebook

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California, with alliance of states, pledges to keep pushing climate policies despite lack of federal progress By Chris Megerian (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California and a growing alliance of states committed to fighting global warming said Wednesday that theyre slashing greenhouse gas emissions at the rate required by the Paris climate agreement. However, the rest of the country would need to join their effort for the United States to actually hit the target of cutting emissions by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. President Trump has pledged to pull the country out of the Paris deal, but the states reiterated their pledge to keep pressing forward during a news conference in New York. Were all in, California Gov. Jerry Brown said. Eventually, Washington will join with us. You cant deny science forever. Californias climate goal is even more ambitious than the Paris target. A law signed by Brown last year requires the state to cut emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. California became a founding member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, along with New York and Washington state, months ago. Either we end this problem, or this problem will end us, said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Wednesday, North Carolina became the 15th member of the U.S. Climate Alliance. Other members include Massachusetts, Oregon and Puerto Rico. Clean air and a healthy environment are vital for a strong economy and a healthier future, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a newly elected Democrat, said in a statement. Facebook

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Bay Area cities sue major oil companies over climate change By Chris Megerian (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) San Francisco and Oakland are suing to get five oil companies, including San Ramon-based Chevron, to pay for the cost of protecting the Bay Area from rising sea levels and other effects of global warming. These fossil fuel companies profited handsomely for decades while knowing they were putting the fate of our cities at risk, San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera said in a statement. The lawsuits, which were filed Tuesday in state court in San Francisco and Alameda counties and announced Wednesday, dont ask for a specific dollar amount. But the cities could try to put oil companies on the hook for billions. Long-term improvements in San Franciscos seawall are projected to cost $5 billion, according to one of the lawsuits. The law is clear that the defendants are responsible for the consequences of their reckless and disastrous actions, Oakland City Atty. Barbara J. Parker said in a statement. A spokesman for Chevron, Melissa Ritchie, said the lawsuits would not help address climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement and action, she said in a statement. Should this litigation proceed, it will only serve special interests at the expense of broader policy, regulatory, and economic priorities. Facebook

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California sues to stop Trumps border wall: No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president By Patrick McGreevy  California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announces lawsuit against Trump Administration. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that President Trumps proposal to expedite construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border violates laws aimed at protecting the environment. Becerra announced the legal challenge standing in front of the existing border fencing at Border Field State Park near San Diego, saying the federal government failed to comply with federal environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that dont authorize border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president of the United States, Becerra said. The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles. The list of laws violated by the presidents administration in order to build his campaign wall is almost as long. He said the project involves the improper waiver of 37 federal statutes, many aimed at protecting the environment. Filed in federal court in San Diego and including the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, the lawsuit states its purpose is to protect the State of Californias residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution and federal law. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra at the U.S.- Mexico border where he announced lawsuit to stop a proposal for a border wall. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) The lawsuit also alleges that federal officials have not shown any data suggesting new border barriers in the San Diego area will reduce illegal entry into the U.S., nor that there is a significant problem in that area. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice that it was waiving federal and state laws on the environment to expedite the construction of prototypes of the wall along the San Diego border with Mexico. The California lawsuit claims the federal government violated the U.S. Constitutions separation-of-powers doctrine by vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws. The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of the 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. A federal official declined comment. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation, said Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) stood with Becerra at the event, saying the wall is unnecessary and will put a barrier between relations involving the two countries. Maybe to people in Iowa, it sounds like a really good idea, she said. We dont need more structure. We need a good relationship [with Mexico]. Times staff writers McGreevy reported from Sacramento and Ulloa from San Diego. AG @XavierBecerra takes some shots at Trump: He hasn't made the transition from candidate to president. #borderwall pic.twitter.com/liSJdrAK2v  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 20, 2017 Facebook

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California to sue Trump administration over plan for U.S.-Mexico border wall By Patrick McGreevy California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra plans to announce a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the state that will challenge President Trumps proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, a project Becerra has called medieval. Becerra is scheduled to travel to Border Field State Park near San Diego to announce that a lawsuit is being filed in federal court over construction of border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. The lawsuit, which includes the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, states its purpose is to protect the State of Californias residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution and federal law. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. The states lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has failed to comply with federal and state environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that dont authorize the proposed projects. The brief alleges the federal government violated the U.S. Constitutions separation-of-powers doctrine by vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws, including state criminal law.. The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. The Democratic attorney general has been critical of the wall for months, including in April during an appearance on ABCs This Week. Im still trying to figure out who believes that a medieval situation to fix our broken immigration system is what we need, Becerra said. He also accused Trump at the time of reneging on his promise to have Mexico pay for the wall. I think American taxpayers probably are very much aligned with Mexico. None of them, whether its Mexico or our taxpayers, wants to pay for a medieval wall, he said. This is the latest of more than two dozen lawsuits and legal briefs filed against the Trump administration by Becerra, who was appointed attorney general in January and is running for election to the post next year. He previously sued to challenge Trumps plans to end a program that protects young immigrants from deportation, ban immigration from some countries and roll back environmental laws. Last week, three advocacy groups sued the federal government to block construction of a border wall, alleging that the Trump administration overstepped its authority by waiving environmental reviews and other laws. The action by the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to prevent construction of wall prototypes in San Diego. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said last month that prototypes for a border wall may be completed by the end of October. Becerras lawsuit is the latest attempt by California Democrats to fight the wall proposal. A bill that would have banned state government contracts for any company that helps build the wall passed the state Senate, but stalled recently in an Assembly committee. Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) authored the bill, testifying at a committee hearing that the wall is another attempt to separate and divide us. It sends a message that we are better off in a homogenous society. Todd Bloomstine, a lobbyist representing the Southern California Contractors Assn., opposed the bill, asking the panel, What next unpopular project would be [on the] blacklist? Read the lawsuit >> UPDATE 8:30 a.m. This article was updated to provide additional details of the lawsuit. This article was originally published at 6 a.m. Facebook

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Judge rules state used misleading language in summary of ballot measure to repeal California gas tax By Patrick McGreevy GOP Assemblyman Travis Allen, in red tie, with Democratic state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, left, and Charles Munger Jr., far right, in 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A judge tentatively ruled Tuesday that the state-written title and summary of an initiative to repeal the recent gas-tax increases were misleading and should be rewritten by the state attorney generals office. The ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley, scheduled to be finalized at a court hearing on Friday, was welcomed by the initiatives lead proponent, Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach). This preliminary ruling is a major victory for Californians, Allen, a candidate for governor, said in a statement. This brings us one step closer to repealing Jerry Browns hugely unpopular gas tax. I look forward to the final ruling on Friday, and ensuring that the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative receives the straightforward ballot title and summary that it deserves. Judge Frawley agreed with Allens legal claims that the title and summary drafted by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerras office is confusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure. The judge said the initiative would repeal taxes and fees approved by the Legislature this year, but the title and summary issued by the state makes it sound like it would eliminate transportation funding without using the words taxes and fees in the title. He ordered state officials to come to Fridays hearing prepared to discuss alternate language for the ballot measure. To avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure, the Attorney General must prepare a true and impartial statement that reasonably informs voters of the character and real purpose of the proposed initiative in clear and understandable language, the ruling says. The existing circulating title and summary fails this test. If the judge finalizes the order after hearing arguments Friday, Allen can use the new title and summary to circulate a petition. Allen needs to collect 365,000 signatures from registered voters in 150 days to put the measure on the November 2018 ballot. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown: Trumps rhetoric about North Korea adds to non-rational bluster By Mina Corpuz (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California Gov. Jerry Brown said President Trumps name calling and threats at the United Nations can get in the way of diplomacy and statesmanship. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a Rocket Man on a suicide mission and said the United States may have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. It just raises the temperature and the exchange of non-rational bluster back and forth, Brown said in a interview with CNNs Jake Tapper. I dont think thats positive. Brown is in New York for some climate meetings related to the United Nations General Assembly. Facebook

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Yes, dahlink: Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of Zsa Zsa Gabor, is running for California governor By Phil Willon Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, outside of the couples Bel-Air mansion in 2011. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of the whimsical celebrity and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, is back. Von Anhalt has filed to run for governor of California  his second attempt after a short-lived campaign in 2010  saying hes fed up with seeing roads falling apart, people struggling to afford rent and an explosion of homelessness in the state. Ive lived in this city for 36 years. Ive never seen so many people eating out of a trash can in the Western world, Von Anhalt said Tuesday. We talk about Hollywood, and this being the entertainment center of the world. How is this possible? Von Anhalt, Garbors ninth and last husband, is running as an independent. He filed an official Candidate Intention Statement with the California Secretary of States office Monday, the first step in launching an official campaign. The 74-year-old Bel-Air resident, a German immigrant, said he has enough money to help support his own campaign. He said he dropped out of the 2010 governors race only because his wife became seriously ill. She died in December. She was the one  who wanted me run, Von Anhalt said. Von Anhalt also flirted briefly with a run for Los Angeles mayor in 2013, a race eventually won by Eric Garcetti. FOR THE RECORD 5:33 p.m.: An earlier of this post said Von Anhalt was age 71. He is 74. Facebook

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Assemblyman urges other legislatures to join California in censuring President Trump By Mina Corpuz Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) speaks with Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A California lawmaker who authored a resolution to support a censure of President Trump sent letters to 49 other state legislatures Tuesday to urge them to join the effort. Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, a Richmond Democrat, sent the letters days after the Assembly became the first state legislative body to support a congressional censure of the president. California has spoken and we look to the rest of the nation to join us, Thurmond said in a statement. Its important that all our states unite and show that the United States of America stands against hate. Read More Facebook

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After cap-and-trade vote, Assemblyman Chad Mayes faces a second Republican challenger for reelection By Patrick McGreevy Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley leaves the Assembly floor before resigning as Assembly Republican leader on Aug. 24. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) Former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron on Tuesday became the second Republican to announce plans to challenge Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) in the 2018 election. Jeandron, a La Quinta resident, said he was angered over Mayes vote as Assembly Republican leader to support an extension of the states controversial cap-and-trade program, which requires businesses to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions. Jeandron saw the action as continuing a wrongful tax increase and said he is signing a no-tax pledge. I just dont believe [Mayes] has held Republican values, Jeandron told The Times. He has been blinded by ambition. He has been seduced by the governor. Mayes vote led to an outcry by Republican leaders, and he eventually succumbed to pressure to step down as leader of the Assembly Republicans. Mayes defended his position, telling colleagues during the floor debate, many of us believe that climate change is real and  we have to work to address it. Jeandron, who lost to Mayes in the 2014 election, joins San Jacinto City Councilman Andrew Kotyuk in planning to challenge Mayes for the 42nd Assembly District seat. Facebook

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Republican John Cox tasted political defeat many times before launching his bid for California governor By Phil Willon Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox speaks to the Lincoln Club of Riverside County in June. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) Candidate for California governor John Cox is relatively new to the states politics, but Cox has run for office multiple times, and even tangled with Barack Obama on the debate stage when the pair ran in the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate race. Neither candidate was considered their partys favorite. But things began looking up for Obama, of course, who won the Senate race and then the presidency. Cox dropped out before the GOP primary election. It was his third try for elected office in Illinois and his third defeat. Now hes back, this time in his new home of California, running for governor against a trio of Democratic heavyweights. Once again, Cox is a practical unknown. Once again, the Republican is in a left-leaning state reaching for a coveted political office. Once again, Coxs campaign is being fed by cash from his own bank account. Read More Facebook

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After she was confronted by protesters, Pelosi says Democrats want a clean Dream Act  with no border wall By Jazmine Ulloa House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday said she understood the fear in young protesters who shouted her down at a San Francisco news conference, asking for a legal path to citizenship for themselves and their parents. Speaking at Sacramento State hours after the disruption, Pelosi said she agreed with the protesters, pointing to the Dream Act as only the first step to broader immigration reform. We are all disrupters ourselves, she said, standing next to fellow congressional Democrats. So we recognize it and respect it in others. At Sac State, @NancyPelosi on SF protests today: We are all disruptors ourselves. So we recognize it and respect it in others. #dacadeal pic.twitter.com/W1WKQikmsc  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 19, 2017 Both press events were scheduled by Pelosi to discuss a legislative fix to help thousands of young people affected by President Trumps decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era policy provided temporary status for 800,000 people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after the termination of DACA was announced. In Sacramento, Pelosi said they had come to an agreement to a clean Dream Act, which would provide a path to permanent status for citizens who work, study or serve in the military, without tougher border enforcement or increased deportations. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting with the president over the construction of a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. And House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has made it clear he wants some kind of border security, Pelosi said. That is not under discussion, she said. We can discuss other issues, but we are not going to discuss how we protect the Dreamers. At Sac State, @NancyPelosi arrives to talk #DACAdeal and help for Dreamers. Elected officials from every level of government also present. pic.twitter.com/yoESsRC1Ok  Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 18, 2017 Facebook

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Feinstein, who called for patience with Trump, lashes out over his attacks on Clinton By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said it was appalling and disgusting to see President Trump retweet a video edited to look like he hit former rival Hillary Clinton in the head with a golf ball. He continues to obsessively lash out at her  at his rallies, with his words and now through social media  in a manner that is utterly unbecoming of the president of the United States, Feinstein said in a statement Monday. Every one of us should be offended by the vindictive and candidly dangerous messages the president sends that demean not only Secretary Clinton, but all women. Grow up and do your job. Clinton is out with a new book about the campaign, and Trump has repeatedly used Twitter to deride her as a sore loser. He retweeted the animated GIF Sunday which shows him hitting a golf ball that then knocks down Clinton. Feinstein, who has yet to say whether shell run again in 2018, has walked a fine line with Trump in recent months. Shes criticized him at times, but drew ire from some progressive Californians last month when she called for patience in dealing with the president, saying that Trump could be a good president if he learned and changed. Facebook

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California lawmakers are building a wall against President Trumps policies By George Skelton California state legislators ended their annual session the way they began it  building a wall to protect undocumented immigrants from President Trump. Not an iron wall, as Trump promised to erect along the U.S.-Mexico border, but a legal barrier to prevent local police and sheriffs from teaming with the presidents agents to enforce federal immigration law. The legislators did a lot of other things, too, before adjourning early Saturday until January. They sent Gov. Jerry Brown bills to address Californias dearth of affordable housing, to borrow $4 billion for parks and waterworks, to spend $1.5 billion in greenhouse-gas pollution fees, to provide tuition-free community college for first-year students and to lift some secrecy from prescription drug pricing. Earlier in the session, the heavily Democratic Legislature passed its boldest, most controversial bill of the year: A $5.2-billion annual increase in fuel taxes and vehicle fees to finance transportation infrastructure, especially to repair crumbling highways. Republicans will attempt to repeal the bill at the ballot box in 2018. Brown says that borders on insanity. Read More Facebook

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Trump is riding a very dead horse on climate change, Gov. Brown says at New York conference By Ann Simmons (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday touted steps California has taken toward a healthier climate, but warned that powerful forces he called climate deniers are resisting technologies and policies designed to improve conditions. I like all the optimism around here, but I dont want to minimize the steep hill that we have to climb, Brown said at the start of a gathering of international leaders called Climate Week NYC. Decarbonizing the economy when the economy depends so totally on carbon is not childs play. Its quite daunting. Hosted by the Climate Group, an international nonprofit organization that works with business and government to promote clean technologies and policies, the event was scheduled to bring together high-profile governors, executives of Fortune 500 companies and leaders of multinational businesses for a week to share their strategies in tackling climate change. The discussions come amid concerns about global warming and after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused devastation in Houston, Florida and across parts of the Caribbean. Some scientists believe that warmer ocean waters caused by climate change are creating stronger storms. Read More Facebook

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Nancy Pelosi shouted down at DACA news conference for working with Trump By Sarah D. Wire Dreamer protesters have disrupted a Pelosi presser in CA, asking for protections for Dreamer & their parents: https://t.co/o3zGNJvblL  Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 18, 2017 More than four dozen immigration activists upset with Democrats for negotiating with President Trump shouted down House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a San Francisco news conference Monday. We are not your bargaining chip, the crowd chanted at one point, according to KCBS News political reporter Doug Sovern. VIDEO: Chaos at @NancyPelosi #DACA event as 40+ undocumented hijack her news conf in SF: "We are not your bargaining chip! Let us speak!" pic.twitter.com/KC2WyrjqSy  Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) September 18, 2017 'All of us or none of us' Crowd takes over DREAM Act event. Pelosi getting blasted by about 100 young 'undocumented youth' pic.twitter.com/RgwnZ4dB3O  Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) September 18, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle reporter Evan Sernoffsky said on Twitter that some in the group were yelling, All of us or none of us. Other reporters said the group chanted, Shut down ICE. Pelosi held the news conference to advocate for speedy passage of a legislative fix to the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after he announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era program deferred deportation for some people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Schumer said their discussion with the president included the possibility of adding more immigration enforcement  which some immigration advocates are against  to legislation to address DACA. At the news conference, Pelosi first made remarks and introduced an immigrant in the country illegally, at which point the shouting began, according to a Pelosi aide. The group surrounded Pelosi, with some gesturing close to her face. She attempted to calm the crowd for about half an hour before leaving the news conference. The aide said the group was made up of local DACA beneficiaries. We need to have a conversation, but that was completely one-sided; they dont want any answers, Pelosi told reporters afterward, according to a transcript. Pelosi said the activists should be focused on Republican members of Congress, not Democrats. I understand their frustration, Im excited by it as a matter of fact, but the fact is theyre completely wrong. The Democrats are the ones who stopped their assault on sanctuary cities, stopped the wall, the increased deportations in our last bill that was at the end of April, and we are determined to get Republicans votes to pass the clean Dream Act. Is it possible to pass a bill without some border security? Well well have to see. We didnt agree to anything in that regard, except to listen, Pelosi said. UPDATES

1:06 p.m. This post was updated with more details throughout and quotes from Pelosi. This post was originally published at 12:12 p.m. Facebook

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Democrats hopes of flipping seats in California are soaring, but it wont be as easy at it seems By Christine Mai-Duc (Associated Press / AFP/Getty Images) Democrats know they have to win at least a few seats in California if they want to regain control of the House in 2018. But though the energy and hopes of many Democratic activists here are soaring, flipping Republican-held seats here could be harder than it appears. There are a few bits of conventional wisdom that suggest Democrats have a long road ahead. For one, Republicans often turn out in greater numbers than their Democratic counterparts in midterm-election years. And even though Hillary Clinton won seven of the Republican-held districts Democrats are now targeting, past election data show voters there still lean much more conservative than other parts of the state. If past is prologue, says Rob Pyers, research director for the nonpartisan election guide California Target Book, Democrats will have a hard time picking up more than a couple of seats in California. With most voters unlikely to tune in until at least next spring, there are many factors that could affect the political calculus, including whether the California Republican Party will be able to field a competitive candidate for governor, or whether ballot initiatives such as a potential repeal of the newest gas tax hike will propel GOP voters to the polls. Read More Facebook

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California will be the keeper of the nations future in the era of Trump, state Democratic lawmakers promise By Melanie Mason State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, from left, Gov. Jerry Brown and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Within a day of President Trumps election last November, Californias top Democratic lawmakers responded with a joint statement that contained an audacious promise. It was their state, not Washington, D.C., that would be the keeper of the nations future. An artistic rendering of that vow, with looping calligraphy and a roaring grizzly, is now on display in the offices of Senate leader Kevin de Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. In the wake of Trumps win, the words seemed to be a sort of foundational document  Californias declaration of resistance. That pugilistic posture is often conveyed in shorthand: California versus Trump. But the ensuing legislative year, which ended Friday, revealed the messy reality of squaring up against the federal government. Its been challenging, De Leon (D-Los Angeles) said, bleary-eyed as he took a break during the final days of the session. You have to debate, you have to negotiate, you have to make your case, and I think at the end of the day, well still have the most far-reaching policy in the nation. Read More Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: Lawmakers leave Sacramento after a busy year By John Myers From immigration issues to housing, some of the biggest debates of the Legislatures nine-month session happened at the very end. In governing, as in life, deadlines often make things happen. On this weeks California Politics Podcast, we take an early look at some of the most important decisions lawmakers made in the final few days of the 2017 session in Sacramento. That includes a landmark decision to intervene in the issue of illegal immigration, and to pass a long discussed package of bills to begin addressing Californias housing crisis. We also look at some of the broader political themes of the entire legislative year -- most notably, the effort by Democrats in the Legislature to provide a resistance to actions taken by President Trump. Im joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. Facebook

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Passage of sanctuary state bill draws rebukes from Trump administration officials, praise in California By Jazmine Ulloa Supporters of state sanctuary bill SB 54 rally outside the Hall of Justice. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) California lawmakers on Saturday passed a sanctuary state bill to protect immigrants without legal residency in the U.S., part of a broader push by Democrats to counter expanded deportation orders under the Trump administration. The landmark legislation by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. But the bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown drastically scaled back the version first introduced, the result of tough negotiations between Brown and De Leon in the final weeks of the legislative session. Its passage already is reverberating across the country. Trump administration officials have sounded off in opposition. And immigrant rights groups and some California law enforcement officials have come out in support of what they call a hard compromise. Read More Facebook

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Supporters unable to resurrect California clean-energy proposal on final day of legislative session By Chris Megerian Environmentalists rally in front of Assemblyman Chris Holdens office in Pasadena on Thursday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) Despite a last-minute push from environmentalists and actors from The Avengers, legislation that eventually would require all of Californias electricity to come from clean sources failed to advance this year. Facing opposition from unions and utilities, Assembly leadership refused to put the measure, SB 100, up for a vote on Friday, the final day of the legislative session. The decision to not move the bill this year is disappointing, said Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Clubs California chapter. But we are committed to moving this policy next year. Theres no time to waste. The measure, written by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (
After a sustained assault from lawmakers, investigators and victims groups, the website Backpage.com agreed early this year to shut down its lucrative adult page, which had become a well-known sex-trafficking hub.

It wasnt long before the company was back in the headlines.

The adult section was gone, but the sex traffic was not. In May, authorities in Stockton charged 23 people with involvement in a trafficking ring that was using another corner of Backpage to market sex with girls as young as 14. A Chicago teenager allegedly trafficked on Backpage had her throat slit in June.

The resilience of this platform  host to an estimated 70% of online sex trafficking at its peak  is a long-running public relations mess for the tech industry. Internet freedom laws held sacred in Silicon Valley have helped shield Backpage from prosecution and lawsuits by victims of gruesome sex trafficking.

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Now the tech industrys Backpage problem has evolved into a full-blown political crisis. An unexpectedly large coalition of lawmakers is aiming to hold sites like Backpage liable for trafficking, sparking panic in Silicon Valley over the far-reaching consequences for the broader Internet.

The noisy political battle is forging unusual alliances in Washington. And caught in the middle are some of the most influential lawmakers in California.

They find themselves struggling to reconcile a sex trafficking scourge that has hit their state hard with a remedy that Silicon Valley cautions would be a disaster for a free and open Internet.

Trade groups representing Google, Facebook and other Internet giants warn of a devastating impact on the tech industry if the 1996 Communications Decency Act is tinkered with in the way lawmakers envision to hold Backpage and others liable for criminal material on their pages.

They project mass removals of legitimate content by social media and other firms scrambling to shield themselves from a deluge of lawsuits from trial lawyers and prosecutors. The ACLU joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups in warning lawmakers that if they pass the law, every one of the millions of social media postings placed online daily becomes a potential liability for the company hosting it.

But much of Congress is unimpressed by the predictions of calamity.

The lawmakers have grown impatient with Silicon Valleys limited success at self-policing, and its flat-out refusal to consider modifications to its cherished immunity from the illegal behavior of posters, as enshrined by the two-decade-old act.

Judges keep returning to that immunity in dismissing claims against Backpage, sometimes in the face of what they acknowledge may be compelling evidence that the firm condoned trafficking.

The Communications Decency Act is a well-intentioned law, but it was never intended to protect sex traffickers, said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

More than a quarter of lawmakers in Congress have already signed on as sponsors of the nascent bill Portman is taking a lead on that would change the act, or to a similar measure in the House. It is a formidable show of bipartisan support that is jolting tech companies. The momentum grew in August, when a Sacramento judge threw out state criminal pimping charges against Backpage, citing the immunity from such prosecution the company receives under the act.

California prosecutors had built much of their case around allegations that Backpage helped traffickers and pimps edit their ads to evade law enforcement. Until Congress sees fit to amend the immunity law, the broad reach  of the Communications Decency Act even applies to those alleged to support the exploitation of others by human trafficking, wrote Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown.

The judge is allowing prosecutors to proceed with money-laundering charges against Backpage, which is accused of illegally using shell companies to trick credit card firms refusing to do business with Backpage into processing the payments of its customers.

The company denied helping to craft any of the sex trafficking ads that landed on its site. It is fighting the money-laundering charges. Company officials declined to comment on the congressional effort it has inspired, directing a reporter instead to the opposition campaign mounted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology  groups that receive substantial funding from big technology companies.

Almost every attorney general in the country wants the decency act changed to strip legal immunity for sites that condone or promote trafficking. Fifty of them wrote a letter to Congress a few weeks ago citing several horrific cases in which Backpage was used to traffic teenage girls. They warned the act has resulted in companies like Backpage.com remaining outside the reach of state and local law enforcement in these kinds of cases.

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said the site would have been shut down long ago if not for the immunity. We would have been able to stop the abuse and in some cases the death of some of these young people who got caught up in these sex trafficking rings, Becerra said.

Missing from the long list of sponsors of Portmans bill is California Sen. Kamala Harris, who aggressively went after Backpage while serving as the states attorney general, and in 2013 joined colleagues in other states in signing a letter with the same demand state attorneys general sent Congress this week.

The hesitance of Harris and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to sign on reflects how cautiously lawmakers close to Silicon Valley are treading.

The indictment Harris filed against Backpage last year was a memorable career moment, with a three-year investigation leading to the arrest of the company chief executive as he returned from a trip abroad, and a large raid on corporate headquarters in Dallas. But stripping immunity under Internet law from companies like Backpage is complicated business that could have unexpected fallout. Harris still wants the decency act changed, but appears unpersuaded that the Portman plan is targeted enough.

Other California lawmakers are also uneasy about it. Only a smattering of the states immense delegation has signed on to the House measure.

Among those opposing it is Rep. Ro Khanna, the former Stanford University economist now representing Silicon Valley in Congress. He is loathe to tinker with what he says is a pillar of the Internet economy. The protection online companies are given against illegal material that users lob on their platforms was foundational to the explosive growth of the industry, he said.

It is a reason America dominates tech instead of Europe or China, where such immunity doesnt exist, Khanna said. He said he feared even a narrowly targeted tweak could be exploited by lawyers and activists to attack a broad range of Internet content they find objectionable.

Opponents also warn that stripping the immunity may merely force Web companies to less aggressively police their content, because knowing what illegal material is on their sites could increase liability under the proposed changes to the act. They say companies should instead be pressured to step up their enforcement efforts and innovation of anti-trafficking software.

Tech companies, one of the most dominant lobbying forces in Washington, have been caught off guard by the fight. It wasnt long ago that there was scant support for changes to the immunity laws that Internet firms rely on, according to Eric Goldman, co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University.

This has moved faster than tech companies can even respond to it, said Goldman, who argues that the measure would merely drive sex trafficking to places where it is harder for law enforcement to find and undermine the innovation economy in the process. Can you come up with a topic more troubling to a legislator than sex trafficking? The argument that the bill may not solve the problem and actually create new problems is hard to make. Legislators are thinking, if it has a chance to help, why not try?

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper

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At a time when the Democratic base is more restive than it has been in decades, Sen. Dianne Feinstein ignited a firestorm earlier this week when she refused to back the impeachment of President Trump and instead called for patience over his presidency.

The statements  provocative in Democratic circles and near-heretical in her hometown of San Francisco, where she made them  reflected a moderation and pragmatism that have been hallmarks of Feinsteins career. But these qualities, after proving politically advantageous for decades, could become an albatross because of the states shifting demographics and political leanings as the 84-year-old decides whether to seek a sixth term.

Potential rivals are already circling.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon lashed out at Feinsteins remarks hours after she made them Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club, saying that women, children, people of color, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community had little time for patience in the face of the presidents policies.

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On Thursday, he reiterated his disappointment in the states senior senator.

It wasnt the proper tone or tenor, especially given the current state of politics at the national level, De Leon, who is termed out and rumored to be considering a Senate run, said in an interview with The Times. We dont owe Trump patience. We owe Californians resistance.

De Leons words were a remarkable rebuke from a top California Democrat of one of the states most powerful and venerated leaders. They were also a reflection of how the political landscape in California in 2017  in the aftermath of the election of Trump and amid simmering rage from the Democratic partys most liberal activists  is dramatically different from the era when Feinstein gained political prominence.

She was booed at a 1990 California Democratic Party convention for flaunting her support for the death penalty. But the resulting image of a defiant Feinstein staring into a camera as her party denounced her was beamed around the state as a testament to her independence. She won her Senate seat two years later, and hasnt faced a competitive race in two decades.

Sean Clegg, a veteran Democratic operative in San Francisco and a top advisor to Sen. Kamala Harris, said Feinsteins Trump statements reflect a similar candor about her beliefs  even when they conflict with her audience. But her measured tones may not resonate with voters now, when the political environment is far more partisan and sharply divided than when she first joined the Senate.

Its Dianne being Dianne, but its greatly out of step with where the base is, where most Democrats are, and where most California voters are, he said. The base is on fire like we really have not seen in more than a generation.

Its Dianne being Dianne, but its greatly out of step with where the base is, where most Democrats are, and where most California voters are.  Sean Clegg, a veteran Democratic strategist

The fury is acute in California, where Democrats have positioned themselves as the liberal resistance to Trump. The state is home to some of the presidents most vocal critics: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) has been calling for Trumps impeachment for months, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Porter Ranch) introduced articles of impeachment on the House floor in July, accusing the president of obstructing justice. Others, such as Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), have loudly declared their opposition to many of Trumps policies.

Feinstein has also criticized Trumps policymaking and rhetoric, such as his pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and his comments assigning blame to many sides after last months violent neo-Nazi and white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va.

But the comments Feinstein made about Trump on Tuesday  urging patience and saying she believed he could be a good president if he learned and changed  reinforced the notion among some liberals that Feinstein has grown out of touch with her constituents.

No politician is entitled to their office, and whats needed now more than ever are independent progressive leaders who will be champions for the working Californians hurt by the hateful, divisive policies of the Trump presidency, said Joe Sanberg, a wealthy Westwood investor whose work to address poverty  he successfully pushed the state to enact income tax credits for the working poor  could be a springboard for a future run for office.

A Democratic member of the California congressional delegation, who requested anonymity to candidly discuss a colleague, said some politicians eager to seek higher office and see new faces in party leadership believe its time for Feinstein to pass the torch.

The lawmaker suggested there is particular frustration with Feinsteins remarks about patience among politicians who represent districts with large minority populations. Their constituents are afraid, and they believe there is no time to waste fighting Trump, the Democrat said. They want resistance.

Follow California politics by signing up for our email newsletter 

Feinsteins top political advisor declined to comment on Feinsteins remarks, but several supporters defended her comments and her record representing California in the Senate for a quarter century.

Longtime Feinstein confidant and former Rep. Ellen Tauscher, who represented the East Bay for 12 years, moderated Tuesdays event. Tauscher said the senators remarks were taken out of context, but emphasized that they also displayed the characteristics she believes have made Feinstein a powerful advocate for California in the Senate.

She was Dianne. Shes measured. Shes serious. Thats why she has so much respect, such gravitas, such seniority that she can leverage on our behalf, Tauscher said, adding that those qualities are particularly important right now because of the administrations apparent disdain for California.

The senator is in a delicate position, she said. Feinstein sits on the two Senate committees  judiciary and intelligence  that are investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the Trump campaigns dealings with Russia. And if the House votes to impeach Trump, Feinstein, as a member of the Senate, would vote on whether to convict.

If I was still elected, knowing that this [could] be decided by Congress through impeachment and you have to sit in judgment, to get way out on a limb and to be talking about impeachment before its a reality is, I think, a dangerous place to be, Tauscher said.

Feinstein drew the ire of liberal activists even before the controversy over her comments. When protesters gathered outside her Hancock Park fundraiser in March, she held an impromptu question-and-answer session that grew heated. When one protester shouted at Feinstein to take a stand, the senator responded, Young man, Ive made more stands in my lifetime than you are old by far.

Pt3 Q&A with @SenFeinstein including her telling a protester: "Young man I've made more stands in my lifetime than you are old by far." pic.twitter.com/cvmTAcsrfp  Javier Panzar  (@jpanzar) March 17, 2017

She also faced tough questions, boos and audience members holding signs that read Retire Feinstein at two town halls in April, where she described her approach to dealing with Trump and the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

Resistance to me means doing the best I can to serve people in the way we do, Feinstein said. Im giving opposition in my votes, in my comments, in my speeches. Now, I dont rant and rail because Ive got other ways of being constructive, and I think the majority of people want me to be constructive.

About half the states voters approve of Feinsteins work, according to a March poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, though her approval rating has slipped since last year.

The recent criticism of Feinstein comes as the senator mulls whether she will seek another term in 2018.

Speculating about her intentions is a popular parlor game in California political circles, with many insiders predicting she will run. She has hedged and demurred, most recently on Tuesday when Tauscher asked Feinstein about her plans for the next five to 10 years. Next question, please, she responded.

Several potential successors could be waiting on her decision, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, De Leon and several members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff of Burbank, Eric Swalwell of Dublin and Sherman.

If Feinstein opts against another run, the race to replace her could be a free-for-all. But if she does decide to seek reelection, a key question is whether any prominent Democrat would try to challenge her. Some little-known Democrats have announced that they are challenging Feinstein, including defense attorney Pat Harris, who announced a bid this week staked on progressive beliefs.

Feinsteins supporters said a challenge by a viable Democratic candidate would be an enormous mistake and ultimately unsuccessful. The senator has a storied perch in the Democratic firmament, a vast network of donors and, as one of the wealthiest members of Congress, the ability to self-fund a campaign if she faced a serious challenge.

It would be foolish, but it would also be a waste of precious resources in a year we need to take back the House, to take the Senate, or do both, said Katherine Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation in Beverly Hills.

Spillar said she believes some of the criticism of Feinstein is laced with ageism and sexism, but also said she understands the frustration and fears animating some activists. She argues that they should channel their energy into fighting Trump, trying to flip Republican-held House seats or protecting vulnerable Democratic senators rather than picking a fight with a woman who has a long history of standing by the partys principles.

Stop it already, Spillar said of Feinsteins critics. Shes absolutely just been an incredible force and we cant lose her, not now. Oh my God. This is not the time.

Times staff writers John Myers in Sacramento and Christina Bellantoni in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

For the latest on national and California politics, follow @LATSeema on Twitter.

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A team of researchers has discovered the source of a stellar explosion that was first documented by Korean astronomers nearly 600 years ago.

The pinpointing of the binary star system that birthed Nova Scorpii 1437, described in the journal Nature, solves a centuries-long mystery and sheds new light on the nature of stars whose surfaces explode.

One night in the year 1437, astronomers in Seoul noticed a new star that had appeared out of nowhere, sitting in the tail of the constellation Scorpius. It lasted for 14 days before fading away. The observers who documented it in the Sejong Sillok  the Veritable Records of King Sejong, who ruled Korea from 1418 to 1464  called it a guest star.

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This was not a new star, but a nova  an explosion caused by superheated material gathering around a white dwarf. A white dwarf is a stellar corpse  the remnant of a dying star that has already sloughed off its outer layers, leaving behind a small, dense core. But when a white dwarf is in a binary system with a normal star, that stellar corpse becomes a stellar zombie, gobbling up material pulled from its normal companion. That stolen star-stuff gets sucked into an accretion disk around the white dwarf, and eventually ends up on its surface.

As that additional mass builds up, the rising pressure and temperature trigger a runaway nuclear reaction. The resulting thermonuclear explosion hurls off that extra star-stuff from the white dwarfs surface, creating a nova that can, briefly, be up to a million times brighter than usual.

White dwarfs can only handle so much mass  up to the Chandrasekhar Limit, about 1.4 suns worth  beyond which they would collapse. But this process acts a little like a safety valve, allowing the white dwarf to hurl off that stolen star stuff and start siphoning more away from its binary companion again.

These particular binary star systems, also known as cataclysmic variables, can do this over and over, for a very long time  or so researchers think. But astronomers havent been around long enough to see this cycle in action, said lead author Michael Shara, a curator in the American Museum of Natural Historys department of astrophysics.

In 100,000 years, well certainly have had the opportunity to check on all of the dwarf novas that we know of in the sky, watch them go into nova eruptions, and hopefully watch them fade back into dwarf novae, Shara said. But I dont have that kind of time.

Thats why the historical record of such events, like the one documented by Koreans nearly six centuries ago, can be so useful to researchers like Shara.

The problem is, its very hard to match up the historical record to the stars we see today. Thats because the white dwarf and its companion star would have moved away from the novas center in the meantime.

Scouring the Scorpio system, Shara and his colleagues identified a shell-like structure (a possible nova remnant) as well as a star system that was no longer dead center but could potentially have been the source. He and his colleagues then dug into more recent archives  photographic plates from 1923 taken by the Harvard Observatory station in Peru, now available online.

By tracking how much the binary star system had moved over the last century, the researchers could then figure out how far it must have moved over the last 600 years. That systems position turned out to match the Korean astronomers description.

Astronomy is concerned with both the large scale and the long term, and historical observations are often important for resolving evolutionary questions, Steven Shore of the University of Pisa, who was not involved in the research, wrote in a commentary. In this case, Shara and colleagues identification of the cataclysmic variable associated with Nova Scorpii 1437 is a lovely piece of historical scholarship.

Other photographic plates from the 1940s showed that the white dwarf binary system had behaved like a dwarf nova in the 1930s and 1940s, Shore said. Astronomers had puzzled over dwarf novae, wondering how they were related to classical novae. The new study shows that dwarf novae and full novae are one and the same  just at different stages in their cycle.

It also shows that these white dwarfs can start building up mass at a good clip pretty soon after going nova, Shore added.

How novae affect the long-term development of cataclysmic variables and how much of the accreted gas is expelled by the explosion can be understood only by discovering systems that are in temporary retirement, Shore wrote. Shara and colleagues study provides the key to finding these systems in our Galaxy.

amina.khan@latimes.com

Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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UPDATES:

Sept 3, 12:12 p.m.: This story was updated with a comment from lead author Michael Shara.

This story was originally published August 31 at 7:35 p.m.
A brush fire that erupted in the Verdugo Mountains Friday afternoon resulted in the mandatory evacuation of a Burbank community late that evening.

Mandatory evacuations were called for residents living in the Brace Canyon Park area.

Battalion Chief Ron Barone with the Burbank Fire Department said crews were initially able to halt the flames progress along the canyons ridgeline and toward Burbank.

But by 10:30 p.m., flames spread down the hillside.

Things are definitely dynamic with this fire, he said.

Burbank residents in the path of the flames are asked to head to McCambridge Recreation Center at 1515 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

MANDATORY EVAC ORDER: Haven Wy frm Joaquin to the top. Olney Pl, Ramey Pl., Mystic View, View Crest all under immediate mandatory evac order  Burbank Police (@BurbankPD) September 2, 2017

New Evac order: Lamer from Brace Cyn to Keystone and the Castleman Estates are under mandatory evac orders.  Burbank Police (@BurbankPD) September 2, 2017

The fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. near the 10800 block of La Tuna Canyon Road in the Sunland-Tujunga area and was initially estimated to be less than an acre.

The fire then grew after high winds carried embers across the Foothill (210) Freeway, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

However, with rising temperatures and windy conditions, authorities estimated the fire could potentially grow to around 2,000 acres by Friday night.

That prediction came to pass by 9:30 p.m., according to Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

She said firefighters are dealing with 40 mph winds and flames reaching 100 feet in height.

The winds are continuing to shift, so its a very dynamic fire, said Erik Scott, a spokesman for the L.A. Fire Department, earlier in the day.

The fire has remained at 10% containment since 7 p.m.

Video shared on social media showed flames alongside traffic prior to the freeways closure.

Drove past this fire in La Tuna Canyon a little over an hour ago. If you're in CA, prepare for natural disasters. It's not if, it's when. pic.twitter.com/zEENhbanpT  Jess Phoenix  (@jessphoenix2018) September 1, 2017

A large plume of smoke could be seen from miles around with ash from the fire reported to have reached Burbank and Glendale.

Authorities said around 50 homes were at risk and precautionary evacuations were called in several neighborhoods including homes along Reverie Road, Tranquil Drive and Glen O Peace Parkway in Tujunga.

Residents living in roughly 200 nearby homes were reportedly evacuated, according to the L.A. Fire Department.

Authorities initially told evacuees in that area to head to Verdugo Hills High School, but the Sunland Recreation Center at 8651 Foothill Blvd. in Sunland-Tujunga was later designated as the evacuation spot.

The Burbank Police Department also evacuated the DeBell Golf Club and initiated road closures along Sunset Canyon Drive at Walnut Avenue and Harvard Road.

As of late Friday evening, Stewart said no structures have been damaged and no one was injured as a result of the flames.

Because of the fires growing threat to the area, traffic on both sides of the 210 Freeway was closed at La Tuna Canyon Road, causing gridlock in the surrounding areas as commuters searched for alternate routes.

Stewart said the section of the freeway between Lowell Avenue and San Fernando Road would likely remain closed through Saturday morning.

Around 250 firefighters from the L.A. Fire Department had tackled the flames from the air and ground as of 7 p.m.

Fire crews from Glendale, Burbank, Los Angeles County and the Angeles National Forest were called in to assist with firefighting efforts.

You got a lot of folks coming out here to hit it hard, to hit it fast and to get it controlled, Scott said.

An unknown number of homes were threatened by the brush fire that broke out in La Tuna Canyon Friday afternoon. (Roger Wilson / Staff Photographer)

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc

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UPDATES:

11:51 p.m.: This article was updated with the location of the evacuation center in Burbank.

10:53 p.m.: This article was updated with information about evacuations in Burbank moving from voluntary to mandatory.

10:29 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the fires further spread into Burbank and evacuation orders.

10:18 p.m.: This article was updated with information on road closures and the fires encroachment onto Burbank.

10:05 p.m.: This article was updated with information on the nature of the flames and the amount of burnt acreage.

8:55 p.m.: This article was updated with information about burnt acreage.

7:30 p.m.: This article was updated with information on the fires partial containment.

5:29 p.m.: This article was updated with the acreage burnt and number of homes threatened by the fire.

4:46 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on road closures, evacuations and the nature of the fire.

This article was originally published at 2:40 p.m.
Myra Rahe still remembers one of the best birthday presents she ever received as a kid  a box of 64 crayons and a dollar bill.

Rahe, 66, used that dollar to buy a coloring book, which she shaded and scribbled in with her birthday crayons to escape childhood stress, she said.

It was a diversion, a de-stressor, Rahe said.

In 2015, she officially began the 50 Shades of Coloring club to provide other Orange County residents with the same stress-free zone.

Rahe, an Orange resident, said the idea for the club sparked after watching a news segment about a coloring club for adults on the East Coast where members casually met up in restaurants.

I thought, What a great idea because we all colored as kids, Rahe said. Its a relaxing and therapeutic thing. Then I did some research and discovered that there were no coloring groups here in Orange County.

After hearing about Meetup.com, where people can meet others with various interests, Rahe decided to post information online about 50 Shades of Colorings first events. She remembers getting around 50 responses in one day.

Meetup had spurred the interest of many longtime members who attended last months meeting at Fuddruckers restaurant in Lake Forest.

Ive been coming for a year and a half, and I try to be here each month, said Laguna Hills resident Christina Law. Its not just bringing a coloring book and sitting down. Theres a lot of crafts we do, and people of all ages can enjoy it.

At last months meeting, Rahe laid out blank luggage tags, bookmarks, note cards, pages with intricate images and paper for other crafts for people to draw on.

Curious onlookers at the restaurant peeked in on the meeting to scan the vibrant magnets and rock paperweights that had been embellished with colored paper.

As club members began to file into Fuddruckers, they took their seats at the tables laden with clipboards, boxes of crayons, tin cans with gel pens and caddies with markers and colored pencils.

Theres no right or wrong way to do it, Laguna Woods resident Peggy Henschel said as she colored a card. Its fun to keep learning new tricks here.

Rahe showed members a new technique during the meeting using crayons and baby oil.

Laguna Niguel resident Diane Lindsey, who enjoys designing period costumes and coloring fashion drawings, pressed a blue crayon onto a paper with a dress and used a cotton swab dipped in baby oil to soften the color.

As Lindsey stroked the swab over the dress, the jagged crayon markings on the page began to look like a watercolor painting.

Things like this really help me think about color and gives me ideas [for costumes], Lindsey said. Myra is always researching different techniques for us to do. She is a woman with a heart of gold.

Each week, Rahe takes the coloring activities beyond the restaurant meetings and into the Kaiser Permanente Infusion Centers in Anaheim and Irvine, where she brings bookmarks and tags for patients to color.

Its an inspiration for me to see what everyone gets out of it and the creativity they didnt think they had, Rahe said. Its brought people to an environment where they dont have to have talent to enjoy themselves. Coloring has given them an opportunity to be calm and take their minds off whatever is going on.

So far, the club has held coloring meetings at restaurants in Tustin, Santa Ana and Lake Forest.

Each meeting has a $10 admission, and the fee is put toward coloring supplies.

The club will embark on its first getaway trip in Big Bear Lake Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 for a weekend of coloring, crafts, games and a chance to learn a drawing method called Zentangle.

Itll be one way in which members can celebrate a milestone for 50 Shades of Coloring next month  its second birthday.

For more information about the 50 Shades of Coloring club and its upcoming trip, visit 50shadesofcoloring.com.

Alexandra.Chan@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley will be the guest speaker for a State of the City speech Sept. 28.

The event, hosted by the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, will run from 7 to 8:45 a.m. at the Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa hotel, 3350 Avenue of the Arts.

Foley will discuss public safety, projects at Lions Park, sober-living homes, homelessness, business partners and Costa Mesas brand as the City of the Arts.

Tickets start at $25. To RSVP, visit costamesachamber.com/events or call (714) 885-9092.

Rances hosts donation drive for Harvey victims

Rances Chicago Pizza in Costa Mesa is accepting donations for victims of Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas.

On Monday, those who bring in a bag of nonperishable food, clothes or blankets will receive a $10 gift card. Those who donate $100 or more to the American Red Cross will receive a free large pizza.

Rances is at 1420 Baker St. Suite B, near Target.

New education center opens in Corona del Mar

C2 Education, a tutoring and test prep center, has opened a new facility in Corona del Mar.

The center is at 2121 E. Coast Hwy. Its the chains 10th location in Orange County and its first in Newport Beach.

New preschool to have open house

The newly opened CHALK Preschool in Newport Beach is having an open house Sept. 13.

The school at 2500 W. Coast Hwy. will be open from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

For more information, call (949) 642-7300 or email newportbeach@chalkprescool.com.

BLK Coffee expands to Laguna Beach

Irvine-based BLK Coffee is opening a new location in Laguna Beach.

The coffeehouse, known for its Vietnamese craft coffee, plans to open in October at 656 N. Coast Hwy., near the Pavilions.

BLK Coffee first opened in 2015. It also sells sandwiches and pastries.
Strong public criticism convinced the Newport Beach City Council Thursday to apply for revenue sharing from the upcoming state gas tax hike.

It reversed an earlier council stance that rejected seeking the funds to send a message to state lawmakers

Council members made it clear that whether or not they oppose the tax  and the disapproving sentiment is what drove five of them in August to vote, on principle, against applying for about $480,000 in proceeds to improve local roads  they now better understand that their constituents will soon be paying more at the pump, and they should get some of that money back through street repairs.

Our refusal to accept these funds will not reduce or eliminate the new tax, said Councilman Jeff Herdman, one of the five initial no votes and the councilman who requested the reconsideration.

The tax, which raises the base gas tax by 12 cents a gallon and increases vehicle license fees, will take effect on Nov. 1 and will fund road, bridge and transit projects statewide over 10 years.

In Newport, the first, $481,309 disbursement would go toward repaving MacArthur Boulevard/University Drive.

The city has until Oct. 12 to submit its application. If approved, the funds would be doled out next year.

City staff estimates next years share at about $1.4 million. The money will supplement, not supplant, existing funds.

Councilman Scott Peotter, another earlier no vote, also did an about-face.

He maintained that the tax is bad, regressive policy, but well just figure out a different way to combat that.

At the Aug. 8 meeting, Peotter and Herdman, plus Mayor Kevin Muldoon, Mayor Pro-Tem Marshall Duffy Duffield and Councilman Will ONeill voted against applying for the funds.

Council members Diane Dixon and Brad Avery voted in favor.

The council voted unanimously at Thursdays meeting, which Muldoon called to just address the gas tax issue, to pursue the funds.

Former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer, a Newport Beach resident, said elected officials highest responsibility is a fiduciary duty.

We, the citizens of Newport Beach, pay that money. Its our money, she said. It belongs to the city of Newport. It belongs to its residents. We want our roads fixed.

Avery said he voted in favor despite not liking the tax, but said everyone on the council wants to do the right thing.

Its tough to make these votes in the heat of the moment, he said. We do let our own thoughts and our own perceptions of good government influence us.

The gas tax divided the Legislature on party lines, and Republicans remain hopeful it can be repealed, possibly with a statewide referendum.

Muldoon said the more effective way to send a message to legislators is to support the movement to repeal. He pledged to privately donate $1,000 toward those efforts and encouraged his colleagues to do the same.

Duffield said he sees half hour-long lines at Costco, where gasoline is usually less expensive than at other gas stations, as evidence that motorists are looking for ways to save on fuel.

I appreciate all the emails that were sent to me, he said. I read them all, and we do listen.

Dixon also praised the feedback as direct democracy.

Sacramento and Washington are difficult to deal with these days but in your local government you have a voice, and your voice counts, she said.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
I recently read Younger Next Year, by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge. The most stringent rule is to exercise six days a week. Well, it may inspire me to miss fewer days for my mile walk each morning.

Other firm advice: Join a gym. Nope. Swim. Nope. Id probably drown. Get a personal trainer for twice-weekly strength training. Good idea.

And then theres this piece of advice: Have a healthy sex life. Now theres one rule Id love to follow  but its not easy. Men my age (87) are few and far between.

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Are you a veteran of L.A.'s current dating scene? We want to publish your story

Twelve years ago Bob died after a long struggle with Alzheimers. Wed been married 54 years and Id never lived alone before. To my amazement, I loved it.

I dated a little, but nothing very productive or exciting. I briefly considered signing up for Senior Singles, but that sounded like far too much work. I decided I didnt need anyone.

Then, Dave, an acquaintance, emailed to tell me of his wifes death. She had been a college friend of mine. We struck up an email correspondence and a year or so later I invited him with or without family to visit me for a few days. This seemed pretty normal to me. Ive met people on the street in Europe and invited them to visit. I like company.

More L.A. Affairs columns

When he decided to take me up on my offer, I thought, this could be interesting. I actually knew nothing about this man. He was 93, for Petes sake. What condition was he in? Could he make it up the stairs to the guest room? Should I dig Bobs walker out of the attic?

I realized this was pretty crazy. But so is skydiving and paragliding, and each of these activities was worth doing  once. This visit could be a fun experience too.

We had a lovely time. His first comment after I picked him up at John Wayne Airport was, So what do your kids think of a strange man visiting you?

I certainly didnt mention it to them, I replied. (I have five kids; he has three.)

We talked as I drove home. We talked all afternoon. We spent time catching up on what each of us knew about mutual friends from long ago. He showed me photos of his family and I reciprocated. It was the start of a wonderful, delightful stay. (Turned out he had no trouble navigating stairs. Hes six years older than I am but walks as fast as I do.)

By the third day, he kissed me lightly a couple of times. Before he left, he said, I like you, and kissed me soundly. I thought. Hmmm. Occasional visits would be delightful.

::

Three weeks after he left, I called 911. I was having trouble breathing. I remember thinking this would ruin any chance of seeing Dave again. No heart attack, I was relieved to know, but pneumonia was diagnosed and I spent four days in the hospital. Dave wouldnt want a relationship with a decrepit old lady, so I didnt even contact him for several days. When I finally did, I was amazed at his caring response.

We started daily emails and phone calls. He commented that if I decided to visit him, Id have a choice of a bed by myself  or I could sleep with him.

His emails were lovely.

The week we spent together in Colorado was one of the best weeks of my life. (I chose his bed.)

::

Hes very affectionate. Hes funny. Hes just plain agreeable. Were both amazed that were getting this second chance. We decided hed move in with me this past May 9.

To celebrate, my book group threw a lingerie shower. I assured them Im not really into thongs, but I loved it.

One evening Dave and I decided to try out my jet tub. We soaked in very hot water for a while. Only problem  we couldnt get out! We struggled mightily, and started laughing, which didnt help. Calling 911 would be too embarrassing. Finally he managed to get out, and helped me.

We now have grab bars.

His daughter-in-laws response to hearing about me, At least you cant get her pregnant. (She and the rest of our kids are beautifully accepting.)

Daves easy to live with. I cook and he cleans up. He even fixes things occasionally and remembers to water the tomatoes.

Were now planning our Commitment Ceremony party for this Sunday.

We expect 90 to 100 friends to join us in our backyard in Buena Park. Music will include Frank Sinatra singing September Song.

Were both healthy, we eat our vegetables, and we exercise. In fact, Danielle (our Torture Lady trainer) comes each Monday and Wednesday. My dad lived to 107. Dave and I hope for at least five or 10 years together. Whatever, we have today, and today is wonderful!

L.A. Affairs chronicles the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles. If you have comments or a true story to tell, email us at LAAffairs@latimes.com.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

MORE L.A. LOVE STORIES 

She ghosted me. Twice.

The best advice I ever got for dating a guy with kids

We had a one-night stand. I wish it had stayed that way

home@latimes.com
If you like flashing knives and performance-style cooking, youll love Carnival Cruise Lines new teppanyaki dining venue.

The line, which intends to launch the Japanese style of cooking on its new ship Carnival Horizon, will call the Promenade Deck restaurant Bonzai Teppanyaki.

Horizon will debut in Europe in April and will be the first Carnival ship to feature the cooking style. Teppanyaki translates literally to grilling on an iron plate and takes place directly in front of diners on a hot grill.

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The cooking style is used for meats such as steak and seafood, and calls for as much theatrical skill as culinary skill as chefs do knife tricks and tell jokes while they cook on custom-built stations that form the center of the venues two eight-seat tables.

Diners will begin their meal with samplings of five appetizers, including miso soup, teppanyaki shrimp, skewered pork belly and spicy tuna.

Entrees will include lobster tail, filet mignon, salmon, black cod, shrimp, garlic chicken and grilled tofu with vegetables. Combination dinners will also be available.

Prices range from $15 to $30 per person and include appetizers, entree, dessert and side dishes.

Other new elements on Carnival Horizon include a Dr. Seuss-themed water park, a bike-ride-in-the-sky attraction called SkyRide, and an IMAX Theatre.

The ship is scheduled to make its maiden voyage April 2, with a 13-day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona, Spain, the first of four round-trip departures from that port. It will then reposition to the U.S. with a 14-day transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to New York from May 9 to 23.

After a summer schedule sailing out of New York to Bermuda and the Caribbean, it will move to Miami and begin a year-round schedule of six- and eight-day Caribbean cruises beginning Sept. 22, 2018.

travel@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimestravel

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In front of several hundred fans  which included an estimated 50 photographers  Sophia Loren added impressions in cement of her hands and feet at Graumans Chinese Theatre. Los Angeles Times writer Jack Smith reported:

Actress Sophia Loren put her footprints and handprints in the forecourt of Graumans Chinese Theatre Thursday afternoon and signed her name in concrete in a fine Italian hand.

The voluptuous Neapolitan flew here from Rome to perform this hallowed Hollywood rite, to receive in person, belatedly, the Oscar she won last March, and to publicize her new picture, Boccaccio 70.

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A crowd of several hundred fans pressed eight and ten deep against chains surrounding the famed theater court as Miss Loren kneeled to imprint her marks in a fresh square of green cement

Sophia Loren she wrote in the cement, and Solo per Sempre  always forever.

This photo and Jack Smiths story were published in the July 27, 1962, Los Angeles Times. Loren won the best actress Oscar for 1960s Two Women.

This post was originally published on Sept. 6, 2012.

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here
Arriving in the western Afghanistan city of Herat in the late 1990s during Taliban rule, Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai expected a locked-down, cowering population.

Instead, he heard residents openly criticize the militant Islamic movement. At the provincial government offices, he saw a parade of local clerics come to meet the governor, founding Taliban member Khairullah Khairkhwa, who greeted them in the local Persian, a language most of his comrades didnt speak.

He knew these people didnt really support the Taliban, so he made an extra effort, said Yusufzai, who has covered Afghanistan for three decades. He was a friendly man and did not try to force his views on you.

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Khairkhwa, who was arrested by Pakistani forces in 2002 and transferred to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was among the five Taliban detainees released by the Obama administration last week in exchange for captive U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Obama critics have said the swap could endanger American lives, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling the five Taliban members the hardest and toughest of all.

A closer look at the former prisoners, however, indicates that not all were hard-core militants. Three held political positions in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and were considered relative moderates. A fourth was a mid-level police official, experts say.

The fifth, however, has a darker past. Mohammed Fazl was chief of staff of the Taliban army and is accused of commanding forces that massacred hundreds of civilians in the final years of Taliban rule before the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. He was arrested in November 2001 after surrendering to U.S.-allied warlords in northern Afghanistan.

Fazl is the only one of the five to face accusations of explicit war crimes and they are, indeed, extremely serious, Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research group, wrote in a commentary published Wednesday.

The backgrounds of the prisoners, who are confined to the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for one year under the terms of the exchange, indicate that they would have little utility on the battlefield after more than a decade in prison. They range in age from 43 to 47. In their absences, the Taliban movement they served has evolved into a complex and extremely violent insurgency that routinely kills civilians and has been decimated  although far from defeated  by years of U.S. counter-terrorism operations.

Their primary value, say analysts, is as a symbol of the Talibans ability to negotiate on equal footing with the United States. As the Obama administration prepares for the withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year, the exchange has raised questions about whether Taliban leaders will seek a negotiated peace with the Afghan government or wait out the departure of virtually all American troops by 2016.

Its a boost in terms of morale, but I doubt whether this would make any kind of practical impact, at least in the short term, to the conflict inside Afghanistan, said Alex Strick van Linschoten, who has co-written three books on the Taliban. All these guys are pretty old now.

Administration officials dispute allegations that the five were the worst of the worst of the Taliban, saying they were not a threat to the United States and that about 30 detainees who are considered a danger would still face trial.

These were not good guys. I am in no way defending these men. But being, you know, mid-to-high-level officials in a regime thats grotesque and horrific also doesnt mean they themselves directly pose a threat to the United States, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Thursday. She accused critics of the release of having a political motive.

U.S. officials, who had sought for several years to swap the Taliban detainees for Bergdahl, previously had described the men as violent extremists in prison documents obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

One of the five, Mullah Norullah Noori, is listed as a senior Taliban military commander in [the northern city of] Mazar-i-Sharif during hostilities against U.S. and coalition forces in late 2001" who was wanted by the United Nations for possible war crimes, including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims.

But experts say Noori was a civilian official, an aide to the Taliban governor of Balkh province who later assumed the job himself and never held a military post. In Nooris account to U.S. officials, included in his prison file, he said his job was to ensure the government operated as usual and to resolve tribal complaints.

In several extensive war crimes reports conducted by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the independent Afghanistan Justice Project, Nooris name never appears as a suspect.

Khairkhwa, the governor in Herat, commanded a contingent of Taliban fighters who seized the provincial capital in 1997 and is described in U.S. documents as a hard-liner in his support of the Taliban philosophy.

The description is sharply at odds with that of journalists and analysts who met him in the late 1990s. Yusufzai, the Pakistani journalist, said Khairkhwa assiduously reached out to local clerics, including minority Shiite Muslims, to address their opposition to the Taliban.

If you looked at a lot of the Taliban leadership, he was different, said Yusufzai, who is with the Pakistani newspaper News International.

Another of the freed men, Abdul Haq Wasiq, was a student of Islam in his mid-20s who went to Kabul when the Taliban came to power. He worked for a relative who had been appointed the head of the intelligence service, and when the deputy intelligence chief fell ill, Wasiq took over the post, according to his prison file.

After the U.S.-led invasion, Wasiq offered his help to U.S. forces in locating the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, but was arrested instead.

The last of the men released, Mohammed Nabi Omari, whom the U.S. labeled a senior Taliban official who served in multiple leadership roles, was a police chief in the southern province of Zabol but never served in the Taliban leadership, according to research by Clark and the Afghanistan Analysts Network. Experts think Omari was added to the prisoner swap because he is an associate of the Haqqani network, the Taliban offshoot that was holding Bergdahl.

The U.S. description of Omari, Clark wrote, is nonsense.

Where the prisoners have already had an impact is as a propaganda tool. The Taliban on Wednesday released a video of Bergdahls release stamped with the misspelled but clear message: Doncome back to Afghanistan. On Facebook and online message boards, Taliban sympathizers brag that Bergdahl emerged from five years captivity in good health, drawing a contrast with the torture allegations that have dogged the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Analysts believe that the ex-prisoners, if they rejoined the Taliban, would serve at most in advisory roles, saying they are too far removed from a movement that has lost many of its top leaders to U.S.-led coalition operations.

They are not aware of what has been going on for the past 13 years, said Waheed Muzhda, a political analyst in Kabul who served in the Talibans Foreign Ministry. They dont know who has survived and whos been killed and what changes have come to the leadership of the Taliban.

It will take them at least the one year [in Qatar] to catch up with what has happened in the world and in Afghanistan.

Times staff writer Bengali reported from Mumbai, India, and special correspondent Baktash from Kabul. Times staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.
Mexican soldiers patrol Palmilla Beach, where three men were killed by a group of men with automatic weapons in San Jose del Cabo. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent balmy afternoon in Los Cabos, as tourists and locals frolicked in the sparkling blue sea, a group of men toting automatic weapons stormed onto a crowded beach.

By the time the attackers fled, three men lay dead beneath a grove of palm trees  another sign that the violence roiling other parts of Mexico has arrived at one of the countrys most prized and protected tourist resorts.

Los Cabos, a municipality that encompasses the cities of Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo and the 20 miles of beachfront resorts between them, has morphed into a battlefield since the arrest last year of drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.

Guzmans Sinaloa cartel was once so firmly planted in the state of Baja California Sur that he and other cartel leaders vacationed here safely  along with more than a million American tourists each year. But since Guzmans arrest and extradition to the U.S., the cartel has fragmented into warring factions, who are fighting each other as well as gangsters aligned with the emergent Jalisco New Generation cartel.

Although none of the recent violence has explicitly targeted tourists  the only known American victim was wounded in the leg by a stray bullet in March  the U.S. State Department last week warned Americans to take extra precautions when visiting Los Cabos. The department also issued a travel warning for Cancun, which this year was the site of a nightclub shooting in which several foreigners died.

Left, Residents construct a tomb at the Santa Rosa Cemetery in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur. The cemetery is at full capacity as a result of the recent increase in homicides. Left, Mexican investigators gather evidence at the scene of a homicide in San Jose del Cabo.(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Baja authorities say drugs, firearms and trained hit men have been arriving by ferry from Sinaloa state, just across the Sea of Cortez, fueling record levels of killings in what is still one of Mexicos most sparsely populated states, despite a steady stream of Mexican migrants who come to work in the resorts and escape violence or poverty in their home states.

The government launched 232 homicide investigations in the state from January to July, up 250% from the same period last year, and up more than 1,000% from five years ago.

This year, the state is on track to record an annual rate of 57 killings per 100,000 people  roughly eight times that of Los Angeles.

The vast majority of the violence is playing out in the poor desert hillside communities that house resort workers, far from the beaches that have made this region a magnet for business moguls and Hollywood stars.

Top, Family members and friends mourn Juan Jose Burgoin Fausto, 47, and nephew Edwin Guerrero Burgoin, 22, at the family's home in San Jose del Cabo. The two victims were gunned down in broad daylight in the northern part of the city. Bottom left, Juan Gabriel Martinez, left, comforts his wife, Ana Maria Burgoin, as she grieves over the deaths of her brother and nephew. The site where Juan Jose Burgoin Fausto and Edwin Guerrero Burgoin were slain.(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Last weekend, a string of killings in those poor neighborhoods took 16 lives over three days. One of those slain was Jose Mauricio Savala Espinoza, 20, who was shot in the head Sunday afternoon near a Baptist church in San Jose del Cabo, three miles inland from a strip of $1,000-a-night hotels.

After the killing, as neighbors peered behind police tape to catch a glimpse of the body and investigators searched for bullets, the victims mother erupted in screams.

Mauricio! Why? cried Norma Espinoza Escarrega, 47, clutching her face.

She said she and her husband came to Los Cabos from Sinaloa 23 years ago to work in a tortilla factory. Jose Mauricio, one of their four children, had fallen in with gangsters despite her warnings that it could cost him his life.

I told you, she wailed, as a relative rubbed her back. My God.

To combat the violence, the government is building a new base for the Mexican marines in the region, and local hotels have helped pay for additional federal troops.

Clockwise from top left: A young boy plays in the surf at Palmilla Beach, where recently three men were killed by a group of men with automatic weapons in San Jose del Cabo. The Mega Comercial shopping center in San Jose del Cabo. The U.S. Department of State issued a warning to U.S. citizens about the risk of traveling the Los Cabos area due to the recent uptick in violence. Colonial buildings line the streets of the historic central district in San Jose del Cabo. Ilona Muzikante, left, of Aliso Viejo, and Dave Williams at the Cabo Wabo bar while vacationing in Cabo San Lucas. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Even so, the violence has crept into the tourist zones, where menus are printed in English and prices are given in dollars. In March, police and armed gangsters clashed in the lobby of the Hyatt Ziva, a $400-a-night resort in San Jose del Cabo. In June, two severed heads were discovered in a cooler in the heart of the tourist zone in Cabo San Lucas.

The recent State Department warnings have officials worried about the potential impact on the countrys $20-billion-a-year tourism industry. There are 20 new hotels planned in Los Cabos, including branches of the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, projects that officials say will add 4,000 hotel rooms over the next two years.

Mexican authorities have gone to lengths to portray the violence as affecting only those involved in the drug trade.

Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, said that unlike the recent terrorists in Europe, Mexicos gangsters rarely purposefully target general society.

Others have suggested there were political motives behind the travel warnings. In August, Mexican Tourism Secretary Enrique de la Madrid told El Universal newspaper that the travel advisories might be part of President Trumps negotiating tactics as the U.S., Canada and Mexico thrash out changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Aside from the tourists, an estimated 200,000 Americans live throughout the Baja California peninsula. Most in Los Cabos say the violence hasnt touched them.

------------

FOR THE RECORD

12:15 p.m. Sept. 1: An earlier version of this article said 200,000 Americans live in Los Cabos. That many Americans live throughout the entire Baja California peninsula.

------------

On a recent afternoon at Palmilla Beach, the same place where the deadly gunfire erupted weeks earlier, Cindy Slausen relaxed in a chair as her towheaded toddler son played in the sand.

I feel safer here than in California, said Slausen, 39, who moved here with her husband a few years ago and now runs a nanny service that caters to foreigners.

Video recorded during a fatal shooting in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, on Aug. 28, 2017.

Theyre killing each other, added her friend, Brent Piece, 60, a retired Canadian whose young children were splashing in the waves. Unless youre dealing drugs here, you have no problem.

That foreigners feel so removed from the violence speaks to the wide economic gulf here and across Mexico. Every evening, giant buses painted with the fanciful names of resorts  Secrets, Dreams, One and Only  ferry maids, groundskeepers, waiters and pool boys back up to dirt roads lined with houses built of gray concrete blocks.

On a recent muggy morning, Father Juan Martinez Lara stood outside one such home sprinkling holy water over the bodies of Edwin Guerrero Burgoin, 22, and his uncle, Juan Jose Burgoin Fausto, 47, who lay side by side in matching wooden caskets.

A worker patches walls pocked by the hail of gunfire that killed one person in his San Jose del Cabo home. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) The Mexican Federal Police respond to a shooting at a home where one man was pronounced dead in San Jose del Cabo. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) The body of Jose Mauricio Savala Espinoza lies on the sidewalk after being shot in broad daylight along Calle Playa El Chileno in San Jose del Cabo. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Clockwise from top left: A victim suffering gunshot wounds is taken to a local hospital as the Mexican Federal Police investigate a shooting, where one man was pronounced dead at the scene in San Jose del Cabo. A worker patches walls pocked by the hail of gunfire that killed one person in his San Jose del Cabo home. The body of Jose Mauricio Savala Espinoza lies on the sidewalk after being shot in broad daylight along Calle Playa El Chileno in San Jose del Cabo. The Mexican Federal Police respond to a shooting at a home where one man was pronounced dead in San Jose del Cabo. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Every day, sometimes twice a day, families come to Martinez in tears, asking the Catholic priest to preside over another rosary or funeral. This morning, congregants had quietly warned that the Burgoin family was wrapped up in the drug trade, and that it might be unsafe for Martinez to visit their home.

When the priest finished praying, the mother of the older man leaned against his casket, touching his face with her hand.

My son, she whispered.

For years, Baja California Sur was one of the safest states in Mexico, far removed from the violence that erupted in other regions after former President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug cartels a decade ago.

We were spectators, said Los Cabos Mayor Arturo de la Rosa Escalante. We watched it on TV.

De la Rosa believes there are important reforms to be made to the municipalitys local police force  he recently fired 47 of the agencys 643 officers who were deemed incompetent or involved with the criminal groups  but he mostly blames the explosion of violence on outsiders.

They have come from Sinaloa to fight here and die here, he said.

Left, The Mexican Federal Police respond to a shooting in the Colonia Puerto Nuevo neighborhood of San Jose del Cabo. Vado Santa Rosa, a squatters village, has been plagued with killings and drug use. The instability in the Sinaloa drug cartel has allowed the emergence of Jalisco New Generation cartel to move into the area causing an increase in homicides. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Some fear that Los Cabos could become like Acapulco, the Pacific Coast resort that has become Mexicos homicide capital as warring criminal groups battle for control.

Security analyst Alejandro Hope said a better analogy might be the border city of Juarez, where hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of Mexico came in the 1980s and 1990s to work low-wage factory jobs. The city descended into violence in part because criminal groups found easy recruits in the children of those workers, who lacked the traditional family networks to care for their kids.

Hope said the violence in Los Cabos shows that the governments successful efforts to attract foreign investment in tourism and manufacturing could be undermined by gaping income inequality and the governments inability to contain criminal groups.

Its private splendor and public squalor, Hope said. You have an underclass that is a breeding ground for criminal activity.

For now, people are still coming to Los Cabos  both tourists and the workers who serve them.

Just before sunset one day this week, tourists from California, Pete Lara, 43, and Andy Franks, 32, enjoyed two-for-one beers as bikini-clad women danced on a raised stage.

The friends said that they had taken the precaution of avoiding the highway at night, but that they both felt safe.

Joel Reyes, 32, does not.

Thin, with scuffed cowboy boots and darkly tanned skin, he arrived two weeks ago from Oaxaca to work construction. He spent five years here while he was in his 20s and had earned enough to buy a plot of land back home. Now he was determined to work three more years to earn enough to build a house.

But things felt different now, he said as he took a seat in a plastic chair for Mass at a humble Catholic church.

I dont leave at night, he said. I dont go out drinking. I go from my job to my room. And from my room to my job.

Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicum

ALSO

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The 1985 murder of a DEA agent still haunts Mexico. Finally, a drug lord gets sentenced in the case
All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced.  19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
President Trump and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent are both Republicans, but a group of pro-Trump supporters think Dent's acting more like a Democrat and hindering the president's agenda.

They held a demonstration on Friday afternoon in Allentown's Jordan Park to call out the Lehigh Valley congressman for what they're calling a betrayal to voters.

Nearly 200 demonstrators showed up to the event and speakers included leaders of advocacy groups, a church pastor and the chairwoman of the Northampton County Republican Committee, Gloria Lee Snover.

Ed Martin, one of the organizers of the event, specifically pointed to Dent's involvement in the Tuesday Group, a coalition of moderate Republicans in Congress who spoke out against a House plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Dent voted against the plan that narrowly passed the House but died in the Senate.

Dent has publicly expressed criticism of Trump's actions and rhetoric on a number of occasions dating back to when President Trump was still candidate Trump.

"Charlie Dent and the Tuesday Group have been masquerading as Republicans, while running President Trump's agenda straight into the ground," Martin said. "It's high time we called out these liberals in Pennsylvania and across the country for betraying their voters and capitulating to ... the far left."

Dent, in a statement following the demonstration, stood by his positions and noted he's supported Trump "on issues such as reforming the VA, making the regulatory environment more reasonable, improving America's infrastructure, providing necessary funding to help meet the needs of our military and spurring economic growth."

"At the same time, I am not a sycophant," he said. "If the president errs on issues that are important to the people of the 15th (District), or for the entire country, I will continue to state my opinions respectfully and civilly."

Friday afternoon's rally remained peaceful, and there appeared to be only one counterprotester. Those in attendance held signs that read "Dump Dent," "Drain the Swamp" and other slogans.

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: Toomey questioner arrested at town hall, police say

Taking questions on live television Thursday night in Bethlehem, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said he has held more of what he considers town halls than any other statewide elected official that he knows of.

He was responding to a constituent who, in his question, labeled the exercise a "fake town hall." It echoed a chant of some 75 protesters who'd gathered outside the WLVT-PBS39 studio on South Side where the event took place.

The important thing is to have a dialogue, Toomey said, putting at 75 the number of town halls he's held counting those conducted via telephone and social media. The danger with, say, booking Stabler Arena for hundreds to attend and question the second-term Republican -- as one protester suggested -- is the opportunity for disruption that comes with such a crowd, he argued.

Thursday's questions were not screened by Toomey's office, organizers said, and came in from both Republicans and Democrats in the audience of about 50 Pennsylvanians, as well as via social media like Facebook.

There was really only one disruption, when Northampton resident Simon Radecki suggested Toomey's teenage daughter had been kidnapped. He was trying to highlight the deportation of loved ones, he said, but didn't get to finish his thought. He was pulled behind a curtain by security and booted from the studio.

Toomey touched on tax reform, minimum wage and overhauling health care, as well as the contentious state of political discourse in America, threats from Russia and North Korea and whether his voting record this year was influenced by political contributions while almost uniformly backing President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican.

Here is a full recap of last night's Town Hall session with U.S. Senator Pat Toomey at PBS39. The full program will be made available in its entirety later today on wlvt.org. Posted by PBS39 on Friday, September 1, 2017

Toomey opened with an overview of his priorities when Congress returns to session on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.

"The big front-burner issues, actually I think No. 1 on the agenda is going to the response to Hurricane Harvey," he said. "I think there's a clear and very, very pressing need. This is a staggering disaster of really epic proportions."

He suggested an aid bill may include other provisions, including continuing to fund government operations and raising the debt ceiling to avoid a shutdown. He'd be "very, very surprised" if the president vetoed the bill to force an appropriation for a southern border wall, as Trump had suggested prior to Harvey hitting.

Trump surfaced more than once Thursday night, including drawing a rebuke from Toomey over comments seen as equivocal about both sides being to blame for deadly violence at a white nationalist rally Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump, Toomey said, missed an opportunity "to demonstrate moral clarity and moral leadership." For the president to suggest "good people" mixed in among those spouting racist views was disturbing, Toomey said.

"It's completely unacceptable," Toomey said of bigotry. "It's outrageous."

Toomey also broke from Trump over the president's Aug. 25 pardon of Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff in Arizona who'd been convicted of contept for violating a court order. The senator said he thinks presidential pardons should be reserved for "very unusual circumstances," not for political supporters who repeatedly violate the law.

"If sheriffs and poilce departments can ignore a legitimate court order then we've lost the rule of law in this country," Toomey said.

Questioners challenged Toomey on why he's voted "93.6 percent" with Trump and backed controversial secretary of education pick Betsy DeVos, a campaign contributor.

On the first point, Toomey said most of the Senate's votes have been on confirming cabinet nominees, which a president has the right to put forth. On DeVos, Toomey claimed he didn't know she was a contributor to his re-election campaign until opponents brought it up, and that he liked her views on school choice as a way to level the playing field for poor families.

Turning again to legislative priorities, Toomey said he looks forward to reforming what he called the world's worst tax code in a way that grows the economy and incentivizes business in America versus overseas. He also voiced support for continued efforts on repealing and replacing the 2010 Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Toomey was on a Senate panel that drafted, in secret, a health insurance proposal that failed to pass. He maintains it had elements that would improve care for Americans, through expanded choice and sharing Medicaid costs more equitably with states.

"I think that would have been big progress," he told reporters after the town hall during a brief news conference. "That would have relieved some of the most onerous features of Obamacare like job-killing mandates, mandates that raised the cost of health care. It would have repealed the taxes that are holding back economic growth."

Addressing calls to boost the minimum wage, he said he opposes a "government fiat" setting a dollar amount. Where do you cap it, he asked: $50 an hour? $100 an hour?

"People would lose their jobs if the employer was forced to pay something that is unaffordable," he said, pointing to earned-income-tax credits and other programs geared toward helping low-income workers survive.

Turning to international issues, Toomey said it's clear the Russian government attempted to meddle in last year's election just as it has done in other Western democracies and will in all likelihood do again. He called for Congressional and Department of Justice investigations to continue searching for answers.

"They need to take this wherever it leads and find out exactly what happened, what exactly did the Russians do, how did they do it," he said. "If there was any complicity with the Trump Administration or anyone else, we need to know that. And we need to respond accordingly."

Key to confronting other threats, from North Korea and continued fighting in Afghanistan, is a smart defense, he said. For North Korea, that means bolstering missile defense systems, arguing the despotic dictatorship hellbent on developing nuclear missiles won't be able to afford all that many of them. In Afghanistan, he said he supports a "modest" increase in forces, mostly special operations troops, to prevent the South Asia nation from reverting back to a terrorist-breeding ground.

Outside Thursday night's television town hall, the walk was all domestic. Organizer Jude-Laure Denis, executive director of Allentown-based POWER Northeast, demanded a dialogue on issues with Toomey "that is not regulated, that is not preconceived, in a way that is not protected, where only get 54 people to actually hear him," she said, referring to the number of tickets released.

Protest gather outside Senator Pat Toomey's town hall at PBS39 studios in Bethlehem, Pa. Posted by lehighvalleylive.com on Thursday, August 31, 2017

Shawna Knipper, executive director of Women's March Pennsylvania, let loose in labeling Toomey's health-care vision an attack on people with pre-existing conditions, like her own kidney failure that has led to a lifetime of medical bills and prescription costs.

"This man in this office right now is voting every time for you to die. He literally threatens me," the Allentown resident said, shortly before leading a chant of "Fake town halls."

Inside the studio, Toomey said political discourse in the nation "has taken a turn for the worse." The solution is open-mindedness and cooperation, even across party lines, he would go on to say.

"I hope that we'll be able to demonstrate that it's possible to disagree and do so civilly," he said. "I go into these kinds of discussions assuming that the other person has got the same motivations I have: They want what's best for the country. They have different ideas about what's best, and that's OK."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Androw Metri was tasked with giving a shower to an elderly, deaf and incompetent woman.

"I was trying to get her to move up so I could wash her back. There was no cooperation there. She wasn't moving at all," the 26-year-old Bath man told Northampton County Judge Michael Koury.

So he grabbed her by the face and pulled her up, putting a gash in her cheek that required stitches to close.

"It was an act of frustration," he told the judge.

Koury sentenced him on Friday to six months to two years in Northampton County Prison for neglect of care on two dependent people, that woman and another elderly, blind and deaf man.

Police said Metri punched the man in the eye repeatedly.

He admitted he poked the man, but said the injury came from someone else. He said he was probing the swollen eye to make sure it didn't hurt.

"I'm a good person at heart," Metri said. "I'm extremely remorseful. You have my word as a man you will never see me in this courtroom again."

Koury barred Metri from working in a dependent care facility ever again. He must serve eight years of probation when his parole expires.

Metri was working for LifePath Inc. at its residential location at 2393 Black River Road in Lower Saucon Township. The attack on the woman was Feb. 26. The attack on the man was Feb. 19.

Defense attorney Rory Driscole said Metri has never been in trouble with the law and deeply regrets the two lapses in judgment.

"To say I'm remorseful would be an understatement," Petri said.

Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Kulik said it's important to the families of the victims that Metri never be in a position to hurt other defenseless people again.

Based in Hanover Township, Northampton County, LifePath provides care for special-needs clients in the Lehigh Valley and Bucks, Berks, Delaware and Montgomery counties.

The judge complied with Kulik's request for mandatory anger management counseling.

Metri cried when he learned he was headed to prison.

"Oh my god," he said as he was cuffed.

A woman in the gallery also cried.

"I'm sorry," Metri said to the woman as he was led to prison.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
After a long running saga of parents in the Vicarstown and Emo areas asking for a bigger school bus service with more seats for their children going to secondary schools in Portlaoise, they have now been granted a 52 seater bus.

The bus service had 32 seats this term and 15 students from the area were left without seats and without a way to school from Vicarstown/Emo to Portlaoise Secondary Schools.

Parents rallied together and with local political backing they have now secured a larger bus service for their children.

Laois/Offaly TD and Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD has confirmed that a 52 seater bus is to be allocated to students travelling to Portlaoise Secondary Schools from the Vicarstown/Emo area.

The decision follows a meeting on Wednesday with Minister John Halligan which Minister Flanagan organised and chaired.

Minister Flanagan received this confirmation from the Department of Education this afternoon.

At the start of the school term, a number of children who were previously in receipt of concessionary tickets on this route, were left without transport for the coming school term due to the allocation of a small bus on this route.

Following a very productive meeting with Minister Halligan on Wednesday a decision to install a larger bus on the route has been made.

This issue caused significant stress for the families affected and I am delighted that a decision to allocate a larger bus to the route has been made," he said.

It is not known when the new larger bus service will commence, students have already returned to school for the new term.

READ MORE HERE: This comes after parents feared that their children would be left stranded with no way to school as the bus was full.
Leading SCADA network and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions has today announced it has been selected by Irish Water to upgrade its telemetry networks in Leitrim and Waterford in a deal valued in excess of 1m.

The upgrade plays a significant role in the battle against unaccounted for water, giving Irish Water greater monitoring capability and control over the water distribution network in those counties. Increased automation and more granular visibility into water flows, pressure and quality provides early warning alerts to network bursts and improves the quality of supply for customers.

Commenting on the deal, Mark Quinn, manging director with EMR Integrated Solutions said:

This capital investment project supports Irish Waters ongoing efforts to streamline water distribution networks in the county, and having greater control over assets in the field allows them to quickly identify and react to adverse events as they occur.

"Minimising network leakage is a key objective and the ability to remotely measure and monitor flows plays a critical role in helping Irish Water to achieve that.

In Leitrim, the EMR team installed telemetry RTUs and GPRS data loggers together with the associated flow and pressure monitoring instrumentation at over 90 sites, tying them back to the centralised SCADA system in Carrick-on-Shannon.

This system augmented the extensive SCADA and telemetry network previously installed by EMR in the major water treatment plants and water distribution assets throughout the county.

We build our telemetry networks based on principles of resiliency, reliability and flexibility, explains Mr Quinn.

Where we have onsite telemetry, Irish Water can monitor and control the water network remotely, increasing operational efficiencies, reducing waste and providing faster response times to adverse events as they occur.

Utility providers are increasingly adopting the concept of smart networks and EMR is at the forefront of designing and deploying the technology to help them plan for the future, he said.

EMR has a strong track record in the water utility industry. The company has already performed two major network upgrades for Northern Ireland Water valued at well over 1m and last year it announced its entrance to the UK market.
Conor McPhearsons award winning play The Weir launches the autumn season at Backstage Theatre this Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2.

From the author of the Seafarer, The Weir won the Olivier award for best new play when it was first staged on the west end and has gone on to be a global success.

Heralded as a masterpiece by The Guardian Decadent Theatres production features a stellar cast including Frankie McCafferty and Garrett Keogh and has garnered rave reviews across the board; the Irish Examiner gave it a perfectly measured four stars and yet another four star rating from The Mail on Sunday who called it a first rate production.

On a stormy night in Brendans pub, isolated above a Leitrim town, the men are gathering for their evening pint.

The arrival of a stranger in their midst  a beautiful woman  spurs them to impress her with stories.

They are stories of souls past, spirits present and spectres unforeseen.

One story, however, is more haunting, more sinister and more real than any of them could have foreseen.

Quietly compelling and strangely chilling, Decadents production marks the second major Irish revival of this undoubted modern classic.

On its premiere in 1997, The Weir won the Evening Standard, Critics Circle and Olivier Awards for Best New Play, and established McPhersons eerie tale as a masterpiece of modern theatre.

Following an eight month run on Broadway, the New York Times described the play as beautiful and devious and hailed the playwright, as a first-rate story-teller.

Tickets for The Weir are available on (043) 33 47888, from Farrell Coy in Longford Town or online on www.backstage.ie.
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One of the best things about Lib Dem Conference is the Leaders question and answer session. Members attending will be able to question Vince on anything they like. That will not have quite the same novelty value given that hes just done about 14 of these around the country over the last month or so, but, still, its a good opportunity for the leader to have a bit of interaction with party members.

There is a catch, though. You have to submit your questions in advance  by this coming Monday (4th September) at 1pm. If its picked, you will get a follow-up that he wont know about.

Its not just Vince you can question. A hugely important part of accountability in this party is being able to scrutinise the party committees. If you want to put down a question to any of the Federal Committees or the Parliamentary parties, it has to be done by the same deadline. You will also get a follow-up and your question will be published in Conference Extra.

And dont forget that if you want to amend any motions, you need to find a local party, or 10 members, or an SAO like Lib Dem Women or Young Liberals to support it and get it in by the same time.

You can find out more about doing all those things here.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
7 Ways Being Kind Is Good for Your Health and Well-Being

Practicing kindness to others (and to yourself) has been linked to better stress management, improved heart health, and even living longer.
THE spirit of a gentle soul who sadly passed away in a car accident will continue through a scholarship established in his name at UL, the universitys foundation said this week.

The new scholarship was named in memory of Dr Roibeard Thornton, a UL graduate who was tragically killed in a car crash in Limerick in January 2016.

The 34-year-old, originally from Lixnaw in Kerry, was living in Annacotty with his wife Niamh and daughter Sadhbh, when tragedy struck on the M7 motorway near Castletroy.

He had graduated with a PhD from UL in 2009 and recently returned to Limerick having worked with Janssen Sciences in Cork for four years.

The company has lent its name and support to the Roibeard Thornton Memorial-Janssen Scholarship, which is worth 2,500 to a second year student of the BSc Bioscience in the School of Natural Sciences and is being gifted through the UL Foundation. The first recipient is Niamh Phelan from Kilkenny, who was awarded based on her academic excellence.

Dr Patrick Sheehy, scientific director, analytical development at Janssen Sciences said: Roibeard was an invaluable friend, colleague and employee within the Janssen Sciences team in Cork.

He was an exceptional scientific talent, committed to understanding the scientific aspects of our products and dedicated to ensuring high standards were met at all times. This scholarship reflects his passion for life sciences and Janssen Sciences is delighted to be actively supporting this scholarship in memory of our dear friend.

Sarah Hartnett, funding development manager at the University Foundation, added: We are delighted that Janssen has decided to pay tribute to Roibeards memory in this way, so that his spirit will continue through current and future students who receive this Scholarship.

A special seat using rock from Roibeards family land was also commissioned by his UL science family and brought to campus as a permanent reminder of his gentle soul, they explained.

It is positioned close to Plassey House overlooking a grass valley with the River Shannon in view.
GLENSTAL Abbey School welcomed its largest ever number of pupils to Murroe this week  and even have parents registering their interest as far into the future as 2029.

Noelle OBrien, director of admissions, said their numbers continue to rise.

This year we will welcome 69 new students from first to fifth year. They are local, national and international - from San Francisco to Tokyo and in between!

This brings the total roll to 255, up eight on last year. Our first year class is at capacity in both boarding and day boarding. Our boarding numbers remain strong, said Noelle, who has had expressions of interest from parents for admission in years up to and including 2029 - basically not long after their child is born

For a school like ours the decision for a parent to send their child here involves a longer period of discussion and discernment.

Most schools in this country operate with a fixed catchment zone, however, the geographically diverse origins of our students whether within Ireland or from overseas means that the same criteria do not necessarily apply, said Noelle, who adds that they have noticed increased levels of interest from the Irish diaspora.

Current fees stand at 19,300 for boarding and 11,550 for day boarders.

The new male students arent the only ones being welcomed to Glenstal this week. Carmel Honan has just taken up the role of principal and is the first female principal in the schools history.

Fr William Fennelly OSB, headmaster, explained that Carmel will be in charge of the day to day management of the school.

I will be more focused on admissions, strategic development, and ethos. Carmel joins us from St Flannans College where she was principal for five years. She knows the monastery and school well here and we are very encouraged that such a capable person is so interested in the values we seek to incarnate and instill.

This administrative change is intended to equip the school to develop and grow in the future in a way that will enhance the educational experience of our students and also to ensure that the monastic character of our school continues, said Fr William. Carmel said she is excited by her new role.

This school has a long established reputation of educating students in a holistic way, in keeping with the Benedictine ethos and tradition. The setting of Glenstal is unique, both in terms of the presence of a monastic community and the beauty of the surrounding landscape, said Carmel.
A CONTROVERSIAL advert by Bank of Ireland, which was later removed online, shows a generation locked out of the housing market.

Social Democrats representative for Limerick city, Sarah Jane Hennelly, said the reaction to the advert is a reflection of young people struggling to find a home to buy, and in some cities, even finding an affordable place to rent.

The advert depicted a young couple who had moved home with their parents to avoid rent and to save for a deposit for a mortgage.

While the banks campaign was misjudged, she feels that it has served to expose the lack of support for young people trying to get on the property ladder.

Buyers in Limerick need support from a community banking sector, rather than being spoken down to by banks that we, the taxpayer, bailed out.

Moving home to save for a mortgage is a logical choice for some, but the same banking sector that helped create a malfunctioning market has made it a necessity for many - this has rightfully hit a nerve with people.

The outrage the ad provoked will continue until the market loosens, she said.

She said the Social Democrats is made up of young people from this so-called locked out generation.

The Peter McVerry Trust, the housing and homeless agency, has warned that affordable and social housing must be urgently provided in order to avoid a housing catastrophe in the near future.

Labour spokesperson on housing, Jan OSullivan, said the online mortgage advice for young people by Bank of Ireland reflects the grim reality of the housing and rental market.

Unfortunately the current state of the housing and rental market means that for many young people trying to buy a house, moving back in with their parents is their only option to save for a deposit, she said.

She pointed to record rents now seen in Limerick and across the country, according to the latest report from the property website Daft.ie.

It is simply becoming unaffordable for those that actually manage to secure a property to rent, to pay these extortionate prices while trying to save for a deposit at the same time.

Deputy OSullivan said that with supply at an all-time low, there are warnings that house prices will continue to spiral for the next five to ten years if immediate action isnt taken.

Rents have risen in Limerick city by nearly 11 per cent in the last year, with the average rent now standing at 919, according to the property website Daft.ie.
THE decision to refuse planning permission for a Supermacs on the outskirts of Newcastle West, with the potential to create up to 50 or 60 full and part-time jobs, has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

Limerick City and County Council refused planning permission to Atlantic Enterprises Ltd, whose directors are Pat and Una McDonagh, who are also the directors of Supermacs Ireland Ltd.

Now, the company has lodged an appeal against the council decision but a decision from an Bord Pleanala is not expected until early December.

If permission is granted, it will be the first Supermacs in the county but there are five currently operating in the city.

The planning application is for a petrol service station, shop, off-license and Supermacs food court with seating for up to 80 people at Gortboy, about 70 metres from Laceys Cross on the N21 on the Limerick side of the town.

The proposed 1062 square development is for a 1.7 hectare site and consists of a two-storey building housing the shop, off-licence, food court and seating area with a drive-through as well as offices, a kitchen, underground fuel storage, fuel pumps and canopy.

Crucially, the application also includes a roundabout on the N21 to give access to the development from the main road. A flood risk assessment as well as a traffic audit were carried out and submitted as part of the application.

There were 12 objections to the proposal after it was lodged with Limerick City and County Council last year, one of the most comprehensive coming from the Newcastle West Business Association.

The Association claimed the application was invalid on technical grounds but also said it contravened the Newcastle West Local Area Plan as well as the County Development Plan.

Among the objections put forward by various people were that it was likely to be a traffic hazard or interfere with traffic flow into the town.

As a traffic centred development, it would not encourage motorists into the town centre, one objector stated.

Other objectors said there were sufficient food outlets and sufficient petrol stations in the Newcastle West area already while some objectors, close to the proposed site, said it was too big and would create too much noise.

The council sought further information but the application was refused in July on a number of grounds.

The application the council stated, was premature as the location for the distributor road and hence for a roundabout had not yet been finalised.

Furthermore, it stated, it is the objective of the council not to permit development that require a new access on to a national road outside the 50km zone.

The council also said that the size and scale of the development, where the food court and seating area are greater than the shop and petrol station, and the car-borne nature of these services, were unacceptable and could be detrimental to the vitality and viability of the town.

These uses should be secondary to the use as a petrol filling station and should not adversely affect retail in the town.

It also considered that the proposal was not a combination of uses in a mixed development zone.

Atlantic Enterprise Ltd, is a company based in Galway which carries out general construction of building and civil engineering works, and has two named directors Patrick and Una McDonagh.
COUNSEL for Irish Cement say results from air sampling of dioxins and furans near the firms factory in Mungret are below the level of detection.

At the third day of the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing into the firms 10m plans to switch process at its factory, Jarlath Fitzsimons, who is leading its legal team, presented a series of figures showing the results of tests on air made outside the plant.

At the South Court Hotel, he presented figures showing a series of tests showing the background concentration of a levels series of gases including nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, mercury and thalium over different time periods.

Dr Don Menzies for Irish Cement said: Two out of three samples fall below the level of detection. Ambient air sampling of dioxins and furans fall below the level of detection measured over a three day period.

The measurements, Dr Mary White, added, were taken at a point to the south-east of the plant, near the N69 road.

The company presented five soil samples, which saw there was an average of just 0.711 nanograms of dioxin present, compared to an average of 2 nanograms in Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dr Martin Hogan, for Irish Cement, said: The soil sample came back as having very low dioxin levels compared to the UK. I think that should be very reassuring to the inspector and the local population at large.

The figures were presented following a presentation by Dr Gordon Reid, appearing for Limerick Against Pollution (LAP), who was sharply critical of the data Irish Cement had provided.

He followed in the footsteps of another LAP witness, Dr Paul Connett, in questioning the methodology the firm had come up with, saying its information is based on a perfectly clean world.

What they are doing is to tell us what effect it will have on peoples intake of dioxins. Without taking into account theres a lot of them in the environment already. Its perfectly conceivable if there is a lot of this already around, the extra the factory produces will take us over the limit of what is allowed, he said.

Irish Cement has argued that its plans to switch away from fossil fuels in favour of solid recovered waste and used tyres provides a lower-carbon alternative.

But Dr Reid says he is skeptical of this.

What Irish Cement is trying to tell us is the alternative fuel its planning to burn would not increase emissions. But it depends on the waste. Some substances would have a lot of CO2. They could throw everything in the kiln, he said.

Dr Reid claimed some of the data provided by the company was absolutely meaningless, and that information relating to the tolerable daily intake of dioxins, furans and dioxin like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)falls short of the information requested, and is inadequate.

Irish Cement defended the analysis, and said it had adhered to and was bound by legislative conditions.

Dr Reid, a retired senior lecturer in physiology at University College Cork, added his voice to calls for Irish Cement to provide more detailed data in the dioxin levels in separate items in the food chain.

Up to now, the firm has only provided a global figure, arguing the methodology it uses is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency  and pointing out this information is all it has been asked to provide.

I would appeal to the applicant to release all the information they have got on the estimates for PCP intake for the citizens and most importantly of all, the inspector, he said.

You cannot trust a model which is not giving the inner workings. There are things you can test very well like the dioxin contents in milk. The EPA measures this all the time. The model must calculate that, he said.

The oral hearing, before inspector Michael Dillon, will continue into a fourth day this Friday.
LIMERICK council planners gave the green light to Irish Cements 10m proposal  despite knowing the firm plans to burn up to 115 types of potentially hazardous materials in its kiln.

At the third day of the oral hearing, campaigners for Limerick Against Pollution (LAP), the group set up to examine Irish Cements plans, revealed a comprehensive list of materials the company could burn should it get the green light from both An Bord Pleanala and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

These materials include animal tissue waste, animal faeces, urine, manure, red mud from alumina production, end of life tyres and fly ash.

The local authority gave the go-ahead to Irish Cement last March, and senior planner Stephane Duclot was questioned about this by LAP at the third day of the hearing.

Amid heated exchanges in conference room two at the South Court Hotel, Derek ODwyer, a retired engineer with LAP, called on An Bord Pleanala to take a more robust view when it decides on Irish Cements plans.

Mr Duclot said permission was given following talks with officials at the Southern Waste Management Office, who recommended strict conditions be imposed, including no unprocessed waste be allowed on site in Mungret, and all waste arrives ready to be burnt in the cement kiln.

Mr ODwyer said the list of materials made for shocking reading.

I would suggest it may help when An Bord Pleanala revists this case, it takes a more robust view of the 115 hazardous materials which are being proposed to be burnt in the cement kiln, he added, to applause from the audience.

LAP members also asked Mr Duclot, and his colleague Dermot Flanagan whether Irish Cements plans fell in line with the Limerick 2030 plan, which is envisaging a reimaging of the city, plus the ongoing redevelopment of the Mungret area.

Mr Duclot said: My job is to assess planning applications in line with the city and county development plan, its zoning and any other existing oversight. We focus on planning and not the operation of the plant. That is a matter for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Mr Flanagan added: I believe a balance has to be struck, and that balance was arrived at by the planning authority in its judgement.

Fianna Fail councillor James Collins spoke for the second time at the oral hearing to reveal that councillors were setting in train plans to ban all incineration of toxic waste in Limerick.

Their proposals, to be debated at the next economic strategic policy committee meeting, are unlikely to influence Irish Cements plans, as its application will be guided by the existing local development blueprint.

At the end of the days hearing, Mr ODwyer was again sharply critical of Limerick City and County Councils planning staff, saying: I would note a sequence of questions we have asked have elicited broadly the same response from the planners. I find that very disconcerting. It is reasonable for us as citizens to expect transparency in our decision making. I would again urge An Bord Pleanalas inspector to take a much more robust view of this application than Limerick City and County Council appears to have done.

The oral hearing, before inspector Michael Dillon, continues into its fourth day from 10am.
I LIVE in Limerick, I live in Annacotty. Its hard not to be worried about this.

The views of Munster, Ireland and Lions rugby legend Paul OConnell over Irish Cements 10m plans to burn alternative fuels at its Mungret plant this Thursday.

The rugby icon was a high-profile presence on the third day of An Bord Pleanalas oral hearing into the companys plans at the South Court Hotel.

He attended the session briefly, sitting down next to JP McManus, with whom he has worked on a number of projects, including the environmental clean-up scheme TLC.

Mr McManus himself was also present for the third day in-a-row, and he remained present for the majority of the nine-hour hearing.

At the close of proceedings, the philanthropist described the various submissions through the day as interesting.

Mr McManus, who is again present at the oral hearing this Friday, previously expressed his concern at Irish Cements proposals, which will see the use of fossil fuels phased out in favour of solid recovered waste and used tyres.

The hearing is into its fourth day, the last scheduled by An Bord Pleanala. But Inspector Michael Dillon, who is chairing the inquiry, has indicated he would be willing to continue the hearing into next week should the need arise.
CLOSING submissions are being made this afternoon in the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing into Irish Cement's proposals for Mungret.

After almost four days of testimony before Inspector Michael Dillon, a number of parties will present their final arguments in favour of and against Irish Cement's 10m plan to phase out the use of fossil fuel and replace it with used tyres and solid recovered waste.

The controversial blueprint drew huge opposition from the community, paving the way for the oral hearing at the South Court Hotel.

Residents are fearful the measures will see an increase in toxic emissions into the local environment. But Irish Cement has always maintained that due to the high temperature it plans to burn the alternative, lower-carbon fuels at, it will effectively mean there is no increase in any emissions.

Limerick Against Pollution (LAP), the group set up in opposition to the proposals are expected to make a number of closing submissions, as are Limerick council's planning executives and counsel for Irish Cement themselves.

At this Friday morning's session, Irish Cement communications boss Brian Gilmore said fuel derived from waste will be burnt at the factory if the firm's plans get the go-ahead.

It came after he faced questions over the process from members of LAP, after a list revealed yesterday referred to 115 hazardous materials which could be burnt at the factory, if Irish Cement's plans get the green light by An Bord Pleanala and the environmental regulator.

In response to questions, Mr Gilmore said: All fuels will be tested. We will not be bringing in fuel which does not meet specifications. There was a discussion around the European Waste Codes yesterday. Another cement plant has a list of 150 waste sources, but is using just three of them. These are meat and bone meal, secondary liquid fuel and solid recovered fuel. They are all produced to a specification.

Mr Gilmore was referring to the Lagan cement plant in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, which was the first in Ireland to start using lower-carbon alternative fuels in Ireland back in 2006.

He also said if Irish Cement's plans go ahead, no tyres will enter the kiln at under the temperature of 850C. If the temperature of the kiln drops below this, production would stop, he added.

Later on in the hearing this Friday morning, Jack O'Sullivan, an environmental consultant acting for LAP, questioned why Irish Cement had not considered using gas to power the plant, in a similar fashion to Rusal in Aughinish.

Are you aware this firm has gone away from electricity and its previous system and developed a combined heat and power plant? he asked.

Jarlath Fitzsimons, counsel for Irish Cement, pointed Mr O'Sullivan in the direction of the firm's Environmental Impact Statement.

Alternatives were considered in this, and this was certainly not one of them, he said.

Mr Gilmore added that gas is still a fossil fuel, and the whole aim of Irish Cement's plans is to switch away from using these substances.

As a business, we need to look at our cost base. It is approximately three times more expensive to use natural gas. While it may appear convenient to use natural gas, it is best left to domestic customers, he told the hearing.

Philanthropist JP McManus was once again present at the opening session of Friday's hearing, alongside former County State solicitor John Power from Kilmallock. Mr McManus returned for the closing statements, which got under way at 2.15pm.

Following the conclusion of the hearing, An Bord Pleanala inspector Mr Dillon will issue a report containing a recommendation to either grant or reject Irish Cement's plans.

The Environmental Protection Agency will then decide on whether Irish Cement is granted an operational licence to proceed with its reforms in Mungret.
THE high-profile An Bord Pleanala inquiry into Irish Cement's 10m plans for its Mungret plant has reached a close.

After four days, and dozens of people providing testimony before Inspector Michael Dillon, parties summed up their cases in favour and against the firm's controversial proposals for the area.

Hundreds of people attended the hearing, which began on Tuesday at the South Court Hotel.

Irish Cement plans to phase out the use of fossil fuel and replace it with alternative sources, including used tyres and solid recovered waste. It hopes to introduce, utilise and store up to 90,000 tonnes of alternative fuels.

The controversial plans drew huge opposition from the community, paving the way for the oral hearing.

Residents are fearful the measures will see an increase in toxic emissions into the local environment. But Irish Cement has always maintained that due to the high temperature it plans to burn the alternative, lower-carbon fuels at, it will effectively mean there is no increase in any emissions.

'No more than a black box'

Summing up the case of Limerick Against Pollution (LAP), the group set up in opposition to Irish Cement's plans, Jack O'Sullivan, environmental consultant said: "If planning permission were to be granted by the Board, the existing facility would be better described as a cement production plant involving co-incineration of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.

He criticised the quality of data the firm provided on the levels of dioxins in air and soil around the plant - and how it was arrived at.

"It became clear during questioning that Irish Cements consultants used the mathematical model as no more than a black box into which data was fed, and results obtained; and that there was no examination of the basic parameters on which models equations depended. I could not help but feel that this was a good example of the Gigo principle  garbage in, garbage out," he told the hearing.

He said Irish Cement's proposals run in conflict with both the European Waste Hierarchy and the circular economy.

This, Mr O'Sullivan added, is because "it would involve the destructive burning of a variety of discarded materials end-of-life tyres, plastics, paper, cardboard, wood"

"We would urge the board to refuse permission on whatever grounds you feel are appropriate," he concluded.

Anger is 'palpable'

Tim Hourigan spoke for both LAP and the Mungret Educate Together school parents association, for which he is the chairman.

"The fear and anger is palpable," he said, "Dr Connett and Dr Reid [two of LAP's witnesses] exposed the shortcomings of the Irish Cement application.

"It seems that despite being in operation here since the 1930's, Irish Cement doesn't know how to deal with its neighbours, nor do more than box ticking and inadequate models that lack thorough measurements, in order to ensure that our health, our environment and our precious habitats are not irreversibly injured," he told the hearing.

Council's response

Dermot Flanagan, speaking on behalf of Limerick council's planning department, added: "Undoubtedly, more information has been proffered to you [the hearing]. A very significant degree of technical information was not put before the planning authority.

"It is a place to rest momentarily, but not dwell because of the significant amount of information that has come before us," he added.

Mr Flanagan pointed out that information provided by the company led the local authority to impose various planning conditions on Irish Cement.

"Based on the information put before the planning authority which did not include some of the very high-tech information put here, the authority came to a view - and it is now up to the board to form its own view," Mr Flanagan said

Concerns 'not adequately answered'

Kevin Feeney, who lives in nearby Ard Aulin, said in his closing submission, that he feels his concerns have not been adequately answered.

"I believe this development is contrary to proper planning and impacts on the rights of Limerick residents to enjoy a safe and accessible environment," he said, "There has been a want of candour by Irish Cement and a lack of due diligence by its experts, especially with regards to dioxin modelling."

Irish Cement

Jarlath Fitzsimons, senior counsel for Irish Cement, stressed the company in its proposals is not seeking for a change of use.

"The development has been misdescribed. It is not a waste facility or an incinerator. It is a cement production plant," he said.

He also pointed out the Environmental Impact Statement - criticised by many parties through the hearing - is "more than adequate" to meet the needs of the board.

"It does not deal with hypothetical scenarios - it deals with what is there," he added.

Mr Fitzsimons added: "Perhaps a point lost in translation to some degree has been the saving of up to 40,000 tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide emissions as a result of using alternative fuels in substitution of pet coke. There are two aspects to this: you are using alternative fuels in substitution for a fossil fuel. That has to be an exercise in sustainability."

Philanthropist JP McManus was present for all the days of the hearing, which started on Tuesday morning. He was accompanied through the days by a number of well-known local figures, including Munster legend Paul O'Connell, former county state solicitor John Power, and businesswoman Helen O'Donnell.

Local TDs Willie O'Dea, Niall Collins, Maurice Quinlivan and Jan O'Sullivan were all present at various stages of the four day hearing, as were Senators Kieran O'Donnell and Maria Byrne

Members of Limerick City and County Council also turned up to show their support to LAP. These included metropolitan mayor Sean Lynch, Cllrs James Collins, Daniel Butler, John Loftus and Malachy McCreesh, all of whom represent the Mungret area on the local authority.

An Bord Pleanala inspector Mr Dillon will issue a report containing a recommendation to either grant or reject Irish Cement's plans.

The Environmental Protection Agency will then decide on whether Irish Cement is granted an operational licence to proceed with its reforms in Mungret.

"Following this hearing, I will prepare a a report which will be presented to the board. There will be no further written submissions, and all parties will be notified in writing in due course," he concluded.
WHEN you think of artists at Electric Picnic the first thing that comes to mind are musicians but Limericks Clare Hartigan is also creating special pieces with her hands and mind.

Last year, she displayed her artwork on giant boards. It was so successful that the Castleconnell woman has been invited back again for this weekends festival.

Clare is part of the artist in residence programme - Diverse Individual Visual Artist (DIVA).

Organisers say that in many ways, Electric Picnic is one large-scale collaborative art project - a transient work of immersive and experiential escapism.

It attracts a wonderfully open audience, who are eager to absorb the world that has been created for their enjoyment. They are energetic, adventurous and curious people. They want to explore and experience, and they expect to be challenged.

And Clare is up for the challenge.

I have four artists this year who will be presenting their work as part of Electric Picnic DIVA 17. It is just wonderful as all the artists are paid well to install their work and they also get the opportunity to show their work to the 55,000 strong audience. I am very pleased to be able to be a part of offering this opportunity to up-and-coming artists, said Clare.

Electric Picnic is indeed a picnic compared to what she has faced recently.

With all the issues that are happening at the moment with grants and funding and a complicated application process it is nice to see a venue showing work that is purely based on the visual. You would nearly need to get funding to get professional help in order to apply for funding. It is a minefield.

I just love the simplicity of what is happening at picnic. The work will either work and appeal to the public or it will be simply ignored that comes down to the artist and their ability to connect. Two of last years DIVA artists will be returning to work on new projects as part of this years art trail, said Clare.

She will also be showing her own paintings and adding to the Electric Picnic collection that is already on site.

It is so much fun to see what artistic direction the festival is taking and respond to it. I find that people are starving for art that is relatable and the reaction is just fantastic when we get it right.

It is such an exciting space to work in and the crew are just great, said Clare.

So if you are heading to Laois be sure and check out the Limerick artists work.
May 3, 2021, 5 PM

After Falkland Islands issued a dozen stamps like the one at left (Scott 69) celebrating a century of British administration in 1933, Argentina replied in 1936 with a 1-peso stamp picturing the Falklands as part of its domain (445), repeating the insult o

By Donna Houseman

Controversial Map stamps and stamps that misidentify a military strongman are part of a lengthy stamp series issued by Argentina from 1935 to 1951. That story and numerous others await you in the Sept. 18 issue of Linns Stamp News monthly that will go in the mail to subscribers Tuesday, Sept. 5, instead of Monday, Sept. 4, because of the Labor Day holiday. If youre a digital subscriber, you get early access Saturday, Sept. 2. To tide you over until your copy arrives, we offer this trio of teasers.

Definitive series showcased Argentina to the world

In this months Spotlight on Philately column, Fred Baumann explores Argentinas Proceres y Riquezas definitive series that began in 1935. One translation of this series title is "heroes and riches," because the stamps show a variety of men who can be considered heroes and also depicts some of the countrys agriculture and scenic riches.

Tuscanys first issue: lions, lilies, and postal reform

Marzocco, the watchful crowned lion and symbol of Florence, was chosen as the central figure for the first stamps issued by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany  a set of nine denominations. Sergio Sismondo provides sage advice on collecting this issue in Unveiling Classic Stamps.

U.S. Virgin Islands mark century since purchase from Denmark

Now a United States territory, the U.S. Virgin Islands were once owned by Denmark and known as the Danish West Indies. Stamps issued under Danish rule were in use from 1855 to 1917. In this months Nordic Stamp Scene, Christer Brunstrom discusses this period in stamps.

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Portrait of a city: Reading Architecture Practice Mumbai A film on architecture, by architects, addresses the lack of discourse around urban, physical and 'interstitial' spaces of a city /news/talking-point/portrait-of-a-city-reading-architecture-practice-mumbai-111646983062789.html 111646983062789 story

If electorates get the leaders they deserve, then cities are arguably only as progressive as the architectural practices they employ. This is precisely the hypothesis that Reading Architecture Practice Mumbai, a new 37-minute documentary, seeks to propagate. Made by a team of Mumbai-based architectsRajeev Thakker, Shreyank Khemalapure and Samarth Dasit explores Mumbais urban development by examining the role, scope and definition of architecture in the city today through a number of techniques.

First, visually. Just like any architect, the film negotiates multiple scales. Sweeping aerial views of Mumbais built environment are paired alongside street-level shots. Everyday urban life is thus captured from a distance and up close. Mumbais colonial heritage, natural history and contemporary life are acknowledged in equal measure. Images of railways, heritage districts, gaothans (urban villages), former mill areas, the coastline, mangroves, high-rises, by-lanes, street markets, skywalks, slums and low-income housing capture Mumbais urban complexity and multiplicity, highlighting its inherent design challenges.

This visual montage is accompanied by a vivid and differentiated soundscape. Yes, Mumbai honks, its trains trundle, it can deafen all day long. But it also hisses, scrapes and squeaksall sounds of industrial manufacturing. The films audio track specifically draws attention to the grime and grit of Mumbais many makers, from printing presses to metalworks, that exist in the heart of the city.

The parallels between local, small-scale manufacturing and contemporary architectural practice, as urban makers and producers", are clear. One can look at the city as a cumulative of all (architectural) practices, so practices produce the city, and cities produce practices.... So irrespective of whether you want or not, you are getting produced by the city and you are contributing to the production of the city," says Prasad Shetty, an architect and associate professor at the School of Environment and Architecture (SEA).

The films biggest success is its ability to expand and define what it means to produce". Through a series of interviews with some of the citys most thoughtful architects, the documentary captures distinct expressions of the profession today: architecture as design, as research, as conservation, as academia and as activism. Together, they posit a new vocabulary for architectural discourse, one that aspires to shape Mumbais physical dimensions, in major and minor ways, by addressing existing urban challenges through a new lens.

A still from the film, Reading Architecture Practice Mumbai.

For example, the notion of interstitial spaces" is important for architect and researcher Sameep Padora of Sameep Padora and Associates (sP+a). These are the gaothans and markets that exist between the citys formal constructs" and are not generally acknowledged in town planning schemes. He believes we must start recognizing the fact that the interstitial city is as important as the formal city, and in some way can also be a precursor to ways that the city can evolve in the future".

Well-known conservation architect Vikas Dilawari wonders whether new development can become the heritage of tomorrow". He advocates sensitive redevelopment and adaptive reuse" to make old structures fit-for-use. Academic Aneerudha Paul urges architectural discourse as a stimulus to intellectual and creative growth, emphasizing, You have to talk about architecture, you just cant build. Only when we talk of architecture, the practitioner is pushed into creating new imaginations."

And finally, long-time activist-architect P.K. Das underlines that a city is made up of civic and social capital; its not just about physical objects and constructions and building edifices. How can design be a (form of) social capital?"he goes on to cite the Bandra waterfront project as an example of bottom-up, community-led effort to reclaim a public space.

Reading has visible lacuna and actors missing. Director and architect Thakker agrees that it would have helped to include a commercial practice, an urban design institute and a spatial artist". Its other intellectual limitation is its unclear messaging. Although each architect calls for collective action, the mechanism for what that engagement could be is slightly vague.

Despite these shortcomings, it stands out as a tightly packed, sensorial and provocative attempt to interrogate who designs our city, and how. If you want to make sense of our urban mayhem, and especially if you are not an architect or urban planner, then make sure you watch it. And then talk about it.

Reading Architecture Practice Mumbai will be screened on 8 September, 7pm, at Jasma Devi Bhavan, off Queens Road, Bengaluru. It will be followed by a panel discussion.
Past made present: India On Film: 1899-1947 This online collection of newsreels and amateur films, made available by the BFI, is a fascinating look at everyday life before independence /how-to-lounge/movies-tv/past-made-present-india-on-film-18991947-111646833738113.html 111646833738113 story

Theres a four-and-a-half-minute film from 1914 on YouTube with the unwieldy title Villenour (French India: Territory Of Pondicherry). Though it has English intertitles, its a French film: the stencil-coloured imagesof palm trees and hand-pushed rickshaws carrying white sahibsuse a process called Cinemacoloris, developed by Segundo de Chomon, a Spanish film innovator who had worked with Pathe Freres in Paris. The last frame is a curious one: a static shot of the white family being feted and, in front of them and closest to the camera, a nautch girl" who has just put on a performance.

If this placement was intended as a parting salvo of exoticism, it is defeated by a small miracle. The dancer, arms akimbo, her sari tinted red, stares directly at the camera. After a few seconds, she looks away, but seems to sense that the camera is still on her, and looks back again. Her wary, fascinated gaze seems to take in not only the camera and its operator, but to somehow look across space and timeto regard us, more than a century later, regarding her.

This is one of the titles uploaded by the British Film Institute (BFI) on its YouTube channel as part of India on Film: 1899-1947". Part of the BFIs India on Film season, which has been running in London since April, the collection includes newsreels, home movies and short documentaries from pre-independence India. Though a couple of them (notably, three gorgeous Jack Cardiff-shot Technicolor films) were already on the BFI channel, the majority are surfacing for the first time since their initial screenings. This is the first time a lot of these have been seen, even by our own archivists," says BFI National Archive head curator Robin Baker. Many were on extremely fragile materials; we had to transfer them to digital before they could even be viewed."

A still from Calcutta, Darjeeling & Bihar. Photo: Courtesy BFI.

Most of these films are amateur efforts by Englishmen attempting to give the public back home a glimpse of their lives in India. In between the elephants and rajas, though, some turned their cameras on everyday life in India. I have a particular fondness for the amateur films," Baker says. Invariably, the best records of all kinds of things are taken by amateurs, because they tend to take more prosaic things, which professional film-makers would never record." What must have seemed boring to audiences then is invaluable now: street scenes, billboards, newspapers, crowded bazaars. There were Indian newsreel companies before 1947, but whatever footage survives isnt accessible to the public. This makes the BFI filmsand the India-related titles uploaded by the newsreel archive British Pathe three years agothe only real footage we have of life before independence in this country.

Among the handful of professional films is a fourth Jack Cardiff effort, Indian Durbar (1938), filmed in Alwar, and Tins For India (1941), an educational short on the manufacture of kerosene tins, directed by Bimal Roy, who started off with documentaries before embarking on a monumental feature career that gave us Do Bigha Zameen, Devdas and Bandini. But apart from these and a few other titles, what the camera is observing is often far more interesting than the filmic technique. I was most taken with the detailing of daily routine in a 16mm film from 1920, A Day At St Christopher College And School (Madurai); the three-and-a-half minutes of baby elephant madness that kicks off Indian Elephants In The Service Of Man (1938), filmed by the hunter and author Jim Corbett; and the comical ineptitude of the anti-Congress propaganda film The Truth Will Out (1930).

Even in these rough-hewn films, there are reminders of the heady lo-fi innovation that marked the early years of cinema. The Wonderful Fruit Of The Tropics (1914) has some astonishing stencil work, the green of the trees and fruit jumping out of black and white images. My favourite, though, is Wonderful Temples Of India (1916), whose unnamed maker is so proud of a trick effect that he announces it in an intertitle: A slow exposure picturehence the ghost-like effect" In a way, all the images in this collection are ghost-like, spectres from the days when India was yet to assume its true corporeal self.
Manu Parekh: going beyond Banaras One of India's most celebrated contemporary artists spoke to Lounge about his life and art, ahead of his Delhi retrospective /news/talking-point/manu-parekh-going-beyond-banaras-111646983297221.html 111646983297221 story

In a cavernous wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, a man perched on a scissor lift is manoeuvring a spotlight attached to the ceiling, to make the beam fall perfectly on a painting on the adjoining wall. The artist of the work sits at a distance, his gaze fixed on the lighting man. Manu Parekh, one of Indias most celebrated modern artists, is overseeing the hanging of his new show at the gallery, a retrospective covering 60 years of his life, which is accompanied by a new book, Manu Parekh: Sixty Years Of Selected Works (Aleph Book Co.).

Parekh, born in Ahmedabad, is most noted for his Banaras series, in which he depicts the colourful and zany city of light" that never fails to inspire him. The retrospective offers a unique opportunity to explore the artists lesser-known, and perhaps unfairly overshadowed, works. In an interview, Parekh, who is approaching 80, talks about his life, art, the market and Indian art education. Edited excerpts:

Your flower vases are sometimes reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh or even Ambrosius Bosschaert. To what extent has Western art influenced your work?

See, the moment you do modern art in India, there will be a Western influence. The challenge is how to Indianize this Western element. You have to paint the reality you know and see. I found Paul Klee and (Pablo) Picasso very inspiring.

You have worked in theatre and then as design consultant in the Indian handloom industry for 25 years. How did that influence your art?

All my life, theatre and craft have helped me immensely. I look at Banaras with a theatrical eye and approach it like set designing. Secondly, my Heads series, I look at it as an actor. When Im painting heads, Im actually painting expressions and situations, because if somethings happening in front of you, only then will there be a reaction on your face. My job in handicrafts took me to many villages where the organic sensibility of rural life deeply affected me.

Did you ever feel you were sanitizing or romanticizing Varanasi, for apart from its spirituality, its also one of Indias dirtiest cities?

Filth is everywhere in India, even more so in religious places. That was never my concern, as its a political issue which doesnt interest me at all. I was more concerned about the spirituality and life.

Whats your view on abstraction? If a viewer first has to read an essay to approach a work of art, doesnt that defeat the purpose of art, which is about looking" and not reading"?

Look, if you listen to a classical raga, and you like it, thats fine. But if you want to talk about it, youll need some training and education. Similarly, in art, you cant just stand in front of the work and be given everythingits the same in literature, you have to know the nuances.

But a personal connection with an abstract work is still possible without any knowledge.

Oh, yes, and it should be. Look at Shivalingaits completely abstract. But behind it, there is content. Abstraction for abstractions sake doesnt interest me.

Painting is like chanting a mantra, sitting for hours to put the paint on canvas. There is a spiritual satisfaction in the repetition.

Any views on art education in India?

Its a bleak situation. We had wonderful teachers, but those teaching today are not practising artists any moretheyre interested in their own careers and dont want to teach. Now even in art education you need a PhD to be an art professor.

Does a work which sells in the market influence what you paint next?

No, otherwise there would be no work like this (pointing to an abstract work with animal heads). You can only do all this if you dont keep an audience in mind.

What inspired the animal heads series?

Its all about violence. I went to Africa once and saw a kill; it was an unforgettable experience. A deer was chased and killed by two cheetahs. The scene left an imprint and reminded me of the phrase survival of the fittest, and I started painting the animal heads when I returned.

Is there a difference between exhibiting in India and abroad?

I would say outside India there is more consciousness, but I have no complaints here. In such a large country with so much poverty, modern art" is quite understandably not a priority for anyone. Also, Indian culture is replete with images; after all, painting is an image. The common Indian man remains contented in that world of images, of his religion, tradition, culture, family, etc.

Are you a believer and, if so, does it inform your art?

Yes, I am. I got the biggest clarity about faith in Varanasi. Man lives on the basis of belief, be it political, religious or whatever.

Is painting a spiritual act for you then?

There is a level of spirituality in painting, isnt there? Its like chanting a mantra, sitting for hours to put the paint on canvas. There is a spiritual satisfaction in the repetition.

Manu Parekh: 60 Years Of Selected Works is on till 24 September, 11am-6.30pm, at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Click here for details.
The making of a musical prodigy The abilities of these Indian child prodigies resist scientific explanation /how-to-lounge/movies-tv/the-making-of-a-musical-prodigy-111646833721862.html 111646833721862 story

The world of Western classical music never fails to mention that the great composer Mozart began composing at the age of 5 and wrote his first symphony by the time he was 8. While a part of that popular legend might be true, what is worth thinking about is how child prodigies happen. For several decades now, musicologists and researchers have been trying to understand the phenomenon.

Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933-2015), the author of Musicophilia: Tales Of Music And The Brain, wrote: There are some people who can scarcely hold a tune in their heads and others who can hear entire symphonies in their minds with a detail and vividness little short of actual perception." How else can one explain how a small child, incapable of writing a simple sentence, rattles off the names of ragas or melodic scales within 5 seconds of hearing them? How does one explain what brings about this detailed musical imagery in the mind of a child? After a great deal of research in the West, several scientists have concluded that this phenomenon is a carry-over from another birth. Going by the ancient philosophy of rebirth" enshrined in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and other parallel schools of thinking, they concluded that many of these child prodigies might possibly be carrying forward some unfinished business from another lifetime.

India has had its share of child prodigies in classical music. In Hindustani classical music in north India, one knows of the vocalist Kumar Gandharva. Born Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkali (1924-92) in Karnataka, he was only 12 when his major debut at the All India Music Conference in Mumbai in 1936 made headlines. He had begun performing in smaller villages across Karnataka from the age of 5. Then there was Rais Khan (1939-2017), who was recognized as a child prodigy on the sitar as a 12-year-old.

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain also began early in life. Having trained under his father, the legendary Ustad Allah Rakha Qureshi, from his childhood, Hussain debuted on the stage before he was 10. In dhrupad, we have the rudra veena maestro Bahauddin Dagar, who began playing from a very young age. The opening of Mani Kauls famous documentary on the Dagar gharana has a clipping of little Bahauddin wielding his rudra veena with great finesse.

M.S. Subbulakshmi.

The carnatic world

Carnatic music seems a proverbial hotbed of young geniuses. The post-Trinity (Tyagaraja, 1767-1847, Muthuswamy Dikshitar, 1775-1835, and Shyama Sastri, 1762-1827) era of Carnatic music has stories of how 12-year-old Vaidyanatha Iyer (1844-93) was given the title of Maha" or great after a concert. It is said that he was able to render a raga Aalapana and Pallavis in his seventh year and had begun giving concerts by the time he was 10. He was known thereafter as Mahavaidyanatha Iyer.

In the 20th century, the first name that comes to mind is the famous M.S. Subbulakshmi (1916-2004). Trained under her mother Shanmugavadivu, she was only 10 when she cut her first LP record. If you listen to the song, now available on YouTube, it is clear that there was a musical genius in the making.

Then there was Muralikrishna (1930-2016) who, born into a Telugu family in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh, stunned everyone at a music festival with his performance at the age of 7. Legend goes that it was at one of his earliest concerts that a famous Harikatha exponent bestowed on him the title Bala", which got prefixed to his name. Balamuralikrishna also proved to be a genius as a composerhe not only wrote his own songs but set them to tune in all the 72 Melakartha ragams, as a teenager. This was a feat very few had achieved in the history of Carnatic music. In addition to being a vocalist, Balamuralikrishna was also a versatile instrumentalist. He could play the violin, the viola, the mridangam, the khanjira and a few more instruments.

The instrumentalists

The list of prodigious instrumentalists is equally impressive. Among them is S. Balachander (1927-90), the veena maestro, who debuted at 6. Long before he took up the veena, he had already mastered about a dozen instruments, including the sitar and dilruba as a teenager. He held public concerts.

Among Carnatic percussionists, Palghat Mani Iyer (1912-81) made his debut when he was only eight years old. And then there was Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (82), who began performing on the khanjira at a young age. Hailing from the legendary shishya-parampara, or musical lineage, of Tyagaraja, Sivaraman grew up in a musically rich atmosphere at home. Having mastered the complicated art of Carnatic rhythm, he is today hailed as one of the finest exponents of the mridangam.

Shashank Subramanyam.

The new order

The 1970s and 1980s saw the rise of U. Shrinivas (1969 -2014), the genius on the mandolin. He not only mastered an instrument alien to Carnatic music but also grew to be an unparalleled genius on it. With the arrival of television in India, regular broadcasts of concerts resulted in greater viewing and appreciation. A superstar by age 10, his demise at the age of 45 was a great musical loss.

His contemporary, gottuvadyam and chitra veena artiste Ravi Kiran (50) hails from a musical family. At the age of 3, he is said to have been capable of identifying over a hundred ragams. The other name on the veena is Kumari E. Gayathri (57), who began performing as a teenager. Shashank Subramanyam (38) from Karnataka began performing very early on the flute and was christened Master Shashank, a title that stayed with him till he was well into his 20s. Technology has enabled the preservation of their recordings.

Its interesting to note that in the last couple of decades, there have been more prodigies in Carnatic music than in Hindustani or dhrupad. Abhishek Raghuram and Anantha Krishnan, both grandsons of the legendary mridangam vidwan Palghat Raghu, began performing before they were 10, in Chennai.

In recent times, 15-year-old veena artist Ramana Balachandran from Bengaluru has been hailed as a promising star.

This is not a complete list, just a random assortment of popular examples across genres of Indian classical music. Yet through it all, the mind of a child prodigy remains an unresolved mystery.

Note Worthy is a spotlight on the world of Indian performing arts.
At the hot gates of Thermopylae in Greece Reliving a childhood fascination with tales of war at the battleground where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans made their famed last stand /news/talking-point/at-the-hot-gates-of-thermopylae-in-greece-111646983242885.html 111646983242885 story

On the way therethe place Ive been on my way to most of my lifewe stop at the serene Bralo British Military Cemetery. There are several dozen graves of British soldiers who were stationed there during World War I. But theres a surprise in store as we wander about the lush lawn. For many of the soldiers buried here died after November 1918, after the end of that great war. Turns out there was an influenza epidemic, and it got these menno doubt ecstatic at wars endbefore they could return home. How sad to survive a long, brutal war only to succumb to the flu.

Less than an hour later, we are there. Three hundred soldiers from a different, brutal war were slaughtered at this spot, though if there ever were any graves, there are none left now. They had held firm for three days, repelling wave after enemy wave. Some say the enemy army was a hundred thousand strong, some say nearly two million. Whatever the count, these 300 and some allies from other Greek city-states held them at bay and might have done so indefinitely, the lay of the land being their real weapon. For, in those days, there was a narrow pass here, sandwiched between mountain and sea. The defenders stationed themselves where it was narrowest, and then wave after enemy wave" really meant little, because the enemy could only come at the defenders in a trickle, a few at a time.

Nearly 2,500 years have passed. In that time, at Thermopylae (hot gates"a reference both to the pass and the nearby hot springs) in central Greece, the seashore has moved substantially north and east. You have to struggle to imagine a narrow pass in this flat expanse surrounded by hills, the trucks growling past on the nearby Athens-Lamia expressway. What is here instead is a monument to the heroes of those bloody few days in 480 BC. Wearing nothing but a helmet and a shield on his left arm, spear held high to throw in his right fist, King Leonidas of Sparta towers above the dozens who spill from a tour bus and advance on him like so many Persians, their smartphones held high to click.

A statue of Leonidas.

I have wanted to visit for years. I must first have read about Leonidas in some childrens book of stories from antiquity. Later, there was Steven Pressfields stirring recounting of the tale in his vivid novel Gates Of Fire; William Goldings finely crafted essay, The Hot Gates, about visiting this spot himself; the graphic film 300; and plenty more. Its hard to imagine that pass today, yes. But as I look up at him and my mind leafs again through so many pages from years gone by, I remember how captivated I was by the cheerful, almost nonchalant heroism Leonidas wore so lightly. Like: When told that the Persian army had so many archers that their arrows would blot out the sun, he remarked, Good, then we can fight in the shade" (archaeologists have found hundreds of Persian arrowheads here). Like: He and his Spartan warriors prepared for battle, and death, by combing their long hair and playing games. Like: When the Persians called to Leonidas to surrender his arms, he shouted back, Molon Labe (Come and get them)!", a famous taunt that is today inscribed on the pedestal on which he stands.

As a child fascinated by tales of war, I couldnt get enough of this one. Why did it take me so long to get there?

The Greeks might have held the pass indefinitely. But after two days of fierce fighting, a traitor named Ephialtes led a detachment of Persians along a trail that wound through the hills to the south, trekking through the night to arrive, as dawn broke, behind the defenders. Now the narrowness of the pass was no longer a Greek weapon. Knowing they were betrayed, Leonidas sent his allies home. He and 300 elite Spartan soldiers remained, aware that they would die. But they fought nevertheless. After they lost their spears and swords, they fought on with fists and feet and teeth and a wild, indomitable determinationuntil every last one lay dead.

Over time, Ephialtes came to mean nightmare" in Greek, used in the language like Quisling" or Judas" are in English. To one side of the monument, a woman stood in the shade of a large sign that explained the ebb and flow of the battle. With my Greek restricted to parakalo and efcharisto (please" and thank you"), it was hard to ask her to say something using Ephialtes", though I tried. Ah!" she exclaimed finally, and sold me a bottle of thick, lip-smacking honey.

A present-day view of the Thermopylae Pass.

The Persians won at Thermopylae. But news of the valour of Leonidas and his 300 swiftly reached the forever fractious Greek states. It was the inspiration they neededand I think in his last moments, as he tore with bloodied fingers at still another Persian, Leonidas must have known itto unite against the invading menace. Later that year, the Greeks won a famous victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes, king of Persia and now general of a shattered army, limped back to his country in ignominy.

The lesson from Leonidas runs like a silver thread through every valiant act of resistance against oppressors and invaders in the centuries sinceNelson, Saladin, Shivaji, Masada; through the great non-violent movements that Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela led; through the men and women who threw off the shackles of the Soviet Union and its vassal states; through the pent-up yearning that found expression in the Arab Spring. Not all of these ended well. Some dissolved into more tyranny or civil war. Yet thats the lesson from Leonidas: The point is the stand itself, not what may come in its wake.

And Ephialtes" is not the only linguistic legacy of Thermopylae. Molon Labe" lives on too. Its inscribed not just on Leonidas pedestal, but also on a thousand tourist trinkets sold everywhere from the Acropolis in Athens to Knossos in Crete. In Leonidas hometown of Sparta, another statue of himhe wears armour, sandals and carries a short swordhas the words on its pedestal. But only a few dozen feet away, we found a display of olive oil branded that way, the logo a stylized helmet.

T-shirts and oil, key rings and capsmundane stuff, maybe? But maybe that very ordinariness now measures what these men did, how it has become part of a certain essence of being Greek.

Part of me, too. I went a long way to see you, Leonidas. Finally, I can go home
London will soon get an Indian Accent Manish Mehrotra on the challenges of menu-writing for a foreign audience, ahead of the launch of the second international branch of Indian Accent /news/talking-point/london-will-soon-get-an-indian-accent-111646983364567.html 111646983364567 story

Indian Accent at The Manor, tucked away in a corner of Delhis Friends Colony neighbourhood, is chef Manish Mehrotras stomping ground. He is currently apron-deep in the menu creation for the restaurants next international outpost after New York, which opened in 2016. The London branch, which is due to open in the iconic neighbourhood of Mayfair in early October, will compete with the likes of Atul Kochhars Benaras and Vineet Bhatia London. In an interview, Mehrotra takes us through the varied dining cultures of London and New York and the challenges presented by each market. Edited excerpts:

The Indian Accent opened in New York to rave reviews. It seems that there is a lacuna in the number of restaurants serving imaginative Indian food. How did you address this gap?

We opened an outpost in New York after having spent eight years running the Indian Accent successfully in Delhi. We had a repertoire of dishes, which we could take to a global audience. New York is still an unexplored market in terms of inventive Indian food. Of course, Junoon and Tamarind Tribeca are there, but a city like New York could definitely accommodate more. Moreover, I feel that Indian Accent offers a very different take on Indian food.

Taking the restaurant to New York was very challenging. In contrast to London, the market there is less evolved when it comes to Indian cuisine. There is limited knowledge of regional flavours, which is not the case in London. In New York, restaurants claim to be modern Indian just because they use scallops and exotic vegetables like white asparagus which they turn into a jalfrezi. Indian Accent was the first restaurant that didnt have chicken tikka masala or biryani on the menu, which was a completely different experience for the New York diner. Having said that, New Yorkers are extremely enthusiastic about food and willing to explore and experiment.

Unlike New York, as you mentioned, London has an evolved dining culture, with people more receptive to layered Indian flavours. Is it, however, a saturated market?

I know there are a lot of excellent restaurants, with the chefs doing a fantastic job. But I still feel that London can afford more good restaurants. During our surveys in the city, I ate at all the restaurants and felt that my food was slightly different. Chefs in London, such as Vineet Bhatia, Atul Kochhar, Sriram Aylur, and now I, are all working towards a common goal, but in our own different ways.

You are now working in three different markets, which are at different stages in their perception of modern Indian cuisine. Which of these was the most challenging when it came to menu writing?

Menu writing for New York took us a long time. We had to keep asking ourselves how to structure the menu. When people go to an Indian restaurant there, they order poppadums, kebabs, bowls of curry and dal, and a big basket of naans. But they dont know how to eat this food: Should one eat naan with dal or the Kerala meen moilee with dal? Is dal a dip, a chutney or a side? When we started doing trials, we realized that people didnt know the combinations. We had to create that awareness while also thinking of ways to maintain that Indianness". One had to write the menu in a way that people understood what we were serving, while reflecting the essence of the dish. That was a challenge, but I think we have tackled it well.

According to food critics, Indian Accent has worked because it has created a balance between traditional and modern. How challenging has that been?

That has been the toughest part. Either restaurants become too Western, where they tone down the food to a foreign palate, or too traditional, or, most of the time, they are too confused. There are a few rules that one must follow, the most important of which is never mixing two Indian cuisines in one dish. No dhokla in makhani sauce or Kashmiri roganjosh in Chettinad curry. Different flavours and techniques need to make sense and something traditional must be replaced with a traditional counterpart. Some flavours are universal, like pork ribs and sweet sauce. So we have brought that to life in our pork ribs with meetha achaar. We make this with mango chhundo achaar and serve it with aam papad. Foreigners can relate to this combination. And people love it when you tell them stories of the aam papad candy that we ate in India while we were growing up and the memories of pickle being made in our homes.

In New York, restaurants claim to be modern Indian just because they use scallops and exotic vegetables like white asparagus which they turn into a jalfrezi.- Manish Mehrotra

One of your signature dishes, the duck and hoisin sauce kulcha, transformed into a new avatar in New York with pastrami and mustard. Will you tweak your iconic dishes for the London menu too?

The pastrami and mustard kulcha was a tribute to New York City. I used to eat pastrami all the time at Katzs Deli, which was simply amazing. The only difference between my dish and Katzs is that theirs is served at room temperature while mine is a hot kulcha, which I brush with mustard butter. All our signature dishes will be in London as well. In New York, there is no a la carte menu, but a three- to four-course tasting menu. We are currently doing a study of the UK market on whether to keep a la carte or not.

How difficult has it been to work around supply-chain logistics?

In New York, for instance, seasonality is followed very strictly. Nothing frozen is used. However, there was a problem there of getting regular Indian ingredients. Kosher salt was not working in the dishes, so we had to scout around for Tata salt. There, it doesnt come in a 20kg bag. So we had to pay a premium for a small bag. Again, we needed Amul butter for the naan and dal to get that savoury feel. We had to pay $9.99 (around Rs640) for a small block. In Delhi, we give churan and Fatafat as a post-meal digestive. There we had to seriously hunt for these things. We are going to London armed with all these learnings.

And now, the Delhi restaurant is shifting out of The Manor to The Lodhi. Will that change the experience for diners?

We were particular about the kind of experience we wanted to give our diners. Its not just about food at Indian Accent, its about the overall experience. Indian Accent will now move to The Lodhi in a much larger space, with three private dining rooms. The Lodhi is the intuitive expression of a contemporary, yet stylish and confident, India. This space will be about personal journeys and discovery for guests.
Exploring art in Odisha Spending time with beautiful objects and their creators is a reminder of the good in humanity /news/talking-point/exploring-art-in-odisha-111646983029031.html 111646983029031 story

After 30-odd years of believing that theres some good in everybody, I find my faith in humanity wavering. Stories of assaults on 10-year-olds, the killing of people over bovine creatures, road rage, sexism and racism and intolerance, the rubbish I see in the most picturesque of placesall these have chipped away at my you-may-say naive, yet firmly held, conviction.

It was in this sombre mood that I embarked on a recent trip to Odisha. My initial joy at spotting acres and acres of green forest from the plane ebbed when I spoke to a conservationist and learnt that animal populations that used to be dominant in the area have now nearly disappeared. They described jungles that were once full of elephants and tigers. A local journalist told me of a reporter who lost his job for writing a story that displeased the powers that be. Sitting together on a rainy Bhubaneswar evening, a friend and I shook our heads and wondered if things would ever change. A cloak of despair lay upon us, making the cloudy evening seem darker than it was.

The next morning, she and I drove to nearby Cuttack. There, on a narrow, twisting street, we found the workshop of Nirakar Das, whose family has been engaged in the work of tarakasi, or silver filigree, for as long as he can remember. He learnt the skill from his father and uncles, as they did from theirs. We watched mesmerized as Das, his uncle, and another male relative worked as a team to flatten a silver wire and fashion it into a lovely flower filled with delicate swirls. They worked with dedication, years of experience and tiny forceps to create crowns and ornaments that will decorate idols of the goddess during Durga Puja.

Das directed us to the nearby shop of Jayant Sahoo, where he said we would find jewellery more refined than is commonly sold in stores. From the many drawers in his tiny shop, Sahoo, who prefers to be called John bhai, pulled out earrings, hair ornaments, bracelets and pendants. He showed us necklaces made of intertwined silver threads. His eyes gleamed as he described pieces made by his father and grandfather that he keeps carefully in a safe at home and vows never to sell. They made flowers so delicate that they floated on water," he boasted.

Some of the gleam in his eyes transferred to our own. We spent a couple of hours in the shop, oohing and aahing over the beautiful designs. As I touched each piece, the care and focus with which it was made, the years spent perfecting the art that it represented, the flair and beauty it showed restored my faith in humanity bit by bit.

At the Museum of Tribal Arts & Artefacts in Bhubaneswar the same evening, a place that I almost didnt visit, I saw other demonstrations of the creativity human beings are capable of. At the centre of each of its various halls that display tools, attire and household items used by Odishas various tribes, artists demonstrated indigenous crafts, surrounded by their creations. A 4ft-high Ganesh figurine caught my eye. Going closer, I realized that it was made from grains of rice tied to thin strips of bamboo with colourful thread. Once again, I was struck not just by the splendour of the object, but the effort, skill and craftsmanship that had gone into making it. I stood there for a while, watching the artist work on another creation, deftly picking up a tiny grain of yellow-dyed rice and incorporating it with rapid turns of his fingers.

I felt hope creep back into me, and looking at my friend I could tell she felt the same way. None of the things that make me despair had gone away, but these instances of the beauty that we are capable of creating, and the passion we put into perfecting an art, were a timely reminder of the many wonders in our country. The scales righted themselves somewhat.

One for the Road is a column on personal takeaways from travel.
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Despite a quarter-century of professional comic-book illustrating - and having drawn some of the most popular superheroes ever - artist Shawn Martinbrough still had a "bucket list" character who had escaped the lines of his pencils for so many years.

Hellboy, the stone-handed, horned creation of Mike Mignola, had always been one of Martinbrough's favorite characters. Mignola's early years drawings for Marvel and DC Comics were a heavy influence on Martinbrough as a young man.

Over time, the two artists became friends over social media where Martinbrough frequently shares examples of his artwork, including cover and interior page work from "Thief of Thieves," the Robert Kirkman-created series from Image Comics that Martinbrough has been illustrating for years.

Mignola reached out after liking many of the illustrations Martinbrough posted online, and told him if he ever wanted to draw Hellboy to just let him know.

"I was totally blown away," Martinbrough, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, told The Washington Post.

Mignola connected Martinbrough to Mignola's editor at Dark Horse Comics, Scott Allie, who asked Martinbrough what type of Hellboy story he'd like to do.

"I told them I didn't care if it was a 'Hellboy meets the Village People' story," Martinbrough joked. "As long as I got to draw Hellboy, I would be happy."

But the tale he ended up actually illustrating - "Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1955 - Secret Nature," a one-shot adventure available now - takes place in 1950s Oregon, as Hellboy teams up with Woodrow, a young, scientific mind, to investigate rumored otherworldly happenings.

Martinbrough, who is African-American, is known for going out of his way to add diversity to the comics he works on. If a story's script doesn't specify the race of a supporting or background character, he'll frequently draw that character as a person of color.

That wouldn't be necessary with this Hellboy story (written by Mignola and Chris Roberson), in which Woodrow, Hellboy's partner, is a brilliant African-American from Chicago.

In the story, Woodrow is offended but not shocked when he brushes up against some racism even noticing that the white man he and Hellboy have questions for is more comfortable around a giant demon from hell than a black man.

"Hellboy is an average Joe in the form of a large, fantastical red demon with a large stone hand and tail," Martinbrough said. "The idea of a white guy accepting Hellboy without skipping a beat, but questioning the legitimacy of a black scientist is tragic but, unfortunately, very realistic. The social commentary was a very pleasant and welcome surprise."

Martinbrough felt proud to draw the panels that showed Hellboy defending Woodrow, but also lamented that when he began illustrating the series, he assumed it took place in the present day.

"I didn't catch that the story took place in the 1950s. Considering the year is 2017, that's pretty sad. So I drew Woody holding a smartphone in a number of panels," Martinbrough said. "Once Scott reminded me of the story date, I later changed the phones to appropriate props from the time period."

When it came time to design Woodrow's look, Martinbrough instantly thought of a teenager named Miles Burke, the comic-book-loving son of a close family friend who also resides in the Washington area. Martinbrough believes representation in comics is important and hopes the experience makes Miles a comic-book lover for life.

"When I read the Hellboy script, I thought of Miles, who is into pop culture and a cool young man. I thought he would make a great reference model for Woodrow," Martinbrough said. "Seeing himself in a fun story interacting with a famous figure like Hellboy must be a thrill for Miles on a number of levels."

Now that he's crossed drawing Hellboy off his all-time to do list, Martinbrough said if called again, he'd jump at the chance. Perhaps another adventure with Woodrow could be in order - this time in the present day - to see how times have or haven't changed.

"It's fascinating to talk with an older person of color, especially with a black person, about how things have changed yet still remain the same over the years. My grandmother recently passed away at the ripe old age of 92," Martinbrough said. She shared "stories of growing up in the small town of Windsor, North Carolina, in the 1920s then moving to New York in the 1940s. I think the juxtaposition of similar stories with the evolving supernatural world of 'Hellboy' would be a very intriguing approach for an older Woody tale."
The term "music supervisor" may conjure the image of a foreman on a worksite, a bundle of keys jangling on his belt as he oversees musical laborers of some kind. But for the women and men who claim the title, it is a term of creative artistry - and this year, the Television Academy agrees.

In September, the inaugural Emmy Award will be granted for outstanding music supervision. It's an acknowledgment that the folks who select, license and place songs and other preexisting music are key contributors to small-screen storytelling. The honor was lobbied for by the Guild of Music Supervisors, particularly board member Thomas Golubic, whose television credits include "Breaking Bad," "Halt and Catch Fire" and "Better Call Saul."

"It's definitely evolved," Golubic said of his profession. "Like all crafts, the excellence in the craft is largely representative of the ambitions of the medium. Television, in particular, has had such a resurgence in the last few years."

He singled out "The Sopranos," as many have, as the dawn of the new TV renaissance.

"(It) was like a one-hour movie that you got in installments," he said. "And the fact that they did not use score, and that they used songs exclusively, I think was a real innovation, and I think that it opened up the door for a lot of other shows."

Golubicc is one of this year's first class of nominees for his work on "Better Call Saul." The others are Zach Cowie and Kerri Drootin for "Master of None," Nora Felder for "Stranger Things," Susan Jacobs for "Big Little Lies," and Manish Raval, Jonathan Leahy and Tom Wolfe for "Girls."

Each show represents a recent explosion in the creative opportunities for music supervisors, series where songs play integral roles, oftentimes roles that instrumental scoring has traditionally filled. It's a new aesthetic, using the unique power of songs - with their lyrics and cultural currency - to provide subtext or subversion or nostalgic emotion.

"I think what (Golubic) does often is to peel back what's going on on the surface, and evoke things that are going on deeper into the story," said Peter Gould, executive producer on "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul." "In both shows, we have a lot of characters who usually don't say what they mean, or in some cases, don't even understand what's going on with themselves all that well. The music that Thomas brings to it often hits a note that nothing else really could."

Gould cited two recent examples from "Better Call Saul." For a montage of Nacho (Michael Mando) making dummy pills to eliminate his boss, Golubicc suggested the Fink song "Cold Feet," which sings the line "Always walking a vicious circle" over a fuzzy guitar riff. In another, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) takes his frustration out on his car's cupholder - set to the surprising strains of a Bollywood love duet.

"It's amazing how much flexibility the show is capable of," Golubicc said. "Maybe part of it is the fact that it takes wild aesthetic choices and risks that still speak really closely to the characters."

In the nominated episode of "Girls," Hannah (Lena Dunham) walks through a quaint college town accompanied by Bert Jansch's folksy "Running From Home."

"Here's a very amazing, classic song playing that maybe tells you that Hannah's grown up," Raval said. "She's moved on from Manhattan, and she's in this new place, and she's a new person. And then we instantly go to her on the bus with headphones, jamming to Miley Cyrus and Mike Will Made It (on the song "23") and just bopping her head. It's like, 'Oh wait, no - Hannah's still Hannah.'"

The series, which ended in April, often used songs to reveal something about its characters.

"We're constantly trading with Lena just tons and tons of bins of music," Raval said. "Not just that we like for specific scenes, but just that we like in life. Like, these are songs that move us emotionally, that we love, these make us want to dance, these make us want to cry, these are just heartfelt or celebratory songs. It's almost like the olden days of trading mix tapes."

Drootin and Cowie worked similarly with Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, the creators and showrunners of "Master of None." The music supervision duo knew the second season would begin in Italy, and before scripts were even written, they began compiling Italian-flavored playlists. That expanded to disco and synth-pop to underscore their version of New York City.

"A conversation that we all had, even in the beginning of Season One, is this idea of permanence," said Cowie. "We kind of took some cues from movies like 'Manhattan' and 'Annie Hall,' where Woody Allen was taking contemporary subject matter and putting Gershwin behind it. ... You get into a dangerous situation when you match contemporary subject matter with brand new music, because both of those things might lose their relevance in a few years."

Cowie used to work for various record labels developing bands. Golubicc is a former radio DJ. Nora Felder was the vice president of Phil Ramone's music production company. Such backgrounds are common in the field and have equipped music supervisors with a deep well of musical knowledge - as well as a business savvy that is essential to their job.

"A lot of the interviews (I've done) are revolved around the creative - the creative, the creative," said Felder. "It's part of the misconception. I know that's the flashy part of the job, so to speak, but all those other parts are equally so important. There's a fine art to negotiation, especially when you're dealing with very large copyrights. There's a fine art to balancing your budget."

Felder has been music supervising for 20 years and called it "a very left brain/right brain job." Much of her time is spent researching and tracking down copyright holders, negotiating deals and discerning how to license - and afford - everything her producers want to use.

The Duffer Brothers, creators of "Stranger Things," fell in love with Peter Gabriel's haunting cover of the David Bowie song, "Heroes," used over an emotional moment connected to the fate of the missing Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Felder was working to clear the rights just when Bowie died, which threw the song's use in jeopardy.

"We tried many, many, many (other) songs," she said. "And many worked well, but nothing told that moment, at the time when you thought that Will was gone and they were pulling him out of the water, and you were feeling the emotions of the town thinking they had this discovery. The way ('Heroes') told it from the musical standpoint wasn't the obvious, but it was perfect."

At the last minute, to everyone's relief, the song cleared.

Music supervision was born in film, where in the early days songs were often more about "needle-drop" set dressing and less about subtly enhancing story. Golubicc noted "2001: A Space Odyssey" - in which Stanley Kubrick cleverly used pre-existing classical pieces instead of original score - and "The Graduate's" Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack as early examples of supervision as an art form.

"I think, in a way, the irreplaceability of music to the storytelling process is a key part of it," he said. "When you started getting into the nuances of pop music and counterpoint and irony, and all the different layers of sophistication that happened, that was a switch-up."

Quentin Tarantino and music supervisor Karyn Rachtman's use of songs in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" was a milestone in creative music supervision, but it spawned a decade of much less creative, more commercially driven work.

"Suddenly there was this boom of soundtracks," said Raval. "The record industry actually realized how valuable soundtracks were, and movie studios realized how huge they could be for marketing their movies. ... We would have labels ponying up over a million dollars for an advance just to make a soundtrack to a random John Travolta movie."

Soundtrack sales plummeted in the age of Napster (and now Spotify), which hollowed out music budgets. But with the proliferation of auteur-driven series on cable and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, freedom to use music in new and surprising ways has abounded.

In all of the shows nominated - and countless others, from "Transparent" to "Fargo" to "The Leftovers" - supervisors are no longer pressured to sell records or satisfy committees. Instead, they collaborate with writers and producers, in many cases young creatives who themselves have an eclectic taste in songs, and become a vital part of the story.

"It's building a palette of sounds and ideas that are intellectually connected to each other, emotionally connected to each other, and resonant with the story that's being told," said Golubic. "If all of those elements are there, that to me is worthy of an Emmy."
Since the second half of 1983, when "Cujo," "The Dead Zone" and "Christine" rolled into theaters, one after another, it's been unofficial Hollywood writ that no Stephen King novel, novella or short story shall go unadapted for film or television. And it's been King's habit to keep turning out work at an astonishing clip, as though he himself were the medium through which some malevolent, supernatural voice flowed.

To say there have been countless films and TV movies associated with King isn't merely an expression but a genuine conundrum: Do the seven sequels to "Children of the Corn" count, or just the one based on his short story? How about "The Lawnmower Man," which bears so little resemblance to King's story - both have lawnmower men, and that's it - that he successfully sued to have his name removed from the title? And what of his original screenplays?

When "It," the first in a planned two-part adaptation of his 1986 magnum opus, arrives in theaters Friday, it will be one of six King films or TV series to be released in 2017. (And that's not counting another "Children of the Corn" movie!) "The Mist" and "Mr. Mercedes" have already premiered on Spike and the Audience network, respectively, and "The Dark Tower" swept through theaters only a month ago. "Gerald's Game" and "1922" are both feature films premiering on Netflix in the fall. The King brand has always been licensed liberally - the man behind "Maximum Overdrive," a lark with a killer vending machine, can't be too precious about his work - but it's never lost its commercial cachet, even in fallow stretches.

Coming up with a grand unifying theory on what separates the great Stephen King adaptations from the flotsam and jetsam that have washed onto shore the past three-plus decades isn't easy. There's no single formula for success: "The Shining" and "The Mist" have been adapted multiple times at widely varied lengths for both film and television. Last year's solid Hulu series "11.22.63" allowed King's sprawling alternative history to stretch out over an eight-episode limited series, while "The Dark Tower," a tortured first go at King's "The Gunslinger" books, barely cracked the 90-minute mark. Some have stuck to the page, letter by letter, and others have only a casual relationship to the text - neither approach is a guaranteed winner.

But there are some connections to be made among the strongest King adaptations. The first is counterintuitive: King characters are best understood from the inside out. That goes against conventional wisdom, because the most adaptable books tend to be short on interior monologue and long on external action, which is why a sledgehammer narrative such as James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" has been adapted multiple times in English, in Italian ("Obsessione"), in German ("Jerichow") and in Chinese ("Ju Dou"), and the novel's murderous love triangle has been resonant every single time. Finding some visual analog for a character's thoughts is a trickier proposition.

Yet the true horror of films such as "Carrie," "The Shining," "The Dead Zone" and "Christine" has to do with transformation, of ordinary stresses escalating into supernatural possession. In Brian De Palma's hands, "Carrie" turns a teenage girl's coming of age into a tale of profound isolation and sexual repression, with her desire for womanhood thwarted by her cackling peers on one side and the shame of her fanatically religious mother on the other. Even when her extrasensory powers torch the high school and beyond on prom night, it's as heartbreaking as it is horrific, a manifestation of pain she can no longer manage.

In Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" and John Carpenter's "Christine," there's a chicken-and-the-egg quality to the relationship between the lead character and the sinister object of their obsession. Perhaps the Overlook Hotel or that snarling 1958 Plymouth Fury would wreak havoc without them, but human weakness and temptation are animating forces in both films, to the point where a symbiosis develops between those forces. We might fear the goings-on in Room 237 or the animal roar of a sentient muscle car, but the source of each fear is so deeply connected to one man's ravaged psyche, we can't get a distance from it. David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone" makes a curse out of a gift, martyring a man who can see the future at the price of his life.

The other common thread is filmmakers who refuse to act as stenographers and invent or embellish beyond the page. Despite all the misbegotten adaptations of his works, King is most famous for detesting what Kubrick did with "The Shining," a film many would rank among the scariest of all time. But at the center of that animus is King's perception of creative disrespect: He wrote a deeply personal horror novel about alcoholism and authorship, only to have Kubrick strip it for parts with the ruthlessness of a chop-shop mechanic. Yet it was Kubrick's prerogative as an artist to reimagine the novel and make the film a separate entity.

Although other filmmakers haven't been as dismissive of the source material, they've benefited from their own invention. Frank Darabont had to expand on novellas to turn "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Mist" into full-bodied features, but the former now trades places with "The Godfather" as the top user-rated movie on IMDb, and the latter concocts an ending of astonishing darkness. A little creativity was also necessary to turn King's novella "The Body" into "Stand By Me," but director Rob Reiner honors the nostalgia and ache at the heart of King's coming-of-age story, even as it was impossible to write to the letter. When Reiner later took on King's "Misery," about an author held captive by his biggest fan, he favored psychological violence over the physical brutality of the novel, but he makes one thwack to the ankles count.

As for "It," King's novel concerns a supernatural being that terrorizes seven children, often in the form of a clown. It also evokes a community in two distinct time periods, the late '50s and the mid-'80s, and the psychological burdens that carry over from childhood to middle age. The promotion of "It" has gone heavy on the clown imagery; there are even "clown-only" screenings scheduled for Alamo Drafthouse theaters in various cities across the country. But if the pattern holds, and a great screen adaptation is to be made out of "It," scary clowns alone won't do the trick.
WASHINGTON - What you see, on the white wall, are elegant sweeping marks, a script you can't quite make out or have forgotten to learn. What the artist hears is music. His name is Marquis Lewis, better known as Retna, one of the most successful street artists in the world. And when he paints - murals, for instance, now displayed in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Hall of Nations - it is to a soundtrack: a single song, played over and over.

"Usually I do a specific song for each piece," he says, "and then I make it the anthem for that piece. I have to play the same song on repeat to stay in the same zone in order to paint faster."

"I have to say that Retna has an amazing ear for music," says Marsea Goldberg, Retna's gallerist. "Every time I'm here" - in his studio in Los Angeles, from which the two are speaking by phone - "I hear something fabulous that I've never heard before."

Even, lately, opera.

The 38-year-old artist's work is an amalgam of graffiti, blackletter, hieroglyphics, Roman lettering and Hebrew script. It dances on the boundary between written communication and abstract art, commercialism and high art, a strong decorative statement of coded messages that you, as a passing viewer, will never understand. It's at once edgy and slick. An iconography that began as graffiti on the streets of Los Angeles when the artist was a teenager has evolved over his career into an elegant font that has adorned the walls of a Chanel boutique, sneakers, album covers (including for Justin Bieber), even the tail of a corporate jet. And now, Retna is at the Kennedy Center, not only with the murals (on display through Sept. 24), but with the sets for the Washington National Opera's new "Aida," which opens Sept. 9.

"I think it's great that artists are reaching the masses," says Goldberg- finessing the fact that by reaching out to an artist like Retna, the Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera, which originated the "Aida" production last fall, think they're the ones reaching out to a wider audience. Everyone wants to break out of his niche.

It's hardly a new idea for trendy artists to design opera productions: Think Marc Chagall, think David Hockney, think William Kentridge, who, after years as an art-world star, has become a sought-after opera director with works such as the Metropolitan Opera's recent "Lulu." Tom Ford has designed costumes for the Santa Fe Opera; the Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron created sets for an "Attila" at the Met, with costumes by Miuccia Prada that everyone hated but me. Opera, after all, exists at the intersection of the visual and the aural, of creativity and high society - a place that an artist like Retna, who happily and fluidly moves between worlds, is happy to occupy.

Furthermore, Retna (the name was adopted from the song "Heaterz" by the Wu Tang Clan) has as much of an authentic connection to Egypt as Giuseppe Verdi did, if not a greater one: Egyptian hieroglyphics are one of the marked influences on his unique alphabet. Indeed, to accompany the San Francisco rollout of his "Aida" production, Retna was invited to paint the walls of an exhibition at the Legion of Honor in that city displaying two mummies and their histories.

"I was able to paint a text; I created a piece inside that room," he says, "and then Renee (Dreyfus, the curator) was breaking down my lettering. I've been doing this for years, but she was coming in (and explaining), 'This is this, and this symbolizes that.' That was dope."

Dope, indeed, to have a specialist in ancient symbols effectively confirm the legitimacy of your own.

But for all of the artist's links to music and Egypt, approaching opera was, he says, intimidating. After Francesca Zambello, the WNO's artistic director and director of this production, invited Retna to do "Aida," he acquired a stack of books and DVDs. He even considered bringing a cellist to his studio to play while he painted or having schoolchildren re-create scenes from the opera so, he says, "I could see what I'd gotten myself into." His first sketches were based directly on "Aida" materials.

"Marquis, you're trying too hard," Zambello said when she saw them, according to the artist. "Just send me stuff you've already done."

The artist accordingly went back to his own work. The imagery, as in much of his work, revolves around the letters E and S, representing "the male/female, the sun and the moon, mostly" - one phallic, one domed. "It's the main thing that's in all my work. It made sense," he says.

The process of working in opera was, however, inspiring.

"Working with that amount of talent, all top professionals in their fields, and just looking at Francesca doing her thing, that was amazing, for sure," the artist says. "When I'm painting in the studio, there's maybe five or six people, max. She's working with a couple of hundred people. To have that mentality, to be able to be in all those different places, is something."

Retna has worked on music videos, but "there's a lot of takes you can do. ... You can't do that in opera. It's a one-shot deal. That's kind of how I work on the street. It's a one-shot, get it right, and if you can't, make it up."

It's open to question just how much opera reaches outside its existing audience by bringing in artists from other worlds. The most successful examples generally involve opera audiences embracing the artist - like Kentridge - rather than art audiences suddenly discovering a love of opera. The San Francisco Opera doesn't have statistics on whether there was a demographic shift among audiences for Retna's "Aida," although some say the audience looked younger. Still, it's worth trying - for both sides. "It's not about the money," says Goldberg, Retna's dealer. "It's about enriching culture."

"Aida," however, was created more than a year ago. Retna's thoughts are much more on the Kennedy Center mural, which he finished in August - shortly after he was briefly arrested for what he now calls "a misunderstanding." (He has had several run-ins with the law, including an allegation of domestic abuse against a former girlfriend, the socialite Brittny Gastineau.) While working on the mural, he saw Washington through the eyes of someone recently incarcerated: The institutional hallways of Congress or the Kennedy Center reflected, to him, the less-glamorous surroundings of the jail where he had been held.

The mural itself is a political act: a quote of President John Kennedy's. "Art is the great democrat," it reads, "calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color." The words are executed in red and blue on a series of white blocks that divide the Hall of Nations like a small Berlin Wall.

"The red and blue for me symbolizes, together, when you get a bruise you turn purple, whether it's democratic or republican," Retna explains. "Once it's together it's purple, the color of royalty. And we added gold for Mr. Kennedy's service to the Navy."

Jackie Kennedy's name is there. So is the artist's name. So, even, is the title of the opera, "Aida." Most people won't be able to decipher any of that. This is art as many think it should be: something attractive, to be admired by the masses, but encrypted in a code that can truly be read only by those in the know.

And the song Retna chose as his anthem for the mural? Not anything from "Aida" but "Get Free," by Major Lazer, which contains the repeated line "I just can't believe what they've done to me." Retna's art is too mercurial to stay attached to opera for long.

The artist doesn't rule out doing another opera - if he were invited. "Aida" received mixed reviews in San Francisco; it will go on to the Seattle and Minnesota operas. If he were to do another one, what would it be?

Retna appeals to his dealer, the daughter of a classical musician. "For you?" Goldberg says, laughing. "'Carmen.'"

---

"Aida" runs at the Washington National Opera from Sept. 9-23. The free "Opera in the Outfield" broadcast at Nationals Park is Sept. 23. Retna's work will be exhibited in the Hall of Nations until Sept. 24.
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San Antonio native Chrysta Bell, who stars as FBI agent Tammy Preston in Twin Peaks, is feeling both relieved and anxious as the two-episode finale of the Showtime series draws near.

The relief is I dont have to keep certain secrets anymore  sharing it with people is cathartic, the Alamo Heights High alumna said in a phone chat this week.

But Im having some anxiety about it ending. There was so much of a buildup; its strange that its almost over.

David Lynchs 18-hour revival comes to an end with back-to-back episodes starting at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Chrysta Bell said she most likely will watch it with the Peaks gang at a finale party in Los Angeles thrown by co-star Madchen Amick, who plays Shelly both in the new series and the original on ABC.

Madchen is such a sparkling, intensely lovely human. I can imagine if she throws a party, everyone she invites will come, she said. Im going to try my best to get to L.A. and be there.

The experience of Twin Peaks was a life-changing one for Chrysta Bell, who was born Chrysta Bell Zucht but uses the shortened name professionally.

It was beyond enjoyment. Its been a source of growth and maturity and humbling and awe-inspiring, she said.

A musician and chanteuse for most of her life, Chrysta Bell was a newcomer to acting on TV. So it was both daunting and extraordinary, she said, that her debut role  as an FBI agent and the first woman to be invited into the legendary Blue Rose Task Force  was one that afforded her lots of screen time. Better still, it was alongside three Peaks icons from the original.

In the series, Tammy joined FBI director Gordon Cole (Lynch) and Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) in the investigation of paranormal occurrences related to some mysterious murders, the disappearance of agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and the appearance of his evil doppelganger.

They eventually solicited the help of Diane (Laura Dern), the trusty assistant whom Cooper would speak to via tape recordings while investigating Laura Palmers murder in the first Twin Peaks.

In the script, Chrysta Bell said, Tammy was described as hyper-intelligent, whip smart, all business and someone who looks great in a skirt-suit.

As an actress, Chrysta Bell made sure to bring something of her own to the role.

Tammys personality comes through in her reactions to Gordon and Albert, she said.

She also brought that provocative walk.

Ive known David for 20 years, and he was very familiar with my gait. He said give me that walk, and I obliged, she said. When you put a voluptuous woman in a pencil skirt and high heels and train a camera on her derriere, Im sure theres something extra that happens.

That walk, however, became another bone of contention among fans who already were spewing online hatred for Tammy. People would say shes objectifying women. But I say, Can we not celebrate the form of a woman?

Its been a full spectrum experience, she said of viewer response. I certainly wasnt emotionally prepared either for the adoration or vitriol.

One of her biggest challenges was preparing for her big scene in last weeks episode. She was to shoot Diane  actually Dianes tulpa (an extra body created from one person's mind in order to travel to other realms).

She not only did some research into tulpas but went to a gun range.

Tammys a badass and I had to do her justice, she said.

Still, she wasnt looking forward to the reaction because (Dern) is so beloved.

And for good reason, Chrysta Bell acknowledged. Shes just amazing, an extraordinary actor, but also fun to be around, quick-witted and gracious.

She said she was particularly awestruck by Derns delivery of Dianes big monologue prior to the shooting.

We got to sit there while she did it. She was poetry in motion. Then, after Laura blows our minds with the performance, she brought everyone on the set macarons.

Chrysta Bell also said working with Ferrer, who died before the show aired, was special and extraordinary.

I didnt know he was sick at the time, that he wouldnt be around much longer, she said. He knew but didnt put that on the people around him. He was so much fun. His humor was dry, and he had this super-gracious spirit. After all, he was the product of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney.

Does it bother her that fans response to the series has been a mixed bag?

People who love Twin Peaks are something like a cult, she said, so one has to expect strong reactions.

I think the new Twin Peaks is equally as powerful as the original. In that one, there was more of an emotional connection to the characters, she said. In this one, theres more of a connection to existence itself.

As for Lynch, he isnt one to pay attention to that kind of criticism.

He doesnt read Reddit, hes not looking at recaps, she said of her longtime mentor. He believes ones energy is precious. Everyone has their opinions, and hes not saying hes above it all, he just has better things to do with his time, like create more art.

Will people find Sundays Twin Peaks conclusion satisfying?

I have no idea, she said. Everyone has their own personal reactions to this series. All I know is being part of it has been one of the more extraordinary experiences of my lifetime. Im still not able to fully grasp that I was a part of it.

What Chrysta Bell can grasp is how its affected her career.

Its opened doors for me, she said. Ive had some scripts come in, and I was asked to star in a musical off-Broadway. I havent signed the contracts yet. But, yes, theres definitely some movement.

jjakle@express-news.net
These days, nothing is off the table when it comes to what can be put on a cruise ship and floated out at sea.

Just ask Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line, which recently revealed the latest in cruise ship innovation for its upcoming vessel, the Norwegian Bliss. Call it Pimp My Ride: Cruise Ship Edition.

The star feature of the 4,000-passenger ship will be a 1,000-foot long, two-level open-air race car track that will zoom riders across the ships upper decks. The go-karts accelerate up to 30 miles per hour, but also offer four speed settings for those who want to cruise a little slower  and a turbo boost for riders who want to go full Fast and the Furious.

The track will be similar  but much longer  than the one Norwegian already put on its latest ship, the Norwegian Joy, which sails out of China. The go-karts will also be electric and silent, so as not to add a NASCAR soundtrack to the cruising experience, but with race car engine sounds piped through the speakers on the cars headrests.

Norwegian Bliss will sail its debut season in the summer of 2018 to Alaska and Canada from Seattle. Travelers will get a chance to try out the track and Bliss other features beginning November 2018 on seven-day Caribbean sailings from PortMiami with stops in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Tortola, British Virgin Islands and Nassau, Bahamas.

Rounding out Norwegian Bliss roster of adrenaline-pumping activities is an outdoor laser tag course on its top deck themed to look like an abandoned space station, a free-fall water slide that extends over the side of the ship and then to the deck below, and tandem racing slides with inner tubes. While the water slides are included in the price of the cruise ticket, guests have to pay an extra fee to race go-karts or play laser tag. Norwegian has not yet disclosed price points for either activity.

On the culinary side, the line is also debuting a new high-end Texas barbecue restaurant called Q. Dishes include brisket, ribs, chicken and sausages with generous portions of sides, including breadcrumb-crusted mac-n-cheese, deviled eggs with natural air-cured ham and baked sweet potatoes in pecan honey butter and cinnamon.

For dessert, Norwegian is adding the chocolate-themed Cocos, an a la carte venue with an oversized chocolate fountain centerpiece and a menu that includes handmade pralines, truffles and crepes.

Both additions will be for an extra cost, but the line is adding complimentary venue The Local, which will offer pub fare 24 hours a day.

Bliss will get a slight Miami touch in honor of its seasonal home port. Bar District Brew House will serve local beer from Wynwood Brewery and M.I.A. Beer Company and the ships beverage program will include cocktails developed by Miami-based Gabe Orta, co-founder of BarLab, the Broken Shaker and 27 Restaurant.

In terms of accommodations, the Bliss will feature Norwegians signature, ship-within-a-ship concept, with its luxury Haven staterooms, plus a first for the line: connecting staterooms for large groups traveling together.

Norwegian Bliss will no doubt be our most incredible ship to date, said Andy Stuart, NCLs president and chief executive officer, via a statement after presenting the new features at Virtuoso Travel Week at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. We have elevated Norwegian Bliss onboard experience to new heights, bringing the best features from across our fleet plus exciting new first-at-sea activities.
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A jury found two men guilty of attempting to smuggle 72 people inside a tractor-trailer through a Border Patrol checkpoint Thursday in federal court.

Oslay Diaz-Torres, the tractor's driver, and Rafael Ruiz, the tractor's owner, maintained their innocence throughout the trial, with their attorneys claiming the duo had no knowledge of the immigrants.

The men were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants within the United States and five counts of transport and attempt to transport undocumented immigrants for financial gain. Each charge carries a term of up to 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

U.S. District Court Judge Diana Saldana, who presided over the trial, ordered both defendants be remanded into custody, records state. They will be sentenced at a later date.

READ MORE: Laredo man assaulted brother with a crowbar, police say

An investigation into the men began Dec. 27 when Diaz-Torres attempted to travel through the primary inspection lane of the Border Patrol checkpoint located on U.S. 83, north of Laredo.

On that day, agents said a service K-9 alerted them to a white 2005 Freightliner tractor hauling a white trailer.

The driver, Diaz-Torres, appeared to be sweating and avoiding eye contact when he told agents he was traveling alone, a criminal complaint states.

Agent Marcos Barrios told the jury that he noticed Diaz-Torres' lack of eye contact and said he was sweaty and shaky when being questioned about the tractor-trailer's contents.

Zachary Wright, a Border Patrol agent and K-9 handler, said his K-9, Ubi, alerted him to the odor of concealed humans or narcotics.

RELATED: The 'godfather' of Mexico's cartels has been sentenced for killing of a DEA agent

This resulted in Diaz-Torres being referred to secondary inspection, where the agents said they broke the seal on the trailer and discovered 72 people amongst the all-terrain vehicles being hauled.

After his detention, Diaz-Torres allegedly told agents he was instructed by the owner of the tractor-trailer, Rafael Ruiz, to travel to Laredo to pick up the trailer and return it to Las Vegas, Nevada, according to the complaint.

An investigation into the men revealed video surveillance of them together in Laredo, although Ruiz allegedly claimed to be in Las Vegas, Nevada on the day in question.

During his interview, Diaz-Torres was reluctant to answer questions, providing answers that did not match up with evidence obtained by agents, records state.

The detained immigrants were unable to identify Diaz-Torres or Ruiz, according to reports.
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Laredo City Council held a special meeting Wednesday night to hear from three groups of architects on how they would be qualified to redesign the medians in the four blocks between the end of I-35 and the start of the Lincoln-Juarez International Bridge.

These four blocks are one of the first things people see when they drive into Laredo from Mexico, and one of the last things they see when they're driving into Nuevo Laredo from the United States. They're currently occupied by small trees, shrubby grass and walkways that cut through them. The homeless often frequent these spots.

In July 2015, the City of Laredo along with the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects hosted several public meetings with Lareodans to hear their perspectives on how this area should be redesigned. People expressed interest in seeing monuments to Laredo's history, water fountains, or a rest stop and information center.

The three design groups that presented showed some of their previous urban design and landscape architecture work and floated some ideas for the area. None showed official concept designs or renderings, as this would have been an unpaid design competition, which is considered unethical by the American Institute of Architects, one group explained.

READ MORE: Laredo man assaulted brother with a crowbar, police say

Council members such as Roberto Balli, Nelly Vielma and Alberto Torres had asked to see design concepts before this was articulated.

Council decided to put off choosing a design group until their next meeting. But one council member wanted to rule out on the spot the final group that presented.

"I think based on the presentations that we've heard, we can narrow it down pretty easily," Councilman George Altgelt said. "Two of the three presenters told us directly that they want to get public input. And one of the presenters ... didn't seem too inclined on getting public input this time, and I think that's an easy elimination of that one."

This was not adopted as part of the motion, and all three groups will be considered by council.

Altgelt was referring to Munoz FR.EE, a group of architects from Laredo, San Antonio and Mexico City/New York. They floated concepts of a large, iconic monument or structure to highlight the unity that exists in border communities, as well as isolated sites within the four blocks for shopping, trade and a city plaza that would connect to City Hall.

Steve Tillotson, principal architect at Munoz and Company, said Laredo is at a crossroads, and his group believes in a larger vision for these four blocks and the 10 blocks surrounding it. Because of Laredo's international significance, he does not think the cost of the project should burden locals. They would like to incorporate private partners, Tillotson said.

FR.EE, or Fernando Romero Enterprise, is an architecture firm out of Mexico City and New York. This group built the iconic Mueso Soumaya in Mexico City, and is part of the ongoing redesign of the Mexico City International Airport, a multi-billion project.

The group that first presented is Abrazos Partners Joint Venture, a large group of local and out of town architects and engineers, including members of the firms involved in Laredo's proposed master plan, Frank Architects and Hickey Pena Architects.

They drew inspiration from the community meeting, or charette, in 2015. Some ideas that came out of this meeting were to connect the neighborhoods to the east and west of the four blocks, celebrate the whole city and its multi-generational connections, and be environmentally friendly, Viviana Frank of Frank Architects said.

RELATED: Laredo city officials announce launch of state's first animal neglect registry

The group has already set up a website, abrazolaredo.com, and said they would like to hold more charettes to get more public input.

City Council is faced with a decision that will impact generations, Mario Pena of Hickey Pena Architects said. "This is a moment that will define our identity indelibly."

Brendan Wittstruck of Asakura Robinson, an architecture firm with offices in Austin, Houston, New Orleans and Tokyo, said his firm is drawn especially to public projects in low-income areas. They have worked on projects such as the Central Business Distrcit Public Realm Plan in south downtown Houston and the Magnolia Transit Center in Houston.

He said his firm would also like to hold more charettes to involve more locals in the design concept.

Although it may not be the sexiest part of the project, Wittstruck said they are especially focused on traffic and transportation around the four blocks. This is an opportunity to look at alternatives to the idling and queuing at the border crossing, he said.

Wittstruck floated many other objectives, such as connecting neighborhood residents to the area, making it more family friendly, making it more business friendly, and telling the city's story with monuments.

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com
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A four-door sedan slowed to a stop in front of a deep, murky puddle stretching across N. Houston Avenue in Humble.

A number of pick-up trucks and SUVs proceeded  most with caution  through the standing water, though a few seemed more brash about their vehicle's water-level threshold than others.

HARVEY RESPONSE: Lake Houston residents line up to help

The sedan carefully bore left and to the side of the road, preparing to turn back. In the car, residents Henry Delacruz and Jenny Almaraz had hoped to access their home on Meeks Road, east of the Deerbrook Marketplace, on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

Hurricane Harvey, though downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit the greater Houston area, brought unprecedented flooding. Several residents of Meeks Road were forced to evacuate in the dark early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 28, in order to escape the floodwater rapidly seeping into their homes.

Now that the water level had subsided  at least by a couple feet, or so  some ventured back, sloshing through opaque floodwater to salvage possessions and assess damage to their homes.

Delacruz and Almaraz woke up at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, to 12 inches of water covering their yard. Two hours later, the water had risen another six to eight inches. They decided to go to their neighbor's home, which was on higher ground.

BEFORE AND AFTER: Satellite photos of the Houston area

"Probably not even an hour passed and it had already gone up another five, six inches," Delacruz said. "We had to call an emergency evacuation."

The couple recently put their old house in Humble on the market, and only just finished moving their belongings to the new home on Meeks Road. Then, the flood came.

"It was very, very bad," Almaraz said. "We had moved everything. We barely managed to get saved by the rescue crew. It was waist deep. There were trout in our front yard."

They were rescued and transported by military vehicles to the Humble Civic Center where they stayed until Almaraz's father could drive out to pick them up. Now, they're staying with him.

With their old home still on the market, Almaraz thought of a way to put the empty home to good use.

"We're probably going to go to the FEMA place and tell them we can house people at the house," Delacruz said. "It's empty. We've got five bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms. At least three families can go there and we can figure something out."

They drove off down the road to return another day.

Meanwhile, up the street a continuous gush of water spurted up from the tires of an SUV as it approached and passed by Colby Otto and Carrie Childress, who were wading down N. Houston Avenue.

The couple turned left at a fallen street sign with the words "Meeks RD" sticking up out of a puddle, and continued trudging through ever-deepening floodwater. It was knee-deep, and in some areas deeper, by the time they reached their house.

Staring at the scene, Otto uttered an expletive. What used to be their yard only days before, was now a lake.

Like many of their neighbors, their house had never flooded before this event.

"Never, and I would never think in a million years it would flood over here," Otto said.

The water rose to their house in a matter of hours Monday night. Finally, at 2 a.m., they took their dogs and drove to Waller, where they are staying with family.

Otto said, luckily, they have flood insurance, but he also plans to apply for whatever aid they can get from FEMA as well.

"They said if it's a natural disaster like this, a hurricane and everything, they aid and assist you, too. Hopefully we can get something," Otto said.

Having flood insurance may mean a smoother recovery for Otto and Childress than for their neighbors down the street who may have to depend almost exclusively on FEMA assistance.

Berenice Villarreal and her family stood in their yard, where water came up about halfway to knee-level, a significant drop from where the floodwater peaked at about two feet above the floor of their home.

The floors were still wet, with puddles lingering in some places. The sofa remained where the water left it  tipped back against the wall. To facilitate drying out the damp indoors, the family had opened all the windows in the house.

The outside air smelled vaguely of gasoline, and a dark residue lingered on the once-white fence. An iridescent, oily substance could be seen on top of the water covering the yard and neighboring properties. The family believes it may be coming from a nearby oil company.

They looked at the state of their home. The family has lived there for nearly 30 years. The only time they've experienced flooding on a scale even remotely close to this was in the 1994 storm. But even then, the water only reached their garage. Though only 1 at the time, now 23-year-old Villarreal has heard the stories.

"What you see right now is about how deep it got in 1994," Villarreal said. "This time, though, it flooded all the way up inside of the house."

Her family was able to evacuate before the water reached the interior, but they were not prepared for an event of this magnitude.

"We were fine up until the day we flooded," Villarreal said. "We never lost power, nothing, so we were like, 'Oh, nothing's going to happen.' Now it's just completely flooded."

After paying flood insurance for years without experiencing a flood, the family decided a few years back to stop.

"We have house insurance, but we don't have flood insurance. So, we have to rely on FEMA to help. We've never flooded. We didn't think it was going to get this bad."

Villarreal's brother just finished construction on a home behind their property this year. It also took on about a foot-and-a-half of water.

Approaching from down the street, Gustavo Velasquez grasped a rope attached to an inflatable boat, which held his wife, Gabby, and daughter, Katelynn. He pulled the floating craft across Meeks Road, stopping briefly to speak with Villarreal and her family, before continuing toward the Velasquez home.

He waded up his driveway, which was impossible to see below the deep, murky water, and parked the boat next to their house.

The family helped each other onto the soft and soggy porch. Katelynn Velasquez wasted no time getting to work on clean-up efforts to help her mom and dad. She grabbed a push broom and began shoving water across the bloated wooden slats.

Gabby Velasquez looked out at the mess of toppled and half-floating flowerpots.

"Oh, my plants," she said, before turning to walk inside the house. The floor had been completely under floodwater the day before.

Like Villarreal's family, the Velasquezes have insurance, but not flood insurance.

"We're going to try to fill an application by internet this evening for FEMA," Gustavo Velasquez said.

Many people without flood insurance around the greater Houston area will be undergoing this same process.

During a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 30, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner stressed the urgency with which he hopes the FEMA disaster relief efforts will be conducted.

"We need a whole lot of FEMA representatives on the ground now, not just in the shelters but in the community so people can sign up," Turner said. "We need now for them to start processing and putting in place housing vouchers so people can move from shelters and other places. The list goes on and on. We need the red tape to be cleared. People are looking for results."

Those who experienced damage related to Tropical Storm Harvey can visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov to register and apply for assistance. Online registration is the fastest method of registering for FEMA assistance.

It is not necessary to register until after a home is declared damaged. After the damages are declared, people have 60 days to register for FEMA disaster assistance.

People without internet access can call 1-800-621-FEMA or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) to register. For users of VRS or 711, call 800-621-3362. The toll-free numbers are temporarily operational every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Texas has also approved Transitional Sheltering Assistance for those who are eligible disaster survivors cannot to return to their homes for a prolonged period.

TSA eligibility requires a person to register for FEMA disaster assistance. People eligible for TSA will be contacted by FEMA. Visit www.femavachotels.com to see a list of properties available.

Mike Morris, City Hall reporter for the Houston Chronicle, contributed to this article.
NBC News may have just buried the lede in its new story about the Russia scandal.

The report from NBC focuses on some specific words that appeared in notes that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort took during a meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016. This was the meeting before which Donald Trump Jr. had been promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

But perhaps the more significant development is how NBC reported that Manafort had taken those notes: On his smartphone.

The Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Karoun Demirjian had previously reported that Manafort took notes during the meeting - notes that naturally were of interest to investigators - but this appears to be the first report to indicate he did so using his phone.

Why is that significant? Because Manafort being on his phone was presented by both Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as evidence of his disinterest in the meeting. It was used to suggest that the meeting was rather insignificant - a disappointment to all involved - and didn't go anywhere. Trump Jr. and others have said that the information promised was a bust and was never used by the Trump campaign, whatever their intent in accepting the meeting was.

"All the time [Manafort] was looking at his phone," Veselnitskaya told NBC last month. "He was reading something. He never took any active part in the conversation." She described Manafort as appearing "absent-minded."

During an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump Jr. also referenced Manafort apparently being distracted by his phone during the meeting:

HANNITY: The whole contact took how long? How long was the meeting?

TRUMP JR.: About 20 minutes or so.

HANNITY: About 20 minutes. And Jared [Kushner] left after 5 or 10?

TRUMP JR.: Yes.

HANNITY: Like she said? And Paul Manafort was on his . . .

TRUMP JR.: On his phone.

HANNITY: The whole time?

TRUMP JR.: Pretty much.

HANNITY: Pretty much.

TRUMP JR.: It - it - listen, like I said . . . pretty really apparent that this was not what we were in there talking about.

A word of caution here: Pretty much all we know right now is that Manafort took some notes, and investigators have them. NBC is reporting that they were "cryptic" and included some specific words - words that The Washington Post hasn't confirmed appeared in the notes.

It's entirely possible those notes had nothing to do with what was being discussed in the meeting and that Manafort was indeed distracted and not really paying attention. But if he was taking notes about the meeting on his smartphone, perhaps Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya mistook that as Manafort tuning the whole thing out.

Manafort seems to be an increasing focus of the investigation, with the FBI raiding his home in Virginia a month ago. New reports this week indicate that New York's attorney general is involved. That's significant because President Trump cannot pardon people for state crimes. There is a growing perception that investigators are focusing on Manafort to get him to turn on Trump.

Precisely what this means is up in the air. But Trump Jr.'s version of the Russia meeting has been wrong before. And it doesn't seem far-fetched to think that maybe he misunderstood how closely Manafort was paying attention in that meeting in June 2016 - and documenting the proceedings.
Adrian Jones' short, tortured life was spent isolated from outsiders, confined in filthy, mice-infested houses where he was "home-schooled" by the parents who ultimately killed him, according to court documents.

But the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father and stepmother were meticulously documented, through dozens of surveillance cameras. As his family moved from place to place across Kansas and Missouri, his stepmother captured photos of the horrors, images stored online and later recovered by authorities.

His was a brief life of great suffering, as described by police and prosecutors. The story has been extensively reported by the Kansas City Star and other local media, including KSHB.

In several instances, Adrian was shown strapped to a table and blindfolded, or standing in neck-deep water in the family's dirty swimming pool overnight. In other photographs, his mouth looks bloody and bruised, his teeth rotting, his hands swollen from being restrained, the Kansas City Star reported. In another picture, Adrian appears to be tied up with a plate of food in front of him, a bar of soap in his mouth.

Alongside one of the images, reportedly captured from a surveillance camera by the stepmother, there appeared two words: the boy.

During his final days in fall 2015, the young boy was trapped in a white-tiled shower stall and left to die, according to affidavits cited by the Associated Press. Prosecutors later said Adrian essentially starved to death. His body was fed to pigs, authorities said. The young boy's remains were found in a livestock pen on the family's property on Nov. 20, 2015.

His father, Michael Jones, told authorities he purchased the swine after keeping the body inside the home for nearly two weeks, the AP reported. A child told investigators he heard Adrian screaming "I'm going to die" through a vent and his stepmother, Heather Jones, telling him to "suck it up."

Michael and Heather Jones both pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison.

Investigators referred to the child abuse case as one of the "worst things" they had ever seen. His disturbing case prompted a state lawmaker to introduce legislation that would penalize adults who fail to report child abuse at home. In the Kansas City area, Adrian became known, hideously, as "the boy who was fed to pigs."

But with his killers behind bars, Adrian's family has been left wondering - could the state have done more to prevent the boy's death?

Records in both Missouri and Kansas reveal a "seemingly endless series of reports and hotline calls" that informed social service and child welfare agencies of the abuse Adrian suffered.

So alleged a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in both states this week by Adrian's biological mother, maternal grandmother and oldest sister. It contends that child service agencies failed to keep Adrian out of harm's way.

"Despite all the warning signs, the hotline calls, and the evidence of the child's mistreatment, they effectively allowed his father and stepmother to continue to abuse, torture, and ultimately murder the little boy, while they stood idly by, writing it all down," the family's lawyer claimed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the state's intervention was "limited" to instructing Adrian's father and stepmother to sign a piece of paper agreeing to stop abusing the boy - "the legal equivalent of a 'pinky swear.'"

"As it turned out, that signed paper might as well have been A.J.'s death warrant," the family's lawyer, Michaela Shelton, wrote. The lawsuit asks for $25,000 in damages.

Representatives from the Kansas Department for Children and Families declined to comment to the Kansas City Star. But a spokeswoman previously released a statement about the case, saying that the agency followed the family as Michael and Heather Jones "worked constantly to evade our intervention."

"This family moved frequently between Kansas and Missouri, which greatly disrupted continuity of services and evaluation," the spokeswoman said in a statement to KSHB. Officials in both states remained in regular contact, shared information and continued to talk to the family, the spokeswoman said, adding that child welfare workers thoroughly investigated each reported incident of alleged abuse and neglect.

"It is very difficult to assist families who are constantly transient, especially those who move across state lines and thereby deprive the State of any jurisdiction," the statement read.

For Adrian's first two years of life, he lived with his biological mother and siblings in Lawrence, Kansas. After the toddler was found at home unsupervised, he was removed from his mother's home and placed in the custody of his father.

But within three months of Adrian moving in with his father, Kansas child welfare workers became aware of problems in the home. Hotline calls began pouring in with troubling information: His father had guns all over the house, his stepmother was observed to be high on drugs, according to the lawsuit.

Adrian's siblings were reported to have suffered significant weight loss and a number of physical injuries, the lawsuit claims. Other calls reported evidence that Adrian was being beaten and choked by his father and stepmother. One hotline caller said Adrian had been spanked to the point where his buttocks were bleeding.

Adrian eventually underwent treatment for disruptive behavior and "parent-child relationship problem," the lawsuit states. His father and stepmother reported that Adrian frequently wet the bed, stole and hoarded food, picked at sores and lit fires - characteristics that the lawsuit says are common in young victims of child abuse.

The family temporarily moved to Missouri, where hotline calls continued - one caller reporting that Adrian's stepmother would beat "the living daylights out of the kids for no reason" and would sell "meth" out of the home, the lawsuit stated.

Records show that Adrian himself opened up about the abuse to child welfare workers. In a July 2013 interview with a Missouri Children's Division worker and a police officer, Adrian - then age 5 - said his father would kick him so violently in the back of his head that a "little bone come out," the Kansas City Star reported.

"My daddy keeps hitting me in the head and punches me in the stomach and my mom keeps pulling on my ears and it really hurts," Adrian said. "Mommy and Daddy lock me in my room by myself. Mommy and Daddy can't feed me."

On another occasion, Adrian told a case worker that he was forced to stand in the corner and do jumping jacks and push-ups all day.

For a period of several months in 2014, Adrian was placed in a residential treatment center in Grandview, Missouri, having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was discharged on Sept. 4, 2014, on the condition that his father and stepmother follow an "aftercare plan," including enrollment in school and therapy. The center did not follow up with Adrian after he was discharged, the lawsuit alleges.

A month later, Adrian's stepmother emailed the boy's therapist at the treatment center, saying Adrian was "getting to be too much all over again."

Leading up to the boy's death, his stepmother, Heather Jones, often posted angry rants about Adrian on a private Facebook page, and alluded to wanting to kill him, according to an affidavit obtained by the Kansas City Star. On Christmas Day 2014, the stepmother made a reference to wanting to simulate an episode of "The Walking Dead" in which a character shoots a child in the back of the head.

Three days later, Heather Jones posted that she "might be the next (redacted) and have to feed some pigs a body."

Just over a year after Adrian was discharged from the residential treatment center, he died.

At Adrian's father's sentencing hearing, a detective nearly broke down in tears during his remarks, the Kansas City Star recounted. He said the torture Adrian went through was unlike anything he had seen in more than two decades in law enforcement.

The detective, Stuart Littlefield, recalled how Adrian was shocked with a stun gun by his stepmother. Littlefield paused his words for 20 seconds - demonstrating how long the shocks would sometimes last.

"Imagine the screams of a 7-year-old boy," the detective said. "Twenty seconds is a very long time when you're in agony."
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BEAUMONT, Texas - The prolonged misery from Hurricane Harvey peaked here Friday in the southeast corner of the state, where a crippled municipal water system left residents with no running water, unable to flush toilets, desperate for basic sanitation and fearful for their health.

Meanwhile a massive fire sent a towering pillar of acrid black smoke from the Arkema chemical plant northeast of Houston, hours after company officials said there was nothing they could do to stop 19.5 tons of volatile chemicals from igniting.

Beaumont's dire situation and the uncontrolled chemical fire near Crosby, Texas, provided vivid reminders of the cascading effects of a natural disaster: wind, storm surge, torrential rain, floodwaters, and now all the secondary consequences, including industrial accidents, environmental contamination and broad concerns about sickness and disease.

President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget on Friday night sent a request to House Speaker Paul Ryan for $7.85 billion for response and recovery to the hurricane, describing the money as a "down payment" on the president's promise to help states recover from the storm.

In Crosby, residents remained evacuated Friday within a 1.5-mile radius of the burning Arkema chemical plant. The plant lost power and its backup generators were flooded earlier this week, leaving workers unable to maintain refrigeration of volatile organic peroxides. The chemicals combust if not kept cool.

As an emergency measure, the chemicals were moved into nine box trailers, one of which was burned Thursday. The floodwaters have now receded, but Daryl Roberts, Arkema's vice president of manufacturing, said Friday that the company can't restart refrigeration because the electrical infrastructure has been underwater for a week. "We believe that right now, the scenario that is available to us is to let that material burn out," he said Friday morning.

Friday afternoon, chemicals in another one of the trailers caught fire. The heat from the blaze then ignited the chemicals in an adjacent trailer. The two trailers burned simultaneously, producing multiple explosions and fireballs, said Robert Royall Jr., assistant chief of emergency operations for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office. That left six intact trailers, parked in a remote section of the plant, each holding chemicals steadily warming and likely to ignite explosively. "We could see all six of these containers engage really quickly," Arkema executive Richard Rennard said Friday evening.

The Environmental Protection Agency late Friday said it was flying a surveillance aircraft through the smoke and monitoring for toxic chemicals. The chemical plant's crisis has brought attention to the heavy industry in the flood zone, and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Friday warned oil and gas companies to be extremely cautious in starting up refineries that had been shut down as a result of the storm.

In Beaumont, conditions in two large shelters holding 1,400 storm survivors became so dodgy Friday that officials were forced to evacuate as many people as possible. The officials said they couldn't take care of people without access to water.

Many of Beaumont's 118,000 residents had tried to leave this week but had been blocked by high water when Harvey, still a tropical storm and making a second landfall, turned the city into an island. They had no choice but to turn back, often choosing to drive the wrong way on flooded Highway 90.Government resources for Beaumont appeared to be slow to arrive Friday, and tempers flared as people scoured grocery stores for whatever food was left.

"When you take water out of the picture, people start to panic a bit," said Halley Morrow, a police spokeswoman.

At the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, where 7,500 people have taken refuge, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported treating 420 people, many complaining of diarrhea or vomiting that could be associated with contaminated floodwater or a virus.

The convention center has seen a number of drug overdoses, and people have arrived seeking methadone, or other opioid-addiction treatments, and have been told that there are none available. CVS and Walgreens have set up mobile pharmacies there, with limited supplies of medication.

Statewide, tens of thousands of people have taken refuge in shelters. Countless more are dislocated, staying with friends, family and strangers. On Friday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for residents near the Addicks and Barker reservoirs to evacuate as the Army Corps of Engineers continues to release water from the reservoirs.

President Trump is scheduled to visit Texas and Louisiana on Saturday, and his trip is slated to include a stop in Houston, said his spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Texas is gradually switching from search-and-rescue mode to recovery mode. As of midday Friday, officials across Texas had recorded at least 45 deaths confirmed or suspected of being stormed related.

Gasoline, or the lack of it, has become a preoccupation, as motorists in many cities, even far from the major flood zone, have found stations sucked dry. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) blamed media reports about gas shortages and an ensuing rush on the filling stations.

"There's plenty of gasoline in the state of Texas," Abbott said. "Don't worry, we will not run out, and we will be back to our normal pattern before you know it."

The weather has cooperated late this week, with bright sunshine replacing days of downpour. A ridge of high pressure in the atmosphere should keep any developing tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico far away from Texas - an improved outlook since Thursday.

Most of the people who lost power in the storm now have it back. But American Electric Power, a Texas utility company, estimated that the cities of Rockport, Fulton and Aransas Pass would not have power fully restored until Sept. 8 - two weeks after Harvey first made landfall.

At least 185,000 homes had been damaged, according to the latest tally from the Texas Department of Public Safety, but that number does not include heavily affected Beaumont and densely populated Houston. Some 440,000 Texans have registered so far for FEMA disaster assistance, the governor's office said.

In Port Arthur, a city ringed by refineries, the floodwater that rose so dramatically earlier in the week, and which had required frantic evacuations, was taking its time to recede Friday. Some neighborhoods still had waist-deep water. Convenience stores and gas stations had started to reopen, and signs of normalcy began to appear under the harsh sun.

In the El Vista neighborhood, Paul Jackson said the water had dropped about a foot, though it was still up to his thighs.

"That's promising for us," said Jackson, 50, who has been living in a camper parked along the highway at the entrance to his neighborhood.

Some residents had begun getting texts from FEMA alerting them that they were eligible for free hotel room vouchers. Some in Beaumont managed to fly out of town after an initial attempt to leave by bus was stymied by high water. Others left shelters and returned home. A line of hundreds of cars snaked along a highway frontage road as motorists queued up for water being handed out by the city and donated by the Texas grocery chain H.E.B.

The city took on a ghostly quality. Grocery stores and restaurants appeared open at first glance, and in the evening were illuminated and seemed inviting. Motorists circled them, but there was no going inside. Store aisles were empty, the doors locked and protected by sandbags.

With no running water, there was little cooking that could be done, and no way for employees to wash their hands. No fresh produce or supplies could be delivered to Beaumont through the floodwaters encircling the city.

The odor of flood rot began to permeate the air.

Pamela Starks, 59, pushed her cart inside the Walmart Superstore, getting lucky enough to nab four cases of water.

"They got water?" another woman shopper asked anxiously.

"It's gone," Starks replied.

Outside, Angela Williams, 48, stood with her sister, son, daughter-in-law and two toddler grandchildren in the scorching sun. The family had been rescued from their flooded homes in Port Arthur three days earlier.

Their first shelter flooded. They moved to a second shelter, but there was no food and no water. Now they were crowded - 13 people all told - into the small home of a friend who also had no running water.

It was midafternoon and they had just had their first meal of the day: One doughnut for each person.

- - -

Frankel reported from Port Arthur, Texas, and Achenbach reported from Washington. Whitney Leaming in Houston; Lee Powell in Port Arthur, Texas; Jorge Ribas in Beaumont, Texas: Arelis R. Hernandez and Avi Selk in Houston; Eva Ruth Moravec in Austin; and Mark Berman, Wesley Lowery, Lindsey Bever, Steven Mufson, Brady Dennis, David Fahrenthold and Angela Fritz in Washington contributed to this report.
Lately, relations between the United States and Russia have seemed to take a page from Hammurabi: an eye for an eye, a consulate for a consulate.

Since December, the two countries have been engaged in an increasingly heated diplomatic tit-for-tat.

Last month, the Kremlin required the United States to trim its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people. (Trump initially thanked Putin for that demand, saying, "I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll. There's no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We'll save a lot of money.") As a result, Russians who want to visit the United States must wait much longer for visas. And now, they can only apply in Moscow.

This week, Trump administration officials ordered Russia to shutter its consulate in San Francisco and offices in Washington and New York. The country has 48 hours to comply. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has threatened a "tough response," and he suggested the move would further "spoil our relations with the United States." U.S. officials, for their part, said the decision simply brought "parity" between the two countries, noting that the United States and Russia now maintain the same number of consulates and diplomats in each country.

It all feels very Cold War (in 1986, in fact, the United States and the Soviet Union expelled each other's diplomats). But the tensions have much more to do with recent events. The United States and Russia are at an impasse over lots of things, including the wars in Ukraine and Syria. Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election. As a result, Trump signed a stepped-up sanctions bill earlier, a move that angered the Russians.

Here's a timeline:

Dec. 29, 2016: President Barack Obama expels dozens of Russian officials and orders two Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland to be closed in response to Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and harassment of American diplomats in Russia. The new measures also includes sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies and companies that are believed to have helped the government in its cyber-operations.

Dec. 30, 2016: Surprisingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin chooses not to retaliate against the United States - hoping to wait and see what direction then-President-elect Donald Trump will take.

April 12: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. At a joint news conference, they talk of improving U.S.-Russia relations.

May 10: Trump meets with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. The Washington Post would later report that Trump revealed highly classified information during the meeting.

June 15: A new sanctions bill against Russia is approved by the Senate. The measures include language that would prevent Trump from scaling back sanctions against Moscow without first seeking congressional approval. The bill goes to the House.

July 17: Russia continues to demand the return of its two diplomatic compounds in the United States. Lavrov calls it "robbery in broad daylight."

July 18: Trump meet Putin for the first time as president during the Group of 20 summit in Germany.

July 27: In a huge blow to warmer relations between the United States and Moscow, the Senate finally passes the Russia sanctions bill after the House approved it two days prior. The measures target Russia's defense, intelligence, energy, railways, metals and mining sectors.

July 28: In retaliation to the Russia sanctions bill, the Kremlin says it plans to seize two U.S. properties and orders a significant reduction of the U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia.

July 30: Putin orders the U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia to reduce their staff by 755 people in retaliation to the sanctions.

Aug. 2: Trump reluctantly signs a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia. In a statement, Trump calls the bill "seriously flawed."

Aug. 21: The U.S. Embassy stops issuing visas to Russians as a diplomatic spat worsens.

Aug. 31: The Trump administration orders three Russian diplomatic facilities in San Francisco, New York and Washington closed following the expulsion of American diplomats from Russia. The State Department said the facilities, which are smaller than the main Russian Embassy in Washington, must shut down on Sept. 2.
PARIS - As European leaders continued their push to curb a seemingly constant flow of migrants across the Mediterranean, it appeared that flow could be trickling to a halt regardless of their plans.

On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nation's migration agency, published data on recent arrivals in Europe. The figures took experts and analysts by surprise: compared with the 273,000 migrants who landed in August 2016, only a few more than 121,000 had arrived by the end of August 2017. Furthermore, there was also no evidence of any migrant dying in the Mediterranean since Aug. 9, the IOM reported.

The summer months - when waters are warmer and travel conditions are more auspicious - typically preside over spikes in the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers who make the often dangerous journey to Europe. In the past, the increase in traffic has usually been accompanied by a concomitant increase in fatalities en route, mostly to do with capsized boats and the lack of safety precautions taken by people smugglers.

Not so in August 2017, the data suggest. While the comparable lack of fatalities last month does not follow the figures for the rest of the year to date - during which more than 2,400 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far - these recent figures do suggest that the terms of a scenario that has long confounded European politicians may be changing.

Experts were quick to caution against any single explanation for the dip in both incoming arrivals and fatalities.

"It's hard to say," said Elizabeth Collett, the founding director of Migration Policy Institute Europe, a leading Brussels-based think tank on the issue. "We're essentially looking at a month's worth of a data - that doesn't tell us much about a longer-term trend."

The temporary decline in numbers, Collett added, could be a function of any number of factors, including a recently revamped Libyan coast guard, or changes in border operations in Niger, which has traditionally been a starting point for many migrants en route into Libya and then Europe.

She also said a network of militias on the ground in Libya - which has typically helped people smuggling in the past - appears to be working in conjunction with the country's transitional government to keep migrants in place, a deal apparently backed by the Italian government. The Associated Press, citing Libyan militia and security officials, reported this week that the Libyan government has paid militias for these activities.

The Italian Interior Ministry reported last month that the country has seen a major decrease in the number of incoming migrants. About 4,000 migrants have arrived since mid-July, a figure that represents about 20 percent of the incoming crowds processed in the same period in 2016, 2015 and 2014.

"The scale of the [migrant] flows is dependent on the goodwill of small armed groups being willing to cooperate. This suggests we're now reliant on small groups who see more profit in working with the transitional government and European governments," Collett said. "But that also puts the emphasis on power dynamics in the region."

Those dynamics, said Marco Funk, a migration specialist at the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based think tank, are anything but set in stone, and could change on a moment's notice.

"Those militias are looking for a benefit wherever they can find one," he said. "I question how sustainable this dip is. I don't expect it to be a long-term decline."

The IOM report ultimately came a day after seven European and African leaders met in Paris on Monday to address the ongoing migration crisis, with European leaders urging their African counterparts to step up efforts to stem the flow.

Hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the respective leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain met with their counterparts in Chad, Niger and Libya - the nations that compose the most common migrant route into Europe, most frequently onto Italian shores.

In general, the Europeans pledged significant developmental aid for these African nations, which have often served as transit points for migrants fleeing poverty and persecution. By stimulating job growth on the other side of the Mediterranean, European leaders hope, fewer migrants will then feel compelled to make the journey.

Another goal of the Paris meeting was that tightened border controls along this African migration route - as well as "hot spots" or reception centers - be established along the way. The idea behind these centers - long espoused by Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel - is to process the asylum claims of migrants and refugees before they come to Europe, instead of after they arrive.

While early forms of some of these proposals have already been put in place, analysts doubt their continued efficacy, noting that determined migrants will continue to find ways into Europe along other routes.

This was the case last year when the eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece was closed, Funk said. Other migrants then began using the central Mediterranean route that European leaders are now policing. There is evidence that a popular route could materialize in the western Mediterranean, with Spain a destination instead of Italy, he said.

According to IOM data, about three times as many migrants arrived by sea in Spain in August 2017 as arrived in August 2016. Joel Millman, a spokesman for the IOM, told the Agence France-Presse last month that the pivot toward the Iberian Peninsula is probably "due to the fact that the route is considered a safe route."

In Paris on Monday, Macron was quick to praise the Italian government's oversight of the Libyan coast guard. "What's been done by Italy and Libya is a perfect example of what we are shooting for," he said.

But migration experts insisted that the latest statistics do not indicate that a tenable solution has been found.

"In terms of policymaking, it means that European leaders can definitely not sit back and say the worst is over. Quite the opposite," Funk said. "The root causes of this phenomenon are as present as ever, and the search for solutions should continue."
President Donald Trump on Friday accused James Comey, the FBI director he abruptly fired in May, of exonerating Hillary Clinton before his agency's probe into her private email server was complete, taking to Twitter to charge there is "a rigged system."

"Wow, looks like James B. Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over . . . and so much more," Trump wrote in a morning tweet Friday. "A rigged system!"

The president seemed to be referring to a letter Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday.

In their letter, the senators wrote they had recently reviewed transcripts from interviews the Office of Special Counsel conducted last fall with FBI officials as part of its inquiry into Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation. The Office of Special Counsel is not associated with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, but an independent agency that investigates violations involving federal employees.

The examination of Comey's work, which was closed after he was ousted from his job, began after people voiced complaints about the then-FBI director's decision to reveal in late October that the Clinton email probe had resumed.

Because of redactions, the transcripts are somewhat murky. But they seem to show Comey's chief of staff, Jim Rybicki, and the principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw, Trisha Anderson, confirming that Comey first contemplated a statement about closing the Clinton case in April or May of 2016.

That was before agents had interviewed Clinton and others. Comey ultimately delivered a statement indicating he was recommending the case be closed without charges - but also lambasting Clinton and her aides for their carelessness in handling classified information - days after Clinton was interviewed in early July 2016.

It is not improper or unusual for investigators and prosecutors to begin discussing how to announce the resolution of a case before it is done, particularly when an investigation has stretched for many months and its conclusion is beginning to become clear. Doing so is typically a sign of preparation, rather than operating because a probe was rigged from the start. The Clinton investigation began in July 2015.

Grassley and Graham, though, suggested in their letter that discussion of Comey's statement before the investigation was completed was improper.

"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second - that's no way to run an investigation," the senators wrote. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."

Daniel Richman, a lawyer for Comey, declined to comment, as did the FBI. Anderson declined to comment, and Rybicki could not immediately be reached.

That the FBI was leaning against charges for Clinton or her aides before interviewing Clinton herself is not completely new, though the materials Grassley released offer glimpses into the behind-the-scenes discussions. The Washington Post had reported in May 2016 - before Clinton and others had talked to the FBI - that the investigation had so far found "scant evidence" that Clinton intended to break classification rules, though agents were still probing the case.

The New York Times also reported after the case had concluded that nine months into the probe, it "became clear to Mr. Comey that Mrs. Clinton was almost certainly not going to face charges." The Times reported that Comey then began working on talking points.

No matter when a statement is drafted, it is unusual for the FBI - rather than Justice Department prosecutors - to reveal the end of a case. The FBI often recommends to prosecutors whether agents believe someone should be charged, but it is typically prosecutors who make the ultimate decision and reveal that decision publicly.

Comey's statement, too, also offered criticism of Clinton. That is abnormal - and many lawyers have said improper - given that Clinton was not charged with a crime and thus had no opportunity to defend herself in court.

Comey has said publicly that he was moved to make the public statement in part because, not long before he did, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, aboard her plane at an airport in Phoenix in late June. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year that the airport meeting was "the thing that capped it for me that I had to do something separately to protect the credibility of the investigation." The transcripts that Grassley released somewhat call that into question, as Comey had apparently been contemplating his public statement a month before the tarmac meeting occurred.
The Trump administration's plan to slash spending on getting people to sign up for former President Barack Obama's health-care law will further undermine the law's already fragile health insurance markets, according to health experts, insurers and people who helped implement the law.

On Thursday, the Health and Human Services department said it would cut the Affordable Care Act's advertising budget by 90 percent, to $10 million, and would also reduce spending on groups that help customers find the appropriate insurance plan. The administration called the cuts necessary reductions for programs that have run their course and aren't efficient.

Those who have studied the law or helped run it say otherwise. They say such drastic reductions look like efforts to let the program wither, as Trump has threatened, two months before sign-ups open.

"It seems perfectly appropriate to review outreach efforts and see if they can be done more efficiently, but these cuts are quite large," said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group. "There's no doubt that cuts to outreach and advertising will result in more people uninsured."

Obamcare's markets, similar to other insurance pools, are designed around the idea that healthy people's premiums help subsidize the sick. Advertising helps attract those healthy people, said Sarah Gollust, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health who's studied the effects of marketing the health law.

"If the health-insurance marketplace ends up with more sicker people relative to healthier people, premiums would rise -- sending healthier people out of the marketplace and further exacerbating the problem of high costs for everyone," Gollust said in an email.

The Trump administration said the Obamacare ads are ineffective, though it hadn't formally studied them. Entering the law's fifth year of providing coverage, most people who would sign up are already aware of the law, administration officials told reporters on a call Thursday.

"Judging effectiveness by the amount of money spent and not the results achieved is irresponsible and unhelpful to the American people," said Caitlin Oakley, an HHS spokeswoman. Health insurance sign-ups under the law are scheduled to start on Nov. 1. This year, 12.2 million people enrolled in Obamacare plans through the state- and federal-run insurance markets.

Administration officials pointed to the fact that for 2017, even as spending on ads rose, enrollment ended up lower. The Trump administration, however, withdrew about $5 million of ads at the end of the 2017 sign-up period, which likely contributed to the enrollment decline.

The administration is also cutting funding for the "navigator" program, which provides funding to local groups to help individuals select ACA plans. The administration said the navigators received $62.5 million last year, while signing up 81,426 people, and funding for this year will be reduced by 39 percent.

Joshua Peck, who helped run the healthcare.gov website that's one of the main places people sign up for coverage, said that past study found the ads effective. Many potential enrollees weren't aware of the program, he said.

"Why does Coca-Cola still advertise?" said Peck, the former chief marketing officer for the health website. "There was a tremendous amount of documented evidence of the efficiency of these dollars."

Democrats, who have opposed President Donald Trump's calls to repeal or destabilize the law, criticized the move.

"SABOTAGE," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, minutes after the announcement.

"Certainly, it's not going to help," Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, D, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. "What we all agree is, we want more people in the insurance pools because that drives down the premiums."

The health insurance industry's trade group in Washington, America's Health Insurance Plans, also said effective federal support for the law was necessary.

"Effective education ensures that consumers understand their coverage options and encourages broader participation of healthy individuals," said Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman for the insurance group.

Meanwhile, states that run their own enrollment markets have already been spending their own money on promotion. California, for example, has proposed spending more than $100 million on getting people to sign up for next year.

Joe Antos, a health-care scholar at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said the administration was right to cut the spending. The law has struggles beyond the issue of advertising, he said -- health insurers have pulled out of the markets, and the ones that stayed in are in many cases raising premiums.

"Everybody that's going to sign up on the exchanges has already signed up," Antos said. "Without substantial change in the way the ACA operates, that's not going to change."

Trump has called the law a failure, and has said the threat of the law's demise could force Democrats to negotiate with him. Earlier this year, Republicans failed to repeal much of the law and replace it with their own, more limited program.

"As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!" Trump tweeted on July 18, about 10 days before the GOP repeal bill was scrapped after losing a key vote in the Senate.

The $10 million left in the advertising budget will go to "digital media, email, and text messages," since those methods "have proven the most effective in reaching existing and new enrollees," said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees much of the Affordable Care Act.

--With assistance from Hannah Recht
Demonstrators plan to gather Saturday beneath a thicket of concrete apartment towers rising from the mud in Moscow's unfashionable eastern outskirts. Their families are supposed to be living inside, but are among the owners of some 5,000 units they say the developer failed to complete on time. Some appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on YouTube.

"Help us get our homes," chanted one group who identified themselves as "deceived investors" in a recent video shot before tower blocks resembling a ghost town.

The sprawling development, Novokosino-2, is the most significant project of the Russian property firm IC Expert. The firm was to be the partner in a separate venture: Donald Trump's failed bid during the 2016 presidential campaign to launch Trump Tower Moscow, according to a statement given to congressional investigators this week and a person familiar with the effort. Trump's plans were revealed this week in correspondence from Trump's longtime business lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, in answering inquiries from investigators looking into Trump's connections with Russia. As a candidate, Trump said he had "nothing to do with Russia."

Trump and the company behind the suburban housing development would seem an odd pair. Novokosino-2, the Russian firm's signature project, with its towers cast in beige and brown, is built among car dealerships and shopping malls in gritty sprawl. It is miles away, geographically, economically and aesthetically, from the proposed site of the abortive Trump Tower development. That was to be built in the glitzy Moscow City district, home to Russia's tallest skyscrapers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week, noting that he had first heard of the plans only because of an email Cohen sent to a general Kremlin address in early 2016. The Trump Organization wanted its tower to reach higher than any of the others.

The never-completed tower deal isn't the only tie between the firms. The Russian developer's chairman survived the wreckage of one of the country's biggest real-estate collapses in 2008-9 amid the financial crisis, as did the broker who put the deal together for Trump.

IC Expert's chairman is a Russian businessman named Andrei Rozov. In 2008, Rozov served on the executive board of a Moscow real estate company called Mirax Group alongside a Russian-born U.S. citizen named Felix Sater, according to multiple Russian press reports at the time about the board appointments. The reports cited a Mirax press release.

Sater, who served as an FBI informant in the prosecution of reputed mobsters on Wall Street after pleading guilty to racketeering in 1998, is a longtime Trump business associate. He brokered the Trump Tower Moscow deal with IC Expert, according to the written statement Cohen gave congressional investigators this week. Rozov himself signed a Oct. 28, 2015 letter of intent for IC Expert on the deal, according to the person familiar with it. Donald Trump's was the signature for the other side, Cohen told investigators.

Cohen said he pulled the plug on the deal in February 2016 after he didn't get any response to the email he had addressed to Peskov seeking Kremlin assistance in pushing the project forward.

Reached by phone at IC Expert's office, a company official declined this week to discuss any possible business IC Expert may have had with Trump and said Rozov has been unreachable since news of the deal was made public.

Mirax, where Rozov and Sater served together on the executive board, was headed by a Russian billionaire and property developer named Sergei Polonsky. At the height of his wealth, Polonsky's larger-than-life persona and braggadocio often drew comparisons to Trump in the media.

Mirax ran into debt troubles after the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Polonsky tried to build Europe's tallest skyscraper in the heart of Moscow. In July, he was convicted of fraud by a Moscow court, but he was released because the statute of limitations had expired.

Polonsky didn't respond to an emailed request for comment.

Novokosino-2, the housing project for Rozov's current company, IC Expert, was drawing controversy in local news reports even as the Trump Organization was signing its deal to develop and build the Moscow tower with the firm. "People started protesting back in 2015 but we see nothing is happening, the promises aren't being fulfilled," said Anton Goryainov, one of the protest organizers.

The IC Expert official confirmed there had been construction delays but said the firm was working to finish the remaining apartments.

Though the original completion date was 2015, much of the area still resembles a construction site. Ground hasn't yet been broken on a school and kindergarten that were to be part of the project, though officials promise those for next year, according to a report in July on the local television station.

Buyers remain skeptical. "Some people have been practically living at the construction site, they were given keys to unfinished buildings," said Yevgeny Kuts when reached by phone this week. He's been renting an apartment for his family while they wait for the apartment they bought in the complex that was originally promised in 2015. "Tens of thousands of people have been deceived," he says.

IC Expert's construction partner on the housing project also is headed by a man who has long drawn comparisons to Trump in the press. The Moscow-based building firm is called the Avanti Stroi Group, and its website says it's owned by "entrepreneur, statesman and philanthropist Umar Dzhabrialov." Dzhabrialov, 59, is the chairman of the Russian-Qatar Business Council, ran unsuccessfully for the Russian presidency in 2000 and later held a seat in the upper house of parliament. He first drew notoriety in the West two decades ago following the murder of his American business partner in Moscow's Radisson Hotel, an Oklahoman named Paul Tatum.

In Moscow this week, Dzhabrailov was at another hotel, the Four Seasons, just off Red Square. Police detained him late on Tuesday after he allegedly fired a handgun into the ceiling in his room, according to Russian news agencies. Police encountered no resistance from Dzhabrailov or any of his numerous bodyguards, according to TASS, the state-owned Russian news service. He has been charged with "hooliganism." In an interview with Russia's REN-TV this week, he said he regretted the incident.

Cohen, the lawyer for the Trump Organization, told investigators his decision to drop Trump Tower Moscow was made from "solely a business standpoint" and had nothing to do with Trump's campaign. "I did not ask or brief Mr. Trump, or any of his family, before I made the decision to terminate further work on the proposal," Cohen said in the two-page statement. "The Trump Tower Moscow proposal was not related in any way to Mr. Trump's presidential campaign."

Cohen, at Sater's behest, sent an email in mid-January 2016 to Peskov, Putin's press secretary, "since the proposal would require approvals within the Russian government that had not been issued," according to the Cohen statement. "Those permissions were never provided," Cohen said. His email was addressed to Peskov and sent to a general account at his office for press inquiries.

Peskov confirmed the Kremlin received the email seeking help with a building but said it never responded.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported this week on details of emails from Sater to Cohen about the project in late 2015, after Trump had launched his bid for the White House. "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it," Sater wrote in an email, the Times reported. "I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process," he wrote in an apparent reference to the real estate project.

Sater's project with IC Expert was separate from earlier efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, including one that dated to 2013, when Trump visited the Russian capital for a Miss Universe pageant. Russian developer Aras Agalarov paid $20 million to bring the beauty spectacle there. About a third of that sum went to Trump in the form of a licensing fee, according to Forbes magazine.

Trump also discussed plans for a Moscow tower with Agalarov, but they were shelved months later as the market cooled, Agalarov has said. The beauty pageant is one of several Russia-linked Trump deals that are under investigation by Robert Mueller, the U.S. Special counsel investigating possible ties between the campaign and Russia, Bloomberg reported in July.
TOKYO - The world's Pacific bluefin tuna won something of a reprieve Friday, when tuna-fishing countries reached an agreement to gradually rebuild severely depleted stocks while still allowing nations like Japan to catch and consume the delicacy.

Japan - by far the world's biggest consumer of bluefin, eating about 80 percent of the global haul in the $42 billion tuna industry - had been resisting new rules, while conservationists were warning about the commercial extinction of bluefin in the Pacific Ocean.

Proponents of limits hailed the deal as a compromise that everyone could live with.

"It's definitely a good first step towards the recovery of the species," said James Gibbon, global tuna conservation officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "But it is only the first step. There are a lot of commitments that the countries agreed to, and we need to make sure they stick to them."

At the week-long meeting in Busan, South Korea, the two bodies charged with shared management of Pacific bluefin - the northern committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission - hammered out a plan to try to put the fish back on a path to sustainability. Countries represented at the meeting included the United States, Canada, China, South Korea and Japan.

Pacific bluefin stocks have become so endangered that its population has been depleted by more than 97 percent from its historic high, down to just 2.6 percent of that level, due to overfishing.

At the meeting, the two organizations agreed to a target to rebuild tuna stocks to 20 percent of historic levels by 2034, the minimum level that scientists consider necessary to protect the species.

If the chances of meeting the 2034 rebuilding target fall below 60 percent, the parties agreed to immediately reduce their catch levels. Over the next seven years, countries' catch quotas could only be increased if there was a 75 percent chance of meeting the new goal.

The groups also agreed develop a "catch documentation scheme" by 2020 to try to stop illegally caught Pacific bluefin from entering the international market.

Both Japan and Mexico have exceeded their annual bluefin fishing for the 2017 fishing year, which ended in June, and Japan's Fisheries Agency estimated that more than 100 tons had been caught illegally or without being reported. Japan's domestic limits on fishing are entirely voluntary.

"What makes Japan different from many other countries is that Japan has so many small-scale fishermen and the government hasn't been able to find a way to control them," said Aiko Yamauchi, director of the oceans group at WWF Japan.

Pacific bluefin is particularly prized in Japan for its fatty underbelly, called "otoro," which sells for as much as $23 a piece at Michelin-starred sushi restaurants in Tokyo.

Chefs at Tokyo's top sushi restaurants are concerned about the prospect of their supplies vanishing.

"Tuna stocks are diminishing and it's a major problem," said Katsumi Honda, master chef at Irifune, one of Tokyo's most famous raw tuna joints. "Stronger regulations on fishing is the way to go. Prices would most certainly go up and that would be a big worry for us, but preserving tuna stocks is a good thing for a long term."

But Japanese fishermen have resisted limits and tighter regulation.

Going into the meeting, Japan's Fisheries Agency had contended that replenishment goals could be met through a new rule introduced last year that sought to halve the annual catch of juvenile bluefin, or tuna weighing less than 66 pounds, to increase the egg-laying adult bluefin tuna population.

But Japan itself hadn't been sticking to this rule, and its delegates came under sustained pressure both from other countries and from its own media to agree to the new targets.

That made the new rules imperative, said Yamauchi of WWF. "There's no other resource that is as terribly depleted as the Pacific bluefin tuna, so there's no time to wait."

Japanese authorities have been trying to placate the fishing industry by telling them to agree to the new rules as there were ways to ease them later, said Toshio Katsukawa, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology

The Japanese fishing industry has also pinned some of its hopes on President Donald Trump, noting that he does not place a high priority on protecting the environment, he said.

"But if Japan truly wants to protect fishermen, they really should work hard to rebuild the tuna stocks, even if the fishermen had to go through hard times in the process," Katsukawa said. "After all, it's the fishermen who'd be hardest-hit if the tuna were wiped out."

---

The Washington Post's Yuki Oda contributed reporting.
Washington

The Trump administration ordered Russia on Thursday to close its consulate in San Francisco and two diplomatic annexes, in New York and Washington, in a carefully calculated riposte to Russia's order that the United States cut its diplomatic staff in Russia.

The tit-for-tat move, which Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson conveyed to Russia's foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in a morning phone call, bore all of the hallmarks of a Cold War-era grudge match. But the administration seemed eager to contain the fallout, casting the move as a straightforward return to diplomatic parity between the countries rather than the latest volley in an increasingly combative relationship.

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians," the State Department's spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said in a statement, the U.S. would require Russia to close the three offices by Saturday.

Russia's reaction was similarly measured. The Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov "expressed regret at the escalation of tension in bilateral relations" and said that the Russian government would study the move before deciding how to respond. Russia's new ambassador to the United States, who arrived Thursday in Washington, was quoted by a state news agency as saying Moscow would respond without "hysterical outbursts."

"It's necessary to calmly sort things out," said the ambassador, Anatoly I. Antonov. "It's necessary to act calmly and professionally."

The administration's response had been expected for the past month, since Russia ordered the U.S. Mission to cut its staff by 755 people  a sign of its displeasure after Congress imposed sanctions because of Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The State Department's announcement seemed calculated to send a firm signal without deepening the rift. The administration is not expelling any Russian diplomats from the United States, nor is it touching the staff at the Russian Embassy in Washington.

"It is an important and needed response, but it is not proportionate," said Michael A. McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration. "The dismissal of 755 employees has a much greater impact on our diplomatic operations in Russia than this action has on Russian operations in the United States."
RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Terry McAuliffe struck a softer tone on Confederate monuments Thursday, two weeks after urging Virginia's cities and state legislature to move them to museums or graveyards.

McAuliffe, D, repeated his calls for removal - "Move 'em to museums. Move 'em to battlefields. Move 'em to cemeteries. Put a bunch in the Hollywood Cemetery" - but also said that is not likely to be a priority given the cost.

"Listen, if I'm the mayor of Richmond or I'm on the City Council, I'm faced with a tough decision," he said on WRVA radio's "Ask the Governor" program. "Do I spend - I don't know, $5 [million] or $10 million - taking something down when I got schools - I'll tell you my first priority has got to be schools, because I got to get people employed."

He also indicated he would be satisfied with adding "context" to statues, such as plaques, as Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney proposed in July for Confederate statues that line the city's Monument Avenue.

"Let's go ahead and put some context to these things and move forward," McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe's shift buoyed Virginia Republicans, who have largely been forced to play defense on monuments in this year's race for governor, despite polling showing that a majority of Virginians want Confederate statues to stay put - the position GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie has staked out in his race against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, D.

A string of GOP missteps - from President Donald Trump's widely panned response to deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, to a state Republican Party tweet that seemed to call Northam a "race traitor" for supporting removal - seemed to keep Gillespie from capitalizing on the issue.

On Thursday, McAuliffe's remarks on his radio program gave Republicans hope that Northam would be left out on a limb on the issue.

"McAuliffe Breaks From Northam On Historical Statues," the Republican Party of Virginia said in a news release.

McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor had not flipped on monuments but had simply acknowledged "budgetary reality."

"You can support the relocation of these things but also recognize there are many other urgent priorities that these governments have," he said. "He agrees his first responsibility is to the living and breathing."

At least some Democratic officials expressed concern that both Northam and McAuliffe were too quick to stake out hard-line positions in the wake of Charlottesville. Northam came out for moving statues Aug. 16, four days after the Charlottesville rally that claimed three lives. Stoney and McAuliffe followed hours later.

"They got caught up a little in the excitement over Charlottesville and the need to do something, and maybe even the mistaken belief that everybody realized that the Confederate monuments are all about white supremacy. I believe they are, but I don't think all Virginians agree with that," said one Democratic elected official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as criticizing party leadership.

Northam and McAuliffe - like Gillespie - acknowledge that the governor does not have the power to order removal under state law. Cities have jurisdiction over their own statues in most cases. The governor would have some say over state-owned statues, such as the likeness of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee towering over Richmond's Monument Avenue, but the legislature would have to approve removal.

Northam pledged to be a "vocal advocate" for removal and "do everything that I can . . . to remove the statues at the state level."

When asked specifically about the Stonewall Jackson monument at his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute, Northam told the New York Times that removal would be up to the board. As governor, Northam appoints the members of VMI's governing board, and his appointees would have control by the end of his term.

"I wouldn't say we have walked back the language at all," Northam spokesman David Turner said.

He said Northam is not concerned about polling showing that 51 percent of Virginia voters favor keeping the monuments in public spaces while 28 percent favor removal.

"There are obviously political consequences of every decision. but this is a conviction for him that it's the right thing to do," Turner said. "Charlottesville spurred a conversation about these monuments and what their role was in the public sphere. After Charlottesville happened, I think every official probably had a reckoning over what does it mean that they've become rallying points for neo-Nazis and white supremacists."

However, the subject is clearly not one Northam wants to dominate his campaign.

"There's been a focus on this issue that I think is disproportionate to what voters have voiced concern about in terms of issues that are important in Virginia," Turner said.

Gillespie, meanwhile, has embraced the theme of protecting Confederate statues.

In an email to supporters this week, his campaign said, "Add your name if you agree with Ed Gillespie that these statues should stay right where they are and we should teach history - NOT erase it."

---

Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report.
KLEIN, Texas - The water was rising, the rescue truck was coming, and now Dale Crumbaugh had five minutes to decide: what to bring?

He was 75 years old. Medicine, he thought. He began stuffing it all in a blue satchel. His inhaler with three shots left. Pills for blood pressure. Pills for diabetes. The sleep apnea machine.

He looked out the window and saw a man in a swimsuit wading toward him.

He grabbed his vial of nitroglycerin pills, in case he had a heart attack. His pocket knife, in case he had to cut himself loose from something. His cellphone.

The swimsuit man was at his door, yelling for him to come out.

He had been reading three novels a week since his wife died. He put a paperback in the satchel, hooked the satchel to his walker, and waded into the water.

In house after house, day after day, and even now as new flooding forces more evacuations across swaths of southeast Texas, the question came, and usually it came suddenly: What to bring? What do you bring when water is flooding in, when a boat is waiting, when you don't know whether you're about to have to swim for your life, much less come home again?

A week after Hurricane Harvey blew into Texas, the answer could be found in shelters spread across Houston, in little piles next to cots and air mattresses, in zip-top bags and garbage bags and still-damp leather purses and canvas backpacks, and on a table in a dining hall where Dale Crumbaugh put the only thing he had left, the blue satchel full of medicine.

"There were so many things, I couldn't think of one thing. I think I was in a dream it wouldn't happen," he said, sitting at a place called the Klein Multi-Purpose Center, a vast beige school building north of Houston that had become a shelter for more than 300 displaced people. Now the cellphone he saved rang.

"Yep," he said to his stepson in California, who was asking about what was lost to the water. "Lot of tchotchkes your mom had. Yep. That cubby of stuff she had that was all feathery? Yeah. . . ."

Across the shelter, people who had arrived wet and dripping were taking such inventories. Someone brought a Bible. Many brought insurance papers in plastic bags, cellphones and toothbrushes. A young woman who had been on a secret rendezvous with her boyfriend when the hurricane hit arrived with flip-flops and perfume in a purse wrapped in two garbage bags. Another woman had thought about bringing her diamond bracelet but took it off at the last moment, deciding, "It's just a bunch of rocks someone said had value." She put her dog in a cooler and floated her out into the water toward a rescue boat.

As a boat waited at their front door, Darlene Marshall's husband grabbed her high-heeled sandals and stuffed them in a laundry bag along with his work boots. "I said, 'Why did you do that?' " said Marshall, whose husband was now trying to make his way back to their flooded house.

She was standing next to their air mattress, where there was a laundry bag with the shoes and a pink floral purse she had stuffed full and dropped into a scented white garbage bag that she had not yet thrown away. Now she looked inside her purse.

"Two iPads, my wallet, my phone, chargers. Benadryl, because he was already sick," she said, looking at her son, 11-year-old Bear, on his smaller air mattress.

In her final minutes before the boat arrived at her apartment, Nikki Davis had yelled at her four kids, "Nothing fancy!" and filled two zip-top bags with a bottle of lotion, toothpaste, toothbrushes, her kids' birth certificates and her marriage license. At the last possible moment, she thought about the two boarding passes for a Carnival cruise she and her husband had finally saved enough money to buy. She zipped them in.

"I know, it seems strange," she said of the passes, on which were depicted a ship sailing through blue waters.

"My mind was everywhere," said her husband, Joseph, who had only brought his vape and a vape charger, which were now in his shirt pocket.

The water overwhelmed. Susan Carnes found herself doing things that now seemed absurd. As the water was rising, she put towels under the front door. As it rose higher, she put a cake on a higher counter. Finally, with boats circling her neighborhood, she and her husband realized it was time to go.

In the last minutes, she swept the contents of an upstairs bathroom counter - soap, shampoo, toothpaste - into a trash bag that her husband then wrapped in a trench coat. As her mind flashed forward to the future, she tossed in some lipstick - "because if I have nothing left, at least I can put some lipstick on," she said - and then her mind focused on the small boat motoring up to her door. She thought about her still-stranded neighbors, and the man who was literally swimming toward her, and she decided she would bring nothing else.

"I didn't want to take up room for humanity with things," she said now, still sleepless and dazed, sitting in the dining room of the Klein center wearing red-orange lipstick and donated clothes. A large-screen television blared nonstop news of the flood, and she began remembering what she had forgotten.

"I left my wedding ring in a little box on the counter in the bathroom," she said. Then she remembered what she was always thinking about before the hurricane, and had somehow forgotten in the rush to get out: that she had breast cancer. "I was supposed to be having surgery today," she said.

Nearby, Carol Casto sat next to her air mattress, where she had no belongings other than her dachshund, Sophie, asleep in a crate. The water came so fast and the boat so suddenly that she had "less than 30 seconds" to decide what to bring. She had grabbed her purse and stuffed it with the dog's medication, her own medication, her wallet, cellphone and car keys - all of which, including Sophie, soon floated away when the boat that had rescued them capsized in the surging waves.

Casto had climbed up on a roof then and waited for an hour, holding nothing at all but her own arms because she was shivering.

"I could barely see anyone because of the trees," she said, remembering how alone she felt in that moment. "I could barely hear anything because of the water."

A boat came, and a truck came, and a volunteer from somewhere had saved Sophie, and now what Casto had was the donated clothes she was wearing, and the donated mattress she had been sleeping on, and the donated blankets that had covered her for the last four nights.

"You need anything?" a volunteer asked her now, and the answer was that she needed everything.
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Shelter populations dwindled across the Houston area on Thursday as floodwaters receded in many neighborhoods, allowing displaced residents to survey damage to their homes and begin considering next steps.

Facilities that had been overwhelmed with too many people, too few cots and too little food in the early days of Tropical Storm Harvey settled into a more organized chaos.

Downtown, at Houston's largest shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center, city officials and volunteers - laden with more donations than they knew what to do with - turned their attention to connecting flood victims to counseling, free transportation and temporary housing.

"Almost as urgently as we set up this, we have to be moving with the same level of urgency to get people into short-term housing, or if they have a long-term solution, getting them into a long-term housing solution," said Houston Housing Director Tom McCasland, who opened the shelter in 30 minutes Sunday morning.

Red Cross criticism

Houston's shelters - and particularly the Red Cross - have come under fire throughout Harvey for not having enough supplies to serve the evacuees streaming through their doors.

By sunrise Sunday, when much of the Houston area awoke under water, one of the city's two Red Cross shelters was not accepting evacuees - too much flooding - and the other had only 200 cots for what turned out to be more than 2,000 people.

After Mayor Sylvester Turner decided early Sunday to open the convention center, it took several hours for Red Cross volunteers to arrive, soaking wet in the back of a dump truck. Cots did not come until after dark, and shortages persisted for days.

Such problems are not new to the organization, which has been criticized for understaffing and mismanaging shelters during several recent disasters, from Louisiana to New York.

The Red Cross has said the widespread flooding caused by Harvey made it difficult to deliver additional supplies.

"Often, weather events come, hit hard, and leave quickly," Red Cross spokeswoman MaryJane Mudd said in an email. "Hurricane Harvey came and hovered over the city very hard for an extended time, making it difficult for our pre-arranged, available shelter items to get to some locations."

Spurred by Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the organization closed some outlying shelters Thursday and bused evacuees to a new facility in south Houston's NRG Center, which is owned by the county.

"The ideal would be if people find a friend, a neighbor, a relative to stay with, and if they can't, then we're going to move everybody down to NRG where they have services, because these small shelters don't have these things," Emmett said. "Of course, this is a case where most people do not want to be in a shelter very long."

More than 1,200 people were sheltered at NRG as of Thursday afternoon, while the George R. Brown's population dropped to about 3,800 as evacuees sought alternate housing.

LIVE MAP: Where you can do the most good





To stay with friends

Vicki Morse watched for her ride Thursday outside the shelter at NRG Center, eager to take her family to a friend's place on Hillcroft to stay for a while.

"We're blessed enough to have somewhere to go. Where we live, you can't even see the roof of the house," said Morse, whose neighborhood in Coldspring, north of Houston, is known as "The Bottoms" because it lies below the Lake Livingston dam.

At George R. Brown, empty cots dotted the convention center's halls, as parents carrying babies and diapers, elderly in wheelchairs and couples on their phones waited in lines to sign up for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At one end of the building, volunteers and city staff worked with those who had received their FEMA approval numbers to arrange transportation and, perhaps, a hotel stay.

"How do I check the status?" Valery Bailey asked her sister, trying to figure out if FEMA had signed off on the application she submitted the day before.

Bailey's home filled with some three feet of water through the weekend, leaving behind closets now growing mold.

Bailey, 33, sighed and sat down next to her husband, Henry Woods.

"It's asking for a PIN they sent to me by email, and I can't even find the email," she said to Woods. "I could've sworn they sent me an email."

Woods could not find the message either.

FEMA as of Thursday afternoon had received more than 364,000 applications for aid from Harvey's victims and had approved $66.4 million in aid for more than 103,000, a process that typically takes a day or two. Thousands have been moved into hotel rooms.

"You've got to kind of go through step by step," Woods said. "It takes a toll on a person."

In the meantime, the couple had cots at the downtown shelter, but they planned to venture back to the northeast for the night, to stay at Bailey's grandmother's place.

"It's more comfortable there probably," she said.

For those without temporary housing options, the city is focused on identifying alternatives, such as Airbnb.

Helping the most needy

Homeless service agencies and the Houston Housing Authority also were manning tables at the convention center to aid some of the shelter's most needy.

"We have to put ourselves in the shoes of home-owners who have been displaced, in the shoes of people who are in shelters. What would we want to see happen if we were in that situation?" Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday. "We're not going to be evaluated on what happened leading up to or while we were in the storm. We're going to be evaluated by what happened when the storm passed and people are now trying to transition."

McCasland, the city's housing director, aims by the weekend to estimate the number of Houston homes that flooded during Harvey. He also wants to prevent buildings that have flooded repeatedly - such as Greenspoint's federally subsidized Arbor Court's apartments - from rebuilding in a flood zone.

"I don't mean to be trite here, but this is a crisis that cannot be wasted," McCasland said.

Mihir Zaveri and Nancy Sarnoff contributed to this report.
More Information

The following is a listing of school districts and the latest information on openings:

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD

Officials in Cypress-Fairbanks will announce when school will start no later than 3 p.m. Friday, according to a blog post from Superintendent Mark Henry. He said most of the schools were spared severe damage, but several remained inaccessible due to flooded roads.

Henry has asked staff members to fill out a survey about whether they were affected by the storm and if they could return to work as early as Tuesday.

Katy ISD

"While it is anticipated that schools will re-open next week, the safety of students traveling to and from our schools, along with ensuring the safety of campus building structures, is our number one priority," said Superintendent Lance Hindt. He said he will update students on a start date later this week.

Creech Elementary, Beck Jr High and Bear Creek Elementary are expected to have water damage, according to a district spokeswoman.

Spring Branch ISD

Did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment.

Clear Creek ISD

Did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment.

Sheldon ISD

The majority of schools in Sheldon ISD sustained flood damage, although officials do not yet have a firm number on how many were spoiled. Officials hired experts to walk the buildings Friday to provide a more detailed assessment. A spokesman said many buildings and campuses took on "lots of water."

Sheldon ISD's superintendent will make a decision about when to start school over the weekend.

Humble ISD

Humble Independent School District's first day of school will be Thursday, Sept. 7, "under the best-case scenario."

In an announcement Wednesday night, the district stated the first day of school will be delayed as staff members assess each campus and work with authorities to determine when roads will open.

"Humble ISD will provide an update, including information about when staff may report back, by noon this Saturday, Sept. 2," reads the statement. "The district is working around the clock to reopen for the well-being of students, families and our community."

Alief ISD

Alief ISD officials say they were fortunate to sustain no sizable damage to any of its campuses. There were a couple of small roof leaks, said district spokesman Craig Eichhorn, but the water was cleaned. Principals are now reaching out to teachers to see if they will be able to come back to their classrooms on Tuesday.

Pasadena ISD

Pasadena ISD won't know the full extent of the damage to its campuses until late Friday. As of right now classes will resume Tuesday, said district spokesman Art DelBario, but that could change if more damage is discovered.

Channelview ISD

Channelview ISD schools remain on schedule to start Tuesday, a spokesman said.

Tomball ISD

Officials did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment.

Spring ISD

The districts maintenance team inspected each of the district's 38 schools and found no major damage. The only flooding was at the gymnasium in Anderson Elementary School, though the main part of the campus remained dry. The carpet is being removed from the gymnaisum and the floor will be cleaned on Friday.

The district plans to reopen schools on Tuesday, but must check in with teachers to ensure they can all report to work then.

La Porte ISD

La Porte ISD will resume school on Wednesday, Sept. 6. Employees are to report to work on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Miracously, the La Porte school district located on the northern tip of Galveston Bay was spared significant damage, although La Porte High School took on a small amount of water.

"We do have some wind-driven water at LPHS that came in from the courtyard area, which we consider to be minor," the district wrote on its website. "The greatest impact to La Porte High School is in the original area where the associate and assistant principals currently have offices. As in years past, this area has taken on water. Instructional spaces appear to be fine."

There were also some roof leaks, espeically at Jennie Reid Elementary, where skylights created some issues.

College Park Elementary experienced a damaged electrical distribution system, and the necessary replacement gear must be delivered and will not be able to be done until the roads are clear. The district said it will notify parents when they have a better timeline for that fix.

La Porte ISD will resume school on Wednesday, Sept. 6. Employees are to report to work on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Aldine ISD

District officials here are still assessing the damage at their 76 schools but say they have so far found nothing major, said Mike Keeney, a district spokesman. He said he has been told of no major structural damage so far and the district expects to have checked each school by Friday. He said he has not been told when school could start up again, but said it will be tweeted out.

Alvin ISD

Schools at Alvin ISD sustained minor damage from leaks and has some cleanup work to do, but nothing that will prohibit students from returning to school soon, said Daniel Combs, Assistant Superintendent Professional Learning and Student & Community Engagement. He said officials at the 29-school district are planning to have students in school Tuesday, but district staff will reassess that prospect Friday.

Pearland ISD

The schools at Pearland ISD's 23 campuses had minimal damage, said Kim Hocott, the district's executive director of communications. She said one school had an inch or two of water in one hallway, which was easily cleaned up. "We're good, we are so more fortunate than some around us," she said. Pearland expects to call students back to school Tuesday, but will make an official announcement on those plans Friday.

Friendswood ISD

Friendswood ISD plans to reopen Tuesday, Tuesday, Sept 5, according to a recording at the school district.

Strafford MSD

Stafford MSD has no damage to its four-school campus and expects to open its doors to classes until at least Tuesday, said Michael Sudhalter, the district's communications coordinator. School officials were still uncertain when it would call students back to school, although its middle school has been used first as a temporary shelter and then a distribution center handing out donations. People are encouraged to visit the school campus to pick up anything they need, such as food, clothes and toiletries until 6 p.m. Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Friday.

Dickinson ISD

Only one elementary school and a building that houses the Dickson ISD's employee daycare sustained any flood damage, and in both cases were minimal, said Tammy Dowdy, XXXX. Although the district is home to 13 schools, roof leaks, soggy carpets and minor damage were only found in those two buildings, she said. The school board will have an emergency meeting Thursday night and is expected to discuss when to bring students back to school.

Lamar CISD

The district is still scheduled to open Sept. 5

Fort Bend ISD

Fort Bend ISD schools will not open until Sept. 11 at the earliest, according to a district spokeswoman, although central district staff will report back Sept. 5. Several of the district's campuses remain inaccessible, but officials said they did not see the same level of damage as some of its neighboring districts.

Conroe ISD

A district spokeswoman said none of the ISD's campuses sustained any major damage and will welcome back students on Sept. 5.
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BEAUMONT--Surrounded by water after Tropical Storm Harvey dumped almost three feet of rain in a day, Beaumont's 120,000 residents woke up Thursday with no running water and dubious prospects for its quick restoration.

"Beaumont is basically an island," Mayor Becky Ames said, referring to one of the worst disasters created by Harvey.

Pumps at both sources of water for the city's treatment plant - the Neches River and wells in Hardin County to the north - became inoperable after they were covered by water from rising floodwaters shortly after midnight Thursday, officials said.

Although they were working on setting up another pumping station, officials would not offer a time line for the return of water service or the establishment of water distribution sites around the city.

THE LATEST: Recovery efforts, other developments in Harvey's wake

City Manager Kyle Hayes said crews wouldn't be able to get a look at the pumps and determine if they were damaged until the Neches recedes on Monday or Tuesday. The river is expected to crest in Beaumont at 18.4 feet on Saturday.

Now Playing: A Coast Guard aircrew conducts a rooftop rescue in support of Hurricane Harvey near Beaumont, Texas, Aug. 31, 2017. The Coast Guard is working with federal, state and local agencies to continue to respond to rescue requests. (U.S. Coast Guard Courtesy video) Video: Houston Chronicle

Residents were left scrambling for water at a handful of stores that were open with few options for getting out of town.

Nearly 350 Texas roadways are flooded, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, and officials were begging people to stay off the roads.

Beaumont received historically high rainfall over the past five days, with as much as 45 inches on the west side, according to Jefferson County Drainage District No. 6.

Heavy rainfall caused the Neches to overflow its banks and swamp the main pump station, which provides 70 percent of the city's water, shortly after midnight.

Shelters across Southeast Texas, already overpopulated and under-supplied, started planning to relocate flood victims to shelters in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, according to people staying at the Beaumont Civic Center.

Beaumont resident Joe Freddie, who has been at the civic center for three days, said he would welcome the move.

"I'd definitely rather be somewhere with water," Freddie said.

The Southeast Texas death toll from Harvey rose to six on Thursday. A woman died after being pulled from rushing waters with her 3-year-old daughter clinging to her side on Tuesday. A second woman, who was found on the city's low-lying North End early Wednesday, has not been identified.

Beaumont police announced a third flooding-related fatality on Thursday morning but would release no details.

Outside Beaumont, a third person was reported dead after her car was swept Texas 87 south of Newton. On Tuesday night, two people were killed in Jasper County when a tree fell on their truck.

On Thursday, conditions seemed to worsen. Residents left their homes on the first sunny day in many to stand in Great Depression-era style lines in a desperate quest for water. And Baptist Hospital evacuated its 193 patients,

Ann Patterson got in line at Wal-Mart about 5 am., only to be turned away. She later stood in line at a Dollar General to get paper plates and plastic cups.

Hundreds of cars snaked along both directions of Martin Luther King Parkway hoping to make it into the turnaround by the Southeast Texas Food Bank, where volunteers were loading 1,800 cases of water into cars.

Donald Stagg, director of operations, said the magnitude of the crisis was visible from the line.

"At two cases per car, we're able to help 900 families," Staff said.

Swagatika Patra, a recent Lamar University graduate, could see the line from her apartment building and came over to volunteer.

"At first there was an excess of water," Patra said of the flooding. "But now there's not enough."
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Donning blue work gloves and dispensing hugs, Vice President Mike Pence cleared storm debris and comforted Texans grappling with the aftermath of Harveys destruction on Thursday, bringing a more personal touch to the hurricane zone than President Donald Trump did during his visit two days earlier.

Sleeves rolled up, Pence briefly walked door-to-door in Rockport, a small tourist town where Harvey first slammed ashore as a Category 4 hurricane. The extent of the ruin could be measured in the mounds of black garbage bags heaped outside nearly every home, and Pence  wearing jeans and cowboy boots  worked up a sweat in the 90-degree heat as he helped clear tree limbs at one boarded-up residence.

Were going to stay with you every step until we bring Southeast Texas back bigger and better than ever before, Pence promised the crowd that gathered at a church blown wide open by Harveys force. The vice presidents wife, Karen Pence, offered a prayer seeking blessings for those affected by the storm. Pence also visited Victoria.

The remnants of Hurricane Harvey carried its wrath up the Mississippi Delta on Thursday, but not before hammering the Gulf Coast with more punishing cloudbursts and growing threats that included reports of pops and chemical reactions at a crippled chemical plant and the collapse of the drinking water system in Beaumont.

In Harveys aftermath, authorities confronted crises on other fronts also. Houston remained flooded, and police there continued rescuing people from the water while officials searched homes. To the east, the water rose so high and so fast that people had to rush from their homes in Orange.

In Crosby, about 30 miles northeast of Houston, alarming reports emerged about the danger posed by a chemical plant operated by French company. The plants operators, which earlier Thursday reported explosions, later said they believe at least one valve popped there.

By Thursday afternoon, hours after the reports of chemical reactions at the plant, the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, along with local fire and emergency management officials, said no hazardous materials appear to have threatened surrounding areas. Still, officials offered differing accounts regarding what had occurred at the Crosby plant.

Amid the worrying reports in Crosby, other areas ravaged by the storm confronted lingering flooding and the misery Harvey left behind. The storms fury was also far from over to the east and beyond, as flash flood watches were posted as far away as southern Ohio.

Orange and other small Texas communities were rendered islands as Harvey dumped record amounts of rain. Interstate 10, which runs close by, was closed to everyone but volunteers in pickups with boats and emergency personnel. Two to three feet of water covered parts of the interstate.

Particularly hard-hit was the coastal city of Port Arthur, which local officials said is now largely underwater. Officials estimated that water had entered a third of the citys buildings.

Other cities emerged from pummeling rain to find different water problems. In the flooded city of Beaumont, the water system pumps failed after being swamped by spillover from the swollen Neches River. City officials said in a statement that a secondary water source from nearby wells was also lost.

Beaumont said it was not clear when the water could recede so that officials could examine the damage and make repairs.

In Houston, firefighters began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of flooded homes Thursday to look for anyone who might have been left behind in Harveys fetid floodwaters. Searchers will also be looking for any bodies that could add to the confirmed death toll of at least 31.

Medical examiners are in the process of confirming which deaths are related to the historic flooding. And authorities are still searching for some of those believed to have perished. Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.

The Associated Press, Washington Post and Houston Chronicle contributed to this report.
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On Christmas Day 2015, at a Citgo gas station on the East Side, William Boyd Porter, 45, shot a man in the back of the head who he believed had kidnapped, beaten and raped his daughter.

On Friday, after a week-long trial, a jury rejected Porters legal defense of necessity in protecting another person and unanimously found him guilty of murder.

Porter showed no emotion as state District Judge Jefferson Moore read the verdict. His family and that of the victim, Trayvouns Tramone Edwards, 28, sat equally stoicly, then separately filed out of the courtroom to weep.

The jury, which took almost nine hours over Thursday and Friday to reach its decision, will return on Tuesday to determine the punishment. The sentence can be up to life in prison, but if the jury finds the shooting was an act of sudden passion it can be as few as five years.

Porters attorney, Edward Bravenec, said he was not surprised by the verdict, and said he will appeal.

Judge Moore destroyed our case, Bravenec said, when he did not allow the jury to hear testimony from two San Antonio women who reportedly told police they also were kidnapped, beaten, then raped by Edwards in separate incidents allegedly occurring in 2008 and 2012.

Bravenec said the women, both about 18 to 20 at the time, reported having had consensual sex at some point with Edwards, but over a period of days he then held them against their will, choked one girl almost to death, and raped them repeatedly. He said the police took a report in one case.

Homicide case law allows a judge to permit such testimony, said Bravenec, if the victim in the case is found to be the aggressor. Moore ruled that Porter, by pursuing Edwards at the gas station, was the aggressor.

Prosecutor Gretchen Flader told the jury in her closing argument that Porter made the choice of using a gun instead of calling the police.

Its not about what the defendant thought that Tray had done to (Porters daughter), she told the jury. Its about what the defendant decided to do  take the law into his own hands.

Flader declined comment after the trial.

Before the verdict, Bravenec said he was encouraged Friday morning when the jury sent Moore a note asking for the definition of immediate and urgent.

To me that means at least one person on that jury is considering the necessity defense for my client, he said. That essentially means he thought the threat to his daughter was so immediate and urgent that his response was a necessity.

Porters daughter, who is not being identified because she is the victim of sexual assault, testified Wednesday that she had met Edwards at a mall on Dec. 19, 2015.

We made eye contact, and he asked if I wanted to get something to eat, she told the jury. I said no. Then, he asked if I wanted to smoke. I said yes.

The young woman said Edwards convinced her to go to a friends apartment, but once at the complex, she said Edwards forced her into a vacant unit to snort cocaine, punched her in the face and stomach, then raped and beat her for four days.

The daughter said she tried to escape, but feared for her life. Flader asked during cross examination why no one called the police to report her absence. Porter said he didnt know where his daughter was or with whom, and felt that he could not give authorities enough information for them to help find her.

Relatives testified that it was not uncommon for the daughter to stay at different relatives homes for days at a time. Porter said his wife was able to use a cell phone application to locate their missing daughters phone, so he went to the Citgo gas station on Goliad Road to find her, bringing a gun and two other men.

Surveillance video from several angles showed the crime to rapt jurors. In them, Edwards could be seen walking with Porters daughter, then Porter arriving in a pickup.

The videos showed the daughter run toward the pickup as an altercation ensues between the men, and shows Porter shooting Edwards once in the back of the head at point-blank range.

The prosecutor asked Porter, Why didnt you tackle him? It was not necessary for you to shoot that man.

Porter responded, Hes between me and my child.

bselcraig@express-news.net
No one expects creature comforts in prison, but no one deserves officially sanctioned cruelty either.

Recently, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellisons July order to transfer certain elderly or medically compromised prisoners at a sweltering Navasota facility to other, cooler facilities if the temperature of their housing cannot be brought down to 88 degrees or below.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice was given three weeks to comply with the federal order. It transferred 1,025 inmates deemed heat-sensitive from the Wallace Pack Unit to other facilities, as well as moved 1,089 other inmates to make room for the heat-sensitive newcomers.

How bad were conditions? The 5th Circuit, a court renowned for its conservatism, upheld the decision of a district judge appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999 in spite of its own 2015 ruling in Ball vs. LeBlanc, which overturned a lower courts order that Louisiana install air conditioning on death row.

But nearly two dozen inmates had to die of heat-related illness in TDCJ facilities since 1998 before the heated conditions were deemed unconstitutional. Even the federal detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is air-conditioned. And until 2013, when it received a media query, the agency wasnt even sure how many air-conditioned beds existed within its own system. The answer is 32,434 out of 150,000 beds in 109 TDCJ facilities.

When you factor in that roughly half of these beds are segregation cells and treatment beds, the real number of air-conditioned beds available to elderly inmates or those with diabetes or heart conditions  in a state where the heat index regularly exceeds 100 degrees during the summer  is 17,073, or about 11 percent.

Ellison put the number of deaths in recent years at 23, citing the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky in The House of the Dead: The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

The TDCJ claims it would cost $1.2 million per year to install and run air-conditioning in the Pack Unit housing during the summer months, but the judge noted the actual figure would be closer to $110,000.

The TDCJ should take all necessary steps to implement permanent solutions.
Just like the age old tradition of potato boxty, the family-run rural pub has been a staple of community life for generations.

In more recent times, and owing to an accumulation of contributory factors, it has steadily become more and more of an endangered species.

No more apparent has such a mindset prevailed than in the north Longford village of Ballywillan.

Straddling the Longford-Cavan border, this tranquil, unspoilt neighbourhood at one time was home to not one but two licenced premises.

Today however, the village stands rudderless without a pub to its name and, perhaps more importantly, without that vital social lubricant which has come to bind so many communities together.

Its two former owners of The Mill Tavern and Gilligans this week sat down to reflect on their own respective decisions to step away from pub life and assess the current state of an industry still beset by uncertainty and economic fragility.

I fell into bad health for a while and after having a while to think about it, it just wasnt viable any more, said Paul Smith, ex proprietor of The Mill Tavern.

That sense of loss and misfortune was one which was spelled out in the backdrop of another prominent local landmark which also stands closed-Ballywillan Train Station.

Having suffered the huge emotional and personal loss of his late wife Bridie in 1999, few would have begrudged Paul from shutting up there and then.

But as is so often the case with rural pubs of its kind, the father of six arguably got as much enjoyment from serving its dependable following as those who passed its doors night after night.

It was great company for me and the neighbours were great, Paul confided.

When you would have everything paid you wouldnt have anything left.

It was a kind of a passion for me just to keep it open and I probably would still be fighting with it to keep it open.

I had a good, loyal people who would come in and out to it.

A regular port of call for bachelors and farmers, it was the type of pub that has come to define the very epicentre of rural Ireland.

A prime example of that perception was aptly summed up by a conversation Paul recalled having when a garda called to his door during the early hours of the morning.

She said: Do you know its an hour and a half or two hours after closing time? Are you going to close?

I said not really. There are four men in there and they are engrossed in a conversation. The youngest is about 71.

I said: You go in and tell them to leave, prompting the unnamed garda to make a sharp exit.

The simplistic innocence of that exchange was conceivably best summed up by the intimation from one of the group of elderly customers that the waiting patrol car might be their best option of a lift home.

It's a conversation Paul firmly believes signifies the very epicentre of an industry he still yearns for.

And some 15 months on from calling time on a business which had remained part of the Smith family name for well over a century, the decision was one that still unnerves him.

Ah Jesus it was tough, he sighed.

There was a lot of sadness Ill tell you that. Id still kind of like to open it now. You never know, I might get someone to open it but no one would give you rent for it. There wouldnt be enough in it to pay rent.

His observations on the apparent demise of the rural licensing trade are more cutting.

Emigration, competition from supermarkets, high excise duties, and the much maligned economic downturn you would think would take centre stage.

But as Paul fervently vouched for, more draconian localised concerns remain at play, one of which exacerbated his own departure from Longfords licensing trade.

Drink driving wasnt a big issue for me really, he remarked.

That was because a lot of them that used to come would be dropped off and collected by family.

The thing is you have rates and if I am to be fair and speak my mind then I would say that it was rates which put me out (of business).

I was never clear with the rates to tell you the truth. To be quite honest I could nearly not say what they were because we were always behind.

Despite Paul's candid views on drink driving, he was equally direct over how such legislation has impacted on rural towns across north Longford.

You go into Granard any Friday and Saturday night and you will find that it's empty.

People might say towns like that are on its knees. But the reason they are on their knees is because you had people coming in from Abbeylara, Mullinalaghta, Coolarty to have a drink in their locals, he said.

Those insights were ones Pauls neighbour and fellow former publican Bernard Gilligan gave further credence to.

Unlike Paul, whose exodus from the pub trade came just over a year ago, Bernard last stepped behind the bar of his family run pub in 2005.

As historic as the now closed railway station it looks out on, Gilligans at first glance looks more like a dainty provincial country house than a rurally based watering hole.

Much like its near neighbour, it relied on a small, yet steadfast bunch of customers.

This (pub) would have closed for different reasons than what you see pubs closing nowadays, admitted Bernard, his legs resting on a wooden bench.

Take a Sunday night back when we were children and you took the road up to Granard there would be someone nearly from every house in a pub at that time.

Slowly but surely there is not even a human being come out now.

Local Councillor PJ Reilly has never been one to shy away from a debate, especially one so intrinsically ingrained and pertinent to his own community.

Like Paul, the Abbeylara man referenced the difficulties smaller pubs with modest turnover levels had when it came to meeting their own commercial rates commitments.

Just as relevant, he added was the tightening of drink driving laws and the closure of Ballywillan Railway Station in 1959.

Ballywillan, for the last 100-150 years always had a railway station. It regularly brought in freight (shipments) from Mullingar and what's more Michael Collins would often be picked up there by the Kiernan family when he was visiting the area, said Cllr Reilly, as he switched his focus to Ireland's stringent drink driving laws.

Transport Minister Shane Ross wants to implement legislation that will see people automatically disqualified from driving if caught over the alcohol limit, a stance the Fianna Fail local politician believes needs revisiting.

Of course everyone has to be mindful of the rules over drinking and driving, he said.

But it has had a big impact on rural areas and in particular single men.

It was a social event for so many of these people to go for a couple of quiet drinks but with the way things are that's gone and it's a shame, a real shame.

Disappointment, though, is a sentiment you wouldn't automatically appropriate to the man whose family name has been steeped in the rural licensed trade for generations.

Given the age profile of Gilligan's' clientele, Bernard said there was an almost inevitability over the pubs future just as Irelands Celtic Tiger was losing its mojo.

Some of them (customers) used to call in three times a day maybe. Its different time now I suppose with people having mortgages and that.

By 2005, the business was effectively defunct. That said, coming to a realisation that a livelihood which had remained part of the Gilligan family name for well over a century was suddenly no more undeniably took its toll.

In a striking show of solidarity symptomatic of rural life, Bernard was more concerned about the effect it would have on those who had kept the business afloat over the years.

The likes of here it was long gone before we closed but the fact your parents owned it or it was in your family for years it was hard to (close it).

Even before we closed you would have half a dozen of lads that might come every night and then you might have some that would come every other night and suddenly they had nowhere to go.

That was hard from that point of view. You could have some that would call religiously every Sunday evening and that was the reason you would keep it open.

As for his own take on the pressures which hastened its closure and the pressures facing publicans nowadays, Bernard echoed the sentiments espoused by Paul.

Though faced with an estimated annual 700 commercial rates bill, the north Longford farmer shuddered at the furore which still surrounds new valuation laws.

The rates thing was harmless enough for years, he said.

They werent pushing it too much. But even back in my time it was still around 700 odd a year but all of a sudden they doubled them.

Now you hear of people coming out with crazy bills of three to four thousand.

His straight talking demeanour is intriguing, something which could also be said of his rather blunt assessment of Longfords broader pub trade.

Its completely on its knees, he candidly put it.

At the end of the day if you are going to open a pub from 5pm and sit there till 12:30am, sure you have to be getting paid for it.

Im not talking about a weeks wages but you cant be losing money in it.

In spite of those misgivings, Bernard hinted that all may not be lost.

Trying to keep up with innovative new ways to stem declining sales is one thing, but he said the integral role a pub can have on a parish cannot be understated.

Its not beyond repair though because it (pub) keeps communities together, he said.

There are very few communities that havent got a pub to call on.

If you take Abbeylara say, what kind of a village would you have if its pub was taken out of it?

At least the pub, for the Tidy Towns and the like, its somewhere these people can have their meetings.

It brings the few people that live in these places together.

And that is perhaps the greatest challenge facing an industry which now finds itself at a critical crossroads.
Five months after Ulster Bank severed its ties with Edgeworthstown after more than a century, a rival financial institution has announced plans to set up a weekly banking advice service.

Bank of Ireland started the first of what it hopes will be a regular specialist advice clinic last Friday from 11am to 3pm.

The news was broadcast on the Facebook page of Edgeworthstown Mostrim Traders two days previously.

Bank of Ireland (BOI) are delighted to be returning to Edgeworthstown to offer specialist advice on all Personal/Business and Agricultural Banking needs.

BOI will be offering a full online service accompanied by an expert to assist with any queries.

The first clinic took place at an office unit beside Frank Greene Auctioneers, an arrangement local traders hope will become a permanent fixture.

It's believed the move came about after an approach was made by Edgeworthstown Traders Association and the town's District Development Association.

Local Councillor Paul Ross welcomed the decision but said he still harboured hopes the town's former Ulster Bank premises could house an ICT hub.

It's good to see Bank of Ireland coming in and it does show some commitment to the town which will be of some help to traders, he said.

Local auctioneer Frank Greene said traders were delighted with the response to the initiative.

We are in negotiations with Bank of Ireland who we find very supportive and in particular the management in Longford towards finding a solution, he said.

Mr Greene said several dozen customers from the Edgeworthstown and surrounding areas turned out for last Friday's initial clinic.

He added moves, in conjunction with the town's SuperValu store, were also in train to potentially instal an on street ATM over the coming months.

Those attempts are ones which look set to proceed even though Ulster Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping an ATM service in the town.

The branch is set to formally cease operations over the coming weeks, ending its 102 year long association with the mid Longford town.

However, the recent assurances by the bank concerning its future ATM provision is one that will undoubtedly come to the relief of consumers and local traders alike.
In a recently released propaganda video, the Taliban provided extensive footage of an ambush on an Afghan logistics convoy in the eastern province of Wardak. The daylight ambush destroyed multiple Afghan vehicles, and despite the fact that US helicopters were nearby, the Taliban do not appear to have been targeted during the fighting.

The video, which is titled Caravan of Heroes 13 and was published on August 28, was produced by Manba al Jihad Studio, the media arm of the Haqqani Network, the Taliban subgroup that is closely linked to al Qaeda. Manba al Jihad Studio is an official media wing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Commission for Cultural Affairs Audio and Visual Sector, according to the accompanying statement announcing the release of the video.

The video opens with a lengthy discussion of ambush tactics between two masked Taliban fighters, one who is wearing a black tee-shirt with the words Quick Attack Force  Special Forces and a Taliban logo printed on the front.

The video then cuts to footage of an ambush that targeted an Afghan military logistics convoy on a road in Sayyadabad district in Wardak province. The date of the attack was not given, however it appears to have taken place in the late spring or summer months. Sayyadabad was the district where Taliban fighters shot down a US Chinook helicopter in Aug. 2011 and killed 31 US and seven Afghan special operations forces, including several members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, which is more commonly referred to as SEAL Team 6. FDDs Long War Journal has assessed Sayyadabad as Taliban-controlled, and the video demonstrates why.

Dozens of Taliban fighters assemble near the village in broad daylight. The village is clearly Taliban controlled, and the group has ambushed military convoys in this very same spot in the past. As the Taliban fighters take up their ambush positions along a length of the road, the remains of what appears to be an oil tanker sits on the shoulder.

Before the ambush begins, the Taliban fighter who was recording the attack captures two US Blackhawk helicopters on video as they are flying over the convoy. The Taliban fighters, who are gathering in the open, are undeterred by the Blackhawks, and launch their ambush shortly afterward. At one point during the fighting, what appears to be a military attack aircraft is captured on film, but it does not open fire on the ambush team.

The Taliban ambush, while not very sophisticated, was effective. The fighters open fire on the convoy with machine guns and assault rifles from multiple positions. It does not appear that IEDs, RPGs, recoilless rifles or other heavy weapons were used to target the convoy. Although the Taliban was firing from locations that included buildings, the fighters did not appear to take advantage of rooftops and instead fired from ground level.

Yet the Taliban was able to successfully destroy multiple vehicles in the attack. First, the fighters hit a fuel tanker, then several military vehicles were hit. As the segment ends, multiple vehicles are ablaze along the a stretch of the road. At the end of the scene, the Taliban fighters casually walk away.

The video highlights a major problem that Afghan and Coalition forces face throughout the country: the Taliban has demonstrated that it can take the fight to Afghan forces with little fear of being targeted by air assets. The Taliban is often able to overrun military bases and district centers, and loiter in the area for nearly a day without taking fire. [See Analysis: Coalition and Afghan forces must target Taliban after overrunning bases.]

Screen shots from the ambush in Wardak

Taliban fighters move to their ambush position:

The wreck of a previously destroyed tanker is seen on the same road the ambush took place:

One of two US Blackhawk helicopters that were flying over the convoy just before the ambush:

Taliban fighters survey the road:

A tanker is hit:

An Afghan military vehicle is hit:

Two vehicles are burning:





Taliban fighters engage the convoy from a field:

Multiple vehicles are aflame:

Taliban fighters walk away from the ambush:

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Last week I traipsed off to Syracuse, New York. We initially ran into some bad luck as hotels were filled with students and parents returning to school. As it turns out the luck was in our favor! We changed our plans to stay in the adorable town of Skaneateles, one of New Yorks Finger Lakes  just 30 minutes away. As it turns out, this Skaneateles Lake Travel Guide is far more entertaining than any other one I could have done!

The Finger Lakes werent originally on our itinerary, but Im so glad our plans changed to the positively wonderful town on Skaneateles Lake. Im now itching to head back to see all the lakes in the region, but in the meantime, here is all the fun, deliciousness, cuteness, and shopping of Skaneateles {pronounced Skanny-Atlas!}

See my other East Coast Travel Guides

Skaneateles Lake Travel Guide

If you look on a map, youll see the Finger Lakes are a series of lakes that are long and narrow  Skaneateles is on the east. The region offers beautiful scenery, a wine country, and towns dotted along the way!

We arrived in the midst of a rainstorm. Wearing shorts and sandals for the heat, Im sure I was the laughing stock of the town. But a change in the weather and my shoes, we were good to go!

Town of Skaneateles

The first thing youll notice in Skaneateles, besides the lake of course, is the cute town. Old brick buildings and homes turned into restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and good shopping!

Rumor has it the town goes all out for Christmas. Im sure its beyond amazing!! The architecture reminded me a bit of New York, a bit of New England, and a bit of a beach town somehow!

Where to Stay

We stayed at the Packwood House  across the street from the lake with a gorgeous view!! After waking up and checking in on the lake, head to Patisserie  a delicious bakery tucked behind the Sherwood Inn. We nibbled on their bran muffin, blueberry scone, and took some cookies for the road (they were only 50 each and quite tasty!).

They dont offer much in the way of coffee, so youll want to wander over (less than two blocks) to Skaneateles Bakery for a full coffee selection (more below).

Dont those scones look amazing??? The bakery is small, but they have this adorable patio seating that seems like the perfect little escape in the mornings of those hot summer days!



What to do in Skaneateles {Travel Guide}

Coffee and morsel in hand, wander Genesee Street  dotted with shops in old buildings and houses, youll fall in love. The tree-lined sidewalks are hard to beat and then theres always a stunning view of the lake on the right!





Best Lunch on Skaneateles Lake

Be sure to make reservation for lunch at the Sherwood Inn Dining Room. The food is delicious and you can see the lake from the tables. Obviously this town knows how its done!

After lunch, take a boat tour of Skaneateles Lake. Mid-Lakes Navigation offers tours throughout the day and the boat leaves across the street from the hotel and lunch!

Tours are 50 minutes and provide beautiful views and you can go house-hunting for your (dream) lakeside home! I have a few picked out already!

After the boat tour, take the seven (yes, 7!) minute drive to the wineries. Anyelas Vineyards is famous in the area. Their white wines are sweet and very easy to drink. Wander their beautiful grounds before or after your tasting and soak up the views of the lake. Fun fact. They bury their vines in the winters!





If youre anything like me, youll need an afternoon pickmeup. We headed back to Skaneateles Bakery for a morsel and coffee! With your goodies in hand, you can wander the shops again, grab a bench by the lake, or head back to your room for an afternoon of reading by the window!

Skaneateles was such a dream and I cant wait to go back (and visit the other lakes of course)! What kind of traveller would I be if I didnt compare them all?!

Thank you to Visit Syracuse for hosting our stay, so I could write this Skaneateles Lake Travel Guide. Per usual, all opinions are mine.
Culture / Art Republik

Sep 01, 2017 | By Ilyda Chua

Uniquely placed within the bourgeoning and rapidly evolving arts landscape of Vietnam, Artistic Director of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (The Factory), Vietnam, Zoe Butt, understands the importance of a collaborative relationship of mutual understanding between artist and curator that allows for the emergence of engaging and meaningful artistic discourse.

Butts development of a pan-Asian curatorial approach can be traced back to her involvement with the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art while she was working at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia from 2001 to 2007. Following this, Butt spent time as Director of International Programmes at the Long March Project in Beijing China, until 2009 when she formally moved to Vietnam to become Executive Director of San Art which she co-founded with artists Dinh Q Le, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Phunam and Tiffany Chung in 2007.

Attaining the invaluable experience of working within various contexts of the global arts landscape from institutions, commercial galleries, and fluid, interdisciplinary spaces such as San Art, Butt is regarded as the foremost authority on Vietnamese contemporary art and a frequent commentator on the conditions of art production in Vietnam as well as being a member of international communities such as the Asian Art Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

For Butt, the relationship between artist and curator is particularly essential within the tenuous circumstances of the practice, display, and dissemination of contemporary art in Vietnam. Established in Ho Chi Minh City as a contemporary art organisation in the service of the interdisciplinary presentation of contemporary art in Vietnam through community-centric programmes, San Art came under pressure from the authorities regarding the participation and representation of foreigners under the San Laboratory artist residency programme. Under these circumstances and the associated pressures of financial sustainability, San Art brought an end to its artist residency programmes, and Butt decided to step down as Director. The space currently functions as a resource centre and meeting point.

In assuming her new role at The Factory, Ho Chi Minh City, the first purpose-built location for contemporary art in Vietnam, Butt brings not only the wealth of her experience, but the relationships of camaraderie and trust that she has built with artists over the years. Through The Factory, Butt seeks to continue developing meaningful networks between artists in Vietnam and in the wider region, and alongside founder Ti-a Thuy Nguyen, explore the benefits of a hybrid space that functions as a space for exhibitions, education, and lifestyle. In the case of Vietnam where the general exposure of contemporary art remains limited, the focus on community outreach becomes a key pillar to the success of a space that positions itself as a social enterprise.

Navigating her particular place as curator and Artistic Director of a contemporary arts space in Vietnam, we asked Butt to share her opinions on the specificity of The Factory as a space for collaboration, and her personal thoughts on the relationship between artist and curator within the current landscape.

Having worked globally and over a wide range of projects, what has been your most memorable and meaningful collaborative project or relationship, and why?

This is a tough question as there have been many. I could name the Erasure project I did with Dinh Q Le (commissioned by the Sherman Art Foundation) where I learnt how the experience of being a boat refugee can never be reconciled; or the Dislocate project I did with Bui Cong Khanh (organized by San Art with thanks to the support of the Prince Claus Fund) where I learnt how the traditional techniques, cultural underpinnings, and symbolisms of architecture can be kept alive through the art practice of a contemporary artist; or I could look even further back to the very first curatorial relationship I built with Afghani artist Khadim Ali during my work with the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. The miniature paintings he sent me via email from Quetta, Pakistan have now become giant woven carpets or large-scale public murals placed in significant exhibitions across the world. Ive been blessed with many memorable and meaningful collaborative projects and relationships with artists.

Youve previously discussed how your relationship with Vietnamese artist Dinh Q Le brought you to Vietnam, and have written on practicing friendship through your role as a curator. How do you approach and navigate the relationship between artist and curator?

With honesty and consideration. It is important to understand that time and patience needs to be granted to the process of creation, and that for an artist, understanding ones relationship to context, that is, the site of production, is imperative. Many artists I have been fortunate to work with are based in locales where infrastructure for the arts is minimal, making my role as a curator one that has to be particularly respectful of differing ways and means of production, interpretation, display and dissemination.

Are there any points of tension that commonly occur, and how are these resolved?

In my current context, the tension often surrounds a question of censorship  all art sought for public viewing in Vietnam must first be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Thus, the curator must help the artist navigate the best strategic foot forward. However, in general, I would say the points of tension between artist and curator surround a fear of being misunderstood; that there is not a mutual platform of understanding, motivation and purpose of the proposed project. All such tension can be resolved through honesty and openness in communication.

How important is it for contemporary artists to be engaged in discourse with curators?

Artists working today have a choice: to be a part of the history of artistic production such as through exhibition making or seeking a textual presence of their art by way of review or critical dialog, or to sit within the zone of the market through art fairs and auctions. The former demands an understanding of what curators do within the art world, which is acting as critical links to opportunity and provocation through their expertise, while the latter is more about showcasing and financial return. Both forms of engagement in our art world are fair, and it really depends on the motivations of the artist towards their practice.

With San Art, and now with The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, youve been involved with building immersive and interactive spaces for the public to experience art, but also a platform for artists and curators to engage with each other. What are the merits of such hybrid spaces?

I can really only speak about San Art as I have only just started learning about the capacities of The Factory. At San Art, the merits of being a grassroots operation and fluid in terms of not always having space to showcase art, meant that we were forced to consider other forms of artistic production that were not dependent on possessing space. I hence turned towards curating discourse and knowledge for the last 4 years at San Art (see Conscious Realities and San Art Laboratory). This proved hugely influential not only in my own curatorial practice, but also in the intellectual growth of my artistic community.

How do such collaborative spaces challenge or complement the existing models of the commercial gallery or public museums?

In the context of Vietnam, both San Art and The Factory are unique. San Art was an entity that delivered its own curatorially devised programmes engaging contemporary art. As the first purpose-built space for contemporary art in Vietnam, The Factory also delivers its own curated exhibitions and educational programs, though with the added advantage of possessing a multi-purpose space to deliver interdisciplinary artistic programs. In Vietnam, the majority of commercial galleries and public museums do not deliver such activities for its audiences. For example, many public museums are spaces for hire.

Do you see this as a model that can, or should, be exported?

I dont believe it possible to export models. I do believe we can learn from other ways of thinking and working, but there is no universal method that works for all contexts  this is the wonder of our humanity.

What are your hopes for The Factory, and what should we expect in the coming months and years?

I hope that The Factory can be sustained as a social enterprise, and that the Vietnamese authorities can come to understand that we are not interested in challenging the political landscape. In the coming months and years I hope to be able to continue my love of building networks between artists from this part of the world (towards our South particularly), and to better understand ourselves as part of a migratory diaspora with a long historical memory.

This article is the first installment of the four-part More Life series covering visionary  and determined  individuals who are breathing life into the art scenes in Southeast Asian capitals. It was written by Teo Huimin for Art Republik.
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NZDUSD Broke Below 0.7200 Support

NZDUSD recently broke below a major support level at 0.7200, indicating that the uptrend from 0.6817 had completed at 0.7557 already. The pair is now in downtrend, further decline would likely be seen after correction.





On the downside

There is a bearish trend line on the 4-hour chart with resistance now at around 0.7280. As long as the price is below the trend line, the downside movement from 0.7557 could be expected to continue and next target would be at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement taken from 0.6817 to 0.7557 at 0.7100, followed by the 76.4% retracement at 0.6990.





On the upside

A break of the support-turned-resistance level at 0.7200 could bring price back to test the resistance of the bearish trend line on the 4-hour chart. A clear break above the trend line resistance will suggest that correction for the downtrend from 0.7557 is underway, then the following upside movement could take price to next resistance level at 0.7336, followed by 0.7400.

For long term analysis

The NZDUSD pair might be forming a double top pattern with neckline at 0.6817 level on its weekly chart. A clear break below 0.6817 support level will confirm the double top pattern, then the measured move target would be at around 0.6100 area.

Technical levels

Support levels: 0.7100 (the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement), 0.6990 (the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement), 0.6817 (the May 11 low, the neckline of the double top pattern on the weekly chart).

Resistance levels: 0.7200 (the July 11 low, support-turned-resistance), 0.7280 (the bearish trend line on the 4-hour chart), 0.7336 (the August 21 high), 0.7400.

This article is written by Franco Shao, a senior analyst at ForexCycle.

 2017 Copyright Franco Shao - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




STUART - A New Orleans sound crafted in New York City will ring through the hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains tonight.

It will be Brother Joscephus and the Love Revolution, who will perform from 8:30-10:30 p.m. at Front Porch Fest.

Front Porch Fest runs today through Sunday at Spirithaven Farm outside Stuart. It opened Thursday for VIP ticketholders and Chamber Night.

Chris Prutting and Sarah Wray, two of the festivals organizers, One Family Productions, said they discovered Brother Joscephus and the Love Revolution while they were on honeymoon  a music cruise  and theyve been trying to get them to come to the festival ever since. This will be the bands first time in Stuart.

The band is 10-piece band with a three-piece horn section and two female vocalists who make up a bit of a gospel choir, said Dave Mendelsohn, AKA Brother Joscephus.

Mendlesohn and Dean Fransen formed the band in 2007. Their first performance was on Sept. 20, 2017, at The Bitter End in New York City, and thats just where theyll celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Despite being in the Big Apple, New Orleans has always been special to me, Mendelsohn said, and Fransen, who plays keyboards, is from there.

When they put the band together, we came up with the secular gospel concept. We wanted to put together a big horn section and have a New Orleans sound and mix of influences, Mehdelsohn said.

He described their sound as New Orleans street music meets secular gospel, without a religious message but with the same uplifting feel, (sort of) old school, jamming rock.

Throughout their decade together, the band has worked with more than 350 musicians, he said, but their sound has remained consistent.

Theres been a lot of people in and out, but me and Dean have been there throughout. We released three albums and played all over the world. Its been quite a journey.

Musically, we drop a lot of different influences under the shell of the 10-piece band.  Weve done a pretty good job of exploring every corner under those influences.

They play a mix of original and existing songs. A recent project they did was in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beetles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

We put Beetles material through our filter of highly arranged, orchestrated music with a new twinge with our  three-piece horn section. We love playing and reinterpreting popular music.

We dont do too many songs that are verbatim or sound exactly like the originals. We like to take preexisting music and reinterpret it.

Thats not just for well known songs. Its fun to take some more obscure songs that people dont really know and turn them on their heads, he said. Its also fun to take a really familiar song that people know really well and turn it on its ear.

Tonights audience can expect a really high energy show with a lot of dynamic stuff going on, kind of a party. We like to get people up and moving. (There will be) a lot of extended solos and jams.  a great, upbeat, interactive jubilee.

Its not only about the music.

The message of the Love Revolution is an important thing, too, especially in troubled times like this. We dont like to get too serious, but we like  the upbeat, gospel-sounding music, preach a message of acceptance, love, tolerance. Its something we like to keep in mind, and a lot of our songs and lyrics reflect that.

Front Porch Fest is held rain or shine. There is a large pavilion which provides a roof in case of rain, but festival-goers should be prepared with rain gear.

Bring sunscreen as well, organizers suggest, as well as bug spray.

Cell phone service at Spirithaven is poor, if at all, so festival organizers suggest coming prepared with cash to spend (debit cards may not work without signal) and with tickets and maps with driving directions on paper.

Camping is allowed on the grounds. People should bring camping gear, including sleeping bags and a hammer for tent stakes. Camp stoves are allowed, but not the charcoal types.

Costumes, body paint and decorations are encouraged.

Admission to the festival is $40 today, $60 for Saturday, $30 for Sunday or $100 for all three days. Part of the proceeds of the festival will go to support the Patrick County Food Bank and Caring Hearts Free Clinic.

Spirithaven Farm is about seven miles outside Stuart, at 677 Spirithaven Lane.
Why the change?

So, we went and traded a decal for a sticker? Im sorry, but I really dont see much difference between the two. Whats the point in Henry County going to a sticker that has to be on the drivers side of my car? Now, will it block my vision? No, but I just dont see the point. Instead of going to a sticker, why not just open it up to anybody? People are saying that theres a problem with people coming up from NC. Ok, how many? Was this really a problem? Or did someone see an NC bumper sticker one time while dropping off trash and freak out, creating a problem where there was none (and also a reason for the county to charge us more for a decal). The entire time Ive lived here, Ive never seen this big group of North Carolina people, lined up and dumping trash here. Rather than worrying about the difference between a sticker and a decal, Id much rather have our county workers focused on fixing our infrastructure and polishing this place up nice, And lets just be realistic, Ive never seen one of those guys come out and check my truck before. Youre telling me that suddenly, theyre gonna walk out to every vehicle that comes by, give them a sticker or check someones drivers license? I kinda doubt it.

Ethan Blackburn

Axton

Charlottesville gets an image makeover

How is it that our beloved city of Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia and once listed as one of the happiest places to live, suddenly has the reputation synonymous with racism and hate? How did it happen? What is going on in Northern Virginia that a 93 year old statue of Robert E. Lee is suddenly a focus of racial controversy? This ugliness cant be blamed merely on outsiders, because the city fathers had to know what would follow when some knucklehead decided this statue was a problem to be removed.

The whole sad situation started when a group of Confederate heritage supporters expressed their desire for a peaceful protest, but were denied a permit by the city. Then the ACLU filed a lawsuit on their behalf and a federal judge re-instated their right to a lawful free assembly, as defined by our U.S. Constitution. A large group of neo-Nazis and white supremacists attended the event, and then predictably, a second group of anti-fascists or whatever they call themselves come in with the obvious intent of stirring up trouble and what follows is vicious and ugly.

Did the city administration ever think to erect police barriers for the sake of security and order? Finally, after the melee is started, state troopers intervene in an attempt to regain control. Meanwhile a young woman is murdered by some maniac who is not even part of the protest group. All of this over a statue, which was doing no harm whatsoever. The logic behind this utterly escapes me.

Somehow I knew that somebody would take the leap of blaming President Trump for the violence. That idiotic leap was made by Mayor Signer of Charlottesville. He also blamed the ACLU and the judge who allowed the original protest. Everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law, and that includes people we dont agree with. That is a lesson the mayor obviously forgot. As far as I am concerned the blame falls squarely on his shoulders. Congratulations Mr. Mayor, because you have done a great job of making over your citys image.

Wayne Smyth

Fieldale
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September, the British monarchy is once again in the media spotlight. Amidst a flood of reactionary apologias, Marxists must cut through the propaganda and tell the truth about the role of the monarchy in capitalist society. As a result, we republish here an article by Alan Woods, written in 1997 at the time of Princess Dianas death, analysing the real nature of the monarchy and its position as a fundamental pillar of the British establishment. While the article does not deal with recent events, its in-depth assessment of the role of the Royal Family under capitalism continues to hold true today.

The dramatic events of the first week of September 1997 mark a sea-change in British society. The sudden death of the Princess of Wales was the signal of an outburst of popular feeling which was without precedent in recent British history. Of course, Britain has seen more than a few royal births, deaths and marriages, duly attended by large crowds of cheering or silently respectful people. But such a spontaneous eruption as this, such an overflowing of emotion, such a movement of the masses, unorganised, uncalled-for, uncontrollable - such a thing has never been seen. It is an entirely new phenomenon, reflecting an entirely new situation in Britain.

Her violent death in a car crash last Sunday morning has been followed by a demonstration of popular feeling so deep and broad as to have alarmed the institutions of the state. She has shown the power of the crowd. (Financial Times, 6-7/9/97.) Diana would not be thought good if the causes she had espoused had been privatisation, workfare and the charity ball; her instincts, amazingly for one with her background and education, took her unerringly to the liberal wing of the spectrum of supportable causes. Homelessness, Aids and landmines are all issues with which the Conservative mind is instinctively uneasy - and an important reason why the responses of William Hague and the Conservative Party to the past week have been so feeble. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

One might suppose that the mass response to the death of the Princess of Wales would have warmed the hearts of the monarchists and an Establishment which is the world's expert in manipulating the feelings of the people in its own interests. But no. Far from being encouraged by these spontaneous demonstrations, the powers-that-be watched these seven days of volatile and intense passion, as The Guardian called them, with a mixture of astonishment and foreboding.

The reaction of the Queen was itself without precedent. It is self-evident that the Windsor family - whose feelings towards Diana are sufficiently well-known - had not the slightest intention of returning to London from their Scottish hideaway until the morning of the funeral on Saturday, when common decency and the need to keep up appearances would compel them to make at least a token show of mourning. But the Queen was compelled to climb into a jet aircraft on the Friday, returning to the capital at full speed in a desperate attempt to stem the wave of protests from the masses on the streets through a belated television broadcast. Equally unprecedented was the decision to fly the Union flag at Buckingham palace at half-mast, something which is not done even at the death of a monarch. All these things are sure signs of panic and alarm in Britain's ruling circles. But why?

The figure of Diana

Inevitably, the mass media have concentrated on building up a mystique of Diana, her personality, good works, charity, common touch, and so on and so forth. Naturally! The same gentlemen, when she was alive, spent considerable time and money to rake up all the available scandal about her personal life, now write about her in the kind of terms normally reserved for the Virgin Mary. What nauseating hypocrisy! And yet perfectly predictable. These newspaper proprietors would skin their grandmothers to get a story that will sell more papers and swell their bank accounts. Now the blame for the Paris car crash is suddenly shifted to the mysterious Paparazzi who have been promoted from anonymity to the rank of regicides-in-chief. After all, someone must be to blame! But no-one asks the fundamental question: who pays the Paparazzi"? It is a question that answers itself. They are paid by the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the handful of millionaires who control the press in our so-called democracy."

The question of Diana's character and personal role is not without its importance. Marxism does not deny the role of the individual in history, but explains it in terms of the general state of society and relations between the classes. So it was in this case. It is impossible to understand the impact of Diana's death solely in terms of her individual personality. It is necessary to ask ourselves why millions of people in some way identified themselves with her, and clearly and sharply distinguished between her person and the other royals. This question immediately takes us beyond the superficial rubbish of tabloid idolatry and into the real world of social relations and mass psychology, which does not always express itself in a simple and self-explanatory way.

It is common knowledge that Diana was not one of the Windsor clique but an outsider who rapidly came into conflict with her husband and the rest of the family. The reasons for this clash need not concern us, but the fact is that the public image of the Princess of Wales was unlike the other royals. She appeared as more humane, more natural, embracing children in hospitals and the like.

The ruling class has always understood the need to use the monarchy and religion as a means of perpetuating the slavery of women, convincing them of the need to obey their husband and meekly submit to oppression. In the words of the great English constitutionalist, Walter Bagehot, to whose views on the monarchy we shall return: The women - one half the human race at least - care fifty times more for a marriage than a ministry. ( Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, p. 34.) But the public break-up of the marriage of Charles and Diana upset the old image of the royal family as a pillar of respectability. Her unhappy marriage itself carried a message to millions of women locked into unhappy marriages or divorced who, unlike Diana, do not live in palaces, and yet, in some way saw their own plight reflected here. In the words of the Financial Times , (6-7/9/97): Women looked up to her for refusing to succumb to a loveless marriage and deciding to make something more of herself."

Of course, this identification of the masses with a woman who lived in a palace and left 40 million in her will, was always an illusion. As the Financial Times pointed out with brutal frankness:

The refrain of a thousand messages has been: 'You were one of us.' But she was not. She was with the people, but not of them. Diana was a girl from an aristocratic family who decided, especially after her divorce from Prince Charles, to use the media power she had acquired to comfort - and find comfort in - people who had suffered, as she saw it, like herself. (Financial Times, 6-7/9/97.)

And yet, illusions can and do play a role in the psychology of the masses, and a powerful one at that.

The reason for her popularity was that she seemed to stand for the underdog. This undoubtedly struck a chord with millions of ordinary people who contrasted this attitude with the stiff and lifeless formality of the royal family. In life, Diana had the common touch of an Eva Peron in her sympathy for the poor and deprived. (Financial Times, 6-7/9/97.) But this kind of thing is not appreciated by the Establishment. While Diana lived, her activities were a source of embarrassment, but when her death sparked off the intervention of the masses, it immediately sensed a threat to its vital interests. This was openly admitted by the Financial Times on its front page on Friday the fifth of September:

Public reaction to the death of Diana is being watched with concern by officials sensing the pressure building up around tomorrow's funeral. 'There are aspects of this that are beginning to look quite unpleasant, as if mass hysteria was taking over,' said one Whitehall official. Another commented: 'It would appear that the survival of the royal family is being decided on how it handles the death of Diana'.

The Financial Times, that organ par excellence of the ruling class, gave voice to these feelings in an article published under the significant title Crowds and Power, which appeared on September the seventh:

Anybody who has attended the vigils of these past days will have felt the palpable expression of a collective will. It is conveyed by the numberless tokens left at the gates of palaces and at the instant shrines that have sprung up all over the country: the messages, cards and photographs, teddy bears, painted portraits and flags; the queues of people waiting up to 12 hours to sign books of condolence; the banks of flowers lit by candles burning through the night. Neither the Palace, the politicians nor the press have been able to comprehend the phenomenon. In spite of the royal family's own need for privacy the Queen was compelled to waive protocol, break with tradition, and make an exceptional broadcast to the nation last night. On Wednesday her prime minister was worried enough by the mood to defend the family against public criticism of its silence. Meanwhile, the press and television have been baffled by the strength of a popular feeling they did so much to stimulate. Commentators have found themselves trailing in the wake of ordinary people. They have struggled to make sense of the flood of human emotion as the collective mourning has progressed - like that of any bereaved individual - from shock and numb disbelief, to pain and confusion punctuated by anger or guilt, to sorrowful acceptance. (Financial Times, 6-7/9/97.)

The remarks about the press are interesting because they lay to rest the superficial explanation put forward by some on the Left that this was all created by the media. There is no doubt that the media can and does play an important role, and that here also they started the ball rolling. But the response of the masses was certainly neither expected or welcomed by them, any more than by the class they represent. Once it started, the movement immediately acquired a momentum and a logic of its own. It was not planned or orchestrated by anyone. More alarmingly from the standpoint of the ruling class, it could not be controlled by anyone. The media tycoons were as astonished as anyone else at what was unfolding before their eyes.

Splits at the top

If Diana's way of behaving in public seemed more human and natural, it also underlined the inhuman and unnatural character of the rest of the royal", and by implication the monarchy itself. This is the reason for the hatred, fear and resentment which the Windsor clique and their hangers-on (including in the media) harboured towards this dangerous upstart. Increasingly, she aspired to an independent role. Increasingly this was seen by them as a threat. The more of an echo she got from the public, the greater the danger appeared to them. If they were not actually behind the press campaign against Diana, they at least would not have been displeased by it. But by indirectly causing her death, the whole manoeuvre rebounded on them.

Almost before Diana's body was cold, there were extraordinary rows between the Queen and the Prince of Wales, as later revealed by the press. The Queen was determined to pursue her vendetta with Diana even beyond the grave. She initially insisted that Diana's body should not be placed in any of the royal palaces but should be taken to a private mortuary. She also demanded that Diana must have a private funeral despite her status. Such was the degree of cold spite and hatred of Diana even when she was a corpse that her name was not even mentioned at the Sunday morning service at Crathie Kirk, because the Queen had stuck to her order that the princesses name should never be mentioned in front of her. These details tell us quite a lot about the moral and intellectual qualities of our most Christian sovereign!

Fearing the popular reaction, Charles had a violent row with his mother and the palace officials. At one point, reports the Guardian (9/9/97) the rows became so heated that Charles and Sir Robert Fellows, the Queen's private secretary, had a furious argument during which the prince told Sir Robert to 'impale himself on his own flagstaff. Finally, Charles had to ring Tony Blair from his flight from Scotland to Paris to discuss placing Diana's body in Saint James' Palace. He also had to ring on the return journey because no arrangements had been made by the palace to place a wreath on Diana's coffin. Jon Snow of Channel 4 News reported that the Spencer family were so angry at the Queen's plans for a private funeral that they initially refused to communicate with the palace. Only the intervention of Downing Street succeeded in papering over the cracks and forcing the palace to agree to a large-scale funeral. According to Channel 4 News, arguments were still blazing about who should walk behind the coffin only 55 minutes before the procession moved off. The bitterness continued afterwards when the palace, in a transparent manoeuvre to cover its tracks, made an offer to restore Diana's title, taken away in a typical act of spite by the Queen after the divorce. The offer was understandably rejected by the Spencer family.

The remoteness of the Windsor clique from society stood exposed by the spontaneous movement of millions of people. Very quickly - more quickly than anyone could have expected - the initial mood of sorrow turned to anger and indignation, and this in turn was quickly directed against the royal family hiding behind the high walls of Balmoral Castle. Only the screaming headlines of the tabloid (read yellow) press and direct pressure from Downing Street forced the Queen into precipitate action, in a panic attempt to limit the damage. But the damage had already been done. The widespread anger at the House of Windsor was summed up in the speech of Diana's brother at the funeral service - at which not one member of the royal family spoke - delivered before the silent ranks of the Establishment and before the astonished gaze of millions:

The House of Windsor and its heir Prince Charles, sat in stony silence as Diana's brother articulated the public anger at their failure to love her and, even at her death, to realise how much the country loved her. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

If Earl Spencer's denunciation of the bizarre life of the royal family was unprecedented, the response of the public to it was even more so. The huge crowd watching the proceedings outside Westminster Abbey on video screens immediately began to applaud, compelling those inside the abbey to follow them:

From within the Abbey it sounded like a shower of rain - a wave of applause that grew and grew. Then the congregation clapped too, even some of the journalists who had been the target of the Earl's fury. The Royal Party sat in a pool of their own silence as the applause echoed around the Abbey. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

This picture of the scene in the abbey, worthy of the pen of Dickens or Galsworthy, sums up the total isolation of the royal ruling clique. It astonished all who saw it:

The cool anger Diana's brother directed against the royal family and press was stunning. As spontaneous applause broke out around the silent royal family, Charles and his sons must have wondered whether the consecration of their lives, with all its pain and sacrifice, to upholding a failing monarchy was any longer worth the candle. The institution's gathering obsolescence has never been more cruelly exposed than over the last week; its hold on popular sentiment - crucial to its legitimacy - has been severely dented. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

The myth of monarchy

It is not true that the monarchy in Britain has deep roots, historically speaking. The starting point of modern Britain was the bourgeois revolution of the 17th century. That culminated in the execution of Charles I. Subsequently, the bourgeoisie did a deal with the landed aristocracy, agreeing to the return of Charles II on condition that there would be no return to absolutism. As could be expected from them, the Stuarts broke the agreement and were duly ousted by a coup d'etat which placed William III, a Dutch adventurer, on the throne. The next 150 years were full of upheavals and scandals, and for most of the time the monarchy was anything but popular. The Economist exposed the myth of the 1,000 year monarchy as follows:

The monarchy may have lasted 1,000 years, but until recently the British have only occasionally treated it with reverence (Charles I lost his head, remember). The current royal family, like the Hanoverians before them, are as much German as British. In fact George V invented the family name Windsor (after his favourite castle) in 1917 at the height of the first world war when the family's name, Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, has caused grumbling. When the Kaiser heard of this he demanded, in a rare flash of wit, a staging of that famous opera, The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. (The Economist, 22-28/10/94.)

"The two first Georges, wrote Bagehot, were men ignorant of English, and wholly unfit to guide and lead English society. They both preferred one or two German ladies of bad character to all else in London. George III had no social vices, but he had no social pleasures  (Bagehot, p. 45.). He was also a madman. In 1817, at the funeral of Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the Prince Regent, the undertakers were drunk. At George IV's coronation in 1821, pugilists had to be employed to keep the peace among guests (not the rabble outside). Victoria's coronation in 1838 was also a shambles according to contemporary accounts.

Journalists and the public also showed little respect for monarchs themselves. On the death of George IV in 1830 The Times declared in an editorial that: 'There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures.' Cartoonists such as Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruickshank attacked the monarch in a manner which would look savage even today. Victoria was no more popular than her predecessors until her apotheosis near the end of her reign. She was at various times scornfully referred to as Mrs Melbourne (for her partiality to her first prime minister) or Mrs Brown (for her partiality to her servant John Brown). Her long retirement after the death of Albert was bitterly resented. In 1864 and advertisement was pinned to the railings of Buckingham Palace by some wag: 'These premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business.' She was regularly attacked in newspaper articles. By the mid-1860s republicanism was becoming widely discussed even fashionable. Republican clubs sprang up throughout the country in the following decade. The monarchy seemed headed for the dustbin of history. (The Economist, ibid.)

Only at the end of Victoria's reign and the beginning of the twentieth century did the ruling class take steps to build up the institution of the monarchy, lavishing large sums of money on huge spectacles such as Victoria's golden Jubilee in 1887. Most of the present-day ceremonial pantomimes, which most people imagine to be ancient British traditions, date from this time. We quote The Economist again:

Long-forgotten medieval rituals were dragged out of the attic, dusted off and performed, such as the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911. New ones were invented: the royal broadcast in 1932. When the public began to get bored even with this in the 1960s, the cameras were invited into Buckingham Palace. (ibid.)

Paradoxically, what saved the monarchy was the widening of the franchise and universal manhood suffrage. The ruling elite, The Economist admits, forced to widen the voting franchise, decided that the country needed the monarchy as a symbol of stability and they needed it to help them retain control of the government. At the height of the republican agitation Walter Bagehot wrote his classic The English Constitution, which even now contains the best analysis of the role of the British monarchy.

The real role of the Monarchy

It is necessary to understand that the monarchy is not simply a harmless anachronism with no powers. It is an important reserve weapon of reaction. The Queen has significant reserve powers which can be brought into play at a time of national crisis. Such powers would undoubtedly be used against a left Labour government that attempted to challenge the power and privileges of the big banks and monopolies that own and control most of Britain. Although most people do not realise it, this is the main role of the monarchy and the reason why it has been kept in being by the ruling class for so long.

This fact was explained in admirably frank terms by the 19th century author of the best-known work on the English Constitution, who, referring in unflattering language to Queen Victoria and Albert Prince of Wales, asked why the British people should pay a large amount of money every year in order to maintain a retired widow and an unemployed youth. And he answered in the following way:

For the educated thousands there is the 'efficient' aspect, the whole system of Parliaments, Cabinets, Party Government, and the rest. For the unintelligent millions there is the 'dignified' aspect (described also as 'theatrical', 'mystical', 'religious', or 'semi-religious'), which delights the eye, stirs the imagination, supplies motive power to the whole political system, and yet never strains the intellectual resources of the most ignorant or the most stupid. It is, of course, bound up with the Monarchy; indeed to all intents and purposes it is the Monarchy. (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, p. xviii.)

And again:

We have no slaves to keep down by special terrors and independent legislation. But we have whole classes unable to comprehend the idea of a constitution - unable to feel the least attachment to impersonal laws. Most do indeed vaguely know that there are some other institutions besides the Queen, and some rules by which she governs. But a vast number like their minds to dwell more upon her than upon anything else, and therefore she is inestimable. A Republic has only difficult ideas in government; a Constitutional Monarchy has an easy idea too; it has a comprehensible element for the vacant many, as well as complex laws and notions for the inquiring few. (Bagehot, p. 34.)

This is very clear. The ignorant masses do not understand politics and cannot really be trusted with the vote. but since they have conquered the right to vote, we must devise a kind of pantomime to keep them happy, while the real exercise of power is kept firmly in our hands:

Lastly. Constitutional royalty has the function which I insisted on at length in my last essay, and which, though it is by far the greatest, I need not now enlarge upon again. It acts as a disguise. It enables our real rulers to change without heedless people knowing it. The masses of Englishmen are not fit for an elective government; if they knew how near they were to it, they would be surprised, and almost tremble. (Bagehot, p. 48.)

It is worth spending a certain amount of hard cash on ceremony and glitter, in order to divert attention away from the real state of affairs. It is essential that the masses believe in the monarchy, and therefore this is a worthwhile investment, just like any other. It is also a necessary insurance policy, in case things go badly wrong. Unlike other countries, Britain does not have a written constitution, and most laws are based upon custom and practice. But for that very reason, there are many grey areas. For example, what would happen in the case of an elected government which attempted to take over the banks and monopolies? Bagehot answers with his customary frankness:

It may perhaps be replied that if a majority of the House of Commons want a revolution they ought to have one; and no doubt if the House of Commons on this point fully represented the settled convictions of the community the reply suffices. But if not? Is there any means of ensuring that in these extreme cases the House of Commons would represent the settled will of the community? Is there any ground for expecting that our Cabinet system, admirably fitted to adjust political action to the ordinary oscillations of public opinion, could deal with these violent situations? Could it long survive the shocks of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary violence? I know not. The experiment has never been tried. Our alternating Cabinets, though belonging to different Parties, have never differed about the foundations of society. And it is evident that our whole political machinery pre-supposes a people so fundamentally at one that they can safely afford to bicker; and so sure of their own moderation that they are not dangerously disturbed by the never-ending din of political conflict. May it always be so. (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, pp. xxiii-xxiv.)

A reserve of reaction

But what happens when this no longer applies? In such a situation, Bagehot explains the role of the monarchy. After all, the army swears an oath of allegiance to the ruling monarch, not to the elected parliament. The Queen's signature is necessary before any decision of parliament becomes law. By withholding her signature, the Queen would automatically provoke a constitutional crisis. Whom would the army, police and civil service obey? In other words we would have all the conditions for a legal coup d'etat. The Queen could suspend parliament and rule through the Privy Council, an organ of state which is not often referred to, but prefers to remain in the shadows - until a national emergency gives it the green light to show its real face. The reserve powers of the monarchy are like the dagger which the assassin keeps hidden in his sleeve. They are all the more dangerous because they are unseen. Here is what Trotsky writes on the subject:

Royalty is weak as long as the bourgeois parliament is the instrument of bourgeois rule and as long as the bourgeoisie has no need of extra-parliamentary methods. But the bourgeoisie can if necessary use royalty as the focus of all extra-parliamentary, i.e. real forces directed against the working class. (Trotsky's Writings on Britain, vol. 2, pp. 40-1.)

And Bagehot makes exactly the same point:

The king, too, possesses a power, according to theory, for extreme use on a critical occasion, but which he can in law use on any occasion. He can dissolve; he can say to his minister in fact, if not in words, 'This parliament sent you here, but I will see if I cannot get another parliament to send some one else here'. (Bagehot, p.71.)

In such a moment, when the reserve powers of the monarchy are finally wheeled out, it is imperative that the monarchy should command the unswerving obedience of a large part of society. This is the real reason for the maintenance of the monarchy and all the mystique that - at least until recently - surrounded it. As Bagehot points out:

The mystic reverence, the religious allegiance, which are essential to a true monarchy, are imaginative sentiments that no legislature can manufacture in any people. These semi-filial feelings in government are inherited just as the true filial feelings in common life (Bagehot, p. 3.)

And again:

When a monarch can bless, it is best that he should not be touched. It should be evident that he does no wrong. He should not be brought too closely to real measurement. He should be aloof and solitary. As the functions of English royalty are for the most part latent, it fulfils this condition. It seems to order, but it never seems to struggle. It is commonly hidden like a mystery, and sometimes paraded like a pageant, but in neither case is it contentious. The nation is divided into parties, but the Crown is of no party. Its apparent separation from business is that which removes it both from enmities and from desecration, which preserves its mystery, which enables it to combine the affection of conflicting parties - to be a visible symbol of unity to those still so imperfectly educated as to need a symbol. (Bagehot, p. 40.)

And finally, the most famous quotation of all:

A secret prerogative is an anomaly - perhaps the greatest of anomalies. That secrecy is, however, essential to the utility of English royalty as it now is. Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it. When there is a select committee on the Queen, the charm of royalty will be gone. Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic. We must not bring the Queen into the combat of politics, or she will cease to be reverenced by all combatants; she will become one combatant among many. (Bagehot, p.53.)

Again and again the same theme is hammered home. With astonishing cynicism, this consummate representative of the ruling class lays bare the inner mechanism and secrets of the British monarchy. Bagehot's book deserves to be studied carefully by every socialist and every thinking worker. Here is the explanation of the aloofness of the Windsor clique. It was an attempt to preserve the old mystique of the royal family, to preserve it as a reserve weapon of the ruling class. But now that weapon has been badly damaged. That explains the consternation, not only of the royals (who have their bank accounts to think of!), but of the strategists of Capital. Bagehot explains that a mystery is destroyed when daylight is let in. The open conflicts, splits and brawls within the royal family, openly paraded in the pages of the tabloid press in recent years, have done precisely that. People now realise that their so-called rulers are not at all special but only a collection of empty, unintelligent and very unlikeable persons living it up at the general expense. To the degree that Diana was excluded by the clique, she used her position to expose them in all their hypocrisy. For that they could never forgive her. But in reality, the exposure of the monarchy had begun even before this. What happened in the aftermath of her death only brought to the surface processes that were already at work, and which reflect profound changes in society.

Cold cruelty of ruling class

The cold calculation which subordinates everything to the profit motive has always been an essential part of the capitalist system. It is the negation of all human feeling, warmth and compassion. It sentenced small children to slave on dangerous machines in the last century, and it sentences millions of people to the humiliation of unemployment today. In the 1980s, Thatcherite Britain led the way in returning to the norm of capitalism, the capitalism of the 19th century, the unfettered rule of Profit and the laws of the Market - that is, of the jungle. The British ruling class are well suited to this role. Not at all the mythical face of fair play", compromise and democracy. In these Isles every democratic concession had to be wrung from the ruling class in struggle.

But the real face of British capitalism can be seen in the history of the empire - a bloody history of oppression and slavery with few equals in the world. Like the infamous Amritsar massacre of 1919, when Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered his men to open fire on an unarmed demonstration, killing 379 people and wounding at least another 1,000. Before ordering his troops to open fire, Dyer made sure that the exits to the square were blocked by his men. This mass murderer was not imprisoned or even cashiered from the army, but only reprimanded and asked to resign, although he kept his pension. As The Times puts it:

Most of the British in India applauded his action and launched a collection for him, raising what was then the immense sum of 26,000, which enabled him to retire prematurely but comfortably in England. He maintained throughout his life that he had done a 'jolly good thing'. (The Times, 18/8/97.)

And all these horrors were perpetrated by nice, civilised English gentlemen educated at Eton and Harrow. The cold cruelty of the English ruling class is no better for the fact that it is concealed behind an emotionless mask, which they like to refer to as the stiff upper lip. No tears, no passion, no emotion of any kind. This is the first house-rule of the English ruling class, personified by the members of the House of Windsor. Their charity is just a game, something to help them pass the time, maybe ease their conscience (if they possess one), and at the same time, keep them in the public eye, creating a vague impression that the royals are, after all, good for something. The question arises, however, as to why so many unfortunate people are reduced to asking for charity in Britain in the last decade of the 20th century, and why there are so many beggars sleeping rough in the West End while the wealth of a few (including the royal family) continues to increase to obscene levels. Such questions, of course, are never asked in polite circles, and least of all by the Labour leaders. But it goes a long way to answer the riddle of the reaction of the mass of ordinary people to the death of a person who, in their minds at least, seemed to stand out against this background of a cold, heartless, unfeeling world, in some way a victim like themselves; someone, moreover, who described herself as the ultimate rebel."

So what if it was all a dream? Sometimes, it is necessary to cling to something, even if it is a dream, if it gives just a faint ray of hope. We are not dealing here with politically advanced people but with the millions of ordinary men and women whose lives are in turmoil and for whom the world is now a very confusing and unfriendly place. They are looking for some point of reference, and thus far have failed to find it. People in such a situation may well clutch at straws. It is all part of a process of learning. In such a process, the important thing is not that the masses make mistakes. The important thing is that they are beginning to think and act for themselves.

Accumulated discontent

In the autumn of 1997, Britain is not a happy country. The long drawn-out decline of British capitalism has been compounded by 18 years of Tory rule which destroyed a quarter of the manufacturing base of the erstwhile workshop of the world. Social inequalities have widened into an unbridgeable gulf. The rich have got richer, the poor poorer. The crisis of the system is reflected by the dismantlement of the welfare state, the closure of hospitals, the decay of schools, and tens of thousands of homeless youths living on the streets. Despite all the talk of economic recovery, there is a widespread feeling of insecurity and fear for the future even among the middle class in the South of England, hit for the first time by the threat of unemployment and negative equity.

The general mood was summed up in The Observer thus:

The British of the egalitarian post-war years, creating a welfare state in which all had a stake, could unreservedly cheer Elizabeth II at her coronation as their collective embodiment - but the past 20 years of rising inequality, decaying public institutions and celebration of private activity in private free markets has created a new society that is more individualistic, more insecure, less anchored in its values and more alone. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

All of a sudden, the old certainties lay in ruins. There is a doubting, a scepticism, a lack of trust in everything and everything. These are profoundly disturbing symptoms for the ruling class and its representatives. The lack of confidence extends to politicians, parliament and the royal family, as a recent article commented in a worried tone: Faith in our own institutions has plummeted. Barely 30 per cent think Britain will have a monarchy in 50 years time. Only 10 per cent have confidence in parliament. (The Independent, 8/9/97.) The burning desire for a change was reflected in the last general election. This also was a symptom of a mood of deep discontent in society. The Tories suffered an unprecedented defeat. The Party of the Union lost all its seats in Scotland and Wales and was annihilated in the North of England. It is reduced to a party of the English suburbs and rural areas. It remains split and in crisis.

Yet it cannot be argued that there was massive enthusiasm for Labour either. Despite the campaign of the media to build up Blair's image - a campaign that has been stepped up over the last week - the facts show that this was by no means Labour's best result. It was not Labour that won the election but the Tories that lost. Even now, one cannot find a mood of genuine enthusiasm for any political party. Particularly among the most downtrodden and oppressed sections of society there is a sense that No-one cares about us. At a time when millions see their living standards, jobs and conditions under attack, their nerves and muscles stretched to breaking point, they find no point of reference, no bold perspective, no rallying call that might offer a way out.

Beneath the apparently calm, motionless surface of society there is a seething discontent, anger, suppressed rage, and above all frustration, which is seeking an outlet. If this is not provided by the mass organisations of Labour, it will inevitably find other outlets, in the most unexpected ways and under the most unlikely banners. This is true not only in Britain, but in other countries as well, as the events of the last year have shown.

Belgium and Spain

There are parallels for what took place in Britain elsewhere in Europe. Socialist Appeal has stressed repeatedly the new volatile situation that has emerged nationally and internationally over the last five years. The shallow boom accompanied by intensified exploitation in the workplaces, mass unemployment, and increased stress, has resulted in growing insecurity and anxiety throughout all levels of society. Deep undercurrents of discontent have periodically surfaced in the most explosive manner. It is a period of sharp and sudden changes in the situation.

In Belgium, in an unprecedented movement, millions poured onto the streets over the death of children murdered at the hands of a paedophile gang whose influence spread into the highest reaches of the state and Belgian society. There have been many horrific deaths before, but these murders triggered off a mass movement, which drew behind it layers never involved before. The White protest was a spontaneous mass movement completely outside the official structures of the labour movement. It was called by no-one. The trade union and socialist leaders, even the shop stewards, were completely taken by surprise. All of them were far removed from the real mood developing in society. The murders of little children, the bungling of the police, the removal of the investigating judge, revealed the rotten corruption of the Belgian state. What would normally have been an accidental event became the catalyst for a massive upheaval throughout the country. All the pent up frustration and anger that existed below the surface over the cuts, the attacks on the social wage, the merciless pressures in the workplace, suddenly burst through to the surface.

More recently in Spain, the murder by ETA of a PP councillor in the Basque Country resulted in six million people demonstrating on the streets. In Madrid alone over one million marched in protest. Yet the murder of individuals by ETA is not new. It has gone on for years without any such protests. Now millions were on the move. This was not a reactionary protest. The fascists who attempted to exploit the situation were driven off the marches. It was an expression not only of a general revulsion against a brutal and senseless killing but also of the seething discontent in a country where more than 20 per cent are officially unemployed.

The general election on 1st May in Britain represented a similar phenomenon. The sheer scale of the Labour victory was without precedent. The Tory party was completely shattered, with no political representation in Scotland and Wales. Labour had won its biggest representation in history - 418 MPs - a Labour majority of 179. This represented a sea-change politically in Britain. Again, it was a rejection of 18 years of Toryism. But it also reflected a deep sense of bitterness and anger at the deteriorating situation faced by the mass of the population, the insecurity, the stress at work, and the general frustration at the situation. This explosive mix revealed itself previously in the mass revolt over the poll tax and the huge movement in October 1992 over the Tory's pit closure programme. Again these were not called by the official labour organisations, but were a spontaneous reaction to events.

Lenin pointed out that there were four conditions for a revolution. The first was a split in the ruling class. The tensions building up in the recesses of society find their first expression, not in a movement of the masses, but in conflicts, crises and divisions at the top. The rulers of society feel the pressure from below and one section senses that they cannot continue to rule in the old way, while another wing stubbornly resists change, fearing to open the floodgates. The split in the monarchy has now assumed an open and embittered character, just as occurred also in the Tory party and the Church of England. The second condition was that the middle class should begin to detach itself from the ruling class and begin to vacillate. The collapse of the Tory vote in traditional middle class strongholds, and now the widespread criticism of the monarchy among these traditionally conservative layers, are a clear indication of a new and volatile mood in society which can have enormous repercussions in the future.

The third condition was a movement of the masses, and that the working class should be prepared to fight to the end. That condition has not yet matured in Britain, although the big movements in France, Belgium and Germany are an indication of what is in store. Moreover, the movement of the masses does not proceed in a straight line, but is a contradictory process that can take all kinds of peculiar forms, especially when a conscious leadership is lacking. The eruption of the masses over the past week was, in a peculiar way, an anticipation of what is being prepared in the depths of society. If one takes it in a superficial way, then the idea that this could have a revolutionary significance would seem preposterous. And yet the strategists of Capital were deeply perturbed. The articles in the Financial Times about the Crowd were highly significant. The thinking representatives of the ruling class understand that a crowd has a psychology, a logic and a movement of its own. Once the snowball begins to roll, it can be hard to stop. The mood can change very quickly. That explains the indecent haste with which the royal family was compelled to do a 180 degree somersault against its wishes.

Socialists and the Monarchy

What is really incredible is the role of the right wing Labour leaders in all this. As on every other question, the so-called realists of Labour's right wing are in fact the furthest removed from reality. Every serious political observer agrees that the monarchy has been badly damaged and is losing support. This seems to be particularly true of sections of the middle class. The Observer noted that:

Foreign reporters who moved among the crowds found the deepest wells of disillusion among the petite bourgeoisie who had once been keen royalists. They judged their alienation from the Queen to be more worrying for the Establishment than the more flamboyant of the mourners. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

Yet precisely at a time when even life-long monarchists were beginning to question the monarchy, Tony Blair steps in to prop it up, acting, in effect, as the unofficial adviser to the Queen on how to extricate the monarchy from the mess it had gotten itself into. Blair's role has been underlined by the press:

Tony Blair yesterday held four hours of private talks with the Queen at Balmoral hours after publicly predicting that the monarchy will 'change and modernise' in the wake of the national trauma of Princess Diana's death. In a tactful attempt to make light of tensions within the Establishment over the royal family's behaviour since last weekend, the Prime Minister praised the Queen's Friday night broadcast and her decision to stay at Balmoral. Mr Blair remains a monarchist, he stressed when he appeared on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost. (The Guardian, 8/9/97, my emphasis)

Yet the same article adds:

But there is little doubt among politicians in all parties that the monarchy has been rocked by the scale of public feeling for the dead princess. (The Guardian, 8/9/97.)

In a letter written from London to F.A. Sorge in December 1889, Engels wrote:

The most repulsive thing here is the bourgeois 'respectability' bred into the bones of the workers. The social division of society into innumerable gradations, each recognised without question, each with its own pride but also its inborn respect for its 'betters' and 'superiors,' is so old and firmly established that the bourgeois still find it pretty easy to get their bait accepted. I am not at all sure, for instance, that John Burns is not secretly prouder of his popularity with Cardinal Manning, the Lord Mayor and the bourgeoisie in general than of his popularity with his own class. And Champion - an ex-Lieutenant - intrigued years ago with bourgeois, and especially with conservative, elements, preached Socialism at the parsons' Church Congress, etc. Even Tom Mann, whom I regard as the finest of them, is fond of mentioning that he will be lunching with the Lord Mayor. If one compares this with the French, one can see what a revolution is good for, after all. However it will not help the bourgeoisie much if they do succeed in enticing some of the leaders into their toils. By that time the movement will have become strong enough to overcome this sort of thing. (Marx and Engels, On Britain, pp. 568-9.)

For generations, under the empire, wide layers of British society, not only the middle class, but also sections of the working class were under the influence of the monarchy. But in the period of Britain's decline, all the old traditions of servility have gradually fallen away. The new generations are no longer willing to accept the rule of their alleged betters as something God-given and natural. This process has been going on for some time. But sometimes it takes an accidental event to act as a social catalyst which, as in chemistry, serves to accelerate enormously a tendency which was already present. The death of Diana is just such an historical accident."

All serious observers agree that the events of September have seriously damaged the monarchy in the eyes even of the middle class. Yet the Labour leaders continue in the old tradition of bowing and scraping to the monarchy, and even of posing as its Deliverers! It now seems that Charles phoned Tony Blair from the aeroplane on his way back from Paris with the dead body of his estranged wife, asking the Labour Prime Minister to intercede with the Queen over the funeral arrangements.

Blair has abandoned the socialist programme and openly embraced the market and all its works. He represents the right wing clique at the top of the Labour Party and the unions which is under the direct pressure of big business and which foolishly imagines that, by currying favour with the Establishment, they can bring about national unity."

Just a few days after the funeral, the TUC opened its doors. Its main guest speakers were Tony Blair, the president of the CBI (employers' association) and - the Archbishop of Canterbury! How well old Engels' words characterise the leaders of the British trade union movement who, instead of organising a serious campaign to secure a decent minimum wage, call in the help of the Almighty! There is no doubt that Trotsky was right when he said that the British trade union and Labour leaders were the most conservative and reactionary force in society. And the biggest joke of all is that they are preaching sermons about the unity of the nation just when that so-called unity (that is, the unity of horse and rider, of exploiters and exploited) is about to be burst asunder.

Monks and Blair dream of national unity at a moment when the employers are ruthlessly piling on the pressure. Not since the Second World War has there existed such an open dictatorship on the shop floor, such a nightmare of toil and drudgery, such intolerable stress. The capitalist system was always inhuman. Now it has turned into a nightmare for millions of men, women and young people. But this is producing a mood of anger and bitterness which will not be kept suppressed forever. It can burst through. It will burst through, preparing a general radicalisation of society that will shake the Labour organisations from top to bottom. The grip of the right wing will be broken, opening the road to the transformation and re-transformation of the unions and the Labour party.

Is it permissible for socialists to defend the monarchy? Such a question would appear to answer itself. Even from the most elementary standpoint of democracy, the institution of the monarchy is a survival of barbarism. By what right does a man or woman become the titular head of the nation merely by an accident of birth? What has genetics got to do with democracy and the administration of society? Such things should be taken for granted by any consistent supporter of democracy, let alone a socialist. The acceptance of monarchy by Tony Blair is the most blatant example of the abandonment of even the most elementary principles of socialism and the Labour Movement by the right wing modernisers". By the way, what kind of modernisation is it that defends a reactionary remnant of feudalism?

Yet, strangely enough, the question of the monarchy is not even understood by those who seek its abolition. It is generally thought that the monarchy is merely an expensive anachronism. That is the position of most of the Labour Left. Expensive it is, of course. The millions wasted on this bunch of parasitic idlers could and should be spent on other things - schools, hospitals, houses. That is the real answer to those who prattle endlessly on about the supposed good works and charitable activities of the royal family. It is impossible to find out the real wealth owned by the Queen. The last issue (1996) of the Sunday Times' Britain's Richest 500 gives a conservative (in their own admission, cowardly") estimate of 450 million. However, this does not include a private art collection worth, according to some estimates, 10 billion, as well as other property, jewels, horses and other assets worth countless millions more. The Queen, allegedly standing above classes and party politics", is a member of the capitalist class with an investment portfolio conservatively estimated by the Sunday Times at 250 million. The rise in land prices over the last year has further swelled the value of their properties, especially in East Anglia, where prices rose by no less than 40 per cent in the year before this study came out.

This, at a time when thousands of middle class families are facing the nightmare of negative equity and the loss of their homes. Not content with this vast amount of wealth, the royal family continues to demand a huge annual subsidy paid for by the state when expenditure on schools and hospitals is being cut to the bone, on the grounds that there is no money. If they really want a monument to the late Princess of Wales, why not demonstrate their heartfelt concern for the poor, the sick and the underprivileged by donating all their riches for a programme of useful public works? They will not do so voluntarily, of course. So a Labour Government worthy of the name ought to give them a little encouragement by expropriating the property of the royal family and abolishing the monarchy once and for all.

Socialist transformation - the only answer

Last May, the people of Britain inflicted a crushing defeat on the Tory Party. In voting for a Labour government, they were voting for change. This fact is accepted even by bourgeois commentators, who, in fact, have related it to the same kind of mood that propelled a million people onto the streets of London on September 6th. In drawing this analogy, the strategists of Capital show that they understand the real situation in Britain far better than the Labour leaders who, in effect, are offering more of the same. To tell the truth, they understand more than the Lefts, and more than many people who call themselves Marxists. And they are worried, just as Bagehot was worried when he wrote that it was just as well that the politically untutored masses did not realise how close they were to power.

Before the Second World War, Leon Trotsky pointed out how easy it would be for the leaders of the Labour Party to take power in Britain. In fact, he explained that it could even be achieved peacefully, through parliament - if the Labour leaders willed it:

In Britain three-quarters of the population is working class. It is a purely proletarian country. It has a small handful of landlords and capitalists - they are very rich and powerful, it is true, but still they are only a handful. If MacDonald walked into Parliament, laid his programme on the table, rapped lightly with his knuckles, and said, 'Accept it or I'll drive you all out' (saying it more politely than I've phrased it here) - if he did this, Britain would be unrecognisable in two weeks. MacDonald would receive an overwhelming majority in any election. The British working class would break out of the shell of conservatism with which it has been so cleverly surrounded; it would discard that slavish reverence for the law of the bourgeoisie, the propertied classes, and church and the monarchy. (Trotsky's Writings on Britain, vol. 1, p. 194.)

It is worth recalling that the three basic pillars of the Establishment in Britain were always the monarchy, the Church of England, and the Tory Party. It is no accident that all three are now in a deep crisis. Even more extraordinary is the way in which the splits and divisions are openly paraded in the full glare of public opinion. This too is unprecedented, especially in Britain. As Trotsky points out elsewhere:

Nowhere in Europe does canonised hypocrisy - 'cant' - play such a role as in Great Britain. Different political groupings and even the most 'extreme' of them are, when fighting against each other, accustomed not to touch upon certain questions or to call certain things by their proper names. The reason is that from time immemorial the political struggle has been waged inside the ranks of the possessing classes who have never forgotten that a third party is listening in. (Trotsky's Writings on Britain, vol. 2, pp. 162.)

So discredited is the monarchy that even bourgeois publications like The Economist have called for its abolition. In the immediate aftermath of the funeral, many other papers have expressed doubts about the future of monarchy:

The institution can stagger on but amid so much other constitutional change - notably the elimination of the hereditary principle in the House of Lords, an important buttress to hereditary monarchy - it is clear the end is approaching. (The Observer, 7/9/97.)

This conclusion is undoubtedly premature. We have already explained the role of the monarchy as a reserve weapon of the ruling class. This weapon has now been seriously dented, but it is not yet completely destroyed. It still has important reserves of support in the masses (this was evident even over the past week). Therefore, the ruling class will do everything in its power to prop it up. Despite the powerful impact on the minds of the masses of the recent dramatic events, memories fade with time. The mass media remain a tremendous instrument for moulding public opinion. There are still a few cards up their sleeve. If Charles has been discredited, he can always be shunted aside in favour of young William. Or he may get a new image and bounce back again. The different combinations are unimportant. The main thing is that the monarchy itself be maintained as a weapon against the Labour Movement and a bulwark against social progress. The task of removing this obstacle - along with the House of Lords and all the other accumulated rubbish left over from feudalism - will be the prior condition of success for a future Labour government that is not content to accept the dictates of Capital, but is determined to abolish it.

Inevitably, some good workers will have been bewildered and disheartened by the recent events. But it is necessary to see a little further than what is immediately in front of us. For this, a Marxist analysis is indispensable. In January 1905, the first Russian revolution began with a crowd - a mass demonstration of men, women and children bearing religious icons in their hands, a priest at their head and a petition to the tsar, the little father. When socialist agitators tried to distribute leaflets attacking the tsar, they were attacked and the leaflets were torn up. But in the space of 24 hours, the mood changed into its opposite. The masses rapidly graduated from the school of petitions to that of the general strike and armed insurrection. Of course, that is not the situation here. The movement is only at its early beginnings. But the strategists of Capital immediately understood that behind these first confused stirrings, there was something menacing, something potentially dangerous to them. That is why they moved swiftly to defuse the situation with concessions. Thus, from their class standpoint, the most far-sighted representatives of capitalism always come to similar conclusions to the Marxists.

It is necessary to look beyond the surface of events, to distinguish carefully between the essential and the non-essential, between what is progressive and what is reactionary, and to see the real process that is unfolding. The recent events were alarming to the strategists of Capital because they saw what we saw - that all the elements are accumulating to prepare for a social explosion in Britain. David Starkie, a constitutional expert, openly worried that There is such a head of steam that anything can happen (The Independent 8/9/97) and Christopher Hudsen of the Evening Standard wrote As the emotional barometer has risen so has a disturbing sense of menace in the atmosphere. These extraordinary comments - not isolated but typical of the serious commentators - accurately convey the deep concern of the ruling class. This is not just a routine happening but the heat lightening of revolution - an anticipation of what is to come. That is the real meaning of these words. We have entered an entirely new and turbulent period in Britain and on a world scale. The socialist transformation of society will once more be placed firmly on the order of the day. There will be many ups and downs, and many false turnings, but for a whole period, the pendulum will swing to the left. All that is required to ensure a successful outcome is that the Labour Movement be equipped with the ideas, programme and methods of Marxism. That is the real challenge before us.
This year has seen exceptional tension between the US and North Korea. A recent (Aug 29th) North Korean missile test flew a rocket through Japanese airspace for the first time ever, before it was exploded in an unknown location. This follows months of hostilities as the US administration has repeatedly made threats against the country.

For decades the United States and South Korean armed forces have carried out twice annual military drills which are clearly aimed at threatening North Korea and asserting US military might in the Yellow and East Seas. For decades the response of North Korea has been to either carry out tests and displays of its own nuclear capabilities, or to make aggressive comments as to the consequences of a potential American attack. This year however, this delicate balancing act was perturbed by Donald Trump who promised fire and fury like the world has never seen if the Pyongyang regime made further threats against the US. Until today, US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has repeatedly reiterated that all options are still on the table when dealing with the Koreans.

For this US administration, and those coming before it, the right of issuing threats has always been preserved as a privilege of the US alone. North Korea has never invaded any other country or dropped nuclear bombs on anyone. US imperialism however has a dark record of invading countries and overthrowing regimes which do not follow its dictates.

The US has around 25,000 troops stationed in South Korea to which it also donates tons of military equipment each year. Twice a year it performs war games which simulate an offensive against North Korea. If not to pursue the aggressive policy of US imperialism, what other justification might there be to this? Only a few years ago, George W. Bush embarked on the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, North Korea was on the same Axis of Evil list along with countries such as Syria and Libya. The only reason North Korea has not been attacked by the US has been its acquisition of nuclear capabilities, which were first demonstrated in 2006.

The current war of words erupted after months of escalating tensions in which the international mass media has seen no shortage of concern about a supposed danger of World War III. Following a North Korean missile test on April 4, Mr Trump ordered the first use ever of the USs biggest non-nuclear weapon, known as the Mother of All Bombs, against an ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan.

This was a clear threat aimed at North Korea and other states who challenge US imperialism, especially since such a bomb is very inefficient against Islamist guerilla forces. Hence it was not surprising that the Stalinist regime answered this provocation with a further missile test on April 15, two days later. This was followed by avalanches of ever harsher and more serious threats from both sides, in which they both basically guaranteed the other sides complete annihilation, however the balance of forces are entirely different. It is not the same when North Korea, a small and poor nation, makes threats against US aggressions. Compared to when the US, the mightiest military power on the planet, with a powerful navy and military bases surrounding North Korea as well as previous history of invading and (nuclear) bombing other countries, makes the same threat.

In the following period, North Korea conducted at least nine missile tests, with the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on July 4, US Independence Day. In theory this missile could reach the US, although the North Korean regime was very careful to conduct the tests in ways that could not possibly be interpreted as directly threatening; either directly to the United States or to its regional allies, South Korea and Japan. They instead choose to fire them into the sea, in places far away from any potential victims.

The North Korean regime tried to curb the escalation and on 14 August Kim Jong Un announced a decision to indefinitely delay a plan, in which the regime was claiming would engulf the US territory of Guam in missile fire. For now, he claimed he is going to watch the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees, referring to the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military drill, which began on August 21. This, was in essence an invitation for negotiations with the US. Obviously relieved, Trump immediately applauded the wise decision on Twitter, but his administration has done nothing to de-escalate the situation and has reiterated that all options are on the table. This is the reason for the recent North Korean missile test above Japanese airspace, which from their point of view not only underlines what they are capable of, but also continues to shake the confidence of the Japanese and South Korean ruling classes in the USs ability to suppress them.

So, was the world really just pushed to the brink of a world or nuclear war, as was claimed by all sides? There is no reason to believe this. In spite of all the bravado by Donald Trump, the US has very few, if any military options in dealing with North Korea. In fact besides tweeting and posturing in press conferences, Donald Trump has done nothing to imply that he is willing to attack North Korea. No troop deployments or any other kind of practical steps, which would be required in such a situation, have been carried out. In the final analysis, the US has very little option but to reach some sort of a deal with North Korea.

The decline of US imperialism

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This reveals the real state of US imperialism which is in a crisis and a state of relative decline. This is one of the most crucial factors in the global situation. By decline, we refer to the United States increasing difficulty to assert itself on the global stage. The cases of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan all demonstrate the US imperialists inability to carry out their stated aims, or at the very least to decisively influence events in their favor. This results on the one hand from the war weariness of the US population, and from the deep crisis which still hangs over the head of the US economy. Any new major war would immediately lead to a deep economic and social crisis.

A war on North Korea, even a non-nuclear one, would immediately mean a devastating retaliatory attack on Seoul where US military experts believe at least 100,000 people, many of them Americans, would be killed within the first few days. Furthermore, to disarm or to topple the North Korean regime entirely, only a full-blown invasion would suffice. But if US imperialism has been thoroughly defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, two failing states with an old outdated ams arsenal, an attack on a militarily well organised and nuclearly armed North Korea would be far far worse. This is without even taking into account the almost certain devastating attacks upon US and Japanese soil which North Korea would answer with, and is well capable of inflicting.

Under the current conditions of global economic volatility and crisis, any further war by the US could lead to severe economic convulsions all over the world. The bourgeoisie of all countries do not want this, and it becomes doubly dangerous if South Korea is involved as they are one of the most important export oriented economies in the world. Any war on the Korean peninsula would have immediate and dire global consequences. One must only think of companies like Samsung, Hyundai and LG, three of the worlds most important industrial companies, and this becomes blinding obvious.

Furthermore, a direct attack on North Korea would immediately draw in China and Russia, who correctly see the stand-off with Pyongyang as an American show of force aimed towards them as well. A hypothetical defeat for North Korea would dramatically increase US presence on the land borders of China, and remove North Korea as a regional military and political buffer between the US and China.

The decline of US imperialism is not a one-sided process. Like nature, politics abhors a vacuum, and thus the decline of this great power has seen a relative strengthening of both Russia and China. This is seen both globally, yet especially in their neighbouring areas such as Eastern Europe and East Asia. The same applies to a whole host of rising powers on a more regional level, like Iran and India. Even the European Union now seems to be moving towards a more independent, more responsible position, which is not always aligned with that of the US.

A key objective of US imperialism under these conditions is to keep Russia and China in check. To this end, they are currently deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea. This was justified with the threat from North Korea, but it is obvious that the systems purpose is to track missiles launched from China and Russia. Deployment of this system was first announced by the Pentagon in May 2014, and began in earnest in March and April 2017.

Donald Trump came to power blaming Barack Obama for being weak, in particular in foreign policy. He promised to make America great again. That is why he has been raising his voice and making threats. The conflict with North Korea is a way to address what he believed Obama incapable of, namely to reassert US domination in East and SouthEast Asia. It was supposed to demonstrate to the US allies- Japan and South Korea, that the US is still a power to be relied on, in particular against rising Chinese influence. But far from asserting US supremacy in East Asia, Trumps hollow threats have only served to expose US impotence and the relative decline of US imperialism.

The US has no military options to pursue in regards to North Korea. Instead, it is attempting to bring down the regime through economic pressure, by imposing sanctions. In case of an economic collapse of the regime, they hope they will be able to move their troops right to the Chinese border. Simultaneously, other rogue states like Iran would be warned that not even nuclear weapons can protect them from the wrath of the US.

The North Korean Stalinist regime

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In fact, the North Korean Stalinist regime has its own reasons to be averse to any prospect of war. It was created after World War II, in the aftermath of Koreas liberation from the Japanese imperialist occupation; under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter and Kim Jong Uns grandfather, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed in 1948. Much like China or the deformed workers states in Eastern Europe, it began where the Soviet Union had ended: as a military-police dictatorship whose only revolutionary feature was the introduction of a nationalized, planned economy.

After the DPRK was established an extremely bloody proxy war soon ensued on the peninsula, in which the US essentially fought the USSR and China over control of Korea. US imperialism installed its own military dictatorship in the southern half, led by the anti-communist fanatic Syngman Rhee, who massacred tens of thousands of leftist activists and drowned in blood a mass uprising against his puppet regime. In this way, the US created a permanent military outpost right next to China.

During the Korean War, the US dropped more bombs than it had used during the entire Pacific campaign of World War II. Almost every substantial building in North Korea was destroyed and about twenty percent of Koreas entire population fell victim to the bombing campaigns and indiscriminate mass shootings of civilians until a truce was declared in 1953. The joint military exercises were begun in the same year, in fact the war is still technically ongoing. These military drills are a direct legacy of this exceptionally gruesome and brutal war of mass extermination. The North Korean regime does everything to remind its subjects of this, while the US regime and media do everything to ignore it.

Today, the regime is a monument to Stalinisms boundless potential for barbarism. The cult of personality around the Kim family is as fanatical as the most zealous of religious sects. There are no signs whatsoever of any kind of political opposition in the country, whose citizens are subjected to constant barrage of the most intense ultra-nationalist propaganda. Their citizens are continuously intimidated by public executions, huge labour camps and permanent claims about the imminent resumption of armed conflict with the United States.

After the USSR collapsed in 1991, the country  which had, until then, enjoyed a higher living standard than South Korea  was thrown into abject poverty. In 1995, a famine erupted, to which about a million people fell victims. The regime was facing a dangerous situation and it reacted by intensifying its totalitarian propaganda, elevating Kim Jong Il and his father to the level of secular gods, and militarizing the whole of society. Without any material comfort to offer their starving population, the regime based its legitimacy exclusively on its anti-imperialist tradition and narrative.

The famine in North Korea has long past, and the country has in fact been experiencing fairly decent economic growth over the last decade. But the Stalinist bureaucratic caste in North Korea is still, almost solely, motivated by self-preservation. The development of their nuclear missile capabilities serves this aim in two ways: First, no matter how enraged the US imperialists claim to be, it objectively deters them from war, and hence their rage. Less war means more stability, and less probability for Kim to end up executed like Moammar Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein. Secondly, the aggressions of the US and its defensive maneuvers like the building of THAAD and the holding of military exercises, in turn allows Kim Jong-Un and his bureaucratic entourage to present themselves internally as the stable and necessary leadership in a just, anti-imperialist struggle, as the only force that will protect the Korean population from a resumption of the Korean War.

Hands off Korea!

Neither the livelihood nor the political freedom of working people in North Korea  or anywhere else, for that matter  will be improved by the actions of US imperialism. There must be no illusions about this, and it is sufficient to look at the results of all the US imperialist interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria in order to understand this. The only way forward for both sides of the peninsula is a combined proletarian revolution, in which the Korean working class will smash the regimes that oppress them on both sides of the border, in one sweep toppling both the bourgeoisie and the Stalinist bureaucracy. By expropriating the giant capitalist monopolies in the South and bringing them under workers control as well as democratization of the planned economy in the North. The Korean working class can only accomplish the task of national reunification by means of revolution.

The great German socialist leader Karl Liebknecht once proclaimed in relation to World War I: The main enemy Is at home! This formula, which was called by Lenin revolutionary defeatism, sets out the tasks for socialists in imperialist countries such as the United States. It means that the fight against war begins at home, that is, that the working class must always put a priority on the struggle against their own imperialists, and try to thwart their expansionist plans.

The struggle against US imperialism in Korea and the struggle against capitalism and Stalinism, for a unified, socialist Korea, cannot be viewed in isolation from each other, but must be understood as inter-dependent. The working class and labour movement in Korea and the United States must fight together for the withdrawal of all US Imperialism from the whole of the Korean peninsula.
MILTON - A motorcyclist was thrown from his bike and killed Thursday morning when an SUV turned across its lane of travel, The Boston Globe reported.

The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office said the motorcyclist, Colin Dixon, 26, of Dorchester, was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Holsip6al in Milton where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said Dixon was riding southbound on Route 28, called Randolph Avenue, near its intersection with Hallen Avenue just before 9 a.m. when a northbound Audi SUV turned across his lane of travel. The motorcycle crashed into the side of the SUV, throwing Dixon from the bike.

The driver of the Audi remained at the scene and was interviewed by police.

The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services are investigating the incident.
LEXINGTON - A New Hampshire man was arrested Thursday afternoon after he allegedly flashed a handgun at another driver during a road rage incident.

The Massachusetts State Police said Matthew McKinney, 26, of Alexandria, New Hampshire was stopped and arrested as he tried to exit I-95 in Lexington. A handgun and ammunition were seized.

The State Police said a motorist traveling southbound on I-95 from New Hampshire called the Concord Barracks just after 3 p.m. to report the driver of a black pickup truck held up a handgun during an apparent road rage incident. Using the caller's description, troopers were able to focus on McKinney and he was stopped on the I-95 off ramp to Route 2 in Lexington.

Troopers were able to determine McKinney was armed with a Smith and Wesson .45 cal. handgun. In addition to the weapon itself, troopers found two magazines for the handgun with 13 rounds of ammunition in each, a backpack with 32 loose rounds of .45 cal. ammunition and a set of brass knuckles.

A records check indicated McKinney has not licensed to carry a handgun in Massachusetts.

He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition without a FID card and possession of a dangerous weapon (brass knuckles).
Britte McBride on Friday became the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission's third member, after she was announced as Attorney General Maura Healey's pick for the new agency overseeing the marijuana industry that's expected to take root in the Bay State.

McBride, a 39-year-old resident of Lynnfield, voted against marijuana legalization when the issue was on the November 2016 ballot, according to Healey's office.

That makes her the third member of the five-member commission who opposed the ballot question, joining three others. Other members who voted against the ballot question are retired executive Steven Hoffman and former state Sen. Jen Flanagan.

The fourth, whose appointment was announced on Friday, is Kay Doyle, who also voted against the ballot question.

McBride previously worked as legal counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, as an aide to former Attorney General Martha Coakley, and as deputy legal counsel to the Massachusetts State Senate.

State Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced Hoffman as the chair of the Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday, while Gov. Baker's office released news of Flanagan's appointment last week.

The other two picks for the Cannabis Control Commission, announced jointly by Baker, Healey and Goldberg are Kay Doyle, deputy general counsel at the Massachusetts Department of Public Healthy, and Shaleen Title, co-founder of THC Staffing Group, a cannabis recruiting firm.

Doyle, 47, voted against the ballot question, while Title, 34, voted for the question. Title helped draft the ballot initiative.

The commission is tasked with overseeing and regulating the new retail pot industry set to spring up in Massachusetts after voters legalized the substance. Medical marijuana also falls under the commission's aegis.

"We are pleased to partner with the Treasurer and Attorney General on these important appointments as our administration works with the Cannabis Control Commission to implement the will of the people," Baker said in a statement. "Executing the duties of the commission responsibly is vital to safely laying the groundwork for this new industry in the Commonwealth."

This post was updated at 1:56 p.m. with additional information on the appointees.
Bullock: "If we want our kids to compete in the 21st century economy, we need to give them a 21st century education"

Governor Steve Bullock today visited Red Lodge High School to highlight statewide opportunities for schools to enhance broadband and develop 21st century classrooms.

"If we want our kids to compete in the 21st century economy, we need to give them a 21st century education," said Governor Bullock. "Even our most rural schools are already using increased connectivity to improve educational opportunities and we will continue to work until all schools have the connectivity they need to be successful classrooms into the 21st century and beyond."

http://governor.mt.gov/Newsroom/governor-bullock-highlights-school-broadband-innovations-during-back-to-school-week
Eastern Washington University is partnering with Microsoft on a new data analytics degree designed to prepare students to enter a fast-growing field.

The universitys College of Business and Public Administration is integrating a 10-course data science program by Microsoft in its senior year curriculum for the new undergraduate degree. Students who complete the program will graduate with a B.S. in data analytics, as well as a Microsoft certificate showing they completed the companys courses.

By Rachel Alexander

[email protected]

(509) 459-5406

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/aug/25/ewu-and-microsoft-join-forces-on-new-degree-progra/
Business groups and higher education officials in Billings announced Thursday they plan to develop a new "business incubator," work space to serve as a hub for local entrepreneurs to access funding and professional resources.

Big Sky Economic Development, Montana State University Billings, Rocky Mountain College and Billings-based Zoot Enterprises have signed into an agreement to launch a seven-month process to develop plans for the new center. It will also serve as the new home for the local economic development group.

SAM WILSON [email protected]

http://billingsgazette.com/business/billings-business-incubator-will-give-startups-support-work-space/article_ed642eb5-9e7c-583c-acd8-2eac40f3c069.html
Starting Friday there is no more such thing as paperwork when it comes to matters of business filings with the secretary of states office as its going digital through a $4 million computer system.

The secretary of states website https://sos.mt.gov/ has been touting "We are going digital" and from now on the owners of Montanas 160,000 businesses will renew their business licenses, register businesses, trademarks and filing annual reports online.

Phil Drake, [email protected]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/08/31/secretary-states-business-services-going-digital/622240001/
A new study has shown that resisting the urge to yawn does not reduce the number of yawns, instead raising the urge to yawn. The team also digs into the brains activity during this most mysterious of bodily functions. Share on Pinterest The cause of yawning is not yet known. One of the few things we know about yawning is that it is contagious. In fact, because you are currently reading about yawning, you are highly likely to feel the urge yourself. Attempting to suppress this urge will be futile; it is a powerful and unstoppable desire. The fact that we can catch yawns is well known, but scientists are yet to understand why they are contagious and even why we yawn at all. Although research into yawning might seem whimsical, there is good reason to give it more attention: it may offer insight into a range of conditions, including Tourettes syndrome.

Dissecting a yawn Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom set out to investigate yawn contagion and how it might be triggered by primitive reflexes in the primary motor cortex. The team was led by Stephen Jackson, a professor of cognitive neuroscience. Medical News Today asked him about his thoughts on the origins of yawning and why it might be contagious. [] there are many theories for why we yawn (e.g., lack of oxygen, to cool the brain, because we are tired, etc., etc.) but the evidence for these is lacking. The popular theory for contagious yawning is that it is linked with empathy for others, mimicry, and social bonding. Again the evidence for this is weak. I still think that much more research is required to understand the function and biology of yawning. The contagious quality of yawning is particularly strong. Despite the fact that we take it for granted, it is impressively pervasive. Prof. Jackson told MNT, [] when I teach about yawning, I can get most of the class yawning. (Note, this doesnt happen for my other lectures). Scientists believe that understanding yawn contagion and our ability (or inability) to suppress the urge might provide a deeper understanding of unrelated conditions. In particular, it might give insight into conditions that include echophenomena, which are automatic imitations that occur without awareness. Prof. Jackson explains, We suggest that these findings may be particularly important in understanding further the association between motor excitability and the occurrence of echophenomena in a wide range of clinical conditions that have been linked to increased cortical excitability and/or decreased physiological inhibition such as epilepsy, dementia, autism, and Tourettes syndrome. His research is published this week in the journal Current Biology .

What happens when we catch a yawn? Exactly what happens in the brain during echophenomena is not known, although there are some theories. Some scientists believe that it might be linked to disinhibition of the human mirror-neuron system, which fires when the body completes an action as well as when it observes an action in another person. The mirror-neuron system is also thought to be involved in synchronizing social behavior and empathy . However, current evidence for its role in yawning is lacking. Echophenomena are also thought to involve hyper-excitability in the cortical motor areas, which are regions of the brain involved in the control, planning, and execution of movements. To investigate the neural basis of yawning further, the team used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which is a noninvasive technique that stimulates nerve cells using magnetic fields. For this new study, 36 participants watched a video of someone yawning and were asked to either resist the urge to yawn or to allow it. The resulting yawns (and stifled yawns) were counted, and the participants perceived urge to yawn was monitored throughout. By using TMS, the team could also affect the urge to yawn. The researchers found that suppressing a yawn actually increased the urge and did not significantly reduce the number of yawns. Using electrical stimulation we were able to increase excitability and, in doing so, increase the propensity for contagious yawning. In Tourettes, if we could reduce the excitability, we might reduce the ticks, and thats what we are working on. Researcher Prof. Georgina Jackson
Mesmers sham practices gave hypnosis a bad start, but interest for its potential persisted in the medical sphere. In the 20th and 21st centuries, hypnosis continued to be explored, and specialists have gained a better understanding of what it is and how it can sometimes be harnessed to bring health benefits.

However, the concept of the hypnotic trance was born earlier, in the 18th century, with the notorious German physican Franz Mesmer . Mesmer claimed that he could showcase the existence of something he called animal magnetism, which is an invisible fluid that flows between people, animals, plants, and things, and which can be manipulated to influence peoples behavior.

Research suggests it was first coined in the early 19th century by Etienne Felix dHenin de Cuvillers , a Frenchman interested in the role of suggestion on the mind, and the mental and behavioral processes that took place when someone fell into a hypnotic trance. Other sources suggest that it was Scottish surgeon Dr. James Braid who coined the term.

The term hypnosis is derived from the Ancient Greek word for sleep (hypnos).

Hypnosis has been treading the line between quackery and therapy since around the 18th century, but recently it has been picking up steam as an alternative treatment for many disorders. What is hypnosis, does it work, and if so, how? We investigate.

A recent review published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews has defined hypnosis as a kind of top-down regulation of conscious awareness, a process in which mental representations [] override physiology, perception, and behavior.

As the authors explain, hypnosis involves two main elements: induction and suggestions. Hypnotic induction is the first suggestion delivered during the process of hypnosis, though what it should consist of is still a matter of debate.

Suggestions are typically expressed as implications that elicit seemingly involuntary responses from the participants, who do not believe they have much, or any, control (or agency) over the situation.

Some people are also more suggestible than others, and researchers have found that highly suggestible people are likelier to have a reduced sense of agency while under hypnosis.

Hypnotic suggestibility has been defined as the ability to experience suggested alterations in physiology, sensations, emotions, thoughts, or behaviour.

Share on Pinterest Some areas of the brain activated during hypnosis include the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and parietal networks.

Neuroimaging techniques have shown that highly suggestible people exhibit higher activity levels in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and parietal networks of the brain during different phases of hypnosis.

These are areas of the brain involved in a range of complex functions, including memory and perception , processing emotions, and task learning . However, the specific brain mechanisms involved in hypnosis are still unclear, though scientists are beginning to piece together the neurocognitive profile of this process.

Hypnosis and cognition

Many studies link hypnosis specifically to cognitive processes and describe it as a phenomenon involving attentive receptive concentration. Some evidence points to the role of hypnosis in controlling selective attention.

The relationship between hypnosis and states of attention is reinforced by the results of past experiments, in which hypnotic suggestion was used to alter different kinds of perception.

For instance, suggestion has been used to induce agnosia , which is a state wherein the brain can perceive but is unable to recognize various external stimuli. Other experiments have employed suggestions to manipulate visuospatial processing , which is the ability of the brain to identify objects in space, and to recognize shapes.

Such effects have often made hypnosis a showbiz attraction, and, when treated as a magicians trick, it elicits laughter and thrilled gasps. However, the practice of hypnosis has occasionally attracted a different kind of attention, when the stunts of amateur hypnotists have appeared to have tragic outcomes.

One person at the receiving end of one such questionable experiment described his mishaps and sense of anxiety in the aftermath.

I was in this trance. I was told I wouldnt be able to find my [hotel] room because all the room numbers would be changed to Chinese. I was lost for about 20 to 25 minutes walking around. I was seeing the Chinese lettering, the weird lines and all.

Another fraught use of hypnosis is that of hypnotic regression. Therapeutic regression, which is a method that claims to uncover a persons repressed memories  often of early abuse and trauma  has sometimes been used in hypnoanalysis, which is a form of psychoanalysis integrating hypnosis techniques.

Some even claim that hypnosis can help to achieve past life regression, unearthing memories from previous lives.

Existing research suggests that hypnotic suggestion can be effective in inducing false memories and convincing individuals of the truthfulness of these fictitious recollections. Such findings throw a negative light on claims of past regression and on the memories thus regained.
A research team from the University of Bergen in Norway, in collaboration with scientists at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, examined the effect of 1,000 different medications to see which ones may lower or increase the risk of Parkinsons disease.

Share on Pinterest Asthma drugs cut Parkinsons risk, but seniors may have to think twice about taking beta-blockers for treating hypertension, as new research suggests that these drugs could double the risk of Parkinsons disease.

The first author of the study is Shuchi Mittal, of Harvard Medical School, and the findings were published in the journal Science.

The research has several parts. First, the scientists conducted studies in cell cultures. Specifically, they searched for compounds that may downregulate the genetic expression of alpha-synuclein, which is the clumpy brain protein that builds up in excess and leads to Parkinsons symptoms.

Using small molecule screening, the researchers found that a class of drugs called beta2-adrenoreceptor agonists has the potential to reduce alpha-synuclein expression.

Then, they tested these drugs in mice and stem cells. The preliminary results suggested that two kinds of beta2-adrenergic drugs may have opposing effects on the risk of Parkinsons disease.

This prompted the team to further zoom in on these two types of beta2-adrenergic compounds: a beta2-adrenergic agonist called salbutamol (used for treating asthma), and beta2-adrenergic antagonists called beta-blockers (used for treating hypertension).
Researchers studied children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and found that inattentiveness was linked to worse academic performance up to 10 years later, regardless of ADHD, even when they accounted for the children's intellectual ability.

Although grades aren't everything, academic achievement is clearly an important factor in later career success and financial stability. Helping children to maximize their academic potential and overcome obstacles to academic success is important. One factor in academic performance is intellectual ability, and unsurprisingly, numerous studies have found that higher intellectual ability is linked with higher academic performance.

Another factor that can affect academic performance is attentiveness. Aside from making it difficult to focus in school and on homework, inattentiveness can be associated with other problems, such as mood disorders and difficulties interacting with other children. Helping children to overcome inattentiveness could pay dividends in later life.

Astri Lundervold, a researcher at the University of Bergen, is interested in the short- and long-term consequences of inattention in childhood. "A high number of children are challenged by problems related to inattention. A cluster of these problems is defined as hallmark symptoms of ADHD, but inattentiveness is not restricted to children with a specific diagnosis," explains Lundervold. Are problems related to inattention something that parents and teachers should address in any child?

This question inspired Lundervold to investigate the link between inattentiveness and academic performance in a sample containing mostly healthy children in Bergen, Norway. To make the sample more culturally diverse and inclusive of a larger spectrum of mental health disorders, she collaborated with researchers in America (Stephen Hinshaw and Jocelyn Meza). Together, they expanded the study, which was recently published in Frontiers in Psychology, to include a sample of girls from another long-term study in Berkeley, California, where a large subgroup had been diagnosed with ADHD.

The children were aged from 6-12 when the researchers recruited them and began the study. They assessed the children's IQ and asked their parents to rate their inattentiveness. Finally, 10 years later, the researchers followed-up with the children to see how they had performed in school.

Unsurprisingly, children with higher IQ scores tended to perform better academically. Also, as expected, the children with ADHD showed higher inattentiveness compared with those without, and also performed worse in school. However, the negative effects of inattention on academic performance were not restricted to children with ADHD. "We found a surprisingly similar effect of early inattention on high school academic achievement across the two samples, an effect that remained even when we adjusted for intellectual ability," explains Lundervold.

The results highlight the long-term effects that childhood inattention can have on academic performance. These findings suggest that inattention could have significant adverse effects on the academic performance of a variety of children, potentially including those with a high intellectual ability and no ADHD. So, how can parents help their children to achieve their academic potential, regardless of their IQ or mental health?

"Parents of primary school children showing signs of inattention should ask for help for the child. Remedial strategies and training programs for these children should be available at school, and not just for children with a specific diagnosis," says Lundervold. "Parents and teachers could also benefit from training to help address the needs of inattentive children."

Article: Parent Rated Symptoms of Inattention in Childhood Predict High School Academic Achievement Across Two Culturally and Diagnostically Diverse Samples, Astri J. Lundervold et al., Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01436, published 25 August 2017.
Excluding children from school may lead to long- term psychiatric problems and psychological distress, a study of thousands of children has shown.

Research by the University of Exeter, published in the journal Psychological Medicine found that a new onset mental disorder may be a consequence of exclusion from school.

The study, also found that - separately - poor mental health can lead to exclusion from school.

Professor Tamsin Ford, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Exeter's Medical School, warned that excluded children can develop a range of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety as well as behavioural disturbance. The impact of excluding a child from school on their education and progress is often long term, and this work suggests that their mental health may also deteriorate.

The study is the most rigorous study of the impact of exclusion from school among the general population so far and included a standardised assessment of children's difficulties.

Consistently poor behaviour in the classroom is the main reason for school exclusion, with many students, mainly of secondary school age, facing repeated dismissal from school. Relatively few pupils are expelled from school, but Professor Ford warned that even temporary exclusions can amplify psychological distress.

Professor Ford, who practises as a child and adolescent psychiatrist as well as carrying out research, said identifying children who struggle in class could, if coupled with tailored support, prevent exclusion and improve their success at school, while exclusion might precipitate future mental disorder. These severe psychological difficulties are often persistent so could then require long-term clinical support by the NHS.

Professor Ford said: "For children who really struggle at school, exclusion can be a relief as it removes then from an unbearable situation with the result that on their return to school they will behave even more badly to escape again. As such, it becomes an entirely counterproductive disciplinary tool as for these children it encourages the very behaviour that it intends to punish. By avoiding exclusion and finding other solutions to poor behaviour, schools can help children's mental health in the future as well as their education."

Exclusion from school is commoner among boys, secondary school pupils, and those living in socio-economically deprived circumstances. Poor general health and learning disabilities, as well as having parents with mental illness, is also associated with exclusion.

The analysis by a team led by Professor Ford of responses from over 5000 school-aged children, their parents and their teachers in the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys collected by the Office of National Statistics on behalf of the Department of Health found that children with learning difficulties and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, ADHD and autism spectrum conditions were more likely to be excluded from the classroom.

The research team found more children with mental disorder among those who had been excluded from school, when they followed up on their progress, than those who had not. The research team omitted children who had a previous mental disorder from this analysis.

The researchers concluded there is a 'bi-directional association' between psychological distress and exclusion: children with psychological distress and mental-health problems are more likely to be excluded in the first place but exclusion predicted increased levels of psychological distress three years later.

Claire Parker, a researcher at the University of Exeter Medical School, who carried out doctoral research on the project said:

"Although an exclusion from school may only last for a day or two, the impact and repercussions for the child and parents are much wider. Exclusion often marks a turning point during an ongoing difficult time for the child, parent and those trying to support the child in school."

Most research into the impact of exclusion has so far involved the study of individuals' experience and narratives from much smaller groups of people chosen because of their experience, which may not be so representative.

This study included an analysis of detailed questionnaires filled in by children parents and teachers as well as an assessment of disorder by child psychiatrists, drawing on data from over 5000 children in two linked surveys to allow the researchers to compare their responses with students who had been excluded. This sample from the general population included over 200 children who had experienced at least one exclusion.

The report concluded: "Support for children whose behaviour challenges school systems is important. Timely intervention may prevent exclusion from school as well as future psychopathology. A number of vulnerable children may face exclusion from school that might be avoided with suitable interventions."

Professor Ford added: "Given the established link between children's behaviour, classroom climate and teachers' mental health, burn out and self-efficacy, greater availability of timely support for children whose behaviour is challenging might also improve teachers' productivity and school effectiveness" .

Article: The relationship between exclusion from school and mental health: a secondary analysis of the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys 2004 and 2007, T. Ford et al., Psychological Medicine, doi: 10.1017/S003329171700215X, published online 25 August 2017.
Parkinson's disease is an insidious disease: by the time it manifests as the typical motor dysfunctions such as tremors or muscle rigidity, portions of the brain have already been irreversibly destroyed. By this stage, the disease will have often begun already decades earlier. In search of an early portent of the disease, researchers led by Prof. Paul Wilmes, head of the Eco-Systems Biology Group at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg, may now have found one in the gut: they have shown that the bacterial community in the gut of Parkinson's patients differs from that of healthy people even at a very early stage of the disease. The researchers present their results in the scientific journal Movement Disorders.

Experts have long been discussing the notion that Parkinson's disease originates far outside the brain. According to the "dual hit" hypothesis, a hitherto unknown pathogen intrudes into the body through two ports of entry: the nose or the gastrointestinal tract. Once there, it sets a pathological process in motion, above all the misfolding of the protein alpha-synuclein. This is a protein whose exact function remains unknown. Among other things, it is presumed to be involved in the excretion of messengers such as dopamine. The misfolding of this protein could propagate through the nerve pathways, where - decades later - it produces the typical clumping in the dopaminergic cells, known as Lewy bodies, that are characteristic of Parkinson's. Ultimately, nerve cells start to die off and the typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear.

The researchers led by Wilmes, together with physicians Prof. Brit Mollenhauer and Prof. Wolfgang Oertel and their teams in Gottingen, Kassel and Marburg, explored the question of whether the early events in the course of the disease also change the bacterial community, the microbiome, at the two possible ports of entry. They took samples from the nose and gut of 76 Parkinson's patients and 78 healthy control people who are taking part in a long-term study. They also examined the microbiome of 21 subjects diagnosed with iRBD, Idiopathic Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder. People with this sleep disorder have a greatly elevated risk of developing Parkinson's disease later in life.

It turned out that the bacterial community of the gut differed considerably between all three groups. "Parkinson's patients could be differentiated from healthy controls by their respective gut bacteria," explains the first author Dr. Anna Heintz-Buschart from the Eco-Systems Biology Group. And the majority of the differential bacteria showed similar trends in the iRBD group. For example, certain germs were more prevalent in one group while the count was lower in others. In the samples from the subjects' nasal cavities, however, the researchers found no such differences. The study also revealed that certain gut microbes are associated with non-motor Parkinson's symptoms, for example depression.

"We hope that, by comparing the groups, we will learn to better understand the role of the microbiome in the process of the disease and to find out what changes occur and when," Paul Wilmes explains. "This might deliver new starting points for early treatment of the disease. It would also be essential knowledge for one day being able to use the absence or presence of certain bacteria as a biomarker for early detection of the disease."

Apart from the LCSB researchers, scientists from the Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik in Kassel, the Department of Neurology of Philipps Universitat in Marburg, and the Departments of Neurology and Neuropathology of the University Medical Center Gottingen were involved in the study. The work was supported by the Luxembourg Rotary Club under its "Espoir en tete" programme, by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).
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"This is absolutely a call to action to improve and expand CPR training and defibrillator access."Starks and colleagues -- including senior author Graham Nichol, M.D., director of the University of Washington-Harborview Center for Prehospital Emergency Care -- analyzed cardiac arrest data from a registry that includes information from seven U.S. cities: Birmingham, Dallas-Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, and Milwaukee. U.S. Census data were used to provide demographic information at the neighborhood level.The researchers analyzed more than 22,000 cases in which cardiac arrest occurred in a non-hospital setting over a four-year period between 2008-11. Neighborhoods where out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurred were classified by census tract, based on percentage of black residents, ranging from fewer than 25 percent, between 25-50 percent, between 51-75 percent, and more than 75 percent.Compared with patients who experienced a cardiac arrest in mainly white neighborhoods, those in predominantly black neighborhoods were slightly younger, more frequently female, had lower rates of initial shockable rhythm, and less frequently experienced their heart event in a public location.Overall, nearly 40 percent of people stricken with cardiac arrest outside of the hospital received bystander CPR. In primarily white neighborhoods, the rate was almost 47 percent, but in predominantly black neighborhoods, the rate was just 18 percent.Use of an automated external defibrillator was similarly disproportionate by racial composition of the neighborhood. In mostlyNeighborhood make-up was also associated with survival. People with cardiac arrest in mixed- to majority- black neighborhoods had significantly lower adjusted survival rates at hospital discharge, the researchers found."We clearly see that treatments and outcomes for patients with cardiac arrest in black neighborhoods are worse than those in white neighborhoods. We then asked does it matter if you were black or white within those neighborhoods?" Nichol said."Our observations were reassuring. It actually does not matter if you are black or white within the neighborhood, but the neighborhood matters."That finding, the researchers noted, points to"This is something that can be addressed," Starks said."Organizations such as the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, along with medical centers and public health departments, have a unique opportunity to address this issue with dedicated education programs that are particularly tailored for black neighborhood. This is a relatively low-cost solution that could save lives."Source: Eurekalert
Innovation

Humans, animals and the environment  our health is all connected

Why the One Health approach is important now more than ever
Construction work at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant is continuing around the clock for what is seen as a high-profile example of international clean energy cooperation among Britain, France and China.

More than 1,900 men and women are involved in the building project on the Bristol Channel.

The busy site is a sign that the UK is on track to secure its future energy security, despite the EDF announcement in July of potential risks of delay and budget overruns.

China General Nuclear Power Corpor CGNis investing 6 billion pounds ($7.74 billion) into Hinkley, which is one-third of the 18-billion-pound project.

The deal was signed between the Chinese and French partners in October 2015 during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK. It received formal approval by the British government led by Prime Minister Theresa May in September 2016.

Hinkley Point C's lead investor, the French utility company EDF, remains confident about the project's ability to deliver. It says CGN will bring valuable experiences to help Hinkley stick to time and budget.

Hinkley program can also learn from China's Taishan nuclear power station, which involves two reactors built by EDF and CGN using the same technologythe European Pressurized Reactor, said Richard Mayson, a senior director at EDF.

Developed by EDF, EPR technology attracted concerns when its implementation at Flamanville, in France, and Olkiluto, in Finland, was beset by delay and budget overrun.
China's Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming. [Photo/China Daily]

In an exclusive interview with China Daily, China's Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming says Britain is one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world, and will remain so post-Brexit

China Daily: Recent years have seen a rapid increase of Chinese investment in the UK, which has become a major highlight of China-UK business cooperation. What is the reason behind such growth? What areas are Chinese investors focusing on?

Ambassador Liu: There is an old saying in China: "Mountains and seas cannot distance people who are of the same mind." This year marks the 45th anniversary of ambassadorial diplomatic relations between China and Britain and it is also a year for consolidating the China-UK Golden Era. Business ties between our two countries have always been a stabilizer and propeller for our bilateral relations. The rapid growth of mutual investment over the years has become a major highlight of our mutually beneficial cooperation.

For more than seven years in the UK, I have attended more opening ceremonies of Chinese businesses in Britain than any other events. Recently, I attended the groundbreaking ceremony of ABP Royal Albert Dock in London. This project, with a total investment of 1.7 billion pounds ($2.2 billion), is the first greenfield project invested by Chinese businesses and the first Chinese-invested major project in Britain with mixed financing. The Dock will be built into an urban complex of offices, homes and retail commerce. It will go on to become an important part of London's third business and financial district which will vigorously drive the development of eastern London.

This project is an epitome of Chinese investment in Britain. So far, non-financial direct investment from China has totaled at $18 billion and more than 500 Chinese companies have settled down in Britain, more than any other European country. The expansion is not only seen in the number of investment projects, but also in the width of areas, expanding from traditional sectors such as trade, finance, telecommunication to other fields including new energy, high-end manufacturing, infrastructure, R&D, etc.

I believe there are three opportunities for Chinese investors coming to Britain.

First, the "Golden Opportunity". Chinese President Xi Jinping's "Super State Visit" to the UK in 2015 heralded the building of the China-UK global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century and the China-UK Golden Era. During the G20 Hangzhou Summit 2016 and the Hamburg Summit 2017, President Xi and British Prime Minister May reaffirmed in their meeting the shared commitment to jointly building the China-UK Golden Era. The frequent high-level interactions and strengthened political mutual trust create a "golden opportunity" for China's rapidly growing investment in the UK.

Second, the development opportunity. China and the UK have highly similar development strategies, which will produce inexhaustible dynamics for investment cooperation.

On one hand, China is working hard to dovetail its Belt and Road Initiative, 13th Five Year Plan and Made in China 2025 with the UK's Industrial Strategy and UK Industry 2050 and working with Britain to expand investment cooperation into infrastructure building related to new energy, high speed rail, airports, etc.

On the other hand, Britain has a series of advantages such as leading capabilities in the high-tech, finance and creative industries, an open, mature market, and a rule-based, transparent and convenient business environment. They make Britain one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. China has sufficient capital and human resources, strong marketing capabilities and advanced high speed rail and new energy technologies. Our two countries can put our respective strengths together for common development through closer cooperation.

Third, the historic opportunity. At present, China's economy is growing steadily. China is on its way toward national renewal and moderate prosperity. This is providing lasting, strong momentum to sustain stability and boost growth in the world, Britain included.

Britain is already in negotiation with the EU on Brexit. Despite of different predictions on the prospects of the negotiation result, a stable and prosperous Britain and Europe serves the interests of all and remains a broad consensus. I think Brexit brings both challenges and opportunities but there are far more opportunities than challenges. Britain's commitment to building a truly"Global Britain", to staying open and upholding free trade also means historic opportunities for Chinese investors.
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UPPER THUMB  Officials have decided that bringing additional awareness to an increasing problem in the area will be the first step in helping alleviate the problem.

On Thursday, the Huron County Sheriff's Office, with help from the Huron County Road Commission, was busy putting up warning signs for kayakers in response to a multitude of distress calls this summer. A total of 12 signs were placed in popular launch locations throughout the area in hopes of helping keep people safe over the Labor Day weekend.

"We've dealt with more incidents involving kayaks this year than we have since I've been the sheriff, which this is my ninth year," said Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson.

Hanson said the increase in popularity of kayaking the area, namely trips to popular Turnip Rock, has helped lead to the increase in distress calls.

He estimated around 70 people have been helped to shore by rescuers so far this summer, of which at least six were life and death situations. And for the second consecutive year, the area suffered a drowning death related to kayaking.

"Too much is taken for granted," Hanson said. "They're taking things like their abilities, the kayak's ability, the weather  elements like that are being taken for granted  with the majority being novice people operating these things."

So far this year, the sheriff's office has tripled the amount of tickets written to kayakers for no life jackets and have issued many warnings to those getting ready to launch without one. Additionally, Pointe aux Barques Township has had to add extra shore patrols.

In further response to the problem, the sheriff's office, along with representatives from the road commission, Port Austin Fire Department, Village of Port Austin, Port Austin Police Department, Port Austin Township, Pointe aux Barques Township, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Port Austin Kayak, held a meeting in July to discuss what could be done.

Hanson said the group considered many things, including a flag system warning kayakers of wind conditions and a web site with various wind and weather warnings, before deciding on putting up the signs as a first step. He said the group will continue further discussions after the summer season concludes.

"There's been a lot going on  it's a problem that we've had to deal with," Hanson said. "Hopefully, the signs will make some of those people be more aware of what can happen or what they should have with them on that journey the majority of them take out to Turnip Rock."

Material costs for the signs were around $600 and have been paid for by the sheriff's office. Labor to put them up was split between the sheriff's office and the road commission.

"It's one thing we're able to do at this point," Hanson said.

Highlighted on the signs are several points of safety for kayakers. Those points include: know your ability and weather conditions, wear a personal flotation device, bring a cellular phone in a water-tight bag, know the current and future weather forecast, let others know where you're going, and respect shoreline property owners.
PIGEON  During their annual meeting, the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker FFA chapter officers decided to provide relief for those affected by the floods in Texas.

The chapter is sending $1,000 to "A New Day - Texas Agriculture Education Disaster Relief Fund" to help assist Texas residents in their time of need.

Those who would like to donate to this effort can visit https://www.texasffa.org/NewDay.

Donations can be sent online or through the mail.
UPPER THUMB  The new 4-H year has started and many of the 4-H clubs will work on various projects throughout the year.

The clubs are asking parents, residents and community businesses to donate unwanted craft project materials that are no longer needed. If you have any old or left over materials around the house or barn that you dont have a use for anymore, you can help the local 4-H clubs by bringing the unwanted materials to the 4-H building at the fairgrounds in Bad Axe.

Unwanted materials and supplies will only be collected at the 4-H building at the fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 30. 4-H club leaders, at another date (to be determined), will then have the opportunity to select various items that have been donated to use for 4-H club projects.

Items can include, but are not limited to: cloth material, buttons, wood (scrap), beads, mason jars, Christmas items, ornaments, old frames, Easter items, Halloween items, other Holiday items, lights (Christmas), yarn, string, nails, scrapbooking paper and materials, wire, craft paints, glass materials for etching, cotton balls, and any other items.

If you have any questions, contact Patti Errer, 4-H Program Coordinator at 989-269-9949, ext. 609, or email at errerpat@anr.msu.edu.
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I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand

Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand

Life is good today

Life is good today 

 The Zac Brown Band, from their 2008 hit, Toes

KEY NORTH  Life was good at the County Park Amphitheater on Cheeseburger in Casevilles final night, Aug. 19, and my only worry was whether the beach bum with the bushy, bushy blond hairdo at center stage would stick around long enough to finish his own show.

Wed had nine days of mostly ideal late-summer weather; gut-busting, stress-relieving laughter shared with family and friends; first-rate trop rock and oldies concerts, including unforgettable performances by longtime fest faves Parrots of the Caribbean, Air Margaritaville and Jimmy and the Parrots; a stirring, reverent tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces; spirited beach volleyball; pirate-themed sandcastles; wildly colorful parades; delighted kids with painted faces; zany cardboard boat races  over 100 events in all  and more delectable cheeseburgers and other fun foods than the visitors and residents of any little slice of paradise should consume any other time of year.

We even survived the underwhelming concert debut of The Sinatra of Saginaw Bay.

The orange Key North sun was beginning to descend into Lake Huron behind the park that evening as Johnny Rustler and the Beach Bum Band, a group of teachers from Chicago playing Cheeseburger for the fifth time, settled into their superb marquee performance like a gentle sea breeze. An appreciative, joyous, hearty-partying crowd cheered them on, wearing plush parrots, flamingos, cheeseburgers, beads, leis and other kitschy trinkets on their hats like it was the latest rage in Paris.

But this was wacky, tacky Cheeseburger in Caseville, not hoity-toity Gay Paree.

As the Bums eased into Toes, Johnny suddenly bolted off the stage into the audience and up the hill toward the exit with his wireless rosewood Fender Stratocaster in his hands. Hed already revved up the crowd with breezy, easy-living gems like Bob Marleys Three Little Birds and Jimmy Buffetts Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.

It was 8 oclock, only a half-hour into the show. Everybody knows that Cheeseburger concerts at the amphitheater go on for three hours, until at least 10:30. Then you get the encores  sometimes as many as four or five of em.

HEY, WHERE YOU GOIN, DUDE? I attempted to ask Johnny telepathically. YOUVE GOT TWO AND A HALF HOURS TO PLAY YET!

Three possibilities immediately came to mind: Hes crossing M-25 to pick up a cheeseburger from the Parkview Party Store or a slice from Iggies Pizza on the Bay.

Take your time, Johnny. Would you like some fresh-squeezed lemonade, maybe take a look at these pictures from the Beautiful Baby Contest? Well wait.

Or perhaps somebody forgot to remind him there were portable toilets behind the stage.

The third possibility sent chills up and down my spine. Did Caseville Chamber of Commerce President Steve Louwers slip the gregarious Russler a note asking if he could come up onstage and sing with him?

RUN, JOHNNY, RUN! And dont stop until you hit, say, Bay City. Remember when I met you earlier at the Bella Vista Inns pool, completely by chance, while I was visiting two friends from Saginaw who were temporarily going by the names Margo and Rita? I asked if you were planning to attend that evenings big concert  I heard the band is pretty good, I said  and you replied drily, Im in the band. I was glad I hadnt heard the band was lousy.

Remember that I told you about the T-Rex in the amphitheater audience on Parade Day  27-year-old Jackie Beebe of Kalamazoo, who is getting married next year and wants to come to the 20th edition of Cheeseburger as part of her honeymoon summer  and you told me your own T-Rex story, the one that involved a stripper? We need not get into that here, but Bay City has a Hooters. You might like it there.

Anyway, those of us who took in Jimmy and the Parrots awesome show on Aug. 16 are still trying to recover from the trauma we suffered after head Parrot Jimmy Maraventano enticed Louwers to sing One Particular Harbor along with him at the mic.

Oh, the humanity.

A few minutes earlier, I had somewhat nervously stood next to Mr. Cheeseburger on the side of the stage as he read that days fest story in the Aug. 19 edition of the Tribune. In it, I had likened Louwers singing to the sound of a cat in great pain. I stayed on my toes, just in case I had to escape his wrath. I would have had a good head start on Johnny, at least.

Thankfully, though, The Sinatra of Saginaw Bay has a sense of humor, and gave me a high five after finishing the story. That was pretty cool.

One of the other stars of that column  Bad Axe resident Terry Cramer, 59, henceforth to be known forever in Cheeseburger lore as the nattily-attired Flamingo Suit Man  was in his usual spot in front of the stage that night, dancing with his wife Cheryl, a hairdresser.

Now I know how Priscilla Presley felt, Cheryl said of her week-plus beside a notorious attention-getter.

At one point before he stunk up the joint on Aug. 16, Steve grinned a sly grin when he caught my eye as I stood in front of the stage, awestruck by Jimmy and the Parrots stellar musicianship. With the speakers blaring, he stretched out his arms as if to say, These guys are good, no?

That was pretty cool, too.

After his leisurely stroll through the enthusiastic audience of a couple thousand, Russler finally returned to the stage to lead his mates  Tom Rucker, bass guitar and vocals; Mike Shehan, vocals, guitar and harmonica; Mark Smith, steel drums and keyboards; Joe McKee, congas and percussion and drummer and percussionist Jeff Hatzer as they played some of Johnnys own songs, including the Cheeseburger-appropriate Fat Guy in a Hawaiian Shirt, plus a couple mandatory beach bum anthems: the Beach Boys Surfin USA and Surfin Safari.

It was fortunate that I had chosen to wear my official blue 19th Annual Cheeseburger in Caseville 2017 T-shirt that night. According to Key North Surf Shop owner and Sizzle Burger proprietor Rob Pillsworth, a Chamber of Commerce board member, an estimated 250,500 of the festivals signature treat were sold throughout town during its 10-day run  and I consumed a significant percentage of that number myself. So I made a mental note to always avoid wearing any of my tropically-decorated button-up shirts around Johnny after hearing him sing about big dudes in such attire.

After his bands crowd-pleasing performance, I asked Russler who is actually a happily married family man with 2-year-old twins, JJ and Lucy, and a wife, Beth, who is okay with the band, but is really more of a radio girl  what had motivated him to run out into the audience with his Stratocaster.

Its like jumping out of a plane, said the 42-year-old self-described guitar guy whose day job is teaching special education and social science in suburban Chicago. I just do it and then go, Oh, boy! 

Notice that he didnt mention a parachute? No worries. Curly-haired Johnny landed safely, Von Zipper shades intact, amongst an adoring bunch of Cheeseburger fans.

The seven members of Air Margaritaville know all about jumping out of planes and landing safely, at least figuratively. Their performances always begin with the sound of a Grumman Albatross seaplanes engines starting up, and begin to soar after the pilot asks the passengers if they are ready to party  this is kind of a dumb question to ask a Cheeseburger audience, by the way  as the engines roar, the plane takes off and the veteran trop rock band, thrice nominated by the Detroit Music Awards as Outstanding Tribute Band, starts playing.

Its always a thrill to play at Cheeseburger, because the people here are so appreciative of Jimmy Buffett and the laid-back Margaritaville lifestyle, bandleader Frank Bama told me before their show on Aug. 12. We dont have to prove to them that the music is worth listening to. This is one of those things we can enjoy and never have to go to work.

Oh, boy.

When I told him about the challenges Id faced while I worked on my first Cheeseburger article for the Tribune this year  as a gag, I had set out to find a veggie burger amidst all the beef  Bama laughed and said, Its a good thing Jimmy Buffett isnt a vegetarian. Tofu Burger in Paradise would have never worked, and no great story ever began with a salad.

Buffetts 1978 hit song Cheeseburger in Paradise was, of course, the inspiration for Cheeseburger in Caseville, which has steadily evolved into one of Michigans largest and most popular festivals since its inaugural edition in 1999.

But theres this one particular harbour

So far but yet so near

Where I see the days as they fade away

And finally disappear 

Jimmy Buffett, from his 1983 standard One Particular Harbour

This next song is dedicated to the memory of Gwyneth Rose Campbell, who left this planet on July 14, 2016, Frank announced early in the bands first set. Sail on, Gwyneth.

My mother proudly hailed from suburban Liverpool, England, the harbour town that gave the world the Beatles. She met my father, a U.S. Army Air Force corporal stationed at a base 10 miles from her hometown of Widnes, during World War II. Bama played Harbour for Mum three years ago at Margaritafest in Lexington. I introduced him to her during a break. She thought he was cute.

Her passing was the reason I missed last years fest in Key North. When I asked Frank if he could dedicate Harbour to her one last time, he graciously consented. Mum had come, in her 80s, to get a kick out of Cheeseburger and Air Margaritaville through my articles over the years.

She was actually scared of going out on a little lake in a rowboat, let alone sailing, I texted Frank after Cheeseburger 2017 had stowed away its grills. But maybe its different wherever her spirit is now. I like to think that somehow, somewhere, some way, Mum heard your kind gesture in her honor.

Id like to think so, too, Frank replied.

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again: Cheeseburger is about so much more than cheeseburgers.

Johnny Russler told me that Fat Guy in a Hawaiian Shirt was his fathers favorite tune. Tom Russler, a blue collar working man who only knew how to play the radio, in Johnnys words, died eight years ago. His son still misses him dearly. And thinks about him every time he plays that silly song.

The appeal of Cheeseburger, to me, always comes down to this: Theres a lot of scary stuff out there. Plenty of things to worry about. Bills. Hurricanes. A divided nation. Talk of war.

But for 10 days every August in the quirky, friendly, resilient and proud little harbour town of Caseville, we set all that aside. We relax and recharge. We pay homage to the carefree island lifestyle Frank Bama spoke of and live each and every day to the fullest, while we can.

We dress in ridiculous clothes, wear outrageous hats, drink tropical drinks, eat tasty carnival food, listen to great music, laugh with the family members and friends whose company we are still privileged to enjoy and pay heartfelt tribute to loved ones who are no longer with us on this Earth.

For 10 precious days in Key North, we have not a worry in the world, and life is very, very good.

AUTHORS NOTE: This column is dedicated to all of the Gwyneth Campbells and Tom Russlers of this world, and the next.

Detroit-based freelance writer and veteran Cheeseburger writer Ron Campbell can be reached at roncamp22@wowway.com.
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...
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday said he has signed the order to deploy additional forces to Afghanistan as part of President Donald Trump's new South Asia policy.

"I have signed orders, but it is not complete," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. Mattis said some aspects of the policy are still being negotiated, and would not comment on the additional troop numbers, nor when they would arrive.

More information will be given in the next few weeks as he prepares to brief lawmakers on Sept. 6, the secretary said.

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"By and large this is to enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively," Mattis said. "It's more advisers, more enablers," such as "fire support" teams, Mattis went on to say, but declined to specify further. Said units have not yet arrived in Afghanistan, Mattis clarified.

The SecDef's comments come hours after The Washington Post reported that U.S. Marine Corps artillery detachments along with members of the the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and 25th Infantry Division are expected to deploy.

The increase could include additional strike rotations from B-52 Stratofortress bombers, F-16 Fighting Falcons fighter jets, and A-10 close-air support mission aircraft, the Post said, citing unnamed sources.

Meanwhile, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan last week said that "additional capabilities" were already arriving in the military buildup announced earlier this month by Trump. However, Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO Resolute Support Mission, was careful not to say whether the new "capabilities" included more troops.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon clarified it already has more troops in Afghanistan than previously reported.

The long-standing official Force Management Level has been 8,448 -- but Marine Lt. Gen. Frank McKenzie, director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said for the first time that the actual number in Afghanistan is about 11,000.

"That's the total forces that are in Afghanistan today. Should that number change significantly, then we will come back in here to tell you," he told reporters during a briefing.

The latest Afghanistan news from the Pentagon comes as the U.S. Army is preparing to send two brigades from the 3rd Infantry Division to Afghanistan this fall as part of regularly scheduled rotations to the theater.

The Army did not release the number of 3rd ID soldiers involved in the upcoming fall deployment, and neither the Army nor the Defense Department could provide the number when contacted by Military.com.

The 3rd ID units will replace the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, and the 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Armored Division, to support Operation Freedom's Sentinel, according to a release.

-- Reporters Richard Sisk and Matthew Cox contributed to this report.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said Thursday he expects the Islamic State's "last stand" will come in an area along the Syria-Iraq border, where U.S. warplanes have been blocking passage of busloads of ISIS fighters and their families.

Following defeats in Mosul and Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq, the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are retreating to an area in the Middle Euphrates River Valley (MERV) between Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, also known as Al Bukamal, and Al Qaim in Iraq, about 23 miles from Abu Kamal, Townsend said in a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon.

Attacking ISIS on the Syrian side with U.S.-partnered Syrian Arab Coalition forces will involve negotiating with Russia to "deconflict" the battlespace with the forces of the Moscow-backed Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but "I'm reasonably confident that we'll be able to work through this," said Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

"We've actually had some practice doing this" in previous operations in February in the Syrian town of Al Bab and in May in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces taking the area around the Tabqa dam in preparation for the ongoing siege of Raqqa, the self-proclaimed ISIS capital, he said.

On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the last ISIS holdouts in Tal Afar, west of Mosul, had been eliminated and the strategic town near the Syrian border has been fully liberated.

"The joy of victory has been completed and the entire province of Nineveh has come into the hands of our heroic forces," al-Abadi said in a statement. "I declare to you that Tal Afar has joined the liberated Mosul and been returned to the homeland."

In what was likely his last briefing to the Pentagon, Townsend, who will soon be ending his tour as the task force commander, said operations in the MERV are complicated by the presence of busloads of ISIS fighter and their families.

Earlier this week, the fighters, who were ousted from southern Lebanon by Lebanese forces and Hezbollah fighters supporting the Syrian regime, agreed to leave the area under a negotiated settlement.

They were believed to be headed to Al Qaim in buses until U.S. warplanes on Wednesday blew up a bridge and strafed roads in their path.

Townsend stressed that no casualties were inflicted on those in the buses but said airstrikes were conducted on ISIS fighters who came out to meet the buses.

"We have not struck this convoy at all," he said. "No women and children have been harmed on this convoy although I'd like to get after the fighters. We have struck every ISIS fighter and vehicle that has tried to approach that convoy, and we'll continue to do that."

Currently, the bus convoy is stalled near Abu Kamal, he said.

In the wide-ranging briefing, Townsend returned to the whereabouts of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the so-called caliph of ISIS.

As he has previously, the general said he "hasn't a clue" where Baghdadi is, but believes he is still alive and possibly somewhere in the MERV.

"If he's alive out there somewhere, we are looking for him every day. When we find him, I think we will just try to kill him first -- probably not worth all the trouble to try to capture him," Townsend said.

Commenting on his tour as CJTF commander, which has straddled the administrations of former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, Townsend said the campaign against ISIS has been much the same under both presidents.

"Both administrations, I think, were all in on defeating ISIS," he said, and "I think the approach has been similar."

However, "the current administration has empowered the chain of command to make more decisions on their own. I think that's important -- just that alone has effects that reverberate throughout a military organization," Townsend said.

"This has been a remarkable year" that has presented both challenges and rewards, he said.

"ISIS is an evil entity like I've never seen before," Townsend said, and "I would be happy to stay in this fight" to see their ultimate defeat.

He warned that "the world should know that this campaign is not close to being over," and "that's why we've got to stay on this."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Lodging reimbursements, known as the "per diem rate," for troops on permanent change of station (PCS) moves or temporary duty assignments are going up by $2 for most locations starting Oct. 1.

The standard continental U.S. (CONUS) rate is going up from $91 to $93, officials with the General Services Administration said in a release.

That brings the overall standard daily per diem rate, which includes an additional $51 for meals and incidental expenses, to $144.

The CONUS rate, which is re-examined annually, represents the highest amount troops and other federal travelers can be reimbursed for a hotel room in most circumstances.

Because some regions experience higher costs based on season and other factors, 332 stateside areas are allowed a "non-standard" higher rate for 2018.

That is a decrease from the number of regions allowed the higher rate in 2017, GSA officials said.

Fourteen locations that qualified for higher rates in 2017 have been dropped from the 2018 list, including Redding, California; Laredo, Texas; and Watertown, New York.

Defense Department officials can authorize higher reimbursement rates outside the GSA chart if necessary.

The per diem change impacts all military members and families who are traveling on government orders. The rate is determined based on travel industry data, officials said.

Congress has yet to decide on the next pay raise for the military in 2018.

The White House has proposed a 2.1 percent pay increase for troops, while House Republican leaders have proposed a 2.4 percent increase.

Lawmakers return from their August recess Sept. 5.

The new per diem rates can be found here.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.
China's Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing (left) and Lingmei (right), 13, at the embassy in Brussels on Thursday for a reception for adopted Chinese children living in Belgium. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing invited 30 adopted Chinese children to the embassy in Brussels on Thursday, where Belgian parents shared stories about building families across borders and cultures.

Vincent Carbonetti, a parent at the reception, told China Daily: "We are very lucky to have our Chinese daughter and son."

Carbonetti and his wife adopted daughter Lia, 18, from China 15 years ago and son Theo, 15, from an orphanage in Fujian Province soon after. He says the decision to adopt has brought him and his wife life-long happiness.

Theo, who accompanied his parents to the embassy, was the only boy among 100 Chinese orphans adopted by Belgians in 2003, according to Carbonetti.

Now a handsome teenager, Theo excels in archery and has joined the Belgian national team.

"We are very proud of him  he's aiming to stand out at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and will try his best to compete at the next Games in Japan," Carbonetti said.

Theo says he would like to go back and visit the orphanage in Fujian, where he met his Belgian parents for the first time. He says he wants to know more about his birthplace and to learn about China's people and culture.

"My son is eager to know his Chinese roots," said Carbonetti.
As floodwaters slowly receded and skies finally cleared, military and civilian relief efforts went into high gear Friday in Texas, with the Army alone deploying 16,000 soldiers into the response.

At a news conference with military commanders in Austin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he's received offers of help from all 50 states and accepted assistance from 43. He didn't rule out taking up offers from the other seven.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the state Saturday for the second time since Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast last Friday as a Category 4 storm.

Vice President Mike Pence and several Cabinet secretaries were in Texas on Thursday.

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In addition to assets already in place, two Navy ships -- the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and the dock landing ship Oak Hill -- were en route to the Gulf Coast with Marines and their amphibious vehicles and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft aboard from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

"They're about four days out," Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said of the Kearsarge and the Oak Hill.

But given the magnitude of the military response thus far, the assistance of the two ships will be called upon only if needed, Robinson said.

The Army said in a Facebook post that more than 16,000 soldiers from 23 states are involved in the response in Texas and Louisiana to Hurricane Harvey and its spinoff storms, which have dumped record rainfalls and caused widespread flooding.

The soldiers involved are from aviation, transportation, engineering, communications and rescue units, the Army said.

Through early Friday, they had rescued more than 6,000 people and about 300 pets, the service added.

In the process, the Army has committed about 700 wheeled vehicles and 90 helicopters to rescues and to bringing food, water and tents to victims.

"One of the things that we've learned over time is how important it is to have the right capability at the right place at the right time," Robinson said.

She said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had given her a simple order: "Lori, Texas gets everything they need."

Robinson said the military is ready to deploy more capabilities at the request of either the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the Texas governor, and will continue to deploy as much as is requested or needed.

The Air Force is providing airlift of survivors by aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III, as well as medical evacuation by rotary aircraft. The service has also provided aircraft for command and control and helicopters to transport people and supplies, Robinson said.

An Air Force E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft is conducting air traffic control and surveillance, gathering data on flooded areas and provide situational awareness.

The Navy has helicopters flying rescue missions and a P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane that is usually deployed for reconnaissance and finding submarines.

The Defense Logistics Agency has "provided fuel, sandbags, generators and incident support bases and is delivering meals to dislocated citizens," Robinson said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has experts in Texas to support FEMA and local communities in technical assistance, such as power restoration, she said.

"We will be there, steady, ready and to support at a moment's notice," Robinson added.

-- Richard Sisk can reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Related Video:
President Donald Trump on Thursday set the military pay raise at 2.1 percent and the civilian pay raise at 1.9 percent for 2018.

The change to monthly basic pay is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2018.

The levels are consistent with the president's federal budget request for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, though they're less than troops and federal employees were expecting based on the formula called for under federal statute.

By law, military pay hikes are supposed to track wage growth in the private sector as measured by the government's Employment Cost Index (ECI).

In a release from April, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics noted, "Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.4 percent for the 12-month period ending in March 2017."

Related content:

In his letter to House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, Trump noted his "alternative plan" for the pay raises.

"I am transmitting an alternative plan for monthly basic pay increases for members of the uniformed services for 2018," he wrote.

"I strongly support our men and women in uniform, who are the greatest fighting force in the world and the guardians of American freedom," the president added. "As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, we must work to rebuild our military's readiness and capabilities."

Trump said, "Accordingly, I have determined it is appropriate to exercise my authority under section 1009(e) of Title 37, United States Code, to set the 2018 monthly basic pay increase at 2.1 percent. This decision is consistent with my fiscal year 2018 Budget and it will not materially affect the Federal Government's ability to attract and retain well-qualified members for the uniformed services."

Congress can still override the levels for troop pay, which is set to match the current year's raise. However, lawmakers have struggled to come to an agreement on many aspects of the federal budget, so whether they will do so isn't clear.

House Republican leaders have proposed giving service members a 2.4 percent pay raise in the next calendar year, while some Democrats have pushed for a 2.9 percent boost.

-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
A lot happens when a service member receives PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders, including what to do with the family pet. PCSers need to know the steps to bring their pet along, as well as what alternatives exist to responsibly rehome their loving four-legged family member.

Married or Single: It Matters

If you're married, your dependents are included in PCS orders and everyone moves together. Pets can be included, provided the family notifies the proper military offices and makes arrangements for travel plans, especially flight reservations. The service member is responsible for all coordination with the airline, including paying for the pet's ticket.

While it can be stressful, there are ways to make it easier to travel with pets.

Often a service member's home at the next duty station isn't immediately available when he or she moves. As a result, the family may have to spend a transitional period at a hotel, finalizing paperwork or waiting for their home to be ready.

Hotels on or near bases tend to be pet friendly. Many military personnel have pets and it's simply good business to accommodate them.

Pets traveling overseas, and often within the United States, require a health certificate from a licensed veterinarian. If your pet is determined by your veterinarian to be too sick or too old to make the trip, your best option is to consider rehoming it responsibly well in advance of your departure.

PCS Travel With Your Pet

PCSing is like moving from one town to another if the next duty station is within the United States. On-base housing generally imposes a two-pet limit.

Breed-specific legislation, or BSL, prohibits ownership of certain breeds of dogs within a given municipality. Your particular branch or service or base will have its own restrictions. Even if your duty station permits certain types of dogs, the municipality in which it resides might not. In those circumstances, you could not legally take your pet off base. Know before you go.

Hawaii requires quarantine and an extensive list of vaccinations so that diseases are not imported to the island.

When moving overseas, check with the destination base, Department of Agriculture, and consulate of the destination country for specific health, transport, and quarantine issues that may apply to your pet.

To enter Europe, your pet will need proper veterinary documentation and paperwork. There is no quarantine period, with the exception of Ireland and Sweden.

If traveling to Guam, Japan or Korea, pets are required to have all their documentation, paperwork and shots. There is a quarantine period as well.

Talk to the base veterinarian at your current duty station. In many cases, he or she will be able to provide helpful information and pre-travel tips.

Unmarried military personnel have a different set of circumstances to navigate.

Single soldiers are often assigned a room in one of the barracks on base. With some exceptions, a house or apartment is provided, in which case the permissions for pet ownership are the same as that for married soldiers.

However, service members living in the barracks are not permitted to have pets.

If You Have to Leave Your Pet Behind

Friends and family are not always the best option to provide long-term care for your pet when you PCS.

Many of the questions you need to ask if you are PCSing are the same as those that apply if you are deploying, including whether your parents or pals are up to the task.

Nonprofit deployment boarding organizations are usually not a long-term solution either. As their names suggest, they assist primarily in deployment situations as well as in cases of hardship or emergency.

However, some of these organizations offer short-term fostering for service members who PCS out of the country, but whose pets are unable to travel at the same time due to weather conditions or quarantine. These foster arrangements can last up to six months.

Typically pets must be fixed and vaccinated prior to being accepted into foster care and may require microchip as well. Pets for Patriots partners with two nationally operating deployment boarding organizations, Dogs On Deployment and Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pet.

Finding Your Pet a New Home

The last option is the heartbreaking decision to rehome your pet. At times this is the most responsible choice to make if you are unable to give your dog or cat a stable life.

Beware the friend who will take your pet "off your hands," the elderly parent who feels obliged to take in your oversized dog or the lure of online classifieds. Rarely do these offers end well for your pet.

Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life

For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox.
Ali Camara, 25, travelled to Zaragoza in Spain to collect the mother-to-be in May

He then gave her a stolen passport to get into Britain, through Stanstead Airport

They were stopped by officials on entry, Camara was arrested and granted bail

His wife Oulimatoo Touray has since been given temporary leave to remain in UK

He started selling drugs in days of appearing in court over immigration offence

An African migrant smuggled his heavily pregnant wife into the UK illegally then turned drug dealer as a means to support his family. Ali Camara, 25, was sentenced to nine months in prison after being caught with 18 bags of cannabis, worth over 600, and 180 in cash in Newcastle's Granger Market. Officers who then searched his home found a further 1,970 worth of cannabis. In May, Camara travelled to Zaragoza in Spain to collect his wife Oulimatoo Touray, from Gambia, and gave her a stolen passport to get into Britain through Stanstead Airport. The couple were stopped by officials on entry and Camara was arrested and granted bail. Ali Camara (left) smuggled his then-pregnant wife Oulimatoo Touray (right, with their baby girl) into the UK illegally then turned drug dealer as a means to support his family

Touray who was around seven months into her pregnancy, had permission to stay in Spain and has now been given temporary leave to remain in the UK, the court heard.





She has since given birth, by cesarean section, to a baby girl.





Within days of appearing in court for the immigration offence, Camara, of Grainger Street, Newcastle, started selling drugs.





His wife sobbed as she was told he had been sentenced to nine months and is waiting to find out if she will be deported.





The mother-of-one, 23, was studying banking and finance in Gambia when she met Camara.





'My husband has lived in this apartment for seven years,' she said today. 'He has lived here for longer than that in the UK.





'He came to the UK to work. He worked for a welding company. We met on social media, he came to visit me. I was living in Gambia.





'He came to Gambia twice. The second time we got married in September. After we got married I got pregnant.







Camara travelled to Zaragoza in Spain to collect his wife Oulimatou (pictured), who is from Gambia, and gave her a stolen passport to get into Britain in May



'He was in Gambia for 11 days. We have been married for one year. We were having a long distance relationship, it was hard for me.





'He didn't come and visit me a lot. We kept in contact over phone and social media.





'We talked everyday but when he came in from work it was late in our country, it was 2-3 o'clock at night.





'I was going to come and stay with him because he had to work. He wanted to work to pay for the baby.





+4 Within days of appearing in court for the immigration offence, Camara, of Grainger Street, Newcastle, started selling drugs. Pictured: His wife Oulimatou

'He gave the baby everything and myself too. He really looked after me.'





Oulimatou said she wanted to come to the UK so they could live together as a family.





Camara, who is originally from Guinea but now has British Citizenship, had been working for a glass company and earning 14,000pa before he was arrested for the airport offence.





He pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to a member state and supplying cannabis, which he admitted doing for around three months.





Mr Recorder John Aitken jailed Camara for a total of nine months.





The judge told him: 'I appreciate you may have committed this for reasons of your own emotional involvement but the long term effect of that is that you have breached laws which are in place to provide safeguards for the citizens of this country.





'You have taken an unlawful decision to circumvent rules regarding immigration to bring your wife, and now daughter, into this country.'





The judge added: 'It is put upon the citizens of the UK the burden of looking after our wife and child - medical care, money and housing if they need it.





+4 Camara pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to a member state and supplying cannabis, which he admitted doing for around three months



'Your wife was living in Spain and you simply transported her over to the UK, she wasn't being brought from Guinea or anywhere like that.'





Speaking from the dock, Camara told the court his wife had been in a 'one bedroom flat' in Spain, which he was paying for.





The court heard he did not have enough money to raise the lawyers fees to apply for her to live in the UK legally.





Camara told the court he started dealing drugs to raise money to attend a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, before his case was transferred to Newcastle.





He said from the dock: 'At the time I had nothing. '




PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI - A former University of Michigan student accused of sexual assault took a plea deal when he appeared in Pittsfield Township's 14A-1 District Court on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Jimmy H. Nguyen, 36, pleaded no contest to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving an incapacitated victim, in a case dating from 2012.

The former UM ROTC student was charged after three female students reported assaults that occurred during parties at Nguyen's residence in the Zaragon Place Apartments in the 600 block of East University Avenue, in fall 2012 and early spring 2013.

The women told police they drank alcohol and were subsequently assaulted. Two reported being passed out and waking up during the assault, and another reported being inappropriately grabbed.

One of the three women did not wish to proceed with charges, according to police.

Nguyen was arrested Aug. 15 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after returning from Taiwan.

In exchange for the plea, two other counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from a separate, 2013 case will be dismissed.

The plea agreement calls for Nguyen to serve 2-15 years in prison. He would also be put on the sex offender registry for life.

Nguyen is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Carol Kuhnke in the Washtenaw County Trial Court Sept. 26.
YPSILANTI, MI - Eastern Michigan welcomed its third largest freshman class in school history on Friday, Sept. 1, during the university's move-in day.

Preliminary numbers indicate 2,795 first-time freshmen are enrolling at EMU this fall, although official enrollment numbers won't be available for a few weeks. Classes begin Wednesday, Sept. 6.

That number is a slight increase over the 2,774 students EMU enrolled last fall, EMU Vice President for Enrollment Management Kevin Kucera said.

Kucera said EMU had typically strong numbers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, while the biggest increase in students came in its backyard - Washtenaw County.

In-state recruiting efforts remain EMU's top priority in attracting a decreasing number of college students in Michigan.

"I think one of the big things we always try to focus on is getting students to visit," he said. "We realize that once we get them on campus, we can distinguish ourselves, from the physical plant to our academic buildings."

EMU's efforts to attract more first-year students extend beyond the state's borders, Kucera noted. The entering freshman class showed marked growth from last fall in students from out of state - excluding Ohio - increasing by 56 percent, from 98 last year to 153 for fall 2017.

Kucera said Eastern is seeing the benefits of the decision in summer 2016 to offer entering out-of-state students in-state tuition, a condition that previously extended only to Ohio students under a reciprocity agreement.

International student enrollment in the entering freshman class increased as well, rising from 42 students last year at this time to 60 so far this fall.

With overall enrollment numbers dwindling at community colleges across the state by 22 percent, Kucera said there also are significant efforts at EMU to retain the students they already have, as the number of transferring students continues to decrease.
ANN ARBOR, MI - The polluter responsible for a large plume of the toxic chemical 1,4-dioxane in the Ann Arbor area's groundwater is now appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court, hoping the state's highest court will override a local judge's decision.

Gelman Sciences, a filter manufacturer that once operated on Wagner Road on the border between Ann Arbor and Scio Township and left the area heavily polluted, is once again trying to get local parties removed from the ongoing Gelman plume legal case so the company only has to legally negotiate with the state attorney general's office and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The company is against allowing Ann Arbor, Scio Township, Washtenaw County and the Huron River Watershed Council to have seats at the negotiating table as attempts are made to come up with a new plan of attack for addressing the plume. Confidential legal negotiations between the various parties are underway in attempt to revise a Washtenaw County Circuit Court consent judgment that essentially governs how the plume is to be managed.

Local governments and the Watershed Council this past year received the OK from Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Tim Connors to intervene as co-plaintiffs in the longstanding litigation between the state and the polluter, as it's a matter that affects the local community and local parties want a chance to fight in court for a better cleanup.

Gelman, which has complained about the county's "cleanup or bust" attitude, tried in April to get Connors' decision overturned, but the Michigan Court of Appeals in July rejected the request, and now Gelman is turning to the state Supreme Court and asking the same.

Gelman's attorneys, Gary August and Michael Caldwell, filed an application for leave to appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court on Aug. 25, requesting expedited review of the matter.

"Gelman is seeking interlocutory appellate review of the trial court's erroneous decision to allow four new parties to intervene in this environmental enforcement action, an action over which the Michigan Legislature vested primary responsibility in the state of Michigan -- the original and exclusive plaintiff in this case for the past three decades," Gelman's court filing states. "Interlocutory review is necessary because this unprecedented decision significantly and negatively affects the public's interest in a prompt and effective environmental cleanup at this site, and it threatens to become precedent for other contamination sites in the state, if not reversed."

In crafting Part 201 of the state's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, Gelman argues, the Michigan Legislature determined the public interest was best protected by placing responsibility for enforcing Michigan's environmental laws in the hands of the DEQ, which said last year it wasn't sure a better cleanup of the Gelman dioxane plume was warranted.

Gelman argues the DEQ, under state law, is intended to be the "gatekeeper" through which demands from the public and local governments are filtered so a coordinated and efficient cleanup plan can be developed.

The local intervenors in the Gelman plume legal case have cited a provision that permits a third party to intervene in a state-initiated enforcement action, but what they ignore, Gelman argues, is that intervention is only permitted if the DEQ is not adequately representing their interests. In other words, Gelman argues, the Legislature intended the DEQ to be the exclusive plaintiff in environmental enforcement actions so long as the DEQ was diligently pursuing prosecution of the case and adequately representing the interests of the public, which the DEQ argues it has been.

Allowing local parties to intervene, Gelman argues, already has negatively impacted the public's interest in the prompt application of new cleanup standards by delaying implementation of and potentially unraveling a remedy the DEQ was prepared to implement.

"Before the motions to intervene were filed, Gelman and MDEQ had been working for over a year on identifying the appropriate additional remedial work necessary to ensure that the more restrictive cleanup standards that the state recently adopted were met," Gelman stated in its filing, referring to the fact that the DEQ and Gov. Rick Snyder last October took emergency action to lower the allowable level of dioxane in drinking water from 85 parts per billion to 7.2 ppb. "MDEQ is prepared to enter into an amended consent judgment incorporating those changes today, but cannot do so because of the trial court's incorrect decision allowing the intervention of additional parties."

Simply incorporating the new 7.2 ppb number in a revised consent judgment, however, doesn't necessarily mean additional cleanup. The dioxane plume still could be allowed to spread and contaminate more drinking water wells as long as homes and businesses with levels above 7.2 ppb are then connected to municipal water, and the DEQ's position is that Gelman should pay for the cost of that.

Gelman's filing continues, "As a direct result of the trial court's decision, the intervenors are now guaranteed a seat at the negotiating table and at the counsel table, with the ability to block the MDEQ-approved resolution simply because their individualized demands may not be met to their full satisfaction. In other words, the trial court's rulings on the requests to intervene are preventing the consent judgment modifications from being finalized and the agreed-upon additional environmental response actions from being implemented."

In court filings earlier this year when the matter was before the Court of Appeals, attorneys for the local interveners argued against Gelman's attempt to have them removed from the case.

Bill Stapleton, an attorney with the Hooper Hathaway law firm in Ann Arbor, submitted a 21-page objection to Gelman's appeal on April 27 on behalf of Scio Township, calling the appeal frivolous and accusing the polluter of continuing to employ "tactics of delay and obfuscation which it has utilized for nearly 30 years to avoid cleaning up the contaminated groundwater."

"Gelman's tactics have directly resulted in the continued migration of a toxic plume which is now more than three miles long," he wrote.

"The plume has contaminated large sections of Scio Township and Ann Arbor and continues to migrate toward residential wells in the township. For the first time in nearly 30 years, meaningful discussions are occurring between Gelman and the impacted communities as a result of the trial court's ruling. This court should reject Gelman's attempt to further delay this process and summarily deny the application for leave to appeal."

City Attorney Stephen Postema and Tom Bruetsch, an attorney from the Bodman PLC law firm hired by the city, also submitted arguments noting plumes of groundwater laden with dioxane stretch for miles underneath Ann Arbor and the surrounding area.

If the plumes continue to expand, they argued, high concentrations of dioxane are likely to contaminate shallow groundwater in residential areas, increasing the risks to homeowners, construction workers and others, and they have the potential to threaten the primary source of the region's drinking water and more residential wells.

Ann Arbor gets its municipal drinking water from Barton Pond, an impoundment on the Huron River, and some fear the plume could contaminate the pond someday.

If the local intervention in the ongoing litigation is permitted to stand, Gelman argues, it will set a legal precedent that will open the door to third-party challenges of every remedy negotiated or selected by the DEQ at pollution sites throughout the state, so long as each challenge is couched as a request for permissive intervention.

"Contrary to the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the need for immediate appellate review had not been shown, interlocutory appeal is necessary to correct the trial court's erroneous decision before it is too late to afford an opportunity for practical and meaningful review of the underlying decision," the company's filing states.

"Gelman respectfully asks this court to return control of this enforcement action back to MDEQ, as the Legislature's designated gatekeeper and filter of the competing demands of third parties."

Even if local parties are removed from the negotiating table, Gelman argues there still would be a public input process allowing public comments on revisions to the consent judgment. And if there are any objections to what's proposed, Gelman argues, there could be further modifications based on the public comments.

Local officials and the DEQ participated in a town hall meeting on the Gelman dioxane plume earlier this week. Many residents attended the meeting at the downtown Ann Arbor library and expressed concerns that not enough is being done to address the plume.

Dioxane is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as likely to be carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure. It also can cause kidney and liver damage, and respiratory problems.

Just a few parts per billion in drinking water, with long-term exposure, poses a 1 in 100,000 cancer risk, according to the EPA.

Gelman Sciences was acquired in 1997 by Pall Corp., which was acquired in 2015 by Danaher Corp., a multibillion-dollar corporation that some local officials and residents argue has the financial resources to do a better cleanup.
Apart from hosting and possible maintenance costs, there are not exactly downsides to having your own website. Even if its just a personal blog it can always become more useful down the line, if you utilize it in the right manner. In other words, more
ANN ARBOR, MI - Domino's Pizza will soon partner with Ford Motor Co. to deliver pizzas to customers in a self-driving vehicle first tested at the University of Michigan.

UM President Mark Schlissel joked he hopes to take advantage of the partnership.

"I was talking to (UM Vice President for Communications Kallie Bila Michels) this morning asking if it was OK if I ordered one of these autonomous pizzas," Schlissel said in an interview with The Ann Arbor News. "I wanted to be sure it wasn't some sort of conflict of interest."

Schlissel addressed the new partnership in the context of the vehicles being tested at Mcity, the University of Michigan's urban testing course for autonomous and connected vehicles.

Mcity, Schlissel said, is a point of pride for the university, and a great example of how it is value to the state's economy.

With partnerships between UM and the state of Michigan, Washtenaw County, the City of Ann Arbor, the federal government and around 60 private companies in the auto, supply chain and insurance industries, Mcity has been at the forefront of the development of a number of different new modes of autonomous human mobility, Schlissel said.

Under the new partnership between Domino's and Ford, customers who order delivery in the Ann Arbor area in the coming days could see a Ford Fusion Hybrid pull up in their driveway or in their parking lot. The vehicle is an autonomous research vehicle built specifically by the company to deliver data back to Ford.

University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel looks on as he meets with the Ann Arbor News and MLive.com at their office in downtown Ann Arbor on Wednesday, August 30, 2017. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News

A Ford safety engineer will occupy the vehicle during the research period. It also comes with additional researchers, who may ask questions and watch as customers use a unique code sent to their phone that will unlock a compartment in the vehicle where they can retrieve their pizza.

"They're using modified Ford Fusions to do these deliveries, and Ford is obviously an enormously important company for our state, and has been a long term partner to the university in many things," Schlissel said.

Beyond leading the development of autonomously delivered pizzas, Schlissel said Mcity continues to be at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development and is a tool UM can use to attract great faculty, who can in turn help drive the economy.

Other innovations at Mcity can be witnessed this fall when UM's North Campus launches a driverless shuttle service.

The service will use two fully-automated, 15-passenger, all-electric shuttles manufactured by French firm NAVYA to transport students, faculty and staff between UM's Engineering campus, which is located on North Campus, and the university's North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), located on Plymouth Road.

"We have relationships with very important companies in our area and it forms a training ground for students that are training for jobs in an economy that is still evolving," Schlissel said.
BAY CITY, MI -- A Monitor Township man accused of beating his dog then threatening to shoot his intervening neighbors has accepted a plea deal. The felony he pleaded guilty to is related to his attempt to avoid police.

Ryan F. King, 28, on Thursday, Aug. 31, appeared before Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer and pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing police. The charge is a two-year felony.

In exchange, Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino agreed not to seek a habitual offender sentencing enhancement and to dismiss misdemeanor charges of cruelty to or abandonment of one animal and malicious destruction of property less than $200. Both of the dismissed charges are misdemeanors.

Janer, acting as a Circuit Court judge in accepting the plea, asked King what he did on the evening of Aug. 14 when he saw Michigan State Police troopers on his father's property.

"I ran (for) probably about two blocks, three blocks," King replied.

King made no mention of assaulting his dog.

Police reports contained in court files state that troopers responded to a home in the 3700 block of South Swiss Drive in Alpine Village Mobile Home Park. A 59-year-old man had called 911 to report that he, his wife, and a male neighbor were holed up in their house due to King, their neighbor, having threatened them with a weapon.

Upon arrival, troopers spoke with the caller, who said King's pit bull had come onto his porch. The man gathered up the dog and handed it over to King a few seconds later. While on his neighbors' property, King grabbed the dog by its collar, yanked it off the ground, and punched it six to eight times in the face with a closed fist, the neighbor told police.

When the neighbor told him to stop, the 28-year-old King responded that he could "do whatever the (expletive) I want to my dog," the neighbor told police.

As they argued, King began ripping boards off a nearby dog house, flipped two glass patio tables, threw a plastic table into the street, and pulled a decorative shepherd's hook from the ground and bent it, court records show. The older man told King to leave his property, at which point King replied that he was going to fetch his gun and come back to "take care of all of you," court records show.

King did leave the man's yard, but came back a half-hour later. The neighbor told police he, his wife, and another neighbor stayed in their home and called 911. He said he never saw a gun, but was in fear for his life.

The man's wife and his neighbor gave police matching accounts.

Troopers went to King's trailer and encountered his father, who said his son wasn't home, but that he'd recently called him to apologize. When the dad asked King what he was apologizing for, his son said "because he was probably going to jail tonight."

As police spoke with King's father, King walked onto the property. Noticing the police, he took off running. A trooper chased him through several yards before catching him and placing him under arrest.

After King pleaded Thursday, defense attorney Andrea J. LaBean asked the judge to reduce her client's bond from $50,000. She said King is on disability and his only source of income is a monthly $735 Social Security payment.

Coppolino did not object to a bond reduction, so long as a condition of it remained he be prohibited from owning pets or living in a household with pets. LaBean said King would be living with a sister who has no pets, rather than with his father.

Judge Janer granted LaBean's request and freed King on a personal recognizance bond, with the ongoing stipulation barring him from living with pets.

King has a lengthy criminal record in Bay County, with convictions of malicious destruction of property, assault and battery, indecent exposure, drunk and disorderly conduct dating back to 2011. As of Aug. 31, he still owes $2,151.81 in court fines and costs.

Janer asked him why he hasn't paid the debt.

"I only get $735," King mumbled. "My grandma told me to take care of my bills. I know fines are a major thing I need to get paid, but I didn't have the money at the time."

Janer ordered King to make monthly payments of $50 starting in September.

King's sentencing date is pending.
BAY CITY, MI -- The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has filed a lawsuit against Bay City-based Michigan Sugar Co., alleging the company has repeatedly polluted the air and the Saginaw River and negatively affected the quality of life for residents near its plant.

The suit, authored by Michigan Assistant Attorneys General Neil D. Gordon and Zachary C. Larsen, was filed in Bay County Circuit Court on Thursday, Aug. 31.

The seven-count suit's goal is to "eliminate the emission of air contaminants that have caused the unreasonable interference with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property." The DEQ is also seeking to eliminate illegal discharges into the state's water and compel the company to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

The suit seeks civil fines, attorney fees and reimbursement for the costs of surveillance and enforcement.

In prepared statement to The Bay City Times-MLive, Mark Flegenheimer, Michigan Sugar's chief executive officer, didn't refute any of the counts in the DEQ's suit, but said the company is disappointed the DEQ "chose to ignore" Michigan Sugar's recent investments in new technology to minimize its environmental impact.

"It's deeply troubling that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality chose to ignore our company's record investments in cutting-edge new technology, our good-faith negotiations, and our demonstrated commitment to the community we have called home for more than a century," Flegenheimer said. "Instead of a cooperative approach that could create a win-win for the Bay City community, 1,100 Michigan Sugar farm families and hundreds of Bay City employees of our company, the MDEQ has adopted a confrontational stance that threatens our ability to work together."

The DEQ is alleging the facility at 2600 S. Euclid Ave. in Bay City routinely violates air pollution control and water resources protection aspects of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

The suit states that from 2011 to 2017, the DEQ received more than 1,500 complaints from people regarding foul odors from the facility.

"The citizens described the odors as, among other things, overwhelming, intolerable, nauseating, and manure-like," the suit states. Area residents have said that the stench would enter their homes, make them feel sick, keep them awake, and prevent them from having guests over.

DEQ staff investigated and determined that on many occasions, the facility's emissions of air contaminants caused odors that violated the Michigan Air Pollution Control Rules.

Between September 2012 and July 2017, the DEQ issued 32 violation notices to Michigan Sugar.

"In the violation notices, DEQ described the foul odors as, among other things, strong manure-like odors, strong sewer-like odors, and strong septic-like odors," the suit states.

Additionally, from February 2012 through April 2017, the government agency issued 12 violation notices for violating (NREPA) and NPDES permits.

The suit's seven counts are:

Count 1 -- Violation of Michigan Air Pollution Control Rules

Count 2 -- Public nuisance

Count 3 -- Violations of effluent limitations in NPDES permits

Count 4 -- Violations of storm water requirements in NPDES permit

Count 5 -- Violations of NREPA and facilities operation and spill notification requirements of NPDES

Count 6 -- Violations of NREPA section

Count 7 -- Violations of noncompliance notification and power failure requirements of NPDES

Related to the third count, the suit asserts the facility exceeded various limitations on the wastewater it dumped into the Saginaw River. The suit states this warrants a civil fine of not more than $25,000 for each day of the violations.

Regarding the fifth count, the DEQ alleges the facility discharged wastewater on five occasions between 2013 and 2017 without the proper permits.

Also, the suit contends Michigan Sugar personnel on Feb. 18, 2017, prevented DEQ staff from entering the premises to inspect equipment related to wastewater discharge.

The lawsuit concludes by asking a judge to permanently enjoin the facility from operating without being in accordance with NREPA and NPDES permits and to prohibit it from operating in a manner that creates a public nuisance.

Michigan Sugar has not yet filed a response to the suit.

The smell that residents have filed hundreds of complaints over typically appears in the spring and summer, when sugar beet processing is complete and Michigan Sugar drains wastewater ponds and dredges sediment that has settled in them.

Last fall, the company installed a centrifuge that removes sediment before the water goes into the ponds. The technology separates the water from the topsoil that comes off sugar beets.

"The fact is, Michigan Sugar Company has invested millions of dollars in Bay City in recent years to install the latest technology available in our industry," Flegenheimer continued in his statement. "These investments were specifically designed to ensure that we can continue to boost the economy and create jobs in Bay City, while minimizing our environmental impact.

"The investments include a centrifuge system that reduces organic matter leaving the factory, a new process that breaks down odors within our holding ponds, and beyond - all examples of industry-leading innovation.

"Michigan Sugar is proud of our commitment to the environment and being a good neighbor, strong community partner and job provider, which is why today's announcement by the MDEQ is disappointing."

In November 2016, a class action lawsuit was filed against Michigan Sugar, the second of its kind in the past 12 years. The lawsuit, filed by Detroit law firm Liddle & Dubin P.C. in Bay County Circuit Court, seeks compensation "for the nuisance created by the odors and for any negative impact the odors have had on property values."

Michigan Sugar has seen record crops in recent years. The 2015 crop weighed in at more than 5 million tons, topping the 2012 crop that came in at 4.7 million tons. The company employs about 2,300 employees, including seasonal employees, throughout the region. About 1,000 work in Bay City.
Above: Dr. Michelle Jorden visited the barn behind the Klaver's former home in 2014 to determine if Josh was capable of hanging himself. (Photo by LiPo Ching)

Joshs body was found hanging from this orange meat rail. The medical examiner, who was about the same size as Josh, tested her own weight on the bar. (Photo by LiPo Ching)

89 inches from the floor to the meat rail Joshua Klaver was big for his age, measuring 4-feet-11 inches tall and 115 pounds in the autopsy report. Jorden stands five inches taller and three pounds heavier, a small enough disparity, she figured, to use her own frame to stand in for the 10-year-old boy. Police experts say its almost impossible to recreate a scene a few days after a possible crime, much less 25 years later. Other than K.W. Klaver himself, who found Josh first, Klavers ex-wife, Bobbi Klaver, was the only other person in the barn that night when Joshs body was discovered. So investigators called her for help. The chair, Bobbi remembered, was heavy plastic, like something youd find at a kitchen table. The rope, she said, was probably a lead rope they kept in the barn back then  the thick kind with a clamp on the end used like a leash for horses. So Jorden borrowed a kitchen chair from the new owners of the barn and a rope they had on hand. She jotted down measurements  89 inches from the floor to the meat rail, which was 30 inches taller than Josh. With Sheriffs Det. Frank Zacharisen taking pictures, she climbed onto the chair and, testing the strength of the rail, grabbed it with both hands. Then, with her full body weight, she dangled. It was clear: The rail supported her weight, so it could have supported Joshs. But wait. I had to stop Dr. Jorden there. What about the rope? Without it, how could she know if Josh had enough slack to tie a knot? Or perhaps too much slack to hang? Did he even tie a knot? Or was there a noose? If Klaver had cut Josh down, wouldnt the rest of the rope have been tied to the rail? There were no photos to know, and the original police report didnt explain. And Bobbi Klaver wasnt certain how or whether the rope was tied.

Video: Dr. Parviz Pakdaman, Dr. Michelle Jorden and Bobbi Klaver talk about the missing rope from which Josh Klaver hung.

But Jorden didn't concern herself with questions she would never be able to answer. Instead, she focused on one she could: Whether a standard horse's lead rope  which Bobbi Klaver had described  matched the width of the marks on Joshuas neck. It was clear to me that, yes, the mark on Joshs neck could very well have been caused by a lead rope, she said. I didnt have all the items. I tried to get as much information of the description as I could. Whether Josh could even tie a sturdy knot to the meat rail wasnt critical, either, she said. My understanding is, this is not a boy who didnt know how to work a rope, she said. Still, a knot wasnt necessary, she said. He could have draped it around, he could have wrapped the rope around a couple of times. You dont necessarily have to have a noose, she said. You dont have to be fully suspended. When you block blood vessels in your neck, you lose consciousness in 10 to 20 seconds. She wouldnt go into all the details of her 2014 findings. But in many respects, her conclusion came down to measurements. Was he tall enough to get the rope over? Jorden asked. After climbing on the chair and subtracting her extra five inches of height, the conclusion was  yes.

A co-existing component to suicide Another thing mattered, too, she said. Josh was troubled and torn. This was a child who was saddened. She took what she had learned to the Child Death Review Team, which keeps its deliberations confidential. The group spent a full three hours in late July 2014 discussing nothing but Joshs case, Jorden said. She wouldnt say whether anyone testified, but Merek, the social worker, said no one ever contacted her to reprise her testimony from 1990. No one asked Joe Fortino, one of the deputies who was at the barn the night of Joshs death, to talk about his memories either. But Jorden presumably went over the autopsy results, which included ill-defined bruised areas on the front of Joshs right shoulder and kneecaps that were covered by abrasions and bruise marks. Jorden didnt consider any of those bruises or abrasions that glaring or blaring for any type of foul play, she said. As you know, 10-year-olds can commonly get abrasions and bruises on their knees, she told me. When the meeting was over, the group of 22 professionals  whose job is to determine how a child died, but not to assign blame  came to its own conclusion. And it echoed the findings in 1989 of the original medical examiner. Cause of death: hanging. Manner of death: suicide. But there was more. Along with classifying Joshs death as a suicide, the Child Death Review Team concluded something else for the first time  something that Joshs mother had tried to raise for decades. Along with suicide, Jorden wrote in her conclusion, there was a co-existing component of current or past child abuse.

Video: Bobbi Klaver, Judi Werner and Kathy Atkins talk about the allegations of child abuse in the Klaver household.

It was the conclusion after discussing the case with the experts in the room that child abuse was a factor in his death, Jorden told me. I want to make it very clear, its not that this was a case of Josh being beaten and hanged. What were saying is there was a history of child abuse that could have played a part in his psyche to commit the act. For the first time in 25 years, abuse had become part of the official story of Joshs death. The report did not mention K.W. Klaver, or anyone elses name, for that matter, and Jorden refused to elaborate on the specific abuse. I pressed her, but she said she was forbidden by law to speak about it. A letter she sent to sheriffs investigators explaining the panels decision gave me a clue: It listed three police reports from the 1980s  but the sheriffs office said California law prohibits it from releasing details on child abuse reports. It only releases dates and addresses. I was able to piece things together: Two of the calls were to Joshs school and involved his father. The other was from the time Klaver reported Atkins over Joshs puffy eye  thats when she said the boy took a spill on a homemade bike ramp. Those reports all happened before the 1986 custody trial in Judge Stewarts courtroom. The judge had called Atkins a nurturing mother, and gave her custody  so its clear who Stewart considered the abuser. I asked Dr. Jorden whether the death review team had looked at Stewarts ruling  where he listed eight acts of abuse that Josh had suffered at the hands of his father, including whipping, kicking and hitting. Surprisingly, she said, it had not. This is the first time I'm hearing of it, she said. I would soon find out, though, that Dr. Jorden wasnt the only one in Joshs story who didnt know about Judge Stewarts ruling.

The countys Child Death Review Team  a group of medical and law enforcement professionals who investigate child deaths  changed the classification of Joshs death: It added child abuse as a factor.

Spare the rod, spoil the child What the panel called a co-existing component was, according to my interviews and court records, years of a boys suffering  suffering that people knew about at the time, suffering that perhaps could have been stopped. Some of these things we didnt learn about until the witnesses came forward in Joshs custody trial, Constance Jimenez, the lawyer who represented Joshs mother, told me recently. Our jaws dropped more than once in the course of that trial. But David Sussman, Klavers lawyer, gave me a different perspective. He said that Klaver operated with an old-fashioned spare the rod, spoil the child mindset, and he and Klaver were both shocked at the gravity of the judges conclusions. As Sussman put it, when it came out of K.W.s mouth, it didnt sound like the atrocities Judge Stewart had interpreted. The judge, Sussman believes, may have overreacted. I could be wrong on that, but I think K.W. was trying to discipline a difficult child in a style that no one would have made a big fuss about 20 or 30 years earlier, Sussman said. It certainly doesnt justify it, but I think he was a tough guy. His kid was going to be a tough kid. Thats the way he was raised. He felt that he turned out alright and this is how you do things.

Our jaws dropped more than once in the course of that trial. said Constance Jimenez, the lawyer who represented Josh's mother Kathy Atkins. (Photo by LiPo Ching) I think K.W. was trying to discipline a difficult child in a style that no one would have made a big fuss about 20 or 30 years earlier, said K.W. Klavers attorney David Sussman. (Photo by LiPo Ching)

What did Judge Fogel know? Something else just didnt make sense. Why didnt Jeremy Fogel  the last judge with his hands on the custody case  appear moved by Judge Stewarts earlier conclusion that Josh was terrified of being hurt or physically punished by his father? Why, a year and a half later when Josh was 9, did Fogel  who would become a respected federal court judge  modify Stewarts ruling, giving partial custody back to Klaver? What did Fogel know that the court files and Joshs mother werent revealing? When I reached Judge Fogel almost three decades later to ask, his answer was startling: It was what he didnt know. Like most people I interviewed, Fogel says Joshs case has always stuck with him. Fogel was in his first year on the family court bench when the case landed on his busy docket. He presided over an emergency hearing called after Klaver sought custody again. Josh had pulled a knife on his mother, and Klaver objected when she committed Josh into the mental health unit at a San Jose hospital. Fogel remembered the case for all the obvious reasons: It was so contentious. Klaver was a sheriffs deputy. Josh had died a year later. Thats not something you forget, he said.

Video: "I dont remember anyone citing all those horrible facts. If I heard that, its something that would have made a difference," said Judge Jeremy Fogel discussing the details of alleged abuse of Josh Klaver by his father, K.W.
[August 31, 2017] Italy - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Italy's large telecom market boasts one of the highest rates for mobile penetration in Europe, while the fibre-optic sector has seen significant development in recent years, both in operator investment and in regulatory measures to widen the availability of superfast broadband services. Broadband uptake is growing steadily as a result of fibre and ADSL2+ infrastructure upgrades, though the country still lags behind benchmark countries for average broadband access speeds. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3567512/ The government is investing 4 billion to provide superfast broadband across the country, with a major contract recently awarded to the utility Enel to roll out fibre in six regions. The vibrant mobile market has undergone considerable changes since 2016. For some years it was dominated by three operators, TIM, Vodafone Italia and Wind, with the fourth player 3 Italia having steadily made progress with securing customers to its network. The owners of 3 Italia and Wind in mid-2015 agreed to merge their units, a process which gained regulatory clearance in October 2016. The new merged entity, trading as Wind Tre, began offering services in January 2017. As a result of the merger the market gained a new entrant in the form of Iliad, which secured access to spectrum and to Wind Tre's infrastructure to enable it to offer services while its own network is being developed. All providers operate LTE networks, and significant investments innetwork upgrades have led to considerable growth in mobile data and high-end applications.



Telecom Italia has also trialled LTE broadcast technology and is cooperating with Huawei and Ericsson to develop a platform for 5G services. This report analyses the key aspects of the Italian telecom market, providing the latest data and statistics on the country and the fixed network services sector.

It also reviews the key regulatory issues including number portability and local loop unbundling. In addition, the report assesses the broadband market, including the burgeoning fibre sector, regulatory measures aimed at increasing the availability of services, and the status of government infrastructure in the sector. It also provides broadband forecasts to 2021. The report reviews the mobile market, including statistics, key regulatory issues, an assessment of mobile data services and an evaluation of the market following the merger of Wind and 3 Italia and the market entry of Iliad. Key developments: Wind and 3 Italia begin operations as Wind Tre;

EC evaluates Rome smart grid deployment;

TIM commits to deliver FttP/FttB to an additional 138 cities by 2018;

EOF secures 1.4 billion government contract to provide fibre-based broadband to six regions;

Fastweb delivering 500Mb/s service to 7.5 million premises;

SINFI infrastructure registry helping to reduce cost of deploying fibre by a third;

Milan's Metroweb acquired by Enel;

Fastweb joins TIM in fibre venture;

Vodafone extends LTE coverage 90% of the population;

TIM trials LTE broadcast technology, preps for 5G applications and services;

Regulator extends 3G licences to 2029 and GSM licences to 2027;

Broadcasters move from DVB-MHP to the HTML-5 based HbbTV 2.0 format;

TivuSat reports over 2.6 million active cards;

Report update includes the regulator's market data to September 2016, telcos' operating and financial data to Q3 2016, recent market developments. Companies mentioned in this report: Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3567512/ About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishershttp://www.reportbuyer.com For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/italy---telecoms-mobile-broadband-and-digital-media---statistics-and-analyses-300512757.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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State-run Air India has put the upcoming renewal of employee contracts on hold as the government charts its course for its disinvestment, reports Livemint.

All renewals, except for operational or licensed category have been put on hold, V Hemjadi, director, personnel and finance of the airline told top management in a letter dated August 30.

All proposals received for the post-retirement engagement of employees and renewals may be kept in abeyance till further orders except for operational/licensed category which has to be put up through personnel department, the letter said.

The letter is marked to Air India's new chief Rajiv Bansal, who took charge last month, the report said.

Bansal, who has been given a three-month tenure initially, will have to take some tough calls, a source told Mint. Bansal is the additional secretary and financial advisor in the petroleum industry and currently holding additional charge of Air India.

The government, in three months, will decide who will take charge of the airline subsequently, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Choubey had said last month.

In June, the Union Cabinet had given an in-principle nod for disinvestment of the debt-laden Air India and its subsidiaries.

Last week, ministers led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held a second meeting to discuss the airline's privatisation plans. The committee will soon appoint transaction advisors for the process, Jaitley said on Wednesday.

Air India is reeling under debt of nearly Rs 52,000 crore. Of this, about Rs 28,000 crore is working capital debt. Despite receiving a Rs 24,000 crore bailout package, the airline has failed to turn its fortune.

The government is likely to divest Air Indias subsidiaries separately and hopes to complete the carriers disinvestment plan before the end of current year.

Two companies - IndiGo and Bird Group - have already expressed interest in buying certain businesses of the carrier. While IndiGo is eyeing Air India's international operations, Bird Group has shown interest in acquiring the carrier's ground handling business.

On August 31, Air India concluded auctioning of its 14 properties located in different parts of the country. The airline is looking to divest its non-core assets.

Nearly 30 properties valued above Rs 500 crore will be auctioned by first week of September by MSTC Ltd, the state-run auctioneer.

"We have received good bids for the properties that were put up for auction today. We got bids above the reserve price for 10 out of the total 14 properties," Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal told PTI.

"The proceeds from this will go towards paying our debts, although these are baby steps," he said.
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Proceedings of the 36th Annual General MeetingIn terms of Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we enclose herewith summary of the proceedings of the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 1st September, 2017 at 11:00 A.M at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, 9A, Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Kolkata- 700071.This is for your information and record.Source : BSE

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We wish to inform you that 20th Annual General Meeting of the members of the company is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 28th day of September, 2017 at the Registered office at V.P.O. Jugiana, G.T. Road, Ludhiana.Also note that pursuant to Regulation 42 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 and Section 91 of the Companies Act, 2013, the Register of Members and Share Transfer Books of the company will remain closed from Monday, 25th September, 2017 to Wednesday, 27th September, 2017 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of annual general meeting.Further, in terms of Regulations 44 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the company has engaged with services of Central Depository Services (India) Limited, for providing the Remote E-voting facility to its members. The members holding shares of the company as on 22nd September, 2017 ('cut off') shall be given a facility to cast their vote electronically through e-voting on the business items to be transacted at 20th Annual General Meeting.Kindly take the above on record.Source : BSE

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Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 read with Schedule III, please find enclosed Notice of 26thAnnual General Meeting of the Company scheduled to be held on Saturday, 25th September, 2017 at 4:30 P.M. at The Executive Club, Dolly Farms & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., 439, Village Shaoorpur, P.O. Fatehpuri, New Delhi.This is for your information and records.Source : BSE

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It is hereby informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 01st September, 2017 at 1:00 P:M that is today, inter alia, considered and approved the following:1. Notice of ensuing Annual General Meeting, Directors Report, Management Discussion & Analysis Report and all other annexure(s) for the Financial Year 2016-17 and in this behalf the Board authorizes Mr. Laxman Singh Satyapal, Managing Director of the Company to initiate all the necessary steps to conduct the AGM.2. Decided to call the 33rd Annual General Meeting of the Members of the Company. Accordingly, the 33rd Annual General Meeting of the Members of the Company will be held on September 29th, 2017 at Shalimar Bagh Club, Plot No. - 9, B- Block, Community Centre, Club Road, Shalimar Bagh , Delhi-110 088 at 12:00 Noon.3. The Register of Members and Share Transfer Books of the Company shall remain closed from 25th September, 2017 to 29th September, 2017 (both days inclusive) for the purpose ofSource : BSE

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Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco has expressed interest in investigating in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

"They (Aramco officials) have shown interest in investing in West Bengal," Banerjee told reporters at the secretariat.

Senior officials of the company today met her and Chief Secretary Malay Dey at the secretariat for around 20 minutes.

"They have said that the industrial atmosphere in the state is very good for investment. They will go back and hold a discussion regarding this," Banerjee said adding that the company would be participating in Bengal Global Business Summit, 2018.

When contacted a senior official of the company told PTI "It was a very good meeting. The Chief Minister is quite serious about inviting investments to the state. It was purely an exploration - a shaking of hands. We are quite hopeful that the dialogue will continue and it will yield in bringing in investment to the state."

He said that the company, which is the largest supplier of crude oil and petroleum products to India, was "looking at pan India investment".

The Saudi Arabian company, which is based in Dhahran, has both the world's second largest proven crude oil reserves and second largest daily oil production.
Private insurer Cigna TTK today said it has filed an application with the insurance regulator, for a change in partnership from the TTK Group to the Manipal Group.

"We have filed the application for change in partnership with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). We have applied for the Manipal Group will buy out 51 per cent stake of TTK Group. We expect the transition to take place before the end of this calender year," Cigna TTK Health Insurance managing director and CEO, Sandeep Patel told PTI here.

This is subject to regulatory approval, he said.

The Manipal Group is into health care delivery and higher education.

He said the partnership will help the firm to provide customers with a more comprehensive suite of health care solutions and enable them to further integrate within the health care delivery ecosystem.

However, Patel said, in order to minimise disruption in the customer experience in the company it will consult with them before taking any decision on changing the name after the change in partnership.

Cigna TTK Health Insurance is a joint venture between global health services firm Cigna and TTK, which launched operations in India in February 2014.
It's a verdict that could set a precedent for other insolvency cases. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Innoventive Industries against a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) verdict that ICICI Bank could start bankruptcy proceedings against the company.

The Apex Court's decision that bankruptcy code is superior to the Maharashtra Act was the last hurdle banks' way to start bankruptcy proceedings against companies that have defaulted, and recover their money.

The decision brings a big relief for the banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government in their fight against bad debts.

Earlier, ICICI Bank had taken Innoventive Industries to NCLT for the recovery of its due as the company had defaulted on loan repayment.

The NCLT had given a verdict in favour of the ICICI Bank, which Innoventive Industries challenged in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), where it received yet another setback.

The company later filed an appeal in the Supreme Court seeking relief under the Maharashtra Act, which states that if a company is facing bankruptcy, protection needs to be provided for the employees.

The Act states that a creditor seeking dues from the company would be held in abeyance for one year to protect the employees of the said company. It also allows employees to get 15 years of relief for the company being takeover by the creditor.
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.

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Drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories today said a US District court has issued a judgement in its favour, ruling that proposed generic version of Suboxone sublingual film does not infringe the patent of Indivior.

Suboxone sublingual film is indicated for the maintenance of treatment of opioid dependence. The US District Court of Delaware has issued a judgement that proposed generic version of Suboxone sublingual film does not infringe US patents as asserted by Indivior, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said in a filing to BSE.

Shares of the company soared by 8.67 per cent to Rs 2,195.50 in afternoon trade on BSE. The stock was the biggest gainer among 30 Sensex scrips. Commenting on the development, a company spokesperson said; "The judgement reiterates our commitment to providing affordable and innovative medicines that address the unmet and under-met needs of the patients around the world."

Reckitt Benckiser had developed the product. In 2014, the company de-merged its pharmaceuticals business as Indivior. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved Suboxone film in four strengths, 2mg/0.5 mg, 4mg/1mg, 8mg/2mg and 12mg/3 mg (buprenorphine/ naloxone).
When it was incorporated on September 1, 1956, insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) started off with an initial capital of Rs 5 crore. On its 61st birthday, LIC collects more than Rs 340 crore as new premium every single day (as per FY17 premium data).

According to data from the Life Insurance Council, LIC collected new premiums of Rs 124396.27 crore in FY17 which roughly translates to a whopping Rs 340 crore a day.

When it comes to the number of policies, LIC sold 20,131,500 policies in the last financial year (FY17) which means that the insurer sold almost 55,155 policies every single day of the year. Today, the insurer has assets of Rs 25 lakh crore with a life fund to the tune of Rs 2,323,802.59 crore.

Often labelled as a conservative organisation, LIC slowly worked its way into the top and refuses to budge from its position, both in terms of market share and premium collected, even as 23 other private life insurers have been giving stiff competition to the state-owned player.

In a statement, LIC said that they started with 168 offices in 1956 and today with over 4897 offices it has 1.15 lakh employees, 11.31 lakh agents, 29 crore plus policies in force. LICs market share in terms of number of policies was 76.09 percent, garnering over 20 million new policies as on March 31, 2017.

In 2016-17, LIC of India settled 215.58 lakh claims amounting to Rs 1,12,700.41 crore. As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), LIC has the best claims settlement ratio with 98.34 percent maturity claims and 99.63 percent of death claims in FY17.

An insurer which started as a small entity aiming to tap the insurable population of India is popularly called the Big Brother in the sector, not just because of its size in the insurance market, but also because it is the largest institutional investor in the countrys equity markets.

The largest employer of insurance agents in the country, LIC has still relied on this man-force even as its peers in the industry have turned to banks and online channels for selling insurance. No wonder, in terms of brand loyalty, it has topped charts for a long time.

Often called a slow mover in terms of technology, the insurer is also slowly catching up with private sector peers in terms of online products with policies generating almost 2X more volumes than other insurers.

Former Chairman SB Mathur had also admitted that initially computerization progressed at a snail's pace, and LIC took its first step in the 1960s. "There was just one computer in the Mumbai office, a Classic IBM 1040. Another computer was sent to our second biggest office in Calcutta. However, the CPM government did not let us use it," he had said.

Being one of the first users of technology also had its ill-effects. When Mathur was heading the Gwalior branch, if a computer developed some problem, they had to call engineers from Delhi.

They would take the Shatabdi Express the next morning and were most likely to dismiss the glitch as a software problem. Then they had to call for a software engineer, who was equally less likely to accept it as a software issue. Overall, it would take three to four days to solve one computer problem.

LIC was operating at a time when death was the scariest event in an individuals lifecycle and convincing an individual or family to plan for death was a big no-no. With help from creative agencies, the Zindagi ke saaath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi campaign helped them bridge the gap and has stayed on as their most iconic campaigns.

While it is established as a commercial organisation, LIC also set up the LIC Golden Jubilee Foundation in 2006 for relief of poverty or distress, advancement of education, medical relief and advancement of any other object of general public utility. It has supported multiple projects with support of non-governmental organisations.

Touted as the white knight in the governments disinvestment schemes, a tag which LIC constantly denies, the market is waiting for the next big event in the insurers life history, its initial public offering (IPO). Not only would it be the most valued company if listed, it would be the largest ever IPO by a company. Whether or not it will bite the bullet still remains to be seen.
Early conclusion of the proposed free trade agreement between India and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) would further boost economic ties between the two sides, Swiss President Doris Leuthard today said.

She said this agreement along with the investment protection framework would usher in a new era of cooperation between India and Switzerland.

EFTA, comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, is negotiating a free trade pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), with India since October 2008.

Addressing a business session here, Leuthard said to further strengthen the economic relationship, "we want to bring the negotiations that have been running between India and EFTA since 2008 to an end".

She said Switzerland is aware of the sensitivities of both the sides on the pact and this agreement would be important for India as lot of other negotiations are underway in the Asian region.

"I am sure that in this visit, we will have a better understanding and the push by the Indian Prime Minister and me will help the ministers conclude the pending questions," Leuthard said.

The president also said: "If you want to compete, you must open up markets. Switzerland is not somebody you have to be afraid of. We are fair partners, we rely on rules and regulations".

She said conclusion of this pact will be very positive for other negotiations and "you can show that we have the political will to open up ".

"I would really like to have India as a strong economic partner with trade agreement and an investment protection framework to be the base of the new era of cooperation," she said.

Speaking at the session, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too said India wanted to move forward on this agreement.

"I will definitely sit with my team who are going to meet (with EFTA officials) by end of September that they look into every issue and wherever they need political guidance and support, we are willing to give that," Sitharaman said.

She said India wants to conclude this pact as it would benefit both sides.

The two-way trade between India and EFTA dropped to USD 19 billion in 2016-17 from USD 21.5 billion in 2015-16. The trade gap is highly in favour of EFTA.

Under an FTA, trading partners give market access to each other with a view to promoting bilateral trade in goods and services, besides investments.

Further on the issue of intellectual property rights, she said India is ready to address any questions on IPR or concerns on data security.

India's IPR regime is in compliance with the global rules and "we shall ensure that the patent, copyrights and trademark rights of any individual or company is respected," the Indian minister added.

Talking about the data security issues, the Swiss president said owners of data in the internet have to be protected to promote investments.

"Internet is evolving at a rapid pace but there is a regulatory gap. How do we close that gap, that needs to be deliberated upon," she said.

Sitharaman said the topic has been discussed at Davos in WEF but more is required. She invited people to participate in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be held in Geneva in December.

"Safer internet for everyone is a way forward...I invite you all," she said adding that at global level, there is a need for a concerted approach to tackle criminal activities.

Talking about areas of cooperation, she said lot of Swiss companies have invested in India and "we will bring lot of technologies to India and develop here".
Infosys' former Board members, including ex-chairman Seshasayee have come out strongly against comments made by Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy at a recent investor conference.

"Mr Murthy's statement to the investors misleadingly attributes words to me that are taken completely out of context, making it appear that I was not stating the truth. I wish to categorically state that I have been candid and truthful in all my statements regarding Infosys," Seshasayee said in a statement.

Murthy had, on Tuesday, said at an Investec investor conference that the Board, led by Seshasayee, failed to explain the actual reason for the excessive sum as severance to the ex-CFO, Mr Rajiv Bansal.

He also quotes liberally from an anonymous whistleblower letter which said that Seshasayee lied about the reason for payments made to the ex-CFO to protect the company from its secrets being compromised.

Seshasayee said Murthy quoting from the letter was "offensive", since the accusations made by the whistleblower were proved to be untrue in investigations, and yet Murthy gave an impression to the shareholders that Seshasayee lied.

He questioned the increasingly personal attacks by Murthy, saying he was "at a loss to understand the motivations for this personal vendetta against me".

Murthy had also raised issues about the conduct of board members John Etchemendy, Jeffrey Lehman and Roopa Kudva in his address on Tuesday.

The Board members reiterated their support for ex-chairman Seshasayee in the joint statement today. Etchemendy said "Sesh is a man of impeccable integrity", adding that he was aware of the Bansal severance issue and went on to categorically state that Seshasayee did not lie about anything related to the issue in public or private.

Lehman questioned why an anonymous complaint to the regulator, which had been investigated and found false, was being legitimized by Murthy as a whistleblower complaint.

"For the good of Infosys, I wish Mr Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Mr Murthy would stop defaming Mr Seshasayee and other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other cheek when slandered, and who have only acted in the best interests of the company," he said.

Lehman served on the Infosys Board as a director for over 11 years.

Seshasayee, Etchemendy, Lehman and ex CEO resigned from Infosys last Thursday, after a prolonged battle that has included many twists and turns between the founders and Board of the company over the past year. Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani stepped in as non-executive chairman of the Board on the same day.
Disney | Brand Value: USD 41.1 billion | Brand Revenue: USD 168.8 billion | Industry: Automotive

Lexus, the luxury vehicle arm of Japanese auto major Toyota, today announced restructuring of its operations in India to go independently from the parent brand, nearly five months after entering the country.

The company said under the reorganised structure, a new organisation to be known as Lexus India will stand independently from the broader Toyota presence in India, the company said in a statement.

The leadership has also been strengthened with Akito Tachibana to be the Chairman of Lexus India to drive the brand's growth strategy. Akitoshi Takemura will be the President of Lexus India and will lead the business, while Arun Nair will move into the role of Vice-President, overseeing operations.

Commenting on the change, Takemura said: "India is an extremely important market for Lexus. Today's announcement of a new and independent organisational structure is a signal that we intend to build a business that continues to drive growth not only in India, but with India and for India."

Lexus marked its India entry in March this year with the introduction of a hybrid-focused line-up of vehicles featuring sedan ES300h, crossover RX450h and SUV LX450d. The company has opened four showrooms in Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Gurgaon.

"Lexus India's independence as a business organisation will enable the brand to build its presence as a luxury lifestyle brand and to position for growth in India, one of the world's fastest growing economies," the company said.
People worship Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth on this day. (Image: Reuters)

After entering into five digit club last month, the Nifty50 begun the August series with low open interest. Except for a sharp decline in the second week of the expiry, the market traded in a narrow range for the most part of the series.

The Nifty50 close the series with a loss of little over 1 percent and traders carried forward fewer derivatives bets to September on expiry of August monthly contracts.

Analysts said rollover to Nifty September futures and their open interest are the lowest in 2017. Fewer rollovers suggest that the aggression is missing amid concerns of a delay in recovery in corporate earnings as well persistent selling by foreign investors.

The Nifty rollovers stood at 58 percent, significantly lower than last three months' average of 72 percent. The roll cost was under pressure at 37 basis points compared to around 40 bps on Monday.

In August series, we witnessed decent amount open interest addition in Nifty; wherein, most of them were on the short side. Rollover in Nifty (57.96%) is much lower than its quarterly average of 66.45%, indicates that the short positions formed in August series are not rolled to the upcoming month, Jay Purohit, Technical & Derivatives Analyst at Centrum Broking Limited told Moneycontrol.

Also, in BankNifty, rollovers (68.26%) are on the lower side in both percentages and open interest terms. At present, positions in Nifty is quite light as the open interest in Nifty is at the lowest level since the start of the calendar year 2017.

Open interest in Nifty September futures stood at Rs16,300 crore compared to Rs17,300 crore at the beginning of the August series.

The Nifty future closed negative by around 1 percent at 9917.90 on expiry to expiry basis compared to July settlement of 10,020.55.

The Nifty futures settled near to its series VWAP of 9928 zones means bulls and bears both were at comfort zones but low rollover comparatively suggests that aggression is missing in the market by bulls post its pause in upside momentum, Chandan Taparia, Derivatives, and Technical Analyst at Motilal Oswal Securities told Moneycontrol.

India VIX fell down by 7.27 percent at 11.95 and a decline in volatility has supported the index to get a stable move with follow up buying interest. Now VIX has to hold below 12.50 to get a smooth ride in next coming sessions, he said.

Considering the overall derivative data, the Nifty expected to remain in a range of 9700  10000 in near term. Traders should focus more on stock specific moves as it may fetch better returns in upcoming sessions, suggest experts.

Stocks, where long positions got rolled to September series are Tech Mahindra, Container Corp, BPCL, Ujjivan, Torrent Power, Tata Global Beverages, Chennai Petro.

While short positions got rolled in Apollo Hospital, Sun Pharma, Repco Home Finance, Glenmark and Bank Of Baroda.

Here is a list of ten stocks which saw high rollover:
manufacturer of Titanium alloys in India.

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Regulator Sebi has imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on JSW Steel for failing to redress an investor complaint within the prescribed time limit.

"The noticee (JSW Steel), being a listed company failed to redress the complaint satisfactorily even after repeated complaints by the complainant for the same complaint," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in an order.

According to Sebi, one investor complaint was pending against JSW Steel as on March 25, 2015 related to non-receipt of shares after transfer.

The complainant had bought physical shares of the firm off market from one Jaichand Shah who had got possession of the shares but was not the rightful owner of the scrips and had sold them to the complainant.

When the complainant lodged the shares for transfer, the registrar and transfer agent refused to transfer the shares and returned the original transfer deed and copy of share certificate to the complainant through a letter dated February 9, 2010 requesting him to approach the seller for settlement.

The complainant, instead of approaching the seller for settlement, chose to pursue the matter with JSW Steel through Sebi.

In a meeting conducted by Sebi on January 11, 2016, the firm produced documentary evidence to the complainant, including the application copy of the genuine shareholder in the IPO, following which the complainant got convinced and was advised to settle the matter with the seller and the complaint was disposed of on January 22, 2016.

"The noticee has not placed on record any evidence on the steps taken by it to redress the complaint," Sebi said.

"Only after Sebi calling a meeting with the complainant and the noticee together, the complainant was satisfied with the documentary evidence shown to him by the noticee and also application copy of the genuine shareholder was shown to him and thereafter the case was disposed of on January 22, 2016," it added.

The regulator further said that the complainant was filing same complaint in Sebi Complaints Redressal System (SCORES) since the years 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

"Thus it is evident that if the noticee would have been serious at all in speedy redressal of investor complaints it would have shown/ given the documents way back in 2011 which it had shown to the complainant only after Sebi called a meeting with the complainant and the noticee together and the complainant would not have complained again," Sebi said.

The regulator noted that it was only due to Sebi action the investor was satisfied and the complaint was disposed of after a delay of around one year and two months.
Patanjali (Image: Facebook)

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Moneycontrol Research

Earlier this week, JHS Svendgaard, the contract oral care manufacturer for Patanjali & Dabur, released its Q1 FY18 results. While the quarterly numbers highlighted solid topline growth, it also included one-time settlement income (Rs 27.3 crore) from its earlier customer  P&G  after a prolonged arbitration.

The companys capacity expansion updates and, in particular, its near-term sales guidance make us positive about the stock.

Q1 FY18: guided by improved volume offtake

In Q1 FY18, JHS witnessed 17 percent YoY growth in net sales led by improved offtake contracts from clients. Gross margins improved by 145 bps due to relatively lower increase in raw material prices. EBITDA margin, however, decreased by 85 bps due to higher other expenses that was partially offset by lower employee expenses.

It is noteworthy here that excise exemption for the unit manufacturing toothpaste (Kala Amb) is over and hence from this quarter onwards the company has started paying excise duty. However, JHS continues to enjoy duty exemption for its unit manufacturing toothpaste till 2020.

FY17 witnessed decline in tooth paste contribution

The raw material consumption trend for the company in the last fiscal suggests that there was possibly a value de-growth for the toothpaste category unlike toothbrush category. This can partially be attributed to lower order flows from Dabur. However, in the current fiscal year, we expect this to reverse on the back of higher growth from Dabur (+15 percent sales in FY18 expected) and the toothpaste contract with Patanjali, also aided by capacity expansion.

New capacity to be commissioned from Q2 FY18

The company has recently concluded its capacity re-alignment. It has raised its toothpaste manufacturing capacity to 175 million tubes (from 90 million tubes) which is now aligned with its manufacturing cum packaging capacity of 28,000 TPA. This capacity enhancement is expected to be commissioned in the current quarter.

Oral Care: Substantial participation in the growth of market leaders

Our read-through of FY17 annual report brings some interesting insights. Though the company has not revealed the names of its clients, a careful assessment and our calculation suggest that the company participated in about 5 percent of the total sales from the leading oral care manufacturers  Dabur and Patanjali in FY17.

It is noteworthy that both the clients have seen their oral care market share expanding in recent years. While Patanjali has seen a pan-India improvement, Dabur has gained market share in south of India, thereby providing a resilient end-client growth for JHS.

Patanjali & Dabur  key to near-term growth

Taking cue from the companys segmental guidance and vision for FY20, we have redrawn our projections. We are, particularly, enthused by the companys disclosures in the annual report. Based on this, we expect a 30 percent sales CAGR and 330 bps operating profit margin expansion during the period FY17-20E.

In FY18, the company expects a 20-25 percent revenue growth on account of capacity expansion and another 10-15 percent by way of organic growth in the business. We think organic growth of 15 percent can easily be achieved, particularly due to the base effect as FY17 was impacted to the tune of Rs 20-25 crore owing to demonetization.

Getting a bit granular, as per our estimates, in FY18, sales to Patanjali could constitute about 41 percent of the total with the major sales accounted for by the toothbrush category. In the toothpaste category, the company has started manufacturing for Patanjali from Q3 FY17 and this is expected to grow in double-digits in the current year.

Including Dabur, sales to major FMCG oral care manufacturers could be about 80 percent of the total sales. Sales to other international clients like Amway can be pegged about 5 percent and to proprietary brands at 16 percent. Overall, we expect 36 percent sales growth in FY18.

Valuation and Recommendation

Looking at valuation, excluding a one-time settlement amount from the P&G, adjusted multiple for JHS works out to be 33.7x (2018E earnings) which is at a discount to the industry average of about 50x. Further, in light of 42 percent CAGR in operating profit for the period 2017-19E, valuation appears attractive, in our view.

Hence, we advise investors to participate in the growth story of the stock benefitting from the tailwinds of secular oral care growth, improving market share for key end clients and capacity expansion.
Avinnash Gorakssakar, Market Expert told CNBC-TV18, "Tata Sponge Iron has outperformed quite significantly and my suggestion is that I think if one is looking at a short to medium term kind of horizon, it is better that one holds for some time, rather than entering immediately. Better than Tata Sponge, Vedanta looks a better stock to put your money and within the metal space could be a good outperformer. So compared to Tata Sponge, if one could put the money in Vedanta, one could possibly get a better risk reward kind of an equation."

At 15:17 hrs Vedanta was quoting at Rs 314.80, up Rs 6.65, or 2.16 percent.

It has touched a 52-week high of Rs 314.80.
A bird flies by the Vedanta office building in Mumbai August 16, 2010. India-focused miner Vedanta Resources said it will buy 51-60 percent of Cairn India for about $8.5-9.6 billion in cash to be funded via debt and cash resources, a move that would represent Vedanta's first foray into oil and gas, and help Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy fund an expensive drilling programme in Greenland. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS ENERGY) - RTXSAAV

Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources has plans to invest around Rs 50,000 crore on business expansion in India in coming years, its Chairman Anil Agarwal said on Friday.

He also expressed hope that the retrospective taxation issue between Cairn Plc and the government would soon be sorted out.

"I have promised the government that the group will invest Rs 40,000-50,000 crore. My shareholders and my banks abroad would be very pleased with my plan," Agarwal said.

He further said that this decade will belong to India and it is the best time to invest here.

On the retrospective taxation row, Agarwal said, "The kind of image that India has all over the world, the retrospective tax is one small thing which has to be sorted out. There is a case between the government and Cairn Plc. I highly recommend both parties to sit down and sort out this issue."

The retrospective legislation was used to levy a principal tax liability of Rs 10,247 crore on the UK-based Cairn Energy Plc. That matter too is before an international arbitration panel.

Highlighting some of the reform measures taken by the government, Agarwal said bankruptcy law and Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help improve the business environment and attract global investors.

Vedanta is a major player in India's Zinc Industry, primary Aluminium market, and refined copper with market shares of 72 per cent, 40 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

Also, it is India's largest private sector Iron Ore exporter and operator of 26 per cent of India's crude oil production through Cairn India.

Meanwhile, the Income-Tax Department has seized USD 104 million dividend due to Cairn Energy Plc from the remaining stake in the erstwhile subsidiary Cairn India (now called Vedanta Ltd). The department has already adjusted Rs 1,500 crore of tax refund that was due to Cairn Energy, against the principal amount.

"The government already has holding shares about Rs 6,000-7,000 crore and something should be done to settle the issue. Those shares were of Cairn Plc," he had said.

Vedanta Resources recently merged Cairn India with group company Vedanta Ltd.
book-education-student

S Anitha, the spirited Dalit girl from Tamil Nadu who moved the Supreme Court against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), committed suicide on Friday after failing to get into a medical college.

The girl was found hanging at her house in a Tamil Nadu village, police said.

Anitha had secured 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Plus Two examination and had crossed the cut-off for medical admission by scoring 196.75.

She would have easily gotten through any medical college in Tamil Nadu had the top court not passed an order making NEET merit list the basis for MBBS courses. Anitha had only scored 86 in the NEET examination and hence, missed out on her dream medical course.

The daughter of a daily wage earner, Anitha had dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Tamil Nadu has been resisting NEET arguing that the state board students, especially from rural areas, were not ready for it and CBSE-board students would have an advantage over the state board students.

On August 22, the Supreme Court finally directed Tamil Nadu to follow the NEET merit list to complete medical admission processes and dismissed any possibility of exemption from the national test.

Anitha had approached the apex court last month opposing a plea seeking admissions to undergraduate medical courses only on the basis of the NEET score.

Although she could not get admission to MBBS, she had the high score to secure the admission for several other courses, including engineering.

She was even reportedly offered a seat in the prestigious state-run Madras Institute of Technology for aeronautical engineering.

The police said they were investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, the residents held a 'road roko' in the village, slamming the AIADMK-led state government for the death of the girl.

"District police superintendent, district collector and other senior officials are present on the spot for coordinating the legalities post the death of the girl," a police official told PTI.

The body has been taken to a government hospital for autopsy, he said.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar told reporters that he was deeply pained by the death of the girl.

Education Minister C Sengottaiyan expressed grief and anguish and said steps were being taken to prepare students for any competitive exam. He said such instances must never be repeated.

DMK working president MK Stalin expressed concern over the death of the girl and called the government "inept".

"Students are the future of the nation and they should never attempt to do such things," he said while asking the state government to own up responsibility for the death.

Various political parties have been cornering the state government for its failure to get exemption from the NEET.

Actor Rajinikanth also condoled the death of the teenage girl.

"What has happened to Anitha is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to all the pain and agony she would have undergone before taking the drastic step. My condolences to her family," he said in a tweet.

VCK chief Thol Thirumavalan, a Dalit leader, expressed anguish at the death of the girl and said no student should attempt ending their lives as there were a lot of opportunities to pass examinations.

(With PTI inputs)
India's President Pranab Mukherjee (12th L) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (13th L) pose with new cabinet ministers after a swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi November 9, 2014. Picture take November 9, 2014. REUTERS/Prakash Singh/Pool (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4DKJT

More than half a dozen ministers are likely to be dropped in a major Cabinet reshuffle by the NDA government, as the ruling BJP prepares to go into the 2019 general elections, one and a half years from now.

BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday met with ministers in the Union council, some of whom may be shifted to the party organisation. Shah has reportedly met with six ministers in the last two days.

Two ministers - Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Muzzafarnagar MP and minister Sanjiv Balyan - have resigned while Uma Bharti and medium and small scale industries minister Kalraj Mishra have offered to resign, political sources told Network18.

The ruling party is likely to follow 'one man, one post' theory. As a result, MoS Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey, who has been appointed the UP BJP President, will be asked to quit the Cabinet.

MoS for Ministry of Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to get an important party assignment, sources said.

A couple of ministers from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and JD U are expected to take oath.

Ministers who are handling dual portfolios will be given only one portfolio. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently holding dual ministries - finance and defence - will let go of defence.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who has offered to resign after multiple derailments took place recently, is likely to get the environment ministry, a CNN-News18 report said.

The reshuffle is likely to be completed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for his China visit on September 3.
Head of Al-Qaeda's offshoot Ansar Gazawat-ul-Hind in Kashmir, Zakir Musa has released an audio message threatening India. In the video, Musa can be heard saying, "Will liberate India from cow worshipping PM Modi and Hindus".

The 10-minute long audio message, as per a Times of India report was first released on the YouTube channel Ansar Ghazwa. In the message Musa threatened India, saying the country will see its leaders chained and dragged. Narendra Modi the worshipper of cow, can gather as much might with his politics and diplomacy but won't be able to stop us... We will hoist the flag of Islam on Hind and we will have the Hindu rulers chained and dragged," he said.

Musa also warned India against deporting the Rohingya muslims from Jammu. The government had earlier made it clear that it intended to deport nearly 40,000 Rohingya muslims who have entered India, of which 6,000 are settled in Jammu.

In the audio message, Musa also criticised the Pakistani government and army for allegedly back stabbing the Kashmiri cause. He claimed that Pakistan had joined hands with the US in their fight against the mujahideen by closing training camps and killing or imprisoning many activists.

However he asserted that the Kashmiri movement can survive even without the support from any country. He said that 'they' had kept alive jihad with their own blood and by turning stones into weapons and snatching arms and weapons from Indian soldiers. He asserted that all terror groups in Kashmir had fought for Islam and Sharia.

Musa who was stuttering and stumbling in his Urdu speech was seemingly reading a script drafted for him by the Al-Qaeda.
Ways to effectively combat black money and tax evasion figured extensively during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swiss President Doris Leuthard, who expressed strong commitment to help India to deal with the problem.

Modi thanked Switzerland for helping India become a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a multilateral export control regime, and consistently supporting New Delhi's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

A joint statement said both leaders urged all the countries to work towards disrupting terrorist networks and financing as well as preventing violent extremism and called for early finalisation of the CCIT.

Describing their talks productive, Modi said transparency in financial transactions is a major global challenge and that cooperation between India and Switzerland over it will continue further.

"Be it black money, dirty money, hawala transaction or money related to arms and drugs, our cooperation with Switzerland continues to deal with the global curse," the prime minister said in a statement to the media.

The Swiss president exuded confidence that a law on ensuring automatic exchange of information relating to tax would be cleared by the Swiss parliament by end of the year and her country will be able to exchange first set of information with India by 2019.

"We hope by end of this year, this (law on automatic exchange of information) will be passed and be operational by 2019 when the first exchange can take place," she said, adding India and Switzerland can go hand-in-hand to ensure financial transparency.

The issue of black money has been a matter of major debate in India and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for the illicit wealth allegedly stashed abroad by some Indians.

In his comments, Modi also referred to the joint declaration on exchange of information relating to tax signed by the two sides last year.

"Last year we signed a joint declaration relating to automatic exchange of information relating to tax. As per its provision, after completion of the internal process in Switzerland, information will be shared with us on automatic basis," he said.

Leuthard said her country follows all international rules on financial transaction to ensure transparency, adding "we have probably today one of the strongest laws on money laundering".

On terror they further said Both leaders also urged that all member countries should demonstrate a collective political will to take concrete actions against terrorism and to implement the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

The two sides also deliberated on further boosting ties in key sectors like trade and investment, infrastructure and energy while agreeing on the need to continue dialogue on a bilateral investment pact. Two pacts providing for cooperation in railways were also inked.

Giving broad contours of their discussions, Modi said the extensive and productive talks covered bilateral, regional and global issues and that Leuthard's visit further strengthened the bilateral ties.

Modi said there was deliberations on challenges of climate change and both sides agreed to work for implementing the Paris climate accord focusing on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

On trade cooperation, he said FDI has been a major pillar of economic ties and India particularly welcomes Swiss investors.

"We agreed on the need to continue dialogue on bilateral investment pact. Swiss companies have avenues to be part of India's growth and development," he said.

The prime minister said there was deliberation on the trade and economic partnership agreement between India and European Free Trade Association and both the countries expressed resolve to conclude the pact.

On Switzerland support to India's NSG bid, he said, "India will be benefited from membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to meet its growing demand of clean energy."

Leuthard said she was very happy over the outcome of her talks and that there was scope for further expansion of trade ties. In this regard, she underlined the need for having an investment protection pact.

She said Switzerland can offer India "infrastructure of tomorrow" in many areas including in railways.

"Negotiations for it are on. We hope it is important for our investment," she said.

The joint statement also said Australia welcomed India's intensified engagement with the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement and expressed its support for India's Accession to these regimes.

India had joined the MTCR as a full member in June last year. The membership enables India to buy high-end missile technology.

New Delhi has also been pressing for membership of the 48-nation NSG but China has been stonewalling its bid.

Both leaders also reaffirmed the need for reform of the UN Security Council, including its expansion, to make it more representative, accountable, effective and responsive to the geo-political realities of the 21st century.

"PM Modi encouraged the support of Switzerland to make a decisive push towards actual "text-based negotiations in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN), as the IGN process needs to be guided to its logical conclusion culminating in a meaningful reform of the UNSC," the statement said.

Both leaders also urged that all member countries should demonstrate a collective political will to take concrete actions against terrorism and to implement the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Strategy, it said.
India's President Pranab Mukherjee (12th L) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (13th L) pose with new cabinet ministers after a swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi November 9, 2014. Picture take November 9, 2014. REUTERS/Prakash Singh/Pool (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4DKJT

At least six ministers in the Union Cabinet may have to make way for a fresh lot in what is being seen as the last major cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the next general elections.

A major chunk of ministers who may join the cabinet is expected to be from the Hindi heartland.

BJP President Amit Shah held a series of meetings on Thursday with ministers in the Union council, who could be shifted to the party organisation.

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Moneycontrol News

Windows users have been warned as a new spambot has found a way to bypass spam filters and infect computers with malware.

This spam mail can steal passwords, credit card details, and other personal information by tricking users into opening an attachment which causes the malware to download, thus infecting the computer.

The spambot has till now affected 711 million email addresses worldwide and collected millions of credentials from different emails by sending spam mails to various inboxes through legitimate servers.

The spambot, dubbed as Onliner is being used to deliver the "Ursnif" banking malware to inboxes all over the world. It has already caused more than 100,000 unique infections as per a blog post by Paris-based researcher Benkow.

A spambot is a computer program that is programmed and designed to assist in sending spam. They function by creating accounts and send spam messages automatically.

Also Read: Govt to fund R&D cost of up to Rs 5 cr for cyber security

The web server of the spambot, based somewhere in Netherlands, has stored dozens of text files containing a huge batch of email addresses, and passwords and accessed email servers to send spam.



This is still loading, I expect I'll be able to make all 711,477,622 addresses searchable on @haveibeenpwned in about 24 hours https://t.co/9TDTDZIXue

 Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) August 28, 2017

Troy Hunt, who runs the breach notifications website Have I Been Pwned said it was a mind-boggling amount of data, adding in his tweet that a total of 711,477,622 email addresses breached till that point. In a blog post , he also added that this was the largest batch of data to enter the breach notification site in its history.

It took an expert like Hunt months to dig into the Ursnif malware which is a data stealing Trojan that grabs personal information such as login details, passwords and credit card data once it lands into the website, as per technical staff at Palo Altos Networks Research Center.

How can you get infected

Once your email is caught in the spammers filter, an email looking like a legitimate one will be sent to you with an attachment which once clicked upon will automatically start downloading the malware from an external server and infect your system.

How to avoid getting spammed

Security measures like multi-factor authentication (security keys, random number generating apps or phone messages apart from just passwords) which Google already has, and generate complex passwords with help of a password manager (both free and paid versions available) to manage passwords across devices can be used securing your online account.

Also Read: Can no longer look at cybersecurity as just server room issue: EY's Kartik Shinde

In order to send spam, the spammer needs access to something called SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) credentials, which authenticates them to send the spam mails.



New spam list: Onliner Spambot exposed 711m email addresses. 27% were already in @haveibeenpwned Read more https://t.co/fCfJMpAESu  Have I been pwned? (@haveibeenpwned) August 29, 2017

"The more SMTP servers he can find, the more he can distribute the campaign," Benkow wrote about the spammer.

These SMTP credentials are scraped by the spambots from data breaches (such as LinkedIn and Badoo hacks) and from other unknown sources.

Also Read: India ranks 23rd among 165 nations in cybersecurity index

The Ursnif malware only works on Windows computers.

If you want to find out whether your address has been affected, you can do a search through Have I Been Pwned here.

While there are more than 700 million email addresses unearthed to have been breached by the spambot, the actual number of humans affected may be lesser.
MUMBAI, INDIA - FEBRUARY 8: Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) spiritual Head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh during the premier of movie Hind Ka Napak Ko Jawab at Sahara Star, Domestic Airport, on February 8, 2017 in Mumbai, India. The film, based on the recent surgical strike, reduces the current tension between India and Pakistan to nothing but a cringe-worthy subject. (Photo by Pramod Thakur/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The Haryana Police on Friday issued "lookout notices" for Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan.

Airports, bus termini and railway stations in Haryana have been put on high alert as the police are seeking Honeypreet for allegedly trying to help Ram Rahim to escape his security detail after he was found guilty of rape on two accounts by a CBI court in Panchkula.

Honeypreet has also been accused of sedition for inciting violence in Haryana during the trial of Ram Rahim Singh, which resulted in the deaths of around 38 people and injured hundreds.

She had accompanied her "Rockstar papa" Ram Rahim on a government funded chopper, which carried the Dera Chief out of the Panchkula court complex in Haryana.

Honeypreet, who went by the name Priyanka Taneja before Ram Rahim renamed her, describes herself as "Papa's angel" in her twitter handle and her description reads "Philanthropist, Director, Editor, Actress!! Passionate to transform my Rockstar Papa's directions into actions!"

This is not the first instance of Honeypreet making national news. The rapist guru's adopted daughter was in the news in 2011 when her husband Vishwas Gupta had filed a petition alleging that Ram Rahim had sexually assaulted his wife in captivation.

Vishwas Gupta and his family, former followers of Dera Sacha Sauda, had alleged that Ram Rahim had arranged for the marriage between him and Honeypreet and illegally took their land.

Vishwas said that the Dera chief, who had adopted his wife, was disallowing him to meet her. The family also accused Ram Rahim of threatening them with murder.

However, a week later Honeypreet filed a case on the Guptas accusing them of dowry harassment, attempt to murder and breach of trust. Later, Vishwas Gupta withdrew the petition with an "out of court" settlement.

Honeypreet is in hiding now with the Haryana police chasing after her.

With PTI inputs
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has refuted claims that he disagrees with President Donald Trump on the best strategy to handle tensions with North Korea, saying his comments were "widely misinterpreted".

Trump on Wednesday implied that diplomacy with North Korea is over, tweeting that "talking is not the answer".

When asked about the tweet hours later, Mattis seemed to disagree, saying that "We are never out of diplomatic solutions".

But, yesterday, Mattis stressed that there was "nothing contradictory there" and said reports have "widely misinterpreted" his comments.

"I was asked if there are any diplomatic efforts. And I said, Of course. And diplomatic can include economic sanctions, United Nations, not just talking. It didn't contradict anything the President said. We're not talking to the North Koreans right now. It was widely misinterpreted. I can't help people who misinterpret things," he said.

Tensions with North Korea have been high all month as the regime has conducted a series of provocative missile tests and Trump threatened to confront North Korean threats.

On Monday, North Korea launched an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan.

Mattis said the firing of North Korean ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan, was reckless.

"I agree it was a reckless, provocative act, firing that over Hokkaido. We were watching what they were doing, but I did not know what, in fact, they were thinking, whether or not they were really throttling back or not," he said.

"We will defend ourselves and our allies," he said.

Responding to a question, Mattis said North Korea could do something like that (nuclear test) on relatively short notice.
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf salutes as he arrives to speak on Pakistan's security situation at Chatham House in central London, February 15, 2010. REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY) - LM1E62F169T01

Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan is not obligated to help India in handing over Dawood Ibrahim even if he is living in Karachi.

Talking to a newspaper about the existence of Dawood, who is wanted for his role in 1993 Mumbai blasts, Musharraf said that the country has no reason to aid India. India has been accusing Pakistan, for long. Why should we now become good and assist them? I don't know where Dawood is. He must be here, somewhere. India has been killing Muslims and Dawood Ibrahim has been reacting," he said.

Former Pakistani head of state said that India has been sending dossiers affirming the wanted mans presence in Karachi for over a decade, Pakistan has consistently denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Musharraf also revealed, as per a report in Business Standard, that he has doubts on Osama Bin Ladens stay in Abbottabad. The issue is we have human intelligence. When Osama was killed, nobody knew that he was Osama and was staying there as people thought of him as a drug dealerEven I have doubt that he was living in Abbottabad continuously for five years, he said.

Musharraf, who is living in Dubai has been charged for his role in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He earlier told a Japanese media team that he had mulled nuking India amidst the 2001 tensions.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the test of a new-type anti-aircraft guided weapon system organised by the Academy of National Defence Science. Photo: Reuters

France's foreign minister warned today that North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe "within months".

Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang "extremely serious" and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiralling tensions.

"We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow," Le Drian told RTL radio.

"In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon, the situation will be explosive."

Early on Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to say that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced Pyongyang's latest missile test, unanimously demanding a halt to its programme.

Le Drian called on Pyongyang to "return to the path of negotiations" in a bid to ease tensions.

A joint mediation effort put forward by China and Russia would involve a mutual pause in both missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.

Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

In July, it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.


In spirit of parity, we require #Russia to close its consulate in SF, chancery annex in DC, and consular annex in NYC by Sep. 2. pic.twitter.com/8YeFncDO4l

 Department of State (@StateDept) August 31, 2017

US ordered Russia on Thursday to close its consulate in San Francisco and cut down its presence in New York and Washington DC. The move is seen as a retaliation by the Trump administration against the expulsion of US diplomats by Russia.

The State Department in its tweet claimed that the decision was an act to achieve parity. In spirit of parity, we require #Russia to close its consulate in SF, chancery annex in DC, and consular annex in NYC by Sep. 2, the tweet said. The USA Today reported that in addition to the consulate, Russia will now have to shut the official residence in San Francisco.

As per multiple media reports, the decision came directly from the President. We want to halt the downward spiral and we want to move toward better relations. But were also going to make sure that we make decisions that are best for our country, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The decision was conveyed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who according to Russian foreign ministry expressed regret over the decision.

The relation between Russia and US started to deplete after the US put sanctions on the former in response to its involvement in Ukraine and Syrian wars along with its alleged role in the Presidential elections.

Following continued tensions, the Putin government in Russia had ordered immediate eviction of 755 US diplomats in July.
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
I have a guy who needs convincing. Him: No, no way, nope. Me: Oh, come on. Well get up at 4 a.m., sunrise already in some parts of the world. Well throw our coats over our pajamas and take a...
Letter to editor: Voting is necessary to protect democracy
Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
The following charges were served on Thursday, August 17:

 Richard Alan Lydens, 40, of 1774 Dearborn Street Ext., Lot 4, in Morganton, was charged with six counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply and one count of misdemeanor assault on a female. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a total of $6,000 in secured bonds. His trial date was set for Oct. 23.

 Jessica Leeann Moody, 28, of 101 Herron St., in Morganton, was charged with felony probation violation. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $15,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Andrew Lee Cole, 34, of 5506 Miller Bridge Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of driving while impaired, failure to heed light or siren, possession of drug paraphernalia, helmet violation, expired vehicle inspection, expired registration and driving while license revoked. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $7,500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 4.

 Amy Lynne Torres, 46, of 539 Circle Drive, in Hudson, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and safe movement violation. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $2,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Dec. 6.

 Steven Michael Parham, 41, of 3063 Hidges St., in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 5.

 Nolan Lamar Weaver, 20, of 2579 Harding Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $750 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 6.

 Kristy Leeann Rodriquez, 37, of 5440 Smokey Creek Road, in Lenoir, was charged with misdemeanor larceny by trick. She was served by a criminal summons to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 26.

 Matthew Scott Hall, 29, of 4444 Burkemont Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor assault on a female and larceny by trick. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Zachary Ryan Curtis, 29, of 3294 Music Mountain Road, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Darius Edward Connelly, 28, of Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor trespassing on railroad right away and resist, delay or obstruct a public officer. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 4.

 Christopher Guy Mulcahy, 32, of 4988 Rocky Ridge Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault on a female and one misdemeanor count each of larceny from person, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, damage to personal property and failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $4,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Aug. 30.

 Alexandra Diane Bennick, 16, of 5924 Holiday Shores Ave., in Nebo, was charged with misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury. She was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Aug. 30.

 Jessie James Shull, 28, of 4075 Spring Trade Road, in Conover, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamines. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Kevin Matthew Revis, 32, of 7304 Nolden Creek Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamines and misdemeanor possession of a schedule II controlled substance. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

The following charges were served on Friday, August 18:

 Timothy Joseph McCall, 29, of 4386 Littlejohn Church Road, in Lenoir, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 18.

 Johnathan Andrew Akers, 36, of 104 Redbud Drive, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Aug. 24.

 Tyler Edward Waycaster, 21, of 5908 Neil Road, in Morganton, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of breaking or entering into a place of worship, assault on a female, damage to personal property, first-degree trespassing, interference with emergency communication and failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a total of $15,500 in secured bonds. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Kimberly Dawn Burns, 34, of 151 Alpine St., in Rutherford College, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was issued a $2,000 secured bond and released. Her trial date was set for Sep. 19.

 Meagan Adaire Lawson, 26, of 102 N Amity St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was issued a $2,000 secured bond and released. Her trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Milka Aliuska Velasquez, 18, of 107 Wrighton St., Apt. B, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. She was released on a written promise to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 20.

 Travis Nathaniel Hylemon, 17, of 3471 Spaniel St., in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was issued a $500 secured bond and released. His trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Chelsey Ann Greer, 25, of 4528 Walkway Place, in Boomer, NC, was charged with misdemeanor failure to return rental property. She was served by a criminal summons to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 18.

 Roberto Francisco, 50, of 309 Bouchelle St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor consuming alcohol on premises having off-premises permit only. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Oct. 18.

 Elijah Cole Watts, 28, of 1529 Watermill Road, in Morganton, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor violating a domestic violence protection order, one count each of misdemeanor damage to personal property and interference with emergency communication. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Aug. 29.

 Jorian Alexander Tate, 26, of 3987 Sectionhouse Road, in Hickory, was charged with misdemeanor breaking or entering. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Aug. 28.

 Dontarious Devonn Johnson, 28, of 202 Rockyford St., in Morganton, was charged with four counts of felony armed robbery, one count each of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply and resist, delay or obstruct a public officer. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $76,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 3.

 Michael Edward Bowen Jr., 35, of 410 Church St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired. He was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Oct. 3.

 Frank Christopher Franklin, 31, of 301 Lovelady Road, Apt. A, in Rutherford College, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 11.

The following charges were served on Saturday, August 19:

 Erica Dawn Farley, 27, of 1815 Conley Road, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of trafficking drugs by possession and maintaining a dwelling, vehicle or place for drugs or controlled substances, one misdemeanor count each of possession of a schedule II, III IV controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while impaired, safe movement violation and child abuse. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $27,000 secured bond.

 Barbara Kay Biles, 42, of 120 Clanton Drive, in Taylorsville, was charged with one felony count each of larceny of a firearm and larceny by trick. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $20,000 secured bond.

 Ashley Michelle Whisnant, 26, of 5215 Hazel St., in Valdese, was charged with three counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $2,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Timothy Wayne Greer Jr., 28, of 226 Wilson St NW, in Lenoir, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor larceny of property and one count of misdemeanor fraud of a financial transaction card. He was released on a written promise to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 22.

 Kimberly Breanna-Nicole Moore, 24, of 300 Michaels St., H, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. Her trial date was set for Sep. 11.

The following charges were served on Sunday, August 20:

 Tamara Latrice Fleming, 32, of 531 Conley Road, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a stolen vehicle. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Terrel Jamaul Avery, 21, of 103 Branch St., in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a stolen vehicle. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 James Anthony McGimpsey, 50, of 4368 Bost Johnson Ave., in Valdese, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of driving while impaired, driving while license revoked for DWI and failure to equip required lighting of a vehicle. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Nov. 15.

 Bryan Alan Brown, 38, of 2643 Farmland Acres Road, in Valdese, was charged with misdemeanor hit and run causing property damage. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Travis Michael Coble, 27, of 200 Main Ave. W, in Hildebran, was charged with felony probation violation. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Adrian Lamar Wiggins, 30, of 104 Starmount Circle, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Nov. 15.

 Kenneth Howard Saunders, 64, of 2464 US 64, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and safe movement violation. He was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Oct. 23.

 Christopher Scott Buchanan, 41, of 451 Harmony Grove Road, in Nebo, was charged with one count each of felony larceny by changing price tag, misdemeanor larceny of property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Timothy Paul Bumgarner, 35, of 4376 NC Highway 18 S, in Morganton, was charged with one count each of felony possession of methamphetamines, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and driving while license revoked. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

The following charges were served on Monday, August 21:

 Stephen L Reeves, 40, of 4091 Caparosa Circle SW, in Melbourne, FL, was charged with three counts of felony probation violation, one count each of felony manufacturing a schedule II controlled substance and conspiracy. He was served at the Burke-Catawba jail where he was being held on previous charges. He was issued an additional $20,000 secured bond.

 Christopher Kyle Karges, 26, of 6901 Pencade Lane, in Charlotte, was charged with one felony count each of possession of methamphetamines, possession of a schedule I controlled substance, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance and one misdemeanor count each of simple possession of a schedule VI controlled substance, failure to appear or comply and two counts of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $51,500 secured bond.

 Dennis James Danner Jr., 36, of 2935 US Highway 70 E, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of breaking or entering, larceny after breaking or entering and possession of stolen goods. He was issued a $30,000 unsecured bond and released.

 Mary Ann Lane, 36, of 2981 Clark Loop, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $15,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Robert Andrew Yancey, 42, of 130 Shuffler Road, in Morganton, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault on a female and one count of misdemeanor communicating threats. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $7,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 20.

 Kevin Blaine Jenkins, 16, of 7184 Rhodhiss Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with two counts each of felony breaking or entering into a place of worship, larceny by trick and possession of stolen goods and one count of felony first or second-degree burglary. He was served at the Burke-Catawba jail where he was being held on previous charges. He was issued an additional $270,000 secured bond for these charges.

 Dylan Thomas Deaton, 17, of 1988 Colridge Court, in Connelly Springs, was charged with two counts of felony breaking or entering into trailers, boats, aircrafts or watercrafts, one felony count each of first or second-degree burglary, larceny by trick and possession of stolen goods, two counts each of misdemeanor larceny by trick and possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $95,000 secured bond.

 Herbert Kent Harbison, 63, of 1765 Forney St., in Morganton, was charged with one count each of felony possession of crack cocaine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and assault inflicting serious injury or with a deadly weapon. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a total of $7,000 in secured bonds.

 Karen Renee Harris, 34, of 1414 N Green St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and driving while license revoked. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Oct. 2.

The following charges were served on Tuesday, August 22:

 James Dewey Pennington, 26, of 425 9th St. SW, in Hickory, was charged with felony breaking or entering into a motor vehicle and misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 18.

 Ricky Alan Kincaid, 38, of 2495 Hartland Trail, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of larceny by trick and possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Michelle Lynn Hughes, 40, of 2495 Hartland Trail, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of larceny by trick and possession of stolen goods. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Stephen Tyler Bolick, 22, of 2126 F R Coffey Road, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of breaking or entering, larceny after breaking or entering and possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail.

 Duane Byrd, 37, of 18241 Ashton St., in Detroit, MI, was charged with felony trafficking heroin. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $250,000 secured bond.

 Rory Calvin Hinson, 51, of 1500 Powerline Ave., in Newton, was charged with two felony counts of habitual larceny. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Gregory James Carson II, 25, of Charlotte, was charged with misdemeanor damage to real property. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Aug. 28.

 Barry Talmage Hildebran, 46, of 2176 5th St. NE, in Hickory, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Dylan Tyler-Rick Hightower, 20, of 242 21st St SW, in Hickory, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 29.

 Jamie Michael Deal, 41, of 4590 Luke Lane, in Lenoir, was charged with felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond.

 Melissa Dawn Weaver, 38, of 2579 Harding Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Casey Aaron Smith, 35, of 842 Vine Arden Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was issued a $500 secured bond and released. His trial date was set for Sep. 19.

 Salina Renee Widner, 33, of 2196 Glen Haven Drive, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond.

 Wesley Wilson Whisenant, 20, of 106 Normandy Drive, B, in Morganton, was charged with one felony count each of breaking or entering into a place of worship, larceny after breaking or entering and possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Debra Kay Eastham, 50, of 6612 Cara Drive, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor probation violation. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Cortez Trashawn Darnell, 23, of 1651 Silver St., in Morganton, was charged with felony fugitive from justice. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail.

 Johnny Wilburn Ramsey, 46, of 405 Old NC 18, 108, in Morganton, was charged with felony speeding to elude arrest. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Michael James Chapman, 47, of 5334 Hayes Waters Road, in Morganton, was charged with felony failure to register or falsification of information as a sex offender. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Jacqueline Christine Hicks, 54, of 500 Park Ave., A, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Leigh Ann S Hammons, 36, of 3577 Cinderella St., in Claremont, was charged with felony probation violation and misdemeanor failure to register as a sex offender or falsification of information. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $20,000 secured bond.

 Thomas Lee Cash, 35, of 2821 Dalton Drive, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor defrauding drug and alcohol screening. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 18.

 Joshua Phillip Steffey, 35, of 720 W Union St., C, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while license revoked. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 4.

 John Timothy Mullis, 48, of 210 Carbondale Lane, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault. He was released on a written promise to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 11.

 Amber Dawn Harris, 30, of 5469 Wallace Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $535 cash bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 11.

 Kenneth Ray Walker, 46, of 107 Whitley Road, in Morganton, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of simple possession of marijuana, possession of a schedule III controlled substance, carrying a concealed weapon and resist, delay or obstruct a public officer. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 2.

The following charges were served on Wednesday, August 23:

 Edward June Hall, 46, of 118 Carver Drive, in Danville, VA, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and crossing center. He was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Sep. 13.

 George Wesley Brittain, 36, of 4935 Sugar Loaf Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with one felony count each of possession of a schedule I controlled substance and possession of a schedule II controlled substance, one misdemeanor count each of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a schedule VI controlled substance and possession of a schedule II, II, IV controlled substance. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $25,000 secured bond.

 Paul William Kennell II, 35, of 3030 Village Court, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Thomas Craig Harden, 34, of 2966 Reep Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Sarah Marie Worth, 25, of 2120 Jamestown Road, Lot 4, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of stolen goods. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Jesse Joe Potter, 27, of 2966 Reep Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of stolen goods. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Joshua Wayne Radford, 21, of 6168 George Hildebran Drive, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor child abuse. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

 Jesse Joe Potter, 27, of 2966 Reep Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor probation violation. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $100,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Bethany Patrice Link, 29, of 3826 Windhaven Drive, F, in Conover, was charged with misdemeanor concealment of merchandise. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 19.

 Jeffrey Leonard Shuford, 45, of 816 E Lincoln St., in Lincolnton, was charged with felony obtaining property by false pretense. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Ronald Eugene Robinson, 47, of 2506 Pax Hill Road, in Morganton, was charged with one count each of misdemeanor assault on a female and simple assault. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $2,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 11.

The following charges were served on Thursday, August 24:

 Crystal Gail Hanes, 35, of 126 Walker Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $350 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Ryan Hope Hughes, 35, of 2559 Edwards St., in Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond.

 Dekota Ryan Pettry, 17, of 2624 Connelly Church St., in Connelly Springs, was charged with one felony count each of breaking or entering, larceny of a firearm and larceny after breaking or entering. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a total of $15,000 in secured bonds.

 Roger Thomas Hamby, 30, of 428 Barkley Lane, in Taylorsville, was charged with misdemeanor larceny of property. He was cited and released.

 Autumn Raine Buchanan, 34, of 4988 Mountain View Lane, in Morganton, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor probation violation. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 18.

 Gary Marvin Rudisill II, 27, of 7110 Pyramid Road, in Hickory, was charged with misdemeanor failure to work after paid. He was released on a written promise to appear for a trial date set for Oct. 4.

 Jesse Joe Potter, 27, of 2966 Reep Road, in Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of a phone or communication device by an inmate. He was served at the Burke-Catawba jail where he was being held on previous charges. He was issued an additional $25,000 secured bond.

 Tina Renee Radford, 41, of 12106 Hillcrest Lane, in Huntersville, was charged with misdemeanor harassing phone calls. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. Her trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Michael Wayne Hennessee, 39, of 1519 Royce St., in Morganton, was charged with felony failure to appear. He was issued a $30,000 secured bond and released. His trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Dale Jason West, 53, of Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor second-degree trespassing. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Sep. 5.

 Robert Jefferson Hollar, 29, of 8602 Sparrow Trail, in Connelly Springs, was charged with one count each of felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $20,000 secured bond.

 Brian Allen Shuffler, 33, of 17 Laurel St., in Granite Falls, was charged with misdemeanor larceny of property. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $2,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 3.

 Chanda Rae Wortman, 29, of 6059 Tallent Hollar, in Morganton, was charged with one count each of felony possession methamphetamines, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $6,000 secured bond.

 Samantha Rae Buchanan Lowery, 44, of 135 Middle St., in Old Fort, was charged with felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $15,000 secured bond.

The following charges were served on Friday, August 25:

 Steven Dewayne Icard Jr., 40, of 304 Highway 70, B, in Hildebran, was charged with misdemeanor non-support. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $13,911 cash secured bond.

 Jason Shea Ali, 40, of 230 Sequoyah Circle, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Christopher Hogan Morris, 46, of 5776 Us 64, in Morganton, was charged with two counts of felony possession of a weapon by felon, one felony count of possession of methamphetamines with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver and one count of misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $75,000 secured bond.

 Daniel Ryan Little, 22, of 7627 South Mountain Institute Road, B, in Nebo, was charged with misdemeanor assault on a female and damage to personal property. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Sep. 12.

 Victor Devon Adams, 29, of 1120 Refour Ave. SE, B14, in Valdese, was charged with three counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 7.

 Jason Shea Ali, 40, of 230 Sequoyah Circle, in Morganton, was charged with felony maintaining a dwelling, vehicle or place for drugs or controlled substances. He was served at the Burke-Catawba jail where he was being held on previous charges. He was issued an additional $5,000 secured bond.

 Jorge Dewayne Avery, 36, of 241-9 16th Ave. NE, in Hickory, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Sep. 25.

 Sara Elizabeth McLaughlin, 31, of 4019 Smawley Street, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was issued a $350 cash bond and released.

 Burl Edwin Melton, 56, of 4029 Fish Hatchery Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor assault by pointing a gun. He was released on a written promise to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 25.

 Randy Lee Poteet, 33, of 2276 Enola Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor simple possession of marijuana. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Sep. 12.

 Antione Darnell Tillery, 25, of 239 Chattaroy Drive, in Charlotte, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $1,000 secured bond.

 Jeremy Thad Norman, 36, of 8995 Cooksville Road, in Vale, was charged with three counts of misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $36,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Tony Junior Benfield, 56, of 5283 Hayes Waters Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor simple possession of marijuana. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Cari Rene McFall, 27, of 5741 Farris Loop, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamines and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond.

 Kenneth Darren Seegars, 48, of 2251 Hemlock Trail, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Sep. 12.

 Mark Allen S Huber SR., 57, of 2203 N Shipp Ave., in Newton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and failure to obey traffic officer. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail. His trial date was set for Dec. 6.

The following charges were served on Saturday, August 26:

 Justin Wade Braswell, 24, of 265 Forest Heights Drive, in Marion, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired and reckless driving to endanger. He was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 David Paul Haarala, 56, of 3023 Village Court, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired. He was granted a custody release and a trial date was set for Oct. 30.

 Michael Scott Guy, 45, of 104 Bickett St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was issued a $20,000 secured bond and released. His trial date was set for Sep. 18.

 Gregory Scott Moore, 50, of 125 Frank Allman Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $15,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Oct. 2.

 Linda Sue Barrier, 60, of 111 Poteat Drive, in Morganton, was charged with felony larceny by employees. She was released on a written promise to appear.

 Bobby Dee Ledford Jr., 40, of 2446 Hartland Trail, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor second-degree trespassing. He was served by a criminal summons to appear for a trial date set for Sep. 20.

 Ricardo Mardoqeo A Tzul, 28, of 113 Vine St., in Morganton, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of driving while impaired, unsealed liquor in a vehicle, careless and reckless driving and driving while license revoked. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $5,000 secured bond. His trial date was set for Dec. 6.

 Joshua Phillip Steffey, 35, of 720 W Union St., C, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor driving while license revoked. He was issued a $2,000 secured bond and released. His trial date was set for Sep 13.

 Taylor Lynn Woolridge, 22, of 141 Stonebridge Drive, Apt. G, in Morganton, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of speeding, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was cited and released. Her trial date was set for Oct. 2.
ATLANTA (AP)  The operator of a major gasoline pipeline estimates it can resume carrying fuel in the Houston area by Sunday, potentially avoiding a lengthy shutdown that would intensify gasoline shortages.

The Colonial Pipeline provides nearly 40 percent of the South's gasoline. It runs underground and is now under water in many parts of Texas, where inspections are needed before it can be fully operational again, Colonial spokesman Steve Baker said Thursday.

The Georgia-based company remains able to operate its pipeline from Louisiana to states east and northeast of there, though deliveries will be "intermittent," the company said.

Huge challenges remain for the nation's system of getting gasoline to the pumps of service stations, since Hurricane Harvey forced the shutdown of at least eight Texas refineries, according to AAA.

Pump prices have surged  the average for a gallon of regular gasoline rose from about $2.35 a week ago to $2.45 now, AAA reported. The price spike is more dramatic in some states such as Georgia, where the average cost per gallon of regular gas has climbed from $2.22 a week ago to $2.39 now.

Nearly one-third of the nation's refining capacity is along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi, Texas, to the Lake Charles, Louisiana area, and about one-quarter of the Gulf Coast's oil refining capacity was taken offline, according to the Oil Price Information Service.

The supply crunch is already being felt in Dallas-Fort Worth, where QuikTrip, one of the nation's largest convenience store chains, is temporarily halting gasoline sales at about half of its 135 stores in the area.

The company is instead directing gasoline deliveries to designated stores across all parts of the metro area, QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said. And while only half the Dallas-Forth Worth area stores will have gasoline, all will remain open, he said.

"Supply is way, way off," Thornbrugh said Thursday.

The Oklahoma-based company diverted gasoline deliveries in a similar way last year in metro Atlanta, where it has about 133 stores, after the Alabama pipeline spill.

The Colonial Pipeline, a crucial artery in the nation's fuel supply network, runs from the Houston area to New York harbor and includes more than 5,500 miles of pipeline, most of it underground. It closed in September 2016 after a leak and gas spill in Alabama, leading to days of empty gas station pumps and higher prices in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Dominic Fisher describes himself as an "old-fashioned" value investor. He likens himself to the Warren Buffett of yore, who stuck to stocks which looked underappreciated by the market, rather than the Buffett of today who will seemingly pay any price as long as a company's cashflows are neverending.

The strategy has paid off. Fisher's Thistledown Income fund returned 25% last year and is up 6.4% year to date. The fund has a five-star performance rating.

But Fisher admits that the trouble with this pure value approach is that you will have periods of underperformance, and indeed times when you struggle to find any potential investments which fit the philosophy. This is one of those latter times.

"It is not so much about identifying great businesses - there are plenty of those around. Buffett 2.0 likes companies with strong competitive advantages, or moats, companies which are cash generative. With hindsight you can tell these are the Googles, the Walmarts, the Amazons," he said. "The problem is that high quality is expensive and if you buy at that price you're giving yourself a big hurdle as an investor."

Fisher explains that stocks which fall into the cheapest 10% of the market on average outperform those most expensive stocks at a rate of 5% extra share price growth a year. "I would rather fish in that pool of stocks," he adds.

Avoid the US Stock Market

It is not just the cheaper stocks which outperform the more expensive ones - the cheaper stock markets on average outperform those which are overvalued. Fisher calls the US stock market "extremely expensive" at the moment, and expects volatility to pick up from its current low levels soon.

"The cheapest five stock markets will outperform the five most expensive ones by 11% a year according to historical data," he said. "Large cap US stocks are at very high valuations and I am finding hard to find any value in that market."

Prepare for a Market Downturn

The feeling of unease is not a new one. While he put some money to work in the sell-off following the Brexit vote, Fisher has begun to close some of those positions, as even those stocks which were priced at 20% down after the referendum are now back to all-time-highs. Fisher has not bought any UK stocks since that post-Brexit dip.

Much like Sebastian Lyon at Troy, Fisher first warned about toppy markets three years ago, and admits taking a cautious stance back then has cost him some gains. He says that that market timing is near impossible to call, but he is now positioned for a severe correction.

"I don't know whether the correction will happen in six months, one year or three years," he said. "But I have 42% of the portfolio in short-dated bonds and cash, it is very liquid. Markets are incredibly expensive... the UK and Europe are cheaper compared to the US, but if there is a major sell-off in the US it will be amplified by other markets. Nowhere is safe."

Fisher predicts the S&P 500 could fall as much as 60%, he says: "I don't really want to be right, but the market has been overvalued for four years. It is only a matter of time".

Japan is one of the few markets he is finding compelling investments in, in part because it is less correlated with other global markets.
Nearly three dozen associations have banded together to fight for tax fairness for Canadian small businesses, including mortgage brokers.A total of 35 Canadian organizations  including the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association and Independent Financial Brokers of Canada  have formed the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness which aims to be a unified voice opposing the Canadian governments tax proposals that would change the way small businesses are taxed in Canada.Mortgage brokers are small business owners, who employ others  however, the proposed new tax measures will force many to terminate those employees or shut down business. The terminated employees can always collect employment insurance, but not the self-employed broker, left with business debts and no safety nets.  Samantha Gale , Executive Director, Canadian MortgageBrokers AssociationIf implemented, the proposed tax tweak will restrict small business owners from sharing income with family; will make small businesses more vulnerable in the event of a downturn; will change capital gains rules that will make it more difficult to transfer business as a succession plan, among others.It will also likely deter many Canadians from establishing additional small businesses.The 35 members of the coalition of presented a letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau asking him to shelf the plan and instead meet with members of the business community to address the best way forward.Small- and medium-sized businesses - many of which are also family-owned - make up the vast majority of home building and renovation companies. These entrepreneurs take significant financial risks to start their businesses and make them grow, Kevin Lee, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Home Builders Association, said. The full impact of the proposed tax changes for private corporations will mean fewer small businesses will survive in our industry, fewer jobs will get created, and home prices will go up due to increased taxes and less competition. This is going to hurt the economy and our communities.
An internal review has found that Wells Fargos fake-accounts problem may be even worse than originally estimated.The nations largest mortgage lender has been rocked by scandal since late last year, when it was revealed that Wells Fargo employees had opened millions of customer accounts without those customers knowledge or approval. Estimates put the number of fake accounts at about 2.1 million.But now it appears that number may have been a gross underestimate. The bank said Thursday that a review has found a total of 3.5 million potentially fraudulent bank accounts, according to a New York Times report. Thats 1.4 million more than previously estimated.The review also raised yet another issue for the banking giant: unauthorized customer enrollments in its online bill-payment service. The Times reported that Wells Fargo had found more than half a million cases in which customers may have been signed up for the service without their knowledge or consent. The bank will refund $910,000 in fees and charges to affected customers.We are working hard to ensure this never happens again and to build a better bank for the future, Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan said in a statement. We apologize to everyone who was harmed.The review, which looked as far back as 2009, focused on Wells Fargos retail banking business, the Times reported. It did not include other allegations of wrongdoing, such as the banks alleged alteration of borrowers mortgage terms and charging of fees to extend mortgage applications it delayed.
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The Homeland Security Investigations Tampa team jumped into action when a family near Beaumont, Texas needed help.

Jason Pitts, a technical enforcement officer out of San Antonio, reached out to several people trying to find hlep for his parents, who live outside of Beaumont. His call for help reached SAC Tampa Group Supervisor Ritchie Flores, who is currently deployed as part of a 13 member RRT out of central and northern Florida.

Pitts found out a local levee had failed and water was rising, so the Tampa RRT team moved quickly to the area by boat and rescued Pitt's parents and their neighbors, including two small children.

I wont ever be able to thank them enough for their selfless actions, which resulted in saving numerous families, said Pitts in an email to SAC Spero. Without them, my parents would not have been able to get out. They deserve every ounce of praise that can be bestowed upon them."

The Tampa RRT also helped evacuate the U.S. Customs and Border Protection port director to safety after the Fannett Fire Department rescued him from his flooded home.

This rapid response of 13 personnel, from across central and northern Florida, reflects their mission in that they are operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are always prepared to deploy to an affected area within 12 to 24 hours.

This is exactly why we have this team in place, said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero. A good friend told me that being part of this agency means that you have family to look out for you all over the world.
A local boater is headed back to Florida after spending a day and a half rescuing people flooded out by Hurricane Harvey.

Ormond Beach boater Richard Littlejohn went to Port Arthur, Texas

Littlejohn and a friend helped rescue at least a dozen people

Richard Littlejohn hauled his boat to Port Arthur, Texas Tuesday afternoon. He posted photos to his Facebook page that he snapped along the way, showing the devastation.

Littlejohn and a buddy rescued about a dozen people while taking others back into their flooded homes so they could salvage some of the belongings. He says they worked together with other boaters to try to make a difference.

"There could be anywhere from 20 to 25 boats that are working a neighborhood -- so we all kind of ban together and we'll grab their luggage while we get their pets and another guy gets their family. A lot of people are leaving with basically nothing out of their houses -- we're telling them bring whatever you can -- bring food, blankets, pillows."

Before leaving for the trip, Littlejohn stopped to have his trailer repaired and when he explained where he was headed and what hed be doing, Robby Gill asked if he could come along to help too.

They feel OK about coming home now because there's so many boaters helping out, that they don't feel like they're leaving anyone in immediate danger.
Steve Patti was a mechanic in the Civil Air Patrol during WWII. He was stationed at Brownsville where he operated with CAP for about three months before moving 15 miles northeast to San Benito.

When asked about debris that washed ashore the Texas coast, Patti provided more details.

Wreckage from a ship that washed ashore, you know, or life preserver or something that was floatable or oil slicks or something, debris that would be out of the ordinary  something you wouldnt expect to find on the beach. Something that would indicate a ship had been sunk is what this type of debris would indicate.

The 1942 motion picture, Across the Pacific, with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet told the fictitious story of a hidden Japanese airfield in Panama. In order to precipitate hostilities with the United States, the Japanese planned to launch an aircraft carrying a torpedo targeting one of the giant locks in the Panama Canal Zone. Once the lock was destroyed, then an enormous flood would occur, rendering the Canal Zone useless and thus giving the Japanese a major advantage upon entering a war with the U.S.

This motion picture served to illustrate the fears that existed that the Japanese (or Germans) had secret air bases in Latin America and would use these from which to launch bombing and poison gas attacks against the U.S.

Many hundreds of thousands of Germans had migrated to South America and Mexico in the years leading up to World War II, leaving many in the United States fearful that they were preparing an assault against the United States from Latin America. About 200,000 Japanese lived in a large community in the northern part of South America, too. One of the primary jobs of the Civil Air Patrol was to monitor the U.S. border and coastline to help prevent any such air attack.

We would fly as far north as Corpus Christi. We stopped there; get a break and rest for a while; go to the bathroom; get back in and fly back down to either San Benito or Brownsville.

The idea of the patrols, we never sent them out on a regular timing, with a regular time and we would send them out to particular areas. When two airplanes went out on submarine patrol, one would fly one grid area and the other airplane would fly another grid area.

They were always in radio communication; they were close enough that there was radio communication between the two aircraft. We were anywhere 5 to 20 miles, or so, out at sea; and there were times you couldnt tell the horizon because the cloud and the sky or ocean all looked the same. Youd be flying practically on instruments and if there were white caps, the only way you could tell, you know, get your orientation.

Our radios  when we flew beach patrol  if the antennae came out of the bottom of the aircraft with the lead, we flew low enough [that] if we forgot to bring in the antennae  reel it in, on a reel that was on the floor board of the aircraft  if you didnt reel it in, youd lose your lead sinker, thats how low we were flying on the beach.

That happened periodically. Lead was at a premium. We used old batteries and melt the lead down to make weights to get the antennae out.

When asked if he ever saw anything suspicious during any of his beach patrols, Patti replied, I didnt find anything on any of my patrols that I remember.

There wasnt any incidents except for that one on the border, the Mexican border, that guy crossing the river and a couple of cars on the Mexican side that I remember. The rest of the times were uneventful.

Patti said that he flew probably about three or four missions as an observer while stationed at Brownsville.

He explained that to practice bombing submarines, some of the men built a wooden submarine outline located in an isolated beach area.

A bunch of guys got together and got some old lumber and made a silhouette of a submarine on the beach there in an isolated area out there near Port Isabel.

We had these practice bombs that had a 5-lb charge of black powder in the back end and had a shotgun shell that ignited. On coming back from a patrol or just to go out and practice, they would load a couple of those 100-lb bombs filled with sand and they would make practice runs on the submarine and see how close they could come to the submarine at a 200- or 300-foot level.

I never did any of that, but I remember seeing the submarine there in the sand that somebody had made and painted it black because the beach had kind of white sand, which stood out really well.

Out of Brownsville, Patti only flew as an observer on submarine patrol. While at San Benito, however, he was an observer both on submarine patrol and beach patrol missions.

For photographs, Patti had an Argus C-3 camera that had either a 32mm or 35mm lens size that was a cartridge load type.

Getting film developed for civilian use was hard to do.

Because of the war and shortage of film, the photography shop only developed his negatives as 1 by 1 photographs.

He said that he never patrolled any of the beaches on foot or in a vehicle like a shore patrolman or military policeman might do while he was stationed at any of these bases.

More about the history of Finney Field and the CAP will be discussed in the next article.

Readers are asked to visit the Breedlove-CPTP website at www.breedlove-cptp.com for more details about the glider program of WWII.

Anyone with information about the Plainview Pre-Glider School at Finney Field should contact John McCullough at 806-793-4448 or email johnmc@breedlove-cptp.org.
With a week of classes in the books, Wayland Baptist University officially rang in the Fall 2017 semester at Convocation Chapel on Wednesday morning. Faculty and staff in full regalia welcomed students, recognizing those who have returned and those who are new to the school. Vice Preside of Enrollment Management Dr. Claude Lusk also took a moment to recognize students from the areas directly affected by Hurricane Harvey to let them know Wayland employees were praying for them and will support them in any way possible.

Wayland President Dr. Bobby Hall then addressed the student body, challenging them to #BeTheSolution in difficult times. Hall painted the picture of Aug. 17 as Wayland faculty and staff gathered in anticipation of students returning. The joy and excitement of a new year spreading across campus. Yet on that same day in Spain, two acts of terrorism as a van plowed through a heavily pedestrian area of Barcelona and another attack was carried out in another part of the country, killed 14 and injured 126.

Hall emphasized that we are living in a time where too many people seems to have abandoned civility in the attempt to underscore personal difference, turning to violence instead of learning to cope with the difficulties of life.

Against that reality, our university believes that we as educators and you as students at a Christian university are called upon to develop and deploy the skills necessary to bring solutions to the difficult world in which we live, Hall said. As the next generation of leaders, you need to take seriously this responsibility. Our future depends on it. Its that simple.

Hall explained that Wayland is taking an increased interest in helping students learn to BeTheSolution by emphasizing the role education can play. He pointed to three areas that have been on his mind throughout the summer in preparation for the school year: Faith, access and excellence.

He challenged students to embrace these three areas within their education, saying faith is who we are.

Our faith is in Jesus Christ. Its the cornerstone of our mission. Its the foundation of our vision, and its the source of our joy in serving you as students, Hall said, quoting 2 Peter 1:5-7 as the model for being the solution. It says that we should make every effort to add to our faith goodness; and to add to goodness knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

Access, Hall said, is what we do. As a university Wayland seeks to support students and to help them be successful in their pursuits, granting access to a quality education.

Hall then pointed to excellence as how we do it, striving for excellence in every aspect of personal and professional lives. Excellent service, excellent program and excellent outcomes is what students should expect at Wayland.

Collective excellence begins with individual commitment, Hall said. Every person in this room can make a difference if we will make that commitment.

In closing Hall encouraged student to make the most of their time in college and to prepare for what they will face.

Know this, he said, the world you move into when you leave here is indeed a difficult and challenging one. It will require you to stretch and grow in ways that you cant imagine. I challenge you to fully engage in the #BeTheSolution discussion that we will have throughout the year, and consider how faith, access and excellence can lead you to academic, societal and career success with a faith-informed world view. Your future, our future, the future of humankind depends on you. You need to take it seriously.
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One of the worst wildfire seasons in recent California history was sending smoke into nearly every corner of the state Friday, turning skies into a soupy, gray haze and triggering unhealthy-air warnings, even in Bay Area cities that usually benefit from a protective ocean breeze.

Dozens of fires burning from San Diego County to the Oregon border, many destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee, were fanned by record and near-record temperatures that are expected to continue through the weekend.

Fire officials feared that continued heat in the forecast combined with the throngs of people expected to take to the forests and foothills for fun over the Labor Day holiday would only add to the fire danger.

We want people to be extremely careful this weekend  with campfires, with truck chains, said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. September and October are historically the two months when we see the largest fires and most devastating fires. Thats what were going into now.

On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Butte County, where a destructive fire east of Lake Oroville destroyed 20 homes and threatened 500 more. More than 1,000 people were under evacuation orders, including residents of the small community of Feather Falls, named after the popular 410-foot waterfall nearby.

The 3,715-acre Ponderosa Fire began Tuesday when an illegal campfire escaped its pit, according to Cal Fire officials. State investigators have since arrested a 29-year-old Oroville man who they say was responsible. The fire was reported to be 40 percent contained Friday night.

Much of the smoke spilling into the Bay Area, officials said, was coming from the destructive Helena Fire in Trinity County, about 250 miles north of San Francisco. Brown declared a state of emergency there a day earlier.

The 5,170-acre blaze had demolished 130 structures, either homes or outbuildings, near the community of Junction City. The fire, which ignited Wednesday, continued to burn out of control in the Trinity Alps, with firefighters reporting no containment late Friday.

Farther south, several fires ravaged the forests in and around Yosemite National Park. The Railroad Fire, which had scorched 4,360 acres north of the community of Oakhurst along Highway 41 just outside the park, prompted the closure of Yosemites southern entrance. Park officials were advising visitors to enter on Highway 140 or Highway 120.

Fires have also closed Glacier Point Road within the park and several of the trails in the Wawona area.

So far this year, wildfires have charred just over 500,000 acres statewide, about 30,000 more acres than had burned at this time last year and well above average for the period. State officials chalk up the busy season to the bumper crop of vegetation that emerged after the wet winter.

Were well above all the stats at the moment, McLean said, and theres just no relief in sight.

Large wildfires were also burning in Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the run-up to the holiday weekend, all contributing to the smoke that hung over much of the West.

In the Bay Area, air regulators advised children and the elderly with respiratory problems to stay indoors because of particulate matter spawned by the fires  on top of the record heat and smog.

We have a double whammy here, said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.

com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
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Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Friday told the Express-News the statewide gas panic was short term, as the state moved to reverse flow of pipelines stretching from Gulf Coast refineries, barge in fuel, and shut down pumps spewing gas contaminated by the storm.

We have plenty of fuel, he said. We have a pipeline that goes from our refineries up to Oklahoma and weve reversed that pipeline. Now we have fuel coming back into Texas instead of leaving.

The TDA regulates all fuel pumps in Texas to monitor fuel quality and prevent consumers from being shortchanged. Miller often jokes that his phone number is on every fuel pump.

He said a first barge load of fuel was being unloaded Friday at one of the ports, and two more were coming Saturday.

Theyll be plenty of fuel, weve just got to get it back out and get it distributed, he said. I think this is going to be short-lived, 48 to 72 hours tops.

He added that the federal government lifted restrictions to allow fuel from 23 or 24 states to more easily reach Texas.

Weve got plenty of fuel just if you see one of those big tankers coming down the road, well, scoot over and let it by, he said.

With fuel on its way, the pressing problem for the agency was going to be the quality of the fuel. About 40 complaints were lodged as panic of a shortage spread Thursday night, and by midday Friday the TDA had gotten at least 100 more.

We are constantly getting complaints on the fuel quality, water in the fuel, debris in the field, he said. Any time you backwash a pipeline like that youre going to have some sediment and different things come loose in the fuel. Any time you have 4 to 5 foot of water sitting on the underground storage tanks for four or five days youre going to get some condensation and water back in the fuel.

Miller said hed also given refineries a temporary waiver on some of the Environmental Protection Agency requirements to allow the refineries to more quickly get gasoline to market.

I gave them an exemption for a couple of weeks so we can get that fuel back online, he said.

The states farmers and ranchers were among those struggling to do their jobs amid limited supplies.

Gene Richardson, director of commodity and regulatory activities, for the Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau, said fuel supply issues were already stalling farmers just starting to take their giant combines and cotton pickers out to the fields.

We have had a producer just north of here who yesterday said that he got his last 50 gallons of diesel, Richardson said of an Ellis County cotton, grain sorghum and corn farmer. He was told that he would not get any more diesel till next week. Well you know, if you got a tractor using 10 gallons an hour, 50 gallons doesnt go very far. So, if hes running multiple vehicles and then has trucks to haul stuff out of the fields and stuff its a problem.

A far West Texas man who distributed fuel out to large farms and ranches posted on social media that hed been told not to expect another load of gas until next week.

His fuel comes out of El Paso, Richardson said. All the trucks have been diverted to the affected area from the hurricane.

Its a distribution problem, its not a lack (of gas), Richardson said. I think its just because all the trucks have been rerouted, and itll get worked out shortly.

Our governor has taken off all the rules about interstate transportation. That kind of clues you in theyre letting go of all the stops. I think well get back to normal quickly.

But its kind of a ripple effect, he said. That happened down there and its all the way across the state of Texas.

An estimated 1.2 million head of cattle, or 27 percent of the states herds, are in the 54 Texas counties declared disaster areas due to the storm.

Jeremy Fuchs, spokesman for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said Friday he had not heard of the gas panic affecting cattle raisers or ongoing animal relief efforts.

Certainly, if it continues, it could impact efforts to get supplies and assistance to cattle raisers impacted by Hurricane Harvey, just as it could the larger relief effort, Fuchs said in an email. We are hoping that it is a short-lived event.

lbrezosky@express-news.net
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A South Carolina couple has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, claiming that they suffered eye damage even though they used protective glasses sold through the online retailer.

In the lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, S.C., Thomas Corey Payne and his fiancee, Kayla Harris, say that the glasses were defective and that Amazon was negligent in allowing them to be sold. They also accuse Amazon of unfair and deceptive trade practices.

Theyre asking the court to grant the lawsuit class-action status, which could let other customers across the country join in the effort to seek as-yet unspecified damages. Theyre also asking for a jury trial.

Weve reached out to Amazon for reaction, and will add any response to this story.

The legal action comes a little more than a week after the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, and a little more than two weeks after Amazon sent out a highly publicized emailwarning customers about potentially unsafe glasses.

Eclipse glasses were in high demand before this months big event, because theyre the preferred protective measure to guard against eye injury when gazing at the partially eclipsed sun.

The problem was that some glasses were being marketed even though they didnt offer enough protection. The American Astronomical Society said some vendors were even faking the ISO labels that are supposed to certify that the glasses meet international standards, apparently in an unscrupulous effort to cash in on the eclipse demand.

In response to those concerns, Amazon emailed notices to a large number of customers in mid-August, warning them that the glasses they bought were not certified as safe to its satisfaction. Amazon told those customers not to use the glasses  and promised refunds.

Amazon said it sent the notices out of an abundance of caution.

In their lawsuit, Payne and Harris say they received no such notice about the three-pack of glasses they purchased. They say they wore the glasses they bought through Amazon to watch the eclipse from South Carolina, and began to experience pain and discomfort, headaches, watery eyes and other symptoms later that day.

Thereafter, both plaintiffs began to see dark spots in their line of vision, suffered vision impairment, including blurriness, a central blind spot, increased sensitivity, changes in perception of color, and distorted vision, the lawsuit says.

MORE FROM GEEKWIRE:

The suit calls Amazons attempt to warn customers woefully inadequate.

In addition to compensation and damages, the plaintiffs are seeking a judgment that would force Amazon to fund a medical monitoring program for anyone who becomes part of the class-action suit.

The lawsuit doesnt mention who manufactured the glasses at issue, which could be an important point for deciding liability. Typically, eclipse glasses were marketed by third-party sellers on Amazons website. Weve reached out to the couples attorney and will pass along any updates.

This story originally appeared on GeekWire.
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THIS STORY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 1, 2017

Gasoline prices rose several cents overnight amid continuing fears of shortages in Texas and other states in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey's strike on the Gulf Coast.

The national average for a gallon of regular gas rose in one day from $2.45 Thursday to $2.52 Friday, the American Automobile Association reported .

Drivers lined up in San Antonio Thursday as rumors of a Texas-wide gas shortage spread due to Hurricane Harvey shuttering more than 20 percent of the U.S. refining capacity.

RELATED: Shouting matches punctuate growing lines at San Antonio gas stations, more than 100 now without fuel

At several gas stations, tempers seemed to be getting shorter as frustrated drivers exited their cars to yell at each other. At one, a woman physically planted herself in front of a car to prevent it from cutting the line while another woman screamed at a car that had managed to sneak in.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg sought to calm the panic Thursday afternoon, reminding residents there was no widespread gasoline shortage but rather a delay in fuel production.

"San Antonio, there is no gas shortage," Nirenberg said. "As the result of delayed refinery operations caused by Hurricane Harvey, some stations have run low on gas."

RELATED: Texas gas stations start to run dry as drivers panic

He urged San Antonians to not be "misled by social media, which is causing people to panic and purchase more gas than necessary," and asked drivers to purchase gas as they normally would.

The average price of a gallon of gas had soared by at least .10 cents in eight states since Thursday: South Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas.

Gas prices rose at least .15 cents in 24 hours in several metropolitan areas including Dallas; El Paso, Texas; Athens, Georgia; and Dayton, Ohio, AAA reported Friday.

More than 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity is currently shuttered because of the storm, and gas prices are expected to spike, maybe up to 35 cents, in the coming weeks.

cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns
After violent protests rocked Charlottesville, Virginia last month, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, took to Twitter to condemn hatred and bigotry and urge President Donald Trump to speak out more forcefully.

Then pro-Russian bots got activated on social media.

Within hours, an online campaign attacking McCain  a frequent Trump critic  began circulating, amplified with the help of automated and human-coordinated networks known as bots and cyborgs linking to blogs on Traitor McCain and the hashtag #ExplainMcCain.

After the 2016 U.S. presidential race was subject to Russian cyber meddling, analysts say, the ferocity of more recent assaults is a preview of what could be coming in the 2018 elections, when Republicans will be defending their control of both chambers of Congress.

They havent stood still since 2016, said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow in information defense at the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council in Washington, which tracked the activity. People have woken up to the idea that bots equal influence and lots of people will be wanting to be influencing the midterms.

While special counsel and former FBI chief Robert Mueller keeps investigating the 2016 race, Nimmos work is among a number of initiatives cropping up at think tanks, startups, and even the Pentagon seeking to grasp how bots and influence operations are rapidly evolving. Blamed for steering political debate last year, bots used for Russian propaganda and other causes are only becoming more emboldened, researchers say.

Theyre prepping the battlefield and sowing seeds of discord and potentially laying the groundwork for what theyre going to do in 2018 or 2020, said Laura Rosenberger, senior fellow and director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.

The alliance last month unveiled Hamilton 68, an online dashboard designed to track Russian influence operations on Twitter with the hope of better highlighting sources of information.

The site culls real-time data from 600 Twitter users, analyzing trending hashtags, topics and links. The dashboards developers say the accounts they selected cover those likely controlled by Russian government influence operations. Other accounts are pro-Russia users that may be loosely connected to the government and some are people influenced by the first two groups and who are active in bolstering Russian media themes. Some are bot accounts.

Our view is that exposure is a really important element of beginning to push back on some of these efforts, said Rosenberger, who served at the National Security Council and the State Department in the Obama administration.

Short for robot, internet bots come in a couple of forms. There are automated versions in which software pumps out posts from social media accounts, often at rates that a human couldnt conceivably do. Others are dubbed cyborgs  some of their content is automatically spit out, but a person also takes over posting at times. They can also be human-run accounts that are hacked or taken over by a robot.

Not all bots are nefarious. Although researchers say pro-Russian operatives exploiting social media have made headlines lately, the use of bots is broadening as they prove they can be influential in moving narratives from niche circles and the fringes of the internet to a wider audience by spreading links to blogs and news sites, as well as popularizing memes and hashtags. That will make them a potentially potent tool for competing interests trying to influence U.S. political debate in 2018 and beyond.

Its hard to determine from where bots originate. Analysts are able to monitor the messaging that bots latch on to, such as advocating for Russian and alt-right narratives or anti-NATO stances. Nation-states or groups helping political campaigns might look to employ bots given their power to shift debates.

And while many online campaigns are clearly fake, bots are also used in more sophisticated efforts that start from a basis in truth.

A top theme users boosted the week after the Charlottesville clashes was alt-right alarmism about the left-wing anti-fascist movement, known as Antifa, according to the dashboard findings. The most-tweeted link in the Russian-linked network followed by the researchers was a petition to declare Antifa a terrorist group.

On Twitter, pro-Russian bots and cyborgs helped promote accusations that McCain allied with neo-Nazis in the past, such as during Ukraines civil unrest in 2013. At the time, the Arizona Republican, who is known for his tough stance against Russian meddling in Ukraine, met with and appeared on a stage with nationalist leader Oleh Tyahnybok, whose group has neo-Nazi roots.

McCains office didnt respond to repeated requests for comment on his appearance with Tyahnybok.

One Twitter account tracked by Nimmos lab, @TeamTrumpRussia, is what the researchers call a pro-Kremlin cyborg site. It averages a rate of more than 220 tweets a day, including memes about McCain in the week after the Charlottesville unrest, which left one person dead.

Top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly rejected accusations the country meddled in the U.S. election, a finding at odds with the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community. In January, the nations top intelligence agencies agreed that Russia interfered in the election to discredit Hillary Clinton and boost Trump, who has often appeared reluctant to embrace the findings. Trumps intelligence chiefs, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, have agreed with the conclusions.

Putin told NBC News in June that theres no proof of any involvement by Russia at the state level. But he did say that patriotically minded Russians could have been behind intrusions into Clintons campaign.

The drumbeat of news about Russias role in the election have only helped push relations with the U.S. to post-Cold War lows. Nonetheless, analysts say Russias longer-term goal is less focused on Trump than on helping disrupt or undermine U.S. democratic institutions  an effort that has been under way for decades but which now has a more technological edge.

Researchers say Twitter isnt the only domain for bots. Theyre increasingly expanding to other platforms like YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. They even operate interactive chatbots on mobile applications available on Facebook, said Nitin Agarwal, an information science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The level of sophistication among these bots is increasing and becoming more and more advanced to try to evade bot detection and suspension from Twitter and other platforms, said Agarwal, whos spent a decade studying the use of social media for influence operations. Theyre also trying to mimic human behavior so that they can gain your trust and they can influence your behaviors, he said.

Because the use of bots is still new, trying to understand how they operate has become a cutting-edge field. Its even caught the attention of the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA.

In May, the agency awarded Agarwal and Intelligent Automation Inc., a Rockville, Maryland-based technology company, a contract of up to $1.5 million over three years  if research milestones are met  to study the classification of social bots, what their intent is and how theyre applied on social media.

For researchers, Twitter is a data gold mine because users accounts are usually publicly available. Its harder to access private content on Facebook.

When asked how it was responding to growing sophistication by bots, a Twitter spokeswoman referred to a June 14 blog post by Colin Crowell, the companys vice president of public policy, government and corporate philanthropy. Crowell outlined how Twitter is curbing bots and other networks of manipulation, including growing its team and resources and working hard to detect spammy behaviors.

Twitters open and real-time nature is a powerful antidote to the spreading of all types of false information, Crowell wrote. This is important because we cannot distinguish whether every single Tweet from every person is truthful or not. We, as a company, should not be the arbiter of truth.

Since the election, Twitter and Facebook have taken steps to counter false news and kill off fake accounts. In August, Facebook said it created a software algorithm to flag stories that may be suspicious and send them to third-party fact checkers. But bots are also getting savvier at dodging detection. That poses a challenge to social media companies trying to crack down on fake accounts  and fake news.

And with bot activity accelerating as the U.S. heads into another election season in 2018, social media companies could face further risks from these networks.

A challenge for social media companies is how good their algorithms are at weeding out bot strikes, Nimmo said. Thats something that they need to be thinking of.
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A River Walk dining spot known for a waitstaff with off-the-wall antics landed in hot water during its most recent health inspection.

A city health inspector found a dead rodent in a sticky trap by the bar at Dick's Last Resort, as well as condensation dripping from an air conditioning duct into a tub of corn. The inspector also observed sour cream, pico de gallo and tartar sauce stored at too warm a temperature, according to an inspection report.

Dick's was among 12 San Antonio restaurants to land on this week's list of dirtiest restaurants.

To make the Express-News' list of dirtiest restaurants, an establishment must earn a score of 89 or below  or anything less than an "A"  during a random city health inspection.

LAST WEEK'S RESTAURANT VIOLATIONS: San Antonio restaurant inspections: Aug. 25, 2017

Now Playing: Chefs Cook Ramen With Speedy Time Video: JW Player

This week's dirtiest restaurant earned a score of 69, according to reports. Mi Jalisco Mexican Restaurant on Pinn Road received violations after an inspector saw rotten lettuce and bell peppers in the walk-in cooler and a bed set up in the manager's office, among other things.

The San Antonio Express-News examines hundreds of restaurant inspections each week conducted by the San Antonio Food and Environmental Health Services division to bring you the eateries with scores of 89 or below.

See the other restaurants that landed on this week's list and their violations in the gallery above.

Restaurants are graded on a 100-point system, where "100" is a perfect score, and demerits are based upon the number of violations found during a regular food establishment inspection. There are three categories of demerits and each are assigned a demerit score of 3, 2 or 1 points, according to the health division.

Scores and demerits listed are only representative of the state of the restaurant at the time of inspection and are surveyed at random.

erobinson@mysa.com

Twitter: @eeelizzabeth
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In the days since Harvey destroyed cities across Texas, rescue tales have emerged by the hundreds  maybe thousands.

Stories of rescued, wagging tails are circulating, too.

Nearly a week ago, Harvey made landfall in Rockport as Category 4 hurricane. The fatal storm made a slow creep through Texas, flooding Houston and its surrounding areas for days to come.

Rescuers  both authorities and civilians  from across the state and country set out to affected areas, answering distress calls from stranded victims and making room for furry friends aboard small boats that ferried evacuees to safety.

Photos of the moments were captured by Getty photographers, social media users and organizations like PETA, providing moments of levity in the midst of the disaster.

Some pets were left stranded as their owners fled while others were strays from the start, but still landed in the hands of some good hearts. Many were rescued along with their owners.

RELATED: 'I just had to come': Meet a few of the S.A. volunteers who rescued Hurricane Harvey victims

Even stars like country music songstress Miranda Lambert pitched in to save pets.

Speaking of stars  there were a few pups who made headlines and had viral fame bestowed upon them as the world had their eyes on Texas.

First came Otis, the strong, independent dog in Sinton who walked down the street with a large bag of dog food. And then we met little Kiwi, who grabbed her own feature stories across the nation for floating in a makeshift boat while still looking fashionable.

Some stories were buzzing for more harrowing reasons.

Take the dog who was the subject of a viral tweet which showed him stranded atop a car surrounded by rising floodwater. Or the story of Frankie and Bear, the two Dickinson dogs who were left behind in a boat.

Many rescuers who were boating around flooded Texas towns in search of humans were also able to pluck pets from the waters. Those who shared the stories of stranded animals penned subsequent posts, announcing dogs like Frankie, Bear and the scared dog on the car had been saved.

Houston businesses, like Midtown's Spot Fur Friends, kept people updated on how their guests were doing through the storm.

"These pups made it through the weekend with us," an update on the business Facebook page reads. "We are still dry and having fun!"

Local groups, like San Antonio Pets Alive and the Humane Society, also posted smile-inducing photos and explained how the public can get involved, either by donating or adopting.

See more pups in the gallery above.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
The YWCA duplicates Player of the Year contest passed the two-thirds mark this past week with two former champions, Jay Force and Terry Lubman, once again pacing a field of 68 players who had participated in eight or more games since the first of the year.

Following play in August, Forces average percentage score stood at 61.8 percent for nine games, giving him a full percentage point lead over defending champion Lubman, who had 60.8 for 17 appearances. Lois Spagna was third with 58.6 percent for 20 games, with Mary Scarfi fourth at 58.3 for 23 and Susan Vock fifth with 58.1 for 13.

Rounding out the top 10 in the contest, for which anyone who plays in at least 15 games during the year automatically becomes eligible, were: sixth, Sharon Santow, 57.5 percent; seventh, Eleanor Gimon, 57.4; eighth, Jerry Jacobs, 56.7; ninth, Sanjay Santhanam, 56.3; and 10th, James Chung, 56.0.

Todays quiz: Here is another in the current series of quizzes on overcalls and takeout doubles. The following problem has two parts. First, a), decide what action you would take with the hand shown if your left-hand opponent opened the bidding with one spade, partner overcalled with two hearts, and your right-hand opponent passed. Then, b), decide what you would do if your partner had overcalled with two diamonds rather than two hearts. In both cases, neither side is vulnerable. Your hand:

S 92 H J865 D J865 C AJ3

Answer: a) This hand, with its doubleton spade and four-card trump support, could produce a game opposite a good two heart overcall, and you should therefore make a modest raise to three hearts just in case partner has the right hand. Partner could make ten tricks, for example, with a hand such as S xxx H AKxxxx D KQx C x opposite yours, and he could have many better hands that would also produce a game. The raise to three hearts also offers the advantage of making it more difficult for the opponents to reach whatever contract they may be able to make.

b) When partner overcalls in a minor and you hold adequate support (usually four or more cards) plus a smattering of high cards in other suits, you should raise to three diamonds even though game may be a remote possibility. The raise is made partly for nuisance value than in any real hope of making 11 tricks.

Partner realizes that with a better hand, you could take a stronger action, such as two or three notrump, or even a cuebid in the opponents suit. Therefore, although there are hands where partner could conceivably consider bidding game following a simple raise in a minor, the raise is more often viewed as a space-stealer and stage-setter for an eventual sacrifice.

The weeks duplicate results: No games this week.
WASHINGTON  Connecticut dreamers are steeling themselves for disappointment over the announcement expected Tuesday on whether President Donald Trump will maintain or tear up DACA, the Obama-era policy that has given these young immigrants a ray of hope for the future.

We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, said Carolina Bortolleto, of Danbury, communications and grant manager for Connecticut Students for a Dream. Were trying to reassure people and that no matter what happens, we are resilient and will keep on fighting. Our community is more than just a work permit.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that Trump would make a long-awaited decision about DACA on Tuesday  the day attorneys general from 10 red states threatened to file a lawsuit if the White House does not rescind the policy.

We are working on the best decision possible and will announce it Tuesday, said Sanders. This is not a decision the president takes lightly.

Asked about the future of DACA and dreamers at a White House meeting, Trump said: We love the dreamers. We love everybody ... We think the dreamers are terrific.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, President Barack Obamas policy that gave legal status and work permits to approximately 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. About 8,000 of those are in Connecticut.

A negative decision would subject dreamers to deportation. A positive one would ensure their continued legal status, at a minimum.

Trump won the White House in part on a promise to deport anyone in the U.S. illegally and build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border. But he has agonized publicly over the dreamers, who had no choice in whether to come here, and know no home other than the U.S.

Conservatives have pressed him to end the program, citing the lack of a statute authorizing accommodations for dreamers under U.S. immigration law.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a staunch immigration hard-liner, reportedly has told Trump he cannot defend the administration against a lawsuit by the conservative state attorneys general.

But some Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have either supported DACA extension or urged caution or delay in repealing it.

There needs to be a legislative solution, Ryan said in a Wisconsin radio interview. We want to give people peace of mind.

Congress so far has failed to pass legislation protecting dreamers. And with both House and Senate in Republican hands, it remains to be seen whether a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans could push a measure through.

In the meantime, Bortolleto is not holding her breath.

People dont know what to expect, and the psychological warfare is making everyone very anxious, said Bortoletto, 29, who came over in 1998 with her twin sister and parents from Brazil.

As for Trumps expression of love for dreamers, Bortoletto said: I dont trust anything he says.

dan@hearstdc.com
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STAMFORD  As the nation waited anxiously for the results of a presidential election, Lucas Codognolla had something else on his mind, something far more personal.

He had just been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Nov. 6, 2012, which aims to help young undocumented immigrants avoid deportation.

I was more excited about the chance to work legally than the election, Codognolla said.

Now, DACA faces elimination by President Donald Trump. The White House has until Tuesday to make a decision after attorneys general from 10 conservative states have called for the program to be rescinded or face a lawsuit.

According to CT Students for a Dream, 8,000 undocumented immigrants in Connecticut are protected under DACA. Immigrants account for a third of Stamfords population.

Codognolla, executive director for CT Students for a Dream, a statewide nonprofit resource for undocumented immigrants, came to the U.S. from Brazil when he was 9 and was educated in Stamford schools. He was the first in his family to receive a drivers license thanks to DACA.

That may seem simple to many people, but to undocumented immigrants who fear being stopped and deported, it is a transformative experience, Codognolla said.

After his best friends family was deported, he realized that with few resources anyone in his situation could be deported. His main priority now is making sure others in similiar situations have somewhere to turn.

Were creating a space for people to process, Codognolla said.

Codognolla said that DACA not only transforms individuals, but families, too, as some are the sole source of household income.

Whats happening with DACA within the White House and with the attorneys general is a blatant attack on immigrant communities, he said. Its an agenda based on hate...To attack DACA as a policy or to use it as a bargaining chip is irresponsible. Taking it away will impact real lives and families.

Philip Berns, a local immigration attorney, spent this week addressing the concerns of frightened clients.

These kids are brought here with no recollection of their home country, Berns said. They are Americanized in their heart and soul... Its not even deportation. It should be considered exile from the country they grew up in.

Berns said that dozens of young immigrants over the years have asked him how they can serve in the U.S. military.

After 9/11 there was a surge of them wanting to defend us, Berns said. How much more American can you get? Its totally wrong to deport these young people.

A client of Berns who wished to remain anonymous has been in the U.S. for 15 years. He is 25 now, and is a DACA recipient who fears being deported back to Mexico, a place he barely remembers whose laws and way of life he is not familiar with.

Im more American than Mexican, he said. There are times I forget Im even an immigrant. Its pretty mind blowing and upsetting.

When they came to the U.S. his parents told him they were trying to escape a dangerous place for a better life and better opportunities. Now, their fate is uncertain.

Michael Hernandez, a 19 year old Westhill High School graduate who teaches ESL classes at Building One Community in Stamford, came to the U.S. in 2008 from Honduras, a year too late to be eligible for DACA. Despite that, hes been an avid supporter of the program. He is going to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday for a rally no matter what the White House decides.

One word I would use to describe how I feel is disappointed, Hernandez said. This affects people that had no choice. A burden has been placed on people who are young  they are passionate, they are our neighbors and they are in our schools.

Westhill alum Audrey Camino-Jara came to the U.S. from Ecuador when she was a year old. A DACA recipient in 2012, she became a permanent resident this week.

She said that DACA gave her a sense of safety from being deported. It also allowed her to have a drivers license and a social security card, but strictly for working.

To attend college, she had to pay out of pocket. Now that she is a permanent resident, she is able to seek financial aid to help fund her education.

This is earth shattering for so many affected by it, she said after hearing the report. This puts them back in limbo, but I know they will continue to be resilient.

tclark@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2265; @travclark2
GREENWICH  Preparations for the Sept. 12 primary have become a little easier for the town after officials decided to make the day a school holiday.

While turnout is traditionally light for primaries, school officials decided not to take any chances with school security by opening the buildings to allow local Republicans to vote on their choice for one of six spots on the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

It does make my job easier, said Republican Registrar of Voters Fred DeCaro III on Friday. While we had been planning on school being open, were I a school board member and responsible for the safety and well being of students, I would have voted to close the schools.

A BET primary is rarity in town. The last one was held in 1993 for the BET Democrats. DeCaro said his department had ordered fewer ballots than it would for a general election but there will be enough to cover 60 percent of the number of registered Republicans. As of Friday, there were 12,787 registered Republicans in town.

The last time Greenwich held a primary for local elected office was in 2009 when the Democrats held one for tax collector. According to results, 1,310 people voted in that years September primary.

Its hard for me to gauge how much interest there is in the race because there are so many candidates and I expect that each of the candidates will some marketing to try and get people to come out and vote for them, DeCaro said. So we expect we will have more turnout than there was for the tax collector race.

This year, the Republican Town Committee nominated six people for six spots on the BET: three incumbents and three newcomers. Of the three incumbents who did not get the nod, only Leslie Tarkington decided to mount a petition drive for a space on the November ballot.

Once she turned in the required number of signatures, a primary was set for Sept. 12 since only six people can run in November.

This is one of the rare years where a BET primary is going to be held on a school day, said schools Superintendent Jill Gildea to members of the Board of Education Thursday night. With all of the safety and security measures that are in place for schools today, its in conflict with being able to simply walk in (and vote). So we have the constraints and the challenges of parking, access, power cords, phones and all kinds of things.

Connecticut public schools are closed on normal election days per state statute.

The school board voted unanimously Thursday to consider the day a school holiday for students and a professional development day for teachers.

It makes sense, board member Jennifer Dayton said. Let the teachers have learning during that time, let our students be safe, let our registrars do what they need to do run the election efficiently and well all be better off for it.

During the primary election, which is only for registered Republicans in town, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 12 voting locations, one for each district. Among the polling place is Greenwich High School, Central and Western middle schools and seven of the towns elementary schools.

DeCaro said his main concern was parking if voting took place during a regular school day.

You were going to have people driving around looking for a space and that could be an issue, especially at times when you have the school buses there and when kids are being picked up and dropped off, DeCaro said.

Running for the BET are current chairman Michael Mason and incumbents Leslie Tarkington, William Drake and Nancy Weissler along with first time candidates Debra Hess, Karen Fassuliotis and Andrew Duus.

To prepare for the election, Greenwich tested its voting machines at Town Hall on Thursday. Poll worker training is set for Sept. 6 and on Sept. 9.

Everything else is signed, sealed and is being delivered to the polling places as we speak, DeCaro said on Friday.

The League of Women Voters of Greenwich will hold a forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 5 in the Cone Room at Town Hall. According to the league, all seven candidates have been invited to appear and a cumulative time format will be used to ensure all of them have equal time to speak.

Emilie Munson contributed to this story.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Texas students impacted by Hurricane Harvey will be provided free school meals for the entire month of September at no cost to their families, according to an announcement from Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

Additionally, Commissioner Miller has directed that students displaced by the storm to locations elsewhere in Texas will also qualify for school meals at no cost. "While Texas families recover from this historic storm, the last thing they need to worry about is how to pay for a school meal for their child," Commissioner Miller said. "The Texas Department of Agriculture is working with our partners at USDA and schools throughout the affected areas to make sure children get the food they need, when they need it."

Immediately after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the Texas Department of Agriculture's (TDA) Food and Nutrition staff requested a waiver from USDA's Food & Nutrition Services for meal service times, meal pattern requirements and the authorization for schools to provide meals to children in disaster areas at no cost through the National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs. The waiver was approved by USDA on Aug. 29.

Due to Commissioner Miller's leadership, more than 1.3 million students in the 18 counties under the presidential disaster declaration related to Hurricane Harvey are now eligible to receive meals at school at no cost through Sept. 30, 2017. Students who are displaced and move to a different school district not located within the disaster area can still qualify for school meals at no cost to their families.

The waiver also provides for schools in these areas to serve meals at different times than the normal pattern, as well as giving meal providers flexibility in meal planning based on what is available to them that may not fit into the normal school meal planning template. An example of this scenario would be allowing a school to serve lunch without milk if milk is not readily available and the school still receiving federal reimbursement, which is normally not allowed under the NSLP.

Commissioner Miller also extended his thanks to USDA personnel who moved quickly to accept the waiver and made it possible for school districts in the affected areas to provide meals to hungry kids at no cost to their families during this extremely difficult time.

"I want to give a big heartfelt 'thank you' to those school district food and nutrition folks who are struggling under all sorts of adverse conditions to make sure Texas kids get the food they need," Commissioner Miller said. "There are many heroes in a disaster like this, and this surely includes anyone who helps feed a hungry child. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you."

For more information on TDA's Food & Nutrition program and the USDA waivers in effect until Sept. 30, please visit our Food & Nutrition website or call us at 1-877-TEX-MEAL.
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The devastation that hit the Lake Houston area has yet to be hit measured, but in the wake of tragedy, people across the area, state and nation gathered to lend a hand to thousands who were displaced by flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey.

Boats, kayaks and jet skis were used to rescue residents in Kingwood, Atascocita, Humble, Crosby and Huffman, among many communities in the Greater Houston area, and makeshift shelters in churches, schools and public buildings were overflowing with donated goods from people in the community whose homes remained safe and dry, yet needed to do something to help their neighbors.

Melanie Clarke and her husband could hear the rescue boats from inside their safe, dry home. They'd already brought supplies to their local church, but they figured there was more they could do to help, so they went driving around Kingwood.

The two hadn't heard of the rescue efforts to aid evacuees, so when they saw what was going on, they started recruiting people in need of help. Clarke said they have a big home, no children and two cats.

"Bless their hearts, we've got an older couple home now," she said while searching out more people in need of help at the West Lake Houston Parkway bridge. "They showered, changed their clothes. They're sleeping. They're on the bed; they're resting. That just does my heart so good."

RELATED: Man risks everything to save sister's cat.

The Clarkes also took a family of six back to their home. The mom of the family was upset because she thought the family was so big it would put somebody out. However, the family was able to reach friends who live in the area and able to take them.

That means the Clarkes still have two open bedrooms, a couch and a loft. They can't take in animals, but she insisted they could fit 20 people in their home if needed. They did lose power, but she made soup earlier and was able to heat it up on the range to give the older couple a hot meal.

"It's what anybody would do," Clarke said. "It's also one's Christian duty. We feel like God gave us that house. We've got to use it to his glory."

Experts have said it will take years for the community to recover, and the need will not be alleviated overnight.

The following are just a few ways Lake Houston residents can give back to members of the community affected by the flood.

HURRICANE HARVEY: A closer look at Houston's biblical floods

Somebody Cares

Somebody Cares Humble partnered with Insperity and the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce to create the Lake Houston Area Relief Fund to include residents of Atascocita, Humble, Kingwood, Fall Creek and Summerwood.

The fund allows for tax deductible donations for those affected the flooding. Donations can be made online at https://www.paypal.me/SomebodyCaresHumble.

Checks can also be mailed to Somebody Cares Humble - LHA Relief Fund, 120 E. Main St., Humble, Texas 77338.

Huffman Relief

Huffman Independent School District established the Harvey Relief Fund for donors hoping to help. Checks can be mailed to Harvey Relief Fund, Huffman ISD, 24302 FM 2100, Huffman, Texas 77336. A link to donate online can also be found on the Huffman ISD Facebook page.

First Baptist Church Huffman was designated a central location for the needs and volunteer list in Huffman. For more information, visit the church at 25503 FM 2100, call (281) 324-1888 or visit the church's Facebook page.

LIVE MAP: Where you can do the most good





HAAM to the rescue

Humble Area Assistance Ministries is launching a campaign for help, requesting monetary donations as well as food. The nonprofit manages a food pantry and offers residents in need help with rent, utility payments and medical bills through grants.

Donations can be made at haamministries.org or mailed to HAAM at 1204 First St. E, Humble, Texas 77338.

"Many of those helped by HAAM have lost wages while businesses were closed," said Millie Garrison, executive director of HAAM, in a statement. They also have little resilience and resources to call on in a catastrophic event.

"Losing even one day's pay can be devastating."
Spring Independent School District is still scheduled to open its schools Tuesday after Hurricane Harvey brought record flooding to the greater Houston area over four days.

"Our maintenance team has visited every one of our 38 campuses, and thankfully, there is no major damage to our schools or facilities," wrote spokeswoman Karen Garrison in an e-mail.
MEXICO CITY - In four days of North American free-trade talks opening here Friday, many numbers will be bandied about. To the dismay of Mexicans, one of them, $63 billion, stands above all the rest.

This is the size of the trade deficit in goods and services that the United States maintained with Mexico last year, and it's the number that President Trump repeatedly brandishes when he declares NAFTA "the worst trade deal in history" and threatens to abandon the treaty.

But for Mexicans close to these negotiations, and for many American trade experts, it is simply the wrong number to worry about.

"We know that's not the right index," said Moises Kalach, one of the leaders of a private-sector group that advises the Mexican government on the talks. "This is Econ 1 and we know that you cannot measure a trade agreement based on the deficit."

The deficit is just one of the areas of disagreement expected to arise in the second round of NAFTA renegotiation talks, being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the swanky Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City. Technical teams from the United States, Mexico and Canada are working through issues including how to resolve trade disputes, whether to raise labor standards, what percentage of parts must be made in North America for a product to qualify for free-trade status, and how to modernize the 23-year-old agreement for the era of e-commerce.

All that comes against the increasingly tense backdrop created by Trump's repeated warnings in recent days that he is leaning toward canceling NAFTA to negotiate a better deal for the United States. In response to those warnings, the Mexican government said this week that it would walk away from the table if Trump starts the process to scrap NAFTA.

"We don't think it would be the right path or a viable path to terminate the agreement just when we're in negotiations," Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told reporters on Wednesday.

The focus on the trade deficit in goods and services - the amount by which a country buys more than it sells - frustrates Mexico for many reasons. For one, the $63 billion U.S. deficit with Mexico is smaller than the American deficit with other countries, including China ($309 billion) and Germany ($67 billion), according to statistics issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

But economists say the larger issue is that the trade deficit in goods and services is just one measure of the health of an economic relationship between two nations. The figure does not reflect other factors such as the flow of capital investment between countries or the fact that the lower cost of inputs from Mexico helps U.S. firms stay competitive and benefits American consumers with cheaper products.

"I have to be very clear," said Jaime Zabludovsky, who helped negotiate the original NAFTA agreement in the early 1990s, and who is also part of the Mexican business advisory group. "The trade deficit is a macroeconomic issue. It has nothing to do with trade policy."

Focusing on the deficit, he added, "is a huge mistake."

Many Americans, including Republicans, have made similar points in recent weeks. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote in a recent op-ed in The Washington Post that trade deficits "are not always bad for U.S. workers and consumers, nor should they remain the focus in NAFTA renegotiations." He said that if trade made Mexicans wealthier, they would probably buy more from the United States. "That is why one of the best things that can happen to our economy is for other nations' economies to grow," he wrote.

Michael Camunez, a former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration, said that there has been "so much emphasis and hype" around the deficit, but that this number is "not necessarily the best measure of the success or productivity of that relationship." He noted that some 40 percent of the content of a typical Mexican product comes from the United States - such as American-made parts that go into a car assembled in Mexico.

"You have to look at the relationship comprehensively," said Camunez, who is now chief executive of Monarch Global Strategies, a firm that advises U.S. companies interested in doing business in Mexico.

While a deficit is not necessarily a problem, though, some argue it can impact the type and number of jobs available, particularly in regions dependent on manufacturing.

Given the Trump administration's focus on this issue, Mexican officials say they are willing to discuss it, as long as the solution does not harm Mexico's economy. The private sector group that Kalach runs has produced detailed charts showing which sectors in the economy contribute to the trade deficit - the auto industry, which has been a bright spot for Mexico's economy, makes up the biggest portion - so they can react to various deficit-reduction proposals.

"If our commercial partners just want to insist on it," Kalach said, "we're going to try to make the best out of our arguments."

Mexicans are looking for ways to increase overall trade in North America to possibly reduce the U.S. deficit. Mexico's oil industry, which was opened to foreign investment in recent years, could play a role in decreasing the deficit in the future, some experts say. Mexico could buy more natural gas from the United States, as its demand grows and domestic production declines, and foreign companies drilling for oil may need imported products.

"The U.S. has a very large surplus in the energy trade with Mexico, which is an astonishing about-turn from where we were even five years ago," said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.

But few expect these talks to be easy. Faced with Trump's recent threats, more Mexican politicians, including leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is leading in polls in advance of next year's vote, have called on Mexico to walk away from the talks.

Dolores Padierna, a senator from the leftist PRD party who serves on a congressional committee that tracks the NAFTA talks, said: "My respectful recommendation to the Mexican government has been to leave NAFTA, to not wait for Donald Trump to throw us out, to leave in a way that is planned and gradual."

She added that Mexico shouldn't abandon free trade. "We are part of globalization, but these markets can continue exporting to other countries."

Mexican business leaders remain hopeful that the Trump administration will come to recognize the benefits of free trade for all three countries.

"I'm convinced that our officials who are in charge of this are going to exhaust every possible argument," said Gustavo de Hoyos Walther, the president of the Confederation of Mexican Employers (COPARMEX). But the threats by Trump "are hostile, and they are real."

- - -

The Washington Post's Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.
Bernard Pomerance, the playwright who wrote the poignant Tony Award-winning drama "The Elephant Man," about a grotesquely deformed but sensitive man in Victorian England whose human longings are often misunderstood by those around him, died Aug. 26 at his home near Galisteo, New Mexico. He was 76.

His agent, Alan Brodie, confirmed the death. The cause was lung cancer.

The American-born playwright spent much of his career in London, where he wrote several early plays and helped found a small avant-garde theater company. He found little success until "The Elephant Man," which was first performed in London in 1977.

The play is based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century British man with a condition that produced large, unsightly growths on his head and much of his body. He spent years on display in a freak show, enduring the ridicule and disgust of the carnival-goers.

Finally, he was taken to a hospital, where a doctor, Frederick Treves, cared for him and introduced him to Victorian polite society.

Pomerance's play - which changes the central character's first name to John - takes place in the 1880s and focuses largely on Merrick, Treves and an actress, Kendal, the only woman Merrick becomes close to.

Early in the play, photographs of the real-life Merrick are shown as Treves describes his patient's physical condition. Pomerance's stage directions specify that the actor playing Merrick not appear in makeup or a mask. The character's deformities are conveyed through contortion, gesture and speech.

Merrick becomes something of a social phenomenon, discussing literature and building a model of a cathedral with his one usable hand.

Yet it becomes apparent that his well-dressed, gift-bearing visitors are little different from the loutish gawkers who gazed at him in sideshows.

Treves calls Merrick a man with an "acute sensibility and, worse for him, a romantic imagination," and over time an emotional attachment develops between Merrick and Kendal.

"Sometimes I think my head is so big," Merrick tells her, "because it is so full of dreams."

He reveals his regret that he will never have an intimate moment with a woman, prompting Kendal to remove her blouse and expose her breasts - at which point Treves returns, upbraiding both with stern Victorian rectitude.

"The Elephant Man" was first presented in New York in 1979 at an off-Broadway theater in a church. It became an instant phenomenon.

" 'The Elephant Man' is more than docudrama," Time magazine drama critic T.E. Kalem wrote. "It is lofted on poetic wings and nests in the human heart."

After the play moved to Broadway, it was greeted with sold-out audiences and critical praise. Merrick, as portrayed by actor Philip Anglim, was "like some sort of simple, twisted saint," Kalem wrote.

"The Elephant Man" won Tony Awards for best drama, best director (Jack Hofsiss) and best actress (Carole Shelley, who played Kendal).

The play ran for more than two years and has been widely produced around the world, including Broadway revivals that featured actors Billy Crudup and Bradley Cooper in the title role.

In 1980, a film called "The Elephant Man," directed by David Lynch and starring John Hurt as Merrick, was produced. The film was not based on Pomerance's play, but he and his producers filed suit against the film's production company, claiming that the duplicate title would confuse audiences and took advantage of the play's artistic reputation. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

After the Broadway premiere of "The Elephant Man," Pomerance was rarely seen in public and granted few interviews.

"The most important element in theater is the audience's imagination," he said in 1979. "My interest in the audience is to remind them of a common thing and, if only temporarily, they do then become a unity, a community."

Bernard Kline Pomerance was born Sept. 23, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York. He said little about his parents or youth, and it is safe to say that more is known about Joseph Merrick than about Pomerance.

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1962 and moved to London six years later.

"It's true I didn't write plays before I came to London," he told the New York Times in 1979. "I had been working in narrative form, but I realized all my notes were coming out as dialogue."

Along with director Roland Rees and others, he founded the Foco Novo theater company in the early 1970s. (The name was the title of one of Pomerance's early plays.)

Other plays included "Hospital" and "Thanksgiving Before Detroit."

After "Elephant Man," Pomerance wrote two more plays, "Quantrill in Lawrence," about a Confederate raid in the Civil War, and "Melons," about a sage American Indian chief. Both were produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company but did not reach Broadway.

His first marriage, to writer Sally Belfrage, ended in divorce. In 2008, he married Evelyne Franceschi, who died in 2015. Survivors include two children from his first marriage; a brother; and two grandchildren.

According to public records, Pomerance returned to New York in the 1980s. He published a book-length epic poem, "We Need to Dream All This Again: An account of Crazy Horse, Custer, and the battle for the Black Hills," in 1987.

About a dozen years ago, Pomerance settled permanently near Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2013, he emerged from a largely secluded life to spend a day helping students at Santa Fe High School prepare for a production of "The Elephant Man."
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump's law-and-order platform who faced repeated allegations inmates were mistreated in his jails, abruptly resigned on Thursday, issuing a terse, one sentence letter and offering no explanation for his decision.

Clarke's resignation, which comes more than a year before his fourth term as sheriff is scheduled to expire, will take effect at midnight, Milwaukee County Clerk George L. Christenson told The Washington Post.

It remains unclear why the sheriff is leaving his job, a move he's characterized as his retirement. A longtime adviser, Craig Peterson, told The Post that Clarke is unlikely to make any public comments until next week. Asked if the lifelong Milwaukee resident who has served as sheriff since 2002 is considering a potential geographic relocation, Peterson would say only, "Anything's a potential."

According to a person close to Clarke, he is likely to join an outside group that supports the president's agenda. An announcement is likely as early as next week. A second person familiar with the matter said that Clarke was not expected to join the Trump administration. Both persons spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

In June, Clarke withdrew his name from consideration for an assistant secretary position at the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, Peterson said, "Sheriff Clarke is 100 percent committed to the success of President Trump and believes his skills could be better utilized to promote the president's agenda in a more aggressive role."

Christenson declined to comment on the contents of Clark's resignation letter or any rationale the sheriff provided for his decision to leave the post. The resignation came with no advance notice, Christenson said, adding he will next alert Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who will decide on the appointment of a replacement.

A Democrat whose rhetoric and conservative political base more closely align with the Republican Party, Clarke has in recent years become a regular commentator on Fox News and used the platform to criticize President Barack Obama and assail many of his policies.

Clarkehas compared the Black Lives Matter protest movement, which aims to counter anti-black racism, to the Ku Klux Klan, suggesting it would team with the Islamic State to overthrow the federal government. He labeled anti-Trump demonstrators as "anarchists," and said African Americans sell drugs "because they're uneducated, they're lazy, and they're morally bankrupt."

His 15-year tenure as sheriff has also been a source of controversy.

At least four people died in the Milwaukee County jail between April 2015 and November 2016, including a newborn baby whose birth occurred unbeknown to Clarke's staff. In another case, his staff was accused of withholding water from an inmate, who eventually died, for one week. In January, a jury awarded $6.7 million to a woman who said she was repeatedly raped by guards at the Milwaukee County Jail.

He and his staff are the subject of numerous other lawsuits alleging abuse and mistreatment.

While Clarke was under consideration for the Homeland Security job, reports surfaced that he had plagiarized large portions of his master's thesis. He disputed those claims and called the CNN reporter who broke the story "a sleaze bag."

The sheriff emerged as one of Trump's most visible and enthusiastic supporters during last year's campaign, delivering a much-discussed address at the Republican National Convention.

Addressing the Republican crowd in Cleveland, Ohio, he declared, "Blue lives matter in America,"a pointed response to growing criticism, throughout the nation, about law enforcement's use of deadly force, and Clarke made clear his feeling that the threats facing his officers and others have become only more extreme. In the convention speech, he praised a Baltimore court's decision to acquit one officer implicated in the death of a man, Freddy Gray, who suffered severe spinal injuries while in police custody.

Clarke was discussed as a potential Homeland Security secretary early in the Trump administration's transition, but those close to the president-elect worried that various scandals and a host of controversial statements would impede the sheriff's ability to win Senate confirmation.

On Thursday Clarke attended the Fraternal Order of Police national convention in Nashville, Tennessee, posing for photos alongside admirers and reminding his 768,000 Twitter followers that the organization backed Trump during last year's election.

The sheriff's Twitter feed has remained quiet since news of his resignation broke, however. His last tweet, published about an hour before the county clerk's office received Clarke's letter, was a promotion for his book, "Cop Under Fire." Trump hailed the book and its author in a tweet Sunday.

Peterson said Clarke wished to let the Milwaukee community know he appreciates the support its shown for him over the past 15 years. However, it was apparent for many months that the sheriff intended to move on, and already a list of possible successors has emerged.

---

VIDEO:

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke offered his support for police officers around the country during a speech on the opening day of the GOP convention.

--http://wapo.st/29I45Xe

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WASHINGTON - The leader of an influential group of House conservatives warned GOP leaders Thursday not to attach aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey to an increase in the federal debt limit, a stance that could constrain Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as he tries to win support over the coming weeks for several controversial must-pass measures.

The warning from Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, came as White House and congressional leaders discussed a plan to immediately pump about $6 billion into federal disaster relief efforts. President Donald Trump could send a specific request for the funding as soon as Friday, people briefed on the discussions said.

A debt-ceiling increase could be attached to the bill, those people said, to win broader support for that divisive measure ahead of a Sept. 29 deadline. But Meadows, who leads a group of hard-liners that has frequently frustrated House Republican leaders, said attaching Harvey aid to a debt-ceiling increase would be a "terrible idea" that would be "conflating two very different issues."

"The Harvey relief would pass on its own, and to use that as a vehicle to get people to vote for a debt ceiling is not appropriate," he said in an interview. "That sends all the wrong message: 'Let's go ahead and increase the debt ceiling, and by the way, while we're doing it let's go ahead and spend another $15, $20 billion?' That's not to undercut the importance of Harvey relief. We're going to fund Harvey relief without a doubt, but I think it just sends the wrong message when you start attaching it to the debt ceiling."

White House and congressional leaders have not yet made final decisions about the amount of funding, or whether to link it to extensions of the debt limit or of broader government spending, and conversations remained fluid Thursday evening. But lawmakers in the affected region are pressing for swift action.

On a private conference call Wednesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., assured Republican members of the Texas and Louisiana House delegations that leaders would move as soon as next week to provide funding. The conversation included White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and other administration officials.

"We are able to act as quickly as needed as soon as the administration is able to put together an initial number that will be needed," said a GOP aide who was on the call. "But we don't know what that number is yet, and there is for sure going to be a larger number once there is a greater understanding of the full scope of the damage."

White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told reporters Thursday that about 100,000 homes have been affected by Harvey-related flooding, according to initial estimates. "That's a big number," he said, noting that those homes have "different degrees of insurance - some with flood insurance, some underinsured, some uninsured."

Bossert and Capitol Hill aides declined to estimate the level of federal aid Congress might ultimately have to provide for Harvey relief, but they did not discount the possibility that it would outstrip the $120 billion that was appropriated to help rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. It is likely, they said, to be approved in multiple tranches over the coming months as damages are calculated.

"There's nobody that's wrong on estimates right now," Bossert said, when asked about a suggestion from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) that recovery needs might exceed $100 billion - a figure that would represent about 10 percent of what the federal government spends each year on all nondefense discretionary spending combined.

Lawmakers return to Washington on Tuesday after a five-week summer recess, facing pressure to act not only on Harvey aid but also on several crucial measures that require action before month-end deadlines. They include extending government funding to avert an Oct. 1 government shutdown, reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and raising the debt ceiling to avoid a disastrous federal default.

The Treasury Department told Congress in July it would have to act on the debt limit by Sept. 29. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview that the deadline could creep up by "a couple of days" because of Harvey-related spending.

Meadows and other staunch conservatives have long opposed a "clean" debt-ceiling increase, preferring to attach measures that would limit the growth of federal spending, even though the Trump administration is pushing for a clean extension. Meadows said Thursday he would like a measure that would index the debt limit to growth in the economy; another conservative leader, Rep. Mark Walker (N.C.) of the Republican Study Committee, said this week that he would support efforts to constrain Medicaid spending.

"Having some guardrails for fiscal responsibility is certainly important and to just ignore it would not be prudent," Meadows said.

A spokesman for Ryan declined to comment Thursday on Meadows's remarks. Ryan's office said earlier this week that the House stood ready to act to help Harvey victims pending a funding request from the Trump administration.

Once Trump sends the official request for the emergency funds to Congress, a number of different scenarios could play out, people involved in the discussions said.

The House could appropriate the money in a stand-alone bill or combine it with a broader package to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. Then the Senate could decide to pass the same bill, or attach an increase in the debt ceiling to the legislation.

Senate Republicans aren't likely to settle on a way forward or make any specific decisions on how to proceed until they meet in person at their regularly scheduled policy luncheon Tuesday or Wednesday, according to a senior aide familiar with their plans.

That timeline reflects how the more deliberative Senate works, the aide said, rather than any resistance to delivering federal aid: "We're all on the same page about what we need to do."

Meadows said Thursday that he and other hard-line conservatives could support attaching Harvey aid to a stopgap government spending measure that is expected to be drafted next month. That bill would extend current federal spending into December, allowing time for further negotiations over key GOP priorities - including the Mexican border wall demanded by Trump.

The border wall is unlikely to prompt a showdown in September, Meadows said, despite Trump's threats at a recent campaign rally that opposition to its funding could prompt a government shutdown. "I'm supportive of the wall and putting the wall funding in [the stopgap], but from a pragmatic standpoint, it will get stripped out in the Senate," he said.

Meadows also said that he did not expect a major fight over whether the Harvey aid package would be offset with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

"My whole focus has always been, let's make sure the relief efforts are about the relief efforts," he said. "Let's not put everybody's special project in there, and let's not fund fish hatcheries in Alaska like we did with Sandy relief." (A small portion of the $50 billion Sandy bill passed in 2013 funded relief for federally declared fishery disasters elsewhere in the United States, including Alaska.)

"Obviously we would prefer offsets," Meadows added. "Generally speaking, though, to demand offsets when you have this magnitude of emergency spending is not something that I believe will get done. I mean, you know me: I'm a fiscal conservative, and I would prefer to have offsets, but . . . let's put it this way: The focus has not been on the offsets as much as it has been on getting relief to those affected."

---

The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report.
Kenneth Snelling says there hasnt been very many times in his 93 years that he didnt have anything to say. One of those rare occasions was last Sunday when he was presented a handcrafted flag quilt near the end of morning worship services at First Baptist Church-Plainview.

It was an absolute surprise, the World War II veteran recalled Tuesday. I had no idea what was going on when they called me up. Thank goodness they didnt ask me to make a speech because I would have been terrified.

Snelling was given with the quilt, crafted by Barb Lambert, in recognition of his military service. Sunday is likely one of the last times Snelling will be worshiping in Plainview since he is in the process of moving to Waldorf, Maryland, south of Washington, D.C., to live with his daughter Taressa Fisher. Snellings son Warren lives in Nebraska.

A label on the quilt reads, On behalf of a Grateful Nation and First Baptist Church in Plainview, TX, we present to Kenneth Snelling this Quilt of Valor. We thank you for your service.

Fred Willis helped Barb and Jim Lambert present the quilt to Snelling. Taressa stood beside her father as he received the beautiful gift.

I felt like spanking her right then, Snelling said looking at his daughter. It was Barbs idea, Taressa said in defense.

Snelling has regularly attended services at FBC-Plainview since 2006, after retiring from farming in the northwest corner of Floyd County and moving to town. Before that he was a Sunday school teacher at the Baptist church at Aiken. His older brother, Elmo Snelling, is still actively farming at age 104.

Born in Burkburnett, Snelling grew up in Oklahoma. Dad worked in the oil fields, he explains.

A brother, Merle, was already serving in the U.S. Navy when the United States entered World War II. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor and serving on a destroyer that shipped out a week before the attack, Snelling recalls. Elmo had graduated a year before from Oklahoma A&M  now Oklahoma State  while Kenneth was still in high school. He graduated in 1942 and started school at Oklahoma A&M where he quickly joined the ROTC. Elmo, who had a wife and child, remained stateside to farm and work at a dairy.

Two years later, Kenneth was a corporal in the U.S. Army serving in the 1258th Combat Engineer Battalion. We spent a couple of months training in England before going into France in December 1944 as the Battle of the Bulge was drawing to a close. As combat engineers, we would go into a sector after the infantry and occupy the foxholes that somebody else had prepared. Usually they were fairly quiet sectors, but we knew when to duck.

Their primary tasks included repairing roads, building and rebuilding bridges in support of the Allied advance. The Germans had a habit of cracking the bridges when they left an area. That would stop traffic both ways.

His unit is credited with constructing the longest stand-alone bridge in Europe during the war. Built from scratch, it was rated at 140 tons. Another time his unit was called to quickly rebuild a badly damaged bridge since it was holding up Gen. George Pattons Third Army. It was perfectly safe when we got through, although might not have looked very pretty. Two men who were Pattons drivers took one look and decided to go around it instead of driving the general over our bridge.

Snellings unit didnt have anyone killed in combat during World War II, although two of his comrades died during the war. Both incidents he considers as being self-inflected. One kid was where he had been told not to be, and he was killed in England when a training device went off. The other got ahold of some German buzz bomb fuel, which was mostly methyl alcohol, and he drank it. That was basically committing suicide.

During WWII members of the military had access to many items that were in short supply stateside. One of those happened to be chewing gum. I tried sending a package of gum in a letter home to Elmo, but it didnt get very far. I got called out during a formation. They said, Mr. Snelling, do you know what was included in this letter home? I knew not to do that again, or I would be in real trouble.

After Germany surrendered, Snellings unit was being readied to be sent to the Pacific to join the fight against the Japanese. Snelling was home on leave Sept. 2, 1945, when he learned that the Japanese had surrendered and the war was over. It was Sunday night and I was walking out of the First Baptist Church in Frederick, Okla., when I heard the news.

He says that while the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took many lives, they saved countless more  including his own. It would have been horrific if we had invaded Japan.

After the war, Snelling returned to complete his studies at Oklahoma A&M, eventually earning a doctorate in soils. When I got my masters degree, I was in the last class before they changed the name to Oklahoma State, he said.

After returning home and resuming his farming activities, Snelling said there were times he felt like he was back on the front. After the war, I was farming with my dad  I was on the tractor and he was on the combine  and the front tire blew out. I almost dove off that tractor because it sounded just like a German P-38 (pistol) going off.

About five years ago, Snelling was able to participating in the Honor Flight that flew a group of World War II and Korean War veterans from Amarillo to Washington, D.C.

In 1948, the Snellings bought a farm and moved to northwest Floyd County after several visits to the area to see his sister, Thelma Haynes, after she married a Petersburg farmer.

Every time he came out, Dad thought this country looked better, Snelling told the Herald in 2012. So Dad sold his Oklahoma land. After making a crop in 1948, he bought more land.

In later years, Kenneth farmed in the Providence area while Elmo farmed around Edmonson.

A few years ago Elmo and I went to a program in Hale Center where they were honoring veterans and I told them they should also be honoring the people like Elmo who stayed home and provided for us. We would have been in really bad shape if it had not been for them.
WASHINGTON - A firing this week by a Washington think-tank has exposed the deep and often hidden influence in the nation's capital of tech companies who are driving key governmental decisions affecting consumers both on and off the Internet.

On Wednesday, the New America Foundation - a think tank funded by Google as well as one of its co-founders, Eric Schmidt - ousted members of its Open Markets program, its anti-monopoly research arm, that had openly criticized the Web giant's growing power. Google and New America have said this specific decision was not motivated by the group's remarks. But critics say the episode highlights the tech industry's enormous power to set the terms of public debate in Washington.

The funding of think tanks is just one way Silicon Valley is quietly expanding its influence in Washington.

A Washington Post analysis shows just how broad tech companies' interests have become in the nation's capital. According to corporate disclosures that were submitted to the Senate Office of Public Records and screened by the Center for Responsive Politics, some of these tech giants are regularly setting records in their spending on lobbying and are pushing as many as 100 issues - or more - every year. The proliferation of issues in Silicon Valley's lobbying portfolio helps illustrate the industry's growing influence on everyday consumer life.

To take one example, Amazon's earliest lobbying efforts in 2008 focused on just a handful of issues, including electronic payments, the taxation of online sales and consumer product safety - all matters that deal directly with Amazon's core business as an e-commerce company. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

But that portfolio soon grew in accordance with Amazon's sprawling business interests: By 2010, as hacking and data theft was on the rise, it had begun lobbying on cybersecurity issues; in 2012, its lobbyists began addressing international postal regulations. A year later, it expanded again to consider online wine sales and flying drones. As it moved into streaming music and mobile apps, Amazon added copyright issues and music licensing to its filings, as well as mobile payments processing.

Most analyses of corporate lobbying focus on spending. And it's true that Silicon Valley has devoted ever-increasing amounts of money to lobbying over the past decade. Just last month, Google reported that it spent more than it ever has on lobbying in a single quarter - joining Uber, Amazon and Apple, who also set new spending records. Google's latest report reflected as much as a 40 percent increase from the same period the year before - a massive spike in spending.

But as many longtime Washington hands can attest, lobbying involves much more than simply throwing money at a problem, which is why analyzing the range of issues a company lobbies on can be just as informative. It provides an indication of a company's policy priorities, and evidence of how a company's strategy is evolving over time.

The rapid proliferation of issues in Uber's lobbying portfolio closely tracks its rise as a transportation and technology behemoth. Its earliest reports, from 2013, disclose the company's outreach on "innovation in the transportation marketplace." But as Uber faced mounting questions about how it classified its drivers as contractors, not employees, it started to tell government officials more about its self-described role as a job creator and contributor to highway safety. By 2016 it was lobbying on the defense budget and issues related to its drivers' access to military bases; this year, it finally added self-driving cars to the list.

Google may have begun as a narrowly focused search engine whose earliest priorities in Washington were limited to issues such as spyware and online pharmacies. But by 2009, as it ramped up its investments in YouTube and moonshot projects, Google was meeting with officials on patents and copyright, as well as geothermal and other renewable energies. Google made no mention of surveillance in its lobbying disclosures leading up to the summer of 2013, when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden uncovered details of the agency's massive spying apparatus. But by that October, the company began routinely lobbying on issues "related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and national security orders," the secret, controversial government demands for user data.

Facebook began as a social network for college students, and its earliest lobbying disclosures in 2009 list only a handful of issues, including information security, privacy and the international regulation of software. But as the company expanded into a global media platform, so did its priorities on Capitol Hill. By 2012, Facebook was lobbying elected officials and federal agencies on freedom of expression and children's privacy. And the company's expanding business interests were present too, on issues such as online advertising, and high-tech worker visas.

Facebook started lobbying on issues tied to terrorism in the spring of 2015, tracking the rising profile of the Islamic State. Throughout the year, the social network met with federal officials as lawmakers urged social media companies to play a larger role reporting extremist content on their networks. Since the first terrorism-related lobbying disclosure, Facebook and other tech platforms have become more assertive in policing speech not just from violent, extremist groups abroad, but from hate groups with followings in the United States.

These lobbying shifts paint the portrait of an industry that's evolved from its early days of providing new and relatively self-contained services into enormous, market-dominating behemoths that touch almost every aspect of our modern existence.

Amazon, Apple and Uber declined to comment. Facebook and Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
While the central heart of Houston is mostly dry and just waiting for a return to normalcy, some heavily populated areas to the west and northwest remain a waist-deep chocolate soup as upstream portions of miles-wide watersheds steadily drain and releases continue to be made from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.

Those large detaining behemoths on either side of Interstate-10 were built to protect what at one time was most of the city. Warnings about their sturdiness notwithstanding, they have done their job, save for some of the neighborhoods bordering bayous.

But the city's never-ending boom brought massive development to the west, and it's there that many homeowners Thursday still could not get back onto their property. Scores of neighborhoods have succumbed to the dirty, slow-moving storm runoff.

Broadly speaking, rainfall in Harris County drains northwest to southeast following the tilt of the land. That which hit the middle of the county in the intense hours last weekend is long gone. But it keeps coming from the upper reaches of the relevant watersheds, hitting clogged choke points and spreading out.

With more development and more intense storms comes more runoff. The storm named Harvey topped them all.

"This isn't our water - this is Katy's water," said Jimmie Hotz, 55, pointing northward on South Dairy Ashford Road, his finger directed at the gushing Buffalo Bayou a quarter-mile away.

Between Monday and Wednesday, spillover from the bayou had grown from a trickle to a pour, he said, drenching many of the homes in the neighborhood just south of Houston's Memorial area.

Larry Koteff, 42, was standing next to Hotz, waiting for a friend to finally pick him up. On Sunday he had hoped not to have to leave, as his car tires were slightly submerged in water. A day later it had crept into his first-floor apartment in Ashford Lakes.

The water slowly rose as high as five inches in parts of the complex, about two miles directly south of the Addicks Reservoir. He was trapped. It began to recede Thursday, moving with a fast-increasing current to the west, and allowed those like Koteff their first chance to escape the area.

Residents there just want life to return to normal, to have ample groceries and gas again, to have restaurants and bars open. But so much isn't normal. Large swaths of the city, and areas past the city limit sign, are broad brown rivers. Major intersections are only distinguishable because of traffic lights overhead and the street signs a few inches above the water line.

At the corner of Kirkwood Road and Memorial Drive, residents wanting to extract belongings from their homes were being shuttled down flooded streets via a fleet of private boats stationed at the intersection.

Michael Lowe, an engineer from England who works as a project manager for a Houston oil company, waited for two men to back their fishing boat into the opaque water on Kirkwood. Lowe held an empty cardboard box, hoping to reach his home and bring back Felix, the family cat. Also on the list were medications left behind when he and his wife fled their home near Buffalo Bayou.

His was a story told a thousand times over: A small amount of water that seemed manageable, an aggravating cleanup job. Then came the releases from the dams above Buffalo Bayou. Soon there was six feet of water in the first floor of the three-story home on Heatherfield Drive.

"From our perspective, obviously, you can't understand why they would do it now," Lowe said of the releases. "I guess if it's for the greater good, and if things are messed up (in his home) a bit more it won't make a lot of difference. But to those people who were fine and then all of a sudden they got flooded, they're not happy at all."

Nearby, Nick Brown turned the key and the motor on the Pro 17 BassTracker fired up, while his friend Brandon Wines helped the engineer into the aluminum skiff. Brown lives in Llano in the Texas Hill Country. He offered a puzzled look when asked why he had come so far.

"People need help," he said.

Those providing it are many. A few blocks away from where Koteff made his delayed getaway, three men, all around 20, sat in a boat being pulled by a friend. They had just snaked around a neighborhood north of Briar Forest Drive, at various points hitting neck-deep stretches of water, searching for people who needed help getting out before nightfall.

Another group paddled one street over where only the tops of cars were visible, metallic lily pads atop a fast-rising - and moving - urban stream. In his 75 years, John Wofford had never seen anything like it. Late Thursday, Wofford, his daughter and some neighbors trudged from his home of 44 years in Ashford Forest to get food and water.

The half-mile walk took 20 minutes because of the current, Wofford said. The water came up to his knees in some spots. They had not evacuated because his home sits higher than most on Harvest Moon Lane. Water had barely topped the curb in storms past. Now, it was at his doorstep.

Walter Penberthy, 56, made the trek with Wofford. Neither he nor Wofford were angry about the flooding. They did not blame anyone but Harvey. They are inclined to believe it's a once-in-a -generation problem.

"Flood control has got a really tough job on this one," Penberthy said.

"It's just the situation we have to deal with," Koteff said.

To say the least. In the case of the runoff spawned by Harvey, flood and control struggle to remain in the same sentence. The best that officials can do is keep the dams intact and hope to manage the water they are forced to release.

Measurements Thursday showed Buffalo Bayou flowing at about 14,000 cubic feet per second at a gauge below the Barker reservoir but upstream from Addicks. At the time, Barker was releasing 6,300 CFS, meaning that more than half of the bayou's flow was coming from other runoff sources.

The good news is that water is flowing into the reservoir at a slightly lower rate than what is being let out, hence a gradual decline in flood levels. The decline is so gradual, however, that flood control officials are not yet comfortable lowering the release rate. Over the next two weeks, they hope to get it down to 4,000 CFS.

"This volume of water will take three months to fully empty the Addicks and Barker dams," said Lars Zetterstrom, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Galveston district. "Obviously, the goal we are trying to achieve here is to restore as much containment capacity from the dams as quickly as possible."

Rainfall draining from the Addicks and Barker watersheds, estimated at 35 to 40 inches, filled the reservoirs up to 109.08 feet and 101.56 feet, respectively, shattering last year's record set after the Tax Day Floods. Together, the floodwaters backing up in the reservoirs flooded some 4,000 homes. By Thursday night, progress was still measured in inches, at 108.7 and 100.9.

Expect flooding in homes behind the dam for weeks, said Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist Jeff Lindner.

"There's not going to be a lot of change there," Lindner said.

The Corps actively was releasing a combined total of 13,000-14,000 cubic feet per second of water from the dams, hoping to drain as much water as possible in case new storms come in and more capacity is needed to protect downstream Houston. If that doesn't happen, official expect drainage into the reservoirs to decrease significantly over the coming days.

"This volume of water will take three months to fully empty the Addicks and Barker dams," said Lars Zetterstrom, commander of the Corp's Galveston district. "Obviously, the goal we are trying to achieve here is to restore as much containment capacity from the dams as quickly as possible."

The effects of the dam releases on surrounding areas are hard to map precisely. Some fears never materialized. The Memorial Villages - six connected, affluent townships along Memorial Drive and north of Buffalo Bayou - experienced no additional flooding in their 6,300 homes, though projections said that they might.

The villages, in fact, had little residential flooding from Harvey except for a handful of homes along the bayou. It is worth noting that new drainage projects, many completed but a few not, performed as expected.

"We're the luckiest people in the universe," said Hunters Creek Village Mayor Jim Pappas. "Our drainage worked like a champ. I can say that for us and pretty much all of the villages."

To the south and to the west, it was a different story, one of haves and have-nots, annoyance versus misery. Their divergent tales cannot fairly be traced to Addicks and Barker.

The two earthen dams were constructed seven decades ago to allow Houston to rest easy when storms hit. When they were built, the adjacent area both upstream and downstream was prairie, and Houston's population was a fraction of its current 2.3 million. Suburban communities now home to hundreds of thousands more, such as Katy and Cypress, were sparsely settled.

The dams remain are a critical line of defense to protect downtown, the Texas Medical Center, tens of thousands of homes and more than one million downstream residents. But a large chunk of the population lies outside its protection, among them neighborhoods to the sides.

Those were hit when water started pouring along an emergency spillway designed to keep the dams from overflowing. Hundreds of homes near the Beltway were impacted by the flooding, Lindner said.

Water also threatened to spill over onto the westbound lanes of I-10. Texas Department of Transportation workers erected an improvised dam to divert the water. As darkness came Thursday, it was holding.

Mihir Zaveri contributed to this report.
Dear Readers,

In Texas, we stick together.

There hasn't been any greater example of this than what has been seen these past few days. We are grateful to the police, first responders, emergency personnel, good Samaritans and many others who have volunteered their time and services, and continue to do so to help our neighbors and communities.

The Houston Chronicle will not be charging subscribers for the week we endured the storm. Because we realize there are isolated areas our carriers cannot access, but want to ensure our community stays informed, we will have free copies of the Houston Chronicle available at retailers through Sunday, Sept. 3.

HoustonChronicle.com and the eNewspaper also are available 24/7. Get the latest news on recovery efforts, how you can receive assistance, learn how to help and much more.

We will continue to work hard to bring you the most up-to-date news coverage of everything Houston.

We're in this together.

#TexasTough

Sincerely,

John McKeon, president and publisher, and the Houston Chronicle staff
AUSTIN - A texting and driving ban, sword-carrying rights and permission to hunt wild hogs from hot air balloons are just some of the many new Texas laws going into effect Friday.

Others ban a long-standing practice of allowing children under 16 years old to marry, give faith-based child welfare organizations authority to deny placing children with gay parents, and make it harder to fight insurance companies that give homeowners lower-thank-expected damage estimates.

Nearly 700 new laws go into effect Sept. 1, the biennial start state for most laws passed during the legislative session. Nearly 400 laws went into effect immediately after they were signed, and about two dozen kick in Jan. 1.

Most of the 673 new laws impact narrow groups of people, like relating to certain mental health screening, changing state agencies' power or designating Jan. 9 as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

But others have more wide-ranging application, including two that have already been halted at least temporarily by the courts.

More for you Officials: Likelihood of special legislative session grows as...

Senate Bill 4, the flagship law of this year's legislative session, allows law enforcement to ask for proof of legal residency at traffic stops and other routine detentions. The law also threatens jail time and hefty fines to local law enforcement officials who refuse federal requests to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally so they can be deported. A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday hit pause on the bill's implementation and granted a preliminary injunction preventing the law from going into effect.

Another law quickly challenged in the courts stems from lawmakers' decision to ban one of the safest second-term abortion procedures this year. Anti-abortion activists who pushed for the law refer to the procedure as "dismemberment" say the procedure is cruel, although abortion providers say the dilation and evacuation procedure is the safest way for women to end their pregnancy in the second trimester. A federal judge decided Thursday to temporarily halt the ban.

While the courts untangle the constitutionality of the challenged state laws, many others go into effect Friday. Here's a taste:

Texting while driving

Texting behind the wheel is now illegal in all of Texas. According to state law, drivers cannot "read, write, or send an electronic message while operating a motor vehicle unless the vehicle is stopped."

The offense comes with a fine of $25 to $99 for a first offense, which balloons to $200 to $500 of found guilty of multiple offenses. The law, however, allows a driver to use a phone to control a car's stereo system and to access a mapping app.

Texas was one of four states without a texting a driving ban after years of dead ends trying to get a ban both passed and signed by the governor. Last year, 455 people were killed and more than 3,000 seriously injured in Texas in vehicle crashes related to distracted driving.

Repeal of knife ban

Samurai swords, machetes, stilettos and other long blades are now legal to carry in public, shredding a previous state law that limited people to carrying blades no longer than 5.5 inches long. However, the law comes with a long list of location and age restrictions. Longer knives cannot be carried inside of places like schools, churches, hospitals and sporting events or by anyone under 18 years old without parental supervision.

"I think it's an OK law," said Hunter Follett, owner of Swords of Might, a Dallas-area sword shop "Swords have been carried for 5,000 years, but I don't want people going out in the streets who don't know what they're doing or don't have training in carrying a sword and potentially frightening people."

Hunting hogs from hot air balloons

Hunters can now shoot feral hogs and coyotes from a hot air balloon. Yes, a hot air balloon. The Legislature floated the idea to help eradicate the state's estimated 2 million wild hogs that have caused millions of dollars in damage to crops and wreaked havoc on farmland. The hogs are an invasive species with no other natural predator, which has allowed them to proliferate.

Shooting hogs from hot air balloons allows people to sneak up on the animals and adds to the aerial hunting industry. However, opponents have cautioned that federal agencies have lax regulations for commercial ballooning. Texas last year was home to the worst hot air balloon crash in history, killing 16 people outside of Lockhart.

Child marriage

A person younger than 18 can no longer marry in Texas unless a judge consents to the union, and no one under the age of 16 can get married anymore. Previously, the state allowed a child between 16 and 18 to marry with parental consent, and a judge would be needed to OK the marriage of a younger child. Texas had the second-highest number of child marriages in the country from 2010 to 2014, according to a Pew Research Center study. In that time, more than 7,000, children have married, according to Department of State Health Services.

Inappropriate student-teacher relationships

Principals and superintendents failing to quickly report cases of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students could face a state jail felony or a $500 to $10,000 fine. The Texas Education Agency reportedly opened more than 220 investigations into inappropriate educator relationships in fiscal year 2015-16. The law attempts to crack down on school districts unknowingly hiring teachers who were involved in improper student relationships at their past schools by creating new penalties to administrators who hide teacher misconduct.

Insurance claims, lawsuits

Homeowners may have fewer options to fight an insurance company that gives them a lower-than-expected damage estimate. The new law will make it very difficult for lawyers to collect fees against insurance companies and lowers the penalties companies have to pay if they fail to pay a legitimate claim "timely and fully." The law is intended to crack down on frivolous insurance lawsuits, but consumer groups say it will negatively impact homeowners, particularly those hit by Hurricane Harvey. Lawmakers say the law applies only to wind claims and does not govern flood insurance.

'Sincerely held religious beliefs'

Child welfare providers will be allowed to deny adoptions and other services based on their "sincerely held religious beliefs," allowing faith-based organizations to place a child in a religious school and refuse to contract with other organizations that don't share their religious beliefs. Opponents of the law argue it will lead to discrimination against LGBT people seeking to becoming foster or adoptive parents. Those in favor of the law refute those claims, saying faith-based groups must make referrals to other organizations.

Sandra Bland Act

A new law requires counties to divert people with mental health and substance abuse issues toward treatment instead of keeping them in jail. The law also makes it easier for inmates to receive bail if they have a mental illness or intellectual disability. The measure was named after Sandra Bland, a woman found dead in a Waller County jail after she was arrested during a traffic stop.

Special education cap

Texas education officials can no longer cap the number of students allowed to receive special education services. Stemming from a 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation that exposed the state's decade-old cap on the percentage of students allowed to receive special education services, denying tens of thousands of children with disabilities from services like tutoring and therapy.



David's Law

In an attempt to To counter school bullying, a new state law will make it a Class A misdemeanor to harass someone under age 18 through text messages, social media, websites or other electronic venues with the intent to cause them to harm themselves and commit suicide. The law  which increases the penalty from a Class B misdemeanor  also allows people to obtain temporary restraining orders against social media accounts used to harass or bully children.



No more "Lunch shaming"

Parents have more time to settle up their children's school lunch debt before the cafeteria worker stops serving hot lunches under a new grace period for students who show up without money. They can now continue eating hot lunches before they are given cold sandwiches.



New hate crime

Someone who attacks a person they knew to be a law enforcement officer could be found guilty of a hate crime. The same goes if someone damages a law enforcement officers' property. The change puts crimes against law enforcement in the same category as crimes based on a person's race, color, disability, religion, national origin, age, gender or sexual preference.



Hot car law

A new law offers new legal protections for people trying to rescue a child, elderly or disabled person locked in a vehicle. Under state law, "good Samaritans" are already protected from criminal charges if they break into a vehicle to rescue someone inside, but the new law protects good Samaritans from civil lawsuits if they have reason to believe the person is in imminent harm, has first notified law enforcement or 911, uses no more force than is necessary and remains with the individual in a safe location.

Paul Cobler contributed to this report.
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AUSTIN  Texas is shipping in gasoline from three neighboring states and reversing a pipeline carrying fuel to Oklahoma, as a panicked run on gas stations in the wake of tropical storm Harvey has left hundreds of stations dry statewide.

The bottom line is that the state of Texas will have plenty of gasoline showing up at gasoline stations, said Gov. Greg Abbott, at a press briefing at the state operations center in Austin on Friday. Dont worry, we will not run out and we will be back into our normal pattern before you know it.

Abbott announced that refineries in Corpus Christi and Red Rivers are coming back online and said the state has been working literally overnight, nonstop to ensure adequate supply. Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico have begun shipping gas into the Dallas, Fort-Worth area and surrounding counties. In addition, a pipeline carrying gasoline from Texas to Oklahoma has been reversed, keeping the fuel instate. The Port of Corpus Christi is now open with barges loaded with fuel coming in Friday and in the coming weeks.

Abbott said drivers can help in the effort by yielding to tanker trucks on the highway.

The best thing they can do is when they see one of those tanker trucks filled with gasoline, move out of that lane, and that way they can get down the road faster, he said.

We have a bunch of gasoline coming in.

Officials say the state has enough fuel and have urged panicked drivers not to fill up their tanks unnecessarily, whichcan create a run-on-the-bank scenario.

Texas Railroad Commission Ryan Sitton tweeted Friday morning that there there's gas. We just have to get it (to) pumps.

When people panic and fill up unnecessarily, makes it harder, he wrote.

Though some cities ravaged by Harvey have begun the rebuilding efforts, including cities such as Corpus Christi, others are facing more flooding. The Neches River continues to rise in Beaumont, where already it is roughly 7 feet higher than record levels.

It will continue to remain at or near that high for about the next week, Abbott said. This flooding poses an ongoing threat to Beaumont and the surrounding area.

Evacuees continue to flood the 258 emergency shelters across the state. Overnight Thursday, nearly 42,400 Texans spent the night in a shelter, with roughly 6,000 of those in state parks. Another 3,000 sought shelter in Louisiana, Abbott said.

Already about 440,000 Texans have applied for assistance from FEMA, and the federal organization has approved more than $79 million in aid, Abbott said.

Abbott said the state will not need a special session to deal with the storm damage, saying the resources being deployed should be enough to address the needs from now until the next legislative session begins in 2019. He also said the state will be able to tap the states $10 billion savings account, known as the rainy day fund, as needed.

Also Friday, Abbott announced the launch of the RebuildTX Fund with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for present-day relief and long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts. The Dells will match $1 for every $2 donated through midnight Monday, for the first $36 million. The goal is to raise $100 million by the end of the Labor Day weekend. To contribute, go to www.rebuildtx.org

amorris@express-news.net
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A federal judge on Thursday turned down an emergency request to halt the citys plans to remove a Confederate monument in Travis Park.

Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, in a nine-page order, ruled that Richard Brewer, Jean Carol Lane and the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans had not met the legal requirements for the judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would bar the city from removing the statue.

Brewer and Lane sued Mayor Ron Nirenberg and the City Council and asked for the TRO, claiming that their freedom of speech would be abridged by the removal of the monument. They also argued that the city lacks the right to remove the statue because, they claim, the city doesnt hold title to the land on which the statue sits.

The council voted 10-1  just before the court hearing  to remove the statue.

If the defendants are not stopped from removing the monument, the plaintiffs will likely suffer irreparable injury, the groups lawyer, Kirk Lyons of North Carolina, told Ezra. Lyons said the plaintiffs are afraid the statue will be damaged if it is removed.

Weve seen several incidents where theyve taken down monuments and botched it, Lyons told the judge via phone during the hearing. Its been badly done.

Assistant City Attorney Deborah Klein told the judge that the plaintiffs did not have standing, and would likely lose their arguments not only on the TRO but once the full lawsuit is heard.

And, she argued that the city is taking care in preserving the statue and hired a contractor that is an expert in removal.

Its not being destroyed, Klein told the judge. Its being moved.

The statue would be placed in storage intact until the city decides where it should go, she said.

One more day of the statue in place is one more day of disservice to the public at large, Klein said.

But supporters who attended the hearing argue that the statue should stay because it represents history.

I just want my kids to have the history  good, bad, everything, the truth, Ellie Lambers of San Antonio, who is not a plaintiff, said afterward. How can we eradicate the truth? ...What Im worried about is, whats next?

Though he ruled against the plaintiffs, the judge ordered the city to be careful that the removal is carried out in such a manner as to preserve the integrity of the Monument; and further, that the Monument be stored in a secure location in order to protect it from damage or from being defaced pending resolution of this lawsuit or further order of this Court.

gcontreras@express-news.net
Sarah Ravani /San Antonio Express-News

State Sen. Carlos Uresti announced Thursday that preparations were underway in San Antonio to provide assistance to foster children and families evacuated to Bexar County in the wake of Harveys catastrophic floods.

Imagine if these were our homes that we see on TV. Imagine if it was your business that had been destroyed. Imagine if it was your family. Imagine if it was your children. Some of these children have lost everything, Uresti said at a news conference held at The Childrens Shelter.
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The Confederate statue that has overlooked Travis Park for more than 100 years is gone.

Shortly before 2 a.m., workers were overheard saying: We are floating. Go ahead and take it up easy.

10-4 coming up easy, someone responded. Alright were clear?

You're good to go sir, said someone else.

RELATED: City sued as debate over Confederate statue unfolds

And within seconds, the statue was slowly lifted into the air by a crane. Prior to lifting the statue into the air, a man in a cherry picker sawed off parts of the statue, sending a plume of smoke into the air.

Now Playing: The Confederate statue that overlooked a downtown San Antonio park for more than 100 years was removed Aug. 30, 2017. Video: San Antonio Express-News

A group of about eight bystanders behind a police barricade started cheering loudly and yelled, Hey hey, ho ho, the racist statues got to go."

Hours after the City Council voted 10-1 Thursday to approve its removal, the statue was resting on the bed of a truck.

RELATED: Judge denies motion to block city from removing Confederate statue

The decision came amid rising tension surrounding Confederate monuments across the U.S. and in the same week the North East Independent School Districts board of trustees voted unanimously to rename Robert E. Lee High School.

San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said removal of the statue would take several hours.

Were going to seal the perimeter off to protect the workers so they can do what they need to do, he said.

Once the statue is removed, police will escort the statue to its destination, he said.

We dont anticipate but we plan for the worst-case scenario, McManus said.

RELATED: S.A. group to protest Confederate rally in Austin

He added that no threats have been made against police or workers.

In the park, bicycle officers and portable surveillance cameras were positioned behind fencing that completely enclosed the grounds.

In the surrounding streets, marked and unmarked police vehicles as well as motorcycle cops drove around the park.

Shortly after midnight, both cannons were removed.

RELATED: NEISD board votes to drop name of Lee High School

Anna Deluna, 47, arrived to watch the statues removal at about midnight with her boyfriend. The two live nearby.

We just wanted to see it come down, she said. It just represents racism and inequality and oppression and we are glad now that its coming down. It just seems like nowadays things are really, really difficult with Trump being in power, race relations. Maybe the silver lining is statues like these and attention being brought to them.

Her boyfriend, Doyle Avant, 53, agreed. He said they just wanted to witness the removal of a piece of history that should not be celebrated.

It's a good step in the right direction. It's important to remove it, he said. And a lot of people dont want to admit there's racism in this country. Obviously its the total opposite and we should talk about it. Don't be afraid to do something.

RELATED: Someone called in a bomb threat during rallies over a Confederate statue in Travis Park

Avant said the removal was necessary.

I think it's disingenuous to say its just history and its heritage. The heritage argument is really nonsense, Avant said.

Although there have been discussions about the statues removal for years, it became a high-priority issue this summer when Roberto Trevino and William Cruz Shaw filed a council-consideration request, the process used by council members to put proposals before their colleagues.

After weeks of heated debate and protests, Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced his intention to fast-track the vote, a prerogative of the mayors office. Thursday afternoon, council members voted to remove and relocate the statue to a museum or another area where it can be viewed within the proper historical context.

RELATED: Vintage photos show Robert E. Lee High School through the years

Councilman Manny Pelaez and others referenced the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, as reason to move swiftly here.

That violence and threats aimed at contractors tasked with removing similar monuments in other cities have spurred several cities including Baltimore to pull their monuments down under the cover of darkness with little advanced warning.

In San Antonio, a fence was put up around the park early Thursday morning, and police were stationed at the site all day as a precautionary measure.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

jbeltran@express-news.net

Staff Writers Josh Baugh and Jacob Beltran contributed to this report.
Questions about immigration status are still off the table for San Antonio police after a federal judge blocked most of the new Texas sanctuary cities law set to take effect Friday, Police Chief William McManus said Thursday.

The San Antonio Police Department will have to change its policies after U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia on Wednesday upheld a portion of Senate Bill 4, which creates penalties for local governments that prohibit police from asking about immigration status.

But city officials and lawyers who had challenged the law said Thursday that other portions of the ban that Garcia struck down severely limited its impact.

The law allows the attorney general to fine or remove from office local officials who prohibit or materially limit a police officer from inquiring into the immigration status of a person under a lawful detention or under arrest and sharing information with federal immigration authorities.

Garcia blocked the phrase materially limit, writing that it was too vague, but left in place the word prohibit. As a result, the police department removed from its policy a line that states: Officers will not ask any person for proof of citizenship or legal residency.

Still, Garcia sufficiently diluted the SB 4 provisions, said lawyers representing San Antonio and other city and county governments who sued the state to halt the law. They said police departments can tell officers questions about immigration status are a low priority and should be avoided as long as they dont outright block them from asking.

To that end, McManus read to reporters at a news conference the citys revised policy: Officers will not detain and/or arrest an individual based on the fact or suspicion that they are in the United States illegally. The enforcement priorities of this department are to protect the public safety, and the priorities do not include asking any person for proof of citizenship or legal residency.

Officers are also instructed not to ask victims or witnesses of a crime about their immigration status unless an officer must ask to further investigate the offense or the officer is providing information about visas for immigrants who cooperate with police, the new policy states.

Otherwise, we do not ask and our priorities remain the same, and that is to answer calls for service and work with the public to help prevent and deter crime, McManus said.

The chief said that officers will receive a copy of the new policy and will be shown a video about it at roll call.

While Garcia ruled that police are allowed to ask about immigration status during an arrest or detention, which could include a traffic stop, and are allowed to share information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he warned that the law does not allow police to stop someone to determine their immigration status or to draw out detentions for immigration enforcement, even if someone admits to being in the country illegally.

SB 4 merely requires that the officer be permitted (but not required) to share with ICE whatever information (however incomplete) he discovers during his immigration inquiry, either after releasing the individual or during the seizure, provided that this communication does not prolong the seizure, Garcia wrote.

His ruling, a response to a lawsuit filed by local governments, including San Antonio and the border town of El Cenizo, temporarily blocks most of SB 4 from taking effect until he can decide its constitutionality. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a notice Thursday stating hell appeal Garcias decision.

A section the judge blocked that allows the attorney general to fine and remove from office for local officials who adopt, enforce, or endorse a policy under which the entity or department prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws had made opponents particularly nervous.

Theyd argued the word endorse in that context allowed the state to punish any official who voiced opposition to SB 4 and that the phrase materially limits was so vague it would require local police to act as immigration officers or risk penalties.

Garcia agreed, saying that both were likely unconstitutional and barred the state from enforcing them.

In a brief filed Thursday asking Garcia to stay his injunction, attorneys for the state wrote that Garcia misunderstood the segment of the law, which is designed to stop local law enforcement agencies from having policies that obstruct cooperation with federal immigration officials.

Garcia denied the states request to stay his decision until the appeal is decided.

Although he said some portions of the law were constitutional, Garcia expressed concern about the bill.

There is overwhelming evidence by local officials, including local law enforcement, that SB 4 will erode public trust and make many communities and neighborhoods less safe, the judge wrote.

There is also ample evidence that localities will suffer adverse economic consequences which, in turn, harm the State of Texas. Indeed, at the end of the day, the Legislature is free to ignore the pleas of city and county officials, along with local police departments, who are in the trenches and neighborhoods enforcing the law on a daily and continuing basis. The depth and reservoir of knowledge and experience possessed by local officials can be ignored. The Court cannot and does not second guess the Legislature. However, the State may not exercise its authority in a manner that violates the United States Constitution.

Opponents of SB 4 cast the debate over the law as a contest between the will of officials in Austin and local governments.

This is the most vivid example of the state playing Big Brother in a year that has been overloaded with state and federal attempts to dictate municipal policy to local elected officials, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Thursday. The bottom line is that SB 4 is an excessive and cruel reaction to the federal governments failure to deal with immigration.

The fight over SB 4 is part of a larger shift in the national immigration debate. During the administration of former President Barack Obama, the federal government and the state of Texas were often at odds on immigration policy. Under President Donald Trump, the Justice Department has come out in favor of SB 4, telling Garcia the law is constitutional.

Joining immigration activists in front of the federal courthouse Thursday morning, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio, said the SB 4 decision gives us encouragement that we will ultimately prevail, that we will never accept being drug backwards by those state officials who are kind of the Junior Trumps up there in Austin.

Doggett noted that despite the victory over SB 4, recipients of the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program face a looming threat, again driven by the state of Texas.

Paxton has told the Trump administration that if it does not end the program that provides renewable two-year reprieves from deportation to some young immigrants who are in the country without permission, he will challenge it in court on Tuesday. According to national media reports, Trump is considering halting or changing the program, possibly as early as Friday.

Its very unlike President Trump to yield to a threat, Doggett said. So I hope hes not going to back down in the face of Ken Paxton.

Selene Gomez, the San Antonio area coordinator for Mi Familia Vota, said at the rally that activists will be holding another event Friday in Milam Park asking the City Council for a resolution in favor of immigrants rights and preparing for a decision on deferred action, known as DACA. Her organization will continue to combat SB 4 and encourage Texans to vote against the legislators who supported it, Gomez said, but everybody now is shifting 100 percent to DACA.

jbuch@express-news.net

Twitter: @jlbuch
AUSTIN  The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily suspended a lower court order requiring Texas redraw nine state House districts.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked for the stay on Thursday, and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order hours later granting the stay until Sept. 7, when a response from plaintiffs is due.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. Supreme Court similarly suspended a San Antonio court ruling that invalidated two of Texas' congressional districts.

We applaud Justice Alitos decision (Thursday), just as we applauded his temporary stay of the district courts ruling on Texas congressional seats last week, said Marc Rylander, director of communications for the attorney general. We look forward to vigorously defending the redistricting maps used in the last three election cycles at the United States Supreme Court.

The maps have been the center of a legal battle, as advocacy groups argue they intentionally dilute minorities voting power, by cramming them into a single district, or splitting them up among too many.

A three-judge federal court panel in San Antonio on August 24 tossed out parts of the state's House redistricting plan. None of the affected districts were in Bexar County; several are in in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

amorris@express-news.net
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After nearly two weeks in Nueces County Jail, A.B. Quintanilla is a free man.

The 13th Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered his release from jail, voiding 347th District Court Judge Missy Medary's Aug. 16 decision.

A.B. Quintanilla, the 53-year-old brother of slain Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla, was sent to jail for not making child support payments, according to court documents.

RELATED: A.B. Quintanilla agrees to pay $87,000 in child support, still ordered jailed

Records show A.B. Quintanilla owed $87,587.48 as of July 11. A warrant was issued for his arrest in May, and he made the Nueces County Sheriff's Office top 10 most wanted list in August.

After appearing in court on Aug. 16, A.B. Quintanilla agreed to pay the full amount he owes, along with additional medical and attorney expenses. Despite the agreement, Medary still sent him to jail and asked him to consider his responsibilities as a parent while he was in custody.

The appeals court cited a lack of evidence in their decision to free A.B. Quintanilla, saying the hearing did not provide enough proof that he violated the terms of community supervision.

Abraham Quintanilla, A.B. Quintanilla's father, posted a photo of them monitoring Hurricane Harvey as it began to move toward Lousiana.

Shortly after, he posted the same photos, but with a different caption.

"For all those that were misinforming on social media that Ab was in jail for a long time NOT TRUE he is at home enjoying some tacos," the post read. "Its very clear how you find out who the real friends are and who your enemies are. I am keeping a list."

READ MORE: Tejano musician A.B. Quintanilla has past of missing child support payments, records show

Following the settlement, A.B. Quintanilla will not need to pay anymore child support in this case, as the child is now 18-years-old.

fsabawi@mySA.com



Twitter: @FaresInSA
Stephen Mitchell, remembered by faculty as a pioneering, student-oriented president of St. Philips College from 1985 to 1992, died Monday at 86 at his home in Cupertino, California.

Mitchell was thought to be the nations only Anglo president of a federally designated Historically Black College and Latino Serving Institution  St. Philips being the only one that was both. He was instrumental in getting federal funds, now some $6.1 million for 2017, for an East Side institution he said had been treated like a rundown high school before he arrived from the University of Hawaii.
When I was growing up in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, being asked about my citizenship was a fact of life.

Crossing the border into Mexico to eat and shop  back when it was safe to do so  those questions about citizenship were routine. It was more of the same when I went off to college and had to drive through the Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita on the way to the University of Texas campus in Austin.

Questions about my citizenship have usually been made in context  international flights, border crossings or media-event security clearances.

They never bothered me until an incident a couple of weeks ago.

I received an email from one of my credit card companies asking about my citizenship.

It was a first.

To meet government guidelines that prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, financial institutions must maintain current information about their customers. Therefore, we are requesting that our customers update their profiles with citizenship and occupation information, the message from Discover card customer service read.

In the almost 20 years I have had the card, citizenship has never been an issue. Back when I applied for it, I must have provided a Social Security number, which  at the very least  should prove I am in this country legally.

The money-laundering and terrorist mentions also threw me. Just to be perfectly clear, I dont have enough money to launder, and if terrorist cells can exist on the small sums charged to this rarely used card, we are all in trouble.

I wanted to know more about the inquiry, so I ended up chatting with April on the Discover website. It was enlightening.

I wanted to know if my account was flagged because of my last name.

I definitely want to assure you that this is something that is being asked of all our cardholders. Every single one. This information is not required for your account to remain active. If you are not comfortable sharing this information, that is OK, she said.

Was there suspicious activity on my card? Was that purchase in the Maine museum store in May suspect?

April assured me her company just wanted to get to know its customers  like the feds required.

This information does not have an impact on future decisions made to your credit. It is up to you should you wish to update it or now (sic) but assure you this is a request we are asking of every single cardholder, she said.

I told her I found the inquiry offensive and would prefer to cancel the account.

April kept insisting that providing the information was voluntary and no punitive measures would be taken if it was not provided. That is not how it read to me, especially when Discover invoked the long arm of the federal government in its request.

We dont want you to feel as if we are demanding this information and if this is how the message came across, I sincerely apologize. We certainly dont want to cancel the account unless that is your request, this is just something we are asking for to help in knowing our cardholders if they feel comfortable sharing, she replied.

I asked a friend who runs a credit union if she had ever heard of a card company making a citizenship inquiry of its cardholders. She suggested that perhaps it was a phishing email. I had thought so, too, until I did a little web sleuthing. Discover card has been doing this for a while now, according to multiple online postings by customers.

The request for updated income information from a credit card company is understandable if the customer is making a request for an increased line of credit.

I see no justification for inquiring about citizenship.

gpadilla@express-news.net
STAMFORD  A Massachusetts man was extradited to Stamford Thursday to face charges that he helped steal $54,000 from the bank account of a Stamford marble company.

Salesman Joel Sanchez, 29, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was charged with second-degree larceny and two counts of forgery for allegedly cashing two checks from the Stamford company worth $12,800, his three-page arrest warrant said.

After being brought to Stamford, the single father of three posted a $15,000 court appearance bond and was released.

In early January, police received a complaint from the owner Fordham Marble Company on Fairfield Avenue that nine checks worth $61,000 had been cashed on Dec. 22, 2016 from the companys business account.

Stamford investigator Michael Stempien looked into the matter and discovered that one of the checks had been refused and the real loss was for just over $54,000.

Stempien also discovered that six people who cashed the checks, including Sanchez, appeared to have used their own state licenses to withdraw the money.

The arrest warrant said all the checks were cashed on the same day, Dec. 22. The warrant says Sanchez cashed one check for $6,575 at a Hartford Wells Fargo branch at 2:29 p.m. and at 3:07 p.m., Sanchez appeared at a East Hartford Wells Fargo branch where he cashed a check for $6,260.

Stempien also discovered that Sanchez had opened up an account earlier that same day and listed Fordham Marble as his employer, the warrant said. The owner of the company said he had no idea who Sanchez was.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
1 Cluster bombs: Casualties from cluster munitions, internationally outlawed weapons that kill indiscriminately, more than doubled in 2016 compared with the previous year, a disarmament group that monitors the bombs use reported on Thursday. The Geneva-based Cluster Munition Coalition said nearly 1,000 people had been killed or injured by the bombs, which are banned by international treaty. Most of the increase was attributed to the war in Syria, where, the group said, Syrian government forces began using the weapons in 2016 with Russias support. Dozens of other deaths last year were attributed to the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen and lethal remnants buried in Laos from the intensive U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War era. The groups annual report is based on adherence to the 2010 treaty that prohibits them. To date, 119 countries have signed the treaty or agreed to its provisions. A number of major weapons-producing nations, however, have not signed or agreed to the treaty, including the United States, Russia, China and Ukraine. Nearly all countries in the Middle East also have not signed or agreed to it.

2 Controversial deal: The Islamic State handed over the body of a recently captured Iranian Revolutionary Guard member as part of a deal that allowed hundreds of extremists and their families to evacuate the Lebanon-Syria border region. The Lebanese Hezbollah group, which negotiated the controversial deal, said Thursday it had received the body of Mohsen Hojaji. The evacuation deal, in which the militants also revealed the locations of the remains of Lebanese soldiers captured in 2014 in exchange for safe passage to an Islamic State-held area in Syria, angered Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition, which said Islamic State militants should be killed on the battlefield.
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MOSCOW  Russia wrestled Friday with how to respond to the United States order to shut its San Francisco consulate and trade offices in Washington and New York without going overboard and aggravating the already tense situation.

Russia needs to think carefully about how we could respond, to one of the thorniest diplomatic confrontations between Washington and Moscow in decades, said President Vladimir Putins foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov.

One does not want to go into a frenzy, because someone has to be reasonable and stop, Ushakov added.

The Trump administration said the Thursday order was in retaliation for the Kremlins unwarranted and detrimental demand last month that the U.S. substantially reduce the size of its diplomatic staff in Russia.

For its part, Russia justified its call for cuts to U.S. embassy and consular personnel that took effect Friday as a reaction to new sanctions the U.S. congress approved in July.

The U.S. gave Russia 48 hours, or until Saturday, to comply with the order for the San Francisco consulate and the East Coast offices. As Russian diplomats rushed to meet the deadline, black smoke was seen billowing out of the chimney at the San Francisco consulate. Firefighters, who were turned away by Russian officials when they responded to the scene, said the Russians were burning something in their fireplace.

Also Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would reply with firmness, but needs time to study Washingtons directive and to decide on a response.

We will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States, Lavrov said in a televised event.

Nataliya Vasilyeva and Josh Lederman are Associated Press writers.
New X-ray laser technique reveals magnetic skyrmion fluctuations (Nanowerk News) A new way of operating the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energys SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has enabled researchers to detect and measure fluctuations in magnetic structures being considered for new data storage and computing technologies.

In a paper published earlier this month in Physical Review Letters ("Nanosecond X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy on Magnetic Skyrmions"), a team led by Joshua Turner, SLAC staff scientist, and Sujoy Roy, staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), reported measuring the fluctuations in these structures, called magnetic skyrmions, with billionth-of-a-second resolution, 1,000 times better than had been possible before.

This graphic depicts the orientations of electron spins in a magnetic skyrmion that is 100 nanometers in diameter and composed of about 8 million atoms. The spin of the central atom points down (yellow), while those of the surrounding atoms change slowly, eventually flipping to the up orientation at the circumference. (Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Catching Fluctuating Spin Textures

Skyrmions are multi-atom vortex spin textures in which the atoms spin orientations change from one direction in the middle to the opposite direction at the circumference. They move easily in response to electric fields, which makes them attractive for use in data storage technologies, shift-register memories as well as advanced computing technologies.

The charge and spin aspects of atoms are not rigid. They respond to a host of forces with vibrations and other movements  collectively called fluctuations  some of which even affect the motion of the atoms themselves. Theorists have proposed recently that fluctuations may have key roles in determining how complex materials behave, such as in the phenomenon of high-temperature superconductivity.

Until now, however, there was no way to analyze skyrmion fluctuations in the thin-film structures needed for technological applications. This new result was made possible by a recently developed two-bucket mode for creating pairs of X-ray pulses at SLACs Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free-electron laser that allows researchers to study equilibrium phenomena that takes place in time periods less than a billionth of a second long for the first time.

While individual LCLS pulses are usually separated by about 8 thousandths of a second, the two-bucket technique creates pulse pairs that can be as close as a third of a billionth of a second apart. When he learned of the two-bucket mode two years ago, Turner knew immediately that it should be useful for measuring fluctuations in magnetic systems, such as skyrmions.

Before this study, scientists have used LCLS to study non-equilibrium physics at even faster timescales, Turner explained. The new technique opens the door to a whole category of experiments that can be now be done in equilibrium at a X-ray free electron lasers.

By coincidence, Roy, a longtime friend of Turners, had been using soft X-rays at Berkeley Labs Advanced Light Source (ALS) to examine skyrmions and their fluctuations, most recently in an iron-gadolinium layered material grown by UC-San Diego professor Eric Fullerton. The two quickly agreed to use LCLS to see if they, in collaboration with Fullerton, could see rapid skyrmion fluctuations using the same sample.

Using X-rays to Tease Out Magnetic Changes

The detection process used to view the fluctuations is called X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy. Shining an ultrashort pulse of coherent X-rays on the sample produces a speckle interference pattern that represents the samples magnetic features. Following up quickly with a second pulse adds a second speckle pattern on top of the first on the same detector. Any fluctuations will cause the second pattern to be different, so the level of fuzziness in the combined image indicates the magnitude of the fluctuations in the sample.

This technique is similar to measuring the twinkling of stars to elucidate details of turbulence in the earths atmosphere, Turner said. In this case, the goal of measuring the twinkling of the detected X-rays is understanding how the materials magnetic structure is fluctuating and how it impacts the materials properties.

One of several challenges to making these measurements was reducing the intensity of LCLSs X-ray pulses so they would not create their own fluctuations in the sample. Various techniques ultimately reduced the flux of X-rays hitting the sample to a millionth of the original pulse energy.

We want to just tickle the sample, Turner said. Its a far cry from the typical LCLS pump-probe experiment, where the intense X-ray pulses can, by design, modify, or even blast the samples away.

Developing ways to measure the X-ray intensities of each pairs pulses and their time intervals and to detect so few photons in the speckle patterns were also very difficult, added Matt Seaberg, SLAC associate staff scientist and first author of the paper. The researchers adjusted the time between each pairs pulses from a fraction of a nanosecond to 25 nanoseconds (a nanosecond is a billionth of a second) and also tuned an external magnetic field to span a range of magnetic conditions in the sample.

This is a completely new way of doing this kind of measurement, Roy said. The time resolution is limited by the time separating the two pulses that the accelerator produces.

When they tuned the external magnetic field to be most ideal for skyrmions in the sample, they saw that fluctuations occurred with a period of about 4 nanoseconds. But when the magnetic field was reduced slightly to where the circular skyrmion structures begin to give way to another phase with striped magnetic domain structures, the fluctuation period plummeted to only a fraction of a nanosecond.

This result indicates that the fluctuations are larger and more rapid near the boundary of the skyrmion and stripe phases, Joshua Turner said. This information is important in deciphering the role that magnetic fluctuations play as the material transforms from one phase to the other. It also will allow us to connect to theoretical models used to understand how fluctuations promote phase transitions in a multitude of magnetic and magnetic-type solids.

The collegial culture at SLAC played a big role in the success of this research, Turner added. The scientists worked closely with accelerator physicists Jim Turner and Franz-Josef Decker, who devised the two-bucket technique.

This all came about because of the close working relationship between the LCLS physicists on the X-ray side together with those on the accelerator physics side, he said. Sometimes its not clear how we can use their amazing developments. But working together made this a very fruitful endeavor.
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.
Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro, Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (DCMC) visited Finland on 28-29 August 2017. During his visit, Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro attended the 4th Helsinki Summer Session and visited the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.

During his visit, Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro attended and spoke at the 4th Annual Helsinki Summer Session which was organised by the Center for US Politics and Power (CUSPP) at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. His speech, titled NATO and the future of Collective Defence, addressed the prospects of collective defence, the military and political measures NATO has taken to meet current and future challenges as well as the role of NATOs Enhanced Opportunities Partners.

When speaking about the new challenges that have emerged in recent years and have drastically changed the post-Cold War security environment, Lieutenant General Shepro highlighted NATOs efforts in responding to these challenges: In response to these challenges, NATOs is enhancing the SPEED, SCALE and SCOPE of its ability to ensure effective collective defense. To do this, the Alliance is looking at three key areas, keeping carefully in mind the importance of partners, like Finland: 1) Situational Awareness (360), 2) Readiness and Interoperable Capabilities 3) Coherence and Communication. Lieutenant General Shepro went on to explain the ongoing work on the Alliances Defense and Deterrence capabilities, as well as the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan, Enhanced Forward Presence and Tailored Forward Presence, and the important role they play in NATOs response to these challenges and deterring any potential aggressor.

The General also emphasised that in a world where globalised threats have become a reality, NATO must build bridges with international organisations such as the EU and capitalize on its partnerships with countries like Finland or Sweden. These partnerships are critical. NATO is increasingly including partners in exercises, information-sharing, standardization, and requirements planning. As an Enhanced Opportunity Partner, Finland is particularly engaged in these areas.

The visit was also an opportunity for Lieutenant General Shepro to visit Finlands European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Earlier this year, nine NATO and EU Nations signed the Memorandum of Understanding to establish the centre: Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. While not signatories themselves, NATO and the EU will participate actively in the Centres activities. Lieutenant General Shepro acknowledged the importance of the Centre, countering hybrid threats is a priority for NATO, as they blur the line between war and peace and combine multiple capabilities and tactics. The Centre will open officially later this year.
(Natural News) Health insurance giant Aetna recently went under fire as it inadvertently disclosed the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status of some of its members through a letter sent to some 12,000 people.

The letters, which were sent out on July 28, originally meant to inform members of a change in pharmacy benefits. However, the texts seen through a small window on the envelop showed the patients names and suggestions about changes in filling up prescriptions.

People have been devastated. Weve had a number of people tell us they had chosen not to disclose their HIV status to family members  but this is how their family members found out. People with any private health conditions can just imagine, whether youre being treated for cancer or a behavioral condition, just imagine having that flat out on the front of an envelope for anyone to see. It should be a grave concern to everyone, Sally Friedman, legal director at Legal Action Center told Stat News online.

Legal Action Center worked with the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania to urge the insurer to cease the mailings and to address the mistake. Both organizations as well as other privacy and AIDS advocacy groups have received complaints from patients across eight states  including Arizona, California, Georgia, and Illinois as well as New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania  and the District of Columbia.

The groups also noted that affected patients have already filed complaints with the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS-OCR) or other state authorities.

Aetna apologizes to patients; explains side

In response, a letter sent by Aetna to affected members suggested that personal information was only visible in some cases. Likewise, the health insurance giant also noted that the letter did not include any statement indicating that a member was diagnosed with any specific condition. However, Friedman insisted that all the letters the advocacy groups examined visibly displayed the information.

The letter also contained the companys explanation about the error. According to Aetna, the letters sent to their members last month could have shifted in a way that allowed the sensitive information to be visible through the envelop window.

[The company] confirmed that the vendor handling the mailing had used a window envelope, and, in some cases, the letter could have shifted within the envelope in a way that allowed personal health information to be viewable through the window. Regardless of how this error occurred, it affects our members and it is our responsibility to do out best to make things right, the companys letter stated.

The company has since then issued an apology and remarked that the error will not happen again.

This type of mistake is unacceptable. We sincerely apologize to those affected by a mailing issue that inadvertently exposed the personal health information of some Aetna members. Regardless of how this error occurred, it affects our members and it is our responsibility to do our best to make things right. We will work to ensure that proper safeguards are in place to prevent something similar from happening in the future, a company statement read.

What the law says about privacy breaches

Privacy breaches similar to those of Aetnas are subject to federal scrutiny under a 2009 law. According to the law, companies that are covered by federal health privacy laws ought to report data breaches that impact more than 500 individuals. A database containing information on data breaches recorded about 30 incidents in July alone.

However, the database did not divulge detailed information about the breaches. Medical companies often settle their violations with the HHS. In some cases, these companies pay millions of dollars as a fine. (Related: HIV vaccines cause 50 percent false positive rate in HIV tests.)

Sources include:

StatNews.com

WashingtonPost.com

NPR.org
(Natural News) Would you pay nearly $150,000 for a degree that can get you a job with a median yearly salary of less than $40,000 in an industry that is currently experiencing a high degree of layoffs? If so, Columbia Universitys School of Journalism will gladly sign you up for its new Master of Science in Data Journalism program.

The school charges $106,000 for the tuition and other fees related to the degree and $41,232 for living expenses. The notion is drawing mockery from established journalists like Chicago Tribune editor Charlie J. Johnson, who tweeted that A $100,000 masters degree in journalism is a stupid thing.

This program joins the three existing masters degrees in Columbias journalism department, and it comes at a much higher price tag; the general Master of Arts costs around $55,000, while the Master of Science and the Master of Science in Journalism and Computer Science will set you back just over $60,000. The school says the higher price tag is largely driven by the extra semester devoted to learning computational data and reporting fundamentals.

Its hard to imagine theyll get many takers, unless people are planning to take advantage of the student loan forgiveness program to fund it and simply not pay the loan back. You dont need a masters degree to land a $40,000-a-year job  or any degree at all, for that matter. Entrants into the program need a bachelors degree anyway, and this degree seems unlikely to improve their earning prospects by enough to justify the cost.

Mainstream media journalism careers not for the faint of heart

Some people are drawn to journalism because they want to make a positive difference in the world  for example, by exposing wrongdoings on the part of governments or corporations and inspiring changes to be made that improve peoples lives. However, the reality for many journalists who work in the modern mainstream media is far different. These journalists are often asked to write fake news stories that cast their corporate sponsors in the most flattering light possible, regardless of the truth of the situation. This unfortunate reality is disappointing enough when it sets in for journalism grads, but it is an even more bitter pill to swallow when you realize you just spent $147,514 for the privilege of spreading falsehoods.

In fact, its hard to believe that anyone would need a degree for some of the pieces published by the mainstream media. For example, court documents have shown that Monsanto has its own experts craft pieces defending its carcinogenic weed killers and has journalists publish them under their own names. Indeed, Forbes just terminated writer Henry Miller after it was revealed that Monsanto had ghost-written his article downplaying Roundups risk of cancer. Monsanto also admitted that they have collaborated with him on other pieces. There are likely countless other writers out there who have had similar arrangements with Monsanto and other firms as this is not an uncommon practice for many of the worlds biggest corporations, particularly those with something to hide.

At the Washington Post, meanwhile, winning a Pulitzer Prize requires a good imagination more than anything else  provided no one finds out you fabricated the story and withdraws the award.

With major platforms like Facebook now taking steps to flag and filter out news it doesnt agree with, even more journalists will find themselves bending to the will of those who sign their paychecks. The actions of Facebook and Google will essentially ensure that only the industries that have the most money to spend or the best political connections will get their news circulated. Journalists employed in the mainstream media will find themselves repeating fake facts citing unnamed sources to help Big Pharma push vaccines and meds, try to get Trump removed from office, help Monsanto sell more toxic herbicides, and further other unsavory agendas. Who wants to shell out $150,000 to do that every day?

Sources include:

InsideHigherEd.com

FoodBabe.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The question of whether or not to vaccinate your baby is one which every new mother must face. Bombarded with conflicting evidence about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, many are very confused, afraid to cause long-term damage like autism, but bullied by the mainstream media and medical professionals into believing that failing to vaccinate will result in serious, even fatal diseases.

One of the issues which often crops up in vaccine debates is that of adjuvants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that adjuvants are ingredients added to vaccines to create stronger immune responses in recipients bodies. In other words, adjuvants help vaccines work better, they insist. The CDC also claims that adjuvants have been safely used in vaccines for many decades.

One of the most commonly used adjuvants is aluminum.

Does the addition of aluminum really help vaccines work better? What is the real reason its added to vaccines, how does it affect the immune system, and what link is there between aluminum and autoimmune diseases? (Related: Find out all you need to know at Vaccines.news.)

These issues and others were recently addressed in an interview by iHealthTube.com with Dr. Suzanne Humphries, M.D., board certified internist, nephrologist (nephrology is the study of the kidneys and their diseases), and author of Dissolving illusions, rising from the dead.

Dr. Humphries explained that while vaccines do leave an infant with a super-charged immune system for a time, this is not a healthy state for the immune system to be in.

There are two types of vaccines, Humphries explained: killed vaccines and live vaccines. Live vaccines simulate the disease in the immune system more successfully than dead vaccines, and have a better influence on the immune system  that is, Dr. Humphries pointed out, if they dont kill you or give you encephalitis. It is the dead vaccines to which aluminum is generally added as an adjuvant.

Dr. Humphries explained the reason for the addition of aluminum as follows:

When it comes to these sub-unit, or killed vaccines, the infant immune system just wont respond to it.  Theres a program in that infant immune system to make that infant anti-inflammatory, and theres a reason for it, because that infant is becoming acquainted with a world full of microbes.  Imagine if we reacted to all the microbes that were getting in our mothers breast milk, colonizing our gut and landing on our skin and our throats and our ears  we would be an autoimmune nightmare. And so, theres something called molecular mimicry, which pretty much God put into the system of us relating to the world, in that the proteins in microbes very similarly mimic our own proteins in the blood vessels and the heart and the brain and many different places, depending on which microbe youre talking about. You throw aluminum into that vaccine and molecular mimicry becomes a problem and that babys immune system gets ramped up.

So, basically, aluminum is added to vaccines to short-circuit a vitally important element of the protective measures of a babys immune system.

This temporary super-charging of the immune system does not promote long-term health. What aluminum in vaccines does do, is trigger an allergic response in most people.

Such vaccines also do not build up the immune system to fight disease better.

Humphries cited a study in Denmark which examined hospitalization rates for all sorts of infections in children under the age of 4 who had received either live or dead vaccines. The research team determined that if a killed vaccine had been a childs last vaccine, it generally had a detrimental effect on their overall immune response to other infections.

As Dr. Humphries noted, These killed vaccines skew the immune system and make a person more susceptible to other infections. So, while it might protect you from pertussis for a short period of time, you could be susceptible to RSV, croup, or other kinds of infections that could land you in the hospital. So, again, to me thats not a very good trade off. (Related: Aluminum and vaccines  what the research reveals.)

And aluminums devastating affect on the bodys natural immune defense system helps explain the surge in autoimmune diseases in recent years.

It seems there is one thing new moms can be sure of: Vaccinating your child with a vaccine that contains aluminum as an adjuvant will not strengthen their immune system, may result in an allergic response, could lead to an autoimmune disease, and may make them more susceptible to other infections.

Sources include:

YouTube.com

CDC.gov
(Natural News) Have you ever noticed how progressives tend to shut down political conversations more often than they engage in them? Make no mistake, this is a crucial part of their strategy; as a matter of fact, they have no choice but to censor their political enemies. To allow conservatives to freely and openly promote their agenda would inevitably lead to the destruction of liberalism itself, since no one in their right mind would ever choose tyranny and oppression over liberty and free will. Therefore, they engage in a constant pattern of lying about the political right, and when that doesnt work, they move to shut down free speech altogether.

In one of the more recent examples of political censorship from the progressive left, the radical, George Soros-funded website ProPublica published a piece urging companies such as PayPal to block Jihad Watch and other organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center considers to be hate groups.

Lauren Kirchner, a senior reporter at ProPublica, stated that Jihad Watchs designation as a hate site hasnt stopped tech companies  including PayPal, Amazon and Newsmax  from maintaining partnerships with Jihad Watch that help to sustain it financially. Kirchner went on to point out until recently, Amazon allowed Jihad Watch to participate in a program that promised a cut of any book sales that the site generated. All three companies [PayPal, Amazon and Newsmax] have policies that say they dont do business with hate groups. (Related: Here is a comprehensive list of tech tyrants who are silencing websites and destroying the freedom of speech.)

Theres only one problem with the ProPublica hit piece and the statement from Lauren Kirchner that followed  Jihad Watch is not a hate group. As a matter of fact, Jihad Watch makes it abundantly clear on their website that their mission is to educate the public on the dangers of radical Islam, and to draw attention to the way in which the jihad theology impacts the modern world. Not once does Jihad Watch mention targeting good, law-abiding Muslims, which youd think it would do if it really were a hate group.

Lets be honest  the progressives really are highly sympathetic of Islamic fundamentalists. If they werent, then they wouldnt be defending them every chance they got, or in the case of a failed democratic presidential nominee from Vermont, excusing their actions by blaming them on global warming. In fact, being sympathetic to Islamists is part of their agenda, because the left believes it helps them get more votes during congressional and presidential elections. To let an organization like Jihad Watch spread the truth about Islamists would be to essentially put a roadblock between the progressives and their political goals for America. Censorship is their only option.

This strategy of shutting down debate before it even begins can now be found virtually everywhere, from the mainstream media, to the Internet, to college campuses across the country. Furthermore, the left applies this tactic to a wide array of political issues, but perhaps most frequently when it comes to climate change. If youve ever tried to have a debate with a liberal or an environmentalist, chances are youve heard them claim that man-made global warming is settled science. This too is a form of political censorship; a way for the left to shut down the debate before it even begins.

Of course, all of this is having a severe and dramatic effect on the First Amendment, which to the progressives seems to be less and less relevant each day. If this assault on the freedom of speech doesnt stop soon, then America may one day turn into an authoritarian state  and by that point, it will be too late.

Sources include:

FrontPageMag.com

JihadWatch.org

Breitbart.com
Alameda County sheriff's officials said three current deputies and one former deputy were arrested Thursday for allegedly mistreating inmates at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

The deputies allegedly facilitated and allowed an inmate to throw bodily fluids, including feces and urine, onto other inmates housed in a maximum security unit of the jail, according to the sheriff's office.

Sheriff's officials said staff at Santa Rita brought the allegations of misconduct to their attention in January and they conducted an investigation that focused on incidents at the jail between the summer and fall of 2016.

The four people arrested Thursday are Sarah Krause, Justin Linn, Erik McDermott and Stephen Sarcos.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Krause, Linn and McDermott have been placed on administrative leave and Sarcos has resigned.

Kelly said bail for Linn and McDermott has been set at $135,000 and bail for Krause and Sarcos has been set at $35,000.

Sheriff's officials said they determined that the allegations were criminal in nature and Sheriff Gregory Ahern assigned the investigation to detectives at the Eden Township Substation in San Leandro.

More than 40 people were interviewed during the investigation, including sheriff's office employees, Alameda County inmates and inmates at various state prisons.

Sheriff's officials said they also met with members of the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to advise them of the alleged criminal behavior.

Sheriff's officials said Linn and McDermott were arrested on suspicion of intimidation of a witness and assault under the color of authority.

They said Krause and Sarcos were arrested for assault under the color of authority for a single incident in the fall of 2016.

Ahern said in a statement that he is "deeply disturbed and saddened" by the alleged misconduct and criminal behavior.

"Only these four individuals are identified as involved in this criminal activity. We have sought charges against the four individuals and they must now answer to these allegations," Ahern said.

"Although these allegations are egregious and shocking, the actions of these four individuals do not reflect the dedication and professionalism of the 1,600 employees who work at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office," he said.

"I am very proud of the employees who came forward to disclose this behavior. I also commend the inmates in our custody for their assistance," Ahern said.

Kelly said the district attorney's office will file charges against the four current and former employees but prosecutors weren't immediately available to confirm if charges have been filed or say when the four might appear in court.
Two pickup trucks crashed on southbound Highway 101 in San Jose early Friday, spilling debris, which then punctured a big rig's gas tank.

The vehicles involved were both white pickup trucks. One of them, which was carrying wood, flipped over near Bernal Road and the Highway 85 interchange.

A Safeway truck passing the scene of the crash overturned upon hitting the wood pieces, which also ruptured its gas tank, causing nearly 50 gallons of fuel to spill on the side of the road.

San Jose fire and Caltrans crews were on the scene of the hazmat incident, cleaning up.

According to the California Highway Patrol, three left lanes were blocked, causing traffic to back up.

The lanes were reopened once the debris was cleared, but the CHP has warned of residual delays.
Fire officials say a wildfire burning near the Northern California town of Oroville has destroyed 20 homes and seven outbuildings.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the so-called Ponderosa blaze about 70 miles north of Sacramento had consumed 3,680 acres or nearly 6 square miles. Flames are threatening 500 homes.

Fire crews increased containment to 30 percent overnight ahead of a statewide heat wave.

But officials say the fire's location in steep and rugged terrain plus hot and dry temperatures are complicating firefighters' efforts.

More firefighters are joining the more than 1,600 already battling the Ponderosa fire.

Investigators have arrested John Ballenger, of Oroville, on suspicion of sparking the flames. The man is accused of "recklessly starting a campfire outside a designated campground and allowing it to escape," Cal Fire said in a statement.

The blaze is one of many wildfires across the U.S. West, including fires in and around California's Yosemite National Park that have closed a popular road into the park prompted evacuations of nearby towns.
Advocates and several government officials are rallying against President Donald Trump's plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, program by Friday.

By ending the program, an estimated 800,000 young undocumented immigrants could face deportation and be denied the opportunity to work and study in the U.S. legally. Several government officials say Trump is weighing whether to let DACA gradually expire or end it immediately, NBC News reported.

An outpouring of support surged on Twitter from officials such as Sens. Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris, California U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman and Eric Swalwell, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders expressing support and vowing to continue fighting and protecting DACA. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood, United We Dream and the Women's March also joined in the conversation.

#DACA unleashes the potential of youth brought here through no fault of their own," Feinstein said in a tweet Thursday. "Their success enriches the economy AND society. #SaveDaca.

#DACA unleashes the potential of youth brought here through no fault of their own. Their success enriches the economy AND society. #SaveDACA  Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) August 31, 2017

Immigration advocates estimate there are 60,000 eligible young people in the Bay Area who could qualify for the program.



In response, Thursday night in San Jose, volunteers at SIREN sounded the alarm, reaching out to registered voters and asking them to call the president to voice their disgust.

One of those undocumented immigrants is the student body president at San Jose State University.

"I got here when I was 4," said Ariadna Manzo, a fourth-year political science major. "I know nothing of where I'm from, except the language I speak. When I graduate, there's no opportunity for me to go into that field or pursue more education."

In Oakland, a vigil was planned to emphasize the importance of maintaining DACA. The vigil was to be held at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza at 6 p.m., with leaders and various faith groups planning to speak and pray in hopes that DACA will survive.

"The simple fact that Trump is threatening to end the DACA program is reprehensible and breaks a promise made to nearly 800,000 young people who are currently working toward the American dream in the ultimate nation of immigrants," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said.

In Oakland and Alameda County alone, there are about 17,000 DACA-eligible individuals seeking higher education and working opportunities.

Back in San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo reassured DREAMers that the San Jose Police Department and the city will have "their back" and will not be participating in ICE investigations or enforcements.

"President Trump's impending decision to terminate DACA, should it transpire, will leave a shameful mark in history as this administration's rock bottom," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "Ending DACA abandons the American spirit of diversity, inclusion and possibility. This immoral and cruel decision betrays our values and our promises."

Volunteers said they will make calls through the weekend, unwilling to stop until the president decides to keep it.

"It's the right thing to do, the humane thing to do, it's morally the just thing to do," said Louis Rocha Jr., of the Communications Workers of America. "And that's why I'm here."

The attorneys general from 10 states have threatened to sue the Trump administration by Tuesday to stop DACA, unless the president kills the program himself.
Democratic candidate for Illinois governor State Sen. Daniel Biss has tapped Chicago Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa to be his running mate.

Biss announced the news during a campaign rally in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood  which Ramirez-Rosa represents  on Thursday evening.

Ramirez-Rosa was first elected to Chicago City Council in 2015 at age 26, making him the youngest current alderman and one of the youngest ever elected in Chicago.

Representing the 35th Ward on the Northwest Side, Ramirez-Rosa is also the first openly gay Latino to serve on the city council. After running as a political outsider, Ramirez-Rosa joined the council's Progressive Caucus and was elected as a delegate for Sen. Bernie Sanders to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.



As a former community organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Ramirez-Rosa has made issues surrounding immigration, as well as higher taxes on the wealthy, central to his own platform.



Ramirez-Rosa is a member of the Democrat Socialists of America, a political activism group that is, according to its website, the largest socialist organization in the country. At the same time, Ramirez-Rosa serves as a committeeman for the Democratic Party, and his spokeswoman said "he is not advocating for a third party."

Biss, a Democrat from Evanston, has similarly championed more liberal policies  most recently voting against the Illinois school funding reform plan because of its union-opposed tuition tax credit program that he said crossed a "red line" of sending public dollars to private schools, setting a "dangerous precedent."

First elected to the legislature in 2010, the former University of Chicago mathematics professor said when he announced his campaign that he hoped to create a "movement of the people to overcome the power of money and the machine"  a progressive message he has continually pushed throughout the lead-up to the March 2018 primary.

His platform has drawn comparisons to that of Ald. Ameya Pawar, another left-leaning Chicago City Council member who is also in the running for governor. Pawar selected the mayor of Cairo in southern Illinois, Tyrone Coleman, as his running mate earlier this month.

Candidates are required to file official papers with the Illinois State Board of Elections next week, meaning more announcements of candidates' choices for lieutenant governor - perhaps most notably, Chris Kennedy - will likely be made soon.

Biss, Pawar and Kennedy are among eight candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to take on incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, a first-term Republican.
Chance the Rapper made big waves when he promised a sizable donation to Chicago Public Schools, and on Friday he will announce the first recipients of that money.

According to a press release issued by SocialWorks, the non-profit charity that Chance started last year, the recording artist will donate $2 million to 20 schools throughout the Chicago area. He will make the announcement at an event at the Harold Washington Cultural Center.

As a parent and proud product of CPS, Im committed to helping Chicagos children have quality learning experiences that include the arts, Chance said. Over the past month, Ive crisscrossed the city, from Chatham to Chinatown, Humboldt Park to Hyde Park, visiting students and one thing is clear: if we invest in Chicagos children, well change the world.

Here are the 20 schools that Chances organization will be providing grants to:

Aldridge Elementary 

The school will look to implement total digital literacy for its students, and there are plans in place to convert a classroom into a dance studio.

Ambrose Plamondon Elementary 

Funds will be used to upgrade the schools music program.

Beethoven Elementary 

School leaders will use funds to invest in arts and a band, and money will also be used to teach students about music history and theory.

C.E. Hughes Elementary 

The school will expand music and performing arts classes, and will also convert a classroom into a room used for dance class, band practice, and theater training.

Corliss High School 

Outdated band equipment will be replaced, and the school will bolster its arts program by adding creative arts and technical music production classes.

Dett Elementary 

The schools visual arts program will be expanded, and courses in sculpting and pottery will be added. The gym will be updated to provide room for a musical and dance showcase at the school.

Edmund Burke Elementary 

A hub for art, design, and creativity will be created, along with expanding digital arts teaching and music programs.

Edward White Career Academy 

Choir, dance, and song writing classes will be expanded, and a school showcase event will be created.

Esmond Elementary 

The school will build music, visual arts, and dance into their arts program, and will build an improved sound system and lighting apparatus for plays.

Fiske Elementary 

Will expand the time students spend in arts classes from 80 to 90, and then to 120 minutes a week by the end of the three-year grant.

Greenleaf Whittier Elementary 

A ceramics studio will be built, and a course emphasizing the history of Mesoamerican culture through a partnership with the Mexican Museum of Fine Arts will also be added.

Mahalia Jackson Elementary 

Acoustics, curtains, and production abilities will all be bolstered at the school, and a dance studio will be created.

Michelle Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School 

A new theater and a spoken word program will be part of the construction process, and art supplies and an auditorium upgrade will also be pursued.

Mireles Elementary Academy 

Funds will be used to offer dance, visual arts, photography, and drama classes, as well as a room dedicated to chorus and tap dance classes.

Ninos Heroes Academy 

Programs to integrate technology, music, and performing arts will be explored, and students in grades 3-8 will be provided opportunities to pursue higher learning and professions in visual and performing arts.

Oglesby Elementary 

The school will look to begin a transformation into a fine arts school, and they will use funds to build a new auditorium and invest in new music equipment.

Orr Academy High School 

A graphic design laboratory will be created, with photography, media arts, and video production all being emphasized by the new program.

Robert A. Black Magnet Elementary 

Media and visual arts programs will see increased investment, and a media broadcasting class will be offered as part of the schools curriculum.

Spry Community Links High School -

Programs to advocate using the arts to create social change will be funded, along with incorporating arts into core classes while creating new photography classes and radio programs.

W.K. New Sullivan Elementary -

Music equipment will be replaced as part of an expanded music program, and arts will be integrated into other classes as well.

Guidance for the dispersal of funds will be provided by CPS, according to the press release. Schools will receive the funding over the next three years.
On the heels of a month that last year became the deadliest month in decades, Chicago police say city violence is down so far this year, including in August.

According to police data, August saw 332 people shot and 50 people killed. That's a drop from the 74 people killed in July.

Last year, the month of August became the deadliest month in two decades with 90 murders in 31 days. By the end of the month, the city had recorded over 470 homicides for the year.

Last month, the number of murders dropped by more than 47 percent compared to August 2016.

In total, police say there have been 1,957 shootings so far this year, with 454 homicides. But the department's statistics don't include killings on area expressways, police-involved shootings, self-defense killings or death investigations.

At least 37 shootings have been reported on Chicago expressways so far this year, according to Illinois State Police.

A day after declaring "Chicago needs help!" on Twitter, President Donald Trump referenced Chicago's violence Friday in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The total number of homicides for the year have brought the city below the number recorded at this time in 2016, which went on to become one of the bloodiest years recorded in decades.

The latest numbers come ahead of a long holiday weekend, but police say preparations are underway for keeping residents safe.

As many as 1,300 additional officers will be patrolling the city over Labor Day weekend. They'll be dispatched based on previous trends and moved around the city as needed, authorities said.

"More officers on the street will not only increase our presence, but offer more flexibility in our deployments," said First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Navarro. "We are increasing the number of officers on foot, bike patrol, and increasing traffic enforcement throughout the city... especially on Lake Shore Drive."

Leaders say part of the strategy to reducing holiday crime began weeks ago, as officers conducted felony warrant sweeps and began recovering weapons and drugs.

"The bureau of organized crime completed a six week operation, in time for, and designed to remove violent street gang members from communities across the city in time for the Labor Day weekend," Chief of Organized Crime Anthony Riccio said.
The devastation from Harvey will have a ripple effect on the Chicago area this Labor Day weekend, sending gas prices rising on what is anticipated to be the heaviest travel day of the long holiday weekend.

With millions set to hit area roadways, gas prices are about to jump.

The spike in prices is due largely to major oil pipelines being shut down from the storm that caused catastrophic flooding in Houston and parts of Texas.

Beth Moser, a spokeswoman for the American Automobile Association, said she expects prices in Illinois will reach a record for the year Friday.

According to AAA, the national gas price average for a regular tank of gas sat at $2.52 Friday morning. In Illinois, that average was $2.53.

Chicago had the most expensive prices in the area, with an average of $2.79. Much of the metro area saw an average of $2.65.

The Illinois Tollway expects more than 8 million vehicles will hit the roads for Labor Day weekend.
Gas prices continue to go up in Connecticut in the wake of the damage Harvey has caused in Texas since Friday. The price jumped 14 cents overnight Saturday to $2.74 for a gallon of regular unleaded in Connecticut. The national average jumped seven cents as well, to $2.59, according to AAA.

The night before, gas prices had jumped 7 cents in Connecticut from $2.53 to $2.60, and 7 cents nationally from $2.45 to $2.52.



As the energy sector in the southeast Texas Gulf Coast deals with flooding in the aftermath of Harvey, it will be days or even weeks before is back to normal operations.

Since Harvey shut down refineries, other regions are pulling from Connecticuts supply, causing the price spike just in time for Labor Day Weekend, said Amy Parmenter, AAA spokesperson.

The timing of this is a bit unfortunate. Mother Nature obviously doesnt have a calendar, Parmenter said Friday.

Some gas stations in Connecticut had prices reaching $2.89 Friday.

But AAA expects the price surge to only last days or weeks, not months, according to Parmenter. Later this year, Connecticut should expect some of the lowest prices of the year, she added.

The region from Corpus Christi, Texas, where Harvey made landfall, to the Louisiana state line accounts for about 3 percent of the U.S. economy and is a crucial export market for oil and chemicals.

Exxon, Shell and other companies have reported to Texas regulators that some of their storage tanks and other facilities near Houston were damaged by the torrential rains and flooding. Most of the reports seem to indicate relatively minor damage, but still, it could be days before crews can assess matters and make repairs.

Parts of the Colonial Pipeline, the main fuel line that runs from Texas to New York, remains shut down  partly because with refineries closed, there is nothing to ship, but also because of Harvey-related damage.

Colonial Pipeline Co., the biggest fuel transporter in the U.S., said Wednesday night in a statement that a line carrying diesel and jet fuel is temporarily shut down and that a line carrying gasoline would close today. The company plans to resume normal operations as conditions improve.

One analyst told NBC News that this could be a major blow to the countrys fuel system.

Some refineries in the Northeast are also now shipping supplies to areas of the country where supplies are low.
Hurricane Harvey knocked two of the country's largest oil refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast offline, leading to a drop in production at area refineries by about 30 percent and sparking concern about the immediate fuel supply.

Drivers at gas stations across North Texas reported pulling up to pumps Wednesday and Thursday to find long lines and higher prices -- some reported finding no gas available at all.

Experts said the key is not to panic. Just do what you can to conserve gas for now, especially as we head into the Labor Day weekend. Adjust driving plans to stay closer to home and if you have three-quarters of a tank left, be curteous and let others near empty fill up. All indications are that this shortage will only be temporary and that gas stations will have new shipments of gasoline soon.

AAA said Thursday afternoon the statewide average for regular gas is $2.26 per gallon, a $.04 jump from Wednesday and a $.12 jump from last week. Dallas drivers are paying the most at $2.37 per gallon; the national average is $2.45.

AAA said drivers should expect a short-term spike this week of about $.15 and that prices should drop again by mid- to late-September.

Did you find a station with no gas, long lines or high prices? If so, snap a photo and send that along with the address to iSee@nbcdfw.com and we may include it on the map above.

The Texas attorney general's office said anyone seeing gas prices of $4 or higher should take pictures and report the stations as price-gouging. If you're looking to file a complaint about price gouging, find more information from the Texas Attorney General's Office.

Violators could face penalties of $20,000 per incident or up to $250,000 per incident if the victim is over the age of 65.

Online: To find an online listing of current gas prices, check gasbuddy.com.


Dozens of North Texas high school students protested a new state immigration law Friday.

Fort Worth Independent School District officials said about 100 South Hills High School students walked to nearby Little People Park in protest of Senate Bill 4, also known as the "sanctuary cities" law.

The law, set to take effect Friday, would allow police to question people about their immigration status in some cases and require cities and counties to cooperate with federal immigration law.

Authorities said students at two Fort Worth high school planned walkouts in protest of the law.



"We have arranged for police and administrators to remain close, but not interfere unless it's for safety," district spokesman Clint Bond said.
Paul Manafort's notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included a mention of political contributions near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News.

The contents of the note, which have not been previously disclosed, elevated the significance of the June 2016 meeting for congressional investigators, who are focused on determining whether it included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party.

It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. The meeting happened just as Trump had secured the Republican nomination for president, and he was considered a longshot to win. Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time.

The sources told NBC News that prosecutors want to know what Trump knew about the meeting and whether he sought to conceal its purpose.

CORRECTION (Aug. 31, 8:21 p.m. EST): An earlier version of this article used an incorrect quotation in describing Paul Manaforts notes. According to a spokesman for Sen. Charles Grassley, whose committee staff has reviewed them, the notes did not include the word "donation." A source who provided the information said the notes used a word that referenced political contributions, and another source said the notes used the word "donor."


In an escalating tit-for-tat, the United States forced Russia on Thursday to shutter its consulate in San Francisco and scale back its diplomatic presence in Washington and New York, as relations between the two former Cold War foes continued to unravel.

The Trump administration said the move constituted its response to the Kremlins unwarranted and detrimental decision to force the U.S. to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia. Under the order, Russia must close its San Francisco consulate by Saturday, along with Russias chancery annex in Washington and a consular annex in New York.

The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. Still, she said the U.S. hoped both countries could now move toward improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin retaliated for stepped-up U.S. sanctions on Russia by announcing the U.S. would have to cut its embassy and consulate staff in Russia by 755 people. During meetings in the Philippines shortly thereafter, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson left open the possibility the U.S., in turn, would retaliate for that move, and promised Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov a formal response by Sept. 1.

The U.S. has said as a result, it will stop issuing visas at its consulates in Russia in cities other than Moscow. A senior U.S. official said Thursday that the U.S. reduction of diplomatic staff is complete.

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian government. But given the back-and-forth nature of the escalating tensions over the past year, it was likely the Kremlin would feel compelled to respond by taking further action against the U.S.

Nevertheless, the United States argued that the score has been evened, urging Russia not to retaliate for the retaliation. U.S. officials pointed out that Russia, when it ordered the cut in U.S. diplomats, had argued it was merely bringing the size of the two countries diplomatic presences into parity.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides, Nauert said.

The newly arrived Russian ambassador to the United States has invoked Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in saying Moscow will carefully consider its response to the order to close its consulate in San Francisco and scale back operations in Washington and New York.

Anatoly Antonov flew into Washington on Thursday, hours after the State Departments announcement of the closure.

Russian news agencies quoted him as saying: We have to act calmly and professionally. Speaking like Lenin, we dont need hysterical impulses, citing a Lenin maxim.

Not much activity was detected outside the consulate building at 2790 Green Street in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood Thursday afternoon. A white van bearing the consulate logo could be seen parked outside. Several people, including aged relatives of people living in Russia, had shown up to get their passports renewed, and were surprised to hear the news.

Women with suitcases could also be seen coming out of the building, but nobody offered any comment. News crews with cameras were parked outside the building.

Daniel, a dual Russian citizen who was visiting the consulate Thursday, told NBC Bay Area he was blindsighted. "A lot of people feel blindsighted," he said.

Back in December, then President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the U.S., including four employees and their families from the Russian consulate.

The four Russian consulate employees in San Francisco  including a chef accused of being a spy by the U.S. government  were ordered to leave the United States within 72 hours.

At that time, the Consul General called Obama's accusations against their staff "bizarre and ridiculous."

Full statement from the U.S. State Department:



"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia. We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.

In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2.

With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each. While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern. The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

Riya Bhattacharjee and Sam Brock contributed to this report.


Authorities on Thursday identified the suspect who shot and killed a sheriff's deputy and wounded two other officers in a Sacramento hotel shootout as a man from the San Francisco Bay Area and said he was hospitalized in critical condition.

The suspect, Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, of Castro Valley, was suffering from life threatening injuries but has not been booked with any charges, said Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Tony Turnbull.

Littlecloud fatally shot Deputy Robert French, 52, on Wednesday with an assault rifle as Littlecloud tried to flee a hotel after officers knocked on his hotel room door as part of a stolen vehicle investigation, Turnbull said.

French died on the way to the hospital. Two California Highway Patrol officers who were shot and wounded were expected to survive.

Littlecloud has a long criminal history. The Alameda County probation department said he was on the run, wanted on two felony warrants. Assistant Chief Esa Ehmen-Krause said Littlecloud has served time in the California prison system and was facing warrants on other charges ranging from federal drug violations and weapons charges.

"Mr. Littlecloud failed to appear for a court date, and a bench warrant was sent thereafter," Ehmen-Krause said.

Littlecloud was released from the Soledad state prison in 2014 as part of Californias re-alignment program to relieve prison overcrowding, Ehmen-Krause said.

Six other sheriff's deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted, which Turnbull described as routine when officer-involved shootings happen. The Sacramento County District Attorney's office will also conduct an independent review, he said.

Priscilla Prendez, of Oakland, California, faces charges of vehicle theft and felony evasion in connection with Wednesday's events, which began as part of a routine stolen vehicle investigation. The police believed Prendez was connected to a stolen vehicle ring inside the hotel, Turnbull said.

The hotel's guests were trapped Wednesday in their rooms for most of the day as police methodically cleared the area and confirmed no other gunmen stayed behind in the hotel room.

In another shooting of California police Wednesday night, two officers in Bakersfield were hospitalized in stable condition they responded to a call about a disturbance at a home and ended up in a shootout in which the suspect was killed.

The events leading to Sacramento shooting started with a routine investigation by a car-theft task force involving officers from multiple agencies. Investigators suspected a car-theft ring was being run out of a Ramada Inn in an unincorporated neighborhood of Sacramento.

Two women who got into a stolen vehicle were chased for 20 miles before being apprehended in Elk Grove, south of Sacramento. Arresting officers learned Prendez of Oakland, California, was on probation and had booked a room in the Ramada Inn.

No details have been disclosed about her relationship to Littlecloud, and the police have not named the second woman in her car.

When officers knocked on the hotel room door, a gunman opened fire through the door and walls, striking two California Highway Patrol officers before turning to the balcony and shooting French, who was outside monitoring the back door, and fleeing.

Littlecloud was found with a rifle and high-capacity magazine, which are illegal to purchase in California, Turnbull said. The car he attempted to flee in was also stolen, Turnbull said.

It was unclear why the suspects responded so aggressively when police arrived, Turnbull said.

"Maybe that will come out in the investigation. Maybe we'll never know," Turnbull said. "Either way, it's irrational."

Jeff Marshall, who lives near the hotel, said he heard gunshots and tires squealing and saw a gray Dodge speed by his home, going the wrong way down a busy street as vehicles and pedestrians scrambled to get out of the way.

"It was like the wild West," Marshall said.

French was a 21-year veteran of the sheriff's office.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones described French him as a well-known, well-respected deputy.

He trained new officers and was a "go-to guy for advice and counsel, not just career advice but tactical advice and things like that," Jones said.

French is survived by his live-in girlfriend, adult children and grandchildren and a sister.

"Words aren't going to make an appropriate appreciation of him as a man or his career," Jones said.
In a few weeks' time, California may become the first state to legalize injection sites for IV and other drug users.

A bill, AB 186, would allow "specified counties or cities within those counties" to establish "supervised injection services programs" with the aim of preventing overdoses and the spread of HIV and other infections, reports NBC4 media partner KPCC.

The injection sites would have to be clean and be supervised by a health care professional. They would also need to provide hypodermic needles, the overdose reversal drug naloxone, and referrals to drug treatment.

"If we treat people humanely, if they're coming in and they're forming a relationship, we are much more likely to treat those abscesses, much more likely to catch early rates of infection, much more likely to save lives," said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, who authored the bill.



The bill has passed the state Assembly and is awaiting a Senate vote in a couple of weeks.

Read more at KPCC.
A Long Beach Fire Department swiftwater rescue team was deployed to Texas on Thursday to join other California-based teams assisting in search efforts in the hurricane-ravaged state.

The team began assembling shortly after receiving the midday deployment order, with the 15-member crew departing by mid-afternoon. A team from Ventura County was also given deployment orders by the governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Their deployments are expected to last about two weeks, according to the state, but city officials said the deployment could change depending on circumstances.

"I spoke with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner today and pledged that the city of Long Beach would do everything it could to assist the people of Houston," Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said. "I'm really proud of our fire department and the rescue team heading out today."

Teams from the Los Angeles city and county fire departments and Orange County Fire Authority are already working in Texas as part of the state's assistance to Texas, along with teams from Oakland, San Diego, Menlo Park, Riverside and Sacramento.

"California is continuing to support all requests for resources, including personnel, as Hurricane Harvey continues to downpour on Texas and Louisiana," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Office of Emergency Services. "These teams will be a powerful asset to the teams already in the region performing life-and property-saving missions."

The task force is driving to Texas, bringing equipment in trailers, and is expected to arrive within 24 hours.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families that are dealing with the profound loss and tragedy associated with Hurricane Harvey," Long Beach Fire Chief Mike DuRee said. "We stand ready to assist those in need."


This summer's great murder-mystery surrounding a man hanged in Philadelphia 121 years ago and known as "America's first serial killer" has been solved.

We think.

An eight-part television show called "American Ripper" on the History Channel that examined the life, death and legends surrounding mass murderer Herman Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes, concluded Tuesday night.

NBC10 Investigators were first to unearth the growing mystery in April of the Holmes conspiracy that he escaped death. Then, in July, NBC10 exclusively reported that a search for the truth was underway  with Holy Cross Cemetery in Delaware County as the epicenter.

The question all along, spurred on by the show's co-host and Holmes' great-great-grandson, Jeff Mudgett, was whether Holmes actually hanged at Moyamensing Prison in South Philadelphia in 1896 and was then buried at the Yeadon cemetery.

The NBC10 Investigators continue to look into the mystery of H.H. Holmes, Americas first serial killer. NBC10 investigative reporter George Spencer has a preview of his 11 p.m. story.

Mudgett and a team of anthropologists from the University of Pennsylvania exhumed bones found at the grave site Holmes was believed to be buried. Then came skeletal analysis and facial reconstruction and look backs at newspaper accounts questioning whether Holmes escaped his hanging.

Like this news story, the television show waited a while  until the final seconds of the 42-minute season finale  to reveal the DNA evidence that would prove conclusively whether Holmes did indeed hang.

In the end, the evidence concluded ... the body in the grave was indeed Holmes.

DNA analysis at Kings College in London, England, comparing the skull of the skeleton in the grave to Mudgett's DNA, proved a match. By Wednesday morning, the Philadelphia Archdiocese re-interred the skeletal remains in his grave at the Yeadon cemetery.

"Dental records and DNA testing reveal a conclusive link to Jeff Mudgett," the show announced in its final moments. "Proving that the remains exhumed are those of H.H. Holmes. The result ends a century of speculation about Holmes' final days."

Mudgett, however, remains skeptical.

"This doesn't deter me from my investigation. There are too many coincidences for this to be another bogus theory," he said of connections between his ancestor and theories that Holmes killed as many as 200 people in several cities, as well as, possibly London.

Holmes is best known for his Murder Castle in Chicago. He built the hotel equipped with secret rooms, chambers and a spot for dissections in the basement. With visitors from around the globe visiting the citys Worlds Fair in 1893, Holmes unwitting guests checked in but some never left.

Its believed Holmes sold his victims bodies, organs and bones. According to Rider University Professor Joe Wojie the going rate was about $8 to $10 a body.

Holmes' story was portrayed in the bestselling 2003 book "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson.

According to newspaper accounts, Holmes was marched to the gallows at Moyamensing Prison a year after he was convicted of murder in 1895.

The prison was located on 1400 South 10th Street in Philadelphia before it closed in 1963 and was demolished in 1968. Holmes body was eventually interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon. Holmes requested his casket be encased in concrete so no one would steal his body.

An 1898 newspaper article sparked the conspiracy theory that Holmes somehow escaped death at Moyamensing and ended up in South America. On Tuesday night, the History Channel show may have put a final nail in that theory's coffin.

Watch NBC10 News at 6 p.m. to see investigative reporter George Spencer talk more about the grave excavation, the results of the DNA testing and the re-burial Wednesday of Holmes' body at Holy Cross Cemetery.
What to Know The White House has prepared a request to Congress for an initial $5.9 billion package in Harvey recovery aid

A former monk has filed a federal lawsuit against L'Oreal, accusing the company of stealing patented technology in a wrinkle cream

Actor Mark Ruffalo has joined activists marching from Charlottesville, Virginia, to the nation's capital to condemn white supremacy

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

This newsletter will return Wednesday, Sept. 6.

White House Preparing $5.9B Request for Harvey Recovery Aid

The White House has prepared a request to Congress for an initial $5.9 billion package in Harvey recovery aid, a first down payment to make sure recovery efforts over the next few weeks are adequately funded. The Trump proposal, which is being finalized pending White House consultations with key Republicans, promises to represent just a fraction of an eventual Harvey recovery package that could rival the $100-billion-plus in taxpayer-financed help for victims of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. A senior administration official said the plan will be sent to Congress on Friday and House and Senate votes appear likely next week. The official was not authorized to release the information publicly before a final decision is made and spoke on condition of anonymity. House GOP leaders have signaled they are aiming to act fast on Harvey aid. Much larger future installments will be required but the initial package, to replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster coffers through Sept. 30, shouldn't be controversial. The initial aid money would be a down payment for immediate recovery efforts, to be followed by larger packages later, said White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert. It will take weeks or months to assess the full extent of the damage and need.

Lawsuit Over Trump's 1st Attempt to Ban Travel Is Settled

Foreigners who were barred from entering the U.S. during President Trump's first attempt to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority nations will get government help reapplying for visas. Civil rights lawyers and the Trump administration told a federal magistrate judge in New York that they had settled a lawsuit over the treatment of hundreds of travelers who were detained at U.S. airports in the hours between Trump's issuance of the ban on Jan. 27 and a federal judge's issuance of a temporary block on Jan. 28. Under the terms of the deal, the government has agreed to notify anyone overseas who was banned that they have three months to reapply for visas with the help of a Department of Justice liaison. Several courts ordered the initial ban lifted. The revised version has replaced it under limitations set by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in October on a challenge to the second order.

Judge to Rule Whether Penn State Frat Death Case Can Proceed

Members of a now-shuttered Pennsylvania State University fraternity will learn on Friday whether a district judge believes there is enough evidence to send charges related to the death of a pledge to county court for trial. District Judge Allen Sinclair said after the seventh day of a preliminary hearing ended that he would render his decision at 11 a.m. The ruling could result in dismissal of some or all of the hundreds of charges filed against Beta Theta Pi and its members. The fraternity and 18 of its members were charged after the Feb. 4 death of sophomore engineering student Tim Piazza, whose agonizing night in the fraternity house was caught on security camera, showing him clearly in pain after drinking heavily and suffering a series of falls. The 18 fraternity brothers face charges including involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, hazing, alcohol violations, reckless endangerment and evidence tampering, but they don't all face the same charges. Two of the brothers waived the hearing, meaning only 16 brothers and the fraternity were involved in it.

Former Monk Sues Cosmetics Giant Over Anti-Aging Formula

A former Roman Catholic monk has filed a federal lawsuit against cosmetics giant L'Oreal, accusing the company of stealing patented technology in an anti-aging wrinkle cream that his charity was selling to raise money for the poor. Dennis Wyrzykowski and his company, Carmel Laboratories LLC, have been joined in the lawsuit by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, which developed the technology and licensed it to Carmel in 2009. According to the lawsuit, the cream, called Easeamine, is made using technology inspired by a discovery by two UMass scientists that adenosine, a chemical compound found in the heart, can promote skin elasticity. The lawsuit, filed in June and amended this month, alleges L'Oreal was aware UMass held the patent for the science. It alleges L'Oreal had been denied patents because of their similarity to those granted to UMass, but the cosmetic company went ahead with a line of products based on the adenosine technology.

Actor Mark Ruffalo Joins March Against White Supremacy

Actor Mark Ruffalo has joined activists marching from Charlottesville, Virginia, to the nation's capital to condemn white supremacy recently on display in the Virginia city. "The Avengers" star tweeted photos of himself in "The March to Confront White Supremacy." In a statement, Ruffalo says he's marching in memory of Heather Heyer, who died when a car plowed into a group of people protesting the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. Ruffalo also condemned President Trump's response that "both sides" were to blame for the violence. Ruffalo says there's "no place for racism, violence, and hatred" in the country.

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gives $1M to Harvey Relief

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has donated $1 million to the newly established United Way Harvey Recovery Fund which will go toward short and long term relief and recovery efforts. United Way Worldwide said the national fund will distribute 100 percent of donations to recovery efforts for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. United Way is the world's largest privately-funded non-profit and anticipates Harvey recovery efforts will take several years. The $1 million from DiCaprio's foundation represents the inaugural donation to the fund. It is the latest disaster relief support from the Oscar-winner's namesake foundation. DiCaprio and his foundation have previously donated to recovery efforts following the 2004 tsunami, the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Sandy. Many celebrities have pulled out their pocketbooks to help Harvey victims in recent days.
A man and woman died in a fiery collision between a box truck and a motorcycle in New Jersey early Friday, officials say.

The horrific crash that happened around 2:30 a.m. in Jersey City on Route 440 sounded like an "explosion" before flames suddenly erupted in the area of Culver Avenue, a witness told NBC 4 New York.

The witness, a security guard from a nearby car lot, said he heard the motorcycle go by him, but that it wasnt traveling at a high rate of speed. He said he remembers a man and a woman riding on the bike, with at least one of them wearing a helmet. Police have not confirmed the witness' report.

He said he didnt hear any brakes screeching or anything to indicate a sudden stop.

The identities of the two people killed have not been made public. The dead woman was 27 years old.

The stretch of route 440 was closed for several hours following the crash, but the northbound lanes had reopened around 5 a.m. The southbound lanes reopened at 6:30 a.m.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office is in charge of the investigation.
The New York City Health Department is expanding its public education campaign to raise awareness of increasing syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia rates across the city.

Some of the sexually transmitted infections grew at double-digit percentage rates over just a year in New York City, the health department says. Generally, similar cases of STIs have been on the rise nationwide in the last three years.

From 2015 to 2016, rates of syphilis have increased by 27 percent in New York City to nearly 2,000 cases, and rates of gonorrhea have risen by 13 percent to around 19,000 cases, according to the health department.

Chlamydia remains the most commonly reported STI in New York City, with nearly 67,000 cases reported in 2016 -- an increase of 6 percent since 2015.

The data reported that the majority of syphilis and gonorrhea cases appear among men who have sex with other men. The neighborhoods with the highest rates of primary and secondary syphilis were all in Manhattan: Chelsea, Central Harlem and Washington Heights.

Women are shown to have the higher rates of chlamydia, while vastly more gonorrhea cases were found among men, according to the data. Women, in fact, reported fewer gonorrhea cases from 2015 to 2016, while men reported 18 percent more.

Neighborhoods with the highest rates of chlamydia are Crotona and Mott Haven in the Bronx, and Central Harlem in Manhattan; neighborhoods with the highest rates of gonorrhea are Chelsea and Central Harlem in Manhattan and Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

To combat rising STI rates in New York City, the health departments new campaign will encourage STI testing and will be shared across social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Grindr, as well as citywide bus shelters and subways.

Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett says the city has expanded its eight Sexual Health Clinics to guarantee affordable screening and care. Mayor de Blasio has also invested $23 million annually for STI prevention and to reduce the number of new HIV infections.

Having syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia can make it easier to get or spread HIV, and having untreated STIs can have lasting health effects like vision and hearing loss, dementia, paralysis, infertility and stillbirth.

Fortunately, they are all curable with antibiotics. Because many people with STIs have no signs or symptoms, the Health Department is stressing the importance of getting tested regularly.

Short of abstinence  which is not realistic for many New Yorkers  condoms provide the best protection available for syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, suggested Assistant Commissioner Dr. Susan Blank, of the Bureau of STD Control.

In 2016, the Health Department distributed over 38 million free condoms in locations across New York City, including bars, restaurants, salons, and universities, among other places. Since 2015, the Sexual Health Clinics have also been offering PlaySure Kits, which packages items for safe sex into a toolkit.

As Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Disease Control, explained, Playing sure means using the prevention options that fit your lifestyle and pursuit of sexual satisfaction. Frequent and correct STI testing should be a key component of any sexually active New Yorkers prevention plan,

In addition, the new campaigns slogan, Bare It All, encourages New Yorkers to talk openly with their doctors about their sex lives, drug use and other health issues.
Philadelphia cops held a rally of their own Thursday night in response to a protest last week by local Black Lives Matter activists outside the home of a cop identified in a fatal civilian shooting.

The rally was held at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 headquarters and featured several speakers. Emotions quickly escalated and FOP President John McNesby made one jarring statement.

"When you go to work each day, you shouldn't have to worry that a pack of rabid animals will suddenly show up at your home and openly threaten your family," he told the gathered crowd of a couple hundred people, according to WHYY.

That "pack" he referred to is the dozen or so activists who protested last Thursday outside the Northeast Philadelphia house of Officer Ryan Pownall. He has been identified by the police department as the officer who shot David Jones in the back as Jones ran from a confrontation with Pownall in June.

McNesby went on to describe the protesters as "racist hate groups determined to instigate violence."

A local leader of the Black Lives Matter movement said Friday that McNesby's comments are ridiculous.

"Were not going to dignify that with an answer," activist Asa Khalif said. "That ridiculous comment doesn't deserve a response. Ill simply say, 'Justice for David Jones.'"

The Black Lives Matter demonstration last week occurred on Bridle Road in the city's Bustleton section for about an hour.

Shouting "If we don't get no justice, they don't get no peace," the group demanded Pownall be charged with murder.

Pownall, a 12-year veteran of the police department, shot the 30-year-old in the back and buttocks on June 8 following a struggle. The officer stopped Jones for riding an illegal dirt bike in North Philadelphia.

Family Photo

During a pat down, Pownall felt a gun in Jones' waistband, police said.

A witness in back of Pownall's police vehicle watched Pownall pull his service weapon and warn Jones not to touch the gun, police said. The two men scuffled before Jones allegedly grabbed his handgun, according to police.

Jones then fled. Surveillance video obtained by NBC10 appears to show Jones running away when he was shot.

The same witness later told NBC10 that Jones had dropped the gun before running. A fully loaded .9mm handgun was recovered at the scene.

Jones died at Temple University Hospital.

Activists are protesting the deadly police shooting of a man riding a dirt bike in Philadelphia back on June 8. The Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office is handing the investigation of the death of David Jones.

The shooting remains under investigation by both police and the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. Police Commissioner Richard Ross said the department is looking into whether protocol was followed.

Pownall remains on administrative leave.

Black Lives Matter, along with others, have been protesting the shooting for weeks. In July, the group marched on the Police Administration Building and City Hall demanding a larger investigation.

Pownall was called a "racist, bigot pig cop" and Khalif said he has "a murderous spirit"  referring to another shooting that the officer was involved. That 2010 shooting left Carnell Williams-Carney paralyzed when a bullet hit him in the back. The shooting was ruled justified and Williams-Carney lost a federal lawsuit against police.

McNesby's speech about Black Lives Matter followed a personal attack on Khalif last week, when he called Khalif a "punk" who shoud've been arrested for protesting without a permit.

"I can't use the words I want," McNesby said Friday. "To take it to someone's house, a police officer's house, he doesn't have any respect."

"He's a two-bit punk who doesn't have the respect of decent protesters, if there is any in this city."

Pa. Rep. Martina White (R - Pa. 170) also spoke at the FOP rally. White has twice proposed legislation that would bar police departments in Pennsylvania from releasing an officer's name shortly after a shooting.

Philadelphia Police Department policy directs the release of officers' identities within 72 hours of a police-involved shooting if there is no credible threat against the officer. The policy falls in line with U.S. Department of Justice guidelines.

White has sponsored House Bill 27, which would limit the release of officers' names to 30 days or until the investigation is completed  whichever is sooner.

Khalif said McNesby and others not happy with protests like the Bustleton action should get used to it.

"We have something in the tank," Khalif said of another demonstration soon. "There is nothing off the table, including coming back to the police officer's home."

He said that despite what McNesby and others say, his group had not advocated violence, though he did say his group may often sound forceful.

"The language is strong because the emotion is strong," Khalif said. "But we never advocated violence."
Some of the 107 dogs and cats flown in from a Louisiana shelter are now available for adoption.

The pets were brought in by Wings of Rescue, to create space for pets that have been lost or abandoned in Texas and Louisiana because of Hurricane Harvey.

The 80 dogs and 27 cats are not direct victims of the hurricane.

Representatives of Wings of Rescue emphasize the dogs and cats are highly adoptable, and have been in animal shelters in the Lafayette area; they do not have owners who will be searching for them after weather conditions improve.

The pets arrived Monday at Gillespie Field in El Cajon from Acadiana Animal Aid in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The dogs and cats are being looked after by workers and volunteers with the San Diego Humane Society, the Rancho Coastal Humane Society, and Labradors and Friends Rescue.

Caretakers have been giving the animals time to settle in, and making sure they're welll socialized.

The dogs and cats came with medical papers, but caretakers are also administering additional medical exams.

Labradors and Friends Rescue took in 8 dogs and 8 puppies. They are currently available for adoption.

The rescue group does not have a facility, so most of the animals are with foster families until they are adopted.

Some of those dogs and puppies will be at an adoption event Saturday, September 2nd at the Unleased by Petco located on Scripps Poway Parkway in San Diego.

Adoption applications are also available through the Labradors and Friends Rescue website.

The Rancho Coastal Humane Society is housing 18 puppies, 10 dogs and 14 cats at its Encinitas shelter.

Dogs older than 6 months will be available for adoption Sunday, September 3th.

All cats will go up for adoption Wednesday, September 6th.

Puppies will be available to adopt Thursday, September 7th.

The San Diego Humane Society is looking after 49 animals.

A spokesperson told NBC 7 all the pets are doing well.

Many of the animals need to be spayed and neutered. It's expected they'll go up for adoption next week.

As local shelters and rescue group get the animals ready for adoption, they're also preparing to help additional animals find new homes.

On Tuesday, September 4th, Wings of Rescue is flying in another load of pets from Louisiana to create space in shelters in Texas and Louisiana, so they can take in more animals left homeless because of Hurriacane Harvey.





Some of the 107 dogs and cats flown in from a Louisiana shelter are now available for adoption.

The pets were brought in by Wings of Rescue, to create space for pets that have been lost or abandoned in Texas and Louisiana because of Hurricane Harvey.



The 80 dogs and 27 cats are not direct victims of the hurricane.



Representatives of Wings of Rescue emphasize the dogs and cats are highly adoptable, and have been in animal shelters in the Lafayette area; they do not have owners who will be searching for them after weather conditions improve.



The pets arrived Monday at Gillespie Field in El Cajon from Acadiana Animal Aid in Lafayette, Louisiana.



The dogs and cats are being looked after by workers and volunteers with the San Diego Humane Society, the Rancho Coastal Humane Society, and Labradors and Friends Rescue.

Caretakers have been giving the animals time to settle in, and making sure they're well socialized.



The dogs and cats came with medical papers, but caretakers are also administering additional medical exams.



Labradors and Friends Rescue took in 8 dogs and 8 puppies. They are currently available for adoption.



The rescue group does not have a facility, so most of the animals are with foster families until they are adopted.



Some of those dogs and puppies will be at an adoption event Saturday, September 2nd at the Unleased by Petco located on Scripps Poway Parkway in San Diego.



Adoption applications are also available through the Labradors and Friends Rescue website.



Rancho Coastal Humane Society is housing 18 puppies, 10 dogs and 14 cats at its Encinitas shelter.



Dogs older than 6 months will be available for adoption Sunday, September 3th.



All cats will go up for adoption Wednesday, September 6th.

Puppies will be available to adopt Thursday, September 7th.



The San Diego Humane Society is looking after 49 animals. A spokesperson told NBC 7 all the pets are doing well.

Many of the animals need to be spayed and neutered.

It's expected some of the 49 pets will go up for adoption next week.



As local shelters and rescue group get the 107 animals ready for adoption, they're also preparing to help additional animals find new homes.



On Tuesday, September 5th, Wings of Rescue is flying in another load of pets from Louisiana to create space in shelters in Texas and Louisiana, so they can take in more animals left homeless because of Hurricane Harvey.




The former owner of a Washington-based company was sentenced to Thursday for his role in funneling more than $600,000 from a Mexican millionaire into the 2012 mayoral election in San Diego.

Ravneet Singh, 45, a political consultant and former CEO of ElectionMall Technologies was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Singh, conspired with Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, 53, his son Edward Susumo, 25, and others to funnel thousands of dollars of cash to campaigns for Bonnie Dumanis and Bob Filner, according to evidence presented at trial.

Singh also offered $267,000 worth of in-kind consulting services to the campaigns.

According to the U.S. District Attorney's office, in return, Azano wanted support for a waterfront development project in San Diego with luxury bayside condominiums, a yacht marina, and a five-star hotel.

But Azano's foreign national status made such contributions to the campaigns illegal.

Singh concealed Azano's contributions structuring wires from a Mexican company owned by Azano to a company he owned.

"Using a series of complex financial transactions, Mr. Singh conspired to funnel illegal money to influence the outcome of San Diego political races," stated Special Agent in Charge R. Damon Rowe of IRS Criminal Investigation.

Filner won the election was later forced to resign.

"American elections are not for sale. We will not allow our sacred electoral process to be compromised. This prison sentence underscores an important message: anyone who tries to manipulate the American electorate will pay a high price," said Executive U.S. Attorney Blair Perez.

In Sept. 2016, Azano was convicted of more than 30 charges including conspiracy, campaign finance violations, falsification of records and bribery.

Singh will need to report to prison on Oct. 1.2 to begin serving his sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
The Trump administration has awarded contracts to four companies to build four prototypes for his border wall in San Diego.

No local San Diego companies were selected.

Construction of the prototypes -- all proposed concrete walls -- will begin in San Diego this fall. The prototypes will be between 18 to 30 feet high.

Once those selections are evaluated, authorities will decide which company will build the new border wall, set to run hundreds of miles along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Caddell Construction of Montgomery, Ala., Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries of Tempe, Ariz., Texas Sterling Construction Co., of Houston, Texas and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Pa. were all selected.

"This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on," Ronald Vitiello, Acting Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told NBC News.



CBP is providing few details of the concrete prototypes and says funding for four other prototypes for a see-through structure will be awarded next week.

The prototypes will cost a total of $3.6 million. The companies have up to 30 days to build their prototypes along the border in San Diego.

Trump made the construction of the wall his signature issue in the presidential campaign. He promised that Mexico would pay for it, but Mexico has refused.

Trump is now demanding that Congress fund the wall and has threatened to shut the government if it doesn't do so.
Two men approached a woman outside a grocery store in Maryland, told her an elaborate story and conned her out of more than $24,000, police say.

Detectives in Charles County, Maryland are searching for two men who scammed a woman out of $16,000 in cash, plus convinced her to buy three Apple laptops worth a total of $8,400, the sheriff's office said in a statement issued Thursday.

One of the men told the woman, who police did not name, that he would give her a portion of $80,000 he had won. He told her he had wrapped the cash in a handkerchief.

But "she opened the handkerchief and found shredded paper," police said.

Police described the suspects as a black man in his 60s with a gray beard. He was wearing a blue hat at the time of the crime. The second man is black and in his 30s, police said. He has black hair, a trimmed beard and glasses. Both men were wearing suits

The scam is a long-running scheme known as a "pigeon drop," police said. The scammers get cash from a person or "pigeon" for a promised share in a larger sum of money, which is nonexistent.

The complicated scam began when a man approached the woman as she left a grocery store in Clinton, Maryland. He claimed he won $80,000 from a civil lawsuit and needed help distributing the money to a church or two friends. Otherwise, he said he would have to burn it.

Posing as a stranger, the second man joined the conversation. The first man, who had an accent, said he could not bank in his home country and asked the woman and second man to show him it's done. In exchange, he said he would give them portions of the cash.

The second man withdrew money and gave it to the first man, who put it in a handkerchief along with what appeared to be some of his own money.

The three people "prayed over the money."

Then, the woman withdrew $7,000 at one bank and $9,000 at a second bank. They added that cash to the handkerchief and prayed over it a second time, police said.

As they headed to a bank to deposit the money, the first man said his nieces needed laptops. The woman then bought three $2,800 Apple laptops in Waldorf.

Finally, the men and woman drove to a bank to move the cash from the handkerchief to the woman's bank account.

The woman got out of the car. As soon as her back was turned, the men fled.

Then, she opened the handkerchief and found only shredded paper inside.

Police warn that if a stranger approaches and says they want to share money with you, "it's definitely a con."

Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call 866-411-TIPS. A reward of as much as $1,000 is offered.
The U.S. House and Senate get back to work Tuesday following their August recesses, and there may be a lesson for lawmakers in a busy vacation destination in northwestern Vermont.

On scenic Lake Champlain in North Hero, Heros Welcome is a business landmark, where folks come to tie up their boat, shop, eat, and relax, far from the noise and conflict of the rest of the world.

But even in such a peaceful place, something as simple as picking a seat may mean choosing sides.

Its kind of representative of the division within our country, Jim Durand of Buckeye, Arizona said, looking at two old benches that sit outside the businesss entrance.

The store has one bench painted red and labeled Republicans, and another thats blue and labeled Democrats.

Im registered one, Ive been voting another, said Jim Ramsay of Concord, New Hampshire. But I dont really care when Im voting whether Im a Republican or a Democrat, Im an American.

People take pictures of it all the time, said Bob Camp, one of the owners of Heros Welcome, and a self-described moderate Republican.

Camp explained the benches have been outside the business for a long time, but seem to have drawn many more comments, photos, and jokes in the time since the November 2016 election than ever before.

He suggested the benches could be seen as a gentle way of reminding people that while they may be from different parties, itd be foolish to not sit down together and talk about ideas.

Camp said he believes answers are usually not on the right or the left, but somewhere in the middle.

Just sitting down on a bench with a different position or color underneath your seat and having a cup of coffee is the beginning of the type of discussion we need to have, Camp told necn. Its long overdue.

Rep. Ben Joseph, D-North Hero, represents the Champlain Islands and a sliver of the Chittenden County town of Milton in the Vermont legislature.

He said, while sitting on the blue Democrats bench, that with so much uncertainty in the federal budget for communities like his, nows the time for Washington to put people over politics.

Ive been contacted by constituents whove never voted, Joseph said, describing their concern over major issues such as health care, threatened budget cuts, immigration, and more. I think people are taking a more serious interest now. And thats one of the reasons Im hopeful.

At Heros Welcome, a Republican and a Democrat could sit side by side, and for once, share the same viewat least, literally.
Authorities confirm a person was hit and killed by an MBTA commuter rail train in Beverly, Massachusetts, Friday.

The body was discovered on the outbound tracks at Beverly Depot on 10 Park St. The depot's northbound tracks have been closed as a result, according to Beverly's police chief.

Beverly police say they're assisting MBTA police with the investigation.

Sky Ranger footage shows police blocking off access to part of the tracks at the scene.

No other details were immediately available.
A Masssachusetts native just weeks away from giving birth to her first child has lost her home. Now, the biggest concern for her and her husband is where they will go when they leave the hospital, because the place they called home is gone for now.

Anthony Bilotta went back to their Texas home for the first time on Thursday after close to five feet of rain devoured every room.

"It's anyone's worst nightmare for myself and my neighbors. There's no words to describe what I'm feeling. I am feeling every emotion. I am angry, but I am thankful my wife and I are safe. It's just a lot right now," said Anthony Bilotta.

Anthony moved to Houston with his wife, Nicole, a year ago for his residency program to become a medical doctor. They never imagined a year from the day they said "I do" that they would be starting over. Their families and friends in their hometown of Leominster, hundreds of miles away, felt hopeless when they got the news that their house would have to be rebuilt.

"Life changes on a dime. Things were fine on Friday and not so much on Saturday. It was surreal," said Cathy Reynolds, Nicole Bilotta's mother.

So families and friends did what they could to rally support for Anthony and Nicole to rebuild.

"You pretty much have to start over, because she can't bring her baby home to the home they made for her," said Reynolds. "It has feet of water in it, and that can come with mold and all sorts of things."

Anthony's three sisters got the word out on social media and started a fundraising page for them. It raised twice as much as their initial goal. They are sharing the excess funds with their neighbors.

Bilotta said he has flood insurance, but a lot of his neighbors did not, so they are determined to help the whole neighborhood rebuild.
A former business executive who opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana was tapped Thursday to head the Cannabis Control Commission, a new state agency responsible for regulating pot in Massachusetts.

The appointment of Steven Hoffman was announced by state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who under law was tasked with selecting the person who would chair the five-member commission.

Hoffman, 64, is the second person appointed to the panel that is supposed to be up and running by Friday. The only previously chosen member is outgoing Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, who was named last week by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and who also voted against the marijuana ballot question.

Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, was expected to make a selection to the commission by Friday, according to an aide.

The final two members will be chosen by mutual agreement of Baker, Goldberg and Healey, as required under a bill approved by the Legislature last month that made revisions in the voter-approved law that legalized adult use of recreational marijuana.

Hoffman, who was not available for an interview on Thursday, voted against the November ballot question. A spokeswoman for Goldberg said she did not know Hoffman's reasons for opposing the measure.

In a brief statement, Hoffman, a Lincoln resident who will serve a five-year term as chairman and earn a $160,000 annual salary, said he hoped to lead the commission "thoughtfully and responsibly as we implement the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts."

Hoffman's business career includes a 12-year stint as a partner at Bain and Co., a Boston-based management consulting firm. He most recently served as president and chief executive of Exchange Solutions Inc., a marketing and advertising consultant. He is a registered independent voter.

The marijuana law required Goldberg to select a chair with a background in business and finance.

"I am confident that he will serve the Commonwealth well and steer this brand-new industry in the right direction," Goldberg, a Democrat, said of Hoffman.

The selection of two people who opposed Question 4 as the first members of the regulatory panel has alarmed advocates for legalized marijuana and the cannabis industry.

Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group Yes on 4, acknowledged that Hoffman had "impressive credentials."

"However, we are concerned that a second legalization opponent now sits on the Commission and we hope for balance in the remaining appointments," he said.

The commission will begin its work Friday without staff or designated office space, and with a $2 million budget for the current fiscal year that Borghesani's group contends will be far less than needed to meet an ambitious timetable, which includes licensing the first retail marijuana establishments by mid-2018.

Neither Hoffman nor Flanagan has any direct experience with the cannabis industry.

Jesse Alderman, who has represented prospective marijuana businesses for the Boston law firm Foley Hoag, said the commission should include at least one member who "understands the industry," having been either a regulator or operator in a state like Colorado or Washington, where recreational marijuana has been legal for several years.

"I would like to see someone who comes from a position of experience, specifically in cannabis," said Alderman, adding, "There are very few people who fit that profile."
First responders are still going through some of the hardest hit areas in Texas following Hurricane Harvey.

NBC Boston Meteorologist Chris Gloninger joined some of these rescuers Thursday as they combed areas for people trapped by the flooding.

The Barker Dam in Katy, Texas, has filled beyond capacity and is overflowing into surrounding communities. Electricity was cut Thursday, changing plans for those who thought they could ride out the damage.

Thursday night, the Barker Reservoir was still above capacity, meaning several neighborhoods in the back of the reservoir have been flooded. Voluntary evacuations have been in place in parts of Katy.

The Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing water from the reservoir, but that is flooding areas downstream. The water in Katy will likely stay in place through Sept. 7.

Contamination in the water has caused a public health concern. In addition to debris in fuel spills, raw sewage has been released in the water.

The National Guard has been assisting local fire crews over the last several days to rescue people in boats.

Fire Lt. Simon Van Dyke said multiple crews have been working to rescue thousands of people in the area. Residents are being advised to tie a white flag outside their homes if theyre in need of rescue.

Gloninger and NBC Boston photographer Cary Patton flew into Dallas on Sunday night and then made their way to the Houston area.

Theyve spent the week covering the lasting damage caused by the storm and speaking with people who are trying to being the process of rebuilding their lives.
Volunteers are working around the clock in Texas to begin the rebuilding process following widespread devastation from Hurricane Harvey.

NBC Boston meteorologist Chris Gloninger reported from a community in Katy, Texas, Friday, where debris to be cleaned up lined sidewalks.

Gloninger met up with the Southern Baptists Convention, one of the largest groups volunteering during the relief efforts.



The Barker Dam filled beyond capacity and overflowed into surrounding communities. Electricity was cut Thursday, changing plans for those who thought they could ride out the damage.

The water in Katy will likely stay in place through Sept. 7.

Contamination in the water has caused a public health concern. In addition to debris in fuel spills, raw sewage has been released in the water.

Gloninger and NBC Boston photographer Cary Patton flew into Dallas on Sunday night and then made their way to the Houston area.

Theyve spent the week covering the lasting damage caused by the storm and speaking with people who are trying to being the process of rebuilding their lives.
A deputy sheriff in Rhode Island is on administrative leave after a person who was ordered released on personal recognizance was left in a holding cell overnight.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Public Safety, the person was left in a cell at the McGrath Judicial Complex in Wakefield. Sheriffs found the person in the cell Friday morning at 8 a.m. and immediately released them.

No identities have been released.

Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and director of the Department of Public Safety, ordered state police to review policies relating to those in custody.

The incident remains under investigation.
Large stone markers with a welcoming message are catching people's eyes as they enter the town of Groton, Massachusetts.

Some residents love the message others don't.

"It says Town of Groton, all are welcome," said Steve Kalter. "What's wrong with that?"

The stone markers sit on the side of major roads as you enter the town. Currently, five markers have been installed with three more yet to go.

The idea was a joint effort by a group of people including the town manager, the police chief, school superintendent and others.

"It's just to show that Groton is a welcoming community," said Town Manager Mark Haddad.

Jack Saball, a longtime Groton resident, said "all are welcome" has a political undertone.

"I did go to the town fathers and asked them to consider the stone and the wording," Saball said. "I asked them just to keep it politically neutral."

Saball has since started a petition that has 13 signatures of residents who'd also like to see the message change. They'd like it to say "Welcome to Groton."

"A lot of people felt that it has a political connotation," said Saball about the stones' current wording.

"It has no political message," said Haddas. "When we were talking about what to say on the signs we said, ok, all are welcome just seems like a natural thing."

The town manager says they got inspiration from a local church and the public library.

The words "Open to All" are engraved on the stone entrance to the library.

The stone markers were installed in July after a favorable vote of 140 to 113 during the town's spring meeting, in April.

[[442405003, C]]

"That article was not debated by the public," said Saball.

Residents were aware that the article regarding the markers would be discussed.

It's listed in the town's warrant which is sent to every registered voter. The marker discussion is listed as Article 17.

"There were two people that spoke in favor of it and then it went to a vote," said Saball.

Haddad says that's not true. It was open to debate before going to a vote.

Haddad said the moderator, Jason Kauppi, asked if anyone had any questions on the article but no one asked to speak so it went to a vote.

"It's a positive message," said Kalter

Since the petition has garnished more than 10 signatures it will be placed on the warrant for the town's fall meeting.
A heavily tattooed fugitive out of Manchester, New Hampshire, was caught by U.S. Marshals on Thursday night.

Eric Judkins, 42, was arrested without incident at a residence in Howard, Pennsylvania, according to the New Hampshire Joint Fugitive Task Force.

The suspect was first reported missing on Monday, after he failed to return to the halfway house in Manchester where he was serving part of a 27-month sentence for an assault on an inmate that happened during his time in federal prison.

Judkins was initially in prison for a 1999 bank robbery.

One U.S. Marshal, David L. Cargill, Jr. said, "this dangerous fugitive was quickly arrested due in part to the large number of tips that came into our office, combined with the tireless work of the investigators in both New Hampshire and Pennsylvania."

At the time of his arrest, Judkins was in the presence of a second fugitive, 22-year-old Quintin Titus, who was arrested for a parole violation.

Both men are being held at Lycoming County Prison in Williamsport, Penn.
A specialized team of water rescue experts from Vermont is on its way to Texas to help the ongoing emergency response there following Hurricane Harvey.

Fifteen members of Vermonts Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, representing communities all around the state, left from Colchester Thursday afternoon to join the effort to save lives from flood waters.

En route to Texas, the force will pick up a sixteenth member, said task force chief Mike Cannon.

The rescuers did not immediately know where they will be serving, but expected to be based in College Station, Texas.

Its tragic, deploying task force member Dave Auriemma of the Williston Fire Department said of the catastrophic situation in Texas. And in my time in emergency services, Ive never seen anything like this.

Members of the group are trained in dangerous swift-water rescues, which often require specialized strategies.

The task force brought food, dry suits, fuel, boats, shelter, and all the other gear it will need for the deployment, as to not impact the already-stressed resources in Texas.

You don't want to go in there and impact the local community, Cannon said. They're already hit. We want to go inno footprintand take care of what we need to do with rescues or searches, and leave.

The task force expects to be on the ground in Texas for eight days, with two days of travel on either end of that.

For the Harvey response, the Vermonters will connect with other specialized units rushing in from all over the country to help the effort thats far from over.

Texas requested the aid of 100 units like this one, Cannon said.

Everyone on the team has been watching [the Harvey response] since Saturday, and everyones got the urge to want to go help, Cannon told necn, adding that the task force was put on notice about a possible deployment last weekend, before the formal process played out.

Texas asked for the help through a multi-state emergency assistance compact, according to the Vermont Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

That multi-state aid agreement is what Vermont benefitted from six years ago this week, during the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, several members of the Urban Search and Rescue Task Force noted.

This is what we do, deploying task force member Joshua Kirtlink of the Burlington Fire Department said. People came over for Irene when we needed it, and were proud to be able to go out when others need it.

Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont, wished the team well on what is by far its most complex mission ever.

In times of need, there are no borders, Gov. Scott said. Were all united as Americans to help those in danger.

Cannon said that several years ago, experts from Vermont deployed to Keene, New Hampshire to assist with flood evacuations there, and that their skills are regularly called upon during in-state flash flooding emergencies and tricky rescues.

This mission to Texas is by far the teams most complex ever, Cannon said.

The responders heading for Texas are only a portion of Vermonts swift water personnel, the office of Gov. Scott said in a news release, leaving sufficient coverage for the state, should there be a need.
Combative and insistent, President Donald Trump declared anew Tuesday "there is blame on both sides" for the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, appearing to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting them. He showed sympathy for the fringe groups' efforts to preserve Confederate monuments.

A senior White House official told NBC News that Trump's team went into the public event with the understanding that the president would take no questions. But once in front of reporters, the president "went rogue." The official said members of the team were stunned by the president's actions.

The president's comments effectively wiped away the more conventional statement he delivered at the White House a day earlier when he branded members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in violence as "criminals and thugs."

Trump's advisers had hoped those remarks might quell a crush of criticism from Republicans, Democrats and business leaders. But the president's retorts Tuesday suggested he had been a reluctant participant in that cleanup effort and renewed questions about why he seems to struggle to unequivocally condemn white nationalists.

The blowback was swift, including from fellow Republicans. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Trump should not allow white supremacists "to share only part of the blame." House Speaker Paul Ryan declared in a tweet that "white supremacy is repulsive" and there should be "no moral ambiguity," though he did not specifically address the president.

Trump's remarks were welcomed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who tweeted: "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth."

Violence broke out Saturday in Charlottesville, a picturesque college town, after a loosely connected mix of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists assembled to protest the city's decision to remove a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a man plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.

In the immediate aftermath, Trump placed the blame on "many sides." On Monday, at the urging of his aides, he delivered a more direct condemnation of white supremacists. But he returned to his original arguments Tuesday during an impromptu press conference in the lobby of his Manhattan skyscraper, declaring "there are two sides to a story."

He acknowledged there were "some very bad people" looking for trouble in the group protesting plans to remove the statue. "But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides," he said.

Trump sided with those seeking to maintain the monument to Lee, equating him with some of the nation's founders who also owned slaves. Confederate monuments have become rallying points for supporters of both preserving and toppling them.

"So, this week it's Robert E. Lee," he said. "I noticed that Stonewall Jackson's coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You really do have to ask yourself where does it stop?"

He continued: "You're changing history. You're changing culture."

The president's comments mirrored rhetoric from the far-right fringe. A post Monday by the publisher of The Daily Stormer, a notorious neo-Nazi website, predicted that protesters are going to demand that the Washington Monument be torn down.

Trump's handling of the weekend violence has raised new and troubling questions, even among some supporters. Members of his own Republican Party have pressured him to be more vigorous in criticizing bigoted groups, and business leaders have begun abandoning a White House jobs panel in response to his comments.

White House officials were caught off guard by his remarks Tuesday. He had signed off on a plan to not answer questions from journalists during an event touting infrastructure policies, according to a White House official not authorized to speak publicly about a private discussion. Once behind the lectern and facing the cameras, he overruled the decision.

As Trump talked, his aides on the sidelines in the lobby stood in silence. Chief of staff John Kelly crossed his arms and stared down at his shoes, barely glancing at the president. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders looked around the room trying to make eye contact with other senior aides. One young staffer stood with her mouth agape.

Kelly was brought into the White House less than a month ago to try to bring order and stability to a chaotic West Wing. Some Trump allies hoped the retired Marine general might be able to succeed where others have failed: controlling some of Trump's impulses. But the president's improvisations on Tuesday once against underscored that he cannot be controlled by his advisers.

Democrats were aghast at Trump's comments. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said on Twitter that the Charlottesville violence "was fueled by one side: white supremacists spreading racism, intolerance & intimidation. Those are the facts." Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said on Twitter that he no longer views Trump as his president.

"As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment," Schatz said. "This is not my president."

When asked to explain his Saturday comments about Charlottesville, Trump looked down at his notes and again read a section of his initial statement that denounced bigotry but did not single out white supremacists. He then tucked the paper back into his jacket pocket.

Trump, who has quickly deemed other deadly incidents in the U.S. and around the world acts of terrorism, waffled when asked whether the car death was a terrorist attack.

"There is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism?" Trump said. "And then you get into legal semantics. The driver of the car is a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing."

Trump said he had yet to call Heyer's mother but would soon "reach out." He praised her for what he said was a nice statement about him on social media.

As he finally walked away from his lectern, he stopped to answer one more shouted question: Would he visit Charlottesville? The president's response was to note that he owned property there and to say  inaccurately  that it was one of the largest wineries in the United States.


Catholic TV group opens first UK studio at Walsingham Catholic TV group opens first UK studio at Walsingham

2017: International Catholic TV network EWTN has opened its first studio and office in the UK in Walsingham in North Norfolk.



The facility is located in a converted home in the village of Walsingham, home of one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Europe, the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.



The formal dedication took place on Tuesday, August 29 in a ceremony attended by EWTN Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw; Shrine Rector Mgr John Armitage, Rector of the Shrine and Bishop Alan Hopes.



This is a particularly important step for the continued development of EWTN in the UK, said Michael Warsaw. This new facility will allow us to greatly expand our capacity to produce programming for our European channels as well as to more easily incorporate content from the UK into our other channels around the world.



It is also appropriate that this new facility is located close to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, which for centuries has been one of the most important centres of Catholicism in Britain. Every year hundreds of thousands of people come to Walsingham on pilgrimage, said Warsaw. Im very happy that EWTN now has a presence in this extraordinary place and can share what happens here with our audience around the globe.



The three-story building named Annunciation House contains EWTNs studio and a street-level reception and welcome centre that introduces the Network to visitors. The facility allows Shrine pilgrims to enjoy clips from EWTNs most popular television shows, original films, documentaries and more.



In addition to producing programmes with leading Catholics from across the UK, Warsaw said EWTN hopes to form a strategic collaboration with the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham that will help the Shrine carry out its mission to evangelize.



In a letter of congratulations read at the dedication, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster wrote: Over the last 950 years Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage, proclaiming the joy of the Annunciation; in this new chapter of its history, I welcome the opportunity for the Shrine and EWTN to work together as servants of the New Evangelization.



Mgr John Armitage said: Walsingham is very much the crossroads of the Catholic Church in England. The Church needs to be at the crossroads, particularly an organization in communications. So we are delighted as a shrine to be able to welcome EWTN to come here as an organization in their own right, but at this place where so many pilgrims come from all over the world.



Bishop Alan said the facility: will certainly be a centre for evangelization.



EWTN transmits dedicated television and radio channels for the U.K. and Ireland. Those services are available on the Sky satellite platform, cable and video streaming platforms throughout the region. The Network also transmits two additional television channels for the European continent.



Pictured above is EWTN UK Michael Warsaw opening the new EWTN studios in Walsingham (Credit: Alan Holdren/EWTN).


Bishop of East Anglia pays tribute to Cardinal Cormac Bishop of East Anglia pays tribute to Cardinal Cormac

The Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Alan Hopes, has paid tribute to the former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor, who died peacefully this afternoon (September 1), aged 85, surrounded by his family and friends.

Bishop Alan said: I was privileged to work with Cardinal Cormac in the Westminster Diocese, first as Vicar General and then as an Auxiliary Bishop. He ordained me as a bishop in Westminster Cathedral in 2003. A personal source of inspiration, he was also a source of inspiration for the Catholic Church in England and Wales which he led for ten years as the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.



His total commitment to the Church which he loved and served so well over a period of sixty years, his optimism and action in the face of adversity, his enthusiasm and his cheerful disposition, gave encouragement and support to clergy and people alike and spoke of his simple but deep faith and trust in the Lord. May he rest in peace.



Parishes across the Diocese of East Anglia will be praying for him this weekend at the Sunday Masses and will be offering Mass for him during the coming days. We will also be praying for his family and friends as they mourn their loss.



Making the announcement, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, wrote: I am writing to let you know the sad news that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor died peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by his family and friends.



Please pray for the repose of his soul. Pray, too, for his family, and those many friends and colleagues from the Diocese and far beyond who mourn his loss. Information about the funeral rites for the Cardinal will be circulated as soon as possible.



Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor spoke at the University of East Anglia in Norwich last year as part of the Newman Lecture Series, on the Changing Faces of the Papacy. You can watch him speak below.



Pictured above is Cardinal Cormac Murphy OConnor  Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk






Staying off the booze raises more than 2.5k for children with life-threatening illnesses

PATRONS of a Thatcham pub have completed a drinking abstinence hat-trick for charity.

Malcolm Cook and Nigel Allen gave up the booze for two months as a pledge to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The charity grants the wishes of children and young people with life-threatening conditions.

The wishes range from meeting celebrities, to starring in their own films or going on a holiday.

Mr Cook and Mr Allen were joined by regulars Roland Hamments, Neil Thomas and Alison Pettet, who gave up alcohol for one month.

Together they raised 2,608 for Make-A-Wish and presented a cheque to charity volunteer Simon Head at the Taste of England pub, at Lower Henwick Farm, recently.

Mr Cook said: At the end of the day, its a good amount for a good cause.

Even Make-A-Wish said what that amount of money will do for a child.

Communications manager for Make-A-Wish Helen Gee said: Were thrilled to accept this donation as we rely solely on donations.

As a charity, Make-A-Wish exists for one reason  to grant magical wishes to enrich the lives of children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions.

This year we hope to grant the wishes of 1,000 children and donations like this help to make our work possible.

The friends latest period of abstinence follows 1,353 raised for the Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice in Reading during 2015 and 2,366.50 for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance last year.

The teetotal period started as a bit of banter over the bar that turned into a full charity pledge.

And next years challenge is looking to be even bigger as a darts event is planned.

Mr Cook said that the three charities would be rotated and that he hoped to raise even more money for the Duchess of Kent Hospice next year.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Aiming to cut the delay in abortion time, especially for those women who have abnormalities in their foetus during pregnancy, the Centre Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has written to all states and Union Territories asking them to set up permanent medical boards for abortion cases.

The statement from the government came even as the court permitted a Pune-based woman to abort her 24-week foetus suffering from abnormalities. Punes BJ Government Medical College, where the woman was examined, had informed the court there was no medical treatment for the anomaly. Doctors said there was a complete absence of brain and skull of the foetus and survival rate was minimal.

Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, told the apex court bench comprising justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao that all states and UTs have been asked to set up such medical boards at the earliest. The medical boards will examine requests for termination of pregnancy and cut delays in abortion, Kumar told the court.

Earlier, the court had urged the government to put in place a mechanism to examine requests for abortion when continuing with pregnancy post-20 weeks may endanger the life of the mother.

The need for the mechanism arose after parents of a 10-year-old rape victim approached the apex court when she was already 26 weeks pregnant. After that, all formalities ranging from forming a medical board took up time, and when the victim was finally denied permission to abort fearing risk for her life, she was 32 weeks into her pregnancy. She delivered a baby girl earlier in August.

Another 10-year-old rape survivor in Haryana, however, was allowed to abort her nearly 21-week foetus in May. Presently, Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTPA), 1971, bars abortion after the 20th week. We consider it appropriate and in the interest of justice to allow termination of pregnancy, the bench said in the instant case.

The apex court also took up another plea filed on behalf of a 13-year-old rape survivor seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy of 30 weeks. The bench, which had earlier set up a medical board of doctors from the Mumbai-based Sir J J Group of Hospitals to examine the victim, was informed that due to incessant rains in Mumbai, the minor has not been examined yet. The bench has fixed this matter for hearing on September 4.

NEW DELHI: Aiming to cut the delay in abortion time, especially for those women who have abnormalities in their foetus during pregnancy, the Centre Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has written to all states and Union Territories asking them to set up permanent medical boards for abortion cases. The statement from the government came even as the court permitted a Pune-based woman to abort her 24-week foetus suffering from abnormalities. Punes BJ Government Medical College, where the woman was examined, had informed the court there was no medical treatment for the anomaly. Doctors said there was a complete absence of brain and skull of the foetus and survival rate was minimal. Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, told the apex court bench comprising justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao that all states and UTs have been asked to set up such medical boards at the earliest. The medical boards will examine requests for termination of pregnancy and cut delays in abortion, Kumar told the court. Earlier, the court had urged the government to put in place a mechanism to examine requests for abortion when continuing with pregnancy post-20 weeks may endanger the life of the mother. The need for the mechanism arose after parents of a 10-year-old rape victim approached the apex court when she was already 26 weeks pregnant. After that, all formalities ranging from forming a medical board took up time, and when the victim was finally denied permission to abort fearing risk for her life, she was 32 weeks into her pregnancy. She delivered a baby girl earlier in August. Another 10-year-old rape survivor in Haryana, however, was allowed to abort her nearly 21-week foetus in May. Presently, Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTPA), 1971, bars abortion after the 20th week. We consider it appropriate and in the interest of justice to allow termination of pregnancy, the bench said in the instant case. The apex court also took up another plea filed on behalf of a 13-year-old rape survivor seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy of 30 weeks. The bench, which had earlier set up a medical board of doctors from the Mumbai-based Sir J J Group of Hospitals to examine the victim, was informed that due to incessant rains in Mumbai, the minor has not been examined yet. The bench has fixed this matter for hearing on September 4.
Jayanthi Pawar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Nearly two-and-a-half months after a newly-married couple from Chennai was shot at by two bike-borne masked men in Uttar Pradesh, investigators have arrested one of the two suspects who are both highway robbers.

Of the injured victims Aditya Kumar and Vijaya Lakshmi, the husband succumbed to his injuries on June 23.

Speaking to Express, Uttar Pradesh police officer Manilal Patidar, who is the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Nai Mandi, Muzaffarnagar said the suspects were Amjad, 37 from Harsoli village and Tanvir from a village in Muzaffarnagar. The men are notorious robbers and mainly target people travelling on the highway. They are known for robbing cars and motorbikes at knifepoint on highways, he added.

On Friday, Amjad was arrested with the help of CCTV footage, and we have launched a search for Tanvir who is still at large. Amjad has more than 25 pending cases, including two murder cases, registered against him and Tanvir is involved in more than 18 cases. said the officer.

During investigation it was found the men had met in the city and then decided to go to the highway to loot people, when they came across the couple. They followed the couple, and after learning they were from another state decided to rob from them. Hence, they kept following the couple on NH58 and then shot Aditya Kumar. said another investigating officer.

Aditya Kumar and Vijaya Lakshmi who hail from Hyderabad had been residing at an apartment at First Main Road in Royala Nagar in Chennai. The couple got married in May this year and both worked at L & T in Nandambakkam in Chennai, while their family members were settled in Hyderabad.

Recently, the couple had gone to Delhi on June 3 and drove down to Uttarakhand to visit Haridwar. While returning to Delhi on a motorbike on June 17 to catch a flight, they were shot at on the NH58 on a stretch that fell under the Nai Mandi police station in Muzaffarnagar district.

Following the shooting, a case was registered and the police launched a search for the shooters. Later, Aditya succumbed to his injures in a private hospital on June 23.

CHENNAI: Nearly two-and-a-half months after a newly-married couple from Chennai was shot at by two bike-borne masked men in Uttar Pradesh, investigators have arrested one of the two suspects who are both highway robbers. Of the injured victims Aditya Kumar and Vijaya Lakshmi, the husband succumbed to his injuries on June 23. Speaking to Express, Uttar Pradesh police officer Manilal Patidar, who is the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Nai Mandi, Muzaffarnagar said the suspects were Amjad, 37 from Harsoli village and Tanvir from a village in Muzaffarnagar. The men are notorious robbers and mainly target people travelling on the highway. They are known for robbing cars and motorbikes at knifepoint on highways, he added. On Friday, Amjad was arrested with the help of CCTV footage, and we have launched a search for Tanvir who is still at large. Amjad has more than 25 pending cases, including two murder cases, registered against him and Tanvir is involved in more than 18 cases. said the officer. During investigation it was found the men had met in the city and then decided to go to the highway to loot people, when they came across the couple. They followed the couple, and after learning they were from another state decided to rob from them. Hence, they kept following the couple on NH58 and then shot Aditya Kumar. said another investigating officer. Aditya Kumar and Vijaya Lakshmi who hail from Hyderabad had been residing at an apartment at First Main Road in Royala Nagar in Chennai. The couple got married in May this year and both worked at L & T in Nandambakkam in Chennai, while their family members were settled in Hyderabad. Recently, the couple had gone to Delhi on June 3 and drove down to Uttarakhand to visit Haridwar. While returning to Delhi on a motorbike on June 17 to catch a flight, they were shot at on the NH58 on a stretch that fell under the Nai Mandi police station in Muzaffarnagar district. Following the shooting, a case was registered and the police launched a search for the shooters. Later, Aditya succumbed to his injures in a private hospital on June 23.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: At 5.7 per cent, Indias economy slowed to a three-year low in the quarter ending June, delivering a blow to the government that is facing fresh criticism over demonetisation. The numbers indicate that the country is yet to recover from the double whammy of cash squeeze and launch of the uniform tax regime. This is largely due to the demonetisation impact; the economy has failed to recover, noted economist M Govinda Rao said.

The government, however, denied any impact of demonetisation, but admitted that the roll-out of GST could have had an impact. Businesses have pulled down their inventory in anticipation of the GST, said Chief Statistician of India TCA Anant. As companies adopt GST, their inventory position will become normal, he said.

The sector that contributed the most to slowing economic growth was manufacturing, which tumbled to 1.2 per cent from 10.7 per cent a year ago. Other sectors that dragged growth down included mining and quarrying, which showed a negative growth of 0.7 per cent, and construction, which grew 2 per cent.

Meanwhile, another set of official data showed that the growth of eight core sectors slowed to 2.4 per cent in July due to contraction in output of crude oil, refinery products, fertiliser and cement.

Anant pointed out that the gross value added (GVA) in April-June quarter (5.6 per cent) was much less than in the same period last year (7.6 per cent). Economists use GVA  which is GDP minus taxes  as a more realistic variable to compute the value of goods and services produced.

Another important matrix  gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)  that reveals corporate investment, also showed a dip. It fell to 29.8 per cent of the GDP (in 2011-12 prices) from 31 per cent in the same quarter last year, indicating that companies had not added capacity lines due to muted demand.

The numbers seem to suggest that the slowdown from the last quarter has intensified due to the combination of long-term slowdown and temporary shock factors like demonetisation and GST, said Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC. India now lags behind China in global growth rankings by a fair margin. China, which grew at 6.9 per cent in the last two quarters, has bounced back as the worlds fastest-growing major economy since January, regaining the status from India after two years.

Didnt file returns? I-T is coming

The income-tax department is on the prowl to catch those who have failed to file their tax returns, and as many as 14,000 properties worth over J1 crore each are under scrutiny. While J15,496 crore was admitted as undisclosed income, surveys resulted in the seizure of J13,920 crore, according to an official statement. As many as 13.33 lakh accounts of some 9.72 lakh persons with unusual cash deposits of J2.89 lakh crore were identified and responses sought, the statement added.

NEW DELHI: At 5.7 per cent, Indias economy slowed to a three-year low in the quarter ending June, delivering a blow to the government that is facing fresh criticism over demonetisation. The numbers indicate that the country is yet to recover from the double whammy of cash squeeze and launch of the uniform tax regime. This is largely due to the demonetisation impact; the economy has failed to recover, noted economist M Govinda Rao said. The government, however, denied any impact of demonetisation, but admitted that the roll-out of GST could have had an impact. Businesses have pulled down their inventory in anticipation of the GST, said Chief Statistician of India TCA Anant. As companies adopt GST, their inventory position will become normal, he said. The sector that contributed the most to slowing economic growth was manufacturing, which tumbled to 1.2 per cent from 10.7 per cent a year ago. Other sectors that dragged growth down included mining and quarrying, which showed a negative growth of 0.7 per cent, and construction, which grew 2 per cent. Meanwhile, another set of official data showed that the growth of eight core sectors slowed to 2.4 per cent in July due to contraction in output of crude oil, refinery products, fertiliser and cement. Anant pointed out that the gross value added (GVA) in April-June quarter (5.6 per cent) was much less than in the same period last year (7.6 per cent). Economists use GVA  which is GDP minus taxes  as a more realistic variable to compute the value of goods and services produced. Another important matrix  gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)  that reveals corporate investment, also showed a dip. It fell to 29.8 per cent of the GDP (in 2011-12 prices) from 31 per cent in the same quarter last year, indicating that companies had not added capacity lines due to muted demand. The numbers seem to suggest that the slowdown from the last quarter has intensified due to the combination of long-term slowdown and temporary shock factors like demonetisation and GST, said Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC. India now lags behind China in global growth rankings by a fair margin. China, which grew at 6.9 per cent in the last two quarters, has bounced back as the worlds fastest-growing major economy since January, regaining the status from India after two years. Didnt file returns? I-T is coming The income-tax department is on the prowl to catch those who have failed to file their tax returns, and as many as 14,000 properties worth over J1 crore each are under scrutiny. While J15,496 crore was admitted as undisclosed income, surveys resulted in the seizure of J13,920 crore, according to an official statement. As many as 13.33 lakh accounts of some 9.72 lakh persons with unusual cash deposits of J2.89 lakh crore were identified and responses sought, the statement added.
By PTI

SHEOPUR: At a time when cases of communal animosity are being reported from different parts of the country, a Muslim family has donated their land here for the expansion of a Hanuman temple.

Javed Ansari (34) recently donated 1,905 square feet of his land towards the expansion of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir at village Bagwaz in the district, Sub Divisional Magistrate R B Sindoskar told PTI.

"Ansari had submitted an application to donate 1,905 square feet from his land to the committee running the management of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir. After recording the statements of Ansari and his family members, who jointly share the ownership, the land was handed over to the committee," he added.

This temple is located about one kilometer from the district headquarters on Gupteshwar road in village Bagwaz.

This land would be used for the seating arrangements of devotees and the boundary wall.

SDM said that the orders related to the land donation were issued on August 16.

The temple committee chairman Raju Vaish said that the land was donated by Javed Ansari in consultation with his brothers Parvez, Shahnaj, Shoib and Shadab.

"Now, the land is under the possession of temple committee," he added.

Meanwhile, Ansari, who donated the land, said, "I have donated this land to Hanuman Mandir to send out a message of communal harmony. I believe that such gestures will increase brotherhood between the Hindu and Muslim communities."

SHEOPUR: At a time when cases of communal animosity are being reported from different parts of the country, a Muslim family has donated their land here for the expansion of a Hanuman temple. Javed Ansari (34) recently donated 1,905 square feet of his land towards the expansion of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir at village Bagwaz in the district, Sub Divisional Magistrate R B Sindoskar told PTI. "Ansari had submitted an application to donate 1,905 square feet from his land to the committee running the management of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir. After recording the statements of Ansari and his family members, who jointly share the ownership, the land was handed over to the committee," he added. This temple is located about one kilometer from the district headquarters on Gupteshwar road in village Bagwaz. This land would be used for the seating arrangements of devotees and the boundary wall. SDM said that the orders related to the land donation were issued on August 16. The temple committee chairman Raju Vaish said that the land was donated by Javed Ansari in consultation with his brothers Parvez, Shahnaj, Shoib and Shadab. "Now, the land is under the possession of temple committee," he added. Meanwhile, Ansari, who donated the land, said, "I have donated this land to Hanuman Mandir to send out a message of communal harmony. I believe that such gestures will increase brotherhood between the Hindu and Muslim communities."
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: The PDP-BJP coalition government has continued with its tough policy in Jammu and Kashmir and has not released any detained separatist leader or youth as a goodwill gesture on this Eid.

Infact, authorities on Friday arrested JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.

Official sources said the States Home department, which is headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has not ordered the release of any detainee including separatist leaders or youth arrested for indulging in stone pelting charges and participating in protests.

They said over 500 people including some separatist leaders and activists, religious leaders and youth arrested during over a five-month long unrest in the Valley last year continue to be behind the bars.

The security forces had launched a massive crackdown against separatists and youth indulging in stone pelting and participating in anti-India protests during the five-month long unrest in the Valley triggered by killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016.

Thousands of people including separatist leaders, activists and youth were arrested during the crackdown last year and over 500 still continue to be in detention.

Sources said no communication has been received by concerned departments about releasing some prisoners on Eid as a goodwill gesture.

In previous years, many detainees were released by the government before Eid as a goodwill gesture.

Sources said the PDP-BJP coalition government has decided to discontinue this practice this year in view of continued tension in the Valley.

There is apprehension that if some of the detained separatist leaders, activists and youth are released at this time, it would have an adverse impact on the law and order situation in the state. The government is trying hard to restore peace and normalcy in the State, especially in the Valley. The situation is still very fragile and government cannot take any decision which will have a negative impact on law and order situation, they said.

According to sources, the detainees could be released as a goodwill gesture after the Eid if there is further improvement in the situation in the Valley.

They said the security agencies are keeping a close tab on the situation and movement of separatists. The government wont shy away from more arrests if the need is felt.

Police, meanwhile, today arrested pro-independence JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik from his Maisuma residence in uptown Srinagar.

A JKLF spokesman said party organizer Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri was also arrested along with Malik. Both have been shifted to Central Jail, Srinagar.

The hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani continues to be under house arrest while curbs on the moderate separatist leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were lifted recently after about two months.

SRINAGAR: The PDP-BJP coalition government has continued with its tough policy in Jammu and Kashmir and has not released any detained separatist leader or youth as a goodwill gesture on this Eid. Infact, authorities on Friday arrested JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik. Official sources said the States Home department, which is headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has not ordered the release of any detainee including separatist leaders or youth arrested for indulging in stone pelting charges and participating in protests. They said over 500 people including some separatist leaders and activists, religious leaders and youth arrested during over a five-month long unrest in the Valley last year continue to be behind the bars. The security forces had launched a massive crackdown against separatists and youth indulging in stone pelting and participating in anti-India protests during the five-month long unrest in the Valley triggered by killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. Thousands of people including separatist leaders, activists and youth were arrested during the crackdown last year and over 500 still continue to be in detention. Sources said no communication has been received by concerned departments about releasing some prisoners on Eid as a goodwill gesture. In previous years, many detainees were released by the government before Eid as a goodwill gesture. Sources said the PDP-BJP coalition government has decided to discontinue this practice this year in view of continued tension in the Valley. There is apprehension that if some of the detained separatist leaders, activists and youth are released at this time, it would have an adverse impact on the law and order situation in the state. The government is trying hard to restore peace and normalcy in the State, especially in the Valley. The situation is still very fragile and government cannot take any decision which will have a negative impact on law and order situation, they said. According to sources, the detainees could be released as a goodwill gesture after the Eid if there is further improvement in the situation in the Valley. They said the security agencies are keeping a close tab on the situation and movement of separatists. The government wont shy away from more arrests if the need is felt. Police, meanwhile, today arrested pro-independence JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik from his Maisuma residence in uptown Srinagar. A JKLF spokesman said party organizer Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri was also arrested along with Malik. Both have been shifted to Central Jail, Srinagar. The hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani continues to be under house arrest while curbs on the moderate separatist leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were lifted recently after about two months.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on has invited Swiss technology companies to participate in various initiatives of the Indian government and pursue closer business partnerships in priority sectors like precision and high-tech manufacturing.

Kovind's suggestion came after he received visiting Swiss President Doris Leuthard at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Thursday and subsequently hosted a banquet in her honour.

Leuthard arrived here on Wednesday on a four-day official visit to India.

President Kovind said India was keen to build synergies with Switzerland in all of these endeavours, while working within the framework of a rules-based multilateral system.

"India and Switzerland can grow and diversify their trade, investment and technological exchanges. The two countries need to pursue even closer business partnerships in priority sectors such as precision and high-technology manufacturing, infrastructure, skill development, renewable energy and clean-tech research," Kovind said in his banquet speech.

"The Swiss technology companies should also to take part in initiatives like 'Make in India', 'Start-Up India', 'Swachh Bharat', and 'Skill India'."

The Indian President said there was scope for creating partnerships between research and development labs and institutions of the two countries.

Pointing out that India was a fast growing economy and creating a market throught Goods and Services Tax (GST), Kovind invited the Swiss companies to take advantage of it.

"Switzerland is an important trade and investment partner for India. India is a preferred destination for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) as it is the world's fastest growing large economy. India has made great progress on the ease of doing business' and in creating a unified market through GST and other measures. Swiss companies are ideally positioned to take advantage," Kovind said.

Kovind said India was committed to "multilateralism like Switzerland".

"Yet, the multilateral order needs to undergo multiple transformations; namely -- reform and restructuring of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions; tackling urgent challenges of international terrorism and radicalism, as well as of financial and cyber crimes and of Internet governance; and meeting pressing concerns of climate change and attaining the sustainable development goals," he said.

Citing Switzerland as one of the oldest democracies and India as the largest democracy in the world, Kovind recalled signing of a treaty of friendship between the two nations in New Delhi in August 1948.

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on has invited Swiss technology companies to participate in various initiatives of the Indian government and pursue closer business partnerships in priority sectors like precision and high-tech manufacturing. Kovind's suggestion came after he received visiting Swiss President Doris Leuthard at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Thursday and subsequently hosted a banquet in her honour. Leuthard arrived here on Wednesday on a four-day official visit to India. President Kovind said India was keen to build synergies with Switzerland in all of these endeavours, while working within the framework of a rules-based multilateral system. "India and Switzerland can grow and diversify their trade, investment and technological exchanges. The two countries need to pursue even closer business partnerships in priority sectors such as precision and high-technology manufacturing, infrastructure, skill development, renewable energy and clean-tech research," Kovind said in his banquet speech. "The Swiss technology companies should also to take part in initiatives like 'Make in India', 'Start-Up India', 'Swachh Bharat', and 'Skill India'." The Indian President said there was scope for creating partnerships between research and development labs and institutions of the two countries. Pointing out that India was a fast growing economy and creating a market throught Goods and Services Tax (GST), Kovind invited the Swiss companies to take advantage of it. "Switzerland is an important trade and investment partner for India. India is a preferred destination for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) as it is the world's fastest growing large economy. India has made great progress on the ease of doing business' and in creating a unified market through GST and other measures. Swiss companies are ideally positioned to take advantage," Kovind said. Kovind said India was committed to "multilateralism like Switzerland". "Yet, the multilateral order needs to undergo multiple transformations; namely -- reform and restructuring of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions; tackling urgent challenges of international terrorism and radicalism, as well as of financial and cyber crimes and of Internet governance; and meeting pressing concerns of climate change and attaining the sustainable development goals," he said. Citing Switzerland as one of the oldest democracies and India as the largest democracy in the world, Kovind recalled signing of a treaty of friendship between the two nations in New Delhi in August 1948.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: On August 25, the day the peaceful town of Panchkula convulsed in the rioting triggered by the rape conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Haryana Police and paramilitary forces fired 1000 rounds to control the mob. Thirty people fell dead to the bullets.

This and other details of that deadly day were revealed to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at a review meeting he called on Thrusday. In the face of all-round criticism of his governments handling of the rioting as well as the buildup to it, Khattar asked for a report on how exactly the situation went out of control and what exactly the security forces did in response.

As reported by this newspaper the day after the violence, all the 32 victims died of bullet injuries. The post-mortem reports revealed that most of them were shot hit in the head or chest or in the back. Most of the 267 people who were injured also suffered bullet injuries of a similar nature.

The 1,000 rounds of ammunition expended on the rioters were fired by both Haryana policemen and paramilitary personnel. An examination of the projectiles found in the bodies of the victims indicated that they came from SLRs, carbines and Insas rifles, the kinds used by law enforcement agencies.

The casualties occurred at the HAFED roundabout, the Kalka-Shimla highway that cuts through Panchkula, Devinagar village. Some six people died near house number 472 in Sector 2. Three people died in front of house number 588 in Sector 4.

Former director-general of UP Parkash Singh said it is a norm of riot control for security personnel to fire mostly in the air to disperse the crowd. Generally, if police open fire, it is aimed below the waist to disable a rioter, not to kill, he said.

Sources in the police said the situation in Panchkular that day got bad enough for the Army to be asked to be ready to move in. Soldiers did assemble at the army ground in Kalagram in Chandigarh along with the duty magistrates designated by the Haryana government. The magistrates were briefed by their senior officers that if at all the Army had to open fire, their instructions were to fire around 14 bullets per round and that too below the waist. However, the Army personnel were not called by the Panchkula DCP until 4 pm, which was too late.

CHANDIGARH: On August 25, the day the peaceful town of Panchkula convulsed in the rioting triggered by the rape conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Haryana Police and paramilitary forces fired 1000 rounds to control the mob. Thirty people fell dead to the bullets. This and other details of that deadly day were revealed to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at a review meeting he called on Thrusday. In the face of all-round criticism of his governments handling of the rioting as well as the buildup to it, Khattar asked for a report on how exactly the situation went out of control and what exactly the security forces did in response. As reported by this newspaper the day after the violence, all the 32 victims died of bullet injuries. The post-mortem reports revealed that most of them were shot hit in the head or chest or in the back. Most of the 267 people who were injured also suffered bullet injuries of a similar nature. The 1,000 rounds of ammunition expended on the rioters were fired by both Haryana policemen and paramilitary personnel. An examination of the projectiles found in the bodies of the victims indicated that they came from SLRs, carbines and Insas rifles, the kinds used by law enforcement agencies. The casualties occurred at the HAFED roundabout, the Kalka-Shimla highway that cuts through Panchkula, Devinagar village. Some six people died near house number 472 in Sector 2. Three people died in front of house number 588 in Sector 4. Former director-general of UP Parkash Singh said it is a norm of riot control for security personnel to fire mostly in the air to disperse the crowd. Generally, if police open fire, it is aimed below the waist to disable a rioter, not to kill, he said. Sources in the police said the situation in Panchkular that day got bad enough for the Army to be asked to be ready to move in. Soldiers did assemble at the army ground in Kalagram in Chandigarh along with the duty magistrates designated by the Haryana government. The magistrates were briefed by their senior officers that if at all the Army had to open fire, their instructions were to fire around 14 bullets per round and that too below the waist. However, the Army personnel were not called by the Panchkula DCP until 4 pm, which was too late.
By PTI

PITHORAGARH: Over 50 children of the lone primitive tribe in Uttarakhand are being deprived of primary education as a residential school, opened for them by the state government with central assistance, has been closed for want of funds.

The children belong to the Ban Rawat community, also known as Ban Rajis, whose numbers are dwindling fast in the state.

The residential school, opened for them in Jauljibi village near the Indo-Nepal border of the district, has been closed following withdrawal by the NGO that ran it citing non-sanction of funds on time.

"The children from poor Ban Raji families in Kilmkhola, Ganagaon, Chiphaltara and seven other villages near Jauljibi are without primary education this session as the school does not have teachers and food.

"No one is managing its affairs after the NGO assigned to the task left in March this year," said Lila Bangyal, a social worker based at Jauljibi.

Bangyal today came here with a delegation, including guardians of the tribal children, to draw the attention of the district magistrate to the issue.

"The demonstrators demanded that the school be run fully by the social welfare department of the state. The shy children of the tribe find it diificult to mix with children from other communities in other schools," said Bangyal.

According to Pithoragarh District Magistrate C Ravishankar, the administration has sent a proposal to the state government asking for funds for the salaries and other expenditure of the teachers and staff.

"We hope the funds will reach us soon," the DM said.

According to district social welfare officer P B Singh, the need for opening a separate residential primary school for the children of the tribe arose from their shy disposition which prevented them from mixing with other children and resulted in their withdrawal from schools.

The resedential school was opened in 2001 and was handed over to an NGO -- Seemant Janjati Vikas Sansthan -- run by former MLA Hira Singh Bora. After Bora died in 2013 his successors refused to run the school, complaining of nonavailability of timely assistance from the Centre and the state.

"We are not in a position to run the school as we do not have enough funds to run it," said Bhupesh Bora, son of the late MLA and director of the NGO.

PITHORAGARH: Over 50 children of the lone primitive tribe in Uttarakhand are being deprived of primary education as a residential school, opened for them by the state government with central assistance, has been closed for want of funds. The children belong to the Ban Rawat community, also known as Ban Rajis, whose numbers are dwindling fast in the state. The residential school, opened for them in Jauljibi village near the Indo-Nepal border of the district, has been closed following withdrawal by the NGO that ran it citing non-sanction of funds on time. "The children from poor Ban Raji families in Kilmkhola, Ganagaon, Chiphaltara and seven other villages near Jauljibi are without primary education this session as the school does not have teachers and food. "No one is managing its affairs after the NGO assigned to the task left in March this year," said Lila Bangyal, a social worker based at Jauljibi. Bangyal today came here with a delegation, including guardians of the tribal children, to draw the attention of the district magistrate to the issue. "The demonstrators demanded that the school be run fully by the social welfare department of the state. The shy children of the tribe find it diificult to mix with children from other communities in other schools," said Bangyal. According to Pithoragarh District Magistrate C Ravishankar, the administration has sent a proposal to the state government asking for funds for the salaries and other expenditure of the teachers and staff. "We hope the funds will reach us soon," the DM said. According to district social welfare officer P B Singh, the need for opening a separate residential primary school for the children of the tribe arose from their shy disposition which prevented them from mixing with other children and resulted in their withdrawal from schools. The resedential school was opened in 2001 and was handed over to an NGO -- Seemant Janjati Vikas Sansthan -- run by former MLA Hira Singh Bora. After Bora died in 2013 his successors refused to run the school, complaining of nonavailability of timely assistance from the Centre and the state. "We are not in a position to run the school as we do not have enough funds to run it," said Bhupesh Bora, son of the late MLA and director of the NGO.
Swaran Singh By

The theme of the ninth BRICS Summit in Chinas Xiamen, Stronger Partnership for Brighter Future, perhaps most aptly explains the current stresses faced by the group. For several reasons, the future of this partnership has lately come under serious interrogation. While Brazil and South Africa have experienced prolonged internal instability, Russia has had to face continuous distractions from Georgia, Ukraine and Syria to the current US sanctions.

But no one was expecting the China-India military standoff at Doklam to become the most formidable stumbling block hurting BRICS and Chinese aspirations. And even as they have hammered out a mutually-agreed disengagement, no one expects this to provide a lasting solution.

The recent backdrop of India absenting itself from Chinese President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Forum in May, and Russia, India and China failing to hold their trilateral foreign ministers meet, which was to be held in April, has pushed the media into repeatedly asking whether the Indian PM would attend the BRICS summit. Indias studied silence on this proved to be its strongest lever resulting in an early end to the standoff at Doklam.

Meanwhile, North Korea has ratcheted up its missile tests and US President Donald Trump has slammed China, North Korea and Pakistan; this may have also helped Indias diplomatic negotiations. The BRICS summit may have been rescued with India confirming the PMs participation, yet all this has surely dented Chinas initial enthusiasm.

But to keep the focus on BRICS, it is common knowledge that its original author Jim ONeill was not happy with BRIC becoming a political grouping and then adding South Africa, making it BRICS. But what has really transformed BRICS is its agenda which has expanded way beyond the original expectations. The limited remit of BRICS was to reform the global financial governance structures. At a broader level, it was to pursue democratisation of international relations and provide developing nations a greater say in global governance.

But the BRICS agenda has since expanded to include several non-financial issues from climate change and terror to women empowerment, human trafficking and so on. No doubt these are important issues but such ambitious trajectories have triggered concerns even amongst Chinese experts who allude to the growing disjunction between BRICS expansion and efficacy. Li Xings book The BRICS and Beyond talks of BRICS becoming a conjectural alliance which is not likely to achieve a long-term political and economic union.

What BRICS needs today is not expansion but consolidation. Its dozens of official and inter-ministerial mechanisms, for example, would be better served by a dedicated organisation structure and its own cadre of BRICS personnel. To nourish cohesion and momentum in this increasingly disoriented grouping, BRICS will have to go beyond being satisfied with cultural cooperation and evolve a BRICS culture and constituencies.

These would synergise those fast-shifting sands from inter-state to inter-societal connections, from top-down to bottom-up planning, and from physical to social infrastructure building and nourish BRICS with the help of people-to-people contacts. There has to be not just an ad hoc method but an enduring brick-building approach in encouraging BRICS exchanges amongst youth, think tanks, academics and media. Cooperation in fields like films, sports, heritage, education and tourism should be encouraged.

The limited financial agenda of BRICS has given the world the New Development Bank (NDB) and a currency pool; both have had the positive impact of pushing Bretton Woods institutions into making changes in their voting rights so as to provide greater weightage to emerging economies. Earlier this month, the NDB also opened its African regional centre in Johannesburg and plans to invest $1.5 billion in South African infrastructure projects in the next 18 months. Since Jim ONeill articulated the BRIC formulation, the trade of these four countries with Africa has surged from $28 million in 2001 to $377 million in 2014.

In this the decision of the BRICS trade and commerce ministers to adopt the Outline for BRICS Investment Facilitation earlier this month was a major step forward, especially as India had been a strong outlier on this. It is at this deeper level of their piecemeal economic integration that experts today notice BRICS multinationals evolving their distinct culture of investments, personnel and technology transfers, and market management. The Challenges of BRIC Multinationals by Rob van Tulder and others finds them emerging as a unique phenomena defying the traditional logic of MNES (multinational enterprises).

Intra-BRICS business now promises to take the lead in strengthening the BRICS culture to keep the nations together in these difficult times. In this, the member nations share the strong foundational norms of being proponents of state-centric economies though private companies in India (Tatas, Reliance, Adani), Brazil (Vale, Embraer), South Africa (De Beers) remain influential in their national decision-making. The technology-infused time and space shrink can be another catalyst in addressing their disruptions based on their size, nature of their politics and economies, and their inheritance that reinforces their physical disconnections.

It was in 2011 that China first hosted a BRICS summit. As China holds this BRICS summit in Xiamen, there is a need to resist the temptation of making grand declarations and focus on limited but actionable plans to provide BRICS the much-needed depth and cohesion to pursue its limited agenda of reforming global financial governance.

Swaran Singh

Professor, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi

Email: ssingh@jnu.ac.in

The theme of the ninth BRICS Summit in Chinas Xiamen, Stronger Partnership for Brighter Future, perhaps most aptly explains the current stresses faced by the group. For several reasons, the future of this partnership has lately come under serious interrogation. While Brazil and South Africa have experienced prolonged internal instability, Russia has had to face continuous distractions from Georgia, Ukraine and Syria to the current US sanctions. But no one was expecting the China-India military standoff at Doklam to become the most formidable stumbling block hurting BRICS and Chinese aspirations. And even as they have hammered out a mutually-agreed disengagement, no one expects this to provide a lasting solution. The recent backdrop of India absenting itself from Chinese President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Forum in May, and Russia, India and China failing to hold their trilateral foreign ministers meet, which was to be held in April, has pushed the media into repeatedly asking whether the Indian PM would attend the BRICS summit. Indias studied silence on this proved to be its strongest lever resulting in an early end to the standoff at Doklam. Meanwhile, North Korea has ratcheted up its missile tests and US President Donald Trump has slammed China, North Korea and Pakistan; this may have also helped Indias diplomatic negotiations. The BRICS summit may have been rescued with India confirming the PMs participation, yet all this has surely dented Chinas initial enthusiasm. But to keep the focus on BRICS, it is common knowledge that its original author Jim ONeill was not happy with BRIC becoming a political grouping and then adding South Africa, making it BRICS. But what has really transformed BRICS is its agenda which has expanded way beyond the original expectations. The limited remit of BRICS was to reform the global financial governance structures. At a broader level, it was to pursue democratisation of international relations and provide developing nations a greater say in global governance. But the BRICS agenda has since expanded to include several non-financial issues from climate change and terror to women empowerment, human trafficking and so on. No doubt these are important issues but such ambitious trajectories have triggered concerns even amongst Chinese experts who allude to the growing disjunction between BRICS expansion and efficacy. Li Xings book The BRICS and Beyond talks of BRICS becoming a conjectural alliance which is not likely to achieve a long-term political and economic union. What BRICS needs today is not expansion but consolidation. Its dozens of official and inter-ministerial mechanisms, for example, would be better served by a dedicated organisation structure and its own cadre of BRICS personnel. To nourish cohesion and momentum in this increasingly disoriented grouping, BRICS will have to go beyond being satisfied with cultural cooperation and evolve a BRICS culture and constituencies. These would synergise those fast-shifting sands from inter-state to inter-societal connections, from top-down to bottom-up planning, and from physical to social infrastructure building and nourish BRICS with the help of people-to-people contacts. There has to be not just an ad hoc method but an enduring brick-building approach in encouraging BRICS exchanges amongst youth, think tanks, academics and media. Cooperation in fields like films, sports, heritage, education and tourism should be encouraged. The limited financial agenda of BRICS has given the world the New Development Bank (NDB) and a currency pool; both have had the positive impact of pushing Bretton Woods institutions into making changes in their voting rights so as to provide greater weightage to emerging economies. Earlier this month, the NDB also opened its African regional centre in Johannesburg and plans to invest $1.5 billion in South African infrastructure projects in the next 18 months. Since Jim ONeill articulated the BRIC formulation, the trade of these four countries with Africa has surged from $28 million in 2001 to $377 million in 2014. In this the decision of the BRICS trade and commerce ministers to adopt the Outline for BRICS Investment Facilitation earlier this month was a major step forward, especially as India had been a strong outlier on this. It is at this deeper level of their piecemeal economic integration that experts today notice BRICS multinationals evolving their distinct culture of investments, personnel and technology transfers, and market management. The Challenges of BRIC Multinationals by Rob van Tulder and others finds them emerging as a unique phenomena defying the traditional logic of MNES (multinational enterprises). Intra-BRICS business now promises to take the lead in strengthening the BRICS culture to keep the nations together in these difficult times. In this, the member nations share the strong foundational norms of being proponents of state-centric economies though private companies in India (Tatas, Reliance, Adani), Brazil (Vale, Embraer), South Africa (De Beers) remain influential in their national decision-making. The technology-infused time and space shrink can be another catalyst in addressing their disruptions based on their size, nature of their politics and economies, and their inheritance that reinforces their physical disconnections. It was in 2011 that China first hosted a BRICS summit. As China holds this BRICS summit in Xiamen, there is a need to resist the temptation of making grand declarations and focus on limited but actionable plans to provide BRICS the much-needed depth and cohesion to pursue its limited agenda of reforming global financial governance. Swaran Singh Professor, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi Email: ssingh@jnu.ac.in
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the fast-tracking of a case relating to the alleged gang-rape of 11 tribal women by 13 Greyhounds personnel of the undivided Andhra Pradesh back in 2007.

In doing so, it struck down an appeal by the accused police personnel challenging a magistrates order, taking cognizance of the complaint of the victims.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising justices Arun Mishra and Shantana Goudar, ruled that the criminal trial must now be heard every day and concluded within six months. The judges expressed shock that the case has been dragged for 10 years, undermining the confidence of the tribal women in the criminal justice system.

The incident took place on August 20, 2007, in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district, in a tribal village named Vakapalle in G Madugula mandal. Eleven women belonging to the Kondh tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), were allegedly gangraped at gunpoint by Greyhounds personnel at 11 in the morning when male members of the village were away in the fields.

The Greyhounds personnel had gone to the village while carrying out a combing operation against the Maoists.

An FIR was lodged against the Greyhounds personnel under Sections 376 (ii) (g) of the Indian Penal Code (gang rape) and Section 3 (2) (V) of the SC ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989. However, the police claimed the Maoists forced women to foist a gangrape case against the Greyhounds personnel to malign their image.

The AP Girijana Samakhya moved the High Court, but the court ruled that the medical examination of the victims showed no sign of rape. However, the victims said they were sent for medical examinations late deliberately to dilute the evidence. The accused policemen have tried to use every legal tactic to ensure that the criminal trial does not begin and managed to halt it for a decade, said Human Rights Forum general secretary VS Krishna.

On Friday, the apex court, while dismissing the plea of the accused Greyhounds personnel seeking to quash proceedings, observed that the women victims had the rights to justice through criminal trial.

The trials will be held at the Paderu Sessions Court. The Supreme Court said that the judgment should be delivered expeditiously and on day-to-day basis, said High Court senior advocate Vasudha Nagaraj, who has been closely associated with the case.

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the fast-tracking of a case relating to the alleged gang-rape of 11 tribal women by 13 Greyhounds personnel of the undivided Andhra Pradesh back in 2007. In doing so, it struck down an appeal by the accused police personnel challenging a magistrates order, taking cognizance of the complaint of the victims. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising justices Arun Mishra and Shantana Goudar, ruled that the criminal trial must now be heard every day and concluded within six months. The judges expressed shock that the case has been dragged for 10 years, undermining the confidence of the tribal women in the criminal justice system. The incident took place on August 20, 2007, in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district, in a tribal village named Vakapalle in G Madugula mandal. Eleven women belonging to the Kondh tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), were allegedly gangraped at gunpoint by Greyhounds personnel at 11 in the morning when male members of the village were away in the fields. The Greyhounds personnel had gone to the village while carrying out a combing operation against the Maoists. An FIR was lodged against the Greyhounds personnel under Sections 376 (ii) (g) of the Indian Penal Code (gang rape) and Section 3 (2) (V) of the SC ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989. However, the police claimed the Maoists forced women to foist a gangrape case against the Greyhounds personnel to malign their image. The AP Girijana Samakhya moved the High Court, but the court ruled that the medical examination of the victims showed no sign of rape. However, the victims said they were sent for medical examinations late deliberately to dilute the evidence. The accused policemen have tried to use every legal tactic to ensure that the criminal trial does not begin and managed to halt it for a decade, said Human Rights Forum general secretary VS Krishna. On Friday, the apex court, while dismissing the plea of the accused Greyhounds personnel seeking to quash proceedings, observed that the women victims had the rights to justice through criminal trial. The trials will be held at the Paderu Sessions Court. The Supreme Court said that the judgment should be delivered expeditiously and on day-to-day basis, said High Court senior advocate Vasudha Nagaraj, who has been closely associated with the case.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: THE ministry expansion and minor reshuffle is yet another testimony for Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs growing stature within Congress and with the party high command as he has succeeded in getting MLC R B Timmapurs name cleared from the high command for induction under the Dalit quota.

This despite a potential threat of Timmapurs disqualification in the backdrop of the controversy over furnishing false address and claiming Travel Allowance illegally with the BBMP.

Timmapur belongs to Dalit left wing. A section of Dalit right wing leaders had been lobbying for induction of a Dalit from their wing as the berth fell vacant following the resignation of G Parameshwara.

Even Parameshwara, who is also the KPCC president, is said to be in favour of this argument. He is said to be backing former minister Motamma (a Dalit right wing candidate) for a Cabinet berth. Malavalli MLA and former minister P M Narendraswamy was also in the race. However leaders from Dalit left wing are batting for equal representation.

There are two ministers who are Dalit (right)  H C Mahadevappa and Priyank Kharge  while H Anjaneya is the lone minister from the left wing.Siddaramaiah is said to have succeeded in getting the berth for Timmapur, which is seen as a setback for KPCC President Pamameshwara.Similarly, Geetha has succeeded in pipping much senior Tiptur MLA Shadakshari, thanks to Siddaramaiahs strong backing. Though she is the first time MLA, Siddaramaiah reportedly succeeded in clinching the berth for her by arguing that she would enhance the womens quota in the ministry, which presently has a lone representation of Umashree.

The strong Lingayat community in the old Mysuru region has been left without representation in the ministry after the death of Mahadevaprasad. Geetha, is being seen as an automatic choice under the Lingayat quota.The Chief Minister, it may be recalled, had also assured the voters of Gundlupet during the by-poll that she would be inducted into the ministry if the voters ensure her victory. Siddaramaiah is keen on fulfilling the promise.

Who gets what?

While Revanna is likely to get the Environment and Forests ministry, Timmapur is tipped to get the Excise portfolio earlier held by Meti. It is not clear if Geetha will get the Co-operation portfolio that was held by her late husband.

BENGALURU: THE ministry expansion and minor reshuffle is yet another testimony for Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs growing stature within Congress and with the party high command as he has succeeded in getting MLC R B Timmapurs name cleared from the high command for induction under the Dalit quota. This despite a potential threat of Timmapurs disqualification in the backdrop of the controversy over furnishing false address and claiming Travel Allowance illegally with the BBMP. Timmapur belongs to Dalit left wing. A section of Dalit right wing leaders had been lobbying for induction of a Dalit from their wing as the berth fell vacant following the resignation of G Parameshwara. Even Parameshwara, who is also the KPCC president, is said to be in favour of this argument. He is said to be backing former minister Motamma (a Dalit right wing candidate) for a Cabinet berth. Malavalli MLA and former minister P M Narendraswamy was also in the race. However leaders from Dalit left wing are batting for equal representation. There are two ministers who are Dalit (right)  H C Mahadevappa and Priyank Kharge  while H Anjaneya is the lone minister from the left wing.Siddaramaiah is said to have succeeded in getting the berth for Timmapur, which is seen as a setback for KPCC President Pamameshwara.Similarly, Geetha has succeeded in pipping much senior Tiptur MLA Shadakshari, thanks to Siddaramaiahs strong backing. Though she is the first time MLA, Siddaramaiah reportedly succeeded in clinching the berth for her by arguing that she would enhance the womens quota in the ministry, which presently has a lone representation of Umashree. The strong Lingayat community in the old Mysuru region has been left without representation in the ministry after the death of Mahadevaprasad. Geetha, is being seen as an automatic choice under the Lingayat quota.The Chief Minister, it may be recalled, had also assured the voters of Gundlupet during the by-poll that she would be inducted into the ministry if the voters ensure her victory. Siddaramaiah is keen on fulfilling the promise. Who gets what? While Revanna is likely to get the Environment and Forests ministry, Timmapur is tipped to get the Excise portfolio earlier held by Meti. It is not clear if Geetha will get the Co-operation portfolio that was held by her late husband.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU:The state government has recently decided to provide free education for girls in the state up to post-graduation even in private educational institutions. Currently the girls are given free education in government schools and colleges up to undergraduate level. Now it will be extended to private instituitions and also up to post-graduation from the next academic year. Confirming this, Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddi said, From the next academic year, it is completely free eductaion for girls in the state.

Rayareddi was speaking at an event organised by Bangalore University at Central College premises on Thursday to inagaurate newly constructed buildings.The mode of payment for private institutions towards the girl children fee is yet to be finalised. Once it is placed before the Cabinet and gets clearence, the departments concerned will work out the modalities, said a senior official from the Higher Education Department.

According to officials, first priority before the government is to reimburse the fee paid by the students in the form of scholarship. To avoid confusion or misuse of the scheme, it would be better to reimburse the beneficiaries. This is what we are doing with the fee education scheme announced for children of farmers who committed suicide. They have to join the institute by paying the required fee and later submit the receipt to the department concerned. The fee paid by them will be reimbursed to their bank accounts, an official said.

What Rayareddi said

Appointment of a V-C for Bangalore University will be done in a week

As the setting up of Skill University is being delayed by the Labour Department, the project will be taken over by the Higher Education Department

Ambedkar School of Economics has got 50 admissions

Over 90 state government degree colleges do not have own buildings

Free laptop scheme will be extended to PG student

BENGALURU:The state government has recently decided to provide free education for girls in the state up to post-graduation even in private educational institutions. Currently the girls are given free education in government schools and colleges up to undergraduate level. Now it will be extended to private instituitions and also up to post-graduation from the next academic year. Confirming this, Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddi said, From the next academic year, it is completely free eductaion for girls in the state. Rayareddi was speaking at an event organised by Bangalore University at Central College premises on Thursday to inagaurate newly constructed buildings.The mode of payment for private institutions towards the girl children fee is yet to be finalised. Once it is placed before the Cabinet and gets clearence, the departments concerned will work out the modalities, said a senior official from the Higher Education Department. According to officials, first priority before the government is to reimburse the fee paid by the students in the form of scholarship. To avoid confusion or misuse of the scheme, it would be better to reimburse the beneficiaries. This is what we are doing with the fee education scheme announced for children of farmers who committed suicide. They have to join the institute by paying the required fee and later submit the receipt to the department concerned. The fee paid by them will be reimbursed to their bank accounts, an official said. What Rayareddi said Appointment of a V-C for Bangalore University will be done in a week As the setting up of Skill University is being delayed by the Labour Department, the project will be taken over by the Higher Education Department Ambedkar School of Economics has got 50 admissions Over 90 state government degree colleges do not have own buildings Free laptop scheme will be extended to PG student
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In her last few weeks, she had represented the angst of the less fortunate but no less ambitious youth against the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) that was based on a syllabus foreign to her. And in her death, their anguish.

Failed by the system she tried hard to integrate herself into by scoring a very high 1,176/1,200 in Class 12, S Anitha, daughter of a Dalit daily wage labourer from the most backward Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu, killed herself by hanging on Friday.

It was the last day of the first phase of counselling for medical admissions, which, being based on the marks scored in NEET, held no hope for thousands of aspirants like her.

Read: Ariyalur Dalit girl represents Tamil Nadus NEET angst at Supreme Court

Anitha, 16, had recorded spectacular performance in the State Board Class 12 examination, scoring high cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. She was offered a seat in aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, the premier institute where former president APJ Abdul Kalam studied. She was also selected for Bachelor of Veterinary Science in Veterinary College at Orathanadu.

"But I want to be a doctor, the teenager had told Express, as she approached the Supreme Court against making the NEET score mandatory for medical admissions.

To a State where thousands study under the State Board syllabus, Anitha represented their angst. Despite scoring very high marks in Class 12 -- till now the qualifying criteria for medical and engineering admissions -- Anitha fared poorly in the national level test that was based on the CBSE syllabus.

Her case represented a fear raised repeatedly by equitable education activists.

When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the plea by pro-NEET students represented by senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, an affidavit was filed in Anithas name, signed by her father T Shanmugham, a casual labourer at the Gandhi Market in Tiruchy, as she was still a minor. The court, however, was not convinced.

On Friday, as the first phase of the much-delayed medical admission concluded, information came that Anitha had hanged herself at her home in Sendurai village in Ariyalur.

Protests erupted almost immediately, with her family members and villagers staging road blockades. Minister and higher officials expressed grief, and political parties have already issued statements expressing shock and condemnation of the State government for dragging the matter on till the point of no return.

But after the dust settles in a few days, Anitha would become a meaningless statistic, quite like the high marks she scored. What one must remember is that a girl from a Dalit family in a backward village scored a 1,176/1,200, but was still pushed to despair, as the ship that she was to board had set sail by the time she fought her way to the port.

CHENNAI: In her last few weeks, she had represented the angst of the less fortunate but no less ambitious youth against the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) that was based on a syllabus foreign to her. And in her death, their anguish. Failed by the system she tried hard to integrate herself into by scoring a very high 1,176/1,200 in Class 12, S Anitha, daughter of a Dalit daily wage labourer from the most backward Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu, killed herself by hanging on Friday. It was the last day of the first phase of counselling for medical admissions, which, being based on the marks scored in NEET, held no hope for thousands of aspirants like her. Read: Ariyalur Dalit girl represents Tamil Nadus NEET angst at Supreme Court Anitha, 16, had recorded spectacular performance in the State Board Class 12 examination, scoring high cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. She was offered a seat in aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, the premier institute where former president APJ Abdul Kalam studied. She was also selected for Bachelor of Veterinary Science in Veterinary College at Orathanadu. "But I want to be a doctor, the teenager had told Express, as she approached the Supreme Court against making the NEET score mandatory for medical admissions. To a State where thousands study under the State Board syllabus, Anitha represented their angst. Despite scoring very high marks in Class 12 -- till now the qualifying criteria for medical and engineering admissions -- Anitha fared poorly in the national level test that was based on the CBSE syllabus. Her case represented a fear raised repeatedly by equitable education activists. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the plea by pro-NEET students represented by senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, an affidavit was filed in Anithas name, signed by her father T Shanmugham, a casual labourer at the Gandhi Market in Tiruchy, as she was still a minor. The court, however, was not convinced. On Friday, as the first phase of the much-delayed medical admission concluded, information came that Anitha had hanged herself at her home in Sendurai village in Ariyalur. Protests erupted almost immediately, with her family members and villagers staging road blockades. Minister and higher officials expressed grief, and political parties have already issued statements expressing shock and condemnation of the State government for dragging the matter on till the point of no return. But after the dust settles in a few days, Anitha would become a meaningless statistic, quite like the high marks she scored. What one must remember is that a girl from a Dalit family in a backward village scored a 1,176/1,200, but was still pushed to despair, as the ship that she was to board had set sail by the time she fought her way to the port.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The word floods has proved to be a popular search term on Google over the past week. Not without reason. There have been significant flooding rains all across the globe  USA, Niger, Bangladesh  and people have resorted to the internet giant to look for answers.

Places in India too have witnessed widespread flooding over the last course of the last week. While one can do little if a city is hit by record rainfall in a short amount of period, it has to be noted that most floods are man-made as ideas like smart cities have gripped governments. One of the immediate after-effects of such ideas are rapid, unplanned urbanisation, which gives way to high rises in places where there shouldnt be one. Floods are the ultimate human cost of urbanisation.

Take for example Hyderabad, one of the most rapidly developed cities in India since the turn of the century. Extreme rainfall events have become common in Hyderabad in the past 15 years. The citys infrastructure is unable to handle more than 50-60 mm of rain in 24 hours. That is way below the optimal level.

Encroachment of lake beds and drains, inefficiency of the urban development agencies in clearing silt from drains combined with increasing extreme rainfall events are a dangerous concoction in the making in Hyderabad. The citys storm water drainage, dating back to the Nizam era, does not cover the wider urban agglomeration, and within the core city unchecked concretization is leading to rapid runoff that has no outlet.

Another city that has had a proportional relationship between development and urban flooding is Vijayawada. The city is sandwiched between the Krishna and several hills, so runoff is rapid. Several canals criss-cross the city. As the city grew along the banks of the river and the canals, there has been encroachment on the bunds, which has constricted the canals. This triggers flash floods when there is sharp rainfall in the monsoon months.

The city experienced severe flooding in August 2009 when the Krishna swelled to spate as a result of inflows upstream. Then again in 2015, localities such as One Town, Ajit Singh Nagar, Rajeev Nagar and Kandrika were submerged when there was heavy rainfall. The floods lasted three days, which brought the city to its knees.

A third south Indian city, Kochi, fares better than both the above-mentioned cities even though it gets close to 300 cm of annual rainfail. Its a well planned city but its officials are warning against resting on their laurels. KJ Sohan, former Kochi mayor and town planning expert, says the city has no cause for complacence. Mumbais flooding ought to be an eye-opener for Kochi, he says. On most construction sites now, rules such as vacant space to allow rain water to seep into the soil and roof-water recharge, are being violated. If we get intense rains, Kochi will soon have similar issues that we are seeing in Mumbai today, Sohan said.

CHENNAI: The word floods has proved to be a popular search term on Google over the past week. Not without reason. There have been significant flooding rains all across the globe  USA, Niger, Bangladesh  and people have resorted to the internet giant to look for answers. Places in India too have witnessed widespread flooding over the last course of the last week. While one can do little if a city is hit by record rainfall in a short amount of period, it has to be noted that most floods are man-made as ideas like smart cities have gripped governments. One of the immediate after-effects of such ideas are rapid, unplanned urbanisation, which gives way to high rises in places where there shouldnt be one. Floods are the ultimate human cost of urbanisation. Take for example Hyderabad, one of the most rapidly developed cities in India since the turn of the century. Extreme rainfall events have become common in Hyderabad in the past 15 years. The citys infrastructure is unable to handle more than 50-60 mm of rain in 24 hours. That is way below the optimal level. Encroachment of lake beds and drains, inefficiency of the urban development agencies in clearing silt from drains combined with increasing extreme rainfall events are a dangerous concoction in the making in Hyderabad. The citys storm water drainage, dating back to the Nizam era, does not cover the wider urban agglomeration, and within the core city unchecked concretization is leading to rapid runoff that has no outlet. Another city that has had a proportional relationship between development and urban flooding is Vijayawada. The city is sandwiched between the Krishna and several hills, so runoff is rapid. Several canals criss-cross the city. As the city grew along the banks of the river and the canals, there has been encroachment on the bunds, which has constricted the canals. This triggers flash floods when there is sharp rainfall in the monsoon months. The city experienced severe flooding in August 2009 when the Krishna swelled to spate as a result of inflows upstream. Then again in 2015, localities such as One Town, Ajit Singh Nagar, Rajeev Nagar and Kandrika were submerged when there was heavy rainfall. The floods lasted three days, which brought the city to its knees. A third south Indian city, Kochi, fares better than both the above-mentioned cities even though it gets close to 300 cm of annual rainfail. Its a well planned city but its officials are warning against resting on their laurels. KJ Sohan, former Kochi mayor and town planning expert, says the city has no cause for complacence. Mumbais flooding ought to be an eye-opener for Kochi, he says. On most construction sites now, rules such as vacant space to allow rain water to seep into the soil and roof-water recharge, are being violated. If we get intense rains, Kochi will soon have similar issues that we are seeing in Mumbai today, Sohan said.
By Express News Service

ARIYALUR: S Anitha (17), a Dalit medical aspirant from the backward Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, was found dead at her home on Friday. She had argued in the Supreme Court last week against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) score being sought to be the sole basis for medical admissions.

Anitha was found hanging by one of her brothers in an inner hall in her house around 3 pm. She allegedly committed the act when her father and siblings were out for work. Family members rushed to her house, and lowered her to the ground before we arrived on the spot. We suspect that she was under depression since the court verdict came out. said K Karunanidhi, an inspector from Sendurai, who was one of the first to reach the house.

Read: Anitha had a dream, a poor Dalit village girl who would become a doctor  but it died with her

Anitha was also suspected of depression when the Express last contacted her on August 22 after the central government and Supreme Court ruled out the possibility of exempting Tamil Nadu students from the NEET exam this year.

Anitha belongs to a Scheduled Caste community in Kuzhumur village in Ariyalur. She studied her higher secondary education in Rajavignesh Higher Secondary School in Melamathur in Kunnam taluk in Ariyalur district.

Read: Ariyalur Dalit girl represents Tamil Nadus NEET angst at Supreme Court

Anitha, daugher of T Shanmugham (60), a casual labourer, scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Class XII examinations on the State board syllabus in Tamil language medium. But in NEET, a national test based on CBSE syllabus she is not familiar with, Anitha managed only a percentile of 86.

She scored high cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. She said, I had got seats in Aeronautical Engineering in Madras Insitute of Technology and Bachelor of Veterinary Science in Veterinary College and Research Institute at Orathanadu, but still I aspire to become a doctor.

On August 17, the petition filed by Nalini Chidambaram, who represented the students who had successfully cleared NEET came for hearing in the Supreme Court. Anitha was present in the court along with her father and brother. Shanmugham signed the affidavit on her behalf as she is not yet 18. Along with her father, the general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu and State President of Tamil Nadu Parent Teachers Association S Arumai Nathan also signed two different affidavits. Dhruv Mehta represented the three respondents. Their argument was under the 1952 amendment to Article 15 (4) that nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, and that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes should be respected. The court directed the central government and Tamil Nadu state government to come up with a formula to solve the tangle and council the students in an unbiased manner by the afternoon of August 22. Anitha and her family returned to their village the next day.

On August 22, the central government refused to approve the ordinance passed by Tamil Nadu government, and Supreme court wasted no time to rule out the possibility to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET.

We do not have enough means to spend for any special coaching and write next year. She has given up now, said S Manirathanam, one of Anithas brothers. He had accompanied her to Supreme Court hearings. Anitha is survived by her parents and four elder brothers.

Educationist PB Prince Gajendra Babu said, I am deeply shocked. Throughout my stay with her family in the Supreme Court, she looked very dear to her family, and she looked incredibly strong and confident of becoming a doctor. Her passion for studies was overwhelming. The governments were responsible for solving the NEET tangle without affecting medical aspirants who are either for and against NEET. The governments have simply given up on students like Anitha.

Anithas body was taken for post-mortem in Ariyalur General Hospital around evening 6 pm on Friday. Police have been deployed across Ariyalur to prevent suspected outbreaks due to reports of students outrage, hearing upon Anitha's death.



TIMELINE MARCH 2 Class 12 Board examinations be gin. Anitha starts writing her examinations in Rajavignesh H igher Secondary School in Mela mathur in Kunnam taluk in Ariy alur district. The exams finis h on March 31 MAY 7 National Eligibility Cum Entra nce Test (NEET) exams take pla ce across India MAY 12 Class 12 Board Examination Res ults were declared. Anitha had scored 1176 marks out of 1200 . She had scored 195 in Tamil, 188 in English, 200 in Mathem atics, 200 in Physics, 199 in Chemistry, 194 in Biology JUNE 23 NEET Examination Results were declared across India. Anitha had scored 86 marks. The elgib ility criteria for NEET for SC students is 130-107 AUGUST 17 Anitha appears as one of the r espondents in Supreme Court ag ainst the plea of students who had successfully cleared NEET exam. The court adjourns hear ing to August 22 AUGUST 18 Anitha returns home to her vil lage on the hope of promulgati on of ordinance to exempt Tami l Nadu students from NEET for current year AUGUST 22 Central government refuses to approve the ordinance passed b y Tamil nadu government. Supre me court ruled out the possibi lity to exempt Tamil Nadu from National Eligibility cum Entr ance Test (NEET) AUGUST 23 NEET Exam merit list declared for Tamil Nadu students AUGUST 24 Medical Councelling begins in Tamil Nadu on the basis of NEE T SEPTEMBER 1 Anitha hangs herself and commi ts suicide at her house in Kuz humur

eom

ARIYALUR: S Anitha (17), a Dalit medical aspirant from the backward Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, was found dead at her home on Friday. She had argued in the Supreme Court last week against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) score being sought to be the sole basis for medical admissions. Anitha was found hanging by one of her brothers in an inner hall in her house around 3 pm. She allegedly committed the act when her father and siblings were out for work. Family members rushed to her house, and lowered her to the ground before we arrived on the spot. We suspect that she was under depression since the court verdict came out. said K Karunanidhi, an inspector from Sendurai, who was one of the first to reach the house. Read: Anitha had a dream, a poor Dalit village girl who would become a doctor  but it died with her Anitha was also suspected of depression when the Express last contacted her on August 22 after the central government and Supreme Court ruled out the possibility of exempting Tamil Nadu students from the NEET exam this year. Anitha belongs to a Scheduled Caste community in Kuzhumur village in Ariyalur. She studied her higher secondary education in Rajavignesh Higher Secondary School in Melamathur in Kunnam taluk in Ariyalur district. Read: Ariyalur Dalit girl represents Tamil Nadus NEET angst at Supreme Court Anitha, daugher of T Shanmugham (60), a casual labourer, scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Class XII examinations on the State board syllabus in Tamil language medium. But in NEET, a national test based on CBSE syllabus she is not familiar with, Anitha managed only a percentile of 86. She scored high cut-off marks of 199.75 for engineering and 196.75 for medicine. She said, I had got seats in Aeronautical Engineering in Madras Insitute of Technology and Bachelor of Veterinary Science in Veterinary College and Research Institute at Orathanadu, but still I aspire to become a doctor. On August 17, the petition filed by Nalini Chidambaram, who represented the students who had successfully cleared NEET came for hearing in the Supreme Court. Anitha was present in the court along with her father and brother. Shanmugham signed the affidavit on her behalf as she is not yet 18. Along with her father, the general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu and State President of Tamil Nadu Parent Teachers Association S Arumai Nathan also signed two different affidavits. Dhruv Mehta represented the three respondents. Their argument was under the 1952 amendment to Article 15 (4) that nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, and that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes should be respected. The court directed the central government and Tamil Nadu state government to come up with a formula to solve the tangle and council the students in an unbiased manner by the afternoon of August 22. Anitha and her family returned to their village the next day. On August 22, the central government refused to approve the ordinance passed by Tamil Nadu government, and Supreme court wasted no time to rule out the possibility to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET. We do not have enough means to spend for any special coaching and write next year. She has given up now, said S Manirathanam, one of Anithas brothers. He had accompanied her to Supreme Court hearings. Anitha is survived by her parents and four elder brothers. Educationist PB Prince Gajendra Babu said, I am deeply shocked. Throughout my stay with her family in the Supreme Court, she looked very dear to her family, and she looked incredibly strong and confident of becoming a doctor. Her passion for studies was overwhelming. The governments were responsible for solving the NEET tangle without affecting medical aspirants who are either for and against NEET. The governments have simply given up on students like Anitha. Anithas body was taken for post-mortem in Ariyalur General Hospital around evening 6 pm on Friday. Police have been deployed across Ariyalur to prevent suspected outbreaks due to reports of students outrage, hearing upon Anitha's death. TIMELINE MARCH 2 Class 12 Board examinations begin. Anitha starts writing her examinations in Rajavignesh Higher Secondary School in Melamathur in Kunnam taluk in Ariyalur district. The exams finish on March 31 MAY 7 National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams take place across India MAY 12 Class 12 Board Examination Results were declared. Anitha had scored 1176 marks out of 1200. She had scored 195 in Tamil, 188 in English, 200 in Mathematics, 200 in Physics, 199 in Chemistry, 194 in Biology JUNE 23 NEET Examination Results were declared across India. Anitha had scored 86 marks. The elgibility criteria for NEET for SC students is 130-107 AUGUST 17 Anitha appears as one of the respondents in Supreme Court against the plea of students who had successfully cleared NEET exam. The court adjourns hearing to August 22 AUGUST 18 Anitha returns home to her village on the hope of promulgation of ordinance to exempt Tamil Nadu students from NEET for current year AUGUST 22 Central government refuses to approve the ordinance passed by Tamil nadu government. Supreme court ruled out the possibility to exempt Tamil Nadu from National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) AUGUST 23 NEET Exam merit list declared for Tamil Nadu students AUGUST 24 Medical Councelling begins in Tamil Nadu on the basis of NEET SEPTEMBER 1 Anitha hangs herself and commits suicide at her house in Kuzhumur eom
Venkatesan Parthasarathy By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Officers Training Academy (OTA), a premier army training establishment here, has thrown open its doors to yet another friendly country  Tajikistan. For the first time ever, eight personnel from the Tajik National Army are undergoing training at the academy, along with other officer cadets.

According to the academys Adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Arjun Sharma, OTA, started training foreign cadets from 1980-81. That year, around 74 personnel from Sri Lanka came here. Until now, more than 320 officers from foreign countries have undergone training, said Sharma.

Among the countries which send their military personnel here are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Lesotho, Seychelles, Maldives and Fiji. The batch, which is about to pass out next month, consists of 25 foreign cadets, including 10 from Afghanistan, 12 from Bhutan, two from Maldives and one from Fiji.

A significant aspect this year, Sharma pointed out, is the enrolmentof personnel from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. Presently training alongside eight Tajiks are three women cadets from the Bhutanese army, following last year when the first women foreign cadet also from Bhutan passed out.

Sharma said the decision (to admit foreign cadets) was taken by the Central government, based on the mutual cooperation agreement signed with other countries.

The foreign cadets who are sent here are among the best from their countries. We respect their religion, culture and tradition and try to integrate them with the rest slowly. Since language is a problem, we conduct additional English classes, Sharma said, adding that some of them are exceptional in physical games.

Though he doesnt speak much English, 21-year-old Mamadaliev Morad from Tajikistan was able to convey that the training here is hard and good. Coming from a landlocked country, Morad also stated he had visited Chennais famed Marina Beach.

CHENNAI: The Officers Training Academy (OTA), a premier army training establishment here, has thrown open its doors to yet another friendly country  Tajikistan. For the first time ever, eight personnel from the Tajik National Army are undergoing training at the academy, along with other officer cadets. According to the academys Adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Arjun Sharma, OTA, started training foreign cadets from 1980-81. That year, around 74 personnel from Sri Lanka came here. Until now, more than 320 officers from foreign countries have undergone training, said Sharma. Among the countries which send their military personnel here are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Lesotho, Seychelles, Maldives and Fiji. The batch, which is about to pass out next month, consists of 25 foreign cadets, including 10 from Afghanistan, 12 from Bhutan, two from Maldives and one from Fiji. A significant aspect this year, Sharma pointed out, is the enrolmentof personnel from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. Presently training alongside eight Tajiks are three women cadets from the Bhutanese army, following last year when the first women foreign cadet also from Bhutan passed out. Sharma said the decision (to admit foreign cadets) was taken by the Central government, based on the mutual cooperation agreement signed with other countries. The foreign cadets who are sent here are among the best from their countries. We respect their religion, culture and tradition and try to integrate them with the rest slowly. Since language is a problem, we conduct additional English classes, Sharma said, adding that some of them are exceptional in physical games. Though he doesnt speak much English, 21-year-old Mamadaliev Morad from Tajikistan was able to convey that the training here is hard and good. Coming from a landlocked country, Morad also stated he had visited Chennais famed Marina Beach.
By Online Desk

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for lunch this afternoon, setting off another round of talk about his possible entry into politics soon. Kamal was in Kerala for an interview with a television channel ahead of Onam, and paid a visit to the Chief Minister with whom he shares commonalities such as being a rationalist.

Speaking to the media after lunch at Cliff House, the chief ministers official residence in Thiruvananthapuram, Kamal who, when asked if they discussed politics, candidly said, For sure.

It was a learning experience, he said, adding that he wanted to visit Kerala last Onam itself but couldnt.

I see it as an opportunity to learn from the experiences of Pinarayi Vijayan, he said. "I will learn from here and go.

Renowned actor Kamal Haasan visited Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his official residence, Cliff House, today. pic.twitter.com/KCE0nebzj6  CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) September 1, 2017

Dovetailing these comments with his recent remarks to fans at a gathering for a wedding ceremony in Coimbatore, where he said it was the beginning of a journey to Fort St George, the seat of the Tamil Nadu Government, it seems like his entry into politics is indeed imminent.

READ MORE: My colour is definitely not saffron, says Kamal Haasan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who said Kamal's visit was only a friendly meeting, however, admitted that they discussed the political situation in South India, particularly Tamil Nadu.

Kamal Haasan has been critical of the Tamil Nadu government led by Edappadi K Palaniswami in the past few weeks and has targeted ministers for alleged corruption. They have in return lambasted him and mocked him for being a hit-and-run social media activist of sorts, giving him the moniker Twitter Nayagan (social media hero). Kamal has used social media to exhort his fans and the general public to bombard ministers with written accounts of their numerous encounters with corruption in the state, and to also join hands to clean up the system.

A vocal critic of Hindi imposition surreptitiously attempted by the government at the Centre, Kamal has also condemned politics in the name of religion.

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for lunch this afternoon, setting off another round of talk about his possible entry into politics soon. Kamal was in Kerala for an interview with a television channel ahead of Onam, and paid a visit to the Chief Minister with whom he shares commonalities such as being a rationalist. Speaking to the media after lunch at Cliff House, the chief ministers official residence in Thiruvananthapuram, Kamal who, when asked if they discussed politics, candidly said, For sure. It was a learning experience, he said, adding that he wanted to visit Kerala last Onam itself but couldnt. I see it as an opportunity to learn from the experiences of Pinarayi Vijayan, he said. "I will learn from here and go. Renowned actor Kamal Haasan visited Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his official residence, Cliff House, today. pic.twitter.com/KCE0nebzj6  CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) September 1, 2017 Dovetailing these comments with his recent remarks to fans at a gathering for a wedding ceremony in Coimbatore, where he said it was the beginning of a journey to Fort St George, the seat of the Tamil Nadu Government, it seems like his entry into politics is indeed imminent. READ MORE: My colour is definitely not saffron, says Kamal Haasan Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who said Kamal's visit was only a friendly meeting, however, admitted that they discussed the political situation in South India, particularly Tamil Nadu. Kamal Haasan has been critical of the Tamil Nadu government led by Edappadi K Palaniswami in the past few weeks and has targeted ministers for alleged corruption. They have in return lambasted him and mocked him for being a hit-and-run social media activist of sorts, giving him the moniker Twitter Nayagan (social media hero). Kamal has used social media to exhort his fans and the general public to bombard ministers with written accounts of their numerous encounters with corruption in the state, and to also join hands to clean up the system. A vocal critic of Hindi imposition surreptitiously attempted by the government at the Centre, Kamal has also condemned politics in the name of religion.
By ANI

HYDERABAD: In a harsh criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that it was because of the formers 'impulsive' decision that people were pushed into distress and the country lost 2 per cent GDP.



Speaking to ANI, Owaisi termed demonetisation as a complete disaster.



Apart from distress, apart from people losing lives, 2 per cent is the loss of GDP. What else did demonetisation give us? Who will take responsibility of all this? The decision lies in the door step of the Prime Minister and because of his impulsive decision, the country lost 2 per cent GDP. It is a completely disaster, he said



He further said that demonetisation only created a panic situation and landed the poor and the middle-class in deep trouble and distress.



Continuing his attack, Owaisi said the basis, on which the Government announced demonetisation to the people, has failed miserably.



It is absolutely right because when demonetistion was announced to the country by the Prime Minister, he had said that it was implemenetd to stop black money, to stop counterfeit currency, corruption and to stop terrorism. And the government has failed on all these four counts, he added.



Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien has called demonetisation a big flop show and equated it to former prime minister Indira Gandhi's sterilisation programme.



He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will lose the 2019 election because of their 'notebandi' (demonetisation) programme, just as Indira Gandhi had lost the 1977 election because of her 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) programme.



On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) highlighted that about 89 million notes of Rs. 1,000 currency did not come back to the system out of a total of 6,700 million notes that were in the system as on November 8.



RBI, in its report, said that the cost of printing notes doubled to Rs. 7,965 crore in FY17 from Rs. 3,421 crore in FY16 on account of new currency printing after the note ban.



The apex banking system in its annual report stated that only 1.3 per cent of Rs. 1000 notes didn't return after the Centre's demonetisation exercise.



However, RBI added that it pumped in 2,380 crore notes totalling Rs. 5.54 lakh crore in the two months post demonetisation between November 9 and Decemeber 31.



Earlier on November 8 last year, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government announced its demonetisation drive, wherein, currency denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes were stopped as legal tender.

HYDERABAD: In a harsh criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that it was because of the formers 'impulsive' decision that people were pushed into distress and the country lost 2 per cent GDP. Speaking to ANI, Owaisi termed demonetisation as a complete disaster. Apart from distress, apart from people losing lives, 2 per cent is the loss of GDP. What else did demonetisation give us? Who will take responsibility of all this? The decision lies in the door step of the Prime Minister and because of his impulsive decision, the country lost 2 per cent GDP. It is a completely disaster, he said He further said that demonetisation only created a panic situation and landed the poor and the middle-class in deep trouble and distress. Continuing his attack, Owaisi said the basis, on which the Government announced demonetisation to the people, has failed miserably. It is absolutely right because when demonetistion was announced to the country by the Prime Minister, he had said that it was implemenetd to stop black money, to stop counterfeit currency, corruption and to stop terrorism. And the government has failed on all these four counts, he added. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien has called demonetisation a big flop show and equated it to former prime minister Indira Gandhi's sterilisation programme. He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will lose the 2019 election because of their 'notebandi' (demonetisation) programme, just as Indira Gandhi had lost the 1977 election because of her 'nasbandi' (vasectomy) programme. On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) highlighted that about 89 million notes of Rs. 1,000 currency did not come back to the system out of a total of 6,700 million notes that were in the system as on November 8. RBI, in its report, said that the cost of printing notes doubled to Rs. 7,965 crore in FY17 from Rs. 3,421 crore in FY16 on account of new currency printing after the note ban. The apex banking system in its annual report stated that only 1.3 per cent of Rs. 1000 notes didn't return after the Centre's demonetisation exercise. However, RBI added that it pumped in 2,380 crore notes totalling Rs. 5.54 lakh crore in the two months post demonetisation between November 9 and Decemeber 31. Earlier on November 8 last year, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government announced its demonetisation drive, wherein, currency denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes were stopped as legal tender.
By AFP

BERLIN: Angela Merkel, Germany's cool and collected chancellor, will go head-to-head Sunday with her fiery challenger Martin Schulz in their only television debate before this month's general elections, in a crucial match that could sway millions of voters.

Analysts call it the "last chance" for the straight-talking Schulz to turn his campaign around and halt a devastating popularity slide since January, when he took the helm of the Social Democratic Party.

Although Merkel's CDU party and their Bavarian CSU allies hold a comfortable 14-percentage point lead over Schulz's SPD, polls have found that almost one in two eligible voters are still undecided ahead of the September 24 vote.

Sunday's 90-minute primetime showdown will be above all a clash of personalities -- an illustration in newspaper Die Zeit showed Schulz, holding a saw and dressed in workmen's overalls, trying to dismantle the throne of a regal "Queen Merkel".

Schulz told the DPA news agency that his strategy did not include any personal attacks against Merkel, but that he fully intended to show that his party, as opposed to the CDU, has a programme.

"The CDU has a concept, and that's Angela Merkel. That's supposedly enough for you all. We have a concept for the future of the next generation in this country," Schulz said.

'Schulz can benefit'

The SPD leader has repeatedly accused Europe's most powerful woman of "systematically refusing debate on the future of the country" and lulling voters to sleep by avoiding a clear stance.

Merkel, who has mostly avoided referring to Schulz or any other election candidate by name, has so far refused to be drawn into a combative debate.

"If an election campaign is defined as good only when people insult each other, then that's not my idea of what an election campaign is about," she said at her annual summer press conference.

To critics who argue that the campaign is boring, Merkel would only say that "for me, it is not boring. It is exciting and interesting. I meet new people every day."

A highlight of Germany's electoral campaign season, the so-called "television duel" is expected to draw almost 30 million viewers -- or around half of the electorate, according to a poll by research firm Forsa, commissioned by Stern magazine.

One in five also said the debate could swing their vote, the survey found.

The two candidates will spar on topics thrown at them by four seasoned TV presenters, but beyond the content of the debate, they will also be scrutinised for their body language.

Just days before the event, the chancellery was accused of rigging the format in Merkel's favour by threatening to stay away after the broadcasters proposed a more adversarial set-up.

Critics said Merkel had blocked changes that would have allowed for greater spontaneity and deeper debate during the show.

"The TV duel format, like spontaneity and eloquence, is not quite Merkel's strength," Forsa head Manfred Guellner told the business newspaper Handelsblatt, adding that "Schulz can benefit" from the show.

'Hog the limelight'

Merkel is no stranger to the format, having already fought three previous general elections.

But surveys immediately after each of the last three TV debates showed a popularity bounce for Merkel's opponents.

In particular, Schulz may be hoping to emulate the debate success of Gerhard Schroeder, who as SPD chancellor in 2005 drastically narrowed Merkel's double-digit lead to a sliver -- though he ended up losing the election.

Dishing out advice this week, Schroeder said: "One must hog the limelight."

He also put a positive spin to Schulz's current disadvantage, saying: "One fights best with his back against the wall."

But political analyst Oskar Niedermayer warned that Schulz would have to watch his tone.

"He needs to appear to be lively and passionate about his points, but he must be careful not to make overly strong or personal attacks against Merkel," he said.

"It has been seen lately that he is becoming even more aggressive, but if he oversteps the mark, that can turn against him because Germans won't like it. The Germans don't like politicians who hit under the belt."

BERLIN: Angela Merkel, Germany's cool and collected chancellor, will go head-to-head Sunday with her fiery challenger Martin Schulz in their only television debate before this month's general elections, in a crucial match that could sway millions of voters. Analysts call it the "last chance" for the straight-talking Schulz to turn his campaign around and halt a devastating popularity slide since January, when he took the helm of the Social Democratic Party. Although Merkel's CDU party and their Bavarian CSU allies hold a comfortable 14-percentage point lead over Schulz's SPD, polls have found that almost one in two eligible voters are still undecided ahead of the September 24 vote. Sunday's 90-minute primetime showdown will be above all a clash of personalities -- an illustration in newspaper Die Zeit showed Schulz, holding a saw and dressed in workmen's overalls, trying to dismantle the throne of a regal "Queen Merkel". Schulz told the DPA news agency that his strategy did not include any personal attacks against Merkel, but that he fully intended to show that his party, as opposed to the CDU, has a programme. "The CDU has a concept, and that's Angela Merkel. That's supposedly enough for you all. We have a concept for the future of the next generation in this country," Schulz said. 'Schulz can benefit' The SPD leader has repeatedly accused Europe's most powerful woman of "systematically refusing debate on the future of the country" and lulling voters to sleep by avoiding a clear stance. Merkel, who has mostly avoided referring to Schulz or any other election candidate by name, has so far refused to be drawn into a combative debate. "If an election campaign is defined as good only when people insult each other, then that's not my idea of what an election campaign is about," she said at her annual summer press conference. To critics who argue that the campaign is boring, Merkel would only say that "for me, it is not boring. It is exciting and interesting. I meet new people every day." A highlight of Germany's electoral campaign season, the so-called "television duel" is expected to draw almost 30 million viewers -- or around half of the electorate, according to a poll by research firm Forsa, commissioned by Stern magazine. One in five also said the debate could swing their vote, the survey found. The two candidates will spar on topics thrown at them by four seasoned TV presenters, but beyond the content of the debate, they will also be scrutinised for their body language. Just days before the event, the chancellery was accused of rigging the format in Merkel's favour by threatening to stay away after the broadcasters proposed a more adversarial set-up. Critics said Merkel had blocked changes that would have allowed for greater spontaneity and deeper debate during the show. "The TV duel format, like spontaneity and eloquence, is not quite Merkel's strength," Forsa head Manfred Guellner told the business newspaper Handelsblatt, adding that "Schulz can benefit" from the show. 'Hog the limelight' Merkel is no stranger to the format, having already fought three previous general elections. But surveys immediately after each of the last three TV debates showed a popularity bounce for Merkel's opponents. In particular, Schulz may be hoping to emulate the debate success of Gerhard Schroeder, who as SPD chancellor in 2005 drastically narrowed Merkel's double-digit lead to a sliver -- though he ended up losing the election. Dishing out advice this week, Schroeder said: "One must hog the limelight." He also put a positive spin to Schulz's current disadvantage, saying: "One fights best with his back against the wall." But political analyst Oskar Niedermayer warned that Schulz would have to watch his tone. "He needs to appear to be lively and passionate about his points, but he must be careful not to make overly strong or personal attacks against Merkel," he said. "It has been seen lately that he is becoming even more aggressive, but if he oversteps the mark, that can turn against him because Germans won't like it. The Germans don't like politicians who hit under the belt."
By Associated Press

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win last month as unconstitutional and called for new elections within 60 days, shocking a country that had been braced for further protests by opposition supporters.

Kenyatta said he "personally disagrees" with the ruling but respects it, but he lashed out at the judges, saying that "six people have decided they will go against the will of the people." He also called for peace in a country where some elections have been followed by deadly violence.

No presidential election in the East African economic hub has ever been nullified. Opposition members danced in the streets, marveling at the setback for Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between Kenya's leading political families.

"It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa," said opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged the vote. "For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling."

The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favor of the petition filed by Odinga. He claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of Kenyatta, who had won a second term with 54 percent of the vote.

"A declaration is hereby issued that the presidential election held on Aug. 8 was not conducted in accordance to the constitution and applicable law, rendering the results invalid, null and void," Chief Justice David Maraga said.

The court did not place blame on Kenyatta or his party. It said the election commission "committed illegalities and irregularities ... in the transmission of results, substance of which will be given in the detailed judgment of the court" that will be published within 21 days.

Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded and said the opposition will ask that electoral officials be prosecuted.

The lead counsel for the president, Ahmednassir Abdulahi, told the court that the nullification was a "very political decision" but said they will live with the consequences.

Odinga's lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta's win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes.

The electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said they saw no interference with the vote.

"Right or wrong, the Supreme Court has spoken. So what remains is a fresh opportunity for the people of Kenya, in exercise of their sovereign authority, to once again restate with clarity who they want as their president," electoral commission lawyer Paul Muite said.

Two dozen countries including the United States, which already had congratulated Kenyatta on his victory, issued a joint statement Friday saying the court's ruling "demonstrated Kenya's resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law."

Odinga, a longtime opposition candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president, had unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2013 vote that Kenyatta won. Odinga's supporters at first had said they would not go to court this time but filed a petition two weeks ago.

Kenya had been braced for further protests Friday as the court prepared to rule on the opposition's challenge, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi, and streets near the court were barricaded. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

Instead, opposition supporters exploded in celebration.

"Thank you, Jesus!" one woman shouted. "I'm telling, God is on our side."

"This has shown all (election) observers did not do their job. We want an apology," said John Wekesa, who was dancing outside the court.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following the vote was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

"We are not at war with our brothers and sisters in the opposition because we are all Kenyans," Kenyatta said on national television. But he added: "Five or six people cannot change the will of 45 million people."

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win last month as unconstitutional and called for new elections within 60 days, shocking a country that had been braced for further protests by opposition supporters. Kenyatta said he "personally disagrees" with the ruling but respects it, but he lashed out at the judges, saying that "six people have decided they will go against the will of the people." He also called for peace in a country where some elections have been followed by deadly violence. No presidential election in the East African economic hub has ever been nullified. Opposition members danced in the streets, marveling at the setback for Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, in the long rivalry between Kenya's leading political families. "It's a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa," said opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged the vote. "For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling." The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favor of the petition filed by Odinga. He claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of Kenyatta, who had won a second term with 54 percent of the vote. "A declaration is hereby issued that the presidential election held on Aug. 8 was not conducted in accordance to the constitution and applicable law, rendering the results invalid, null and void," Chief Justice David Maraga said. The court did not place blame on Kenyatta or his party. It said the election commission "committed illegalities and irregularities ... in the transmission of results, substance of which will be given in the detailed judgment of the court" that will be published within 21 days. Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded and said the opposition will ask that electoral officials be prosecuted. The lead counsel for the president, Ahmednassir Abdulahi, told the court that the nullification was a "very political decision" but said they will live with the consequences. Odinga's lawyer had asked the court to invalidate Kenyatta's win, saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly 5 million votes. The electoral commission had said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said they saw no interference with the vote. "Right or wrong, the Supreme Court has spoken. So what remains is a fresh opportunity for the people of Kenya, in exercise of their sovereign authority, to once again restate with clarity who they want as their president," electoral commission lawyer Paul Muite said. Two dozen countries including the United States, which already had congratulated Kenyatta on his victory, issued a joint statement Friday saying the court's ruling "demonstrated Kenya's resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law." Odinga, a longtime opposition candidate and the son of Kenya's first vice president, had unsuccessfully challenged the results of the 2013 vote that Kenyatta won. Odinga's supporters at first had said they would not go to court this time but filed a petition two weeks ago. Kenya had been braced for further protests Friday as the court prepared to rule on the opposition's challenge, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi, and streets near the court were barricaded. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote. Instead, opposition supporters exploded in celebration. "Thank you, Jesus!" one woman shouted. "I'm telling, God is on our side." "This has shown all (election) observers did not do their job. We want an apology," said John Wekesa, who was dancing outside the court. Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following the vote was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead. "We are not at war with our brothers and sisters in the opposition because we are all Kenyans," Kenyatta said on national television. But he added: "Five or six people cannot change the will of 45 million people."
By AFP

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week.

"The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said.

"Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end," a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was "wrong and futile."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme.

US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.

Putin said he feared the peninsula was "on the verge of a major conflict" and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.

He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences."

The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday of a "major conflict" looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week. "The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions," Putin said. "Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end," a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was "wrong and futile." Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang. Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action. The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme. US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said. Putin said he feared the peninsula was "on the verge of a major conflict" and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing. He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson "underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences." The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.
By AFP

The United States, Mexico and Canada dove into the details of revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement at a second round of talks Friday, amid threats from President Donald Trump to axe the deal.

After setting an ambitious "accelerated" calendar during the first round -- held in Washington from August 16 to 20 -- negotiators got down to the nitty gritty business of modernizing the 1,700-page deal as five days of talks opened in Mexico City.

Trump doubled down on his anti-NAFTA rhetoric in the build-up to the second round, saying Mexico was "being difficult" and that the United States would "end up probably terminating" the deal, which he says has been disastrous for US industry and jobs.

"We have to consider the possibility" that the US could pull out of the deal, said the head of Mexico's Business Coordinating Council, Juan Pablo Castanon, who has represented the private sector in talks with the Mexican government.

"If NAFTA ceases to exist... the impact would be an average four percent that we would have to pay to export there. We have to immediately lower costs for companies, introduce incentives to export elsewhere," he told Mexican TV network Televisa.

In Mexico, which sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, the government has dismissed Trump's threats as posturing.

Trump himself has sent mixed signals about the deal.

On Thursday, he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on the phone and "stressed their hope to reach an agreement by the end of this year," according to the White House.

Most experts now say NAFTA is likely to survive with modest changes -- though with Trump, nothing is certain, they warn.

The Republican president may ultimately have little room to maneuver, however.

Some 14 million US jobs depend on trade with Mexico and Canada, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.

The United States, Mexico and Canada dove into the details of revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement at a second round of talks Friday, amid threats from President Donald Trump to axe the deal. After setting an ambitious "accelerated" calendar during the first round -- held in Washington from August 16 to 20 -- negotiators got down to the nitty gritty business of modernizing the 1,700-page deal as five days of talks opened in Mexico City. Trump doubled down on his anti-NAFTA rhetoric in the build-up to the second round, saying Mexico was "being difficult" and that the United States would "end up probably terminating" the deal, which he says has been disastrous for US industry and jobs. "We have to consider the possibility" that the US could pull out of the deal, said the head of Mexico's Business Coordinating Council, Juan Pablo Castanon, who has represented the private sector in talks with the Mexican government. "If NAFTA ceases to exist... the impact would be an average four percent that we would have to pay to export there. We have to immediately lower costs for companies, introduce incentives to export elsewhere," he told Mexican TV network Televisa. In Mexico, which sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, the government has dismissed Trump's threats as posturing. Trump himself has sent mixed signals about the deal. On Thursday, he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on the phone and "stressed their hope to reach an agreement by the end of this year," according to the White House. Most experts now say NAFTA is likely to survive with modest changes -- though with Trump, nothing is certain, they warn. The Republican president may ultimately have little room to maneuver, however. Some 14 million US jobs depend on trade with Mexico and Canada, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will donate $1 million to flood relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Harvey, the White House said Thursday.

"He'll pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

The White House did not say whether the money would come from Trump or his foundation.

During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump came under fire for repeatedly announcing charitable donations but not following through.

Sanders said Trump wanted suggestions from the White House press corps about how to spend the money.

Sanders also announced that Trump has tentative plans to visit "the Houston area" on Saturday as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana.

During a visit to Texas on Tuesday Trump had been unable to visit the flood zone because of difficult logistics and security concerns.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will donate $1 million to flood relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Harvey, the White House said Thursday. "He'll pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. The White House did not say whether the money would come from Trump or his foundation. During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump came under fire for repeatedly announcing charitable donations but not following through. Sanders said Trump wanted suggestions from the White House press corps about how to spend the money. Sanders also announced that Trump has tentative plans to visit "the Houston area" on Saturday as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana. During a visit to Texas on Tuesday Trump had been unable to visit the flood zone because of difficult logistics and security concerns.
By AFP

MOSCOW: Russia and the United States were locked in a fresh diplomatic slugging match today after Washington ordered the closure of Moscow's San Francisco consulate and two other facilities.

The retaliatory US move came as a September 1 deadline was reached for Washington to comply with a Kremlin demand to slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic mission by 755 personnel.

The spat between the two nuclear-armed power was another blow to US President Donald Trump's pledge to try to improve relations with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Washington said yesterday it had ordered the shuttering of Russia's San Francisco consulate and two diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York "in the spirit of parity," after Moscow's July demand for it to reduce its diplomatic staff.

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Washington said it hoped the two sides "can avoid further retaliatory actions" and improve ties but warned it was "prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

Russia's foreign ministry expressed "regret at the escalation of tensions" and said it would "examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced."

But top diplomat Sergei Lavrov avoided blaming the Trump administration for the latest tensions and laid the guilt squarely at the door of his predecessor Barack Obama.

"We are open even now for constructive cooperation where it answers Russian interests," Lavrov said today.

"But it takes two to tango and so far our partner is, again and again, doing an individual break dance."

Lavrov is to meet his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in September in New York.

The fresh diplomatic spat is the latest twist in tortured ties between the US and Russia, which have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

MOSCOW: Russia and the United States were locked in a fresh diplomatic slugging match today after Washington ordered the closure of Moscow's San Francisco consulate and two other facilities. The retaliatory US move came as a September 1 deadline was reached for Washington to comply with a Kremlin demand to slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic mission by 755 personnel. The spat between the two nuclear-armed power was another blow to US President Donald Trump's pledge to try to improve relations with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Washington said yesterday it had ordered the shuttering of Russia's San Francisco consulate and two diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York "in the spirit of parity," after Moscow's July demand for it to reduce its diplomatic staff. "The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. Washington said it hoped the two sides "can avoid further retaliatory actions" and improve ties but warned it was "prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted." Russia's foreign ministry expressed "regret at the escalation of tensions" and said it would "examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced." But top diplomat Sergei Lavrov avoided blaming the Trump administration for the latest tensions and laid the guilt squarely at the door of his predecessor Barack Obama. "We are open even now for constructive cooperation where it answers Russian interests," Lavrov said today. "But it takes two to tango and so far our partner is, again and again, doing an individual break dance." Lavrov is to meet his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in September in New York. The fresh diplomatic spat is the latest twist in tortured ties between the US and Russia, which have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.
By AFP

CARCARAS: Venezuela's legislative speaker called on Pope Francis on Thursday to plead with President Nicolas Maduro to allow food aid to reach the country's destitute.

"Reality forces us to address you for the purpose of encouraging you to make an urgent call for the immediate opening of the humanitarian channel" by which food and medicines can be distributed to the neediest cases, Julio Borges said in a letter addressed to Francis.

Borges also asked the pontiff to call for "a cessation of political persecution" against opponents and for human rights to be respected, according to the letter dated August 28 but made public Thursday.

"Every week four children die of malnutrition, the rate of shortage of medicines exceeds 90 percent and millions of Venezuelans cross our borders, fleeing the tragedy," the head of the opposition-majority parliament said.

He noted that donations sent to Venezuela in recent months by organizations such as Caritas Chile have not been accepted by the Maduro government.

Borges's press office said the letter had been sent to Francis to coincide with his September 6-10 visit to neighbouring Colombia.

The Vatican was one of the facilitators of a month-long dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, which collapsed amid mutual recrimination.

Venezuela is suffering an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food and medicine.

International powers accuse Maduro of dismantling democracy by taking over state institutions in order to resist opposition pressure for him to quit.

CARCARAS: Venezuela's legislative speaker called on Pope Francis on Thursday to plead with President Nicolas Maduro to allow food aid to reach the country's destitute. "Reality forces us to address you for the purpose of encouraging you to make an urgent call for the immediate opening of the humanitarian channel" by which food and medicines can be distributed to the neediest cases, Julio Borges said in a letter addressed to Francis. Borges also asked the pontiff to call for "a cessation of political persecution" against opponents and for human rights to be respected, according to the letter dated August 28 but made public Thursday. "Every week four children die of malnutrition, the rate of shortage of medicines exceeds 90 percent and millions of Venezuelans cross our borders, fleeing the tragedy," the head of the opposition-majority parliament said. He noted that donations sent to Venezuela in recent months by organizations such as Caritas Chile have not been accepted by the Maduro government. Borges's press office said the letter had been sent to Francis to coincide with his September 6-10 visit to neighbouring Colombia. The Vatican was one of the facilitators of a month-long dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, which collapsed amid mutual recrimination. Venezuela is suffering an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food and medicine. International powers accuse Maduro of dismantling democracy by taking over state institutions in order to resist opposition pressure for him to quit.
Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
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Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
New Delhi: Rajiv Kumar, the newly appointed Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, declared in his first press briefing that he wouldn't take any questions on demonetisation, but was eventually forced to relent because journalists wanted to know if it was responsible for the fall in economic growth.



"No questions on demonetisation," Kumar said during the media briefing at the NITI Aayog on his first day in office. But when the first question sought to know if the fall in economic growth was due to scrapping high value notes, he said, "Demonetisation is not the cause because the impact was primarily for six weeks from November to January."



Kumar said that the economic growth figures for the April-June quarter which were released on Thursday were a blip and that growth would edge back up to 7%-7.5% in the second quarter (July-September).



Rajiv Kumars robust defense of the note ban comes amid criticism from various quarters about the impact of the move on the economy, particularly slowing growth. Data released by the RBI two days ago showed that almost 99% of scrapped bank notes made their way back into the system. GDP data released on Thursday showed that growth had slipped to its lowest in three years, which some economists are attributing to the combined effects of demonetisation and the implementation of GST.



Kumar's tenure started after the previous VC, Arvind Panagariya, abruptly resigned last month saying that he could not extend his sabbatical at Columbia University.



Kumar has also authored several books and articles on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. A professional economist, Kumar has had stints in academia, think tanks, industry bodies and government. He was a fellow with the Centre for Policy Research and served as chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Kumar was also the vice-chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics in Pune.



He served as the secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as well as in positions with the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.



In today's briefing, Kumar said that the primary focus areas of the NITI Aayog would be to prepare a roadmap to create jobs and employment opportunities, kick start the investment cycle, transform agriculture and concentrate on health and education. The NITI Aayog would work closely with the states in order to implement these policies.



However, the government think tank is facing criticism from several quarters. Some organizations like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch claim that it has become a hotbed of vested interests. In fact, the SJM's position is that NITI Aayog is pushing corporate interests and deviating from the Prime Minister's agenda.



In the briefing, Kumar spoke extensively in Hindi, apart from English, which was welcomed by several journalists from the vernacular media as an indication that the new VC would give them equal space. A criticism of the NITI, its predecessor the Planning Commission and several economists who hold official positions in the government, has been that they are foreign educated and live and work mostly in the West, and are thus insufficiently knowledgeable about India or its economy. This was a criticism aimed at Arvind Panagariya, Raghuram Rajan and even Montek Singh Ahluwalia.



In fact, shortly after Rajiv Kumar was appointed to the NITI Aayog he wrote a column in Dainik Jagran in which he described his vision of a swadeshi patriot-technocrat, as per a report in Scroll.in. In the article, Kumar lamented the "Anglo-American" influence on Indian policy making. He gave examples of Raghuram Rajan and even his own predecessor Arvind Panagariya, claiming that these kinds of people had several failings. They do not understand the Indian ground realities and are not committed enough, so tend to run away from responsibilities before their tenures end. Besides, he claimed, the policies they frame spring from their ideological baggage rather than any real need.



In today's briefing, Rajiv Kumar said he was still coming up to speed with his new role. He and the Aayog will have to firefight on several fronts to successfully steer the Aayog through choppy waters.
Chandigarh: Five Haryana Police personnel, who were part of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahims security, have been dismissed from services, soon after it was reported that they had planned an extensive conspiracy to whisk the convicted godman away from custody.



Haryana DGP BS Sandhu said on Thursday, the five has been removed from services on charges of sedition and attempt to murder.



Meanwhile, the situation remained peaceful in the state on Thursday.



Sedition and attempt to murder charges were slapped against seven persons, including the five Haryana Police personnel. They were part of the Dera chief's security when he arrived at Panchkula to appear before a CBI court on Friday.



They allegedly tried to free the Dera chief when he was brought outside the Panchkula Court complex, after a special CBI court convicted him in a 15-year-old rape case, the police had said earlier.



We have dismissed five policemen who were part of the Dera chief's security, DGP Sandhu said.



According to officials, the arrested police personnel were in the ranks of sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector, head constable and constable.



A key Dera Sacha Sauda functionary, who was also booked on sedition charge, has been arrested by the police on Thursday, the DGP said.



He said the accused Dera functionary, identified as Dhiman Insan, has been sent to seven-day police remand by a court in Panchkula.



Sedition charges were slapped against two other Dera functionaries earlier on the basis of a media report, of which Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken cognizance.



The conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a 2002 rape case had triggered arson and violence in Haryana that claimed 38 lives and injured over 250 people since Friday. While 32 people had died in the violence in Panchkula, six people died at Sirsa, where the sect headquarters is located.



Peace prevailed in neighbouring Punjab, which had witnessed incidents of violence in Malwa region on Friday. The court then sentenced the Dera chief to 20-year imprisonment on Monday.



Though no untoward incident was reported in Haryana and Punjab, the security personnel continued to remain on alert, officials said.



Fifty-year-old Ram Rahim Singh is lodged in the Sunariya Jail in Rohtak district, where a thick blanket of security has been thrown around.
Patna: Rats seem to be the biggest problem that Bihar is facing right now. Some time back, Bihar police had claimed that the rodents had finished off hundreds of litres of alcohol after the government imposed a complete ban on liquor in the state. Now, state ministers have blamed the same for causing the devastating floods in Bihar that have already claimed over 500 lives.



Water resources minister, Lalan Singh, after reviewing the flood situation, claimed that rats had damaged the river embankments, which has in turn caused the floods.



Rats are the main reason behind the seepage of Kamla Balan River. Villagers tend to store their grains on the banks thus attracting the rodents. These animals then carve out holes in the embankments thus weakening the foundation, he said.



However, this bizarre reasoning hasnt gone down too well among the opposition parties. RJD Spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav alleged that the government was only trying to hide its failure with such illogical statements.



Sometimes they say that the rats have consumed the seized liquor, then they blame them for the floods. If rats are causing so much of problem, then they should come up with a plan to tackle the animals. But they havent done anything about that as these are baseless arguments, he said.



Not just the Opposition, ruling BJP MLA Mithilesh Tiwari also denounced Lalan Singhs contention. In a written reply in the Assembly, the government had assured us that all dams are secure, then how can they blame the rats. Officials are responsible for this and they should be held accountable, Tiwari demanded.



Earlier, the state police had come under fire for arguing that the rodents had finished off hundreds of litres of alcohol, that were seized from Bihar residents after the liquor ban. It had only come to the fore when the media caught up with the police and discovered that the bottles were missing from police 'malkhanas' (stores).
Beijing: China on Thursday said that concerns over Pakistan's counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the next week's BRICS summit where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were expected to meet.



"We noticed that India when it comes to Pakistan's counter-terrorism has some concerns. I don't think this is an appropriate topic to be discussed at BRICS summit," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here, indicating that Beijing was averse to the criticism of its close ally at the summit to be held in Xiamen.



Asked whether Pakistan's counter-terrorism record which was sharply criticised by US President Donald Trump last week will figure at the talks between the leaders of the BRICS countries, Hua said the world should recognise Islamabad's contribution in fighting terrorism.



"Pakistan is at forefront of counter-terror efforts and has made sacrifices for this. The international community should recognise their contributions and sacrifices," she said.



"China is willing to work with Pakistan and other countries to enhance our cooperation in counter-terrorism. This serves the common interest of all parties," she said.



Hua also did not provide a direct answer to a question whether Modi and Xi would hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit from September 3 to 5.



"During multilateral meetings arranging bilateral meetings is a practice. If time allows China will make proper arrangements," she said.



After Trump's stern warning to Pakistan against providing safe heavens to Taliban, China sought to impress the US that Islamabads support is important to resolve Afghanistan imbroglio.



"We should attach importance to Pakistan's important role in Afghanistan and respect Pakistan's sovereignty and legitimate security concerns," Chinas State Councillor and top diplomat Yang Jiechi told US Secretary Rex Tillerson during a phone conversation on Wednesday.



Trump, in his first prime-time televised address as commander-in-chief, had issued the sternest warning yet by an American leader to Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists and sought an enhanced role for India in bringing peace in the war-ravaged country.



Hours after Trump's remarks, China backed its all-weather ally and said the US should recognise Pakistan's "important role" in Afghanistan and respect its sovereignty and legitimate security concerns.
New Delhi: Six three-wheeler autorickshaws vroomed out from one of the gates of the Delhi High court on Thursday, with judges occupying each one of them as they embarked upon a surprise inspection of the district courts in the national capital.



Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal sat in one of these vehicles with her office staff while Justices Ravindra Bhat, S Muralidhar, Sanjiv Khanna, Vipin Sanghi and GS Sistani occupied the other autorickshaws.



The HC judges were to make surprise visits to the six court complexes in Delhi to assess their working and to also check on discipline and punctuality of the judicial officers.



Justice Mittal, who headed this task force, visited the Patiala House court complex. Justice Ravindra Bhat went to the Tis Hazari complex while Justice Khanna visited Rohini courts.



Meanwhile, Justice Muralidhar was finally spotted at Saket courts; Justice Sanghi at Dwarka courts and Justice Sistani at Karkardooma courts.



The brief for the judges was to assess the atmosphere inside the court rooms, to check whether judicial officers come to court on time and to inspect availability of basic amenities in court complexes.



All the High Court judges will now prepare reports of their inspection with suitable recommendations and measures. These reports will then be deliberated upon and appropriate actions will be taken on the administrative side. Errant judicial officers can also be proceeded against as an outcome of the surprise visits carried out on Thursday.




New Delhi: India is expected to raise its concerns over terrorism strongly at the next week's BRICS Summit, hosted by China, which on Friday said New Delhi's concerns over Pakistan's counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.



India also did not rule out a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Summit on Monday with External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying it is a common practice to arrange bilateral meetings on the sidelines of such multilaterals.



But he refused to divulge details, saying he cannot share timing and other information on bilateral meetings that have already been confirmed including those among BRICS leaders or with guest countries invited by China as part of an outreach exercise.



Modi will leave on September 3 to attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) Summit on September 4 in China, from where he will travel to Myanmar on a state visit before returning on September 7.



While Kumar refused to "preempt" as to what Modi will speak during his intervention at the Summit on Monday in the Chinese city of Xiamen, sources said India is expected to flag its concerns over terrorism strongly.



At the last BRICS Summit, hosted by India, Modi had described Pakistan as a "mothership" of terrorism world-wide. The PM had sought decisive global action such as systematically cutting off funding, weapons supply, training and political support to terror outfits and asserted that selective approach to deal with the menace will be not only futile but also counter-productive.



Leaders are free to speak what they want and it is the joint declaration which is prepared on the basis of consensus, Kumar said when asked about China's view that India's concerns over Pakistan's counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.



"Our position on terrorism is very clear. We have raised it at different fora and multilaterals. It is an important issue.



"I don't want to preempt as to what the prime minister will speak during his intervention during the BRICS restricted session and in the plenary. Also (I cannot say) how and in what shape it is going to come out in the declaration document," the spokesperson said.



He also noted that Indian officials, including the joint secretary in charge of China division in the ministry, were in China currently to discuss the joint declaration.



Asked if recent Dokalam issue will figure during discussions with other leaders, he said it was "premature" to share at this stage what are the issues which will be discussed among the leaders.



This is the first time the two countries will be interacting at the highest level after the resolution of the Dokalam standoff earlier this week. The Chinese and Indian troops were in a face-off situation since June 16 in Dokalam in Sikkim sector after the Indians stopped construction of a road by China's army.



On whether the national security advisors of India and China will meet on the sidelines of the Summit, Kumar said he has no information but noted that they had met last month in China.



On India's view about the expansion of BRICS and China inviting leaders of Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand, the spokesperson said it is the right of a host country to invite guests as part of outreach exercise. Leaders of the five BRICS countries and guest countries will discuss the importance of cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries.



With a theme of 'BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future', the Summit is expected to deliberate on world economic situation, global economic governance, international & regional hotspot issues, national security and development, according to Chinese foreign ministry.



At the plenary session, the leaders will be focusing their discussions on deepening BRICS cooperation, people to people exchanges, institutional building and other issues. At the plenary session, the BRICS leaders will adopt the BRICS leaders' Xiamen declaration.



The leaders of the five countries will attend the launch ceremony of the BRICS Cultural Festival and also the Photo Exhibition.



They will also have a dialogue with the Business Council, which will submit its report on ways to promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries.
Despite the fact that India stood up to a near-superpower like China on behalf of Bhutan over the 70-day-long standoff in Doklam at India-Bhutan-China trijunction and forced China to withdraw its troops as well as road-building equipment from Doklam, all is not well between India and Bhutan. A big reason to worry for the Indian strategic establishment is that the Chinese influence in Bhutan is increasing steadily. And this too when China and Bhutan still dont have formal diplomatic relations!The Chinese have made deep inroads into all possible strata of Bhutanese society  political parties, politicians, NGOs, media and even the royal family of Bhutan. Besides, cheap Chinese goods have flooded the Bhutanese markets and edged out Indian goods.And all this when China doesnt have an embassy in Thimpu, though the Chinese have been pestering the Bhutanese for the same for over a decade! Its obvious that the Chinese strategic footprints in Bhutan would have enlarged exponentially if they had a full-fledged embassy in Thimpu. Five years ago, the Chinese had formally raised this issue with the Bhutanese at the highest levels, but nothing has happened largely due to the Indian opposition.The then Bhutanese premier Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on 21 June 2012 at the sidelines of the Rio de Janeiro summit where Wen strongly pitched his suggestion for having formal diplomatic relations as soon as possible. A statement from the Bhutanese Prime Ministers office noted thus: The meeting carries great historic significance as it marks the first meeting between the heads of the two governments.Lyonchhen was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying that Bhutan wishes to forge formal diplomatic ties with China as soon as possible as well as settle border issues in a cooperative manner. However, the Media Attache of the Bhutan Prime Ministers office claimed that local Chinese media had misreported that Bhutan and China will establish diplomatic ties.This issue is not dead as far as the Chinese are concerned and their top priority vis a vis Bhutan remains opening formal diplomatic channels with Bhutan. The Chinese are quite exasperated to see that though Bhutan has expanded their foreign relations with as many as 53 countries in recent years and the last country on the Bhutanese list was Oman, China continues to be cold-shouldered by Bhutan which they blame on India.The Doklam episode saw subtle shades of Bhutanese disenchantment with India when China had officially claimed that the Bhutanese had conveyed to them that Doklam is Chinese territory, though Bhutan later denied the claim. But there cant be any smoke without fire. This was perhaps the first time when indications came that Bhutan was saying something to India and something else to China.Just a few days before the Doklam issue was resolved, Japanese daily Nikkei published a sensational report written by a Japanese which said that China had offered Bhutan $10 billion in economic assistance to soften its stance. The Nikkei report remarked thus: Sources say that since the offer, Bhutan has toned down its allegations that China is violating its territorial claims. The Nikkei report can be read in full here: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/China-woos-Bhutan-with-10-billion-in-standoff-with-India?n_cid=NARAN1507 Besides, for quite some time diplomatic circles are abuzz with reports that China is prepared to give Bhutan almost twice its territory in lieu for the 269 square kilometer Dramana area which includes Doklam. Bhutan has resisted China's attempts so far but may not hold fort for long.China has also been dangling another carrot before Bhutan: that it is willing to resolve its border dispute with Bhutan in one go and willing to formally demarcate its 470-km-long border with Bhutan, 25% of which is disputed, if Bhutan opens formal diplomatic relations with China.Another point of concern from the Indian viewpoint is that the Bhutanese are increasingly getting restive and more demanding with India. They are miffed with India that it has cut down its aid to Bhutan by over 30 per cent, a fact which the Indians are using as a stick to give a jolt for Bhutans ambivalence. But despite the cut, Bhutan is getting almost $600 million from India in 2017-18 financial year, far less than $985 million in 2015-16 but still a hefty sum considering that Bhutans total GDP is a little over two billion dollars.Though India still remains influential over Bhutan's foreign policy, defence and commerce, there is another grievance of the Bhutanese vis a vis New Delhi. They blame India over the tardy rate of developmental projects, particularly hydel power projects.India operates three hydro power projects, of 1,416 MW in Bhutan and 3 more of 2,129 MW are under construction. Despite this Bhutan is currently tapping only five percent if its 30,000-MW hydel power potential.India needs to raise its investment in Bhutan manifold in double quick time to keep the Dragon at bay. China's proposal of investing ten billion dollars in Bhutan may not work out because cheque book diplomacy has its own limits. Saudi Arabia too had dangled a $10 billion investment carrot before Maldives but the proposal fell through. The reason: small countries cant be bought over by bigger and more prosperous countries. That would tantamount to annexing smaller countries by other means.And yet, India has to be alert and do more to prevent its only model neighbour from falling into the Chinese lap.(Rajeev Sharma is a strategic analyst and columnist who tweets at @Kishkindha. Views are personal)
New Delhi: EVMs can be criticised freely. The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order, which had prohibited criticism of EVMs.



A bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra stayed operation of the gag order issued by the Uttarakhand High Court in June.



The Court issued notices on an appeal filed against this order and held that the direction will remain stayed.



Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the petitioner, told the Court that such a blanket gag order was unsustainable and impinged on freedom of speech and expression.



While hearing a petition against validity of the EVM challenge, the HC had noted that a systematic campaign (was) launched by political parties to tarnish the image of the Election Commission of India (EC).



In the larger public interest, the division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Sharad Kumar Sharma said, restrain all recognised national political parties, recognised state political parties, other political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals from criticising the use of EVMs in the recently conducted electionseven by approaching the electronic media, press, radio, Facebook, Twitter till decision of the election petitions.



The Supreme Court will now hear the matter after six weeks.
                      ,  ,    /1  Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) September 1, 2017

At least six ministers in the Union Cabinet may have to make way for a fresh lot in what is being seen as the last major cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the next general elections.A major chunk of ministers who may join the cabinet is expected to be from the Hindi heartland. BJP President Amit Shah held a series of meetings on Thursday with ministers in the Union council, who could be shifted to the party organisation. A senior BJP leader called these ministers on Thursday evening, informing them that the organisation was recalling them.Skill development minister and MP from Chapra in Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy has put in his papers. He may be shifted to the organisation. Medium and small scale industries minister Kalraj Mishra may also have to make way for the younger lot. Mishra is well past the 75-year benchmark set by the party for holding active political position. He might be made governor, say sources in the BJP.In Western UP, Muzzafarnagar MP and minister Sanjiv Balyan may be sent to the organisation. He is likely to be replaced by another Jat leader from Western UP. Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Baghpat MP Satyapal Malik is the front runner to fill in this slot.MOS Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey has already been appointed UP BJP President. He will have to resign from the council of ministers.Uma Bharti, who is in-charge of water resources ministry, may quit on health grounds. Other ministers who may be asked to take up organisational work include Faggan Singh Kulaste and Giriraj Singh.Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has already offered to quit after three train derailments earlier this month. Prabhu may be given the charge of the environment ministry.Amid the talk of change, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, at the India Summit of Economist magazine, said he does not expect to continue holding dual charge of finance and defence for very long."At least, I hope, not very long," he replied, chuckling when asked how long he would continue to hold dual charge.Jaitley is among the ministers holding dual charge and it is said that the reshuffle may involve lessening the burdens of such ministers.Speculation is rife that Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) will likely join the Modi Cabinet after the Bihar CM dumped Mahagathbandhan to return to the NDA fold.Sources in the Nationalist Congress Party told CNN-News18 that the party was not in any contact with the ruling dispensation at the Centre, further elaborating that they cannot be part of a government in which Shiv Sena is already present.Prime Minister leaves for China on September 3 for the BRICS meeting and the Cabinet rejig may take place before his departure on Sunday.
#Visuals J&K: Terrorists attacked a bus of security personnel in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk. Five policemen injured. pic.twitter.com/gjVNHeyBqs  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

One Jawan was killed and five others injured after Lashkar-e-Taiba militants opened fire on a police vehicle in Pantha Chowk area near Srinagar on Friday.In another incident, a Border Security Force jawan was killed in sniper firing by Pakistani troops from across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, an official of the force said. "Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Kamaljit Singh (50) suffered bullet injuries in "enemy fire" from across the LoC around 1745 hours," the BSF official said.In Pantha Chowk, militants ambushed the vehicle of the state armed police in Zewan area and opened indiscriminate fire. The Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack."Eight policemen were injured, one of whom has expired, when militants attacked a vehicle of the state armed police in Zewan area around 7:45 pm," police said, adding that the area has been cordoned off and searches started to trace the militants.Security forces had been put on high alert after intelligence inputs indicated that two groups of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terror outfit were planning an attack around Eid-ul-Azha, which falls on Saturday.
Bengaluru: A 34-year-old pedestrian died in Karnataka on Thursday night after being hit by a car carrying BJP MLA Raghavendra, the son of state BJP chief and former chief minister, Yeddyurappa.



The driver, Ravichandra, has been booked under Section 279 (rash driving) and 304A (death due to negligence) and was arrested. He was soon bailed out.



The incident took place at 8.30pm in Honnali in Davangere, central Karnataka, when the BJP MLA was returning from Shikaripura in Shimoga, his home constituency.



According to eye-witnesses, the deceased jumped off an auto and fell in front of the speeding car of Raghavendra.
Kolkata: A Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) activist was allegedly killed by the West Bengal CID, who also arrested 10 close aides of Bimal Gurung, in South Sikkims Namchi. It is also alleged that the unit entered the neighbouring state to conduct raids without informing their counterparts.



The victim has been identified as Dawa Bhutia, a resident of Dhobi Khola in Kalimpongs Pedong area. His body has been sent to Namchi hospital for post-mortem.



Speaking to News18, South Sikkim Superintendent of Police Pratap Pradhan said, Bengal CID officers entered Sikkim posing as tourists and later arrested several GJM leaders and supporters without valid documents. One Dawa Bhutia was killed in the operation.



Officially, they should have informed us before conducting any such operation. They told the Sikkim Border police that they wanted to go to Ravangla as tourists. This is a gross violation as far as Sikkims security is concerned, he said.



The Sikkim south district police have lodged a FIR against Kalimpong West Bengal superintendent and his team under IPC section 302 for killing Dawa Bhutia. A case also has been registered at Namchi police station against Bengal CID for entering Sikkim with the sole motive of killing a person.



Earlier in the day, Bengal CID had issued a look out notice against GJM Chief Bimal Gurung for instigating violence, rioting, killing, explosions and arson in last two months.
BRIC as an acronym was coined by the Goldman Sachs Economist Jim ONeill, back in 2001, right after 9/11, to represent the emerging markets at that time.



Brazil, Russia, India and China were the fastest growing economies back then, outside of the US and Europe. It was essentially a basic identifier for investors and stock market traders to pick companies in these countries which were poised for maximum growth.



Theres nothing that binds these countries. They are at different stages of development. They are in four different continents. They have different political and even market structures. And to top it all, they are not even the fastest growing economies anymore, certainly not at the pace they were growing in back in the early 2000s. The economies of all these countries have slid from over 8 and 9 percent to a best case of slightly above 6 percent to a worst case of under 4 percent.



Brazil is in negative growth of -3.6%. Russia is at minus 0.2 % growth. India and China are slight silver linings with 7% and 6.7%. But Indias has also further dipped with first quarter numbers slipping to 5.7%.



So what holds BRICS together? And will this system stand the test of time, like NATO and EU?



It is clear that BRICS is now seen as some vague forum for South-South co-operation, even though Russia wouldnt consider itself in the list of South or developing world countries.



But more than that, BRICS has become yet another multi-lateral forum for China to establish some new order-building around the world.



As far as the Chinese are concerned, it is clear that Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and IMF represent the status quo. China certainly wants to change the status quo. Which is why it is actively promoting new multi-lateral fora like SCO and BRICS.



The OBOR is also another attempt by China at order building. China is hoping that these will be the new World Banks and IMFs in the 21st century.



Which is why, if you look at the upcoming BRICS summit, its clear from the streets of Xiamen as well as coverage on Chinese media that they see this as yet another forum to showcase China and her leadership to the world.



There was a lot of celebration last year when Beijing hosted the APEC summit. Expect similar over the top China celebration this time round too.



Whats in it for India though?



While India has grown closer to the US over the last 10 years aligning its position with America on most issues, including the South China Sea, India would also want to be nimble-footed enough to have one leg in each basket.



Hence Indias proactive outreach to Central Asian Countries to be part of SCO, which India managed to procure in June at the Astana summit.



With BRICS, it is slightly different. Though India was the one that proposed a New Development Bank under BRICS, China through some hefty diplomacy was able to get the bank established in Shanghai.



China has undue influence in the goings on within BRICS. For example, this year, China wants to expand BRICS by inviting observer countries like Mexico, Egypt, Guinea, Tajikistan and Thailand. Each of these is a country China wants to cultivate in five different regions of the world.



India is not warm to this idea, as the expansion of BRICS does not serve her any strategic purpose. Indias logic is whats then to stop China one day from inviting Pakistan into BRICS?



But the most important threat to the very survival of BRICS will come from Sino-India rivalry. As both countries expand their footprint in different regions of the world, it is but natural that they will collide. Expect more Doklam-like situations in the future.


The largest annual international gathering in the world is currently underway, with 2 million Muslims expected to make this year's Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.



For perspective, that's nearly five times the number of foreigners who traveled to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.



This year, more than 80 nationalities will gather at the Holy City of Mecca. To date, Pakistan has sent the highest number of foreign representatives at 184,000, followed by India and Bangladesh.



As one of the five pillars of Islam, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is mandatory for physically and financially capable Muslims to perform at least once in their lives. The rituals are intended to cleanse the soul and demonstrate the equality and solidarity of all Muslims in their submission to God.



According to the Kingdom's Ministry of Culture and Information, the number of foreign visitors has soared over the years: In 1941, a modest 24,000 pilgrims made the journey to Mecca, compared to 1.325 million in 2016.



While the Hajj is one of the oldest pilgrimages in the world, logistically, this year's edition is thoroughly modern.



Every pilgrim is given an electronic identification bracelet containing personal and medical information in the event of a medical emergency. The GPS-enabled devices also inform pilgrims about prayer times and feature a multilingual help desk for pilgrims who don't speak Arabic.



Likewise, this year's Hajj is embracing technology and social media as a way for Muslims unable to make the journey to follow the pilgrimage via livestream. A portal has also been created educating non-Muslims about the ancient tradition.



SaudiWelcomesTheWorld.org posts photos of the pilgrimage and invites pilgrims to share stories of their personal journeys, while Hajj2017.org livestreams the event.



The Hajj runs between August 30 to September 4.



Here's the Hajj in numbers:



184,000 pilgrims from Pakistan



170,000 pilgrims from India



127,000 pilgrims from Bangladesh



90,000 pilgrims from Turkey



41,200 pilgrims from Malaysia



23,500 pilgrims from Russia



12,700 pilgrims from China



6,000 pilgrims from the Philippines



3,500 pilgrims from South Africa



94 percent of pilgrims arrived by air this year; to accommodate the number of arrivals, airports in Jeddah and Madinah built dedicated terminals for pilgrims.



During Hajj, more than 2.64 million meals are distributed daily.
Mumbai: Rukh, touted as a powerful drama and mystery film starring Manoj Bajpayee, has been set for release on October 27.



Backed by Drishyam Films, it marks the directorial debut of Atanu Mukherjee and was a part of the inaugural Drishyam-Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2015 and a part of Film Bazaar Recommends 2016.



Its first look and motion poster was launched on social media on Thursday.



Rukh is about the journey of a boy rediscovering his lost connections and familial ties, through the secrets and memories he must confront on his way. With a soulful soundtrack by hitmaker Amit Trivedi, the film also boasts of a cast including Adarsh Gourav, Smita Tambe and Kumud Mishra.



Manish Mundra, founder of Drishyam Films and producer of Rukh, said in a statement: "Rukh is a very special film for us since it is a story we have mentored from the start with the Drishyam-Sundance Screenwriters Lab. We are very happy with the way it has shaped up and can't wait for our audience to see it."



According to the film's director, "it is an intimate portrait of a family in flux, inspired from a few real life events and characters".



"It deals with themes we can all relate to," said Mukherjee, an alumnus of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
Two days into the ongoing Venice Film Festival, and I am beginning to feel the enormity of the challenges the human race is all set to face in the foreseeable future. At least that is what the movies at Venice seem to be telling us.

Take the competition entry from the US, First Reformed  where a priest, Toller, played by Ethan Hawke, is tortured by the death of his son in Iraq, a loss that not only torments immensely him but also leads to his wife walking out of the marriage. And in the small church that Toller heads, Mary (Amanda Seyfried) comes to him seeking help in dealing with her alcoholic husband, Michael (Philip Ettinger)  who wants his wife to abort the child growing inside her. He feels that it will be unfair to bring out a child into a world that is fast spinning towards a terrible end.

Much like Michael, the film director, Paul Schrader ( who wrote such classics as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and helmed American Gigolo) said in an interview that the human beings as a species would not outlive this century. The world would be fine, but not men.

First Reformed takes climate change and global warming head on (although Donald Trump is trying to convince the world that it all imagined), and the movie tells us that these are going to destroy us. Therefore, Michael is determined that Mary should not bring the child into such a world. Schrader (71) seconds this with a doomsday prediction. I am out of all this, but our kids will not be.

Image: Youtube/ A still from First Reformed

But is First Reformed only about despair? No, not really. There is redemption, there is courage and there is love  and these stand as an antidote for all the gloom which Schrader paints on his canvas of a film.

Like in the movie where Toller preaches these and even practices some, Schrader believes that religion can play a huge part in perhaps delaying the ultimate ruin of mankind.

And tormented by the memory of having pushed his son into the army, Toller grieves and even plans to kill himself. Also devastated by his divorce and his alcoholism (which gets him to be labelled as the whisky priest), Toller is saved, though, by love. So, Schrader, despite all the pessimism he projects, ends up with some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.

If love is the medicine for Schraders tragedy-ridden future, the Festivals opening night film, Alexander Paynes Downsizing comes up with an almost magical solution. Here, in this case, Payne talks about a world burdened with teeming millions, the world where there will be no space and not enough food.

Payne tackles this problem by offering as a suggestion the shrinking of men and women to the size of a finger. Narrated with a touch of iconic comic, Downsizing has Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz and Hong Chau all playing miniature men and women. They form a colony where life is simply plentiful. And not just this, they all get to enjoy first-class air travel and live in virtual palaces. Undoubtedly, a breathtakingly beautiful way of addressing the planets one overriding challenge of over population.

Image: Youtube/ A still from Downsizing

Captivating and funny in its own way (though the casting could have better without Damon, who remains his wooden best in film after film), Downsizing has, though, as a redemption, Waltz  who as a rich businessman infuses into the narrative a lovely piece of performance. His humour, his sarcasm and his wonderful expressiveness (and what a contrast to the role he portrayed as a ruthless Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds) add many stars to Paynes work, which is pure science-fiction all right, dangling as it does a sweet pill to free the bursting-at-its seams earth of one terrible malady.

But the moot point is, will man be accepting of anything that is revolutionary and novel? Remember he is possessed of something as devilish as ego. And I saw this in the Lebanese work, The Insult, by Ziad Doueiri. He explores guilt and honour, but both laced with ego, a giant version of it.

A small slur turns into a mighty war and divides a nation. The film pits a Palestinian Muslim construction worker in Lebanon (technically a refugee) against a Christian Lebanese house owner in The Insult. The two mens spat over a gutter leads to words and then to blows. This, in turn, results in a court case, where lawyers further vitiate the atmosphere. Beirut is in flames as Palestinians and Lebanese fight over what began as small ego clash!

Image: Youtube/ A still from The Insult

Although Doueiri ends his work on a note of hope and reconciliation, I wonder whether men akin to the characters in his movie with their giant-sized egos would ever let the world move towards resolutions. A frightening possibility indeed, and the ongoing 74th edition of the Festival on the picturesque island of Lido appears to be talking about all the catastrophes set to hit the world of ours!

(Gautaman Bhaskaran is an author, commentator, and film critic who has covered the Venice Film Festival for 18 years)

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The BJP would have loved nothing more than for the AIADMK to join the NDA just in time for the intended reshuffle of the Union council of ministers. A couple of berths to the Dravidian party along with an equal number of places for Nitish Kumars JD (U) would have been the icing on the cake as the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine set the course for Mission 2019. But that is not to be.



In Chennai, the political grapevine is that the BJP is already running the state government in absentia. Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy and his deputy O Paneerselvam are seen as mere props. The names of two senior BJP leaders have been doing the rounds in the state as the emissaries from Delhi. Without any substantiation, they remain rumours.



Nevertheless, the point being made is why is the BJP finding it difficult to get a foothold in the state by hitching itself with the AIADMK. It is not for lack of trying on the BJPs part. Several other factors are coming in the way.



Lets start with the obvious question: What precisely does the BJP want and what is its strategy? The BJP, since 1998, has been trying to have a meaningful alliance with the AIADMK. Even today, it prefers the alliance for the 2019 (or 2018?) general elections. Top sources confide the BJP would like the AIADMK to be part of the NDA, with both parties having a 50:50 share of the Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.



Here is the first bottleneck. Even if the EPS-OPS duo is okay with it, which is the real AIADMK that will enter the NDA? Theres the ruling AIADMK. Theres the dissenting AIADMK of TTV Dinakaran. Theres jailed would-have-been matriarch Sasikala herself. The election symbol of the AIADMK is under question (the Election Commission is taking its own time settling it). So, who will write a letter on the AIADMK letterhead saying they are okay with being part of the NDA? Normally, it is the party president  in this case the general secretary  who signs the letter.



Will Sasikala write that letter? Hardly. The ruling AIADMK is in the process of evicting her from the post. It has called a meeting of the General Council on September 12. Dinakaran, who has the support of 19 party MLAs, is readying for a battle. Only Sasikala can convene the council and if not she, he, he has asserted. Observers do not rule out violence on that day, if the council actually meets.



This is the second bottleneck. There are nearly 3,000 members in the general council. The ruling AIADMK would feel relieved if it manages to evict Sasikala; it would thus have gained control of the party.



On the other hand, the Dinakaran faction, which is fast losing a grip over the government, is intent on not eroding its hold over the party. Majority of the council members were nominated by the late Jayalalithaa. It is said that after her death, the loyalty of most of the members has passed over to Sasikala.

That is probably the reason why the ruling AIADMK is being flayed by its rivals for fudging invitations for the council meeting. Apparently, the official party records show that invites have been mailed to all members whereas in reality mostly the anti-Sasikala members happened to actually receive them. Nobody knows the truth, anyway. If the council actually meets and decides on a course of action about the post of general secretary, the BJPs hopes will receive a boost.



The third bottleneck is the fate of the EPS government. As of now, things seem to not stress the BJP leadership. The state still does not have its own governor. The acting governor is busy with the goings-on in Maharashtra, from rains to manhole deaths and the Ganesh immersion.



On his last, rare, visit to Chennai, the governor made it clear to the Dinakaran faction that the political crisis continues to be an internal affair of the AIADMK and therefore does not require his attention.



Why did he say that? The 19 legislators with Dinakaran met him but told him they were unhappy with the Chief Minister, not the government. They perhaps will be happy if EPS is replaced. Only, the faction doesnt know how to go about it.



It tried to prop up the Assembly speaker, P Dhanapal. He is a Dalit, the first from that caste to be appointed to that post. There are nearly 20 Dalit MLAs in the AIADMK. The Dinakaran factions thinking is to get the support of these legislators by pushing Dhanapals name. They assumed their strength would then cross 40 and that would seal the fate of EPS. Unfortunately, things have not progressed like they wanted.



The anti-defection law, and therefore disqualification, also looms large in front of them. The chief whip of the ruling faction S. Rajendran has already asked Dhanapal to disqualify the 19 MLAs. If at all EPS takes a floor test today or tomorrow, these issues will certainly come up and get bogged down in court cases.



Such a scenario is hardly welcome for Dinakaran. As on date, the faction believes, without any basis, that eventually the fence sitting MLAs in the ruling camp will shift over to Dinakaran; and that such a shift will become imminent if the Sasikala faction prevails in the general council meeting. Too many linkages. Complicated.



Even the DMK has asked for a floor test in the Assembly. As the legitimate opposition party, it has the right to move a no-confidence motion. The governor really cannot deny them their right. But the issue is about the timing of convening of the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The last session ended in July, 2017. Which means, except for emergencies, it normally has to convene again within six months, that is, in the year-end or early next year. If the governor does not see the political situation good enough to convene a session before that date, what will the Dinakaran faction do?



The last bottleneck is the BJPs tryst with alliances. Its need for an alliance with a robust political partner in Tamil Nadu has over the years become the Holy Grail. The BJP has had a regrettable experience with its electoral alliance with the AIADMK. Thats saying it mildly.



In 1998, Jayalalithaa and Vajpayee fought the elections in alliance and cornered 30 out of 39 seats in the state. But she was unhappy that Vajpayee would not agree to withdraw corruption cases against her or dismiss the DMK government. She withdrew support. Remember how Vajpayee lost his government for want of a single vote in the Lok Sabha.



A chastened BJP aligned with the DMK in 1999, and rightly so, because they bagged 31 out of 39 seats. Vajpayee formed the government again. However, in the run-up to the 2004 elections, the BJP started flirting with the AIADMK. An angered Karunanidhi pulled out the DMK from the NDA.



At that time, even the RSS was of the view that the AIADMK was more ideologically suited to the BJP than DMK. And so, the alliance was firmed up. The DMK went with the Congress. The results shocked the BJP: 35 seats went to the DMK-Congress alliance, while its own alliance drew a blank. An insider analysis surmised later that had the BJP managed to align with the DMK, it may even have formed the government for the second time. Who knows!



The Narendra Modi era saw a fresh attempt to woo Jayalalithaa. Even though the BJP formed an anti-AIADMK and anti-DMK front with DMDK, PMK, IJK, MDMK, KMDK and PNK, a link with the AIADMK was always at the back of the mind of the BJP leadership. Modi and Jayalalithaa always maintained a cordial relationship. He attended her 2011 swearing-in. She attended his swearing-in in 2014. In 2015, when a Karnataka court acquitted her in the disproportionate assets case, Modi called on her.



Their relationship could not convert their parties into allies. Why? Two reasons. The shrewd Jayalalithaa realised giving a foothold to the BJP in Tamil Nadu would mean erosion of her Hindu support base. Even if it did not erode, she would end up sharing the Hindu vote with the BJP. Why should she do that?



Secondly, as far as her relations with the Centre were concerned, she always maintained equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress, to maintain her independent, and therefore, influential, posture. Also, she had concerted with the Congress in the past, hadnt she?



So, the BJP  who political pundits say controls the political game in the state  is now in a wait and watch mode.
New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) annual coordination committee meeting with its affiliates, including the BJP, begins in Vrindavan, UP on Friday.



About 40 fronts of the RSS are to attend the three-day brainstorming session, which is likely to be attended by BJP president Amit Shah and party general secretary in-charge of organisation Ram Lal.



From the RSS, it's top brass, including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhawat, will be present for the coordination council.



The meeting comes at a time when RBI has released demonetisation data even as latest figures suggest an extended and lingering impact of note ban on the economy.



One of the few RSS affiliates who had expressed apprehensions post-midnight demonitisation will also be present in the Vrindavan meeting. Laghu Udyog Bharti, the RSS front for small scale entrepreneurs, had in a meeting with MoS Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal explicitly raised their demonitisation concerns in mid-December.



"We are not against demonetisation per se. But one must realise that most of the small scale industries employ labour which seeks weekly remuneration in cash. Small Scale Industries should be allowed to withdraw money to meet their expenditure and there should not be any limit attached to it," LUB President O P Mittal told News18 in December, 2016.



In their meeting with MoS Meghwal, Udyog Bharti office bearers were asked to be patient and have faith in Prime Minister's leadership.



Mittal, who is heading to Vrindavan for the coordination conclave, does not reveal much about the issues his organisation would raise before the top RSS brass, calling it an in-house assessment.



"Things have settled down since December. But we are holding our annual general meeting in Delhi later this month. Credit for small scale industries remains an issue which we will discuss," he said.



Other RSS affiliates, including Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, will also attend the meeting. SJM, in particular, has repeatedly voiced concerns about the functioning of the Niti Ayog and genetically modified seeds.



UP Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath is also slated to attend a session in Vrindavan to brief RSS leaders on state-specific issues.




                      ,  ,    /1



 Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) September 1, 2017



: The much-awaited reshuffle of the Union Cabinet will take place on Sunday morning. Highly placed sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Chief Amit Shah spoke to top ministers and the core group on Friday regarding the rejig.The sources also said that Nitin Gadkari is likely to be made the railway minister. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has already offered to quit after three train derailments earlier this month. Prabhu may be given the charge of the environment ministry.Earlier, it was reported that at least six ministers in the Union Cabinet may have to make way for a fresh lot in what is being seen as the last major cabinet reshuffle by PM Modi before the next general elections.A major chunk of ministers who may join the cabinet is expected to be from the Hindi heartland. BJP President Amit Shah held a series of meetings on Thursday with ministers in the Union council, who could be shifted to the party organisation. A senior BJP leader called these ministers on Thursday evening, informing them that the organisation was recalling them.Skill development minister and MP from Chapra in Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy has put in his papers. He may be shifted to the organisation. Medium and small scale industries minister Kalraj Mishra may also have to make way for the younger lot. Mishra is well past the 75-year benchmark set by the party for holding active political position. He might be made governor, say sources in the BJP.In Western UP, Muzaffarnagar MP and minister Sanjiv Balyan may be sent to the organisation. He is likely to be replaced by another Jat leader from Western UP. Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Baghpat MP Satyapal Malik is the front runner to fill in this slot.MOS Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey has already been appointed UP BJP President. He will have to resign from the council of ministers.Uma Bharti, who is in-charge of water resources ministry, may quit on health grounds. Other ministers who may be asked to take up organisational work include Faggan Singh Kulaste and Giriraj Singh.Amid the talk of change, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, at the India Summit of Economist magazine, said he does not expect to continue holding dual charge of finance and defence for very long."At least, I hope, not very long," he replied, chuckling when asked how long he would continue to hold dual charge.Jaitley is among the ministers holding dual charge and it is said that the reshuffle may involve lessening the burdens of such ministers.Speculation is rife that Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) will likely join the Modi Cabinet after the Bihar CM dumped Mahagathbandhan to return to the NDA fold.Sources in the Nationalist Congress Party told CNN-News18 that the party was not in any contact with the ruling dispensation at the Centre, further elaborating that they cannot be part of a government in which Shiv Sena is already present.Prime Minister leaves for China on September 3 for the BRICS meeting and the Cabinet rejig may take place before his departure on Sunday.
The rocket's heat shield should have separated some three minutes into the launch, but it failed to. The scientists waited for some 19 minutes to see if it would separate, and then declared the mission unsuccessful.

It was a black Thursday for Indian space programme as it suffered a serious setback after its workhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) failed to deliver India's eighth navigation satellite into its intended orbit. The 1,425 kg Indian Regional Navigation Satellite-1H (IRNSS-1H), which was launched at 7 p.m. on board the PSLV, was declared unsuccessful after its heat shield failed to separate. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said: "The mission was unsuccessful.""The rocket heat shield didn't separate. The satellite is inside the heat shield," he added. Speaking to the media, Kiran Kumar said the rocket engines performed well but only the heat shield did not get separated. "The satellite was seen rotating inside the heat shield enclosure," he said. Queried about the impact of the mission failure on getting commercial launch prospects, the ISRO Chairman said the issue has to be studied.The IRNSS-1H satellite was to have been slung into orbit at around 507 km above the earth. Rocket scientists are perplexed at the failure. "It is really perplexing that such a thing has happened. Normally the PSLV rocket has several redundancies built into it," R.V. Perumal, a former ISRO scientist, told IANS. He said all the commands are pre-planned and built into the computers. "There cannot be any manual command," he added.Earlier, at around 7 p.m. the rocket PSLV standing around 44.4 metres tall and weighing 321 tonnes with a one-way ticket hurtled towards the skies ferrying the IRNSS-1H. With a rich orange flame at its tail, the rocket ascended towards the evening skies amidst the resounding cheers of ISRO scientists and media team assembled at the launch centre. Space scientists at ISRO new rocket mission control room were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the earth's gravitational pull. The IRNSS-1H is a substitute for IRNSS-1A as the three rubidium atomic clocks of the latter has failed. The launch failure has shocked the Indian space community as PSLV has a good record of success missions since 1993 and has been a major revenue earner for Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm.PSLV is a four stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively. The first and third stages are fired by solid propellant and the second and fourth stages are fired by liquid propellant. The rocket that failed on Thursday is the much powerful variant called PSLV-XL. But for two failures - one in 1993 and the other on Thursday - the PSLV has an excellent success record launching several Indian and foreign satellites.Incidentally, the launch of the first navigation satellite IRNSS-1A was also postponed from its original launch date. The launch had to be put off initially after finding a problem in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the rocket's second stage/engine. The second stage had to be dismantled to replace the actuator, which is an assembly of several components. It weighed around 20 kg. ISRO also had earlier dismantled a fully assembled PSLV rocket to check a component in the rocket's second stage.In 2010 a fully assembled PSLV rocket was dismantled to replace a gas motor in its second stage/engine with an uprated one. The gas motor powers the rocket's second stage control actuators for manoeuvering the engine's nozzle - the process is called gimballing. The process enables the rocket to maintain a steady course on its way up. The failure of PSLV on Thursday is expected to impact ISRO's prospects in the global small and medium sized global satellite launch market.
Parsi: France called Friday for a political transition in Syria that would not include President Bashar al-Assad, after a series of shifting positions on resolving the six-year-old conflict.



"We cannot build peace with Assad," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on France's RTL radio.



"He cannot be the solution," said Le Drian, who was defence minister in the former Socialist government.



"The solution is to establish... a timeline for a political transition that can lead to a new constitution and elections, and this transition cannot happen with Bashar al-Assad."



French President Emmanuel Macron said in July that the removal of the Syrian president was not a "prerequisite" for peace in the war-torn country and that he did not see a "legitimate successor" to the leader who has been in power since 2000.



Paris had been a key supporter of the opposition to Assad's rule since the start of the conflict in 2011, which has since killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions.



But Macron has said that the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group is a priority for France, which has endured a string of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015. Some of these were planned in Syria.



On Friday, Macron said he hoped to organise an international conference early next year in Beirut on facilitating the return of Syrian refugees, saying this was crucial for "stabilising Syria and the entire region."



Lebanon currently hosts more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees.



France's armed forces are in action as part of the US-led international coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.



The jihadist group has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries, and thousands of its fighters have been killed since late 2014 when the coalition was formed to defeat the group.



UN Talks in October?



Le Drian said Friday that IS "will be defeated in Syria," leaving the country with a "single conflict, that of the civil war" pitting an opposition against the Assad government.



Macron has tasked Le Drian with forming a new contact group on Syria to relaunch the stalled political process.



So far Paris has not been forthcoming on the composition of the group, notably on the question of whether regional power Iran -- a key backer of the Syrian regime along with Russia  would take part.



"Without Iran, we're wasting our time," a diplomatic source said. "But Iran is also a red rag to (US President Donald) Trump's America."



Another source said the group would consist of the five permanent members of the Security Council  the US, Britain, France, China and Russia  with regional powers included in "several discussion formats".



UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said last month that he hopes to launch "real, substantive" peace talks between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October.



De Mistura has hosted seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks in Geneva, with Assad's fate one of the main obstacles to progress.



Kazakhstan has hosted parallel talks, with a new round scheduled for September 14-15.



Those talks will focus on securing Syrian safe zones set up under an agreement between Russia, Iran and Turkey  a backer of the rebels.
Washington: Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander said on Friday, contradicting Russia's claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.



"Do I believe he's alive? Yes," said Army Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.



At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen "rumor or otherwise" that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: "There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive." Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.



Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.



Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.



A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.



He said this area is shaping up to be the group's "last stand" following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq.



The most recent IS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants' main stronghold in Iraq.



The Iraqi government announced yesterday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a "stunningly swift" victory for the Iraqi army, moving "like a steamroller" into the city in a matter of days.



The IS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the group's self-styled caliphate.



Townsend said US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting.



Assessing his 12 months in command of the US-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive.



It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a US-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.



"I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didn't see their government representing them or their interests or their future," he said.



"And I think that's probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis."



Townsend said he hopes the US government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another IS-like episode. He said such talks are under way.



"We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely," he said, referencing the pullout of US troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraq's subsequent struggles.



"My personal view is I wouldn't want to repeat that," Townsend said. "So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future."



Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.



He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-IS campaign.



"The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command," Townsend said. "And



I don't know of a commander in our armed forces that doesn't appreciate that."



"A key result of that is that we don't get second-guessed a lot," he added. "Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we don't get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take."
Lahore: Pakistan's anti-graft watchdog, investigating corruption charges against ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his three children, is mulling to freeze their assets and bank accounts, a media report said on Friday.



The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, has forwarded four cases against the Sharif family to its headquarters in Islamabad, proposing the steps against Sharif and his children Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, The News International reported.



The NAB's Lahore office has also proposed to confiscate all moveable and immoveable properties of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the report said.



It has proposed to place Dar's name on the Exit Control List, which would prohibit him from leaving the country. The Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified Sharif, 67, for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children in connection with the Panama Papers scandal within six weeks.



NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on August 29 said the apex court's verdict would be implemented in letter and spirit. The News International report said the cases against Sharif and his children were sent to Islamabad office after the bureau's regional board gave consent to the decisions. The Lahore office previously recommended to put all members of the Sharif family on the ECL.



It was expected that NAB Rawalpindi will also give its consent for action against the Sharif family soon, the report said citing sources.



The cases against the Sharif family have been prepared against the ownership of Avenfield flats, while the cases against Dar is over owning assets beyond his known means of income.
Nairobi: Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new presidential election within 60 days, in a shock ruling cancelling the results of last month's poll over widespread irregularities.



Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of six judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".



Supporters of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga's wept and cheered, utterly stunned at what they saw as a historic ruling, after losses in successive polls they believe were rigged, from a judiciary long seen as compromised in favour of the ruling elite.



Odinga, 72, hailed the "historic" ruling which is a first in Africa.



"It is now clear that no one in Kenya is above the law," he said.



Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution".



Kenyatta, the first African president to have his re-election overturned by a court ruling, cheerfully took to the streets to address supporters saying he was ready to campaign again.



He slammed Maraga and his fellow judges as "crooks" as he spoke off the cuff, after earlier saying that while he disagreed with the ruling, he respected it.



Kenya has a long history of disputed votes, election violence and a lack of faith in the judiciary's independence.



"It was a surprise because the trend in justice in Kenya is not good, but this time justice has been done," said 39-year-old accountancy student Donna Abongo.



"Kudos to the judges!"



"For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen elections for so long," said fishmonger Lynette Akello in western Kisumu.



The run-up to the August 8 election was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and opposition allegations that rigging was certain.



Indeed Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) cried foul shortly after counting began, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.



The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.



At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.



'Irregularities and illegalities'



It was the third time in a row that Odinga claimed he had been cheated out of victory at the polls, after his losses in 2007 and 2013.



However, the protests remained isolated and did not reach the levels of the disputed 2007 election which saw politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.



In 2013, Odinga took his grievances to court and lost.



This time he initially refused to take the case to court but changed his mind, saying NASA wanted the truth to come out even if they believed they had no hope of winning.



However, in a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court agreed with the opposition coalition.



Maraga said there had been "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.



He said this had compromised the "integrity of the entire presidential election".



The court's full ruling must be made available within 21 days.



Election commission vows change



Odinga said he no longer had faith in the current election commission and called for them to step down.



But IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati refused to resign, saying he had not been implicated in any wrongdoing personally, but vowed "internal changes to our personnel".



He called for those guilty of wrongdoing to be prosecuted.



NASA official and lawyer, James Orengo, had argued that irregularities -- including unsigned and fake tally forms, hacked servers and deliberate miscounting -- had affected around one-third of the 15.5 million votes cast.



But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote.



A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets -- known as form 34A -- as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.



In addition, the registrar's report found that the electoral commission failed to provide full court-ordered access to its servers, which NASA had demanded in order to back up its allegations of hacking.
Ankara: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the death of hundreds of Rohingya in Myanmar over the past week constituted a genocide aimed at Muslim communities in the region.



Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmar's northwest for a week, new official data showed, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country's Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.



"There is a genocide there. They remain silent towards this... All those looking away from this genocide carried out under the veil of democracy are also part of this massacre," Erdogan said at his ruling AK Party's Eid al-adha celebrations in Istanbul.



The army says it is conducting clearance operations against "extremist terrorists" to protect civilians.



Erdogan, with his roots in political Islam, has long strived to take a position of leadership among the world's Muslim community. He said it was Turkey's moral responsibility to take a stand against the events in Myanmar.



Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.



Erdogan said the issue would be discussed in detail when world leaders convene for the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 12 in New York.
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A Lynchburg man pleaded guilty this week to threatening to bomb a building along with other charges in Lynchburg Circuit Court and will serve more than two years in prison.

Ronald Kenneth ONeil, 54, was arrested in March in connection with what police described at the time as a suspected threat to bomb Lynchburg General and Virginia Baptist hospitals. He was charged with one count of threatening to bomb a building.

Lynchburg police said in a release after the incident the bomb threat was phoned into a hospital call center March 4, and the case was assigned to Detective H. G. Blomquist with the departments Crime Investigations Unit after the scene was determined to be safe.

Blue Ridge Regional Jail records show ONeil was denied bond after his arrest in March.

ONeil was sentenced to five years of incarceration with three years suspended on the bomb threat charge.

At the same time, he pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery, two counts of felony obtaining money by false pretenses and one count of misdemeanor obtaining money by false pretenses.

On those charges, ONeil was sentenced as follows:

False pretenses (felony): five years of incarceration with four years and eight months suspended;

False pretenses (felony): five years of incarceration with all five years suspended;

Forgery: five years of incarceration with all five years suspended on each of two counts; and

False pretenses (misdemeanor): 12 months of incarceration with all 12 months suspended.

The suspended time is conditioned upon the defendant being of good behavior for a period of 10 years, being on supervised probation for 18 months after release from incarceration and paying restitution to the victims, said Jessica Vormawald, assistant commonwealths attorney for Lynchburg.

ONeil was represented in court by attorney Jordan Davies.
Posted: A Lynchburg man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal drug distribution charge and could face up to two decades in prison.

Edward Dennis Jones Jr., 41, entered the plea to one count of a federal indictment in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg, following an agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Jones was indicted by a grand jury in 2014 on federal drug conspiracy and distribution charges; the charge to which he pleaded guilty Thursday was cocaine distribution.

Prosecutors said the maximum sentence Jones faces is 20 years in a federal penitentiary, a $250,000 fine, a $100 court assessment and a period of supervised release. Sentencing is set for Nov. 17.

Jones was arrested after an April 2010 incident in which Jones traded drugs for cash in a parking lot at 14845 Forest Road in Forest, according to evidence the U.S. attorney presented in court Thursday.

The case is part of a federal indictment of several people on drug distribution charges.

Jones and his co-defendants, over a period from 1998 to 2012, did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree with each other, and with persons known and unknown to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine, the grand jury charged in July 2014.

In the event leading to the arrest of Jones in 2010, a Virginia State Police confidential informant arranged to buy 2 ounces of cocaine for $2,000 and left the money in a parked vehicles glove box for the exchange, Assistant U.S Attorney Craig Jacobsen said.

The source had contact with Jeroid Matthews  who later also was charged  to make the drug buy and was told to leave the cash in the vehicle, Jacobsen said.

Matthews later said it would be an hour before the powder cocaine would be provided; soon Jones arrived in a maroon pickup carrying something and entered the vehicles passenger side, the prosecutor said.

After being advised the cocaine was in the car, the source obtained the 2 ounces of cocaine and turned it over to police, and it later was weighed at 55.8 grams of cocaine, according to the evidence.

John Davidson, a Charlottesville defense lawyer for Jones, said his client had stipulated to the terms of the plea, which includes not challenging the conviction. Mr. Jones agrees to accept responsibility for his conduct, he said.

Jones also forfeited $2,000 seized from him after the arrest.

Davidson said after the hearing he declined to comment further before sentencing.

Matthews pleaded guilty to a distribution charge in 2015 and awaits sentencing, according to federal court records.

Earlier: A Lynchburg man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal drug distribution charge and could face up to two decades in prison.

Edward Dennis Jones Jr., 41, entered the plea to one count of a federal indictment in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg, following an agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Jones was indicted by a grand jury in 2014 on federal drug conspiracy and distribution charges; the charge to which he pleaded Thursday was cocaine distribution.

Prosecutors said the maximum sentence Jones faces is 20 years in a federal penitentiary; a $250,000 fine; a $100 assessment by the court; and a period of supervised release. Sentencing is set for Nov. 17.
A prominent figure in the white nationalist movement argued he is a shock jock who runs a racist podcast before he was denied bond on Thursday evening.

Christopher Cantwell, 36, faces two charges of illegal use of tear gas, phosgene or other gases and one count of malicious bodily injury by means of a caustic substance or agent. The charges stem from clashes Cantwell had with protesters during the torch-lit march that occurred at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11, the night before a violent white nationalist rally overtook Charlottesvilles downtown, resulting in the death of one woman and dozens of injuries.

Two people testified to a magistrate that Cantwell had used pepper spray on them during the clashes. Both in court and in a teary video he posted before his arrest, Cantwell contended that his actions were taken in self-defense.

Cantwell turned himself in last week in Lynchburg after UVa police announced that warrants were out for his arrest. On Thursday morning, an Albemarle County judge set bond for Cantwell at $25,000, but the countys head prosecutor had until 4 p.m. to appeal that decision.

Albemarle County Commonwealths Attorney Robert Tracci did so, and after a bizarre hearing that lasted nearly four hours, Judge Cheryl Higgins reversed the lower court judges decision.

While Cantwell rose to prominence in the white nationalist and other, similar pro-white movements through his podcast, Radical Agenda, he came into the public spotlight just this month after a Vice News documentary profiled Cantwell and his cohorts during and after the rallies in Charlottesville.

In the documentary, Cantwell is seen calling for an ethno-state and making several comments about the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer during the Aug. 12 rally. Heyer was killed when 20-year-old James A. Fields allegedly plowed his car into a group of anti-racist demonstrators; while Fields is charged with second-degree murder in the incident, Cantwell is shown in the documentary calling the killing justified.

Excerpts of the video were very nearly played during Thursday evenings court hearing, which saw Tracci squaring off with Pittsylvania County attorney Elmer Woodard, who repeatedly claimed during the early portions of the hearing that the video should not be shown.

Woodard said during the hearing that Cantwell would not be a flight risk were he to be released on bond, because hed found a person to stay with in Virginia while his case is adjudicated and because he had voluntarily turned himself over to police upon hearing of warrants for his arrest.

Offering photos taken from the Aug. 11 clashes, Tracci asked for the opposite, saying that Cantwells act of supreme bravery in turning himself in doesnt amount to much in the eyes of the court. He then pointed to excerpts from the Vice News documentary as evidence that Cantwell had a proclivity toward violence that would pose a public safety risk were he to be released.

Before the video could be shown in court, Woodard objected to Traccis notions, calling Cantwell a radio personality akin to comedian Jackie Mason and prone to saying outrageous things. He further called the video hearsay and lamented having not had the time to authenticate it himself, adding that the video could have been edited or doctored.

When this prompted Higgins to ask if the hearing should then be delayed to allow time for Woodard to authenticate the video, he demurred, saying it was the prosecutions job to do so. When Higgins then allowed the video to proceed, Woodard reversed course, saying that hed misspoken and would prefer a delay in the case.

The reversals led Higgins to call for a recess, with the intent of exhibiting the video when court resumed. When court was back in session, Higgins said the defense should be permitted to present evidence before the commonwealth by procedural custom, prompting Woodard to call Cantwell to testify.

On the stand, Cantwell claimed that hed been distressed during the Aug. 11 rally and reiterated that hed used his pepper spray to ward off attacks by protesters. He added that hed lost track of the number of death threats hes faced since the rally, and added that Woodard had been his fourth choice of an attorney after several others declined to take his case.

On cross-examination, Tracci asked Cantwell to clarify what kind of topics he spoke on in his capacity as a shock jock. Cantwell stated that his platform focused on race relations before eventually stating that he do[es] a racist podcast.

This prompted Tracci to ask if Cantwell was in fact a white supremacist, but Higgins sustained Woodards objection of the question, calling it irrelevant to the hearing at hand.

During further questioning, Cantwell said that if he was released, he would be able to stay in Virginia with someone he met during the rally but did not know very well.

The need to view the video was negated when Tracci then asked Cantwell to verify comments hed been seen making in the video, which included claims that white nationalist groups had shown restraint, that Heyers killing was justified, that more people are going to die before we are done here, and that he and his cohorts had gassed up those k---- and t-------. Cantwell admitted to each comment, with slight revisions on some.

Asked whether he meant those comments, Cantwell again chalked them up to his radio personality, saying that his radio program was intentionally shocking and that the purpose is to make money.

His business is to shock people, Woodard said later in the hearing, further adding, If he was a flight risk, he would have flown.

After a long review of the evidence, Higgins said there were too many questions raised about the clashes to consider the self-defense metric raised by Woodard, and that while he may be a shock jock, his comments following the rally should not be ignored and tend to show a certain level of approval of the violence that was used.

She further noted that his living situation in Virginia was simply too tenuous, and ordered him held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond. His next court appearance is set for Oct. 12.
Lets take care of our own first

Watching the unbelievable destruction that Houston is going through makes me wonder: What exactly is our government doing about it except for platitudes, rebuilding promises and the usual and customary governor vs. mayor finger pointing?

Let me just get off all of that idiocy and get down to brass tacks: How about if America were to suspend forthwith all foreign aid and allocate all those billions of taxpayer dollars toward the reconstruction and rehabilitation of our Houston in the United States of America? But we all know that is not going to be even considered.

Regardless of any natural or self-created crisis we may encounter, our government will continue to pour our tax-paid resources toward other nations, no matter what our needs may be. Amazing, is it not? When are we going to wake up and finally say, America first!

OMAR MENDOZA

Lynchburg

America at a breaking point

I am at the point where I do not want to see or hear Donald Trump. Yet to remain an informed citizen, I do continue to read about the things he says and does that disgrace our nation.

Such reading brought me to this spot-on assessment found in the Aug. 28 issue of The New Yorker: The inescapable fact is that the United States elected a dishonest, inept, unbalanced, and immoral human being as its President and Commander-in-Chief. Trump has daily proven unyielding to appeals of decency, unity, moderation, or fact. He is willing to imperil the civil peace and the social fabric of his country simply to satisfy his narcissism and to excite the worst inclinations of his core followers.

A tipping point may have come from within his own cabinet on Fox News on Aug. 27, when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking about Trumps poor response to the violence in Charlottesville, stated that he and the State Department represent Americas values, while the president speaks for himself.

It has become impossible  after only seven months  to enumerate, let alone detail, the audacious words and deeds of this emperor manque. I will certainly not waste my energy making any attempt to do so here.

Rather, I suggest to readers that they find that information where it resides: in legitimate newspapers, magazines, books, and on TV. (The internet and social media are poor substitutes and often unreliable.)

To Trump advocates, of course, the sources I recommend are anathema. Their biggest bugaboo is the dreaded mainstream media, which a large majority of Republicans believe is full of fake news.

Mainstream media is a common term used to refer collectively to the various large mass news sources that report and comment on world events. A good, serviceable definition of mainstream is this: the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional.

Do Republicans really think that all major TV networks and newspapers somehow conspire to create and present fake news related to Trump? Do they imagine that thousands of broadcast and print journalists agree to make-up stuff to harm or embarrass the president?

Those who believe that the media is the enemy of the American people (as Trump has alleged) are patently ignorant and/or paranoid in the extreme. They display a juvenile mindset, an inability to construct a coherent case for what they believe in, and a blind allegiance to a dangerously unstable man.

Despite foolish accusations to the contrary, we Democrats have gotten over the sad outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Responsible Republicans should get over and rise above the incredible mistake they made in electing Donald Trump.

BILL BLACKWELL

Lynchburg
Penny gets her street Sept 22

The co-naming of Queen Street was first announced by former Mayor of Port of Spain Raymond Tim Kee in June 2015 .

Martinez said the event will be big, and Queen Street will be known onward as Queen Janelle Commissiong Street. We have some work going on, and the corporation is continuing to do some missionary work on the footpaths of Queen Street. I understand that progress is being made. We may be a little behind but I can assure you that the corporation will do whatever is necessary to make sure that by the 22nd it will all be completed and we can celebrate fully the transformation of Queen Street and do it with the unveiling of the new name. He continued, We will also have Janelle Commissiong walk down Queen Street from Piccadilly Street to Richmond Street on that morning of Friday 22nd of September. We will have a number of artists along the way on various corners. We are asking the business community to spruce up their shops and to ensure that the streets are clean. We have invited schools to come out on that day to witness another historical event in TT and in the city of Port-of-Spain .
VICE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has dismissed reports that he ate ice cream from Gushungo Dairy shortly before his sudden illness during a Zanu PF Youth Interface rally in Gwanda early this month.



The VP had a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhoea during the rally and had to be eventually flown to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he received treatment.



In a statement yesterday, VP Mnangagwa said claims that he ate ice cream from Gushungo Dairy were being made by unscrupulous elements bent on creating a rift between him and the First Family.





The clarification by VP Mnangagwa comes at a time when authoritative sources indicated yesterday that his doctors from South Africa arrived in the country on Wednesday to present their medical report to the VP and the President.





I, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, State Vice President and Second Secretary of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union  Patriotic Union (zanu-pf) party, would like to put the record straight regarding my alleged consumption of ice cream from Gushungo Dairy at the high table on the occasion of the Youth Interface rally at Pelandaba Stadium in Gwanda Matabeleland South Province, on Saturday 12 August 2017, he said.





No such thing ever occurred. The insinuation that I partook ice cream from the said dairy is false and mischievous, and being peddled by unscrupulous elements with the sinister agenda of creating a rift between me and the First Family, lower market confidence in products from the dairy and cause unnecessary alarm and despondency among peace-loving Zimbabweans.





Highly-placed Government sources told the Herald that: The medical experts that attended to the Vice President flew into the country to present their findings to the VP. They presented the same findings to His Excellency, the President.





After VP Mnangagwas sudden illness, the private media and social media were abuzz with unfounded claims that he consumed ice cream from Gushungo Dairy, suggesting that it was the cause of his illness.





The VP had not issued any statement on the matter and his clarification yesterday put paid to speculation and theories that were being spread about his illness.





While VP Mnangagwa was in South Africa, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Chris Mushohwe issued a statement saying the VPs doctors had indicated that he could have eaten stale food, resulting in him suffering a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhea.





Dr Mushohwe also dismissed social media claims that VP Mnangagwa was poisoned.

Some stories went to the extent that perhaps he was poisoned; some went to the extent

that he ate ice cream from Gushungo Dairy.





That is absolute nonsense. In fact, for the record, the Vice President did not eat ice cream. Yes, there was ice cream. I ate it, many people ate the ice cream, but he did not eat the ice cream himself. I do not know where this is coming from.





What the doctors think happened is that perhaps he ate some stale food, which then means it is really not poison in the sense that the people are trying to allege. Herald
ZANU-PF Politburo member Cde Patrick Zhuwao has said the country owes nothing to war veterans children as some of them were creating a sense of entitlement among themselves.



Cde Zhuwao, who is the Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment said this as he hailed the children of the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, saying despite the respect their father held, they have remained humble and ready to serve the country without demanding personal glory.



He was speaking at the Joshua Nkomo Youth Symposium in Bulawayo yesterday. He said war veterans children should not ride on their parents deeds to demand special recognition in the country.





One of the things that I am very proud of for my sisters and brothers, the children of ubaba uNkomo is that you have not taken a view of entitlement, you have chosen to serve.





And the appeal that I make to a lot of young people who are children of war veterans, please lose this sense of entitlement of saying my father, my mother was a war veteran. Yes we thank your mother and your father for their sacrifices.





But it does not make you a war veteran, he said.

You need to be able to create your own space. And definitely more, we are not in Zimbabwe creating a class of royalty in war veterans children. No. That is not on. I know there is a certain group that says that we are children of war veterans.





Cde Zhuwaos sentiments came as a slap in the face for a group running under the banner of Children of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association. He said a lot of people, some who may not be recognised for their efforts, also contributed to the liberation of the country.





Cde Zhuwao also rapped some war veterans saying they should also lose the sense of entitlement.

I also want to take on board some of the war veterans that want to claim that space of Zimbabwe by saying that they are stockholders of Zimbabwe while others are stakeholders.





I want to say comrades, I dont agree with you.

Everybody in Zimbabwe is a stockholder in this enterprise called Zimbabwe, said Cde Zhuwao.

He urged Zimbabweans to emulate Father Zimbabwe, whom he described as a national leader who did not involve himself in shallow politics of tribalism and regionalism. Herald
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More than $1 million in weapons parts and sensitive military equipment was stolen out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and sold in a vast black market, some of it to foreign buyers through eBay, according to testimony at a federal trial this week. The equipmentsome of it re-sold to buyers in Russia, China, Mexico, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and Ukraineincluded machine gun and rifle parts, body armor, helmets, gun sights, generators, medical equipment and more, the AP reports. John Roberts, of Clarksville, Tennessee, is being tried in Nashville on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to steal and sell government property, and violating the Arms Export Control Act. Six soldiers and his civilian business partner made plea deals in exchange for their testimony. Roberts, 27, testified Wednesday that he did not know the soldiers were bringing him stolen equipment, and said the military items he bought and sold were commonly found in surplus stores, on eBay and in gun stores.

"I didn't try to hide anything," Roberts said Wednesday. "That's why I filed taxes on everything I sold on eBay. I thought it was OK." Roberts said the soldiers told him the equipment was legally purchased from other soldiers or that the Army was discarding the equipment. He also said he didn't know that he needed to have a license to export certain items overseas. But a former business partner, Cory Wilson, testified that he and Roberts would find soldiers selling military items through classified ads or on Facebook, and then ask them for more expensive and harder-to-find items. It was "fast easy money," Wilson said. Wilson pleaded guilty to buying and selling stolen military equipment, wire fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act. A 14-member jury will hear closing arguments and begin deliberations in the case on Thursday. Click for much more on the case. (Read more US Army stories.)
Harriet Tubman's spot on the $20 bill may be in danger. The Treasury secretary under President Obama announced that slave-owning Andrew Jackson, the current occupant of the bill, would be replaced with Tubman by 2020 (though Jackson would remain on the back of the bill). But asked about the plan Thursday on CNBC, Steve Mnuchin, President Trump's Treasury secretary, implied it's far from a sure thing. "Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment," he said. "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. And this is something we will consider. Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on."

Trump himself, while acknowledging Tubman is "fantastic," has also said he admires Jackson and doesn't want to remove him from the $20 bill. He has mentioned possibly putting Tubman on the $2 bill or a new bill entirely. Mnuchin's comments Thursday were derided by critics including Chelsea Clinton, and the Baltimore Sun reports Democrats are publicly urging Trump to stick with the Tubman plan. The Hill reports former West Wing star Josh Malina is encouraging a sort of write-in campaign for Tubman, urging fans to write her name on their $20 bills. (Read more Harriet Tubman stories.)
A university in Canada is the victim of what is being described as one of the biggest known phishing scams ever. MacEwan University in Edmonton discovered the fraud on Aug. 23, when a construction company it works with asked why it had yet to be paid. But the school had made payments to what it thought was the company: $1.9 million on Aug. 10, $22,000 on Aug. 17, and $9.9 million on Aug. 19a total of $11.8 million to a fraudulent account, with the money eventually being traced to Canada and Hong Kong, reports the CBC. The school has launched a full investigation, but has preliminarily pegged the scam to a series of emails and a website that used the vendor's authentic logo and claimed the vendor had a new bank account. For now, the school says it is down to "human error," where lower-level staffers failed to verify the bank account change was legitimate, so the transfers went to the phony vendor.

Canada's advanced education minister issued a statement expressing his disappointment. "This is unacceptable," he says. "I expect post-secondary institutions to do better to protect public dollars against fraud." The loss is 10% of the university's entire annual operating grant from the Alberta government, reports the Edmonton Journal, with a $118 million grant provided in 2015 for the school's $237.1 million budget. One expert calls it the "single largest publicly disclosed amount I've seen" lost to a phishing scam, while noting that private companies may have fallen victim to similar scams but have not been required to disclose the amount lost. MacEwan says its computer systems have not been compromised, per the Toronto Star, and that it expects to recoup the $11.4 million it's managed to trace, though $400,000 remains missing. (Even bank CEOs have been fooled by phishing scams.)
A police lieutenant in Georgia who was recorded on video during a traffic stop saying "we only shoot black people" is being fired, the police chief said Thursday. Dashcam video from July 2016 shows a car stopped on the side of a road and a woman can be heard telling Cobb County police Lt. Greg Abbott she was scared to move her hands in order to get her cellphone. Abbott, who is white, interrupts her and says, "But you're not black. Remember, we only shoot black people. Yeah. We only shoot black people, right?" Announcing his decision to fire Abbott, Police Chief Mike Register remarked that "there's really no place for these types of comments in law enforcement," the AP reports. "No matter what context you try to take those comments in, the statements were inexcusable and inappropriate."

Register said he learned of the comments after television station WSB-TV obtained the video through an open-records request and made the department aware of it. Abbott, who had been an officer for 28 years, was placed on administrative leave while the department investigated the video. The report from the internal review indicates that Abbott was trying to be sarcastic and to address the situation as he perceived it, Register said, continuing, "I don't know what's in his heart but I certainly know what came out of his mouth. It's inexcusable." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that as plans to fire Abbott were being announced, Abbott sent an email to the county saying he was retiring. Commission Chairman Mike Boyce told the paper he wasn't sure how the email would affect the department's plans. (Read more police stories.)
Thursday was a big day in the border wall business: US Customs and Border Protection announced that four concrete wall prototypes had been chosen from among more than 200 proposals. The border wall designs, each 30 feet long and up to 30 feet tall, will be built in the San Diego area over 30 days and then tested for 30 to 60 days by Homeland Security officials, reports the Washington Post. CBP Acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello said testing would look at "things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering, and scaling or anti-claim features." He added that officials testing the wall would use small hand tools, not "ballistic kind of things," reports the BBC.

The contracts were awarded to companies from Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, and Texas. Officials say four more contracts for prototypes of non-concrete barriers will be awarded next week. The decision was originally expected in June, but the process was slowed down by objections from companies that failed to be chosen as finalists. Officials say that the companies building the prototypes will not necessarily be the ones chosen to build the full version of the border wall, which has been criticized as unnecessary by Democrats and others worried that FEMA funding might be cut to pay for it, the New York Times reports. (President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if funding for the wall isn't approved.)
A Melbourne resident has been arrested for what environmental officials say was a "particularly abhorrent" case of animal cruelty. In a video viewed millions of times on the Chinese social media service QQ, the man can be seen using a hunting knife to kill a wounded Eastern gray kangaroo on a hillside, news.com.au reports. "Just face it, that's your fate. Let me finish this as quickly as I can," the man says in Chinese as he stabs the wounded animal and slashes its throat nearly 20 times while people in the background laugh. Eastern gray kangaroos are a protected species in Australia, and the 43-year-old suspect could face up to two years in jail and a $30,000 fine, the BBC reports.

Police say knives and firearms were seized from the home of the suspect, who was arrested after a tip from the public. Wildlife authorities say they hope viewers of the video will get the message that cruelty to animals is illegal and unacceptable, the Australian Broadcasting Company reports. "The killing of this kangaroo is barbaric and cruel and we expect the police to prosecute the man involved. It is hard to understand how anyone could commit such a brutal act, let alone film it," a World Animal Protection official said in a statement. (A US comedian recently got into trouble for his kangaroo act.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted US attempts to pressure North Korea over its nuclear missile program Friday, stating the two countries are "on the verge of a large-scale conflict" as a result. The idea that North Korea's nuclear missile program can be stopped "exclusively by putting pressure on Pyongyang is erroneous and futile," Putin wrote in an article published on the Kremlin's website, per Reuters. "Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere," he continued, calling instead for "direct dialogue" without preconditions.

The article was shared days ahead of Putin's trip to China for the BRICS summit, which brings together leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The article also touted a plan to ease tensions developed by Moscow and Beijing. Putin suggested North Korea would halt its missile program if the US and South Korea agreed to end their annual war games viewed by North Korea as trial runs for war. This "roadmap  is designed to promote the gradual easing of tensions and the creation of a mechanism for lasting peace and security," Putin wrote, per TASS. (Read more North Korea stories.)
As Texas still deals with the devastation from Harvey, another weather system churning in the Atlantic, and moving west toward the US, has some worried. CNN reports on Irma, currently a Category 3 hurricane that experienced "rapid intensification" from Wednesday into Thursday, meaning its wind speed ramped up at least 35mph in that periodthough the National Hurricane Center on Thursday noted the "remarkable" increase measured 58mph. A National Hurricane Center alert issued early Friday pegs maximum sustained winds at 115mph, with higher gusts. The storm is expected to approach the Caribbean by Tuesday or so as a Category 4 storm, then possibly the USthough meteorological models with wildly different scenarios show it's too early to make any definitive predictions on where the storm will land.

Irma is what's called a "Cape Verde" hurricane, meaning one that forms off the coast of Africa then shoots across the Atlantic; CNN notes these storm systems can turn into particularly powerful ones (Hurricane Hugo is one example). What's emboldening Irma is a lack of the "hurricane kryptonite" known as wind shear, which often acts to tamp down hurricanes. A powerful high-pressure ridge is pushing Irma westward and keeping wind shear low. What one of the models is showing that has some concerned, per Reuters: Irma could head straight into the Gulf of Mexico, which could be bad news for areas still struggling after Harvey. "All interests in the eastern Caribbean will need to monitor the progress of this evolving and dangerous hurricane," an AccuWeather hurricane expert notes, reiterating he can't say "with certainty" how the US will be affected. (Read more Hurricane Irma stories.)
Nearly 850 victims and relatives are celebrating a "significant win" after a Baltimore federal judge allowed attorneys to proceed with a $1 billion lawsuit (initially dismissed last year) against Johns Hopkins University and others involving a 1940s offshore disease test. The Baltimore Sun reports on the "Guatemala Experiment," in which the US government secretly infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis, gonorrhea, and other venereal diseases to study how STDs spread and how to treat them. The studywhich was called out by a historian in 2010, prompting a public apology from then-President Obamaleft in its wake a six-tiered list of victims, per the suit: the people who were actually experimented upon, their estates, spouses, first-generation descendants, descendants from generations that followed after, and family members who died from the diseases spread in the experiment.

In the suit, the plaintiffs describe how the experiment was carried out, including a prisoner injected with what he was told were "vitamins," as well as elementary-school students told they were being injected with something meant "to protect the children against diseases." The suit says Johns Hopkins doctors were on panels that reviewed and approved federal funds for the experiment; it also says employees of the nonprofit Rockefeller Foundation and the predecessor to Bristol-Myers Squibb, two other entities named as defendants, took part in the tests. "The private institutions have not [apologized] and have fought this every step of the way," says an attorney representing the plaintiffs. A planning meeting in the case is set for Sept. 15. Meanwhile, Kaiser Health News reports on the offshore testing of an experimental herpes vaccine, invested in by Trump backer Peter Thiel. (Read more lawsuit stories.)
There's never really a "right" place or time to try to pull off an armed robbery, but some places and times are worse than others, as two suspects found out Tuesday. Per the Baltimore Sun, off-duty Baltimore County cops attending a fellow officer's retirement party at Monaghan's Pub in Woodlawn, Md., had to temporarily go back to work when two masked men approached the bar's carryout counter around 5:30pm, demanded cash, and then fled. Luckily for the bar owner, there were "dozens" of police officers at the party, and once they were alerted to the crime that had just taken place, some of the cops ran out and took the suspects into custody not far from the scene, per WBAL-TV. Arrested were 21-year-old Joseph McInnis III and 22-year-old Tyree McCoy.

"I'm sure that they weren't planning on there being a large room filled with police officers," one officer says of the suspects. The bar's owner, Jack Milani, said he was shocked anyone would even try such a stuntbecause his bar is right across the street from a precinct station. "It's kind of odd you would even attempt it," he tells the Sun of the robbery, which resulted in no reported injuries. "[Officers] are always in here." McInnis and McCoy have been charged with robbery, theft, and related offenses and are being held without bond at the Baltimore County Detention Center. (Read more armed robbery stories.)
Pope Francis says that when he was 42 he had sessions weekly with a psychoanalyst who was female and Jewish to "clarify some things." It wasn't specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore, the AP notes. The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with French sociologist Dominique Wolton, who is writing a soon-to-be-published book called Pope Francis: Politics and Society, per the Guardian. Italian daily La Stampa quoted some of the conversations on Friday, noting Francis went to the analyst's home. He was quoted as saying: "One day, when she was about to die, she called me. Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue." He added, "She was a good person. For six months she helped me a lot."

At the time of his psychoanalysis sessions, Francis was a Jesuit official in his native Argentina, which was then ruled by military dictatorship. Robert Mickens, the English-language editor of the Catholic daily La Croix, tells the Guardian that Francis has offered a thumbs-up in the past to the social sciences and their effect on human development, and that the Roman Catholic Church has slowly come around to the concept of psychotherapy since the '70s. For those wondering if Francis got the clarification he needed, the 80-year-old pontiff told Wolton he now feels free. "I'm in a cage at the Vatican, but not spiritually," he said. "Nothing frightens me." He also took aim at priests who are "rigid and afraid to communicate." (Read more Pope Francis stories.)
Despite the troubling instances of white supremacy recently on display in the US, John McCain reminds us that we still remain a country with "shared values [that] define us more than our differences." And in an op-ed for the Washington Post, the Arizona senator implores the American people in general, and government leaders specifically, to draw upon those shared values to see us through our contemporary challenges. In a pointed note to Congress, McCain notes that "we are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties," taking members to task for partisan politics and a failure to compromise. "We can fight like hell for our ideas to prevail," he writes. "But we have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other."

McCain's reason for why this is more important than ever: President Trump, whom the senator says "has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed, and can be impulsive." That's not to say McCain advocates non-cooperation with Trump, or flouting his authority. "But we are not his subordinates," he notes. "We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people." How McCain suggests Congress can effectively function in this "polarized atmosphere": by returning to a "regular order" of things, with more respectful debate and more coming into the middle from both sides on issues from infrastructure and tax reform to immigration. "These are all opportunities to show that ordinary, decent, free people can govern competently, respectfully, and humbly, and to prove the value of the United States Congress to the great nation we serve," he writes. His full op-ed here. (Read more John McCain stories.)
Season 3 of True Detective is officially happening, per the Hollywood Reporter. Mahershala Ali is the lead on the latest installment of HBO's anthology series; he will play a state police detective from Arkansas who gets caught up in a "macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods." HBO held off on confirming the third season of the show until it found a director who would team up with show creator Nic Pizzolatto, who is basically the sole writer of this season. While the first season of the show was a massive hit, the second season failed to land with critics. The director the network found is Jeremy Saulnier, though Pizzolatto will also co-direct.

Deadwood creator David Milch co-wrote one episode; Deadline reports that he has been "helping on the show." It's long been reported Ali, who won an Oscar for his role in Moonlight, would play the lead, and in July, Jezebel called the actor "what True Detective needs to recover from its terrible second season." TV Cheat Sheet takes a look at his background and whether he can bring fans back to the show. The official news of his casting is getting a lot of love on Twitter. "I gotta say, if you have to do another TRUE DETECTIVE, Mahershala Ali + Jeremy Saulnier w/ an assist from David Milch is a good deal," says one user. (Read more True Detective stories.)
With President Trump promising a decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program Friday afternoon or sometime this weekend, a number of powerful Republican lawmakersincluding House Speaker Paul Ryanencouraged him not to end it. DACAenacted by President Obama in 2012allows immigrants brought to the US illegally as children to stay in the country without fear of deportation using two-year work permits. Ryan says the program was unconstitutional when Obama created it with an executive order, but Trump should still keep it in place while letting Congress find a solution, reports the Washington Post. "These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and dont know another home," Ryan says.

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch also asked Trump to let Congress find a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered the country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And Politico reports Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said "Congress needs to take immediate action to protect DACA kids." Republican lawmakers were joined by CEOs in asking the president to keep the program. When asked Friday if so-called "Dreamers" had anything to fear, Trump said: "We love Dreamers; we love everybody ... The Dreamers are terrific." Trump had promised to end DACA during the campaign. Immigration advocates say 97% of the 787,000 Dreamers in the US are either working or in school, according to NBC News. (Read more Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals stories.)
No parent will deny that back-to-school shopping can be a tense, unpleasant experience, but it was especially so for customers at a Michigan Walmart this week. Per WJBK and WCRZ, Novi officers say that four shoppers at the retailer's Novi storetwo women from Farmington Hills, ages 32 and 46, as well as a 51-year-old mom and her 20-year-old daughterwere browsing the shelves for back-to-school deals Monday when one of the Farmington women reached for the last notebook on a shelf. Cops tell the Detroit Free Press that the 20-year-old tried to grab the notebook at the same time. That's when a ruckus broke out. The two Farmington Hills women allegedly started pulling the 20-year-old's hair, and the younger woman's mother apparently felt her protective instincts kick in.

Novi Police Detective Scott Baetens says the mom pulled out a gun, pointed it at the other women, and told them to lay off her daughter. As customers started fleeing the scene, the police were called and the situation apparently died down. Cops say the gun was loaded, though no round was in the chamber, and that the mother did have an up-to-date concealed pistol license. Baetens says after reviewing video footage of the incident, the case has been placed in the hands of the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to see if they can determine who started the fight and if the gun holder acted in self-defense; all four women could face charges. "It was a senseless act of violence all the way around," he adds. (Walmart had a related issue earlier this month: an apparent back-to-school gun display.)
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New Delhi:

Sharpshooter Sunil Sharma was killed in an encounter with the police in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow on Friday morning.

Sunil had escaped from police custody a month ago while being produced to a court. He was an accused in the murder of Pappu Pandey.

There are also reports claiming that he was running an extortion racket from jail and his encounter is being touted as a big achievement of Lucknow Police.A

Due to increasing incidents of crime in the state, UP police is on a spree of encounters of dreaded and most wanted criminals.

Earlier last month, two wanted criminals were killed in police encounter in Shamli. In the incident, five police personnel were also injured.
New Delhi:

Saif Ali Khan's popular Race franchise has come up with a major twist for its third instalment as the actor will be replaced by superstar Salman Khan as the main lead in Race 3.

While the news has come as a suprise for everyone, Saif seems to be quite happy with the replacement and said that there couldn't have been a better successor. The Cocktail actor has played the lead in first two instalments of Race franchise. The actor also confirmed that he will not be a part of the Race franchise now and hasn't been approached for the same as well.

Talking about the same, Nawab of Pataudi was quoted as saying, "Actually Ramesh had told me about this last year that he wants to make a new film in the franchise, 'Race 3', and wanted to take up a new cast. I love Rameshji and who better than Salman Khan for this. I wish them both very good luck. But I have not been approached."

Also Read | Race 3: Salman Khan-Jacqueline Fernandez starrer to hit the floors in October

Interestingly, producer Ramesh Taurani had lately confirmed that Race 3 will feature Salman and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead.

As of now, Salman and Jacqueline have been finalised for the lead while Remo DSouza is directing it. We are yet to lock the rest of the cast and crew. We start shooting on a set in Mumbai in October, followed by a long international schedule. We are currently figuring out the dates and foreign locations. The story is set abroad and will be completely different instead of taking off from the previous two films, Turani was quoted saying to Mumbai Mirror.

Currently, Saif is busy promoting his upcoming movie 'Chef' which is the Indian remake of a Hollywood movie of the same name. Helmed by Raja Krishna Menon, Chef is slated to release on October 6.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A 12-year-old girl in Tamilnadus Tirunelveli killed herself after her school teacher humiliated her in front of entire class over the stains of period blood.

A student of seventh grade committed suicide by jumping off a 25-foot-high building.

In her suicide note, she accused the teacher of harassing and torturing her.

"I do not know why my teacher is making complaints against me. I still can't understand why they are harassing and torturing me like this," she said in her suicide note.

Also Read | Boys need to be sensitised more than girls about menstruation: Manish Sisodia

The mother of the girl said when she informed her class teacher Ilakiya, she asked her to use duster cloth as a sanitary pad and stand outside the class.

"The teacher did not even take into account that there were boys in the class. She asked my daughter to lift the top of her salwar up and then gave her duster cloth to use as a pad," The NewsMinute quoted mother of the victim as saying.

The accused has not been arrested so far but an investigation was ordered. However, the mother of the girl had alleged that police is basing their probe on lies.

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New Delhi:

AIADMK Deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran on Friday slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami for calling General Body meeting on September 12, saying that only party general secretary VK Sasikala has the authority to do so.

Dhinakaran asked the party members not to attend the meeting, saying he would take strict action if anyone goes against his directive.

On Wednesday, Dhinakaran had said a decision would soon be taken on the next course of action to ease out Chief Minister K Palaniswami from his post.

Asserting that those who "betrayed" the party would not be spared, Dhinakaran, commanding the support of 21 of the 134 ruling party MLAs, had said he would consult legislators in a day or two and decide the next course of action.

TTV Dhinakaran slams E. Palaniswami for calling General Body meeting on September 12, says only VK Sasikala has the authority to convene it  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

Days after his 19 loyalist MLAs petitioned Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to oust Palaniswami, he had said, "We will select a good person, somebody who does not harbour thoughts of betrayal."

Also Read: AIADMK has no place for family rule, Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami

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New Delhi:

Rajesh Galati, then 37, who chopped his wife seven years ago has been held guilty and sentenced life term by a Dehradun court on Friday. Rajesh, a software engineer by profession, had murdered his wife Anupama in October 2010 and chopped her body into 70 pieces using an electric saw in 2010. He had hid the chopped body parts in a deep freezer for two months before disposing them in a forested area in the outskirts of Dehradun. Rajesh along with his wife Anupama was living in Dehradun with their two children since 2009. Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar on Thursday held Gulati guilty under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destroying evidence). The Anupamas brother Sujan filed a missing complaint with the Dehradun Police after he did not hear from his sister for two months in December 12,2010. The brutal murder had then sent shockwaves in Dehradun after the brutal murder came to surface. According to police investigation records Rajesh and Anupama had moved to United States after getting married in 1999. But after their return to Dehradun in 2008, their relationship started getting strained. Anupama used to charge Rajesh of having an extramarital affair with a woman from Kolkata. Rajesh, then 37, had killed his wife Anupama in their two-room rented house at Prakash Nagar in Dehradun Cantonment area after a fight. Rajesh to hide evidences of the murder bought an electric saw from the market and chopped up his wife's body into 70 pieces. Later he packed his wifes body parts in polythene bags and stored them in a deep freezer. To prevent suspicion of the murder he kept throwing away the polythene bags, one at a time, at various locations on the outskirts of the city. Rajesh stayed in the same house for two months and kept telling his children  twins  that their mother had gone to Delhi until one day Anupamas brother visited the rented house. Sujan filed a missing complaint with the Cantonment Police station after suspecting foul play. Police raided Rajeshs house and then had recovered severed parts of Anupamas body, including her head from the deep freezer.

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New Delhi:

A pedestrian was killed when an SUV ran over him on Thursday night in Madapura Cross in Honnali taluk of Karnataka. Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappaas son was also travelling in the same vehicle.

As per reports, Shikaripur MLA BY Raghavendra, son of Yeddyurappa, was on his way to his constituency.The deceased has been identified as Suresh (24), a resident of Madapura village. Hundreds of people gathered at the spot following the accident.Honnali inspector J R Ramesh and former minister MP Renukacharya visited the spot.

A case has been registered at the Nyamati Police Station in Karnataka. It is still not clear that who was behind the wheels.

Karnataka: Pedestrian died after being run over by SUV in Madapura, Former CM Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra was travelling in the vehicle pic.twitter.com/o49Ah8TUQh a ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

In a similar incident last week, a man was run over by a vehicle driven by two alleged BJP pparty workers near Rajghat in Central Delhi.

The deceased's two wheeler was hit by the Honda City from behind. The victim died on the spot.

Pedestrian died after being run over by SUV in Madapura, Yeddyurappa's son Raghavendra was travelling in the vehicle. Complaint registered pic.twitter.com/g7GsVXgAWB a ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

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New Delhi:

In a fresh turn of events, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal filed by BJP leader Ajay Kumar Agarwal challenging a 2005 Delhi High Court order quashing charges against Europe-based industrialists --the Hinduja brothers -- in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off scam case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that it would list the appeal for hearing in the week commencing from October 30 this year.

The order came on an interim application filed by Agarwal seeking early hearing and adjudication of the appeal filed against the Delhi High Court order in the Rs 64-crore scam case.

The CBI, which investigated the scam case, had not filed any appeal in the top court against the quashing of charges against certain accused within the stipulated 90-day period.

Agarwal, in his personal capacity, filed the appeal which was admitted by the apex court on October 18, 2005.

The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155 mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army was sealed on March 24, 1986. The Swedish Radio had on April 16, 1987 claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel.

Read more: Union ministers Rudy, Balyan resign ahead of cabinet reshuffle

The CBI had on January 22, 1990 registered the FIR for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery under the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then President of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

The CBI had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed.

The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999 against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, then Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company. A supplementary charge sheet against the Hinduja brothers was filed on October 9, 2000.

A special CBI court in Delhi had on March 4, 2011, discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country cannot afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which has already cost Rs 250 crore.

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New Delhi:

The much-awaited reshuffle in the Modi cabinet will take place on Sunday in which about half-a-dozen ministers are expected to make way for several new faces, including those from the BJPs allies.



Here is the cabinet reshuffle in 10 points



1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake the third and probably last major recasting of his council of ministers before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and the exercise is being seen as a balancing act between his thrust on merit and demands of realpolitik. A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan at around 10 am on Sunday, a top government official said.



2. Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig. The party had asked them to quit.

Read | Union ministers Rajiv Pratap Rudy, M N Pandey, Sanjeev Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste resign ahead of Sept 3 cabinet rejig



3. Two cabinet ministers, Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, have also offered to resign, said BJP sources amid speculations that there may be a few more exits. Shah had met Modi on Thursday and the two leaders are understood to have finalised the changes in the council of ministers.



4. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had taken moral responsibility for a string of train accidents and indicated his willingness to resign, may be moved to another ministry, the sources said. More incumbents can also be moved to other ministries.



5. BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, partys vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Prahlad Patel, Suresh Angadi, Satyapal Singh, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Prahlad Joshi are being talked about within the party as probable ministers.



6. With the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) also likely to join the government, its leaders R C P Singh, who is its parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, and Santosh Kumar are the likely picks from the new NDA constituent.



7. AIADMK leader Thambidurai had met Shah on Thursday, and he, besides party leaders P Venugopal and V Maitreyan, may be the likely representatives from the Tamil Nadu party if it decides to join the government. However, the southern party has not confirmed it so far. There are also talks of a greater representation from existing allies like the TDP and the Shiv Sena.

Read | Cabinet reshuffle: Satyapal Singh likely to get place in Modi cabinet, know him in 5 points



8. The current strength of the council of ministers, including the prime minister, is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81. According to a constitutional amendment, the limit cannot exceed beyond 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha which is 545.



9. While there are some vacancies, a number of senior ministers are also holding dual portfolios. Arun Jaitley, who currently holds the charge of two heavyweight portfoliosfinance and defence, may retain only one, sources said. Besides Jaitley, Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar are handling additional charges.



10. After assuming office in May 2014, Modi expanded his council of ministers twicefirst on November 9 in 2014 and then on July 05 in 2016.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi:

The cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday 10 am, a government official source said on Friday.It will be the third such exercise since he took over in May 2014.

It was speculated that the rejig could take place on Saturday before Prime minister Narendra Modis China visit who is leaving on Sunday afternoon to attend BRICS summit.

Ahead of the reshuffle, three union ministers have resigned from the government. Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjeev Balyan and Mahendra Nath Pandey tendered their resignation on Thursday.

Speaking on his resignation, Rudy said that he would work for organisation and was fortunate that he got the opportunity to work in the government. Mahendra Nath Pandey was appointed as UP BJP chief on Thursday.

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New Delhi:

Former IAF Chief S P Tyagi was on Friday chargesheeted by the CBI in a Delhi Court along with nine others in connection with a bribery case in the Rs 3,500 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

72-year old Tyagi is the first chief of the Indian Air Force to be chargesheeted in a corruption or a criminal case by the CBI.

Besides him, the agency has also chargesheeted retired Air Marshal J S Gujral along with eight others, including five foreign nationals, in the charge sheet filed before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar.

The court fixed September 6 to peruse the charge sheet in which the Anglo-Italian company, AgustaWestland, is also one of the accused.

CBI is likely to file more documents and annexures in the court on the next date of hearing.

The agency has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euros 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for supply of VVIP choppers worth Euros 556.262 million.

Others named in the charge sheet areTyagis cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, advocate Gautam Khaitan, alleged European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica Chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

They have been chargesheeted for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC in the case relating to alleged bribery of Rs 450 crore.

Tyagi, who had retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on December 9 last year by CBI in the case. These accused are currently on bail.

CBI had earlier alleged that during his tenure as Air Chief, Tyagi and, with his approval, the Air Force conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 meters to 4500 meters as mandatory to which it was opposing vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related reasons.

It has claimed that reduction of service ceiling, or the maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally, allowed UK-based AgustaWestland to come into the fray as, otherwise, its helicopters were not even qualified for submission of bids.

CBI has alleged that AgustaWestland managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine and eventually succeeded in getting the contract for supply of 12 AW-101 VVIP Helicopters from the Defence Ministry mainly due to softening of the IAF on service ceiling after S P Tyagi took over as its Chief.

This is the first chargesheet in the case by the CBI which came three years after it registered an FIR in 2013 to probe the allegations in the aftermath of the details of the scam emerging in Italy where the prosecutors levelled allegations of corruption in the deal against the chief of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland.

The CBI, in its chargesheet, has informed the court that it has been able to establish money trail worth Euro 62 million (Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Island.

It has alleged that the illegal gratification was brought into India unbder the guise of several consultant contracts European company with group of shell companies created by Khaitan.

The contracts were only subterfuge and a mere mode to transfer the illegal gratification for payment the public servants, the CBI claimed in its chargesheet.

Efforts to seek reaction from Tyagi did not fructify as he neither took a call, nor responded to messages.

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New Delhi:

At least 32 people have died and 19 others were injured after a five-storey building collapsed near JJ Junction in Pakmodia street of Bhendi Bazar, Mumbai on Thursday.

The incident took place after heavy rain fall lashed the metropolitan in the last couple of days. The police informed that more than 30-35 people are feared trapped under the debris.

Ambulances, 15 fire tenders, and NDRF teams have been deployed. Twenty-nine people have been rescued from the debris. It is said that more than two dozen people were living in the old building.

Dr Manoj Sharma, DCP Zone 1 of Mumbai police, said that number of trapped people is still not confirmed.

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New Delhi:

Head of Al-Qaedas branch Ansar Gazawat-ul-Hind in Kashmir, Zakir Musa on Friday threatened India in an audio message. He said that they will liberate India from cow worshipping PM Modi and Hindus.

As per report in Times of India, the audio message was 10-minute long and it was first released on YouTube channel Ansar Ghazwa.

Apart from the threats to liberate country from PM Modi and Hindus, Musa said that he also wants to see India's leaders chained and dragged.

Narendra Modi the worshipper of cow, can gather as much might with his politics and diplomacy but won't be able to stop us. We will hoist the flag of Islam on Hind and we will have the Hindu rulers chained and dragged," Musa said in an audio message.

Musa had also warned Pakistani government and Army for sabotaging the Kashmiri issue. He also said that Pakistan has joined hands with the US and trying to act against 'mujahideen by closing training camps and killing or imprisoning many activists.

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New Delhi:

In a shocking incident an Indian-origin businessman breathed his last in a flight which was travelling from Frankfurt to Mumbai on Thursday.

The passenger namely Charanjit Singh Anand has lost his life mid-air following a heart attack while travelling in flight LH-756 on August 30, 2017.

According to reports, though Charanjit's body was previously stored at the Cargo International Airport, it was later handed over to his family.

Also Read: Garbage dump caves in at Ghazipur landfill site; 1 dead

Also Read: 3 Indian Wipro employees die after lorry ramps their bus in UK



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New Delhi:

Pakistan on Friday violated ceasefire in Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. An assistant Sub-Inspector of BSF lost his life in ceasefire violation by Pakistan.

More details are awaited on this.

Earlier on August 28, ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along Line of Control (LoC), five civilians, including a woman and two minor boys were injured in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, officials said.

The Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from light to heavy weapons for nearly 45 minutes, targeting forward posts and villages in the Shahpur sector around 6 pm, they said.

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New Delhi:

Terrorists on Friday attacked a bus of security personnel in Srinagars Pantha Chowk. Five policemen were injured in the attack.

One policeman succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Lashker-e-Taiba claimed responsibility of the Pantha Chowk Attack.

The bus carrying personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police came under fire from the militants in the evening. The vehicle was going from Bemina to Zewan, a police official said.

Four policemen were injured in the attack. They were rushed to the Armys 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment here, where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed to his injuries, he said.

The condition of the three others is stable, he said.

In a separate incident, Pakistan on Friday violated ceasefire in Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. An assistant Sub-Inspector of BSF lost his life in ceasefire violation by Pakistan.

Earlier on August 28, ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along Line of Control (LoC), five civilians, including a woman and two minor boys were injured in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, officials said.

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New Delhi:

Sweden's Saab will tie up with Indias Adani Group to bid contract to make new fighter aircrafts in India, said Hakan Buskhe, chief executive of the Swedish company on Friday.

The Swedish company is offering its Gripen fighter says it needs to replace Soviet-era fleet.

Saab and Lockheed have both offered to build a single-engine aircraft in India to comply with Prime Minister Narendra Modis signature program Make-in-India initiative.

Buskhe talking to reporters said that the company would invest billions of dollars if it won the order.

He added that the company is prepared to export the Gripen from India if the government allowed it to do so.

Adani and Saab are yet to decide on the location for the manufacturing unit.

Lockheed Martin has also proposed to manufacture F-16s in India for export.

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New Delhi:

After fighting a prolonged battle against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Supreme Court, 17-year-old Chennai girl Anita has decided to end her struggle and allegedly committed suicide on Friday.

According to reports, Anita who was the resident of Ariyalur district, was the daughter of a daily labourer.

Inspite of being excellent in her class 12th examination Anita did not get a seat in medical colleges across Tamil Nadu.Though she had scored 1,176 marks out of 1,200 in the plus two exams under the state board, failed score good in the NEET and hence committed suicide.

Though she had obtained a seat in aeronautical engineering at the prestigious Madras Institute of Technology, secured only 86 out of 700 in the newly-introduced entrance exam.

On August 22, the Supreme Court has directed all the medical colleges in Tamil Nadu to use National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) as the only basis for admission across the state. The verdict came after the Centre refused to endorse Tamil Nadu's draft Ordinance seeking exemption from NEET for one year.

Also Read | NEET only basis for admission in Tamil Nadu medical colleges: SC

Union Minister and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss has blamed the central and the state governments after such a pathetic incident took place on Friday. According to him Chief Minister K.Palaniswami and the central government should accept responsibility for her death as they had initially assured that Tamil Nadu will get one year exemption from NEET.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami has announced ex-gratia of Rs 7 lakh and a government job to compensate her family. The chief minister has also promised to take neccesary steps in order to secure students welfare in near future.

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New Delhi:

Ahead of a major cabinet rejig, Union ministers Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Faggan Singh Kulaste and MoS Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan resigned from cabinet on Thursday. Mahendra Nath Pandey's resignation came after he was named Uttar Pradesh BJP President on Thursday. The cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday at 10 am.

While talking to reporters, Rudy said it is a general practice in the party, and he was asked to do so. Reacting to his resignation, he said that it is a prerogative of Prime Minister and party. There is no argument behind such decisions, he said.

Rudy further added that he would continue his services for the organisation.

Sarkaar mein kaam karne ka mauka mila, aage bhi party mein kaam karne ka mauka mile bas isi abhiyaan ke saath chalte hain: Rajiv Pratap Rudy pic.twitter.com/nvKMCXNTKw  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

Sources in the party say that party wants to introduce fresh faces in Cabinet. A source said that Karnataka BJP MP Prahalad Joshi and Bagpat MP Satyapl Singh could be inducted in the government.

It is said that Giriraj Singh could be asked to resign while Union minister Uma Bharti has wished to quit citing health reasons.

Also Read: PM Modis cabinet heads for reshuffle: Defence, I&B, Urban Affairs, Environment up for redistribution

Source also say that Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is likely to get Railways and incumbent minister Suresh Prabhu could get the charge of Ministry of Environment. It is also believed that AIADMK's Thambidurai could be given cabinet berth if his party (AIADMK) joins NDA. On Thursday, BJP president Amit Shah had a meeting with party leaders and later he had met Prime minister Narendra Modi in the late evening.

Sources said that Union minister of state for energy Piyush Goyal may get the charge of Ministry of Defence.

Also Read: PM Modi may reshuffle his Cabinet to include fresh faces after April 12

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New Delhi:

Delhi Court issued a notice to ex-IAF chief SP Tyagis cousin Sanjeev Tyagi on a plea challenging bail granted to him in VVIP chopper scam case on Tuesday.

CBI had moved separate pleas in the high court against the trial court's order granting bail to two other co-accused, Sanjeev Tyagi alias Juile and lawyer Gautam Khaitan.

On last Wednesday, a special court had granted bail to Sanjeev and Khaitan in VVIP chopper scam.

CBI had alleged that Tyagi and the other accused received bribes from AgustaWestland and helped the manufacturer win the $530-million contract to purchase the helicopters.

ALSO READ | Former IAF chief SP Tyagi purchased properties in 'cash', didn't inform govt: CBI sources

The agency has approached the high court against the trial court's January 4 order, by which bail was granted to Sanjeev Tyagi and lawyer Gautam Khaitan in the scam, saying that no purpose would be served by keeping them in custody.

71-year old S P Tyagi, who was arrested by CBI on December 9, 2016 along with Sanjeev Tyagi and lawyer Gautam Khaitan in the case relating to alleged irregularities in procurement of 12 VVIP choppers from UK-based AgustaWestland during the UPA-2 regime, was granted bail by a trial court on December 26 last year.

Both Tyagi and Khaitan were interrogated by CBI, had been asked by special CBI judge Arvind Kumar to furnish a personal bond of Rs two lakh and one surety of like amount as pre-requisites for release on bail.

With PTI Inputs

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New Delhi:

This is something shocking. According to scientists, the risk of death for Indian women who are assaulted increases by nearly 40 times as compared to their counterparts in the United States. One of the major reasons behind the same is the delayed medical attention given to women in the country.

The study was conducted by the researchers from the University Of Pittsburg in the US, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and Karolinska Institute in Sweden found out a huge gap in the risk of death for women in India and United States who are assaulted.

The data from the countries were analysed and it was found out that Indian women who have faced assault may not opt for medical attention promptly.

The study has revealed some things which should be a serious matter of concern. There is reliable evidence available which suggests that out of four Indian women who are victims of assault, only one actively opt to for medical after facing violence at the hands of the partner.

The research also added that the pre-hospital services are not that much developed in India when compared to the United States. Women from low-income households also may be unable to afford the required treatment.

The disparity in the risk of deaths between Indian women and United States' women can also be attributed to some other injury and systematic factors said the study.

Proper comparative analysis also revealed that men in India are more at risk of death after sustaining injuries when compared to either women in India or US men and women.

The analysis also indicated that men in the United States were three times more likely to face the risk of death than their female counterparts after sustaining a fall.




Washington:

Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander said on Thursday, contradicting Russias claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.



Do I believe hes alive? Yes, said Army Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.



At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen rumor or otherwise that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that hes alive. Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.



Russian officials said in June there was a high probability that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Read | Trump accuses New York Times of foiling US attempt to kill ISIS chief Baghdadi



Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.



A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.



He said this area is shaping up to be the groups last stand following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq.



The most recent IS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants main stronghold in Iraq.

Read | Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 'is definitely alive': Kurdish official



The Iraqi government announced on Thursday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a stunningly swift victory for the Iraqi army, moving like a steamroller into the city in a matter of days.



The IS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-styled caliphate.



Townsend said US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting. Assessing his 12 months in command of the US-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive.



It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a US-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.



I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didnt see their government representing them or their interests or their future, he said.



And I think thats probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis.

Read | Top IS leaders confirm death of chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, says Syrian monitor



Townsend said he hopes the US government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another IS-like episode. He said such talks are under way.



We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely, he said, referencing the pullout of US troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraqs subsequent struggles.



My personal view is I wouldnt want to repeat that, Townsend said. So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future.



Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.



He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-IS campaign.



The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command, Townsend said. And I dont know of a commander in our armed forces that doesnt appreciate that.



A key result of that is that we dont get second-guessed a lot, he added. Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we dont get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take.

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Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday of a major conflict looming on the Korean Peninsula, calling for talks to alleviate the crisis after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan this week.



The problems in the region will only be solved via direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions, Putin said.



Threats, pressure and insulting and militant rhetoric are a dead end, a statement from his office said, adding that heaping additional pressure on North Korea in a bid to curb its nuclear programme was wrong and futile.



Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Read | Amid North Korea rhetoric, US shoots down missile in test off Hawaii coast



Early on Tuesday, the reclusive state fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to insist that all options were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.



The UN Security Council denounced North Koreas latest missile test, unanimously demanding that Pyongyang halt the programme.



US heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters took part in a joint live fire drill in South Korea on Thursday, intended as a show of force against the North, Seoul said.

Read | North Korea threat: Japan defence ministry deploys Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system in western Japan



Putin said he feared the peninsula was on the verge of a major conflict and called for all sides to sign up to a mediation programme drawn up by Moscow and Beijing.



He echoed comments by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who in a Wednesday telephone call with US counterpart Rex Tillerson underscored... the need to refrain from any military steps that could have unpredictable consequences.



The Russia-China plan involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.

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Hasakeh:

US-backed fighters have forced out the Islamic State group from Raqa's Old City, a spokesman told AFP, bringing them closer than ever to the jihadists' most well-defended positions.

"Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqa after clashes with Daesh," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"We are on the edges of IS's security quarter in the city center, where most of its main bases are." Most of IS's fighters and up to 25,000 civilians are expected to still be holed up in the city centre.

The SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters first broke into Raqain early June and penetrated its Old City a month later. They were able to enter it after US-led coalition airstrikes opened up two gaps in the Rafiqah wall, a 2,500-metre barrier surrounding the Old City.

Also Read: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi still alive: Top US commander

The SDF has captured more than 60 percent of Raqa city and most of the surrounding northern province. Sello declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of the Raqa, but said operations were proceeding "according to schedule".

"Control over the Old City - which has historical importance - is a moral victory against IS, which is collapsing in Raqa. Its defeat there is inevitable," he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with IS in a small part of the Old City.

IS overran Raqa in 2014, turning it into the de facto capital of its self-declared "caliphate". The city was the scene of some of the group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings.

Also Read: Hurricane Harvey: Houston's mosques open to victims on Eid al-Adha holiday

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Area residents can go on a mission trip  without ever leaving home.

Next weekend, StoneBridge Christian Church will host The Compassion Experience. The free, self-guided interactive tour will direct guests through daily life in a foreign country.

The event is set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 9-11 in the west end of the churchs parking lot at 1041 Nye Ave., in Fremont. The public is invited.

For the event, a large trailer will be parked in the church lot.

Everyone will come in and check out a set of headphones with an iPhone, said Victoria Leuthold, missions and small group pastor.

Using these devices, visitors will walk through the trailer, which contains more than 3,000 square feet of interactive space. The trailer has rooms that look like the homes of children in Guatemala and Africa.

They can see the rooms. They can pick up items. They can feel them. Theyll hear the story through the headphones and it will show them what Third World poverty looks like for a child, Leuthold said.

Visitors can see the homes, walk through schools and markets and hear life-changing stories of hope from the perspective of a child whose life began in poverty.

The event is appropriate for all ages.

Those wishing to attend are encouraged to make a reservation, but walk-ins are welcome.

To make a reservation, visit https://cts.compassion.com/events/902

Groups of 20 or more should email changetour@compassion.com to reserve their space.

More than 900 people already have registered to attend. One teacher is bringing 20 students from West Point on Monday (Sept. 11), Leuthold said.

On Sept. 10, Waynes Mobile Kitchen, a food truck, will be at the church. Visitors may purchase food. A free bounce house will be available on the church campus for children. Area residents also are invited to attend the 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday worship services.

Most people will never have the opportunity to go halfway around the world to see poverty for what it is and for me, as a missions pastor, its an effort to raise awareness of the real-life issues kids face in these conditions every day, Leuthold said.

StoneBridge opened its Fremont campus in February 2017.

The church began in 1908 when a young girl started a Bible study in Irvington.

Now with an average Sunday attendance of more than 2,000, the church has campuses in Omaha, Millard and Fremont. It supports six global missions partners including Compassion International.

For more information about the event, visit www.compassionexperience.com or @compassion_exp on Twitter or www.facebook.com/compassionexperience on Facebook.
Mark Leonard is encouraging area residents to take part in a unique opportunity which includes a look at the past.

On Tuesday, the public is invited to a free preview for the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick film The Vietnam War.

The event will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Eppley Auditorium on the Midland University campus in Fremont.

The Vietnam War is a 10-part, 18-hour documentary film series, which tells the epic story of the war as it has never before been told on film. The series premieres Sept. 17 on NET television. The first five episodes will air at 7 nightly Sept. 17 through 21, and the final five episodes will air at 7 nightly Sept. 24 through 28 on NET.

This screening (on Tuesday) will give people an opportunity to sample segments from throughout the entire 18-hour documentary and hopefully pique their interest in seeing more, said Leonard, general manager of NET public radio and television.

The documentary series features testimony from almost 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.

Its done with interviews and footage  not from the experts or the leaders of the warbut from the people who were on the ground and affected, whether they were serving, stateside, protesting or were Vietnamese. So it has many, many perspectives and I think is probably the most complete view of the complex story of the Vietnam War, Leonard said.

Leonard noted the time it took to make the series.

This is the long-awaited next project for Ken Burnsone that has been in 10 years in the making, and given Ken Burns stellar reputation for being Americas storyteller and the importance of the history of the Vietnam War, we feel that it is just a very, very important documentary series, Leonard said.

The Tuesday night screening will be followed by a moderated discussion for those who attend. Screenings already have taken place in other cities.

It was a long, important, controversial part of our history and so the chance to not only see it, but to interact with each other  as well as a panel of expertsis tapping into a lot of pent-up emotion and unlocking what are in many cases some suppressed feelings about the Vietnam War  so we are finding it to be an overdue and very, very powerful experience, Leonard said.

The preview event will be hosted by Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET), Nebraska Daughters of the American Revolution and Humanities Nebraska.

Leonard said the series will be repeated so if viewers miss an episode, they will be able to catch up during a rebroadcast as well as those viewing online  the latter of which is an opportunity for those who are NET members.

To become a Net member, a person becomes a financial supporter at $60 level or higher and that includes the membership in the streaming service which is called NET Passport.

Its one of our newest member benefits, he said.

More information on that is available at netnebraska.org or by calling 1-402-472-9333 and asking for the membership department.

Area residents also may visit netNebraska.org/vietnam for additional information on the Ken Burns series.
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DANBURY  After two fatal plane crashes in as many weeks this summer, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on the federal government to tighten regulations regarding private aviation.

Blumenthal wrote Michael Huerta, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, asking whether deadly crashes would be less common if the agency regulated private piloting as rigorously as it does commercial aviation.

I write with grave concerns about this matter, demanding to know what actions you are taking to stem the tide of aviation fatalities and crashes, Blumenthal wrote in a letter dated Aug. 25.

But pilots and experts in the Danbury area, which saw fatal crashes on July 30 and Aug. 11, arent sure that more regulation is the answer.

True, Connecticut has had more fatal accidents so far this year  four  than in any of the previous 10 years, but thats not necessarily evidence of a trend, they said.

Its an unfortunate and tragic spike, not necessarily a trend, said Mike Safranek, assistant administrator of Danbury Municipal Airport. I dont think there are more or less if you go back statistically, but when it comes in a spike it may look like more.

Trend or not, Blumenthal said in an interview Friday, the recent crashes are clearly a problem that can be addressed by correcting failings in the current system.

Increasing safety as a goal doesnt require a trend, he added. This year is unprecedented.

In the letter, Blumenthal points out several areas where the FAA could do better in private aviation, including better training, more medical vetting and stricter airplane maintenance.

Were going to try to reduce the number to zero, Blumenthal said.

He noted in his letter that as of Aug. 24, the NTSB had made 12 recommendations to the FAA concerning general aviation safety that had yet to be addressed.

Les Abend, a pilot with three decades of aviation experience and an aviation analyst for CNN, said regulating private pilots more strictly isnt the answer.

Abend said Blumenthals letter almost made it sound like general aviation pilots are reckless, but its still a very regulated environment.

Aviation is so well regulated, more regulation is not going to help, Abend said.

Basic FAA regulations, which include a tiered certification system requiring increasing levels of flying time and other training, are adequate, Abend said.

Safrenek agreed. Private pilots must spend many hours with an instructor, then pass written and flying tests, all overseen by watchful FAA officials, before they can get even basic certification, he said.

No pilot can get a private pilot certificate until signed off on by the FAA, he said.

In Blumenthals letter, he suggested more training should be required to obtain a license.

Is the current, requisite level of training sufficient to ensure private and recreational pilots can fly safely and properly? he asked. Are flight schools sufficiently addressing the challenges that recreational and private pilots can encounter - from takeoff to landing?

Abend said pilots have enough training; its what they do with that training that is important.

You cant regulate somebodys habits, and I think thats where you run into difficulties, he said.

Safranek said pilots are highly safety-conscious and that preflight checklists, which are oftenmore than 35-points long, are drilled into your head  not to mention laminated and put in the cockpit  long before pilots leave the runway.

Pilots are very anal about that stuff, and understandably  its life or death, he said.

NTSB reports show that poor performance in preflight checks or insufficient annual inspections were factors in three of the 10 aircraft accidents or incidents in the Danbury over the last decade.

The three incidents included the crash of a small plane after running out of fuel in Danbury in 2013; the forced landing of a helicopter in Redding in 2011, owing to a worn bolt; and the crash-landing of an amateur-built plane in Danbury in 2007.

blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton
Recently, I heard of a woman in Sterling, Virginia, sentenced to three-and-a-half years for putting Windex and Ajax in the company coffee pot. Really? When asked why she did it, she replied that she wanted to make her boss sick. Thats one kind of stress.

Then theres the kind of stress that they are experiencing in the White House, in which the staff must begin to feel something like what Henry VIIIs wives felt. You never know when you might be the next to get beheaded.

Related: 10 Habits That Will Dramatically Improve Your Life

And of course, theres the sweet dog groomer down the street who has few clients one week, none the next and then is packed the next. Its difficult to plan and difficult to predict her income flow.

Theres the high profile attorney in town whos been accused of sexual harassment, and the gregarious ever-present chamber member everyone knows and loves who was convicted of embezzlement.

A local hairdresser woke up one morning to find that 90 percent of his staff up and left in the middle of the night to start their own salon. One senior woman in a company came in to work on a Monday morning to find her desk chair missing. Apparently the new girl didnt have one, so she just helped herself. Hmmm.

Stress -- its everywhere. You just never know. It shows its face in a myriad of ways and many different levels of intensity, but it seems its always just around the corner waiting to pounce. So what do you do? Theres no way of predicting who in your office might be thinking of putting Windex in the coffee.

Related: Sleep In and Make Millions: Why You Don't Need to Wake Up at 5 A.M.

Stress is unpredictable. Other people are unpredictable. So it boils down to you. You must learn to develop a strong internal locus of control, digging your roots in deep so that you never get blown over by the winds of fortune and circumstance. Here are 10 essential principles from Zentivity: How to Eliminate Chaos, Stress and Discontent in Your Workplace. They will help you get grounded, so that you feel confident, calm and secure when things get crazy.

1. Connect with your creator.

Its important to develop some kind of regular grounding practice that fits into your schedule. Meditation, prayer, breathing exercises, yoga -- something that slows you down enough to allow you to experience your connection to all that is and hear the still small voice of wisdom that dwells within you.

2. Know your true identity.

When you spend time connecting to the source of all things, you begin to realize that if you are one with all of that, how can one persons seemingly crazy opinion rattle you? You are no longer subject to what other people think. It becomes clear that their opinion or lack of integrity or lazy work ethic doesnt have to throw you off balance.

3. Nurture awareness.

You begin to realize where you stop and others begin. Just because they are acting crazy doesnt mean that you have to jump on that bus. Just because their hair is on fire, doesnt mean your hair is on fire.

4. Just breathe.

This is my favorite. Its tattooed on my wrist. If things get crazy or stressful or abusive, take a breath. A deep breath. Or two. To create a moment of distance between yourself and the drama, so you are free to think clearly.

Related: Lifestyles of the Rich and Frugal: 7 Thrifty Millionaires and Billionaires

5. Respect yourself.

Remember people only treat you like you allow them to treat you. You must first and foremost, respect yourself enough to maintain healthy boundaries. Someone elses emergency is not necessarily your emergency. Someone elses opinion doesnt have to be your opinion. You are secure enough to allow others to be who they are without getting sucked into their drama.

6. Practice gratitude.

Just like a regular practice of meditation, practicing gratitude on a regular basis actually changes your brain. It relaxes you and helps you to think more clearly.

7. Limit judgments.

Judgmental people are negative people. They create strife and division. Strife and division cause stress. Limit your time with those people. Dont be one.

8. Detach.

Detachment is not the same as disinterest. You may be very interested in what is happening, but you cannot allow yourself to jump into a tar pit of drama because everyone else is jumping. You must be the one who stands on the edge, taking a deep breath and considering all the options.

9. Communicate clearly and effectively.

In the workplace, as in your personal relationships, assumptions can be deadly. Learn to ask for what you need, say what you want, request clarification when you are confused. Good communication is essential for increased productivity. And learn to listen.

10. Forgive quickly.

You absolutely must let those resentments and the need for revenge go. Even if someone puts Windex in your coffee. The more time you spend focusing on the problem, the culprit, the unfairness of a situation, the more time you lose creating a solution. You must learn to let things go. Not because they dont matter. Not because they arent important. And not because what the other person did is OK. But, because you are called to be a leader and you cant lead if your feet are stuck in the mire.

Practice the principles on a regular basis. Get support when you need it. Continue to be the lighthouse of inspiration and leadership that you are called to be.

Related:

Don't Be Like the Woman Who Poisoned the Office Coffee Pot -- Follow These 10 Steps to Get Rid of Work Stress

Listen Here, Ladies: Guys Have Work-Life Stress Too!

Here's How Entrepreneurs Can Beat Stress



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Canadian Charity using an 'underground railroad' to help victims escape

TORONTO, Sept. 1, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, Rainbow Railroad announced it helped 35 LGBTQ individuals escape the Chechen government's program of terror and torture  31 of whom have now arrived in Canada.

"Many are fearful of publically speaking about their ordeal, even now that they're here," says Kimahli Powell, Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad. "However, some are willing to speak because they want the world to better understand just how horrific and dire the situation is in Chechnya."

Since April, when reports first emerged about government forces abducting, torturing and murdering gay men in Chechnya, Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian non-profit human rights organization, called on the Canadian government to facilitate entry of persecuted Chechens into Canada, ensure adequate resettlement resources, and to model this policy for LGBTQ asylum seekers in other countries.

Working with the Russian LGBT Network, who established safe houses in Russia, Rainbow Railroad led the evacuation efforts. Powell travelled to the region to meet directly with survivors, while also establishing a partnership with the Canadian government. So far, nearly 70 individuals have fled Chechnya to Russian safe houses, and over 40 have left Russia.

"We were able to quickly intervene and receive a response from the Canadian government because we are one of the few -- if only -- major international organizations focused on moving LGBTQ people out of immediate danger to safety," says Powell.

Rainbow Railroad has helped over 140 individuals to safety so far in 2017. However, other than the Chechen refugees, very few came to Canada. Powell says this underscores the need for Canada to develop a robust LGBTQ asylum policy to facilitate resettlement in Canada.

Powell is quick to add that this does not amount to prioritizing one group of asylum-seekers over another.

"Seeking asylum is not a way of jumping the queue," he says. "It's about responding when a person's right to protection is removed by the state or anyone else, as is the case in Chechnya for LGBTQ people right now."

According to the Refugee Council of Australia, resettlement is offered only by a few countries, and there are very few places for resettlement  less than 1% of the world's refugees are resettled every year. While resettlement remains an essential solution for some refugees, returning home once conditions improve is the most desirable solution.

Unfortunately, this is not an option for many LGBTQ refugees. According to the 2017 International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association's (ILGA) State Sponsored Homophobia report, 72 countries still criminalize homosexuality. The death penalty may be applied in eight UN member states.

"The situation in Chechnya is part of a global pattern of ongoing state-enabled or state-sanctioned violence against LGBTQ people," Powell says, citing Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kenya as three recent examples. "This is why the number of people who reach out to us each year is growing and we should do more to ensure persecuted LGBTQ people can enter safe countries like Canada."

About Rainbow Railroad

Rainbow Railroad is a volunteer-based charitable organization that assists LGBTQ people seeking safe haven from state-enabled violence, persecution and the threat of death where homosexuality is criminalized. We provide information, connections, and funding for travel and other associated costs.To get on board with Rainbow Railroad and help save LGBT lives, visit www.RainbowRailroad.ca or go to Facebook.com/RainbowRailroad.

SOURCE Rainbow Railroad

For further information: about Rainbow Railroad, please contact: Will Lamont: 647-382-7882; Dale Sturges: 416-534-3062; [email protected]
BOTWOOD, NL, Sept. 1, 2017 /CNW/ - Investing in local infrastructure helps create jobs while improving Canadians' quality of life. The governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador are working together to provide residents and businesses with modern, reliable and sustainable public infrastructure to boost regional development for years to come.

Today, the Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador; Scott Simms, Member of Parliament for Coast of BaysCentralNotre Dame, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities; the Honourable Eddie Joyce, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment; and Jerry Dean, Member of the House Assembly for the District of Exploits, announced more than $29.3 million in joint funding for 77 infrastructure projects across the province.

This support will help upgrade the Pleasant Avenue water and sewer systems in Stephenville and sanitary sewer upgrades in Botwood. Paradise will receive new wastewater systems as well as important upgrades to their road system, which will help traffic flow more efficiently. Additionally, residents throughout the Northeast Avalon region will benefit from a fully-accessible and inclusive community park, enabling residents to enjoy outdoor activities with family and friends.

Quotes

"The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to collaborate with the Government of Canada to assist communities as they pursue key infrastructure improvements. The projects we announced today will greatly benefit residents and make our communities more desirable places to live and work. Through our government's vision for The Way Forward, we have committed to leveraging federal funding to maximize investments in communities. The announcement today demonstrates what can be accomplished when all levels of government come together to build safe and sustainable communities for the people of the province."

The Honourable Dwight Ball,

Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

"Our Government has made unprecedented commitments to support public infrastructure across Canada. By working in partnership with every order of government, we will target smart infrastructure investments to produce long term prosperity and strengthen communities. The Government of Canada is proud to invest in these 77 infrastructure projects, which will have a positive and lasting impact on the quality of life for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for years to come."

Scott Simms, Member of Parliament for Coast of BaysCentralNotre Dame,

On behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"Our government is contributing significant provincial funds to invest in infrastructure upgrades in communities. Investments in these important projects contribute to strengthening our province's infrastructure, providing better access to water, protecting our environment by investing in wastewater infrastructure and advancing regional collaboration and sharing of services. We have been working hard with municipalities, as well as the Government of Canada to secure and leverage funding that will ensure access to high quality infrastructure and services for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians."

The Honourable Eddie Joyce,

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment

Quick facts

The Government of Canada will invest more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.

will invest more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. The Government of Canada will provide up to $11,913,506 for the 77 projects being announced today through the Small Communities Fund.

will provide up to for the 77 projects being announced today through the Small Communities Fund. The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador will contribute up to $17,451,414 for these 77 projects.

and will contribute up to for these 77 projects. The municipalities will contribute the remaining funding for these projects, which have a total eligible cost of $39,224,560 .

Related product

Read the backgrounder to learn more: https://www.canada.ca/en/office-infrastructure/news/2017/08/backgrounder_morethan293millioningovernmentfundinggoingtopublici.html

Backgrounder

The governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador are announcing funding for 77 infrastructure improvement projects across the province. The Government of Canada will provide $11,913,506 under the Small Communities Fund for these projects and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador will contribute up to $17,451,414. The municipalities will contribute the remaining funding for these projects, which have a total eligible cost of $39,224,560.

The Small Communities Fund provides support for priority public infrastructure projects that deliver on local needs in communities across Canada that have fewer than 100,000 residents.

The projects are as follows:

Location Project Description Federal Contribution Provincial Contribution Arnold's Cove Water & Sewer Upgrading - Bar Haven Heights $252,347 $429,058 Avondale 2017 Water Extension Station Rd $171,620 $291,800 Bauline Emergency Operating Centre - Alternate Power Supply $28,565 $28,565 Bay St. George South New Pumphouse and Assoc. Work for St. Fintan's Area $47,994 $81,602 Botwood 2017 Sanitary Sewer Outfall - Phase 1 Circular Road $265,978 $452,235 Burin Lift Station Retrofit - Port au Bras Lift Station $105,899 $180,057 Carbonear Water and Sewer Upgrading Water Street $166,236 $232,771 Cartwright Lift Station Upgrading/Replacement & Sewer Main Cleaning - Low Road & Point Road $189,491 $322,186 Corner Brook Street Resurfacing $453,417 $453,417 Daniel's Harbour Pump House Extension $108,212 $183,989 Deer Lake Fourth Avenue Rehabilitation $418,553 $586,074 Dover Up Grade Liftstation SPS No. 4 & SPS No. 5 $125,511 $213,403 Embree Water System Upgrades $280,474 $469,297 Ferryland Water Treatment Plant Upgrades $257,817 $438,359 Flower's Cove Main Waterline Upgrades/Repairs and Street Paving $300,728 $300,728 Fogo Island Water Drainage - Old Hospital Site $38,124 $64,821 Fogo Island PH System - Fogo Water Supply $26,598 $45,223 Fogo Island Green's Lane - Water and Sewer $65,218 $110,887 Fogo Island Iceberg Arena Upgrades $57,026 $57,026 Gambo Road Upgrades - Centennial Road $61,421 $61,421 Gander SCF 2019-1 Wilcockson Crescent $181,349 $199,522 Gaskiers Point La Haye Water Supply $166,228 $282,633 Glovertown Road Upgrading/Paving $141,656 $141,656 Grand Falls-Windsor Grenfell Heights (Upper Portion) New Water & Storm and Road Widening - Phase I $302,248 $332,536 Greenspond Upgrade Sewage Pumping Station's $80,166 $136,304 Happy Valley-Goose Bay Storm Drainage Improvements $12,469 $12,469 Happy Valley-Goose Bay Sewage Lift Station #7 Upgrading $58,183 $64,013 Happy Valley-Goose Bay Hospital Pressure Reducing Valve Replacement $16,624 $18,290 Happy Valley-Goose Bay Sewage Lift Station #1 Upgrading $116,365 $128,026 Harbour Grace Harvey Street  Phase 4  Water, Sewer and Street Upgrading $614,257 $1,044,236 Harbour Main-Chapel's Cove-Lakeview Water & Sewer Upgrading Chapel's Cove & Fewer's Hill $453,754 $771,504 Heart's Content Track Road Upgrading and Paving $11,351 $11,351 Heart's Delight-Islington 2017/2018 Water System Upgrades $18,135 $30,834 Hickman's Harbour-Robinson Bight Water System Improvements $109,716 $186,547 Inuit Community Government of Hopedale Water System Freeze Prevention Upgrades/Rehabilitation $182,860 $310,911 Inuit Community Government of Rigolet Upgrade Power Supply at PWDU and Tank Altitude Building $72,569 $72,569 Inuit Community Government of Rigolet Upgrade Water System Intake $152,938 $260,035 Kippens Road Upgrading - Island Pond Drive - Phase 3 $245,639 $245,639 Little Bay East Street Upgrades and Paving 2017 - Cemetery Road $29,156 $29,156 Little Bay East Street Upgrading and Paving 2017 - Spruce Road $11,409 $11,409 Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 2018 MCW Culvert Replacements $75,112 $75,112 Lumsden Beothic Arena Chiller Replacement $39,173 $43,098 Marystown Road Upgrading 2017 - Forest Road Upgrading, Paving, and Water Laterals $125,332 $125,332 Marysvale Water Line Valve & Post/Flush Hydrant Installation - Various Locations $27,904 $47,445 Marysvale Well Upgrading - Main Road $57,375 $97,554 Meadows Multi-Purpose Court (Rink) Upgrades - Roof Installation $179,553 $179,553 Miles Cove Town of Miles Cove - Water and Sewer, Phase II $290,692 $494,255 Millertown Water Treatment/ Chlorination Building $114,321 $194,376 Millertown Sewage Pumping Station Upgrade $40,911 $69,559 Mount Moriah Sweetapple Drive - Road Upgrading $65,510 $65,510 Mount Pearl Glacier 1 (Elevator and HVAC Upgrades) $149,628 $149,628 Mount Pearl 2017 - 2020 Street Upgrading (Second Street between St. Andrews and Sunrise) $213,038 $234,387 New Perlican Water Main Upgrades - Installing Poly Pigging System $45,594 $77,523 North Harbour Water System Upgrade (2017) $259,650 $441,475 Paradise Clearview Heights Upgrading $448,919 $448,919 Husky Energy Easter Seals House Inclusive Park $207,500 $207,500 Pasadena Storm Sewer - Midland Row East $319,174 $446,920 Phillips Head 2017 Water Line Repair throughout Phillip's Head $79,176 $134,620 Port au Port West-Aguathuna-Felix Cove Waterline Replacement - Phase 4 $50,563 $85,971 Port Blandford Water Pumping System Improvements $149,613 $254,382 Portugal Cove South Water Main Extension $110,182 $187,339 Ramea Seawalls - Upgrades & Repairs $241,193 $482,459 Salmon Cove Water and Sewer Installations $199,484 $339,176 Shoe Cove (Notre Dame Bay) Water Treatment System $49,871 $84,794 South Brook (Hall's Bay) Sewage Lift Station Retrofit $53,203 $90,459 Springdale Orange Lane & Churchill Place $131,909 $224,280 St. Alban's Refurbishment of Water Storage Reservoir $72,771 $123,731 St. George's Chlorination Building Upgrading $29,923 $50,876 St. Mary's Additional Artesian Wells $81,057 $137,819 Stephenville Pleasant Avenue Reconstruction Phase 2 $400,670 $561,034 Stephenville Crossing Lift Station Controls and SCADA upgrades $112,122 $190,638 Victoria Cole's Road Water & Sewer/Road Upgrading $68,237 $116,021 Wabana Pumphouse & wells replacement # 3 Yard -Wabana $525,038 $892,706 Wabush Industrial Park Wastewater Treatment Plant $332,473 $565,294 Winterton Winterton Recreation Center Upgrades $67,264 $67,264 Woody Point Woody Point Lift Station Upgrade $81,953 $139,342 York Harbour Fill Station $19,117 $32,504

For more information on the Small Communities Fund, please visit: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/sc-cp-eng.html.

Associated links

Government of Canada's $180-billion+ infrastructure plan in Budget 2017

Federal infrastructure investments in Newfoundland and Labrador

Small Communities Fund

Municipal Capital Works Funding

Atlantic Growth Strategy

Twitter: @INFC_eng

Web: Infrastructure Canada

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

For further information: Michelle Cannizzaro, Director of Communications, Office of the Premier, 709-729-3960, [email protected]; Brook Simpson, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, 613-219-0149, [email protected]; Lynn Robinson, Municipal Affairs and Environment, 709-729-5449, 691-9466, [email protected]; Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/


Male Pupil Raising Hand In Class

A student raising his hand in a classroom.

(Getty images)

ALBANY, N.Y. -- What New York state students learn about climate change when they return to classrooms this month may hinge on their teacher's political views more than science, according to a report by the New York School Boards Association.

In a report examining research about climate change education, the association advises teachers to present climate change data to students without politicizing it.

New learning standards being rolled out this year in New York state include climate change and the contribution of human activities to global warming.

The Trump administration has dismissed the importance of climate change. Trump has called climate change "a hoax" and rejected evidence that human activity has contributed to rising temperatures. But a majority of scientists believe the earth's rising temperature is predominantly created by human activity.

A survey conducted by the association found 70 percent of school board members across the state believe public schools should be teaching students about climate change. The survey shows 16 percent of school board members oppose climate change instruction in public schools, while 14 percent are unsure.

The report cited a national survey that found 33 percent of teachers teach that climate change occurs due to natural, not human-made, occurrences in nature. "Conservative political identity was the strongest indicator that a teacher would suggest that climate change may be rooted in natural rather than human causes," the study found.

"When it comes to teaching about climate change, it certainly appears that politics and economics, not science, are driving the debate," NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer said in a prepared statement.
HARTFORD >> State election regulators laid out their case Thursday during a sometimes contentious four-hour hearing in which they tried to prove that mentioning Gov. Dannel P. Malloys name on mailers in 2014 without asking his opponent or the Republican Party to pay for it violated state election laws.

This is a hearing about whether permissible expenditures were made. Thats it, William Smith, a State Elections Enforcement Commission attorney, said in his closing arguments.

He said the statements opposing Malloy made on the joint mailers by Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, and Rep. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, were cast in such a way as to oppose an individual who was running for statewide office in 2014. He said joining the Citizens Election Program and receiving tens of thousands of dollars to run their campaign meant they agreed to restrict their spending to candidates who were in the race.

Technically, election regulators said they could have mentioned Malloys policies, if they asked the Republican Party or its gubernatorial candidate, Tom Foley, to help pay for the mailers. But they didnt.

Markley, Sampson and their attorney Michael Cronin said the application of the state law is trampling their constitutional right of free speech.

Simply saying this is a voluntary program and you forfeit your rights as you enter is simply not correct, Cronin said.

He said his clients feel to this day that they complied with election laws and the playing field was changed when the advisory opinion was released two weeks before the November 2014 election. The advisory opinion, according to Cronin, was released only after communications with an attorney for the Democratic Party and an executive session in which it was adopted.

If the law was so clear, then why did we need this advisory opinion? Cronin said.

He said for every joint mailer Markley and Sampson did, they asked for the SEECs help in apportioning the costs of the mailer to the two campaigns.

He asked what happens when there are multiple candidates running for governor.

Would it have been OK if we went to the Green Party and asked for $20? Cronin said.

He said the statute doesnt say the opposing candidate has to be from a major party.

The statutes are vague on this, Cronin added.

He said the law does implicate free speech and it does implicate separation of powers. He said the legislative branch should be able to criticize the executive branch.

It doesnt rise to a constitutional crisis where you can start trampling on free speech, Cronin said.

Sampson said his mailers tried to explain his position on the state budget and saying that he voted against Malloys tax hike was not promoting the defeat of Malloy  it was simply trying to communicate where he stood on the issue.

It said I disagree with the policy of a sitting governor, Sampson said.

He said the message to voters was that he planned to be a check on Gov. Malloy and his agenda. He said it wasnt about calling for the defeat of Malloy.

He said he believes the mailers, which he designed himself, were expenditures directly related to his campaign as described by state election laws. He said he didnt feel they advocated for the defeat of Malloy.

Sampson and Markley said their mailers for 2012, when Malloy was not on the ballot, used the exact same wording as they did in 2014.

Smith said the reason theyre having the hearing is because Markley and Sampson dont believe they have to comply with the law in the first place.

I dont think theres a nefarious act here, Smith said. But I have to let them know that an advisory opinion is more than a gentle nudge.

The fine could be as low as $2,000 for Markley and his treasurer Barbara Roberts and as high as $27,000 for Sampson, who sent out more mailers criticizing Malloy than Markley.

Briefs on the case are due by Sept. 20. Its unclear how soon after that a decision will be made.

Markley and Sampson have already vowed to appeal any unfavorable decision to Superior Court.

This story has been modified from its original version. To view the original, visit ctnewsjunkie.com.
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NEW HAVEN >> As one of the youngest members of the U.S. Senate, Chris Murphys message resonated with a group of students, faculty and administrators at a roundtable discussion Friday on the cost of college at Southern Connecticut State University.

I might be the only member of the Senate that is still paying back student loans, Murphy, who is 44 and a graduate of the University of Connecticut Law School told his audience.

I also have young children who I have to worry paying the cost of education for, Murphy added.

Murphy said college education in the country is changing and so should how its funded.

I am a subscriber to the idea of a free college for families of middle and lower incomes, Murphy said.

He told the students that if Murphy had his way, and he is a supporter and cosponsor of legislation that says, If your family earns $125,000 or less, then your college experience would be tuition and expense free.

The bill is here.

Murphy said he knows thats an expensive proposition, theres no doubt about it.

But he added, the amount of money the federal budget spends on education is a pittance.

Murphy said if you total the amount of money the federal government spends on education, science and innovation and infrastructure - those three things are 4 percent of the federal budget.

If the government went to the free college plan he is suggesting, it would push that 4 percent figure to about 6 percent, Murphy said, leaving plenty of room to get cuts in other parts of the budget.

Murphy said it is important for changes to be made in the college education funding system for the United States economy, also.

The heart of our countrys economic salvation is our education system and the fact of the matter is we are losing a generation of workers because it is taking longer and longer for students to complete college.

It used to be the majority of students that went to college finished by the time they were 22 or 23 years old. Now the average age of a college is pushing towards 30 and beyond, Murphy said.

Todays traditional student, Murphy said, is one who goes to school part-time because he or she has to work to afford to pay to go to school.

Read more at CTNewsJunkie.com.
HAMDEN >> A complaint has been filed with the state alleging that a primary candidate for Legislative Council attested to collecting petition signatures he wasnt present for.

Chris Vega, who is running for the 2nd District council seat, petitioned to force a primary against incumbent Harry Gagliardi Jr.

Vega swore in writing to collecting signatures for the primary, but Gagliardi alleges in a complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission that Vega wasnt there to get some of those signatures.

Gagliardis complaint to the SEEC will not be heard until Sept. 20, which is after the primary election, so he said he plans to file a court action with the goal of overturning Vegas petition before the primary.

Vega said he plans to fight the complaint.

The complaint is inaccurate and dishonest, Vega said. He said he thought he followed the law at every step.

When a potential candidate is collecting signatures to petition to get on a ballot, any person who was present for collecting signatures must be the one to notarize them, according to instructions listed on the petition page. Its illegal to sign as the circulator if you didnt witness the person signing the petition.

On the petition Vega submitted, he is listed as the sole circulator on each of the 10 pages of signatures. This means he swore he was present while getting all the signatures on his petition, according to the petition documents.

However, six residents who a reporter spoke with said they didnt see Vega when they signed. These residents, whose signatures appear on the petition, described petitioners who did not match a description of Vega. Two people described being asked for signatures by a woman and one resident said she was asked by an older man with glasses.

Vega qualified for a the primary with 94 signatures. He needed 84 signatures to force a primary.

Gagliardi said he saw a Facebook post of Vega thanking two supporters who had gone out to get signatures on his behalf. Gagliardi said Vega told him the signatures collected by those petitioners were not submitted.

Vega said he worked alongside supporters to collect all signatures and was present each time.

Gagliardi said he contacted Vega explaining his complaint but Vega said no part of Gagliardis complaint was true. According to petition guidelines from the secretary of the states website, The circulator must be certain that signers sign in his presence and that his own signed statements are true, or he may be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

Im political and I believe in ethics for us, Gagliardi said I want honesty. Its key to being political.

Vega said he will continue to run in the primary, saying Gagliardis complaint is an attempt to make him lose focus on campaigning. Nevertheless, Vega said he will keep talking with his neighbors and helping his district.
The findings in a new report on the opioid crisis in Connecticut are chilling and are a call for action that is impossible to ignore.

Drug overdoses in the state are occurring at a pace pointing toward more than 1,000 deaths by the end of the year.

In the first six months of 2017, there were 539 drug intoxication deaths, according to a report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, a rate that forecasts 1,078 by New Years Eve.

To put these numbers in some perspective, 1,078 would be an increase of more than 100 deaths over 2016 and more than triple the number of overdose deaths five years ago, when there were 357.

And, according to Chief Medical Examiner James Gill, these deaths are largely attributable to opioids, the pain-killing drugs that many state residents have legally in their home medicine cabinets.

In fact, since 2012, the number of overdose deaths has risen steadily every year.

The scourge has scarred communities from Greenwich to Bridgeport to New Haven. Addiction can put a deadly grip on professionals of every stripe  physicians included; regular people hooked as the result of a legal prescription after an accident or surgery; experimenting teenagers; and on and on.

Prescription opioids include common painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone. And if an adult parent has a problem, that might explain the growing number of 1- to 4-year-olds who have been hospitalized as a result of opioid ingestion.

The epidemic  opioids kill more Americans than guns or automobiles  is nationwide and has drawn attention from, thankfully, the Trump White House down on through states, cities and towns.

A bit of good news is that first responders in the state have been equipped with  and trained in the administration of  naloxone, a drug that can counteract the effects of an overdose. Connecticut State Police, for instance, say they have saved more than 180 people as a result of timely intervention with the antidote.

That obviously is not the solution to this problem.

Fortunately, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is a public official who not only recognizes the severity of the problem, but has acted.

On Thursday, he signed into law several measures intended to strengthen the states position in fighting the problem.

Public Act 17-131, An Act Preventing Prescription Opioid Diversion and Abuse, among other things tightens access to certain controlled substances prescriptions by requiring electronic prescriptions and cuts back from seven to five days, the maximum opioid prescriptions for minors.

The key to the solution is a combination of education, treatment and enforcement.

Youngsters, in particular, have to be taught early about the dangers of opioids and the insidious nature of addiction.

People showing the early signs of addiction must have treatment options.

And the doctors who prescribe opioids play a central role. They can buy into the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for prescribing opioids. According to the CDC, some primary care physicians have reported insufficient training in prescribing opioids.

It seems learning has to happen all around.
NEW HAVEN >> On the day Wells Fargo announced it had found 1.4 million more phony accounts in its records, protesters kept up pressure on City Hall to take its money out of the bank that has had a stretch of internal scandals in recent years.

About 50 people listened to speakers on the steps of City Hall Thursday, where they mainly criticized the bank for underwriting oil and gas projects, particularly the 1,172-mile crude oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

Led by Melinda Tuhus, the local group has collected some 500 signatures of people who support the petition to withdraw city funds with more expected to be added to the total through an online component. She said they have been talking with the city for months on the issue.

Wells Fargo is not local; it takes its profits out of New Haven instead of reinvesting significantly in the community. Please choose a local bank, the petition says.

It said the Wells Fargo supported North Dakota pipeline threatens Native Americans drinking water, violates land that is rightfully theirs, and accelerates climate change  despite claiming a commitment to a clean energy future.

It further alleged the bank discriminates against low-income Americans, specifically African American and Latino mortgage holders and said it has a history of investing in private prisons.

The bank had already admitted, almost a year ago, that the fake bank and credit card accounts staff had opened under pressure from supervisors, tallied approximately 2.1 million and it agreed to pay $185 million to make amends. The additional accounts brings that total to some 3.5 million fee-generating accounts.

Mayor Toni Harp, who was not at City Hall during the protest, issued a statement shortly after it ended.

The Dakota Access Pipeline poses a huge environmental threat to natural systems all along its 1000-mile route and unacceptably disrupts the religious grounds of local Native Americans. Ive asked the city controller to research and explore New Havens viable options in terms of divestment from Wells Fargo and the 16 other banks that provided loans to underwrite the bulk of that pipeline project.

A Wells Fargo spokesman sent a statement Friday.

Kevin Friedlander, Northeast corporate communications manager for the bank, said it values its relationship with New Haven and wants to discuss the issue with the mayor.

Friedlander said it was one of 17 institutions involved in the financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been operational since June.

Our commitment to the responsible development of all forms of energy remains unchanged, and since 2012, we have invested more than $70 billion in clean technology and other environmentally sustainable businesses. In 2016, more than eight percent of all solar photovoltaic and wind energy generated in the U.S. came from facilities owned in whole or in part by Wells Fargo. Additionally, we have been serving Native American governments and communities for more than 50 years, and today we provide capital and financial services to more than 200 tribal entities in 27 states including tribal community development projects, Friedlander wrote.

The New Haven Independent had reported earlier that Harp, on its WNHH Radio show, had promised to gradually withdraw the funds.

City Controller Daryl Jones said there are four main operational accounts, where some $11 million in city funds flow through on a daily basis. He said they cover such things as payroll, capital funds and special funds from grant sources.

He said it would take a minimum of six to eight months to change banks for these accounts, a decision that would trigger hundreds of other operational and legal steps. This could only happen after New Haven put out a request for proposals to determine what other banks are interested in the citys business.

Jones said some of the remaining 26 accounts could be moved more quickly and the controller said he has asked his staff to investigate changes for three to four or them at a time.

He said they cant do it right away as the auditors are working on the fiscal 2017 books. Jones said any changes would require a methodical review by what is essentially a skeleton staff in his office Overall, he said all the accounts total around $200 million.

Jones said some banks are not in the mix because they are limited in what they can do. The controller said another important factor is to establish a relationship with any bank they chose that guarantees they can pick up the phone and get something done on a timely basis.

Elias Estabrook told the crowd at the rally he had a pretty heavy heart this week watching images coming out of Houston as thousands of lives were disrupted by Hurricane Harvey.

That was a man-made storm, Esterbrook said. People fighting for climate justice ... its important to remember this week that that fight is urgent. I think thats motivating me today. We have to move that money now before the next pipeline project ... to close down the coal plant, to make sure we can have a clean, livable future.

The Rev. Allie Perry gave a list of reasons why Wells Fargo should not hold taxpayer money.

She doesnt support the bank for financing private prisons, specifically the Geo Group and the Corrections Corporation of America, citing the 2016 report by In The Public Interest, which said these groups profit from mass incarceration and the criminalization of immigration.

How perverse, Perry said. She said these private prisons exploit some of the least of these among us, and New Havens money should not go a bank that helps underwrite them,

In addition to concerns about climate change, Tuhus said this year Wells Fargo was given a needs to improve rating by the Community Reinvestment Act, which is intended to promote lending in low-income neighborhood.

Tuhus said the Office of the Controller of the Currency said it had found an extensive and pervasive pattern and practice of discriminatory and illegal credit practices across multiple lines of business within the bank.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Wells Fargo Bank, $100 million for secretly opening unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts. The bank will also pay an additional $35 million penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and another $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles.

After the 40-minute rally, the crowd walked a half a block to the Wells Fargo branch, followed by three police officers, and chanted: Say it loud, say it clear, get our money out of here.

While they are happy that the mayor is interested in exploring how to move money out of Wells Fargo, they reminded her why they want a stronger commitment now.

Mayor Harp the election is near, get our money out of here, they said in unison outside the bank.

After walking back to City Hall, the crowd climbed the stairs to the mayors office on the second floor to drop off the petition, after a city worker agreed to copy them for Tuhus.

Lt. Mark ONeill, the new district manager for Wooster Square and downtown, would only let Tuhus and a reporter into the mayors office, which upset some in the crowd, who have all squeezed into the space on previous protests.

ONeill said there were only a few chairs and 40 people, and in any event, the mayor wasnt there.

Editors note: This story has been updated since it was first posted, to included a statement by Wells Fargo.
Ethiopian Airlines is in talks to take over management of Nigeria's troubled Arik Air.



Nigerias government took over Arik Air early this year after it declared heavy losses.



Ethiopian Airlines head for international services, Esayas Woldemariam, told the Associated Press news agency that the negotiations follow a request by Nigerias aviation ministry.



We definitely are willing and able to take over the management of Arik Air, he told AP.



State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is Africa's most profitable carrier.
As shared by Blamo....



'Liberia: Our Graduate Of The Year.



From Selling Cold Water on the street of Margibi Liberia to the completion of his high school diploma our graduate set the stage for a new Liberia.

No big cars to take him home after the graduation ceremony at the school, but his dedicated friends escorted him home in a Weelbarrow and he was welcome home as a hero and hope for Liberians youths'.


Armed men ambushed and killed four soldiers in the Ekeremor waterways area of Bayelsa State as they returned from an assignment in the Letugbene community on Monday. According to reports, The gunmen, who outnumbered the soldiers, forced the servicemen to surrender, marched them to a creek, executed them and stole their weapons and military gear.



A civilian boat driver with the military detachment attempted to escape but was also shot and killed by the attackers.



Nigerias oil-rich south and southeast had been ravaged by violence orchestrated by groups seeking to force the government to more evenly share petroleum revenues with local residents.



Tare Porri, a local youth leader, confirmed the killings.



(The attack) was bizarre and unprovoked, said Porri, chairman of the Central Zone of Ijaw Youths Council. Four military officers were killed in cold blood alongside a civilian. Military officers went to Letugbene community and on their way back, some persons accosted them and killed all of them, he told AFP.



Only one of them escaped. The military, yesterday morning, retaliated, invaded the communities and burnt down houses.

The operations are still ongoing and it is spreading to other communities, Porri added.



A senior security official confirmed the incident and denounced the increased level of violence against security forces.



AFP






Oba Ogunwusi and Olori Wuraola



Nigerians were recently rudely jolted to the reality that the celebrated marriage between the Ooni of Ife and Wuraola, has crashed. This is the timeline of the ill-fated marriage.

It had been in the rumor mill for some time. But a post on the official Instagram page @hhzynab of Olori Wuraola , the estranged wife of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi confirmed it all.

Her marriage to the foremost monarch has crashed.

When the royal father married Zaynab Otiti at a lavish traditional ceremony on March 13, last year, the marriage sealed the breakdown of his marital relationship with Adebukola, with whom he tied the nuptial knot 10 years earlier. The two marriages did not produce children.

Seventeen months down the line in the palace of the Ooni, , Zaynab, whom Oba Ogunwusi renamed Wuraola (Yeyeluwa of Ife) shortly after the royal marriage, took to the social media yesterday, putting paid to suspicions that all was not well with her marriage.

Zaynab was clear in her message as she wrote: We have got to stop this culture of shaming and vilifying women with false stories of infidelity and nefarious behaviour. The spreading of false information (through sources afraid to be identified) is the mark of cowards and a cover-up for guilty parties to justify their horrific actions. There is absolutely no truth to the media circulated lies of infidelity and infertility- on my end.





What I can confirm, is that the Ooni and I are no more. I inhale love and exhale gratitude. My journey continues as a humanitarian aiding women and victims of domestic violence and abuse with the United Nations. No matter how much time youve invested, no matter the use of media to silence and manipulate, no matter the circumstance, slander, embarrassment, threats and lies: Get out and seek immediate help!





Weve seen this movie before. Women being dragged in the press and blamed for everything under the sun. This behavior is unacceptable. I urge those involved to be mindful of their actions for the eyes of our Almighty God are always watching. The seed of slander is a cancer that harvests to eat away the souls of the planter.





The throne is sacred and the attempts to tarnish the name of a queen, in defense, or on behalf of a silent king, makes all involved look terrible. Remain dignified in all you do. Its not the end of the world, but the start of a new chapter and you must turn the page with grace. The world is watching.





As I bid adieu to this chapter, my wish to you all is to step into your lives  boldly and fearlessly, the way God intended and live not just by words, but through example. The best chapter in our lives is the one we are writing now. Thank you for your love and support.

"With peace, love and light,  Her Highness, Zaynab Otiti Obanor.

The 17-month old journey was not uneventful as the duo lived in glamour and royal splendor  within and outside the country.

Royalty swelled all around them as they graced public functions and social events. They made impressive representation of the Yoruba culture and heritage at cultural events across the world.

It started with their appearance at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu 64th Birthday Colloquium in Abuja, on March 29, 2016. But the couple was first hosted to a royal dinner by popular politician, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

As they disembarked from the airplane at the Abuja Airport along with their aides, they were ushered into a waiting Limousine which was accompanied by two executive Mercedes Benz, four Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and a couple of escort patrol vans, which cruised smoothly into the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. The new couple was welcomed by a crowd of Yoruba sons and daughters, who were on hand to catch a glimpse of the new phenomenal royal couple, particularly Olori Wuraola, who had just come into the top Ile-Ife royal family. Then, they paid homage to the foremost Yoruba monarch and his queen.

In April and May last year, Yeyeluwa was the cynosure of all eyes at the Osaara and Olokun festivals in Ile-Ife. Always donning wine or red royal costumes, including coral beads to match her husbands all-white costumes, her beauty and cool mien were sources of attraction to guests and admirers.

Also on May 22, Olori Wuraola was the centre of attraction at the award ceremony where Ooni was received the award of the Extraordinary Ambassador of Peace by the Methodist Church, Nigeria. The event which was held at the Cathedral Church of Methodist, Nigeria in Oyo, also had the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola (Adeyemi III) in attendance.

In June, last year, Oba Ogunwusi and his queen stormed the United States of America (USA) like African mega stars. From New York to New Jersey and several other cities, Olori Wuraola glittered in her royal apparels that revealed her beauty and excellence. Oba Ogunwusi drew a standing ovation from Pennsylvania state legislators he addressed. Olori Wuraola complemented the glamour of his entourage. She was the one many Americans warmed up to for banters and cordiality.

Earlier this year, the couple was in the United Kingdom (UK) during which they visited the British Museum and addressed the Commonwealth Assembly. As many white and Black British academics and researchers met with Oba Ogunwusi, his Olori was never far from him, donning either her red or white royal apparels to add colour to their visit.

Also in May, the Yeyeluwa stepped out in a sparkling white outfit with white royal costume to celebrate the Olokun Festival with her husband. She called for promotion of cultural festivals to serve boost local tourism.

The Ooni and his wife were also in Canada last month. They met with the Nigerian High Commission leaders, Members of Parliament (MPs), Nigerian-Canadian Association and members of the Yoruba community in Canada.

They also visited the Canadian Museum of History and attended the Canada-Nigeria Cultural and Business Fair. Olori Wuraola was right by her husband, shaking hands with the who-is-who in the North American country.

With yesterdays post by the Olori, it is unclear what the future holds for the 17-month-old union between Oba Ogunwusi and the Benin, Edo State born queen.

Many are still shocked, wondering what went wrong shortly after returning from Canada.

***

Via The Nation
British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson says the United Kingdom will do all within its powers to support Nigeria to provide security in the Gulf of Guinea because of its strategic importance to his country as a major oil route. Johnson disclosed this on Thursday abound Nigerian Navy's NN UNITY ship at Navy Dockyard, Victoria island Lagos while on a visit...



The UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson and Nigerias Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama were in attendance earlier today in Abuja along with others to pay tribute to the memories of those who paid the ultimate price.
No fewer than 8,500 members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, yesterday, defected to All Progressives Congress, APC, at a rally organised in Port Harcourt by a former pro-PDP group called I see You.National Leader of I See You group, Mr. Chizi Nyeomasila, said the rally was a forum for local government executives of the group to defect, adding that the group will also organise rallies in the various local government areas for members at ward levels to defect.He said at the end of the programme at the local government areas, a total of 108,000 of its members would have formally crossed over to APC.He said they had to leave PDP when they realised that APC had what he termed a better programme for the state.PDP is a failure in the state. We were there but have now seen that APC will serve the common good of the state better. Like Paul in the Bible, we now see clearly, he added.Some leaders of APC at the event were Senator-elect, Rivers East senatorial district, Senator Andrew Uchendu; Dr. Seconte Davies, Executive Director Marine Operations, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, and Rivers State Chairman of APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya.Dr. Davies, who was a former member House of Representatives (Degema/Bonny federal constituency) said the development was a boost to APC, stressing that the party was poised to right its loss at the last general election.His words: We are set to dislodge PDP in the state at all levels. It has started. Now it is two to one at the senatorial level. APC has two senators, while PDP has one. So you can see that APC is set for victory in 2019.
The Peoples Democratic Party, on Thursday, accused the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of destroying the independence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.The PDP said the EFCC and ICPC were created during its 16-year reign to curb the menace of corruption in the country.The party said this in a statement by its Head of Publicity Department, Mrs. Chinwe Nnorom.But the APC, the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecutions, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla; and the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), berated the PDP for saying that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration destroyed the independence of the anti-graft agencies.The statement said the PDP, which was established on August 31, 1998, had remained the only viable, prosperous and most visionary political party in Nigeria.The PDP statement by Nnorom stated, (The) PDP administration established two major anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to curb the menace of corruption in the country.These efforts reduced corrupt practices and further increased the confidence of foreign investors that resulted in huge investment inflows into the country.The APC-led government of today has destroyed the independence of these agencies with their selective approach of using deodorants when APC members are involved and insecticides when it concerns the PDP members and other Nigerians.The statement said the PDP therefore remained the best political party in Nigeria.It therefore appealed to Nigerians to return the former ruling party to power in 2019, saying it had learnt from its past mistakes.The PDP stated that the chairman of the partys National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, congratulated members and supporters of the former ruling party on the achievement.As s a human organisation, there might have been some issues or areas we could not cover when we were governing. We promise to make amends as and when given the opportunity again in 2019, the statement added.The former ruling party believes Nigerians have not forgotten the enormous infrastructural developments, policies and programmes developed by it in contrast to the current APC-led government.It added, The PDP no doubt, initiated several reforms that transformed the country from the decay of long years of military dictatorship/failed civilian administration and never resorted to self- pity, blame and propaganda as its seen today.For the record, in 1999 the image of Nigeria internationally was in a deplorable state with very poor human rights records. The PDP took conscious steps to change that perception and within a very short period, it restored the country to its pride of place among the comity of nations. We promise to do it again come 2019.It recalled how former President Olusegun Obasanjo worked diligently with other western powers to settle all our foreign debts accumulated by the military, thereby detaching Nigerias economy from the burden.The PDP noted that Nigerias unity remained the core principle of the founding fathers, saying throughout the 16 years of the PDP government, the party took deliberate actions to sustain and maintain this principle by building bridges across the nation.This, it said, could not be said of the APC-led administration given its alleged lopsided appointments, which it argued had aggravated the agitations for self-determination and secession by some sections of the country.The PDP, however, declared that the party would not support such agitations.Disprove allegations of recovered loot, ruling party tells PDPBut, the APC challenged the PDP to first disprove allegations of billions of naira and other foreign currencies recovered from members of the former ruling party by the EFCC.The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.Abdullahi stated, Instead of saying our party has destroyed EFCCs independence, they should contradict the billions of naira, dollars and pounds recovered from its members who held positions of authority in the past. It is when they provide evidence that this is not true that we can talk.If they want to lay any claim to moral superiority, they should refute evidence adduced by the EFCC about the recovery so far made, then, we can talk.Let them challenge the verdict of a competent court of our land which recently ordered the permanent forfeiture of property and billions of naira in cash belonging to Diezani Alison- Madueke (former minister of petroleum resources).If they can successfully challenge all these, then, they can speak. As for them returning to power, Nigerians are now wiser.Speaking in a similar vein, a Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, described the PDP statement as reckless and irresponsible and lacking any empirical evidence.He noted that even though it was evident that the EFCC could do better with better attention and support from Buhari, the anti-graft body had not lost any serious thing under this government to justify the PDPs gloating.Mohammed added, The PDP ought to shut up and spare Nigerians. I dont believe that the EFCC has lost anything under this administration. When the EFCC started, frankly speaking, both Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Lamorde had their challenges. President Obasanjo was in the habit of conniving with them to achieve his aims.This is not to say that the attitude and the management of the economy between the EFCC and the current administration is what it ought to be.Sometimes, you have to give political direction to some of these agencies. And of course, you have to assure them that you will be with them should they get into trouble; that has not been the attitude of the Buhari Presidency.Also, Obono-Obla described the PDPs claim as nonsensical.He said contrary to the opposition partys claim, the EFCC had become more efficient under the current administration.He argued that the independence of the EFCC was completely eroded under the PDP government to the extent that the anti-corruption agency was unable to charge any politically-exposed person under former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.Obono-Obla described the PDP government as chronically and scandalously corrupt to the extent that a minister was able to steal the equivalent of the allocation of 19 northern states in four years.He explained that neither Buhari nor those connected to the President interfered with the activities of the anti-graft agencies.The Presidents aide added that the APC-led government had charged very prominent, highly influential and highly connected politically-exposed persons with various offences.Obono-Obla added, The claim by PDP is nonsensical. It is hogwash and balderdash.The PDP does not have any argument because since the APC government came on board, the EFCC has become so efficient.In the first quarter of this year, the EFCC secured more than 200 convictions and recovered over N400bn.How much was recovered by the EFCC when the PDP was in government or when Goodluck Jonathan was in office?The independence of the EFCC was completely eroded to the extent that no politically-exposed person was charged to court. But we can see that they have charged very prominent, highly influential and highly connected politically-exposed persons, which is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.So, the PDP does not know what its talking about.Talk about the ICPC, it has recovered billions of naira. The ICPC has also secured the conviction of many politically-exposed persons.The PDP should shut up. The PDP was chronically and scandalously corrupt to the extent that one minister stole the equivalent of the allocations of 19 northern states in four years.Up to $20bn was unaccounted for. The foreign reserves were deflated. The late President (Umaru) YarAdua left $48bn in the foreign reserves; all the money was deflated.So what is the PDP talking about? We dont interfere, the President does not interfere and the people connected to the President do not interfere with EFCCs activities, unlike when the agency ceased to function under the PDP government.On his part, Sagay asked the PDP to mark its 19th anniversary with sober reflection instead of boasting about its achievements.Sagay told the former ruling party to remember that embattled Alison-Madueke was one of its products.The senior advocate said this during an interview with The PUNCH on Thursday.Sagay admitted that the EFCC and the ICPC were created by Obasanjo but added that these two agencies were weakened after Obasanjo left office.He said the Buhari administration had recovered nearly a trillion naira alone this year from officials who served under the PDP.The PACAC chairman asked the PDP to apologise to Nigerians and turn a new leaf as this was the only way to regain the confidence of Nigerians.Sagay added, I am disappointed in the PDP. If they are celebrating 19 years, they should celebrate with caution and give the nation an assurance that they would not bring such negative impact on our nation again and they have turned a new leaf.Yes, President Obasanjo was the one who proposed the establishment of the EFCC and the ICPC? After Nuhu Ribadu left the EFCC, what became of the EFCC? These people just neutralised these agencies and turned this country into an ATM from which they kept on withdrawing money until there was nothing left.So, they destroyed our economy; their greed was overwhelming. If you look at Diezani for instance, there is no day that goes by that money is not recovered from her. In Thursdays papers, it was reported that the EFCC had recovered about half a trillion naira from these people.In a similar vein, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders said the only legacy the PDP could talk about was the promotion of criminality and impunity.The Executive Chairman, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, said although the PDP created the EFCC and the ICPC, the party frustrated the war against corruption.
The United States has commended the operational efforts of the Nigerian Army in the counter-terrorism war in North-East Nigeria.

The United States has commended the operational efforts of the Nigerian Army in the counter-terrorism war in North-East Nigeria.

US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, gave the commendation when he led a congressional delegation from the US on a visit to the Theatre Command of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.





Speaking to reporters after a closed-door session with the Theatre Commander, Major General Attahiru Ibrahim, and other officials of the command, Ambassador Symington said, I was pleased to have a chance to lead a delegation of six members of the United States Congress  three senators and three house members  to come and hear about the hard work of the Nigerian Military in Borno State and in northeastern Nigeria.





The Ambassador thanked Major General Ibrahim and staff of the command for the brief and the chance to discuss the way forward in their operations with them.





The United States strongly supports the hard work of the Nigerian military in combatting terrorism and we are grateful for the chance to be here and to see both and the response to the humanitarian crisis in northeastern Nigeria and the hard work that is being done to confront terrorism, he added.





In his response, the theatre commander thanked the US government for its renewed partnership and support for the military.





He said, This intentionally outlined the healthy relationship we have with the United States; they came here to assess our needs for assistance and they have promised they are going to address that.





So it goes a long way to tell you how the United States is also extending its hands in the counter insurgency efforts in Nigeria.
The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, II on Friday prayed for the sustenance of peace and unity of the country.The Emir made the prayer while addressing the people of the state, shortly after he led the Eid prayer at the Kofar Mata Central Eid ground in Kano.He said the there was need for the people of the state to also continue to pray for peace and progress of the state and the country at large.Sanusi II stressed the need for people of the state to shun rumour mongering and acts capable of causing misunderstanding and ill-feelings, especially among the leaders of the state.The emir, who also prayed for bumper harvest in the state, however, advised unemployed youths to engage in any useful ventures for be self-reliance and contribute to the development of the country.He also called on traders to reduce the prices of their goods in view of the economic situation in the country.I want to use this occasion to call on the traders to reduce the prices to alleviate the sufferings of the people, as we expect bumper harvest, he said.The monarch also urged Muslims to fear God in all their activities, reminding them that each and every one of them must give account of his or her deeds hereafter.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that among those that attended the prayer at the Kofar Mata Central Eid ground were; Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abdullahi Alhaji, among other top government functionaries.Also in attendance were Sen. Kabiru Gaya, Sen. Barau Jibril-Maliya, the APC National Treasurer, Alhaji Bala Gwagwarwa, members of the state Assembly and members of the Emirate Council.Traditional rulers from the 44 Local Government Areas of the state also attended the occasion.Security was tight during the prayer as armed policemen and other security personnel were deployed to various Eid grounds and other strategic places in the area to ensure peaceful occasion.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday renewed his administrations resolve to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday renewed his administrations resolve to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.I assure you that this administration, which has made security, economic well-being and prosperity of all Nigerians its priority, will not rest on its oars until we see the Nigeria of our dream, Buhari said in his Eid-el-Kabir message to Nigerians.Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara urged Nigerians to rededicate themselves to building a strong, united, economically sound and politically stable country.President Buhari said the prayers of Nigerians across religious divides energised him to rededicate himself to building a great nation. He urged Nigerians to strengthen their bonds of friendship and unity to keep the country together.Felicitating with Nigerians, particularly the Muslim faithful, on the celebration of this yearsSallah, the President congratulated Nigerians on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj rites.He said: I want to use this opportunity to thank all Nigerians who prayed for my recovery and have continued to extend their goodwill and support after my return to the country.Indeed, your fervent and sincere prayers, which cut across religious, political and ethnic divides, has energised me to re-dedicate myself and this administration to the task of building a great Nigeria.On the joyous occasion of this years Eid-El-Kabir celebration, I appeal to all Nigerians to rise against the odds, keep our prejudices aside and strengthen the bonds of friendship and unity to keep our country together.For Muslims all over the world, this celebration is to commemorate the trials and triumph of Prophet (Abraham) Ibrahim.As we celebrate, I sincerely believe that our nation can make rapid progress on all fronts if we re-enact the exemplary virtues, typified by Prophet (Abraham) Ibrahim, through his sacrifice, patience, steadfastness, generosity and obedience to Allahs command and constituted authority.We must learn to see ourselves as brothers and sisters from the same heritage, who must come to terms with the African proverb that a family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.Once again, I assure you that this administration, which has made the security, economic well-being and prosperity of all Nigerians its priority, will not rest on its oars until we see the Nigeria of our dream.In a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President urged Nigerians, irrespective of their faith, to pray for the country greater glory.He stated that the Muslim festival which falls on Jummat day (Friday) is unique as it carries a dual promise that all prayers offered during the Eid and Jummat have a double assurance of bringing Allahs blessing to Muslim faithful and their country.The statement reads: It is significant that the Eid-El-Kabir and Jummat will be celebrated in one day. This tells us that all prayers offered during this solemn day will no doubt command double mercies of Allah towards us all.Saraki called on Islamic faithful to seek Allahs grace for the peace, unity, security and economic development of the country.Saraki also enjoined Nigerians to pray for the good health of the President, Gods guidance for all in positions of authority, including the private sector.He said: This is a time we must be our brothers keeper by sharing our worldly goods with them. This is a time we must pray for our leaders, especially President Muhammadu Buhari and all those saddled with the responsibilities of leadership at all levels in our country.With prayers, I have no doubt that God will inspire and guide our leaders to initiate and sustain policies and programmes that would guarantee peace, security, economic growth, political stability and social cohesion in our nation.Saraki urged Nigerians to pray for a strong rebound of the economy, saying that the positive effects would trickle down to individual homes and help citizens to realise their goals and aspirations.He said: Therefore, I call on all our brothers and sisters, fellow Nigerians, to be law abiding and support the present administration in its bid to tackle the problems of insecurity, unemployment, corruption and underperforming economy.Dogara admonished Muslim faithful to promote unity and tolerance, which are crucial for peaceful coexistence.In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Turaki Hassan, Dogara said that Nigeria could only fulfill its great potential with the promotion of unity, peace, security and stability by the citizenry.He stressed the need to show greater respect and love for one another.The Speaker said: This is a moment for sober reflections. I enjoin you to use the period to uphold the spiritual benefit of the celebration by extending a hand of friendship and solidarity across all divides.Also imbibe the spirit of sacrifice and obedience to the higher authority as exemplified by prophet Ibrahim and upheld by Prophet Mohammed.Wishing the Muslim faithful a blessed and peaceful celebration, Dogara reiterated his call for sustained prayers for the leadership of the country at all levels.He said: This is an opportunity for us to reflect and pray for our nation, and to pray for our dear president for Gods guidance and good health.And pray for all those in leadership positions so that God in his infinite mercy will continue to guide them as they steer the affairs of the country.
The organised labour in Kogi State has unanimously rejected governments offer of half salaries to workers in the state.This development has led to a bleak sallah in the state.The workers objected to the state governments offer of fifty per cent of their salaries due to the paucity of funds in the states coffers.The labour union said its rejection of half salaries proposed by the state followed a meeting by the union and the government, which was deadlocked.In the bulletin issued at the end of the joint meeting of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and the Public Sector Joint Negotiation Council, the union stated that it was surprised that after collection of bailout fund, first and second tranches, from the London Paris Club refund and the monthly allocations, the government was still offering half salaries.The bulletin among others stated that labour unanimously rejected the proposed 50 per cent payment of salaries for the month of July, 2017, adding that any payment short of 100 per cent shall be regarded as a sallah gift to workers.The Unions therefore advised the state government to jealously guide the money at her disposal and keep it in safe custody.The organised labour also demanded for an explanation on how government arrived at 3.1bn as wage bill, even when reasonable number of workers had not been paid.Efforts to get the reaction of the governors spokesperson, Kingsley Fanwo, did not yield any result as he refused to speak on the development.When contacted via Whatsapp, he said, I am not happy with the way you reported Mr. Seguns issue.You seem to be very interested in negative news about us; I feel somehow disappointed.Also, the Kogi State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association has expressed displeasure with the payment of 50 per cent salary to its members and therefore rejected it.NMA, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Godwin Tijani, and made available to journalists on Thursday, hinted that the association was not invited to the meeting held between the state government and labour leaders where it was agreed that 50 per cent would be paid to workers.He said We only saw the news in the media this morning but we denied it as untrue, but now many of our members have gotten alert confirming the payment of 50 per cent of their salaries. Kogi doctors are not happy with that decision.As a noble and an understanding association, we expected the government to notify us of this shortfall and not be taken by surprise. I learnt those working in tertiary institutions are being paid full salary while those with Ministry and Hospital Management Board will get half salary. NMA expresses displeasure with that level of discrimination.Tijani however appealed to doctors in the state to remain calm and go about their normal activities as efforts were already in place to correct the defects noted in their salaries.
A former Governor of Oyo State and the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja has ridiculed the 21 newly coronated Obas...

A former Governor of Oyo State and the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja has ridiculed the 21 newly coronated Obas in Ibadan, describing the coronation as a theatre.

Ladoja who warned members of the State House of Assembly against being compromised when the issue is taken to the house declared that I saw what happened on Sunday in Mapo as a theatre, it is a stage play.





The former governor while addressing journalists at his Ondo Street Bodija Ibadan residence shortly after observing the Eld-Kabir prayers on Friday, disclosed that the so called Obas are being appointed by the government and not the Ibadan traditional institution.





Ladoja however said that the new Obas can be removed from the office even if they spent 15 years on the government assigned positions.





He insisted that the government does not have any power in dabbling into the traditional institution.





That is not the duty of the government to tamper with the 1959 declaration. The 1957 law was Chiefs laws. And we told them that it was Ibadan Chieftaincy Declaration of 1959. So we told them that it is not their responsibility. We are not having Olubadan of Oyo State but Olubadan of Ibadanland. Why are they bringing people from Ibarapa, Oyo and Ogbomoso to review Ibadan declaration.



That is why we are in court that it is not the responsibility of the government to review the Ibadan Chieftaincy declaration.





As you can see, the government is not interested in anything apart from the Ibadan traditional institution now.





What happened at Mapo is a theatre. It is a stage play, I saw it as a theatre as far as I am concerned. It is not important to me, I dont attach any importance to it. He said he will bribe the House of Assembly to have his way when it gets to them.





Have you ever seen a situation where an Oba will be coronated on Sunday, they said they have gone to Ipebi within three days they issue letters and coronated them on Sunday. Ibadan Obas are coronated on Friday.





I am only want to warn the legislature that they should go to back to their constituencies to know what the people that elected them want.





This is not only Ibadan matter now, it is Oyo State matter, after Ibadan, he will go to Ogbomoso, Ibarapa and Oyo. It is an issue that is not limited to Ibadan alone because he said Ago-Are is having 3 Obas, why not in Saki?





The former governor while dispelling the rumor that he also set up a commission called Adio commission of inquiry however asked the present state government to tell him when the commission was set up and where they had their sittings.









He said It is not true, I did not set up any commission called Adio commission, I did not see it as important because I was more concerned about Oyo State. I took decision and Oyo State improved in education, Oyo State came 5th during my own time in WAEC. Saki, even Fiditi has not got Oba, why do you want to change thing that is working? I want to tell you that I did not set up Adio commission, if Adio is alive, tell me which day he was inaugurated and where they sat.





You dont get it now, the Local Government election is not conducted because there is a court case, the house of chiefs has been suspended because there is a court case, are you saying that there is no court case on this issue, we have went to the court, if you take advantage of the court, you should also take the disadvantage of the court.





Let us wait, if they influence the local court, they cannot influence the upper court. Even an Oba that has spent 15 years can be removed, so they can be removed.





Nobody is talking about how LAUTECH will get its shape, how many people are choosing LAUTECH in JAMB?, they are going to UNILORIN that is about 30 kilometres from Ogbomoso.





Speaking on why he is the only one among members of the Olubadan-In-Council against the review set up by the Governor Abiola Ajimobi led administration, Ladoja posited that most of the people supporting the review including the new Obas could not differenciate between the governor and the holder of the office.





I dont know because I am not one of those who opted out, what faces somebody is backing another person. Some people could not differentiate between the governor and the holder of the office. Maybe they are doing solidarity for Ibadan boy. When Akala said he want to make some Baales as Obas, the whole Ibadan rose against it.





Ladoja speaking further, remarked that the whole exercise was a fraudulent activity.





They said recommendation 4, where is 1 and 3. There is also recommendation 12, where is 13 to 98. This government, you can see that the government report is fraudulent. When they started they said it was 1957 and I told them the 1957 was Chiefs Laws, and now they are saying 1959, you can see that the government is inconsistent





I told you that the government is fraudulent, I see this as illegal, there is no time that I tell them that what they are doing is right. Not a member of the commission has a copy, they signed two and the government took them away. Nobody has a copy of the white paper.





Let me tell you that I dont have any issue with Ajimobi as a person, I have issue with the government. Ajimobi is my younger brother but I have issue with the government. When I started, I said I want to become Olubadan and not Oba Otun Olubadan or Oba Osi Olubadan.




The Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) rejected the plea of the governors of the Southeast zone of Nigeria during a meeti...

The Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) rejected the plea of the governors of the Southeast zone of Nigeria during a meeting between the pro-Biafra group and the politicians.

The closed door meeting held at the Enugu Government House where the governors attempted to convince Kanu to drop his agitation for Biafra but failed. According to reports, the meeting also failed to stop his threat against the November 18 governorship election in Anambra state.





The governors had invited Kanu to discuss issues concerning the alleged violation of his bail conditions for which the Federal Government had asked an Abuja High court to issue an order to re-arrest him. They pleaded he talks to his supporters to relapse on IPOB pursuit.





At the meeting, Kanu is quoted to have said, 'these are the people that sent me. I didn't send myself. If you leaders genuinely love this land and her people, you will not call these people my supporters but our supporters. They are pursuing the most sacred cause in life. That is freedom! You don't kill people who are begging for breathe and life. It is sacrilegious but you have done such. Biafrans want freedom which is life'.




The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Embassy of Holy See Vatican, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi, has pledged Vaticans support for the anti-corr...

The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Embassy of Holy See Vatican, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi, has pledged Vaticans support for the anti-corruption crusade and development of education sector in Nigeria.





Fillpazzi made this remark on Thursday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama.





According to him, Pope Francis was interested in assisting the country to address its social economic problem and the challenge of irregular migrants to Europe.





Hs words, In the past and in the present, the Catholic has been part of development in education and social economic development and we wish to continue.

There is no intention to withdraw in this commitment because it is part of our faith and our religion.

As it is indicated by the president and the diplomatic community, I think that the Catholic Church can do a lot, especially in addressing the problem which sometimes comes from lack of education and information.

The church will be preaching the gospel and also do orientation to the society, to be an example and solution to the problem of corruption.

Pope Francis is interested in what corruption is and how to address the challenge, he said.

He pledged to contribute to the development and enhance the progress of Nigeria as well as making meaningful impact in the lives of Nigerians before the end of his official assignment.





Speaking earlier, Onyeama commended and solicited for the continued support of the Vatican for Nigeria.

We appreciate the good work that the Vatican is carrying out in various fields in Nigeria, especially in education and social economic and religious, so we look very much forward for you to continue.

Though, we should not rely on Vatican to solve our challenge but we certainly look forward to increasing cooperation from the Vatican, he said.
To demonstrate good neighbourliness and love, a Kaduna-based Cleric, Yohanna Buru, has given gifts to over 1,000 Muslim inmates, destitute, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and street beggars.Buru, the General Overseer of Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Fellowship, said the gesture was to assist and make them happy in the spirit of Sallah.He donated some items to the inmates which included soft drinks and toiletries, saying it was a way of encouraging underprivileged Muslims to partake in the Sallah festivities.Buru advised good citizens in the country to always help the underprivileged in the society anytime the opportunity presented itself.He also appealed to wealthy individuals to remember the needy on occasions like Sallah to attract Gods blessings.We, as Christian leaders, we share whatever we have on special days like this because we are from one family.Our Bible teaches us to assist the less-privileged and the needy in the society, he said.Buru stressed the need to straighten relationship between Muslims and Christians in the country, saying: we are brothers and sisters and we must be united and live as one.Receiving the items at a destitute home on Kano Road, Muntari Saleh, the Public Relations Officer of Northern Blind Forum expressed satisfaction for the kind gesture.Muntari showered prayers on the pastor, asking God to continue to bless him.No one remembers us today as the world is celebrating Eid-il-Kabir, only our neighbours, the Christians, he said.Muntari called on other religious leaders to emulate the example of Buru.
The wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has felicitated with Nigerians for witnessing this years sallah celebration.The First Lady, in her tweeter handle, thanked Nigerians for their continued prayers and support to President Muhammadu Buharis administration. On this day of Eid Adha, I join all Nigerians in thanking God for the blessings he has bestowed on our country. I also pray for Nigeria to witness more development in the months and years to come, she tweeted.The eid al-adha is the 10th month of Dhul Hijjah of the Islamic Calendar equivalent to 1st day of September of the Gregorian Calendar. It is a holy time for sacrifice and generosity to friends, family and the needy.Muslims honour the Eid al-Adha as the time when Prophet Ibrahim known as Abraham to Jews and Christians was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac.Instead, Abraham was ordered by God to slaughter an animal (ram) instead.The eid adha (slaughtering of ram) symbolises Prophet Ibrahims devotion to Allah.The period also marks the end of Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
A young woman identified as Blessing Ohare Ukhurebor has burnt her 36-year-old boyfriend, John Emeka Obodoechina to death in Lagos.

A young woman identified as Blessing Ohare Ukhurebor has burnt her 36-year-old boyfriend, John Emeka Obodoechina to death in Lagos.

Blessing reportedly poured fuel and lit the match on John while he was asleep simply because he decided to quit the relationship due to her violent nature.





Daily Sun reported that John and Blessing had dated for over a year, before she moved in with him.





John was said to have told Blessing of his intentions to meet with her family, but the meeting was suspended after their relationship got a bit messy.





It was gathered that at the slightest misunderstanding, the girl would lock the door, pull a kitchen knife and threaten to stab John to death.





Speaking to the newspaper after the incident, Johns elder brother, Chief Obodoechina snr, explained that John informed him about how he met Blessing in his office and had been helping her in the business she was doing.

He said, After about three months, Blessing started taking some of her belongings into Johns place.

At that time Blessing did not know whether anyone was Johns sister or colleague in the office, so any calls from a female caller was seen as a taboo.

That was when John started introducing Blessing to his sisters and colleagues. But when all that also failed to guarantee peace, John felt that marriage between Blessing and himself might be disastrous, so he decided to end the relationship.

He, therefore, informed Blessing that both of them should part ways in peace. But Blessing, apparently didnt like the idea.

There was a day John came to my house at an odd hour and complained bitterly about Blessing. I advised him that if they were not compatible, they should go their separate ways before something dreadful would happen.

According to the report, when John could not stand the relationship anymore, he reportedly told Blessing to relocate elsewhere and gave her N100,000 to rent an apartment.





When she got the money from John to help her secure an apartment, she got angry and set John ablaze which also resulted to her own death.





Johns sister, Angela Ibrahim, who lives in Badagry, said that morning, she was invited to Johns office by the management of the African Fertilizer & Chemicals (Big) Ltd in Agbara, Ogun State.

She said, There, I was told that Blessing Ohare Ukhurebor, a girl from Edo State, who John had wanted to marry, burnt him alive.

I could not understand that because it was not up to four days that the girl left my house and did not show any signs of an impending violence.

That was when I started calling my brothers. When we got to Johns house, we saw John bent on the bed, totally burnt.

There was no electricity and the gas cooker in the kitchen was not affected. The two phones were there.

There were no signs that the gas cooker or phone caused the fire. It was only John and the area he was sleeping that was burnt.

The neighbours that we met told us that some people had taken Blessing out, as she was also affected. But they said she was not dead.

The neighbours went and reported the incident to the Baale of the area who ordered some of the palace chiefs and Johns neighbours to report the incident to the police.

On getting to the Police Station in Agbara, the police said they could not do anything unless a relation of the deceased was around.

When my brothers came, initially they could not hold themselves to follow the processes of investigation.

After some logistics and protocols at the police station, the corpse was taken to the Badagry General Hospital for preservation in the morgue.

All our efforts to get to see Blessing to know how she was affected and find out what happened were rebuffed by Blessings uncle who was rather threatening us.

A few days after Johns interment, we got a call from the same Blessings uncle, telling us that Blessing had also died.
A new musical series from Princeton's Damien Chazelle is headed to Netflix.

Called "The Eddy," the eight-part series, which first started getting buzz in April, is set in modern-day Paris and will be filmed in France. Netflix announced the series on Friday, saying Chazelle, who serves as executive producer, would direct two episodes.

This year, Chazelle, 32, became the youngest person to win the Oscar for best director for "La La Land," a movie musical and love story starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling that basks in the crowded freeways, dreamy sunsets and Hollywood hopefuls of Los Angeles. In the film, Gosling fulfills his ultimate dream of opening a jazz club. "The Eddy" will follow a Paris club, its owner and house band.

Chazelle's father, Bernard Chazelle, a computer science professor at Princeton University, is from France. One of the director's greatest inspirations is Jacques Demy film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and films from the French New Wave. In the statement from Netflix, Chazelle said he's always wanted to film in Paris.

The director started his career with the 2009 film "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," starring a romance between a jazz trumpeter and a graduate student in Boston, and made his first big splash with the Oscar-nominated "Whiplash," a harrowing tale partly inspired by his days as a jazz drummer at Princeton High School. In 2015, J.K. Simmons won an Oscar for his portrayal of Chazelle's unforgiving music conservatory taskmaster.

Jack Thorne ("This is England") serves as writer for "The Eddy," described as a musical drama. Series dialogue will manifest in French, Arabic and English, Netflix says, with Alan Poul ("Six Feet Under") serving as another executive producer. Glen Ballard, who worked with Alanis Morissette on "Jagged Little Pill" and Michael Jackson on "Bad," will write the music for the series.

The "La La Land" director is also working on "First Man," for which he will again direct Ryan Gosling, who will play Neil Armstrong in a movie based on the 2005 James Hansen book of the same name. The project will reportedly start production in November.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
Red White & Que Smokehouse started as a humble hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint in Kearny last year.

It's about to go nationwide.

Watch out, Famous Dave's.

Red White & Que, named by nj.com as "New Jersey's best BBQ newcomer'' in May 2016 and the state's best BBQ joint by Thrillist later that year, plans to have 55 locations, many in New Jersey, by the end of 2019.

Seven are open -- Kearny, Scotch Plains, Randolph, Manahawkin, Barnegat, Little Egg Harbor and Easton, Pa. A RWQ in Carteret is scheduled to open next spring. Locations in Ohio and New York are being scouted.

"We're looking all over (in New Jersey),'' says co-owner Katie Misuraca. "Lawrenceville, Springfield, Raritan (Township). We would like to be in Monmouth County. I'm from Monmouth County. My mom would be happy.''

"We want to be the go-to barbecue place in New Jersey,'' says co-owner Dan Misuraca, Katie's husband.

According to one estimate, 60 percent of new restaurants don't last beyond three years. Red White & Que seems well ahead of the curve.

"We want to plant our flag in California,'' Dan Misuraca says of the Brentwood, Cal. RWQ location set to open this year. The son of one of his investors/co-owners lives there.

The "flag'' reference also fits because Misuraca is a Marine veteran, one who wants Red White & Que to be N.J.'s BBQ go-to and help veterans along the way. RWQ hosts pig roasts where veterans eat free thanks to customer donations to RWQ's "Buy a Vet a Meal'' program. About 15 full-time employees are vets; John Easterday started as a dishwasher in Kearny and is now the pit master at the Scotch Plains RWQ.

RWQ's staff of 150 know what is uppermost -- that barbecue "takes discipline,'' according to Katie. "You can't make a mistake.''



"When those briskets are coming off, you have to be here at 6 a.m,'' Dan adds.

They met over shoes. Dan was a district manager for Journeys footwear store in Manhattan; Katie worked for the retailer at several Jersey malls, then moved to the chain's 14th street store.

After Hurricane Sandy hit, she and other 14th Street staffers were sent to help at the 34th Street store, where Dan was based. They hit it off. She bought him a smoker as a housewarming gift for their new home. He started cooking 'cue at parties, and soaked up smoker knowledge online.

The turning point came when Dan hosted a five-day reunion with his Marine buddies at his home, a festive party/BBQ hoedown that involved three roast pigs.

"I told Katie, we throw really good parties, we cook for a lot of people, why can't we open a little barbecue place?'' Dan recalled.

The Kearny RWQ opened in February, 2016. The Scotch Plains RWQ, in the former Jimmy Buff's on Route 22, opened in January of this year. Accolades followed. Guy Fieri "discovered'' RWQ; the BBQ joint will appear on "Guy's Big Project,'' a Food Network show, this fall.

RWQ's meteoric growth is due in large part to Group One Investments, whose principals, Ed Danberry and Ron DeLucia, are RWQ co-owners. Group One has partnered with OTG to provide warehousing, delivery and construction at five airports, including Newark Liberty International.

"He came in one day, said, 'I love what you're doing; do you want to open a lot of these?' '' Dan Misuraca said of Danberry.

What RWQ is doing is good barbecue, in an amalgam of regional styles. Texas-style brisket. St. Louis cut dry-rubbed ribs. Carolina pulled pork. The sauces include Sweet Que, pepper vinegar, mustard vinegar, Alabama White (mayo and vinegar), pepper espresso and Devil Dog's Spit, a spicy BBQ sauce.

The vinegar coleslaw and country style potato salad are based on a recipe from Dan's Aunt Neddy. The mac and cheese is Katie's; Dan claims the collards.

RWQ locations also are a hodgepodge. Kearny remains a hole-in-the-wall. Little Egg Harbor and Manahawkin are takeout only. Barnegat, with a seating capacity of 60 and long communal tables, "is our first real version of a chow hall,'' says Katie Misuraca. It's in the former Shore Fire Grille location.

Service flags adorn the wall of the Barnegat RWQ; a 48-star American flag Katie found at the Columbus Farmers Market stretches across another wall.

So where does RWQ see itself in five years?

"Nationwide chain,'' Dan replies quickly.

"But we want people to know it will still be us (as owners),'' says Katie, emphasizing RWQ will not be franchised. "We'll always be mom-and-pop.''

Peter Genovese may be reached at pgenovese@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteGenovese or via The Munchmobile @NJ_Munchmobile. Find the Munchmobile on Facebook and Instagram.
NEWARK -- Clergy leaders on Thursday denounced what they called a culture of political interference permeating Essex County College, as well as threatening its accreditation and ability to stay open.

"The social conditions at this college are causing students and faculty to live in an earthly hell," the Rev. Ronald L. Slaughter, pastor at Saint James AME Church in Newark, said at a press conference. "It's ridiculous that we are trying to get over the low hurdle of keeping accreditation."

The outcry comes a day before the school must show its accrediting agency how far it's come since a series of high-profile firings and financial probes rocked the college over the past year.

Faith leaders from across the county said administrators and college trustees put in place by Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., were standing in the way of reforms pushed by college President Anthony Munroe, who was unanimously appointed by the board in May.

At the press conference and at a Board of Trustees meeting afterward, the clergymen demanded the resignations of the entire board and of Joyce Wilson Harley, the college's vice president of administration and finance. They also called upon the state Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the institution's finances.

"Many of you have to go," Bishop Jethro James, Jr., of Paradise Baptist Church in Newark, told the board. "Your alliance and allegiance is not to this community. It is not to the people that we serve, but it is to a political boss."

DiVincenzo said in a statement that he believes in the board of trustees and in Munroe, whom he said he has met with to talk about resources the college needs.

"Although I nominate members to the board of trustees, I have never interfered with college business. ... This is a landmark institution that has nurtured the American Dream for generations of students," DiVincenzo said. "It cannot and will not fail."

Fighting to keep accreditation

The board unanimously adopted a monitoring report due Friday to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which accredits area colleges. The commission will then send investigators to the college to verify what's in the report.

The school, which serves about 15,000 mostly black and Latino students, has to prove it is meeting three accreditation standards: institutional resources, leadership and governance, and student admission and retention.

Colleges rarely lose accreditation, which comes with the loss of federal student aid. Essex County College students received more than 8,000 federal Pell grants for low-income students in the 2014-15 school year. If the students lose federal aid, the school likely would have to shut its doors.

Trustee Safanya Searcy at the meeting stressed Middle States had put the college on warning, and not on probation.

"When an institution is placed on warning, a commission typically does so because they believe that while we may not necessarily be in compliance, there is, in fact, some sort of evidence that shows we can, indeed, become compliant," she said.

Lack of a CFO

Board members also raised concerns about the college's lack of a chief financial officer, after Munroe's pick for the position, John Parker, was rejected in a 5-4 vote earlier this month.

Bibi Taylor, the board's president, has said some trustees were concerned about Parker's experience and credentials. She said Thursday the board had an obligation to promote from within and to choose an Essex County resident if there were a qualified candidate.

Thomas McDermott, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie, said he expects someone to fill the CFO position in either a temporary or a permanent capacity before Middle States investigators arrive on campus in October.

"I think Dr. Munroe ... is moving along very quickly," McDermott said. "The recommendation, I'm hoping, will come forward in our September meeting so we get this behind us and move forward and get us on a financial road that's successful."

Wilson Harley, who previously raised concerns about Munroe's hiring practices, took the microphone from the audience to say she had interviewed Parker and found him unworthy of the job.

"I gave very clear and very pungent reasons why that person was not fit to serve here at ECC," Harley said. "The search has been open again. ... I look forward to seeing the candidates that come forth now."

Harley had alleged Munroe changed the job description for CFO to drop a requirement that he be a certified public accountant and to make it so he would report directly to Munroe, instead of to her, in opposition to the language in the board-approved job description.

Munroe closed the meeting by reading a statement saying he did not come to Newark from Chicago, where his wife and two children still live, to let Essex County College fail. He acknowledged the school faces serious challenges and said he was working on long-term solutions.

"You hired me to do a job," Munroe said. "Allow me to do my job."

The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Sept. 19.

Staff reporter Karen Yi contributed to this report.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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DES MOINES | A total of 11 soldiers and two CH-47F Chinook helicopters from the Iowa Army National Guard were deployed Friday.

They will be sent to the Houston, Texas, area to support response operations for Hurricane Harvey in consultation with Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The Iowa team was comprised of seven soldiers from Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division in Boone; one soldier from Detachment 1, Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion in Davenport; one soldier from Company C, 2-147th Aviation in Boone; and one soldier from the 671st Troop Command in Johnston, according to Guard officials.

The aircraft and crew members will be utilized to move supplies, equipment and people. The state of Texas requested this support from Iowa.

Support is provided under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement between all 50 states, two territories and Washington, D.C., to assist one another in times of crisis.
NEWARK -- The scene last week sounded all too familiar -- a large group of people in Newark all simultaneously falling ill. The culprit, police say, was another batch of K2, also known as synthetic marijuana. For at least the second time this year, at least 10 people were sickened by a potent round of the drug making its way around the city.

Local authorities say they are attacking the issue, announcing Friday morning 13 arrests made during a continuing probe into last week's K2 incident.

"This is an ongoing investigation," Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said of the arrests, which he said were made through a concentrated joint effort between the police department and Essex County Prosecutor's Narcotics Task Force.

"Through our combined efforts with our law enforcement partners, we are making significant progress in identifying those responsible for the manufacture and distribution of K2 in our city."

Over the past three weeks, Ambrose said the following people had been arrested in connection with the incident:

Newark residents Hans Vincent, 39, on possession and intent to distribute charges, and Evandrea Johnson, 30, and Kadeem Robinson, 26, on possession of K2 charges, were all arrested near Market Street and Raymond Plaza East.

On Park Place, Brett Morris, 30, Howard Wighams, 37, and Noble Harris, 36, all of Newark, on distribution and other drug-related charges

Ian Shipman, 22, and Sharon Hall, 31, both of Newark, on distribution and other drug charges, and Victor Raymonds, 28, of Newark, on possession of K2 charges

Four other people were arrested on drug charges not related to K2 during the course of the operation.

On Aug. 21, police said at least 10 people spread in various locations across the city had been sickened by K2. In April, more than three dozen were. Several arrests were made after the April incident, as well.

According to the CDC, synthetic marijuana is not marijuana at all, but plant material sprayed with laboratory-produced chemicals.

New Jersey was the fourth state in the nation to ban synthetic marijuana in 2012, but authorities warn its many varieties remain widely available.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
SIOUX CITY | Three men who conspired to distribute methamphetamine were sentenced Aug. 30 to 16 1/2, 15 and 11 1/2 years in federal prison.

Soon Phatdouang, 44; Touy Khamsai, 42 and Van Khamsai, 42, all of Webster City, received the prison terms after their guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute meth.

Van and Phatdouang also pleading guilty to a possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime count. Touy pleaded guilty to a second count of distribution of meth, and agreed to a sentencing enhancement for possession of a firearm while distributing meth.

At the guilty plea, each admitted to their involvement in a conspiracy that distributed meth in the Webster City area.

On a number of occasions in the fall of 2016, Phatdouang, Van and Touy distributed and aided and abetted each other in the distribution of meth in controlled drug transactions with law enforcement.

During a number of search warrants executed at the residences of Phatdouang, V. and T. Khamsai in Webster City on Dec. 1, 2016, law enforcement officers seized approximately 26 pounds of meth, 30 pounds of marijuana, over $67,000 cash and 11 firearms.

Each were sentenced in Sioux City by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand.

Phatdouang was sentenced to 200 months in prison; V. Khamsai, 180 months in prison and T. Khamsai, 140 months in prison. A special assessment of $200 was imposed for each.

T. Khamsai must also serve a four-year term of supervised release; and Phatdouang and V. Khamsai must each serve a five-year term of supervised release after their respective prison terms. There is no parole in the federal system.

Each are being held in the U.S. Marshals custody until they can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and was investigated by the Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, Hamilton County Sheriffs Department, Webster County Sheriffs Department and Webster City Police Department, Fort Dodge Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.
BRITT | The city of Britt is considering legal action against a Mason City-based asbestos and mold removal contractor for what it says is a costly mistake.

Thats what the city council discussed with City Attorney Earl Hill Thursday, Aug. 24, during a special meeting.

I think our main question for you, Earl, was whats our recourse? said Mayor Ryan Arndorfer. We dont want to pay two people for the job.

Earlier this summer, the city of Britt hired Jeff Bergo, owner of Bergo Environmental Enterprises in Mason City, to test and remove asbestos for $970 and $1,675, respectively, at the former hotel and greenhouse property along U.S. Highway 18 in preparation for a new commercial park.

After Bergo notified the city that the asbestos had been removed from the site, the council approved a nearly $20,000 contract with Bill Deibler Excavating of Garner in late June to demolish the building and remove trees on the site.

But progress on the demolition was halted in July after officials with the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement found asbestos on the site following its visit during the citys hosting of RAGBRAI on July 25.

They took some more samples and there was more asbestos, so now everything is considered contaminated at this point because its all in a pile, said Shell Anderson, city clerk/administrator, Aug. 15, while she presented the council with a bid to remove the remaining debris  a bid that was more than 20 times what the city paid Bergo initially.

At the meeting, the city council tabled hiring another licensed contractor to remove the debris until receiving legal advice about Bergo and agreed to add the item to its agenda for the Aug. 24 special meeting.

During the special meeting, Hill asked the council for permission to discuss the topic with a Des Moines attorney. The council gave him the go-ahead.

We want to know what our options are before we agree to any of these proposals, said Mike Ostercamp, city councilor. We want to know if we can go back on Bergo, on his bonders insurance.

Hill said thats something the city can discuss with his friend in Des Moines, if interested.

Arndorfer said hed like to see the issue with Bergo resolved but hed also like to see progress made on the nearly $1 million commercial park project, including the installation of a road, yet this fall.

I dont want to leave that sitting looking like it is forever until this is all figured out, he said. Regardless of whether we get something from Bergo and its insurance or not, were still going to have to pay to have the work done.

Several council members pointed out that the city has hired Bergo in the past for work on the former bank and Ben Franklin buildings on Main Avenue and there were no issues then.

Everybody makes mistakes, Hill said.

Councilor Curt Gast said, Its a costly one.

Bergo said Wednesday in a phone interview with the Globe Gazette that he removed the asbestos he found in doing his 25 to 30 samples earlier this summer.

There was hidden asbestos, he added.

Arndorfer said the city couldnt hire Bergo to return and complete the work because his license had been revoked, but Jens Nissen, Iowa OSHA administrator, said Friday, Aug. 25, that although citations were issued on Aug. 11 against Bergo Environmental Enterprises in relation to the old motel project in Britt, it remains a licensed contractor.

Just because a contractor may get a citation doesnt automatically lead to the revocation of their license, Nissen said.

Anderson said the city received two quotes, one from Site Services Inc. of Algona and another from ECCO Midwest Inc. of Cedar Rapids, for the removal of the asbestos-contaminated debris.

The council unanimously approved hiring ECCO Midwest for $45,550, and requested they start as soon as they can.

Will you get them here as soon as possible? Arndorfer asked the city clerk/administrator.

Anderson said Wednesday that ECCO Midwest is required to submit a notice to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which takes about two weeks, before work can continue. The new contractor submitted its notice on Monday.

After ECCO Midwest completes the debris removal, Deibler will return to the site to remove the trees and fill the hole.

A bid opening for the Burgardt Commercial Park road construction project will take place at 11 a.m. on Sept. 14, and a public hearing regarding the projects proposed plans, specifications, contracts and cost estimates will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at City Hall.
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BRITT | A Britt man accused of distributing meth and marijuana in North Iowa has been charged with a number of drug-related offenses.

Robert Awbohakieem Yarbrough, 34, was booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail Friday and is being held on a $150,000 bond.

He has been charged with:

 Ongoing criminal conduct  unlawful activity.

 Controlled substance violation, three counts.

 Failure to affix drug stamp.

 Possession of controlled substance  marijuana, first offense.

Law enforcement say Yarbrough has been a target in an investigation in 2016 and 2017 regarding the distribution of methamphetamine and marijuana, according to court documents.

While conducting surveillance, law enforcement said in court documents Yarbrough acquired meth in Iowa and Minnesota to sell to local customers in December 2016 through May 2017.

Yarbrough, who was charged with meth-related offenses in March and December 2016, was stopped and arrested for a traffic violation in Hancock County in March 2017.

A Hancock County deputy said Yarbrough had a meth pipe in his pocket, according to the criminal complaint, and a K-9 alerted to a presence of controlled substance in his vehicle. A search of the vehicle yielded marijuana, the complaint said.

Upon booking at the jail, Yarbrough told officers he had three bags of meth totaling 13.1 grams concealed on his body, the complaint said, and he later told law enforcement he was selling meth to make money.

A search warrant in May 2017 at a residence identified as a "stash" house for Yarbroughs meth yielded more than four grams of meth and more than two grams of marijuana, law enforcement said in the criminal complaint. Officers also say they recovered plastic baggies, digital scales and drug paraphernalia at the home.

In total, law enforcement in criminal complaints said they recovered more than 20 grams of meth from Yarbrough on three separate occasions throughout five months, and believe several more grams were sold during the investigation.

Yarbrough has a hearing scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Sept. 11 in Hancock County District Court.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)  Survivors of Hurricane Ian face a long emotional road to recover from one of the most damaging storms to hit the U.S. mainland. For those who lost everything to disaster, the anguish can be crushing to return home to find so much gone. Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair. The Lee County medical examiner says two men in their 70s even took their own lives a day apart after viewing their losses. Experts say suicides climb after disasters and more funding for mental health should be provided as climate change makes storms and fires more frequent and devastating.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man was arrested after eluding police Thursday afternoon.

King Allah James, 27, is accused of failing to stop for the Iowa State Patrol on Interstate 35 and continuing on until stopped at Highway 122 and Lark Avenue.

James claimed he knew he had existing warrants and was trying to drive to the jail, according to court documents.

James was driving a black 1996 Chevrolet Suburban southbound on Interstate 35 when a state trooper attempted to stop the vehicle for no registration around 12:30 p.m., court documents said.

I changed lanes from the outside to inside lane, pulling up alongside the defendant to show him a fully-marked Iowa State Patrol vehicle with lights and sirens on near the 200 mile marker, the trooper wrote in the criminal complaint.

The trooper said James continued south, taking the off-ramp at the 194 mile marker.

He eventually stopped as he was approaching Cerro Gordo County deputies who had stop sticks in place at Highway 122 and Lark Avenue, according to the criminal complaint.

The defendant admitted to me after Miranda warning that he didn't stop because he knew he had warrants and he wanted to drive to jail, the trooper wrote in court documents.

The criminal complaint says James is also accused of failing to yield to an emergency vehicle on the interstate, passing vehicles on the right shoulder and going through a red light at Willow Creek Court.

In addition to eluding law enforcement, James was charged with:

 Driving while barred.

 Driving while license suspended.

 Operation without registration.

 Failure to provide proof of financial liability.

 Improper overtaking on the right.

 Vehicle failure to respond to steady red light.

James is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail. A hold has been placed for a terroristic threats charge from Blue Earth County in Minnesota.

A court date hasn't been set for the Cerro Gordo County charges.
To Harvey's rescuers: Thank you, thank you, thank you | Opinion
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
The study looks at two smaller-scale projects that are in some ways predecessors to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the $2 billion plan to slow land loss erasing Louisiana's coast. Construction on that project could begin as early as next year, while a similar one on the opposite side of the river known as the Mid-Breton Diversion could follow.
MASON CITY | The Cerro Gordo County Free Health Care Clinic is teaming up with area organizations to help those in need of dental care.

The Free Clinic is sponsoring two round-trip bus rides to Cedar Rapids for free dental clinics on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30. The clinics are part of the Iowa Mission of Mercy program in Cedar Rapids.

No appointments are necessary but treatment is on a first come, first serve basis. Many dental services are available, but bridges, crowns, implants or dentures are not available. There are no income limitations.

Those interested must reserve a bus seat at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health at Mohawk Square, 22 N. Georgia Ave. A $5 refundable deposit is required.

Public Health is open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The deadline to reserve a seat is Friday, Sept. 15.

The bus will board at the north side of Shopko parking lot, leave at 1:30 a.m. and arrive in Cedar Rapids at 4 a.m.

Passengers will then need to get in line. The clinic opens at 6 a.m.

The bus returns to Mason City when all riders have been seen by a dentist.

More information is available at 641-421-9300.
A lawsuit recently was filed in Kansas City, Missouri, against Vickie Murillo, the new superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community School District.

Murillo, a former administrator in the Kansas City Public Schools, is accused in the lawsuit of misusing district funds and discriminating against a high school principal, according to The Kansas City Star, which first reported on the lawsuit.

The Star reported that the suit alleges Murillo retaliated against the principal for blowing the whistle on alleged illegal activity. The civil suit, filed last week in Jackson County Circuit Court, seeks more than $75,000 in damages from Murillo, the Kansas City Public Schools and Mary Laffey, a district employee.

Murillo told The Nonpareil in an interview Friday that she is being represented by the Kansas City school district, but shes considering the possibility of her own legal counsel in the future.

She said shes limited in the response she can offer. Kansas City school officials issued a statement to The Star saying the district doesnt comment on active litigation. In her statement to The Star, Murillo said, I am confident in the ability of the Kansas City Public Schools to defend this case. The lawsuit is completely without merit.

The lawsuit is being brought by Thomas Herrera, a former Kansas City principal. A copy of the complaint was not immediately available Friday from Missouris online court records, so The Nonpareil couldnt independently verify its contents.

Murillo told The Nonpareil in an interview she has yet to be served in the suit. A case management conference is set for Dec. 18, according to online court records, suggesting that the lawsuit might take a long time to be resolved in court.

Murillo said shes committed to moving the Council Bluffs district forward. She said the Council Bluffs district operations will be run above-board.

The Star reported that Murillo is accused of misusing Kansas City district funds. The Star reported that, in a civil rights complaint, Herrera said Murillo made personal purchases on Herreras school district credit card. Herrera said he was reassigned, and he said that Murillo, his supervisor, engaged in harassment, discrimination and retaliation.

Its his side of the story, Murillo said of the allegations. I look forward to the day where I can share my story.

She said she did not come to Council Bluffs because of any situation in Kansas City. The school board did not disclose other finalists when Murillo was selected, and Murillo had been asked to reapply for her Kansas City position  which she said was because the role had been changed, and she was encouraged to remain with the Kansas City schools.

Murillo said she was ready to take on a superintendency. In addition to other factors, she said she actually retired from Kansas City, and she now draws a retirement check from the school district.

Troy Arthur, the president of the Council Bluffs school board, issued a statement in support of the districts new hire, which a spokeswoman provided to The Nonpareil as other board members were being notified.

We fully expect a positive resolution to this matter, Arthur said. Since Dr. Murillo has arrived in Council Bluffs, she has proven to be the competent and capable leader we thought she would be. She has engaged the community and staff, and we are excited for the future of our schools.
Shawn Burgstrom has filed nomination papers for Council Bluffs mayor, bringing to three the number of candidates seeking the citys highest elected position.

Mayor Matt Walsh, currently ending his first term as mayor, announced early on he would seek a second term. Pottawattamie County Supervisor Scott Belt, who served several terms on the City Council before being elected supervisor, has also announced his bid for the mayors office.

Burgstrom is a Council Bluffs native and graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. He attended Iowa Western Community College after high school, then joined the Navy, where he spent four years as a submariner. He is currently employed by Regency Homes.

Burgstrom said the primary concern hes heard from Council Bluffs residents is the cost of housing.

We dont have a good stock of affordable housing. Rental housing is a problem Ive heard a lot of concerns about, he said. Theres not enough, and because of the shortage rental prices are up.

Because of the high demand and the shortage of rental properties, Burgstrom thinks there is a need to beef up the citys rental inspection program to be certain that rental units comply with all code requirements.

Burgstrom said hes also heard concerns from many residents regarding the reconstruction and beautification of West Broadway from 16th Street west to 36th Street.

A lot of people are uneasy about the medians, he said. They are not certain what will happen in the future  how it will impact access to businesses.

Burgstrom said he also thinks Council Bluffs anti-cruising ordinance has negatively impacted restaurants along West Broadway. He said the red light cameras installed have negatively impacted drivers who might otherwise do business with businesses located on the West Broadway corridor.

The red light cameras are unconstitutional and need to come down, he said.

Burgstrom said he has developed a plan to put businesses back into the Mall of the Bluffs.

He said his plan calls for the city to purchase the mall and sell spaces within the building to businesses. Business owners would be responsible for upkeep and repair of their buildings, but the city would be responsible for the walkways within the mall and for the parking areas.

Asked how he would fund purchase of the mall, Burgstrom said the $8 million asking price is too high and could be negotiated down. He also said the Iowa West Foundation might be willing to help fund the purchase.

Burgstrom said he envisions South 16th Street as a manufacturing and warehouse district.

Amazon, for example, has warehouses all over the country, he said. Why shouldnt one of them be located in Council Bluffs?

The addition of Burgstrom to the list of candidates  which as of Thursday evening is fixed  seeking the mayors office means there will be a primary on Oct. 10 that will reduce the number of mayoral candidates on the Nov. 7 city election ballot to two.
A Glendale, Wisconsin, man was apprehended by Pottawattamie County Sheriffs deputies Wednesday morning after they reportedly found 91 pounds of marijuana in his car, authorities said.

Gabriel Swisher, 21, faces a charge of possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

According to the sheriffs office, Swisher was pulled over for allegedly speeding at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 80. The deputy had his K-9 sniff the exterior of the car, which indicated there were narcotics within.

Swisher was given a warning for speeding and asked if deputies could search the vehicle. He refused, the report stated.

The K-9 sniffed out probable cause, and deputies searched the vehicle, finding numerous vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana. In total, 91 pounds of pot was seized.

Swisher posted bond of $5,000 later that morning.
The Iowa Western Community College Board of Directors honored five employees at its August meeting.

The Living the Mission award is given to employees that best exemplify the mission of Iowa Western Community College, according to a summary from Iowa Western. The purpose of these awards is to recognize employees for exemplary performance that best represents Iowa Westerns Core Values.

Patty McAfee, secretary of the Fine Arts and Humanities Division for 15 years, was presented the Living Our Mission Award in the Caring category.

Not only does she go above and beyond in her work duties, accomplishing tasks early and with self-direction, she offers empathy for her colleagues and for students navigating life challenges, her nomination stated. She is often the first to offer support, selflessly, whether for celebration or condolence.

McAfee is often the first person new faculty and students talk to on campus, according to the nomination.

She ensures that every individual who makes contact with her feels welcome and supported in his or her experience at Iowa Western, it stated. Earlier this year, in an effort to boost morale, a faculty member posted a board in the Stuart Hall break room. The board asked colleagues to write down what they are thankful for. The most common recorded response? Patty.

Diane Osbahr, director of college services, received the Living Our Mission Award in the Commitment category. She is an Iowa Western Alum who has worked at the college for 27 years.

She has chaired many committees, from the 50th Anniversary Planning Committee to Strategic Planning and works with vendors to secure their support for Black Tie sponsorships, her nomination stated. She volunteers countless hours to alumni activities and attending student events.

Barb Godden, dean of institutional research and accreditation, was recognized with the Living Our Mission Award in the Challenge category.

She is the colleges leading strategic planner and primary designer, her nomination stated. She manages and leads the accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission and works many long hours to be sure that deadlines are met. When she does something, it is done right with no errors  she hates errors.

Clint Meyer, instructor of diesel technology, was honored with the Presidents Outstanding Service Award. He is a 1996 graduate of the Iowa Western diesel tech program and was hired to be the diesel technology instructor in 2007.

His commitment to serving his students is unwavering, his nomination stated. He has a tremendous focus on student success. He connects on a personal level with each student he serves. Not only will he provide an engaging teaching experience but he works diligently to offer assistance with both internal and external challenges a student may be experiencing.

Meyer has served on numerous committees, including the 50th Anniversary Celebration, SPAC, Program Review and Evaluation Committee, Employee Giving Campaign, Student Course Evaluation Committee, Attendance Policy Committee, Retention Committee, Academic Advising Committee and Quality Faculty Plan Committee. He was also instrumental in developing a relationship with RDO Truck Center, which resulted in establishing the first partnership for the diesel program with a local supplier  and it also brought to the diesel program the largest donation of equipment from a single supplier.

Jessica Pauley, nursing instructor, was recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Award.

Of all the teachers I have had, Jessica Pauley was my favorite, wrote the student who nominated her. I can say with complete honesty that I wouldnt have made it this far in nursing if it wasnt for having Jessica Pauley as my instructor. When I was confused about the material, she stayed after class and answered my questions. She made sure that everyone knew exactly when assignments were due by making a calendar for all of us with the due dates on it.

Jessica Pauley is the reason why now I am able to deal with the constant stress of nursing school, the student wrote. She was always there if one of her students needed her and never gave up on you. Thanks to her, I graduated from the LPN program and am getting As and Bs in my first semester RN with no trouble.

I think not just me but all of the students that were in her class that semester are truly grateful for having such an amazing instructor and would be honored if you would give her this award to show her our gratitude.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump called the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee to talk about one of his most important parochial issues  ethanol  shortly before the committee is slated to interview his son in its ongoing Russia probe.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassleys panel will be hosting Trumps son next month for an interview behind closed doors in its ongoing Russia probe  something the committee has been trying to do since it was revealed that Donald Trump Jr. accepted a meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer claiming Kremlin connections during the campaign.

Headlines about that committee meeting, which Grassley, R-Iowa, has been trying to set up for weeks, gripped headlines and cable news chyrons on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, Grassley announced via Twitter that the president had called him to discuss not Russia, but ethanol, proudly announcing that he assured me hes pro ethanol and that Grassley was free to tell the people of Iowa hes standing by his campaign PROMISE.

Russia, and the committees ongoing investigation of alleged coordination between the presidents campaign and Kremlin officials, did not come up during the call, according to Taylor Foy, Grassleys committee spokesman.

Foy said that it was Trump who called Grassley, and that Grassley told the president he would tweet about their conversations and the presidents support for ethanol. The call was approximately two minutes long, Foy said, and the only other subjects that came up were Hurricane Harvey and U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, the former governor of Iowa.

The timing of the call, however, raised questions about why the president had chosen to engage with Grassley at this juncture.

Though Grassley has long championed ethanol, matters such as subsidies and renewable fuel standards are not an integral feature of any major bill currently before the Senate.

A White House official said Wednesday that in recent days, Trump has heard from a few outside advisers about rumors within the ethanol industry that the president was abandoning his campaign pledge on ethanol. Trumps tweet on Sunday threatening to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which would have an impact on the ethanol industry, apparently helped feed the rumors.

Trump decided to call Grassley on Wednesday to kill the rumors and reassure Iowas senior senator that he supported ethanol and would not walk away from his campaign promise, the official said.
President Donald Trumps primetime address at Fort Myer, Virginia, announced to the world that Americas longest war would continue longer. Presidents have often made the case for war and the use of force directly to the American people  a time-worn tradition employed because Congress has already given a blank check authorization to the executive via a 2001 Authorization on the Use of Military Force.

Reactions to the presidents speech have expectedly ranged widely, but in truth theres no speech that Trump could have given that would satisfy everyone.

From the isolationist Bannonites to the resolute neo-conservatives, criticisms seem to flow endlessly while no one can seem to turn on the solution spigot. If we should have learned anything from nearly 16 years of fighting in Afghanistan (and almost as many in Iraq), it is that the honest answer to the famous question, tell me how this ends, is both we dont know and possibly never.

In announcing a resurgent U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to prevent it from becoming a terrorist safe haven again, President Trump (likely unwittingly) was alluding to the idea that there are essentially two kinds of errors: errors of commission and errors of omission. Trumps plan prioritizes avoiding an error of omission, the likes of which arguably set the conditions for the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant.

However, what isnt clear in the case of Afghanistan is that an error of commission in this case would ultimately be less costly  indeed weve already directly spent more than $1 trillion on the conflict there. In the long run, blood and treasure spent in Afghanistan will continue adding up.

By premising our continued involvement in Afghanistan on preventing terrorist safe havens, the president is essentially implying that America is willing to spend an infinite amount to prevent a single terrorist incident. This logic gives license to authorize almost any action in Afghanistan  or anywhere in the world where terrorists can take safe haven. It seems the president is willing to make many errors of commission in an attempt to avoid errors of omission, even though terrorists bent on attacking the United States are more often those who are radicalized via the internet at home than those who arrive from abroad.

Additionally, the presidents case did little to explain the costs of this continued involvement to the American people. The audience at Fort Myers was composed of active-duty military personnel, a small, all-volunteer military caste that has disproportionately carried the Afghanistan burden. Weve been at war for 16 years, but most of the American public has either willingly forgotten or deliberately ignored it; few if any polls measuring public attitudes toward Afghanistan have been taken since 2015.

The war doesnt pierce the public consciousness because very few Americans bear the costs. But the public should be concerned about the opportunity costs of war  the U.S. budget is zero-sum, and there are more than a few fancy facilities that we built in Afghanistan. Meanwhile our bridges and roads at home are crumbling. We borrowed heavily to pay for our modern wars  debt that will be paid mostly by millennials and Gen X, the same people that fight and die in southwest Asia.

Perhaps it is time for everyone to bear the costs directly via a tax. Maybe then the public will start paying attention again.

It seems that we cant find the answer to the question tell me how this ends because we are either unwilling or unable to address the root causes of the political instability that enables extremist groups to thrive. You cant kill your way to victory; the reservoir for terrorist and extremist recruitment is deep, and our military efforts in the region may be deepening it.

Weve also never been allowed to address the havens that exist in neighboring Pakistan (where we found and killed Osama bin Laden). Modern wars end when a satisfactory political solution is reached; Afghanistan is no different. So what is the political plan, and who will execute the plan if the Trump White House cuts the State Department budget by 30 percent?

Getting to an answer to that question  and the right policy  on Afghanistan starts with Congress owning this war, in turn transmitting that ownership back to the American people by a conversation about updating the outdated and nonspecific 2001 authorization for continued U.S. action in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Trump national security team needs to fill in all the details on conditions for success in order to give Americans a better sense of whether they would be willing to bear those costs. And finally, perhaps this is the moment to have a national conversation about what are acceptable costs to ensure Americas safety  including endless war abroad.

If all Americans agree that this is the case, then we can continue our Sisyphean march toward the 20th anniversary of American involvement in Afghanistan. But we should do so consciously and fully aware of the costs: continued blood spilled by valiant warriors who loyally take up the call to arms when so many others ignore or willfully forget that there is a war going on over there.
It seems that Grassley and Ernst don't want any input from the majority of the voters. They are holding meetings with a select few. Are the two senators more scared of losing their campaign donors than the voters?

They must know that their views on the issues are not being welcome by the majority of citizens of Iowa, and this is the reason they hold private meetings in the counties.

Topics like health care, ag policy (especially CAFOs), the environmental issues, workers' rights, and trade are just a few. The senators only listen to their big money donors for advice, not the informed Iowa voter.

Give them a call: Ernst at 202-224-3254, and Grassley at 202-224-3744. I have yet to meet our congressman Blum; I don't know if he has ever been in Worth County. His number is 202-225-2911.

I think they are afraid of the informed voter. You won't be talking to them, it will be one of their staffers.

James Berge, Kensett
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harvest One Cannabis Inc. (TSXV:HVST) ("Harvest One" or the "Company") reports unaudited highlights of the Companys anticipated fiscal 2017 financial results for the year ended June 30th, 2017. The Companys full audited financial statements and related management discussion and analysis are expected to be filed on SEDAR before September 30, 2017.



Unaudited financial reporting highlights

$ Revenue 76,000 Gross margin 181,000 Net loss 7,779,000 Cash and cash equivalents 14,246,000 Biological assets 81,000 Inventory 1,907,000 Total assets 24,787,000 Total liabilities 1,001,000

As previously announced on April 27th, 2017 Harvest One acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding shares (the "Transaction") of United Greeneries Holdings Ltd. ("United Greeneries") and Satipharm AG ("Satipharm") from PhytoTechMedical (UK) Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of MMJ PhytoTech Limited ("MMJ"). As a result of the Transaction, MMJ holds approximately 60% of the issued and outstanding shares of Harvest One. More information about the Transaction can be obtained from the Companys Filing Statement filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and in the Companys June 30, 2017 consolidated financial statements when filed.

About Harvest One

Harvest One controls operations across the entire cannabis value chain through three business units, with Harvest One serving as the umbrella company over horticultural arm United Greeneries and medical arm Satipharm AG. Each business is strategically located in favorable jurisdictions with supportive regulatory frameworks in place. United Greeneries has received a Canadian medicinal cannabis cultivation license, making Harvest One one of only a few companies globally with the capacity to commercially cultivate cannabis in a federally regulated environment.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to anticipated financial results. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
While Nebraska is excelling at quality of life and employee satisfaction, it needs to lower its taxes and retain young adult workers, members of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce say.

Members of the state chamber visited North Platte Thursday morning for a breakfast forum during a tour across the state.

North Platte Public Schools District officials, North Platte Area Chamber of Commerce members and other business members listened to presentations before sharing their thoughts and questions.

Unlike previous years, state Sen. Mike Groene was unable to attend.

Going into the 2018 legislative session, the state chamber has its eyes on economic growth, said Joseph Young, the executive vice president of the state chamber. He specifically mentioned the possibility that Nebraska could be chosen as the site for a Toyota and Mazda plant that would employ thousands.

He also spoke positively about the use of tax increment financing for economic growth and said he hoped it can continue to be used to improve local development.

In discussing the states standings compared with other states, Jamie Karl, the state chambers vice president for public affairs and policy, said Nebraska was scoring high in many areas.

Nebraska scored No. 13 by CNBC for business, fifth for education, sixth for being business-friendly and 10th for quality of life, he said.

Meanwhile, Forbes ranked the state No. 3 in regulatory climate, having never ranked it lower than No. 10, Karl said.

However, CNBCs business ranking was a drop from No. 11 last year, Karl said. For retention of college-educated workers, Nebraska ranked at No. 20 in CNBCs list. The states current economy is ranked at No. 27, and at 26th for growth prospects.

Technology and innovation are going to need to play a larger role, Karl said.

Nebraskas weakest points are in taxes, Karl said, as Nebraskans rank the 15th highest in income taxes and 11th highest in property taxes.

Karl said some people believe relief comes in the form of state aid.

Its been tried before and its failed before, he said.

He spoke of the early 1990s, when the Nebraska Legislature increased sales and income taxes with promises to reduce property taxes. The initiative worked for less than a year, he said.

Going forward, I guarantee everyone in this room would come up with a different solution, he said. He added that he would like to see income tax and land valuations both gradually decrease.

In a question-and-answer session, Mike Jacobson, president and CEO of Nebraskaland National Bank in North Platte, asked about how western Nebraska would be affected if Cabelas headquarters leaves Sidney after the companys purchase by Bass Pro Shops.

Jacobson said he felt like the state chamber is better at protecting the interests of the states metro areas.

Were really in no mans land here, he said.

Karl reiterated an earlier statistic that one-third of state funds helps local government. He emphasized the importance of electing officials who back local interests and funding in central and western Nebraska.

Karl commended North Platte for business development in recent years, especially on the south of side of town near Interstate 80.

He also commended area residents for speaking up about their needs in west central Nebraska. People here, he said, have a more united opinion.

After the meeting, Young said the local forums help the state chamber hear opinions from outside the metro area.

Were stuck in Lincoln for the first six months of the year, usually, he said, adding that he was impressed with what he heard in North Platte.

I thought it was great, he said.

Elaborating on the state of affairs in Sidney, Young said the town of just less than 7,000 has a strong community, and would remain resilient without its sportsman outfitter.

Still, were concerned about it, he said. Every business owner Ive talked to is concerned about it.
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Bag Family Pack 2 lb. Bag. $12.98 ea. ea. ea. 5 99 Fresh Ocean Perch Fillets lb. Fresh Cod Fillets Trident Red Box 12-15 oz. Select Varieties lb. 7 99 Shish Kabobs with Vegetables Beef or Chicken 5 Pork Country Style Ribs 1 2.44-3.3 oz. Package Healthy Choice Tubs 7 oz. Package Dutch Farms 89  ea. 2 79 5 Breaded Chicken Items 3 lb. Package 4 59 ea. 49 ea. 6 2/$ Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon 11-12 oz. Package 3 Turkey Bologna, Cotto Salami or Franks 5 ea. 99 Pickles Sugardale Bacon 16 oz. 5 ea. 20-32 oz. Jar 49 Meatballs Gourmet Dining Shrimp or Chicken Meals 20-24 oz. Package Armour ea. 14 oz. BAKEABLE DISHES FAST & EASY lb. Stuffed Green Bell Peppers or Meatloaf 4 59 7 2/$ Whole Pork Tenderloin 4 49 lb. 5 2/$ Ground Chuck Pub Burgers Stuffed Chicken Breast with Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing lb. 5 Seasoned or Flavored lb. 99 2/$ 16 oz. Package Claussen lb. 99 Family Pack Armour Lunchmakers 99 lb. PACKAGED MEATS Oscar Mayer lb. 99 Fresh Store Made Fresh Atlantic Salmon Portions 3 99 4 79 lb. PRICES EFFECTIVE: Wed., September 6th through Tues., September 12th, 2017 * We reserve the right to limit quantities. All items might not be available in all stores. All photography, clerical, typographical, or printer errors are subject to change. NOW AVAILABLE AT ALL LOCATIONS strackandvantil.com/instacart INS 6
Ultra Foods changed the Northwest Indiana grocery landscape when it arrived at the highly trafficked boulevard of Indianapolis Boulevard and Ridge Road in Highland in 1981.

Strack & Van Til debuted its discount warehouse concept, which has since become popularized nationally by Costco, Aldi and Sam's Club. The layout was bare, the shelving was spartan, all the items were off-brand and many were sold in bulk.

One could buy Wildwood Cola in a vending machine outside for a quarter. The focus was on making everything as cheap as possible: breakfast cereal for instance was sold in plastic bags without the customary cardboard box.

The 36-year-old Highland Ultra Foods was the flagship supermarket in a discount chain that once had 15 locations across Northwest Indiana and the Chicago suburbs in Illinois. Today it closed.

A total of 139 workers lost their jobs, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

The supermarket at 8401 Indianapolis Blvd. closed this morning after a liquidation sale cleaned it out. A video posted to Facebook Wednesday showed all the aisles were closed off, the remaining shelves were bare and only baked beans and a few other scant items were left. The Ultra had been selling groceries, wine and other items for as much as 80 percent off as it looked to scorch its remaining inventory.

"It's the end of an era," Indiana Grocery Group Chief Executive Officer Jeff Strack said. "It's a sad day for that discount food store. That was the vision of Larry Raab, Andy Raab and Dave Wilkinson. They really built up the Ultra brand into the Illinois market."

The only Ultra Foods left standing is located at 6001 Broadway in Merrillville, just south of Andrean High School.

Bankrupt Central Grocers closed 14 Ultra stores this year, including the original Highland location of a chain that once ran television ads and had the slogans "Finest quality  lowest prices!" and "The Freshest Way to save!"

Though Jewel-Osco had initially expressed interest in buying the Highland Ultra, it ultimately chose not to bid for it and was outbid for the 20 remaining Strack & Van Til by the founding Strack and Van Til families anyway. Indiana Grocery Group acquired 20 Strack & Van Til stores, including the Ultra in Merrillville.

No one stepped forward in an auction to buy the Ultras in Kankakee, Illinois or Highland.

The Highland Ultra once drew many customers from North Lake County, but suffered when a Super Walmart opened 1.5 miles north on Indianapolis Boulevard, closer to the Borman Expressway.

Highland-based Strack & Van Til just pumped millions of dollars into a renovation at the Highland Ultra in 2015, adding amenities like an expanded produce section, a salad bar, a sushi bar, and a full-service seafood counter. The store, a staple in Highland, employed more than 300 workers as recently as the 1990s, according to Times archives.
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Max Sound Corporation (MAXD) (OTC:MAXD) provides the following update to its Coalitions Agenda against Google, Inc.



The Coalition provides a summary of the eight primary focus areas it is pursuing within its members/victims complaints.

We have discovered that the disputes and issues with Google have typically fallen into eight major categories, said John Blaisure, Max Sound's CEO, so the Coalition is focusing on bringing these key issues to light. The following categories create many more questions than answers. Stakeholders, worldwide, deserve to know the truth about Googles bad practices. In future updates, we will be representing the worlds countless victims' interests. Together, we are stronger.

Theft of Innovation

Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Copyrights, Business Models

1. The moonshot that missed - Did Google X steal this famous architect's life's work?

https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8048779/google-x-eli-attia-lawsuit-flux-architecture

2. These Post-Its Show Google Scheming to Steal Trade Secrets

http://valleywag.gawker.com/source-these-post-its-show-google-scheming-to-steal-tr-1640358982

3. Patent Office Admits to Stacking Judges to Manipulate IPR Decisions

https://www.smithhopen.com/news_detail/670/Patent-Office-Admits-to-Stacking-Judges-to-Manipulate-IPR-Decisions



Search Result Manipulation

The public can no longer trust Googles search results.

1. The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/E4512.full.pdf?with-ds=yes

2. How did Google become the internets censor and master manipulator, blocking access to millions of websites?

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-22/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-censor-and-its-power-must-be-regulated



Privacy Theft and Personal Privacy Theft

Anyone using Gmail, Google Docs and Android gave up personal privacy.

1. Google engineers knew for TWO YEARS that the company's Street View cars were stealing emails and passwords via wi-fi

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2137145/Google-KNEW-harvesting-emails-passwords-Street-View-drive.html

2. Google Accused of Spying on Students Using Chromebooks

http://philadelphia.legalexaminer.com/class-action/google-accused-of-spying-on-students-using-chromebooks/

3. How Google Spies on Your Gmail Account (And How To Stop It)

http://gawker.com/5800868/how-google-spies-on-your-gmail-account-and-how-to-stop-it



Fake Advertising Traffic

Google admits to Ad Fraud and claims to pay back a tiny fraction of its related revenue to select advertisers.

1. Google Issuing Refunds to Advertisers Over Fake Traffic, Plans New Safeguard

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-issuing-refunds-to-advertisers-over-fake-traffic-plans-new-safeguard-1503675395



System Fixing and Election Manipulation

1. The Android Administration  Googles Remarkably Close Relationship with the Obama White House, In Two Charts

https://theintercept.com/2016/04/22/googles-remarkably-close-relationship-with-the-obama-white-house-in-two-charts/

2. Patent Office Admits to Stacking Judges to Manipulate IPR Decisions

https://www.smithhopen.com/news_detail/670/Patent-Office-Admits-to-Stacking-Judges-to-Manipulate-IPR-Decisions

3. Google Accused of Wiretapping in Gmail Scans

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/technology/google-accused-of-wiretapping-in-gmail-scans.html



Income Tax Evasion

1. Google Avoids $2 Billion In Taxes By Offshoring Profits In Bermuda

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/google-taxes-bermuda_n_2270354.html

2. Googles Tax Avoidance: So Much for Dont Be Evil

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-callahan/googles-tax-avoidance-so_b_772080.html



Biased Research

1. Paying Professors: Inside Googles Academic Influence Campaign

https://www.wsj.com/articles/paying-professors-inside-googles-academic-influence-campaign-1499785286

2. Google Reportedly Paid Professors For Favorable Policy Papers

http://fortune.com/2017/07/11/google-paying-professors-policy-papers/



Antitrust Actions

1. EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/27/technology/business/google-eu-antitrust-fine/index.html

2. Ugly documents surface in antitrust case that Google settled with FTC

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-causes-real-harm-to-consumers-and-to-innovation-ftc-says/

As previously released, Law firm Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC made a motion for leave to file a Fourth Amended Complaint adding Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) pursuant to 18 U.S.C.  1961, et seq. against Defendants Google, Inc., Flux Factory, Inc., Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sebastian Thrun, Eric "Astro" Teller, et al.



RICO claim links: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/max-sound-amended-filing-against-google-adds-racketeering-influenced-corrupt-organization-otc-pink-maxd-2227796.htm. Download the filing from the court here: Amended Complaint or download entire motion from BJC here: Share File

About Max Sound Corporation: As creators of the acclaimed MAX-D HD Audio, Max Sound can provide a better solution for Audio, Video and Data transmissions. Max Sound Corporation is the company that brings forth technologies for the betterment of our world, including being co-owners of the Optimized Data Transmission Technology patent portfolio. Max Sound, MAXD and MAX-D Audio Perfected and HD Audio are registered trademarks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. To learn more about the MAX-D Technology, please visit http://maxd.audio.

Max Sound Representation:

G. Robert Blakey: George Robert Blakey is an American attorney and law professor. He is best known for his work in connection with drafting the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for scholarship on that subject.

Buether Joe & Carpenter: Buether Joe & Carpenter, LLC is an intellectual property and commercial litigation boutique law firm focusing on patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, and unfair competition lawsuits, as well as antitrust, contract and other business disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants. BJC offers clients the expertise of attorneys with decades of experience in handling complex litigation in an effective and efficient manner. For more information, visit www.bjciplaw.com.

Christian, Smith & Jewell: Christian, Smith & Jewell (CSJ) stands out as a premier law firm in the Houston legal community. CSJ takes pride in handling tough cases, both large and small in state and federal courts across the United States and abroad. CSJ excels in all types of civil litigation, including shareholder and partnership disputes, stock fraud, commercial, oil and gas, real estate, lender liability/debtor litigation, loan work outs, director's liability litigation/arbitration, structured settlements, construction law, personal injury, and international arbitration/litigation. For more information, visit www.csj-law.com

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Statements in this press release which are not purely historical, including statements regarding Max Sound's intentions, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the company's cash flow or adequacy of capital resources, market acceptance risks, technical development risks, and other risk factors. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Max Sound disclaims any obligation and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release. Expanded and historical information is made available to the public by Max Sound Corporation and its Affiliates on its website http://maxd.audio or at http://www.sec.gov.
An East Chicago native who went on to become an author and professor is seeking submissions for her forthcoming book, "Children of Steel: A Collection of Short Stories."

University of Arizona lecturer Gloria McMillan hopes Northwest Indiana residents will contribute "fictional short stories set in steel mill towns" that are fewer than 20 single-spaced pages.

"The writers must have some personal contact with a steel mill or industrial town," she said. "We hope to show the wider reading public what people from steel mill towns are like. This is very important for children in schools who often have no models among writers of fiction."

She's planning a public meeting for anyone interested at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Whiting Public Library, 1735 Oliver St.

McMillan, who wrote "The Blue Maroon Murder" and "Orbiting Ray Bradbury's Mars," is asking for fiction submissions, but says they can be autobiographical in nature. So far, she's collected short stories from writers in Gary, Whiting, East Chicago, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio.

"This collection of stories shows that fiction is a way that people from steel mill communities can share fiction based upon lives that they and their parents, grandparents have known. In some of the stories in this collection, the steel mills are highlighted," she wrote in a letter to publishers.

"In other stories, the mills may only be a constant part of the surroundings and a backdrop. But in all cases, these are fictional short stories that only can come from those with direct experience of being the children of steel."

She hopes to give voice to a growing number of Rust Belt authors.

For more information or to submit, email McMillan at glomc@dakotacom.net.
GARY  Police are investigating after the city's fire crews responded last week to an abandoned house fire near West 16th Avenue and Monroe Street.

The call came in at about 4:40 p.m. Friday, according to Gary Fire Department spokesman Mark Jones. Crews arrived to find the house engulfed in flames.

The abandoned residence did not have its utilities on, he said.

"Those circumstances lead us to a suspicious nature of the fire," Jones said.

Crews were on scene for about an hour and a half, he said. The cause remains under investigation.

Earlier this month, the Gary Police Department sent out a news release stating a rash of arsons had spread across Gary's Midtown neighborhood.

An arsonist or arsonists have been setting fires throughout the centrally located neighborhood along Broadway in the late evenings and early mornings, according to the Gary Police Department.

Gary, which was estimated in 2015 to have nearly 7,000 vacant buildings, has periodically suffered from problems with arson.

Anyone with any information about the latest rash of arsons in Midtown should call Detective Sgt. Mark Salazar at 219-881-7431. Tips also can anonymously be made to Gary's Crime Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP.
Several candidates have lined up in what could become a crowded field seeking to become Lake County's next sheriff.

Lake County sheriff's Deputy Police Chief Daniel Murchek; Schererville Police Chief David Dowling; retired San Diego Harbor police Lt. Todd Rakos, of Munster; and Lake County sheriff's Cpl. Maria Trakovich have submitted paperwork to replace former Sheriff John Buncich, said James Wieser, the county's Democratic chairman.

Former Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub also announced this week he plans to run for the office.

A caucus is set to begin 10 a.m. Sept. 16 at the Lake County Government Center auditorium.

Buncich was removed from office Aug. 25 after a U.S. District Court jury convicted him of bribery, wire fraud and honest service wire fraud charges.

Rakos and Trakovich both have law enforcement experience, but had not previously expressed publicly an interest in running for the office.

Rakos, a 1982 Munster High School graduate, said Friday he retired last summer from the San Diego Harbor Police Department after 25 years of service and moved back to Lake County. Rakos, the brother of Hammond Councilman Scott Rakos, said he grew up in Hammond and Munster and moved to California to seek employment.

Rakos said he has kept up with news about the Lake County Sheriff's Department over the years.

"I know they have gone through some hard times with leadership, not only during the last administration, but before that," he said. "Someone who could come in with an outsider perspective could do a lot of good for that agency and for the community."

Trakovich declined to discuss her candidacy while at work Friday morning. She also had not provided a photo as of Friday evening.

Scheub, who served as a county commissioner from 1997 to 2016, said in a statement he thinks he's "the best candidate to restore the public's trust in our Lake County sheriff's team."

"I pledge to be vigilant in supporting proven police tactics, to utilize every resource to protect our communities, and to work to end the Department of Justice oversight of our county jail," Scheub said.

Murchek and Dowling are among five current and former law enforcement officers who previously expressed an interested in running for the office.

Dowling said he has held every job at the Schererville Police Department during his 33 years there, including nearly 20 years in supervisory positions.

"I don't think anyone can match that," he said. "Right now, we're at a point where the county needs a fresh set of eyes from outside the current environment. My training and experience would allow me to get in there and effect some real change."

Murchek has been third-in-command at the Sheriff's Department since 2011 and has 22 years of service with county police, nine years with Dyer police and two years on the Hebron Police Department.

Murchek said he's committed to making changes at the department, including forming a community advisory group, continuing the no-kill policy and making improvements at the animal shelter, and working on priority hiring for veterans.

He also said he would bring in an outside chief who has a strong law enforcement background and is well-respected in the Region.

"By doing that, it will help with image change that we need at the Sheriff's Department," Murchek said. "I"m committed to making sure that we run a professional law enforcement agency and making sure cops get off the desks and back on the streets."

Others who have publicly expressed interest in the office but had not filed as of Friday morning include former postal service law enforcement official Richard Ligon, and Lake County police Sgt. Oscar Martinez.

The office is open to anyone who is 18 or older, a Democrat and a registered voter in Lake County, Wieser said. Candidates have until Sept. 13 to file.

Check back at nwi.com for updates to this story.
INDIANAPOLIS  Staffers in tears. Pay cuts for small mistakes. Aides who walked out of the office  and never came back.

Working for four-term Republican Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana is an exacting job with long hours, made more difficult by a boss known for micromanaging and yelling at his staff, according to 10 former aides who spoke to The Associated Press.

All but one of the former staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern of retribution from the congressman, who is in a competitive GOP primary for the chance to challenge first-term Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in next year's midterm elections. They include five former congressional staffers, three who worked for Rokita when he was Indiana's secretary of state and two who worked on his political campaigns.

In response to the criticism, Rokita said in a statement to The Associated Press: "I have a lot of great employees, and I demand excellence and hard work of them, and myself ... Hoosiers who break their backs putting in 12 and 14 hour days to provide for their families should expect the elected officials and public servants they are paying to work just as hard."

Meticulous and driven, Rokita was the youngest secretary of state in the country when he was first elected in 2002. He served two terms before winning a seat in Congress in 2010, representing parts of western Indiana.

But even in Congress, where ambition and ego can go hand-in-hand, Rokita's behavior is outside the norm, according to the former aides, most of whom have worked for other elected officials.

"Todd's a hard boss to work for. He's got some staff turnover issues," said Tony Will, who was a constituent service representative for Rokita for nearly three years. "But he is a very hard worker."

During the 2010 campaign, a worker was booted from a staff meeting and instructed to clean Rokita's vehicle, which included scrubbing the carpets, according to two people with direct knowledge of the incident.

The reason? A volunteer driver had body odor the night before, they say. Rokita's campaign said the congressman did not recall the incident.

Some aides witnessed fellow workers reduced to tears after he yelled at them. Others said they were expected to work late nights and weekends and regularly worried about angering their boss if they did not quickly respond to an email or phone call during off hours.

Three former congressional staffers said that if Rokita was working, the general expectation was that his staff would as well. Many also felt obligated to do volunteer political work, the three staffers said.

One moment Rokita could charm at a GOP fundraiser. The next he would belittle his aides or question their competence over the route they took to the next event, or their choice of parking spot, three former staffers said. Some say he turned angry over small details, like the kind of letterhead used on office or campaign documents.

Rokita's abrasive nature is not limited to instances described by former staffers. He has rubbed many Indiana Republicans the wrong way, too, leading the GOP-controlled Legislature to cut him out of his district when they redrew congressional maps after the last census. While Rokita was still secretary of state in 2010, the Indiana Senate took the unusual step of calling up an amendment he wanted, only to have the entire chamber, including the amendment's author, vote it down.

His temper has also flared when meeting with students, according to those in attendance.

A Jasper County teacher asked Rokita to leave his high school civics class in November 2016 after a talk that was supposed to be about the Constitution got off on the wrong foot, according to two students.

Rokita had asked the class if they were taught about "American Exceptionalism." But when a number of students seemed puzzled by the concept, he had a testy exchange with their teacher, Paul Norwine, whom he criticized for not including it in the curriculum, the students said.

Tensions eased and the talk proceeded, but the class was dumbfounded, the students said.

"Mr. Rokita got very angry and said, 'You have an American congressman in your class, what are you doing?'" said Marcus Kidwell, 19, a Donald Trump supporter who was a senior at the time. "He seems like a pretty hot-headed guy. That disappointed me because he's a Republican and I was pretty excited to meet him."

Norwine did not respond to a request for comment. Rokita's campaign did not dispute the students' account.

A review of records maintained by the Congress-tracking website Legistorm shows the rate of turnover in Rokita's office is roughly double that of his fellow Indiana Republicans in the congressional delegation. The analysis excludes temporary workers, interns or employees who are shared by multiple members of Congress.

At least two staffers were fired after they said they intended to quit, according to three people with direct knowledge of the firings. Rokita also docked the pay of at least two congressional aides for mistakes, like a minor error in a news release, according to three former aides with knowledge of the actions. Another two staffers simply walked out on the job, according to four former aides.

"It's unfortunate that anonymous, disgruntled ex-staffers are making exaggerated claims that only tell half the story," said Rokita spokesman Tim Edson, who described his boss as honest and blunt.

Rokita was widely mocked for being high-maintenance after Politico reported last month on an eight-page memo, which is given to those who chauffeur Rokita around his district. The document, which was independently obtained by the AP, offers a detailed list of the do's and don'ts of driving the congressman.

Staffers are instructed to arrive at Rokita's house and empty the vehicle's trash before backing it out of the garage. After turning the vehicle around and backing up Rokita's driveway, they must call or email the congressman to let him know they are ready while also taking care not to let exhaust fumes enter the garage. When driving Rokita, the memo instructs staffers not to interrupt him with "unnecessary conversation."

Will, the former constituent services worker who often drove Rokita, said that despite the challenges of the job, he learned a lot and developed a good rapport with his boss.

There were times, however, when he wished "Todd would just take a nap."
HAMMOND  With a record-setting 170 women and several men in attendance Thursday, the Womens Leadership Breakfast Power of Women & Volunteerism showcased the many ways women of all ages are transforming the Region through volunteerism.

Part of the Lake Area United Ways Real.Strong.Girls. movement, the event at the Indiana Welcome Center emphasized how a dynamic community of women from all walks of life recognizes girls strengthsand works to improve their confidence, self-esteem and self-resiliency, said Lisa Daugherty, LAUW president/CEO.

We use the power of our time, talent and resources to change the lives of girls in our community, Daugherty said.

An eight-member panel shared their own personal and professional experiences with mentoring, advocating and volunteering to make live better for others. They also addressed what challenges in the Region make volunteerism so critical, how women can leverage their time and talents to volunteer and what is missing in the marketplace that would foster more volunteerism.

Those panelists included the following:

 Aaliyah Stewart, a senior at Merrillville High School, started her ASW foundation at 14 to provide college scholarships for students after losing her two brothers to violence. I look at things with a spiritual eye. Im rich because Im rich in the spirit, Stewart said. If you dont stand for something, youll fall for anything. I love volunteering.

 Colleen Bergen, principal of Scott Middle School in Hammond, said there is a great need inside and outside of school for donations including equipment so students can play sports.

 Jill Schuleter-Kim, executive director of Girls on the Run, said Giving just a small amount of time is so important. Never underestimate the gifts you can give.

 Judge Inga Lewis Shannon, Gary City Court, talked about Project Rebuild, a truancy program that helps children learn various skills and to give back to others.

 Julie Bieszcat, president of Barney Enterprises, said there needs to be a general awareness of need.  As parents we need to understand how to help others.

 Norma Serrano Williams, president of Excellence by Design, said, There is an incredible shortage of affordable housing for single mothers.  It is a shame that we dont support our sisters.

 Indiana state Sen. Eddie Melton, said, Its difficult for people with full-time jobs and families to find time to volunteer. We need to find where we can help.

 Violet G. Sistovaris, NIPSCO executive vice president and president, said We need to instill this lesson of giving back and teach that to our children, our nieces and nephews.
MICHIGAN CITY  A nonprofit group here is reaching out to the homeless it serves as it works to recover from a fire earlier this week.

Keys to Hope, which serves about 70 homeless people daily, has moved to an interim site at the Grace Learning Center, 1007 W. 8th St.

Both organizations provide help in finding shelter, education and other services, like access to computers, to assist the homeless in getting back on their feet.

What Keys to Hope also offered was providing about 600 showers and 500 loads of laundry each month, along with lockers for storing personal belongings while clients are on the streets.

The group is scrambling to find alternative locations for the homeless to go for those necessities until the fire damage is repaired, which could be 60 to 90 days from now.

"Its coming along. Its frustrating sometimes, but we have a job to do, and were right down in the trenches," said Mike Kilbourne, director of Keys to Hope. The group was founded less than three years ago.

Kilbourne has been busy tracking down and informing the homeless about the temporary site and handing out care packages containing shampoo, lotion, underwear, socks and other items of hygiene.

He's also been handing back their clothes and other items.

"All of this is going to be temporary, but, obviously, there are going to be a lot of growing pains along the way. There's going to be a lot of bumps in the road, but everybody is going to rally together, and it's going to be just fine," said Jim Musial, director of Citizens Concerned for the Homeless, the parent organization for Keys to Hope and Grace Learning Center.

The fire at 1802 Franklin St. burned through the front of the building into an office on the west side of the 3,000 square-foot, single-story structure. Musial estimated the repair costs at $100,000.

Fire Chief Randy Novak said Friday that careless smoking is the suspected cause of the fire. It appears someone tossed a cigarette butt into a planter that came into contact with a piece of cardboard, Novak said.

Since the fire, some limited shower space is being provided daily at the First Presbyterian Church, 121 W. 9th St., from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Other locations continue to be sought.

Sand Castle Shelter next to Grace Learning Center is the third group under the same umbrella.

The shelter provides temporary housing to single moms with children and sometimes families headed by couples or single fathers.

Single women are provided shelter when space is available.

"Thankfully, the community is starting to come together and brainstorm and think out of the box in order to get these guys the services they need," said Candice Silvas, director of the shelter.
PINE TOWNSHIP  An 80-year-old woman was airlifted and another man taken to an area hospital following a two-vehicle crash here Thursday evening.

Porter County sheriff's police responded to the crash at 6:12 p.m. in the area of U.S. 20 and Maine Avenue, according to a press release from Sgt. Jamie Erow.

The initial investigation indicates Noretta Pullins, 80, of Michigan City, was driving east on U.S. 20 when she turned her 2012 Chevrolet Impala north onto Maine Avenue in front of another vehicle traveling west on U.S. 20, Erow said.

The driver of the westbound vehicle, a black 1998 Chevrolet S10, was identified as Patrick Ballinger, 31, of Chesterton.

Pullins had to be extricated from her car and was airlifted by Lutheran Air for incapacitating injuries. Her condition was unknown Friday morning, Erow said.

Ballinger was transported to Franciscan Health St. Anthony Michigan City for incapacitating injuries as well, according to the release. His condition is also unknown.

No citations were issued, and both occupants were wearing seatbelts.

Assisting agencies were Beverly Shores Police Department, Beverly Shores Fire Department, Porter Fire Department, Porter EMS, LaPorte County EMS, Lutheran Air, Cloverleaf Towing and Porter County Central Communications.
The images are a little grainy, but in the half-light of a dusty Ukrainian garage, you can sense the unbridled enthusiasm of the two North Korean spies who are photographing what they think are top-secret missile designs.

In a rare window into the opaque, deadly and secretive world of missile technology espionage, Ukrainian security services have given CNN surveillance footage and details of an elaborate sting operation they carried out to snare two North Korean spies in 2011.

The revelations are aimed at dispelling claims that a recent leap forward in Pyongyang's intercontinental missile technology may have been achieved by using designs stolen or originating from Ukraine.

The claims are made in a report released by analysts at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) on August 14 which says technology, possibly from Ukraine's Yuzhnoye Design Office in Dnipro, was used in recent North Korean missile tests.

In July, North Korea successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) -- the KN-14 or Hwasong-14. At the time, Pyongyang claimed they were capable of carrying a "large-sized heavy nuclear warhead" as far as the US mainland.

Ukraine has denied any link to North Korea's long-range missiles, and said Russia may instead have provided Pyongyang with the improved missile designs. Russia has denied supporting North Korea's arms program.

An officer with Ukraine's security service, who worked on the 2011 case of the two North Koreans and who we granted anonymity because of his operational role, insisted it was "impossible" North Korea had obtained any missile technology, as he was sure their espionage attempts had all been intercepted.

He said that in 2011 two other North Koreans -- who traveled to Ukraine from the country's Moscow Embassy -- were deported after they were caught trying to obtain "missile munitions, homing missile devices in particular for air-to-air class missiles." A third North Korean, tasked with transporting the actual devices out of Ukraine, was also deported.

And as recently as 2015, five North Koreans were deported for "assisting North Korea's intelligence work in Ukraine," the officer said, without providing further details.

He said, apart from the two in jail, there were no North Koreans left in Ukraine, as those not deported by Ukraine had been voluntarily withdrawn -- many working in alternative medicine centers.

North Koreans guilty of espionage

The two North Korean spies seen on the grainy surveillance footage are currently serving eight-year prison sentences for espionage in the Ukrainian town of Zhytomyr, 140 kilometers (87 miles) west of Kiev.

Ukrainian officials allowed CNN inside the prison facilities to see if they would grant interviews under guard supervision.

The elder inmate is a man in his fifties from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang who is known in court documents as X5. He is gaunt, compared to the fuller frame he had in the surveillance videos, and speaks lightly-accented Russian.

His younger accomplice is a technical expert known as X32.

They are the only such spies in Ukrainian custody, although officials say they have on several occasions intercepted North Korean attempts to access their missile secrets, and as a result in 2016 effectively barred all North Koreans from the country.

The sting

The grainy surveillance video provided to CNN was filmed on July 27, 2011, on a hidden camera set up within a garage to capture the end of a sting operation that was months in the planning.

The two suspects can be seen moments before Ukrainian security service agents burst in and arrest them.

The Ukrainian missile experts they had been courting in the weeks before had informed on them to Ukrainian counter-intelligence agents.

As a result, authorities had detailed knowledge of the information they sought -- "ballistic missiles, missile systems, missile construction, spacecraft engines, solar batteries, fast-emptying fuel tanks, mobile launch containers, powder accumulators and military government standards," according to the court papers from their 2012 trial.

Some of the information related to the SS-24 Scalpel intercontinental ballistic missile, the court papers add. The SS-24 Scalpel, also known as the RT-23, is a solid-fueled missile capable of carrying up to 10 warheads that was launched via missile silos or railroad cars.

The mobile rail missile SS-24 system was banned in the late 1990s under the START-II treaty between the US and Russia, however the ban never came into effect. The design and production of the missile system was most recently held by Ukraine but, according to GlobalSecurity.org, the country ended production of the missile in 1995.

The Ukraine security footage gives a rare window into the elaborate and shadowy world of North Korea's bid to improve its ability to hit the United States and other adversaries with long-range missiles.

The court documents also reveal startlingly human moments during the operation.

The two nervous men continually whisper to each other the material they seek is "secret," and worry the flash batteries may run out on their PowerShot and Coolpix cameras as they photograph the dummy designs.

Speaking briefly to CNN in the jail where he now makes cement railings and iron rods to pass prison time, X5 confirmed he had "partially" admitted his guilt.

The court papers say he insisted his job, as a trade representative in the North Korean embassy in neighboring Belarus, was merely to arrange training in missile technology for North Korean experts -- information he didn't think was classified. He even tried to get one expert, the papers allege, to travel to North Korea and teach there.

Dressed in dark blue overalls and a cloth cap, mixing cement, X5 said he "of course" wanted to return to North Korea, and had not spoken to his family or anyone there since his arrest.

"I am serving my term of punishment. They feed us well here, we work... I don't want to give an interview for the preservation of my safety and that of my family."

He shares a well-lit cell with a TV with eight other convicts, and sleeps in a double bunk bed, with pots of vitamins and toiletries his only obvious possessions.

The second convict, X32, agreed to meet CNN, but immediately declined to be interviewed, covering the camera lens with his hand and walking away.

He has not admitted his guilt and is held in a more relaxed facility where he makes furniture to pass the time.

Denys Chernyshov, Ukraine's deputy minister for justice, said the men had been met once by two officials from North Korea's Moscow embassy, but otherwise had no contact at all with their relatives or North Korea.

"They have asked Ukrainian authorities to be extradited to North Korea to continue their sentence," he said. "But because they are held for spying for North Korea, we obviously declined their request."

Chernyshov added the pair were well-trained.

"To be isolated in another country and culture, with different food even, that brings about a particular stress," he said. "So it is clear these are well prepared, strong people."

However, he added North Korea may not turn out to be that welcoming when they likely travel home in September 2018, at the end of their sentences.

"That their task was unsuccessful, they cannot expect much of a hero's welcome on their return."
CROWN POINT  A month before his death, Seneca Gibbs' mother asked if he wanted to go to treatment for his drug use.

"Mom, I'm going to die an addict," he told her.

"I was taken aback," Sylvia Gibbs recalled, on her son's "angel-versary," two years to the day Seneca succumbed to his drug addiction.

Seneca Gibbs was addicted to heroin since the mid-2000s, trying various treatments and shuffling in and out of rehab. He died Aug. 22, 2015, from hypertensive heart disease, believed to be caused by years of substance use. He was 34.

Afterward, Sylvia was approached by loved ones and acquaintances telling her their personal or family stories of addiction. She had no idea so many people were dealing with the same thing. She wants to change that.

On Saturday, she is hosting the second annual 5K Bird Walk for Recovery ("Bird" was Seneca's nickname). She hopes to reduce the stigma often attached to addiction, so more people will voice their stories and, in the process, assist others.

"It's the best kept secret and it's killing us," Sylvia Gibbs said. "If I had cancer or am diabetic, I'm not afraid to share. If my son or daughter has a substance abuse problem, I don't want to tell anybody. Then how am I going to get help?"

A creative, funny kid

Seneca Gibbs was the baby of the family. He was creative from an early age. He taught himself to draw.

He studied graphic arts in college, and used his skills to make T-shirts for people's charity events. His art was his therapy.

He was also a jokester.

"He liked to play pranks on his brothers and sisters," recalled sister Angel Watson, of Crown Point. "He loved to laugh, and he had a beautiful smile, and everyone loved that about him."

He began smoking weed as a teenager, experimenting with drugs throughout his adolescence. Eventually, he became addicted to heroin.

When he started having children, in his early 20s, he decided to get help. He would complete rehab but then return home and get mixed up with the same friends. He tried methadone and buprenorphine, to no avail. He once got clean but then got injured and prescribed painkillers.

He had his longest period of sobriety at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, a free treatment facility in Gary for men that puts them to work. Sylvia Gibbs is donating the proceeds from the walk to that agency.

Seneca was also bipolar. His mother said mental illness is another taboo subject, particularly in the black community, where a common response to emotional anguish is to "pray about it."

"It seems like it's more accepted to do drugs than go to counseling," Watson said. "Nobody gets together with their friends to go to counseling."

Unlike many faces of the addiction crisis, Seneca didn't die of an overdose.

"The obvious health crises people think about with addiction are death by overdose and problems with liver function," said Belinda Hubert, medical director of Heartland Recovery Center in Lowell.

"Of course those are very real and can lead to death, but what most people don't know is that all our internal organs are negatively affected by substance abuse  especially the brain, liver, kidneys, lungs, heart and nervous system."

Addiction a disease like any other

On a recent day at home, Sylvia showed off some of her son's artwork. One drawing shows Jesus with a cross on his shoulder, carrying humanity's burdens. Another depicts a hand holding a dove, about to fly away.

"This one is addiction, I would say," she said, pointing to a drawing of a man whose face was melting off.

During a trip to Georgia in summer 2015, Seneca told his mom he didn't think he would survive his addiction. His sister believes he wanted his mother to realize she did everything she could, that his drug use wasn't her fault.

It taught Sylvia Gibbs that addiction is a disease like any other.

"Some people survive recovery, and some don't," she said. "Some people survive cancer, and some don't. Some people survive diabetes, and some don't. None of us gets out of this alive."

"A lot of people think that going into recovery is 30 days and then they're recovered," noted Valerie Thorn, executive director of Recovery Works Merrillville, a 42-bed detox and residential facility. "The recovery piece of it is a lifelong piece."

It's also a way  besides death or incarceration  out of addiction.

"People talk about addiction more than recovery," Sylvia Gibbs said. "If they talked more about recovery than addiction, they'd know that recovery is possible."
Intermediate Capital Group plc (the "Company")

1 September 2017

Intermediate Capital Group plc - Directorate Changes

The Board of ICG is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Welton as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 September 2017.

Kevin Parry, Chairman of the Company, said: "I am delighted that Stephen Welton has joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director. His chief executive role at the Business Growth Fund (BGF) means that he is perfectly placed to contribute to the Board on matters relating to strategy and business development. I look forward to his extensive board and deep investment experience contributing to ICG's further development."

At the date of his appointment, Mr Welton holds 15,000 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company.

Contacts:

Ian Stanlake

Investor Relations, ICG plc

+44 (0) 20 3201 7880

Andy Lewis

Company Secretary, ICG plc

+44 (0) 20 3201 7754

NOTES TO EDITORS

Stephen Welton has been Chief Executive of BGF since its launch in 2011. Under his leadership, and with a capital base now of 2.5bn and 9 regional offices, BGF has grown to become the most active provider of growth capital for small and mid-sized companies across the UK. Stephen has over 25 years' experience in the development capital and private equity industry. He joined BGF after 10 years with CCMP Capital, an international private equity firm (formerly JP Morgan Partners). As an investor he has worked with growth companies around the world, most recently as Chairman of Edwards, the global engineering group headquartered in the UK. Before this, he was Chairman and CEO of TV Travel Shop prior to its successful sale to a US multinational media group. Stephen has also worked with Government, specifically as one of the Advisory Board for the establishment of the British Business Bank in 2013, and currently as a member of the Industry Panel advising the Treasury's Patient Capital Review. Stephen started his career in banking and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law.
As Hurricane Harvey continues to affect thousands in Louisiana and Texas, many New Yorkers hope to do their part and give back. But, how do you know what to give, and whether or not an organization is legitimate? NY1's Shannan Ferry breaks it down for us.

The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey hits close to home for many New Yorkers.

Some of the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy nearly five years ago is still visible.

"Hearing the stories  it just brings back all of those emotions from what we experienced not that long ago," said Kimberly George, executive director of Rebuilding Together NYC.

Guided by that experience, local leaders gathered at City Hall Thursday to appeal for help  urging New Yorkers to help storm victims in Texas and Louisiana. But they said giving back does not mean cleaning out closets and cupboards of clothes and food, and donating them. Goods require storage and transportation, and many times go to waste.

"Because it really is an enormous amount of work to manage those kinds of donations," said Peter Gudaitis, executive director and CEO of New York Disaster Interfaith Services. "And on average our federal government estimates it's 70 percent of all donated goods are thrown away."

Instead, money is seen as a much more effective contribution for New Yorkers to make. The donation is quick and easily transferrable. And it gives relief groups on the ground the flexibility to obtain the supplies that they determine are most needed.

And if you are planning to make a donation, it's important to send it to a legitimate organization to avoid getting scammed.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a set of tips for anyone wanting to donate.

He advises residents to research organizations using tools such as Charity Navigator or the Better Business Bureau. He also recommends being cautious with telephone solicitations, and campaigns set up by individuals on sites such as GoFundMe. Those are words of advice these officials emphasized Thursday.

"It is critical that we ensure that resources are reaching people on the ground," said Queens Councilman Donovan Richards.

And as thousands continue to suffer at the hands of Hurricane Harvey, these leaders want New Yorkers to reach into their hearts and pockets to help out.
Travelers blocked from entering the United States under President Trump's original travel ban can now get help reapplying for visas.

The Trump administration struck a deal with civil rights lawyers Thursday in Brooklyn federal court.

Under the agreement, the government will notify an unspecified number of travelers initially turned away that they can reapply for visas within a three-month window.

In return, prosecutors pledged to drop their lawsuits over the controversial executive order, which barred visa-holders from seven Muslim-majority countries back in January.

A federal judge ruled the ban unconstitutional, temporarily blocking the order.

The White House is now facing lawsuits over its revised travel ban that bars travelers who do not have a quote "bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the travel ban in October.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Rathbone Brothers PLC (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Clinigen Group PLC (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 31/08/2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Yes





2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



0.1p Ordinary



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 6,769,417 5.88 (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 6,769,417 5.88

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit (p) 0.1p Ordinary Sale 360 1,123.369 0.1p Ordinary Sale 47,432 1,123.369 0.1p Ordinary Sale 550 1,114.99 0.1p Ordinary Purchase 1600 1,116

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit





(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO

Date of disclosure: 01/09/2017 Contact name: Simon Walker - Compliance Department Telephone number: 0151 236 6666

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
Auburn University will join 35 other top research universities nationwide, including MIT and Georgia Tech, as the newest participant in the Astronaut Scholarship Foundations merit-based scholarship worth $10,000 each to college juniors and seniors and partially supported by living astronauts of Americas storied space programs.

Established in 1984 by six surviving members of Project Mercury astronauts who partook in the first human spaceflight program of the United States from 1958 through 1963, the scholarships intend to reward top college students with majors in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields.

The College of Sciences and Mathematics at Auburn has a strong tradition and history of preparing students for leadership roles in the STEM industry, including astronauts Hank Hartsfield and Kathryn Thornton, as well as top NASA scientists like Suzan Voss, who is a manager for NASAs International Space Station program, said Nicholas Giordano, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics. Our students are the leaders of the future in the fields of science, medicine, mathematics and other STEM disciplines. As such, we are grateful for our partnership with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Their financial support will directly contribute to maintaining an environment that ensures excellence and is vital to our mission of preparing students for the workforce who will contribute greatly to society.

With four alumni who have served as astronauts, Auburns Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has a rich history tied to our nations legacy of space exploration, said Christopher B. Roberts, dean of engineering. The generosity of these former astronauts will allow the next generation of engineers and technologists to leave their own mark of excellence on the world. We look forward to participating in this scholarship program and believe it will complement our student-centric method to engineering education.

Auburn was one of five universities that were added to the program in August due to the significant research opportunities available for undergraduate students. The other universities are the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Massachusetts, Colorado State University and Mississippi State University.

We are pleased to welcome Auburn University into the Astronaut Scholarship Program, said ASF Board Chairman Curt Brown, an astronaut and veteran of six space flights. Its commitment to leadership in science and technology is in keeping with the vision of Americans space pioneers who blazed a trail for the United States and captured the imagination of the world. By participating in this effort, Auburn will help the U.S. maintain its leading edge by recognizing and rewarding their best STEM students.

Astronaut Mike Collins, who served as pilot for the Gemini X mission in 1966 and command module pilot for Apollo 11 in 1969, will be the keynote speaker at the Innovators Gala on Sept. 16 in Washington D.C. The event will introduce the 45 members of the 2017-2018 Astronaut Scholar class and the first recipient of the Neil Armstrong Award of Excellence. Armstrong passed away in December 2016.

Based in Orlando, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation annually funds up to $10,000 scholarships for 50 students, as well as has a life-long relationship with each recipient providing them with many programs and opportunities. The foundation has the support of astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs who participate in this educational effort. ASF also accepts other contributions.

Submitted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation
Top police officials in the directorates of Human Resource Management, and Logistics and Engineering, are under investigation by the Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU) over corruption allegations.

PSU has confirmed to this newspaper that it has opened the investigation, which was ordered by the inspector general of police (IGP), Gen Kale Kayihura.

Speaking at the pass-out of 210 police officers on August 22, who completed a five-week capacity building and security course at the police Marines base in Kigo,Wakiso district,

Gen Kayihura said the directorates of Human Resource and Logistics and Engineering are in a mess and need cleaning up.

Im going to write a memo directing you [Joel Aguma, PSU head] to investigate officers from the directorate of Human Resource and Logistics and Engineering and investigations must begin from directors, Kayihura said.

IGP Kale Kayihura

Police headquarters is very rotten and we are in the term of cleaning up; so, you [PSU boss] must begin with those two directorates, the police chief added.

Kayihura said there are very many officers at the police headquarters whose conduct must be cleaned up.

Very many officers dont want to work and when time for promotions comes, they just run to the directorate of Human Resource and bribe for their promotions and deployment and this one must stop, he said.

Kayihura ordered the directorate of Human Resource to always send performance files of officers to his office regularly so that hardworking officers can be considered for promotion.

The police boss directed PSU to also investigate all officers who have been promoted without their performance reports being verified.

All promotions must be based on training and performance of police officers at all levels. Officers who boycott training should never be promoted, he said.

He added that officers who excel in training should be the first to be promoted.

Whenever I pass out police officers, there must be winners but when it comes to promotions, I dont see their names and files. Who hides them? he asked.

Interviewed on August 26, PSU officials said they have opened a file for all officers from the two directorates to record their statements. The PSU spokesman, Vincent Ssekate, confirmed on August 26 that investigation teams have been set up to act on the IGPs directives.

Two teams have been set up each to handle a directorate and within an unspecified time, we shall be able to give a report on what we will have found out, Ssekate said.
As controversy overwhelms the promoters of the Constitution Amendment Bill 2017, after religious leaders in Acholi sub-region have suggested the draft legislation should be put to a national referendum.

The bill seeks to amend Article 26 of the Constitution to allow government to acquire private land to build national projects without prior compensation of owners.

However, critics of the bill and policy analysts say the draft legislation is a direct attack on individual rights to own property.

Rev Johnson Gakumba, a bishop in northern Uganda, said that in its current form, the bill is a government ploy to deprive citizens of their right to own property.

Pastor Fredrick Okecha, the overseer of the Born-Again Christian faith in the northern Gulu district, said the bill should be subjected to a referendum since land belongs to the people.

Okecha said nationwide consultations will harmonize public concerns on compensation disputes, determination of rates by the chief government valuer and resettlement of project affected persons, among others.

Government wants to take over private land without prior compensation for national projects

Monsignor Mathew Odong, the vicar general of Gulu archdiocese, said government should delay the return of the bill to the floor of parliament until it has widely consulted Ugandans.

Monsignor Odong said nationwide consultations will secure vital government projects against vandalism and sabotage.

The Constitution Amendment Bill 2017 is being pushed by the Lands, Housing and Urban Development ministry.

Recently, the ruling NRM parliamentary caucus voted to withdraw the bill from parliament after failing to justify the proposed amendment.

Uganda held a referendum in 2000 and later on July 28, 2005 on the system of governance. Although citizens overwhelmingly rejected a return to multiparty politics in 2000, they overwhelmingly endorsed it in 2005.

Acholi religious leaders believe a similar approach should be applied to the controversial Constitution Amendment Bill 2017.
The by-election for Kalungu LC-V chairman almost turned violent when soldiers rounded up residents of some villages in the district.

At Bulingo fishing village in Bukulula sub-county, Stephen Tashobya, a commissioner of the Electoral Commission (EC), had a bust-up with a group of soldiers who raided the landing site on the eve of voting day and rounded up many residents.

They claimed they were on an operation against illegal fishing but couldnt explain why they had rounded up everybody including women and children, he told The Observer.

Tashobya was drawn into the fracas by MPs Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) and Florence Namayanja (Bukoto East) who were leading the campaign for the DP candidate in the race, Emmanuel Musoke.

Other candidates were Richard Kyabaggu (NRM) and Independents; Mathias Kintu Musoke and David Luyombo Busagwa.

There was low voter turn up

According to Ssewungu, there were about 20 soldiers at the landing site. He said they beat up people at night but doubted whether they were real soldiers. They were only dressed in military fatigues but I doubt whether they are soldiers because they claimed to have come from Mpigi but there is no army barracks in Mpigi, Ssewungu said.

They were traveling in a white Ipsum car registration number UAP 783A. This writer met the said car at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) weigh bridge at Lukaya loading more soldiers who were brought by Lwendo Donald Muhwezi on a police truck.

They cant claim to have been on an operation against illegal fishing because they couldnt explain their motivation of doing such an operation on election day, Tashobya said.

MORE GUNS

This writer also witnessed some NRM functionaries in the district picking guns from Lukaya police station. For instance, Abdul Bbaale Mayanja, the district speaker, drove into the police station and picked an armed policeman.

Cornered by journalists, police spokesman for Greater Masaka region Lameck Kigozi didnt have any explanation. Several other known NRM leaders were seen moving with armed men in civilian clothes.

Kalungu went for a by-election after the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier judgment by the High court in Masaka nullifying Kyabaggus February 2016 election on account of vote rigging.

The by-election recorded a generally low voter turnout with some polling stations getting less than 100 voters. Because of limited activity, some polling officials took time off to nap as they waited for voters.

An EC official told The Observer that some voters were turned away after they claimed they couldnt vote on their own because their hands were either hurting or could not read nor write and had sought the assistance of NRM agents.

The law doesnt allow one person to aid more than one voter; this appeared to be a syndicate and when we detected it, we turned them away, the EC official said.

Meanwhile, the police arrested at least nine DP supporters who had been deployed to monitor the electoral exercise in Lwabenge and Lukaya town council.

According to Kigozi, the nine were apprehended on Wednesday night after police got information that the group was intimidating voters. On interrogation, Kigozi said the police discovered that none of them were residents of Kalungu but had travelled from Makindye in Kampala.
In the second part of our series about the ailing Gulu remand home, ABALO IRENE OTTO looks at challenges the facility administration faces in counseling and educating the juveniles.



Its a quiet environment with grey clouds hovering over the earth, blocking the sunrays today.

Children hug their bodies tightly with their hands as they match to a nearby classroom at Northern Ugandas only remand home that accommodates about 60 juvenile offenders. It is considered a correctional facility for the children who have come into conflict with the law on various cases.

On this morning, there are two girls at the facility. The teacher picks his books and enters a classroom block about ten metres to the administration block that houses the dormitories. A girl emerges from the dormitory in a dark green dress handing loose on her body.

She is distinct from the rest of the children. Her movements shift without a glance at anybody near her. Joseph Kilama, the in-charge of the facility, later told me she is a capital offender.

Patrick Labanya, a teacher, helps a girl with writing in upper primary class at the remand home

At the age of 14, Anek (not her real name) had a child. Anek had a normal delivery to a beautiful baby. But when she heard that her boyfriend had intentions of marrying another girl, she strangled her two-month-old baby and threw it in a stream near her village.

On realizing that her child was missing, concerned neighbours grilled her to disclose the whereabouts of her child. She later confessed the murder and was taken to a police station where a homicide file was opened.

Anek was transferred from her home district in Lamwo and has been on remand at Gulu remand home for the last eight months. Being an orphan, her uncle visits her once in a while.

My uncle comes to visit me but he does not say much. We hardly have what to talk about. He only promises that I will go back home soon, Anek confides before instantly turning away as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her condition, according to her counselor at the facility, has stabilized compared to the distress she came with. Through constant counseling at the Gulu remand home, Anek, who could not say a word to anyone at the beginning, can now speak to people though she needs constant monitoring.

Kilama told The Observer that Anek is one among many capital offenders at the facility.

They are many here. That one there defiled his sister and later hacked her to death, Kilama said as he pointed to a 12-year-old boy seated on a bench a distance away.

He further said most of the children show remorse after going through counseling and begin to regret their actions.

Some plead guilty before the magistrate. Such get lighter orders. Some are released and we have to reunite them with their families, noted Kilama.

Due to his experience in handling the children, Kilama takes them as his own children. He says the major challenge at the facility is that the children require maximum attention in order to reform. However, he is disappointed for some children whose parents do not visit them.

The rehabilitation process requires concerted efforts and parents taking responsibility to encourage the child to reform. But we have some parents and relatives who never answer our calls or visit their children at the facility

Kilama adds that it makes his work difficult when the children are released because he has to mobilize resources to locate the homes of such children which is costly.

With the meagre resources we have, it is difficult and we have to sometimes keep the children a few more days here till we can transport them back to their homes, he says.

According to Evelyn Akello, the assistant probation and social welfare officer, some juveniles have to be transferred to Kampiringisa rehabilitation centre in Mpigi district to avoid congestion in the facility.

However, the process is painstaking. We have a challenge of getting fuel [to transport the juveniles] and facilitation. You cannot take a child from Gulu up to Mpigi without giving him or her anything to eat on the way. Some of them who are serving two or three months sentences end up finishing from here without being taken to Kampingirisa.

Akello says they guide the children because they do not know the process of court. When they are sentenced, they have to be counseled again to understand why they are staying at a remand home as a correctional facility.



EDUCATION

In spite of the financial hardships, Gulu remand home operates a learning session that integrates pupils in two categories of lower and upper primary. The learning is made possible with support from World Embrace, a local Christian charity operating in Gulu.

Classroom setting of a remand home

Thirteen-year-old Okello, (not his real name) is a primary seven candidate and hails from Nwoya district. He was remanded to the facility two weeks ago for disturbing a neighbour and threatening violence. Within the few days he has been at the centre, Okello is remorseful and wants to be a better person in future.

In fact, he envisions himself becoming a medical doctor. Unlike other children who are reserved, Okello is delighted to talk about plans of continuing with his education.

He attends the upper class but says the teaching is substandard compared to where he was studying before joining the facility.

I already know some of the things they are teaching us. If I had my books, I would just read them because I want to pass Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and join Layibi College, he says.

Martin Aliker, the community relations officer at World Embrace, told The Observer they saw the need to include formal education in the rehabilitation of the children while at the remand home by providing them with a teacher and some scholastic materials.

In the meantime, we are providing them with porridge for breakfast, two meals a day and some scholastic materials to enable them attend class. Education and food are basic human rights every child is entitled to, he says.

He adds that the support they are giving as a charity organization is to fill an overwhelming gap at the facility and help the children have a better future. World Embrace is taking care of the educational needs of about four children at the remand home who are due to sit their PLE this year.
Reida Nyoka left Lanya county in Central Equatoria state of South Sudan in March 2017.

Together with her husband and nine children, they were escaping the onslaught against innocent civilians by warring groups in the worlds youngest nation.

For a 45-year-old, Nyoka has quickly greyed as can be seen through an opening in her headscarf. She reveals that she escaped the war through the South Sudan-Uganda border to Koboko district.

At the reception centre in Koboko, she and her family were quickly processed and transferred to Imvepi refugee settlement in Arua. There, she lives with one of her children, the other eight attend a school some kilometres away. Meanwhile, her husband returned to South Sudan to join the war.

Much as Nyoka is clearly approaching menopause, she is disappointed by the lack of sanitary pads in the camp.

Four hours on a bus and a ferry ride away is Zoka South primary school located in Maaji refugee settlement camp in Adjumani. Here, 14-year-old Kareo Juliet Amadio attends Primary 5.

Peace Chandini, Oxfams gender and protection officer, demonstrates to pupils how to use the menstrual hygiene kit

Also from South Sudan, she joined the school in February 2016. Amadio first experienced her menstrual periods in May 2017 and luckily for her, the schools senior woman had taken her through what to expect when this time of growing up comes. More so, she had interacted with other girls who had gone through the same; so, she was mentally prepared.

Unlike Nyoka, Amadio is a lucky girl. The school, supported by Plan International, a non-government organization supporting sanitation and hygiene of young girls and women in refugee camps, provided sanitary pads and soap for girls in the school. According to Evelyne Asitolo, the schools senior woman, each girl from Primary 3 to Primary 7 received a reusable pad.

It was a very difficult situation for me as senior woman, Asitolo reveals about the time when the school was not in position to provide pads to the pupils.

The girls would absent themselves from school, while I had to send home those who came to school but started menstruating while in school.

She narrates a story of a Ugandan pupil from the community who refused to go home because it was far. This girl lives across the Zoka forest. She treks several kilometres to school every day. According to Asitolo, on this particular day, the pupil was afraid of making that journey back through the forest on her own.

The pupils normally begin to walk at 5am in order to make it to school on time. Making this girl go home was unfair, yet my hands were tied, Asitolo says.

She reveals that she had to sacrifice the last disposable pad she had for herself in order to help the young girl. Asked if she understands menstruation and proper care when menstruating, Amadio tells us that she takes four baths every day during this time of the month.

After each bath, she washes the disposable pad and changes to another.

I must make sure that I am completely dry before I wear the new pad to avoid contracting an infection, she says.

The challenge, however, is the lack of bathrooms and changing rooms at the school. The girls are left with no option but to bathe from the latrines. Luckily for them, though, the latrines, the only existing concrete structure in the school, are only accessible for girls. Boys and teachers use the makeshift latrines nearby.

Out of Zoka South primary schools population of 1,644 pupils, 792 are girls. Of these, 207 are in Primary 3, 127 in Primary 4, 77 in Primary 5 and 31 in Primary 6.

These are the classes attended by girls that have begun menstruating. Amadios classmate, 14-year-old Robert Anyanjo, is shy when asked if he understands menstruation. After persisting, he told The Observer that occasionally, he has alerted more than one of his classmates who have stained their skirts.

Sometime I go and tell the teacher because many times when we alert them they hide, or sit in one place for hours, he says, adding that the rest of the pupils distance themselves from girls who are menstruating.

Like Plan International, Oxfam Uganda has intervened in supporting the girl-child in menstrual hygiene. According to Peace Immaculate Chandini, Oxfams gender and protection officer, more than 800 sanitary kits have been distributed in eight primary schools across three refugee settlements of Bidi Bidi, Rhino camp and Imvepi refugee settlement.

The kits that we distributed between June and now include a bucket, reusable sanitary pads, a sheet of cloth and soap, Chandini says, adding that more than 500 kits are yet to be distributed.

So, much as the organisations in the region are there as an emergency intervention to a situation that broke out as a result of war, the benefits of their interventions have been extended even to the host communities. For example, when distributing free sanitary kits and pads, both refugee children and children from the host communities benefit equally.

However, unlike the pupils, women like Nyoka have been left out. Training received from public health officers on using cloth as pads has been insufficient. This, according to Nyoka, has left mothers with no option but to sell the food rations provided to the refugees in order to buy sanitary pads.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ushering in its centennial celebration next year, the Washington Marriott Wardman Park is offering a two-night weekend stay in its iconic Langston Hughes suite for the guest with the best story who returns a piece of lost history or memorabilia to the historic hotel in Woodley Park.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9495eb2c-8752-4e7c-b656-28c8b312707d

Since opening in 1918, the hotel has played host to political meetings, glamorous weddings, esteemed social galas and important moments in American history. The memories made have been countless and hotel guests have occasionally been known to take mementos every now and then - a hand towel here, or a teaspoon there, all with personal sentimental value. Over the past hundred years, that can add up to a considerable amount of pieces  each with a story.

Now through the end of the year, the storied hotel in Washington, DC is accepting these appropriated souvenirs, no questions asked, and the stories that go along with them. Whether it was a wedding, a honeymoon, a family occasion or other life event, each of these collected items has a story to tell. Those with the best story, based on the judging criteria listed in the rules, and submitted in print, will receive a two-night weekend stay in the luxurious Langston Hughes suite, as well as 500,000 Marriott Rewards points to create future memories.

To celebrate its centennial, the hotel will use all the past memorabilia collected to create a permanent display in its lobby. The winner will be announced in January 2018. Guests can deliver or send the items along with their stories to the hotels executive office:

Washington Marriott Wardman Park

c/o Marriott Wardman Park Amnesty

2660 Woodley Road, NW

Washington, DC 20008

No purchase necessary. Must be 18+. Ends 12/31/17. For more information, or to book a stay at the hotel, guests can call 1-202-328-2000.

About Washington Marriott Wardman Park

The Washington Marriott Wardman Park is located in a charming neighborhood in the heart of Washington, DC filled with amazing restaurants and quaint shops. Just a few steps away, guests can discover the boutiques and ethnic cuisine of Adams Morgan or the exciting night life of Dupont Circle. With a Metro stop just outside the doors and area airports close by, its a premier city destination just two Metro stops from everything DC has to offer. The hotel offers 195,000 square feet of versatile and flexible large event space that can be customized for groups of all sizes. Guests can head north to explore the wonders of nature at the DC National Zoo or venture out to enjoy a quiet hike or invigorating run through Rock Creek Park located just moments away.




Officially, the deadline set for the countrywide registration of learners by the National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) passed on Wednesday but many schools are still stranded with unregistered learners.

Head teachers and education officials blame Nira for failing to meet the deadline. Speaking to The Observer on Wednesday, school officials from various parts of the country said they had prepared to have their learners registered but Nira frustrated their efforts with its late distribution of forms, limited registration kits and inefficiency of registration materials.

On June 5, the Education ministry, in partnership with Nira, rolled out a national registration exercise of all learners aged five to 16 in all primary, post-primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions.

However, the exercise, which officially ended on Wednesday, has left many schools with unregistered learners, and proprietors are not sure of the way forward.

Students registering for their national identification numbers (NINs)

The registration exercise by Nira seeks to ensure learners are assigned national identification numbers (NINs) while those that are 16 years and older will be issued with national identity cards.

In future, the NINs will be used as index numbers during national examinations and registration numbers at higher institutions of learning.



REGISTRATION DILEMMA

At the start of the exercise, at least eight regions including Kampala, Arua, Gulu, Moroto, Soroti, and Kabarole had their registration materials delivered on time.

For districts such as Masaka, Jinja, Mbale and Luweero, materials were delivered late, which led to panic among head teachers.

According to Doreen Ankunda, the district education officer (DEO) of Lwengo, the district received registration forms when schools were almost breaking off for second-term holidays.

We tried to communicate to Nira early enough but they insisted that they were still working in other districts. We have failed to beat the deadline but we are ready to work even during the holidays once Nira grants us an extension, Ankunda said on Wednesday.

Out of 300 primary and 50 secondary schools in Lwengo, only 20 had been covered by Tuesday evening this week. Ankunda said Nira did not only deliver the forms late, but they were inadequate to cover private schools that cropped up and were not known to the district.

A head teacher at a primary school in Lwengo who preferred anonymity said they received registration forms in the second-last week of term-two holidays.

We were informed late in the evening that Nira was coming to school the following day. The whole process of filling forms by parents, photocopying their IDs and taking childrens photographs was a mess, said the head teacher.

However, the school management was glad that with only five computers, some 157 learners were registered. Only three learners missed registration as their parents were not readily available to fill the forms.

At Kihihi primary school in Kanungu district, Nira registered about 600 learners, leaving 200 others stranded with their forms.

Nira officers spent about one week at our school but did not complete all my children. They said other schools also needed their services; so, they left and we dont know what to do now, said Kenneth Tusingwire, the schools head teacher who described the exercise as hectic.

He added that on several occasions, registration officers came with half-charged batteries for the registration gargets yet the school had power shortages.

It was towards mid-week that they decided to come with a generator, he said. Nira should help me and register the remaining children because I dont know what to tell their parents.

In the districts of Kyankwanzi, Luweero, Nakasongola, Kayunga and Kiboga, forms were received last week, according to the Kyankwanzi DEO, Ibrahim Kabuuka.

It is very unfortunate in Kyankwanzi. By Tuesday [this week], we had only 3,700 registered learners out of the projected 62,000 in the district, Kabuuka said.

Kyankwanzi has 246 primary and 23 secondary schools.

Kabuuka said the district was using 15 computers to conduct the exercise, but two broke down on Tuesday. Charging of registration kits was another problem in the villages of Kikuubya, Kitwala, Kambuzi, Kalungu and Lwengiri that have neither electricity nor solar power.

How did Nira expect us to beat the deadline? he asked. They came to us late with a lot of challenges on their part.

By press time, Kabuuka said Nira had not yet delivered forms for secondary schools.



EXTENSION OR NOT

While schools are urging government to have the exercise extended to the third term, Nira has remained mute. Nira spokesman Gilbert Kadilo said for now, the deadline (August 30) will remain as officially communicated.

We are aware of the dynamics on the ground but we are reviewing progress made so far. A decision will be communicated in a few days about the extension or not of the registration exercise, Kadilo said.

Asked how long it would take for Nira to communicate its decision, Kadilo added: I cannot give you a definite timeline because discussions are still ongoing. I dont want to preempt my superiors.

While appearing before the committee on Defence and Internal Affairs recently, the minister for Internal Affairs, Gen Jeje Odongo, said Nira might not complete the exercise before the set deadline, thus proposing an extension.

Odongo told the committee they were grappling with machine breakdowns, delayed printing and distribution of registration forms and malfunctioning of registration kits.

Kadilo said all districts had not completed their registration by 100 per cent due to emerging challenges such as new private schools and influx of refugee learners in northern Uganda.

Meanwhile, Lubaga South MP Kato Lubwama, also a member of the Defence committee, told The Observer that the committee is likely to meet on Tuesday next week and probably grant an extension to the deadline.

Unless you are mad, you cannot tell me that with all these challenges you [Nira] have gone through, you expected to beat the deadline! Lubwama said. We dont want Ugandans to suffer by working with tension yet this is their country.

He added: Nira is so fake! I know of schools that have not even received any registration forms up to now. If the exercise is difficult in Kampala, how about in hard-to-reach areas with no electricity and bad roads?



nangonzi@observer.ug
The District Kadhi of Mbarara Sheikh Ahamada Kwikiriza has died in motor accident in Mbarara town today morning.

The accident occurred at about 7.20am along High street near Independence park in Mbarara town.

Kwikiriza was travelling from his home in Nyamitanga with his family to Abubakar Main Mosque in Kakoba to celebrate Eid al-Adha, also called the "Sacrifice Feast", one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar.

Eyewitnesses say Kwikiriza's vehicle, registration number UAA 984N lost control as the Sheikh tried to overtake another vehicle, veered off the road and hit a tree. He died on the spot.



Mbarara District Police Commander Jaffar Magyezi told URN the deceased's body is now at Mbarara regional referral hospital mortuary. Sheikh Kwikiriza assumed office last year in acting capacity.



Muslims around the world are today celebrating Eid al-Adha, the day that honours the willingness of Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God's command.
The Supreme court of Kenya has nullified the election win of Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta and ordered for fresh elections within 60 days.



Kenyas Chief Justice David Maraga said the electoral body, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) failed, neglected and refused to conduct the elections as required by law.



The unprecedented court victory on the African continent is surely sweet music to veteran opposition leader Raila Odingas ears who challenged President Uhuru Kenyattas re-election earlier last month.

Raila Odinga challenged the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta

Odinga, a former prime minister, charged that Kenyatta won the elections by fraud. Odinga said that the electoral commission did not follow the law in adding up voting tallies and presented fictitious results that had been changed to give victory to Kenyatta.



Odingas lawyers charged that the original voting results forms were replaced with forms lacking security features such as a bar codes, watermarks and stamps. Most international observers have said the election results are credible.



The opposition leader rejected the August 11 electoral commission declaration that Kenyatta won the presidential race with 54 percent of the vote.



The announcement sparked two days of protests by Odingas supporters. Police suppressed the protests violently using bullets and tear gas.

The election petition was filed 90 minutes before the deadline and included more than 25,000 pages in an affidavit.
On Tuesday evening, Bank of Uganda (BOU) filed a rejoinder to its lawsuit accusing businessman Sudhir Ruparelia of stealing Shs 400 billion from the collapsed Crane bank.

On the same day, the central bank also filed its response to a counter claim filed by Sudhir, in which the former Crane bank owner demands that BOU pays him $8 million for breach of the Confidential Settlement and Release Agreement (CSRA) signed earlier this year.

DERRICK KIYONGA carefully scrutinized the BOU 36-page defense and found that the central bank squarely heaps the blame on Sudhir for breaching the said agreement.



In his defense against the Bank of Uganda (BOU) lawsuit, Sudhir contends that MMAKs Advocates and AF Mpanga advocates, the central banks lawyers, cannot institute proceedings against him because in so doing, they are in breach of the advocate-client relationship.

Sudhir specifically took issue with MMAKs Advocates. He said the law firm earlier represented Crane bank and got vital information, which it is using in the BOU case against him.

BOU, however, denies that its instructions to MMAKS Advocates and AF Mpanga Advocates in this suit are a violation of any advocate-client relationship with Sudhir or Meera Investments, who are the defendants.

BOU contends that MMAKS Advocates has acted for Crane bank [in receivership] in various matters since 2005 and continues to do so in this suit and other matters.

According to BOU, Crane bank is a separate and distinct legal entity from Sudhir, who is its majority (sole beneficial) shareholder. The central bank further argues that Sudhir as an individual is not a present or former client of MMAKS Advocates and did not become so by virtue of the fact that the law firm represented Crane bank.

In any event, the claims of fraudulent extraction of monies by the defendants [Sudhir and Meera Investments] from the plaintiff [Crane bank], which are subject of this suit, only came to light subsequent to and by reason of a forensic audit carried out by Pricewater houseCoopers (PWC) after October 20, 2016 and were not known by anyone other than the defendant and his associates/co-conspirators prior to the issuance of PWCs forensic audit, the BOU rejoinder says.

AGREEMENT

In his defence, Sudhir argued that the BOU case should be summarily thrown out because he signed an agreement with the bank known as a Confidential Settlement and Release Agreement (CSRA), which he says stops the central bank from instituting any legal proceedings, be it civil or criminal, against him.

He cited clause 6 of the agreement, which says; This confidential settlement and release agreement is in full, complete and final settlement of all claims that either party (or related parties or shareholders) may have against the other, and each of Bank of Uganda and Crane Bank Limited hereby fully and finally releases and forever discharges and shall refrain from instituting, directing, procuring, instigating or maintaining all or any actions, claims, sanctions (whether administrative, civil or criminal in nature). 

But the bank says by executing the CSRA, BOU did not concede that the claims against Sudhir, which form the basis of the claims set out in the plaint, were not well founded.

The undertaking by the plaintiff to release and discharge the first defendant [Sudhir] from liability and to refrain from instituting, directing, procuring, instigating or maintaining any legal actions or claims against the first defendant, set out in Clause 6 of the CSRA and the agreement not to sue set out in Clause 7 of the CSRA did not arise and become binding on the plaintiff simply by virtue of the execution of the CSRA, BOU says.

Sudhirs primary obligation, according to BOU, under the terms of the CSRA, was to pay the settlement consideration, being an aggregate amount of $60m part in cash and part in property, as well as handing over the freehold/mailo certificates of title for the 47 branches, in accordance with and in the manner set out in the provisions of Clauses 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 of the CSRA.

In particular, BOU says Sudhirs initial obligation under Clause 3.2.5 of the CSRA was: to identify and supply a list of properties (free of all encumbrances, claims whether legal or equitable and whether registered or unregistered) whose collective fair market value shall meet the required value [of US $42,000,000.00, United States Dollars Forty Two Million) under this agreement and [to/ submit the list to BOU at the date of execution.

In breach of the express provisions of Clause 3.2.5 of the CSRA, the details and particulars of which breach are more fully set out in the defence to counterclaim, BOU says Sudhir did not submit a list of unencumbered properties whose collected fair market value amounted to $ 42m to BOU on the date of execution of the CSRA.

That when BOU insisted on receiving the property lists, Sudhir wrote a letter on May 18, 2017 purporting to suspend implementation of the CSRA but in effect repudiating the same.

BOU says that on April 5, 2017, Sudhir provided two lists of properties in purported compliance with its obligations under Clause 3.2.5 of the CSRA.

The first list, according BoU, comprised of 14 properties, which in court documents have been termed as Meera list owned by Meera Investments.

The second list, which in the court documents has been referred to as the Bharwani list comprised of ten properties, three of which were owned by Mahmud Bharwani and the rest (one each) owned by Phionah Najemba, Florence Nakimuli, Eddy Matovu, Dembe Apartments, Alice Nambozo, Way Forward Developers and Prestigious Apartments.

On April 6, 2017, BOU says, its lawyer David Mpanga raised concerns about the property lists, pointing out, inter alia, the facts that: Plots 35, 37, 39, 41 and 45-65 Mpanga Close (Items 1- 5 on the Bharwani List) were encumbered by reason of being located in a Nakivubo swamp; plots 22-23 and 24-25 Mukabya Close (Items 6 and 7 on the Bharwani List) were encumbered by reason of being located in a Kinawataka swamp.

Mpanga also pointed out that Plot 34A, which Sudhir surrendered to BOU as part of the CSRA, is a playing field of Nakasero primary school and is fenced off with a clear sign indicating that it is not for sale.

On the April 10, 2017, BOU says that Mpanga presented Sudhirs lawyers with further evidence of the encumbrances on the Nakasero primary school playing fields and on the properties located in the Nakivubo and Kinawataka wetland.

In the same meeting, Mpanga queried Bharwanis credibility and on behalf of BOU, requested that the Bharwani list be replaced with a list of unencumbered properties so as to augment the Meera List and make up the required value as per the requirements of Clause 3.2.5 of the CSRA.

In purported compliance with clause 3.2.5 of the CSRA, BOU says that on April 12, 2017, Sudhir presented a further list of three additional properties, one of which was owned by Meera Investments, another by Sudhir jointly with his wife and the third owned by Sudhir, bringing the total number of plots submitted on the Meera Investments List to seventeen.

Sudhir, according to BOU, on the 24th of April 24, 2017 presented a further list of four properties in the names of Adventure Real Estates Limited, a company associated with Bharwani, bringing the number of properties on the Bharwani List to 14.

All of the properties on the Bharwani, according BOU, were inspected by Semaganda & Associates, the valuers appointed to the Joint Valuation team by BoU and found to be encumbered in so far as they were: controversial titles located in gazetted wetlands; carved out of contested land belonging to city primary schools; or traversed by high-voltage power lines and encumbered by wayleaves (which allows government to work on private land).

The fact that the majority of the properties on the Bharwani List were encumbered and largely worthless for being controversial was well within the counterclaimants knowledge [Sudhir] by reason of his association with Mahmud Bharwani and his involvement in the fraudulent extraction of monies using the Infinity Investments Limited facilities, BOU says.

Though Sudhir says the agreement was repudiated the moment BOU filed a case against him in the Commercial court; the central bank in its defence insists that it was Sudhirs intransigent stance, and refusal to remedy the breach of the agreement that compelled the central bank to initiate legal action against the businessman.

It seems, however, BOU lawyers dont seem to have a ready answer to Sudhirs main claim, to the effect that since the CSRA collapsed, the central bank should return the $8m he paid in partial fulfillment of the agreement.



dkiyonga@observer.ug
Kenya Chief Justice David Maraga

A section of Ugandan legislators has hailed the Kenyan judiciary for exhibiting what they described as independence in the nullification of the recent presidential elections.

The Supreme court of Kenya today (Friday) in an unprecedented judgement on the African continent nullified the election win of Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta, ordering for fresh polls within two months.

In his ruling, Kenya Chief Justice David Maraga said the electoral body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), neglected and refused to conduct the elections as the law requires.

MPs including Silas Aogon (Kumi Municipality), Gaffa Mbwatekamwa (Kasambya) and John Baptist Nambeshe (Manjiya) described the ruling as a landmark in the history of Africa where sitting presidents are not easy to challenge in courts.

The judiciary has exhibited independence and high sense of credibility that they are able to overturn an election of a president still in power which cannot happen here [Uganda], Nambeshe said.

The MPs said they were doubtful that opposition candidate Raila Odinga would win an election petition.

We doubted, we did not trust even the court in Kenya but now this has happened. I now have hope because we never thought that someone can challenge a sitting president and win, Mbwatekamwa told the Observer.

Aogon added; The judiciary in Kenya acted on the basis of independence. It means the three arms [judiciary, executive and parliament] are acting independently. I am now looking for peaceful and fair election so that Kenyans will accept the results the way they will be declared in the next phase of election.

Odinga petitioned court on grounds that his opponent Kenyatta won the elections by fraud since the IBEC had not followed the law in adding up voting tallies and instead presented forged results to give victory to Kenyatta who was seeking re-election.

namuloki16@gmail.com
Martin Musiime

A third-year Makerere University law student, Martin Musiime has been granted bail, a day after he was arrested for holding up a poster while President Yoweri Museveni spoke at the Nelson Mandela commemorative lecture.



Musiime, a representative of Mitchell Hall on Makerere Students' Guild Council, was arrested by the presidential guards, the Special Forces Command (SFC) soldiers from the Makerere University Main Hall after he held a poster with the wording "Leave Article 102(b)" written on it.

He lifted the poster as President Museveni stood up to give closing remarks during the Mandela lecture themed; "Nelson Mandela, the legend: lesson for the youth.



The lecture was organised by the department of political science in memory of the former anti-apartheid icon who spent at least 27 years in jail before becoming president of South Africa in 1994.



Musiime was later handed over to the police and was detained at Makerere University police station under file reference number 28/31/08/2017.



Musiime was later transferred to Wandegeya police station where charges of inciting violence were preferred against him. The offence provided for under Section 51 of the penal Code Act carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail on conviction.



Details of how the student was moved from Makerere to Wandegeya are sketchy as police officers are uncomfortable commenting on the matter.



Jackson Mucunguzi, the officer in charge of Makerere University police advised URN to contact ASP Joseph Nsabimana, the Wandegaya District Police Commander. When contacted, Nsabimana referred the URN reporter back to Mucunguzi who in turn referred the reporter to police spokesperson Asan Kasingye.



On Thursday night, while still at Makerere police station, Musiime narrated how he was arrested:



"I just raised a manila which was written on "Don't Touch Article 102 (b)" and as the president was trying to read it, some SFC officers came and took me out of the Main Hall."



"They took me in some room and started asking me why I was disturbing the president. They asked, "don't you know this is the fountain of honour? And some even asked what we Makerere students think we are?"



Tworo Azizi, the chairperson of Mitchell Hall earlier condemned the arrest saying that there is no reasonable charge against Musiime. He notes that Musiime was exercising his constitutional right of freedom of expression.



Tworo says that the officers at the station referred the matter to the chief security officer of the university.



We have freedom of speech, so how we exercise it is up to us although it mustnt infringe on someones rights definitely. But we think in this context he was right, he did not say anything. He just put up a placard, anyone could do that. I would come to church and put a placard, there is no problem with that. Whether his message is offensive or not is up to the person who feels offended. We condemn his arrest in the worst terms possible he said.



Article 102(b) of the 1995 Constitution puts a ceiling on the age of the person holding the Office of the President. The article, as it is now, bars President Museveni from running for the office again, since he will be above 75 years during elections in 2021.



The law puts the minimum age for the president at 35 and the upper limit at 75. Museveni will be 77 years in 2021.



This year, the opposition Democratic Party launched Kogikwatako, or "dare touch it", a catch-word for campaign against perceived government plans to amend Article 102(b).



It would appear Musiime had this in mind as he entered the Main Hall for the lecture where President Museveni was the main guest.



In his remarks at the lecture, President Museveni said leaving power early is not good for Africa as a continent.

Using the example of the late Nelson Mandela who served as South African president for only five years and retired, Museveni said the anti-apartheid icon did not have time to attend to the challenges of the wider Africa.



Museveni, in power since 1986, pointed out security, economic integration, identity, democracy and independence as some of the challenges.
The reelection of the same presidents in three East African Community countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya presents a bright future for deeper regional integration.

Regional integration can help Africa build value chains, and thereby tap into global value chains. The importance of regional integration is being felt across the continent, as evidenced by African leaders now calling for a free trade area by 2017.

President Museveni was reelected in February 2016 and one of the elements in his manifesto is international and regional cooperation.

We will, in the same vein, work to strengthen regional organisations such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Inte-Governmental Authority on Development the Southern Africa Development Cooperation (SADC) and the EAC, SADC and Comesa tripartite agreement. At the African Union level, we will continue contributing to the peace-keeping missions and working for the consolidation of the African Economic Community, Museveni stated in his manifesto.

President Musevenis reelection is so profound for the development of East Africa since he has been in power much longer than any other president in the region and he is the surviving of the three presidents who anchored the revival of the East African Community in 1993.

Regional economic integration is one way countries achieve national interests only in concert with others. It expands national markets to the region.

For instance, the macroeconomic report of May 2017 of the ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development shows that the East African Community remained the major destination for Ugandas exports in April 2017, followed by Comesa, and the Middle East.

Kenya accounted for the largest share of EAC exports (27.1%), followed by Rwanda (26.7%), Burundi (20.7%), South Sudan (18.6%) and Tanzania (6.9%). Ugandas trade with the EAC is facilitated by tariff-free movement of goods and services as well as improved regional transport infrastructure.

Over the last two decades, regional integration has proven itself on the international stage and has placed East Africa on the global map. The EAC is home to over 150 million citizens, of which 22 per cent is urban population.

With a land area of 1.82 million square kilometres and a combined Gross Domestic Product of $146 billion (EAC statistics for 2016), realisation of integration bears great strategic and geopolitical significance and prospects for a renewed bloc.

Three elements of President Uhuru Kenyattas 2017 manifesto out of the ten is to expand food and agricultural production and double the fertiliser subsidy initiative  aimed at increasing production and supporting the expansion and capacity of local fertiliser manufacture.

He also promised to complete the 57 large-scale dam construction programme, support smallholder agricultural irrigation and work with the private sector to enhance food and agricultural production on at least 1.2 million acres.

In Rwanda, the incumbent, Paul Kagame, was reelected on August 4 for a third term of seven years in office. He got 98.63 per cent of the votes. Kagame has been in power for 17 years.

Kagames manifesto mainly focuses on further strengthening the economy, boosting social welfare, and good governance as well as justice.

This is another seven years to take care of issues that affect Rwandans and ensure that we become real Rwandans who are (economically) developing, Kagame said in his acceptance speech.

In his congratulation message to Present Uhuru Kenyatta, the EAC secretary general, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, said: The EAC including its organs and institutions pledge their continued support and look forward to working with you to widen and deepen the EAC regional integration and development process.

To Kagame, Amb Mfumukeko said: Once again, I congratulate Your Excellency and look forward to continue working closely with you in our common cause of EAC regional integration and development.

This clearly demonstrates that EAC secretariat is fully convinced that the election of the same president presents the regional bloc with opportunity of moving ahead for deeper regional development.

All the three presidents have infrastructure development in their hearts, which is one of the most critical enablers of a successful regional integration, taking into account its importance in facilitating activities such as trade, agriculture, tourism and the movement of labour.

The region has already gone past the customs union and common market milestones for integration. During the 18th ordinary summit meeting of the EAC heads of state in May 2017 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, they, among other things, deliberated on a political federation.

The leaders adopted the political confederation as a transitional model and directed the council to constitute a team of constitutional experts to draft the constitution and report to the 19th summit.



irene.birungi@statehouse.go.ug



The author is a private presidential secretary in charge of administration.
The year was 1979 and America was desperate to free its hostages who had been held in Iran.

With very scanty intelligence information to go by, they resorted to using the supernatural.

In an operation code-named Grill Flame, half a dozen psychics working inside a dimly-lit room in an ancient building in Fort Meade, Maryland, tried to peer through the ether to see where the hostages were being held and how tightly they were guarded.

The psychics worked for the US army intelligence and were even consulted before the super-secret US military raid that attempted to free the hostages in April 1980.

When the hostages were eventually released in 1981, they were interviewed and the information that had been provided by the psychics was found to be, by some estimates, about 45 per cent accurate.

That was information that could not be obtained through normal intelligence collection channels, the report said. The degree of success appears to, at least, equal, if not surpass, other collection methods.

In spite of its relative success, Grill Flame and other uncanny intelligence operations have been kept a top secret for the fear that they would be buried in ridicule.

However, in an interview in 2005, former US President Jimmy Carter admitted that his administration had enlisted the help of the supernatural to determine the location of a plane that had gone missing in the heart of Africa.

We had a plane go down in the Central African Republic  a twin-engine plane, small plane. And we couldnt find it, even with satellite photography, Carter said.

So, the director of the CIA came and told me that he had contacted a woman in California that claimed to have supernatural capabilities. And she went in a trance, and she wrote down latitudes and longitudes, and we sent our satellite over that latitude and longitude, and there was the plane.

Even if the ridiculing voices persist, the reality is that most major armies in the world have a trained unit of people who use extra-sensory perception (ESP) to spy on their enemies.

It is a tactic that dates back to the days of the Bible when Israel had a prophet who told the king what his enemies were planning. Therefore, the king of Syria called his inner circle and tasked them to tell him who the mole in the house was.

And one of his servants said, None of us, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.

If Israel used the foreknowledge of a prophet to gain an advantage over her enemies, shouldnt Uganda use the uncanny abilities of our own Prophet Elvis Mbonye?

The UPDF was heavily involved (officially or otherwise) in the civil wars that broke out in Burundi and South Sudan. However, several months before the guns were drawn, Mbonye had prophesied about both wars before an audience of hundreds, that later grew to thousands.

Could our soldiers have been better prepared for those events if they had taken the words of the prophet as more than just the rumblings of a preacher?

In an earlier incident, in 2012, Mbonye had clearly described what he supernaturally saw as UPDF choppers in flames en route to Somalia, a prophecy that was well publicized long before it unfolded.

That time, perhaps because of the seriousness of the matter, he even sent word to the army top brass cautioning them against sending choppers to Mogadishu. Predictably, his words were dismissed and, in August of that year, the consequences were on all front pages.

On the one hand are the thousands who follow Mbonye every week and are glad to see the prophecies come to pass. On the other are his vociferous critics who, having found no fault in the accuracy of his prophecies, have elected to direct their rage towards his ostensibly extravagant lifestyle.

But Prophet Mbonye can and should be much more than a splitter of opinion. The most powerful intelligence organizations in the world dedicate a fraction of their resources to training people in the use of ESP techniques and would be glad to have 30 per cent accuracy.

In Uganda, we have a prophet with such credentials, whose precision in predicting local, national and world events has been proven over the years. It is about time the nations decision makers saw this extraordinary gift for what it actually is; an asset to this nation.



The author is a journalist and a gospel minister.
From the 1950s to 1970s, most of Latin America, Southern and Eastern Europe were under one form of authoritarian regime or the other.

Almost all were blunt military regimes that murdered civilian activists and imprisoned political leaders. They were deeply entrenched and highly dreaded by the citizens. Curiously, the regimes that held sway in Southern Europe were in countries that had colonized Latin America: Spain and Portugal.

Quite dramatically, in what the political scientist Samuel Huntington called the Third Wave of democratization, there was a kickoff that created a contagion that would spread across the world.

It all started at 25 minutes after midnight, on Thursday April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, when a radio station played a song signaling to military units to embark on carrying out a coup. By the following afternoon, strongman Marcello Caetano had surrendered, putting paid to a dictatorial regime dating back to 1926.

From Southern Europe to Latin America, longstanding authoritarian regimes went down under the weight of popular pressure and economic strain. It took about a decade for similar light to be lit in Eastern Europe in what became known as the autumn of nations, and the African continent too took its turn starting with the Republic of Benin in 1989.

More recently, the Arab spring yet again demonstrated the imminent vulnerability to a contagion effect of long-surviving authoritarian regimes. There are instructive lessons from what happened in Europe, Latin America, and more recently in North Africa to which I return in a moment.

Arguably, the biggest concern on the mind of many Ugandans today is when and how the long-surviving authoritarian ruler, General Museveni, will leave power. That he will leave is not open to debate. But we have no idea how it will happen.

To his credit, however dubious, Museveni has mastered the art of survival using the state coercive arsenal to repress his challengers and deploy material resources to buy support and compromise opposition against his rule.

The challenge for those in the trenches struggling to bring an end to an entrenched regime is how to muster a wide-enough coalition of forces. These forces must necessarily come from both inside and outside the establishment.

A key lesson from the history of regime changes around the world is that there must be a common ground bringing together moderate and progressive factions inside the establishment and similarly progressive forces in opposition trenches.

This makes possible a negotiated settlement instead of a rapturous revolution. It may well be unfeasible to negotiate ones way to State House. But its also improbable to sloganeer ones way to State House. Rhetoric is one thing, reality is another.

It looks increasingly apparent that General Museveni will not leave power through an electoral defeat; rather, a combination of internal decay and external opposition pressure will bring about a day of reckoning. What are the likely scenarios to anticipate? There are a few more recent examples one can look to for instruction.

In Burkina Faso and Egypt, when the respective authoritarian rulers came under popular push for departure, the armed forces played a decisive role by standing on the side of the masses.

But unlike in Burkina, a stalemate among the political class in Egypt produced instability and ultimately military takeover. Libya has fared even worse: extreme chaos and state failure. The key lesson here is that without some kind of compromise, you end up in either an unstable stalemate or a total breakdown.

Another key lesson is the need to combine the power of the masses and the purse of the middle-class. The masses bring numbers, but those numbers must be mobilized. You need both people power and proper planning.

The people can bring pressure to mount on a regime but, for that pressure to be consequential, there has to be a steady supply of critical resources, both intellectual and financial. Part of the reason the 2011 Walk-to-Work (W2W) movement, and later 4GC, visited so much heat on the Museveni regime was the meticulous thinking at the behest of MP Mathias Mpuuga.

Here is the crux of the matter. It appears that a section of the Ugandan opposition fails to appreciate the necessity of a broad coalition of forces. Many well-meaning and resourceful Ugandans have been alienated from the struggle and sidelined from playing a meaningful role.

Last week, I wrote here to make a small point in defense of MP Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda: in a democratic struggle you cant expect everyone to think the same way, and turning to blackmail is perilous.

Quite expectedly, I became a target of cheap ridicule and denigration, with some rather misguided folks questioning my scholarly credentials, never mind I havent and will not seek their certification.

Someone watching from afar must wonder, if Ssemujju can be savaged for expressing a candid yet innocuous opinion, what is likely to happen to those working for the system in the event of regime change?

The natural self-preservation instinct is to tenaciously work for the continuation of the status quo, from Museveni to, probably, the wife. This may not last forever, but it will definitely prolong the urgently needed regime change.



moses.khisa@gmail.com



The author is an assistant professor of political science at North Carolina State University.
East Hanover, NJ, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As we celebrate Labor Day, the job news remains upbeat for Americans with disabilities, according to todays National Trends in Disability Employment  Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshires Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). For the population with disability, the trend has now reached 17 consecutive months. Accessible public transportation systems, such as buses and trains, provide pathways to independence for people with disabilities. Targeted training programs can help people with disabilities learn to use public transportation safely and efficiently, expanding their access to employment, education, health care, and community activities.

In the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released Friday, September 1, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 27.2 percent in August 2016 to 29.5 percent in August 2017 (up 8.5 percent; 2.3 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 73 percent in August 2016 to 73.6 percent in August 2017 (up 0.8 percent; 0.6 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

The proportion of people with disabilities working continues to improve for the seventeenth consecutive month, noted John ONeill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. While this prolonged stretch of gains is encouraging, we need to remember that the gap in employment between people with and without disabilities is still a large one, he added.

The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities increased from 31 percent in August 2016 to 32.5 percent in August 2017 (up 4.8 percent; 1.5 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate also increased from 76.7 percent in August 2016 to 77.0 percent in August 2017 (up 0.4 percent; 0.3 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working or actively looking for work.

Transportation is often cited as a major barrier by people with disabilities, especially those who are seeking employment, noted Debra Brucker, PhD, research assistant professor at UNH. Yet, we see evidence that this is a barrier that can be successfully overcome, according to the 2015 Kessler Foundation National Disability & Employment Survey, she added.

Transportation training programs and services, such as the New Jersey Travel Independence Program (NJTIP) @ Rutgers University, are helping people use their local transportation systems, safely and independently. Our hands-on training program expands the sphere of mobility for people with disabilities in providing them with the skills, experience, and confidence they need to travel on their own, said Karen Alexander, Managing Director at NJTIP @ Rutgers University. More than 400 individuals have completed our program, she noted, and two-thirds of these graduates have become regular transit users. Being able to navigate public transportation independently opens up their options for employment and education, as well as greater enjoyment in the many activities offered in our communities.

Because access to transportation is a national issue, we understand the need to look at the big picture', emphasized Alexander. At NJTIP we also participate in transportation research, provide information on available resources, and work to increase the mobility options available to all people."

In August 2017, among workers ages 16-64, the 4,641,000 workers with disabilities represented 3.2 percent of the total 144,371,000 workers in the U.S.

The next nTIDE will be issued on Friday, October 6, 2017.

Join our nTIDE Lunch & Learn series today, September 1, at 12:00pm Eastern. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, offers attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provides news and updates from the field, as well as invited panelists to discuss current disability-related findings and events. Donna Smith with Easterseals Project Action Consulting, will join Drs. Brucker and ONeill, andDenise Rozell, policy strategist at AUCD, to discuss todays findings. You can join live, or watch the recordings at: www.ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64). NTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (9ORT5022 and 90RT5017) and Kessler Foundation.

About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes -- including employment -- for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit www.KesslerFoundation.org.

About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, visitwww.ResearchonDisability.org.

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Last year, 20-year-old Mekhi Alante Lucky got himself arrested in North Carolina for speeding and driving a stolen vehicle. Little did he know that this even would completely change his life for the better. The young mans mugshot soon went viral and he recently signed with an Atlanta modelling agency.

True to his name, Mr. Lucky managed to avoid jail time when he was arrested, in May of last year, but managed to get himself in trouble several times since then, amassing quite the criminal record. Between April 2016 and December 2016, he was booked for alleged assault on a female, alleged breaking and entering plus resisting a public officer, and twice, for misdemeanor violations of his parole. But his troubled past didnt stop Atlanta-based St Claires Modeling Agency from signing Mekhi to its roster, as soon as they saw his original mugshot on social media.

Mekhi Alante Lucky owes his new career as a fashion model to a Twitter account called Wake Mugshot, the owners of which scour police records for intriguing mugshots and post them on the internet. His good looks and differently colored eyes  one brown and the other blue  soon caught peoples attention, and the photo went viral, earning the young felon the nickname Prison Bae. When the mugshot reached St Claires, they were so impressed with his striking features that they offered him a modelling contract before someone else stole him away.

The 5-foot-10 model is now so popular that his photo graces the home page of St Claires Modeling Agencys website. Hes also off to a good start on social media, with over 22,000 fans on Instagram. He only has 19 posts there, so its a pretty impressive number.

Felon scounting has become somewhat of a trend among modelling agencies, as Mekhi Alante Lucky walks in the footsteps of the original hot felon, Jeremy Meeks, who made headlines in 2014, after his mugshot drew the attention of fashion agencies, landing him a lucrative contract. He went on to become a top model and is now enjoying the good life, traveling the world and mingling with celebrities.

I guess its true what they say about every cloud having a silver lining.
Bahrain, which has close ties with Saudi Arabia, has enlisted the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee for a $1.2M information campaign in the US.

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are part of the coalition of Muslim states involved in a three-month political and economic blockade of Qatar for its alleged support of terrorism and close ties with Iran.

On Aug. 24, Qatar snubbed its nose at the blockade by establishing diplomatic relations with Iran, which has allowed Qatar Airways to use its airspace to deliver supplies to the Qataris.

The boycotters had demanded that Qatar end all links to Iran as a condition for lifting the blockade.

The SAPRAC campaign is "to highlight the economic and political ties of adversary countries in the Middle East, and how these ties conflict with policies of human rights and anti-terrorism valued by the United States," according to its filing.

The goal is to "inform US policy and decision makers of the extent of these relationships as well as their adverse impact on global security."
Agricultural News

Karen Krehbiel Honored by Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture Recognized as a Significant Woman in Ag

As part of a continuing series of stories on Significant Women in Oklahoma Agriculture, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry and Oklahoma State University are recognizing and honoring the impact of countless women across all 77 counties of the state, from all aspects and areas of the agricultural industry. The honorees were nominated by their peers and selected by a committee of 14 industry professionals. This week Karen Krehbiel Dodson of Western Okla. is featured this week as a Significant Woman in Oklahoma Agriculture.



The sixth generation will harvest what a daughter and mother are sowing.





For Brittany Krehbiel, a fifth generation farmer, and her mother, Karen Krehbiel Dodson, this line is more than a cliche.





For more than 15 years together, the two watched Jeff Krehbiel, Brittany's father and Karen's late husband, and his father, the late Wayne Krehbiel, work hard to ensure they would do just this - leave Krehbiel Farms LLC better for the next generation.





Brittany and Karen had no idea that within just six years, the entire 2,500-acre operation and legacy of continuing this tradition would be placed in their hands.





Since December 2016, the mother-daughter duo has been running Krehbiel Farms LLC and the family irrigation business, Southwest Center Pivots, on their own. The farming operation consists of seed wheat, peanuts, canola, milo, soy beans, alfalfa hay and 250 head of Dorset sheep.





As the sun peaks over the horizon on a hot summer morning in western Oklahoma, Brittany and Karen have already begun their day. Brittany is headed to the wheat field to jump on a John Deere combine as harvest is under way, answering phone calls from customers simultaneously. Karen is sending the irrigation employees out for repairs, making a trip to the bank and working on financial statements.





Karen married into the farming operation; Brittany has spent her life in a combine.





"I remember being tiny enough I could lay in the floor of the tractor cab with a quilt taking a nap while my dad drove," Brittany said.





Those times are some of Karen's favorite memories, too, when life was "normal."





Jeff, generation four, died in 2011 at the age of 47 after battling brain cancer, and Wayne, generation three and a member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame, died this past December at the age of 85.





"During harvest, I'd cook two meals a day, load it all up and take it to the field and put it on a tailgate. Then I'd take it home, clean up and turn right back around and start all over. It was hard work, but that's when family was ideal, when everyone was well," Karen said.





Brittany recalls how her passion for agriculture really grew during those times.





"I really just started to fall in love with the farming operation. I loved being around agriculture. I loved the thought that you could put a seed into the ground and - all of a sudden you have a crop that's ready to harvest, and then that crop goes out and starts to feed the world. I loved that idea," Brittany said.





As an only child, Brittany never knew any different than working on the farm.





"As I started to grow up, I really was interested in agriculture and didn't really know that girls didn't do that, that girls weren't on the production agriculture front - I was kind of taught to go ahead and jump right in and do my part," Brittany said.





And that's just what she has done.





Keeping her 6-year promise





Just before Brittany's dad passed away, she promised him she would come back to the farm. In December, she gets to keep her promise, permanently.





"My goals have kind of stayed the same," Brittany said. "I still want to come home and farm. I still want to be active on the farming operation, but I did see the value in going off to school and getting an education for what I wanted as well as it would open doors if I couldn't come back to the farm for some reason."





Brittany is set to graduate from Oklahoma State University this December with a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics.





"The times I knew I wanted to come back and farm were actually when I would sit on a combine either by myself or with my dad or grandpa and just get to be away from the busyness," she said.





We are all searching for what makes us tick - what makes us excited to wake up every morning. For Brittany, it's farming.





"I love being on a combine," she said. "That's when I know. I have this feeling inside of me of this is right where I'm supposed to be. I only get that in a few places in my life."





While women in production agriculture are a minority, Brittany knows she can handle it.





She recalls the dumfounded look she gets when she visits the part store. The men sometimes look at her like she doesn't know what she's talking about because she's a girl.





"I do have an idea of what I'm talking about," Brittany tells them. "I may not know the actual name for it, but I can tell you what it does."





Karen said the local businesses are settling into Brittany's role on the farm, but they sometimes have to be reminded that if something has to be explained, it has to be explained to the girls.





Brittany said, "I think there's a lot of headway being made on women in agriculture, but I still think there's a slight connotation of they don't know as much. They don't have quite that mindset to be able to do all the things that a guy would."





She added, "With two females running the operation, we hit those road blocks quite a bit."





More than farm girls





Aside from the farm and irrigation business, Brittany and Karen are both very involved in their communities.





Karen has served on the state Board of Agriculture since 2013 and is the first female to serve in this capacity. She's on the Caddo County Excise and Equalization Board, was a member of the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program Class X, and serves on her county Farm Bureau Women's Leadership Committee.





On top of the farm, irrigation business and her involvement in agriculture on a local and state level, Karen is also a certified public accountant and has her own accounting firm.





As the valedictorian of her senior class, Brittany has continued her involvement into college, serving on boards and executive teams. She is on Dr. Thomas Coon's Dean's Advisory Council, the OSU Student Alumni Board, and has served on the OSU Aggie-X Executive Team and the OSU Freshman Representative Council. Both Karen and Brittany have devoted their time to advancing agricultural policies that directly impact farmers and ranchers.





Krehbiel Farms LLC is recognized as an Oklahoma Centennial Farm, and the family was named the 2014 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year.





The future





When harvest begins next year, a Krehbiel won't be driving the combine.





Karen is now married to Terry Dodson. Brittany is engaged to Logan Hukill, and the two are set to wed April 14, 2018.





Karen is excited for Brittany to be home full time so that her duties can be segregated like they once were. When Jeff got sick, Karen had to drive the combine more often, which meant the family ate from restaurants during harvest.





"Two years ago, Brittany goes, 'Mom, you know, I really would like to have the cook back.' I said, 'I'm good with that,'" Karen laughed.





For Brittany, agriculture is a cross between two things: a way of life and helping others in their way of life.





"By me doing my job, it makes it easier for somebody in Oklahoma City to do theirs because they get to walk into a grocery store and have a lot of choices," she said. "It's not just about me, and it's not just about the consumer that gets our product down at the end of the line. It's about that partnership of you do your job and I'm going to do mine, and we're going to create something that's better than either one of us could've done by ourselves."





The mother-daughter duo remembers the legacy Jeff and Wayne left behind.





"With the farm, I just need to make enough money to scrape a living, and the perks - the unpaid benefits of raising children in a small, rural community and having lifetime friends and lifetime neighbors and the beauty of the sunsets and the scenery - is my perk. I just want to make enough money to get by. The rest becomes the benefit," Karen said, quoting it as something Jeff would say.





Karen loves the beauty of farming and laughs as she sometimes gets unfriended on Facebook because she posts too many sunset pictures during harvest.





"Every one becomes this masterpiece of what God has given us," she said.





At the end of the day, faith is what drives Karen and Brittany, both in the present and with future generations in mind.





"You still put it in the ground, and you're still trusting God to make it sprout," Karen said. "It's just a miracle every time that it grows. You'd think as a farmer you would take that for granted, but you just can't."





Source - Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry













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TORONTO, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following the closure of a well-known community agency serving four northwest Toronto neighbourhoods, more than 100 concerned residents, activists and labour unions last night called on the Wynne government to get the balance right to ensure their neighbourhoods have access to the services they need, when they need them.



We are calling on governments  particularly the Wynne Government  to do more than just ensure community agencies, like Doorsteps, have the resources to both administer themselves and deliver programming  it is imperative that community agencies can also access expertise that they may not have in-house, said Janet Prosper, Coalition Spokesperson, of the Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services Coalition, following an emergency community meeting held last night at the Domenico Diluca Community Centre.

The coalition formed following the closure of Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services earlier this month. Doorsteps provided a wide range of services to Northwest Torontos Jane/Finch, Chalkfarm, Falstaff and Daystrom neighbourhoods, including after-school care, seniors support and help for newcomers to Canada.

Doorsteps shouldnt have had to close, but the current funding and governance model community agencies operate under very often sets up small agencies to fail. When they do, governments more often than not simply refuse to intervene to ensure the agencys viability, said Prosper.

Rather than deliver the services directly, governments instead provide financial support for community agencies like Doorsteps, but very often tie funding to specific programs, rather than supporting the agency outright. The pendulum has swung too far towards funding programs, without any regard for the agencys overall operations, she added.

Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, said the loss of Doorsteps leaves a real hole in these neighbourhoods, and the onus is all three levels of government, which provide funding for services they would rather not deliver themselves, to get the balance right so that agencies like Doorsteps can deliver programming, administer themselves effectively, and access expertise so they can flourish.

He added that CUPE Ontario would support the coalitions efforts to protect services in the community, because people in these communities have every right to expect that the services they need are there for them, in their neighbourhoods, when they need them.

Prior to closure, employees at Doorsteps were represented by Local 4772 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 4772).

The coalition sent invitations to several Toronto City Councillors, MPPs and MPs whose Wards either encompass or are adjacent to Doorsteps service area, as well as Mayor John Tory. None attended last nights meeting.

It is very disappointing that no local politicians took the time to listen to hear how passionate people are about the services they depend on. Dozens of people spoke loudly and clearly last night about how Doorsteps impacts their lives in a positive way. We will certainly be working hard in the coming days to make sure their voices are heard, said Hahn.
Maybe the former doctor doesnt want to answer to Mister.

Maybe he doesnt want to answer for his actions.

Anthony Garcia  the former Creighton pathology resident convicted in the revenge-fueled killings of four Omahans  slid his eyelids closed Thursday and refused to even acknowledge the new attorneys appointed to defend him against the death penalty.

Todd Lancaster, an attorney with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, tried to get Garcias attention.

Mr. Garcia, Mr. Garcia, Lancaster called out. Were with the Commission on Public Advocacy, and well be representing you.

Garcia sat with his eyes closed  his behavior reminiscent of a child who squints his eyes shut, cups his hands over his ears and declares, I cant hear you. I cant hear you.

The only difference: Garcias hands were cuffed and his lips were pursed.

Lancaster wasnt the only one spurned.

Moments earlier, Garcia had shuffled into the courtroom in handcuffs and leg chains, awaiting a hearing on whether hell get the death penalty for the March 2008 killings of Thomas Hunter, 11, and Shirlee Sherman, 57, and the May 2013 killings of Dr. Roger and Mary Brumback, both 65.

He fumbled with headphones and a device designed to amplify the audio and help him hear. (Garcia had requested the device during trial, though it appears he has little trouble hearing.)

He soon set that device aside as his attorneys filed in.

When Chicago attorney Bob Motta Jr. informed him that he was going to withdraw from the case, Garcia shut his eyes.

He feigned sleep.

Motta nudged Lancaster. See, he said.

Motta then formally made a motion to withdraw from the case, citing the fact that Garcia is out of money  and, apparently, out of words.

Six months before Garcias October 2016 trial, Motta said, Garcia ceased all communication with myself or my father or anyone on the defense team.

I literally did not have one word passed between us throughout the trial, Motta said. Our attorney-client relationship is so destroyed that there is nothing that I can provide to him.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine blanched a bit at the idea that Garcia had no communication with his attorneys. He noted that Garcia had written letters to the court saying he wanted to retain his defense team and wanted to appeal certain matters.

I think its somewhat disingenuous, Kleine said. And I dont know what contact they tried to make with him.

Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall then tried to interact with the 44-year-old defendant.

Dr. Garcia, do you have any objection to your attorney withdrawing, Randall asked.

Dr. Garcia.

Sleepytime.

Youre sitting there with your eyes closed, Randall continued. Im aware that you can hear. And Im aware that you can speak. Im aware that you can read.

I know that youve filed letters in the court file. ... So if you want to be heard on this matter, you need to speak up now.

More sleepytime.

While Garcia acted like he was out, his entire trial defense team definitely is out. Omaha attorney Jeremy Jorgenson is also off the case; his law license recently was suspended.

Asked to speak for himself, Garcia bypassed the chance to say what he had written in a recent letter to the court: that he thought the judge, prosecutors and the public advocacy commission  a statewide public defenders office  are conspiring to condemn him.

OK, I will take your silence as an agreement, the judge said.

Randall gave the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy time to get up to speed on the case. He set Nov. 30 as a target date for Garcias death penalty hearing, though that could change.

Outside court, Motta marveled at his mute former client, noting that Garcia never once broke his silence in court. By contrast, Motta said, Mottas father once helped represent convicted Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy. And Gacy was in his ear the entire time, the junior Motta said.

Could Garcias silence be interpreted as shame?

It could be many things. That definitely could be one of them, Motta said. They (prosecutors) said its a sham, a game. It could be. I dont know. I cant crawl into his mind. As Ive said before, its either mental illness or the greatest show of willpower in the history of mankind.

Think about being on your own death penalty case and not saying a word to your attorney during the entire four weeks. To me, its stunning. But he did it.

Kleine had a different take: Its an act. Its very clearly an act. Were aware that he can hear, he can see, he can read. He just chooses to be the way he is.

Jeff Sherman, son of Shirlee Sherman, sat in the third row of the courtroom Thursday alongside Dr. Claire Hunter, mother of Thomas Hunter.

Sherman noted that its been almost a year since Garcia was convicted. Garcias day of reckoning is long overdue, he said.

He just wants to play games, he said. Either that or hes just really conceited.

Im just glad that this is finally moving forward. Weve waited long enough.
A Fremont, Nebraska, teen was killed in a car wreck Wednesday evening.

Jason Bechtel, 18, was killed when the pickup he was driving collided with another pickup, driven by Becky Crone, 59, also of Fremont, who was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to a news release from the Dodge County Sheriffs Office:

The crash occurred on County Road 28 between Military Avenue and U.S. Highway 30, about 3 miles east of Fremont city limits.

Bechtel was driving a 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup southbound while Crone was northbound in a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup about 6:35 p.m. when the two collided. The investigation so far suggests dust in the air from other traffic obstructed vision.

Bechtel was wearing his seat belt. Crone was not wearing her seat belt.

There were no passengers in either vehicle.

According to an online obituary from Ludvigsen Mortuary, Bechtel graduated from Fremont High School in May and was set to begin work at Valmont Industries as a welder. He was involved in Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout earlier this year.

Services are scheduled for Tuesday, 10:30 a.m., at Trinity Lutheran Church in Fremont.
Eleven soldiers and two CH-47F Chinook helicopters from the Iowa Army National Guard will deploy today to the Houston area to support response operations for Hurricane Harvey, the Iowa National Guard said.

The aircraft and crew members will move supplies, equipment and people in support of the response operations.

The State of Texas requested support from Iowa, the Iowa National Guard said. Support is provided under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement involving all 50 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia, to assist one another in times of crisis.

The team is made up of seven soldiers from Company B, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion based in Davenport; one soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division (Boone); one soldier from Detachment 1, Company D, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion (Davenport); one soldier from Company C, 2-147th Aviation (Boone); and one soldier from the 671st Troop Command (Johnston).
The Elkhorn Suburban Fire District is moving ahead with plans to start its own fire department, saying staffing levels would remain the same and public safety wouldnt be at risk.

Its also working to secure land along a major thoroughfare in the northern part of the district for a new fire station.

I have a task and a goal to move forward with the establishment of the Elkhorn Fire and Rescue Department, the new chief, Travis Harlow, said Thursday. Weve been working on all the behind the scenes stuff and are prepared and ready to move forward.

The City of Omaha announced Wednesday that the fire district wants to create its own department and no longer contract with the city for fire, rescue and medical services.

Omaha has provided those services for a decade to the area that covers about 36 square miles outside city limits west of 180th Street.

Mayor Jean Stothert and Fire Chief Dan Olsen dispute that the new department could continue to serve the area at the same level as Omaha, which has more than 650 members.

The city remains open to negotiate the contract, which expires at the end of 2018, Stothert said.

The districts board and the city ended negotiations on a new contract after the fire district raised concerns about how much the citys services cost: It paid the city $4.1 million in 2016, when the Omaha Fire Department responded to about 1,145 calls.

The district wanted to change the pay structure to pay Omaha per call. The city ultimately agreed, Olsen said.

But the district was unhappy that the agreement was only for the first two years.

Stothert said the city offered to charge the district $2,500 per call in 2019 and 2020, then raise that amount roughly 4 percent each year through 2023.

Harlow said the district would have to pay Omaha more than $5 million by 2023, assuming that call volume trends continue to grow at the same pace.

But Stothert disputed that pace, saying historical data show that call volume in the area has grown about 2 percent each year.

If the call volume remained the same as last year, the district would pay about $3 million to Omaha in 2023, she said.

Still, she said, its impossible to know what volumes will be in the future because it depends how much the city annexes in that area.

We cant give a definitive answer and neither can they, she said.

The fire district budgeted to collect $4.66 million in property tax revenue last year, according to documents filed with the state auditor.

Harlow said the goal is to maintain public safety while lowering the districts property tax rate. Details about the cost savings are forthcoming, he said.

Stothert maintains that creating a new department would lead to increased costs for the districts residents.

She noted that as many as half of the areas more than 75 sanitary and improvement districts are likely to be annexed by Omaha in the next five years, resulting in fewer residents to fund the district.

Stothert and Olsen said a change also would cut the level of service and response times to the area.

The area with roughly 20,000 residents is currently served by Fire Stations 71 and 77, each of which have an engine with four firefighters and a medic unit with two full-time paramedics, Olsen said.

Station 71 also has a battalion chief, he said.

Harlow said those staffing levels would not change. The new department would have a combination of full-time, part-time and volunteer staff.

It would have between 30 and 36 full-time firefighters, EMTs and paramedics, Harlow said. It also would have three administrative staffers.

He said the group is talking to manufacturers and looking into equipment now.

That doesnt necessarily mean that every piece of equipment would have to be brand new off the showroom floor, he said, noting that theyre looking into reserve and used equipment, though the front-line rigs will be brand new.

The Elkhorn district owns Station 77 near 204th and F Streets, but Omaha firefighters staff it. The other station that serves the area, Station 71 near 204th Street and West Maple Road, is owned and staffed by Omaha.

If the contract ends, Omaha will no longer staff Station 77. Omaha would continue to operate out of Station 71 but would not serve the Elkhorn district.

Harlow said the group has several different locations in mind for a new station. He declined to say where.

Theyre aiming for the new station to be open by 2019, but he said a contingency plan is in place to continue to serve the northern part of the district.

While Omaha has mutual aid agreements with other area departments, Stothert and Olsen expressed concerns about having one with the Elkhorn district.

Stothert said entering into such an agreement, and ceasing the current contract arrangement, wouldnt be fair to Omaha taxpayers.

Thats a lot of resources, a lot of equipment, a lot of manpower and thats not fair to say, Well, well do it now for nothing because of mutual aid,  she said.

Olsen said such agreements are designed for extraordinary circumstances.

Its not meant to imply one fire department is a de facto fire department for another, he said.

Harlow said he feels confident that the department will come to a mutual aid agreement with Omaha.

He noted that the department also could enter into agreements with Waterloo, Gretna, Boys Town and Bennington.

You staff for your everyday needs, he said. Mutual aid is in the event theres something that happens you cant handle.

Harlow said such events would be rare.
Roermond, 1 September 2017. COO Luc De Proost (57) has announced his intentions to leave Sif- group ("Sif" or "Company") to pursue his career outside the company. Mr. De Proost has been the COO of Sif since October 2015.

Mr. De Proost will leave Sif once the Company has engaged a new COO.

The management and supervisory board would, on behalf of the Company, like to thank Mr. De Proost for his contribution and achievements over the last period and wish him success in his future career.

about sif holding n.v.

Sif is a leading manufacturer of large steel tubulars which are used as foundation components for the offshore wind and offshore oil & gas markets. The Company manufactures customised tubular components for offshore foundations, predominantly in the greater North Sea region. Sif combines a highly automated and flexible production facility with technology leadership in rolling and welding of heavy steel plates which is based on over 66 years of experience and innovative in-house developed techniques and processes. Sif primarily produces monopiles, transition pieces and piles that are used to anchor jacket foundations in the seabed for offshore wind turbines, as well as legs, pile sleeves and piles of the larger jackets for oil & gas as well as tubular structures for various uses such as jetties. Sif is listed at Euronext Amsterdam.

For further information, please contact:

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More information about Sif is available electronically via the website of Sif: www.sif-group.com.
LINCOLN  Its back to court for a nursing student who won a $1 million judgment after being kicked out of Clarkson College for a lewd prank.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the jury award, ruling that a judge failed to instruct the jury that student Kelly Armstrong had not filed a grievance with the college before filing her lawsuit.

The ruling means that a new trial will be held in Douglas County.

Armstrongs attorney, Jason Bruno, said that the ruling was only a temporary roadblock for his client. Bruno said the initial jury had heard and rejected the idea that a grievance had to be filed, and predicted that at a new trial his clients award might grow beyond $1 million.

We dont have any reason to suspect that the verdict will be any different, or would be any less, Bruno said. It should be more.

Armstrong, a student in Clarksons nurse anesthetist program, was withdrawn from the school by an administrator after an incident during a 2013 nursing conference in Washington, D.C.

While on a bus ride back from a river cruise, during which she had consumed at least four drinks, Armstrong testified that she borrowed a fake mustache, placed it just below her belly button, and made a joke about a term used to reference ungroomed pubic hair.

She portrayed the prank as an inside joke with a fellow student sitting behind her, and later told the student that others were too uptight about the joke.

Others on the bus, including officials from the college and the incoming president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, gave a different account of what happened. They said that Armstrong held her pants down and walked up and down the aisle of the bus while repeating the joke.

Clarkson determined that the student had violated the professional standards of nurse anesthetists and ethical standards for students. Initially they put Armstrong on probation, but later withdrew her from the program when they could not find a clinic willing to allow her to complete her studies.

Armstrong sued, and a Douglas County jury unanimously ruled that Clarkson had breached its contract with Armstrong. The jury ordered the school to pay $1 million in damages.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge, District Judge Marlon Polk, had failed to instruct jurors about a point brought up by the college: that Armstrong had failed to use the colleges grievance procedure before filing her lawsuit.

Supreme Court Judge John Wright, who wrote the courts 43-page opinion, said the omission was a reversible error and the college deserved a new trial.

A Clarkson College spokeswoman, Shannon Wallace, said the school had no comment on Fridays ruling. But she said the colleges mission is to prepare students to professionally provide high quality, ethical and compassionate health services.
As flooding in southern Texas continues, so does the need for assistance to those who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey, and organizations from across the country are helping coordinate that aid.
The two Nebraska National Guard Black Hawk crews that have been rescuing people in the Houston area got a little backup Thursday.

Thirteen more members of the Company G, 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment, based in Lincoln, arrived, bringing another Black Hawk and two UH-72 Lakota helicopters that can be used for search and rescue missions.

The crew got sidelined in Kansas for repairs to the Black Hawk, and then got stuck in Austin waiting on official approvals.

By Thursday, the crew was raring to go.

Were glad were here to do more rescue missions, said Chief Warrant Officer Dave Flores of Omaha. As soon as they give me the go-ahead, Im out. Ill fly eight hours.

At least 10 more Nebraska National Guard soldiers were expected to make their way down to Texas by Friday.
Salvatore Sam Sambasile, a longtime Omaha resident who spent seven months of World War II in a German prison camp, died Thursday. He was 92.

His wife, Marjorie, said Sambasiles life was filled with love  love for country, music and family.

Sambasile grew up in Omahas Little Italy neighborhood and worked for Union Pacific Railroad for 38 cents an hour until he turned 18 and was drafted into the Army Air Forces.

Sambasile flew as a B-17 gunner, and on his 34th mission, his plane was shot down over Berlin and he was captured. For seven months Sambasile lived in a tiny cell he called a dungeon and ate soup with maggots until he was freed by Russian and American troops.

Back in Omaha in 1945, Sambasile would marry and have two children. He returned to work at U.P. until his retirement in 1984.

In 2008 Sambasile flew to Washington, D.C., for the initial Nebraska Honor Flight to see memorials to his service, and he received a Quilt of Valor on June 25, 2017, two days after his 92nd birthday.

In 2013 Sambasile married Marjorie McCoy in a ceremony in which the couple wore their Sunday best and Marjories granddaughter sang.

Sambasile enjoyed playing clarinet and saxophone.

Marjorie said Sambasile was known for his generosity: He would ask his friends and family How can I make your life a little happier? He would buy rounds of spaghetti dinners at Sons of Italy (their Thursday spaghetti spot).

He volunteered for Veterans Affairs and was active in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

Marjorie said he will be missed by many for his stories, his feisty spirit and his generosity. She will miss his smiles and his dance moves, especially in the two-step and the polka.

Other survivors include his son, Mick; Marjorie Sambasiles children, Bill, Bob and Laurie Bolte; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, grandsons, granddaughters and a great-grandson.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Patty, in 1978.

Korisko Larkin Staskiewicz Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
The big N on her ball cap was all they needed to see.

Members of a Nebraska rescue group spotted Nebraska native Alysha Koenig in a Husker hat as she walked toward a flooded Houston street.

Hey, Nebraska, a member of the group called out. Were from Nebraska.

But it was more than just a nice meeting between members of Nebraska Task Force One and Koenig, a native Grand Islander who moved to Houston two years ago.

The rescue group was looking for a flooded apartment complex where the team had been dispatched to evacuate 40 residents.

Koenig knew just where it was because she was headed there herself. She and a friend were bringing donuts to the people who were still stranded in the building.

Koenig gave the rescue group directions, and the team completed its mission.

Battalion Chief Brad Thavenet of Lincoln Fire and Rescue, which is coordinating the task force, said throughout the Houston area its common for streets signs to be damaged or knocked down from the storm, making it hard for rescuers to find places.

His group was glad it ran into Koenig.

Huskers helping Huskers, said Thavenet, who spoke about her assistance during a conference call with reporters Thursday.

Koenig said she was surprised to run into fellow Nebraskans 900 miles from home in a city devastated by flooding.

It was really comforting, she said. Its amazing what those guys are doing.
KATY, Texas  Roger Bonin gave his team an out.

It was 3 p.m. earlier this week  the days all blur together  and the members of Nebraska Task Force Ones urban search and rescue team had been working tirelessly all day evacuating people from flooded homes and streets.

They had stripped off their dry-fit water rescue suits, gulped down some food and were taking a well-deserved breather.

I said You guys are tired,  Bonin said. Did they want to call it quits for the day, or head out on another mission?

They said Boss, I know were tired, but people are in worse shape than us. We want to work. 

Since arriving in Texas late last week, the crews have waded through a toxic stew of chest-deep water to evacuate at least 1,500 people  nursing home residents, kids in apartment complexes and a 92-year-old woman who lay shivering in her water-logged bed.

Bonin, the task force leader for Task Force One, said his teams have constantly pushed through hunger and fatigue to aid the scared and desperate residents of hurricane-ravaged Houston.

I can never express how proud I am of these guys, Bonin said Friday during a rare break that allowed task force members to grab food and quick catnaps.

Seven days after Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast, the rescues have slowed.

During the first days after the storm, that was easy pickings, said Steve Dolezal, the search team manager and a captain with the Lincoln Fire Department. The easy pickings are gone.

Now its mainly people who have been stuck in their flooded homes for days.

We did quite a few people yesterday (Thursday) where the water was chest-deep and theyd been there all week, Bonin said. No water, no sewer, no electricity, and they decided at that point they needed to bail.

The team focuses on live rescues, not recovery of victims who have died in the floods.

Asked if he was worn down, hazmat manager Dave Kirchofer, an Omaha Fire Department captain, was emphatic.

No, he said. We get fed well, we do it by the book, weve got task force doctors that watch us like hawks. Were very engaged here on Day 7, 8, whatever it is.

The 80-member task force comprises firefighters from Lincoln, Omaha and Papillion Fire Departments as well as civilian members who are doctors, structural engineers and heavy-rigging specialists.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue coordinates the group.

The team also includes five canine search specialists and their trained dogs. They all fall under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Nebraska Task Force One arrived in the Houston area late last week and is based at a high school in Katy, 30 miles west of Houston.

Team members said the scope of the disaster has been astounding.

Just the fact that were maneuvering boats in places youre supposed to be walking your kids or riding your bikes and driving cars, said Mark Majors, a water rescue specialist whos a captain with the Lincoln Fire Department.

In Katy, the water rose 3 feet in 45 minutes one day. The crew decided to move its operations and sleeping quarters to the second floor of the high school as a precaution, and the members scoped out rooftop exits.

Just in case.

Were prepared  a highly trained, experienced team  but I was amazed at how much water there was, Bonin said.

Every day since they got to the Katy area, teams have been heading out in convoys. Vans, SUVs and trucks hauling boats navigate the maze of closed streets and flooded highways to reach areas that need evacuation.

They drive to where they can and launch flat-bottom boats or inflatable rubber boats with motors. Water rescue teams pull on dry-fit suits, sometimes hip or chest waders, to reach residents who have been stranded, or those who decided to stay but have now run out of food or water.

Nobody knows exactly what lies under the murky waters, Bonin said. The floodwaters hide submerged cars and are undoubtedly full of chemicals, oil and sewage.

The water is full of everything, Majors said. We struck a couple of cars with our boat motor, and that means they were deep enough that we didnt even see them.

Their rescue boats have a scum line, Majors said  similar to the icky ring that forms around a bathtub.

Thats just evidence of all the nasty stuff thats in the water, he said.

Pulling off the rescue missions requires intense coordination from all members of the team, not just those navigating boats or pulling people from houses.

The search and recon crews coordinate with local agencies to find out which neighborhoods theyll deploy to. Search dogs, including Lilly, a yellow Lab, and Chief, a golden retriever, and their handlers seek out the scent of people who may be in peril. Structural engineers make sure bridges and damaged houses are safe enough to enter.

Kirchofer and his decontamination team spray down vehicles, boats, dry suits and water rescue team members with cleaning solution to curb the spread of potentially deadly bacteria or other harmful toxins from the floodwater.

Dr. John Bonta, an emergency physician at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, is one of two doctors charged with looking after task force members or tending to injured civilians.

My primary objective is to keep these guys healthy; to make sure small things dont turn into big things  especially in this environment, with the water, the elements, the heat, whats in the water, he said.

Everyone pulls his weight.

It takes every element of this team to make this go round, Majors said. Its just awe-inspiring to see how everything comes together.
French English

Aix-en-Provence, 1 September 2017 (6 p.m.)

CHANGES IN HIGHCO'S MANAGEMENT BOARD

The health problems that Didier Chabassieu is currently facing, as announced in the press release on 30 August 2017, have led the Supervisory Board to appoint Cecile Collina-Hue, currently member of the Management Board and Managing Director, to act as Chairman until he returns. Didier Chabassieu will remain member of the Management Board as Managing Director.

The Supervisory Board has also decided to appoint Celine Dargent, currently member of the Executive Committee, as a new member of the Management Board.

At HighCo since 2002, Celine Dargent, as head of marketing of the Group's offering, has worked with the Management Board in defining strategy since 2013. As she has also held senior management positions within the Group's business units, she has a broad, cross-business view of HighCo's businesses and clients.

Richard Caillat, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and formerly Chairman of the Management Board from 2002 to 2013, will provide special advisory support for the new Management Board throughout the period of absence of Didier Chabassieu.

The members of HighCo's Executive Committee, managers of the main business units and experts - Olivier Hublau (HighCo Data), Stephanie Engling (HighCo MediaCosmos), Bruno Laurent (High Connexion), Raphael Hodin (HighCo Box), Daniel Bertrand (HighCo Retail), Gerrit Van Reeth (HighCo Shopper Belgium), David Vigneron (HighCo Data Belgium) and Olivier Michel (Special Advisor to the Management Board and former Managing Director), will continue to offer them guidance and support in ensuring the Group's day-to-day operations and in defining strategic and managerial issues.

Richard Caillat, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, stated:

"Cecile Collina-Hue, Managing Director and member of the Management Board since March 2017, has been working alongside Didier Chabassieu for many years and is our natural choice for Chairman of the Management Board until he returns. She will be assisted in her role by Celine Dargent, who is already deeply involved in the Group's management.

The Group's vision is clear. With a strong, dedicated and experienced Executive Committee, we are convinced, along with all the Supervisory Board members, that Cecile Collina-Hue has the best resources to take HighCo forward in its development. Didier Chabassieu will continue to work closely with her. In my role, I will remain involved on a daily basis, at her side, especially in managing business relations with our main clients in France and Belgium."

Cecile Collina-Hue, Chairman of the Management Board, stated:

"In regular contact with Didier Chabassieu, supported by Richard Caillat, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and with the help of Celine Dargent, I am confident that the Group will have the means to advance through the next steps to meet its objectives. The strategy and our action plan are set out. HighCo's Executive Committee will continue to support the Management Board in managing the Group's day-to-day operations."

About HighCo

Since its creation, HighCo has placed innovation at the heart of its values, offering its clients - brands and retailers - Intelligent Marketing Solutions to influence shopper behaviour with the right deal, in the right place, at the right time and on the right channel.

Listed in compartment C of Euronext Paris, and eligible for the "long only" DSS, HighCo has more than 700 employees and since 2010 has been included in the Gaia Index, a selection of 70 responsible Small and Mid Caps.

Your contacts

Cecile Collina-Hue Cynthia Lerat

Chairman Press Relations

+33 1 77 75 65 06 +33 1 77 75 65 16

comfi@highco.com c.lerat@highco.com

Upcoming events

Publications take place after market close .

Q3 and 9-month YTD 2017 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Q4 and FY 2017 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 24 January 2018

HighCo is a component stock of the indices CAC Small (CACS), CAC Mid&Small (CACMS) and CAC All-Tradable (CACT).

ISIN: FR0000054231

Reuters: HIGH.PA

Bloomberg: HCO FP

For further financial information and press releases, go to www.highco.com
Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert is publicly condemning last months violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In an opinion piece that ran in the Jewish Press on Friday, Stothert said its critical that elected and community leaders speak out against the very troubling hateful demonstrations by neo-Nazi and white supremacist sympathizers.

U.S. leaders, the Republican mayor wrote, must also clearly and completely reject these misguided views.

The repugnant goals of white supremacists directly contradict our American values, weaken our standing in the world as a free and equal people, and diminish decades of progress in dealing with the differences of race and faith, she wrote.

Chaos erupted in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 after a Unite the Right protest over the citys plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

One person died and others were injured when a white nationalist drove his vehicle into a crowd of counterprotesters.

President Donald Trump took heat for criticizing both sides for the violence.
President Donald Trumps top lieutenants are going rogue again.

Last weekend, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refused to say whether Trumps statements about violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, reflected American values. Trumps chief economic aide, Gary Cohn, suggested that the president was wrong to equate white supremacists with citizens standing up for equality, and said the administration must do better. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told troops that because of internal strife, the United States has lost its global power of inspiration. He didnt mention the president, but he didnt need to.

Its hard to overstate how unusual this is. In most administrations, top advisers may complain about the president they serve  but only in private, never in public. In the wake of Charlottesville, some of Trumps lieutenants felt a need to express their anguish in the open, if only to preserve their self-respect.

Either that, or theyve learned that the best way to get a message to the Oval Office is to appear on Fox News or give an interview to the Financial Times.

This isnt a team of rivals; its a team of anguished dissidents.

Its natural to look at this picture and ask, if theyre so unhappy, why dont any of them resign? But thats not how Washington works. No Cabinet member has quit over a matter of principle since Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carters secretary of state, almost 40 years ago.

Most important, all those Cabinet members have accepted the traditional Washington argument about serving a president you disagree with: As long as you think you can do some good, you owe it to the country to keep your job.

That logic still works for Mattis, who appears to have Trumps confidence, especially on questions of war and peace. It even works for Cohn, who is one of the architects of Trumps most important economic initiative, the tax cuts hes hoping to enact this fall.

But it no longer works for Tillerson, an honorable man whose tenure at the State Department isnt turning out well. He should seriously consider resigning, unless he prefers to wait until hes fired.

The former ExxonMobil CEO was never fully in sync with Trump on basic principles of foreign policy. Trumps version of America First considers every treaty an encumbrance; Tillerson wants to preserve traditional alliances

What more, Tillerson seems to have been marginalized.

Hes been left out of meetings with visiting foreign leaders. He has seen important diplomatic issues  Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, China, Mexico  put in the purview of the presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner. When Tillerson spent a week in the Middle East trying to defuse the conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Trump undid the effort with a tweet.

Tillerson hasnt even been allowed a free hand to run the State Department, even though hes the former CEO of a multinational company. White House aides blocked a series of key appointments he wanted to make  and then blamed him, anonymously, for the slow pace of nominations.

In practice, his most important job has been to serve as a diplomatic clean-up crew  to reassure allies in Asia that the president didnt really intend to start a war with North Korea, and allies in Europe that he wasnt going to abandon the U.S. commitment to defend NATO countries from Russia.

And thats why Tillersons most recent dissent made his position worse.

When Fox News host Chris Wallace asked him if other countries could rely on the United States defending its traditional values, Tillerson said: We express Americas values from the State Department.

And the presidents values? Wallace asked.

The president speaks for himself, Tillerson said.

Are you separating yourself from that? Wallace asked, giving him a chance to clarify.

Ive made my own comments as to our values, Tillerson said.

The message to the foreign governments Tillerson deals with is that he and the president arent on the same wavelength; if anything, theyre drifting apart. By speaking his conscience, he has made himself even less effective than he was before. Its unfair, but its true.

Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former aide to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, recently suggested two questions Cabinet members should ask when they find themselves at odds with the president.

First, are they making a meaningful difference by staying? Second, are they having to defend policies they disagree with?

For Tillerson, the moment to confront those questions has arrived. If Trump wants him to stay, the president had better say so, loud and clear. If he doesnt, Tillerson needs to go  not for his own peace of mind, but for the sake of American foreign policy.
Kaitlyn Mullen, a University of Nebraska- Lincoln sophomore, wanted to recruit fellow students to her conservative cause.

So she set up a table on the public promenade outside the Nebraska Union  the student center on the campus operated by the State of Nebraska. Mullen hopes to create a campus chapter of Turning Point USA.

The political exchange that followed with students, professors and others was predicable: heated and, in many ways, healthy. But some university employees and students fell short in how they behaved toward her.

Some students labeled Mullens free-market conservative movement as sympathetic to white nationalists and neo-Nazis, an inaccurate smear that serves only to distort divergent views. Others made lewd gestures.

NU president Hank Bounds said university employees and students had an opportunity to model how differing opinions can be exchanged with civility, respect and dignity and the opportunity was missed.

Indeed it was.

The university employee who tried to enforce UNLs policy limiting where people can set up tables outside the Nebraska Union could have chosen a better word than propaganda for what Mullen was handing out, which made his request for her to move sound more like a value judgment. Mullen, in turn, could have moved the 25 or so feet to the designated Free Speech Zone.

Ultimately, however, the university should re-examine whether its free-speech policy restricting the use of tables is a reasonable one.

Universities should be fountains of competing ideas. In recent years on U.S. campuses, however, a disturbing trend has taken root that shows more concern about limiting offensive speech than protecting free speech.

Too many times, student groups have shouted down competing views or used violence or the threat of it to silence voices they dislike.

Disagree or not, free speech cannot play favorites, as courts have made clear. This principle protects the speech of Mullen and her group, just as it protects the speech of those who accosted Mullen.

Legal speech has some limits, even in a free society, but they have nothing to do with offering a competing political view on public property. Free thought should be expected and expression encouraged on a university campus  left, right and in-between, as long as it is expressed peacefully.

On this score, some news was good: When some onlookers grew hostile, an associate English professor came to Mullens defense, even though the professor was there to protest efforts by Turning Point USA to list professors it considers hostile to conservative students and ideas.

This should be a teaching moment. Let opposing views be heard. Respond with your own views rather than trying to shout down or silence others. Its the American way.
In light of President Donald Trumps banning of transgender individuals from the military, I wonder who will be banned next.

How about women? How about a test for non-Christians and atheists?

Finally, what about people of color or those who speak with an accent?

Are we headed back to the days of a white, all-male, Christian military?

How dare we deny those who wish to serve their opportunity to do so.

Victoria Rubeck, Omaha
EC pulls up Guj chief secy, DGP for not sending report on transfer of officials

Gujarat Assembly election 2022 to be held in two phases; Polling on December 1, 5; Result on December 8

Bar on criticising EVMs: SC stays order

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Politicians can now criticise the Election Commission of India on the issue of EVMs. The Supreme Court has stayed an order of the Uttarakhand High Court that barred politicians from criticising the Election Commission of India.

The Uttarakhand HC had barred all political parties, non-government organisations and individuals from "criticising the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the recently conducted elections of state assemblies", in larger public interest.

The order was passed on a petition challenging efficacy of EVMs. While refusing to grant a stay in the matter, the High Court in larger stakeholders from crossing the line, especially when the Election Commission is dealing with the matter.

OneIndia News
Biggest reform ever: Why the Indian Army will be leaner and meaner

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The approving of the first phase of reforms relating to the Indian Army based on the recommendations of the Lt General Shekatkar committee has been hailed as the best since India got independence. The long and short of these recommendations coming into force would mean India will have a leaner and meaner Army.

The purpose of reforms is to enhance combat capability and also optimize and rebalance defence expenditure of Indian Army in phased manner by December 2019. It is first ever reform exercise to be undertaken in Indian Army since independence.

The first phase of reforms involves

Redeployment and restructuring of approximately 57,000 posts of officers/Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs)/ Other Ranks (ORs) and civilians.

Optimisation of signals establishments: Its purpose is to include Radio Monitoring Companies, Air Formation Signal Regiments, Corps Air Support Signal Regiments, Composite Signal Regiments and merger of Corps Operating and Engineering Signal Regiments.

Restructuring of repair echelons in Army: Its purpose is to include Base Workshops, Advance Base Workshops and Station Workshops in the field Army.

Redeployment of Ordnance echelons: Its purpose is to include Vehicle Depots, Central Ordnance Depots and Ordnance Depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms.

Other Reforms: Better utilization of Supply and Transport echelons and Animal Transport units. Closure of army postal establishments and military farms in peace locations. Enhancement of standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in Army. Improving efficiency of National Cadet Corps (NCC).

Why the reforms:

The Union Ministry of Defence had constituted a Committee of Experts under Chairmanship of Lt Gen (Retd) DB Shekatkar for recommending measures to enhance combat capability and rebalancing defence expenditure of Armed Forces with an aim to increase "teeth to tail ratio".

What are the Shekatkar Committee recommendations?

The committee had submitted around 99 recommendations. So far, Defence Ministry has approved 65 of these recommendations pertaining to Indian Army for implementation. Remaining 34 recommendations pertaining to Indian Navy, Air Force and Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) are likely to be taken up soon.

These reforms will be completed in all respects by December 2019. The committee had suggested that, if these recommendations are implemented over the next five years, it can result in savings of up to Rs. 25,000 crore in defence expenditure.

Shekatkar's recommendations:

The panel had suggested 99 recommendations for structural changes in the Army and out of which the defence ministry has accepted 65 after consultations with all the stakeholders, Jaitley said. The defence ministry said the reforms will be carried out by December 31, 2019.

The Defence Ministry said civilians will be redeployed in different wings of the armed forces for improving efficiency. The Shekatkar committee was appointed in May last year and it had submitted its report in December.

The ministry said there will be redeployment of ordnance echelons to include vehicle depots, ordnance depots and central ordnance depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms.

The reform will also be carried out to ensure better utilisation of supply and transport facilities and animal transport units. There will be enhancement in standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in the Army as also improving the efficiency of the National Cadet Corps.

"Implementation has begun with the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security to close 39 military farms in a time bound manner," the ministry said.

The army's commanders' in April had deliberated extensively on enhancing the Army's overall strike capability.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 8:33 [IST]
B S Yeddyurappa's son's car mows down pedestrian in Karnataka

India

oi-Anusha

A 24-year-old man was killed on the spot after BJP MLA B Y Raghavendra'a car knocked him down on Thursday night. Raghavendra is also the son of Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Raghavendra was travelling in the car when his driver knocked down a pedestrian who is said to have embarked from an auto-rickshaw. The incident took place near Madapura cross in Honnali taluk while the MLA was on his way to Shikharipura. The deceased has been identified as Suresh, a resident of the same village. Dozens gathered at the accident spot where the MLA too embarked and waited for the ambulance and police to arrive.

The SUV that ran over the pedestrian bears the board of 'Member of assembly, Shikharipura'. B Y Raghavendra was seen talking to someone on the phone detailing how the accident took place from the spot. The MLA is heard saying that the deceased man jumped out of an auto when his car was in speed. The vehicle could not come under control while the victim neared it, knocking him down.

A complaint in this regard has been filed with the Nyamathi police in Davangere district. The body of the deceased was shifted to a local government hospital.

OneIndia News
Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership

Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi

BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary

Cabinet reshuffle: Jaitley, Swaraj, Gadkari meet at Rajnath Singh's residence

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Ahead of the Union cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today held a meeting at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence in the national capital.

Earlier on Friday, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya resigned from his post.

Reports say that Jaitley would continue to remain as the Finance Minister while a new Defence Minister is likely to be appointed on Sunday. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh could be asked to go.

JD(U)'s Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and Santosh Kushwaha are likely to join the cabinet. Last month, JD(U) had officially announced to become a part of the ruling NDA after the BJP supported Nitish Kumar's government in Bihar.

Reports also claim that Railway minister Suresh Prabhu will be shifted to another department.

The Union cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday morning. The new ministers will take oath at 10 am on September 3 at the Ashoka Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Sources say that there will be 12 portfolio reshuffles that would take place. Hectic discussions were on since the past two days regarding the Modi Cabinet reshuffle.

This is expected to the last reshuffle ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

On Thursday, Rajiv Pratap Rudy tendered his resignation. He is likely to be given organisational work. While there were reports that Uma Bharti had offered to resign, she, however, did not deny or confirm it today.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 22:43 [IST]
PFI ban 'dangerous' as every Muslim who speaks his mind can now be arrested: AIMIM chief Owaisi

Why a terror angle should not be ruled out in the Coimbatore cylinder blast case

What if Owaisi had? Muslim users on Twitter blast Kejriwal for asking for Hindu God images on currency notes

Communal harmony: Muslim family donates land for expansion of temple

India

pti-PTI

Sheopur (MP), Sep 1: At a time when cases of communal animosity are on rise, a Muslim family gave away their land for the expansion of a Hanuman temple in Madhya Pradesh.

Javed Ansari (34) recently donated 1,905 square feet of his land towards the expansion of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir at village Bagwaz in the district, Sub Divisional Magistrate R B Sindoskar told PTI. "Ansari had submitted an application to donate 1,905 square feet from his land to the committee running the management of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir.

After recording the statements of Ansari and his family members, who jointly share the ownership, the land was handed over to the committee," he added. This temple is located about one kilometer from the district headquarters on Gupteshwar road in village Bagwaz.

This land would be used for the seating arrangements of devotees and the boundary wall. SDM said that the orders related to the land donation were issued on August 16.

The temple committee chairman Raju Vaish said that the land was donated by Javed Ansari in consultation with his brothers Parvez, Shahnaj, Shoib and Shadab. "Now, the land is under the possession of temple committee," he added.

Meanwhile, Ansari, who donated the land, said, "I have donated this land to Hanuman Mandir to send out a message of communal harmony. I believe that such gestures will increase brotherhood between the Hindu and Muslim communities."

PTI
EDISON, N.J., Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) Local 255 President and Council Representative, John Robinson, received the 22nd Annual George E. Norcross Jr. Humanitarian Award for outstanding community service, presented by the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO in Collingswood, NJ.



The award ceremony, a part of the 123rd Annual Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Observance, provided scholarships to students of labor union families in the Southern New Jersey area. Immediately following the scholarship presentations, event attendees visited the Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken for a wreath laying ceremony at the Peter J. McGuire Memorial. New Jersey Congressmen Donald Norcross, New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy were among the dignitaries who attended the event.

Robinson, a 24-year member of Local 255 and the NRCC, feels honored to have received an award that is connected to the celebration of Peter J. McGuire. McGuire co-founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1881.

Aside from serving as a Council Representative within the NRCC, Robinson is also active in his community through his roles in Gloucester County as a school board representative and member of the County planning committee.

Receiving the Humanitarian Award is one of the highest honors that Ive received as a Union Carpenter and a member of the community, said Robinson. Being in the Brotherhood is not only about being a Carpenter, but it is about advocating for important issues and being a voice within the community.

About the NRCC

The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) represents nearly 40,000 hardworking men and women in Delaware and New Jersey and portions of Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. NRCC is one of the largest trade unions on the East Coast. The NRCC equips professional men and women carpenters with the skills, training and quality workmanship that are demanded in today's construction industry. For more information on NRCC, please visit our website: www.northeastcarpenters.org; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NortheastRegionalCouncilofCarpenters; or Twitter: https://twitter.com/nrccarpenters.
Congress at advantage in Karnataka, "but only for now," warns BJP

India

oi-Anusha

Pro-poll surveys, pro-Kannada identity politics, sympathy wave from "vindictive" IT raids against its leaders; everything is working in the Congress favour in Karnataka. The impact is directly seen with a new spurt of confidence and exuberance among Congress leaders in the state. While the party is flying high on confidence, the BJP is playing the underdog and with a reason.

The Congress has been on top of its game in recent times but BJP has warned of a lethal strike, come December. While the party is currently playing the underdog, it is leaving no stone unturned to prepare its counterattack. If claims of BJP leaders in the state are to go by, the party is letting the Congress brim with confidence and will wait until it turns into overconfidence before they deal the blow.

"Siddaramaiah's strategy is in your face but the BJP's is yet to unravel. Let the Chief Minister gloat. Wait till December for things to change. We are being called the underdogs and we will continue playing it and maybe catch the Congress unaware. The more the Congress believes it is going to win the elections, the better," said a senior BJP leader from Karnataka.

The IT raids that would have, in any other scenario, dented the image of the Congress has worked in its favour in Karnataka. The party is riding on a sympathy wave of thoughts by reiterating that its leaders are being targetted by the BJP. While the BJP is struggling to woo its traditional vote bank of Lingayats, Congress has claimed that it has managed to secure its traditional vote bank of AHINDA (Minorities, backward classes and Dalits). The BJP is not willing to buy the claim.

"The Congress is busy breaking up BJP's votes by engineering a rift within Lingayats and evoking people's sentiments over the language and flag issue. While Lingayat row, the Congress hopes will dent our votes, it is using the language issue to appeal to Bengaluru voters. They want to snatch the 26 seats in Bengaluru, considered BJP's strength, from us. But BJP has a way with people and it is only a matter of time before you start seeing the results on the ground," said the BJP leader.

JD(S) not in the race anymore?

As if to add strength to the BJP's claim of Congress becoming over confident, the party has sidelined JD(S), Devegowda's party that has all the possibilities of emerging as a kingmaker. The Congress has categorically stated that the fight is truly between them and the BJP. In his address to the press, Karnataka Congress In-charge General Secretary K C Venugopal spoke extensively about preparing his party to take on the BJP but refused to acknowledge JD(S) as competition.

"We are ready to take on the BJP. The fight is going to be between the Congress and the BJP, two national parties. I am not ruling out JD(S). They have a significant presence in the assembly," he said when asked whether his party has ruled out the JD(S) as competition.

Asked if the Congress is becoming overconfident, its In-charge General Secretary K C Venugopal denied the same but maintained that they would never make the mistake of underestimating the BJP. "Can anyone underestimate the BJP after what they tried to do in Gujarat? We will never make the mistake of underestimating them but we are prepared. Congress is confident but we are not overconfident. We get our confidence from the grassroots level impact. Our booth level workers are giving us updates on the people's perception towards each party. We also feel the support during rallies and addresses that our leaders have held across the state," said Karnataka Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal.

In an election year, things have the capacity to turn right around. The BJP is hopeful that its war room that has been set up in Bengaluru will help it bounce back with a bang. A team is already working for the BJP towards the elections for three months now and the party claims that it is waiting for the right time to strike back.

OneIndia News
Demonetisation: Modi's political masterstroke at the cost of India's economy and citizens

India

oi-Prabhpreet

By Prabhpreet

Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister of India, tried again to explain the rationale behind the historic (As it turned out, not in a good way) financial exercise of declaring all Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, nearly 86 per cent of the currency in circulation at the time, as illegal tender with one swift declaration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year.

His latest attempt came after the declaration by the Reserve Bank of India that almost 99 per cent of the currency, contrary to government's expectation, had come back. Which means a total failure to take out black money from the system. Adding further credence to the already loud calls terming the exercise a complete flop. And rightly so.

This though has not stopped Jaitley from claiming the contrary. This time too, staying true to form that the government has shown when it comes to backing the unilateral decision taken by the Prime minister, he claimed all the aims of the step had been achieved. With the undertone that the opponents don't understand the exercise popularly termed 'Demonetisation.'

It would have been more believable if the goal posts for the intended targets were not shifted, what seemed like every second day, as criticism of it grew stronger. From being a fight against black money and corruption, to bringing the informal sector into the formal one, to digitisation of the economy etc.

And now with the latest data related to it coming out, all these just look and sound like nothing but excuses to cover up what critics had always warned it to be. A political call with economic and human costs that caused much more damage than any good that it has or could have brought. Leading to a situation where the losses have far outweighed the gains which are still being searched for.

A political call that worked as intended

Last year, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo, Mayawati, speaking at a rally, said, "To divert people's attention from the failures of BJP and the Centre, the government can go to war (with Pakistan) on the issue of Kashmir and terrorism."

While such a claim could have been thought to be just political mud slinging Modi, known for his political acumen, has been able to do one better with a much more subtle 'war against black money' and at a time when his performance was still not being widely targeted or his popularity dwindling.

The timing of it also gives sway to claims of the exercise being motivated by political calculations, though only Modi knows if this was one of the intentions or not. That it worked on the ground is without a doubt given the Prime Minister's party delivering a body blow to its opponents both financially and politically, and winning a three-quarter majority, without naming a Chief Ministerial candidate, in the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections held shortly after the 50-day window to exchange notes got over.

But the reality is that benefits in just one state can't be thought to have been the main aim. Instead, it was in all likelihood a step meant to kill many more birds with one stone.

Having come to power on the promises of cleaning up a corrupt system existing under the Congress rule, Modi, with one decision, was able to enhance his reputation and create an image of a crusader against corruption and champion of the poor who took on those with coffers filled with ill-gotten wealth.

Something that will help him stand in good stead in front of the voters at the time of campaigning for the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Who paid the price

Such gains for Modi did not come free of cost by any means. These are being paid not only by other political parties but also the economy of the country and the common man in whose name the decision was taken.

No matter what the supporters of the exercise might claim, the facts on the ground have failed to show any indication of the gains to the economy that had been promised. With even Gross Domestic Product falling to three year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

And though some of the impacts might be blamed on or get covered by the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, as Jaitley tried to for the fall in GDP, the data and reports from across sectors such as manufacturing (especially unorganised sector), agriculture, financial, insurance, real estate and professional services among others, go far in showing the negative effects of decision taken almost 10 months ago.

Yet the real cost hidden behind all the numbers is that at the human level. And while the finance minister might say that opponents don't understand the logic behind demonetisation, the truth is nobody gets it better than those who bore the brunt of it and in some cases continue to.

These came not only in the form of loss of lives, jobs and daily struggle to get back their own hard earned money of those who stood in lines for hours and days fearing not only whether they will take home some cash but also of losing their place in the queue at banks and ATMs. Reducing grown men and women to tears.

Flawed rationale that should see heads roll, but won't

The high cost in such terms becomes even more glaring when the flawed rationale behind the move is looked at.

Jaitley said, "Objective of note ban was to bring down cash in economy, bring digitisation, expand tax base and fight black money."

As for the claims of doing away with black money, facts such as recent estimates that only 6 per cent of it is kept as cash, the replacement of old notes with even higher denomination Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes which make stocking up money even easier, and that the move just attacked the stocks instead of the flow of such cash, leave a huge question mark hanging over them.

On the issue of bringing the informal sector into the formal sector, the reality is that it would have been achieved by bringing in GST alone and with much less cost, as it would not have compounded the losses from demonetisation.

Finally, both the aims of digitisation of the economy, through cash-less transactions, and increasing tax base, could have been served better with the implementation of the new tax regime alone. The failure on digitisation front is clear by the RBI data on ATM cash withdrawals which showed that they stood at 2,259 billion, 0.6 per cent more than in the same month last year.

Such flawed rationale and results bring attention to the thinking behind taking such a drastic step. While according to all the reports and understanding of events leading up to November 8 show that the call was taken by the Prime Minister without widespread consultation with other stakeholders. A process that has also tarnished the image of independence and competence of the RBI.

And while in an ideal world, the responsibility would also lie on Modi's door. Everyone familiar with the working's of the Indian democracy and all the governments of different parties since independence, know that will not happen.

Particularly since only the successes are taken credit for by the top post and failures attributed to those below, which should mean that the Finance Minister owns up for the chaos and loss that the exercise caused. Even if it is widely thought that he had a limited if any, role to play.

Yet this would only be wishful thinking, as is clear, from Jaitley's statements that the government, no matter what the cost that has been paid, refuses to accept that demonetisation was a failure in every sense other than political.

OneIndia News
What is Eid Ul-Adha?

Eid Ul-Adha is a major Muslim holiday which falls on the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah - September 1 this year.

Referred to as "big Eid", it is often overlooked compared to "little Eid" or Eid ul-Fitr - which marks the end of Ramadan.

Unlike "little Eid", today's holiday doesn't come after a period of fasting. Rather, it follows the first 10 days of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar.

Muslims greeting each other with Eid mubarak.

Why do people say Eid mubarak?

Eid mubarak is an Arabic greeting meaning "blessed Eid" or "blessed celebration".

Muslims wish each other "Eid mubarak" after performing the Eid Ul-Adha prayer and may also hug each other three times.

Eid-ul-Adha, also known as Bakri Eid lasts for three days, honours the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his elder son Ismail as an act of submission to God. Eid-ul-Adha falls on a different date each year, as the Islamic calendar is based on lunar cycles.

To commemorate this story, Muslims sacrifice cows, goats, lambs, sheep and camels in the name of God.

How many days is it?

Eid al-Adha is marked by a four or five day public holiday in most Muslim countries - although in Turkey and Qatar celebrations last for 10 days and in Saudi Arabia a whole fortnight.

A three day holiday is being held in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

Photo credit: PTI

How is Greater Eid celebrated?

Muslims wear their best clothes - ideally a new outfit and attend morning prayers at local mosques - often taking a different route back to their home, as this is following the example of the Prophet Muhammad.

This is followed by family meals and the exchanging of gifts.

In remembrance of the Ibrahim story, a goat or sheep is often slaughtered. One third of the meat is consumed by the family, another for friends and relatives and the last part for those in need.

The period is seen as an important time for charity work.

Difference between Eid al-Adha and Eid-al-Fitr

Eid al-Adha, which is also known as the 'Greater Eid', falls on the 10th day of the final, and most sacred, month of the Islamic calendar - Dhu'l-Hijjah.

The 'lesser Eid', Eid-al-Fitr, marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset.
Eid-Al-Adha 2017: What the law says about slaughter and what is in practice

India

oi-Anusha

The issue of animal sacrifice is sensitive in the Indian context. While the law prohibits the public slaughter of animals during religious sacrifices, what is practiced is a far cry from what the law states. Despite issuing advisories and warnings, the blatant violation of the law is witnessed across the country. While some accept the same as tradition, others are attempting to regularise animal slaughter but the challenges are many.

Here is what the law states:

Public slaughter of animals in a violation of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals act. Any slaughter that takes place in municipal corporation limits in any state of India, has to take place in a designated slaughter house. Each slaughter house and the number of animals sacrificed should be in proportion to the population in the region.

According to Rule 3, of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, (Slaughterhouse) Rules, 2001 and Chapter 4, Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, "No animal (including chickens) can be slaughtered in any place other than a slaughterhouse. Sick or pregnant animals shall not be slaughtered."

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001:

Animals not to be slaughtered except in recognised or licensed houses -

(1) No person shall slaughter any animal within a municipal area except in a slaughter house recognised or licensed by the concerned authority empowered under the law for the time being in force to do so.

(2) No animal which -

(i) is pregnant, or

(ii) has an offspring less than three months old, or

(iii)is under the age of three months or

(iv) has not been certified by a veterinary doctor that it is in a fit condition to be slaughtered.

(3) The municipal or other local authority specified by the Central Government for this purpose shall, having regard to the capacity of the slaughter house and the requirement of the local population of the area in which a slaughter house is situated, determine the maximum number of animals that may be slaughtered in a day.

Open slaughter houses during Eid-Al-Adha, Muslim cleric appeals

What is in practice?

While the law does not permit the slaughter of animals in public places, implementation is a far cry. It has become a matter of acceptance to slaughter animals in houses, residential complexes, societies and, in some localities, roads. While hygiene is the primary concern, disposal of animal waste after a huge number of sacrifices is the real challenge for civic authorities. Add to it the discomfort many citizens feel at the sight of animal waste and blood in public spaces.

"While the law states that animal slaughter has to take place in designated places, it is practically impossible to implement the same. The sheer numbers are overwhelming. Every slaughter house has to have a valid license, transportation facility etc. On says like Eid-Al-Adha, the demand for meat is great and existing slaughter houses may not be able to meet the demand. Hence, people slaughter animals in their neighbourhood," said a police officer who added that people from other communities rarely make an issue out of the same since it has come to be a tradition.

Eid al-Adha 2017: What is Greater Eid and how is it celebrated?

"Despite issuing a warning to people against public slaughter, we have no option but to cut some slack. There are practical problems in insisting on slaughter houses. The rules that two slaughter houses have to be at a specific distance from each other. Is the government willing to set up as many slaughter houses and give them a license? We instead understand the immediate need and make arrangements for disposal of animal waste, which is more important to stop the spread of diseases," said a senior executive of a metro city's municipal corporation. Many corporations have set up 'disposal containers' at street corners where slaughters take place so people do not dump the same in drains or regular trash cans.m

Time and again many NGOs and individuals have raised the concern of public slaughter of animals. This time around, many Muslim clerics have appealed to the community to not slaughter animals in public and engage in the activity at designated places but in states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana where the civic agencies have sealed many slaughterhouses for lack of license, people have very little choices.

While it is true that what is in practice in different from what the law states, police, civic authorities and people at large have made their peace with accepting the public slaughter of animals. But the dangers of lack of hygiene and disposal of waste continue to be a matter of concern.

OneIndia News
GATE 2018: Application process begins today, all you need to know

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The IIT Guwahati will start the GATE 2018 registration from today. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2018 is held my IISc Bangalore and the seven IITs for NCB-GATE of Department of Higher Education, MHRD. The next edition of GATE exam will be held on February next year and the results will be released on March 17, 2018.

GATE 2018: Important Dates

GATE Online Application Processing System (GOAPS) Website Opens: September 1, 2017

Last Date for Submission of (Online) Application (through Website): October 5, 2017

GATE 2018 Examination: February, 3, 4, 10 and 11, 2018

Announcement of the Results in the Online Application Portal: March 17, 2018

GATE 2018 will be conducted on 23 subjects (also referred to as "papers"). GATE Examination for all the 23 subjects will be conducted as ONLINE Computer Based Test (CBT). The GATE online examination paper will contain some questions for which numerical answers must be keyed in by the candidate using the virtual keypad. Rest of the questions will be of Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) type.

The candidates will use ONLY an on-screen virtual calculator provided for the examination. A candidate can appear only in ANY ONE paper of the GATE examination. Examination for some of the papers in GATE 2018 may be held in multiple sessions. However, a candidate can appear for the examination in one session ONLY. Exact details of the complete examination schedule will be notified later on the GATE 2018 website.

Application for GATE 2018 must be submitted ONLINE (through GOAPS website, appsgate.iitg.ac.in) by paying necessary application fee. For GATE 2018, all information related to the application process will be available in the GOAPS website.

GATE 2018:

GATE is an examination conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, Department of Higher Education, MHRD.

GATE 2017: Qualifying

Qualifying in GATE is a mandatory requirement for seeking admission and/or financial assistance to: Master's programs and direct Doctoral programs in Engineering / Technology / Architecture and Doctoral programs in relevant branches of Science, in the institutions supported by the MHRD and other Government agencies. Even in some colleges and institutions, which admit students without MHRD scholarship/assistantship, the GATE qualification is mandatory.

GATE score for Employment

In the past, several Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have used GATE scores to shortlist the candidates for employment. A few such organizations are: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Power Grid Corporation of India.

Direct recruitment to Group A level posts in Central government, i.e., Senior Field Officer (Tele), Senior Research Officer (Crypto) and Senior Research Officer (S&T) in Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, is now being carried out on the basis of GATE score.

The details of the scheme of recruitment are normally published in National Newspapers/Employment News by the concerned authority.

Some other Government of India Organizations have also expressed their interest to utilize GATE 2018 score for their recruitment purpose.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 8:42 [IST]
GDP growth below 6 per cent due to GST destocking of goods says Jaitley

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the lower GDP numbers were due to pre-GST destocking of goods. He further added that the economy will grow at 7 per cent.

He further said that improvement in the global economy and good monsoon will aid GDP growth in the coming quarters which ought to be better if the country is to achieve the annual growth target. The Economic Survey had projected a growth of 6.75% to 7.5% for 2017-18. "Global economy is improving faster than what we thought and that is a positive trend. The domestic public investment is certainly going to be quite high because the revenue trend seems to be positive.

On the same rationale, with reforms continuing, the confidence in the economy globally being high, the FDI (inflow) will continue. The monsoon overall -- the bigger picture -- looks to be good and therefore that should send a positive impact," he said. "Another area of possibility is, are we able to get early successes for the banking system for the insolvency itself," he said. Terming the first quarter GDP data as a matter of concern, the finance minister said the government requires both in policy and investment to work more to improve this figure.

The detailed analysis shows that whereas the agriculture is in the normal range, the manufacturing has bottomed out to 1.6 per cent from 3.1 per cent. The investment and services have improved, he said, adding the decline in manufacturing is because of GST impact.

"Since it was announced that GST would come into operation from July 1, most manufacturers were de-stocking during period April-June. As a result, trading went up because sales were taking place but it was stocks which were being sold. No new manufacturing happened," he said. This seems to be the pre-GST impact of de-stocking and that seems to be the most predominant reason, other factors could have also contributed, he added.

When asked about whether the GDP can grow at 7 per cent this fiscal, Jaitley said, "I am hopeful, because of the pre- GST de-stocking, this would really be the bottoming out."

Earlier, Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said the growth is expected to improve in the next few quarters. Demonetisation, GST were the measures that impacted economic activities in the past 6-7 months. Those (demonetisation and GST) have reasonably played out now and from next quarter onwards, we would see the positive implication and impact of these two on GDP growth," Garg said. India is sitting in a quarter where economy has started turning the corner, he added.

Chidambaram lashes out:

However former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram termed sub-6 per cent GDP growth as a "catastrophe" and said slow growth, low investment and no jobs were markers of the slide in economy. He said the GDP and GVA figures were more evidence of former prime minister Manmohan Singh's indictment of "monumental mismanagement". "Our worst fears have come true. Sub-6 percent growth is a catastrophe," the Congress leader tweeted. "1 pc decline in GDP is a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. 2% decline is a loss of Rs 3 lakh crore, he also said.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 6:56 [IST]
In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi

This Diwali, UP CM Yogi asks govt employees to celebrate festival with needy, deprived families

Modernisation of police force helped in controlling crime in UP: CM Yogi

Yogi govt orders demotion of DySP to inspector for taking bribes in rape case

Gorakhpur tragedy: 415 died at BRD hospital in August alone

India

oi-Madhuri

The horror of deaths of children at the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College Hospital at Gorakhpur city in Uttar Pradesh continues unabated, with as many as 16 children died, including 1 due to Encephalitis, taking the toll to 415.

Earlier on Wednesday, the principal of BRD College hospital PK Singh said that as many as 415 children died this month, which has recorded 1,256 deaths since January.

Of the August figure, 213 died in the neo-natal ICU and 83 in the encephalitis ward, principal P K Singh said.

There have been 1,256 deaths since January this year at the state-run hospital, especially in the encephalitis, infant and children wards, he said.

The BRD Medical College drew global attention when more than 60 children, including infants, died at the hospital within a span of a week in August.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath had formed a committee on August 12, a day after the death of children were reported at the hospital. The State government has removed Additional Chief Secretary (Medical Health) Anita Bhatnagar Jain, who allegedly disrupted supplies, causing problems at the ICU and the pediatrics ward at the hospital.

OneIndia News
Tuesday is now No Meeting Day in Haryana and officers to be with people on Friday

30 per cent down: How Haryana aced the decrease in stubble burning

Haryana panchayat polls: Public holiday in several districts on Nov 9 and 12

Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016 upheld by high court

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016.

Lokesh Singhal, Additional Advocate General, said: "The high court said the extent of reservation will be determined by the State Backward Classes Commission on the basis of data submitted either by the state government or collected on its own."

The commission has been given time till March 31, 2018, the period till which the quota will be suspended.

Commission to decide issue by Mar 31, 2018. Reservation granted to caste mentioned in Class-III to remain in abeyance till then: AAG Haryana pic.twitter.com/3V8NtHbbgg  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

''Till then Reservation granted to caste mentioned in Class-III to remain in abeyance,'' said Singhal.

Haryana government had notified an act for providing quota in services and admission to educational institutions for certain backward classes in the state in March 2016.

The Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act 2016, passed by the assembly on March 29 last year, provides 10 per cent quota in Class III and IV posts and educational institutions and six per cent quota in Class I and II posts to Jats, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Muslim Jats in Schedule-III.

It also provides for 10 per cent quota in admissions to educational institutions for people of these castes.

As per the notification, 16 per cent reservation has also been provided for Class III and IV posts and 11 per cent in Class I and II posts in schedule I to the people belonging to Backward Classes A category. They would also get 16 per cent quota in admissions to educational institutions.

In 2016, a Bhiwandi resident had filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the Haryana government's decision to grant reservation to Jats and five other communities in jobs and educational institutions under the newly created Backward Class C category.

(With agency inputs)
Hinduism in India has kept radical Islam out says Chinese daily

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Hinduism in India has kept radical Islam under check, The Global Times published a piece praising Hinduism and held it responsible for the lower occurrence of Islamic fundamentalism.

The article asked why Muslims in India have remained largely apart from 'radicalization that has happened to Muslim groups in other parts of the world'. A long time ago, George W Bush had said something along similar lines when introduced former PM Manmohan Singh to Laura Bush saying: "the prime minister of India, a democracy which does not have a single al-Qaida member in a population of 150 million Muslims."

The piece written by Ding Gang, a senior editor with the People's Daily and senior fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, cited Hinduism's 'moderate influence' for the lack of radical Islam in the region and also for holding the country together.

Like many other religions, Hinduism has its extreme side, but for the most part its more moderate side has the strongest influence. Perhaps it is this more moderate influence that has helped establish India's lasting cohesion and is one of the reasons that the country has not separated.

The article went on to give examples of India's syncretic culture, praising how Indians take pride in the Mughal Dynasty which 'was established by Muslims'. The article goes on to explain how Hinduism has gone beyond being a religion and morphed into a lifestyle and social institution.

The article signs off stating: "The world has taken notice. The lack of Islamic extremists in India has helped determine its role in Asia and has been taken into consideration by the US, Japan, Russia and European countries when it comes to their Asia policies. In the future, India is sure to continue to stand out in geopolitical significance when it comes to increasing religious and ethnic conflicts around the world. Where China is concerned, this significance should not be ignored, the article further stated.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 6:45 [IST]
Impotency: The potent defence that rape-accused godmen take refuge in

India

oi-Anusha

Impotency, the claim that self-styled Godmen take refuge in to reject allegations of sexual assault. Recently jailed Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insaan told a special CBI court that he was impotent and hence could not have sexually assaulted anyone. He is not the only godman to have taken refuge in the claim. From Asaram Babu to Nithyananda, impotency seems to be the favourite pick.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim claimed that he was not potent and hence could not have sexually assaulted 'sadhvis' of the dera. His counsels told the special CBI court that he was impotent and was not medically and physically fit to have sex with anyone. The claim was destroyed by the CBI that submitted that Gurmeet's own daughters were present in the Dera hostel in 1999, puncturing the claim. "How were your daughters born?" was CBI special court judge Jagdeep Singh's question to Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The court declared that the claim of impotency was untrue and that the there was not an iota of evidence to prove the same.

Incidentally, Gurmeet is not the only baba to have attempted to take refuge in the impotency claim. Infamous self-styled Godman Nithyananda had also made similar claims in a rape case against him. A former disciple of Nithyananda filed a case of rape against him. Nithyananda did not just tell the court that he was impotent but went an extra mile and claimed that "he was not a man, in fact, he had no gender". When the Karnataka high court ordered him to undergo medical tests to determine potency, Nithyananda moved the Supreme Court. For more than a year, he refused to undergo any medical tests despite submitting an affidavit that he was impotent.

The Supreme Court refused to give him any respite and ordered medical tests to prove his claims in the rape case. In September 2014, Nithyananda finally underwent medical tests including Penile Doppler Test at Bengaluru's Victoria hospital. The results declared that Nithyananda, contradictory to his claims, was not just a man but was also fit to perform sexual acts. The case is yet to see a conclusive end.

Accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at his Ashram, another self-styled godman, Asaram Bapu had also claimed that he was impotent. In 2013, the then 73-year-old self-proclaimed religious guru was arrested by the Jodhpur police for sexual assault of a minor. Impotency was Bapu's first defence before the police. After being arrested, he told the police that he was incompetent to perpetrate a sexual crime on the victim since he was impotent. The claim was proven false after a medical test. A medical test was conducted at the SN Medical college in Jodhpur.

Time and again, self-styled Godmen have used the excuse of impotency to protect themselves from charges of sexual assault. From Asaram Bapu to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, impotency seems to be the favourite pick for these self-proclaimed men of God.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 21:44 [IST]
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, two individuals and two Second Amendment civil rights advocacy groups filed a petition for certiorari in the case of Silvester, et al. v. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asking the United States Supreme Court to review and overturn a wrongly-decided Ninth Circuit decision about the State of Californias 10-day waiting period laws, noted The Calguns Foundation, one of the petitioners.

A copy of the petition to the Supreme Court and other relevant case documents can be viewed or downloaded at https://www.calgunsfoundation.org/silvester.

In 2014, Federal District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishiinominated to the bench by then-President Clintonheld that the waiting period laws were unconstitutional as applied to three categories of gun purchasers after undertaking significant discovery, depositions, and a three-day bench trial.

But in 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit bizarrely ruled that even a person legally carrying a concealed handgun as he buys another gun at retail, and who passes a further background check, needs to be cooled off for another 10 days before exercising his Second Amendment rights and taking possession of a constitutionally-protected firearm.

I passed a rigorous state and federal background check and have a license to carry a handgun in public throughout the State of California, explained individual plaintiff Jeffrey Silvester, an insurance broker in Hanford, California. The DOJ knows that I am a law-abiding person, and Im even in their Rap Back system. What possible reason does the State have in denying me my Second Amendment right to take possession of a firearm after I pass yet another background check?

The petition, authored by Supreme Court and appellate attorney Erik. S. Jaffe of Washington, D.C., noted that it is no secret that various lower courts, and the Ninth Circuit especially, are engaged in systematic resistance to the Courts landmark Heller and McDonald decisions. In doing so, the petitioners argue, the Ninth Circuit ignored important legal rules that govern how infringements on constitutional rights are to be scrutinized and that govern review of a trial court determinations of the facts in a case. Petitioners maintain that the Ninth Circuits decision represents one of the clearest example yet of open circumvention of Second Amendment rights, when even the results of a trial cannot survive the hostile appellate review often applied in Second Amendment cases.

The petition notes that the lax legal standard applied by the Ninth Circuit in this case conflicts with the more protective legal standard applied by the Supreme Court, poses a threat not merely to Second Amendment rights, but to First and Fourteenth Amendment rights as well, and that review should be granted to correct that conflict and enforce the proper standard of constitutional scrutiny of laws that burden Second Amendment rights.

Brandon Combs, an individual plaintiff in the case as well as the executive director of organizational plaintiff The Calguns Foundation, believes that fundamental, individual Second Amendment rights are being treated like second-class rights.

In its decision to ignore the trial courts Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as well as longstanding principles of appellate review, said Combs, the Ninth Circuit has made it crystal clear that it has no intention of following the Supreme Courts precedents no matter how unconstitutional, arbitrary, or irrational the law. This case and the Ninth Circuits treatment of fundamental rights are beyond ripe for review.

We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will use the extensive record here to further develop its Second Amendment precedent and place the right to keep and bear arms on an equal footing with First Amendment rights, such as freedom of speech.

Silvester, Combs, and The Calguns Foundation are joined in the petition by Second Amendment Foundation of Bellevue, WA, which also partially funded the case.

The Calguns Foundation (www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves its members, supporters, and the public through educational, cultural, and judicial efforts to advance Second Amendment and related civil rights.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

Attorney Erik S. Jaffe (www.esjpc.com) is a 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law and was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and has been a sole practitioner since 1997. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 100 Supreme Court matters, including filing 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 60 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.

### END ###

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf60b91a-e8c5-4742-9b86-fb285a3768dc

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3484c2e1-7770-45aa-b90b-4829446744c3

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/05d6accb-4c81-493d-b5f8-46626862d51c
International news brief: Floods trap many in Florida; Royal Mint unveils first coins and more

In Bihar floods, farmers lose crops, homes; stare at a bleak future

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Patna, Sep 1: This year, farmers of flood-hit Bihar are bearing the worst brunt of nature's fury as rainwaters destroyed hundreds of acres of croplands across the state.

With their fields inundated in floodwaters and no crops to harvest, the farmers of Bihar have lost their only source of livelihood. However, what makes the conditions of farmers in the state further miserable is the alleged apathy of the state government towards their plight.

Farmers after farmers in various districts of the state don't know what future holds for them as no one is there to address their problems.

"There is no relief from the government till date. Almost everything has been destroyed by floods in the village. I have lost all my standing crops and my house too has been submerged in floodwaters. We somehow managed to survive," Shiv Shankar Singh, a farmer from Muzaffarpur, told ANI.

Another farmer from Muzaffarpur said that crops were destroyed after Rajawada dam was breached. The farmer, who toiled in his land to cultivate paddy, maize, vegetables and bananas, has lost all his crops in floods.

"I had paddy, maize and vegetables in five acres of land. Everything has been washed away in floods. I don't know how things will work if government doesn't help," said another farmer.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state to take stock of the flood situation in the state. Modi along with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of the state. The PM announced Rs 500 crore relief package for the flood-hit state.

However, it looks like relief funds said to have been disbursed by the government are yet to reach people on the ground.

A total of 514 people have lost their lives in floods that have hit 19 districts in the state. As per reports, flood situation is said to have been improved in parts of the state.

Witnessing the massive devastation, several people from across the country have offered help to the affected people of the state.

Bollywood star Aamir Khan has sent a cheque of Rs 25 lakh on behalf of his film production company, Aamir Khan Productions Ltd, an official statement said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member CP Thakur donated Rs 20 lakh from his MPLAD fund for relief work in Sahebganj and Paru blocks of Muzaffarpur. Several other MLAs and former legislators also contributed to the flood relief work.

But till the time relief measures don't reach the needy, donation of money by celebrities like Aamir Khan is not going to help anyone.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 8:43 [IST]
FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K

In J&K, 14,000 dropouts find their way back to schools

One Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist gunned down in Jammu and Kashmir

J&K: One policeman killed, 4 injured after terrorists attack bus in Srinagar

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

One policeman was killed and four injured after the terrorists attacked a bus ferrying security personnel in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk on Friday.

The attack took place around 8 pm when the bus was going from Bemina to Zewan. The area has been cordoned off and searche operation has been launched to trace the terrorists.

The comes a day after terrorists shot at a Sub-Inspector of Jammu and Kashmir Police in Barbugh area of Shopian district. The policeman was injured in the incident.

On August 20, a man was gunned down by the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district.

On August 15, a police bunker at Tengpora bypass in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, was fired upon by the terrorists.

On August 13, two police personnel were injured after terrorists attacked a police search party in Bandipora's Hajin area of Jammu and Kashmir.

OneIndia News
With India-Bangladesh coming together, ISI set to get further exposed on fake currency

D-Syndicate raises its ugly head again: This time on the target are Hindu leaders

Karnataka man smuggled fake currency from Bangladesh: DRI

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The man arrested with fake Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 7.56 lakh is said to have smuggled the same from Bangladesh.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday arrested a man and seized fake Rs 2,000 notes.

The officers of DRI on specific information intercepted the man from Karnataka, at Mumbra in a suburb of Mumbai on Wednesday. On examination of his baggage, the officers found 349 notes of Rs 2,000 having face value of Rs 6.98 lakhs. Follow-up operations were conducted at his residence in Bengaluru that resulted in the recovery of another Rs 58,000 in fake notes. The total face value of the seized fake notes is 7.56 lakh according to the press release issued by the agency.

"Preliminary investigations by DRI has revealed that the intercepted person had procured these fake notes from an associate in Islampur, West Bengal (located in West Dinajpur district close to the Bangladesh border)," the release said. The seized notes shall be sent to the Currency Note Press for official verification and to asertain the quality and the security features replicated.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 5:48 [IST]
Karnataka MLCs faked documents to vote in BBMP polls, BJP seeks disqualification

India

oi-Anusha

Eight Karnataka MLCs including six from the Congress have been nailed in a report for providing false information to vote in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections. The same MLCs have been found to have given fake bills to the Karnataka legislative council to claim travel allowance causing a loss of Rs 37 lakh to the exchequer. The BJP has not sought disqualification of all the accused MLCs.

A report submitted by the BBMP to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka accuses the MLCs of submitting false information to enrol themselves as voters in Bengaluru. R B Timmapur, Allum Veerabhadrappa, Raghu Achar, N S Boseraju, S Ravi from the Congress, C R Manohar and Appaji Gowda from the JD(S) and M D Lakshminarayana, an independent who supports the Congress have been accused of submitting fake documents to identify themselves as residents of Bengaluru to vote in the Mayoral elections. The investigation into the matter was ordered after BJP leader in BBMP Council Padmanabha Reddy filed a complaint.

According to BBMP's findings, all 8 MLCs submitted false information claiming to be residents of Bengaluru but contradicted themselves by submitting travel claims running into Rs 37 lakh to the Legislative council. The documents submitted to claim travel allowance indicate that the MLCs belong to different districts and needed to travel to and fro Bengaluru for committee meetings etc.

Congress MLC Timmapur, who is a frontrunner to be inducted into the Siddaramaiah cabinet, enrolled as voter in Bengaluru on August 22, 2016, but after the Mayoral elections in September 2016, he claimed travel allowance from the Legislative Council indicating Bagalkot as his ordinary address. Another MLC, Veerabhadrappa enrolled as a voter in Bengaluru ahead of the BBMP polls but claimed travel allowance from Ballari as his address. The report observes that if the documents submitted to enrol as a voter in Bengaluru is true, then the MLCs have lied to the Legislative council and if the documents submitted to the council is true then they have hoodwinked the election commission of India to enrol as voters for BBMP.

The report has been submitted to the election commission that is currently scrutinising the same. MLCs will face disqualification if the election commission concludes that they have violated the Representation of People Act

BJP seeks disqualification of accused MLCs

The BJP has sought disqualification of eight Karnataka MLCs including six from the Congress in a fake document and Rs 37-lakh fake bills scam. The BJP submitted a memorandum to Governor Vaju Bhai Vala alleging that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) report had nailed the "criminal activity" of all eight MLAs during the BBMP elections last year.

"We have submitted a memorandum to the Governor stating that eight MLCs, six from the Congress and two from JD(S), enrolled as voters in BBMP elections with malafide intentions. They have given false information and voted in the BBMP polls. They don't live in Bengaluru and are residents of Bagalkot, Ballari etc. They have claimed travel allowances for committee meetings from the government, thus by their own admission, have proven that they have committed a criminal offence. They have violated the provisions of the public representative's act. They have to be imprisoned and fined apart from being disqualified from MLC posts," said leader of Opposition and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar said.

"We have asked the Governor not to allow Timmapur to become a minister in the cabinet after committing a criminal offence, Fake documents have been produced fraudulently," Shettar added. The BJP has urged the governor to disqualify all the MLCs for cheating the government and the people.

The BBMP's report has come as ammo to the BJP that was struggling to find an issue to raise against the Congress government in Karnataka.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 13:16 [IST]
Kerala Love Jihad: They put the fear of hell in us, confessions of the trapped women

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

As the National Investigation Agency continues with its probe into Love Jihad in Kerala, more women are coming forward and narrating horrific tales of conversion. All these statements which are part of the NIA's case files indicate that it is a systematic approach that has been adopted to lure and trap vulnerable women.

The NIA had said that the case it is probing is not just a one off incident, but there is a systematic plan in place to trap young women into conversion to Islam.

During the course of the hearing in the Love Jihad case, an affidavit was filed narrating her harrowing experience and on how she was trapped.

They scare you with the fear of hell:

" I am first among the two children of my parents. In college, I had two fellow students Aiysha Farhana, belonging to the Mujahideen sect and Mariam belonging to the Sunni sect. They always would speak about how Hindus worship satans and how it is not a correct religion. Gradually I started believing them and took a favourable approach towards Islam."

"When I was in the first year degree, a friend of mine, Shabnam knew my interest in Islam. She is the person who first sent me a speech of Dr Zakir Naik about hell. After hearing the speech, I lost sleep and there were nights I spent under the blanket trembling. Due to the fear of hell, I went more towards Islam. I believed that Islam was the only way to escape from hell."

" I then started working and during that time I was introduced to a person called Ilahi Noufal. He told me that all true believers were in Yemen. He then asked me If I had a passport. I then applied for a passport. Later I went to Sathyasarani with Noufal and his wife. An affidavit for conversion to Islam was prepared in May 2013."

"I then changed my name to Ayisha. I was taken to the house of SDPI activits, Seens Fasna where I lived. My father then lodged a complaint. He also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court."

Marriage will avoid court case:

" One day a person called Saniaba told me that if I married, I could escape the court case. I said I did not want to marry. I was then produced before the court which advised me to speak to my father and mother. I did not because, I had started believing that those who do not believe in Islam are Kafirs.

My father begged me to come home and said he would even touch my feet. I got angry about it."

"The Sathyasarani people said that parents and relatives will resort to all sort of gimmicks, but I should not change my mind. The court sent me to a hostel. There I decided that i wanted to return home. I lived there for 8 months and then I returned to my original religion."

55 Hindu girls brought for conversion:

Another lady from Kasargod also filed an affidavit before the court. In this the lady says that she was in a class which had 50 students of which 30 were Muslims. They would discuss a book about Islam and once when I tried to touch it, they told me not to.

"I then joined the K S Abdullah English school as a teacher. There the students would openly tell me to convert. One students said, teacher I will give you Rs 7 lakh to convert."

"I then joined the P and M English Medium school. My Muslim colleagues would speak about hell. To escape punishments, the only way was to embrace Islam they would say. I started getting convinced and asked them how to convert."

"I went to to Manuathul Islamic Sabha and converted to Islam. My name was Rahmat. Following this a missing complaint was filed. When I saw my mother my heart melted and I returned to her and became a Hindu again."

OneIndia News
Kotkhai rape case: Virbhadra Singh govt trying to "save the real culprits", alleges BJP

India

oi-PTI

Shimla, September 01: The Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh government Himachal Pradesh is trying to "save the real culprits" and "derail" investigations into the Kotkhai rape and murder case, alleged state BJP leaders.

The party also sought the resignation of the government on the issue. The latest developments in the investigation into the case has exposed the virtual absence of governance, leading to loss of faith of the people and the civil society in the government, Union Health minister J P Nadda alleged.

The intention behind constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the state government was to ensure fair and impartial probe, but its conduct has come under cloud, he claimed.

"Though the investigation is underway and the matter is subjudice, the actual culprits of the dastardly act are yet to be nabbed. The arrest of the complete SIT by the CBI is not something routine... it shows that officers sitting at the top tried to influence and give a twist to the direction of this case," Nadda said.

The minister's remarks come after the CBI on Tuesday arrested the inspector-general of the Himachal Pradesh police, Zahur Haidar Zaidi, and seven other policemen in connection with the custodial death of an accused in a rape case.

He said that the entire BJP state unit had been demanding a fair and unbiased probe into the case, and had echoed the sentiments of the people.

"The entire tenure of the present government is synonymous to nepotism, corruption and inefficiency, and now towards its fag end, things have gone from bad to worse," the minister said.

The chief minister and the party are at loggerheads, and busy making a beeline in Delhi rather than caring for minimal governance for which they have been mandated, he claimed.

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader P K Dhumal alleged that the very purpose of constituting the SIT was to give a "twist" to the probe and "save" the real culprits.

"Virbhadra Singh has pushed the state into morass of crime and there has been spurt in incidents of heinous crimes due to protection given by the government to criminals and he must resign, and pave the way for a fresh assembly polls in the state," he said, adding "the sooner he quits the government, better it would be for the state".

Dhumal said that the chief minister has no right to remain in power and he should resign in view of the arrests by the CBI. Accusing the chief minister for misusing the police to serve his vested interests, he said that the rape and murder case had "sullied" the image of the entire police force.

"It is unfortunate that the chief minister not only misled the Assembly and the people, but also patted the SIT for good work," he said.

"To derail the probe, it has become a habit of the chief minister to give clean chit to culprits even before the investigations are completed, and in this case also, efforts were made to twist the facts to save the real culprits," Dhumal said in a statement.

The government was also accused of trying to save the culprits by implicating the wrong people in the case. Meanwhile, BJP MP from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur demanded the resignation of Singh on the issue.

PTI
PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Manmohans prediction on adverse impact of Modis demonetisation on GDP is bang on

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

New Delhi, Sep 1: It is not for anything that we are asked to listen to well-meaning and wise advises from elderly and educated people. Perhaps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too should have listened to his predecessor and well-known economist Manmohan Singh regarding demonetisation and its impact on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

In November last year, Modi in a televised address to the nation announced the demonetisation of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. The immediate impact of the highly controversial move by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre was the long queues of people outside banks and ATM kiosks as cash went missing from the market.

It caused a lot of pain to the public as they went panic to exchange their old and invalid notes from banks. A lot of trouble was also caused as banks and ATMs hardly had enough new currency notes to give to the customers who were queuing up in front of them.

Modi told India that the demonetisation was a step to curb black money, corruption and terror funding. However, not all agreed with him.

After witnessing the trauma of the people, Modi's predecessor Singh, after a few days of demonetisation, spoke on the adverse impact of note ban on the Indian economy in the Rajya Sabha.

Singh, during his stints as the PM, was criticised for maintaining a "stoic silence" on various scams that hit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments. The opposition parties, especially the BJP, said Singh was turning a blind eye on the corruption scandals.

However, at that time when people on the streets were complaining about the difficulties they were facing due to cash crunch in the wake of scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes by Modi regime, Singh decided to come out from his self-imposed exile and spoke eloquently on the subject.

His take on demonetisation hit the bull's eyes, helped by the fact that Singh is a renowned economist, who also headed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Finance Ministry earlier.

Demonetisation, hailed as Modi's "masterstroke" by his supporters, was labelled as an "organised loot and legalised plunder" and "monumental mismanagement" by Singh.

The former PM's criticism on demonetisation was not to target the Modi government, but to tell the voters of India that how a "hasty and unplanned" economic decision could directly hit the GDP.

Singh predicted that GDP will slow down by at least two per cent which will hurt the people in agriculture, small industries and in the informal sectors.

Nine months after Singh's prediction on demonetisation and its impact on the GDP, on Thursday, when the figures of country's GDP for the first quarter of the current fiscal that ended in June were declared, the former PM and the economist was proved right about his assessment on the whole issue.

It showed that India's economic growth has slid to a three-year low, partly due to demonetisation. India's GDP growth has sharply dipped to 5.7 per cent in Q1 Of 2017-18.

After the GDP figures were out, twitterati were quick to recall what Singh had said and how his prophecy has come true to the horror of all.

So Manmohan Singh was not Absolutely wrong when he said that GDP likely to go down 2% after demonetization.Its down exactly 2% Now  Narendra nath mishra (@iamnarendranath) August 31, 2017

Dr Manmohan Singh called #DemonetisationDisaster "organised loot and plunder" & said it would hit GDP by 2 percent. He was spot on.  Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) August 31, 2017

So much maligned Dr Manmohan Singh was not quite wrong. 2 per cent plus negative impact on GDP growth post DeMo! #DeMo  Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) August 31, 2017

Turns out Dr Manmohan Singh was right about demonetisation. India's GDP shrunk by a staggering 2.2%. After all, he was PM, FM & RBI Governor pic.twitter.com/GgMPivjUYq  Milind Deora (@milinddeora) August 31, 2017

GDP and GVA figures are more evidence of Dr Manmohan Singh's indictment of 'monumental mismanagement'.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 31, 2017

Exactly. When Dr Manmohan Singh said that demonetisation would cost us 2% in GDP growth he had no clue what he was talking about! https://t.co/TBDiiepsMa  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) August 31, 2017

After Singh's warnings, even BJP's ally, Shiv Sena, asked Modi government to listen to the former PM's suggestions as he was a renowned economist. The pundits hailed Singh's analysis on demonetisation as "matured" observations.

However, Modi did not take the advice of Singh in the right manner. Rather, the PM sounded angry over the message in Singh's speech.

At a rally after demonetisation, Modi indirectly targeted Singh and other critics.

"Kya kya bole. Parliament me bola, gaon, galliyon me jaakar chillaya, Bharat barbaad ho jayega. GDP 2 per cent kam ho jayega, koi kehta kisan barbaad, fasal barbaad, berozgaari aajayegi. Daily ek jhoot. (They've spoken in Parliament (referring to Singh's speech), they've shouted in the villages and streets that India will be destroyed, GDP will dip by 2 per cent, they have said farmers and crops will be destroyed and unemployment will rise. Daily one lie)," Modi said.

Even now, Modi government is not ready to admit its fault about how the note ban has pushed back the economy of the country in several fronts, causing harm to the people, espcially the poor and those employed in unorganised sectors.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said, "Some people had expected a very large shock to economic growth on account of demonetisation. Their expectations have been belied."

Along with Singh, several other economists like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen too had warned about the pitfalls of the note ban.

OneIndia News
Middle Way Approach is a Common Ground for Tibetans and Swedish People

India

oi-Oneindia

By Vijyender Sharma

SHIMLA: "We are a country with 203 consecutive years of non military conflict. In our spirit, we have a saying or an idiom which says 'the golden path of the middle road or the middle way', this was stated by Carl Schlyter, chairman of Swedish Tibet Friendship Parliamentary group.

It means that, understand what your adversary or fellow human being wants, try to find a solution where, what you want can be coincided with that person; this philosophy has left us with over two hundred years of peace, he added.

A three-member Swedish delegation led by a member of the Swedish Parliament, Carl Schlyter, Green Party, Mattias Bjornerstedt, President of the Swedish Tibet Committee addressed press conference today at Mecleodganj near Dharmshala.

Carl Schlyter, MP, Green Party, also a member of the Swedish Tibet Friendship Parliamentary group expressed its continued support on the Tibet issue today.

"When I heard about the Middle Way, I think that is something that we have in common, Tibetan people and the Swedish people, because that's how we do business. So I was very happy when I heard about the proposal originally some years ago."

MP Carl further said, "I think this is a way to fit Swedish psyche to work in a similar way to find a solution. We had war with our neighbours for centuries, now we consider them as friends. Today we are able to freely travel, work, move and change. I hope one day soon you will have the same opportunity to protect your culture and way of life."

He asserted the interest of the Swedish Tibet Friendship Group in encouraging dialogue among the Swedish people and influence its government to support the Tibet issue. "We thought it was the right moment to create this group as Sweden has been discussing a lot about refugee crisis. Even if people of Sweden would not know much about Tibet, they would have a positive impression of His Holiness and instinctively about the proposed way forward. Therefore we could create more debate using this friendship group to influence our government and to lift this issue among our people, which could be a helping hand in a good force and finding a solution."

MP Carl expressed his happiness at being able to come to Dharamshala to witness "the impressively efficient administration" of Tibetan schools and institutes in Dharamshala.

Mattias Bjornerstedt, President of the Swedish Tibet Committee said, "For us, the Tibet issue is not mainly about Tibet itself. It is about what is right and wrong in life and what it is to be human."

He further added,"It is extremely inspirational to see the methods you use in your struggle; dignity, strength, compassion that you mixed into this should be a model for all conflicts in the world."

He assured that they will do their best to energise their members to actively participate and spread awareness regarding the Tibet issue.

MP Carl is the chief guest at the official function to commemorate 57th Tibetan Democracy day at Tsuglagkhang on 2 September 2017.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 11:34 [IST]
Modi Cabinet re-shuffle: 5 ministers resign, Gadkari likely to get Railways

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy has resigned ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle. The resignation was submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The other ministers who resigned from their positions are Uma Bharti, Radhamohan Singh, Sanjeev Balyan and Giriraj Singh.

This move comes ahead of a possible Cabinet re-shuffle likely to be announced on September 2. Sources say that in the major reshuffle, Nitin Gadkari is likely to get Railways while Suresh Prabhu may be moved to the Environment ministry.

The new Cabinet is also likely to see the JD(U)'s Ram Chandra Prasad SIngh and Santosh Kushwaha being included. The other possibilities are Ananth Kumar getting Urban Development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be leaving on September 3 for the BRICS summit and the government would like to finish the formalities before his trip. Given that Pitru Paksh, considered an inauspicious period, will run between September 6 and September 19, it is possible that the much-awaited exercise was carried out before Modi leaves for China.

Modi last expanded his team in July 2016 when promoted Prakash Javadekar to the cabinet rank.

OneIndia News
Modi Cabinet reshuffle: AIADMK may not join NDA for now

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The much anticipated Modi Cabinet reshuffle is likely to witness a host of changes. While the JD(U) which formed the government in Bihar with the BJP is set to join the Cabinet, there is however no word as yet on the AIADMK.

Speculation was rife that the AIADMK from Tamil Nadu will join the NDA and also the Cabinet.

However sources say that there is no word as yet on this. There are still a couple of issues that need to be sorted out in the AIADMK. It may be done at a later stage, the source added.

However if everything goes well within the AIADMK, then two persons are likely to join the ministry. One may be given a Cabinet berth and the other a minister of state portfolio. The AIADMK if inducted into the ministry will send K Venugopal and Thambi Durai to the Cabinet, sources indicated.

The reshuffle is expected to take place this week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for China to attend the BRICS summit on September 3. BJP President, Amit Shah held a series of meetings on Thursday ahead of the crucial reshuffle. This is likely to be the last rejig ahead of the 2019 elections.

There is a possibility that a large number of ministers likely to be included will be from the Hindi heartland. Rajiv Pratap Rudy who resigned as Skill Development minister is likely to be given organisational work in the party, sources say. Muzzafarnagar MP and minister Sanjiv Balyan may be sent to the organisation. He may be replaced by Baghpat MP and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Malik, sources also say.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 6:17 [IST]
ZUG, Switzerland, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transocean today announced its decision to contribute $100,000 to the American Red Cross and $100,000 to the Houston Food Bank for immediate relief efforts that are currently under way to assist those impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Additionally, the company will match donations made to the relief efforts by its employees, many of whom are already actively supporting those in need. Transocean is proud of the volunteering efforts of our employees during this very challenging time.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of Houston and the surrounding communities who have been impacted by this unprecedented and catastrophic hurricane, said Jeremy Thigpen, President and CEO of Transocean. While Transocean is a Swiss-based company, we have always maintained a significant presence in the greater Houston area, where we have enjoyed a long-standing and strong relationship with the surrounding community. We hope that these donations will help to deliver the support and assistance that is so desperately needed by so many of our friends and neighbors as we jointly work to rebuild this great city.



The American Red Cross is vital to supporting the needs of the community in times of disaster. The Red Cross continues to work around the clock in Texas to deliver much needed support and shelter for people impacted by Hurricane Harvey.



The Houston Food Bank has a great history of providing daily support to many communities and during times of disaster. In these trying times for Houston and its residents and businesses, we are touched by the outpouring of support from our generous supporters and donors, said Brian Greene, President and CEO of the Houston Food Bank. Were grateful to Transocean for its ongoing support, and now this generous gift for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief efforts. With this money, we will be able to provide much-needed food, water and cleaning supplies throughout Greater Houston and all 18 counties in our service area.

About Transocean

Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells. The Company specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world.

Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 44 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 30 ultra-deepwater floaters, seven harsh environment floaters, three deepwater floaters and four midwater floaters. In addition, Transocean has four ultra-deepwater drillships under construction or under contract to be constructed. The Company also operates two high-specification jackups that were under drilling contracts when the rigs were sold, and the Company continues to operate these jackups until completion or novation of the drilling contracts.

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Modi Cabinet reshuffle: When attendance and performance matters

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

One could expect at least a dozen changes in the Union Cabinet reshuffle. While some ministers will be moved keeping in mind party work, others have been asked to leave based on their performances.

On Friday several ministers including Rajiv Pratap Rudy tendered their resignations. Senior BJP minister Uma Bharti too offered to resign on health grounds. This will be the last Modi Cabinet reshuffle head of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Some of the key factors that both Prime Minister Narendra Mod and BJP national president Amit Shah kept in mind was performance and attendance. Those ministers who have had low attendance in Parliament have been shown the door.

On the performance front too various decisions were taken. The report cards of all performing ministers have been analysed and under-performers have been asked to leave. At least 6 out of the 12 ministers are likely to go due to performance, sources also indicated.

The much anticipated rejig is scheduled for September 2. There would be at least 12 changes and both Defence and environment will have new faces. Ministers such as Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar and Dharmendra Pradhann are likely to get a promotion, sources said.

OneIndia News
Modi, Shah idols attract devotees to Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Gujarat

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Gandhinagar, Sep 1: How about paying your obeisance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, this Ganesh Chaturthi festival? Taken aback?

We are serious, if you are a supporter of the BJP and Modi, then you must visit Vadodara in Gujarat (Modi's home state) where a Ganesh Chaturthi pandal has attracted devotees in hordes to pay their obeisance to the idols of Modi and Shah along with Lord Ganesh.

Yes, a pandal in Juni Gadi area of the city has installed an idol of Lord Ganesh along with the idols of PM and the BJP president. While a small idol of Lord Ganesh was seen mounted on one of the shoulders of Modi's idol, Shah's godly avatar was seen just a few steps behind Modi's.

Both the idols of Modi and Lord Ganesh are well-protected by a colourful umbrella too. While Modi was seen in his quintessential saffron Modi coat, Shah as usual was dressed in white kurta and pajama.

During festival times, various pandals across the country try to do something different to attract crowds. So, Vadodara pandal thought about the best idea to install idols of Modi and Shah, the two most popular politicians from the state now ruling the country from Lutyens' Delhi.

OneIndia News
Mumbai University TYBCom results 2017 on website today, latest updates

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Mumbai University TYBCom results 2017 will be uploaded on the website today. The university is also likely to upload the results of the LLB exams today. The results will be available on the official website.

The university informed the High Court that it will upload all results of undergraduate exams on its website by September 6.

The varsity has for the sixth time postponed the result announcement date. The initial confirmation given by the authority was July 31 deadline.

Varsity's counsel Rui Rodrigues told the court that the "Ganpati festival and Tuesday's deluge" in the megapolis set its assessment process back by a further couple of days.

A bench of justices Anoop V Mohta and Bharati Dangre directed the state Common Entrance Test (CET) cell to extend the deadline for applying to the university's three years law courses to September 6.

Rodrigues said the university had completed the assessment and declared results for all the three and five year LLB courses. He said of the "153 exams conducted for various Arts courses, results for 151 had been declared, of the 47 exams for various courses offered for the BSc degree, results for 43 had been declared, and for the 50 exams conducted for BCom courses, results for 30 exams had been declared."

However, the university is yet to upload these results on its website.

"The heavy rains on Tuesday resulted in power outages and disrupted Internet connectivity because of which our server crashed and the results could not be uploaded. However, we have outsourced the work to another server and results should be declared by this evening," Rodrigues said.

"We have also decided to send the complete gazette or broadsheet containing the marks for all students to respective colleges so that they can check their marks from the college bulletin boards," he said.

There was further delay as many teachers took some days off from work to participate in the Ganpati festival. However, they are coming back now and the authorities are trying to declare the pending results at the earliest, Rodrigues said while urging the court to refrain from passing any orders till September 6.

The CET cell had earlier extended its August 31 deadline to September 5, and today, its counsel told the court that any "further extension of the deadline will be difficult". The court, however, said that the cell must "keep in mind the interest of the students who had to suffer for no fault of theirs" and directed it to extend the deadline for applying to the University's three years law courses to September 6.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 7:23 [IST]
Bakrid: Several 'Imams' appeal to Muslims to not offer sacrifices of animals in open spaces

Open slaughter houses during Eid-Al-Adha, Muslim cleric appeals

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A prominent Muslim cleric on the occasion of Eid-Al-Adha appealed to the government to permit sacrificing animals in slaughter houses.

The cleric, Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, said '' Since govt has shut down most of the slaughter houses,people do not know where to sacrifice animals.''

He appealed to the government to permit sacrificing animals in slaughter houses during Eid-Al-Adha so people don't do it in houses.

Since govt has shut down most of the slaughter houses,people do not know where to sacrifice animals: Muslim cleric Khalid Rashid #EidAlAdha pic.twitter.com/QMn0cGAHLF  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 1, 2017

In March, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughter houses across the state keeping with the BJP's manifesto.

The BJP manifesto had said that all the illegal slaughter houses would be closed and there would be a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughter houses.

He also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows and said zero tolerance would be exercised in this regard.

What is Eid-ul-Adha?

Eid-ul-Adha is a "Sacrifice Feast", is the second of two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year, and considered the holier of the two. It honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son, as an act of submission to God's command. Before he sacrificed his son God intervened by sending his angel Jibra'il (Gabriel), who then put a sheep in his son's place.

In commemoration of this, an animal is sacrificed and divided into three parts: the family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third is given to the poor and needy.

(With agency inputs)
Portals of Gangotri shrine close for winters, devotees can worship at Mukhba village now

Anand Mahindra's tweet about UPI at country's 'last tea shop' is every Indian's emotion

Siblings lock themselves up for 4 years after parents scolded them for low exam marks

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Teenagers do hesitate to go to school, it is obvious too. But in a disturbing incident reported from Haridwar in Uttarakhnad, siblings locked themselves up for four years in a room after being scolded by her parents for failing to score good marks in Class 10 exams.

The girl is now 18. She had confined herself to her room in Haridwar. Not only the girl, even her brother, 15, too had dropped out of school in 2016 and locked himself up in another room, The Times of India reported on Thursday.

Mamta Vohra, SP City, told ANI, " Children said they wanted to just have leisure time, locked themselves to avoid studying.''

Children and parents both will be counselled. It will take time for them to develop a mindset for studies: Mamta Vohra, SP City pic.twitter.com/Op1zqJTy9K  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

Children and parents both will be counselled. It will take time for them to develop a mindset for studies, said Vohra.

The incident came to light on Tuesday after a resident of Panchvati Colony filed a complaint with the police stating the neighbours had not seen the children come out of the house for a long time.

The police searched the premises and found the two rooms locked from inside. They had to convince the siblings to open the door of their rooms.

OneIndia News
Ram Rahim's 'red bag plan:' Honeypreet Singh booked for sedition

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

A day after the police spoke about a 'red bag plan' to ensure the escape of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a look out circular has been issued against Honeypreet Singh, the adopted daughter of the baba. In addition to this the police have also booked her for sedition and accused her of instigating the violence at Panchkula.

The police issued the circular after finding that she is the one who had hatched the plan to facilitate the escape of Ram Rahim. A plan had been hatched for his escape after the court convicted him on rape charges.

The plan however failed and the police managed to whisk away the Dera chief and take him to a jail at Rohtak from Panchkula.

What is the 'red bag plan'

Get the red bag was a code word that Gurmeet Ram Rahim used as he tried to escape with the help of his followers after being convicted of rape charges.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) K K Rao said that as soon as the self-styled godman was convicted, he demanded a 'red bag' that he had brought along from Sirsa.

"The Dera chief demanded the bag, saying his clothes were in it. It was actually a signal for his men to spread the news of his conviction among supporters so that they could resort to causing disturbance," Rao said.

He said that as the bag was taken out of the vehicle, sounds of tear gas shells being lobbed about 2-3 km from the site were heard.

"It was then that we understood that there was some meaning behind the signal," the Haryana police IG claimed.

And what made senior police officials even more suspicious was that Ram Rahim Singh and his adopted daughter kept standing in the Panchkula court complex corridor for a long time even when they were not supposed to do so, he said.

"They were trying to gain time before sitting in the vehicle so that their men could spread the message that he was moving from the court. They were told that you cannot stand here. The mob was about 2-3 km and could have moved closer. We never wanted violence in Sector 1 as casualties could have been more," the senior police official said.

The police decided to make him sit in the vehicle of DCP (Crime) Sumit Kumar instead of the vehicle he had arrived in, Rao said.

When we were making him sit in the vehicle, commandos, deployed with him for several years, gheraoed the Dera chief, Rao alleged.

"Thereafter, DCP (Crime) Kumar and his team scuffled with them. His commandos were even thrashed," he said. We took good care that no firing takes place, Rao said adding that even the commandoes assigned to protect the godman were also armed.

Another threat that the policemen sensed was from the around 70-80 vehicles, part of the Dera chief's cavalcade, which were parked next to a nearby theatre, he claimed.

"We did not want to use the same route as 70 vehicles were standing. People in those vehicles might have been carrying weapons," he said.

Our priority was to first take Baba to the chopper site , he said adding that it was a challenge to make him sit in the police vehicle, Rao said adding that a decision was taken to change the route.

"I asked an Army man to allow the police vehicles (including the one carrying Dera chief) to move through the cantonment area. Had their people come to know about our movement, they would have reached there and firing could have taken place," the IG said.

As we were about to proceed towards the cantonment area, the Dera chief's private commandos forcibly clung to the police vehicle, he said. They were again thrashed and taken into custody, Rao added.

"The Baba's men were clueless for over half an hour as to where he had been taken," he said.

"We came to know about the escape plan when the red bag was demanded. Secondly, they were trying to gain time. Thirdly why men in 70 vehicles were standing," he claimed.

OneIndia News
Saab teams up with Adani group to build fighter jets in India: Report

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Swedish aerospace and defense company is likely to announce its tie up with Adani Group to bid for a contract to make single engine fighter jets in India.

An aerospace consultant told Reuters about the tie up, saying that the partnership will be announced on Friday.

Saab will compete with US defence giant Lockheed Martin to equip the Indian military with 100 single-engine jets to be produced locally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" initiative.

Ratan Shrivastava, the independent New-Delhi-based consultant and adviser at India's industry lobby group FICCI said, ''The Saab-Adani partnership is aimed at producing planes under India's new "strategic partnership" policy.''

Report said that Saab president and chief executive Hakan Buskhe will host a media event in New Delhi on Friday.

Lockheed has already picked India's Tata Advanced Systems as its local partner to produce its F-16 fighter planes.

However, the Government of India is set to issue a formal request to Lockheed and Saab to provide information about their plans to design, develop and produce combat jets in India, a government official said.

OneIndia News
Bofors pay off case to be heard in October: SC

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Supreme Court will hear the Bofors pay off case in the last week of October. Appeals were filed challenging the Delhi High Court's order discharging the Hinduja brothers in the case.

The case filed by BJP leader and advocate Ajay Kumar Agarwal will be taken up by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra. The order of the Delhi HC has however not been challenged by the CBI which investigated the case.

The CBI had told the court during the last hearing in December that it was refused permission by the authorities to appeal against the order of the Delhi HC.

The SC had admitted Agarwal's appeals. The Delhi HC had said before parting, it must express the disapproval at the investigation and the manner it went on for 14 years.

OneIndia News
Sikkim police bring murder charges against Kalimpong Police Superintendent

India

oi-Amitava

Darjeeling, September 1: In a standoff between the Sikkim and West Bengal police, over jurisdiction issues and a dead body, a murder case has been registered at the Namchi Police Station against the Superintendent of Police, Kalimpong and his team.

Seven police personnel including officers of West Bengal police have been detained

at Namchi police station in South Sikkim. Along with this three vehicles of the West Bengal police has also been seized by the Sikkim police.

According to the Sikkim police on Friday afternoon around 7 to 10 vehicles bearing West Bengal number plates entered Sikkim from the Melli check post in South Sikkim. When they were questioned they said that they were on the way to Buddha Park in Ravangla.

After crossing over the vehicles divided into two teams. While one team proceeded to Namchi (South district headquarters) in Sikkim the other halted at Sadam. In Sadam there was an alleged shootout. A dead body was later found by the Sikkim police.

The deceased was identified as Dawa Bhutia (34 yrs), from Pedong, Kalimpong. He was the driver of Dawa Lepcha, former GTA sabha member. The dead body bearing a gunshot wound was taken to the Namchi hospital in Sikkim.

"We have initiated a case against the Superintendent of Police, Kalimpong and team under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code in connection with the above incident. Three vehicles of the West Bengal police have also been seized " stated Pratap Pradhan, Senior Superintendent of Police, South district, Sikkim.

Apparently, the other team of West Bengal police in Namchi swept upon Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders gathered to hold a Central Committee meeting. 11 persons including key GJM leaders were rounded up.

The GJM leaders rounded up include Sabitri Rai- former nominated GTA member; Shanker Adhikari; Hemant Gautam, Raj Thapa. Along with them there was one Jagdish Singh and Bimal Rai both from South Sikkim.

As the West Bengal police could not produce any arrest warrants, transit remand or other court orders nor had taken permission from the Sikkim police to enter Sikkim, the persons rounded up were released by the Sikkim police.

Till this report was filed 7 police personnel and officers from West Bengal were detained by the Sikkim police at the Namchi police station.

GJM President Bimal Gurung along with Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha President Prakash Gurung managed to give the police a slip. The duo have been implicated in the Kalimpong police station explosion case of August 19. Charges have been brought against them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

"The Sikkim police have also seized three vehicles of the West Bengal police team apparently abandoned by them when they were fleeing after the shootout toward Melli" stated the source.

The West Bengal police remained tightlipped about the incident. Lookout notices have been issued by the West Bengal police against Bimal Gurung, Prakash Gurung and General Secretary Roshan Giri. They have been declared "absconding."

The move comes in an effort to stop them from crossing international borders. Lookout notices are usually used at immigration checks in international borders.

In another incident, police arrested GJM leader Suraj Bagdas from kalimpong in connection with the torching of Sanjay Moktan's house. Moktan is the President of the Tamang Development and Cultural Board.

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Story first published: Saturday, September 2, 2017, 1:08 [IST]
Terror funding case: Judicial custody of three Kashmiri separatists extended

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Sep 1: In an ongoing case of money being channelled through the separatists to fuel terrorism and unrest in Kashmir, a Delhi court on Friday extended the judicial custody of three Kashmiri separatist leaders by a month.

District Judge Poonam A Bamba extended the judicial custody of Shahid-ul-Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Mohamad Akbar Khanday till September 27 when they will produced before the court along with four other accused, including the son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Besides Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, popularly known as Altaf Fantoosh, the other accused who are in judicial custody are Peer Saifullah, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Nayeem Khan.

The agency had arrested seven persons on July 24 in the case of alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley to fuel unrest. The agency had earlier told the court that it had received information that Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamat-ud-Dawah, and the separatists, including members of Hurriyat Conference, had been acting in connivance with banned outfits like Hizb- ul-Muzahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and others to raise and receive funds from India and abroad through illegal channels, including hawala.

The money was allegedly being raised to fund separatist and terror activities in restive Jammu and Kashmir, it had claimed, alleging that the accused were waging war against the country and involved in various offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

It had also claimed that the accused were involved in creating unrest by way of anti-India demonstrations and bandhs, which were done on their and others' instructions. The raids were part of the NIA's efforts at clamping down on separatist groups allegedly receiving funds for subversive activities in the valley.

The NIA had claimed that it had recovered account books, Rs 2 crore in cash and letterheads of banned terror groups, including the LeT and the HM, during the raids.

[20 Kashmir separatists, 200 plush properties and a sham called 'Azadi']

20 separatists from Kashmir were under the radar of the National Investigation Agency. 200 plush properties on prime land in different parts of the country owned by them are also under the radar of the NIA.

PTI
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.
Understanding Demonetisation: Masterstroke or Failure?

India

oi-Shreya

By Shreya

On November 9, 2016 - the morning after the announcement of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes, the Modi Government started feeling the heat of its decision which was called a measure to eradicate circulation of black money in the system.

However, the RBI recently in its report said that 99% of the currency scrapped has been turned in. Which makes demonetisation appear like a massive failure, and the Modi Government is already facing the flak as it failed to extract black money as promised.

Recalling Demonetisation:

The sudden decision to scrap 86% of the currency in circulation received extreme feedback, while some called it a 'masterstroke on black money,' others called it a 'blunder', 'attack on the poor' and 'political gimmick' ahead of the elections.

What followed was a long period of ATMs and Banks running out of cash, serpentine queues outside banks for getting currency notes exchanges, numerous confusing notifications from the RBI regarding last date of exchange for currency notes, to people losing their lives standing in queues and finally resulted in the washout of the Winter Session of the Parliament.

The Opposition slammed the decision and demanded a roll back of the move. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister jointly protested at the Azadpur Mandi in Delhi to demand a roll back and called the move a scam.

The Opposition, along with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi protested in the Parliament and demanded answers from the Prime Minister. Rahul Gandhi also called the move an attack on the poor.

Most economists all around slammed the idea and said that the move is going to adversely affect the Indian economy, but the Government stood by its decision. The changing narratives of the Government were also questioned by the Opposition. What began as a measure to curtail circulation of black money became step towards a cashless economy.

The government also said that this move would help fight terrorism in the valley, by cutting off terror funding due to the lack of cash. However, there have been several incidents of terror incidents of terror attacks in the valley post the move.

There were many who pointed out the lack of infrastructure in the country to be able to implement such a move.

The World Bank on Financial Inclusion report 2014, recorded the following in its report:

India is home to 21 percent of the world's unbanked adults and about two-thirds of South Asia's.

In India not only is account penetration comparatively low, at 53 percent but so is the use of accounts for payments: a mere 15 percent of adults reported using an account to make or receive payments.

Only 39 percent of all account holders in India own a debit or automated teller machine (ATM) card, and using an account might be inconvenient and time-consuming if every transaction requires using a bank teller.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in one of his speeches in the Parliament, had called the move an 'organised loot and a legalised plunder', after the RBI reports were out, many hailed Singh's prediction, about a 2% drop in the GDP, why happened.

The data released by the Government indeed showed a dip to 5.7% in the April-June quarter 0f Financial Year (FY) 2017-2018, which is very steep if compared to April-June Quarter of the FY 2016-2017 which recorded a GDP growth of 7.1%.

Here is what Singh had said in the Parliament, "I do not disagree with these objectives, but what I do want to point out is that in the process of demonetisation, monumental mismanagement has been undertaken upon which today, there are no two opinions in the country as a whole. Even those who say that this measure will do harm or will cause distress in the short run, but is in the interest of the country in the long run, I am reminded of John Keynes, who once said, "In the long run, we are all dead".

As demonetisation is being attacked and criticised for being unable to extract black money, the Recent World Bank reported held a different view. Here's what the report said:

Demonetisation has potential to bring positive transformation

In the long-term, demonetization has the potential to accelerate the formalization of the economy, leading to higher tax collections, and greater digital financial inclusion provided measures such as increased use of property taxes is taken in the areas of tax policy and administration, and share of the population with access to the internet and digital means of payments are increased. The implementation of the GST could be a key complementary reform that will support formalization, as firms have a strong incentive to register with GST to obtain input tax credits.

RBI says whopping 706% suspicious transactions recorded by banks in 2016-2017 than in 2015-2016

The RBI in its annual report said that the number of suspicious transactions reported by banking companies were 473003, which is 706% more than 106273 as reported in 2014-2015.

With internal reports of the Government saying that the move has also achieved its goal of stopping terror funding, it's only a matter of time now to understand if demonetisation was a 'masterstroke' or 'monumental failure,'

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 16:46 [IST]
Where is 'papa's angel' Honeypreet Insan? Nepal or Rohtak

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Where is papa's angel Honeypreet Insan? Gurmeet Ram Rahim's adopted daughter was slapped with sedition charges on the ground that she had instigated the violence following the conviction of Ram Rahim in a rape case.

Honeypreet according to sources has gone into hiding as she sensed that the police were set to book her. While some reports state that she may have fled to Nepal, other say that she is hiding in the house of a Dera follower at Rohtak. All airports, bus stands and railway stations have been alerted in the wake of this look out circular being issued.

The police have now launched a hunt for her. Special teams have been formed to track her down and the main accused in the case, Aditya Insan. The police had booked Aditya, the spokesperson of the Dera Sacha Sauda on the ground that he had incited the violence to help Ram Rahim escape from court. Another accused in the case, Surender Dhiman has already been arrested in the case.

According to the police, Honeypreet and Aditya were in the know as to what the followers would do had Ram Rahim been convicted. They also had a code called, " red bag," which was the signal to trigger the violence and help Ram Rahim escape. According to Haryana Deputy police commissioner, Manbir Singh, Honeypreet gave the signal to the followers to instigate violence.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 14:03 [IST]
Don't allow next Doklam in Arunachal, says BJP MP; claims China has encroached upon 60 km of state

China rubbishes report that it gave $ 20 billion loan for India to quit Doklam

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

China's defence ministry has rubbished reports that India entered into a truce on the Doklam standoff after it was promised a lona of 20 billion US dollars. The social media was abuzz with news that China had offered India a loan as a result of which it calmed tempers at Doklam.

It is pure fabrication, China's defence ministry said while replying to a question. Defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang, replying to a question, said, "On your question about China providing loans to India to withdraw troops, we have checked with the relevant authorities of the government and such reports are pure fabrication."

Observers pointed out that the leak of such news is aimed at portraying China as a stronger economic power. This is just another tactic of trying to show that China is financially stronger than India and the resolution at Doklam was a purchased deal, observers also stated.

The Doklam standoff came to an end earlier this week after both sides decided to disengage forces.

The tense standoff which last nearly 3 months had put both sides in a spot of bother. It was important that the standoff came to end considering the upcoming BRICS summit in China in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking part.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 15:45 [IST]
Germany fumes over arrest of two more of its citizens in Turkey 'for political reasons':

International

pti-PTI

Berlin Berlin, Sep 1: Two more German citizens have been arrested in Turkey "for political reasons", Berlin said on Friday, bringing the total number of German political prisoners in Turkish custody to 12 amid badly frayed ties between the countries.

"On August 31, two German nationals were detained in Turkey for political reasons," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said, adding that the ministry was trying to provide consular assistance.

The consulate in the western city of Izmir was first informed of the arrests. Confirmation then came not from the Turkish government but from Antalya airport police, Adebahr said. She declined to give further details about the case, saying only that German authorities had so far not been allowed access to the pair.

"Our demands to Turkey are very clear," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.

"We expect Turkey to release the German nationals who were arrested on unjustifiable ground," Seibert added.

Of the 55 Germans currently detained in Turkey, 12 of them -- including four with dual German-Turkish citizenship -- are being held for political reasons, the foreign ministry said.

Relations between the two NATO allies have plunged after Berlin sharply criticised Ankara over the crackdown that followed last year's failed coup. Among those arrested is Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yucel, the Istanbul correspondent of the Die Welt daily, who has now spent 200 days in Turkish custody ahead of trial on terror charges.

German journalist Mesale Tolu has been held on similar charges since May, while human rights activist Peter Steudtner was arrested in a July raid. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his part has charged Germany is sheltering plotters, Kurdish militants and terrorists and demanded their extradition.

Erdogan added to the tensions this month when he urged ethnic Turks in Germany to vote in September 24 elections against Merkel's conservatives and their coalition partners the Social Democrats. The escalating tensions have split the Turkish community in Europe's top economy, the largest diaspora abroad, which is a legacy of Germany's "guest worker" programme of the 1960s and 70s.

PTI
Hurricane Harvey: White House prepares USD 5.9B package for recovery aid

International

oi-PTI

Washington, September 1: After the worst of the storm has cleared out of the Houston area, the disaster is expected to cost Texas an economic loss of around USD 160 billion. The disaster resulted in massive destruction, killing 38 people.

The White House has prepared a request to Congress for an initial USD 5.9 billion package in Harvey recovery aid, a first down payment to make sure recovery efforts over the next few weeks are adequately funded.

The Trump proposal, which is being finalised pending White House consultations with key Republicans, promises to represent just a fraction of an eventual Harvey recovery package that could rival the USD 100-billion-plus in taxpayer-financed help for victims of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

A senior administration official said the plan will be sent to Congress on Friday and House and Senate votes appear likely next week. The official was not authorized to release the information publicly before a final decision is made and spoke on condition of anonymity. House GOP leaders have signaled they are aiming to act fast on Harvey aid.

Much larger future installments will be required but the initial package, to replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster coffers through Sept. 30, shouldn't be controversial. FEMA is spending existing disaster aid reserves just USD 2.1 billion as of Thursday at a high rate.

The initial aid money would be a down payment for immediate recovery efforts, to be followed by larger packages later, said White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert. It will take weeks or months to assess the full extent of the damage and need.

"We'll go up to Congress and give them a sound supplemental request number. We'll add to it," Bossert said. "And when we can get a better handle on the damage we can come back with a responsible last, so to speak, supplemental request."

FEMA pays for immediate shelter costs and can finance home repairs up to USD 33,000 or so, but other costs such as flood insurance payments, larger housing damage, and state, local, and government buildings promise a major price tag. Houston Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has already said it could take an aid package of $150 billion to handle the disaster.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is the largest disaster the nation has faced, with recovery costs of $110 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Superstorm Sandy in 2012 was followed by a $54 billion federal relief effort.

Katrina aid started with a noncontroversial infusion, followed by considerable wrangling between lawmakers from affected states and more budget-conscious lawmakers.

Sandy involved a more public battle between lawmakers from Democratic-leaning New York and New Jersey and GOP conservatives, and Northeast lawmakers have taken to social media sites such as Twitter to say "I told you so." Another aid installment seems sure to be added to a temporary government funding bill.

Another concern is that the government's cash reserves are running low since the nation's debt limit has been reached and the Treasury Department is using accounting measures to cover expenses.

Billions of dollars in Harvey aid are an unexpected cost that at least raises the potential that Congress will have to act earlier than expected to increase the government's borrowing authority.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, however, said on CNBC Thursday that the debt limit deadline probably won't change by more than a couple of days, if at all.

Also on tap when the House returns: Fixing a poorly-timed spending bill for next year that actually proposes cutting the very disaster aid reserves that are running low now.

A catchall domestic spending bill facing a House vote next week includes, for now, an $876 million cut from FEMA disaster accounts that helps balance the cost of Trump's USD 1.6 billion request for the US-Mexico border wall. Republicans say that will change before a vote next week.

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 10:04 [IST]
India welcomes Trump's concern over Pak giving safe havens to terrorists

International

pti-PTI

Washington, Sep 1: India on Friday welcomes America's concern over Pakistan which provides safe havens to terrorists. Trump had warned Pakistan for providing "safe havens to agents of chaos and terror".

President Donald Trump last week hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists. India's ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said on terrorism, India and the US have a strategic convergence in a host of areas, including in its fight against terrorism. "We welcome the new Afghan policy because we share the concerns and the objectives that the safe havens that have been given to terrorists in Pakistan.

The cross-border operations that are carried out from there concern us as much they are for the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, we share the policies announced by the Trump Administration which we welcome," Sarna said.

Addressing the Hawaii-based East West Center, a top American think-tank, Sarna said on terrorism there is a very strong joint statement between India and the US, issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in June. He also said Pakistan should not be using its territory or the territory under its control for fomenting terrorism under its control. "There is recognition of the fact that connectivity projects, while theyre welcome, they have to go by certain basic rules and regulations of transparency, of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensuring that in the process are not trampling the political and economic rights of the countries that are involved," Sarna said. He also met Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US House of Representative in 2013 is the three-term Democratic Congresswoman. "There is cooperation in maritime security. PACOM (Pacific Command) here is playing an important role. India today is doing more military exercises with the US than with any other country," he said.

"When you look at the actual potential of the two countries, there are various areas in which India is looking to buy more from the US," he said and cited the example of civil aviation and oil sector. In Hawaii, Sarna met the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris to discuss India-US defence relationship. The strong global partnership between India and the US was very much evident during the visit of Prime Minister Modi and his discussions with Trump, he said, adding that this should not be seen through the prism of any third country.

"I think in terms of facing the challenges whether there be of global terrorism whether it be of issues of maritime security whether that be the freedom of the seas and navigation and connectivity issues, these are all issues which democracies have to handle and it becomes much easier to handle them together," he was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Radio. Responding to a question, he refuted reports that the Indo-US relationship is to counterweight China.

"Well you know I'm not very sure whether it is useful to see these relations to the prism of any other relationship. I think the India-US relationship has a strong logic of its own. Its relationship between the world's largest and the world's oldest democracies. It is a relationship based on convergence of fundamental values, freedom of individual liberties," he said.

"Of course there is a very strong people-to-people link, now that we have a very successful and increasingly powerful diaspora of about three million people of Indian-origin in the US. So I would rather take this relationship on its on its own basis and not look at it through the prism of any third country," Sarna said in response to a question. According to the envoy, India has a very broad-based relationship with China which has multi-lateral aspects and also strong economic and investment.

"Then we have recently resolved an issue (Dokalam standoff) at the border through diplomatic channels. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is something which faces many of the challenges of the world. And it gives a platform for major emerging economies to come together and to implement these issues," he said.

PTI
Prosecutions story may be attractive but should be backed by evidence

32,000 girls converted to Islam and sold as ISIS slaves: This is The Kerala Story

'The Kerala Story': TN scribe asks govt to probe claims made in the movie

IS leader al-Baghdadi 'probably still alive' claims US army commander

International

oi-PTI

Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive according to a top US military commander, who contradicted Russia's claims that it probably killed him months ago.

"Do I believe he's alive? Yes," said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen that al-Baghdadi was dead.

But he added: "There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive." Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi.

If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.

He said this area is shaping up to be Islamic State's "last stand" after it was driven out of nearly all of northern Iraq.

Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa in Syria, a month earlier.

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 11:21 [IST]
North Korea could nuke US, Europe 'within months', warns France

International

oi-PTI

Paris, September 1: North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe "within months", warned France's foreign minister on Friday.

Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang "extremely serious" and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiralling tensions.

"We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow," Le Drian told RTL radio. "In a few months, that will be a reality.

At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon, the situation will be explosive."

Early on Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate-range Hwasong-12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to say that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action.

The UN Security Council denounced Pyongyang's latest missile test, unanimously demanding a halt to its programme. Le Drian called on Pyongyang to "return to the path of negotiations" in a bid to ease tensions.

A joint mediation effort put forward by China and Russia would involve a mutual pause in both missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean-US military exercises by Seoul.

In July, Pyongyang carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range. Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 15:52 [IST]
US citizens banned from travelling to North Korea

International

oi-PTI

Seoul, September 1: Amid the escalating tension between the US and North Korea, Washington's ban on US citizens travelling to North Korea came into force on Friday.

The measure was imposed following the death of student Otto Warmbier, 22, in June, a few days after he was sent home in a mysterious coma following more than a year in prison in the North.

He had been convicted of offenses against the state for trying to steal a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel and sentenced to 15 years' hard labour, with US President Donald Trump blaming Pyongyang's "brutal regime" for his plight.

On its website the State Department says it took the decision due to "the serious and mounting risk of arrest and long-term detention of US citizens". Three Americans accused of various crimes against the state are behind bars in the North, which is engaged in a tense standoff with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its banned missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Earlier this week Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan, in a major escalation, and it has threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam. In July it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental-range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.

Exemptions to the travel ban are available for journalists, Red Cross representatives, those travelling for humanitarian purposes, or journeys the State Department deems to be in the national interest of the United States.

But NGOs working in the North privately express concerns about how the process will function and the potential impact on their work. A few remaining US citizens in the country left yesterday, reports said.

Americans represent around 20 percent of the 5,000 or so Western tourists who visit the North each year, with standard one-week trips costing about $2,000 and budget journeys about half that. The vast majority of tourists visiting North Korea are Chinese.

North Korean tourism development officials have said the ban will have no effect on the economy, with one telling AFP in July: "If the US government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit." Other curious foreigners still travel to the North, and an art symposium in Pyongyang this week saw foreign artists, most of them European, working together with North Koreans.

Norwegian artist Marius Engan Johansen and his North Korean counterpart Ri Pak sculpted clay busts of each other on either side of the same stand.

DMZ Academy organiser Morten Traavik told AFP that one of the events' aims was "to show the wider world in this special critical time that communication is possible".

He said that by working together and by trying to understand each other... it is possible to communicate when both sides have a will and wish to do so.

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 12:33 [IST]
US intends to work with Pakistan in fighting terrorism: Jim Mattis

International

oi-PTI

Washington: Amid strained relationship with Pakistan for horbouring terrorists on Thursday Defence Secretary James Mattis said the United States intends to work with Pakistan to take down terrorists underlining that any responsible nation would want to that.

He was responding to questions on Pakistan's reaction to the Afghan and South Asia Policy announced by US President Donald Trump last Monday.

Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

Mattis did not respond to questions on timeline, if any, for Pakistan to take action against terrorists and terrorist groups.

"We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think that's what a responsible nation does," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

His remarks remarks came after the State Department notified to the Congress to place a pause button on USD 255 million foreign military financing for Pakistan.

The Department notified Congress on 30 August of its intent to obligate the amount in FY 2016 Foreign Military Financing for Pakistan.

"At the same time, the Department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI.

"Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan," the official said.

The Trump administration notified Congress on Wednesday that it was putting USD 255 million in military assistance to Pakistan into the equivalent of an escrow account that Islamabad can only access if it does more to crack down on internal terror networks launching attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

"As this relates to FY 16 Foreign Military Financing (FMF), before moving forward with funding actual FMF cases, the United States will take into account Pakistan's efforts to address key US concerns, including the threat posed by the Haqqani Networks and other terrorist groups that enjoy safe haven within Pakistan," the spokesperson said.

Pakistan has cancelled at least three high profile meetings with senior American officials, including a visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to the US to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution alleging that the recent statements of the US President and his senior officials on Pakistan were hostile and threatening.

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 10:44 [IST]
In a whimsical caper that will probably wind up fictionalized by...Wes Anderson or maybe Roman Coppola if Anderson is busy, a Staten Island woman has been charged with stealing one million dollars worth of amusement park tickets from her company and hoarding them herself.

According to the Brooklyn DA's office, 51-year-old Rosemarie Bader of Staten Island was arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property after allegedly running a two-year scheme in which she used her company credit card to buy tickets to Six Flags Great Adventure and Dorney Park.

Bader was an employee of the Best Trails and Travel Corporation, a Red Hook-based travel company that sold trip packages to places like the amusement parks Bader is alleged to have bought the admission tickets for. In her role as sales director, prosecutors allege that Bader used the BTTC company credit card to place orders for 36,000 tickets to the parks between January 2014 and November 2016.

She then allegedly took the delivery of the tickets herself, stashed them in a safe under her desk only she had access to, and, according to prosecutors, used the tickets for her own, ahem, amusement. Given the enormous amount of tickets that were redeemed in the two-year period, it's unclear how many of the tickets Bader used for herself, nor is it clear if she sold any of them for personal profit.

Another employee of the company discovered the alleged theft in 2016 after noticing that the huge amount of tickets Bader had been ordering didn't match up at all to the amount of bus seats available for trips through the company, a discovery that led to her getting fired from BTTC.

In total, the 23,136 tickets to Dorney Park and 13,102 tickets to Six Flags Great Adventure that Bader is alleged to have stolen and used came out to a total value of $1,000,533. If convicted of the top charge against her, Bader faces between 8 1/3 and 25 years in prison. Prosecutors did not say whether or how many times Bader rode the terrifying Kingda Ka at Six Flags.
Will be forced to defend Pak, if India rakes it up at BRICS: China

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

China does not want India to speak about the Pakistan issue during the upcoming BRICS summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in China for the BRICS summit starting September 3.

"We also noticed that India, when it comes to Pakistan's counter-terrorism, has some concerns. I don't think this is an appropriate topic to be discussed at BRICS summit," Hua Chunying, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a briefing. She also indicated that raising the topic might affect the success of the summit because Chinese leaders may be forced to defend its close ally, Pakistan.

"The world is paying great attention to the BRICS summit. I hope relevant parties can work with China to ensure the success of the summit and make due contributions," Hua said.

Hua said, "Pakistan is at forefront of counter terror efforts and has made sacrifices for this. The international community should recognize their contributions and sacrifices made by Pakistan."

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Zoom.in STUDIO 06 Feb 2020

Its been just over two weeks since the trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein began, but its already been packed with..
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

United States Senator Tammy Baldwin has re-filed a bill that aims to boost oversight of hedge funds, reported the Journal Sentinel. Baldwin, a Democrat, has the backing of Republican Sen. David Perdue of Georgia with the bill. Perdue has signed up as co-sponsor of the bill that was first introduced in March 2016 with U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat.

"This bipartisan legislation updates Depression-era rules to address the financial abuses being carried out by activist hedge funds who promote short-term gains at the expense of workers, taxpayers and local communities," Baldwin said.

Baldwin called his bill the Brokaw Act, named after a village that is in the process of dissolution after the closure of a Wausau Paper Co. mill in 2012.

"The Brokaw Act will increase transparency and strengthen oversight of predatory hedge funds," Baldwin said. "These reforms will help rewrite the rules for Wall Street so the playing field works better for our Main Street economy."

Under the proposed legislation, hedge funds are required to disclose any stakes of more than 5% in the shares of a public company at a much shorter period. Funds would be required to identify themselves as working together, and indirect company stakes acquired through derivatives will need to be disclosed as well, writes ......................

To view our full article Click here
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

APS Asset Management, the Singapore-based fund management firm said that its APS Japan Alpha Fund gained 2.55% in July, outperforming the benchmark by 0.44 percentage points. Year-to-date, the fund jumped 23.63%, outperforming the benchmark by 11.12 percentage points.

APS said in its monthly report to investors, "In July, we continued to exploit 'perception gaps' between APS' and the market's assessment of specific stocks. We initiated positions in stocks such as Cocokara Fine, where our rigorous research found that they were trading far below their intrinsic value. On the other hand, we trimmed positions that met or approached our target price and we will continue to sell off stocks with narrowing 'perception gaps'."

Eiken Chemical, manufacturer and seller of various types of clinical diagnostics and equipment, was the biggest contributor to the fund's performance in July as the company reported solid quarterly results with 66% sales growth in its overseas business which has been the company's focus.

Importantly the US fecal immunochemical testing business improved from flattish growth last year to double digit growth currently thanks to the company's effective marketing strategies which improved investors' sentiment. "We continue to believe that the overseas business expansion will materially drive the company's sales and profits going forward," the fund added.

Another major ......................

To view our full article Click here
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS  Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles taking place from September 2017 through January 2018. Led by the Getty, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is a collaboration of arts institutions across Southern California.



The Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Volunteer Program gives you the opportunity to be part of this exciting cultural happening. Volunteers will be an important part of the promotional campaign by letting the public know about all the related exhibitions and events. Volunteer opportunities vary including helping at the many public locations of the PST: LA/LA Mobile, at the VIP Events and at other special opportunities as they arise throughout the duration of PST:LA/LA.



Volunteers will be able to sign up for shifts on line. And, volunteers will be provided with an official PST:LA/LA Volunteer T-shirt!



Sign up today for a shift! Shifts start in August 2017!



To register and for more information, please visit: www.volunteerpstlala.com



For more information, please contact:



PST: LA/LA Volunteer Headquarters



Zynger Events



website: www.volunteerpstlala.com



telephone: 323-366-3441



e-mail: volunteerPSTLALA@zynger.com



MORE ABOUT PACIFIC STANDARD TIME: LA/LA



Through a series of thematically linked exhibitions and programs, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA highlights different aspects of Latin American and Latino art from the ancient world to the present day. With topics such as luxury arts in the pre-Columbian Americas, 20th century Afro-Brazilian art, alternative spaces in Mexico City, and boundary-crossing practices of Latino artists, exhibitions range from monographic studies of individual artists to broad surveys that cut across numerous countries.



Supported by more than $16 million in grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA involves more than 70 cultural institutions from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, and from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.



ABOUT ZYNGER EVENTS:



Established by Ryan Zynger in 2008, Zynger Events is one of the leading full-service event planning companies in Los Angeles. The event design and production firm specializes in corporate and nonprofit events. Ryan and the Zynger team have planned events in Southern California, across the US, as well as other countries. Since then, Zynger Events has become one event planning companies that many organizations trust to create strategic and dynamic events. Their impressive list of clients includes prestigious groups such as Facebook, The Gay and Lesbian Center, Tourism Australia, Methodist Hospital Foundation and more.



ABOUT ZYNGER EVENTS:



Established by Ryan Zynger in 2008, Zynger Events is one of the leading full-service event planning companies in Los Angeles. The event design and production firm specializes in corporate and nonprofit events. Ryan and the Zynger team have planned events in Southern California, across the US, as well as other countries. Since then, Zynger Events has become one event planning companies that many organizations trust to create strategic and dynamic events. Their impressive list of clients includes prestigious groups such as Facebook, The Gay and Lesbian Center, Tourism Australia, Methodist Hospital Foundation and more.



1709 N Fuller Ave #17, Los Angeles, CA 90046



This release was published on openPR.



Permanent link to this press release: Copy Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release.
Falling Walls Lab Competition to Take Place in NYC

www.falling-walls.com

www.germaninnovation.org

www.GermanInnovation.org

The German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) will host the Falling Walls Lab, a global forum for innovators to pitch their research and business ideas on September 14, 2017, at the German Center for Research and Innovation New York.New York, August 31, 2017  In the quest to find solutions to todays global challenges, new walls will need to fall in science and society. Nine entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers will present their ground-breaking projects, business plans, entrepreneurial and social initiatives in three-minute pitches at the German Center for Research and Innovation in New York on September 14, 2017.The nine finalists were selected from a diverse applicant pool to compete at the German Center for Research and Innovation in NYC, one of approximately 50 Falling Walls Lab locations worldwide. The winner of the competition in NYC will receive a free trip to Berlin to compete against the winners of the other Falling Walls Labs and participate in the Falling Walls Conference on November 9, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.The Falling Walls Conference is an annual gathering of forward-thinking individuals from over 80 countries. Each year twenty of the worlds leading scientists are invited to Berlin to present their current breakthrough research. The aim of the conference is to: Identify solutions to global challenges and discover international breakthrough research. Connect outstanding researchers from different disciplines. Build bridges between business, academia, politics, and the arts. Communicate the latest scientific findings to a broader audience. Inspire people to break down walls in science and society.For more information, visitandThe German Center for Research and Innovation provides information and support for the realization of cooperative and collaborative projects between North America and Germany. With the goal of enhancing communication on the critical challenges of the 21st century, GCRI hosts a wide range of events from lectures and exhibitions to workshops and science dinners. Opened in February 2010, GCRI was created as a cornerstone of the German governments initiative to internationalize science and research and is one of five centers worldwide.German Center for Research and Innovation871 United Nations PlazaNew York, NY 10017press@germaninnovation.org212-339-8680
Global Nachos Market Professional Survey Report 2017

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report " Global Nachos Market Professional Survey Report 2017 " to its huge collection of research reports.SummaryThe Global @@@ Market Professional Survey Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the @@@ market.The report provides a basic overview of the @@@ industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.The report then analyzes the global @@@ market size (volume and value), and the sales segment market is also discussed by product type, application and region.The major @@@ market (including USA, Europe, China, Japan, etc.) is analyzed, data including: market size, import and export, sale segment market by product type and application. Then we forecast the 2017-2021 market size of @@@.The report focuses on global major leading companies providing information such as company profiles, sales, sales revenue, market share and contact information. Then the @@@ OEM market and @@@ production market status is discussed.Finally the marketing, feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comThis report studies Nachos in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringOrendafoodsCornitosDoritosAct Ii, BeanitosLatejulyBuglesGehlsVans Foods...If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Nachos2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Nachos3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Nachos4 Global Nachos Overall Market Overview5 Nachos Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Nachos Segment Market Analysis (by Type)6.1 Global 2012-2017E Nachos Sales by Type6.2 Different Types of Nachos Product Interview Price Analysis6.3 Different Types of Nachos Product Driving Factors Analysis6.3.1 Vegan of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.2 GMO-Free of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.3 Gluten-Free of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.4 Others of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis7 Global 2012-2017E Nachos Segment Market Analysis (by Application)7.1 Global 2012-2017E Nachos Consumption by Application7.2 Different Application of Nachos Product Interview Price Analysis7.3 Different Application of Nachos Product Driving Factors Analysis7.3.1 Physical Stores of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis7.3.2 Online Stores of Nachos Growth Driving Factor Analysis8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Nachos8.1 Company 18.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Orendafoods 2016 Nachos Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Orendafoods 2016 Nachos Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Company 28.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Cornitos 2016 Nachos Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Cornitos 2016 Nachos Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Nachos Market10 Nachos Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Nachos12 Conclusion of the Global Nachos Market Professional Survey Report 2017List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of NachosTable Product Specifications of NachosTable Classification of NachosFigure Global Production Market Share of Nachos by Type in 2016Figure Vegan PictureTable Major Manufacturers of VeganFigure GMO-Free PictureTable Major Manufacturers of GMO-FreeFigure Gluten-Free PictureTable Major Manufacturers of Gluten-FreeFigure Others PictureTable Major Manufacturers of OthersRelated Reports:US @@@ Market Report 2017Europe @@@ Market Report 2017India @@@ Market Report 2017China @@@ Market Report 2017Korea @@@ Market Report 2017Japan @@@ Market Report 2017If you need a report or have any question, please feel free to contact meHebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86-20-22093278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20-22093278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU) |(JP)
EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Large Diameter Steel Pipe Market Report 2017

EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Large Diameter Steel Pipe Market Report 2017

https://www.qyresearcheurope.com/goods-699413.html

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/

The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Insulin Like Growth Factor industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Insulin Like Growth Factor market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Insulin Like Growth Factor industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.In this report, the EMEA Insulin Like Growth Factor market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Insulin Like Growth Factor for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA Insulin Like Growth Factor market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Insulin Like Growth Factor sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingArcelorMittalBergrohrBorusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve TicaretChelPipeEVRAZ North AmericaJindal SAWNippon Steel & Sumitomo MetalNational PipeOAO TMKTMK IPSCOOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K MT), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/MT), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPVC CoatedPE CoatedOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (K MT), market share and growth rate of Large Diameter Steel Pipe for each application, includingNatural GasPetroleumChemical IndustryPowerCommunicationTo get a free professional report sample, please email to tinaning@qyresearch.com or Browse our detailed product page:Table of contents:1 Insulin Like Growth Factor Overview2 EMEA Insulin Like Growth Factor Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application3 Europe Insulin Like Growth Factor (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application4 Middle East Insulin Like Growth Factor (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application5 Africa Insulin Like Growth Factor (Volume, Value and Sales Price) by Players, Countries, Type and Application6 EMEA Insulin Like Growth Factor Manufacturers/Players Profiles and Sales Data7 Insulin Like Growth Factor Manufacturing Cost Analysis8 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10 Market Effect Factors Analysis11 EMEA Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Forecast (2017-2022)12 Research Findings and Conclusion13 AppendixList of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Large Diameter Steel PipeFigure EMEA Large Diameter Steel Pipe Sales Volume (K MT) by Type (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Large Diameter Steel Pipe Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure PVC Coated Product PictureFigure PE Coated Product PictureFigure Others Product PictureFigure EMEA Large Diameter Steel Pipe Sales Volume (K MT) by Application (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Sales Market Share of Large Diameter Steel Pipe by Application in 2016Figure Natural Gas ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in Natural GasFigure Petroleum ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in Petroleum......Related Reports:Global Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017China Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017USA Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017Korea Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017Japan Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017India Insulin Like Growth Factor Market Report 2017Contact Details:Tina| Sales ManagersCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchEmail: tinaning@qyresearch.com Tel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Web:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District
EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017

EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017

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http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/

The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Medicinal Clove industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Medicinal Clove market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Medicinal Clove industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.In this report, the EMEA Medicinal Clove market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Medicinal Clove for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA Medicinal Clove market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Medicinal Clove sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAura CaciaManohar Botanical ExtractsAroma Aromatics & FlavoursSaipro Biotech Private LimitedNatureTo get a free professional report sample, please email to tinaning@qyresearch.com or Browse our detailed product page:Table of contents:1 Medicinal Clove Overview2 EMEA Medicinal Clove Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application3 Europe Medicinal Clove (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application4 Middle East Medicinal Clove (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application5 Africa Medicinal Clove (Volume, Value and Sales Price) by Players, Countries, Type and Application6 EMEA Medicinal Clove Manufacturers/Players Profiles and Sales Data7 Medicinal Clove Manufacturing Cost Analysis8 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10 Market Effect Factors Analysis11 EMEA Medicinal Clove Market Forecast (2017-2022)12 Research Findings and Conclusion13 AppendixList of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Medicinal CloveFigure EMEA Medicinal Clove Sales Volume (K MT) by Type (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Medicinal Clove Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure Anhydrous Product PictureFigure Water Content Product PictureFigure EMEA Medicinal Clove Sales Volume (K MT) by Application (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Sales Market Share of Medicinal Clove by Application in 2016Figure Hospital ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in HospitalFigure Medical Center ExamplesTable Key Downstream Customer in Medical Center......Related Reports:Global Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017China Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017USA Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017Korea Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017Japan Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017India Medicinal Clove Market Report 2017Contact Details:Tina| Sales ManagersCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchEmail: tinaning@qyresearch.com Tel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Web:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Guangzhou
Agriculture Equipment Market Is Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of 5.5% By 2022

Agriculture Equipment Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2182

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/agriculture-equipment-market-2182

Market Highlights:Agriculture equipment is the machinery used by farmers at various stages of agriculture such as planting, harvesting and agro processing. Traditional tools are now replaced by the agricultural equipment, such as crop processing equipment, drip irrigation equipment and others. The major driver for the growth of agriculture equipment market is the emergence of the concept of contract farming and increase in agricultural production targets. The rapid increase in population is generating the demand for food and thereby seeking even better agricultural equipment. Though farmers benefit from the use of agricultural equipment, the huge cost involved in the acquisition of such agriculture equipment is restraining the growth of this market.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Agriculture Equipment Market: AGCO Corp. (U.S.) JC Bamford Excavators Limited (U.K.) Deere & Company (U.S.) CNH Industrial N.V. (U.K.) Kubota Corporation (Japan) Iseki & Co., Ltd. (Japan) Daedong Industrial Co., Ltd. (U.S.) Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (India) Escorts Limited (India)Market Research Analysis:The tractor is dominating the agriculture equipment market and is known as the workhorse of agriculture. Tractors can perform many functions on agricultural land and are the most versatile equipment used in farming. When tractor technologies are combined with the GPS systems, they function as highly efficient and productive equipment which assist in performing major agricultural tasks. With the major concern of water conservation, drip irrigation equipment is also expected to grow significantly.Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the Agriculture equipment market with the highest CAGR. The low rate of mechanization in the agriculture sector in developing nations such as India and China is expected to reveal huge opportunities for adopting mechanized farming practices in the region. This would, in turn lead the agricultural equipment market in the Asia-pacific region. North America and Europe are forecast to witness slow growth, owing to the existence of highly mechanized agricultural practices in the region.However the cost of materials for the manufacturers is high which can hamper the growth of the market.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the Global Agriculture Equipment Market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report has studies of the key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Agriculture Equipment Market by its product type, function and region.By Product type Tractors Harvesters Cultivation & soil separation equipment OthersBy Function Harvesting Planting & fertilizing Haying Plowing & cultivationBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldBrief TOC:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Agriculture equipment market, By Product Types4.1 Tractors4.2 Harvesters4.3 Cultivation & soil separation equipment4.4 Others5 Global Agriculture equipment market, By Functions5.1 Introduction5.2 Harvesting5.3 Planting & fertilizing5.4 Haying5.5 Plowing & cultivation5.6 OthersContinueAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Intelligent Packaging Market Is Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of 9% By 2022

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1999

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/intelligent-packaging-market-1999

Market Highlights:Intelligent packaging demand is expected to rise drastically by the end of forecast period. Increase in demand will be driven by rapid advances in new and emerging technology like mobile marketing codes, quick response and printed electronics on packaging. Time-temperature indicator (TTI) labels are gaining importance because of intensified presence of temperature-sensitive drugs, growing cost competitiveness and the emphasis on food safety during distribution. Efficient and cost-effective wrapping solutions are developed by players to sustain in the market. The global intelligent packaging market is expected to grow due to the increasing need for specialty covering with the objective of retaining nutritional value and freshness in the products at competitive prices. The global intelligent packaging industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of approx. 9% by the end of the forecasted period.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Intelligent Packaging Market: Amcor Ltd. Landec Corp. Graham Packaging Company Inc. Ball Corp. VIP Packaging Timestrip PLC. Sealed Air Corp. SYSCO Corp. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Inc.Market Research Analysis:Pharmaceutical industry is expected to be fastest growing segment in intelligent packaging. The market opportunities will be driven by increasing health care needs of the aging population, the increasing demand of temperature sensitive biotechnology drugs in the product mix. The product demand could be hampered due to the huge investments in R&D and the increased cost of raw materials. Various new players have entered the market because of shift from traditional to intelligent wrapping system. All this have pushed participants to develop efficient and cost-effective wrapping solutions.The food & beverage sector is also experiencing a growth due to the increasing requirement of longer shelf life for packaged fresh foods and processed foods along with the increasing importance of packaging in food safety. Color indicating features, TTIs and smartphone-enabled barcodes are new ways of intelligent packaging, especially for beverages.Brief TOC:1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.1.3 Threat of substitutes4.1.4 Segment rivalry4.2 Value Chain of Global Intelligent packaging Market5 Industry Overview of Global Intelligent packaging Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact analysisContinueScope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global intelligent packaging industry, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global Intelligent Packaging market as product, and market. On the basis of product it is segmented as gas scavengers, corrosion control packaging, moisture control packaging, susceptor packaging, QR code, and others. On the basis of market it is segmented as food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, automotive, electronics, and others.Access Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
3D Printing Material Market Is Expected To Reach USD 1,500 Million By 2022

3D Printing Material Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1912

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/3d-printing-material-market-1912

Market Highlights:3D printing is a revolutionary technology with substantial potential to modify manufacturing business and society. It is the bridge between digital and physical disruption. 3D printing has evolved a lot from the basic initial production of simple plastic prototypes to the fully functional components. Technological advancements in the form of exhaustive variety of 3D printing material and high speed of manufacturing fuel the demand for such market. The market is highly application driven and is used across end-use industries such as automotive, defense, healthcare and consumer sector and few more, which augments the growth of this market. A few constraints associated with this market include lack of awareness, lack of channel partner assistance and high cost and compatibility of 3D printing materials. The global 3D printing material industry is estimated to grow up to USD 1,500 million by 2022 and attain a CAGR of approx. 19% by the end of the forecasted period.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of 3D Printing Material Market: Sandvik AB Hoganas AB Solvay S.A. EOS GmbH Arcam AB Inc. 3D Systems Corporation Royal DSM N.V. Arkema S.A. Inc. ExOne GmbH Inc. Stratasys Ltd. Inc.Market Research Analysis:Increased demand of detailed products with texture is expected to record a huge growth in global 3D printing material market. 3D printing materials are used in multiple sectors such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products, electronics and many more. A major driver of demand of this market is plastic, which is expected to sustain in future. Their property of getting molded in variety of products and sustaining stress is helping them to grow. Difficult manufacturing methods and high pricing act as restraints for global 3D printing market demand.Increasing demand by many industries will lead to growth in this sector. Healthcare industry is expected to lead the market by the end of the forecasted period due to the wide application in healthcare sector. It is used to manufacture products like surgical equipment, orthopedic, dental, implants and tissue engineering products. On the basis of material, metal accounts for the largest share in the market due to its strength and durability. This makes it a preferred material i9n industries such as automotive and aerospace & defense. Development of new materials in this technology is expected to have a huge impact on quality of the end product as a new market trend will be established and there will be a positive influence on pricing of used materials.Brief TOC:1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.1.3 Threat of substitutes4.1.4 Segment rivalry4.2 Value Chain of Global 3D Printing Material Market5 Industry Overview of Global 3D Printing Material Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact analysisContinueScope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global 3D printing material industry, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global 3D printing material market as material, and application. On the basis of material it is segmented as metals, plastics, ceramics and others. On the basis of application it is segmented as automotive, health care, aerospace and defense, consumer goods and others.Access Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Pharmaceutical Packaging Market  Opportunity Assessment, Analysis, Size, Share and Forecast 2021

Pharmaceutical Packaging Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1291

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/pharmaceutical-packaging-market-1291

Market Synopsis of Pharmaceutical Packaging Market:The global pharmaceutical packaging market has witnessed a remarkable growth over the past few years and it has been analyzed that the market growth will keep on increasing during the forecast period. The growth of the market is attributed to the growing pharmaceutical as well as healthcare industry and emerging economies in Asia-Pacific region. The other key driving factor which can fuel the market are the increasing aging population, technological innovations, government initiatives and increasing demand for drug delivery devices. Geographically, North America has witnessed as the leading market for the global pharmaceutical packaging market, followed by Europe. Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest growing region where the global market will achieve ample number of growth opportunities.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Pharmaceutical Packaging Market: Bemis Healthcare Packaging Gerresheimer Owens-Illinois West Pharmaceutical Westrock Alexander (James) Corporation Baxter International Amcor Limited Unilife Corporation AptarGroup Inc Rexam PLCSegmentation:As per MRFR analysis, the global pharmaceutical packaging market has been segmented into:By Types: Bottles, Aerosol packs, Tubes, Blister packs, Sachets, Ampoules and others.By Materials: Glass, Plastic, Cardboard and Paper.Study Objectives of Pharmaceutical Packaging Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of various segments and sub-segments of the Global pharmaceutical packaging market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyze the global pharmaceutical packaging market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (RoW) To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by types and materials. To provide strategic profiling of the key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global pharmaceutical packaging marketReport Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Tobacco Packaging Market: Industry Analysis, Future Growth, Business Prospects and Global Forecast to 2021

Tobacco Packaging Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1292

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/tobacco-packaging-market

Marketing Scenario:Over the past few years, the tobacco packaging manufacturers have seen a substantial growth in the global market due to the rapid increasing in the number of smokers and it has been anticipated that the market growth will remain continue during the forecast period. The demand for tobaccos such as cigarettes, cigar and other products has increased significantly which has resulted in increasing growth of tobacco packaging. The other driving factors include growing population, technological advancements, changing life styles and increasing popularity of cigarettes. On the other hand, the government initiatives for organizing anti-tobacco campaigns and diseases caused by tobacco are hindering the growth of global market. Introducing of E-Cigarette is one of the major trend in the global tobacco packaging market. Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to be the leading market followed by other regions.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Tobacco Packaging Market: Amcor Innovia Films ITC International Paper Philips Morris International China National Tobacco Corporation Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaASegmentation:As per MRFR analysis, the global tobacco packaging market has been segmented into:By Product Types: cigarette, cigar, and othersBy Materials: paper box, films and others.Study Objectives of Tobacco Packaging Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of various segments and sub-segments of the Global Tobacco Packaging Market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the global tobacco packaging market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (RoW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by types and materials. To provide strategic profiling of the key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Tobacco Packaging Market.Browse Full Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
RIDE releases first version of ridesharing app to compete with Uber/Lyft

http://realrideapp.com

SAN FRANCISCO - Aug. 31, 2017 - PRLog -- RIDE, a rideshare company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, just released the first version of their gig economy rideshare app (which is also called "RIDE") to Google's Play Store for the Android OS. An Apple iOS version will be released in the next few months.Unlike Uber and Lyft, RIDE allows drivers to set their own prices, without surge pricing. And drivers never have to worry about getting deactivated over opinions, as their jobs are not tied to a rating system. RIDE is the only rideshare company owned and operated by previous and current rideshare drivers, not Silicon Valley executives. It was funded via grassroots bootstrapping and is entirely privately owned whereas Uber and Lyft are dependent upon Silicon Valley corporate welfare for funding to stay afloat.RIDE's app has accumulated thousands of users within the first week of pre-release and now with the full release and press coverage by news websites, RIDE will undoubtedly become one of the top competitive companies in the rideshare/gig economy industry. Get the app today and become part of the sharing economy revolution.- RIDE PRGet the app atContactRIDE PRpress@realrideapp.comRIDE is a rideshare company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.RIDE1 Hacker WaySan Francisco, CA94105
MBA in Europe from Varna University, why not?

In the last few years, MBA in Europe is getting more and more popular in worldwide, not only as a way of qualification but also as a companies requirement to climb up into a top management position.For many years now, as a concealed rule in the international market, the applicants with gained MBA programme are not only more desirable, but they also occupy senior management positions. This turns the MBA programme into a synonymous of success, career growth and high qualification.Undoubtedly more and more Bulgarian managers are considering the options on obtaining MBA program. However, as a major obstacle remains the fact that most of the quality programs are offered abroad at a high cost, with a curricula that cannot fit to the needs of the employed students. Another important fact is also the cost for travelling and living in another country.In contrast to the facts above, the suggested MBA programmes in Bulgaria have become the best alternative for those who are interested in obtaining a recognized worldwide MBA degree at good and affordable conditions. As a result of the increased interest, Varna University of Management (VUM) along with Cardiff Metropolitan University in UK managed to create a double degree joint MBA programme. This gives the opportunity to all students to receive at the end of their education a Bulgarian and British degree for most of the masters degree in Europe, without the need to travel and stay abroad. One of the most prestigious and globally recognized ratings  Eduniversal ranks the programme on 13th place in Eastern Europe.The programme itself is entirely taught in English and the training is mostly focused on the strong practical side of the real business and its case studies. Classes are scheduled on Thursday and Friday evenings and on Saturdays. This allows the participants to carry out with their professional duties while studying. In addition to the affordable tuition fee, lower living expense and the possibility of gaining a scholarship, VUM MBA programme becomes a preferable one for many Bulgarian and foreign students, that are looking for a prestigious British degree and fast career development.This makes Bulgaria not only a delicious investment bite, a favorable destination to start up a company or to an outsource one, but also a key educational destination, that attracts more and more foreign students willing to pay a reasonable price for its globally recognized education.About VUMVarna University is former International University College, through which you can study in Europe in English. It has different courses like Study Tourism Management Europe, Undergraduate study in Europe in English and also summer school in Europe.Varna University of Management 13 A Oborishte Str. 9000 Varna Bulgaria
MakroCare awarded a large cancer registry program a promising US biotech company

MakroCare has been selected by a growing US biotech company for a registry program to create around 1500 cancer patient data. MakroCare, specialized in RWE and outcomes research, has been engaged to offer services for protocol design/writing, data collection, data monitoring, analysis, and reports. MakroCare will also be providing its proprietary technology platform for individual site branding, data collection & review, analytics consisting of 100 sites. In addition, MakroCare will be working with sponsor to design, and launch site specific websites for physicians to keep them updated with published data, news & notifications throughout this program.The objective of this registry is to collect real-world data focusing on treatment decision impact, outcomes in the management of cancer patients and clinical utilization of the diagnostic platform in various cancer patients. This multicenter, non-randomized, single arm, real-world data collection registry is expected to enroll around 1500+ patients over next several years. Some of the key outcomes of this registry would be clinical utilization pattern, treatment-decision impact, clinical benefits rate and objective response rate.As RWE and outcomes research are becoming increasingly important and necessary for product development and commercialization, MakroCare brings to table technology integrated, cost efficient, non-traditional solutions to support companies in this space.MakroCare is a leading biotech, pharma and medical device consulting for Clinical Development, Regulatory affairs, Regulatory Operation, Publishing, Labeling, Med Affairs, Central Monitoring and RBM services.650 College Road East ,Suite 3600 , Princeton, NJ -08540-US
Finding Temporary Care for Seniors Displaced by Disaster

http://www.newlifestyles.com

http://www.top5reviewed.com/senior-living-websites-and-blogs

http://www.newlifestyles.com/blog

http://www.newlifestyles.com

Many Seniors Displaced by Hurricane Harvey - How Local Senior Communities are Helping.Dallas, TX, USA -- We have all seen the horrific images of flooding and disaster along the gulf in Texas and Louisiana. This event has left thousands homeless and helpless, lacking basics as well as medical equipment, medication and help. Times like these leave the vulnerable, especially seniors, at a greater risk.This is when neighboring communities open their doors to help those in need. From the mega-shelters, to churches, and small owner run assisted living homes, all are willing to help neighbors in need.NewLifeStyles.com () named as a Top Senior Living Website by Top5Reviewed.com (), is a free, comprehensive guide to senior communities and care providers, not just in the Houston and Rockport areas, but nationwide. Where you can find senior homes offering respite, or temporary help for those displaced by the storm.NewLifeStyles.com is a "one stop shop" where people can find and compare senior living communities & care providers across the country, from nursing homes in Texas, to assisted living and memory care in the Heartland, retirement communities in the New York and Boston, and even hospice providers in Alaska. You can find all licensed senior communities and care providers and more, including some pictures, videos, email forms, etc. The "robust blog content" contains tips for choosing a provider, moving, downsizing, caretaking and more ().We are receiving emails and notices from communities in Texas with openings, offering to take in seniors needing help. Let us help you find the help you need, rather that is temporary or long-term.New LifeStyles is The Source for Senior Living and Care, providing free, comprehensive, quality information on senior communities and care providers nationwide. New LifeStyles offers free print guides covering many areas across the country, as well as a website and mobile site, reducing the frustration of trying to find information from multiple sources, agencies, or organizations. Whether looking for a nursing home, memory care, assisted living, independent living, home care or something else, New LifeStyles can help seniors and their loved ones make the best decisions to fit their needs.If you would like more information about this topic, please contact at 1-800-869-9549 or jennifer@newlifestyles.com.Media Contact:Jennifer CampbellNew LifeStyles4144 N Central ExpresswaySuite 1000Dallas, TX 75204800-975-9439jennifer@newlifestyles.com
Codiants Food Ordering App ranks no.1 and Accredited as the Most Appreciated Project on Behance

CODIANT, a leading Mobility and Custom Web Product Development Company based out in East Moline, IL, USA bags a title of no.1 from Behance and gain the accreditation of most appreciated, most viewed and most discussed project on the portal.The online food ordering and delivery market have always topped the list of the hotly contested markets. And in this expanding bandwagon, CODIANT has made no secret of its unsurpassable grocery delivery and online food ordering development applications.The company has marked its most prominent debut in the histories of Behance, the worlds largest portfolio showcasing website for designers, in the food ordering app categories and hogged the limelight by grabbing the eyeballs of thousands of designers, spectators, users mulling over the internet for breakthrough grocery app designs.Behance which is the worlds largest community that allows creative professionals to showcase and discover the latest work from top online portfolios follows the legacy of categorizing and assorting the most appreciated projects into a different bucket that further helps users seeking state-of-the-art designs from any industry by spotting them on a single place. This helps them to land on best-in-class designs in a single click.This accreditation by Behance to Codiant spurred the company to exercise their design sensibilities even more on the grounds of culinary and gastronomy projects that rely on the on-demand economy. The company has so far developed and excelled itself in a gamut of food ordering projects that includes verticals like restaurant delivery, grocery delivery, FMCG product delivery, fitness applications that demand tailored made apps for meal ordering customized as per the trainer and much more.Codiant describes the service simply: Food/meals should be on time with a beautiful platter in hand So, now whether it is a real food platter served after the delivery service or just an image/icon/UI used in the app that tempts the user to make a purchase. Any provision app cant be simply run-of-the mill when it comes to satiating the taste buds. It has to look delicious. Living up with this ideology, unequivocally our designers breathe creativity.Codiant software technologies offers advanced Mobility solutions and Custom Web Development solutions across all the evolving industry and today, the company is prevalently known for building On-demand delivery app solutions to all the diverse domains like healthcare, telemedicine, travel & tourism, taxi booking and the talk of the town grocery/online food delivery. To book the cutting-edge development of On-demand delivery apps and other mobility or software development services contact them at info@codiant.com or call them at +1-3092780633, +1-8724443361.Codiant Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Mr. Vikrant Jain3505, 52nd St, Moline, IL- 61265, USA+1-309-278-0633info@codiant.com
Auto Leasing Global Market 2017: Key Players  Enterprise, Hertz, Avis Budget Group, Europcar, Sixt, Localiza, Goldcar

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1942479-global-auto-leasing-market-professional-survey-report-2017

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1942479-global-auto-leasing-market-professional-survey-report-2017

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1942479

Https://Www.Wiseguyreports.Com

Auto Leasing IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Auto Leasing -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2022 To Its Research DatabaseThis report studies Auto Leasing in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringEnterpriseHertzAvis Budget GroupEuropcarSixtALD AutomotiveLocalizaMovidaCARUnidasGoldcarFox Rent A CarLeasePlanACE Rent A CarU-SaveRequest for Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBy Business PurposeBy TimeBy Application, the market can be split intoCommercialCivilBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Leave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Auto Leasing Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Auto Leasing1.1 Definition and Specifications of Auto Leasing1.1.1 Definition of Auto Leasing1.1.2 Specifications of Auto Leasing1.2 Classification of Auto Leasing1.2.11.2.21.3 Applications of Auto Leasing1.3.1 Commercial1.3.2 Civil1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India....8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Auto Leasing8.1 Enterprise8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Enterprise 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Enterprise 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Hertz8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Hertz 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Hertz 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Avis Budget Group8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Avis Budget Group 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Avis Budget Group 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Europcar8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Europcar 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Europcar 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Sixt8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Sixt 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Sixt 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 ALD Automotive8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 ALD Automotive 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 ALD Automotive 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Localiza8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 Localiza 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Localiza 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Movida8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Movida 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Movida 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 CAR8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 CAR 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 CAR 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Unidas8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Unidas 2016 Auto Leasing Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Unidas 2016 Auto Leasing Business Region Distribution Analysis8.11 Goldcar8.12 Fox Rent A Car8.13 LeasePlan8.14 ACE Rent A Car8.15 U-SaveBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra, Global: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Global Partial Knee Replacement Market Analysis and Market Forecasts

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1142798

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1142798/medipoint-partial-knee-replacement-market-research-reports

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1142798/medipoint-partial-knee-replacement-market-research-reports.pdf

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/

"The Report MediPoint: Partial Knee Replacement - Global Analysis and Market Forecasts provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Partial knee replacement (PKR), or unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA), is an alternative to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) used to treat patients whose osteoarthritic condition is isolated to the medial or lateral tibio-femoral compartments. PKR is a less invasive procedure than TKA that replaces only the damaged part of the joint with a prosthesis, resulting in less blood loss and the preservation of healthy ligaments, cartilage, and bone in the knee. The decision to undergo a PKR instead of TKR is based on the disease stage, patient expectations, published results, and surgeon expertise. Studies have shown that compared to TKR, PKR performed with accurate technique and proper patient selection offers advantages that include a high rate of return to sport, fewer complications, and cost savings. PKR is contraindicated for inflammatory arthritis, multicompartment disease, severe subluxation, non-articular deformity, and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficiency. Yet, with improvements in surgical techniques and technology, the indications and effectiveness of PKR procedures has increased. GlobalData believes that active adults who want to lead a pain-free active lifestyle as they age will drive the procedure volume of PKR in the forecast period.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @This report focuses on the market outlook for PKR devices in the 39 markets across North America (Canada, Mexico, and US), Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and UK), Asia-Pacific (APAC: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan), South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), and the Middle East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates). The analysis identifies the key drivers in the PKR market, discusses the competitive landscape, and provides future outlook for this market by geography.This is an on-demand report and will be delivered within 3 working days (excluding weekends) of the purchase.View Report @Key Questions Answered in This Report:What is the current and future PKR market outlook in the developed and emerging markets? What trends are affecting the global market?Which are the key, high growth markets that PKR manufacturers should expand into?What are the unmet needs with the current generation of PKR devices? How will emerging technologies fulfill these unmet needs?What are the challenges and complications that have hindered widespread adoption?With developing the next-generation of devices, what aspects of the technology are device manufacturers focused on optimizing? How will new entrants impact the PKR market?View Sample PDF @ScopeOverview of recent key industry events and analysis of their market impact.Annualized total market revenue, procedure trends, and market outlooks by segment and by region through 2023.Key topics covered include strategic competitor assessment, market characterization, identification of unmet needs, reimbursement considerations, evaluating market access in each region covered in the report, and implications of the emerging technologies in the market.Analysis of the current and future market competition in the global PKR market. Insightful review of industry drivers, barriers, and challenges.Reasons to buyThe report will enable you to:Develop and design your in-licensing and out-licensing strategies through a review of marketed products and technologies.Develop business strategies by understanding the trends shaping and driving the video laparoscopes market.Drive revenues by understanding the key trends, innovative products and technologies, market segments, and companies likely to impact the video laparoscopes market in the future.Formulate effective sales and marketing strategies by understanding the competitive landscape and by analyzing the performance of various competitors.Identify emerging players with potentially strong product portfolios and create effective counter-strategies to gain a competitive advantage.Track device sales in country-specific video laparoscopes market from 2014-2023.Organize your sales and marketing efforts by identifying the market categories and segments that present maximum opportunities for consolidations, investments and strategic partnerships.Companies mentionedDePuy SynthesSmith & NephewStrykerZimmer BiometAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Bag In Box Packaging Market Report 2017

Bag ,In Box, Packaging, Market, Report ,

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Browse the full report with a table of contents :In this report, the United States Bag In Box Packaging market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report splits the United States market into seven regions:The WestSouthwestThe Middle AtlanticNew EnglandThe SouthThe Midwestwith sales (volume), revenue (value), market share and growth rate of Bag In Box Packaging in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast).Request a sample copy:United States Bag In Box Packaging market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Bag In Box Packaging sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingSmurfit KappaAstraPouchLiqui-BoxDS SmithOptopackParish ManufacturingARAN GROUPaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into15 LiterOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Bag In Box Packaging for each application, includingWine PackagingSpirit PackagingOther BeverageFoodOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsUnited States Bag In Box Packaging Market Report 20171 Bag In Box Packaging Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Bag In Box Packaging1.2 Classification of Bag In Box Packaging by Product Category1.2.1 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market Size (Sales Volume) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market Size (Sales Volume) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 15 Liter1.3 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market Size (Consumption) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Wine Packaging1.3.3 Spirit Packaging1.3.4 Other Beverage1.3.5 Food1.3.6 Others1.4 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market by Region1.4.1 United States Bag In Box Packaging Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 The West Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Southwest Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 The Middle Atlantic Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 New England Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 The South Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 The Midwest Bag In Box Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 United States Market Size (Value and Volume) of Bag In Box Packaging (2012-2022)1.5.1 United States Bag In Box Packaging Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 United States Bag In Box Packaging Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)...continued..Order a Purchase Report Copy:About Reports And MarketsReports And Markets is part of the Algoro Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Are you mastering your market? Do you know what the market potential is for your product, who the market players are and what the growth forecast is? We offer standard global, regional or country specific market research studies for almost every market you can imagine.Contact PersonSanjay JainManager - Partner Relations & International Marketinginfo@reportsandmarkets.comPh: +1-214-377-1121 (US), +44-020-3286-9338 (UK)
Australia Telecommunication Services Saturated Market Revenue Estimated to be at 13.0% (in terms of Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis) in 2021

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Market Research Hub (MRH) added a new research report to its vast database titled Australia Telecommunication Services Saturated market with opportunities for growth (Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis) provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.Request Free Sample Report @The Internet and data category remains one of the key segments for Australian telecoms with revenues accounting for 56.9% of the total in 2016. One of the ways this segment will grow is by reducing the churn rate, therefore securing customers long-term. Annual mobile churn rate declined from 21.4% in 2012 to 16.3% in 2016, and is estimated to be at 13.0% in 2021. One of the ways this will be achieved is through government initiatives such as the Mobile Black Spot program, which aims to improve network coverage in remote locations. . Under this program, the government plans to invest US$448 million in the establishment of 750 new mobile base stations and over 86,000km of new coverage area.Key Highlights:Mobile outpaces the fixed segmentFixed-line revenue rose at a CAGR of 0.03%, from US$9,480.8 million in 2012 to US$9,492.0 million in 2016 and will post a CAGR of 1.0% to reach US$9,989.6 million in 2021. The increase will be a result of a rise in packet switched revenue. Total mobile revenue declined at a CAGR of -3.8%, from US$17,559.9 million in 2012 to US$15,043.0 million in 2016 due to a fall in voice revenue. However, driven by the demand for data, revenue will grow at a CAGR of 2.6% to reach US$17,065.0 million in 2021.In Mobile Telstra leads in subscriptions and MOUTelstra leads the mobile segment. Its subscription base rose at a CAGR of 5.6%, from 14.5 million in 2012 to 18.1 million in 2016. It also had the lowest churn rate and the highest MoU in 2016. An extensive network and a range of services are the major reasons for Telstras dominance.National broadband network rollout drives growth in subscriptionsFixed-broadband subscriptions increased at a CAGR of 5.8%, from 5.9 million in 2012 to 7.4 million in 2016 and will increase at a CAGR of 4.7%, to reach 9.3 million in 2021. Fixed-broadband penetration stood at 30.1% in 2016 and will reach 35% in 2021 as a result of the development of optic fibre infrastructure and the continued rollout of the national broadband plan.Scope:- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the Australian Telecommunications market in comparison with other Asia-Pacific countries.- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Australian Telecommunications market.- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Australian Telecommunications market.- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Australian telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue, subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the Australian Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.Browse Full Report with TOC @Reasons to buy:- How is the market performing in terms of: Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, and Customer Churn?- How risky is it to invest in the Australian Telecommunications industry compared to other Asia-Pacific countries?- What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as Voice, Data, Prepaid, Postpaid, Broadband, and IPTV?- Who are the leading players in the Australian Telecommunications industry and how does their performance compare?- What trends are being witnessed within the Australian Telecommunications industry?- How will the breakdown for mobile connection technologies look by 2021?- What are the Australian Telecommunications industrys Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?- How has the financial deals landscape changed in 2015 and 2016?Table of Content:Risk & Reward Index 3Industry Snapshot 7Industry View 12Industry SWOT Analysis 17Industry Benchmarking 23Industry Performance 30Competitive Landscape 42Innovation 54Deals 56Key Developments 64Appendix 68.continueMake an Enquiry @About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of ICT market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients and customers.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) - Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Disease Pipeline Landscape, Review and Guide, H2 2017

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Market Research Hub (MRH) added a new research report to its vast database titled Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Pipeline Review, H2 2017 provides an overview of the Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) pipeline landscape. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a form of chronic lung disease that develops in preterm neonates treated with oxygen and positive-pressure ventilation. Symptoms include tachypnea, tachycardia, increased respiratory effort (with retractions, nasal flaring, and grunting) and bluish skin color. The predisposing factors include congenital heart disease and severe respiratory or lung infection.Request Free Sample Report @Report Highlights:MRH's Pharmaceutical and Healthcare latest pipeline guide Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Pipeline Review, H2 2017, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory), complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases.The Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) pipeline guide also reviews of key players involved in therapeutic development for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and features dormant and discontinued projects. The guide covers therapeutics under Development by Companies /Universities /Institutes, the molecules developed by Companies in Filing rejected/Withdrawn, Phase III, Phase II, Preclinical and Discovery stages are 1, 1, 3, 10 and 1 respectively.Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) pipeline guide helps in identifying and tracking emerging players in the market and their portfolios, enhances decision making capabilities and helps to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. The guide is built using data and information sourced from Global Markets Directs proprietary databases, company/university websites, clinical trial registries, conferences, SEC filings, investor presentations and featured press releases from company/university sites and industry-specific third party sources. Additionally, various dynamic tracking processes ensure that the most recent developments are captured on a real time basis.Scope:- The pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory).- The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.- The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages.- The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities.- The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects.- The pipeline guide evaluates Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type.- The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects.- The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory)Browse Full Report with TOC @Reasons to buy:- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.- Find and recognize significant and varied types of therapeutics under development for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory).- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.- Develop tactical initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies.- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and its most promising pipeline therapeutics.- Formulate corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (Respiratory) pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics.- Develop and design in-licensing and out-licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.- Adjust the therapeutic portfolio by recognizing discontinued projects and understand from the know-how what drove them from pipeline.Table of Content:List of TablesList of FiguresIntroductionGlobal Markets Direct Report CoverageBronchopulmonary Dysplasia - OverviewBronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Therapeutics DevelopmentPipeline OverviewPipeline by CompaniesProducts under Development by CompaniesBronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Therapeutics AssessmentAssessment by TargetAssessment by Mechanism of ActionAssessment by Route of AdministrationAssessment by Molecule TypeBronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Companies Involved in Therapeutics DevelopmentChiesi Farmaceutici SpAInsmed IncMartindale Pharmaceuticals LtdMediPost Co LtdMeridigen Biotech Co LtdTherabron Therapeutics IncBronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Drug ProfilesAT-100 - Drug Profile.continueMake an Enquiry @About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of pharmaceutical market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients and customers.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Retort Pouches Market 2017 - HPM Global, Swiss Pack, Caspak, DNP America, Vacupack

Retort Pouches Market 2017 - HPM Global, Swiss Pack, Caspak, DNP America, Vacupack

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Apex Research, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Retort Pouches Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Retort Pouches Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global Retort Pouches industry, and estimates the future trend of Retort Pouches market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Retort Pouches Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportSealed AirSopakco PackingPacritePAC WorldwideParikh PackingHPM GlobalSwiss PackCaspakDNP AmericaVacupackFloeter IndiaValley FoodsFlair PackingRetort PouchesPurity Flexpack LimitedThe market research report explores the Retort Pouches market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Retort Pouches Market". The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Retort Pouches market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Retort Pouches. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Retort Pouches market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Retort Pouches is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Retort Pouches market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Retort Pouches market globally.Enquire Before Buying @The worldwide Retort Pouches market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Retort Pouches production volume, data pertaining to demand and Retort Pouches supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Retort Pouches along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Retort Pouches across the world.About UsApex Research offer latest market research reports and update to serve you with immediate on-line access to professional insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemica1l and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezBusiness Development Executive| sales@apexresearch.bizPhone: +177390426831155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606
Vietnamese Defense Industry Comprehensive Future Size, Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022

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Market Research Hub (MRH) added a new research report to its vast database titled Future of the Vietnam Defense Industry - Market Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022 published by Strategic Defence Intelligence, provides readers with detailed analysis of both historic and forecast defense industry values, factors influencing demand, the challenges faced by industry participants, analysis of industry leading companies, and key news.Request Free Sample Report @Synopsis:This report offers detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry with market size forecasts covering the next five years. This report will also analyze factors that influence demand for the industry, key market trends, and challenges faced by industry participants.In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the followingThe Vietnamese defense industry market size and drivers: detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry during 2018-2022, including highlights of the demand drivers and growth stimulators for the industry. It also provides a snapshot of the countrys expenditure and modernization patternsBudget allocation and key challenges: insights into procurement schedules formulated within the country and a breakdown of the defense budget with respect to capital expenditure and revenue expenditure. It also details the key challenges faced by defense market participants within the countryPorters Five Force analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry: analysis of the market characteristics by determining the bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitution, intensity of rivalry, and barriers to entryImport and Export Dynamics: analysis of prevalent trends in the countrys imports and exports over the last five yearsMarket opportunities: details of the top five defense investment opportunities over the next 10 yearsCompetitive landscape and strategic insights: analysis of the competitive landscape of the Vietnamese defense industry. It provides an overview of key players, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives, and a brief financial analysisScope:The Vietnamese Government allocated US$5 billion towards military expenditure in 2017, of which 32.7% is earmarked for the procurement of defense equipment. The countrys defense expenditure increased at a CAGR of 6.41% over 2013-2017. The growing strength of the Chinese Navy and its assertiveness with regards to territorial claims in the South China Sea has forced the Vietnamese Government to enhance its military capabilities. In addition, the country is in the process of addressing its limitations with respect to combating modern threat scenarios with its existing obsolete equipment, and has embarked on military modernization plans over the last few years. These plans are expected to pick up pace over the forecast period and increase Vietnams defense expenditure.Between 2013 and 2017, Vietnam allocated an average of 32.3% of its defense budget to capital expenditure and the remainder to revenue expenditure. The share of capital expenditure in the overall defense budget is predicted to marginally increase to an average of 33.6% over the forecast period, predominantly due to Vietnams planned military modernization initiatives and procurement programs. Vietnam cumulatively spent US$7.4 billion on defense equipment, while US$15.4 billion was assigned for revenue expenditure during the analysis period.The MoD is expected to invest in fighter and multi-role aircraft, naval vessels, patrol ships, maritime patrol aircraft, and surveillance equipment.Browse Full Report with TOC @Reasons to buy:This report will give the user confidence to make the correct business decisions based on a detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry market trends for the coming five yearsThe market opportunity section will inform the user about the various military requirements that are expected to generate revenues during the forecast period. The description includes technical specifications, recent orders, and the expected investment pattern by the country during the forecast periodDetailed profiles of the top domestic and foreign defense manufacturers with information about their products, alliances, recent contract wins, and financial analysis wherever available. This will provide the user with a total competitive landscape of the sectorA deep qualitative analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry covering sections including demand drivers, Porters Five Forces Analysis, Key Trends and Growth Stimulators, and latest industry contractsTable of Content:Introduction 71.1. What is this Report About? 71.2. Definitions 71.3. Summary Methodology 91.4. About Strategic Defence Intelligence 102. Executive Summary 113. Market Attractiveness and Emerging Opportunities 133.1. Current Market Scenario 153.1.1. Primary Threat Perception 153.1.2. Military Doctrine & Strategy 163.1.3. Military Fleet Size 183.1.4. Procurement Programs 223.1.5. Social, Political and Economic Environment & Support for Defense Projects 243.1.6. Political and Strategic Alliances 253.2. Defense Market Size Historical and Forecast 263.2.1. Defense expenditure is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.08% during the forecast period 263.2.2. Military modernization and the crisis in the South China Sea are expected to be the prime factors driving Vietnamese military expenditure 293.2.3. Defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP is expected to remain at 2.3% over the forecast period 313.3. Analysis of Defense Budget Allocation 333.3.1. Share of capital expenditure in the overall defense budget is expected to increase 333.3.2. Vietnams capital expenditure is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.88% over the forecast period 353.3.3. Per capita defense expenditure expected to be US$72.5 by 2022 383.4. Homeland Security Market Size and Forecast 403.4.1. Homeland security expenditure is expected to be US$4.3 billion by 2022 40.continueMake an Enquiry @About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of defense and security market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients and customers.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Email Marketing Industry - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

MRRSE

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This report on the Global Email Marketing Provides Analysis for the period 2015  2025, wherein 2016 is the base year and the period from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period. Data for 2015 has been included as historical information. The report covers drivers which is driving factor for email marketing industry. It also covers restraints and opportunities for the growth analysis of email marketing. The regional trends covered in the scope of the study expected to influence the global Email marketing growth during the said period.Request for Sample Report:The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn) across different geographies. Email marketing is basically used to do advertisements and brand awareness related to products, solution and services. The email marketing has wide adoption across various end-use industry includes retail/e-commerce, IT & telecom, travel & leisure, publishing, BFSI and others for promoting their products, solutions and services and improve customer relationship.Global Email Marketing Industry: SegmentationThe global email marketing industry has been segmented on the basis of component, type, enterprise and end-use industry. The component segment has further been divided into software/applications and services. Furthermore, software is sub-divided into white label software, third party and web-based application and the services segment into integration & installation and support & maintenance. On the basis of type the market has been divided into traditional and automated. The enterprise segment has been segregated into small and medium enterprise and large enterprise. On the basis of end-use industry the market has been divided into retail/e-commerce, IT & telecom, travel & leisure, print & publishing, BFSI and othersGeographically, the report classifies the global email marketing industry into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America; the regions are analyzed in terms of revenue generation and also included analysis of countries such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K, France, Germany, China, India, Japan, Australia, UAE, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Argentina. The market size and forecast for each region and country has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025 along with the CAGR (%) for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.Global Email Marketing Industry: Scope of the StudyThe report further includes key industry developments in the email marketing industry. Porter Five Force analysis and ecosystem analysis is also included in the report. The report also covers market indicator which provide supporting factor for the growth of the email marketing covered in the scope of study. It shows market attractiveness analysis for all the segments and for all the regions in the scope of study which identifies and compares segments market attractiveness on the basis of CAGR and market share index.The study also includes competition landscape which include competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global Email Marketing industry based on their 2016 revenues, and profiling of major players. Competition matrix benchmarks leading players on the basis of their capabilities and potential to grow. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. Factors including top line growth, market share, segment growth, infrastructure facilities and future outlook are attributed to companys potential to grow. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.Companies Mentioned in the ReportCompany profile of the key players profiled in the global email marketing industry specifically covers provides company details (HQ, Foundation Year, Employee Strength), market presence of the company by segment., strategy of the company for the growth in the competitive market, revenue and operating profits and SWOT analysis.Browse Full Report with TOC:Key players operating the global email marketing industry companies profiled are Alchemy Worx Ltd., Adestra Ltd, GetResponse, VerticalResponse, Inc., dotmailer Ltd, Forfront Ltd., BlueHornet Inc., Constant Contact, Inc., BlueTie Inc., Drip, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), The Rocket Science Group, LLC (mailChimp), iContact Corporation, Salesforce Inc., Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Campaign Monitor, Natexo Group, Epsilon, Responsys Inc (Oracle Corporation) and Salesforce Inc.About UsMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY  12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comFollow Us on LinkedIn-Follow Us On Twitter-
Smart Battery Market Riding On The Rising Demand And Usage Of Smart Electronics

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Global Market: OverviewThe smart battery market is poised for considerable growth in the coming years, riding on the rising demand and usage of smart electronics such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and cameras. Technological advancements aimed at improving the efficiency of batteries used in various end uses have played a significant role in the development of this market.The global market for smart batteries has been studied based on type of battery, application, and geography. By battery type, the market includes nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lead acid, nickel cadmium (NiCd), lithium ion, alkaline, zinc carbon, and lithium ion polymer. The key applications of smart batteries are biomedical devices, industrial, consumer electronics, automobiles, and military and defense.Browse The Report:The report on the worldwide market for smart batteries offers a detailed assessment of the global scenario, also shedding light on the key regional segments. The prominent factors influencing its growth have been identified and analyzed and sharp inputs on how to overcome the major challenges have also been highlighted. The various regulatory factors at play have been taken into consideration, offering recommendations on how to capitalize on them.Global Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe power generation sector contributes significantly to the global carbon emission and as a result, there is a growing need to develop energy-efficient products that will help minimize the carbon footprint. Growing consumer awareness regarding this need has boosted the uptake of smart batteries, supported by favorable government regulations. The smart battery market is also fueled by the soaring popularity of the internet of things (IoT) and the rising consumption of battery-enabled consumer electronic devices.In contrast, certain compatibility hurdles and the need for frequent calibrations pose a challenge to the smart battery market. Moreover, the high cost of smart batteries in comparison to conventional ones acts as a major restraint on the market, resulting in poor demand especially in low-income countries. The high cost of smart batteries is owing to the fact that they require a special charger.However, persistent research and development efforts are being made in order to maintain the cost of production and help steady the demand.Global Market: Regional OutlookFrom a geographical point of view, the global market for smart batteries comprises North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific is one of the most prominent markets for smart batteries and the rapid growth of this market can be attributed to a booming consumer electronics industry and the soaring presence of small and large manufacturers, especially in South Korea and Japan. The demand for lithium ion batteries comes on the heels of the growing need to curb automotive emissions by gradually replacing lead acid batteries.The Latin America smart battery market is also poised for significant expansion thanks to rapid industrialization in various economies of the region and the increasing usage of these batteries in power tools, material handling systems, and UPS devices.Make an Enquiry @Companies Mentioned in the ReportSealed Energy Systems, Accutronics Ltd., Rose Electronics Distributing Company, Inc., ICCNexergy, Trojan Battery Company, Epec, LLC, Cell-Con, Inc., Cadex Electronics, Inc., and Inspired Energy, Inc. are some of the leading players competing in the global smart battery market.It has been observed that industry giants have been increasingly focused on the manufacturing of lithium ion batteries owing to the immense potential they present in the electric vehicle as well as consumer electronics markets. Companies have also been investing heavily in improving and expanding their production capacities so as to sustain themselves in the growing market.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
2017-2022 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications

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This report studies the Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of players, regions, product and end Application/industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and major regions, and splits the Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management market by product and Application/end industries.The global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast-growing India and Southeast Asia regions.United States will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management.EU also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of XX.Download Sample Report Copy From Here:The major players in global market includeGE HealthcareMeditechAllscripts Healthcare SolutionsCernerCarecloudAGS healthConifer Health SolutionsAccretive HealthGenpacAthenahealthDellCognizant Technology SolutionsExperianEmdeonGebbs Healthcare SolutionsEtransmediaHMS HoldingsMerge HealthcareEurohealth SystemsThe Advisory Board CompanyHexaware technologiesThe SSI GroupOptumGeographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaOn the basis of product, the Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management market is primarily split intoBy ProductBy DeploymentBy ComponentOn the basis on the end users/Application, this report coversHospitalsPhysiciansDiagnostic & Ambulatory Care CentersOthersTable of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Overview1.1.1 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2012-2017)1.2.1 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.2.2 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.2.3 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.2.4 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.2.5 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.2.6 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Status and Outlook1.3 Classification of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management by Product1.3.1 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) and Growth (%) Comparison by Product (2012-2022)1.3.2 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) Market Share (%) by Product in 20161.3.3 By Product1.3.4 By Deployment1.3.5 By Component1.4 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Hospitals1.4.2 Physicians1.4.3 Diagnostic & Ambulatory Care Centers2 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2012-2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data3.1 GE Healthcare3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 GE Healthcare Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Meditech3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Meditech Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Cerner3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Cerner Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Carecloud3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Carecloud Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 AGS health3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 AGS health Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Conifer Health Solutions3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Conifer Health Solutions Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Accretive Health3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Accretive Health Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Genpac3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Genpac Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Athenahealth3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Athenahealth Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Dell3.12 Cognizant Technology Solutions3.13 Experian3.14 Emdeon3.15 Gebbs Healthcare Solutions3.16 Etransmedia3.17 HMS Holdings3.18 Merge Healthcare3.19 Eurohealth Systems3.20 The Advisory Board Company3.21 Hexaware technologies3.22 The SSI Group3.23 Optum4 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Product and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Product (2012-2017)4.2 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management in Future4.4 Top Consumer / End Users of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management5 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)5.3 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)6 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)6.3 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)7 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)7.3 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)8 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)8.2 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)8.3 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)9 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)9.2 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)9.3 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)10 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Forecast (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)10.3 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Product and Application (2017-2022)11.1 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size (Million USD) by Regions (2017-2022)11.1.1 United States Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.2 EU Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.3 China Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.4 Japan Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.5 Southeast Asia Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.6 India Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.2 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Application (2017-2022)11.3 Global Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Size by Product (2017-2022)12 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Dynamics12.1 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Opportunities12.2 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential Application13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs Trend/Customer Preference13.3 External Environmental Change13.3.1 Economic Fluctuations13.3.2 Other Risk Factors14 Research Finding /Conclusion15 Methodology and Data Source15.1 Methodology/Research Approach15.1.1 Research Programs/Design15.1.2 Market Size Estimation15.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation15.2 Data Source15.2.1 Secondary Sources15.2.2 Primary Sources15.3 Disclaimer15.4 Author ListBuy Now This Report From Here:Global QYResearch() is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit 1, 26 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London,E182AN, United KingdomCall: +44 20 3239 2407sales@globalqyresearch.com
Lexcarts launches its Mobile app For iOS as well as Android Users to Consult & Hire Lawyers Online

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Lexcarts, the legal network and Online lawyer search platform that is decoding workplace happiness, today announced the launch of their first mobile app, available for iOS as well as Android.Lexcarts is one stop solution for all your legal problems. Find best lawyers online across India with easy search platform. Reach your right lawyer easily through call or e-mail.Easy search platform with over 5000+ lawyers registered at Lexcarts.Lexcarts helps peopleto find lawyers online in India as per the requirements of their legal case or issue. With the app, users will be able to discover even more about lawyers, the search for right lawyers comes with ease and in handy manner. The app is built keeping in view, the requirements of the user and filter search optimizes and caters the specific requirement of the client looking for lawyer.Lexcarts App Features: Search lawyers near you Filter search by practice area & location See details of lawyers Hire lawyer based on user reviews & rating Find experienced lawyers on your legal issue Reduces your pain of finding right lawyerAbout Lexcarts:Lexcarts is a technology based lawyer search platform is based in Jaipur, India and founded in January 2016. Lexcarts brings you easy access to find lawyers online for your legal problem and also one can hire or consult lawyers. At Lexcarts one can find expert lawyers on various legal issues who can give you best legal advice for your case.You can find experience lawyers to advise on various legal matters ranging from corporate legal matters, Tax matters whether direct tax or GST, Family cases such as Child Custody, Child Support or Joint Custody, Property matters, Inheritance, Gift Deeds etc., Check Bounce, Bails & Bonds, Debt Recovery & other Settlements, Criminal charges & Criminal Defense, Immigration, Citizenship, Visas or Deportation, Real Estate, Delay in Possession, Tenant Disputes etc. and Labor & Employment Disputes, Employee Rights or Wrongful Termination and several other legal issues.All your legal nitty-gritties have one stop solution at Lexcarts. This app helps you find best lawyer from its lawyers directory for your legal issue/case.Visit:Android App:iOS App:Lexcarts, the legal network and Online lawyer search platform that is decoding workplace happiness, today announced the launch of their first mobile app, available for iOS as well as Android.213, Paschim Vihar, Jagdamba Marg, Vaishali Nagar
QYReserach adds " Global Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017 "

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SummaryThe Global Bed Linen Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Bed Linen industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Bed Linen market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Bed Linen industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comGlobal Bed Linen market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added):CottonCloudMaytexPierre CardinSheratonSpin LinenMungoWilliams-SonomaMadison ParkWaverlyLaural Ashley HomeChic HomeLuxury HomeAdrienne VittadiniKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Bed LinenChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Bed Linen by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Bed Linen by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Bed Linen by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Bed LinenChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Bed Linen Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017India Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017China Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Bed Linen Industry Market Research Report 2017Note:We also offerGermany/Korea/Australia/Brazil/Russia/India/Indonesia/ Malaysia/Saudi Arabia/Middle East/Europe/Asia/Asia-Pacific/Southeast Asia/North America/ Latin America/South America/AMER/EMEA/Africa etc Countries/Regions and Sales/Industry Versions RespectivelyWoul like to place an order or any question, please feel free to contact me~O(_)O~Hebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86-20-22093278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20-22093278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU) |(JP)
US Offshore Deepwater Gulf Market 2017 -Develop Market-Entry and Market Expansion Strategies

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SUMMARYWiseGuyReports published new report, titled US Offshore Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Kaikias Project Panorama.US Offshore Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Kaikias Project Panorama, latest release, presents a comprehensive overview of the asset. This upstream report includes detailed qualitative and quantitative information on the asset, provides a full economic assessment and reflects several parameters including (but not limited to) geological profile, asset development and specific challenges. Based on this analysis, future outlook for the asset is presented with possible trends and related scenarios identifying upside/downside potential.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Scope- Overview of the asset based on an analysis of the economic indicators- Key financial indicators including Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return- Review of factors affecting the economic outcome of the field including development overview, geology, challenges, reserves and production with qualitative perspective on of the overall assets life with GlobalDatas analysis on the assets future outlook- Detailed production profile for the asset, giving annual output rates for each commodity produced- Cash flow statements from our economic analysis of the asset including capital expenditures, operating expenditures and tax liability- Individual valuations for equity holders- Sensitivity analysis for asset value considering a range of factorsKey points to buy- Understand the economic and non-economic factors that affect production of an asset- Benefit from an asset valuation derived from detailed research and modeling by our analysts- Basic view of various scenarios and its effect on the asset for risk or strategy planning- Utilize the quantitative and qualitative evaluation to ascertain trends within the region to inform decision making- Identify economic trends of an asset to determine investment requirementsTable of Contents1. Table of Contents2. Project Panorama3. Project Update4. Outlook5. Asset Summary6. Development Overview7. Geology8. Challenges9. Reserves and Production10. Economic Analysis11. AppendixCONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra
Cocoa Beans Market - Growth trends and forecast (2017 - 2022)

cocoa beans market price, cocoa bean market size, cocoa bean market share, cocoa beans stock market, cocoa beans world market, coc

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Reports And Markets Publish a New Market Research Report On "Cocoa Beans Market - Growth trends and forecast (2017 - 2022)"Access Full Report With Table Of Contents @The global cocoa beans market is expected to reach USD XX billion by 2021 from USD 13.38 billion in 2015, registering a double digit growth of XX% during the forecasted period from 2016 to 2021. Cocoa beans are primarily used as raw material for chocolate and 90% of the global cocoa beans produced are consumed for chocolate production. On an average, around 4 million metric tons of cocoa beans are produced each year.Global production of cocoa beans during 2015 was 4.36 million metric tons. The international market prices of cocoa are very volatile and changes variably with demand and supply. It is forecasted that during 2016 the crop prices will go down due to expected surplus supplies. However, the low prices will drive the demand in the coming years with expected changes in product pipelines of major confectionery companies. The high prices in 2015 has led to lesser profits in grinding which in turn forced grinding companies to close their operations at various places.The cocoa beans has captured the attention of consumers from around the world, due to fast growth of chocolate confectionary market. The same is the major factor driving the market growth. Other than chocolate confectionary market factors stimulating the market growth include increasing disposable income among middle class and increasing popularity of cocoa based products like cocoa beverages and cocoa powder. However, the commodity price fluctuation, pest and diseases, low productivity, high dependence on seasons and environmental conditions and high cost of farm inputs are restraining the market growth.This market can be broadly segmented by bean type into organic cocoa bean market and inorganic cocoa bean market. Currently, the market is dominated by the inorganic cocoa bean, however, in the coming years, the demand of organic cocoa bean is going to increase globally.Request For Sample Report @Africa is the largest producer of the commodity accounting for 72% of the production followed by Latin America (XX %) and Asia Pacific (XX %). Europe is the largest consumer and importer followed by North America. Major cocoa bean exporting countries include Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia among others. Although the production of beans is dominated in Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific; the major grinding facilities are placed in the Americas and Europe.Key Deliverables in the StudyMarket analysis for the Global Cocoa Seeds Market, with region specific assessments and competition analysis.Market definition along with the identification of key drivers and restraints.Identification of factors instrumental in changing the market scenarios, rising prospective opportunities, and identification of key companies that can influence this market.Extensively researched competitive landscape section with profiles of major companies along with their market shares.Identification and analysis of the macro and micro factors that affect the Global Cocoa Seeds Market.A comprehensive list of key market players along with the analysis of their current strategic interests and key financial information.A wide-ranging knowledge and insights about the major players in this industry and the key strategies adopted by them to sustain and grow in the studied market.Insights on the major countries in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped.Check Discount @For more information or any query mail at sales@reportsandmarkets.comAbout Reports And MarketsReports And Markets is part of the Algoro Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Are you mastering your market? Do you know what the market potential is for your product, who the market players are and what the growth forecast is? We offer standard global, regional or country specific market research studies for almost every market you can imagine.Contact PersonSanjay JainManager - Partner Relations & International Marketinginfo@reportsandmarkets.comPh: +1-214-377-1121 (US), +44-020-3286-9338 (UK)
Turbocharger Market 2016- 2021 by Technology, Competitive Analysis and Forecast

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The global turbocharger market in the transportation industry offers a robust growth opportunity and is likely to witness a double digit growth of 10.8% (CAGR) during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Growing vehicle production coupled with the requirement for automakers to meet global environment emission and fuel efficiency regulations are the prime drivers of the turbocharger market. Increasing penetration / installation rates ofThe fuel efficiency and environment emission regulations in many developed and developing countries are putting pressure on automakers to either reduce the vehicle weight or downsize the engine to achieve the targets. The Automakers are downsizing engines to satisfy the stringent global fuel economy and emission regulations and customer demand for better performing vehicles. Turbochargers help downsized engines improve fuel economy by 20% to 40% as compared to larger, naturally aspirated engines.For More Information About This Report:Key Manufacturer:Borgwarner Inc.Continental AGCummins Inc.Eaton CorporationHoneywell International Inc.Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesIHI CorporationReport Features:-Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities-Emerging trends-Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players-Key success factorsRequest Sample Copy At:Segmented into Following Categories:Vehicle Type:- On-Highway Vehicles- Passenger Car- Light Duty Vehicles-Medium & Heavy Duty VehiclesCharger Type:- Turbocharger- SuperchargerTechnology:- VGT / VNTRegion:- North America- Europe- Asia-Pacific- Rest of the WorldInquire For This Report At:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Automotive Keyless Entry Systems Global Market 2016-2021 and Growth Opportunity

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The automotive industry has been leveraging the potential of the electric and electronic components in most of the application areas to enhance passenger comfort and to increase safety and security features in the vehicles. One such example is the keyless entry system that was introduced about 20 years back. The keyless entry system uses integrated circuit that transfers the electromagnetic signals to lock or unlock the vehicle door. This systemprovides high convenience and enhances the security of the vehicle.The global keyless entry systems market in the automotive industry offers a good growth opportunity and is expected to witness 6.8% CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Increasing automotive production, stringent vehicle theft prevention regulations, focus on high comfort and convenience, and demand for high security vehicles are the major drivers of the global keyless entry systems market.For More Information About This Report:Key Manufacturer:Alps ElectricContinental AGDelphiHellaMarquardtMitsubishi Electric CorporationTRW AutomotiveValeoReport Features:- Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.-Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities-Emerging trends-Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players-Key success factorsRequest Sample Copy At:Segmented into Following Categories:Vehicle Type:- Narrow Body Aircraft - Passenger Car- Light Duty Vehicles- Medium & Heavy Duty VehiclesProduct Type:- Remote Keyless Entry (RKE)- Passive Keyless Entry (PKE)End Market:- OEM- AftermarketRegion:- North America- USA- Canada- Mexico- EuropeInquire For This Report At:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
2022 Hoist Rings Market Analysis, Attractiveness & Development with Key Players Jergens, YOKE, JDT

Hoist Rings Market

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A new research document with title 'North America Hoist Rings Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022' covering detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes countries like United States, Canada, Mexico and important players/vendors such as Jergens, YOKE, JDT etc. The report will help user gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2017-2022.Request a sample report @Hoist rings are load-centering eyebolts. They are designed to be rigged from the center or the side and may pivot or swivel. Some hoist rings connect directly to webbing, chain, or shackles. Others have a hook-end rather than a standard bail, eye, or ring.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Hoist Rings in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversCrosby GroupRUDCODIPRO (Alipa)JergensYOKEJDTAmerican Drill BushingDMEPewagCarr LaneTE-COActekTianjin YiyunNorelemGunnebo IndustriesWDSStamperia CarcanoNorthwestern ToolsMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited StatesCanadaMexicoBuy this report @Market Segment by Type, coversCenter-pullSide-pullOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoConstructionMarineEnergyMold and MechanicalAerospace and MilitaryOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the North America Hoist Rings market.Chapter 1, to describe Hoist Rings Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Hoist Rings, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the North America market by countries, covering United States, Canada and Mexico, with sales, revenue and market share of Hoist Rings, for each country, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the segment market in United States, Canada and Mexico, by manufacturers, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 10, Hoist Rings market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 11, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process etc.Chapter 12, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 13, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers etc.Chapter 14 and 15, to describe Hoist Rings Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data sourceGet customization & check discount for report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Hoist Rings Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Center-pull1.2.2 Side-pull1.2.3 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Construction1.3.2 Marine1.3.3 Energy1.3.4 Mold and Mechanical1.3.5 Aerospace and Military1.3.6 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Mexico Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Canada Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road, Edison, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218
Automotive Vehicle Security Systems Market 2021 by Vehicle type, Growth Opportunity and Trend

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The usage of the vehicle security system in the global automotive industry has gradually increased over the period of time. Demand for high security due to increasing car theft instances across the globe is creating the need for efficient vehicle security systems. Today, almost all the major automakers are offering vehicle security systems for their vehicles either as a standard or an optional feature. The vehicle security system not only provides security but also enhances the passenger's convenience level.The global automotive security systems market offers a good growth opportunity and is expected to witness 6.5% CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Increasing automotive production, stringent vehicle theft prevention regulations, focus on high comfort and convenience, and customers' demand of high security vehicles are the major drivers of the global automotive vehicle security systems market.For More Information About This Report:Key Manufacturer:Continental AGDelphi AutomotiveDenso CorporationLear CorporationRobert Bosch GmbHHella Kgaa Hueck & Co.MarquardtMitsubishi Electric CorporationReport Features:- Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.-Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities-Emerging trends-Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players-Key success factorsRequest Sample Copy At:Segmented into Following Categories:Vehicle Type:- Passenger Car- Light Duty Vehicles- Medium & Heavy Duty VehiclesProduct Type:- Alarm- Immobilizers- Remote Keyless Entry (RKE)- Passive Keyless Entry (PKE)- Central Locking SystemTechnology Type:- Position System- Mobile Communication System- Face Detection System- Real Time Location SystemInquire For This Report At:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Challenges and Standardization 2022

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http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-central-nervous-system-cns-therapeutic-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic has been compiled after conducting extensive primary and secondary research through seasoned hands. Primary research has covered a bulk of the efforts taken to prepare the report, including key discussions with several important opinion leaders and industry experts and significant data collected with the help of thorough interviews conducted. Secondary research, on the other hand, has covered studies of the most vital national and global databases, analyst presentations, investor presentations, press releases, annual reports, and company websites. With such in-depth research performed using cutting-edge techniques, interested parties have been anticipated to gain a comprehensive and definite understanding of the market.This report studies the global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic market, analyzes and researches the Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likePfizer, Inc.Biogen, Inc.Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.Eli Lilly and CompanyOtsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.Merck & Co., Inc.AstraZenecaNovartis AGTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Shire Plc.Sample of this report is available upon request @Researchers authoring the publication have provided near-accurate estimations of the Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic, along with those of key segmentations, for the forecast timeframe under discussion. The revenue generated by each segment, the potential of different markets within the global market, and various macro and micro environment factors have been presented in the publication. In terms of geography, the researchers have studied the adoption rate, awareness, and industry trends taking shape or about to show face in the key regions of the market. Market opportunities prevailing in different segments have also been identified and assessed by the researchers.Besides profiling leading players in the Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic, the report has evaluated their various chief attributes and provided information pertaining to recent developments, business strategies, product portfolio, financial overview, and company overview. Buyers of the report have also be informed about the percentage shares of different companies deduced using market share analysis.Table of ContentsGlobal Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic1.1 Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Overview1.1.1 Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size and Analysis by RegionsView TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:2 Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Pfizer, Inc.3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Biogen, Inc.3.2.1 Company Profile4 Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.2 Potential Application of Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic5 United States Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Enquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Product ScopeFigure Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutic Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Peru Midstream Oil and Gas Market 2017 - Identify Opportunities and Challenges 2022

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SUMMARYWiseGuyReports published new report, titled Peru Midstream Oil and Gas Industry Outlook."Peru Midstream Oil and Gas Industry Outlook to 2022 - Market Forecasts for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Oil Storage, Pipelines and Gas Processing", is a comprehensive report on midstream oil and gas industry in Peru. Further, the report provides details such as name, type, operational status and operator for all active and planned (new build) LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in Peru till 2022. Further, the report also offers recent developments, financial deals as well as latest contracts awarded in the countrys midstream sector.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Scope- Updated information related to all active and planned LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in the country, including operator and equity details- Key mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, private equity and initial public offerings in the countrys midstream oil and gas industry, where available- Latest developments, financial deals and awarded contracts related to midstream oil and gas industry in the countryKey points to buy- Gain a strong understanding of the countrys energy sector and midstream oil and gas industry- Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of capacity data- Assess your competitors major LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in the country- Analyze the latest developments, financial deals and awarded contracts related to the countrys midstream oil and gas industry- Understand the countrys financial deals landscape by analyzing how competitors are financed, and the mergers and partnerships that have shaped the marketTable of Contents1. Table of Contents2. Introduction3. Peru LNG Industry4. Peru Oil Storage Industry5. Peru Oil and Gas Pipelines Industry6. Peru Gas Processing Industry7. Recent Contracts8. Financial Deals Landscape9. Recent Developments10. AppendixCONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra
Global and China Solar Water Heater Industry System Automation and Key Trends 2017 - Duda Solar(US), Sunrain(China)

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global and China Solar Water Heater Industry Professional Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The report provides a breakdown of the segments of the Solar Water Heater market to let the readers understand the opportunities and pitfalls present in this market. The Solar Water Heater market can be segmented for various categories such as geographical regions, products, applications, end-use industries, and raw materials. Various trends that could affect the growth of the market Solar Water Heater in either in positive or negative manner have been included in this report. With complete analysis of the various statistics players and stockholders can gain knowledge on the working of segments of this market and capitalize accordingly for fulfilling their motives. The motive behind segmenting the Solar Water Heater market into several categories is to allow readers gain an in-depth analysis of the market and acquire clear outline of the market.This report focus Global and China market, coving details as following:Key PlayersHi-min(China)Micoe(China)Duda Solar(US)Sunrain(China)LINUO PARADIGMA(China)Haier(China)TSINGHUA SOLAR(China)SANGLE(China)HUAYANG(China)TIANPU(China)SUNSHORE(China)KNOW MORE WITH SAMPLE STUDY @This report also includes the regional factors affecting the Solar Water Heater market. The key regions of the market are the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia Pacific. Market values for these regions over the forecast period, along with the projected growth are presented. As various regional trends may affect this market, these trends are included along with their extent of influence on the Solar Water Heater market.Competitive landscape of the Solar Water Heater market is analyzed, where profiles for various prominent players are included. The product portfolio, services provided, revenues generated, manufacturing centers of these players are individually evaluated. As these players are leading in the market, their strategies for staying competitive in the market are analyzed. Opportunities present for new players and the hurdles they may face are elaborated.Table of ContentsGlobal and China Solar Water Heater Industry Professional Market Report 2017Chapter One Global and China Solar Water Heater Market Overview1.1 China Solar Water Heater Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20171.2 Global Solar Water Heater Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20171.3 Global and China Solar Water Heater, by Volume 2012-20171.3.1 China Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Volume 2012-20171.3.2 Global Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Volume 2012-2017Browse Market Research Report @Chapter Two China Solar Water Heater Market by Regions 2012-20172.1 China Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20172.2 China Solar Water Heater Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20172.3 China Solar Water Heater Price by Regions 2012-20172.4 First-tier Cities2.5 Second-tier CitiesChapter Three Global Solar Water Heater Market by Regions 2012-20173.1 Global Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.2 Global Solar Water Heater Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.3 Global Solar Water Heater Price by Regions 2012-20173.4 Asia Pacific3.4.1 ChinaChapter Four Solar Water Heater by Players 2012-20174.1 China Solar Water Heater Sales Volume Market Share by Players 2012-20174.2 China Solar Water Heater Revenue Share by Players 2012-20174.3 China Top Players Solar Water Heater Key Product Model and Market Performance4.4 China Top Players Solar Water Heater Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Five Top Players Profile5.1 Hi-min(China)5.1.1 Hi-min(China) Company Details and Competitors5.2 Micoe(China)5.3 Duda Solar(US)5.4 Sunrain(China)Make An Enquiry:List of Tables and FiguresTable China Solar Water Heater Sales Volume (K Units), Revenue (Million USD) and Price (USD/Unit)(2012-2017)Figure China Solar Water Heater Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure China Solar Water Heater Sales Volume (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Table Global Solar Water Heater Sales Volume (K Units), Revenue (Million USD) and Price (USD/Unit)(2012-2017)Figure Global Solar Water Heater Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Global Solar Water Heater Sales Volume (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Table China Solar Water Heater Sales (K Units) by Volume (2012-2017)Table China Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Volume (2012-2017)Figure China Solar Water Heater Sales Market Share by Volume in 2016Table Global Solar Water Heater Sales (K Units) by Volume (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Market 2017 - Novozymes A/S, Palsgaard A/S, David Michael & Co.

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The report revealed here archives a number of angles in which the general Food and Beverage Enzyme market may be assesses which communicates the present and future expectations concerning the regularly changing powers at play. The essential factor behind the examination is to offer the reader with a broad thought of the market and make open the eminent information and records. The certain investigative examination past illustrating information on issues, for instance, drivers, restrictions, and projections to investigate the repercussions of the general Food and Beverage Enzyme market through specified length in the report. The investigation successfully features a brief and world class record of the predefined display, which fuses a couple of events of the confirmed concentrations at work that are studied to trigger progression in the market or may cause any negative impact.Global Food and Beverage Enzyme market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Food and Beverage Enzyme sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingKerry GroupRiken Vitamin Co.Ltd.EngrainNovozymes A/SPalsgaard A/SDavid Michael & Co.Purac Biochem B.V.Royal Dsm N.V.Associated British Foods Plc.To Download Sample Report With TOC:This report also stations into the general Food and Beverage Enzyme market by demandingly surveying the ample and industrialized chain of the persevering business sector. This is required to what's more guide in offering powerful data and information on compound parts of the applicable market, for instance, material identifying with systems for the social affair in the run of the mill and general strata, pass on and transmission structure, creation constrain, mass sold, and favorable circumstances gotten for the contributed add up to.The report uses a couple of displayed embroiled investigation and finish operational hardware of the business. They allow the answer to absorb a revealed fundamental appraisal of the general Food and Beverage Enzyme market and help endorser and market troupes to be told as for theory and business conclusions. The extensive delineation of the report's system offers a market position on an unmistakable and moment scale. It exasperates fundamental and discretionary research systems in this manner. The specialists have broken down the current circumstance of the market and developed it from the forward and backward development show condition to plot a methodology for the general Food and Beverage Enzyme showcase in up and coming years.Table of ContentsGlobal Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Market Report 20171 Food and Beverage Enzyme Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Food and Beverage Enzyme1.2 Classification of Food and Beverage Enzyme by Product Category1.2.1 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Access the Report and full TOC @2 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Food and Beverage Enzyme (Volume and Value) by Region3 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Volume and Market Share by PlayersCheck Discount @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Food and Beverage EnzymeFigure Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Volume Comparison (K MT) by Type (2012-2022)Figure Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure Southeast Asia Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure India Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Volume (K MT) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Market Major Players Food and Beverage Enzyme Sales Volume (K MT) (2012-2017)Table Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue Share by Type (2012-2017)Figure Revenue Market Share of Food and Beverage Enzyme by Type (2012-2017)Figure Global Food and Beverage Enzyme Revenue Growth Rate by Type (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Building Energy Software Market 2017- Business Trends and Startegic Plan to Achive Positive Growth before 2020

Building Energy Software Market

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http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-and-united-states-building-energy-software-market.html

Global Building Energy Software Market 2017 Survival Strategies explore Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022A Research study on " Global Building Energy Software Market 2017-2022 " represent the market share and size of Building Energy Software in international Industry. MRS Research Group added latest market research report by QY Research. Research Report provides an essential information and statistically evaluated data about the Building Energy Software. The research report provides a detailed study of the Building Energy Software market, enlightening the major areas such as future market scenario, market growth factors, market growth restraints, and others. The advanced technological trends and various new opportunities are also provided in this research report.Research Report Analysis by Important Manufacturers in Global Market Include:Johnson Controls, BuildingIQ, Lucid Design Group, DGLogik, Schneider Electric, Crestron, EnergyPoints, Ecova, EnerNOC, C3 Energy, Daintree Networks.Get Free Sample Copy Of Report @The research report provides the Building Energy Software markets classification in detail. The Building Energy Software market is bifurcated into a number of segments on the basis of materials,types,applications,and end-users. The geographical analysis of the global Building Energy Software market is also coveredin the report. The vital information mentioned in the research report helps in significantly predicting the future scope of the global market.The various segmentation of the global market is based on the overall product profit, costing, global market growth, and manufacturing processes. The report covers a region-wise analysis which provides the customer with different market studies that give a detailed analysis of the product and its impact on the global market. The Building Energy Software report also highlights the growth statistics depending on the supply and demand in the different regions.Read Complete Report with TOC @The Building Energy Software report covers the precisely studied and evaluated data of the global market players and their scope in the market using a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such asinvestment return analysies, SWOT analysis and feasibility studyare used to analyze the keyglobal market players growth in the Building Energy Software industry.Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com
Global Smart Pet Collar Market Research, Analysis And Development 2017 - Garmin, FitBark, Whistle

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http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-smart-pet-collar-market-research-report-2017.htm

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Smart Pet Collar Market Research Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The exploration report here talks about around a few viewpoints relating to the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market which articulates the present insights and future prospects with reference to the elements at play. The essential point of the exploration report is to display a nitty gritty diagram to the readers and furnish them with helpful actualities and information. The statistical surveying report additionally executes with variables, for example, drivers, limitations, and prospects to gage the result of the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market amid the estimate time frame specified in the report. The report likewise shows a brief yet elite blueprint of the specific market, which comprises a few records of the real angles which are relied upon to trigger development in the market or cause negative effect.Global Smart Pet Collar market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingLINKGarminFitBarkWhistlePetPaceScollarPetSafeKyonWFNuzzleGet complimentary Research Summary Of The Report @This report additionally dives profound into the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market by fastidiously assessing the generation and modern chain of the accommodating business sector. This will additionally help in engendering precise information and insights on various elements of the individual market, for example, data relating to strategies of the administration in the territorial and worldwide level, make and dissemination structure, generation limit, volume sold, and income earned among others.The exploration report will likewise be deficient without an exhaustive evaluation of the seller scene of the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market, which contains the statistical data points, exercises and creations of the pioneers in the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market. The investigation additionally gives a comprehensive examination of the key areas expressed in the report for the worldwide Smart Pet Collar market. For each region, the report articulates the variety of development up until now and clearing on what sellers can do to guarantee accomplishment in the coming years.Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Pet Collar Market Research Report 20171 Smart Pet Collar Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Pet Collar1.2 Smart Pet Collar Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Smart Pet Collar Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Smart Pet Collar Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Browse Complete Report with TOC @2 Global Smart Pet Collar Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Smart Pet Collar Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Smart Pet Collar Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Smart Pet Collar Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)3 Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Smart Pet Collar Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Smart Pet Collar Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Enquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Smart Pet CollarFigure Global Smart Pet Collar Production (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2012-2022)Figure Global Smart Pet Collar Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2016Figure Japan Smart Pet Collar Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure South Korea Smart Pet Collar Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Taiwan Smart Pet Collar Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Smart Pet Collar Revenue (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production (K Units) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Smart Pet Collar Major Players Product Capacity (K Units) (2012-2017)Figure Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)Table Global Smart Pet Collar Capacity, Production (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Nano-film market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% from 2017 to 2025

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Nanofilms are coatings and films based on nanotechnology that was developed to provide advancements in semiconductor technology. This technology allows fabrication of crystal semiconductor and oxide nanometer thickness films that can be then used as a low-cost substrate for semiconductor devices. Nanofilms is a high-performance alternative to deposition and coating technology that finds wide application in switches, lasing materials, solar cells, and similar other energy storage devices. The global Nano-film market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% from 2017 to 2025.Based on type, the global Nano film market is segmented as thickness of less than 100 nanometers, established nanofilms, and emerging nanofilms. Based on application, the market is segmented as microelectronics industry, storage industry, solar energy and optics industry. Geographic breakdown and deep analysis of each of the aforesaid segments is included for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Request Sample At:Market Dynamics:Drivers: Growth in end-use industries such as electronics and solar industry. Growth of microelectronic industry in emerging economies of Latin America and Asia Pacific.Restraints: Availability of substitutes and volatile raw material prices.Enquire About Report At:Market Players:The top players in the global nano film market include NanoGram Corporation (U.S.), MAT-VAC Technology (U.S), Nanofilm(U.S.), Nanofilm Technologies (U.S.), MicroChem (U.S.), MetaTechnica (U.S.), Advanced Thin Film (U.S.), LOT-Oriel (UK), Nano Foam Technology Private Limited (India), Nano Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd (India), Nano Lab India (India), Cosmo Films Limited (India), Smart Source Technologies (India), and Maxtek Technology (Taiwan) among others.MARKET LANDSCAPEBy Type Thickness of less than 100 nanometers Established nanofilms Emerging nanofilmsBy Application Microelectronics industry Storage industry Solar industry Optics industryBy Geography North Americao U.S.o Canadao MexicoRequest Customization At:Table Of Contents:Executive summary1.1. Key Findings1.2. Market Attractiveness and Trend analysis1.3. Competitive Landscape and recent industry development analysis2. Introduction2.1. Report Description2.2. Scope and Definitions2.3. Research Methodology3. Market landscape3.1. Growth Drivers3.1.1. Impact Analysis3.2. Restrains and Challenges4. Global Nano Film Market by Type4.1. Thickness of less than 100 nanometres4.1.1. Historical Market Size by Region, 2014-20164.1.2. Market Forecast by Region, 2017-20254.2. Established nanofilms4.2.1. Historical Market Size by Region, 2014-20164.2.2. Market Forecast by Region, 2017-20254.3. Emerging nanofilms4.3.1. Historical Market Size by Region, 2014-20164.3.2. Market Forecast by Region, 2017-20255. Global Nano Film Market by Mode of Sale5.1. Microelectronics industry5.1.1. Historical Market Size by Region, 2014-20165.1.2. Market Forecast by Region, 2017-20255.2. Storage industryProgressive Markets is the answer to every possible business query. It is a market research and business consulting firm, headquartered in India with an aim to deliver up-to-date executive support to foster overall growth of an organization in its domain. With more than 442 syndicated and customized research reports for 14 industry verticals at hand, the plausible resolutions to your business concerns are just one-query away. The company offers client-centric customizations on research reports to cater to their operational segment and geography.Contact Us:Asia Pacific Intelligence CentreUnited StatesEAST COAST U.S.Direct: +1-646-564-2246Toll Free + 1-888-906-9222Email: help@progressivemarkets.comWeb:
Lucintel identifies and prioritizes opportunities in the global medical devices market by application, and region

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www.lucintel.com

According to a new market report published by Lucintel, the future of the medical device market looks good with opportunities in the general medical devices, cardiovascular, and surgical & infection control segments. The global medical device market is expected to reach an estimated $342.9 billion by 2021 with a CAGR of 4.6% from 2016 to 2021. The major drivers of growth for this market are the growth in healthcare expenditure, increasing health awareness, and ageing population.In this market, surgical & infection control, general medical devices, cardiovascular, home healthcare are the major applications. Lucintel forecasts that cardiovascular is expected to remain as the largest market supported by growth in multiple chronic cardiovascular diseases and increasing ageing population. On the basis of its comprehensive research, Lucintel predicts that the general medical device segment is likely to experience the highest growth during forecast period due to the growth in hospitals and healthcare institutions.North America is expected to remain the largest market due to the high number of ageing population with multiple chronic diseases and stringent government regulation related to healthcare.Asia Pacific is expected to witness good growth over the forecast period because of increasing investment in healthcare infrastructures, increasing health insurance facilities, and changing lifestyle.For business expansion, the report suggests innovation and new product development to enhance medical experience with lower cost solutions.The emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the industry, include design and manufacturing of portable and smaller devices and increasing usage of software as a differentiator in medical devices. Johnson & Johnson, Roche Holding Ltd., 3M, Philips Healthcare, and Medtronic are among the major suppliers of medical devices. There are some companies that are opting for merger and acquisition as a strategic initiative for driving growth.Lucintel, a leading global strategic consulting and market research firm, has analyzed growth opportunities in the global medical devices market by application and region and has come up with a comprehensive research report, Growth Opportunities in the Global Medical Devices Market 2016-2021: Trends, Forecast, and Opportunity Analysis. The Lucintel report serves as a spring board for growth strategy as it provides a comprehensive data and analysis on trends, key drivers, and directions. The study includes a forecast for the growth opportunities in the global medical devices market by application and region as follows:By Application [$ billion shipment analysis for 2010  2021]: Surgical & Infection Control General Medical Devices Cardiovascular Home Healthcare Other Device RoofBy Region [$ billion shipment analysis for 2010  2021]: North America Europe Asia Pacific Rest of the WorldThis 135-page research report will enable you to make confident business decisions in this globally competitive marketplace. For a detailed table of contents, contact Lucintel at +1-972-636-5056 or helpdesk@lucintel.com. Lucintel offerings include Medical Market Analysis, Medical Market Research, Strategic Growth Consulting, Commercial Due Diligence Report and Market Research Reports Online.This report answers following 11 key questions:Q.1: What are some of the most promising, high-growth opportunities for the global medical devices market by application, (Surgical & Infection Control, General Medical Devices, Cardiovascular, Home Healthcare and Other devices) and regions (North America, Europe, APAC, and ROW?Q. 2. Which segments will grow at a faster pace and why?Q.3: Which regions will grow at a faster pace and why?Q.4: What are the key factors affecting market dynamics? What are the drivers and challenges of the market?Q.5: What are the business risks and threats to the market?Q.6: What are emerging trends in this market and reasons behind them?Q.7: What are some changing demands of customers in the market?Q.8: What are the new developments in the market? Which companies are leading these developments?Q.9: Who are the major players in this market? What strategic initiatives are being implemented by key players for business growth?Q.10: What are some of the competitive products and processes in this area and how big of a threat do they pose for loss of market share via product substitutionQ.11: What are M & A activities in the last 5 years in this market? What reasons can be attributed to these activities and how have they impacted the industry?Lucintel, the premier global management consulting and market research firm, creates winning strategies for growth. It offers market assessments, competitive analysis, opportunity analysis, growth consulting, M&A, and due diligence services to executives and key decision-makers in a variety of industries. For further information, visitLucintel LLC222 Las Colinas Blvd West, Suite 1650, Irving, TX 75039, USAPh: +1-972-636-5056 Fax: +1-877-883-5140marketing@lucintel.com
Global Digital Impression Standalone Scanners Market 2017 : Align Technology, Danaher, Dentsply Sirona, 3Shape, 3M ESPE, Planmeca

Digital Impression Standalone Scanners

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http://www.marketresearchexplore.com/report/global-digital-impression-standalone-scanners-market-research-report-2011-2023/2260

The report 2017 Global Digital Impression Standalone Scanners Market mainly highlights thoughtful facts and intelligence of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market in conjunction with prevailing and future market trends throughout the forecast period from 2017 to 2022. It additionally executes the great study of price, current geographical zones, technology, demand-supply and therefore the consequences it might wear the market growth of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners trade.The graph of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners trade can show increase rate among next 5 years which can, in turn, cause the conclusive outlook of future for varied promoting players considering the profit chain of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market. The report additionally performs in-depth analysis and appraisal of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners industry that may embellish shoppers to possess a substantial share within the Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.Do Enquiry concerning this analysis Report :The report wraps major countries concerned in Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market. It additionally imparts effective study on varied sections of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market like opportunities and market arrangement of high leading players.The global Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market is well- organized consistent with leading players/manufacturers, geographical zones, applications and merchandise varieties. Thorough analysis for every class is provided within the report in conjunction with its forecast amount and market volume. Analyzing every category helps investors to realize data regarding the actual marketplace for a specific space.Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market analysis based on leading market players:Align TechnologyDanaherDentsply SironaCarestream Health3Shape3M ESPEPlanmecaDigital Impression Standalone Scanners Report SegmentationDigital Impression Standalone Scanners market analysis based on geographical zones :1. North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)2. Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Korea)3. Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia etc.4. South America (Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina)5. Middle East and Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia)The report highlights the efforts taken by survey team to investigate separate varied system accommodations, vendors, dealers and business associates can get benefitted with this report.Access Full Report at :The report additionally covers profiles of the key Digital Impression Standalone Scanners vendors within the international market together with their monetary survey, market winning ways, new developments and merchandise offerings within the global Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.Hence, this report can useful for Digital Impression Standalone Scanners vendors, system integrators, and connected business partners to acknowledge key investment regions and outline their ways.What Digital Impression Standalone Scanners Market Report Contributes?-Comprehensive Study of the global Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.-Evaluation of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market progress.-Important revolution in Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.-Share study of Digital Impression Standalone Scanners industry.-Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market primary strategies of dominant manufacturers.-Full data regarding Segmentation details of the Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.-Rising Digital Impression Standalone Scanners industry segments and local markets.-Endorsement to firms in order to establish/entrench their niche within the Digital Impression Standalone Scanners market.About Us :MARKET RESEARCH EXPLORE is a huge market research platform which provides market intelligence reports and consulting services. It includes latest industrial reports by reputed publishers.Contact Us :United StatesEmail @ :sales@marketresearchexplore.com
Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market 2017 by End-User, Geography, Analysis and Forecast to 2023

Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/vinyl-acetate-homopolymer-emulsion-market-4043

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Vinyl Acetate Homopolymers, also known as PVA Homopolymer or PVA, are synthetic polymer and a member of vinyl ester family. Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer provides a superior base for heat resistant and faster setting adhesives along with the excellent water resistance capacity as compared to other polymers. PVA emulsion is one of the excellent crosslinking emulsions and is used in designing wood for interior and exterior. It possess the superior properties such as good adhesion and high durability, which makes it suitable for various end-use industries such as wood, paints & coatings, paperboard & packaging, and others.Request a Sample Report @Increasing effort for the use of low VOC coating is expected to drive the growth of the Global Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market over the forecast period. Moreover, social and regulatory intervention promoting the usage of eco-friendly emulsion adding fuel to the demand for Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion. Increasing investment in the construction industry as well as the expansion of paints & coatings sector in developing regions are driving the growth of the market. Additionally, rising consumer awareness regarding harmful impact of solvent based emulsions is driving the growth of the Global Vinyl Acetate Homopolymers Market. However, the higher price of Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion as compared to the conventional is expected to hamper the growth of the market over the forecast period.Key Players:Some of the prominent players operating in the Global Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsions Market are Celanese Corporation (U.S), Pexi Chem Private Limited. (India), Tailored Chemical (U.S), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S), Xyntra Chemicals B.V. (the Netherlands), Acquos (Australia), Wacker Chemie AG (Germany).Regional Analysis:The Global Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market consists of five regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & Africa. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the rising demand from end use industries such as wood, textile, paperboard & packaging, and paints & coatings. The demand for Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion is projected to surge in developing countries such as India, China, and Japan due to growing construction activities and development of paper & packaging industry. Whereas in Europe and North America, manufacturers are adopting production of low VOC based products to compel with the regulatory norms implemented by various regulatory bodies such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and European Chemical Agency (ECHA).The Middle East & Africa is expected to witness a substantial growth during the review period. Rising development activities combined with the increasing demand for VOC free paint is expected to drive the growth of the market in this region.Browse Full Report Details @Asia Pacific emerged as the biggest local market for Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion followed by Europe and North America. European countries such as Germany, Spain, France, UK, Denmark, and Italy have developed the prominent consumer markets and are expected to witness average growth over forecasted period.North America is expected to witness stable growth in the usage of Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsions over the forecast period. The U.S. is expected to dominate Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market in the region followed by Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala.Latin American countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile are also projected to witness steady growth due to the swift in the expansion of paints & coatings and textile industries.Segmentation:The Global Vinyl Acetate Homopolymer Emulsion Market is segmented on the basis of applications, end use industries, and regions.Based on the application, the market is segmented into coatings, wood glues, adhesives, and others.On the basis of end use industries, the market is categorized into wood, textile, paperboard & packaging, building & construction, paints & coatings, and others.On the basis of regions, this market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & Africa.Key Points from Table of Contents:11. Company Profiles11.1 Celanese Corporation11.1.1 Company Overview11.1.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.1.3 Financial Updates11.1.4 Key Developments11.2 Pexi Chem Private Limited.11.2.1 Company Overview11.2.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.2.3 Financial Updates11.2.4 Key Developments11.3 Tailored Chemical11.3.1 Company Overview11.3.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.3.3 Financial Updates11.3.4 Key Developments11.4 The Dow Chemical Company11.4.1 Company Overview11.4.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.4.3 Financial Updates11.4.4 Key Developments11.5 Xyntra Chemicals B.V.11.5.1 Company Overview11.5.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.5.3 Financial Updates11.5.4 Key DevelopmentsMake an Enquiry before buying @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Frozen Fish Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022

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Pune, India, 1st September 2017: WiseGuyReports announced addition of new report, titled Global Frozen Fish Sales Market Report 2017.In this report, the global Frozen Fish market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Frozen Fish for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGET SAMPLE REPORT @Global Frozen Fish market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Frozen Fish sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAquaChileClearwater SeafoodHigh Liner FoodsIglo GroupLeroy SeafoodMarine HarvestAustevoll SeafoodToyo Suisan KaishaLyons SeafoodsSajo IndustriesMarine InternationalSurapon Foods PublicTassal GroupTri Marine InternationalCollins SeafoodsOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFrozen Cartilage fishFrozen Bony fishOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Frozen Fish for each application, includingDirect ConsumptionProcessing ConsumptionTable of Content: Key PointsGlobal Frozen Fish Sales Market Report 20171 Frozen Fish Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Frozen Fish1.2 Classification of Frozen Fish by Product Category1.2.1 Global Frozen Fish Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Frozen Fish Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Frozen Cartilage fish1.2.4 Frozen Bony fish1.3 Global Frozen Fish Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Frozen Fish Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Direct Consumption1.3.3 Processing Consumption1.4 Global Frozen Fish Market by Region1.4.1 Global Frozen Fish Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Frozen Fish Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Frozen Fish (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Frozen Fish Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Frozen Fish Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Frozen Fish Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Frozen Fish Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Frozen Fish Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Frozen Fish Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Frozen Fish (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Frozen Fish Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Frozen Fish Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Frozen Fish (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Frozen Fish Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Frozen Fish Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Frozen Fish (Volume) by Application3 United States Frozen Fish (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Frozen Fish Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Frozen Fish Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Frozen Fish Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Frozen Fish Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Frozen Fish (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Frozen Fish Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Frozen Fish Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Frozen Fish Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Frozen Fish Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Frozen Fish Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Frozen Fish (Volume, Value and Sales Price)ContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Digital Integrated Passive Device Market 2017- Business Trends and Startegic Plan to Achive Positive Growth before 2020

Digital Integrated Passive Device Market

http://bit.ly/2iN2wwl

http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-digital-integrated-passive-device-market-2017-production.html

Global Digital Integrated Passive Device Market 2017 Survival Strategies explore Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022A Research study on " Global Digital Integrated Passive Device Market 2017-2022 " represent the market share and size of Digital Integrated Passive Device in international Industry. MRS Research Group added latest market research report by QY Research. Research Report provides an essential information and statistically evaluated data about the Digital Integrated Passive Device. The research report provides a detailed study of the Digital Integrated Passive Device market, enlightening the major areas such as future market scenario, market growth factors, market growth restraints, and others. The advanced technological trends and various new opportunities are also provided in this research report.Research Report Analysis by Important Manufacturers in Global Market Include:STATS ChipPAC Ltd(US), ON Semiconductor(US), STMicroelectronics(Switzerland), Infineon Technologies AG(GE), Amkor Technology(US)Get Free Sample Copy Of Report @The research report provides the Digital Integrated Passive Device markets classification in detail. The Digital Integrated Passive Device market is bifurcated into a number of segments on the basis of materials,types,applications,and end-users. The geographical analysis of the global Digital Integrated Passive Device market is also coveredin the report. The vital information mentioned in the research report helps in significantly predicting the future scope of the global market.The various segmentation of the global market is based on the overall product profit, costing, global market growth, and manufacturing processes. The report covers a region-wise analysis which provides the customer with different market studies that give a detailed analysis of the product and its impact on the global market. The Digital Integrated Passive Device report also highlights the growth statistics depending on the supply and demand in the different regions.Read Complete Report with TOC @The Digital Integrated Passive Device report covers the precisely studied and evaluated data of the global market players and their scope in the market using a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such asinvestment return analysies, SWOT analysis and feasibility studyare used to analyze the keyglobal market players growth in the Digital Integrated Passive Device industry.Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com
Almond Drink Market Report For 2017-2024  Companies, Applications, Products and More

https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/1838

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1838

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Almond Drink Market size is expected to witness significant growth due to its rise in application in food & beverages industry over the forecast period. Growing number of patients suffering from lactose deficiency will also drive product demand.In a research of WHO in 2016, it was found that around 60%, 25% and 20% of adult population in Argentina, America and Canada respectively have lactose intolerance that in turn has upsurge the demand for almond drink. Unlike cows, almond milk is free from lactose, increasing its usage.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Growing health consciousness regarding dairy milk alternatives will further raise product applications. In addition, to increase its consumption, several companies are manufacturing sugar free products. These factors will boost the almond drink marketMilk contains low density lipoprotein (LDL) that helps in reduction of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and thus improves hearth stability. These are rich in vitamin C, D, E and considered good substitute for breast milk. New methods including using organic activated nuts that are easy to digest and have better nutrient absorption ability will increase product consumption.Make an inquiry for buying this report @Organic almond milk manufacturing companies including Nutriops contains over 10% of organic activated nuts in their drink. There has been an increase in vegan population in recent past and they do not eat or use animal products consisting egg and milk. Growth in product acceptance by vegan population is anticipated to drive almond drink market share.Almond milk is creamy textured milk obtained from almonds and has nutty taste. It is manufactured by grinding nuts, blending with water and straining out the pulp. It can also be produced by adding water in almond butter. Calcium content in its milk is higher than that of cows milk. It is free from cholesterol and lactose and enriched with vitamins and traditionally consumed in Mediterranean region. It also comprises of around two third of US plant milk market. As of religious tradition, it is consumed by Muslims and Christians during the period of Ramadan and Lent festive respectively.Major restraint for almond drink market is its price. Almond cultivation is generally not sustainable and consumes more water. Almonds nuts are costly that in turn increases the milks cost and hence not affordable for general public. It has low protein content and if consumed alone may lead to protein deficiency. People having weak digestion can face abdominal cramps on its consumption. These factors may hinder in almond drink market growth.On the basis of form, product is classified into plain sweetened, unsweetened and flavoured form. Flavoured form is available in vanilla and chocolate flavour and has huge demand in children due to its improved taste. Plain sweetened is expected to gain major share in almond drink market owing to growing usage in beverages including puddings, ice creams, baked products, smoothies and shakes. Rise in diabetics patients on a global level will drive demand for unsweetened product and in turn increasing almond milk market share.Based on application, almond milk market is segmented into food, beverage and cosmetics. Beverage accounts for the maximum share in almond drink market owing to its increasing use as a dairy alternative. Dairy alternatives market is expected to grow at a CAGR above 15% upto 2024 and shall drive product demand. Food has substantial share with its use in cheese, desserts, snacks and bakery products. It is rich in vitamin E and oxidants which is good for skin nurturing and helps in repairing damaged skin. These are used in cleansing lotion along with rosewater to remove dirt and impurities from skin.Based on distribution channel, almond drink market is classified into grocerants, department & grocery stores and online retailers. Grocerants have major share as urban and semi urban population prefer these owing to ease in availability of product. There has been considerable increase in number of stores with major players like Walmart. With the increase in online platforms, discount offers and easy delivery, there has been around 10 % increase in online sale. Department and grocery stores have decent share and witnessing substantial growth with increase in local demand for the product.North America dominates the global almond drink market owing to increase in lactose intolerant consumers in the region. Consumers have become more health conscious and prefer nutrition over content. In the U.S., it has surpassed the consumption of soy milk and comprises around 60% of plant milk sales.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing almond drink market owing to increase in population and disposable consumer income. Rise in vegan population will also positively impact the product growth. Europe, led by Germany and UK is expected to witness substantial growth due to growing number of dairy alternatives. Presence of Spain and Italy as major producer of almonds has further eased the availability of nuts for milk production.Some of the major industry players in the almond drink market include Blue Diamonds, Fuerst Day Lawson, Califia farms and Earths Own Food. Oher promote industry players are Provamel, White Wave Foods, Alpro and Nutriops.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Active Protection Systems 2017 Global Market Key Players  The Raytheon Company, SAAB AB, Airbus Group, Rheinmetall AG, Safran Electronics & Defence  Analysis and Forecast to 2022

Active Protection Systems Market

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1613072-global-active-protection-systems-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022

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Active Protection Systems Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds Active Protection Systems Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:The report provides in depth study of Active Protection Systems Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The Active Protection Systems Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.This report studies the global Active Protection Systems market, analyzes and researches the Active Protection Systems development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeThe Raytheon CompanySAAB ABKONSTRUKTORSKOYE BYURO MASHYNOSTROYENIYARafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.Airbus GroupRheinmetall AGSafran Electronics & DefenceAselsan A.S.Artis, LLCIsrael Military IndustriesThis report has a complete understanding of market value and quantity, technological progress, macro-economic and governmental policy based on past and present data along with the current and upcoming trends in the market.Request a Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Active Protection Systems can be split intoRadar DecoyElectro-Optics JammersInfrared DecoyDirected EnergyLight Weapon DefenseRocket/Missile BasedOthersMarket segment by Application, Active Protection Systems can be split intoDefenseHomeland SecurityIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points in Table of Content:Global Active Protection Systems Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Active Protection Systems1.1 Active Protection Systems Market Overview1.1.1 Active Protection Systems Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Active Protection Systems Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Active Protection Systems Market by Type1.3.1 Radar Decoy1.3.2 Electro-Optics Jammers1.3.3 Infrared Decoy1.3.4 Directed Energy1.3.5 Light Weapon Defense1.3.6 Rocket/Missile Based1.3.7 Others1.4 Active Protection Systems Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Defense1.4.2 Homeland Security2 Global Active Protection Systems Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Active Protection Systems Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 The Raytheon Company3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 SAAB AB3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 KONSTRUKTORSKOYE BYURO MASHYNOSTROYENIYA3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Airbus Group3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Rheinmetall AG3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Safran Electronics & Defence3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Aselsan A.S.3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Artis, LLC3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Israel Military Industries3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Active Protection Systems Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent DevelopmentsContinued.Buy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Sales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
High Performance Polyester Market 2017 - Celanese Corporation (U.S), Solvay S.A. (Belgium), DuPont (U.S), Evonik (Germany)

High Performance Polyester Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4073

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/high-performance-polyester-market-4073

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High Performance Polyesters are polyesters with added properties such as high durability and excellent tensile strength. They exhibit superior properties such as corrosion resistance, high shock absorption, and outstanding elasticity which makes it suitable for end-use industries such as packaging, building & construction, electrical & electronics, automotive and others.High Performance Polyester Strapping Material are easy to clean and safe while handling as compared to steel strapping, thus driving the Global High Performance Polyester Market growth over the forecast period. Moreover, increasing demand for light weight automobile parts in automotive sector, is expected to drive the market. In addition, rapid industrialization coupled with rising disposable income drives the market growth. Increasing investment in the construction industry as well as the expansion of packaging sector in developing regions are anticipated to fuel market growth. Growing use of High Performance Polyester as an insulation in electrical & electronics industry is driving market growth over the forecast period. However, rise in demand of bio-plastics in coming years can hamper the market growth further.Request a Sample Report @Key Players:Some of the prominent players operating in the Global High Performance Polyester Market are Celanese Corporation (U.S), Solvay S.A. (Belgium), DuPont (U.S), Evonik (Germany), Satyen Polymers Pvt. Ltd (India), The Shepherd Chemical Company (U.S), U-PICA Company Ltd. (Japan), Eastman Chemical Company (U.S), Ashland.(U.S), BASF SE (Germany), and others.Regional Analysis:The Global High Performance Polyester Market consists of five regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & Africa. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the increasing demand from end use industries such as packaging, building & construction, electrical & electronics, automotive and others. The demand for High Performance Polyester is projected to surge in developing countries such as India, China, and Japan due to growing automotive industry and rise in construction activities as well. Whereas in North America and Europe, manufacturers are adopting production of recyclable products based on High Performance Polyester due to shifting consumer trend towards high usage of recyclable products. North America is expected to witness substantial growth in the usage of High Performance Polyester Market over the forecast period. The U.S is expected to dominate High Performance Polyester Market in the region followed by Mexico and Canada. Latin American countries such as Colombia, Chile, and Brazil are also projected to witness steady growth with the expansion of packaging and automotive industries in these countries. Middle East & Africa high performance polyester demand may observe notable growth due to rising construction activities.Browse Full Report Details @Segmentation:The Global High Performance Polyester Market is segmented on the basis of applications, end use industries, and regions. Based on the application, the market is segmented into strap, tape, insulation, gelcoat, films and others. On the basis of end use industries, the market is categorized into packaging, building & construction, electrical & electronics, automotive and others. On the basis of regions, this market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & Africa.Key Points from Table of Contents:11. Company Profiles11.1 Celanese Corporation11.1.1 Company Overview11.1.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.1.3 Financial Updates11.1.4 Key Developments11.2 Solvay S.A.11.2.1 Company Overview11.2.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.2.3 Financial Updates11.2.4 Key Developments11.3 DuPont11.3.1 Company Overview11.3.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.3.3 Financial Updates11.3.4 Key Developments11.4 Evonik11.4.1 Company Overview11.4.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.4.3 Financial Updates11.4.4 Key Developments11.5 Satyen Polymers Pvt. Ltd.11.5.1 Company Overview11.5.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.5.3 Financial Updates11.5.4 Key DevelopmentsMake an Enquiry before buying @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Embedded Module Market 2017- Business Trends and Startegic Plan to Achive Positive Growth before 2020

Embedded Module Market

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http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-embedded-module-market-2017-production-sales-supply.html

Global Embedded Module Market 2017 Survival Strategies explore Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022A Research study on " Global Embedded Module Market 2017-2022 " represent the market share and size of Embedded Module in international Industry. MRS Research Group added latest market research report by QY Research. Research Report provides an essential information and statistically evaluated data about the Embedded Module. The research report provides a detailed study of the Embedded Module market, enlightening the major areas such as future market scenario, market growth factors, market growth restraints, and others. The advanced technological trends and various new opportunities are also provided in this research report.Research Report Analysis by Important Manufacturers in Global Market Include:Abaco Systems(USA), Actis Computer(USA), Huawei(CHN), Kontron(USA), Murata Manufacturing(JP), MSC Technologies(UK), Sierra Wireless(GE), Texas Instruments(USA)Get Free Sample Copy Of Report @The research report provides the Embedded Module markets classification in detail. The Embedded Module market is bifurcated into a number of segments on the basis of materials,types,applications,and end-users. The geographical analysis of the global Embedded Module market is also coveredin the report. The vital information mentioned in the research report helps in significantly predicting the future scope of the global market.The various segmentation of the global market is based on the overall product profit, costing, global market growth, and manufacturing processes. The report covers a region-wise analysis which provides the customer with different market studies that give a detailed analysis of the product and its impact on the global market. The Embedded Module report also highlights the growth statistics depending on the supply and demand in the different regions.Read Complete Report with TOC @Research Report Provides :A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketEmerging niche segments and regional marketsImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelMarket shares and strategies of key playersHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsThe Embedded Module report covers the precisely studied and evaluated data of the global market players and their scope in the market using a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such asinvestment return analysies, SWOT analysis and feasibility studyare used to analyze the keyglobal market players growth in the Embedded Module industry.Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com
US Regenerative Medicine Market to post a remarkable CAGR of more than 33% during Forecast 2016-2020

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=499764

http://www.researchmoz.us/regenerative-medicine-market-in-the-us-2016-2020-report.html

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=499764

http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG

Regenerative medicine deals with the process of using therapeutically-induced or laboratory grown human tissue to treat diseased or injured human cells, tissues, or organs. It is an emerging field of treatment that helps in producing new cells to substitute malfunctioning or injured cells as a vehicle to treat disease and injury. The regenerative medicine market can be characterized into three major modalities, namely tissue engineering, biomaterials/biomolecules, and stem cell therapy.Technavios market research analysts expect the regenerative medicine market in the US to grow at a fast pace, posting a remarkable CAGR of more than 33% during the forecast period because of the growing demand for tissue-engineered and stem cell products for the treatment of various diseases. The potential of these medicines in regenerating diseased organs is one of the major factors that drives the market in the US. The stem cells application and advancements in nanotechnology will further drive the progress in this market.Click to get sample PDF with TOC:Segmentation by product and analysis of - cell therapy and scaffoldCell therapy helps in treating the diseases or to improving the functioning of the existing cells, by administrating of cells into the body. This therapy addresses medical conditions related to the bone, cartilage, heart, skin, digestive system, reproductive system, eye, blood, spine, brain, and the nervous system. In 2015, cell therapy segment accounted for approximately 80% of the market share.The report offers an analysis of each of the following segments and discusses its impact on the overall market growth - Cell therapy ScaffoldBrowse more details at:The year 2015 saw the precedence of the dermatology segment, accounting for a market share of more than 51%. Dermatology includes the treatment of burns and chronic wounds that requires a quick response, and skin grafting is essential in many cases. Factors such as the increase in obesity and diabetes, growing elderly population, and an increase in life expectancy are some of the causes contributing to the growth of the dermatology market.The report offers an analysis of each of the following segments and discusses its impact on the overall market growth - Dermatology Musculoskeletal Ocular CardiovascularCompetitive landscape and key vendors - AkzoNobel, Jotun, PPGRegenerative medicine market in the US is highly competitive and fragmented because of the presence of several established vendors and this competitive environment is expected to intensify with advances in R&D and technological innovations. International players are likely to acquire regional or local players to enhance their products and expand their market share during the forecast period.The top vendors in the market are - Acelity Mesoblast Organogenesis Reprocell StrykerOther prominent vendors include Aastrom Biosciences, Acologix, AlloCure, Allosource, Alphatec Spine, Altrika, Amorcyte, Argos Therapeutics, Athersys, Avita Medical, Axogen, Bacterin International, Baxter, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, BioCardia, BioLife Solutions, BioRestorative Therapies, BioTissue Technologies, Bluebird Bio, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, Calimmune, Capricor, Celyad (Cardio3 BioSciences), Cell Medica, Cesca, CryoLife, Cynata Therapeutics, Cytori, Cytori Therapeutics, Dendreon, DiscGenics, Fate Therapeutics, Fibrocell, Fibrocell Science, Forticell Bioscience, Fortress Biotech, Gamida Cell, Geron, Harvard Apparatus Regenerative TechnologyEnquiry about this Report:About UsResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
UPCOMING EVENTS

Pathways Buffet program continues

Helena Community Connections, Inc. continues its popular Pathways Buffet (formerly Lunch n Learn), which is education and a catered lunch at noon at Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 Broadway. Pathways Buffet programs occur on Wednesdays, Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 1, and Dec. 6. Topics include history, safety and practical information for an enriched quality of life. The Sept. 6 program will be presented by Ellen Baumler, Montana Historical Society, and will feature a pictorial presentation based upon her recent book, Helena: The Town that Gold Built.

Reserve your lunch by calling AARP at 877-926-8300 or online at AARP.org/MT no later than noon, Monday, Sept. 4. A contribution of $5 and nonperishables for Helena Food Share are suggested. AARP Montana covers one half of the cost of the lunches. For information call Alyce at 458-8144.

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Coffee, tea Tuesdays in September

AARP Montana continues to sponsor Free Coffee or Tea Tuesdays, from 9 to 11 a.m., Sept. 5, 12, 19 and 26.

Coffee or tea for AARP members and guest are free when an AARP membership card is shown.

Free Coffee or Tea Tuesdays happen in September, October and November at the Firetower Coffee House, 422 N. Last Chance Gulch, Helena.

For more information contact mt@aarp.org or phone 1-866-295-7278.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

No garbage pickup on Monday

The City of Helena Solid Waste Division will be closed Monday, Sept. 4, in recognition of Labor Day. If your garbage is normally picked up on Monday, you will need to put your container out on Tuesday, Sept. 5, by 7 a.m. for collection. The Transfer Station will also be closed on Sept. 4.

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Montana History Foundation awarded grant

The National Park Service awarded a national grant to the Montana History Foundation this week. It was one of 12 selected out of 47 applicants. The History Foundation wins alongside the ranks of major institutions, such as the Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation and the University of Arkansas.

Out of the 12 winners, The History Foundation is the featured project in the National Park Services grant news release. This is the first time The History Foundation has been awarded a grant from NPS and it is the only recipient from Montana.

The History Foundation will use the $25,000 grant for a three-day workshop next spring to bring experts and community members together for training and education using innovative and integrated technology to preserve Montanas cemeteries.

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Eastgate Volunteer Fire Department receives grant

Sen. Steve Daines has announced $312,000 in funding for the Eastgate Volunteer Fire Department to recruit more firefighters.

At a time when you literally cant escape the smoke in Montana, we are reminded of the importance of the brave folks willing to step up and serve their communities, Daines stated.

The Federal Emergency Management Agencys (FEMA) Fiscal Year 2016 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program is designed to strengthen the nations ability to respond to fire and fire-related hazards, and improve the nations overall level of preparedness.

The SAFER program is comprised of two portions or activities: the Hiring of Firefighters Activity and the Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters Activity. The Hiring of Firefighters Activity awards grants directly to volunteer, combination, and career fire departments to help increase the number of firefighters.

The Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters Activity awards grants to help create a more favorable working environment for volunteer firefighters by increasing the number of trained, certified and competent firefighters capable of responding to emergencies.

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Lewis and Clark County has board openings

Augusta Solid Waste Management District: The board generally oversees the management and operation of the Augusta Solid Waste Management District; 3-year terms. Applicants must reside within the boundaries of the Augusta Solid Waste Management District.

Lewis and Clark County DUI Task Force: Seeking one business owner representative to serve a 2-year term. The DUI Task Force members shall be appointed by the Lewis and Clark County Commission and will include representatives from a cross section of the community, such as, but not limited to, government officials, law enforcement, public health, school personnel, church, civic, and community groups, and citizens at large.

Lincoln Solid Waste District Board: The board generally oversees the management and operation of the Lincoln Solid Waste Management District. Seeking two citizens who live in the Lincoln Solid Waste District; 3-year terms.

Scratchgravel Solid Waste Management District: Seeking one member to serve 3-year term. The Scratchgravel Solid Waste Management District consists of seven members: five serving staggered three-year terms appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, one member appointed by the Board of Health, and one county commissioner.

Transportation Coordinating Committee: Seeking one county representative to serve a 2-year term. The committee shall work closely with the city, county, and state to develop and keep current urban transportation planning, design and construction in the Helena area.

City-County Consolidated Planning Board: Seeking one county resident as a representative to serve a 3-year term. The board performs planning functions for the city and county, and shall be the sole Planning Board to serve either or both governmental entities.

Forestvale Cemetery Board: Trustees must reside in School District Numbers 1 or 3 and will serve 3-year terms. Trustees have the responsibility of maintaining the cemetery; performing all acts necessary or proper; and to establish policies and procedures for management of the cemetery.

Forestvale Historic Preservation Committee: The board reviews and approves all development proposals related to the Forestvale Cemetery and are responsible for assuring compliance will all relevant local, state and federal regulations and requirements pertaining to the cemeterys designation on the Federal Register or Historical Sites. Members must reside within Forestvale Cemetery District; generally described as School Dist. No 1; 3-year terms.

Historic Preservation & Tourism Committee: The council shall consist of seven members who have a demonstrated interest in protecting or promoting the heritage resources of the city and/or the county. Three of the selected members shall have professional expertise in the disciplines of history, planning, archaeology, architecture, architectural history, or other historic preservation-related disciplines such as cultural geography or cultural anthropology. Three members shall have a demonstrated interest in the arts or culture and tourism and economic development in the City and the County and one member of the selected members shall be an architect. Three at-large members to reside outside the City limits, but within the jurisdictional area of the council to be appointed by the county commissioners; three at-large members to reside within the four city limits to be appointed by the mayor of the city of Helena with city commission concurrence and one at-large member to be selected jointly by the county commission chair and the mayor and submitted to their respective commissioners for final approval.

Applications are available at www.lccountymt.gov/bocc/boards.html or by calling 447-8304 and can be submitted to the Lewis and Clark County Commission Office, 316 N. Park Ave., Room 345, Helena, MT 59623.

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Helena author honored by magazine

Highlights magazine has honored author Heather Bode, of Helena, with a Pewter Plate Award for her article titled "Life Behind the Lens," which was published in the August 2017 issue. The article was named Best of the Issue by the editorial, art and production staff. The article is about motion picture camera operator Erik Brown.

Bode taught elementary school prior to the birth of her second child 14 years ago.

Ive enjoyed combining my knowledge of classroom needs and writing for children by producing teachers guides for classroom magazines, Bode says.

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STUDENT NEWS

Kyer Fredrickson, from Capital High School HOSA, will attend the 11th Annual Washington Leadership Academy (WLA), Sept. 16-19, in Washington, D.C. WLA features dynamic workshops and interactive activities to teach HOSA state and chapter officers to be better advocates of HOSAs mission and vision.

While in D.C., delegates will spend a morning on the hill visiting with Montana congressmen and their staff members to discuss HOSAs mission and Montanas health care issues.

Montana HOSA: Future Health Professionals is one of seven Montana Career and Technical Student Organizations operated through Montana Office of Public Instruction. The organization provides opportunities for students to develop their knowledge, leadership and workforce skills to meet the needs of Montanas healthcare industry.

For more information about Montana HOSA contact Martha Robertson, state director, 243-4746, or go to www.montanahosa.org.

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WITH THE COLORS

Austin J. Asbury, of Helena, graduated from the U.S. Army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, on Aug. 24. He was part of the Alpha Co., 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment. As part of his graduation, he was honored by receiving the Army Physical Fitness Award out of 200 recruits. He was also one of five in his platoon to be selected by his drill sergeants for a promotion. He is presently attending his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in construction and masonry at Gulf Port, Mississippi. He is the son on Jim and Gail Asbury.
In-Home Senior Care Franchises Market Volume Analysis, Segments, Value Share and Key Trends 2016-2026

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Every person who is born must eventually grow old at some point. Considering how busy we have all become, it can often seem that life passes us by in a blur. When we do age, though, we usually have only one wish  to live out the rest of our years in safety and comfort. Most of us would also like to live in our own homes if we can make that choice. That is where the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market comes into play. In-home senior care is a perfect fit for the franchising model since it is highly regulated, systems-oriented and highly personal. It enables franchise owners to develop strong ties with both their clients and the community at large. The long-term prospects of the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market are very bright indeed.In-Home Senior Care Franchises Market DriversAn ageing population in the west will be the main driver of the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market. The Baby Boomer generation born immediately following World War II are expected to demand greater medical care and attention. Elderly care in the U.S alone is expected to be worth more than $300 billion in 2016. There is also a major shift towards ageing in place. Most adults like living in the comfort & privacy of their own homes for as long as is possible. Even after they cross the age of 65, people prefer living on their own or with family members rather than in an old-age home. The In-Home Senior Care Franchises market is also expected to get a boost from improving technology. Assistance & safety monitoring equipment has taken a dramatic leap in recent times driven by advances in sensory networks, bio-sensing, robotics, cloud computing and telecommunications. Another factor boosting the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market is the high revenue. In-home senior care requires very low initial investment and the earning opportunities are immense. Franchise owners are likely to earn more than independent providers improving the attractiveness of the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market.Request Report Sample@In-Home Senior Care Franchises Market RestraintsOne of the biggest constraints in the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market is that of cost. In-home care facilities can cost anywhere from $3000 to $6000 a month. This makes it prohibitively expensive even for those families that are insured by insurance companies since they will almost certainly not cover the entire expense. The second challenge is a lack of trained professionals. It can be very difficult for in-home senior care franchises to find qualified nurses, staff or medical professionals to assist their patients. The demand for these individuals is anticipated to be much more than the supply in the years ahead. The third barrier to the growth of the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market is a lack of regulation in the industry. While it might be comforting to think of home health aides as certified professionals, the truth is that they have usually gone through a small training program for the company which hires them. There is no standardisation leading to great confusion about what these individuals are able and unable to do. One more challenge is the intense competition in the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market. This is a 24/7, 365 days a year business which requires franchisees to always be on call. Incumbent companies may offer additional benefits for holding on to their clients, making it difficult for newcomers to the field.In-Home Senior Care Franchises Market Key RegionsThe global In-Home Senior Care Franchises market is divided into North America, E.U, Asia, MENA and the rest of the world. North America is the largest market followed by the E.U. A large geriatric population, technological improvements and government reimbursement for health care are the primary reasons that it is dominant. Asia led by China, Japan and Korea are anticipated to outpace Europe in this decade due to their economic heft and a greater focus on domestic healthcare. Companies would be well advised to focus on the Asian In-Home Senior Care Franchises market for their future growth prospects.Visit For TOC@In-Home Senior Care Franchises Market Key Market PlayersSome companies in the In-Home Senior Care Franchises market are BrightStar, Synergy HomeCare & Right at Home.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Ugandan energy minister Irene Muloni leads a strong line-up of women in power at opening session of Future Energy Uganda in Kampala

"Women play critical roles throughout the energy sector

http://www.future-energy-uganda.com

Women in power is a strong theme for the upcoming Future Energy Ugandas opening session on 13 September which features a high-level line-up including the Minister of Energy and Minerals Development, Irene Muloni, and three leading ladies in the regions energy sector from Power Africa, Siemens and a former Ugandan finance minister.Future Energy Uganda is slated to be THE meeting platform this year for project developers, finance houses and multilateral investors, construction and planning companies as well as technology providers from Uganda, the region and from the rest of the world. The conference will demonstrate the proactive nature of Uganda to increase access to affordable power and support a growing middle class.Day 1, opening session programme, 13 September, 09h00Theme: Access to Power by 2030 Roadmap Chairperson and welcome addressSimon DUjanga, Minister of State for Energy and Mineral Development, Republic of Uganda 09:20 - 09:40Keynote presentation: The role of energy in enabling Uganda to attain middle class statusIrene Nafuna Muloni, Minister of Energy and Minerals Development, Republic of Uganda 09:40 - 10:00Official opening address by the Prime Minister: Laying out government policy and supportRuhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister, Republic of Uganda 10:00 - 10:45Attracting business opportunities and investment in the energy sector- Maria Kiwana Kiwanuka, Senior Adviser to the President of Uganda and Former Minister of Finance, Republic of Uganda- Sabine DallOmo, CEO, Siemens, Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa- Kate Steel, Energy Director, Power Africa, USAWomen in African Power"Women play critical roles throughout the energy sector, says Andrew Herscowitz, Power Africa Coordinator, as policy makers within national and regional governments and institutions,as executives of private sector companies, as entrepreneurs engaged in energy enterprises, as managers within power sector utilities, as employees of generation plants and transmission and distribution systems, and finally as customers of electricity services. For this reason, Power Africa has brought hundreds of women from each of these areas together through our Women in African Power group to find new business opportunities and to exchange ideas."Power Africa's Women in African Power Network aims to elevate the presence and participation of women in Africa's energy sector. The network connects women leaders and emerging leaders to a community of professionals dedicated to supporting women's advancement in the energy sector. Participants enjoy access to business and job opportunities, events and speaking engagements, and shared knowledge and learning events.In Uganda, Siemens primary goal is to assist the government to increase national power generating capacities and to connect the local population to the power grids. A reliable and extensive power supply system is the fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development, economic growth and job creation  this is according to Sabine Dall'Omo, CEO, Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa. Siemens is in the process of establishing a permanent office in Uganda to serve as a base for long term collaboration with Ugandan public and private entities.Industry supportSiemens is this years diamond sponsor for Future Energy Uganda, an indication of the widespread support the event is enjoying from the industry. Lucy Electric are platinum sponsors while Conlong and Eskom South Africa are silver sponsors. Bronze sponsors are African Trade Insurance Agency and Gilkes while Clarke Energy, Netral and Norwegian Energy Partners are strategic partners for Future Energy Uganda.Future Energy Uganda dates and location:Strategic conference: 13-14 September 2017Venue: Serena Hotel, KampalaFuture Energy Uganda is organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon), Agritech Expo Zambia, Kenya Mining Forum, Nigeria Mining Week, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.Senior communications manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsites:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 7947, South Africa
Global Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector Market 2017- Business Trends and Startegic Plan to Achive Positive Growth before 2020

Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector Market

http://bit.ly/2wX3TyS

http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-small-form-factor-sff-simplex-connector-market.html

Global Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector Market 2017 Survival Strategies explore Economic Impact in Global Industries Manufactures, Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Development Challenges and Opportunities till 2022A Research study on " Global Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector Market 2017-2022 " represent the market share and size of Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector in international Industry. MRS Research Group added latest market research report by QY Research. Research Report provides an essential information and statistically evaluated data about the Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector. The research report provides a detailed study of the Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector market, enlightening the major areas such as future market scenario, market growth factors, market growth restraints, and others. The advanced technological trends and various new opportunities are also provided in this research report.Research Report Analysis by Important Manufacturers in Global Market Include:Molex, Siemon, Sanwa, 3M, Optical Cable Corporation, FOSCO, eAccu-TechGet Free Sample Copy Of Report @The research report provides the Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector markets classification in detail. The Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector market is bifurcated into a number of segments on the basis of materials,types,applications,and end-users. The geographical analysis of the global Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector market is also coveredin the report. The vital information mentioned in the research report helps in significantly predicting the future scope of the global market.The various segmentation of the global market is based on the overall product profit, costing, global market growth, and manufacturing processes. The report covers a region-wise analysis which provides the customer with different market studies that give a detailed analysis of the product and its impact on the global market. The Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector report also highlights the growth statistics depending on the supply and demand in the different regions.Read Complete Report with TOC @Research Report Provides :A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketEmerging niche segments and regional marketsImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelMarket shares and strategies of key playersHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsThe Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector report covers the precisely studied and evaluated data of the global market players and their scope in the market using a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such asinvestment return analysies, SWOT analysis and feasibility studyare used to analyze the keyglobal market players growth in the Small Form Factor (SFF) Simplex Connector industry.Abou Us: MRS Research Group provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@mrsresearchgroup.com
Worldwide Technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cars and Light Trucks Industry 2017 to 2023

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Albany, NY, 1st September : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cars and Light Trucks: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2017 to 2023" globally.The 2017 study has 826 pages, 290 tables and figures. Worldwide markets are poised to achieve significant growth as Artificial Intelligence (AI) cars and light trucks permit users to implement automated driving. Fleet vehicles from Uber, Google and similar users are likely to be the early adopter groups, creating vehicles that do package delivery and ride sharing. Tesla, Mercedes, and Audi are among the vendors with a leadership position in the personal luxury vehicle artificial intelligence (AI) car markets. These cars provide performance and cater to individual preference in feature function packages and styling.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Every car maker seeks to participate in this Artificial Intelligence (AI) personal vehicle market. The ability to do so depends on implementing next generation technology that is very expensive to get working. Vendors ae seeking to work together to set standards and develop shared modules that provide basic functionality. Cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence software, and LiDAR are among the modules being developed.Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to institute major change in personal mobility. Autonomous cars are the next generation of manual cars, poised to provide thrust for a large replacement market. Autonomous vehicles are the base for building personal car services, particularly in large cities. Carmakers and Silicon Valley companies bring different skills to the task of building a Artificial Intelligence (AI) car. Together they are finding common ground to transform the personal vehicle industry. One thing they are unlikely to transform is performance.Every person who owns a vehicle has a preference on performance. The Tesla has gained recognition for offering a Artificial Intelligence (AI) vehicle, but it is first and foremost a performance vehicle. This characteristic will not change as Artificial Intelligence (AI) vehicles come on the market. People like the customization of features and functions in their car.This customization aspect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) vehicles does not get talked about much, but it is a very important part of the industry. It will not go away just because cars are run by software. From auto racing to personal preference, ever car has its own personality and its own comfort. Performance is part of the package. Every car maker seeks to participate in this Artificial Intelligence (AI) personal vehicle market with a distinctive offering. The ability to have unique appear to customers depends on implementing next generation technology in a manner that works effectively and is relatively inexpensive to implement.Apple, IBM, and Google are sure to be among the significant software vendors for all the Artificial Intelligence (AI) car and light truck market participants. IBM has a huge head start with its excellent middleware branded integrated solutions that are hardened and reliable. Google has mindshare and early market success with its early market trials.As automated process hits the auto industry as a disruptive force, it parallels the automated piloting of the airline industry that saw significant labor savings implementation. Automated vehicle driving can be done anywhere just by connecting the car to integrated adaptive cruise control, adaptive steering and braking, and lane assist systems all working off one central processor.Artificial Intelligence (AI) cars and light trucks incrementally add automated process to driving. As software is added to cars and light trucks it is done in concert with modification to the steering, breaking, and other automotive systems. Autonomous functions for vehicles are increasingly adopted.Make an Enquiry about TOC @Change is incremental, we do not have fully functioning Artificial Intelligence (AI) cars immediately, rather, steering, collision avoidance, parking, test driving, series of camera and radar based monitoring systems, lane assist, and adaptive cruise control are being implemented, presaging rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) cars and light trucks as the various functions mature and work in the real world.According to Susan Eustis, team leader for the preparation of the study, The market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) car and light truck vehicles is anticipated to expand in parallel with the deployment of appropriate roadway controls funded by government programs. The large public investments for Artificial Intelligence (AI) vehicles so far has been for development of technology that works for military purposes. The extension of this type of automated system to commercial fleet vehicles will be rapid after 2019The Artificial Intelligence (AI) car designs amalgamate a group of features to represent an automated process solution. These include the hardware, the software middleware, the steering system, adaptive cruise control, numerous software applications, an integrated systems approach, and related services. Significant investments in research and development are necessary as the emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) cars and light trucks industry builds on incremental technology roll outs.Artificial Intelligence (AI) car and light truck commercial market shipments forecasts indicate that markets beginning to develop in 2016 will rise to $3.6 trillion by 2023. Spectacular growth is a result of various moves toward autonomous vehicles that can go across the US by themselves, provide automated navigation,, integrated braking and steering. Most auto vendors have gone beyond the testing stage to offer vehicles that have strong navigation capability.Safety modules are complimented by mapping vehicles that provide navigation. The Tesla and other vehicles provide driver alerts but fall sort of complete Artificial Intelligence (AI).Market driving forces relate primarily to the need for increased safety and personalization for autos. Car manufacturers are positioning with Artificial Intelligence (AI) car models to meet demand at the high end, and in every category of car and light truck. Many Artificial Intelligence (AI) vehicle car vendors are making automation for personal vehicles and light trucks a reality.Browse Report @Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersAMDAppleBMWBoschDaimler AG / Mercedes-BenzFordFujiGMGoogleHyundaiIBMIntel / MobileyeKairosNissanNVIDIANXPQualcommSamsungSoftbankTesla GroupTexas Instruments (TI)ToyotaUberVolkswagen / AudiMarket ParticipantsAudiBAE SystemsBoston DynamicsBosch GroupBMWBuick GroupChrysler / DodgeDaimler AG/Mercedes-BenzECA RoboticsElbit SystemsEvatran GroupFord / LincolnFuji Heavy Industries / SubaruGeneral DynamicsGoogle Artificial Intelligence (AI) CarGM / CadillacKongsbergJaguar Land RoverLockheed MartinMesa RoboticsMitsubishiNissanQualcommToyota / LexusVecna TechnologiesVolkswagen / PorscheVolvoVisteonWiTricityResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on :
Frozen Food Packaging Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2017-2027

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Introduction:The growing urbanization and fast paced lifestyle means less time for cooking a traditional home cooked meal. In addition, the number of females going out for jobs has increased the dependency on readymade and convenience food. All these factors have led to the rise in demand for frozen food which further accelerated the growth in frozen food packaging market.Frozen foods are preferred over fresh foods, as it can be stored for longer periods and also can be prepared in very less time. The packaging for frozen food also increases the shelf life of the product and maintains the nutrition value for the food items. One of the reasons for the growth in the frozen food packaging market is that the packaging has become an important factor in the food industry and the continuous innovation and development in the packaging of food items attracts the customer and hence drives the overall growth in the frozen food market.Request Report Sample@Frozen Food Packaging Market Dynamics:The most important factor which has accelerated the growth of frozen food packaging market is the growth in the demand for frozen food. The global frozen food market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 4% during the forecast period of 2016- 2024. Some of the factors which have fueled this growth are dynamic lifestyle, urbanization, changing food habits, increasing disposable income, increase interest in international foods, increase in number of nuclear families and easy availability of products due to rise in number of retail chains. Furthermore, the increase in investments for innovative packaging and development of new features in the existing products by the vendors drives the growth in the frozen food packaging market. Some of the innovating packaging trends like tear notch, hanging holes, sealable zippers, single serve packaging further drives the demand for frozen food packaging market.Even though the frozen food packaging market looks attractive, there are certain factors that can offset this growth. One of the factor that acts as a restraint in the frozen food packaging market is that, there is a section of population that remain resistant to the use frozen food as they believe it is unhealthy and less tasty.Frozen Food Packaging Market Segmentation:On the basis of food type, the global frozen food packaging market is segmented into:Frozen Meat, poultry, and seafoodBaked goodsFrozen specialties (pizza, side dishes, breakfast food etc)Frozen Fruits and vegetablesFrozen potatoesFrozen SoupIce creamOn the basis of product type, the global frozen food packaging market is segmented into:BagsBoxesPouchesFilmsTraysTubs and cupsWrapsCansCartonsOn the basis of material, the global frozen food packaging market is segmented into:PlasticAluminumCardboardGlassWoodFrozen Food Packaging Market- Regional Outlook:Geographically, the frozen food packaging market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The global frozen food packaging market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 5% during the forecast period (2016 -2024). North America and Europe are expected to witness a healthy growth in the frozen food packaging market due to high demand in packaged food and frozen food market. However, Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest rate, largely due to the developing economies like India and China where the demand for frozen food is on rise as more hypermarkets and supermarkets are coming up and also due to rising urbanization in these regions. Additionally, MEA is also expected to witness an above average growth in frozen food packaging market due growing retail network in the region.Visit For TOC@Frozen Food Packaging Market- Key Players:Some of the leading players identified across the globe in the frozen food packaging market are: Printpack, Inc., Amcor Ltd, Crown Holdings, Inc., Ball Corporation, Pactiv LLC, Bemis Company, Inc., Sealed Air Corporation, WestRock Company, Graphic Packaging International, Inc, FLAIR Flexible Packaging Corporation, International Paper Company and Huhtamaki N.A.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Biologics Contract Manufacturing Market Globally Expected to Drive Growth through 2027

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Biologics are genetically engineered proteins which originate from human genes. These drugs target the specific parts of the immune system. Biologics are entirely different from chemically synthesized drugs. There is wide range of biologics products include vaccines, blood components, allergenic, somatic cells, gene therapy and recombinant therapeutic proteins. Biologics are constituted as nucleic acids or proteins or may be cells and tissue from living entities. Biologics are isolated from different sources such as animal, human or microbes by using different biotechnological methods. Biologics are a complex mixture, and it is heat sensitive product and highly susceptible to microbial contamination. Therefore manufacturing of biologics needs very aseptic environment and skilled professional. Hence, the demand for biologic contract manufacturing has shown subsequent growth. The pharmaceutical companies are signing an agreement with CMOs for the manufacturing of biologics.Biologics Contract Manufacturing Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe factors driving the growth of biologics contract manufacturing are growing number of drug development by traditional pharmaceutical companies and the entrance of various small manufacturers in the pharmaceutical market. Increasing rate of drug approval by FDA and number drugs in the pipeline has also boosted the growth of biologic contract manufacturing market. Increase in generic drugs competition and rise in patent expiry has also propelled the growth of biologics contract manufacturing market. Increasing geriatric population and increasing the prevalence of diseases such as cancer are driving the growth of biologic contract manufacturing market. Production of biologics requires highly skilled professional and aseptic environment which will restrain the growth of this market. Beside that production of biologics are very complex and costly method which can again hamper the growth of this market.Request Report Sample@Biologics Contract Manufacturing Market: SegmentationBased on product type biologics contract manufacturing market is segmented into followingAntisenseCell TherapyGene TherapyGrowth FactorsInterferonsMonoclonal AntibodiesRecombinant HormonesRNA InterferenceVaccinesOthersBased on indication biologics contract manufacturing market is segmented into followingAutoimmune DisordersBlood DisordersCancerCardiovascular DiseasesDigestive DisorderEye ConditionGenetic DisorderInfectious DiseasesMusculoskeletal DisordersNeurologic DisordersRespiratory DisordersSkin DiseasesOthersBased on geography biologics contract manufacturing market is segmented into followingNorth AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding JapanJapanMiddle East and AfricaBiologics Contract Manufacturing Market: OverviewBiologics contract manufacturing is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period. Biologics cover around 10-15% of revenue from overall revenue generated by leading pharmaceutical companies. Biologics contract manufacturing market is expected to show double growth in every five years. This market is growing because of traditional pharmaceutical companies are unable for meet the need required for the production of biologics, besides that they are also the lack of skilled professional. Biologic contract manufacturing market can be classified by product type and indication. On the basis on product type biologic contract manufacturing market is classified as antisense, gene therapy, cell therapy, growth factors, interferons, monoclonal antibodies, recombinant hormones, RNA interference, vaccines and others. From all product type monoclonal antibodies is expected to dominate the biologic contract manufacturing market.Biologics Contract Manufacturing Market: Regional OverviewRegion-wise contract manufacturing market is classified as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to dominate the biologics contract manufacturing due to rise in FDA approval in last decade. Western Europe and Asia-Pacific then follow this market. Western Europe is projected to show subsequent growth due to the high availability of skilled professional for the production of biologics. Asia-Pacific region is expected to show the fastest growth over the forecast period owing to rise in the number of CMOs.Visit For TOC@Biologics Contract Manufacturing Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in biologics contract manufacturing market are Boehringer Ingelheim, Lonza, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies U.S.A., Inc., Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH, Celonic AG, AutekBio Co. Ltd., WuXiAppTec, Kemwell Biopharma, Shasun Pharma, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Syngene, Piramal Pharma Solutions, AAIPharma Services, Alpax Pharmaceuticals, Cantab Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, 3P Biopharmaceuticals, and BIBITEC GmbH.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Occlusion Balloon Catheter Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2017-2027

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Balloon Catheter is an advance medical device which consists of guidewires and catheter. This balloon catheter is inserted into the femoral artery of the leg or sometimes in radial artery of the arm to treat the constricted in the blood vessels. Blood vessel constriction are caused due to arteriosclerosis i.e. deposition of lipid substances in blood vessels. Balloon catheters are of two types, high-pressure balloon catheter and low-pressure balloon catheter. A low-pressure balloon catheter is also referred as occlusion balloon catheter or elastomeric balloon catheter. Occlusion balloon catheter is typically deep molded in a tubular shape and then expanded to several times their original size during use. Occlusion balloon catheter have the thin wall surrounding its balloon and having high tensile strength. Occlusion balloon catheter is used for sealing when precise size and shape are required.Occlusion Balloon CatheterMarket: Drivers and RestraintsThe major factors driving the growth of occlusion balloon catheter market are rising prevalence of cardiac diseases and increasing geriatric population. The rise in disposable income and growing healthcare expenditure is fueling the growth of occlusion catheter market. Favorable reimbursement policies and increasing government support by developing economies has also responsible for the growth of occlusion catheter market. Awareness campaign by NGO about awareness of cardiac diseases are low driving factors for occlusion balloon catheter market. New innovative technologies and increasing product launch for balloon catheters has upsurge the growth of occlusion balloon catheter market. On the other hand, the high cost of angioplasty and risk of infection during surgery can hamper the growth of occlusion balloon catheter market.Request Report Sample@Occlusion Balloon CatheterMarket: SegmentationThe global occlusion balloon catheter market is classified on the basis of material type, indication, end user, and region.Based on material type occlusion balloon catheter market is segmented into following:LatexSiliconeOthersBased on indication occlusion balloon catheter market is segmented into following:Coronary Artery DiseasesPeripheral Vascular DiseasesBased on end user occlusion balloon catheter market is segmented into following:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersCardiac Catheterization LaboratoriesBased on region occlusion balloon catheter market is segmented into following:North AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding JapanJapanMiddle East & AfricaOcclusion Balloon CatheterMarket: OverviewThe global occlusion balloon catheter is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period due to rising prevalence of cardiac diseases. The increasing number of patient undergoing for renal surgeries has increased the demand for occlusion balloon catheter. Occlusion balloon catheters are segmented on the basis of material, indication and end user. On the basis of material occlusion balloon catheter is classified as latex, silicone and others. Latex material is expected to dominate the market share in term of value for occlusion balloon catheter market. On the basis of end user occlusion balloon catheter market is classified as hospitals, ambulatory surgical center and cardiac catheterization laboratories. Among all the end user hospitals are expected to gain maximum market share in term of value. The manufacturing of low-cost occlusion balloon catheters by manufacturing companies can provide the opportunity for this market to grow more in low economic countries.Occlusion Balloon CatheterMarket: Regional OverviewOn the basis of regional presence global occlusion balloon catheter are classified into seven key regions  North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the most lucrative market for occlusion balloon catheter due to high healthcare infrastructure and favorable reimbursement scenario. After North America, occlusion balloon catheter market is then followed by Western Europe and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan. In APEJ region, India and China are the major markets for occlusion balloon catheter due to high prevalence of cardiac diseases and increasing geriatric population.Visit For TOC@Occlusion Balloon Catheter Market: Key PlayersBoston Scientific Inc., OSCOR, Inc., Stryker, Medtronic, Edward Life Sciences Corporation, Cook Medical, TeleMed Systems, Inc., Terumo Corporation, ENDOCOR GmbH, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG are some of the players of occlusion balloon catheter market. Major market players of occlusion balloon catheter market are focusing on mergers and acquisitions to maintain their market share.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Maraging Steel Market Report Predicts Healthy Growth with Demand from Emerging Sectors  Market Study Report

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The study on the global market for Maraging Steel has evaluated the historical and current performance of this market, especially highlighting the key trends and growth opportunities. According to the study, the rising demand for this product is driving the global market for Maraging Steel significantly. The expansion in the various related industry is also expected to reflect positively on the sales of Maraging Steel product over the next few years.Request a Sample Copy of Global Maraging Steel Market Research Report @This report studies the Maraging Steel market. Maraging steel is 18% nickel, cobalt strengthened steel (C-type) with excellent properties, workability and heat treatment characteristics. Maraging is double vacuum melted by VIM (Vacuum Induction Melt) followed by VAR (Vacuum Arc Remelt). Maraging material is supplied in the annealed and descaled condition. The alloy is very tough, relatively soft (RC 30/35), readily machined or formed. Maraging provides a high value for critical parts in aerospace, structural, component and tooling Application.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Maraging Steel in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Hitachi Metals, Universal Stainless, Villares Metals, Dongbei Special Steel Group, NIPPON KOSHUHAMaraging Steel Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Mid dle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Grade 200, Grade 250, Grade 300, Grade 350Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into Aerospace, Hydrospace, ToolingRequest Discount for Global Maraging Steel Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Maraging Steel market.Chapter 1, to describe Maraging Steel Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Maraging Steel, with sales, revenue, and price of Maraging Steel, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Maraging Steel, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the Maraging Steel market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Maraging Steel market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Maraging Steel sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -Global VCM (Vinyl-coated Metal) Market Outlook 2017-2022Vinyl coated metals provides high quality surface material with a variety of colors and patterns for makeovers of appliances. VCM has been in use in appliance manufacturing since the 1960s and was originally used for television side panels. The early microwave ovens were predominantly designed with wood grain sides, which were made from vinyl clad metals.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:
Car Rental Market Poised to Rake in US$ 176.2 Bn by 2025

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Future Market Insights (FMI) announces the release of its report titled "Car Rental Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025." According to the report, the global car rental market, valued at US$ 87.8 Bn in 2014, is anticipated to reach US$ 176.2 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.6% between 2015 and 2025.Market Drivers and RestraintsThe global car rental market is driven by rising global tourism industry, surge in public awareness about car rental services, easy booking via online services, introduction of new business concepts, increasing number of Internet users and rise in international tourist arrivals. Apart from this, growing GDP rates and increasing income levels in the developing regions are also positively influencing growth of the car rental market globally.Increasing infrastructural developments, growing air travel, rise in demand for recreational activities and increasing urban population have widened the scope for car rental service providers. Conversely, stringent emission standards, low cost public transportation, and volatility in crude oil prices are some of the minor restraints in the global car rental market. Additionally, increasing mobile and Internet usage is also expected to drive growth of the global car rental market in the coming years. Growing investments by the industry players and increasing online presence of the car rental service providers is expected to further drive growth of global car rental market.Rising technological developments are expected to offer favourable growth opportunities in the near future. Rapid urbanisation is leading to a rise in the mobility on-demand services, which include car sharing, short-term car rental services, etc., which are providing favourable prospects for growth of the car rental market.Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at:Market SegmentsNorth America dominated the global car rental market in 2014, in terms of revenue, accounting for 48.4% share of the overall market. However, APEJ (Asia Pacific Excluding Japan) is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period. North America is expected to remain the most dominant global car rental market throughout the forecast period.The major players in the market are focusing on expanding their global footprints through various mergers and acquisitions. Rising consolidation in the car rental industry has facilitated market leaders, such as Enterprise Holdings Inc., to expand their respective businesses in various geographies, thereby increasing their market share. The U.S. is witnessing major investments by market players, along with increasing popularity of car sharing services.By end use, the on-airport segment dominated the global car rental market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period. The on-airport car rental segment is expected to remain the most dominant segment in the global car rental market throughout the forecast periodBy customer type, the leisure segment is foreseen to expand at a high CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. The segment is expected to dominate the global car rental market throughout the forecast period.On the basis of booking type, the offline access dominated the global car rental market in 2014 in terms of revenue, accounting for 48.4% share of the overall market in 2014. The market is expected to lose its market share to the mobile application segment, which is projected to expand at a CAGR 9.9% during the forecast period.Send An Enquiry@On the basis of sector, the unorganised segment dominated the global car rental market in 2014 in terms of revenue, accounting for 56.9% share of the overall market. However, the organised sector segment is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR of 7.3%.Competitive LandscapeKey market players covered in the reportinclude Enterprise Holdings Inc., The Hertz Corporation, Avis Budget Group, Inc., Europcar Group S.A., Carzonrent India Pvt Ltd., Sixt SE, Al Futtaim Group, Localiza- Rent a Car SA, Eco Rent a Car and GlobalCARS. The car rental market is consolidated in some regions such as the U.S. and Europe, with the top two players bagging over 50% shares of the total market. Most players in the market are engaged in various activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, increasing investments in technological 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 :
Laboratory Filtration Devices Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2017-2027

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Filtration is one of the commonly used separation process for removing solid particles, microorganisms or droplets from a liquid or a gas by depositing them on a filter medium. Laboratory filtration devices have enormous applications in everyday research practices being performed in various setups including research and development laboratories, academic institutes, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, food industries and many more. In all these industries filter membranes or filter assemblies are routinely used for water treatment and filtration of particulate matter. Filtration is the important process used in many chemical, clinical, biological and analytical laboratories for various applications such as water treatment, percolation, concentrating the solution, gas purification in analytical processes etc. Various filtration techniques are used to separate solid from liquids or solutions by interposing a filter medium through which solutions or liquids can pass. Ultrafiltration technique is commonly used in biotechnology industry for protein concentration or purification, DNA or RNA concentration, etc. Microfiltration techniques are commonly used in pharmaceutical industry in preparation of sterile formulations. Some of the commonly used brands of laboratory filtration devices are Whatman, Millex syringe filters, Minisart syringe filters, Vivapore ultrafiltration membrane filters, AKTAcrossflow systems and others. Cross flow filtration techniques are specifically in bioprocess filtration where purification of biomolecules is desired.Laboratory Filtration Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsGlobal market for laboratory filtration devices is expected to be driven by increasing pace of research and development activities in pharmaceutical, life sciences and biotechnology industry. Thus, increasing research activities in the biopharmaceuticals segment, and focus on development of biopharmaceutical molecules is fueling the growth of global laboratory filtration devices market. However, increasing competition from local and Chinese players and requirement of is expected to hinder the growth of laboratory filtration devices market over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@Laboratory Filtration Devices Market: SegmentationThe global laboratory filtration devices market has been segmented on the basis of product type, utility, technology, end user, and geography.Based on product type, the global laboratory filtration devices market is divided into following:Membrane FiltersFilter papersFibrous Filters (glass fibers, quartz filters etc.)Syringe FiltersCapsule FiltersFiltration MicroplatesBottle-top UnitsFiltration AssemblyVacuum Filtration DevicesPressure Driven Filtration DevicesStirred CellsBased on utility, the laboratory filtration devices market is divided into following:DisposableReusableBased on technology, the laboratory filtration devices market is divided into following:MicrofiltrationMacrofiltrationUltrafiltrationCross Flow FiltrationBased on retail end user, the laboratory filtration devices market is segmented as below:Academic and Research InstitutesPharmaceutical CompaniesBiotechnology CompaniesDiagnostic CentersContract Research OrganizationsFood and Beverage CompaniesLaboratory Filtration Devices Market: OverviewThe global market for laboratory filtration devices is highly fragmented with presence of local and regional players. Top 5 players in the market account for more than half of the market share due to specific product features offered specifically for use in life science and biotechnology industry. Obvious use of Whatman and other filter papers in academic and research laboratories causes the highest demand for membrane filters followed by syringe filters. Based on techniques, microfiltration techniques are expected to hold the largest share in the global laboratory filtration devices market.Laboratory Filtration Devices Market: Regional Wise OutlookGeographically, the laboratory filtration devices market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. The market in Asia Pacific and Japan is expected to grow at significant CAGR due to increasing number of research institutes in countries such as India, Australia and Japan. North America will continue to hold largest share in the laboratory filtration devices market. Many of the best academic institutions are located in the U.S. and a culture positive to innovation as well as the presence of venture capital has led to the emergence of a number of regions with top universities and businesses.Visit For TOC@Laboratory Filtration Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the players operating in the global laboratory filtration devices market are Spectum Inc., GE Healthcare, Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Cole-Parmer Instrument Company, LLC., Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing Corp., Sartorius AG, Pall Corporation and others.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
In elections that extended beyond the border of Lewis and Clark County, area voters followed the pack in some races and diverged from the majority in others.
Semiconductor Production Equipment Market: Demand for Advanced Electronics Worldwide to Fuel Scope for Expansion

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Global Semiconductor Production Equipment Market: SnapshotGlobal market for semiconductor production equipment has been covered under the scope of this report. Semiconductor production equipment (SPE) is used in possibly the most advanced and complex manufacturing process in the world, which is, the production of semiconductor devices. Semiconductor products, such as memory devices and microprocessors are used in a wide range of devices such as personal computers, consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment. Chip-containing semiconductor products have multiplied in the past years and this has been a key contributor to the increased productivity in every sector of the world.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Technologies used in semiconductor production equipment are constantly changing owing to the dynamic business environment and the rising demand for high performance semiconductors. However, these advancements in chip technology can reduce the presence of existing chips and the semiconductor production equipment used to make them may become obsolete in just matter of years if an aggressive research and development program is not employed to maintain attractiveness in the semiconductor production equipment industry.The demand for semiconductor production equipment is directly proportional to the demand for semiconductors, which, in turn, is proportional to the strength of the economy. The attractiveness of individual semiconductor production equipment firms is thus linked to their capability to design, manufacture and sell products capable of maintaining the standard of the latest and technologically advanced semiconductors at low cost.Overall, the global semiconductor production equipment market is forecast to reach US$79.51 bn by the end of 2025. In 2016, the market was valued at US$41.24 bn. If these figures hold true, the global semiconductor production equipment market will exhibit a CAGR of 7.6% between 2017 and 2025.Electronics Manufacturers Emerge as Major Contributor to Growth Witnessed in MarketThe global semiconductor production equipment market, by equipment type, is classified into four categories: Assembly and packaging equipment, wafer processing equipment, test equipment, and other equipment. As of 2016, the wafer processing equipment contributed to the largest revenue share of global semiconductor production equipment market owing to its wide application areas in the production of semiconductors.Browse Market Research Report @The global semiconductor production equipment market, by end-user, is segmented into foundry, semiconductor electronics manufacturer, testing house and others. As of 2016, semiconductor electronics manufacturer contributed to largest revenue share of a little short of 55% in the global market. The rise in demand for semiconductor electronics such as tablets, and smartphones, among others are likely to drive the growth of this segment during the forecast period.North America Emerges as Leading Regional Market, Asia Pacific to Showcase Lucrative OpportunitiesRegionally, the global semiconductor production equipment market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. By revenue, North America held the dominant share of 43.5% in 2016. The presence of several leading manufacturers as well as rapid advancements in technology are responsible for the dominance of this region. By revenue, Asia Pacific emerged as the second largest market in the same year, followed by Europe. China will be a major contributor to the growth of the Asia Pacific region owing to the development of a number of semiconductor manufacturing facilities (fab) in the region.Some of the leading players in the semiconductor production equipment market are Applied Materials, Inc. (U.S.), Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Japan), ASML Holding, N.V. (Netherlands), Lam Research Corporation (U.S.), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), and Advantest Corporation (Japan). Some of the other companies operating in the market are KLA-Tencor Corporation (US), Teredyne (U.S.), Nikon Corporation (Japan), SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. (Japan), and Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. (Japan), among others.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2017-2027

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One of the biggest public growing threat is the rapid emergence of mosquito borne virus called as Zika virus. Zika virus was first identified in rhesus monkey in the year 1947 in Uganda. Later in 1952 the virus was identified in humans. The virus is a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family, and is transmitted by two species of Aedes genus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These are the same mosquito species that also spread dengue and chikungunya virus. The virus can also be vertically transmitted during fetal/perinatal period or by unprotected sexual contact. In case of perinatal transmission the virus can pass from mother to fetus through trans-placental transmission which can lead to the most common birth defect of brain called as microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Eye defect, hearing problems and impaired growth are some of the issues commonly associated with the infection of Zika virus in fetus. Apart from this several evidences of Guillain-Barre syndrome, have also been reported in patients carrying the virus. Guillain-Barre syndrome is an uncommon sickness of the nervous system which leads to ascending paralysis. However, the risk is found to be higher in pregnant womens during their first trimester of pregnancy period. Symptoms associated with the infection of Zika virus includes, fever, rashes, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and headache. These symptoms last for several days to weeks. Africa, America, Asia and Pacific regions are likely to be dominated regions witnessing outbreaks of Zika virus.The first largest outbreak of Zika virus was reported in the year 2007 across the Pacific island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. In 2016, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the local transmission of Zika infection in more than 20 countries and territories across the Americas. Currently a number of Zika virus testing assays are available in the market some of which have received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) while some of them are used for Research Use Only (RUO) and are used as Laboratory Developed Test (LDT). Currently, a number of diagnostic tests are available in the market for the diagnosis of Zika virus in humans. This includes, Zika ELITe MGB detection test, Sentosa SA ZIKV RT-PCR, LightMix Zika rRT-PCR test and many more. All these tests allow qualitative detection of RNA from Zika virus from body samples such as urine, human serum and plasma. The market for zika virus testing is expected to rise over the forecast period owing to continuous increase in population exhibiting symptoms of Zika virus over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@Zika Virus Testing Market: Drivers & RestraintsExpanded disease surveillance efforts undertaken by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to spur the market for Zika virus testing in the U.S. In august 2016, FDA announced screening of all donated blood and blood products for Zika virus across the world. This would help prevent increased chances of getting infected through transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). Substantial spending by U.S. government and FDA to add Zika screening program across all the hospitals and blood banks in U.S. is expected to spur the market for Zika virus testing over the forecast period. Furthermore, increasing efforts by various manufacturers to develop Zika virus screening tests is expected to accelerate the market growth in the coming years. Major demand for Zika virus testing is expected to come from Florida attributed to increasing number of patients exhibiting symptoms of Zika virus. Lack of awareness in the developing countries and inaccurate results from available diagnostic tests may affect the revenues for Zika virus testing market globally over the forecast period.Zika Virus Testing Market: SegmentationZika virus testing market is segmented by test type, route of administration, end user and geography:By Test TypeNucleic Acid Amplification Test/ Molecular TestsZika Virus Antibody Test/ Serological TestBy End UserHospitalsDiagnostic CentersPathology ClinicsZika Virus Testing Market: OverviewAccording to WHO, since 2007, 67 countries and territories reported the evidence of Zika virus transmission. At present, the diagnosis of Zika virus in humans is dependent upon the molecular detection of viral RNA. However, presence of RNA only during the viraemia i.e. presence the virus in blood, and close clinical association of Zika symptoms with dengue and other infections, has resulted in lare number of undiagnosed cases.Accessibility of better diagnostic testing services (i.e. rapid near-patient tests) across several haeltcare facilities is expected to fuel the market for Zika virus testing over the forecast period.Zika Virus Testing Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region presence, Zika virus testing market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Continuous spread of Zika virus across several countries in North America is expected to increase the demand for Zika virus testing services over the forecast period. WHO estimated that as of July 2016, in the U.S. CDC reported 12 birth defects related cases and six pregnancy losses. Furthermore, increasing efforts by HHS, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to raise the fund for development of diagnostic assays for Zika virus detection is expected to drive the market growth of Zika virus testing over the forecast period. Also the Zika virus outbreak in several Latin American countries is rapidly growing. For example in Brazil alone the virus is known to affect 21 states out of 26 states. Rapid local transmission of Zika virus across the globe is expected to result in more number of diagnostic assays performed thus driving the revenues.Visit For TOC@Zika Virus Testing Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the Zika virus testing market are, ELITechGroup Inc. Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott Molecular Inc., ARUP Laboratories, Vela Diagnostics USA Inc., Roche Molecular Systems Inc., InBios International, Inc., Luminex Corporation, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc., Hologic, Inc. and Focus Diagnostics, Inc.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Interactive Projector Market in global growth and status 2017

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Global Interactive Projector Market: OverviewInteractive projector offers preferable solutions for presenters to help them actively participate in communications with their audiences as the images are projected. It typically mimics the function of interactive whiteboards or any surface where the projection of images is made. This facilitates presenters to involve in a dynamic interaction with the projected images with the help of a mechanical or an electrical stylus or more often just a finger. Advanced interactive projectors could allow the copying or printing, replaying, or capturing of user-generated data with or without the original projected images.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Interactive Projector Market: Key TrendsThe rising demand for e-learning on account of promising factors such as time saving, availability, and easy accessibility is expected to augur well for the world interactive projector market. Players looking to clinch profitable business deals in the world interactive projector market could be favored with the increasing adoption of web-based teaching methods in the education industry. A considerable growth is projected to take shape in the world interactive projector market as a large number of students opt for digital education to improve their resumes. Furthermore, the corporate industry is anticipated to make its contribution to the world interactive projector market on the back of the augmenting significance of online training.The demand in the world interactive projector market could be propelled further as end users become aware of the benefits of e-learning. Most companies are predicted to adopt e-learning to be advantaged by enhanced employee productivity and minimized training costs. Moreover, online training could be provided to employees at an affordable cost with the implementation of cloud computing. Manufacturers are foretold to conform to various regulations of different countries, such as those devised by the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) and Canadian Red Act (CRA).Request TOC of the Report @Global Interactive Projector Market: Market PotentialA whopping count of 47,000 government primary schools in the Maharashtra state of India went digital without government funding. This effort is expected to be in line with the goal of the Maharashtra government to institute as many digital classrooms possible. In one of Maharashtras Zilla Parishad primary school, blackboards have been replaced with interactive projectors and textbooks with tablets. An interesting fact about this digital transformation is that the citizens of Maharashtra have shown responsibility in terms of funding.Global Interactive Projector Market: Regional OutlookOwing to a mounting awareness among end users and presence of bio-diverse cultures, Europe, North America, and other developed regions are envisaged to secure a telling growth in the international interactive projector market. However, in respect of revenue, North America could be one of the most influential regions in the international interactive projector market. This is envisioned to be on account of the surging penetration of bring your own device (BYOD) concept and prevailing large size of consumer base.Get a discount @Thailands smart classroom policy and other government initiatives could be key for spurring the growth of Asia Pacific in the international interactive projector market. Other initiatives taken by emerging economies such as India, Malaysia, and Indonesia to modernize education systems are foreseen to be other factors driving the demand in Asia Pacific.Global Interactive Projector Market: Competitive OutlookParticipants are forecasted to take to capturing untapped regions and extending product portfolio through long-term commitments. Innovation of product technologies for the purpose of offering better visual experiences could be a critical encouragement for participants to cash in on. Seiko Epson Corp., NEC Display Solutions, Ltd., Dell Technologies, Inc., Casio Computer Co., Ltd., and BenQ Corporation could be some of the top participants in the worldwide interactive projector market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Binding Machine Market by Technology, Application & Geography  Analysis & Forecast to 2022

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MarketStudyReport.com adds a new Binding Machine Market research report for the period of 2017-2022 focuses on the major drivers and restraints for the global key players providing analysis of the market share, segmentation, revenue forecasts and geographic regions of the market.Binding machines help businesses and individuals streamline publishing processes, saving users valuable time and resources. These compact and convenient devices make it easy to stack, punch, and bind documents so users can quickly reference important information.Request a Sample Copy of Global Binding Machine Market Research Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Binding Machine in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, Global Binding Machine Market report covers such as Comet, GBC, DELI, Fellowes, DSB, RENZ, Leitz, Swingline, JINTU, Huanda and M&G.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa).Global Binding Machine Market Segment by Type, covers as Manual Binding Machines and Electric Binding MachinesGlobal Binding Machine Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into: Basic Office, High-Volume Jobs and OthersRequest Discount for Global Binding Machine Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Binding Machine market.Chapter 1, to describe Binding Machine Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Binding Machine, with sales, revenue, and price of Binding Machine, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global Binding Machine market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Binding Machine, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to Binding Machine Industry analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the Binding Machine Market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Binding Machine market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Binding Machine Industry sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Related Reports: -World Binding Machine Market Research Report 2022 (covering USA, Europe, China, Japan, India, South East Asia and etc)Binding Machine market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:
Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices Market: Strong Growth of Key End-use Industries in APAC Fuels Demand

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Global Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices Market: OverviewBulk acoustic wave devices could be made functional below 500 MHZ but the band at which the bulk acoustic wave devices finds application for the commercial purpose is mostly at 1.8 GHz to 1.9 GHz. The bulk acoustic wave ladder filters which are in the band of 1.8 GHz to 1.9 GHz are increasingly preferred over more commonly used surface acoustic wave devices, providing enhanced performance and efficiency. Moreover, the bulk acoustic wave devices are much more compact in size and thus they help in providing size reduction in mobile handsets and other portable consumer electronics devices.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The highest rate of penetration for bulk acoustic wave devices has been in the personal communication services (PCS) which are wireless phone services, very similar to cellular telephone services with more emphasis on extended mobility and personalization in the service. The personal communication services (PCS) is also referred to as digital cellular (digital cellular). There is a lot of investment being focused at development and commercializing of the bulk acoustic wave devices over the past few decades. The bulk acoustic wave devices market has penetration in markets like consumer electronics and telecommunication industry from high end industrial uses like military and defense. Bulk acoustic wave devices were mostly used in the field of defense and aerospace due to their high price. But with a lot of investment in research and development it has been made possible to develop bulk acoustic devices which could be commercialized across a wide range of sectors.Further the bulk acoustic wave devices have high penetration in universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) sector. The reduction in the cost of the bulk acoustic devices has enabled the devices to replace duplexers technology and other traditionally used filter technologies, thus driving the demand for bulk acoustic wave devices over the forecast period. Migration of bulk acoustic wave devices to higher frequency is expected to be a key opportunity for the market growth in the near future. Further potential integration of bulk acoustic wave devices into active integrated circuit is another key opportunity for the market growth in the near future.Global Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices Market: SegmentationThe bulk acoustic wave device by device analysis could be segmented into filters resonators, transducers and others. The bulk acoustic wave devices by end use industry could be segmented into aerospace & defense, telecommunication, environmental and industry, automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare & medical and others. The global bulk acoustic wave device by geography has been broadly segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Browse Market Research Report @Global Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices Market: Scope of the ReportThe market report deals in the forecast of the bulk acoustic wave devices market in terms of revenue (USD million) as well as the CAGR for the forecast period 2016 to 2027. The competitive profiling of the key players in the global Bulk acoustic wave devices market has been comprehensively covered under the scope of the report. The key players in the BAW Devices Market have been competitively profiled across the five broad geographic regions. This competitive landscape is inclusive of the various business strategies adopted by these major players and their recent developments in the field of SAW devices. In order to provide a detailed insight into the market dynamics of global Bulk Acoustic Devices Market, the drivers and restraints affecting the industry are included in the study. Market dynamics include market opportunity, drivers and restraints and an extensive analysis of these factors are included in the report. Furthermore, market attractiveness breakdown has also been provided in the report. Therefore, the report provides a comprehensive study of the global Bulk acoustic wave devices market and also offers the forecast of the market for the period from 2017-2025.Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of the key players operating in the bulk acoustic wave devices market include Tai Saw Technology Co. Ltd. (Taiwan, China), Taiyo Yuden (Tokyo, Japan), Skyworks Solutions (Massachusetts, U.S.), TDK Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan), Honeywell International, Inc. (New Jersey, U.S.), Teledyne Microwave Solutions (California, U.S), Kyocera Corporation (Kyoto, Japan), Infineon Technologies AG (Neubiberg, Germany), API Technologies (Massachusetts, U.S.).About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Research 2017 in Singapore Cards and Payments Industry : Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2020

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"The Cards and Payments Industry in Singapore: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2020" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-** SummaryGlobalDatas "The Cards and Payments Industry in Singapore: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2020", report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Singaporean cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including direct debits, check payments, payment cards, cash transactions and credit transfers during the review period (2012-2016).Get Sample Report With TOC @The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry, and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, and transaction values and volumes during the review period and over the forecast period (2016-2020). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including the market shares of issuers and schemes.The report brings together GlobalDatas research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers details of regulatory policy and recent changes in the regulatory structure.Competition in Singapores alternative payments market increased following the launches of Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Domestic banks and telecoms operators are taking advantage of the trend by launching their own solutions. Liquid Group launched the Liquid Pay mobile wallet in November 2016, and in May 2016 relaunched Dash in collaboration with Standard Charted Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, and UOB telecom provider Singtel.Singapores payment cards market has recorded a strong uptake in contactless technology with all major banks including DBS Bank, UOB, OCBC Bank and Citibank now offering contactless cards. To further encourage contactless payments, UOB removed the restriction on transaction limits of US$69.1 (SGD100) for contactless payments in May 2016. Similarly, DBS Bank increased its contactless payment limit from US$69.1 (SGD100) to US$138.2 (SGD200) in June 2016. While, other banks are contemplating to increase minimum transaction limit for contactless payments.In July 2016, Mastercard and the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) announced a pilot scheme whereby passengers can use contactless cards to make public transport payments, allowing the usage of credit and debit cards for fare payments. If the pilot is successful, the country would join handful of locations, like London and Sydney, which embraced contactless debit and credit payments on their transit systems. These initiatives are anticipated to propel contactless transactions in Singapore.This report also provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Singaporean cards and payments industry, including -- Current and forecast values for each market in the Singaporean cards and payments industry, including debit, credit and charge cards.- Detailed insights into payment instruments including direct debit, credit transfers, cash transactions, checks and payment cards. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.- E-commerce market analysis and payment methods.- Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Singaporean cards and payments industry.- Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit and charge cards.- Comprehensive analysis of consumer attitudes and buying preferences for cards.- The competitive landscape in the Singaporean cards and payments industry.** Scope- This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Singaporean cards and payments industry.- It provides current values for the Singaporean cards and payments industry for 2016, and forecast figures to 2020.- It details the different demographic, economic, infrastructural and business drivers affecting the Singaporean cards and payments industry.- It outlines the current regulatory framework in the industry.- It details marketing strategies used by various banks and other institutions.** Reasons to buy- Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the Singaporean cards and payments industry and each market within it.- Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the Singaporean cards and payments industry.- Assess the competitive dynamics in the Singaporean cards and payments industry.- Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Singapore.- Gain insights into key regulations governing the Singaporean cards and payments industry.Full Report @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Global Water Filtration Systems Market 2017- Midea, Toray, Watts

Global Water Filtration Systems Market

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Global Water Filtration Systems Market 2017, presents a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Water Filtration Systems market globally, providing basic overview of Water Filtration Systems market including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. Historical data available in the report elaborates on the development of the Water Filtration Systems market on a global and regional level. The report compares this data with the current Water Filtration Systems state of the market and thus discuss upon the upcoming trends that have brought the Water Filtration Systems market transformation.Water Filtration Systems Market predictions along with the statistical implication presented in the report delivers an accurate scenario of the Water Filtration Systems market. The market forces determining the shaping of the global Water Filtration Systems market have been evaluated in detail. In addition to this, the supervisory outlook of the Water Filtration Systems market has been covered in the report from both the Global and local perspective. The demand and supply side of the global Water Filtration Systems market has been broadly covered in the report. Also the challenges faced by the players in the Water Filtration Systems market in terms of demand and supply have been listed in the report.Enquire before purchasing the report here:In Global Water Filtration Systems Market report, development policies and plans as well as Water Filtration Systems market size, share, end users are analyzed. Growth prospects of the overall Water Filtration Systems industry have been presented in the report. This industry study segments Water Filtration Systems global market by types, applications and companies. However, to give an in-depth view to the readers, detailed geographical segmentation of Water Filtration Systems market within the globe has been covered in this study. The key geographical regions along with Water Filtration Systems revenue forecasts are included in the report.Global Water Filtration Systems Market Segmentation:The global Water Filtration Systems market is segmented on the basis of key players, types and applications. The leading players of global Water Filtration Systems market includes Honerwell, Royalstar, Toray, Watts, EcoWater, GE, Midea, Joyoung, Qinyuan, Gree, Haier, BrTechnologya, Culligan, Pentair, quasana and 3M.Based on type, the Water Filtration Systems market is categorized into Application 1, Application 2 and Application 3. According to application, Water Filtration Systems market divided into HospTechnologyals, Family Expenses and Recuperation Mechanism.Request Sample Water Filtration Systems Research Report atGlobal Water Filtration Systems Market regional analysis covers:The industry research presents Water Filtration Systems market in North America mainly covers USA, Canada and Mexico. Water Filtration Systems market in Asia-Pacific region cover-up China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. Water Filtration Systems market in Europe combines Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy. Water Filtration Systems market in South America includes Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc. Water Filtration Systems market in Middle East and Africa incorporates Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.The competitive framework of the market in terms of the Global Water Filtration Systems industry has been evaluated in the report. The Water Filtration Systems market top companies with their overall share and share with respect to the global market have been included in the Water Filtration Systems report. Furthermore, the factors on which the companies compete in the global Water Filtration Systems market have been evaluated in the report. So the overall report helps the new aspirants to inspect the forthcoming opportunities in the Water Filtration Systems market.Browse more category related reports here:About Us:Market.Biz is designed to provide the best and most penetrating research required to all commercial, industrial and profit-making ventures in any sector of online business. We take pride in our ability to satisfy the market research needs of both domestic and international businesses.Market.Biz has access to the worlds most comprehensive and up-to-date databases in your business sector, including countless market reports that can provide you with valuable data relating to your business. We understand the needs of our clients, and keep our reports updated as market requirement changes.Contact US:GlobeMetrixJames JohnsonS. no. 51/14 First Floor,Office No. 4, Vishwa Arcade,Near Navale Lawns, Pune.Tel: +1(857)2390696Email: inquiry@market.bizWebsite:Blog:
Industrial Communication Market Globally Expected to Drive Growth through 2027

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Various industry verticals have different requirements on connectivity solutions due to harsh environments in which they operate in. This leads companies to adopt different methods of industrial communication. In addition to traditional wired communications between devices, the industry is increasingly relying on wireless connections. Industrial communication is the key to greater productivity for any company as it helps the enterprise in controlling machines and entire production line, monitor modern traffic systems and control power distribution.High performance industrial communication technology can transfer large amounts of data in real-time and with minimum delay, operates in an energy efficient manner, utilizes more wireless technology, both within plant and remote connectivity and connects a large number of individual devices in a reliable manner with data security.Request Report Sample@Industrial CommunicationMarket: Drivers and ChallengesIndustrial communication market has grown at an exponential rate in the past few years due to increasing adoption of industrial internet of things (IIoT). Industrial Internet of Things connects different infrastructure and reduces operating expenses which helps drive the growth of industrial communication market. The increased bandwidth capabilities of open networks like Ethernet is used in Internet of Things automation and smart factories to streamline maintenance in order to eliminate breakdowns. Also, due to wide adoption of M2M (Machine to Machine) solutions for controlling power grid communications and remote monitoring of smart meters has contributed to the growth of industrial communication market.Visit For TOC@Industrial CommunicationMarket: SegmentationSegmentation on the basis of component:HardwareSoftwareServicesSegmentation on the basis of protocol:FieldbusIndustrial EthernetWirelessSegmentation on the basis of application:TransportationOil and GasAerospace and DefenseUtilitiesHealthcare and MedicalFood and BeveragesManufacturingOthersIndustrial CommunicationMarket: Competition LandscapeFew of the companies in industrial communication market are: ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Company, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Rockwell Automation, Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd., Advanced Industrial Automation Group, Infineon Technologies AG, National Instruments, General Electric, Siemens AG and Schneider Electric SE.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Future of the Vietnam Defense Industry - Industrial Trend and Market Demand - Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022

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http://www.researchmoz.us/future-of-the-vietnam-defense-industry-market-attractiveness-competitive-landscape-and-forecasts-to-2022-report.html

"Future of the Vietnam Defense Industry - Market Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-The Future of the Vietnamese Defense Industry Market Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2022, published by Strategic Defence Intelligence, provides readers with detailed analysis of both historic and forecast defense industry values, factors influencing demand, the challenges faced by industry participants, analysis of industry leading companies, and key news.Get Sample Report With TOC @** SynopsisThis report offers detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry with market size forecasts covering the next five years. This report will also analyze factors that influence demand for the industry, key market trends, and challenges faced by industry participants.** In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the followingThe Vietnamese defense industry market size and drivers: detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry during 2018-2022, including highlights of the demand drivers and growth stimulators for the industry. It also provides a snapshot of the countrys expenditure and modernization patternsBudget allocation and key challenges: insights into procurement schedules formulated within the country and a breakdown of the defense budget with respect to capital expenditure and revenue expenditure. It also details the key challenges faced by defense market participants within the countryPorters Five Force analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry: analysis of the market characteristics by determining the bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitution, intensity of rivalry, and barriers to entryImport and Export Dynamics: analysis of prevalent trends in the countrys imports and exports over the last five yearsMarket opportunities: details of the top five defense investment opportunities over the next 10 yearsCompetitive landscape and strategic insights: analysis of the competitive landscape of the Vietnamese defense industry. It provides an overview of key players, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives, and a brief financial analysis** ScopeThe Vietnamese Government allocated US$5 billion towards military expenditure in 2017, of which 32.7% is earmarked for the procurement of defense equipment. The countrys defense expenditure increased at a CAGR of 6.41% over 2013-2017. The growing strength of the Chinese Navy and its assertiveness with regards to territorial claims in the South China Sea has forced the Vietnamese Government to enhance its military capabilities. In addition, the country is in the process of addressing its limitations with respect to combating modern threat scenarios with its existing obsolete equipment, and has embarked on military modernization plans over the last few years. These plans are expected to pick up pace over the forecast period and increase Vietnams defense expenditure.Between 2013 and 2017,Vietnam allocated an average of 32.3% of its defense budget to capital expenditure and the remainder to revenue expenditure. The share of capital expenditure in the overall defense budget is predicted to marginally increase to an average of 33.6% over the forecast period, predominantly due to Vietnams planned military modernization initiatives and procurement programs. Vietnam cumulatively spent US$7.4 billion on defense equipment, while US$15.4 billion was assigned for revenue expenditure during the analysis period.The MoD is expected to invest in fighter and multi-role aircraft, naval vessels, patrol ships, maritime patrol aircraft, and surveillance equipment.** Reasons to buyThis report will give the user confidence to make the correct business decisions based on a detailed analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry market trends for the coming five yearsThe market opportunity section will inform the user about the various military requirements that are expected to generate revenues during the forecast period. The description includes technical specifications, recent orders, and the expected investment pattern by the country during the forecast periodDetailed profiles of the top domestic and foreign defense manufacturers with information about their products, alliances, recent contract wins, and financial analysis wherever available. This will provide the user with a total competitive landscape of the sectorA deep qualitative analysis of the Vietnamese defense industry covering sections including demand drivers, Porters Five Forces Analysis, Key Trends and Growth Stimulators, and latest industry contractsFull Report @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
ICT Investment in Government Market - Detailed Analysis and Forecast by 2025

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Global ICT Investment in Government Market: OverviewThe industry of information and communications technology has gone beyond being a simple catalyst to commercial and government functions, to a necessity for growth and survival. In the case of governments, ICT today plays a very heavy role in not just improving governance, but also becomes an inseparable part of it for various functions. E-governance has become a core way of managing several aspects of governance, and a good governance requires the use of optimal e-tools and e-governance solutions. The use of ICT in governance has been propounded by several companies as well as governments, thereby allowing for a more positive environment of growth for the ICT industry as well as investors looking in this direction.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global ICT Investment in Government Market: Key TrendsGovernment spending on IT and ICT solutions is increasing around the world. So much so that even bodies from emerging economies are recognizing the importance of e-governance, thereby creating a heavy influx of technologies and investments in this direction. Government agencies are increasingly using ICT solutions for development and maintenance of infrastructure, especially when it comes to the improvement and modernization of projects. The rate of investment of governments in ICT has also increased over the recent past thanks to the swiftly improving space and scope of digital media, ecommerce, and e-tools.Companies and governments are acknowledging the cost-saving techniques that can be adopted through the use of mobility technologies and cloud computing. Regional governments from developed economies are also strongly emphasizing the use of ICT to enhance their services offered.Request TOC of the Report @Global ICT Investment in Government Market: Market PotentialA number of tech firms around the world have already become a key part of e-governance by bagging profitable and long-term contracts with national and regional governments. Recent examples for this are the contracts awarded to Edge Testing Solutions, Iomart, and eCom Scotland, for being a part of the government ICT framework. The regional importance given to ICT involvement in governance is running strong around the globe. The Pacific Islands, for instance, are being encouraged to implement e-governance throughout some of their core public departments. Regions in Africa as well are showing a strong inclination towards the use of e-governance to resolve some of their more pressing issues.Another reason why ICT investments in governments can show favorable results is the thinning comparison between public and private sectors. Some of the key players in this market are the ones who recognize that the public sector companies are working today on very similar business imperatives as private ones. The big difference lies in the higher level of restrictions and operations issues faced by the former, many of which can be resolved through the use of ICT solutions.Global ICT Investment in Government Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is likely to top the overall spending done over e-governance for the coming years. This region, especially the U.S., holds a highly advanced government and ICT infrastructure that can complement each other to a very comfortable degree, further propelled by the high volume of investors. The implementation of ICT in cyber-security measures has especially been of high interest across North America, as governments are aiming to close all gaps and leaks in information. Meanwhile, the overall spending of Asia Pacific on e-government solutions and tools is increasing at a very fast pace, thanks to the importance given to ICT by the nations such as China, Australia, and South Korea.Get a discount @Global ICT Investment in Government Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the leading players in the ICT domain that are putting forth greater investments into e-governments are coming from the fields of communication services, data center systems, IT services, software, and devices. Each field has a massive amount of potential when it comes to contributions and investments into e-governments, and players are realizing the full potential that this market can hold.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
A production team is looking for a lead actor to help bring author Debra Magpie Earling's classic Montana novel "Perma Red" to the screen as a seven-part miniseries.

The independent filmmakers, all western Montanans, are holding a casting call at the University of Montana campus on Saturday, and are also accepting submissions via video. (See box for details.)

The team believes it has potential as a breakout role in an industry that rarely writes parts for indigenous women. "It's a female Native American protagonist," said Lynn-Wood Fields, the executive producer. "That is a big deal for film or TV right now. There just isn't anything that I know of."

They're looking for two females, ages 15 to 25. One is the lead: Louise White Elk, a young woman coming of age on the Flathead Indian Reservation. They're also seeking a second to play a fellow boarding-school classmate.

Once they find their lead, they plan to shoot a seven- to 10-minute "proof of concept" film with funding from the Montana Film Office. Once it's complete, they can use it to pitch the series to investors.

The project coincides with pressure, both internal and external, on the film and television industry for wider representation of the gender spectrum and people of color on screen and behind the camera.

The widely praised novel was written by a Bitterroot-Salish woman who used true stories about her aunt as a model for the protagonist; the director, Brooke Swaney, is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and a Salish descendant; the screenwriter is female; and all the current co-producers are women, including Lily Gladstone, who grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation and starred in the independent film "Certain Women." She won Best Supporting Actress at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, among many other national awards for the movie.

Swaney said the production is compelling and timely, particularly because the current "golden age of TV" in the United States still lacks series with Native characters. She said indigenous people deserve to "have our stars, and have those be marketable and bankable."

***

"All these brilliant women have stepped up to re-vision, re-imagine, and bring to life the characters in 'Perma Red,'" Earling wrote in an email. "I'm especially pleased we have a Native director, Brooke Swaney, and that Lily Gladstone is helping to guide us. The screenwriter Gaaby Patterson understands the depth of the characters, and Lynn-Wood Fields has been a tireless supporter and visionary.

"I've just met Jeri Rafter a few times but she seems to be a powerhouse. My Aunt Louise would have been thrilled. The story belongs to the people of Montana now, and that's humbling. I hope this is only the beginning of new collaborations."

Swaney, who grew up in Polson, Ronan and Helena, got her master's at New York University Film School. She wrote and directed a short, "OK Breathe Auralee," that was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and was awarded a Sundance NativeLabs Fellowship.

After some nonfiction film work, she was assistant director on 2017's "Buster's Mal Heart," a Montana-made independent film starring "Mr. Robot" lead Rami Malek.

She said she read "Perma Red" more than 10 years ago and its characters felt real and alive and rang true. "I really want to honor Debra's work and make it come to life," she said, and adapting a book into a series will offer a challenge "translating it into this cinematic language instead of the written word."

Rafter was producer of the 40th annual International Wildlife Film Festival; and over the summer she produced short films by directors Ken White and Michael Murphy.

They'd like to shoot the entire series in Montana, using the actual reservation locations from Earling's book.

Rafter said that Montana has been home for reality TV series, feature films and documentaries, but not fictional series. Parts of the upcoming Kevin Costner series, "Yellowstone," will be shot here, and she hopes that it proves to outside producers that the state is a viable location.

***

The novel, praised for its prose and its evocation of the landscape, tells the story of its "wild and beautiful" protagonist on the reservation in the 1940s.

In the filmmakers' description, the viewers will "watch as Louise breaks from Ursuline Boarding School, attempts to come of age and ultimately tries to reconcile her mixed heritage. The three men in her life symbolize this struggle  reservation police officer Charlie Kicking Woman; Harvey Stoner, the quintessential rich, and dangerous, white man; and Baptiste, the man who represents the power and necessity of the old ways."

Fields first read the award-winning book 14 years ago. It was Earling's writing that inspired her to pursue a master's in filmmaking at the University of Montana's School of Media Arts. She shot her thesis in Montana with intentions of bringing it to Earling, who teaches creative writing at UM and is now program director. After viewing it, Earling agreed to option "Perma Red."

With the added screen time of a miniseries with 50-minute episodes, they will able to stay true to Earling's book. She's acted as a consultant with Patterson, an alum of the Montana Repertory Theatre's annual Colony playwrights' gathering.

They said Earling is providing both insight and material that didn't appear in the novel  she cut her original manuscript by hundreds of pages.
Airway Management Devices Market Professional Survey Report 2017

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Global Airway Management Devices Market: OverviewThe global airway management devices are medical devices used for patients have obstructed airways or are at the risk of being obstructed. These devices find applications in a variety of clinical settings such as emergency and pre-hospital settings, operating rooms, and out-of-hospital care. Over the past few years, they have gained wide application in managing supraglottic airways and in endotracheal intubation. The proper use of airway management devices is necessary in various preoperative settings to ventilate patient and significantly improve post-operative outcomes, especially in critical care settings.The increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases and growing number of patients with difficult airways in emergency departments is continuously boosting the evolution of the market. Medical device manufacturers are developing devices that need least expertise to operate, improves the rate of successful intubation, and are designed innovatively.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Airway Management Devices Market: Key TrendsThe rising prevalence of various types of respiratory diseases, particularly Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and associated morbidity and mortality worldwide is a key factor driving the airway management devices market. A growing number of patients undergoing anesthesia before surgical procedures need continued ventilation, stimulating the uptake of airway management devices.Constant advances in endotracheal intubation in clinical practice has boosted the airway management devices market. The growing number of cases of children suffering with various lung diseases has propelled the demand for airway management devices. Increasing awareness related to the need for airway ventilation in preoperative settings and the advent of devices with enhanced success rate in emergency care are expected to open up exciting opportunities for market players.Request TOC of the Report @Global Airway Management Devices Market: Market PotentialRoyal Philips, a major Dutch company delivering healthcare technology solutions, announced in May 23, 2017 that it has inked a deal with RespirTech, which will help the company to consolidate its presence in respiratory care. The Minnesota-based company provides airway management devices for patients suffering from chronic respiratory conditions, such as COPD, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis. The portfolio sold to Philips shall include a clinical support program aimed at providing respiratory care for patients at home settings. Further, the company said this will further add to its other service plans for respiratory care. One of the key offerings of RespirTech is inCourage Airway Clearance Therapy, a vest device to help patients in respiration at home. The vest therapy can be successfully applied in clearing airways for a wide range of respiratory conditions and neuromuscular diseases. The solution is helpful to patients whose abilities to cough are severely compromised and further help them avoid serious respiratory complications. RespirTech also produces ClearChest, a single patient-use comfort vest and bands intended for hospital settings. The contract will enable Royal Philips to make airway management easier and more effective for patients at home settings and will help in treating respiratory conditions. Such strategic mergers bode well for the airway management devices market as these will be helpful in improving patient outcomes.Get a discount @Global Airway Management Devices Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, North America is one of the major markets for airway management devices. The growth in the regional market is driven by substantial governmental initiatives and stricter implementation of clinical guidelines by healthcare organizations for proper ventilation and management of airways of patients. The growing prevalence of various respiratory conditions indicating blocked airways and constant device innovations by medical device manufacturers to improve clinical guidelines are expected to fuel this regional market. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is expected to offer lucrative avenues to market players. The impressive growth of the regional market is attributed to the emergence of countries, such as China and India, acting as cheap manufacturing hubs and intensive R&D funding across the region.Global Airway Management Devices Market: Competitive AnalysisSeveral companies are opting for strategic collaborations and investing into product development activities. Leading players are developing innovative products and making mergers and acquisitions to gain a competitive edge over others. Major players vying for a significant share in the airway management devices market are Medline Industries, Smiths Medical, Ambu A/S, Teleflex Incorporated, Mercury Medical, Intersurgical, and Medtronic.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
2017-2022 Global and Regional Hollow Glass Microsphere Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report

GrandREsearchStore

https://www.grandresearchstore.com/report-sample/2017-2022-global-and-regional-hollow-glass-microsphere-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market-research-report-965

https://www.grandresearchstore.com/chemicals-and-materials/2017-2022-global-and-regional-hollow-glass-microsphere-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market-research-report-965

Report DescriptionThis report focus on global and regional market, providing information on major players like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and etc., major types, major applications from global and major regions such as Europe, North America, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and etc. Data type include capacity, production, market share, price, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, growth rate, consumption, import, export and etc. Industry chain, manufacturing process, cost structure, marketing channel are also analyzed in this report.This report provides valuable information for companies like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and individuals who have interests in this industry.Major companies are as follows: 3M Company Trelleborg AB Potters Industries Mo-Sci Corporation Sinosteel Maanshan New Material Cospheric LLC Dennert Poraver GmbH PolysciencesMajor classifications are as follows: 1550um 50~135umMajor applications are as follows: Aerospace AutomobileMajor regions are as follows: Europe North America China Japan Southeast AsiaDownload free sample PDF of this reportTable Of Contents:Chapter 1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition1.2 Brief Introduction of Major Classifications1.3 Brief Introduction of Major Applications1.4 Brief Introduction of Major RegionsChapter 2 Production Market Analysis2.1 Global Production Market Analysis2.2 Regional Production Market AnalysisChapter 3 Sales Market Analysis3.1 Global Sales Market Analysis3.2 Regional Sales Market AnalysisChapter 4 Consumption Market Analysis4.1 Global Consumption Market Analysis4.2 Regional Consumption Market AnalysisChapter 5 Production, Sales and Consumption Market Comparison Analysis5.1 Global Production, Sales and Consumption Market Comparison Analysis5.2 Regional Production, Sales Volume and Consumption Volume Market Comparison AnalysisBrowse full report @The market research reports showcased on Grand Research Store, are a mode of gaining insights into emerging opportunities, new market trends, and potential threats of a market, which are key analytical elements before penetrating a new market in order to win a competitive edge over new entrants in a particular market. Reports at Grand Research Store provide the overall superficial view of market statistics, market forecasts, competitive scenario, regional segmentation, product-wise segmentation, market scope and expert recommendations for specific markets.Contact Us:276 5th Avenue, New York , NY 10001, United StatesInt'l: +1(212)-634-4884 / +1(646)-781-7170Fax: +1(212)-634-4885help@grandresearchstore.com
Agricultural Surfactant Market to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period

agricultural surfactant market, agricultural surfactant market analysis, agricultural surfactant market data, agricultural surfact

https://www.reportsandmarkets.com/reports/1072868-global-agricultural-surfactant-market-growth-trends-and-forecasts-2017-2022

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Reports And Markets Publish a New Market Research Report On "Agricultural Surfactant Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2017 - 2022)"Access Full Report With Table Of Contents @Market InsightsBASF and Ecover are the two top surfactant manufactures who have ventured into the biosurfactant market. This would help both the companies to increase production and stabilize the prices of their products. The recent trend of a high demand for environment friendly surfactants has encouraged companies to increase their research in the field.Dow Corning launched their new product- asilicone surfactanta, which enhances the performance of the active products in herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, foliar nutrients, and plant growth regulators, to provide effective crop protection. In the light of continuous market developments, the global agricultural surfactant market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period, from an estimated USD 1279.24 million in 2015.Market DynamicsIncreased practice of protected agriculture, by means of precision farming, is the major factor driving the growth of the agricultural surfactant market. Growing concern over global food security, in accordance with increased cost of agriculture chemicals, has paved way for the use of agriculture surfactants.GM seeds, which ensure increased yield, and reduction in the use of agro chemicals and pesticides are restraining the growth of the market. Also, emphasis on sustainable farming and its increased practice is gradually slowing down the application of chemicals in agriculture. Growing demand from developing regions of Asia-Pacific and South America and the popularity of bio-based surfactant products are seen as the opportunity areas for the industry.Market SegmentationThe agricultural surfactant market is classified by the product type, application type, type of substrates, crop application and by geography. By product type, the market is sub-segmented into anionic, non-ionic, cationic and amphoteric, of which non-ionic surfactants account for the largest market share, followed by anionic surfactants. The amphoteric segment is projected to grow at a faster CAGR during 2016-2021.By application, the market demand is led by herbicides segment, followed by fungicides. By substrates, surfactant market is divided into synthetic and bio-based; bio-based products are expected to have a higher demand in the future. By crop application, the industry demand is explained on the basis of crop and non-crop. Majority of the crop based demand comes from cereals and grains, while demand generation is expected to be more in fruits and vegetables, during the forecast period.Regional AnalysisNorth America is the largest market, accounting for around 35% of the market share, followed by Europe. The region is expected to grow at a steady CAGR during the forecast period, especially with the aim of various governments to increase yield and maintain continuous supply of raw materials to food, feed, and biofuel industry. Europe is the second largest market and is expected to grow with an increased supply of quality products from key players.Asia-Pacific is a potential market and the key players are strategizing to make an entry into countries such as China, India, and Thailand, among others. The region is estimated to grow at the fastest CAGR due to a boost in the rate of adoption of precision farming and a need to increase production of agri-commodities. Surfactants are in the nascent stage in South America. Brazil is a major market and holds around 60% of the market share.Competitive EnvironmentThe key players in the market have been following expansion strategy, to explore new region,s by means of acquisitions, new product launches, expansion & investments, agreements, partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures. Investment in research and development of cheap effective products is another strategy adopted by market leaders.The major players in the market areEvonik Industries AGDow Corning Corp.Akzonobel N.V.Solvay S.A (Belgium)Request For Sample Report @Key Deliverables in the StudyMarket analysis for the global agricultural surfactants market, with region specific assessments and competition analysis.Market overview and identification and analysis of the macro and micro factors that affect the global agricultural surfactants market on both, global and regional scale and instrumental in changing the market scenario.Extensively researched competitive landscape section with profiles of major companies and their market share, along with analysis of their current strategic interests and financial information and strategies adopted by them to sustain and grow in the studied market.The report holds importance for the following stakeholders-Farmers, producers and manufacturersAgricultural input companiesEnterprises operating in the industryTraders and stakeholders operating in the sectorInvestors/research institutions interested in the marketCustomization Options:Technical AnalysisSupply Chain AnalysisRegulatory FrameworkTrade AnalysisTrend AnalysisCheck Discount @For more information or any query mail at sales@reportsandmarkets.comAbout Reports And MarketsReports And Markets is part of the Algoro Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Are you mastering your market? Do you know what the market potential is for your product, who the market players are and what the growth forecast is? We offer standard global, regional or country specific market research studies for almost every market you can imagine.Contact PersonSanjay JainManager - Partner Relations & International Marketinginfo@reportsandmarkets.comPh: +1-214-377-1121 (US), +44-020-3286-9338 (UK)
Organic Polysulfide Market would grow at CAGR of 5% throughout the forecast period

Organic Polysulfide Market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4158

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/organic-polysulfide-market-4158

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Polysulfide is a chemical compound containing chains of sulfur atoms. There are two main classes of polysulfide namely anionic polysulfide and organic polysulfide. Organic Polysulfide primarily contains an alkyl or aryl group. Organic Polysulfide exhibit properties such as high flexibility, tensile strength, greater impermeability, chemical and weather resistance, and high dielectric strength. There are various end use industries in which polysulfide successfully penetrated is building & construction, automotive, marine & piping, aerospace, and others. The use of polysulfide in construction industry can be seen in sealing, coating, and adhesion of construction materials. Apart from this, both automotive and aerospace industries are using Polysulfide as adhesives, coatings and polymers for the lightweight parts. In addition to this, the applications of Organic Polysulfide can be found in marine & piping. Apart from that in chemical industries, organic polysulfide is used as an elastomer for many commercial chemical reactions.Request a Sample Report @The consumption of Organic Polysulfide is increasing due to the growing applications in construction and automobile industry. There is increasing demand of highly durable rubber in diverse industrial as well as household applications, this can propel the growth in demand of Organic Polysulfide for vulcanization of natural rubber. The unique characteristic features such as high impermeability, greater sealing ability and resistance add into the demand of Organic Polysulfide over its counterparts. Countries namely India, China, U.S., U.K., and Japan are heavily investing in ship building and port development, which may fuel demand of organic polysulfide on accounts of the greater resistance to chemical reaction and salt water offered by Organic Polysulfide. Moreover, Organic Polysulfide are easily biodegradable and recyclable, which nullify the environmental concern and make it more preferable over the other polymers. However, the sluggish growth of the markets in Latin America owing to the stagnation in many sectors of economy and political instability to impede the market in Latin America. North America is also predicted to witness relatively slow growth of the regional Organic Polysulfide Market due to the ongoing research in bid to find greener products. Nevertheless, the growing marine and aerospace activities is posing as an opportunity, which may push the growth of the Global Organic Polysulfide Market. Collectively, it has been estimated that the global organic polysulfide market would grow at CAGR of 5% throughout the forecast period.Regional Analysis:The major regions in the Global Organic Polysulfide Market are Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. Other regions include Latin America and Middle East & Africa. Among these five key regions Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market in the Global Organic Polysulfide Market. Countries namely, India, China, Japan, and Malaysia are an important markets in this region. The growth of market in this region in attributed to the growing building & construction activities. Apart from that the automotive and aerospace industries in this region are on the rise due to an increasing demand of cars & bikes from large proportion of middle class people in this region. Europe is estimated to hold second largest share of the Global Organic Polysulfide Market. Western European countries namely U.K., Germany, France, Netherlands, and Switzerland are the major markets in this region. The continuous innovation in aerospace and marine sector is responsible the growth in demand of organic polysulfide in this region. Apart from this, there is a greater demand of Organic Polysulfide as sealants in construction for prevention from cold. North America is a significant region in the Global Organic Polysulfide Market. U.S., and Canada are holding major share of the regional market owing to the growing aerospace industry. In addition to this the reconstruction activity in U.S. is driving the demand of organic polysulfide market. Other regions in the Global Organic Polysulfide Market are Latin America and Middle East & Africa. The political unrest and stagnant economic growth resulted in sluggish growth of regional market. However, during the forecast period Lain America may emerge as a significant region owing to the evolving end use industries in this region. Middle East & Africa is anticipated to join the leading regions, during the forecast period due to the ease in availability of raw material and ongoing infrastructural developments in the region.Browse Full Report Details @Segmentation:The Global Organic Polysulfide Market is segmented on the basis of applications, end use industry, and region. On the basis of applications the market is divided into adhesives, sealants, coating, elastomer, vulcanization, and others, wherein Organic Polysulfide is majorly used as an important raw material in adhesives and sealants production. Based on end use industries the global organic polysulfide market is segmented into building & construction, automotive, marine & piping, aerospace, chemicals and others. Among them, organic polysulfide has maximum penetration in the building & construction industry. Geographically, the market is segmented into five key region, including Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region among them on account of the growing construction activities.Key Players:Key players in the Global Organic Polysulfide Market are Kazan Synthetic Rubber Plant (Russia), Toray Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd (Japan), PPG Industries, Inc. (U.S), Flamemaster Corporation (U.S.), BASF (Germany).Key Points from Table of Contents:11. Company Profiles11.1 kazan synthetic rubber plant11.1.1 Company Overview11.1.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.1.3 Financial Updates11.1.4 Key Developments11.2 Toray Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd11.2.1 Company Overview11.2.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.2.3 Financial Updates11.2.4 Key Developments11.3 PPG Industries, Inc.11.3.1 Company Overview11.3.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.3.3 Financial Updates11.3.4 Key Developments11.4 Flamemaster Corporation11.4.1 Company Overview11.4.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.4.3 Financial Updates11.4.4 Key Developments11.5 BASF SE11.5.1 Company Overview11.5.2 Product/Business Segment Overview11.5.3 Financial Updates11.5.4 Key DevelopmentsMake an Enquiry before buying @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Vehicle-To-Grid Market to register a healthy CAGR for the forecast period, 2016-2026

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1690

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1690

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Vehicle-to-grid is a technology, which enables electric vehicles to be charged by connecting to the grid installed in different bases. The stored charge or power in the electric vehicles can be used for driving the car as well as it can be utilized for running the electric systems at offices and houses during power failure. The power stored within the electric vehicles through grid are capable of lighting the houses and offices. The power generated from various sources is distributed through the grid installed at houses or parking lots. The basic requirements for vehicle to grid are power connection, communication system and a metering system. The vehicle to grid systems helps in managing the loads generated and equally distributing it. However, the vehicle to grid being a new technology in the market, it is still in the pilot phase and it has not been fully commercialized. The adoption of this technology is limited to some of the developed regions such as the North America, Japan and Europe market. The global market for vehicle to grid will have a slow growth over the forecast period registering a single digit CAGR.Request Report Sample@Global Vehicle-To-Grid Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe global vehicle to grid market is primarily driven by the demand for environmental friendly power sources for vehicles and household purposes. The penetration of electric vehicles is attributed to the growth of vehicle to grid market. With the high power storage capacity batteries of electric vehicles the electric vehicles acts as a power storage facility which can be used in case of any electric power failure. Moreover, the vehicle-to-grid technology eliminates the traditional non-renewable source of energy such as petroleum and thermal power thus reducing the emissions. The electric vehicle owners can sell the electricity to utilities during a power failure. However, there are some challenges attributed to the vehicle to grid technology, which might restrain the global market for vehicle to grid. For instance, the vehicle to grid requires the coordination of electric vehicles at the utility center to use as a single storage device, which makes it hard to unplug any vehicle when needed during the course of charging.Global Vehicle-To-Grid Market: Market SegmentationBased on vehicle type, the global vehicle to grid market can be segmented into:EVs (Electric Vehicles)PEVs (Plug in Electric Vehicles)Global Vehicle-To-Grid Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographic regions, global automotive seating systems marketing market is segmented into seven key market segments namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, North America market for the vehicle-to-grid market over the forecast period. The vehicle to grid technology is widely adapted in the region as the penetration of EVs and PEVs in the region are high as per the data released by the United States Energy Department. The Western European market and the Japan market for the vehicle to grid is followed by the North America market where the initial implementation of the technology has shown effective results. According to the OECD (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development), the increasing penetration of EVs and PEVs in China will provide opportunities for the vehicle to grid models in the region.Visit For TOC@Some of the major players identified in the global vehicle to grid market includes, AC Propulsion, IncEdison International., DENSO CORPORATION., Boulder Electric Vehicle, and Nissan among others.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Belt Market Study by Application - Automotive, Industrial and Agricultural 2017

ReportsWeb

http://www.reportsweb.com/global-belt-market-professional-survey-report-2017

http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011029364/sample

http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011029364/discount

http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011029364/buy/3500

ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Belt Market Professional Survey Report 2017 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.This report studies Belt (mechanical) in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringMisuboshiBandoOptibeltContitechDaycoSumitomoBoschMagnaGatesDRBHwaseung R&AHitachi MetalsYokohama RubberBridgestoneN.K. EnterprisesDharamshila Belting Pvt. Ltd.NavyugFlexer RubbersMitsuboshiFenner DrivesBehaOptibeltSanluxSanwei3MComplete report is available atBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaGet a SAMPLE Request atOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFlat BeltsRound BeltsV BeltsMulti-groove BeltsTiming BeltsRibbed BeltsOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoAutomotiveIndustrialAgriculturalOthersFew points from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Belt2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Belt2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Belt2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Belt2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Belt3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Belt3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Belt Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Belt Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Belt Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Belt Major Manufacturers in 20164 Global Belt Overall Market Overview5 Belt Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Belt Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Belt Segment Market Analysis (by Application)Get Discount at8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Belt9 Development Trend of Analysis of Belt Market10 Belt MarkeBeltg Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Belt12 Conclusion of the Global Belt Market Professional Survey Report 2017Purchase complete report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email:sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
United States Mobile Application Testing Services Market Future Demand and Growth Analysis with Forecast, 2012-2022

Bharat Book Bureau

https://www.bharatbook.com/information-technology-market-research-reports-918683/mobile-application-testing-services-united-states.html

https://www.bharatbook.com/request-sample/918683

www.bharatbook.com

United States mobile application testing (MAT) services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 11% by 2022, on the back of increasing number of smartphone and internet users across the country. Moreover, growing culture of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Bring Your Own Application (BYOA), rising adoption of DevOps and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytic and Cloud) ecosystem, and increasing use of mobile applications across diverse sectors including financial and retail, are some of the factors anticipated to boost the demand for MAT services in the US during the forecast period. Owing to growing demand for security and reliability of mobile applications, which deal with customers personal and financial data, the MAT services market in the US is expected to witness an upward growth trend over next five years.Please continue to read the complete report at :According to United States Mobile Application Testing Services Market By Architecture, By Type, By Operating System, By Device, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2012-2022, United States mobile application testing services market is controlled by several major players. Some of them include Accenture LLP, Capgemini U.S. LLC, International Business Machines Corporation, Wipro LLC, COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION, Infosys Consulting Inc, Cigniti Technologies Inc and Perfecto Mobile Ltd.Request A Sample copy of United States Mobile Application Testing Services Market @United States Mobile Application Testing Services Market By Architecture, By Type, By Operating System, By Device, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2012-2022 discusses the following aspects of mobile application testing services market in the United States: United States mobile application testing services market Size, Share & Forecast Segmental Analysis: By Architecture (Native, Hybrid, & Web-based), By Type (Manual Vs. Automation), By Operating System (Android, iOS, etc.), By Device Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities Policy & Regulatory Landscape Competitive Landscape & Strategic RecommendationsWhy You Should Buy This Report? To gain an in-depth understanding of United States mobile application testing services market To identify the on-going trends, and anticipated growth over the next five years To help industry consultants, IoT solution providers and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get research data or trends added in the report as per the buyers specific needsReport MethodologyThe information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary sources. Primary research included interviews with mobile application testing service providers including hardware, software and service companies as well as industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, press release, financial reports and other proprietary databases.About Bharat Book Bureau:Bharat Book Bureau is the leading market research information provider for market research reports, company profiles, industry study, country reports, business reports, newsletters and online databases Bharat Book Bureau provides over a million reports from more than 400 publishers around the globe. We cover sectors starting from Aeronautics to Zoology.Contact us at:Bharat Book BureauTel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773Email: poonam@bharatbook.comWebsite:Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google Plus
Vibrating Screens Market : Opportunities, Demand and Forecasts, 2016 to 2026

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1789

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Vibrating screens are used to segregate feeds comprising solid and crushed ores down to approximately 210m and are also applicable to both dried and wetted feed. The vibrating motor and rubber sieve plate are the internal components of the vibrating screen. High frequency vibrating screens are primarily utilized in the mineral processing industries. Different vibrating screens are available in the market such as circular vibrating screens, gyratory screen, rotary vibrating screen, trammel screen, linear vibrating screens, etc.Factors such as amount of oversize and undersize material, type of material, shape of particles, moisture content, others govern the capacity of vibrating screens. The high frequency vibration screens operates at varying 0 to 25 degrees and can go up to a maximum of 45 degrees. The frequency range is from 15007200 RPM and should operate at a low stroke. As the apertures in the high frequency screen may cause blockage, pre-treatment of the feed is required. General design of a vibrating screens consists of screen web, bock, coupler, mainframe, rub spring and electric motor. Vibrating screens are widely used in coal, refractory, mining, building materials etc. and can be customized according to the requirement. Waste streams released from waste products should be treated as they may cause damage to the environment over a sustained period of time.Request Report Sample@Global Vibrating Screens Market: SegmentationVibrating screen market can be segmented on the basis of applications, motive mechanism, product type, production process, driving method and region. On the basis of application, vehicle screen market can be segmented into metallurgy, wood pelleting, food, chemical industry, mineral processing and reclaimed asphalt pavement. On the basis of motive mechanism, vehicle screen market can be segmented into hydraulic vibrator and electric vibrators. On the basis of product type, vehicle screen market can be segmented into linear vibrating screens and circular vibrating screens. On the basis of production process, vehicle screen market can be segmented into screen selection and pre-treatment of feed. On the basis of driving method, it can be segmented into direct drive and indirect drive.Global Vibrating Screens Market: DynamicsDriversFast and easy replacement of vibrating screens due to screw less fastening system is driving the growth of the global vibrating screens. High availability and low maintenance requirements are growing the market of vibrating screens globally. Moreover, robust design and low susceptibility of the vibrating screens are another factors leading to the growth of the vibrating screens market globally. Moreover, diversified product portfolio available in the market meeting the demands of the consumers is another factor fueling the demand for vibrating screens globally.Restraints:Screening efficiency can be affected by screen tearing, dampening, blinding and contamination which may challenge the growth of the vibrating screens market globally. Furthermore, limitations of rotary screen to handle two devices as compared to high frequency vibrating screens is another factor which can be considered as a restraint for the global vibrating screens market.Visit For TOC@Global Vibrating Screens Market: Key PlayersThe main key players of the global vibrating screens market are:Deister MachineElgin Equipment GroupOsbornHawk MachineryDerrick CorporationJOST GroupMidwestern IndustriesAury Pty Ltd.Gator Machinery CompanySouthwest Milling and Industrial CompanyGlobal Vibrating Screens Market:Region Wise OutlookOn the basis of region, vibration screens market can be segmented into Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa, and Japan. Europe and Asia pacific is expected to dominate the market as they are significant market for mining and steel industries. China, UK and Ukraine are expected to show robust development in the steel industry. Furthermore, countries such as South Africa, Australia and India are expected to create moderate demand for vibrating screens.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Gamification Market by Application Product Development, Human Resource, Marketing and Sales Support

ReportsWeb

http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011029304/sample

http://www.reportsweb.com/global-gamification-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Gamification Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 The report focuses on Global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.This report studies the global Gamification market, analyzes and researches the Gamification development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeMicrosoft CorporationSalesforceBadgeville, Inc.BunchballArcaris Inc.SAP SEBigdoor, Inc.GigyaFaya CorporationLevelelevenRequest a Sample copy atMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaComplete report is available atMarket segment by Type, Gamification can be split intoOn-PremisesCloudMarket segment by Application, Gamification can be split intoMarketingSalesSupportProduct DevelopmentHuman ResourceOthersFew points from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Gamification2 Global Gamification Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Gamification Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Gamification Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Gamification Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Gamification in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Gamification5 United States Gamification Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Gamification Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Gamification Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Gamification Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Gamification Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Gamification Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Get Discount at7 Japan Gamification Development Status and Outlook8 China Gamification Development Status and Outlook9 India Gamification Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Gamification Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Gamification Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisPurchase complete report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email:sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Task Management Software Market Growth, Size or Share Estimated to increase by 2017  2022 - Radiant Insights, Inc

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Task Management Software market, analyzes and researches the Task Management Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likedaPulseZohoIDoneThisBasecampTrelloTimeCampMicrosoftFieldbookeXoGenieBeltStand By SoftGlipQuickBaseAtlassianWeavoraAppfluenceBrowse full report here @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, Task Management Software can be split intoLarge enterprisesMedium sized enterprisesSmall businessGet PDF request sample @Table of ContentsGlobal Task Management Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Task Management Software1.1 Task Management Software Market Overview1.1.1 Task Management Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Task Management Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Task Management Software Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Large enterprises1.3.2 Medium sized enterprises1.3.3 Small business2 Global Task Management Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Task Management Software Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 daPulse3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Zoho3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 IDoneThis3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Basecamp3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Trello3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 TimeCamp3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Microsoft3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Fieldbook3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 eXo3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 GenieBelt3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Task Management Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Stand By Soft3.12 Glip3.13 QuickBase3.14 Atlassian3.15 Weavora3.16 Appfluence4 Global Task Management Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Task Management Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.2 Potential Application of Task Management Software in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Task Management Software5 United States Task Management Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Task Management Software Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Task Management Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)About Us:Radiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services.GET IN TOUCH201 Spear Street 1100, Suite 3036, San Francisco, CA 94105, United StatesTel : 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Mail: sales@radiantinsights.com
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK  High winds pushed the Sprague fire into Glacier National Park's historic Sperry Chalet Thursday, burning it down, according to InciWeb.

"A highly skilled group of firefighters were staged at the Sperry Chalet over the last week. ... The firefighters, supported by three helicopters, made a valiant stand to save the structure but were unsuccessful in saving the main Sperry Chalet," the national wildfire information service posted shortly after 7 p.m.

The chalet had been closed since Aug. 15, after the discovery of the Sprague fire, which was sparked by a lightning storm on Aug. 10 and tore through steep, heavily forested terrain that has not burned since the 1700s. But until Thursday, that closure was couched as a matter of the fire posing a danger to trail access, not to the chalet itself.

For days, firefighters used an extensive hose lay pump system to defend the chalet and its outbuildings, Peri Suenram of the wildland fire management team said Thursday evening.

But Thursday afternoon, the winds predicted by a Red Flag Warning that had been in effect for more than a day finally kicked up and the fire "made a really big push," Suenram said. "One small spot fire started on the cookhouse roof, but they were able to put it out. Shortly after 6 p.m., though, we got notified that the Sperry Chalet main building was completely engulfed in flames."

The team of five firefighters remained on site Thursday night, she said. "We're not able to get them out right now, but they've assured us they are SAFE in capital letters."

Those firefighters are continuing to deploy the system in place to try and save the remaining four structures, she said. "We're continuing to support them with bucket drops.

The destruction of the chalet came a day after the park's Lake McDonald Lodge closed for the season because of hazardous levels of smoke. In 2003, the Roberts fire forced the evacuation of an estimated 3,000 people from the Lake McDonald Valley, including the lodge, Apgar and park headquarters.

Sperry is one of the park's two backcountry chalets. While guests at the park's other chalet, Granite Park, toted their own food, those at Sperry had meals, drinks and bed linens provided.

The chalet dates to 1912, when a crew of Italian stonemasons built the kitchen and dining hall in a glacial cirque at 6,580 feet, looking down at Lake McDonald and west toward the Whitefish Range, according to Ray Djuff and Chris Morrison, authors of View with a Room.

In 1913, the kitchen began serving guests who stayed in a tent camp. That same year, work began on the chalet whose 17 guest rooms could hold 40 to 50 overnight guests, who hiked in.

Comments stacked up on Glacier National Park's Facebook page after it posted the news Thursday evening."Sad," read several. "Heartbroken," said others.

Suenram echoed them in her recital of the day's events.

"It's sad," she said. "Oh, gosh, it's sad."

***

The poor weather conditions troubling firefighters are expected to stretch into the weekend.

The likelihood of thunderstorms was expected to peak Friday or Saturday, bringing lightning that could start new blazes and wind gusts that could fuel existing ones. A Red Flag Warning was in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday for many of the regions fires, with crews largely unable to conduct new controlled burns and waiting at the ready to attack any new starts..

Thw Lolo Peak fire put up a new plume Thursday evening, causing a stir on social media.

"The fire was kind of sitting in one spot for five to six days," said fire information officer Todd Schoeder, but it started moving again Wednesday and kept going Thursday. It spotted south of One Horse Creek and continues to burn on a north-facing slope about 1.5 miles west of the mouth of the canyon, Schoeder said Thursday night.

Retardant was laid down at the rate of 20,000 to 30,000 gallons an hour Thursday, he said. "We were hitting it hard all day ... and we'll have eyes on it all night long."

Late Thursday night, "all of a sudden the wind laid down, the fire laid down," and the decision was made for burnout operations south from One Horse Creek to Bass Creek in order to strengthen the buffer along the primary control line, Schroeder said. Three 20-person crews, eight engines, and two water tenders, and 110 people, were on the operation, he said.

Several evacuation warnings have been lifted along the fires perimeter, where the line has been controlled and fuels burned through. Warnings were lifted in the Highway 12 corridor from mile marker 24 near and including Arena Drive to the Highway 93 junction in Lolo. In the Highway 93 corridor, the evacuation warning was lifted for residents starting at mile marker 79 near and including the Gravel Pit off of Old Highway 93 and the McClain Creek Road north to the Highway 12 junction.

The evacuation warning remains in place in the Bear Creek and Elk Creek areas on Highway 12 east of Lolo and in the Highway 93 corridor from McClain Creek Road south to Bass Creek Road.

Also on Thursday, firefighters started preparing areas for burning operations to connect the already burned blocks created as a buffer along the primary control line south from One Horse Creek to Bass Creek. As the conditions allow, firefighters will conduct these smaller burnout operations in the upcoming days to protect residences in the Highway 93 corridor, according to InciWeb, the national wildfire information service.

Officials on the Rice Ridge fire issued new evacuation warnings Wednesday night for about 90 residences in the Seeley Lake area from Tamarack Resort to Bear Grass Lane and extending toward Camp Creek.

Fire officials said they would host a community meeting 6 p.m. Friday in Ovando at the elementary school.

***

The only bright spot Thursday came in terms of air quality.

"Hot dippity dog," crowed air quality specialist Sarah Coefield in her Thursday-afternoon report. "We're seeing legit valley-scouring winds this afternoon, and some parts of the county have seen significant air quality improvements."

Clearwater Junction, Arlee, the Potomac Valley and the Swan Valley saw Moderate air quality Thursday afternoon, while elsewhere the air quality stood at Unhealthy for Sensitive groups, reported Coefield, of the Missoula City-County Health Department.

But what's good news for firefighters  that Thursday's winds were predicted to calm after midnight  isn't so great on the smoke front, with smoke likely pooling near active fires, Coefield wrote.

"Florence, Lolo and Seely Lake may have Very Unhealthy or Hazardous air quality. The rest of us are likely to see ground-level haze and a lot of overhead smoke in the morning," she said of Friday's outlook.

And she reminded people that Seeley Lake continues to have incredibly bad air quality, hovering around three times the particulate concentration necessary to be deemed hazardous by technical standards.

It was 10 times worse in Seeley Lake (than Missoula) and theyve been seeing numbers like this on a near-daily basis for the past month, Coefield wrote. The folks in Seeley Lake are seeing smoke like we've never seen before, and a lot of them are suffering. We should not become numb to the numbers.
Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) Market Research, Share, Competitor Strategy, Industry Trends, Forecast to 2025

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Global Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) Market: OverviewOn account of the increasing care toward patient safety, the demand for intraoperative neuromonitoring has continued to rise at a steady pace. The burden of healthcare costs on patients and their desire to avoid readmission have upped the adoption of intraoperative neuromonitoring around the world. Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) uses electrophysiological techniques such as electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), and evoked potentials to effectively monitor the integrity of neural structures such as spinal cords, nerves, and certain parts of brain. IONM is mostly conducted to provide functional guidance to surgeons besides reducing risk to patients suffering from iatrogenic damage.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) Market: Key TrendsAs per findings of the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 80% of disorders leading to disabling conditions are neurological. Intraoperative monitoring has thus become imperative in neurosurgery as it offers early warning with regards to sensory & motor functions during a surgery. It has therefore enabled surgeons yield better results by eliminating post-operative neurophysiological deficits. Safer surgery consequently results in reduced risk and intervention time. On account of these benefits the demand for intraoperative neuromonitoring has surged exponentially across the healthcare sector.This, coupled with, favorable reimbursement scenario especially in developed nations is augmenting market prospects for the future. Also the market players are focusing on strategic collaborations to expand their footprint and offer innovations. These calculated steps witnessed in the global intraoperative neuromonitoring market will act in favor of its growth in the coming years.Request TOC of the Report @Global Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) Market: Market PotentialRecently, SpecialtyCare renowned as a leading provider of surgical services, perfusion, and intraoperative neuromonitoring acquired Sentient, a prominent IONM provider in October 2016. With this transaction SpecialtyCare was able expand their leadership as one of the most comprehensive providers of patient-centered outsourced IONM services to hospitals, surgeons, health systems, and surgery centers.Following the acquisition, SpecialtyCare has increased the overall number of intraoperative neuromonitoring associates to support cases in the U.S., which is also its existing market, besides expanding coverage across the Atlantic States. Such mergers and acquisitions will have a positive impact on the market in letting it expand its distribution network across markets yet to be explored. Leading players in the global intraoperative neuromonitoring market are also looking to extend strategic collaboration with counterparts across emerging nations to expand their overall footprint.Get a discount @Global Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, opportunities witnessed by the intraoperative neuromonitoring market in North America are highly lucrative. Besides this, considerable growth potential exists for the market in Europe as well. Considering improving reimbursement scenario across North America and Europe, these regions are expected to remain at the global markets fore also in the coming years. Besides this, a majority of developed countries have clearly defined procedure and codes for patients and insurance companies, which have made reimbursement processes easier and more convenient. Such well-defined guidelines has resulted in better outcome, thus benefiting hospitals and patients alike and accelerating the pace of gains for intraoperative neuromonitoring market in turn.A large number of neurological centers in the U.S. are recommending the use of intraoperative neuromonitoring in order to bridge the manpower gap and cater to the rising demand. Hospitals are encouraging physicians besides the doctorate-level IONM providers to get trained and certified from institutions such as the American Board of Nuclear Medicine. With the healthcare system making an effort to encourage the use of IONM, its demand is expected to surge further in the coming years. In addition, the market is expected to witness rising opportunities in Asia Pacific in the near future.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Decision Management Applications Market : Recent Industry Trends, Analysis and Forecast 2026

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Decision management applications decision oriented evaluative software that help an enterprise to solve critical problems, manage and analyses huge data, and delivers decisive results. Also, enterprises are using decision management application for minimizing error and to get accurate results within a short period of time. These application helps an organization to maximise its profitability and efficiency. According to traditional approach, decision management used to be done manually without using any technical tools or applications.Decision Management Applications Market Segmentation:On the basis of type global decision management application market is segmented into Analytical management application, business rule management application, operational optimisation application, testing management application, workflow management application, and monitoring & governance application.Request Report Sample@On the basis of application global decision management application market is segmented into business research management, fraud management, regulatory compliance management, accounting and revenue management, human resource management, credit risk management, customer management. Business research management is sub segmented into business intelligence and analytics. Business intelligence manages database, helps in analysis, and also tracks reporting. Analytics consist of sophisticated tools with abilities to discover insights in data. In decision management application these three technology areas can perform both together and separately as well. Customer management is sub segmented into Cross-sell and up-sell, web- based purchasing, single channel management and multichannel management.Geographically, decision management application market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America, Western Europe and Japan are the lucrative regions for global decision management application; where, U.S., European Union (EU)-5, Japan are the most revenue generating countries in this market. North America and Western Europe holds the majority of the market share in the decision management application market. Asia Pacific excluding Japan market for decision management application is one of the fastest growing market in terms of revenue generation. India, China, Malaysia, Singapore are the significant contributing countries in terms of revenue growth.Decision Management Applications Market Dynamics:Decision management application delivers solutions and results of a complex data. Currently, enterprises are adopting this applications in order to reduce the timeline of projects and also to optimise the affectivity of a project. These benefits are primarily driving the decision management application market. This applications are used by both service and manufacturing industries. Moreover, increasing critical data and complex business situation require strong result oriented decision, understanding the requirement developers have been improving the model of decision management. Currently, there are number of high level model of decision management application are available in the market. This technological advancement is another factor that drives the global decision management application market. However, owing to have high price, many big and small enterprises cannot effort decision management applications. Moreover, to run these applications, it requires skilled employees, which is again a cost bearing factor for the companies. These are the factor that are restraining the high growth of global decision management application market.Visit For TOC@Since, decision management application is a recent trend of a decision management market, many large scale enterprises already adopted this application, and most of the small and medium enterprises are still untapped, are the opportunity to the decision management application market globally. New models of decision management applications are always an opportunities to the decision management application market, hence decision management application companies have been developing value added decision management applications.Decision Management Applications Market Key Players:Some of the key players operating in the decision management application are IBM Corporation, SAS Institute Inc., AbsolutData Holdings, Inc., Mu Sigma Inc., Manthan Software Services Pvt. Ltd., salesforce.com, inc., Nimble, Inc. PipelineDeals, Inc.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Industrial Automation Market Research, Market Share, Competitor Strategy and Trends by Forecast to 2022

Industrial Automation Market

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Market Highlights:Industrial Automation can be defined as the use of computer aided control devices to operate different industrial processes by replacing human involvement. Industrial automation helps to operate multiple processes in controlled manner. It helps for mass production by reducing time and increasing production quality.Industrial Automation consists of different levels such as sensor level, automation control level automation, supervision level and enterprise level. The sensor level can also be called as the process level that uses sensors and actuators for getting values of the process variables on periodic or continuous basis. Control devices like PCs/PLCs/DCS and others. are used by the automation control level. PLC is majorly a machine control whereas DCS leads the process control.The automation control level operates using different embedded processors, PID algorithms to control all processes. Industrial automation includes various technologies as Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), Human Machine Interface (HMI). Supervisory control and data acquisition is a controlled system architecture which uses computers, graphical user interfaces and network data communications for high-level processes. Human Machine Interface includes the electronics required to signal and control the state of Industrial Automation Market equipment. The major benefits of industrial automation can be considered as replacing human involvement from risky areas of work, greater quality of production and economy improvement.Global Industrial Automation Market is expected to grow at USD 149 Billion by 2022, at 6% of CAGR between 2016 and 2022.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players: Siemens AG (Germany) ABB Ltd. (Switzerland) Emerson Electric Company (U.S.) General Electric Company (U.S.) Schneider Electric SE (France) Honeywell International, Inc. (U.S.) Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan) Yokogawa Electric (Japan) Rockwell Automation, Inc. (U.S.)Industrial Automation Market Segmentation:The Industrial Automation Market has been segmented on the basis of type, technology, and end user. Looking through the industry segments its been observed that manufacturing industry would expect a substantial increase in industrial automation sector.Whereas metals and mining, oil and gas, automotive and transport industries are also leading industries in industrial automation sector. These industries are showing a positive growth towards industrial automation.Market Research Analysis:Market Research Future Analysis shows that there are many organizations which are lagging in industrial automation but there is an expectation of sudden hike in industrial automation. It has been observed that many companies are getting incentives for increasing their investment in industrial automation. The major benefits of industrial automation are increase in production, quality and replacing labor intervention. These factors would definitely increase the industrial automation market very soon.Regional analysis for industrial automation market is studied in different geographic regions as Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of world. It has been observed that Europe would account for larger share in industrial automation sector followed by North America and Asia-Pacific. Asia-Pacific countries like Japan, China, and Korea, also the south East Asian countries like Vietnam are also showing progress in field of industrial automation.Regional Analysis:The regional analysis of Industrial automation market is being studied for region such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. The ongoing global trend towards greater industrial automation is being reflected in an increase in the number of industrial robots into the US.Currently, there has been news in Japan that factory automation has paved a way for establishment of robot training centers. There has been an upward trend in industrial automation in the Asia pacific nations including Vietnam. It is proved that using industrial robots helps saving time and increasing product quality and production capacity leading to improve the competitiveness. This factors are expected to drive the industrial automation market in Asia-Pacific Region.Intended Audience: Process Automation and Instrumentation Manufacturers Industrial Robot Manufacturers MES (Manufacturing Execution System) and MOM (Manufacturing Operations Management) Players System Integrators Government Organizations Research/Consultancy firmsBrowse Full Report Details @Table of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market StructureContinuedList of TablesTable 1 Industrial Automation Market, By TypeTable 2 Industrial Automation Market, By TechnologyTable 3 Industrial Automation Market, By End-UserContinuedList of FiguresFigure 1research Network SolutionFigure 2industrial Automation Market: By Type (%)Figure 3industrial Automation Market: By Technology (%)ContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Solutions, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Liquid Fertilizers Market at a CAGR of 3.1%

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Reports And Markets Publish a New Market Research Report On "Liquid Fertilizers Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2017 - 2022)"Access Full Report With Table Of Contents @The global liquid fertilizer market estimated at USD XX million in 2016 is projected to reach USD XX million by 2021 at a CAGR of 3.1%. The latest news of a possible merger between the two Canadian fertilizer giants Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. would result in a crop nutrient giant worth USD 27 billion.Global Liquid Fertilizers Market DynamicsLiquid fertilizers are the most efficient way of delivering the required nutrients to plants at the correct time and in optimal concentration. Some of the major factors driving the market are the demand for increased crop yield to feed the expanding population, need for high-efficiency organic fertilizers, easy usage and application of liquid fertilizers and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by farmers.Restrictions in the supply chain, increasing concerns over health and environmental degradation, the high cost of handling and storage, inadequate awareness among the farmers and strict regulatory framework are some of the restraints of the market. Major opportunities for market growth lie in the emerging economies of the developing countries.Global Liquid Fertilizers Market SegmentationBased on the nutrient type the market is segmented into nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and micronutrients.On basis of the major ingredients, the organic liquid fertilizers are expected to grow at a faster pace than the synthetic fertilizers. The foliar application of liquid fertilizers is the most commonly used method as it helps in neutralizing soil conditions, enhance plant growth, and increase the rate of nutrient absorption as compared to the other methods of fertilizer application.Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing market due to its increasing population, growing economy and extensive support from government and other agencies to maximize agricultural production to meet food demands. North America is the second largest liquid fertilizer market followed by Europe and South America.Request For Sample Report @Key Players in the Global Liquid Fertilizers MarketThe major companies in the sector include:Agrium IncorporatedAgroLiquidHaifa Chemicals Ltd.Israel Chemical Ltd. (ICL)Kugler CompanyRural Liquid Fertilizers (RLF)Yara International ASARecent Industry InsightsTop companies are making strategic investments in the liquid fertilizer markets. Tessenderlo Groups business unit Tessenderlo Kerley International (TKI) has been continuously expanding its capacity of liquid sulfur-based fertilizers in the US. Most recently, it has made a strategic investment in liquid fertilizers in Europe to strengthen its market position by constructing a Thio-Sul  (ammonium thiosulphate / ATS) manufacturing plant in France which is due for operation in 2017, indicating the high demand of liquid fertilizers in the coming years.Key Deliverables in the StudyMarket analysis for the global liquid fertilizer market, with region specific assessments and competition analysis.Market overview and identification and analysis of the macro and micro factors that affect the global liquid fertilizer market and also instrumental in changing the market scenario, on both, global and regional scales.Extensively researched competitive landscape section with profiles of major companies and their market share, along with an analysis of their current strategic interests and financial information and strategies adopted by them to sustain and grow in the studied market.The report holds importance for the following stakeholders-Producers and manufacturersAgricultural input companiesEnterprises operating in the industryTraders and stakeholders operating in the sectorInvestors/research institutions interested in the marketCustomization Options:Supply chain analysisRegulatory frameworkTrade analysisTrend analysisCheck Discount @For more information or any query mail at sales@reportsandmarkets.comAbout Reports And MarketsReports And Markets is part of the Algoro Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Are you mastering your market? Do you know what the market potential is for your product, who the market players are and what the growth forecast is? We offer standard global, regional or country specific market research studies for almost every market you can imagine.Contact PersonSanjay JainManager - Partner Relations & International Marketinginfo@reportsandmarkets.comPh: +1-214-377-1121 (US), +44-020-3286-9338 (UK)
Global Live Chat Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022

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This report studies the global Live Chat Software market, analyzes and researches the Live Chat Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeLivePersonZendeskLogMeInLiveChatSnapEngageComm100FreshdeskIntercomJivoSiteKayakoLiveZillaOlarkProvide SupportPureChatUserLikeVelaroWoopraMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaDownload Sample Report Copy From Here:Market segment by Type, Live Chat Software can be split intoCloudOn-premisesMarket segment by Application, Live Chat Software can be split intoRetail and e-commerceTravel and hospitalityIT and consultingTelecommunicationPharmaceuticalIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Live Chat Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Live Chat Software1.1 Live Chat Software Market Overview1.1.1 Live Chat Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Live Chat Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Live Chat Software Market by Type1.3.1 Cloud1.3.2 On-premises1.4 Live Chat Software Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Retail and e-commerce1.4.2 Travel and hospitality1.4.3 IT and consulting1.4.4 Telecommunication1.4.5 Pharmaceutical2 Global Live Chat Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Live Chat Software Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 LivePerson3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Zendesk3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 LogMeIn3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 LiveChat3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 SnapEngage3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Comm1003.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Freshdesk3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Intercom3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 JivoSite3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Kayako3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Live Chat Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 LiveZilla3.12 Olark3.13 Provide Support3.14 PureChat3.15 UserLike3.16 Velaro3.17 Woopra4 Global Live Chat Software Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Live Chat Software Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Live Chat Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Live Chat Software in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Live Chat Software5 United States Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)7 Japan Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)8 China Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)8.2 China Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)9 India Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)9.2 India Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)10 Southeast Asia Live Chat Software Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Live Chat Software Market Size (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Live Chat Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)11.1 Global Live Chat Software Market Size (Value) by Regions (2017-2022)11.1.1 United States Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.2 EU Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.3 Japan Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.4 China Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.5 India Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.6 Southeast Asia Live Chat Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.2 Global Live Chat Software Market Size (Value) by Type (2017-2022)11.3 Global Live Chat Software Market Size by Application (2017-2022)12 Live Chat Software Market Dynamics12.1 Live Chat Software Market Opportunities12.2 Live Chat Software Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Live Chat Software Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Live Chat Software Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential Application13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs Trend/Customer Preference13.3 External Environmental Change13.3.1 Economic Fluctuations13.3.2 Other Risk Factors14 Research Finding/Conclusion15 AppendixMethodologyAnalyst IntroductionData SourceBuy Now This Report From Here:Global QYResearch() is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit 1, 26 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London,E182AN, United KingdomCall: +44 20 3239 2407sales@globalqyresearch.com
Medium Voltage AC Power Distribution Units (PDU) Market In Data Centers : Growth, Demand and Key Players to 2026

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The revolution of internet and connectivity in recent years has increased the dependency on digital sources. Trillion bits of data is used and generated every day, which has to be stored at reliable and easily accessible places. This has resulted in tremendous growth of data centers, cloud storage and data warehouses. Also, service providers desire to provide faster communication network and higher internet speed than that of their competitors has enforced organizations to improve infrastructure of data centers. The basic infrastructure including power distribution & management and HVAC plays a vital role in performance of data centers. The power distribution is generally categorized in three bands, i.e. Low Voltage Alternating Current (AC), Medium Voltage AC and High Voltage AC. The distribution and regulation of power supply in data centers is managed by power distribution units (PDU).Conventionally, medium voltage AC power distribution units are widely used in heavy machinery and mining industries but due to increasing loads on data centers, many data centers operators are adopting medium voltage AC power distribution units to meet their industry-size demands. Considering ratio of area consumption and power distribution, the medium voltage AC power distribution units are more compact than low voltage PDU system. Medium voltage AC power distribution units involve less wire-web and provide more interconnectivity. In contrast, a low voltage system require 8-10 times more cables and conduits as compared to medium voltage AC power distribution units. In spite of being compact, cost effective and efficient, the medium voltage AC power distribution units require more space for ventilation and cooling as high power is managed by the system.Request Report Sample@Medium Voltage AC Power Distribution Units (PDU) Market in Data Centers: DynamicsThe raising data usage and digitalization of all conventional means is increasing pressure on data center operators to maximize their efficiency and capacity. To attain secure position in competitive market in which rack density and power consumption are continuingly increasing, the data center operators are intending to improve the efficiency of supporting infrastructure. Also, interconnectivity amongst various organizations, government departments, security systems, transportations etc. are playing a vital role in increasing dependency on data centers which is forcing operators to adopt medium voltage AC power distribution units in data centers.However, the high installation and operating cost of medium voltage AC power distribution units along with failure rate and increased complexity of data center servers are some of the restraints that are expected to affect the market growth of medium voltage AC power distribution units in data centers over the forecast period.Medium Voltage AC Power Distribution Units (PDU) Market in Data Centers: SegmentationThe medium voltage AC power distribution units market in data centers can be segmented on the basis of their type, power phase and power conversion type. On the basis of type, medium voltage AC power distribution units market can be categorized into basic, metered, monitored, switched and others segment. On the basis of power phase, medium voltage AC power distribution units market can be segmented as single-phase and three phase. On the basis of power conversion, the medium voltage AC power distribution units market can be segmented into AC-DC and AC-AC segments.Medium Voltage AC Power Distribution Units (PDU) Market in Data Centers: Region-wise OutlookThe global market of medium voltage AC power distribution units in data centers is segmented into 7 key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Japan. North America, Western Europe and Latin America are anticipated to remain key market in the medium voltage AC power distribution units market by 2016 end. While, APEJ is expected to witness the high growth in the market due to rapid infrastructure growth and digitalization in countries like India and China.Visit For TOC@Medium Voltage AC Power Distribution Units (PDU) Market in Data Centers: Key PlayersKey players reported in the study of medium voltage AC power distribution units (PDU) market include CyberPower Systems, Eaton, Emerson Network Power, Raritan, Schneider Electric (APC), Server Technology, ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri) and others.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Electric Kettle Market Driven by Rise in Fuel Prices for Conventional Gas Kettles

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Electric Kettle is also known tea kettle or hot pot, is a metallic pot specifically used for the boiling of water. The electric kettle has a spout, a lid and a handle. An electric kettle is just like the conventional kettle which was used in early times, but it is heated with the help of electricity. The electric kettle has a heating element made up of copper or other high resistance mettle. Usually, the outer element is made up of stainless steel, but in early times electric kettles were made up of brass. Electric kettles power rating is around 2-3 kW at 220 V. In modern electric kettles, once the water reaches the boiling point, the kettle deactivates automatically to avoid too much of current. For this automatically switching off, a bimetallic strip thermostat is used most of the time.Obtain Report Details @Electric Kettle Market Segmentation:Electric Kettle market has been segmented on the basis of material used, type, distribution channel and region. On the basis of product material used the electric kettle market is segmented into plastic or stainless steel. Among both the segment, the plastic electric kettle is expected to grow significantly in the near future. On the basis of type, the market of an electric kettle is segmented into see through and opaque. Among both, the segment opaque electric kettle holds the major share of the market. On the basis of distribution channel, the electric kettle market is segmented into hypermarket/supermarket, convenience stores, online stores and others. To cater to increasing demand for electric kettle online stores are partnering with international brands and are offering the electric kettle with an attractive pricing. Competition is also expected to intensify in the market in the forecast period mainly due to the presence of local players offering electric kettle at reasonable prices.Electric Kettle Market Regional Outlook:A regional segment for the market of an electric kettle is divided into five different regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific including Japan and Middle East & Africa. Among these segment, North America is expected to have the major market share globally, as it is the largest consumer of an electric kettle. In North America region U.S. is generating the major revenue. Although Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the market in the coming years, Europe, on the other hand, is also expected to grow at a higher CAGR in the electric kettle market.For more information on this report, fill the form @Electric Kettle Market Drivers:Demand for see through electric kettle from consumers is increasing enormously which in turn is expected to drive the market of electric kettles globally. Endorsements done by celebrities, advertisements in various social media are growing at a faster pace, because of which the demand for electric kettle is also increasing, due to which the market is also growing to a greater extant. As electric kettles are available in smaller option as well, so it becomes very handy to carry it everywhere, its portability is a key reason the market for electric kettles is growing at a significant rate. Manufacturers are focusing on providing advanced options in electric kettles due to increasing needs of customers with accordance to this product, is showing significant growth in the last few years. The demand for electric kettle is high among the in the developing nations especially in the urban population, due to factors such as better infrastructural facilities, increase in working population and high purchasing power. Moreover, growth in the trend for virtual kitchens along with safety benefits and comfort to the users and the rise in fuel prices for conventional gas kettles are the key major factors that are expected to drive the electric kettle market.Electric Kettle Market Key Players:Some of the key players in electric kettle market are the Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited Company, Morphy Richards Ltd., Philips S.p.A., Bajaj Auto Limited, Hamilton Beach, Inc., Bonavita Inc, Breville Group Limited. Cuisinart, Inc., and Zojirushi America Corporation among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Passive Optical LAN Market Research, Market Share, Competitor Strategy and Trends by Forecast to 2022

Passive Optical LAN Market

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Market Scenario:Passive Optical LAN or POL is a solutions that helps private and public organizations by outstanding network performance. POL contribute various services to businesses, governments, hospitals, hotels, real estate developers, and universities by reducing their infrastructure cost and deploying single network. This helps to enhance business performance and improve mobile connectivity to all the users. Passive optical LAN solutions are more efficient comparing to traditional local area network.This technology uses optical splitters, instead of workgroup switches which helps to reduce high usage of energy and acts as a cost efficient options. Also, with adoption of the optical splitter by the business sector, nonrenewable electrical equipment will be minimized and will help to reduce the power consumption and save environment.Optical fiber is more reliable as a data transfer via fiber, which reduces the risk of disconnection and downtime as compared to services delivered by the cable network. Fiber optics are completely immune to many environmental factors that affect copper cable. The optical fiber is made of glass, an insulator reduces risk of electric current flow through it. Optical fibers are also risk free to electromagnetic interference and radio-frequency interference, crosstalk, impedance problems among others. Fiber is also less susceptible to temperature fluctuations than copper and can be submerged in water. These feature are attracting the end user for the adoption which in turn expected to surge the market in the forecast period.The global Passive Optical LAN Market is expected to grow at CAGR of 19% and estimated to reach at market size of USD 50 billion by the end of forecast period.Major Key Players: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China) Ericsson Inc. (Sweden) Alcatel Lucent SA (France) TE Connectivity Ltd. (Switzerland) ADTRAN, Inc. (U.S.) ZTE Corporation (China) Verizon Communications Inc. (U.S.) 3M Company (US) Tellabs Inc. (US) Zhone Technologies Inc. (US)Request a Sample Report @Study Objectives of Passive Optical LAN Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the passive optical LAN market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the passive optical LAN market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by component, type application and End-User. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the passive optical LAN.Intended Audience: Optical LAN vendor Raw material and manufacturing equipment suppliers Distributors and retailers Communication network providers Government Mobile based financial service providers and distributors Research Institutes & UniversitiesSegments:Passive Optical LAN Market is segmented into Components, Type, Application and End User. Component consists Optical Cables, Coupler, Power Splitter, Connector, Amplifier and Trans-Receiver among others. By Type the market has been segmented as- Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON) and EPON. Application segment includes Loop Feeder, Synchronous Optical Network, Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial Cable and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy among others whereas End-User includes- Manufacturing, BFIS, Education, Healthcare and Government among others.Browse Full Report Details @Regional Analysis:Asia-pacific is leading the market for Passive optical LAN. The growing demand for the optical fiber in the emerging countries like China and India is boosting the market in this region. Increasing usage of electronic gadgets and significantly growth of the data traffic is also driving the growth of the market. Government is also contributing in the growth by investing in the optical LAN to improve the infrastructure in their respective region.North America is the second highest contributor in the growth of the POL market. Factors such as rising demand for energy conversation, increasing demand for the advanced secure network is expected to contribute in the growth of the market in this region. The growing demand for energy-efficient solutions and increasing investments in network solutions in the region is expected to drive the market moderately.Table of Contents:1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market Structure:1.3.1 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By Component1.3.2 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By Type1.3.3 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By Application1.3.4 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By End User1.3.5 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By RegionContinued..List of TablesTable 1 Global Passive Optical Lan Market, By ComponentTable 2 Global Passive Optical Lan Market, By ApplicationTable 3 Global Passive Optical Lan Market, By TypeContinued..List of FiguresFigure 1 Research ComponentFigure 2 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By Component (%)Figure 3 Global Passive Optical Lan Market: By Application (%)Continued..About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Solutions, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Market 2017 - BASF, DuPont, Scharlau, Alpha Chemika, ICL

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales Market Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The global Phosphorus Pentasulfide market trajectory is influenced by a variety of factors and trends, an elaborate assessment of which is covered in the report Phosphorus Pentasulfide research report. The research presents in-depth investigation of notable drivers and restraining factors, major challenges, recent technological advances, winning strategies, and lucrative avenues. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of key business risks emerging in key regions and major changes in governments regulations impacting the players response to them. The study takes a closer look at recent technological advancements and models of service delivery likely to gain traction in the next few years. The research employs industry-leading quantitative and qualitative tools to ascertain the overall market competitiveness in emerging regions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report is prepared with the aid of inputs from industry experts and mirrors projections from a wide spectrum of primary sources. The study filters reliable and relevant information from a plethora of industry-wide data, to provide growth estimations of key segments. The findings offered in the report help investors and new entrant players gain reliable insights into imminent investment pockets in the Phosphorus Pentasulfide market. The key takeaways of the report include the share and size of various application or end-user segments and include the revenue sizing of major regional markets. The study offers valuable insights into strategic landscape by using tools, such as competitive profile matrix, and presents them in easy-to-comprehend format. Furthermore, the advent of disruptive technologies and innovative offerings, which is expected to alter the course of the Phosphorus Pentasulfide market growth trajectory, is evaluated in detail.Table of Contents2 Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)Enquiry For Discount Visit @3 United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4 China Phosphorus Pentasulfide (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5 Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)Complete report with detailed table of content is available @List of Tables and FiguresFigure United States Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure China Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Europe Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Japan Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Southeast Asia Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure India Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Table Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)Table Global Phosphorus Pentasulfide Sales Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact usBrooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Steam Generator Irons Market 2017 - Breville, Hoover, Philips, Rowenta, Delonghi

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Steam Generator Irons Market Research Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The global Steam Generator Irons market is presented here with the intention of providing a sound understanding of the current and future trends and more aspects such as those pertaining to business opportunities. Using a perfect combination of primary and secondary research, the authors of the report offer a deep study of Steam Generator Irons, so as to help interested parties secure a strong foothold in the market. Although there could be some factors restraining the growth of the market, the report authors identify potential prospects capable of bringing the demand back to the industry. Participants could count their future plans on these analytical findings to stay afloat in the competitive environment of the market.To Download Sample Report With TOC:With regard to competition, the report sheds light on some of the leading companies of the global Steam Generator Irons market. The company profiling section could include an evaluation of their business products, specifications, revenue, and future business plans. The analysts also gauge the nature of the market and its competitive landscape with the help of statistics and deeper knowledge gained through extensive research. The market shares of different players studied in the report could provide a clear understanding of how the market will be contributed to in the near future.Each segment, be it related to product, application, or region, is highly evaluated for its potential to draw growth and add to the demand in the global Steam Generator Irons market. Forecast statistics with the latest years taken into consideration are provided to relate to the growth of the overall market and also its individual segments.Enquiry For Discount Visit @Table of Contents3.6 Europe Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Steam Generator Irons Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Steam Generator Irons Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Steam Generator Irons Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Steam Generator Irons Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Steam Generator Irons Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Steam Generator Irons Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Steam Generator Irons Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Steam Generator Irons Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Steam Generator Irons Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Steam Generator Irons Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Steam Generator Irons Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Steam Generator Irons Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Steam Generator Irons Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesTo Browse a Full Report with TOC:List of Tables and FiguresFigure North America Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Europe Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure China Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Japan Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Southeast Asia Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure India Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Steam Generator Irons Revenue (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Steam Generator Irons Capacity, Production (K Units) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Figure Global Steam Generator Irons Major Players Product Capacity (K Units) (2012-2017)Table Global Steam Generator Irons Capacity (K Units) of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact usBrooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
The National Guard will take a more active role in firefighting across Montana as the state faces a Labor Day Weekend with continued hot and dry conditions in the forecast.

Gov. Steve Bullock was joined at the Capitol Thursday by Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn, who is the Adjutant General for Montana, DNRC director John Tubbs, and other state officials to talk about the rash of wildfires across the state and offer caution for the upcoming weekend.

Maintaining firefighter safety and protecting homes certainly remains our top priority, but recognize what we have, Bullock said. Just yesterday and last night alone we have over 60 new fire starts and were entering into this long weekend expecting weather conditions to be challenging throughout the state.

Officials later clarified that the 60 starts were across the Northern Rockies region with the majority in Montana, although Tubbs noted that many starts are quickly extinguished by local crews and never reported.

Montana currently has 23 major fires burning more than 220,000 acres, and more than 125 aircraft, 400 engines and more than 4,000 firefighters on the ground.

The number of deployed National Guard soldiers will jump from 123 currently to about 350 by the end of the weekend.

Unlike in recent years, when they only worked in security and aviation, a number of guardsmen are training for work on the fireline, Bullock said.

Bringing in military personnel allows hot shot crews and other specialists to move onto more pressing fires, Tubbs said.

We have used all of the nations incident management teams that are available, Tubbs continued, in describing the need for National Guard help.

National Guard units in neighboring states have also offered help, he added.

Bullock encouraged those recreating over the holiday weekend to take precautions and use common sense to avoid starting fires. Unlike in some past years, the majority of this years fires have ignited from lightning, but there have been a number of human-caused blazes.

Its dangerous out there and we need to be very careful, he said.

When asked about the depleting state fire fund, Bullock reiterated his stance that the state will continue to fight fires and finance fighting fires, mentioning that borrowing from DNRCs forestry account is a potential stopgap.

As Montana faces its smokiest skies in years, the state has successfully acquired two federal grants that pay for 75 percent of firefighting costs on the Lolo Peak and Lodgepole fires. Bullock said the state does not currently qualify for additional federal grants, but agencies will be looking to grants as the fire season winds down to respond to property and economic losses.

Bullock does not expect federal disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey in Texas to impact the response in Montana, noting that federal aid differs for wildfires and hurricanes.

Bullock has been a critic of fire borrowing at federal firefighting agencies, in which funding from other programs is diverted to firefighting if the fire budget is exceeded. A proposed reform would fund wildfires like other natural disasters from FEMA when base budgets are tapped.
2012 - 2020: Companies in Produced Water Treatment Systems Market Focusing on Tertiary Patented Products to Steal a March on Competitors

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "2012 - 2020: Companies in Produced Water Treatment Systems Market Focusing on Tertiary Patented Products to Steal a March on Competitors" to its huge collection of research reports.Produced water is a blend of organic and inorganic compounds that are produced during the extraction of oil and gas. Produced water is usually generated in large quantities. Currently, there is no separation between oil management and produced water in terms of administrative divisions. There are, however, multiple stages within oil management that cater to the management of produced water.The primary aim of any oil management body is to minimize the amount of water produced in order to reduce the volume of water that is lifted and pumped and consequently reduce the volume of water being treated and disposed. Most conventional oil production scenarios witness an exponential proportion between the amount of oil extracted and the volume of water produced. Unconventional oil production methods show an inverse proportion between oil and water.This research report on the global produced water treatment market provides descriptive analysis of all the features that drive it as well as the obstacles that it faces currently. The report derives relevant and valuable data from a curated archive and presents it to the user in a format that applies to the current and future trends in the global produced water treatment market. The research is conducted in a segmented manner based on the various types of treatment, including membrane, physical, and others.The report provides a holistic study of the trends in the global produced water treatment market through the eyes of its top players, regions, and other categories. The report incorporates all the recent developments that have occurred in the global produced water treatment market, along with conclusive applications of top rated research methodologies such as Porters five force analysis and SWOT analysis.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Overview of the Global Produced Water Treatment MarketThe global produced water treatment market is currently expected to grow at a steady rate. One of the major drivers of the global produced water treatment market is the increase in the rate of exploration of on-shore and off-shore oil and gas resources. Extraction procedures have scaled up in terms of number of installations as well as production volume, further propelled by a growing demand for oil and gas on a global level. The global produced water treatment market also benefits from the growing prevalence of fracking, or land gas drilling through the use of hydraulic fracturing. As the production rates of the oil industry increase, so will the demand from the global produced water treatment market.The market is also propelled by the constantly reducing supply of usable water in developing countries such as India and China, thereby increasing the demand for better water treatment solutions.The market is, however, restrained by the high installation costs and operation costs. Most top players in the oil and gas industry are concerned about the scaling of water treatment processes with their growing production of oil. They have also expressed concern regarding the high maintenance costs of operating large-scale water treatment equipment.Regional analysis of the global produced water treatment market reveals North America to have led in the recent past, owing to an increase in oil exploration and tightening government regulations over the release of treated and polluted water in larger water bodies.Companies Mentioned in the Research ReportThe key players in the global produced water treatment market are Siemens, Veolia, Cetco Energy Services, Baker Hughes Inc., Schlumberger, FMC Technologies, Ovivo, Halliburton, GE Water, and Enviro-Tech Systems.Table of Content1. Global Produced Water Treatment Systems Market  Executive Summary2. Global Produced Water Treatment Systems Market  Acronyms and Assumptions3. Global Produced Water Treatment Systems Market  Research Methodology4. Global Produced Water Treatment Systems Market Taxonomy5. Global GDP & Energy Demand Outlook5.1. Global GDP forecast5.2. Global Energy Demand by Source TypeBrowse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Wind Power in Japan Market 2017 -Develop Market-Entry and Market Expansion Strategies 2030

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SUMMARYWiseGuyReports published new report, titled Wind Power in Japan, Market Outlook."Wind Power in Japan, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2017 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles", is the latest report from the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the wind power market in Japan.The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global wind power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Japan (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes wind, small hydro, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Japan wind power market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to wind power is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by team of industry experts.GET SAMPLE REPORT @ScopeThe report analyses global renewable power market, global wind power (Onshore and Offshore) market, Japan power market, Japan renewable power market and Japan wind power market. The scope of the research includes - A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.- An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2016 (unless specified) and forecast period 2016-2030.- Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.- Detailed overview of the global wind power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major hydropower countries in 2016 and key owners information of various regions.- Power market scenario in Japan and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.- An overview on Japan renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2016.- Detailed overview of Japan wind power market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming wind projects.- Deal analysis of Japan wind power market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).- Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and wind power in particular.- Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Key points to buy- The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.- Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Japan wind power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for wind power market.- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Table of Contents1 Table of Contents2 Executive Summary3 Introduction4 Renewable Power Market, Global5 Wind Power Market, Global6 Power Market, Japan7 Renewable Power Market, Japan8 Wind Power Market, Japan9 Regulatory Scenario, Power Market, Japan10 Wind Power Market, Japan, Company Profiles11 AppendixCONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra
Global Facilities Management Market From 2016 - 2024: Increasing Demand for Standardization of Services to Boost Adoption

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Facilities Management Market From 2016 - 2024: Increasing Demand for Standardization of Services to Boost Adoption" to its huge collection of research reports.This report provides an analysis of the global facilities management market for the period from 2016 to 2024, wherein the period from 2016 to 2024 comprises the forecast period and 2015 is the base year. Data for 2014 is provided as historical information. The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the growth of the facilities management market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period. The study provides a holistic perspective of the growth of the facilities management market throughout the forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Bn), across Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), North America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The report provides a cross-sectional analysis of the global facilities management market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all the segments across different geographic regions.Facilities management involves the management and maintenance of support services across multiple industries. Facilities management services are used to enhance the quality of core business processes and increase the efficiency of service throughout entire service application. The demand for reduced operational cost of business processes is expected to drive the facilities management market around the globe. Similarly, important government regulations and standards impended on various industries and rising adoption of outsourced services for the maintenance and support of business processes are expected to drive the market for facilities management. In addition, with the increasing adoption of facilities management market many of the service providers are focusing on delivering customized facility services according to demand. Similarly, companies prefer total facilities management services and bundled facilities management services delivery systems to enhance the overall performance of services.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of service type, the facilities management market is segmented into hard services and soft services. On the basis of industry, the facilities management market is segmented into the corporate, government and public sector, health care, manufacturing, residential and education institutions, retail and commercial, and others (food, sport, etc.) segments. The report also includes competitive profiling of the major players associated with the facilities management market. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The increasing demand for efficiency and quality of services have led to the increased presence of facilities management service providers in the market. The major players in facilities management market include Arthur McKay & Co Ltd., Bellrock Property & Facilities Management Ltd., Bilfinger HSG Facility Management GmbH, Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd., ISS World Services A/S, Knight Facilities Management, Quess Corp Ltd., Sodexo, Inc., and Spotless Group Ltd.Market SegmentationFacilities Management Market, By Service TypeHard ServicesSoft ServicesFacilities Management Market, By IndustryCorporateGovernment and Public SectorHealthcareManufacturingResidential and Education InstitutionsRetail and CommercialOthers (Food, Sport, etc.)In addition, the report provides market analysis of the facilities management market with respect to the following geographical segments:North AmericaThe U.S.CanadaEuropeUKGermanyFranceBrowse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Project Portfolio Management In Global Market Will Grow At A CAGR Of Close To 12% During The Period 2015 - 2019

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Project Portfolio Management In Global Market Will Grow At A CAGR Of Close To 12% During The Period 2015 - 2019" to its huge collection of research reports.Technavios market research analysts predict the global PPM market to grow at a CAGR of close to 12% from 2015 to 2019. Factors such as increased need for business optimization and the need to manage costs accelerate the growth of this market.PPM software solutions are used in BFSI, government, real estate, healthcare, and the retail sector to provide better visibility and management of projects. During the forecast period, the market will witness increased adoption of cloud-based solutions. Currently, PPM software largely offered through a three-year contract with a license that is subject to renewal post the contract period. In contrast, the SaaS-based model allows companies to choose their desired duration. It extends the flexibility to decide on whether to go ahead with the same requirements or purchase more services. Growing popularity of the SaaS model will drive this market over the next four years.Research scope of the global PPM marketThis research report considers the total revenue generated from the sales of the following:Software licenses and subscriptionsSoftware implementation and maintenance costsThe report includes the following deployment type:SaaS-based PPMOn-premise PPMPPM software is a tool that is extensively used for analyzing and collectively managing multiple projects. It constitutes a significant part of enterprise risk management and allows enterprises to obtain and view information about all available projects. PPM enables organizations to prioritize and sort each project based on various parameters such as the impact on resources and strategic value. It helps project management teams to add or remove items from the project execution process based on cost, benefits, and long-term effects.Geographical segmentation of the global PPM marketAPACAmericasEMEAThe Americas accounted for the majority share of the global PPM market in 2014. However, it is predicted to witness a decline in its growth rate over the next four years. The EMEA is predicted to witness a rapid growth rate during the same period due to high adoption of SaaS-PPM.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key leading players of the global PPM marketCA TechnologiesHPMicrosoftOraclePlanviewSAPMarket vendors are focused on resolving the various complexities involving deployment of PPM software. Many organizations that have implemented PPM software often face issues regarding the relevance and use of the software post deployment. At times, organizations do not clearly define their business problems and fail to communicate to PPM vendors. The market is also facing a crunch of skilled manpower who can train users and educate them about the correct usage of PPM software.As per the market forecast, many industry verticals other than IT are expected to adopt agile project management methods over the next four years. This trend is catching up rapidly, and it will pose an attractive opportunity for market vendors during the forecast period.Key questions answered in the reportWhat are the key factors driving the global PPM market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global PPM market?What are the various opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global PPM market?Trending factors influencing the market shares for EMEA, APAC, and Americas?Key outcome of the five forces analysis on the global PPM market?Growth forecast of the global PPM market until 2019?Browse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Natural Language Processing Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 16.11 % Over The Forecast Period 2015 - 2019

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Natural Language Processing Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 16.11 % Over The Forecast Period 2015 - 2019" to its huge collection of research reports.Natural language processing is a computer application that can understand human language. It is a part of AI. It is a computerized technique in which human communication is analyzed and interpreted based on a set of theories and technologies by the computer. It is both based on text and speech provided to the computer. Currently, NLP approaches are based on machine learning that uses patterns for understanding own programs. The most common NLP in all the software packages includes:Sentence segmentation, part-of-speech tagging, and parsingDeep analyticsNamed entity extractionCo-reference resolutionThe goal of NLP is to reduce the time for understanding computer languages such as Java, C, C++, and Ruby.The development of NLP solutions is difficult because computers need humans to speak in a programming language that needs to be precise, unambiguous, and highly structured with less amount of enunciated voice commands. However, human speech cannot be precise, and it is often ambiguous and depend on variables that include slang, regional dialects, and social context.Technavio's analysts forecast the global NLP market to grow at a CAGR of 16.11 % over the period 2014-2019.Covered in this reportThis report covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global NLP market for 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of NLP solutions in the global market from the following segments:Recognition market: This includes the revenue generated from speech recognition, OCR , and IVR systems marketAnalytics market: This includes the revenue generated from text and speech analyticsOperational market: This includes the revenue generated from categorization and auto-coding processThis report also segments the market according to the end-users, deployment model, and by product.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key regionsAPACEuropeLatin AmericaMEANorth AmericaKey vendors3MAppleGoogleMicrosoftOther prominent vendorsA3logicsAlchemyAPIApixioAylienDolbey SystemsFluxifiHPIBMLinguamaticsKey market driverIncrease in use of NLP in healthcare industryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey market challengeInability to suppress ambient noiseFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey market trendGrowing use of text analytics in healthcare industryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2019 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Browse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
2017-2022 Health and Wellness Food Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications

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This report studies the Health and Wellness Food market status and outlook of global and United States, from angles of players, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and United States market, and splits the Health and Wellness Food market by product type and applications/end industries.The global Health and Wellness Food market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast-growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Health and Wellness Food. United States plays an important role in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of XX.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Health and Wellness Food in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East and AfricaDownload Sample Report Copy From Here:The major players in global and United States Health and Wellness Food market, including Organic Valley, Lundberg Family Farms, Numi Organic Tea, Frontier Natural Products, Vital Choice Seafood, Natures Path Foods, Ellas Kitchen, Newmans Own Organics, NOW Foods, Adriennes Gourmet Foods, Alberts Organics, Alive & Radiant Foods, Aloha Tofu Factory, Banyan Foods Co., Bedemco Inc., Bobs Red Mill, Ciao Bella Gelato, CO, Earth Island Natural Foods, Ever Better Eating, GENESIS TODAY, INC., Green Shoots DistributionThe On the basis of product, the Health and Wellness Food market is primarily split intoFood intoleranceOrganic foodBetter for you (BFY)On the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversHypermarkets and supermarketsIndependent small grocersDiscountersConvenience storesTable of Contents2017-2022 Health and Wellness Food Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications1 Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source2.1.1 Secondary Sources2.1.2 Primary Sources1.3 Disclaimer2 Health and Wellness Food Market Overview2.1 Health and Wellness Food Product Overview2.2 Health and Wellness Food Market Segment by Type2.2.1 Food intolerance2.2.2 Organic food2.2.3 Better for you (BFY)2.2.4 Functional food2.3 Global Health and Wellness Food Product Segment by Type2.3.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Growth (%) by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.3.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.3 Global Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Types (2012-2017)2.3.4 Global Health and Wellness Food Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2.4 United States Health and Wellness Food Product Segment by Type2.4.1 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Growth by Types (2012, 2016 and 2022)2.4.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.3 United States Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)2.4.4 United States Health and Wellness Food Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)3 Health and Wellness Food Application/End Users3.1 Health and Wellness Food Segment by Application/End Users3.1.1 Hypermarkets and supermarkets3.1.2 Independent small grocers3.1.3 Discounters3.1.4 Convenience stores3.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Product Segment by Application3.2.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.2.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications (2012-2017)3.3 United States Health and Wellness Food Product Segment by Application3.3.1 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Applications (2012, 2016 and 2022)3.3.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications (2012-2017)4 Health and Wellness Food Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Market Size and CAGR by Regions (2012, 2016 and 2022)4.1.2 North America4.1.3 Asia-Pacific4.1.4 Europe4.1.5 South America4.1.6 Middle East and Africa4.1.7 United States4.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales and Revenue by Regions4.2.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)4.2.3 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.4 North America Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.5 Europe Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.6 Asia-Pacific Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.7 South America Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4.2.8 Middle East and Africa Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)4.2.9 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)5 Global Health and Wellness Food Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers5.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)5.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2012-2017)5.3 Global Health and Wellness Food Average Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2012-2017)5.4 Players Health and Wellness Food Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types5.5 Health and Wellness Food Market Competitive Situation and Trends5.5.1 Health and Wellness Food Market Concentration Rate5.5.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Market Share (%) of Top 3 and Top 5 Players5.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion6 United States Health and Wellness Food Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers6.1 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Market Share by Players (2012-2017)6.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2012-2017)6.3 United States Health and Wellness Food Average Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2012-2017)6.4 United States Health and Wellness Food Market Share (%) of Top 3 and Top 5 Players7 Health and Wellness Food Players/Manufacturers Profiles and Sales Data7.1 Organic Valley7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.1.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Organic Valley Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Lundberg Family Farms7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.2.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Lundberg Family Farms Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Numi Organic Tea7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.3.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Numi Organic Tea Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Frontier Natural Products7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.4.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Frontier Natural Products Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Vital Choice Seafood7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.5.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Vital Choice Seafood Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Nature's Path Foods7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.6.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Nature's Path Foods Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Ella's Kitchen7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.7.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Ella's Kitchen Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Newman's Own Organics7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.8.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Newman's Own Organics Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 NOW Foods7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.9.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 NOW Foods Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Adrienne's Gourmet Foods7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors7.10.2 Health and Wellness Food Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Adrienne's Gourmet Foods Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Albert's Organics7.12 Alive & Radiant Foods7.13 Aloha Tofu Factory7.14 Banyan Foods Co.7.15 Bedemco Inc.7.16 Bob's Red Mill7.17 Ciao Bella Gelato, CO7.18 Earth Island Natural Foods7.19 Ever Better Eating7.20 GENESIS TODAY, INC.7.21 Green Shoots Distribution8 Health and Wellness Food Manufacturing Cost, Industrial Chain and Downstream Buyers8.1 Health and Wellness Food Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Health and Wellness Food Industrial Chain Analysis8.4 Downstream Buyers in United States9 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors and Market Effect Factors9.1 Marketing Channel9.1.1 Direct Marketing9.1.2 Indirect Marketing9.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend9.2 Distributors in Untied States9.3 Market Effect Factors Analysis9.3.1 Economic/Political Environmental Change9.3.2 Downstream Demand Change9.3.3 Technology Progress in Related Industry9.3.4 Substitutes Threat10 Global Health and Wellness Food Market Forecast10.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales, Revenue Forecast (2017-2022)10.1.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) Forecast (2017-2022)10.1.2 Global Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) Forecast (2017-2022)10.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Market Forecast10.1.1 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) Forecast (2017-2022)10.2.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) Forecast (2017-2022)10.3 Global Health and Wellness Food Forecast by Regions10.3.1 North America Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast (2017-2022)10.3.2 Europe Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast (2017-2022)10.3.3 Asia-Pacific Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast (2017-2022)10.3.4 South America Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast (2017-2022)10.3.5 Middle East and Africa Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast (2017-2022)10.4 Health and Wellness Food Forecast by Type10.4.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast by Type (2017-2022)10.4.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Forecast by Type (2017-2022)10.5 Health and Wellness Food Forecast by Application10.5.1 Global Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) Forecast by Application (2017-2022)10.5.2 United States Health and Wellness Food Sales (K Units) Forecast by Application (2017-2022)11 Research Findings and ConclusionBuy Now This Report From Here:Global QYResearch() is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit 1, 26 Cleveland Road, South Woodford, London,E182AN, United KingdomCall: +44 20 3239 2407sales@globalqyresearch.com
Power Electronics Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Trends by Forecast 2016  2027

Power Electronics Market

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Market Scenario:The major growth driver of Power Electronics Market includes rising demand for high-power electronics, increasing adoption of renewable energy sources such as electric vehicles, and growing ICT and telecommunication sector among others.Hence the market for Power Electronics is expected to grow at high CAGR (2016-2027).However, high initial cost and time consuming manufacturing process are the major factors which are hindering the growth of Power Electronics Market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players: Fairchild (U.S.) Infineon (Germany) Mitsubishi (Japan) STMicroelectronics (Switzerland) Toshiba (Japan) ABB (Switzerland) Cree (U.S.) Micro semi (U.S.) Renesas Electronics (Japan) Rockwell Automation (U.S.)Objective of Power Electronics Market Study: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Power Electronics market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To Analyze the Power Electronics Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by component, by applications and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Power Electronics market.Segments: Global Power Electronics Market can be segmented as follows: Segmentation by Components: Diodes, Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), MOSFET, AC/DC converter, and static switches among others. Segmentation by Application: Commercial, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace, and healthcare among others.Regional Analysis of Power Electronics Market:Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the Global Power Electronics Market with the largest market share due to presence of large range of renewable resources in the region, and therefore accounting for high million and is expected to grow over high billion by 2027.Industry News: Fairchild has announced on July 2016 about its new development FDMQ8205, the first member of its next generation GreenBridge series. The GreenBridge is used for application that receives power through Power over Ethernet which include security cameras, wireless access points and LED lighting. Infineon technologies has announced on July 2016 about its acquisition of wolfspeed power and RF division of Cree. This acquisition will provide broadest offering for Infineon in producing compound semiconductor which will strengthen Infineon in high growth market such as electro-mobility, renewables and next generation cellular infrastructure.AmericasNorth America US CanadaLatin AmericaEuropeWestern Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Western EuropeEastern EuropeAsia PacificAsia China India Japan South Korea Rest of Asia PacificBrowse Full Report Details @Table of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market StructureContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Solutions, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Growth Of US Diamond Engagement Ring Market With Focus On Online Mode: Trends, and Forecast, 2017 - 2021

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Growth Of US Diamond Engagement Ring Market With Focus On Online Mode: Trends, and Forecast, 2017 - 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The report entitled The US Diamond Engagement Ring Market With Focus On Online Mode (2017-2021), provides analysis of the US diamond engagement ring market, focusing on online mode, with detailed analysis of market size. The analysis includes the market by value, by share of players, by segments, etc.Furthermore, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall US diamond engagement ring market has also been forecasted for the years 2017-2021, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.Blue Nile Inc., Signet Jeweler Limited, Amazon and James Allen are some of the key players operating in the US diamond engagement ring market, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.Company CoverageBlue Nile Inc.AmazonSignet Jewelry LimitedJames AllenExecutive SummaryMarriage or wedlock is a most joyous occasion in a person's life. It is a way by which two individuals unite ritually to recognize the union formally in the community. An engagement ring hold an important part in the marriage.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Generally, diamond engagement rings are preferred for this purpose. There are various types of diamond rings available now like solitaires, Halo, Vintage, Three stone, Gemstone preset, Diamond sidestone, etc. Out of all the types, general preference of people is diamond studded ring of any pattern. Though recently many new fashion rings and vivid gemstone rings are also attracting customers.Diamond rings are selected on the basis of its properties like shape, size, carat, cut, clarity, color etc. Carat is the most aware property among the customers as it describes the quality and weight of the diamond. Diamond rings are available on both online and offline mode.US Diamond Engagement Ring Market is expected to increase with steady growth rates during the forecasted period (2017-2021). US Diamond Engagement Ring Market is supported by various growth drivers, such as, increasing income and purchasing power, improving economic growth, increasing internet penetration, etc. Still, the market faces certain challenges, such as, cyber fraud risk, synthetic diamond, decreasing number of marriages etc. Few trends of the market are presence on social media and fashion shows, varying demands by region and age groups, marketplace fairness set, etc.Table Of Content1. Executive Summary2. Introduction2.1 Marriages and Engagements2.1.1 Marriages2.1.2 Types of Marriages2.1.3 EngagementBrowse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Medical Connectors Market : Future Demand, Market Analysis & Outlook to 2025

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Global Medical Connectors Market: OverviewThe global medical connectors market is expected to witness a stable growth in the forecast period. The growing incidences of chronic disorder will be one of the key reasons behind the growth of this market. The growing healthcare expenditure will also encourage the growth of the global medical connectors market during the period from 2017 to 2025. The growth in the healthcare industry and home healthcare market will also propel the market towards progress. One of the other important reasons behind the development of this market is the advancements in technology. Extensive research and development in the healthcare sector has increased the efficiency of products and encouraged invention of many new medical connector products.Global Medical Connectors Market: Key TrendsDuring the forecast period one of the trends that is expected to prevail is the high demand for flat silicone surgical cables. The growing adoption of connectors in medical devices will be the driving factor for this. Another trend that shall be in vogue is the use of medical connectors by monitoring devices. High prevalence of chronic diseases and rising demand from home healthcare will create a lucrative market for medical connectors from monitoring devices segment. On the basis of end used, the market is segmented into ambulatory surgical centers, clinics and hospitals, diagnostic labs and imaging centers, and others. Of these, it is anticipated that the hospitals and clinics segment will hold dominant shares in the market during the forecast period. The growing demand for electrosurgical therapy and once again, the high incidence of chronic diseases will push the growth of the hospitals and clinics segment in the years to come.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Medical Connectors Market: Market PotentialCompanies in the global medical connectors market are inventing reliable connections for data gathering. Esterline Corporation supplies medical connectors that have high reliability I/O (Input/Output) connectors with a very wide range. This helps in securing the link between different medical equipment. One of the leading players called Lemo S.A. offers connectors that are flexible and reliable. Newer developments by leading players in the coming years is expected to push the markets potential further and drive their demand.Global Medical Connectors Market: Geographical SegmentationOn the basis of geography, the market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Of these, the North American market for medical connectors will emerge most lucrative. The region is not only leading currently, but shall continue to do so during the forecast period on account of the high incidences of chronic diseases. The growing demand for enhanced healthcare infrastructure will also push the market towards growth in North America.Request TOC of the Report @Global Medical Connectors Market: Key PlayersSome of the leading vendors operating across the global medical connectors market are profiled in the report for the purpose of study. They are: Delphi Automotive LLP. (U.K.), Amphenol Corporation (U.S.), Esterline Corporation (U.S.), Samtec (U.S.), Smiths Interconnect (U.K.), ITT Corporation (U.S.), TE Connectivity Ltd. (Switzerland), Lemo S.A. (Switzerland), Fisher Connectors (Switzerland), and Molex (U.S.). Leading players are taking advantage of the increased healthcare spending and thus, investing extensively on research and development. This has helped them to develop innovative connectors which are being utilized across the medical sector. Players are also striving to expand their reach worldwide. For this, one of the key strategies adopted by players is participating in mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships.Request Discount of the Report @About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Global Ball Bearings Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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This report focuses on the Ball Bearings in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversNSKNTNSchaefflerSKFTimkenJTEKTSpyrafloFederal-MogulASTGeneral Bearing CorporationRexnordBaldorRBCNew Hampshire Ball BearingsGRWSample of this report is available upon request @Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversAngular Contact Ball BearingsAxial Ball BearingsDeep-groove Ball BearingsMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAerospace and railwaysAutomotiveGeneral engineeringHeavy industryObtain Report Details @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Ball Bearings Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Angular Contact Ball Bearings1.2.2 Axial Ball Bearings1.2.3 Deep-groove Ball Bearings1.3 Market Analysis by Applications2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 NSK2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Ball Bearings Type and Applications3 Global Ball Bearings Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Global Ball Bearings Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.2 Global Ball Bearings Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)3.3 Market Concentration Rate3.3.1 Top 3 Ball Bearings Manufacturer Market Share3.3.2 Top 6 Ball Bearings Manufacturer Market Share3.4 Market Competition TrendGet discount copy @4 Global Ball Bearings Market Analysis by Regions4.1 Global Ball Bearings Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Regions4.1.1 Global Ball Bearings Sales by Regions (2012-2017)4.1.2 Global Ball Bearings Revenue by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Ball Bearings Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)List of Tables and FiguresFigure Ball Bearings PictureTable Product Specifications of Ball BearingsFigure Global Sales Market Share of Ball Bearings by Types in 2016Figure Germany Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure France Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure UK Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Russia Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Italy Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure China Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Japan Ball Bearings Revenue (Value) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact UsBrooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:
Welcome back to school! After teaching for 23 years, this is my second year of not opening the classroom door to new students on the first day of school. Now, as State Superintendent, it is my privilege to serve all Montana students and ensure that they have every opportunity to succeed.

A strong local partnership of families, teachers, and school leaders is important to help guide students through successful transitions in their educational paths, especially as they begin their first days of kindergarten, middle school, or high school.

As a state, we must use academic innovation to prepare the next generation of our workforce. It is vital that STEM and CTE studies begin in middle school and that every student views high school completion as just one step in their continued path of learning and success. In Montana, education is a lifelong investment in our future.

The goal of this investment is to lift up all of our communities. For too long, too many of our Native American and special education students have struggled in school. For example, only 17 percent of our Native American students and 14 percent of our special education students test as proficient in math. Montana must do better! Through our state plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, Montana has developed ambitious long-term goals to close student achievement gaps.

I know from personal experience that education is a challenging and rewarding career. Together, one student at a time, we are going to celebrate success and make Montana proud.

Best Wishes,

Elsie Arntzen, State Superintendent, Office of Public Instruction
Fine Chemicals Market Challenges and Opportunities Report

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-504

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-504

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Fine chemicals, also referred to as specification chemicals, is a class of chemicals which is characterized by their low volume use and higher price as compared to that of commodity chemicals. These complex, pure chemicals are manufactured in limited quantities and according to exacting specifications for their intended application. Fine chemicals are produced in batches as against continuous production which is practiced for bulk chemicals. Moreover, manufacture of fine chemicals involves conversion of basic chemicals into complexes which serve as building blocks in a variety of applications across diverse industries such as agrochemicals, paints and coatings, electronics, pharmaceuticals among the others. Agrochemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients are the most common chemicals covered under Fine chemicals. Fine chemicals differ from specialty chemicals in that, these fine chemicals are sold primarily on the basis of what these chemicals are as opposed to specialty chemicals which are sold on the basis of what those chemicals can do.Fine chemicals Market: Drivers & RestraintsGlobal fine chemicals market is expected to witness a steady growth during the forecast period, this growth of global fine chemicals market is expected to be driven by growth of the major end use industries. Pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, being major consumers of fine chemicals, the growth in these industries is in turn expected to fuel the growth of global fine chemicals market during the forecast period. Moreover, growing demand from developing countries, especially those in Asia Pacific, is expected to result in growth of global fine chemicals market. A major trend witnessed in global fine chemicals market is that the companies producing fine chemicals are channelizing efforts towards development of efficient processes and newer products in order to gain a competitive advantage which eventually translates into a higher share in global fine chemicals market.Request Report Sample@Fine chemicals Market: SegmentationDepending on the end use application industries, global fine chemicals market can be segmented into following key segments:PharmaceuticalsAgrochemicalPolymer additivesFood and FeedElectronicsPerfumes and FragrancesOthersAmong the above mentioned end use industry based segments of global fine chemicals market, the pharmaceuticals segment accounts for the largest share in global fine chemicals market value. The pharmaceuticals segment is followed by agrochemicals segment in terms of share in the global fine chemicals market value.Visit For TOC@Fine chemicals Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of geographical regions, the global fine chemicals market can be segmented into seven key segments, namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East & Africa. Among all region based segments of global fine chemicals market, Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the fastest growing segment.Fine chemicals Market: Key PlayersSome of the identified major participants of the global fine chemicals market are as follows:LonzaSumitomo ChemicalsBASF SEBoehringer-IngelheimSigma-Aldrich CorporationChemada fine chemicalsAlbemarle CorporationChina Sanjiang Fine Chemicals Company LimitedValiant Co. 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:
Japan's Wine-Making Yeast In Global Market, 2017 To 2022: By Product Type - Yeast Extract & Autolyzed Yeast

Market Research Report

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Japan's Wine-Making Yeast In Global Market, 2017 To 2022: By Product Type - Yeast Extract & Autolyzed Yeast" to its huge collection of research reports.The global Wine-Making Yeast market is valued at XX million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach XX million USD by the end of 2017, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Japan plays an important role in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2016 and will be xx million USD in 2017, with a CAGR of xx%.This report, with focus on top players in the global and Japan, studies the Wine-Making Yeast market's development status and future trend in the global and Japan. It splits Wine-Making Yeast market by type and by applications to fully and deeply research and reveal market profile and prospect.The major players includeAssociated British Foods (U.K.)Angel Yeast (China)Lesaffre Group (France)Chr. Hansen Holding A/S (Denmark)Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Netherlands)Lallemand Inc (Canada)Leiber GmbH (Germany)Oriental Yeast (Japan)Geographically, this report splits the Global market into the following regions:Asia PacificJapanTokyoYokohamaOsakaNagoyaOthersChinaKoreaIndiaOthersEuropeFranceGermanyUnited KingdomItalyRussiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, the Wine-Making Yeast market is primarily split intoBy TypeYeast ExtractAutolyzed YeastBy Type SourceBakers YeastBrewers YeastKey ApplicationsFoodFeed & Pet FoodPharmaceuticalsTable of Contents2017-2022 Global and Japan Wine-Making Yeast Market Analysis Report1 Wine-Making Yeast Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wine-Making Yeast1.2 Global and Japan Wine-Making Yeast Market by Applications/End Users1.2.1 Japan Wine-Making Yeast Sales (K MT) and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2012-2017)1.2.1.1 Japan Wine-Making Yeast Sales (K MT) and Market Share by Applications (2012-2017)1.2.1.2 Japan Wine-Making Yeast Sales Growth Rate (%) by Applications (2012-2017)Browse More Details @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Cosmetic Ingredients Market Research Study for the Period (2015-2025)

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Cosmetic ingredient market has changed a lot over the course of time. Since time immemorial, human beings are using different types of cosmetics to enhance their physical appearance, which in turn makes people feel more confident and pleasing in nature. It is due to growing demand for beauty products that market is flooded with various cosmetic products. The multibillion dollar industry is growing at a lightning speed to meet the consumer demand. Cosmetic ingredients are the specific sets of substance that are used in the formulation and composition of cosmetics. Any kind of impurities in raw materials and subsidiary technical materials are not considered as ingredients, hence water is also considered as separate ingredient. At present, various cosmetic business entrepreneurs use more than 5000 available cosmetic ingredients to offer selected cosmetics products.Cosmetic Industry: Drivers & RestraintsThe demand for good quality cosmetic products is fuelling the cosmetic ingredient market. Changing lifestyle specially in developing regions of Asia Pacific and Latin America brings a sea of opportunities to cosmetic ingredients manufacturers and suppliers. Increase in per capita income, rising awareness about beautification and increasingly urbanized population is offering momentum to the growth of overall cosmetic industry which in turn is escalating the cosmetic ingredients market to its zenith. Though cosmetic industry market size is growing at an impressive rate, various regulations prohibiting the use of certain chemicals as ingredients is a major challenge to the cosmetic ingredients manufacturers. In APAC, China and ASEAN regions are some of the most lucrative regions for increase in consumer spending and rise in GDP.Request Report Sample@Cosmetic Ingredients Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global cosmetic ingredients market is segmented into,SurfactantsEmulsifiersAntimicrobialsUV absorbersEmollientsConditioning PolymersOthersVisit For TOC@Alpha hydroxy acids, beta hydroxyl acids and talc are some of the examples of commonly used cosmetics ingredients. Among all these product type, surfactants are expected to hold the market dominance throughout the forecast period, however, conditioning polymers is projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2015 and 2025.On the basis of end-use applications, cosmetic ingredients market is segmented intoSkin CareNail CareMake upOthersSkin care and make up are the two most lucrative markets for chemical ingredients manufacturers. Together, they account more than onefourth of total cosmetic ingredients market. Changing lifestyle and increasing awareness about skin care is boosting the demand for skin care applications.Cosmetic Ingredients Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region, cosmetic ingredients finds its market scope in North America, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific. North America and Europe dominates the cosmetic ingredients, however, Asia Pacific and Latin America are expected to be the most promising region in terms of incremental opportunities lying ahead for generating high revenue. Cosmetic ingredient market is highly regulated in Europe and North America. China, India and ASEAN are the key promising countries driving the cosmetic ingredients market in Asia-Pacific. Rapid growth of urbanization coupled with growing desire for skin care is expected to offer above average growth to cosmetic ingredients market in Asia-Pacific. Brazil leads the cosmetic market followed by Mexico in Latin America. As per the CANIPEC, the Mexican personal care industrys national chamber and association, there are more than 64 business enterprises operating in personal care market that are worth approximately US$ 14 billion in Mexico.Cosmetic Ingredients Market: Key PlayersCompany needs to meet the stringent quality norms before marketing their key ingredients. It is due to these factors that the market in North America and Europe is consolidated and is dominated by list of key cosmetic ingredient manufacturers and suppliers.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:
Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market Projected to Grow Steadily During (2015-2025)

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Real-time e-healthcare system is one of the best ways to keep your health records and track it anytime, without any geographical constraint. Patients can always stay in touch with their doctors and communicate with them about any health issue. They can self-check also for an immediate result without any third partys dependence. With advanced technology and rapid innovation, these days products are being made in such a way that it should be more consumer friendly and easy to use. Real-time e-healthcare system fulfills all the above criteria and hence, the market is growing at a positive rate.Recently, Kaiser Permanente implemented an EMR protocol in Community Health Centres in Oregon, US, to improve clinical decision support for patients with diabetes, which can remind them to prescribe hypertension medications to reduce heart attack and other strokes. iPatientCare EHR, Praxis, EMR, Insta HMS, e-MDs Chart, WRS Health, AccuMed, WEBeDoctor, A.I.med are some of the top Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software products.Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market: Drivers & RestraintsTechnological advancement, increasing disposable income, increase use of online services, increase use of mobile devices, increased health cost and expenditure, increasing need of an integrated healthcare system are the most important driving factors in real-time e-healthcare system market. Sine real-time e-healthcare system reduces medical errors and easily accessible information, the demand for real time e-healthcare system has increased regardless of the geographical location.Request Report Sample@Lack of inexperienced professionals, high maintenance and service cost, privacy concerns, the complexity of systems, less presence of real-time e-healthcare system in rural areas including developed nations like Europe and are acting as a barrier for real-time e-healthcare system market.Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market: SegmentationReal-time e-healthcare system is broadly classified on the basis of the following segments By Product:Fitness Bands/wristband deviceClip on monitor devicesThermometerBlood-pressure monitor deviceM-health applicationsBlood glucose monitor devicesBy End-user:Public/Private HospitalsPharmacyIndividualsOthersVisit For TOC@Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market: OverviewThe real-time e-healthcare market has grown substantially at a healthy CAGR due to rising disposable income, increasing health awareness by consumers, ageing population and increasing healthcare expenditure. With rapid technological advancement and variety of options available in the market, real-time e-healthcare market is expected to grow globally. North America represents the largest market for this product category. Asia Pacific will emerge as the fastest growing region in real-time e-healthcare market.Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe real-time e-healthcare market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, real-time e-healthcare market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market due to the improved healthcare infrastructure and high healthcare cost and rising disposable income. Increase demand of cloud computing from the developed nations like Europe and North America may also increase the demand for real-time e-healthcare systems by the end of forecast period.Real-Time E-Healthcare System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in real-time e-healthcare market are Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone, Misfit Wearables, DexCom, Medtronic, Abbott, Cerner Corporation, GE Healthcare, Epic Systems Corporation, Medical Information Technology Inc. (MEDITECH).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:
Lemongrass Oil Market size in terms of volume and value 2027

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The Lemongrass oil is obtained by extraction of the stalks of the Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) herb. Lemongrass shrubs/plant mainly grows in Asia and cannot be available as fresh throughout the year, but now a days lemongrass oil and lemongrass extract or dehydrated forms are commonly used.According to the discovery health, lemongrass oil is one of the bestselling oil in the world which is used by the culinary artist because of its fresh and enjoyable scent. Traditionally, lemongrass parts as well as its oil have been used as a remedy for various health issues such as, digestive disturbances, behavioral problems, circulatory issues, etc. It is also known as fever grass due to its ability to bring down a fever. Lemongrass oil is useful in prevention of growth of some yeast and bacteria, and has antioxidant/ antibacterial properties and an important vitamins such as vitamin A, B2, B3, B6, B5, B1, folate and vitamin C and also provides essential minerals such as copper, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, iron and magnesium. Due to all these numerous benefits of lemongrass oil market is in high demand. Lemongrass thrives in tropical and subtropical regions, such as India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, Cambodia, and Guatemala.Request Report Sample@Lemongrass Oil: SegmentationLemongrass oil market is segmented on the basis of the application, grade and regions. On the basis of lemongrass oil application market is segmented as pharmaceutical, cosmetics & personal care, and food and beverages. As Lemongrass oil possess high medicinal value and used in various treatments since history market demand in pharmaceutical segment is significantly high. On the basis of lemongrass oil application in cosmetic & personal care products, the product is used in soaps, deodorants, shampoos, conditioner, body lotion, air freshener and tonics. Its essential vitamin contents as well as skin healing properties are driving lemongrass oil market demand in personal care market segment. Lemongrass oil popularity as fragrance and taste, its demand in food and beverage market segment has grown over the time. It is used in various culinary delights, added to ready-made curries, paired with beef, fish, poultry and seafoods, it is also used for flavoring tea and soups.Lemongrass oil market is further segmented on the basis of grades as food grade and therapeutic grade. Food grade is basically for food and beverage purpose and therapeutic grade is for pharmaceutical as well as personal care uses. Lemongrass oil market is later segmented on the basis of regions, as North America North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.Lemongrass Oil: Region wise outlookLatin America and Europe are leading regional markets importing lemongrass oil. However, being origin region of lemongrass oil, Asia Pacific market leading exporter market for lemongrass oil, India and China are major producer markets. Asia pacific and Europe markets are expected to witness higher growth in forecast period. In Asian countries such as, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, lemongrass oil is a popular ingredient in many culinary delights. The market demand of lemongrass oil is increasing its popularity in flavoring Asian cooking too. Lemongrass oil is gaining popularity from health conscious consumers from Latin America, which is driving market growth in the region.Lemongrass Oil: Trends and DriversLemongrass oil has various medicinal, skin care properties as well as health benefits, due to this lemongrass oil is gaining popularity in the worldwide markets. Increasing popularity of lemongrass oil in aromatherapy is driving global market demand. The trending natural oil based personal care product demand by consumers, is another market driver for lemongrass oil.In addition, lemongrass oil has various health benefits which are related to with essential oil are anticipated to drive the lemongrass oil demand in pharmaceutical and applications medical and the product has no harmful side effects which will help in penetrating the market in future. Also, increasing uses in food and beverage industry for culinary dishes is another major market driver.Visit For TOC@Lemongrass Oil: Key playersSome of the key participating players in Lemongrass oil market globally are, The Leburmuth Company, Essential Oils of New Zealand, Young Living Essential Oils, doTerra, Sydella Laboratoire, West India Spices Inc, Falcon ,Rajkeerth Aromatics, Reho natural ingredients etc. among the others.Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,616United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Organic Feed Market Driven by Rising Economic Growth in Developing Economies

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Organic feed is a type of feed that is produced by methods obey the standards of organic farming. Organic simply ingredients that the feed/food/crop cannot be genetically modified, treated with fungicides/pesticides/insecticides etc., fertilized with chemical fertilizers. All organic ingredients and products should be manufactured according to the guidelines stated by the National Organic Program .Organic feed products cannot contain any kind of medications, animal by product and chemical preservatives. It almost takes two to three years to become a certified producer of organic feed. Animal feeds play an important role in the global food industry, enabling economic production of animal proteins across the globe. Organic feed now has become one of the most important component to ensure enormous amount of animal protein.Obtain Report Details @Organic Feed Market Segmentation:Organic Feed market is segment on the basis of species, ingredients, distribution channel and region. On the basis of species the market is segmented into poultry, swine, ruminants, aquaculture, horse and dogs, others. Among all the segments poultry accounts the maximum market share (approximately 47%), followed by swine with approximately 26%. On the basis of ingredient organic feed market is segmented into corn, wheat, barley, soybean, rapeseed and others. Among all the segments market share of corn is the highest which accounts for approximately for 76%, followed by wheat with 21% approx. On the basis of distribution channel organic feed market is segmented into supermarkets/hypermarkets, specialty stores and online stores. Supermarkets/hypermarkets is anticipated to hold a relatively high share in the organic feed market. Online stores have also contributed significantly to the growth of organic feed market over the forecast period.Organic Feed Market Regional Outlook:Regional segment for the market of organic feed is divided into five different regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, APAC, and Middle East & Africa. Among these segment Asia Pacific is expected to have the major market share globally, as it is the largest producer and consumer of organic feed. In North America market the countries like U.S. and Canada are generating the major revenue.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Organic Feed Market Drivers:The rising economic growth in developing economies has been a key factor driving the growth of the global organic feed market in recent years. Availability of a wide variety of organic feed is resulting in increasing consumer base and this is expected to fuel market growth over the forecast period. Growing trend towards vertical integration (contract farming) has been driving demand for organic feed across the globe. Investment on the research and development of the organic feed will probably be a major factor for the companies those who wants to increase the market share of the organic feed market. Companies should also meet the changing demands of the consumers. Expenditure on advertisement of organic feed product will also help the industries to create opportunities and increase its market share. The use of social media will further boost the growth of the industries offering organic feed. In order to expand product portfolio several companies have already entered into joint ventures to increase the production of organic feed products, these kind of steps are defiantly going to drive the market of organic feed in the forecast period.Organic Feed Market Key Players:Some of the 10 key players in organic feed market are Cargill Inc, New Hope Liuhe Co.,Ltd., Purina Animal Nutrition LLC, Wens Food Group, CPP China, BRF S.A. Tyson Foods, Inc. East Hope Group Co Ltd, Ja Zen-Noh Meat Foods Co.,Ltd., Jiangxi Shuangbaotai Industry Co., Ltd., ForFarmers N.V., Tangrenshen Group Co., Ltd., Nutreco N.V., Guangdong Haid Group Co., Limited, C. P. Foods, Nonghyup Feed, Inc., Guangzhou Yuetai Group Co., Ltd., and Dachan Food (Asia) Limited among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Laboratory Water Purifier Market: Manufacturers Grow Shares through Partnerships

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Global Laboratory Water Purifier Market: SnapshotIn a highly competitive global laboratory water purifier market a large number regional and well-entrenched international players are seen trying to outshine one another. Some of the popular strategies of bigger manufacturers  both regional and international ones - are focus of product differentiation by leveraging latest cutting-edge technologies. Other means adopted by companies to grow their market shares are acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Apart from that, dominant players are also known to leverage solid distribution networks and after-sales service to cement their positions.For more information on this report, fill the form @Factors promoting the growth in the global laboratory water purifier market is the technological advancement leading to the emergence of products with better functionalities, their increasing number of applications, and the booming ecommerce sector.Providing headwinds to the global laboratory water purifier market, on the other hand, is the lack of knowledge among buyers which regard to the specific purification technique they require. Helping to overcome the issue is the continued progress in technology which are slated to open up new avenues of growth.As per a report by Transparency Market Research, the global laboratory water purifier market slated to attain a value of US$19.259 bn by 2022 from US$10.060 bn in 2016 by rising at a 11.6% CAGR from 2017 to 2022.Requirement in Important Laboratory Processes Makes Type I Water Dominant SegmentSeveral laboratory applications such as mammalian cell culture, liquid chromatography, and laboratory glassware, among others need water as a solvent. The degree of purity, however, varies from application to application. Water purity or quality is determined by professional organizations, namely Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), ASTM International, ISO, etc. ASTM, CLSI and ISO classify purified water for into three types  type I, type II, and type III. Their parameters for classification are not exactly identical.At present, type I is used to classify water that is most pure. Type I accounts for maximum market share owing to their growing applications in crucial laboratory processes such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In 2016, the segment accounted for 42.0% share in the market.Investments in Healthcare Applications in China and Japan, Propel Asia Pacific MarketFrom a geographical standpoint, Asia Pacific contributes the most to the revenue in the global laboratory water purifier market. In 2016, the regions share vis-a-vis revenue was worth 41.0%. In the years ahead too, Asia Pacific is expected to hold on to its dominant position because of China and Japan which have made substantial investments in healthcare applications. Besides, Japan and China, India is another key market that holds out a strong promise of growth due to rise in the governments spending on research and development of environmental labs to work on environmental issues.Browse Market Research Report @North America trails Asia Pacific in the global laboratory water purifier market in terms of revenue. The U.S. is a key market in North America because of the well established distribution network of the players, increased health awareness, and liberal allocation for the healthcare sector by government. Europe is another major market whose growth in the near future will be brought about by the high concentration of regional players, increased investments in technology, and awareness and subsequent demand for innovative products. Latin America region too, supported by favorable regulatory laws, is expected to show sustainable growth during the forecast period.Some of the prominent participants in the global laboratory water purifier market are Merck KGaA, Elga Labwater, Sartorious AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Aqua Solutions, Inc., Evoqua Water Technologies LLC, Pall Corporation, Purite Ltd., and Chengdu Ultrapure Technology Co. Ltd.About TMRTMR is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Infant Care And Baby Care Equipment Market Intelligence and Forecast by Future Market Insights

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Infant care and baby care equipment refers to the devices that used to care for sick babies with various healthcare problems.Infant care and baby care equipment includes incubators, fetal dopplers, infant warmers, phototherapy equipment, respiratory assistance, monitoring devices, pulse oximeter, infant resuscitation trolley etc. The incubator designed to provide safe and most stable environment to the critical neonate. Doppler fetal monitor is an ultrasound transducer device that used to detect the fetal heartbeat. Infant warmers used to provide constant body temperature to the infants. The pulse oximeter used to determine whether the baby has enough oxygen in her blood.Globally, technological advancement in infant care and baby care equipment is increasing. In addition, the awareness about infant care and baby care equipment available in the market is growing, which results the infant care and baby care market is also increasing.Infant Care and Baby Care Market: Drivers and RestraintsTechnological advancement in infant care and baby care equipment, increasing healthcare expenditure, rising disposable income, changing lifestyle and increasing awareness about infant and baby care equipment available in the market are some of the factors that drive the growth of the infant care and baby care market.Request Report Sample@However, high competition among existing players act as an inhibitor for this market. In addition, the U.S. government initiatives to decrease the preterm birth incidence rate are expected to significantly reduce the number of preterm births in the country, which inhibits the growth of the infant care and baby care equipment market.Infant Care and Baby Care Equipment Market: SegmentationGlobal Infant care and Baby Care market is further segmented into following types:Equipment TypeIncubatorWarmerPhototherapyMonitoring devicesOthersInfant Care and Baby Care Equipment Market: OverviewWith the increasing incidence of premature births and technological advancement in infant care and baby care equipment, the global infant care and baby care market is expected to have a healthy growth rate in the forecast period (2015-2025).Visit For TOC@Infant Care and Baby Care Equipment Market: Region- wise OutlookThe global infant care and baby care market is expected to register a healthy CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, global infant care and baby care market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.North America followed by Europedominates the global infant care and baby care market due to technological advancement in infant care and baby care equipment, developed healthcare infrastructure and affordability for various infant and baby care equipment. Asia-Pacific is the fastest emerging market for global infant care and baby care due to increasing disposable income, increasing technological advancement, high incidence rate of premature births, growing awareness level about infant care and baby care equipment available in the market. Also, high birth rate in this region plays a significant role in the global market.Infant Care and Baby Care Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in global infant care and baby care market are Abbott Nutrition, GE Healthcare, Narang Medical Limited, Phillips Healthcare, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Phoenix Medical Systems (P) Ltd and Novamed USA.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:
Report 2012-2022 on Global Whey Market Competition, Status & Forecast, Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "2012-2022 Report on Global Whey Market Competition, Status and Forecast, Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application" to its huge collection of research reports.The statistical surveying report ponders on different elements relating to the worldwide Whey market which explains the present information and future open doors display in the market alluding to the elements at play. The key point of the examination report is to offer a definite gestalt to the readers about the worldwide Whey market and present then with valuable data and information. The statistical surveying report furthermore bargains in angles, for example, drivers, restrictions, and openings in to quantify the result of these elements on the worldwide Whey market over the conjecture time frame said in the report. The report additionally displays a brief yet restrictive framework of the individual market, which contains a few records of the significant perspectives which are foreseen to trigger development in the market or have a negative effect.This report additionally dives profound into the worldwide Whey market by fastidiously assessing the creation and modern chain of the accommodating business sector. This data will additionally help in communicating precise information and insights on various variables of the separate market, for example, data relating to approaches of the legislature in the local and worldwide level, assembling and course structure, mechanical limit, volume sold, and income earned among others.Obtain Report Details @Global Whey market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingNZMP(New Zealand)Dana Dairy(Switzerland)Glenstal Foods(Ireland)Revala Ltd(Estonia)Interfood(Netherlands)Kaskat Dairy(Poland)Holland Dairy Foods(Netherlands)Arion Dairy Products(Netherlands)Euroserum(France)FrieslandCampina(Netherlands)Lactalis Ingredients(France)DMK(Germany)Arla Foods(Denmark)Leprino Foods Company(US)Saputo Ingredients(US)The examination report will likewise be deficient without an intensive evaluation of the seller scene of the worldwide Whey market, which incorporates the statistical data points, exercises and creations of the pioneers in the worldwide Whey market. The examination likewise conveys a widely inclusive evaluation of the main locales expressed in the report for the worldwide Whey market. For each district, the report articulates the variety of development up until this point and clearing on what advertise players can do to guarantee gainfulness in the up and coming years.Table of Contents1 Whey Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Whey1.2 Whey Segment by Type (Product Category)1.3 Global Whey Segment by Application1.4 Global Whey Market by Region (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Whey (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Whey Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Whey Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Whey Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Whey Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Whey Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Whey Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Whey Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Whey Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Whey Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Whey Market Competitive Situation and TrendsTo Download Sample Report With TOC:3 Global Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Whey Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Whey Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Whey Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Whey Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global Whey Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Whey Market Analysis by Application7 Global Whey Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 NZMP(New Zealand)7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Whey Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.3 NZMP(New Zealand) Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Dana Dairy(Switzerland)7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Whey Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.3 Dana Dairy(Switzerland) Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Glenstal Foods(Ireland)7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Whey Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.3 Glenstal Foods(Ireland) Whey Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewEnquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of WheyFigure Global Whey Production (MT) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2012-2022)Figure Global Whey Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2016Figure Global Whey Consumption (MT) by Applications (2012-2022)Figure Global Whey Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2016Figure Global Whey Market Size (Million USD), Comparison (MT) and CAGR (%) by Regions (2012-2022)Figure North America Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Europe Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure China Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States
Human Machine Interface (HMI) Market: Honeywell, ABB, Eaton, Emerson Electric, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, GE, Bosch Rexroth, Mitsubishi Electric

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Human Machine Interface Market Synopsis & ScenarioHuman Machine Interface (HMI) global market is expected to grow at substantial rate of CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2027). The major growth driver of Human Machine Interface (HMI) Market includes growing demand for HMI in industrial automation, rising need of data security, and growing robust manufacturing industry among others. However, high installation cost is one of the major factors which are hindering the growth of Human Machine Interface (HMI) Market.HMI Market: Industry News- Honeywell Inc. has announced in July 2016 about its new acquisition of private supply chain, and warehouse automation leader named Intelligrated. This acquisition would improve the supply chain and warehouse solutions of Honeywell.- Rockwell automation has announced in April 2016 about its expansion of motion control business after acquiring of Magnemotion, which is a leading manufacturer of high-performance conveyor and other system.Key Players ABB Ltd. (Switzerland) Eaton Corp. (Ireland) Emerson Electric Corp. (U.S.) Rockwell Automation (U.S.) Schneider Electric (France) Siemens (Germany) General Electronics (U.S.) Bosch Rexroth (Germany) Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) Honeywell International Inc.(U.S.)Request a Sample Report @Human Machine Interface Market: Regional AnalysisHuman Machine Interface (HMI) Global Market is expected to be dominated by North America with the largest market share due to developed automotive industry and also due to increase in number of automotive projects in the region, and therefore accounting for a huge economy by 2027.Human Machine Interface (HMI) Market in Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at a considerable rate of CAGR. And this growth is driven by constant developments and technological innovations across industries, economic development in China, Japan, and India, growing infrastructure developments, and increasing foreign investment in the region. Furthermore, the emergence of China as the major manufacturing hub is increasing the scope of human machine interface (HMI) solutions in the region.HMI Market SegmentsSegmentation by Type: Interface software, display resistive, industrial PCs among others.Segmentation by Component: LED indicators, mechanical switches, capacitive touch sensors, control panels, and hardware security products.Segmentation by Application: Healthcare, oil & gas, food & beverage, automation, packaging, and aerospace & defence among others.Browse Report @Human Machine Interface Market - Overview:Human Machine Interface (HMI) Global Market is expected to witness a significant growth through the forecast period 2016  2027. This surely places the industry players and trade partners across the globe in a better position.Market Research Future, with their unique quality of simplifying the Market Reports, presents an in-depth study Report - Global Human Machine Interface Market.Human Machine Interface Global Market report takes you through the full Market Analysis, Opportunities, Price, Growth, Trends and Featuring the market Predictions right up to the years 2027 and helps you to find out:- How the market revenue is progressing globally.- What are the key driving or affecting factors for the market growth?- How the market revenue is progressing in various segments & geographies.- Who are the emerging Players, current players & the Key Players (Leaders) of the market? Get yourself acquainted with their trends.- What are the current main market trends responsible for shaping up the Market AcquisitionsAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
CHICAGO  Archer Daniels Midland Co. is donating up to $100,000 to the American Red Cross to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The company said it will donate $50,000 and match an additional $50,000 of employee contributions of $25 or more.

Our thoughts are with the millions of people affected by Hurricane Harvey, and we commend the American Red Cross and many others who are helping families in the affected areas in Texas and Louisiana, said Jennifer Ballinger, director, ADM Cares.

The donation was given through ADM Cares, a social investment program that directs funds to initiatives and organizations that drive meaningful social, economic and environmental progress worldwide.

The program comprises three areas: supporting the responsible development of agriculture, improving the quality of life in ADM communities and fostering employee giving and volunteer activities.
Carbendazim Market - Entry and Market Expansion Strategies 2025

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Global Carbendazim Market: SnapshotThe global carbendazim market is driven primarily by its consistent use in fruit production. As fungi are one of the main threats to fruit plantations, fungicides such as carbendazim have witnessed a steady growth in demand.The global carbendazim market is currently dominated by North America and Europe, but the rising production of fruits in emerging regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America could enable rapid growth of the regional carbendazim markets. Local production of carbendazim is on the rise in both regions. The presence of leading fruit producers such as India, China, Brazil, and Mexico, in addition to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Argentina, Thailand, etc. has ensured steady growth of the carbendazim market in developing economies.The carbendazim market has also benefited from the consistent efforts by emerging economies to maximize their agricultural output. While the rising population of Asia Pacific and Latin America has played its part in raising local production, the demands placed by the globalized fruit trade have resulted in solid investment in technological development of the agricultural sector in emerging economies and the rising prevalence of industrialized agricultural practices. The rising demand in developed regions for fruits grown in fruit producing countries is also likely to have a significant positive impact on the global carbendazim market in the coming years, as carbendazim is also used as an antifungal preservative in packaged fruits.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Fungicides refer to the biocidal chemical compounds used to hinder the growth of fungi and their spores, which are readily used to control the damage caused due to blights, rusts, molds, and mildews. In the fruit and agricultural crops industry, carbendazim is among the most commonly used fungicides to prevent the growth of fungi. It also finds application in the production of several citrus fruits such as pomelo, orange, citron, etc. besides several other crops and fruit trees. The necessity of carbendazim is driven by the significant curtailment of the crop that can be caused due to fungal growth. Additionally, fungal growth on fruits also affects the quality aspects, and makes them inappropriate for consumption. Carbendazim is also used to control a broad spectrum of diseases that affect fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, and oilseeds.Carbendazim is applied to plants through drip irrigation method to the soil either in form of solution or suspension. This restricts the present and future growth of fungi through soil. Considering the impact of fungi on agricultural produce, the demand for carbendazim is expected to grow, thus propelling the carbendazim market. Due to these factors, the need to control fungi for the proper yield of crops and fruits is almost imperative, and hence the demand in the global market for carbendazim is escalating, and is projected for a healthy CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. The report is a comprehensive analysis of the market, which is meant to serve as an asset to the existing and new players in this market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Carbendazim Market: Trends and ProspectsThe constant striving by the developed countries to maximize the agricultural output from the available arable land is urging several players to invest in the development of effective products. This is the primary factor driving the growth rate in the market. Since carbendazim is also used to protect the stored food, the increase in the effectiveness of fungicides is paramount. Carbendazim is commonly sold along with other fungicides such as triazoles and dithiocarbamates. Conversely, the unforeseen effects of carbendazim on human beings are anticipated to affect the demand to a certain extent.Global Carbendazim Market: Regional OutlookThe report finds that Europe and North America currently contribute to the maximum demand for carbendazim, although with the surge in agricultural output across the globe and intensifying environmental regulations in developed regions, the demand for carbendazim is expected to significantly increase from the region of Asia Pacific during the forecast period. The primary reason of escalating demand for fungicides in the Asia Pacific countries of China, India, and the region of Latin America is a reflection of constantly increasing population in these parts, which is necessitating a better yield to fulfill the increasing food demand.Request Discount of the Report @The major manufacturers in the global carbendazim market include Syngenta AG, BASF SE, Troy Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd., Bayer Cropscience AG, E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company and FMC Corporation.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Telecom Market in Sweden: Highly protected market (Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis)

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Swedens telecom market is saturated. Mobile user penetration reached 80%, with growth potential due to increase with the adoption of new technologies through innovation. Mobile subscription base increased from 14.3 million in 2012 to 14.9 million in 2016, and had a subscription penetration level of 148.6% in 2016. It is expected to reach 16.9 million in 2021 with a corresponding penetration level of 158.1% in 2021 due to increased adoption of mobile phones and data usage.MarketLines Premium industry reports provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.View Report @Key HighlightsData revenue to increaseHigher demand and usage of mobile data, along with the simultaneous adoption of smartphones, are expected to drive the rise in total mobile service revenues at a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period, to reach US$1,909 million by 2021. Given a penetration of 80% in 2016, the Sweden telecom market is still developing with mobile voice revenues at US$2,960.1 million in 2016, as opposed to mobile data revenues which registered US$1,331.4 million in the same year. Increased usage is expected to increase data revenues at a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period, while voice revenue is expected to decline at a CAGR of -4.0% over the same period.Strong support from growth in postpaid subscriptionsSweden is expected to have 16.9 million mobile subscriptions by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 2.6% during over the forecast period. This translates to the subscription density (% of population) increasing from 148.6% in 2016 to 158.1% in 2021. Postpaid mobile subscriptions at 11.3 million outnumbered prepaid at 3.5 million in 2016. Also, postpaid subscriptions are expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% during 2016-21, while prepaid are expected to decline at a CAGR of -2.5% over the same period.Increase in adoption of LTEUMTS is currently the leading technology platforms for mobile subscription. Many players have already adopted these platforms to offer better services. However, with increase in penetration and auction of the 1800MHz band, subscriptions based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) platform are expected to pick up. In 2016, there were more than 3.5 million LTE users in the country and this is expected to increase to 10.0 million in 2021.Get Sample COpy of this Report @Scope- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the Swedish Telecommunications market in comparison with other European countries.- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Swedish Telecommunications market.- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Swedish Telecommunications market.- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Swedish telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue, subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the Swedish Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.Reasons to buy- What markets have shown the biggest CARG in the Swedish telecommunications industry since 2012?- What opportunities do new entrants have in Swedens telecommunication market?- What trends are being witnessed within the Swedish Telecommunications industry?- What are the Swedish Telecommunications industrys Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?- How does the Swedish government plan to drive market growth?MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Telecomm Market In US : A technology focused market (Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis)

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Mobile subscriptions increased at a CAGR of 6.1% during 2012-2016 and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% over 2016-2021. Mobile penetration was 130% in 2016, and is expected to reach 146% by 2021 mainly due to increased adoption of mobile phones and investments by operators. Mobile service revenue increased at a CAGR of 1.5% during 2012-2016 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 1.6% over 2016-2021. Similarly, fixed revenue increased at a CAGR of 1.3% during 2012-2016 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 0.9% over 2016-2021.MarketLines Premium industry reports provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.Key HighlightsIncreasing mobile data ARPS offsets fall in voice ARPSMobile data ARPS increased at a CAGR of 10.8% during 2012-16, from US$27.7 in 2012 to US$27.2 in 2016, and is expected to further increase with a CAGR of 0.4% during the forecast period. On the contrary, voice ARPS declined at a CAGR of -18.5%, from US$29 to US$12.8, and is expected to decline further, posting a CAGR of -7.5% over 2016-21 to reach US$8.7 by 2021.Cable and FTTH to be future of access technologyCable and fiber optic (FTTH/B) are the leading technology platforms for fixed subscriptions to carry high-speed data traffic. FTTH/B is the fastest growing technology that enables digital high definition streams; subscriptions that use this technology are expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.0% during the forecast period.Increased usage of mobile data services and M2M cards will drive mobile subscription growthGrowth in mobile subscriptions remains strong, despite a high mobile penetration rate of 130%. Mobile subscriptions increased at a CAGR of 6.1% from 330.7 million in 2012 to 419.6 million in 2016, and are expected to grow with a CAGR of 3.2% during the forecast period, to reach 490.5 million by 2021.Scope- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the US Telecommunications market in comparison with other North American countries.- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the US Telecommunications market.- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the US Telecommunications market.- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the US Telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue, subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the US Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.Reasons to buy- Have technological advances drastically changed the face of the Telecommunications industry?- How is the market performing in terms of: Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, and Customer Churn?- How risky is it to invest in the US Telecommunications industry compared to other North American countries?- What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as Voice, Data, Prepaid, Postpaid, Broadband, and IPTV?- Who are the leading players in the US Telecommunications industry and how does their performance compare?- What trends are being witnessed within the US Telecommunications industry?- How will the breakdown for mobile connection technologies look by 2021?- What are the US Telecommunications industrys Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?- How has the financial deals landscape changed in 2015 and 2016?MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Furfuryl Alcohol Market Analysis and Forecast Study for (2015-2025)

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Furfuryl alcohol is an organic compound manufactured by catalytic reduction of furfuran. It is used in a wide range of applications such as solvents, foundry resins, plastics, wetting agents, adhesives and in gas hardening processes among others. The raw material furfuran is obtained from sugarcane bagasse, corn cobs, wheat bran and oats among others. It has application in rocketry as a hypergolic fuel which ignites readily in presence of fuming nitric acid and red fuming nitric acid.Increasing demand for bio-based products owing to increasing awareness among consumers coupled with rising environmental regulations is expected to drive the market. This alcohol finds application in plastic industry. Increasing demand for plastics in the construction and paints industry is anticipated to drive the furfuryl market over the next few years. Bio-based resins and paints are gaining demand from developed countries due to the presence of strict environmental regulations. However, the safety issues regarding transportation and export rules of different developing countries are expected to restrain the market growth. Research and development in the field of rocketry is expected to provide immense opportunities for manufacturers of furfuryl alcohol in the near future.Request For Report Sample@Asia Pacific was the largest producer and consumer of furfuryl alcohol in which China contributes to the highest consumption. Proximity to raw material and increasing applications in plastics and resins are expected to drive the market. Europe follows Asia Pacific in consumption owing to increase in the application area of furfuryl alcohol. Research activities in the field of rocketry fuel are expected to provide opportunity for furfuryl alcohol market in this region. North America is expected to grow at a faster pace owing to increase in availability of raw materials and rising demand from construction and paints industry.Visit For TOC@Key players in this market include DynaChem Inc., The Chemical Company, Hongye Chemical Co. Ltd, Penn A Kem LLC, Nova Molecular technologies, Continetal Industries Group Inc., Shenzhen Shu Hang Industrial Development Co. Ltd., SolvChem Inc., NeuChem Inc., SweetLake Chemical Ltd., Ideal Chemical & Supply Company, Novasynorganics, International Process Plants among 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:
A steady growth Of Telecom Market in Turkey: technology driven market (Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis)

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1313639/turkey-telecommunication-services-a-steady-growth-market-research-reports

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Turkey is the second-largest economy in the Middle East region after Saudi Arabia, and as such offers growth opportunities for the telecommunications industry. High volume mobile subscriptions and the opportunity for internet providers to enter a growth market make Turkey an attractive prospect; however, political uncertainty and macroeconomic challenges prevail.MarketLines Premium industry reports provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.View Report @Key HighlightsMobile services generate the majority of revenueMobile service revenue declined at a CAGR of -3.3% from US$9,420 million in 2012 to US$8,241 million in 2016, due to a fall in voice revenue. Driven by a demand for data, mobile revenue will grow at a CAGR of 1.2% over 2016-2021, to reach US$8,737 million in 2021.Innovative subscriber friendly plans reduce churnA low churn rate is indicative of customer retention. Competition, subscriber-friendly plans, and innovations in mobile technologies have led to a decline in the churn rate, from 32.8% in 2012 to 30.6% in 2016. The rate will decline further over 2016-2021, to reach 27.4% in 2021.Launch of 5GInitiatives by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) to facilitate the launch of 5G, offer growth opportunities for the industry. ICTA launched the 5GTR forum in June 2016, comprising operators and concerned authorities. It will research the standardization of 5G to help expedite the domestic rollout of the technology. Several operators and network vendors have already entered into MoUs on 5G. The launch will also enable telecom operators to enhance data usage, which will have a positive impact on profits.Get Sample Report here :Scope- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the Turkey Telecommunications market in comparison with other Middle East and African countries.- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Turkey Telecommunications market.- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Turkey Telecommunications market.- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Turkey Telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue, subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the Turkey Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.Reasons to buy- Have technological advances drastically changed the face of the Telecommunications industry?- How is the market performing in terms of: Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, and Customer Churn?- How risky is it to invest in the Turkey Telecommunications industry compared to other Middle East and Africa countries?- What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as Voice, Data, Prepaid, Postpaid, Broadband, and IPTV?- Who are the leading players in the Turkey Telecommunications industry and how does their performance compare?- What trends are being witnessed within the Turkey Telecommunications industry?- How will the breakdown for mobile connection technologies look by 2021?- What are the Turkey Telecommunications industrys Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?- How has the financial deals landscape changed in 2015 and 2016?MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Clopidogrel Market : In-Depth Market Research Report 2017 - 2025

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Global Clopidogrel Market: SnapshotClopidogrel has remained, ever since its first approval in 1997, the antiplatelet therapy of choice among physicians for the treatment of patients with conditions such as acute coronary syndrome or percutaneous coronary intervention. The drug was the first thienopyridine to hit the market, which gave it an excellent head start over a number of drugs for these conditions that are either available in the market or are in clinical trials. As a result, the drug did not face much competition and has taken over the global market, with its array of application constantly expanding.The substantial and high-level evidence gathered over the years support the use of Clopidogrel for reduction of mortality and morbidity patients with acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, and a number of other indications. As a result, the drug has developed a formidable presence in the global market over the years. Moreover, the drugs relative ease of use, low rate of incidence of adverse reactions, and good tolerability have made it the de-facto antiplatelet agent for the reduction of atherosclerotic events in patients.Request Sample Copy of the Report @These factors have helped the global Clopidogrel market to tread along an excellent growth path in the past few years and the market is expected to embark upon a healthy growth path in the next few years as well. However, the overall profitability of the market has reduced to a certain extent owing to entry of a number of generic products post the patent expiry of Clopidogrel manufacture in 2013. Nevertheless, the vast pool of patients prescribed Clopidogrel on an annual basis across the globe will allow market players excellent growth prospects in the next few years.Global Clopidogrel Market: SnapshotClopidogrel is an antiplatelet agent of thienopyridine, which is primarily used to prevent the blood clots and help against cardiovascular problems associated with the blood clotting. The medications for inhibiting blood clots after a recent heart stroke also use clopidogrel, which is a white colored powder that is insoluble in water at neutral pH but freely soluble at pH1. Clopidogrel was the second most successful drug trailing behind Pfizers Lipito in 2010. Sold under the brand name Plavix, and marketed by Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb, the demand for clopidogrel is escalating due to the increasing number of heart attack cases across the globe.Request TOC of the Report @The patent of clopidogrel manufacturing got expires on Market 31, 2012 and is expected to prompt pharmaceutical companies to venture into clopidogrel drug manufacturing. Moreover, companies such as Dr. Reddys have acquired the approval to manufacture clopidogrel 300mg. Furthermore, several other organizations such as Roxane Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharma, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, and Apotex Crop have gained approval for marketing clopidogrel 75mg. Clopidogrel is also used with aspirin to treat worsening chest pain and to keep blood vessels open and present blood clots after certain heart related operations.Global Clopidogrel Market: Trends and ProspectsThe primary factor for the increased demand for clopidogrel is the mounting population across the world who are suffering from cardiovascular diseases and related problems. Additionally, the changing lifestyle and increase in number of patients related with cardiovascular diseases among the emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region are also expected to be the major consumers for clopidogrel in the next six years. Moreover, the patent expiry of clopidogrel drug is anticipated to open floodgates for various pharmaceutical companies to venture into production of clopidogrel drug.Request Discount of the Report @According to the World Heart Federation, nearly 15 million people suffer from heart attack or related problems globally. Out of these, roughly six million of these patients die while another five million are disabled permanently. This vast patient base is the primary factor that will sustain the demand during the forecast period.Global Clopidogrel Market: Geographical OutlookCurrently, North America and Europe contribute to the maximum demand for clopidogrel, owing to factors such as robust healthcare infrastructure and high affordability of the residents in this region. However, several countries in the region of Asia Pacific, such as China, India, and Japan are aggressively working towards improving their healthcare sector with the help of favorable policies by the localized governments and increasing disposable income among the urban population. Asia Pacific is home for nearly half of the worlds population, which makes for a high quantity of patient base. Additionally, these regions also have skilled labor at low cost which is encouraging players in the market to invest actively and tap the unmet demand.Some of the key players in the global clopidogrel market are Pfizer, Dr Reddys, Apotex Corp, Roxane Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharma.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Melanoma Drugs Market to Witness a Pronounce Growth by 2023

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Melanoma is a form of skin cancer. Some of the major risk factors for melanoma are high levels of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light leading to blistering sunburns, especially among population groups who are either in countries, which are in proximity to the equator or at very high altitudes.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Melanoma Drugs Market:According to the American Academy of Dermatology, the prevalence of melanoma is gradually increasing and rapidly spreads to other parts of the body. However, if melanoma is detected at an early stage i.e. in situ or stage 0. In this stage, the cure rate with surgical removal is nearly 100i% without any delays in seeking treatment; the survival rates from the disease are nearly 100 percent. When melanoma has spread to other body parts or has penetrated deeper into the skin or spreads, the treatment often becomes more complex. Hence, the systemic drug therapy for melanoma largely depends on the properties and stage at which melanoma is detected.Since, 2011 various drugs have received FDA approval for treatment of melanoma. The melanoma drugs market has been segmented based on type of drug therapy into chemotherapy, immunotherapy and, targeted therapy. Immunotherapy works on the mechanism of stimulating persons own immune system response to distinguish cancer cells from normal cells more efficiently. A number of types of immunotherapy treatments can be used to treat melanoma. During the past few years, many new immunotherapy drugs for melanoma have entered the market. Immunotherapy drugs for melanoma include Keytruda(pembrolizumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab) which got FDA approval in 2014. Above mentioned drugs target PD-1, a protein on immune system cells called T cells. By blocking PD-1 protein, these drugs increase the immune response of the body against melanoma cells. Recently, the FDA approval of Yervoy (ipilimumab) in October 2015 has opened new market opportunities for market expansion of immunotherapy drugs in melanoma drugs market. Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is also another type of drug that upsurges immune response. However, it blocks CTLA-4, another protein on T cells.These drugs are given as an intravenous (IV) infusion every 2 or 3 weeks. This results in shrinking of tumor. This treatment can help number of people with stage IV melanoma to live longer. However, its not yet clear if these drugs can completely cure melanoma.These drugs act as checkpoint inhibitors to fight against melanoma cancer. In addition, there is a strong pipeline for melanoma treatment drugs under development by major key players and other new entrants in this market. Thus, taking into consideration the strategic new product launches after FDA approval the melanoma drugs market is expected to grow exponentially.Similarly the Cytokines are proteins in the body that increase the immune system. Artificial cytokines, such as interferon-alfa and interleukin-2 (IL-2), are occasionally used in patients with melanoma.When chemotherapy drugs fail to deliver positive results in melanoma patients, targeted therapy drugs are administered to them. The targeted therapy drugs include BRAF inhibitors such as Zelboraf (vemurafenib) and Tafinlar (dabrafenib). The BRAF drugs work on the mechanism of shrinking tumors among those metastatic melanoma patients who have undergone genetic mutation. They are found to increase the progression free survival rate of patients. The MEK inhibitors such as trametinib (Mekinist) and cobimetinib (Cotellic) block the MEK proteins. In November 2015, Cotellic (cobimetinib) of Genentech Inc. received approval from FDA for the treatment of BRAF V600E or V600K melanoma. Generally Cotellic is used in combination with vemurafenib, a BRAF inhibitor, to treat melanoma.On October 27th 2015, Amgen Inc.s Oncolytic virus therapy for a deadly form of skin cancer/ melanoma was approved by U.S. FDA. The drug is known as talimogene laherparepvec, or T-vec, was cleared as a treatment for melanoma lesions in the skin and lymph nodes that cant be removed completely by surgery. According to FDA brand-name of the drug is Imlygic. It uses adapted version of the herpes simplex virus to attack cancerous cells. After being injected into the tumor, the virus replicates until it causes the cells to breach and it results in provoking an immune system response that communicates the body to recognize the cancer.Targeted therapy drugs have lower severity of side effects compared to other melanoma cancer drugs. However, despite of the new market opportunities created as a result of recent FDA approvals, some of the major restraints in the market are attributed to the lack of innovative and successful therapies in the market to reduce the risk of mortality of advanced metastatic melanoma patients. Thus, targeted therapy and their combinations could lead the melanoma drugs market and play a potential role in driving in melanoma drug market.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the major players in this market include Amgen, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai Co. Ltd., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Genentech Inc. Janssen Biotech, Inc., and Novartis International AG. Pfizer, Vical and ZIOPHARM.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Geosynthetics Market Intelligence Research Reports for Actionable Insights

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Geosynthetics is a class of synthetic products that are used mainly in construction and geotechnical engineering applications. These are versatile, highly durable materials and serve as cost-effective alternatives in geotechnical, environmental and hydraulic applications. Geosynthetics are made up of durable polymers such as High-density polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyester, these Geosynthetics are incorporated in order to act as separators, filters, reinforcements, drainage facilitators and as liquid and gas barriers. As such, Geosynthetics, owing to their favourable physical properties includes strength, stiffness, durability and many others it is widely used in civil engineering, road industry,soil reinforcement, mining, among others.Geosynthetics Market: Opportunities, Drivers & RestraintsOver the recent past, the growing adoption of Geosynthetics across the globe has resulted in a steady growth of Geosynthetics. Moreover, increasing investments in infrastructure and environmental projects by both, developing and developed countries are likely to drive the growth of Geosynthetics market. Also increasing demand from waste treatment applications, transportation sector and regulatory support on account of enhancing civic amenities, several projects were taken by national government which has continued to fuel the growth in the Geosynthetics market. However, volatility of raw material prices used in manufacture of Geosynthetics is a major restraint to the growth of Geosynthetics market.Request For Report Sample@Geosynthetics Market: SegmentationGlobal Geosynthetics market can be segmented into various key segments depending on the type of product, material types and on the basis of region. Based on type of product, global geosynthetics market can be segmented into geotextiles, geogrids, geocells, geomembranes, geocomposites, geosynthetic foams and geosynthetic clay liners. Geotextiles are geosynthetics made up of woven (fibers on cloth like material) and non-woven (randomly oriented fibre) materials; geogrids are used for stabilization and reinforcement of waste masses, geocells are used in earth retention applications, rail road support, for protecting bunkers and walls. Geomembranes are an impermeable membranes which are used for canal lining, tunnel lining and land fill linings. Geocomposites combine features of two or more geosynthetics and find applications in drainage among others. Geofoams are lightweight blocks which act as void filling materials in certain construction applications. Lastly, geosynthetic clay liners are fabric-like materials used for lining of landfills.On the other hand, by material types, global geosynthetics market comprises following segments HDPE, polypropylene, polyester and other polymeric alloys based geosynthetics. Lastly, depending on the geographic regions, global geosynthetics market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa.Geosynthetics Market: Region-wise OutlookAsia Pacific accounts for the largest share of global geosynthetics market and is expected to emerge as the fastest growing market for geosynthetics during the forecast period. Countries like India, China and Russia in particular, are expected to witness robust growth in adoption of geosynthetics in construction and geotechnical projects. Among the product type based segments of global geosynthetics market, geotextiles segment accounts for the largest share in market value.The global Geosynthetics market growth is driven majorly by their increased adoption in a variety of applications in construction sector, emergence of these as viable alternatives in waste and water applications has further bolstered global geosynthetics market growth. Moreover, increasing number of infrastructure development projects in developing countries and increasing demand of geosynthethics in roadways and rail construction applications across the globe has resulted in a steady growth of global geosynthetics market.Visit For TOC@Geosynthetics Market: Key PlayersSome of the participants in global Geosynthetics market are NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, GSE Environmental, Low & Bonar PLC, TenCate Geosynthetics, GEO Synthetics LLC, Huifeng Geosynthetics, Tenax Corporation, Polymer Group, Inc. 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:
Hydrazobenzene Market : Segmentation, Industry trends and Development to 2025

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Global Hydrazobenzene Market: SnapshotHydrazobenzene is chemically studied to be a crystalline and colorless compound that when heated to decomposition discharges virulent nitrogen oxide fumes. It could find application in the manufacture of various pharmaceuticals while functioning as an intermediate. The dye manufacturing sector could engage hydrazobenzene primarily as an antecedent of benzidine, which is a dye intermediate. Based on experimental findings that prove the carcinogenicity of hydrazobenzene, it is rationally predicted to be a human carcinogen. Moreover, if humans are exposed to this compound, it can cause brain, kidney, and liver damage while irritating the lungs, throat, nose, and skin.Each country in the global hydrazobenzene market could have its own list of key suppliers. In both the U.S. and Europe regions, Chemos GmbH & Co. KG has been making its mark with more than 25 years of quality experience in the fine chemical industry. With a robust network incorporating chemical producers and custom manufacturing firms, Chemos operates as a strong support to the chemical companies and research institutions positioned in the aforementioned regions. Likewise, there could be Hangzhou Dayangchem Co. Ltd. and IBIS Chemie International operating as top companies in the Peoples Republic of China and India respectively.Request Sample Copy of the Report @According to the globally harmonized system of classification and labelling of chemicals (GHS), hydrazobenzene is very toxic to the aquatic environment with enduring effects to face and may even lead to cancer. Therefore, as per the laboratory chemical safety summary (LCSS), manufacturers and end users of this substance are required to follow certain regulations related to storage and handling, cleanup and disposal, exposure limit, first aid, and health and symptoms.Global Hydrazobenzene Market: OverviewThe rising number of applications of hydrazobenzene and the rising focus of key players on research and development activities are the key factors fueling the growth of the global hydrazobenzene market. Furthermore, the demand for hydrogen peroxide for the purpose of water treatment is anticipated to encourage the growth of the market.Request TOC of the Report @The research report provides analysis of the global hydrazobenzene market on a regional and global level. The study offers historical information and presents the forecast statistics between 2017 and 2025 in terms of revenue and volume. The key segmentation and the major factors encouraging the growth of the global hydrazobenzene market have been provided in the research study to provide a strong understanding for readers and new entrants. Furthermore, to provide a thorough view of the global market, the research study has included a detailed competitiveness analysis and a list of the leading company players.Global Hydrazobenzene Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing demand for hydrazobenzene from the pharmaceutical industry is the key factor expected to encourage the growth of the market in the next few years. In addition, the rising consumption of phenylbutazone and sulfinpyrazone in manufacturing different pharmaceutical products is expected to accelerate the growth of the global hydrazobenzene market in the forecast period. On the flip side, the carcinogenic properties of hydrazobenzene, which is considered as extremely harmful for human being due to prolonged exposure is one of the major factors projected to hamper the growth of the global hydrazobenzene market in the next few years. Nonetheless, the rising number of applications of hydrazobenzene and the growing demand from the automotive industry are likely to supplement the growth of the market in the next few years.Request Discount of the Report @Global Hydrazobenzene Market: Region-wise OutlookAmong the key regional segments in the hydrazobenzene market, Asia Pacific is estimated to witness rapid growth in the next few years. With the rising number of applications, this region is projected to account for a key share of the overall market and register a progressive growth. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the rising demand for hydrazobenzene from pigments and dyes industry.In addition, the swift development of the agro-chemical sector in Asia Pacific is projected to boost the demand for hydrazobenzene throughout the forecast period. The agrochemical application of hydrazobenzene as a de-suckering agent, especially in tobacco plants is likely to contribute substantially in developing economies of Asia Pacific, including China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Thailand. Furthermore, the increasing number of players in this region is expected to encourage the growth of the hydrazobenzene market throughout the forecast period.Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:The research study on the global hydrazobenzene market offers a detailed analysis of the competitive landscape, presenting insights into the prominent players operating in the market. In addition, the company profiles, financial overview, contact information, SWOT analysis, and the recent developments have been discussed at length in the scope of the study. Some of the key players operating in the market are Alfa Aesar, IBIS Chemie International, Gihi Chemicals Co., Limited, Tokyo Kasei Kogyo (TKK), and Chemos GmbH.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
White Box Server Market Forecast By End-use Industry 2017-2027

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White Box Server Market: IntroductionIn hardware peripherals, a white box server is a non-branded server or personal computer, which are purchased in bulk from original design manufacturers (ODM). The ODM such as Hon Hai's Foxconn and Quanta develops white box server by assembling commercial off-the-shelf components in various ways to provide customized computer solution to customers.White-box server is a computer structure in a large data centers, which is capable of running major operating systems, for instances, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Windows Server and virtualization software. These server deploy clustering techniques to provide high availability and lower the risk of unexpected downtime.Request Report Sample@White Box Server Market: Drivers and RestraintsWhite-box server is less costly and offers modest functionality, which is the major factor responsible for the growth of the white box server market during the forecast period. Further, growing demand for cost effective off-the-shelf hardware by cloud service providers such as Microsoft Azure and Google is the other driver for the industry expansion.Customization and flexibility in designing hardware are the crucial factors spurring the growth of the white box server market. Also, original design manufacturers introduced new switching products and white box storage, which are cost effective and energy efficient solutions, hence the market is anticipated to grow in the recent years. On the other hand, unreliable server life span and no brand assurance are the major factors challenging the growth of the industry during the forecast period.Global White Box Server Market: Market SegmentationGlobal White Box Server Market can be divided into five segments, based on Form Factor, Business Type, Processor, Operating System, and Region.Segmentation on the basis of Form Factor for White Box Server Market:The major segments of White Box Server Market on the basis of the Form Factor include:Density-optimized serversRack & Tower serversBlade serversSegmentation on the basis of Business Type for White Box Server Market:The major segments of White Box Server Market on the basis of the Business Type include:Enterprise customersData centersSegmentation on the basis of Processor for White Box Server Market:The major segments of White Box Server Market on the basis of the Processor include:Non-X86 serversX86 serversSegmentation on the basis of Operating System for White Box Server Market:The major segments of White Box Server Market on the basis of the Operating System include:LinuxOthersSegmentation on the basis of Region for White Box Server Market:The major segments of White Box Server Market on the basis of Region include:Asia-Pacific excluding JapanThe Middle East and AfricaWestern EuropeNorth AmericaEastern EuropeLatin AmericaJapanGlobal White Box Server Market: Regional TrendNorth American countries such as U.S. and Canada are witnessing the increase in a number of data centers for data analytics and cloud service, which is projected to propel the market growth in the respective region during the forecast period. Most of the largest data centers are located in North America, which is the other reason spurring the expansion opportunity of the white box server market.China and India are the emerging economies, which is expected to show fastest growth rate, due to the increasing the number of mobile device and evolvement of data analytics for business operations, which are arising the need of robust servers. Thus Asia-Pacific market is expected to capture fastest market growth in recent years.Visit For TOC@Global White Box Server Market: Competitive LandscapeThe key players associated with agriculture robot market includes ZT Systems, Quanta Computer Inc., Silicon Mechanics, Wistron Corporation, Stack Velocity Group, Inventec Corporation, Servers Direct, Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, Hyve Solutions, MiTAC Holdings Corp., Compal Electronics, Super Micro Computer Inc., Celestica Inc. and Penguin Computing.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
DECATUR  With big gloves and an enthusiastic grin, Pedro Martinez looked the part of the farmer as he sat in the driver's seat of the newest John Deere tractor.

Except the fact he was a sixth grader who has never been on a farm before.

Martinez was among more than 600 sixth-grade students from the Decatur School District who had the chance to attend the final day of the Farm Progress Show, the three-day event that brought thousands of farmers and ag enthusiasts to the Progress City USA site north of Richland Community College this week. The sprawling outdoor show, often called the "Super Bowl of farming," allowed students to visit a wide range of exhibits and learn about opportunities available to them in the agriculture industry.

The kids are telling me, wow, this is cool! said Decatur Public School Superintendent Paul Fregeau. The teachers are coming out and saying, We need more time here so the kids can see more. So, to me, that means it has been a success.

The trip was thanks to a donation from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which helped cover the cost of over $25,000 to transport the hundreds of students, pay their admission and have lunch at the event grounds.

The idea to have Decatur students visit the show originated years ago, said Brian Byers, the vice president of development at Neuhoff Media who helped coordinate Thursdays trip. He said it specifically dates back to an observation he made when Decatur first hosted the Farm Progress Show in 2005. The city hosts the show every other year, alternating with Boone, Iowa.

I saw all these school buses from across the Midwest, but I didn't see any from Decatur schools, he said.

The long-held goal finally came together this year thanks to the foundation's help along with partners such as Sloan Implements, Tate & Lyle, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Limitless Decatur. The sponsors were able to cover the expense of the trip at no cost to the school district, Byers said.

Before they explored the show, students heard from CaSandra Carter, an executive assistant at ADMs Chicago headquarters, about how one can enter the industry even without growing up on a farm.

Carter told the students she grew up in Chicago surrounded by concrete, with no livestock or crops in sight, and little interest in agriculture.

After persistent encouragement from her parents, Carter enrolled in a Chicago high school dedicated to agriculture. At first, she promised her parents she would try the school for one year.

But a decade later, Carter was earning her master's degree in plant science and international agriculture and rural development at Cornell University, and traveling the world working in the agriculture field.

We have so many jobs out there that are available, and we need people like you to consider what the possibilities, Carter said Dont think that when you hear the word farming or agriculture that there is only one type of career path. I am a living example that there are many ways to join the field.

Exhibitors did what they could to grab the attention of the students as they walked by, ranging from free popcorn at Bayers tent to a scavenger hunt at ADMs exhibit.

The chance to host the visitors provided a great way to introduce local students to the important role that agriculture plays in their daily lives, said Linda Fultz, who works in marketing communications at ADM.

Most everything we eat is thanks to agriculture, she said. This is a great introduction to them about that importance.

The event was eye-opening for students like Sanara Hollgarth, who said her experience with agriculture are the few times she has visited a farm. She said she had a lot of fun at the event, especially since it allowed her to walk around outside.

I love to exercise, so being able to walk around out here is fun, she said.

The hope is Thursday's event will be just the beginning in introducing local students to the agricultural opportunities in Decatur and throughout the world. In addition, Byers hopes it will lead to Decatur School District finally having its own program through Illinois FFA, an organization whose members are enrolled in agricultural education classes at the middle school, high school or postsecondary level.

We have kids that live just two miles away from all these world leaders in agriculture, but it's like they're on a different planet from them, he said. We want to do a better job of taking ag to the community.

While neither Martinez or Hollgarth said Thursday's trip changed their own career plans to join the military and the FBI, respectively, they said the trip did make them more interested in how much agriculture impacts their daily lives.

I'll definitely pay more attention to it in the future, Martinez said.
Pruritus Therapeutics Market to Register Substantial Expansion by 2023

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Pruritus is a chronic itching condition, which is often caused by dermatological disease conditions including atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, mycoses, chickenpox etc. Moreover, there are various underlying etiologies for pruritus, for instance hepatogenic pruritus results from hepatitis&jaundice, uremic pruritus results from chronic kidney diseases and dialysis, and some forms are drug-induced pruritus.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Pruritus Therapeutics Market:The pruritus condition is an outcome of stimulation from free nerve endings in the dermal tissue transmitted through the C-fibers and via the spinothalamic tract in the spinal cord. This process results in the form of pruritus or itching. Since, this condition is a symptom of neurologic disorders, chronic renal failure, cholestasis, systemic infections, malignancies, and endocrine disorders, or exposure to some drugs. The diagnosis of the actual cause of pruritus requires a meticulous assessment involving clinical examination and laboratory investigations, which may be dermatologic, systemic, neurogenic, and psychogenic in nature.The International Forum for the Study of Itch (IFSI) has proposed three categories of pruritus skin conditions, i.e. pruritus on normal skin, inflamed skin, or with chronic secondary scratch lesions. Since, many patients of chronic pruritus have skin lesions in the absence of skin diseases due to scratching or skin dryness or insect bite. Hence, this categorization by IFSI enables a clear distinction between disease induced and non-specific disease induced pruritus.The pruritus therapeutics market can be segmented based on type of drug classes, antihistamines (e.g. doxepin, loratadine), topical corticosteroids (e.g. clobetasol propionate), opioid receptor antagonists (e.g. naloxone and naltrexone),topical immunomodulators (calcineurin inhibitors such as tacrolimus, pimecrolimus), antidepressants (e.g. selective neuroepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor (SNRI), mirtazapine, neuroleptics (e.g. gabapentin and pregablin), immunosuppressants (e.g. cyclosporine and azathioprine), topical local anesthetics (e,g. pramoxine), cannabinoid receptors (e.g. he CB2 agonist, N-palmitoylethanolamine)and others (e.g. antipruritics such as capsaicin, salicylic acid, polidocanol, camphor, menthol etc.) Antihistamines prevent the activation of cells by histamine, which lead to an allergic response. Opioid receptor antagonists influence the neurogenic component of pruritus. Similarly, topical therapeutic formulations are also found to be extremely effective pertaining to pruritus. Geographically, there is a global demand for pruritus therapeutics, which is on the rise due to high prevalence of dermatological disorders.The high demand for over-the-counter topical corticosteroids has been found to be one of the potential drivers for growth in the market. Moreover, new product launches and a strong pipeline for pruritus therapeutics are other key drivers for potential growth in this market. However, a major restraint in the pruritus therapeutics market is lack of awareness of the root cause of pruritus and a universally accepted therapy for pruritus. Some of these factors can offset the growth of pruritus therapeutics in the market.The key opportunities in the pruritus therapeutics market include new discoveries such as the identification of new T-cell subsets (Th17 & Th22), and patent expiry of various pruritus therapeutic drugs such as Protopic (tacrolimus). Moreover, pruritus condition covers a widerange of potential target population, as skin disorders are extremely common worldwide. These factors will provide a platform for new players in the market to capitalize such avenues in the pruritus therapeutics market.Therefore, it is anticipated that these lucrative opportunities could contribute to the growth of pruritus therapeutics in future.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the major players that are operating in the pruritus therapeutics market include Allergan Inc., Amgen Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc., CARA Therapeutics, Novartis AG, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Hematology Diagnostics Market Foreseen to Grow exponentially by 2023

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Hematology refers to a branch of medicine, which is concerned, with the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases related to blood, bone marrow, vascular systems, immunology and hemostasis (i.e. blood clotting). Hematological tests can diagnosis various blood related diseases, anemia, leukemia, autoimmune disorders, and blood cancers among others. Hematology constitutes various in vitrodiagnostic (IVD) techniques such as, molecular diagnostics, hemostasis, blood analysis, histology, flow cytometry, and immunodiagnostics, which helps to measure more parameters in blood with a higher precision at comparatively lower cost.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Hematology Diagnostics Market:The major factors driving the hematology diagnostics market include, rising incidences of blood related disorders, for instance as per the data stated by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) approximately 9.8% of the population in U.S. was diagnosed with leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma of the 1,658,370 new cases of cancer in 2015. Moreover, data from the National Hemophilia Foundation states that, worldwide approximately 400,000 cases are suffering from hemophilia. Population aged 65 and over isprojected to reach 83.7 million in 2050, which is twice that, estimated in 2012 as per the Administration for Community Living. In addition, technological advancements, government initiatives supporting healthcare infrastructure are some of the factors fueling the growth of the hematology diagnostics market.Integration of flow-cytometry techniques in analyzers, developments in point of care (POC) hematology testing and introduction of digital imaging systems in labs and increasing use of microfluidics technology in analyzers are creating opportunities in the global hematology diagnostics market. Whereas, product recalls, high cost of hematology diagnostic instruments, lesser adoption in emerging economies and poor health insurance and reimbursement coverage are the major restraints of the global hematology market.The global hematology diagnostics market is segmented based on products, end-user and geography. Based on product type, the global hematology diagnostics market is further segmented into hematology analyzers and hematology reagents market. Hematology analyzers perform complete blood counts, coagulation or erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESRs) tests.Automated hematology analyzers play an important role in transfusion medicine and in blood banks to perform quality check of blood samples and to screen the donors. There is a significant market shift of the hematology diagnostics instruments from manual testing to semi-automated or fully automated instruments.The manufacturers compete mainly on the number of parameters measured, reagents consumed, style, and price. Based on end-user the global hematology diagnostics market is segmented into hospitals, clinical laboratories, and academicand research institutes among others.Geographically, the global hematology diagnostics market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. North America dominated the global hematology diagnostics market due to increasing blood disorders, increasing ageing population. For instance, as per the U.S. Census Bureau by 2030, approximately 20% of the population in U.S. are projected to be 65 years and above. Moreover better accessibility and availability of testing services are set to drive the market in North America. Whereas, Asia Pacific is growing at a high CAGR due to improving healthcare infrastructure, large patient base, government initiatives, and due improved purchasing power of buyers.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the key players in the global hematology diagnostics market are Beckman Coulter, Abbott Laboratories, HemoCue AB, HORIBA, Ltd., Siemens AG, Sysmex, Mindray Medical International Limited., Roche Diagnostics A/S, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. among others.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Wearable computing Market Growth, Trends and Value Chain 2017-2027 by FMI

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Wearable Computing Market: IntroductionWearable computing is the technology embedded in wearable accessories such as a watch, wristband to work as miniature electronic gadgets and facilitate ease in accessing technology. It is widely used for media and healthcare purpose. More than trendy accessories, these devices are gaining popularity owing to smart and advanced features such as easy synchronization, and high portability.Wearable Computing Market: Drivers and RestraintsWearable computing devices provide various computational support such as gyroscopes and accelerometers, which are becoming the key attraction for the consumer to fuel the demand for wearable devices. Further, the advance features of wearable gadgets such as data monitoring, light weight, and enhanced portability are the other drivers piloting the growth of the wearable computing market in forthcoming years.Request Report Sample@Apart from serving technological benefits, wearable gadgets are trending these days, due to increasing consumer inclination towards smart gadgets. So consider the same, augmented demand for clubbing material sciences with technology are spurring the demand for the wearable computing market. However, less battery back-up and costly wearable device are coupled together to hinder the growth of the wearable computing market over the forecasted period.Global Wearable Computing Market: Market SegmentationGlobal Wearable Computing Market can be divided into three segments, based on Product Type, Application, and Region.Segmentation on the basis of Product Type for Wearable Computing Market:The major segments of Wearable Computing Market on the basis of the Product Type include:Smart watchesEssential Round UpHead-Mounted DisplaysSmart JewelryImplantableSegmentation on the basis of Application for Wearable Computing Market:The major segments of Wearable Computing Market on the basis of the Application include:ConsumerSmart GlassesWearable CamerasSmart ClothingGaming DevicesNon-ConsumerFitness And WellnessMedical And HealthcareEnterprise And IndustrialInfotainmentOthersSegmentation on the basis of Region for Wearable Computing Market:The major segments of Wearable Computing Market on the basis of Region include:Asia-Pacific excluding JapanThe Middle East and AfricaWestern EuropeNorth AmericaEastern EuropeLatin AmericaJapanGlobal Wearable Computing Market: Regional TrendIncreasing awareness about the wearable computing technology and growing inclination towards smart gadgets are coupled together to spur the demand of wearable computing market in North America region. Also, countries such as U.S. followed by Canada are estimated to witness huge opportunistic growth regarding wearable computing technology in the near future.Asia-Pacific region is projected to witness fastest growth rate regarding wearable computing market, owing to continuous innovation and improvement in technology. Countries such as India and China are expected to exhibit positive growth rate during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Global Wearable Computing Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the prominent players in the Wearable Computing Market includes Adidas AG, Zephyr Technology Corporation, Casio Computer Company Ltd., Jawbone, Fitbit, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Apple, Inc., Sony Corporation, Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc, Pebble Technology Corporation, LG Electronics Inc, Garmin Ltd., Contour, Ascension Technology Corporation, GoPro, Siemens Healthcare, NanoSonic, Weartech, Smart Life Technology Co., Ltd.,GE Healthcare, Textronics, Himax Technology, Medtronic Inc., Carl Zeiss Inc, Invensense Inc., AiQ Smart Clothing Inc., Silicon Micro Display and CSR plc.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Nanocapsules Market Scope and Trends Report 2024

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Nanopharmacology is a new branch of pharmacology which deals with the application of nanotechnology in the field of nanomedicine. This is a potential step towards curing and prevention of disease by using molecular knowledge about human body and molecular tools. Nanopharmacology studies the interaction between nanoscale drugs and proteins such as DNA, RNA and cells & tissues. It also studies the interaction between physiological systems and traditional drugs at nanoscale level.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Nanocapsules Market:Nanoparticles are solid colloidal particles that include both nanospheres and nanocapsules. Nanocapsule is any nanoparticles that consist of a shell and a space in which desired substances may be placed. It is made up of a nontoxic polymer. They are also known to be drug delivery agents in the size range of 10-1000 nm. These capsules are made up of molecules called as phospholipids such as liposomes. Now-a-days many other materials such as variety of polymers have been used to make nanocapsules by self assembly process. Polymeric capsules are studied extensively as particulate carriers in the medical and pharmaceutical fields as they act as good drug delivery systems as a result of their sustained and control release property and subcellular size.The ultrafine size of nanocapsules itself is one of the useful function as the finer drug are suitable to be absorbed easily through biological systems. The special features and functions of nanoparticles include slow release: the capsules releases drugs molecules slower over a long period of time, quick release: the capsule shell breaks and comes in contact with a surface, specific release: the shell is designed to break open when a molecule receptor binds to a specific chemical and moisture release: the shell breaks down and releases drug in the presence of water among other features. The state of the art nanocapsulation medications include drugs deliver to specific locations within the body, cuts down on the amount of drug per dose and reduces the risk of side effects. The only limitation is that it is designed to target pre-determined areas.Cancer, neutraceuticals, ethyl alcohol absorption, food usage and self healing materials are the major applications of nanocapsules. Water soluble polymer shells are manufactured to deliver a protein known as apoptin into cancer cells. Neutraceuticals are substances which are placed into food to enhance nutrition. The smaller the nanocarrier, the better the delivery particles and solubility of neutraceuticals. Nanocapsulation in foods includes the changing of texture, coloring, flavoring and stability in shelf life. Nanocapsules are known to reduce damage that is caused by high loads for components in microelectronics, polymeric coatings and adhesives.Growing pharmaceutical industry along with the rising demand for nanocapsules are expected to be the major factor driving the global nanocapsules industry. The growing demand from the end user industry is also expected to boost demand for nanocapsules in the near future.Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest consumer of nanocapsules due to growing pharmaceutical industries in the region. North America and Europe are also expected to boost demand for nanocapsules owing to the growing demand from the end-user industries for various applications.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the major players profiled for global nanocapsules market include: Capsulation, Sanzyme Ltd, PlasmaChem GmbH, NoCamels, Indian Instruments Manufacturing Company, Encap, Sintef, and Carlina Technologies among others.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS) Market Report Forecasts Strong Growth by 2023

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The automated breast ultrasound system is primarily designed to obtain ultrasound images with the help of a broadband transducer which is scanned over the whole breast to capture 3D ultrasound volume data. It provides 3D images and detects cancer in dense breast tissues. The market for automated breast ultrasound system has been segmented by application which includes hospitals and research labs and diagnostic laboratories among others. The automated breast ultrasound system enables quicker scan time, reduces the operator dependence. It also increases the reproducibility, consistency, reliability and sensitivity of each individual full breast ultrasound diagnosis. With the growing prevalence of breast cancer and increasing patient awareness towards the connection of breast density with breast cancer is fueling the demand for automated breast ultrasound system.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS) Market:With the growing awareness towards the symptoms of breast cancer along with rising radiology market is some of the major driving factors for the market. Furthermore, growing extensive research and development for upgraded imaging techniques along with increasing government advocation towards the breast cancer awareness is also acting as drivers for the market. Furthermore high maintenance and manufacturing cost of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), exposure to radiation and lack of expertise in this field is some of the restraining factors which may hinder the growth of this market. However, the benefits obtained from the automated breast ultrasound system such as 3D images and coronal view, less turnaround time along with assurance of improved diagnostic results are stimulating the market at the global level.With the increasing technological advancement and growing application of automated breast ultrasound system in hospitals and research institutes and diagnostic laboratories are fueling the market globally. North America dominated the market for automated breast ultrasound system followed by Europe in 2014 and is expected to maintain its position over the forecast period 2015 to 2023. U.S. is the major market across North America. Furthermore, increasing awareness towards detecting breast cancer at the primary stage in order to avoid life risks associated with the diseases along with expenditure on research and development activities to upgrade technologies for better accurate results are driving the market across Asia Pacific. Japan, China, India among others contributes in the positive growth of this market across Asia Pacific. Growing number areas of hospitals and imaging diagnostic centers primarily for cancer patients are having a positive impact on the growing market for automated breast ultrasound system in Rest of the World (RoW).Request for the Sample Report:Some of the major players operating in the automated breast ultrasound system market are Siemens AG (Germany), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), General Electric Company (U.S), SonoCine Inc. (U.S.), Hitachi, Ltd.(Japan) among others. Increasing strategic alliances between major companies for better market penetration is one of the major strategies adopted by key players. Furthermore, manufacturers in developing countries are investing in the healthcare and mammography sector in order to provide advance medical instruments which in turn are contributing in the positive growth of automated breast ultrasound system market globally.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market Revenue and Value Chain 2017-2027

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Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market: IntroductionInternet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication is the part of an intelligent transport system that enables the data transfer from one vehicle to another vehicle, this system helps in improving traffic management by allowing the driver to communicate with roadside infrastructures such as traffic lights sign boards and other passing by vehicles.This technology establishes V2V communication to avoid road accidents by allowing the driver to send car location and speed related data to other nearby vehicles over the ad-hoc mesh network. In addition to above, depending on driving and road traffic situations, the drivers may receive warning signals such as the risk of an accident, which alerts the driver and helps in taking precaution such as slowing down speed, etc.Request Report Sample@Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market: Drivers and RestraintsTo ensure safety while driving and to reduce the accidental rate are the factors driving the growth of the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market. Moreover, communication is the easy solution to avoid road traffic and channelize smooth driving, so to establish communication, the need for intelligent transport system are spurring, which is influencing the growth of the market in forthcoming years.Further, the need of transportation for goods and people coupled with emerging technology innovation is attributing to attract investors to Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market. On the other hand, data privacy and initial funding for setting new infrastructure are anticipated to be the major challenge, which may hinder the market growth over the forecast period.Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market: SegmentationInternet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market is segmented by offering, connectivity form factor, application, and region.By offering, the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market can be segmented into software, hardware, and serviceBy Connectivity Form Factor, the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market can be segmented into tethered, embedded, and integratedBy application, the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market can be segmented into commercial vehicles and domestic vehicles.By Region, the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market can be segmented into the Middle East and Africa, North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Japan, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan.Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is expected to capture largest market share regarding revenue owing to increase in demand for cars that are equipped with infotainment tools. In addition to above, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) sponsored intelligent transport system (ITS) which includes Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication. Thus the support of the government in sponsoring the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication is propelling the market growth.Owing to the increasing demand for navigation services and telematics applications in Asia Pacific Countries such as India and China are anticipated to drive the market over the forecast period. Further, the rising living standards and augmented tech-savvy youth population in Asia Pacific countries are piloting the industry growth.Visit For TOC@Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market: Competition LandscapeThe major players in the Internet of Things Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Market are Ford Motor Company, Texas Instruments Inc., Audi AG, Intel Corporation, General Motors, NXP Semiconductors N.V., Apple Inc., TOMTOM N.V., Google Inc., IBM Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Cisco Systems Inc., Vodafone Group, Microsoft Corp., AT&T Inc., and Thales SA.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Peripheral Arterial Disease Market Report Forecasts High Growth by 2023

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Peripheral arterial disease, also known as peripheral vascular disease is a condition in which the arteries, other than supplying blood to heart and brain narrow down. Peripheral arterial disease mostly affects the legs, though other arteries may also be involved. Peripheral arterial disease is caused by the deposition of fats (plaques) in the artery walls which reduce the blood flow to organs, limbs and head. The population over the age of 50 are at the risk of suffering from peripheral arterial disease. The growing geriatric population, increasing therapies, rising minimally invasive techniques support the growth for peripheral arterial disease market. It has been estimated that globally around 20% of the total population above the age of 60 years are affected by peripheral arterial diseases. High risk factors such as smoking and diabetes contributes towards increase in incidence rate of peripheral arterial diseases which would stimulate the growth of peripheral arterial disease market globally.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Peripheral Arterial Disease Market:The peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market has been segmented into devices, drugs and pipeline. The devices segment is further categorized into devices such as peripheral vascular stents, peripheral transluminal angioplasty balloon catheters, PTA Guidewires, atherectomy devices, chronic total occlusion devices, aortic stents, synthetic surgical grafts, embolic protection devices and inferior vena cava filters. The peripheral vascular stents accounts for the largest share, followed by peripheral transluminal angioplasty balloon catheters. While emnolic protection devices are the fastest growing segment in the global peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market. The drugs segment can be segmented on the basis of cholesterol-lowering drugs, high blood pressure lowering drug, blood sugar regulating drug, and blood clot preventing drug. The phase III pipeline drugs for peripheral arterial disease include Rivaroxaban (Bayer), DLBS1033 (Dexa Medical Group), clopidogrel (SR25990) (Sonofi), Propionyl-L-Caritine (Sigma-Tau Research, Inc.) and others.Geographically, peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market has been segmented in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Rest of the World (RoW). North America, accounted for the largest share in the overall peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market. The dominance is majorly due the high adoption rates of minimally invasive surgeries, higher healthcare expenditure and patient awareness, making North America the leading market for peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market. Europe accounted for the second largest market for peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market. The aging population would boost the demand for peripheral arterial devices in the forecast period. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the most lucrative market for peripheral arterial disease therapeutic market. The major factors attributing the fastest growth of this region is the presence of large patient pool with unmet medical needs, acting as the opportunity for the players operating in this market. Growing healthcare scenario in the Asian countries coupled with the growing GDP and government initiative would assist the market growth for peripheral arterial disease therapeutics market. South American countries such as Brazil and Mexico are the regions that have significant potential for growth due to developing medical infrastructure, high disposable income and rising prevalence of peripheral arterial disease in the region assisting the market growth. The Rest of the World includes countries such as Russia and countries of Middle East and Africa. The market for peripheral arterial disease therapeutic is subject to grow due to the improving government initiative and rising awareness.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the major players operating in the peripheral arterial disease therapeutics market are Abbott Laboratories, Angioscore, Inc., Edward Lifesciences Corporation, Medtronic Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, Bayer, Volcano Corporation, Sanofi S.A. and others.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Releases New Report on the Global Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market

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Wireless Synchronized Clocks are the technology extension of the common clock, apart from displaying time, this clock offer technological benefits such as the wireless audio player, and others. Wireless synchronized clocks offer high reliability and assist in maintaining time symmetry all across the organization.Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market: Drivers and RestraintsTime management is the crucial parameter in every industry & sector, which is attributing to spur the demand for wireless synchronized clocks. Apart from serving general benefits of the clock, wireless synchronized offers the wireless audio player for periodic audio announcements, alarm schedule software, and others. These technical benefits are the key driver piloting the growth of the respective industry over the forthcoming years.Request Report Sample@Replacement of old clock system in airline, railways and other industrial applications is the other factor responsible for the global wireless synchronized clocks market growth. Further, to facilitate technology infrastructure, the demand for GPRS inbuilt Clock system is creating new opportunities for the respective industry to exhibit positive growth rate in the nearer future.Also, development of new infrastructure with advanced technology devices inbuilt are also attributing to fuel the demand for the wireless synchronized clock. Wherein, the complexity to configure and required skilled staff to operate are coupled together to obstruct the growth of the market over the forecast period.Global Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market: Market SegmentationGlobal Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market can be divided into four segments, based on Solutions, Product Type Application, and Region.Segmentation on the basis of Solutions for Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market:The major segments of Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market on the basis of the Solutions include:Indoor ClocksOutdoor ClocksSegmentation on the basis of Product Type for Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market:The major segments of Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market on the basis of the Product Type include:Analog Synchronized ClockDigital Synchronized ClockSegmentation on the basis of Application for Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market:The major segments of Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market on the basis of the Application include:RailwaysAirlinesTransportation ServicesOrganization and Hospitality ManagementMedical & HealthcareGovernmentFinancial InstituteEducationMilitary FacilitiesManufacturing PlantsTime and AttendanceRemote Buildings and OfficesSegmentation on the basis of Region for Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market:The major segments of Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market on the basis of Region include:Asia-Pacific excluding JapanThe Middle East and AfricaWestern EuropeNorth AmericaEastern EuropeLatin AmericaJapanGlobal Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market: Regional TrendNorth America is expected to dominate the global wireless synchronized clocks market regarding revenue, owing to increasing vertical application of wireless synchronized clocks, considering same the industry is anticipated to reflect positive growth during the forecast period.Asia-Pacific region is projected to emerge as the fastest growing wireless synchronized clocks market, due to increasing inclination towards the smart product in industrial sectors to facilitate ease in carrying out daily activities such as attendance.Visit For TOC@Global Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the prominent players in the Wireless Synchronized Clocks Market includes Pyramid Time Systems, Primex, Inc., Innovation Wireless, BRG Precision Products, Owl Time Clock Inc., American Time & Signal, Franklin Instrument Company, Inc., Spectracom Corp, Simplex Time, Syracuse Time & Alarm Co., Inc., TeleScience Singapore Pte Ltd. and Canadian Time Systems.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Hard Disk Drive Market with Current Trends Analysis, 2017-2027

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In recent past it has been observed that the Hard disk drive market is negatively affected, driven by falling sales in the PC market. But a trend that helped to boost the market growth is the innovation of high-storage portable external hard disks. Hard disk drive market is directly affected by the flash-based SSDs. In now days the adaptation of flash based SSDs in Laptops and personal computers continue at pace and continue to eat into traditional Hard disk drive market and prices are likely to continue to drop in the coming years.A hard disk drive is apparatus that controls the positioning reading and writing of the hard disk which furnishes data storage. The hard disk drive are largest data storage devices in computers. Hard disk drives can be founded in desktop computers, mobile devices, consumer electronics and enterprise storage arrays in data centers.Request Report Sample@Hard Disk DriveMarket: Drivers and ChallengesIncreasing demand and adaptation in cloud storage and other enterprise applications, driving the growth of the Hard disk and drive market. Moreover, stabilization in laptop market is the reason behind increase in sale and shipment of hard disk drive market. Data storage segment is now shifting towards the cloud storage, it is positively effecting the Hard disk drive market. Mobile phone market and laptop market are stabilized and growing since last few years. Si it is expected that the growth of these two market will positively affect Hard disk drive market.Reduction in demand of Personal computers and notebook further restraints the growth of global hard disk drive market.Position Sensor Market: SegmentationSegmentation on the basis of Type:Internal Hard Disk DriveExternal Hard Disk DriveSegmentation on the basis of Applications:Computers/LaptopsMobileOthersSegmentation on the basis of Storage capacity:500 GB1 TBMore than 1TBSegmentation on the basis of End-user:IndividualCommercialKey ContractsIn November 2015, Fujitsu Limited acquired French software company UShareSoft. The company made this acquisition to grow its cloud business.Visit For TOC@Key PlayersKey players of global hard disk drive market are Western Digital Technologies, Seagate Technology LLC, TOSHIBA CORPORATION. In 2014, Western Digital Technologies. Other prominent vendors in global hard disk drive marker are Buffalo Americas, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Dell, Lenovo and Transcend Information, Inc. etc.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global and China Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Size, Pricing, Demands  Maquet, Sorin, Terumo, Xenios

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global and China Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales Market Report to 2022 to its huge collection of research reports.Fully dependent on the consumer behavior, the global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems market has been highly dynamic over the recent past. This research report aims at analyzing its historical and current performance of this market on the basis of the prominent market trends. The report presents a methodical study of on the global market for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems, especially focusing on the competitive framework of this market. It carries out detailed assessments of the production and supply and the demand and sales of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems by the use of a number of effective assessment tools, such as value chain analysis and porters five forces, and provides significant insights into the future prospects of this market.Get Research Summary Of The Repot:In this research study, the trends, driving factors, restraints, and lucrative opportunities have been taken into consideration to determine the markets future. Moreover, an estimation of the market size has been given in terms of value (US$) and in volume (kilo tons) with a detailed discussion of the main segments and the geographical divisions of the worldwide market for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems. It also offers a thorough information on the development trends and the norms and regulations, concerning Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems, implemented in each of the regional markets. The prime applications of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems have also been talked about at length in this market report.With all these evaluations and data, this research study acts as a valuable source of guidance to readers looking to gain a better understanding of all the factors that are influencing the global market for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems, at present, and over the forthcoming years.Table of Contents1 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Overview11.1 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Overview11.2 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Segment by Type31.2.1 VV ECMO31.2.2 VA ECMO51.3 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Segment by Type71.3.1 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales by Types (2012-2017)71.3.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales and Market Share by Types (2012-2017)71.4 China Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Segment by Type10Browse Complete Report with TOC @2 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Application/End Users132.1 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Segment by Application/End Users132.1.1 Neonatal132.1.2 Pediatric142.1.3 Adult152.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Segment by Application162.2.1 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales by Applications (2012-2017)162.2.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales and Market Share by Applications (2012-2017)162.3 China Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Segment by Application183 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Status and Outlook by Regions213.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions213.1.1 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Size by Regions (2012-2017)213.1.2 North America223.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales and Revenue by Regions253.2.1 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales and Market Share by Regions (2012-2017)253.2.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Revenue (M USD) and Market Share by Regions (2012-2017)273.2.3 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales, Revenue and Price (2012-2017)284 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Competition by Players314.1 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales and Market Share by Players314.2 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Revenue and Share by Players334.3 Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Average Price by Players354.4 Global Top Players Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Headquarters, Established Date364.5 Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Market Competitive Situation and Trends37To Get Discount Of This Report Click here @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Product Picture1Figure Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Revenue (M USD) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2Figure China Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Revenue (M USD) Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2Table Types of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems3Figure Product Picture of VV ECMO4Figure Global VV ECMO Sales (Unit) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4Figure Product Picture of VA ECMO5Figure Global VA ECMO Sales (Unit) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6Figure Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales (Unit) Comparison by Types (2012-2017)7Table Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales (Unit) by Types (2012-2017)7Table Global Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Systems Sales Market Share by Types (2012-2017)8QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
DECATUR -- Andre Luis do A. Alfonsi and his group had a goal when they attended this weeks Farm Progress Show

(We) were trying to determine the factors that made the U.S. corn production have higher yields than the Brazilian counterparts, Alfonsi said through an interpreter.

Alfonsi was among a large contingent of Brazilians and what officials said were more than 2,500 international visitors from at least 55 countries attending this years Farm Progress Show.

The Decatur Area Convention and Visitors Bureau works hard to make them feel at home and hosts the overseas visitors in a giant tent housing the International Welcome Center.

Inside, refreshments are served and a team of interpreters speaking enough languages to be understood almost anywhere on the surface of the Earth.

We have interpreters that can cover everything from Spanish to Portuguese, German, Vietnamese, Russian, said the bureau's executive director, Teri Hammel.

Those interpreters can help the travelers with everything from communicating with exhibitors about their product, to alleviating an incident like that on Wednesday, where Hammel said an Argentinian guest lost their credit card on the event grounds.

For Rosana Nardy, Farm Progress was a chance to see how the North American show compared to AgroActiva, an annual four-day farm exhibition in Argentina that Nardy oversees as its president.

With the exception of the permanent structures and the paved roads, Nardy said there were many similarities between the two.

I was very shocked because the shows are very similar, and we are so far away, Nardy said. The grain producers and the farmers are very interested in the machines, the same way they are in Argentina.

Elikhan Idrisov traveled more than 5,800 miles from Russia to Decatur to learn more controlling and cultivating the soil.

Its been really useful and very informative, he said through an interpreter. Weve learned all about the new technologies.

Idrisov came to the show with a group of 18 farmers as part of the Special American Business Internship Training Program, which aims to build partnerships and provides technical assistance by training Eurasian business leaders in U.S. business practices.

Those in the group came from many countries in the former USSR, like Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Russia.

Were establishing contacts with potential suppliers and partners for our businesses, said Davron Pulatov, who operates a poultry farm in Tajikistan.

For Alfonsi and the rest of his group from Fertipar Bandeirantes, the trip to Farm Progress was a success.

It was really worth our time, he said.
Barbituric acid Market Research Report 2017 to its huge collections  CYAN Chemical, BoLianTe, HeBei Chengxin

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Barbituric acid Market Research Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The global Barbituric acid market trajectory is influenced by a variety of factors and trends, an elaborate assessment of which is covered in the report Barbituric acid research report. The research presents in-depth investigation of notable drivers and restraining factors, major challenges, recent technological advances, winning strategies, and lucrative avenues. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of key business risks emerging in key regions and major changes in governments regulations impacting the players response to them. The study takes a closer look at recent technological advancements and models of service delivery likely to gain traction in the next few years. The research employs industry-leading quantitative and qualitative tools to ascertain the overall market competitiveness in emerging regions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report is prepared with the aid of inputs from industry experts and mirrors projections from a wide spectrum of primary sources. The study filters reliable and relevant information from a plethora of industry-wide data, to provide growth estimations of key segments. The findings offered in the report help investors and new entrant players gain reliable insights into imminent investment pockets in the Barbituric acid market. The key takeaways of the report include the share and size of various application or end-user segments and include the revenue sizing of major regional markets. The study offers valuable insights into strategic landscape by using tools, such as competitive profile matrix, and presents them in easy-to-comprehend format. Furthermore, the advent of disruptive technologies and innovative offerings, which is expected to alter the course of the Barbituric acid market growth trajectory, is evaluated in detail.Table of ContentsGlobal Barbituric acid Market Research Report 20171 Barbituric acid Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Barbituric acid1.2 Barbituric acid Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Barbituric acid Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Barbituric acid Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Purity: 99%1.2.4 Purity: 98%1.3 Global Barbituric acid Segment by Application1.3.1 Barbituric acid Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Plastics1.3.3 Textiles1.3.4 Polymers1.3.5 Pharmaceuticals1.4 Global Barbituric acid Market by Region (2012-2022)Complete report with detailed table of content is available at:2 Global Barbituric acid Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Barbituric acid Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Barbituric acid Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Barbituric acid Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Barbituric acid Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Barbituric acid Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Barbituric acid Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Barbituric acid Market Competitive Situation and Trends3 Global Barbituric acid Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Barbituric acid Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Barbituric acid Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Barbituric acid Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Barbituric acid Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Barbituric acid Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Barbituric acid Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Barbituric acid Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Barbituric acid Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Barbituric acid Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)Enquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Barbituric acidFigure Global Barbituric acid Production (K MT) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2012-2022)Figure Global Barbituric acid Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2016Figure Product Picture of Purity: 99%Table Major Manufacturers of Purity: 99%Figure Product Picture of Purity: 98%Table Major Manufacturers of Purity: 98%Figure Global Barbituric acid Consumption (K MT) by Applications (2012-2022)Figure Global Barbituric acid Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2016Figure Plastics ExamplesFigure Textiles ExamplesFigure Polymers ExamplesFigure Pharmaceuticals ExamplesFigure Global Barbituric acid Market Size (Million USD), Comparison (K MT) and CAGR (%) by Regions (2012-2022)QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Rheometer Market 2021 Key Manufacturers Analysis

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Rheometer Market Forecast to 2022 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.A rheometer is a device used to measure rheological properties in which a liquid, suspension or slurry flows in response to applied forces such as the viscosity, plasticizing rate, power and etc.. It is used for those fluids which cannot be defined by a single value of viscosity and therefore require more parameters to be set and measured than is the case for a viscometer.Key Market PlayersTA InstrumentsAnton PaarThermo fisher ScientificMalvernBrookfieldKROHNE GroupA&D CompanyGoettfertInstronShimadzuHAPROBiolin ScientificFreeman TechnologyATS RheoSystemsDyniscoBrabenderFann Instrument CompanyFungilabImatekKechuangLamy RheologyMarket SegmentMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Get Sample of this Report @Market Segment by Type, coversRobotic Pool CleanerSuction Pool CleanerPressure Pool CleanerMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCommercial PoolsResidential PoolsGet complete access of this reportChapter in AGM BatteriesChapter 1, to describe Rheometer Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Rheometer, with sales, revenue, and price of Rheometer, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Rheometer, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Rheometer market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Rheometer sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceGet Discount @Table of Content1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 Global Rheometer Market Competition, by Manufacturer4 Global Rheometer Market Analysis by Regions5 North America Rheometer Blower by Countries6 Europe Rheometer by Countries7 Asia-Pacific Rheometer by Countries8 South America Rheometer Blower by Countries9 Middle East and Africa Rheometer by Countries10 Global Rheometer Market Segment by Type11 Global Rheometer Market Segment by Application12 Rheometer Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersBuy Report here @ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Consumer Camera Drones 2017 Global Key Players  Northrop Grumman AeroVironment, Boeing / Insitu, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Draganflyer Market Analysis And Forecast To 2022

Consumer Camera Drones

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Consumer Camera Drones MarketWiseguyreports.Com Adds Consumer Camera Drones Market -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:Next generation drones leverage better technology, launching from ships anywhere and from the battlefield should that be necessary. The drone technology is evolving: better launching, better navigation, softer landings, longer flights, better ability to carry different payloads are available. The study has 881 pages and 415 tables and figures.The military drones are able to achieve terrorist control tasks. They have been evolving air camera integration for surveillance systems capability. They are used for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence missions. They do 3D mapping and support ground troops. These are more energy efficient, last longer and have a significantly lower cost of operation than manned aircraft.Drone aircraft are sophisticated and flexible. They take off, fly and land autonomously. They enable engineers to push the envelope of normal flight. Reconnaissance drones can fly for days continuously. Remote, ground-based pilots can work in shifts.Drone technology extends everywhere, even to airline control towers. Drones evolving technology is extending uses, making units combat enabled. The use of drone technology to control moving devices remotely extends the notion of drones, creating a larger potential drone market. Military drones will make every navy ship an aircraft carrier. They can be launched from anywhere, not needing an airfield in many cases.Drone unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has reached a level of maturity that has put these systems at the forefront of aerospace manufacturing. Procurement around the world is adapting to drone availability. Use in the global war on terrorism has demonstrated unique usefulness for military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications relay.Removal of the need for an onboard pilot ushers in an era of low cost drone aerial craft. The drone elimination of the need for human support systems on aircraft dramatically reduces the aircrafts size, complexity, and power requirements. The drones effectively reduce overall program cost, development time and risk. Many advanced flight technologies are for piloted craft. These are initially tested using unmanned subscale demonstrators...Request for Sample Report@Designers work to simplify the aircrafts configuration, making systems that are adaptable to different payloads on different days. Drones can be redesigned and tested at reduced risk than with development of manned aircraft. Drones allow configurations that would be impossible or impractical for human occupation. Drones are becoming easier to control.A common issue with UAV platforms is the need to optimize these aircraft. UAVs need to carry useful payloads. These platforms are flexible as to payload, permitting interchangeable or additional sensors and other electronics, extra fuel or weapons systems. The sole function of an unmanned aircraft is to get to a target location, perform a task, and then return in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Without a pilot aboard, the return trip is optional. Light weight is central to UAV design.Drones represent a way to use air to travel faster and at less cost. The market is divided between large and small military drones. Military drones represent the future of the national security presence for every nation. Increasing technology sophistication and lower costs are achieving dramatic market shifts.Unmanned aircraft systems are achieving a level of relatively early maturity. Fleets of unmanned aircraft systems have begun to evolve. The U.S. Army has achieved one million flight hours for its unmanned aircraft systems fleet. Unmanned aerial systems have good handling characteristics. UAS units are designed to perform high-speed, long-endurance, more covert, multi-mission intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision-strike missions over land or sea.According to Susan Eustis, leader of the team that prepared the study, Quantities of fielded military and commercial systems of every size and description are set to increase. Every ship can become an aircraft carrier with drones, Military drone units feature a variety of internal loads, including 2,000 lb payload, an Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and an all-weather GA-ASI Lynx synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI), maximizing long loiter capabilities.Military drone markets at $3 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $11 billion by 2021. Segments are persistent, penetrating, tactical, small tactical, and mini, Persistent drones represent the largest revenue segment in 2015 and remain the biggest throughout the forecast period.Enquiry before Buying @Companies Profiled:Market Leaders: Northrop Grumman AeroVironment Boeing / Insitu General Atomics Lockheed Martin Draganflyer Textron / AAI IAIMarket Participants: AeroVironment ASN Technologies Aurora Flight Aviation Industry Corp (Avic) BAE Systems Boeing Challis UAV Inc. China Aerospace Denel Dynamics DJI Draganflyer Finmeccanica Flirtey General Atomics General Dynamics Google GoPro Honeywell Integrated Dynamics Israel Aerospace Industries L-3 Communications Laird / Cattron Group International Lockheed Martin Marcus UAV MMist Northrop Grumman Parrot/senseFly Prox Dynamics Proxy Technologies RUAG Aerospace Safran Morpho SAIC Scaled Composites Schiebel Textron TRNDlabs Wing LoongContinuedBuy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. 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Almond Market 2017 Global key Players  Blue Diamond, Spycher Brothers, Treehouse, Belehris Estates Analysis and Forecast to 2022

Almond Market 2017

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Almond Market 2017 Global key Players  Blue Diamond, Spycher Brothers, Treehouse, Belehris Estates Analysis and Forecast to 2022.Almond is a type of edible nuts that with shell or shelled-less, it is the seed of almond tree. Now the almond is mainly harvest in California, United States.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comScope of the Report:This report focuses on the Almond in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversWonderful Pistachios & AlmondsBlue DiamondPanoche Creek PackingSpycher BrothersSelect HarvestMariani Nut CompanyWaterford Nut CoTreehouseBelehris EstatesCalifornia Gold AlmondsHilltop RanchThe Almond CompanyD.V.EnterpriseHarris Woolf California AlmondsPatrocinio LaxSran Family OrchardsMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversShelled TypeInshell TypeMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoDirect EdibleFood ProcessingKitchen IngredientsComplete Report Details @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Almond market.Chapter 1, to describe Almond Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Almond, with sales, revenue, and price of Almond, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Almond, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Continue..Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Almond Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Shelled Type1.2.2 Inshell Type1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Direct Edible1.3.2 Food Processing1.3.3 Kitchen Ingredients1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Almond Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Blue Diamond2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Almond Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Blue Diamond Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Panoche Creek Packing2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Almond Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Panoche Creek Packing Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Spycher Brothers2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Almond Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Spycher Brothers Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Select Harvest2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Almond Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Select Harvest Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Mariani Nut Company2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Almond Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Mariani Nut Company Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 Waterford Nut Co2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Almond Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Waterford Nut Co Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Treehouse2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Almond Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Treehouse Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Belehris Estates2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Almond Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Belehris Estates Almond Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Continue.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comBuy 1-User PDF@ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Conformal Coatings Market SWOT Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecasts To 2024

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Global Conformal Coatings Market: OverviewConformal coating is a special type of coating applied to electronic devices in order to protect them from external factors such as heat and rain. These form a protective layer shielding electronic circuits from moisture and chemical contaminants and help prolong the life of electronic devices.Various coating methods are used to protect electronic components from external conditions and contaminants. The most popular methods include spray application, brush coatings, and conformal coating dipping. Regionally, the global conformal coatings market has been segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. The opportunities for expansion exhibited by these regions are examined extensively in the report.The report on conformal coatings presents a quantitative and qualitative assessment of various factors and government policies influencing the global market. It is compiled with the intent of updating the stakeholders about the prevailing market dynamics and its outlook. The report also includes details pertaining to the investment feasibility in the market and opportunities for new entrants.View Report @Global Conformal Coatings Market: Key Opportunities and ThreatsThe global conformal coatings market has reported significant growth in the past couple of years. Growth trends exhibited by the market are expected to continue in the next few years. The expansion of the electronics industry, especially in emerging economies, is likely to boost the conformal coatings market. Conformal coatings ensure better moisture and dielectric resistance; these are key factors increasing usage in the electronics industry.Based on material type, the acrylic conformal coating segment is expected to dominate the market in the near future. Acrylic conformal coatings are easy to apply and the easiest to rework. Additionally, these provide high resistance from abrasion, chemicals, and moisture; take less time to cure, and are available at low cost. These are the key factors encouraging the use of acrylic conformal coatings across industries.Apart from the electronics industry, demand for conformal coatings is increasing in the automotive electronics segment. Electronics installed in vehicles are exposed to chemical contaminants, harsh working conditions, moisture, dust, and vibration. These factors necessitate the use of conformal coatings on automotive electronics to ensure their better performance and longevity.Automotive manufacturers strive to offer high quality and reliable smart vehicles at competitive prices. This prevalent trend in the automotive industry in turn is bolstering demand for conformal coatings in the industry.Global Conformal Coatings Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, North America dominates the global conformal coatings market. The market in the region is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. High demand for conformal coatings in industries located in countries such as Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. contributes to the growth of the conformal coatings market in North America. The U.S. holds the largest market share in North America.Enterprises operating in the global conformal coatings market witness lucrative opportunities in Asia Pacific. The strategic initiatives adopted by companies to gain customers have proven beneficial for the expansion of the conformal coatings market in the region. The rapid expansion of the electronics industry in the region has also contributed to the growth of the conformal coatings market in Asia Pacific.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Conformal Coatings Market Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Global Conformal Coatings Market: Vendor LandscapeIn order to study the prevailing vendor landscape in the market, the report profiles companies such as Henkel, Electrolube, Cytec Industries, Inc., Dymax Corporation, Chase Corporation, and DuPont. These companies are studied based on their financial overview, product portfolio, and strategies adopted.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to:Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Analysis, Dynamics, Company Profile, Key Developments, Forecast to 2027

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market research forecast to 2027 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2027.Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market Research Report by Type (Combat UAV, Small UAV, Strategic UAV, Tactical UAV, others) by Application (Military, Commercial, Agriculture, others) by Sub systems (Device Sub systems, Sub stations systems) - Forecast to 2027Market Synopsis:Market Scenario:The Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market growth drivers such as Custom focused innovation, and UAVs help immensely in controlling global threat disputes and Territorial Disputes, UAVs are also being used in dynamic and various number of applications which will play a major role in the growth of the Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Key PlayersThe Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market is consisting of key players like 3d Robotics, Aerodreams, Ageagle, Altavian Inc, Autocoptercorp, Boeing Corporation, Bosh Global Services, Dronedeploy, Hawkeye Uav, Honeycomb Corp, Idetec, Isis Geomatics, Volt Aerial Robotics and Others.Objective of Study: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To Analyze the Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (RoW) To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segments and sub-segments To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market.Market Segments:For the Better understanding of this report the Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market is has been segmented on the basis of types which include Combat UAV, Small UAV, Strategic UAV, Tactical UAV and others, on the basis of applications the market consists of Military, Commercial, Agriculture, Others. The market is also segmented on the basis of sub systems which include UAV device components, UAV sub stations componentsBrowse Full Report Details @Table of Content1. REPORT PROLOGUE2. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle MARKET: INTRODUCTION3. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle MARKET: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY4. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: MARKET DYNAMICS5. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS6. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: BY type (US $ MILLION)7. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: BY APPLICATIONS (US $ MILLION)8 UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, by Region Market Value & Volume Forecast (US $ MILLION)9. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: By Sub Systems10. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle MARKET: COMPANY LANSCAPE11. UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle MARKET: COMPANY PROFILE11.1 3d Robotics11.2 Aerodreams11.3 Ageagle11.4 Altavian Inc11.5 Autocoptercorp11.6 Boeing Corporation11.7 Bosh Global Services11.8 Dronedeploy11.9 Hawkeye UAV12. CONCLUSION13. APPENDIXContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market research forecast to 2027 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Biopesticides Market 2015 Share, Trend, Segmentation and Forecast to 2023

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Global Biopesticides Market: SnapshotPesticides that are derived from natural sources such as animals, plants, minerals, and bacteria are known as biopesticides. From environmental perspective and the point of ecological chain of crop protection, biopesticides are highly beneficial, and are commonly used to control the progress of pests, insects, pathogens, weeds, and other microorganisms in a crop field. Some of the common examples of biopesticides are microbial pesticides, plant growth regulators, insect pheromones, insect growth regulators, fungal biopesticides, viral biopesticides, and bacterial biopesticides. With biopesticides, farmers can significantly increment their yield as well as the quality of it.According to the report, the global biopesticides market was worth US$1.96 bn in 2015 and the opportunities are estimated to reach a valuation of US$4.17 bn by the end of 2023, expand at a strong CAGR of 9.9% during the forecast period of 2015 to 2023. This prosperity of the market for biopesticides can be attributed to growing World population, which has consequently incremented the food demand. In addition to that, protecting crops from pests via other alternatives is now perceived as harmful in comparison to biopesticides protected crops. Owing to decreasing arable land and growing awareness regarding the contamination caused by chemical pesticides, the preference of biopesticides is increasing, as they are derived from natural resources. Moreover, regulations on food residues, growing resistance of insects against synthetic pesticides, convenience in handling, relatively low cost, and technological advancements are some of the other factors augmenting the demand in the global biopesticides market.View Report @Ease of Deployment Favoring Bioinsecticides SegmentBased on product type, the market for biopesticides is segmented into biofungicide, bioinsecticide, bionematicides, and bioherbicides. Among these, the segment of bioinsecticides is quickly gaining popularity for the purpose of crop protection. This is a reflection of the resistance shown by insects against pesticides in the recent times. Bioinsecticides are easy to deploy, which is another factor favoring the demand for the same.On the basis of active ingredient type, the market for biopesticides has been categorized into microbial pesticides, plant pesticides, and biochemical pesticides. Based on crop type, the market has been bifurcated into permanent crops, arable crops, and others including turf and forage grasses and greenhouse crops. Application-wise, the market has been segmented into seed treatment, on-farm application, and post-harvest application.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Biopesticides Market Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Organic Food Trend Driving North America MarketThe demand for biopesticides is incrementing across all regions, while North America in particular is quickly turning into a highly lucrative region due to the growing organic food trend. Consumers are now willing to pay extra for food that have not been subjected to chemicals and growing organically using biopesticides and via advanced agricultural techniques. The U.S. is the primary North America market for biopesticides, and the demand is expected to primarily come from the fruits and vegetables segment, which is attributed to increasing awareness pertaining to nutritional benefits of crops produced using biopesticides. North America is expected to remain most prominent regional market for biopesticides throughout the forecast period, followed by Europe, although vast population base and growing awareness in several emerging economies such as India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea is expected to turn Asia Pacific into a lucrative market towards the end of the forecast period.The competitive landscape of the global biopesticides market is moderately consolidated with top five companies accounting for more than half of the shares. These five companies are Bayer CropScience AG, BASF SE, Valent Biosciences Corp, Arysta LifeSciences, Novozymes A/S, and Dow AgroSciences.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Specialty Zeolites Market 2016 Share, Trend, Segmentation and Forecast to 2024

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Global Specialty Zeolites Market: OverviewSpecialty zeolites are types of zeolites that require specialty synthesis, primarily high-pressure synthesis. Some specialty organic additives are also added during crystallization/synthesis. Small quantity of specialty zeolites are used for adsorption purposes in paints & coatings, plastics, personal care, and construction materials.The report estimates and forecasts the specialty zeolites market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the end-use segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. The study includes drivers and restraints for the specialty zeolites market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the specialty zeolites market on the global and regional level. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitutes of specialty zeolites. It also provides the global average price trend analysis.View Report @Global Specialty Zeolites Market: Research MethodologiesThe report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the specialty zeolites market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-use and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.The study provides a comprehensive view of the specialty zeolites market by dividing it into end-use and geography. In terms of end-use, the specialty zeolites market has been segmented into plastics, paints & coatings, construction materials and personal care. End-use segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2016 and 2024.Global Specialty Zeolites Market: Regional OutlookRegional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for specialty zeolites in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for end-use segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Japan, India, China, Argentina, South Africa, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual end-use in all the regions and countries.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Specialty Zeolites Market Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Global Specialty Zeolites Market: Competitive AnalysisThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Tosoh Corporation, Arkema Group, BASF SE, Clariant, W. R. Grace & Co., Albermarle Corporation, Zeochem AG, Zeolyst International, Eurecat and Honeywell UOP. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).Global Specialty Zeolites Market: Scope of the StudyIn-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market enlarge at a CAGR of around 11% during 2016-2021

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market Research Report - Forecast to 2021 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2021.Global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market by Product Types (Seating, Lighting, Windows & Windshield, Galley, and Lavatory), by Aircraft Types (Wide body and Narrow body), by Fit (Line Fit and Retro Fit), and by Geography - Forecast To 2021Market Synopsis of Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior MarketThe global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 11% during 2016-2021.As per the MRFR analysis, growing fleet size, increased passenger traffic, investment in cabin interior products, passenger comfort, demand for light weight and fuel efficient aircraft are driving the market growth. Whereas, technological shift and complexity in retrofitting aircraft interiors are the key challenges of the market.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Study Objectives of Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyse the Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country-level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country-level analysis of the market for segment by types and applications To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analysing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyse competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior MarketKey PlayersThe leading market players in the global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market primarily include B/E Aerospace, Diehl Aerosystems, Honeywell International, Thales, Zodiac Aerospace, Aviointeriors, GKN Aerospace, Panasonic Avionics, Recaro Aircraft Seating, and Recaro Aircraft Seating Gmbh & Co. Kg.Browse Full Report Details @Regional and Country Analysis of Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior MarketIn 2015, there were around 22,000 aircraft in service, majority of them from North America. This figure is likely to double in the next 20 years to reach around 40,000 aircraft. Improved affordability and accessibility will stimulate demand for air travel in established markets and meet the emerging travel needs of the growing middle-class population in the region.The market report for Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Commercial Aircraft Cabin Interior Market Research Report - Forecast to 2021 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Military Aircraft Avionics Market to rise at a CAGR of around 3% during 2016-2021

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Military Aircraft Digital Glass Cockpit Systems Market Research Report- Forecast to 2021 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2021.Global Military Aircraft Avionics Market Report by Aircraft Types (Combat Aircraft, Transport Aircraft, Rotorcraft, UAVs, and Others), and by Geography- Forecast to 2021Market Synopsis of Military Aircraft AvionicsThe global Military Aircraft Avionics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 3% during 2016-2021. Improvement in flight safety, growing demand for synthetic vision systems, and increasing need for advanced avionics systems are the factors driving the market.The complexities attached to modern warfare also demands advanced military avionics systems for effective defense and surveillance mechanism. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UVAs) is the key segment driving the avionics market.As of 2015, Americas account 55% of the market share. It is likely to reach $XX billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 2%. With the increased defense spending and procurement of next generation aircraft, APAC will register the highest growth and drive the demand for military avionics market.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Study Objectives of Military Aircraft Avionics To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Military Aircraft Avionics market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To Analyze the Military Aircraft Avionics market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, Porters five force analysis. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to six main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East, and Africa To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by aircraft types and by region as well as its sub segments To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, and new product developments in the global Military Aircraft Avionics marketKey PlayerSome of the key players in the Military Aircraft Avionics Market are Avidyne, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, Thales Group, Aspen Avionics, Curtiss-Wright, Elbit Systems, ENSCO Avionics, ForeFlight, L-3 Avionics Systems, Sagetech, Xavion, Zodiac Aerospace, and Hilton SoftwareBrowse Full Report Details @The market report for Military Aircraft Avionics market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Military Aircraft Digital Glass Cockpit Systems Market Research Report- Forecast to 2021 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
DECATUR  Typically the second-largest parade of the year after Decatur Celebration's, the Labor Day parade is on track this year to include nearly 2,000 participants, organizers said.

This year's parade theme is We Are One to celebrate the work unions do to protect working families and organized labor in the local community, said parade chairman Riki Dial, a member of the Southern Region Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters.

We are here to represent working families in the Decatur and Macon County area and to represent their rights, said Dial, who is a Decatur native marking his 29th year in the parade. I think the title says it all: We are one.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. and will follow the traditional parade route down Franklin Street and through downtown Decatur.

Local union members, their families and contractors will participate in the parade, along with Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and other elected officials and political candidates. It will include 35 floats and equipment and people from 25 labor groups that represent Macon County, Dial said. The parade marshal will be Macon County Sheriff Tom Schneider.

Dial said the parade theme acknowledges the We Are One Community fund, which issues grants to nonprofit organizations in Macon County, Dial said. It is also meant to recognize the support that the Decatur community has shown for organized labor.

Unions overall in this country have gone through a lot of changes, Dial said. But overall, weve always stood for over 100 years for the same thing, which is representing workers and contractors.
Military Vetronics Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 7% during 2016-2021

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Market Research Future published a cooked research report on Global Military Vetronics Market Research Report Forecast 2016-2021  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2021.Global Military Vetronics Market by Vehicle Type (Light Protected Vehicles, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Armored Amphibious Vehicles, and Special Purpose Vehicles), by System (Communication, Navigation, C3 Systems, and Power Systems) and by Region - Forecast To 2021Market Synopsis of Global Military Vetronics Market:The Global Military Vetronics Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 7% during 2016-2021. The key factors driving the growth are modernization of military ground vehicles, low cost per mile military ground vehicle to reduce ownership cost, reduction of weight, size, and power consumption (SWaP) of electronics in military vehicles to expand internal space for accommodation and ammunition reserves.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Key PlayersSome of the key players in the Global Military Vetronics Market are Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Oshkosh Corporation, Ultra Electronics Ltd., TE Connectivity, SAAB A.B., Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, General Electric Company, BAE Systems plc, Rheinmetall Defence, Moog, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Elbit Systems Ltd., Thales Group, The Raytheon Company and General Dynamics Corporation.Global Military Vetronics Market ($ billion), 2016-2021As per the MRFR analysis, cooling technologies within military land vehicles, challenges with SBC computing capability, and limited on-vehicle network scope are the key factors restraining the market growth.C3 systems demand is highest in North America and Europe, owing to growth in demand for military land vehicles systems with next generation vetronics systems. Also in APAC, rise in demand of technologically advanced military land vehicles and rise in defense spending in India and China is one of the major factors driving the marketStudy Objectives of Global Military Vetronics Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Military Vetronics Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyse the Global Military Vetronics Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country-level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country-level analysis of the market for segment are vehicle type and system. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analysing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyse competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Military Vetronics MarketBrowse Full Report Details @The market report for Global Military Vetronics Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Military Vetronics Market Research Report Forecast 2016-2021 Chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Canada-Telecommunication Services Report 2017: Large market with fast acceptance of growing technologies (Strategy, Performance and Risk Analysis)

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There are exciting possibilities for telecommunication companies in Canada as 5G networks begin to launch. Huawei Canada is planning to invest US$500 million into establishing a 5G network in Ontario, with their focus mainly on advanced communications research initiatives, including faster Internet speeds and related technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics and mobile security. They have already started 5G trial runs for the next generation of cellular phone systems. This technology has a higher bandwidth and speeds of up to 29.3 gigabits per second (Gbps), much faster than the current fourth generation speed of 1Gbps. This technology will help Canada create a platform combining mobile apps, bandwidth and cloud technology.Request Free Sample Report:Market Research HUBs Premium industry reports provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.Key HighlightsBroadband services to get a cash injectionBroadband penetration offers a lot of growth opportunities for the country. It has increased from 34.4% in 2012 to 36.2% in 2016 and is expected to increase further to 38.9% by 2021. The governments of Ontario and Canada plan to invest US$180 million to help bring ultra-high speed internet to homes and businesses in southwestern Ontario. Bell Canada enterprises (BCE) also spent US$854 million in 2016 on fiber for home broadband connections in Montreal, US$1.14 billion in Toronto and US$225 million in Quebec in 2015 for fiber installation.Canadas telecommunications market proves to be robustThe decline in churn rate indicates higher customer retention in the market. Companies can retain their customers with rapid issue resolution and quality customer service. Canada reported a very low churn rate of 19.7% in 2016 in comparison to the North American average churn rate of 26.4% during the same period. Its peer countries also showed comparatively high churn rate with Mexico at 65.9% and the US at 26.9%. The decline is attributed to value added services offered by operators, along with adoption of the latest technology.Browse Full Report With TOC:Leading companies invest heavily in technological advancementThe focus of operators towards infrastructure development has driven the telecom market in Canada.In 2016, Bell invested US$1 billion in 2016 to extend the availability of its Gigabit Fiber Internet service to around 3 million homes and businesses in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, up from around 2.2 million at the end of 2015.Also, in 2016, Telus invested US$260million into fiber rollout to Quebec residences and businesses in both rural and urban communities.In 2017, CRTC declared broadband internet access a basic service which will boost internet service and speeds in rural and isolated areas.Scope- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the Canadian Telecommunications market in comparison with other North-American countries.- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Canadian Telecommunications market.- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Canadian Telecommunications market.- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Canadian telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue, subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the Canadian Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.Reasons to buy- How is Canadas telecommunications industry performing compared to other North-American countries?- How committed are Canadas leading telecommunication companies to investing in new technology?- What will Australias broadband penetration look like in 2021?- What are the Canadian Telecommunications industrys Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?Enquire About this Report:About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at -
Potassium Carbonate Market Analysis by Global Segments, Growth, Size and Forecast 2023

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Potassium carbonate occurs as a white powder or granules that are soluble in water. It forms a strong alkaline solution when mixed in water. Potassium carbonate is an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide. It is known to be the chief constituent of potash and refined pearl ash or tartar. The other terms by which potassium carbonate is known include pearl ash, carbonate of potash, salt of wormwood, salt of tartar and dipotassium carbonate. Potassium carbonate melts at 891 degree celcius and is insoluble in alcohol. It is available in various grades that include food grade, industrial grade, light and heavy density among others.Browse Market Research Report @Potassium carbonate is produced commercially by electrolysis of potassium chloride, which is further carbonated with the help of carbon dioxide forming the end product potassium carbonate. This potassium carbonate is further used in the manufacturing of other potassium compounds. In its aqueous form, potassium chloride is used to remove carbon dioxide from ammonia production synthesis gas in the fertilizer industry. Potassium carbonate neutralizes acids exothermally to form salts and water. It reacts with specific metals such as zinc and aluminium to form oxides of hydroxides of the metal and even of gaseous hydrogen. It is also said to initiate polymerization in the polymerizable organic compounds especially in epoxides. It serves as a catalyst for most of the reactions and reacts when heated above 84 degree celcius with aqueous solutions of reducing sugars.The various applications of potassium carbonate include in the manufacturing of china products, glass and soap, to make a safe electrolyte for production of oxyhydrogen which is the commonly used electrolyte, as a buffer agent in the manufacture of wine or mead, used for softening hard water, used as a suppressant in extinguishing fryers, used in gunpowder as a stable source of energy, used as an ingredient in welding fluxes and arc welding rods and as an animal feed ingredient to satisfy requirement of potassium of broiler breeds.The growing demand for potassium carbonate from the glass industry is driving the potassium carbonate market. The glass industry is the largest consumer of potassium carbonate in manufacturing specialty glasses that also include television tunes among other glass products. The other industries which are anticipated to boost demand for potassium carbonate include pharmaceutical that include potassium carbonate in manufacturing medicines and agricultural where it is used as a fertilizer for crops that are sensitive to chloride ions.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Potassium Carbonate Market . Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @Health hazard is the major factor that may hamper the market growth of potassium carbonate in the near future. Potassium carbonate is known to be strong irritant to eyes and skin. It is harmful if swallowed, it may cause burns from mouth to stomach. If ingested in large amounts can lead to ulcerations, vomiting and death from shock.North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW) are the major segments for potassium carbonate market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest market for potassium carbonate due to the large applications for food grade potassium carbonate in the food industry. The developed economies are also anticipated to boost growth for the market owing to the potassium carbonate consumption in the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries.Some of the key companies profiled for potassium carbonate market include: Armand Products, ACTH, Zhejiang Dayang, Wentong Group, Qinghai Yanhu, Shandong Lunan, Qinghai Yanhu and CCCL among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Public Relations Market 2017-2022 Key Players: edelman, weber shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, MSLGroup, Burson-Marsteller, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy PR, Golin, Havas PR

Public Relations Market

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Public Relations Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Public Relations Market 2017 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.Executive SummaryPR agencies are rapidly shifting towards digital campaigns to move with the increasing digitalization and advances in social media, search engine marketing, content marketing and e-commerce technology. As a result of increasing internet penetration and smartphone users, online content marketing campaigns are expected to be three times more effective than traditional ones and comparatively cost 62% less. Such digital campaigns are targeted towards growing user base of social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pintrest, and other internet portals like Google and Netflix. Moreover, they allow businesses to track the performance and effectiveness through real-time information.Public Relations Market Global Report 2017 from The Business Research Company provides the strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global public relations market.Request Sample Report @DescriptionWhere is the largest and fastest growing market for public relations? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The public relations market global report from the Business Research Company answers all these questions and many more.The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the markets historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider public relations market, and compares it with other markets.The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market.The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. Drivers and restraints looks at the external factors supporting and controlling the growth of the market.Market segmentations break down market into sub markets.The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers all the regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets. It draws comparisons with country populations and economies to understand the importance of the market by country and how this is changing.Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified.The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the market and suggests approaches companies can take to exploit this.The public relations market section of the report gives context. It compares the public relations market with other segments of the public relations market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses Expenditure Per Capita, Public Relations Indicators Comparison, Public Relations Enterprise And Employee ComparisonScopeMarkets covered: Media Relations, Issue/Crisis Management, Promotional Events, Social Media Management, Public AffairsCompanies mentioned: edelman, weber shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, MSLGroup, Burson-Marsteller, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy PR, Golin, Havas PRCountries: China, India, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, USA, BrazilRegions: Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa, Oceania.Time series: Five years historic and forecast.Data: Ratios of market size and growth to related markets, population, GDP, Expenditure Per Capita, Public Relations Indicators Comparison, Public Relations Enterprise And Employee ComparisonData segmentations: country and regional historic and forecast data, market share of competitors, market segments.Sourcing and Referencing: Data and analysis throughout the report is sourced using end notes.For further information on this report, visit -Table of ContentsPublic Relations Market Characteristics;Public Relations Market Size And Growth;Pestle Analysis;Public Relations Market Customer Information;Public Relations Market Segmentation;Public Relations Market Regional And Country Analysis;Global Public Relations Market Comparison With Macro Economic Factors;Public Relations Market Comparison With Macro Economic Factors Across Countries;Public Relations Market Comparison With Industry Metrics;Asia-Pacific Public Relations Market;Western Europe Public Relations Market;Eastern Europe Public Relations Market;North America Public Relations Market;South America Public Relations Market;Middle East Public Relations Market;Africa Public Relations Market;Public Relations Market Competitive Landscape;Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Public Relations Market;Market Background Advertising, Public Relations, And Related Services Market;Market Background: Global Professional Services Market;Appendix;Reasons to PurchaseOutperform competitors using accurate up to date demand-side dynamics information.Identify growth segments for investment.Facilitate decision making on the basis of historic and forecast data and the drivers and restraints on the market.Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.Stay abreast of the latest customer and market research findingsBenchmark performance against key competitors.Develop strategies based on likely future developments.Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysisGain a global perspective on the development of the market.Report will be updated with the latest data and delivered to you within 3-5 working days of order.ContinuedBuy this Report @About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Marine Exhaust Energy Recovery Systems Industry by Application, Trend, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis & Forecast 2022

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ReportsWeb.com published Marine Exhaust Energy Recovery Systems Market from its database. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.This report focus on global and regional market, providing information on major players like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and etc., major types, major applications from global and major regions such as Europe, North America, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and etc. Data type include capacity, production, market share, price, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, growth rate, consumption, import, export and etc. Industry chain, manufacturing process, cost structure, marketing channel are also analyzed in this report.This report provides valuable information for companies like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and individuals who have interests in this industry.For more information about this report atMajor companies are as follows:GE(US)MAN Diesel and TurboOPRA Turbines BVPW Power SystemsRolls Royce(UK)Solar TurbinesVericor Power SystemsDresser-RandNiigata Power SystemsZoryaMajor classifications are as follows:8000KW1500KW500KWMajor applications are as follows:MarineOtherRequest a sample copy atMajor regions are as follows:EuropeNorth AmericaChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaTable of ContentChapter 1 Industry OverviewChapter 2 Production Market AnalysisChapter 3 Sales Market AnalysisChapter 4 Consumption Market AnalysisChapter 5 Production, Sales and Consumption Market Comparison AnalysisChapter 6 Major Manufacturers Production and Sales Market Comparison AnalysisChapter 7 Major Classification AnalysisChapter 8 Major Application AnalysisChapter 9 Industry Chain AnalysisChapter 10 Global and Regional Market ForecastChapter 11 Major Manufacturers AnalysisChapter 12 New Project Investment Feasibility AnalysisChapter 13 ConclusionsChapter 14 AppendixInquire for Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer Bauxite Mining and our customer support Bauxite Mining is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Magnesium Gluconate | Evolving Technology, Trends and industry Analysis

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Lanolin Alcohol Market. The study, titled Magnesium Gluconate Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Lanolin alcohol is manufactured from hydrolysis of lanolin. It is an important component of surface active agents in various skin smoothening and nourishing creams. It acts as a viscosity enhancer in these formulations. Lanolin alcohol is manufactured by using an alkaline treatment on the lanolin; which is then followed by removal of released soaps. It is refined further by a multi-stage distillation process to improve its odor and color. This process produces a purified, semi-crystalline and almost colorless wax. The composition of lanolin alcohol is sterols and triterpene alcohols such as cholesterol, agnosterol, lanosterol and their derivatives.Browse Market Research Report @Rising demand for lanolin alcohol from personal care and cosmetics industry is anticipated to drive the market. Lanolin alcohol is a refined derivative of lanolin and it contains various lipids that are physiologically close to human skin layers, which makes highly compatible to human skin. Emulsifying capabilities of the lanolin alcohol are stable across a wide pH range which makes it an ideal choice as an emulsifier in face and hair bleaching agents. Furthermore, increasing usage of lanolin alcohol in pharmaceutical industry is expected to boost the market growth. Lanolin alcohol has wound healing capability and hence it has various applications in the pharmaceutical and medical industries.However, the Food and Drug Administrations regulations over the usage of lanolin alcohol in use of personal care and cosmetic products are expected to hamper the market growth. Additionally, fluctuating raw material prices is likely to affect the lanolin alcohol market growth negatively. Technological advancements and product developments in the lanolin alcohol formulations for personal care, cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications are expected to provide immense opportunities for the players in the market.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the largest market for lanolin alcohol and is also expected to be the fastest growing over the forecast period. China dominated the demand for lanolin alcohol in the region. India, South Korea and countries in Southeast Asia are expected to exhibit higher demand for lanolin alcohol owing to rise in personal care industry. Adoption of western lifestyle and increasing per capita income were among the key factors for the growth in personal care industry. North America and Europe followed Asia Pacific in terms of demand. The U.S. dominated the demand in North America owing to increasing demand for lanolin alcohol personal care and cosmetics industry. Western Europe that comprises Germany, Italy, the U.K., France and Spain contributed significantly to the demand of lanolin alcohol. Central & Eastern Europe are expected to provide immense opportunities for the players in the lanolin alcohol market. Rest of the World (RoW) that comprises Latin America, Africa and the Middle East is likely to exhibit potential growth for the lanolin alcohol. Brazil and Saudi Arabia are considered as major contributors.Global lanolin alcohol market exhibits moderate level of consolidation. Procurement of raw material and secure supply are the major concerns for the players in the market. Major players have long term agreements with companies in the end-user industries, which increases the entry barriers for new entrants. Furthermore, formulations of lanolin alcohol are patented by majority of the companies and new entrants would need to develop own formulations through research & development activities. This fact makes the market capital intensive. Key players in lanolin alcohol market include Surfachem Group Ltd, The Lubrizol Corporation, Nanjing Lanbai Chemical Co., Ltd., Hydrite Chemical Co. and Lanaetex Products, Inc.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Lanolin Alcohol market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, North Africa)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Sodium Perborate | An insight on the important factors and trends influencing the market

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Sodium Perborate Market. The study, titled Sodium Perborate Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Sodium Perborate is an inorganic water soluble compound which appears in white powder form. It is crystallized in three different forms depending on the number of water molecules present, monohydrate, trihydrate and tetrahydrate. Indeed, the compound itself is a dimer, in which two peroxo bridges in a chair-shaped 6-membered ring joins two boron atoms. Sodium perborate is produced from reaction of three inorganic materials which are disodium tetraborate pentahydrate, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium hydroxide. Sodium perborate monohydrate is prepared by heating tetrahydrate form and it has higher heat stability and solubility than sodium perborate tetrahydrate; generally monohydrate and tetrahydrate forms of sodium perborate are used for commercial purposes. Sodium perborate monohydrate is widely used in hot climates, or in markets where the washing is carried out in cool water. When the compound undergoes hydrolysis in contact with water, it produces hydrogen peroxide and borate.Browse Market Research Report @Sodium perborate is has a longer shelf life and low toxicity. It is primarily used as a bleaching agent in detergent industry. It serves as a source of active oxygen in household & industrial detergents, including laundry detergents, industrial cleaning products and bleaches used in laundry industry. Some forms of the compound are also used in solutions for tooth bleaching industry. Sodium perborate is a useful reagent in organic synthesis where it can be used as a substitute product of hydrogen peroxide which is not commercially available and can cause significant explosion hazards. The compound also has antiseptic properties which made it suitable to be used as disinfectants. The compound is also used in some eye drops brands as a disappearing preservative.Sodium perborate is a specialty chemical which serves a very niche market. As demand of sodium perborate is dependent on high volume markets such as detergent industry, including household & laundry detergents, laundry bleaches, etc. and healthcare industry, price of sodium perborate is expected to be at lower side, especially from manufacturers in developing regions such as Asia Pacific and Middle East. In price sensitive regions such as Asia Pacific and Middle East where demand of sodium perborate is growing at a faster pace due to rising market of detergents and bleaches, lower price may act as a driver for growth in its demand. Sodium perborate has also experienced significant growth in demand in developed regions such as North America and Europe as it is expected to replace hydrogen peroxide in high volume markets such as household cleaning and laundry care. The market is expected to grow further in future because of rising demand of detergents in end-user industries such as chemical, paint, textile, paper and automobile.Developed regions such as Europe and North America together contribute to larger portion of the global sodium perborate market. Rising demand of detergents resulting in increasing market of detergent additives in European and North American market is expected to act as a driver for growth in sodium perborate market in these regions. Sodium perborate has poor bleaching performance under 60oC temperature so it is not much used in Chinese oxygen type powder detergents. In addition to this, boron resources in China are not good and sodium perborate is proved to have harmful effects to health and environment. These factors could act as restraints in Asia Pacific sodium perborate market in future. Production of sodium perborate has decreased in China though the rate of export increased. In developed countries such as North America and Europe, sodium perborate is expected to retain a stable market in future.Some of the major companies involved in the Potassium Formate market are Hongye Holding Group Co., Ltd. (China), Noida Chemicals (India), Shanghai Pengkai Chemical Co., Ltd. (China), Solvay S.A. (Belgium), Triveni Chemicals (India), etc.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Sodium Perborate market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, North Africa)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Specialty Fertilizers | Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Specialty Fertilizers Market. The study, titled Specialty Fertilizers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Specialty fertilizers are granulated fertilizers which supply nutrients to the soil gradually. The measured nutrient uptake by plants can be achieved by usually modifying the fertilizer products through chemical techniques which reduces their solubility, or by physical methods such as coating encapsulation. Specialty fertilizers can be classified into three general categories: slow-release fertilizers where release rates are difficult to estimate, controlled-release fertilizers where release rates are predictable, and fertilizers associated with inhibitors of enzymatic processes. Slow-release fertilizers release their nutrients at a less predictable rate and depend on other aspects of their formulations to release nutrients. The nutrients are available in a form that is not available to plants. They are converted by microorganisms present in the soil into nutrient forms which can be utilized by plants. Slow-release fertilizers can be synthetic or organic.Browse Market Research Report @Slow-release fertilizers are affected by multiple factors such as soil moisture, temperature, and ph. Controlled-release fertilizers are coated fertilizers which release nutrients over a specific period of time. The nutrients are usually packed in coated fertilizer granules. The coating materials and release mechanism are different for each product. Controlled release fertilizers are affected only by soil temperature which makes the release of their nutrients more predictable. Higher soil temperature causes the fertilizer to release nutrients more quickly.The demand for specialty fertilizers is expected to grow due to their advantages over the conventional fertilizers. Specialty fertilizers are more efficient, require less labor, and provide more consistent nutrients to plants. As the nutrients are released only in sufficient amounts which can be absorbed by the plants, the nutrients can be completely utilized by the plant. Specialty fertilizers also produce more compact plants that require less utilization of growth regulators. The risk of loss is high when using conventional fertilizers as the nutrient is soluble, and available in surplus quantity. However, specialty fertilizers are expensive as compared to the conventional fertilizers and have a limited use in the mainstream agriculture. This could hamper the growth of specialty fertilizer market to some extent.North America is the largest market for specialty fertilizers accounting for a majority of the global demand, followed by Asia Pacific and Western Europe. Emerging economies in Asia Pacific are expected to be the fastest growing markets for specialty fertilizers. Consumption of specialty fertilizers in India is still at a nascent stage. The expansion of Indian economy and increased awareness about the benefits of specialty fertilizers is expected to raise the demand for specialty fertilizers. In addition, concern for the environment is expected to further drive the demand for specialty fertilizers, especially in Asia Pacific and North America. Countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East are expected to experience moderate market growth.The market is dominated by large and medium chemical and agricultural corporations. Some key players in this market include Yara International ASA (Norway), Agrium Inc. (Canada), Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (Canada), Haifa Chemicals (Israel), Vardhaman Fertilizers and Seeds Pvt Ltd (India), Verdesian Life Sciences (the U.S.), Sungro Seeds Ltd. (India), and Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (Chile). The companies are using strategic mergers and acquisitions to increase their market share. In addition, the companies are shifting their production facilities from developed economies to emerging economies due to availability of land, cheap labor, and government subsidies. Furthermore, they are using aggressive marketing tactics to remain competitive in the market.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Specialty Fertilizers market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, North Africa)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Tin Chloride Market - Global Industry Volume and Region Analysis | 2024

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Tin Chloride Market. The study, titled Tin Chloride Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Tin chloride is also known as stannous chloride and is a white crystalline solid. Tin chloride forms a stable dehydrate however, aqueous solutions tend to undergo hydrolysis particularly if hot. Tin chloride is commonly used as a reducing agent in acid solution and in electrolytic baths for tin-plating. Tin chloride is used for metallic surfaces or glass and plastic as a sensitizing agent in preparing glass and plastic for metalizing such as mirrors, electronic components on a plastic base and metalized glazing. The growing demand from electronic component applications and other industrial applications is expected to drive the global tin chloride market in the years to come. Tin chloride is soluble in water in less than its own weight of water however; it forms an insoluble basic salt with excess water. Furthermore tin chloride is soluble in ethanol.Browse Market Research Report @Tin Chloride is primarily used for applications such as electronic component, metalized glazing and food industries for tin packed food. A broad range of tin chloride find use in several applications including antioxidant in some bottled canned vegetables, tin electroplating baths, polymers, corrosion inhibitor, thermoplastic elastomers, reducing agent for drilling, tanning agent, used as intermediate catalyst in making of pharmaceutical industry, catalyst in petrochemical refining, used in resins, art glass coloring, and along with other application. The typical advantages of tin chloride are strong reducing agent and cost effectiveness. Owing to all such benefits, tin chloride is growingly used in end-user industries such as electronic industries, food industries and mirror industries across the globe.Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing market for tin chloride in the next six years. The main reason for this is the growing demand for tin chloride market from developing countries such as China and India. Moreover, the countries in the geographies such as Africa, South America and the Middle East are showing rapid economic and industrial growth since the last few years. Furthermore, the U.S. and European nations are gradually recovering from the economic depression. All such factors are eventually creating a positive prospect for the global industrial scenario. Considering this prospect, food and electronic related industries are anticipated to record an incredible growth in the coming years.There is a tremendous market potential for the mirror, food and electronic industry, especially the canned food in the countries such as U.S, Europe, China, India and Brazil. Rising population of the countries coupled with the increasing disposable income and growing purchase parity of the consumers is driving the tin chloride market in these countries. Due to this, the demand for tin chloride in the electronic, food and glazing industry is anticipated to grow at an outstanding rate in the next few years. The key companies operating in the tin chloride market are largely focusing on these growing economies for tapping their enormous market potential. The major players in the tin chloride market are installing robust manufacturing facilities in these developing countries to fulfill the rapidly rising local demand. Therefore, the global tin chloride market is expected to experience a significant growth in the future.Some of the major companies operating in the global tin chloride market are Shanghai NANWEI Chemicals, Showa America, Guangdong Guanghua Sci-Tech Co., Ltd (JHD), Mason Corporation, The European Fine Chemicals Group (EFCG), Yunnan Tin Group, Showa Kako Corporation, Liuzhou China Tin Group Co., Ltd., and ACIMA Specialty Chemicals.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Tin Chloride market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, North Africa)About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Waterproofing Membrane | Worldwide Industry Analysis and New Market Opportunities Explored

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Waterproofing Membrane Market. The study, titled Waterproofing Membrane Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Global Waterproofing Membrane Market: OverviewWaterproofing is a necessary activity as it helps in maintaining the structural integrity of a foundation. Due to their superior water-resistant performance, waterproofing membrane finds application in a number of end-user industries, including construction, civil, transportation, and water and wastewater treatment. These membranes are made of up of different types of materials such as modified bitumen, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The flourishing growth of end-user industries, especially in emerging economies, is one of the primary factors augmenting the global market for waterproofing membranes. The report is a professional study encompassing all the important aspects of the waterproofing market, including its dynamics, geographical and application segmentation, and vendor landscape.Browse Market Research Report @Global Waterproofing Membrane Market: Drivers and RestraintsWaterproofing membrane offers various benefits such as energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, high durability, and heat resistance. These benefits are driving their demand for applications such as roofing and building structures. The booming construction industry in China and other emerging countries is also working in favor of the market. The rapidly growing population in developing countries is leading to increase in residential construction projects. Moreover, the soaring global demand for waterproofing in the mining sector is stoking the growth of the market.However, the sluggish growth of the construction industry in Europe is restricting the global waterproofing membrane market from realizing its utmost potential. On the other hand, the rapid urbanization in developing regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America are creating a strong need for water and waste management activities, which in turn is unfolding ample growth opportunities for the overall market.Global Waterproofing Membrane Market: Geographical SegmentationFrom the geographical standpoint, the report segments the global waterproofing membrane market into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific will account for a substantial share in the global market. The rising urban population is providing a significant push to the construction and wastewater management industry, which in turn is triggering the demand for waterproofing membrane in the region. Emerging countries such as India and China will be at the forefront of the growth of the region.North America will also be a strong contender in the global arena. The flourishing growth of the construction and mining sectors is the primary factor driving the growth of the region. The Middle East and Africa market is anticipated to hold immense potential. The increasing exploration and production of crude oil are translating into the greater uptake of waterproofing membrane in the region. The growth of Europe can be attributed to the increasing concerns regarding water and waste Management.Global Waterproofing Membrane Market: Competitive LandscapePlayers in the global waterproofing membrane market need to focus on the expansion of product portfolio to ensure sustainable growth. For this, key players are banking on strategies such as mergers and acquisitions and product innovation. Moreover, market participants are pouring hefty funds into research and development activities to stay ahead. The immense potential of the market is encouraging new players to foray into the market. However, stringent government regulations are creating high barriers for new entrants.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Waterproofing Membrane market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@Some of the prominent companies operating in the global waterproofing membrane market are Carlisle Companies Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, GAF Materials Corporation, BASF SE, Siplast, Johns Manville, W. R. Meadows Inc., Firestone Building Products Company, Soprema Group, and Sika AG.Major regions analyzed under this research report are:EuropeNorth AmericaAsia PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaThis report gives you access to decisive data such as:Market growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for the coming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
I remember in the summer being out after dark, playing under the street lights in the neighborhood or chasing fireflies with other kids, and looking at one of the duplex front porches to see the parents sitting there.

In those days before air conditioning, everyone wandered outside after dinner on a summers night to hang out together, hoping a cool breeze would waft their way. From time to time we kids would interrupt the conversations and cigarette smoking of the parents on the porch to ask a question, leave or retrieve a toy or firefly jar, or tattle on a sibling. And even from time to time we sat with them, our lit cattails, punks, keeping the mosquitoes away. But to this day, if you asked me what they were talking about, I couldnt tell you.

Did they watch the funny way Bobby walked and discuss how his parents ought to get him looked at or no, hed grow out if it? Did they discuss Susans math grade and whether shed pass on to the next year in school? Did they discuss how they were going to keep us busy the rest of the summer or how they would take us on vacation?

Maybe not, since their worlds didnt revolve around us, and who had money for a "real vacation back then.

Did they discuss the happenings in the world including the energy crisis, the civil rights movement, the elections, riots, murders or recessions? Maybe. Or were their discussions more personal in nature?

Did you see that dress Virginia wore to church last week?

Did you hear Fred was fired from his job at the mill?

My mother-in-law invited us over for dinner on Sunday. What cake do you think I ought to make to bring?

What DID they talk about?

Today with air conditioning and very different lifestyles, the front porches on summer nights are empty. My grandson at 4 barely knows there are fireflies, let alone how to catch one. Cigarettes and our smoking cattails would be looked down upon and most likely cause someone an allergic reaction. And our talking isnt done at the base of a duplex in the glow of a streetlight, but sitting tucked on our sofas or in our beds, all on social media.

Now I dont have to guess what we are all talking about because at any time I can check my children and neighbors thoughts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Age old wisdoms, advice, opinions on world politics, recipes, and dare say gossip arent passed on to the next generation or friends sitting on porches, but in memes and posts sent to an entire neighborhood in a second. There are posts on vacations, illnesses/cures, politics, helpful hints and enough Pinterest recipes to fill one of those old porches.

I wonder if we all put down our devices and grabbed our lawn chairs and went out and sat in the glow of the street lights on the remaining summer nights if the world would become more civil, wed reach out and find common ground with each other, wed cure that rash and little Bobbys limp and the government budgets woes, and if wed head inside with a terrific new to us but 25-year-old tried and true meatloaf recipe?

But I guess that just may be my wishful thinking so I can finally figure out what WERE the parents talking about when we played one last game of "bounce or fly under the street light.
Global WHEAT GERM OIL Market Report Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2017

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global WHEAT GERM OIL Market Research Report 2017 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.Global Wheat Germ Oil market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGNCSwanson Health ProductsNOW FoodsViobinSolgarCountry LifeThe Vitamin ShoppeStandard ProcessMelrose HealthInlife GroupA. VogelAramacsGNLD InternationalHolland and BarrettNutriPlex Formulas IncSallamander Concepts (Pty)CONNOILSRequest a Sample copy atGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Wheat Germ Oil in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaComplete report is available atOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCrude gradeRefined gradeOn 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 Wheat Germ Oil for each application, includingFoodMedicalCosmeticTable of Contents:1 WHEAT GERM OIL Market Overview2 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)4 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Supply (Production) , Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Production, Revenue (Value) , Price Trend by Type6 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Market Analysis by ApplicationGet Discount at7 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 WHEAT GERM OIL Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global WHEAT GERM OIL Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and ConclusionPurchase complete report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Dental Imaging Devices Market Report Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2017

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Dental Imaging Devices Market Research Report 2017 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.Global Dental Imaging Devices market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingPlanmecaPalodex GroupKaVo Dental GmbHSOREDEXImaging Sciences InternationalCarestream DentalGendexDEXIS3ShapeACTEON 11SironaAir Techniques, Inc.The Yoshida DentalMfg. Co., Ltd.GenorayBiolaseSchickRequest a Sample copy atGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Dental Imaging Devices in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaComplete report is available atOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoExtra Oral CamerasIntraoral CamerasOptical Imaging DevicesDental Imaging SoftwareOn 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 Dental Imaging Devices for each application, includingHospitalsClinicsDental ClinicsOtherTable of Contents:1 Dental Imaging Devices Market Overview2 Global Dental Imaging Devices Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Dental Imaging Devices Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)4 Global Dental Imaging Devices Supply (Production) , Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global Dental Imaging Devices Production, Revenue (Value) , Price Trend by Type6 Global Dental Imaging Devices Market Analysis by ApplicationGet Discount at7 Global Dental Imaging Devices Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Dental Imaging Devices Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Dental Imaging Devices Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and ConclusionPurchase complete report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
017 Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market Report for period 2017 till 2022 L-3 Narda-MITEQ, General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, Communications and Power Industries, Kratos, Agilis, Comtech PST, and Others

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Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely L-3 Narda-MITEQ, General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, Communications and Power Industries, Kratos, Agilis, Comtech PST, and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2022 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.SATCOM is a communications using an active or passive satellite to extend the range of radio, television, or other electronic transmission by returning signals to earth from an orbiting satellite.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market 2017 atTop Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:L-3 Narda-MITEQGeneral Dynamics SATCOM TechnologiesCommunications and Power IndustriesKratosAgilisComtech PSTNorsatAdvantech WirelessAmplusND SatComTango WaveStellar SatcomAtlanTecRFComtech Xicom TechnologyOthersGlobal SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market: Key Product TypePower AmplifierLow Noise Amplifier (LNA)Signal-AmplifierOthersGlobal SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market: Key ApplicationTraffic InformationAircraft IndustryShipping EnterpriseBroadcastingOthersGlobal SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)The Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Global SATCOM Amplifier Systems Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
2017 Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market Report for period 2017 till 2022 CCM Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaniaga, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Simpor Pharma, Bosch Pharmaceuticals, NOOR VITAMINS, and Others

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Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market report provides detailed analysis of companies namely CCM Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaniaga, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Simpor Pharma, Bosch Pharmaceuticals, NOOR VITAMINS, and Others. This report study includes global market statistics and analysis for example, company performance, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2022 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2022, etc.Halal pharmaceuticals are those medicines that stringently adhere to Shariah law. More specifically, halal pharmaceuticals refer to medicines that should not contain any parts of animals (dogs, pigs and ones particularly with pointed teeth), insects (bees), alcohol and other substances prohibited as haram under the Shariah law.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market 2017 atTop Company Profiles and Analysis included in this report:CCM PharmaceuticalsPharmaniagaRosemont PharmaceuticalsSimpor PharmaBosch PharmaceuticalsNOOR VITAMINSOthersGlobal Halal pharmaceuticals Market: Key Product TypeTabletsSyrupsCapsulesOthersGlobal Halal pharmaceuticals Market: Key ApplicationHealth Care ProductsDrugsGlobal Halal pharmaceuticals Market: Key RegionNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)The Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities happened in current and past few years. The Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors.Enquire before Buying @Global Halal pharmaceuticals Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Us:Market Reports Company is a global research and consulting company. We provide customized reports. We can study and analyze any market based on wide range of parameters. We can provide market insights for any particular region, country across the globe within shortest possible turn around time.What we offer: Customized Reports: we provide customized report study on any market or industry. Region Specific Study: If you need region specific or if you are searching for particular region market study then, we have expert research team for that. How we work: We work in all domains and industries, you name it and we provide the market research industry report analysis of it. Expertise: Superior Research Team, 24*7 Customer Care ServiceContact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website:Email: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Global Albumin Market: Keen Players Partner with Distributors to Bolster Position, finds TMR

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Competition is stiff in the global albumin market on account of the presence of many big names who are focused on product or service extensions. In the near future, competition is slated to increase further due to prominent players entering into partnerships or acquiring distributors to increase their sales and expand their businesses worldwide.Grifols International, CSL Behring LLC, S.A., Octapharma AG, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., InVitria, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and MedxBio Pte. Ltd. are to name a few prominent participants in the global albumin market.View Report @A report by Transparency Market Research predicts the global albumin market to become worth US$10.359 bn by 2025 from US$4.8 bn in 2016 by clocking a CAGR of 9.2% from 2017 to 2025.Large Elderly Population Drives Growth in Asia Pacific MarketBased on the product type, the global albumin market can be classified into bovine serum albumin (BSA) which is derived from fetal bovine serum, human serum albumin (HSA) which is derivative of human plasma, and recombinant albumin produced from recombinant yeast, rice and other culture sources. Among them, the human serum albumin segment holds maximum share in the market. This is because, human serum albumin finds widespread application as a blood volumizer in case of burns, shocks, and other rare diseases. Going forward, the segment is expected to rise at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2017 to 2025 on the back of demand for blood volumizer from emerging markets like China, Brazil, and India.Geographically, the key segments of the global albumin market are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific, of them, dominates the market with a leading share and going forward is expected rise at a robust 11.5% CAGR, powered primarily by the emerging markets in India and China. A burgeoning geriatric population and rising instances of rare diseases such as burns and surgeries are said to be catalyzing growth in the region.Widespread Use of Albumin as Excipient Drug Drives MarketAlbumin is a water soluble globular protein found in serum and contributes 50% to 60% of blood plasma proteins. Albumin is produced in liver to get secreted or diffused into blood system. They have a crucial role in regulating blood volume and act as transporters for molecules such as hormones, bile salts, ions, etc. Owing to these functions albumin derived from human serum is widely used as blood volumizer in various conditions and in replacement therapies, explains the lead analyst of the TMR report.With growing instances of rare diseases, shocks, trauma and other fatalities, demand for human serum albumin is slated to receive a major boost. Besides, high acceptance of albumin as an excipient in drug delivery and in vaccines production is also predicted to catalyze growth in the market.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Albumin Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.On the flipside, however, scarcity of plasma for fractionation is a major concern among the industry players which is anticipated to hamper growth for albumin market. Moreover use of alternatives to albumin in replacement therapies, and other medical applications is expected to restrain the growth for albumin market.This review is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled, Global Albumin Market (Type - Human Serum Albumin, Bovine Serum Albumin, and Recombinant Albumin; Application - Blood Volumizer, Drug Formulation and Vaccines, and Life Sciences) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Volume, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20172025.The report segments the global albumin market as follows:Global Albumin Market, by Product TypeHuman Serum AlbuminBovine Serum AlbuminRecombinant AlbuminGlobal Albumin Market, by ApplicationBlood volumizerDrug Formulation and VaccinesLife SciencesOthersGlobal Albumin Market, by RegionNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the WorldAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Electronic Nose (E-Nose) 2017 Global Market Key Players -Alpha MOS (France), Airsense (Germany), Odotech (Sensigent), Sensigent (U.S.), Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.)-Analysis And Forecast To 2022

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Electronic Nose (E-Nose) 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Electronic Nose (E-Nose) -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:This report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Electronic Nose (E-Nose) industry.This report splits Electronic Nose (E-Nose) market By Product, By Component, which covers the history data information from 2012 to 2016 and forecast from 2017 to 2022.This report focuses Global market, it covers details as following:Major CompaniesAlpha MOS (France)Airsense (Germany)Odotech (Sensigent)Sensigent (U.S.)Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.)Brechbuehler (Switzerland)The Enose Company (Netherlands)Request for Sample Report@Main Regions:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain Product Type:Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Market, by ProductMOSCPQCMOthersElectronic Nose (E-Nose) Market, by ComponentSample Delivery SystemDetection SystemComputing SystemMain Applications:Process and Production DepartmentsEnvironmental MonitoringHealth and SecurityOthersEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022Chapter One Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Market Overview1.1 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20221.2 Electronic Nose (E-Nose), By Product 2012-20221.2.1 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Market Share by Product 2012-20221.2.2 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Revenue Market Share by Product 2012-20221.2.3 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Price by Product 2012-20221.2.4 MOS1.2.5 CP1.2.6 QCM1.2.7 Others1.3 Electronic Nose (E-Nose), by Component 2012-20221.3.1 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Market Share by Component 2012-20221.3.2 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Revenue Market Share by Component 2012-20221.3.3 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Price by Component 2012-20221.3.4 Sample Delivery System1.3.5 Detection System1.3.6 Computing SystemChapter Three Electronic Nose (E-Nose) by Players 2012-20173.1 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Market Share by Players 2012-20173.2 Global Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Revenue Share by Players 2012-20173.3 Global Top Players Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Key Product Model and Market Performance3.4 Global Top Players Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Key Target Consumers and Market Performance.Chapter Five Global Top Players Profile5.1 Alpha MOS (France)5.1.1 Alpha MOS (France) Company Details and Competitors5.1.2 Alpha MOS (France) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.1.3 Alpha MOS (France) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.1.4 Alpha MOS (France) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.2 Airsense (Germany)5.2.1 Airsense (Germany) Company Details and Competitors5.2.2 Airsense (Germany) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.2.3 Airsense (Germany) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.2.4 Airsense (Germany) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.3 Odotech (Sensigent)5.3.1 Odotech (Sensigent) Company Details and Competitors5.3.2 Odotech (Sensigent) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.3.3 Odotech (Sensigent) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.3.4 Odotech (Sensigent) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.4 Sensigent (U.S.)5.4.1 Sensigent (U.S.) Company Details and Competitors5.4.2 Sensigent (U.S.) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.4.3 Sensigent (U.S.) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.4.4 Sensigent (U.S.) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.5 Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.)5.5.1 Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.) Company Details and Competitors5.5.2 Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.5.3 Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.5.4 Electronic Sensor Technology (U.S.) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.6 Brechbuehler (Switzerland)5.6.1 Brechbuehler (Switzerland) Company Details and Competitors5.6.2 Brechbuehler (Switzerland) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.6.3 Brechbuehler (Switzerland) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.6.4 Brechbuehler (Switzerland) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.7 The Enose Company (Netherlands)5.7.1 The Enose Company (Netherlands) Company Details and Competitors5.7.2 The Enose Company (Netherlands) Key Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Models and Performance5.7.3 The Enose Company (Netherlands) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.7.4 The Enose Company (Netherlands) Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross MarginContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Hydro Turbines 2017 Global Market Key Players -Toshiba America, GE Power Conversion, Cornell Pump Company, Siemens Energy Sector, Ashden, Renewables First-Analysis And Forecast To 2022

Hydro Turbines Market

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Hydro Turbines Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Hydro Turbines -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global Hydro Turbines market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Hydro Turbines for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Hydro Turbines market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Hydro Turbines sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingToshiba AmericaGE Power ConversionCornell Pump CompanySiemens Energy SectorAshdenRenewables FirstHydroquebecHydro-QuebecRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoImpulse TurbineReaction TurbineOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Hydro Turbines for each application, includingHydropower StationIrrigationOtherEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Hydro Turbines Sales Market Report 20171 Hydro Turbines Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Hydro Turbines1.2 Classification of Hydro Turbines by Product Category1.2.1 Global Hydro Turbines Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Hydro Turbines Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Impulse Turbine1.2.4 Reaction Turbine1.3 Global Hydro Turbines Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Hydro Turbines Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Hydropower Station1.3.3 Irrigation1.3.4 Other1.4 Global Hydro Turbines Market by Region1.4.1 Global Hydro Turbines Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Hydro Turbines Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Hydro Turbines (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Hydro Turbines Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Hydro Turbines Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Hydro Turbines Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Hydro Turbines Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Hydro Turbines Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Hydro Turbines Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Hydro Turbines (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Hydro Turbines Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Hydro Turbines Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Hydro Turbines (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Hydro Turbines Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Hydro Turbines Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Hydro Turbines (Volume) by Application.9 Global Hydro Turbines Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Toshiba America9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Toshiba America Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 GE Power Conversion9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 GE Power Conversion Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Cornell Pump Company9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Product A9.3.2.2 Product B9.3.3 Cornell Pump Company Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.4 Siemens Energy Sector9.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.4.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.4.2.1 Product A9.4.2.2 Product B9.4.3 Siemens Energy Sector Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.5 Ashden9.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.5.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.5.2.1 Product A9.5.2.2 Product B9.5.3 Ashden Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.6 Renewables First9.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.6.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.6.2.1 Product A9.6.2.2 Product B9.6.3 Renewables First Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.7 Hydroquebec9.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.7.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.7.2.1 Product A9.7.2.2 Product B9.7.3 Hydroquebec Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.8 Hydro-Quebec9.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.8.2 Hydro Turbines Product Category, Application and Specification9.8.2.1 Product A9.8.2.2 Product B9.8.3 Hydro-Quebec Hydro Turbines Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.8.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Next-Generation Data Storage 2017 Global Market Key Players -Dell EMC, HP, Western Digital, Kingston, Intel, Hitachi, IBM, Cisco, Toshiba-Analysis And Forecast To 2022

Next-Generation Data Storage Market

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Next-Generation Data Storage Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Next-Generation Data Storage -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global Next-Generation Data Storage market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Next-Generation Data Storage for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanKoreaTaiwanGlobal Next-Generation Data Storage market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Next-Generation Data Storage sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingDell EMCHPWestern DigitalKingstonSeagateCA TechnologiesNetAppIntelHitachiIBMCiscoToshibaPure StorageNutanixTintriSimplivity CorpScalityRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoDirect-Attached StorageNetwork-Attached Storage (NAS)Cloud StorageUnified StorageStorage Area Network (SAN)Software-Defined Storage (SDS)OtherOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Next-Generation Data Storage for each application, includingBFSITelecom & ITHealthcareEnergyGovernmentEducation & ResearchOtherEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales Market Report 20171 Next-Generation Data Storage Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Next-Generation Data Storage1.2 Classification of Next-Generation Data Storage by Product Category1.2.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Direct-Attached Storage1.2.4 Network-Attached Storage (NAS)1.2.5 Cloud Storage1.2.6 Unified Storage1.2.7 Storage Area Network (SAN)1.2.8 Software-Defined Storage (SDS)1.2.9 Other1.3 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 BFSI1.3.3 Telecom & IT1.3.4 Healthcare1.3.5 Energy1.3.6 Government1.3.7 Education & Research1.3.8 Other1.4 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market by Region1.4.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Korea Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Next-Generation Data Storage Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Next-Generation Data Storage (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Next-Generation Data Storage (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Next-Generation Data Storage (Volume) by Application.9 Global Next-Generation Data Storage Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Dell EMC9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Dell EMC Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 HP9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 HP Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Western Digital9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Product A9.3.2.2 Product B9.3.3 Western Digital Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.4 Kingston9.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.4.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.4.2.1 Product A9.4.2.2 Product B9.4.3 Kingston Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.5 Seagate9.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.5.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.5.2.1 Product A9.5.2.2 Product B9.5.3 Seagate Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.6 CA Technologies9.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.6.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.6.2.1 Product A9.6.2.2 Product B9.6.3 CA Technologies Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.7 NetApp9.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.7.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.7.2.1 Product A9.7.2.2 Product B9.7.3 NetApp Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.8 Intel9.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.8.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.8.2.1 Product A9.8.2.2 Product B9.8.3 Intel Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.9 Hitachi9.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.9.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.9.2.1 Product A9.9.2.2 Product B9.9.3 Hitachi Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.10 IBM9.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.10.2 Next-Generation Data Storage Product Category, Application and Specification9.10.2.1 Product A9.10.2.2 Product B9.10.3 IBM Next-Generation Data Storage Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.11 Cisco9.12 Toshiba9.13 Pure Storage9.14 Nutanix9.15 Tintri9.16 Simplivity Corp9.17 ScalityContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Fluid Infiltration Pump Global Market Other Key Strategies By Type & Geography Analysis & Forecast to 2022

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ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Fluid Infiltration Pump Industry Market Research 2017 The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification.In this report, we analyze the Fluid Infiltration Pump industry from two aspects. One part is about its production and the other part is about its consumption. In terms of its production, we analyze the production, revenue, gross margin of its main manufacturers and the unit price that they offer in different regions from 2012 to 2017. In terms of its consumption, we analyze the consumption volume, consumption value, sale price, import and export in different regions from 2012 to 2017. We also make a prediction of its production and consumption in coming 2017-2022.Request a Sample atAt the same time, we classify different Fluid Infiltration Pump based on their definitions. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What is more, the Fluid Infiltration Pump industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.Browse Complete ReportMajor Points of this report:1. To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Fluid Infiltration Pump market.2. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Fluid Infiltration Pump market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porte five force analysis etc.3. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World.4. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective.5. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by application, product type and sub-segments.6. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market.7. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Fluid Infiltration Pump market.Get discount on report purchase atKey Point from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Fluid Infiltration Pump1.1 Brief Introduction of Fluid Infiltration Pump2 Industry Chain Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump3 Manufacturing Technology of Fluid Infiltration Pump3.1 Development of Fluid Infiltration Pump Manufacturing Technology4Major Manufacturers Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump5 Global Production, Revenue and Price Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump by Regions, Manufacturers, Types and Applications5.1 Global Production, Revenue of Fluid Infiltration Pump by Regions 2012-20176 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Fluid Infiltration Pump 2012-20177 Consumption Volume, Consumption Value, Import, Export and Sale Price Analysis of FLUID INFILTRATION PUMP by Regions 20178 Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump9 Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump10 Global and Chinese Economic Impact on Fluid Infiltration Pump Industry10.1 Global and Chinese Macroeconomic Environment Analysis11 Development Trend Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump 12 Contact information of FLUID INFILTRATION PUMP13 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Fluid Infiltration Pump14 Conclusion of the Global Fluid Infiltration Pump Industry 2017 Market Research ReportPurchase Complete Report atReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. The market research industry has changed in last decade. As corporate focus has shifted to niche markets and emerging countries, a number of publishers have stepped in to fulfil these information needs. We have experienced and trained staff that helps you navigate different options and lets you choose best research solution at most effective cost.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
3D Printing Market: Technological Advancements to Propel Market Growth

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The demand in the global 3D printing market is projected to expand at a remarkable CAGR of 18.0% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025, gaining traction from a number of factors such as strikingly higher resolution, reduction in manufacturing cost owing to recent technological advancements, ease in the development of customized products, growing possibilities of using multiple materials for printing, and government investments in 3D printing projects. While the lack of proper process control and limitations regarding product size are obstructing the global 3D printing market, the stockholders will continue to gain new opportunities from untapped end-use industries such as printed electronics, automotive, education, and jewelry. The global 3D printing market was valued at US$7.3 bn in 2016, and is estimated to reach a valuation of US$32.3 bn by the end of the forecast period, i.e. 2025.The global 3D printing market was valued at US$7.3 bn in 2016, and is estimated to reach a valuation of US$32.3 bn by the end of the forecast period, i.e. 2025. Commercial Sector Serves Maximum Demand Witnessed in Market On the basis of use, the global 3D printing market has been segmented into commercial and personal. Commercial uses of 3D printing, which continues to serve the most significant chunk of demand, include rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing, mass production, and mass customization. On the other hand, personal applications include printing 3D objects in-house for personal use. In 2016, the commercial segment accounted for more than half of the demand-share, contributing to US$ 5,932.3 mn of revenue.Browse Our Report @This segment is expected to hold most prominent market share in 2025 too, growing at 17.8% CAGR during the forecast period. This is mainly due to improvement in the quality of 3D printing materials that has prompted manufacturers to incorporate 3D printing in their current manufacturing practices. Technology-wise, the global 3D printing market is bifurcated into polyjet, selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and stereolithography (SLA). In 2016, polyJet technology accounted for nearly 41% of the total market share, and is anticipated to exhibit an above-average growth rate. FDM segment is the second most prominent shareholding segment, and dominates the 3D printing market in terms of volume shipment. This is a reflection of increasing demand for FDM printers for both personal and commercial use. FDM is also popular in a variety of industrial applications, from automotive to consumer goods. Application-wise, the market for 3D printing has been categorized into consumer products and electronics, automotive, medical, industrial, aerospace, military and defense, architecture, and education.Presently, consumer product category serves the maximum demand, followed by the automotive sector, wherein 3D printing is used to print a number of parts for automobiles. Some of the examples can be interior parts such as engines, gearbox handle, gears, shafts, brakes and spare parts as well as external parts such as window frames, doors, body parts, steering handle, head and taillights. North America Emerges as Highly Lucrative Region In 2016, North America served the maximum demand among all regions wherein the 3D printing market has potential.This was primarily a reflection of the presence of several major 3D printing market players in the country-wide made of the U.S., which is worlds fourth most populous country. In the near future, North America 3D printing market is anticipated to expand further, with increasing awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of using 3D printing in commercial and household applications. Europe follows North America in terms of the geographical market share. Germany, Italy, France, and Sweden are identified as most lucrative country-wide markets for 3D printing in the region of Europe. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, has been projected to exhibit the best CAGR among all regions under the study during the forecast period.The Asia Pacific 3D Printing market is expected to reach US$ 8,207.3 mn by 2025. Stratasys, Ltd., Solidscape, Inc., and EOS GmbH are three companies holding stronger position in the global 3D printing market than other key players, such as Optomec, Concept Laser GmbH, Voxeljet Technology GmbH, ExOne GmbH, SLM Solutions GmbH, and Arcam AB.Brochure With Latest Advancements With Application @On the basis of use, the global 3D printing market has been segmented into commercial and personal. Commercial uses of 3D printing, which continues to serve the most significant chunk of demand, include rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing, mass production, and mass customization. On the other hand, personal applications include printing 3D objects in-house for personal use. In 2016, the commercial segment accounted for more than half of the demand-share, contributing to US$ 5,932.3 mn of revenue. This segment is expected to hold most prominent market share in 2025 too, growing at 17.8% CAGR during the forecast period. This is mainly due to improvement in the quality of 3D printing materials that has prompted manufacturers to incorporate 3D printing in their current manufacturing practices.Technology-wise, the global 3D printing market is bifurcated into polyjet, selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and stereolithography (SLA). In 2016, polyJet technology accounted for nearly 41% of the total market share, and is anticipated to exhibit an above-average growth rate. FDM segment is the second most prominent shareholding segment, and dominates the 3D printing market in terms of volume shipment. This is a reflection of increasing demand for FDM printers for both personal and commercial use. FDM is also popular in a variety of industrial applications, from automotive to consumer goods.Application-wise, the market for 3D printing has been categorized into consumer products and electronics, automotive, medical, industrial, aerospace, military and defense, architecture, and education. Presently, consumer product category serves the maximum demand, followed by the automotive sector, wherein 3D printing is used to print a number of parts for automobiles. Some of the examples can be interior parts such as engines, gearbox handle, gears, shafts, brakes and spare parts as well as external parts such as window frames, doors, body parts, steering handle, head and taillights.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
THUMBS UP! To another successful run of the Farm Progress Show in Decatur. It's always amazing to watch as the site near Richland Community College transforms into a showplace for the latest developments in the world of agriculture. It wouldn't be possible without the support of local businesses and volunteers who open their arms to the many vendors and visitors, and the show's organizers, Farm Progress. This year's show featured many highlights, including appearance by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, giving local farmers a voice in the national budget debate and the how agriculture is handled.

THUMBS UP! To the Howard G. Buffett Foundation for making it possible for all of the Decatur School District's sixth graders to attend this year's Farm Progress Show. Agriculture is at the heart of our community's past. Instilling this in the minds of young people and showing the many job opportunities that exist beyond the field will make for a brighter future for all of us.

THUMBS UP! To the organizers of the WSOY Community Food Drive as they set their sights on yet another unbelievable goal  collecting 1.5 million pounds of food in just 12 hours. We've used this page many times to praise our community for the way it supports this event each year and we expect this year will be no different. But we can't take our past success for granted. The need continues to be great, so start setting aside your donations now. The event is Friday, Oct. 6.

THUMBS UP! To Cronus Chemical Company and its plans to move ahead with construction of a fertilizer plant near Tuscola. The $1.4 billion project is expect to employ nearly 2,000 people during construction and up to 200 full-time employees once it becomes operational. Construction should begin next year.

THUMBS UP! To the Decatur Trail Riders Association and its 75 years of horsing around. The group hosted a weekend show at the Decatur-Macon County Fairground, that attracted competitors from as far away as Ohio.

THUMBS UP! To an end to the state's school funding stalemate. The legislature approved a plan this week and Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the legislation on Thursday that will assure a bunch of anxious school administrators that their district's will get the money they need to operate for an entire year. Have lawmakers and the governor learned anything from the past two years? We hope so.

THUMBS UP! To the United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois for kicking off its 2017 campaign, which has a goal of $1.6 million. The campaign supports a host of social service agencies and community groups in their quest to help clients become more self-sufficient. That, in turn, makes for a stronger community. Local businesses lead the charge, but every dollar from every source counts.

THUMBS UP! To this year's recipients of the Do Something Great Awards  the Andreas Foundation, Mark Barthelemy, Nancy Handegan and Shondra Lynch. The awards, handed out by Decatur Legacy, honors those who go above and beyond with their contributions or their support of legacy gifts.
Industrial PC Market: Development Insight and Manufacturers Challenge Competitors

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/industrial-pc-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=23021

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Industrial PCs are a PC-based computing platform used in various industrial applications. Industrial PCs are especially designed to withstand harsh exterior environments (extremes of temperature, dust, humidity, vibration, power surges) that commercial PCs are not designed for. Industrial PCs are also more flexible as compared to normal PCs, as they support legacy applications that need to work flawlessly for 5 or even 10 and more years. This is because the components used for the manufacturing of industrial PCs are industrial grade rather than commercial grade. These are longer lasting and built to a higher standard. They have longer supported life durations and arent substituted by newer versions as often as commercial components. This provides higher consistency of supply and long-term repeatability so the same model can be available for much longer than the commercial equivalent.The revenue of the global industrial PC market stood at US$3,651.5 Mn in 2016; this is projected to expand at a CAGR of 10.7% during the forecast period (2017 to 2025) and reach US$8,784.2 Mn by 2025.Browse Our Report @The industrial PC market has been segmented on the basis of its type and end use. On the basis of type, the industrial PC market is categorized into panel industrial PC, box industrial PC, embedded industrial PC, DIN rail industrial PC, rack mount industrial PC, and thin client industrial PC. Panel industrial PCs are widely used across the industrial sector, as these are generally used for process control operations and data acquisition. Panel industrial PCs are used in the automation, manufacturing, surveillance, transportation, food and beverage, gaming, medical, communication and network infrastructure, retail, and energy and power sectors.At present, several major manufactures are in the process of developing embedded industrial PCs integrated with self-sensing capabilities for advanced data computing and realizing IoT applications. These are anticipated to be employed in industries such as manufacturing, automation, surveillance, transportation, and food and beverage. As a result, the demand for embedded industrial PCs is anticipated to remain high as compared to other industrial PCs.The global industrial PC market has witnessed traction across a number of sectors due to the high demand for robust PCs that can withstand severe environmental conditions. The leading applications of industrial PCs lie in communication and network infrastructure, digital signage, digital security and surveillance, energy and power, gaming, industrial automation and control, instrumentation/test automation, medical, aerospace and defense, retail automation, transportation, and others. The aerospace and defense industry requires industrial PCs capable of working at extreme temperatures (-20 degree Celsius to +65 degree Celsius) and extreme humidity levels (5% to 95%), and capable of withstanding corrosion, shocks, and heavy dust. The superior rugged design, combined with the best industrial-grade components, offers high reliability and long-term performance. This factor is expected to boost the market for Industrial PC over the forecast period.Brochure With Latest Advancements With Application @Europe was the largest revenue contributor to the industrial PCs market in 2016, with Europe being the hub for the majority of players in the market. The Europe and North America markets for industrial PCs were valued at US$1,280.5 mn and US$1,226.9 mn in 2016, respectively, and are likely to rise to US$2,576.2 mn and US$2,541.2 mn, respectively, by the end of 2025.However, Asia Pacific is expected to be an important market for industrial PCs market players in the coming years and is expected to exhibit a robust CAGR of 14.4% in the 2017-2025 forecast period. The valuation of the Asia Pacific market is likely to rise to US$2,777.4 mn by 2025, enabling steady dominance of the regional market in the coming years. In the Middle East and Africa, the UAE and Saudi Arabia cumulatively contributed around 57% of revenue in 2016 and are expected to hold the largest share in the Middle East and Africa industrial PC market in the forecast period.Leading manufacturers in the global industrial PC market are aggressively focusing on technological innovation by pouring huge investments in research and development activities. The competitive rivalry among these companies is expected to remain high over the forecast period. Several big players are engaged in the process of introducing more next-generation industrial PCs with smart energy solutions that can offer them a competitive edge over their competitors. Key players profiled in the report include Advantech Co., Ltd., Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. Kg, Bernecker + Rainer Industrie Elektronik Ges.m.b.H., Captec Ltd., Industrial PC, Inc., Kontron AG, Landitec Distribution GmbH, Lanner Electronics Incorporated, MiTAC International Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Omron Corporation, Rockwell Automation, Inc., Siemens AG, and Schneider Electric S.E.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2017.026

https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2017.026

Is holy water more dangerous than useful? What is the result when large numbers of people dip their fingers in the font? These questions were behind a recent scientific experiment. Although holy water is a standard feature in Catholic churches, until now it has received little attention from scientists. A team of students and researchers from the Molecular and Technical Medicine study programme at Furtwangen University recently looked at this question by comparing 54 holy water samples from 5 churches in Villingen-Schwenningen and the surrounding area.---The first study carried out in Germany on the topic of microbial contamination of holy water has now been published in the "Journal of Water and Health" (). The study with the title Quantification and identification of aerobic bacteria in holy water samples from a German environment was authored by Christoph Konig, Stephanie Tauchnitz, Heike Kunzelmann, Christian Horn, Frithjof Blessing, Matthias Kohl and Markus Egert.Three town churches and two village churches were sampled several times. On average approximately 6,000 microbes per milliliter were measured. The holy water from town churches with between 1,500 and 21,000 microbes per milliliter was significantly more contaminated than the village churches, which had levels of only around 100 microbes per milliliter. We assume that this large difference is caused by the higher number of visitors in the town churches, said Prof. Dr. Markus Egert, who led the study. The number of germs shows a correlation with the size of the community.In Germany there are almost 24 million Catholics of whom a good 10%, about 2.5 million, regularly attend mass. The topic of holy water is somewhat tabu. Even so, with the increasingly aging congregations in mind, we wanted to investigate this topic, said Egert. The local church representatives were very open to our experiment.Besides water bacteria, the researchers mainly found bacteria of the human skin flora, particularly staphylococcae. Fifty percent of the isolates identified were potential pathogens. Staphylococcae are a well-known cause of skin and soft tissue infections, for instance abscesses. In total, 20 different types of bacteria could be positively identified.The researchers recommend taking hygiene measures in order to prevent the microbial contamination of the holy water. This should take the form of regular changing of the water, particularly in churches where there are large numbers of visitors. The ritual adding of salt to the holy water does add an element of conservation, explained Professor Egert. However Staphylococcae especially are well-known for their tolerance to salt. The researchers want to do further follow-up work in the area of microbe growth reduction in holy water fonts. One of the approaches used will be the material used in the font. Better conditions may be achieved by using metals such as copper.One piece of good news however: the number of germs found in the samples from the Villingen-Schwenningen (Baden-Wurttemberg) area were up to 1000 times lower than the values from an Austrian study (Kirschner et al., 2012) which compared churches in Vienna. Even if the water in the fonts is no longer drinking water quality, there is still no danger when it is used externally on undamaged skin.Weitere Informationen:Quelle: idw
www.dvex.org

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan3235

https://insights.mdc-berlin.de/en/2017/08/reconstructing-life-at-its-beginning-cell-by-cell/

http://www.dvex.org/

https://www.mdc-berlin.de/1151037

https://www.mdc-berlin.de/40467197

In a technological tour de force, Berlin scientists have created a virtual model of an early fly embryo. Its interactive interface allows researchers to explore the blueprint that underlies development at unprecedented spatial resolution and predict which cells express which genes.---After 13 rapid divisions a fertilized fly egg consists of about 6,000 cells. They all look alike under the microscope. However, each cell of a Drosophila melanogaster embryo already knows by then whether it is destined to become a neuron or a muscle cell  or part of the gut, the head, or the tail. Now, Nikolaus Rajewskys and Robert Zinzens teams at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) have analyzed the unique gene expression profiles of thousands of single cells and reassembled the embryo from these data using a new spatial mapping algorithm. The result is a virtual fly embryo showing exactly which genes are active where at this point in time. It is basically a transcriptomic blueprint of early development, says Robert Zinzen, head of the Systems Biology of Neural Tissue Differentiation Lab. Their paper appears as a First Release in the online issue of Science.Only recently has it become possible to analyze genome-wide gene expression of individual cells at a large scale. Nikolaus recognized the potential of this technology very early on and established it in his lab, says Zinzen. He started to wonder whether  given a complex organized tissue  one would be able to compute genome-wide spatial gene expression patterns from single-cell transcriptome data alone. BIMSB combines laboratories with different backgrounds and expertise, emphasizing the need of bringing computing power to biological problems. It turns out the institute had not only the perfect model system  the Drosophila embryo  to address Rajewskys question, but also the right people with the right expertise, from physics and mathematics to biochemistry and developmental biology.The virtual embryo is much more than merely a cell mapping exercise, says Nikolaus Rajewsky, head of the Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements Lab, who enjoyed returning to fly development 15 years after studying gene regulatory elements in Drosophila embryos during his post-doctoral time at the Rockefeller University. Using the interactive Drosophila Virtual Expression eXplorer (DVEX) database (), researchers can now look at any of about 8,000 expressed genes in each cell and ask, Gene X, where are you expressed and at what level? What other genes are active at the same time and in the same cells? It also works with the enigmatic long non-coding RNAs. Instead of time-consuming imaging experiments, scientists can do virtual ones to identify new regulatory players and even get ideas for biological mechanisms, says Rajewsky. What would normally take years using standard approaches can now be done in a couple of hours.Breaking the synchronicity of the first cell divisionsIn their paper, the MDC researchers describe a dozen new transcription factors and many more long non-coding RNAs that have never been studied before. Also, they propose an answer to a question that has puzzled scientists for 35 years: How does the embryo break synchronicity of cell divisions to develop more complex structures?In a process called gastrulation, distinct germ layers form and cells become restricted with regard to which tissues and organs they may differentiate into. We believe that the Hippo signaling pathway is at least partly responsible for setting up gastrulation, says Rajewsky. The pathway controls organ size, cell cycles and cell proliferation, but had never been implicated in the development of the early embryo. We not only showed that Hippo is active in the fly, but we could even predict in which regions of the embryo this would lead to a different onset of mitosis and therefore break synchronicity. And that is just one example for how useful our tool is to understand mechanisms that have escaped traditional science.Project underwent a tough gestation periodWhen the researchers started creating the virtual embryo, they did not know whether it would be possible. A key pillar of their eventual success is the Drop-Seq technology, a droplet-based, microfluidic method that allows the transcriptional profiling of thousands of individual cells at low cost. This technique had been newly set up in the Rajewsky lab by Jonathan Alles, a summer student.However, the fly embryos needed to be selected precisely at the onset of gastrulation. Philipp Wahle, a PhD student in Robert Zinzens lab, hand-picked about 5,000 of them before dissociating them into single cells. I was convinced this would give us a large and completely unique data set. This was a great motivation for me, says Wahle. That laborious process created a new challenge. You need to collect over several sessions to have enough material for a sequencing run, says Christine Kocks, who led the single-cell sequencing team. It was composed of Jonathan Alles, Salah Ayoub and Anastasiya Boltengagen, who jointly with computational scientistNikos Karaiskos optimized the droplet-based sequencing. So we had to find a way to stabilize the transcriptomes in the cells, added Kocks. Finally, based on his earlier work with C. elegans embryos, Nikolaus suggested using methanol. The new single-cell fixation method was published in BMC Biology in May 2017.As the data got better and better, Nikos Karaiskos, a theoretical physicist and computational expert in Rajewskys lab, took on the challenge of spatially mapping such a large number of cells to their precise embryonic position. None of the existing approaches in the field of spatial transcriptomics was suitable to reconstruct the Drosophila embryo. It was a reiterative process to filter the data, see what is inside and try to map it. It changed many times along the way, says Karaiskos. There was a lot of back and forth between members of the computer lab and wet lab  exchanges that are a defining characteristic of the BIMSB. I had to question my work all the time, see where it was lacking and develop something better. He came up with a new algorithm called DistMap that can map transcriptomic data of cells back to their original position in the virtual embryo.Navigating unchartered territoryThe construction of the virtual embryo allowed Karaiskos to readily predict the expression of thousands of genes, an almost impossible task by traditional experimental means. Philipp Wahle, supported by Claudia Kipar, validated these predictions by visualizing the gene expression profiles at the bench with a traditional approach: In situ hybridization allows visualizing patterns of gene expression with colorful dyes that are visible under the microscope. At this stage, a single layer of cells surrounds the entire fly embryo, says Wahle. This makes it very accessible, thus enabling you to compare the computational data with imaging.It is the first time that it has been possible to look at the about 6,000 cells of the embryo individually, assess their gene expression profiles  and understand what determines their behavior in the embryo. The most important technological advance of this study is that we dont lose the spatial information that is required to understand how embryonic cells act in concert, say the scientists. This really is unchartered territory and requires new bioinformatics approaches to make sense of the collected data. This worked beautifully in our collaboration, not least because of the unique make-up of the Rajewsky lab, which integrates wet lab and computational approaches. One major advantage is that both groups are not only interested in technology but have specific biological questions that motivate them, says Rajewsky. Robert has a deep understanding of early development. We can do single-cell sequencing runs and have the computational power to develop the tools that help us actually understand the underlying gene regulatory interactions.The groups are already planning follow-up projects. One example would be to map the cells at different time points to see how they work together to form organs and tissues. Another would be to check whether the mapping approaches are applicable to more complex tissues.Karaiskos, N. et al. (2017): The Drosophila embryo at single-cell transcriptome resolution. Science. doi:10.1126/science.aan3235Weitere Informationen: The publication at the Science websiteOnline version of this press releaseDrosophila Virtual Expression eXplorerRajewsky Labs websiteZinzen Labs websiteQuelle: idw
http://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/programmes/individual/emmy_noether/index.html

http://web.eth.mpg.de/data_export/events/6138/2017_Emmy_Noether_WS_Programme_170823_1.pdf

http://www.eth.mpg.de/muellerdo

http://www.eth.mpg.de

On 7 and 8 September 2017 a conference entitled Conceptualizing the Bureaucratization of Islam and Its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia: Anthropological and Transdisciplinary Perspectives will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. Together with international experts, doctoral students will discuss the role of state actors in contemporary political and legal Islamization processes in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The workshop is organized by the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group on the Bureaucratization of Islam headed by Dominik Muller and funded by the German Research Foundation.---Control through bureaucratizationSince the 1970s Islamic movements have developed into powerful political actors that have given rise to revolutionary upheavals and social transformation processes, resulting in major power shifts that continue to the present. In response, many Southeast Asian states have mobilized tremendous resources in an effort to control these processes by redefining Islamic rules and practices as bureaucratic norms. States thus adopt, for example, Islamic banking laws, criminal legislation, or family law, explains Dr Dominik Muller, head of the Emmy Noether Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. By doing this they attempt to pre-empt the demands of opposition movements and regulate and ultimately control Islamic discourse in the public sphere.States as agents of IslamizationThe wave of political and social Islamization that is currently sweeping Southeast Asia is thus not limited to oppositional, religiously motivated movements. In Brunei, for example, an official national Islamic ideology, Melayu Islam Beraja, has been implemented systematically in a top-down fashion. In this way the state cements its power of definition in political and religious contexts, creates new traditions and new forms of living in society, Muller says. In Malaysia the state also determines what is considered correct Islamic teaching and what is to be condemned as deviant. Muller: The Islamic bureaucracy has developed an elaborate set of rules. Take, say, the Malaysian state of Selangor: here the government has identified 70 deviant doctrines that may not be taught under pain of prosecution.Transformation of social processes into state normsThe many state interventions in society have created a highly complex and muddled situation in which it is not always clear who is acting in the name of what interests and goals. Social science research has paid little attention to date to Islamization tendencies within states, Muller explains. However, states actions take many different forms, and they do more than simply react to the challenges posed by oppositional Islamist movements. How these bureaucratization processes  and with them the states attempts to influence political and social Islamization  will continue in the future remains to be seen. The doctoral students in the Emmy Noether Research Group are engaged in empirical investigation of this question. In the working group we have been engaged in developing a broad conceptual framework that we are connecting with relevant insights from social anthropology on bureaucratization and anthropology of the state.Insight through anthropological field observationThese Islamization processes are bewilderingly diverse. Consequently, Muller and his doctoral students are placing great weight on their upcoming fieldwork, which will allow them to gain insight into the specific ways that the bureaucratization of Islam is manifested at different locations. Our goal is not primarily to merely compile individual case studies or national studies, Muller says. It is much more interesting to find explanations for the social phenomenon of bureaucratization in Southeast Asia using theoretical social anthropological concepts. All the more so because the new cultural forms that have emerged from religious bureaucratization and are putting down roots in many aspects of peoples everyday lives are not just a product of state power. In other words, Islamization in Southeast Asia cannot be characterized either as a purely oppositional movement, or as a political strategy for gaining and maintaining power. Muller emphasizes the necessity of remaining aware of both processes: For this reason we want to move beyond monocausal or functionalist explanations of Islamization. Instead, we will consider the dynamics of the production of meaning from a hermeneutic perspective and investigate what scope for action the actors have as a result of this.Doctoral students in dialogue with international expertsThe doctoral students, who recently returned from a one-month field orientation trip, will open the conference by presenting their research projects, which they will then discuss with established scholars from around the world. This is what makes our workshop special, Muller notes. Following general discussion among all conference participants, the doctoral students will each have the opportunity to talk about their project one-on-one with six invited experts. This intensive mentoring will provide excellent preparation for the doctoral students before they embark on their 11-month field research phase at the end of the year.Studying global social changeThe Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology is one of the worlds leading centres for research in socio-cultural anthropology. It was established in 1999 by Chris Hann and Gunther Schlee, and moved to its permanent buildings at Advokatenweg 36 in Halle/Saale in 2001. Marie-Claire Foblets joined the Institute as Director of the department Law & Anthropology in 2012.Common to all research projects at the Max Planck Institute is the comparative analysis of social change; it is primarily in this domain that its researchers contribute to anthropological theory, though many programmes also have applied significance and political topicality. Fieldwork is an essential part of almost all projects. Some 175 researchers from over 30 countries currently work at the Institute. In addition, the Institute also hosts countless guest researchers who join in the scholarly discussions at the Institute.More information on the German Research Foundations Emmy Noether Research programme:The workshop programme as PDF:Contact for this press releaseDr Dominik MullerMax Planck Institute for Social AnthropologyDepartment Law & AnthropologyAdvokatenweg 36, 06114 Halle (Saale)Tel.: 0345 2927-333Mail:PR contactStefan SchwendtnerPress and Public RelationsMax Planck Institute for Social AnthropologyAdvokatenweg 36, 06114 Halle (Saale)Tel.: 0345 2927-425Mail:Quelle: idw
A motorcyclist and his passenger were injured in a crash with a pickup truck Thursday night in Southeast Portland, police said.

The truck driver and motorcyclist collided at Stark Street and 151st Avenue around 9:40 p.m., police said. Early information indicates the truck driver was turning left onto Stark and that the motorcyclist was traveling in the opposite direction on Stark.

Police think the motorcyclist, a man, suffered critical, life-threatening injuries. Early information indicated his passenger, a woman, suffered serious injuries that don't threaten her life.

The driver of the 1999 Ford F-350 truck wasn't injured, Portland police said in a news release. The driver was cooperating with investigators.

Police didn't release additional information about the circumstances of the crash Thursday night. They haven't publicly identified anyone involved. They ask anyone who has information to call 503-823-3333.

 The Oregonian/OregonLive
President Donald Trump should reject or suspend Lattice Semiconductor's pending, $1.3 billion sale to a China-backed investment firm, a federal panel has concluded, dealing the longshot deal a potentially fatal blow.

However, the Portland-based company said Friday it continues to hold out hope the panel or the president will reach a different conclusion. Sources familiar with the deal say Lattice's board had voted to take up the issue directly with Trump.

Lattice is Portland's biggest tech company; it had 1,000 employees worldwide at the end of last year, though it laid off 30 in July and sold a division in India that had at least 150 employees. The company reported $427 million in sales last year, and a net loss of $54.1 million.

Lattice announced in November that it planned to sell to a newly formed private equity firm, Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, for $1.3 billion. The deal stalled, though, as it became clear that Canyon Bridge's funding comes from the Chinese government, which is investing heavily to develop its own semiconductor industry.

Lattice makes a relatively low-tech class of programmable computer chip used in a variety of consumer and industrial products, and has largely exited the defense market. But programmable chips can be adapted for a variety of uses, and some lawmakers warned the deal with China could threaten national security.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews such transactions for national security implications, but had twice before failed to reach a conclusion within the allotted 75-day review period. On Friday, though, Lattice said CFIUS had ruled against the deal.

Federal law gives the president 15 days after a CFIUS ruling to make his own determination. Trump has frequently been critical of China, but he desperately wants the nation's help in coping with the North Korean nuclear program.

"Lattice and Canyon Bridge plan to continue to engage in further discussions with CFIUS and the President to explore measures that may resolve any outstanding national security concerns and that could allow the parties to proceed with the transaction," Lattice wrote in a securities filing Friday.

A person familiar with the company's plans said Lattice had proposed protections around its technology that the company says would make it more secure from foreign influence than it is as an independent company. The person said Lattice views the president as a dealmaker who might be open to viewing Canyon Bridge's investment as a job booster for the company and Oregon.

"We support the Lattice Board's decision to take our proposed acquisition to the President," Canyon Bridge wrote in a separate statement. "We believe President Trump will recognize the benefits this investment will provide - to keep and grow jobs in the U.S., as well as expand Lattice's product portfolio."

History isn't on Lattice's side. This is the fourth time since 1990 that CFIUS has recommended blocking deals on national security grounds; in each prior case, the president agreed. Trump, however, is famously mercurial, and that could work in Lattice's favor.

CFIUS' ruling came as no surprise to investors, who have always been skeptical of the deal. Lattice shares were up 2 cents Friday morning at $5.67.

That's far below the $8.30 a share Canyon Bridge offered, and even below the $6.37 Lattice shares sold for last November before it announced plans to sell.

--

; twitter:

; 503-294-7699
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is pledging $1 million in personal money to Harvey storm relief efforts.



White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement at a briefing Thursday. She said Trump is calling on reporters to help decide which specific organization he should give to.



But Trump could also take a cue from his own re-election campaign. Earlier this week, his 2020 political committee blasted out emails and texts to more than 10 million supporters encouraging people to donate to Harvey efforts. The messages provided links to several specific charities: the Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way and local animal rescue operations.





Trump used a similar "reporters decide" gimmick at the beginning of his administration, that time with his presidential salary, which he is declining to accept. Then-press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a March briefing that Trump "has kindly asked you all determine where that goes."



A few weeks later, the White House announced that Trump had decided to give his first three months of salary to the Interior Department; his second three months worth went to the Education Department.



Trump has been criticized in the past for giving far less of his income to charitable causes than many other multi-billionaires. And he hasn't followed through on previous charity pledges.



In one high-profile example last year, he failed to give a promised $1 million of his own money -- plus another $5 million he said he'd raised -- to veterans' organizations until reporters asked questions months later about who had received the charity.



Harvey's flood waters have heavily damaged tens of thousands of homes across Texas and killed at least 30 people. The storm is now threatening the region near the Texas-Louisiana state line.

-- The Associated Press
"We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people."

And with that, mark Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., down as the second Republican senator to call on his colleagues to be a bulwark against President Donald Trump. (The second being his Arizona colleague Sen. Jeff Flake.)

On Friday, McCain published an op-ed in The Washington Post contrasting Trump's tepid response to white supremacists in Charlottesville with his own ("There is nothing in their hate-driven racism that can match the strength of a nation conceived in liberty"), justifying his surprise "no" vote on Republicans' attempt to repeal Obamacare, calling on congressional leaders to compromise with Democrats and vice-versa, and basically advising all of Congress to prioritize its own relationships over its standing with Trump:

"[W]e have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other. That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct."

In short, McCain just published 750 words in a national newspaper that seemed designed to jab directly at the president while rallying GOP resistance against him for the sake of the country.

It isn't a surprise that McCain feels this way about Trump, nor that he'd say as much publicly. McCain has been Trump's chief antagonist in the Senate pretty much since Trump was inaugurated.

The senator has publicly disagreed with Trump on renegotiating NAFTA ("facts are stubborn things"), on whether to bring back water-boarding ("The law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America.") and on Trump's choice of Rex Tillerson for secretary of state ("There's also a realistic scenario that pigs fly," McCain said when asked if he'd vote to confirm Tillerson). And, of course, there's Russia. While Trump has blasted the parallel investigations in Congress and at the FBI as a witch hunt, McCain has gone on TV alongside Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., to ask for more.

After McCain won the Arizona Republican primary a year ago, it took him precisely one day to ditch Trump. The ironic thing for McCain is that he campaigned for a sixth Senate term by pitching himself to voters as a bulwark against the president - specifically a President Hillary Clinton.

Now he's fulfilling that promise for a very different reason.

It also makes sense that McCain would speak out now. On Tuesday, Congress comes back from its summer break and faces a mountain of work to keep the government open and avoid a potential government default. Trump, a total wild card, has the power to derail negotiations, budget experts warn, by demanding that any budget have a downpayment on his border wall.

A week ago, Trump went to McCain's backyard and, without mentioning the senator by name, expressed his exasperation with McCain's "no" vote that helped kill the Obamacare repeal.

McCain is also in a season of speaking his mind more than usual. Over the summer, he announced that he had a deadly form of brain cancer. Not even a week later, he came back to the Senate to vote against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and to give a no-holds-barred lecture to the other 99 members about how their pride, partisanship and secretiveness have broken Congress.

In that speech, he opened the door for this week's op-ed, a more direct break from Trump:

"We are an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and in many respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether we are of the same party, we are not the president's subordinates. We are his equal!"

McCain is not the first congressional Republican to step out in front of the president and throw his arms up. A month ago, Flake published and heavily promoted a book that casts Trump as the manifestation of a conservative movement with its head stuck in the sand.

"To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties," Flake wrote, "and tremendous powers of denial."

What does this all mean? Well, two senators from a rising swing state ditching Trump doesn't a revolt make.

A new Fox News poll shows McCain's weakness with the very Republicans he's speaking to. He has a 55 percent favorable rating among registered voters, but he's underwater with Republican voters: 44 percent approve of him, while 52 percent don't. (Meanwhile, 65 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of McCain.)

Who knows if there will be more senators to follow McCain and Flake's lead. But if there are, we could look back on their anti-Trump arguments, laid out seven months into Trump's presidency, as one of the turning points.

--The Washington Post
(Photo by Mark Graves/Staff)

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Rose City Comic Con is just around the corner

Portland's own home-grown comics convention is coming.

This year, the event will run for three full days instead of the standard two as it celebrates its sixth year. As always, the Oregon Convention Center will be chock full of brightly colored costumes and some of the personalities who inspired such characters.

From heroes and villains to convention regulars, here are the five kinds of people you'll run into if you go:

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com

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Karl Urban photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Major celebs

This year's biggest stars are easily Peter Capaldi, who's fresh off his run as the titular Time Lord in "Doctor Who," Weird Al Yankovic and Karl Urban, who you might remember as Dr. McCoy in the new "Star Trek" movies or Eomer from the "Lord of the Rings" flicks.

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Kelly Sue DeConnick photo by Ed Peterson/Handout

Local artists

Kelly Sue DeConnick, whose "Bitch Planet" book has been widely lauded by sites like IGN and Comics Alliance, will join her collaborators for a panel on the project. Oregon's Michael Allred, creator of Madman and who's worked on the current run of Silver Surfer comics, will also attend with his wife, colorist Laura Allred. The convention floor will also be full of other local artists selling and exhibiting their work.

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Photo by Mark Graves/Staff

Cosplayers

The Oregon Convention Center is always packed to the gills with Spider-Men, Supermen, Batmen and Pikachus whenever a convention rolls into town. And as one of the largest nerd-centric gatherings in the region, expect some elaborate and outlandish costumes at Rose City Comic Con.

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Voice actors

Charles Martinet, who voices Super Mario, is a common sight at Portland's many conventions. Some celebs charge for autographs, but this guy will give away an enthusiastic "let's-a go" with a smile. Grey DeLisle, who voiced Azula in "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and who's served as the voice of Daphne on "Scooby Doo" since 1997 is also on hand.

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Jason David Frank photo by Chelsea Lauren/Getty

Convention regulars

If there's a geek culture convention in town, odds are Jason David Frank is in attendance. The man most famous for playing the Green Ranger in the '90s "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" series isn't one to sit one of these out. Brent Spiner, who played Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," is also a consistent presence during cons. And that's just the celebrity end. Plenty of regular attendees make their Rose City and Wizard World comic con plans months ahead of time.

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If you go:

Rose City Comic Con takes over the Oregon Convention Center Sept. 8-10. Tickets are $30-$40 for a one-day pass, $65 for the weekend. Hours are 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
When Donald Trump captured the presidency, Emma McIlroy thought Wildfang might be finished.

The tomboy clothing brand she had built was never shy about its politics: Social media posts before the election proclaimed its support for Democrat Hillary Clinton, and Wildfang had long been a staunch supporter of progressive causes.

"The night of the election I thought our brand might be over," McIlroy said. "I thought our mission was not one that resonated with the broader public."

But the brand didn't just survive; it flourished. While McIlroy said the election was personally devastating, the next three days turned out to be Wildfang's biggest of the year as customers clamored for its "Wild Feminist" T-shirts and upside-down "Make America Great Again" hats.

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

Wildfang recently brought in $2.35 million in funding from a group of venture capitalists led by the Oregon Angel Fund. The Portland company, the brainchild of two former Nike employees, will use the cash to continue to expand both online and in bricks and mortar.

Wildfang has enjoyed explosive growth since McIlroy founded it with Julia Parsley in 2013. The brand has seen sales grow 80 percent year-over-year, and McIlroy says it's on track to continue on that trajectory.

She declined to say how much Wildfang brings in annually, but said 70 percent comes from online sales, with its two Portland stores contributing the remaining 30 percent. McIlroy plans to open stores in New York and Los Angeles early next year. Eventually, she hopes to take the clothing company public.

Emma McIlroy, Wildfang's co-founder

The key to the brand's success? It does tomboy like no one else, filling a void in the market for boyish clothing tailored for women's bodies while cultivating a raucous, unapologetic brand that resonates with customers.

"I think the time is right for Wildfang," McIlroy said, noting the evolution of society's understanding of gender. "I think our voice is really resonating right now, especially under the current administration."

BOLD MOVES

The brand's top-selling piece is its "Wild Feminist" T-shirt; 11,000 have been sold since it was introduced in March 2016. Celebrities including Janelle Monae and Evan Rachel Wood have been photographed in them. Forever 21 took some heat last month when it introduced its own version of the shirt, which has since been pulled from its website.

Now, Wildfang is branching out, developing outerwear, swimsuits and even pajamas.

But suiting is its fastest-growing category. The offerings are anything but plain, featuring loud prints and quirky takes on the classics. Jungle-print blazer? Check. Pinstripe pants with a matching bomber jacket? Check.

When Wildfang started, it largely sold other brands. While about 20 percent of Wildfang's shelves are still occupied by such classics as Levis, Converse and Vans, the remaining inventory comprises Wildfang exclusives.

About half those products are collaborations with celebrities or brands, including rockers Tegan and Sara, comedian Ilana Glazer, as well as Hurley and Obey.

"Partnerships are definitely something we're really proud of," McIlroy said. "There's a lot of fun energy there, things we wouldn't be capable of doing on our own."

The collaborations don't stop at clothing. The company just launched a beer with Bend brewer 10 Barrel, and next month it's rolling out a wine blend with Union Wine, the maker of the oft-Instagrammed canned rose.

All profits from the "Get it Girl" wine will go to Planned Parenthood, McIlroy said. She hopes to raise $100,000. McIlroy estimates her company has given $25,000 to various causes in the last year, including to Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter, the ACLU and Portland's Q Center.

"We've got our money where our mouth is," she said.

And Wildfang is mouthy. In addition to its unabashedly political social media posts, it hosts monthly free speech events in which women share their personal stories, uncensored. The events sell out every month, McIlroy said.

"We are humbly and earnestly trying to be the strongest supporter of our community and the people around us," she said.

NOT FAKING IT

That authenticity is key, investors say, because Wildfang has leveraged it to build strong relationships with its customers.

"They're riding this wave, market trend of female empowerment and gender neutrality," said Julianne Brands, a partner at Oregon Angel Fund. "They've been able to cultivate a hugely enthusiastic tribe."

Brands suspects that some of this enthusiasm comes from the fact that its customers were largely underserved before Wildfang came along.

"Our theory is that they didn't have a place to go before," she said. "Other people weren't speaking to them before."

Oregon Angel Fund is largely invested in tech startups, but was waiting for the right apparel business to come along.

Katherine Melchior Ray, a fund investor, said betting on retail companies is riskier than tech because styles change quickly and fashion is subjective.

"We want to be part of the local market," she said. "There are a ton of apparel startups in Portland, but finding the right one that's going to be able to make it through this competitive growth curve is hard."

But Wildfang stood out for two reasons, said Ray, who works as a consultant for international retailers. She even invested in the company separately, and now sits on its board.

"One is that it they have a really sweet spot in the market," she said. "Wildfang is positioned right at that nexus at emerging identity, style and political expression."

Secondly, "they're incredibly talented people" she said. "It's not just where you are in the market, it's how fast you're able to respond. In the fashion sector, you're never able to get it right all the time."

Fashion is a delicate balance between being trendy but accessible, Ray said. Too avant-garde and you'll alienate your customers. Too mainstream and your brand is boring. Wildfang walks that line and walks it well, Ray said.

For investors, Wildfang's big appeal is that it's more than a clothing brand - in some ways it functions like a media outlet, spreading messages of female empowerment, gender fluidity and acceptance.

"That's why larger partners come for them," Ray said, "to speak to this very specific and passionate consumer that a lot of larger and more masculine brands are maybe unable to reach."

That specific customer? Wildfang understands her, Ray said. Or him. Or them.

-- Anna Marum

amarum@oregonian.com

503-294-5911

@annamarum

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Karla Thennes, executive director of Porchlight, and John Cannarella, owner of A-I Furniture, announce an effort to raise money to save the Safe Haven center for homeless with mental health issues.
Chorale auditions Sept. 9

Center Stage Choirs of Midland Center for the Arts will hold auditions for new Chorale members on Sept. 9. Auditions will take place at Midland Center for the Arts and are by appointment only. To schedule an audition time, contact Center Stage Music Director Dr. Matt Travis at 989-631-5930 x 1605 or travis@midlandcenter.org

Auditions consist of vocalizing, sight-reading and aural comprehension. Preparing a song is optional. This season's performances are Nov. 18, Dec. 16 and April 28, 2018. Chorale is a mixed-voice choir that performs a wide repertoire of music. Members are expected to read music and have a background in choral music. Rehearsals are Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. Rehearsals start Sept. 11, and continue through April 24, 2018.

ArtPrize bus excursion set

Midland Center for the Arts is offering Destination: ArtPrize, a daylong charter bus trip to view the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. Groups will have the opportunity to meet periodically throughout the day for a midday meal, special viewings and transport to other locations (itinerary to be determined).

Departure is from the MCFTA parking lot at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29. Cost for the day-long trip is $45 or $35 for Alden B. Dow Museum members. Participants are responsible for providing or purchasing their own meals. Comfortable walking shoes are a must as is an umbrella in case of rain. Estimated arrival time for return to MCFTA is 10 p.m. Suitable for adults. Seating is limited. Call (800) 523-7649 or visit www.mcfta.org More information, www.artprize.org

Underwater Bubble Show at MCFTA

Plunge into a glistening blend of laser technology, snow cannons, soap-bubble tornadoes and optical illusions when Midland Center for the Arts presents "The Underwater Bubble Show." Inspired by the artistry of Cirque du Soleil, this lavish Latvian production uses drama, mime, dance, puppetry, juggling, sand art, and theatrical magic to whisk families to an imaginary bubble world bursting with possibilities.

The Underwater Bubble Show takes place at 7:30 p.m.Friday, Sept. 29, MCFTA, 1801 W. St. Andrews Road. Tickets are $34, $24 and $17 for adults; and $34, $19 and $12 for students. A family 4-Pack is available for $50. Buy online at midlandcenter.org, stop at the Center Ticket Office or call 800-523-7649.
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The photography of Laurie Reed is on display through September at Meier Camera Shop, 140 Ashman St. in downtown Midland.

Reed is a Canadian-born educator and nature photographer who has taught physics, astronomy and meteorology at Saginaw Valley State University since 1992. She grew up in the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in astronomy, both from St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Reed specializes in the photography of insects, trees and landscapes with a philosophy that emphasizes calmness and simplicity.

She has studied photography with Michigan's own Rod and Marlene Planck and will be traveling to Iceland to do landscape photography with them this fall.

The photographs on display at Meier Camera in Midland represent about 10 years of her work and cover a variety of subjects: trees, reflections, landscapes and insects.

Her photographs have also been exhibited at the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Gallery at Saginaw Valley State University.

Laurie and her husband Cameron have lived in Midland since 2004.

See more of Laurie's images at http://lauriereed.smugmug.com
Dec. 11, 2015 - Dow and DuPont announce that their boards of directors approved a definitive agreement under which the companies will combine in an all-stock merger of equals.

May 23, 2016 - Dow and DuPont announce senior leadership appointments for DowDuPont, following the consummation of the proposed merger of equals.

July 20, 2016 - Dow and DuPont announce stockholders of both companies have voted to approve all stockholder proposals necessary to complete the merger of equals transaction.

March 27, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that the European Commission has granted conditional regulatory clearance in Europe of the companies' proposed merger of equals.

May 2, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that China's Ministry of Commerce has granted conditional regulatory approval of their proposed merger of equals.

May 11, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce the members of the Board of Directors for the proposed merger of equals transaction of the two companies.

May 17, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense has granted conditional regulatory approval of their proposed merger of equals.

June 15, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that they have reached a proposed agreement with the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice that will permit the companies to proceed with their proposed merger of equals.

June 28, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that both respective boards support a comprehensive portfolio review for DowDuPont, which is intended to assess current business facts and leverage the knowledge gained over the past year and a half to capture any material value-enhancing opportunities in preparation for the intended creation of three industry-leading companies.

Aug. 4, 2017 - Dow and DuPont announce that all required regulatory approvals and clearances have been received and that merger of equals will close after market close on Aug. 31, 2017.

Sept. 1, 2017 Dow and DuPont announce the successful completion of the merger of equals.

Source: DowDuPont
The case of a St. Louis woman accused of taking more than $118,000 from the 90-year-old man she provided care for will be presented to a judge next week.

Mary Ellen Farlow, 65, is charged with embezzlement of $100,000 or more from a vulnerable adult and embezzlement of jointly held property valued at $20,000 or more. The Midland County Sheriffs Office investigated the case, and court documents state the crime occurred from June 2011 to March 2017 in Jasper Township.

Farlow is due before Midland County District Court Judge Michael D. Carpenter on Sept. 8 for a preliminary hearing.

An affidavit states the suspect withdrew more than $93,000 from the victims bank account without his consent, as well as withdrew more than $25,000 for personal use without the account holders authorization.

Farlow was arraigned on the first count in April. The second count was added to the case in May, and Farlow was arraigned on that charge in June. Bond was set at $25,000 cash or surety, and has been posted. Farlow is not to have contact with the victim.

The case was bound up to the circuit court earlier this year, but Assistant Midland County Prosecutor Michael G. Yelsik and defense attorney Heather M. Warren of Midland signed an agreement to remand the case back to the district court for a preliminary exam.

Court documents state prosecutors have offered a plea deal calling for a guilty plea to the added count of embezzlement in exchange for the dismissal of the original charge.

Embezzlement from a vulnerable adult is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $50,000 or three times the value of the money or property involved. Embezzlement of jointly held property is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $15,000 or three times the value of the money or property involved.
It's no secret that former President Barack Obama and his family love Martha's Vineyard, having vacationed on the idyllic Massachusetts island seven out of the eight summers they were in the White House, as well as this August. And rumors are now flying that they're looking to purchase property in the area.

Local real estate agents are tight-lipped on the reports that the Obamas are house-hunting, since part of the charm of this island is that despite its popularity, VIPs can still get plenty of privacy. That's why it's a magnet for celebsincluding Bill Clinton, Larry David, Alan Dershowitz, and David Lettermansome of whom can be frequently sighted at low-key hotspots like the front porch of the Chilmark General Store. According to anonymous sources cited in the Boston Globe, the Obamas are shopping for homes or land lots in the northern, less populated regions of Aquinnah, Chilmark, and West Tisbury.

In particular, the Globe suggests the former president might be eyeing two oceanfront properties in Aquinnah that were once part of the 377-acre Red Gate Farm owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who passed this property down to Caroline Kennedy and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg. They later subdivided it into these two parcels.

One parcel is 75 acres at 8 Red Gate Farm Road, for sale at $15 million; it's pictured below.

8 Red Gate Farm Road realtor.com

The second, seen below, is a 40-acre parcel at 6 Red Gate Farm Road, for sale at $12 million. Both are listed with Hancock Real Estate in Chilmark (which refused to comment when we called).

6 Red Gate Farm Road

Granted, even without a fabulous mansion on the premises, it's clear that either (or both!) of these properties would offer the Obamas a slice of heaven on earth.

"Both lots are stunning," says Joy Cifuni, a real estate agent in Cape Cod, MA, at Keller Williams. "If I had to choose, I would pick the one for $15 million, because of the extra acres."

While comps in this price range are tough to come by, a 106-acre lot at 3 Red Gate Farm Road sold in 2012 and is currently valued at $12,685,000. So, given that these lots for sale are in the same price range (or higher) but offer far less land, you've gotta wonder: Are they overpriced? Possibly, considering the length of time they've been lingering unsold.

"Both pieces of land have been on the market for 83 days," points out Cifuni. This could spell an opportunity for the Obamas, should they decide to make an offer.

"Personally, I would deduct 10% from asking," says Cifuni.

Those savings could come in handy, since the Obamas will have to build a home from scratch, which is no small undertaking on this island south of Cape Cod.

"Being on the ocean creates its own challenges, like steps constantly washing out, erosion of land, and painting needing to be done more consistently because of salt," says Cifuni. "Picking the right builder is the most important step they could possibly make."

Other experts agree that building the perfect house could bring the former first family a ton of headaches.

"As good as a builder may be, problems always arise, causing delays," says Denise Supplee, a property management specialist at SparkRental. "And although the Obamas do have a political advantage, there is much to deal with in zoning, licensing, permits, and ground preparation."

"The Obamas need to check all permits, and [see] if their land can be subdivided, and if it's on Wampanoag land," says Julianne Kavoussi, who has owned a home in the Edgartown part of the Vineyard for 20 years. The Wampanoag are Native American people who, she says, own a good portion of Aquinnah.

Nonetheless, this land is bound to be a great investment.

"Oceanfront property here holds its value," says Cifuni. "It's the first to come up in price from a declining market, and the last to go down in a declining market."

In other words, if these rumors are to be believed, the Obamas have picked a great place to put down some roots. Lobster roll, anyone?

The post The Obamas May Buy Beachfront Property in Martha's Vineyard: What Could Go Wrong? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
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BLOOMINGTON  As of Friday, State Farm had received just over 53,000 auto and homeowners claims as a result of Hurricane Harvey.

We are starting to get into the area. A lot of the water is starting to recede, said Missy Dundov, spokeswoman for the Bloomington-based insurer.

We have claims reps from all across the country, including Illinois who have been sent to Texas, she said. Well over a thousand have been brought into Texas.  We're looking into sending people into Louisiana now.

Regardless of the insurance losses in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere, it should have no impact on Illinois customers, according to Dundov.

Rates are based on the state you live in and anticipated future losses in those areas, she said.

We don't try to make up for past losses, said Dundov. We look at the future.

The company is not estimating how long it will take to get an estimate of losses or take care of all its customers, saying only staff will be there as long as needed. Hurricane Harvey initially made landfall in Texas on Aug. 25.

We have learned from past events such as Hurricane Katrina, said Dundov. We were able to get a lot of our claims representatives to the staging area.

Another thing that has changed is the way people file claims. Technology has really evolved. We're able to reach customers more quickly, she said.

Some policy holders are using the Pocket Agent app or the State Farm website to file initial claims, she said. They also can call the company's 800 number, with questions being fielded in call centers nationwide.

But there still will be representatives on the ground, meeting customers in person and inspecting property.

This is what we do, Dundov said. Our job is to help people.

State Farm does not release the number of customers it has in specific regions. However, according to the Texas Department of Insurance website, State Farm is the No. 1 insurer of homeowners and private passenger vehicle owners in Texas.

It has a 22 percent share of the homeowners insurance market and about 16 percent of the private passenger vehicle market, the Texas department reports.

Vehicle owners whose cars were damaged by flood water are covered if they have comprehensive auto insurance, Dundov said.

However, standard homeowners insurance policies cover such things as wind and hail damage, but not flood damage.

The Associated Press reported this week that few people in the hard-hit Houston area have flood insurance. A 2016 report from the Insurance Information Institute said only 12 percent of U.S. homeowners have flood insurance, the lowest percentage since 2010.
NORMAL  Rebecca Stiles-Bergquist made a radical decision as a single mother and business professional in the prime of life.

The decision was to have both breasts removed.

"I was single and 46 at the time," Bergquist recalled in her Normal home last week. "I thought 'Are people going to look at me differently? Will people date me?'"

"The decision I made I felt was radical," Berqguist continued. "But I didn't want the (breast) cancer to come back. So I made the choice to make my chances for recurrence as low as possible."

"I wanted to be here when my son has children," Bergquist continued with tears in her eyes. She looked to her son, Ben Bergquist, now 19 but 17 at the time of his mother's diagnosis.

"My grandmother wasn't around," she said. "I was 17 when she died (of breast cancer that had spread throughout her body). I didn't want the same thing to happen to my son."

Ben said, "I thought 'Whatever you choose, I'll be there to support you.'"

Bergquist's concern for her son is typical, said Katie Parker, a breast cancer survivor and marketing director for the Susan G. Komen Memorial Affiliate, which covers most of Central Illinois, including McLean County.

"Women want to be healthy for themselves so they can be healthy for others," Parker said.

Bergquist is the chair for the 7th Annual Komen Bloomington/Normal Race for the Cure, which is Sept. 9 on the State Farm Corporate South campus.

"She was fortunate to have caught it (breast cancer) at an early stage so is passionate about educating women about the importance of getting their yearly mammograms," Parker said.

Bergquist, who turns 49 on Sept. 2, is a Bloomington-Normal native who is branch manager for Waterstone Mortgage Corp. (formerly Inlanta). She has been divorced from Ben's father since 2012.

Her grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 47 years and had one breast removed. But the cancer later spread and she died at 62.

"I got a baseline mammogram when I was 29 and began getting yearly mammograms when I was 35," Bergquist said. "Everything was always fine. I was always very healthy."

But in January 2015, she was on vacation when she recognized that "I wasn't feeling right."

The feeling continued. She went to her doctor, had a battery of tests and all came back normal.

"I burn the candle at both ends," she said. "I thought 'Oh, I'm just exhausted.'"

Then she had her yearly mammogram.

A follow-up biopsy showed cancer in her right breast with lymph node involvement and suspicious areas in her left breast.

"After that, the whole day was just kind of a blur," she recalled. She called close family members and friend Molly Munson-Dryer of Normal.

That night, she told Ben. The conversation was difficult.

"I thought 'If something happens to me, who is going to be the person for Ben? Will my child be OK without me here?'" she recalled.

Ben said, "Honestly, I didn't know what to say or think. I had to grab onto it and think about it. It was scary. It didn't all hit me until a couple days later.

"But that night, I gave her a big hug and told her everything would be OK," Ben continued. "I knew she was strong. She's always gotten through stuff before. I knew she would get through this."

At the suggestion of Munson-Dryer, Bergquist elected to go to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Her doctor there suggested that she get genetic testing because of her family history.

If the testing came back negative  meaning her cancer was not because of an inherited gene mutation  she would have a lumpectomy (surgical removal of the malignant tumor and tissue surrounding it) and six weeks of radiation.

But the results were inconclusive. Bergquist decided that, because of her family history and her concern that the cancer would return, she instead would have a bilateral mastectomy  removal of all breast tissue that could develop cancer.

"There's a less than 10 percent chance that I can get it (breast cancer) back now with the bilateral mastectomy," Bergquist said. "With the lumpectomy and radiation, it would have been substantially higher."

"I told Ben 'Everything is doing to be OK,'" Bergquist recalled.

"It was definitely reassuring," Ben said. "I wasn't scared anymore. I knew she was getting the help she needed."

The seven-hour surgery was June 10, 2015. Ben was at his mother's bedside when she awoke.

But Bergquist's body rejected the tissue expanders placed in her breasts as part of the reconstruction process.

"It wasn't anything they (medical professionals) did wrong. It wasn't anything I did wrong. But my body had a foreign object in it and was rejecting it."

Over the next several months, Bergquist had several surgeries to remove and replace the expanders and clean and restitch the areas.

In the middle of that, in January 2016, doctors removed an unrelated non-cancerous cyst that had wrapped around her spleen, stomach, pancreas and colon. That delayed the breast reconstruction, which finally was complete on Dec. 15, 2016.

"It can be an ongoing journey," Bergquist said of cancer treatments and reconstruction. "But I think everything happens for a reason."

"We have gone eight months without surgery and without health issues and life is good," Bergquist said. "I feel very fortunate. I'm feeling about 95 percent."

Bergquist raised $3,500 at her own fundraiser for Komen on April 30, 2016, and participated in the Komen Bloomington/Normal Race for the Cure last year. This year, Komen officials asked her to be the race chair.

"I needed to do something, to give back, to raise awareness," she said. "My cancer was caught early through a routine mammogram. What if I had waited six months? So early detection through a yearly mammogram and breast self exam is so important."

The race also raises money for research and for programs and services, including for mammograms for women who can't afford them.
NORMAL  About 400 student organizations, businesses and community groups battled for attention at Thursday's Festival ISU, but they were no match for the Normal Fire Department.

A huge crowd gathered to see one of the department's displays go up in smoke  literally.

In a joint project by the department and Illinois State University's Office of Environmental Health and Safety, mock-ups of a typical student room were set up side by side on the quad. Both were equipped with smoke detectors. Only one had sprinklers.

When the rooms were set on fire, the smoke alarms went off within seconds.

After a couple of minutes, the sprinklers activated in one room, putting out most of the fire.

Meanwhile, the fire continued to spread in the adjoining room without sprinklers, reaching a flash point in just over three minutes.

The fire continued to burn a few more minutes to simulate the time it would take for firefighters to reach the fire with their equipment. A new fire station expected to open soon on the southwest side of campus is expected to improve response times to the university.

The flames were quickly extinguished once the hose was turned on, but the damage was already done and the message was clear  fires spread quickly and sprinklers make a difference.

Doug Stretch, safety officer of ISU's Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told students that 128 people have died in campus fires nationwide since 2001.

The leading cause of campus fires is cooking, followed by intentionally set fires and electrical fires, he said.

Stretch reminded students of the importance of keeping fire doors closed and sprinklers unobstructed.

Matt Swaney, public information officer with the Normal Fire Department, said the demonstration should be a big eye-opener for a lot of kids.

It's not anything like it is on TV, said Swaney. It's very hot, the smoke is very thick and it goes up very quickly.

Freshman Jack Girard, a business administration major from Downers Grove, was among those watching.

It was cool but it's also scary, said Girard, who lives in Watterson Towers. I'm glad that we have the sprinklers in our dorm.

Students also had the opportunity to put out small fires with fire extinguishers and to trigger fire alarms.

Elsewhere at Festival ISU, nearly 300 registered student organizations spread the word about various clubs and activities  recreational, social and educational  hoping to get more students involved.

Many offered activities, from painting to tie-dying T-shirts, and numerous giveaways included free food and T-shirts.

Jessica Calhoun, a junior in finance from Canton, said, as a new transfer student, I'm really enjoying learning about all the different organizations.  I didn't know there were so many.

A dunk tank run by the ISU Police Department raised money for Special Olympics of Illinois and a table staffed by the Dean of Students Office collected money for Midwest Food Bank to help victims of Hurricane Harvey.
BLOOMINGTON  Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Thursday sweeping changes to the way the state funds schools, calling it a historic day that will bring "more equality, more fairness and better opportunity for all the students of Illinois."

"We are achieving an historic event to get more resources, more support, more excellence for your classrooms, for your education, and to support your teachers," Rauner told students at Bloomington High School, where he visited earlier in the day.

He signed the bill at an Edison Park elementary school.

Besides distributing state aid more equitably, the long-sought deal the Legislature approved this week gives districts more flexibility on state mandates, allows residents in well-funded districts to reduce their property taxes and creates a new tax credit for donations to private school scholarships.

It also provides more than $430 million in new funding to Chicago Public Schools. That's roughly $150 million more than the amount Rauner stripped from an earlier plan and railed against as a "bailout."

Asked Wednesday about the turnaround, the Republican said the measure is a compromise and includes "many of the goals I recommended."

State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican and minority leader, said Rauner spearheaded the bill despite the governor's work against Senate Bill 1, which remains the backbone of the law.

In Bloomington, Rauner explained the landmark bill to about 75 students, spoke about what didn't make it in and lauded Republican lawmakers on hand, including Brady, state Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington  who helped shape the deal  and state Rep. Dan Brady of Bloomington.

BHS Principal Tim Moore said the new model will provide for adequacy and equity for all schools while immediately targeting those that need it most.

Bloomington District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly and Mark Daniel, who holds the same job for Normal-based McLean County Unit 5, praised that part of the bill but said they have concerns about establishing private school scholarship tax credits when public schools still need more funding.

When asked whether the tax credits mean vouchers  state funds for parents to send their kids to private schools  are next, Rauner did not answer.

Instead, he discussed tax increment financing (TIF) districts, a government funding mechanism to be studied by a commission as part of the bill. Rauner said he hoped to address the districts directly in the proposal but couldn't.

TIF districts divert property tax revenue from governmental bodies, including school districts, to spur economic development. That revenue then isn't counted in a district's property tax base, which Rauner has said is unfair because it allows communities to set aside TIF money and also get more state education funding to make up for it.
The Normal Town Council on Monday will consider an ordinance for the 2022 property tax levy estimated to be $13,381,652, which is the same as last year's levy.
NORMAL  Central Illinois' Hurricane Harvey relief efforts have grown as Midwest Food Bank has expanded opportunities for people to help and the American Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region has increased its number of volunteers and staff in Texas to 66.

"This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope," Tom Fargione, the Harris County, Texas, director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the Associated Press.

As of Friday, Hurricane Harvey and its accompanying flooding in Texas have been responsible for 39 deaths, heavily damaging more than 37,000 homes and leaving tens of thousands of others with minor damage. About 375,000 people had sought federal emergency aid.

In response, Midwest Food Bank, 2031 Warehouse Road, Normal, will be sending several additional semitrailer loads of family food boxes, baby supplies and hygiene products to Texas next week, food bank communications director Phil Hodel told The Pantagraph on Friday.

This follows four semitrailer loads of disaster relief boxes that have gone out in the past week from Midwest Food Bank to Arlington and Houston, Hodel said. Disaster relief boxes contain shelf-stable food and supplies.

The food bank packs and takes semitrailers loads of food and supplies to disaster areas, where it is distributed to people in need by The Salvation Army.

The food bank is accepting donations of nonperishable food, baby supplies and hygiene supplies from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at its Warehouse Road location, Hodel said.

In addition, the food bank, where more than 300 volunteers assembled and packed more than 2,000 family food boxes Monday, has added additional times for volunteers to pack disaster relief boxes.

While Monday's volunteer event already is filled, opportunities to help remain open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 9, 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 12, 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 19 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 23. Signup is at http://bloomington.midwestfoodbank.org/volunteer-opportunities.

Meanwhile, American Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region has 66 people  63 volunteers and three staff members  providing disaster relief, said Trish Burnett, Red Cross regional communications director. Their work includes providing food, shelter and mental health services to people in need, said Sondra Hayes, Red Cross regional direct services and recovery program manager.

Volunteers from The Pantagraph area include Nancy Barrington, Normal; Joyce Cook, Streator; Mike McKnight, Normal; Diana Patten, Bloomington; Rita and Tom Seggelke, Lincoln; John Whitcomb, Bloomington; and Lynn Willard, Roanoke.
HEYWORTH  State officials are taking action to ensure the owners of a Heyworth mobile home park clean up bacterial contamination in its water supply.

The owners say that work started months ago, but delays in approval from state officials has slowed the project.

Country Lane Mobile Home Park is located about two miles north of Heyworth and has about 30 homes.

In late spring, we had a water line get vandalized in one of our vacant lots, said owner John Theobald. Our plumber said that it appeared that the riser coming up out of the ground had been yanked out and water was spewing everywhere.

The line was fixed, but a water sample tested positive for bacteria. Because of the positive coliform test, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency recorded a violation and requested information on how it will be fixed.

We responded that we would like permission to install a permanent chlorination system so this can never happen again, Theobald said. They received the information about the system at the end of July, but never responded to us. The water samples were coming back clean and we assumed it was a one-time event from the broken water line. We then waited on the approval.

Last week, the EPA informed Theobald that there was a new positive E.coli test result and they were going to begin the process of forcing them to install a chlorinator. Theobald was told that because of the most recent positive test, the previously planned project was considered null and void, but steps would be taken to move the project forward quickly, he said.

As part of the rush, they are required to bring in a court order and inform the public, but it is frustrating because we had everything in place to go forward with the chlorination project, but were waiting on the proper approval from the state, which never came, he said.

A temporary chlorinator is now in place, he said. If there is bacteria in the system, it will be killed immediately. Meanwhile, the planned permanent chlorination system should be installed this week.

But we are still waiting for the EPA to approve it, he said.

A boil order has been in place since the initial problem was reported, and several local organizations, including the McLean County Health Department and McLean County Emergency Management Agency, have assisted residents of the mobile home park.

The Illinois EPA through the Illinois Department of Public Health contacted us to see if we could bring some water to those residents for bathing, baking, brushing teeth and that kind of stuff, said Lisa Slater, a spokeswoman for the McLean County Health Department. We worked with county administration and Emergency Management, who worked with the Salvation Army to get water to the residents.

Illinois EPA officials have asked the Attorney Generals office for the court order that would require the mobile home park to continue to distribute bottled water until bacteria-free samples are obtained, continue the boil order, and get a new chlorination system approved and installed as quickly as possible.
JUNEAU  The brother of Sesalie Dixon has filed a wrongful death suit against Fox Lake homicide suspect Laverne Ware Jr.

It is the third wrongful death suit filed against the 37-year-old, who has been accused of killing Dixon, his longtime girlfriend and first cousin.

Dixons brother Stanley Lewis, of Madison, filed the case against Ware on Wednesday in Dodge County Circuit Court. No court dates are listed for the case, but it will be conducted in the courtroom of Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Martin De Vries.

Dixons husband, Shundale Dixon, of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, filed a civil case Aug. 9. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Steven Bauer was originally assigned to the case, but Ware requested a new judge on Aug. 21. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger drew the assignment and will hold a motion hearing today to discuss the case.

Stanley Johnson, father of Sesalie Dixon, filed a wrongful death case against Ware on Dec. 14. No court dates have been scheduled in that case. However, as part of the suit, Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Martin De Vries entered an order preventing the disbursement of assets by Ware except $150,000 that will be allowed for legal defense.

The three cases are under judicial review and could possibly be consolidated.

Ware, charged with first-degree intentional homicide, is scheduled for a two-week jury trial in April. He also faces charges of hiding a corpse, incest and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He could face life in prison on the homicide charge. Ware is currently in custody in Dodge County Jail on a $2.5 million bond.

Ware has a motion hearing scheduled Thursday in the felony case in which he will represent himself in court after dismissing his fourth set of attorneys. Attorney Jonathan Smith of Kohn, Smith Roth Law Office filed a motion Aug. 16 for himself, Steven Kohn and James Toran, from the James Toran Law Office, to be withdrawn from the case.

Wares other former attorneys are Donna Kuchler, Aaron Nelson, Ann Bowe and Michael Stenle.

Ware cited the 1975 United States Supreme Court case Faretta v. California, which held that criminal defendants had constitutional rights to represent themselves without the aid of counsel.

I write this request under sound mind, voluntarily and intellectually, Ware wrote in his request to Pfitzinger, who is overseeing the felony case. I seek to retain and use my right to proceed pro-se.

Wares mother, Marjorie Jones, and her former live-in boyfriend, Vernon Mickey, also are charged in the case. Jones has a five-day jury trial scheduled in January after being accused of aiding her son in covering up Dixons murder. Mickey has a telephone conference April 26.
Cheers

... to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for stopping "war chant" music during its sporting events, a tradition tied to the former controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek.

The chief  a buckskin-clad man who portrayed a Native American  was retired in 2007 after concerns that the mascot's dress, gestures and dances were offensive. Supporters maintain, and many still do, that he showed respect to American Indians.

Especially now, in the midst of a nationwide debate on racial relations, students and alumni need to honor their schools' heritage, but without names or images that can elicit contempt or support stereotypes.

Cheers

... to OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center and Home Sweet Home Ministries for its yearly OSF Shoe Drive that takes donated shoes and boots and gets them into the hands of people who need them.

Shoes and boots that no longer can be worn are recycled.

This year's project collected more than 4,000 pounds of shoes, about 544 pounds more than last year's record of 3,524.

Cheers

... to the Veterans Administration and Veterans Assistance Commission for their work in helping to secure a new veterans outpatient clinic that will open in McLean County in 2019.

The VAC currently transports 550 to 600 veterans each year to Peoria, which is the closest VA clinic. In McLean County, 7,488 veterans are eligible for care through VA and 47 percent are registered and receiving care through the VA system.

A location has not been chosen yet.

Cheers

... to District 87 schools for making fast work out of a report of lead found at several schools.

The levels are lower than those considered acceptable at a house, but any sentence with "lead" and "kids" is bound to bring worry.

Cheers

to the town of Normal, the Normal Police Department and the town's new community policing culture board board, members of which all say they will work together to make sure all voices are heard.

The group has been meeting since January with Police Chief Rick Bleichner and other officials.

We're all on the same side. Acknowledging that simple fact can go a long way toward making sure our communities and residents make Central Illinois as strong as possible.

Reminder

... you can help the agencies helping those in need after Hurricane Harvey.

American Red Cross: online at redcross.org/donate/donation; by mail at P.O. Box 37839, Boone, IA 50037-0839; by phone, 800-RED-CROSS; by TDD, 800-220-4095; Espanol, 800-257-7575; by text, REDCROSS to 90999 for $10 donation.

The Salvation Army: online at give.salvationarmyusa.org; by phone, 800-SAL-ARMY; by mail, Corps Community Center, 611 W. Washington St., Bloomington, IL 61701; or by PayPal.

Midwest Food Bank: midwestfoodbank.org/make-a-difference/donate
100 years ago

Sept. 1, 1917: The City Council is sold on buying a sewer cleaning machine. They cost $1,500, so the city will make a small deposit and try it out. If the cleaner is deemed satisfactory, there will be a deadline to pony up the rest of the cost. Decatur has such a machine, and they like theirs.

75 years ago

Sept. 1, 1942: Foosland schools opened with 58 students for the entire system. Foosland is about five miles east of Bellflower. The high school has two faculty members, Gordon Hirst and Edgar Dixon. Two of Fooslands 1942 graduates have gone on to college.

50 years ago

Sept. 1, 1967: Whap, the headline read. The details: District 87 lifted a 1945 ban on corporal punishment in schools. Under the ban, teachers could be fired for laying a hand on a student. Now students know the ban is off, although there is a complaint process for recourse.

25 years ago

Sept. 1, 1992: The first truckload of Hurricane Andrew relief supplies from The Pantagraph area left the Schnucks Supermarket parking lot. This batch was collected by the Central Illinois Chapter of Christian Farmers. There are at least five other collections underway in the area.
Variety reports that Cara Delevingne has signed onto costar alongside Orlando Bloom in the new Amazon drama series "Carnival Row." The first season will consist of eight episodes and will be written and executive produced by seasoned showrunner Rene Echevarria.



"Carnival Row" is a fantasy-noir drama set in a neo-Victorian city that will tell the story of rising tensions between the city's residents and newly-arrived mythical creatures fleeing their war-torn homeland. Delevingne will star as Vignette Stonemoss, a faerish refugee who faces human prejudice while dealing with the secrets she left behind.

Delevingne has been steadily racking up her acting bona-fides since choosing to step back from modeling, starring opposite Keira Knightley in 2012's Anna Karenina, appearing in Paper Towns and Suicide Squad, and most recently starring in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. She also released a song for the soundtrack of Valerian that was produced by Pharrell.

Go get 'em, Cara!

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[h/t Variety]

Image via BFA




Earlier this week, L'Oreal announced that transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf would be one of the faces of its new diversity initiative (and the first ever transgender model to front a campaign for the UK brand). Now the company has let Bergdorf go from that position, after discovering the model had written on Facebook about the enduring legacy of racism in the wake of Charlottesville.

"Honestly I don't have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people," Bergdorf wrote. "Because most of ya'll don't even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour."

L'Oreal publicly announced the decision to let Bergdorf from the campaign in a statement that read, "L'Oreal supports diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion."

L'Oreal champions diversity. Comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with our values and so we have decided to end our partnership with her.

 L'Oreal Paris UK (@LOrealParisUK) September 1, 2017





Bergdorf posted to Facebook about the decision, writing, "When I stated that "all white people are racist", I was addressing that fact that western society as a whole, is a SYSTEM rooted in white supremacy - designed to benefit, prioritise and protect white people before anyone of any other race. Unknowingly, white people are SOCIALISED to be racist from birth onwards. It is not something genetic. No one is born racist."

She added, "So when a transgender woman of colour, who has been selected to front up a big brand campaign to combat discrimination and lack of diversity in the beauty industry, speaks on her actual lived experience of being discriminated against because of her race and identifies the root of where that discrimination lies - white supremacy and systemic racism - that big brand cannot simply state that her thoughts are not "in line with the ethics of the brand."

She continued, "The irony of all this is that L'Oreal Paris invited me to be part of a beauty campaign that 'stands for diversity'. The fact that up until very recently, there has been next to no mainstream brands offering makeup for black women and ethnic minorities, is in itself due to racism within the industry. Most big brands did not want to sell to black women. Most big brands did not want to acknowledge that there was a HUGE demographic that was being ignored. Because they did not believe that there was MONEY to be made in selling beauty products to ethnic minorities."

You can read her whole statement here:





Firing a model hired to front a "diversity" campaign for calling out racism is peak irony, and could certainly have a chilling effect on other people in public positions who might otherwise call out systematic injustice. Do better, L'Oreal.





[h/t Dazed]

Image via Facebook
Earlier this summer, people around the world gathered together to commemorate the one year anniversary of the horrific massacre that occurred at queer Orlando nightclub Pulse last summer. With the election of a new president whose policies have already proven themselves to be incredibly homophobic, it seemed more important now than ever before to express solidarity for what was considered to be the deadliest mass shooting in history.

But of course, not all commemoration efforts have to be somber in tone. In fact, sometimes the best way to commemorate a legacy is by celebrating it. As is such, it's exciting to hear that Barbara Poma, the owner of Orlando's Pulse, is currently location scouting for a new Pulse. According to The Orlando Sentinel, plans to reopen the once very popular safe haven for QTPOC are firmly underway. According to a spokesperson, Poma is "looking for a location somewhere in central or urban Orlando."

The announcement comes a few weeks ahead of the city's first town hall meeting dedicated to discussing future plans for turning the original Pulse location into a permanent memorial, which would possibly include a museum. In the meantime, information is still scarce on the release status for the bound-to-be heartbreaking upcoming documentary about the tragic massacre, One Pulse.

[h/t Jezebel]

Splash photo via Getty Images


President Trump said today that the legal fate of nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors will be decided as early as today or this weekend. Known as DREAMers, this particular group of immigrants was granted work authorization under a temporary Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Since taking office, Trump has rolled back or tried to dismantle a number of Obama-era policies, including the Affordable Care Act, the Cuba agreement, equal pay protections for workers and anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBTQ people. The fate of DACA and the tens of thousands of people affected by it has been unclear since Trump took office, and his announcement that the decision will be made "sometime today or over the weekend" didn't shed much light.

"We'll issue it sometime over the weekend, sometime today or over the weekend, we'll have a decision. We'll issue it sometime over the weekend, maybe this afternoon," Trump said today from the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. "We love the DREAMers, we love everybody. Sometime over the weekend, maybe this afternoon."



He later added, "Will be releasing on DACA sometime over the weekend, probably Sunday, Saturday; latest will be Monday."

Trump said during his campaign that he would end Obama's "illegal amnesties," but the DREAMers - while technically in the U.S. illegally - are generally viewed sympathetically by most people with hearts. A September 5th deadline looms for the president, due to a threatened legal challenge to the program if a decision is not made by officials in Texas and nine other states.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said he does not wish to defend the program in court, and so far no one in Trump's administration has stood up for the program. Trump himself seems unsure of what to do, speaking of treating the young immigrants with "heart" once he took office.

Supporters of the program have been urging Trump not to end it, and Republican leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump shouldn't scrap it, saying today, "I actually don't think he should do that. I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix."

[h/t Buzzfeed News]
Last December Pope Francis officially recognized the martyrdom of Father Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who was killed in Guatemala by factions of that countrys military, making him the first recognized martyr born in the United States. This recognition of martyrdom has cleared the way for his beatification which will take place on September 23rd in Oklahoma City.

Father Rother died while serving the flock entrusted to him as a missionary to the indigenous people of Guatemala. He knew that remaining with his parishioners in the town of Santiago Atitlan was a death sentence due to the tense political situation, yet he stayed. In his Christmas letter of 1980, Father Rother wrote to his friends and family, The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger. A few short months later, on July 28th, 1981, a military death squad entered the rectory, held the sacristan at gunpoint and demanded he lead them to the priest. That night, Father Rother was tortured and killed in the study of his house.

On June 25th, 2015, a theological commission of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints voted to formally recognize him as a martyr. At that critical moment, Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma City stated that Father Rother laid down his life for Christ and for the people of his parish in Guatemala, whom he dearly loved. It is very encouraging to move one step closer to a formal recognition by the Church of Father Rothers heroic life and death as a martyr for the Gospel.

A few years ago I visited Santiago Atitlan, the small town on the shores of the spectacular Atitlan Lake where Father Stanley Rother was killed by those who opposed his ministry to those in the periphery of society. I slept on the floor of a room adjacent to where he was shot. I met people who knew him and worked with him. I met one of his seminary classmates who described how Father Rother struggled academically and was not a good student. I met Chona, the woman who cleaned the crime scene and poured his blood into an empty glass jar. I heard stories from priests who saw him pacing back and forth in a chapel in Guatemala City days before his martyrdom. Father Rother had become a threat to the government because he was helping the indigenous and defending them against a government that had little use for them and considered most of them subversive.

I recently heard the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus Carl Anderson propose Stanley Rother as the Patron of the Periphery. In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis condemns the economy of exclusion and inequality where masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. He notes that this exclusion leads to people being not just in the fringes of society, but to individuals who are not even part of society. These are the outcast and leftovers (EG, 53). Soon to be Blessed Stanley Rother stood for the rights of the outcast and leftovers in the mountains of Guatemala and was martyred for his heroic love and perseverance. I agree with Carl Anderson, this man truly is the Patron of the Periphery.

Mass at Santiago Atitlan Parish
Patna: Police in Patna on Thursday arrested four postal employees from Patna GPO on charges of consuming alcohol in the post office premises following a party to honor a retiring employee.

As reported, someone who works in the same building, called the Kotwali Police around 2:30 pm saying some postal employees in the Check Clearance Section on the ground floor were drinking alcoholic beverage in violation of the prohibition laws.

Soon Kotwali DSP Shibli Nomani arrived there with a team of police and found two bottles of half-empty foreign liquor on the table along with some snacks to go with them.

After giving them breathalyzer test, the four men were arrested and brought to the Kotwali police station.

Arrested men were identified as Postal Assistant Eric Anil Kumar Topno, a native of Ranchi, Amit Kumar of Bhagalpur, Rajiv Kumar of Warsaliganj, and Nawal Kishore of Banka. All four lived in Patna in rented flats.

A fifth person who was identified as Subodh Kumar had gone out to get some more snacks managed to give slip to the cops.

Attempts are on to arrest Subodh and to find out who was supplying liquor to these postal employees, Nomani said.
Gaya: Rocky Yadav, the son of former Janata Dal  U legislator Manorama Devi and criminal-turned-businessman Bindeshwari Yadav, a.k.a. Bindi, was announced guilty by a Gaya court on Thursday in the Aditya Sachdeva murder case that occurred on May 9, 2016 in Gaya following a brief encounter between the two involving road rage.

Along with Rocky Yadav, two others including his cousin Teni Yadav and his mother's bodyguard Rajesh Kumar, were also convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. His father Bindi Yadav was convicted on charges of giving shelter to his son while trying to evade arrest, and providing misleading information to the police about the whereabouts of his son.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Sachchidanand Singh, after hearing the final argument from both sides, declared Rocky and his two accomplices guilty of murdering Aditya Sachdeva, the 20-year old son of a Gaya businessman.

As reported at the time, Rocky Yadav shot and killed Aditya Sachdeva in cold blood because he victim dared to overtake his luxurious Land Rover on a Gaya Road on the night of May 9, 2016. Sachdeva, who was with his friends in a Maruti Swift car, was ambushed and forced to pull over after which Rocky Yadav and his goons first beat him up and his friends and then the legislator's son shot Aditya from a close range.

Sentencing will be announced on September 6.

The four convicted men were immediately moved to Gaya Central Jail.

Defense lawyer Satyanarayan Singh said his client would appeal the verdict in the High Court and if needed, will even approach the Supreme Court.

The verdict was welcomed by Aditya's father Shyam Sundar Sachdeva who said today his faith in the Indian justice system was restored.
Iranian Security Forces Exit Karroubi's Home, As Pledged By Government

09/01/17

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Iran's Intelligence Ministry agents retreated from inside opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi's home in Tehran on August 29, a day before he was discharged from hospital, his son told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).



Mehdi Karroubi in a hospital in Tehran

"Last night the security forces gathered their personal effects and security equipment and evacuated the house," said Mohammad Taghi Karroubi. "As of today, the house arrest is being imposed from the outside. In effect, agents control comings and goings from a guardhouse."

Mehdi Karroubi (79), along with fellow opposition leader Mir Hosseini Mousavi (75), and his wife Zahra Rahnavard (71), have been under extrajudicial house arrest since February 2011 for their role in the 2009 peaceful protests against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which became known as the Green Movement. They have had no charges publicly announced or trial during their more than six years of house arrest.

Karroubi ended a hunger strike on August 17 after one day when two senior government officials-Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Deputy Intelligence Minister Mohammad Pourfalla -visited him in the hospital and agreed to his demands for the security forces to withdraw from his home in the Jamaran neighborhood, north Tehran, and to be put on trial.

On August 20, Judiciary Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei rejected as "total lies" reports that agents would leave Karroubi's home.

Ejei, who is also the deputy judiciary chief, added that there was no plan to put the three on trial unless the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), chaired by President Hassan Rouhani, decides otherwise.

"It is beneath the judiciary to undermine agreements made by the government," Mohammad Taghi Karroubi told CHRI. "In someone is speaking on behalf of the judiciary, he shouldn't deny the truth, even if he doesn't like it."

In an interview with Saham News opposition website on August 30, Mehdi Karroubi's wife and former member of parliament, Fatemeh Karroubi, also confirmed that the security forces had withdrawn.

"Fortunately, the government made good on its pledge and, in the seventh year of the house arrest, the security forces have left our house," Fatemeh Karroubi said. "I feel it is necessary to thank the honorable authorities who helped in the withdrawal."

Mehdi Karroubi has been hospitalized at least three times in the past two months, mainly to receive emergency treatment for low blood pressure. On July 31, he received an angiography at the Rajaei Medical Center in Tehran.

The former presidential candidate's deteriorating health has prompted calls by many politicians in Iran to bring the prolonged standoff to an end.

"Mr. Karroubi's heart disease and his transfer to the hospital is a good opportunity to use some wisdom to end this tragic house arrest saga," tweeted conservative Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahhari, a staunch supporter of freeing the three political figures, on July 24.
This is the best router/smart-home hub combo on the market, but youll trade power for convenience and ease of use.

A smart-home system has components distributed all over the house, controlled by a hub thats connected to the internet via a router. That arrangement enables you to control the system from anywhere you have broadband access. So Samsungs decision to meld a smart home hub with a mesh Wi-Fi router is a no brainer. But melding is always tricky. You might get something delicious, like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Or you might end up with a disappointment, like the 1962 Amphicar, a car/boat that didnt excel as either. The Connect Home isnt a bad product, but its much closer to the floating car than the sweet confection.

Samsung has never been a big player in the Wi-Fi router market, and it didnt have a presence in the smart-home market until it acquired SmartThings in 2014. The SmartThings hub is our current top pick for DIY smart home system because of its power and relative openness. You can create systems that are as simple or as sophisticated as you want, using just one or multiple apps to control third-party products as easily as SmartThings-branded hardware. But Samsung is aiming the Connect Home series at a broader audience and wants it to be easier to use.

There are two versions of the Connect Home, available in three SKUs. Both are dual-band 802.11ac mesh Wi-Fi routers with SmartThings hubs and Z-Wave, ZigBee, and Bluetooth radios integrated into the same enclosure. In this regard, Samsung one-ups the only other router/smart-home hub Ive tested: You need a $30 dongle to bring Z-Wave compatibility to the Securifi Almond 3.

Samsung The Samsung Connect app will evaluate the distance between each node as part of the setup process.

During setup, one of the nodes in the Connect Home 3-Pack gets configured as a 22 MU-MIMO router, which means it uses two spatial streams to transmit and two spatial streams to receive. MU-MIMO support enables it to transmit data to and receive data from multiple clients simultaneously. (You can read more about MU-MIMO in this story.)

Samsung classifies the router in the three-pack as an AC1300 model delivering TCP throughput of up to 866Mbps on the 5GHz band and 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. The two other devices in the three-pack operate as network nodes to blanket homes up to 4,500 square feet.

Samsung also sent its Connect Home Pro, which Ill review another time. This 44 MIMO router uses four spatial streams to transmit and four to receive simultaneously. Samsung classifies the Connect Home Pro as an AC2600 router delivering up to 1,733Mbps of TCP throughput on the 5GHz band and 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. The box for the Connect Home Pro indicates that its a MIMO routernot a MU-MIMO routerbut thats apparently inaccurate. My Samsung contact told me both routers support MU-MIMO. The company says the Pro model is adequate for homes up to 1,500 square feet, but you can pair it with up to four Connect Home or Connect Home Pro units operating as satellite nodes to increase its effective coverage to 7,500 square feet.

Both models have two ethernet ports, and if your home has the infrastructure, you can use one of them for wired backhaul. The smart-home features in all three SKUs are essentially the same, although the Pro comes equipped with a faster CPU.

Smart-home performance

Michael Brown Each Connect Home hub has one ethernet input and one ethernet output.

The SmartThings platform is strong when it comes to third-party hardware. You can use Kwikset, Schlage, and Yale smart locks; smart outlets, switches, and dimmers from GE, Leviton, Lutron, and Remotec; and smart bulbs from Cree, Philips, LIFX, Sengled, and Sylvania. Direct support is a little thinner for security cameras (you can choose from Netgears Arlo line and Rings video doorbells) and smart thermostats (Ecobee and Honeywell are your only choices; Nest is not supported).

I dont see any indication that Samsung intends to change its approach to supporting third-party hardware on its SmartThings platform, but the Samsung Connect app the company is encouraging Connect Home buyers to use is a dumbed-down version of the original SmartThings app. It has a more basic rules engine, and it doesnt allow you to bolt on other apps so you can create more sophisticated automation routines.

Samsung The Samsung Connect app only allows one action in each routine.

Theres nothing to stop you from using the SmartThings app to control the Connect Home or Connect Home Pro, but I get the impression that Samsung would prefer you didnt. When I asked a company representative about Samsungs position on controlling the Samsung Connect Home with the SmartThings app, as opposed to the Samsung Connect app, I was told buyers could use either one, but that Samsung Connect Home is designed so any user can use a single app to control and manage devices instead of using multiple apps.

When I asked the follow-up question, does Samsung encourage Connect Home users to use the Samsung Connect app over the SmartThings app as a best practice? the spokesperson replied Connect Home is designed to simplify the user experience and put everything into one application, which is the Connect app.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has assured Ghanaians that they will experience tremendous improvement in their lives by the close of this year.



He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, led by Nana Akufo-Addo, has countless positive programmes to bring an improvement in the lives of the masses.



In this regard, Mr. Kyeremanten entreated the citizenry to remain hopeful and patient.



Very soon the extreme poverty, which has engulfed Ghanaians, would be a thing of the past.



Ghanaians will see positive difference in their lives by the close of this year, the Trade and Industry Minister said to a rapturous applause by the gathering.



Mr. Kyeremanten disclosed this at a well-attended rally of the ruling NPP during the National Delegates Conference, which was held in Cape Coast in the Central Region on Saturday.



He stated that the governments renowned one district one factory policy, which is being implemented, would boost the private sector, which is the engine for growth.



According to the minister, every part of the country would directly benefit from the one district, one factory policy, adding that government wants to spread wealth across the country.



Mr. Kyeremanten said the Nana Akufo Addo-led administration also has plans to support private businesses, which are currently on the verge of collapse due to the hostile economic climate in the country.



He said that the NPP, during the 2016 campaign period, promised to provide jobs for the citizenry, adding that many jobs would be created in the private sector in the coming months for the benefit of the people.



On behalf of the NPP, he thanked the people of the Central Region for voting massively for the NPP in the 2016 general elections, noting that the ruling political party would fulfill all its campaign promises to make the citizenry happy.

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 minister of Gender Children, and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba has cautioned Social Welfare Officers in the country to desist from extorting monies from beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).



She said since she assumed office, complaints and concerns from the beneficiaries, opinion leaders and community members indicated that LEAP officials had been taking monies from the beneficiaries.



Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day training workshop for Regional programme heads and District Social Welfare officers on a "Case Management Training" of LEAP, in Sunyani, Madam Otiko said such misconduct must stop.



"I cannot tell who is receiving or benefiting from the proceeds of the extortion. However, I wish to caution that henceforth this must stop..... I would not hesitate to sanction anybody found culpable of extortion."



She bemoaned the act of attaching her name to the act of extortion saying "Some of you say you are taking that GHS 2.00 and 3.00 to buy yams for me. Don't buy yams for me, please. This is fraudulent and 'haram'. If you cannot give to the poor, don't take from them."



Government Committed To Strengthening LEAP



The minister disclosed that in line with the President's vision of prosperity for all Ghanaians, the ministry has added Fistula, Autism, Cancer, and Cerebral Palsy patients as well hemophilia to the list of special cases under LEAP.



This, she noted, was to strengthen the LEAP programme to achieve much more to enable Ghana alleviate the scourge of poverty and vulnerability in a progressive and sustainable manner.



"We will go back to the original design of the programme as well as tweak it to reflect emerging developments in cash transfer programmes globally. The original design of LEAP under the NPP government of president John Agyekum Kuffour was not to create lifelong dependency but to help households LEAP our of poverty."

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Henryson Okrah









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The relationship between Nana Akufo-Addo and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, The Herald, has gathered has deteriorated beyond repairs with the President, unwilling to even set eyes on the man the New Patriotic Party (NPP) once held to be a maverick politician.



With his entire access rout blocked and unable to see the President, Mr. Agyapong, declared on radio; I will plead with NPP, especially those who are closer to him (the President) to be courageous and tell him the truth because your pretentious deeds are destroying the man.



Flagstaff House insiders say Mr. Agyapong, might not be able to enter the seat of government, The Flagstaff House to see Nana Akufo-Addo. His unfettered access to private residence of the President at Nima, has also been restricted.



His many talks and counsels on radio and TV are currently regarded as noise. He lost his beloved father and NPP bigwigs, including the President, the Vice-President and their spouses did not show up to mourn with him.



His many companies, which made lots of money under ex-President John Kufuor, President John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama, are struggling to float. An attempt to snatch a national identification contract from Moses Baidens Margins group received a slap on the wrist.



Indeed, last Saturday, Mr. Agyapong, was buried in the crowed when the NPP delegates converged in the Central Regional capital, Cape Coast for the partys national delegates conference.



Both at the conference hall and the rally at Victoria Park, Mr. Agyapong, was missing in the crowd, and not allowed to address party supporters in the region he had served in various capacities, including campaign manager of the now President Akufo-Addo.



Kennedy Agyapong, has been one of the fiercest critics of the Akufo-Addos 8-month old government.



He openly does this in the media; a development party executives observe is subjecting the elephant family to public ridicule.



In the last couple of weeks, he leveled wild allegations against some unnamed presidential staffers indicating that they demand a minimum of $20,000 from persons seeking to see the president before allowing them, a comment that has been widely criticized by the party.



Kennedy Agyapong says he has resolved not to comment further on any development in the party, because he has been branded loud-mouthed.



They have criticized my style of speaking about development in the party. What is going on is that they say I have a big mouth so should shut up, but what I say is helpful. So I will be one of the finest gentlemen henceforth and enjoy life, he stated on Adom TV.



According to him, the President, may not be aware of whatever may be going on around him and therefore advised him to be wary of some individuals working with him, as their actions could spell doom for his government.



He cited instances where similar acts in the past administration propelled the National Democratic Congress (NDC) into opposition ,warning that the earlier the conduct of these persons are brought to check, the better for the NPP.



Ghanaians have hope in us if we will sit down and allow small small boys to mess us up then we shall follow suit, he warned.



Kennedy Agyapong, backed claims that some appointees at the Flagstaff House, take money from people seeking to meet the President.



Abu Jinapor and Asenso-Boakye are not the only two alleged to be involved in corrupt activities at the presidency; they are many others as well. When I started complaining about the president being surrounded by sycophants and corrupt people I had people calling me to stop making those allegations.



I was there and these same people called me back to tell me that they wanted to have access to the president and they were asked to pay $20,000 there about before a meeting can be arranged between them and the president, why should it be so, he said.



The comments come on the back of allegations being leveled against two deputy chiefs of staff, Abu Jinapor and Asenso-Boakye, by controversial musician A Plus. The musician has labeled the two close staff of the President as corrupt and unfit for the office.



I will plead with NPP especially those who are closer to him (the President) to be courageous and tell him the truth because your pretentious deeds are destroying the man.



Mr. Agyapong, said he would continue speaking the truth until he dies and nothing will stop him.



Recently on Oman FM, Mr. Agyapong, claimed one Duke Ofori-Attah and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, have hijacked the president from everyone and are using their positions to engage in acts that could derail the partys fortunes and sink the presidents image.



The President should watch the people he has surrounded himself with.If NDC had been bold and condemned the likes of Ibrahim Mahama and Randy Abbey they wouldnt have found themselves in Opposition.

Source: The Herald









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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Suspended General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC) Atik Mohammed has expressed profound excitement over the resignation of Mr. William Quaitoo.



Mr. William Quaitoo resigned from his post as the Deputy Agriculture Minister following his disparaging remarks about northerners in the country.



He described the people of the north as "liars" and "difficult".



Mr. Quaitoo tendered his resignation to President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, August 29, after rendering an apology to Ghanaians.



Commenting on the issue on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Atik Mohammed, though finding Mr. Quaitoo's resignation unfortunate, he however was delighted that he took such action.



According to him, the Deputy Minister's resignation will put government officials and appointees on their toes.



Atik Mohammed advised the officials and appointees to be mindful of their tongues and choose their words wisely when addressing issues.



He noted that ethnocentric comments or any noxious remarks could pose risk to the nation and so shouldn't be encouraged in the country's moral and political fabric.



Atik stated that Mr. Quaitoo's resignation indicates that "there's no space for bigotry. Theres no space ethnocentric comments in our body politic. In fact, in every facet of our natural lives, such things should not be tolerated and that message, for me, Im glad that that message has been sent.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
State

Rep. Justin Simmons

, who has visions of a Congressional seat in his eyes, may now think that

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th District

, is a "career politician" and "America's most liberal Republican."

But when the chips were down and he was facing a primary challenge, Simmons, R-Lehigh, hit Dent up for campaign cash; asked Dent to connect him with donors, and even appealed to the veteran Allentown congressman for his endorsement.

In a blistering statement released Thursday, Dent's campaign dismissed Simmons, a three-term state House incumbent, as a political opportunist and "phony" who's ripping pages from the Trump playbook in a "pathetic attempt to pander" for votes.

This week, Simmons soft-launched a May 2018 primary campaign from Dent's right, blasting him in an interview with WFMZ-TV in Allentown, in which he said he was "90 percent there" on a bid.

"Career politician Charlie Dent is America's most liberal Republican," Simmons, who represents the suburban 131st District, told the station, adding that "on every major issue from Obamacare repeal, tax reform, spending, Dent sides with the Democrats and gloats at sticking it to Republicans and the President."

He added that he'd "had enough of Charlie Dent attacking Republican policies and continuing his support of Obama's failed policies. That's why I'm moving strongly in this direction. Republican deserve a new voice in Congress."

Dent hit back Thursday, calling Simmons a "politician at his absolute worst. He accused Simmons of "[saying] one thing in private," and then "[turning around and saying] the exact opposite to voters he's trying to mislead."

The outreach to Dent occurred in 2016 when Simmons, facing criticism for breaking a term-limits pledge, faced a primary from fellow Republican Bill Coyle. Simmons went on to win the spring primary.

Dent, who's emerged as a voice of GOP moderation and reason in the funhouse mirror that is Donald Trump's Washington, scoffed at Simmons' criticisms.

"In several statements, Justin has attacked me and my service to the people of our community, even adopting catchphrases from President Trump in a pathetic attempt to pander to supporters of the president," Dent said. "However, outside the public's view, Justin says and does very different things."

That apparently included approaching Dent in August 2016, when Trump was fending off the so-called "Access Hollywood" scandal, about removing the GOP presidential nominee from the ticket.

In a more slender criticism, Dent also accused Simmons of careerism, pointing out that Simmons had briefly contemplated a Republican bid for lieutenant governor "until the lack of support ended that possibility."

In a statement emailed to reporters, Simmons called Dent's criticisms "the lamest attempt of a hit piece I've ever seen." He added that Dent's decision to release those conversations, which took place in text messages, "beyond creepy."

"Like many Republicans, I once supported Charlie and he supported me. I asked for his endorsement before President Trump became our nominee and before Charlie went off the rails against President Trump," Simmons said. "After Charlie decided that he would do everything in his power to make Hillary Clinton president, I no longer have supported him."

When it comes to Simmons' chatter about Trump, Dent is "beyond sleazy to take a portion of a conversation out of context to make it look like something other than it was, a question," Simmons said.

It's going to be a very long campaign.
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has joined with a bipartisan group of eight governors in a plan to prop up state insurance markets that are struggling under Obamacare.

As our friend John Finnerty of The Daily Item reports, the governors are looking for federal action to shore up the individual insurance market in the state-run exchanges as well as "responsible reforms intended to preserve recent coverage gains and control costs."

The plan being offered by the governors would also create a federal/state partnership aimed at "improving overall health system performance," Finnerty wrote.

"We must protect the gains we have made in Pennsylvania and many other states, but we all recognize that there are common sense changes that can make the cost of care less expensive and more accessible," Wolf said in a statement. "Instead of working to destabilize the health insurance system, Congress should work with governors to improve the system for all Americans."

As Finnerty notes, Wolf is one of five Democratic governors who signed onto the letter to the feds. Others include Govs. John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Terry McAullife of Virginia, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana and Steve Bullock of Montana. They joined Republican Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, as well as Alaska independent Gov. Bill Walker, in backing the plan.

Antoinette Kraus, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, told Finnerty that the governors' bipartisan approach should be a model for lawmakers in Washington.

"It is time to move on from political rhetoric and actively start working toward solutions. In fact, 8 in 10 Americans want the Trump administration to make the Affordable Care Act work," Kraus told Finnerty. "This plan is a good first step in making sure the Affordable Care Act works for everyone."

The action by the governors came even as the Trump administration announced sharp cuts in programs promoting health care enrollment under the Affordable Care Act for next year, The Associated Press reported.

Advertising will be cut from $100 million spent on 2017 sign-ups to $10 million, said Health and Human Services officials. Funding for consumer helpers called "navigators" will also be cut, from $62.5 million for 2017, to $36.8 million for next year.

HHS officials announced the promotional cutbacks in a conference call with reporters. None of the three officials who described the details of the cuts wanted to be identified by name.

And in an appearance in suburban Harrisburg on Thursday, Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey reiterated his support for repealing the Affordable Care Act and underlined his backing for a GOP-authored plan that could potentially throw tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians off Medicaid.

Toomey told a gathering of business leaders that he wants to move "healthcare in the direction of a consumer-controlled and consumer-oriented product," and that groups of senators are "meeting almost daily" to craft a proposal that can garner 50 Republican votes.

"I don't expect a single bill that will do everything," Toomey said.

The rest of the day's news starts now.

Pa. coal production is up 20 percent over last year, The Tribune-Review reports.

The state's prescription drug monitoring program has reduced "doctor shopping" for opioids, The Post-Gazette reports.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., held a long-awaited Town Hall meeting in Bethlehem on Thursday night. PennLive's Ivey DeJesus has the details.

Is it really that time of the year again, where we're supposed to be on the lookout for 'creepy clowns?' According to PhillyMag, it is.

Philly cops are justifiably angry over a protest at an officer's home, The Inquirer reports.

Here's your #Harrisburg Instagram of the Day:

NewsWorks/WHYY-FM hammers home the obvious: There were few surprises at that Pat Toomey town hall.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th, says his likely primary challenger once hit him up for cash, endorsements.

The Morning Call has its own take on the Toomey Town Hall - which was in its backyard, after all.

Speaking of Charlie Dent, he's now being targeted by two, conservative action groups, PoliticsPA reports.

Stateline.org explains how dog lovers sparked laws that could save kids in hot cars.

Politico explains why Democrats are snubbing their Alabama Senate candidate.

Despite the long odds, the push for statehood for Washington D.C. continues. Talk about taxation without representation ...

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).

Rep. Aaron Bernstine, who we now know is an actual person in the state Legislature, holds a golf outing at Del Mar Golf Club in lovely Wampum, Pa., today. Admission runs $50 to $350.

WolfWatch.

Okay, so maybe there's something to this GOP gripe that Gov. Tom Wolf is a tad on the invisible side. Pa.'s chief executive has no public schedule today.

You Say It's Your Birthday Dept.

Best wishes go out this morning to two, longtime Friends O'the Blog: Veteran Harrisburg PR hand Lucy Gnazzo and NPR's Scott Detrow. Congrats you, two. Enjoy the day.

Heavy Rotation.

We were reminded the other day that this record recently turned 20 years old. Where does the time go? Here's now-defunct (but no less missed) North Carolina power-poppers

Vinyl Devotion

and "

Hold Your Breath Until October

."

Friday's Gratuitous Baseball Link.

Toronto snapped Baltimore's winning streak on Thursday, beating the Birds 11-8 in a hard-fought duel. The four-game stand continues tonight as the Birds continue their pursuit of an AL Wild Card berth.

And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit.
Jims Meat Market, a mainstay of Madisons North Side, will close its doors in mid-January after 41 years of operation.

The meat market, which is known for a large variety of handmade specialty bratwurst, was informed on Wednesday that its lease within a building owned by PDQ will end Jan. 31, said Jims co-owner John Lehman.

La Crosse-based Kwik Trip announced in July that it will acquire Middleton-based PDQ, which operates 15 convenience stores in Madison.

While Lehman knew closing was a possibility after hearing about the acquisition, he said the loss of his lease took him and co-owner Claude Mattie by surprise. Jims will hopefully be shuttered only temporarily, Lehman said. The owners are still trying to absorb the news.

Were not sure if we want to become bigger or maybe just even a little smaller, Lehman said. Basically, Im just trying to get through Labor Day right now.

If Jims Meat Market, 1436 Northport Drive, does reopen, Lehman said they would love to stay on the North Side.

David Ring, community relations manager for Kwik Trip, said the decision to end the lease has nothing to do with the business itself, but is predicated on the need for a larger footprint that Kwik Trip stores require compared with the size of the current PDQ store.

Obviously, its a mainstay in the Madison community, and they do a phenomenal job running their business, Ring said.

He said Jims Meat Market, which is on a month-to-month lease, will be able to stay at the location rent-free for the last four months. Ring also said Kwik Trip would help Lehman and Mattie try to relocate.

Angie Winter, who grew up on Madisons North Side but now lives in Waunakee, came into the market Thursday to pick up lunch.

It literally brought me to tears yesterday, she said. Its just a staple.

Lehman will have worked at the meat market for 29 years in January, and Mattie has been there 20 years. They co-owned the business with its founder, Jim Fosdick, until the markets namesake retired six years ago. Fosdick came into the store Wednesday to check on Mattie and Lehman after hearing about the news.

Lehman recalled how Fosdick paid for him to go to school and learn meat cutting. When Lehman first started at Jims, Fosdick consistently put filet mignon on sale as he learned how to make a proper cut for the steak.

I couldnt cut anything, Lehman said But about 12 months later, (the filets) were not on sale any more because I could actually make them look halfway decent.

Eric Sullivan, of Waunakee, said he was surprised to hear about the impending closure. He opts to travel to the Madison shop over going to closer meat markets.

Ive been coming down here through thick and thin for 20-some years, he said. These guys are an institution.

Like other markets and butchers, Jims sells steaks, hamburgers, pork chops, seafood and a wide variety of items. But its bestseller, which comes in dozens of flavors, is the hand-mixed, hand-cranked bratwurst.

Jims Meat Market started selling a cherry and chipotle pepper brat, its first specialty, almost two decades ago. While people were initially skeptical of the creation, the bright red brat started to rival its traditional counterpart in sales.

To date, the meat market has masterminded more than 50 varieties of pork, chicken and beef brats, including chicken, bacon and ranch; fajita; gyro; and blueberry.

Were making brats pretty much every day, pretty much all day long, Lehman said.

When a macaroni and cheese brat hit the counter a few years ago, 2,000 links sold out in two days. Over Memorial Day weekend, the market sold about 5,000 bratwurst links per day.

Aside from brats, Jims makes meatloaf, meatballs, chicken cordon bleu and other food from scratch.

Almost all our stuff is homemade, Lehman said. Thats kind of what separates us, in my opinion, from a grocery store.

Throughout Thursday morning, Lehman fielded calls and questions from walk-in customers about the future of Jims Meat Market.

Wed like to stay here for another 41 years if we could, Lehman told one person.

He credits the stores success over more than four decades to its current and former employees and its dedicated customer base.

Weve had a good time here, lots of good memories and lots of good times, Lehman said.
Perhaps there was some divine intervention when a fired Montgomery County police officer pulled into the parking lot of a church Wednesday to attempt to take his own life.

Instead, a pastor at Saint Teresa of Avila Church in Norristown, Pa., stopped the troubled ex-officer, identified as Charles Murray, sitting in his vehicle, with a hose attached to the exhaust pipe and the engine running, according to 6ABC in Philadelphia.

The pastor, identified as Father Jerry Wild, spotted the officer, who had been fired from the Lower Providence Police Department in June, and began talking to him.

6ABC reports Father Wild was able to coax Murray out of the car and into the church without incident.

Police were called, and Murray faces felony theft charges stemming from the alleged theft of an M-16 patrol rifle and ammunition from a patrol car previously been assigned to Murray while with Lower Providence Police, 6ABC reports citing Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Meanwhile, Heidi Reese, the administrative assistant to the pastor, described the situation this way in an interview with 6ABC:

"What I can share with you is that it was a troubled young man. He was suicidal. Father helped the young man, counseled him, and spoke with him, and the authorities were called and responded very appropriately and very thoroughly. The young man was taken into custody and is now getting the help he needs.

"If you look for it, God's hand is in everything that happens, good, bad or indifferent. I am so proud to work Father Jerry Wild and that he was here and was able to help this young man. As with any church our focus is on the community and we want to be a safe place.

"We are grateful that this young man chose to come here, as strange as it may or may not sound. Father Wild has some specific training with challenging situations like this so it truly was God's hand that this occurred the way it did today," Reese told 6ABC.

According to the church's website, Father Wild was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1981 by John Cardinal Krol. In 1985, Cardinal Krol, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, assigned Fr. Wild to post-graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, in Italy to pursue a degree in Moral Theology. Fr. Wild completed this S.T.L. degree in 1988 and returned to priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Fr. Wild received the assignment to Pastor of St Teresa of Avila Parish in 2012.
PennLive

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture oversees restaurant inspections in the state. Inspection reports are "snapshots" of the day and time the inspections took place. In many cases, violations are corrected on site prior to the inspector leaving.

The following restaurants and other establishments in the Harrisburg area that handle food were inspected during the week of Aug.6-12 and were recorded as of Aug. 25.

Don't Edit

Harrisburg-area establishments with violations.

Don't Edit

Hand-wash sink.

Shutterstock

Aug. 11

OVEN FRESH at OPEN AIR MARKET

2300 N. CAMERON ST., HARRISBURG

Opening inspection. (Out of compliance)

Vendor is slicing bagels and wearing gloves without having a hand-washing sink on site.

CONKLIN FARMS LLC at OPEN AIR MARKET

2300 N. CAMERON ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Labels for packaged chicken do not contain the address/contact information for the butcher/processor; thermometers for ensuring proper temperatures of food are not available or readily accessible.

Don't Edit

File photo

PHYLLO

1233 NORTH THIRD ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Utensils or equipment being used in contact with dry food - handle of scooper in product.

PORTERS' HOUSE

1233 N. THIRD ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection. (Out of compliance)

Utensils or equipment (three-bay sink) being used in contact with food without being properly cleaned and sanitized prior to use; chicken was soaking in standing vinegar water in the three-bay sink, which is not an approved method; food was held at 45 F, in the * area, rather than 41 F or below as required; cooler not properly closed; non-food contact surfaces not cleaned at a frequency to preclude accumulation of dirt and soil; paper towel dispenser empty at the hand-wash sink - previous violation; cold-hold unit repaired with unapproved materials - temperature at 50 degrees.

Don't Edit

Food thermometer.

Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive

STERLING ACRES at OPEN AIR MARKET

2300 N. CAMERON ST., HARRISBURG

Opening inspection.

Thermometers for ensuring proper temperatures of food are not available or readily accessible.

ZERODAY OUTPOST

1233 N. THIRD ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Paper towel dispenser empty at the hand-wash sink.

Don't Edit

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DAN GLEITER/PennLive

Aug. 10

TRINITY CHURCH OF GOD

244 HARRIS ST., HARRISBURG

Opening inspection.

Women's toilet room is not provided with a covered waste receptacle for sanitary napkins; paper towel dispenser empty at the hand-wash sink in the utility bathroom; sign or poster not posted at the hand-wash sink in all areas to remind food employees to wash their hands.

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pixabay

Aug. 9

NAPLES PIZZA INC.

121 S. FRONT ST., STEELTON

Regular inspection.

Sandwich unit does not have an internal thermometer; food facility does not have available sanitizer test strips or test kit to determine appropriate sanitizer concentration; static dust accumulations are present around pizza oven and in exhaust hood system; clean food equipment and/or utensils in ware-washing area, stored wet in a manner that does not allow for draining and/or air drying (wet nesting).

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Shutterstock

Aug. 7

ARBY'S # 5140

4310 UNION DEPOSIT ROAD, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Deeply scored cutting boards on the bain-marie on the make-line not resurfaced or discarded as required; accumulation of old-food debris and ice on the bottom shelf of the reach-in freezer next to the deep fryers in the kitchen  corrected; accumulation of old-food debris spilled on the floor under several shelves in the walk-in freezer.

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File photo.

AUNTIE ANNE'S (PERM)

31 A COLONIAL PARK PLAZA, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Food dispensing utensil in both the almond and cinnamon sugar containers were stored in the food and not with handle above the top of the food and the container  corrected; accumulation of black mold-like residue on the dispensing nozzles, a food-contact surface, on the frozen lemonade ice machine  corrected; table-top can opener blade, a food-contact surface, had food residue and was not clean to sight and touch  corrected; accumulation of black mold-like residue running down the non-food-contact surface of the soda machine in the kitchen.

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Shutterstock

BURGER KING #815

6045 ALLENTOWN BLVD., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Accumulation of grease on a shelf directly over exposed sliced food on the make-line; accumulation of black mold-like residue behind and under the ice machine in storage area and behinds the slushy machine near the drive-thru window; accumulation of trash on the floor under shelves in the storage area; accumulation of white mold-like residue on the fan guards in the walk-in cooler.

ECUMENICAL COMMUNITY I

601 WILHELM ROAD, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Dining room sink is not clean.

ECUMENICAL COMMUNITY III

3525 CANBY ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Fruits are not being washed for the customers - repeat violation; can opener, a food-contact surface, had food residue and was not clean to sight and touch.

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File photo

MCGRATH'S PUB & RESTAURANT

202 LOCUST ST HARRISBURG

Complaint inspection. (Out of compliance)

Person-in-charge does not have adequate knowledge of food safety in this food facility as evidenced by this non-compliant inspection; no Serv-Safe certificate posted; food employee was changing tasks that may have contaminated hands without a proper hand-wash in-between; observed visible evidence, such as flying insect or rodent contaminated foods in the prep area; food employee was touching sandwich wrap - a ready-to-eat food - with bare hands; food in the cold-hold area stored open with no covering; food was held at 48 F, in the bain-marie, rather than 41 F or below as required; hood system is not adequate to remove heat and/or grease, as evidenced by condensate and/or grease collecting on the walls, ceilings, and fixtures; cutting boards, a food-contact surface, had food residue and was not clean to sight and touch; lights are not shielded or shatterproof over the prep area; exit door located in the kitchen area of the food facility has a gap and does not protect against the entry of insects, rodents, and other animals; no sign or poster posted at the hand-wash sink in the bar area to remind food employees to wash their hands - previous violation; soap was not available at the hand-wash sink in the bar area; * intake/exhaust air duct needs cleaned or filters changed as it is emitting dust and dirt into the air; potential rodent harborage areas on the exterior of the building perimeter observed in * area due to exposed garbage and excess equipment.

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Shutterstock

PIZZA HUT #23012

5275 DEVONSHIRE ROAD, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Accumulation of a white powder spilled on the floor under the deep fryer in the kitchen; accumulation of black mold-like residue on the waste water disposal pipe for the condensing unit in the walk-in cooler and on the floor under the condensing unit in the walk-in cooler; accumulation of white mold-like residue on several shelves in the walk-in cooler; accumulation of dirt, food debris, and black mold-like residue in all the floor drains in the kitchen and in the server area; accumulation of old-food debris, grease, and dirt on the floor under, around, and on top of the dish machine in the ware-washing area; clean dish racks were stored on the floor in the ware-washing area; accumulation of black mold-like residue on the fan guards in the walk-in cooler; accumulation of static dust on the ceiling, light shields, and vent guards directly over the bain-marie and clean dishes in the kitchen; accumulation of static dust on the hood system vents directly over exposed food exiting the ovens in the kitchen.

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DAN GLEITER/THE PATRIOT-NEWS

TURKEY HILL MINIT MARKETS #266

2015 DOTSON COURT, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Hot dogs were held at 91 F, in the hot-dog roller, rather than 135 F or above as required - rollers were only 117 F; walk-in fan covers have dust; intake/exhaust air ducts in the back room need cleaned or filters changed as they are emitting dust and dirt into the air.

R & S FOOD MART

3300 WALNUT ST., HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

Water is leaking from the walk-in refrigerator onto the store floor which is also causing the coving to fall down; no soap or paper towels at the hand sink or the restroom - repeat violation; potential rodent harborage areas on the exterior of the building perimeter - trash and debris in the parking lot and behind the building.

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BOO BOO BBQ

912 NORTH THIRD ST., HARRISBURG

Follow-up inspection. (Original report, June 29, 2017)

RIJUICE

1233 NORTH THIRD ST., HARRISBURG

Opening inspection.

BLUE FRONT LOUNGE

109 N. FRONT ST., STEELTON

Follow-up inspection. (Original report, Aug. 4, 2017)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

File photo

AUNTIE ANNE'S (KIOSK)

31 A COLONIAL PARK PLAZA, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.

ATOMIC ICE

WALNUT & PROGRESS, HARRISBURG

Opening inspection.

ECUMENICAL COMMUNITY II

624 WILHELM ROAD, HARRISBURG

Regular inspection.
As Hurricane Harvey pelted Houston with heavy rains over the weekend, a local television news station broadcast footage of flood evacuees sitting outside the George R. Brown Convention Center. The people weren't waiting for space inside what would become a massive emergency shelter. They were choosing to remain outdoors because their pets were not allowed in with them.

That policy changed within a day, after a top elected official made clear that both humans and animals were welcome at the city's evacuation centers.

"We all saw what followed Hurricane Katrina, where people weren't allowed to keep their pets with them, so they said, 'Well, never mind, we'll just stay outside,' " Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told reporters Sunday evening. "We obviously don't want that to happen."

Emmett wasn't making just a passing reference to the catastrophe that hit New Orleans in 2005. During that disaster, many residents stayed put - and died in some cases - rather than heed rescuers' instructions to leave pets behind as waters inundated homes. Others faced wrenching choices when they arrived at shelters that would not allow animals. One small white dog, Snowball, became a national symbol of these emotional separations after he was taken from the arms of a child who was boarding a bus to Texas that did not take pets. The boy cried so hard, according to an Associated Press report, that he vomited.

One 2006 poll found that 44 percent of people who chose not to evacuate during Katrina did so because they did not want to abandon their pets. Even so, the Louisiana SPCA estimated, more than 100,000 pets were left behind and as many as 70,000 died throughout the Gulf Coast.

A dozen years later, Katrina is viewed as a watershed moment in planning for pets during natural disasters. It changed federal and state policies - and, animal advocates and experts say, made clear that Americans have widely embraced the idea of dogs and cats as family members.

"You saw pictures of dogs standing on roofs and cats swimming in these toxic waters, and there was a huge public outcry," said journalist David Grimm, who wrote about the impact in his book, "Citizen Canine." Katrina "was a real turning point," he added, "where suddenly it wasn't just, 'This is how I view my pets.' It's, 'This is how everyone views their pets.' "

At the time, emergency management plans took only people into account. The result was an ad hoc approach to animals, with some responders flat-out turning away dogs and others agreeing to evacuate them. Animal protection groups, which quickly became overwhelmed with displaced critters separated from their owners, often found themselves at odds with local and state officials, recalled Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States.

The sense that systems had failed both pets and people quickly reached Capitol Hill. In 2006, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation requiring local and state authorities who want federal emergency grants to include pets in disaster plans. It also authorized the use of federal funds for pet-friendly emergency shelters.

Snowball was the impetus.

"The dog was taken away from this little boy, and to watch his face was a singularly revealing and tragic experience," Rep. Tom Lantos said at the time. The California Democrat, who died in 2008, sponsored the House version of the Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act - legislation "born at that moment" with Snowball, Lantos said.

More than 30 U.S. states now have laws that address disaster planning for pets and service animals. Texas requires its emergency management officials to help localities devise plans "for the humane evacuation, transport and temporary sheltering of service animals and household pets in a disaster."

Not all evacuation centers there are accepting pets this week, but many are accommodating them in separate areas or coordinating with off-site shelters to house them. In San Antonio, for instance, a state-run reception center for Harvey evacuees routes pets to a city-run animal shelter, after assigning them and owners individual ID numbers that will help reunite them later.

The images and stories out of southeast Texas - of rescue boats loaded with dogs and people - are far different from those that emerged during Katrina. Lisa Eicher's experience offers just one example. When the Conroe resident woke on Monday, floodwaters had nearly submerged the 15 feet of steps up to the first floor of her family's home. Before she, her husband and four children could pack more than a garbage bag of clothes, firefighters had rolled up outside in a muddy dump truck and were telling them to leave.

"We have two kids with Down syndrome, a pig and a three-legged dog," Eicher recalled telling them.

"Sounds good," one firefighter responded. "Let's do this."

Soon Eicher's husband and a firefighter were helping Pip, a terrier mix, swim across the murky water. Next up was Penny, a mottled potbellied pig that floated on a yellow life jacket.

"A dog is one thing, but a pig is different," Eicher said in a phone interview from Austin, where the family - pets included - are staying with friends. "I was worried that we weren't going to be able to bring her . . . The fact that they were so good with our pets was really sweet and meant a lot."

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society both greatly expanded their disaster response divisions after Katrina. The latter now has memorandums of understanding with many local organizations and localities - including the Houston suburbs of League City and Dickinson - that allow for more nimble and organized responses, Pacelle said.

"In a general sense, Katrina was the teaching moment in the United States for people to understand . . . that the lives of humans and animals in our communities are intertwined," he said. "You couldn't look at individuals. You had to look at the family group when you approached disaster response."

Animals that do not remain with owners also have more places to go these days, advocates say. As Harvey approached, several Texas shelters shipped dogs and cats out to distant facilities to make room for furry refugees. Those far-off places, such as the Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington, in turn revved up adoptions to clear even more space.

"We're working nonstop to get out every single animal that was currently adoptable in some of these cities where we know that these evacuees are going to need to come," said Katie Jarl, senior state director in Texas for the Humane Society. The organization sent more than 100 shelter animals out of San Antonio between Monday and Wednesday.

Much of the movement is relying on sophisticated transport networks, many of which grew out of the chaos during Katrina. On Tuesday night at 10 p.m., eight mixed-breed dogs - labs, hounds and pit bulls - arrived at the Somerset Regional Animal Shelter in Bridgewater, New Jersey. They had come from San Antonio on a plane flown by Wings of Rescue, a California-based charity that uses private aircraft to fly animals from high-kill southern shelters to northern areas where euthanasia rates are lower.

"We saw a lot of dogs out of that plane getting a second life," said Brian Bradshaw, who manages the Somerset shelter. "By helping these animals, we are also helping people, and that goes hand in hand."

The Harvey efforts are by no means "copacetic or settled," Pacelle said. Citing health concerns, some emergency shelters are turning away people with pets, as are hotels - though both face shaming on social media when they do so. The corporation that owns Holiday Inn Express apologized this week after reports that its Katy, Texas, hotel rejected a family with three dogs.

And though animal advocates say arrangements have greatly improved since 2005, they are still not ideal for some pet owners. One Corpus Christi couple who evacuated to San Antonio opted to go to a hotel after learning that their dog would be temporarily housed at the city-run shelter, rather than with them at an evacuation center.

"This isn't a dog. This is a child," Kevin Pogue told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. "I'm not going to be separated from my child; it's that simple."

But the fact that Pogue's sentiment is now enshrined in legal code, which has long viewed pets as property, is one of Katrina's lasting legacies.

"Pets essentially became members of society: You rescue the people, and you also try to rescue the cats and dogs," said Grimm, the journalist. "Nobody is passing laws saying you should rescue the toasters. It's really a huge, fundamental shift that happened."
President Donald Trump on Friday accused James Comey, the FBI director he abruptly fired in May, of exonerating Hillary Clinton before his agency's probe into her private email server was complete, taking to Twitter to charge there is "rigged system."

"Wow, looks like James B. Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over . . . and so much more," Trump wrote in a morning tweet Friday. "A rigged system!"

The president seemed to be referring to a letter Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday.

In their letter, the senators wrote they had recently reviewed transcripts from interviews the Office of Special Counsel conducted last fall with FBI officials as part of its inquiry into Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation. The Office of Special Counsel is not associated with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, but an independent agency that investigates violations involving federal employees.

The examination of Comey's work, which was closed after he was ousted from his job, began after people voiced complaints about the then-FBI director's decision to reveal in late October that the Clinton email probe had resumed.

Because of redactions, the transcripts are somewhat murky. But they seem to show Comey's chief of staff, Jim Rybicki, and the principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw, Trisha Anderson, confirming that Comey first contemplated a statement about closing the Clinton case in April or May of 2016.

That was before agents had interviewed Clinton and others. Comey ultimately delivered a statement indicating he was recommending the case be closed without charges - but also lambasting Clinton and her aides for their carelessness in handling classified information - days after Clinton was interviewed in early July 2016.

It is not improper or unusual for investigators and prosecutors to begin discussing how to announce the resolution of a case before it is done, particularly when an investigation has stretched for many months and its conclusion is beginning to become clear. Doing so is typically a sign of preparation, rather than operating because a probe was rigged from the start. The Clinton investigation began in July 2015.

Grassley and Graham, though, suggested in their letter that discussion of Comey's statement before the investigation was completed was improper.

"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second - that's no way to run an investigation," the senators wrote. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."

Daniel Richman, a lawyer for Comey, declined to comment, as did the FBI. Anderson declined to comment, and Rybicki could not immediately be reached.

That the FBI was leaning against charges for Clinton or her aides before interviewing Clinton herself is not completely new, though the materials Grassley released offer glimpses into the behind-the-scenes discussions. The Washington Post had reported in May 2016 - before Clinton and others had talked to the FBI - that the investigation had so far found "scant evidence" that Clinton intended to break classification rules, though agents were still probing the case.

The New York Times also reported after the case had concluded that nine months into the probe, it "became clear to Mr. Comey that Mrs. Clinton was almost certainly not going to face charges." The Times reported that Comey then began working on talking points.

No matter when a statement is drafted, it is unusual for the FBI - rather than Justice Department prosecutors - to reveal the end of a case. The FBI often recommends to prosecutors whether agents believe someone should be charged, but it is typically prosecutors who make the ultimate decision and reveal that decision publicly.

Comey's statement, too, also offered criticism of Clinton. That is abnormal - and many lawyers have said improper - given that Clinton was not charged with a crime and thus had no opportunity to defend herself in court.

Comey has said publicly that he was moved to make the public statement in part because, not long before he did, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, aboard her plane at an airport in Phoenix in late June. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year that the airport meeting was "the thing that capped it for me that I had to do something separately to protect the credibility of the investigation." The transcripts that Grassley released somewhat call that into question, as Comey had apparently been contemplating his public statement a month before the tarmac meeting occurred.
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other Republican leaders in Congress on Friday urged President Donald Trump not to terminate an Obama-era program that has allowed nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers" to live and work in the country without fear of deportation.

Ryan said in a radio interview that it was up to Congress to determine the fate of the immigrants enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which offers two-year work permits to those who have been in the country illegally since they were children.

Asked if Trump should follow through on campaign pledges to end DACA, Ryan told WCLO in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin: "I actually don't think he should do that. I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix."

Ryan acknowledged that Republican lawmakers balked when Obama created the program through executive action in 2012, calling the move an unconstitutional use of his powers. But Ryan said the undocumented immigrants "are people who are in limbo. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home. And so I really do believe there that there needs to be a legislative solution."

The Trump administration is facing a Tuesday deadline to rescind DACA or face a lawsuit from Texas and nine other states. The president has reportedly been split between competing advice from his advisers. Immigration hardliners, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have said the program would lose in court while moderates, such as Chief of Staff John Kelly, have said terminating it would be a political liability.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also said he had lobbied the president not to rescind the program. In a statement, Hatch said Congress must provide "a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered the country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here."

Meanwhile, a small number of congressional Republicans are pitching a "conservative Dream Act" as a fail-safe. But it's far from clear that Republicans could wrangle the votes to pass that bill in the House - or where it might fit in a crowded September session already thrown off by Hurricane Harvey.

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., who represents a Denver swing district, said Thursday that if Trump ends DACA he would use procedural maneuvers to force a vote on the Bridge Act - an encouraging sign for Democrats, who long said that they need just a handful of Republicans to join with them to force a vote on such legislation.

Several other Republicans in diverse swing districts, including Reps. David Valadao, R-Calif., Jeff Denham, R-Calif., Will Hurd, R-Texas, Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., have said they would support seeking protections for DACA recipients.

In the Senate, the Bridge Act is co-sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who have said that it would likely have the support to pass.

In the House, the math is trickier. Coffman said on Twitter that he would use a discharge petition, a tactic that can send a bill to the floor without the approval of the committee, a way to rescue legislation that the majority party does not support. In theory, the Bridge Act could come to the floor, and pass, if 23 Republicans joined Coffman and every House Democrat to support it.

Most House Republicans, however, share the president's opposition to DACA and to legal status for undocumented immigrants. In 2010, just eight House Republicans voted for the original version of the Dream Act; only two of those Republicans, Florida's Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart, remain in Congress. In 2015, 26 House Republicans voted against an amendment that would have defunded DACA; six have since left the House, although several were replaced by Democrats.

At the moment, Coffman's Bridge Act has just 12 Republican co-sponsors. A separate rewrite of the Dream Act, the Recognizing America's Children Act sponsored by Curbelo, with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., drafting a companion bill in the Senate, has just 18 co-sponsors, all Republicans. Both bills would go against a pledge Ryan has made to conservatives - that no immigration bill would get a vote without majority support from the majority party.

Congressional Democrats are more united in their response to DACA. The party is widely expected to use a Trump decision to end the program to withhold support for the spending bill and other measures. As in previous years, GOP leaders may need Democratic votes to offset opposition to any spending plan from fiscal conservatives.

"This is the time of year when Republicans need Democrats look like they're not crazy," said one Democratic aide, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about party strategy. "If the president pulls the trigger on DACA, that is going to be a factor in whether they can get any Democrats to cooperate with them to help get some of this stuff across the finish line."
BELLEFONTE - A Centre County district judge says he will rule Friday on whether to send all, part or none of a highly-watched fraternity hazing case from Penn State to court for a jury trial.

Magisterial District Judge Allen Sinclair said he will reconvene a preliminary hearing into the death of Beta Theta Pi pledge Timothy Piazza at 11 a.m. for purposes of rendering his decisions from seven days of testimony and legal argument.

The multi-defendant case wrapped up late Thursday with more variations on two opposing themes:

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller continued to ask Sinclair to look at the case as a whole, with 18 Beta brothers responsible for a night of binge drinking that led to Piazza's death after a Feb. 2 bid acceptance party.

Piazza, a 19-year-old engineering student from Lebanon, N.J., was fatally injured in a series of falls that he sustained after becoming drunk during the function.

Piazza suffered head and spleen injuries that, according to medical reports, passed the point of recovery, as he spent a fitful night on the fraternity's ground floor, lacking any professional medical attention.

He was pronounced dead at Hershey Medical Center on Feb. 4.

Attorneys for the defense, meanwhile, continued to try to untie Parks Miller's knots, and keep the focus on the actions of their individual clients.

When looked at in isolation, every defense lawyer argued, none of the 16 Beta brothers fighting the charges here had any interactions with Piazza that they reasonably could have foreseen leading to his death.

(Two other Beta members had previously waived the preliminary hearing.)

But Parks Miller was ready to counter-punch at that level too, painstakingly pointing to texts, witness statements or videotape cites that, she said, showed exactly where the different players factored into the whole.

Covered Thursday afternoon, specifically:

* Brothers Lars Kenyon, Parker Yoachim and Michaelangelo Schiavone, she said, are rightfully charged with furnishing alcohol, hazing and reckless endangerment because text evidence shows they each had a hand in getting the shopping list for alcohol for the bid acceptance party filled.

The brothers' attorneys each argued their clients were merely order-takers, not planners or decision-makers, and that none of them had a personal role in serving any alcohol to Piazza.

When Schiavone's attorney argued the fraternity lawfully possessed the alcohol, and that the party was registered with Penn State's fraternity regulators, Parks Miller gave a sharp-elbowed response.

"What's that got to do with it?" she countered. "They didn't get a permit to break the law and kill Tim Piazza."

* Craig Heimer, whose attorney noted had never met Piazza, is charged because, as a 21-year-old, he was the fraternity's booze buyer.

Heimer's lawyer sought to contain his client's guilt by arguing that no evidence has been presented that, at the time of the purchases, that Heimer - who had joined Beta outside the regular rush cycle - even knew what "the gauntlet" was.

* Luke Rockwell and Ryan McCann are charged with evidence tampering for their role in a group effort that the prosecution has portrayed as aimed at making the shirtless Piazza "look better" before ambulance crews arrived by pulling a sweatshirt over his head.

Their attorney said the attempted dressing was one of several steps showing genuine concern for the ailing Piazza, at a point when it finally was clear to everyone that the sophomore from Lebanon, N.J. was not just sleeping off a drunk.

Or, as Parks Miller retorted, the group was trying in vain to "fix this near-death person ourselves" before they had to admit a set of grave mistakes to the world.

* Student House Manager Braxton Becker, text evidence shows, was charged with evidence tampering for asking another brother to delete a set of group texts as the State College police investigation was ramping up.

Becker's attorney countered her client was following up on requests from the fraternity's live-in senior advisor, Tim Bream, and had otherwise cooperated fully with police.

Bream testified Wednesday he had asked the brothers to limit social media chatter about Piazza's injuries and death out of respect for his family.

Parks Miller argued that Becker should own that deletion request because Bream, according to the evidence presented, didn't specifically call for deletions at that meeting.

She also cited a text conversation in which Becker and Beta pledge master expressed relief at an initial, limited seizure of fraternity videos by the State College police.

* Joseph Ems, Parks Miller, said, was charged with reckless endangerment for a gratuitous, open-handed smack of a then-unconscious Piazza's torso as early concerns about the pledge's condition from some brothers were voiced, and then overriden.

The prosecution is arguing that Ems action could have exacerbated Piazza's injuries.

Ems' attorney argued that the slap was not done with malice, and that it has not even been proven that Piazza had sustained the ruptured spleen by that point in the night.

The case has forced a thorough re-examination of Greek life at Penn State, and has grabbed the attention of college administrators and parents across the country, in no small part due to the fact that a portion of Piazza's demise was captured on video tapes shot by fraternity surveillance cameras.

By Thursday's end, Parks Miller sought to turn the at-times ferocious counter-attacks coming from the defense bar to her advantage, telling Sinclair all the controversy proves the charges need to be tried before and decided by a jury.

"With the amount of argument we are doing here about these cases, I believe that in and of itself suggests it's for a jury to decide," Parks Miller said.

That, for her, may be the winning argument in this step, where the prosecution primarily needs to show only that a crime was committed, and that it is more likely than not that the charged defendant committed it.
Ten soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard departed Friday in two Pennsylvania CH-47 Chinook Helicopters to aid those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

The soldiers departed from Muir Army Airfield at Fort Indianatown Dap, and are flying to Grant Prairie Airport near Dallas, according to Angela King-Sweigart, a public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

The ten troops dispatched on Friday will join six other Pennsylvania soldiers deployed on Tuesday. King-Sweigart said the Pennsylvania National Guard anticipates sending over 200 more guardsmen through this weekend.

Once there, the troops will integrate with the thousands of other National Guard members and first responders already on site. The troops may be involved in missions such as delivering food and water to stranded citizens and providing emergency transportation.

"Our thoughts are with the residents of Texas and all those impacted as they cope with the after effects of this devastating storm," said Gov. Tom Wolf in a news release. "I'm proud of our National Guard and first responders who are able to offer support to the citizens of Texas. We're ready and willing to offer additional support as needed."

Here are some ways you can help those affected by Hurricane Harvey.
BETHLEHEM - Sen. Pat Toomey on Thursday said he was heading back to Capitol Hill next week after the August recess with two overriding "front-burner issues" taking priority: a Congressional relief response for the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and tax reform.

In a much anticipated town hall event held at the local Public Broadcasting Station - PBS39 - the Lehigh Valley Republican fielded a slew of pointed questions ranging from health care, the country's divisive political rhetoric, immigration and Russian election meddling.

Toomey, who in 2013, was one of more than three dozen lawmakers who voted against a relief bill for victims of Hurricane Sandy, reiterated the stance he made earlier in the day to business leaders in Harrisburg that he would support legislation to ease suffering and rebuild in southeast Texas as long as it didn't entail binge spending on the part of lawmakers.

"The criteria is the same," Toomey said. "If we have a responsible piece of legislation that will help people who need help, that will deal with this crisis and deal with it in prudent ways, I will support it. If it becomes a Christmas tree where every member of Congress adds whatever his or her's pork barrel program, then I will fight that. That's what Sandy became."

Toomey stuck to his talking points, not once diverging from his conservative agenda, even as the the event itself, drew scrutiny from audience members - and several dozen protesters outside - for its sanitized and controlled format, which they said discouraged rigorous conversation.

The town hall, broadcast live by the PBS affiliate in Bethlehem, was limited to 54 people, 24 of whom were hand-picked by local Republican and Democratic groups. The remaining 30 tickets were made available to the public.

"The format was flawed," said Erin Bruch, a Bethlehem resident who procured a ticket to the ticketed event. "He quoted in there that he wanted a discussion. A discussion is we get to ask the questions, you give us your answer and we give you a different idea. This didn't have that."

Audience members were prohibited from clapping or speaking out. One ticketed participant asked a question regarding immigration but was ushered out of the studio by security. The sound quality in the studio was so poor, even the media pool at the back of the room had difficulty following the evening's discussion.

Immediately after the town hall, Toomey addressed the criticism, saying:

"I am engaging in two-way conversation with constituents every single day many of whom strongly disagree with me. There are some people who are not interested in constructive discussion. I 'm not interested in creating a forum for that."

During the question-and-answer town hall event, Toomey sailed through a litany of questions that reflected most of the major concerns out of Washington.

That included questions regarding Toomey's views on how the president handled the deadly white supremacists rally earlier this month in Charlottesville.

Toomey said he would give Trump credit when due but would not hold back criticism. He praised the president's plans regarding Obamacare and tax reform, but criticized him for suggesting there were good people on both sides of the protest.

"The president missed a really important moment," Toomey said during the town hall. "It's important for the president to demonstrate moral clarity. .. He should have been much more clear. It's completely unacceptable. It's outrageous."

Toomey reiterated his stance that the Affordable Care Act was a failure and that he would continue to work to repeal it.

In pushing for tax reform, Toomey said the tax code should be designed to generate as much money as the government needs while encouraging as much economic growth as possible.

"We shouldn't tolerate a tax code that discourages business and growth," said Toomey, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over taxes.

About two dozen protesters organized by Power Northeast, a coalition of social justice groups, staged outside of the TV station.

"This is a travesty," said John Paul Marosy, a member of Power Northeast. "Town halls are supposed to give the public the ability to come here and have a dialogue. This is contrived and controlled. The public has no say. We regard this as a clamping down of free speech."

Protesters blasted Toomey for a variety of topics, including his stances on immigration and universal health care.

Protesters at one point chanted in unison, "Fake town hall, fake town hall."

In generally short answers, Toomey fielded more than a dozen questions, including one on his view of Russian election meddling.

"We've got to get to the bottom of exactly what happened," he said.
It's now UPMC Pinnacle.



Harrisburg-based PinnacleHealth System on Friday announced it has officially merged with Pennsylvania's largest health system, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.



The former PinnacleHealth, the owner of Harrisburg Hospital and others, also announced it has received government clearance to affiliate Hanover Hospital in York County, which is now part of UPMC Pinnacle.



"We are pleased that the affiliation is complete, and we look forward to starting a new chapter of collaboration with UPMC," Philip W. Guarneschelli, the president and CEO of UPMC Pinnacle said in a news release. "Together, PinnacleHealth and UPMC will bring expanded healthcare services and advanced quality initiatives to patients across central Pennsylvania, allowing us to continue to provide high-value, nationally recognized care."





UPMC, which now owns about two dozen hospitals, is routinely rated as one of the best health care systems in the United States.
WILLIAMSPORT -- Penn State has asked a federal judge to dismiss a pre-med student's complaint that the university favors women over men in deciding sexual misconduct cases.

The motion filed Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court contends the individual defendants, including President Eric J. Barron, have immunity and claims against them are duplicative because they are agents of the university, which also is a defendant.

The board of trustees should be removed from the case because Doe failed to make any substantive allegations against it, the motion states.

Claims against the university should be dismissed because Doe failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted, Penn State says.

The university says it will file within 14 days a brief in support of its motion.

Penn State had suspended the sophomore for the fall semester finding he engaged in nonconsensual sexual conduct with a coed identified as Jane Roe in her dorm room on Sept. 7, 2016. Doe denies the allegation.

Doe is attending classes because Judge Matthew W. Brann on Aug. 18 granted his motion for a preliminary injunction that lifted his suspension.

Brann ruled Penn State had violated its procedures in adjudicating Doe and found Doe has a likelihood of succeeding with his due process claims.

Doe contends his due process rights were violated during the proceeding that resulted in a three-member Title IX panel finding he violated the Student Code of Conduct by having nonconsensual sex with Roe.

Besides the one semester suspension, the panel banned Doe, a native of India who was a top student at a California high school, from on-campus housing.

He also was suspended from the seven-year program with Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine in Philadelphia as long as Roe was in it.

The individual defendants besides Barron are Katharine Matic, the Title IX investigator; Karen Feldbaum, associate director of student conduct, and Paul Apicella, Title IX coordinator.
Madison police were searching for a person of interest Thursday night after a 37-year-old woman was shot multiple times while walking down a street in an East Side neighborhood late Wednesday.

Police were looking for Edward A. Matthews, 42, in connection with the shooting that occurred at about 11:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Rethke Avenue.

The victim was hospitalized in critical condition.

Doctors believe she will likely survive, said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.

Authorities had not released the name of the woman, who was walking when someone approached her and shot her.

Neighbors heard the gunfire and came to the victims aid as she called out for help, DeSpain said.

Matthews is black, 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Police said Edwards may be armed, and advised people not to attempt to make contact with him.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or Madison police at 608-266-4923.
PennLive archives

Last day on the job

Today is Frank Brogan's final day at chancellor of the State System of High Education.

Brogan, 63, made the announcement in mid-July after spending just short of four years in the position. He came to the system from Florida, where he was serving as chancellor of the State University System of Florida. Brogan, who earns a salary of $345,758, had the shortest tenure of the four people who have served as the chancellor of Pennsylvania's 34-year-old system of 14 state universities. An interim chancellor will oversee the position pending a national search for a permanent successor.

"While there is never a perfect time for a transition such as this, my family and I know we leave behind a system that is primed for the future, led by a team that is committed to making sure our students always come first," Brogan said in a statement when the announcement was made.

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Frank Brogan marks his first-year anniversary as chancellor of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. He said he has a long list of issues that will be vying for his attention in Year Two. Sept. 29, 2014

PennLive archives

Federal position might be waiting

A report last week by Education Week said Brogan is a leading contender for a position at the U.S. Department of Education. The story was published Aug. 25.

Brogan's nomination to the post hasn't been made official, sources told Education Week. But he's said to be among a group of potential education appointees being vetted by the White House.

No comment was available at the time of publication from Brogan or the department.

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Education Secretary-designate Pedro Rivera (right) talks with Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education board member Ron Henry (left) and the system's Chancellor Frank Brogan following the first system board meeting he attended last month. As the incoming secretary, Rivera has a seat on that board as well as other public university boards. Feb. 4, 2014

PennLive archives

'Over the past four years, we've sounded the alarm'

Brogan posted his final sentiments today on his blog. He wrote, in part:

"Over the past four years, weve sounded the alarm regarding the challenges facing our 14 universitiesfrom fluctuating enrollment, to lagging state funding, to skyrocketing operational costs. Weve also undertaken a hard look at our State Systemtop to bottomincluding a thorough external review to provide us even more insights.

"And that is what we received.

"In July, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) presented its recommendations as part of our Strategic System Review. NCHEMS was clear that the report is not a commentary on the people in place today; rather, its an estimation of how decades of inertia and aversion to change have hindered the ability of people to do their jobs. Things have to change, and the real heavy lifting is only beginning.

"The Board of Governors will continue to gather stakeholder inputworking with our talented students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and others as it identifies next steps in the Strategic System Review. Whats crystal clear is that Pennsylvania needs the State Systems 14 universities to continue providing access to opportunity and to help fuel the economy."

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State System of Higher Education Chancellor Frank Brogan spent a lot of time at Thursday's budget hearings talking about a reorganization study that the system is embarking on. Feb. 25, 2017

Pa. House Appropriations Committ

PennLive questions, and Brogan answers

PennLive sent a series of questions to Brogan, and he emailed his responses back this week. Here is that Q&A, with each question in bold.

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Why leave now? It was a bold step to call for a consultant to come in and recommend changes. Why not stick around to try to begin to implement them?



The board didn't hesitate even for a moment last year when I proposed the need for a system-wide review. That took real courage, and they have backed the effort one hundred percent as we ensured the strategic system review resulted in tangible options for the state system.

With the consultants recommendations now in-hand, theres a natural transition pointboth for the system and for my familythat allows me to step away knowing we have a solid road map to follow. The next phase of this process will take some time, and transitioning now will enable the next chancellor to put his or her imprint on that part of the process.

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What do you see as the toughest of the recommendations to implement knowing the landscape that exists in Pennsylvania and how does it impact students?



The board is diving deeply into the recommendations and will gather stakeholder input from across the system, which will help as they identify the recommendations to pursue. While I don't want to get ahead of that process, I can say that anything that requires either a change in law or a change in future contractual agreements will be the hardest items to tackle. Important change does not come easily because it challenges people to rethink entrenched positions.

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What have you learned about Pennsylvanias public universities that you didnt know coming in?

Even before I arrived, I knew the State System universities were remarkable institutions with talented students, faculty, staff and administrators. Perhaps whats less obvious is exactly how deeply these universities are woven into the fabric of their home communities. When the university succeeds, the community succeeds. That relationship is incredibly important, but it can also be challenging. For example, university leaders sometimes have to make decisions that are in the best interest of students, but may be unpopular in the local community. There is real pressure on our university leaders to avoid anything that upsets the status quo, and that can hinder good decision making.

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What has been your greatest regret that you will leave with from your time as chancellor?

We all do our share of Monday morning quarterbacking, but that really is focused more on tactical decisions rather than strategic decisions. We should always be ready to learn from our experiences so that we are prepared for what comes next. Every strategic decision weve made has been focused on our mission to provide all Pennsylvanians access to a high-quality, affordable education. There could never be regrets in that.

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As the chancellor who oversaw the system during its first faculty strike, is there anything about that experience you would like to take back or do over? Did the board bend too much to political pressures by accepting a contract that NCHEMS says carries a $52 million cost increase that is not matched by realistic expectation of revenue growth?

A union strike is something we never wanted to see, but I'm exceedingly proud of how our system responded during that time. No doubt, there was plenty of colorful rhetoric flying around then, though most people remained respectful of each other. I will leave it to others to decide what could have been done differently, but I can say that the board's actionwhich was focused on getting students back into the classroomwas really the only option they had before them.



The system must seriously consider the advice in the NCHEMS report and ensure all collective bargaining agreements reflect fiscal realities and provide more flexibility to our 14 universities to respond to local needs. That will require everyone to step up and be willing to change how we do business.

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The NCHEMS report spoke of a longstanding climate of distrust and confrontation between the universities and chancellors office. Did you sense that? Did it exist in the Florida university system as well? What gives rise to that?

Longstanding is an understatement. Its been decades in the making. Its both longstanding and systemic, as evidenced by the recommendations in the NCHEMS report. When I arrived, we began building bridges between the system office and the universities to help address years of lingering tensions, and we made quite a bit of headway. We streamlined some board processes, provided additional decision-making at the local level, and increased communication with presidents and trustees, which have helped. While decades of relational baggage continues to linger in some regards, Im optimistic that the tide can be turned if the system continues to make the kinds of changes weve made over the past few years.

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The system is experiencing quite a bit of turnover in its leadership positions. How do you see this lack of stability at the top impacting the systems forward momentum? Anything that you and the departing presidents know that others dont that is contributing to this churn?

Success depends on everyoneat every levelwhich is why our institutions are able to continue marching forward even when theres a leadership change at the top. At the same time, the NCHEMS reports speaks very clearly about the need to reorganize both our governance and leadership structures. Right now, we have a situation, frankly, where everyones in charge, and no ones in charge. Thats not a good way to operate, and its something that needs to be addressed.

We need to take a hard look at the recommendations included in the report, especially as they relate to institutional leadership, and use them to create an environment in which leaders can really lead. We must be committed to making the kinds of changes necessary to transform this System as we go forward if we hope to be able to attract talented leaders whenever openings occur. If we hesitate in seeking those changeseven for a momentthen our lack of action will be heard loud and clear.

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Whats next for you? Is nearly 40 years of public service it? Do you plan on doing consulting work of any sort? Plan on heading back to Florida?

Ive been blessed to work at every level of education over the past four decades. When I think back to my earliest years as a fifth grade teacher in Florida, I would have never imagined all of the different opportunities for service that would be laid in my path. My goal has always been to do the very best I can in whatever position I heldgive everything, every dayrather than be distracted by what might come in the future.

Now, Im at a stage in life where I can take the time to consider how best to serve the world of education. No matter what comes next, my family and I will carry a piece of Pennsylvania in our hearts wherever we go.

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If you could offer advice to the systems next chancellor what would it be and what pitfalls would you ask them to avoid?

When I arrived four years ago, a member of the General Assembly jokingly asked if I saw that billboard on my way into the state that said, Welcome to Pennsylvania. We dont change anything. We laughed at the time, but Ive since come to realize that it really wasnt a joke.

In this remarkable place that my family and I have called homethis place that catalyzed American democracy; this place that values education; this place I have grown to lovewe are in danger of losing the very thing we cherish if were not careful. The state system represents the best hope for affordable, accessible, quality education for our sons and daughters, but we must be willing to change in order to ensure it is here for the next generation, and the generations after that.

To the next chancellor, I say listen to your heart, rely on your experience, and maintain focus on students. Continue to push the envelope of transformation and challenge everyone to come to the table ready to ask themselves the hard question: How do I need to change?

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What mark did you want to leave on the system coming in and do you believe you accomplished it?

You always want to leave an organization better than you found it. Certainly weve made some changes that will position the system for the futuresecuring increased funding three years in a row, even as the states own budget challenges continue; updating policies and procedures to enhance local flexibility; and creating tools to make data-informed decisions for the future.

But, the most important thing weve doneperhaps for the first time since the systems inceptionis open the door for an honest, candid, strategic dialogue about how this system must evolve in order to continue providing a world-class educational experience to students across Pennsylvania. This is our opportunity to make bold choices that will have a lasting impact for decades to come. This is our systems moonshot. If I leave behind a system that isfinallyprepared to face the very real challenges and opportunities that are ahead, then Ive done my job.

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There is a very serious issue brewing at Cheyney University with its accreditation on the brink of being withdraw. Do you anticipate that Cheyney will have made enough progress on addressing the Middle States Commission on Higher Education's concerns by Sept. 1 to hold on to its accreditation? Why or why not? I know the governor has said he doesn't want Cheyney to close and NCHEMS also recommended against closing an institution but do you feel that that may be the best course of action at this point for Cheyney? If not, how does it avoid being a continual drain on the system and its universities?

Shortly after I arrived, we began shining a light on significant operational problems at Cheyney University, first in the area of financial aid and later in other areas. To my surprise, many of the issues dated back years and even decades. We immediately engaged with the university, which self-reported the financial aid issues to the U.S. Department of Education. Since then, weve been working closely with the university to put in place more rigorous operational standards.

Earlier this year, the Board of Governors initiated a task force to redesign the institutional model at Cheyney and chart a new path for its future. That is the best hope for the university. Interim President Aaron Walton has done remarkable work since arriving a few months ago and is focused on presenting the best possible case for Cheyneys continued accreditation. Personally, I think they will successfully show Middle States that the university is addressing each and every one of the issues raised by the accrediting body.

The steps our board took last week will go a long way to securing Cheyneys future. Both stepscreating a path for loan forgiveness and providing policy flexibility so the university can better align its academic programs for the futureare just the latest examples of our commitment to Cheyney University.

Like the governor, and the board of governors, Im a huge supporter of Cheyney. But, some Cheyney University supporters are holding onto the past so much that they are hindering the universitys future. I hope they will get behind the university and its leaders as, together, they work to build a stronger Cheyney for the future. Like our entire system, the university must change to survive and thrive for decades to come.

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Other recent State System stories on PennLive

Consultant recommends revamp of Pennsylvania's state university system, but no closures

State universities' makeover report is in; now the hard work begins

Plan approved to try to save state's oldest historically black university

Shippensburg University's next president is no stranger to Pa.'s State System of Higher Education
By Marc A. Thiessen

Last weekend in Berkeley, Calif., a group of neo-communist antifa -- "anti-fascist" -- thugs attacked peaceful protesters at a "No to Marxism in America" rally, wielding sticks and pepper spray, and beating people with homemade shields that read (I kid you not) "No Hate."

Marc A. Thiessen (Washington Post photo)

The Post reports how one peaceful protester "was attacked by five black-clad antifa members, each windmilling kicks and punches into a man desperately trying to protect himself."

Members of the Berkeley College Republicans were then stalked by antifa goons who followed them to a gas station and demanded they "get the [expletive] out" of their car, warning, "We are real hungry for supremacists and there is more of us."

The organizer of the anti-Marxism protest is not a white supremacist. Amber Cummings is a self-described "transsexual female who embraces diversity" and had announced on Facebook that "any racist groups like the KKK [and] Neo Nazis . . . are not welcome." The protest was needed, Cummings said, because "Berkeley is a ground zero for the Marxist Movement."

As if to prove Cummings's point, the antifa movement responded with jackboots and clubs -- because their definition of "fascist" includes not just neo-Nazis but also anyone who opposes their totalitarian worldview.

And let's be clear: Totalitarian is precisely what they are. Mark Bray, a Dartmouth lecturer who has defended antifa's violent tactics, recently explained in The Post, "Its adherents are predominantly communists, socialists and anarchists" who believe that physical violence "is both ethically justifiable and strategically effective."

In other words, they are no different from neo-Nazis. Neo-Nazis are the violent advocates of a murderous ideology that killed 25 million people last century. Antifa members are the violent advocates of a murderous ideology that, according to "The Black Book of Communism," killed between 85 million and 100 million people last century.

Both practice violence and preach hate. They are morally indistinguishable. There is no difference between those who beat innocent people in the name of the ideology that gave us Hitler and Himmler and those who beat innocent people in the name of the ideology that gave us Stalin and Dzerzhinsky.

The United States defeated two murderous ideologies in the 20th century. So we should all be repulsed by the sight of our fellow Americans carrying the banners of either movement, whether they are waving the red flags of communism or black flags of Nazism. Yet we are not. Communism is not viewed as an evil comparable to Nazism today.

As Alex Griswold recently pointed out, the New York Times has published no fewer than six opinion pieces this year defending communism, including essays praising Lenin as a conservationist, explaining why Stalinism inspired Americans, and arguing that the Bolsheviks were romantics at heart and that women had better sex under communism. Can one imagine the Times running similar pieces about the Nazis?

My mother and grandfather fought the Nazis in Poland during World War II, and her family then endured the Stalinist terror that followed, when Nazi occupation was replaced by Soviet domination. So forgive me if I see little moral distinction between the swastika and the hammer and sickle. Both are evil, and their modern adherents need to be condemned -- especially when they dare to commit acts of violence in our midst to advance their hateful visions.

Both the left and the right have a responsibility to police their own movements. In the 1960s, William F. Buckley excommunicated the John Birch Society, widely believed then to be anti-Semitic and a proponent of nutty conspiracy theories, from the respectable right, and today, conservatives have a responsibility to do the same with the white nationalists of the alt-right.

Those on the left have responsibilities as well -- responsibilities few are meeting. On Monday I asked the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her statement of condemnation. To her credit, Pelosi issued a strong statement Tuesday, declaring, "The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted. In California, as across all of our great nation, we have deep reverence for the Constitutional right to peaceful dissent and free speech. Non-violence is fundamental to that right."

Good for her. So why haven't more leading Democrats done the same? After Charlottesville, the media rightly demanded that President Trump and all Republicans condemn the neo-Nazis and the KKK.

So where are the calls for Democrats to condemn antifa -- and the brutal public condemnation for those who fail to do so?

If black-clad neo-Nazis had attacked peaceful protesters at a "No to Racism in America" march in Berkeley, politicians in Washington would be falling over themselves to express their disgust -- and any who failed to do so would be vilified. But when neo-communists commit this kind of violence, they get a pass from the left.

That cannot be allowed to stand.

Marc A. Thiessen is a columnist for The Washington Post. His work appears frequently on PennLive Opinion.
Mike Cossey, of Bureau Veritas, uses an air monitor to check the quality of air at a police roadblock marking the 1.5-mile perimeter of the evacuation area around the Arkema Inc. chemical plant Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Crosby, Texas. The Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey engulfed the area in extensive floods was rocked by multiple explosions early Thursday, the plant's operator said. The Arkema Inc. plant had been left without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A lively discussion on the historical context and continuing impact of George Rygas play, The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, was held Thursday as part of Summerlands Ryga Festival. Panelists included, from left, Gina Payzant, Don Rubin, festival artistic director Heather Davies, Ann Mortifee and Victor Davies.
North winds are bringing cooler air to Madison -- along with smoke from Canadian wildfires.

The Madison Fire Department has been getting calls about the hazy sky and a burning smell, and meteorologists are putting the blame on wildfires north of the border.

The National Weather Service said the fires cover huge expanses of Canada's wilderness from Manitoba to parts West, with smoke being pulled down into the United States behind a cold front that came through Wednesday night.

Satellite imagery shows smoke extending down to southern Wisconsin, stretching across Lake Michigan into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Not much can be done about the haze or smell, but one suggestion made by a local meteorologist would be to use an air conditioner, even with the cooler temperatures.

Madison Fire Department personnel were going around the city trying to find any other source of a smell, but all noses at this time were pointing to the Canadian border.
Gasoline prices rose several cents overnight amid continuing fears of shortages in Texas and other states in the aftermath of Hurricane Harveys strike on the Gulf Coast.

The national average for a gallon of regular gas rose in one day from $2.45 Thursday to $2.52 Friday, the American Automobile Association reported.

Prices in Wisconsin and the Madison area have already risen in the week since Harvey hit. The average Madison gas price was $2.28 per gallon on Friday, Aug. 25, according to GasBuddy.com. On the first day of September, the average had risen to $2.42.

However, prices are unlikely to spike this weekend for travelers and tourists returning home from end-of-summer trips over the Labor Day weekend, said Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with GasBuddy.com.

Instead, he said, expect smaller increases over the weekend and a jump of as much as 20 cents over the next one or two weeks.

At least two major pipelines  one that ships gasoline across the southern United States and to New York, and another that flows north to Chicago  have been slowed or stopped because of flooding and damage.

But a cluster of gasoline refineries in the Chicago area have capacity to keep Wisconsins tanks full for the foreseeable future, DeHaan said.

AAA Wisconsin spokesman Nicholas Jarmusz said the roads over the weekend are expected to be crowded, but gas prices shouldnt be a worry.

Prices have gone up  and theyll continue to rise, but it wont be significant enough that youre going to have trouble filling up at the end of weekend to get home, Jarmusz said.

Gasbuddy.com listed the average Wisconsin price at $2.48 Friday.

Gas prices rose at least 15 cents in 24 hours in several metropolitan areas including Dallas; El Paso, Texas; Athens, Georgia; and Dayton, Ohio, AAA reported Friday.

The average price of a gallon of gas had soared by at least 10 cents in eight states since Thursday: South Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas.

Among those states, the highest 24-hour rise on average was in South Carolina, AAA reported. Its among several Southern states that are heavily reliant on the Colonial Pipeline for deliveries of gasoline.

Part of the pipeline that runs through Texas is shut down and inspections must be done before the entire system can be fully operational again, Colonial Pipeline spokesman Steve Baker said Thursday. The Georgia-based company remains able to operate its pipeline from Louisiana to states east and northeast of there, though deliveries will be intermittent, the company said. It hopes to return more sections of the pipeline to service by Sunday.

In Dallas, drivers lined up at gas pumps Thursday as some stations ran out of fuel.

One Chevron station in downtown Dallas that sold regular gas for $2.29 a gallon just before the storm was charging $2.99 Thursday. Others charged well over $3, and one downtown Shell station charged $3.97 for a regular gallon of gas.

The crunch prompted QuikTrip, one of the nations largest convenience store chains, to temporarily halt gasoline sales at about half its 135 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth. Instead, deliveries are going to designated stores across all parts of the metro area, QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said.

Analysts are urging drivers not to panic.

If people start hoarding gas, as some have in Texas, thats going to make the problem worse, and prices shoot higher and the event will last longer, with more disruption and shortages, DeHaan said.

His advice: Try to have a sense of calm.

Associated Press reporters Claudia Lauer and Jeff Martin and State Journal reporter Steven Verburg contributed to this report.
Black smoke comes wafts from the roof of the Consulate-General of Russia Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in San Francisco. The San Francisco Fire Department says acrid, black smoke seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco was apparently from a fire burning in a fireplace. The smoke was seen billowing from the consulate building a day after the Trump administration ordered its closure. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Taking the Carolina Hometown Tour

Story and photos by Lydia Carey

A writer's journey into a family's and a country's past in the mill towns of North Carolina.

Two southern boys (they'd hate the term southern gentlemen), my dad and his brother, are tall, white-haired, round-bellied men, each with their own level of southern twang. My father's accent has been diluted by years of melting Illinois snow that he has had to survive being married to my mother. But give him a little liquor, or bring him home to the North Carolina woods, and the vowels start stretching out like banjo strings. At the moment, that voice is raised to almost a yell, as the two brothers, both almost deaf, are trying to decide the route to take through a handful of tiny towns along the Carolina border.

I'm the reason for this impromptu tour  impromptu only to my uncle since I have been talking to my father about it for years. Just this morning, after breakfast, my father casually mentioned to my uncle that the girls would like us to take them on a little tour of where we grew up. My uncle, his expression imperceptible under his bushy beard, simply raised an eyebrow and coughed his smokers cough.

A'ite

My partner and I have come all the way from Mexico for a cousin's wedding. I'm determined to record my father and his brother for posterity. I also want to see the places that have figured into so many stories of my childhood. My own family's story is woven into the larger history of this area of the United States: rural poverty, the manufacturing evolution, and life in small-town America.

We load into my uncle's Chevy pick-up and head to the town's one-pump gas station. It's apparent from the moment we hit the road what the main issue is going to be todayeveryone's deaf.

My first recording:

How did you find the piece of property where you live Uncle Mike? (me)

Do wha? (Uncle Mike)

How did you find that property Uncle Mike? (me)

What hon, I can't hear ya (Uncle Mike)

HOW DID YOU FIND THAT PROPERTY, MIKE? (Dad)

My Uncle Mike lives in a log cabin he and my Aunt Jen built 20 years ago, in the middle of the woods near Clover, South Carolina. This is only miles from most of the homes the brothers shared as children.

Mill Strikes and Black Walnut Milkshakes

Cotton mills and mill village life were major influences during the brothers' childhood. Their mother and grandmother both worked in mills for meager salaries that stretched just enough to keep the family fed and a roof over their heads. They ate the same pot of beans all week long (which I was told many times as a child when I complained about dinner) and raised chickens in their backyard.

The Loray Mill Apartments, the first stop on our tour, is a particularly poignant reminder of the difference between then and now.

Loray Mill was one of the area's monster cotton mills, opened right around the turn of the century. Promotional materials for the new loft-style apartments play up the building's industrial heritage, its fine architectural features, and its amenities (like the crescent-shaped swimming pool). But the mill's real value lies in its history as the scene of one of the first and most incendiary textile worker strikes in the south, an event that in 1929 set off a movement that would lead to the formation of the United Textile Workers. The workers fought for higher wages (by the 1920s some workers made less than $5 a week working at the mill) and against the strech-out system that doubled their work by forcing them to tend almost double the amount of machines they had had to in the past.

That famous mill has now been impressively remodeled, but despite developers best efforts it doesn't look to be a center of shopping, dining, and upscale living just yet. Working-class Gastonia, in comparison to neighboring towns like Monroe and Concord, hasn't quite caught on as a hotspot for Charlotte execs looking for a satellite city to settle down.

The same Gastonia that touts the Loray Mill lofts remains mired in much of the poverty that my father saw there as a young boy, except now it has a slightly different look to it. When we visit the old neighborhood to get a glance at my great-grandmother's house in East Gastonia we find the poor whites of East Gastonia have been replaced by poor, working-class African-American and Latino families. We talk to a few neighbors as we stroll down to the end of the lane where my father discovers his grandmother's house is now just a patch of grass and a tree-covered property line. He describes to me what it used to look like:

It was a small two-bedroom house, four rooms maybe at the most. The front was a low, single-story clapboard with a little porch on the front. There was a big magnolia tree right next to the driveway. The magnolia tree still proudly stands guard.

Just down the road is the Baptist Church parking lot where my dad learned to ride a bike and a few blocks away is the original location of Tony's Ice Cream, now on the other side of town, which feeds my father's nostalgic craving for black walnut shakes.

Meeting the Neighbors

I've been warned by my Uncle Mike that folks in these parts aren't too friendly to the idea of people walking around their neighborhoods taking pictures. In Ranlo, NC we have a run-in with a old lady who backs two blocks down the street in her Buick to ask what we're up to. My dad explains that he use to live on this street and that he's taking me on a tour of his childhood.

Well, she admits, It is hard for me to remember the old neighbors since I had my stroke a few years back. She lets us go on without calling the police.

This is in contrast to old Mr. Garver, who barrels down the street on his cane and practically chases us away from the old one-room shack on Hickory Grove Road. I always assume a position of asking forgiveness instead of permission when it comes to photos so I'm already shooting away when he shows up. A woman saunters down her driveway with a naked baby on her hip. She wants to know what all the hub-bub is about.

Despite old man Garver's claims that people have tried to break in several times in the last few years, the house on Hickory Grove road is hardly much of a house to speak of. Through the window we can see the place is filled with broken appliances, chair stuffing, and empty beer cans. The roof and front porch look as if they could collapse at any moment. The house's tiny, tiny two rooms were once filled by my father, his two brothers, mother, and stepfather. There was no running water in the house, just a pump in back and an outdoor bathtub that got cold almost as soon as you sat in the water.

Continue to Page 2
Meet Gavin and Macey Bebble, cousins and fellow St. Mary's stars

Two fellow Class of 2023 members, Gavin and Macey Bebble share a bond as cousins, friends and leading members of multiple talented St. Mary's teams.
Ordinary citizens with extraordinary community spirit have been a bright light amid the dark clouds and devastation wreaked by Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Mattress Mack, the furniture store owner offering shelter to evacuees, the Cajun Navy volunteer search-and-rescue crews and countless others with generous hearts have reminded us during a time of political turmoil that this nation is mighty because a crisis unites us.

A Congress returning to the Capitol next week needs to heed the example of Harveys heroes and come together to find solutions. A daunting agenda with tight deadlines lies ahead of lawmakers  passing hurricane relief, avoiding a government shutdown, raising the debt ceiling and dealing with President Donald Trumps call for a Mexican border wall.

The nation needs to focus on the massive natural disaster that is Hurricane Harvey. It does not need lawmakers to inflict manufactured crises on it at this time. That means acting like adults and taking care of the debt ceiling, government funding and disaster aid without attaching conditions to their passage  such as building the border wall.

This important to-do list either must or should happen before Septembers end, due to fiscal calendar constraints. Lawmakers returning to Washington on Tuesday after the August recess will need to summon competence and resist the temptations of partisanship.

This is not a time for political point-scoring or nail-biting midnight votes. Americans are weary after violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the battle over health reform and the sense of instability fostered by the rapid turnover of presidential staff.

For those lawmakers who say government should be run like a business, heres a chance to act like a private-sector chief executive confronting a serious challenge. A seasoned CEO would focus on fundamentals, lead by example and steer clear of stormier waters.

Harveys growing roster of individual heroes should inspire lawmakers to rise to the occasion. But if not, then the hurricanes stunning swath of destruction should. Houston is the nations fourth-largest city, with up to 30 percent of Harris County, where most of its residents live, underwater.

Floods are also notoriously difficult to recover from. Floodwaters take time to recede. Many people do not have flood insurance. And disaster aid often prioritizes infrastructure repairs over individual homeowners.

Getting Houston back on its feet is a massive undertaking whose scope compels the federal government to lead. Lawmakers will need not only to monitor the recovery, but innovate to overcome disaster aids well-known limitations.

They also should swiftly delve into the precarious finances of the National Flood Insurance Program, which has long been on the Government Accountability Offices list of high-risk federal programs because big storm expenses have outstripped incoming premiums. Congress faces an end-of-September deadline to reauthorize this program to ensure continuity of operations.

Members of Congress who want to keep their jobs should avoid the dreadful optics of allowing political fights over the wall or other partisan issues to slow down hurricane aid or shut down the government in the midst of the Federal Emergency Management Agencys disaster response. In addition, it is always irresponsible to send shudders through global markets by threatening to not raise the debt ceiling.

But it would be especially reckless now.

Debate over Trumps divisive border wall can wait. Congress not only needs to find common ground, but to follow the lead of Houstonians and move to higher ground.
Fuel buyers from Latin America to Asia feel Harvey's impact





Harvey's impact on world oil market underlines growing U.S. role. A Dow refinery operates during Hurricane Harvey near Seadrift, Texas, August 26, 2017.

By Javier Blass

LONDON

Petroleumworld 09 01 2017

World energy markets, from butane in Asia to diesel in Europe and gasoline in Latin America, are feeling the ripple effect of Texas's deadly storm, highlighting the growing role of the U.S. in the global oil industry.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the U.S. exported just 800,000 barrels a day of mostly refined products. Today it ships more than 6 million barrels a day of crude and fuels, an increase driven by a boom in shale production, the end of a ban on crude exports and the expansion of several refineries.

"The global implications of a stormy season in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico have mounted as the U.S. has emerged as a global energy hub," said Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup Inc. in New York.

The effect of Tropical Storm Harvey on oil markets is opening an almost unprecedented opportunity for traders to make money, shifting around crude and refined products by ship. They're already amassing an armada of tankers to send European gasoline to the U.S. and Latin America, while Asian countries are snapping up cargoes of liquefied petroleum gases -- butane and propane mostly -- to replace the loss of exports from Texas.

See also: Harvey's Roar Rumbles Half a World Away as LPG in Asia Jumps

"The concentration and connectivity of the most important energy region in the world is going to test global energy security," said Jamie Webster, a fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the U.S. 12 years ago, the International Energy Agency released emergency petroleum reserves. This time around, there's no need as global inventories remain high, according to the IEA, though the agency stands ready to act, it said Aug. 28. The U.S. Department of Energy released a small amount of crude from strategic reserves on Thursday, meeting a request from a single refinery for extra barrels.

Refining Offline

The country's oil system remains severely handicapped after Harvey made a second landfall between Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday.

Flooding and power failures have reduced U.S. fuel-making capacity by about 4.25 million barrels a day -- a quarter of the country's total and equivalent to the refining capacity of France and Germany combined. The drop in output has cut supplies to the major Colonial pipeline, which takes gasoline from Texas and Louisiana to the U.S. East Coast. Its operator shut its main diesel line late Wednesday and planned to halt its gasoline link Thursday.

The move drove up U.S. gasoline wholesale prices above $2 a gallon for the first time since July 2015. As traders scrambled to cover their positions, they sent the price spread between the most immediate futures contract and subsequent deliveries sharply higher.

While fuel prices rally, crude markets are stumbling. With refineries across Texas closed -- including the largest U.S. plant -- oil demand has dropped, putting pressure on prices from West Texas Intermediate to Brent. WTI is down 1.7 percent this week.

Harvey's full impact will only be known once refiners assess the damage to their flooded plants. Unlike during Katrina and Rita, most were able to carry out a controlled shutdown ahead of the storm, reducing the chance of long-lasting equipment problems.

Still, a short-term supply squeeze will have far-reaching effects. Latin America relies on imports from Texas and Louisiana. Mexico buys half its gasoline from the U.S., while Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and several Central American nations also buy significant quantities of U.S. fuels. Brazil purchases about 400,000 barrels a day of U.S. petroleum products, up from just 15,000 a day in 2005.

Europe will also feel a crunch if the refinery shutdowns continue because the region imports U.S. diesel. European gasoil rose above $500 a ton on Thursday, heading for its highest close since February.

"The amount of oil lost to Harvey by the rest of the world will quickly accumulate," said Olivier Jakob, founder of energy consultants Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland. "This will accelerate stock-draws in the rest of the world."







Story by Javier Blass from Bloomberg.



bloomberg. com / 08 31 2017
Latin America fuel traders are pointing at PDVSA waiting gasoline cargos



Latin America looks to Venezuelan fuel cargoes as Harvey swamps U.S.

By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON

Petroleumworld 09 01 2017

After Hurricane Harvey roared into Texas, flooding oil refineries and crippling ports along U.S. Gulf Coast, Latin American countries scouring the globe for other sources of fuel are zeroing in on a flotilla waiting to unload off the coast of Venezuela.

Almost no fuel tankers have sailed from Texas for Latin America in six days, according to Thomson Reuters vessel tracking data. Terminals and refineries shut by the storm are unlikely to fully recover for weeks.

The United States is the world's largest net exporter of refined petroleum products, shipping around 5.05 million barrels of fuel per day. Latin America received almost half of that, or 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Most of it loads from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Latin America's top recipients of U.S. fuel shipments are Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela, which is an OPEC member sitting on the world's largest crude oil reserves. However, Venezuela refineries are in such poor repair that the country cannot meet its domestic fuel needs.

On Tuesday, a trading firm with two cargoes of diesel waiting to discharge in the port of Curacao notified Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA it plans to suspend its delivery contract and divert the shipments to Ecuador, according to a PDVSA source familiar with the firm's international trade.

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and other countries also want to tap some of the about 7 million barrels of fuel sitting in the Caribbean sea, according to three traders and shippers.

Some of the two dozen tankers sitting offshore have been waiting for weeks to discharge, either because cash-strapped PDVSA has been slow to pay for fuels or because of bottlenecks at ports.

Refiners are waiting for (U.S.) ports to reopen to start shipping what they have in storage, but some companies are desperate, said a trader from an oil firm supplying some regional state-run oil companies.

Mexico, which normally imports two gasoline cargoes per day, is among the countries looking to buy the fuels, the trading sources said.

If trading firms that control the tankers offer to divert a cargo from Venezuela, they (Mexico) are going to take it, said a source at an oil company with large operations in Latin America.

Peruvian oil company Petroperu ( PET.LM ) on Monday launched a tender to buy up to five cargoes of diesel for delivery in September and October, according to a document seen by Reuters. Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol ( ECO.CN ) has called trading firms to find gasoil cargoes for prompt delivery, a source said.

DESPERATE FOR FUEL

Harvey has caused refinery outages that resulted in about 21 million barrels of gasoline and distillates in lost production as of Wednesday, according to Reuters' estimates based on Energy Information Administration numbers.

U.S. refineries with capacity to produce 4.4 million bpd have shut. That is nearly 4.5 percent of total global fuel supply.

Diverting the cargoes from Venezuela could bring big profits to traders as diesel and gasoline prices are rising fast due to the U.S. supply disruptions. But providers would have to reach agreements with PDVSA before moving the tankers.

PDVSA has failed to prepay for most of the tankers anchored near Venezuelan ports, according to the sources. Even so, traders would seek to agree with Venezuela to swap them for cargoes they could deliver later, rather than violate their end of a contract and damage their relationship with PDVSA.

For diverting a cargo you need to declare a contract breach and that could lead to a long battle, one trader said.

It might be easier for traders to negotiate another delivery window for September or October, which could allow charterers to divert these cargoes in the meantime.

Some nations have more fuel in storage than others to cushion the impact on domestic markets of the reduction in U.S. supplies.

Brazil, Latin America's largest buyer of U.S. diesel and a big gasoline importer, has fuel storage constraints, said Adriano Pires, a consultant at Brazil's Center for Infrastructure. But he added that the storm's hit to U.S. shipment capacity has not yet became a problem.

I don't think those cargoes have a strong commitment to be delivered to PDVSA in the current situation, so South America, especially Brazil, could get something from there, said Robert Campbell from consultancy Energy Aspects.

NOT SO EASY

U.S. sanctions on new Venezuelan debt operations and on officials, including President Nicolas Maduro and PDVSA's Finance Vice President Simon Zerpa, have compounded trading difficulties.

Some banks that routinely provided trade financing for companies importing and exporting Venezuelan oil have stopped issuing letters of credit.

Maduro's government has sought to blame the shortage of essential goods on the United States for imposing financial sanctions that have delayed imports.

The sanctions meant that Venezuela cannot pay for imported essential goods for the people, said Delcy Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's recently-installed pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly.







Story by Marianna Parraga; Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper in Rio de Janeiro and Alexandra Ulmer in Caracas; Editing by Gary McWilliams, Simon Webb and David Gregorio from Reuters.



reuters. com / 08 31 2017
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday gave its approval to relocate TerraVida to another site in the southeastern region of the state, said Chris Visco, TerraVidas president. By state law, TerraVida must open its three dispensaries by early January. Visco estimated TerraVida will have lost $100,000 on the Stenton location in permit, zoning, and legal fees.

We really wanted to be in this community, but we thought this was the right thing to do, Visco said. We would like to open another location in Philadelphia, and if we can find another location close by, that would be great.

The announcement leaves Philadelphia with three proposed medical marijuana dispensaries  PharmaCannis LIFE near the Philadelphia Mills mall; Restore Integrative Wells Center on the 900 block of Frankford Avenue in Fishtown; and Holistic Pharma on Krewstown Road in the Northeast.
In a decision that could change the way future medical marijuana permits are awarded in Pennsylvania, the state has ordered the Pa. Department of Health to reveal the identities of the panelists who determined the winners to grow and distribute cannabis products.

The Pa. Department of Health in June awarded 12 permits to grow and process marijuana and 27 permits to distribute the medicines in a process that many of the unsuccessful applicants criticized as unnecessarily opaque.

A secret panel, comprised of about a dozen Pennsylvania state employees, reviewed and scored hundreds of lengthy applications for the potentially lucrative business permits, following a model originally set by New Jersey. Other states have followed different selection processes. Ohio, for example, hired an Atlanta-based consultant to determine its winners, according to Cleveland.com.

The state medical marijuana law required the panelists to be kept anonymous to avoid political meddling and any appearance of conflict of interest.

The Office of Open Records (OOR) came to its decision on Thursday in response to a PennLive reporter who had filed a formal request in May for the panelists' names, job titles, and departments.

The Department of Health has 30-days to turn over the information or file an appeal, said Erik Arneson, the executive director for the OOR.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said officials were reviewing the decision and considering their options.

Health had argued against releasing the names. Arnesen said, because under the state statute, the identities of the panelists were required to remain confidential.

"Their second argument was that by revealing their identities, it could be a security issue; that they could be subject to bribes and threats," Arnesen said.

"On that second point, they didn't present any evidence."
Mayor Kenney speaking about the Microsoft Reactor in Philadelphia in November 2016. Read more

With much fanfare, Microsoft Corp. opened a development and innovation hub at the University City Science Center in June 2016 to attract software developers, corporate partners, and entrepreneurs to Philadelphia.

Now the hub is closing, officials confirmed Friday.

The Microsoft Reactor Philadelphia  one of only three in the nation  hosted about 100 programs with 3,200 participants over its 15-month existence. Its departure is a setback for a city seeking to modernize its economy with a vibrant high-tech sector.

Microsoft spokesman Curtis Lee said Friday that the Reactor will close because of a corporate restructuring, but the company will remain active with the Science Center and its partners, promoting skills for women and minorities and supporting entrepreneurs and tech companies in Philadelphia.

The Reactor programs in New York and San Francisco will continue unchanged, Lee said.

In a tweet on Friday, Microsoft's Amanda Lange said: "We're really proud of the work we did at the Philly Reactor. I'm still in Philadelphia so I personally haven't gone anywhere." Her title was Microsoft tech evangelist at the Reactor.

Science Center spokeswoman Kristen Fitch said the first-floor Reactor is being marketed for a new tenant. "We hope to share news of a new tenant soon," she said. Quorum, which the Science Center describes as an "entrepreneurs clubhouse," will remain open on the Science Center's eighth floor.

She added that "while we are disappointed by Microsoft's decision to close the Reactor, we are proud of the program's achievements and will be building on them." She was referring mostly to the programs and participants.

Mayor Kenney attended the formal launch of the Microsoft operation in November. His office said on Friday that he did not have advance warning of Microsoft's decision. "We are grateful to Microsoft for the services they offered at the Reactor and look forward to their continued presence in Philadelphia, even if it comes in a slightly different form," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

The Reactor closing was first reported by online publication Technical.ly Philly, which covers the regional tech sector.

Philadelphia has an opportunity to grow its tech sector as Center City attracts tech- and smart phone-savvy millennials, many believe.

At the same time, boosting Philadelpia's tech sector has gained urgency with Comcast Corp.'s plans to open in 2018 its new tech center  now under construction  near the corporate headquarters at 17th and Arch Streets. The company has said it will need to hire large numbers of engineers and software developers and expects many of them to acquire necessary skills at local tech companies.
Hahnemann University Hospital is one of two Philadelphia facilities that Tenet Healthcare is selling to Paladin Healthcare. Read more

Nearly 20 years after coming to Philadelphia to save eight bankrupt hospitals, Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Friday it was selling its last two facilities here, agreeing to unload Hahnemann University Hospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children to a private equity-backed California firm for $170 million.

The buyer, Paladin Healthcare of El Segundo, is purchasing the facilities through a new affiliate called American Academic Health System LLC. Paladin owns four hospitals in low-income areas of Los Angeles County with 497 beds. The company also manages the 280-bed Howard University Hospital in Washington.

Center City's Hahnemann alone has 496 beds; St. Christopher's, in the Juniata Park/Feltonville section, has 189. Both operate as affiliates of Drexel University College of Medicine under a contract that expires in 2022. The sale is expected to close early next year, pending regulatory approvals.

"We will continue the legacy of Hahnemann and St. Christopher's. We're just very, very excited about what lies in front of us," said Paladin president Barry Wolfman, who ran Tenet's Philadelphia-area operations in the early 2000s.

Of Hahnemann, which he described as struggling in recent years, Wolfman said Paladin would work "to return it to its rightful place in the landscape of health care. It has a place. It has long been successful, and we will figure it out."

The region's hospitals are undergoing dramatic consolidation. Just this week, Cooper University Health System said it was acquiring rival Lourdes Health System. Jefferson Health is merging with Kennedy Health System in South Jersey and exploring a deal with Magee Rehab, after joining with Aria Health and Abington Memorial Hospital. Reading Health is buying five hospitals from Community Health Systems. And Penn Medicine is adding hospitals in Princeton and Lancaster to extend its reach.

For Tenet, a for-profit firm based in Dallas, the sale of Hahnemann and St. Christopher's will end an era of painful losses in the Philadelphia region, which it entered in 1998 when it bought the eight hospitals from the bankrupt Allegheny Health System for $345 million.

The other six hospitals were Graduate, Medical College of Pennsylvania, City Avenue, Parkview, Elkins Park, and Warminster. It later added Roxborough Memorial. All but St. Christopher's and Hahnemann were sold or closed by 2007.

Despite the long-running losses, Tenet held onto Hahnemann and St. Christopher's, though the latter performed better financially because most children can get health insurance in Pennsylvania.

In the year ended June 30, St. Christopher's, Hahnemann, and related operations had $790 million of operating revenue and an adjusted operating loss of $15 million, Tenet said. In connection with the sale, Tenet will record a $230 million pre-tax impairment charge in the quarter ending Sept. 30. The company also expects to report a taxable loss of $200 million on the sale.

In addition to the charges, Tenet announced on Thursday that CEO Trevor Fetter would resign by March or when a new CEO is found.

St. Christopher's, where Tenet completed a $115 million critical-care tower last year, voluntarily stopped performing nonemergency heart procedures in January 2016 pending an internal review after safety questions were raised. Hospital officials said in June that the facility would resume heart surgery this summer.

Hahnemann, a pioneer in organ transplants, closed its heart transplant program in May. Drexel closed its department of radiation oncology at the end of June.

Asked how Paladin will compete in a highly competitive market with hospitals that have large numbers of low-income Medicaid patients, Wolfman responded that every market is tough.

"There's always opportunity to collaborate with physicians. You look at opportunities. You collaborate with other hospitals. You work on your clinical excellence," Wolfman said.

The idea, much discussed in health-care circles, that a buyer would close Hahnemann and turn the site into condos is "not on the radar."

Still, that scenario is a backstop, said Stuart H. Fine, director of the health policy and management graduate program for Temple University's College of Public Health: "If the acquisition does not go as hoped, they still do have a remarkably valuable piece of real estate."

Paladin's financial partner in the deal, which includes Tenet-owned physician practices, is Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC, a Chicago company that oversees $12.2 billion in assets, its website indicates.

The Tenet facilities that Paladin is buying employ 2,700. "We will be hiring all qualified employees and physicians. I think people should not worry," Wolfman said. Hahnemann CEO Michael Halter and St. Christopher's CEO James Burke will remain.

Bill Cruice, executive director of the union that represents nurses and others at both hospitals, said he was wary of Paladin's private-equity connections. "The jury will be out to see if Paladin has the same commitment to the patients and to these communities that the nurses have," he said. "We hope that they will."
Aerial image of SCI Graterford on the left and the new SCI Phoenix on the right in Skippack Township, Montgomery County. Read more

A decade after the project was proposed, and almost two years after it was scheduled to be ready, Pennsylvania this month plans to start moving staff into its biggest, most expensive prison, the $400 million State Correctional Institution Phoenix.

Among state facilities, only the Convention Center in Philadelphia has cost taxpayers more, and still at issue is $23 million in fines related to construction delays.

Eight guard towers and utility buildings at the concrete complex just east of the aging Graterford Prison in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, have been granted certificates of occupancy after a series of contractor squabbles, inspection struggles, and final construction fixes in advance of the latest target completion date, Sept. 28. State officials said some prison staff will move to Phoenix in a few weeks.

Inspectors still are reviewing 3,000 electrical, mechanical, and architectural "deficiencies" in the 12 separate cell block buildings and at 12 other structures at Phoenix, said Troy Thompson, spokesman for the state Department of General Services. The state has no estimate for when all those buildings will be ready. The Department of Corrections expects to finish moving prisoners from Graterford to Phoenix by July, said Corrections Department spokeswoman Susan McNaughton.

The new prison, surrounded by rows of building-high barbed wire instead of a massive wall, adds program space and will have air-conditioning, a big change from the sweltering summers at Graterford.
A nearly two-month-long manhunt came to an end when police arrested a man they say shot and killed 16-year-old Jordan Scott as he walked on a Norristown street.

U.S. marshals found Isaiah "Zay" Freeman, 18, at a residence on North Third Street in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The Norristown native was arraigned on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy, as well as other offenses related to the July 6 shooting, which left a second juvenile injured.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced the arrest Thursday at a news conference, saying it represented "justice done for a 16-year-old who lost his life."

In a joint investigation by the Montgomery County Detective Bureau and Norristown Police Department, authorities found that Freeman had been in a car driven by William Wilson, 30, when they saw the two youths walking near Chain and Oak Streets in Norristown. Wilson drove around the corner and waited. When the youths walked by, Freeman fired at them from the corner of a building, according to court documents.

The companion Scott was walking with  a juvenile whom police have not publicly identified  pulled out a pistol and began firing back at Freeman, according to the documents.

Police were called to 623 Chain around 6:30 p.m. There, they found Scott, who had gunshot wounds to the chest, and the other male juvenile, who had a gunshot wound to the ankle, according to the documents. Scott was taken to Mercy Suburban Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later. The other male was treated at Paoli Hospital.

Wilson, who police say drove the car Freeman had been in, was interviewed after the shooting. He allowed authorities to search his phone, vehicle, and Norristown residence, but lied to them several times over the course of multiple interviews, according to documents.

A witness, however, told police he had been in the vehicle with Wilson and Freeman that evening. The witness said he watched Freeman exit the vehicle, shoot at the young men, and then return to the car, according to the documents.

The witness told police Wilson asked Freeman, "Did you get him?" and Freeman replied, "I got him, I got him, I got him  I shot him all in here," motioning to his chest, according to the documents.

On Tuesday, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Freeman's arrest.

Steele said Thursday that his apprehension was not a result of the reward.

The U.S. marshals "just did an outstanding job and found him," Steele said, noting that the arrest occurred without incident. He said he did not believe Freeman was armed at the time.

Freeman was being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on Thursday, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 11.

Wilson was arraigned on murder charges on Aug. 9. He was also being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
A Salt Lake City police detective handcuffed a nurse after she prevented him from collecting blood from an unconscious patient. Read more

By all accounts, the head nurse at the University of Utah Hospital's burn unit was professional and restrained when she told a Salt Lake City police detective he wasn't allowed to draw blood from a badly injured patient.

The detective didn't have a warrant, first off. And the patient wasn't conscious, so he couldn't give consent. Without that, the detective was barred from collecting blood samples  not just by hospital policy, but by basic constitutional law.

Still, Detective Jeff Payne insisted that he be let in to take the blood, saying the nurse would be arrested and charged if she refused.

Nurse Alex Wubbels politely stood her ground. She got her supervisor on the phone so Payne could hear the decision loud and clear. "Sir," said the supervisor, "you're making a huge mistake because you're threatening a nurse."

Payne snapped. He seized hold of the nurse, shoved her out of the building and cuffed her hands behind her back. A bewildered Wubbels screamed "help me" and "you're assaulting me" as the detective forced her into an unmarked car and accused her of interfering with an investigation.

The explosive July 26 afternoon encounter was captured on officers' body cameras and is now the subject of an internal investigation by the police department, as the Salt Lake City Tribune reported Thursday. The videos were released by the Tribune, the Deseret News and other local media.

On top of that, Wubbels was right. The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly ruled that blood can only be drawn from drivers for probable cause, with a warrant.

Wubbels, who was not criminally charged, played the footage at a news conference Thursday with her attorney. They called on police to rethink their treatment of hospital workers and said they had not ruled out legal action.

"I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things," Wubbels said. "And I'm still confused."

Salt Lake police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Shearer told local media that Payne had been suspended from the department's blood draw unit but remained on active duty. Shearer said Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown had seen the video and called it "very alarming," according to the Deseret News.

It all started when a suspect speeding away from police in a pickup truck on a local highway smashed head-on into a truck driver, as local media reported. Medics sedated the truck driver, who was severely burned, and took him to the University of Utah Hospital. He arrived in a comatose state, according to the Deseret News. The suspect died in the crash.

A neighboring police department sent Payne, a trained police phlebotomist, to collect blood from the patient and check for illicit substances, as the Tribune reported. The goal was reportedly to protect the trucker, who was not suspected of a crime. His lieutenant ordered him to arrest Wubbels if she refused to let him draw a sample, according to the Tribune.

A 19-minute video from the body camera of a fellow officer shows the bitter argument that unfolded on the floor of the hospital's burn unit.

A group of hospital officials, security guards and nurses are seen pacing nervously in the ward. Payne can be seen standing in a doorway, arms folded over his black polo shirt, waiting as hospital officials talk on the phone.

"So why don't we just write a search warrant," the officer wearing the body camera says to Payne.

"They don't have PC," Payne responds, using the abbreviation for probable cause, which police must have to get a warrant for search and seizure. He adds that he plans to arrest the nurse if she doesn't allow him to draw blood. "I've never gone this far," he says.

After several minutes, Wubbels shows Payne and the other officer a printout of the hospital's policy on obtaining blood samples from patients. With her supervisor on speakerphone, she calmly tells them they can't proceed unless they have a warrant or patient consent, or if the patient is under arrest.

"The patient can't consent, he's told me repeatedly that he doesn't have a warrant, and the patient is not under arrest," she says. "So I'm just trying to do what I'm supposed to do, that's all."

"So I take it without those in place, I'm not going to get blood," Payne says.

Wubbels's supervisor chimes in on the speakerphone. "Why are you blaming the messenger," he asks Payne.

"She's the one that has told me no," the officer responds.

"Sir, you're making a huge mistake because you're threatening a nurse," Wubbels's supervisor says over the phone.

At that point, Payne seems to lose it.

He paces toward the nurse and tries to swat the phone out of her hand. "We're done here," he yells. He grabs Wubbels by the arms and shoves her through the automatic doors outside the building.

Wubbels screams. "Help! Help me! Stop! You're assaulting me! Stop! I've done nothing wrong! This is crazy!"

Payne presses her into a wall, pulls her arms behind her back and handcuffs her. Two hospital officials tell him to stop, that she's doing her job, but he ignores them.

"I can't believe this! What is happening?" Wubbels says through tears as the detective straps her into the front seat of his car.

Another officer arrives and tells her she should have allowed Payne to collect the samples he asked for. He says she obstructed justice and prevented Payne from doing his job.

"I'm also obligated to my patients," she tells the officer. "It's not up to me."

In Thursday's news conference, Wubbels's attorney Karra Porter said that Payne believed he was authorized to collect the blood under "implied consent," according to the Tribune. But Porter said "implied consent" law changed in Utah a decade ago. And in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that warrantless blood tests were illegal. Porter called Wubbels's arrest unlawful.

"The law is well-established. And it's not what we were hearing in the video," she said. "I don't know what was driving this situation."

Wubbels has worked as a nurse at the hospital since 2009, according to the Tribune. She was previously an Alpine skier who competed under her maiden name in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.

As a health-care worker, she said it was her job to keep her patients safe.

"A blood draw, it just gets thrown around like it's some simple thing," she said, according to the Deseret News. "But your blood is your blood. That's your property."

For now, Wubbels is not taking any legal action against police. But she's not ruling it out.

"I want to see people do the right thing first and I want to see this be a civil discourse," she said Thursday, according to the Deseret News. "If that's not something that's going to happen and there is refusal to acknowledge the need for growth and the need for re-education, then we will likely be forced to take that type of step. But people need to know that this is out there."
Philadelphia police rallied Thursday evening at their union's headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia to vent their outrage over a protest that occurred last week outside the home of an officer involved in a fatal shooting in June.

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, angrily addressed a ballroom filled with hundreds of officers, their families, and other supporters, and called the small group of protesters who demonstrated outside Officer Ryan Pownall's home in Bustleton the night of Aug. 24 a "pack of rabid animals."

The day after the protest, the police union went to court and obtained a ruling, agreed to by the city, that while the city can still release the name of an officer involved in shooting a person 72 hours afterward, the union may seek an emergency petition to halt the release of the officer's name. A full hearing on the matter is to be held Sept. 29 before Common Pleas Court Judge Daniel J. Anders..

The union is supporting legislation sponsored by State Rep. Martina White, a Northeast Philadelphia Republican, that would delay the release of an officer's name for 30 days after a shooting. A similar bill was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Wolf, a Democrat.

Pownall fatally shot David Jones, 30, in North Philadelphia on June 8. Police said Jones reached for an illegal gun and then ran off. Pownall shot him in the back.

McNesby accused the media of providing the protesters, who have also disrupted public events and marched in the city, excessive coverage that encourages violence.

Pownall and his family were in the audience, McNesby said. The protesters outside his home last week used bullhorns and carried posters that said Pownall was "wanted for the murder of David Jones." A large police presence was on hand to protect the officer's home and family.

City Councilman Brian J. O'Neill, whose father was a police officer, also addressed the "Back the Blue" rally and said the protest at the officer's home was a "stain on the city of Philadelphia."

"The city of Philadelphia should have a sacred trust with the family, not just the officer, but the officer's family when they're in their home," O'Neill said.

Other speakers included White; Beth Grossman, the Republican candidate for district attorney; and City Councilman Mark Squilla.

McNesby said he sent invitations to all of the city's elected officials, including Mayor Kenney, and candidates for office, which prompted some in the crowd to shout, "Where is Kenney?" The mayor did not attend.
Jenna Burleigh, a 22-year-old student at Temple University, was last seen about 2 a.m. Aug. 31 near the campus in North Philadelphia. Read more

Authorities are seeking the public's help in locating a missing 22-year-old female student who was last seen near the campus in North Philadelphia about 2 a.m. Thursday.

"We need your help in finding Temple student Jenna Burleigh, who was last seen on August 31st at 2am. Please share any information," the Temple Police Department tweeted late Friday morning.

Burleigh, a junior transfer student majoring in film and media arts, was reported missing by the Lower Salford Police Department. She was last seen in the area of Pub Webb, a bar and restaurant at 1527 Cecil B. Moore Ave.

The Temple News, the university's student newspaper, reported that the Burleigh family came to the university's police department Thursday night to report the woman was missing.

"We are following up on any tips," Charlie Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services, told the student newspaper. "We are aggressively investigating, continuing our investigation working with our police partners from Philadelphia and Lower Salford."

Anyone with information about her whereabouts can call Temple police at 215-204-1234 or a confidential tip line at 215-204-6493.
Larry Krasner (left), the Democratic nominee for district attorney in Philadelphia, had lunch this week with former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille (right), the last Republican to serve as DA in the city. Read more

There they were: the last Republican to serve as district attorney in Philadelphia having lunch with a candidate who could become the most liberal person to ever win the post. They met Thursday at the Palm, the newly renovated political haunt perhaps best known as being Clout's favorite font of old-fashioneds.

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille, who won the post of district attorney in 1985, said Democratic nominee Larry Krasner asked for the meeting. Castille was elected as a Republican in 1985, resigned in 1991 for an unsuccessful bid for mayor, and oversaw the First Judicial District when he was on the state's high court.

"I want to see that office come back up to the stature it had before the drama with Seth Williams, before he disgraced it," Castille said.

Williams, a Democrat, dropped his bid for a third term in February, resigned from office, and pleaded guilty to a bribery charge in June, and is now in the Federal Detention Center awaiting sentencing in October.

Castille said he and Krasner avoided politics and spoke instead about how the office operates, including "who you can hire and who you can fire," the key positions of first deputy district attorney and chief of county detectives, bail reform, mandatory minimum sentencing, and how to emphasize treatment for people with drug addiction.

"I just sort of gave him the lay of the land," Castille said.

Krasner has spent 30 years as a defense attorney, drawing notice for high-profile civil rights cases. The Republican nominee, Beth Grossman, spent 21 years as an assistant district attorney and has been critical of Krasner's lack of prosecutorial experience.

Castille said he is "trying to stay nonpolitical" in the Nov. 7 general election and has offered Grossman advice, too.

Krasner called Castille "a highly intelligent man who has a lot of insight" and said they agreed "on the importance of restoring faith in the integrity of the office."

Grossman said Castille has been emailing her advice about the office since January.

"Good for Larry for asking for sage advice," she said.

Cant keep a good judge down

We thought we'd seen it all here at Clout. Some days, it feels like we've seen too much.

And then a sitting judge on the campaign trail gets photobombed by a couple o' dildos and puts everything in perspective.

Allow us to explain.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge H. Geoffrey Moulton Jr., bless his heart, was attending Pride in the Park, the Lehigh Valley's annual LGBT festival. His campaign staff snapped some photos of him calling out bingo numbers to benefit FACT, an organization that fights AIDS and supports affected residents.

So far, so good.

Except  pay attention here, amateur photographers  no one noticed the upright dildos positioned directly in front of Moulton. No, that's not a gavel, your honor!

The photo was posted on Moulton's Facebook page for about 10 days until a supporter noticed the fake phalluses.

"They're pretty sizable," said a source who tipped us off to the dildos, which some HIV-prevention groups use to instruct on condom use.

The photo, obtained by Clout, has been deleted from Moulton's Facebook page. But we wanted answers. We're professional journalists.

"I'd usually burn down the internet to get rid of a photo like this, and we are going to replace it, but as a level-headed jurist, he didn't mind the 'props' at all," said Joe Corrigan, spokesman for Moulton's campaign.

Moulton, whom Gov. Wolf appointed to Superior Court in August 2016, is running for his first full term in November.

Turns out Moulton wrote the court opinion in April that the survivor of a same-sex common-law marriage had the same legal rights as any other widow or widower. The ruling overturned a denial issued by a Beaver County judge.

Corrigan shook off the dildo situation and quickly returned to campaign mode.

"In a state with no express statutory LGBT antidiscrimination protections, the courts are often the only place those issues are addressed," Corrigan said Thursday. "So it's important that we elect fair-minded judges who can empathize with anyone, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Who wore the Harvey hatred better?

Reasonable folks can agree to put aside their political and ideological differences in the face of horrific disasters like Hurricane Harvey.

It could take months, if not years, for the full impact of the storm to become clear. At the bare minimum, tens of thousands of Texas residents have lost their homes, at least 39 have died, and early estimates suggest the damage costs could climb to $75 billion.

But that hasn't stopped some people from sharing deeply idiotic hot takes on social media. Take conservative talking head Ann Coulter, who contributed this gem to Twitter on Monday:

Coulter was nearly outdone, though, by Stephen Cassidy, a Philadelphia Housing Authority police lieutenant, who took to Facebook the following day and wrote on a friend's thread: "Texas is a rotten state that has done some horrible things to black and brown people and this storm is probably gods way of punishment for their evil deeds and also for helping to elect trump."

Whew. That's a lot of ground for an angry God to cover in one storm  doling out punishments for the elections of a gay mayor and Donald Trump.

Cassidy did not respond to an email request for comment. But Nichole Tillman, a PHA spokeswoman, said, "PHA does not agree with the posted comment. Lt. Cassidy has removed the post from his page."

Quotable:

"This is going to be a community event, to support the police, but most importantly, it's going to be a checklist to see what politicians show up, who we can count on for support, and those we have to remember when it comes down the line at election time."  Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 president John McNesby, appearing on Dom Giordano's 1210-WPHT program Monday, explaining that his union will be watching to see which city politicians showed up for Thursday evening's "Back the Blue Rally" at the union's headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia

Staff writers Chris Brennan, William Bender, and David Gambacorta contributed to this column. Tips: clout@philly.com.
John Paul Marosy (center) of Bethlehem joins protesters outside the studios of PBS-39 as Sen. Pat Toomey holds a town-hall meeting in Bethlehem August 31, 2017, after months of public pressure from liberal opponents of President Trump that the senator has been hiding from his constituents. Attendance was limited to 54 people. Read more

BETHLEHEM, Pa.  Providing aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey, tax reform, and overhauling the Affordable Care Act will likely be top priorities when the Senate returns to session next week, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said Thursday night during a long-awaited town-hall meeting that some critics described as "fake."

Constituents had been asking for months that the senator hold a public, in-person meeting  something he recently had been doing only over the phone or, occasionally, with protesters who gathered outside his office.

Summer town halls, once considered friendly forums for many legislators, have been rough for many Republicans this year.

Toomey's meeting, held inside a PBS39 studio and broadcast live, was not terribly dramatic; by many standards, it was tame. Only one person was removed, after he asked a question that could not be heard by everyone in the room.

But some critics also called it fake because of its comparatively small crowd size and structured format.

Toomey told the crowd he expected aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey to pass Congress in the next week or two, possibly with other measures wrapped into it to fund the federal government.

He also said he would like to reform "what might be the worst tax code in the world," calling for lower tax rates for businesses as well as consolidating some tax brackets for individuals.

Toomey said he would like to find a way to revamp the Affordable Care Act so that Americans who have been buying coverage just to comply with the law won't be as burdened by increasing costs.

"It's not OK to just tear it all up," he told the audience members, who listened politely.

The people who rely on the ACA, he said, "need a smooth transition."

Outside the studio, a couple of dozen protesters spoke about immigration, the president's recent ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces, a desire to protect the Affordable Care Act, and their hopes for a larger, less regulated public meeting with the senator. A nearly equal number of police officers stood guard  some on foot and some on horses.

Inside the studio, chairs had been set aside for 54 people  some of whom didn't show up. Some seats were reserved for members of the local Republican and Democratic committees. Thirty were for members of the general public.

Why 54?

"It's just the mutually agreed-upon number," Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly said without elaborating.

People could submit questions ahead of time, with PBS39, the Allentown Morning Call, and Muhlenberg College deciding which of the roughly 400 submissions would be asked. A moderator said the senator had not reviewed the questions before the meeting.

When people arrived, they received a green card if their question had been selected. They were told to write down the question they had submitted. It was OK if it was off by a word or two, but the gist, they were told, should be the same.

One man, identified only by his first name during the broadcast, asked Toomey about the format.

"This is a fake town hall," he told the senator before asking: "What would it take to have a real town hall with hundreds of people and a dialogue rather than a one-way conversation?"

Toomey responded by saying that there had been a "two-way" conversation and that he has "had more town halls than any other statewide elected official" that he knows of. He said he has held 75 meetings over the telephone, prompting loud boos or groans from some in the audience.

"Let's be candid," the senator said. "There are some people that don't want to have a constructive conversation. There are some people that want to have a destructive event."

He added that he was not interested in having a destructive event.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput declared his strong support on Friday for a program that blocks the deportation of immigrants illegally brought to this country as children, speaking out as tensions escalate around a pending presidential decision on its future.

"It's one thing to tighten the security of our borders and to deport violent criminals," the archbishop said in a statement. "It's a different and much uglier thing to punish young people who've grown up in the United States as their home."

Across the country, proponents and opponents of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) awaited action from President Trump. The White House faces pressure from 10 states that have threatened to sue the government if the initiative is not revoked by Tuesday.

Local supporters plan to rally outside the Philadelphia offices of the Justice Department at 10 a.m. Tuesday, saying they intend to "stand up against white supremacy, against the criminalization of our communities," and defend "our rights to be in the place we call home."

Since going into effect in 2012, DACA has allowed undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors to gain renewable, two-year deferments from deportation and be eligible for work permits.

Commonly called "Dreamers"  for Dream Act legislation that has failed to pass  recipients may live, work, and seek education in the United States, though they do not receive citizenship or legal status. Nearly 790,000 recipients have been able to contribute to their communities, pay taxes, hold jobs, and support families without fear of being deported.

"We love the dreamers, we love everybody," Trump told reporters on Friday. Asked what he would say to young immigrants who are awaiting his decision and worried about their futures, he replied, "I think the dreamers are terrific."

Trump said he would announce the fate of the Obama-era program late Friday or over the weekend, though a White House spokesman later said that the decision would be made public on Tuesday.

On Friday, Chaput joined a chorus of religious leaders, university officials and business executives imploring Trump not to rescind DACA.

"The White House has the power to end DACA. It has threatened to do so as early as today. This would be a drastic mistake," the archbishop said. "It can only make our complicated immigration issues worse. It will poison our national debates and damage the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people who pose no threat to anyone.

"I ask the people of the archdiocese to press their federal lawmakers to find a positive legislative replacement for DACA, and to prevent the deportation of these young people."

As a candidate, Trump pledged to end the program, calling it an abuse of presidential authority. Yet he also has spoken highly of DACA recipients who have gone to college and launched careers, saying only four months ago that undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children should "rest easy."

Diane Randall, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, said Quakers seek a nation "where everyone's potential may be fulfilled," and that rescinding DACA "denies young immigrants a genuine chance to thrive in the only place that they call home."

About 350 business leaders and entrepreneurs from firms including Apple, General Motors, eBay, Facebook, Netflix, Google and Marriott International called on the president to preserve the program, arguing that DACA recipients are vital to their companies and to the nation's economy.

Without them, the leaders wrote in an open letter, the economy would lose $460.3 billion in gross domestic product and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions. With them, the letter said, new jobs are created, and the U.S. enhances a competitive advantage in business.

DACA opponents say the federal government must enforce its immigration laws fairly and equally, without special provisions and exceptions based on age. The blame for this situation, they say, rests with immigrant parents who knowingly broke the law. They say DACA makes the U.S. an "amnesty magnet" that will attract more and more undocumented people.

"When you reward bad behavior, you get more of it," wrote Dale Wilcox, executive director for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, in a column for the Hill, a newspaper covering politics.

On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged the president not to terminate the program, to instead allow Congress to develop a legislative solution. Other Republicans have done the same.

"All the rumors on DACA would give anyone whiplash," said Cristina Jimenez, executive director of United We Dream, the nation's largest youth-led immigrant organization. "Clearly, there are divisions between White House advisers who know DACA works and between the white supremacists who want to intimidate, detain and deport immigrants. We are escalating our fight to defend DACA."
WASHINGTON  President Trump spent the final days of August dutifully performing his job. He tended to the massive recovery from Hurricane Harvey. He hit the road to sell his tax-cut plan. And he convened policy meetings on the federal budget and the North Korean nuclear threat.

Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis, however, Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media, or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods.

And some of Trump's friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Trump chafes at some of the retired Marine Corps general's moves to restrict access to him since he took the job almost a month ago, said several people close to the president. They run counter to Trump's love of spontaneity and brashness, prompting some Trump loyalists to derisively dub Kelly "the church lady" because they consider him strict and morally superior.

"He's having a very hard time," one friend who spoke with Trump this week said of the president. "He doesn't like the way the media's handling him. He doesn't like how Kelly's handling him. He's turning on people that are very close to him."

Aides say Trump admires Kelly's credentials, respects his leadership and management skills, and praises him often, both in private meetings and at public events. In a tax policy speech Wednesday in Missouri, Trump singled out Kelly's work to decrease the number of illegal border crossings when he was secretary of homeland security.

Meanwhile, people close to the president said he is simmering with displeasure over what he considers personal disloyalty from National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who criticized Trump's responses to a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12. He also has grown increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has clashed with the president on issues including Afghanistan troop levels, the blockade on Qatar and Cuba policy.

This portrait of Trump as he enters what could be his most consequential month in office is based on interviews with 15 senior White House officials, outside advisers and friends of the president, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid assessments.

In September, Trump will face deadlines to raise the federal debt ceiling and pass a spending bill possibly tied to his campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border; make his first big push for tax cuts; and oversee a potentially historic disaster recovery in Texas and Louisiana.

If Trump's 75-minute rally performance on Aug. 22 in Phoenix served as a public testimonial to his rage over the media and Congress, he is agitating privately about other concerns as well.

Trump lashed out at George Gigicos, one of his original campaign staff members, for what the president considered unflattering television camera angles at the Phoenix rally, which Bloomberg News first reported. The president also was distressed by a New York Times report that was posted a few hours before the event documenting the turmoil between him and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.).

Trump was especially angered by something he learned about at his stop earlier in the day, a border visit in Yuma, Ariz., several of his associates said.

A group of border patrol agents who had endorsed him and become campaign-trail buddies initially were blocked by the Trump administration from attending. Although the agents eventually were allowed into the event, the president made his displeasure about their treatment known to Kelly, said multiple people who were briefed about the incident. Two of those people said Trump raised his voice with his chief of staff, whom he faulted for trying to restrict outside friends from having direct access to him.

That evening in Phoenix, Trump attempted to call Kelly onto the stage. "Where's John?" he asked. "Where is he? Where's General Kelly? Get him out here. He's great. He's doing a great job."

Kelly did not join his boss in front of the crowd.

"It is not unusual for staffers to hear him bluster about things," said Barry Bennett, a former campaign adviser. "That doesn't mean it's real. There were people on the campaign staff that he said to fire a dozen times, but he never did it. It was just bark. And some people don't know the difference between the bark and the bite."

Kelly took the job with the express goal of implementing strict order on a West Wing that had become rife with turmoil, infighting and damaging leaks to the media.

Friends used to be able to call the White House and be patched directly through to Trump; now those calls are routed through Kelly, and do not always make it to the president. Friends used to drop by the West Wing when they had time to kill, wandering to the Oval Office to say hello; now they must have an official appointment  and a clear reason  to visit.

The changes are largely welcomed by senior administration officials, who say the president's time is too valuable to be wasted on chitchat and hangers-on.

But Trump sometimes defies  and even resents  the new structure. He has been especially sensitive to the way Kelly's rigid structure is portrayed in the media, and strives to disabuse people of the notion that he is being managed. The president continues to call business friends and outside advisers, including former chief strategist Stephen Bannon, from his personal phone when Kelly is not around, said people with knowledge of the calls.

"Donald Trump resists being handled," said Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser and longtime confidant. "Nobody tells him who to see, who to listen to, what to read, what he can say."

Stone added, "General Kelly is trying to treat the president like a mushroom. Keeping him in the dark and feeding him s is not going to work. Donald Trump is a free spirit."

Kelly has told colleagues that he has no intention of controlling what Trump says or tweets. Although he has tried to manage the information the president receives, Kelly recognizes that there are limits to what he can do, according to White House officials.

"The president can turn on the television, the president can call people and the president can read the newspaper," said one Republican close to the White House. This person said the onus is on Trump, not his staff, to control his impulses.

Trump has jettisoned some of the more controversial figures in his administration this summer. For instance, the firing of communications director Anthony Scaramucci after just 10 days earned the flamboyant aide the moniker "suicide bomber" in the West Wing, for having taken down with him Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer. Trump also parted ways with Bannon, who often channeled the president's nationalist instincts.

More changes may be afoot under Kelly, who is continuing his personnel review and is said to be targeting aides without clear portfolios of responsibility.

On Tillerson, Trump has come to see his top diplomat's approach to world affairs as "totally establishment," in the words of one Trump associate. Several people close to Trump said they would be surprised if Tillerson stays in his post past his one-year mark in January. They hinted that his departure may come far sooner, with one describing it as "imminent."

And some who have recently seen Tillerson say the former ExxonMobil chief executive  unaccustomed to taking orders from a superior, let alone one as capricious as Trump  also seems to be ready to end his State Department tenure. Tillerson has grumbled privately to Kelly about Trump's recent controversies, according to two people familiar with their relationship.

Others, however, caution that Tillerson remains fully enmeshed in the administration. After lunching with the president on Monday, Tillerson sat in the front row of Trump's joint press conference with president of Finland and was a key member of cabinet discussions focused on handling Hurricane Harvey.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday that Trump "absolutely" has confidence in Tillerson.

Tillerson made headlines over the weekend when he was asked on Fox News Sunday, in the context of Charlottesville, whether Trump speaks for American values. "The president speaks for himself," Tillerson told anchor Chris Wallace.

Many Trump insiders were aghast at the diplomat's apparent denunciation of the president, but several senior White House officials said Trump's frustration with Tillerson has been over specific policies. The Fox interview did not bother Trump, one official said, even though the president was upset about Cohn's scolding of him to The Financial Times.

Trump was especially upset that Cohn went public with his complaints about the president's handling of Charlottesville, even after Trump listened to Cohn vent during a private meeting on Aug. 18 in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The president has been quietly fuming about Cohn for the past week, but has resisted dismissing him in part because he has been the face, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, of the administration's tax cut strategy.

Still, Trump has other ways to slight Cohn. The economic adviser traveled with Trump on Wednesday to Springfield, Mo., for his taxes speech, yet when the president ticked through "the many distinguished guests" in attendance he did not mention Cohn. Afterwards, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, tweeted a call for tax reform with a picture of Trump backstage flanked by her and Mnuchin. Notably absent was the plan's co-architect, Cohn.

Asked about the perceived insults, Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One on the flight home to Washington that it was "pretty standard tactics" for Trump not to call out staffers in his remarks.

Pressed on the state of Trump and Cohn's relationship, Sanders said only that both men were committed to tax reform.

"Well, look," she said, "Gary is here. The president is here."

The Washington Post's Robert Costa, Anne Gearan and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak about tax reform, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, at the Loren Cook Co. in Springfield, Mo. Read more

In a speech on changing the tax code, President Trump offered some political spin on the facts.

Trump claimed "anywhere from $3 trillion to $5 trillion" of profits are left overseas by U.S. companies to avoid U.S. taxes. But his own press office cites an estimate of $2.6 trillion in a fact sheet posted online the day of his speech. The group that published that number told us $5 trillion "seems impossibly high."

The president compared apples to oranges in saying the U.S. just had a 3 percent growth rate in gross domestic product  that's for the quarter  while "on a yearly basis" under the Obama administration, growth "never hit 3 percent." Quarterly GDP growth exceeded 3 percent eight times under President Obama.

Trump said the U.S. was "dead last" in terms of business taxes. The U.S. has the highest statutory corporate tax rate among developed countries, but the rate isn't the highest by other measures, such as when tax credits are included.

Trump said that "more than 90 percent of Americans need professional help to do their own taxes" because the "tax code is so complicated." Fifty-four percent paid someone else; an additional 40 percent used tax software.

Trump made his remarks on Aug. 30 in Springfield, Mo., calling on Congress to "support pro-American tax reform."

Offshore Exaggeration

Trump exaggerated the amount of money U.S. companies likely have in offshore accounts, nearly doubling a figure the White House includes in a fact sheet, released the same day as the president's remarks.

Trump:  Because of our high tax rate and horrible, outdated, bureaucratic rules, large companies that do business overseas will often park their profits offshore to avoid paying a high United States tax if the money is brought back home. So they leave the money over there. The amount of money were talking about is anywhere from $3 trillion to $5 trillion. Can you believe that?

U.S. companies with business overseas do keep some profits in offshore accounts, where it isn't subject to U.S. corporate taxes until it is repatriated to this country. The profits are declared indefinitely, or permanently, reinvested, which means the companies say they will reinvest the money abroad.

If a U.S. company does bring the money back to the United States, it would be "subject to the U.S. tax rate of 35 percent minus a tax credit equal to whatever taxes the company paid to foreign governments," the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy explains in a March report on this issue.

The White House cites figures from that report in its Aug. 30 fact sheet on Trump's tax remarks.

White House fact sheet, Aug. 30:  Fortune 500 corporations are holding more than $2.6 trillion in profits offshore to avoid $767 billion in Federal taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

If the White House is citing a figure of $2.6 trillion for profits kept overseas, where does Trump get the $5 trillion figure? We asked the White House, but we haven't received a response.

We also asked ITEP, a nonprofit that partners with the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, about the $5 trillion figure, which Trump has used before. ITEP Senior Fellow Matthew Gardner told us in an email: "I have never seen an estimate as high as $3 trillion, and the $5 trillion number seems impossibly high."

ITEP's estimate is for Fortune 500 companies, but the independent research firm Audit Analytics has a database for all companies that file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Don Whalen, the firm's director of research, told us that as of today, there were $2.8 trillion in corporate profits indefinitely reinvested.

Trump went on to say in his Aug. 30 remarks: "By making it less punitive for companies to bring back this money, and by making the process far less bureaucratic and difficult, we can return trillions and trillions of dollars to our economy and spur billions of dollars in new investments in our struggling communities and throughout our nation."

It's worth noting that the U.S. has tried to spur repatriation of these earnings before. In 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act created a one-year reduction that made the tax rate on repatriated profits 5.25 percent for companies that paid a 35 percent corporate rate, explains a 2011 Congressional Research Service report. About one-third of offshore earnings were brought back to the U.S., CRS said, but studies on the impact generally found that "the repatriations did not increase domestic investment or employment. They further conclude that much of the repatriations were returned to shareholders through stock repurchases."

The president didn't reveal details on what his tax holiday for offshore profits would be. His campaign tax plan, however, proposed a repatriation tax of 10 percent.

GDP Growth

Though he gets the numbers right, Trump engaged in some misleading spin when he compared economic growth under his administration with the previous administration.

Trump, Aug. 30:  And today, a very appropriate day that this should happen, we just announced that we hit 3 percent in GDP. Just came out. And on a yearly basis, as you know, the last administration, during an eight-year period, never hit 3 percent. So were really on our way.

It's true that the real GDP growth rate was 3 percent for the second quarter of this year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. But Trump doesn't make it clear that he is talking about one quarter, and then he compounds the distortion by comparing one quarter growth to annual growth under the Obama administration.

In fact, the real GDP growth rate exceeded 3 percent in eight quarters during the Obama administration, with a high of 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Trump is correct that the annual real GDP growth rate never exceeded 3 percent under Obama. The highest it reached was 2.9 percent in 2015, according to the BEA. It remains to be seen if the nation's economy will top 2.9 percent annual growth under Trump. Real GDP increased just 1.2 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Highest Corporate Taxes?

Trump claimed "when it comes to the business tax, we [the U.S.] are dead last." And, he said, the U.S. rate is "60 percent higher" than "our economic competitors." The U.S. does have the highest statutory corporate tax rate among developed countries. But the U.S. isn't highest when tax credits are factored in, for example.

There are many ways to measure and compare corporate tax burdens, and Trump chose those that paint the U.S. in the worst possible light relative to other countries.

Trump: Today, we are still taxing our businesses at 35 percent, and it's way more than that. And think of it, in some cases way above 40 percent when you include state and local taxes in various states. The United States is now behind France, behind Germany, behind Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and many other nations.  So when it comes to the business tax, we are dead last. Can you believe this? So this cannot be allowed to continue any longer. America must lead the way, not follow from behind. We have gone from a tax rate that is lower than our economic competitors, to one that is more than 60 percent higher. We have totally surrendered our competitive edge to other countries.

It's not strictly true that the U.S. has a higher statutory corporate tax rate than every other country in the world. That dubious distinction goes to Comoros, a tiny archipelago off Africa's east coast that has a statutory rate of 50 percent, and the United Arab Emirates, which selectively levies at a rate of 55 percent, Kyle Pomerleau, director of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, told us.

The federal statutory corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 35 percent, as Trump said, and that figure jumps to about 39 percent when state taxes are added in. That is highest among the 35 advanced economies tracked by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. The next highest is France at 34.4 percent.

But that's just one way to measure corporate tax burdens. In 2014, a Congressional Research Service report found that the average effective corporate tax rate in 2008 was 27.1 percent, which tracks pretty closely to the GDP weighted average among other OECD countries, 27.7 percent.

"Although the U.S. statutory tax rate is higher, the average effective rate is about the same, and the marginal rate on new investment is only slightly higher," the CRS report states.

Pomerleau, of the Tax Foundation, warned however that effective tax rate calculations that simply divide taxes paid by corporate profits skew results for the U.S. That's because the U.S. has a smaller corporate sector than many other developed nations. And that's because the U.S. has a larger proportion of pass-through businesses, such as S corporations and partnerships that are taxed at an individual rather than corporate rate. The marginal individual rate ranges from 10 percent to 39.6 percent.

A Congressional Budget Office report in March presented three measures of corporate tax. The first, the "top statutory corporate tax rate," lists the U.S. highest among G20 nations at 39.1 percent. The second is the "average corporate tax rate," a measure "of the total amount of corporate taxes that a company pays as a share of its income." By that measure, the U.S. rate of 29 percent ranks third among G20 countries, behind Argentina at 37.3 percent and Indonesia at 36.4 percent. Finally, the CBO calculated the "effective marginal corporate tax rate," defined as "a measure of a corporation's tax burden on returns from a marginal investment." By that measure, CBO found, the U.S. rate of 18.6 percent was fourth among G20 countries, lower than Argentina (22.6), Japan (21.7) and the United Kingdom (18.7).

A 2016 Government Accountability Office report found that from 2006 to 2012 "at least two-thirds of all active corporations had no federal income tax liability." The GAO said: "Among large corporations (generally those with at least $10 million in assets) less than half42.3 percentpaid no federal income tax in 2012. Of those large corporations whose financial statements reported a profit, 19.5 percent paid no federal income tax that year."

As for Trump's claim that "we have gone from a tax rate that is lower than our economic competitors, to one that is more than 60 percent higher," that's accurate when comparing the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate to the average statutory tax rate among the 35 countries tracked by the OECD. But according to a Congressional Research Service analysis of rates in 2010, when weighted to reflect the relative size of the countries' economies, the difference between the U.S. statutory rate and the OECD average is just 32 percent.

Misleading on Tax Help

Trump discussed the complexity of the U.S. tax code that frustrates today's taxpayers.

Trump:  In 1935, the basic 1040 form that most people file had two simple pages of instruction. Today, that basic form has 100 pages of instructions, and its pretty complex stuff.

Trump's statement on professional tax help is misleading.

Fifty-four percent of taxpayers  not all Americans  paid someone else to do their taxes for tax year 2014, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which serves as an advocate for taxpayers at the IRS. And an additional 40 percent of taxpayers used tax software.

That would, of course, include some Americans who choose to use online software for ease and convenience, not necessarily because they think their taxes are too complicated. Some tax filers can use software for free, if they meet income and other requirements set by several companies.

Of the 147.4 million individual returns filed in 2013, 16 percent were through 1040EZ, according to IRS data, which is one page.

He was right when he said that the 1040 instruction form in 1935 was only two pages. Today, the 1040 instruction booklet is 106 pages, although not all of them are instructions. There are dozens of pages of tables and other illustrations. His larger point, however, that filing taxes is much more complicated today is correct.

But Trump ignored one key difference between then and now: Only about 5 percent of Americans paid the federal income tax in the 1930s. It wasn't until President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Revenue Act of 1942 that the federal income tax became a tax on the masses, according to the IRS.

IRS, Taxes in U.S. History:  In 1939 only about five percent of American workers paid income tax. The United States entrance into World War II changed that figure. The demands of war production put almost every American back to work, but the expense of the war still exceeded tax-generated revenue. President Roosevelts proposed Revenue Act of 1942 introduced the broadest and most

"By war's end in 1945, about 90 percent of American workers submitted income tax forms, and 60 percent paid taxes on their income," the IRS says.

In 1935, the top marginal tax rate was 63 percent; today it is 39.6 percent.
The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn't appropriated to build a wall along the Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal.

Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Donald Trump has threatened to shut down the government if they don't include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.

"Build that wall," Trump said at the Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix. "Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall."

But shortly after Trump made those comments, White House officials quietly notified Congress that the $1.6 billion would not need to be in a "continuing resolution" that was meant to fund government operations from October until sometime in early December, a senior GOP congressional aide said.

White House officials have signaled to lawmakers, however, that the wall's eventual construction remains a top priority for Trump. He wants this funding to be included in the December budget bill, GOP congressional aides said.

Trump could still follow through on a threat to shut down the government in December, but this marks the second time he has pulled back from the wall demand in order to allow lawmakers to pass a budget bill. The first time came in May, when lawmakers voted to authorize government funding through September and refrained from including money that would allow for the construction of a new wall. That law, however, did allow the U.S. government to replace existing border wall with a new barrier where necessary.

Trump has been threatening to shut down the government for months. In May, he said in another tweet that the government needed a "good shutdown" to break the gridlock in Congress.

Because government funding will expire on Sept. 30, congressional leaders plan to introduce a bill that would essentially finance government operations at existing levels into some time in December. Such a bill would require support from Democrats in the Senate in order to pass, and many Democrats oppose construction of the border wall.

That's one reason many Republicans in Congress have told Trump to focus on other parts of his agenda and postpone having a fight about constructing the border wall for now.

If Trump decided to veto a funding bill passed by Congress, it would lead to a partial government shutdown. National parks would close, and many government agencies would send employees home without pay, causing delays at Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service and at numerous other agencies. The last time there was a government shutdown was in 2013.

Building a wall along the Mexico border was one of Trump's biggest promises during his campaign, often thrilling his supporters at rallies with chants of "Build That Wall." A key part of the promise, however, was that Mexico would pay for the wall's construction. Mexican officials have refused to play any part of paying for the wall, leading Trump to insist that the money first come from the U.S. Congress so that construction can begin.
With President Trump pledging more troops and certain victory, this may be a good time to remember why this nation went to war in Afghanistan 16 years ago. It could be helpful in deciding what "victory" looks like, or when it would be time to leave.

Had there been no 9/11, it is doubtful that American soldiers would have ever invaded Afghanistan. Their mission was to apprehend the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was being harbored by a separate Afghan terrorist group called the Taliban.

The campaign began in October with massive bombing followed by assaults on known Taliban outposts by U.S., British, and Afghan Northern Alliance troops. What seemed to be "victory" was rather swift. By November, the Afghan capital, Kabul, was under Northern Alliance control and the Taliban had fled to the mountains bordering Pakistan. But bin Laden had not been found.

It took another 10 years before that was accomplished. On May 1, 2011, a Navy Seal team aboard two Black Hawk helicopters flew into Pakistan to a locate a house in Abbottabad, in which intelligence had concluded bin Laden was hiding. The Seals found the terrorist and shot him. It was later said that there was never any question of capturing the man responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans.

But bin Laden's death didn't end the war. The Taliban, emboldened by a diminished U.S. presence, has reasserted itself in Afghanistan and regained control of some key ground. That has prompted Trump, who during his presidential campaign suggested possibly withdrawing from Afghanistan, to announce a new strategy in August. About 4,000 troops may join a U.S. force now reported to number around 12,000.

"My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts," Trump said. "But all my life, I've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office." It's good to know Trump has come to that realization. But more important is knowing exactly what is his goal. What's his criteria for leaving Afghanistan?

In going after bin Laden, President George H.W. Bush declared a "war on terrorism," which is an open-ended conflict given that there is no end to the list of miscreants in this world who seek to terrorize their way to power or for another reason. They do this individually, or collectively, in the name of a religion, an ethnicity, a grievance, or sheer madness.

Islamic State founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed 11 years ago. The Russians claim they killed his successor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a June air strike. But even as ISIS struggles in Iraq and Syria, its followers persist, including those recruited online to make lone-wolf attacks in the United States.

Will defeating the Taliban keep al Qaeda and ISIS out of Afghanistan? Will that end terrorist threats to this country? Not likely. That doesn't mean the fight shouldn't be taken to the terrorists. It means the cost of that war, in lives and dollars, must be weighed against the price of fighting other threats to this nation's future, like crime, poverty, and poor health, which are home grown.
Jeremy Brooks, 24, (left) of North Philadelphia, has been charged with abuse of corpse after he allegedly dumped a child-sized casket (right), with human organs inside, on a North Philadelphia sidewalk on July 3, 2017. Read more

A North Philadelphia man who was employed at a Camden funeral home has been charged with a misdemeanor offense of abuse of corpse after he allegedly dumped a child-size casket with human organs inside on a North Philadelphia sidewalk in early July, authorities said Thursday.

Jeremy Brooks, 24, of the 3100 block of North 29th Street, worked at Stanley's Memorial Chapel, 822 Kaighns Ave.

He was arrested and charged Aug. 21, and posted bail that day. He could not be reached for comment Thursday. A supervisor for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, which is representing him, did not return a call seeking comment.

Capt. Malachi Jones of Northwest Detectives has said the organs belonged to a girl about 3 or 4 months old, who had died and was buried June 29. The death was not believed to be suspicious.

The organs, taken out during an autopsy, had been put in a plastic bag and should have been buried with the baby, officials have said.

Instead, they were inside the white casket dumped July 3 in the 3000 block of West Clearfield Street. A passerby called police that night.

Court documents show that Brooks and another worker at the funeral home, Steve Sandlin, spoke to police July 5. Sandlin identified himself as the owner of the funeral home and said Brooks was a part-time employee.

Sandlin told police that during the baby's June 29 funeral services at Wayland Memorial Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, the casket in which the child originally was viewed became damaged and the lid would not close.

He said he called another funeral home to obtain a new casket and then transferred the body to the new casket. But in his haste, Sandlin said, he forgot to transfer the bag with the embalmed organs, the documents say.

Sandlin said he then put the damaged casket in an unsealed trash bag and into the back of his work vehicle, which was then parked outside of the Camden funeral home until July 3.

Brooks told police that he was asked by Sandlin on July 3 to drive the vehicle to Philadelphia to pick up another casket. He said he then realized that the damaged casket was in the back and to make room for the new casket, he sought to place the damaged casket at his North Philadelphia house, but his sister refused.

"Brooks then admitted he looked around for a place to 'dump' the casket," the court document says. He then "decided to short dump the casket on the sidewalk at 3000 Clearfield Street, due to its secluded nature." The block is across from a cemetery.

A call to Stanley's Memorial Chapel was answered Thursday by a man who identified himself as Theo Stanley, who said he is the owner. He said Sandlin and Brooks were both drivers for the funeral home but no longer are employed there.

Sandlin is not charged with a crime. He could not be reached by phone.
Deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn has accused Berlins elitist hipsters of trying to isolate themselves from the broader German public by speaking only English with each other. Read more

Germany will elect a new parliament Sept. 24, and polls indicate that Chancellor Angela Merkel, head of the Christian Democratic Union party, is likely to be reelected to a fourth term. With the outcome seemingly a foregone conclusion, the campaign hasn't been too exciting. Fierce discussions? Heated debates? Nowhere.

Into this vacuum stepped Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old conservative, whose recent newspaper commentary has sparked considerable attention in Germany. His concern is the use of English in Berlin  in particular, that German speakers are giving up their native language. This, in Spahn's view, relegates German to secondary status in the nation's capital.

The attack was triggered by Spahn's observations of customers and waiters in restaurants and bars speaking English instead of German. "It drives me up the wall," he has said, "the way waiters in Berlin restaurants only speak English."

Spahn compared contemporary Germans' use of the foreign language to the courtly elite's embrace of French in the 19th century, when the language was used as a tool to distance the upper class from the society's uneducated lower class. Spahn even came up with a catchy branding: "elitists hipsters," he calls them.

It is important to note that Spahn is not some backbench politician in need of attention. He serves as the junior finance minister in Merkel's government, and is seen by some as a potential chancellor. So people are paying attention to his broadside.

Using English, Spahn wrote, does not make a person appear cosmopolitan, but rather shows one's "provincial self-dwarfishness." He worries about Germans' feeling alienated from their homeland because they constantly hear English and also that a "a totally new type of parallel society has developed: young people from around the world who keep to themselves. "

The issue is more farce than serious problem. Some districts of Berlin have attracted large numbers of American expatriates in recent years. Restaurants and bars employ staff from across Europe, and sometimes, menus and daily specials are written in English. But the new English speakers are often just glad to find a job that does not require German language skills that they may be working on but have not yet mastered. As for young people sticking to themselves  that is hardly a surprise and not linked to language. And in some situations, it makes sense for Germans to switch to English if it is the common language. This is a courtesy, not a denial of cultural background or an election-year scandal worthy of debate.

Perhaps the real intent of Spahn's commentary was to address an issue that is of concern to Germans: refugees in the country, and their integration.

Using English, Spahn wrote, does a disservice to migrants who devote time and energy to learning German and contributes to "a new intensified form of elitist-global tourism" that excludes people who do not speak English. "Coexistence can only work in Germany if we all speak German," he wrote. But he labors to connect these two issues. When it comes to a necessary integration of refugees, Germany has several problems to solve  language is just one of many.

Germany has to keep up with neighboring countries in Europe, where English is more widespread and better taught. Fortunately, the country's schools recognize that we are living in a globalized world. They have begun to improve their language curriculum and are teaching foreign languages in earlier grades, sometimes even in kindergarten.

Speaking English is a benefit and no threat for the German or any other national culture. Even Spahn's ministry acknowledges this truth. On a recent tweet inviting young people to an event, the Finance Ministry wrote: "Btw we are fluent in English et en francais!"

Oliver Bilger is a writer for Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel newspaper who is working with the Inquirer as part of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program. obilger@philly.com
In his latest Pig World column, Russian journalist Vladislav Vorotnikov provides a detailed update of the situation with African swine fever in Eastern Europe.

African swine fever (ASF) has, it seems, gone on the offensive this year, with the first cases of the virus recorded in the Czech Republic, Romania and in Siberia.

In Poland, 31 outbreaks among wild boar have been identified to date in 2017, compared with just 23 between 2014 and 2017. And in Latvia, more than 21,000 pigs have been culled this year, 7,000 more than in the previous three years combined.

China crisis?

The discovery of ASF in Siberia might have far-reaching consequences. Since its first outbreak in 2009, Russia had managed to contain the virus within its European region, not allowing it to go east to the lesser-populated regions.

As the territory was ASF-free, pig producers such as RusAgro and Merci Trade established a pork production hub in Primorsky Krai, in the far east of Russia.

The cornerstone of the project was export, including to Japan and India, but primarily to China. The recent Siberian outbreak, however, might now jeopardise trade talks with the Chinese authorities, which reportedly were already going pear-shaped. China is extremely scared about the threat of ASF, so it is unlikely it would allow imports of pork from regions where the disease is raging.

Veterinary scientists from the Russian Research Institute have been sweating on an ASF vaccine since 2009. Working with the University of Illinois, they have developed a vaccine, which they started testing in late 2016. It successfully prevents mortality in pigs, but the animals are still becoming carriers of the virus and can transmit it to the unvaccinated herd.

There are conflicting reports about when the vaccine will be available. The institute has said the first practical results could be seen by 2018. But speaking last year, the institutes Alexey Sereda predicted there will be no vaccine at least for the coming ten years and urged pig farmers to not wait for it.

There are nine seroimmunotypes of ASF, but existing vaccines can only tackle six of them, Dr Sereda noted. Scientists would be better off concentrating their efforts on the development of new diagnostic and disinfection tools, he suggested.

Are outbreaks being hidden?

Poland has recently approved the construction of a 729km fence along its border with Belarus. Yet, Belarus has not reported any ASF outbreaks in either domestic pigs or wild boars since 2014. So, whats this about?

Well, after cases were confirmed in 2013, neighbouring countries accused Belarus of attempting to hide them. Ever since, Belarus has been the solitary former Soviet state to defeat the disease with apparent ease.

However, there have been a number of reports of mysterious cases of pig mortality on farms in the country. Local news outlets have described a common scenario whereby farmers discover dead pigs and call in veterinary inspectors, who take samples and cull the pig population a few days after that, without any explanation.

Journalists from the Charter97 news agency were told that the pigs had died from an unknown infection.

In this regard, it appears that the story of the struggle against ASF in Belarus might be not as successful as it seems.

Germany next in line?

As for Europe, the Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor believes ASF will keep moving west via two main pathways. The southerly route, has already seen the virus spread from Ukraine to Moldova. Russian vets believe it could penetrate central Romania, then move to the Balkans, including Bulgaria and Serbia.

On the northern route, now that ASF has been found in the Czech Republic, Rosselkhoznadzor believes, if it gains a foothold, it is likely to head further west, with Germany next in the firing line.

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A Lasting Legacy

MANISTIQUE - The families of Arvid and Elizabeth Nelson recently came together to find a way to make a difference for the children in Manistique. We wanted to contribute to...

Ladies Night Out takes place downtown tonight

MANISTIQUE  Ladies Night Out will take place in downtown Manistique tonight. The event will run from 5-9 p.m. During Ladies Night Out festivities, various downtown businesses will offer specials,...
An officer with the U.S. Marshals Services is in stable condition after he was accidentally shot by an NYPD officer during an early morning raid in Greenville, authorities said.

At about 6:30 a.m. the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force arrived at 9 Bayview Ave. to arrest a man wanted for robbery out of New York, sources said.

When law enforcement arrived, a large, aggressive dog started "attacking" one of the marshals. An NYPD officer assisting in the arrest fired at the dogidentified as a pit bullfive times, killing the animal, NYPD said in a statement.

However, one of the marshals was struck in the foot by the officer who killed the dog, authorities told NJ.com.
Oregon State Police say a trooper walked away from a crash that destroyed his patrol car. (Photo: OSP)

An Oregon State Police trooper walked away from a near head-on crash on Highway 97 Tuesday morning.

As the trooper drove north of Klamath Falls around 1 a.m., an oncoming mini van crossed into his lane, police said.

The trooper steered to the right and into the guardrail, but couldn't avoid a crash, KVAL TV reports.

"Miraculously, Trooper Nork walked away from the crash with no injuries," Oregon State Police said in a statement. "The other driver only received minor injuries."
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. who rose to national prominence with his no-holds-barred conservative rhetoric  resigned his office Thursday.

Clarke, who is in his fourth term, submitted a resignation letter to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson on Thursday afternoon. The sheriff was attending the convention of the National Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville and could not be reached for comment.

Craig Peterson, an adviser to Clarke, said the sheriff would be making an announcement about his future next week.

Clarke is not expected to be headed to President Donald Trump's administration, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Earlier this year, he was passed over for a job in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Clarke, a frequent surrogate for Trump during his successful 2016 campaign, also interviewed last year for a job in Trump's cabinet.

Gov. Scott Walker will appoint Clarke's successor, but the process won't begin until the governor's office receives the sheriff's resignation letter.
Image: CHP/Facebook

Two undercover California Highway Patrol officers who were shot Wednesday during a deadly gun battle with an armed suspect are recovering from their wounds, officials said.

The officers, whose names were not released, were assisting with a stolen vehicle investigation when they were struck by gunfire, according to the CHP. Deputy Robert "Bob" French, a 21-year veteran of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, was also shot and died on the way to the hospital.

One of the officers was shot in his shoulder and released Tuesday night from a hospital. The other officer was struck in his hand and wrist, the CHP said. He underwent surgery Thursday morning and is recovering.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the deadly shooting continued Thursday.
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A new portrait of Trumps mental state reveals a president whose mood is growing increasingly dark as he obsesses over his media coverage and turns on the people close to him.

The Washington Post reported:

Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis, however, Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media, nor the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods.

.

Hes having a very hard time, one friend who spoke with Trump this week said of the president. He doesnt like the way the medias handling him. He doesnt like how Kellys handling him. Hes turning on people that are very close to him.

The Washington Post report comes shortly after an Eric Trump radio interview where he talked about how criticism is depressing his father, and how it is so intense that it could drive a person to suicide. There has been a steady drumbeat of reports since Trump took office about how dark and depressed the President has become. Trump has made comments about how much he misses his old life, and he has even called the White House a dump.

Trump seems miserable as president. He is terrible at the job, and cant take criticism. Donald Trumps ego also loves the fact that he is president, and it is Trump ego that one suspects will never allow him to step down.

Donald Trump appears to not be mentally and emotionally well. He is declining rapidly, and the move to try to stabilize him by making Gen. Kelly his chief of staff looks destined to fail.
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The midterms are in peril, election security experts warn, because little has been done to assess the impact, if any, on voting in at least 21 states targeted by Russian hackers, according to interviews with nearly two dozen national security and state officials and election technology specialists, The New York Times reported on Friday.

If you thought the government was looking into the Russian hacking of our election, think again.

On June 5th, a top secret NSA document obtained by The Intercept revealed that Russian hacking into the U.S. 2016 election may have penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood.

While assurances were given that the Russians didnt alter vote tallies, there are many other ways to hack an election. One way would be to suppress the vote in Democratic pockets and cities. Hacking into voter rolls and e-poll books would allow the hackers to keep people from voting by making it impossible to verify them. This would also create long lines, which further discourages turnout.

Many counties reported issues with e-poll books. The Times detailed e-poll book problems in large cities in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and some in Arizona, which were all attributed to software glitches.

The Times noted that while the hacking of the electoral systems was more extensive than previously disclosed, the assaults on the vast back-end election apparatus  voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, e-poll books and other equipment  have received far less attention than other aspects of the Russian interference

Apart from the Russian influence campaign intended to undermine Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic officials, the impact of the quieter Russian hacking efforts at the state and county level has not been widely studied. Federal officials have been so tight-lipped that not even many election officials in the 21 states the hackers assaulted know whether their systems were compromised, in part because they have not been granted security clearances to examine the classified evidence, Nicole Perlroth, Michael Wines and Matthew Rosenberg reported.

There are plenty of reasons the government might want to tamp down concerns about election accuracy; after all, if the Russians hacked our election, it means our election was not legitimate and that means our democracy is in peril. Hysteria could easily ensue if people understood how deeply threatened the nation is.

But perhaps this lack of hysteria is actually more damaging. Why was the media obsessed with Clintons emails and the DNC emails, but not with the fact that voter rolls were hacked and e-poll books and other equipment were possibly interfered with.

It felt like tampering, or some kind of cyberattack, nonpartisan election monitoring group troubleshooter Susan Greenhalgh told The New York Times about the voting troubles in Durham.

This is not a conspiracy. Beyond VR Systems, hackers breached at least two other providers of critical election services well ahead of the 2016 voting, said current and former intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information is classified. The officials would not disclose the names of the companies.

Noting that Intelligence officials told the public in January that the bottom line vote tallies had not been altered, The Times report continues, Government officials said that they intentionally did not address the security of the back-end election systems, whose disruption could prevent voters from even casting ballots.

This isnt being addressed now, either, so the midterms are in peril. The Times observed that the states, which control elections, have fewer resources and dont like the feds to interfere in their process and intelligence agencies are limited when it comes to domestic issues, so the forensic examination needed is simply not happening.

Also, Current congressional inquiries and the special counsels Russia investigation have not focused on the matter.

But that probably doesnt surprise you, as Republicans control Congress and they benefited from the Russian interference in the 2016 election. If at times you are wondering why Republicans dont seem concerned with their Presidents plunging poll numbers or the deep disapproval of their health care plan, you might be on to something.

Election security experts are concerned about the midterms, warning of what could come, perhaps as soon as next years midterm elections, if the existing mix of outdated voting equipment, haphazard election-verification procedures and array of outside vendors is not improved to build an effective defense against Russian or other hackers.

This wide-open, glaring vulnerability striking dead center at the core of one of the major freedoms the United States stands for  the idea of accessible, democratic elections  is not being addressed.

They dont want you to be hysterical, but you might have good reason to be.

Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, argued for more scrutiny of suspicious incidents. We must harden our cyber defenses, and thoroughly educate the American public about the danger posed by attacks, he said in an email. In other words: we are not making our elections any safer by withholding information about the scope and scale of the threat.

Ms. Greenhalgh will be watching closely. What people focus on is, Did someone mess with the vote totals? she said. What they dont realize is that messing with the e-poll books to keep people from voting is just as effective.

The calls started flooding in from hundreds of irate North Carolina voters just after 7 a.m. on Election Day last November.

Dozens were told they were ineligible to vote and were turned away at the polls, even when they displayed current registration cards. Others were sent from one polling place to another, only to be rejected. Scores of voters were incorrectly told they had cast ballots days earlier. In one precinct, voting halted for two hours.

Susan Greenhalgh, a troubleshooter at a nonpartisan election monitoring group, was alarmed. Most of the complaints came from Durham, a blue-leaning county in a swing state. The problems involved electronic poll books  tablets and laptops, loaded with check-in software, that have increasingly replaced the thick binders of paper used to verify voters identities and registration status. She knew that the company that provided Durhams software, VR Systems, had been penetrated by Russian hackers months before.

It felt like tampering, or some kind of cyberattack, Susan Greenhalgh, a troubleshooter at a nonpartisan election monitoring groupsaid about the voting troubles in Durham.

There are plenty of other reasons for such breakdowns  local officials blamed human error and software malfunctions  and no clear-cut evidence of digital sabotage has emerged, much less a Russian role in it. Despite the disruptions, a record number of votes were cast in Durham, following a pattern there of overwhelming support for Democratic presidential candidates, this time Hillary Clinton.
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By Emily Flitter and Peter Henderson

ORANGE, Texas/HOUSTON (Reuters)  Rescuers searched flooded sections of southeastern Texas for people trapped by Hurricane Harveys deluge on Friday, and Houstons mayor warned residents of the citys west that their neighborhoods may remain underwater for two weeks.

The storm, one of the costliest to hit the United States, has displaced more than 1 million people, with up to 44 feared dead from flooding that paralyzed Houston, swelled river levels to record highs and knocked out the drinking water supply in Beaumont, Texas, a city of about 120,000 people.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for voluntary evacuations of flooded homes, which he said may remain waterlogged as the Army Corps of Engineers continues to release water into the Buffalo Bayou to prevent dam and levee failures.

About 80 miles (130 km) east of the city, the Neches River, which flows into Beaumont and nearby Port Arthur, was forecast to crest on Friday.

Rescue officials were still working to determine the scope of flooding caused by releases from Orange County dams, said Rodney Smith, deputy chief of the Cedar Hill, Texas, Fire Department.

A lot of what gives us a snapshot of whats on the ground are 911 (emergency) calls, Smith said, adding that about 80 rescue crews were rotating through the county. If the water starts to recede, well start doing searches door-to-door, block-to-block to see if anyone is still in their homes.

Tiana Kelly, 22, was waiting in a shelter in Orange, Texas, after being rescued from her flooded street by National Guard troops in a special high-water truck at 2 a.m. Friday.

I was checking on my neighbors dogs and I saw their flashlights, so I flashed my flashlight and they came and got us, Kelly said as she sat with her 11-month old son, Kalameet, in her arms. They told us there was an eight-foot flash (flood) that was supposed to come.

Chemical maker Arkema SA said a fire started on Thursday in a truck storing chemicals at a flooded plant 25 miles (40 km) east of Houston had burned itself out by Friday, but that more blasts were likely in eight other trucks storing the same chemicals in the coming days. Police were enforcing 1.5-mile (2.4-km) exclusion zone around the Crosby, Texas facility.

With three months remaining in the official Atlantic hurricane season, a new storm, Irma, had strengthened into a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, on Friday. It remained hundreds of miles from land but was forecast to possibly hit the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti by the middle of next week.

Harvey shut about a quarter of U.S. refinery capacity, much of which is clustered along the Gulf Coast, and caused gasoline prices to spike to a two-year high ahead of the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

Harvey roared ashore a week ago as a Category 4 storm and the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in half a century. It dumped unprecedented amounts of rain and left devastation across more than 300 miles (480 km) of the states coast.

OIL RELEASED FROM FEDERAL SUPPLY

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has risen 17 cents since the storm hit, hitting $2.519 as of Friday morning, the highest since August 2015, according to motorists group AAA.

Supply concerns prompted the U.S. Energy Department to authorize the release of up to 4.5 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Several East Coast refineries have run out of gasoline, raising fears that travelers will face fuel shortages during the three-day holiday.

In major Texas cities including Dallas, there were long lines at gas stations.

The storm came on the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which killed about 1,800 around New Orleans. Then-U.S. President George W. Bushs administration was roundly criticized for its botched early response to the storm.

Signaling that he did not want to be seen as repeating those mistakes, President Donald Trump plans a second visit to the region on Saturday.

The people of Texas and Louisiana were hit very hard by a historic flood and their response taught us all a lesson, a very, very powerful lesson, Trump said after meeting with charity organizations in the Oval Office. There was no outbreak in crime. There was an outbreak of compassion only  and it really inspired us as a nation.

Lawmakers will replenish a federal disaster relief fund to keep aid flowing, but full assistance will come from Congress in installments, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said.

The cash drain is fast. And so were going to have to do some quick responses, Ryan said in an interview with radio station WCLO in his hometown Janesville, Wisconsin.

Moodys Analytics estimated the economic cost from Harvey for southeastern Texas at $51 billion to $75 billion.

For a graphic on Harveys energy impact, click here.

(Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis, Marianna Parraga, Ernest Scheyder, Ruthy Munoz, Peter Henderson and Andy Sullivan in Houston, David Gaffen in New York, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, and Brendan OBrien in Milwaukee; Writing by Scott Malone Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A federal watchdog is reviewing the circumstances surrounding a controversial flight taken by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife to Kentucky, where he spoke to business leaders and viewed the solar eclipse, according to The Washington Post.

A counsel for the Treasurys Office of Inspector General told the Post in a statement late on Thursday that the flight was being reviewed to determine whether all applicable travel, ethics and appropriation laws were observed.

The Post said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden last week requested a detailed explanation of the travel and justification for use of the government aircraft. It said Treasury secretaries and other Cabinet members not involved in national security have traditionally flown on government aircraft on rare occasions, usually taking commercial flights for domestic travel.

The former hedge fund manager and his wife, actress Louise Linton, stirred controversy last week when they traveled to Louisville and Fort Knox, Kentucky, where they viewed the solar eclipse with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others.

Treasury officials have said the trip was official government travel, with Mnuchin speaking to Louisville business leaders before visiting Fort Knox, where a large portion of the U.S. gold reserves are held.

Linton helped touch off the controversy by posting a photo of herself on social media getting off a U.S. government plane and listing the designer brands she was wearing. That triggered a spat between Linton and critics angered by the display of wealth and privilege.

Rich Delmar, counsel for the Treasurys Office of Inspector General, told the Post the office was looking into various issues raised by the flight.

When our review is complete, we will advise the appropriate officials, in accordance with the Inspector General Act and established procedures, he said in the statement.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Susan Heavey and Phil Berlowitz)
Contact John McDermott at 843-937-5572 or follow him on Twitter at @byjohnmcdermott
Gene Sapakoff column: The offensive coordinator isn't solely to blame for the worst Gamecocks performance in Shane Beamer's two seasons as head coach, but likely will eventually take the fall Read moreSapakoff: Marcus Satterfield, Billy Napier and deep holes at The Swamp
Two things are motivating the Charleston County School District to consider the idea. The first is the difficulty in attracting teachers to an area where they would struggle to afford housing. The second is the fact the district already owns land where apartments could be built. Read moreWith rents unaffordable, the Charleston school district considers building teacher housing
LAS VEGAS  Control of the U.S. Senate may come down to Nevada, where a slow ballot count entered its final act Saturday in the nail-biter contest between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Read moreSenate control may come down to Nevada as count nears end
The White House has halted an Obama administration rule that would require businesses to report worker pay data by gender, race and ethnic groups in hope of narrowing wage gaps among workers.

The plan was announced by President Barack Obama in early 2016 and was set to take effect early next year.

But the Trump administration, siding with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others, contended that the data collection would be too burdensome for firms and questioned how effective the information might be in fighting wage discrimination.

Critics of the White House move, which came in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, were outraged.

"Make no mistake  it's an all-out attack on equal pay," Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women's Law Center, said in a statement. "Today's action sends a clear message to employers: If you want to ignore pay inequities and sweep them under the rug, this administration has your back."

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The plan would have expanded a 2014 executive order that the Labor Department collect wage data by gender, race and ethnicity from federal contractors.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had proposed that all employers with at least 100 workers submit the data across 10 job categories and 12 pay ranges on a form they already are required to submit annually that includes employment data by gender, race and ethnicity.

Specific salaries would not be reported and the data would not be made public. The EEOC said it would analyze the information to better focus investigations into unlawful pay practices.

But Neomi Rao, administrator of the OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, sent a memo to EEOC Acting Chair Victoria Lipnic saying the Office of Management and Budget was "initiating a review and immediate stay" of the new plan.

"Among other things, OMB is concerned that some aspects of the revised collection of information lack practical utility, are unnecessarily burdensome and do not adequately address privacy and confidentiality issues."

The ruling "will not alter EEOC's enforcement efforts," Lipnic said in a statement. "The EEOC remains committed to strong enforcement of our federal equal pay laws."

Randy Johnson, a senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was "gratified" by the White House decision in part because the chamber estimated that it would cost employers $1.3 billion a year.

"This is a common-sense decision," Johnson said in a statement.

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Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and unpaid assistant, also issued a statement defending the decision.

"Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results," she said.

But Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said halting the data-collection plan was "a blatant attack by the Trump Administration on fair pay for women and people of color."

She said in a statement that the move "belies the administration's claim, made just last weekend, that it supports women's equality and economic opportunity."
HAYFIELD  In 10 days, Hayfield Community Schools taxpayers will be asked to approve a $24 million building project.

"We collected a $10 million grant from QZAB (Qualified Zone Academy Bonds) and are preparing for a referendum on Sept. 11 that will ask voters for another $14.3 million, Superintendent Gregg Slaathaug said.

In 2014, the district hired a consultant to determine what the district needs to do to maintain its school. Last year, a more in-depth study indicated needs and facility shortcomings. The district's facility committee met more than 35 times to examine each need. To ensure more people were involved, tours and community meetings were also held.

"When it's time, we make repairs to our homes, cars, and now, it's time to repair our school," Slaathaug said. "We need to do that."

What's on the referendum?

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Voters will be asked two questions on September's ballot:

 Question oneseeks $10 million, which would go toward revitalizing infrastructure and improved learning environments. This would authorize the bond authority to finance HVAC upgrades, elementary classroom renovations, restroom renovations, roof replacements, high school media center renovations and other deferred maintenance.

The classroom renovations would separate the school's pod-style classrooms into rectangular, separated classrooms; the elementary school bathrooms would become handicap accessible; and old partition walls and doors would be replaced.

More than 60 percent of the school building is more than 40 years old, and a significant portion of equipment is original to the building. Two-thirds of the facilities are deemed to be in "alert" or "alarm" condition, meaning failure is inevitable, or equipment is excessively past useful life. The school's more than 50-year-old boilers have exceeded life expectancy, and air quality is "less than desirable," Slaathaug said.

 Question twowould authorize $4.3 million to finance cafeteria renovations and additions, secure entrances, renovate administration areas, repair the parking lot, resurface the track, create a school-age child care classroom and upgrade the concession area, the kitchens would be upgraded and ventilation would be added to the dishwashing room.

What are the costs?

The $24 million building project would be partially funded by the $9.7 million in bonds that Hayfield received from QZAB in April. Hayfield is the only district in Minnesota to receive this award in the last two years. That leaves the district asking for an additional $14.3 million from voters.

The QZAB award would save taxpayers more than $2.5 million in interest expense, according to the district's webs ite.

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In June, the board approved a $9.7 million project to address the aging HVAC and life safety systems that needed immediate attention. The net effect of that project didn't raise taxes because of retiring debt.

If both questions pass on Sept. 11, net taxes will increase $7 annually on a $100,000 home and $1.34 annually on an acre of $6,000 agricultural homestead land. Net taxes on non-homesteaded land would increase $2.67 per year.

If the two referendum questions are approved, Hayfield Community Schools would still be considered one of Southeast Minnesota's lowest-taxing districts.

'We're confident in the people of Hayfield'

With the meetings held with community members, and by hosting tours of the school facilities,

Slaathaug said that community response to the district's school tours and public meetings has been positive

"They're pretty understanding of what we're looking to do," he said. "We put our effort getting to know people in Hayfield. They're good people who support our school. We're confident in the people of Hayfield."

If voters reject the bonding requests, funding for immediate infrastructure needs, such as the HVAC systems, would need to be pulled from other budgets. Those needs "absolutely need to get done," Slaathaug said.

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"We're hoping not to dip in other areas or make cuts," he added. "This bond is so important."

Kristi Dick, 43, a Hayfield resident and mother of three students in the district, said she intends to vote yes.

Dick said that she felt "uncomfortable" with the classroom configurations and said that noise from the aging ventilation system was distracting.

"I want our community to have a facility that students and faculty are proud of and want to congregate at," she said. "If we want our community to thrive, we have to make fundamental investments that make it attractive for people to stay and move to our community."
One of the Destination Medical Centerearly projects  the first Mayo Clinic/Mortenson Co.building is moving forward with new milestones.

The complex to be built in the DMC Discovery Square subdistrict in downtown Rochester is rolling with the building permits filed with the city this week.

Plans filed Monday show a three-story building with a basement at the corner of Fourth Street Southwest and Second Avenue Southwest. That's on Mayo Clinic's employee parking Lot No. 2.

UMR is the first potential tenant, other than Mayo Clinic, announced for the estimated four-story, 89,000-square-foot complex.

Minneapolis-based Mortenson Co. is building this long-anticipated Destination Medical Center project.

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To clear the way for this project, Jeremy Jacobs,of Mortenson, previously has said Mayo Clinic's 428 Building, the former Vine Funeral Home, at 428 Third Ave. SW, will be demolished.

If everything goes according to Mortenson's plan, construction will start in November, and is expected to be finished before the end of 2019.

The permits show a 57-foot-high complex with 7,012 parking stalls. That will mean a loss of 138 parking spots for the area that now has 7,150. For folks who ride a bicycle instead of drive, it will feature 20 bike racks.

The building is anticipated to be the nucleus for a series of commercial science buildings targeted for a six-core-block area within the 16-block Discovery Square subdistrict.

Colliers International,of Canada, will serve as the leasing agent and oversee tenant recruitment, in partnership with Mortenson and Rochester's DMC Economic Development Agency,led by Lisa Clarke.
WINONA  Winona County will be going it alone.

On Aug. 23, District Court Judge Mary Leahy denied a motion to intervene by Land Stewardship Project in the case of land and frac sand interests against Winona County's ban on frac sand mining.

The plaintiffs in the case  Minnesota Sands LLC, Southeast Minnesota Property Owners and Roger Dablestein  objected to LSP's motion to intervene, which would have made LSP a participant on the side of the defense in the case.

According to the judgement, the motion by LSP did not meet all four requirements necessary for a motion to intervene. Specifically, LSP did not have an interest in the case that was not already being represented capably by the county, and the county's defense was not lacking in any way that required LSP intervention.

Even with these deficiencies, if the plaintiffs had not objected, LSP would have been allowed to assist the county on the case.

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"It's not surprising the frac sand interests and outside corporate interests wanted to block us from having a say in this," said Johanna Rupprecht, policy organizer for LSP. "The only thing it does is stop us from direct participation."

Rupprecht said the organization will still look for legal ways to help the county in its defense of its ban on mining silica sand for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing, a method of obtaining oil and natural gas from shale.

As it is, the county is using information gathered by LSP that was part of the original push to develop the ban that passed last November. More importantly, she said, the ruling on the motion to intervene has no bearing on the merits of the case. "That's the main point," she said.

Phone calls to representatives for the plaintiffs were not returned.

The case was originally two separate cases, but was combined into a single case in June. The next step in the case will be a hearing on motions set for Oct. 3.
ALBERT LEA  One day after Gov. Mark Dayton said he was "very, very concerned" about Mayo Clinic's hospital consolidation plans in Albert Lea, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith called on Mayo to hit pause on the process, which has sparked opposition across Freeborn County.

Smith shared her thoughts Thursday during a news conference in Albert Lea following a 90-minute closed meeting with Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin; Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea; local officials; and five members of Save Our Hospital.

The grassroots group has criticized Mayo's consolidation plan and now is formally requesting at least a 90-day pause after Mayo's plan was "dropped like a bomb without any (community) input" in June, Bennett said. The request appears to have lined up another key supporter.

"I've been conveying to Mayo Clinic, privately, the exact message that I've been conveying publicly to everybody, which is we're concerned about their decisions, we want to understand better why they're making them and, I think  it'd be a good idea to take a pause in this and not rush right in to implementation as they're planning in October," Smith said in front of Albert Lea City Hall. "And try to find a solution that works for Albert Lea and works for the high quality, patient-centered care that Mayo is devoted to providing."

Sparks did not respond to requests for comment, but Bennett also urged Mayo to hit pause.

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"The decision-makers over there need to come and really sit down at the table and listen to some other solutions," Bennett said.

It's the latest example of mounting public pressure facing Mayo over its Albert Lea decision. Prior criticism has come from 1st District Congressman Tim Walz , AARP leaders in Minnesota and Iowa, Sen. Sparks and many local officials .

More than 100 Save Our Hospital members greeted Smith at city hall in hopes of adding another name to that list. They weren't disappointed, as Smith, who chairs the Destination Medical Center Corporation Board, agreed to carry their request directly to Mayo officials later that afternoon.

"Theres no question that our mission is to gather advocates," SOH co-chairman Brad Arends said. "We feel that weve been very successful, especially the last two weeks.

"Its surprising even to us when you look at least at verbal support from people like the attorney general,  the lieutenant governor, the governor, AARP and even the editorial board at the Minneapolis Star Tribune," Arends said. "Were feeling good about the direction (we're headed). Well feel much better when we actually see  action."

Mayo rejects calls for delay

Mayo officials previously have said communication might have been handled better, but they've repeatedly rejected requests to reconsider a decision that was reached after an 18-month internal study of the Albert Lea and Austin campuses, which were legally merged in 2012.

Spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo reiterated that stance Thursday evening.

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"To ensure the highest quality health care, we are moving forward with the optimization plans," Plumbo said via email. "We will continue engaging with the community as we move through subsequent phases of the plan."

The first step in Mayo's plan calls for the ICU to be moved from Albert Lea to Austin at the end of September. Most inpatient services would be shifted to Austin during the next 18 months, including baby delivery, though Mayo says it shouldn't negatively affect employment numbers.

Mayo has framed its decision as a response to challenges facing all rural health care facilities, including losing about $13 million during the last two years at its Austin and Albert Lea campuses. Other local issues include staffing shortages, reduced demand for childbirth and declining overnight hospitalizations, among other things.

Dr. Annie Sadosty, regional vice president for Mayo Clinic Health System's Southeast Minnesota Region, notes MCHS will spend more than $4 million in 2017 on temporary staff, according to a guest column published in Thursday's Star Tribune in response to a Star Tribune editorial Sunday that questioned Mayo's stewardship of local hospitals.

"Health care organizations everywhere are spreading increasingly scarce staffing resources across half-filled hospitals, with intensive-care and birthing units that care for a very small patient load (for instance, an average of one birth per day on each campus, in our case) at ever-increasing costs," Sadosty wrote. "This situation is not sustainable."

On the advice of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, Save Our Hospital is in the process of hiring a forensic health care analyst to double-check Mayo's numbers and verify its claims. Members remain skeptical of Mayo's claims that the joint campus isn't profitable, noting other providers have expressed an interest in running the rural hospital that serves about 55,000 residents across the region.

Questions linger with AG, DMC

That process would piggyback off Swanson's recent inquiries of Mayo. On Wednesday night, Mayo sent Swanson's office a 12-page response to her request for procedural and financial data in Albert Lea. A spokesman for Swanson's office said Thursday that a timeline moving forward is unclear.

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Mayo also has agreed to perform an economic impact study, though it's unclear how soon such a project will be completed or if it will change any plans. The lack of such a study on the front end has been criticized by many, some of whom  such as Dayton  have questioned Mayo's health care stewardship in southern Minnesota after receiving $585 million in public funding for DMC in Rochester.

When asked whether such a connection was fair, Smith reiterated that DMC funding goes directly to the city  not Mayo  to support infrastructure, and it was codified into law, rendering personal opinions a moot point.

However, she also admitted Mayo should expect increased "attention and focus" after entering into such a unique public-private partnership with significant taxpayer support.

"I cant speak for Mayo Clinic and why theyre making the decisions that they make," Smith said. "I cant see into their hearts and minds  but what I do know is they need to do a much better job consulting with communities to make big decisions that affect the economy and the heart and soul of communities like Albert Lea.

"Its always our responsibility to use our powers of influence to make sure what happens is best for the most, and that's what were trying to do now."
A lot of people have been asking if I was present in Berkeley for last weekends Antifa riot as I was for the Milo riot on Feb. 1, and the aborted Ann Coulter appearance in April. Happily I was not. So youll want to read Matt Labashs first hand account in the Weekly Standard, A Beating in Berkeley. I can report that things are very tense on campus as the new semester begins, and as Milo promises to return to campus in a few weeks. Stay tuned for details of two free speech events that Ill be part of in coming weeks on campus.

Things are also very tense across the bridge in downtown San Francisco, where I am attending the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). Yes, youll just have to contain your excitement. Im scheduled to speak on a panel this afternoon about executive power along with John Yoo, and I would have invited readers to attend except that the APSA has closed all panels this year to anyone not registered for the conference. APSA has had to do this because of threatened protests specifically directed at panels sponsored by our friends at the Claremont Institute, and the APSA has deployed extra security to make sure panels with Prof. Yoo are not disrupted or worse. Yesterdays panel that included John did indeed attract a protest, though there was no disruptionjust a lot of signage. Keep in mind that everyone in the nearby photos is a professor registered at the APSA.

Now, if you want to talk about real torture, you could have come along with me yesterday to the panel entitled Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Legitimacy: 8 Months in Trumplandia. I was curious as to what happened to class in the title of the panel. Isnt class supposed to be at the center of everything? Unfortunately I never did find out.

Ill let you know if we experience a similar protest at this afternoons panel. Weve cleverly decided that John will speak last, so that the protestors will have to stand through the presentations of several other conservatives on the panel.

Meanwhile, it is good to see that the APSA is with it when it comes to hastily arranging some gender-neutral bathrooms in San Franciscos famous old hotels. A band of merry pranksters is going around leaving all the toilet seats up.

Photo credit: Brad Watson!
We have followed the argument presented by Patrick Lawrence in the Nation asserting that the alleged Russian hack of the DNC email was rather an inside job. Lawrence explored the findings of the analysis supporting the thesis Democratic National Committee was not hacked by the Russians in July 2016, but rather suffered an insider leak. Lawrences article is here; the most recent report with the analysis summarized by Lawrence is here. The analysis has been promoted by dissident former intelligence officials gathered under the umbrella of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

Lawrences long article in the Nation called for a response of some kind by proponents of the Russia hacking conspiracy theory, but it has been greeted mostly by silence. I am not aware of any analysis directly disputing VIPS.

Since the publication of Lawrences long article in the NationThe VIPS analysis has been taken up by Leonid Bershidsky at Bloomberg View and by Danielle Ryan at Salon. The DNC itself responded to Lawrences article:

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Russian government hacked the DNC in an attempt to interfere in the election. Any suggestion otherwise is false and is just another conspiracy theory like those pushed by Trump and his administration. Its unfortunate that The Nation has decided to join the conspiracy theorists to push this narrative.

Ryan rightly commented that the statement is so lackluster it is almost laughable[.] Students of logical fallacy may recognize both the argument from authority and the ad hominem in the three-sentence DNC statement. That is pathetic.

Philadelphia attorney George Parry takes up the VIPS analysis in his Philly.com column Will special counsel Mueller examine the DNC server, source of the great Russiagate caper? Parry prefaces his account of the VIPS analysis with a useful reminder of the origin story:

Much to the embarrassment of Hillary Clinton, the released [DNC email] files showed that the DNC had secretly collaborated with her campaign to promote her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination over that of Bernie Sanders. Clearly, the Clinton campaign needed to lessen the political damage. Jennifer Palmieri, Clintons public relations chief, said in a Washington Post essay in March that she worked assiduously during the Democratic nominating convention to get the press to focus on  the prospect that Russia had not only hacked and stolen emails from the DNC, but that it had done so to help Donald Trump and hurt Hillary. Thus was laid the cornerstone of the Trump-Russia-collusion conspiracy theory. Since then, the mainstream media have created a climate of hysteria in which this unsubstantiated theory has been conjured into accepted truth. This has resulted in investigations by Congress and a special counsel into President Trump, his family, and his campaign staff for supposed collusion with the Russians. But in their frenzied coverage, the media have downplayed the very odd behavior of the DNC, the putative target of the alleged hack. For, when the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI learned of the hacking claim, they asked to examine the server. The DNC refused. Without explanation, it continues to deny law enforcement access to its server. Why would the purported victim of a crime refuse to cooperate with law enforcement in solving that crime? Is it hiding something? Is it afraid the servers contents will discredit the Russia-hacking story?

Parry also provides a good summary of the VIPS analysis. A friend comments and concludes with one more good question: This entire business with Comey setting in motion the steps to get a special counsel named has not been sufficiently investigated. And this story makes it clear that the FBI was lackluster when it came to investigating the DNC. What is Attorney General Sessions doing?
This year, as part of the Franco-German Cultural Fund, the diplomatic and cultural missions of France and Germany in Nigeria will be organising two parallel workshops on film animation in Lagos and Abuja.

A statement issued by the Institut Francais du Nigeria said the focus this year is in response to the boom in Nigerias Animation sector.

The statement noted that a number of small structures and companies have been created within the last five years; a pointer to animations growing presence in the Nigerian society as observed in advertisements, short films, festivals, and departments in cinema schools.

In this regard, following a series of discussions with young practitioners in this growing sector, the idea came up to organise a special workshop with international and reputed animation professionals.

According to these young professionals themselves, creativity and dynamism are present in Nigeria, however many face specific issues regarding the technical aspects of animation, the statement said inter-alia.

It was learnt that during the ten-day workshops, a German film professional in Abuja, and a French professional in Lagos will work with participants to improve their skills in film animation, storyboard writing and, notably, visual effects.

The focus of these will be on the technical aspects of film animation as follows: facial expressions, the fluidity of movements, and quality of design.

The idea is to give participants an opportunity to increase their technical skills and interact with experienced professionals from Germany and France towards developing their career prospects in Nigerias vibrant film industry, the organisers said.

After the initial workshop phase, participants, facilitators, stakeholders and professional guests will also be expected to attend a two-day professional conference in Lagos.

The summit will also be a great platform for high-quality discussions about the animation sector and beyond; a chance to meet and interact with professionals from the animation, film and music sectors, and to discuss future areas of collaboration.

It will also be an occasion to screen Nigerian, German, and French animated movies, and also to debrief participants on the outcome of the technical workshop, the statement added.

In Abuja, the organising committee comprises the Institut Francais, the German Embassy Abuja and Waziri Film Studios.

In Lagos, this project is managed by the Institut francais du Nigeria and the GoetheInstitut Nigeria.

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Godfatherism, power rotation, the agitation for the breakaway state of Biafra and intra-party disagreements are some of the key issues that will determine the governorship election in Anambra State in November, a study by the Centre for Democracy and Development, a not-for-profit research and advocacy group has revealed.

Governorship elections in Anambra State, the commercial nerve centre of the south-eastern region of Nigeria, is traditionally fraught with controversies and the study titled: One Election, One Godfather, indicated that this years election may not be different from previous elections.

The report which recounted the history of election-induced political upheavals in the state since the return of democratic rule in the country in 1999, revealed that while some of the issues that have led to conflict in the state are still much in play, new and perhaps more serious ones have been added to the mix.

IPOB AND THE CALL TO BOYCOTT THE ELECTION

Chief among some of the hurdles before the successful conduct of the election is the call its boycott by the Nnamdi Kanu-led separatist group, Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB.The group has vowed that election will not hold in the state until the Nigerian government accedes to its demand for a referendum for the realisation of the breakaway state of Biafra.

The report stated that the IPOBs call for a boycott of the election may lead to an increase in violent confrontations in the run up to the election and during the election proper and may ultimately lead to the militarisation of the region.

Apart from possibility of violent clashes, the threat that the voters should boycott the election may lead to low turn out during the poll, the report stated.

Such a threat by the IPOB leader may instill fear in the minds of voters who might not come out to vote on the day of the governorship election.

The report, however, stated that the turnout during the election will also be a test of IPOBs popularity and Mr. Kanus influence in the south-east.

The problem of the call for a boycott is that if it fails, it will definitely diminish the popularity of Nnamdi Kanu and the agitation for Biafra.

ZONING/ROTATION OF POWER

According to the study, another major factor that may affect the outcome of the election is the rotating of important political positions to different geographical regions within the state.

According to the study, the zoning became a major political determinant in the state at the twilight of the tenure of the immediate past governor of the state, Peter Obi.

The report stated that of the three senatorial districts in the state, Anambra South has produced four governors  Chukwuemeka Ezeife (1992-1993), Chinwoke Mbadinuju (1999 to 2003), Dame Virginia Etiaba (November 2006 to February 2007) and Andy Uba (2007). Anambra Central district has produced two governors  Chris Ngige (2003 -2006) and Mr. Obi (2006 -2013).

The first governor to come from Anambra North district is the incumbent, Willie Obiano, who is also contesting for a second term in office.

The importance of zoning in the election is underscored by the fact that all the candidates of the three major contending political parties in the state  Mr. Obiano of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; Tony Nwoye of the All Progressives Congress, APC; and Oseloka Obaze of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are from Anambra North district.

Ironically, the only other notable contender for the position of governor who is not from Anambra North, Osita Chidoka, candidate for the newly formed United Progressive Party, UPP a former minister of aviation, is believed to have the backing of IPOB. Osita is from Anambra Central district.

No agreement has been formally made on zoning among the various political parties, but their leaders are alleged to be quietly canvassing the issue, each trying to zone the election of their aspirants to Anambra North, the study stated.

It is becoming obvious from the just concluded primaries of the PDP, APC and APGA, that the election will be closely contested amongst the 3 big parties and candidates from the Anambra North senatorial zone. What will likely determine the eventual winner will narrow down to religion, zoning, party affiliation, ruralurban base and possibly federal power, it added.

INTRA-PARTY CONFLICT

Whilst leading political parties in the state are strategising on how to emerge victorious during election, their chances may be hindered by unresolved intra-party crisis, the study showed. The crisis bedeviling the ruling APGA started after the partys National Executive Committee led by Martin Agbaso passed a vote of no confidence on the partys chairman, Ike Oye, and suspended him alongside two other national officers for gross misconduct.

The crisis has continued unresolved with two factions, one led by Chief Victor Oye and the other led by Chief Martin Agbaso, each announcing different dates for the partys primaries for the nomination of APGA candidate for the governorship election.

The Agbaso group fixed 14thAugust 2017 as the date for his factions primary, while Oye faction selected 15th August 2017. The primaries have finally been conducted and candidates have emerged with incumbent Governor Willie Obiano emerging as the candidate of the Victor Oye faction of APGA and Chief Ifeanyi Igwebuike as the candidate of the Agbaso faction, the study stated.

Similarly, the acrimonious primary of the APC between Andy Uba and Mr. Nwoye may impact negatively on the partys chances during theelection.

HOW PREPARED IS INEC?

Nwachukwu Orji, the resident electoral commissioner for the state, whose job it is to organise the election, was sworn in on July 7, 2017, which gives him only 130 days to plan for the election.

Proper logistics during election has been the bane of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and there is no sign that commission will get it right this time around, the report stated.

To be sure, in the 2013 governorship elections, observer groups noted the late distribution of electoral materials, late commencement of voting and accreditation, particularly in Idemili North, Idemili South, and Ogbaru Local Government Areas.

Other issues the INEC may be confronted with during the election are multiplicity of voter registers, multiplicity of candidates, litigation and the threat of violence.

Aside from the logistic challenges INEC may face in the conduct of the elections, the state has always posed severe challenges to the electoral management body. For instance, in the 2013 elections, while 23 candidates were put forward by the political parties, there was multiplicity of candidates fielded on the platforms of APGA and PDP, thus by the closure of nominations on 17thSeptember 2013, INEC was confused as to who the candidates for the two political parties shall be.

While the police in Anambra have assured everyone that no person or group could stop the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra, it is important that INEC, political parties, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the security agencies do not take such a declaration as an empty threat in order not to scupper the election. The federal government must also refrain from using the threat of possible violence to militarise the state to prevent voter apathy, the study adivised.

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. To do so, first type the original number into the text box. Then click on the "Scientific Notation" option located at the top of the floating window. Finally, click on the "Standard" button found beneath the text box to display your result. This program is useful for scientists and engineers working with decimal-based numbers. It provides easy access to those who need to convert those numbers into more compact forms without having to do heavy math calculations first.

Scientific notation is a way to express very large or very small numbers. It is used in physics, chemistry and other fields where large numbers are common. Those numbers are written as a power of 10 followed by a number with an exponent. For example, 1,000,000 (one million) is written as 1  103. The exponent shows how many zeros are after the first digit. For example, 1,000,001 is written as 1  102. Scientific notation is a useful tool for making calculations easier. You can use it to write down very big or very small numbers in one step instead of writing out both the large and small numbers separately. You can also use it to express large or small numbers in terms of other units like centimeters or millimeters.

Scientific notation solver is an online tool that can be used to convert any number into scientific notation. Simply enter any number to the left of the decimal point and it will automatically convert it into a scientific notation equivalent. This web tool can be very helpful when you need to convert a large number into scientific notation. However, please note that this online tool can only convert numbers that are in scientific format. For example, it cannot convert a non-scientific number like "1,085" into a scientific notation equivalent. It is also important to keep in mind that this web tool only works when converting numbers from one particular format to another. For example, if you want to change a non-scientific number like "1,085" into standard format, then you will have to use another online tool like NumberFormatting.com.
The Nigerian Army has missed a self-set 40-day deadline to capture the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive.

The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, handed down the order on July 21 to the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Ibrahim Attahiru.

Mr. Buratai, a lieutenant general, tasked Mr. Attahiru, a major general, to employ every weapon available in his arsenal to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria, a statement from the army said.

That deadline elapsed Thursday, August 31.

Mr. Buratai instead commended Mr. Attahiru, his sector commanders and all troops of Operation Lafiya Dole for pursuing the COAS directive of capturing the purported Boko Haram terrorists leader, an army statement released Friday said.

Although the leader has not been captured, the COAS noted with satisfaction the zeal and determination with which the directive was pursued, the statement signed by Mr. Usman, a brigadier general, said.

The army chief approved an extension to the deadline, and applauded the commanders for coming very close to achieving the directive.

Mr. Buratai congratulated the commander for eliminating five key leaders of the terrorists group that were the closest associates and right hand men of the terrorists group leader.

Within the same period, 82 of the Boko Haram terrorists were eliminated. Therefore, the Commander was very close to achieving the directive, the statement said.

The Theatre Commander has asked for the extension of the deadline and it has been granted by the COAS.

Given deadlines and extensions are strategic means of focusing troops efforts in the theatre. Currently the main thrust of the operations is the decapitation of all the remaining terrorists factions within the Nigerian territory.

With this feat achieved the relevance of Shekau is no longer of any consequence. The people of the NE and indeed all Nigerians are enjoined to be more confident of the Nigerian troops and go about their normal activities.

The military has several times claimed to have killed Mr. Shekau, only for the Boko Haram leader to later show up in videos mocking either the military or the nations top officials.

On August 23, 2016, Mr. Usman himself had issued a statement announcing that Mr. Shekau was inflicted with fatal injury in a major air strike on Boko Harams location in the dreaded Sambisa Forest.

The statement said at the time that the bombardment was carried out while Mr. Shekau was leading his group in performing the Friday prayers at a secret location called Tayye in the heart of the vast forest.

The military has repeatedly claimed credit for killing Mr. Shekau. But the sect denounced the claims each time saying its leader remained alive.

The military however insisted that the original Mr Shekau had long been killed, and that the so-called Abubakar Shekau said to be alive was a made-up character.

On March 28 this year, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, had a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, after which he reassured Nigerians that the army would soon apprehend Mr. Shekau.

If you have had the opportunity to go to Sambisa (forest in Borno), you will know that Boko Haram has been defeated, go and see what is happening in Sambisa.

We have dominated the whole stronghold where they used to be, there is where we call camp zairo where their spiritual and their strong headquarters that they were using as communication base was destroyed and as at the same time occupied by our men of the armed forces.

So, I believe its just a matter of time, it took America about seven to 10 years to get Bin Laden so we will get Shekau as soon as possible.

I told you before now, the spiritual headquarters has been ransacked and vandalized. He (Shekau) is on the run, so he may be hiding in one of the enclaves of Sambisa forest that we are dominating.

We have opened up the place; we are using it as a training area whereby the army engineers will open roads. We shall be patrolling and be ransacking that forest for the whereabouts of Shekau, he said.

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Ekiti State Governor on Thursday lauded the south east governors over the meeting they held with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, saying it offered a fresh platform for all Igbo people.

He also said the meeting highlighted the need for the Federal Government to allow political solutions to agitations by Nigerians as against the use of force employed by the Buhari administration.

Mr. Fayose who gave his views on the meeting in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the meeting has provided a veritable platform which all Igbos must key into otherwise they will remain guinea pigs as long as this country exists.

He also said he remained committed to the call for full and total restructuring of Nigeria through dialogue and negotiation because it was too late for Nigeria to disintegrate.

I am particularly glad that Southeast governors have come to the realisation that they cannot ignore their own in times like these as agitations are normal and must not be ignored, although the approach should be handled with caution, he said.

He however blamed the actions and utterances of President Muhammadu Buhari for the agitations going on in the country.

The father figure of this country is President Buhari and if his language does not represent unity, there will be agitations like we are witnessing now, Mr. Fayose said.

A father figure rallies even the bad boys in his house. The utterances and actions of the when he became President were against the unity of this country.

How can a president say that he will only attend to the needs of those who gave him 97 per cent vote and neglect others who didnt vote for him.

For Nigeria to move forward and in unity, there must be no sectionalism, there must be no oppression and there must be justice and equity.

The governor commended the northern leaders for ensuring that the Arewa Youths quit notice against the Igbos in the north was withdrawn without necessarily arresting and detaining anyone.

I am sure that the same can be achieved by the Igbo leaders as arresting or re-arresting Kanu may be counterproductive as it may be perceived as vilification of the entire Southeast Region, not necessarily Kanu as a person, he submitted.

I remain committed to the call for full and total restructuring of Nigeria through dialogue and negotiation. Even though it is too late for Nigeria to disintegrate, we do not need APC kind of restructuring.

Once again, I salute my brother governors from the Southeast for their historic meeting of yesterday and I urge them not to relent in their efforts to bring lasting peace and harmony to their region.

While I also commend the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu for his display of humility and commitment to peace by attending the meeting, I enjoin him to cooperate with leaders of the region going forward.

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The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON has commended the Saudi Arabian authorities for providing all the necessary logistics support for pilgrims at the Jamarat, the place where pilgrims perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.

The Executive Chairman of NAHCON, Abdullahi Muhammad, made the commendation while briefing journalists in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Muhammad also applauded the custodians of the two Grand Holy mosques for providing adequate security and good welfare for pilgrims which had helped to make the exercise hitch free.

The NAHCON boss said that the water sprinklers placed at strategic locations at Jamarat for pilgrims would go a long way in reducing the effect of the hot weather being experienced in the country.

Mr. Muhammad commended Nigerian pilgrims for their good conduct so far in the holy land, saying that Nigerian pilgrims have demonstrated moral behaviour in Saudi Arabia.

He appealed to them to maintain the good behaviour while in the Kingdom.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nigerian pilgrims and others from around the world have continued with Hajj rites after staying on the plains of Arafat throughout Thursday and spent the night at Muzdalifa.

Most pilgrims moved from Muzdalifa before sunrise on Friday with some of them heading straight to the symbolic stoning of the devil in Muna, while others went back to their tents in Muna to rest and wait for their scheduled time.

In 2016, the Saudi authority introduced a schedule for pilgrims going for the stoning of the devil to avoid a recurrence of the unfortunate episode of 2015, where many pilgrims lost their lives as a result of a stampede.

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Two days after a minister announced that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has taken over some of the aspects of the negotiations and discussions with striking university lecturers, the presidency has corrected the statement saying the minister was misrepresented.

Speaking at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, spoke on the decision reached at the meeting regarding the strike.

This is the first national strike that this government is facing and we want to discuss, he said.

At council today, the Vice President has taken over some of the aspects of the negotiations and discussions.

So, we are continuing the meeting in his office and when we finish meeting, we will get back to ASUU for another round of meeting and we are hopeful that we will be able to go to an appreciable extent to solve some of the outstanding issues that is preventing them from going back to work, he said.

In a statement on Friday, however, Laolu Akande, the spokesperson to Mr. Osinbajo said his principal will not take over the negotiation.

Media reports seemed to have misrepresented what Labour & Employment Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige meant when he spoke with reporters about the negotiations after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.

Mr. Akande explained that the Vice President had a discussion after FEC with both the Labour Minister and Education Minister Malam Adamu Adamu around the issues, but has not taken over the negotiations as widely reported.

He said Mr. Ngige and Mr. Adamu

will continue to lead the FG- ASUU talks.

The Federal Government continues to diligently pursue a prompt resolution of this dispute and is confident the matter would be resolved, he added.

The lecturers, ASUU, are on an indefinite national strike over issues ranging from welfare of members and the unwillingness of the federal government to honour past agreements with the union.

Past meetings between the government and the lecturers have not led to a resolution of the crisis which has sent students in tertiary institutions back home.

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Ifeanyi Okonkwo has emerged the gubernatorial candidate of the Action Democratic Party, ADP, for the November 18 Anambra gubernatorial election.

Kayode Jacobs, the Director Media of ADP in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja said Mr. Okonkwo emerged in a primary conducted by the party.

He, however, did not say when the primary was conducted and who contested against Mr. Okonkwo.

It was witnessed by the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria Police and Department of State Services.

Dr Ifeanyi Okonkwo had a total of 1,062 out of 1,072 accredited votes to pick the partys gubernatorial ticket.

In line with the partys constitution, elections were conducted in designated centres at each of the three senatorial districts in the state.

Results were later moved to Awka where final compilation was done and Okonkwo ratified as having been duly returned, Mr. Jacobs said.

According to Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Okonkwo appreciated members of the party for electing him as the candidate of the party.

He said that if elected as governor, Mr. Okonkwo promised to turn around the economy of the state, create employment, rebuild state infrastructure and ensure security of lives and property in the state.

NAN reports Mr. Okonkwo will contest against the likes of the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano of APGA and Tony Nwoye of APC.

Others include, Oseloka Obaze of the PDP and Osita Chidoka of the UPP.

(NAN)

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President Andrzej Duda said that 78 years after the outbreak of the Second World War, there was a need for remembrance, forgiveness and atonement. The president was speaking at a remembrance ceremony held at 0440 hrs in Wielun, central Poland. On September 1, 1939, the town was a scene of the first German attack on Poland.

In his speech, Andrzej Duda said that "the biggest war in world history, in which the largest number of lives was lost, has two great symbols - both of them in our country".

May be of interest to you President: Poland will continue as peace defender in Europe, worldwide He pointed out the first of them was Westerplatte, where the first battle of WW2 took place, with Polish soldiers fighting heroically and inspiring the whole nation do defend its country.

The president added the second was Wielun, "but this is not a symbol of heroism. It's a symbol of bestiality, German bestiality. Of international conventions being broken. Of ordinary people being attacked treacherously, without any warning, without any notice, in their sleep".

"Of a hospital being bombed and places of worship being destroyed", he underscored.

Poland's head of state added that today, the bombing of Wielun "would be called a terrorist attack". "Bombing a city in its sleep is not war, it is barbarity and banditry", he said. "The attack on Wielun became a terrible symbol of that war and the methods employed by the Germans", Andrzej Duda assessed.

He pointed out not only the assault took place while Wielun was asleep, but the town didn't have any military force or facilities and was without defence.

The president reminded of the casualties of WW2, which surpassed 30 million civilians, including 6 million Polish citizens. "These were citizens of various nationalities, as Poland was, at the time, an ethnically diverse country. Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians, Tatars and of course we, Polish people, lived here, but we were all citizens of the Republic of Poland, of the Polish state, whom the Germans decided to destroy", he explained.

"We must call a spade a spade. During WW2, nobody was treated by the Germans in the way they treated Jews, Roma and Sinti people, as well as the Polish people. They were destroying us ruthlessly", Andrzej Duda said.

He said nothing like that had happened before in world history and hopefully it would never happen again. Hopefully "that war was also a lesson for the world, about what comes from hatred, arrogance, totally unfettered cruelty".

The president also underlined nobody was ever punished for the attack on Wielun. He said that was why remembrance was so vital. "So I thank the residents of Wielun for your remembrance", Andrzej Duda added.

"We have to know and remember who was the victim and who was the murderer, who was the victim and who was the aggressor", he said.

"We must not let this truth be obscured by time or by the scheming of various historians or pseudo-historians", the president underscored.

"Whoever falsifies history is not a historian, but a pseudo-historian, because they contradict the beautiful scientific idea that is the science of history", he explained.

President Duda also pointed out there was a need for forgiveness, as it makes good neighbourly relations possible, and facilitates creation, not destruction. "And for this reason, there is a need for atonement", he added.

The president congratulated the people of Wielun on a successful reconstruction of a town which was reduced to ruin in three fourths of its area. "I thank you once again for remembering those who were killed and those who took part in combat. For communicating this truth to youth, because it is vital that the assault on Poland never happens again", he added.

"We must build a strong state. This strong state can be built, in the first place, with the power of youth. By educating them, instilling patriotic values in them", President Duda said.

"Honour and glory to the heroes, eternal remembrance for the fallen. I pay tribute to the fallen residents of Wielun and all the victims of WW2", the president concluded.

In the morning ceremony, Andrzej Duda was accompanied by parliamentarians, war veterans, religious officials, representatives of local governments and state institutions, as well as the people of Wielun.

A roll-call was also read out, followed by the firing of a honorary salvo.

Andrzej Duda laid flowers at a statue commemorating a demolished synagogue and at a memorial to the victims of the German bombing of Wielun. (PAP)


Pobierz zdjecie Przeczytaj o zasadach pobierania zdjec A ceremony marking the anniversary of the outbreak of WW2 in Westerplatte (1)

"Poland is and will continue as the defender not only of its own freedom and borders but also of peace and the stable architecture of security in Europe and all over the world", Polish President Andrzej Duda said in a letter read out at Westerplatte on Friday.

Addressing the gathering at a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2 in Westerplatte, where the first battle of the German invasion of Poland took place, President Duda wrote that "the most terrible and bloodiest armed conflict in the history of mankind started 78 years ago here in Poland".

"A total war which covered nearly the entire world. The war, which, according to some estimates, took the life of nearly 80 million people", the president wrote in a letter read out by head of the National Security Bureau Pawel Soloch.

The president stressed that the defence of Westerplatte had forever been written down in the chronicles of glory of Polish soldiers.

"This was the first battle of the armies of the Republic of Poland and the Third Reich, and it clearly revealed the intentions, ideals and values of the two fighting sides. The Polish spirit of freedom, heroic patriotism, the chivalric code marked by respect for the law of war and the right of nations painfully collided with the Nazi ideology of hatred, the cult of violence and contempt of all ethical norms", the president went on.

May be of interest to you President Duda calls for forgiveness and atonement on WW2 anniversary President Duda stressed that the Wielun crime and a "deceitful" attack on Westerplatte were "an announcement of hundreds of war crimes committed later by German aggressors".

"After Wielun, Westerplatte and Tczew, after Auschwitz, Treblinka and Stutthof, after Palmiry and the annihilation of Warsaw, nothing looked as before. The overwhelming scale of destruction and victims experienced by our nations is still perceptible today. Nearly five years in constant fear, contempt and poverty, under bullets, bombs and fires. Nearly five years marked by robbery, mass-scale arrests and executions, by mourning after the killed close ones, the lost and fallen defenders of our homeland - this tragedy was a burden for the next generations of the Polish people to come", the president wrote.

According to President Duda, one cannot "understand a Poland of today" without the true knowledge of "this terrible war".

A free and sovereign Poland, which is an EU and NATO member, "will and continue as the defender not only of its own freedom and borders, but also of peace and the stable architecture of security in Europe and all over the world", the president declared.

The Polish head of state assured the gathering that he "unequivocally" condemned all forms of aggression and lawlessness.

"Keeping in mind the sacrifice of life made by our heroes, we stand shoulder-in-shoulder with nations firmly opposing terrorism and unjustified attacks against the territorial integrity of sovereign states. We will never allow for constructive dialogue to be replaced by the dictate of force", the Polish president wrote. (PAP)
ESTELL MANOR  The Friends of the Parks group created the Plein Air event in the Atlantic County Parks System with artists like Linda E. Gazsi and Renee Leopardi in mind.

Through plein air, or outdoors, painting, the 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 event seeks to bring more exposure to the 16 parks in the county park system.

Before the two friends, Gazsi, of Somers Point, and Leopardi, of Northfield, attend the event, they will visit county parks they have never been to previously.

On Sept. 9, participating artists of any skill or experience level will be able to sketch and paint outdoors at any of the 16 participating county parks, which include Gaskill and Lake Lenape parks in Mays Landing, Oscar E. McClinton Waterfront Park in Atlantic City and Estell Manor Park here.

I plan on visiting as many of the parks as possible  in order to make a decision prior to the day of the event, Gazsi said on choosing a location to paint at. There is a limited time in which to complete the painting, and I do not want to spend too much time exploring on the day of the event, when I can do that ahead of time. Lord knows that I love exploring and will spend a great amount of time doing so.

Leopardi said she has thousands of photo references at home, but nothing beats looking at an outdoors scene in person.

You miss so much by looking at the photograph, Leopardi said. When you are outside, you just see so much more.  I just love being outside, and its just a wonderful opportunity. South Jersey has so many beautiful places to paint, endless views. I try to paint them all if I can.

On a recent Friday, Leopardi, Gazsi and Bill Parker, of Absecon, were in Estell Manor Park taking advantage of the beautiful weather during a summer afternoon to create works of art near the floating dock.

Parker is cutting a trip to New York short to be sure he makes it back for Plein Air.

This event fell into my lap as board member of the Absecon Cultural Arts Alliance. They asked me to check it out as we have our Plein Air event on Sept. 23 in Absecon, Parker said. I found everyone I came in contact with at the county park system to be helpful and enthusiastic about the event. I am truly looking forward to it.  It should be fun with amazing results.

Two members of the Friends of the Parks organization  Cathie Skinner, of Mays Landing, and Anne Dowling, of Estell Manor,  came up with trying the Plein Air idea in Atlantic County, said Julie Akers, another member of the Friend of the Parks group.

We have always looked into ideas to bring people into the parks. People can drive by and never know whats in them, so the whole goal is to support the parks, the open space, the recreation opportunity, the historic features, the cultural stuff and the nature, Akers said.

Many people in Atlantic County do not know about the parks, Akers said. For the Plein Air event, nonartists can visit a county park and possibly be in one of the working artists paintings or sketches, or they can watch the artist at work.

All participants must register on Sept. 9 at the Estell Manor Park Nature Center, 109 Route 50, Estell Manor.

All work must be submitted by 6:30 p.m. that evening at the Nature Center. There is a $20 fee to participate.

A rain date has been scheduled for Sept. 16 for the Plein Air event.(tncms-asset)f1321ee6-a938-5450-8409-7c007b24eb6b(/tncms-asset)

Atlantic Cape Community College will hold an exhibit of submitted works from the event from Sept. 21 through Oct. 28 at the colleges art gallery on its Mays Landing campus.

Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top three selections at an opening Plein Air Exhibit reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Atlantic Cape Art Gallery, 5100 Black Horse Pike.

For more information, visit atlantic-county.org/parks or Atlantic County Friends of the Parks on Facebook.
LINWOOD - Mainland Regional High School is the latest to come under scrutiny in the ongoing health benefits investigation.

Mark Marrone, superintendent of the Mainland Regional High School District, said in a statement Friday that the district received a grand jury subpoena Thursday, Aug. 10 from the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office requiring the disclosure of the name, date of birth and home address of employees with certain health benefits as part of their health insurance plans. The District has submitted the requested information to the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office and the superintendent said the district fully intends to cooperate in any investigation.

Express Scripts, Medco, and NJ Direct are the health care plans the prosecutor's office was inquiring about.

According to the district office, Mainland Regional has approximately 200 employees and at least 90 percent of them are covered by MRHS insurance plans.

Marrone did confirm that the subpoena from the ACPO is the only one the district has received to date.

The health benefits probe expanded from nearby municipalities of Margate and Ventnor and Atlantic City where subpoenas were issued in early August from Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner. Those same municipalities were served federal subpoenas in June requesting information regarding employees and benefit packages.
Josh Vadell just wanted to get back to being Daddy again.

On a recent summer day, he cautiously steps out of the family car at Bargaintown Park off Delaware Avenue and walks to the playground with his family of five. Gone is his crutch. Gone are the bandages and helmet he wore for much of the past year, revealing a scar through his close-cut hair. Gone also is the unsteady balance that kept his wife, Laura, glued to his side.

Instead, he walks independently, although with a limp. Next to him are Laura and daughters Adrianna, 7, Vienna, 5, and Lucy, 11 months. Vienna holds his hand.

Hes cracking jokes, smiling and laughing with his family. He pushes Lucy on the swings and takes a break to wave to neighbors who ask how he is.

This time last year, things were different.

On Sept. 3, 2016, Vadell, then a nine-year veteran of the police department, made national news after he was shot in the head while responding to an armed robbery near Caesars parking garage. Since then, he has fought his way to back to normalcy, regaining much of his movement and health, though he still faces obstacles.

I might not be the same daddy I was a year ago, physically, but Im still their dad, Vadell, 30, said recently from his Egg Harbor Township home. Im just thankful Im here for them.

This is Joshs life trying to go back to normal, 12 months after doctors didnt know whether he would survive.

A year of challenge and change is behind him, but still more is ahead. In July, Vadell retired from the Atlantic City Police Department, ending a 10 year career.

***

The bullet that went through his skull resulted in weeks of hospitalization, months of therapy and a few surgeries. After the shooting, his left side was paralyzed and part of his skull was missing.

Laura Vadell, 33, a medical assistant for AtlantiCare Urgent Care, describes the past 12 months as a big blur. She remembers being his caretaker, helping him walk, shower and eat. But he does much of it on his own now, she said.

I know its only been a year  it is a short time for the injuries that I suffered, Josh Vadell said.

The couple didnt know what to expect after the shooting. Vadell had to relearn basic movements and find a new normal. But he didnt lose his memories or personality  a possibility for anyone who has a traumatic brain injury.

It shows me how lucky and fortunate I am, he said. My injury was bad, but it could have been worse.

Therapy a few days a week is helping him get stronger, he said. He walks unassisted now, and is working to strengthen his left leg, arm and hand. He also goes to vision therapy to retrain his left eye muscles.

Pull quote Im still breathing, Im still here for my family, Im still here for my friends ... Ive always been a fighter inside, but I never knew I was that much of a fighter. I surprised myself. - Josh Vadell

Vadell said he is starting to feel like himself again  cooking for himself, showering and brushing his teeth on his own, letting the dogs out and going out with his family. Come spring, he will be a stay-at-home dad when Laura Vadell goes back to Rutgers University-Camden to finish her nursing degree.

While Josh Vadell has made it far enough to his recovery that Laura can leave his side, he knows two other people are taking care of him at home: Adrianna and Vienna, who have watched his recovery process and continue to look out for him.

The girls say, Watch out, Daddy, when theres uneven pavement ahead, or if theres something coming to his left that they know he cant see.

Timeline of Josh Vadell's recovery Sept. 3, 2016 at 2:30 a.m.: Josh Vadell was shot outside Caesars parking garage while responding to an armed robbery. Sept. 15, 2016: Vadell gets released from AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus and enters a rehabilitation facility. Sept. 19, 2016: Vadells wife, Laura Vadell, gives birth to his third daughter Lucy. Nov. 8, 2016: Vadell returns home from the Drucker Brain Injury Unit at MossRehab in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. March 2017: Vadell had a cranioplasty surgery to replace part of his skull. May 10, 2017: Vadell speaks at the Police Unity Tour stop in Atlantic City. May 2017: Vadell had surgery to put a shunt in place to help maintain fluid in his skull. June 29, 2017: Vadell speaks at the graduation for the Basic Course for Police Officers in Atlantic County.

I had thought about just giving up trying, Josh said. But then I see my daughters in the mornings, they jump on me and say, Daddy, good morning, I love you  thats what keeps me pushing.

But he still struggles psychologically.

Theres rarely a day he doesnt think about the incident. He has post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as with trouble sleeping, and he is trying to come to terms with having a disability.

Inside me, I feel like I should be further along than I am, he said.

So he keeps pushing himself.

Every year since they married in 2012, the couple has gone to Mortons Steakhouse at Caesars Atlantic City for their May 24 anniversary. The restaurant is a block away from where the shooting took place. Its an area he tried to avoid.

But he didnt want that bad memory to overshadow the couples anniversary, so he pushed himself to go anyway.

I didnt want to deviate from our plans, he said. It was hard for me to be in that area  it brought back memories for me from that night.

***

Vadell loved being a police officer.

Deciding to retire wasnt easy, he says, but it was a decision he had to make for his family. There was no guarantee he would go back to work.

Still close with many of his police colleagues, he calls them brothers. Vadell says what he enjoyed most was helping and protecting people.

He says hes always going to be an Atlantic City police officer at heart, and wants to redirect his attention to what he loves to do  helping people  in a different way.

The Vadells have set up a foundation to help families whose loved one is injured in the line of duty. The foundation, called This Blue Life Matters: The Josh Vadell Foundation, will raise funds and direct proceeds to families of officers in New Jersey.

If it were to get larger than that, we would be able to help out of state as well, Laura Vadell said. Were trying to pay it forward.

Vadell also wants to get into motivational speaking, sharing his story to help others. In June, he gave the keynote speech to the Basic Course for Police Officers graduating class at the Atlantic County Institute of Technology.

I do want to continue to help others. Maybe not as physically as I did before, but mentally I want to give people the motivation to push through any difficulties in their lives, he said.

Everybody has the fight within them, they just have to dig deep enough to find it.
ATLANTIC CITY  South Jersey beaches experienced an active season of rip currents that created dangerous swimming conditions, leading to five drownings and hundreds of rescues.

In June and July, six people died around the state, while nationally, as of Aug. 4, 59 people had drowned, one more than the amount of drowning deaths in 2016, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Since 2002, 735 people in the United States have died from drowning, including rip currents sweeping people out to sea.

In Atlantic City, three people died this summer. In Sea Isle City, two people died. A Cape May effort involving two firefighters and several lifeguards in August rescued one person.

This summers frequent strong rip currents accounted for most lifeguard activity, beach patrols reported.

The water over the last three or four weeks has picked up because it has been warmer, Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Steve Downey said. Weather from the south has been causing waves, and beach replenishment has created riptides.

Downey reported nearly 1,000 rescues in Atlantic City. Lifeguards in Atlantic and Cape May counties reported hundreds of ocean rescues by the start of Labor Day weekend.

As of Monday, there had been 918 rescues in Atlantic City, most of them in the past three weeks, lifeguards said.

The week of Aug. 18 had 125 water rescues in Atlantic City alone, five of them after lifeguards had gone home for the day.

The citys three drowning deaths this year all happened after or before guarding hours, Downey said.

Last year, there were no drowning deaths and a total of 966 rescues, he added.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued at least two high rip current risks this week for South Jersey.

Atlantic City, along with Sea Isle City, Cape May and others, flew red flags, warning swimmers of dangerous surf.

This is the first year Sea Isle is using the multicolored flag system. Monday was the second time Sea Isle used red flags this summer, flying them from all 23 lifeguard stands.

We tried it at one stand last year, and we found it to be positive, Sea Isle Beach Patrol Capt. Renny Steele said. It made it really easy for the guards. When people see yellow or red flags, people understand why guards are being more restrictive.

Steele estimated 600 to 700 rescues of one or two bathers this summer.

Its been a typical summer, as far as the number of rescues went. Up to this point, weve been pretty calm. Weve had some bad shore break, Steele said.

Lifeguards document only major rescues, which involve calls for backup from other lifeguard stands. There are typically 15 to 20 major rescues a year, Steele said.

Sea Isle City police said there was one drowning death at the end of July and one at the beginning of August. They happened within three days of each other and were ruled accidental.

Cape May lifeguards closed some beaches due to high winds Monday. On Aug. 18, lifeguards and Cape May firefighters formed a human chain to rescue a swimmer. They were able to bring the swimmer back to shore with help from more firefighters and police.

A disturbance is leaving Florida up to the coast of the Carolinas. We are getting the outer band, which is producing higher than average winds, said Cape May Beach Patrol Capt. Geoff Rife. Higher than average energy thats coming from the offshoot of those winds is what is producing the rip currents right now.

All lifeguard stands had red flags Monday, and some of the eastern beaches were closed because they get the brunt of the storm, Rife said.

Rife could not estimate the number of rescues so far this summer, but he said lifeguards record the number of rescues each month and find the total at the end of the summer. There have been no deaths so far this year in Cape May.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Brent Turpin, 53, illegally supplied an extended handgun magazine, a laser sight and two boxes of ammunition to a convicted felon who, unbeknownst to Turpin, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Chicago.

Turpin, who supplied the materials to the informant earlier this month in Turpins residence on the South Side of Chicago, was arrested Tuesday. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday at 3:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in Chicago.

The accused is a special education teacher at Kershaw Elementary School in the heart of Chicago's killing fields. He is reportedly paid $78,000, and has worked at CPS schools since 2008.

The complaint charges Turpin with one count of conspiracy to dispose of a firearm and ammunition to a known felon, and one count of disposing of ammunition to a known felon.

In addition to the disposal of the ammunition and materials, the complaint also describes Turpins efforts to secure a firearm for the informant at a gun show in Indiana. As the pair traveled together to the show earlier this summer, Turpin allegedly instructed the informant on what to say and do. If they ask you if youre from Indiana, say yes, Turpin told the informant, according to the complaint. If they say where [are] you from, say like, say South Bend or something, or Indianapolis, Turpin said, according to the complaint. Turpin and the informant met with a gun dealer at the show, but it did not result in a deal because Turpin declined to present his drivers license, the complaint states.

The charge of conspiring to distribute firearms and ammunition is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and the charge of distributing ammunition is punishable by a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
It was a shock and extreme disappointment to learn Illinois' Governor Bruce Rauner signed SB 31, an unpopular bill that appears to have designated Illinois a sanctuary state. It forbids the arrest or detainment of our nearly 500,000 illegal aliens and it shields them from federal immigration laws.

The Chicago Tribune noted:

1) The new law will essentially make it impossible for Illinois police to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when they have a suspected criminal illegal alien, thus increasing the possibility that they will be released into the general public. 2) The sanctuary state law makes it illegal for local law enforcement to arrest an illegal alien, even if the individual is wanted by ICE for immigration violations.

The new law requires a judicial warrant before any Illinois agency can cooperate or provide information to federal immigration authorities or allow immigration agents to enter school, state or judicial buildings. Violation of immigration law is not mentioned as a qualifying criminal activity under this act.

Joining hands with California

It appears Illinois has joined hands with California's Leftist Democrat leaders to protect those who violate our established immigration laws. Shocked and angry patriots in Illinois are asking questions and searching for answers as to why their Governor made what they consider a horrendous decision that violates established immigration laws.

Apparently Governor Bruce Rauner is copying Californias lead to protect foreigners who disrespect and violate our immigration laws. We are left to question how all this will impact Illinois. Will illegal immigrants now flood into the state and ultimately take jobs from our citizens? Will they require and be rewarded with welfare payments, which will ultimately deplete funds designated for other purposes? Will this lack of law enforcement change the demographics of our neighborhoods?

These and other valid questions have not been sufficiently addressed or answered.

Officials claim this was a difficult decision and have attempted to justify it, but it remains highly unpopular with the general public who understands Illinois citizens will be paying a heavy price for this experiment. This must not be labeled an act of compassion or be justified because of the one or two possible ways it could possibly prove helpful. There is overwhelming evidence from states like California and countries in Europe, which proves not enforcing immigration laws bring unintended consequences to citizens.

Governor Rauner has just exposed Illinois citizens to potentially serious problems and he will own them all.

Facts do not lie

The Department of Justice data shows that more than 90 percent of foreign-born prisoners currently in the United States are illegal immigrants. It also indicates that about 24 percent of the entire federal prison population are foreign born: 45,493 to be exact. Of those, just 3,939 are U.S. citizens; the remaining 41,554 are in the United States illegally.

Apparently those who break one law are more likely to break more, which is a fact states like California and Illinois officials should have considered before protecting and even granting special favors.

The facts speak for themselves. Illegal immigrants have cost California citizens a whopping $30.29 billion a year. That is $7,352 per immigrant. Did Governor Rauner consider that once illegal immigrants learn Illinois has become a sanctuary state, there will be an influx of new immigrants flooding into the state? Can Illinois afford what this will cost? Do Illinoisans really want their taxes spent on foreign illegals, or would they rather they be used for needed improvement on state infrastructure projects? California has proven what the next surprise will likely be: a series of tax increases to pay for the costs of this Governors altruistic but misguided gesture.

Certainly Illinois state officials must be aware of the negative consequences California has endured, so why make the same mistakes? Perhaps it is for self-serving reasons. Consider that California's undocumented illegal immigrants are grateful to the politicians who help them at taxpayer expense. They have an interest in keeping these officials in office, which is also true of Illinois, with an added nod from Republicans who are swayed by the demands of Big Business for a supply of cheap labor.

Voting made easy for illegals

Obviously, non-citizens are forbidden to vote. However, those who ignore one law often ignore other laws too. This applies to both illegal immigrants as well as the politicians, because both have chosen to ignore our long-held, established immigration laws.

Consider CA state officials have continually changed even more laws to accommodate their rising illegal immigrant population. They even rewarded those here illegally with CA driver licenses. California officials also made it easy for illegal immigrants to vote.

First they gave the law breakers the right to get a CA drivers license. While at the DMV, they also provided them with a Voter Registration Form which can be filled out, sent to the State, and the recipient will be automatically sent a Vote by Mail ballot the following election cycle.

There is no way the Voter Registrar can identify the mailed-in ballot as one from an llegal," because the CA State Department did not send the Voter Registrar any documentation as to the name or addresses of the illegals granted the CA driver licenses and voter registration form.

Outrageous? Most honest people would say absolutely and wonder how or why CA State officials allowed it, and/or why the media has ignored reporting it to the public. Most Californians are not aware of the shocking changes in their laws, as Leftist media sources choose what and how to frame information they print.

Not to be outdone, SB 1933, signed into law by Governor Rauner on Monday, August 28, reforms Illinois' current registration laws so that whenever an eligible Illinois citizen applies for, updates, or renews a drivers license or state ID, he or she will be automatically be registered to vote at their new address. It rivals California for being the most far-reaching automatic voter registration law in the country.

Forecasting Illinois' future

Illinois residents should look to California as to what else they can expect in the future.

As suggested by co-writer Bonnie O'Neil, consider Santa Ana, the County Seat. The City Council is now comprised of all Hispanics, some may not even be legal American citizens. The Santa Ana City Council recently declared themselves a Sanctuary City. Sadly, this CA city is not the exception, it is just one of many examples of Southern California cities where the demographics have drastically changed along with the culture.

Are Illinois residents prepared for these inevitable changes?

Consider also that Orange County, CA,had always been a Republican County up until the recent 2016 election, when results showed an unexpected surge in Democrat voters, which can be attributed to the massive illegal immigrant population. The media has remained strangely silent on most all of these facts, including Santa Anas alarming increase of dangerous Hispanic gangs and major crime activity in the city. Media sources have proved strangely silent on this sad development, but angry and disillusioned officers as well as citizens who fear for their lives are finally speaking out.

Shame on our elected officials

Our forefathers were brilliant and the proof is seen in the success of our Constitution and the laws they enacted, including those regarding immigration, which propelled America into becoming the leader of the World. Why are these successful laws now being challenged, changed and/or ignored? Shame on our elected officials for their lack of concern for American citizens, our established laws, and this nations heritage. We are disgusted by shameful new legislation that grants rights to those who violate(d) our laws, rewards "anchor" babies and allows "chain migration."

The 2016 election proved most American voters are disgusted with the lack of immigration law enforcement. Donald Trump was elected largely due to his promise to control our borders and deport illegal immigrants, especially those convicted of additional crimes while in the United States.

Sadly, most Democrats, and a few Illinois and California Republican leaders, have been willing to ignore established immigration rights and defy our Federal laws. Trump was the outsider; the non-politician who resonated with the growing dissatisfaction of our people. All politicians should consider this and take these facts very seriously.

What recourse do law-abiding patriots have when elected officials blatantly show disrespect for our laws? We can remember the names of these politicians, inform and enlighten our friends, neighbors, and relatives, and then vote for their opponents at the next election. For the sake of America, it is imperative we all become educated voters who choose our leaders wisely.

Consider this quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. . . ." Our country will remain powerful only if its citizens vote wisely. We the people determine this countrys future and our own fate.
LONDON, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Heptares Therapeutics ("Heptares"), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation (TSE Mothers Index: 4565), announces that the first healthy subject has been dosed with the first-in-class, selective muscarinic M 4 receptor agonist HTL0016878 in a Phase 1 clinical study. The Phase 1 study dosing triggers a US$15 million milestone payment by Allergan to Heptares under a global R&D and commercialisation partnership announced in April 2016.

Heptares and Allergan are developing HTL0016878, an orally available, small molecule drug candidate with potential to treat certain neurobehavioural symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. The compound stimulates M 4 receptor activity in the brain with high selectivity, and offers the possibility for an improved safety profile over previous muscarinic receptor agonists, which have been associated with adverse effects elsewhere in the body leading to safety and tolerability issues.

HTL0016878 was designed by Heptares using its proprietary structure-based drug design platform and is the first compound, selected from a series of selective M 4 agonists, to progress into clinical studies. The double-blind, randomised first-in-human study is being conducted in the UK by Heptares and will assess safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple oral doses of HTL0016878 in up to 106 healthy subjects. Preliminary results are expected in the first half of 2018.

Tim Tasker, Heptares' Chief Medical Officer, said: "The start of this new clinical trial marks the progression of the fourth compound designed by Heptares into clinical studies and follows the advancing clinical studies with selective M 1 agonists under our partnership with Allergan. The target selectivity we can build into molecules increasingly highlights the potential of our approach to create new medicines with significantly improved clinical profiles for addressing a range of diseases. In creating the first selective M 4 agonist to enter human studies, we are a step closer to our goal of developing a new therapeutic approach to ease the considerable burden and distress caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's."

Under the terms of the 2016 global R&D and commercialisation partnership, Allergan licensed exclusive global rights to Heptares' broad portfolio of novel subtype-selective muscarinic receptor agonists (M 1 , M 4 and dual M 1 /M 4 agonists) for the treatment of major neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. In addition to the new clinical programme with HTL0016878, a selective M 4 agonist, announced today, the companies are advancing a programme evaluating selective M 1 agonists through clinical studies as a potential treatment for symptomatic cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's patients; and are assessing the potential of dual M 1 /M 4 agonists with potential to treat both cognitive and neurobehavioural symptoms through preclinical studies.

About Muscarinic receptors

Muscarinic receptors are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) found in multiple tissues. Until now, attempts to develop medicines that target M 1 and M 4 receptors have been unsuccessful because of side effects caused by the activation of M 2 and M 3 receptors. Selective M 1 or M 4 agonists that do not activate M 2 or M 3 therefore are highly sought after, and expected to address blockbuster markets.

About Alzheimer's Disease[1]

There is significant unmet medical need and heavy economic burden across multiple diseases characterized by dementia. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), currently available drugs provide limited and transient effects. Healthcare costs associated with AD and dementia (estimated at over $640 billion for North America, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific) including nursing home care, continue to grow dramatically and new therapies with better and more durable efficacy are urgently needed. It is estimated that over 45 million people worldwide have dementia (4.8 million in North America, 7.5 million in Western Europe, 3.6 million in Asia-Pacific) and this is expected to increase to over 130 million in 2050. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and may contribute to 60-70% of cases.

Although AD is usually considered a cognitive disorder, almost all AD patients develop neurobehavioural symptoms at some stage during disease progression, ranging from mild to severe. These symptoms are associated with patient and caregiver distress, increased rates of institutionalisation, and increased mortality.

About Heptares Therapeutics

Heptares is a clinical-stage company creating transformative medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a superfamily of 375 receptors linked to a wide range of human diseases. Heptares' proprietary StaR technology and structure-based drug design (SBDD) capabilities enable us to engineer and develop drugs for highly validated, yet historically undruggable or challenging GPCRs. Using this approach, we are building an exciting pipeline of new medicines (small molecules and biologics) with the potential to transform the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, cancer immune-oncology, migraine, addiction, metabolic disease and other indications. We have partnerships for our novel candidates and technologies with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Allergan, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Kymab, MorphoSys, Peptidream, Pfizer and Teva.

Heptares is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation. For more information, please visit www.heptares.com and www.sosei.com.

HEPTARES is a registered trademark in the EU, Switzerland, US and Japan;

StaR is a registered trademark in the EU and Japan.

About Sosei

Sosei is a biopharmaceutical company originating from Japan but with global presence. Sosei's primary business model is based on identifying novel and/or differentiated product assets or technology platforms and, through supporting these in preclinical and clinical development and establishing commercial partnerships, advancing new medicines to patients worldwide. For more information about Sosei, please visit www.sosei.com .

Contact Information

Mark Swallow, Pip Batty, David Dible (Citigate Dewe Rogerson)

+44-(0)-20-7638-9571

heptares@citigatedr.co.uk



Malcolm Weir, Chief Executive Officer

+44-(0)-1707-358-629

malcolm.weir@heptares.com

@HeptaresTL



SOURCE Heptares Therapeutics
LONDON, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The University of Law (ULaw) has expanded its longstanding training relationship with Pinsent Masons LLP to include paralegal and business operations-focused apprenticeship programmes alongside a new exclusive contract to continue delivering LPC and GDL training for the firm's future trainee solicitors.

Both apprenticeship programmes will be delivered by ULaw, the UK's longest-established specialist provider of legal education and training, in partnership with apprenticeship specialists, Damar Training.

Pinsent Masons is recruiting up to 20 paralegal apprentices. The new apprentices will study at ULaw's London Moorgate, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester centres from November 2017. The scheme will offer the apprentices a flexible, 'earn as you learn' route to enter the legal profession. The apprentices will benefit from ULaw's longstanding vocational legal studies experience and the support and mentorship of tutors with extensive practical and academic expertise whilst gaining valuable workplace experience with Pinsent Masons. This embodies ULaw's commitment to providing the highest quality legal education, which was recognised by the recent gold ranking awarded in the UK's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

Pinsent Masons recruits up to 70 trainees UK-wide each year. Pinsent Masons' students will embark on the GDL and LPC programmes this September at ULaw centres in London Moorgate, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. The University of Law's programmes encourage students to think like practising solicitors from the start, with a focus on the business context in which clients operate. This equips future trainees with the legal knowledge and professional skills to understand the needs of Pinsent Masons' clients more fully.

The paralegal apprentices will also benefit from the opportunity to network with the Pinsent Masons GDL and LPC students whilst studying at The University of Law.

Up to 6 finance apprentices will follow an Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) programme leading to a professional AAT accounting qualification.

Successful candidates joining the financial apprenticeship programme will begin their studies at ULaw's London and Birmingham centres this autumn.

This latest development marks the next step in a longstanding training partnership between ULaw and Pinsent Masons.

Jason O'Malley, Director of Apprenticeships at ULaw, said: "We are excited to be expanding our training relationship with Pinsent Masons and helping train its solicitors and paralegals of the future. Our partnership with Pinsent Masons is a longstanding one and we look forward to providing the next generation of legal talent with a comprehensive legal and practical education experience that will prepare them for work in an increasingly competitive market."

Deborah McCormack, Head of Recruitment & Graduate Development at Pinsent Masons, said: "We strive to be a market-leading graduate and apprenticeship employer, and developer of both tomorrow's lawyers and business operations' talent. Providing innovative new pathways into our business and profession through a blend of graduate and apprenticeship opportunities widens the talent pool we have access to and the ways in which candidates can engage and connect with Pinsent Masons. Recruiting the most diverse and best talent is critical to our strategy to be market leading in our global sectors. Our new apprentices will have the exciting opportunity to help our business shape and evolve our apprenticeship offering and we know they will have a lot to contribute to that process."

The University of Law works with a number of leading law firms to provide a range of apprenticeships, from school leaver to degree and post-graduate levels. It has an established strategic partnership with Damar Training which reflects both providers' commitment to embrace new pathways and to offer a comprehensive service for employers and apprentices alike, from apprentice recruitment through to qualification.

SOURCE The University of Law
ATLANTA, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions, today announced plans to help associates, customers and their communities as they recover from Hurricane Harvey. The Company also provided a preliminary update on its operations in the wake of the storm.

"The areas in Texas hit by the storm are some of the most important markets for both Progressive Leasing and the Aaron's Business, so we are monitoring the situation closely. Our primary concern of course is the safety and well-being of our associates, customers, retail partners and the communities that have been most impacted by the storm," said John Robinson, Chief Executive Officer.

"Yesterday, I visited several communities affected by Hurricane Harvey to meet with associates and customers and assess the storm's damage on our operations. While I am saddened by the storm's devastating impact, I am truly inspired by the courage, strength and resilience shown by our associates and customers. Aaron's has a long history of giving back to the communities we serve and providing assistance in times of need  and our actions in response to Hurricane Harvey are a continuation of our guiding principles."

The Company is taking a number of actions to help, including:

Contributing $100,000 to help associates and communities most affected by the storm;

to help associates and communities most affected by the storm; Re-routing trucks to deliver 10,000 cases of bottled water; and

Temporarily suspending regularly scheduled lease payments and collection activities for customers in the impacted areas.

In addition, Aaron's associates from across the country have already contributed more than $45,000 to assist their Texas colleagues.

Currently, a large number of Progressive Leasing's retail partners in the region have experienced significant business interruptions. In addition, immediately following the storm, 61 Aaron's Business stores were forced to close, all but three of which have now reopened. In light of the extensive damage in the impacted area, it is difficult to predict when the Company's operations will return to normalized levels. The Company maintains insurance coverage for windstorm, property and flood damage and business interruption, although it is difficult to predict the amount or timing of any insurance recoveries. The Company expects to be in a better position to assess the financial impact of the storm over the coming weeks and will provide an update on its third quarter earnings call.

Mr. Robinson added: "Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted by the storm. Aaron's will continue to do its part in helping our associates, customers, retail partners and the communities we serve to recover and rebuild."

About Aaron's, Inc.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), is a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions. The Aaron's Business engages in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories through its more than 1,770 Company-operated and franchised stores in 47 states and Canada, as well as its e-commerce platform, Aarons.com. In addition, Progressive Leasing, a virtual lease-to-own company, provides lease-purchase solutions through approximately 22,000 retail locations in 46 states. Dent-A-Med, Inc., d/b/a the HELPcard, provides a variety of second-look credit products that are originated through federally insured banks. For more information, visit investor.aarons.com, Aarons.com, ProgLeasing.com, and HELPcard.com.

SOURCE Aaron's, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aaronsinc.com


ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today that it is extending its previously announced tender offer to purchase for cash all outstanding shares of Series B Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock (the "Preferred Stock") of Alere Inc. ("Alere") at a price of $402.00 per share of Preferred Stock, plus accrued but unpaid dividends to, but not including, the settlement date of the tender offer, net to the seller thereof in cash, without interest thereon and subject to any withholding of taxes required by applicable law (the "Offer"). The Offer is being made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase, dated July 17, 2017 (the "Offer to Purchase"), and in connection with Abbott's previously announced agreement to acquire Alere (the "Merger"). The Merger is not conditioned upon, or otherwise subject to, the completion of the Offer.

The Offer is being extended to allow additional time for the consummation of the Merger, which is a condition to the completion of the Offer. The Offer was previously scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017 and will now expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 (such date and time, as it may be extended or earlier terminated, the "Expiration Date"). If, at the Expiration Date, any of the conditions to the Offer have not been satisfied or waived, Abbott may elect to further extend the Offer for any length of time and in its sole discretion, but is under no obligation to do so.

American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, the depositary for the Offer, has advised Abbott that, as of 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, greater than 90% of the issued and outstanding shares of Preferred Stock had been tendered in the Offer. Holders of Preferred Stock who have already tendered their shares do not have to re-tender their shares or take any other action as a result of the extension of the expiration of the Offer.

For more information, contact Barclays Capital Inc., the Dealer-Manager for the Offer, or D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information Agent for the Offer.

D.F. King & Co., Inc.

48 Wall Street  22nd Floor

New York, New York 10005 Barclays

745 Seventh Avenue, 5th Floor

New York, New York 10019

Attn: Liability Management Group Banks and Brokers Call: (212) 269-5550

All others call Toll-Free: (877) 283-0316

Email: [email protected] Banks and Brokers Call: (212) 528-7581

All others call Toll-Free: (800) 438-3242

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities. The Offer for the outstanding shares of Alere's Preferred Stock described in this news release is being made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase and related materials that Abbott has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") pursuant to a Schedule TO. The Schedule TO, Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other Offer documents contain important information that should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Offer. These materials (and all other documents Abbott has filed with the SEC) will be available at no charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare company devoted to improving life through the development of products and technologies that span the breadth of healthcare. With a portfolio of leading, science-based offerings in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals, Abbott serves people in more than 150 countries and employs approximately 94,000 people.

Visit Abbott at www.abbott.com and connect with us on Twitter at @AbbottNews.



A Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements. Abbott cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect Abbott's operations are discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in Abbott's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016, and are incorporated by reference. Abbott undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.

SOURCE Abbott

Related Links

http://www.abbott.com


APPLETON, Wis., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To support residents along the Gulf Coast, who have been devastated due to Tropical Storm Harvey, Agropur inc. is responding to the Red Cross's Hurricane Harvey appeal by donating $25,000 that will be used towards disaster relief efforts in the region. These dollars go towards providing food and shelter to the many residents that have been evacuated from their homes and communities. Additionally, Agropur will be delivering a truck full of biPro protein water and is working with other Wisconsin cheese and buttermakers to collectively donate 16,000 pounds of dairy products to help feed victims in Houston, Texas.

In keeping with the cooperative values of solidarity and mutual support which it holds dear, Agropur hopes that this monetary donation helps to bring some peace and resolve to the tens of thousands of residents who have been ousted and experienced loss during this event.

About Agropur

Agropur inc. is a wholly-owned of Agropur Cooperative, which is a North American dairy industry leader founded in 1938. With sales of nearly $6.0 billion in 2016, Agropur is a source of pride to its 3,345 members and 8,000 employees. Agropur processes more than 13 billion pounds of milk per year at its 39 plants across North America.

Source:

Corrie Drellack

[email protected]

Manager, Communications and Marketing

Agropur inc.

Phone: 608-781-2345 ext. 23180

SOURCE Agropur
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced today its plans to attend the upcoming UBS Global Chemicals & Paper and Packaging Conference on September 6, 2017, in New York City. Scott Tozier, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Matt Juneau, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations, and Sharon McGee, Vice President, Corporate Development will represent the company during this event. The format will consist solely of one-on-one and small group meetings.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. We power the potential of companies in many of the world's largest and most critical industries, from energy and communications to transportation and electronics. Working side-by-side with our customers, we develop value-added, customized solutions that make them more competitive. Our solutions combine the finest technology and ingredients with the knowledge and know-how of our highly experienced and talented team of operators, scientists and engineers.

Discovering and implementing new and better performance-based sustainable solutions is what motivates all of us. We think beyond business-as-usual to drive innovations that create lasting value. Albemarle employs approximately 4,500 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. We regularly post information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, non-GAAP reconciliations, SEC filings and other information regarding our company, its businesses and the markets it serves.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.

SOURCE Albemarle Corporation

Related Links

http://www.albemarle.com


In recent years, Western media have been harping on a regular theme known as "fading of the BRICS". In fact, a one-sided discussion on whether the worth of "BRICS" is 24 or only 14 carat gold doesn't have much practical significance. The five member states of BRICS are not five gold bars preserved in a bank vault, but comprise a multilateral cooperation mechanism of differing, independent economies. Influenced by many factors at home and abroad, fluctuations and changes within a certain range are only to be expected. So, we need to focus on the development trend and potential of the BRICS, as well as the challenges it faces.

As the representatives of emerging economies and as leading developing countries, the BRICS members have different characteristics in terms of their resource endowments and development patterns. Yet, they all have enormous space within which to grow. Apart from South Africa, the other members are all populous countries. Moreover, as big countries with rich resources, they each have strong and gradually rising scientific and technological strengths. Individually, Russia is an old-line world power that has both a good grounding left by the former Soviet Union and with a good reputation for innovative development in the field of scientific theory in recent years; China and India have been in the world forefront in the fields of aerospace, machinery manufacturing, computers and medicine; Brazil also has strong capabilities in steel and aircraft manufacturing.

At the same time, we must be fully aware of the problems facing the world today, including economic slowdown, a rising trend away from globalization, and the threat of terrorism, all of which will adversely affect the BRICS countries and their cooperative mechanism. Some Western countries are also trying to use the cultural and ideological differences among the BRICS countries to provoke contradictions within the organization. Therefore, the first thing member countries must do is to strengthen their cooperative mechanism so as to form a great cohesive force.

Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the building of "a community of shared future for humankind", which is just the international outlook BRICS cooperation should be upholding. The BRICS countries have their own goals and aspirations, yet should try their best to work more closely, control crises and contradictions, and, at the same time, strengthen economic and trade cooperation, promote exchanges of experiences and culture, and avoid divergence.

The forthcoming BRICS Summit in Xiamen on September 3 is an important diplomatic activity ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. China will contribute its wisdom at home to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between the BRICS members and improve global governance. We are looking forward to a positive outcome of the summit, and we also hope that the BRICS cooperative mechanism will glow with greater splendor in its next 10 years.

China Mosaic

http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm

BRICS potential huge, but needs more work

http://www.china.org.cn/video/2017-09/01/content_41513128.htm

About China.org.cn

Founded in 2000, China Internet Information Center (China.org.cn/China.com.cn) is a key state news website under the auspices of the State Council Information Office, and is managed by China International Publishing Group. We provide round-the-clock news service in ten languages. With users from more than 200 countries and regions, we have become China's leading multi-lingual news outlet introducing the country to the outside world.

We are one of the country's authoritative outlets for government press releases and are authorized to cover various major events. "Live Webcast" is our online webcasting service to present State Council Information Office press conferences in both Chinese and English languages. We are reputed for timely and accurate delivery of news and information, and wide interactions with audiences. In addition, we are authorized to publish and live broadcast major events and press conferences of ministries, local government agencies and institutions as well as enterprises.

In the era of mobile internet, we endeavor to create an array of products for mobile devices headed by the multilingual WAP platform and the mobile APP. We also use Chinese and international social media to publish information for different user groups.

In the future, CIIC will continue to offer authoritative information about China, tell China's stories, voice China's opinions, and introduce a vivid, panoramic and multicultural China to the world through multi-language, multi-media and multi-platforms.



Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE china.com.cn
Authorities told the News-Sun Vazquez was the first detainee at the Lake County jail released under the state's new Trust Act. They have 28 others being held on immigration offenses that may now post bond and be released after the measure became law Monday.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Illinois Trust Act into law Monday that paved the way for Luis Antonio Camacho Vazquez to be released after his bond was posted, the report said. Before the signing of the bill into law this week, the suspect, who was also accused of breaking federal immigration law, would have been detained until federal authorities picked him up.

LAKE COUNTY - Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran's office released a 32 year old jailed for felony drug charges and detained for a federal immigration violation Thursday, according to a report in the Lake County News-Sun .

Another case presented itself in McHenry County, news blogger Cal Skinner reported Friday. Sheriff Bill Prim's office issued a statement affecting a illegal immigrant in their custody charged with a crime of violence.

Prim is seeking guidance from the State's Attorney's Office, as well as federal and state authorities before releasing the suspect if he's able to post bond. Despite assurances from some law enforcement, lawmakers and the governor's office, the new law is stirring confusion.

We have a public act less than a week old with a sweeping effect that has yet to be interpreted by any court," Prim's statement said. Our objective at this point is to move slowly and cautiously, with public safety as our foremost consideration, consistent with constitutional responsibilities. We are working in cooperation with the States Attorneys Office and have requested guidance from federal and state authorities."

State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington) told Illinois Review Friday that he had spoken with Sheriff Prim and asked him to not proceed with any immigration-connected release until Prim hears from the Attorney General of the United States.

"This is about protecting the public, and because I represent some of McHenry County, this decision will affect the safety of those I represent. Sheriff Prim assured me he would wait to hear from Sessions before moving forward," McSweeney said.

Other Illinois Review stories on the topic:
The summit, which aims to shine a spotlight on the growing use and influence of data in business, government and education planning, development and policy, is hosted by the MSU-based National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center.

"As a company that aspires to transform Mississippi through the intelligent use and deployment of technology and telecommunications, I'm looking forward to joining other leaders at the summit to discuss and share best practices on how we can more effectively leverage data to help us make better decisions that benefit everyone in our state," Bye said.

C Spire, a Mississippi-based diversified telecommunications and technology services company, is one of the state's leading employers and contributors to its overall economy. The company's wireless unit is the sixth largest in the U.S. wireless industry and the largest privately-held mobile services provider in the nation.

Sessions at the summit will cover a variety of topics, including how data can transform student progress in early education, help build "smart cities" and guide job seekers into fulfilling careers.

"We are happy to welcome back old friends and to meet some new faces as we work collaboratively to use data-driven solutions to improve the quality of life for Mississippians and beyond," said NSPARC Executive Director Domenico "Mimmo" Parisi. "Unlike opinions or personal biases, data have the best potential for leading to innovative answers to a wide variety of challenges, and it's exciting to see a data-driven approach being embraced."

The Data Summit is free, but registration is required by the Sept. 10 deadline. For more information, including a full list of sponsors, visit datasummit.nsparc.msstate.edu, and follow the summit on Twitter with #msdatasummit2017.

About NSPARC

The National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center (NSPARC) at Mississippi State University is where information meets innovation. The center is committed to making positive impacts in people's lives through practical solutions based on data science. At NSPARC, scholars and professionals from diverse backgrounds work together to examine 21st century challenges that affect Mississippi, the United States, and the world. For more information, visit nsparc.msstate.edu.

About C Spire

C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data and cloud services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.

SOURCE C Spire

Related Links

http://www.cspire.com


CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) predicts cars shoppers will see great deals on cars and trucks on dealership lots over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Due to higher-than-average 2017 inventories, the company expects dealers across the country to start showcasing great deals on 2017 models to decrease inventory and make room for new 2018 models.

U.S. vehicle sales in 2017 have declined compared to 2016, which was a record-breaking year with 17.6 million cars and trucks sold. Auto sales fell about 3 percent in the first seven months of 2017, so dealers are faced with higher inventory levels compared to previous years.

"New-vehicle changeover to the 2018 model year is happening late this year," said Cars.com data analyst David Greene. "Last year at this time, 19.5 percent of dealer inventory included the incoming 2017 model year vehicles. This year, only 10.6 percent of dealer inventory includes 2018 models. Slowing sales have forced manufacturers to delay the 2018 model year rollout while dealers sell down 2017 stock."

High inventory levels at dealerships usually means car manufacturers will offer big incentives to help sell the outgoing model year vehicles.

"Model-year changeover is a crucial time," said Greene. "As the new model year vehicles often come with new features and options, manufacturers don't want to deliver new models that could compete with the outgoing model year."

However, Greene notes, as auto sales have slowed overall in 2017, luxury brand sales have actually increased 1.3 percent, while non-luxury brand sales have declined 3.5 percent. "Luxury brands are much further along with model year changeover, helped by lower total inventory levels and more affluent shoppers. Luxury brands comprise 11.9 percent of auto sales so far in 2017," Greene said.

According to Autodata Corp., September was the highest month for dealer incentives in 2015 and 2016. In a recent article about upcoming manufacturing discounts scheduled for the holiday weekend, Cars.com looked for deals on popular models in Chicago, New York, Los Angles, Denver and Atlanta, and found cash-back or discount financing programs from several car manufacturers on a number of models running through the Labor Day holiday weekend.

"Through the first seven months of the year, average discounts were still up 12.8 percent over last year," said Kelsey Mays, senior consumer affairs editor at Cars.com. "That means we should still expect to see plenty of great incentives at dealers in September."

For more information, visit Labor Day Car Deals at Cars.com.

About Cars.com

Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles. Cars.com properties include DealerRater, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.

SOURCE Cars.com, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cars.com


HOUSTON, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) today announced that it is committing $1.25 million to Hurricane Harvey recovery and relief efforts. CenterPoint Energy's contributions include a $250,000 donation each to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, the City of Houston Mayor's Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and the United Way of Greater Houston disaster relief efforts.

"Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this unprecedented catastrophe," said Scott Prochazka, president and chief executive officer of CenterPoint Energy. "CenterPoint Energy has been a part of these communities for more than 150 years. The safety and well-being of our communities and employees impacted by Hurricane Harvey remain our top priorities."

CenterPoint Energy is also donating $300,000 to support employees across its service territory significantly impacted by the storm. The company has also established an employee assistance fund, CenterPoint Energy Employees 1st Fund, to collect employee donations and match them up to a total of $200,000. "We take pride in lending a helping hand to those in need, which is a core part of our culture," added Prochazka.

In addition to the charitable contributions, employee volunteerism is an important part of CenterPoint Energy's role in communities throughout its service territory. Employee volunteers provide their time and energy to assist with altruistic initiatives. In 2016, employees, retirees and their families and friends contributed 237,500 hours to their communities, and the company donated more than 2,000 grants to qualified nonprofit organizations.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission & distribution, natural gas distribution and energy services operations. The company serves more than five million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company also owns 54.1 percent of the common and subordinated units representing limited partner interests in Enable Midstream Partners, a publicly traded master limited partnership it jointly controls with OGE Energy Corp., which owns, operates and develops natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With more than 7,700 employees, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, please visit www.CenterPointEnergy.com.

For more information, contact

Corporate Communications

24-Hour Media Access Line: 713.619.5143

SOURCE CenterPoint Energy, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.centerpointenergy.com


"Treating customers to breakfast is our way of thanking them for dining with us, and is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of using our mobile app, Chick-fil-A One," said Michael Lage, senior manager of digital experience for Chick-fil-A. "As you scan payment or order from the app, you earn your favorite free Chick-fil-A food, along with other perks throughout the year," he said, adding that "the goal of the mobile app is to make dining at Chick-fil-A even more convenient."

A recent survey found that more than three-quarters of Millennial parents (77 percent) said they are often on the run and 96 percent use technology to make their lives easier.1

"Millennials, like most people today, are busier than ever and are looking for convenience and options," said Lage. "Ordering on the app allows you to bypass the line at the front counter, and the app saves your favorite customized meals so they can be easily reordered."

Chick-fil-A One launched on June 1, 2016. To date, Chick-fil-A One has reached more than 10 million downloads.

With this week's hurricane and historic flooding in Texas, Chick-fil-A is also leveraging its mobile app technology to help Hurricane Harvey relief efforts by encouraging the public to donate to the American Red Cross by donating through the Chick-fil-A One mobile app. To double the impact, the Chick-fil-A Foundation is matching each dollar up to $500,000 to ultimately meet a goal of $1 million for the American Red Cross.

About Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, Inc. is a family owned and privately held restaurant company founded in 1967 by S. Truett Cathy. Devoted to serving the local communities in which its franchised restaurants operate, and known for its original chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A serves freshly prepared food in more than 2,200 restaurants in 46 states and Washington, D.C.

Chick-fil-A system sales reached nearly $8 billion in 2016, which marks 49 consecutive years of sales growth. In 2017, Chick-fil-A received the top score among fast food brands and one of the top 10 scores overall for customer experience in the Temkin Experience Ratings survey. In 2016, Chick-fil-A was named the Technomic Consumer's Choice for "providing value through service," named the "the most polite restaurant in the country" in QSR Magazine's annual drive-thru report and was the only restaurant brand named to the Top 10 "Best Companies to Work For" by 24/7 Wall Street. More information on Chick-fil-A is available at www.chick-fil-a.com.

1 Survey was commissioned by Chick-fil-A and conducted by research firm, Russell Research.

SOURCE Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.chick-fil-a.com


LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- By the end of the year 2022, China Cancer Test Market is expected to cross US$ 24 Billion. China is the leading consumer of tobacco in the worldwide. Urban and Rural areas face high death rate due to the massive impact of growing cancer diseases in China. In order to alleviate cancer prevalence; the government focuses on several Cancer Control Programs which include prevention, early diagnosis and treatment. Early diagnosis programs include screening for breast and cervix cancer while prevention programs such as anti-smoking campaigns and immunization against hepatitis. Public awareness of cancer and the promotion of healthy lifestyle have also been carried out actively.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089258/



In this report, we have studied in-depth analysis of 26 types of cancer in which Lung cancer is leading the market because China has high consumer of tobacco in worldwide. China has an exceptional number of lung cancer diagnoses and deaths than any other part of the world. Cancer is one of the most significant public health burdens in China. The problem will keep moving in near future as China' air pollution goes mostly unchecked.



Lung Cancer leads the China Oncology Market



In China, Lung cancer leads the market in both genders. The report covers the different types of cancers and emphasis on genders. Therefore, the categorization was as follows-



In Male: Lung Cancer is the most predominant cancer and is mainly driven by adult males, half of Chinese men are expected to be current smokers compared to women, followed by Colorectal Cancer, Liver Cancer, Brain, CNS, Esophageal Cancer and Breast Cancer (not in same chorological order).



In Female: Lung cancer cases are less in women as compared to men but other cancers were Liver and Breast Cancer, Uterus and Ovarian Cancer are other most common cancers. Some other Cancers studied in this report are Lip, Oral Cavity, & Pharynx, Nasopharynx, Pancreas, Bone, Prostate, Luekemia, Bladder, Kidney and Lymphoma



Soaring Cancer Mortality Rates



Over the past three decades, Cancer Mortality Rates in China have been rising rapidly. In the urban region, the mortality of cancer is comparatively higher than in rural one. Out of 26 Types of Cancer studied in the report, Lung cancer accounts for the highest fatalities, followed by Digestive Tract Cancers (Stomach, Liver Cancer, Esophageal and Colorectum Cancer).



Renub Research report titled "China Cancer Test Market, Volume, Forecast (By Male & Female), Mortality & 26 Cancer (Oncology) Types Market & Volume to 2022" studies the oncology market in China. This 357 page report with 314 Figures and 12 Tables provides in-depth analysis of China Cancer Tests Market and Volume. All 26 types of cancer in the report have been analyzed from 3 major viewpoints which further study it from 2 different perspectives.



1. China Cancer (Oncology) Screening Tests Market & Forecast

 Male

 Female



2. China Cancer (Oncology) Screening Tests Volume & Forecast

 Male

 Female



3. China Cancer (Oncology) Mortality Rate





All the 26 Cancer Market & Cases Studied in the Report are as Follows:



1. Lip, oral cavity, & pharynx (except nasopharynx)

2. Nasopharynx

3. Esophagus

4. Stomach

5. Colorectum

6. Liver

7. Gallbladder

8. Pancreas

9. Larynx

10. Lung

11. Other thoracic organs

12. Bone

13. Melanoma of the skin

14. Breast

15. Cervix

16. Uterus

17. Ovary

18. Prostate

19. Testis

20. Kidney

21. Bladder

22. Brain, CNS

23. Thyroid

24. Lymphoma

25. Leukemia

26. All other sites and unspecified

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089258/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

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LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

China molecular diagnostics market is expected to be more than USD 1.5 Billion by the year 2022. As a part of the evolution of medicine in China; en route for targeted therapy and recognizing the revenue as well as profits in this new market, Diagnostics instruments are the foundation of the biotechnology industry and the pharmaceutical industry are appropriately important in molecular diagnostics.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089260/







The molecular diagnostics market is propelled by technologies advancement from the Diagnostics instruments. Capitalizing on the growth opportunity requires considerable modifications to accessible commercialization structures, and capabilities that are frequently more appropriate in helping commercial R&D consumers and intellectual laboratories.



Diagnostics device companies are in view of the way into the molecular diagnostics market or in being collaboration for years. Most of the Diagnostics instrument companies have not previously needed to develop the level of commercial capabilities required in the molecular diagnostics market. The major challenge for diagnostic companies is to understand and manage the troubles.



Rising incidence of infectious diseases along with cancer cases and the rise of the private healthcare sector in China, with the development of socio-economic conditions and the growth of a wealthy middle class, has increased the quest for affordable and quality healthcare across the region are some of the contributors which are expected to drive the molecular diagnostics market over the projection period.





China Molecular Diagnostic Market



China molecular diagnostics market is distinguished into three main categories: Oncology Test, Infectious Disease Test and Genetic Disease Test. Further, Oncology Test has been categorized into three main types: Breast Cancer Testing, Colorectal Cancer Testing and Prostate Cancer Testing. Infectious Disease Test has been categorized into two main types, namely, virology and HPV and Genetic Test has been categorized into Blood Screening and HLA.





China Molecular Diagnostic Market Share Analysis



According to Renub Research, Virology tests lead the market share of China Infectious Disease test market. Blood screening dominates the market share of Genetics test market. Our analysis found that nearly 300 million molecular diagnostic tests will be performed in China by the end of 2022 of which Virology accounts for one of the most performed tests segments.





Key Players in China Molecular Diagnostics Market



This report covers the players and in depth analysis of these players, the players who played a very crucial role in the development of molecular diagnostics were Zhejiang Di'an Diagnostics Technology Co., Ltd, ADICON Clinical Laboratories (Privately held), Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Center Co. Ltd, Kindstar Global (Privately held), BGIShenzhen, and OriGene Technologies.





This is the 5th report on Molecular Diagnostics industry published by Renub Research. This report titled "China Molecular Diagnostics Market, Test Volume & Forecast by Oncology Test (Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Prostate Cancer) Infectious Disease Test (Virology, HPV), Genetic Test (Blood Screening, HLA)" provides a comprehensive assessment of the fastevolving, highgrowth China Molecular diagnostics market. This 105 page report with 55 Figures and 14 Tables studies the China Molecular Diagnostic market from 4 view points:



1. Market & Forecast

2. Molecular Diagnostics Segments Market & Forecast

3. Molecular Diagnostics Segments Test Volume & Forecast

4. Profiles of Select Private Clinical Labs & Diagnostic Services Companies





Segments Covered in this report are as follows:



Oncology Test Market and Volume

 Breast Cancer

 Colorectal Cancer

 Prostate Cancer



Infectious Disease Test Market and Volume

 Virology

 HPV



Genetic Test Market and Volume

 Blood Screening

 HLA





Key Players Analysis



 Zhejiang Di'an Diagnostics Technology Co., Ltd.

 ADICON Clinical Laboratories (Privately held)

 Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Center Co. Ltd.

 Kindstar Global (Privately held)

 BGIShenzhen

 OriGene Technologies





Key questions answered in the study



 What is China molecular diagnostics market size from 2011 to 2022?

 What is China molecular diagnostics tests volume from 2011 to 2022?

 What are China molecular diagnostics segments market & Forecast?

 What are the growth drivers of Molecular diagnostics in China?



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089260/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

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CHENGDU, China, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Guangdong Pisen Electronics Co., Ltd. on August 28, 2017 filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court against Apple Inc. for the latter's suspected engagement in monopolistic behavior.

Apple's MFi (Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad) compulsory certification is a logo using permission for peripherals made by Apple Inc.'s licensed accessory manufacturers. Pisen, as China's largest accessory manufacturer, has 14 years of experience in manufacturing peripherals, shipping tens of millions of data cables a year. Pisen claimed that data cables are only transmission channels for data and current and are less technically inclined, meaning that the MFi compulsory certification is just a superfluous toll station set up on the channel.

For this reason, Pisen formally filed the suit, claiming a compensation for economic loss of 1 yuan from Apple. The company said its economic loss is, in fact, much more than 1 yuan, however, it only claimed a symbolic restitution from the perspective of the protection of consumer choice and a company's right to fair competition. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court has accepted the case.

SOURCE Pisen
SANTA FE, N.M., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Christus Health and its Santa Fe hospital will pay $12.2 million to the federal government to settle a whistleblower case brought by Phillips & Cohen LLP that alleged Christus and the hospital manipulated federal funding for an indigent care program to boost their revenues.

The alleged scheme involved New Mexico's Sole Community Provider Fund and Sole Community Provider Supplemental Payments programs and so-called "donations" St. Vincent Regional Medical Center made to Santa Fe County. The "donations" were made to cover the state's share of funding needed to obtain federal matching funds from 2001 to 2009, according to the whistleblower's "qui tam" lawsuit.

The Sole Community Provider programs use a combination of state and federal funds to pay hospitals the costs of treating those who are too poor to have medical insurance when there is only one hospital in the area or it's an isolated area. In New Mexico, the state or local government must provide about $1 for every $3 the federal government pays.

"Medicaid regulations prohibit healthcare providers from donating funds for local and state governments to use as their contributions to the Sole Community Provider programs," said Stephen S. Hasegawa, a whistleblower attorney with Phillips & Cohen. "The restriction on donations forces those governments to have a stake in the costs of healthcare for indigent patients, so that they keep an eye on expenditures."

The whistleblower complaint says Christus and St. Vincent transformed "non-bona fide 'donations' to Santa Fe County into discretionary supplemental Medicaid payments" that both refunded St. Vincent in full for its so-called donations and paid St. Vincent "additional amounts of unwarranted federal funding that total approximately three times the amount of the hospital's investment in such refunded 'donations.'"

As a result, the complaint alleges, Christus and St. Vincent "knowingly claimed and received increases in discretionary Medicaid payments through those programs that they knew they were not properly eligible to receive."

Phillips & Cohen filed the whistleblower lawsuit on behalf of Diana Stepan in federal district court in New Mexico in 2011. Stepan was the Indigent Health Care Administrator for Los Alamos County from 2002 to 2011. The federal government joined the case after investigating the allegations.

"Diana Stepan was a strong individual who stepped up despite the opposition she faced," said Peter Chatfield, a whistleblower attorney with Phillips & Cohen. "She believed that rules should be followed and taxpayer funds protected."

Stepan died last year. Her estate will receive a whistleblower award of more than 18 percent of the government's recovery, as provided under the False Claims Act, for the information and work Stepan and her attorneys provided to help recover funds for taxpayers.

"Senior Trial Attorney Elizabeth Rinaldo of the US Department of Justice and Assistant US Attorney Howard Thomas of the District of New Mexico drove the government's investigation and played key roles in getting this settlement," Hasegawa said. "We thank them on behalf of our client for their work on the case."

About Phillips & Cohen LLP

Phillips & Cohen is the nation's most successful law firm representing whistleblowers, with recoveries for governments totaling more than $12.3 billion in civil settlements and criminal fines. The firm represents whistleblowers in qui tam lawsuits as well as cases brought under the whistleblower reward programs of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. www.phillipsandcohen.com

SOURCE Phillips & Cohen LLP

Related Links

http://www.phillipsandcohen.com


MARSHALL, Mich., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Consumers Energy Foundation is assisting two men training to become utility line workers as the second-year recipients of a scholarship honoring an employee killed on the job in 2012.

The scholarship program, first announced in 2015, is in conjunction with Lansing Community College (LCC), Alpena Community College (ACC), the Michigan State Utility Workers Council and Consumers Energy. The 2017 recipients, Erric Garner of LCC and Brayden Bell of ACC, were honored Thursday at a ceremony at Consumers Energy's Marshall Training Center.

Jeffrey H. Creel, a Consumers Energy electric line worker from Bronson, was struck and killed June 22, 2012 by a passing vehicle while he investigated a downed power line near Jonesville. His death has resulted in an increased effort by his friends, family, Consumers Energy and other utility companies to educate the driving public about roadside worker safety, emphasizing the phrase "slow down and go around."

"It's imperative the next generation of lineworkers understands safety is our highest priority," said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy vice president of electric operations. "Nothing is more important than sending our employees home safely each day, and protecting the public from harm. We are honored to award these scholarships in Jeff's memory."

Packard thanked Robin Creel, Jeffrey Creel's widow, for her participation in the ceremony and for her continued support.

"Jeff worked with a lot of good people, and I pray for their safety every day," Robin Creel said. "I'm pleased this scholarship program will train future line workers to continue the important work done across Michigan."

Details of the scholarship include:

Students must be actively enrolled and in good academic standing in the Utility Line Worker Program at LCC or the ACC Utility Technology Program to qualify.

Candidates must have successfully completed all requirements and be selected for enrollment into the 10-week courses delivered at Consumers Energy's training facility in Marshall .

. Annually, each college will select one recipient, who will receive a onetime $2,500 payment toward their educational expenses. Bell, of Cedar Springs , recently completed the 10-week course at Marshall and has accepted a Step 1 lineworker apprentice position at Consumers Energy's Norton Shores Service Center. Garner, of Jackson , is currently enrolled in the 10-week program.

As with other industries, Consumers Energy has a veteran workforce and attracting individuals to learn a skilled trade is very important.

"This scholarship provides an opportunity for individuals to learn this essential trade, and we're pleased that Jeff's name and Consumers Energy are associated with it," said Pat Dillon, president of the Michigan State Utility Workers Council.

Consumers Energy's continued focus on roadside safety comes as the number of traffic fatalities across Michigan remains significant. In 2016, 1,064 people lost their lives in Michigan traffic crashes. So far in 2017, the number of fatalities stands at 642. Thursday's announcement serves as an important reminder of safe driving for the upcoming Labor Day Weekend, when more than 1 million drivers are expected to take to the state's highways.

The Consumers Energy Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Consumers Energy.

The foundation provides grants and mobilizes volunteers to strengthen local education, social services, the environment and community, economic and cultural development.

Michigan nonprofit organizations received more than $13.5 million in contributions in 2016 from Consumers Energy, its employees, retirees, its foundation and parent company CMS Energy.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

For more information about Consumers Energy, go to www.ConsumersEnergy.com .

Media toolkit

LEARN MORE: Scholarship details, including how to apply, are available at:

Lansing Community College

http://www.lcc.edu/utility/lineworker/

or

Alpena Community College

http://discover.alpenacc.edu/utility_technology.php

Check out Consumers Energy on Social Media

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/consumersenergy

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/consumersenergy

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/consumersenergy/

SOURCE Consumers Energy

Related Links

http://www.consumersenergy.com


ONTARIO, Calif., Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CU Direct has donated $25,000 to CUAid, established by National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF), to assist with disaster relief efforts for credit unions, members, and their families impacted by Tropical Storm Harvey.

"People helping people is at the core of what credit unions do in the communities they serve across the country, and never is this more important than now," stated Tony Boutelle, President and CEO of CU Direct. "Helping credit unions and their families recover from the devastation left by Tropical Storm Harvey reaffirms CU Direct's commitment to credit unions and their members."

NCUF is coordinating donations through CUAid.coop with the Cornerstone Credit Union Foundation in the disaster area to distribute money efficiently to affected credit union employees and volunteers. One hundred percent of the donations through CUAid goes to credit union disaster relief.

For more information about NCUF's CUAid program or to donate to relief efforts, visit www.cuaid.coop.

About CU Direct

For more than twenty years, CU Direct has been a lending technology leader, helping credit unions fund $209 billion in loans. More than 1,000 credit unions rely on CU Direct's solutions to generate loans, create efficiencies, and grow membership. From CUDL, the industry's number one auto lending platform, to the industry's revolutionary Lending 360 Loan Origination System, and Lending Insights dynamic analytic tools, CU Direct develops the technology that helps credit unions advance their lending programs and overall portfolio success. 14,000 auto dealers nationwide use CU Direct's automotive solutions to connect with credit unions and their members to drive sales and increase their bottom lines. CU Direct is recognized as an award-winning Top Workplace by the California-based Press Enterprise. For more information, visit www.cudirect.com. Connect with CU Direct on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contact: Bill Meyer

CU Direct

909.481.2360

[email protected]

SOURCE CU Direct

Related Links

http://www.cudirect.com


But, Governor Rauner and the tax hike-lovin' Republicans that voted with the Dems to pass the deal into law boast that it's all worth it, because the school funding bill includes the first step to growing Illinois' school choice with tax credit scholarships.

In other words Illinois taxpayers, once again, just shut up and get ready to pay yet another hike in income taxes.

SPRINGFIELD - Thursday, Governor Rauner signed into law a school funding bill that promises Chicago Public Schools $250 million every year from now on to partially bail out the system's teacher pension mess - and you, Illinois taxpayers, have nothing to say about it. You also have nothing to say about any negotiations CPS makes with their system employees.

The bill and the confusion surrounding it is so haphazard and involved that most Illinoisans are just happy to have the conflict between political factions over school funding off the newswire. But know this: Mayor Rahm Emanuel is very happy with what the bill will do to keep his city's school system on life support for another year - but it's only a short term gratification. They are pressing for another fix - because the CPS needs more.

One voice in opposition to the final bill was GOP State Rep Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, who published on her website a 3000-word position paper as to why the bill Republicans and Democrats are celebrating will ultimately dump yet more grief and demand on Illinois taxpayers.

"In typical Illinois fashion, Mike Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel got everything they wanted in the new school funding bill  and more," Ives writes. "Madigan got more dollars for the unions, he got the pretense of ending the long debate over education equity funding (this bill wont end the debate), and most importantly he got to use suburban tax money to bail out CPS."

What more could CPS ask for? Here's just one segment of Ives' information published HERE in its entirety:

The Bill Bails Out Chicago Public Schools  Tax Increase will be Required

The formula requires $350 million more EACH year to work as planned. The advocates plan on spending up to $6 billion more in the next 10 years on this one grant line. That is double the amount we spent last year.

The budget bill passed for this year is already projected to be short $1-2 billion. They also short changed the retirement systems by $700 million in the budget bill. Our budget is precarious and there is still $15 billion in unpaid bills. Funding this bill would require a Tax Increase .

. CPS keeps $250 million block grant  a grant no other district receives.

State taxpayers will pay Chicago Teacher Pension normal cost  first year amount is $221million. This amount will increase each year for the foreseeable future and is determined by their local pension fund  not the state. Chicago teachers only pay 2% of salary toward their multi-million dollar pensions.

State taxpayers will pay for CPS legacy pension costs forever . This is the most problematic provision outside of the junk science behind the evidenced based formula itself. Chicago Teachers Pension Fund has defunded the account with the help of state legislators for the last 17 years.

. This is the most problematic provision outside of the junk science behind the evidenced based formula itself. Chicago Teachers Pension Fund has the account with the help of state legislators for the last 17 years. In 2000, the fund was near 100% funded, now it is 52% funded

For the last 17 years it has never paid the full actuarial amount needed, and in 13 of the last 17 years it paid in almost nothing towards pensions

Last year it lost $28 million in investments alone, it had investment expenses of $35.8 million and made only $7.8 million

The bill allows Chicago to appear less wealthy because they can deduct legacy pension costs from their local wealth calculation which means they are eligible for greater state support. By simply adjusting their actuarial assumptions, they can continue to game the formula to remain in the neediest tier of schools

The legacy pension cost this year for Chicago is $505 million  that translates into a$40 million additional state payment via the formula

If there is not enough money to fund the formula, a different distribution formula is in place and only the neediest districts are eligible for any new money  so many districts will see no increase in funding from the state

For most districts there is not property tax relief. 32 districts may receive preferential access to $50 million pool of money to buy down their property tax burden. This is discriminatory to all other districts.

This bills assumes high operating tax rates will remain in most school districts and those districts with already higher rates are penalized in the formula for those rates while other districts that have not taxed at the same high rates to pay for their local schools are rewarded in the formula.

Superintendents liked the formula because they have been promised the same level of state support they received in FY17 in perpetuity  thats regardless if property wealth increases or student enrollment declines. Chicago lost 20,000 students in last two years and has $10 billion in new projects coming, but it wont matter  they get the same amount of base funding minimum on top of the extra described above. Cairo is set to lose half their students and they will get the same level of state support.

 thats regardless if property wealth increases or student enrollment declines. Chicago lost 20,000 students in last two years and has $10 billion in new projects coming, but it wont matter  they get the same amount of base funding minimum on top of the extra described above. Cairo is set to lose half their students and they will get the same level of state support. For Tier 3 and 4 districts, they are only eligible for 1% of any new money going forward because it is assumed they have sufficient property wealth to fund their own schools. All the schools I represent are in Tier 3 or 4. Their base funding minimum amount will erode over time as it is not inflation adjusted.

The funding formula  for new money though has built in cost escalators for annual salary enhancements and adult education.

And by the way, Rep. Ives writes, she's 100% behind moving real school choice forward in Illinois. She alone sponsored a school choice measure in the Illinois House last session, and she was ridiculed in committee as not caring about poor kids - although that's exactly who would have benefitted from her measure.

So how did your lawmakers vote on the school funding so-called "compromise" SB 1947?
BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTCQB: NWBO) (NW Bio), a biotechnology company developing DCVax personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, announced that Dr. Marnix L. Bosch, MBA, PhD and Chief Technical Officer of NW Bio presented an update on the Phase III Trial of DCVax-L for newly diagnosed GBM and the DCVax-Direct Trials at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Immuno-Oncology Summit in Boston, Massachusetts yesterday. There was no webcast. Dr. Bosch has posted the PowerPoint from this presentation on the NW Bio website at www.nwbio.com

Dr. Bosch's presentation reflected the breadth and consistency of NW Bio's DCVax platform and clinical programs, which include the following:

50 patient Information Arm of the DCVax-L trial, which included multi-year survival and a long tail,

40 patient Phase I/II Trials of DCVax-L, which included multi-year survival and long tails,

41 patient DCVax-Direct Phase I trial for 13 different solid tumor cancers, which included multi-year survival and long tails

331 patient Phase III GBM Trial, which it appears, based the trial metrics reported in the Company's industry presentation during ASCO, may include multi-year survival and a long tail;

preclinical studies of DCVax-L combined with checkpoint inhibitor by collaborators, which included substantially expanded response rates.

In reviewing the Phase III GBM Trial, Dr. Bosch's presentation also took note of encouraging projections by independent analysts in regard to the median overall survival (OS) and median progression free survival (PFS) based on the trial metrics reported by the Company during ASCO.

Additionally, Dr. Bosch provided an update about the Company's multiple draft publications in process about the Phase III Trial of DCVax-L and the Phase I DCVax-Direct Trial. The DCVax-L publication has been drafted over the course of the summer with input from a number of investigators, and is currently being finalized.

Linda Powers, CEO of NW Bio, noted that "I am glad that the occasion of Marnix's updates at this scientific conference have provided us with the opportunity to review here in one place all the encouraging and consistent DCVax data we periodically have released to date. We are proud that our body of work has consistently led to encouraging results in many different types of cancer."

About Northwest Biotherapeutics

Northwest Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing personalized immunotherapy products designed to treat cancers more effectively than current treatments, without toxicities of the kind associated with chemotherapies, and on a cost-effective basis, in both the North America and Europe. The Company has a broad platform technology for DCVax dendritic cell-based vaccines. The Company's lead program is a 331-patient Phase III trial in newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer, and is an "orphan disease." The Company is also pursuing a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-Direct for all types of inoperable solid tumor cancers. It has completed the 40-patient Phase I portion of the trial, and is preparing for the Phase II portion. The Company previously conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-L for metastatic ovarian cancer together with the University of Pennsylvania.

Disclaimer

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements concerning future treatment of patients using DCVax and future clinical trials, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "believe," "intend," "design," "plan," "continue," "may," "will," "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as risks related to the Company's ability to enroll patients in its clinical trials and complete the trials on a timely basis, uncertainties about the clinical trials process, uncertainties about the timely performance of third parties, risks related to whether the Company's products will demonstrate safety and efficacy, risks related to the Company's ongoing ability to raise additional capital, and other risks included in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings. Additional information on the foregoing risk factors and other factors, including Risk Factors, which could affect the Company's results, is included in its SEC filings. Finally, there may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by securities laws.

SOURCE Northwest Biotherapeutics

Related Links

http://www.nwbio.com


MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --A simple-to-use app that helps eliminate the risk of privacy breaches when sharing patient data was released today. PicSafe allows health professionals to securely capture, send and store patient consented photos, videos and audio.

The app has been designed to help healthcare professionals comply with patient privacy legislation while making the process of capturing photos, video and audio as easy as opening the camera app.

Screenshot of PicSafe Smartphone in Doctor's Pocket

"With the majority of healthcare professionals surveyed out there now using their own camera-equipped smart devices in their practices, these devices benefit our patients by helping us do our jobs better and more efficiently," says co-founder Dr. Ted Carner (MD, MPH, FAAD, FACD).

PicSafe helps doctors minimize personal and professional liability, comply with strict regulations and avoid potentially costly fines and law suits. "We believe doctors should be free to focus on delivering better patient care," said co-founder and app developer Raef Akehurst. "Not worrying about covering their backsides!"

"Everyday in the hospital we get into dicey territory taking pictures with our mobiles. We know it's against the code of practice, but it just makes things run so much faster. An app, which encrypts the info upon sending, is an amazingly useful tool," said a US based doctor who would like to remain anonymous.

In 2014, 65% of physicians admitted to taking medical images on their smartphones (1). Two years later, 73% of doctors admitted to storing patient photos among their "personal" photos (2). Until now, it was not possible to do this on a smartphone while complying with the guidelines and regulations provided by:

The Australian Medical Association,

The Australian Privacy Act,

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA),

The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),

The US Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act,

The New Zealand Medical Association guidelines, and

 many other governments and hospitals.

PicSafe allows doctors to record signed or verbal consent for photos, videos or audio. It then compresses and encrypts the photos, videos and audio, on the phone, before transmitting the encrypted "report" to another doctor or an electronic medical record system. An audit trail of who has accessed the report is accessible. The app is free and runs on both Apple and Android phones and tablets. It is available now through the App Store and the Google Play Store.

About PicSafe. PicSafe is owned and operated by Slay Pty Ltd. Slay is a Melbourne, Australia based mobile app developer.

(1) The role of smartphones in the recording and dissemination of medical images Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine: Journal MTM 3:2:4045, 2014

(2) Should 'smart phones' be used for patient photography? Plastic Surgery. Spring 2016, Vol. 24 Issue 1, p32-34. 3p.

Media Contact:

Raef Akehurst

[email protected]

+61402885506

SOURCE PicSafe
LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Europe digital oilfield market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 4%, in value terms, to surpass $ 5 billion by 2022. In Europe, digital oilfield technologies were first adopted by Norway and United Kingdom for exploiting offshore fields in North Sea. Oil & gas majors in Western Europe such as British Petroleum and Shell were the early adopter of digital oilfield technologies for optimizing their global upstream operations. Exploration & production investments will start to pour in once companies are confident that crude prices will stabilize in the near future. Once the CAPEX cycle picks up for E&P, the demand for digital oilfield solutions and technologies in Europe is expected to increase during forecast period.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4907946/







Years considered for this report:

- Historical Years: 2012-2015

- Base Year: 2016

- Estimated Year: 2017

- Forecast Period: 20172022



Objective of the Study:

- To analyze and forecast the market size of Europe digital oilfield, in terms of value.

- To classify and forecast Europe digital oilfield market on the basis of process, solution and regional distribution.

- To identify drivers, challenges and opportunities available in the market for digital oilfield in Europe.

- To examine competitive developments such as digital oilfield contracts in Europe digital oilfield market.

- To strategically profile the leading manufacturers, distributors and importers in the market which cater to the Europe digital oilfield market.



Few of the leading players in Europe digital oilfield market include Siemens AG, ABB Ltd, Kongsberg Gruppen, Weatherford International plc, and Accenture PLC.



TechSci Research carried out Europe digital oilfield market study by considering various aspects of the market. In the beginning, a brief study was conducted to understand each aspect of market outlook such as drivers, challenges, trends and various other factors affecting the market. Moreover, an in-depth analysis was conducted to understand Europe digital oilfield market scenario and to gauge the competitive scenario.



Afterwards, a detailed scrutiny of by process, by solution, and by country markets for Europe digital oilfield market was conducted. In order to extract the data for Europe digital oilfield market, primary research surveys were conducted with key opinion leaders, digital oilfield solutions providers, digital oilfield software & service vendors, distributors, and channel partners to understand historical and present trends.



The dedicated team of industry experts has comprehensively monitored and analysed various aspects of Europe digital oilfield market. TechSci research team has analysed various segments and speculated a positive future for Europe digital oilfield market and subsequent countries. Moreover, various secondary sources were utilized for preparing this report such as Digital Science and Society, European Digital Oilfield Summit and databases such as company annual reports, financial reports, proprietary databases, etc.



Key Target Audience:

- Digital oilfield service providers, IT companies, network & electronic hardware manufacturers, communication service providers, automation solution providers, resellers and channel partners, EPC contractors and sub-contractors

- Customers (National Oil Companies, Oil & Gas Multinationals)

- Research organizations and consulting companies

- Associations, organizations, forums and alliances related to digital oilfield technologies

- Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers



The study is useful in providing answers to past, current and future adoption of digital oilfield technologies and solutions in Europe. This study helps in analysing specific country adoption trend of digital oilfield solutions, which are useful for industry stakeholders such as oilfield service providers, IT companies, network & electronic hardware manufacturers, communication service providers, automation solution providers, resellers and channel partners, EPC contractors and sub-contractors, regulatory bodies, and customers.



Report Scope:



In this report, Europe digital oilfield market has been segmented into the following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:



- Market, By Process:

o Drilling Optimization

o Production Optimization

o Reservoir Optimization

o Others



- Market, By Solution:

o Instrumentation & Automation

o IT Services



- Market, By Country:

o Russia

o Norway

o United Kingdom

o Italy

o Netherlands

o Others



Competitive Landscape



Competition Benchmarking: Benchmarking of leading players on the basis of product portfolio.



Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies operating in Europe digital oilfield market.



Available Customizations:

With the given market data, TechSci Research offers customizations according to company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:



Channel Partner Analysis

- Detailed list of distributors and dealers across all major countries.



Company Information

- Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4907946/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 86% of crude oil demand in Europe in 2006 was met through imports, which is further forecast to reach 90% by 2022. This indicates high dependence on crude oil imports and thus, propelling need for development of pipeline infrastructure across the region. The trend comprises of higher growth (in terms of pipeline length) in transmission lines between Europe and other nations. More than 75% of this growth is contributed by onshore market. European pipelines, both onshore and offshore, are subject to stringent regulations. Moreover, investment in oil & gas pipeline infrastructure is expected rise mainly in Russian Federation in the coming years.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4925452/







According to "Europe Oil & Gas Pipeline Market, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 20122022", Europe oil & gas pipeline market is projected to grow to $ 13.38 billion by 2022. Few of the major players operating in the Europe oil & gas pipeline market include Gazprom, British Petroleum p.l.c., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Eni SpA, Tenaris S.A., Europipe, TechnipFMC, and Saipem SpA. "Europe Oil & Gas Pipeline Market, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 20122022" discusses the following aspects in the Europe oil & gas pipeline market:



- Market Size & Share Forecast

- Regional and Country Market Analysis

- Segmental Analysis  By Application (Midstream, Upstream & Downstream), By Type (SAW, ERW, Seamless, Polyethylene % Composite) and By Region Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities

- Competitive Landscape



Why You Should Buy This Report?



- To gain an in-depth understanding of Europe oil & gas pipeline market.

- To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years

- To help industry consultants, oil & gas pipeline companies and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies

- To obtain research based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material

- To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players and suppliers

- To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs



Report Methodology



The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research. Primary research included interaction with pipeline owners and manufacturers, EPC contractors and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4925452/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Texas and Louisiana farmers and ranchers deal with the impact of historic rainfall and flooding from Hurricane Harvey, Farm Aid has activated its Family Farm Disaster Fund to provide direct aid to organizations helping family farmers in the affected region. Farm Aid President Willie Nelson also has pledged that a portion of the funds generated from Farm Aid 2017, scheduled for September 16 near Pittsburgh, Pa., will benefit local organizations supporting farm families.

"Our hearts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey. At Farm Aid, we're focusing our relief efforts on the farmers and ranchers who've lost their crops, livestock, pasture, barns, equipment and other essentials to maintaining their livelihoods and providing good food for all of us. We know farm families are resilient, and we will do all we can to help them find hope as they recover from this historic disaster," said Farm Aid president Willie Nelson. "We've activated our Family Farm Disaster Fund, and we're partnering with local, regional and national farm organizations that know how to help farmers in times like these. We're in this for the long haul."

Every dollar raised will support local and regional organizations working on the ground to distribute emergency grants to farm families affected by flooding; to offer resources that help farmers navigate their farm recovery options, from mental health resources to federal funding opportunities; and to advocate for needed disaster recovery funds and resources from the federal government. Farm Aid's partners include Sustainable Food Center, Urban Harvest, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Texas Organic Farmers & Ranchers Association, Texas Center for Local Food, State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Farmers' Legal Action Group, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Louisiana Interchurch Conference, and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA.

Farm Aid is also working with partners in disaster-affected areas to determine the long-term needs of impacted farmers and ranchers. If you are a farmer and have been affected by Hurricane Harvey, please contact Farm Aid at 1-800-FARM-AID (800-327-6243) or [email protected]. Additional tools for farmers and ranchers are available at www.farmaid.org/disaster. To donate, please visit farmaid.org/harvey.

Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 30 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $50 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

SOURCE Farm Aid
CLEVELAND, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that local law enforcement agencies would once again have access to a broader range of surplus equipment from the military. The change occurred via an executive order President Donald Trump signed on August 28 and will allow law enforcement agencies to once again have access to restricted items such as military grade weapons and vehicles.

This decision is a reversal of a limitation placed by the Obama Administration in May 2015, which restricted which types of military equipment could be sent to police. The 2015 decision was influenced by national concerns regarding unnecessary use of force by police, particularly during protests following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The program has supplied more than $5 billion in equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies since its inception in the 1990s, including more than $500 million in 2013 alone.

According to Freedonia Analyst Katherine Brink, "Sales of riot gear have been historically volatile, seeing rapid gains following key events such as the September 2001 terrorist attacks. After several years without major incidents, many agencies found that their limited use of the equipment did not justify replacing it as it expired or was compromised. However, there has been growing interest more recently to once again have riot gear and related equipment on hand. The renewed access to surplus equipment will provide a means for agencies to replace or obtain new equipment without depleting their limited budgets."

For more information on the outlook of the law enforcement equipment market, see the Security studies page featuring the following industry studies by The Freedonia Group:

More information about the Law Enforcement & Guarding Equipment study can be accessed here: https://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/law-enforcement-guarding-equipment-3431.htm

Related titles include:

Drones (UAVs) (June 2016)

Video Surveillance Equipment in the US by Product, Technology, and Market (August 2017)

Security Alarms in the US by Product and Market (July 2017)

Private Security Services in the US by Service and Market (April 2017)

About The Freedonia Group  The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, and market share information. Security studies can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group

Related Links

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"We're humbled to serve people impacted by these storms and full of pride for our team and others throughout the state who braved the roads to get to the Hardie's warehouse, hospitals, and major hotels to help wherever was needed," said Brian Preiss, General Manager at Hardie's Fresh Foods, Houston.

Dallas-based Hardie's Fresh Foods employees also stepped in to support their fellow Texans by driving truckloads of fresh food down to the Houston area. Donation boxes in all of their locations continue to fill quickly, and is an example of the heart of people all over the state and across the country who are ready to lend a helping hand during this devastating time.

"I'm really proud of how our Houston team came together for the care and compassion of the people in Houston," said Mark Austin, CEO of Hardie's Fresh Foods. "It's humbling to learn of the hardships that some of our employees have experienced, and yet people showed up to ensure that others who were even worse off had something to eat."

Hardie's Fresh Foods encourages companies and individuals to get involved by supporting Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, whether through monetary donation, volunteering at a local shelter or warehouse, or providing supplies. Resources and information on how to support can be found at the American Red Cross and Trusted World websites.

About Hardie's Fresh Foods

In 1943, John Hardie purchased a single farm-to-market delivery truck to fill a much-needed service during wartime Dallas. Three generations later, this simple service has blossomed into one of the premier fresh food distributors in the southwest. Hardie's Fresh Foods has grown to a fleet of more than 165 trucks and 200,000 square feet of refrigerated warehouse space. With locations in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Hardie's connects chefs to the farm across Texas every day. For more information about Hardie's Fresh Foods, visit www.hardies.com.

SOURCE Hardies Fresh Foods

Related Links

http://www.hardies.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Through telethons and other fundraising outreach, viewers of Hearst Television stations have contributed $4.1 million for American Red Cross programs to provide relief to victims of the devastating flooding wreaking havoc in South Texas.

Hearst's KCRA-TV in Sacramento alone raised more than $750,000, while WCVB-TV in Boston raised more than a half million dollars, each in less than 24 hours.

Additionally, Hearst Television employees have donated to Harvey relief efforts under a matching program from Hearst Television's parent, Hearst, which is donating $1 million to the Greater Houston Red Cross and is also matching employee donations, dollar for dollar, up to an additional $1 million to the Red Cross's efforts across the Gulf region. Taken together, the contributions made via the Hearst Television station telethons and the donation and employee match bring Hearst's total support for Harvey relief efforts to more than $5 million.

"We couldn't be more grateful to our viewers and colleagues who have come to the aid of the thousands of flood victims in Texas and the border gulf regions with extraordinary generosity," said Jordan Wertlieb, Hearst Television president. "We are proud of the broadcasters and local media who have been on the forefront informing Americans of this crisis as it developed and who have raised millions of dollars for relief efforts. Once again, the local media industry has shown itself to be a vital resource and partner to communities in crisis."

Hearst Television's sister company, Hearst Newspapers, owns the Houston Chronicle and the Beaumont Enterprise, among other Texas newspapers.

About Hearst Television

Hearst Television owns and operates television and radio stations serving 26 media markets across 39 states reaching over 21 million U.S. television households. Through its partnership with nearly all of the major networks, Hearst Television distributes national content over nearly 70 video channels including programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, MY Net, MeTV, This TV, Estrella and more. The radio stations are leaders in Baltimore news/talk and rock music listenership. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry's premier companies, and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst. The Company's Web address is www.hearsttelevision.com.

SOURCE Hearst Television

Related Links

http://www.hearsttelevision.com


STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hinckley Company announced today that Hinckley Yacht Services Stamford is now open for business and will begin hauling yachts for the winter storage season this October. Peter Manion has joined Hinckley as the General Manager of the Stamford, Connecticut yard. Manion will report into Chief Operating Officer Mike Arieta in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

A two-time member of the US Sailing Team, Manion has a long history servicing high end yachts in the region with Derecktor Shipyard in Mamaroneck, NY as lead service manager and with Brewer Yacht Haven Marina in Stamford, CT and Oakcliff US Sailing Center in Oyster Bay, NY. "We are excited to open in Stamford our 7th Yacht Service location in the US. The New York metropolitan area is an important market for us and a wonderful opportunity to extend our service relationship with our customers. We service both Hinckley Yachts and other brands at the absolute highest level in the industry."

Hinckley Yacht Services has kicked off its operation in Stamford by sponsoring the 83rd Vineyard Race, the perennial Labor Day classic organized by Stamford Yacht Club. Begun in 1932, the Vineyard Race has consistently attracted the finest sailors and fastest yachts.

About The Hinckley Company:

The Hinckley Company's roots are deep in soil of Maine boatbuilding. The company, founded in 1928 to build and care for the boats of the local lobstermen, has been in continuous operation building such classics as the Bermuda 40 and the Picnic Boat. Henry Hinckley set the course with the Bermuda 40 in the early 1960s when he crafted her stunning lines out of a radical, new material, fiberglass. This combination of elegant form, material innovation and brilliant attention to finishing detail set the course Hinckley has been on ever since in the pleasure boat business.

Today, Hinckley builds Jetboats and sailboats from 29 to 55 feet and supports its owners and other yachtsmen with its network of service yards from Maine to Florida. Two other distinguished boat builders, Hunt Yachts and Morris Yachts, were acquired in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

For information please visit www.hinckleyyachts.com

SOURCE The Hinckley Company

Related Links

http://www.hinckleyyachts.com


The Agreement makes HJCLASS LinkedIn's first designated partner in education in the Greater China region and follows LinkedIn's partnerships with Chinese Internet giants Tencent, Alibaba, and NetEase. With more than 500 million members in over 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn aims to help its users to build their professional image, gain business insights, expand professional networks and attract more business opportunities.

"'Certifications' is an important section under the 'Accomplishments' banner on a LinkedIn profile, as it allows one to showcase his/her competitive strength. We are very happy to work with HJCLASS, a key player in the online education space, to enrich our users' profiles as they hunt for employment opportunities," said Kun Zhao, Head of Business Development for LinkedIn China.

Going forward, students that complete 80% or more of a designated training course provided by HJCLASS can obtain a Certificate of Training, which will be synchronized to their LinkedIn profile to acknowledge their achievements and supplement their vocational education. Verified by LinkedIn, the Certificates are of great value in demonstrating ones' language or professional skills.

Offering an extensive range of educational resources and over 3,000 courses, including language training, professional training as well as guidance for College Entrance Examination and overseas studies, HJCLASS provides a vast range of structured online courses and professional teaching services for millions of users. This year, HJCLASS has launched two new programs, a Uni Smart Learning System for college students and the online oral English brand Hitalk for adult learners. Both programs will offer Certificates under the new Agreement with LinkedIn.

Arnold Fu, Founder and CEO of Hujiang, said, "Through years of effort, Hujiang has earned the trust of our users and partners, as well as the industry at large. This cooperation with LinkedIn China will bring greater recognition to our students and strengthens the Hujiang brand in the marketplace. HJCLASS will continue to provide a competitive edge to our students by offering more high-quality online classes and developing our online teaching platform, helping them to stand out in the job market."

About Hujiang EdTech

Founded in 2001, Hujiang EdTech started as an online BBS community offering online courses and has grown to become one of China's leading online education companies. Hujiang EdTech strives to make high-quality education more accessible and enjoyable through mobile learning applications, online courses, and its interactive online teaching platform. Serving over 150 million users (including 120 million mobile users) in China, Hujiang EdTech offers a wide range of online educational programs, including international & domestic examination preparation, foreign language learning, professional skills training, and more.

SOURCE Hujiang EdTech
School choice programs provide families with the opportunity to choose the academic environment that best matches their students educational needs, rather than being restricted to attending a school based only on where they live. Many low-income families face financial barriers limiting where their children can attend school, and as a result are sometimes forced without other options, to attend failing schools. Charter schools have helped create some options.

A recently proposed scholarship program attempts to increase school choice opportunities for all families by creating a state-funded program where individuals and corporations can donate to a scholarship program and receive a dollar-for-dollar income tax break based on their program contribution. A Chicago Tribune Editorial supported the initiative, calling it a lifeboat for families trapped in chronically underperforming schools. Seventeen other states have a similar tax-credit scholarship program.

Opponents have condemned the proposed program, arguing that it will hurt public school districts. David F. Larson, a superintendent of Glenbard Township High School District 87 wrote in the Chicago Tribune to beware of snake oil salesman, and ultimately to avoid scholarship proposals because it would funnel tax revenue away from public schools. This is a legitimate concern if you are looking to protect the monopoly of public education. The reality is that parents deserve a choice especially in cases where there are underperforming school districts. We in state government should do everything we can to empower parents, especially in low-income neighborhoods.

A legitimate question to ask is how much of taxpayer revenue is currently seen by students in the classroom? Illinois has increased school funding by 74% over the course of two decades, and we currently spend the 14th highest per pupil out of 50 states. Meanwhile, the Illinois student population grew only 6 percent, the system itself grew at a rate 12 times that of the student population. The Teachers Retirement Systems debt has increased to $71.4 billion. In 2016 alone, Illinois taxpayers became responsible for $8 billion in public school employee pension debt. Taxpayers are not supporting students with increasing property taxes, they are supporting escalating teacher pensions.

In his article, Mr. David Larson bemoans that private schools take advantage of new teachers by hiring them for lower salaries. Mr. Larson calls this cheap labor, and argues that this hurts the teaching profession's prestige. There is no doubt that on average private schools wages and benefits are not equal to the public schools but the costs to educate per child are far less also with excellent results in regards to academic success, college placement and preparation, and scholarship eligibility. Many private schools do offer new teachers the opportunity to begin teaching but poor performing teachers can be addressed efficiently.

As a result of tenure, despite changes fairly recently in state law, most public school districts follow the process of last in, first out, ensuring that tenured teachers are given preference over newly hired teachers. Consequently, if you have an unbelievably great new teacher who is not tenured and staff reductions are necessary (i.e. due to lower enrollment) that could be the first teacher cut even if there is a poor performing teacher with tenure. Teacher unions also help make it very difficult to remove underperforming teachers, causing them to remain in the profession, often to the detriment of their students.

The most important question that should be asked is, what can help students succeed? Every student has the potential to achieve high levels, and every student deserves the opportunity to succeed through an educational system that works to encourage their success. Expanding school scholarship opportunities gives students the chance to attend the school of their choice, regardless of their socio- economic status. Competition between public, private, and charter schools gives parents and students the choice to choose and ultimately creates a better opportunity for their children to academically succeed. Illinois highest priority must be to provide students with the highest educational opportunities possible, and not restrict which child can attend which school.

Furthermore, while many other states have embraced school choice, Illinois as in most areas is behind. We zone our kids by geographic location in public schools and that is where they go to school no matter what. Parents want the ability to exercise school choice; however, the bureaucratic system financially protects public school monopolies over offering support to parents to choose the best educational setting for their child. I encourage learning about school choice opportunities, both their successes and their setbacks, and have parents and students decide for themselves whether they want to have the choice of where they attend school.
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntkey, is a global leading provider of home automation and power solutions. Following is an article to introduce SmartU, the best USB charging station for devices.

SmartU, one of the most creative products from Huntkey, can solve all kinds of charging problems. It is equipped with 2 built-in micro USB cables and 4 USB charging ports, can charge 6 devices at a same time. The design of SmartU is inspired by how Chinese brushes are traditionally held. This design separates devices and helps to solve cradle and charging line problems.

http://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SmartU_02.jpg

Huntkey is popular among the global customers with its renowned brand, high quality and attractive ID design. Below are three main reasons why Huntkey SmartU is a charging station worth owning.

1. Useful and Smart

Customers do not need to search for a plug and can plug in multiple devices with the SmartU charging station, and these charging ports works as well as the original plug do. The SmartU is designed with smart charging technology. It can automatically adapt charging rates to reach a revolutionary speed, making charging faster and safer.

http://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SmartU_03.jpg

2. Artful Design

SmartU has a very special appearance design. It can keep you away from the inconvenience by decluttering cables. The cradles on SmartU will free your hands when you want to watch your phone or pad when you charge the device. With all these features, your life will be more orderly and enjoyable.

3. 18 months warranty

Huntkey can provide a good quality service and 18 months warranty.

Huntkey charge station SmartU now is available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9LMHXQ

About Huntkey

Huntkey Group, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Shenzhen, is a member of The International Power Supply Manufacturer's Association (PSMA) and a member of The China Power Supply Society (CPSS). With branch companies in the USA, Japan and other areas, and cooperating factories in Brazil, Argentina, India and other countries, Huntkey has specialized in the development, design, and manufacturing of PC power supplies, industrial power supplies, surge protectors, adapters and chargers for many years. With its own technologies and manufacturing strength, Huntkey has served Lenovo, Huawei, Haier, DELL, ZTE, Bestbuy and many other large enterprises for years, and has received unanimous recognition and trust from most of the customers.

For more information about Huntkey, please visit:

http://en.huntkey.com/

http://m.facebook.com/HuntkeyDIY/

Contact:

Ferris Liao

+86-0755-89606658

[email protected]

SOURCE Huntkey Enterprise Group

Related Links

http://en.huntkey.com/


FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels and Hyundai Motor America will donate $200,000 to five Texas-area children's hospitals in the wake of the devastation caused by super storm Hurricane Harvey. This donation is being made to each hospital's pediatric oncology program, to assist with patient needs, resulting from the superstorm.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to all the flood victims of Hurricane Harvey. As a part of our commitment to serving the communities and our long standing commitment to pediatric cancer research, we wanted to provide this additional support to Texas-area children's hospitals impacted by the storm," said Jerry Flannery, President and CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "There is added pressure on hospital resources and patient needs, due to the unprecedented storm. We want the community to know that Hyundai will stand by their side during this recovery."

September is national childhood cancer awareness month. During the month, Hyundai Hope On Wheels is hosting a number of events to raise awareness about the disease and will award over $8.5 million to 40 pediatric research grants winners at children's hospitals from across the country, including $600,000 to Texas area hospitals in 2017. These pediatric research grants range between $150,000 and $250,000, are peer reviewed. Grant winners may be located on our website. Each of the hospitals receiving this special donation is a current or prior grant recipient from Hyundai Hope On Wheels.

"The ravages on the community caused by the historic storm Hurricane Harvey have affected all parts of normal life for Texas residents," said Scott Fink, Board Chair, Hyundai Hope On Wheels. "We realize that the impact on this storm has taken a toll on residents. Many have lost loved ones and countless others have experience damaged to homes and property, many beyond habitation. This donation is awarded to Texas area children's hospitals, in addition to research grants previously awarded, and are intended to assist these centers in doing what they can to maintain the best possible care for patients and their families during this crisis."

The five selected children's hospitals combined are estimated to treat more than half of all children with pediatric cancer in the state of Texas. This donation is intended to provide direct patient support needs.

For more information about Hyundai Hope On Wheels and to view a complete list of this year's grant winners, please visit HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org/research. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, twitter.com/HopeOnWheels or instagram.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels.

HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS

Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. Hyundai Hope On Wheels is one of the largest non-profit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 840 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $130 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure.

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through 840 dealerships nationwide. All new Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes a 5-year/60,000-mile fully-transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.

SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels

Related Links

http://www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org


FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America today reported August sales of Hyundai and Genesis branded vehicles of 54,310 units, a 25 percent decline compared with the company's best all-time August in 2016. The monthly sales decline continues to be attributed to a substantial reduction in fleet sales that were down 53 percent compared with August 2016.

SALES BY BRAND



Aug-17 Aug-16 2017 YTD 2016 YTD Hyundai 52,507 70,518 441,367 519,581 Genesis 1,803 1,497 13,366 1,497 TOTAL 54,310 72,015 454,733 521,078

HYUNDAI BRAND HIGHLIGHTS

"The Hyundai Tucson had another record breaking month. Its combination of bold design and advanced technology is resonating with customers looking for a versatile CUV," said Sam Brnovich, executive director, National Sales, Hyundai Motor America. "The 2018 Sonata is gaining momentum as well and just earned the 2017 TOP SAFETY PICK+ designation from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, it highest accolade."

In the Houston area, Hyundai is focused on helping its customers and dealers recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Both Hyundai and Genesis have launched disaster relief programs that provide an offer to anyone with a damaged vehicle. This incentive is effective in all states as some impacted people may have been in Houston on business or vacation. Hyundai Capital America (captive finance for Hyundai and Genesis) is also offering payment relief solutions, including payment extensions, redirection of billing statements and arranging for phone or on-line payments free of charge. In addition, Hyundai's non-profit organization, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, is making donations to five Texas-area children's hospitals to assist with patient needs, resulting from the super storm.

HYUNDAI MODELS

Vehicle Aug-17 Aug-16 2017 YTD 2016 YTD Accent 2,632 8,329 37,262 54,705 Azera 349 398 2,374 3,356 Elantra 15,127 20,733 128,666 137,668 Equus 0 83 19 1,237 Genesis 125 1,317 1,128 20,818 Santa Fe 11,474 15,176 84,235 86,948 Sonata 10,866 14,888 97,829 139,932 Tucson 9,757 7,608 72,721 58,000 Veloster 1,018 1,986 9,841 16,917 Ioniq 1,159 0 7,292 0

GENESIS BRAND HIGHLIGHTS

August Genesis sales totaled 1,803, a 10 percent increase over last month and a 20 percent increase compared with August 2016.

"Genesis continues to grow in sales, and make strides in awareness," said Erwin Raphael, general manager of Genesis in the U.S. market. "Last month alone, the Genesis G90 won 'best in class' in AutoPacific's 'Ideal Vehicle Award,' and we announced new connected-car capabilities using Google Home and Assistant technology. Genesis' commitment to 'raising the bar' for customers is being validated by industry analysts and our technology partners alike."

GENESIS MODELS

Vehicle Aug-17 Aug-16 2017 YTD 2016 YTD G80 1,484 1,497 10,489 1,497 G90 319 0 2,877 0

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through 835 dealerships nationwide. All new Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes a 5-year/60,000-mile fully-transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.

For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America

Related Links

http://www.hyundainews.com


HOUSTON, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey has had a substantial impact on petrochemical production along the US Gulf, and the ramifications are being felt globally.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353056LOGO )



ICIS has comprehensive coverage of this historic event and its implications on the Americas and global chemical markets.

The effects of the flood go well beyond existing plants. Companies were scheduled to compete several new plants in the upcoming months. Hurricane Harvey could now delay the start-up of these new plants as well as the construction of other petrochemical projects planned further out.

Find out the latest on the outages via an interactive map from ICIS illustrating production losses and force majeure declarations in the region. Access the map through our Harvey landing page at ICIS.com

https://www.icis.com/press-releases/hurricane-harvey-breaking-news-and-latest-developments/

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and publishes benchmarks that are widely used in the energy and fertilizer markets. Our aim is to give participants in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

ICIS has a global staff of more than 600, and its main offices are in London, Singapore, Shanghai, Houston, New York, Karlsruhe, Milan, Guangzhou and Tokyo. Its Editorial team of 180 report thousands of market prices and news events each week, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles, and has successfully passed annual external audits since those regulatory guidelines were introduced in 2012.

ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. Further information can be found at www.icis.com.

About Reed Business Information:

At Reed Business Information we provide information and online data services to business professionals worldwide. Customers have access to our high-value industry data, analytics, information and tools. Our strong global brands hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group Plc, a leading global provider of data, information and solutions for professional customers.

About RELX Group:

RELX Group is a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. The group employs about 28,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is the London Stock Exchange listed vehicle for holding shares in RELX Group. Shareholders in RELX PLC own a 52.9% economic interest in RELX Group. RELX NV is the Amsterdam Stock Exchange listed vehicle for holding shares in RELX Group. External shareholders in RELX NV own a 47.1% economic interest in RELX Group. The total market capitalisation of the two parent companies is approximately 33.3bn/ 36.2bn/ $43.0bn. Its shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL. www.relx.com

For further information about this release, please contact:

Amy Holland

Senior Marketing Manager, ICIS

Email: [email protected]

Direct: +1-(713)-525-2673



SOURCE ICIS
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Linn County Auditor & Commissioner of Elections Joel Miller has retained Iowa-based cybersecurity firm ProCircular to review Linn County's voter registration and election system. The effort will support the upcoming county-wide school elections to be held on Sept. 12, 2017, in Linn County, Iowa.

Miller states, "This is a continuation of our efforts to improve the integrity of the voting process to ensure that our systems and records are secure, and that every vote is accurately counted. Furthermore, a sense of urgency has motivated us to commence this review now based upon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent declaration that voting systems are considered critical infrastructure."

ProCircular will inventory Linn County's election system and voting equipment to confirm compliance with official certified versions; voting equipment deployed to polling places will be evaluated for vulnerabilities, and systems used by Linn County employees to access and update voter registration records will be reviewed for proper safeguards.

"We've brought together a team of cybersecurity, electronics, and voting systems experts to help better secure voting in Linn County," says Aaron R. Warner, CEO of ProCircular. The company's experts also participated in DefCon's voter hacking event in Las Vegas this August to bring attention to potential vulnerabilities associated with current voting systems. .

ProCircular is a cybersecurity and compliance firm that provides customized, high-quality solutions to organizations by applying decades of real-life expertise.

SOURCE ProCircular

Related Links

http://www.procircular.com


LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Italy's large telecom market boasts one of the highest rates for mobile penetration in Europe, while the fibre-optic sector has seen significant development in recent years, both in operator investment and in regulatory measures to widen the availability of superfast broadband services. Broadband uptake is growing steadily as a result of fibre and ADSL2+ infrastructure upgrades, though the country still lags behind benchmark countries for average broadband access speeds.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3567512/

The government is investing 4 billion to provide superfast broadband across the country, with a major contract recently awarded to the utility Enel to roll out fibre in six regions.

The vibrant mobile market has undergone considerable changes since 2016. For some years it was dominated by three operators, TIM, Vodafone Italia and Wind, with the fourth player 3 Italia having steadily made progress with securing customers to its network. The owners of 3 Italia and Wind in mid-2015 agreed to merge their units, a process which gained regulatory clearance in October 2016. The new merged entity, trading as Wind Tre, began offering services in January 2017. As a result of the merger the market gained a new entrant in the form of Iliad, which secured access to spectrum and to Wind Tre's infrastructure to enable it to offer services while its own network is being developed.

All providers operate LTE networks, and significant investments in network upgrades have led to considerable growth in mobile data and high-end applications.

Telecom Italia has also trialled LTE broadcast technology and is cooperating with Huawei and Ericsson to develop a platform for 5G services.

This report analyses the key aspects of the Italian telecom market, providing the latest data and statistics on the country and the fixed network services sector.

It also reviews the key regulatory issues including number portability and local loop unbundling. In addition, the report assesses the broadband market, including the burgeoning fibre sector, regulatory measures aimed at increasing the availability of services, and the status of government infrastructure in the sector. It also provides broadband forecasts to 2021. The report reviews the mobile market, including statistics, key regulatory issues, an assessment of mobile data services and an evaluation of the market following the merger of Wind and 3 Italia and the market entry of Iliad.

Key developments:

Wind and 3 Italia begin operations as Wind Tre;

EC evaluates Rome smart grid deployment;

TIM commits to deliver FttP/FttB to an additional 138 cities by 2018;

EOF secures 1.4 billion government contract to provide fibre-based broadband to six regions;

Fastweb delivering 500Mb/s service to 7.5 million premises;

SINFI infrastructure registry helping to reduce cost of deploying fibre by a third;

Milan's Metroweb acquired by Enel;

Fastweb joins TIM in fibre venture;

Vodafone extends LTE coverage 90% of the population;

TIM trials LTE broadcast technology, preps for 5G applications and services;

Regulator extends 3G licences to 2029 and GSM licences to 2027;

Broadcasters move from DVB-MHP to the HTML-5 based HbbTV 2.0 format;

TivuSat reports over 2.6 million active cards;

Report update includes the regulator's market data to September 2016, telcos' operating and financial data to Q3 2016, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3567512/

About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishershttp://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaleo, a privately-held pharmaceutical company, today announced a donation of 20,000 AUVI-Q (epinephrine injection, USP) Auto-injectors and 5,000 EVZIO (naloxone HCl injection) Auto-injectors to medical aid organization Direct Relief in support of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Texas, Louisiana and other affected states.

"Tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs," said Spencer Williamson, President and CEO of kaleo. "We are proud to work with Direct Relief to ensure that our epinephrine and naloxone products are available to patients in need."

"We are deeply appreciative for the donation by kaleo and are pleased to work with them to help support the medical needs of the victims of Hurricane Harvey along the Gulf Coast," said Pat Bacuros, Direct Relief's Director of Philanthropic Investment. "As the only non-profit medical aid organization to obtain Verified-Accredited Wholesale Distributor status from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Direct Relief is a natural partner for kaleo to get these potentially life-saving medications to those in the greatest need."

AUVI-Q (0.15 mg and 0.3 mg) is a prescription medicine used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in people who are at risk for or have a history of serious allergic reactions. EVZIO was the first naloxone product specifically designed, approved and labeled for the emergency treatment of opioid overdose by individuals without medical training. The products are both FDA-approved and have innovative features such as voice instructions that help guide users with step-by-step instructions through the delivery process of the medications. The products also feature an automatic retractable needle system that injects the medication and retracts the needle back into the device within seconds.

"One out of every 13 children in the U.S. has at least one food allergy," said Dr. James R. Baker, Jr., CEO of Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE). "Therefore, it is likely that there are many children with life-threatening allergies among the flood victims. We are pleased to see efforts to ensure replacement epinephrine to patients who may have lost their auto-injectors in this emergency."

"I commend Direct Relief and kaleo for taking bold action to help victims of Hurricane Harvey obtain the medicines they need in this crisis," said Mark Kinzly, Co-founder of the Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative. "The opioid overdose crisis will not recede during this natural disaster. Having access to naloxone in the affected areas will help save lives."

"With the devastating situation in Texas and Louisiana due to Hurricane Harvey, and many families there affected by food allergies and life-threatening anaphylaxis, it's imperative for individuals to have immediate access to potentially life-saving medications, including epinephrine," said Eleanor Garrow-Holding, President and CEO of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT). "Thank you to our partner, kaleo, and to Direct Relief, for providing these auto-injectors for those most in need."

To learn more about AUVI-Q (0.15 mg and 0.3 mg), please visit www.auvi-q.com. For information about EVZIO, please visit www.evzio.com.

About Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis (pronounced ana-fuh-lak-sis) is a serious allergic reaction that happens quickly and may cause death. Anaphylaxis can occur as a result of exposure to allergens including tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat, insect bites, latex and medication, among other allergens.

About AUVI-Q (0.15 mg and 0.3 mg)

AUVI-Q (epinephrine injection, USP) Auto-injector is a prescription medicine used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in people who are at risk for or who have a history of serious allergic reactions. AUVI-Q contains epinephrine, a well-established, first-line treatment for severe, life-threatening allergic reactions that occur as a result of exposure to allergens including food such as peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, dairy, eggs, soy and wheat; insect stings or bites; latex and medication, among other allergens and causes.

AUVI-Q is the only compact epinephrine auto-injector with a voice instruction system that helps guide patients and caregivers step-by-step through the injection process, and a needle that automatically retracts following administration. In anaphylaxis emergencies, it is often individuals without medical training who need to step in and deliver potentially life-saving epinephrine. AUVI-Q was designed through careful analysis of the situations where epinephrine auto-injectors are used and with significant input from the allergy community that relies on it incorporating Human Factors Engineering (HFE). HFE is about designing products or systems that are easy to operate and, most importantly, support correct use, with the goal to remove the potential for error. For more information about AUVI-Q (0.15 mg and 0.3 mg) visit www.auvi-q.com.

AUVI-Q Indication

AUVI-Q (epinephrine injection, USP) is a prescription medicine used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in people who are at risk for or have a history of serious allergic reactions.

AUVI-Q Important Safety Information

AUVI-Q is for immediate self (or caregiver) administration and does not take the place of emergency medical care. Seek immediate medical treatment after use. Each AUVI-Q contains a single dose of epinephrine. AUVI-Q should only be injected into your outer thigh, through clothing if necessary. If you inject a young child with AUVI-Q, hold their leg firmly in place before and during the injection to prevent injuries. Do not inject into veins, buttocks, fingers, toes, hands, or feet. If you accidentally inject AUVI-Q into any other part of your body, seek immediate medical treatment.

Rarely, patients who use AUVI-Q may develop infections at the injection site within a few days of an injection. Some of these infections can be serious. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms at an injection site: redness that does not go away, swelling, tenderness, or the area feels warm to the touch.

If you have certain medical conditions, or take certain medicines, your condition may get worse or you may have more or longer lasting side effects when you use AUVI-Q. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, especially medicines for asthma. Also tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, especially if you have asthma, a history of depression, thyroid problems, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart problems or high blood pressure, have any other medical conditions, are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Epinephrine should be used with caution if you have heart disease or are taking certain medicines that can cause heart-related (cardiac) symptoms.

Common side effects include fast, irregular or 'pounding' heartbeat, sweating, shakiness, headache, paleness, feelings of over excitement, nervousness, or anxiety, weakness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, or breathing problems. These side effects usually go away quickly, especially if you rest. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

Please click here to see the full Prescribing Information and the Patient Information at www.auvi-q.com.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

About EVZIO (EVV-zee-oh)

EVZIO (naloxone HCl injection) Auto-injector is an opioid antagonist indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, as manifested by respiratory and/or central nervous system depression. EVZIO is intended for immediate administration as emergency therapy in settings where opioids may be present. EVZIO is not a substitute for emergency medical care. EVZIO is an intelligent auto-injection system that provides simple, on-the- spot voice and visual guidance. EVZIO is small, easy-to-carry and easy-to-use to help patients and caregivers keep it on hand so they can take fast, confident action administering EVZIO during an opioid emergency. Each EVZIO pre-filled, single-use, hand-held Autoinjector delivers a single dose of naloxone. Each EVZIO prescription comes with two Autoinjectors and a Trainer. For more information on EVZIO, including full Prescribing Information, visit www.EVZIO.com.

EVZIO INDICATION

EVZIO is a prescription medicine used in adults and children for the treatment of an opioid emergency such as an overdose or a possible opioid overdose with signs of breathing problems and severe sleepiness or not being able to respond.

EVZIO is to be given right away and does not take the place of emergency medical care. Get emergency medical help right away after the first dose of EVZIO, even if the person wakes up.

EVZIO is safe and effective in children for known or suspected opioid overdose.

EVZIO IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

What is the most important information I should know about EVZIO?

EVZIO is used to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid medicines. The medicine in EVZIO has no effect in people who are not taking opioid medicines. Always carry EVZIO with you in case of an opioid emergency.

Use EVZIO right away if you or your caregiver think signs or symptoms of an opioid emergency are present, even if you are not sure, because an opioid emergency can cause severe injury or death. Signs and symptoms of an opioid emergency may include:

unusual sleepiness and you are not able to awaken the person with a loud voice or rubbing firmly on the middle of their chest (sternum)



breathing problems including slow or shallow breathing in someone difficult to awaken or they look like they are not breathing



the black circle in the center of the colored part of the eye (pupil) is very small, sometimes called "pinpoint pupils" in someone difficult to awaken

Family members, caregivers, or other people who may have to use EVZIO in an opioid emergency should know where EVZIO is stored and how to give EVZIO before an opioid emergency happens.

Get emergency medical help right away after using the first dose of EVZIO. Rescue breathing or CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) may be given while waiting for emergency medical help.

The signs and symptoms of an opioid emergency can return within several minutes after EVZIO is given. If this happens, give additional injections using new EVZIO autoinjectors every 2 to 3 minutes, and continue to closely watch the person until emergency help is received.

Who should not use EVZIO?

Do not use EVZIO if you are allergic to naloxone hydrochloride or any of the ingredients in EVZIO.

What are the ingredients in EVZIO?

Active ingredient: naloxone hydrochloride

Inactive ingredients: sodium chloride, hydrochloric acid to adjust pH, and water

What should I tell my healthcare provider before using EVZIO?

Tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:

Have heart problems

Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Use of EVZIO may cause withdrawal symptoms in your unborn baby. Your unborn baby should be examined by a healthcare provider right away after you are given EVZIO.

Tell your healthcare provider about the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

What are the possible side effects of EVZIO?

EVZIO may cause serious side effects, including:

Sudden opioid withdrawal symptoms. In someone who has been using opioids regularly, opioid withdrawal symptoms can happen suddenly after receiving EVZIO and may include: body aches, fever, sweating, runny nose, sneezing, goose bumps, yawning, weakness, shivering or trembling, nervousness, restlessness or irritability, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, stomach cramping, increased blood pressure, and increased heart rate.

In infants under 4 weeks old who have been receiving opioids regularly, sudden opioid withdrawal may be life-threatening if not treated the right way. Signs and symptoms include: seizures, crying more than usual, and increased reflexes.

Common side effects of EVZIO include dizziness and injection site redness.

These are not all of the possible side effects of EVZIO. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects.

Please click here to see the full Prescribing Information and the Patient Information at www.evzio.com.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

About Direct Relief

Direct Relief is a leading medical relief organization, active in all 50 states and in 70 countries and is the only U.S. nonprofit to obtain Verified Accredited Wholesale Distributor (VAWD) certification by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The organization has been among the world's largest medical suppliers in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, has top charity ratings, including four-star and "top-notch" rating from Charity Navigator, and a 100% fundraising efficiency rating from Forbes magazine. Among other distinctions, Direct Relief was the 2011 winner of the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation and received the 2013 President's Award from ESRI. For more information visit www.DirectRelief.org.

About kaleo (kuh-LAY-oh)

Kaleo is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to building innovative solutions for serious and life-threatening medical conditions. Our mission is to provide innovative solutions that empower patients to confidently take control of their medical conditions. We believe patients and caregivers are the experts on how their medical condition impacts their lives and are an integral part of our product development process. Kaleo is a privately-held company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit www.kaleopharma.com.

Contact:

Mark A. Herzog

kaleo

[email protected]

[email protected]

804-545-6360 (office)

SOURCE Kaleo

Related Links

http://www.kaleopharma.com


PITTSBURGH, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) announced they will attend the Morgan Stanley 5th Annual Laguna Conference on September 14, 2017 in California. Jan Kees van Gaalen, Vice President & CFO and Kelly Boyer, Vice President, Investor Relations will be attending. The presentation slides will be available on the company's website www.kennametal.com on September 14, 2017. Once on the homepage, select "About Us", "Investor Relations" and then "Events".

At the forefront of advanced materials innovation for more than 75 years, Kennametal Inc. is a global industrial technology leader delivering productivity to customers through materials science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Every day approximately 11,000 employees are helping customers in more than 60 countries stay competitive. Kennametal generated nearly $2.1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2017. Learn more at www.kennametal.com

SOURCE Kennametal Inc.

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CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Music producer Pete Cho releases his debut pop single Howlin' via Effort Music Group LLC. Written & produced by Pete Cho & Dino Zisis (Lady Gaga's "Applause") with additional writing from Patrick Hartman, Matthew Richert (BP Rania's "Start a Fire"), Johnathan Pratt (Swim Team) and Jamie Miller. Howlin' is a fun three and a half minute song, capturing aspects of the 80s Halloween-horror era into a modern pop production. In addition, filmmaker T.A. Manchester (The Things We've Seen) directed the Howlin' music video; streaming on Vevo. Howlin' is available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon Music, Google Play, and more.

Music producer Pete Cho. Photo by Rachel Bires.

Listen to Howlin' on Spotify.

BIO

The leap from Korean barbecue to pop music might not seem an obvious one, but for collaborator Pete Cho it was the only logical move. No stranger to the music industry, Pete spent years as a DJ touring the U.S., enthralling crowds on stages from Lollapalooza to North Coast Music Festival before leaving it all in 2012 and heading back home to Chicago to care for his ill father. With the help of his mother, Pete launched GOGI, his successful Korean barbecue restaurant, but the itch to get back into music persisted  intensifying a year later after an introduction to Dino Zisis (Lady Gaga's "Applause") and with the recollection of words of support from his father: "Before my dad passed away he said after two years of running a restaurant, if I find passion in music again, sell the business and get back into it. He told me he was proud either way. Strangely, everything is following that path." Cultivating an ever-amplifying appreciation for pop music, Pete has studied the craft of pop writing and production  pitching songs for major artists, movie sync opportunities, and finding time to release music for himself and his friends. Now he's gone all in, selling his restaurant to make music full-time as an artist, producer, and songwriter.

CONTACT

Sang Ok

[email protected]

www.petecho.com

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SOUNDCLOUD

Related Files

Pete Cho - Howlin'.mp3

SOURCE Effort Music Group LLC
A motley collection of extreme-left radicals like to describe themselves under the umbrella name of Antifa for "Anti-Fascist." The first irony is that the Antifa militants endorse the same violent tactics of real fascists to wage their so-called fight against fascism. If they had any real sense of humor they might see how a famous motto from the comic strip character Pogo applies to their cause when Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

The second irony is that apparently Antifa radicals are so ignorant of history that they do not understand how close fascism is to communism because both totalitarian ideologies are two children of the same socialist parent. The German abbreviation NAZI stood for "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" or the National Socialist German Worker's Party.

Intellectually dishonest history professors and their misinformed students in the media like to misrepresent that NAZIs are "on the right" just because NAZIs advocate extreme nationalism and supposedly share that in common with conservatives. Under the NAZI regime, there was private ownership of production but that private ownership did not mean much because of government control over private companies.

But the heart of conservatism has always been about individual freedom and the rule of law under the Constitution rather than blind nationalism. The truth is that all forms of totalitarianism are on the Left and pro-liberty ideals are on the right.
BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MedAmerica Properties Inc. (OTC: MAMP) ("MedAmerica" or the "Company") today announced that Patricia Sheridan was appointed its chief financial officer, effective August 29, 2017.

Ms. Sheridan, 55, has over 33 years of accounting, tax, reorganization and real estate experience. Since 2011, Ms. Sheridan has served as the managing member of PKS Group LLC, a consulting firm providing financial oversight for small to mid-sized privately owned companies, high net worth individuals and family offices. Over the last 12 years, she has worked in various capacities for private real estate development firms from October 2005 to January 2017. Beginning in June 1998 until March 2003, Ms. Sheridan served as the president and managing director of Knickerbocker LLC, a $750 million investment management company. Prior to this position, she served in multiple roles with a NYSE traded company, Beneficial Corporation, from January 1986 through June 1998, most recently as the Director  Corporate Real Estate Properties. She began her accounting career at Arthur Andersen & Company beginning in January 1984 until January 1986. Ms. Sheridan received a Masters in Taxation from Seton Hall University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the College of New Jersey.

Gary O. Marino, the Company's chairman of the board, commented, "The addition of Patricia's extensive real estate and accounting expertise rounds out our management team and paves the way to move forward aggressively with our plan to acquire well-located medical office properties."

About the Company

MedAmerica Properties Inc. is a Delaware corporation pursuing the acquisition and management of well-located medical office buildings with the intention of aggregating multiple properties with strong fundamentals in attractive geographic locations, particularly in the sunbelt states.

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Although we believe that the acquisition and ownership of medical office buildings is fundamentally sound, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in this endeavor or that we can locate, finance and acquire these properties. Some of the statements that we make in this press release, including statements about our confidence in the Company's prospects and strategies, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical information or statements about our current condition. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terms such as "believes," "contemplates," "expects," "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," or "anticipates," other similar phrases, or the negatives of these terms. We have based the forward-looking statements on our current expectations, estimates and projections about us. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. We have based many of these forward-looking statements on assumptions about future events that may prove to be inaccurate. Accordingly, our actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what we have expressed or forecast in the forward-looking statements. Any differences could result from a variety of factors, including our ability to (i) continue to successfully raise capital to fund our operations; (ii) successfully find medical office buildings to acquire; (iii) comply with SEC regulations and filing requirements applicable to us as a public company; and (iv) any of our other plans, objectives, expectations and intentions contained in this release that are not historical facts. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which reflect our analysis only as of the date of this release. The risks and uncertainties listed above and other documents that we file with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and any current reports on Form 8-K, must be carefully considered by any investor or potential investor in the Company. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

SOURCE MedAmerica Properties Inc.

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LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With a population of around 121 million and a fixed-line teledensity of around 18% Mexico's telecom sector retains significant potential for growth over the next few years. The fixed-line market is still dominated by the incumbent Telmex, with about 62% market share, while the mobile market is dominated by Telmex's sister company Telcel, both being owned by America Movil. However, telecom reform laws passed in recent years will go far to making Mexico's telecom market more competitive.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3599804/

The mobile market is undergoing considerable changes in the wake of efforts to curb the market dominance of Telcel, the entry of ATandT Mexico following its acquisition of Nextel Mexico and Iusacell, and the greater competitive role being played by MVNOs. Telcel still accounts for about 66% of the market by subscribers, though it is in the process of selling assets to reduce its share to below 50%. The regulator has also endeavoured to encourage competition through issuing additional spectrum. In January 2017 the Altan consortium was contracted to manage a wholesale mobile network for 20 years, aimed at delivering mobile voice and data to underserved areas. The network is to be made available for use from March 2018. Separately, the regulator February 2017 published a plan to auction up to 130MHz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band later in the year, geared to improving mobile broadband services.

The broadband sector is one of the highest growth areas in Mexico's telecoms market, although it suffers from a lack of competition to the dominant player Telmex, which still accounts for the lion's share of subscribers. The pay TV sector is similarly concentrated, with Grupo Televisa the dominant player in the cable TV sector as also in the satellite TV sector, where it is a major shareholder in Sky Mexico.

This report provides statistics and analyses on Mexico's fixed-line market, as well as an overview of regulatory developments. In addition the report covers the mobile market, including a range statistical data as well as subscriber forecasts to 2021, as well as an assessment of the broadband and internet markets, including technology developments and the migration to fibre infrastructure.

Key developments:

America Movil secures an additional 60MHz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band from Grupo MVS;

Movistar signs national roaming deal with Telcel;

Telcel and ATandT Mexico secure AWS spectrum licences at auction;

Regulator issues plan for auction of 2.5GHz spectrum expected in Q3 2017;

Altan consortium selected to operate the nationwide wholesale mobile network using 700MHz band spectrum;

Movistar to invest MXN3 billion to expand LTE to 300 cities by 2018;

Report update includes the regulator's market data report to June 2016, telcos' financial and operating data to Q4 2016, market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3599804/

About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishershttp://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Middle East & Africa naphtha consumption market is projected to to cross 100 million metric tons by 2026. The region is home to many oil & gas producing countries whose economy is dependent on export revenues derived from trade of hydrocarbons and other associated products. Middle East & Africa is the largest naphtha exporting region globally and most of the region's exports cater to the surging demand for naphtha in Asia-Pacific. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Algeria dominate naphtha exports from the region. Also, countries in the region are quickly adding new naphtha based cracking capacities to export more value-added products across the globe.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4907938/



Years considered for this report:

- Historical Years: 2011-2015

- Base Year: 2016

- Estimated Year: 2017

- Forecast Period: 20172026



Objective of the Study:

- The primary objective of the study was to understand and gain insights about the Middle East & Africa Naphtha Demand Supply analysis & forecast.

- Market analysis by Country

- Light & Heavy naphtha consumption and forecast its market by 2026

- Naphtha consumption by End Use

- Naphtha Import-Export Scenario - By Country

- Competitive Landscape of naphtha producers, exporters and traders operating in Middle East & Africa



TechSci Research carried out Middle East & Africa naphtha demand supply analysis study by considering various aspects of Middle East & Africa naphtha market. In the beginning of the Middle East & Africa naphtha demand supply analysis, a brief study was conducted to understand each aspect of market outlook such as drivers, challenges, market trends and various other major factors affecting the market. Moreover, an in-depth analysis was conducted to understand Middle East & Africa naphtha market and to gauge the competitive scenario.



Afterwards, a detailed scrutiny of naphtha consumption by type, by end use, and by country markets for Middle East & Africa naphtha supply demand analysis was conducted. In order to extract data for Middle East & Africa naphtha market, primary research surveys were conducted with key opinion leaders, naphtha end users, traders, importers and exporters to understand historical and present trends.



Considering the assumptions, TechSci research dedicated team of industry experts has comprehensively monitored and analysed various aspects of Middle East & Africa naphtha supply demand market. TechSci research team has analysed various segments and speculated a positive future for Middle East & Africa naphtha market and subsequent countries. Moreover, various secondary sources were utilized for preparing this report such as directories, databases such as company annual reports, financial reports, proprietary databases, among others.



Key Target Audience:

- Naphtha producers (refiners), Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plants, crude oil suppliers, naphtha traders, shipping companies.

- Customers (Petrochemical industry and other customers such as fertilizer, power and steel industries).

- Research organizations and consulting companies

- Associations, organizations, forums and alliances related to naphtha trade

- Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers



The study is useful in providing answers to past, current and future trends of naphtha consumption in Middle East & Africa market. This study helps in analysing specific country naphtha consumption trend which are useful for industry stakeholders such as naphtha producers (refiners), Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plants, crude oil suppliers, naphtha traders, shipping companies, regulatory bodies, petrochemical industry and other customers (fertilizer, power and steel industries).



Report Scope:



In this report, the Middle East & Africa naphtha supply demand analysis has been segmented into the following categories in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:



- Naphtha Consumption, By Country:

o Saudi Arabia

o Kuwait

o UAE

o Iran

o Qatar

o Algeria

o Rest of Middle East & Africa



- Naphtha Consumption, By Type:

o Light Naphtha

o Heavy Naphtha



- Naphtha Consumption, By End Use:

o Gasoline Blending

o Naphtha Reforming

o Steam Cracking

o Others



- Naphtha Import-Export Scenario, By Country



Competitive Landscape



Competition Benchmarking: Country specific steam cracker and naphtha reforming capacities, major consumers, and major suppliers & traders



Available Customizations:

With the given market data, TechSci Research offers customizations according to company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:



Channel Partner Analysis

- Detailed list of distributors and dealers across all major countries.



Company Information

- Detailed analysis and profiling of market players (up to five).



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4907938/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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DALLAS, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New ThermoServ, Ltd., a leading provider of domestically manufactured, innovative drink and dinnerware, today announced that it completed the acquisition of all assets of United States Dinnerware Inc.'s Prolon Dinnerware on Aug. 25.

New ThermoServ, Ltd., best known as a domestic manufacturer of casual, plastic drinkware, has recently made a strategic shift in focus to also encompass casual dinnerware. This latest acquisition further expands the company's production capabilities in the tabletop area and opens room for growth into the commercial food service space.

Prolon, the commercial melamine tableware brand of Mississippi-based United States Dinnerware, Inc., has existed since 1959 and has a longstanding presence in the commercial food service areas of restaurant supply, hospitality, military and institutional businesses. Like ThermoServ, Prolon is a domestic manufacturer, operating their full molding and decorating operations out of existing headquarters in Port Gibson, Miss. Prolon's expertise covers a vast offering of commercial grade, highest-quality melamine dinnerware and tabletop accessories. ThermoServ will be moving production of Prolon Dinnerware to Dallas.

"We are pleased to bring renewed energy and resources to the Prolon brand and look forward to growing our ability to serve the food service industry with domestically produced, high-quality dinnerware and plastic drinkware," said Tom Neth, ThermoServ's President. "We believe this transaction will accelerate the growth of both Prolon and ThermoServ, strengthen our relationships with existing customers and support our commitment to being a leading manufacturer of high-quality, American-made dinnerware and drinkware products."

About ThermoServ

Established in 1966, ThermoServ is a leading provider of innovative drinkware and tableware products that are made in America and designed to fit everyday life. We are committed to serving as an integrated partner for businesses in the retail, food service, specialty advertising and healthcare markets, and we always keep the end customer's satisfaction a priority. Through product differentiation, continuous quality improvements and the highest level of service from our people, customers can rest assured that ThermoServ will deliver the highest quality and relevant product offerings to meet the demanding needs of the market. Whether it is a family gathering, at work, or just for play, we stay focused on life's necessities. For more information, please visit the ThermoServ website at www.thermoserv.com .

Media Contact:

John Lester

817-360-1164

[email protected]

SOURCE ThermoServ

Related Links

http://www.thermoserv.com


"Texas may be a big state, but we also have a big heart, especially when it comes to fellow Texans," said Ashley Zickefoose, Chief Marketing Officer for On The Border. "Our hearts go out to those who have suffered and experienced loss during this challenging time, and we hope all of our guests in the market will join us in supporting the American Red Cross as they continue to provide shelter, food, and medical assistance to those in need."

Guests wishing to participate in the 20% fundraiser need only visit their favorite local OTB restaurant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Waco, or College Station locations and mention the 20% Hurricane relief donation when ordering as usual from the brand's menu of authentic Mexican dishes and drinks on Wed., Sept. 6.



"The Red Cross is continuing its largest hurricane relief effort in years, and with the help of donations like this from On The Border, we are ready to shelter, feed and provide hope to thousands of people," said Keith Rhodes, CEO, American Red Cross North Texas.



"Every little bit helps when it comes to overcoming disasters like Hurricane Harvey," Zickefoose added. "Together, we can add our efforts up to make a real difference in ongoing recovery efforts. We look forward to serving our loyal guests and the greater Texas community that needs us."

To find an On The Border location in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Waco, or College Station, please visit www.ontheborder.com.



About On The Border

On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand, offering an extensive menu of great-tasting, classic and contemporary Mexican food, like sizzling mesquite-grilled fajitas, and Margaritas as big and bold as the border itself. On The Border is owned by Border Holdings, LLC, with 157 restaurants in 32 states, Puerto Rico and Asia. Follow and 'like' On The Border on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnTheBorderMexicanGrillandCantina, and @OnTheBorder on Twitter. For more information, visit www.ontheborder.com.

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org or visit us on Twitter at @RedCrossDFW.

Contact: Jessica Chacoff

888.869.7899

[email protected]

SOURCE On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Related Links

https://www.ontheborder.com


"OnDeck started lending online to small businesses ten years ago with a customer-first philosophy and a relentless commitment to providing capital online with speed, efficiency and top-quality service to America's small business owners," said Noah Breslow, CEO of OnDeck and the company's first employee. "This is still the hallmark of our business today as we celebrate a decade of innovation on behalf of small business owners, truly the lifeblood of our economy."

OnDeck made its first loan in August 2007. The company has grown substantially since then, driven by the success of its small business customers. The company's innovative technology-driven platform and data-driven OnDeck Score have increased the flow of capital to Main Street and expanded growth opportunities for small business. An Analysis Group report commissioned by OnDeck in 2015 analyzed the economic impact from the first $3 billion OnDeck lent to small businesses. The report estimates that those loans powered $11 billion in business activity and created 74,000 jobs nationwide. Flash forward to 2017 and the company has now provided small businesses more than $7 billion in capital. In the retail industry alone, OnDeck has lent more than $1 billion online.

One such OnDeck small business customer is Waterfront Wines and Spirits, a Brooklyn-based boutique retailer specializing in small batch wines and spirits. Owner Ben Bohen and his partners first approached their local bank, but were turned down for a loan because the business was considered "too young." They turned to OnDeck and quickly were approved and received capital for Waterfront Wine and Spirits to expand their product selection to meet stronger-than-expected customer demand. Bohen appreciates the speed of the application process and how quickly he can access his funds from OnDeck once approved.

"I've had the same OnDeck sales rep for a number of years, and at this point we exchange a few quick emails and the process is complete," says Bohen. "That is one of the things that keeps me coming back. The customer service, speed of capital and personal focus have always been outstanding."

OnDeck has led the way in revolutionizing how FinTech companies and banks collaborate in order to harness technology and learnings to drive superior customer experiences for small businesses. Recently, OnDeck and JPMorgan Chase announced a landmark new contract extending their collaboration on Chase's digital small business lending solution, Chase Business Quick Capital, for up to 4 years. The multi-year agreement enables Chase to develop and deliver increased digital functionality as it delivers lending solutions to its small business banking customers.

About OnDeck

OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the leader in online small business lending. Since 2007, the company has powered Main Street's growth through advanced lending technology and a constant dedication to customer service. OnDeck's proprietary credit scoring system  the OnDeck Score  leverages advanced analytics, enabling OnDeck to make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital to small businesses in as little as 24 hours. OnDeck offers business owners a complete financing solution, including the online lending industry's widest range of term loans and lines of credit. To date, the company has deployed over $7 billion to more than 70,000 customers in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada and Australia. OnDeck has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and operates the educational small business financing website BusinessLoans.com. For more information, please visit www.ondeck.com.

OnDeck, the OnDeck logo and OnDeck Score are trademarks of On Deck Capital, Inc.

Media Contact:

Jim Larkin

203-526-7457

[email protected]

SOURCE On Deck Capital, Inc.
CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LadyBossBlogger, online blog, celebrates one year on Sept.1st, 2017. Since its launch, the online platform has featured 500+ female entrepreneurs and their stories, highlighting their struggles and their success. LadyBossBlogger has amassed a following of 21,000+ followers under a year. Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Elaine Rau's own story and journey has also been impactful to the success of the blog and has gained attention of its own.

The blog started with an interview of targeted questions that was sent out by Rau to female entrepreneurs, a spike in views and shares proved the value of the platform and topic. This led to the LadyBossBlogger founder to execute the idea of monetizing her platform and to offer paid packages for the use of her platform in helping female entrepreneurs voice and share their own stories.

"I am so glad I decided to just run with it. I saw what I was doing was working and took action immediately. I had to create my own opportunities, especially at that point during my life," said Founder and Editor-In-Chief of LadyBossBlogger, Elaine Rau.

Previous to the launch of LadyBossBlogger, Rau quit a verbally abusive and controlling work environment position, which led her to share her story on her own platform to inspire other female entrepreneurs to rise from their fears. LadyBossBlogger is the destination for female entrepreneur interviews, business tips, how to's and resources - a space of empowerment for women entrepreneurs.

Rau's journey and success story has been featured on "Unforgettable Faces & Stories: Starting Over Stories of New Beginnings," by Eileen Doyon. She has also been featured on 30+ websites and the Huffington Post in the U.S. and U.K.

About LadyBossBlogger

Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Elaine Rau launched LadyBossBlogger.com in 2016 as a platform to highlight the successes and the struggles of female entrepreneurs all over the world to help unite and share tips/expertise in order to learn from one another.

Her desire is to fill the media with stories about powerful women and change women's mindsets about themselves. The media plays a powerful part in how we see ourselves, what we think we can achieve, and what limitations we put on ourselves. The more women are properly portrayed, the more women will rise up in leadership and push past their self-limiting beliefs.

LadyBossBlogger currently offers eight different packages ranging from $39.99-$105 for a one-time promotional blog post with eight graphics and a share across the LadyBossBlogger social media channels. Guest posting is also an option.

For more information: www.ladybossblogger.com

For any media inquiries, feel free to reach out to, Publicist, Samantha Frontera of Exclusive PR at [email protected] or at: (847) 703-0529.

Related Images

image1.jpg

SOURCE LadyBossBlogger

Related Links

http://www.ladybossblogger.com


ATLANTA, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Answering the call of the U.S. Congress and taking a leadership role in addressing one of the most neglected areas of health, PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association, Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority and an elite group of healthcare leaders and patient advocates are gathering in Atlanta on September 16-17th for PCOS Awareness Weekend, the largest event dedicated to patient and healthcare-provider education as well as raising awareness and funds to help fight polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

PCOS Awareness Weekend PCOS Infographic

Recently, H.Res.495, the historic and bipartisan resolution about PCOS, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman David Scott (GA-13) and 20 other leaders in the House. H.Res.495 designates the month of September as PCOS Awareness Month and recognizes the seriousness of the disorder, the need for further research, and improved treatment and care options for women and girls with PCOS.

PCOS is a genetic, hormonal, metabolic and reproductive disorder that affects up to fifteen percent of women in the U.S. and hundreds of millions globally. It is one of the most critical, under-diagnosed and underfunded areas of health, which can lead to lifelong complications, infertility, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

"September is PCOS Awareness Month. We are grateful to the many members of Congress and state governments who now recognize the seriousness of PCOS and to Omega Phi Alpha for hosting PCOS Awareness Weekend," says Sasha Ottey, Executive Director of PCOS Challenge, the leading support organization for women and girls with PCOS. "For too long, the calls for help by millions of women and girls affected by PCOS have gone unanswered. PCOS is leading to major health problems that could be prevented if identified and addressed early. 50 to 70 percent of women and girls with PCOS are going undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Our organization is seeing far too many women who were never diagnosed with PCOS until their 40s and 50s, or who were never told about the associated health risks, and are now battling diabetes, heart disease and cancer. There are serious and systemic problems in healthcare regarding PCOS diagnosis, treatment and support. There is an urgent need to address PCOS to help improve and save lives. It is time that we make PCOS a public-health priority!"

PCOS Awareness Weekend is presented by PCOS Challenge and hosted by Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority. The weekend's events at Georgia Tech in Atlanta include the PCOS Awareness Symposium on Saturday, September 16th and the Bolt for PCOS 5K Run/Walk on Sunday, September 17th. The PCOS symposium features world-leading experts on PCOS. The event brings together clinicians, researchers, hundreds of PCOS patients and their supporters for a day of sharing experiences, insights and the latest research about the condition. Bolt for PCOS is the largest event in the U.S. dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help fight polycystic ovary syndrome. Proceeds from the Bolt for PCOS event will go toward PCOS education, research, health screening, grant and support programs, as well as increasing awareness and public support for those with the condition.

Ashley Brady, President of Omega Phi Alpha at Nu Chapter (Georgia Tech), says, "We are extremely honored as a sisterhood to do our part in supporting women with PCOS by partnering with PCOS Challenge and hosting the PCOS Awareness Weekend here at Georgia Tech. The sisters of Omega Phi Alpha started the Bolt for PCOS 5K Run/Walk to raise awareness for a cause that resides close to us. We have alumni and current sisters who struggle with PCOS, and we have made it a priority to raise awareness for the condition. The Bolt 5K event was created to spread awareness and to raise funds to help in the fight against PCOS. Through our passion for service, we are fortunate to be able to help others affected by the disorder."

PCOS Awareness Weekend sponsors include LiSA Initiative, American Electrology Association, Theralogix Reproductive Health, Georgia Reproductive Specialists, LumaRx, PCOS Nutrition Center, Dr. Fiona McCulloch, Reproductive Biology Associates, Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine, Camellia Alise, The Baron Solution Group and Fairhaven Health.

For more information about the PCOS Awareness Weekend, registration and sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.pcoschallenge.org/register.

Media Contact:

William Patterson

404-855-7244

SOURCE PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association

Related Links

http://www.pcoschallenge.org


ANNVILLE, Pa., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Wolf announced that ten soldiers from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard departed today in two Pennsylvania CH-47 Chinook helicopters to join hurricane relief efforts in Texas.

The soldiers departed from Muir Army Airfield at Fort Indiantown Gap this morning and are flying to Grand Prairie airport near Dallas, TX. Upon arrival, they will integrate with the thousands of National Guard members and first responders already on site. Potential missions for the aircraft and crew include delivering cargo items such as food and water to stranded citizens and providing emergency transportation for those in need.

"Our thoughts are with the residents of Texas and all those impacted as they cope with the after effects of this devastating storm," said Wolf. "I'm proud of our National Guard and first responders who are able to offer support to the citizens of Texas. We're ready and willing to offer additional support as needed."

These ten Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers will join our six Airmen, who already deployed earlier this week. The PA National Guard anticipates sending over 200 more guardsmen through this weekend.

"Our Guardsmen have joined efforts with numerous other states to serve our fellow citizens in Texas," said Maj. Gen. Tony Carrelli, Pennsylvania's adjutant general. "This is what we train for; this is why America has a National Guard. The Pennsylvania National Guard stands ready to support our commonwealth and nation whenever and wherever we are needed."

MEDIA CONTACT: Major Angela King-Sweigart, 717-861-6254

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

Related Links

http://www.dmva.state.pa.us


NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pillar Technologies, the first company to capture, measure, and distribute risk data on construction sites with a series of smart sensors, announced today it has secured $2.75 million in seed funding from XL Innovate, Hyperplane VC, and Techstars Ventures. The funding will enable Pillar to scale the manufacturing of its sensors, and expand the team building its real-time risk management software platform for construction companies and contractors. As part of the financing round, Martha Notaras, a partner at XL Innovate, will join the Pillar board of directors.

Pillar deploys industrial-grade sensors across construction sites to address high-value risks during and after construction by actively monitoring key environmental factors, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, smoke, and dust. General contractors and insurers are using the Pillar data management platform to monitor sites, forecast failures, and be alerted to costly hazards such as water leaks, freezes, fire, mold outbreaks and more. The objective of the Pillar sensor platform is to protect sites from damage and reduce insurance claims, thereby minimizing losses and insurance costs for general contractors. In addition, in the event of a destructive event, Pillar provides crucial, real-time information to first responders.

According to PWC, the total construction spend in the United States in 2016 was $1.1 trillion, with growing demand for technologies that help improve efficiency and reduce waste. Technology spend in the construction industry is slated to increase to $58B by 2022, already indicated by strong demand for Pillar's offering. Claims on property damage in construction sites can reach tens of millions of dollars  the difference between construction companies making a profit or facing substantial losses. Such costly damages are often attributed to slow detection of events, as well as a lack of data to make sure such events do not reoccur.

"Construction sites continue to be a dangerous place. From fires to fumes, the ability to predict occurrences that may harm workers, or the site itself, can serve as a powerful tool to save both lives and livelihoods. At Pillar, we've refined the definition of construction technology, offering a hardware and software experience that seamlessly does exactly that  opening the door to preventive action that dramatically lessens the probability and severity of such events," said Alex Schwarzkopf, co-founder and CEO of Pillar Technologies."

Pillar recently finished its pilot program with national construction companies and is now making the technology commercially available to early adopters. "At Pillar, we have deep domain expertise in construction and sensor technology, and we're excited to have Martha Notaras and the XL Innovate team add valuable insurance and operational expertise, which rounds out our offering," Schwarzkopf added.

"By bringing industrial-grade sensors to construction sites, Pillar can offer more accurate risk management to general contractors and potential policy optimization to insurance providers to better protect sites from damage," said Martha Notaras. "Gathering and analyzing key environmental data can help predict and prevent major issues while allowing insurers and their clients to reduce losses over the long run."

To learn more, please visit www.pillar.tech

About Pillar:

Pillar Technologies is a real-time risk management platform for general contractors. It helps its users predict and prevent damages. Through the use of on-site sensors, the company monitors for destructive environmental conditions such as fire outbreaks, water leak, and mold growth. These damages serve as major sources of revenue loss for general contractors and insurance companies. The features of the platform are risk mitigation, failure forecasting, and insurance optimization. Pillar Technologies is a U.S.-based company that was founded in 2015 by Alex Schwarzkopf, Sean Iacobone, and Matt Joyal.

About XL Innovate:

XL Innovate is a venture capital fund focused on investing in companies that address the world's most complex risks with new technologies and products for the insurance industry. XL Innovate provides companies with equity capital, unparalleled experience in building new ventures in this specific space, and access to XL Catlin's global insurance expertise and underwriting. To learn more, visit www.xlinnovate.com.

About XL Group plc:

XL Group plc (NYSE:XL), through its subsidiaries and under the XL Catlin brand, is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit www.xlcatlin.com.

About Hyperplane Venture Capital

Hyperplane Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on exceptional founders building machine intelligence and data companies. The company was founded by Brendan Kohler and Vivjan Myrto in 2015; and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit www.hyperplane.vc

SOURCE XL Innovate

Related Links

http://www.pillar.tech


MCHENRY - There's another side to the school funding controversy, State Rep. Steve Reick (R-McHenry) pointed out to Illinois Review soon after State Rep. Jeanne Ives' (R-Wheaton) criticisms were posted Friday morning.

Reick supported the school funding bill in this week's vote, albeit while "holding his nose," he says.

"While the bill still contains many of the things which I found objectionable in SB 1, [SB 1947] provides for things which would never have been enacted if we hadnt forced the Democrats to the table," Reick writes on his website explanation.
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

Hurricane Harvey Photo Speaks Volumes, But Doesn't Paint Whole Picture

Insurance Coverage and Natural Disasters

20th Anniversary of Princess Diana's Death

Death Unique Challenges of Breast Cancer Diagnosis for African-American Women

The Secret to Living Longer

MEDIA JOBS

Editor, Newsroom Standards  WSJ/Dow Jones (NY)

Contributor, Presidential Daily Brief  OZY (Remote)

Chicago Health Care Reporter  POLITICO Pro (IL)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

Find Funding for Your Next Story: 12 Programs Helping Fund Tomorrow's Journalism

Career Crossroads: Former Washington Post Reporter on Life After the Newsroom

Blog Profiles: Donut Blogs

-------------------------------------------------------------------

EXPERT ALERTS:

Hurricane Harvey Photo Speaks Volumes, But Doesn't Paint Whole Picture

Bill Hopkins

Health Care Attorney

Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP in Austin

The dramatic photo of residents of an assisted living facility in Dickinson, Texas, sitting in waist-deep water while waiting to be evacuated is one of the most widely shared photos of Hurricane Harvey's aftermath. While some were quick to pass judgment on the facility owner, her actions should be commended. Says Hopkins: "Similar to what we saw with Hurricane Katrina, there is not a lot that an assisted living facility can do in these circumstances. With elderly residents who are fragile and frequently equipment-dependent, you cannot simply load them in cars or vans and move them somewhere easily. In fact, studies have shown that sometimes attempting to relocate these residents in an emergency situation can result in stress-related incidents such as heart attacks and strokes. Reports indicate that the owner tried her best to get help and support, but was told that help was not readily available. Luckily for these residents, she did not take no for an answer and thought outside the box to get her people to safety. Rather than second-guessing her decision, she should be applauded for doing what was necessary to get her people safe."

Contact: Rhonda Reddick, [email protected]



Insurance Coverage and Natural Disasters

Robert Epstein

Shareholder; Co-Chair, National Construction Law Practice

Greenberg Traurig LLP

"All property owners should review their insurance programs to assure that they have the proper coverage in adequate amounts."

Epstein practices in the area of construction law and contracting. He wrote an article in the New Jersey Law Journal about rebuilding New Jersey's infrastructure after Hurricane Sandy, and can speak to similar topics.

Website: http://www.gtlaw.com/People/Robert-C-Epstein

Contact: Sarah Misailidis, [email protected]



20th Anniversary of Princess Diana's Death

Gregory Payne

Professor

Emerson College, Boston

"The 20th Anniversary of the tragedy provides us with an important historical opportunity to assess the worldwide meaning of Diana's death and how the celebrity spectacle of Diana has developed today into the reality TV-driven culture and society that now exists in the White House."

Dr. Payne's research in celebrity spectacle began with the tragic death of Princess Diana. Emerson College hosted the first national conference on celebrity spectacle and Diana's death in Boston in October 1997. There were two additional conferences, one in Paris on January 1998, and another in London at Goldsmiths College on August 1998. All three conferences featured top academics, journalists and individuals close to the "Diana Phenomenon," including Dr. Frederick Maillez, the doctor who treated Diana after the accident; Rene Delorm, Dodi Al-Fayed's former butler; and Lady Colin Campbell, author of "The Real Diana." In response to the phenomenon surrounding the tragedy on the global community, these conferences were organized by the Department of Communication at Emerson College to promote further dialogue and discussion in an effort to understand this rhetorical phenomenon and the short and long-term meaning to the diverse audience.

Website: www.emerson.edu

Contact: Michelle Gaseau, [email protected]



Unique Challenges of Breast Cancer Diagnosis for African-American Women

Cheryl Holloway, PhD

Director, Bachelor of Science in Public Health Program

South University

Dr. Holloway is available to discuss the unique challenges and implications of a breast cancer diagnosis for African-American women. As an African-American woman who is a two-time breast cancer survivor and a public health professional and educator, Dr. Holloway has both personal and professional insight into the barriers that sometimes stand between African-American female patients and proper medical screening, diagnosis and care.

Says Dr. Holloway: "A breast cancer diagnosis is terrifying, but after the initial shock subsides, women owe it to themselves and those who love them to take charge of their health. Oftentimes, black women face unique challenges in their breast cancer battle and they must feel confident enough to ask questions and get the information they need about their treatment. Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40, so check-ups and screening are vital. Yet, many black women miss these appointments because they don't have healthcare centers near their homes or the transportation to get them there. However, they should know there are many resources available to help them. I want every woman to have that information."

Based in the Detroit area, Holloway is the author of the book "The Black Woman's Breast Cancer Survival Guide, Understanding and Healing in the face of a Nationwide Crisis."

Website: www.southuniversity.edu

Contact: Betsy Nolen, [email protected]



The Secret to Living Longer

William Manger, MD, PhD

Founder

National Hypertension Association

Everyone wants to live longer and be healthy. And with U.S. life expectancy declining, we could all use a fountain of youth. And, although we haven't yet discovered the famous legend sought by Ponce de Leon, wouldn't it be fantastic to have a manual on how to achieve this on our own? Says Dr. Manger: "Our nation was built primarily on 'family, faith, friends, and hard work.' Furthermore the remarkable success of this democracy depends, to a very large extent, on the freedom we enjoy so much. And, we should appreciate more than ever, the crucial role of responsibility in our lives. This includes managing our own health. And we are now facing a health crisis as a direct result of unhealthy lifestyles."

In his 90s, Dr. Manger may have found the secrets to living longer. In his new book, "Live Longer, Live Better: Avoid the Risks," he outlines 10 key factors that impact health and lifestyle, and that ultimately define the very core of well-being. With an impressive resume that begins with his graduation from Yale in 1944 and includes a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic from 1950-1955, he has a lifelong history of emphasizing healthy living as a form of preventing chronic illnesses. He founded the National Hypertension Association in 1977, which has since conducted groundbreaking research, he has dedicated his life to improving lives.

Contact: Penny Sansevieri, [email protected]



****************

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Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

Editor, Newsroom Standards  WSJ/Dow Jones (NY)

Contributor, Presidential Daily Brief  OZY (Remote)

Chicago Health Care Reporter  POLITICO Pro (IL)

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OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected]

FIND FUNDING FOR YOUR NEXT STORY: 12 PROGRAMS HELPING FUND TOMORROW'S JOURNALISM. Great journalism costs money. This is truer today than ever, as the field shifts heavily to digital and mobile innovation. Journalists are crafting bold data experiments, exploring immersive storytelling tools -- like drones, 360 video, virtual reality -- and learning to code. At the same time, news organizations are struggling to replace the rapidly disappearing revenue they used to get from traditional advertising. For the full-time local journalist and independent freelancer, it can be especially challenging to secure budget. If you want to get adventurous with your reporting, but the money isn't there, here are some grant programs that fund stories for journalists that might not otherwise be told: http://prn.to/2xJmNWa

CAREER CROSSROADS: FORMER WASHINGTON POST REPORTER ON LIFE AFTER THE NEWSROOM. Career Crossroads is a series that features journalists, bloggers and freelancers and their professional journalists. In this installment, we caught up with Theola DeBose , a former reporter for the Washington Post who recently launched a podcast, "The Gray Side: Life After Journalism": http://prn.to/2xq7rpt

POST REPORTER ON LIFE AFTER THE NEWSROOM. Career Crossroads is a series that features journalists, bloggers and freelancers and their professional journalists. In this installment, we caught up with , a former reporter for the Washington Post who recently launched a podcast, "The Gray Side: Life After Journalism": http://prn.to/2xq7rpt BLOG PROFILES: DONUT BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and profiles a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the conversation. This week, they look at a few donut blogs: http://prn.to/2xuB8Gu

****************

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

SOURCE ProfNet

Related Links

http://www.profnet.com


WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The public is invited to a free talk called 'Cassini's Grand Finale,' with Conor Nixon in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT.

Cassini made its last close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan on April 22. That flyby gave the spacecraft the push it needed to leap over Saturn's rings and begin its final series of orbits, which pass between the rings and the planet. On Sept. 15, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will experience a dramatic, mission-ending plunge into Saturn.

Since its launch in 1997, Cassini has revolutionized our understanding of Saturn, its complex rings, the fascinating assortment of moons and the planet's dynamic magnetic environment. The most distant planetary orbiter ever launched, Cassini started making astonishing discoveries immediately upon arrival and continues today.

Over the course of its 13-year mission at Saturn, Cassini has made 127 close flybys of Titan, with many more-distant observations. Cassini also dropped off the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which descended through Titan's atmosphere to land on the surface in January 2005.

Successes for Cassini during its mission include the revelation that, as researchers had theorized, there were indeed bodies of open liquid hydrocarbons on Titan's surface. Surprisingly, it turned out Titan's lakes and seas are confined to the poles, with almost all of the liquid being at northern latitudes in the present epoch.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini spacecraft.

Nixon is a space scientist working in the Planetary Systems Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He helped to build and test the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument that is carried aboard Cassini. His work is currently focused on the scientific analysis of the data from CIRS and he is actively involved in developing future instruments - and even entire missions - that may one day get the chance to fly in space and continue NASA's exploration of the outer solar system. Nixon worked at NASA since 2000 when he joined the Cassini mission team at Goddard. Previously, he studied science in the U.K. at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, after growing up and attending school in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The Library of Congress maintains one of the largest and most diverse collections of scientific and technical information in the world. The Science, Technology and Business Division provides reference and bibliographic services and develops the general collections of the library in all areas of science, technology, business and economics.

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world and holds nearly 151.8 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The library serves Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website.

For inquiries about this or upcoming talks at the Library of Congress, the public can contact the library's Science, Technology and Business Division at 202-707-5664. ADA accommodations should be requested five business days in advance at 202-707-6382 (voice/tty) or [email protected].

The lecture will be later broadcast on the library's webcast page and YouTube channel "Topics in Science" playlist.

For more information contact Stephanie Marcus at 202-707-1212 or [email protected] or visit: http://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/

For directions, visit: http://www.loc.gov/visit/maps-and-floor-plans/

For more information about Conor Nixon, visit:

https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/conor.a.nixon

For more information about Cassini's final mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-prepares-to-say-goodbye-to-a-true-titan

For more information about the Cassini mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/cassini

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


SAN DIEGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra LNG & Midstream issued the following statement in response to Hurricane Harvey:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Texas and Louisiana that have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey. We continue to monitor the situation and support our Texas and Louisiana employees, their families and their safety during this difficult time.

The Cameron Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness lifted its Mandatory Order of Evacuation on Wednesday. Cameron LNG's contractor, a joint venture between Chicago Bridge and Iron and Chiyoda Corporation (CCJV), arrived Thursday morning to assess the site and indicated no significant damage during its preliminary inspection.

CCJV will continue their assessment over the next few days. We anticipate construction activities to resume next week when the site re-opens on September 5.

Sempra LNG & Midstream leads Sempra Energy's (NYSE: SRE) efforts to develop, own and operate midstream natural gas infrastructure, LNG receipt terminals and liquefaction facilities. Additional information about Sempra LNG & Midstream can be found at SempraLNGM.com.

This communication contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable legislation. These statements can be identified by words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements include: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by the U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the United States and other countries in which Sempra operates; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations on a timely basis, risks in completing construction projects on schedule and on budget, and risks in obtaining the consent and participation of partners; the availability of natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity; equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of Sempra's investments, and risks that Sempra's partners or counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt Sempra's operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gases and harmful emissions, and subject Sempra to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits) or may be disputed by insurers; cybersecurity threats to storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate Sempra's businesses; changes in the tax code as a result of potential federal tax reform, such as the elimination of the deduction for interest and non-deductibility of all, or a portion of, the cost of imported materials, equipment and commodities; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, revisions to favorable international trade agreements, and changes that make Sempra's exports less competitive or otherwise restrict Sempra's ability to export; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Sempra LNG & Midstream, LLC and Port Arthur LNG, LLC are not the same as the California Utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

SOURCE Sempra LNG & Midstream

Related Links

http://www.sempralngm.com


/PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. today reported 63,215 vehicle sales for August 2017, a 4.6 percent increase over August 2016 and marks the best-ever sales month in company history, breaking the previous record set in December 2016 (63,177). The automaker also reported year-to-date sales of 423,728 vehicles, an 8.1 percent gain over the same period in 2016.

August 2017 marks best-ever sales month in company history

marks best-ever sales month in company history Record August - monthly sales increase 4.6 percent over August 2016

69 consecutive months of yearly month-over-month growth

Best August ever for Crosstrek, Impreza and Outback

Best month ever for Crosstrek

42 consecutive months of more than 10,000 Outbacks sold

49 consecutive months of more than 10,000 Foresters sold

August marked the 42nd consecutive month of 40,000+ vehicle sales for the company. Crosstrek, Impreza and Outback sales were notably strong as each model achieved its best August ever. BRZ also enjoyed strong gains over August 2016. Crosstrek sales for August 2017 increased 45.9 percent over the same month in 2016 and marked the first time that Crosstrek has topped 12,000 units in a month.

"Heartfelt congratulations to our retailers who delivered not only the best August sales month ever, but also the best sales month ever in the history of the Subaru franchise with sales of 63,215 vehicles, exceeding the previous record set in December 2016 of 63,177 vehicles," said Thomas J. Doll, president and chief operating officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "Given the overall auto industry conditions, these sales results point to the continued strength of the Subaru brand."

"It was our 69th consecutive month of yearly, month over month sales increases. Our retailers gave a truly exceptional effort and we are on pace for our 9th consecutive sales record," said Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales, Subaru of America, Inc. "Crosstrek easily had its best month ever and we welcome the all-new 2018 model with the introduction of its advertising and marketing campaign in September that we know will resonate with customers."

Carline Aug-17 Aug-16 % Chg Aug-17 Aug-16 % Chg

MTD MTD MTD YTD YTD YTD Forester 15,528 19,658 -21.0% 118,768 114,769 3.5% Impreza 7,462 5,319 40.3% 58,265 40,284 44.6% WRX/STI 2,528 3,194 -20.9% 21,646 22,488 -3.7% Legacy 4,210 5,800 -27.4% 33,559 41,369 -18.9% Outback 20,327 17,358 17.1% 124,161 109,448 13.4% BRZ 337 302 11.6% 3,006 3,062 -1.8% Crosstrek 12,823 8,787 45.9% 64,323 60,549 6.2% TOTAL 63,215 60,418 4.6% 423,728 391,969 8.1%

About Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company's vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA has donated more than $120 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged more than 40,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do.

For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Michael McHale

Subaru of America, Inc.

856-488-3326

[email protected]



Diane Anton

Subaru of America, Inc.

856-488-5093

[email protected]

SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.subaru.com


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GrantWatch, the ever-expanding digital database of current grant and funding opportunities for nonprofits, small businesses and individuals, is calling for immediate grants of support on behalf of Hurricane Harvey's victims.

GrantWatch is encouraging all foundations & government agencies throughout the United States to use its portal to list a grant for nonprofits and small businesses. Libby Hikind, Founder and CEO of GrantWatch.com, suggests, "In keeping with your agency or organization's mission and vision, please allot at least 10% of your grant funds for those nonprofits in the areas hit by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. Send us an email to modify the geographic eligibility for grants already posted on our website or create a new disaster-relief grant."

Although Texas and Louisiana are currently in the rescue period of Hurricane Harvey, the residents, schools, hospitals, shelters, small businesses, community centers, religious institutions, etc. will soon need grants in every category, which we currently list on GrantWatch, to recover and rebuild. A funding source (grantor) is the expert in its own funding category and has the proven roadmap of success from previously implemented programs. Who better to guide these nonprofits, whose offices and files have been destroyed and whose staff members have become new Hurricane Harvey refugees.

Post grants here: https://www.grantwatch.com/add-a-grant.php

The need is overwhelming for programmatic grant funds from immediate disaster relief to medical to mental health to preschools to homeless to housing to animal rescuethe list does not end.

"As part of GrantWatch's commitment to the future rebuild and recovery," GrantWatch Founder and CEO Libby Hikind says, "I have directed my staff to provide nonprofits located in the hard-hit Hurricane Harvey areas the ability to view the full details and descriptions of relevant grants without a paid subscription."

Massive floods have left at least 40,000 residents without shelter and have caused evacuations from state-designated disaster areas. "There may be as many as half a million Texans who are eligible for financial support," Vice President Pence told KKTX radio on Tuesday.

State officials expect to see 50 inches of rain accumulate by Monday evening. Continued flooding will cause further displacement of residents, and many shelters are already struggling to meet the needs of new refugees while minimizing risks associated with overcrowding. An estimated 9,000 displaced people are now at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, which has a capacity for 5,000.

Come together for those in need.

Reach out to the foundations and agencies in your state.

What are they doing to help with the immediate need to bring clean water, food and medical supplies to those most severely affected by Hurricane Harvey? What programmatic grants do they offer that could have 10% set aside for the Hurricane Harvey landfall geographic areas, which will assist with the recovery and rebuild of Texas and Louisiana ? When you find funding opportunities, be sure to share them on GrantWatch.com.

GrantWatch.com is uniquely poised to fully publicize Hurricane Harvey funding opportunities on Texas.GrantWatch.com and Louisiana.GrantWatch.com under the 50+ categories and concurrently with the category of disaster relief. For additional questions or concerns, email us at [email protected] or call us at (561) 249-4129.

SOURCE GrantWatch

Related Links

https://www.grantwatch.com


STOCKHOLM, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Swedish Match has acquired V2 Tobacco, a privately held smokeless tobacco company, primarily active in Europe. V2 Tobacco is headquartered in Silkeborg, Denmark.

Solid growth in the modern chewing tobacco segment, with chew bags

Active and growing in many markets, notably in Denmark , Germany as well as on-line, with a small but dynamic presence in Scandinavian markets outside of Denmark

, as well as on-line, with a small but dynamic presence in Scandinavian markets outside of Main brands include Thunder , Offroad , and Phantom (chew bags and snus)

, , and (chew bags and snus) Production in Silkeborg, Denmark

Annual turnover in the range of 160 MSEK, and approximately 60 employees (FTE)

V2 Tobacco is a Danish company, founded in 2006 with modern and flexible production facilities in Silkeborg, Denmark. The yearly production volumes include close to 20 million cans of chew bags and snus combined.

V2 Tobacco's portfolio consists of brands including Thunder, Offroad, and Phantom. The company is active in more than 25 markets, with the main markets being Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Germany, Switzerland, on-line, and a small but growing presence in certain other European markets.

In this transaction, Swedish Match will acquire 100 percent of the shares in V2 Tobacco (production and sales/marketing in Denmark). The current CEO and one of the founders of the company, Marc Vogel, has agreed to remain with the Company, which will be operated for the most part independently from other Swedish Match businesses. The closing date of the transaction is August 31st.

"We are very excited about this transaction," said Lars Dahlgren, President and CEO of Swedish Match. "A vibrant and independent V2 Tobacco business fits very well as a complement to our existing organization. V2 Tobaccos modern and adaptable production allows Swedish Match improved flexibility and expanded opportunities to adapt to changing consumer desires, helping Swedish Match to move further toward its vision of a world without cigarettes."

"It has been of importance to us to find a buyer who shares our values and ambitions for the future. With their long history, competence and their extensive work with product quality, Swedish Match will give our operation in Silkeborg new and better opportunities to develop and grow, says Marc Vogel."

Details of the purchase price have not been disclosed.

Contacts:

Lars Dahlgren

President and Chief Executive Officer

Office +46-8-658-0441

Marlene Forsell

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Office +46-8-658-0489

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/swedish-match/r/swedish-match-acquires-v2-tobacco,c2337542

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Swedish Match
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Text IQ, the developers of the industry-leading technology platform that protects enterprises from legal and compliance disasters, announced today the appointment of Aaron Crews as general counsel and vice president of strategy.

A recognized expert in litigation, compliance, investigations, data privacy & protection, information security, enterprise risk and change management, Mr. Crews brings extensive legal, privacy, and compliance experience from both the public and private sectors.

Crews joins Text IQ after three years with Walmart where he was senior associate general counsel and global head of eDiscovery. Before joining Walmart, Crews spent seven years with San Francisco-based law firm Littler Mendelson as a shareholder and one of the law firm's eDiscovery counsel. His practice centered on helping Fortune 1000 clients manage and mitigate risk by providing focused guidance and expertise on issues related to electronic discovery, the use of computer forensics in litigation, data breach investigations and incident response, compliance investigations, IP and data theft investigations, and information governance matters.

"We are delighted to welcome Aaron to Text IQ," said Text IQ Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Apoorv Agarwal. "Aaron brings a depth of experience gained from an impressive career that has included litigation and risk management. The experience, creativeness and leadership skills he brings are exactly the mix we need right now to continue the momentum Text IQ has built to date."

In his role with Walmart, Aaron led the legal department's effort in adopting technology and was at the forefront of Walmart's evaluation of leading AI.

"During my evaluation of technologies and the impact they could have on reducing cost and risk for Walmart litigation matters, I came across Text IQ. After extensive testing, I realized the platform was doing something fundamentally different using artificial intelligence technology," shared Crews. "Once I saw the potential uses on unstructured communication content, I knew that I had to become a part of this inevitable success as the industry leader."

Crews first line of business as general counsel will be to participate with top industry leaders from Fortune 100 companies at The Inevitable. The Inevitable is Text IQ's inaugural summit being held to discuss artificial intelligence's ability to solve otherwise intractable problems, which have plagued enterprises with billions of dollars per year in spending related to risk and compliance. To learn more about this year's The Inevitable and receive notifications about the 2018 summit and other events, subscribe at textiq.com/theinevitable.

About Text IQ, Inc.

Text IQ was founded in 2014 by Apoorv Agarwal and Omar Haroun, and is backed by several Fortune 100 executives and top venture capital firms including Floodgate and Pathbreaker Ventures. Text IQ's clients include Fortune 200 companies with high brand value, highly regulated companies including leading health care, biotech, energy, gaming, insurance, and financial institutions, and government agencies.

To learn more about Text IQ, visit http://textiq.com

Related Links

How AI Startup Text IQ Got Profitable By Shaving Millions Off Customers' Legal Costs

Media Contact:

Ben Tillotson

[email protected]

SOURCE Text IQ

Related Links

http://www.textiq.com


CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago-area chapter of the Brain Aneurysm Foundation is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Since September 2007, the chapter, which has its home base in the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, was founded by Janet Sutherland-Madden, a brain aneurysm survivor who has worked tirelessly to raise money for research and build awareness of the warning signs of brain aneurysms.

The chapter has helped start up support groups at Loyola, Hinsdale and Resurrection Hospitals and raised money for the national Brain Aneurysm Foundation. A Research Chair was established this year thanks to the efforts of Sutherland and her team of volunteers.

Sutherland-Madden was in her 30s when she collapsed on her kitchen floor with a ruptured brain aneurysm that left her in a coma and fighting for her life. Her recovery, which doctors deemed miraculous, was fueled by her indomitable will and a desire to make a difference in the lives of others. In 2009, she crafted a bill calling for the permanent creation of Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month in Illinois for the month of September, a measure that was successfully passed with the help of former State Rep. Sandy Pihos and the support of Illinois hospitals and neurosurgeons.

She now travels annually to Washington, D.C, with her husband, Kevin, to lobby with survivors for federal research funding. Through their work with the Brain Aneurysm Foundation at both the local and national level, awareness of brain aneurysms is at an all-time high. Local hospitals now hold brain aneurysm awareness events during the month of September and there are at least five support groups for brain aneurysm survivors in the Chicago area.

"This was my hope in increasing awareness. I knew how powerful a month recognizing a disease can be," said Sutherland-Madden. "People need to know that a brain aneurysm ruptures every 18 minutes and 1 in 50 people have an aneurysm that could rupture at any time."

To educate children about compassion and helping others, Sutherland-Madden wrote about her dog Andrew J, an abused and abandoned Pembroke corgi that she rescued after her recovery. Andrew J immediately took on the role as a "therapy" dog for Janet. The book highlights that caring for dogs often inspires us to take better care of ourselves, particularly in times of crisis.

The book can be found at Lincoln Public Library in Lincoln, Mass., as well as libraries at British International School of Chicago - Lincoln Park, Holy Family Ministries School in Chicago, Arbor View Elementary School in Glen Ellyn, IL, and the Library of Congress.

The Brain Aneurysm Foundation, a globally recognized leader in brain aneurysm awareness, education, support, advocacy and research funding, will receive a portion of the proceeds of a sale of the book. Proceeds will also be donated to Corgiaid, a nonprofit organization that assists in the rescue and fostering of corgis and corgi mixes.

For more information, please contact Barry Holmes at 913-626-6264 or Janet Sutherland-Madden at [email protected] or (773)-633-8006 or log onto www.bafound.org. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Lulu.com, http://www.janetesutherland.com/.

SOURCE Sutherland Media

Related Links

http://www.sutherland-media.com/default.html


ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Salvation Army has activated all its trained disaster relief teams in the United States and Canada and is beginning to mobilize teams in Mexico. Every team being deployed to Texas is providing food, hydration, cleanup kits, hygiene supplies, and emotional and spiritual care to first responders and survivors.

To assist with relief efforts, The Salvation Army has deployed 74 mobile feeding units throughout Texas and set up two field kitchens in the Houston area. Each mobile feeding unit can serve up to 1,500 meals per day, and each field kitchen can serve up to 15,000 meals per day. Also, mobile shower units have been delivered to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

"The size and scope of the impacted area are so vast that the rescue and relief efforts are different from other disasters in recent years," said Lt. Col. Ronnie Raymer, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army in Texas. "We haven't activated our entire national network of trained disaster staff and volunteers to this scale since Hurricane Katrina."

Snapshot of Service Along the Gulf Coast (as of Aug. 31)

Served 156,893 meals, snacks and food boxes

Provided 9,130 hours of employee and volunteer service

Distributed 1,322 comfort kits

Provided emotional and spiritual care to 7,996 first responders and survivors

"Response efforts to this catastrophic weather event will be costly and last for years," said Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, The Salvation Army's National Community Relations and Development Secretary. "With generous public support, The Salvation Army will be here to help the millions affected by Hurricane Harvey for as long as they're in need."

To contribute to The Salvation Army's Hurricane Harvey disaster relief efforts, visit HelpSalvationArmy.org, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or text "STORM" to 51555.

About The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army, established in London in 1865, has been supporting those in need without discrimination for more than 135 years in the U.S. More than 25 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through a range of social services: food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless, and opportunities for underprivileged children. For every dollar donated to The Salvation Army, 82 cents is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide. The Salvation Army tracks the level of need across the country with the Human Needs Index (HumanNeedsIndex.org). For more information, go to SalvationArmyUSA.org or follow on Twitter @SalvationArmyUS.

SOURCE The Salvation Army

Related Links

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org


LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Summary

The UK is a highly developed and competitive economy in Western Europe, however, the economy has entered into an era of uncertainty post the Brexit referendum, though the telecom industry is not expected to be affected in the short term. The United Kingdom offers a favourable business environment with low churn rate, despite low minutes of usage and ARPS.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089338/

MarketLine's Premium industry reports provide a comprehensive market view including sections on: industry risk & reward, key industry trends and drivers, industry SWOT analysis, industry benchmarking to compare key performance indicators with regional and global markets, competitive landscape, and innovation.

Key Highlights

Data and internet revenue outpaces voice revenue

Contrary to voice, mobile data revenue increased at a CAGR of 1.6% during the review period, with expectations for the rise to continue at a CAGR of 3.2% during 2016-2021, to reach US$16,769.6 million. Voice revenue fell during 2012-2016 at a CAGR of -13.2%. It is expected to continue to drop at a CAGR of -8.1% during the forecast period, reaching US$5,716.8 million in 2021.

Improving technology to foster data demand

In terms of mobile subscriptions, the UK is the second largest market in western Europe. Increasing mobile subscriptions and enhancement in technology resulted in the growth of mobile data users (with respect to population) from 84.5% in 2012 to 85.5 % in 2016. This is expected to reach 94.4% in 2021. With growing data penetration, coupled with a consistent rise in demand for data and high speeds, operators are largely investing in technology and network enhancement. Subscriptions for LTE-4G significantly increased at a CAGR of 455.1% during the review period, and are expected to continue to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% over 2016-2021.

5G roll-out strategy

The UK's customers, which highly depend on connectivity as a daily necessity, are experiencing an increase in mobile data traffic per subscriber every year. The roll-out of 5G will further drive mobile data consumption. This technology is expected to be introduced by 2020, with initial pre-commercial deployments expected to begin in 2018 onwards. In order to provide the best options within the telecom industry, Ofcom is planning to choose 700 MHz, 3.4 to 3.8 GHz, and 26 GHz to roll out the technology.

Scope

- Risk/Reward Index - enables you to assess the risks and potential rewards of investing in the United Kingdom Telecommunications market in comparison with other European countries.

- Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Telecommunications Industry Statistics including fixed/mobile revenue, subscriptions, churn, market share, and ARPS are analyzed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the United Kingdom Telecommunications market.

- Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the United Kingdom Telecommunications market.

- Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the United Kingdom Telecommunications market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of fixed or mobile revenue,

subscriptions, ARPS, penetration, and usage to gauge potential for growth or market entry.

- Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the United Kingdom Telecommunications market by business segment on metrics such as such as churn, ARPU, and subscriber and revenue growth.

Reasons to buy

- How will Brexit affect the United Kingdom's Telecommunications market?

- Have technological advances drastically changed the face of the Telecommunications industry?

- How is the market performing in terms of: Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, and Customer Churn?

- How risky is it to invest in the United Kingdom Telecommunications industry compared to other European countries?

- What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as Voice, Data, Prepaid, Postpaid, Broadband, and IPTV?

- Who are the leading players in the United Kingdom Telecommunications industry and how does their performance compare?

- What trends are being witnessed within the United Kingdom Telecommunications industry?

- How will the breakdown for mobile connection technologies look by 2021?

- What are the United Kingdom Telecommunications industry's Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face?

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5089338/

About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishershttp://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


Uzbekistan Independence Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, congratulations to the people of Uzbekistan as you celebrate 26 years of independence. We also congratulate President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on his first year as President.

"Over the past 26 years, the United States and Uzbekistan have partnered on issues such as promoting regional stability, security, and prosperity. This partnership has grown stronger each year, and we look forward to even closer cooperation in the future. The United States continues to affirm our support for Uzbekistans independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.



"We send our best wishes to the people of Uzbekistan on this special day."
CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Business Network North America is pleased to announce that Thierry Peugeot, Former Chairman of PSA Peugeot Citroen, Michael Greenspon, 5th generation family member of the New York Times and Richard Edelman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Edelman are scheduled to present in September for a special "family only" event in New York City.

Mr. Peugeot will discuss how his family was able to stay in business together for over 200 years. With the strategic needs and challenges facing their business, and the financial needs of the family they moved from coffee milling, to the bicycle business before creating a successful enterprise in the automotive industry. Currently, The PSA Group is the 2nd largest car manufacturer in Europe, produces over 3 Million cars annually, and has over 54 Billion . in sales.

Mr. Peugeot started his career outside of the family business as many successful family owners do to gain experience and build credibility outside of the family system. He entered the business in 1988 and climbed his way up the ladder until he was appointed Chairman in 2002. At the family business board level, a primary responsibility is to balance the needs of the family with the needs of the business.

Richard Edelman, a 2nd generation family member, will present findings from the 2017 Edelman Family Business Trust Barometer. The 2017 Edelman Family Business Trust Barometer is a comprehensive look across twelve global markets into the drivers of and challenges to family business trust. Results specifically reveal expectations of family companies and the families that lead them; insights around the perception of wealth and philanthropic efforts; and perspective on how to best prepare and credential next generation leaders.

"The theme of the conference is building resiliency in families and family businesses. We are excited to have Mr. Peugeot share his family story and critical decision points, and Mr. Edelman provide research and insights into family business trust and long term success. Families love learning directly from other families, that's what makes our events unique and inspiring," says Jennifer Muntz, Executive Director of Family Business Network.

Finally, Andrew Keyt, President of Family Business Network will interview Michael Greenspon on the topic of staying relevant in turbulent times. Mr. Greenspon will answer questions related to environmental changes that impacted The New York Times and how the family responded to maintain family unity and keep the business relevant over the years.

About FBN-North America

We are the North American chapter of Family Business Network International, founded in 1995 as a non-profit network run by family businesses, for family businesses, with the aim of strengthening success over generations. FBN continually increases its ability to help family businesses grow, succeed and prosper through the exchange of best practices, new ideas and the peer-to-peer learning activities within its network. FBN-NA is currently preparing for its next Family Forum and Pre-Forum Workshop to be held September 27-29, 2017, in Times Square in New York City.

Contact

Telephone

Email

Website Jennifer Muntz

630-936-3096

[email protected]

www.fbn-na.org



SOURCE Family Business Network North America

Related Links

http://www.fbn-na.org


NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tokio Marine Group companies are combining to donate a total of $250,000 to assist with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. With the storm and its remnants still impacting Texas and parts of the south, each company is also inviting its employees to make contributions to help the affected communities.

"Tokio Marine has several offices and employees in the path of Harvey, including the headquarters of Tokio Marine HCC in Houston," shared Yasunobu Fukuda, President and CEO of Tokio Marine North America. "On behalf of the Tokio Marine Group, I extend our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this disaster."

Nine of the companies, including Tokio Marine Holdings in Japan, have pledged a total of $225,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Safety National will donate $25,000 to All Hands Volunteers, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that addresses the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters.

Here is the full list of Tokio Marine companies pledging their support:

Tokio Marine Holdings ( Japan ): $100,000

): Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY): $50,000

Tokio Marine America : $25,000

: Safety National: $25,000

Delphi Financial Group: $10,000

First Insurance Company of Hawaii (FICOH): $10,000

(FICOH): TMNA Services: $10,000

Tokio Millennium Re: $10,000

Reliance Standard Life Insurance: $5,000

Matrix Absence Management: $5,000

FICOH and Tokio Millennium have also pledged to match employee donations up to $10,000. Reliance Standard and Matrix have each pledged to match employee donations up to $5,000. Employees at Tokio Marine HCC have already raised $28,000 through a Youcaring.com crowdfunding site for their colleagues.

Tokio Marine is also calling on its other group companies to consider extending support.

About Tokio Marine Group

Tokio Marine Group consists of Tokio Marine Holdings and 245 subsidiaries and 32 affiliates located worldwide, operating extensively in the non-life insurance business, life insurance business, and financial and general businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.tokiomarinehd.com/en/group/

SOURCE Tokio Marine Group
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Triad Financial Services, Inc. along with investor partners have launched a relief program in response to the devastation that has occurred due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey.

The relief program was designed to assist those that have been displaced by Hurricane Harvey and are in need of immediate financial housing relief.

The program is reducing its current rate sheet by .50%. The rate reduction will be honored through 12/31/17 with reconsideration if the factory is behind on production.

with reconsideration if the factory is behind on production. Those who qualify for this program have been displaced from their current home due to Hurricane Harvey. The homeowner will need to provide proof of loss in the form of insurance, FEMA, etc.

A 90-day payment deferral can be applied to loan applications that were received on or after Aug. 31, 2017 .

To learn more about this program and if you may qualify, please contact Triad Financial Services, Inc. underwriting department at 1-800-522-2013 ext. 1612.

About TRIAD Financial Services, Inc.

Triad Financial Services, Inc. is one of the top consumer lenders in the nation. We have been providing high-yields and low-risk secured loans since 1959. Currently, we have more than 120 lending partners across the United States. Triad Financial Services, Inc. is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, with offices in California and Illinois. We're proud to be named Northeast Florida's Fastest 50 Growing Companies for many years by the Jacksonville Business Journal; as well as the National Lender of the Year by the Manufactured Housing Institute. To learn more about Triad Financial Services, visit www.triadfs.com, follow us on Twitter @Triad_FS and like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TriadFinancialServices.

Triad Financial Services Contact:

Don Glisson, Jr., CEO

904-223-1111 ext. 1220

email: [email protected]

SOURCE Triad Financial Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.triadfs.com


"We are excited to begin work with the U.S Coast Guard on this important program. This is Tyonek's first contract award from the Coast Guard and we look forward to a long-standing relationship with this customer," said Steve Adlich, President, TMG. "Our team is committed to the success of this mission and ready to support the complex manufacturing requirements of the HC-144B Minotaur program."

For the Minotaur program, TFD will manufacture and deliver up to 32 HC-144B Minotaur mission system operator consoles (two per aircraft), and up to 16 HC-144B Minotaur mission system aircraft integration kits in accordance with government-provided specifications and tolerances. All manufacturing and support work for this program will be conducted at Tyonek's Madison, AL facility.

About Tyonek Native Corporation

Tyonek Native Corporation (TNC) is the parent company to a variety of subsidiary businesses in industries including ISO 9000 certified defense manufacturing and engineering, aircraft maintenance, information technology services, land and resource development, and construction. The company owns and manages over 200,000 acres of land, primarily on the West side of Cook Inlet in South Central Alaska.

An Alaska Native Corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA), the company is governed by a board of nine directors and a management team who are accountable to a community of more than 900 shareholders.



The corporation's headquarters is in Anchorage, Alaska, with offices in Madison, Alabama, and subsidiary facilities located throughout the continental United States. For more information, visit www.tyonek.com.

SOURCE Tyonek Native Corporation
"Gaining the U.S. Marine Corps approval to enter into production and the award of the first contract are milestones made possible by the tremendous achievements of the joint Sikorsky, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and U.S. Marine Corps team," said Dr. Mike Torok, vice president, CH-53K programs. "This is what we have been striving for - to deliver this amazing capability to the U.S. Marine Corps."

Under the $303,974,406 million contract, Sikorsky will deliver two production aircraft to the U.S. Marine Corps in 2020 along with spares and logistical support. Aircraft assembly will take place at Sikorsky's headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut.

"We have just successfully launched the production of the most powerful helicopter our nation has ever designed. This incredible capability will revolutionize the way our nation conducts business in the battlespace by ensuring a substantial increase in logistical through put into that battlespace. I could not be prouder of our government-contractor team for making this happen," said Col Hank Vanderborght, U.S. Marine Corps program manager for the Naval Air Systems Command's Heavy Lift Helicopters program, PMA-261.

The CH-53K King Stallion provides unmatched capability with three times the lift capability of its predecessor, the CH-53E Super Stallion. The helicopter cabin, a full foot wider, gives increased payload capacity to internally load 463L cargo pallets, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) or a European Fenneck armored personnel carrier while still leaving the troop seats installed. The CH-53K's external hook system provides the capability to lift three independent external loads simultaneously. These true heavy lift internal and external cargo improvements give the Marine Corps tremendous mission flexibility and efficiency in delivering combat power in support of the Marine Air Ground Task Force or in delivering humanitarian assistance or disaster relief to those in need.

The King Stallion also brings enhanced safety features for the warfighter. Full authority fly-by-wire flight controls and mission management reduce pilot workload enabling the crew to focus on mission execution. Features include advanced stability augmentation, flight control modes that include attitude command-velocity hold, automated approach to a stabilized hover, position hold and precision tasks in degraded visual environments, and tactile cueing. These features permit the pilot to focus confidently on the mission at hand while operating in degraded environments.

The CH-53K's internal health monitoring systems with fault detection/fault isolation, coupled with a digital aviation logistics maintenance system that interfaces with the Fleet Common Operating Environment for fleet management, provides improved combat readiness for the Marine Corps.

The U.S. Department of Defense's Program of Record remains at 200 CH-53K aircraft. The U.S. Marine Corps intends to stand up eight active duty squadrons, one training squadron, and one reserve squadron to support operational requirements.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

For additional information, visit our website: http://lockheedmartin.com/ch53k

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Related Links

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Forbes Councils combines an innovative, high-touch approach to community management perfected by the team behind Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) with the extensive resources and global reach of Forbes. As a result, Forbes Council members get access to the people, benefits, and expertise they need to grow their businesses  and a dedicated member concierge who acts as an extension of their own team, providing personalized one-on-one support.

Elsey said, "Having been featured in Forbes Magazine in the past and to now have the opportunity to serve on the Forbes Business Development Council is a privilege and honor. I believe that my position on the Forbes Business Development Council allows Elsey Enterprises better leverage our expertise with businesses and other organizations that are interested in making a profit, while they are also making a global social impact."

Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, "We are honored to welcome Wayne Elsey into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world."

About Wayne Elsey

Wayne Elsey is the Founder & CEO of Elsey Enterprises. The company offers its services to nonprofits, social enterprises and for-profits looking to make the biggest social impact possible. It achieves this through its independent brands: [email protected], Not Your Father's Charity, Funds2Orgs, Sneakers4Funds, Shoes With Heart, SocialGoodU, and CELG Freight. Elsey is also the founder and former CEO of Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that helped put shoes on the feet of those in need in response to some of the world's largest natural disasters. Elsey has been featured on NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, Today Show, & Fox News. He is also the author of Almost Isn't Good Enough, the Not Your Father's Charity book series and Get Off the Couch: Grip & Rip and Break the Barriers Holding You Back in Life. Elsey is available for interviews and speaking engagements.

Contact

Yvonne Keller, Vice President, Operations

Elsey Enterprises

Office: (407) 440-8264

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Wayne Elsey Enterprises

Related Links

http://elseyenterprises.com


SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Workfront, the leading provider of cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solutions, today announced new capabilities to help organizations democratize work, eliminate manual tasks, and reduce duplication. This product release is the second of three major product releases for the year. Among the key features as part of the 2017.2 release are: real-time event subscriptions, resource scheduling, and improved proofing resolutions.

"I am impressed with the direction of Workfront's new resourcing and scheduling tools," said David Cornwell, PMO at Pentana Solutions. "Our users are already reporting great improvements with features delivered to-date, such as the new project scheduling screen. We look forward to implementing further functionality as it is delivered in the near future."

"Reigniting workplace productivity will require a reinvention in how we approach knowledge work, meaning we must equip teams with technology that allows for more remote collaboration, access to previous work to eliminate duplication and enables team members to work the way they want to work," said Steven ZoBell, Workfront Chief Product & Technology Officer. "The new Workfront 2017.2 release is a huge stepping stone toward complete work automation and shows Workfront is dedicated to being at the forefront of digital transformation in the workplace."

Push Work Forward with Realtime Event Subscriptions

Organizations can keep work flowing across the enterprise with real-time integration of external tools  such as Tableau or Salesforce  by leveraging Event Subscriptions. This update to the Workfront API allows users to drive work forward by creating fast, triggered experiences and workflows throughout productivity, marketing, reporting, and other enterprise tools. Previously, integrations would have to periodically sync Workfront with external platforms on a regular basis. This update aims to create boundary-less integration on an enterprise-wide scale.

Improved Resource Scheduling

In additional to real-time integration, Workfront 2017.2 helps managers prioritize their teams' tasks and "get home on time" with updates to resource scheduling. The new scheduler makes assigning work simple by providing visibility into availability, priority of work by team, and scope of work for quick assignments and scheduling. Reduce the burnout your team experiences when they have too much on their plate, and help them produce their best work with a balanced load. It also engages workers throughout the entire organization through easy event-triggered integrations and request forms accessible from anywhere.

Proof and Review from Anywhere with Improved Proofing Resolutions

A long-time struggle for producers of creative work is making sure the work looks great on the many digital devices being used. You can build a file on your computer, but not really have a clear picture of how it will look in production on a web browser, or a mobile phone. With Workfront 2017.2, users can now ensure that their content will look great on any device with customized or pre-determined proofing resolutions.

The release of Workfront 2017.2 is the second of three work automation updates anticipated from the company's product development team in 2017. Visit our website for more information on Workfront 2017.2 and how Workfront continues to democratize the workplace.

About Workfront

Workfront is a cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solution that helps marketing, IT and other enterprise teams conquer the chaos of excessive email, redundant status meetings and disconnected tools. Unlike other tools, Workfront Enterprise Work Cloud is a centralized, easy-to-adopt solution for managing and collaborating on all types of work through the entire work lifecycle, which improves team productivity and executive visibility. Workfront is trusted by thousands of global enterprises, like Cars.com, Cisco Systems, Comcast, iProspect, Schneider Electric and Trek. To learn more, visit www.workfront.com or follow us on Twitter @Workfront.

Contact: Shelbi Gomez

[email protected]

801-477-9813

SOURCE Workfront

Related Links

https://www.workfront.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today marks the 20th anniversary of Worldnet International, the fashion elite's most reliable logistics company. What first started in 1997 as a two-man team by brother and sister Richard and Mary Bhullar; has blossomed into a business with five global offices and 150+ employees with a steady passion for delivering amazing customer service.

"We feel very privileged to have the opportunity to provide time critical shipping solutions to clients that continue to change the world we live in," said Richard.

The relationships that Worldnet continues to build with their clients is unlike any other company, especially within the logistics industry. Their merchandise, which consists of fun-spirited tees and their blue logo hoodies can be seen worn by fashion's most influential and elite crowds.

Vogue.com recently deemed the Worldnet hoodie as "fashion's newest red-hot item." The Worldnet hoodie was also featured in Elle's September 2017 print issue. One can search the hashtags #OnWednesdaysWeWearWorldnet and #WeGiveAShip to see the outpour of admiration and gratitude Worldnet customers feel towards the company.

"Our value has always been our people and partners. We believe that we must provide an amazing customer experience and exceed their expectations, every day," explained Mary.

Ingrained in Worldnet's daily operations are seven core values that Richard and Mary attribute to their humble beginnings in London. Their mother Patsy, a maternity nurse, always believed in the power of maintaining a positive attitude and persistence. Patsy remortgaged her home 20 years ago to help start Worldnet.

"Our customers have driven us to be the company we are today; on a constant mission to improve and keep improving our services and the customer experience. We will continue to grow, improve, exceed our customer's expectations by hiring amazing people. We look forward to the next 20 years and beyond," shared Richard.

About Worldnet International:

Worldnet International is a premium logistics company that provides white glove services to the world's most cutting edge and innovative companies. Their customizable shipping services include Next Flight Out, Same-Day, Next-Day and Standard shipping services to accommodate the needs of each client. Whether international or domestic, the Worldnet International team will get it there. www.Worldnet-intl.com

SOURCE Worldnet International

Related Links

http://www.worldnet-intl.com


BAODING, China, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. ("Yingli" or "Yingli Solar") (NYSE:YGE), one of the world's leading solar panel manufacturers, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Yingli Green Energy Americas (Yingli Americas) will be moving from current offices in New York and San Francisco to the new U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Cira Center, starting in October 2017.

New Address of Yingli Americas: Cira Center 2929 Arch Street, Suite 1175, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Email: [email protected]

All other contact information including e-mail and web address remains unchanged. In the new location, Yingli Americas will continue to provide customers with products, services and professional renewable energy solutions. Yingli Americas will be hosting an Open House in the opening weeks and will be making an additional announcement for past and present customers to visit the new office and meet the U.S. team.

Yingli Americas is also setting appointments now for Solar Power International Expo in Las Vegas, NV at Mandalay Bay Booth #4343. We welcome you to our booth to see the new N-type PANDA BIFACIAL modules and get to know our new marketing and sales strategy in the U.S.

We are all looking forward to your visit. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any members of our staff or you can directly reach out to Brian L. Schmidt, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for North America. [email protected].

About Yingli Green Energy

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE), known as "Yingli" or "Yingli Solar", is one of the world's leading solar panel manufacturers. Yingli's manufacturing covers the photovoltaic value chain from ingot casting and wafering through solar cell production and solar panel assembly. Headquartered in Baoding, China, Yingli has more than 20 regional subsidiaries and branch offices and has distributed more than 17GW solar panels to customers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.yinglisolar.com and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Weibo.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "target" and similar statements. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Yingli Green Energy's control, which may cause Yingli Green Energy's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties as to Yingli Green Energy's ability to meet the standards necessary to maintain listing of its ADSs on the NYSE or other stock exchange, including its ability to cure the non-compliance with NYSE's continued listing criteria in a timely manner or at all. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in Yingli Green Energy's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Yingli Green Energy does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

SOURCE Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited

Related Links

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"The Holy Scriptures are written in a way so that you need a prophesied teacher to understand them. This has always been the pattern in biblical history. In the last days I am that teacher, I can prove it and more than that, I can help you understand the Scriptures," Yisrayl promises.

Yisrayl says The House of Yahweh publishes and broadcasts teachings 24/7 at no cost and says no fluff is added, only pure content that nourishes the spiritual mind and guides to Eternal Life. He adds there are always leaders on hand to answer scriptural questions with Scriptures and not man's interpretations. Yisrayl says The House of Yahweh is set up based on the Scriptures and preaches the same original Message the Savior taught and acts as a Guide to Eternal Life. The House of Yahweh is prophesied for this generation

"The House of Yahweh has a big job, and there are a lot of Prophecies that go into proving who we are and what we do, and all of the information is available that has this proof. If one is willing to study, they will see for themselves," Yisrayl adds.

To read this post, go to http://yahwehsbranch.com.

About Us

The House of Yahweh, fully recognized in 1983 as a non-profit organization in the United States of America, continues to this present day to fulfill its commissioned work of preaching and publishing the True Message of Salvation.

The House of Yahweh has correctly restored the Heavenly Father's Name and the Savior's True Name in the translation named in Scripture as The Book of Yahweh.

SOURCE The House of Yahweh

Related Links

http://www.yahwehsbranch.com


Shimla, Aug 29 : The CBI on Tuesday arrested eight policemen, including an IPS officer, for the custodial death of an accused in the sensational gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Shimla district last month, an official said.

The policemen included Inspector General (IG) Zahur H. Zaidi, who was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the crime, and Deputy Superintendent Manoj Joshi.

"We made an arrest of eight policemen, including IG Zahur H. Zaidi," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told IANS over phone from New Delhi.

He said all of them were arrested for the custodial death of an accused.

Police said the 16-year-old girl was offered a lift in a vehicle by the accused on July 4 when she was returning home from school in Kotkhai town, some 56 from the state capital.

On the way, they raped and murdered her in a nearby forest. Her naked body with injury marks was found two days later.

The arrested persons are prime accused Rajinder Singh, who offered her the lift, Ashish Chauhan, Subhash Bisht, Deepak Kumar, Suraj Singh and Lokjan.

The autopsy report mentioned injuries on the girl's body.

However, a new twist in the case came after Rajinder Singh allegedly murdered fellow accused Surat Singh in the police lock-up in Shimla on July 19.

Following the gang rape of the girl, people held massive protests in Himachal Pradesh. The family of the victim alleged that the "real culprits", who belong to high-profile families, have gotten away "scot free".

Later, on the plea of the state government the state High Court recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.
Washington, Aug 30 : A devastating storm that swept through the US state of Texas made a second landfall in Louisiana state on Wednesday, dousing the region with heavy rains that officials warned could lead to catastrophic and life-threatening flooding.

Five days after roaring onto the Texas coast, leaving behind disastrous flooding and reportedly claiming 30 lives, Harvey, now a tropical storm, made landfall early in the morning near tiny Cameron in Louisiana.

Forecasters said another five to 10 inches of rain could fall in western Louisiana, where rivers and bayous were already swollen with near-record downpours, the Washington Post reported.

The storm is expected to bring winds of 30-40 mph and a 2-4 foot storm surge along the Louisiana-Texas border, the report said.

Harvey's immediate effects were not expected as devastating as a Category 4 hurricane that first blasted Houston and other parts of Texas beginning on Friday. But the National Weather Service (NWS) said that "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding will continue in and around Houston eastward into southwest Louisiana for the rest of the week".

As Harvey approached, storm-battered Louisiana -- where memories of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in the state 12 years ago, are still fresh -- hunkered down, evacuating hundreds of people and deploying the Louisiana National Guard.

Louisiana beefed up emergency resources, doubling up on high water vehicles, boats and helicopters on duty.

Governor John Bel Edwards urged people to "prepare and pray". Flash flood warnings were issued across eastern Texas and western Louisiana.

The rainfall in Texas set a new record for the continental US, the NWS said on Tuesday. A rain gauge in Cedar Bayou recorded nearly 52 inches of rain since Friday.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner imposed a curfew in the city starting Tuesday from midnight to 5 a.m. to deter looting of abandoned homes.

President Donald Trump visited Texas on Tuesday to survey the damage brought by Harvey. He arrived in Corpus Christi, where Hurricane Harvey first made landfall on Friday, with First Lady Melania Trump.

Trump said he wanted the relief effort to stand as an example of how to respond to a storm. "We want to do it better than ever before. This storm, it's epic what happened. But you know what, it happened in Texas and Texas can handle anything."

The President will not be visiting Houston, said the White House as he did not want his visit to disrupt the emergency response.

Trump has declared a federal state of emergency in both Texas and Louisiana. The move releases emergency government funding and other assistance.
Madrid, Aug 31 : A record 10.5 million tourists visited Spain in July, marking a 10.1 per cent increase on the same period last year, new official figures revealed on Thursday.

The latest data brings the total of tourist visits to Spain in the first half of 2017 to 46.9 million people, reports Efe news.

Once again, tourists from the UK topped the ranks and in July comprised 22.1 per cent of the overall number of foreign vacationers who chose Spain as their summer destination.

Over 10 million Britons travelled to Spain in the first six months of this year, followed by Germans, 6.8 million of whom visited in that period.

The prosperous northeast region of Catalonia, where the culture-hub city of Barcelona is located, proved most popular among foreign visitors to Spain and welcomed more than 2.5 million foreign visitors in July -- 24.3 per cent of the total number and a 6.5 per cent uptick year-on-year.

Following closely behind with 23.6 per cent of the overall share was the Balearic Islands region, location of the ever-popular tourist hotspots Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca.

The third most-popular choice for foreign visitors was the sun-drenched southern region of Andalusia, home to the cities of Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Marbella.
Budapest, Sep 1 : Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked the European Union to pay half of the costs of the country's anti-immigrant border protection, Minister of Prime Minister's Office Janos Lazar has said here.

The prime minister made the request to the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in a letter, asking the Brussels-based organization to cover half of the costs of the Hungarian anti-immigrant border protection, which is estimated at some 800 million euros ($952 million), Lazar said at a press conference on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Lazar, the issue of border protection should also be discussed in the case of European solidarity, which should be manifested also in practice. Thus, the European Union must also bear the costs incurred on the Hungarian side.

"We want to have solidarity not only in messages, but also in concrete actions," he said, stressing that since the outbreak of the migration crisis, Hungary kept the Schengen border of the European Union safe by building a frontier fence and by training border guards - financed by Hungarian taxpayers - not only protecting themselves, but also protecting all citizens of the continent against the flood of illegal immigrants.

"It is not an exaggeration to say - that the safety of European citizens is also created by Hungarian police and soldiers," he added.

The EC had already assisted a number of countries; Greece has already received the promised 1 billion euros, Italy 656 million euros, and Bulgaria 100 million euros. It is time for Hungary to submit its request, too, according to Lazar.

Lazar also pointed that the plan for building camps in Libya was in line with the Hungarian standpoint, as well as returning the migrants back to their country of origin and the elimination of the causes of immigration at their roots.

He recalled that the Hungarian government has proposed hot spots for two years now.

The question of building migrants-camps in Libya, where they can present their request, is on the table now in Libya.

He also confirmed that the government extended the crisis situation due to massive immigration until March 7 next year.
Aizawl, Sep 1 : Over two decades after it was conceptualised, the first unit of a 60 MW power plant in Mizoram began generating electricity this week -- making it the third power-surplus state in northeastern India after Sikkim and Tripura.

"The first unit (30 MW) of the 60 MW capacity Tuirial hydro-power plant started generation on trial basis from Tuesday (August 29)," North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) General Manager P.K. Bora told IANS.

"The second unit of the project would start generation from either October-end or the first week of November."

With a population of just 1.1 million, Mizoram's current demand of electricity is only 110 MW to 115 MW during peak hours and is being met by the state's few mini power projects and availability of its share of power from regional and central sector projects.

"After the full commissioning of the Tuirial hydro-power project, Mizoram would be a power-surplus state," an official of Mizoram's power department said, adding that the additional power is likely to be supplied to the regional or national grid.

Farmers' protests, agitations, topographical hindrance and administrative hurdles delayed the commissioning of the project, the biggest in Mizoram, which shares a border with Myanmar (510 km) and Bangladesh (318 km).

Government-run NEEPCO, a "Mini Ratna" company under the Union Ministry of Power, commissioned the hydro-power plant utilising the water of the Tuirial river in Kolasib district in northern Mizoram.

"After the project was conceptualised in 1994, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared it on July 7, 1998," Bora said.

However, soon after project work started, farmers and locals launched a series of agitations against the submerging of their standing crops and farmland under the reservoir.

Bora, who is the project head, said work came to a total halt on June 9, 2004, due to the agitation launched by the "abruptly-formed Tuirial Crop Compensation Claimant Association, claiming compensation for the standing crops in the riverine reserve forest".

According to the company's senior engineer, work resumed in 2011 after the Union Power Ministry, NEEPCO and the Mizoram government jointly negotiated with the agitators.

However, the delays and consequent price escalation pushed up the cost of the project, initially pegged at Rs 369 crore, to Rs 1,100 crore.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, while addressing an official meeting in Aizawl earlier this week, said that four more mini power plants are expected to be completed during 2018-19 financial year.

He said the Detailed Project Report for 24 MW Tuirini hydro-power plant, to be taken up under the state sector, has been prepared. The project cost would be Rs 465 crore and it is expected to be completed in four-and-a-half years.

"NEEPCO has also been pursuing the statutory clearance of the 210 MW Tuivai hydro power project and construction work is likely to start soon," the Chief Minister added.

Sikkim is self-sufficient at 95.70 MW while Tripura, whose daily need is 285 MW, is self-reliant in electricity.

Since March last year, Tripura has been supplying 160 MW of power to Bangladesh and is ready to provide an additional 40 MW if the central government permits it to do so.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Indian Air Force on Friday commemorated 60 years of induction of the English Electric Canberra plane, the first generation jet bombers that participated in the Goa liberation, two wars with Pakistan, and the Kargil conflict on reconnaissance missions.

A prototype of Canberra first flew in May 1949, though the jet bomber was first inducted in the IAF in its Number 5 Squadron (Tuskers) at Agra in Uttar Pradesh on September 1, 1957.

The aircraft had been selected for induction by the air force in January 1957 so as to equip its bomber and strategic reconnaissance fleet.

In 1961, when political turmoil broke out in Belgian Congo, the United Nations requested India for strike aircraft, following which six Canberra aircraft took off from Agra under the command of Wing Commander A.I.K. Suares, for Leopoldville -- over 6,000 km away -- to join the United Nations Multinational Force in Congo.

It was the first-ever Indian fighter bomber contingent to take part in UN operations.

The offensive operations in Congo earned the Squadron two Vir Chakras, one Vayu Sena Medal, and five Vishisht Seva Medals.

Thereafter, the Canberras took part in all major operations, Goa liberation in 1961, the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars, 1987 Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, 1988 Operation Cactus in the Maldives and the 1999 Kargil War.

On December 18, 1961, the Canberras from Numbers 16 and 35 Sqadrons bombed the Dabolim airport in Goa, forcing the Portuguese forces to surrender.

The Canberras last saw action in the Kargil War in 1999, where these participated in recce missions. During one of the missions, one aircraft's engine was hit by a Pakistan missile but the sturdy Canberra survived the attack and landed safely with all vital information.

During service, the Canberras provided invaluable photo reconnaissance inputs of enemy territory during wars and peacetime operations, resulting in accurate and effective operations.

After 50 years of glorious service to the nation, the war horse was retired from service on May 11, 2007, at the Agra Air Force Station.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will meet this month in an attempt to conclude their long pending negotiations, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday.

"Together with the EFTA countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), we want to go ahead with the FTA," Sitharaman said at a business session with Swiss President Doris Leuthard organised by industry chambers Ficci, CII and Assocham.

"We'll meet in September and want it (FTA) concluded for the benefit of both," she said.

She also said that India would look into "every concern" of foreign investors on intellectual property rights (IPR) and investment protection.

"Investment protection is being negotiated," the minister said.

So far, 16 rounds of negotiations have taken place, talks for which started in 2008. The two sides resumed talks on the agreement here in January after a gap of three years The proposed agreement covers trade in goods and services, investments, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, IRPR protection and public procurement.

"We want to bring the EFTA free trade negotiations going on since 2008 to an end and we hope that this visit, and the push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the FTA, will help the Minister conclude the pending issues on the agreement," Leuthard said in her address.

"For India to benefit, she has to compete with other Asian countries with whom we are also negotiating. You can compete only by further opening up your economy.

"We Swiss are reliable partners of India and we would like a trade agreement and investment protection framework," the President added, noting that this year marked the 70th anniversary of Indo-Swiss cooperation.

The India-EFTA bilateral trade was worth $19 billion in 2016-17, which was lower than the trade value of $21.5 billion in 2015-16.
Washington, Sep 1 : US President Donald Trump will donate $1 million of his fortune to recovery efforts in Texas though the White House said he hasn't determined which group or groups will receive the contribution.

"He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of people we have seen across the country do," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday, saying the funds would come from the President's "personal money".

She said the President hadn't determined which organization to support but solicited requests from the media for worthy groups, CNN reported.

Trump has had a spotty record when it comes to pledging and then actually carrying through on his promises to donate money to charities, according to reports.

He has in the past also exaggerated the amount of money given through his now-shuttered charitable foundation.

Sanders said the President intends to return to the Southwest on Saturday to view flood damage with stops possible in Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Trump was in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Wednesday to meet officials.

Vice President Pence surveyed flooded-out areas of Texas on Thursday. He helped pick up debris, visited a heavily damaged church in Rockport and stopped at a food distribution centre in Victoria.

Meanwhile, the White House said it will ask the US Congress for emergency funding to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Trump is expected to propose an initial $5.9 billion. Texas authorities said the state might need more than $125 billion.

Authorities continue searching for survivors and made helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey climbed to at least 47, according to CNN.

The storm dumped an estimated 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas and Louisiana over six days, said Ryan Maue, of the weather analytics company WeatherBell.

More than 96,000 people in Texas have been approved for emergency assistance, including financial aid for rent and lost property, officials said. Over $57 million has already been distributed for housing, personal property and transportation assistance.
Mexico City, Sep 1 : Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai encouraged youngsters here to use social media platforms as a political weapon and on issues that they truly care about, such as equality, women's rights and education.

The 20-year-old activist warned of the danger of discrimination on social network and the media in her remarks on Thursday during a press conference at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico City, reports Efe news.

Youzafzai said if online discrimination persists, people will start thinking that they need to hate Mexicans, Muslims or Catholics.

"Thanks to technology, young people could now be more involved in the politics of their countries," she said.

When asked about the xenophobic remarks of US President Donald Trump which usually appear on his social media accounts, Youzafzai said that his behaviours were wrong.

She said although people should follow their tradition, culture and nationality, they should not follow the hate because it hurts others.

Youzafzai was also concerned about the situation of women in Latin America and called for equal right to education.

Youzafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize when she was 17, making her the youngest Nobel laureate to date, began her fight for equality at the age of 11, resisting the fundamentalist Taliban's prohibition of local girls going to school.

She was also a blogger for the BBC under a pseudonym, which allowed her to tell the world how her country had been caught up in terror.

Youzafzai, who got accepted into the Oxford University, said that there were countless benefits a country could receive if it educated children.

She also expressed her concerns about the refugees from Latin American countries who have been displaced along the borders of Mexico and the US.

Although Youzafzai praised the works and efforts of President Enrique Pena Nieto, whom she met earlier in the day at the presidential palace, she concluded that there was still a long way to go for Mexico regarding the issue.

Malala Youzafzai said she looks up to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and other world leaders who fight for equality.
Bengaluru, Sep 1 : Terming Infosys Founder N.R. Narayana Murthy's charges against him "patently false", its former non-executive Chairman R. Seshasayee on Friday said it was offensive to give an impression that he had lied to the shareholders.

"Murthy's statement to the investors forces me to ... defend myself against personal attacks and patently false and slanderous accusations," said Seshasayee in a joint statement with Infosys Board's former Independent Directors Jeffery Lehman and John Etchemendy.

"Since my resignation from the Board, I kept away from making any public statement, despite provocation, since I want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," said Seshasayee.

Seshasayaee, 69, resigned from the Board on August 24 along with Executive Vice Chairman and former CEO Vishal Sikka, Lehman and Etchemendy to pave way for the return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani as the non-executive Chairman.

Asserting that he was always candid and truthful in all statements concerning the IT major, Seshasayee said Murthy's statement misleadingly attributed words to him and were taken out of context, making it appear that he was not stating the truth.

"To quote an anonymous whistle-blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," said Seshasayee.
Washington, Sep 1 : NASA has said its spacecraft on first asteroid sample return mission will pass about 16,000 km above the Earth on September 22.

Using the Earth as a slingshot, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Regolith Explorer) will receive an assist to complete its journey to the asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx is undertaking a challenging mission to visit the near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, collect samples and deliver them safely back to the Earth.

The spacecraft is halfway through its two-year outbound journey, and now OSIRIS-REx needs an extra boost to successfully rendezvous with Bennu.

Bennu's orbit around the Sun is tilted six degrees in comparison to the Earth's. The gravity assist will change OSIRIS-REx's trajectory to put the spacecraft on a course to match the asteroid's path and speed.

"The Earth Gravity Assist is a clever way to move the spacecraft onto Bennu's orbital plane using Earth's own gravity instead of expending fuel," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

OSIRIS-REx will approach the Earth at a speed of about 19,000 mph (30,400 kmph), NASA said on Thursday.

The spacecraft will fly over Australia before reaching its closest point to the Earth over Antarctica, just south of Cape Horn, Chile.

"For about an hour, NASA will be out of contact with the spacecraft as it passes over Antarctica," said Mike Moreau, Flight Dynamics System Lead, OSIRIS-REx Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA will regain communication with OSIRIS-REx roughly 50 minutes after closest approach.

During the gravity assist, OSIRIS-REx will pass through a region of space that is inhabited by Earth-orbiting satellites, and NASA said it has taken precautions to ensure the safety of the spacecraft as it flies through this area.

The team has already made multiple adjustments to the spacecraft's path since launch on September 8, 2016.

In late June of 2018, the team will perform another deep space maneuver to further target the rendezvous with Bennu.

Then beginning in October 2018, a series of asteroid approach maneuvers will be executed to slow the spacecraft with respect to the asteroid.

Once OSIRIS-REx rendezvouses with Bennu in late 2018, the spacecraft will begin surveying the surface, NASA said.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : At least three persons, including a woman, were killed when a huge part of a landfill in east Delhi's Ghazipur collapsed on Friday afternoon, police said.

The collapsed mound's debris swept away a car and a two-wheeler, along with their riders, into the nearby Kondli canal, a police official said. He said the woman was riding on the two-wheeler.

"The woman's body has been recovered. Another two-wheeler rider who also fell into the canal has since been rescued. About four-five vehicles are reportedly trapped under the debris," the official said.

A National Disaster Response Force team was also pressed into the rescue operations.

East Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Neema Bhagat confirmed three deaths and blamed the Delhi government for what she said was "poor maintenance" of the landfill spread over 70 acres.

The Delhi Fire Service (DFS), which got a call about the accident around 2.45 p.m., sent four-five JCB machines for rescue operations.

"We have taken out five people from the canal and rushed them to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital here," a DFS official told IANS.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia also left for the accident spot.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Kondli, Manoj Kumar, passed the buck to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, saying the civic body did not pay attention to the increasing height of the dumped waste at the site due to which the pile collapsed.

"Had the (Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled) MCD not let the height of the waste material increase above its optimum level, the incident would not have happened. They did not pay attention and the height of the waste pile increased and it finally collapsed and killed people," Manoj Kumar said.

He said not even a single BJP leader had visited the spot.

"They (BJP) do nothing but politics over various issues," the AAP leader said.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 1 : Acclaimed film actor Kamal Haasan met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Friday and declared that "saffron" -- an oblique reference to the BJP and RSS -- was not his colour.

And stating that he won't align with any political party in Tamil Nadu, the superstar told the media that he would be on his own politically.

"My colour is definitely not saffron. That much I can say now," Kamal Haasan told the media, in response to questions whether he would swing to the Left or Right.

"I have got huge support from people as an artiste. If I am able to get half of this in politics, then I will be successful," said the 62-year-old who has acted in more than 220 films.

Asked if he would discuss his political moves with the AIADMK, he said: "If I had to do that, then I did not have to wait. All that I needed to do was to clap my hands."

Replying to a question on why he chose to make this statement after meeting Kerala's Marxist Chief Minister, he said Communist leaders had always been his heroes.

"You just look at the statistics of Kerala and it's comparable to any European country," he said.

When journalists persisted and asked if he would align with the Left, he shot back: "It will happen soon. I want to be in the middle of things and do not want to lean to any side."

On the political situation in Tamil Nadu, he said the Governor should intervene -- a demand also voiced by the opposition in the state.

The Tamil Nadu opposition wants Chief Minister K. Palaniswamy to prove his majority in the Assembly.

Earlier, Vijayan said in a Facebook post that he and Kamal Haasan have known each other for long and they always meet whenever the actor visits Kerala.

"Today's meeting was the first one after I became Chief Minister. Even though the visit was personal in nature, we discussed south Indian politics and also the overall political situation in Tamil Nadu," Vijayan said.

The Marxist leader received the acclaimed actor, dressed in a black shirt and dhoti, at the car porch. Also present at the meeting were Vijayan's wife Kamala and other family members.

Kamal Haasan has in recent times made comments critical of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK party. He also recently shared a stage with DMK leader M.K. Stalin.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : Swedish aerospace major Saab and Indian infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group on Friday announced collaboration in the aerospace and defence sector, eyeing to produce the Gripen fighter jets in India under the Make in India programme.

Hakan Buskhe, CEO and President of Saab, and Chairman of Adani Group Gautam Adani said the collaboration would include technology transfer, and would not be just an assembly line.

The two companies are looking forward to manufacture single- engine fighter aircraft for India under the Strategic Partnership model, announced by the government.

Asked if the two companies were confident of being selected for making fighter aircraft under the SP model, Buskhe said he was confident that Saab had the best technology to offer.

"We will look into what kind of action we need to take. We believe we have a strong partnership that can meet the requirements of the government. We have a strong belief that we can qualify with our technology, it is the latest one to fit the need of the (Indian) Air Force," Buskhe said.

"We wouldn't have taken this step if we didn't believe that we could be successful," he said.

The Saab CEO added that at present they are focused only on making aircraft and sensors in India.

Adani said the step was taken in line with the group's vision of 'nation building'.

"In continuation of our vision of nation building, we are keen to play an instrumental role in helping transform India into a destination for world-class high-tech defence manufacturing," Adani said.

India is looking to replace its fleet of Russian MiG-21 and MiG 27 aircraft. A process for making single engine aircraft in the country is expected to be initiated soon under the new SP model.

In June this year, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and US plane maker Lockheed Martin signed an agreement to produce F-16 fighters in India, which will provide the main competition for the Saab-Adani tie-up.

Under the Strategic Partnership policy, Indian industry majors will be identified as a strategic partner for tie-up with global original equipment manufacturers to seek technology transfer and manufacturing know-how to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains in defence manufacturing.

Four sectors have been finalised for the model at present - fighter aircraft, helicopters, submarines and armoured fighting vehicles and main battle tanks.
New Delhi/Chennai, Sep 1 : Above average monsoon, along with festive season and waning impact of the GST led to automobile manufacturers on Friday reporting healthy sales figures for August.

Passenger car major Maruti Suzuki India's total August sales rose 23.8 per cent to 163,701 units, from 132,211 units during the corresponding month of 2016.

Maruti Suzuki India's domestic sales edged higher by 26.7 per cent to 152,000 units from 119,931 units.

Similarly, Hyundai Motor India too reported a rise in its domestic sales by nine per cent to 47,103 units from 43,201 units sold during August 2016.

"Hyundai volume with 47,103 units grew by 9 per cent on the strong acceptance of the Next Gen Verna with more than 7,000 bookings within 10 days of launch along with strong demand for Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta," said Rakesh Srivastava, Director of Sales and Marketing, HMIL.

Besides, Tata Motors' passenger and commercial vehicle sales, including exports, for August 2017 rose by 14 per cent to 48,988 units from 43,105 vehicles sold in August 2016.

Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said: "Tata Motors sales continue to grow on a positive course on the back of strong performance of the new generation cars like Tiago, Tigor and Hexa. With Ganesh Chaturthi, we have entered the festive season and we expect the growth momentum to continue."

Leading SUV manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) reported a rise of four per cent in its overall sales for August which increased to 42,116 units from 40,591 units sold during the corresponding month of last year.

"This upsurge in demand has been due to good monsoons and our rural penetration," said Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M.

"As we get into festive season, we are confident of a good growth over the next couple of months, on the back of our diversified product portfolio," he added.

Manufacturer's of two-and-three wheelers also logged healthy sales growth last month.

Industry major Hero MotoCorp achieved its highest-ever sales for any single month during August 2017 at 678,797 units. The company's YoY sales rose by 10 per cent from 616,424 units sold in August 2016.

Similarly, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India's sales breached the 6 lakh-mark in a "single month for the first time".

"Historic August 2017 saw total sales grow 26 per cent from 492,368 units in August'16 to 622,180 units," the company said in a statement.

Two-and three-wheeler major Bajaj Auto reported a rise of three per cent in its total sales, including exports, for the month under review to 335,031 units. Overall exports were higher by seven per cent to 134,372 units from 125,033 units shipped out during the corresponding month of 2016.

"On the back of FY17, we were quite cautious but right from the beginning of this current fiscal... on exports," S.Ravikumar, President for Business Development and Assurance at Bajaj Auto told BTVi in an interview.

"For the month of September we have good visibilty, we should be exporting around 140-150 thousand units in the month of September itself, and closing the half year about 6.7 lakh units in exports."

In addition, two-and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company registered a sales growth of 16 per cent last month to 317,563 units up from 274,303 units sold in August 2016.

On its part, Suzuki Motorcycle India recorded its highest-ever sale for a single month clocking 56,745 units at a year-on-year growth of 54.3 per cent.

India Yamaha Motor registered a growth of 4 per cent in its domestic sales (including Nepal) during August 2017 to 77,887 units compared to 74,868 units in August 2016.
Rabat, Sep 1 : Moroccan King Mohammed VI accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, Prince Moulay Rachid, Prince Khaled bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Prince Moulay Ismail on Friday offered prayers to mark the Eid al-Adha festival.

The Moroccan King performed the prayers at the Ahl Fez mosque in Meshuar and was greeted by heads of several Islamic diplomatic missions.

Following the ceremony, Mohammed VI returned to the Royal Palace while cannons fired customary shells to mark the advent of the day of festivities.

The King received good wishes from the head of government, the speakers of the two houses of Parliament and from top officials.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : India on Friday rejected China's suggestion that it should not raise concerns over Pakistan's links with cross-border terrorism at the BRICS summit next week to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Your intervention or any leader's intervention is that leader's intervention...So you are free to speak what you want at the conference," External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a media briefing when asked about remarks by his Chinese counterpart that it would not be appropriate for India to discuss its concerns over Pakistan on terrorism at the summit.

He was asked whether it was proper on the part of the host country to suggest to a member country as to what it should not raise at a summit.

However, Kumar said he would not like to pre-empt what the document of the summit would say on the subject, saying it is a matter of consensus.

Asked whether the issue of terrorism and Pakistan would be a topic of discussion, he said it has not been finalised. "We will not be able to share what is in the document and the same applies to discussions with leaders."

Asked whether the Doklam issue that triggered tensions between the two countries could come up in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit, he said that schedule of bilateral discussion with leaders has still not been finalised.

Kumar was speaking at a special media briefing of the ministry to give details of Modi's visit to China to attend the ninth BRICS summit in Xiamen city from September 3-5.

Giving details about the summit, Kumar said Modi will arrive in China on September 3 and attend the BRICS restricted session and its plenary session on September 4.

He said the restricted session is expected to discuss the global economic situation, international economic governance, national security and development and international and regional issues.

Kumar said the plenary session will discuss the practical cooperation for common development, people-to-people exchanges, cultural cooperation and institution building.

In the evening, the BRICS leaders will attend a cultural festival and an exhibition, followed by a meeting with the BRICS business council.

He said later four documents are expected to be signed at the summit - BRICS action agenda for economic and trade development, BRICS action agenda on innovative development, strategic framework for BRICS custom cooperation and MOU between BRICS business council and New Development Bank.

On the fourth evening, the BRICS leaders will be joined by leaders of the five guest countries for a welcome. The guest countries are Thailand, Mexico, Guinea, Egypt and Tajikistan.

On September 5, there will be BRICS emerging markets-developing countries dialogue, which the spokesperson said is an opportunity for BRICS member countries to exchange views with the developing world and build broader partnership for development.

Kumar said the Prime Minister will leave for Myanmar on September 5 afternoon on the second leg of his visit.

The five BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are five major emerging economies and comprise 42 percent of world's population, have 23 percent of global GDP and 17 percent share in the world trade.

The theme of ninth BRICS summit is `Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future'.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Central government on a plea seeking direction to to impound cows that are seen feeding on garbage on roads across the country.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar sought response from the Central government, civic bodies and the Animal Welfare Board of India by September 18.

A large number of cows are found eating garbage not only on Delhi roads but across the country, said the plea seeking action against the owners of the cows as per the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act by directing the municipal authorities across the country.

Seeking direction to the Board to take serious action on the issue and to appoint a high powered comission headed by a former Chief Justice of India and other members to suggest ways for protection of cows, the plea suggest need of sufficient number of vetanary hospitals with qualified doctors for the treatment of cows.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The ongoing 23rd Delhi Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, turned host for a number of events on Friday, including Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma visiting it fair to unveil a book titled "Ru NUTS" by author Shubha Singh.

The event was further followed by an award ceremony for the best two books for the year 2016-17 was given away. "Indica - A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent" published by Penguin Random House India bagged the first prize while the second prize went to Om Book International's "Asha Parekh - The Hit Girl: An Autobiography". "Captain Amarinder Singh - The People's Maharaja" from Hay House Publishers was honoured with a certificate.

On the 7th day, the fair also saw the bibliophiles of the national capital turning up for the event despite sudden showers. Sanjeev Sharma, a Hindi professor from Rohini, said that rain cannot diminish his love for books and hence he came over to the book fair.

"I have a fascination for classic Hindi books like those written by Munshi Prem Chand, Maithili Sharan Gupta and others. And these books can be found mostly in fairs and not shops," he said.

Kaushik Gupta, a lawyer at Calcuta High Court who got various fancy stationaries and the Harry Potter series for his daughter, said: "Book fairs help to inculcate reading habits among youths. It is also responsibility of parents to bring their children to book fairs."

The Delhi Book Fair will conclude on September 3.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : India said on Friday that it has not changed its policy on refugees or illegal immigrants and the issues concerning Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar has several aspects.

"As to refugee policy, I don't think there is any change in India's long-stated policy. Insofar as illegal immigrants are concerned, that is also a very long-stated policy and based on Indian law which we will continue to follow. There is absolutely no change," Sripriya Ranganathan, Joint Secretary, Bangladesh and Myanmar, in the Ministry of External Affairs told the media here in response to a question about the Rohingyas.

At a special press conference along with External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Myanmar and China, she said the Rohingya situation in Myamnar's Rakhine state had a variety of aspects - developmental, humanitarian and security aspect.

A report prepared by a committee headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan which had correctly highlighted these, she said.

"What we have been trying to do, ever since the problem acquired the proportions that it has is to encourage the government to find ways of stimulating socio-economic development in the area (Rakhine).

"If there is active economic activity in the state, many of the problems will be at least be reduced," she said, adding that India was working in that direction.

Asked about last year' surgical strikes in the northeast, she said it is very well-known that the actions that were carried out by the Indian Army were carried out along the border.

"It is a difficult border on which the exact location of boundary can sometimes be difficult to make out. I don't think there is any misunderstanding between us and government of Myanmar on what we sought to do and what we will continue to do.

"The problem of the activities of insurgents who are trying to take advantage of this kind of geography to work against Indian interests is something which has remained a matter of discussion between leadership of two countries," she said.

Ranganathan said there is full confidence on both sides about each other's good intentions "and the desire to prevent any hostile activities from taking place from Myanmar soil into India".

About Modi's first state visit to Myanmar, she said he will arrive there on September 5 and will be accorded a ceremonial reception. He will subsequently meet President U Htin Kyaw and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

During his visit, Modi will also meet Indian community and and pay tributes at shrine of the exiled last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Ranganathan said important agreements in the pipeline were in sectors like maritime cooperation, health, development cooperation projects, culture and capacity building.

Noting the bilateral trade is $ 2.2 billion, she said India has invested $750 million in Myanmar by way of private and public investment and the development programme was quite sizeable with commitment of $1.75 billion, mostly by way of grants and aids.

"Myanmar is a very, very important partner for us in our Act East policy and Neigbhourhood first policy. It is our gateway to ASEAN," she said.
Warsaw, Sep 2 : The events commemorating 78th anniversary of World War II outbreak were held on Friday in the Polish city of Wielun and Westerplatte peninsula, two sites being a scene of first ones under attack.

The ceremonies were attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Xinhua news agency reported.

At the ceremony in Wielun, central Poland, Duda emphasized that 78 years after the outbreak of the second World War, there was a need for remembrance, forgiveness and atonement. The president reminded people of the number of civilian casualties in the WWII which surpassed 30 million, including 6 million Polish citizens.

Duda expressed hope that such thing would not happen in the future and the world could draw a lesson from what comes out of hatred.

During the ceremonies in Westerplatte, north Poland, Prime Minister Szydlo said that "Polish soldiers fought in support for the freedom of European nations on all the fronts of the war".

Wielun was a city bombarded by the Nazi German on September 1, 1939. The Battle of Westerplatte marked the outbreak of the second World War in Europe.
General Services Adminstration announced on Tuesday August 22nd, Evoke Research and Consulting, LLC (Evoke) was selected as one of 52 firms awarded a position on the VETS 2 Government Wide Acquisition Contract. VETS 2 is a ten-year, multiple award GWAC set-aside for Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) firms with a $5B ceiling.

The VETS 2 GWAC will allow federal agencies the ability to quickly and efficiently satisfy a broad range of IT services and service-based solutions. The award provides Evoke unique opportunities to allow current and potential customers access to the companys services in a way that supports federal agencys ordering capabilities to a quick and agile GWAC vehicle.

Evoke, Managing Partners Jim Loreto and Greg Blaisdell made an internal company announcement:

As one of the awardees, this will open opportunity and growth potential not only for the company but ultimately career opportunities for employees as we grow. We are excited to expand our IT service offerings and begin marketing this vehicle to our current and target customers as an avenue to access Evoke as a prime contractor. We look forward to driving work that creates more opportunities for our employees and meets the mission of all agencies who use this vehicle!

ABOUT EVOKE: Evoke Research and Consulting, LLC is an ISO 9001:2008 and CMMIDEV/3SM Certified Management Consulting firm located in Arlington, VA. Evoke provides professional services support to the federal government and commercial industry in Management Consulting, Organizational Improvement, and Technology and Engineering services.
Qantas flies over 40 services to Australia from North America each week. the Lux Boutique Australia Retreat takes guests to quaila, one of the most exclusive eco-resorts in the Whitsundays, before taking them to experience beautiful Sydney, followed by Ayers Rock.

The experts in travel Downunder for over 45 years, Goway has created several distinct packages in partnership with Qantas Airways to unlock Australias most memorable sights, along with some of its hidden corners. Qantas has the most flights to Australia departing each week from the Americas, so going Downunder has never been easier.

The Great Barrier Reef, Wildlife, and Culture Escape begins with an idyllic stay on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, before immersing Globetrotters in the cultural hotspots of Melbourne and Adelaide. Meanwhile, the Urban Aussie Beach Escape swaps Adelaide out for Sydney, with Whitsundays accommodation at Airlie Beach rather than on Hamilton Island. Either package gives Globetrotters access to the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, those wanting to enjoy both Sydney and Hamilton Island can opt for the Islands, Reef and Aussie Icons package.

For a more upscale experience, the L ux Boutique Australia Retreat takes guests to quaila, one of the most exclusive eco-resorts in the Whitsundays, before taking them to experience beautiful Sydney, followed by Ayers Rock. Travellers on a budget can follow a similar itinerary with simpler accommodations on the Sydney, Great Barrier Reef and Rock Escape. Globetrotters whod prefer to try Australias famous coffee and wine, or perhaps even spot a Tasmanian devil, might prefer the Aussie Southern Explorer, enjoying Melbourne, historic Hobart, and Adelaide in detail.

Australias most remote destinations arent left out. The Wonders of Western Australia is a two-week trip all about the great south west. A round-trip self-drive from Perth, it explores the Margaret River wine region, and takes Globetrotters to natural wonders like Pink Lake and Wave Rock. The Coast to Coast and Red Centre explorer starts in Melbourne, before taking Globetrotters to Ayers Rock and Perth. Those interested in Australias Aboriginal history might prefer the Outback and Indigenous Adventure, which combines short stops in Melbourne and Sydney with Outback travels throughout the Northern Territory.

If none of these packages appeal (!), theres always the Great Barrier Reef and GO! package, which starts in the Whitsundays for some Great Barrier Reef time, before letting Globetrotters explore the parts of the country according to their own interests. With Australias largest domestic network, Qantas makes crossing Australias vast distances quick, easy, and comfortable. Its partnerships with airlines in North America help travellers from across the continent reach Qantas gateways in Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Francisco, and New York with ease. Passengers enjoy a generous checked baggage allowance of at least two 50lb pieces with every ticket.

Since 1970, Goway has been providing unforgettable travel experiences to Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America, Idyllic Island destinations and Europe. Today Goway is recognized as one of North America's leading travel companies for individuals, families and groups to select exotic destinations around the globe. Goway has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Manila, and Sydney, Australia.

For reservations and information, visit http://www.goway.com, or call 1-800-387-8850.
ANDREW RAYEL ft Jonathan Mendelsohn, "Home" -- singles artwork To observe Andrew Rayel in his recording studio is to study a prodigy lost in thought, guided by the invisible hand of divine inspiration.

Profound. Gifted. Prolific. Mainstage artist and internationally respected electronic dance music DJ and producer Andrew Rayel teams once again with vocalist Jonathan Mendelsohn on Home, the eighth single from Rayels studio album, MOMENTS (Armada Music). Andrew Rayel featuring Jonathan Mendelsohns Home (Armind) is out now.

When an artist is as profoundly gifted as Andrew Rayel, its impossible to slow the spigot of quality musical output. To observe Rayel in his recording studio is to study a prodigy lost in thought, guided by the invisible hand of divine inspiration as he composes music that will go on to become the feast that sustains his legions of fans. Ask Rayel what its like to share ones creation with seas of strangers, watching strangers wholeheartedly embrace his music as if its their salvation. Hell surely tell you theres no more gratifying feeling in this world.

The Radio Edit of Home kicks-off with a clocks tick-tock on the intro just before Mendelsohns flawlessly welcoming voice enters on this remarkably catchy song. Now a master at shaping the seamless pop song that can also be categorized as contemporary trance, Rayel has fully formed his own signature sound. The chorus dives into a superbly syncopated rhythm thats full of swagger as the Radio Edit saunters down the street. This version has the vast builds, thrilling drumrolls and enormous crash that clubbing crowds have come to demand from this young mainstage artist. Theres something alluringly mature about this song. Its no wonder that leading pop radio programmers took an instant liking to Home upon first spin. The Vigel Remix and Vigel Extended Mix are versions Rayel plays out on tour. These edits are faster with a speedier 4/4 beat and major-key chord progressions that feel sunnier than the Radio Edit. The rapid-fire synth patterns that have become Andrew Rayels trademark are upfront and prominent in these mixes. The Vigel Remix and Vigel Extended Mix are progressive, clubby, dark n dirty, just as they should be.

Hailed by Armin van Buuren as the future of trance music, Andrew Rayel (real name: Andrei Rata) is a classically trained electronic dance music DJ and producer from Moldova often referred to as the modern-day Mozart. As a DJ, Rayel exudes an unbridled enthusiasm for the music he plays and his onstage performances are electric and filled with physical energy. Drenched in a well-earned sweat after every set, Rayel earns his position as a bandleader, stirring up his crowds passion as much with his music selection as with his bodily vigor. He has DJd the worlds biggest festivals including Ultra Music Festival in Miami, TomorrowLand in Belgium and TomorrowWorld in Atlanta, Stereosonic in Australia, Global Gathering in the UK and other countries, Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Electric Zoo in New York, Transmission Festival in various countries, Ministry of Sound in the UK, Dreamstate in San Bernardino, Electronic Family in Amsterdam, Zoukout in Singapore and Together Festival in Thailand. Rayel is a regular on the lineup at various ASOT stages around the world. Nightclub residencies have him performing onstage at superclubs including Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub in Las Vegas, Marquee and LAVO in New York, Ushuaia Beach Club in Ibiza, Zouk in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Escape in Amsterdam and Ministry of Sound in London.

Listen to Andrew Rayel featuring Jonathan Mendelsohn, Home, here: https://ARMD1373.lnk.to/Home

For information on Andrew Rayel, FATUM, P.U.R.E. at Haus Nightclub New York, Ryan Farish, NOA | AON (Pavel Stuchlik), Druu, Maro Music (Marek Walaszek), MaRLo, Price & Takis, Conor Darvid and artists like Armin van Buuren, contact EMILY TAN Media Relations (U.S.), +1(917) 318-3758, EmilyEmilyTan(at)aol.com. Visit http://www.AndrewRayel.net. Follow EMILY TAN Media Relations on Twitter @EmilyEmilyTan and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/emily-tan/4/342/70b.
Inking a seal to sign your name is the newest trend among collectors at Gianguan Auctions, New York City, making the stone seals the gallery's best selling category. With international collectors descending on New York the week after Labor Day for a spirited round of auctions, it is auspicious that a collection of more than twenty seals is featured in Gianguan's September 9th auction.

According to experts, the first record of a seal in China dates to 544 BC. The most important, however, is the Heirloom Seal of the Realm that was created by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. It was seen as a legitimizing device embodying or symbolizing the Mandate of Heaven.

Typically, seals ae carved of colorful stone (jade, shoushan, furlong, tianhuang, songhua and coral) into columns of about 1 1/2" to 4" tall. Their knops are often enhanced with mythical beasts or Buddhist figures, a feature that makes them decorative as well as practical. The flat surface on the bottom is incised in intaglio or raised Chinese characters that are enclosed in a border. The characters may spell out a name or "courtesy name", sometimes a poem, sometimes a bit of philosophy. In many cases, the Gianguan catalog offers a translation of the script in Chinese. (For collectors who do not read Chinese, gallery specialists are happy to translate.) When it is time to affix the seal to a document or painting, collectors use a red stamp pad or go through the ritual of mixing pigment with fluid.

The most notable is Lot 74, a large octagonal shoushan carving with reticulated dragon knop. Its script designates the owner as "King of ...", a town in southern province of Fuzhou. Only in a town far down the coast from Beijing could a small time minister declare himself King without risking his head. The seal is 6" tall and weighs in at 3 pounds. It quite likely belonged to a strong general or a minister with an attendant at the scholar's desk who helped him put it on paper. The gallery expects it to bring $1,500-$3,000.

Another outstanding seal is attributable to Ming philosopher Wang Shou. It is Lot 41, of tianhuang, an amber-to-carrot colored stone that is thought to make the finest of seals. The 6" tall column is topped by a Bixie, the mythical dragon that wears a turtle shell. The script reads "The Sunrise Shines Through the Million Households. Its estimate is $2,000-$3,000

Lot 48 is a column of furong stone surmounted with a seated Guanyin resting her arm on a cleverly carved table. Bidding on the 5" tall statue starts at $600. Lot 74 is an unusual octagonal seal of shoushan stone with poetry and landscapes inscribed on its panels. Its reticulated knob features nine dragons chasing pearl. Six-inches tall, 3 1/2 pounds, the rarity starts at $1,500.

An unusual take is a double seal, conjoined by a bar and handle. It is of tianhuang and is topped by a cleverly coiled qilin that stretches across both columns. (A qilin is a hooved chimera creature said to appear at the passing of a sage.) The bottoms each have a seal, designed to be read together. Lot 49 is only 2 1/2" tall and weighs a half pound. Its estimate is $600-$800.

Other collections in the sale include a small group of Chinese headrests. These early pillows are not plump and plush. In fact, the earliest one (Lot 254), was made during the Warring States period (475-221 BC). It is a jade rarity with a ruyi shaped headrest above evil-thwarting hogs at rest. In the 14th century, artisans were still working pillows in jadeite, as in , Lot 156, is an adorable carved boy laying on his stomach. A bit earlier, the Song (960-1279 AD) gave us Lot 273, a heart-shaped Cizhou porcelain pillow of ivory, black and brown slip. The pillows range in value from $3,000-$8,000.

Other collections include Chinese ceramics, Zisha teapots and Buddhist art.. All can be viewed at http://www.GianguanAuctions.com. The gallery at 39 W. 56th Street is open for previews now through Friday, September 8. The sale will be conducted live on Saturday, September 9. Bidding is currently underway at http://www.liveauctioneers.com and http://www.epailive.com.

Condition reports and further information may be obtained by calling the gallery or emailing info@gianguanauctions.com. For details on all the properties in the auction, download the catalog at http://www.gianguanauctions.com
Complete Technology Solutions, LLC (CTS) today announced that it has successfully completed the MSPAlliances MSP/Cloud Verify Program (MSPCV) certification process, the oldest certification program for cloud computing and managed services providers. The MSPCV is based on the 10 control objectives of the Unified Certification Standard for Cloud & MSPs.

The MSPCV was the first certification created specifically for the managed services and cloud industry. Every certification comes with a written report with the entire process documented, validated and signed by a 3rd party accounting firm. The MSPCV has been reviewed by governmental agencies and regulatory bodies across the globe and is used and accepted in 5 continents around the world.

"The MSPCV examination is a rigorous certification process that benchmarks and verifies the quality of the company providing cloud and/or managed services, said Charles Weaver, MSPAlliance CEO. "We are very proud to have CTS as a member of this elite community of cloud and MSPs.

MSPCV was created, using a wide base of criteria, to certify cloud and Managed IT Solution Providers thereby ensuring that they have met and exceed well-established standards of excellence and client care. Customers who select a company that is part of the MSPCV can also rest assured that their IT solution provider has met and exceeded the following standards dealing with:

 Corporate Risk Management

 Documentation

 Service & Program Change Management

 Event Management

 Logical Security

 Data privacy, security, and integrity

 Physical security

 Managed services SLA, reporting, and billing

 Corporate health

 Company is under constant external review from the MSPAlliance and the IT profession to continually maintain and improve standards of care of excellence

The MSPCV examination is performed by a third-party accounting firm.

"To meet all the benchmarks and become a certified company is a great achievement for our team. Our goal as a company is to always improve our service and our value to our clients. This is yet another way to show our continued commitment to excellence and the highest standards of quality in supporting our current and future clients." - Herb Miner, President and Founder - Complete Technology Solutions, LLC

ABOUT COMPLETE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Complete Technology Solutions (CTS) is a leading-edge Cyber-Security and IT solutions provider to small and medium-sized businesses. Founded on the principle that businesses need more than traditional IT support, CTS is a Managed Service Provider (MSP) that has grown rapidly since its founding and has helped hundreds of businesses become more productive and increase their profits. CTS provides products and services in Information Technology, VoIP Telecommunications and IT Security and Compliance. CTS is headquartered in the Denver Tech Center in Colorado and has clients across the U.S. For more information, visit http://www.systemconfidence.com.

ABOUT MSPALLIANCE

MSPAlliance is a global industry association and accrediting body for the Cyber Security, Cloud Computing and Managed Services Provider (MSP) industry. Established in 2000 with the objective of helping MSPs become better MSPs. Today, MSPAlliance has more than 30,000 cloud computing and manage service provider corporate members across the globe and works in a collaborative effort to assist its members, along with foreign and domestic governments, on creating standards, setting policies and establishing best practices. For more information, visit http://www.mspalliance.com
Why should a new business have to deal with three different companies in order to establish themselves? As a tech company, we can help local businesses open their doors and get new customers, faster.

Virtual Stacks Systems, a local digital marketing company in Seminole County, recently expanded its digital marketing support and development offerings to further establish itself as a one-stop-shop for the technological needs of a growing business

.

This was a direct response to the increasing amount of Central Florida business owners in need of marketing and operational solutions, coming to Virtual Stacks for support and expertise for their growing ventures.

Local SEO, paid ad campaigns, they are not just for enterprise level organizations anymore, says Virtual Stacks Systems Founder Mahir Abdi. Why should a new business have to deal with three different companies in order to establish themselves? As a tech company, we can help local businesses open their doors and get new customers, faster.

Virtual Stacks Systems was recently ranked by UpCity as one of the top SEO agencies in Orlando, and their Orlando SEO specialists are some of the top rated in the area.

We want our customers to be able to grow along with us, says Abdi. Digital marketing strategy varies from client to client. Through site audits, client meetings, and support lines, we have taken the initiative to make sure we are there every step of the way. This honor reflects our commitment to a personalized digital marketing approach.

Solutions Weight Loss, a medically-supervised weight loss clinic, in Orlando, FL saw an increase in visits to their website, longer time spent on the website and an increase in conversions, thanks to a targeted SEO and Content Marketing strategy.

I turned to Virtual Stacks for the design and maintenance of my website, says William E. Newsome. Sr., M.D., the Medical Director and Co-Owner of Solutions Weight Loss. I couldnt be happier with the results. The response has been incredible. I am contacted by people from all over wanting to know more about the services we offer at Solutions Weight Loss!

The digital marketing team also recently increased the facilitys presence on Pinterest, leading to a significant increase in site visits and conversions. Google ranks Solutions Weight Loss as one of the top medically-supervised weight loss facilities in Orlando.

Targeted digital marketing puts local businesses in front of millions, rather than the hundreds in their local neighborhood, says Abdi. Success in small business does not require a large budget. It requires a dedicated team that understands your individual needs. Thats what Virtual Stacks aims to be.

About Virtual Stacks Systems

Virtual Stacks Systems is a trusted internet marketing company and source for web hosting. Combining 25 years of experience in internet business solutions, Virtual Stacks Systems helps companies build their online presence through Orlando SEO services, ecommerce hosting, cloud solutions, domain registration, custom mobile apps, and more.

Contact Information

Find Virtual Stacks at http://virtualstacks.com or by phone at 877-368-4446.
SafeNet Assured Technologies, LLC, a U.S. based provider of government high assurance data security solutions, today announced the release of its latest cryptographic key management solution, KeySecure G160 for High Assurance. KeySecure G160 for High Assurance is manufactured, sold, and supported in the U.S. exclusively by SafeNet Assured Technologies.

KeySecure G160 for High Assurance brings enterprise-level cryptographic management to tactical environments. It protects and manages cryptographic keys and associated policies used to encrypt sensitive data-at-rest in remote locations. This cost-effective solution is conducive for deployments ranging from small enclaves to large disconnected environments. Its small form-factor design enables KeySecure G160 for High Assurance to be easily deployed across bandwidth-limited mobile data centers in areas such as:



Forward deployed environments

Disconnected environments

Forward operating bases

Mobile command centers

Forward mission operations

Disaster recovery centers

Remote, lights-out, non-managed facilities

KeySecure G160 for High Assurance contains a hardware security module embedded in a removable token that serves as the secure root of trust for key generation, secure key storage and encryption/decryption. The token can be easily detached to enable rapid tactical key destruction and recovery to keep mission-critical data safe even in the most hazardous environments.

KeySecure G160 for High Assurance centrally manages and consolidates cryptographic keys from multiple, disparate encryption platforms. It offers centralized key management capabilities for a wide variety of third-party solutions including those used for:

Storage

Virtual Machine Encryption

Data Encryption

Application-level Encryption

The cryptographic keys used in the encryption process are just as important to protect as the encrypted data itself says Kirk Spring, President, SafeNet Assured Technologies. These keys are best protected when they are secured and managed in a hardware device. However, most hardware cryptographic key management platforms are not conducive to tactical environments, says Spring. KeySecure G160 for High Assurance is specifically designed for these environments. It brings the robust security of traditional hardware key management systems to the frontline to help protect true mission critical data.

To learn more about KeySecure G160 for High Assurance, visit http://www.safenetat.com/keysecure-G160-HA.

About SafeNet Assured Technologies, LLC.

SafeNet Assured Technologies, LLC protects the U.S. Federal Governments most sensitive information systems. As a U.S. based company, SafeNet Assured Technologies mission is to provide high assurance data security products and technologies to the Federal Government. Defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies trust SafeNet Assured Technologies to provide encryption-based identity and authentication solutions, secure sensitive data and networks, and enable assured information sharing. Visit http://www.safenetAT.com for more information.
Kuelap & Gocta Falls Tour

Discover a fascinating - and unexpected - side of Peru: the Amazonas region, near the northern border of Ecuador, offers visitors the chance to enjoy nearly unknown, colorful cultures and landscapes in peace and tranquility they deserve, before the world arrives on their doorstep. Many compare the history and beauty of Kuelaps fortified city to an as yet undiscovered Machu Picchu, according to SouthAmerica.travel CEO Juergen Keller. While its no surprise that Peru holds its fair share of Incan archaeological sites, Kuelap, the biggest fortress of the Chachapoyas culture, is beginning to capture significant attention.

SouthAmerica.travels tailor-made tour lures history buffs away from the hustle of Machu Picchu to the Kuelap Fortress, one of the largest ancient stone monuments in the New World. Explore the mountainous limestone terrain and walk in the footsteps of the elite Cloud Warriors, as the Chachapoyas were known. Learn about the precious Chachapoya culture that once filled the land and its efforts in aiding the demise of the Incas.

Then, for seekers of natural beauty, hike through the winding trails of the cloud forest until you reach the 771-meter high Gocta Waterfall. The trails leading up to this spectacular site are infused with unique flora and fauna, creating an experience with the subtropical forest travelers will not forget.

New Tour: Gocta Waterfalls & Kuelap: the Chachapoyas Experience

Why visit Kuelap now? Until now, Kuelap has been a difficult place to visit. It required winding roads and a long hike to reach the ruins, as the antiquated city remained well hidden. Over the last year, however, the local government has built a cutting-edge cable car which transports visitors from El Tingo to the entrance of the fortress in just 20 minutes, crossing the deep gorge before climbing the steep mountain.

Before the convenience of the cable car was established, archaeologists from around the world visited Kuelap for its captivating structures. Built by the Chachapoyas during the 6th century AD, the monumental city reaches a striking elevation of 3000 meters. Though construction began in the 6th century, most of the structures were built between 900 and 1100 AD, making the walled settlement older than Machu Picchu. Better yet, with small crowds, a peaceful atmosphere is assured, allowing visitors to explore over 500 structures, most of which are circular, at their own pace. Nevertheless, with transportation improving in the region, soon Kuelap may become a booming tourist destination - hastening the need to experience it while the mystery and tranquility of the ruins remains.

Gocta Falls - A Perennial Waterfall

A scenic 1  hour transfer from Chachapoyas lands the visitor at Gocta Lodge, with its spectacular view of one of the worlds highest waterfalls. While discovered by German Stefan Ziemendorff in 2000, it wasnt until 2006 that the waterfall earned its title of the third largest free-leaping waterfall in the world, reaching the height of 771 meters. Picturesque vantage points along the main hiking trail offer guests a view of the falls in their entirety, perfect for what one might call a Kodak moment.

In Addition to Kuelap,

When you are visiting the Kuelap Fortress and the Gocta Falls, why not also examine the unique sarcophagi in Karajia? This archaeological site marks the resting spot for elite Chachapoya warriors. Or, hike to the colorful cliffs of Leymebamba, and learn about the detailed pictographs that date back to 1200 AD. The terrain of northern Peru is full of (literally) colorful history and culture; it is now up to the savvy traveler to make the most of it.

This new tour makes a fantastic Peru pre- or post-extension to any South America itinerary (or enjoyed on its own), and can be customized however travelers see fit. After exploring the mysterious ruins of Peru, continue with a cruise down the Amazon, experience the mightiness of Iguassu Falls, or dance the Tango in Buenos Aires. The options are endless!

With over 15-years of experience, SouthAmerica.travel prides itself in partnering with the best 4-star and 5-star hotels and crafting unique tailor-made holidays to design the trip a lifetime. Expert local guides, private excursions, superior accommodations and flexibility in travel planning make for an extraordinary travel experience - sure to spawn memories that will last a lifetime. To get started, visit http://www.SouthAmerica.travel.

--------

About Us: SouthAmerica.travel is a tour operator specialized in custom South America tour planning for travelers worldwide from its offices in Seattle, Lima, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Stuttgart, Germany, online and with local phone numbers in 88 countries. They offer 4-star & 5-star South America tours to Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Licensed and bonded in the U.S., SouthAmerica.travel has been sharing its love of South America travel since 1999 and is proud of its A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau and ASTA affiliation. SouthAmerica.travel - Our name is our passion
Peanut Proud peanut butter is donated to provide nutritious and sustaining meals to Texans who suddenly find themselves suffering from food insecurity in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

The U.S. Peanut Industry is uniting to donate more than 100,000 jars of peanut butter to the survivors of Hurricane Harveys massive and historic flooding. The donation effort is being coordinated through Peanut Proud, a non-profit organization of the U.S. Peanut Industry, and the Texas Peanut Producers Board (TPPB). The retail value of the donation is estimated at $290,000. Today has been amazing. Every peanut area has reached out and said they were gathering funds to send to Peanut Proud for the hurricane and flood victims, said Shelly Nutt, Executive Director of the TPPB.

Initial deliveries will be made by Southern Ag Carriers to the Houston and San Antonio Food Banks in the next few weeks, with more to follow. This horrific flood will leave damage for weeks and even months to come. We want to be in it and ready for the long haul, said Nutt.

The shipments will include peanut butter manufactured by Algood Food Company, Kroger Company, Severn Peanut Company, John B. SanFilippo & Son and Golden Boy Foods. The Texas Peanut Producers Board, Georgia Peanut Commission, Virginia Peanut Growers Association, Virginia-Carolinas Peanut Promotions, National Peanut Board, National Peanut Buying Points Association, 2017 class of the Peanut Leadership Academy, Birdsong Peanuts and Premium Peanut were gracious in their donations to help with disaster relief in Texas.

Peanut butter has seven grams of protein per serving, is shelf stable, requires no refrigeration or special preparation and is enjoyable for all age groups, making it a natural choice for those who suddenly find themselves suffering from food insecurity, including Texans in shelters across affected areas of the state.

To contribute to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, visit Peanut Prouds website at http://www.peanutproud.com or send a check to: Peanut Proud, Hurricane Harvey Relief, P.O. Box 446, Blakely, GA 39823.

Local food banks will be supporting those in Texas, and will need to replenish their supplies. If you would like host your own peanut butter drive, visit Peanut Butter for the Hungry at PB4H.org to access the Peanut Butter Drive Success Kit which provides all the tools you need to mount a successful drive.
American Homestay Network Homestay is the ideal way to welcome international students to a local community, helping them settle in and feel at home before they start their classes." - Julie Manche, CEO

The American Homestay Network (AHN-USA) has announced a new expansion to bring the companys world-class services to North Carolina. AHN-USA is the industry leader for homestay in America and specializes in placing international students, study tour groups and professional development program participants in American homes. The company has built its reputation on delivering the highest quality of service for visiting students and their homestay hosts with a focus on safety, support and cultural exchange.

AHN-USA CEO, Julie Manche, said the companys newest region received eight student applications in its first week and is working through more than 500 host applications.

Theres been a fantastic response to our opening and based on the number of local families signing up to become hosts, North Carolina is proving to be a very welcoming place for international students, she said. Mrs Manche said AHN-USA was excited to be offering a new standard of homestay accommodation to high school, ESL, college and university students looking to study in North Carolina. AHNs expansion has been driven by multiple partnership enquiries from schools throughout North Carolina who want to offer homestay as a housing alternative for their international students, she said. Homestay is the ideal way to welcome international students to a local community, helping them settle in and feel at home before they start their classes. Were confident we can contribute to the growth of international education in North Carolina by providing world-class homestay solutions across the state.

AHN-USA, an affiliate of the Australian Homestay Network, has worked with government agencies and industry bodies to make international student accommodation safer, better managed and more affordable, improving the student experience and contributing to Americas $32.8 billion international education industry. In addition to North Carolina, AHN-USA has regional offices in major Pacific Coast markets as well as Chicago, Florida and the Northeastern USA. The companys global marketing and extensive agent network attracts international students to partner institutions, with a positive flow-on effect for regional economies.

Homestay is a win-win-win business, Mrs Manche said. Communities see income coming to local hosts, schools increase their capacity and students feel at home so theyre more likely to stay.

CONTACT

Erin Webb

Media Relations  American Homestay Network

ewebb(at)homestaynetwork(dot)org

+61 411 036 280

ABOUT AHN-USA

The American Homestay Network (AHN-USA) is setting a new global standard for homestay. Established in 2012, AHN-USA is based on the values of the Australian Homestay Network (AHN): exceptionally trained hosts offering enriching experiences to international students. The companys network of regional offices supports a pool of hosts and partners who strive to provide international students with a culturally enriching homestay experience in an American home. Together AHN-USA and AHN have placed over 40,000 students from 173 countries with AHN-approved homestay hosts throughout the United States and Australia
Nurse Mates invites the community to join in their effort to raise funds and awareness to fight childhood cancer. For every footwear purchase made on Nursemates.com, from September 1, 2017 through September 30th, 2017, Nurse Mates will donate $10. In addition, $1 will be donated for every image featuring a heart posted to Instagram using hashtag #GiveHeartsForKids during the campaign period. 100% of footwear purchase donations and up to $10,000 generated from the #GiveHeartsForKids social submissions will directly benefit St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Nurse Mates goal is to donate $25,000 through the 2017 initiative, doubling last years contribution.

As our company has always valued giving back to the community, we fully commit to National Awareness Month for Childhood Cancer, said David Issler, President and Creative Director of Nurse Mates. Witnessing how this campaign resonated with so many people last year was incredibly rewarding, and has encouraged us to aim to increase our donation and engage more individuals to become involved this year. This cause encompasses the essence of our community and further demonstrates our commitment to supporting Childrens Cancer Research.

Empathy and a passion for philanthropy are fundamental components to Nurse Mates DNA. The initial launch gained a considerable amount of support from the healthcare community, but also reached beyond the medical field. This campaign is truly significant and can resonate with everyone.

About Nurse Mates:

For over 55 years, Nurse Mates has been dedicated to providing high quality and dependable, yet fashionable and innovative products for the health care profession. Our premium full-grain leathers, slip-resistant bottoms and comfort technologies make Nurse Mates footwear the best choice for working professionals seeking long lasting style and comfort. As the leader in professional footwear, accessories and apparel, Nurse Mates is always at the forefront of what busy professionals need - designing durable and comfortable workday products with a sense of purpose and creative flair.
On-Demand sales are completed on a daily basis, so why not just take a portion of those sales to help those in need. We are just trying to do our part.

In an effort to help those impacted by Hurricane Harvey, TechSherpas, an IT training company, announced today they will be donating a portion of their September sales to the Houston Food Bank charity.

The fundraiser will begin on August 30th and continue through the month of September, ending on September 30th. TechSherpas currently offers over 150 IT On-Demand courses including Microsoft, CompTIA, IT Security, Citrix, and Cisco. On-Demand courses are online courses that can be taken anytime, anywhere with an internet connection. For every On-Demand purchase, $30 will be donated to the Houston Food Bank.

We have customers and partners located in Houston and the surrounding areas that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey and we want them to know that they are not alone, says Randy Dempsey, President & CEO. The devastation is unfathomable and we just want to do that we can do to help. On-Demand sales are completed on a daily basis, so why not just take a portion of those sales to help those in need. We are just trying to do our part.

TechSherpas is a technical training and service provider headquartered in Tampa, FL. The company was founded in 1996. In addition to providing expertise in Microsoft training, they offer training for ITIL, VMWare, Cisco, Citrix, CompTIA, Project Management, and other technologies. For more information, visit https://www.techsherpas.com.
From Aerospace to Outer Space Were very happy to have WestWind and its rich history supporting Army Aviation and DoD customers join the Strata-G family.  Beth Whitaker, President / CEO

STRATA-G SOLUTIONS, INC. is proud to announce the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire WestWind Technologies, Inc. (WTI) and WestWind Aerospace, Inc. (WAI), collectively, WestWind. Strata-G and WestWind expect full operational transition and sale completion in 4th Quarter Calendar Year 2017. With headquarters and operations in Huntsville, Alabama, Strata-G is a Woman Owned, Native American Owned and Minority Owned Small Business delivering highly complex engineering, design and integrated hardware solutions for rotary wing, fixed wing, unmanned, missile and ground systems to various Department of Defense (DoD), federal and commercial customers.

Formed in 1998, WestWind is a privately-held company with a robust history of supporting aviation hangar and flight operations, aviation rotary and fixed wing rapid response system integration, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), testing, training and the supporting engineering and logistics documentation. Over the last half-decade, WestWind established world-class back-shop mechanical and electrical manufacturing, painting, clean-room, welding and integration facilities consistently producing the highest quality products. WestWind maintains a robust and mature registered AS9100 Quality Management System (QMS) and Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Approved Purchasing System. WestWind is recognized as the best of the best in manufacturing historically holding Boeing Performance Excellence Award Gold & Silver Supplier Ratings and Sikorsky/Lockheed Gold Supplier Rating for delivering the highest quality manufactured hardware products, on time with no defects.

Were very happy to have WestWind and its rich history supporting Army Aviation and DoD customers join the Strata-G family, said Strata-G President / CEO Beth Whitaker. With WestWinds 20 years experience in the Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal, Alabama area, this acquisition allows Strata-G to build upon our rich history as a lead systems integrator providing design, engineering and hardware solutions and now adding a robust manufacturing, aviation integration and logistics expertise.

Strata-Gs Huntsville, Alabama based facilities and operations include capabilities in project management, weapon system engineering solutions, R&D, additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, aircraft/platform modification, manufacturing and kitting, system documentation, and associated material purchasing. Strata-G is AS9110, AS9100 and ISO 9001 QMS certified by NQA Global and seeking FAA Part 145 Repair Station certification. With the completion of this acquisition and full integration of WestWind into the Strata-G organization, Strata-G provides access to over 400,000 square feet of Huntsville, Alabama based facilities and expansive manufacturing equipment to easily and flexibly adapt to our customers' requirements.

We are very excited to become part of Strata-G, said Bill Jolly, current WestWind President and CEO. Strata-G and their owners have a great reputation in our community and are well-known for their honesty, integrity and have established a first-class Strata-G team. Now, as WestWind integrates our manufacturing, aviation integration and logistics expertise into Strata-G, we know together we can grow our customer base and local Huntsville, Alabama footprint to a whole new level.

Strata-G is known as an engineering and hardware solutions provider so this acquisition of an established aerospace manufacturing, integration and logistics operation is the next logical step in Strata-Gs future, said Devin Whitaker, Strata-G COO and Founder. We are also excited to add WestWinds intellectual property (IP) and U.S. patent portfolio with the Black Hawk UH-60 / S-70i Quick Connect ESSS Hoist Arm System (HAS) and other IP with approved Airworthiness Releases (AWR) which strengthens Strata-G as a viable source for complex manufacturing. We look forward to a seamless transition of WestWind into the Strata-G Family.

For more information on Strata-G visit http://www.stratag-inc.com and follow us at https://www.facebook.com/strataginc/.

Contact:

Brian Sabourin

Director Corporate Development

(256) 713-0482

brian.sabourin(at)stratag-inc.com

http://www.stratag-inc.com
The Northern Illinois Home Builders Association (NIHBA) will host the 2017 Cavalcade Tour of Homes over two weekends from September 7 through September 17, 2017. The largest home tour in Illinois, the Cavalcade Tour of Homes features 22 homes in five counties built by 17 different NIHBA builders.

According to NIHBA President, Court Airhart of Airhart Construction, this year's charitable partners for the Cavalcade Tour of Homes are the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans and the Naperville Responds For Veterans. These outstanding charities will receive 40-percent of the event's ticket proceeds.

There are nearly 21 million veterans in the United States with more than 660,000 of these veterans living in Illinois. Organizations like the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans and Naperville Responds For Veterans work to help support and advocate for the brave men and women who have served our country selflessly.

Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans

Founded in 2000, the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (MSHV) has a mission to "provide veterans and their families with housing and supportive services that lead to self-sufficiency." No veteran should ever be left homeless, jobless, or alone battling mental-health issues or poverty. The MSHV works with area veterans providing transitional housing and supportive services via homes like the Larson Home, while the Miller Home for male veterans and Tammy's Trace for female veterans offer affordable housing.

The MSHV also runs Freedom Harbour, the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program created specifically for chronically homeless veterans. The organization provides these veterans with one-bedroom apartments in their local community. Other services available through the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans include the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF), which provides homeless prevention services and rapid rehousing services for homeless veterans, the Veterans Employment Program, and the Freedom Commissary. The latter is a free thrift store located at the MSHV's administrative site. Veterans receive vouchers to use at the store for items like clothing and household goods.

In addition to supporting the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans with a ticket purchase to the 2017 Cavalcade Tour of Homes, donations are accepted via the organizations website at http://www.helpaveteran.org or MSHV may be contacted at 630-871-VETS (8387) for information about volunteering.

Naperville Responds For Veterans

The Naperville Responds For Veterans (NRFV) works to assist those veterans and their families struggling and living in crisis. A non-profit organization, the NRFV raises donations of money as well as building materials and professional labor plus they coordinate repairs and construction for veterans who need help. When possible, the NRFV donates homes as well. No one, including our veterans and their families, should be living in residences that are unsafe and in dire need of repair.

The NRFV formed after the success of the organization Naperville Responds to Katrina. Several Naperville area home builders, realtors, and leaders determined their community needed to help out the men and women veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The NRFV works to provide construction related home repair services for these veterans and any other veteran in the community. The organization has fixed and updated homes for veterans by repairing leaking roofs, adding wheelchair ramps and widening doorways to accommodate those wheelchairs, plus performing renovations to ensure the veteran's homes are ADA accessible.

Approximately 90-percent of all monies raised by Naperville Responds For Veterans go to assist veterans in the community. To help support the NRFV as a volunteer or with a donation, please visit them online at http://www. nrfov.org/donate, email the organization at info(at)nrfov(dot)org, or call at 331-684-7899.

Support Veterans By Attending the Cavalcade Tour of Homes

The 2017 Cavalcade Tour of Homes will feature a diverse group of stunning homes that are not to be missed. From the Wyndermere Estate in Plainfield (Steward Ridge Neighborhood) to The Bennett House in Geneva and the Ashwood Park Townhome in Naperville, this tour has a variety of home styles to see. Guests on the Tour will enjoy elegant, old-world designs as well as contemporary architecture and classic homes. The Tour is a great way to see a huge group of beautiful homes by amazing local builders, but it's also the perfect way to support our veterans and honor their service and sacrifice.

2017 Cavalcade Tour of Homes Hours and Tickets

Hours of the Tour are Thursday and Fridays from 4:00-8:00 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.-6:00 p.m., and Sundays Noon-6:00 p.m.

Anyone interested in attending the 2017 Cavalcade Tour of Homes may purchase tickets via the event website at http://www.cavalcadetourofhomes.com.

Contact the NIHBA at office(at)nihba(dot)com for additional information.
Scoop & Cookie Hamad says sweetFrog was the perfect fit for his first entrepreneurial journey because he loves the companys community first values and believes in how much the concept resonates with kids.

August 31, 2017 (PRWEB) September 01, 2017 -- sweetFrog Frozen Yogurt, the nations leading frozen yogurt chain, named Americas Best Frozen Yogurt by The Daily Meal, and a Top New Franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine, opened its newest store in Richardson, TX on Saturday, August 26.

This is sweetFrogs 21st location in Texas and the 17th in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

sweetFrogs newest store is owned by Mustafa Hamad and is located at 101 S. Colt Road, Richardson, TX 75080. Hamad, a Canadian immigrant and computer engineer with 22 years-experience in technologies and leadership management, has partnered with Jimmy Hajeer, a proven local restaurateur who owns and operates seven Dennys and two Cowboys Chicken locations, to open the local sweetFrog store. Also Mario Nafal is a successful businessman owns multimillions retail stores and very close friend to Hamad strongly encourage and mentor the business concept.

Hamad says sweetFrog was the perfect fit for his first entrepreneurial journey because he loves the companys community first values and believes in how much the concept resonates with kids.

My youngest son introduced me to sweetFrog in 2014 and Ive never forgotten that first visit, said Hamad, Of course, I loved the taste and the environment, but what stood out most was that the store was a community fixture. His school was hosting a fundraiser there and I couldnt believe how many of the kids came out. sweetFrog truly is the place where the kids go to hang out. Its already proving true for us as countless students have already been stopping by for hours to tackle their homework at our new location. Were thrilled to become the new go-to spot for local kids and their families!

Hamad will host an official grand opening at his new sweetFrog location starting at 12PM on Saturday, September 9th. The first 100 customers who attend the grand opening will receive a free sweetFrog shirt and a small frozen yogurt cup of their choice.

Also, considering its back-to-school season, Hamad and his team will be touring schools in the coming weeks  showcasing the power of sweetFrogs Leap Forward school programs and handing out coupons for free back-to-school frozen yogurt cups.

sweetFrogs CEO, Patrick Galleher, is excited Mustafa Hamad is joining the sweetFrog franchise family and thinks the companys frozen yogurt concept is a perfect fit for the Richardson community.

We are thrilled Mustafa is opening our newest sweetFrog location in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Galleher. Mustafa and his business partner, Jimmy, possess the perfect combined skill set to run a successful sweetFrog location. Plus, they are deeply committed to the community and will support countless local organizations, including schools, churches, and businesses, via various sweetFrog FUNdraising events and education programs. We expect Mustafa to flourish as a sweetFrog owner, especially in a Richardson, TX community defined by great weather and loyal residents.

For more information about sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt, please visit http://www.sweetfrog.com.

To learn more about sweetFrog Frozen Yogurt franchise opportunities, as well as acquisitions and re-brands, please visit http://sweetfrog.com/franchise.

About sweetFrog Frozen Yogurt:

sweetFrog (http://www.sweetfrog.com) is the fastest growing self-serve frozen yogurt restaurant company in the country. With a wide selection of premium frozen yogurt flavors and fresh toppings choices, sweetFrog was named Best Frozen Yogurt in the USA by The Daily Meal in 2014 and 2016. sweetFrog has 340 stores and mobile units including retail, mobile trucks and non-traditional locations (such as sporting venues) in twenty-seven states in the U.S, Dominican Republic and Egypt. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Richmond, Virginia. sweetFrog prides itself on providing a family-friendly environment where customers can enjoy soft-serve frozen yogurt, ice cream, gelato and sorbets with the toppings of their choice. The company was founded on Christian principles and seeks to bring happiness and a positive attitude into the lives of the communities it calls home.

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Market-leading companies

US Capital Partners Inc., through its broker dealer network, is now offering its investors access to a wide range of select privately traded equities on the secondary market. These include market-leading companies such as Palantir, Uber, SpaceX, Lyft, Pinterest, Unity, and Sonos, to name just a few.

Headquartered in San Francisco, US Capital Partners is a full-service private investment bank committed to providing small and lower middle market businesses and investors with sophisticated debt, equity, and investment opportunities usually available only to larger middle market companies and institutional investors.

Through our registered broker dealer network, our investors can choose from hundreds of privately traded equities on a secure SEC-licensed alternative trading system, said Charles Towle, Managing Partner at US Capital Partners and Division Head at US Capital Global Securities. These late-stage secondary investment opportunities are typically closed off to investors outside of institutional venture capital.

Leading Advantages for Investors:



Private securities available on an SEC-licensed alternative trading system (ATS) that delivers exchange-like functionality.

All private securities are transferable with the consent of the portfolio company. There is no sale of derivatives and no collateralization.

The ATS is designed specifically for institutional investors, who require full transparency at reasonable transaction costs. This ATS is now available to our investors.

All sales of private securities are carried out by a registered broker dealer.

Startups are increasingly staying private for longer. Investors are therefore looking for ways to add equity in private companies to their investment mix through the use of secondary transactions. US Capital Partners, operating with its registered broker dealer affiliate, US Capital Global Securities, LLC, is now offering eligible investors access to a wide range of exclusive late-stage investment opportunities through a secure SEC-licensed platform.

To learn more about our secondary securities platform, please email Patrick Steele, Senior Vice President, at psteele@uscgsecurities.com or call +1 (415) 889-1010. We are happy to explain the investment process to you in detail.

About US Capital Partners Inc.

Since 1998, US Capital Partners Inc. has been committed to providing small and lower middle market businesses and investors with sophisticated debt, equity, and investment opportunities usually available only to larger middle market companies and institutional investors. The firm manages direct investment funds and provides wealth management and M&A services. Operating with its registered broker dealer affiliate, US Capital Global Securities, LLC, the firm acts as a licensed placement agent, and collaborates closely with its peers in professional banking and investment advisory.

To learn more, email Patrick Steele, Senior Vice President, at psteele(at)uscgsecurities(dot)com or call +1 (415) 889-1010.
St. Ann broadcast students won $5,000 worth of Duralife Lockers in Scranton Products' national video contest, which they gifted to the kindergarten class. Installing Duralife lockers in the kindergarten hallway had a much greater impact than we expected, freeing up classroom space and making the students feel more grown up with their own quality lockers.--Thresa Newkirk, resource teacher, SAS

St. Ann Catholic School (SAS), of West Palm Beach, Florida has completed installation of Scranton Products Duralife lockers for use by this years incoming kindergarten class. SAS first installed Duralife Lockers in the kindergarten hallway in the middle of the last school year, when older students received $5,000 worth of lockers and $2,500 in scholarships as third prize in the Scranton Products Duralife Unlocker Challenge national video competition. The new recently installed lockers were needed to accommodate the class of 30 students for this school year.

Installing Duralife lockers in the kindergarten hallway had a much greater impact than we originally expected, says Thresa Newkirk, resource teacher at SAS. It gave us the opportunity to free up space in the classroom, and the students just really loved how grown up they felt having their own quality lockers. We are happy that the new kindergarten class will have that experience right from the start of the school year.

In the highly-divisive climate of the election year, and at a time when racial tensions were growing across the country, Scranton Products asked middle and high school students nationally to share videos exploring the topic of inclusivity. St. Ann Catholic Schools video included students of different ages defining inclusivity and exclusivity, and how each made them feel.

The competition video was created by students in a broadcasting course offered as an elective for the first time in 2016. The teacher thought the contest would be a great motivator for the students in this new course, says Thresa Newkirk, resource teacher at St. Ann. And, she was right. It was a terrific opportunity for the class to create something that would potentially benefit other students.

SAS chose Duralife lockers in red, one of the schools colors. In addition to storage, the lockers provide the opportunity to begin to teach this young group of students responsibility. They dont return to the lockers often throughout the day, so need to think ahead as to what supplies to bring into the room with them each morning. The kindergarten teacher has also used the numbered lockers as part of number recognition and counting lessons.

Newkirk adds the durability and safety of the lockers gave them confidence when choosing to place them in the kindergarten and pre-K hallway. The lockers are durable, with no sharp edges, and easy to clean. They were secured to the wall by the maintenance staff, who installed them over a weekend in the middle of last school year.

By using new-found broadcasting skills to share a positive message of inclusivity with a nationwide audience, St. Ann Catholic School students earned new lockers that serve as an everyday reminder that their inclusivity efforts are valued. They also gave a much-appreciated gift to much younger students.

St. Anns video was part of the TOP 100 videos selected from 260 submissions nationally to be judged by a judging panel. Their video can be found online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMmSyslNReM.
... this video has in a way provided a form of healing by hopefully warning other college students, their parents and landlords about the risks of fire ...

Five years after an off-campus apartment fire killed Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students Lauren Petersen and Lacy Siddall, a first-of-its-kind fire safety video that was created last April to honor the students and help prevent similar tragedies has been viewed by more than 31,600 students on college campuses nationwide.

As students move into their apartments, dorms or other campus housing to begin fall classes at colleges and universities across the county, the families of the SIUE students who lost their lives, along with attorneys who represented the families in lawsuits against an insurance company regarding the fire, are encouraging schools to continue to make the safety video readily available for viewing by students.

Colleges and affiliated organizations such as fraternities and sororities interested in using the video as part of their programming for students can e-mail info@reslife.com for information. The video can be seen at simmonsfirm.com/fire-safety-video/.

The Petersen and Siddall families used a portion of their settlements with the insurance company to help produce the video. The families lawyers from law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy, along with attorney Tom Long, also helped fund and manage the project.

The deaths of Lauren and Lacy were tragedies, and this video has in a way provided a form of healing by hopefully warning other college students, their parents and landlords about the risks of fire in both on- and off-campus housing, said Ted N. Gianaris, the Simmons Hanly Conroy shareholder who oversaw the wrongful death lawsuit.

From 2000-2014, approximately 126 students have perished from fires that occurred on a college campus, in Greek housing or off-campus housing within three miles of their institution, according to the Center for Campus Fire Safety (The Center), a non-profit organization devoted to reducing the loss of life from fire at college campuses. More than 85 percent of the fatal fires during that time occurred in off-campus housing.

The video features the girls mutual friend Taylor Scott talking about how much she misses them. It underscores the dangers of campus fires through state-of-the-art, slow-motion footage that illustrates how quickly a fire can spread. The video also includes footage from the aftermath of the fire that claimed the girls lives.

The girls families, their attorneys and Simmons Hanly Conroy partnered with SIUE University Housing, Residence Life Cinema and Switch to produce the video, which was distributed to more than 200 universities and colleges nationwide via Residence Life Cinema, a division of Swank Motion Pictures.

The lawsuit on behalf of the deceased SIUE students families focused on improperly placed smoke and fire alarms. Investigation during litigation ruled out the initial theory that the fire was caused by a laptop. The families and their attorneys believe hard-fought lawsuits can result in making children and families safer by educating them about fire safety, and encouraging schools and off-campus student housing facilities to upgrade and maintain their fire protection systems.

It is extremely gratifying that our law firm, along with Thomas Long and the families of Lauren and Lacy could come together on this important project that is making a significant impact by helping to save lives, Gianaris said.

About Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLC

Simmons Hanly Conroy is one of the nations largest mass tort law firms. Primary areas of litigation include asbestos and mesothelioma, pharmaceutical, consumer protection, environmental and personal injury. The firms attorneys have been appointed to leadership in numerous national multidistrict litigations, including Vioxx, Yaz, Toyota Unintended Acceleration and DePuy Pinnacle. The firm also represents small and mid-size corporations, inventors and entrepreneurs in matters involving business litigation. Offices are located in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Alton, Ill. Read more at simmonsfirm.com.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose to shape a changing world. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi Rivers rich bottomland and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of more than 14,000.
Premier and luxury automotive brands are improving the buying experience by creating high impact, energizing environments that boost the brand presentation and support sales.

DAVACO, Inc., the North American leader of high-volume programs for retail, restaurant and hospitality brands, announced today that the company offers specialized services designed for automotive brands. From showroom reimages and service center upgrades to the installation of digital signage and interactive technology to help build a dream car, DAVACOs total solutions approach simplifies the management and execution of high-volume rollouts that enhance the consumer experience.

Premier and luxury automotive brands are improving the buying experience by creating high impact, energizing environments that boost the brand presentation and support sales, said Rick Davis, Founder/CEO of DAVACO. Brands partner with DAVACO to manage and execute these programs because we offer brand expertise and quality craftsmen, as well as the assurance of consistency, professionalism and speed-to-market for brands and their dealers.

In fact, DAVACOs nationwide team of W-2/T-4 employees are available in every major market across the United States and Canada, so the company can quickly assemble a qualified, trained team to transform locations across the country simultaneously. DAVACO often performs work at night, with the showroom fully functional during the day, to minimize disruption to business and sales. Additionally, the DAVACO team offers dealer services that function as a liaison between corporate and dealerships to assure compliance of brand standards and execution of quality work in every location.

DAVACO provides a total solution for brand initiativesfrom the initial planning and pre-construction site surveys to our logistics expertise to ensure all items arrive and are available for our field teams final installation, said Davis. We are more than a local service provider. DAVACO is a strategic partner that understands the special requirements of the automobile industry and were dedicated to a brands long-term success. And with our recent merger with Crane Worldwide Logistics we are able to manage the entire program, delivering best results from purchase orders with manufacturers from all over the world, to final installation.

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About DAVACO, Inc.

DAVACO is the leading total solutions provider of high-volume remodel, reset and rollout programs for retail, restaurant and hospitality brands throughout North America, including:  Program and project management  Fixture, equipment and graphic installations  Digital signage and technology upgrades  Hard and soft-line merchandising  Site, marketing and pre-construction surveys  Logistics and consolidation  Design coordination  Facilities maintenance programs  ADA, safety and quality audits & remediation  Sustainability  Fixture and graphic manufacturing partnerships  Special initiatives. Founded in 1990, DAVACO is based in Dallas, Texas and operates offices in Toronto, Ontario. In 2017, DAVACO merged with Crane Worldwide Logistics, a premier global provider of customized logistics solutions with an established worldwide footprint of over 100 offices in 25 countries. This unique and strategic partnership provides a more complete and global solution, including inventory management and 'just in time' delivery of FF&E to support any brand initiative. DAVACO employs over 1,100 W-2 and T-4 employees across North America.
Silvia Lopez speaks with reporters outside of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Fresno. 'For years we have been fighting against the UFW and its ALRB state enforcement arm. The ALRB is trying to force us into UFW contracts against our will and without a vote,' said Silvia Lopez, a Central Valley farmworker who heads Pick Justice.

"UFW doesnt represent us and ALRB abuses us," Pick Justice spokesperson Jesse Rojas says.

Hundreds of real farmworkers will assemble by the Supreme Court in San Francisco to oppose the states repeated efforts to force thousands of agricultural workers into the United Farm Workers against their will. They will also protest the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), a state agency that is imposing a UFW contract on them that censors them from objecting.

The rally, sponsored by Pick Justice, will start at 9:00 AM on Tuesday, September 5, at the Ronald M. George State Office Complex, Earl Warren Building, 350 McAllister Street, in San Francisco.

For years we have been fighting against the UFW and its ALRB state enforcement arm. The ALRB is trying to force us into UFW contracts against our will and without a vote, said Silvia Lopez, a Central Valley farmworker who heads Pick Justice.

The rally coincides with a Supreme Court hearing on the fourth floor of the Earl Warren Building, in which the workers fate will be decided.

We represent thousands of real farmworkers from Californias Central Valley and Central Coast, Lopez said.

Farmworkers in the region have turned out by the thousands against the UFW. They have waged the largest sustained de-certification drive ever in California, and the largest agricultural labor strike protests in state ag labor history.

We want the right to vote and choose freely to choose whether we want a union contract, and if so, which union we want to represent us. We want the right to be involved in the negotiation process, said Lopez. We also want the right to strike against the UFW and any union contract. The ALRB wants to deny us these basic rights, she said.

Pick Justice started in 2015 as an informal group of farmworkers and friends who stood up to the UFW and its state ALRB enforcement arm. It became an official organization earlier this year.

Lopezs employer, Gerawan Farming, is plaintiff in the case. I wish the Supreme Court would allow representatives of Gerawan workers to address the justices, because the UFW will be pretending to speak on our behalf. The UFW is making a false representation to the Supreme Court, because we voted to get rid of the UFW four years ago, but the ALRB has refused to count our votes, Lopez said.

The UFW-ALRB cartel is trying to impose a UFW contract on us. That contract would force us to pay a percentage of our income to the UFW. We were denied a say in what the contract says.

We were denied the opportunity to vote for it. The contract even denies us the right to vote against it, Lopez said.

The state ALRB is denying us our constitutional right to freedom of association. We hope the Supreme Court treats us farmworkers fairly and finds unconstitutional the law that the ALRB uses to abuse us, Lopez said.

For more information about Pick Justice, see http://www.PickJustice.com. Follow @PickJustice on Twitter and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pickjustice/.
Samahita Retreat in Thailand

An innovative health and wellness center in the calm south of Koh Samui island, Thailand, Samahita Retreat is excited to offer substantial savings for its midseason health and wellness packages, including detoxes, wellness spa holidays, healthy weight programs, de-stress plans and fitness modules.

According to Samahita Retreat co-founder Jutima Chombhubutr, This September, October and November sees a perfect chance for health-conscious travelers to explore new levels of wellness and vitality. The low price during the fall season means that participants can take advantage of a slower season for the travel industry with the best airfare deals and fewer crowds. Not to mention, the weather is ideal during the fall, as its not too hot or rainy in Thailand to enjoy the outdoors.

Specifically, for wellness vacations booked between September 2nd and November 25th, 2017, at the Samahita Retreat, participants will enjoy 25% off their total booking cost for the following programs:



YogaCoreCycle

Detox plans

Wellness Spa

Healthy Weight Loss

De-Stress Program

YogaCoreCycle is an all-inclusive and integrative yoga fitness programdesigned from years of collective professional experiencethat promotes physical strength and mental wellness. Participants attend classes that combine strength training and cardio, with yoga poses and meditation, to promote a state of wellness.

Detox plans return the focus to health with individualized detox programs that include a tailored nutrition plan and a carefully selected range of holistic wellness approaches, such as an Ayurvedic herbal detox formula, far infrared sauna therapy, exercise, probiotics, and yogic cleansing techniques. These plans range from three to 10 days or more depending on a persons condition and goals.

The Wellness Spa combines everything that participants need to feel fully relaxed and rejuvenated. Each day, clients choose from a long list of spa services to participate in. The list includes yoga, Thai massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, and the Samahita spa favorites that clients have come to love and expectexfoliating body scrubs and facial treatments are among the most requested.

The Healthy Weight Loss program represents a holistic approach for those who have either a little or a lot of weight to lose. In addition to providing immediate results, it is designed to set the foundation for long-term healthy lifestyles by teaching participants to eat well and get in closer touch with their bodies by incorporating fitness into their daily lives. Additionally, treatments such as an herbal weight loss formula, probiotics, and manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) therapy are applied.

The De-Stress Program helps individuals restore their emotional, physical, and mental health after a period of stress or illness. Its the perfect way for clients to nurture themselves. It includes yoga, breathwork, and holistic fitness activities, as well as access to a professional psychologist.

To learn more about Samahita Retreats midseason promotions, visit: http://www.samahitaretreat.com/midseason.html

About Samahita Retreat

Established in 2003, Samahita Retreat is an intimate beachfront retreat center hidden away from Thailands busy tourist areas. Owned and directed by senior yogi Paul Dallaghan, the retreat is a friendly and inclusive spot for training, detox, wellness programs, or simple relaxation. All prospective students are encouraged to sign up for Samahita Retreats newsletter for more information. Samahita Retreat is located at 55/20-24 Namuang, Koh Samui, Surat Thani 84140, Thailand. To learn more, call +66 77 920 090, visit the website at http://www.samahitaretreat.com, or email info@samahitaretreat.com.
Donate now to the SRS Raise the Roof Foundation to aid those in need. The damage has been catastrophic, and these communities need our support.

National Roofing Partners (NRP), the leading network of commercial roofing contractors in North America, is proud to support the SRS Raise the Roof Foundation. SRS Distribution, a national network of independent roofing distributors, has already raised $89,445.00 just in one day for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. SRS has committed to a 100% match of contributions for the next two-weeks and NRP is committed to helping get the message out to the industry.

NRP will be donating funds along with promoting the relief efforts through their national network of commercial roofing partners. We are incredibly impressed with what SRS is doing for the people of Texas, stated Dale Tyler, president of National Roofing Partners, a Dallas-based corporation. We want to help spread the word to the industry while also helping to raise funds internally through the NRP network and our customer base.

The SRS Raise the Roof Foundation is committed to supporting natural disaster relief efforts of the communities we serve. The damage has been catastrophic, and these communities need our support. All money raised will go to support relief organizations that the Foundation currently sponsors or, on a limited basis, directly to victims of this terrible storm, stated Dan Tinker, President, SRS Raise the Roof Foundation, Inc. We are seeing roofing contractors making their way to the storm stricken area, helping in anyway they can. We set this foundation up for just these types of events.

Donations can be made online to the Raise the Roof Foundation by clicking here.
In addition to finding the right long-tail keywords, increasing your Quality Score, and creating great ads, you absolutely need to implement Display Retargetingshowing your companys ads on major sites all over the web.

Despite the recent popularity of Facebook Ads, Google AdWords continues to reign as the most effective digital advertising channel for driving sales. The only caveatit needs to be setup and managed correctly.

Zach Hoffman, the founder of Exults, confidently states, Google AdWords works and if its not driving sales, something is wrong. Its usually a combo of overly broad keywords, irrelevant landing pages, terrible ads, lack of retargeting, and budget mismanagement.

Users who click on your AdWords ad are conceivably high intent buyerstheyve done their research already, they performed a specific search, and theyre finalizing their purchase decision, says Chad Stannard, Sponsored Ads Specialist at Exults. For that reason, it is crucial to target specific keywords, commonly referred to as long-tailed keywords, versus broader search queries. For example, someone who searches for cars is - at best - in the research phase. Someone who performs a very specific search like BMW dealership in Boca is a likely buyer.

Mike Nucci, Search Specialist at Exults, states, One of the biggest misconceptions is that the highest bidder always gets the top slot in the search results. The relevancy of a landing page to the keywords that are being targeted, among many other factors, play a huge factor in cost and placement. This relevancy score is commonly known as Quality Score. Ensuring you have a high Quality Score not only improves conversion rates, it can save on ad spend.

In addition to finding the right long-tail keywords, increasing your Quality Score, and creating great ads, you absolutely need to implement Display Retargetingshowing your companys ads on major sites all over the web, says Hoffman. If youre relying on a consumer to purchase after the first ad click thats being unrealistic.

Learn more about PPC by visiting Exults website.

About Zach Hoffman and Exults Internet Marketing

Zach Hoffman's love for fast paced culture and growing business markets has kept him a South Floridian  often traveling to NYC to service business relationships. Zach has always been an entrepreneur at heart; while in college, before starting Exults, he worked as an Independent Internet Marketing Consultant for local businesses and started a lead generation website focused on affiliate offer marketing. Zach utilizes his finance and economics background to efficiently navigate the auction markets of Search Engines.
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), a Federal executive branch agency and guardian of Americas overseas commemorative cemeteries and memorials, in concert with INADEV Corporation, an industry leader in advanced, innovative solutions for federal agencies and commercial enterprises, announced the launch of a groundbreaking, immersive, interactive and multimedia mobile tour experience on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Our goal for this project is to honor the service, achievements and sacrifice of the men and women of WWIIfrom the home front to the war frontwho helped Allied Forces achieve victory and safeguard the world from global tyranny, said Monique Ceruti, Chief of Knowledge Management at ABMC. This Interactive Mobile Tour Experience (Mobile Tour) represents our commitment to revolutionizing the way in which visitors interact with these solemn memorials on the National Mall and to continue to tell their stories for generations.

This is the first time anyone has ever employed image-recognition in concert with geolocation to achieve a seamless experience for visitors to these majestic memorials, said Vikrant Binjrajka, INADEVs Co-Founder & CTO. The challenges were enormous, but we couldnt be more pleased about the revolutionary result.

The Mobile Tours enhanced content includes: updated designs; incredible war stories, told by actual WWII veterans; Memorial facts; a kid-friendly trivia game and much more. At the request of the National Park Service (NPS), the Mobile Tour is being translated into six (6) additional languages (Spanish, French, German, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese) to create a more immersive experience for visitors and guests. In another first, visitors will be able download the Mobile Tour to their smartphone or tablet, without having to use their data plans, thanks to localized Wi-Fi and embedded content.

We wanted visitors to have unfettered access to every aspect of the experience without having to worry about using costly data downloads, said Ceruti. Thats exactly what weve done with this Mobile Tour.

The Mobile Tour project began with a kickoff meeting between ABMC, NPS, Friends of the National World War II Memorial (Friends), the Trust for the National Mall, the United States Park Police, and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-9th OH)all committed to creating the most meaningful experience for Memorial visitors.

Said Holly Rotondi, Friends Executive Director, Our mission is to honor and preserve the national memory of World War II. The new Mobile Tour will help ensure this celebrated history remains in the public consciousness for generations to come.

On-site signage and literature are available to help instruct visitors on how to download the Mobile Tour app to their devices from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. When possible, ABMC encourages visitors to download the Mobile Tour app in advance of their visit from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

A second Mobile Tour Experience will be launching in the coming months at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

For more information, please contact the INADEV team at info(at)inadev.com.
Earlier this week, World Relief urged President Trump to refrain from rescinding the DACA program, at least until such time as Congress has passed a legislative solution addressing the plight of these individuals. We have further renewed our call upon Congress to expeditiously pass a bill such as the DREAM Act or the BRIDGE Act, both of which have been introduced with bipartisan cosponsors in the current Congress.

Evangelical leaders, many of whom have individuals with DACA within their congregations, have also spoken up in recent days including the following leaders:

Lynne Hybels, Advocate for Global Engagement, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL

Our church is deeply invested in serving the immigrant community in the Chicagoland area. Weve hosted workshops helping dozens of brave young people to apply for the DACA program. Weve witnessed firsthand the hope that the DACA program has brought to individuals who have wanted nothing more than the chance to pursue an education and lead a productive life, just as our own children have done. To end the program now, without action from Congress first, would be devastatingfor them and for the communities that benefit from their work, ingenuity, and courage.

Erwin McManus, Founder, MOSAIC, Los Angeles, CA

The roughly 800,000 people who have benefitted from the DACA programmore of whom live in in my city of Los Angeles than anywhere else in the countryare American in every way except on paper. They are not to be feared but embraced as immigrants who define the American spirit. We are a nation of immigrants. We are a nation defined by openness and inclusion. We are big enough to rise above this challenge and choose the path that elevates the best in all of us.

Dave Gibbons, Founder, Newsong Church, Santa Ana, CA

The God we know in the Scriptures lovingly focuses on those who are vulnerable, the hurting and the immigrants. Symbiotic with our love for God is our love for the outsider. I urge our elected officials will not only find a permanent generous solution for Dreamers, young people who came or were brought as children to the country, but also for the broader immigrant community, who contribute so much to our country economically, culturally, and spiritually.

Rev. Felix Cabrera, Lead Pastor, Iglesia Bautista Central, Oklahoma City, OK, and Co-Founder, Hispanic Baptist Pastors Alliance

To end the DACA program now would be immoral, violating the trust of young immigrants, including those within my congregation and many other Hispanic Southern Baptists throughout the country, who trusted the federal government when it asked them to register and provide their personal information. It would also be economically disastrous, forcing the laying off of hundreds of thousands of trained employees, leaving both their employers and the employees in an incredibly difficult spot. It could trigger a domino effect that harms many citizens (as well as the Dreamers and their families), when those who have lost their jobs would struggle to pay rent or a mortgage payment, miss car payments, be forced to withdraw from college or graduate school, and have trouble providing basic food and clothing for their families. Rather than taking another step that will exacerbate ethnic and political divisions in our nation, I pray that President Trump and Congressional Leaders from both parties will work together to pass legislation to protect Dreamers, and in the process help to unify our nation.

Thabiti Anyabwile, Pastor, Anacostia River Church, Washington, DC

My church family includes a good number of first and second-generation immigrants. They make our church and community stronger, just as immigrants make our nation stronger. Perhaps thats why the Bible instructs us to be sure to take care of the strangers and sojourners in our communities, remembering that we too were aliens and strangers at one time. While immigration policy overall is tremendously complex, one particular questionwhat should happen with individuals who came as children to the country, who have already been granted work authorizationis something I believe we can answer fairly easily. We should do all that we can to provide opportunity for these children to flourish in our country. Scripture commands us to have a particular concern for those who are vulnerable, and immigrants are repeatedly mentioned as a group of people who fit into that category. I hope that our elected officials will not only find a permanent solution for Dreamers, young people who came or were brought as children to the country, but also for the broader immigrant community, who contribute so much to our country economically, culturally, and spiritually.

Eugene Cho, Pastor, Quest Church, Seattle, WA

As an American citizen and a Christian pastor, I am deeply concerned about the possible termination of the DACA program. This will impact nearly 800,000 individuals and countless more when you consider their respective families. I personally know some of these young people and I can attest to the many ways they deeply contribute to their communities, neighborhoods, cities, and nation. Jesus reserved some of his strongest words of rebuke for those who caused a stumbling block for children. To prevent individuals who were brought to this country as kids, through no decision of their own, from working, pursuing education, and contributing to the full extent of their God-given potential is not only short-sighted, its also unjust. I join countless others in asking for a legislative solution to help Dreamers reach their full potential.

This week, World Relief president Scott Arbeiter also joined leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Conventions Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the Wesleyan Church, and Korean Churches for Community Developmentall of which collectively form the leadership of the Evangelical Immigration Tablein sending letters to President Trump and Congressional leaders urging them to protect those with DACA status and to work together toward a legislative solution.

These pleas from local and national leaders echo the views of most evangelical Christians in the pews. Polling by the Public Religion Research Institute finds that a majority of both white evangelical Protestants and non-white Protestants support granting permanent legal status to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children if they attend college or serve in the military, the basic premise of the DREAM Act.

World Relief is a global humanitarian relief and development organization that stands with the vulnerable and partners with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transform lives and build sustainable communities. With over 70 years of experience, World Relief works in 20 countries worldwide through disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding and has offices in the United States that specialize in refugee and immigration services.

Website | worldrelief.org Twitter | @WorldRelief
First Choice Emergency Room

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, 26 First Choice Emergency Room facilities located in neighborhoods across the Houston area, as well as First Texas Hospital, remain open and ready to serve Houstonians 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Here is a full list of facilities:

First Texas Hospital  9922 Louetta Rd. Houston, TX 77070

Alvin  2860 South Gordon Street, Alvin, TX 77511

Atascocita/Humble*  5324 Atascocita Road, Ste. T, Humble, TX 77346

Briar Forest*  1717 Eldridge Pkwy, Houston, TX 77077

Conroe*  3840 West Davis St., Conroe, TX 77304

Cypress - Grant Rd.*  13105 Louetta Rd., Cypress, TX 77429

Cypress  Fairfield*  28606 Northwest Fwy., Cypress, TX 77433

Deer Park*  3701 Center St., Deer Park, TX 77536

Friendswood  225 E. Parkwood Avenue, Friendswood, TX 77546

Houston  Fallbrook*  13338 Tomball Pkwy., Houston, TX 77086

Houston - Jones Rd.*  9530 Jones Rd., Houston, TX 77065

Katy - Cinco Ranch*  9422 Spring Green Blvd., Katy, TX 77494

Katy - Mason Rd.*  1510 S. Mason Road, Katy, TX 77450

Katy - Spring Green*  1713 Spring Green Blvd., Katy, TX 77494

Kingwood*  2158 Northpark Dr., Kingwood, TX 77339

La Porte  1220 W Fairmont Pkwy, La Porte, TX 77571

League City-Victory Lakes  1535 W. FM 646, Dickinson, TX 77539

Pearland  2906 Broadway St., Pearland, TX 77581

Pearland  Silverlake*  2752 Sunrise Blvd., Pearland, TX 77584

Richmond*  8111 W. Grand Pkwy. Richmond, TX 77407

Rosenberg*  24003 Southwest Fwy., Rosenberg, TX 77471

Spring  Kuykendahl*  21301 Kuykendahl, Ste. A, Spring, TX 77379

Spring  Gleannloch*  8929 Spring Cypress Rd., Spring, TX 77379

South Shore Harbour  3016 Marina Bay Drive, League City, TX 77573

Summerwood*  12665 W. Lake Houston Pkwy., Houston, TX 77044

The Woodlands*  10815 Kuykendahl Rd., The Woodlands, TX 77382

The Woodlands  Creekside*  26306 Kuykendahl Rd., Tomball, TX 77375

*These facilities are hospital outpatient departments of (HOPD) of First Texas Hospital

During the severe weather First Choice Emergency Room has served an extraordinary number of patients across all facilities in Houston underscoring the need for access to high-quality emergency medical care.

Our staff rallied in a time of need in support of their patients, colleagues, and community, said Maridel Acosta-Cruz, Houston Market Chief Executive Officer. One of our physicians peddled on his bike for two hours navigating high waters to make it to his shift. We also had a nurse who took multiple Ubers across Texas to make it to her post to relieve her co-workers. We wouldnt have been able to deliver this care without this kind of commitment and dedication.

First Choice Emergency Room facilities are equipped with a full radiology suite, including CT scanner, Digital X-ray, Ultrasound, as well as on-site laboratories certified by the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments (CLIA) and accredited by the Commission on Office Laboratories Accreditation (COLA). The facilities are staffed exclusively with board-certified physicians and emergency trained registered nurses.

The tireless efforts of our staff and physicians across Texas allowed us to keep our facilities open when Houstonians needed them most and underscored the need for access to high-quality emergency care, said Greg Scott, Chairman and Interim CEO, Adeptus Health. I commend our team for their steadfast dedication to our patients and the local communities.

To learn more about First Choice Emergency Room, visit http://www.fcer.com. To learn more about First Texas Hospital, visit http://firsttexashospitalcyfair.com.

About First Choice Emergency Room

First Choice Emergency Room (FCER.com) is the nations leading network of independent freestanding emergency rooms; it is both the largest and the oldest. First Choice Emergency Room is revolutionizing the delivery of emergency medical services for adult and pediatric emergencies by offering patients convenient, neighborhood access to emergency medical care. First Choice Emergency Room facilities are innovative, freestanding, and fully equipped emergency rooms with a complete radiology suite of diagnostic technology (CT scanner, Ultrasound, and Digital X-ray) and on-site laboratory. All First Choice Emergency Room locations are staffed with board-certified physicians and emergency trained registered nurses. First Choice Emergency Room has facilities in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. According to patient feedback collected by Press Ganey Associates Inc., First Choice Emergency Room provides the highest quality emergency medical care and received the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for exceeding the 95th percentile in patient satisfaction nationwide. First Choice Emergency Room is an Adeptus Health company.

About First Texas Hospital

First Texas Hospital is a full service general hospital in Houston, TX. First Texas Hospital is equipped with 50 inpatient beds, three Operating Rooms, an emergency department, onsite laboratories and pharmacy, and an imaging department equipped with the latest in imaging equipment. The new hospital is capable of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and is providing the community 24/7 access to emergency medical care. For more information visit http://firsttexashospitalcyfair.com
Lofta to donate $25 of every ResMed AirMini sale to Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund until September 30, 2017 Our companys mission has always been to help people feel better, so naturally, in the wake of this natural disaster we want to be able to support relief efforts in any way we can.

Lofta, the San Diego-based company, announced today its intention to donate a portion of the companys proceeds to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund to support those affected by the recent floods. Established by Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner, the fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity housed at the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

Lofta is part of a personal commitment to help improve quality of life for the millions of people nationwide who suffer from sleep apnea, explains principal Jay Levitt. Our companys mission has always been to help people feel better, so naturally, in the wake of this natural disaster we want to be able to support relief efforts in any way we can.

It is estimated that one in five adults in the US have sleep apnea, and with so many people out of their homes, the sleep community is rallying together. For those looking for other ways to support the victims of the historic hurricane, Lofta recommends contacting the American Association of Sleep Technologists (AAST) regarding their efforts to make direct, local donations of CPAP machines, hoses, masks and other equipment for displaced individuals. Were encouraged to see so many people pulling together, says Levitt. We are watching with the rest of the world, and want to see individuals can get the help they need.

Those wishing to have a portion of their own CPAP purchase benefit the fund, or to make a direct donation to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund can do so at Loftas online shop: buyminicpap.com.

About Lofta

Driven by a desire to streamline a needlessly complex experience, Lofta set out to elevate the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing. By removing the obstacles to relief that compound an already exhausting problemthe maze of insurance, arduous overnights at the sleep lab, and a too-common lack of supportLofta clears the path to breathing easier by providing access to screening, tools, telemedicine, tests, supplies, and support all available in one place: at home. Better sleep can change your life. And its never been easier. More information at lofta.com and buyminicpap.com.

Learn more about how Lofta has revolutionized the sleep therapy industry.

For media inquires about Lofta, please contact:

Lofta Press Team

800-698-8000

sleep(at)lofta(dot)com

lofta.com | buyminicpap.com | Facebook | LinkedIn

Lofta, Inc. headquarters

7661 Girard Avenue, Suite 230

La Jolla, California 92037

858-299-8000

800-247-6464
Celebrate National Manufacturing Day "Manufacturing Day is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the future generation of manufacturers," stated Jason Moss, CEO of the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance.

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance is pleased to announce three events hosted in celebration of National Manufacturing Day. While Manufacturing Day officially occurs on the first Friday in October, companies and community organizations are encouraged to plan events in October to celebrate the importance of manufacturing in the U.S.

"Manufacturing Day is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the future generation of manufacturers," stated Jason Moss, CEO of the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance. "We are excited that we have 3 events in October that celebrate this special day and will highlight manufacturers and the important work they are doing in our state."

LEGGETT & PLATT PLANT TOUR  October 5  1000 L and P Pkwy  Monroe, GA 30655

Open to the public/free to attend (Drop In 10am - 3pm)

Register: http://www.GeorgiaManufacturingAlliance.com

Since 1883, Leggett & Platt has been creating a wide variety of innovative products that can be found in bedding mattresses, airplanes, automotive seats, and office furniture - we make components found in items you interact with every day. They are a diversified manufacturer that conceives, designs and produces a broad variety of engineered components and products for customers worldwide. Chances are you have slept on a bed made with Leggett components - box springs, innersprings, fiber comfort layers; have relaxed in a recliner that has an L&P motion mechanism powering it; and have shopped in stores that have products displayed on shelving made by Leggett & Platt. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State, and Bruce Williams, State Representative, will welcome attendees and plant tours are throughout the day. School groups are welcome to attend and hot dogs and refreshments are provided.

TSI SOLUTIONS PLANT TOUR  October 6  2220 Centre Park Ct  Stone Mountain, GA 30087

Open to the public/free to attend (1pm -5pm)

Register: http://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com

TSI Solutions will provide plant tours of their T-slot aluminum extrusion production facility and host an expo of products manufactured by Festo, the world's leading provider of factory automation components and systems. Since 1978, TSI Solutions has been helping Georgia manufacturers and machine builders optimize the performance of their equipment. TSI Solutions is a leading provider of factory automation components and systems in the Southeast. They are a provider of t-slot aluminum extrusion components and systems such as machine guards, machine stands, work stations, enclosures and material handling carts. They stock, cut, mill, tap and assemble T-slot extrusions for a wide variety of manufacturing companies. They will provide tours of their shop and provide hands-on and educational presentations on how T-slot aluminum extrusion is assembled, along with examples of how it is used in manufacturing facilities, schools, museums and hospitals. Refreshments will be provided.

2017 GEORGIA MANUFACTURING SUMMIT October 25  Cobb Galleria Center

For more details or to register: http://www.georgiamanufacturingsummit.com

This is Georgias manufacturing event of the year and brings together the People, Plants, and Products that create a vibrant economy in our state. This 3rd Annual event highlights the Manufacturing Trends to Track in 2018 and is expected to attract over 700 manufacturing professionals from a wide variety of industries. Breakfast Keynote Speaker, Debra Shankle, V.P. of Supply Chain for Coca-Cola North America, will address How to Keep Employees Engaged, Motivated and Committed in Todays Environment. Lunch Keynote Speaker, Rob Dugas, VP and Chief Procurement Officer of over 2,000 Chick-fil-A stores, will address the The New Trends in Manufacturing & Supply Chain Management. Over 20 industry leaders will also address Best Business Practices, Health & Safety in the Workplace, Sales & Marketing, IT and Technology Advances, and Creating a Better Bottom Line.

About the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance:

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA) is a membership-based industry organization founded in 2008 to support Georgias manufacturing community. GMA provides monthly plant tours, educational sessions, tradeshows, and unique networking opportunities designed to help make profitable business connections for its members. The Georgia Manufacturing Directory, Georgia Manufacturing Summit, and Georgia Manufacturing Calendar are additional resources produced by GMA. To learn more about the organization, membership, and upcoming events, please call 770-338-0051 or visit their website http://www.GeorgiaManufacturingAlliance.com .
Episcopal Relief & Development is supporting emergency relief efforts of affected dioceses in Texas following Hurricane Harvey, which hit the Texas coast as a category 4 storm when it made landfall on August 25 and became the largest rainstorm in US history. To date, 30 deaths have been reported, and the storm has caused massive flooding and destruction and forced thousands from their homes.

In partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Episcopal Relief & Development is responding to the immediate needs of people in the Greater Houston area, including Galveston. With this support, the diocese will provide temporary housing for 50 families, recruit volunteers to help clean out homes and deploy trained, spiritual care teams to reach out to people evacuated to the George R. Brown Convention Center and in other hard-hit areas. These teams are also distributing gift cards to help with purchasing food, basic supplies and necessities. The organizations US Disaster Program staff has been in regular contact with affected dioceses in Texas and Louisiana.

Our church partners are providing critical assistance and caring for their neighbors in the aftermath of this devastating storm, said Robert W. Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development. I am deeply grateful to them and to our community of faithful supporters for their compassion and enormous generosity."

The storm has complicated relief activities. More than 50 inches of rain has fallen since Harvey first hit the Texas coast, equivalent to the states total annual rainfall. Although downgraded to a tropical storm and then to a tropical depression, heavy rain continues to fall as the National Weather Service warns that catastrophic and life threatening flooding continues in Southeastern Texas and portions of Southwestern Louisiana. While rains have ended in most of Texas, the complete impact has yet to be determined as the storm continues to linger, with dams overtopping and streets and highways overwhelmed with flooding.

Our response to Hurricane Harvey is ongoing and we are extremely proud of the work of our church partners who are meeting urgent needs in these early days, said Katie Mears, Director of Episcopal Relief & Developments US Disaster Program. As they continue to conduct assessments locally, we stand ready to support them in the weeks and months ahead.

Please continue to pray for families and communities affected by Hurricane Harvey, those who have lost their lives, and all of those impacted by the storm.

Donate to the Hurricane Harvey Response Fund to help Episcopal Relief & Development assist local partners in responding to critical needs.

For Bulletin Inserts and other Hurricane Harvey resources, visit episcopalrelief.org/harvey.

For over 75 years, Episcopal Relief & Development has served as a compassionate response to human suffering in the world. The agency works with more than 3 million people in nearly 40 countries worldwide to overcome poverty, hunger and disease through multi-sector programs, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework. An independent 501(c)(3) organization, it works closely with Anglican Communion and ecumenical partners to help communities create long-term development strategies and rebuild after disasters.

Photo Credit: US Coast Guard
Standard Process Donates 63,000 Meals to Food Banks Nationwide Everyone should understand that food is a right, not a privilege

As part of its ongoing efforts to change lives through whole food nutrition, Standard Process today announced that it donated 63,000 meals to a network of more than 200 food banks in communities nationwide. The donation was made possible by the company's second annual "One Day, One Bottle, One Meal" event.

Standard Process has always valued the importance of health and nutrition. With this annual event, it gives us the opportunity to provide the most basic necessity to families in need, said Charlie DuBois, president and CEO of Standard Process. "Everyone should understand that food is a right, not a privilege."

On Thursday, August 17, Standard Process donated one meal for every Standard Process, MediHerb and Standard Process Veterinary Formulas product sold, resulting in 62,203 meals, an increase of 17 percent over the previous year's one day event. The company then rounded up the total to 63,000 meals.

"We are grateful to our extended family of practitioners, distributors, and employees who support community food banks and make a positive impact for those in need," said. Mr. DuBois.

About Standard Process Inc.

Standard Process is the visionary leader in whole food nutrient solutions. Based in Palmyra, Wisconsin, Standard Process offers more than 300 high-quality supplements made with whole food and other ingredients through three product lines:



Standard Process

Standard Process Veterinary FormulasTM

MediHerb herbal supplements

The products are available exclusively through health care professionals, including chiropractors, acupuncturists, nurses, naturopaths, medical doctors and veterinarians.

Standard Process is guided by the whole food philosophy of its founder, Dr. Royal Lee. Dr. Lees goal was to provide nutrients as they are found in nature, where he believed their natural potency and efficacy would be realized. Today Standard Process proudly carries on Dr. Lees legacy and regularly grows more than 80 percent of the raw plant ingredients found in its products on its certified organic farm in Palmyra, Wisconsin. Using state-of-the-art manufacturing processes to retain vital nutrients within each ingredient, Standard Process manufactures its supplements in its certified organic manufacturing facility. Standard Process employs high quality control standards and follows the Food and Drug Administrations good manufacturing practices.

In the 1940s, Dr. Royal Lee marketed the first household flour mill under the Lee Engineering brand. The Lee Household Flour MillTM has been redesigned and is now offered along with other nutrition-focused products under the Standard Process subsidiary Royal Lee Organics.

Standard Process employs more than 350 people and has been in business since 1929. The company is recognized as a distinguished leader and innovator in workplace wellness and an exemplary environmental steward. It is a recipient of the Platinum Well Workplace Award from the Wellness Councils of America and a Tier 1 participant in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Green Tier program, which recognizes companies with strong environmental compliance records. For additional information about Standard Process, visit standardprocess.com.
The team at KUBRA is here to provide continued support as we partner with utilities, aid organizations and the community

As Hurricane Harvey prepared to make landfall on August 25, customer experience management solution provider KUBRA was taking action to ensure its utility clients in the region would be supported throughout the storm and during restoration efforts. Multiple proactive measures were taken to ensure its outage communication software systems  including its Storm Center outage maps and Notifi alert system  were up and running for the millions of people in Texas and Louisiana who depend on them for information.

Our hearts go out to the victims of Hurricane Harvey, said KUBRA President and CEO Rick Watkin. The team at KUBRA is here to provide continued support as we partner with utilities, aid organizations and the community.

The KUBRA Storm Center outage maps proved instrumental during the storm by providing reliable outage information to residents, public officials and emergency operations groups. Between Friday, August 25 and Wednesday, August 30, the Storm Center outage maps deployed in the affected area received a total of 1.1 million views. Articles from popular news sources also referenced Storm Center outage data.

Notifi outage alerts were available to over 420,000 customers at major utility companies in Harveys path. Notifi was used to keep customers informed throughout the event by sending proactive outage alerts and outage status updates by voice, text or email, according to the customers communication preferences. Notifi also allowed customers to report outages via text message. Between August 25 and August 30, nearly 194,000 messages were sent, including almost 115,000 proactive outage alerts. During the same time period, over 6,000 outages were reported via two-way text message. The storm also drove 8,500 new alert registrations for future alerts, with one utility seeing a 274% increase in total registrations.

To further support restoration efforts, KUBRA parent company Hearst pledged one million dollars to the Greater Houston Red Cross. Hearst also plans to match employee contributions up to another one million dollars. At the same time, KUBRA team members joined the relief efforts and spent time volunteering at St. Marys Food Bank, a non-profit organization sending food and supplies to areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

KUBRA will continue monitoring the storm and the resulting restoration efforts, and will provide updates as soon as they are available. For further information and to view the relevant outage maps, visit http://www.kubra.com/blog.

About KUBRA

KUBRA provides customer experience management solutions to some of the largest utility and government entities across North America. Our portfolio of meter-to-cash and outage communication solutions includes billing and payment, mapping, mobile apps and proactive communications solutions for customers. With more than one billion customer experiences annually, KUBRA services reach over 40% of U.S. households. KUBRA is an operating subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. Visit http://www.kubra.com for more information.
Commtrex Logo Due to the floods and storm damage, we have received an influx of requests for Rail Storage and Railcar Repair Services. It is our hope to assist both members and non-members of the Commtrex Exchange.

Houston-based, Commtrex, Inc., is connecting Rail Shippers, Storage Providers, Asset Owners and Services Providers affected by the widespread devastation of Hurricane Harvey. The company has pledged to help shippers with routing, storage and asset availability/repair by offering free Listing updates on the Commtrex Exchange for those providing relief to the Rail Industry.

Hurricane Harvey has affected everyone in the Houston area over the last few days, and we are deeply saddened to witness the devastation of lost homes and businesses. Due to the floods and storm damage, we have received an influx of requests for Rail Storage and Railcar Repair Services. It is our hope to assist both members and non-members of the Commtrex Exchange to find Rail Asset Leasing, Storage and Rail Services in this time of great need, said Martin Lew, CEO and founder of Commtrex.

Since the storm, Commtrex has experienced a 400% increase in storage requests in the southern and central region. Commtrex currently has over 18,000 Railcar Assets, 75,000 Storage Spaces, and over 1,100 Services Providers listed within The Exchangeall ready to help companies in need.

It is our goal to connect people in need across the industry to help get things back on track, expressed Lew.

Sign up for a FREE basic listing or update your existing listing on The Commtrex Exchange.

Purchase a Verified Location or Featured Location Advertisement in the Services Directory or a Verified Location Advertisement in the Storage Marketplace, and 100 percent of your payment will be donated to the Red Cross Hurricane Harvey Fund between September 1-10, 2017.

About Commtrex

Founded in 2015, Commtrex is the only open, electronic Marketplace for the Rail Industry. We bring transparency and analytics to commercial transactions between Rail Shippers, Storage Providers, Asset Owners and Services Providers. Our platform expedites and improves transactions, benefits members through efficiencies in engagement and provides access to real-time financial and commodity insights. The Commtrex headquarters is located in Houston, TX. For more information please visit http://www.commtrex.com or call 1-713-280-7987.
"It's exciting to applaud the accomplishments of our industry's most talented young professionals." Robbie Caploe, Publisher

mins Rising Stars Awards acknowledges exceptional young professionals across the magazine media industryeditors, marketers, sales execs, designers, brand strategists, and more. The prestigious honor has helped dozens of young professionals accelerate promising careers in magazine media.

Find Out More

Its exciting to applaud the accomplishments of our industrys most talented young professionals, said Robbie Caploe, Publisher of min. Their game-changing ideas are laying the groundwork for the evolution and future success of magazine media brands.

2016 Honorees Included:



Molly Battles, Senior Public Relations Manager, Bonnier Corporation

Marissa Brown, Sales Manager, Forbes Media

Lucie Fink, Video Producer & Lifestyle Host, Refinery29

Dave Giumara, Global Head of Digital Trafficking, Bloomberg Media

John Hendrickson, Deputy Editor, Esquire.com

Chloe Johnston, Director of Advertising Partnerships, Atlantic Media

Mary Ellen Maddalone, Account Manager, Better Homes and Gardens

Alyson Shontell, Editor-in-Chief, Business Insider

Windsor Hanger Western, President & Co-Founder, Her Campus Media

Melissa Wiley, Digital Producer, Smithsonian Enterprises

This years honorees will be celebrated by the min community and profiled on minonline.com. The early deadline to enter the competition is Friday, September 15 with a final deadline of Friday, September 22. For questions on the program or entry process, please contact Zoe Silverman at zsilverman(at)accessintel(dot)com or 301-354-1662.

About min:

As magazine media evolves at a breakneck pace, min continues to be a trusted, one-stop resource for the mass-consumer magazine media industry. For more than 70 years, min has been serving its community with unparalleled content, events and awards programs that spotlight successes and innovations within the community and the wonderful teams behind them. For more information, visit http://www.minonline.com.
Access data about toxic sites and environmental risks in Harris County through EDR's Open Data Layer. Just like so many other organizations and individuals, EDR wants to contribute to the recovery effort in any way we can noted Chris Aronson, EDRs CEO. We are in a unique position to supply information about environmental risks and historical property

Amidst speculation of toxic chemicals in the Harvey flood waters, EDR, the leading provider of environmental risk and historic property use information and technology, has launched an event response website to provide free data, maps, and access to its online community of experts. The company has unlocked access to a variety of data sets that could assist in the Hurricane Harvey recovery, including important government records about environmental hazards and geospatial data for the location of properties that create, manage, process, transport or dispose of various hazardous chemicals and petroleum products.

EDRs Harvey Response Center will dynamically expand over the coming days to provide additional data sets like water wells and flood plain information as conditions in the impacted area evolve. The company will also fulfill custom data requests from local officials and first responders free of charge. Just like so many other organizations and individuals, EDR wants to contribute to the recovery effort in any way we can, noted Chris Aronson, EDRs CEO. We are in a unique position to supply information about environmental risks and historical property usage that proved to be valuable during the aftermath of Katrina and Sandy. Combined with access to a network of environmental engineers, we hope these resources will be helpful to efforts on the ground in Texas.

EDR founder and chemical engineer, Anthony Buonicore points out The area impacted by Hurricane Harvey is bigger than Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy combined. With so much industry in and around Houston, the environmental impact of the storm is likely to play out over a long period of time. Buonicore continued, There is a lot of speculation and alarm about toxic chemicals in Houston. For example, drums of stored hazardous waste may have been picked up by flood waters impacting commercial and industrial facilities that generate hazardous waste. These drums can represent significant risk. Residents should refrain from any contact with them and immediately notify environmental officials of their location. 

The company has also opened its web-based community, EDR Connect, to the public. EDR Connect is an online destination where environmental consultants and other real estate experts exchange ideas and answer questions. Residents, first responders, government agencies or anyone impacted by Harvey can ask questions about potential hazards to experts nationwide. Said Aronson, The environmental professionals in the Houston area will play a massive role in the recovery efforts for many months to come. We are happy to connect the public and public servants to the experts that can assist them with their immediate concerns.

Access EDRs Harvey Response Center at edrnet.com/Harvey.

About EDR

EDR is a leading provider of information, technology and workflow solutions to the real estate lending and property due diligence industries including environmental consulting firms, financial institutions, appraisers, and corporations. EDR provides web-based tools that help its clients increase operational efficiencies and better analyze and manage property related risk. EDR's database contains over 3.1 billion historic property records, including the most comprehensive repository of environmental and land use information in the United States. EDR also conducts market research and shares strategic intelligence through a variety of online channels and in-person events. Founded in 1990, EDR is headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut and is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust, plc (DMGT). http://www.edrnet.com
San Diego Short Term Rentals Europeans normally take a month off to go on vacation, or holiday as they call it.

The leader in San Diego serviced apartments and indeed in serviced apartments throughout Southern California, Key Housing is proud to announce an update to the company's blog archive. Since one of the most popular topics is "serviced apartments" (the term used by Europeans to describe "furnished apartments"), the company has dedicated labor to improving its blog coverage. The newly announced archived blog posts provide tips and information to mapping out the best route to locating a hard-to-find San Diego serviced apartment for holiday or business.

Europeans normally take a month off to go on vacation, or holiday as they call it, explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing. San Diego is a popular Southern California destination for them, but staying in a hotel for an entire month is not the dream. They desire a furnished apartment for their trip. Our blog archive helps European vacationers find that rare beast called the long-term serviced apartment.

To review the Key Housing blog archive for hard-to-find San Diego services apartments please go to http://blog.keyhousing.com/tag/san-diego-serviced-apartment/. Information can be reviewed concerning SoCal apartments in San Diego offering furnishings, modern kitchens and on-site amenities for a short-term stay. In addition, it should be noted that the featured San Diego property for August 2017 has been announced as Avalon La Jolla Colony. Details about the featured serviced apartment in San Diego can be reviewed at http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?action=form3&ID=380.

Spotting the Rare Find in SoCal: A San Diego Serviced Apartment

Here are background details on this announcement. Travel can allow vacationers to have experiences not normally found at home. Americans travelling to Europe may desire to sightsee famous landmarks such as Stonehenge or the Eiffel Tower. Animal lovers on vacation may consider going to Norway and spot a Norwegian lemming. European travelers choosing SoCal for a month-long holiday may be interested in seeing places and animals specific to California. If a European vacationer has decided to see a California Condor at the San Diego Zoo, for example, booking a hard-to-find furnished apartment could be the first step. Europeans organizing a month-long holiday might find securing a San Diego serviced apartment can be as elusive as spotting a California Mountain Lion.

For these reasons, Key Housing, leading providers of short-term furnished apartments in San Diego and all of Southern California, has announced an update to the company's blog archive for San Diego. The new archive offers information for capturing a top-quality short-term stay apartment in SoCal. Key Housings featured property for August 2017, the Avalon La Jolla Colony, could be an example. The featured property allows proximity to tourist attractions such as California landmarks and the San Diego Zoo. Europeans searching for a San Diego serviced apartment may have found the right source for a rare adventure.

About Key Housing

Based in Folsom, California, Key Housing Connections Inc. (http://www.keyhousing.com/) specializes in corporate housing and corporate rentals in cities like San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim. Whether the need is for a serviced apartment or a short term rental, corporate housing or short term apartments, just browse our listings to find the rental that fits ones short term corporate housing needs. We are competitive with extended stay hotels in cities such as San Diego, Santa Clara and even Long Beach. Many nurses, interns and people seeking pet friendly corporate rentals or corporate relocation services depend on us for furnished apartments and other temporary housing needs. Whether after San Diego serviced apartment or a short term rental in Los Angeles we can aid the search for the right apartment in the Golden State. After all, we're among the top-rated short-term apartment listing service in areas like Orange County and Los Angeles County. Whether it's serviced apartments or a furnished rental, just search, click or call today!

Key Housing

(800) 989-0410
Salt Lake City attorney Diana J. Huntsman recently won a police misconduct and unreasonable seizure case (Case No. 15-4020, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit) for a client whose constitutional rights were violated by officers of the Unified Police Department for Salt Lake County.

Court documents state that a motorist called 911 to report that he saw a man take a shotgun from the trunk of a car into a house in Riverton, Utah. Unified Police Department officers Kenneth C. Gates and Kenyon T. Madsen (defendants) responded to the call. Court documents further state that Robert Stoedter (plaintiff), who was relaxing on the front porch visiting with his uncle, matched the 911 callers description of the man with the shotgun; however, the defendants did not see a gun. Despite this, they approached with guns drawn, forced the men face down on the ground, and handcuffed them. They then learned he was returning with the shotgun from a hunting trip and released the two men from handcuffs.

The Constitution guarantees each of us the right to liberty, which includes freedom from police officers detaining us absent reason to believe weve committed or are about to commit a crime, said Huntsman, attorney for the plaintiff. Simply possessing a gun is not enough to create such a belief.

Court documents further allege that the home was searched without a warrant or permission. Stoedter later sued the defendants, alleging that they violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure; as the 911 caller reported no crime, it is not unlawful to possess a shotgun in Utah, and the defendants had no reasonable suspicion of any crime at the moment they seized him. Judge Jenkins of the federal Utah District Court agreed, as did the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which just affirmed, ruling that the defendants violated the plaintiffs constitutional rights.

The right to bear arms is a constitutional right. There has to be something more to mere possession, or alleged possession to justify the police treating a citizen like a criminal, concluded Huntsman. The officers in this case simply did not have such justification. As a result, what they did violated Mr. Stoedters constitutional rights.

Huntsman continued: If the police are permitted to treat a phone call that mentions a gun as if theres an automatic crime involved, then the 400,000-plus hunters in Utah, and all of us who associate with them, are in danger of being approached at gunpoint and handcuffed for no reason, like Mr. Stoedter and his uncle. The United States Constitution requires more than that from the police who swear to protect us. Hopefully this ruling will remind Utah officers of our rights, and their responsibilities, so that others are protected from similar or more serious injuries.

About Diana J. Huntsman, Huntsman | Lofgran

Diana J. Huntsman is a senior partner of Huntsman | Lofgran, PLLC, licensed in the state of Utah for 23 years, and a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent-rated attorney. Practice areas of Huntsman | Lofgran, PLLC include personal injury, family law, bankruptcy, IRS and Utah tax law, business law, and estate planning and probate. For more information, please call (801) 474-0031, or visit http://www.hla-law.net. The law office is located at 623 E. Fort Union Boulevard, Suite 201, Salt Lake City, UT 84047.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Irvine-Based Blue Sky Joins The Kids In Need Foundation to Provide Back-to-School Supplies to 650 Local Students Because of this generous donation from Blue Sky, 650 students will begin this school year knowing their community believes in their success. We thank Blue Sky for their continued partnership and commitment to education

Blue Sky (http://www.bluesky.com) will once again join forces with The Kids In Need Foundation this week to hand out 650 backpacks filled with much needed school supplies to local students in grades K-5. An Irvine-based company, Blue Sky creates planners, calendars and notebooks in a variety of styles and sizes that are sold at leading retailers nationwide.

Blue Sky has been a long-time supporter of The Kids in Need Foundation (http://www.kinf.org), and this backpack partnership is now in its fourth year. The Kids In Need Foundations mission is to ensure that every child is prepared to learn and succeed in the classroom by providing free school supplies nationally to students most in need.

The Blue Sky team has partnered with The Kids In Need Foundation through support services and donations to help fund various programs benefiting local students on school grounds. Blue Sky is thrilled to be able to witness first-hand the joy that making a difference in childrens lives brings to the community.

We know that when kids have the school supplies they need, classroom participation and student self esteem improves greatly, says Dave Smith, executive director, The Kids In Need Foundation. Because of this generous donation from Blue Sky, 650 students will begin this school year knowing their community believes in their success. We thank Blue Sky for their continued partnership and commitment to education.

To donate to The Kids In Need Foundation, visit http://www.kinf.org.

Blue Sky: The Dream of Organization  Solved

Blue Sky, the #1 Dated Products brand*, creates planners, calendars, notebooks (and more!) that help millions of people achieve their dream of organization - effectively and with style. High quality and incredibly functional, Blue Sky products help to plan well, stay on track, and keep it together, all with a variety of sizes, formats and designs to suit any lifestyle and personality. Thoughtfully designed in sunny southern California and available at retailers nationwide. Visit http://www.bluesky.com to see whats new!

*The NPD Group, Inc. / Retail Tracking Service, U.S. Dollar Sales, April 3, 2016  October 1, 2016

About The Kids In Need Foundation

The Kids In Need Foundations mission is to ensure that every child is prepared to learn and succeed in the classroom by providing free school supplies nationally to students most in need. The Kids In Need Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1995, has distributed more than $900 million in school supplies, directly benefiting 5.4 million students and more than 150,000 teachers last year. For more information, visit KINF.org, and join us on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram: @KidsInNeed.

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Alzheimer's Association Reason to Hope fundraising luncheon The first person to survive Alzheimers is out there and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. Past News Releases RSS RE/MAX Realtor Cheryl Herrmann...

RE/MAX Realtor Cheryl Herrmann and...

Cheryl Herrmann, broker/owner of RE/MAX Group One REALTORS, will be volunteering at the Alzheimers Association 2017 Walk to End Alzheimers on September 24 at Lyman Park in White River Junction, VT. The first person to survive Alzheimers is out there and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen, said Herrmann, whose mother suffered from Alzheimers.

The Alzheimers Association Walk to End Alzheimers is the worlds largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimers care, support and research. It is held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide. All funds raised through Walk to End Alzheimers further the cause of the Alzheimers Association. On May 10, 2017, Herrmann also attended the Alzheimers Association Reason to Hope fundraising luncheon at the Quechee Club in Quechee, VT.

Registration for the Walk to End Alzheimers begins at 10 a.m. on September 24. For more information, or to register, volunteer and/or donate, please visit http://act.alz.org/site/TR?sid=23932&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=10186.

About Cheryl Herrmann, RE/MAX Group One REALTORS

Cheryl Herrmann specializes in the purchases and sales of single-family residences and income property within the cities of Hanover, NH, Norwich, VT, Lebanon, NH, the villages of Hartford, VT, Hartland, VT, Enfield, NH, Lyme, NH, Sharon, VT, Strafford, VT, and Thetford, VT. RE/MAX Group One focuses on business by referral and building lasting relationships with their clients before, during, and after sale. For more information, please call (802) 649-1333, or visit http://www.grouponere.com. RE/MAX Group One REALTORS is located at 306 Main Street, Norwich, VT.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Across a variety of services, LegalZoom sets the standard. Their Name Change service continues that tradition of high quality and efficiency.

TopConsumerReviews.com recently awarded their highest five-star rating to LegalZoom, a leader in the legal industry for Name Change services.

Why would a person need a legal Name Change? The reasons are numerous: adoption, divorce, marriage, among others. The amount of paperwork and time necessary to legally change ones name can be overwhelming, from creditors and government agencies to financial institutions and more. For that reason, many individuals take advantage of Name Change services, to minimize the hassle and to ensure that the entire process is done completely and legally.

Across a variety of services, LegalZoom sets the standard, according to Brian Dolezal, of TopConsumerReviews.com, LLC. Their Name Change service continues that tradition of high quality and efficiency. In order to change your name, youll only need to complete three basic steps: fill out LegalZooms online questionnaire, allow the LegalZoom team to review your answers, and file your paperwork according to the instructions you receive in the mail. And, if you have any questions along the way, LegalZoom has professional, friendly representatives to assist you. In 2017, LegalZoom is our highest-ranked Name Change service.

To find out more about LegalZoom and other providers of Name Change services, including reviews and comparison rankings, please visit the Name Change Services category of TopConsumerReviews.com at http://www.topconsumerreviews.com/name-change/.

About Legal Zoom

Cofounded in 2001 by attorney Robert Shapiro, LegalZoom offers a cost-effective, convenient way to address most common legal needs. LegalZoom provides a wide range of documents such as Patents, Trademarks, Powers of Attorney, Living Wills and traditional Wills, Incorporation, Living Trusts, LLC Formation, Small Claims, Divorce, and many more. However, customers should be aware that LegalZoom does not provide legal advice or counsel, as it is not an actual law firm.

About TopConsumerReviews.com

TopConsumerReviews.com, LLC is a leading provider of independent reviews and rankings of hundreds of consumer products and services. From Changing Your Name to Prenuptial Agreements and Online Divorce, TopConsumerReviews.com delivers in-depth product evaluations in order to make purchasing decisions easier.
Alabama Timberland Investment Investors still see timberland as a safe place to store money.

An Alabama timberland owner has sold 13,747 acres of land to a Georgia timber investment company. The property is located in Cullman County, Alabama and five adjoining counties.

HDJ Land & Timber, Ltd. based in Cullman, Alabama is the seller and SPP Land, LLC based in Macon, Georgia is the purchaser.

Alabama-based Cyprus Partners is a land brokerage company who represented the seller in the transaction.

HDJ Land & Timber is a privately held company that began acquiring Alabama timberland in the 1920s and has managed the land for the benefit of three generations of family members.

SPP Land is a 33-year old timberland investment and management company that owns 150,000 acres in seven states.

Cyprus Partners represents buyers and sellers of rural farm land and timberland and the owners have been in professional practice since 1977. They have 10 licensed real estate agents in Georgia and Alabama. Most of their agents are also professionally licensed foresters, appraisers or wildlife biologist.

For more information contact Tom Brickman, 205-936-2160 or tbrick(at)CyprusPartners.com.
After touching down in Corpus Christi, Texas, Pence expressed support for victims and promised to help the state rebuild "stronger and better than before," according to the Associated Press.

Texas endured five days of rain that flooded major cities, including Houston, with nearly 52 inches of water, a record for the continental US.

"The President sent Karen and I here today to survey the damage and ensure that the full resources of the federal government are being brought in support of the effort of state and local officials," Pence said during a press briefing, "to rescue those that are in harms way, to help communities begin to recover, and to lay a foundation to rebuild Texas in the wake of this horrific storm.

Here's a look at Pence's trip to view damage from the Texas storm:

Pence and his wife Karen landed in Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday to surveil the damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey's heavy floods.

Pence was greeted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who recently mobilized all 12,000 members of the Texas National Guard to assist in relief efforts.

Source:

Pence visited the coastal town of Rockport, one of the towns first hit by Harvey's devastating path of destruction, where he said that President Donald Trump's administration was "with you and we will stay with you until Rockport and all of southeast Texas come back."

Source:

Pence also visited Victoria, Texas, where organizations were providing supplies, such as cans of tuna, cookies, and cheese, to victims. Although the city lacks power, water is reported to be running.

"We are going to see our way through this crisis and the best days for Victoria and the best days for Texas are yet to come," Pence said.

Pence and other state and local officials also helped clear out debris in Rockport.
"Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more. A rigged system!" Trump tweeted.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham released a statement Wednesday saying Comey had "already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton" before the FBI had interviewed her.

Grassley and Graham also said Comey had circulated a draft of a statement exonerating Clinton in April or early May of last year; he made his decision public July 5, 2016, three days after interviewing Clinton.

Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has repeatedly accused the FBI, the media, and the government of being part of a "rigged system."
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
A total of 267,327 candidates secured schools of their choice whilst 150,770 candidates could not be placed in a school of their choice, the statement said.

The statement further added that the qualified candidates who did not get a place of their choice should log onto myjshresult.net and select an option available to them within 48 hours from September 1.

According to the statement, the 2017/18 academic year will commence on September 11 and all form one students are expected to report to their schools on that day.

The release of the computerised school placement comes hours after president Nana Akufo-Addo unveiled the logo for the free SHS.

Underneath the symbol are also three words; access, equity and quality. The logo also features an open book, which the Minister of State in-Charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, explained: represents learning that generates hope and optimism for a prosperous Ghana.

The central symbol portrays two children emerging from a pleasurable learning experience as they spontaneously explode in joy. They are beneficiaries of the policy that lifts the total burden of fees from parents.

The government has announced that the free SHS programme will start in September 2017 with first year students.

It has also announced as part of the policy that 30 percent admission into elite schools will be reserved for students in public schools.

And on the funding, president Nana Akufo-Addo has said Ghanas oil revenue will be used to fund the Free Senior High School programme.

READ ALSO: Young actor unveiled as Free SHS ambassador

By free SHS, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science centre fees, no computer laboratory fees, no examination fees, no utility fees. There will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals and day students will get a meal at school for free.
You know that in this particular package as soon as the students report you have to make sure they are accommodated, [and] are made comfortable in terms of feeding so a certain percentage [say] 20 or 30 could be released, Acting GNAT President, Philippa Larsen told Accra-based Joy FM.

The government has announced that the free SHS programme will start in September 2017 with first year students.

By free SHS, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science centre fees, no computer laboratory fees, no examination fees, and no utility fees. There will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals and day students will get a meal at school for free.

READ ALSO: Nana Addo unveils logo for free SHS

The president, Nana Akufo-Addo on Thursday unveiled a logo for the Free SHS, indicating the governments readiness for the programme.

But GNAT is doubting the preparedness of the government as some funds are yet to be released to schools to take care of things that will be needed.

Meanwhile, the programme Coordinator, William Darkwah said that some funds would be made available to the schools but not the entire package.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) A portion of a mountainous garbage dump in east Delhis Ghazipur collapsed today because of heavy rain, killing two people, officials said.

A day after torrential rain -- the heaviest in three years -- lashed Delhi, a section of the pile in a landfill slumped over a car and three two-wheelers, pushing the vehicles off the road and into a canal, they said.

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The police suspect that rain-aided formation of gases led to an explosion in the garbage dump.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons and a probe would be launched to ascertain if the incident was a result of an act of negligence, they said.

The police would seek the help of technical experts in the probe.

Five people were rescued from the Kondli canal, the officials added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited the site and took stock of the situation.

The enormous dump -- estimated to be as high as a 15- storey building -- looms like a dark mountain on the side of NH24, a busy highway that connects Delhi to Uttar Pradesh.

Travellers and commuters can see dumpsters winding their way up to the landfill, where about 2,500 metric tonnes of garbage are dumped every day, with scavenging birds hovering over it.

According to a fire department official, four fire tenders were initially rushed to the spot to help in rescue operations, but later another 11 were added to the fleet.

A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, comprising 45 personnel, also rushed to the site, a senior NDRF official said.

A car, a scooter and two motorcycles were swept away by the garbage.

"Two people -- Raj Kumari (32) and Abhishek (22) -- were killed and five others were rescued," a senior police official said.

The five who were rescued were identified as Karan, Pankaj, Amit, Deepak and Ayub Ansari. They were discharged from the hospital after first-aid.

Ansari, who was in the car, broke open its window and swam to safety. Locals also helped rescue some persons.

Almost a dozen divers from the Delhi Boat Club were involved in the rescue operation. The work to clear the debris continued till late in the evening.

The landfill site falls under the jurisdiction of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat, when contacted, said a portion of the garbage mound collapsed because of the rains.

"A portion of that (collapsed garbage mound) then fell into one of the canals close to it and the water splashed on to some moving vehicles throwing them into another flank of the canal," Bhagat claimed.

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Kejriwal, who visited the site, said the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had served notices to the municipal corporation about the disposal of garbage and the height of the landfill.

He said garbage was disposed of in a "faulty manner".

"There are so many modern techniques available worldwide to dispose of garbage. I will speak to the Delhi LG for putting pressure on the municipal corporation for safe garbage disposal," he said.

North East Delhi MP and Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari sought a report from the EDMC mayor and asked the civic body to ensure proper relief for those injured.

He said steps should be taken to develop alternative and additional landfill sites for Delhi and for the scientific disposal of garbage.

"We must try to avoid stacking of garbage mountains," he said in a statement.

The Ghazipur landfill is the oldest of its kind in the national capital. It was started in 1984 and is spread over 29 acres.

According to officials, the permissible height for a garbage dump is 20 metres. However, the Ghazipur dump was 60 metres high - as tall as a 15-storey building, some estimated.

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It is among the four main garbage dumping spots in the national capital.

Every day, 2,500 metric tonnes of garbage are dumped there. PTI TEAM SLB BDS GVS

--- ENDS ---
Eranluwobo, who resides at Akowonjo area of Ikeja, however, pleaded not guilty to a charge of defilement.

The prosecutor, Insp Simeon Imhonwa, told the court that the accused committed the offence sometime in July in his apartment.

Imhonwa alleged that the accused lured the girl into his apartment with sweets and had carnal knowledge of her without her consent.

He claimed that the accused defiled the girl by dipping his fingers into her private part.

The prosecutor said the cry of the girl alerted a neighbour, who broke into the room, and caught the accused in the act.

The case was reported at the police station and the accused was immediately arrested, Imhonwa said.

He said that the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 137 prescribes life imprisonment for child rape.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O Osunsanmi, granted the accused a bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.
Daily Post reports that the driver of the vehicle is said to have lot control.

According to the reports, an angry mob quickly descended on the driver of the vehicle whose identity has been withheld.

The driver was reportedly rescued by policemen at the scene of the accident.

The Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that one of the deceased was a police officer and an orderly to a Divisional Police Officer.

He stated that immediate investigation has commenced.
The defendant is facing a count charge of stealing.

The prosecutor, Akpan Ikem, told the court that the accused committed the offence on Aug. 9 at Seme border.

Ikem alleged that the accused posed as delivery man and absconded with the products.

The offence contravened Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the section prescribes three years imprisonment for offenders.

The Magistrate, Jimoh Adefioye, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
Ndukwe, whose address was not provided, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, insisted that the accused and others now at large, committed the offences at `D Salon, Victoria Island, Lagos, at about 11a.m. on Dec.10, 2016.

Osayande said that the accused conspired together and stole N11.9 million cash, as well as hair weave and hair conditioner, all valued at N12 million, property of Abogo Okegbe of `D Salon Downtown, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 287 (7) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Magistrate, Mr Aro Lambo, in a ruling granted the accused N500,000 bail, with two sureties in like sum.

Lambo said that one of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused, while the other should be a community leader or a cleric.
NASA won the petition with a majority ruling of five out of the seven judge bench with Justice Njoki Ndungu and Justice Jackton Ojwang dissenting the ruling.

In a summarized dissenting opinion, Justice Njoki Ndungu felt that the elections were free, fair, peaceful and credible.

"I disagree with the verdict of the majority and theres no good reason to nullify elections," she said.

Justice Jackton Ojwang also dissented the ruling saying that the evidence that was provided did not hold water in regards to the nullification of the results.

Hardly any conclusive evidence has been adduced in this regard which demonstrates such a manifestation of irregularity has to justify the invalidation of the election results, he said.

In regards to the invocation of the constitution as a basis of annulling the election process only general attributions of impropriety have been made and furthermore without adherence to the prescription that the task of interpreting the constitution with finality rests with no one but the court.
But the Supreme Court on Friday cited irregularities in the election and indicated that a new poll should be organized within 60 days.

Speaking on Accra-based Class FM, Dr Kpessah Whyte said the ruling casts doubts on the credibility of the international observers.

We heard the international community, I mean the US former Secretary of State John Kerry, we heard Thabo Mbeki, our former President John Mahama and others were all in there and they all visited several electoral centres and pronounced this election one of the most credible in the history of that country.

We need to see the details of the ruling but this ruling raises a lot of questions about the credibility of international observers and whether they really are looking at substance or they are looking at form and whether they would be relevant going into the future at all.

The incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the recently held election.
Speaking on Accra-based Oman FM the MP said even though he has not been invited, he would not honour an invitation from them.

Nobody has called me to come to the police station; I am not a thief or have lodged a complaint with the police? Even if they call me I wont go. I will even go and take my evidence from the police.

His comments come after the Communications Director at the Presidency Eugene Arhin said the CID has invited A Plus and is expected to extend an invitation to Agyapong soon.

Arhin said the investigation is in line with President Akufo-Addos resolution to investigate every corruption allegation levelled against a government official.

A Plus accused the deputy Chiefs of Staff at the Flagstaff House  John Jinapor and Francis Asenso-Boakye of extorting over 10, 000 Ghana cedis from people hoping to meet the President before they arranged a meeting.

After this allegation, Agyapong supported him saying Jinapor and Asenso Boakye are not the only corrupt officials at the Presidency.

However, Agyepong denied claims that he accused the Communications Minister, Ursula Ekuful of taking a bribe.
The award was part of AASUs Youth Summit annual event which honours individuals and institutions that have championed or contributed to education and youth related development.

This year's Summit, being the 6th of its kind, was under the theme "A Holistic Approach To Quality Assurance In African Higher Educational Institutions - Pragmatic Interventions By The Supply And Demand Actors."

The relevance of this year's Summit is hinged on recent trends that suggest that the issues of access, equity, relevance, comparability and cost of Higher Education are becoming the key talking points at high level dialogues and acknowledged now as having the impetus to drive national development.

Mr Peter Kwasi Kodjie, Secretary General and Head of Mission of AASU at the presentation lauded Sammy Awuku for being a role model to the youth of Ghana.

The citation for Sammy Awuku reads: "we wish to recognise you for your long standing relationship with AASU and your unwavering commitment to the empowerment of the students and youth of the continent. Your show of exemplary leadership, especially during the 2016 general elections in Ghana serves as an unalloyed inspiration to the students and youth of Africa.
Aftab Shivdasani wed his wife Nin Dusanj for the second time in a grand ceremony in Sri Lanka.

By India Today Web Desk: Aftab Shivdasani left his female fans heartbroken when he tied the knot with Nin Dusanj in 2014. The couple did not have a grand wedding, opting, instead, for an intimate ceremony attended only by both their families.

Three years later, Aftab and Nin got re-married at the Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort in Sri Lanka. The actor shared a collage of their wedding photos on Instagram with the caption, "My beloved, words fail to describe my love for you. I couldn't be happier, I thank the Lord everyday for having you in my life."

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Aftab's Kyaa Kool Hai Hum 3 co-star Tusshar Kapoor also shared a picture with the couple on his Instagram account. "Not too much of a throwback but ya it's Thursday... thank you for an awesome trip to Sri Lanka! Here's wishing you both the happiest married life," he wrote.

ALSO READ: Aftab Shivdasani turns producer

ALSO WATCH: When Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani made Naagin aka Shivanya uncomfortable

--- ENDS ---
The court cited irregularities and indicated that a new poll should be organized within 60 days, BBC reports.

The incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the recently held election.

But the opposition candidate Raila Odinga said that the results were manipulated after claims that the commission's IT system had been hacked.

Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the August 8 poll winner with 54.27 percent to 44.74 for challenger Raila Odinga.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Raila Odinga has described the Supreme Court's annulment of last month's presidential election result as a "very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of the continent of Africa".
The two leaders have already met at a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany and a NATO summit in Brussels, but this will be their first scheduled head-to-head talks.

Rajoy "will meet with Trump on September 26" a Spanish government spokesman told AFP.

Last month Trump called Rajoy to present his condolences after terror attacks in Catalonia left a total of 16 people dead and 120 injured.

The first phone conversation between the two leaders was in February when Trump assured Rajoy that the United States remains committed to NATO, despite his past criticism of the transatlantic military alliance.

Trump and Rajoy then agreed "to continue close security, economic and counterterrorism cooperation".

Rajoy, in power since 2011, visited the White House in January 2014 when Trump's predecessor Barack Obama was in office.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman, Wafula Chebukati on Friday at 1430GMT addressed the nation and said the commission was deeply concerned over the verdict.

"We urge the Supreme Court to issue us a full judgment so that we can know the areas of concern before we hold another election." he said.

"Somebody has to take responsibility for the errors," he added.

Mr. Chebukati further invited the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution to carry out investigations and bring to book any of its officials implicated in the electoral malpractice.

"Prosecute any of our staff that may have been involved in the violation of the election results."

Chief Justice, David Maraga delivered the presidential elections petition verdict that IEBC had breached the constitution in the transmission of the election results and therefore ruled the results null and void.

A declaration is here that the president elections held on 8th August was not conducted in accordance with the constitution and therefore it is invalid, null and void Maraga told a packed court.

Also read: Ghost of slain IEBC IT official Msando comes back to haunt electoral body as NASA allege hacking

IEBC on 12th August declared incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of the presidential elections after he garnered 8,203,290 (54.27%) votes against his closest political rival National Super Alliance coalition (NASA) Presidential candidate, Raila Odinga's 6,762,224 (44.74%) votes.

The opposition however disputed the results and moved to Supreme Court alleging elections were rigged despite international observers giving the process a clean bill of health.
Watson said staying in both the single market and customs union "might be a permanent outcome of the negotiations" as Labour positions itself to be the party of "soft Brexit."

In an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, Watson also said that Labour believes staying in both during a transitional period is "important" as "that is the way you protect jobs and the economy."

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer announced on Sunday that a Labour government would seek to negotiate a transitional period which would see Britain remain both in the European single market and EU customs union.

This is despite Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn previously saying that the UK had to leave the single market when it left the EU in July.

Starmer said Labour "would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during this period. It means we would abide by the common rules of both.

"We will always put jobs and the economy first. That means remaining in a form of customs union with the EU is a possible end destination for Labour, but that must be subject to negotiations."

Prominent trade unions and Labour MPs had been putting pressure on Corbyn to announce that Labour would keep the UK in the single market after Britain leaves the EU, in order for his "jobs-first" Brexit to materalise.

You can watch Watson's interview here:

Theresa May's Conservative Party has made it clear that its policy is to remove the UK from both the single market and customs union when Brexit happens.

On Thursday the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that there had been no "decisive progress on any of the principle subjects." The two sides must make "sufficient progress" on citizens' rights, the divorce bill and the Irish border before talks regarding the UK's future relationship with Brussels can begin.

In his interview, Watson also insisted that there was no plot to remove him as deputy leader, as he has criticised leader Corbyn in the past. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale resigned on Tuesday amid speculation it was because of her opposition to Corbyn.

Labour's deputy leader said: "Well, there is always someone trying to get rid of you in politics, But, no, I don't actually see any move to remove me from my position.
James Orengo, the oppositions lead counsel, lauded the courts decision terming it a historic judgement in Africa.

We hope that the President of the republic of Kenya is not computer generated. Impunity MUST be punished, he added.

The same sentiments were shared by the petitioner and National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga who termed the ruling a triumph for Kenya.

For the first time in the history of African democratization a ruling has been made in court nullifying irregular elections of a President. This is a precedent-setting ruling therefore very historical, said Mr. Odinga.

He faulted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission(IEBC) for failing to conduct free and fair election saying that all its officials should be prosecuted.

We have no faith at all in the electoral commission. They have committed criminal acts, most of them actually belong to jail. We are going to ask for prosecution of all the officers who have committed this monstrous crime, he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday morning annulled the elections saying that the IEBC did not conduct the polls as stipulated by the law.
He's going big, like the native Texan he is, with plans to raise a $100 million fund to assist in the relief and rebuilding of Houston. It's called the Rebuild Texas Fund.

Dell and his wife Susan are seeding the fund with a $36 million grant from their charitable foundation  half of it up front, and half of it as a match to funds raised over the weekend.

"Over the Labor Day Weekend, we will contribute another dollar for every two dollars donated to the Rebuild Texas Fund," Dell wrote in a Facebook post Friday morning announcing the fund.

While Dell and his company Dell Technologies may be most associated with Austin, Texas, where his company is headquartered, the man himself was born and raised in Houston.

Dell and his wife are also among the biggest philanthropists in the state, so it's not at all surprising to see them step in with an effort that's more than a big, one-off donation. This fund may be something in place for years; in fact, the fund's page proclaims: "A Texas-sized disaster requires a Texas-sized response."
Anitha, who was in distress over failing to obtain a medical seat after NEET was made compulsory, hung herself at her residence in Ariyalur.

By India Today Web Desk: The suicide of Dalit girl Anitha, who fought against NEET exams, have sent shockwaves across Tamil Nadu. From politicians to film stars, all have expressed their grief over the incident and also condemned the state and Central governments.

Anitha, who was in distress over failing to obtain a medical seat after NEET was made compulsory, hung herself at her residence in Ariyalur . Despite scoring excellently in her class 12 exams, Anitha was appalled to learn that she was to compete yet again in NEET exams to secure a medical seat.

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Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan have expressed grief over the incident. Haasan told media persons that he was deeply upset with the suicide. He said that Anitha committed suicide because there was no exemption in NEET. The actor is likely to visit Anitha's village on Saturday.

"We should see that no student takes the drastic measure in future. Do not be dejected, this is not the end. We will fight for justice and will win," said the actor.On the other hand, Rajnikanth in a tweet said, "What has happened to Anitha is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to all the pain and agony she would have undergone before taking this drastic step. My condolences to her family."

The suicide has also triggered a debate on the education policy of the state government. DMK leader MK Stalin blamed the Tamil Nadu and the Modi government for the teenager's suicide. While VK Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran in a letter said that if late chief minister Jayalalithaa was around, injustices like NEET would never have taken place.

Dinakaran also sermonized the value of inner strength saying, "problems disappointments will keep coming - that is the way of the world. Develop the strength of mind needed to face them. Opportunities will keep coming your way in various forms. Keep in mind the old Tamil proverb - when one door closes, a thousand windows will open. Those who have talent and are willing to work hard will succeed anyhow. Suicide is not the solution, it only causes distress to parents and society."

Meanwhile, the parents of the student have refused to receive her body after post-mortem. Protests were reported from her native village.

In a related development, BJP leaders H Raja and Nirmala Seetharaman have been facing the wrath of the locals following the suicide.

In wake of protests, security has been beefed outside BJP Tamil Nadu office and residence of advocate Nalini Chidambaram. Incidentally, several student and Dalit organisations are planning to hold massive protests on Saturday.

Also Read:

Tamil Nadu girl Anitha who spearheaded fight against NEET commits suicide

Also Watch: Tamil Nadu: Dalit girl who spearheaded fight against NEET commits suicide

--- ENDS ---
Apart from flying out for an early anniversary getaway to the same Greek Island Stephanie Coker recently married at, the pair took to their social media pages with the best words for each other as their marriage reaches it's 36th month on August 30, 2017.

Here's what one of Gabrielle's posts on Instagram says:

Someone told me that if our wedding was any indication of how our marriage would go, there would be a lot of happiness in our future...And he ain't never lied!

8-30-2014 was the 1st step and we keep on steppin!

Every day I think there's no way I could love you any more than I did the day before, but I fall deeper in love with you each morning.

Thank you for your belief that we were both capable of evolution and committing to be your best self for our family. Loving you poopy!

And Dwyane's message to her goes:

"3 years ago I married my best friend!!! 3 years later...It's one of the best decisions I've made to date.

"I wanna thank you for growing with me and helping me grow into the man I wanna be.

"I still have so many levels to go but that's only because I wanna be so much more for you and our kids.

"We live life by our own rules and I love that about us.

"So here's to another 57 years of happiness!!!"
By afternoon of Thursday, August 31, 2017, most of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, had been submerged.

The rains that sank Benue went into overdrive on Monday, August 28.

As the week tapered toward the Eid-El-Kabir holidays, residents of Makurdi were conducting businesses off rooftops and more than 100,000 people had been displaced.

President Muhammadu Buhari left Abuja for his hometown of Daura in Katsina State in time for the Sallah celebrations on Wednesday, August 30.

In essence, Benue was already sinking whilst the president was in the countrys capital city; conducting business from a makeshift office that hadn't been damaged by rodents.

That he wasnt briefed about the natural disaster, is in itself tragic and evinces how tone deaf Aso Rock can be. But that is subject matter for some other day.

Even the press got round to reporting the Benue disaster very late in the day. It wasnt until Thursday, August 31, that press coverage of the flooded Benue plains kicked off with some intensity; forcingAbujato react.

I have received with great concern, reports of the flooding in Benue State, displacing, from early estimates, more than 100,000 people, Buhari said in a statement, late Thursday.

I have directed the to immediately mobilize personnel and resources to the aid of the affected communities and persons.

I will be monitoring and getting updates on the rollout of the Federal Government's humanitarian response to the Benue flooding disaster.

My sympathies go to the Benue government and people. I assure that the FG will make available ALL assistance needed by the Benue State Govt and affected communities.

We will surmount this disaster, and, working with the State government, bring succour and relief to all affected persons and communities", the president said.

The presidents statement arrived late in the day and federal response to the disaster has been characteristically tardy.

However, the nations Commander-In-Chief has carried on with his Eid-el-Kabir celebrations in Daura as though a carefully crafted statement and dispatching food supplies to Benue is all it requires at this time.

In contrast, Benue Governor Samuel Ortom, has been photographed with boots on the ground, knee length in flood water.

US President Donald Trump isn't exactly anyone's idea of a role model but he showed up at Hurricane Harvey and said the wrongest of things. But at least he showed up.

At times like this, presidents show up, not because their presence will make the disaster magically disappear or bring succor to the devastated, but because its called leadership for a reason.

When a nations Commander-In-Chief flies his office to places hit by disaster or conflict, he shows the rest of his team and government agencies that they all have to care and fix the mess. It also shows that he cares. Empathy is an underrated ingredient of leadership but it does matter.

Lets even concede for the sake of a debate that the president--who has only just returned from a medical trip abroad--is still too frail to take to the skies and make whistle-stops here and there, but thats why there is a Vice President. Buhari should have dispatched Yemi Osinbajo to the epicenter of the disaster with several bullhorns tucked in a corner of the presidential jet.

Yes, that would have made a difference and gone some way in making up for the governments slow response.

Whether we like it or not, photo-ops, PR and putting up appearances make up the toolkit of a 21st century leaderespecially the toolkit of a leader who has been described as aloof and cold in certain quarters.

A president's brand is forged in times of crises. True, Buhari doesn't care about optics and all that jazz but he's got no choice in the modern world.

This is hoping that the president goes through this piece, cuts short his Sallah holidays and flies to Benue. Or that he sends Osinbajo for a first hand feel of what's going on in Benue, without further delays.
Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the Theatre Commander Operation LAFIYA DOLE, said this at a news conference at the Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri.

Attahiru said that it has also successfully cleared about 630 settlement of insurgents and rescued about 468 persons held in Boko Haram captivity.

He said that during the period under review, troops had intercepted fleeing suspected Boko Haram terrorists attempting to seek refuge in IDPs camps.

This vigilant posture by troops and Civilian Joint Task Force members as well as some clan heads resulted in the arrest of 313 insurgents who are currently undergoing investigations.Attahiru said also that about 69 Boko Haram suspects have surrendered and renounced their membership adding that they were currently being rehabilitated under the Operation Safe Corridor of the Federal Government.

In the period under review, troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE had series of encounters with the insurgents in the hinterlands and on fringes of the Lake Chad. Some of the major encounters involved troops deployed at Gulumba Gana recording a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack on 3 Jul 17.

 The troops neutralised the attack and killed 3 BHT and recovered one AK 47 with registration number 562703141 and a magazine. Also on Jul 10 and 17, troops encountered Bomo Haram terrorists at Kwatara-Kasa Village along Road Gwoza-Limankara.

 Troops killed four Boko Haram terrorists and recovered one hand grenade, one VHF Motorola, one empty cylinder, one IED primer, two electrical cables and two detonating cords during the encounter.

Additionally, three IEDs were discovered and detonated by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD). Regrettably, two soldiers fell while five soldiers were wounded in action.

On the same day, troops encountered BHT at Mayanti in Bama LGA while the terrorists were foraging for logistics and food. The troops firepower subdued the terrorists causing them to flee.

The troops pursued the Boko Haram to Chongolo Village within the same LGA, where scores of them were killed after a sustained fire fight.

 Troops captured two gun trucks mounted with Anti-Aircraft guns, one AK 47 rifle, one locally made gun, 1,211 rounds of Anti-Aircraft gun, one Rocket Propelled Gun bomb, 2 AK 47 magazines, one FN magazine, 3 Hilux tyres, one vulcanizing machine, IED materials, one sleeping kit, 5 bags of beans and a BHT banner. Unfortunately, 2 soldiers lost their lives in the encounter."

Attahiru said the troops deployed at Gulumba Gana in Bama LGA had an encounter with BHTs on July 30 killing one insurgent and recovering a damaged AK 47 and an empty magazine.

He, however, said two soldiers were wounded in the encounter and were receiving medical attention.

He said troops, on clearance operation to Gashigar and Asaga in Mobbar LGA, engaged fleeing insurgents killing two and capturing another two.

Troops also captured one AK 47 rifle with registration number 58008971, 4 AK 47 rifle magazines with 89 rounds of 7.62mm (Special), one magazine carrier, one handset, 4 motorcycles and the sum of 138,000."Attahiru recalled an attack on an NNPC oil exploration team entered by some insurgents ambush around Borno Yesu Village in Magumeri, which led to the death of a number of people while some were abducted.

While expressing his sympathy to the families of those caught in the incident the commander said a reinforcement team dispatched to the scene of the incident had an encounter with some of the Boko Haram that carried out the dastardly act.

Many of them were killed in the process with troops capturing three Toyota Hilux vans, one Buffalo pickup, four rocket propelled bombs, AK 47 rifles, one Anti-Aircraft gun and its spare barrel

Also, on Aug 5, troops successfully neutralised some insurgents at a known crossing point along Road Mayanti  Banki Junction, killing 12 in the encounter.
Banki is located approximately 130 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.

A source who spoke to newsmen said that they suspect that the terrorists got information from people in the camp, adding that female members of the sect must have disguised as IDPs.

According to Punch, the terrorists struck the IDP camp around 12:30am and started stabbing people.

One top military official said At around 12:30 am (2330 GMT Thursday) this morning some Boko Haram terrorists broke the barricade securing the IDP camp from the rear towards the Cameroon border and entered to seize food from IDPs.

They killed 11 IDPs and wounded two in the attack.

We have reason to believe they most likely acted on a tip-off from insiders.

ALSO READ: Nigerians criticize Lai Mohammed for saying Boko Haram war has been won

The source also said that soldiers stationed at the camp chased away the sect members, adding that they made away with food.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fayose was received by the the Muslim leaders and other faithful who were chorusing Alahu Akbar.

Fayose addressing the faithful said that this was not his first time of identifying with Muslims in the open, promising to maintain the relationship.

He said such actions were needed from leaders as a way of preaching peace, unity and tranquility to the led.

Fayose also promised to look into the request of the Muslim faithful as best as he could do.

He advised the Islamic clerics to always tell the leaders the truth and preach the values of justice and equality.

Fayose who said that religious clerics wield more influence on the people than government officials or political leaders, urged them to use such influence to re-orientate the people toward maintaining love, peace, justice and equity for all.

He said: Muslims are very peculiar people and Islam, their religion, is not known for violence. I therefore urge all Muslims to abide by the doctrines of Islam and ensure that they live in harmony with everybody.

 We have the same blood flowing in our veins and we are, first of all, human beings before we chose our religion. So, God in us is more important than the religion.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I therefore enjoin you all to continue to live in peace for the collective growth of our land, our nation.

We will continue to work together so that this country remains one, indivisible but founded on justice and equity,  he said.

Earlier, the Chief Imam of Ado Ekiti and the President -General of the League of Imams and Alfas in the South West, Edo and Delta states, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere- Bello, applauded the governors dressing as a Muslim in his sermon.

He said it was in obedience to Allahs instructions and biblical injunctions.

This dressing shows that the governor is not discriminating against any religion. Your Excellency, your dressing is even in line with Biblical injunctions.

The book of Zecharias 3:3 in the Bible says:

We removed unclean clothes from Joshua, we washed him clean and he was dressed with a clean turban on his head and Gods angel stood by him.

Our governor, as you wear the turban on your head, the angel of God is already with you and that is why you are succeeding in all that you do, against all odds, he said.

He advised the governor to consider producing a Muslim as the governorship candidate of his party for next years gubernatorial election, saying no Muslim had been elected the governor of the state since it was created over 20 years ago.

 Ekiti is 20 years now and since its creation, we have not had a Muslim as its governor. We urge you sir, if any Muslim is interested in the governorship from your party, kindly support him to fulfil that ambition.
The House also commended the state Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode for his commitment to providing modern infrastructure for the development of the education sector in the state.

The Chairman of the state house Committee on Education, Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi, during a tour/inspection of ongoing schools renovation across the state, demanded prompt projects delivery within time frame to complement the efforts of the state government at putting in place lasting infrastructure to develop the education sector in the state.

Schools visited include: Awori College, Ojo; Angus Memorial College, Igbobi; Lagos City Model College, Sabo; Lagos State Model College, Meiran; Millennium Senior Secondary School, Egbeda; Estate Junior High School, Ifako-Ijaye; and Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Agege.

At Awori College Ojo, Ogunyemi faulted Eldorado Nigeria Limited, for the slow pace of the work in spite of 40% initial payment. "We are not satisfied with what we found here,"he said.

Ogunyemi expressed satisfaction at the pace of work at Angus Memorial and Lagos City Model Colleges.

These projects are giant stride of the Akinwunmi Ambodes Administration. In each project there are suppose to be 36 classrooms and world class facilities that is befitting," he said.

Speaking at Lagos State Model College, Meiran, Ogunyemi said the committee is happy with what they found compared to the state it was a year ago when they visited the school.

Briefing newsmen after the oversight duty, the lawmaker said the main essence of the visit is to merge the projects vis a vis to the fund that has been released to the contractors.
This advice was contained in the Sallah message of the Speaker released on Thursday, August 31st, 2017 which was signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Musbau Rasak.

Rt. Hon. Obasa stated that Nigerians should eschew bitterness and violence among themselves. "We should imbibe the spirit of love for one another as symbolised in the celebration of the Eid-l-Kabir. We should watch and be careful of our utterances to one another and a should endeavour to say things that will promote love and unity among ourselves," he said.

Obasa also urged Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of sacrifice as an act that can enhance unity and love among themselves.

ALSO READ: Gov Tambuwal tasks Nigerians on peaceful coexistence in Sallah message

The Lagos Assembly Speaker also admonished Nigerians to always remain vigilant all the time and to report promptly any act of utterance that can cause breach of peace in the country.

He also praised Nigerians for their support g the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at both state and national levels.

"We will always seek for your prayer, support and cooperation and I want to assure Nigerians that the APC administration at the centre and in Lagos will continue to put in place programmes and policies that will enhance the standard of living of our people and improve their welfare," the Lagos Assembly Speaker said.
Rajesh Gulati, a software engineer from Delhi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dehradun court as he was held guilty of murdering his wife Anupama Gulati and stashing her body in a deep freezer after chopping it into pieces.

By India Today Web Desk: Rajesh Gulati, a software engineer from Delhi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dehradun court as he was held guilty of murdering his wife Anupama Gulati and stashing her body in a deep freezer after chopping it into pieces seven years ago.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on him.

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Rajesh Gulati was convicted under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (hiding evidence) of the IPC. Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar pronounced the verdict.

The seven-year-old case which was considered to be one of the most heinous killings in Uttarakhand had made waves throughout the country.

Here's what had happened:

On the night of October 17, 2010, Rajesh had an argument with Anupama after which he killed her in their rented house at Dehradun's Prakash Nagar area. The 37-year-old Rajesh smothered his wife and then used an electric saw to chop her body.

Anupama believed that Rajesh was involved in an extra-martial affair with a woman from Kolkata and because of this the couple used to fight often. However, during the interrogation Rajesh claimed that his wife had an affair with his friend in the United States and that is why he killed her. Later on, he also admitted that he had married a woman in Kolkata after coming back from US.

On October 17, after another altercation Rajesh smothered Anupama using a pillow.

He then bought polythene bags and an electric saw to cut Anupama's body into pieces. To hide his crime, he filled up the polythene bags with her body parts and stored them in a deep freezer. Rajesh even lied to the couple's twins aged four that their mother was in Delhi.

Rajesh then started throwing away these bags, one polythene at a time on the outskirts of the city. The news of the gruesome killing remained hidden till two months. In December 2010, Anupama's brother Sujan Pradhan visited the couple's residence after being unable to get in touch with her.

Pradhan filed a missing complaint with the police when Rajesh could not tell him about Anupama's whereabouts and refused ot let him enter the house.

The Cantonment Police then raided Rajesh's house and found a locked deep freezer. Pieces of Anupama's body were recovered from the deep freezer. During the investigation, it was found that Rajesh had thrown pieces of her corpse into a drain on Mussorrie road.

After his crime came to light, an unrepentant Rajesh said that he was relieved because he had finally gotten rid of his wife . "Whatever I did, I did it for the children," he said.

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The recent judgment

Pradhan's counselor SK Mohanty has said that the case should be treated as a 'rarest of rare' case and Rajesh should have been given captial punishment. "We might now approach the Uttarakhand High Court and appeal for capital punishment for Gulati", he told PTI .

--- ENDS ---
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mohammed had joined other Muslim faithful at the Oro praying ground to offer the two rakats congregational prayers to mark the Eid-el-Kabir.

The minister said the prayers of Nigerians were needed to ensure the success of the administrations laudable initiatives aimed at transforming the country.

He enjoined the citizens, especially wealthy individuals, to be their brothers keeper by offering support to the needy for them to live comfortably.

Mohammed said only the collective efforts of stakeholders could bring about the desired change envisioned for the nation as being championed by the present administration.

Government alone cannot do it, certainly, the leaders need the support of the citizens through their prayers to succeed, he said.

The Chief Imam of Oro, Alhaji Taofeeq Sanusi, in a sermon, urged Nigerians to eschew backbiting, hatred, pride and enmity.

He maintained that no matter their status, human beings must give an account of their stewardship.

Sanusi also enjoined Nigerians, irrespective of religious, ethnic and political affiliations, to imbibe the virtues of tolerance, unity and patriotism.

Our Allah is ever clean and will not accept any deed from us except it is pure and clean, he said.

The traditional ruler of Oro, Oba Abdulrafiu Ajiboye, urged all residents to continue to promote peace and harmonious relationship.

He expressed the support of the traditional institution toward ensuring the desired transformation of the country.
Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, Spokesman of the Joint Force, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Friday.

He debunked earlier reports that four soldiers and a civilian died in the attack on troops on Aug. 28, at Letugbene community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

This is to put to rest exaggerated speculations on an incident involving our troops and suspected militants on Monday, 28th August, 2017 around 200 hrs near Letugbene community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

During the firefight, one gallant soldier and a civilian staff attached to the military houseboat paid the supreme price for defending fatherland as against reports of four soldiers killed.

A rescue team supported by gunboats was immediately dispatched to the area and they were able to locate and support two other soldiers who engaged the militants, he said

Abdullahi said that a manhunt had been launched to fish out the perpetrators of the act some of whom fled into neighbouring communities.

ALSO READ: Niger Delta militants threaten to resume attacks on Sept 31

He said that the ongoing operation was within the rules of military engagement in line with best practices, assuring that innocent residents had nothing to fear.

Operation Delta Safe and indeed the Nigerian Military do not carry out reprisal attacks on innocent citizens as alleged in some quarters.
The president expressed his feelings about the programme after he was visited by a large number of corps members in his hometown of Daura for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations on Friday, September 1, 2017.

The president expressed his admiration for the programme as it helps in exposing young Nigerian graduates to the cultures of people from other parts of the country.

The president said, "One of the highlights of my Eid-el-Kabir celebrations in Daura is the visit from NYSC members, after the prayers.

I am always pleased to see Corps members in Daura and other parts of Nigeria. From the postings, we get to learn more about other cultures.

I remain convinced that the NYSC offers a great opportunity to learn a lot about the diversity that has made Nigeria a unique country."

To drive home the point, the president highlighted his own experience as an army officer in other parts of the country that gave him the chance to experience the rich diversity of the country.

He said, "On a personal note, I recall that serving as an Army Officer in Lagos and Ibadan offered me very rich and fulfilling experiences.

"Our rich diversity as a nation is and will always be one of our greatest strengths. It must never be used as a tool of hatred and division."

The NYSC programme has been thoroughly criticised in recent times, especially by young Nigerians, who object to the administration of the programme and its career impacts on participants.
Butswat gave the assurance on Friday in Yenagoa in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that the command had made adequate preparation to ensure peaceful celebration of Sallah in all public places and worship centres across the state.

He added that the command had also mobilised its personnel to monitor fun centres and eateries across the state.

I must tell you we have put in place adequate security measures to curtail the activities of miscreants.

We urge miscreants to steer clear of trouble; the police will not take it lightly with anyone caught fomenting trouble.
In photos posted by the president's Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, on his Twitter account, (@, President Buhari observed the Eid-ul-Adha prayer at the Daura Eid Ground.

He was at the prayer ground with Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar, and surrounded by hundreds of supporters also at the worship centre.

Chief Imam of Daura, Malam Salisu Rabiu, led the worshippers in the prayer and stressed the need to respect constituted authority in his sermon.

In a Sallah message directed towards Nigerians earlier on Friday, the president urged for peace to reign in the country, while stressing the need for unity.

He said, "On this occasion, I appeal to all to keep our prejudices aside and strengthen the bonds of friendship and unity, to keep Nigeria together. We must learn to see ourselves as brothers and sisters from the same heritage."
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, made this known while briefing newsmen after its investigative meeting with some of the companies on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the interest of the Senate in the investigation was to assist the executive in recovering monies trapped in the import and export chain.

He said there are allegations that the investigation is borne out of personal interest.

Once a senate committee passes a resolution such as this, it cannot be termed as decision of a single senator.

You may not like my face as a person but it is important to look at the credibility of the work we are doing.

We need to sanitise the import and export circle to ensure that trade is facilitated and non-oil revenue is recovered and strengthened.

In that manner, government will not rely so much on oil.

The lawmaker further said that while some had alleged that the investigation was a sham, some of the indicted companies had started refunding monies running into billions of Naira to Federal Government.

As a result of this investigation, banks which are the authorised dealers in the export and import chain have been making effort to remit everything collected by them to the Central Bank.

We are doing this on a friendly note because we do not want to send a wrong signal to the market.

Although more funds other than the N120 billion I announced sometime ago have been recovered, we do not want to send wrong signal.

We are limited to speak further on how much has been recovered so far.

However, we will definitely come up with figures recovered at the end of the investigation.

Uzodinma explained that the committee was saving the figures till the end of the investigation because some of the companies were quoted on the Capital Market.

According to him, revealing the figures will send panic to the market.

He also explained that the committee resorted to interfacing with individual companies rather than meeting with them in group to enable them to open up to the committee.

Uzodinma said the strategy had yielded positive result, particularly in recovering trapped funds.

The companies are now free to admit and some of them have promised to make payments.

Today alone, three companies came with receipts of payment.

If we did not embark on this investigation, we would not make these recoveries.

Through this investigation, we have helped the Federal Government to recover some money and we are sure that government will recover more money because we have detailed information that will aid more recovery.

The companies are no longer contesting most of the documents of infractions we confronted them with.

The chairman called for the support of relevant stakeholders including the media in the ongoing investigation.

He explained that the country would not be able to make the necessary progress if Nigerians were not committed in ensuring that national interest was continually protected.
Abubakar gave the charge on Friday, September 1, in Sokoto in his Sallah message to Nigerians to commemorate the Eid-el-Kabir.

He said that Nigeria must remain as one nation, stressing that people should desist from divisive tendencies.

The royal father stressed that every Nigerian is free to live in any part of the country without discrimination or harassment.

He also commended the Sokoto state government for ensuring the successful transportation of the state's pilgrims to the holy land for 2017 pilgrimage, and prayed for the safe return of the pilgrims.
The lawmaker made this known in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, August 28.

She described the development as unacceptable, particularly for a party that was just trying to get its footing after undergoing a major leadership crisis.

She said party members that were not part of the struggle during the crisis period were suddenly imposed on the party members.

There must be incentive for loyalty. Party loyalists must have a say.

When you deny their participation, you deny them that incentive they get from being the torchbearers of the party. So, I think its morally wrong for this to happen.

Secondly, we are just coming out from `godfatherism that pervades the politics of Anambra PDP.

Thank God for court judgment but with what is happening, they are bringing us back to that era where we will be subjected to one man imposing a candidate on us.

The fundamental process that led to the three-man delegates was so chaotic and the default was so fundamental.

My people were disenfranchised and I dont want to be part of that process because it is injustice.

When you have imposition, you have blocked that hope for them.

You have made it difficult and impossible for them to aspire to be anything within the party because you are telling them that you can bring somebody from anywhere to impose on them.

Also, bringing somebody from outside the party and who has not stayed for long, it means that you are saying that you lack capacity within party members.

But I dont think we lack capacity, I think PDP has enough capacity to run for that election, she said.

The lawmaker said she was concerned that the development could lead to the partys defeat in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

Oduah, representing Anambra North, had threatened to withdraw from Mondays PDP governorship primaries on grounds that the partys ward congresses was fraught with irregularities and sabotage.
Nigeria holds a general election to choose a new president in 2019; with the tenures of the incumbent and those of a host of other elected representatives up for grabs in a few months.

There is already a fierce jostle for power behind the scenes, with a host of candidates lining up to replace the ailing Buhari who has embarked on medical trips abroad thrice in the last two years.

Political pundits and opposition figures say Buhari, who is entitled to seek re-election once his first term winds down in 2019, will be too frail and remains medically unfit to affix his name on the ballot.

In an exclusive chat however, an aide of the president told Pulse that after observing Buhari from close quarters since his return on August 19, the Daura born former General has not only fully recovered from an undisclosed ailment, hes got one more grueling electioneering campaign in him.

was told that the Nigerian leader is in fine fettle and rude health.

Buhari is fine. He is very, very fine. He is stronger than he was shortly before he left Nigeria for London, the top ranking Aso Villa official told Pulse.

Pressed on whether Buhari has fully recovered and if Nigerians should be worried about seeing their president take to the skies soon to tend to his health troubles, the aide shot back:

Buhari even runs these days. Thats how fit he is. He has fully recovered. The Doctors didn't keep him in London this long just to have him return there after only a few days.

Buhari is strong enough to run in 2019. He is physically strong enough for the rigours of another electioneering campaign. Yes. I believe he is even stronger now. Buhari isnt the kind of person to act dramato put up a show for the cameras. I worked with Buhari during the electioneering campaign of 2015. I knew how he was, up close and personal and I know how he is now".

pressed this aide on whether his comments should be taken as an official confirmation that Buhari will seek another term in office.

He may decide not to run or otherwise. It's still early days. But from what I see, he looks ready to run, the official said.

Presidential spokespersons Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina were not immediately available for comments for this story.

Buhari was elected Nigeria President in March of 2015 and was sworn-in in May of the same year.

The retired Army General won the poll on the platform of the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) which gave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a run for its money at the first time of asking.

In a gentlemans agreement, the Nigerian presidency often rotates between a Christian dominated South and a Muslim dominated North.

Buhari, a Muslim from the majority North, is expected to see out a two term of eight years in spite of his health concerns.

The Nigerian leader is yet to announce his intention to seek re-election. He is also yet to refute speculations suggesting hell seek another term of office.

However, campaign posters declaring re-election motives on the presidents behalf, intermittently surface on the boulevards of Abuja, the countrys capital.

The health of a Nigerian president remains a sensitive subject in Africa's most populous country, following the death of Umaru Yaradua who was diagnosed of kidney and heart complications.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe, made the announcement on Friday in Enugu while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the exco meeting held on Thursday.

Anikwe said the approval was sequel to a request made by Prof. Mike Ajogwu, the Chairman, Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC).

He said that the funds would be used to purchase sensitive election materials, ballot papers and election forms.

He added that it would also cover the cost of transportation, security, publicity and payment of honoraria and allowances to full time and ad-hoc staff that would be deployed for the exercise.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that on July 19, the council approved the release of N25 million to the electoral body as take-off funds and for the purchase of non-sensitive materials.

Anikwe said the council also approved the reconstitution of the executive management committees of local government areas affected by the forthcoming council election.

NAN reports that the chairmen of the caretaker committee of some local government councils won their partys nomination for the poll.
By Piya Hingorani: Ayushmann Khurrana, who is still basking in the success of his sleeper hit Bareilly Ki Barfi, which also starred Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon, has got his fingers crossed for his next, Shubh Mangal Savdhan, where he is paired opposite Bhumi Pednekar. From making his debut in a film revolving around sperm donation, (Vicky Donor in 2012) to now tackling a taboo subject like performance anxiety in the bedroom, with Shubh Mangal Savdhan, life has come full circle for the 32-year-old actor.

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Speaking exclusively to India Today TV, Ayushamann confessed, "Life has come full circle. I also believe that it's so ironical that in my first film, I was sperm donor and this is diagonally opposite - a man suffering from erectile dysfunction. But that's the fun part of it, I feel I am apt for this. This is the perfect casting - it's radical, it's off-centre and at the same time it's opposite so, it's funny."

After starring in an array of romantic comedies and slice-of-life films like Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Meri Pyari Bindu, Ayushmann has taken the plunge into the thriller genre with Shoot The Piano Man, which will be directed by ace filmmaker Sriram Raghavan. Speaking about the film, Ayushmann said, "It's a dark gritty drama, so that's different for me. I always wanted to do a thriller, and a thriller with Sriram Raghavan was always part of my bucket list, so it's a big thing as far as the character is concerned and the genre is concerned."

However, Raghavan, whose last film Badlapur in 2015 helped Varun Dhawan shed his chocolate boy image, has given a list of do's and don'ts to Ayushmann. "Don't smile too much, that's what he tells me. It's a thriller; don't smile too much! I get that don't from my manager also, she says you need to look hot, so don't smile too much," chuckled the actor.

ALSO READ: Used to sing in trains and collect money during college days, says Ayushmann Khurrana

ALSO READ: Ayushmann Khurrana advocates pre-marital sex

ALSO WATCH: Up, close and personal with Ayushmann Khurrana

--- ENDS ---
According to a report by Vanguard, the members of the political party, who belonged to a former pro-PDP group called I see You, defected to APC at a rally organised in Port Harcourt on Thursday, August 31, 2017.

Chizi Nyeomasila, the National Leader of the political group, said the rally was a forum for local government executives of the group to defect to the national ruling party.

Nyeomasila also added that the group will also organise rallies in the various local government areas for members at ward levels to defect and this will see a total of 108,000 of its members formally dumping PDP for APC.

In his words: "We had to leave PDP when we realised that APC had a better programme for the state

PDP is a failure in the state. We were there but have now seen that APC will serve the common good of the state better. Like Paul in the Bible, we now see clearly.

Chairman of Rivers APC, Dr Davies said, We are set to dislodge PDP in the state at all levels. It has started. Now it is two to one at the senatorial level. APC has two senators, while PDP has one. So you can see that APC is set for victory in 2019.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that this was contained in a letter addressed to the Counsel to the former Deputy Speaker, Olayiwola Afolabi & Co.

Ativie had in an earlier letter, through her counsel, informed the House that the vehicles were given to her as gift by the immediate past governor of the state, Mr Adams Oshionmhole.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the demand for the vehicles followed the recent impeachment of the leadership of the House.

The leadership change saw the emergence of Mr Kabiru Adjoto, as the new speaker and Victor Edoro, Esan Central, as the deputy speaker.

In response to Ativies letter, the assembly declared that her claim that the vehicles were given to her by the former governor of the state was untrue as there was no evidence to show that the former governor and the leadership of the House took such decision.

The clerk of the House, Mr James Omoataman, who signed the letter said the House had scrutinised the allocation letter which she claimed conveyed approval to her to retain the vehicles.

We have compared the signature of the esteem former governor on the said letter and found it is not genuine and we hope your client is aware of the consequences of parading such document.

As your client will recall the said vehicles were purchased for the use of the office of the Speaker when your client occupied the office.

Consequently, when she became the Deputy Speaker, the official vehicles were left with her office whilst alternative arrangement were made for the office of the Speaker.

Despite the clarity of the above, your client deliberately skewed the words used in the purported letter from the former governor claiming that the former governor wrote to say the vehicles were given to her, which is far from the truth.

Further, the original documents of the vehicles are still in the possession of the House of Assembly till date which means that the title to the vehicles were never transferred or intended to be transferred to your client contrary to your clients assertions.

Accordingly, I hereby reiterate my instruction and demand your clients immediate return of the vehicles attached to the office of the Deputy Speaker which are still in her possession.

Finally, if your client maintains that she indeed sold one of the vehicles, the Lexus Jeep 2016 model, then we expect that your client will furnish us with the details of sales.

He gave the ex-deputy speaker a deadline of two days, from the date of receipt of the letter within which to comply with the demands of the house.
Sekibo was dismissed by the state's three-man election petition tribunal in Abuja on Thursday, June 29, 2017.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) decided to fight the judgement in the Court of Appeal, but will be disappointed by the ruling that was handed down on Thursday, August 24.

The court ruled that the appeal lacked merit, and failed to show sufficient facts to overturn the tribunal's judgement.

The court pointed out that the lawmaker only reproduced his closing remarks at the end of the tribunal hearing, and did not challenge the judgement itself, which meant the appeal court had no business considering it.

In the June ruling, the tribunal also ruled that Sekibo's opponent, Chief Andrew Uchendu, was the true winner of the senatorial seat, and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him a certificate of return.

Chief Uchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had contested INEC's decision to award the December 10, 2016 victory to Sekibo after neglecting to recognise the results of some wards and polling units in the districts.

Sekibo was declared the winner by INEC returning officer, Oji Ekumankama on Monday, December 12.

According to Ekumankama, Sekibo won 93,098 votes to defeat ChiefUchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 34,193 votes.

However, the panel, sitting at Apo Quarters in the Federal Capital Territory, agreed with Uchendu, saying he won the lawful majority vote cast and instructed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return that had been issued to Sekibo.
Billinson was being asked for a copy of his passport for Business reasons by the scammer.

Billinson aware of the scam about to be pulled, sends him a mimic passport of the popular Jason Bourne character from the popular "Bourne" film series played by famous actor Matt Damon.

The interesting part of this is that this was a picture of the real Matt Damon who had the name on the passport as Jason Bourne.

For those who havent watched the action series Jason Bourne, the film is centered on a Damons character, a killer who in search of his real identity goes through his safety deposit box at the Swiss Bank, and finds several passports. The first US passport he opens has the name Jason Bourne, which he assumes thereafter.

This prank pulled by Billinson definitely pissed off the scammer Hummel, who then sends this mail saying he can no longer do business with Billinson.

Obviously the scammer has watched the popular Jason Bourne series, and knows he is being trolled.

"I DO NOT THINK THAT I WILL CONTINUE THE BUSINESS WITH YOU BECAUSE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU IS FALSE, I AM SORRY I DO NOT TRUST YOU IN THIS BUSINESS." he replied Billinson.

Still continuing his trolling, Billinson asks if they can still be friends, to which the scammer Hummel says yes.

Followers of the journalist on Twitter were richly entertained, and suggested other popular passport aliases he could use next time.
This is to avoid a similar repeat of the unfortunate situation that befell Etisalat Nigeria, where the company could not pay back a reported sum of $1.2b owed.

Etisalat Nigeria was unable to re-pay back debt of $1.2b causing company to bow out from Nigerian market.

The defunct company would eventually rebrand as 9mobile terminating its management agreement with its Nigerian unit and handing over its 45 per cent stake in Etisalat Nigeria to a trustee.

In a statement issued in July the NCC said if 9mobile had gone under it would have created a social problem especially with the job of over 2,000 Nigerians on the line.

The commission added that the loss of the operator could even create security challenges for the country. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC said at the time the regulator wants to avert a looming economic disaster and see a viable and thriving 9mobile.
The court dismissed charges against five alleged Taliban militants accused of being involved in the killing, while two police officers were found guilty of "mishandling the crime scene", becoming the only people to be convicted in the case.

The most definitive accounts of Bhutto's death claim an assassin shot her in the neck and then blew himself up, killing 24 people.

But observers said Thursday's verdicts, the first to be issued in the decade since the assassination, offered no clarity into who actually orchestrated the killing.

And in a country where conspiracy theories continue to envelop the myriad assassinations of its political figures over decades, Bhutto's death is no exception.

Here is a list of the leading theories behind who killed Bhutto:

The Pakistani state's theory

Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on then-Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

Bhutto had been a fierce opponent of Islamic extremists in the country, and had promised to take the fight to militants based in Pakistan's tribal belt.

She was threatened by Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, local jihadist groups and potentially from elements in the Pakistani establishment.

But Pakistani investigators largely focused on lower-level operatives, paying little attention to the hierarchy in the planning, financing, and execution of the assassination.

In 2013 a Pakistani court formally charged Musharraf with Bhutto's killing in an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief.

Musharraf later fled Pakistan in 2016, drawing criticism from opponents after the government lifted a travel ban against him.

He has remained in self-imposed exile ever since.

The UN's theory

At the request of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government that came into power soon after Bhutto's murder, a three-member UN team of investigators was dispatched to investigate the killing.

In its 70-page report released in 2010, the UN categorically held Musharraf's administration responsible for failing to provide Bhutto with the necessary security to ward off the attack.

"Bhutto's assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken," the report said.

The team also cited numerous failures by police to properly investigate the murder and preserve the integrity of the crime scene.

Less than two hours after the attack senior police officer Khurram Shahzad hosed down the the scene. He was one of the two officers convicted Thursday.

The second officer, then-Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz, also refused multiple times to allow an autopsy of Bhutto's body to go ahead.

Police told the UN commission that they collected just 23 pieces of evidence from the scene, "in a case where one would normally have expected thousands", according to the report.

But the UN team hinted at something beyond police incompetence, saying the official investigation was likely stifled by the country's security establishment.

"These officials in part fearing intelligence agencies' involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken," it observed.

However the UN team stopped short of naming suspects in the plot to kill Bhutto, saying the responsibility lay with the Pakistani courts.

The conspiracy theories

Following Bhutto's death, the PPP came to power and her widower Asif Ali Zardari was elected president -- but failed to make headway unraveling the mysteries behind the murder, drawing fresh allegations of conspiracy.

Speculation was further fuelled after Zardari's senior aide Bilal Sheikh was killed by a suicide bomber in Karachi in 2013.

Sheikh had been in charge of Bhutto's security when she returned to Karachi from exile in October 2007 when bomb attacks targeted her convoy, killing around 140 people.

However, Chilean diplomat Heraldo Munoz, who led the UN investigation, said it was ridiculous to imagine Bhutto's widower had been involved in her death.

Al-Qaeda wanted her dead, he has argued, while the Pakistani Taliban executed the attack -- possibly with support of rogue intelligence agents -- and local police did a cover-up he was convinced "came from higher up".

He has further argued that Bhutto's own security failed her and those who encouraged her to return to Pakistan did not provide her with protection.

Other unconfirmed speculation pointed towards Bhutto's trusted bodyguard Khalid Shahensha, with video clips showing him making strange gestures at the podium where Bhutto addressed the rally moments before her death.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff Janos Lazar said border protection was an issue of "European solidarity" that must be "demonstrated in practice".

"Brussels should pay its share," as it has done with Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, he said. Orban requested the "exceptional costs" in a letter to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

In response to a wave of refugees and migrants crossing its border with Serbia in 2015, Budapest erected a razor-wire fence patrolled by soldiers and dogs.

It then reinforced that barrier with a second fence line, recruited some 3,000 special "border hunter" police and built another fence on its other southern border with Croatia.

The measures protect Europe as well as Hungary, but so far their cost since the start of the migration crisis has been financed by Budapest alone, Lazar said.

Over 400,000 people crossed through Hungary in 2015 but the numbers fell to a trickle after the fences were built. Subsequently the "Balkan Route" northwards from Greece was also closed.

The construction drew fierce criticism from Brussels, though other EU member states later built their own versions.

This year, Budapest's systematic detention of all asylum seekers entering Hungary in "transit zone" closed camps built into the fences and composed of shipping containers has also sparked outcry.
Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud said the reforms were aimed particularly at supporting small business.

Following are five key changes:

Cap on labour court payouts

Small companies live in fear of the "Prudhommes" -- the labour courts that hear wrongful dismissal cases which often yield generous awards for aggrieved workers.

To help reduce the risks for employers, these awards will now be capped, starting at three months' salary for employees with up to two years of service, rising to a maximum 20 months' salary for employees with more than 30 years service.

Workers will have only a year to make a case, down from two currently.

Decentralising negotiations

On some issues, companies will no longer be bound by national law, with industry- or company-level agreements taking precedence.

Issues that will be decided sector by sector include the duration of fixed-term contracts and the number of times they can be renewed.

Staff bonuses are among the issues that will be negotiated at the company level.

More flexibility for small business

Small businesses with no union representatives will be able to negotiate directly with workers on a range of issues, including pay and working hours, and put them to a vote.

Previously, employers of companies with fewer than 50 employees were barred from bargaining directly with workers unless they had a union mandate.

The reform falls short of demands from employers' groups, which wanted companies with up to 300 employees to be allowed to negotiate directly with workers.

Easing redundancies

Companies will find it easier to offer voluntary redundancies, and multinationals also face fewer hurdles in laying off staff at struggling French operations.

International groups currently have to offer French workers jobs in overseas operations.

In return for facilitating layoffs, the government will increase minimum redundancy payments.

From one-fifth of a month's salary per year of service currently, the payments will rise to one-quarter of a month's salary per year worked.

Streamling worker representation
In a report by Bloomberg, a Kenyan court has nullified Kenyattas election win.

Kenyatta was announced winner of a recent election that saw him contesting with his long term rival, Ralia Odinga.

Immediately after news broke that Kenyatta had been re-elected as Kenya's president, people took to the streets across the east African nation.

ALSO READ:

While some celebrated with flags and vuvuzelas, others burned tyres and attacked businesses in a show of rage over an election they believe was stolen from opposition veteran Raila Odinga.
The judge also found two police officers guilty of "mishandling the crime scene", the court official said, making them the only people to have been convicted over the assassination.

Former president and military ruler Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections. He has denied the allegation.

He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder, and facilitation for murder in 2013, in an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief, challenging beliefs the military is immune from prosecution.

But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.

The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi ruled he had "absconded", a court official told reporters outside, saying it had also ordered the confiscation of his property.

The judge also acquitted five men who had been accused of being Taliban militants involved in the conspiracy to kill Bhutto on December 27, 2007.

They were set to walk free nearly 10 years after they were first arrested, though a defence lawyer said it was not yet clear when they would be released.

"My clients were held for nine years and eight months for nothing," Malik Jawad Khalid, the lawyer for three of the men -- Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Sher Zaman -- told AFP.

"This time in their lives cannot be brought back, but we thank Allah that they have been declared innocent."

If the acquittals are challenged, he vowed, "my clients will again prove themselves innocent in the higher courts".

Bhutto's son Bilawal, who now heads her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), tweeted that the decision was "disappointing & unacceptable", and the release of "terrorists" was "not only unjust but dangerous". He vowed the party would explore legal options.

"There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes!" Bhutto's daughter Aseefa Zardari tweeted moments after the court's announcement.

'Mystery remains'

Senior police officer Khurram Shahzad was accused of hosing down the crime scene less than two hours after the killing -- an act the United Nations described in a report as "fundamentally inconsistent with Pakistani police practice".

Then-Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz was accused of both giving Shahzad permission to hose down the scene, and of refusing multiple times to allow an autopsy of Bhutto's body to go ahead.

They were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on one count and seven on another, with the sentences to run concurrently, and fined 500,000 rupees ($4,700), according to a court order.

Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

In 2010, the UN report accused Musharraf's government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.

The unanswered questions surrounding the case prompted a swirl of conspiracy theories.

Rashid A. Rizvi, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, alluded to them Thursday when he noted that the acquittals were "as much a conspiracy as her murder was".

The judgement, political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, was unlikely to offer any clarity as it "has failed to answer the question of who actually murdered her".

"Were they Taliban or Musharraf," he said, adding the prosecution "could not provide any evidence ... So the mystery remains unsolved".

Musharraf is facing a string of cases connected to his 1999-2008 rule, and Pakistani courts have ordered his property confiscated on previous occasions.
By Suhani Singh: Gitanjali Devi (Ileana D'Cruz) is a reluctant heiress to a Rajput kingdom who wants all the wealth with no responsibilities. Dressed in translucent chiffon saris and pearls, and sporting an immaculate hairdo, she is the only remotely interesting character in Baadshaho. But even a character inspired by the gorgeous Maharani Gayatri Devi has to take a backseat if you have Ajay Devgn in the midst. The actor (looking bored for most part) plays Gitanjali's fearless bodyguard Bhavani who is smitten with her and follows her decree. His mantra for life: Char din ki zindagi hai, aur aaj chautha din ha, yehi sochkar zindagi nikaal li. Viewers, on the other hand, will struggle to spend the coming two hours in the theatre.

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When Rani Sahiba needs Bhavani's assistance to save her kingdom's undisclosed jewels from a politician reminiscent of Sanjay Gandhi, Bhavani steps in and ropes in an expert locksmith (Sanjay Mishra) and resourceful ruffian Dalia (Emraan Hashmi) for the job. Esha Gupta joins the plot to keep Dalia some company, though the excuse here is that she is indebted to Gitanjali. The quartet's foe arrives in the form of Major Seher Singh (Vidyut Jammwal) who the government has deputed to drive the heavily-armoured monster truck full of jewels from Rajasthan to Delhi. A duel begins between Bhavani and the Major. The proceedings are as lifeless as the desert landscape the film unfolds in.

Viewers will be forgiven for forgetting that Baadshaho is an Emergency-set drama for Luthria seems least interested in looking at the troubled state of civil liberties in the era. Instead, you will see a Life magazine cover featuring Gitanjali and bell-bottoms and sleeves to remind you this is the 1970s. As the chase begins, the film loses momentum. The plot twist can be called from afar, rendering the whole journey and the final destination entirely meaningless. The nonstop action is a distraction for a lack of narrative. Luthria's great truck robbery is a thriller without thrills.

Baadshaho has been touted as a thriller but the Ajay Devgn film has no thrills.

ALSO READ | A Princess Remembered in Baadhshaho: Who was Maharani Gayatri Devi?

ALSO READ: The Rajmata Remembers

ALSO READ | MOVIE REVIEW: Shubh Mangal Saavdhan

ALSO WATCH: Indira Gandhi raided Jaigarh fort for gold during the Emergency

--- ENDS ---
US District Court Judge Edwin Torres said Panama had demonstrated probable cause against Martinelli, who ruled from 2009 to 2014.

The 65-year-old has lived in Miami since January 2015. He left Panama days before the Supreme Court there launched a corruption investigation against him.

He was detained in Miami on June 12, accused of graft and spying on political foes at home. Panama filed an extradition request last year.

Panama's Supreme Court alleged that Martinelli used public funds to illegally spy on telephone calls and emails of more than 150 prominent opponents.

Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon, denies the accusations, saying they are politically motivated.

After the judge's ruling, a spokesman for the ex-president, Luis Eduardo Camacho, told Panamanian TV channel Telemetro that Martinelli would appeal.

His Miami lawyers also confirmed the appeal plans.

Martinelli also has a political asylum request pending in the United States.

It is up to the State Department to decide whether to go ahead with the extradition. A department official declined comment Thursday, saying its was policy not to speak publicly about extradition issues. The official referred queries to the Justice Department.

Allegations against the former president include accusations he helped embezzle $45 million from a government school lunch program, as well as other cases of extortion, bribe-taking, misappropriation of public funds and abuse of power.
Arrangements for the hajj, a religious duty which devout Muslims must accomplish at least once in their lifetime, are thorny and security paramount for the two million pilgrims who throng Islam's holiest sites in western Saudi Arabia.

In 2015, a human river of pilgrims was performing the final major rite of the hajj, the "Stoning of the Devil", near Mecca when a stampede killed hundreds of Muslims from across the world.

Riyadh issued a death toll of 769, while figures compiled from foreign officials in more than 30 countries gave a tally of around 2,300 dead.

Tehran reported the largest number of stampede victims, with 464 Iranians among the dead.

"They were murdered, they (Saudi authorities) didn't help them," said Reza, a 63-year-old former oil company official, seated in the lobby of a Mecca hotel.

But Reza said that new security measures now left him feeling safer. "Everything is clear this year," he said, speaking in English.

"They've taken more security measures otherwise we would not have come," he said. And "the hajj leaders of Iran have given us instructions and times" for the rituals, to avoid any repeat of the 2015 disaster.

Iranian authorities say more than 86,000 Iranian pilgrims are taking part in this year's hajj, each equipped with an identity bracelet in case of any accident.

The "made-in-Tehran" bracelets can be connected to smartphones, allowing access to information on the hajj.

Iran lambasted Saudi Arabia in the months following the stampede, condemning its organisation of the hajj and questioning the kingdom's very right to serve as custodian of Islam's holiest places.

'Holy sites for all'

In January 2016, Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran broke off diplomatic ties after angry Iranian protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic missions over the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Tehran and Riyadh stand on opposing sides in several regional disputes, including the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, as well as this year's Gulf diplomatic crisis between Qatar and a Saudi-led Arab bloc.

But a breakthrough accord on Iranian pilgrims taking part in this year's hajj was struck in March after several months of negotiations during which the two Gulf states traded bitter recriminations.

"It was a conflict between two countries, Iranians wanted to come here," said Mohammed, a 38-year-old engineer from the city of Arak, southwest of Tehran.

Mohammad was at the doomed 2015 hajj and said some of his acquaintances had died in the stampede, while he himself had lost consciousness but survived.

According to Fariba Adelkhah from the research and study centre of France's Sciences Po University, Iran could not have stopped its citizens from making the pilgrimage to Mecca for much longer.

"The travel ban could not last long. Could politics call into question a religious duty? That question was at the centre of a debate in Tehran," said Adelkhah.

"The Iranian government did not want to take responsibility for preventing their citizens again from going to Mecca," she said.

At Reza's hotel filled with Iranian pilgrims in Mecca's bustling Al-Aziziya neighbourhood, the consensus was that lifting the ban on travel for the hajj was the right thing to do.

Dressed in a black chador, Mariam, an English-language teacher from Babol in northern Iran, said holy shrines should be open to all Muslims "and Saudi Arabia cannot ban any country".

"I wish that one day all Muslim countries will be able control the holy shrines, not just Saudi Arabia," she said.
He said an underwater expedition had found streets, monuments and around 100 tanks used to produce garum, a fermented fish-based condiment that was a favourite of ancient Rome.

"This discovery has allowed us to establish with certainty that Neapolis was a major centre for the manufacture of garum and salt fish, probably the largest centre in the Roman world," said Fantar.

"Probably the notables of Neapolis owed their fortune to garum."

Fantar's team started work in 2010 in search of the port of Neapolis but only made the breakthrough find of the ruins stretching out over 20 hectares (almost 50 acres) this summer thanks to favourable weather conditions.
Borges also asked the pontiff to call for "a cessation of political persecution" against opponents and for human rights to be respected, according to the letter dated August 28 but made public Thursday.

"Every week four children die of malnutrition, the rate of shortage of medicines exceeds 90 percent and millions of Venezuelans cross our borders, fleeing the tragedy," the head of the opposition-majority parliament said.

He noted that donations sent to Venezuela in recent months by organizations such as Caritas Chile have not been accepted by the Maduro government.

Borges's press office said the letter had been sent to Francis to coincide with his September 6-10 visit to neighboring Colombia.

The Vatican was one of the facilitators of a month-long dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition, which collapsed amid mutual recrimination.

Venezuela is suffering an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food and medicine.
"It is not because the police have done an investigation, it is because a member of the ruling party has instigated the police to arrest this citizen," Hichilema said.

"You cannot have a criminal justice system that operates like that."

The charges were widely seen as part of a crackdown on dissent by Lungu's Patriotic Front government.

Hichilema, leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), was speaking at a joint press conference in Cape Town with South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane.

Hichilema said he was "surprised" by his release as he was looking forward to being acquitted by the courts.

He was freed on August 16, when all charges were dropped hours before the start of his trial.

Hichilema, who narrowly lost last year's election and refuses to recognise Lungu as president, recounted details of his "brutal" arrest in April.

He said that more than "200 policemen, heavily armed with machine-guns" and assisted by German shepherd dogs surrounded his house and "poison-gassed" him, his wife and children for 10 hours.
President Robert Mugabe's wife was granted diplomatic immunity by South Africa after she was accused of attacking a 20-year-old model at an upmarket Johannesburg hotel.

Speaking at a rally in the Zimbabwean city of Gweru, she described her 93-year-old husband as a "prophet" for other African leaders and said he would retire when he "feels his body is no longer able to keep up".

Grace Mugabe, 52, is alleged to have assaulted Gabriella Engels with an electrical extension cable at the hotel where the Mugabes' two sons, who are in their 20s, were staying.

Engels suffered cuts to her forehead and the back of her head during the alleged August 13 assault.

President Mugabe, who also spoke at Friday's rally, is due to stand for re-election next year.
Plumes of smoke billowed from several burning villages in the worst-hit section of the state, according to an AFP reporter on a government-led trip to the area, as the violence showed little sign of abating despite security sweeps by Myanmar's police and troops.

At least 110 people, including 11 state officials, have been confirmed dead and thousands of Rohingya have poured across the border to Bangladesh despite Dhaka's attempts to stop them.

"As of last night, 18,500 people have come across," Chris Lom, the IOM's Asia-Pacific spokesman, told AFP, adding an unknown number were still stuck on the Myanmar side of the border.

Lom said exact figures were difficult to obtain because many of those who crossed into Bangladesh might not have registered with local authorities.

On Tuesday an estimated 6,000 had massed at the "zero line" border with Bangladesh, days after the area came under mortar and machine gun fire by Myanmar security forces.

The Rohingya, the world's largest stateless minority and subject to severe restrictions on their movements, are barred from officially crossing.

Bangladeshi authorities on Wednesday toughened patrols in a bid to prevent more arrivals in a country that already hosts an estimated 400,000 Rohingya.

Rohingya have sneaked across the land border in large number or swum the Naf River which marks part of the frontier. But tragedy befell some of them.

The bodies of two Rohingya women and two children washed up on Bangladeshi soil on Wednesday, an official there told AFP, victims of drowning after their rickety boat capsized.

Among the dead and displaced are also ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other tribal groups, who say they were targeted by the Rohingya militants.

A boatload of tired-looking displaced people arrived in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe on Wednesday afternoon after being evacuated from Buthiduang township, one of the epicentres of the violence.

A few hours further west towards Bangladesh, Rohingya villagers said their homes had been set on fire by security forces.

"Villagers are running away... where do we have to live now?" one told AFP from a village near Maungdaw, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately possible to verify his account but Rohingya who have made it into Bangladesh have brought similar testimony with them.

Large fires were visible early Wednesday from the May Yu river that cuts through the area worst hit by unrest, according to the AFP reporter.

Maximum restraint?

Outlying villages in Myanmar have witnessed some of the worst violence, raising fears security operations are shielded from scrutiny by the danger and inaccessibility of the area.

Rohingya villagers are stuck between police and troops hunting down the insurgents and militants offering sporadic resistance.

But witnesses among the displaced reaching Bangladesh have told AFP some Rohinyga men are heeding a call to arms by the militants and staying behind to fight in their villages.

The Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army claims its men launched Friday's surprise attacks on police posts, killing 11 state officials, with knives, homemade explosives and a few guns.

After years in which the Rohingya largely avoided violence, the group last October carried out deadly attacks on police posts.

That prompted a months-long security crackdown by Myanmar's army which left scores dead and forced 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

The UN believes that military crackdown may have amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya -- allegations denied by the army.

On Sunday Pope Francis led mounting international calls for the protection of "our Rohingya brothers".

The UN has also urged Myanmar to protect civilians during its operations and called on Bangladesh to allow the displaced into their territory.
Washington has slapped sanctions on PDVSA, part of a series of measures against Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro over his handling of a deadly political crisis.

Arreaza cited a previous program under which Venezuela provided heating fuel to victims of the deadly hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"On the basis of that precedent, there will be direct support from Citgo, a contribution of up to $5 million to support families affected in Houston and Corpus Christi," Texas, he said on television.

"This is an expression of solidarity by Venezuela, beyond any political differences we have, in the face of a devastating phenomenon."

He also proposed that Citgo use some of its revenues to help rebuild homes damaged by the hurricane.

Venezuela is suffering an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food and medicine.
They are among roughly 30 activists being prosecuted on charges that include terrorism as well as rebellion, and which are punishable by death.

Biya's decision, which was announced on state radio, was seen as an effort to calm tensions in the crisis over Anglophone rights in the central African nation of 22 million.

The men were arrested in January after the Anglophone Civil Society Consortium led by Nkongho and Aforteka'a called a strike to promote the rights of the English-speaking minority, which accounts for about 20 percent of the population.

The crisis was triggered by a strike by lawyers demanding that the anglophone regions use Anglo-Saxon common law as their judicial benchmark. Teachers then went on strike.

Biya's decree did not mention by name one of the movement's jailed leaders, the broadcaster Mancho Bibixy, leaving his fate uncertain for the moment.

'Not fundamentally resolve conflict'

Protests in the two main English-speaking regions, in northwest and southwest Cameroon, have pressed for a federal state while some secessionists have even called for independence.

However, the government took a hard line, including the cutting off of internet access for over three months in the two English-speaking regions.

The president's decree also applies to "certain other people detained over the violence in recent months".

"The process of freeing them is under way, but I strongly doubt that it will be tonight,"Claude Assira, a member of the leaders' legal team, said on Wednesday.

Biya's decision came without much warning and as the situation appeared at a stalemate between unyielding authorities and strikes in the anglo areas that have wrought havoc.

"This is a decision that was made to calm the situation, but from my point of view will not fundamentally resolve the conflict," said Mathias Eric Owona Nguini, a politics professor at Yaounde-II University.

"Once the English-speaking leaders are released, will they start agreeing with the regime?" he asked.

The English-speaking minority can be traced back to Cameroon's unique history. At the end of World War II the one-time German colony was handed to France and Britain to run.

The dual communities are a legacy of the unification in 1961 of two colonial-era entities previously run by France and Britain.

An exporter of oil that is rich in timber and agriculture, Cameroon is among the most prosperous economies on the continent.
Washington Times reports that the US president signed a declaration stating that is was appropriate during times of great need to ask for Gods blessing and Gods guidance.

According to the reports, Trump signed the declaration on Friday, September 1, after meeting with faith leaders in the Oval Office.

Brave first responders have rescued those stranded in drowning cars and rising water, he said.

And I have to tell you, Ive watched the Coast Guard, thousands of lives have been saved by our great Coast Guard.
By PTI: Gurung

(Eds: Incorporating related stories)

Darjeeling (WB), Sep 1 (PTI) The indefinite shutdown in the Darjeeling hills entered its 79th day today, after GJM supremo Bimal Gurung removed party convener Binay Tamang from the post and revoked his announcement to suspend the bandh till September 12.

Tamang was removed from the party post last night. Subsequently, he and Anit Thapa were expelled from the GJM.

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Talking to PTI, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri said, "Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa have been expelled from the party today for violating the party line and anti-party activities."

Reacting to the development, Tamang said, "This is totally undemocratic. I am a founding member of the party. I will seek legal opinions against the decision. I am not going to form a separate party."

Tamangs house was ransacked by Gorkhaland supporters. Posters were pasted in front of his house, calling him a "traitor".

Protests by pro-bandh Gorkhaland agitators have been rocking the hills since last night. Posters and leaflets were also distributed in support of the shutdown.

Rallies supporting the bandh were taken out at Darjeeling, Kurseong, Mirik, Sonada and Kalimpong.

Confusion prevailed among the people of the hills over the differences within the GJM. When some traders tried to open their shops, the pro-bandh GJM supporters forcibly closed them, the police said.

Meanwhile, the police issued a lookout notice against Gurung today for his alleged involvement in various cases, including a bomb blast at the Kalimpong police station, which killed a civic volunteer.

"We have issued a lookout notice against Bimal Gurung. He is wanted in various cases, including the one related to the bomb blast at the Kalimpong police station," Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Anuj Sharma told PTI.

The GJM chief has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with two blasts in the Darjeeling hills on August 19. Besides, charges under the Explosive Substances Act, the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, IPC section 302 (murder) were also slapped on him, the police said.

Earlier in the day, 14 GJM activists, including a few central committee members of the party, were arrested by the police from a location near the Sikkim-Darjeeling border.

Gurung, along with GJM Yuva Morcha president Prakash Gurung, however, managed to escape, following which the lookout notice was issued against him by the police.

The GJM leadership today alleged that two of their activists were killed by the police.

Party sources claimed that a woman supporter was killed after the police lathicharged to disperse a crowd, which was protesting against the decision to suspend the shutdown.

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The sources also alleged that another GJM worker was killed in police firing during a raid at its central committee meeting, which was held in an undisclosed location near the Sikkim-Darjeeling border.

The police, however, denied the allegations.

"We have no information of any such deaths," a senior police official said.

The police and the security forces were keeping a strict vigil to avoid any untoward incident, he added. PTI PNT SUN KK RC

--- ENDS ---
France argued that UNIFIL had succeeded in maintaining calm in south Lebanon but the United States pushed for action by the mission against Hezbollah militants it accuses of stockpiling weapons and readying for war.

"Conditions in south Lebanon are very dangerous today. The clouds of war are gathering," US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council after the vote.

"UNIFIL exists to help prevent war from happening again and it is supposed to do that."

The resolution highlights that UNIFIL has the authority to "take all necessary actions" in areas where its forces are deployed and must ensure that its area of operations is "not utilized for hostile activities of any kind."

It also requests that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres look at ways to increase UNIFIL's visible presence, through patrols and inspections, but within its existing mandate.

"UNIFIL can, of course, do better and do more," said French Deputy Ambassador Anne Gueguen, but she stressed that the force was indeed keeping the peace.

"No one in this council can imagine for one second the environment that would exist there without UNIFIL."

Israel welcomed the mandate renewal, with Ambassador Danny Danon saying in a statement that "the resolution requires UNIFIL to open its eyes, and forces it to act against Hezbollah's terror buildup in the area."

Set up in 1978, UNIFIL was beefed up after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, tasked with guaranteeing a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from a demilitarized zone on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It comes days after Afghan officials said the country's own air force killed up to 13 civilians in separate strikes targeting a Taliban base in the western province of Herat.

"In the operation the US forces came under the attack by the Taliban and foreign forces returned fire and forced the Taliban insurgents to hide in the civilian houses nearby," Saleem Saleh, a spokesman for the Logar provincial governor, told AFP.

"Then the foreign forces called in air support and bombed the civilian house which led to civilian casualties."

Saleh said the victims were from the same family and most of the dead were women and children.

"I heard two big bangs and when I went out of my home I saw the building which was bombarded was totally destroyed,"Nazar Khan Kochi told AFP.

"We pulled out the dead bodies from the rubble and debris and buried them.

"It was a very painful day for us," he said, describing the incident as a "massacre" and adding no Taliban were among the dead.

Photos showed dead women and children wrapped in shrouds as relatives prepared to bury them.

Logar provincial police spokesman Shahpoor Ahmadzai confirmed the number of casualties.

The US is the only foreign force currently carrying out air strikes in Afghanistan.

The US military said it has launched an official probe into the incident which comes three weeks after a US air strike allegedly killed 11 civilians in neighbouring Nangarhar province -- charges the Americans have vehemently denied.

"United States Forces-Afghanistan takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and is working with our Afghan partners to determine the facts surrounding this incident (in Logar)," it said in a statement.

Ordinary Afghans have borne the brunt of the grinding conflict which began in October 2001, with record high civilian deaths this year.
I am happy to tell you that he (Trump) would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people that we have seen across this country do.

He is pledging one million dollars of personal money to the fund, Sanders told reporters at a White House briefing.

Economic losses in Texas from Hurricane Harvey, which is still pounding the water-logged US state with rain, will be some $58 billion (49 billion euros), disaster analysts in Germany said Thursday.

If that estimate holds, it would make Harvey the world's 9th most expensive natural disaster since 1900, according to the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) in Karlsruhe, Germany.
On Thursday, as they surveyed the damage from lawn chairs in the bed of their pickup truck, Missy expressed shock at the power of such a "freaky" storm, the likes of which she has never experienced in her town until now.

"I've never seen a storm do that," she said of the natural disaster that is believed to have killed more than 30 people.

"When it turned into a big deal, I panicked a little bit."

Water was four inches deep in her game room -- not nearly as bad as some homes that were inundated with several feet of water just a few blocks away.

Much of the flooding receded quickly from Orange, but the aftermath of the chaos was everywhere. Huge uprooted trees lay across roadways. Power lines were down.

National Guard teams rolled through the town's neighborhoods Thursday, plucking people from flooded roadways. Helicopters buzzed overhead, occasionally touching down to conduct rescue operations. Some were seen refuelling in the air.

"They had airlifts with helicopters, truckfuls and boatfuls of people," said Rachel Wilson, 29, who also refused to leave but acknowledged her family's good fortune when the floodwaters, nearly waist deep on her road, stopped just inches below her front door.

A quick-thinking Wilson said she found a boat driver in the middle of the storm and convinced him to rescue her friends Greg Castellanos and Christie Fontenont, who waded through chest-deep water before reaching the boat.

"We're bayou, baby, so we can handle it," Castellanos, his chest a maze of tattoos, said with a grin.

After two sleepless nights, the two families enjoyed a moment of relief and respite Thursday, sipping Bud Lights on the Wilsons' porch and recalling their ordeal.

'Grateful'

A mile away, a small team continued making boat rescues, plucking the appropriately named Harvey Dubois and wife Lola from their home as floodwaters lapped at the door.

"I'm grateful, but we didn't want to leave," Harvey, 76, said.

They had little water and food, and no power. Lola Dubois was scared. When rescuers knocked on the door and saw their situation, they demanded the elderly couple get in the boat.

"We just felt it in our hearts to come help," said Heather Lisotta, shortly after she ushered the Dubois into a pickup truck for transport to a shelter.

Lisotta, 28, said she was part of an unofficial group known as the 2017 Rescue Rangers of Southwest Louisiana.

While some Orange residents refused evacuation, many were grateful for the rescue.

Lisotta, a homemaker who said she had never engaged in rescue operations before, estimated that she and her two friends, with just two boats, rescued between 100 and 250 people in the two days since floodwaters rose in Orange.
The party will hold a formal launch ceremony on Friday on Bolivar Square, near the presidential palace in the heart of the political district in the capital.

Demobilized and renamed, it now faces a struggle for political acceptance in a country scarred by decades of attacks and kidnappings.

You say FARC

Delegates from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have spent the week in a founding congress to choose their political representatives.

The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda. The group's leader Rodrigo Londono announced it on Twitter on Thursday evening.

Some FARC leaders wanted to keep the "revolutionary" element while others favored softening the group's image by dropping it in favor of "New Colombia."

Londono, also known as Timochenko, said 628 delegates at the congress voted for Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, with 264 for "New Colombia."

In Spanish the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel force's title, so it will still be known as the FARC.

What's in a name

That is a sensitive point in an already delicate peace process, since the acronym FARC for many Colombians is synonymous with the deaths and suffering of the war.

"They are keeping the same acronym because they want to maintain their support base in rural areas," the FARC-controlled conflict zones, said sociologist Fabian Sanabria.

"Doubtless people expected something different. It is possible that this name from the start will restrict them to representing only a small sector of the population."

A spokesman for the party said an official English translation for its title would be announced on Friday.

In its former guise it was known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Peace and justice

The FARC formed as a communist movement in 1964 from a peasant uprising for rural land rights.

Over the following decades the conflict drew in various rebel forces, paramilitary groups and state forces.

It left some 260,000 people confirmed dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and seven million displaced in Latin America's longest conflict.

Londono said at the start of the congress that the group will advocate "a democratic political regime that guarantees peace and social justice, respects human rights and guarantees economic development for all."

Political challenge

The new party will compete in next year's general elections.

Regardless of how many votes they may win, the peace deal signed with the government last year guarantees the FARC five seats in each of the two legislative chambers for two terms.

Colombians narrowly rejected the government's peace deal with the FARC in a referendum last year.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC tweaked it and the government pushed it through congress.

Timochenko has ruled out the new party fielding a presidential candidate in 2018. But he said it will support a candidate who guarantees peace.

The government has also opened peace talks with Colombia's last active group, the 1,500-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), in the hope of sealing what Santos calls a "complete peace."
Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river which divides the two countries, in rickety boats that are ill-equipped for the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape.

On Thursday, Bangladesh coastguards found the bodies of 17 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boats capsized as they attempted to flee.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, later issued a statement chastising Myanmar's security forces.

"As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need," Haley said.

Photographs from the scene showed the bodies of several small children lined up on the ground, covered with sheets.

One survivor told AFP the small, overcrowded boat he was travelling on had been tipped over by huge waves near where the Naf river opens out into the sea.

"Nobody knew how to navigate the sea waters. When huge waves tilted the boat, we panicked," Shah Karim said.

On Wednesday, the bodies of two Rohingya women and two children also washed up in Bangladesh after their boat capsized.

'Grave concern'

The Naf river is narrow in some places, but the Rohingya are increasingly crossing where the river is wider, or even venturing out to sea, after Bangladeshi authorities intensified border patrols.

Bangladesh is already home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya, a mainly Muslim stateless minority that rights groups say has long faced persecution in Myanmar.

Most live in squalid and increasingly overcrowded camps in the coastal area of Cox's Bazar, and Dhaka has made clear it wants no more to come.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the US to put pressure on Myanmar to stem the flow.

"We have given shelter to a huge number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds and it's a big problem for us," she said, according to the state-run BSS news agency.

The latest clashes in Myanmar began last Friday when Rohingya militants staged deadly attacks on police posts, prompting raids on the community and searches by troops and police.

The violence left at least 110 people dead, including 11 state officials.

Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other tribal groups are also among the dead and displaced after allegedly being targeted by Rohingya militants.

An estimated 6,000 Rohingya are massed on the border, having fled villages in Myanmar that they say were set on fire by police, troops and Buddhist mobs.

UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee expressed alarm Thursday about a worsening cycle of violence in the area that she said was "of grave concern" and "must be broken urgently".

"If human rights concerns are not properly addressed, and if people remain politically and economically marginalized, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalization, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists," she said.

Bangladesh under pressure

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Bangladesh is under intense international pressure to allow the fleeing Rohingya to cross into its territory, but it has pushed a number of them back, in what rights groups say is a contravention of its international obligations.

On Thursday, a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commander told AFP that 71 newly arrived Rohingya had been arrested for entering the country illegally and told to go back, though not forced to return.

"The police arrested 71 Rohingya from inside Bangladesh and later on handed them to us," said Manzurul Hassan Khan.

"We did not push them back, rather we told them... you should go back to your territory," added Khan, who said there was a "humanitarian crisis" developing along the border.

Media access to Rakhine is restricted, but on Wednesday an AFP reporter on a government-led visit to the worst-hit section of the state saw plumes of smoke billowing from several burning villages.
On Monday, Illinois leaders empowered 1 million more potential Illinois voters after Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law the carefully negotiated and well-crafted Automatic Voter Registration Act.

Kudos to the governor and to a bipartisan Illinois General Assembly, which unanimously backed the landmark measure to bring our state a giant step closer to universal ballot access while adding safeguards against voter fraud.

With the governors signing of automatic voter registration, Illinois has solidified its status as a national leader in expanding voting rights and ballot access, Andy Kang, legal director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago, said. Over two years, the Just Democracy Illinois coalition has worked across the aisle to gain support for AVR, a model that can now be duplicated in other states fighting to modernize their voter registration system.

In a state that, these days, finds itself atop many worst-in-the-nation lists, its wonderful to be among the national leaders on such a critically important effort.

Similar to the school funding deal the governor inked this week, the Automatic Voter Registration Act also was a rare but welcome example of bipartisanship being employed to make a deal that is good for Illinois and its residents.

The automatic registration law, which closely aligns the AVR system with Illinois Real ID program, is expected to make the Illinois voter registration system cheaper and more modern, secure and current.

The act also contains an opt-out provision essential in a truly free country, where people should have the right to choose if they will vote, who they will vote for, and yes, whether they wish to register to vote at all.

The bill, backers say, will increase the voter rolls. While it wont make eligible voters vote, it will ensure those 1 million newly eligible voters will have access to an easy, uncomplicated path to the voting booth.

As the AVRs sponsoring Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said, the act will produce a system that is less expensive to maintain, more secure and less cumbersome on individual voters. But most of all, it will open up the ballot box, allowing new voters to leave their fingerprints on their democracy.

We salute Illinois leaders who also left their fingerprints on universal voter access here in Illinois and, we hope, in other states around the nation.
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP)  Today's tense political climate in the United States?

"This is nothing," laughs Ama Prisca Nipassa, 17.

Now a citizen of the United States, Ama is a rising senior at Belleville East High School and among the teens putting together the second annual Belleville Peace Festival.

She lived with her grandparents in Togo, a country in West Africa, until 2010; her mom and older sister had moved to Illinois when Ama was 3. She remembers she and her grandparents had a routine where they went to the beach on weekends, and she ran with her grandfather. Every night, they would watch the evening news at 5:30 p.m. before making dinner together.

"One day all we saw was the president of Togo instead (on the news). I was fine, but my grandparents were scared," she said.

She said they isolated her from the coup in 2005, but she saw tires burning in the streets of their neighborhood in Lome, the capital of Togo.

"I remember that people I went to school with (would say) 'my Dad was killed,'" she said.

Ama worked with friends on the second annual Belleville Peace Festival. Building the community is important to her, because she remembers strong community bonds in Togo, as well as people's cheerful attitudes. The festival features live music, performances and vendors and is sponsored by local businesses, which Ama contacted to get them involved.

It's more than a fun afternoon on the Belleville Public Square to Ama, she said; it's the people behind the community.

"You meet people you think you have nothing in common with, and then realize 'Oh my gosh, I have this much diversity in my community.' It's a beautiful thing," she said.

Diversity reminds her of "my country." There are three million people in Lome, which is the largest port in West Africa. She called it a melting pot.

The Belleville Peace Festival on Aug. 5 wasn't so much a "demand" for peace, she says, as it was "more like a community thing ... more like 'We're all one.'"

Once in Illinois, Ama joined clubs and teams and learned English, her third language after Ewe and French. Ama is on the speech and debate team, and did declamation as a junior, where she read another person's story. She advanced to state competition with her speech about the Rwandan genocide.

___

Q. What will you likely study in college?

A: "It will be bio-medical related. I used to want to be a doctor. In West Africa, not everyone is as fortunate. I saw people dying of things that are curable. But there are so many ways to help; I don't have to be a doctor."

Q. What was hard to get used to in the United States?

A. "That everyone seemed to complain at my school (Grant Middle). I thought that until (I learned English). It's all about the situation ... the fact that it was cold in the classroom was big enough to call out the teacher."

Q. You helped with the Belle Valley School Illinois Math and Science Academy Camp this summer. What did you like about that?

A. "Worked with fifth and sixth graders ... I don't know where I would be if someone hadn't done that for me." Ama helped the students build parts for a boat, including the propeller and hull and test its load capacity.
CHICAGO (AP)  Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted seven petitions for clemency and denied 87 others.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board says the petitioners granted on Friday include people convicted on charges for drugs, burglary, forgery, domestic battery and retail theft. The cases occurred from 1985 to 2008.

People whose clemency petitions are granted may go to court to try to have their criminal record expunged. All have undergone a recent criminal background check through an Illinois authorities' data system.

Late last year, Rauner's office announced the Republican had eliminated a backlog of thousands of clemency requests he inherited from previous governors.
Bangladesh has strongly protested repeated violation of its airspace by Myanmar helicopters.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Bangladesh has strongly protested repeated violation of its airspace by Myanmar helicopters.

According to state-own news agency BSS (Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha), government has sent a diplomatic note to the Embassy of Myanmar in Dhaka on Friday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the repeated instances of violation of Bangladesh's air space by a number of Myanmar helicopters on 27 and 28 August, and September 01, 2017.

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The news agency also quoted, "This morning, Myanmar helicopters violated Bangladesh's air space near Ukhia on three occasions."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that these instances of incursion into Bangladesh air space by Myanmar helicopters run contrary to the good neighborly relations and could lead to unwarranted situation.

The ministry further emphasized that while Bangladesh has been cooperating with Myanmar in the security sector, such instances violation of sovereignty may affect the existing understanding and cooperation between the two countries.

Bangladesh demanded Myanmar to take immediate measures to prevent recurrence of such incursion in future.

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MOLINE  The DispatchArgusQConline on Friday announced that it is moving to one of the new upcoming development projects in the Quad-Cities.

The newspaper will move later this year to an 11,521-square-foot structure at 1201 7th St., East Moline, the home of East Moline Glass Co. The newspaper also will have a 6,000-square-foot warehouse to coordinate deliveries and customer fulfillment.

A timetable for the move has yet to be finalized, pending renovations and upgrades to the building.

"We are excited to be involved in this transformational project," said publisher Debbie Anselm.

Long-owned by the Small Newspaper Group, it was announced June 19 that Lee Enterprises Inc., the owner of the Quad-City Times, had reached an agreement to purchase the assets of The DispatchArgusQCOnline for $7.15 million.

Those assets did not include the building that has housed the DispatchArgusQCOnline at 1720 5th Ave., Moline, since 1922.

"We were determined to remain an integral part of the Illinois Quad-Cities," Ms. Anselm said. "SInce we announced the purchase, we have emphasized that the DispatchArgusQCOnline and The Quad City Times would remain independent publications.

"Today's announcement underscores both tenets  that the newspapers will remain independent of each other and DispatchArgusQCOnline will remain in Illinois," she said.

The location is near the John Deere Harvest Works in East Moline and The Bend on the Mighty Mississippi development, currently under construction.

Ground was broken April 20 for the $80 million complex with retail, lodging, restaurants, apartments and offices on a 132-acre site that once was home to a Case-IH plant. Two key elements are a 134-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 99-room Hyatt House hotel.

"We are happy to be part of the redevelopment underway in East Moline," Ms. Anselm said. "Our new home will build upon the excitement in the Quad-Cities, and we look forward to being able to share more details about the project at a later date."
CORDOVA  A handful of hard-hatted people were working on Thursday in the tumbled earth of the construction site, a sampling of the 600 Exelon says it is putting to work as it expands its Quad Cities Generating Station infrastructure.

The company has a series of projects underway at the plant  about $20 million worth  that include extensions of the Professional Learning Center and the storage area for spent nuclear fuel, Exelon said. So far, the various projects total about 62,000 square feet. Most are expected to be done in 2018, with some expected to be complete in 2019.

The 765-acre plant began operation in 1973. Its regular workforce numbers about 800 people, and the Rock Island County property tax payment annually for the plant is about $8 million.

"It really is a story about job creation," Ken Ohr, site vice president of the Quad Cities Station, said during a Thursday news conference as the work went on behind him, visible through giant plate glass windows. "It's a story about working together."

Much of the workforce hired for the projects is local, he said.

Exelon detailed some of the local contributions in a news release:

 Valley Construction is working on the expansion of the storage area for spent fuel.

 Ryan and Associates is responsible for a new maintenance building for vehicles and grounds-care equipment. It will include a training center for welders so they can learn the techniques used at the plant.

 Koehler Electric and the Crawford Company are working on a number of upgrades and remodeling projects on the Quad-Cities campus.

The learning center project is being headed by Burling Builders Inc. Burling is based in Chicago but uses local laborers, the company said.

"Exelon uses local skilled trade labor to get the job done," Scott Verschoore, president of the Tri-City Building Trades, said at Thursday's event.

Valley employees have logged thousands of hours to help make the Cordova plant the best nuclear power plant in the country, Greg Hass, the company's president, said.

"We truly value our relationship with this great company," Mr. Hass said.

The training center addition will allow Exelon to better provide training for temporary crews brought in to help with the regular refueling of the plant, Mr. Ohr said. That temporary workforce is anywhere between 1,600 and 2,000 workers, including electricians, pipe fitters and carpenters, who spend four to six weeks annually in the Quad-Cities area.

Training revolves around educating the workers on how to safely operate in the plant, and teaching them about the radiation they might encounter, though the amount they encounter during their time at the plant is at very low levels, Mr. Ohr said.

Such training was already performed, using existing space, he said. The training was being done in aging temporary buildings, and now those buildings, which needed maintenance frequently, will no longer be needed, the Exelon news release states.

"And now we are going to do it even better," Mr. Ohr said.

The projects at the Cordova plant will be using 8,500 cubic yards of concrete and 800 tons of reinforcing steel, Bob Larkin, Exelon's director of recovery projects, said. In addition to the main capital projects, Exelon is replacing roofing and upgrading heating and cooling systems on the campus.

State elected officials Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna; and Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, were both present for the news conference.

Rep. McCombie said the answer to Illinois' problems is growth.

"What is happening here, on this property, is growth," she said.

Sen. Anderson said the work at the plant was a perfect example of cooperation between the private and public sectors.

"This can work and does work," he said. "And this project is a perfect example of that."
G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
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It was ingenious, as scams go-simply parking large sums of 'idle' government money with an NGO and deploying it to earn interest. When the department concerned needed the funds, the requisite sum was just credited back to the government account so that cheques wouldn't bounce.

No one suspected a thing until a special investigation team set up earlier this month zeroed in on the Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Ltd, a cooperative society in Bhagalpur. Srijan has emerged as the focal point of the massive scam, worth Rs 1,000 crore.

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To blunt the opposition RJD's allegations that the Nitish Kumar-BJP regime was shielding the 'big fish', the Bihar government pushed for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe which has already revealed that corrupt government officials and bank employees were in cahoots with Srijan. Undetected for years, the scam was exposed on August 4 when a state government cheque for Rs 270 crore bounced. The money was meant to compensate farm owners for land acquired for a new power plant. So far, 12 FIRs have been lodged.

An internal probe by Bhagalpur district magistrate Adarsh Titarmare revealed there was no money in the government account when the cheque to pay farmers was presented. Alarmed, Nitish swiftly ordered an investigation by the state police's economic offences wing.

Many believe the shady scheme began to unravel after Manorama Devi, Srijan's founder secretary, who had close links with civil servants, politicians and businessmen, passed away this February. It was, in fact, only after her death that government cheques began to get dishonoured. Her son Amit Kumar, who took over as secretary, and daughter-in-law Priya Kumari evidently couldn't keep track of the large sums drawn from various state government accounts. Both are now on the run. The police have till now arrested 11 people, including Bhagalpur's district welfare officer and a personal assistant to the district magistrate.

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The man in the front row of politics occupies the limelight everywhere he goes but made an exception at the parent organisation's meeting.

By Panini Anand: He is the most powerful person in his party where many big shots and veterans have accepted the superiority of his political skills. He leads the party and the party follows. The man in the front row of politics occupies the limelight everywhere he goes makes an exception at the parent organisation's meeting.

This is a photo from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's coordination meeting in Vrindavan where top leaders of the Sangh have congregated to discuss their business. In the third row from the back, one can see Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah sitting with party general secretary Ramlal.

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The three-day meeting that began on September 1 will discuss and review the work of different wings of the sangh. Senior Sangh organisers will take account of the work done and obstacles in their way. They will also discuss issues of coordination between the organisation and the government.

Amit Shah and Ramlal are there to represent the party. Other senior BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh CM, are also expected to attend the meeting. One can gauge the importance of the meeting easily by considering that the top leader is in Vrindavan when New Delhi is buzzing with activity and speculation about the Narendra Modi's team expansion and Cabinet reshuffle and preparations are on to finalise the strategy for Gujarat, Himachal and Karnataka elections.

While some say the Sangh approves the choices made by the government and the Prime Minister, Sangh has always said it does not interfere in who the Prime Minister chooses to induct in his team. But it is believed BJP president Shah will discuss the probables with the Sangh top leadership.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh does not hide the fact that it helps BJP in election campaign organisation since it has dedicated cadre setup. The party also recognises the importance of Sangh's support. One of the reasons the BJP president participates in Sangh meetings as just another participant.

Also Read:

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Dera violence: Haryana CM ML Khattar meets Amit Shah following demands of his resignation

BJP chief Amit Shah lays down the law for 2019 Lok Sabha election

WATCH: Dera mayhem: Under fire Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar meets Amit Shah, submits report on violence

--- ENDS ---
On Aug. 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., community members will have the chance to check out what the bars of Lumpkin Street have to offer with the first annual Lumpkin Street Back to School Baw Crawl.
Waffle House has announced that its location will be reviving the sorely missed favorite, blueberry waffles. However, while they have been a much-awaited addition, the blueberry waffles are not a permanent addition to the menuthey are here for a limited time only.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that it would list the appeal for hearing in the week commencing from October 30 this year.

By Press Trust of India: In a fresh turn of events, the Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal filed by BJP leader Ajay Kumar Agarwal challenging a 2005 Delhi High Court order quashing charges against Europe-based industrialists -- the Hinduja brothers -- in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off scam case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that it would list the appeal for hearing in the week commencing from October 30 this year.

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The order came on an interim application filed by Agarwal seeking early hearing and adjudication of the appeal filed against the Delhi High Court order in the Rs 64-crore scam case.

The CBI, which investigated the scam case, had not filed any appeal in the top court against the quashing of charges against certain accused within the stipulated 90-day period.

Agarwal, in his personal capacity, filed the appeal which was admitted by the apex court on October 18, 2005.

The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army was sealed on March 24, 1986. The Swedish Radio had on April 16, 1987 claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel.

The CBI had on January 22, 1990 registered the FIR for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery under the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then President of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

The CBI had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed.

The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999 against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, then Defence Secretary S K Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company. A supplementary charge sheet against the Hinduja brothers was filed on October 9, 2000.

A special CBI court in Delhi had on March 4, 2011, discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country cannot afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which has already cost Rs 250 crore.

ALSO READ:

China-made parts used in the production of Bofors guns: CBI

Exorcising the ghost of Bofors

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Despite understanding that what we eat is important for maintaining a healthy body, not many of us are aware that when we eat can also affect other ares of our life.
Ramdev's Patanjali is a low-cost, low-margin business that gets away with pretty much what it wants because wily old Ramdev knows how to get around all politicians, says Vir Sanghvi.

IMAGE: 'The Beatles stormed out of the Maharishi's ashram, claiming that he had molested one of the foreign celebrity devotees.' Photograph: Kind courtesy Transcendental Meditation/Facebook

The swami as conman is a familiar theme.

When Maharishi Mahesh Yogi attracted such pop stars as the Beatles and Donovan and movie stars like Mia Farrow to his ashram, most Indians were delighted. Mahesh Yogi had put India's spiritual tradition on the world map, we said.

Then, disillusionment set in.

The Beatles stormed out of the Maharishi's ashram, claiming that he had molested one of the foreign celebrity devotees (John Lennon later suggested that this was Mia Farrow).

Despite the swami's apparent love of worldly pursuits, nobody doubted that he knew his yoga.

Transcendental meditation, the technique he introduced to the West, has outlasted him.

IMAGE: 'Dhirendra Brahmachari seemed more interested in peddling influence and acquiring land than in yoga.' Photograph: Kind courtesy John Hills/HillsPhoto.com Wikimedia Creative Commons

Similarly, most people reckoned that Dhirendra Brahmachari, Indira Gandhi's favourite yogi, knew his stuff. How else could he stride through the streets of Moscow at the height of winter wearing nothing but a thin muslin wrap?

The problem was that the Brahmachari seemed more interested in peddling influence and acquiring land than in yoga. His nickname was the Rasputin of Delhi.

But there is something about prime ministers and yogis.

By the time Chandra Shekhar became prime minister of India in 1990, Chandraswami had already been exposed as a crook called Nemi Chand Jain who had faced criminal charges before declaring, one day, that he was a swami.

He had been involved in a sordid corporate battle between Mohamed Al Fayed and Tiny Rowland in London, had been thrown out by the sultan of Brunei and investigated by Indian authorities for forging documents relating to a St Kitts bank account in the name of V P Singh's family.

No matter. Chandra Shekhar clutched the swami close to his bosom and even gave him the authority to settle the Babri Masjid dispute.

You could argue that Chandra Shekhar was an aberration, a short-term prime minister, propped up by others.

IMAGE: 'Chandraswami was so close to Narasimha Rao that he performed (possibly tantric) havans at the prime ministerial residential complex.' Photograph: PTI Photo

But what of Narasimha Rao, great reformer, father of today's entrepreneurial India and so on?

Chandraswami was so close to Narasimha Rao that he performed (possibly tantric) havans at the prime ministerial residential complex. He continued to steer businessmen towards the prime minister and Rao never felt the need to throw out this obvious charlatan.

Many of these swamis became millionaires.

Mahesh Yogi's empire was worth many millions by the time he died (though he claimed that none of the money was personal wealth).

Dhirendra Brahmachari owned large swathes of property.

And, at one stage, Chandraswami had so much money stashed abroad that he kept the Saudi arms-dealer and playboy Adnan Khashoggi afloat (Bad decision! Khashoggi spent all the money, causing a huge dent in the swami's fortune).

IMAGE: Baba Ramdev teaches contestant Brent Goble some desi yogic moves on the sets of Nach Baliye 8.

Today's millionaire swami is Baba Ramdev, he of the wobbling stomach and the hearty laugh.

Ramdev, of course, is above such trifles as money but his partner/companion Acharya Balkrishna, in whose name all the businesses are, is worth Rs 25,600 crore (or $3.8 billion). At that level of wealth, Chandraswami seems like a pauper in comparison.

But Ramdev is different from his predecessors. Most of them made their money from their closeness to the powerful and the mighty.

Ramdev is no slouch when it comes to establishing close relations with chief ministers and other influential politicians but his wealth has two, largely legitimate, sources.

The first is the religious TV network that turned him, in the manner of an American televangelist, into a national figure.

The other is his fast moving consumer good company. Its turnover was Rs 10,000 crore in the year ended May 2017. By the next year, Ramdev has declared he hopes to reach a suitably spiritual Rs 20,000 crore.

As he put it, with his characteristic subtlety, 'Pantene ka toh pant gila hone wala hai. (Pantene is going to wet its pants).' 'Colgate ka gate bhi bandh hoga... (Colgate will run out of business)'... there was a dismissive line about each of his competitors).

IMAGE: Shilpa Shetty captioned this picture 'Morning Yoga session with #Baba Ramdev. #yoga #welness #energy' Photograph: Kind courtesy Shilpa Shetty/Instagram

Three questions strike the average person.

First of all, who is this guy?

According to Godman To Tycoon: The Untold Story Of Baba Ramdev by Priyanka Pathak-Narain, a carefully written and well-sourced biography, Ramdev was a sickly, partly facially paralysed (that explains the twitch in his eye) son of a Haryana farmer who met his future partner Balkrishna (described cruelly in the book as 'a young man with a high pitched voice and protruding teeth') when he was in his late teens (we can't be sure about age because Ramdev won't tell us when he was really born) and the two of them hit the swami-yogi circuit.

Ramdev ended up in a gurukul where he routinely beat his students; one of them was assaulted for so long that 'he was left in a critical condition. The boy's body was in shreds, blood flowing freely from his wounds.'

Ramdev hotfooted it out of the gurukul and rose to become a reasonably well-known swami who cultivated such chief ministers as N D Tiwari and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

IMAGE: Ranveer Singh follows Baba Ramdev's moves at the Agenda Aaj Tak 2016 Summit in New Delhi. Photograph: PTI Photo

The second question: How did this guy get to be so big? Short answer: Television.

In the 21st century, a new middle class that looked to TV for spiritual guidance gave him the kind of adulation that would have made Shah Rukh Khan, let alone Jerry Falwell, jealous.

Three: Why are his products so successful?

Well, because he uses his TV channel to promote them at no extra cost; because they fit in nicely with the back-to-Hindutva mood of the times and because, as this book points out, he sells most of them cheap.

The book suggests that he does this by cutting corners.

His workers are paid much less than the industry standard. Forget about trade union protests, Ramdev's workers consent meekly to having their mobile phones confiscated at the entrance to his plant.

His labelling can be misleading: As the author points out his desi ghee is no such thing; his products may use animal parts that are not declared on the label and sometimes he launches new goods (noodles, for instance) without bothering about the necessary approvals.

His is a low-cost, low-margin business that gets away with pretty much what it wants because wily old Ramdev knows how to get around all politicians.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugs Baba Ramdev during the 2014 Yoga Mahotsav at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. Photograph: PTI Photo

Manmohan Singh gave him legitimacy by meeting him to discuss the cleaning of the Ganga and, when he threatened to launch an anti-corruption agitation, the UPA sent four senior Cabinet ministers (including Pranab Mukherjee!) to receive him at the airport.

He is on cosy terms with the current Bharatiya Janata Party leadership and its focus on yoga allows Ramdev to turn himself into the mascot of such campaigns.

Can all this last?

Are the big FMCG companies really going to wet their pants, as Ramdev claims?

This book is non-committal. But my guess is: Yes. Ramdev is a symbol (or a symptom: Take your pick) of today's India.
It was investing heavily in finding new ways to gauge driver behaviour apart from just relying on feedback provided by riders.

Uber, the US-based ride hailing aggregator, has rolled out a slew of safety features on its India platform.

The features include real-time trip sharing, instant ID checks and improvements in the way it analyses and uses driver and user reviews.

At an event in Bengaluru, the firm said it was extending its share trip feature to drivers, letting them easily inform their families about their whereabouts.

Another feature included flagging of duplicate driver profiles, ensuring that only drivers verified by Uber were on the platform.

At every step we are maximising the use of technology to bring transparency and accountability through features such as two-way feedback and ratings, telematics and GPS, among others. We believe such features will have a positive impact on furthering trust between riders and driver partners, said Apurva Dalal, head of engineering at Uber India.

Uber said it was investing heavily in finding new ways to gauge driver behaviour apart from just relying on feedback provided by riders.

The companys driver dashboard now includes reports telling them how many times they were overspeeding, driving rashly, etc.

Uber has also devised training programmes for its drivers on how to address female riders.

It has also introduced guidelines on how riders should conduct themselves in cabs.

We strongly believe that ensuring a safe ride experience requires concerted efforts. Riders, drivers, Uber, law enforcement agencies, policymakers and India Inc must come together to make our cities safe, said Pradeep Parameswaran, head of central operations at Uber India.

After reports in the media suggesting the governments plans to make it mandatory for drivers of Uber and Ola to furnish their Aadhaar cards at the time of signing up, Uber said it was evaluating the use of a biometric tool to improve driver verification.

Parameswaran said that anything that would improve safety of drivers and riders is already being considered.

Ride hailing companies Uber and Ola have faced an uphill battle in winning the trust of riders and the administration in India.

After a case of a Uber driver raping a female passenger in Delhi came to light, the two companies faced a ban in several cities and were forced to improve their driver verification methods.

Uber's campaign to boost safety in India comes after it was revealed that Eric Alexander, former head of Uber's Asia Pacific business, had appropriated medical records of the rape victim and was investigating it to prove foul play by Ola.

Alexander was fired by Uber when news organisations ReCode and New York Times got to know of the violation.

Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
'There appears to be greater convergence of interests between China and the US in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre than between India and the US. This is hardly a recipe for a super-alliance,' says former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.

Larry Pressler's book, Neighbours in Arms, is pitched to an Indian readership who really do not need to be convinced of his central thesis, that is, successive US administrations 'effectively looked the other way when it came to Pakistan's nuclear programme and the assistance it obtained from China for its missile and nuclear programmes.'

Pressler claims that it was the piece of legislation carrying his name, the 'Pressler Amendment' that may have at least slowed down and put some constraints on Pakistan's relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons.

That is not really borne out by the historical evidence available and even his own telling of the tale.

Nevertheless, the Pressler Amendment won him friends and admirers in India for its intent if not its outcome and for that he deserves some place in the sun.

Pressler blames it all on the US military industrial complex, what he calls the Octopus, for its pervasive reach into all the nooks and crannies of the US establishment and its ability to 'suck out' as the octopus does, tasty morsels for itself from the rich gravy train which circulates around the corridors of power in Washington.

But this is only part of the story. Pressler's book also makes it clear that there were geopolitical factors at work -- in a sense still at work -- that explain the US-Pakistan enduring embrace.

It was, to begin with, an alliance which made sense in the Cold War context culminating in the proxy war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan throughout the decade of the 1980s.

Then, more recently it has been the war against terror in which Pakistan is both friend and enemy.

India has been and continues to be collateral damage.

Pressler is unequivocal in his support for closer India-US relations and advocates a 'super alliance' based not only on a strategic convergence to constrain China but also because these are two vibrant democracies with shared values.

However, shared values have not counted for much when and where interests of the two countries have diverged.

While there is more visible commonality of interests in the Indo-Pacific, there are conflicting compulsions on India's western flank.

In fact, there appears to be greater convergence of interests between China and the US in the Afghan-Pakistan theatre than between India and the US. This is hardly a recipe for a super-alliance.

There are two intriguing assertions that Pressler makes, one for which there is no corroboration and the other which is illogical.

In the section related to the proposed India-US 'super alliance', Pressler claims that in 'discussions with current and former senior navy officials, I have learnt that the United States is on the verge of a massive effort to help build up the Indian Navy and outfit its navy ships with nuclear weapons.'

I would doubt very much that any such bilateral initiative is on the cards. If indeed being contemplated, it would mean a very significant departure from well-entrenched positions of both countries and could have major geopolitical consequences particularly in respect of their relations with China.

As the author observes, 'An Indian Navy that has the capability of delivering nuclear weapons would cause China great concern.' Indeed. But the Indian Navy already has that capability though of a limited scope.

At another point Pressler tries to explain why the US has done little to restrain Pakistan from developing its nuclear weapon capability; indeed why it may have even encouraged its acquisition of such capability.

He claims that the infamous Octopus or the military industrial complex 'wanted Pakistan to have a nuclear weapon to counterbalance China's power.'

While the US often pursues mutually contradictory policies, this particular claim is surely far-fetched.

China has been instrumental in assisting Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons capability and may have even conducted an explosive nuclear test on its behalf probably as early as 1987. It could hardly become a target of the capability it had itself helped develop in Pakistan.

It is India that has been the target of this capability and the US has known this all along, but this has counted for less than Pakistan's transactional value for the US in its pursuit of its geopolitical objectives.

Pressler's book is also part memoir, tracing his career from a provincial backwater to the sanctums of power and privilege in Washington.

There is no surfeit of modesty in his account about his own role as a legislator but for Indian readers this is a good primer on how the US political system works, the relations between the legislature and the administration, the role of the intelligence agencies and the defence establishment and the insidious influence of lobbying firms and ostensibly independent think-tanks and civil society organisations on policy.

One may find faint echoes of these disturbing phenomena in our own country and Pressler rightly warns us of their dangers to democracy.

Ambassador Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary, is currently Senior Fellow and member of the governing board of Centre for Policy Research.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi chats with US President Donald J Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May At the G-20 summit in Hamburg. Photograph: @MEAIndia/Twitter
But not for too long, as TTV Dinakaran can still play spoilsport, says N Sathiya Moorthy.

With acting governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao reportedly telling political interlocutors that he could not intervene in what is essentially an internal matter of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam factions, he may have initiated a process that could lead to early elections to the state assembly, with final advantage going to the Opposition DMK-led combine, which is likely to expand in the coming weeks and months.

I am ready to bat, but the ball is not in my court, Rao is reported to have told a delegation of what remains a peripheral Opposition group, whose leaders had called on him earlier in the week.

He was referring to his decision, if any, on the individual letters presented to him by 19 ruling party MLAs identified with the T T V Dinakaran faction, over a fortnight back.

But by saying so, he may have unintentionally or otherwise served the ball to the DMKs court, with the Dinakaran faction playing the second on the other side. The Opposition says the governor himself was playing the second for the ruling EPS-OPS factions led respectively by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy CM, O Panneerselvam.

It is anybodys guess why the governor should open his mind, if at all, to a group of visitors who did not represent either the Dinakaran faction, or the DMK, both of who had separately submitted different memoranda to him, but with the implied or explicit request for him to ask CM Palaniswami to face a floor-test.

If the Raj Bhavan had informed the signatories, earlier or later, about the governors position/decision, there is no official report from anyone on this count.

A day after the governors reported position was made known, DMK working president and leader of the opposition, M K Stalin, predicted the fall of the Edappadi government soon.

Addressing party cadres in the neighbourhood of the chief ministers native place in western Tamil Nadu, he declared that the DMK would not make a back-door entry to power, piggy-back riding on someone elses back, but would reach there with 200 of the 234 seats in the state assembly on its own steam.

On the one hand, Stalin was seeking to shut out criticism from ruling AIADMK faction leaders, including some senior ministers, that he was conspiring with Dinakaran to oust the legitimately-elected government of Amma, the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

More specifically, his reference to winning 200 seats also indicate that the DMK was actively considering the possibility of en masse resignation by party MLAs, and possibly those of the Congress ally, all adding up to 98, thus forcing an election, which according to the DMKs calculations, the ruling combine was shy was facing.

The developments of the past year, starting with Jayalalithaas hospitalisation and death, in the AIADMK has emboldened the DMK that the Tamil Nadu people, including staunch AIADMK cadres/voters, are frustrated with the all factions of the ruling party.

The post-merger affairs in the AIADMK has not only strengthened that feeling but also the DMK cadre resolve that they are ready to face fresh polls any time soon.

Whatever doubts that some incumbent DMK legislators and those that had lost the polls for the party in May 2016 are emboldened now than any time since, to be able to contest and win their own seats. For others, they hope to win all those additional seats beyond whatever the DMK and allies now have in the assembly.

While it is true that mass resignations by DMK combine can make the entire nation sit up and take notice, with the pressure building upon the Centre and the governor, it will not mean anything if the ruling faction patches up with the minority TTV camp within the AIADMK.

Definitely, the TTV camps head-count has gone beyond 19, which itself has brought the governments floor majority below the required 118, but the absence of nearly another 20 or so from the informal meeting that the ministerialists called in the party office has sent down jitters down the CMs camp.

But from the DMKs perspective, they could seek to precipitate matters if and only if the TTV camp submits their resignations to Speaker P Dhanapal. Else, the AIADMK factions could patch up on the strength of any precipitate threat from the DMK, and they all could live happily ever after with the Opposition left in the lurch, good and proper, for the next four years of the governments life.

Alternatively, should the DMK quit en masse ahead of any such move by the Dinakaran camp, then the ruling faction could just go ahead and have the Speaker disqualify all or some of the 19 MLAs with the latter, and go ahead with their acts of governance. They could even have a farcical floor-test, and pass it too.

All relevant provisions of the Constitution only refer to the government having to win a simple majority of members present and voting. Disqualified members as also members who boycott the House, or suspended, or are present but did not vote, wont count.

Independent of the disqualification threat hanging over the head of the Dinakaran MLAs, 21 DMK legislators, including Stalin, are facing a privilege motion for bringing banned gutka into the House, to prove that the same was freely available in the marketplace across the state.

Naturally, the ruling party has a majority in the panel, and some of the DMK members on it have also been hauled up on the gutka issue. Customarily and otherwise, the House, acting on a possible recommendation of the panel, could order the suspension of the members for a pre-determined period, possibly the whole of the session.

If such were the case, the government could pass a floor-test of its own volition, with the DMK members suspended and the Dinakaran followers disqualified.

For now, however, the Dinakaran camp has adopted a carrot-and-stick policy, in the light of the governors disclosure and Stalins declaration. Thangathamizh Selvan, a senior camp-follower of the Dinakaran group, has declared that they did not care for their MLAs position if that alone would bring down the corrupt EPS government.

At the same time, Divakaran, Dinakarans uncle (brother of jailed party general secretary V K Sasikala Natarajan), has declared that the party could not go back to the days of a single-leader format. It could only be a collective leadership but without five incumbent ministers, including CM Palaniswami.

The plausible interpretation is that the Dinakaran camp, frustrated as it is even while purportedly amassing more MLAs, is sending out signals for a patch-up but on its terms, and with the threat that they were ready to topple the government, thus giving lie to the other factions hopes that they would not do so, fearing early elections and possible, collective loss.

Before taking any irrevocable decision of the kind, the Dinakaran camp has announced its plans to parade their MLAs before President Ram Nath Kovind. For now, the DMK Opposition in a graded and graduated move before reaching there, sent in an all-party delegation with a high-powered team of national alliance leaders, to call on the President on Thursday.

Though the President reportedly promised to look into the matter, the Centre, it would seem, is backing the governor. A day before the DMK-led delegation met the President, Home Minister Rajnath Singh too said that the governor could not get involved in the internal matters of the ruling party in the state.

Better or worse, Rajnath Singh, according to media reports quoting AIADMK ruling faction sources, also promised a delegation of Tamil Nadu ministers that the governor would delay matters as far as he could.

In between, the DMK also seems to be toying with the option of expanding the alliance to include the two communist parties and Dalit-centric VCK apart from one-time arch-rival Vaikos MDMK, but only on its terms.

In election 2016, the DMK combine lost out to the incumbent AIADMK by an overall margin of about one per cent of the votes polled across the state. It exposed an inherent weakness when Jayalalithaa was around, leading the rival AIADMK and also the government.

It meant the DMK required a vote-cushion, but would still have had problems accommodating seat-share ambitions of prospective allies compared to a reasonable evaluation of their individual vote-share and contribution to the kitty.

Should the elections get advanced, and in ways strategised by the party, the DMK might consider cold-shouldering the new allies, but however would have to consider the MDMK and Vaiko with tender care and excessive caution at the same time.

As may be recalled, after DMK supremo Karunanidhi fell irrecoverably ill in December last, Vaiko called on him in mid-August, and readily agreed to one-time personal bete noire Stalins personal invitation to participate in the platinum jubilee celebrations of party organ, Murasoli, on September 5.

Simultaneously, the DMK leadership should also be considering their next moves, whether to move the court as Stalin had indicated earlier or precipitate a constitutional crisis by party MLAs quitting en masse.

In terms of tactics, the Dinakaran camp has less time, as the general council of the rival faction has been called for September 11, when they would have to be seen as removing jailed Sasikala as AIADMK general secretary.

In between, Speaker Dhanapal has also issued a second notice to the 19 Dinakaran MLAs, on the disqualification issue, seeking their response.

On both issues, the Dinakaran camp could still go to the courts, but the delayed judicial processes could steal their thunder, possibly for good.

However, they have also won a silent, tactical victory, which the other camp does not seem wanting to acknowledge.

Rushing to Delhi with plans to file common withdrawal letters before the Election Commission to facilitate the restoration of the AIADMKs Two Leaves symbol, the re-united EPS-OPS camp seemed to have come up with a huge road block instead.

They seemed to have been since advised that with Sasikala being the respondent to the original petition from the OPS faction earlier, any unilateral withdrawal of the earlier complaint by them could mean that the Sasi-Dinakaran camp could end up owning the symbol, and not as they had thought.

Already, quoting from the AIADMK bye-laws, the Dinakaran camp has been crowing that only the general secretary of the party could convene the general council meeting, and that it was thus for Sasikala to do so, whether or not she was acting or otherwise.

Image: DMK working president M K Stalin (holding a sword) with party functionaries. Photograph: Courtesy, M K Stalin's Facebook page.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
'Modi and Xi can solve the India-China border problem in a single sitting by keeping the big picture before them, by sweeping away the cobwebs of the past, and by mustering a statesman-like spirit and a long range vision,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.

India has coyly described the basis of resolution of the nearly three month- long tense face-off with China at Doklam as 'disengagement understanding'.

China has been somewhat brusque in its official statement, claiming that the end of the face-off followed India's withdrawal of 'all its border personnel and equipment that were illegally on the Chinese territory to the Indian side'.

It has asserted that 'Chinese border troops continue with their patrols in the Dong Lang area,' and that 'China will continue to exercise its sovereign rights and maintain territorial sovereignty in accordance with the provisions of the historical conventions'.

Reading both texts together, it is not at all clear whether, as part of the deal, there has been a corresponding withdrawal of Chinese troops from the disputed area and whether China has specifically agreed to drop its plan for any road construction in the area.

Hence, it is naive on the part of the Indian media and even some regular commentators to go overboard hailing the outcome as a victory for India.

On the contrary, anyone familiar with the nuances and subtleties of the use of language in diplomacy will be left with the impression that India has agreed to withdraw its troops, in the fond hope, whether or not supported by some informal understanding, that China will reciprocate by reverting to the status quo ante, and not resuming its construction activity.

The arguments advanced by India's euphoric chest-thumpers are also disingenuous. None of them passes muster.

The first is that the Chinese position was vulnerable compared to India's which was at a higher elevation and capable of easily overrunning it.

They forget that China could effectively launch a diversionary attack at any other place of its choosing and put India in a spot.

The second argument derives from India's sense of self-importance, leading to the belief that China was eager to bring the face-off to an end as it was keen to avoid the embarrassment of India keeping away from the forthcoming BRICS meeting at Xiamen.

Again, this doesn't take account of the by now firmly established fact that China is almost paranoidal in safeguarding what it deems to be its core interests at the heart of which is its perception of territorial integrity and sovereign rights.

For all that it cares, India can go take a walk if it doesn't want to attend the BRICS meeting.

The third argument is even more far-fetched, namely, that China does not want the National Congress of the Communist Party of China scheduled for November to be overshadowed by the face-off.

Actually, in the estimation of those attending the congress, the face-off would be a feather in the cap of the Chinese leadership as proof of its stern and uncompromising stand by way of protecting its national interest; a military offensive by China would have in fact got a standing ovation from the congress.

Thus, China could have sat pretty and let India stew in its juice.

If anything, it was to India's interest that the impasse was resolved as early as possible.

Being already plagued by so many problems on the political, economic, social, internal security and overall governance fronts, it was woefully lagging behind in carrying out its development agenda.

Getting involved in any kind of confrontation with a country like China would have eaten into its vitals and left it financially and functionally crippled for a long time to come.

That apart, on another plane, any prolonged stalemate would have sorely tested Bhutan's patience, resulting in India's standing taking a hit in Bhutan's eyes.

In a sense, therefore, it is to the credit of India's political leadership that it deployed all its diplomatic skills to steer the back-channel negotiations with Chinese interlocutors to a culmination.

India deserves plaudits all the more for the reason that it kept its head while China was brashly going hammer and tongs against it.

In this perspective, it is pointless to waste time on finding out who blinked first or who won or lost.

There are no winners and losers in this sort of settlement; it is a win-win deal for both sides.

What is more important now is to find ways of building on the achievement to the best advantage of both countries. It is going to be a challenging task.

For one thing, it will be up against China's unyielding possessiveness in regard to any territory that it has decided to be its and the monumental hauteur and coarseness of its dealings.

All these traits and more were in full display in the official and media psych war that it unleashed in the run-up to the 'disengagement'. Even now, it is flaunting its utter insensitivity by seeking to project the deal as some kind of a climb down by India.

For another, constraining India to walk on egg shells is the fact that the interested party in this dispute is really Bhutan.

Till now, it has played its cards with admirable adroitness, observing extraordinary reticence and dignity. It certainly deserves rich tribute as the unsung hero of the whole drama and denouement.

It must be remembered, though, that Bhutan had already had some 32 rounds of talks with China pertaining to claims on both sides, exploring various options of exchanges of slivers of territories, including the Doklam bit.

India should on no account seem like playing the Big Brother, masterminding Bhutan's moves or taking Bhutan under its wings.

Any public expression by Bhutan of its disapproval of India's meddling with its independence will make India persona non grata of all the neighbouring countries for all time, and all the efforts so assiduously made by India so far to win their trust and respect will come crashing down.

Handling the aftermath of Doklam will thus require an enormous degree of sophistication and deftness.

What must be clear to the meanest intelligence is that China and India cannot afford to have recurrent spats and go through the same treadmill again and again.

It is no use pretending that groups of officials, going by whatever high-sounding appellations, will ever be able to untangle the tangled skein of the India-China border which had been ill-defined, un-demarcated and disputed from as early as the 19th century.

No amount of time spent on study of maps, delving into treaties, dissecting of minutes of discussions, or poring over proceedings of conferences will be of help in establishing or demolishing with finality whatever claims are made.

Also, there can be no definitive solution without give-and-take on either side.

No negotiations at any level below that of the president of China and prime minister of India, even if carried on till eternity, will ever dare to grasp what indubitably is a political nettle.

The agreement has to be at the level of the two heads of government. They can solve the problem in a single sitting by keeping the big picture before them, by sweeping away the cobwebs of the past, and by mustering a statesman-like spirit and a long range vision.

In this, Modi has before him the example of Richard Nixon who just upped and landed in Beijing one fine day and by linking arms with Mao, imparted a u-turn to US-China relations, performing a feat which was till then regarded as unthinkable and impossible.

The BRICS meet at Xiamen is a golden opportunity to broach the idea with Xi Jinping and Modi should grab it with both hands.

B S Raghavan is a former member of the Indian Administrative Service who held charge of the Political and Security Policy Planning Division at the Union ministry of home affairs and was a member of the Joint Intelligence Council.

He is the patron of the Chennai Centre for China Studies. The views expressed are his own.
Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey  have resigned ahead of the rejig.

The much-awaited reshuffle in the Modi cabinet will take place on Sunday in which about half-a-dozen ministers are expected to make way for several new faces, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Partys allies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake the third and probably last major recasting of his council of ministers before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and the exercise is being seen as a balancing act between his thrust on merit and demands of realpolitik.

A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 am on Sunday, a top government official said.

While four junior ministers -- Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey -- had resigned on Thursday ahead of the Rejig. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya is also learnt to have resigned on Friday. The party had asked them to quit.

Two cabinet ministers, Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, have also offered to resign, said BJP sources amid speculations that there may be a few more exits.

Mishra met the prime minister on Friday and offered to quit, a source close to him said.

Bharti, who is the water resources minister, said only Shah or anyone on his behalf can speak on the issue.

The media sought my reaction on reports in circulation since yesterday. I have said that I have not heard the question, will not hear nor will I answer it, she tweeted.

Shah had met Modi on Thursday and the two leaders are understood to have finalised the changes in the council of ministers.

Arun Jaitley, who currently holds the charge of two heavyweight portfolios -- finance and defence, may retain only one, sources said.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, seen as one of the more capable ministers, can be given more responsibility.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had taken moral responsibility for a string of train accidents and indicated his willingness to resign, may be moved to another ministry, the sources said.

Other incumbents, including Steel Minister Birender Singh, may be moved to other ministries.

BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, partys vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Prahlad Patel, Suresh Angadi, Satyapal Singh, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Anurag Thakur, Shobha Karandlaje, Maheish Girri and Prahlad Joshi are being talked about within the party as among the probable ministers.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha are seen among good performers in the government, a party leader said, adding that some of them can be elevated.

With the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United also likely to join the government, its leaders R C P Singh, who is its parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, and Santosh Kumar are the likely picks from the new National Democratic Alliance constituent.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Thambidurai had met Shah on Thursday, and he, besides party leaders P Venugopal and V Maitreyan, may be the likely representatives from the Tamil Nadu party if it decides to join the government. However, the southern party has not confirmed it so far.

There are also talks of a greater representation from existing allies like the Telugu Desam Party and the Shiv Sena.

The current strength of the council of ministers, including the prime minister, is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81.

According to a constitutional amendment, the limit cannot exceed beyond 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha which is 545.

While there are some vacancies, a number of senior ministers are also holding dual portfolios.

Besides Jaitley, Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar are handling additional charges.

After assuming office in May 2014, Modi expanded his council of ministers twice -- first on November 9 in 2014 and then on July 05 in 2016.
Amid indications that he may join politics, veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Friday addressed the issue of his political affiliation, saying his colour is definitely not saffron.

Haasans statement after a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan comes days after he told his fans to be prepared to march to Fort St George in Chennai, the seat of the Tamil Nadu Legislative assembly, to ensure that corrupt politicians are not re-elected in the state.

During the meeting at the chief ministers official residence Cliff House, Haasan, 62, discussed the political situation in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The actor was treated to a feast arranged as part of the Onam festival celebrations.

On being quizzed about Tamil Nadu politics, the multilingual actor said the governor should intervene in the present situation.

I do not like to see this drama (going in Tamil Nadu). I am not anyone to call for a floor test or speak to the governor, but I am using this podium to call for it, he said.

Sidelined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dinakaran is involved in a tussle for power in Tamil Nadu, and has upped the ante since the merger of the two factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on August 21.

When asked about his political affiliation, the actor said he had been in the film industry for 40 years, but I can tell you one thing, my colour is definitely not saffron.

Haasan said he had come to Kerala for a personal visit.

Most of the leftists are my heroes. I want to be in the middle of things and not take sides, he said.

Look at the statistics of Kerala, you are pushing it to the standards of western countries. Mine is not blind admiration, it is sensible -- about why choosing Pinarayi Vijayan, he remarked.

Talking about the meeting on his Facebook post, Vijayan said he shared a healthy friendship with the actor.

Whenever he visits Kerala, he meets me. However, this is the first meeting after I assumed the office of chief minister, he said.

Though it was a courtesy meeting, politics of south India, especially the situation in Tamil Nadu, also came up for discussion, he added.

Talking to reporters before leaving to meet the chief minister, the actor said his visit was a political education tour.

Definitely, as far as I am concerned, this is an education tour to me, he said. Actually I was supposed to come to Kerala last year itself. But I could not make it as I met with an accident, Haasan said.

The actor had congratulated the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front government headed by Vijayan for providing good governance when it completed one-year in office in May this year.

Haasan had been vocal against the Tamil Nadu government on the issue of corruption, thus incurring the wrath of several state ministers, who have accused the actor of speaking in general terms and dared him to provide evidence of his charges.

Image: Actor Kamal Haasan being welcomed by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan at his official residence, in Thiruvananthapuram. Photograph: PTI Photo
We were all preparing to celebrate Bakri-Eid. Even in our wildest dreams, we never thought our preparations would go awry, Jumana Mukadam, who lost her relatives in the Bhendi Bazar building crash, says in a choked voice.

Mukadams sons in-laws were among those killed in the building collapse on Thursday.

It never crossed our minds even for a moment that our relatives and neighbours would not be there to perform the custom of sacrificing goats, said Mukadam as she struggled to come to terms with the loss of her dear ones in the tragedy.

Thirty-three people lost their lives in the crash.

The tragedy befell on us when the family was preparing for Bakri Eid, celebrated by our (Bohra) community today. We never imagined that our families will be ripped apart a day before the most important day of our religion, she said.

Mukadam said Umaima, her 26-year-old daughter-in-law, is still in a state of shock as she lost her elderly parents and has barely spoken since Thursday. Umaimas brother was injured and is currently recuperating in Saifee Hospital.

A relative of another family, which lost all but two of its members -- a nine-year-old girl and her grandmother -- as the 117-year-old residential building collapsed said the child is yet to be told what had happened to her parents.

It was a family of six. A couple lived there with their two daughters and the mans parents. The man had just dropped his nine-year-old child to school and returned when the incident happened, he said.

The entire family, except the girl and her grandmother, died. The child is yet to be told her parents are no more, he added.

A resident of Bhendi Bazar, which housed the ill-fated building, which was a part of the redevelopment project being carried out by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, run by the Bohra community, claimed they had refused to vacate their premises hoping a better deal by the trust.

He resides in an old building adjacent to the ill-fated structure. His building, too, will be redeveloped by SBUT, which has undertaken a cluster development project in Bhendi Bazar in South Mumbai.

We have been offered transit in camps located far away from our original homes. Since we have lived all our lives here, accustomed to the area, its people and the mosques around, it is difficult for us to vacate our premises, he said.

We wanted them (SBUT) to offer accommodation near our original homes, he added.

Another man, living in a transit camp at Ghodapdev, around 4 km from Bhendi Bazar, said it was very difficult to live in the first few floors of the building where he currently resides, as it does not have proper ventilation.

We were used to proper sunlight and ample ventilation in our old homes. But in our new home, we get none of that. There are frequent health issues that we have to face due to the change in our living styles, he said.

Meanwhile, SBUT said it has shifted about 1,800 families, out of 3,200 affected by its project, in transit accommodations located at Anjirwadi, Ghodapdev and Sion.

An ex-landlord of Hussaini building, which collapsed on Thursday, said he had made several attempts to convince the tenants to shift to the transit facility.

The building had showed signs of structural weakness with leaking roof. Being an ex-landlord of this building, I had made multiple attempts to convince them to accept SBUTs offer and shift to the transit facility, said Hatim Bootwala.

A spokesperson of SBUT said in 2011, state-run housing agency MHADA had issued notices, declaring the building dilapidated and unfit for living.

Post that, SBUT had offered transit facility and shifted 50 per cent of the families while the remaining ones did not accept the offer and continued to live in the old building, said the SBUT spokesperson.

Image: Fire brigade and NDRF personnel carry out the search and rescue operation following the collapse of building at Pakmodiya Street in south Mumbai. Photograph: PTI Photo
Rescue work has intensified in Texas with officials launching search operations and saving people stuck in the receding floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, one of the most destructive storms in American history that claimed at least 47 lives.

IMAGE: Rescue personnel help Hersey Kirk as she is airlifted into a rescue helicopter after being rescued from her home flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey in Rose City, Texas. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

Nearly a week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, desperate residents remain stranded without food and water in the wake of unprecedented flooding.

Authorities are searching for survivors and have made helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey climbed to at least 47.

Thousands of emergency rescue teams officials are helping people affected by the deluge.

The officials are assessing the storms trail of destruction in Houston as the flood waters slowly started to recede in south-eastern Texas.

Brazoria County officials have warned that roughly 517 km of the county will be inundated with water from the Brazos River, which is projected to continue rising.

On Thursday, the Houston Fire Department had received 800 service calls, but only 22 were water-related, a spokesperson said.

IMAGE: Quintin Sanders is carried to dry land by volunteer rescuers after his neighbourhood was inundated with the flooding of Hurricane Harvey in Beaumont, Texas. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Houston remained flooded, and police continued rescuing people as officials searched homes looking for trapped residents.

Beaumont city in south-eastern Texas, home to more than 118,000 people, 145-km away from Houston, woke up without drinking water supply on Thursday.

The Baptist Hospital in Beaumont city is evacuating patients and shutting down emergency services because the city is without a working water supply.

Due to the failure of the citys water pump, it is in the best interest of our current patients to transfer to other acute care facilities, Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas

said in a statement on Thursday.

Due to the city-wide lack of services, we have no other alternative but to discontinue all services which will include emergency services. This is being done immediately. The hospital needs about 50,000 gallons of water a day to run, hospital medical director Ali Osman said.

The death toll and the number of people who were homeless by the storm continues to grow.

IMAGE: Naval Aircrewman assist with a medical evacuation during Hurricane Harvey relief effortsin Jasper, Texas. Photograph: Christopher Lindahl/US Navy/Reuters

In Harveys aftermath, authorities confronted crises on several fronts. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey carried its wrath up the Mississippi Delta on Thursday, but not before hammering the Gulf Coast with more punishing cloudbursts and growing threats that included reports of pops and chemical reactions at a crippled chemical plant and the collapse of the drinking water system in a Texas city.

In Crosby, Texas, about 48 km northeast of Houston, alarming reports emerged about the danger posed by a chemical plant after the French company operating the facility said explosions were possible.

A fire official on Friday said authorities are monitoring a flooded chemical plant near Houston after a blaze caused by an explosion was put out.

The Neches River in east Texas surged far beyond its banks, into streets, houses and businesses in the city of almost 120,000 people 112 km east-northeast of Houston, reaching six feet above the previous record by afternoon, the National Weather Service reported.

This city of nearly 120,000 residents sits near the Texas Gulf Coast about 48 km west of the Louisiana border.

The police department said it has to wait until water levels recede before it can determine the extent of the damage and make any needed repairs.

IMAGE: A family stand in the door of their flooded house in Port Arthur, Texas. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Meanwhile, Houston officials ordered mandatory evacuation of areas around the Barker Reservoir, as flooding from that basin, and the nearby Addicks Reservoir, continued to pour into neighbourhoods on the citys western edge.

In other parts of the city, floodwaters receded, exposing countless losses and new hazards, like ruined and abandoned vehicles blocking roads, damaged electrical systems, and mould.

As residents of the region tried to assess the damage and some returned to their homes, weather forecasters said more rain are expected early next week.

The White House said President Donald Trump will donate $1 million of his personal money for flood relief operations in Texas and Louisiana.

Vice President Mike Pence met with people reeling under the rampage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and promised them of full support by his government until the state is back on its feet.

IMAGE: A home is surrounded by floodwater after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi August 25, has dumped nearly 50 inches of rain in and around areas Houston. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Tom Bossert, the White House official who is spearheading the administrations storm response, estimated that 100,000 houses in Texas and Louisiana have been damaged or destroyed, and said Trump will seek billions in aid in the coming weeks.

More than 30,000 people remained in shelters in the region.

Houston fire officials said they would begin going door-to-door in search for victims, a process that could take up to two weeks.

The shelter mission is the biggest battle that we have right now, said Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA reported that 95,745 people in Texas had been approved for emergency assistance, including rent, repairs and lost property. The agency has so far paid out about $57 million.
By PTI: Jammu, Sep 1 (PTI) A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was today killed in a sniper attack by the Pakistani army from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district.

A senior BSF officer said the Pakistani army violated the ceasefire and targeted a jawan of the border guarding force, who was on duty at a post along the LoC, with sniper fire.

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The jawan, who was critically injured in the attack, succumbed subsequently, he added.

It maybe recalled that BSF troops had, on August 26, killed three Pakistani rangers, in retaliation to a jawan of the force sustaining injuries in sniper fire from across the LoC, along the International Border (IB) in Jammu the previous day.

On August 23, senior Army commanders of India and Pakistan had held a flag meeting at the LoC in the Poonch sector and agreed to put mechanisms in place for sustainable peace and tranquillity along the border.

At the meeting of the battalion commander-level officers, the Indian side had highlighted the "abetment and support of the Pakistan Army to cross-border terrorism, sniping actions along the LoC and deliberate targeting of civilians during ceasefire violations," a defence ministry spokesman said here.

The two sides had agreed to keep the channels of communication between the local commanders open at the LoC, he added.

2017 has seen a sharp increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistan. Till August 1, there were 285 of such violations by the Pakistan Army, while in 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year, according to Army figures.

Eleven persons, including nine soldiers, were killed and 18 injured in ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army in July, as per the Army data.

There were 83 ceasefire violations, one BAT (Border Action Team) attack and two infiltration bids from the Pakistani side in June, in which four persons, including three jawans, were killed and 12 injured.

In May, there were 79 ceasefire violations, according to officials. PTI AB RC

--- ENDS ---
Terrorists on Friday opened fire on a police bus on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in the Pantha Chowk area, killing a policeman and injuring three others.

The bus carrying personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police came under fire from the terrorists in the evening. The vehicle was going from Bemina to Zewan, a police official said.

Four policemen were injured in the attack. They were rushed to the Armys 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment, where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed to his injuries, he said.

The condition of the three others is stable, he said.

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement, LeT spokesperson Dr Gazhnavi said that the outfit attacked a police vehicle and caused damage to forces.

BSF jawan killed in Pak sniper fire from across LoC in Poonch

Meanwhile, a Border Security Force jawan was killed in a sniper attack by the Pakistani army from across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district.

A senior BSF officer said the Pakistani army violated the ceasefire and targeted a jawan of the border guarding force, who was on duty at a post along the LoC, with sniper fire.

The jawan, who was critically injured in the attack, succumbed subsequently, he added.

This year has seen a sharp increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistan. Till August 1, there were 285 of such violations by the Pakistan army, while in 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year, according to army figures.

Eleven persons, including nine soldiers, were killed and 18 injured in ceasefire violations by Pakistan army in July, as per the army data.

There were 83 ceasefire violations, one Border Action Team attack and two infiltration bids from the Pakistani side in June, in which four persons, including three jawans, were killed and 12 injured.

In May, there were 79 ceasefire violations, according to officials.

-- With inputs from Umar Ganie/Rediff.com

Photograph: ANI/Twitter
A 17-year-old Dalit girl who had moved the Supreme Court against NEET-based medical examinations allegedly committed suicide on Friday.

Anitha was reportedly upset after it became known that Tamil Nadu will not be exempted from the ambit of National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test.

Daughter of a daily wage earner, Anitha dreamed of becoming a doctor.

She was found hanging at her house in a village in Ariyalur district, police said.

The Dalit girl had approached the apex court last month opposing a plea seeking admissions to under graduate medical courses only on the basis of the NEET score.

The police said they were investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, the residents held a road roko in the village, slamming the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led state government for the death of the girl.

District police superintendent, district collector and other senior officials are present on the spot for coordinating the legalities post the death of the girl, a police official said.

The body has been taken to a government hospital for autopsy, he said.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar told reporters that he was deeply pained by the death of the girl.

Education Minister C Sengottaiyan expressed grief and anguish and said steps were being taken to prepare students for any competitive exam. He said such instances must never be repeated.

Dravida Munnetra Kazagham working president M K Stalin expressed concern over

the death of the girl and called the government inept.

Students are the future of the nation and they should never attempt to do such things, he said while asking the state government to own up responsibility for the death.

Various political parties have been cornering the state government for its failure to get exemption from the NEET.

Actor Rajinikanth also condoled the death of the teenage girl.

What has happened to Anitha is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to all the pain and agony she would have undergone before taking the drastic step. My condolences to her family, he said in a tweet.

VCK chief Thol Thirumavalan, a Dalit leader, expressed anguish at the death of the girl and said no student should attempt ending their lives as there were a lot of

opportunities to pass examinations.

Anitha had scored an impressive 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in class XII examinations. In NEET, she did not fair well and missed out on getting a medical seat.

Although she could not get admission to MBBS, she had the high score to secure the admission for several other courses, including engineering.

She was even reportedly offered a seat in the prestigious state-run Madras Institute of Technology for aeronautical engineering.

Image: Anitha, daughter of a daily wage earner, had scored an impressive 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in class XII examinations. However, she did not fair well in the NEET exam and missed out on getting a medical seat.
'I wish him well in whatever he does and I will do so if he enters politics too.'

T E Narasimhan reports.

'My aim is a better Tamil Nadu. Who dares to strengthen my voice? DMK, AIADMK & parties R tools to help. If those tools R blunt find others.'

This was actor-director Kamal Haasan's recent tweet, one of the many he has furiously punched out of late, mainly against the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government.

Haasan, 62, is known for his crisp, punchy political statements and social messages, delivered both in English and Tamil.

Often, these statements come just before a big release, at times triggering controversy and expectedly generating greater interest in the movie.

His movies such as Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam and Dasavathaaram are also considered the artistic outflow of his political views.

But many believe there is more to his recent attacks against the government, even though these vociferous statements have come at a time when the actor is appearing as the host of the Tamil version of Bigg Boss on Vijay TV.

While targeting the AIADMK government on the one hand, Haasan has been seen sharing stage with leaders of the prime Opposition party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

This has triggered speculation that he might join the DMK or float a party of his own.

The question being asked is similar to the one being asked around another superstar, Rajinikanth: Will he or won't he enter politics

Through a short Tamil poem that he posted on his Twitter handle, Haasan said: 'Let us criticise, nobody is king now. If I decide, I will be the Mudhalvar (meaning leader and also chief minister)'.

Was this a veiled hint that he was entering politics? Many say it was.

Political analysts say then chief minister J Jayalalithaa's death has created a vacuum in the state and has triggered these questions.

The statements of the two powerful influencers from the world of cinema, both of whom were discovered and shaped by filmmaker K Balachandar, are therefore being analysed threadbare.

It wasn't as though Haasan did not have run-ins with Jayalalithaa.

She had banned the screening of his film, Vishwaroopam, after Muslim organisations expressed fear that it could disturb communal harmony.

'Raaj Kamal Films is a small company and it cannot stand up to the mighty government,' Haasan had said in an interview then.

In December 2016, after her death, Haasan came down heavily on the O Panneerselvam government for poor disaster management after cyclone Vardah hit coastal Tamil Nadu.

Panneerselvam retaliated by calling Haasan a 'puppet' and said the actor should just 'stick to acting'.

Later, while fielding questions on allegations of vulgarity on the Bigg Boss show, Haasan turned the debate and provoked the ruling party by saying there was corruption everywhere in the state.

This kicked off a war of words between him and senior political leaders in the government, including Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Haasan even went on to ask why no political party was demanding Palaniswami's resignation. So, does he intend to enter politics?

'Do you think I can start a party with the money I have?' said Haasan who has 1.68 million followers on Twitter.

'But in the current situation, I feel like taking white money honestly and doing it. Don't ask me if I'm going to come... under these circumstances, anyone can come.'

About his view on Rajinikanth entering politics, he has said: 'I will not say in an interview what my views are on Rajini entering politics because he's my friend.'

'I wish him well in whatever he does and I will do so if he enters politics too. But once he becomes a politician, I will criticise him as well, just as I do others.'

IMAGE: Rajinikath, DMK Working President M K Stalin and Kamal Haasan at the diamond jubilee celebration of the DMK newspaper Murasoli in Chennai, August 11, 2017. Photograph: R Senthil Kuma/PTI Photo
PM Modi's third Cabinet reshuffle will have a bearing on states which are going to polls and those where elections have been held in the recent past.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: Cabinet reshuffles and Assembly elections are correlated to a large extent. Which union minister is dropped and which leader is inducted in the union government depends also on the state elections - both upcoming and the ones already held.

This has been the practice more or less in every government, including the Congress-led UPA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government is no different on this count.

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The third Cabinet reshuffle being undertaken by PM Narendra Modi on Sunday morning has a bearing on Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh which are going to polls and those like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where elections have been held in the recent past.

UTTAR PRADESH

A large number of ministers who have resigned or have offered to do so come from UP. The state went to polls earlier this year and the BJP had registered an impressive win. Kalraj Mishra, Uma Bharti and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, who have offered to resign from the Modi ministry, come from this most populous state.

Mahendra Nath Pandey is learnt to have already resigned following his anointment as the president of BJP's UP unit. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra is likely to be made the governor of some state, most likely Maharashtra.

BIHAR

Bihar went to polls in the last quarter of 2015. Minister of State (independent charge) for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy was the first minister to quit the Modi government. He put in his papers on Thursday, three days before the expected Cabinet reshuffle. Besides him, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh is learnt to have offered to quit.

With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) joining the NDA, PM Narendra Modi is all set to include a couple of ministers of the new ally in his team. RCP Sinha is likely to get a Cabinet berth while Santosh Kushwaha would be made a minister of state.

PUNJAB

Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla holds the dual charge of also being the president of BJP's Punjab unit. Going against the BJP's norm of 'one man, one post', the party leadership had allowed him to retain both the posts. However, with the Punjab elections getting over earlier this year, it may be time for Sampla to relinquish his ministerial berth.

GUJARAT

The Gujarat elections are slated for later months this year. It would be a prestige contest for the BJP as Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. Moreover, the state goes to polls for the first time after the two became PM and BJP chief respectively in 2014.

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In view of Hardik Patel-led Patidar-Patel quota stir, the party is considering the inclusion of a couple of MPs of OBC category in the Modi ministry. This is aimed at wooing back the Patels and Patidars who would have jumped on to the Hardik Patel bandwagon.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Assembly elections are due also in Himachal Pradesh later this year. The Cabinet reshuffle may see the exit of Health Minister JP Nadda, who belongs to the state. He is likely to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate of BJP's state unit. In fact, he had been inducted into the Union government to allow him to gain experience in administration. As a counter-balance, former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal may be brought to the Centre.

MADHYA PRADESH

Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh would be held towards the end of 2018. The Cabinet reshuffle would likely be undertaken in view of the state polls. Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste is learnt to have offered to resign. Sources said he is being dropped from the Modi ministry on the basis of his performance review.

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Kulaste is likely to be replaced by Lok Sabha MP Prahlad Singh Patel, who belongs to the OBC category. A couple of more ministers may be inducted at the Centre - one of them would be to fill the vacancy created out of former environment minister Anil Dave's death.

Similarly, the Cabinet reshuffle may witness increased representation from other states such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka which go to polls in 2018.

Also read:

Cabinet reshuffle: PM Narendra Modi may surprise again with new faces in team

Narendra Modi Cabinet reshuffle likely tomorrow: Sanjiv Baliyan resigns

My resignation was party's wish, says Rajiv Pratap Rudy ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

How after every Cabinet reshuffle PM Modi embarks on a foreign trip

Narendra Modi cabinet reshuffle: Who will be in, who will be out

WATCH: Ministers resign ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

--- ENDS ---
In this screenshot from a video posted on YouTube, a man identifying himself as Ataullah Abu Jununi (center), commander of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), delivers a statement to the Myanmar government and ethnic groups in Rakhine state, Aug. 28, 2017.

The Rohingya insurgency is starting to gain traction.

Pogroms and low-level anti-Muslim violence erupted in 2012 during Myanmars democratic transition. In large part this was allowed to fester because the international community was trying to support the new democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

It was no surprise that after years of systematic human rights abuses, including the denial of citizenship rights or any other legal protections, and with the government limiting the ability of Rohingya people to work or to have food and medicine coming in, that a full-on insurgency broke out.

The insurgency was nascent for much of 2016 and the first half of 2017. It began as Harakah al-Yaqin (HaY), led by Attullah Abu Ammar Jununi, who was born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia before he returned home to lead the struggle.

The group publicly refers to itself as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Low-level attacks began to occur on a more sustained basis in 2016. Much of the violence in Rakhine state was perpetrated by government-backed vigilantes, as state security forces did little to curtail them.

But ARSA was clearly responsible for some of the violence. And, very clearly, it seemed to provoke heavy-handed responses. In October 2016, ARSA, armed with machetes and other primitive weapons, staged attacks on police posts.

The government responded with pogroms, including attacks on civilians and arson attacks in Rohingya villages. The United Nations estimates violence in October and November 2016 led to about 87,000 Rohingya refugees to cross into southeastern Bangladesh, where about 400,000 had settled previously.

Earlier this month, two days after U.N. Special Representative Kofi Annan issued his report on the Myanmar governments alleged mishandling of the 11 million Rohingya, about 150 ARSA militants attacked 24 to 30 police outposts in Rakhine state. ARSA claims the attacks were pre-emptive and done in self-defense.

Those attacks were a tactical failure: about 77 militants were killed, compared to only a dozen police, in the fighting. But the attacks were not meant to be tactical successes. They were meant to be a strategic victory.

ARSA knew all too well that the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) could respond only one way: with an extremely heavy-handed clearance operation and total disregard for human rights. By Aug. 28, the death toll reached at least 104.

In the days after, thousands of refugees crossed into Bangladesh, with an additional 20,000 stuck in no mans land along the border. Earlier, about 6,000 refugees, mainly women and children came under fire from the Tatmadaw as they tried to cross the frontier.

Human rights monitors witnessed Rohingya villages being set on fire. Human Rights Watch reported that in the four days following the Aug. 25 attacks, the number of villages burned down was significantly larger than the number burned last October and November.

Do they have any other choice?

The fear is that the governments abusive policies will further recruitment into ARSA. This is the self-fulfilling prophecy of extremists.

ARSA claims that it was founded three years ago. Because it was so small and extreme, few supported it. One would have to be mad to be willing to support a small poorly funded group against the Myanmar military, currently the worlds 11th largest with a long track record of repression.

But with no legal recourse available, many are compelled to join the insurgents. As one Rohingya village leader said about 30 young men had just volunteered for ARSA.

Do they have any other choice? They chose to fight and die rather than be slaughtered like sheep.

And in the squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, joining ARSA is now becoming farj  a religious obligation.

Videos that emerged recently on pro-ARSA websites and social media show what appear to be evidence of extremely brutal attacks by government forces and paramilitaries.

The government of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has officially labeled ARSA as extremist Bengali terrorists. Some government officials have accused ARSA of using violence to establish an Islamic State. Clearly, the groups origins in Saudi Arabia, and the Arabic name, prompted it to rebrand itself ARSA in 2017.

Fighting dehumanized oppression

In an Aug. 18 video statement, Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, made it clear that ARSA was established only in response to government and paramilitary abuses against the Rohingya community.

Our primary objective under ARSA is to liberate our people from dehumanized oppression perpetrated by all successive Burmese regimes, he said.

He went out of his way to state the group was independent, with no ties to any international terrorist organization. He also stated ARSA received no funding from external organizations.

He called on the Rohingya diaspora to support ARSA, but to obey and abide by the laws of the land of their host countries. HaY was founded by a group of 20 Rohingya emigres in the Middle East. It seems highly unlikely they are not tapping into the larger diaspora network and financial resources from overseas.

In the 19-minute video that has since been removed, the ARSA leader flanked by six masked and armed men concluded his statement with an implicit threat to Rakhine Buddhists. He warned that there would be repercussions if they engaged in vigilantism or supported the Tatmadaw.

While he denied any links to Islamic State (IS) extremist group (though not named), and he called on fellow Rohingya to not be seduced into joining terrorist organizations, the fact is we do not know if there are any material connections. Clearly, he wants HaY/ARSA to be the vanguard organization.

And it is very clear that he has a nationalist, not a transnational agenda.

Links to IS?

But up against a wall, could that change? Or do covert ties already exist?

A more pressing concern is that whether ARSA asks for support from external organizations or not, it gets it. The plight of the Rohingya is big news in the Muslim world, and their cause is being championed by politicians, the middle class and hardline Islamists.

Indonesian authorities have broken up two terrorist plots by pro-IS militants to blow up the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta, while IS has begun to refer to the Rohingya in its (albeit diminished) media. Across the region, there also has been a surge in arrests of Bangladeshi nationals in connection with pro-IS groups.

In the Aug. 18 video, Abu Ammar Jununi went out of his way to praise the support of host countries, in particular Bangladesh. He stated that in pursuit of our legitimate self defense, ARSA would respect Bangladeshs interests.

But, of course, this is fanciful. Bangladeshs patience with the influx of refugees, as it is beset by its own poverty and natural disaster, is running out.

What probably took ARSA by surprise, though, was the speed in which the Bangladesh government publicly offered to engage in joint military operations with the Myanmar military. Without de facto support from Bangladesh, ARSA may be compelled to look to assistance from sub-state actors.

Provoking reprisals

My sense is that, like the Patani Malay militants in southern Thailand, ARSA seeks to remain focused on targeting security forces or Buddhist vigilante organizations, in order to provoke reprisal attacks.

That would allow them to maintain the mantle of freedom fighter and not alienate key backers in the international community. But if an attack was done in the name of the Rohingya, with or without ARSAs knowledge, approval or support, the group would invariably be tied to terrorism.

Even if that does not happen, government operations against ARSA and the Rohingya population are only expected to escalate. Buddhist nationalists have been enraged by the attacks, and demanded that the security forces take further action. In firebrand sermons, hardline Buddhist clergy, such as Ashin Wirathu, have called on Buddhists to defend themselves.

The Myanmar military has every reason to comply. Meanwhile, the government of Suu Kyi, whether for retail political reasons or simply an unwillingness to stand up to the military, has signed off on such attacks. That will only drive more men into ARSAs ranks, propel the organization, and create a downward spiral of violence and revenge attacks.

In an Aug. 26 interview, an ARSA representative told the Asia Times that until Rohingya demands for the restoration of full citizenship rights within Myanmar were met, there would be open war and continued [armed] resistance.

Neither the Myanmar government nor military is likely to accede to that demand. And with no political solution in the offing, there can only be violence.

They grew up witnessing humiliation and persecution, so the current consensus among the Rohingya community is unless you fight, theyre not going to give us any of our rights, a Rohingya activist who lives in Bangladesh told Agence France-Presse.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and the author of Forging Peace in Southeast Asia: Insurgencies, Peace Processes, and Reconciliation. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense or the National War College. He wrote this commentary for BenarNews, an RFA-affilated on-line news service.


Power corridors in Delhi are abuzz about Cabinet reshuffle. Opposition too is keeping a close watch.

By Supriya Bhardwaj: Opposition-led by Congress has termed the much talked about Cabinet reshuffle as mere paper exercise to distribute political soap.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while taking to India Today said, "Current Cabinet is like bunch of non performers who are visionless and clueless. Even PM's own position has become shaky. We sincerely hope that Cabinet reshuffle will provide meaningful gains for the country in terms of government and delivery rather than it becoming a mere paper exercise to distribute political soap."

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Power corridors in Delhi are abuzz about Cabinet reshuffle. Opposition too is keeping a close watch.

Surjewala maintained that it is due to the pressure build up on governance issues by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and his party that resulted in a Cabinet rejig.

As the information broke about the Union ministers who have put in their papers, who's who from the Opposition came out to take a dig at BJP.

Taking a dig at PM Narendra Modi on Rajiv Pratap Rudy's resignation, former Law Minister Salman Khurshid, said, "Skill India has failed, there is no job creation. But should poor Mr Rudy get the rap for it or Mr Modi should face the rap? Advantage of being PM is you don't get touched. Someone else gets rap for it. For this my sympathies for Mr Rudy."

He added that Cabinet reshuffle wouldn't have much impact.

"The previous cabinet was ineffective. Shuffling of cards won't add value," said Khurshid.

Deputy Opposition leader of Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma added, "Any reshuffle will not result in any change. Ultimately it is PM and his office who runs the govt. PM has ruined the Cabinet form of government."

ALSO READ:

Cabinet reshuffle: Why Assembly polls also determine who stays, who goes

Cabinet reshuffle: PM Narendra Modi may surprise again with new faces in team

--- ENDS ---
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) shakes hands with Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (R) during the opening of World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Phnom Penh, May 11, 2017.

The leaders of Cambodia and Laos on Friday agreed to speed up efforts to resolve a longstanding border dispute that last month led to a stand-of between troops of the two former French colonies in Southeast Asia.

According to the Facebook pages of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government, Cambodia and Laos have agreed upon resolving the remaining border issues in a package in the near future.

Hun Sen and Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisolith agreed to key points, including that the two neighbors would resolve remaining border issues without any winner or loser but with the aim of cementing friendship, solidarity and good cooperation between two countries.

The two countries agreed to send an official letter to France, the former colonial ruler of Indochina, to request a map of higher resolution than currently available to the disputing parties and relevant documents, the Facebook post said.

The contested area between Cambodias Stung Treng province and Attapeu province in Laos is part of a small stretch of border still not clearly marked, and tensions flared earlier this year after Lao troops crossed the river to block Cambodian construction of a road through the area.

On Aug. 12, following the two leaders first meeting, in the Lao capital Vientiane, Laos agreed to withdraw the dozens of troops remaining after Hun Sen pledged to stop construction of the road.

After Fridays round of talks in Phnom Penh, both leaders said they would hold a meeting between their foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, and allowing border officials of the two countries to settle disputes over the borders.

The visit of His Excellency Thongloun today can be considered as a crucial sign that the two countries will soon reach a border resolution, Hun Sen told a news conference held at the governments Peace Palace in Phnom Penh following the talks.

Without personal relations between me and His Excellency Thongloun and those of our both families, perhaps this issue would be hard to resolve. His Excellency Thongloun and I have known each other for more than thirty years. That is why it allows us to talk on all issues at ease, said Hun Sen.

In the next few days, foreign ministers of the two countries will meet in Phnom Penh to find solution and seek understanding [on border issues], the Cambodia leader added.

Thongloun told reporters in the press conference that the two countries have agreed to do their best so as to maintain security and peace along the disputed border areas.

I agree with the mechanism as raised by Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier for revolving the border dispute. Also, I agree that personal relations between the Prime Minister and I as well as those of our families contributed to the ease of resolving this issue, he said.

As for the next step, we will have to wait and see after the coming meeting of foreign ministers of the two countries  I trust that we both will be able to resolve the remaining border issues of 13-14 percent as an inheritance for our next generations, Thongloun said.

Cambodia and Laos share a land border of 540 kilometers. Following the previous talks between Hun Sen and Thongloun Sisoulith in Vientiane, the two countries stated that 86 percent of the shared border had been examined and 121 out of a total of 145 border markers had so been put in place.

Reported by Sothearin Yeang for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Paul Eckert.


The ruling Chinese Communist Party has ordered dozens of lawyers to endorse a "declaration" accepting further controls on the legal profession following a nationwide operation launched in July 2015 targeting rights lawyers and their associates for detention, criminal sentences, house arrest, and travel bans.



More than 70 lawyers with a history of defending vulnerable groups in cases considered politically sensitive by the government were told to attend a "symposium" in Beijing from Aug. 28-31, attendees told RFA.



The meeting was addressed by China's minister for justice Zhang Jun, who told the assembled lawyers that a "Western-style" separation of powers and judicial independence isn't suited to China.



During the minister's address, Beijing rights lawyer Li Fangping asked Zhang for information about disappeared rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who has been incommunicado since his detention in the July 2015.



The minister replied: "Let's talk about that later."



Among those told to attend were the former attorney of late Nobel peace laureate and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo, as well as lawyers who represented the families of children who died or were made sick by the 2008 tainted baby milk scandal, and those who defended fellow lawyers in the July 2015 crackdown.



"All lawyers need is to be faithful to the law ... but we were told at the symposium that they will be stepping up controls on lawyers," attendee Chang Boyang said.



"A lot of it was focusing on things that lawyers say in public outside court."



Chang said the meeting ended with a "declaration" that the attendees were told to read out, pledging not to speak to the foreign media in politically sensitive cases, as well as accepting other controls.



Lawyer Huang Hanzhong said the "declaration" was unconstitutional, however.



"It is misleading to the public to limit the freedom of speech of one party to a case, when we have so many televised confessions on the other hand, with the authorities using the media to smear some parties to a case," Huang said.



Shanghai-based lawyer Zhao Didi agreed.



"This is about freedom of speech; everyone has their own opinion, and it shouldn't matter whether they are expressing them in court or outside it," Zhao said.



"These sorts of limitations are against the law of the land."



'They don't even need the law'



Wen Donghai, who represented Fengrui rights lawyer Wang Yu after her detention on the night of July 9, 2015, said the authorities appear to feel that the crackdown hasn't entirely succeeded in cowing China's legal profession.



But he said the entire "symposium" appeared to endorse the abuse of due legal process when handling political cases.



"They don't even need the law to detain dissidents," Wen said. "If they think it's a crime, then they'll detain the person."



"They can also 'interpret' the law however they want."



Wen said many previous cases involving prisoners of conscience have shown that there is scant likelihood that the authorities will obey their own laws.



"There have already been so many cases involving rights activists who have been treated in an illegal manner," he said.



More than 300 lawyers, law firm staff, rights activists and relatives were detained, questioned, or placed under surveillance or other restrictions in a nationwide police operation targeting the legal profession launched in July 2015.



The Communist Party under President Xi Jinping is increasingly using allegations of involvement by overseas organizations to target peaceful dissidents and rights activists.



Xi has repeatedly warned against "hostile foreign forces" attempting to overthrow Communist Party rule by infiltrating China with "western" religious practices and ideas like democracy, constitutional government, and human rights.



Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have accused their government of beginning a "brainwashing" process in the city's schools by sliding "patriotic" ideas about its legal system into school study materials.



Revised study materials will be used in Hong Kong's schools for the first time this month after mass protests led to the shelving of a more comprehensive "patriotic education" program favored by the ruling Chinese Communist Party for children in the former British colony.



The pan-democratic political party Demosisto, which was founded by leaders of the anti-patriotic education campaign and the 2014 pro-democracy movement, said its analysis of study packs on the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, had revealed considerable pro-Beijing bias.



The Basic Law is a compulsory topic under the banner of "liberal studies" in Hong Kong's schools, and studying it will require more hours than previously allocated from September.



Demosisto leader Issac Cheng accused the government of trying to smuggle in Beijing's favored notion of "patriotic education" via the back door.



The study pack quotes Beijing's 2014 policy paper on Hong Kong emphasizing that it gets the final say in the running of the city, in spite of promises of a "high degree of autonomy" made before the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.



"The mentions of the 70th anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Belt and Road initiative, China's Olympic participation, all of these things in the study pack show a biased sense of identity," Cheng said.



"If forces students to accept these as major events in their country's history, and gives the impression that they must accept their identity as Chinese nationals," he said.



"The study pack directly quotes the policy white paper and its interpretations [of the Basic Law]. But these were very controversial, for example the view that there is no residual power held by Hong Kong [to govern itself]," Cheng said.



A strong reminder



The June 2014 white paper was a strong reminder from Beijing that it rules Hong Kong, amid growing calls for fully democratic elections that were later rejected by China's parliament, sparking the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement later that year.



Hong Kong was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 return to Chinese rule, within the "one country, two systems" framework agreed between British and Chinese officials and enshrined in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law.



But the white paper from China's cabinet, the State Council, said such autonomy was still subject to the will of Beijing.



"The high degree of autonomy of Hong Kong is not full autonomy, nor is it decentralized power," the white paper said.



"It is the power to run local affairs as authorized by the central leadership," it said, adding: "There is no such thing as 'residual power'."



Cheng said the study materials make no reference to the huge public opposition to the five interpretations of the Basic Law issued by the National People's Congress to "settle" disputes in the city since the handover.



'Moral, historical points'



The tone of the new Hong Kong study materials appears to echo that of a history syllabus set by authorities across the internal border in mainland China, incorporating "moral" and "historical" points emphasized by the ruling party.



The revised materials highlight the "great contribution" of the Chinese Communist Party when fighting invading Japanese forces during World War II, and promotes iconic images from Communist Party mythology, including concepts like the "spirit of the Long March," the Five Heroes of Mt. Langya, and the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong on Oct. 1, 1949.



Rousing patriotic music like "I love this country" and the Yellow River Concerto are also highlighted in the new study materials.



A teacher surnamed Zhu contacted by RFA said the new materials mark a form of "historical regression" for Chinese schools.



"Ever since [late supreme leader] Deng Xiaoping brought economic reforms, the generations that have grown up since then have at least had some inkling of global civilizations, and the impact on them of democracy and liberalism," Zhu said.



"Now, they want us to teach a syllabus that is effectively sending us backwards ... Everyone is criticizing this regressive brainwashing, which now begins when they are babies," she said.



Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




Local residents recover bodies of Rohingya children who drowned after their boat capsized while crossing the Naf River in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Aug. 31, 2017.

The bodies of 19 Rohingya refugees  nine women and 10 children  washed ashore Thursday in southeastern Bangladesh, local authorities said, as they struggled to control an exodus from Myanmar that swelled to close to 30,000 people within the past week.

Since the influx from an outbreak of violence in the neighboring Myanmar state of Rakhine began on Aug. 24, Bangladesh police said they recovered 23 bodies in all, including the 19 people whose bodies were found Thursday after their boats capsized as the refugees tried to cross the Naaf River that separates the two countries.

All of them are Rohingyas, who were fleeing Myanmar to enter into Bangladesh, Mohammad Main Uddin Khan, officer-in-charge of the local police station, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

On Tuesday night two other boats capsized and local residents had recovered four other bodies, he said.

The Bangladesh government has urged the Myanmar authorities to take back the dead bodies of the Rohingya refugees.

We have forwarded a note verbale to the Myanmar High Commissioners office in Dhaka urging them to receive the dead bodies, Monjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury, chief of the South Asia Desk of the Foreign Ministry, told BenarNews.

The victims were among the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who were fleeing violence that flared after Rohingya insurgents launched coordinated attacks on 30 police outposts in Myanmars Rakhine state last week.

Reporters on Thursday said gunfire could be heard from across Naaf River, and huge columns of smoke could be seen billowing from the forest in northern Rakhine.

Displaced by violence

More than 27,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar within the past seven days and about 20,000 others remained stranded in a no-mans land between the two countries, according to a report by Reuters news service, which quoted sources at the United Nations.

Myanmar military officials said the attackers belonged to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an insurgency group that claims it is strictly homegrown and not backed by foreign militants.

Accurate figures on the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing their homes were not immediately available Thursday night, but the International Organization for Migration said that at least 18,500 Rohingyas, including many with bullet and burn injuries, had crossed into Bangladesh since the cycle of violence began.

At least 1,000 Rohingya Muslims were detained on Thursday as they tried to cross the border, Bangladeshi officials said.

But at least 5,000 Rohingya had passed through on Wednesday night alone, a border official said, expressing disappointment for failing to halt the illegal crossings.

They will be pushed back to Myanmar after giving them humanitarian assistance, Bangladesh Border Guard commander Lt. Col. SM Ariful Islam told BenarNews.

Officially we are against allowing entry of Rohingya people. But it is not possible to guard the entire border, another official told BenarNews.

In need of attention

Late Thursday, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said there was no reason to doubt the accuracy of the estimates that more than 27,000 people could have crossed into Bangladesh since Aug. 24.

But even without solid numbers, its clear the volume of people fleeing is increasing rapidly, and there is an urgent need to get them to safety. For this reason, Bangladesh should stop trying to prevent Rohingya from coming into the country, and recognize that they should be treated as refugees in urgent need of humanitarian and medical attention, he told BenarNews.

Under no condition should Bangladesh Border Guards be pushing Rohingya back into harms way by returning them to Burma. Everyone recognizes that Bangladesh has taken on the largest burden of the neighboring states dealing with the Rohingya crisis, so Dhaka should not be shy about requesting significant support and assistance from the international community in order to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the newly arriving Rohingya. The international community has to work together to deal with this crisis, he added.

US condemns violence in Rakhine

Myanmars neighboring countries have expressed alarm over the violence in Rakhine, including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who urged the United States on Wednesday to pressure Myanmar into stopping the influx of Rohingya into her countrys southeastern region.

On Thursday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., issued a statement deploring the violence, including reports that Rohingya homes had been set on fire and civilians killed.

The United States supports democracy for the Burmese people, and we condemn attacks by militant groups in Rakhine State. However, as Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need, Haley said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Authorities in northern Vietnams coastal Thai Binh province arrested another member of the Brotherhood for Democracy association on Friday, adding to the growing numbers of the online advocacy group put behind bars in recent weeks, the mans wife said.



Nguyen Van Tuc, a former political prisoner, was taken into custody at around 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 1 after being called to a meeting at the local District Peoples Committee, his wife Bui Thi Re told RFAs Vietnamese Service.



I learned that he was arrested while on his way there and was put into a car and taken to an unknown location, she said. We dont know yet where he is.



About a hundred police then came to their house to carry out a search, Bui Thi Re said.



I was alone in the house, and they made me sit in a chair and read a search warrant while they spent the day looking through the house, she said, adding that police then confiscated a number of shirts carrying the Brotherhood for Democracy logo, some money that had been donated for her mothers funeral, and several electric chargers.



Writing later on Facebook, dissidents familiar with Tucs case said that the veteran activist, who had previously represented villagers in Thai Binh provinces Dong Hung district in a land dispute, had been arrested on charges of subversion under the provisions of Article 79 of Vietnams penal code.



Tuc, 53, had previously spent four years in prison after being convicted in 2008 of conducting anti-state propaganda under Article 88 of the penal code. He was freed in 2012 after serving his full term.



Others also held



Tuc was at least the sixth member of the Brotherhood for Democracy group, which was founded in 2013, to have been arrested in recent weeks.



On Aug. 4, police in central Vietnams Quang Binh province took into custody another former political prisoner, Nguyen Trung Tuc, on charges of working to topple the countrys one-party communist state.



Four other members of the group were arrested on the same charges the week before. Taken into custody were Protestant pastor Nguyen Trung Ton, 45, engineer Pham Van Troi, 45, journalist Truong Minh Duc, 57, and lawyer Nguyen Bac Truyen, 49, according to a statement on the website of Vietnams Ministry of Public Security.



In May, jailed human rights attorney and activist Nguyen Van Dai, a founding member of the group, received an award in absentia from the German Association of Judges, the Deutscher Richterbund, honoring him for his work in human rights.



Jailed once before for his role in Vietnams growing democracy movement, Dai was taken into custody again in December 2015 after he left his home in Hanoi to meet with European Union representatives who were researching human rights issues in Vietnam.



Communist Vietnam, where all media are state-controlled, does not tolerate dissent, and rights groups identify Article 79 as among a set of vague provisions that authorities have used to detain dozens of writers and bloggers.

Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Richard Finney.
If sources are to be believed, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) carried out a detailed audit of performance of Cabinet ministers.

By India Today Web Desk: The Narendra Modi government has completed three years and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) already seems to be preparing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi is planning a massive rejig of his Cabinet. The shake up is being planned with en eye on crucial Assembly polls ahead and the national elections.

While ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste - have already tendered their reisgnations ahead of the expected realignment of Cabinet, others like Uma Bharti, Kalraj Mishra have also offered to step down.

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Speculations on who all would be part of PM Modi's team are on but going by the previous record the prime minister may again surprise everyone with his decision. A clear picture is expected to emerge on Sunday (September 3) when the reshuffle is expected to take place.

THE PMO AUDIT REPORT

If sources are to be believed, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) carried out a detailed audit of performance of Cabinet ministers. A report card was prepared on the basis of this audit report which formed the basis of the reshuffle.

Ministers who have been given negative marking in the report card are likely to be shown the door from the Cabinet while those with positive feedback whould be retained or elevated.

WHO ALL MAY GET PROMOTED

Insiders say PM Modi is impressed by the performance of few of his Cabinet colleagues and they may get a promotion. Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prakash Javadekar feature in this list.

While Piyush Goyal currently looks after the Power and Energy ministry, Dharmendra Pradhan has Petroleum ministry. Prakash Javadekar is Human Resource Development Minister.

WILL THERE BE FULL-TIME DEFENCE MINISTER?

The country has no full-time defence minister since Manohar Parrikar decided to leave for his home state Goa after the BJP formed government in the state in March.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who has received a lot of flak for numerous train accidents during his tenure, is also likely to be shifted out. However, Prabhu is likely to remain part of the Cabinet. He may get to handle Environment Ministry.

AIADMK, JD-U TO GET SEATS IN CABINET?

AIADMK's Thambi Durai and K Venugopal are being seen as among likely representatives of their party in the Cabinet if the Tamil Nadu party joins the Modi government. At least two members of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United are also likely to join.

5 NEW GOVERNORS

The government may also announce new governors for five states. Reports said Kalraj Mishra may be made a governor. Mishra is well above 75 years, the age bar the party has informally set for ministers.

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How after every Cabinet reshuffle PM Modi embarks on a foreign trip

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WATCH: Ministers resign ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

--- ENDS ---
John Stallings has resigned as Virginia division president of SunTrust Banks Inc. to take a position with another financial institution.

As a result, the Atlanta-based bank folded its Virginia division into a broader Mid-Atlantic region encompassing the greater Washington area and Maryland.

The bank, one of the largest employers in the Richmond region, announced two new leadership roles in Virginia effective Thursday.

Dan ONeill is president of the Mid-Atlantic division. He was named president of the greater Washington and Maryland division two years ago.

Phillip Avant, as the central Virginia market president, will work closely with ONeill in providing leadership in the Richmond area.

Stallings, who became president of the Virginia division, a newly created position, in early 2013, said he resigned from SunTrust on Wednesday. He declined to provide details on his new job, but said an announcement would be forthcoming next week and that he would remain in Virginia.

Before becoming Virginia president, he was president of the central Carolina region for SunTrust based in Durham, N.C. He has been in banking for 27 years.

Avant, who became central Virginia market president in February 2015, reported to Stallings.

Avant works in Richmond; ONeills office is in Washington.

ONeills position is effectively a new role, with oversight now extending to all of Virginia, a bank spokesman said. Previously, his area included Northern Virginia, the greater Washington area and Maryland.

ONeill has more than 25 years of experience with SunTrust. Prior to being named to president of the greater Washington and Maryland division two years ago, he was a wholesale risk executive. He also served in corporate and regional risk management, corporate and investment banking and commercial banking and as a corporate banking executive for SunTrust in Washington and chief credit officer for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Rounding out the Virginia commercial banking team are Craig Parrent, who serves as western Virginia market president; and Charity Volman, the Hampton Roads market president. All will now report directly to ONeill, along with the rest of the Virginia commercial banking leadership team.

The collective Virginia team will help deliver the capabilities of our full suite of industry expertise, and advance our purpose of lighting the way to financial well-being for our clients and communities, Allison Dukes, commercial and business banking executive for SunTrust, said in a statement.
In the impassioned debate over the symbolism and meaning of Richmonds Confederate monuments, the impact of their potential removal on property tax values has hardly been top of mind.

But the issue surfaced last week in the states gubernatorial race after The Washington Post quoted a local real estate agents back-of-the-envelope estimate that removing statues would cost the city as much as $3 million in real estate tax revenue every year.

Republican candidate Ed Gillespie seized on the nugget to ding Democratic opponent Ralph Northam, who has said he supports removing monuments.

Gillespie, who has said he believes monuments should stay in place but be placed in historical context, tweeted that Northams plans to take down statues in Richmond means $3 million a year lost for schools, police & more.

Its a big number. Is it right? The short answer is, nobody knows. But with Monument Avenue currently generating total real estate taxes of $3.7 million a year, some local experts say the idea of such a large drop is way over the top.

I think that claim is ridiculous, said Perry E. Pat Turner Jr., the president of a local real estate appraisal and consulting firm. I see nothing of that magnitude occurring.

The estimate was provided by Bill Gallasch, a Fan District real estate agent who lives on Monument, is president of the Monument Avenue Preservation Society and opposes removing any statues along the street.

Gallasch called the calculation an educated guess in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He said hes standing by it. Its just my opinion, he said. No one can dispute it one way or the other.

He said he arrived at the figure by deducting 10 percent from the assessed value of every home in the Fan and Museum Districts  large neighborhoods that extend blocks in either direction away from the leafy boulevard.

Monument Avenue is like beach-front property, he said. Property on the street has the highest value. Then as you get away from it, the value starts dropping. But theyre all tied to the avenue.

Others see it differently.

Turner, the appraiser, said some short-term impact isnt out of the question; it just wouldnt be nearly that large. He qualified that assessment by noting he is personally biased in favor of keeping the statues.

He declined, however, to offer his own estimate, saying that a meaningful figure could only be calculated after the statues are removed and several home sales take place.

Youre asking me how deep is hell and how high is heaven, he said.

James Hester, who stepped down as the city assessor last year, also took issue with Gallaschs estimate, particularly the methodology of tying property values across two large, desirable neighborhoods to what happens on one street.

Hester said the city has traditionally seen little correlation between the real estate market on Monument Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods, to the point where the office has set up the street in its own databases so high-dollar sales on Monument dont impact assessments of more modest homes on the adjoining blocks.

Its just a different market, said Hester, who said he also personally opposes removing the statues. People want to be on Monument. Part of that is (the statues), but its just as much because its an expansive street ... and the homes are generally larger and more attractive architecturally than other places.

Theres so much positive going on on Monument Avenue, if they did remove the statues, I dont see it making an impact .

A review of real estate assessments by The Times-Dispatch found property owners on the stretch of the street that includes statues will pay approximately $3.7 million in real estate taxes this year. If, as Hester suggested, any impact would likely be limited to the street itself, its difficult to imagine an impact on the order of magnitude as what was suggested by Gallasch, picked up by The Post and repeated by the Gillespie campaign.

That said, the city has not conducted any fiscal analysis quantifying how removing or relocating the monuments would improve or diminish property values, said Jim Nolan, a spokesperson for Mayor Levar Stoney.

Kim Gray, who represents the residents of Monument Avenue on Richmond City Council, said she doesnt expect the city to conduct any analysis.

Accuracy of the $3 million figure aside, Gray said the argument that the monuments bring some economic benefit to the city may hold water, adding, A lot of people do come here for the Capital of the Confederacy stuff.

Democratic PAC American Bridge questioned the veracity of the $3 million figure Monday after the Gillespie campaign circulated it, accusing Gillespie of using made-up numbers from a preservation hobbyist. Gillespie staffers responded by arguing the number was printed in The Washington Post. The article made clear that Gallasch, not the newspaper itself, came up with the estimate.

In a statement Tuesday, the Gillespie campaign said Northams support for removing statues could carry a cost of millions, but did not specifically defend the accuracy of the $3 million lost revenue estimate.

Ralph Northam has said he will do everything in his power to take down statues that are under the control of our state government, said Gillespie campaign spokesman David Abrams. As governor, Ed would not take those statues down, and believes they should be placed in historical context.

Gillespie has said localities should be able to make their own decisions about Confederate statues, but a Republican-supported state law on the books may bar cities and counties from taking their statues down. Citing pending litigation over the laws meaning in Charlottesville, Abrams said the state should let that process run its course before deciding to keep or repeal the law.

Asked if Northam has any concerns about lost tax or tourism revenues or the costs of removing statues, Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said the lieutenant governor believes these statues belong in museums with appropriate historical context.

Tourists would be able to see a full telling of Virginias history, but it will be up to localities to determine what is the correct decision for their communities, Yheskel said.

Back on Monument, an informal survey of homeowners surfaced an overwhelming preference for maintaining the statues as they currently stand, though most residents declined to be interviewed sharing their opinions on the record.

I think everyone is scared to talk about it because nobody wants to be classified as a racist, said Betsy Kastenbaum, who lives a stones throw from the Lee monument. I look at them as beautiful works of art and as part of our history.

In conversations with residents, however, a clear generational divide emerged between older homeowners and younger renters in the small apartment buildings that dot the street.

Riley Erickson and Chelsea Holcomb, two college students who share an apartment just off Lee Circle, said they both supported removing the monuments, which they said had nothing to do with their decision to rent in the area.

Elvira Dimas, a teacher walking her dog down the street, said she doesnt consider the statues a draw.

When I have visitors, I dont come and show them this, she said. I take them down to the river and the canal walk.
Three Richmond leaders are calling on Gov. Terry McAuliffe to champion the school modernization proposal that will be on the Nov. 7 ballot in the city.

Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, local lawyer Paul Goldman and Richmond Crusade for Voters President Bernice Travers sent a letter to the governor Friday urging him to not only vote yes on the proposal, but to endorse it.

We see the School Modernization ballot issue as a way to put Richmond at the forefront of this issue, committed not only as a locality on a local issue, but also to show our leaders that the crumbling nature of the nations K-12 infrastructure is an issue facing cities coast (to) coast, the letter reads.

A Richmond Circuit Court judge ruled in mid-August that a change to the city charter would appear on the ballot in November for all city voters. The proposal would require Mayor Levar Stoney to present the City Council with a plan to modernize Richmond Public School facilities without a tax increase. Stoney must come up with a plan within six months if the plan passes.

Many Richmond city schools, notably George Mason Elementary School, have been left with serious infrastructure problems because of deferred maintenance. Some teachers at George Mason, for example, wear surgical masks because of the poor air quality in the building.

At a news conference Friday in front of City Hall, they spoke to the poor conditions in Richmond schools while encouraging leaders to get behind the modernization proposal.

This is not a political issue. Its a moral issue, Loupassi said. It is a moral issue when teachers have to teach children with masks on.

Goldman, a partner at Morrissey & Goldman LLC law firm in Highland Springs and a Democratic strategist, said its encouraging to see that the governor wants to help schools, but the problem extends beyond Richmond.

During a radio appearance on WRVA in Richmond on Thursday, McAuliffe said funding Richmond schools is more important than taking down Confederate monuments.

If Im the mayor of Richmond or Im on the City Council, Im facing a tough decision, the governor said. Do I spend, I dont know, five, 10 million dollars taking something down. When I got schools. I tell you, my first prioritys got to be schools.

The mayor hasnt taken a stance on the charter change that would require him to create the modernization plan.
To hear folks talk, we have two choices, and two choices only: improve the condition of Richmonds public schools or remove offensive Confederate statues from the public sphere.

Into that false dichotomy waded Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a radio interview Thursday.

If Im the mayor of Richmond or Im on the City Council, Im facing a tough decision, McAuliffe said during an appearance on Richmonds WRVA. Do I spend, I dont know, five, 10 million dollars taking something down? When I got schools. I tell you, my first prioritys got to be schools.

This is at least the third position McAuliffe has taken on the Confederate monument issue.

In 2015, during the aftermath of the slaying of nine black Charleston, S.C., churchgoers by white supremacist Dylann Roof, the governor took a stance against the Confederate battle flag but argued that statues should be left alone.

In August, after the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville to protest the citys plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the governor  amid a national wave of revulsion over what had transpired  said the statues had become too divisive and should be moved to museums or battlefields.

But Thursday, McAuliffe said Richmond has bigger concerns than statues.

Richmond has to deal with the issue that a lot of folks, young millennials, are here. But when they have children they sort of move out to the neighboring jurisdictions for education, McAuliffe said. Weve got to keep people right here in this beautiful city. And thats their biggest challenge.

Thats a real dilemma, though the governor might have highlighted the plight of the impoverished children whose parents have no choice but to stay. Still, the argument of Bigger Concerns is selectively and conveniently applied by politicians.

Bigger Concerns, historically in Richmond, have taken a back seat to matters far more frivolous than the removal of monuments to white supremacy.

The condition of the schools was no less dire four years ago when the city built the $11 million Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in a deal that gave Bon Secours a long-term lease of the Westhampton school site. The school property had been assessed at nearly $7.6 million. The school district could have used the proceeds from a sale.

Meanwhile, Virginia  which helps fund the school budgets of Richmond and other localities  certainly has bigger concerns than luring the Redskins to Northern Virginia with what would no doubt be a taxpayer-financed stadium. But McAuliffes yearning to lure the franchise to the commonwealth is palpable.

Im not clear how the governor came up with his cost estimate on statue removal, but the figures he cited would barely make a dent in a Richmond school district whose infrastructure  victimized by decades of deferred maintenance  needs an overhaul assessed at more than a half billion dollars. The schools crumbled even as Richmond taxpayers preserved the monuments. No one blamed the sorry state of the buildings on statue maintenance.

It took decades for the schools to get this way, and ameliorating this situation is a long-term fix. And yet we hear constant talk that seems to suggest that the schools fate will be sealed by statue removal.

Of course, all this is premature. We dont even know if the statues will be moved. The Robert E. Lee monument is state property. We havent begun to thoroughly mine the possibilities for removal and replacement, which ideally would involve private funds.

The districts stakeholders  the students, parents and educators  have a right to be indignant at any resources that dont come their way. But the save the schools outcry from the previously indifferent would have been helpful before this monument discussion.

None of this is to say the statues and the condition of our schools are unrelated. As the Rev. Benjamin P. Campbell pointed out recently in his excellent commentary in The Times-Dispatch, removing these inanimate monuments from the public sphere will be a far easier task than purging the Richmond area of the legacies of the Confederacy.

Those legacies include not only Richmonds deteriorating public schools, but its distressed public housing, the stunted reach of mass transit beyond the citys borders, and a culture that spends exponentially more per person to incarcerate than to educate.

There will never be a convenient time to remove these monuments in Richmond, in part because money will always be tight in a city whose tax base is constrained by the states ban on annexation. And yes, thats yet another legacy of the Confederacy.

The time is always right to do what is right, said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That applies to relocating these monuments to a more appropriate venue and fashioning a school district we can be proud of. Its wrong to pit two rights against each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to rejig his Cabinet before leaving for BRICS Summit in China. Reports say reshuffle may take place on September 2.

By Poulomi Saha: Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who resigned as Skill Development Minister, amidst news of Modi Cabinet reshuffle has said that he stepped down from the post on party's order.

Reports said the BJP leadership is likely to bring back Rudy to the organisation set up by making him general secretary. Some reports had claimed that Rudy may be made Bihar deputy chief minister replacing Sushil Modi who will be included in the Modi Cabinet. However, reports say Sushil Modi has refused to join the government at the Centre.

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"It is part of the process, nothing unusual about it. We work for the government, we work for the party. It's absolutely fine. I have worked in the organisation earlier," Rudy told India Today.

"I abided by the party's decision and tendered my resignation," Rudy, who represents Bihar's Saran in Lok Sabha, added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to rejig his Cabinet before leaving for BRICS Summit in China. Reports say reshuffle may take place on September 2.

Apart from Rudy, several other ministers have also offered to tender their resignation. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has also reportedly offered to quit on health grounds. Kalraj Mishra is also likely to step down as he well above 75 years, the age bar the party has informally set for ministers.

At least two members of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) are also likely to join the Modi Cabinet. The Nitish Kumar-led party walked out of the grand alliance in Bihar to join hands with the BJP again last month.

There are several vacancies in the Cabinet while somesenior ministers, including Arun Jaitley and Harsh Vardhan,are holding additional portfolios.

Speculations are that Dharmendra Pradhan, Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal may get elevated.

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BJP in huddle ahead of Cabinet reshuffle likely by Saturday: Who gets what

WATCH: Ministers resign ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

--- ENDS ---
In 1988, James M. McPhersons landmark one-volume history of the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom, appeared, to be followed two years later by Ken Burns riveting PBS documentary on the conflict. Neither of these works inspired notions of ridding the public square of Confederate monuments. But now the climate of opinion is different, even if its far from clear that a groundswell of popular sentiment favors taking them down.

As a result, Monument Avenue  with its statues of Robert E. Lee (1890), Jefferson Davis (1907), Jeb Stuart (1907), and Stonewall Jackson (1919)  is in the dock. In June, Mayor Levar Stoney declared that these inanimate objects were designed to do what the Confederate generals and racist ideologues they depict could not  keep the free African people of Virginia in bondage. Noting that the statues removal would never wash away that stain, he announced that a 10-member commission including historians and community leaders would consider ways to best tell the real story of these monuments. After the terrible violence in Charlottesvilles Emancipation Park, however, Stoney announced that removal of some or all of the statues is on the table.

Nowhere does the myth of the Lost Cause  the war waged in defense of Southern liberties rather than slavery  get more impressive play than on the extraordinarily elegant mile-long stretch of Monument Avenue harboring these four statues. Thats why the avenue is a National Historic Landmark District. It is recognized for its excellence as a work of civic art, not for its political significance.

But the Lost Cause myth is of great historical import. It was balm for the souls of white inhabitants of a militarily humiliated, economically devastated South. In Richmond, the myths heyday coincided not only with the statues erection but also with an economic resurgence that recast the capital of the Confederacy as a dynamic industrial center. As a great editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginius Dabney, observed in his 1976 history of the River City, black Richmonders  businessmen and skilled laborers alike  participated in this resurgence. The brutal irony, lost on neither Dabney nor Stoney, was that at the very same time they were not only subjected to increasingly rigid segregation but also politically disfranchised as the Jim Crow regime took hold around the turn of the century.

In the urban plan devised by civil engineer C.P.E. Burgwyn, the equestrian statue of Lee was conceived as the anchor for Monument Avenues development as a private real estate venture. The statue rose in what was then a field just outside the city limits. Designed by two Frenchmen, it is a handsome work featuring one of the finest pedestals to be found in this country. At the time of its unveiling, it was widely praised in Northern and Southern newspapers alike. A courageous voice of dissent was that of the black newspaper publisher John Mitchell Jr., also a city councilman and banker, who declared in his Richmond Planet that the monument perpetuated a legacy of treason and blood. In recent years Mitchells take on Lee has gotten traction among commentators across the political spectrum.

But Lee remained a hero to his men even after leading the Army of Northern Virginia down a long trail of misery and privation that ended in surrender. And there is more to the Monument Avenue statues than the Lost Cause myth or Jim Crows ascendancy. They reflect a climate of almost religious reverence for those who led, fought, and died for the Confederacy during an ordeal that caused enormous suffering at every level of society. Similar feelings underlay the profusion of Civil War monuments in the North. And it is hardly true that everybody who has admired the avenues Confederate statuary over the years has been a devotee of the Lost Cause. Human beings are just a bit more complicated than that.

Still, something has changed. Back in the day, it was easier for Americans to put critical distance between themselves and ideologically retrograde monuments than it is now. In his excellent 1993 survey, Great Streets, Berkeley urban planning professor Allan B. Jacobs devoted seven handsomely illustrated pages of high praise to Monument Avenue, mentioning the Lost Cause in passing as a vestigial thematic backdrop. Jacobs noted groups of people, black and white together, taking Sunday strolls along the avenue as a pleasant pastime.

In todays Twitterverse, critical distance has given way to simplistic slogans, and Confederate statues have inevitably become pawns in the political firestorm engulfing President Trump. Heres hoping Stoney and other political leaders will wait until a measure of political calm is restored before they seriously consider a drastic action like removing the Monument Avenue statues. Donald Trump is not going to be president forever.

As Stoney recognizes, competing values are in play on Monument Avenue  political, historical, and aesthetic. Providing historical context by means of signage at the sites of its Confederate monuments makes excellent sense, as does the mayors insistence on commemorating Richmonds diverse array of historic figures, as with the Arthur Ashe statue erected on the avenue in 1996. Removal of any of its Confederate statues, however, would probably prove quite expensive as well as irreversible, and might even fuel a more or less Orwellian campaign to rid the citys public spaces of a multitude of politically contentious memorials.

None of this would benefit Richmond.
Editors note: In place of Charles Krauthammer, who is on vacation, we are substituting a column by Dana Milbank, also with the Washington Post Writers Group.

WASHINGTON

President Trump has united us, after all. He brought together the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Jews.

This modern-day miracle was on display Monday, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Mall, 54 years to the day after the great man gave his greatest speech. There, clergy of all varieties, but mostly rabbis and black ministers, came together in common cause against the despicable anti-Semitism and racism Trump has unleashed, most conspicuously in Charlottesville.

Sharpton has been a controversial figure in the Jewish community for decades, earning criticism during the Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn in 1991 and when he called a Jewish landlord in Harlem a white interloper before a deadly attack on the mans store in 1995.

But that was long ago, and a rehabilitated Sharpton, who has privately expressed regrets to Jewish leaders for his past actions, made Jews the centerpiece of his Thousand Minister March for Justice on Monday. The civil rights leader, joined by Martin Luther King III, stopped in at a pre-march prayer session held by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and addressed the assembly of 300 rabbis, cantors and lay leaders.

Sharpton told the Jews that we could not commemorate this day and face the challenges today without standing together as Dr. King stood 54 years ago. Invoking those murdered in the Freedom Summer of 1964, he went on: We should never forget that it was Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner that died together  two Jews and a black  to give us the right to vote.

Sharpton spoke of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with King at Selma, and he addressed the more recent ill feelings. We have had days good and bad, but from this day forward ... were going to make sure we do our part to keep this family together, he said. When we can see people in 2017 with torches in their hands, talking about Jews will not replace us, its time for us to stop praying to the cheap seats and come together.

Some of the rabbis shouted amen.

Jewish leaders applauding Al Sharpton? Who knew? Miracles out of a mess, proclaimed Reconstructionist Rabbi Malka Binah Klein of Philadelphia. Its tragic that it took Trumps bigotry and the spectacle of Charlottesville to remind Jews and African-Americans of their shared vulnerabilities. But it played out movingly at Mondays march, which was in planning long before the violence in Charlottesville.

Rather than 1 million men, Sharpton asked for 1,000 ministers, and got somewhat more than that among the 3,000 who assembled. Rabbis swayed and clapped to hip-hop and gospel music. There were skullcaps of every color and size, mainline Protestant ministers in white collars and colorful shawls, black evangelicals in bright choir robes, black-robed monks, Buddhists in saffron, a Sikh in a yellow turban. There were Black Lives Matter signs and posters with verses of scripture.

As if by way of greeting, a white-and-green chopper from the Marine One fleet buzzed low over the crowd during the opening prayer. Speaker after speaker, regardless of color or creed, denounced the person who rides in that helicopter, and more than one faulted Jerry Falwell Jr. and other white evangelicals for the sin of silence in the face of the hatred Trump has stirred.

A cantor led the crowd in the Hebrew song Hine Ma Tov  how good it is for brothers to live as one. A black Jewish woman in a tallit  a Jewish prayer shawl  spoke, and a rabbi blew a shofar. A black Catholic nun spoke.

Gods majestic creation, observed Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, head of the Religious Action Center. From the Nazis in Charlottesville, Pesner said, we learned that anti-Semitism and white supremacism are intertwined. They are dual threats that call us to act and confront them together and directly.

African-Americans responded with cries of Yes! and All right! to the rabbis preaching.

Jonah Geffen, a conservative rabbi from New York, in white robe and tallit, liked what he heard from Sharpton. He pronounced him a totally different man from the Sharpton of old.

Joining Sharptons march was Jesse Jackson, of Hymietown fame. But there is no time to dwell on old slights when neo-Nazis are at the door. We dont have a person to lose, King told the Jews at their prayer meeting Monday morning. We are brothers and sisters.
Combine an unremarkable June, a sultry July and a mild August, and you come up with a summer that was a bit warmer and drier than usual for Richmond.

The summer of 2017 had its moments of heat and storminess, but it was hardly extreme.

Compared with every summer since 1897, this one was the 35th driest and tied for the 23rd warmest for Richmond, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

Climatological autumn began on Sept. 1 and the hottest weather of the year is surely behind us at this point, so heres a look back at the summer of 2017 by the numbers.

Temperatures

Mean monthly temperature at Richmond International Airport (departure from 1981-2010 average)

June: 75.1 degrees (-0.2 degrees, slightly below normal)

July: 81.3 degrees (+2 degrees, well above normal)

August: 76.5 degrees (-1 degree, below normal)

June, July and August: 77.6 degrees (+0.2 degrees, slightly above normal)

There were 37 days with a high at or above 90 degrees in June, July and August.

Its close to the typical count for one whole summer, but the distribution was very uneven.

June and August came with fewer than usual hot days, but July had extra.

July brought a streak of 15 consecutive days with a high at or above 90 degrees, the longest such spell since 2010.

But the thermometer at Richmond International Airport only peaked in the triple digits on one day: a high of 101 degrees on July 22.

No daily record highs were broken for Richmond, but the record high of 98 degrees was tied on July 12.

The summer outlook issued in May by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationss Climate Prediction Center expected that a warmer-than-average summer was favored for Virginia, but not in extreme fashion.

Nationally, the summer outlook accurately captured the hotter-than-normal conditions in the West Coast, Southwest and Florida, yet overestimated how hot the summer was in the Northeast.

Precipitation

Monthly rainfall at Richmond International Airport (departure from 1981-2010 average)

June: 2.33 inches (-1.6 inches, or 59 percent of normal)

July: 2.25 inches (-2.26 inches, or 50 percent of normal)

August: 5.94 inches (+1.28 inches, or 127 percent of normal)

June, July and August: 10.52 inches (-2.58 inches, or 80 percent of normal)

Augusts surplus didnt compensate for June and Julys missing rainfall, so portions of central Virginia remain abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

There were no drought conditions in Virginia as of Aug. 29, however.

Weather Desk readers often observe how summer rainfall is very inconsistent across the area, so heres an approximation of the regional pattern.

Rainfall was heavier on the southeast side of the Richmond metro area, and lower on the northwest.

The Tri-Cities vicinity had more than 15 inches of rain over the past 90 days, while parts of Hanover, Goochland and Powhatan had less than 10 inches.

Statewide, the summer was wetter than normal for Tidewater and Northern Virginia, and rain was somewhat deficient for much of the Piedmont and the mountains.

No daily precipitation records were tied or set for Richmond this summer.

Severe weather

The lack of rainfall relates to the reduced severe-weather activity over the past few months.

Thunderstorm potential was kept at bay by incursions of cool and stable air in June, then hot and stable air in July.

Across Virginia, 162 severe thunderstorm warnings were issued by the National Weather Service in June, July and August, a significantly lower tally than the past several summers.

The Storm Prediction Center has a preliminary statewide count of 194 reports of severe wind and 11 reports of severe hail during that time.

The was just one tornado in the state this summer: an EF-0 tornado with 75-mph winds struck near Broad Run in Fauquier County on Aug. 11.

Fall arrived on Friday

Its fitting that Friday  the first day of climatological autumn  breezed in with a slate-gray sky and cool afternoon temperatures that brought early November to mind. Meteorologists start the clock on fall a few weeks earlier than astronomers and calendar-makers, who go by the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22. Richmonds average high steadily sinks from 86 degrees on Sept. 1 to 56 degrees on Nov. 30.
The reshuffle could see the entry of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) nominees into the ministry, with the party striking an alliance with the BJP in Bihar recently.

By India Today Web Desk: After much speculation, schedule for the Cabinet reshuffle has been finalised. The oath taking ceremony for new ministers is scheduled to be held on Sunday, September 3 at 10 AM at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

It will be the third such exercise since Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister in May 2014.

Earlier, it was being reported that PM Modi may rejig his Cabinet on Saturday before leaving for China to attend the BRICS Summit.

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Minister of State for Skill Development Rajeev Pratap Rudy on Thursday night resigned from the Union Council of Ministers, while six others are believed to have offered to resign from their posts, ahead of much-speculated reshuffle.

Union ministers Uma Bharati, Radha Mohan Singh, Giriraj Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Sanjiv Baliyan are understood to have offered to quit after a nudge from the party to pave way for the Cabinet reshuffle, sources said.

The reshuffle could see the entry of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) nominees into the ministry, with the party striking an alliance with the BJP in Bihar recently.

There is speculation that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may shed the additional charge of Defence he is holding now.

Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari's name is doing the rounds for Railway Minister's post. Incumbent Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu offered to quit last week in the wake of recent back-to-back train derailments that claimed around two dozen lives. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept it on hold.

(With inputs from IANS)

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WATCH: Ministers resign ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

--- ENDS ---
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
The National Veterans Creative Arts Festival showcases prize-winning paintings, plays, songs, poetry, stories, dance routines and more submitted and performed by U.S. Armed Services vets from all over the country.

The annual festival couldnt ask for a more devout evangelist than Roanoke County writer John Koelsch, a Vietnam veteran who found catharsis after winning a gold medal in the competition nine years ago and participating in the event.

A program run by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the festival changes locations each year. This year, it takes place Oct. 29 in Buffalo, New York. Koelsch is one of five Roanoke Valley gold medal winners in the programs nationwide competition invited to take part.

A many-time winner whose medals hang in a proud row above his desk in his home office, Koelsch relishes the chance to return and catch up with friends he has made over the years.

Artists who are newcomers to the festival are often overwhelmed at first, as he once was, but for most everyone, the proper spirit of volunteerism and cooperation takes hold, he said.

You are here to represent every veteran in the world, Koelsch said. You end up presenting this three-hour stage show to an extremely appreciative audience. The response back is just overwhelming.

The program encourages bonding, he said. You see people struggling with personal issues, struggling with veteran issues. At the festival, theyre brothers and sisters, not strangers.

To get invited to participate in the festival, artists, musicians and writers must first submit work to the local competition run by the Salem Veteran Affairs Medical Center in the spring. Lisbeth Woodward, creative arts therapist at the Salem VA, acts as local administrator.

The competition is open to veterans enrolled at a VA medical center or outpatient clinic prior to entering. There are five divisions, art, drama, writing, music and dance, each with multiple categories.

Koelsch has been advocating for more veterans in the region to participate, and his efforts are paying off. In 2017, the local competition received 110 entries, the most ever, Woodward said. Afterward, more than 50 Roanoke Valley veterans submitted 69 entries to the national competition, with 23 veterans winning in 22 categories.

Friday, at 11 a.m., those medals will be awarded to their winners in a ceremony at the Salem medical centers auditorium, building 143.

The ceremony is open to the public. This is going to be the biggest ceremony weve had, Woodward said. Everybodys excited about it.

Only gold medal winners get invited to perform or exhibit in the national festival, although not every winner gets an invite. Koelsch said about 75 to 90 veterans are asked to be in the show each year.

Koelsch plots ways to maximize the number of entries his recruits get to send. A humorous piece submitted in a writing category last year was resubmitted this year in a drama category, with Koelsch reciting his friends piece aloud in a video. The piece won a gold medal.

In a winning 2017 music entry from the Salem VA, eight veterans play an instrumental version of Amazing Grace, among them David Bowen, who for many years led the local Guitars for Vets program.

Koelsch won a golden medal for writing again this year. His winning work, Coming Home Demons, takes the form of a letter from a Vietnam veteran to a younger veteran of the conflicts in the Middle East. The demons will try to make you believe the bad stuff is your fault, the letter advises. It is not. You did your best to do the job. Being human isnt a sin.

Art is great therapy, Koelsch said. If you do art, you cannot be sitting there thinking about your problems.

For more information about the National Veterans Creative Arts Competition and the festival, call Woodward at 982-2463, ext. 2781, call Koelsch at 608-397-0718 or email him at KRASTYGER@aol.com.

Kendig finalists announced

Hollins University and Roanoke College have announced the nominees for the 2017 Perry F. Kendig Arts and Culture Awards.

The Kendig Awards honor excellence in the Roanoke Valley arts in three categories: individual artist, arts organization and arts supporter (individual or business).

Founded in 1985, the awards honor the memory of the late Perry Kendig, a Roanoke College president and art patron.

This years nominees are:

Arts organization: Grandin Theatre, Roanoke Ballet Theatre and the Science Museum of Western Virginia.

Individual: Off the Rails Theatre producing director Kathy Guy, a longtime Roanoke Valley theater participant and advocate; the late John Sailer, who did set and lighting design for Mill Mountain Theatre, Opera Roanoke and other Roanoke Valley theaters for decades; Judy and Joel Tenzer, patrons of the arts who have volunteered for Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Taubman Museum of Art, Mill Mountain Theatre and other arts organizations; and Roanoke painter Margaret Sue Turner Wright, a tireless advocate for regional artists.

The awards ceremony will take place Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the Olin Hall Galleries at Roanoke College.

For more information about the awards, visit https://kendig.press.hollins.edu.
Mountain Valley Pipeline reacted forcefully after its plan to establish a permanent access road through a conservation easement on Poor Mountain was nixed by the federal commission reviewing the project.

The companys protest, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, offers a glimpse of some of the challenges and risks Mountain Valley could face burying a 42-inch diameter natural gas pipeline on remarkably steep slopes in Roanoke County.

For example, Mountain Valley described scenarios that would require up to 10 winch tractors daisy-chained together to move a single load of materials, equipment, fuel or personnel up and down the slopes if use of the access road is denied.

In addition, the company reported it is further evaluating whether to transport pipe and certain materials to the right-of-way using helicopters.

In a filing with FERC dated July 20, Mountain Valley responded to the commission staffs rejection of the access road.

Mountain Valley strongly objects to this recommended condition, the company wrote. It introduces unnecessary environmental impacts and safety risks on the project. ... The safety of Mountain Valleys personnel, the environment and the general public must be paramount in the Commissions analysis of alternatives.

As proposed, the pipeline would transport natural gas at high pressure. As an interstate pipeline, traveling both through West Virginia and Virginia, the project needs FERCs approval to proceed.

The company had wanted to widen, grade and gravel a narrow dirt road through a wooded parcel owned by Grace Terry that is within a conservation easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

Without the road, Mountain Valley warned, an injured worker on the mountain might not receive medical treatment for hours. Similarly, the company said, response to an emergency during pipeline operation could be delayed and emergency vehicles and equipment might have to be winched into position.

Mountain Valley said the winching process, described as extremely slow, or the use of helicopters would increase the amount of time that Mountain Valley is actively constructing in the area, which increases environmental impacts, particularly on the streams and wetlands in the area.

Roanoke County filings with FERC about the pipelines route have expressed concerns that portions of the projects 8.4 miles through the county will cross very steep slopes and burrow through soils prone to erosion.

The county calculates that about 25 percent of the route would be on slopes with grades greater than 40 percent. A profile of the slopes leading to the crest of Poor Mountain submitted by Mountain Valley to FERC describes one section of slope with a maximum grade of 74 percent and an average grade of 50 percent. The company said this portion of the route might require the 10 winch tractors cited in its filing with FERC.

Separately, Roanoke County estimates that about 93 percent of the proposed route through the county would pass through soils that are at moderate to severe risk for erosion.

Assistant County Administrator Richard Caywood reviewed Mountain Valleys objections to FERCs rejection of the access road proposed on Poor Mountain.

I think that the challenges detailed in the July 20th filing very openly discuss the tremendous challenges associated with heavy construction in the heavy terrain of Roanoke County, especially Poor Mountain, Caywood said.

On many occasions I have commented to folks that it is my opinion that regardless of ones opinion of the project, its construction in the heavy mountain terrain proposed in Roanoke County will be very challenging due to the topography and soils/rock conditions.

On June 23, FERC released the final environmental impact statement for the project. The document included a host of conditions for Mountain Valley to address before construction begins  assuming FERC approves the pipeline.

One condition directed the company to submit a construction and operations plan that does not include the access road proposed across Terrys easement in Roanoke County.

FERCs final environmental impact statement, which referenced filings by Terry and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, said Mountain Valley did not provide adequate information to justify use of the access road.

The FERC report also said that the apparent impacts of widening the access road outweigh the demonstrated need.

The company had described the current road as being about 10 feet wide. Mountain Valley had planned to add about 30 feet to the roads width. But its July 20 filing reported that the company is willing to widen the road to 15 feet on straight portions and 20 feet on curved sections.

A narrower access road is not optimal because it would limit the road to one-way traffic instead of two-way traffic, Mountain Valley told FERC. But the company said it is willing to reduce the added width to be able to use the road.

Terry said she was surprised that FERC had denied Mountain Valleys proposal to establish the permanent access road.

I wanted to feel happy about it, but given the experience of how my family, our Bent Mountain neighbors and landowners that weve met from other counties in the path of this pipeline have been treated by the FERC process, it was just really hard to believe, she said.

During a visit Thursday to the dirt road coveted by Mountain Valley, Terry pointed to a gate apparently mangled by vandals and to trash strewn along the road. She said creation of a permanent access road through the property would invite more trespassing and vandalism.

As currently routed through the Bent Mountain area, the pipeline would come within about 200 yards of houses owned by Frank Terry and Coles Terry, Grace Terrys brothers, and would cross property owned by Grace Terrys sister, Liz Terry Reynolds. Two other access roads, one permanent and one temporary, also would cross properties owned by the Terry family.

The Terry family long resisted efforts by Mountain Valley to survey their properties. In an order dated Aug. 23, Roanoke County Circuit Court Judge David Carson granted the injunction sought by the pipeline company that prohibited the Terrys and their allies from interfering with surveying.

Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Mountain Valley, said she could not provide any information about the access road, including whether the company had heard from FERC after the July 20 filing, which asks the commission to allow use of the road across Grace Terrys land if FERC approves the project.

FERC spokeswoman Celeste Miller said in an email that she could not comment on a future commission order.

FERC regained a quorum in early August after the U.S. Senate confirmed two commissioners nominated by President Donald Trump. The commission had been without a quorum since the resignation in February of former chairman Norman Bay.

The commission has a public meeting scheduled for Sept. 20. The agenda will be published Sept. 13, according to FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen. She would not comment about whether the Mountain Valley project will be on the agenda.

Mountain Valley has applied to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation for conversion of a portion of Terrys 590-acre open space easement, a change that would allow the access road in exchange for other property of greater value as permanent open-space land than the land converted or diverted and compliance with other provisions of relevant state law.

The foundation has deferred a decision on the conversion, which Terry, her attorney and Roanoke County have opposed.

The purpose of placing a conservation easement on my property was to protect 590 acres of intact forest and the riparian habitat of Big Laurel Creek, Terry wrote in a letter to the board of the foundation.

In a May letter to the foundation, Roanoke County Administrator Thomas Gates said Terrys property carries a conservation designation within the countys comprehensive plan.

Gates said that designation is designed to prevent or discourage land development that will destroy the countys valuable natural resources, including ridgelines, mountains, floodplains, wetlands, scenic vistas and water quality.

The pipeline is not in accordance with the Countys Comprehensive Plan, Gates wrote.

Meanwhile, Caywood noted that Poor Mountain is the highest elevation the pipeline would encounter along its 303-mile route.

Access is challenging, as MVP points out, creating a host of challenges that will be difficult to manage, he said. This is not to say that the project will be impossible to successfully complete, but the challenges are very real and not inconsequential to overcome.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Central Coalfields Ltd chief Gopal Singh has been given the additional charge of CMD of Coal India, the worlds largest coal miner said today.

Singh succeeds Sutirtha Bhattacharya, who retired yesterday, the state-owned Coal India (CIL) said in a filing to the BSE.

"Sutirtha Bhattacharya, CMD, CIL, on attaining superannuation has relinquished the charge of CMD wef August 31, 2017," the filing stated.

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"The Ministry of Coal... has entrusted the additional charge of CMD CIL to Gopal Singh, CMD, CCL (Central Coalfields Ltd), with immediate effect and until regular appointment is made. He has taken charge with effect from September 1, 2017," the company added.

CCL is a subsidiary of Coal India.

The government had yesterday said it was examining a proposal to set up a committee for selection of chairman-cum- managing director of CIL.

"I am looking at creating a search cum selection committee and have sent in a proposal... to look at newer candidates or assess the suitability of the candidate," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had said.

Government head-hunter PESB has earlier suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for selection of CMD for Coal India as it did not find any of the six candidates interviewed as fit for the top post. PTI SID ARD

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Roanoke police are investigating after a man reported being robbed at gunpoint while unloading a delivery truck at a restaurant early Friday morning.

Officers went to the 3200 block of Ordway Drive Northwest at 12:19 a.m. to investigate a robbery report. A 53-year-old food truck delivery driver from Newport, Tennessee, told officers that he and a colleague were unloading their truck at a restaurant when a person approached them with what appeared to be a handgun and demanded money, police spokesman Scott Leamon said.

The driver told the suspect that he didnt have any money, so the suspect took the drivers phone. No one was hurt.

The suspect, described as a young black man, possibly in his late teens and about 5 feet 8 inches and 135 pounds, ran off toward Ferncliff Avenue, Leamon said.

Anyone with information can call the Roanoke Valley Crime Line at 344-8500. Tips can be anonymous.
Gopinath, a 22-year-old graduate of Chennai's MEASI Academy, says Open Corridor's main objective is to "create a community that knows about architecture." His team began its mission this Saturday by organising a guided walk around the Indo-Saracenic heritage corridor near Marina Beach.

By Ganesh Radha-Udayakumar: Open Corridor, a team of young Chennai-based architects, began work this Saturday on an ambitious two-fold task: acquainting their city's denizens with little-known or usually inaccessible treasures of its rich architectural heritage, and helping them understand how important design is to a community.

The scene of their debut was a corridor of buildings flanking the iconic Marina esplanade, all magnificent examples of the Indo-Saracenic style--a confluence of Indian, Indo-Islamic and Victorian traditions. Around three dozen young men and women, mostly students of architecture, joined them for a two-and-a-half-hour-long exploration of Presidency College, the Public Works Department building, Chepauk Palace and the Senate House.

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Also Read: Tamil Nadu tops list of domestic tourist destinations 3rd time in a row

Normally, it isn't always easy to gain access to these buildings. And that "in a gist, is what Open Corridor is about. It's about opening up spaces, buildings, places of interest, any place which could even become a nice venue or a public space, to the people," says Triple O Studio co-founder Tahaer Zoyab, an architect who guides Open Corridor.

"Our main agenda behind this is...creating a community that knows about architecture. We're doing a lot more things like this--for example, (we're) planning to make documentaries about architecture," says Gopinath, who roped in his MEASI Academy of Architecture classmates to build the Open Corridor team.

The average age of the members? Around 22 or 23 years, Gopinath says.

Open Corridor narrator Gokul with the participants. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor Open Corridor narrator Gokul with the participants. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor

As the walkers strolled through campus roads and narrow alleys on Saturday, they dispersed and coalesced with rhythmic regularity around the tour narrator, Gokul. All the while, their fingers tapped away at camera buttons and cellphone screens.

The tour was full of visual treats: intricate overhanging balconies called jharokhas, ionic columns, octagonal domes, and stately stained-glass windows bathing rooms and staircases in soft light.

The impression of a journey back in time was interrupted only by the occasional anachronism--a modern lamppost here, a run-down jeep there. The din of the beach and its boulevard were reduced to a distant hum.

A relic from the past stands defiantly. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor

Chennai's majestic Indo-Saracenic beachfront may not be in danger of being torn down anytime soon. But the same can't be said for other, lesser-known jewels of the city's architectural patrimony - old homes that may soon become victims of renovation, for example.

Also Read: 8 breathtaking destinations where you can explore India's heritage

Pavithra, 22, says Open Corridor wants to document such areas. And the medium doesn't matter, as long as it isn't a long, boring, chunk of text. The team wants to use visual media - videos of walks, photo-blogs, interviews, and the like - since they're more appealing and provide "a common ground for a lot of people," Gopinath explains.

Participants take pictures of an arch outside Chepauk Palace. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor Participants take pictures of an arch outside Chepauk Palace. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor

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But why put so much effort into educating the public about buildings? What purpose does it all serve? Gokul may have an answer.

"Once you have a grasp of your roots, that is--you know your history--you'll have a sense of pride in it. Then, you'll look forward to the architecture of the future," he says.

Waseem, a photographer who collaborates with Open Corridor, in action at Presidency College. Picture courtesy: Open Corridor

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By PTI: (Eds: Carries additional inputs)

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Former IAF Chief S P Tyagi was today chargesheeted by the CBI in a Delhi Court along with nine others in connection with a bribery case in the Rs 3,500 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

72-year old Tyagi is the first chief of the Indian Air Force to be chargesheeted in a corruption or a criminal case by the CBI.

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Besides him, the agency has also chargesheeted retired Air Marshal J S Gujral along with eight others, including five foreign nationals, in the charge sheet filed before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar.

The court fixed September 6 to peruse the charge sheet in which the Anglo-Italian company, AgustaWestland, is also one of the accused.

CBI is likely to file more documents and annexures in the court on the next date of hearing.

The agency has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euros 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for supply of VVIP choppers worth Euros 556.262 million.

Others named in the charge sheet are -- Tyagis cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, advocate Gautam Khaitan, alleged European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica Chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

They have been chargesheeted for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC in the case relating to alleged bribery of Rs 450 crore.

Tyagi, who had retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested on December 9 last year by CBI in the case. These accused are currently on bail.

CBI had earlier alleged that during his tenure as Air Chief, Tyagi and, with his approval, the Air Force conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 meters to 4500 meters as mandatory to which it was opposing vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related reasons.

It has claimed that reduction of service ceiling, or the maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally, allowed UK-based AgustaWestland to come into the fray as, otherwise, its helicopters were not even qualified for submission of bids.

CBI has alleged that AgustaWestland managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine and eventually succeeded in getting the contract for supply of 12 AW-101 VVIP Helicopters from the Defence Ministry mainly due to softening of the IAF on service ceiling after S P Tyagi took over as its Chief.

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This is the first chargesheet in the case by the CBI which came three years after it registered an FIR in 2013 to probe the allegations in the aftermath of the details of the scam emerging in Italy where the prosecutors levelled allegations of corruption in the deal against the chief of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland.

The CBI, in its chargesheet, has informed the court that it has been able to establish money trail worth Euro 62 million (Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Island.

It has alleged that the illegal gratification was brought into India unbder the guise of several consultant contracts European company with group of shell companies created by Khaitan.

The contracts were only "subterfuge" and a mere mode to transfer the illegal gratification for payment the public servants, the CBI claimed in its chargesheet.

Efforts to seek reaction from Tyagi did not fructify as he neither took a call, nor responded to messages. PTI UK ABS ABA PKS SKL RKS ARC

--- ENDS ---
Calling out the "treachery" of some GJM leaders, the Morcha supremo alleged that he had been kept in the dark by some leaders who were trying to call the shots in the ongoing agitation.

By Indrajit Kundu: With a rift in his ranks, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung has come out heavily against the Binay Tamang faction in the party which announced suspension of the indefinite strike in Darjeeling on Thursday.

Launching a scathing attack on the "pro-talks" faction of his party, Gurung alleged that there has been repeated attempts by some politicians to "mislead" the Gorkhaland movement.

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"Some days ago, I came to know that there have been attempts at derailing the Gorkhaland agitation in collusion with the Bengal government... They caused raids in our homes, they wanted to use the police to scare us so that we would do their bidding. But despite all threats, our youngsters have faced all adversities with pride," Gurung said in a video statement released by GJM on Thursday night.

Calling out the "treachery" of some GJM leaders, the Morcha supremo alleged that he had been kept in the dark by some leaders who were trying to call the shots in the ongoing agitation.

'THEY DIDN'T CALL ME FOR MEETINGS'

"They went to Nabanna and sat for a meeting with Mamata Banerjee without consulting me. They didn't inform me about the recent meetings they undertook, they didn't tell me where those meetings took place, how many times they were held. I wasn't even made aware of who would be the convener of the coordination committee. I only came to know about it after they had done the selections. I was kept in the dark and they didn't consult me," he said.

Gurung's statement comes at a time when the Morcha joint secretary Binay Tamang, who is leading the "pro-talks" faction of the party unilaterally announced suspension of the indefinite strike in the hills till the next round of talks with the state government on September 12.

GJM TO SOON DECIDE COURSE AGAINST 'PRO-TALKS' FACTION

Soon after Tamang's announcement, Gurung had issued a statement rejecting the decision of the GJM central committee. Infact, urging his supporters to further intensify the movement, Gurung said, "We have to go to jail, we have to be ready to get arrested, even the public is tolerating such hardships, they have only had half a meal a day for the past three months, yet they are firm in the demand for Gorkhaland. I wonder why are some leaders who are so privileged and are living a life of luxury, feel the need to lift the strike?"

"These people worked with police and administration to add fuel to the fire, and they are attempting to make sure that Bimal Gurung goes underground for a long time," the Morcha chief alleged. In fact, late on Thursday night, Gurung had sacked Binay Tamang from the post of party's co-ordinator. The party's central committee will meet on Friday to decide on further disciplinary action against the "pro-talks" faction led by Tamang. The second round of talks with the Mamata Banerjee led state government is scheduled on September 12.

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Also read: Darjeeling unrest: No question of calling off strike, says Bimal Gurung rejecting Mamata Banerjee's appeal

Also read: Darjeeling unrest: Gorkhaland stir disrupts flow of tourists to Sikkim

--- ENDS ---
In the summer of 1961, Bedford County was roiled by politics. For eight years, pharmacist Charles Green had represented the county in the House of Delegates. Now he was suddenly facing a challenge for the Democratic nomination  which was all that mattered in those one-party days in Virginia.

Green ran on his seniority. His challenger pushed a time for a change theme.

Its only with the clarity of hindsight that we see how ironic that was. When the votes were counted that July night, the time for a change upstart had scored what all agreed was an upset.

His name was Lacey Putney, and he went on to serve longer in the House of Delegates than anyone ever.

When Putney died on Saturday at 89, the tributes to him naturally focused on the longevity of his service  52 years, until his retirement in 2013  and the stature he had acquired as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Next week, his body will lie in state at the Virginia State Capitol, an honor not accorded to a former House member since House Speaker A.L. Philpott passed away in 1991. Putney, in fact, served as acting speaker for awhile in 2003.

Putney was undoubtedly a giant in the legislature. His political story also is one that tells a larger story about a Virginia that has changed almost beyond recognition since Putneys first campaign.

In 1961, Lindsey Almond was governor of Virginia best-known for running on a platform of defending segregation and then eventually giving up the fight. On the same night that Putney won the Democratic nomination for the House, Albertis Harrison won the Democratic nomination for governor. These are all names from a distant past now. Democrats were (mostly) conservatives then and Republicans were inconsequential. Today, we consider the modern era of Virginia politics didnt begin until 1969, when Linwood Holton became the states first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Even then it took until 1981 before state politics shook themselves out into the more familiar patterns that we see now of Democrats on the left, Republicans on the right.

To talk about Virginia politics in 1961 is to delve into a kind of pre-history. Almond was the last Virginia governor to be born in the 19th century and much of the state still acted as if nothing had changed since then.

Bedford County then was a lot more rural, and also a lot more significant in the state. Bedford County was bigger than Loudoun County, bigger than Spotsylvania County, bigger than Stafford County, bigger than Alexandria. Northern Virginia was mostly farmland. So was Bedford, but it sat on the western edge of a region that dominated state politics. Today, most of our statewide politicians come from Northern Virginia  often by way of some other place entirely. Then, our politicians typically came from Southside. That was a land of tobacco farms, textile mills, furniture factories  and the future seemed sunny.

In that first campaign, Putney said that Greens seniority was overrated because he didnt serve on the Agriculture Committee. Putney spent a lot of time that year talking about the Milk Commission. By the time his career ended, Putney was better known for chairing a very different committee starting with an A  the Appropriations Committee. If you want to see part of Putneys legacy today, look at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, funded under his watch.

From the Milk Commission to medical research, what matters in Virginia politics has truly changed. Putney changed, too, but not very much. Over 52 years in the House, he almost was always the most conservative delegate in the chamber. In 1964, he joined a handful of other conservative Democrats who signed a statement that they could not support President Lyndon Johnson for re-election. Putney didnt endorse Republican Barry Goldwater, but he was clearly out of step with a Democratic Party that was being fractured by a coming realignment. In 1967, Putney left the party, decrying its support for socialistic legislation. Other Democrats left the party, too. Most became Republicans, pulling that party to the right. Putney opted to stay an independent for the rest of his career, although he eventually caucused with Republicans in Richmond.

Putney hated what he considered to be excessive taxation and wasteful spending. In his early days, he zeroed in on getting pick-up trucks classified as cars so farmers in Bedford wouldnt have to pay the higher fees for license plates that commercial trucks did. In later years, he urged the consolidation of the Bedford County and the City of Bedford because he felt a single government would be cheaper. (The city eventually gave up its charter and reverted to town status.)

Putney always had a sharp eye for the budget and knew how to make things work in his favor. Another of his legacies is the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, the funding for which he managed to squeeze out of the budget after no governor proposed it. If someone in your family attended a private, non-sectarian college in Virginia, you might have benefited from another of Putneys legacies  tuition assistance grants. Funding for the restoration of Thomas Jeffersons second home at Poplar Forest is another.

Putney was a master legislator in other ways, too, ways that did not always endear himself to a changing Virginia. Described as an implacable foe of the Equal Rights Amendment, Putney helped prevent Virginia from ratifying that proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1982. He did so by introducing the amendment himself  because he knew that, as sponsor, hed have control over whether it really came to a vote. I just thought we ought to get it on the calendar and dispose of it early so we can get on to more important matters, such as the tight budget, Putney said. By dispose of it early, he meant sending it to a committee stacked with opponents.

How did Putney survive so long without facing a time for a change challenge of his own? Being a conservative in a conservative district helped. So did his attention to constituent service. Putney avoided the trap many long-time legislators fall into. He never lost touch with his voters. To appreciate Putneys longevity, consider this: To do what he did, a freshman legislator elected this November would have to serve until 2069. How much will Virginia have changed by then?
The Kejriwal government took the opportunity to take on the LG in a scathing attack.

By Mail Today Bureau: The Aam Aadmi Party government stepped up an attack not just on the MCD but also the DDA for not allotting land for an alternative landfill site after the Ghazipur landfill reached its full capacity. With the Lieutenant Governor in charge of DDA, the Kejriwal government took the opportunity to take on the LG in a scathing attack.

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"The Delhi government has no say in solid waste management and the onus lies entirely on MCD. But in this case, the MCD should not be blamed alone for the man-made disaster today. They too had been asking the DDA for land for an alternate site for years now.

"The DDA wants to give land only for commercial purposes and does not realise that this land is for the people of Delhi. They want malls or residential flats which finally have no takers," AAP MLA and official party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj told Mail Today.

"The DDA has land for Vijay Goel but not for public work. The Delhi government has been at its mercy, waiting for land for important projects like mohalla clinics, new schools and hospitals.

"Our Kondli MLA Manoj Kumar has written umpteen letters to the MCD and also to Nitin Gadkari as the NH 24 runs along this site. He also raised short duration questions on the floor of the legislative assembly to draw attention to the issue. Despite the Delhi Pollution Control Committee's rap in 2016, the MCD sat on it," said Bhardwaj.

East MCD officers instead blamed the NHAI with which it had signed an MoU in 2002 for using the garbage accumulated in Ghazipur for road filling activities, but it did not work out.

"We were pursuing NHAI to do this. Even the NGT issued a strict order on August 18 to both NHAI and EDMC to float a tender and have the garbage lifted in a week's time maximum," an EDMC officer informed. That was also in the pipeline.

The DDA had offered EDMC an alternative landfill site in Gonda-Gujran near ISBT of 150 acre, but the same was being considered by a high-powered committee that was to meet on September 4 in fact, an EDMC officer said.

Also Read:

Delhi's Ghazipur landfill collapses, 2 dead after vehicles fell into canal

In pics: Ghazipur's landfill mountain collapses, swipes away vehicles into canal

Also Watch:

Garbage dump collapse in Delhi's Ghazipur kills 2, vehicles trapped

--- ENDS ---
Investigators claim the syndicate is being operated from Delhi and has its tentacles in several countries.

By Shashank Shekhar: A bevy of boxes full of women's undergarments and toys from foreign shores was headed towards a senior IAS officer's house in Delhi's Lodhi Estate. But concealed inside these consignments were stashes of gold, steroids, cigarette, food supplements and saffron.

An investigation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has revealed that smugglers are importing banned and restricted goods through India Post's Foreign Post Office (FPO) - meant for international shipments - by planting them inside undergarments, fancy dresses and vanity boxes, and were misusing the senior bureaucrat's address for delivery.

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In a four-day long operation, India's top anti-smuggling agency has seized gold, steroids and other goods worth Rs 15 crore that were illegally brought in from abroad through the FPO. The DRI has found the involvement of a customs officer and some other government officials posted at the post office are under the scanner.

ARRESTS MADE

The agency has arrested five people, including customs inspector Gaurav Kumar, posted at the FPO. The DRI conducted sweeping searches in Delhi and Faridabad and at the Foreign Post Office in the Capital, while busting two such gangs. Officials seized 28 kg of 24 carat gold worth Rs 8.5 crore, steroids worth Rs 5 crore and other high-value items.

"Goods from foreign countries are sent to the FPO, which are scanned by customs officers. If the items are cleared by them, they are delivered to the address. In case of some objectionable goods the recipients have to pay an import duty, while banned products are seized by the customs officers. In this case, the international gang was working in nexus with the customs officer who was clearing all the banned goods," a senior DRI officer told Mail Today.

Investigators claim the syndicate is being operated from Delhi and has its tentacles in several countries.

WORKING OF THE SYNDICATE

It smuggles restricted and banned articles such as steroids, gold, electronic items, food supplements, saffron, cigarettes, etc. There is a huge demand for such products in the country and Delhi is the largest market, sources said.

For uninterrupted transport of these goods, gang members are working in cahoots with government officials and those involved in the delivery chain.

"Gold in different forms and shapes was found concealed in undergarments, fancy dresses, vanity boxes All the parcels were declared as toys, t-shirts, bags, belts, etc," an official said.

OFFENDERS YET TO BE IDENTIFIED

The parcels containing the goods had originated from Thailand, Dubai, Turkey, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Officials are yet to identify the offenders while a crackdown on consumers of these products is being carried out.

Investigators say the network was active for the past one year and they are yet to arrest the mastermind who is a south Delhibased woman and is currently outside the country. "All of these parcels had the address of a senior bureaucrat, but on checking it was found that these packages were never delivered there. The gang members used to collect the consignments from delivery men mid-way," said the officer.

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About Rs 24 lakh of unaccounted cash and several incriminating evidences have been found from the accused's premises, he said.

Also Read:

High in the air: Air India cabin crew member helps smuggle marijuana on flight

DRI busts syndicate smuggling Vitamin C from China to India

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: The Doklam standoff ended last week after 70 days during which the Indian and Chinese troops stood on their toes in a territory disputed between Bhutan and China. India made sure that Chinese salami slicing policy did not succeed at Doklam.

China finally had to climb down as it got almost isolated with no country backing its claim over Doklam. On the other hand, the US, the UK and Japan openly threw their weight behind India. They called for maintaining status quo and settling the dispute through talks. This is exactly India stated when Chinese troops tried to alter the status quo by constructing a highway in the region.

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China threatened India with a military action. On China's army day, President Xi Jinping, in a veiled reference, described India as an aggressor. Chinese spokespersons demanded that India must withdraw unconditionally from Doklam before any meaningful bilateral talks could be held and its state-owned media launched a tirade against India. Finally, an understanding was reached and disengagement was announced on August 26.

WHY CHINESE MEDIA CHANGED TONE

Now, the Chinese media is projecting China as a victim. But, while doing so, it is acknowledging that India has changed since the last border conflict - a point categorically stated by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley at an India Today event in June.

Responding to Chinese foreign ministry's remarks that India must learn from its lessons from 1962 war and withdraw its troops from Doklam, Arun Jaitley had then said, "India of 2017 is different from what it was in 1962."

During Doklam, China experienced a new India, who Chinese media is branding as "aggressive" and "bellicose". India, on the other hand, displayed how China should be handled when it enters into a territorial conflict. Doklam experience may help the US and Japan in dealing with China in the South China Sea.

WHAT CHINESE MEDIA SAID

With BRICS summit only days away, state-owned the Global Times of China has written that it is "time for India to push past anger and strengthen BRICS cooperation." In another article, the paper says that BRICS success depends on the "positive attitude of India".

Interestingly, the Chinese media denounced India's economic and international standing during Doklam standoff. Several Chinese commentators undermined India's stature saying that China's economy was five times bigger. On military front, in one of the articles, the Global Times wrote that in the event of war "the PLA is perfectly capable of annihilating all Indian troops in the border region."

Now, the same paper writes, "Recently, India's attitude toward China has changed a lot. India has become aggressive and bellicose."

OTHER WORRIES OF CHINA

China is also worried about India putting curbs on unwanted Chinese imports during Doklam standoff. "In August, India launched anti-dumping and countervailing investigations into more than 90 Chinese products. This more or less demonstrated India's unfriendly attitude toward China," the paper complains.

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The growing cooperation between India and the US also makes China uncomfortable. India and the US held Malabar naval exercise while Indian and Chinese troops stayed positioned at 150 metres from each other in Doklam. Later, the US backed India's stand favouring bilateral talks to settle boundary disputes.

The Global Times writes, "After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the Modi administration strengthened its opposition against China. These changes were music to the ears of Western countries since they feel that India's actions will be able to suppress China at low costs to themselves."

The way India dig its heels in Doklam has made China a bit nervous as its ambition of becoming the leading superpower of the world and the undisputed leader of Asia has taken a beating.

India's stand at Doklam has made China look vulnerable as a superpower. China is now playing victim card to garner some international support - which it could not find during Doklam standoff - at a time when it is hosting the head of BRICS states, a group representing 40 per cent of world's population and 22 per cent of world's GDP.

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ALSO READ |

China's PLA says will strengthen patrolling, guard every inch of Doklam

How India, China compromise: A look at how standoffs before Doklam were resolved

WATCH VIDEO | India, China agree to disengage on Doklam ending two-and-a-half-month-long standoff

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: A domestic violence case, under section 125 of CrPC, has been filed against TV actress Sanjeeda Shaikh and her family by her sister-in-law Zakerabanu Zakir Hussain Bagban, according to reports.

According to Zakerabanu, her husband, that is Sanjeeda's brother, Anas Abdul Rahim Sheikh, used to physically abuse her.

"They often demanded money from my father and would beat me up. My husband is alcoholic, a drug addict and is also involved in match-fixing," stated Zakerabanu as per reports in Mumbai Mirror.

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22-year-old Zakerabanu has been living in Ahmedabad for the past three months.

According to the report in BollywoodLife, on May 27, Sanjeeda, her brother, and their mother assaulted her while Zakerabanu was speaking to her father on phone. Apparently, they didn't want her to stay in Mumbai with them. And that is when Zakerabanu flew to Ahmedabad, and was later hospitalised, due to the injuries suffered during the assault, according to BollywoodLife's report.

However, Sanjeeda and her family earlier filed a petition that states claims made by Zakerabanu are false.

According to the reports, the petition filed by Sanjeeda states that Zakerabanu has been brought up in an orthodox environment, which is why she was having trouble adjusting to her husband's far more liberal family.

So far, things are in Sanjeeda's favour as her lawyer told Mumbai Mirror that court has passed a judgement in favour of the actress.

"Court has passed an order in favour of my client by stating that the investigating agency should not take any coercive steps against her. In other words, court accepted our submission that the FIR is baseless, bad in jurisdiction and merely filed to harass my client," the actress' lawyer told Mumbai Mirror.

Also read: Bigg Boss Tamil: Another defamation case filed against Kamal Haasan

Also read: Former Bigg Boss contestant Mandana Karimi drops domestic violence case against husband Gaurav Gupta

--- ENDS ---
Teddy

AFTER being rescued from a former war zone, loving pooch Teddy is now hoping to find his forever home.

The Brittany spaniel was due to be put to sleep at a shelter for stray dogs in Serbia when Swallownest charity, South Yorkshire English Springer Spaniel Rescue (SYESSR), stepped in.

Ten-month-old Teddy arrived on British soil after a four-day car journey and has already started melting hearts at the charity.

SYESSR dogsbody, Heather Pointer, of Aston, said: He is stunning.

Brittanys are quite unusual anyway. They have longer legs and Teddy looks like a show dog.

We have noticed the ones we rescue from abroad, which have the most appalling start in life, are just so loving.

Heather (45) heard about Teddy three months ago from an overseas animal rescue charity - Humanimal Balkans Rescue - with which she has worked for the past three years.

The situation the dogs find themselves in over there is far worse than anything we see in the UK, said Heather.

Humanimal are allowed to take as many dogs as they like from the shelters but are told any they do not take will be killed.

Its very hard for them to leave any behind so they currently have 92 dogs looking for homes.

We have to ensure we have space for UK dogs but do keep one of our rescue spaces free for overseas dogs.

The first dog we helped from there was coincidentally called Teddy in June, 2014, and once we have helped our newest Teddy we have a lovely dog called Davy who will be coming to us, with quite a few more waiting in the wings.

SYESSR became a registered charity since 1998 and is run by just a handful of volunteers.

It rescues and rehomes all types of spaniels and spaniel-crosses and spent more than 56,000 caring for the abandoned dogs last year.

Some of the money is raised through its charity shop on Swallownest High Street, which opened four years ago \a but the store is now under threat of closure due to a lack of new volunteers.

The charity will hold a family fund-raising day at The Travellers Rest, Main Street, Brookhouse, on Sunday from noon to 4pm.

All dogs are welcome and there will be dog competitions, stalls, food, a raffle and more.

Visit www.syessr.co.uk to find out more or if you would like to adopt Teddy.
Sheffield Crown Court

A PERVERT who was snared by an online paedophile hunter has been spared jail after a judge said he had suffered enough following vigilante attacks on his home.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Ivor Dodds home was graffitied after a video of him being confronted by Andy Bradstock, who posed online as a schoolgirl, was shared on Facebook.

Dodd (54) had sent sexual messages and pictures to Mr Bradstock, believing he was a 14-year-old girl, the court heard.

Judge Robert Bartfield, who banned the publication of Dodds address for his familys safety, said he had little alternative but to admit the offence but had already paid a high price.

He sentenced him on Wednesday to eight months prison, suspended for two years, after Dodd admitted inciting a child to engage in sexual activity at a previous hearing at Sheffield Magistrates Court on April 4.

Mr Bradstock posed as a 14-year-old called Hayley and used a picture of a girl wearing school uniform as its profile picture.

Dodd began chatting online to the girl in February and in the space of a month his messages turned sexual, said prosecutor Mr Richard Thyne.

Dodd asked the girl to meet, if she would be his girlfriend and gave her his telephone number, he said.

He also sent a picture of his penis and asked for inappropriate pictures in return.

Mr Thyne said there had been no encouragement from Mr Bradstock and his messages remained neutral, so that he could not be accused of entrapment.

The self-proclaimed paedophile hunter tracked down Dodds address and filmed his confrontation with him in which Dodd admitted sending the inappropriate messages.

Mr Bradstock then attended at Rotherham police station and handed over the information he had obtained, said Mr Thyne.

Dodd was arrested and admitted he had problems in relation to his online behaviour but claimed he had never intended to meet the girl.

Mitigating, Mr Ian Goldsack said: Hes had to suffer what he has done being made extremely public within his community.

Mr Goldsack added Dodds home had been graffitied with the word nonce, he had lost two jobs, his son had been bullied and he had had to move because of vigilante attacks following the publication of the video.

Dodd, who was of previous good character, was also handed a sexual harm prevention order, told to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years, ordered to carry out a 30-day rehabilitation requirement and told to pay a 140 victim surcharge.
After the sale of non-core assets, the net profit of the PJSC LUKOIL oil company for the first half of 2017 increased by 90.7% compared to the same period in 2016, to 201.0 billion rubles, RBC reports with reference to the company's press-release.

In the second quarter of this year, net profit increased by 122.5% compared to the first quarter, amounting to 138.7 billion rubles.

The document says that profit growth was affected by the "non-monetary effect of exchange rate differences" and the profit from the sale of the Arkhangelskgeoldobycha, the diamond-mining subsidiary of LUKOIL, in the second quarter of 2017.

The companys diamond revenue came to $17 million (RUB 1 billion) for the quarter and $102.2 million (RUB 6 billion) for the six months that ended June 30  down from $51.1 million (RUB 3 billion) and $187.4 million (RUB 11 billion) respectively in the same periods last year.

At the beginning of December 2016, LUKOIL sold 100% of the shares of its subsidiary diamond mining company Arkhangelskgeoldobycha to the Otkritie Holding for $1.45 billion. The money from the sale of the diamond company was used to reduce the debt of LUKOIL. The transaction was closed in May 2017.

Arkhangelskgeoldobycha is developing a diamond deposit named after Vladimir Grib in the Arkhangelsk region. Total reserves of diamonds of this field amount to 98.5 million carats.




The global diamond and jewellery industries will benefit from the decision announced by De Beers on Tuesday to increase its marketing spending this year to $140 mn, said World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) President Ernie Blom.

Although De Beers intends to spend most of the money on its own brands, Forevermark and De Beers Diamond Jewellers, all advertising is good for the wider diamond trade since it has a positive ripple effect, said Blom. "This is a most welcome move, concentrating resources on the world's three main markets: the United States, China and India," said Blom. "I am delighted that De Beers is also increasing its partnership marketing with the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) and Indias Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

"Taken together with the DPA's decision to increase its diamond jewellery promotional budget this year to $57 million, we are seeing very significant action in promoting diamonds in key markets. The diamond industry globally can take heart from these decisions as they will serve to boost demand, said Blom.

Blom also reiterated that it was extremely encouraging to see the industry uniting to tackle the issue of generic diamond jewellery marketing. He was glad that resources were rightly being concentrated on the millennials market because that is a huge consumer market. The DPA's research showed that these younger buyers believe in the value of diamonds because they symbolise rarity and value, and we wish the DPA and De Beers success for the benefit of WFDB members and the entire industry," Blom added.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




Tiffany & Co. reported an increase in revenue and profit in the second fiscal quarter lifted by its wholesale diamond business and e-commerce platform, while its brick-and-mortar stores continued to struggle.

Group sales rose 3% year on year to $960 million during the three months that ended July 31, but comparable-store sales fell 2%, the company said Thursday. Net earnings grew 9% to $115 million for the period as operating margins improved.

An increase in wholesale sales of diamonds, increased wholesale sales in the Asia-Pacific region and strong e-commerce sales growth contributed to the improvement, management explained. Fashion and designer jewelry were the strongest product categories, the company added.

As for its retail operations, Tiffany noted strength in China and Japan, while the Americas, the rest of Asia and Europe continued to show weakness.

For the first half, Tiffanys sales rose 2% to $1.86 billion, while comparable-store sales fell 2%. Net earnings grew 8% to $207.9 million for the six-month period.




The 12th China Gold & Precious Metals Summit 2017, which will take place on 6-7 December 2017, in Shanghai China is now opened for registration.

The Summit is officially endorsed by the China Gold Association and the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Hosted by the Shanghai Gold & Jewelry Trade Association and organized by IGVision International Corporation, the Summit has emerged as one of the most important events for the key stakeholders in the gold, precious metals and jewellery industry, including mining producers, refiners, jewellers, the bullion dealer, exchanges, banks and alike.

With the One Belt, One road Initiative of the Chinese Government, the Summit is also an ideal platform not only to share knowledge but more to meet your future business partners.

In the past 11 years, the China Gold & Precious Metals Summit (CGPM) has gathered over 3,000 top industry professionals from around the world in the gold and precious metals industry.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




A Public Interest Litigation was filed with regards to the issue and the petition filed by advocate Ashish Mehta demanded that an FIR be registered under section 304 A of Indian Penal Code which means causing death by negligence.

By Vidya : The Bombay High Court today ordered the BMC and other respondents to reply on the issues related to open manholes in the city. A well known gastroenterologist from Bombay hospital, Dr Deepak Amrapurkar had fallen into an open manhole at Elphinston when heavy rainfall lashed Mumbai on Tuesday. His body was only recovered yesterday at Worli at the other end of the sewage pipeline.

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A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed with regards to the issue and the petition filed by advocate Ashish Mehta demanded that an FIR be registered under section 304 A of Indian Penal Code which means causing death by negligence. They had also asked that a compensation of Rs 50 lakh be made from the coffers of BMC to any Charitable Institution/NGO, working for the welfare of the city of Mumbai, and that authorities should fix the accountability of the gross negligence.

Advocate Sujay Kantawala mentioned the petition before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur who said that most of the prayers in the petition cannot pertain to a PIL and should be filed by the family of Dr. Amrapurkar.

"We are very much pained that such an eminent doctor had to meet such a tragic and painful death but there is a limit for PILs," the Chief Justice said. Pointing to the petitioners said, "You can become emotional, I cannot."

Chief Justice Chellur asked the petitioners to go and lodge an FIR if they desire an investigation, and said, "Even though it is no one's case, the case will not be registered but please go and lodge a private complaint if they do not register the case."

The court however agreed to look into the other issues in the petition. The petitioners had demanded that the court should form an advisory committee of renowned ex-bureaucrats and technocrats for carrying out a detailed inspection of all the manholes currently existing in the city and thereby suggesting ways and means for streamlining the working and operations of the manholes in a time bound manner.

The petitioners also wanted the BMC to declare current policy on "the working and operations of manholes" so that it can be understood as to what its scope is, whether it is effective enough in dealing with fatal incidents.

The petitioners had also wanted that until the case is heard, BMC should be on a war footing to fit 'iron grill' on all the drainage (gutter) systems and manholes in Mumbai, so that even if it's kept open or even if someone fidgets around with it or is left unattended, no person can fall straight into the open drainage/manhole and die on account of suffocation and/or drowning.

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It also suggested that the said iron grill should be openable and designed in such a way that water/trash can easily pass through it without any major obstruction.

BMC, Maharashtra government, its urban development department and other respondents in the petition will file affidavits soon and the case will be heard in two weeks.

Also Read:

Mumbai rains: Dr Deepak Amarapurkar's body recovered almost 24 hours after he went missing

Mumbai rains: Family, friends vow to fight against civic apathy at Dr Amrapurkar's cremation

Watch Video: Mumbai floods: Missing doctor Amarapurkar's body found near Worli

--- ENDS ---
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. announced that it has made good progress with the participants in its loan facility on certain modifications to the facility, and has received an extension of the waiver for the funding of the remaining reserve accounts until November 30, 2017.

The Company will fund the Cash Call Reserve Account with a balance of at least $25 million by September 15, 2017.

Recognizing the sufficiency of current cash flow generation, the Company and its lenders have agreed to limit the utilization of the facility to the current outstanding principal balance of $357 million rather than the maximum facility amount of $370 million, other than with the consent of the lenders.

Having made the June quarterly interest payment from cash flows rather than drawing from the facility, the Company will also do the same with the upcoming September 2017 interest payment.

Mountain Province Interim President and CEO David Whittle commented: We are encouraged by the positive progress made to date with our lending group, who have been supportive of the Company and the Gahcho Kue Mine throughout this process. Mine operations are performing well and are delivering solid positive cash flows, factors which are obviously helpful in the efforts to modify the loan facility.

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canadas Northwest Territories. Gahcho Kue is the worlds largest new diamond mine and projected to produce an average of 4.5 million carats a year over a 12-year mine life.



Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels




Four illegal miners who trespassed into the protected Marange diamond fields drowned in a dam full of slime last week following a chase by Zimbabwe Consolidate Diamond Company (ZCDC) security officers.

The four went to Marange by night to illegally mine diamonds, but their mission was interrupted by alert guards, leading to a fatal chase.

Bulawayo24 reports that ZCDC had to call the Police Sub-Aqua Unit to retrieve their bodies.

"I was briefed by my security personnel about the incident. I don't have much, but what I can tell you is that the illegal panners trespassed into the fields and they were spotted by our guards who subsequently chased them away, ZCDC chief executive Moris Mpofu said.

I am told that during the chase four of them fell into the dam and they drowned. You can contact the police to get more details."

He said ZCDC had beefed up security around the mining concessions.

"We have tightened our security because we want to safeguard that national resource and ensure it benefits the country and not individuals," said Mpofu.

An illegal miner was also killed in July while three others were seriously injured when security guards fired at more than 200 heavily armed illegal diamond miners who broke into ZCDC's premises.

The men who were armed with wrenches and machetes intended to pounce on the plant's main diamond sorting room.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Aug. 30 rejected an application filed by Great Lakes Basin Transportation, Inc. (GLBT) for authority to construct and operate a rail line in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

STB cited that it found GLBTs application incomplete and has discontinued environmental review.

A few highlights:

 GLBT has failed to provide the Board with accurate financial information upon which the Board can rely to make a determination on the transportation merits of the project  The Board must authorize the construction and operation of a new line unless the Board finds that such activities are inconsistent with the public convenience and necessity. In making this determination, the Board considers the financial condition of the applicant and the financial feasibility of the project  The Boards purpose in doing so is not to protect the applicant or possible investors, but rather, to protect (1) existing shippers from financial decisions that could jeopardize the carriers ability to carry out its common carrier obligation to serve them, and (2) other affected communities from needless disruptions and environmental impacts if the applicant were to start construction but not be able to complete the project and provide the proposed service.

 The financial information provided in GLBTs application, as supplemented, is fundamentally flawed, making it impossible for the Board to determine whether GLBT can meet the statutory criteria. Specifically, [GLBTs] balance sheet  contains an unexplained line item for net income (amounting to negative $1.2 million) that appears to account for a substantial difference between its assets and its landstockholders equity  Because GLBT provides no underlying information to explain the basis for this line item or its calculations, it is not possible for the Board to determine the cause of this discrepancy or evaluate the information provided. The financial information submitted by GLBT therefore cannot reasonably be relied upon by the Board to determine the financial condition of the applicant under the statutory criteria.

 The Board does not require that construction projects be fully funded at the outset of a construction application proceeding . [However], the financial fitness of the applicant is part of the application process  GLBTs current assets  are so clearly deficient for purposes of constructing a 261-mile rail line that the Board will not proceed with this application given the impacts on stakeholders and the demands upon Board resources.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Hours after the Chilean Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes announced his resignation, President Michelle Bachelet announced changes to her cabinet. She confirmed the departure of the Economy minister Luis Felipe Cespedes and promoted changes in the Presidency's General Secretariat.

"I want to thank Rodrigo Valdes for his commitment to the government's goals," said the president, while acknowledging "Luis Felipe Cespedes for all his great efforts to expand entrepreneurship initiatives in our ."

According to the Presidency, Bachelet appointed Nicolas Eyzaguirre as Minister of Finance, in replace to Valdes of Economy, Promotion, and Tourism, replacing Luis Felipe Cespedes promoted Gabriel de la Fuente Acuna to Secretary General of the Presidency, replacing Eyzaguirre.

The changes in Bachelet's cabinet comes amid sharp differences between the environment minister Marcelo Mena with Luis Felipe Cespedes due to a recent vote in the Council of Ministers in which the Dominga mining project was rejected.

Valdes supported the project arguing that the Chilean economy needs to grow. This situation led Bachelet to intervene through her Twitter account, contradicting Valdes by stating that "Chile needs development to go hand in hand with the care for the environment."

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) should evaluate the entry of Telmex - a unit of America Movil - to the pay-TV market.

According to the OCDE's assessment, released in its Telecommunications and Broadcasting in Mexico 2017 report, the company owned by the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim could 'increase competition' in that segment.

"The IFT should evaluate the entry of Telmex (America Movil unit) into pay television as soon as possible," said the document. The OECD report mentions that America Movil's accession to the restricted TV market would add competition and improve consumer choices in a market that otherwise would be concentrated.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Venezuela and China agreed to advance with their joint investment portfolio and oil cooperation agreements. The decision was made in the framework of a round table held by the China-Venezuela High-Level Joint Commission in Caracas.

Among the agreements is the increase of China's stake in the mixed oil company Sinovensa, which operates in the Orinoco Oil Belt.

During the meeting, it was reported that the Chinese oil company CNPC America is interested in taking part in the reactivation of 800 wells in the Orinoco Oil Belt, which would generate an output increase estimated at 42 thousand barrels of crude oil per day.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Petroleum Eulogio Del Pino also reported on the development of a new refinery in China, to be projected with CNCP.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Indian shares opened a tad higher on Friday as firm global cues on the back of easing geopolitical tensions and strong U.S. economic data helped offset dismal first-quarter GDP data on the domestic front.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 62 points or 0.20 percent at 31,793, while the broader Nifty index was up 15 points or 0.15 percent at 9,932.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories soared 7 percent after settling a patent row with Vivus.

Strides Shasun jumped 4.6 percent after its unit Arrow Pharma bought Amneal Pharmaceuticals for AUD 17 million.

Bharti Airtel shares edged up marginally. The telecom major announced that Tikona Digital Networks has become its wholly-owned subsidiary.

Power Finance Corporation rose about 1 percent on fund raising reports.

FMCG major Nestle India slid half a percent after saying that it expects a dip in sales growth on account of GST.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that four companies have been shortlisted to develop prototypes of a wall to be built along the United States' border with Mexico to prevent the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the country.

President Donald Trump on Monday reaffirmed his commitment to build the continuous wall across the entire southern US border which was one of his key election promises.

The Republican-led House of Representatives in July approved a bill that includes $1.6 billion fund for building the wall.

But it is likely that Senate Democrats will block Trump's budget request when it moves to the upper chamber.

Congressional funding for the border wall is not well taken by Democrats and a section among Republicans.

CBP on Thursday published the names of the companies selected to construct the concrete border wall prototypes: Caddell Construction Co., Montgomery; Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries, Tempe; Texas Sterling Construction Co., Houston; and W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, Philadelphia.

The reinforced concrete border wall prototypes, between 18 and 30 feet high, are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed.

The four contracts are worth up to $500,000 each.

CBP said it will announce four more contracts on the "other materials" Request for Proposal (RFP), for prototypes made from materials other than concrete, in the next week.

CBP officials will meet with the vendors and determine the prototypes construction timeline, which is expected to be in the fall.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
A local Pizza Hut franchise was not deterred by the heavy rain and flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. Instead, it decided to deliver free pizzas to families trapped in their homes due to the floodwaters.

Shayda Habib, the manager of Pizza Hut in Oak Lake, and her employees rushed to their restaurant on Wednesday to prepare dozens of pies for the families that were trapped in their homes and were running out of food.

"When I heard there were families in need, I knew we needed to act fast I called my husband and asked him to gather up kayaks and meet me at the restaurant," Habib told the news station KPRC, an affiliate of NBC Houston.

Habib and her team ferried 120 pizzas into kayaks and took them out to stuck locals after paddling though chest-high waters. The pizzas were secured in red delivery pouches.

"The people in the houses didn't expect us to come. It was so nice to see their smiles after so much gloom," Habib told the news station.

Habib added that she plans to continue delivering pizza until her store runs out of food to deliver.

Pizza Hut thanked Habib and her crew on Twitter, writing, "THANK YOU to our Oak Lake Pizza Hut team for their out-of-the-car response to deliver hot pizzas all day to the community they serve."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Eid al-adha, translates as the Sacrifice Feast, is celebrated to honour Ibrahim's obedience to God's command and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

However, Ibrahim did not eventually kill his son as it is said that God sent an angel who then put a ram in his son's place.

On this day, cows, sheep or goats are sacrificed to God, and later, the meat is distributed to the poor and needy, relatives, friends, and family.

Also known as the Greater Eid, it begins on the 10th day of the holiest month in the Islamic lunar calendar.

The date on which Eid al-Adha is celebrated changes every year as it depends on the sighting of the new crescent moon.

This year, the new moon crescent was sighted on August 22, hence in India, Eid al-adha will be begin from today evening and end on September 2.

Muslims dress up in new clothes, perform Eid al-adha prayers, and wish each other "Eid mubarak".

The day is considered important for charity, and it is believed that on the day of Sacrifice Feast, no one should be left hungry.

The celebrations vary from country to country. In Saudi Arabia, the celebrations go on for a whole fortnight, and in Turkey and Qatar, it is celebrated for 10 days.
A bicyclist delivering food entered the Lincoln Tunnel on Tuesday night after taking a route suggested on his phone app, according to Port Authority officials.

The UberEats delivery man, a Jersey City resident, relied on his GPS app for directions while on a Manhattan dinner delivery run and ended up riding through the busy 1.5-mile long Lincoln Tunnel all the way to New Jersey. Bicycles are prohibited from entering the Lincoln Tunnel.

The 26-year-old bicyclist, Hicham Oulhint, was stopped by Port Authority police on the New Jersey side of the tunnel around 7.30 pm. He explained to officers that although he set a course in his GPS for Chelsea, he took the wrong turn through the tunnel to New Jersey.

The man showed the officers the app, "which supported his claim," Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.

While the incident did not cause a major traffic disruption, the man was issued a traffic summons for trespassing. He was released without any further charges.

Oulhint has reportedly lost his job with UberEats after the company learned about the incident.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said President Donald Trump should not terminate a program that offers protections for young undocumented immigrants.

Ryan was asked in an interview with Wisconsin radio station WCLO on Friday about reports Trump is considering ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"I actually don't think he should do that," Ryan said. "And I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix."

The DACA program adopted by former President Barack Obama provides certain illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children protection from deportation and eligibility to apply for work permits.

Ryan claimed Obama did not have the authority to adopt the program but argued that the undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers are currently in a state of limbo.

"These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home," Ryan said.

"So I really do believe there needs to be a legislative solution," he added. "That's one that we're working on. I think we want to give people peace of mind."

Trump suggested in remarks to reporters that he would make a decision on DACA as early as Friday or over the weekend.

Several conservative state attorneys general have threatened to sue to stop DACA if the program is not rescinded by September 5th.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Parties like MIM and NCP are alleging that the govt is politicising festivals and encouraging vigilantism.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Ahead of Bakri Eid, a change in circular by Mumbai Police pertaining to vehicles carrying animals for sacrifice has run into controversy after BJP MP Poonam Mahajan objected to it. Parties like MIM and NCP are alleging that the govt is politicising festivals and encouraging vigilantism.

On one hand, some BJP leaders have appealed for an eco-friendly Bakri Eid celebrations while some have objected to the transportation of animals during the festivals.

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With a view of smooth celebrations of Bakri Eid, Mumbai Police on 26th August had issued a circular to not stop vehicles carrying goats for sacrifice or even check the documents pertaining to the animals.

"Any vehicle transporting goat or any other animal for slaughter on Bakri Eid must not be stopped by any traffic police officials or even asked for any vehicle-related document or any animal transport-related document. In case, any complaint is received about officials regarding such stoppage, action will be taken."

But BJP MP and chairperson of the Animal Welfare Board of Maharashtra, Poonam Mahajan took objection citing scot-free movement of animals.Mumbai Police then took a sharp U-turn and changed the circular.

The new circular by Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic)dated 28th August, said "In pursuance of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act,1960 any vehicle can be checked if found suspicious or a complaint is received."

"I am talking about Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act. It should be followed. There are 25 goats that are trashed in a vehicles that has a capacity of 10. This is also about health and hygiene. Everyone should follow the law. It's not vigilantism, but rules must be adhered," said Poonam Mahajan.

But the change in circular has sparked a debate about encouraging vigilantism in the name of suspicion.

"CM had met a delegation of Muslim community and assured them about transportation for qurbani. But some people forced him and the circular was changed. The CM has to answer. Is he the CM of Maharashtra or the CM of fringe elements?" questioned Nawab Malik of the NCP.

While the AIMIM alleged that the circular will encourage vigilantism.

"The way the earlier circular was changed, it will create confusion during the festive season. This will only encourage vigilantism. We have people who have been killed in the name of vigilantism just out of suspicion," Pathan said.

The AIMIM has also demanded to withdraw the circular.

ALSO READ:

Eid al-adha: Why Muslims call it a festival of sacrifice

Mehbooba felicitates people on Eid-ul-Azha

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Former Bigg Boss contestant Nitibha Kaul has been making headlines ever since she first made her television debut with reality show Bigg Boss Season 10.

Nitibha, who recently shot for reality show Date to Remember with another Bigg Boss contestant Manu Punjabi, has been taking a break to chill by herself.

Nitibha has been soaking up the sand and water of beautiful Goa. She recently uploaded a picture of herself in a bikini with the caption, "New video is up on my channel! And its all about what to do in Goa if you're travelling during the off season- gosh it was so much fun nevertheless! Watch now. #travel #offseason #vacaygoals #goa #gogoa @goatourism."

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Check out the picture:

Looks like the reality star is having the time of her life in Goa.

Perpetually goofy A post shared by Nitibha Kaul (@nitibhakaul) on Aug 30, 2017 at 2:26am PDT

Also read: Asha Negi and Kishwer Merchantt's new bikini pictures are smoking hot; see pics

Also read: Uttaran star Tinaa Dattaa goes bold in a red-hot bikini top; see pic

--- ENDS ---
In May this year, I was in a hotel in Lucknow having breakfast when suddenly there was a commotion, with security guards swarming the lobby and the staff in a tizzy. The cause was the arrival of cult leader Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insaan, head of Dera Sacha Sauda. Though I am no fan of self-styled godmen, I had heard of this strange 'guru', and the ever-curious journalist in me agreed to meet him. I found a weirdly dressed man with his smiling, adoring, adopted daughter Honeypreet in tow, sipping tea and speaking softly to me about the three goals of his dera: drug de-addiction, rehabilitation of prostitutes and blood donation. We now know this was a benign front for murkier activities in his sprawling 700-acre enclave in Sirsa in Haryana. Since taking over the mantle of the 69-year-old dera under suspicious circumstances in 2002, the 50-year-old school dropout and former odd-jobs man from Ganganagar in Rajasthan had made his dera one of the richest and most influential religious sects in the state. He was routinely feted with awards and donations from politicians of every stripe, and his support was considered critical in at least 27 of the 117 assembly constituencies in the state. As his power grew, with a purported following of some 70 million, clearly so did his ego, leading to his starring in films where he flew through the air, wrestled lions and belted out tuneless songs before an adoring audience. He projected himself as Love Charger, Messenger of God and Papaji to his 'premis' or devotees. He also, it turns out, presided over an empire where murder, rape and castration were common.

Our cover story uncovers this beastly baba's rise as well as the mass rioting in Panchkula last week that left over 30 dead after Gurmeet Singh was convicted of raping two devotees, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It also raises some thought-provoking questions. Dera Sacha Sauda is one of 3,000 deras in Punjab of varying influence. They exist to fulfill a real need, of providing succour to those at the margins of society and of organised religion. Over 30 per cent of Punjab's population is Dalit, a community that has long been ostracised by mainstream faiths. The dera culture offers them the promise of respect and equality regardless of their birth. In addition, the great appeal for the downtrodden is a safe haven providing shelter, education, health services and employment in exchange for unquestioning loyalty to the leader. They fill a vacuum left by the state due to bad governance. As is often the case in India, where there is religion and mass following, politics cannot be far behind. The irony is that the failure of politics leads to the creation of such deras and yet it is the politicians who use them as vote banks as devotees follow the instructions of the dera leader. This also ensures that the state turns a blind eye to activities that are often against the law. We may have found him ludicrous, but to his followers he was nothing short of a messianic force who could do anything-sweep streets clean with the chief minister of Haryana as easily as accept a lifetime achievement award from the chief minister of Maharashtra; accept a gift of Rs 51 lakh from ministers in the Haryana government as easily as he could claim the privilege of being one of only 36 people to get Z-plus security from the state. Hardly any politician of note has lauded his conviction. Deputy Editor Asit Jolly, based in Chandigarh, who has written this issue's cover story, has watched the emergence of Gurmeet Singh and understands the power dera leaders wield over their followers.

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The dera is an offshoot of the Bhakti movement, its power amplified by the available technology and the psychological despair at the heart of modern life. Above all , the rise of such cults is a failure of the Indian state. If we had actually delivered on 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas', these venal babas would not exist.

--- ENDS ---
Dear Editor,

I write to respond to Sala Josephines views published in the Samoa Observer, August 27, 2017, by Sarona Puni Saifaleupolu.

Sala: The lease of customary lands for economic development can help address hardship, poverty and high unemployment rate.

Sarona: This is not true. This same excuse has been used by the H.R.P.P government with the help from the World Bank, ADB, Australia and NZ for quite a long time; and here again, Sala continues to promote it. The leasing of customary lands will never solve poverty, it is never part of a solution to eradicate poverty, rather it will aggravate it. One only needs to look at the situation of some current customary land leases. The landscapes in some of these customary land leases are really degraded and some components of the biodiversity and ecosystems are, to large extent, destroyed. May be Sala and her bosses in the H.R.P.P government may like to take a fact finding mission to the Virgin Cove in Utumalama, Saanapu, and maybe they will understand what I am talking about. And perhaps, she may think twice about making statements that are not true. Despite revenue increase from customary land leases as per MNRE/CLAC statement published in a previous Samoa Observer edition, that increase does not constitute a percentage increase in family income, rather it is government commission from leased customary lands. In other words the government is exploiting the families when they promote the leasing of customary lands, in particular, those with the most pristine qualities, like those alluded to by Sala (untouched coastal lands with good beach fronts and clear blue lagoons  just like Utumalama before it was leased out to a foreign investor).

Sala: This is the opinion of senior lawyer, Sala Josephine Stowers Fiu, who gave her legal perspective on the issue last week. The former Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment A.C.E.O of the Legal Division was among speakers at the National Focus Group Dialogue hosted by the Samoa Umbrella for Non-Governmental Organization. Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Sala said the lack of understanding about the Constitution has played a big role in the confusion about the lease of customary lands. To highlight her point in terms of using customary land for development, Sala pointed to Fiji. The majority of their customary land are being used for business developments. They have set up a very good system for promoting the wider use of their lands, she said.

Sarona: Yes indeed, but this a very superficial view without a solid foundation. Sala has deliberately avoided mentioning that the same land issue was amongst the key causes for all the four coups in Fiji. Hence, this is a pitiable way to promote their cause because without reliable data, Salas claims cannot be substantiated. I do not know anything about legal systems but I always think that those who understand and practise law must do their research well and extract/present the most accurate information, before making a statement or a claim. I have accidently come across some recent researches in customary land leases in Fiji (Dodd M.J.K. Reform of Leasing Regimes for Customary Land in Fiji 2012, Fonmanu K.R., Ting L. & Williamson I.P. Dispute Resolution For Customary Lands: Some Lessons From Fiji; Naidu V. & Reddy M. Na ghar ke na ghat ke; ALTA and expiring land leases:Fijian farmers perceptions of their future (Centre for Development Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, 2002; John Crosetto The Heart of Fijis Land Tenure Conflict: The Law of Tradition and Vakavanua, the Customary Way of the Land, 2005.,14 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 71; and some more); and the picture these reports paint is quite opposite to that presented by Sala.

Sala: Sala is adamant the Constitution does not present any loopholes when it comes to customary land leases.

Sarona: This is great to know; now Sala has provided reassurance to all Samoans that the Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa is totally loophole free with regards to customary land leases. Interestingly, the Samoan PM, during some of his press conferences, said the same thing. Yet, I fail to find comfort in this assurance simply because, just three years after Samoa became independent in 1962, the government passed a legislation called The Alienation of Customary Lands Act 1965, that allows the leasing of customary lands. So leasing of customary lands is not new because it was allowed under this Act. But it is puzzling, especially to a non-legal person like me, that the Constitution does not allow alienation of customary lands, under article 102, yet the legislation that allows the leasing of customary lands is called The Alienation of Customary Lands Act 1965. The point is, although the Act itself does not alienate customary lands, but the title is quite confusing. It is The Alienation of Customary Lands!!

Secondly, the phrase customary land lease interest appears in Article 102 of the Constitution and it also appears in the Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965. This is the very same customary land lease interest which although has never been properly defined by Sala or the government, in according to LTRA, it is mortgageable. Well, so much for Salas loophole-free Constitution re customary land leases.This is indeed, the heart of the 4 matais complaint, that the Constitution has been breached by the LTRA, because the inalienability status of customary lands provided under Article 102 of the Constitution is now subtly and surreptitiously allowed under the LTRA. How? Very simple. The leasee is now allowed under the LTRA to use the investment on the leased customary land to secure loans from the bank. This looks ok but if the investment fails and the loan defaults, the bank takes the investment with it of course, the leased customary land and it will take decades and probably centuries for the customary lands to be returned to customary owners. Fiu, Leifi, Olepalemia and Wendy have covered this several times already, so I will stop here but I just want to reemphasise my two scents piece, that the Samoan Constitution is definitely not loophole free in regards to customary land leases.

Sala: The Constitution is clear, there are three types of land, Customary, freehold and public. The customary land lease is under Article 1 and 2 of the Constitution, which protects the rights of the Samoan people to their customary lands.

Sarona: That is fine, but the leasing procedure in the Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965 as well as the LTRA does not really provide any protection of the Samoan people at all. Rather, these acts are taking away the rights of the customary land owners, since the minister of the MNRE signs on behalf of the customary land owners.

Sala: This is the only article of the Constitution that states, it cannot be removed or changed by the 2/3 majority of parliament. It has to go out to a public referendum for public vote during a general election. Only then that part of the Constitution can be changed, otherwise our rights are protected under the law. The Constitution is a strong provision. Its not saying that customary land can be purchased because it cannot be sold, its prohibited under article one and two. Its the only Constitution in the Pacific that has that provision. That really goes to show the positive foresight of our forefathers, to ensure whatever happens in the future, customary lands remain as costmary lands and the rights of the family to the land are strongly entrenched in the Constitution.

Sarona: Good on you Sala. It is noble of you to remind the Samoans that the framers of the Constitution had positive foresight to ensure that their rights to customary lands are safely guarded under the Constitution. Many Samoans are on the same page, even the devil believes that too. Anyway, I just remember that now the LTRA has been passed, but it is a highway to hell because it allows the alienation of customary lands, and yet no plebiscite was ever undertaken. So irrespective of all the positives it is intended to provide, the LTRA is not legal. So with gratitude, I wish to thank you for pointing that out, as it gives us legal basis to condemn you.

Sala: Sala said people are becoming more aware of their rights. And those rights are fully supported under the amendments, like the right to reject a mortgage over the lease; the right to terminate the lease if you find the lease rent in arrears. You also have the right to disallow an assignment of lease; these new protections that are coming in through is to further support the rights of our people.

Sarona: Thanks again Sala. This sounds very legally comforting. But I am frankly surprised with you, as a senior lawyer with all the experience in land laws, you left out the important point that the Minister of the MNRE still has to sign on behalf of the customary land owners. If that condition has been annulled from the associated acts, then I will gladly applaud you because then and only then will the customary land owners have complete control over their customary land rights.

Sala: Sometime our people want to be part of the legal execution of the lease. We can actually allow that under the new amendments; because under the old procedures the Minister is emphasized as the trustee of the lease on behalf of the Aiga. Now a family may say their Chief should be the other co-signature of the lease. , the fact that they are wanting to be a part in the legal process its a good step ahead to be confident that their rights are being recognized and that needs to be considered by the government.

Sarona: This is what I am talking about above. The Minister of the MNRE is still signing on behalf of the customary land owners. Let me just ask you Sala, why were the amendments made? Did you or the MNRE dream them up? Or was this a direct response to the 4 matais complaint? Anyway, I still see no good reason why in the amendments, does the Minister have to co-sign with a representative of the customary land owners during the leasing of customary lands. What is the ratio in terms of weight of right to approve or disapprove between the two? Or is it done in the usual pretentious government approach of purportedly good faith while the family representative is there only as a pawn.

Sala: According to Sala the lease of customary lands has been in the Constitution for more than 50 years. But I think the difficulty that our people are facing now is that it sounds foreign. The majority dont have any idea of what that means, and it really comes down to advocacy work and for you as a customary land owner to implement the use of the lease. You need to come on board and create a lease because its available.

Sarona: This is simply a pathetic cover up Sala. Now you are inviting the Samoans to come on board but why were they not properly consulted 50 years ago? Even a kid can see that this is not true. You are now putting the blame on the Samoans as if they had prior knowledge of the leasing mechanism and how it works. Please note, in the past, the Samoan people did not understand about leasing of customary lands, not because they were not interested, but because the government never did its rightful duty to its citizens  that is, they need to be properly consulted in a manner that is meaningful to the Samoan social and cultural values and not the way employed by consultation specialist and CLAC recently, which attracted only 2000 people (1% of total population).

Sala: At the end of the day, government has no rights over customary lands.

Sarona: Oh how I wish this is the gospel truth. Alas, it is with a heavy heart that I have to accept the fact that at the end of the day, the customary land owners will lose their inheritance from the CREATOR GOD  the customary lands, through a faulty legal system that fails terribly to right the wrong, but instead, continues to pursue the interests of foreign investors and the minority local elite group, that associates intimately with the HRPP government.

Sala: She also made it clear that under our Constitution, it provides the opportunity for the Samoan people to make use of their customary land by way of lease for authorized purposes. There are a lot of families out there that are not coming under the law to use the provision of law and perhaps those are the ones that are having difficulties ensuring that the rights of the people that own the land are protected.

Sarona: I thank the good LORD for all those families who have decided against leasing their God-given inheritance. They are, in fact, wise and visionary. Indeed, the more Sala promotes the idea of customary lands being protected under the Constitution, the clearer we see the integrated entrapment woven into the legal framework to ensure the paramount goal that all customary lands in Samoa are alienated is achieved. Lets ask ourselves now, what is the likely scenario concerning Samoans and their customary lands in the next 50 years? Well my friends including you Sala, most of us will be dead by then, but my forecast is this no less than 50% of the Samoan customary land owners will be living as lessees on lands they once owned as their customary lands, unfortunately, that is no longer the case, because they have been alienated through the current faulty legal system, and as a result are held under fee simple freehold ownership. Lets see what your predictions are. In one of the 4 matais press releases, they challenged the Samoans about this dreadful scenario and we need to ensure that this will never happen.

Sala: There really needs for some full understanding of how the systems work in order for them to benefit, from relevant laws. For instance, the laws allows leases of customary lands for the purposes of Hotels development, for industrial purposes or manufacturing all those purposes. I suppose even the people that have money, do no entertain those particular opportunities. Thats where the setback comes in, in terms of promoting and making use of our customary land, she said.

Sarona: Ok Sala, we are hearing loud and clear. Your line of argument is totally focused upon making money over the environmental values  the very foundation of Samoas being party to UNCBD, UNFCCC and UNCCD. But I guess that is ok fine, after all, we need to earn money to make ends meet. But let me just propose another setting whereby an environmental economist teams up with an ecologist come along and offer to conduct a biodiversity audit and an environmental accounting of the land proposed for development. The findings may not be very convincing initially but if the team is given amble opportunities to elaborate and to link all the necessary life giving services and products provided by the biodiversity and the encompassed ecological systems within the earmarked land, a clear understanding may then be developed within all parties involved that the best way to develop this piece of land is not for economic purposes like hotels but to establish a sustainable management strategy that support the family livelihood, and simultaneously promotes the health and status of the biodiversity embraced therein. By the way, ecosystems are very interesting entities, very similar to Samoans, they live in reciprocal relationships, they are interconnected and are interdependent. For example, if one ecosystem is destroyed, a lot more ecosystems will diminish and eventually become extinct as a result. I am not an expert in this field but I heard people talking about it so I just looked for some real life examples, and yes, what I heard is true. Look at the Fasitootai mangroves for example; some 30 years ago there were plenty mangrove crabs in this pocket mangroves. Today however, very few are caught. The determining factor appears to be the destruction of the mangroves. They say the mangroves provide a safe haven and food supply for mangrove crabs, the mangrove crabs in return provide numerous services that benefit humans and other ecosystems in the mangroves.

Sala: According to Sala, 81% of Samoas lands are owned under communal basis. Our customary lands manned by the Chiefs, because its our Chiefs that are the leaders of our lands, our families, our titles, everything to do with our customs. And if the chief is not alert or perhaps fully aware of these opportunities with the support of his or her family then theres always a challenge and I suppose why the leases are not being widely used throughout the years. As I stated during my presentation only 300 leases have been registered and that only comes to less than 1% of 81% of customary land.

Sarona: Thanks Sala for raising the issue about the chiefs. This is very important because prior to the amendments you alluded to, customary lands belonging to all the extended families can be registered under the paramount chief of the family. This is very risky, because the Torrens system does not recognise collective ownership. The system only recognises the name on the certificate of title. So what happens if the paramount chief dies before making a will that fairly distribute the customary lands for all members of the extended family? This is a disaster. Also, the paramount chief can now use these extended family customary lands to secure his/her own personal loans, making them very vulnerable to alienation through loan default as described above. So again I challenge your view because they fail to provide any substantial information with real meaning and substance to improve the lot of all Samoans.

Sala: Understand that not all customary lands are presented in an economic sort of way but there are opportunities for our people that are more valuable like the tourism. Like families who have land on the coast lines. Families that are actually in a very elevated, nice ocean view, I suppose its really a matter of our people coming on board asking questions, wanting to know more about utilizing the leases and also for the government to do more promotions and these opportunities of the lease of customary land thats been in place for more than 50 years.

Sarona: I have a real first-hand experience with what you are saying Sala, and let me share this with you and hopefully, you will come to appreciate that what you are preaching is exactly the opposite of what you mean. I have provided above, a brief summary of what happened in the Utumalama land when it was leased out to a foreign investor. The 1.5km long white sandy beachfront was uniquely beautiful surrounded by clear blue lagoons with plenty coral cover  definitely not made for swimming. The inland side was wetland  it supported a rich variety of coastal and rare plant species, which means this piece of land holds ecological significance and must be protected for the sake of ecosystems themselves, as well as for the human community which depended to some extent, upon the products and services this unique landscape provided. Well that scenario has long gone; with leasing, the lessee saw no importance in ecology and the biophysical environment, but the focus was totally on making money. Somewhere in the Bible says the love of money is the cause of many evils. The saying is completely true in this case - the virgin cove investment in Utumalama is responsible for the destruction of a tremendous amount of natural landscapes and the associated biodiversity and ecosystems. The natural ecosystem services which the human community derived part of the livelihood is gone. I was informed that the damage inflicted is irreversible due to the seriousness of destruction. A very, very, sad story Sala; I hope others will learn from the mistake of our family which once owned Utumalama land.

O gai mokugaafa ga e lafo aku i luma mea aua foi la kakou faasoa i legei lava makaupu kaua kele, ia uu mau lou kofi Samoa. E le aoaia e Laupua Kamafaiga, e le faakogua foi e le makapia le magaia, a ole olega a le pu-make, o eleele o lo kakou kofi mai le AKUA FOAFOA. Ole kakalo ma le loto maualalo, ia mau pea le koovae ile kofa faakamalii ma le faaukaukaga faa-faleupolu, ia kakou puipui i lo kakou ola o kakou eleele. Ia kaofi mau pea iai, kusa lava poo a fika e oo mai, pe oo mai foi le oki, ia kakou loko kekele ma faamalolosi ma uu mau lo kakou kofi mo gei ma a kaeao. Ole upu a Paulo le aposekolo o guuese, ..O lou ola ua ia Keriso, a o lou oti o lou manuia lea. E magaia foi upu a le kupu akamai o Solomoga, i laga kusi o Failauga 12:1 Ia manatua LE na faia oe i onapo o lou taulealea. Lafo pea ile aufaigaluega a le AKUA la lakou matafaioi, ae kalikonu le kaofi ua i fale le makega ole aso, o la kakou gafa kauave ole kausi ma puipui le foafoaga a le SILISILIESE aua e ala mai ai le kauisga o lo oukou soifua maua ma sou gei ola.

Faamaglo le augaauga vaivai pe afai ua sala le gagana.

Sarona Saifaleupolu
Young people should make the most of the educational opportunities presented to them.

Thats the opinion of Faavaoga Siupolu, 66, of Tuanai, who believes that with the wide availability of learning resources, children of today hardly have an excuse for failing school.

The father and grandfather lives in New Zealand.

He is in Samoa to visit his family and spoke with the Village Voice yesterday.

He used, as an example, the brand new school building at his village funded by Japan.

I am so amazed by this new project funded by Japan, he said. These are the kinds of changes that I love seeing in Samoa, changes that will benefit our children.

I mean, if we want better education for our children, this is the first step. It starts at primary level.

Faavaoga is grateful for funding assistance. He said a new school building will go a long way to educate current and future generations of the village.

Faavaoga also shared his opinion about the differences between living in the village and in the town area.

Theres a huge difference, he said.

People in the village work together in building the lives of children. There are strict laws that regulate the lives of young people.

In the town area, its a place where you can do whatever you want to do. Its your own freewill, and there are a range of places that detract children from going to school.

For example, parents send their children to get an education in Apia but they skip school instead because they have other places they want to go to.

Getting back to education opportunities, the 66-year-old believes times have changed and Samoan schools should look at adapting to fit the changes.

It would be nice if the Japanese Embassy in Samoa was to bring in some computers or laptops for the students to use, he said.

We live in an age of technology and that will go a long way to help these young people progress all the way to the top.
4-5 vehicles fell down into Kondli canal after the garbage dump collapsed in Ghazipur.

By Pooja Shali: A garbage dump caved in at East Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site today killing two persons, including a woman.

A car and a two-wheeler, which were plying next to the mountain of garbage, fell down into the Kondli canal which flows near the landfill site.

A woman who was riding a two-wheeler fell into the canal. Her body was fished out later on by the rescue team.

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Another bike rider who had fallen into the canal was rescued safely. About four-five vehicles are reportedly trapped under the debris.

#LatestVisuals: Rescue operations underway in #Delhi's Ghazipur area where a garbage dump caved in. pic.twitter.com/GRMgGEbkfL; ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

East Delhi MCD mayor Neema Bhagat confirmed that two persons have been killed in the incident. She blamed the Delhi government for poor maintenance of the landfill site, which is spread across 70 acres.

Delhi Fire Service (DFS), which got a call about the incident around 2.45 pm, sent 4-5 JCB machines to the spot for rescue operations.

"We have taken out five people from the canal and rushed them to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital," an official said.

Rescue operations are underway. A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel is on the spot to coordinate all relief and rescue operations.

The landfill site falls under the jurisdiction of the EDMC (East Delhi Municipal Corporation).

East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat said a portion of the garbage mound collapsed due to rains.

"A portion of that (collapsed garbage mound) then fell into one of the canals close to it and the water splashed on to some moving vehicles throwing them into another flank of the canal," Bhagat claimed.

Visited Ghazipur site. Its man made disaster. Criminal. Mountains of garbage. Why doesn't MCD use modern technology to manage solid waste?; Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 1, 2017

Also Watch:

Garbage dump collapse in Delhi's Ghazipur kills 2, vehicles trapped

--- ENDS ---
Minister of Health, Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama, was among Health ministers from 20 Pacific island countries who convened in the Cook Islands this week for the 12th Pacific Health Ministers Meeting.

The biennial gathering seeks to reaffirm the importance of the Healthy Islands vision in promoting and protecting the health of the Pacific islands people.

The Healthy Islands vision is to strengthen leadership, governance and accountability; nurture children in body and mind; reduce avoidable disease and premature death; and promote ecological balance.

It has served as a unifying theme for health protection and promotion in the Pacific since it was adopted at the first Pacific Health Ministers Meeting on Yanuca Island, Fiji in 1995. It reflects the comprehensive, integrated approach to health that is a hallmark of the World Health Organization (W.H.O) in the Western Pacific Region.

Key issues discussed in this years three-day meeting include: a Healthy Islands monitoring framework; universal health coverage; health information systems; rheumatic heart disease; health workforce development in the Pacific; noncommunicable diseases including childhood obesity; mental health; emerging diseases and disaster preparedness and response; and climate change and health.

In his welcome speech, the Cook Islands Minister of Health, Nandi Glassie stated each country should and are expected to define its own health system priorities and path to better health for all its citizens.

In the Cook Islands, primary health care has been an organizing principle for its health system as it encompasses a public health approach as well as individual care at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

The biannual ministers meetings and ongoing work of health professionals, government ministries and donor partners have helped establish the Healthy Islands movement as a major public health force in the Pacific, and one which is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 goal of universal health coverage, in which all people get quality health services without suffering financial hardship.

At the opening ceremony of the meeting in Rarotonga, Dr. Shin Young-soo, W.H.O. Regional Director for the Western Pacific, congratulated health ministers for their achievements to date, and called for increased investment in health across the Pacific, with training of additional doctors and nurses and expansion of services to tackle some of the regions major health challenges.

The rapidly rising burden of noncommunicable disease is a particularly worrisome trend. We have seen good progress -- for instance, in reducing tobacco use and improving physical activity levels in some areas -- and there has been strong political recognition of the N.C.D. crisis in the Pacific, said Dr Shin. I congratulate you on your leadership and firm commitment to addressing it.

But, we need to do much more -- especially to defuse impending crises such as the sharp increase in childhood obesity. W.H.O. remains committed to supporting Pacific island countries to do this.

The above was further reinforced by the Director General of the Pacific Community (S.P.C.), Dr Colin Tuikuitonga who said, N.C.D.s continue to be the main health burden for us as Pacific islanders, but thanks to the leadership of our ministers, we as a region are leading the fight against N.C.D.s on many fronts.
Think a minute it can take years to find the right job and career, but only days to lose it! Here are some negative character traits and attitudes that can crash your career, and take away your job security and ability to provide for your family.

The number one way to ruin your career is to have weak or negative people skills. Most people prefer to work with someone who is less-skilled but kind and enjoyable to work with -- rather than be stuck working every day with a highly-skilled jerk.

A second way to crash your career is to work only for yourself and your own personal gain rather than being a team player. Dont keep trying to outshine your fellow workers, or simply use them to climb higher in your company.

Instead, try to help your boss and fellow workers do well also. Remember, this will also build your network of friendships, as well as a happier work environment and experience every day.

A third way to ruin your job security and future is to be unreliable and irresponsible. My friends father taught him: Son, always work hard and do your best so you are worth your wages and your boss does not want to lose you. Ask yourself: If I was my boss, should I trust me as a loyal, productive and honest worker?

A fourth way you can ruin your career is to have no goals. You will not have a career to crash if you do not even want to get it off the ground. If you have no purpose or passion for your work, you will have to endure your unhappy career every day of your life.

A fifth and final way to hurt your successful career is if you are afraid of risk or failure. Remember, The greatest risk is never taking one. If you do not believe in yourself, no one else will! Instead of saying, Ive never done that, you should say, I can learn how to do it. Always look for the opportunity to grow and learn from every situation and experience.

You were created to succeed. Wont you ask your maker to help you reach your potential by changing your wrong attitudes, habits and character traits? With Him in charge of your heart, He can daily lead you into the life of personal and professional success He created you to have and enjoy. Just think a minute
A woman has been appointed as the Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Superintendent Monalisa Tiai-Ketis appointment was confirmed by the Samoa Police Service (S.P.S) in a social media post.

Supt. Monalisa joined the Police Service in 2004 as a young female Constable.

She is a former Samoa College student and a graduate of Waikato University, with a Bachelor in Social Science as well as from the University of Wollongong, NSW Australia with a Masters in Transnational Crime issues.

She has managed to climb her way through the ranks during her 13-year career within the S.P.S.

She is one of a few senior female officers appointed to this role to act as an Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police.

This is in line with the Ministrys goal of gender equality and gender balance in the Policing working environment in an executive role.

She was also working in various sections of the Police including the C.I.D, H.R, Policy and Planning and the Transnational Crime Unit (T.C.U).

She is currently the Officer In charge of the Police Training Section and she has introduced changes to the training curriculum of the S.P.S.

Supt. Monalisa is married with three kids and she hails from the villages of Sapapalii, Vailuutai and Magiagi.

The Samoa Police Service wishes to congratulate Supt Monalisa on her appointment and the best of luck for the future.
It is not often you meet a Kiwi millennial.

But here we are in 2017 and we find Wellington hipster, Rupert, chilling out at Krush in Motootua waiting on his toasted vege panini.

Rupert told Dear Tourist that he and a couple of friends were here to celebrate their mates 30th birthday and that it has been a pretty chilled out affair.

He already celebrated it in New Zealand last weekend but we all came over here to meet up with him, he said.

We went to Paddles last night for his birthday dinner and we had a few drinks, it was good fun. Its pretty good there eh? I really liked the service and the food was real good. The best in Samoa, I recommend the pork.

Rupert of Wellington tells that its his first time to Samoa and he has found it to be what he expected.

Ive been all around the world but its my first time here, the people are real friendly here, he said.

He and his mates have hired scooters to get around the island and naturally the heat prevents them from going all the way round.

But Rupert tells us that they did manage to get to some hot spots.

The highlights have been going to To Sua and then we went to a few surf spots. I dont surf, Im pretty useless but my mates do so went to watch them. Ive just been chilling out in the sun and cruising around. Its freezing in Wellington apparently its been raining the whole week.

As was expected from a Millennial, we took a break so Rupert could take a picture of us to update his snapchat story about being interviewed by the Samoa Observer and after he was satisfied we continued with our chat.

Yeah I would definitely recommend Samoa, its a real nice place to come hang and chill out, he said.

Were staying at the Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys which I thought was real nice and tidy. The pool is really nice and the Casino is good. We found out quite late that they had a Casino, we had been staying there for four nights before we stumbled onto the Casino.

We havent tried out too much of the local foods, we had a taste of it with the Samoan buffet we had the other night but the food has been real good where ever we have been. This place (Krush) is real awesome. Im not vegetarian - nah no way! but its real good, I like it.

Rupert and his friends are definitely taking each day as it comes preferring to go with the Island flow.

We havent really been out on the town, weve just kind of been relaxing really. Its a bit of a relaxing holiday than anything else. Weve had a few beers every night and weve just been hooning around on our scooters.


The nine contestants vying for the McDonalds Miss Samoa crown 2017 took on Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi in a friendly exchange to kick off the pageant on Friday.

The contestants hosted the Prime Minister as their guest of honour at the S.T.A Cultural Village.

The Q&A jump-started the pre-pageant preparations, initiated by the Samoa Events Incorporated (S.E.I) using the week leading up to the event to prepare the contestants through briefing sessions with high-level officials as well as Cabinet Ministers and even the Prime Minister.

The goal was to broaden the contestants knowledge on Samoas developments, growth, challenges and achievements.

The ultimate aim is for the next Miss Samoa to be more than prepared for the Miss Pacific Pageant in Fiji later in the year.

And the friendly confrontation between the Prime Minister and the nine beauties turned out to be an eye opener for the young contestants.

For them it was an experience of a lifetime as they witnessed firsthand the revered Tuilaepas sense of humor.

Issues from gender equality to increasing Samoa womens participation in Parliament, to Information Communication Technology, family planning, shortage of medical supplies, to criticisms against his leadership, the Prime Minister was precise with his responses but many a times, he was humorous.

For instance; one of the contestants asked why he remains opposed to family planning?

I was only pulling their legs, Tuilaepa responded.

Every time the Manu Samoa loses, I blame our meager population of 180,000 or so which has remained the same for years and yet Fijis population is soaring to over 1 million giving the Fijians the advantage when it comes to pool players to select their national side.

Like every Samoa we hate to see the Manu Samoa lose especially me (as Chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union). So I cook up a smoke screen to duck the vile criticisms using our population as a shield. I was only pulling their chain.

But is reality, its common knowledge that if the Prime Minister had not stepped in as Chairman of the Rugby Union a decade ago, there would be no more Manu Samoa or Samoa 7s today after British Banker and Billionaire Sir Michael Faye pulled the plug in millions of dollars of sponsorship for the national side.

Sir Faye had invested well over $5 million pounds into the Manu Samoa campaigns for a number of years before he withdrew.

On a serious note, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to share the government vision behind the creation of the Pageant as a vehicle to profile Samoa to the world as the best tourism haven and also safe and secure for overseas investments.

As the main stay of Samoas economy, Tuilaepa says that tourism remains a government priority and the Miss Samoa Pageant is one of the vehicles profiling the country as a tourism destination.

The Pageant is more than a Beauty contest.

It represents the empowerment of Samoa women as achievers and main contributors to our countrys well-being and well fare.

Its also an investment to sustain our tourism revenues for the benefit of our accommodation, transport, handicrafts sectors and even farmers who are benefactors of the tourism dollars. And its crucial that we maintain the drive and innovation to entice tourists to visit our country.

Thats why as Miss Samoa, you will be our ambassadors to show the world the beauty of our country through your appearance, your intelligence and your pride as a Samoan lady.

As for future leaders aspiring to be the next Tuilaepa; The Prime Ministers response; Read the Book (Palemia Memoirs.) It has everything they need to know.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has slammed the door shut on a call to legalise abortion in Samoa.

The long serving Prime Minister has also shot down any hopes that same sex marriage could one day be allowed.

Government will never ever accept legalising abortion for any purposes regardless, Tuilaepa said.

It is murder and similar to giving our women the license to kill.

And that is absolutely against our religious Christian values, and beliefs. Its also totally against our culture and our way of life.

The same goes for same sex marriage. It will never be accepted by government because it undermines our tradition and our culture.

Tuilaepa made the comments in response to a story from the Samoa Observer where the Ministry of Health is pushing to amend abortion laws. According to a copy of the National HIV, AIDS, and STI Policy 2017-2022 obtained by the Samoa Observer, the Ministry of Health believes abortion is critical especially for victims of rape and sex crimes.

Abortion is illegal in Samoa, the report reads. Access to abortion services is critical to the health and wellbeing of (people living with) PLWHIV, dealing with a sexually transmitted infection, and survivors of rape and incest.

Laws around abortion need to be amended to adequately address access to abortion for HIV positive women, and legal interventions for increasing access to Sexual Assault and SRH Services need to be developed.

But Prime Minister Tuilaepa would not have any of it. He is adamant.

Although I am not privy to the report containing these recommendations, it will not change the government stand point, he said.

I pray that this is the last time that these issues are brought to the government and my attention because its a useless waste of government stationary and time to acknowledge or even to respond to such suggestions.

Tuilaepa is well supported on the streets.

Abortion is a sin, said Penaia Tolai of Vailele.

According to the Bibles Ten Commandments, it says that thou shall not kill. I am strongly against this. We live in an age of human rights but this should not be allowed. We either respect God or we dont. And his word is clearly against such actions.

Vitolia Stowers said legalising abortion would create other problems.

Its not just against the Bible, she said, imagine what will happen to all those young girls who will just go off and get pregnant knowing they can just have an abortion?

Silipa Iasepi, of Tulaele, agrees.

I dont agree to change the law. If anything I think the law should be strengthened so that whoever is caught is jailed. We dont want to encourage the killing of innocent lives.

Jofi Aiomanu added: Abortion is the same as killing. I dont support it. This talk has to stop. Why did they want to make a baby and later end up aborting it? Thats so wrong.

In Samoa, abortion is considered an offense under the Crimes Act 2013 Sections 111-116 in the following scenarios; procuring an abortion or miscarriage for any person by any means (instrument or ingesting drugs or toxins); person procuring their own miscarriage and supply the means for a person to procure an abortion.

The Health report however says that abortion is not considered an offense if the pregnancy is under 20 weeks gestational age; the person performing the abortion is a registered medical practitioner; the person doing the act believes the continuance of the pregnancy would result in serious danger to the life or mental health of the person and the person is contemplating suicide, very young and/or was raped.

In solidifying their case to amend the local laws, the Ministry of Healths Policy Report quoted a case law out of New Zealand of R v Woolnough, Dr Woolnough where at the trial had shown doctors need not fear a prosecution for performing abortions as long as they claimed they believed it was necessary to avert a danger to mental health. Doctors claiming to interpret "health" within the framework of the World Health Organisations definition were on safe ground.

For a prosecution to be successful it would require that all of the members of the jury be convinced, beyond reasonable doubt, that the doctor did not believe what he said he believed.

Furthermore the Policy Report says the case demonstrated that an abortion is not unlawful if the pregnant woman was contemplating suicide or was raped.

It is also likely the circumstances extend beyond this to situations where pregnancy is the product of an incestuous relationship and where the pregnant girl is very young.

Arguably it extends even further to circumstances that would create significant negative emotional consequences for the woman where it is believed this would lead to a serious danger to the womans mental health.

Although abortion is legal in the previous cases, access to safe abortion within the country is severely lacking, and most cases are referred overseas.

There needs to be a legal analysis to assess the law, the interpretation, the inconsistency of case law, and ultimate population access to quality services.

Once gaps between legality and access have been formally assessed the National HIV/AIDS and STI Policy will be updated to put forth guidelines that are first, compliant to national laws and secondly are aligned with donor regulations.
With the retirement of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institutes CEO on Sept. 30 , Kristiina Vuori, M.D. is reprising a familiar role.

For the second time in five years, the physician-researcher takes over on an interim basis until a replacement can be found for Perry Nisen, M.D., the outgoing CEO.

And no, Vuori, the biomedical institutes president says she is not considering taking the job permanently. Her commitment and focus remains on science, including her own work in studying cancer.

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Once a small, specialized center focused on cancer, the institute has expanded to tackling huge classes of diseases.

The center can do so because its finances has been buoyed in recent years by titanic gifts  including one of $275 million  that help pay for the research and equipment the scientists need to perform the research.

Of all the major academic biomedical centers in San Diego, the institute is perhaps the most advanced in allying with drug companies. It not only strikes up partnerships, but provides specialized equipment and dedicated facilities to help drug companies help advance research to clinically meaningful products.

The drug company partnerships, as part of a larger institutional strategy, continue as before.

Absolutely nothing has changed, Vuori said.

The institutes course was laid out in a strategic plan adopted in 2013, Vuori said. That plan called for a two-part mission of biological research and therapeutics discovery.

On one hand, the Institute performs basic research on human biology and disease. At the same time, the Institute aspires to increasingly transform that knowledge into new diagnostics and therapeutics.

An essential element in speeding basic biomedical discoveries to patients is forming more partnerships with health care entities and drug companies.

This is far afield from the old concept of academic research being partitioned off from business. Academic-commercial collaboration aims to speed up the translation of basic research into useful therapies.

Mega-donors such as T. Denny Sanford and the late Conrad Prebys have made it clear this translation is an urgent priority. The $275 million anonymous gift that supports the strategic plan was targeted not only at enhancing basic research, but also at speeding up translational research, Vuori said.

The strategic plan essentially envisions SBP as supported by two pillars, Vuori said.

On the one hand, SBP will discover the causes of disease, and then use that knowledge to invent cures, she said.

Corporate collaboration is especially important to the second pillar.

We cant do it alone, Vuori said.

Non-profit research institutes are poorly equipped to commercialize discoveries, she said. Beyond a certain point, a drug or biomedical company must take the lead.

The CEOs role is to make sure the two pillars are solidly built, maintained and integrated, she said.

Challenges

The institute sustained a major setback just as this plan was adopted, with the untimely death in 2013 of biomedical leader Duane Roth, who was chairman-elect.

Another biomedical champion, Greg Lucier, took his place, but stepped down a few years later after completing his term.

Hank Nordhoff, a biomedical veteran with deep local experience, is the current chairman.

The institute has also struggled with finances to keep its Florida campus operating in Lake Nona, a community in Orlando. That campus was opened a decade ago with hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local incentive funds.

But those funds have run out, and the envisioned funding from research grants, corporate partners and local philanthropy hasnt materialized. And a plan to turn over the campus to the University of Florida failed amid intense opposition from the state of Florida.

Right now, we are continuing the process of finding a sustainable solution to continue biomedical research at Lake Nona, Vuori said. It does not mean that its SBP that continues; SBP may be a future collaborator at Lake Nona, or the effort could be headed by some other entity.

The institute also faces challenges common to all biomedical research. Technological advances can speed up translational research, and the need for new therapies is pressing.

But federal funding for this research from the National Institutes of Health is under pressure as the government struggles with budgetary priorities.

People need to realize there is this ongoing tension, Vuori said.

The only way we can continue to create great innovations is to protect federal funding. In the absence of that, we all have to be enormously creative in how we continue to fund this and feed the pipeline, that brings lifesaving products.

The institutes large philanthropic donations have sustained its finances while federal funding gets harder to get, she said.

Keeping commitments

Throughout all these challenges, SBP has been making good on its commitments, she said. Current alliances with drug companies include ones with:

Eli Lilly & Co. on autoimmune diseases.

Daiichi Sankyo, on cardiovascular-metabolic diseases.

Boehringer Ingelheim on multiple drug discovery projects.

A collaboration with the British drug company GSK is intimate. A laboratory at the institute is staffed by both partners. The total headcount has risen to 10, from an initially contemplated 6 to 8.

The institute continues to advance on the basic science front. In May, for example, a study demonstrating just how lithium relieves bipolar disorder symptoms was published by a team led by SBP stem cell researcher Evan Snyder, M.D.

While lithium is cheap and safe if used correctly, only one-third of bipolar patients respond. So armed with knowledge of how lithium works at the cellular level, researchers can look for more effective drugs.

Measured by the number of early-stage projects in SBPs drug discovery pipeline, the institute has met the strategic plans objectives, Vuori said. These projects are funded by research grants, philanthropy and from drug companies.

We have approximately doubled the commercially sponsored research agreements in the last couple of years, Vuori said. About 15 percent of SBPs overall grant and contract revenue comes from these agreements, or about $10 million annually.

Corporate partnerships arise both from outreach from the institute or by a drug company taking the initiative.

Sometimes we may have very interesting biology, as in the case of Dr. Snyder, Vuori said. A company may say, We are very interested in finding ways to sensitize patients to lithium. Can you help us?

In that case, the company can either supply its own technology to sift through potential drugs, or it could provide financial support for the institutes chemists to do it for them, she said.

Another possibility is that SBP could have already developed a candidate drug lead, and could license that compound to the company.

For further reading

CEO of SBP Medical Discovery Institute retires

Biotech veteran Hank Nordhoff new chairman of Sanford Burnham Prebys

Sanford Burnham Prebys rejects Floridas claim for $77M repayment

Prebys gives $100M to Sanford-Burnham

Sanford-Burnham gets record $275M gift

Sanford Burnham Prebys, GSK, ally for neuroscience

Sanford-Burnham and Eli Lilly ally

Meet Sanford-Burnhams new CEO Perry Nisen

Sanford-Burnham loses CEO to Big Pharma

Sanford-Burnham taps Vuori to be its president

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Two neighboring downtown high-rises  at one time bank headquarters  have been sold for a combined $167.2 million.

Together, the two transactions present a 63.6 percent increase in value over the two prior sales, a reflection of the tightening downtown office market.

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The 530 B Street building sold for $57.7 million to San Francisco-based Swift Real Estate Partners, according to the CBRE brokerage that represented the buyer. The buildings current vacancy rate stands at 87.8 percent, according to CBRE.

The seller, Bosa Development, had bought the 232,936-square-foot, 24-story building for $53.2 million in February 2016. The Canadian company, best known for luxury condo towers downtown, had acquired the building as an investment.

Key tenants include Union Bank, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., National Conflict Resolution Center and a variety of law firms, communications companies and personal services.

The building originally opened as the headquarters of the First National Bank Building in 1966 and was designed by the firm known today as Tucker Sadler Architects.

The 600 B Street Building sold for $109.5 million, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler brokerage, which represented the sellers, Lincoln Property and Angelo, Gordon & Co. However, CoStar listed the price at $99.2 million.

The previous sale price was $49 million in 2012. The buyer was Rockwood Capital, based in New York City.

Opened in 1974, the 24-story, 359,278-square-foot high-rise was the headquarters of San Diego Federal Savings & Loan Association. It sold for only $6 million in 1995 in the wake of the failure of the S&L, renamed Great American Bank. Deems, Lewis & Partners was the architect.

Lincoln bought it for $49 million in 2012 when it was heading for a major drop in vacancy caused by the pending departure of city water and engineering departments.

Currently, the 600 Street Building is 89.7 percent leased with key tenants that include The San Diego Union-Tribune, MiTek and WeWork.

Nick Psyllos, HFF senior managing director, said in a statement that the buyer of 600 B Street considers the building an asset because of the expected tremendous future with the resurgence of the downtown San Diego market.

CBRE broker Louay Alsadek said that 530 B Street attracted buyer interest because of a significant decrease in vacancy downtown and a growing population in the area.

CoStar reports downtowns overall vacancy rate at its lowest in the last 10-year period  11 percent  down from a high of 17.1 percent in 2012.

A 10 percent vacancy rate typically indicates that more construction is needed, but no major high-rises have been announced.

That may be because developers have been unable to prelease 50 percent of a prospective building  the standard minimum lenders expect  said local commercial real estate consultant Gary London.

We have yet to see interest on the part of a large gorilla tenant in downtown, somebody that would take down in excess of 300,000 square feet, London said.

Demand currently comes from tenants wanting no more than 50,000 square feet, the equivalent of two floors of a full-block office tower.

In the last 20 years, London said, only about 700,000 square feet of offices has been built downtown out of 29 million square feet regionwide.

The bulk of new office development has clustered around tech and biotech employment centers, from La Jolla to Carlsbad, which are relatively close to suburban housing.

However, three factors may make downtown once again the regions preferred central business district, according to London:

- The younger generation of tech workers prefers to live in urban centers, and employers want to go where the talent is, as has been noted in San Francisco and Seattle. In San Diego, meanwhile, such workers are forced to commute from their hip downtown condos and apartments to office parks in Torrey Pines Mesa, Sorrento Mesa and Del Mar Heights.

- The arrival of a UC San Diego outpost by 2021 in East Village may convince companies to locate nearby and create a cluster that grows as it has done around the main UCSD campus.

- The advent of autonomous vehicles in the next decade may lower costs of development by eliminating the need for parking garages.

In a sense, downtown is catching up with the burbs in terms of housing units and population.

Thats why Im fairly optimistic that downtown is the next market to see some dynamic development occur, London said.

But for the next five years, he said he expects the market to tighten until at least one developer is able to lure a big tenant to anchor a new building.

For now, tenants can expect space to tighten and rental rates to grow from their present average asking rate of $2.51 per square foot per month. The best spaces are going for $4 to $5 per square foot per month  a rate high enough to cover construction costs, London said.

Business

roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley
E-commerce giant Amazon is cruising into San Diego with a circus-themed truck, called Treasure Truck, offering locals a potential steal of a deal on one product at a time.

The deals-on-wheels Treasure Truck got its start in Seattle, but the impossible-to-miss vehicles recently found permanent homes in metros such as Los Angeles, Boston and Miami. And now San Diego.

Amazon first announced a planned cross-country rollout in July.

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With Treasure Truck, Amazon customers who opt in will receive a text message highlighting a single deal when the truck is nearby. Deals arent offered every day or on a consistent schedule, leaving an element of mystery to the program.

Products include Amazon staples, local fare and seemingly random selections such as must-have electronics or wild fish fillets. Shoppers can buy the deal from their smartphone and then pick it up at the truck, with pickup times and locations listed in the Amazon app.

Those who are interested can text truck to 24193 to receive alerts when the companys Treasure Truck is in the area.

Amazon is leaving San Diegans in the dark as to when they can expect to see their first deal, as the company declined to share any specifics beyond the trucks arrival in San Diego.

Not to be confused with Amazons numerous delivery options  Prime, Prime Now, AmazonFresh  the Treasure Truck appears to be a means of testing online-to-offline commerce. The company could be collecting data on how people buy online and pick up in store so as to better understand how to use its brick-and-mortar properties, which now include 460 Whole Foods stores.

Treasure Truck is reminiscent of Woot, the online deal-a-day website that Amazon purchased in 2010. Treasure Truck is available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando, San Diego, and Seattle.

Business

jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
If San Diegos Grolltex is correct, bendable display screens for smartphones, tablets and other gadgets arent the stuff of science fiction. Theyre just around the corner.

The two-year-old start-up has licensed technology developed at UC San Diego to mass produce graphene  a strong, conductive material that is one-atom thick.

Now used mostly by research labs  including contractors working for NASA  graphene has the potential to power the next generation of very accurate sensors, water desalination membranes and flexible electronics.

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Grolltexs formula of licensing technologies from local research universities to launch businesses is increasingly being touted as the equation that will drive Southern Californias start-up economy.

There are great schools and research institutions here, particularly in life sciences  a lot of Nobel laureates, said Bill Maris, former head of Google Ventures, at the 15th annual San Diego Venture Summit this week. There is every reason to be optimistic that San Diego and Southern California should have an amazing next five or 10 years from a start-up perspective.

Organized by the San Diego Venture Group, the Venture Summit drew more than 670 people to downtown San Diego. The two-day gathering included 28 local start-ups pitching their companies to more than 120 venture capitalists.

Maris, who resides in San Diego, recently launched a $150 million venture fund called Section 32. He said Wednesday it was almost fully invested in young companies. The fund put money into start-ups in life sciences, crypto-currency and other sectors. He didnt offer more details about Section 32s portfolio.

I feel really excited about the companies we have been able to invest in, he said. I feel they represent the best opportunities I could find over the last 12 months, and we hope to continue that.

Maris was founder and chief executive of Google Ventures (GV), the corporate venture capital arm of the Internet search giant. Over eight years, GV managed $2.5 billion and invested in more than 350 start-ups, including Uber, Nest, Slack and DocuSign.

Maris left Google in 2016 and started Section 32 in San Diego. He pointed to work by the Alliance for Southern California Innovation  headed by former California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner  as an example of how Southern California can double down on its strengths to become a mecca for start-ups.

Poizners group is working to streamline and standardize technology transfers out of the regions universities and research institutions in hopes of spawning more start-ups.

The Bay Area is an amazing place filled with smart, talented people, said Maris. There is a lot to love. There is also a tremendous amount of traffic. Real estate prices are inflated. The pay scales to hire talent are very difficult for start-ups. I think the Southern California ecosystem offers a lot of things that are solutions to those problems.

A handful of San Diego start-ups showed off their technologies at the Venture Summit, including several that have roots in UC San Diego.

Nanome, for example, pairs virtual reality gear with computer modeling software to help pharmaceutical companies design new drugs. The company was founded by four UCSD students and recently raised $680,000 in seed funding. It is working to expand its virtual reality tools into other molecular design fields.

NanoCellect Biomedical has licensed technology from the university to produce a cell-sorting device for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Its akin to a Coinstar machine but for cell biologists, said Will Alaynick, chief operating officer.

Just as Coinstar sorts out a mixture of coins, this can un-mix a mixture of cells, said Alaynick. So if I am doing stem cell research and made liver cells, but maybe only 10 percent of my mixture is liver cells. I can get them out in this machine.

Grolltex, which raised $1 million in seed funding, is making graphene mostly for research now. But the company believes it is just a matter of time before it shows up in products, said Chief Executive and co-founder Jeff Draa.

The way to think about graphene is that today silicon is a very important material for devices, but someday silicon is going to start to run out of gas, said Draa. Device makers are going to seek other materials, and we think graphene is an important material to replace (silicon) for some applications.

Business

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
By PTI: (Eds: Adding details after para 13)

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Economic growth in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017-18 is expected to soar to 7- 7.5 per cent on the back of good monsoon and clarity over GST, Niti Aayogs new Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said today. Indias GDP growth rate slid to a 3-year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter (April-June), mainly on account of a slump in manufacturing.

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"I am confident that in the July-September quarter, economy will grow by 7-7.5 per cent. Destocking, which was in anticipation of GST rollout, has completed and now, there is more clarity on the new tax regime," said Kumar during a media interaction here, who today took over as Vice-Chairman replacing Arvind Panagariya. "Also, monsoon is good. Many IPOs are in the offing. FDI and FIIs are also increasing." The noted economist, however, cautioned against taking the June quarter growth blip as a trend. On the effect of demonetisation, he held that it impacted growth in the first quarter as by then the currency shortage triggered by the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9 last year was over.

Kumar explained the growth slide in terms of destocking by manufacturers in anticipation of GST rollout from July 1. Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singhs statement that demonetisation would hit economic growth by about 2 per cent, Kumar said quarterly data cannot be used to derive such conclusions. "With due respect to my mentor Manmohan Singh, this quarterly data cannot be used to say look GDP will drop by 1 -2.5 per cent... There has been successive drop in GDP growth. There is a historical experience, every country which has taken fundamental governance reform has seen shrinkage in output," the vice-chairman of the premier think-tank added.

Pitching for formulating a policy to generate jobs, Kumar said, "We need to develop our own models. That model will have meet the critical task of generating jobs... whether it is unemployment or under-employment, its not the point. The point is we have created jobs, we have met aspirations of young people." Kumar termed issues related to farmers distress as "real phenomena, not imaginary". "I am in favour of making agriculture more remunerative. And I also believe that the government should reduce interferences in the agriculture sector," he observed. Asked by when the Aayog will finalise its 15-year Vision Document, Kumar replied that a great amount of work has gone into it. The new vice-chairman signalled that he wants external advisors to join the policy body and would like to work with groups of states. Kumar talked of his priority, which is to carry forward the spirit of Team India for a better future, keeping in mind aspirations of millions across the country. He also underlined the need to bring in out-of-the-box thinking and ideas to bring about transformational changes to fulfil the prime ministers dreams of a Shreshtha Bharat. Noting that policy making should not be elitist and rather should be rooted in ground realities, Kumar made the point that "participative governance involving various sections of society can ensure development becomes a mass movement". Kumar also said he intends to visit all states over the next three months. PTI BKS CS ARD

--- ENDS ---

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A gasoline-electric hybrid minivan sounds like the worst of both worlds, but Chrysler does it right  for those who fit the user profile.

Chryslers Pacifica Hybrid is a plug-in (PHEV) electric vehicle with a battery driving range of 33-35 miles, give or take. The hybrid system with a 96-cell lithium-ion battery pack (16 kWh total energy) is integrated with a 3.6-liter Atkinson cycle V-6. Together, the power system has 360 horsepower.

And thank you, Chrysler, for using a V-6 rather than a turbocharged four-cylinder. The bigger engine has the pulling power (262 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 rpm) to move this big people mover when the battery driving ends and the system switches to gasoline power. The eFlite dual motor transmission gives immediate acceleration off the line and holds the force right up to cruising power, though the V-6 can be noisy on hard acceleration. The moment of transition from electric to fuel is transparent with no change in performance.

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The need for a V-6 is apparent from the curb weight of 4,987 pounds, which is 657 pounds heavier than the gasoline Pacifica. The hybrids fuel economy ratings are 84 MPGe, which combines the gas and electric driving range. The EPAs combined city/highway mileage of 32 mpg is close to my average of 30.8 to 31 mpg. Those numbers compare to an average of 21 to almost 23 mpg in my testing last year of the Pacifica V-6; both powertrains require 87 octane fuel.

Chrysler advertises a 566-mile driving range, but that would be hopeful in my week of testing, which included a round-trip to the Los Angeles airport and back to San Diego. I filled up before the run and the onboard computer claimed a range of about 350 miles; the hybrid battery had just 13 miles remaining (Id forgotten to plug in before my departure). Still, the trip used just about half of the 17-gallon tank.

Using the onboard charger to plug into household current would require 14 hours to charge a depleted battery  or in as little as two hours using the optional 240-volt home-charging unit. Many users could be happy with an overnight charge or at least try it out before deciding to upgrade to the 240-volt home system and its installation costs.

The seven-seat Pacifica Hybrid is sold in Premium and Platinum trim levels with seating for seven or eight. Pricing starts at $43,090, including the $1,095 freight charge from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A comparably equipped gasoline model will easily cost $44,000.

Todays Platinum tester had a starting price of $46,090 and was $47,885 as-tested with the tri-pane panoramic sunroof, $1,795. Warranty coverage includes 10 years/10,000 miles for the hybrid system and high-voltage battery.

Standard equipment is near-luxury in content and includes smartkey locking and push-button ignition, leather-trimmed and perforated upholstery with heated front seats, a 7-inch color touch screen with Chryslers excellent Uconnect infotainment system. Other extras include eight air bags, a hands-free power liftgate and dual side doors, rear air conditioning and eight-way power drivers seat.

The Platinum adds an eight-way power front passenger seat and ventilated front seats, a 13-speaker Alpine audio theater package with seatback video screens, a Blu-Ray player and dual HDMI ports. Other upgrades include a third-row USB port, active noise cancellation and a 115-volt household plug. Advanced safety technologies include blind spot alert with cross-path detection, parallel and perpendicular parking assist, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, full speed forward collision warning and lane-departure warning.

The Pacifica interior design downplays minivan and instead feels more like a redefined luxury transport that is not a sedan. The cabin is roomy and inviting when traveling with friends. Driver sightlines are unhindered and assisted by a standard 360-degree camera with guidance lines and an overhead view. There are a plethora of electronic device ports, cup holders and smart storage areas.

The cabin is much quieter around town and at speed on the interstate than the gasoline model. The snug cabin in the tester was without a squeak, vibration or annoying itchy sound. The calmed environment contributed to a luxury perception and is a justifier to the selling price.

But the luxurious cabin is too nice to let kids trash it, climb on the seats and scuff the opulent leather upholstery. The second-row captains seats are ideal for transporting another couple, whether to dinner, casino night or a weekend adventure, with plenty of cargo space when the third row is folded flat.

This Chrysler is the only hybrid minivan on sale to date, but its not like there has been much demand from consumers. And the seven-seat hybrid SUV crossovers are not as people- or cargo-carrying friendly and they dont get terrific fuel economy.

Minivans have long been family wagons, used hard and traded in. But when parents become empty-nesters the ease, interior space and utility of a minivan isnt easy to give up. So for them, coming back and considering the Pacifica Hybrid would be a tempting transition.

2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Platinum

Body style : 7-seat, front-drive minivan

: 7-seat, front-drive minivan Engine : 260-hp, 3.6-liter Atkinson cycle V-6; 262 lb.-ft. torque at 4,000 rpm

: 260-hp, 3.6-liter Atkinson cycle V-6; 262 lb.-ft. torque at 4,000 rpm Battery pack : 96-cell lithium-ion, 16kWh total energy

: 96-cell lithium-ion, 16kWh total energy Transmission : eFlite dual motor electrically variable

: eFlite dual motor electrically variable Fuel economy: 32 mpg combined; 87 octane

SPECIFICATIONS

Fuel tank : 17 gal.

: 17 gal. Cargo space : 32.2-140.5 cu. ft.

: 32.2-140.5 cu. ft. Front head/leg room : 38.4*/41.1 in. *40.1 w/ sunroof

: 38.4*/41.1 in. *40.1 w/ sunroof 2nd row head/leg room : 39.6*/39 in. *38 w/sunroof

: 39.6*/39 in. *38 w/sunroof 3rd row head/leg room : 38.7/36.5 in. *38 w/sunroof

: 38.7/36.5 in. *38 w/sunroof Length/wheelbase : 203.8/121.6 in.

: 203.8/121.6 in. Curb weight : 4,987 lbs.

: 4,987 lbs. Turning circle: 39.7 ft.

FEATURES

Standard Platinum equipment includes: smartkey locking and push-button ignition, electric parking brake, 110-volt charging cord, hands-free power liftgate and dual side doors, three-zone climate control with rear air conditioning, eight-way power drivers seat, leather-trimmed and perforated upholstery with heated front seats, a 7-inch color touch screen and Chryslers excellent Uconnect infotainment system

Safety features include: 8 air bags, brake assist, stability and traction controls, rainy day braking and ready alert braking

PRICING
Del Mar will get the high-paying guests and their tax revenue, while Solana Beach will get the traffic, noise and other drawbacks from a 16-acre bluff-top resort proposed just north of Dog Beach at the mouth of the San Dieguito River.

Thats the opinion of Solana Beach Mayor Mike Nichols on the proposed resort, which will have 250 hotel rooms, 86 privately owned villas, meeting rooms, restaurants and trails. Although the resort will be built on land in Del Mar, the only access to the property would be from the appropriately named Border Avenue, which divides the two cities.

We are obviously concerned, Nichols said on Thursday. Del Mar gets all the TOT (transient occupancy tax) and we get all the traffic.

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The Robert Green Company and Zephyr, two Encinitas-based luxury developers, teamed up to acquire seven contiguous lots from three different families earlier this year for the project. One of the larger lots had recently been approved for five gated estates, an idea thats been scuttled to make way for the resort.

The site is essentially a triangle. One side looks out over the ocean, and one side looks over Camino Del Mar, also known as Coast Highway 101, along with the river and the nearby county fairgrounds. But the third side, which will have the resorts only entrance, faces north along a short, narrow street with apartments and condominiums in Solana Beach.

Del Mar recently reduced the lanes on southbound Camino Del Mar from two to one near the Solana Beach border, which slows traffic and sometimes causes vehicles to back up into Solana Beach.

That lane drop  is already causing problems, Nichols said. I can only see (the resort) adding congestion, noise and other difficulties.

Nichols said he and other Solana Beach officials have communicated with Del Mar and the developers, and that they are aware we have issues to work out.

Del Mar Councilman Dwight Worden acknowledged the Solana Beach concerns, and said Del Mar and the developers are working to address them.

We are committed to working with Solana Beach to make this work out for both cities, Worden said Wednesday.

Environmental studies required for the project will take a close look at traffic, noise, visual effects and other aspects of the proposed construction, Worden said, and the developer is committed to addressing community concerns.

It has a long way to go, but its off to a good start, Worden said.

The Del Mar City Council voted 4-1 in June to allow the developers to file a specific plan with the city, which helps to streamline the approval process for the project. That plan, among other things, will outline new zoning for the property, which is now low-density residential.

Del Mar Councilman Dave Druker cast the only negative vote, saying that before approving anything the city should take a closer look at the effects such a large project would have on both cities.

Traffic is an issue with any project, said Brad Termini, chief executive officer of Zephyr.

His company plans to build a roundabout at the hotel entrance and is looking at ways to redesign the intersection at Border Avenue and Camino Del Mar to better handle the flow of additional traffic, he said.

Both communities will benefit from the development, he said. Its trails and bluff-top park will be open to everyone, which promotes a state Coastal Commission goal of improving public access to the coast.

About 100 people attended a community meeting Wednesday at the Powerhouse Community Center to learn more about the proposed resort. It was the third such public meeting in recent months hosted by the developer to make residents more aware of the project.

The developer is proposing buildings up to 46 feet above ground level. Most of the parking will be below ground and out of sight. The city of Del Mar owns more than one acre of the southernmost bluff-top property near Dog Beach, and that area will be left undeveloped with public access.

The developer will need the Del Mar City Council and the Coastal Commission to approve the projects environmental impact report and then the specific plan before construction can begin.

Company officials said they hope to have all the approvals by late 2018 or early 2019.

The Robert Green Company built the Four Seasons Aviara Resort (now the Park Hyatt Aviara) in Carlsbad, the Everly Hotel in Hollywood, and the upscale Pendry Hotel, which opened earlier this year in San Diegos Gaslamp Qarter.

Zephyrs projects include The Park in Bankers Hill and three other luxury condominium buildings in San Diego.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
With 8-month-old son Angel nearby, Maria Hernandez dug into a box of shoes, separating pairs of sandals from leopard-print pumps on Friday morning. Behind her loomed stacks of sorted snacks, boxes of diapers, bulk packages of toilet paper, even a 50-pound bag of dog food.

Hernandez and her family members spent the day in the living room of her Escondido apartment, sorting through box after box of clothes, canned foods and more, donated by friends and family to be sent to flood-ravaged areas of Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Im glad that we are helping them out, stepsister Eneyra Espinoza, 25, said as she tended to Angel. Theres people that we dont even know that called us to donate.

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Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi last week as a Category 4 hurricane. Before it moved out, it dumped upwards of 50 inches of rain in some spots, flooding Houston and several other communities in southeast Texas. Thousands were displaced from their homes.

The grassroots effort to gather goods was the brainchild of Espinozas father (also Hernandezs stepfather), Octavio Aguilar, who is heading to Texas this weekend to drop off all the supplies that his family could gather.

Aguilar, who lived in Escondido for nearly a quarter-century before moving to Santa Ana for work three years ago, is an avid news-watcher who was moved to tears by the images coming out of Houston this past week.

When I saw a mom carrying a baby only with a towel, that broke my heart, Aguilar said, adding that he cried when he saw an image of an elderly woman in a wheelchair waiting for rescue.

Maria Hernandez, left, and her mother-in-law Trinidad Fletes sort through clothing and other items for victims of Hurricane Harvey as they prepare to box up the donated items in Hernandezs apartment in Escondido on Friday. The items were headed to Texas. (Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune)

By Monday, the 46-year-old Aguilar called his daughter, Heidi Frick, an Escondido native who now lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband. Aguilar pitched his plan to pull the backseats out of his 2005 Chevy Tahoe, load it up with goods and drive to Texas with his wife of 26 years.

Frick  whose husband had already taken his boat to Houston to help rescue people  backed her dads plan.

After Aguilar posted his plans on Facebook, people throughout North County and San Diego, including strangers, responded with stacks of donations.

So much came in, he rented an extra-large U-Haul trailer to tow behind the Tahoe. A buddy is paying for the rental. Aguilar is paying for the gas.

Aguilar hoped to drive through the night Friday and reach Texas by Saturday afternoon. His daughter is working to find a good place for him to take the donations. Hes hoping to get the haul to small towns that might get ignored.

And if more donations continue to come his way, Aguilar said he will do it all again in two weeks.

Its going to help people who really, really need it right now, Aguilar said.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
The family of Don Ward, the influential San Diego theater director, actor and mentor who died Aug. 22, has announced details of a celebration of life for the much-loved artist.

The public event will be held Oct. 15 at the Casa Del Prado Theatre, 1800 Village Place (at the corner of Old Globe Way) in Balboa Park.

Doors open for seating at 1:30 p.m.; the program begins at 2 p.m.

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The theater is the main performance space for San Diego Junior Theatre, an institution Ward was deeply involved in.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Junior Theatre, 1650 El Prado No. 208, San Diego, CA 92101. Donations also may be made online at juniortheatre.com.

jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @jimhebert
The first lesson of Kitten Kindergarten is that there is such a thing as Kitten Kindergarten.

When I told people at work I was coming here, no one could believe it even existed, said Brian Skarin of Normal Heights, co-owner of 10-week-old Jonesy. But once I started sending them pictures, everyone started saying, When are you going back to Kitten Kindergarten?

A new offering from the San Diego Humane Society, Kitten Kindergarten aims to turn squirrelly kittens into productive members of pet society. Or at least members of pet society who do not attack their owners toes in the middle of the night.

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You can lead your kittens to knowledge, but can you teach them anything? Ever? I stopped in on the last day of the August session to see what happens when you let the the cat curriculum out of the bag.

Kittens 101

The San Diego Humane Societys three-week Kitten Kindergarten training classes are designed to expose kittens to new environments, get them used to humans and other cats and prepare them for trips to the vet and other potentially stressful adventures.

The classes are good for the kittens because trained and socialized animals are less likely to run away or develop behavioral issues that could result in owners relinquishing them to a shelter. The classes are good for humans because educated owners are less likely to reach the frayed end of their feline rope.

1 / 16 Kristine Mann holds Melody, one of her two kittens, so that Melody can be photographed wearing a graduation cap after Melody and other kittens completed the San Diego Humane Societys Kitten Kindergarten program. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 16 Milo pauses while chasing cat toys through a tube during the San Diego Humane Societys Kitten Kindergarten program. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 16 Angela Jimenez gives her kitten Nami a treat while pinching a section of skin behind her neck as a way to train Nami to be relaxed while getting a shot at the vets. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 16 Milo, right, meets Clair for the first time. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 16 Kristine Mann plays with her cat Clair. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 16 Milo reaches through his pen to play. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 16 Brian and Danielle Skarin train their kitten Jonsey to use a syringe so that she will easily take medications. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 16 Jonsey looks out from her pen (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 16 Milo is lured on to a veterinarians examination tray with treats. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 16 Angela Jimenez plays with her kitten Nami. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 16 Angela Jimenez coaxes her kitten Nami on to small stool. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 16 Angela Jimenez kisses her kitten Nami. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 16 Milo looks out from his carrier after arriving for the San Diego Humane Societys Kitten Kindergarten program. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 16 Kittens play while doing an agility exercise. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 16 Teacher of the kitten kindergarten Allison Beaulieu holds up small mortarboard graduation caps as a way to celebrate that the kittens and their owners have finished the course. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 16 Diane Martinez holds her kitten Milo for a graduation picture. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

We run a free behavior hot line, and a lot of the questions are about cats. How do I stop my cat from biting my ankles? How can I make them use the litter box? What do I do about door dashing?  said community training coordinator Shauna Romero.

The problem with cats is that they have a hard time with change, so we decided to try out a class that focuses kittens during their critical socialization period, which is when they are most open to new changes in their environment.

To be eligible, kittens must be no more than 13 weeks old by the first class. They will need to have at least one set of vaccinations a least seven days prior to the start of class. Owners must have proof of vaccinations, deworming and a negative feline leukemia virus test.

Classes are held at the Humane Societys San Diego Campus at 5500 Gaines Street in Linda Vista.They are offered about every three weeks during kitten season, which usually runs from March through December. The fee is $60, with animals adopted from the San Diego Humane Society receiving a 20 percent discount. If your cat is too old, you can audit the class for a reduced rate.

The next session starts on Sept. 12. Go to sdhumane.org or call (619) 243-3463 for more information.

The treat is on

The second lesson of Kitten Kindergarten is that it is not a joke. Cats respond to food, and therefore, cats can be trained.

People think you cant teach cats anything, but thats not true at all, said Allison Beaulieu, an animal trainer with the Humane Society and the Kitten Kindergarten head human honcho.

Anything that has a brain and a brain stem can be trained and taught.

If you put treats in your cats carrier, they will eventually learn to think of the carrier as a happy place. If you get your cat to associate the sound of a cat-training clicker with the rewarding of a treat, you can teach them to sit. With time, Beaulieu says, you can also teach them to stay. Emphasis on time.

Every behavior Beaulieu teaches in class  getting a cat to willingly enter its carrier, wear a harness or let a human look in their ears  is broken down into tiny steps. Each step is followed by a reward, and the step-reward-step-reward cycle is repeated until the cat does what you want so that you will give it the treat they want.

So who is training who, anyway?

Ive learned a ton, but its a ton of work, said Kristine Mann of San Carlos, as she hunkered down in her fenced-in pod with her tortoiseshell kittens, Melody and Claire. Within just a week, Melody was responding to the clicker. That was surprising. Claire is not motivated by food, so I just have to figure out what does motivate her.

Kitten steps

What motivates a human to attend Kitten Kindergarten? In Diane Martinezs case, it was hissing and hope.

The hissing came from Milo, the smart but surly black kitten she adopted from the Humane Society earlier this summer. Martinez was hoping his smart side would eventually win out.

He was a stray, so we had some behavior issues, Martinez said of Milo, who arrived for his last day of class wearing a pumpkin costume.

He was very aggressive. He would attack ankles and things like that. So I thought I would try this and see if it worked. He is way calmer now, and if I can get his attention, he can do things.

For Brian Skarin and his wife, Danielle, Kitten Kindergarten was all about socializing Jonesy, a mostly black live-wire who was rescued from an Ocean Beach alley. Jonesy can handle the couples 60-pound dog, but she hates other cats. Theyre working on that.

We just had to learn what to do and what not to do and what is normal behavior for a cat, Danielle said, as Jonesy hissed at Milo through the bars of her enclosure.

When she comes here, shes super-nervous, but if we bring out the clicker at home, shell pay attention for 10 minutes. It gets her out of hunting-mode at night, and she actually sleeps afterwards.

Cool (commencement) cats

There are no final exams in Kitten Kindergarten, but there were plenty of unofficial As to go around.

Nami, a super-shy tortoiseshell kitten owned by Angela Jimenez, ventured out of her enclosure to check out the kitten obstacle course. Claire came very close to following Manns clicker cue to hop on a stool.

Milo and Jonesy both made their way through the obstacle course tunnel, and Milo upped the kitty ante by proving he could sit on cue.

Most of the cats were not willing to wear their mortarboards, preferring to chew the corners or bat at the tassels instead. But Beaulieu played Pomp and Circumstance on her laptop anyway, as volunteers circulated around the room taking class pictures.

At Kitten Kindergarten, the learning curve may be steep, but graduation is adorable.

I can show him off now, Martinez said of Milo, who will walk around Martinezs Santee townhouse complex on a harness and leash. I would definitely bring him back for more classes. I did not think he would be this good.

Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com
Honor Flight San Diego is seeking World War II veterans for a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. at the end of the month.

Scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1, the trip is free to the vets. Designed as a way to thank The Greatest Generation for its service and sacrifice, it features visits to the World War II Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and other sites on the National Mall. Between 80 and 100 veterans typically make the trip.

Honor Flights started in 2005 in Ohio and spread to other places, including San Diego. The local branch has organized 17 previous trips over the past seven years for 1,063 vets from throughout Southern California.

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In March, a trip had to be canceled because of insufficient money. Media coverage of the non-profit groups plight was followed by a fundraiser that garnered enough donations to resume the flights.

Each trip costs about $250,000. That pays for the charter flight, lodging, meals and bus transportation around D.C. for the vets. It also subsidizes the expenses for their guardians, who are often relatives. With the vets now in their 90s or older, many are in wheelchairs. The guardians push them and provide other support.

Honor Flight organizers said they feel an urgency to get as many World War II vets to Washington as possible while there is still time. Of the 16 million Americans who served in the war, about 550,000 are alive, according to U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs statistics.

Once the group is satisfied it has reached all the World War II vets, it will begin opening the trips to Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, organizers said.

Applications for the upcoming trip and future ones are available at honorflightsandiego.org.

For those who do make it to Washington, the trip can open emotional floodgates, bringing tears and stirring memories that some have kept bottled up for decades. The vets are greeted as heroes wherever they go. People applaud them, ask for autographs, take photos.

Saundra Cima, an Honor Flight San Diego volunteer, said local residents are encouraged to meet the returning vets on Oct. 1 at 8:30 p.m. in Terminal 2 at the San Diego International Airport.

RELATED

 San Diego World War II veterans visit Washington, D.C., in May 2012 thanks to the efforts of Honor Flight.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
In his third day of testimony, one of Robert Dursts longtime friends revealed Thursday that hed previously destroyed tapes of the idiosyncratic New York real estate scion practicing what he planned to say during his 2003 murder trial in Texas.

Stewart Altman said that while Durst was behind bars accused of the 2001 killing of his neighbor in Galveston, hed recorded himself and then given the tapes to Altman.

I got the tapes, I listened to them and I destroyed them, said Altman, who has acted as Dursts personal attorney over the years.

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When a prosecutor asked him why, Altman peeked over at his personal attorney, who objected to the question, saying it would reveal the work product of his client, who is also an attorney. The judge ruled that Altman didnt have to answer as it may have been a decision hed made in preparing for litigation.

Durst, now 74, admitted to shooting his neighbor, Morris Black, in self-defense during a struggle for a gun before dismembering him and throwing the body parts into Galveston Bay. Durst had been hiding out in the city, pretending to be a mute woman, when the killing occurred. Durst testified in the case and was acquitted of murder.

But it is because of the 2000 slaying of his confidante Susan Berman that Durst now awaits a murder trial in Los Angeles. Prosecutors have theorized that Durst killed Berman to silence her for what she knew about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen.

As Durst  who has pleaded not guilty  walked into a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, he turned to look into the audience. At one point, he locked eyes with Altman and smiled. The eccentric millionaire is unlikely to go to trial until at least 2018, and the judge has allowed lawyers to preserve early testimony from some older witnesses.

When a prosecutor initially asked Altman if he had picked up recordings of Durst practicing his testimony in preparation for trial, the witness attorney invoked Altmans 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. But the judge ordered Altman to answer, noting that he didnt believe the witness had committed a crime and that, if he had, the statute of limitations had expired.

Altman then testified to having picked up, listened to and destroyed the tapes.

During Thursdays hearing, prosecutors played a 2002 jail call between Durst  who was in custody awaiting trial in the Galveston case  and his second wife, Debrah Lee Charatan, in which they seemed to be discussing the same practice recordings.

Do I sound A plus? Durst asks. Do I sound 100% believable?

Oh, yeah, she responds.

The tone of my voice sounds sincere?

Yes.

On Wednesday, Altman testified that he remembered getting a call from Durst a few days after Kathleen went missing. When the prosecutor asked if the defendant had sounded concerned, Altman responded, no, adding that his friends tone seemed strange.

After that phone call, Altman said, he and Durst never had a more in-depth conversation about Kathleens disappearance. Bob didnt want to talk to me about it, Altman said. If he did, he wouldve called me.

Altman, 74, testified that although hed been close friends with Kathleen  who prosecutors contend was killed by Durst  his allegiance ultimately lies with Durst, not his wife.

Would you agree, the prosecutor asked, that Bob Durst is basically like family to you?

Yes, said Altman, a labor lawyer who went to high school with Durst in Scarsdale, N.Y.

Attorneys for both Durst and Altman argued that the witness should be shielded from testifying under attorney-client privilege, but prosecutors said Altman knows many things about the defendant that he learned as Dursts friend, not as his lawyer. The judge ultimately ruled that Altman did have to take the stand, but said that his lawyers could object to individual questions.

Defense attorneys opted not to ask Altman any questions on cross-examination.

Durst will return to court Sept. 20, when attorneys will discuss whether they will be prepared for a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 16. The judge said the timetable will be somewhat flexible, as several Houston-based members of Dursts legal team either had to evacuate their homes or had office damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

marisa.gerber@latimes.com

For more news from the Los Angeles County courts, follow me on Twitter: @marisagerber
A young man who committed two armed robberies in 2014, one of which led to a shootout that killed an accomplice and wounded a security guard at a North Park marijuana dispensary, was sentenced Friday to 65 years to life in prison.

Kurese Bell, 21, was convicted more than a year ago of first-degree murder, attempted murder and other charges stemming from the two incidents.



For the record: A previous version of this story misidentified the judges first name. She is Judge Lorna Alskne. The Union-Tribune apologizes for the error.

His sentencing was delayed several times while attorneys and a San Diego Superior Court judge worked to determine whether Bell  who was 17 at the time he committed the crimes  should be sentenced in Juvenile Court, because of change in state law.

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Ultimately, the case remained in adult court, where his case was tried.

After deliberating about a day, the jury found Bell guilty in February 2016 of felony charges related to robberies at the Illusions Smoke Shop in Rolando and the Greener Alternative medical marijuana dispensary in North Park.

Prosecutors said Bell was a gang member involved with others in a robbery crew that targeted businesses in San Diego. Bell and another man, Marlon Thomas, were drug dealers who ran out of marijuana and needed to re-up.

The two men robbed the smoke shop on April 21, 2014, taking about $1,300. They hit the dispensary four days later, where they got into a shootout with security guard Henry Smith.

It was Smiths second day on the job, and he suffered a gunshot wound to his pelvis. He was honored by the District Attorneys Office earlier this year.

Thomas, 18, was killed.

Bell, who fled after the shooting, was arrested at a Buena Park motel weeks later. He was charged under Californias felony murder rule, meaning he could be held responsible for Thomas fatal shooting because both men were participating in a robbery when it happened.

After he was convicted of the crimes, Bell asked the court for a new trial and sought to have his case transferred to Juvenile Court where he would likely face a lesser punishment. His attorney, Patrick Dudley, cited Proposition 57, passed by California voters in November 2016.

Once approved, the measure did away with a practice known as direct filing, meaning prosecutors could no longer file a criminal case directly in adult court without first asking a judge to determine whether thats appropriate for a particular juvenile defendant.

Judge Lorna Alksne ruled that the proposition did not apply retroactively and that Bells conviction would stand, but she said Bell was entitled to a hearing to determine whether he would be sentenced in Juvenile Court or adult court.

On Friday, the judge sentenced Bell to 65 years to life in prison, plus 35 years to run concurrently.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
As a student at a Catholic military academy in Illinois, Ravneet Singh, donning the characteristic turban and long hair of the Sikh faith, was prohibited from wearing the Army greens of his teenage ROTC peers.

With a military career out of the question, his grandfather suggested there was another way for the young man to serve his country: politics.

Singh, 45, failed as a candidate himself early on but built a successful career aiding other peoples campaigns, from smalltown U.S. politicians to international heads of state, using his skills in social media, the Internet and technology to reach voters.

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But prosecutors say the self-styled campaign guru used his expertise to thwart campaign finance laws, helping Mexican tycoon Jose Susumo Azano Matsura illegally inject about $500,000 into the 2012 San Diego mayoral election.

On Thursday he was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 15 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Some would argue that his conduct  strikes at the very heart of our American democratic system, said U.S. District Judge Michael Anello. He added: Some might argue that of all the people involved, Mr. Singh is the one who should have known better.

The sentence is far lower than the six years the U.S. Attorneys Office had requested. Singh is the second to be sentenced in the campaign finance investigation, and his term foreshadows a minimum of what Azano could be facing.

Singh, owner of Washington, D.C.-based ElectionMall Technologies, was introduced to Azano in 2011 by the companys Latin America chairman, according to a letter by the executive filed in court records. Azano, who made his fortune selling surveillance technology to the Mexican government and other countries, was seen as a potential investor, but he ended up hiring ElectionMall to work on the 2012 Mexican presidential election.

Azano, a part-time Coronado resident, soon after requested Singhs services for San Diegos mayoral race.

Prosecutors contend Azano hijacked the election to have a mayor who would do his bidding, including help implement Azanos vision of turning San Diegos bayfront into a Miami West. Prosecutors called the conspiracy sophisticated and calculated.

Azano had already by that time been secretly contributing his own money to the campaign of then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis by using straw donors. It is illegal for a foreign national to financially contribute to a U.S. election.

Singh supported the campaign by offering his social media and web services. Singhs software company billed Azanos Mexican company for $75,000 for the work, code named project Betty Boo, according to evidence presented at trial last summer.

When Dumanis lost the mayoral primary, Azanos interest turned to Bob Filner, who eventually won the race but then resigned less than a year later in the face of growing sexual harassment scandal.

Singh and his ElectionMall team moved into Filners campaign war room to offer their services. When Filners campaign manager questioned the move, Singh assured him that Filner had cleared it and that costs had been taken care of, according to evidence presented in court. When Filner won, Singh bragged about helping achieve a decisive victory, according to evidence.

For the work, Singh was paid $97,000 and $95,000, prosecutors contend.

For Mr. Singh, the ends justified the means, notwithstanding the laws or people in his path, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pletcher argued.

No politicians were charged in the scheme, and Dumanis testified that she believed Azano was a U.S. citizen and allowed to contribute to her campaign.

After a six-week trial, Azano was found guilty of 36 charges, including conspiracy to make political contributions by a foreign national, while Singh was convicted of all four counts against him  conspiracy and making illegal contributions. Azanos son, Edward, was also convicted for helping aid in the donations.

Singhs defense attorney, Michael Lipman, said he still believes in his clients innocence and is appealing the conviction on several legal grounds.

He was paid a minimal amount of money by Azano to do a minimal amount of work for these two campaigns, Lipman said, adding there was no evidence that Singh was paid $267,000 for his services and no evidence that he knew of Azanos other donations.

Singhs attorney had submitted to the judge some 80 exhibits of Singhs good works, including dozens of letters from supporters who praised his work ethic and service to others. As the case has been pending, Singh has been working toward a Ph.D. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and also volunteering with inner-city youth about how to succeed in the professional world.

Just before he was sentenced, a choked-up Singh thanked the judge and acknowledged several friends and family who were watching from the gallery.

Im a very different person than I was five years ago.  Ive always wanted to serve my country, now I cant even vote, Singh said.

He said the case has taught him to be more careful in his business, to slow things down and think things through and to take advice from mentors.

Besides Singhs coming appeal, prosecutors are also preparing for another trial against Azano starting Tuesday on a charge that jurors had hung on  unlawful possession of a gun. The firearm was found in Azanos bedroom when federal agents searched his Coronado Cays home in 2014. Azano claims a U.S. federal agent had given him the gun as a gift.

Jurors also hung on some charges relating to a fourth defendant, City Hall lobbyist Marco Polo Cortes, and acquitted him of others. His retrial is slated for December.

Two other defendants were each tried separately. Luxury car dealer Marc Chase, who sold Azano numerous vehicles over the years, pleaded guilty to being a straw donor and was sentenced in January to probation.

Retired San Diego police detective Ernie Encinas, who pleaded guilty to his role in acting as a middleman in the conspiracy, is awaiting sentencing.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
By PTI: Dehradun, Sep 1 (PTI) Germany has set a target of making investments worth euro 125 million in sewerage treatment and management projects in Uttarakhand.

German Ambassador to India Martin Ney conveyed this to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat during a meeting with him here, an official statement said.

"Germany is primarily keen on investing in setting up sewerage treatment and management plants in Haridwar and Rishikesh.

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"Besides these two cities, Germany may also work on sewerage management in some parts of Dehradun,"the release quoted the German ambassador as saying.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had advised him to consider investing in Uttarakhand during their last meeting, the diplomat said.

Ney also called on Governor K K Paul, who appreciated Germanys keenness on investing in Uttarakhand, saying the German experience in keeping the Rhine and Danube rivers clean would greatly help in rejuvenating the Ganga. PTI CORR ABM

--- ENDS ---
Three San Diego area school districts have failed to release salary data to an open government website  even though the request was submitted in May.

Transparent California, which collects compensation records from public agencies throughout the state, has not received salary information from Coronado Unified, Fallbrook Union High and San Dieguito Union High school districts.

The requests  filed under the California Public Records Act  were sent to all 43 public school districts in the county, according to Robert Fellner, research director for Transparent California.

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The requested data is similar to salary information school districts submit to the California State Controllers Office each year. The office began requiring cities, counties and other local agencies to submit salary data in 2010, following a scandal that put a former California city manager behind bars. More recently, public agencies such as fairs and expositions, courts and schools were asked to submit information.

Transparent California publishes information it receives online in a searchable database, which includes employees names  a function not available on the State Controllers website.

Public schools across the state are seeing their budgets squeezed due to rising employee compensation costs like retiree and health benefits, Fellner said. With employee compensation consuming the vast majority of education funds, taxpayers have a fundamental right to see how this money is being spent.

Donnie Salamanca, senior director of business services for Coronado Unified, said in an email that she was not aware of any request for salary data.

Email records show former Superintendent Jeffrey Felix received the request on May 31. The district contacted Transparent California on June 9 about the request. A follow up email on July 18 went unanswered.

San Dieguito Union High Superintendent Eric Dill said the district plans to submit data in the next two weeks.

We had problems with the data that was queried by our human resources system and needed to manually verify each employee to ensure its accuracy, Dill said. We are now in the final stages of cleaning up the report to conform with the request.

Fallbrook Union High superintendent Hugo Pedroza said the district received the request on Wednesday and is processing it now.

Email records show Transparent California sent a request in May to the districts chief business officer, who had passed away in April.

Fellner said it would benefit both sides if agencies designated a public records official and published contact information clearly online, so requests are responded to in a prompt fashion.

Another two districts submitted data Thursday, following U-T Watchdog inquiries about the missing records.

Your inquiry regarding salary information triggered a follow up check, said Jamul-Dulzura Union Superintendent Nadine Bennett. We believed we had sent the information in June, however we noticed the salary information was sent to everyone in our our office but not sent to Transparent California.

With compensation records as far back as 2010, the database includes more than 12.5 million records from hundreds of public agencies statewide and represents a massive collection of public information.

For example, 2016 data show 20 out of the top 25 paid K-12 employees were superintendents. Former San Diego County Office of Education superintendent Randolph Ward, who resigned amid allegations of self-dealing and mismanagement, tops the total pay list with $425,800, excluding benefits.

Hes followed by former San Marcos Unified Superintendent Kevin Holt, with $359,500, and San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten with $281,200.

Among the top-paid non-superintendents are Andra Donovan, San Diego Unifieds general counsel, with $248,200, and San Ysidro Elementary deputy superintendent Jose Sanchez Macias with $229,500.

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Contact Lauryn Schroeder via Twitter or Email.
Three San Diego hospitals are among 10 across the state penalized Thursday for mistakes that severely injured, or killed, patients.

The California Department of Public Health levied a total of $618,002 in penalties against the facilities, including $233,650 in financial pain for Sharp Coronado Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns and Vibra Hospital of San Diego, for errors which included an attempted suicide, a sponge left inside a patient and a fall-related death.

Its the first such penalty for Sharp Coronado, the fifth for Sharp Memorial and the second for Vibra.

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All of the incidents are described in investigative reports which were also released by the state Thursday as part of an ongoing immediate jeopardy program created in 2007 by the state legislature in an attempt to curtail preventable harm in hospitals which are estimated to kill between 210,000 and 400,000 Americans each year.

The health department periodically penalizes hospitals after investigations are complete and notifies the public of the infractions. The latest batch of penalties involve incidents which occurred across a four-year span from 2012 to 2016.

Sharp Coronado received a $47,025 penalty for the most recent incident on the list. According to the states investigative report, a man arrived in the hospitals emergency room on Sept. 24, 2015, and, when asked why he was there, reportedly told a security guard that he would only talk to a doctor.

Nearly one hour later, the man was found with a belt around his neck hanging from a hook in the emergency departments bathroom. A medical team, according to the report, later found that the patient had gone so long without oxygen that he suffered severe brain damage and remained on a breathing machine, a feeding tube in his stomach, when he was discharged 21 days later.

The situation was made worse when a responding nurse was not able to open the restroom door because it was locked from the inside and the normal tools used to open the lock, usually a pair of scissors or a dime according to the report, were not immediately available.

In a statement, Sharp said it regrets the incident and has made changes.

The plan of correction included steps to ensure that all emergency department patients are immediately seen by a nurse and that ED nurses are proficient at emergency access to restroom doors, Sharp said in a statement.

Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in Serra Mesa was fined $86,625 for failing to follow surgical procedures when a woman who underwent a C-section operation on Oct. 8, 2014, was later found to have an 18-inch-square sponge in her abdomen which was not removed before her surgical site was closed. The sponge was not discovered until 11 weeks later, and, by then had caused enough internal damage to require removal of scar tissue, (her) right fallopian tube and part of (her) colon, according to the states report.

Investigators were unable to determine whether the hospitals policy of counting all sponges before each surgery, and again before closing surgical sites, was followed to the letter. Though interviews with nurses and other technicians involved in the procedure indicated that the employees thought they had followed the procedures, there was no way to prove that was the case because the white board used to track sponge counts is not part of each patients medical record.

The physician who performed the C-section, according to the state, no longer works at the facility and was unavailable for interview. It was unclear Thursday what exact circumstances made the doctor unavailable to investigators.

In a written statement, Sharp said it regrets the sponge slip up and has made changes at Mary Birch from mandatory education to enhancement of sponge audits. Those audits, the statement said, include using clear plastic bags (instead of red biohazard bags) to collect removed sponges for easier visualization and counting and implementation of radio frequency technology which aids in identifying the location of surgical sponges.

Vibra Hospital of San Diego, a long-term care facility in Hillcrest, was fined $100,000 after a patient, who was admitted on Sept 16, 2015, with multiple skin infections, a brain disorder and other serious medical issues, fell in his room on Sept 29. Investigators state in their report that the patient suffered a brain bruise called a subdural hematoma when his head struck the ground. He died on Oct. 2 and investigators later found that nurses assigned to the patient had not conducted a proper fall assessment.

Yameeka Jones, the facilitys chief executive, said in an email Vibra Hospital of San Diego places the highest value on patient safety and has worked closely with the California Department of Public Health to remedy the deficiencies.

Facilities fined by the state Wednesday, in addition to those in San Diego County, include:

Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles: $75,000

Kindred Hospital South Bay, Gardena: $71,250

Loma Linda University Medical Center, Murietta: $42,750

Mission Community Hospital, Panorama City, $50,000

St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka: $40,000

Valley Childrens Hospital, Madera: $71,962

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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
Just after he finished delivering a meal to 70-year-old Anne Stillman of Vista, a question popped up on Christopher Toppers smartphone screen.

Before getting into his truck to head to his next delivery, the Meals on Wheels courier took just a second to respond to the query.

The app asks me if there is a change in condition, meaning, is there anything that needs to be reported about her wellness? Anne looks great, Im going to hit no and, boom, on to the next client, Topper said just before sliding back behind the wheel.

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That quick tap puts Meals on Wheels on the edge of a revolution in health care that seeks to take action on potential problems in homes before seniors end up in the back of an ambulance.

This kind of work, experts say, is becoming more vital as baby boomers enter retirement age and advances in health care mean that their parents have a better chance than ever of celebrating their 100th birthdays.

Those age 65 and older were already consuming significantly more of the nations emergency department visits in 2014 than they were in 2006, according to an estimate from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. During that year span, seniors jumped from 16.8 percent of all visits to 18 percent nationwide, an increase of more than 4 million visits in eight years. And demographers expect that trend to accelerate.

San Diego has recently become something of a hotbed for efforts to stem the tide through prevention, either on the front end by stopping accidents before they happen or on the back end by reducing the chances that hospitalized older patients will be readmitted once they are sent home.

Meals on Wheels, for example, has asked its volunteers and paid couriers to keep an eye on the senior clients they see many times per week. But that oversight has been largely ad-hoc.

Here is the classic opportunity for data-driven change, said Dr. Zia Agha, chief medical officer at San Diegos West Health, a research and philanthropy non profit.

Dinner with a side of health

West helped add a module to the SERVtracker software that many Meals on Wheels operations use to guide their drivers from one home to the next and confirm that each delivery has been made. That has the clients condition changed question is asked each time a driver confirms delivery, and, if they say yes, then the system automatically moves through a list of ever more precise follow-ups, helping to triage the specific problem that needs attention.

Once that problem is identified, drivers can hit send and the information moves electronically back to headquarters where a care coordinator can take a look often before the driver has left the driveway.

Though Topper did not find anything amiss at Stillmans mobile home, he said he has had a few cases over the last two and a half months where the software made a difference. In one case, a female client had extreme dental pain and no way to get to a dentist. In another case, he noticed that a womans home, which was always meticulously kept, was a mess, indicating she may have been experiencing a mental or physical problem.

As soon as you hit the button, lots of people know that there is an issue, and they can get right on it, Topper said.

Some might wonder what the clients make of the idea that the people who are delivering their meals are also scoping them out for health problems and reporting any that they might observe.

Standing in the doorway of her mobile home, Stillman said she doesnt consider this kind of observation intrusive. A while back, she said, she would have died due to undiagnosed diabetes if her nephew hadnt happened to come check on her and saw that she was too weak to walk outside. The paramedic, she said, told her she wouldnt have lasted another day.

I dont think its invasive if youre truly concerned about somebody, you know, she said.

Debbie Case, president of Meals on Wheels of San Diego County, said having the incoming information pre-sorted into categories helps elicit a rapid connection to the right resources, whether its social services, health providers or transportation networks.

The system started this spring on single North County delivery route and was used with only a handful of the programs full-time paid couriers but expanded this summer to include about 40 volunteers serving six routes around the county.

Case said that, in eight weeks of trial operation, volunteers reported 60 changes in condition on 22 of their clients, using the software to immediately send a report which can bring about a response in less than a day in non-emergency situations that otherwise might take several days to sort out.

Now, she noted, the challenge is to expand electronic delivery tracking to the thousands of volunteers who deliver meals across San Diego, and across the country. Most are seniors themselves, and many arent that interested in using smartphone apps.

We cant just pull the bandage off or we lose 3,000 volunteers. You have to do it strategically over the next couple of years, Case said.

Emergencies not the whole story

Still, these kind of problem-interceptor programs are not a panacea, says Dr. Daniel Waxman, a UCLA Los Angeles emergency department doctor and health policy researcher.

Preventive programs, he said, can certainly help reduce visits and costs.

But most senior emergency visits, he said, are appropriate. In many cases, an older patient may come in with a condition  vague chest pain, say  that could be a heart attack or simply the kind of pain that comes with aging blood vessels. People with these kinds of symptoms, Waxman said, need to come in for an immediate workup, even if most will not turn out to be heart attacks.

Its what happens after a workup like that where costs can soar, he said. Even if a full workup in the emergency department, complete with electrocardiogram, shows there is no heart attack happening, doctors know that vague chest pain is often reported hours or even days before a heart attack.

These patients need follow up the next day and if doctors are not confident theyll get what they need outside the hospital, they admit.

In 2008, a government report estimated that one in 10 hospital admissions was preventable and that 60 percent of those estimated 4 million hospitalizations were for Americans age 65 and older.

Just over a third of health care expenses for those age 65 and older were on in-patient admissions compared to only 2.3 percent in the emergency room, according to a 2013 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Following up

This reality has not been lost on San Diego health care providers.

San Diego Countys Aging and Independence Services Department received funding in 2010 to run a local care transitions team that focused on follow-up care after hospitalization for patients with chronic diseases.

That work, according to a 2015 report, resulted in a 24.7 percent drop in hospital readmissions overall and a 72 percent drop for high-risk Medicare patients.

Though the federally-funded program lost its grant in 2016, many local hospitals have continued the practices they honed while they were in the program. Sharp Grossmont Hospital, for example, tries to connect seniors with whatever services they need after they leave right down to issuing them food bags at discharge.

Kaiser Permanente San Diego often creates follow-up appointments before its members leave the emergency department and sets up what it calls bridge clinics for patients who have complex needs to visit after they have an emergency.

UC San Diego and West Health are taking things one step further with a pilot program called Acute Care at Home. It identifies stable patients who need attention that might otherwise have meant hospitalization  say a requirement for intravenous antibiotics to take care of an infection.

Dr. Vaishal Tolia, who runs the program, said that about 70 patients have been enrolled in Acute Care at Home since it started last summer. Nurses are assigned to visit the patients in their homes as often as necessary and Tolia said that, so far, there have been no readmissions to the hospital for the same health problem that they were enrolled for.

Weve found that were able to mimic the care that they would be receiving in the hospital, and some end up getting visited by a nurse three times per day, Tolia said.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez has asked Mayor Kevin Faulconer to declare a state of emergency on homelessness, which would cut through regulations and allow the city to use public buildings as shelters.

An aide to the mayor late Thursday said Faulconer already has in each of the last two years.

Mayor Faulconer declared a state of emergency on homelessness last year that was approved by the City Council, including Councilmember Alvarez, Jonathan Herrera, the mayors senior advisor on homelessness coordination, said in an email.

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...We received Councilmember Alvarezs memo earlier today and while we appreciate his concerns, we are already taking steps to address our citys homelessness crisis to protect the most vulnerable people in our city.

The resolutions declared a shelter crisis.

Alvarez said the mayor has the authority to make the declaration without council approval. Herrera cited a municipal code he says requires such emergency action to be approved by six of he nine council member.

If enacted, Alvarez said the city could bypass several codes that have prevented it from opening the old downtown library and Golden Hall as shelters.

Alvarez cited a January count of the areas homeless that showed the number of unsheltered people countywide at 5,621, up from 4,940 in 2016.

There is a need for additional shelter beds to accommodate the number of homeless individuals in the city, he said. People are dying. We must do everything we can to protect the public. This crisis has gone on for too long.

Alvarez said he has been pushing for the city to open up the vacant downtown library as homeless shelter for years, but safety concerns about asbestos and other arguments have kept it from happening.

As Alvarez explained, a state code allows cities under a state of emergency immunity from liability or ordinary negligence while housing people.

The government code also allows the city to suspend state or local regulations for housing, health and safety during the emergency, further bypassing obstacles to helpi the homeless, he said.

Alvarez said he was spurred to make the request after reading a recent Voice of San Diego article about county regulations that have delayed the installation of hand-washing stations that could help prevent the spread of hepatitis A, which has killed 15 homeless people.

The state code applies to cities that can prove a significant number of people are not able to find housing.

I think its quite clear we meet that requirement, he said.

The Los Angeles City Council declared a state of emergency on homelessness in November 2015, and Los Angeles County Supervisors asked Gov. Jerry Brown to declare homelessness a statewide emergency in June 2016, but Brown declined.

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
A legislation that could clear the way for major changes in San Diego County elections passed the state Senate Thursday and is headed to the governor for consideration.

The bill by Assemblyman Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, would allow for a charter amendment that would require races for county offices to be determined in the November general election, regardless of the results in the June primary. The bill only applies to San Diego County.

It passed the Senate by 23-14.

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Currently, politicians can be elected into those offices if they receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. But if the charter is amended as authorized by Glorias bill, the top-two candidates in the primary will face each other in the November general election regardless of the primary outcome.

Besides extending the campaign season in some races, the change would likely benefit Democratic candidates. Turnout among that partys voters is historically highest in general elections, particularly in years when there is a race for president. The county offices are nonpartisan, but campaigns often follow party lines.

The bill impacts all five county supervisors seats, as well as the district attorney, sheriff, the treasurer and tax collector, the county board of education, and the assessor/recorder/ county clerk.

Gloria,who introduced the bill in February, said that the change would make sure that elected officials are selected by more voters.

This bill allows the county charter in San Diego to be changed so that the voices of more voters can be heard in the selection of their county leaders, he said.

If county elections are changed, races will be consistent with San Diego city elections. Last year, city voters passed a ballot measure that requires all city races to be decided in the general election.

Gloria has also said that the bill will eliminate voter confusion by creating identical processes between the races for county offices and San Diego City offices.

The governor has not indicated if he will sign the legislation.

The bill is opposed by San Diego County supervisors (all are Republicans), the California State Association of Counties, and Urban Counties of California opposed the bill.

San Diego Countys lobbyist said it was superfluous legislation because existing law already allows the charter to be amended as described in the bill, and would increase the cost of election by forcing all races to a general election even after a primary where a candidate won by a landslide.

The county charter can be amended by support of voters on a ballot measure submitted by the Board of Supervisors or by a petition signed by 10 percent of the countys registered voters.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
Data that law enforcement collects indiscriminately from license plate readers on millions of motorists are not police investigative records that may be kept secret from the public, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court further ruled, though, that a lower court should weigh whether release of redacted data  leaving out individual license plate numbers  would serve a greater public interest than withholding the information.

The justices said they agreed with a lower court ruling that releasing the raw data, which could be used to identify individuals, should not be disclosed.

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The 18-page opinion stems from a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles but is likely to have implications throughout the state, including San Diego County where there has been at least one legal challenge to an agencys refusal to release license plate reader data.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who sued the Los Angeles County Sheriffs and Los Angeles Police departments in 2013 for access to the raw data, called the state Supreme Courts ruling a victory.

This is a huge win for transparency in California, said ACLU attorney Peter Bibring, who argued the case. The court ruled that the police cant institute a program of indiscriminate surveillance of members of the public and then keep the information they collect secret.

Jennifer Lynch, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it could be months before the case gets remanded back to Los Angeles Superior Court to determine whether there are still legitimate privacy interests in keeping data amassed from license plate readers confidential.

Automated license plate readers are high-speed cameras mounted on police cars or on light poles, typically at intersections. They continuously scan and record the license plate of every passing vehicle.

The date, time and location is recorded, with a photograph of the vehicle and sometimes its occupants. Law enforcement agencies around the nation use the data as a valuable investigative tool to track where a particular criminal suspect has been driving, and when.

The technology has been especially useful in child abduction cases and Amber alerts when the kidnappers car may be tracked across city, county or state lines.

Some communities have banned the cameras, calling them an invasion of privacy for the vast majority of innocent drivers whose data is collected and may be stored for months or years.

The cameras, mounted primarily on patrol cars, are used by a number of law enforcement agencies in San Diego County. The Carlsbad City Council sparked some controversy earlier this year by approving installation of cameras on more than a dozen traffic lights, mostly near boundaries with other cities.

Authorities said the goal is to help catch wanted criminals and stolen cars.

The local database is maintained by the San Diego Association of Governments, which has treated the data as confidential. In 2013, the agency refused a California Public Records Act request by business entrepreneur Michael Robertson for disclosure of records kept on the movements of his own minivan.

SANDAG argued that if such records were released to anyone who asked, the information could be abused, for example, by a hostile estranged husband looking for his wife.

Robertson took his case to court and in 2015, a San Diego judge ruled in SANDAGs favor. He did not respond to calls seeking comment on the Supreme Courts opinion.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit concerned with electronic privacy rights and civil liberties, filed a public records request with Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and city police for a weeks worth of raw license plate reader data. The foundation asked for the license plate number, date, time and location of each plate recorded.

When both agencies refused to turn over the data, the foundation and the ACLU sued them.

According to court documents, the ACLU and EFF learned that the two law agencies collected a combined average of three million license plate scans every week, and amassed a database of half a billion records.

The trial court ruled that the data EFF wanted was a confidential investigative record. The judge also said the privacy interest in withholding raw or even redacted data was stronger than the interests of disclosure.

A court of appeal agreed that the records should be considered an investigative report and did not address the balance of privacy issues. The case was taken to the state Supreme Court.

Several journalism organizations, including the nationwide Society of Professional Journalists and the First Amendment Coalition, joined the lawsuit as friends of the court, with a direct interest in the cases outcome.

Justice Ming Chin, writing for the unanimous court, noted that the California Public Records Act requires public entities to assume their records are open to the public. Among several exceptions to that assumption are law enforcement investigative records.

Legislators who approved the exemption for investigative records could not have envisioned the capacious collection of data now possible with license plate readers and similar technology, Ming wrote.

He concluded that a license plate scan remains part of a bulk data collection rather than a record of investigation. Therefore, it is not exempt from public disclosure under a state public records act request.

However, he and the rest of the court were not persuaded that the raw data could not be redacted in a way that protects an individual motorists privacy. For that reason the case was remanded to the Court of Appeal with instructions to send the matter back down to the trial court.

The trial court was directed to examine whether the data could be rendered anonymous with little effort on a computer, even if the sheriffs and police agencies dont already have a way to do that.
A San Diego police officer shot at a stolen SUV near a downtown trolley yard early Friday, but after it sped off, the officer rammed the vehicle on Broadway to bring it to a halt.

The crash at Sixth Avenue ended a one-hour attempt by various law enforcement agencies to stop the driver, who hit 100 mph on freeways, drove the wrong-way and tried to hit police cars, authorities said.

He surrendered surrounded by dozens of officers with guns drawn, according to one witness.

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Police identified him as 21-year-old Jeremiah Fetalaiga of La Mesa. The officer who fired at him is a nine-year police veteran. His name was not released.

The owner of the silver Range Rover had listed the vehicle for sale on Craigslist and arranged to meet a supposedly interested buyer in National City. Instead, the man hopped inside the SUV and drove off with it, San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Holden said.

The driver of a stolen Range Rover led law enforcement on a one-hour pursuit, ending at Sixth Avenue and Broadway in downtown San Diego where he was arrested. (John Gibbins/SDUT)

A sheriffs deputy picked up the Range Rovers LoJack tracking signal and saw the SUV near Jamacha and Sweetwater roads in Spring Valley about 11:45 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.

The deputy tried to pull over the driver, but he didnt stop.

With the deputy in pursuit, the Range Rover driver headed north on state Route 125, west on Interstate 8, then south on state Route 163 into downtown San Diego. The California Highway Patrol and a police helicopter joined the pursuit at different times.

At one point, the SUV went the wrong way on Interstate 5, Holden said.

San Diego police took over the chase, but broke it off and let the helicopter crew follow as the SUV sped up and down through the Gaslamp Quarter. Officers trailed along but tried to keep out of his way, Holden said.

For half an hour the driver ran red lights, drove the wrong way on one-way streets and down trolley tracks, and tried to hit at least one police car that had pulled to the curb, Holden said.

He said the Range Rover driver also tried to hit an officer who was trying to set spike strips across the road.

San Diego police confer with a sheriffs deputy in downtown San Diego after a pursuit that started in Spring Valley. (John Gibbins/SDUT)

The SUV driver reached the Metropolitan Trolley Service yard on Newton Street in Barrio Logan about 12:30 a.m. Officers who had been following from a distance also drove into the yard.

There, Holden said, the driver turned the SUV and drove toward the nearest patrol car. The officer inside opened fire on the Range Rover, but did not wound the driver.

Investigators were trying to determine later where the officers rounds went.

The driver sped out of the trolley yard and drove the wrong way north up Sixth Avenue.

Witness Robert Tunstall said the driver started to turn left onto Broadway, but took the corner too fast, over-corrected and hit a light pole.

He bounced pretty good, Tunstall told San Diego News Video. Twenty cop cars  they all got out, drew their guns and moved in on him slowly. They were telling him Get out of the car! Put your hands up!. He asked, Which one do you want me to do?

Holden said while the driver was still in the SUV, he tried to pull a slow U-Turn but the officer who had shot at him used his patrol car to ram the Range Rover and stop it.

The driver complained of pain from the crashes and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Holden said the driver would be jailed on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a number of officers, possession of a stolen car and evading officers.

The MTS trolley yard and the intersection at Sixth and Broadway were closed for several hours during the investigation.
Seven alleged members or associates of an Oceanside-based street gang and a hotel manager indicted in a racketeering conspiracy that led to crimes including drug trafficking and prostitution have pleaded guilty, the U.S. Attorneys Office said Thursday.

According to court documents, 11 members or associates of the Westside Crips worked together primarily between 2004 and 2016 to make money by committing crimes that also included attempted murder and robberies. The members involved in the conspiracy took on different roles: Some sold drugs, while others managed prostitutes throughout the country, according to court documents.

The groups alleged crimes included a shooting of rival gang members in Vista in 2004, a home invasion robbery in Oceanside in 2012 and a robbery on a boat in Oceanside in 2013.

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One of the defendants, a hotel manager in Oceanside, allowed the Coast Inn and a Motel 6 formerly called the Pacific Inn to become a safe haven for the criminals, prosecutors said.

The set up, the U.S. Attorneys Office said, functioned as a criminal enterprise. For that reason, prosecutors filed racketeering conspiracy charges, which typically are filed in cases involving organized crime.

Seven defendants  Ameer Roby aka Tiny Dum Dum, Michael Sullivan aka Du-Low, Shane Anderson aka Tiny West, Demetrius McFarland aka Mechii Ruu, Richard Cleveland aka Face, Umesh Oza aka Kevin and Larry Monroe  pleaded guilty to a count of racketeering conspiracy in San Diego federal court on Thursday.

Peter Miranda Lil Burger pleaded guilty to the same charge a week ago.

Four other defendants in the case are scheduled to appear for a status hearing on Sept. 22. The eight defendants who have pleaded guilty are set to be sentenced on Nov. 27.

Breaking News

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
UC San Diego raised $261 million in private donations over the past year, breaking the previous mark by nearly $49 million as the school begins one of the largest expansions in campus history.

The university has generated about $950 million through the midway point of a $2 billion, 10-year capital campaign.

The campaign is helping to fuel historic growth. The campus has added about 6,700 students since 2012, and will add another 4,000 within the next few years, pushing enrollment past 40,000.

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The campus will begin the fall quarter on Sept. 25 with an estimated 36,400 students, which would be a record.

Weve gotten better at raising money because were telling our story better, said Pradeep K. Khosla, the universitys chancellor. My goal is to raise $350 million in a single year by the time the campaign ends.

The campus works on a fiscal year that ends on June 30.

Khosla said he is particularly proud of a $10.5 million gift that the university received from the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation of Switzerland. The money will be used to study the composition of human breast milk, which isnt fully understood even though its known to be a great source of nutrition for newborns, infants and premature babies.

UC San Diego also received $70 million last year from the Tata Trusts of Mumbai to help explore ways to use gene editing to fight insect-borne diseases and make crops more resistant to drought. About half of that money will be spent in La Jolla. The other $35 million will be devoted to a similar program in India that UC San Diego will help shape.

The campus will have to continue raising large sums to underwrite an expansion that includes major new classroom and laboratory buildings, and thousands of units of student housing.

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Twitter: @grobbins

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
Hes been called the Einstein of the oceans, a name that greatly irritates Walter Munk.

Thats going too far, Munk said recently, as he relaxed near the seaside haunt he helped make famous, UC San Diegos Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Munk will have to put up with the compliment a bit longer. He will turn 100 years old on October 19th, and the university and community are preparing to celebrate his life and career in a variety of ways.

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The celebration is likely to extend beyond Munks birthday. He is emblematic of a golden age of exploration and research that transformed Scripps from a tiny marine station to one of the worlds pre-eminent oceanographic institutions.

The golden age extended from the mid-1930s to late 1970s, a period when Scripps did everything from spot how greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere to inventing cameras and trawls that enabled scientists to find mysterious marine life deep in the worlds oceans.

Scripps also launched deep-water expeditions that led to the discovery of underwater mountains, and hydrothermal vents on the seafloor that helped support eerie types of marine creatures.

Most of these people had active careers that spanned the time when oceanography was the study of something that we knew almost nothing about, said Margaret Leinen, director of Scripps. It was truly an era of exploration.

To put that period into context, the Union-Tribune has created brief bios of 10 of the institutes foremost scholars, all but two whom have passed away.

HARALD SVERDRUP

Harald Sverdrups wife is said to have wept the first time she saw the home the couple would live in while he was director of Scripps. Like the rest of the marine station, the official residence was small and rundown. It was 1936, and few people beyond San Diego even knew the place existed.

All of that would change by the time Sverdrup left 12 years later.

He was a get-to-the-point, can-do guy with star power. Sverdrup had served as chief scientist to Roald Amundsen during a famous years-long expedition to the Arctic, one of the most hostile places on Earth.

Within a year of arriving in La Jolla, Sverdrup obtained Scripps first ocean-going research vessel, which was soon put to use exploring the California Current, a life-giving ribbon of water that flows south along the west coast of North America.

The little-understood current supports a vast array of sea life, from sea lions to orange Garibaldi to brown pelicans.

Scripps scientists began to unravel the nature of the current, and they ventured south to conduct the first major hydrographic study of the Gulf of California, home to one of Mexicos great fisheries.

During World War II, Sverdrup worked with Munk and Roger Revelle to help create the Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory on Point Loma, which provided the military with better ways to detect enemy submarines.

Sverdrup and Munk also did pioneering work in wave-forecasting, making it easier and safer for the U.S. and its allies to carry out amphibious landings. Their research helped other scientists to plan the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.

Historians also are quick to note that Sverdrup and two of his Scripps colleagues wrote The Oceans, the first truly comprehensive textbook on oceanography. The book was so insightful the U.S. wouldnt allow it to be distributed overseas during World War II for fear of aiding the enemy.

ROGER REVELLE

Sverdrups impact was great, but it was soon overshadowed by Revelle, a young Scripps scientist who was like the ocean  a force of nature.

The 6 4' oceanographer would blow into rooms and use a mix of charm, intellect and bonhomie to get people from different worlds to work together on big projects  a gift that surfaced during World War II.

He temporarily left the institute and joined the Navy and he rose to a position where he could help guide defense grants to Scripps, helping it grow. Scripps responded by helping the Navy improve ship-borne sonar. Researchers also revealed that snapping shrimp produced a noise that could obscure the sound of submarines.

Revelle never took a break from promoting Scripps. Historians recall that the oceanographer, who sometimes tripped over his size-15 shoes, once picked his way through a submarine to remind its officers about the importance of investing in basic research.

He went on to helped create the Office of Naval Research and successfully lobbied the Navy to continue giving Scripps research money after the war, enabling the institute to grow and broaden its scientific interests. He also played a role in getting the Navy to loan Scripps ships for research, sparking the institutes move into global exploration in the 1950s.

He became director of Scripps in 1950 and launched or shaped a series of expeditions that fundamentally changed how scientists think about the oceans, the atmosphere and climate.

His motivation was clear. Revelle would tell people: We know less about the oceans bottom than the moons back side.

On one of those early expeditions, Scripps and the Navy discovered a breathtaking underwater mountain range in the Pacific, and learned that the seafloor was young and rocky in places, contradicting long held beliefs.

Revelle also was an influential researcher. In 1957 he and collaborator Hans Suess published a landmark paper that indicated that carbon dioxide was building up in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels. That paper, and others, led to Revelle being dubbed the father of the greenhouse effect.

During this period, Revelle was pushing hard to create UC San Diego, which would grow out of Scripps. It has, becoming one of the five largest research universities in the country. The boom on the mesa also would lead Jonas Salk to build his institute across the street.

WALTER MUNK

Munk lives in a house called Seiche, a word that refers to a type of wave that sways back and forth, usually on a lake, sometimes posing danger. Its a fitting title; Munks entire life has been devoted to the study of moving water.

And all of it can all be traced to his love of a pretty girl.

The woman he was dating in 1939 decided to spend summer vacation in La Jolla. Munk took a break from his studies at Caltech, got a seasonal job at Scripps and, before long, became captivated by the ocean.

He later returned to Scripps for his doctorate and became one of the institutes foremost scientists during World War II. He was assigned to the Navys Radio and Sonar Lab on Point Loma, where he and Sverdrup developed new ways to predict when, where and how waves would break at beaches worldwide.

They succeeded because Munk refined sciences understanding of how wave energy moves and changes after its generated by a distant storm.

Munk and others used this improved form of wave-casting to successfully land Allied forces on the coast of northwest Africa. Military meteorologists adopted the system and used it to plan the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day.

The work Munk did then is present in the algorithms used today to forecast surf and diving conditions worldwide.

Munk joined the Scripps faculty after the war, but his ties to the military have never frayed.

In 1946, he helped assess how radioactive material travels in the ocean by monitoring an atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific.

Four years later, he was back in the Pacific, at Eniwetok Atoll, studying whether the blast from a hydrogen bomb would produce a tsunami.

I was standing there, in the middle of nowhere, wearing protective glasses, waiting, Munk recalled. Then the bomb went off.

First came the light flash  very, very pronounced. Then about three seconds later came the sound wave. It was like a big rumble. Then the mushroom cloud started to move up the sky and over us. It was frightening.

The bomb test came during one of the most productive periods of Munks life.

In 1952, he became one of the first Scripps divers to explore the Pacific using scuba equipment. Munk was helping scientists to cross a threshold, and to better connect with the public. Images from such early dives enabled people to see the ocean in new ways, with humans at the center of it all.

Munk also spent the 1950s studying how the wind affects surface currents, work that revealed a lot about the fundamental ways that energy, chemicals and nutrients move throughout the worlds oceans. The research is essential to understanding climate change, weather, and fisheries.

Then came a moment of audacity.

In 1957, Munk proposed that ocean-going scientists drill through earths crust into the mantle to learn about the planets makeup and the way things work. Scientists also were trying to resolve debates about continental drift, the idea that continents slowly move along Earths surface.

The proposal led to Project Mohole, which began in 1961 when a ship out of San Diego headed for waters off Mexico, where engineers soon began drilling into Earths crust. The on-lookers included writer John Steinbeck, whod been sent to sea by Life magazine because the project was considered to be so promising.

The results proved to be mixed.

Engineers managed to drill into the crust. But they never made it down to the mantle. Munks brainchild was still considered to be a success because it showed that engineers could grab core samples while drilling in very deep water.

The project also yielded some remarkable moments. For example, the drilling provided hard evidence that continents do rift. And it showed that the seafloor is far younger than scientists believed.

The project also led to creation of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, an international science program that Scripps operated for 15 years, starting in 1968.

Munk didnt fade from view. He continued to do original work that sometimes dazzled his peers, especially the Heard Island experiment in 1991.

Munk wondered whether man-made sounds could travel great distances in the ocean. So he went to the small island in the Indian Ocean and prepared to send signals that would be picked up by underwater monitoring stations  if they were audible.

Such acoustic readings are helpful in studying climate change.

A short time later, Munk received a shocking phone call from a marine station in Bermuda; a test signal had been sent out, and it had been picked up in Bermuda, thousands of miles away.

I still cant believe that happened, Munk said recently from Seiche. I mean, we were just getting started. We hadnt even started the main experiment.

CARL HUBBS

Ichthyologist Carl Hubbs liked to tell people that a grand idea popped into his head during a childhood visit to La Jolla.

Historians say he envisioned a long building sweeping along the slope containing case after case of magnificent sea shells, by which I, in a bright blue uniform, kept explaining the exhibit to the assembled public.

Scripps was built on that slope. Hubbs joined the faculty and partly served as an ambassador to the public. And he had a great collection of sea shells.

But hes better remembered for methodically and meticulously building a collection of fish specimens that was the envy of many, and which helped flesh out Scripps standing as a major research institute.

Hubbs arrived in La Jolla in 1944, when Scripps was a ghost town because so many people had left to help with the war effort. There wasnt a lot of money to collect or study fish.

But opportunities arose, and one of them came from an unexpected source: Actor Errol Flynn.

In 1946, Flynn notified Scripps that he planned to sail his schooner from San Diego to Acapulco and that he was willing to take a scientist with him. Hubbs quickly stepped forward and ended up collecting a great number of specimens.

The trip didnt rival the sort of great expeditions Scripps began mounting in the 1950s. But it reflected a mindset that had been pushed hard by Sverdrup: Go beyond the horizon and study the sea.

Hubbs later helped Scripps to explore why commercially valuable sardine populations were plummeting off California, and he collected specimens that helped establish that Southern Californias kelp beds represent one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.

He also produced a landmark study that showed that changing ocean temperatures were influencing the abundance of fish species in different areas along the West Coast.

Hubbs also became a strong advocate for the California gray whale, which appeared to be in decline. He was especially moved by the situation after he flew over the lagoons in Baja California where the whales give birth.

Over time, he successfully pressed Mexico to turn the lagoons into a sanctuary, and to do more to protect the fur and elephant seals on Guadalupe Island.

He also lobbied Milton C. Shedd, one of the founders of SeaWorld, to conduct research on marine mammals. SeaWorld went for it, creating an institute that would eventually carry Hubbs name.

JOHN ISAACS

For more than a century, researchers would look at the ocean and ask, Whats down there?

In the 1950s and 60s, John Isaacs gave them the tools they need to tackle the question, upending long held beliefs about life in the deep.

Isaacs was a civil engineer who arrived at Scripps in 1948, hungry to take on tough problems.

Hubbs gave him one: Find a way to capture and retrieve samples of marine life from deep water.

Isaacs and his colleague Lewis Kidd responded by developing the Mid-Water Ocean Trawl, a cone-shaped net that was open at one end, and laden with weights that kept the trawl deep while it was being towed.

During testing in the early 50s, the trawl scooped up marine life from spots more than 9,000 feet deep, thrilling researchers.

Isaacs also was pretty stoked. He later told historian Robert A. Calvert, In our first trips out, we would make hauls that would increase the number of specimens of some rare fish in the museums of the world by 50  you know, one haul!, Isaacs said.

When there had only been ten in all the museums in the world, we (would) get 500 of the things. Then, of course, specimen after specimen was totally unidentified. That was quite a thrill!

The trawl is still in use today; its widely used in commercial fishing as well as research.

Isaacs, a veteran photographer, built on that advancement by developing automatic cameras that could be dropped in the ocean, where theyd sink to the bottom and record for hours before popping back to the surface. Bait was attached to the drop cams in hopes of attracting fish.

The cameras worked well, and didnt damage the seafloor in the way a trawl would.

In several places he photographed a surprisingly large number of active invertebrates, fishes, and some gigantic sharks that changed mans thinking about the sparsity of life at such depths, the late Scripps researcher Willard Bascom said of Isaacs.

The nets and the cameras were extensions of his senses as he sought to find out: Whats going on down there?

The cameras were adopted by scientists around the world and frequently led to the discovery of creatures that werent known to exist.

CONRAD LIMBAUGH

Theres a spot off Cabo San Lucas where sand falls from the lip of an underwater canyon in the same way that water falls from rocks on land.

Connie Limbaugh filmed the eye-popping phenomenon in 1959 in a moment that showed what could happen when a scientist pulled on scuba gear.

Scripps scientists helped pioneer the use of scuba in research, and Limbaugh was the guy who taught them how to use the equipment.

Hed gained access to one of the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba) devices in the late 1940s, as a graduate student at UCLA.

Connie and (fellow student) Andy Rechnitzer taught themselves how to use scuba, said historian Eric Hanauer. It was trial and error; one of them would use it while the other snorkeled next to him and watched.

Limbaugh transferred to Scripps in 1950 and soon began writing scuba training guidelines for the University of California system. He also began training Scripps scientists to use the gear so they could more directly observe life in the ocean.

Revelle chose him to be Scripps first dive officer, and Hubbs served as his adviser and directed him to explore kelp beds, which were poorly understood even though they were close to the beach.

Limbaugh wasnt a great student, but he was exceptional in the field.

His mind was like a tape recorder; he remembered everything he saw underwater and could later write it all down, Hanauer said.

Limbaugh also was good photographer and videographer, which made him invaluable in underwater research, and for popularizing scuba among the general public.

He wasnt afraid to linger when he discovered something odd and potentially menacing, like the sand falls off Cabo.

Limbaugh and fellow Scripps divers Wheeler North and Jim Stewart made the discovery while exploring marine life. In short order, they had magnificent footage that would form the basis for an award-winning documentary, Rivers of Sand.

Limbaugh always stressed the need for safety, especially when he wrote for popular magazines, like Skin Diver. Ironically, he died in 1960 while exploring an underground river near Marseilles, France. He was 35.

CHARLES KEELING

In December 2015, nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Accord, agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

The agreement arose, in part, from the work of Charles David Keeling, a Scripps chemist who in 1958 created a station in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, to monitor the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

At the time, scientists believed that the C02 level was fairly constant in places like Mauna Kea because the spot was not heavily exposed to vehicle traffic and urban pollution.

Keeling soon noticed seasonal variations in CO2 levels. But he also saw that carbon dioxide was generally heading up, as measured on a graph that came to be known as the Keeling Curve.

Things soon got messy, politically speaking.

Many people did not believe that C02 was increasing at a significant rate. And even if it was, many felt the rise wasnt necessarily due to the burning of fossil fuels.

Revelle, a climate scientist, told Keeling to press on, and he did . Over time, it became clearer that C02 levels were steadily climbing, and that much of the carbon dioxide was being trapped by the greenhouse effect.

The recordings  and work being done elsewhere across Earth  led to many scary predictions, including the claim that global warming would melt polar ice packs and cause sea level rise across much of the planet.

Keeling largely remained out of the limelight. Like Hubbs, he was a meticulous researcher, and preferred to let his work speak for itself.

Keeling died in 2005. But his program was taken over by his son, Ralph Keeling, a Scripps researcher who remained calm, even when the amount of C02 in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time.

Scientists consider that to be a dangerous threshold  one difficult to overcome.

It will take some getting used to psychologically, like a round-numbered birthday, Ralph Keeling said in news interview at the time. For someone who remembers when C02 was only around 330 ppm, its a pretty big change.

WHEELER NORTH

Scientists are famous for writing dry, inaccessible prose. But some are eloquent, and a few are inspirational.

Scripps ecologist Wheeler North was both.

His artful nature was particularly evident in the early 1970s when National Geographic asked him to describe his journeys through the kelp beds of Southern California.

At days end, I often relax by lazily roaming the upper branches of the tall forest where I work, North wrote. Creatures bizarre and beautiful swarm about me. Overhead, the tangled foliage almost obscures the daylight.

But I need no tree climbing irons; only swim fins. The air I breathe is carried on my back. I am a scuba forester and the trees I tend are giant vinelike streamers from the ocean floor off Southern California.

North arrived at Scripps in the early 1950s, when the institute was just beginning to train its scientists to use scuba gear. He had already tested the device, using it on a dive in La Jolla Cove that was so cold he wore woolen underwear.

Fish of all kinds slowly passed by instead of fleeing like animals do on land, North later told a reporter. Eelgrass and kelp swayed with the current. I was mesmerized.

Limbaugh gave him more formal training, then the two men began making regular visits to the kelp beds to catalog what was there, and how the ecosystem worked.

Their work helped reveal that kelp beds provide food or shelter to upwards of 800 marine species, making the beds among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.

At the time, local companies would cut the tops off kelp canopies and extracted algin, a chemical that was used for everything from controlling the foam in beer and making desserts moister.

The harvests angered sportfishermen, who complained that the trimming procedure drove fish way.

North examined the matter and found that the harvests werent harmful.

He also took up a more difficult question: Why did kelp beds undergo periodic die-offs?

In the late 50s, there was a lot of speculation that warm waters from an El Nino was causing the problem. It was a contributing factor. But North and his colleagues determined that the sewage that flowed into the sea from buried pipes was a greater factor. The sewage triggered the growth of sea urchins, then the urchins began to devour the lower portion of kelp plants.

Norths focus was always on his work, rather than things like his personal appearance. He was notoriously averse to fashion, or spending money, even when he transferred to the Caltech faculty in the 1960s.

Wheeler used to make me cut the elastic bands out of old underwear and use them to tie on the loose parts of his tattered wetsuit, Norths longtime friend, Chuck Mitchell, told the Orange County Register.

MIRIAM KASTNER and WOLFGANG BERGER

She excelled in her doctoral work at Harvard. But in the early 1970s, Miriam Kastner knew there was little chance shed get a spot on a research ship out of the famed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

At the time, Woods Hole basically didnt want women to venture beyond the harbor.

I was told that there werent any bathrooms for women aboard ship, said Kastner, who joined the Scripps faculty in 1972, becoming only its second female professor.

She emerged as one of the countrys most influential geochemists, reshaping how scientists think about the way earthquakes erupt beneath the seafloor.

Her rise roughly paralleled that of Wolfgang Berger,who joined the Scripps faculty in 1971 and became famous for his insights about how the ocean changes over time.

They prospered by studying a source wholly lacking in glamour: ocean sediment.

In the mid-1960s, Scripps began operating the Deep Sea Drilling Project, which greatly expanded scientists ability to bore into the seafloor and recover sediment. The program was followed by a similar project operated by Texas A&M University.

Kastner and Berger went to sea aboard project ships and examined core samples as they were brought thousands of feet to the surface.

If you want to learn Earths history, you have to go deeper and deeper into the sediment, said Kastner, who at 82 is still working at Scripps. You can read the material like chapters of a book, and go back millions of years in time.

The sediment contains the fossilized remains of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and foraminifera, whose shells feature some of the prettiest designs found in nature.

Berger, who died on Aug. 6, could look at these remains and piece together how the oceans chemistry and temperature had changed. That told him a lot about how the ocean had functioned as a system.

In a sense, it made him an historian.

Kastner heavily focused on sediments retrieved from subduction zones, an area where Earths tectonic plates collide, separate, or grind past each other. The sediments revealed a lot about how these plates move, and when theyre most likely to produce potentially catastrophic earthquakes.

She also got a few chances to literally eyeball submarine faults  from a submarine.

On various occasions, she has squeezed into a small, 3-person submersible and descended into the deep.

On one trip, I could see both faults, and where they came together, Kastner said. It was amazing.

Sources used in this report include: University of California, UC San Diego, US Navy, Defense Department; National Academy of Sciences; National Academy of Engineering, American Physical Society.

Spanning the Pacific

Highlights of research conducted by Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists

1.Scripps undertook the first systemic studies of the California Current, which flows south along the West Coast of North America.

2. In 1958, Charles Keeling began recording the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Over time, this daily record revealed the concentrations of CO2 are growing and are influenced by the burning of fossil fuels. The so-called Keeling Curve has been instrumental in tracking climate change.

3. In 1950, Roger Revelle led MidPac, one of Scripps first great ocean expeditions. Researchers discovered an immense mountain range on the seafloor in the central North Pacific.

4. In 1952, Scripps scientists provided technical support when the U.S. detonated the first thermonuclear bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. The experiment helped the U.S. compete in a growing arms race with the Soviet Union.

5. During World War II, Walter Munk and Harald Sverdrup made major advances in forecasting surf, which helped Allied forces to more safely land amphibious forces, including those who went ashore at Normandy on D-Day.

6. In 1957, Roger Revelle published a landmark paper that began to crystallize the threat posed by greenhouse gases. He became known as the father of the greenhouse effect.

7. In 1956, Wheeler North began some of the first comprehensive studies of Southern California kelp forests. His work helped show that kelp beds are among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.

8. In 1961, Scripps launched Project Mohole, an attempt to retrieve samples from a point between Earths crust and outer core, at a spot off near Guadalupe Island, Mexico. The project didnt achieve its goal, but it showed that scientists could do deep water drilling. Mohole also led to the Deep Sea Drilling Program, an international research project run by Scripps.

9. Starting in the 1970s, geochemist Miriam Kastner began analyzing samples of sediment that had been retrieved from the seafloor, from spots around the world, including Japan. Her research helped reveal how and when earthquakes erupt, and how the chemistry of the oceans changes over long periods of time.

Sources: National Atmospheric and Oceanic Association, ESRI; Photos courtesy of Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Millerscience and adst.org

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

Twitter: @grobbins

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
By PTI: (Eds: With details of proceedings)

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) The CBI today justified in the Supreme Court the issuance of lookout circulars (LOCs) against Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram, in an alleged graft case saying there were "good, cogent" reasons to back its step.

The FIR, lodged by the CBI on May 15, had alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Kartis father was the Finance Minister.

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A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also took on record the documents placed by the CBI in a sealed cover in connection with the case and allowed it to furnish other documentary proof about Kartis alleged foreign accounts and properties abroad.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, asked the CBI to respond to the affidavit filed by Karti in connection with his questioning by investigators before whom he had appeared on August 23 and 28.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta told the bench that there was "a good, cogent reason for issuance of lookout circular against him (Karti). It is not a simple case or that of one company but it involves jugglery of accounts and properties abroad".

Appearing for Karti, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam submitted: "What is the subject matter of enquiry is not me but my father who happened to be the finance minister giving FIPB approvals to a company in 2007 and it is alleged that one of the conditions had been violated".

He said that not a single person of the six-member FIPB, who were secretary-level officers, were examined in the case.

During the brief hearing, Subramaniam said it was alleged that Karti had bank accounts at offshore destinations and "properties all over the Universe".

"However, no questions were asked on these," he said.

The court also asked the CBI to file a rejoinder to the affidavit filed by Karti on his questioning and fixed the matter for hearing on September 11.

The apex court also did not allow the plea of senior advocate Raju Ramchandran, representing co-accused Ravi Vishwanathan, that his client be allowed to travel abroad for the admission of his son.

On August 18, the court had asked Karti to appear before the investigating officer at the CBI headquarters here for questioning in the case.

The bench had given the probe agency the liberty to question Karti as many times it wanted and posted the CBIs plea, challenging the Madras High Court order staying the LOCs issued against him and others, for further hearing today.

Prior to this, the apex court had said that Karti would not be allowed to leave India without subjecting himself to investigation in the case. The court had then stayed the Madras High Court order putting on hold the LOC issued by the Centre against Karti.

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The CBI had claimed that the FDI proposal of the media house, cleared by Chidambaram, was "fallacious".

The FIR was registered on May 15 before the special CBI judge here and the registration of the case was followed by searches at the residences and offices of Karti and his friends on May 16. PTI SJK ABA MNL RKS ARC

--- ENDS ---
The San Diego County Water Authority has asked a court to throw out a June lawsuit that aimed to open the door on private meetings long held by authority board members.

A 245-page court filing submitted by the agency in July hits back at public-interest attorney Cory Briggs unsupported allegation that agency board members are holding secret meetings that should be opened to the public.

The first formal response to Briggs suit, authored by general counsel Mark Hattam, defends an untold number of private, unnoticed and unrecorded gatherings convened by the agencys appointed delegates to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, or MWD, a regional agency based in Los Angeles.

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It also reiterates the agencys claim that the delegates are merely individual board members appointed to represent the agencys interests at MWD  not a committee of directors subject to Californias Ralph M. Brown Act.

That law, passed in 1953, allows closed-door meetings of small collections of board members only on a social or chance basis, or if their official task is temporary. The idea is to prevent officials from conducting government business outside the view of the public, which pays for it.

The water authority has long maintained its compliance with both the letter and the spirit of that statute. Hattam has said the authority complies with Brown Act provisions barring officials from making policy out of public view.

The agency also fears that opening up its delegates gatherings  which have been held behind closed doors for decades  could hinder delegates ability to protect county ratepayers interests.

Member agency delegates could never on the spot converse with one another or their agencies staff as to how their local interests might be affected by a proposed MWD vote, without first holding a separate public meeting, Hattam wrote in court papers. This would create an endless spiral of publicly noticed meetings before meetings, and breaking MWD meetings in order to provide 24-hours notice for additional delegate meetings, and so on.

No MWD business could ever be conducted effectively.

Briggs suit reaches the exact opposite conclusion.

His six-page complaint  filed on behalf of the nonprofit advocacy organization San Diegans for Open Government  alleged that ratepayers have already been harmed by closed-door meetings that deprive them of a chance to monitor agency activities. It asks the court to rescind any and all actions already taken by the delegates in the course of their private meetings.

Briggs and other critics say the gatherings should be held in the open because the delegates panel was not formed to take on a temporary task. The June complaint cites language then included in the county water agencys administrative code that granted members of the delegates panel collective authority to represent the agencys interests at MWD meetings. That wording, Briggs said, is evidence the delegate groups duties extended well beyond the short-term troubleshooting tasks usually assigned to groups exempted from open meeting law.

Hattams response notes all references to the delegates collective powers have since been deleted from the agencys rulebook.

It goes on to highlight Briggs incorrect reference to the earlier version of the administrative code. Agency board members voted to make the code change at Hattams request, nearly two weeks after Briggs suit was filed.

Hattams filing cites the code reference as one among the reasons Judge John S. Meyer ought to toss Briggs complaint. It also points to a 2009 opinion drafted by the California Attorney Generals office that determined a joint school district-labor union committee was allowed to meet behind closed doors because the committees creation was spelled out under the terms of a union contract that was not required to be negotiated in public.

Hattam claims in court papers that the opinion is directly on point in the county water authority case. The agency, he wrote, merely uses its administrative code to implement the provisions of the 1982 law that created the MWD, including that laws requirement that member water agencies appoint representatives to serve on the MWD board.

Both Hattam and Briggs declined to comment on ongoing litigation. A hearing in the case has been scheduled for Nov. 3.

Previously
A Utah nurse is accusing a Salt Lake City detective of assault after she was forcibly arrested for refusing to give the officer a blood sample from a badly injured and unconscious patient.

Alex Wubbels is seen in the videotape of the July 26 incident first asking Detective Jeff Payne if the man, who had been the victim in a fiery car crash, is under arrest and Payne answers, No. She then asks if the patient has an electronic warrant and again Payne replies, No.

She then shows the law enforcement officer a copy of the agreement between University Hospital and the police department and explains that an arrest, a warrant or consent from the patient are needed in order for her to comply with the request.

Im just trying to do what Im supposed to do, thats all, she says to Payne.

Still, he insists that he be provided the sample from the patient, who was later identified as a truck driver severely burned after a man being pursued by authorities crashed head on into his big rig.

(The video of that crash, which was recorded on dash cam and released by the Utah Highway Patrol, is below.)

Payne said later in a report that he wanted the sample to protect the driver, not prosecute him, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. He also wrote that Wubbels was interfering with his investigation.

The dispute over the blood sample continues as Wubbels consults with her supervisors.

She is then seen holding her cell phone up as she talks to a supervisor who asks the officer why he is blaming the messenger.

Shes the one who told me no, Payne replies.

The supervisor then tells the officer that he is making a huge mistake threatening a nurse.

Thats when Payne explodes, declaring OK were done, youre under arrest, and he moves toward Wubbels as she backs away in horror.

Somebody help me! she screams as Payne grabs her and forces her toward the exit as she cries and protests that shes done nothing wrong.

He then pulls her arms behind her back and handcuffs her. I said were done, he yells while Wubbels sobs and yells for him to stop.

Please sir, you are hurting me, she implores.

At a Thursday press conference in which the tapes of the incident were played, Wubbels and her attorney Karra Porter said the nurse did nothing wrong and that her arrest was illegal. She was not charged with a crime.

Wubbels has not filed legal action but she has also not ruled it out, the Tribune reported. She said she wants police departments to have better training so that what she called harassment of medical care workers stops.

The nurse said she felt betrayed and angry.

A department spokesman told local media that the incident was under investigation and that Payne remained on active duty but was suspended from the blood draw unit. Sgt. Brandon Shearer also said that department Chief Mike Brown had seen the tape and that he said it was very alarming.

Wubbels said she was just doing her job by protecting the patient.

A blood draw, it just gets thrown around like its some simple thing, she said, according to the Deseret News. But your blood is your blood. Thats your property.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Salt Lake City police apologized to the hospital for the incident and reiterated that it is investigating.

After being chased by police, 26-year-old Marcos Torres, of Brigham City, turned into oncoming traffic in Cache County, igniting a fire that killed him and put another man in criti ...

619-293-1710

debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com

twitter.com/Debbi_Baker
Lightly edited comments from our online coverage.

Regarding Has Harvey changed any minds on climate change? (Aug. 29): Man-made climate change? As in carbon credits and another economic babble? Does that not strike you as a naked scam? Not to mention the village witch doctor role-playing by promoters of the scam  the telling use of the word denier as it concerns man-made climate change is the tip-off here. How dare you question us? Ninety-seven percent of scientists, blah blah blah. I call bovine excrement on the whole thing.

Gordon M. Wagner

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April 22, 2016

Unfortunately, those who are ignorant to the reality of climate change will remain so. Those who, for whatever reason, do not listen to real climatologists and choose to listen to non-qualified ranters on web sites will not be here for the consequences. Unfortunately, their children will.

fbookheim

Joined April 17, 2016

You must have been holding onto that headline for more than a dozen years or since the last time a major hurricane hit the U.S. Anyway, to answer your question. No.

satyr0

Joined June 14, 2016

Regarding San Diego Countys biggest union announces strike date (Aug. 29): The county should follow the example of Sandy Springs, Georgia. Contract out every possible government function. Lower cost, better service, no unfunded liabilities, the ability to fire employees or companies who dont meet performance standards, and no strikes. Sandy Springs provides government-funded services via contracting out  for about half the cost of surrounding communities.

Richard Rider

Joined Nov. 27, 2016

Not enough temp companies to outsource 17,000 jobs. When Proflowers kept outsourcing just 700 jobs, it dried up the local market and no one wanted to work with it anymore. These are very low-paying positions that are bargaining right now with the county, many do not even own a car. Imagine that in Southern California. If they outsourced, then it could basically be illegals or the lowest skilled who may not even understand how to operate a computer. San Diego County relies heavily on software-driven data and state systems not easily handled and so many complex systems within each agency its almost mind-boggling.

SuperDougie

Joined Aug. 27, 2017

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Although the epicenter of the most recent revival of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism was more than 2,500 miles away, the entire country, and our own San Diego, should pay close attention to the actions and messages of hurtful hate witnessed in Charlottesville, Virginia.

While many in the greater San Diego community might think that that hatred and those acts of racism cant happen here, our community has its own history of intolerance  both in the distant past and more recently.

During the Civil Rights era, legislation like Californias fair housing law, the Rumford Act of 1963, was passed making it illegal to discriminate against ethnicity, religion, sex or other statuses in housing.

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But the Rumford Act was fought through a 1964 ballot initiative, Proposition 14, which called for repeal of the discrimination protections.

Despite Martin Luther King Jr.s visit to San Diego to oppose Proposition 14 and take a brief break from the day to day and hour to hour demands of our struggle in the South, and discuss the issues involved in that struggle with concerned people all over this nation and all over the world, San Diego County supported repealing the Rumford Act with more than 70 percent of the electorate voting yes.

Fast forward to 2015, with our first African-American president nearing the end of his second term and a presidential campaign to replace him dividing the country: Racism, both overt and institutional, continued to rear its ugly head locally and around the U.S.

That fall, a man assaulted a pregnant Muslim woman and made racially charged threats to her in Mission Valley. Meanwhile, across the country, let us not forget the murders at Charlestons Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

This year has had its share of racially charged flare ups as well beyond Charlottesville. Right here at home, even as recently as this spring, fliers depicting swastikas and racist language were posted around the campus of San Diego State University.

These events are creating a bigger picture trend of struggles to create an inclusive society. Both the FBI and the California Attorney Generals Office reported increases in hate crimes from 2015 to 2016 in San Diego County and California.

Recent local statistics show an 11 percent increase in local hate crimes. These trends broke with the history of overall California hate crimes decreasing beginning in 2007.

Where do we go from here? Im thankful that leaders in San Diego are united in responding with a call against racism and white supremacists, but the national response, to some extent, has been just as divided as the protests themselves.

My colleagues, friends and family locally and across the country are shocked and disgusted at the presidents apparent attempt to find a moral equivalency between violent neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and the brave folks protesting against their deeply immoral ideals.

Healing will take weeks or months, but San Diego must continue to be united against hate. In the long term, healing in response to terrible events like Charlottesville will not be sufficient to address the roots of the issue. Im calling on all of San Diego County  from our business, religious, education and nonprofit leaders, to our elected officials and the citizens who voted them in  to rethink how we embrace diversity, inclusion and equity in our regional culture.

Lets be a model for the rest of the country and tackle these issues head on  equipping San Diego County to develop a truly inclusive and equitable community. Diversity in our country, and in the education system and workforce, is rapidly changing. This diversity is wonderful, but it can also create challenges that must be addressed. To meet these changes and challenges, a new 21st-century style of leadership is required.

This effort needs to go beyond checking the boxes. Embracing and empowering diversity will only improve our economy, and make us more creative and innovative. Im not calling for more Band-Aids, like speech-limiting political correctness or stale online diversity training. Since we are in uncharted times, diversity needs to be integrated into everything we do. We all must be ready to have open and vulnerable conversations about how were all going to move forward.

As we pray and respond to Charlottesville, we need to look to addressing the core issues that caused it. We can hope that something similar doesnt happen in our community, or we can be proactive to ensure our community is working to go beyond that, in turn making it a better place for all of us.

Crenshaw, a native San Diegan and lifelong resident of southeastern San Diego, is CEO of RISE San Diego and a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune Community Advisory Board.
On March 17, 2013, Williams Lollis called his pregnant girlfriend and threatened to kill her, their unborn child and another child. He also left a voicemail with the clicking sound of a gun trigger being pulled to further threaten the victim. Pursued by police, Lollis barricaded himself in his mothers house and assaulted a police officer who tried to subdue him.

Related: Remember the real goals of states Proposition 57

Not done yet, Lollis repeatedly attempted to dissuade the victim from testifying at trial. Lollis was sentenced by a Fresno judge to 92 years in state prison, but now, less than four years into his sentence, hes being considered for early release under Proposition 57.

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James Koenig wasnt supposed to be eligible for parole for 32 more years. Thats what his victims thought. Koenig was convicted of 35 felonies for swindling investors out of $250 million in a complex Ponzi scheme and sentenced to 43 years in prison. Now, nine years later, Koenig has could get out of prison much sooner than the Shasta County judge who sentenced him intended.

For Danny Lucero, the wait is over. He became the first Fresno inmate to be granted release under Proposition 57 after serving four years of his 11-year sentence for attempting to stab two women.

Passed by voters in November of 2016, Proposition 57 makes any person convicted of a nonviolent offense and sentenced to state prison eligible for parole consideration after completing the full term of his or her primary offense. Under Proposition 57, there is no public hearing for parole consideration.

That parole board, in a paper review, considers four main criteria: 1) the facts of the commitment offense; 2) the inmates prior criminal record; 3) the inmates institutional behavior; and 4) the inmates programming in prison. Proposition 57 requires that the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop regulations that protect and enhance public safety.

In the months following the passage of Proposition 57, the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) communicated the concerns of prosecutors to those in CDCR tasked with drafting the administrative regulations outlining the process for early release.

Unlike statements made by victims in the life parole hearings, the proposed regulations do not make victim statements confidential. This effectively deprives victims of their constitutional right to be heard at any hearing as many victims live in fear of their offender and will undoubtedly decide not to issue a statement for fear of retribution. This completely undermines the promises made to victims under Marsys Law.

The proposed regulations do not allow prosecutors to access an inmates central file (the file of their time during incarceration), even though they are granted this right in the life parole suitability process and the Proposition 47 processes. Without such access, prosecutors cannot address an inmates institutional behavior and programming in prison.

When asked how the inmate is performing by the victim, law enforcement, the public or the media, prosecutors will be forced to tell them that CDCR will not allow access to that information.

Under the proposed regulations, inmates have a right to review their parole denial, but prosecutors are denied that same right when parole is granted. That is fundamentally unfair.

Under the proposed regulations, prosecutors are given only 30 days to prepare and submit a written statement to the parole board. This is an insufficient amount of time to obtain case files, arrest reports, prior convictions and other relevant documents, review all available materials and locate and register victims so their voice can be heard. Prosecutors are requesting 90 days.

CDCRs position is that if a victim wasnt previously registered with the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services, they wont receive notice of parole. Prosecutors and victims rights groups need time to locate and register victims to ensure their constitutional right to participate in the process.

Prosecutors believe victims have a constitutional guarantee to be part of this process and are requesting 90 days to locate them and get them registered. Citizens demand transparency, particularly in the criminal justice process. Given the possibility of such substantial reductions in lawfully imposed sentences, CDAA believes that its important the parole board be informed of all pertinent information regarding inmates from all parties.

CDAA remains remains willing to work with CDCR to ensure Proposition 57s promise to protect and enhance public safety is realized. We are hopeful our concerns and those of crime victims will be addressed.

Riebe is the president of the California District Attorneys Association. He is the elected district attorney of Amador County.
The mayors office of Tijuana has been surprised by the cartoon in the San Diego Union-Tribune by Steve Breen (Bienvenidos a Tijuana, Aug. 30) that was published, which is offensive for both the city of Tijuana and all its inhabitants, by projecting a totally wrong, exaggerated and erroneous image of our city to the visitors.

We believe that by using topics of bad taste that do not correspond to reality directly affects the metropolis of Tijuana, gateway to Mexico and Latin America, its inhabitants, businessmen and the tourism, medical and gastronomic sectors.

Like many Americans and foreigners, Publisher and Editor in Chief Jeff Light and his colleague, Steve Breen, have had the honor of visiting Tijuana and enjoying its people and the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the city.

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At present, the bi-national region of Tijuana and San Diego faces an organized crime phenomenon linked to drug trafficking. It is important to highlight the effort and coordination that is being done to reduce the rate of violence.

As mayor of Tijuana, I strongly reject the drawing. There are too many ties between the two cities to put them in danger by some erroneous topics. That is why I cordially invite you to know the city and see that with the support of the citizens we are working hard to make Tijuana the best city in Mexico.

I reiterate my considerations and ask you to retract.

Juan Manuel Gastelum is the mayor of Tijuana.

***

With due respect to liberty of expression and in a most cordial manner, in accordance with the ethical code of journalism, please note that the State Government represented by Gov. Francisco Vega de Lamadrid has been observant with keen interest of the cartoon published in the San Diego Union-Tribune. It is deemed that the publication is not justified as it does not correspond to the true image of Tijuanas society and its city.

It projects a close-up of a sign almost destroyed by bullet holes, with the inscription Welcome to Tijuana, on a dark background, which is unjustified. You and the author of the drawing as well as perhaps millions of Americans and foreigners that continue to visit this cosmopolitan city, know that this is an offensive message.

In particular it is evident that Tijuanans and San Diegans are characterized by their brotherly attitude, surrounded by high and respectful human values, on all fronts of cultural, social, business and politics.

I take the opportunity to underline that Baja California is undergoing an unyielding confrontation against the delinquency phenomenon which is represented by the flow of drugs, thus the infighting among criminal elements whose aim is to inundate the United States with illegal substances.

To finalize, I hereby extend a cordial invitation for you to visit us and verify what our people are all about, you will surely have the opportunity to verify why we have an ongoing growth of visitors from throughout the world.

Raul Reynoso is social communication general director for Baja California state Government.

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Donations to help relief efforts in Harvey-devastated areas are pouring in from everywhere and by the millions, but the American Red Cross this week faced a storm of its own with reluctance by some to donate to the charity over questions of how it uses its funds.

Social media has facilitated the spread of skepticism in the Red Cross given past reports by NPR and ProPublica over how much of the agencys money goes to actual disaster relief. Heres what some of those investigations have uncovered:

26 cents of every dollar donated go to overhead costs, not 9 cents as the agency claims (ProPublica)

The Red Cross raised half a billion dollars only to build six homes after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti (ProPublica)

The agency took emergency vehicles away from relief work to be used as backdrops for press conferences during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 (ProPublica)

Those reports came out in 2014. Three years later this week, Red Cross executive Brad Kieserman could still not explain what percentage of dollars donated to the agency go directly to helping victims.

The investigations and Wednesdays remarks from Kieserman on NPR have compelled many people on social media, including celebrities and journalists, to discourage others from donating to the Red Cross. Some encouraged others to donate their money elsewhere.

Its unclear how many Harvey relief donors have skipped the Red Cross but the backlash has been severe enough that the agency is trying to counter with reassurances of its own. In a tweet, the Red Cross shared an explanation about how it spends donations for Harvey relief.

The list of its relief efforts is long. Among them, the Red Cross says it has:

more than 2,000 disaster workers on the ground;

served more than 250,000 meals and snacks since the storm began;

sent hundreds of emergency vehicles to the affected areas;

and offered shelter to thousands of people.

On social media, theres also been an outpouring of praise and calls to donate to the charity from big voices in America. Former President Barack Obama was among those to urge people to donate to the Red Cross.

Response to flooded areas in Texas and Louisiana has been overwhelming. And thanks to social media and the internet, there are more ways than ever for people all over the country to donate money or supplies. Celebrities and athletes have led some of those efforts.

And as the two Harvey-devastated states move from rescue to relief and recovery mode, the nation will be watching whether charities and the federal government will fulfill their promises. The Red Cross is not far behind, even as it deals with simultaneous floods in India and Niger.

But for many Americans, the question still remains: to donate or not to donate to the Red Cross?

Have some thoughts to share?

Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, has been debated, tweeted about and fought over since President Donald Trump took office and even well before then.

DACA has been in place for five years now and affects hundreds of thousands of people living in the United States and their families. But what is it and why is everybody talking about it?

Heres what you need to know.

What is DACA?

DACA is a program that allows unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children  and who also meet several education and security guidelines  to be protected from deportation.

Read more about the guidelines for participation here.

President Barack Obama established DACA through executive action in 2012. DACA, however, is not a law legislated by Congress .

They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper, Obama said when announcing the deferred action policy.

Deferred action lasts for two year periods and is subject to renewal. It also allows participants to legally work in the U.S.

The program has about 800,000 participants, according to the most recent figures from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who are often referred to as dreamers.

Why is DACA in jeopardy?

Trump is forced to make a decision about DACA before Sept. 5 because a group of state officials is threatening to sue his administration over it.

Led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 10 state attorneys are urging the president to end the program. In June, Paxton sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking that the program be phased out.

Arkansas, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginias attorney generals joined the Texan as well as Idaho Governor C.L. Otter.

Could that lawsuit impact Trumps opinion on the issue? The best answer to that question comes from Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.

It wont affect the policy decision, but it will affect the timing of it, Bossert said on Thursday. We certainly have to watch the lawsuits and how they matriculate through the courts and when the deadlines would be imposed. That will inform our decision-making process, but it wont affect the policy decision.

Axios reported on Friday morning that Trump wouldnt be making the decision this week, but even that account conflicted with another one from a CNN reporter who tweeted that Trump said the decision could come sometime [Friday], maybe over the weekend.

What has Trump said about it?

During the 2016 election, Trump said he would end DACA when he became president. But in February this year he softened the potential blow by saying, we are gonna deal with DACA with heart.

To me, its one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids  in many cases, not in all cases, Trump said. In some of the cases, theyre having DACA and theyre gang members and theyre drug members, too. But you have some absolutely incredible kids  I would say mostly  they were brought in here in such a way. Its a very, very tough subject.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked on Thursday whether Trump still stands by his statement to treat DACA participants with heart  Sanders said, absolutely.

But now several reports from news outlets say Trump has leaned toward ending the program.

Where do other leaders in Washington stand?

House Speaker Paul Ryan , R-Wisconsin, said he doesnt think Trump should rescind the DACA program.

This is something that Congress has to fix, he said on Friday. Heres his full statement on the issue:

And Rep. Ryan is not the only Republican to oppose such action from Trump. Sen. Orrin Hatch , R-Utah, also opposes Trump making any changes to DACA.

I've urged the President not to rescind DACA, an action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution. Like the President, I've long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws, said a statement released by Hatch. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress.

Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is on Trumps voter fraud commission, warned the president on Friday that if he were to continue DACA he would lose in court and politically, for him, it would be a very bad political destruction because his base would be cheering against him when his administration loses.

Democrats oppose any changes to DACA.

Have other questions about DACA? Comment them below or tweet @sdutideas and we may update this page with the answer.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin

ALSO

Hearts divided: U.S. Dreamers search for their past in Mexico

Dreamers visit Mexico under program that may come to end under Trump

With DACA under the gun, all eyes are on Trump
Reflecting on his Catholic faith and experiences in the seminary where he studied as a Jesuit novice, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday urged businesses to hire reformed ex-inmates, saying that they deserve to be judged by what they can bring to the workforce.

In an appearance in San Diego, the governor said that its important for the states justice system that the public to see the potential when people are released from prison.

Do not be a hypocrite and say, on Sunday, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, Brown said at a forum with state corrections officials and businesses representatives who are considering hiring people who have received job training while incarcerated.

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Others discussed the tax and economic incentives that might help companies that hire former inmates, and highlighted successes from businesses that hired employees who received job training while incarcerated, and former prisoners who have stayed out of trouble while working in a new career.

Brown said that prisons have problems, in part because of bad policies created when he was first governor some 40 years ago that hes now trying to correct.

It becomes more complicated because of various realignments between state and county detention centers, changes in criminal statutes, and court rulings, Californias prisoners are being returned to communities, Brown said, and they need skills and work to keep them from returning to jail.

A part of their success depends on Californians viewing people who have served time differently, he said.

A little humility in the face of other people who have done bad things is called for, he said. Particularly, when people are saying what great Christian they are, how religious they are. Youve got to live it.

And living it is treating people in ways they are not often treated. Weve got a lot of work to do on ourselves, weve got a lot to do on the prisons and the prisoners, and I think if we all pull together, we can get the training and the programs.

He cautioned that a personal transformation isnt all that is necessary to maintain law and order.

I think we can find a middle-point of wisdom and public safety to make the place better, Brown said.

But if a person convicted of a crime has changed, they need to be seen as reformed, he said.

I know to a lot of people, when you commit a crime, you dont just commit a crime. You become a criminal as part of your essence, he said at the event at the Jacobs Center for Neighorhood Innovation. Its what they call in the academic world, essentializing. If you do something once, even, you are that thing.

Weve got to see people as variable. I think we all think of ourselves as changeable, but people who commit crimes can change, he continued. Some people change right away, some people dont change for five years. Some people, it takes them 40 years.

Kenyatta Leon was in a good position for a recent college graduate  he had a job waiting for him out in the real world. His problem was that he had spent the last decade in San Quentin State Prison, serving 25 years to life.

But he caught a break, and received his release in 2012 after he was re-sentenced when the state repealed its three strikes law, making Leon a free man after he spent about 18 years in prison. He was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon.

Two weeks later he started a paid internship at RocketSpace, and was eventually hired onto that technology accelerators staff and became a manager. He currently works in sales there.

The training he received in prison, and his fortune of finding an employer who saw his potential as more important than his criminal record, was crucial to the opportunities he received, Leon said.

Anyone who tells you the program doesnt work, dont believe them. Im living proof, Leon said.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
Lodged in the Sunaria Jail for the past nine months, Dalit leader Kirad stepped out today on bail and speaking to media, spilled some beans on the Dera chief's countenance inside the prison.

By India Today Web Desk: In a slew of interesting revelations today on Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, one of the fellow inmates at the Rohtak's Sunaria Jail, Dalit leader Swadesh Kirad said that the moment sentence was announced, he fell to his knees and wailed, "Hang me, I don't want to live anymore."

Lodged in the Sunaria Jail for the past nine months, Dalit leader Kirad stepped out today on bail and speaking to media, spilled some beans on the Dera chief's countenance inside the prison.

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He added that everyday since Friday, August 25, the day of his first sentence and the subsequent imprisonment, Gurmeet could be heard talking to himself, "God, what wrong habe I done? What is my fault?" (Rabba, mera kya kasoor hai?)

Dalit leader Swadesh Kirad

Kirad said that on the night of August 25, Gurmeet did not eat anything but sat on the floor and cried all night, imploring his destiny.

"He didn't eat anything. Just had water from Bisleri bottle, later some milk, tea and biscuits," the Dalit leader added.

Speaking on Gurmeet Ram Rahim's dwellings in the prison, Kirad said that he was not given any special treatment but was kept in a separate space due to imminent threat to his life.

"Prisoners are very angry with Ram Rahim for the violence that was instigated in his name in Punjab, Haryana and parts of other states after his verdict," the Dalit leader explained.

He can be attacked, Kirad reiterated, over the issue of growing resentment against the Dera chief in the prison.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been given two quilts like all the other inmates and no special arrangements have been made for his 'stay' in the Sunaria Jail .

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping two minors 15 years ago. Ram Rahim has been handed two sentences of ten years each for the two counts of rape.

Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh said the two sentences of 10 years each will run consecutively, and not concurrently.

Also read: Gurmeet Ram Rahim acted like a wild beast, does not deserve any mercy: Court

Also read: Cars, cosmetics, gold: The lavish lifestyle of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

Also read: Was never afraid of him, says woman who was raped by Gurmeet Ram Rahim

ALSO WATCH: No VIP treatment for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, says former jail inmate

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COVINGTON, La. (AP)  Prosecutors in Louisiana say a man who plotted with his girlfriend in the 2009 murder-for-hire killing of her husband has been sentenced to life in prison.

District Attorney Warren Montgomery said Carlos Rodriguez was found guilty in May of first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Mario Scramuzza of Covington.

News outlets report Judge August Hand handed down the sentence Thursday.

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Prosecutors say Rodriguez killed Scramuzza in the laundry room of the victims home after ambushing him there with two accomplices.

Gina Scramuzza, the victims wife, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2013 and is serving a life sentence.

The two accomplices also are behind bars. Luis Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life. Erly Montoya pleaded guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery with a firearm and sentenced to 35 years.
Here is a look at the life and times of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The life and times of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh:

Baba Balochistani Beparwah Mastana

Dera Sacha Sauda founder Baba Balochistani Beparwah Mastana, at his last satsang in January 1960, says, "After seven years, we'll come in the form of the third body (guru)".

1967- A STAR IS BORN: On August 15, 1967, Gurmeet Singh is born in Rajasthan's Gurusar Modia village, to Naseeb Kaur and Maghar Singh Sidhu, after 18 years of marriage.

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Maghar Singh Sidhu

His father was an ardent Dera follower. At age 7, Gurmeet is 'initiated', given a holy 'naam' by second guru Satnam Singh.

1982- DROPOUT: Is expelled from school in Class IX, apparently for misbehaving with girls. Also fails final exams.

1980s- GETS HITCHED: Gets married to 18-year-old Harjeet Kaur. Gurmeet is a fulltime worker at the dera, doing odd jobs. Gurjant Singh, a Khalistani terrorist, is a fast friend.

Satnam Singh Satnam Singh

At 23, Gurmeet becomes Dera chief; Satnam Singh suddenly announces him as successor and a "saint", 'Huzoor Maharaj' (possibly under pressure from Gurjant Singh and fellow terrorists).

2002- THE ACCUSED: A female fan writes to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, accusing Gurmeet of raping her and others. He is also an accused in the murders of Sirsa journalist RC Chhatrapati and dera manager Ranjit Singh.

2001- HELPING HAND: Sets up disaster relief teams, which work in Odisha cyclone, Bhuj quake areas. Also works for cow protection.

1994- HOLY 'NAAM': Gurmeet initiates the holy "naam" to over 8 lakh followers, asks them to meditate at 3 in the morning with a "true heart and reasonable wishes".

1992- STARTING OUT: Starts building empire, spruces up the humble ashram, constructs new buildings.

2007- DRESSING UP: Son Jasmeet Insan is declared heir (though dera rules bar a blood relation from taking charge); Gurmeet dresses up like Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, in an ad, enraging many Sikhs. He apologises, but a livid Akal Takht files criminal case against him.

Jasmeet Insan

Motorcade attacked with explosives by Khalistanis. Gurmeet gets Z+ security cover.

2009- CASE DISMISSED: Adopts Honeypreet Insan as daughter; Sirsa court dismisses case against him for hurting Sikh sentiments.

2011- THE 'AFFAIR': Honeypreet's estranged husband, Vishwas Gupta, files case, accuses Gurmeet of having illicit relations with his wife.

2014- BOBBIT BABA: Case filed against dera chief for forcibly castrating 400 male followers.

2015- POWER CENTRE: The Indian Express puts him at No. 96 in their list of 100 most powerful Indians of 2015.

2016- AWARDS GALORE: A 'doctorate' from the universally unaccredited World Records University, London; awarded Giants International Award for his social work.

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2017- BEHIND BARS: Receives 'most versatile personality of the year' award from Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis; Convicted of rape, gets 20 years in jail.

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Thirty-eight men, women and children are dead. Scores are being treated in hospitals for injuries sustained in the violence that erupted in Haryana's Panchkula town on August 25, the day a CBI special court pronounced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty on two counts of rape.

The bloodletting had been predicted. As Yogendra Yadav, national president of Swaraj Abhiyan, says, "You had the date, the time, the exact place and the identity of those waiting to indulge in violence. What more did you need (to take action)?" But it was clearly not enough to stir Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Thirty-four months into his tenure, he cannot possibly cite lack of experience in governance as the reason behind the failure to contain the violence.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. (Photo: Sandeep Sahdev)

Khattar has faltered twice earlier. In November 2014, when his government was called upon to execute the high court-ordered arrest of Rampal, a Kabirpanthi sect leader, who had surrounded himself with 50,000 adherents at his dera in Hisar. Khattar's indecision on how to proceed led to an 18-day stand-off between the police and the godman's followers, ending in the death of six people. In February 2016, the Haryana government's ineptitude was back on display when Jats demanding quotas went on the rampage, resulting in the loss of 30 lives.

In Gurmeet Singh's case, as the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed on August 24, there were indications of wilful collusion between the Khattar government and those at the helm of Dera Sacha Sauda. With the verdict officially slated for August 25, his administration had more than a forewarning. Despite prohibitory orders, an estimated 100,000 dera supporters had gathered near the Panchkula courts. This amid telling statements by senior BJP leaders-state education minister Ram Bilas Sharma insisted "there's no Section 144 on shraddha (faith)". A day before the verdict, Haryana's advocate general Baldev Raj Mahajan admitted in the high court to a 'clerical mistake' in the prohibitory orders issued whereby only people with weapons were barred from assembling in Panchkula. Speaking to reporters a day earlier, state director general of police B.S. Sandhu had stated that "Section 144 was imposed only to stop people from carrying weapons". On the ground, as it became painfully evident from the violence, the Haryana police had desisted from even a cursory search of the dera followers. Many among them were carrying bottles filled with petrol, rods and had also stocked up on stones and bricks.

Emerging hours after the violence, Khattar blamed the mayhem on a few "miscreants" amid the crowd of adherents assembled for "darshan of their guru". His government's response-from allowing Gurmeet Singh to drive to the Panchkula courts in a 200-strong motorcade to deputy advocate general G.S. Salwara carrying the convicted dera chief's bags to Gurmeet Singh's 'adopted daughter' Honeypreet Kaur accompanying him on the helicopter that flew him to Rohtak jail-provoked the judges to remark that the Khattar government appeared to have "surrendered before the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda for political considerations".

It was an allusion to just how cosy Khattar and his government have been with the dera. Just 10 days before the conviction, ministers Ram Bilas Sharma and Anil Vij paid their respects on the dera chief's 50th birthday with a Rs 51 lakh gift cheque.

Though just as critical of the violence in Panchkula, Pramod Kumar, a Chandigarh-based political scientist, points out that the administration did well in bringing the dera chief to court on August 25. He says the alternative prospect of Gurmeet Singh holing up in his well-stocked, fortress-like dera, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of followers, would have been far more problematic. "It would have meant an endless stand-off and possibly resulted in many more deaths," says Kumar.

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On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. As this article from 18 months later shows, life under German occupation was brutal.

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On September 1, 1939, over 1.5 million German soldiers crossed the border into Poland. The German government declared that they were coming to the aid of German people in Poland who were being persecuted by the Poles, but few people were fooled into believing it was anything more than Hitlers grab for more territory.

Hitler knew France and England were allies of Poland who had promised to come to its aid if attacked. But he doubted they would act. Many people in France and England felt the same way.

Yet both governments declared war on Germany on September 3. Unfortunately, neither country was in the position to provide Poland with much help turning back the German blitzkrieg, which overran the country in a month.

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In Poland in Chains, which appeared in the Post 19 months after the invasion, one of the Posts war correspondents describes the aftermath of the German conquest. His report was a chilling introduction to Germanys treatment of Jews in occupied countries.
Researchers have found late Miocene footprints  which show hominin-like characteristics  near the village of Trachilos, west of Kissamos, in the Chania Prefecture of Crete, Greece. The footprints, described in a 31 August study in the Proceedings of the Geologists Association, may put the established narrative of early human evolution to the test.

Ever since the discovery of Australopithecus in South and East Africa in the 1920s-90s, the origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa.

More recent discoveries in the same region, including the 3.75-million-year-old Laetoli footprints from Tanzania, have cemented the idea that hominins not only originated in Africa, but remained isolated there for several million years before dispersing to Europe and Asia.

The discovery of the Trachilos footprints, which are at least 5.6 million years old and thus approximately 2 million years older than the hominin trackways from Laetoli, suggests a more complex reality.

Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals, the study authors explained.

The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux (big toe) that is larger than the other toes, is unique.

The feet of our closest relatives, the great apes, look more like a human hand with a thumb-like hallux that sticks out to the side.

The Laetoli footprints, thought to have been made by Australopithecus, are quite similar to those of modern humans except that the heel is narrower and the sole lacks a proper arch. By contrast, the 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus from Ethiopia, the oldest hominin known from reasonably complete fossils, has an ape-like foot.

Paleoanthropologists who described Ardipithecus argued that it is a direct ancestor of later hominins, implying that a human-like foot had not yet evolved at that time.

The Trachilos footprints have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct ball on the sole, which is never present in apes.

The sole of the foot is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli footprints, but it has the same general form.

In short, the shape of the Trachilos footprints indicates unambiguously that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker. They were made on sandy seashore, possibly a small river delta, whereas the Laetoli tracks were made in volcanic ash.

What makes this controversial is the age and location of the prints, said senior author Professor Per Erik Ahlberg, of Uppsala University.

The Trachilos footprints are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin, Sahelanthropus from Chad, and contemporary with Orrorin from Kenya, but more than a million years older than Ardipithecus ramidus with its ape-like feet.

This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecus is a direct ancestor of later hominins.

Furthermore, until this year, all fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years (the age of early Homo fossils from Georgia) came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved, the researchers said.

However, the Trachilos footprints are securely dated using a combination of foraminifera from over- and underlying beds, plus the fact that they lie just below a very distinctive sedimentary rock formed when the Mediterranean sea briefly dried out, 5.6 million years ago.

Earlier this year, another team reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus freybergi from Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin.

During the time when the Trachilos footprints were made, the Sahara Desert did not exist; savannah-like environments extended from North Africa up around the eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, Crete had not yet detached from the Greek mainland, the scientists said.

It is thus not difficult to see how early hominins could have ranged across south-east Europe and well as Africa, and left their footprints on a Mediterranean shore that would one day form part of the island of Crete.

This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate, Professor Ahlberg said.

Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen.

_____

Gerard D. Gierlinski et al. Possible hominin footprints from the late Miocene (c. 5.7 Ma) of Crete? Proceedings of the Geologists Association, published online August 31, 2017; doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.07.006
[JAKARTA] Drugs used to lower cholesterol levels in the blood as a measure against heart disease may also work to help resist typhoid fever, according to a new study.



Dennis Ko, assistant professor at the department of molecular genetics and microbiology, Duke University, US, and an author of the study published last month (August) in PNAS, said his team was researching on why some people were more susceptible to typhoid than others when they stumbled on the cholesterol link.



It was pretty unexpected, Ko says. We found a human genetic difference (single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP) associated with the susceptibility of cells to being invaded by Salmonella typhi, the typhoid bacterium. By screening cell lines from hundreds of people in the lab, we found that the SNP regulates the levels of a gene called VAC14.

If you have the version of SNP that results in lower invasion in our cell-based model, the odds of getting typhoid fever were also reduced. Dennis Ko, Duke University

According to Ko, the VAC14 gene affects S. typhi entry into host cells and this was in line with earlier studies which showed that S.typhi directly binds to cholesterol in the plasma membrane of host cells.



To confirm the laboratory finding, Ko contacted Sarah Dustan, a typhoid researcher at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. When she carried out genome tests on 496 typhoid-infected people and 500 healthy people, the results showed consistency with Kos findings.



I was very happy to see that if you have the version of SNP that results in lower invasion in our cell-based model, the odds of getting typhoid fever were also reduced, Ko tells SciDev.Net.



Since genetic difference was also associated with risk of typhoid fever, we tested to see whether cholesterol levels in these cells were being altered. We then decided to test whether using a cholesterol-lowering drug could affect S.typhi infection in a zebrafish model, Ko explains.



Zebrafish has many of the same immune cell types and signalling pathways as humans do. When Kos team injected cholesterol-lowering drugs into zebrafish, it was found eliminating the bacteria.



Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease with the risk of death as high as 20 per cent if left untreated. But its symptoms is similar to many other infectious diseases including fever, weakness, abdominal pain, constipation and headache. It is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the faeces of an infected person. In 2015, there were 12.5 million new cases worldwide with most cases occurring in India.

Ko is optimistic about developing cholesterol-lowering drugs to protect people against typhoid fever. The presence of a human genetic difference which confers resistance makes me optimistic that targeting the same mechanism through a drug could potentially be beneficial. But, again, much work remains to be done, he says.Sangkot Marzuki, head of the Jakarta-based Eijkman Research Institute, says many questions remain unanswered. In practical terms, how will we use cholesterol-lowering drugs as a preventive agent? Will we use it when there is a typhoid outbreak only? Will we give it to the whole population? Is there any side-effect to this drug? I think we need to answer those questions.Marzuki, however, thinks that research on the role of cholesterol is important for Asia where people are exposed to several infectious diseases.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Ambassadors with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting Thursday morning for Mariner Finance and its employees to welcome them as members of the chamber.

Mariner Finance, formerly known as Pioneer Credit in Dillon, relocated to Florence at 2503 S. Cashua Drive in February. Mariner Finance offers customers a variety of personal, home and auto loans.

Tony Elvington, area vice president of Mariner Finance, said moving to Florence gives the company exposure to a larger, growing market and the business move just made sense.

Its been a good move so far, he said. Its only been a few months but were getting better every month.

Elvington said having the chamber ambassadors host a ribbon cutting at the Florence branch is a big deal for the new location and he hopes that by joining the chamber, Mariner Finance will be able to reach out into the community and bring in more clients.

Its going to give us good advertisement and give us some name recognition because Mariner Finance is new to South Carolina, Elvington said. I like this.

The Florence store is one of 13 Mariner Finance branches in South Carolina and the lone branch in the Pee Dee region. Along with its affiliates, Mariner Finance features more than 450 branches in 22 states throughout the country.

For more information about Mariner Finance and their Florence branch, visit marinerfinance.com.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had sexual relations with Honeypreet who is his adopted daughter, the woman's estranged husband claimed earlier this week.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is apparently longing for his Honey in jail. The flamboyant sect leader appealed to the CBI court, which found him guilty, to allow his favourite caretaker to remain with him as she is also his physiotherapist and masseuse. The court refused to entertain the plea.

Haryana police too has issued a lookout notice for Honeypreet Insan after her involvement in a foiled escape plan came to light.

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She allegedly wanted to flee with Ram Rahim after the court held him guilty of raping two former female followers. The head of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect had sexual relations with Honeypreet who is his adopted daughter, the woman's estranged husband claimed before Mail Today this week.

FATHER-DAUGHTER WANTED TO LIVE TOGETHER

The sect had denied the charges. After Ram Rahim was convicted, the "father-daughter" had requested the court to allow them to live together. Honeypreet moved an application through her lawyer while the self-styled godman filed a petition. The court, however, threw out the requests.

Cops, though, allowed them to fly together to Rohtak from the court and also share a police guesthouse in Sunaria Jail. Photos on social media showed them sharing chocolates in the chopper. After the incident sparked outrage, the "guru of bling" was moved to an ordinary cell.

Ram Rahim's conviction led to deadly riots by his followers, with about three dozen people being killed and hundreds injured. The burly, bearded sect leader who has scripted and starred in his own films, claims to have millions of followers in Haryana and Punjab.

SINGH RESTLESS AFTER HONEYPREET GOES INTO HIDING

Singh did not ask any of his family members, including his wife, son and biological daughters, to stay with him. But as Honeypreet has gone into hiding, the guru is spending sleepless nights.

Sources say he had also requested the jail authorities to bring Honeypreet back to him. She was last seen with him on the day he was sent to jail for 20 years. IGP (law and order) Q S Chawla said Honeypreet has a passport and could be looking to leave the country.

Dalit leader Swadesh Kirad, who was lodged in a cell adjacent to Ram Rahim's and is out now, said he saw the Baba asking himself, "What is my fault? What have I done?"

"He was broken when the court jailed him for 20 years," Kirad told this reporter. "He was not even able to stand. He was taken to the cell by two officials. He appears visibly upset and scared. He can be seen silently bowing his head. He was seen crying in the night."

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RAM RAHIM MISSES HIS LAVISH LIFESTYLE

Sources say apart from Honeypreet, the sect leader is also missing his lavish and swashbuckling lifestyle. His headquarters in Sirsa reveals that the guru had a penchant for world-famous buildings, or at least their likenesses.

From the Eiffel Tower to cruise ship replicas, Singh's Dera has resorts and buildings shaped like wonders of the world. All the CCTV cameras were switched off when he would enter a resort. Ram Rahim also used the property to shoot his films.

Sources also say that he brought a select few female followers to the resort. The rape allegations against the Dera chief surfaced in an anonymous letter sent in 2002 to the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Also Read:

Unholy Baba: Gurmeet Ram Rahim's fall from guru to rapist

Inside Rohtak's Sunaria Jail: Gurmeet Ram Rahim wails every night like a baby, asks God, what wrong have I done?

Also Watch:

No VIP treatment for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, says former jail inmate

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In his recent Phoenix rally, President Donald Trump bashed one his favorite go-to scapegoats, the news media. We vex him with our insistence on reporting facts that he doesn't like to hear.

Instead of focusing on right-wing extremists, he said, we should focus on "antifa," short for anti-fascist. He was talking about the alliance of anti-fascist and anarchist groups who he said turned out in their "helmets and the black masks" to protest and often disrupt Trump rallies and other farther-right groups.

At an earlier news conference, Trump attacked "the alt-left," a label that Fox News commentators and others on the right have attached to antifa and its fellow travelers.

"You had a group on the other side that was also very violent," he declared. "Nobody wants to say that."

Quite the contrary, many people have said that, including such leading voices on the left as Noam Chomsky, the linguistics and political philosophy scholar. He recently called antifa a "minuscule fringe of the left, just as its predecessors were," and a "major gift to the right, including the militant right, who are exuberant."

I agree. I was appalled, for example, by the video that went viral this past weekend of five masked and black-clad antifa protesters beating an unidentified white man who is balled up on the ground at Sunday's "Rally Against Hate" (an ironic title as a backdrop for this video) in Berkeley, California.

But just before the clip ends, a flash of humanity and decency appears in the form of a young African-American man in a red T-shirt, his long dreadlocks tied back in a long ponytail. He jumps in front of the attackers, waves them back and protects the man from further injury with his own body until the man can get away.

Mother Jones journalist Shane Bauer, who took the video, identified the aggressors only as members of antifa and their victim as a suspected member of the alt-right.

I was curious about the spontaneous hero, who can be seen wearing a headset and a sound recorder strapped to his body. He turned out to be Al Letson, host of public radio's excellent "Reveal" documentary magazine program, produced by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting.

By telephone, Letson told me that the beating triggered memories of another viral video, the brutal videotaped beating of a black man in Charlottesville by several white men with poles and sticks after the white-power rally broke down. At least one 18-year-old suspect has been arrested and more are being sought.

"All I could think of was that guy in Charlottesville," Letson said. "Nobody came to help him, and I didn't want that story to repeat."

Anyone with a level head in the antifa movement should thank Letson for preventing even more bad news for their movement.

Antifa's actual violence pales statistically in comparison to terrorism rooted on the far right, according to the Anti-Defamation League, one of the groups that keep track of such things. Of the 372 politically motivated murders recorded in the United States between 2007 and 2016, the ADL finds, right-wing extremists committed 74 per cent. Left-wing extremists committed less than 2 percent.

Trump, unlike his predecessors in office from both parties, resists denouncing white racist groups  in an apparent move to hold onto as many votes as he can, regardless of where they come from. He instead insists that "both sides" are to blame for recent violence at the white-pride "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, which equates the neo-Nazi side with protesters against Nazism. Americans can do better than that.

If President Trump really wants to get rid of antifa, the best way would be for him to stand up and fight the white supremacist and other far-right movements to which antifa is rising in reaction.

As for antifa, they should remember  as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., among others, nobly showed  you maintain your moral authority by resisting the temptation to adopt the violent tactics that you deplore in your opponents.
By PTI: Madurai, Sep 1 (PTI) The Madras High Court has issued notice to the Union law secretary and the secretary of the social justice and empowerment ministry on a PIL, urging for a section of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), providing for a "mandatory death penalty", to be declared as null and void.

The petitioner, Shazim Sagar, a law student, alleged that section 3(2)(I) of the said act, providing for the punishment, was violative of the Constitution.

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The petitioner submitted that the section provided for the punishment if any person, not being a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community, gave or fabricated false evidence, with an intention to cause a member of the SC/ST community to be convicted for an offence, resulting in the imposition of capital punishment.

The section added that if such a person was executed on account of the false evidence, the person responsible for the same should also be punished with death, the petitioner said, adding that the provision was "discriminatory".

A mandatory death punishment had been held to be opposed to human dignity and struck down by constitutional courts across the world, the petitioner said and prayed that the section be declared as null and void.

Justices K K Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan of the Madurai bench of the court, after hearing the arguments of the petitioner, ordered issue of notice to the Union law secretary and the secretary of the social justice and empowerment ministry. PTI SSN BN RC

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"I will live in the party and I will die in the party, but I will not be humiliated in the party any longer," Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh told fellow MLAs at the Congress legislature party meeting in Shimla on the concluding day of the final session of the state assembly on August 25. Later, exchanging customary pleasantries with Opposition leaders, Singh told former BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal that he does not expect to be in the next legislative assembly. "I will not be in the elections, but all the best to you," he said.

A day earlier, 83-year-old Singh shot off a letter jointly addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi giving vent to his frustration. Alluding to state Congress president Sukhwinder Sukku and a small coterie of hill Congress leaders who support him, the chief minister said, "Some of our own people are spreading notions that it will be difficult for the Congress to retain power in Himachal Pradesh."

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According to Harsh Mahajan, a former minister who is close to the chief minister, Singh conveyed that winning the assembly elections (due in October-November this year) was a very real prospect, but only if tickets were allotted on 'winnability' and the party organisation was significantly overhauled at the earliest. Mahajan said the chief minister's letter was the culmination of nearly a year of assurances he has been given by the party high command. There have been many meetings, including several hour-long conferences with Rahul. "But the net outcome has been a big zero. It's all fallen on deaf ears," Singh told a confidant who met him in Shimla on August 26.

The last straw, as it were, came in the wake of the week-long visit to the state in August by Sushilkumar Shinde, AICC general secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh. Even though an overwhelming majority of Congress MLAs in the state, including former rivals like cabinet minister Kaul Singh Thakur, supported the chief minister and the development achieved under him, Mahajan says, "Virbhadra Singh was very hurt that Shinde allowed disparaging comments about him at a couple of public meetings where he wasn't present."

A six-time chief minister, who contested his first election at the age of 25, Singh says he "would rather sit at home than bear the humiliation". He also told an aide he doesn't have the energy to fight adversaries within his party while also having to face court cases (relating to alleged corruption). But while Singh seems set on hanging up his boots, political observers say it could well be a tactical move to get Delhi to see things his way. "Without Virbhadra, the Congress might as well roll out a red carpet for the BJP," says one analyst, adding that "the high command knows this well".

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By Manjeet Sehgal: Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan has gone into a hiding. Police have now issued a lookout notice against Honeypreet, who is accused of hatching the 'escape plan' of Ram Rahim on August 25 after he was handed over a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.

The Haryana police managed to whisk away Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh from the special CBI court in Panchkula to the Rohtak jail only after thwarting an alleged bid by his securitymen to free him.

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However, an alert team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sumit Kumar foiled the bid by the godman's commandos to escape with the Dera chief, according to a senior Haryana police official.

THE RED BAG CODE

Speaking to reporters in Gurgaon, Inspector General of Police (IGP) K K Rao said that as soon as the self-styled godman was convicted, he demanded a red bag that he had brought along from Sirsa.

"The Dera chief demanded the bag, saying his clothes were in it. It was actually a signal for his men to spread the news of his conviction among supporters so that they could resort to causing disturbance", Rao said.

He said that as the bag was taken out of the vehicle, sounds of teargas shells being lobbed about 2-3 km from the site were heard.

"It was then that we understood that there was some meaning behind the signal", the Haryana police IG claimed.

And what made senior police officials even more suspicious was that Ram Rahim Singh and his adopted daughter kept standing in the Panchkula court complex corridor for a long time even when they were not supposed to do so, he said.

"They were trying to gain time before sitting in the vehicle so that their men could spread the message that he was moving from the court. They were told that you cannot stand here. The mob was about 2-3 km and could have moved closer whenever it wanted to cause violence in Sector 1 as casualties could have been more," the senior police official said.

ALSO READ:

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's 'daughter' Honeypreet holds this mind-blowing record

Gurmeet Ram Rahim's 'red bag' that cops suspect was his code to followers to incite violence

Haryana govt accused of letting Ram Rahim's family flee Sirsa with cash, evidence

Dera-run newspaper gives Ram Rahim clean chit, slams media for negative reporting

Cars, cosmetics, gold: The lavish lifestyle of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

WATCH: Lookout notice issued for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's 'adopted daughter' Honeypreet

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The puppy was stolen from the house of an Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer in Hyderabad on August 24.

By Ashish Pandey: Three persons including a 26-year-old man pursuing MBA from USA were arrested today by the Rachakonda police for allegedly stealing a high value beagle puppy in Hyderabad.

The puppy was stolen from the house of an Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer in Hyderabad on August 24.

According to police, P Marri Phalguna, who is pursuing his MBA from US along with his two friends P Uday Kiran a M.Com student and G Manoj, a call center employee, stole the costly dog from Rock Town Colony, where the dog was roaming outside the complainant's house.

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The entire theft was captured in the security surveillance cameras installed at the complainant's house.

Based on the CCTV footage the LB Nagar police identified the car used in crime and traced the suspect and arrested them.

The investigation has revealed that the prime accused Phalguna is a dog lover and stole the costly dog to keep it as his home.

Police said that the main accused had even lied to his parents that he found the dog in street roaming and so has brought it home.

Also Read:

Horrible: 34-year-old man accused of raping female puppy to death in Delhi

Cops likely to slap man who raped female puppy to death with Section 377

--- ENDS ---
ASIA

Afghanistan

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council will hold its quarterly debate on Afghanistan, during which it will consider the latest Secretary-Generals report on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The Special Representative and head of UNAMA, Tadamichi Yamamoto, is expected to brief.

The mandate of UNAMA expires 17 March 2018.

Key Recent Developments

The ongoing Taliban offensive and the resurgence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have had particularly damaging effects on the civilian population in the country. The clashes between the Taliban and Afghan security forces have been intense as the Taliban pursues its objective to take greater control of countrys territory and its population centres. At the moment, the Taliban controls around 10 percent and the government forces control some 60 percent of countrys districts. The remaining 30 percent of districts are contested between the two. The US and Afghan security forces have continued to counter the activities of ISIL. On 11 July, the US airstrike in Kunar province killed a leader of ISIL in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed. Despite some successes by the US-led coalition in targeting the leadership of the group, ISIL still continues to launch attacks targeting civilians, especially the Shia Muslim population. In the latest attack targeting the Shia population which took place on 25 August, ISIL attacked a mosque in Kabul, killing at least 20 and wounding more than 40 people.

During the last debate on Afghanistan on 21 June, both Yamamoto and Council members emphasised the damaging effects of the deteriorating security situation. They also stressed the importance of reviving national reconciliation efforts and political dialogue. The months since the debate have been particularly violent throughout Afghanistan, with both ISIL and the Taliban launching a series of attacks. On three occasions, the Council issued press statements condemning the attacks, including after a 24 July attack carried out by the Taliban in Kabul in which more than 70 people were killed and after an attack on a Shiite mosque in Herat province on 1 August that killed more than 90 people, for which ISIL affiliates claimed responsibility.

ISIL has also claimed responsibility for the 31 July attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul. One suicide bomber activated a bomb outside the embassy, after which several gunmen entered the building. Two Afghan nationals who were employees of the embassy were killed and several Afghan police officers were injured. After a standoff of several hours, Afghan police killed all the attackers. The Council issued a press statement condemning the attack.

On 20 August, UNAMA issued a special report on mass killings that took place in early August in the predominantly Shiite village of Mirza Olang in the Sayyad district of Sari Pul province. An investigation by UNAMA confirmed that Taliban and self-proclaimed ISIL fighters killed at least 36 people in the village. Among the dead were both civilians and at least seven members of a pro-government militia. Initially, local Afghan officials claimed that more than 50 people were killed and that some of the victims were beheaded, but UNAMAs investigation could not validate such claims. The attack on Mirza Olang village is a rare case of cooperation between the Taliban and ISIL; the two groups have clashed on many occasions in the past.

When the Council extended UNAMAs mandate in March, it requested the Secretary-General to conduct a strategic review of the mission with the aim of examining mandated tasks, priorities and related resources. The review team headed by Under-Secretary-General Jan Kubis held meetings with a variety of stakeholders in both Afghanistan and New York. One of the main general recommendations of its report is that the UN missions ultimate goal in the upcoming period should be to support all efforts to reach sustainable peace and self-reliance in Afghanistan. Among its main findings was a recognition of the added value of UNAMA as an impartial actor that could play an important mediating role.

The Secretary-General recommended that UNAMA increase its role in supporting and promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the aim of enhancing international support for the Afghan peace process. Regarding structural and staff changes, the Secretary-General recommended abolishing the military, police and rule of law advisory units. His report recommends closure of the UN office in Farah province and exploring the possibility of further nationalising functions in remaining provincial offices. Furthermore, the Secretary-General recommended exploring the option of reducing international staff and forming smaller multidiscipline teams. He recommended that the findings of the strategic review be integrated into the next UNAMA mandate.

On 21 August, US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. Trump said that the US would deploy additional troops to Afghanistan without specifying exact numbers, although media reports point towards an increase of 4,000 troops. He also accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terrorist organisations and called on the country to cooperate with the US in its efforts in Afghanistan. Regarding US objectives in Afghanistan, Trump said that the US will not engage in nation-building but rather confront the terrorist threat.

Sanctions-Related Developments

On 24 August, the Council adopted a presidential statement confirming that the Council has reviewed the implementation of resolution 2255 and that no further adjustment to the measures outlined in the resolution were necessary at that time. The Council adopted resolution 2255 in December 2015 to clarify how the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee functions and to reflect the changing conflict dynamics in the country. The resolution called on the Council to review the implementation of the measures outlined in the resolution by August 2017.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 17 July, OHCHR and UNAMA released a joint report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan, covering the period from 1 January to 30 June. The report concluded that the numbers of civilians killed and injured in the first half of the year persisted at the same record high levels as last year, with a total of 1,662 killed (a 2 percent increase) and 3,581 injured (a 1 percent decrease). There was also a rise in the number of women and children killed and injured, with casualty figures for women up 23 percent and child casualties up 1 percent (with the number of children killed increased by 9 percent), reversing a decline in 2016. The report attributed 67 percent of casualties to anti-government elements (including the Taliban and ISIL), a 12 percent increase from 2016, and 18 percent to pro-government forces, a 21 percent decrease from 2016, with the remainder caused by unattributed cross-fire or other means. In a statement accompanying the release of the report, the High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasised that as horrifying as the statistics in the report are, they can never fully convey the sheer human suffering of the people of Afghanistan, with each casualty figure reflecting a broken family, unimaginable trauma and suffering, and the brutal violation of peoples human rights.

Key Issues and Options

There are several inter-related issues that the Council faces with regard to Afghanistan. First, the security situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate, taking an increasingly heavy toll on the civilian population and undermining the countrys stability. The presence of ISIL in Afghanistan has further complicated the security environment. Second, there continues to be a link between the insurgency and illicit activities related to drug production and trafficking and the exploitation of natural resources. Third, amidst ongoing fighting between the government and Taliban forces, efforts to promote reconciliation have continued to falter. Fourth, the regional context remains difficult, with recurring cross-border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, including accusations that Pakistan provides a safe haven for insurgents. Fifth, there are growing concerns that factionalism within the government has created political tensions.

Addressing these interlinked issues has been challenging for the Council. One option is to initiate a visiting mission to Afghanistan, to show the Councils support for counter-insurgency, reconciliation, and anti-corruption efforts, and to learn how it could further assist efforts on the ground. A smaller mission, consisting of members with an especially keen interest in and engagement on the issue, rather than one of all 15 members, might be easier to organise, given security concerns.

Another option would be for the Council to adopt a resolution or presidential statement that:

deplores the high number of civilian casualties and demands that all sides avoid killing and injuring civilians, stressing that targeting civilians is a war crime;

encourages efforts toward political inclusivity and dialogue within the government;

underscores the need for the international community, and particularly neighbouring countries, to support and cooperate with Afghanistan;

emphasises the importance of development assistance in promoting Afghanistans stability; and

calls for accountability for crimes committed.

Council Dynamics

Council members remain concerned about the worsening security environment in Afghanistan and its impact on the civilian population. The renewed prominence of ISIL and its violent tactics have added another dimension to the conflict, with the potential to deepen ethnic and sectarian tensions. Among permanent members, Russia has been particularly vocal in emphasising the urgency of the threat of ISIL, while expressing disappointment that some members have in its view tried to downplay the significance of this issue. Several Council members, most notably France, Egypt, Russia and Kazakhstan, continue to raise concerns regarding the connection between the insurgency and drug production and trafficking.

Kazakhstan and Russia have also stressed the important role of regional organisations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, in addressing the situation in Afghanistan. During the last debate, Kazakhstan noted that the Council should review its approach to Afghanistan with the aim of strengthening regional cooperation, while UNAMA should play a greater role in facilitating Afghanistans integration with its Central Asian neighbours.

Japan is the penholder on Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan chairs the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee.

UN DOCUMENTS ON AFGHANISTAN

The Council renewed the mandate of UNAMA until 17 March 2018. The Council adopted this resolution containing language clarifying how the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime functions and reflecting changing conflict dynamics in Afghanistan. This was a statement on the review of the implementation of resolution 2255. This was a report on the strategic review of UNAMA. This was the Secretary-Generals report on Afghanistan. This was the 20th report of the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida/Taliban Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. This was a statement on terrorist attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan. The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack against the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 31 July, which resulted in the death of two Afghan civilian employees inside the Embassy and the injury of a police officer, for which local affiliates of ISIL have claimed responsibility. This was a press statement in which Council members condemned the terrorist attack that took place in Kabul on 24 July and resulted in more than 70 people killed or injured, with the Taliban claimed responsibility
By PTI: By Aditi Khanna

London, Sep 1 (PTI) The number of Indians visiting the British capital London is set to increase by a huge 90 per cent by 2025, according to official data released today.

Last year, 0.27 million visitors from India came to London and that figure is set to hit 0.52 million in the next eight years.

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In terms of spend, visitors to London from India spent 258 million pounds (USD 333 million) in 2016, which is projected to rise to 721.2 million pounds (USD 931 million) by 2025 ? a 180 per cent increase, according to the data by London & Partners, the business arm of the Mayor of Londons office.

Besides India, the other fastest growing markets for visitors to London by 2025 include China (103 per cent growth), the US (43 per cent) and the UAE (43 per cent).

"Visitors to the capital bring huge benefits ? the industry boosts Londons economy, as well as supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and showing the world that London is an open, welcoming and diverse city," said Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, at the launch of a new Tourism Vision for London during the citys "Autumn Season" launch.

Londons tourism industry is worth 11.6 per cent of the capitals GDP and 9 per cent across the UK as a whole.

Tourism numbers in London are set to rise sharply, with more than 40 million people expected to visit the city by 2025, a 30 per cent increase on the 31.2 million visitors in 2016.

Visitor spending is also set to grow by almost 50 per cent to 22 billion pounds (USD 28 billion) a year, up from 14.9 billion pounds (USD 19.3 billion) in 2016.

The surge in visitor numbers could be bolstered in the short-term by currency fluctuations, and according to research from London & Partners around two-thirds of international visitors say theyre more likely to visit London given a more favourable currency rate.

According to a separate Google research, London leads worldwide searches for city and short breaks ahead of Barcelona, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam, with the overall number of searches up by 17 per cent year-on-year.

For the new Tourism Vision, London & Partners has collaborated with more than 100 of the capitals tourism leaders, including the Greater London Authority, Gatwick Airport, Hilton and the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, to define a new vision for the tourism industry.

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"As a combined force, we believe that if this vision is realised, tourism will drive economic growth and stimulate the citys cultural scene, support even greater numbers of jobs and strengthen Londons reputation as an open and welcoming city," L&P said.

The vision states that the growth in visitor numbers is not a given with increasing competition from other destinations, particularly emerging markets that are fighting to attract new visitors. It recommends investments in infrastructure and towards shoring up off-peak visits. PTI AK ABH

--- ENDS ---
AMERICAS

Colombia

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council is expected to discuss recommendations and adopt a resolution on the size, operational aspects and mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, which is set to start its activities on 26 September.

The mandate of the current UN Mission in Colombia expires on 25 September 2017, and the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia expires on 26 September 2018.

Key Recent Developments

On 10 July, the Security Council adopted resolution 2366, which established the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, a successor mission to the current UN Mission in Colombia. The request for a successor political mission was incorporated into the November 2016 Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace between the government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP), under item 6.3.3. While the agreement specified that the mission be authorised by the UN General Assembly, the parties decided to make their request to the Security Council, as they did with the first political mission. A 5 June letter to the Council and the Secretary-General from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon conveyed the request of the parties to establish the Verification Mission and outlined the elements of the new mandate envisioned in accordance with the agreement.

The Verification Mission is expected to verify implementation of several elements of the agreement at the national, regional and local levels. These include political, economic and social reincorporation of the FARC-EP; personal and collective security guarantees; and comprehensive programmes on security and protection measures for communities and organisations in conflict-affected areas. The resolution also requested the Secretary-General to initiate preparations, including on the ground, and to present detailed recommendations to the Security Council for its consideration and approval regarding the size, operational aspects and mandate of the mission.

The resolution calls on the UN Mission in Colombia to start provisional work anticipated by the Verification Missionwithin its current configuration and capacity up until the time its mandate ends. This is in keeping with the 23 June Secretary-Generals report, which recommended that the verification tasks be moved forward to coincide with the start of the reintegration process. On 1 August, the 26 zones and points for normalisation in the country became territorial spaces for training and reintegration.

A ceremony marking the completion of the laying down of individual weapons took place on 27 June. On 30 June, Jean Arnault, the Special Representative and head of the UN Mission in Colombia, briefed the Council on the final stages of the implementation of the missions mandate. Most of the weapons and explosives stored in 949 caches throughout the country were expected to be extracted and destroyed by 1 September. As of 15 August, this had happened with 510 caches. According to a joint communique agreed to by the parties on 29 May, the responsibility to dismantle the remaining caches will be with the government of Colombia as of 1 September, with the support of FARC-EP members. On 15 August, the mission finished extracting containers with armaments and scrap ammunition that were stored in 26 zones.

As a result of the new tasks in its mandate, the mission expressed its concerns on 13 July over the continuing imprisonment of FARC-EP members despite the adoption by Congress of amnesty law 1820 on 31 December 2016 and different governmental decrees to speed up the process to reintegrate them into civilian life. (The Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the amnesty law.) It also raised concerns about the vulnerability of FARC-EP members outside the 26 zones, as shown by recurring physical attacks against them and their families.

Challenges to the implementation of the agreement continue. Some of the supporters of the no vote in the October 2016 plebiscite have continued to criticise the agreement despite the changes made to it after the vote. This is particularly relevant given the legislative and presidential elections upcoming in 2018.

Non-state armed actors, including paramilitary groups, have taken control of some of the areas vacated by the FARC-EP. The security environment also constitutes a challenge for the UN. On 6 August, a UN team along with national police and FARC-EP members who were deployed to extract and destroy material from a cache were attacked in El Cauca. A member of the national police was wounded as a result of the attack. A UN official who had been kidnapped on 3 May in Guaviare by a group of FARC-EP dissidents was released on 5 July.

Over the last six months, the parties have emphasised their different priorities in implementing the agreement. While FARC-EP representatives urged progress on physical protection for their members as well as guarantees of their socioeconomic and political reintegration, the government emphasised the importance of delivering on the commitment to lay down weapons and abide by the established timelines. Now that the laying down of individual weapons has been completed, the FARC-EP has criticised delays in the reintegration process. On 24 July, the FARC-EP announced that it would launch a political party on 1 September.

Key Issues and Options

The Council was planning to receive by the end of August the recommendations of the Secretary-General regarding the Verification Missions functions, size, structure and operational aspects and is expected to adopt a resolution approving them. While some civil society members who met with the Council in Colombia argued for the inclusion of elements such as the verification of human rights-related measures, no Council member has so far proposed to add a mandated task that goes beyond item 6.3.3. of the agreement. Depending on how the Secretary-General reconciles what the market can bear financially and the requirements on the ground, some Council members are likely to prioritise budgetary restraint when negotiating the resolution.

During their visiting mission in May, Council members emphasised the importance of securing the gains made as part of the peace process and ensuring their irreversibility, particularly in the context of a polarised political environment.

In a context in which key governmental demands have been met as part of the process to lay down weapons, it is important to ensure that the agreement is fully implemented. Hence the role of the Council might become more relevant in the next period. The upcoming elections are likely to make it difficult for the government to proactively address issues related to the reintegration and protection of FARC-EP members. In that context, the role of the Council, through its oversight of the Verification Mission, is expected to provide guarantees that the agreement will be implemented in full.

An important issue for the Council is the volatile security situation in some areas and the high level of impunity for violence against community leaders and human rights defenders in rural areas, often related to the presence of non-state armed groups in the territories vacated by the FARC-EP.

Given that the mandates of the two missions in Colombia were sequenced and prioritised responding to the needs on the ground and to the timing agreed to by the parties, the Council could ask the Secretariat to draw lessons learned from the integrated planning process in order to incorporate them into the Councils mandating practices.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Given the priority that some Council members attach to budgetary issues, these are expected to feature prominently in the negotiations of the resolution. Part of the mandate of the UN Mission in Colombia, particularly the tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, was funded through a cost-sharing agreement with the Colombian government that is not envisaged for the second mission. Also, the need for fewer military observers and more civilian personnel and the geographic scope of the mission are also expected to drive up the costs compared with the first mission.

The two-step mandating process for the Verification Mission is consistent with the recommendations of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. It is also consistent with what the Council did when it adopted resolution 2261 of 25 January 2016, which established the UN Mission in Colombia and requested the Secretary-General to present detailed recommendations regarding the size, operational aspects and mandate of the mission.

The UK is the penholder on Colombia.

UN DOCUMENTS ON COLOMBIA

This was the resolution establishing the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, a successor mission to the UN Mission in Colombia. This was a resolution approving the Secretary-Generals recommendations on the size, operational aspects and mandate of the UN Mission in Colombia. This was a resolution establishing a political mission to monitor and verify the laying down of arms and the bilateral ceasefire and cessation of hostilities between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP. This was a presidential statement following the Councils visiting mission to Colombia. This was the last report on Colombia. This attached a letter by President Santos regarding the second special political mission.
AFRICA

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council will continue to watch the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) closely, and a briefing may be requested depending on developments.

The mandate of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) expires on 31 March 2018.

Key Recent Developments

Lack of progress in implementing the 31 December 2016 agreement on the electoral process and a transitional government, heightened political repression, and increased violence in different parts of the country have continued to require the Councils attention.

On 9 July, the president of the DRC electoral commission, Corneille Nangaa, suggested that the timelines needed for voter registration would make it difficult to meet the December 2017 deadline. President Joseph Kabila has made statements that suggest he does not believe elections must occur this year, and various political figures supporting the government have already suggested timetables for elections that stretch into 2018.

The 15 August report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the agreement confirms an increasing trend of violations of political freedoms, compounded by an absence of investigations and accountability for human rights violations. It concludes that failure to create conditions conducive to the holding of timely, peaceful, transparent and credible elections enabling a peaceful transfer of power could deepen the political crisis and have grave results.

In a statement on 1 August, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for the DRC and head of MONUSCO Maman Sidikou expressed concern about the more than 120 arbitrary arrests and detentions, including of local and international media representatives, which occurred in various areas of the DRC on 31 July, following peaceful civil society demonstrations calling for the holding of elections before the end of the year. Anti-Kabila protests in early August reportedly resulted in 27 deaths as government forces attempted to disperse crowds.

The violence in the Kasai region continues. Intercommunal violence and clashes between militias and government forces in the region began in August 2016 when the leader of the Kamwina Nsapu militia was killed in fighting with the DRC police. According to UNHCR, approximately 30,000 people fled the Kasai to Angola between April and 22 June, and 1.3 million people are internally displaced.

On 22 August, Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security Peter Drennan briefed Council members under any other business on the conclusions of the Secretary-Generals Board of Inquiry regarding the murder in March of two members of the 1533 DRC Sanctions Committees Group of Experts, Zaida Catalan (Chile/Sweden) and Michael Sharp (US).

The report itself was not shared with Council members; however, they received the executive summary on 16 August. Regarding the murders, the board found that it was likely that militia groups were responsible for the deaths of Catalan and Sharp and that further investigation is needed to determine the exact identity of the perpetrators. It recommends a further criminal investigation by the DRC with the support of other member states.

The board also reviewed the UNs security procedures related to the safety of panels of experts. It recommended a review of the management of their activities and a review and adjustment of support arrangements for groups of experts to enable the safe and effective implementation of their mandates. After inquiries from Council members, Drennan said he will keep them updated as to the follow-up on these recommendations.

The report was also briefly discussed during the Secretary-Generals monthly luncheon with Council members on 17 August. The Secretary-General raised various options regarding the way forward with the investigation, along the lines suggested in the boards report. One such option included a DRC investigation with some UN assistance.

On 17 August, the chair of the 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta (Egypt), briefed the Council on the final report of the Group of Experts. The groups report called on the Council to mandate the Secretary-General to establish an independent international investigation into Catalan and Sharps murder. During the meeting, several Council members raised concerns about the continuing political crisis in the DRC and the lack of progress in implementing the 31 December 2016 agreement. The US, for example, said that in the absence of a clear election timeline, it will pursue stronger sanctions in the Council. It added that while many of the attacks are perpetrated by armed groups, the government also violates human rights, thus casting doubt on its legitimacy. Russia, on the other hand, warned against any sweeping attempts to blame government forces for the violence until further investigations are conducted.

Sanctions-Related Developments

On 4 August, the DRC Sanctions Committee held an open briefing with interested member states on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC. Following the chairs opening remarks, the permanent representative of the DRC, Ambassador Ignace wa Lufuta; the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Said Djinnit; the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Zachary Muburi-Muita; and the Acting Coordinator of the Group of Experts, Zobel Behalal, also delivered statements. The Group of Experts final report tracks the continuing violence by armed groups in the eastern DRC. It notes that these groups are becoming further fragmented, operating in a more decentralised yet heavily networked manner, with foreign and local armed groups increasingly interconnected. The report emphasises that the gold sector continues to suffer from the lack of a traceability system, and gold from conflict areas continues to be illegally exported.

Human Rights-Related Developments

The High Commissioner announced on 26 July, the appointment of three international experts to investigate human rights abuses in the Kasai region as mandated by Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 35/33 of 22 June. The team of experts is expected to investigate reports of recruitment and use of child soldiers, sexual and gender-based violence, destruction of houses, schools, places of worship, and state infrastructure by local militias, as well as of mass graves and to present their findings to the HRC in June 2018. In a 4 August report, OHCHR warned that violence in the Kasai region has taken on a more pronounced ethnic dimension with human rights abuses and violations documented against at least 282 victims (including 251 extrajudicial and targeted killings) between 12 March and 19 June. According to the report, the ethnic dimension of the violence has increased since April, with attacks against civilians by DRC government armed forces, the Bana Mura (pro-government militia), and the Kamwina Nsapu (anti-government militia) often launched along ethnic lines. On 15 August, the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC released its report on the human rights situation in the country in July. During the month, 398 human rights abuses and violations were documented, representing a 19 percent decrease from June, with state agents (including Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo soldiers and the police) again committing the majority of the violations. During its 36th session in September, the HRC Council is set to hold an enhanced interactive dialogue on the DRC in which it will consider the OHCHR report on the human rights situation in the country (A/HRC/36/34).

Key Issues and Options

The key issue for the Council is seeking to ensure that the 31 December 2016 agreement is implemented and that a clear electoral calendar is set for timely elections. Another important issue is addressing the continued violence in the east and the increasing violence in Kasai.

The Council will want to follow up on next steps regarding investigations into the murder of the two experts, and regarding a general review of the security procedures pertaining to panels or groups of experts appointed by the Council.

The Council may convene a meeting on the DRC in accordance with developments on the above issues. The Council may also adopt a resolution or a presidential statement that:

calls on stakeholders to cooperate and swiftly implement the 31 December 2016 agreement and resolve all outstanding issues in order to hold timely, free and fair elections;

condemns the mass violence in Kasai and elsewhere and calls for accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law; and

calls on the Secretary-General to take steps to follow up on the recommendations of his Board of Inquiry.

Another option for the Council would be to consider imposition of targeted sanctions against those identified as having failed to implement the 31 December 2016 agreement.

Council Dynamics

Council members remain concerned about the ongoing political crisis but are divided on the importance of holding elections in 2017 as stipulated by the 31 December 2016 agreement. While some Council members emphasise the potentially dire consequences of elections being further delayed, others assert that timing is less important than ensuring that they are peaceful and inclusive. However, there is a consensus that the publication of a clear timetable for elections is vital and necessary to avoid further tensions and possible escalation of violence.

As for the next steps regarding the Board of Inquirys report, the US and Sweden see a need for the Secretary-General to launch an independent investigation into the incident without delay. Some Council members, such as Russia, emphasise that they support further investigations under the jurisdiction of the DRC, with the support of other member states, in accordance with the recommendations of the board. Several Council members take the view that further accountability measures will require the cooperation of the DRC in order to be effective.

Council members agree that there needs to be an in-depth review of the security procedures regarding the safety of members of the panels and groups of experts assisting the sanctions committees. At this point, however, they are unclear as to the role the Council is to play in this regard.

France is the penholder on the DRC.

UN DOCUMENTS ON THE DRC

This renewed the DRC sanctions regime and the mandate of the Group of Experts. The Council renewed MONUSCOs mandate until 31 March 2018. This was a report on the implementation of the political agreement of 31 December 2016. This was a letter from the Secretary-General containing the executive summary of the Board of Inquirys report on the murder of two members of the DRC Sanctions Committees Group of Experts. This was a briefing by the chair of the DRC Sanctions Committee on the Group of Experts final report. This was a press release on the 4 August open briefing of the DRC Sanctions Committee. This was the final report of the Group of Experts.
Lake Chad Basin

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will receive a briefing on the Secretary-Generals report on the Lake Chad Basin. The Council requested the report, which is expected to be distributed to members by 30 August, in resolution 2349 adopted in March following its visiting mission to the Lake Chad Basin region.

Key Recent Developments

Recent months have seen an intensification of attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram, especially in north-eastern Nigeria, with repeated strikes around Maiduguri and nearby internally displaced persons (IDP) sites. On 7 June, Boko Haram launched a series of raids in Maiduguri in which 14 people were killed. This was the groups largest attack in the capital city of Borno state in a year and a half. Seventeen people were killed, including five female suicide bombers, in an attack on Kofa village outside Maiduguri on 18 June. On 25 and 26 June, four suicide bombers killed a further 16 people in Maiduguri. Following deadly suicide attacks against two IDP camps outside the city on 24 July, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Edward Kallon, issued a statement condemning the strikes and noting the recent accelerating trend of attacks on civilians in north-east Nigeria. In June and July alone, according to OCHA, 60 female suicide bombers were involved in attacks across Borno state.

On 25 July, Boko Haram ambushed an oil exploration team from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and University of Maiduguri in Magumeri, Borno. Some 50 Nigerian soldiers, members of the civilian joint task force, and other civilians were killed, and an unknown number abducted. During August, attacks continued, including the killing of 31 fishermen on 5 and 6 August in Kukawa, Borno, and an estimated 40 people died in an attack in Madagali, Adamawa state, on 10 August. Boko Haram also intensified attacks in the far north of Cameroon, including 18 suicide bombings in June and nine in July, according to the International Crisis Group. Boko Haram continues to threaten Nigers Diffa region and border areas of Chad.

The Lake Chad Basin region faces a dire humanitarian situation as a result of the long-running violence associated with Boko Haram. More than 2.3 million people are displaced across the region. According to OCHAs 11 August crisis update, food insecurity and malnutrition have reached critical levels across the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin. Over seven million food-insecure people are classified as being at crisis and emergency levels, of whom 5.2 million are in Nigerias northeast, with 1.5 million in Cameroon, 340,000 in Niger, and 123,000 in Chad. As of 8 August, only 39.6 percent of the $1.5 billion in funding that OCHA says is required in 2017 to address the Lake Chad Basin crisis had been provided.

There was a notable spike in Nigerian refugees returning from Cameroon to Borno state in recent months. In May alone, 12,000 Nigerians returned, raising concerns that the refugees were being forced to return by the government of Cameroon, which the latter denies. On 2 March, Cameroon signed a tripartite agreement with Nigeria and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees.

The Security Council undertook a visiting mission to the four affected countries of the Lake Chad BasinCameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeriafrom 2 to 7 March. The mission was organised to focus more attention on the situation and for members to gain a better understanding of the scale of the humanitarian crisis and the root causes of the conflict. A common message pressed upon members was the need to bring under control the humanitarian emergency and the conflicts underlying causes, such as poverty, underdevelopment, poor governance, and the shrinking of Lake Chad, a key source of water and livelihoods for the whole region. These are factors, according to government and UN officials that the Council met with, that have fostered radicalisation and, unless addressed, are likely to cause continued instability.

On 31 March, the Council adopted resolution 2349, its first on Boko Haram and the Lake Chad Basin crisis. The resolution outlines the security situation and protection needs of civilians, the humanitarian crisis, and the conflicts root causes and development challenges. The resolution requested the Secretary-General to submit within five months a report assessing the situation, particularly regarding the progress made and remaining challenges, and possible measures for consideration, including with respect to achieving greater coherence of efforts in the context of overlapping regional strategies.

The humanitarian crisis was discussed during a 16 June Arria-formula meeting on the threat of famine in the conflict-affected situations of Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and north-eastern Nigeria. The Council subsequently adopted a 9 August presidential statement on the threat of famine facing these four countries that, inter alia, reiterated the Councils calls on all parties to allow safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and called on donors to immediately disburse pledged funds, including those committed at the Oslo donor conference on 24 February for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. It further requested the Secretary-General to provide an oral briefing in October with specific recommendations on how to address impediments to a more effective response to the risk of famine in these four countries.

The Council more recently discussed the conflicts impact on women and girls when Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed briefed it on 10 August about her recent visit to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mohamed stressed that women and girls have been subjected to forced marriages and used as suicide bombers, while many associated with Boko Haram face stigmatisation upon returning to their communities. She also highlighted the widespread sexual exploitation of IDPs.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 8 June, the Committee on the Rights of the Child published its concluding observations on Cameroon, expressing concern at persistent discrimination, ongoing police violence (possibly amounting to torture), and prolonged pre-trial detention of children suspected of association with Boko Haram. On 24 July, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) published its concluding observations on Niger and Nigeria. With regards to Niger, CEDAW expressed concern that no strategic policy or legislative response exists to address the extremely precarious conditions of displaced women and girls in Niger, which is particularly aggravated in the Lake Chad region. CEDAW noted that displaced women and girls are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence, forced marriage, human trafficking, forced prostitution, and abduction by terrorist groups. It also pointed out that there is no independent mechanism to investigate allegations of such human rights violations by state forces and terrorist groups. On Nigeria, CEDAW commended the country for its efforts in the fight against Boko Harams insurgency and the rescue of over 100 abducted girls, but it remained concerned by the significant number of girls who have yet to be rescued and continue to be subjected to rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and impregnation by members of Boko Haram. CEDAW also expressed concern that the military and law enforcement officials have carried out blanket arrests and detentions of women and girls suspected of being radicalised by, or associated with, Boko Haram. Also of concern was the reported sexual exploitation taking place in camps for IDPs.

Key Issues and Options

The Secretary-Generals report is expected to provide an update about the security and humanitarian situations in the four affected countries and to review efforts to implement resolution 2349. This includes support for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF)the regional force composed of Lake Chad Basin countries and Benin to combat Boko Haramas well as UN and broader international efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis, protect human rights, and tackle root causes of the crisis. How the Council can remain engaged and support the efforts of the region, the UN system, and humanitarian partners will be an important issue.

The Council could adopt a presidential statement:

commending the regions progress in combating Boko Haram, while expressing concern over the continued threat posed by the group;

encouraging international support for the MNJTF and urging donors to fulfil pledges and provide additional funding to address the humanitarian crisis;

reaffirming that counter-terrorism operations must comply with international humanitarian and human rights law and reiterating that the return of refugees and IDPs should be voluntary, safe and respectful of individual dignity; and

stressing the need for the countries of the Lake Chad Basin to develop a regional strategy to address the root causes of the crisis, including through the Lake Chad Basin Commission or the AU.

Regarding follow-up reporting, the Council may request that this continue to be provided through the six-month reports of the UNs regional offices for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) and for Central Africa (UNOCA), or it may request the Secretary-General to provide more regular, separate reports on the Lake Chad Basin.

Council Dynamics

Resolution 2349 was the first Council resolution related to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin region despite the destructiveness and brutality of the conflict, which began in 2009. Nigeria long resisted its consideration by the Council, contending that it was an internal conflict. As it became clear in 2014 that Nigerias response to the insurgency was failing and the violence drew in Nigerias neighbours, there was more pressure on the Council to engage with the situation. The Council has usually been informed on the situation through the reporting of UNOWAS and UNOCA.

The UK organised an initial session on the Lake Chad Basin humanitarian crisis in July 2016 and was key in organising the Council visiting mission in March, which it co-led with France and Senegal. The mission to the Lake Chad Basin seemed useful in developing a common understanding among Council members of the crisis affecting the region, and the link between the conflict and the importance of addressing its underlying causes. This contributed to agreement on resolution 2349, which stands out among Council resolutions for the extent to which it focuses on root causes and development needs.

Ahead of the Councils expected consideration of the Secretary-Generals report on the Lake Chad Basin, the Council will hold its annual consultations with the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa. The Lake Chad Basin crisis is among the issues on the agenda.

France, particularly through its counter-terrorism Operation Barkhane deployed across the Sahel, as well as the UK and the US, provide support to the counter-insurgency efforts of the Lake Chad Basin countries.

The UK served as penholder for resolution 2349.

UN DOCUMENTS ON THE LAKE CHAD BASIN

This was on the Lake Chad Basin. This was on the threat of famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and north-east Nigeria. This was a presidential statement on West Africa and the Sahel. This was a briefing by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed following her 19-27 July joint visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nigeria with Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security Bineta Diop, Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten. Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer for the African Union, also briefed.
AFRICA

Libya

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council is expected to renew the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

UNSMILs mandate expires on 15 September, and the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee expires on 15 November 2018.

Key Recent Developments

Deep divisions remain between the parties despite the growing consensus regarding the need to amend some provisions of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA). Outstanding issues are related to the mandate and structure of the Presidency Council and the authority of the supreme commander of the armed forces. Members of the delegations appointed by the eastern-based House of Representatives and the Tripoli-based High State Council have met informally in the Netherlands in recent months, but no formal negotiations have taken place. On 25 July, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting between the head of the Presidency Council, Faiez Serraj, and the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Khalifa Haftar, with the participation of the newly-appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ghassan Salame. In a joint declaration after the meeting, Serraj and Haftar committed to a ceasefire and to the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible. In his 22 August report, the Secretary-General warned that only a broad political agreement among political factions, competing state institutions, and security and societal actors can create the enabling environment for elections.

On 29 July, the consensus committee of the Constitutional Drafting Assembly (CDA) adopted a draft constitution that requires approval in a referendum. Several members of the CDA challenged the legality of the proceedings. During a luncheon with Council members in August, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced his intention to convene a meeting on Libya in the margins of the high-level segment of the General Assembly in September. At the meeting, Guterres is expected to outline a comprehensive strategy and an action plan for the engagement of the UN system in Libya. In his 28 August briefing, Salame stressed that one of the most immediate tasks is to build a consensus on the meaning of the upcoming two year anniversary of the LPA and the end of the transitional period in December.

The security situation continues to be volatile. Despite efforts to implement security arrangements, the Presidency Council continues to rely mostly on militias nominally loyal to it. While Haftar declared the liberation of Benghazi from terrorism on 5 July, fighting continues in some neighbourhoods. The LNA is also conducting military operations in Derna, resulting in the worsening of the humanitarian situation there. In another example of bilateral initiatives by member states seeking to advance the political process, Egypt convened two meetings between military delegations from Misrata and the LNA in late July. While it does not hold territory in Libya, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) remains active.

The strategic assessment of the UNs role in Libya conducted by the Department of Political Affairs recommended that the mission continue to focus on good offices and mediation efforts to:

backstop the political transition in Libya by supporting key Libyan institutions;

support efforts to secure uncontrolled arms and counter their proliferation;

promote respect for and the protection of human rights and the rule of law; and

coordinate international engagement.

In line with the recommendations of the review, the Secretary-General intends to reconfigure the senior leadership structure of UNSMIL, including by appointing a Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs. The mission will increase its presence in Tripoli first, with a plan to open offices in other regions at a later date. UNSMILs guard unit (composed of Nepalese troops) is expected to arrive in Tripoli in September.

The situation of migrants and refugees in Libya, which was characterised in December 2016 as a human rights crisis by UNSMIL and OHCHR, continues to be critical. According to the International Organization for Migration, almost 98,000 persons had reached Italy in 2017 via the central Mediterranean Sea route as of 20 August. It is estimated that more than 2,200 refugees and migrants have died or gone missing trying to cross from Libya this year.

On 15 August, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli, a commander of the LNA allegedly responsible for war crimes committed between June 2016 and July 2017 in eastern Libya. Following the release of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi from Zintan, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called on the Libyan authorities, the Security Council, state parties to the Rome Statute, and all other states to provide her office with any information regarding Gaddafis whereabouts. He remains at large, and the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee has so far not updated his listing to reflect the current situation.

Sanctions-Related Developments

Resolution 2362, adopted on 29 June, added refined petroleum products to the commodities banned from illicit export from Libya. As a result of this change, the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee designated two vessels for transporting gasoil illicitly exported from Libya. The listings were made on 21 July and 2 August; the flag states of the vessels were Tanzania and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Human Rights-Related Developments

In a statement on 15 August, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, warned that a new code of conduct, drawn up by Italy and supported by the European Commission, imposes procedures on organisations rescuing migrants and refugees from the Mediterranean Sea that could reduce the ability of NGOs to carry out life-saving activities and result in more deaths. The code of conduct seeks to prevent privately operated ships from ferrying refugees to safety in Italy from waters off the Libyan coast. Callamard also warned that the European Commissions funding for the Libyan border and coast guards could lead to refugees and migrants who are returned to Libya being subjected to further appalling violence. Noting that refugees and migrants in Libya face abuse and extreme violence, with some being deliberately killed [and] othersdying as a result of torture, malnutrition and medical neglect, Callamard said that although the Libyan coast guards search and rescue capabilities were in need of improvement, this cannot happen in the absence of demonstrable guarantees that the rights of intercepted migrants and refugees will be respected. On 17 August, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, and the Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, released a statement echoing Callamards warnings and expressing concern that the European Commission was effectively trying to move Europes borders to Libya. During its 36th session in September, the Human Rights Council is set to hold an interactive dialogue on Libya in which the High Commissioner for Human Rights will present on oral update on the human rights situation in the country.

Key Issues and Options

The strategic assessment recommended that the mission prioritise reaching a political agreement. While most agree on the need to end the political deadlock, deciding how to address the issues raised by those refusing to support the LPA remains elusive. The Council could visit Libya and the region to show a unified front, rebuild credibility among Libyans, underscore the added value and relevance of UN mediation efforts, and press external actors to ensure the coherence of their mediation efforts.

The Council could renew UNSMILs mandate for a year, as recommended by the Secretary-General. While no radical changes may be made to the mandate, the Council could set a clear direction to reach and support a political settlement, by allowing Salame the time and space to deliver results and by proactively supporting the work of the mission throughout the mandating cycle.

Council and Wider Dynamics

While the Council has expressed its unanimous support for efforts to reach a political settlement within the framework of the LPA, its members remain divided over the way forward to achieve a solution, including regarding the legitimacy of the different Libyan institutions and the role that Haftar may play in the future. As an illustration of this dynamic, Council members struggled to find a compromise over how to refer to Haftar in the 27 July press statement. In the end, he was referred to as Commander of the LNA, in response to concerns that spelling out the reference to the LNA as the Libyan National Army would seem to imply an official role that some challenge.

The UK is the penholder on Libya, and Sweden chairs the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee.

UN DOCUMENTS ON LIBYA

This was a resolution renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee and the measures regarding attempts to illicitly export oil from Libya. This was a resolution which renewed for an additional year the measures contained in resolution 2292 on the arms embargo. This was a resolution extending UNSMILs mandate until 15 September 2017. This was Secretary-Generals report on Libya. This welcomed the meeting between Serraj and Haftar as well as the joint declaration they issued. This was a briefing on the situation in Libya.
SECURITY COUNCIL AND WIDER UN STRUCTURE

Security Council Visit to the African Union

Expected Council Action

In early September, the Security Council will conduct a visiting mission to Addis Ababa for the eleventh annual consultative meeting between members of the UN Security Council and members of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC). Members of the two councils are expected to discuss Somalia, South Sudan, and the Lake Chad Basin. Ahead of this meeting, there will be informal consultations on the partnership between the AU and the UN, funding for AU peace and security activities, and post-conflict peacebuilding.

Security Council members and PSC members have held annual joint meetings since 2007, alternating between their respective headquarters. The last meeting between members of the two councils was held in New York on 23 May 2016.

A communique has generally been issued after these annual consultative meetings. However, last year differences over how to reflect the situations in Burundi and Somalia made it difficult to agree on the joint communique by the time of the meeting. It was finally issued on 23 March 2017.

Immediately after the visit there will be a briefing on the visiting mission. A briefing on the report of the Secretary-General on strengthening the partnership between the UN and the AU by Haile Menkerios is also expected in September.

Key Recent Developments

Since the last consultative meeting in May 2016, the Council has held several meetings discussing the partnership between the AU and the UN. During this period, three reports relevant to AU-UN cooperation were issued: the Secretary-Generals report on ways to strengthen the UN-AU partnership, a joint UN-AU review of mechanisms currently available to finance and support AU peace support operations authorised by the Council, and a report on predictable and sustainable financing for the AU Peace Fund.

On 18 November 2016, at the initiative of Senegal, the Council held a debate on Strengthening the UN-AU partnership in peace and security. The objective of the debate was to encourage greater political support and commitment from the Council particularly regarding the issue of ensuring predictable, flexible and sustainable support and financing for AU peace operations. It also focused on the relationship between the two councils, and between the UN Secretariat and AU Commission throughout the conflict cycle. Briefers for the debate included El-Ghassim Wane, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations; Haile Menkerios, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the AU; and Donald Kaberuka, AU High Representative for the Peace Fund. At the meeting, the Council adopted resolution 2320 which welcomed the AU Assembly decision to fund 25 percent of AU peace support operations, to be phased in over a five year period.

Following up on this resolution and debate, at the initiative of the three 2017 African members of the Council (Egypt, Ethiopia and Senegal) the Council had a briefing and interactive dialogue on 15 June on AU-UN cooperation. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on options for authorisation and support to AU peace operations which had been requested in resolution 2320. AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui stressed the need for predictable and sustainable funding for AU-mandated or authorised peace support operations and briefed on progress on the Peace Fund. The briefers at the informal interactive dialogue were Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare; Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El Ghassim Wane; Samba Sane, Officer in Charge of the Africa I Division of the Department of Political Affairs; and Dr. Donald Kaberuka, AU High Representative for the Peace Fund.

In his report, the Secretary-General identified four options through which UN assessed contributions could be used to help to meet the requirements of AU peace support operations:

subvention in exceptional or emergency circumstances;

joint financing of a jointly developed budget;

establishment of a UN support office to support an AU peace operation; and

joint financing of a hybrid mission.

In addition to the issue of financing, the report also proposed a decision-making framework aimed at making joint action more effective, which would involve further work on the modalities for joint analysis, planning and assessment, as well as reporting to the relevant intergovernmental bodies of each organisation.

On 19 July, during Chinas presidency, the Council held an open debate on Enhancing African capacities in the areas of peace and security with briefings by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui. The focus of the debate was on the importance of strengthening the capacities of African countries for prevention and effective responses to peace and security challenges in Africa.

Guterres and the chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, signed a joint AU-UN framework for enhanced partnership in peace and security on 19 April. Both organisations reiterated their willingness to consider options to enhance the predictability, sustainability and flexibility of financing for AU-led peace operations.

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in African met on 25 August to discuss preparations for the joint meeting between members of the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council. It also met on 2 July to discuss the AU Peace Fund report Silencing the Guns on securing predictable and sustainable financing for peace. Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El Ghassim Wane and Permanent Observer of the AU Tete Antonio spoke on behalf of the UN and AU, while Ambassador Olaf Skoog (Sweden) and Ambassador Macharia Kamau (Kenya) provided the perspective of Council members and the African Group respectively.

Issues and Options

An issue over the years has been the scripted nature of the joint consultative meeting. However, the innovation of an informal session ahead of the consultative meeting last year allowed for more substantive discussion, particularly on more controversial areas. The informal session has been retained this year and is expected to allow for more in-depth discussion of issues around the relationship between the UN and the AU. Interaction during the formal session may be improved by moving away from statements to a more free-flowing discussion.

A key issue continues to be the need for sustainable and predictable funding for AU peace support operations. A frank discussion of the limitations of the current structures in supporting AU peace support operations and consideration of the four options presented in the Secretary-Generals 26 May report could help clarify positions on both sides and develop a better understanding of next steps.

An issue over the years has been the perception of the AU PSC that its role in handling conflicts in its region has not been sufficiently acknowledged. More regular interaction with the UN Security Council, particularly on specific African conflicts, would be a way of tapping into the AUs knowledge and experience in dealing with African conflicts as well as a fuller recognition of the AU as a partner in the UNs peace and security activities.

Resolution 2320 stressed that the AU-UN partnership should be underpinned by mutual consultations between the Council and the AU PSC based on respective comparative advantage, burden sharing, consultative decision making, joint analysis and planning missions and assessment visits by the UN and AU, monitoring and evaluation, transparency and accountability. Given that this is the first joint meeting of the AU PSC and the Security Council since the adoption of resolution 2320 in November 2016, a discussion of how to strengthen the partnership based on this commitment could be beneficial. Concrete proposals could be included in the joint communique.

Sensitivities in the past regarding the agenda of the consultative meeting have related to the inclusion of more controversial issues like Western Sahara. Libya has also in the past been a highly sensitive issue which made agreement on how to reflect the discussion difficult. Reaching agreement on the agenda this year appears to have been relatively smooth, but some members may want to raise more controversial country-specific situations in the informal session.

Council Dynamics

Council members have divergent views regarding operations carried out by the AU. Those who are major financial contributors have concerns about committing UN assessed contributions for AU peace support operations and are likely to take a cautious position regarding anything related to financing.

The African members of the Council, despite sometimes having divergent views on specific issues, have been proactive about keeping alive matters of importance to the AU. They have consistently made clear that pursuing a substantive resolution on financing of AU support operations is a priority while they are on the Council. Of the permanent members, China has been particularly supportive of the need to strengthen the capacity of the AU in peace and security.

Although there has been increasing acknowledgment of the importance of working with regional organisations in the area of peace and security, particularly in relation to conflict prevention, implementation of either Council resolutions or joint communiques has not always been easy. For example, although in the 2015 communique the AU PSC and the Security Council agreed to conduct a joint field mission, this was not carried out.

UN Documents on AU-UN Cooperation

This welcomed the deployment of the G5 Sahel force. This was a resolution which welcomed the AU Assembly decision to fund 25 percent of AU peace support operations, to be phased incrementally over five years. Senegal circulated a concept note ahead of the meeting. This report was on options for authorisation and support for AU peace support operations. This was the report of the Secretary-General on strengthening the partnership between the UN and the AU on issues of peace and security in Africa. This was the joint communique agreed to after the tenth annual joint consultative meeting between members of the Council and the AU PSC. This was an open debate on Enhancing African capacities in the areas of peace and security. The Council was briefed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui. This was an open debate on Enhancing African capacities in the areas of peace and security. This was the discussion of the Secretary-Generals report on AU peace support operations. This was a debate on Strengthening the UN-AU partnership in peace and security.
AFRICA

Somalia

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council expects to receive the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 2358, which renewed the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) until 31 March 2018. The Council will hold a briefing and consultations on the report.

Key Recent Developments

On 24 August, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, along with other UN officials, met in Mogadishu with top officials of the Federal Government of Somalia for consultations on political and security developments in the country. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Mohamed Osman Jawari, briefed the UN officials on the ongoing constitutional review process and the progress made towards the selection of the new Constitutional Review Commission of the Federal Parliament. Earlier in August, Special Representative for Somalia and head of UNSOM Michael Keating expressed concern that the committee, which will play an important role in shaping the countrys future, included no women among its members.

Minister of Constitutional Affairs Abdurahman Hosh Jibril said on 9 August that the government was set to launch national consultations on the constitutional review following a public awareness and sensitisation process to engage all Somalis and ensure that their views were represented in the new constitution. He noted that for the constitution, which is to be adopted in the next two years, to have legitimacy it needs to be taken to the public for consultations. Deliberations on the constitution will also be held in the regional states and the Somali diaspora. The ministers comments followed a meeting he held with the AU Commissioner for Somalia, Francisco Caetano Madeira, in Mogadishu. Jibril also said that the government was seeking the assistance of the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to enable it to hold the planned nationwide consultations successfully.

At a ceremony for the official opening of the second session of the Somali parliament on 9 July, Special Representative Keating welcomed the opening of the parliament and congratulated the speaker and parliament members. The Somali parliament can make a decisive contribution to progress by passing key legislation, including the electoral law, legislation enabling a constitutional review and revenue generating laws, he said. He added that real sovereignty for Somalia hinges on the country reducing its dependency on others and being able to raise revenues and shape its own agenda, particularly in strengthening security and the rule of law, advancing peace and reconciliation, and engaging Somalias entrepreneurial spirit and the private sector to create jobs.

The terrorist group Al-Shabaab continues to carry out deadly attacks against security forces and civilians in Somalia and beyond. On 3 August, the Council issued a press statement condemning in the strongest terms the 30 July attack perpetrated by Al-Shabaab against AMISOMs Ugandan contingent in Garyowein, Lower Shabelle, in which 12 soldiers were killed and seven injured during a joint patrol with the Somali National Army.

On 4 August, the militant Islamist group seized Leego town in the south after it was abandoned by the military and AMISOM, residents said. The town was the site of a 26 June attack on an AMISOM peacekeeping base housing Burundian, Kenyan and Ugandan troops; at least 12 AMISOM peacekeepers were killed. On 15 August, suspected members of Al-Shabaab killed five Kenyan police officers in an ambush in north-eastern Kenya. Al-Shabaab militants were also suspected of carrying out the 18 August beheadings of three Kenyans in Lamu county.

A former Al-Shabaab deputy leader and spokesman, Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, on 15 August called for others to quit the group following his defection in Mogadishu. I left Al-Shabaab because of misunderstanding, and I disagreed with their creed, which does not serve Islamic religion, people and the country, he said. Robows defection comes two months after the US withdrew a $5 million reward for his capture and removed him from its list of sponsors of terrorism. In early April, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo announced a 60-day amnesty for Al-Shabaab militants while also offering to open talks with the movements leadership. Reports indicate that roughly 50 of the groups members, including some high-level individuals, have surrendered since Farmaajos announcement.

Speaking during an 18 August event to mark World Humanitarian Day in Mogadishu, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Peter de Clercq commended aid workers and volunteers for their contribution to serving humanity and averting a famine that threatened Somalia earlier this year, thanking them for risking their lives on a daily basis to save the lives of others in distress. He noted that humanitarian workers had not only suffered death, injuries and abductions but also expulsion from the country in the course of fulfilling their duties, noting that more than 100 incidents targeting humanitarian workers had been reported thus far in 2017 and that four aid workers had been killed. Somalias Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, Mohamed Moalim, also spoke, promising that the government would provide humanitarian workers and needy civilians with protection.

UNSOMs mandate was renewed on 14 June when the Council adopted resolution 2358, which extends the mandate until 31 March 2018. The resolution followed the strategic assessment of the UN presence in Somalia, requested by resolution 2275, that was transmitted to the Council on 5 May. The assessment concluded that UNSOMs overall concept as a political mission should be retained, with its core tasks being to provide good offices and strategic advice on peacebuilding and state-building, to coordinate international support, to build the capacity of federal and state institutions, and to monitor and report human rights violations. However, one of the main recommendations was that the mandate should be adapted to integrate support at the level of federal member states in all areas of the mandate and that the functions of the missions presence at federal and state levels should be clarified. Taking note of this, the resolution requested UNSOM to implement its mandate at both the national and regional levels, including through maintaining and further strengthening its presence in all federal member states, subject to UN security requirements and as the security situation allows.

On 30 August, the Council adopted a resolution renewing the authorisation of AMISOM. It also authorised a reduction of AMISOM personnel by 31 December to a maximum of 21,626 (a reduction of 500 uniformed personnel).

Human Rights-Related Developments

During its 36th session in September, the Human Rights Council is set to hold an interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, to consider his latest report (A/HRC/36/62).

Key Issues and Options

Ensuring that UNSOM is properly equipped to support the Somali government in the three priority areas outlined by the strategic assessmentstate-building, security strategy, and socio-economic reformis the key issue. Thus, Council members can take the opportunity in consultations to discuss how the mission can best help the government in facilitating key political processes, such as the constitutional review, preparations for one-person, one-vote elections, and establishing a functional federal state, as well as advising and assisting the government on security matters and promoting economic development. Council members could also explore ways in which the mission can support the governments call for members of Al-Shabaab to lay down their weapons and how the Council can promote further calls for defection.

Council Dynamics

On Somalia generally, Council members are united in supporting state-building processes and in their support for UNSOM, as demonstrated by unified messages conveyed during the Councils visit to Somalia in May 2016 and the uncontentious adoption of several recent Council outcomes on Somalia.

The UK is the penholder on Somalia, and Kazakhstan is the chair of the 751/1907 Somalia and Eritrea Sanctions Committee for 2017.

UN DOCUMENTS ON SOMALIA

This resolution renewed the mandate of UNSOM until 31 March 2018. This was a technical rollover of UNSOMs mandate until 16 June 2017. This was a resolution extending the mandate of UNSOM. This was the Secretary-Generals report on Somalia. This was a strategic assessment of the UN presence in Somalia. This statement condemned the terrorist attack of 30 July 2017 perpetrated by Al-Shabaab against the Ugandan contingent of AMISOM in Garyowein, Lower Shabelle.
AFRICA

South Sudan

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will consider the Secretary-Generals 90-day report on the implementation of the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). It will also receive his monthly assessment of the deployment and future requirements of the Regional Protection Force (RPF) and impediments to UNMISS in carrying out its mandate.

The mandate of UNMISS expires on 15 December.

Key Recent Developments

Conflict between government and opposition forces has continued, exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe gripping the country. According to OCHA, some 6 million people, approximately half the population, are severely food-insecure. Some 1.89 million people are internally displaced persons (IDPs), and 1.97 million people have fled to neighbouring countries. Among the IDPs, approximately 218,000 people are being protected in seven UNMISS protection of civilians sites.

On 6 August, government forces seized Pagak, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-In Opposition headquarters, which is located in the Upper Nile region near South Sudans border with Ethiopia. The government claimed it took the town while responding to an opposition offensive, while the opposition alleged that the attack was not provoked. At press time, the situation remained volatile as clashes continued.

Deployment of the RPF, which was initially authorised in August 2016, is continuing. The Bangladeshi Construction Engineering Company has partially deployed to Juba, and the Nepalese High Readiness Company has fully deployed. The Rwandan infantry battalion began arriving in early August. Ethiopian troops who will participate in the RPF are expected to arrive shortly. There has still been no agreement regarding the RPFs mandate to protect Juba International Airport, with the government consistently reiterating that it needs to retain control over safeguarding the airport. The government issued a warning on 20 August regarding the deployment of RPF forces at the airport, which it alleges is not consistent with the Status of Forces Agreement, and temporarily grounded UN flights, which were allowed to resume the following day.

On 23-24 July, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers convened its 58th Extra-Ordinary session in Juba, to discuss efforts to revitalise the peace process in South Sudan. At the conclusion of the meeting, the participants adopted a communique in which they urged all South Sudanese stakeholders to embrace the objectives of the High Level Revitalization Forum for the Implementation of the ARCSS [the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan]. According to the 12 June communique of the Extra-Ordinary Summit of IGAD Heads of State held in Addis Ababa, the purpose of the Revitalization Forum is to discuss concrete measures to restore a permanent ceasefire, to advance implementation of the peace agreement, and to develop a revised and realistic timeline and implementation schedule towards a democratic election at the end of the transition period. The forum is expected to convene in early October.

From 1 to 3 August, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix visited South Sudan. He met with President Salva Kiir, First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai, other senior government officials, and representatives of UNMISS and UN entities. He also visited the UN protection of civilians site in Malakal, which shelters some 30,000 people. During a press conference in Juba at the conclusion of his visit, Lacroix underscored the importance of IGADs initiative to revitalise the peace process and said that efforts were being made to expedite the deployment of the RPF.

On 24 August, the Council was briefed by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El-Ghassim Wane, Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Nicholas Haysom, and Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) Chairman Festus Mogae. Wane began by highlighting that enhanced cooperation with the government would be critical for the RPF to carry out its mandate. He emphasised that the security situation remains of serious concern and that July saw the highest number of access incidents reported by the humanitarian community of any one month since December 2013.

Haysom, briefing via video teleconference from Addis Ababa, focused on the current five internal and regional initiatives to restart the political process, none of which have, he said, so far produced a definite breakthrough. The government has created an appearance of reconciliation and linked these efforts to the national dialogue initiative, while calling for political actors to prepare for elections in 2018, he said. He emphasised that the prevailing insecurity, displacement, and lack of appropriate institutions or a reasonably level political playing field, in an increasingly divided ethnic environment, militate against organising credible elections within the year. The holding of elections in this context might well contribute to deepening and extending the conflict, he said.

Mogae, briefing via video teleconference from Juba, stressed the need for the government to resolve controversies with UNMISS on the deployment of the RPF. He discussed IGADs upcoming High Level Revitalization Forum, saying its success requires demonstrable political will by the relevant parties to be inclusive; clear consequences for intransigent groups, spoilers and violators; and commitments by the parties to adhere to revised timelines and implementation schedules.

Following closed consultations, Council members issued elements to the press condemning the fighting in Pagak, demanding that the government cease obstructions to UNMISS and the RPF, noting the temporary grounding of UN flights, and reminding all parties that the obstruction of activities of international peacekeeping may be subject to sanctions under resolutions 2206 and 2290.

Human Rights-Related Developments

During its 36th session in September, the Human Rights Council is set to hold an enhanced interactive dialogue on the human rights situation in South Sudan, with representatives from OHCHR, the AU, the JMEC, the AU Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, and other stakeholders invited to participate.

Key Issues and Options

The central issue for the Council remains how to support IGADs efforts to revitalise the political process. Compelling the South Sudanese government and the opposition to implement a ceasefire and embrace an inclusive process has proved difficult.

Another issue is how much impact the deployment of the RPF, which is mandated to provide a secure environment in and around Juba, and other areas in extremis, will have on improving the security environment in South Sudan. While in Juba on 3 August, Lacroix maintained that the arrival of RPF units there would free up UNMISS units already in the capital to deploy to other insecure areas of the country.

Another key issue is how to encourage greater cooperation by the government and armed groups, including ending the ongoing violence against civilians, removing impediments to humanitarian access, and more broadly, working with UNMISS to enable it to fulfil its mandate.

The Council could consider adopting a presidential statement that:

 strongly condemns violence perpetuated by government forces and armed groups in South Sudan and calls for an immediate ceasefire;

 welcomes the communique of the 12 June IGAD Summit; and

 emphasises the Councils support for the High Level Revitalization Forum.

Coercive options that have been considered but not pursued because of divisions on the Council include an arms embargo on South Sudan, an assets freeze and travel ban on additional figures responsible for the ongoing violence (other than those sanctioned in 2015), or both.

Council Dynamics

The Council remains divided on its approach to South Sudan. There is no consensus on the degree to which the Council should welcome the national dialogue as it is currently presented by the government of South Sudan. Some Council members are concerned that a focus on the national dialogue may come at the cost of reviving the inclusive political process. Council members also remain divided over whether to incentivise cooperation by the South Sudanese government or whether the targeting of civilians by Sudan Peoples Liberation Army forces necessitates a strong response by the Council to push the South Sudanese government towards peace.

The US is the penholder on South Sudan.

UN Documents on South Sudan

This resolution extended the mandate of the South Sudan sanctions regime until May 2018. This resolution extended the mandate of UNMISS for one year and reauthorised the Regional Protection Force. This statement emphasised the need for a political solution to the conflict in South Sudan. This was the 90-day report on UNMISS. This was a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El-Ghassim Wane, Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Nicholas Haysom, and Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) Chairman Festus Mogae.
Status Update

Burundi

On 2 August, the Council adopted (S/PV.8016) a presidential statement, expressing concern over the political situation and ongoing violence in Burundi and strongly urging the government and all parties to immediately cease and reject such violence (S/PRST/2017/13). The Council further reiterated its full support to the Secretary-General and his Special Envoy in their efforts to engage the government of Burundi on the modalities of the implementation of resolution 2303.

DPRK

On 5 August, the Council adopted resolution 2371 condemning the 3 and 28 July ballistic missile launches (S/PV.8019). The resolution significantly strengthened the sanctions on the DPRK. It imposed a full ban on the export of coal, iron and iron ore from the DPRK, whereas previously these items could be exported for livelihood purposes, with a cap on the amount of coal that could be exported. It also prohibited the export of lead, lead ore and seafood from the DPRK. It freezed the number of work authorisations for DPRK laborers working abroad at current levels, unless the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee approves on a case-by-case basis additional authorisations to allow for purposes such as the delivery of humanitarian assistance or denuclearisation. It decided that states shall prohibit the formation of joint ventures or cooperative commercial entities on their territory or by their nationals with DPRK individuals or entities. In addition, the resolution designated several additional individuals for a travel ban and assets freeze, and additional entities for an assets freeze. It further requested INTERPOL to issue special notices regarding designated individuals and directed the sanctions committee to work with INTERPOL toward that end. The resolution was adopted unanimously. On 29 August, Council members held consultations following the DPRKs firing earlier that day of a missile over the territory of Japan. Later that afternoon, the Council met (S/PV.8034) in a formal session to adopt a presidential statement condemning the launch (S/PRST/2017/16) and urging the DPRK to comply with previous Council resolutions and presidential statements.

Famine

On 9 August, the Council adopted (S/PV.8020) a presidential statement expressing its grave concern about the threat of famine presently facing more than 20 million people in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and north-east Nigeria (S/PRST/2017/14). The statement was negotiated following the Councils 16 June Arria-formula meeting on the risk of famine in these four conflict-affected countries. The statement requested the Secretary-General to provide an oral briefing during the month of October on country-specific impediments to an effective response to the risk of famine in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and north-east Nigeria, and to make specific recommendations on how to address these impediments.

Sudan/South Sudan

On 9 August, Council members were briefed in consultations by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El Ghassim Wane on the first of two reports requested in resolution 2352 on progress in implementing the mandate of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (S/2017/649). He noted that the security situation in the Abyei Area remains unpredictable and that in the absence of progress in the implementation of the Agreement of 20 June 2011, and on the final status of the territory, intercommunal tensions and the proliferation of arms create a continued risk.

Annual Report to the General Assembly

On 9 August, the Council adopted the introduction to its annual report to the General Assembly (S/PV.8021). The report, on an exceptional basis, covers the 17-month period from 1 August 2015 to 31 December 2016, as stipulated by a Note by the President of the Security Council (S/2015/944) of 10 December 2015. The note, elaborated by the Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions in 2015, changed the reporting period of annual reports from the previous practice of covering the period from 1 August through 31 July to covering a full calendar year, i.e. from 1 January through 31 December. As a transitional measure, the report to the 71st session of the General Assembly was submitted and discussed late in the session and covered a longer period. (Security Council President for the month of August, Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta (Egypt), presented the report to a plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 28 August.)

Women, Peace and Security

On 10 August, the Council was briefed by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed following her 19-27 July joint visit to the DRC and Nigeria with Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security Bineta Diop, Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten (S/PV.8022). Mohammed described the trip as the first of its kind  a high-level mission focused entirely on women, peace, security and development  with the goal of advancing peace by advancing the equality, empowerment and well-being of women. The mission also deepened the partnership between the UN and the AU, she said. Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer for the AU, also briefed.

Mali

On 14 August, Council members condemned the terrorist attack against the MINUSMA camps in Douentza, Mali, which caused the death of one Togolese peacekeeper and injured another (SC/12954).

Sahel

On 15 August, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El-Ghassim Wane briefed the Council on the joint force of the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5), providing an assessment on the deployment of the G5 joint force (S/PV.8024). During members interventions, France announced that it would propose a Council visiting mission to the Sahel. Several members highlighted the importance of providing UN assessed contributions to the G5 force.

Kosovo

On 16 August, the Council held its quarterly briefing on Kosovo (S/PV.8025). Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNMIK Zahir Tanin briefed the Council on the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2017/640) and the recent developments in Kosovo. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic and Kosovos ambassador to the US, Vlora Citaku also participated in the meeting. Tanin stressed the need for Kosovo to form a new government following the general elections in June. Some members, including the US called for the downsizing and eventually terminating the UNMIK while also lengthening the reporting period to six month periods. Russia noted that there is no reason to reduce the UN presence in Kosovo and that the mission still plays important role in normalising relations.

Central African Republic

On 22 August, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen OBrien briefed Council members on his recent visit to the CAR under any other business in consultations. The Secretary-General discussed developments in the CAR with Council members during his monthly luncheon on 17 August. On 3 August, the 2127 CAR Sanctions Committee issued a press release (SC/12943) concerning its 21 July meeting with its Panel of Experts, where the panels midterm report was presented to the committee (S/2017/639). On 11 August, the committee issued a press release drawing attention to the recommendation contained in the midterm report concerning exemptions from sanctions (SC/12952).

Israel/Palestine

On 22 August, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca briefed the Council on the situation in Israel/Palestine (S.PV/8028). The meeting was followed by consultations.

Liberia

On 23 August, the Council held consultations on the situation in Liberia. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El-Ghassim Wane briefed on the preparations for the 10 October presidential and legislative elections in Liberia, as requested by resolution 2333 of 23 December 2016. The resolution requested another oral briefing after the elections in Liberia and no later than 15 December.

Lebanon

On 23 August, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations El-Ghassim Wane briefed Council members in consultations on UNIFIL. At press time, the Council was scheduled to adopt a resolution renewing UNIFILs mandate on 30 August.

Guinea-Bissau

On 24 August, the Council received a briefing (S/PV.8031) from Modibo Toure, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative and head of UNIOGBIS on the Secretary-Generals latest report on developments in the country and the activities of the mission (S/2017/695). Ambassador Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay), chair of the 2048 Guinea-Bissau Sanctions Committee, and Ambassador Mauro Vieira (Brazil), chair of the PBC configuration for Guinea-Bissau also briefed, focusing on recent visits they had each undertaken to the country. In addition, representatives of the Economic Community of West African States, Ambassador Kokou Kpayedo (Togo) and Maria Antonieta DAlva (Guinea-Bissau) addressed the Council. Members continued discussions in consultations.

Peacekeeping and Sustaining Peace

On 29 August, the Security Council held an open debate on UN Peacekeeping Operations: Their Potential Contribution to the Overarching Goal of Sustaining Peace (S/PV.8033). Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed briefed, as did Youssef Mahmoud, Senior Adviser at the International Peace Institute and a former member of the High Level Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO), and Gert Rosenthal, former chair of the Advisory Group of Experts for the 2015 review of the UN peacebuilding architecture (PBA). The session was organised by Egypt, which prepared and circulated a concept note ahead of the meeting (S/2017/692).

Myanmar

On 30 August, at the request of the UK, Council members were briefed under any other business on the situation in Myanmar.

Working Methods

On 30 August, the members of the Council reached agreement on a new version of the compendium of its working methods, commonly referred to as Note 507. The document, elaborated under the leadership of Japan, is expected to be issued as S/2017/507.
AFRICA

Sudan (Darfur)

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold a briefing on the report of the Secretary-General on the AU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

The mandate of UNAMID expires on 30 June 2018.

Key Recent Developments

The level of armed hostilities in Darfur has continued to be significantly lower than in previous years. Sudanese government forces now dominate Darfur and occupy most of the territory previously controlled by rebel groups. The unilateral ceasefire, declared by the government of Sudan in mid-2016 and extended for a further three months in July, reportedly continues to be largely observed. While the overall security situation is improving, the region remains fragile, and an environment of instability persists.

Several key issues remain to be addressed, notably the presence of Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid (SLA/AW) fighters in the Jebel Marra region, unresolved intercommunal disputes over land and other resources, the prevalence of weapons and criminal violence, and weak rule-of-law institutions. On 7 August, the Sudanese government launched a campaign to collect illegal arms and unlicensed vehicles in the Darfur region, which Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said is a top priority for the government. However, the campaign is so far reportedly facing several challenges, including refusals by tribal militias to hand over their arms.

There have been no reports of major displacements in 2017, but existing groups of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to require significant protection and humanitarian assistance. The reported occupation of villages and land by armed militia previously associated with government forces, particularly in Jebel Marra, and general lawlessness have impeded the return of IDPs. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi paid his first official visit to Sudan in August. During his trip, he met President al-Bashir and welcomed the presidents assurances that Sudan will continue providing safety to those fleeing conflict and persecutionincluding those who arrive from South Sudan and other countries in the region. According to OCHA, 4.8 million people require humanitarian assistance in Sudan, while only 23 percent of the $804 million needed for humanitarian aid in Sudan for 2017 has so far been received.

On 29 June, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 2363, renewing UNAMIDs mandate for an additional year. The Council expanded the mandate to incorporate peacebuilding activities in currently stable areas while significantly reducing the missions force structure. The changes are largely in line with recommendations made in the 18 May AU-UN strategic review, including a process of restructuring and redeployment, to be completed over the course of two successive six-month phases. By the end of phase one, the authorised numbers of troops and police will be reduced from 15,845 and 3,403 to 11,395 and 2,888, respectively; by the end of phase two, the mission will consist of 8,735 troops and 2,500 police. Ahead of the second phase, beginning 1 January 2018, the Council requested the Secretary-General and the chairperson of the AU Commission to provide an assessment, allowing the Council an opportunity to delay or alter the second phase if needed. The assessment is expected to address progress in implementing phase one of UNAMIDs reconfiguration, the impact of the phase one reductions on areas that UNAMID has withdrawn from, the governments cooperation with the mission, the removal of bureaucratic obstacles to the mission, and whether conditions on the ground are conducive to further reductions. The resolution also shortened the reporting period for UNAMID from 90 days to 60 days.

The Council was last briefed on UNAMID on 14 June by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, El-Ghassim Wane, on the AU-UN strategic review. Wane reported on the changes in UNAMIDs operating environment and recommended the proposed restructuring, redeployment and refocusing of UNAMID to reflect the missions new realities. Key changes to UNAMIDs priorities discussed by Wane included the recommended increased focus on the effective implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur and an increased focus on the protection of civilians in the greater Jebel Marra area. On 8 June, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, briefed the Council on the situation in Darfur and the ICCs work pursuant to resolution 1593. Bensouda requested that the Council take action to respond to ongoing instances of non-compliance or non-cooperation relating to the situation in Darfur and the outstanding ICC arrest warrants.

Sanctions-Related Developments

The 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee met on 3 July to discuss the report of the chair, Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko (Ukraine), on his 14 to 18 May visit to Sudan. Yelchenko briefed Council members in consultations on the work of the committee on 24 July.

Key Issues and Options

A key issue that Council members will want to follow closely is the effect of the troop reduction on the security situation.

Another key issue for the Council is to support efforts to break the ongoing impasse in the negotiations between the government and Darfuri rebel movements, leading to a durable cessation of hostilities and a final settlement. An option moving forward could be for the Council to consider seeking an African member as co-penholder on Darfur to share the pen with the current penholder, the UK, to enhance African involvement on this issue in the Council.

The Council may also need to tackle how to promote intercommunal reconciliation, given the high levels of intercommunal fighting in Darfur in recent years. An option for the Council could be to request the Joint Special Representative for Darfur and head of UNAMID Jeremiah Mamabolo to brief on the issue. Another option would be to organise an Arria-formula meeting with experts on intercommunal violence, to discuss its root causes and ways to bring opposing parties together.

Regarding the Sudan Sanctions Committee, the chair of the committee might consider holding the briefing in an open session, rather than in closed consultations, to enhance the transparency of the committees work.

Council Dynamics

In a departure from previous years, and within a context of longstanding divisions in the Council regarding Darfur, improvements in stability in many parts of the region have created an opportunity for apparent unity amongst Council members on certain issues, including agreeing on improvements in the overall security situation, troop reductions, and the governments efforts to improve humanitarian access. Traditionally, some Council members, notably China and Russia, have tended to emphasise the importance of upholding the sovereignty of Sudan and improvements in the security situation in Darfur. Other members of the Council, such as France, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Ukraine, Uruguay and the US, have been critical of the government for committing human rights violations, restricting the operations of UNAMID, and fostering a culture of impunity in Darfur. While concerns remain, a number of these states have expressed the view that the government is making an effort to improve humanitarian access in the region and have welcomed reduced violence in Darfur. The US, which has had longstanding bilateral sanctions against Sudan, is currently reviewing these measures.

The UK is the penholder on Darfur; Ukraine chairs the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.

UN Documents on Darfur

This was a resolution renewing the mandate of UNAMID for an additional year. The resolution renewed the mandate of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts until 12 March 2018. This was the report of the Secretary-General on UNAMID. This was the Secretary-Generals assessment of the status of implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur. This was the special report of the Chairperson of the AU Commission and the Secretary-General on the strategic review of UNAMID. This was a briefing by the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, El-Ghassim Wane, on the joint AU-UN strategic review on UNAMID. This was a briefing by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on the situation in Darfur and cooperation with the ICCs work pursuant to resolution 1593. This was a press statement regarding the report of the chair of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committees visit to Sudan, which took place from 14 to 18 May 2017. This was the Sudan Sanctions Committee final report.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) India is expected to raise its concerns over terrorism strongly at the next weeks BRICS Summit, hosted by China, which yesterday said New Delhis concerns over Pakistans counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.

India also did not rule out a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Summit on Monday with External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying it is a common practice to arrange bilateral meetings on the sidelines of such multilaterals.

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But he refused to divulge details, saying he cannot share timing and other information on bilateral meetings that have already been confirmed including those among BRICS leaders or with guest countries invited by China as part of an outreach exercise.

Modi will leave on September 3 to attend the Brazil- Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) Summit on September 4 in China, from where he will travel to Myanmar on a state visit before returning on September 7.

While Kumar refused to "preempt" as to what Modi will speak during his intervention at the Summit on Monday in the Chinese city of Xiamen, sources said India is expected to flag its concerns over terrorism strongly.

At the last BRICS Summit, hosted by India, Modi had described Pakistan as a "mothership" of terrorism world-wide.

The PM had sought decisive global action such as systematically cutting off funding, weapons supply, training and political support to terror outfits and asserted that selective approach to deal with the menace will be not only futile but also counter-productive.

Leaders are free to speak what they want and it is the joint declaration which is prepared on the basis of consensus, Kumar said when asked about Chinas view that Indias concerns over Pakistans counter-terrorism record is not an "appropriate topic" to be discussed at the forum.

"Our position on terrorism is very clear. We have raised it at different fora and multilaterals. It is an important issue.

"I dont want to preempt as to what the prime minister will speak during his intervention during the BRICS restricted session and in the plenary. Also (I cannot say) how and in what shape it is going to come out in the declaration document," the spokesperson said.

He also noted that Indian officials, including the joint secretary in charge of China division in the ministry, were in China currently to discuss the joint declaration.

Asked if recent Dokalam issue will figure during discussions with other leaders, he said it was "premature" to share at this stage what are the issues which will be discussed among the leaders.

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This is the first time the two countries will be interacting at the highest level after the resolution of the Dokalam standoff earlier this week. The Chinese and Indian troops were in a face-off situation since June 16 in Dokalam in Sikkim sector after the Indians stopped construction of a road by Chinas army.

On whether the national security advisors of India and China will meet on the sidelines of the Summit, Kumar said he has no information but noted that they had met last month in China.

On Indias view about the expansion of BRICS and China inviting leaders of Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand, the spokesperson said it is the right of a host country to invite guests as part of outreach exercise.

Leaders of the five BRICS countries and guest countries will discuss the importance of cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries.

With a theme of BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future, the Summit is expected to deliberate on world economic situation, global economic governance, international & regional hotspot issues, national security and development, according to Chinese foreign ministry.

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At the plenary session, the leaders will be focusing their discussions on deepening BRICS cooperation, people to people exchanges, institutional building and other issues. At the plenary session, the BRICS leaders will adopt the BRICS leaders Xiamen declaration.

The leaders of the five countries will attend the launch ceremony of the BRICS Cultural Festival and also the Photo Exhibition.

They will also have a dialogue with the Business Council, which will submit its report on ways to promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries. PTI PYK RT

--- ENDS ---
MIDDLE EAST

Syria

Expected Council Action

In September, Council members expect to receive the monthly briefings on political and humanitarian developments in Syria and on chemical weapons.

Key Recent Developments

Iran, Russia and Turkey have yet to agree on the operational and technical aspects of the de-escalation areas that were announced in May in Astana. However, several initiatives by relevant member states have led to measures aimed at curbing violence. On 23 August, a monitoring centre was established in Amman for the de-escalation area in south-western Syria, agreed to by the US and Russia, along with Jordan, in early July. In July and August, Russia and Egypt brokered ceasefire agreements in Eastern Ghouta and Homs. Despite the deployment of Russian military police to ensure compliance, the Syrian government has repeatedly violated the ceasefire in those two areas. During consultations on 14 July, Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura emphasised the need to ensure that the de-escalation areas are a temporary measure and highlighted the importance of preserving the national unity and territorial integrity of Syria.

Since the end of the seventh round of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva on 14 July, de Misturas team has convened opposition experts as part of a technical process to address constitutional and legal issues. The government has also been invited to participate, but has so far refused to attend these meetings between rounds of talks. Following the postponement to mid-September of the Astana meeting to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire and de-escalation areas, it remains unclear whether there will be a new round of talks in Geneva this month. Members of the opposition groups (including the High Negotiations Committee and the Moscow and Cairo platforms) met in Riyadh in late August to identify areas of convergence and explore the possibility of forming a unified delegation ahead of the next round of talks. A meeting of the contact group proposed by France on 13 July to support UN efforts to broker a political settlement is expected to be convened in New York in the margins of the high-level segment of the General Assembly.

A 28 July letter by the director of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that the security situation now allows safe access for the OPCWs secretariat to confirm the condition of the last two stationary chemical weapons production facilities included in Syrias original declaration. On 16 August, Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, briefed Council members in consultations on progress in the destruction of Syrias declared stockpile of chemical weapons. At the meeting, the US expressed its intention to table a resolution ensuring accountability for chemical weapons attacks before the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) of the OPCW and the UN releases its final substantive reports on two recent attacks, which are expected in October. On 21 Augustthe fourth anniversary of the chemical weapons attack by the government in Ghouta, which led to the adoption of resolution 2118the US demanded that the Syrian government cease its use of chemical weapons, fully declare all of its chemical weapons stockpiles, and cooperate with the OPCW and the JIM.

Ursula Mueller, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Council on 27 July via video teleconference from Jordan. Mueller stressed the ongoing difficulties with humanitarian access, especially in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. Despite the drop in violence in some parts of the country, humanitarian convoys continue to be delayed and blocked by bureaucratic restrictions that limit their ability to get to civilians living in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. OCHA has repeatedly stressed that the Syrian government imposes the most egregious restrictions, while other groups operating in areas not controlled by the government also implement procedures that impinge upon humanitarian operations and violate humanitarian principles. Mueller also discussed how the intensification of fighting between non-state armed opposition groups in Idlib governorate resulted in civilian casualties. The border crossing of Bab al-Hawa was closed for a week in late July, negatively impacting UN cross-border operations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In a 28 July letter to de Mistura, Russias Minister of Defence, Sergei Shoigu, expressed the willingness of Russian military police units to ensure the safe passage of humanitarian convoys in coordination with Syrian authorities in the Southern and Eastern Ghouta de-escalation areas. The Council was briefed by Russia in consultations on 9 August under any other business on the contents of this letter and the role of these units in the de-escalation areas. On 17 August, an aid convoy reached the besieged town of Douma for the first time since May, after Russian military police stationed along the route secured the road.

The Syrian government and the US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) continue to separately target ISIL positions in Deir ez-Zor. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)which include the Kurdish armed group YPGpursue their offensive against ISIL in Raqqa with the support of the coalition. As the humanitarian crisis mounts, Jan Egeland, senior humanitarian adviser to de Mistura, urged members of the humanitarian task force on 24 August to do whatever is possible to make it possible for people to escape Raqqa.

Human Rights-Related Developments

In a statement on 3 August, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria of the Human Rights Council (HRC) called on the international community to recognise that the crime of genocide was being committed by ISIL against the Yazidis and to undertake steps to refer the situation to justice, including to the International Criminal Court or an ad hoc tribunal with relevant geographic and temporal jurisdiction as well as to dedicate resources to bringing cases before national courts. On 6 August, the Commission of Inquiry released a statement confirming that one of its three commissioners, Carla Del Ponte, had resigned. The statement said that Del Ponte had informed her fellow commissioners in mid-June of her intention to step down. Del Ponte was quoted in media reports as saying she was resigning because the Commission of Inquiry is not backed by any political will and she has no power as long as the Security Council does nothing. In its statement, the Commission of Inquiry said that it would continue its investigations as it had an obligation to persist in its work on behalf of the countless number of Syrian victims of the worst human rights violations and international crimes known to humanity. During its 36th session in September, the HRC is set to hold an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry to consider its latest report (A/HRC/36/55).

Key Issues and Options

More than six years since the start of the war, the essential issue is whether the Council can rise above P5 divisions and exert leadership in efforts to reach a political solution. However, the options at the disposal of Council members are limited by those divisions.

The ceasefire and de-escalation initiatives raised the expectations of many inside and outside Syria. Ensuring that these are fulfilled and improve the living conditions for 13.5 million civilians in need, without promoting a de facto partition of the country, should be a key priority of the international engagement. Once details are worked out by the countries involved, Council members could be informed about the operationalisation of the ceasefire and de-escalation agreements, and discuss whether the Council has any role to play in supporting the monitoring mechanisms needed to enforce them.

As international efforts against ISIL continue, ensuring coherence of stabilisation initiatives with UN efforts aimed at brokering a political settlement is important so as not to create conditions on the ground that undermine such efforts. Some regional and international actors prioritise expediting the return of refugees to Syria. The Council could hold a session to hear directly from refugees and UNHCR and reaffirm the right of all Syrians to seek asylum and enjoy refugee protection until conditions are conducive for voluntary return in safety and in dignity.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Divisions in the Council persist on Syria. On 27 July, Russia rejected the inclusion of language proposed by the UK in press elements on the humanitarian situation that would have criticised the Syrian government for the difficulties imposed regarding humanitarian access and for the forcible removal of medical supplies. The UK then objected to the press elements that had been presented by the humanitarian penholders, and these were not released. During Russias presentation of its involvement in ensuring humanitarian access to de-escalation areas on 9 August, the US and the UK criticised that this is only happening in places that Russia considers as priorities and that the Syrian government continues to be the main obstacle to the delivery of humanitarian aid. The US initiative of drafting a resolution regarding accountability for attacks with chemical weapons is unlikely to bridge Council divisions. Iran, Russia and Turkey continue to discuss the delineation of de-escalation areas and confidence-building measures, but divergent priorities have prevented them from delivering as a tripartite mechanism.

As has been the case in the past on Syria, Council members engagement has been limited to following the lead taken by key actors outside the Council. However, if progress on the establishment of de-escalation areas leads to the deployment of third-party monitoring mechanisms, it is likely that such a decision would be dealt with in the Council. The presentation in September of Frances initiative to create a contact group to support efforts for a political solution will show whether this new effort can contribute to exerting pressure on the parties and increased coordination by member statesincluding regional actorsregarding Syria.

UN DOCUMENTS ON SYRIA

Welcomed efforts by Russia and Turkey to end violence in Syria and jumpstart a political process. Renewed the mandate of the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism for a further year. This was the first resolution focused exclusively on a political solution to the Syrian crisis. It was adopted unanimously. This was a report on the humanitarian situation in Syria. This was a letter from Russias Defence Minister on the willingness to ensure the safe passage of humanitarian convoys in de-escalation areas. This was a letter transmitting an OPCW report on progress in the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons programme. This was a letter that expressed concerns regarding the lack of humanitarian access by members of the Geneva-based humanitarian task force. Ursula Mueller, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
MIDDLE EAST

Yemen

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council expects to receive a briefing from the Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Key Recent Developments

The war in Yemen continues amidst stalled efforts to resume political talks and against the backdrop of the worlds largest humanitarian crisis. The conflict pits the Houthis, a Zaydi Shiite rebel group, and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against the Yemeni government and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.

According to a report issued in August by the Yemen Protection Cluster, which is led by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 5,676 airstrikes in Yemen during the first six months of 2017 compared to 3,936 in all of 2016. The average number of armed clashes per month was 56 percent higher for the first half of 2017 compared to 2016. Front lines have remained largely unchanged, but in late July Yemeni government and coalition forces captured the Khalid bin al-Walid military base in Taiz governorate, which oversees key roads linking Hodeidah, Mokha and Taiz.

In August, Yemeni government forces, reportedly numbering 2,000 troops, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and US special operations forces, began an offensive against Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Shawba governorate.

Amidst the fighting, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. On 16 July, OCHA announced that 20.7 million Yemenis are in need of assistance, an increase of nearly 2 million people from its previous estimate of 18.8 million in January. Of these, seven million people are severely food insecure and at risk of famine. Since late April, an outbreak of cholera has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. On 14 August, the World Health Organization announced that total suspected cases had surpassed 500,000, with nearly 2,000 recorded deaths.

Fighting continues to produce large numbers of civilian casualties. After a 5 August airstrike killed at least 12 civilians in Saada, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, issued a statement, labelling the airstrikes an example of the brutality in which the conflict is being conducted and indicative of the disregard for the protection of civilians and the principle of distinction that all parties to the conflict continue to show. A 20 August airstrike killed more than 20 civilians in Taiz, and a 23 August airstrike on a hotel in Sanaa governorate killed 33 civilians and wounded 25.

Recently there have been public signs of a fissure in the Houthi-Saleh alliance. Over the weekend of 19-20 August, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi and Saleh exchanged public barbs. Al-Houthi suggested during a speech that the Saleh loyalist forces were not doing their share of the fighting, while Saleh accused the Houthis of dominating decision-making. The media reported heavier presences of both sides forces on the streets of Sanaa. A rally in Sanaa on 24 August for the 35th anniversary of the founding of the General Peoples Congress, Salehs political party, drew tens of thousands amidst the tensions. On 26 August, clashes erupted at a check-point in Sanaa and a colonel loyal to Saleh and two Houthi-linked fighters were killed.

The Council met on Yemen on 18 August. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen OBrien briefed, describing the humanitarian crisis as a direct result of the deliberate policies, tactics and actions of the parties and their powerful proxies to the conflict. He highlighted continued obstructions and delays created by the Yemeni government and the coalition for critical commercial imports, described the closure of Sanaa airport to commercial flights by the coalition as cruel and baseless, and drew attention to repeated diversions of aid by the Houthis, particularly in Taiz governorate. OBrien stressed that responding to humanitarian needs in Yemens north depended on access through Hodeidahs port and the Sanaa airport, and that proposed alternatives such as Adens port were inadequate.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed, briefing via video teleconference from Amman, said that he was continuing to promote his plan to avert a possible coalition attack on Hodeidahs port and to restart the payment of civil servant salaries, while also trying to reach an agreement to reopen Sanaas airport. Following consultations, Council members issued press elements, calling for, inter alia, the full implementation of the Councils 15 June presidential statement, which focused on the situation of Hodeidahs port and confidence-building measures.

On 9 August, the Council adopted a presidential statement on the risk of famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and north-east Nigeria, which, among other things, reiterated its calls on all parties to allow safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance and to facilitate access for essential imports of food, fuel and medical supplies and their distribution. On 21 August, the Council held an Arria-formula meeting on the role of the UNs humanitarian assistance partners in Yemen. OBrien and the Supervisor General of Saudi Arabias King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, Abdallah al-Rabeeah, briefed.

Sanctions-Related Developments

On 31 July, the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee considered the mid-term update of the Yemen Panel of Experts. The coordinator of the panel, Ahmed Himmiche, provided a briefing on the 185-page report. Among its observations, there were no new reports of maritime seizures of arms nor major seizures on land supply routes. All parties continue to commit violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, according to the report, which expressed concern that member states of the coalition are hiding behind the entity of the coalition to divert attention and shield themselves from state responsibility for violations by their forces during airstrikes. The panel writes that the coalition air campaign continues to have little operational or tactical impact on the ground and is only serving to stiffen civilian resistance. Other issues covered in the report include the proliferation of militia forces supported by coalition members outside Yemeni government control and the threat to Hadis ability to govern the south; illegal detention practices by the government of Yemen, Houthi-Saleh forces and the UAE; sources of Houthi funding; and the activities of AQAP. On 11 August, the committee agreed to the panels three recommendations in the mid-term update. Most notable was the recommendation for the committee chair to engage with Saudi Arabia to request that it comply with reporting obligations under paragraph 17 of resolution 2216, which requires that inspections carried out in enforcing the targeted arms embargo against the Houthis and Saleh loyalist-forces be reported to the committee. The coalition has failed to report inspections of cargoes since the adoption of resolution 2216 over two years ago. The report said this failure undermines safeguards to ensure that the sanctions regime is not used to achieve unilateral objectives and contributes to increased obstructions in the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Human Rights-Related Developments

In a statement on 25 August, a spokesperson for OHCHR said that a 23 August airstrike by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition on a hotel in Sanaa governorate killed at least 33 civilians and injured another 25. Another coalition airstrike in Sanaa governorate the same day killed six civilians and injured 13, while a coalition airstrike the previous day in Saada governorate killed a women and two children. The spokesperson called for comprehensive and impartial investigations into the incidents. Since March 2015, OHCHR has documented over 5,000 civilian deaths in Yemen, but the overall number is probably much higher, with some estimates suggesting more than 11,000 civilians have been killed since the conflict began, the spokesperson said. During its 36th session in September, the Human Rights Council is set to consider the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Yemen (A/HRC/36/33).

Key Issues and Options

A key issue is getting the parties to implement the Councils 15 June presidential statement, which called for the Hodeidah port to remain open and for the resumption of salary payments to Yemens civil servants, who have either not been paid or only paid sporadically over the past year. The statement also encouraged the rapid installation of new cranes to increase the ports capacity, the deployment of UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism monitors, and increased access through the Sanaa airport. Such measures are linked to addressing obstructions of humanitarian aid and commercial goods coming into and being distributed throughout Yemen, and are critical steps to better address Yemens humanitarian crisis. They are also considered confidence-building measures towards resuming broader political talks.

A related issue for the Council is getting the parties to comply with international humanitarian and human rights law. Another issue of concern is the risk of further state collapse, benefitting AQAP and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The Council may, therefore, wish to closely monitor the parties actions in accordance with its June presidential statement and be prepared to exert further pressure through a follow-up statement or resolution, if they fail to follow through on the Councils calls. In the case of an escalation of violence or a worsening of the humanitarian situation, the Council could adopt a resolution demanding, inter alia, an immediate cessation of hostilities.

In light of the deteriorating humanitarian situation, the Council could seek monthly briefings on Yemens humanitarian crisis.

Council and Wider Dynamics

While members agree that there is no military solution to the conflict and all express concern about the humanitarian crisis, bilateral interests and relationships, particularly with Saudi Arabia, have made the Yemen conflict difficult for the Council to address. Members are cautious about taking positions that are contrary to Saudi preferences. These have included Saudi Arabias opposition to any new Council resolutions on the conflict. Other than the annual resolution to renew the Yemen sanctions regime, the Councils 15 June presidential statement was its first decision on Yemen in nearly 14 months.

Within the Council, Egypt, as a member of the coalition, and at times Senegal, champion Yemeni government and coalition positions. Russia has, at times, highlighted Houthi perspectives, arguing that Council outcomes should be more even-handed, but has also sometimes raised the humanitarian consequences of this conflict in the face of criticism regarding its role in Syria. Sweden has been keen to see the Council become more proactive and played an important role pressing for the agreement on the 15 June presidential statement and the presidential statement on famine.

The UK is the penholder on Yemen. Japan chairs the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee.

UN DOCUMENTS ON YEMEN

This resolution demanded the Houthis to withdraw from all seized areas and to relinquish all seized arms, and established an arms embargo on the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. This was on the threat of famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and north-east Nigeria. This stressed the importance of keeping all of Yemens ports functioning, including Hodeidah. This was a briefing on Yemen by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen OBrien and Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. This was a briefing on Yemen by the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen OBrien. The director-generals of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and of the Food and Agricultural Organization, Jose Graziano da Silva also briefed.
Press Release

September 1, 2017 Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Women's Caucus Visit

Dispatch from Crame No. 146 Despite the relentless attacks and outright lies thrown against me by the evil Duterte regime to destroy my dignity and womanhood, I am grateful that many people have expressed and continued to vouch for my integrity. Just yesterday, leaders of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) Women's Caucus, namely, the current Chair Jayanthi Balaguru (Malaysia) former Chair of the Hongkong Democratic Party, Emily Lau, and Vice Pres. of the International Network of Liberal Women (INLW) and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) Maysing Yang, visited me to check on my condition as a "prisoner of conscience." I am very grateful for their very warm and gracious words of encouragement and support. I do not know them personally, and though it was our first time to meet, I easily felt from our discussion that we are kindred spirits--women who uphold human rights and value democratic principles. Expressing concern over my continued detention, they believe, and rightly so, that I was detained on politically-motivated and trumped-up charges. They firmly hold the view that such travesty of justice is unprecedented here in the Philippines which has long been considered a model for democracy in Asia. We also discussed the very dubious moves against Ombudsman Morales and Chief Justice Sereno - putting in question the full term of office of the former and the filing of impeachment complaint versus the latter. They also noted how our democratic institutions, including the media, are now being threatened under the growing authoritarian rule of Duterte. Together with other highly reputable and international organizations, CALD has also condemned the brazen killings in our country that has claimed over 12,000 lives, as well as the relentless political persecution against me by this vindictive President. To my fellow women, countrymen and to all the people of goodwill around the world, let us remain vigilant, stand up for what is just, and defend our human rights and democracy. The growing clamor for accountability will ensure that justice will catch up with Duterte and his cohorts. Try as they might to cover up their abuses and vilify human rights defenders, but the world, the UN and the ICC are watching and cannot be fooled.
Press Release

September 1, 2017 De Lima thanks Asian women leaders for support Senator Leila M. de Lima today thanked the Women's Caucus of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) who visited her in her detention and pledged to fight with her against the continued spate of extrajudicial killings in the country. De Lima, a known human rights defender, said she is grateful for the overwhelming support she has received from groups like CALD who trust her amid efforts of the Duterte administration to tarnish her reputation. "Despite the relentless attacks and outright lies thrown against me by the evil Duterte regime to destroy my dignity and womanhood, I am grateful that many people have expressed and continued to vouch for my integrity," she said in a Dispatch from Crame No. 146. Last Aug. 31, convenors of the CALD Women's Caucus visited De Lima to check on her condition as a "prisoner of conscience" and discussed with her the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. The delegation was composed of Lead Convenor Jayanthi Balaguru, along with former Chair of the Hong Kong Democratic Party Emily Lau and Maysing Yang, vice president of Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Though it was their first meeting, De Lima said she was able to relate with the women leaders from CALD easily, given that they are fighting for the same cause: to put an end to violence and abuses. "I'm very grateful for their very warm and gracious words of encouragement and support. I don't know them personally, and though it was our first time to meet, I easily felt from our discussion that we are kindred spirits--women who uphold human rights and value democratic principles," she said. In an interview with the media after the visit, convenors of the CALD's Women Caucus' Council condemned the unjust incarceration of De Lima by the vindictive President and called for her immediate release from detention. "The rule of law is one of the pillar systems of a democratic country. We believe that Senator De Lima should be given a fair and just trial and she should be released as soon as possible and she should be allowed to carry on her public duties," Balaguru noted. "We want to send a message to President Duterte that he should respect the rule of law and if there is credible evidence let them present it in court and let her come out and represent her people in the Senate," Lau added. Balaguru and Lau further expressed condemnation on the brazen killings in the country that have claimed over 12,000 lives since President Duterte launched his all-out war on drugs. The women leaders also urged the local community to come forward and show their solidarity with De Lima. De Lima, a former justice secretary, said she believes that justice will catch up with Duterte, who encourages EJKs in the country, and his minions, in due time. "Try as they might to cover up their abuses and vilify human rights defenders, but the world is watching and cannot be fooled," she said, noting the overwhelming support given to her by several individuals and various groups who refuse to turn a blind eye on the injustices happening in the country. Even before the CALD visit, various international organizations have already visited De Lima to show their support for her and called for her release from detention. De Lima received members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union last May, and a 12-member delegation of the European Union and Liberal International members together with the representatives of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Philippines on July.
On whether to take up calls for Sen. de Lima's release in a Senate caucus

[https://pinglacson.net/2017/09/01/on-whether-to-take-up-calls-for-sen-de-limas-release-in-a-senate-caucus/]

No way. We should all understand and respect our criminal justice system. The Senate cannot and will not interfere with the courts that have jurisdiction over Sen. de Lima's drug cases.

Having said that, the judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative branches. The same goes true, and even worse, in the case of foreign organizations and groups that are calling for her immediate release.

They have no business in arrogantly asking our president to release Sen de Lima. That's totally uncalled for.
Message of Senator Loren Legarda for 2017 Eid'l Adha

(Legarda is an author of RA 9849, Declaring Eid'l Adha a National Holiday)

"I join the Muslim community in the celebration of Eid'l Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice. I pray for a solemn commemoration of this important Islamic celebration amid the ongoing conflict in Marawi, which we hope would come to an end soon so we can start healing the wounds and rebuilding lives and peaceful communities."

"I hope that all of us, not only Muslims, would reflect on the virtues that this feast signifies so that we develop deeper understanding among us Filipinos and find unity amidst diversity."
Press Release

September 1, 2017 Recto to PNP: If you have money for P.5 M dogs, you certainly have for body cams If the Philippine National Police (PNP) was able to ask for, and was given, funds to buy 48 bomb-sniffing dogs at a cost of P511,672 each, then it should also request funds for the acquisition of body cams for policemen, to be drawn from a P5.6 billion police modernization fund in the 2017 national budget. Debunking PNP claims that it has no budget to buy body- and car-mounted cameras this year, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said the PNP had in fact received P1.9 billion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) last August 10 for the purchase of various equipment. The Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) issued by the DBM for the procurement of P1.9 billion worth of machine guns, boats, motorcycles, anti-riot gear, body vests and "explosive detection dogs" identified the funding source as the Unprogrammed Appropriations of the General Appropriations Act for 2017. If the PNP share of the 2017 Unprogrammed Appropriations is P5.634 billion, then it leaves a balance of P3.732 billion, enough to buy a sizeable quantity of body cams and dashboard cameras for police cruisers, Recto said. "Hindi na kailangan maghintay sa susunod na taon. Mayroon nang mapagkukuhanan ngayon," Recto said. Recto said the PNP should have included the cameras in the wish list it sent to the DBM in two letters dated July 13 and 24 this year. "By that time, mayroon nang clamor for body cams, sana isinama na nila. Pero mayroon pa namang natitirang pondo," Recto said. In the SARO for P1,901,472,364 that it released to the PNP, the DBM authorized the procurement of 12 lots of equipment. These are: 103 light transport vehicles at a cost of P132 million; 126 personnel carriers (P245.2 million), 323 motorcyles (P31 million); 138 rubber boats (P343.4 million); 320 5.56mm light machine guns (P200 million); and 231 7.62 mm light machine guns (P252.4 million). Also funded by the SARO are 2,248 waistcoat vests (P152.9 million); 11,245 undershirt "level 3-A" vests (P382.3 million); 160 sets of base radio (P88.5 million); 2 forklifts (P1.85 million); 1 lot of "civil disturbance management" equipment (P47.3 million). Recto noted that waistcoats and body vests to be procured will cover only 8 percent of the actual number of policemen. "Kailangan dagdagan pa. This should be made standard police gear." There is also a P24.56 million allotment for 48 "explosive detection dogs," with a unit price of P511,672, Recto said. "I am not yet ready to pass value judgement on that purchase but a half-million-peso dog should be as good as Scooby Doo." "'Yang P24 million na 'yan, pwede nang ibili ng tig-P10,000 na body cam for 24,000 police officers. Or if 1 body cam will be used two shifts a day, for 48,000 policemen," Recto said. Recto said he is pleased with the request for the purchase of body vests as it would protect policemen in their hunt for terrorists, carjackers, and riding-in-tandem robbers. But cameras, whether attached to suits or placed on dashboards of patrol cars, are also necessary crime-fighting tools as they aid in prosecution of persons about to be arrested and in the identification of criminals, Recto said. "Why rely on lamppost CCTVs when the police can carry their own cams?" Recto asked. "Kung may nanlaban at nasaktan ang pulis, mayroong video recording. It is also a tool against impunity and abuses. There are cases when the camera is more useful than the gun," he said. Recto sponsored the inclusion of the police modernization fund in the 2017 national budget after the PNP leadership complained of the lack of vehicles, guns, and other equipment in running after criminals. "Kasama sa proposal ang pagbili ng police choppers, pagsasaayos ng 911 system, pero tila yata sa actual request ng Camp Crame, hindi pa naisama," he said. Under the General Appropriations Act for 2017, release of unprogrammed funds can only be triggered if revenue collections have been topped or if supported by new loans. Recto said the same personnel protection gears should be given to the military personnel as well as enough ground and air ambulances that will ferry the wounded to well-equipped hospitals.
By PTI: terrorists: Sarna

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Sep 1 (PTI) India welcomes President Donald Trumps Afghan and South Asia policy, Indias envoy to the US has said, underlining that New Delhi shares Americas concern over Pakistan which provides safe havens to terrorists.

President Donald Trump last week hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

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Indias ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said on terrorism, India and the US have a strategic convergence in a host of areas, including in its fight against terrorism.

"We welcome the new Afghan policy because we share the concerns and the objectives that the safe havens that have been given to terrorists in Pakistan. The cross-border operations that are carried out from there concern us as much they are for the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, we share the policies announced by the Trump Administration which we welcome," Sarna said.

Addressing the Hawaii-based East West Center, a top American think-tank, Sarna said on terrorism there is a very strong joint statement between India and the US, issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit in June.

He also said Pakistan should not be using its territory or the territory under its control for fomenting terrorism under its control.

"There is recognition of the fact that connectivity projects, while they?re welcome, they have to go by certain basic rules and regulations of transparency, of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and ensuring that in the process are not trampling the political and economic rights of the countries that are involved," Sarna said.

He also met Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US House of Representative in 2013 is the three-term Democratic Congresswoman.

"There is cooperation in maritime security. PACOM (Pacific Command) here is playing an important role. India today is doing more military exercises with the US than with any other country," he said.

"When you look at actual potential of the two countries, there are various areas in which India is looking to buy more from the US," he said and cited the example of civil aviation and oil sector.

In Hawaii, Sarna met the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris to discuss India-US defence relationship.

The strong global partnership between India and the US was very much evident during the visit of Prime Minister Modi and his discussions with Trump, he said, adding that this should not be seen through the prism of any third country.

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"I think in terms of facing the challenges whether there be of global terrorism whether it be of issues of maritime security whether that be the freedom of the seas and navigation and connectivity issues, these are all issues which democracies have to handle and it becomes much easier to handle them together," he was quoted as saying by the Hawaii Radio.

Responding to a question, he refuted reports that the Indo-US relationship is to counterweight China.

"Well you know Im not very sure whether it is useful to see these relations to the prism of any other relationship. I think the India-US relationship has a strong logic of its own. Its relationship between the worlds largest and the worlds oldest democracies. It is a relationship based on convergence of fundamental values, freedom of individual liberties," he said.

"Of course there is a very strong people-to-people link, now that we have a very successful and increasingly powerful diaspora of about three million people of Indian-origin in the US. So I would rather take this relationship on its on its own basis and not look at it from the prism of any third country," Sarna said in response to a question.

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According to the envoy, India has a very broad-based relationship with China which has multilateral aspects and also strong economic and investment.

"Then we have recently resolved an issue (Dokalam standoff) at the border through diplomatic channels. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is something which faces many of the challenges of the world. And it gives a platform for major emerging economies to come together and to implement these issues," he said. PTI LKJ UZM AKJ UZM

--- ENDS ---
Town hall: Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, hosts a town hall meeting at the Crockett Community Center, 850 Pomona St., from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday. Information: www.facebook.com/events/336289353489096

Indivisible: General meeting of Indivisible to plan weekly actions. Meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at 1661 15th St. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2xrMHOK

Iran deal: Trita Parsi, a Middle East expert who advised the Obama White House during the talks leading to the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, discusses the pacts prospects under President Trump. Sponsored by the World Affairs Council. Admission is $20 for non-council members, $7 for students. Event is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200 in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2glLrow

Coal film: Screening of the film From the Ashes, a look at the coal industry and its role in climate change. Film begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. Free. Information: http://bit.ly/2woej7t

Abortion rights: Meet-up and panel discussion on abortion rights. Event is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 7 at Nurx headquarters, 81 Langton St. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2gozC4S

Town hall: A forum for students in West Contra Costa middle and high schools and Contra Costa College. Speakers include members of the Richmond and El Cerrito city councils and other government panels. The event, hosted by Contra Costa Young Democrats, is at 5 p.m. Sept. 7 at John F. Kennedy High School, 4300 Cutting Blvd., Richmond. Information: www.youngdems.org

Voter registration: Volunteers will help new U.S. citizens register to vote after a swearing-in ceremony. Sponsored by Democracy Action, which works to advance Democratic candidates. 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 7 outside Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Information:

https://demaction.us

Town hall: State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and other community leaders discuss reforming Proposition 13s commercial property tax system. Hosted by Make It Fair, the event is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Information: http://

bit.ly/mifbay17

Picnic in the park: Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, hosts a picnic in Golden Gate Parks Marx Meadow picnic area Sept 10. RSVP: http://chiuassembly.ngpvanhost.com/form/-1081566039410473216

Prayers for peace: Multifaith prayers for peace and justice on the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Event is from 7 to 8 p.m. Sept. 11 at King Plaza, 250 Hamilton Ave. in Palo Alto. Information: http://bit.ly/

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.

2wQEUNz

Climate action: Climate Action in the City, a panel discussion on adapting to climate change in San Francisco, sponsored by San Francisco Tomorrow. Event is from 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Richmond District Police Station community room, 461 Sixth Ave., San Francisco. Information: www.sftomorrow.org/

Town hall: Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, holds a town hall at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at West Marin School Community Gym, 11550 Shoreline Highway, Point Reyes Station. Information: http://bit.ly/2vpinSI

Cap-and-trade forum: Oil industry experts and activists in the climate and environmental justice movement will explain Californias cap-and-trade law and its recently approved extension. Hosted by Sunflower Alliance and 350 Bay Area. Event runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sept. 17 at 155 Grand Ave. in Oakland. Information: www.sunflower-alliance.org/the-cap-and-trade-scam-sept-17/

Politics and media: Longtime San Francisco journalist Tim Redmond discusses media coverage and the Trump administration. Event begins at 2 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Richmond Meeting Room of the Sen. Milton Marks Branch Library, 351 Ninth Ave. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2wJub72

To list an event, email Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com.
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Joseline Gonzalez has spent most days this year running through what could happen if President Trump were to shut down a federal program protecting people like her who had entered the U.S. as children and were undocumented.

On Thursday morning, as she walked through San Francisco, she confronted conflicting reports that Trump was likely to roll back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program within days.

Because of DACA, Gonzalez, a 23-year-old UC Berkeley graduate, has seen her future clearly. She has a job as an outreach coordinator at Catholic Charities of the East Bay, plans to go to law school, land internships and eventually become an attorney.

Those dreams appear muddled at best now, amid difficult options, plaguing anxiety and uncertainty about what could happen next.

Its a position hundreds of thousands of Californians find themselves in, as the Trump administration appears on the verge of announcing a decision on whether to continue the DACA program. As of the end of March, more than 200,000 people had been initially approved for the program, meaning they could legally work and were protected from deportation.

You drill into who this population is and its primarily young people who have grown in the U.S., their primary language is English, theyve been educated in our schools, said Leon Rodriguez, who headed up U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers DACA, from 2014 to 2016 under the Obama administration.

Recent polling indicates that many Americans support the Obama-era program. A poll administered by NBC News and Survey Monkey and released this week, for instance, found that 64 percent of Americans backed DACA.

White House officials said Thursday that the program was still under review and that no decision had been made. Earlier in the year, Trump said he would treat so-called Dreamers with heart. But multiple state attorneys general have threatened a legal challenge to the program by Tuesday if the program is not rolled back by then.

Ken Paxton, the Texas state attorney general, said in a June letter threatening a legal challenge that DACA unilaterally confers eligibility for work authorization and lawful presence without any statutory authorization from Congress.

Were DACA to be cut and work permits taken away, those in the program would face dwindling long-term options  perhaps having to go back into the shadows, working in lower-paying jobs that dont require proof of citizenship  all while being at risk of removal from the country.

Its a disaster for communities. It is a disaster for our economy, Rodriguez said, noting that a loss of hundreds of thousands of workers would cut into job-growth numbers. Those are people unable to spend, pay taxes  the impact on the economy is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

The libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., found that the fiscal cost of immediately deporting people now in DACA would be more than $60 billion to the federal government and would cause a $280 billion reduction in economic growth over the next 10 years.

For Gonzalez, the growing uncertainty has left her feeling like her life is perpetually in limbo.

Now I have to think about what am I going to do next, she said, noting shed probably have to focus less on her dreams and more on just getting by. Im going to try to find ways to survive.

To qualify for DACA, individuals must have come to the country before the age of 16, lived in the U.S. continuously since 2007 and be in school or have graduated. They also must have avoided being convicted of a felony or a significant misdemeanor.

Gonzalez has been in the U.S. since she was a child.

My whole life is here, she said. I cant go back to Mexico. I dont have a life there.

Some days, Gonzalez has no way to avoid thinking of DACA and its future. Clients ask her about it constantly, friends check in to see how shes doing, shes on a text message thread with countless others like her sharing the latest news about the program and whether it will survive.

This is what we think about and talk about all of the time  its part of my job, its part of who I am, she said. Its exhausting. I wish I could say that Im a citizen and I dont have to worry about my status and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) coming to my home.

For some, like Gerardo Gomez, a 22-year-old senior at San Francisco State University, the potential loss of the program could lead to serious health issues.

Im a gay man and someone who identifies as being HIV-positive  it adds another layer. If I were to lose my health care and be deported to a country where I couldnt afford my HIV medication, it would literally affect my life, he said.

Even if he werent deported, losing his ability to work would leave Gomez with no reliable income and no way to live in San Francisco.

Anxious. Empty. And fearful, he said of his current state of mind.

Prerna Lal, an immigration attorney at UC Berkeleys Undocumented Student Program, said that students covered by DACA, many of whom are facing graduation with a very uncertain future, had heightened anxiety and were under an increasing amount of stress.

Lal said normal beginning-of-the-year stressors, like getting in the right class, were being combined with more existential fears. Some students were changing plans to study abroad, she said, while others were returning to the school before their international programs were set to finish.

But amid all the stress, one student told Lal something that stuck with her. We used to be undocumented before DACA  we were OK, and we will be OK moving forward, too, she said the student told her.

That was a moment of strength for a community thats been through so much. They are some of the most resilient people I know.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
As you leave artist Torreya Cummings Notes From Camp installation at the Oakland Museum of California, a sign resembling an Old West newspaper proclaims, Every Town is a Ghost Town/ If You Live There Long Enough.

Aint that the truth.

Cummings uses this observation as the coda to an immersive mashup, where a miners shack, a cave with plexiglass walls and beanbag boulders overlap. But it resonates with the experience of anyone who comes to know a city and experiences it long enough to be jarred by phantom landscapes and the memories they evoke.

Many of the memories are of the people you associate with the place, the ones who moved, were forced out or fell victim to scourges such as AIDS. But it is the buildings that trip the senses  three-dimensional witnesses to how the past and present collide.

Whenever Im on the 200 block of Grant Avenue, my stride slows down at Tillman Place. Down the alley theres a small vacant storefront that was home to Charlotte Newbegins bookstore, a curated wonder long before the word curated was in vogue and a nook that felt impossibly exotic to a kid on day trips from Walnut Creek. Newbegin died in 1989 and left the store to an employee, Jim Armistead, who held off the onslaught of national chains until the millennium loomed.

I could turn west and encounter the bleak, blank marquee above long-gone Marquards newsstand, which once held a neon sign. Too painful, so I head east on Market Street  drawn by the ghost of Staceys, a three-story bookstore that was a temple of clean efficiency until 2009. Quietly smart, not musty but modern, it always seemed to good to be true. Now the space holds a CVS.

In between Newbegins faint echo and Staceys clean aura theres the corner that held Cafe Capriccio in the early 90s, urbane and snug. Also, the most recent loss, Jeffreys Toys at the base of the Monadnock Building on Annie Alley. A great destination for my daughter to explore on her visits downtown  and felled in 2015 for a still-empty space where the windows proclaim Flagship Restaurant Opportunity.

This is small change compared to the razing of the Fox Theater in 1963 (before my time, still a sore point for older locals), or how the Old Main became the Asian Art Museum after a New Main rose just yards away. Yet theyre orientation points on my personal map as surely as the Walgreens at Columbus Avenue and Bay Street will always be the shell of Tower Records, a late-night oasis for decades.

Orientation as dislocation, the nostalgist would argue, changes that make us feel unmoored from our setting. Except that the real culprit is the passing of time. We grow older. Those ghosts arent how San Francisco (or any city) ought to be. Theyre spirits from the city of our youth, the places where we inhabited distant phases of our lives.

In the case of Notes From Camp, the installation grew from a topic that Cummings first confronted as a student at California College of the Arts: What are the leftovers of history, and how do you navigate that space?

Cummings grew up in the Central Valley before heading to UC Davis and spending the last 10 years in the Bay Area.

Thats why Notes From Camp sets a miners cabin next to a cave but then veils spaces in Mylar and fishnet. Theres a disco ball above the caves black Plexiglas walls, while the rocks are customized beanbags with a shiny nightclub glow.

Art should be a portal into another dimension, where you can make associations that arent necessarily linear, says Cummings, who has a studio in West Oakland. You carry places with you, and you encounter places that you remember as something else.

Amid the juxtapositions, and the bittersweet loss, our ghost towns grow ever more dense.

Take Ghirardelli Square or the Cannery near Aquatic Park. In the 1960s, each of those brick-clad bastions of food production was reborn as an enclave of shops and restaurants, every bit as trendy as the Ferry Building today. But in the San Francisco of 2017, Ghirardelli Squares main draw for locals is the ice cream. The Cannery has been colonized by the Academy of Art University.

Layer upon layer upon layer.

This week I paused on First Street near Market, where Oceanwide Center will rise  a 61-story tower designed to hold 109 ultra-luxe condominiums perched atop roughly 1 million square feet of office space.

To make way for the futuristic tower to be, three buildings were torn down. In the process, faded advertisements were exposed on the neighbor to the west, a four-story brick structure from 1906. One announces a printer that was housed in the building when it opened, Gilmartin Co. The other is a firm I cant quite make out.

The names have been covered since 1917, when the now-gone neighbor on First Street went up. In another year or so, theyll likely be covered again. But Ill always know the blast from the past that briefly hovered above the future. Another piece added to my own private ghost town, an impression that will remain.

Place is a column by John King, The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron

On display

Torreya Cummings Notes From Camp (a.k.a. Transdimensional Ghost Town Discotheque) is on view through May in the Gallery of California Art at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. For more information go to www.museumca.org.
San Francisco Police Department / / San Francisco Police Department

A San Francisco woman pushed an elderly Asian woman off a Muni bus in the Bayview neighborhood and has been arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime, police said.

Witnesses told police that Jacqueline Miller, 51, pushed an 81-year-old woman off of a bus Thursday at Third Street and Palou, then left the scene as the woman fell into the roadway and hit her head on the pavement, police said.
Devastated by the photos and stories coming out of the Gulf Coast this week, my knee-jerk response was to reach for my wallet. But it turns out that throwing money at a disaster isnt quite as simple as it used to be.

As soon as I started looking for places to give, I ran into some unexpected obstacles. As with every overwhelming disaster, it seems like the scammers set up shop faster than anyone else. (Donate my PayPal balance? No thanks.)

Obvious scams aside, my own demands for charity have changed, too.

I want more bang for my buck  I want to know that the money Im giving is actually getting to people in need.

Many of the traditional disaster relief institutions, like the Red Cross, have come under fire for wasteful practices. (Investigations by news outlets like National Public Radio and ProPublica showed how the Red Cross mismanaged its response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.)

So I called Bob Ottenhoff, president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, about the best ways for regular people to respond to faraway disasters.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on increasing donor effectiveness throughout the life cycle of disasters. Surely, I thought, Ottenhoff could help me figure out the best way to spend my measly few bucks.

He started out by telling me I wasnt the only one feeling overwhelmed.

Were on a course right now thats not really sustainable from a philanthropic standpoint, Ottenhoff said. There are so many disasters, and theyre increasing in frequency, and theyre increasing in intensity.

Houston, for example, has just experienced its third 500-year flood in the past three years.

While Harvey was absolutely the worst of those incidents, its clear that disaster is occurring on the Gulf Coast with more frequency. Its not just the Gulf Coast, either  its everywhere.

Whether its wildfires in the West or hurricanes in the East, we have to rethink how we do support, he said.

In the long run, well have to focus more of our money on planning for disasters and finding ways to prevent them. (Between 70 and 80 percent of philanthropic disaster dollars go toward immediate relief efforts  hardly anything goes toward disaster prevention.)

But in the short run, Ottenhoff said, the best way to offer assistance in the event of disaster is to give some money now and some money later.

It sounds strange, but giving money is not something you have to rush on these occasions, he said. Its probably more valuable if you give some today and some in a month or so. When all of the media attention has moved on, the donor dollars will dry up  but the need will still be there. It could be a year before people are able to move back into their homes.

Instead of responding to urgent appeals you see on Facebook advertisements from organizations you dont know, research the organizations that are doing effective work aligned with your values, Ottenhoff said. That means using Charity Navigator, reading the news and thinking about the causes that matter to you.

I have family members in Houston and Galveston, so it was an easy choice for me to give to those cities respective food banks. (My family members are all fine.)

There are exceptions, of course, but local food banks are usually some of the most effective charities out there. Theyre efficient at administering donations, and obviously, food is always useful in a disaster.

Apart from that, Im still deciding where else to give money. Ive set a calendar reminder to give a donation next month  preferably to a place thats working on making the Gulf Coast a safer place ahead of the next catastrophe.

Finally, theres an occasion in my life where procrastination is the best response to disaster.

Caille Millner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cmillner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @caillemillner
Tiny green specks swim through clear seawater in dozens of white buckets. They look like algae but theyre actually 2-day-old red abalone larvae, which Tom Ebert breeds by the millions at American Abalone Farms. The portion that survive will reach a market size of 3 inches in about three years.

All of the abalone potential bursting forth in Eberts farm in Davenport, just north of Santa Cruz, is the opposite of whats happening along the Northern California coast. Without enough kelp to eat, wild red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) populations are dwindling, causing state agencies to shorten this years recreational abalone season by two months and reduce the catch limit.

With its low environmental footprint and relatively high productivity, farmed abalone is emerging as a sustainable local seafood option in Bay Area markets and restaurants  especially as popular choices like wild salmon and Dungeness crab have become so limited, and since wild abalone is available only to recreational divers. And while Ebert has been farming abalone in the area since the late 1980s  you might have driven past his farm on Highway 1 without realizing it  he only recently started a heavy marketing push to Bay Area residents, many of whom are hungry for an elusive taste of their childhood.

Im just happy to see abalone again, says Jessica Ryan, who sells Eberts abalone through her company FreshCatch, which delivers local seafood to customers homes. I hadnt had ab since I was a kid.

There are four abalone farms in California, but Eberts is the closest to the Bay Area, making it a popular option for San Francisco restaurants like Tadich Grill, the Progress and Cala. Whereas many other types of wild seafood have limited seasons, the farmed product is available year-round. Eberts abalone is sold at the farm on weekends, at a few Bay Area stores, and through companies like FreshCatch that make weekly deliveries to members.

Eberts farm sells live abalone ($3.75 each at the farm) as well as pre-pounded steaks, each consisting of a whole abalone (four for $20). He says high-end restaurants tend to request the live kind, although some younger chefs order the steaks, which he recommends for beginners. Farmed abalone, which at about 3 inches wide is much smaller than the wild kind, which must be a minimum of 7 inches wide to catch, is more tender and easier to clean than wild abalone, although it is also more mild in flavor.

We just drop it on a rack into the fire, says Jason Ryczek, executive chef of Farallon restaurant in San Francisco. When you grill it to just that tender point it has the firmness of a scallop.

Ryczek was raised in Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County) and grew up eating wild abalone caught by family friends and cooked on the grill. At the restaurant he serves the product of Abalone Farm in Cayucos, near his hometown, cooked over a cherrywood fire.

Ebert used to send 90 percent of his abalone to Japan, but he has seen his weekly farm-stand sales triple over the past few months since he began doing local outreach and added other options, including oysters, sea urchin and halibut. He just expanded his farm-stand hours to Sundays, and he plans to open a new store and seafood bar over Labor Day weekend. It will have a deck overlooking the beach behind the farm, where seawater that circulates through the tanks rushes in and out via underground aqueducts.

Abalone farming in California got its start around the time the state outlawed the sale of wild-caught abalone in 1997, turning it into a sport-only pursuit for recreational divers. Ebert learned the trade in childhood, as his father ran a shellfish aquaculture lab south of Carmel for the California Department of Fish and Game (as it was then called) for 30 years.

Ebert went on to get a masters degree in marine biology at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (affiliated with the Cal State University system), and then surveyed wild abalone populations for San Mateo County. He began experimenting with abalone farming techniques, first in UC Santa Cruzs marine lab and later when he helped launch Monterey Abalone Co., which is still located under a city wharf in Monterey.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Eberts farm was originally built in the 1970s for an experiment in salmon and steelhead trout ranching, with a fish ladder that still leads down to the beach. The plan was to release young salmon from the nursery into the ocean, where they would fatten up and then return to their spawning grounds back in the farm. It wasnt a success.

They couldnt get enough of the fish to come back, Ebert says.

When Ebert first opened American Abalone Farms in 1994 (it was then called U.S. Abalone Farm) he had 50 tanks. He now has 3,400. Not all California abalone farms do their own breeding, but Ebert and his staff start a new batch of babies four times a year.

The process begins in the farms lab, where they induce male and female abalone to spawn in separate tanks and then basically combine the sperm and egg in a bucket of seawater kept at 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). A lot of buckets go into this operation.

When the eggs hatch 24 hours later, the tiny larvae emerge with hairs, called celia, that allow them to swim through the water. Ebert keeps the water at 15 degrees Celsius for about six days, until the larvae lose their celia and fall to the bottom of the buckets. Then theyre ready to graduate to an abalone nursery for six months, where they eat diatoms, tiny dots of algae.

Only 5 to 10 percent of the abalone will make it through the nursery stage, but after that there is a 90 percent survival rate. The larger abalone live in big tanks in another farm building where the lights are out all of the time.

Abalones want to be a nocturnal species. They grow much better in the dark, Ebert says.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

For fairly immobile and slow-growing creatures, the abalone seem to eat an awful lot. The farms crew heads out into the ocean to collect 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of kelp six days a week. They cut off the tops of the seaweed to allow it to grow back, which Ebert likens to mowing the lawn.

The Monterey Bay Aquariums Seafood Watch program puts farmed abalone in systems like this one in the best choice category for seafood sustainability. The farm is located in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Although it releases wastewater, or effluent, into the ocean, Seafood Watch states that effluent from abalone farms is not considered to negatively impact the surrounding environment.

The abalone farms unexpected comeback is something Ebert still seems a bit surprised by.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Younger (chefs) are into this whole thing about sustainable seafood, he says. People are much more conscious now than they were in the 90s.

American Abalone Farms , 245 Davenport Landing Road, Davenport. Farm stand open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Also sold at Lucky Seafood in Oakland, Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco and H Mart in San Jose; through seafood delivery companies Sea Forager Seafood, Real Good Fish and FreshCatch; and at many Bay Area restaurants.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan

Red Abalone With Pine Nuts, Lemon & Butter

This recipe comes from Sea Forager Seafood, which delivers local seafood to its members every week, including abalone from American Abalone Farms. Member Jeff Parrott provided the recipe. Serves 2.

Rinse 6 tenderized abalone steaks and pat dry. Season each side with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat, until bubbling subsides. Add the abalone, flat side down. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes until golden brown, shaking the pan to keep them from sticking. Turn, and cook another 1 to 2 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the abalone to heated plates.

Add  cup pine nuts to the pan. Saute the pine nuts until golden brown. Add the juice of half a lemon and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Saute until the juice is reduced by half and syrupy. Remove from the heat and add 2 tablespoons butter, stirring until melted. Pour over the abalone. Serve right away.

How to clean farmed abalone

Farmed abalone is easier to clean than wild. Use the handle of a large kitchen spoon or a butter knife to pry the abalone from the shell. The guts should stay behind in the shell. Then, use a paring knife to trim the hard pointy head off and then black parts from the foot. To tenderize, gently pound with a meat tenderizer until  to  inch thick.
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Crown Heights begins with Grandmaster Flashs The Message, a scene-setting snippet of music to establish Colin Warner as a struggling 18-year-old in the early 1980s.

Hes close to the edge  stealing a car not long after we meet him  but hes not guilty of murder. Warner is grabbed by police, thrown into jail, and the music stops. The young mans life, and the movie it inspired, become hyper-focused on the byzantine legal nightmare waiting like a trap for inner-city youth.

Matt Ruskins film is about atmosphere as much as the actual events. His directorial choices give the viewer an unrelenting experience  devoid of montages, obvious feel-good moments, soundtrack cues and other cliches that inhabit more mainstream legal and prison dramas.

Crown Heights has some narrative shortcomings. But the filmmakers respect the subject matter too much to ever take the easy way out. Its close in tone to the challenging The Night Of  HBO miniseries, requiring an initial emotional investment, before yielding its rewards.

Lakeith Stanfield is solid as Warner, a real-life immigrant from Trinidad who was convicted of a 1980 murder in Brooklyn, even though the evidence was ridiculously thin. When overworked public defenders and immoral appeals attorneys let him down, it was up to Warner and best friend K.C. (Nnamdi Asomugha) to keep the case alive.

Asomughas performance would be remarkable, even if he wasnt a star for Cal and a two-time All-Pro defensive back with the Oakland Raiders. In Crown Heights, K.C. is our tour guide on the streets to encounter the hopelessness, personal sacrifice and collateral damage that follows a crime  even a two-decade-old one. (The pain from this hasty injustice extends to the haunted men who were coerced into identifying the wrong shooter.)

K.C. is so dogged that loved ones wonder if he committed the crime himself. Why else would he feel so much guilt? Working off Ruskins tight script to presents K.C. as more of a co-lead than a supporting player, Asomugha inhabits the part with dignity and nuance.

With a 94-minute run time, other supporting characters are more two-dimensional, including the women in Colin and K.C.s lives. Lawyers and prison inhabitants get seconds of screen time. Exceptions are veteran stage actors Bill Camp and Sarah Goldberg as William and Shirley Robedee, who show some compassion for Colins situation.

Crown Heights is adapted from a This American Life podcast, and the transition to cinema results in some inconsistent pacing. Warners first six years in prison fly by too fast in just a few sequences, and then the research-heavy ending starts to drag. Its a courtroom drama that runs out of courtroom scenes.

But thats a credit to the filmmakers as well. They respect this material, and real-life innocent people who have been incarcerated, too much for a heavy fictionalization. Crown Heights is a challenging film with long treks between uplifting moments. And theres no question the film earns every moment of grace.

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicles pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

Crown Heights

Drama. Starring Lakeith Stanfield, Nnamdi Asomugha and Bill Camp. (R. 94 minutes.)
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I know hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

But there are exceptions to protected speech  such as speech that is inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action, as the Court ruled in 1969 in the landmark free speech case Brandenburg vs. Ohio.

The question is: Does speech delivered by the likes of Milo Yiannopoulos and other provocateurs incite violence?

Yes, it does.

Is that speech likely to produce lawless action?

Yes, it is.

In fact, Yiannopoulos thrives on delivering hateful and spiteful commentary designed to provoke and anger the masses on both sides  whether he bashes on immigrants, gays or other historically oppressed groups in society.

So, why does the student group calling itself the Berkeley Patriot insist on inviting Yiannopoulos to UC Berkeley for their so-called Free Speech Week events?

Bryce Kasamoto, a spokesman for the Berkeley Patriot, said the group believes it can host an event thats going to be healthy, productive, but most importantly safe for everybody to engage in political communications.

Not all of us do agree with the points that Milo speaks, and a lot of us dont call ourselves supporters of Milo, because we do understand a lot of his language can be interpreted as hate speech, Kasamoto said. With that in mind, however, all of us do firmly believe in our First Amendment right.

Clearly, with Yiannopoulos headlining, their event isnt really about the free expression of ideas and alternative viewpoints.

No, Free Speech Week is a publicity stunt for Yiannopolous, a marketing tactic so he can add wattage to his dimming star. Without confrontation and provocation, what does he have?

So lets stop the pretending that this is about free speech.

Because what were looking at is an invitation to violence. People get injured, and Ive often said it was just a matter of time before someone dies. It happened in Charlottesville.

Because today  thanks to our president  people are afraid. Afraid theyre going to be deported. Afraid theyre going to be beaten for wearing a headscarf. Afraid theyre going to be shot because someone, someone like, say, Dylann Roof, read hate-filled words that incited him to kill.

So when someone like Yiannopoulos steps into Berkeley to test the free-speech waters, people see him as a symbol of everything thats wrong with the White House, white supremacy, white nationalism, hate groups and the so-called alt-right. And theyre ready  as weve seen  to fight against this toxicity.

Theyre fighting for what the U.S. stands for. Theyre fighting against hate and oppression.

So I agree with Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin: UC Berkeley should put a muzzle on this months events.

Its incredibly important for conservative speakers and conservative voices to have a platform at UC Berkeley, so you can hear diversity of opinion, Arreguin told me. But what we should be doing is bringing in conservative thought leaders, not conservative provocateurs.

We know that his presence is going to likely create a confrontation.

Inviting speakers known for xenophobic, Islamophobic and racist rhetoric could put UC Berkeley under a multiday siege with white supremacists and black-clad anarchists brawling in the streets.

In an Aug. 23 letter to students, faculty and staff, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ wrote: Call toxic speech out for what it is, dont shout it down, for in shouting it down, you collude in the narrative that universities are not open to all speech. Respond to hate speech with more speech.

It sounds passionate and optimistic on paper, but the brutal reality on the streets is that in these tense times in America, political rallies are a reason for people to suit up for battle.

The only truth that matters is who wins, and thats determined by how many bloodied faces each side has.

Arreguin said Yiannopolous and others who have sparked unrest in Berkeley bear responsibility for inciting a violent environment.

I agree.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
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No one thought Melvin Yu would ever again walk the streets of San Francisco  not even him.

But one of the triggermen in the Golden Dragon massacre in Chinatown, which happened 40 years ago Monday, was paroled from state prison in 2015. And though the federal government took custody of him and tried to deport him to China, federal immigration officials said his native country has not provided travel documents.

So he was released in October 2015, spared by an anomaly in immigration policy. He is back in San Francisco, living a quiet life after expressing regret about his actions as a teenager, turning to religion and seeking redemption during his long stretch behind bars.

Im trying to get my life together, Yu, now 57, said in a brief telephone interview with The Chronicle, his first since being released. All I can say is Im trying to make amends and do good. I have a second chance at life.

It will take me a few lifetimes to make amends, he said, but Im trying to do my best.

It may seem surprising that a person accused of a mass killing would ever be released. But the Golden Dragon shooters were just 17 when, while pursuing revenge for their Joe Boys gang, they slaughtered five bystanders and wounded 11 others in the crowded restaurant. Even if they committed the same crime today, their ages would make them ineligible for the death penalty.

All these years later, the fates of some of the men involved in the massacre  the three shooters and the one who planned it  are still being sorted out.

One of the men, Curtis Tam, was released in October 1991, the result of a lighter second-degree murder sentence that a judge handed down after he testified against the others. Tam was a last-minute addition to the hit squad, and he said he had fired his sawed-off shotgun only into the restaurants furniture, pretending to be aiming at people.

Retired city police Sgt. Daniel Foley, who helped solve the case, said Tam, by cooperating, was the one person in that whole crowd that had a conscience.

Another shooter, Peter Ng, who admitted opening fire with a shotgun and a revolver, was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder. He can seek parole in 2020 after being denied release for the eighth time in 2015.

Tom Yu  no relation to Melvin Yu  had stayed back at a friends home in Pacifica during the killing, but he also was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder as the attacks chief plotter. He was 18 at the time of the rampage. In June, a state board found him suitable for parole after nine rejections, and a final decision could reach the governors desk in mid-September, officials said.

When Melvin Yu sought his release, he opened up about his life before, during and after one of San Franciscos most infamous crimes.

Now Playing: Five people were killed early the morning of Sept. 4, 1977, in an atrocity that altered the lives of everyone in that Chinatown restaurant  as well as Chinatown itself. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

He told the parole board that after he came to the United States in 1973 at age 13, he had difficulty adjusting to the countrys culture and language, and struggled in school. In high school he fell in with Chinatowns Joe Boys, who clashed with the Hop Sing and Wah Ching gangs.

I want them to accept me, and I was living a life you know, for the gang, Yu testified, according to a transcript. Its selfish on my part because I want to, you know, prove that, you know, I could be a gangster.

Before the massacre, the Joe Boys were fixated on revenge, following a Fourth of July gunbattle that left a member of their crew dead  and Yu with a bullet wound to the arm. In the early morning of Sept. 4, 1977, the group got a call from a Chinatown lookout, saying members of the Wah Ching and Hop Sing were eating at the Golden Dragon. Carrying a semiautomatic rifle, Yu entered the restaurant first, stopped in the main dining room, and sprayed the crowd.

I go in there, so I had to start shooting first, Yu said, because I dont want the other gang members shooting at us.

As the assailants darted back out the door and into a getaway car, the Golden Dragon was a scene of chaos and death. Slain were waiter Fong Wong, 48, and guests Denise Louie, 21, Paul Wada, 25, Donald Kwan, 20, and 18-year-old Calvin Fong. None among the dead and wounded was a gang member.

It was a horrible crime, Foley said. They didnt really know who all their enemies were by sight. They showed a total disregard and just opened fire on everybody.

Melvin Yu admitted as much in his parole hearing, saying, My crime  the heinous crime that I did, I know Ill never get out of prison, which is fine with me. He said if he was released, he expected to be deported, and would live with a cousin in Hong Kong.

But he was granted parole during a 2014 hearing, and immigration officials who initially took custody of him freed him the next year. They had little other choice.

China is one of several nations identified by the U.S. as recalcitrant, known for delaying or refusing the repatriation of citizens for various reasons. And given that Yu wasnt likely to be removed anytime soon, he was released under a Supreme Court ruling that prevents the government from indefinitely holding people for deportation.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco said it had no record of a deportation request for Melvin Yu.

Bill Hing, a University of San Francisco professor and immigration attorney, said Yus case isnt uncommon. He has even urged countries not to issue travel documents to immigrants he has represented  a last-ditch strategy to protect them.

I believe that China is making a judgment that they dont want the person because he had a violent history, and his violence is the product of the socioeconomic situation of growing up in the United States, Hing said.

So Yu is back in San Francisco. He told The Chronicle he did not want to speak at length or relive the incident, but that he is sorry.

I just want to move on, he said.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Back from its year-long hiatus this holiday season is the Restaurant at Meadowoods 12 Days of Christmas series. Without missing a beat, the 2017 lineup reflects the events ever-growing global pull. Chefs from India to Australia are making the trek to Christopher Kostows kitchen, a place once farcically described by a participant as Narnia for cooks.

The list gives me that feeling of the first day college. You know where you see all these classes that are listed and you know you can learn anything you want, Kostow said. For myself and my team, youre in your same kitchen and youre looking at the food through the same lens. Were excited about the new experiences.
By PTI: Ahmedabad, Sep 1 (PTI) Distinguished scientist and Director General of BrahMos missile system division of the DRDO, Dr Sudhir Mishra, today said the country would require various military equipment worth USD 150 billion in the next 10 years.

Inviting private players to grab the opportunity by entering the defence equipment manufacturing, Mishra said the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is ready to share its technology with the manufacturers.

advertisement

Mishra, who is also the CEO and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russia joint venture of the Ministry of Defence, was speaking at an interactive session on defence manufacturing organised by the Gujarat chapter of CII here.

"In the next 10 years, there is a requirement of around USD 150 billion of military equipment. This is a realistic and quite a moderate figure. This is a big opportunity for the entrepreneurs," he said.

According to him, USD 150 billion would be spent on manufacturing or upgrading aircraft, tanks, guns and various other equipment.

"There are many items, which we are going to manufacture or procure. Many of them have already become a reality, such as upgradation of MiG-29 and Mirage aircrafts. We are also going to procure around 500 more T-90 battle tanks in a short time," he said.

Expressing concern over the overall manufacturing scenario in the country, he invited private players to consider taking up production of defence equipment.

"In our country, contribution of manufacturing sector in the GDP is 18 per cent for the last seven to eight years, while the contribution of service sector is 65 per cent. This is an anomaly. Manufacturing should be around 35 to 40 per cent and service sector has to be 15 to 25 per cent," he said.

"At present, we own 6 to 7 per cent of the global software market. But now, we cannot grow beyond this, as we mostly carry out outsourcing and low-end software jobs. That is why, the new government at the Centre came up with Make In India. Now, we are trying to catch up," said Mishra.

"DRDO is ready to share the technology, as we alone cannot do it. Private players can take that technology from us and develop it for the market. You can approach us and start manufacturing," he added while addressing budding entrepreneurs from this sector. PTI PJT PD NP

--- ENDS ---
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The last thing Robert Yuen said to Calvin Fong was, Its going to be OK.

The two teenagers and their friend Donald Kwan lay among a mess of smashed dishes, ice water and hot soup on the floor of San Franciscos Golden Dragon restaurant, all bleeding from gunshot wounds, casualties in one of the citys most horrific crimes.

As it turned out, Fong and Kwan were not OK. They were two of the five people killed early in the morning of Sept. 4, 1977, in an atrocity that altered the lives of everyone in that Chinatown restaurant  as well as Chinatown itself.

It was the culmination of years of gang violence that had killed dozens of people in a neighborhood that was both a tourist attraction and home to thousands of low-income immigrants. Most of the gang wars casualties had been combatants gunned down in the streets. This time the battleground was a well-known restaurant, and most of the people there had no idea who was doing the shooting or why.

Golden Dragon massacre Freed killer in Golden Dragon massacre: It will take...

In the aftermath of what at the time was San Franciscos worst-ever mass shooting, the Police Department, community leaders and city officials would undertake changes that tamped down the gang wars and made Chinatown safer.

But that would take years. At 2:40 that morning in the Golden Dragon on Washington Street, Fong was dying of a gunshot to the abdomen. Kwan was already gone  he had been shot in the head.

Two other diners and a waiter also died, and 11 people were wounded when men with stockings masking their faces  members of a Chinatown gang known as the Joe Boys  unleashed a torrent of gunfire that missed their gang enemies, including a recently immigrated gangster named Raymond Shrimp Boy Chow.

Yuen, shot in the abdomen, still has the scar. Hes 59 years old and says the jarring images of the attack that ended his friends lives no longer flash in his head. The passage of time, years of reflection and self-medication have taken care of that.

It was one of those life-interrupted things, Yuen said in his first interview since the massacre. You wonder if things could have been better if it didnt happen. I was pretty bitter for a long time.

The attack was supposed to be payback. A Joe Boy had been killed in a running gunbattle after the gang was ambushed by its rival, the Wah Ching, on the Fourth of July at Chinatowns Ping Yuen housing project.

Two months later, the Joe Boys sought to strike back after getting a call from a lookout, who had spotted members of the Wah Ching and another rival gang, the Hop Sing Boys, at the Golden Dragon.

Now Playing: Five people were killed early the morning of Sept. 4, 1977, in an atrocity that altered the lives of everyone in that Chinatown restaurant  as well as Chinatown itself. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Retribution killings were common in the Chinatown of the 1970s. Nearly 40 people had been slain in gang violence already that decade. Many who joined the fighting represented factions that often were divided between those born in America and a recent influx from China.

Chinatown was scary, said retired police Sgt. Daniel Foley, who helped solve the Golden Dragon case. You never knew what was going to happen.

But the mass killing of innocents in a restaurant filled with more than 75 diners had a different resonance. Mayor George Moscone offered an unprecedented $100,000 reward and the Police Department organized a gang task force, which has operated ever since.

Initially it was overwhelming, said Foley, who worked the Chinatown gangs for 24 years. Youre trying to interview victims and find witnesses. You have this massacre. It was just panic.

Facing public pressure and few tips from the community, the task force of fewer than a dozen cops fanned out at schools, worked nights and interviewed everyone in sight, developing files on scores of suspected gang members.

The effort paid off. Two weeks after the shooting, police got a lead from a hard-core Joe Boy named Gai Wah Woo, who had been arrested for extortion and was looking to collect the reward. He led investigators to one of the shooters, a student at Galileo High, who eventually unspooled the entire plot in a recorded interrogation.

Within seven months of the shootings, police had arrested the three shooters, a getaway driver, the attacks mastermind and several accomplices.

No one expected the case to be solved  no one but us, Foley said.

As police sought to intervene in the violence, so did Chinatown, where residents and merchants wanted not only to be safe but also to create an inviting atmosphere for tourists and special events.

Some community organizers focused on getting neighborhood youths to channel their energy away from crime, while others sought to work directly with the gangs, mediating disputes before they were settled in the streets.

Chinatown has gone through a lot of change in the last 40 years, said Mabel Teng, a Hong Kong native who came to the neighborhood in the late 1970s, became an activist and went on to be elected to the citys Board of Supervisors twice in the 1990s.

There was a generational gap, she said. Young people were growing up alienated. The huge gap between the haves and the have-nots was very big in Chinatown, and thats the reason a lot of our young people fell into gang activity.

Today, she said, Chinatown is as strong and vibrant because so many of us believe in it.

In the aftermath of the killing, bustling Grant Avenue fell silent and business plummeted at restaurants  a pall that eventually lifted amid the intensified effort to snuff out the gangs.

Four decades later, the brutality of the Golden Dragon massacre remains stark. The killers intended to strike a blow in an insular gang war, but killed only bystanders, mostly young people with ambitious plans to help their Asian American communities. Friends of the slain victims still think about what was lost in their deaths.

There was 25-year-old city native Paul Wada, a social activist and law school student at the University of San Francisco who had co-founded what later would become Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, serving marginalized groups around the Bay Area.

Paul is one of the unsung heroes of San Francisco Asian American history, said Esther Leong, 59, who was once mentored by Wada in a program called Upward Bound and now serves as administrative director of the outreach group he co-founded.

She recalled that many of the young people Wada helped were the first in their families to attend college. Ironically, he had helped kids avoid the lure of gangs.

If he touched you in high school, it set the tone, Leong said. Maybe you would go to undergrad, then law school, and then come back and help your community.

Wada had a budding relationship with another of the five victims, 21-year-old Denise Louie. His dinner companion was an urban planning student at the University of Washington and a member of a Seattle group that aimed to improve and promote that citys Chinatown. She had met Wada the summer before and was visiting San Francisco with friends over the Labor Day weekend.

She was a typical activist  very idealistic, recalled a friend and fellow Seattle activist, Gary Iwamoto. At that time, there were a whole bunch of Asian communities going through a rebirth.

The Denise Louie Education Center, a child care center in Seattle, is named in her honor.

The fifth victim was Fong Wong, a 48-year-old waiter who had served Wada and Louie. An immigrant from Hong Kong, he was working late to support a family that included seven children.

Sitting at a nearby table were Howard Green and his friends, many of whom were shot but survived. Green, who was 23 and had just earned a masters degree from UCLA, had stopped off in San Francisco to see friends on his way to Tahoe.

After two bullets ripped into his left leg through his bell-bottom jeans  which he still owns, bloodstains and all  Green had three rounds of surgery as he went on to a successful career in technology.

Semiretired and living in Los Gatos, he still has some problems with his leg, but said, Theres a silver lining in this. At the age of 23, I sorted out a view of how fickle and short life can be. It changed my perspective as far as the value of time. This was certainly a wake-up call.

As the shooters steered toward the restaurant in a stolen car that night, Robert Yuen sat down with Calvin Fong and Donald Kwan at a table in the mezzanine, three steps up from the main dining area.

They all had fake IDs. Kwan was the oldest, at 20, while Fong was 18 and Yuen 19. They had decided to grab a late-night snack  siu yeh, they called it, using Hong Kong parlance  after drinking and dancing at a Fishermans Wharf disco.

It was Calvins first time at a real nightclub, and he was pretty excited about it, recalled Yuen.

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Fong was the groups most outgoing member, a recent graduate of Riordan High who worshiped at the same church as Yuen, First Baptist in Chinatown. He was popular and a good dancer, and had planned to stay at Yuens house and go to church with him in the morning.

Kwan was a fellow student with Yuen at Abraham Lincoln High, who graduated a year before him and practiced kung fu.

Lincoln was predominantly white, and we would get picked on, Yuen said. He would fight back for us.

Yuen shared his story recently while walking the streets of Chinatown. Though he always lived in the Sunset, he said he feels at home in Chinatown, where he spent some of the best years of his youth with his friends.

As he spoke, he stopped on Washington Street and pointed to the Golden Dragons original awning and jade-green tile facade. The restaurant has changed hands several times over the past decade and is now called Imperial Palace, after the previous owners came under fire for stiffing workers and violating health codes.

Once a premier nightspot with gilded sculptures, carved wood and other lavish details, the restaurants main dining room is now less opulent. The new owners say theyre focused on attracting neighborhood residents and regulars with more of a focus on the menu and less on frills. Patronage from tourists alone, they say, cant sustain a business in Chinatown.

Many diners dont know what happened there in 1977. But in the kitchen, the big stainless steel vent above the stoves is still dented from a bullet.

What Yuen and his friends didnt know as they sat in the restaurant that night was they had chosen a table near the intended targets of the shooting, including Wah Ching leader Michael Hot Dog Louie, and a 17-year-old member of the Hop Sing Boys, Raymond Shrimp Boy Chow.

By hitting the floor at the first sight of the shooters, Chow would go on to become a gang leader responsible for one of Chinatowns most notorious post-Golden Dragon crimes  ordering the 2006 killing of the leader of a neighborhood fraternal organization. He was sentenced to life in prison last year for that and other crimes.

When Yuen first heard the explosion of gunfire, he thought it might be a prank, possibly kids tossing firecrackers into the restaurant. Then he saw a gunman headed right for his table.

It was pretty bad, he said. I thought, This is surreal. This isnt happening.

Someone pulled Yuen under the table, saving his life. But Kwan was pinned between two people in the middle of the booth, unable to escape the line of fire. Moments later, the assailants fled, leaving a cloud of smoke from the gunfire.

Donald got shot right in the forehead. I said, Oh my God, hes dead, Yuen said. I thought Calvin was just upset. I told him, Its going to be OK, then I saw he was bleeding.

Yuen said he didnt realize he too was shot until he reached for his stomach  and saw his hand covered in blood. One of his 6-inch platform shoes fell off as paramedics hustled him away on a stretcher.

He woke up days later at San Francisco General Hospital, after the first of several surgeries that kept him hospitalized for three months. He missed his friends funerals.

All I remember is asking at the hospital if Calvin was OK, he said. The person I asked started to cry, and then I kind of knew.

As his body slowly healed, Yuen was confronted with severe emotional trauma.

They didnt have therapy for that stuff then, he said. I dont know if it was post-traumatic stress, so I pretty much drank a lot. It kind of dulled everything. Fortunately, he said, he was able to quit when I had to.

He went on to work at restaurants and in the hotel industry, and is now a medical assistant at a doctors office. He wonders what life would have been like if he didnt lose his friends.

Calvin was likable and charismatic, so I wonder what he would have been, Yuen said. Would we still be friends? I like to think we all would have done fairly well.

Yuen still lives in his boyhood home, 10 years after his mother died. He spends his free time going out with his friends, collecting antiques and reading books he has stacked up by the boxful.

Over the years, he said, hes taken some comfort in having survived the ordeal.

If you can get through this, he said, you can get though anything.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
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The Houston area continued its slow crawl out of crisis Thursday as swollen waterways began to drain and hundreds of thousands of victims of the flood started looking toward a recovery that could last for months, if not years.

Great swaths of the area remained under water, the Brazos and other area rivers continued to rise - threatening still more flooding in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties - and thousands of displaced citizens remained in shelters.

Flood control officials struggled to balance the urgent need to lower the water levels in the swollen Addicks and Barker reservoirs against the fear of inundating more homes by doing so. To the east, the city of Beaumont lay devastated, it's 120,000 residents without water, and across the region the death toll continued to climb.

But under sunny skies Thursday, the signs of a city pulsing back to life grew stronger as local and federal officials actively began taking stock of what was lost and what will be needed to recover.

"For most of the county and most of the area, we're getting beyond the rescue stage," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. "In order for people to get their lives back together, there's got to be a great deal of help coming from the federal government and federal emergency management, FEMA, is already on scene."

According to FEMA, at least 364,000 people had signed up for federal aid as of Thursday afternoon, and that number is expected to rise considerably as the flood waters recede, allowing homeowners to return to their properties and assess the damage.

Tom Frangione, FEMA's branch director for Harris County, said the agency will shortly be opening disaster recovery centers and dispatching mobile units across the region where people can sign up for aid.

Officials are still in the process of assessing the damage to the area, and what it will cost. Given the fact that the storm was unprecedented in terms of the amount of rain and the size of the area over which it fell, it will likely be staggering.

HURRICANE HARVEY: A closer look at Houston's biblical floods

And as the unofficial damage estimates from Hurricane Harvey continued to grow, state officials acknowledged Thursday for the first time that another special legislative session could be necessary next year to address the state's growing tab.

"This storm is going to cost more than (hurricanes) Katrina and Sandy put together, and I'm thinking we'll be breaking the $200 billion mark before this over," said Senate Republican Caucus Chair Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.

Harris County officials said an estimated 10 percent of all structures in the county appraisal district database - or 136,000 - had been affect in various degrees by the flooding, more than twice the number from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.

Statewide, an estimated 500,000 vehicles were damaged or destroyed by the flood waters, according to technology company Solera Holdings.

In the Houston region, the storm is believed to have killed 39 people. Of the 30 people reported missing to authorities since the storm began Aug. 25, 11 have been located and 19 are still missing. On Thursday, officials reported just 18 water rescues, down considerably from the thousands at the peak of the storm and its immediate aftermath.

Area school districts that saw the start of the school year either suspended or delayed by the storm were still assessing damage to their campuses and deciding when to resume or start classes. The Houston Independent School District, which reported that 190 of its more than 280 schools had sustained some water damage, announced that the school year would begin Sept. 11, as did Fort Bend ISD.

HARVEY AFTERMATH:: As Houston dries out, rescues and recovery continue





Most of the region's major freeways had reopened by Thursday afternoon, except for I-69 northbound at the San Jacinto River, I-10 east near Channelview and U.S. 59 south at Wharton. But numerous secondary roads - 100 in Brazoria County alone - remain closed because of high water.

Cleanup begins

For many of the storm's victims, the enormity of the task ahead was daunting and exhausting.

Cleanup crews finally arrived at Poppie Elliott's 1950s-era home on Mimosa Drive in Bellaire on Thursday morning and began helping her rip up carpet and carry out ruined furniture. A retiree, Elliott was flooded out Saturday night and thus far had shouldered the burden herself.

"I'm no spring chicken," she said. "I just had a breakdown this morning. My flood insurance is the kind that will pay off the mortgage if it's too damaged."

And what then?

"I can't even think that far ahead right now," she said.

Meanwhile, as other parts of the region began drying out, the Brazos River continued its inexorable rise. Thursday, it hit a record-breaking 55 feet in Richmond, as worried officials downstream in Brazoria County disseminated an "inundation map" that shows enormous swaths of the county are expected to be under a significant amount of water. The entire western half of Brazoria County has been under a mandatory evacuation order since Sunday.

"It's nip and tuck," said Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta about the possibility of more houses taking on water. "With what we've seen from Hurricane Harvey, anything is possible."

On the western end of Brazoria County, the city of Sweeny, home to about 3,700 people, warned residents Thursday morning to leave immediately due to imminent flooding of the San Bernard River.

"This is an event that will be a catastrophic event for our city and the surrounding areas," said Dale Lemon, the city manager.

James Boudreaux, 55, had watched waters from the San Bernard swallow his house, rising more than 10 feet up its walls.

"I've lost everything," he said.

In Columbia Lakes, residents were watching the levee they had shored up days before when it started to fail. It had held so far, said Keith Bailey, one of the residents, but "it's going to keep coming up," Bailey said.

Flooding along Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which was the cause of much concern Wednesday night, began draining Thursday in what officials predicted would be a months-long process before they would be completely dry again. The reservoirs reached record levels Wednesday night, flooding thousands of homes as the water backed up behind the dams.

Even with the reservoir levels stabilizing, said Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist Jeff Lindner, homes behind the dams will remain flooded for weeks.

"There's not going to be a lot of change there," Lindner said.

Below the dams, thousands of houses were flooded as a combination of spill-overs and controlled releases sent torrents of water into already swollen Buffalo Bayou.

Assessing damage

At the corner of Kirkwood and Memorial Drive, anxious residents who had hurriedly fled their homes waited for a chance to be ferried into their neighborhoods by a fleet of private boats to see what belongings they could retrieve.

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STORIES FROM THE FLOODS: Every Houstonian has a Harvey story

Among them was Michael Lowe, an engineer from England who works as a project manager for a Houston oil company. He was holding an empty cardboard box, hoping to reach his home and bring back Felix, the family cat.

At first, the small amount of water that entered the home was manageable, and Lowe and his wife planned to clean it up and stay in the house. Then, huge releases from the reservoirs put six feet of water in the first floor of the three-story home on Heatherfield Drive.

"From our perspective, obviously you can't understand why they would do it now," Lowe said of the releases. "I guess if it's for the greater good, and if things are messed up (in his home) a bit more it won't make a lot of difference. But to those people who were fine and then all of a sudden they got flooded, they're not happy at all."

The population of the city's emergency shelters, beset at the beginning with limited supplies and disorganization, began dwindling Thursday as those displaced by flood waters began finding alternative housing or returned to their homes.

As of midday Thursday, more than 2,100 people had taken shelter at NRG Park and the population at the George R. Brown Convention Center stood at about 8,000, down from 10,000 a day earlier.

Vicki Morse was watching for her ride outside the NRG shelter as she prepared to leave, eager to take her family to a friend's house on Hillcroft to stay for a while.

"We're blessed enough to have somewhere to go," said Morse, whose neighborhood in Coldspring, north of Houston, is known as "The Bottoms" because it's below the Lake Livingston dam. "Where we live, you can't even see the roof of the house."

In Crosby, northeast of Houston, city officials were bracing for more explosions at the Arkema chemical plant, where floodwater knocked out the primary power source, back-up generators and a liquid nitrogen system designed to keep volatile organic peroxides cool. The chemicals explode if they get too warm,

The first of nine failing freezer trailers filled with volatile chemicals exploded early Thursday sending a plume of black smoke into the community. Eight other trailers are at imminent risk of exploding.

Plant employees were evacuated late Tuesday, and residents from about 300 homes within a 1.5 mile radius of the plant remain out of their homes. The Federal Aviation Administration barred flights over the area.

East of Houston, Beaumont and the surrounding area were pummeled by Harvey's rains as it pulled away from the Texas coast, leaving the city without a water supply after floodwaters knocked out both its primary and secondary water pumping stations.

The city plans to set up water stations like it did after Hurricane Rita in 2005. So far, the city has been able to get one truckload of water in because roads are flooded.

"Beaumont is basically an island," said Mayor Becky Ames.

The city is not expected to restore water service until Monday.

Mihir Zaveri, Jaimy Jones, Shelby Webb, Beaumont Enterprise, Nancy Sarnoff, Colin Eaton, Mike Morris, Rebecca Elliott, St. John Barned-Smith, Jacob Carpenter, Emily Foxhall, Jim Pinkerton, Robert Downen
More than 40 people are dead in the wake of Harvey, but the longest lasting impact of the hurricane turned tropical storm is just beginning: the public health threat.

From the bacteria, viruses, and fungi harbored in floodwaters to new breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes to a potentially staggering mental health toll inflicted on those hardest hit by Harvey, the risks are expected to be great.

To get a better sense of the public health problems that may lie ahead, the Chronicle interviewed a number of public health experts. Here's what we learned:

So exactly what's in those floodwaters? Truth to tell, "there's no way to know," said Houston health department spokesman Porfirio Lopez. "There could be anything. We just know it's contaminated."

Ok, but what germs might be lurking there? Certainly, E. coli, which can cause gastro-intestinal distress. A Texas A&M team Thursday reported finding dangerous levels in samples collected from Cypress. Other pathogens found in floodwaters include Shigella, which, like E. coli, causes gastrointestinal illness; and Legionella, the cause of Legionnaires' disease and requires treatment with antibiotics.

The most dangerous is vibrio vulnificus, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria. New Orleans reported more than 20 cases after Katrina  it has five or six in a typical year  and Dr. A. Scott Lea, infectious disease professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said he expects the Houston area will see some post-Harvey cases, though mostly along the Gulf Coast. Lea says to get to a physician or emergency room within 24 hours if you suspect you have the potentially life-threatening infection, which is characterized by terrible pain and large blisters.

How about contaminants? Floodwaters are rife with sewage and chemicals. The former include fecal matter from animals and humans and all manner of debris. The latter can include benzene, dioxins, lead and arsenic from Superfund sites, but also pesticides and toxic cleaning fluids from the cabinets of flooded homes.

Do you need a tetanus shot if you spent any time in floodwaters?

You only need a tetanus shot  ASAP  if you exposed an open wound to floodwaters. Of course, unless you've had a tetanus shot in the last 10 years, you probably need a booster shot, but there's no rush, particularly given the stresses Harvey will put on the health-care system.

What's the threat as floodwaters recede? Mold carries serious public health risks, especially for people with existing allergies and asthma. Two months after Katrina, CDC investigators found mold in the walls of half of 112 water-damaged homes.

Is Houston's drinking water safe?

Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Houston health department say the water is safe but Lea says people in smaller communities with different water supplies should be careful, that it's not known if they were breached. He suggests people in such communities drink boiled or bottled water to be safe. City officials strongly recommend against private wells - used by hundreds of thousands of people in the counties affected by Harvey - and say they don't take responsibility for it.

When do the mosquitoes come?

Baylor College of Medicine tropical medicine specialist Dr. Peter Hotez says the floodwaters likely swept away many breeding sites and should cause a decrease in mosquito activity in the short run. But he says there likely will be a sharp increase after floodwaters recede and new breeding sites pop up. He said it's possible the spike might be reflected next year too, given there's only another 1 1/2 months in Houston's mosquito season. There was such a year-after spike in New Orleans following Katrina.

What are the health concerns in crowded public shelters?

Fortunately, it's not close to flu season, so tuberculosis is the probably the biggest potential concern, said Hotez, The disease, which still occurs in Houston, is spread from person to person through the air, typically by coughing.

What are public health threats you might not expect?

Injuries. Conventional wisdom might suggest that most injuries are sustained during the event itself, but post-disaster studies show that most occur in the weeks after the event. In the month following Katrina, for instance, Louisiana's health department found that 27 percent of New Orleans' 75,000 health problems involved injuries.

What are some examples?

Back injuries from lifting heavy, wet items, such as mattresses or sofas. Carbon monoxide poisoning from running portable generators in the house. Electrocution from plugging into outlets before they've been evaluated by an electrician. Puncture wounds. Animal bites. Heat stress.

"People want to get home and restore their lives," said Robert Emery, vice president for safety at UT Health Science Center at Houston. "That zeal is where they get injured. Pause and make sure you're within your capabilities, thinking things through."

What are the signs you or your loved one might benefit from psychiatric help?

Most people affected by Harvey flooding will experience some sort of distress, which is normal and expected, said Dr. Jeff Temple, a UTMB psychologist. But those who worry excessively, experience difficulty sleeping or loss of appetite, develop rapid heart rates or sweating are at risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and should seek help, said Temple.

He said the risk is greatest among those who've experienced prior trauma, lack social support and were hardest hit  they had to be evacuated, witnessed tragedy of feared for their life. Studies show PTSD occurs in about 20 percent of people affected by natural disasters, said Temple.
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WASHINGTON - A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump's eldest son, The Associated Press has learned.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed to the AP that Rinat Akhmetshin had appeared before Mueller's grand jury in recent weeks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret proceedings.

The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The meeting included Donald Trump Jr.; the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Emails released by Trump Jr. show he took the meeting expecting that he would be receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of what was described to him as a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.

The Financial Times first reported Akhmetshin's grand jury appearance. Reached by the AP, Akhmetshin declined comment. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, also declined comment Wednesday night.

Former Soviet officer

The confirmation of Akhmetshin's grand jury testimony comes after he spoke at length about his involvement in the Trump Tower meeting in an interview with the AP last month.

Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military officer who served in a counterintelligence unit, is also a well-known Washington lobbyist. He has been representing Russian interests trying to undermine the story of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison and is the namesake of a U.S. sanctions law.

Akhmetshin has been reported to have ties to Russian intelligence but he has denied that, calling the allegations a "smear campaign."

Mueller and his team first signaled their interest in the Trump Tower gathering last month by contacting an attorney for at least some of the Russians who attended.

The meeting at issue was disclosed earlier this year to Congress and first revealed by The New York Times.

Trump Jr. has offered evolving explanations for the circumstances of the meeting, initially saying that the purpose was to discuss adoption and later acknowledging that he anticipated receiving information that he thought could be damaging to Clinton.

In addition to Akhmetshin, other attendees at the meeting included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, music publicist Rob Goldstone - who helped arrange the gathering - and a translator. Ike Kaveladze, who also goes by the name Irakly Kaveladze, also attended the meeting. Kaveladze works for a Russian developer who partnered with Trump on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

An email exchange posted to Twitter by Trump Jr. showed him conversing with Goldstone, who wanted him to meet with someone he described as a "Russian government attorney," who supposedly had dirt on Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."

"If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer," Trump Jr. wrote in response.

Lawyer dismisses claims

Another contact between Trump associates and Russia was revealed this week when Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, acknowledged that the Trump Organization was pursuing a Trump Tower real estate complex in Moscow in 2015. Cohen said he had reached out to a press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin about approvals.

In a letter this month to the House intelligence committee, Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, dismissed as "false" and "wholly unsubstantiated" claims about Cohen included in a dossier of salacious allegations about the president's connections with Russia.
By PTI: Jammu, Aug 31 (PTI) BJP today hit back at National Conference working president Omar Abdullah for accusing the coalition government in the state of engineering communal divide.

The party said that the NC leaders "aggressive posture and acts of instigation" might lead to the division of the state.

"Omars aggressive posture and the act of instigating the people against the government through his presumption that Supreme Court would turn down Article 35A, biased policies of National Conference against Jammu and Ladakh regions may divide the people on communal and regional lines and lead to the division of the state.

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"If it so happens, he(Omar) and his party (NC) will be responsible for this development," BJP State spokesperson Virender Gupta said.

Addressing a workers rally at Kalakote in Rajouri district yesterday, the former Chief Minister accused the PDP-BJP government of dividing the society on communal lines to hide their "governance deficit and administrative inertia".

He had said his party would not allow the society to be divided for satiating the "nefarious agenda of communal forces".

Reacting to the statement, Gupta alleged NC has a history of playing communal politics and has acquired expertise in it to grab the political power.

"Right from the day of its first birth as Muslim Conference, it exploited Kashmiri Muslims against the Hindu Maharaja on communal lines and engineered 1931 riots targeting Kashmiri Pandits, resulting into their massacre and destruction of their property.

"The demand of special status (Article 370) in a country, that has a secular constitution and ethos of respecting and embracing all the faiths with the belief that all leads to the same Almighty, had communal connotation," the BJP leader said.

He said, "not allowing Hindu and Sikh refugees from Muzaffarabad (capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) to settle in the Valley, exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and at present making their resettlement a difficult affair in the Valley, and not allowing establishment of Sainik Colony in the Valley, are the consequences of communal politics being pursued under the patronage of National Conference".

"Role of Omar and his party during Shri Amarnath land row in 2008, was a clear example of divisive politics of National Conference and other Kashmiri leaders," he alleged.

The BJP leader claimed that the discrimination with Jammu region, which has Hindu majority was a clear cut example of communal politics that is being played or was played by Kashmiri political leadership. PTI TAS ARK

--- ENDS ---
The influence of money in elections is a cornerstone issue for every democracy. Unfortunately, California just took a big step backward.

Thanks to a provision of Proposition 73, an initiative approved by voters in 1988, local governments and the state of California cant create public financing systems for political campaigns. (Theres an exception for charter cities. Six California charter cities, including San Francisco, have adopted limited public funding programs to match small campaign contributions.)

Last year, the state Legislature passed SB 1107, a measure from state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, to allow cities, counties and the state to provide public financing for campaigns.

Lots of things have changed since 1988. A tidal wave of money has entered politics, spurred in part by the U.S. Supreme Courts 2010 decision to allow corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on electioneering communications.

Studies of public financing programs, meanwhile, have shown they reduce politicians need to fundraise and increase the diversity of donors. Candidates who previously may have never had a shot are also encouraged to run.

Allens bill wouldve given California governments a new tool to reduce the influence of campaign spending.

Unfortunately, Judge Timothy Frawley, of the Sacramento Superior Court, just struck down the new law, arguing that it didnt further the purpose of Proposition 73.

Allen has said hell urge Attorney General Xavier Becerra to pursue an appeal. He should do so.

But, ultimately, the final approval may need to come from the voters. In the 29 years since Proposition 73 passed, the issue of money in politics is a bigger problem than ever.

Offering local governments and the state of California an alternative wouldnt solve the problem. But it would begin to turn the tide  and allow communities to decide for themselves whether they want to experiment with ways to limit the influence of big money. Thats a worthy goal for democracy, and California must pursue it.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
Like John Doe and Jane Doe, Baker Doe has an unknown identity, but youre about to learn some key details about San Franciscos most experimental  and yes, Instagrammable  guerrilla operations.

Baker Does creations are wild and often seem ridiculous, until you try them. Crispy dough layers coddle a savory Danish with Japanese Berkshire pork sausage, wasabi-spiked mayo, shiso leaves and caramelized shallots. The edges of double-baked croissants, in varieties like miso-hazelnut and matcha-anko, straddle the desirable line where cookies begin. Other croissants may come with black garlic, or molten centers of yuzu cream or black sesame paste.

Inspiration for new items comes from everywhere. A recent movie night spawned the idea of a butter croissant filled with popcorn cream, while a blue dragon mural at Chinatowns new Enter the Cafe, which sells a different menu of Baker Doe products every Saturday, is the reference point for a blue croissant topped with cotton candy and injected with fiery chile orange curd. Newer ideas include a squid ink Danish with bonito flakes, bechamel sauce and a soft egg.

Some might see it as stunt food, but Baker Doe looks at their creations more like challenges as they try to execute even their most far-fetched ideas to their standards.

Spoiler alert: Baker Doe is actually two people  two self-taught chefs who want to remain anonymous, at least for the time being. The anonymity is part of their marketing ploy, though most Bay Area foodies wouldnt likely recognize their names regardless. (In other words, its not Thomas Keller and Jacques Pepin.)

Half of the self-taught team concentrates on the pastries fillings and flavor profiles. Hailing from Hong Kong, this partner became a self-taught pastry chef after being inspired by the smells and sweets of Montreal bakeries. After moving to San Francisco, the partner was mentored by a French pastry chef and made desserts for a popular South Asian restaurant.

The other half tackles the detailed, multiday process of dough lamination, which serves a collective OCD very well.

I am really precise; I like to be able to count each layer, says the dough specialist, a former concrete and steel sculptor and graffiti artist from France who worked in San Francisco bars and restaurants prior to this current venture. Croissants like the ones from back home havent been easy to find.

Baker Doe would like to find a San Francisco storefront where the pair can have a kitchen and sell items to-go from a counter. They are open to pretty much any neighborhood, reasoning that this is a fairly fresh time when pastry fans in the city support places regardless of location if the product is strong enough, citing the rise of bakeries like B. Patisserie and Mr. Holmes Bakehouse.

Until then, new menus are popping up each Saturday at Enter the Cafe and a separate menu is available for cash-only Sunday-morning delivery in San Francisco. Menus are posted on Friday afternoons on the Baker Doe Facebook page and orders are taken for the next 24 hours  or until the 150 or so pieces sell out.

Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle

Its difficult not to develop attachments after tasting through a weeks menu, but Baker Doe is easily bored, so some of the flavors may never be repeated again. Thats a little bit maddening, but for San Francisco pastry fans, its also part of the appeal. There are a number of people who order Baker Doe delivery every Sunday, regulars who have been dubbed repeat offenders.

A permanent bakery would still be a small-batch facility because of the time-consuming nature of the products.

I will never do quantities over quality, period, says the French half of Baker Doe. It takes three days from start to finish for a batch. And for people that try to rush us, I only have one word, which is no. I could have two words, but I wouldn't be polite in that case.

Tamara Palmer is a freelance writer in the Bay Area. Twitter: @eatstreetfood Email: food@sfchronicle.com
Let me tell you about the menu, our waiter at the new Alta at the Minnesota Street Project said, standing between us. We are a no-tip restaurant and the prices allow us to pay a fair and equitable wage for all positions.

Its the way I wish menus would go, where what you see is the bottom-line price, although at Alta, theres one little wrinkle in this scenario: The restaurant still charges an additional 4 percent for San Francisco employee mandates.

The best way for restaurants to handle these issues have been debated for years, and its not getting much closer to being resolved.

However, chef-restaurateur Daniel Patterson has been on the forefront of creating socially responsible restaurants. He made his name at Coi, his restaurant on Broadway, but turned over the kitchen to Matthew Kirkley in 2016 so he could work on his other projects, such as Locol, designed to bring healthy fast food to low-income areas.

All this is well and good, but its for naught if whats on the plate doesnt resonate. And since his Alta Group continues to expand  theres one on Market Street, this one at Dogpatchs Minnesota Street Project and two more in the works  theres a lot riding on this project.

The menu is interesting, and chef Matt Brimer adds unexpected touches that go beyond what one expects from an industrial-style restaurant where most of the 50 seats are at the bar and two communal tables.

One would surmise that since it is adjacent to the Minnesota Street Project, a collection of artist galleries that opened in 2016, and because theres a built-in audience from the condos rising around it, that it would be busy. However, on my visits the neighborhood support seemed less than it should be given the high quality of food.

At first glance the dinner menu seems almost too compact with only 14 savory dishes, and that includes bread and butter ($8) and Castelvetrano olives ($7). The lunch menu is even shorter, concentrating on bowls and sandwiches. Yet after eating my way through the menus I found something for just about everyone.

The staff also suggests sharing (naturally!), and thats best done with the brown rice puffs ($9) on the dinner menu, a stack of thin, chicharron-like sheets served with a small ramekin of pureed avocado with Espelette pepper. Theyre particularly good if youre meeting friends and want to extend the experience. So is the cheese plate ($16), which includes three kinds of cheese, blackberry confit and Marcona almonds.

For appetizers, the local crudo ($18) is excellent, fully embellished with nectarines, turnips, quinoa and lemon verbena. The heirloom tomato salad ($15) allows Brimer to show his artistry, and you see him carefully plating items in the open kitchen in the rear of the dining room. He adds a hunk of burrata to puddles of Green Goddess dressing, and arranges anchovies, mounds of chopped green olives, cubes of fried bread and thin slices of kohlrabi. It comes together flawlessly.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

Strozzapreti pasta ($26) has just the right texture and benefits from the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts and pesto, although the firm crunchy wax beans become an unnecessary distraction.

The meat courses are as lavishly crafted as the tomato salad. Roasted chicken breast ($29) is cut in thick slices that act as guideposts for lobster mushrooms, corn, Sun Gold tomatoes and lovage, which adds a celery-like flavor. Wagyu beef ($35) is similarly arranged with chunks of Early Girl tomatoes, eggplant, shishito peppers, romesco sauce and sprigs of Thai basil. Theres a lot going on, but it works.

Desserts have a soft-serve base, with the exception of the cookie plate ($5). A strawberry shortcake sundae includes fingers of lemon poppy-seed cake, with strawberries and vanilla ice cream. The candy bar sundae ($8) is a rich blend of salted caramel, toffee and dark chocolate.

The lunch menu is more casual, concentrating on bowls and sandwiches. The Alta burger ($17) moves to my favorites list: a thick patty stacked with aged cheddar, bacon, lettuce and bread and butter pickles. Theres also a fried chicken sandwich ($17). Warm bowls include braised beef ($13), which is a satisfying stew of beef ladled over brown rice and topped with romesco, arugula and rings of red pepper. There are also pork and spicy tofu bowls. When you consider that the 20 percent service charge is incorporated into the prices on the menu so you dont have to add an additional tip, these are very reasonable, rib-sticking lunch deals. The cold bowls include plum gazpacho ($9) and a generous tomato and bread salad ($11) with Little Gem lettuce, cucumbers and shaved radishes in a red wine vinaigrette.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

On my lunch visit the place was also nearly empty, making me wonder whether the restaurant has found its audience.

Part of the challenge of creating an all-day venue could be that this location of Alta serves only beer and wine. However, the bar crew have made up for it by concocting some clever low-alcohol drinks ($12), including four sparkling wine coolers on tap. I particularly liked the Book Worm, with Carpano Bianco, marigold, dandelion and coconut bitters. Three cocktails are made with such low-proof ingredients as Carpano Punt e Mes, Contratto Bitter, Gran Classico and vermouth. The combination of ingredients packs a punch. Theres also a collection of juices such as the Fountain of Roots ($5), which is made with yogurt, beets, carrots and serrano chiles.

Patterson has also been a trailblazer in selecting the location of his restaurants, including Coi on Broadway; Haven at Jack London Square in Oakland; and his first Alta in Mid-Market.

Hes taking chances others might not take. I only hope the area grows up around it, and embraces what Alta MSP has to offer.

  

Alta MSP

Food:   

Service:   

Atmosphere:   

Price: $$$

Noise: Three Bells

1275 Minnesota (between 23rd and 24th streets), San Francisco; (415) 580-7662 or www.altaca.co. Open for lunch 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; brunch 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Dinner 5-10 p.m. daily. Happy hour 2:30-6 p.m. daily. Beer and wine. 20% service charge; 4% S.F. surcharge. Reservations and credit cards accepted.
The storied road to Hana, with its more than 500 hairpin turns and nearly 60 one-lane bridges in the mere 45-mile drive from Paia, is a well-documented example of a journey itself being a destination. And while the drive is certainly spectacular, more often than not, day-trippers in search of the perfect waterfall clog the one and only road to Hana proper, making it impossible to get there in fewer than three hours, even without stopping to buy banana bread or a freshly hacked coconut. Oddly, the town of Hana has remained a relative secret, despite the thousands of annual visitors who pass nearby  but who dont slow down long enough to soak in its laid-back allure.

 Kim Westerman, travel@sfchronicle.com

Explore the town

Morning

Leave Paia, or wherever your Maui base might be, early enough to hit the road to Hana by 6 a.m. (It sounds brutal, but this strategy will put you ahead of the traffic.) Alternatively, take the 20-minute flight on Mokulele Airlines from Kahului for around $80 round-trip, and rent a car at the Travaasa Hotel (the only rental option in Hana; its essential to book ahead).

Waianapanapa State Park, also known as Black Sand Beach, is where many of the tour vans make a U-turn and head back to Paia or Kahului after a quick glance at the crashing waves. Just 3 miles from the town center, the park also happens to be the best spot for resetting your metabolism to Hana time, starting with a hike along the basalt lava of Pailoa Beach to the blowhole (connected to a submerged cave), which puts on a good show even in the calmest of surfs. If youre up for a longer hike, flat but often slippery, take the coastal trail 2 miles up to Kainalimu Bay as you look for black-crowned night herons, wandering tattlers, and nene (the state bird of Hawaii) and other seabirds lucky enough to live here.

Midday

Having worked up an appetite, head into town to one of the food stands that are Hanas best restaurants. (Sit-down restaurants in Hana tend to be overpriced and more touristy than the stands.) Locally caught seafood at Da Fish Shack or burgers with homemade taro buns and grass-fed beef raised locally at Hana Burger Food Truck are your best bets. While youre digesting, stop in at Hasegawa General Store, a ramshackle outpost of anything you could possibly need, from spare goggles to a CD of ukulele music. Then stroll down to Hana Coast Gallery, a shop that houses the work of the islands best craftspeople, including jewelers, carvers and painters. Check out the collection of hand-carved koa-wood necklaces, in particular.

Afternoon

Spend the afternoon at the beach of your choice. Hamoa Bay Beach is the most deservedly famous beach in Hana for its perfect crescent shape and fine white sand, but do read the waves carefully before taking the plunge. Or take the short hike from the end of Uakea Road (next to the Travaasa Hana resort) to Kaihalulu Beach, more commonly known as Red Sand Beach, where a once-treacherous but now well-maintained trail leads you to one of the most dramatic beaches on the entire island, where you might find a drumming circle, nude snorkelers or spear fishers in search of dinner. The Japanese cemetery on the hill above the beach is now overgrown with vegetation, but you can still find faded headstones that have washed onto the shore over the years.

Evening

The evening can start as late as you like because dining is the only nighttime activity in these parts; the population of 1,200 rolls down the shutters before dark. Have a cocktail at the Preserve Kitchen before a dinner of mahi-mahi caught just offshore and watch the sky change colors as the palms sway in the wind.

In the morning, ignore the folks who might tell you the Piilani Highway is impassable  it is the best maintained it has ever been  and drive the back way out of town, through the community of Kipahulu, where permaculture reigns and many residents practice subsistence farming. Palapala Hoomau Church here is where aviator Charles Lindbergh is buried. The road soon straightens and opens up onto the back side of the Haleakala volcano on the right and infinite ocean views on the left, eventually landing you in Ulupalakua, a lush upcountry landscape with a winery, horseback riding and a general store, and the first decent coffee youll have seen since you hit the curvaceous road to Hana, completing the circle that most visitors never attempt.

If you go

Travaasa Hana resort: 5301 Hana Hwy.; www.travaasa.com/hana/

Hana Kai Maui condo rentals: 4865 Uakea Road; www.hanakaimaui.com/

Hana Burger Food Truck: 5670 Hana Hwy.; (808) 268-2020; www.hanaranch.com/hana-burger/

Da Fish Shack: 5620 Hana Hwy.; www.facebook.com/dafishshack/

Barefoot Cafe: Kapueokahi, Hana Bay
Thomas Johnson couldnt have helped me.

Johnson, my grandmothers Norwegian grandfather, came to the United States from Christiania (now Oslo) in the early 1800s. He fought in our Civil War, so its not as if he didnt know how to pitch in when he was needed.

But I was standing naked at the edge of an ice plunge bath in a co-ed spa locker room in Berlin, trying to gain the courage not only to jump in, but also to get back out, still naked, in the company of a few dozen strangers.

It was a situation in which having Thomas Johnson as my great-great-grandfather  and contributing to the fraction of Norwegian heritage in my DNA  was not going to help. I would have to rely on something more relevant.

Its not that our DNA isnt generally relevant. Increasingly, more of us are taking a tiptoe through the double-helixes, most commonly to learn a science-based answer to a childs question: Daddy, where did I come from?

The technology to decipher DNA has become more accessible and more affordable. Genetic testing that for practical purposes was only for law enforcement, drug research and the very wealthy, is now available through kits that cost less than $150.

Among the most popular is 23andMe, a company that mails you a kit with sample containers that you drool into. Send it back and within a few weeks, 23andMe emails you a link to your results  your regional heritage, broken down into percentages. (The company also can factor in medical history and come up with conclusions about your health and potential issues.)

Similarly, National Geographics Geno 2.0 takes your drool and gives you a breakdown of your regional ancestry by percentage, going as far back as 200,000 years, as well as a deep ancestry report and a hint at which famous geniuses you could be related to.

Among the outcomes of receiving the results, according to the folks at 23andMe, is that customers said they are more curious about the places they came from. Curious enough, it seems, to get off the couch and travel to destinations they would not have otherwise considered.

While I believe almost anything that encourages people to travel is positive, Ive come to believe in a nonscientific formula that is more relevant to me: travel DNA.

In an odd twist on the nature-versus-nurture argument, who we are as people relies to some extent on where we have traveled and what we did. Each trip, each place, each culture changes who we are. Some trips are minor, others transformative. Your travel DNA mutates as you go, usually for the better.

Using the same format as the real DNA testers, I tried to assign percentages to those places that had an impact on my views, my preferences and my decisions (including whether to jump naked into an ice bath), and quantifying how much they are a part of me.

My travel DNA would look a little like this: Omani, 3.8 percent; Korean, 2.9 percent; Latvian, 2.7 percent; British, 4.8 percent; Malay, 1.2 percent; Moroccan, 2.1 percent; Palauan, 6.3 percent; Panamanian, .0001 percent (dont ask).

And so on.

For example, the possibility that I might be 0.1 percent Scottish according to real DNA testing has a lot less bearing on my life than a night I spent in Glasgow, part of it at a crusty locals pub that claimed to have the longest bar top in Scotland.

A gnarled, white-haired man who could well have fought alongside Rob Roy ambled up to the bar and thanked me.

For what, I asked.

For bee-in ah Yahnk, he said. An experience in his past with an American had changed him. This experienced changed me.

If nothing else, taking a look at your travel DNA forces you to think about what it is that places, people and cultures have given you, as well as to look at how you were changed in the process.

Still standing in front of the ice bath in Berlin, I noticed that a genetically perfect couple in their 30s, both blond and without even a hint of tan lines, were watching me with a smile.

I shrugged at them and they laughed.

You dont have to jump in, the man said in Bavarian-tinged English.

Yeah, I said, sometimes you do.

So I did. Now its part of my travel DNA. German ice bath: .03 percent.

Spud Hilton is the editor of Travel. Email: shilton@sfchronicle.com Twitter and Instagram: @SpudHilton
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Californias 2017 wine harvest is under way, and it feels, in a sense, remarkably normal.

Compared with the last two vintages  freakishly early, hot and small  this year has seen many early-ripening varieties like Pinot Noir begin harvest at the end of August, with later ripeners like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah expected to remain on the vine until mid-to-late September. Yields look about average.

If the grapes themselves signal a return to relative normalcy, however, the human flurry surrounding them is anything but. Vineyard labor, an increasingly endangered resource, has reached a shortage this year that, according to vineyard owners, could be approaching a crisis.

That pinch looks especially dire in Sonoma County.

Historically, Jake Bilbro, owner of Limerick Lane Vineyard in Healdsburg, could give a vineyard management company a couple of days notice when he needed a picking crew to show up. But with the management companies increasingly short-staffed, Bilbro said that the timing has been stretching out further and further. Last year in the heat, we were making calls pushing a week out. This year, were making calls two weeks out.

Were prepaying (the vineyard management company) in order to keep the crew there through the end of the pick, Bilbro continued. Ive never heard of that in my life.

Whereas five years ago, some Sonoma County growers charged wineries around $125 to $150 per ton for labor, those figures have now nearly doubled, to $275 to $300. In Napa, it can reach $400. Thats because vineyard workers wages have risen considerably as theyve become harder to find.

It also means fewer people are doing more work. The pickers are gearing up for three shifts, 18 hours a day, Bilbro said.

Other California wine regions dont seem to be feeling the pinch so acutely. In Monterey County, where the wine industry shares workers with other crops, grape grower Steve McIntyre said hes seeing a surplus of labor this time of year.

Activities in many annual crops starts to taper off, and operations move south, McIntyre said. And 95 percent of his grapes are machine-harvested, which further reduces labor needs, unlike in Sonoma or Napa, where higher-end wineries demand hand harvesting.

Certainly, those higher-end wineries can afford to pay workers more  and they are. Workers for Napas Silverado Farming Co., for instance, which farms for wineries like Dana Estates and Lail Vineyards, are now earning as much as $45 an hour during the peak of harvest.

But when youre charging $475 for a bottle of wine, as Dana does, youre in the 1 percent. For most of the states vintners, the labor situation has become untenable. Almost 80 percent of wine grapes in California are harvested by machine, said Peter Nissen, owner of Napas Nissen Vineyard Services Inc. and the president of the California Farm Labor Contractor Association. As labor tightens, youre just going to see more and more machines.

We are in completely uncharted territory, said Limericks Bilbro.

Its uncharted territory, too, for our eras ever-erratic weather patterns. While 2017 marked the official end of Californias five-year drought, the wetter winter didnt quite have the effect that many had hoped.

We had so much rain this past winter that we didnt think the irrigation demand was going to be so great, said Jed Steele, a winemaker in Lake County. But the summer was too hot. The heat was excessive to the point where it actually slowed ripening.

And while you might think a rainy winter would bode well for yields, the crop size is merely average. Still, thats a big relief compared with the last two years: In 2015, a freakishly short crop year, some coastal Pinot Noir vineyards were down by about 50 percent.

Its not just winter rain that affects crop size; its also rain in the springtime, when the plants flower. Spring is a really important time for root flush growth, said Cam Mauritson of Mauritson Wines in Dry Creek Valley. When you have not as much spring rain, youre getting a smaller root system. Over time, that has an effect.

Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle

The drought is still taking its toll, Mauritson said.

June hailstorms this year wrecked the crop loads at some vineyards in Contra Costa County and on Napas Atlas Peak. Evangelho Vineyard in Antioch was down 80 percent in some blocks; Atlas Peaks Mead Ranch was about 70 percent diminished, according to Turley winemaker Tegan Passalacqua.

Though vintners are harvesting about 10 days to two weeks later than last year, its still not exactly a late harvest.

This would have been considered, a decade ago, on the earlyish side, said Adam Lee, owner of Clarice Wine Co. But the fact that Im looking at my calendar and can see the month of September makes it seem like were in a more normal range.

Last weeks heat hastened ripening considerably, and with temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees in some regions this week, it could be a mad rush to get the fruit off the vine.

Where there are heat spikes, theres a risk of dehydration. You dont want to overwater the plants this close to harvest, said Fred Delivert, winemaker for Tolosa Winery in San Luis Obispo. But we had to irrigate ... to avoid dehydration.

Heat in its most extreme form  fire  threatened vineyards in Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Lake counties this year. In July, the Alamo Fire burned dangerously close to Santa Marias 650-acre Bien Nacido Vineyard.

The fire came within a few feet of our vines, said Michael Brughelli, Bien Nacidos director of sales. Luckily, it didnt come in contact with any plants, and the smoke didnt linger: The fuels were fairly light, and the smoke was blowing up and away, not settling. There was really no ash fall.

Meanwhile, farther north, Masut Wines owner Jake Fetzer watched as 1,000 acres burned in July next to his vineyard in Mendocinos Eagle Peak AVA. We were cutting trails around the vineyard so that the fire wouldnt burn us up, he said.

Fetzer knows well what fire can do to grapevines: In 2008, extreme fires led to high levels of smoke taint in his vineyards  and there was no hiding it. You could smell the grapes, he said. They were almost like a smoked ham when you delivered them.

None of this years fires presented any such danger. Weve been testing for smoke taint pretty extensively since the fire, said Brughelli. We havent found any trace amounts.

Though its too soon to say, the 2017 vintages quality looks promising. Acids are a little bit lower, in general, but color is more stable than in the last few years.

The flavors are fascinating, said Dominic OReilly, winemaker at Topa Mountain Winery in Ojai. The vines have just gotten a lot more nutrients with the rain down into the roots, and more foliage on the vines has translated to more character in the grapes as well.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Hotter summers, earlier harvests, fewer workers: Even when we call it normal, Californias wine harvests seem to be moving toward extremes.

Jake Bilbro is grateful, at least, that the extreme conditions have brought all hands on deck. Last week, when he was in a pinch, friends like Cam Mauritson and vineyard manager John Grace lent him trucks, forklifts and tractors. If it werent for them, he said, we wouldnt make it when unforeseen issues such as labor shortages and 110-degree weather come at you.

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob

Annual yield

Recent harvests in thousands of tons for Lake, Mendocino, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties

2011

380

2012

556

2013

567

2014

334

2015

256

2016

322

Avg*

412
Indivisible: General meeting of Indivisible to plan weekly actions. Meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at 1661 15th St. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2xrMHOK

Iran deal: Trita Parsi, a Middle East expert who advised the Obama White House during the talks leading to the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, discusses the pacts prospects under President Trump. Sponsored by the World Affairs Council. Admission is $20 for non-council members, $7 for students. Event is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200 in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2glLrow

Coal film: Screening of the film From the Ashes, a look at the coal industry and its role in climate change. Film begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. Free. Information: http://bit.ly/2woej7t

Abortion rights: Meet-up and panel discussion on abortion rights. Event is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Nurx headquarters, 81 Langton St. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2gozC4S

Town hall: A forum for students in West Contra Costa middle and high schools and Contra Costa College. Speakers include members of the Richmond and El Cerrito city councils and other government panels. The event, hosted by Contra Costa Young Democrats, is at 5 p.m. Thursday at John F. Kennedy High School, 4300 Cutting Blvd., Richmond. Information: www.youngdems.org

Voter registration: Volunteers will help new U.S. citizens register to vote after a swearing-in ceremony. Sponsored by Democracy Action, which works to advance Democratic candidates. 10 a.m. to noon Thursday outside Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Information:

https://demaction.us

Town hall: State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and other community leaders discuss reforming Proposition 13s commercial property tax system. Hosted by Make It Fair, the event is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Information: http://

bit.ly/mifbay17

Picnic in the park: Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, hosts a picnic in Golden Gate Parks Marx Meadow picnic area Sept 10. RSVP: http://chiuassembly.ngpvanhost.com/form/-1081566039410473216

Prayers for peace: Multifaith prayers for peace and justice on the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Event is from 7 to 8 p.m. Sept. 11 at King Plaza, 250 Hamilton Ave. in Palo Alto. Information: http://bit.ly/

2wQEUNz

Climate action: Climate Action in the City, a panel discussion on adapting to climate change in San Francisco, sponsored by San Francisco Tomorrow. Event is from 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Richmond District Police Station community room, 461 Sixth Ave., San Francisco. Information: www.sftomorrow.org/

Town hall: Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, holds a town hall at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at West Marin School Community Gym, 11550 Shoreline Highway, Point Reyes Station. Information: http://bit.ly/2vpinSI

Cap-and-trade forum: Oil industry experts and activists in the climate and environmental justice movement will explain Californias cap-and-trade law and its recently approved extension. Hosted by Sunflower Alliance and 350 Bay Area. Event runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sept. 17 at 155 Grand Ave. in Oakland. Information: www.sunflower-alliance.org/the-cap-and-trade-scam-sept-17/

Politics and media: Longtime San Francisco journalist Tim Redmond discusses media coverage and the Trump administration. Event begins at 2 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Richmond Meeting Room of the Sen. Milton Marks Branch Library, 351 Ninth Ave. in San Francisco. Information: http://bit.ly/2wJub72

To list an event, email Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com.
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Fridays scorching 106-degree heat in San Francisco broke the all-time record dating to 1874 for the hottest day in the usually foggy city by the bay.

And that record may get broken by Saturdays similarly hot temperature.

Its horrible out there, Fritz Waldron said Friday as he stood in line to buy strawberry ice cream at the Haagen-Dazs shop at Westfield San Francisco Centre downtown. Just horrible. Its like Phoenix. I cant wait for it to end.

Before Friday, the hottest day ever recorded by the National Weather Service for San Francisco was 103 degrees on June 14, 2000. And the hottest Sept. 1 was a mere 90, a record set in 1952.

Now Playing: KTVU's Steve Paulson says there is an excessive heat warning for much of the Bay Area today with cities like Livermore possibly reaching 116 degrees. Video: KTVU

The National Weather Service attributed San Franciscos blazing heat and other falling records around the Bay Area to a massive area of high pressure hovering above Northern California and no onshore wind, which usually brings cooling sea air into the city and other coastal areas. The Weather Service issued an excessive-heat warning through 9 p.m. Saturday along the coast.

Meteorologist Scott Rowe of the National Weather Service in Monterey summed up the news with this masterful understatement: Its very hot.

San Francisco summers typically mean coats, space heaters, and high heating bills. Air conditioning in city homes is not even a thing.

I dont like this, said Habte Tesfom, a valet parking attendant at the downtown Nordstrom. Nothing helps. Its hot outside, and its even hotter when you get into a parked car.

As the thermometers peaked in San Francisco, Tesfom said hed already drunk five bottles of water and was working on a mango juice. He said he wasnt surprised that the heat set a new record. It feels like it.

Patience wasnt the only thing melting in San Franciscos surprising swelter. The tourist trade all but evaporated for street vendors.

Nobodys buying, everyones inside, said Blue, who tried to sell mini seagull sculptures made of pine cone petals for $5 each at Aquatic Park.

Meanwhile, nine Bay Area cities, as well as Moffett Field, Santa Cruz and Salinas, broke heat records for Sept. 1, most set more than 60 years ago.

Among them were Santa Rosa, which at 110 degrees, broke its record of 105 set in 1950. San Jose hit 108 degrees, well above its previous record for the day of 101, also set in 1950. And Richmond, at 102, crushed its record of 93 degrees set in 1955.

What were seeing today is incredible heat throughout the San Francisco Bay Area  including locations that are usually lot cooler, so we urge folks to take extra precautions to stay safe, Rowe said. Even at our office in Monterey its 101 degrees  in Monterey!

BART officials, concerned that the sizzling heat could warp its steel tracks, are running trains slower than usual so operators can keep an eye out for dips and bumps.

Another unlovely side-effect of the record heat is that it has combined with smoke from wildfires burning in Northern California and Oregon to create plenty of soot and smog in Bay Area air.

The particulates can cause breathing problems in sensitive people or those who work outside, said Ralph Borrmann, spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Jumping into cool water is one way to cool off.

Walnut Creek has a creek  but you cant swim in it, not even when the temperature is 108. Its largely a fenced-off storm drain with warning signs to keep out, which everyone except ducks was doing.

Instead, people headed to the usual lineup of libraries and other public buildings rebranded as cooling stations. At the senior center, it meant that a nice person like receptionist Eileen Kempker put out a pitcher of ice water and plastic cups by the front desk, next to the basket with the free hearing-aid batteries.

Were a respite, and you can just stay inside and do whatever you want, said Kempker, although she herself could not stay inside because the ice machine was in another building and she had to go out the front door from time to time to replenish the ice in the pitcher, one of her official duties when the senior center becomes a cooling station.

Next door, at the Walnut Creek main library, it was OK to come in and read, or come in and not read.

I like to read, said Pat Strong, the clerk in the Friends of the Library bookstore. I dont know if its ever really too hot to read, but if you dont want to read, you dont have to.

Downtown, one of the hardiest souls was 95-year-old Emily Hagen, who comes to a coffee bar on Locust Street for ice herb tea and a cheese danish every Monday and Friday because thats just what she does, and never mind how hot it is. Cold weather is nice, she said, and hot weather is nice and so is all the weather in between.

I enjoy a day like this, she said. I enjoy everything. When youre 95, you thank the good Lord youre alive and you stop complaining.

Donald Steeves, 67, said hes been homeless for about 30 years. He said Walnut Creek is one of the places hes been homeless in, and its as good as any. Being homeless when the temperature is 100 is all about being logical.

You go into public buildings when you can, he said, pushing a grocery cart with stuff in it besides groceries down Olympic Blvd. You drink water, not beer. A cold beer doesnt really work in weather like this.

The triple-digit temperatures elsewhere in the Bay Area were considered very high risk for the entire population due to their duration  and no relief was expected overnight. So officials warned were warning people to take precautions: drink water and stay indoors if possible.

Officials advise people to stay inside from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the hottest hours of the day, to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Pet and livestock owners are advised to take extra care of their animals and give them lots of water.

Many schools closed early Friday, and some outdoor events have been canceled this weekend, thanks to the heat, including Livermores 36th Harvest Wine Celebration at Las Positas College.

Steve Rubenstein, Nanette Asimov and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com and jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF, @NanetteAsimov and @JennaJourno
Misinformation and bigotry are proliferating and threatening American democracy, University of California President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in an address to political science academics.

The UC leader waded into the issue of free speech on college campuses, too, saying that controversial, right-wing figures such as Milo Yiannopoulos want to provoke universities and their students, not engage in meaningful debate or discourse.

And although Napolitano said that white supremacy cannot be tolerated, she stopped short of saying that people with such views should be denied platforms on UC campuses.

Her remarks at the American Political Science Associations conference in San Francisco came ahead of a conservative UC Berkeley student groups Free Speech Week next month, which Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin asked the campus Monday to cancel in the wake of anarchist violence.

I can appreciate the mayors concerns, Napolitano told The Chronicle after the address. I think the chancellor made the right call  that the speakers will be allowed to come. There will be a lot of law enforcement planning.

The Berkeley campus and surrounding city have become an arena this year for clashes featuring far-right speakers and groups, and those on the left hoping to shut them down.

Over the weekend, a gathering in downtown Berkeley of thousands of peaceful protesters who had come to oppose a right-wing rally was marred when masked, black-clad demonstrators among them attacked the people they thought were on the other side. It was the fourth such battle in the city this year.

On the campus itself, new UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ has vowed to allow any speech without regard for ideology. That includes conservative columnist Ben Shapiro, who plans to speak Sept. 14 to the Berkeley College Republicans. His invitation came after speaking engagements by right-wing pundits Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter were derailed earlier this year  in one case by a riot and in the other by what campus officials said was deficient planning.

In a letter to students and faculty last week, Christ declared 2017 a free speech year and said that divergent views are fundamental to democracy and higher education.

Napolitano struck a more somber tone in her keynote address. In response to a question about threats against professors who engage in public debates, the former Arizona governor and ex-Homeland Security secretary said, Were in a real fight for our country now.  And theres no fight without some risk.

She said that while some figures hoping to speak on UC campuses have abhorrent views, universities should respond by setting the facts straight and creating opportunities for civil debates.

Im asking that each of you determine the best means, beyond your research and work in the classroom, to help the public distinguish between evil, long-discredited ideologies and the voices of reason, tolerance and moderation, Napolitano said in her speech. This is a unique time of false equivalencies, when real news is labeled fake news, and fake news is spun as the truth.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
By Harish V Nair: Nineteen months after the sensational incident wherein Left wing student leaders of prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University led by Kanhaiya Kumar were accused of raising anti-national slogans in the campus, there is hope that the mystery surrounding several aspects of the episode may finally be unravelled.

With several versions regarding the happenings on the evening of February 9, 2016 and subsequent crackdown abound. However, truth may finally tumble out, thanks to intervention by the Central Information Commission. Slamming the university authorities for the manner in which the application filed by a law student Paras Nath Singh, seeking crucial information under the RTI was handled and finally information denied to him, the CIC has found several procedural errors.

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It has asked the Vice Chancellor (VC) to decide Singh's application "afresh" after setting aside the decision of the CPIO and Registrar not to divulge information. Singh contends that till now whatever information is in public domain is "source based" and the university authorities "for reasons best known to them" have withheld information, refusing it even under RTI.

The university had contended that the nature of information sought was prohibited by RTI Act as it would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes. The varsity also said the disclosure of information would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

Singh had sought a certified copy of the report of preliminary inquiry committee, complete file notings related to incident, remarks of VC on the enquiry report, all correspondence JNU administration had with HRD ministry and Delhi Police, copy of the application from four students namely Umar Khalid, Anirban and two others seeking permission of the dean for organising an event called "Poetry Reading- the country without post office" on Feb 9, 2016 at 5pm at Sabarmati Dhaba, action taken on aforesaid application, facts and reasons for denying permission to police by the VC when aforesaid students resurfaced on campus on February 21-22.

After the CPIO refused to provide information without justifying how it was covered under the exemption clause, his conclusion was already approved by Registrar, the next authority under the RTI Act before whom Singh could have moved.

He therefore skipped Registrar and filed an appeal against CPIO's rejection of his plea before VC.

However, instead of VC disposing of his appeal, it was again the Registrar, who without passing any speaking order, upheld the decision of the CPIO. Pulling up the Registrar, the CIC said his actions were "not justified and against the principle of natural justice". "The Registrar could have recused (withdrawn) himself from the matter once he had taken a stand and could have forwarded the appeal to any other officer senior to his rank to deal with it," it said.

The CIC also granted Singh liberty to challenge the decision of VC in case he was not satisfied.

Also Read:

Jawaharlal Nehru University: Keeping dissent, debate and discussion alive in our democracy

Probe gives Kanhaiya Kumar clean chit: Recap of what happened inside JNU last year

Also Watch:

Kanhaiya Kumar raised no anti-India slogans in JNU, says lab report

--- ENDS ---
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The diplomats at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco have been known to bring plates of delicacies and vodka shots to neighborhood block parties and, for the last few years, inflated a big snowman out front at Christmas.

The gestures of goodwill, though, will be sidelined amid escalating tension between the U.S. and Russia. The Trump administration, in a move reminiscent of the Cold War, ordered the shutdown by Saturday of the stately brick building on Green Street in Cow Hollow.

The closure, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat retaliations, carried clear symbolism but will also limit Moscows operations in the U.S. and deprive Russians in the Bay Area of the support of consular staff.

At the same time, its likely to inconvenience Americans seeking to travel to Russia or do business with the country. Last year, the consulate issued 16,000 visas for Americans, officials said.

Now Playing: The U.S. just took a big step that could effect thousands of Russian tourists. Jose Sepulveda (@josesepulvedatv) has more. Video: Buzz 60

In addition to the San Francisco closure announced Thursday, the U.S. is forcing the shut down of Russias chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and its consular annex in New York, in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

After Saturday, Russia will have three consulates in the U.S.  in Seattle, Houston and Washington, D.C.  the same number the U.S. has in Russia, she said.

While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, Nauert said, we have chosen to allow the Russian government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.

The State Department is not expelling the diplomats who work in San Francisco from the country. It was not immediately clear whether Russia would have to sell the building that houses the consulate  its oldest in the U.S.

In a statement, Russian officials called the decision another unfriendly step of the U.S. authorities that will hurt both Russian and American citizens.

The new Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, who arrived Thursday in Washington, D.C., commented before the announcement on the strained relationship between the two countries.

Unfortunately, Russia-U.S. relations have seriously deteriorated over the past few years because of the actions taken by the previous U.S. administration, which was set to undermine the foundations of Russian-U.S. cooperation that took a very long time to create, he said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper that was posted on the website of the Foreign Ministry.

The San Francisco closure reflects the spiraling of the U.S. relationship with Russia and suggests a turnaround under Trump  who has often spoken glowingly about Russian President Vladimir Putins authoritarian leadership  is now a pipe dream, said Edward Walker, a UC Berkeley political scientist.

Its as bad as its ever been since the end of the Cold War, he said. Its a negative-sum game that we never should be playing.

He added, The nuclear option, like cutting off banking, would be a huge deal. That would be economic war, and were nowhere near there with Russia.

Stuck in the middle of the conflict are Russian entrepreneurs like Daniel Kravtsov who rely on easy access to a consulate to keep their businesses running.

Kravtsov, who is in the U.S. on a work visa, had to go to the consulate in San Francisco twice in the last year alone  once to get some business documents verified and again when money in his Russian bank account got stolen.

Its very inconvenient. ... Now we need to go to another city, Kravtsov said. Im upset that everything is going in this direction.

Russians dont need to interact with the consulate frequently. But when they do, they typically have pressing reasons like renewing a passport, getting a birth certificate or completing a background check for the police.

Securing an appointment at the consulate in San Francisco was already a time-consuming process, with people from as far away as Los Angeles and Phoenix flying in. Now, the Russian Consulate in Seattle is the closest to the Bay Area, and some experts worry that the move will further strain U.S.-Russia business relations.

If they were to renew a passport, they would have to wait three months just to get an appointment, said Andrei Romanenko, a Bay Area immigration attorney who frequently deals with Russian clients. But now its hard to predict what will happen.

The closure of American consulates in Russia have also frustrated travelers. It is frustrating on both sides, he said.

By Thursday afternoon, at least 30 people were in line on Green Street, trying to renew passports or get visas to travel to Russia during the consulates walk-in hours.

Hours earlier, Max Kolysh, an American citizen born in Russia, tried to get inside to obtain a visa to travel to his native country for his fathers birthday. He was denied access because he didnt have an appointment, and he feared it was too late to obtain the documents he needed.

Its really upsetting, he said. They need to expand (the consulate), not close it.

Ekaterina Stanton was luckier. The dual citizen did not have an appointment but was able to get in Thursday morning because her renewed Russian passport had already been processed. She plans to visit her mother in Yekaterinburg in central Russia, which just had its U.S. Consulate closed.

I guess there is a clear reciprocity that affected our family on both sides of the globe, Stanton, a San Francisco attorney, said. Im very upset that the relationship has deteriorated so much. It affects so many common people. Its sad.

The State Departments action on Thursday followed months of escalation. In July, Putin ordered the reduction of personnel in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in response to sanctions passed by Congress and approved by President Trump.

The sanctions were, in turn, retaliation for Russias suspected interference in last years presidential election as well as other actions, including the 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

In December, then-President Barack Obama ejected 35 Russian diplomats, including 11 from the San Francisco consulate, in response to what a State Department briefing paper described as harassment of U.S. diplomats in Russia that had gone far beyond international diplomatic norms of behavior.

The State Department said it hoped the two sides could avoid further retaliatory actions, improve relations and gain increased cooperation on mutual areas of concern.

The United States, Nauert said, is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.

Antonov, the new ambassador, urged common sense as tensions rise.

It shouldnt be forgotten that Russia and the United States possess the biggest nuclear potentials and have particular responsibility for global stability and security, he said. The world is calmer and safer when we act together on the international arena.
Every Friday morning, SFGATE finds the biggest headlines in local (and sometimes national) beer. Check back here weekly for news, events, and information about special releases from your favorite local breweries.

Beginning now, Fort Point is canning Animal, its popular tropical IPA. To launch the new can's release and design  inspired by the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill and Lombard Street  the brewery crew is throwing a party at the outdoor movie theater PROXY SF in Hayes Valley (432 Octavia) on Friday, September 8. The event runs from 7 p.m. until 10 and will serve up some munchies from 4505 Burgers & BBQ with cans of KSA and, obviously, Animal. Then, guests will be treated to a screener of the indie film darling "The Hunt for the Wilderpeople."

It's September, meaning one important thing for the lambic-loving crowd: Zwanze Day. Like last year, the worldwide Cantillon event will hit Mikkeller in San Francisco this month. Tickets are going on sale today, September 1, at 12 p.m. for $70 apiece (UPDATE: Here's the direct ticket link.). Each one includes a 25 cl pour of this year's Zwanze beer as well as 20 cl pours of Cuvee St-Gilloise, Vigneronne, and Nath (which they note is pronounced "Nat" and is a "new rhubarb lambic").

Zwanze is Coming. A post shared by MikkellerBarSF (@mikkellerbarsf) on Aug 29, 2017 at 11:32am PDT

Cool Material found the worst beer town in America, but luckily, it's nowhere near here.

The Academy of Sciences is throwing another booze-themed NightLife. This one, however, isn't strictly about beer, though it is about an integral facet of the craft: fermentation. In addition to getting some homebrewing tips from the folks at Brewcraft, you'll also learn about similar processes for mead, goat cheese, kombucha, sauerkraut, and even fermented hot sauce.

The estate of the late jazz icon Thelonious Monk is suing North Coast Brewing. To be clear, T.S. Monk, the administrator of the estate, long ago gave permission to the brewery to use Monk's likeness on their Brother Thelonious beer label (in exchange for donations to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz) but revoked it in January of 2016 when he says he found out they were making a profit off the image in extraneous non-beer merchandise being sold in their Fort Bragg taproom and online.

Anchor Brewing and Local have released a collaboration beer in Anchored at Local. The beer is a hazy IPA, and is hella turbid. Fun fact: It went through three dry-hop rounds, the first of which was a Mosaic Cryo Lupulin powder.

Laughing Monk is hosting a "Sunday Fun-day" with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on September 3. The brewery will donate $1 per beer to the Sisters and will schedule a bunch of fun events, including bingo (with prizes!), a build-your-own-biscuit and gravy brunch pop-up, and something called Sister Twister, which is "exactly what it sounds like." \_()_/

Quick reminder: The deadline for the 3rd Annual Sonoma County Home Brewers Competition is this September 7.

Paul Jones at Cloudwater in the U.K. (whose brews you may have tasted if you attended RateBeer Best this year), has penned an interesting essay on the cost breakdown for beer production. If you've ever wondered why craft beer is so pricey or you're just into the economics of beer, take a look.

Bottle and can releases

Out now: Fieldwork has released the double IPA King Citra (six per person limit), and the IPA Bloomsday.

Out now: Alvarado Street has released cans of their Mai Tai IPA and the imperial kettle sour Double Haole Punch.

Out now: Sante Adairius has released Adjunct Professor, a barrel-aged imperial stout with boysenberries and black currants.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


Apple is wading into the middle of the battle for Toshibas memory-chip business.

The Cupertino iPhone maker is in talks with Bain Capital to bid for the unit, in competition with a group that includes KKR & Co. and Western Digital Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. Bain had previously submitted a $19 billion offer with another group that included state-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and Development Bank of Japan.

Apple depends on flash memory from Toshiba in its iPhones and iPods and wants a continued supply so its not dependent on rival Samsung. There are supply shortages of that type of memory, Michael Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity. Theyre always looking to work closely with key suppliers and lock in long-term supply agreements.

Toshiba has been in negotiations for months to sell off its chips business and pay for a disastrous move into the U.S. nuclear business. The company needs to raise the money by March to avoid seeing its shares delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The auction has been complicated by legal action from Western Digital, which has argued it should have a say in any sale because of its partnership with Toshiba in the chips business.

In recent weeks, Japans powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has encouraged Toshiba to accept the offer from the Western Digital consortium, the people said, in an effort to end the litigation and reach a deal quickly. Top Toshiba executives and its deal advisers are resisting the current offer, arguing it doesnt do enough to protect the interests of the chips unit or the parent, the people said. Yasuo Naruke, head of the chips business, is an outspoken critic of the Western Digital proposal, the people said, while the METI bureau involved in the talks is led by Tatsuya Terazawa.

Apple didnt respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment. Kaori Hiraki, Toshibas spokeswoman, declined to comment on details of the deal negotiations. Japanese broadcaster NHK previously reported Apples talks with Bain.

Its not clear exactly how Apple would support Bains bid. Rather than take an equity stake, the company may provide money by prepaying for chip supplies in the future, a standard practice in the industry that Apple has used in the past to give suppliers financial support. That would be simpler in some ways for Apple and allow it to avoid hurting relationships with other suppliers, like Samsung and SK Hynix.

The Western Digital consortium is offering less than the original Bain bid, a person familiar with the matter has said. Western Digital would loan money for the initial purchase with rights to take a minority equity stake in the future, the people said. INCJ and the Development Bank of Japan would also participate in that bid.

Takako Taniguchi and Peter Elstrom are Bloomberg writers. Email: ttaniguchi4@bloomberg.net, pelstrom@bloomberg.net
When management upheaval, allegations of corporate espionage, and revelations of sexual harassment sent Uber into a public relations sinkhole, its long overshadowed rival Lyft shifted into overdrive.

It seized the opportunity to recruit disillusioned drivers so it could be more responsive to passengers searching for a ride-hailing alternative to Uber. It upgraded its app, stepped up marketing efforts to attract more riders and expanded its U.S.-only service into 160 more cities for a total of about 350.

On Thursday, Lyft made a big expansion move by announcing that it is adding statewide coverage to 32 states, bringing its total to 40. And it has its eyes on expanding internationally.

The aggressive tactics cast the much smaller Lyft in a new light. After five years of being content in its role as the fun-loving, pink-mustached underdog of ride hailing, Lyft is proving to be a wily opportunist and a more imposing threat to Uber.

But a huge chasm still separates the foes in terms of financial resources, ridership and breadth of operations. While Lyfts rides are in the millions per year and only in the U.S., Uber makes 10 million trips per day worldwide and has carried more than 5 billion passengers in over 80 countries since 2009. Uber has raised nearly $14 billion in capital since its inception, compared with Lyfts $2.6 billion.

For its part, Uber is doing all it can to keep its lead. The company this week hired Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its top executive. And while it concedes that this years missteps have slowed its growth, it says ridership is still rising because customers value the service. Its in the midst of 2self-proclaimed 180 days of change in an effort to alter a culture that fostered rapid growth but also encouraged bad behavior.

Yet the ground that Lyft has been gaining cant be ignored. By the time Ubers board ousted abrasive CEO Travis Kalanick in June, Lyft had more than doubled its ridership from the first six months of last year. At the end of June, it had passed 2016s full-year ride total of 162.5 million.

To be sure, Lyft already was growing fast before Uber went into self-destruct mode. Lyfts share of the U.S. ride-hailing market in the past two years grew at double the rate of Uber, rising from 12 percent to just over 30 percent, according to Lyfts internal metrics.

Logan Green and John Zimmer, Lyfts low-key 33-year-old founders, insist they havent done much except adhere to a belief that passengers should be treated like guests at a friendly hotel or even Disneyland. Both dress casually and blend into the headquarters workforce. While the soft-spoken Green and more animated Zimmer are careful not to gloat, they concede that the turmoil at Uber is accelerating Lyfts growth.

As we get service levels to parity and pickup times are equal, people prefer using Lyft, Green said in a recent interview at the companys airy offices in a block-long China Basin complex. They like that we treat our drivers better. They like that we treat our customers better. And they like that we have a brand that sort of stands for taking care of people, where Uber has done a lot to build the opposite type of brand.

Nick Raef, 23, who works at Northwestern University near Chicago, considers price and brand image each time he chooses between Uber and Lyft. Service in Chicago, he says, is close to even between the two. But if Uber happens to be misbehaving on a particular day, hell go with Lyft even if its more expensive.

Ive told myself this controversy is worth a dollar or $2 depending on how bad the story was that day, he said.

In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, federal employee Whitlee Dean, 28, says she takes Lyft whenever she goes into the city, not so much because of Ubers behavior but because of Lyfts customer service.

They seem to be really responsive to the issue when you contact them as opposed to Uber, she said, although she noted that while both companies are equally accessible within the metro area, Uber is faster outside of Washington, especially in smaller cities.

Internally, Uber has been making adjustments to treat its drivers and employees better. It recently matched Lyft by letting riders tip drivers on its app. Its also hired thousands of people to better distribute the workload and started serving its free dinners 90 minutes earlier at its San Francisco headquarters so workers dont stay as late.

Tiny, tiny symbolism, but it matters to people, said Liane Hornsey, Ubers chief human resources officer.

The company also recently fired 20 employees after a report by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder found rampant misbehavior and urged Uber to clean things up.

But problems for Uber continue to linger. Just this week, the company agreed to stop using its app to track people after their rides have ended in response to privacy concerns.

Lyfts growth probably has more to do with customer demand for service than a backlash against Uber, according to analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

It is so tempting to think Lyft is gaining because people are taking a stand against Uber, but convenience usually trumps morality, he said. And Uber is usually more convenient because its service still has more drivers than Lyft in most major U.S. cities, Dawson said.

Two drivers who work with both services in New York City, Karim Guernah and Syed Manzar, said in separate interviews that they noticed a change in passenger sentiment this year when Ubers troubles came to light. But Guernah said most riders still decide which service to take based on how long it will take for a car to arrive and how much the fare will cost. And both men said Uber doesnt treat drivers much differently than Lyft.

Lyft is trying to take advantage (of the situation), but both are really the same. There is no difference, Manzar said.

Green and Zimmer sidestepped a question about whether theyd ever catch Uber, but its clearly on their minds. Weve always been the underdog in the race against Uber. Weve taken a lot of ground. We still are, Green said, adding that Lyft will go international in the not-to-distant future.

The company has grown beyond the days when pink mustaches adorned the grilles of cars to give off a friendly vibe. It now opts for a lighted logo in the windshield with a pink background. But its stuck with huge bags of mustaches.

We have warehouses with tens of thousands of them, Green said.

Zimmer said Lyft will continue to cultivate a congenial image along the lines of Disney. As he praised the principles of the Happiest Place on Earth, it was impossible not to notice a picture on the wall behind him  a black-and-white drawing of Mickey Mouse swinging a blue Jedi light sabre.

Perhaps its aimed at Uber.

Tom Krisher and Michael Liedtke are Associated Press writers.
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Last call in San Francisco bars will not be changing anytime soon.

A bill that would allow communities to decide whether bars can serve alcohol past the current 2 a.m. cutoff was gutted in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday, according to the office of state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who introduced the bill in February.

The provisions of the bill were replaced with a task force to study the implications of allowing bars to stay open later. The revised language was not available Friday afternoon.

This is at least the third time a call to extend nightlife hours has been quashed in California since Prohibition. In a statement, Wiener said his office will not give up on this issue.

Its embarrassing that California shuts down its nightlife so early, he said. Nightlife matters to our economy and culture, and California's one-size-fits-all approach to closing time needs to be reformed.

The Let Our Communities Adjust Late-night, or Local Act, is nearly identical to two bills proposed by Wieners predecessor, Mark Leno. Lenos most recent attempt was in 2013, but that bill failed to get enough support in committee and was withdrawn.

However, Wieners bill had more momentum, moving much further through the legislative process than Lenos bills had. Wiener attributed the support to several things: new legislators, a larger population of young people in cities like San Francisco who would take advantage of the later hours and increased transportation options such as Uber and Lyft.

Supporters of the bill said it would stimulate the states economy as cities that adopt later hours become more attractive to tourists  while opponents said it was putting alcohol revenue ahead of public safety.

It is a really good day for health and safety advocacy in California, said Michael Scippa, director of public affairs for Alcohol Justice, a San Rafael nonprofit advocacy, research and policy organization. Often the (nightlife) industry gets its way, and public health and safety is an afterthought. Today, it took center stage.

Tim Sowards, a Bay Area resident who has been bartending in San Francisco for 15 years had a similar take: Can you imagine a bunch of drunk people out in front of your house at 4:30 in the morning? he said. Its already bad enough at 2:30.

The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, which supported this bill, was disappointed in the committees decision.

We should be supporting and empowering the industry to best serve our residents and more than 25 million visitors who come to San Francisco every year, said Juliana Bunim, a Chamber spokeswoman. This is a missed economic opportunity that leaves us stuck with an outdated approach.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
Wells Fargo said Thursday that an internal review of its potentially fraudulent bank accounts had uncovered a total of 3.5 million such accounts, some 1.4 million more than it had previously estimated.

The bank also raised a new issue: unauthorized enrollments of customers in the banks online bill payment service. Wells Fargo said that it had found 528,000 cases in which customers may have been signed up without their knowledge or consent, and will refund $910,000 to customers who incurred fees or charges.

We are working hard to ensure this never happens again and to build a better bank for the future, Timothy Sloan, Wells Fargos chief executive, said in a written statement announcing the reviews results. We apologize to everyone who was harmed.

Wells Fargo touched off a scandal last September when it agreed to pay $185 million to settle three government lawsuits over the banks creation of potentially millions of unauthorized customer accounts.

Wells Fargo has acknowledged that thousands of employees, trying to meet aggressive sales goals, created accounts in customers names without their knowledge. Employees received bonuses for meeting the banks sales targets  and risked losing their jobs if they fell short.

At the time, the bank said that 2.1 million suspect accounts had been opened from 2011 to mid-2015. The bank later expanded its review by three years and examined 165 million bank accounts that were created from January 2009 through September 2016.

That review turned up the additional accounts that may have been fraudulent  a nearly 70 percent increase over Wells Fargos initial estimate.

The banks internal review is now complete, Sloan said.

Weve cast a wide net to reach customers and address their remaining concerns, he said.

In some cases, customers discovered the fraudulent accounts only when they incurred fees on them. Wells Fargo said it has paid customers $7 million to refund those fees. It also agreed to pay $142 million to settle class-action claims over the accounts.

The scandal over the accounts  and the corporate culture that allowed them to go undetected for so long  toppled Wells Fargos chief executive and ignited an outcry from customers, lawmakers and regulators that, nearly a year later, is still roiling the bank. Several investigations by the Justice Department and state attorneys general remain in progress.

Wells Fargo customers and former employees have said that they tried more than a decade ago to alert bank executives to misdeeds by branch bankers and managers. The company decided to go back only to 2009 in its review because it did not have sufficient data on prior periods, Sloan said on a call with reporters.

The review Wells Fargo concluded Thursday focused on retail bank accounts, and did not expand into other areas in which the bank has been accused of wrongdoing, including improperly withholding refunds that were due to some car loan customers and charging some customers for auto insurance that they did not need. Wells Fargo has said previously that it would refund customers who were affected by those actions.

The bank has also been accused of handling mortgages improperly by making unauthorized changes to the loans of borrowers in bankruptcy (which it has denied) and charging customers fees to extend applications that it delayed (an issue the bank said it is looking into).

Stacy Cowley is a New York Times writer.
The Alameda County Sheriffs Office arrested three of its own deputies and a former deputy in connection with the mistreatment of inmates at the Santa Rita Jail, officials said Thursday.

The arrests follow an investigation into allegations by jail staffers that deputies allowed an inmate to spray feces and urine at other inmates in the maximum-security unit of the jail.

Sheriffs Sgt. Ray Kelly said the inmate was participating in gassing, in which a person fills a bottle with bodily fluids and sprays them on someone else. There were multiple incidents of one inmate being allowed to do this to several victims, Kelly said.

Sheriffs investigators interviewed more than 40 people, including employees and inmates at Alameda County and other California state prisons after receiving the complaint in January.

Their findings showed that current deputies Sarah Krause, Justin Linn and Erik McDermott and former deputy Stephen Sarcos allowed the incidents in the summer and fall of 2016. Krause, Linn and McDermott were placed on administrative leave and Sarcos resigned following the investigation, authorities said.

All four were arrested Thursday afternoon. Linn and McDermott were arrested on suspicion of intimidation of a witness and assault under the color of authority. Krause and Sarcos were arrested on suspicion of assault under the color of authority for a single incident in fall 2016, according to the statement. Kelly said the department believes no other employees were involved.

Sheriff Gregory Ahern said in a statement he is deeply disturbed and saddened by the findings of the investigation, but he is proud of the employees who came forward with information.

The sheriffs office is continuing a project to install more 24/7 cameras in the jail facility. Kelly said the departments officers hope the surveillance will cut out future misconduct.

Moving forward, the department will be taking a proactive and aggressive approach to make sure this doesnt happen again, he said.

Alison Graham is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: agraham@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @alisonkgraham
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With car break-ins spiking again in San Francisco to the tune of about 85 a day, police Thursday unveiled a shakeup that eliminates a citywide task force focused on the epidemic in favor of assigning dozens more cops to walk neighborhood beats.

The disbanding of the auto burglary task force, which the city created less than two years ago, comes even though the citys civil grand jury recommended that San Francisco not only make the special unit permanent but beef it up with more officers and equipment.

While the 18-person unit had netted more than 200 arrests, the problem continued, and Police Chief Bill Scott said at a news conference that trying to stop criminals before they act is a more effective strategy than seeking to catch them later. He is shifting staffing from the agencys central office to its 10 stations.

We really want to get in front of the crime, said Scott, who took command in January. We know its only a piece of the puzzle, but we know it will make a difference.

Scott came to the job amid escalating criticism from city residents about filth and crime in San Franciscos streets. He spoke as newly released figures revealed that victims had reported 17,970 vehicle break-ins across San Francisco through the end of July, a 28 percent jump from the same period last year.

At this rate, the city will far exceed the 25,899 burglaries in 2015, which the civil grand jury said cost victims at least $19 million. In 2010, less than 10,000 vehicle break-ins were reported the entire year.

Magnifying the problem, guns taken in car burglaries have been used in a number of killings in the city, including the July 2015 shooting of Kate Steinle on Pier 14.

The civil grand jury report, released in June 2016, said gangs were responsible for up to 80 percent of the burglaries, but that police made arrests in fewer than 2 percent of cases.

The grand jurys chief recommendation was to ensure the Patrol Bureau Task Force has adequate resources, including investigators, a dedicated crime analyst, and necessary vehicles, equipment and technology to expand surveillance and apprehension.

A decentralized police force, the report said, has been ineffective at curbing organized criminals who offend across precincts.

Martin Halloran, president of the city police officers union, was skeptical of the chiefs plan, particularly the elimination of the task force.

Im not sure thats the right approach, but I hope he proves me to be wrong, Halloran said.

One of the strengths of the task force, he said, is that it worked to gather strong evidence to take to prosecutors who may be reluctant to bring charges and to judges who may favor leniency in property-crime cases.

You may not necessarily get that if youre walking a foot beat, Halloran said.

The spike in break-ins has been particularly intense in the Mission District, which has seen a 182 percent increase this year. The citys northern reaches including the Marina, Pacific Heights and Western Addition experienced a 40 percent jump. The downtown area that includes the Financial District, North Beach and Fishermans Wharf saw a 25 percent rise.

We see broken glass everywhere, said Keith Pesci, a 46-year-old artist who heads a city-sponsored street cleanup crew and lives at the Mission Navigation Center, a supportive housing complex. At least three to five places a day. Its everywhere.

On Thursday afternoon, between two parked cars near the BART station at Mission and 24th streets, granules of broken auto glass glistened among fallen leaves and discarded fast-food wrappers. Not far away, on South Van Ness Avenue, a black Toyota Corolla was missing the glass from a passenger-side window.

The Police Department declined to specify how many officers would be reassigned to street patrols, but Scott said the number citywide would nearly double to the mid-100s.

The Mission District substation will see staffing of foot patrols increase fourfold, while the force will be doubled at the Central substation that serves the Financial District, North Beach and Fishermans Wharf, and the Park substation that serves the Castro, Haight and neighboring areas.

As a result, Scott said the departments narcotics division will see cuts, though he did not provide details.

Deputy Chief Michael Redmond, who worked with Scott on the new deployment, said that even with the elimination of the citywide task force, arrests would continue as relocated officers did similar work on the local level.

Were excited for them to go back to the stations because they bring a wealth of experience, Redmond said.

Officials said the restructuring had already begun in some parts of the city, including the Twin Peaks neighborhood, where a 71-year-old man was shot and killed during a robbery in July. With more police on patrol in that area, crime has plummeted since the killing, police said, with just one car break-in between July 17 and Aug. 16  compared with nearly 40 in the prior seven months.

This highlights how important it is to have officers out on the street, Scott said.

Acknowledging that San Franciscos car-burglary rate was tainting its image as a world-class city, the department also announced a new marketing effort called Park Smart, basically a reminder for residents and tourists alike not to leave valuables in their cars.

Mary Ortiz, 76, who sat on the porch of her small apartment building in the Mission District on Thursday afternoon, cooling off with a beer, said she hadnt seen police pay enough attention to street crimes like car burglaries. Most of the vehicle break-ins, Ortiz said, happen late at night and trigger car alarms.

The cops dont ever come, she said.

Not far away, at Auto Glass Now on Bryant Street, shop manager Ru Das said business had been strong over the past couple of years.

Theres been a substantial spike in car break-ins, Das said. In the past you would see it only in certain areas, like SoMa and Dogpatch, but now Im seeing cars even from Pacific Heights being broken into almost daily. And its happening in broad daylight.

Theyre even breaking into cop cars, he added. Were doing official police vehicles multiple times a week. We just did one yesterday.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Peter Fimrite contributed to this story.

Kurtis Alexander and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com, mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander @ctuan
By PTI: Ranchi, Aug 31 (PTI) Jharkhand police has seized nearly half a kg of gold and Rs 25 lakh in cash from two Maoists near Patel Chowk in the city and they were arrested. Ranchi senior superintendent of police Kuldeep Dwivedi today said said the seizure was made last evening following a tip off and the two have been sent to jail by the court when they were produced before it during the day.

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The two Maoists, who belong to the Telangana cadre, were identified as B Narayana and Satyanarayan Reddy, he told newsmen. Narayana has claimed that he is the younger brother of CPI(Maoist) central committee member Sudhakar, while Satyanarayan said that he is Sudhakar?s business partner. Rs five lakh, besides Maoist literature and some clothes were found in Naryana?s bag and another Rs 4,600 from his trouser pockets. Rs 20 lakh along with the gold was found in Satyanarayanas bag, besides Rs 10,500 from his trouser pockets, Dwivedi said.

The police swung into action on getting the information that a top CPI(Maoist) commander is extorting contractors engaged in mining and kendu leaf collectors. There was also information that top Maoist leader Sudhakar is collecting huge amount of money and gold. Dwivedi said that Sudhakar, who was involved in extortion, had come to Jharkhand in 2016. He has several aliases like Sabhua, Buria and Bbu. His wife Madhavi, who is Bihar special area member of the out too has several aliases like Vedusulaaruna, Neelima and other names.

During interrogation Narayana had told the police that Sudhakar had called him to the jungle in Gumla district and gave him money for family expenditure. Earlier too, he had been called to Gumla and Latehar jungles and given money to run the family. Satyanarayana said he had invested crores of rupees belonging to Sudhakar are spent to buy gold and land, the police said. PTI PVR KK KK KKB

--- ENDS ---
CROSBY, Texas  Explosions and fires rocked a flood-crippled chemical plant near Houston early Thursday, sending up a plume of acrid, eye-irritating smoke and adding a new hazard to Hurricane Harveys aftermath.

The plants owners warned more explosions could follow because a loss of refrigeration was causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the air for toxic materials found no reason for alarm. And there were no immediate reports of any serious injuries.

Dozens of workers were pulled out of the Arkema Inc. plant before the hurricane hit, and a small crew of 11 that had been left behind was evacuated before the blasts for fear of just such a disaster. Officials had also ordered people living within 1 miles to leave on Tuesday.

Fire and plant officials said the substances that caught fire were organic peroxides, a family of volatile compounds used for making a variety of products, including pharmaceuticals and construction materials.

Authorities urged residents downwind to stay indoors with the windows closed to avoid inhaling the smoke.

Earlier this week, French-owned Arkema warned an explosion was imminent at the plant about 25 miles northeast of Houston, saying Harveys floodwaters had knocked out power and backup generators, disabling the refrigeration needed to keep the organic peroxides stable.

On Thursday, Rich Rennard, an executive at Arkema, said the chemical compounds were transferred to refrigerated containers after power was lost. But he said those containers failed too, causing the chemicals in one unit to burn.

He said the company expected more explosions from the eight remaining containers.

The plant is along a stretch near Houston that contains one of the biggest concentrations of refineries, pipelines and chemical plants in the country.

Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the agency had received no other reports of concern from other chemical plants in the state.

The blaze at Arkema sent up 30- to 40-foot flames and black smoke, according to fire officials. Harris County Fire Marshal spokeswoman Rachel Moreno put the quantity of burning organic peroxide at 2 tons.

The EPA sent employees to monitor the situation and said air samples collected by aircraft showed there are no concentrations of concern for toxic materials reported at this time.

The EPAs analysis followed comments from Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who told reporters in Washington that by all means, the plume is incredibly dangerous. Asked about the discrepancy, a FEMA spokesman said Brock would defer to officials closer to the scene.

Gregory Bull, Emily Schmall and Reese Dunklin are Associated Press writers.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  A bipartisan governor duo is urging Congress to retain the federal health care laws unpopular individual mandate while legislators continue work on a long-term replacement law.

The recommendation is part of a compromise plan for stabilizing individual insurance markets thats designed to be palatable to both parties.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, shared their plan in a letter to congressional leaders Thursday. They acknowledge retaining the mandate may be a difficult sell for Congress, which has failed so far to pass a replacement health care bill.

The current mandate is unpopular, but for the time being it is perhaps the most important incentive for healthy people to enroll in coverage, they wrote to House and Senate leaders of both parties. Experts concur that keeping younger, healthier people in the insurance pool protects against costs ballooning out of control.

The letter was also signed by governors of six other states: Alaska, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Kasich and Hickenlooper also recommend that President Trump commit to cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers and that Congress fund those offsets at least through 2019. Those payments reimburse insurers for providing low-income people with legally required reductions on co-pays and deductibles. If Trump follows through on threats to pull the plug, premiums would jump about 20 percent.

The governors note that the National Governors Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Insurance Commissioners all have identified the payments as an urgent necessity.

The governors support creating a temporary stability fund that states could tap to reduce premiums and limit losses; continuing to fund educational outreach and enrollment efforts under the Affordable Care Act; exempting insurers that agree to cover underserved counties from the federal health insurance tax; and supporting states efforts to find creative solutions for covering the uninsured.

The governors said states can pursue lots of options without federal assistance, but in some cases they are constrained by federal law and regulation from being truly innovative.

After Republicans failure to pass a replacement of President Barack Obamas health care law, Kasich and Hickenlooper teamed up to push for health care exchanges that would stabilize the market and assure affordability. Both took pains to quash speculation that their collaboration and public appearances suggested a bipartisan presidential ticket was in the making for 2020.

Kasich ran for the GOP presidential nomination won by Trump ; Hickenlooper was briefly considered as a possible running mate for Democrat Hillary Clinton last year.

Julie Carr Smyth and James Anderson are Associated Press writers.
WASHINGTON  A grand jury used by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has heard secret testimony from a Russian-American lobbyist who attended a June 2016 meeting with President Trumps eldest son, the Associated Press has learned.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Rinat Akhmetshin had appeared before Muellers grand jury in recent weeks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret proceedings.

The revelation is the clearest indication yet that Mueller and his team of investigators view the meeting, which came weeks after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination, as a relevant inquiry point in their broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The meeting included Donald Trump Jr.; the presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Emails released by Trump Jr. show he took the meeting expecting that he would be receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of what was described to him as a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.

The confirmation of Akhmetshins grand jury testimony comes after he spoke at length about his involvement in the Trump Tower meeting in an interview with the AP last month.

Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military officer who served in a counterintelligence unit, is also a well-known Washington lobbyist. He has been representing Russian interests trying to undermine the story of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison and is the namesake of a U.S. sanctions law.

Akhmetshin has been reported to have ties to Russian intelligence but he has denied that, calling the allegations a smear campaign.

Mueller and his team first signaled their interest in the Trump Tower gathering last month by contacting an attorney for at least some of the Russians who attended.

The meeting at issue was disclosed earlier this year to Congress and first revealed by The New York Times.

Trump Jr. has offered evolving explanations for the circumstances of the meeting, initially saying that the purpose was to discuss adoption and later acknowledging that he anticipated receiving information that he thought could be damaging to Clinton.

In addition to Akhmetshin, other attendees at the meeting included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, music publicist Rob Goldstone  who helped arrange the gathering  and a translator. Ike Kaveladze, who also goes by the name Irakly Kaveladze, also attended the meeting. Kaveladze works for a Russian developer who partnered with Trump on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

Chad Day and Eric Tucker are Associated Press writers.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Harvey spread its misery into the Deep South as flooded creeks drove people from their homes in Tennessee and Kentucky and an apparent tornado damaged homes and toppled trees in a rural area of northwest Alabama.

More than 50 people were evacuated from a Nashville neighborhood due to flooding from Harvey, but no deaths or injuries have been reported, according to a statement Friday from the Nashville Office of Emergency Management.

The agency said remnants from Harvey dumped nearly 9 inches of rain in some areas over a 24-hour period and crews responded to dozens of calls overnight requesting aid. About 40 people took refuge in a Red Cross shelter set up at a church.

Richard Williams said he and his wife were rescued from their home south of Nashville overnight. When I woke up, the water was up to my waist, Williams said.

Near Monteagle, northeast of Chattanooga in south-central Tennessee, Interstate 24 was shut down in both directions Friday after high winds knocked down power lines. Traffic backed up for miles.

Meanwhile, more than two dozen people were evacuated from homes Friday in the small south Kentucky town of Guthrie. Mayor Scott Marshall said authorities used boats to rescue residents.

The rains also flooded low-lying streets in Memphis, as the western Tennessee city reported power outages late Thursday and rivers in the area swelled. Though still a tropical depression, Harvey also began shedding its tropical characteristics overnight as its rain bands extended farther across Tennessee and Kentucky on its forecast path toward the Ohio Valley. Forecasters said the storm likely would dissipate Saturday evening around Ohio.

Meanwhile, flood warnings remained in effect near rivers in western and middle Tennessee. Flash flood warnings also were in place for parts of Kentucky. Those came as the storm slogged deeper into the nations interior after its catastrophic drenching of parts of Texas and Louisiana.

In northwest Alabama, high winds damaged several homes near the city of Reform and minor injuries were reported. Jason Holmes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, said a tornado was the likely cause of the damage.

Adrian Sainz is an Associated Press writer.
1 Antiabortion law: A federal judge has blocked Texas from enforcing new antiabortion measures that the Republican-controlled Legislature passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the states far more sweeping law. The temporary injunction issued Thursday by Austin-based U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel stops Texas from banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure. Similar bans have also been halted in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The Texas version was set to take effect Friday.

2 Cherokee Freedmen: Descendants of black slaves, known as freedmen, who were once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have a right to tribal citizenship under a ruling handed down by a federal court in Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled this week in a long-standing dispute between the Cherokee Freedmen and the second-largest tribe in the U.S. Freedmen have long argued that the Treaty of 1866, signed between the U.S. government and the Tahlequah, Oklahoma-based Cherokees, gave them and their descendants all the rights of native Cherokees. But Cherokee leaders have argued the tribe has the fundamental right to determine its citizens, and in 2007 more than three-fourths of Cherokee voters approved an amendment to remove the 3,000 Freedmen descendants from tribal rolls.
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HOUSTON  Rescuers began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone  alive or dead  who might have been left behind in Harveys fetid floodwaters, which have now heavily damaged more than 37,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide.

More than 200 firefighters, police officers and members of an urban search-and-rescue team fanned out across the Meyerland neighborhood for survivors or bodies. They yelled Fire department! as they pounded with closed fists on doors, peered through windows and checked with neighbors. The streets were dry but heaped with soggy furniture, carpet and wood.

We dont think were going to find any humans, but were prepared if we do, said District Chief James Pennington of the Houston Fire Department.

The confirmed death toll stood at 31, though it is expected to rise. But by midday, the temporary command center in a J.C. Penney parking lot had received no reports of more bodies from the searches, which are expected to take up to two weeks.

Unlike during Hurricane Katrinas aftermath in New Orleans, crews used GPS devices to log the homes they checked rather than spray painting neon Xs on the homes, which also avoided alerting potential thieves to vacant homes.

The latest statewide damage surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruction. The figures from the Texas Department of Public Safety did not include the tens of thousands of homes with minor damage.

Rescues continued apace, as did the search for shelter among people made homeless by the storm. Emergency officials reported 32,000 people in shelters across Texas.

The Harris County director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is looking for ways to house people who lost their homes to Harvey. The priority is to get them into some form of temporary housing, with hotels being one option, he said.

Right now nothing is off the table, Tom Fargione said. This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope. I want to get thinking beyond traditional methodologies youve seen in the past.

As the water receded in the nations fourth-largest city, the threat of major damage from the storm shifted to a region near the Texas-Louisiana state line.

Beaumont, Texas, with a population of nearly 120,000, lost water service after its main pump station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River. That forced Baptist Beaumont Hospital to move patients to other facilities.

A steady stream of ambulances and helicopters arrived at the hospital to pick up the patients, some of whom already had been removed from flooded nursing homes. Hospital spokeswoman Mary Poole said other patients were able to be discharged.

The citys second hospital, Christus St. Elizabeth, said it is using stored water and accepting only critical and emergency patients.

In nearby Port Arthur, the Coast Guard used baskets and harnesses to pull people out of a neighborhood with chest-deep water. Many residents of second-floor apartments decided to stay.

Economists said the storm shut down everything from plastics plants to oil refineries to the Houston port  the second-busiest in the nation  which could affect the nations economy.

With widespread reports of gas shortages, the head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry urged drivers to wait three or four days to fill up their tanks. Panic buying is causing a run on gas and empty fuel pumps, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from an emergency stockpile in a bid to prevent gasoline prices from soaring in the wake of disruptions caused by Harvey.

Also Thursday, Houston public schools pushed back the start of classes by two weeks. The nations seventh-largest district had been scheduled to reopen Monday but will begin school on Sept. 11 because of Harvey.

Health experts warned that sewage in the floodwater could make people sick, and that mosquito populations could explode in the coming weeks because stagnant water offers abundant breeding grounds.

Although it has been downgraded to a tropical depression, Harvey is expected to dump heavy rain on parts of Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky through Friday. Forecast totals range from 4 to 8 inches, with some places possibly getting up to a foot.

For much of the Houston area, the rain had passed. But with temperatures expected to climb into the low 90s over the weekend, residents have been warned about the dangers of heat exhaustion, especially for people who lost power or must toil outdoors.

Houstons two major airports were slowly resuming full service. Limited bus and light rail service had also been restored, as well as trash pickup.

Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

Harveys five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.

Jeff Amy and Matt Sedensky are Associated Press writers.
Amid the many feel-good stories about strangers helping strangers in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, a feel-bad story has almost inevitably surfaced: Scammers are using robocalls to try to fleece storm survivors.

The robocalls tell people that their premiums are past due and they must send money immediately or else have their flood insurance canceled.

That is pure fraud. You should only be taking information from trusted sources, said Roy Wright, director of the National Flood Insurance Program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Every natural disaster attracts unscrupulous contractors and outright con artists. Theyre like disaster parasites, looking to exploit the pain and confusion of a catastrophe for their own profit.

Theyre storm chasers. We know theyre here. Were know theyre coming. Scammers, said Saundra Brown, who handles disaster response for Lone Start Legal Aid in Houston.

She described a typical move by dishonest contractors: They ask a survivor to sign a contract for repairs on a digital tablet, but when printed out, the bid is thousands of dollars higher. Or the survivor may have unwittingly assigned FEMA disaster aid over to the scammer.

Dont hire anyone you dont trust. Always get it in writing. Always get a personal reference. Be hyper-vigilant now, said Brown, whose organization is contending with its own calamity after an explosion and fire at its office building during the storm.

FEMA has a rumor-control web page. The agency urges people to hang up if they receive a robocall about insurance. Insurance companies and agents selling flood insurance policies do not use this process to communicate with customers about their flood insurance policies. In fact, if your payment is past due, your insurance company will send you several pieces of mail 90, 60, and 30 days before the policy expires, FEMA states.

FEMA has also confirmed that there are people who are impersonating federal officials. The agency states that real Homeland Security Investigations officials have badges labeled special agent, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations have badges saying ERO Officer. People should ask to see the badges and credentials when someone visits them claiming to be with these organizations, FEMA said.

Joel Achenbach is a Washington Post writer.
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HOUSTON  Officials in Houston are just beginning to grapple with the health and environmental risks that lurk in the waters dumped by Hurricane Harvey, a stew of toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste that still floods much of the city.

Flooded sewers are stoking fears of cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases. Runoff from the citys sprawling petroleum and chemicals complex contains any number of hazardous compounds. Lead, arsenic and other toxic and carcinogenic elements may be leaching from two dozen Superfund sites in the Houston area.

Porfirio Villarreal, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department, said the hazards were self-evident.Theres no need to test it, he said. Theres millions of contaminants.

He said health officials were urging people to stay out of the water if they could, although it is already too late for tens of thousands.

Were telling people to avoid the floodwater as much as possible. Dont let your children play in it. And if you do touch it, wash it off, Villarreal said. Remember, this is going to go on for weeks.

Flooding always brings the danger of contamination and disease. This inundation, which put nearly 30 percent of the nations fourth-largest city underwater, will pose enormous problems, both immediately and when the waters finally recede.

Dr. David Persse, Houstons director of Emergency Medical Services, said officials were monitoring the drinking water system and the sewer system, both of which he said were intact so far. But hundreds of thousands of people across the 38 Texas counties affected by Hurricane Harvey use private wells, according to an estimate by Louisiana State University researchers, and those people must fend for themselves.

Well water is at risk for being contaminated, Persse said.

Houston also lies at the center of the nations oil and chemical industry, its bustling shipping channel home to almost 500 industrial sites. Damaged refineries and other oil facilities have already released more than 2 million pounds of hazardous substances into the air this week, including benzene, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds, according to a tally by the Environmental Defense Fund of company filings to Texas state environmental regulators.

Were very concerned about the long-term implications of some of the emissions, said Elena Craft, a senior health scientist and toxicologist at the Environmental Defense Fund in Texas.

As well as the flooding and the impact on pipelines, theres underground and aboveground storage tanks, she said. Its a suite of threats.

Hiroko Tabuchi and Sheila Kaplan are New York Times writers.
Delcia Lopez/Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas  A federal judge has temporarily blocked most of Texas tough new sanctuary cities law that would have let police officers ask people during routine stops whether theyre in the U.S. legally and threatened sheriffs with jail time for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The law, known as Senate Bill 4, had been cheered by President Trumps administration and was set to take effect Friday. It was widely viewed as the toughest immigration measure in the nation since Arizona passed what critics called a Show Me Your Papers law in 2010, which was later partially struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
BEAUMONT, Texas  A week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas as a Category 4 monster, millions of people across the Gulf Coast struggled Friday with the unfathomable misery left behind as tens of thousands had no drinking water, were forced from homes or were trapped in cities transformed into islands.

Federal officials kept a tense watch at a storm-ravaged chemical plant east of Houston, where some of the volatile organic peroxides stored there had ignited a day earlier. Officials with Arkema, the French company operating the plant, said neighbors had reported hearing additional blasts at the plant, and later Friday towering flames erupted at the site. The company had predicted that the remaining containers of peroxides would ignite.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the smoke that came from the plant Thursday showed no reason for alarm. No serious injuries were reported. Still, authorities evacuated an area around the plant.

In Houston, officials urged people living in a swath of the western part of the city to evacuate due to flooding. First responders in that city and across Texas continued the grueling work of searching home to home, while state authorities warned that numerous rivers and basins, swollen after Harveys rainfall, continue to pose risks of life-threatening flooding.

As of Friday, officials across Texas had recorded at least 45 deaths confirmed or suspected of being storm related, a tally that may grow as recovery efforts unfold.

This is going to be a massive, massive cleanup process, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday on ABCs Good Morning America. This is not going to be a short-term project. This is going to be a multiyear project for Texas to be able to dig out of this catastrophe.

In the city of Beaumont, about 100 miles east of Houston, residents and officials faced crises on multiple fronts. The city lost its drinking water supply during wind-whipped floods. First the main pump station was knocked out, then a secondary source.

On Friday, city police opened a water distribution point near the city center, not far from the still rising and fast-moving Neches River. Each vehicle to visit the distribution point will receive bottled water, the police department said in a statement on its Facebook page. The water will be distributed until just before dark OR until supplies are diminished. If more supplies arrive to the city, we hope to set up additional points of distribution.

Beaumont had issued a voluntary evacuation order for its 118,000 residents. But for many of those still in the city, there was no way out with murky floodwaters blocking roads in every direction. Police said some people tried to leave, only to discover that this was impossible and turn back, driving the wrong way on Highway 90.

About 20 miles south of Beaumont, the city of Port Arthur, Texas, saw no respite even as the sun came out and the immediate threat of rain was over. Much of the city near the Louisiana border remained underwater as Harveys rainfall continued lapping at the massive oil refineries and natural gas facilities that ring it. And water still covered many of the highways connecting the Gulf Coast community with the wider world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Abigail Hauslohner and Mark Berman are Washington Post writers.
Interacting with media persons, Haasan said that he will not align with any political party in Tamil Nadu.

By India Today Web Desk: Actor Kamal Haasan today said that he was not interested in taking any sides in politics.

When asked about joining the Left, the actor asserted that he has been working in cinema for over 40 years and that saffron was not his colour.

Haasan made the statements after meeting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. When asked about taking the plunge into politics, the actor said that he will be meeting more politicians before taking a call.

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Interacting with media persons, Haasan said that he will not align with any political party in Tamil Nadu.

"My colour is definitely not saffron. That much I can say now," Kamal Haasan told the media, in response to questions whether he would swing to the Left or Right.

He said that he got huge support from people as an artiste and if he was able to garner half of the support in politics, he would be successful.

The actor also raved about Kerala and compared it to any European country. When asked about the political turmoil in Tamil Nadu, Haasan said that Governor should intervene. The Tamil Nadu Opposition wants Chief Minister E Palaniswamy to prove his majority in the Assembly.

CROSS-BORDER BONHOMIE

Earlier, Vijayan said in a Facebook post that he and Kamal Haasan have known each other for long and they always meet whenever the actor visits Kerala.

"Today's meeting was the first one after I became chief minister. Even though the visit was personal in nature, we discussed south Indian politics and also the overall political situation in Tamil Nadu," Vijayan said.

Actor Kamal Haasan with Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

The Marxist leader received the acclaimed actor, dressed in a black shirt and dhoti, at the car porch. Also present at the meeting were Vijayan's wife Kamala and other family members.

Kamal Haasan has in recent times made comments critical of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK party. He also recently shared a stage with DMK leader M K Stalin.

ALSO READ:

Be ready to march to Assembly and Secretariat, Kamal Haasan says in message to fans

Kamal Haasan does it again, asks viewers to hold their anger to fuel revolution

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WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is slashing spending on advertising and promotion for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, a move that some critics charged was a blatant attempt to sabotage the law.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services, who insisted on not being identified during a conference call with reporters, said Thursday that the advertising budget for the open enrollment period that starts in November would be cut to $10 million, compared with $100 million spent by the Obama administration last year, a drop of 90 percent. Additionally, grants to about 100 nonprofit groups, known as navigators, that help people enroll in health plans offered by the insurance marketplaces will be cut to a total of $36 million, from about $63 million.
The order, however, will be applicable only for 4-star, 5-star, 5 star deluxe and heritage hotels. The guidelines for 3-star bars, beer and wine parlours, and liquor sale counters will remain unchanged.

By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: In a move which could hugely benefit liquor barons in the state, the Kerala government has decided to reinstate the minimum distance between bars and objectionable sites to 50 meters.

The order, however, will be applicable only for 4-star, 5-star, 5-star deluxe and heritage hotels. The guidelines for 3-star bars, beer and wine parlours, and liquor sale counters will remain unchanged.

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Until 2011 the minimum distance was 50 meters, however owing to widespread protest the distance limit was extended to 200 meters.

According to the government order issued on August 29, the decision was taken on the basis of a letter from the excise commissioner. On July 27, 2017, the excise commissioner sent a letter to the government seeking relaxation in the guidelines related to 4-star, 5-star, 5-star deluxe and heritage hotels.

In the letter, the excise commissioner reportedly recommended the government reduce the existing limit to 50 meters, for hotels which facilitate foreign tourists. The government which considered this recommendation decided to relax the minimum distance guidelines. The government further directed the excise commissioner to submit a recommendation to make necessary amendments in the existing rules.

The decision will come into effect only after final amendments are made in this rule. Once the decision comes into effect many eligible hotels, which were denied permission owing to minimum distance guideline, can start functioning.

Former KPCC president and senior Congress leader VM Sudheeran has termed this move as government's 'Onam gift' to bar owners. "This is the latest example of one of the largest corruptions the state has ever seen," Sudheeran wrote on his Facebook page.

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"Mark my words, what I say today will come true tomorrow, power will come back to us," Lalu Prasad Yadav said with his trademark swagger, addressing a massive rally at Patna's Gandhi Maidan. Though the theme of the rally 'BJP bhagao, desh bachao' was all too familiar, the RJD chief's attacks were largely focused on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who broke the mahagathbandhan in July to form a government with the BJP.

The impressive gathering at the August 27 rally, exactly a month after Nitish's "great betrayal", comes at a time when Lalu has his back to the wall with mounting legal trouble. The RJD is still Bihar's single largest party, with 80 MLAs in a house of 243, and the huge turnout of his core Muslim-Yadav electorate showed that he cannot be written off just yet.

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Onstage, he managed to line up an array of national allies, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ex-CMs Akhilesh Yadav (UP), Babulal Marandi and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) along with Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress (who brought along a taped message of solidarity from ailing boss Sonia Gandhi), besides representatives of the CPI, NCP, JD(S) and DMK. A prize catch was JD(U) former president Sharad Yadav, who defied Nitish and risked his Rajya Sabha membership to join the rally.

But the leader missing was perhaps the one who mattered the most. On August 24, Mayawati sent a letter to Lalu informing him that her party, the BSP, would not be attending. On the same day, at a press conference in Lucknow, she questioned Opposition efforts to form a secular alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Before forming a pre-poll alliance, the Opposition parties should finalise a seat-sharing formula," she said. The BSP chief said her party would not share the dais with any national or regional party till this issue had been resolved.

Clearly, for Mayawati, as it is for the RJD and SP, keeping the core support base intact is crucial. They are all embattled, they can all see the reasons to come together, but they are all also fighting to remain politically relevant. The BSP chief does not wish to be seen in the company of Akhilesh unless he allows her a major share of the UP Lok Sabha seats, which may never happen.

For Lalu, it was an opportunity lost. He had been trying hard to win over the BSP boss, even offering her a Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar after she quit the upper house in a huff in July. Lalu desperately needs a Dalit icon to expand his social base in Bihar.

So the rally, which gave Lalu enough reason to smile, as he stood flanked by allies and his family, is unlikely to have given Nitish the jitters. It's clear that Lalu's chemistry with the people is intact, even if the arithmetic of alliances is not quite adding up. There are entire social groups that did not turn up for the rally. Today, the social groupings against Lalu look as formidable as the ones with him. In the rejigged Bihar political scenario, with Nitish and the BJP joining hands, can he still pose a serious challenge?

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From a man spotted walking down an SF street with a duck on a leash to the therapy pig at SFO, San Francisco residents are no strangers to weird pets. But what exactly do local laws say about our furry, feathered and scaly friends?

San Francisco and other cities surrounding the bay have extensive laws, mainly through their Health Codes, that regulate the sale and keeping of animals. While many laws range from the oft-necessary (such as restricting dog barking or not allowing pups at farmers markets) others are quite unusual and specific. Some also date back to more than 50 years ago or hopefully don't need much enforcement anymore, such as a ban on animal sacrifice or rules regarding walking an elephant down the street.
According to Brigadier Raj Kumar (Retired), who was the nodal officer of the army in the Malegaon blast case, the army enquiry did not find any evidence that Col Purohit had supplied RDX for the blast while he couldn't explain possession of an illegal weapon at his residence.

By Anand Patel: In an exclusive interview with India Today, former Deputy Director General of Military Intelligence (DDG MI) has revealed that the then UPA government had asked the army to expedite its probe in the Malegaon blast case in which army officer Lt Col Shrikant Purohit was an accused.

As DDG MI Brigadier Raj Kumar (Retired) was the nodal officer of the army in the Malegaon blast case. The army enquiry also didn't find any evidence that Lt Col Purohit had supplied RDX for the blast while he couldn't explain possession of an illegal weapon at his residence.

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Responding to the allegations that Maharashtra ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) was under political pressure to nail Lt Col Purohit and establish his links with radical Hindu organization Abhinav Bharat, Brig Raj Kumar told India Today, "I can't say about the Mumbai ATS, but certainly at the army headquarters, since the elections were due we were told to push the case faster...I would not say there was pressure, but we were told to hasten the case and reach some conclusion before the elections."

ALLEGATION BY MAHARASHTRA ATS

On the ATS allegation that Lt Col Purohit supplied RDX for the Malegaon blast, Brig Raj Kumar said, "We had gone into the details of the case, Army is very sensitive to this particular allegation, I had written then to the Northern Command based in Udhampur to ascertain his postings and if he had any access to RDX. They had informed us that though he was in Srinagar for a while, he was not involved in handling of RDX, it is given for a particular operation and not to everyone."

"Purohit had very clearly told us that he had not supplied it, nor there are any proof and our investigation suggest this, certainly Purohit had boasted in one of the meetings that he can get it," Brig Raj Kumar said. He added, "This is what we heard but there is nothing to corroborate that his involvement is not there in supplying RDX."

The Director General Military Intelligence (DG MI) report indicts Lt Col Purohit for being involved in illegal trade of weapons. Brig Raj Kumar said that Col Purohit had some licensed and unlicensed weapons which is there on record in our court of enquiry, he was able to justify two weapons, while for two other weapons he could not give any justification.

"Any army officer is entitled to keep one arm with license while in service, but he certainly couldn't explain the possession of the other weapon," he said.

CONNECTION WITH ABHINAV BHARAT

About Lt Col Purohit's connection with Abhinav Bharat he said, "It is supposed to be a banned organization in our country, it was learnt that it had radical leanings towards Hindutva ideology. Certainly army officers are not supposed to be a member of such organizations, Lt Col Purohit was associated with this particular organization, it was proved, it was to the extent of attending their meetings and he was attending their meetings, in Faridabad and Bhopal etc. Lt Col Purohit was privy to what was happening in Abhinav Bharat and their plans, he was to an extent privy to their plans."

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The former deputy of Military Intelligence said that the army was taken aback when it was first told about Col Purohit. He said, "Because involvement of army officers in such undesirable activities was certainly not expected since the news had come from a very high level Director of one of the intelligence agencies had conveyed this to our army chief..thereafter we proceeded in the case."

He said that initally it appeared to be a big case, but none of the charges could be substantiated, except for Lt Col Purohit's association with two of the accused Swami Aseemanand and Sadhvi Pragya.

Brig Raj Kumar said, "Even Mumbai Police also over reacted, they charged him under MCOCA, he should not have been charged under this and we objected to it."

As per the findings of the army investigations, Swami Aseemanand was Abhinav Bharat's senior most person and Sadhvi Pragya was party to it and so was Col Purohit.

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TORTURED BY ARMY PERSONNEL

Lt Col Purohit has alleged that he was beaten up by army people while in ATS custody. As Dy DG MI Brig Raj Kumar had received two letters, one from Major Ramesh Upadhyay (Rtd), who was also picked by ATS in the case and also a letter from Lt Col Purohit which had very hair raising and disturbing details about the torture.

He said, "After reading the two letters, I went to Mumbai and realized that we had sent a wrong person, he was to coordinate with ATS and Intelligence, but unfortunately instead of acting as an interface, the officer of rank of a Colonel had beaten them up, tortured the two men and used all kinds of abusive language. When I had met Purohit during one of the Court of Enquiries, he was in tears and told me that he had never felt so much humiliated in his life and he told me that he felt like killing himself."

"It was a mistake to send this officer, we never gave any brief to him to beat up accused officer, in fact he went on to sensationalise the whole issue by accusing several other officers, as if some at least 9 officers from areas around Pune were also involved," said the former Dy DG MI.

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"I personally enquired into these allegations, I went to Pune and Mumbai, took help of IB and found that these allegations were baseless, then this officer was called back and suitable action was taken against him," he added.

Also Read:

Want to go back to serving nation, Lt Col Purohit says as he walks out of jail after 9 years

Malegaon blast: Bail to Col Purohit does not reflect his innocence, says Congress leader Randeep Surjewala

ATS forced me to implicate Lt Col Purohit: Samjhauta blast case witness

Watch Video: Purohit was falsely implicated, says ex-top military intelligence officer

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Advocate Rajiv Patil also told the court that crime branch will be in a position to file chargesheet within 20 days in the case. Accepting this, the court has kept the PIL for hearing four weeks later.

By Vidya : The Bombay High Court today expressed satisfaction over the investigations in jail inmate Manjula Shettye murder case. The division bench of Justice B R Gawai and Justice M S Karnik was handed over a status report in sealed cover by crime branch officials. After perusing the document, the court said, "We are satisfied that investigation is being done in proper manner."

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The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by a former convict Pradeep Bhalekar alleging that the jail inmates were tortured by jail authorities and Manjula's death was a result of this as she had been raising voice against the corruption that jail officials had been indulging in. Bhalekar's lawyer Nitin Satpute also pointed out to the doctor that neither the crime branch officials arrested the doctor who had given a wrong injury report nor was there any action taken against him.

Shettye, a murder convict, had served over 10 years in jail and had been transferred to Byculla Jail from Pune's Yerwada Jail this year before she was to complete her sentence. Manjula was appointed as the jail warden and she was declared dead on admission at the JJ Hospital on 23 June.

A riot in jail had broken out the next day as the news of her death spread through the jail. It was alleged that it was done at the instance of Sheena Bora murder accused Indrani Mukerjea. An FIR was later registered on 25 June where in the complainant alleged that Manjula had been beaten up by jail officials and had even been sexually assaulted. However, in such cases of death inside the jail, doctor who makes the death certificate has to note down the number of injury marks on the body of the deceased.

The doctor in Shettye's case had certified that there were no injury marks on her body, where as the postmortem report showed otherwise. Thus, the petitioners had asked for this to be investigated as well and it was at the order of the court that crime branch had recorded the statement of the doctor.

However, advocate Rajiv Patil appearing for the state government told the division bench that the dean of grant medical college had already instituted an inquiry committee who have already given suggestions and remarks on the issue. This was also handed over to the division bench to see.

Patil also told the court that crime branch will be in a position to file chargesheet within 20 days in the case. Accepting this, the court has kept the PIL for hearing four weeks later.

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ALSO READ:

Custodial death: State Women's Commission to form SIT to probe Manjula Shettye case

Manjula Shetye murder case: Mumbai Crime Branch says don't need custody of accused jail officials anymore

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By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: It may be a sheer coincidence. Soon after effecting cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves on a foreign trip. It has happened on the last two occasions in the past and it is likely to happen for the third time.

PM Modi carried out the first cabinet reshuffle on November 9, 2014 inducting 21 new ministers. On November 11 morning, he embarked on a 10-day tour of Myanmar, Australia and Fiji, in the same order. It was his sixth foreign visit after becoming PM.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook the second cabinet reshuffle on July 5, 2016. At 15 minutes past midnight on July 7, he left on a four-nation tour of the African continent. With his first stop in Mozambique, he also visited South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. It was his 24th foreign trip.

The PM is likely to effect reshuffle of his council of ministers for the third time on Sunday September 3 morning. He will be leaving for a three-day visit to China and Myanmar the same day. He will be on tour between September 3 and 5.

Coincidentally, Myanmar was the first country that Modi had visited after carrying out his first reshuffle. He may undertake several foreign trips in the remaining 20-odd months of his tenure. The Saturday reshuffle may likely to be the last one till 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, Myanmar will likely be the last country he may visit in a trip after effecting a reshuffle.

Modi's last foreign visit was between July 4 and 8 to Israel and Germany.

Some would believe that PM Modi leaving for a trip abroad soon after his first reshuffle may have been a coincidence and the second one may have been an aberration but the third one may prove that it is a pattern.

ALSO READ

Narendra Modi Cabinet reshuffle likely tomorrow: Sanjiv Baliyan resigns

Ministers resign as PM Narendra Modi plans major Cabinet reshuffle

Narendra Modi cabinet reshuffle: Who will be in, who will be out

ALSO WATCH | Cabinet reshuffle likely before PM Modi leaves for China on 3rd September

BJP in huddle ahead of Cabinet reshuffle likely by Saturday: Who gets what

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By PTI: Gorakhpur, Sep 1 (PTI) A court here today issued non- bailable warrants against seven people, including former incharge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, in connection with the death of children at the BRD Medical College hospital.

The development comes a day after the former principal of the college Dr Rajiv Mishra and his medico-wife Purnima Shukla were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

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Additional sessions judge Shivanand Singh issued the NBW against seven of the nine people named in the FIR, investigating officer C Abhishek Singh said.

The warrants were issued against incharge of AES ward Dr Kafeel Khan, anstheist Dr Satish, pharmasist Gajanan Jaiswal, accountant Sudhir Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and gas suppliers Uday Pratap Singh and Manish Bhandari. Khan, who was the nodal officer, has already been removed from the post.

Following the deaths, mostly of infants, cases were registered under various sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act against nine people, including the doctor couple.

Mishra and his wife, who were arrested from Kanpur on Tuesday by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), were produced before the judge who sent them to the Gorakhpur district jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

They were named in an FIR lodged by the UP government.

Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on August 12 after the deaths were reported. He resigned the same day taking moral responsibility.

There were allegations that the deaths happened due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for months.

While the Uttar Pradesh government vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar indicted Mishra and others of laxity and other charges.

Mishra was accused of sitting over on the issue of payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital.

The doctor couple were booked on the basis of the report submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by the chief secretary. Adityanath had formed the committee on August 12, a day after the deaths of children were reported at the hospital. The two doctors were picked up from Kanpur, where they had reportedly gone to consult a lawyer.

The medical college attracted global attention when more than 60 children, mostly infants, died at the hospital within the span of a week last month. The issue also acquired a political colour with the opposition attacking the government over it.

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The Allahabad High Court yesterday sought a "detailed report" on the infrastructure and medical facilities at Gorakhpurs BRD Medical College.

It directed the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to personally visit the medical college hospital and file a report along with photographs of various wards. PTI COR SAB SMI TIR

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IT services major Infosys has said that the recently appointed non-executive and non-independent chairman Nandan Nilekani will not be remunerated for his current post.

By Press Trust of India: IT services major Infosys has said that the recently appointed non-executive and non-independent chairman Nandan Nilekani will not be remunerated for his current post.

In a BSE filing, the firm said Nilekani's office as director shall be subject to retirement by rotation and the remuneration proposed to be paid to him is nil.

Nilekani was first appointed to the Board in 1981 and ceased to be its member on July 9, 2009, Infosys said.

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His last-drawn remuneration for the fiscal 2010 in which he ceased to be a director was Rs 34 lakh, it said, adding that Nilekani holds 2,13,83,480 equity shares in the company.

U B Pravin Rao, interim CEO of the company who holds 5,55,520 shares, will get the same salary he was drawing as the chief operating officer.

Rao was elevated as the interim CEO and managing director after Vishal Sikka had quit from CEO's post on August 18, citing "continuous attack" from the founders and distractions.

UB RAO TO CONTINUE AS COO, SAYS INFOSYS

Infosys said Rao would continue to hold the position of chief operating officer for which he will continue to receive the remuneration as approved by the shareholders vide postal ballot concluded on March 31, 2017.

Rao would not receive any additional compensation for his role as the interim-chief executive officer and managing director, it added.

His last-drawn remuneration for fiscal 2017 was Rs 7.8 crore (excluding value of stock options granted of Rs 4 crore), Infosys said.

The shareholders had approved an annual remuneration of Rs 12.5 crore (comprising annual fixed salary of Rs 4.63 crore, annual variable compensation of Rs 3.87 crore at 100 per cent payout and performance-based stock options of Rs 4 crore which would vest over a period of 4 years, it added.

Infosys issued postal ballot notice seeking approval from its shareholders on share buyback and appointment of Nilekani as the non-executive chairman.

Other resolutions that require shareholders' approval include appointment of D Sundaram as an independent director on the board and Rao as the managing director and interim chief executive officer.

E-voting and voting through postal ballot on these resolutions will begin from September 8 morning and continue till October 7 afternoon.

ALSO READ |

Achhe Din for Infosys: Narayana Murthy on Sikka's exit, Nilekani's re-entry

Infosys boardroom battle: 6 reasons why Nilekani was brought back as chairman

Sikka's resignation, Nilekani's comeback: A timeline of Infosys' boardroom battle

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North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in waters off the northern region of Hokkaido early on Tuesday, marking a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

By Reuters: Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that he was cancelling a planned trip to the United States for preparatory economic talks because of national security uncertainties posed by North Korea.

North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in waters off the northern region of Hokkaido early on Tuesday, marking a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

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Aso's visit had been scheduled for September 4-6, which would coincide with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono's planned visit to the Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on September 6-7 to attend an economic forum.

"We don't know what will happen to North Korea. (Abe) instructed me to stay in Japan to take all possible care because of the strained security situation," Aso told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

Aso said he would continue to arrange with the US side to hold the second round of the bilateral economic dialogue, which he said was likely to take place in October after annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund.

Aso, who doubles as deputy prime minister, and US Vice President Mike Pence have led the US-Japan economic dialogue, which was launched in April to exchange views on trade, investment and economic policy issues.

The US side told Aso that they "hope to hold constructive talks in the second round".

However, some analysts worry that Trump's administration, which is facing growing domestic turmoil, could pile pressure on trading partners for concessions that would boost US exports under his "America First" policy.

The upcoming talks could also include the issue of safeguard tariffs Japan has imposed on frozen beef from the United States and some other countries.

Aso brushed off speculation that a controversy kicked up by his references to Adolf Hitler in remarks earlier this week played any part in the decision to cancel next week's visit to the United States.

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According to the tribal youth who carried his parents on shoulders seeking justice, he was booked under a fake case. He just wants to prove himself innocent in the eyes of his old parents before they die.

By India Today Web Desk: History has repeated itself with a man playing Shravan Kumar in the 21st century.

A tribal youth carried his feeble old parents on his shoulders and walked for about 40 km. Evoking the historical character Shravan Kumar who exhibited devotion towards his parents, the youth here did so to seek justice for an alleged fake case against him.

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The youth Kartik Singh is a resident of Moroda village in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district. Kartik claimed that the Moroda Police lodged a "fake" FIR against him and locked him up in jail for 18 days in 2009.

Social stigma wreaking havoc in tribal villages was as usual damaging for Kartik as he was still seen as an 'outcast' by his villagers.

Kartik claimed that he has no source of income. Adding to his woes, when Kartik sought work, people of his village did not support him. However, he could have moved out of the village for better opportunities, but chose to stay back to take care of his aging parents.

Hence, reminiscing the story of 'Shravan Kumar,' Kartik carried his parents on his back, with them sitting on wooden baskets suspended on either side of his shoulders for 40 km to seek justice.

Kartik said that he is an educated man but was unable to get a job or get married as the case that was registered about seven years ago is still pending in the court.

REPEATED MISTREATMENT BY POLICE

Advocate Prabhudan Marandi said, "it is not the first time something like this is happening. Several false cases are being filed."

Further talking about such cases, advocate Marandi said that Moroda Police has a regular track record of such acts. Usually, the consequences are faced by the innocent people of the village.

Advocate and social activist Kumar Patra added, "Kartik is drowning in debt and he cannot feed his parents or support himself."

Patra said that Kartik even approached the district collector for a job, but his demand fell on deaf ears.

"The state and the Central government have several schemes for the welfare of the socially and financially backward classes. But everything is out of his reach and the government representatives and political parties are yet to notice the issue," Patra said.

According to Kartik, all he wants is to prove himself as 'not guilty' in the eyes of his old parents before they pass away.

FYI || Patna hospital denies ambulance, man carries son's body on his shoulder ||

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FYI || Etawah: Failing to get an ambulance, wailing father carries 15-year-old son's body on his shoulder ||

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A BSF jawan lost his life in sniper fire by the Pakistan army.

By India Today Web Desk: Once again, Pakistan army violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district today and killed a BSF jawan.

An assistant sub-inspector of BSF lost his life in sniper fire by by Pakistan armed forces.

Further details are awaited.

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With hot temperatures and gusting winds headed to the Bay Area this weekend, authorities are encouraging Berkeley hills residents to park cars in driveways or garages to leave streets clear for emergency vehicles.

The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat advisories across the Bay Area, as temperatures are forecast to creep into the triple-digits and stay that way through the weekend. Berkeley temperatures are expected to peak Saturday at 101.
NAIROBI, Kenya  President Uhuru Kenyattas re-election victory last month was thrown out Friday by Kenyas Supreme Court, which ordered new voting within 60 days in a stunning decision that plunged the East African country back into political chaos.

The move to nullify an election was unprecedented on the African continent.

It gave new hope to opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had alleged the electronic results of the Aug. 8 balloting were manipulated. He had lost by about 1.4 million votes out of roughly 15 million cast.

The court ruled 4-2 in Odingas favor, saying the electoral commission committed illegalities and irregularities. The court, whose full decision with details of its findings is expected to be released within 21 days, did not blame Kenyatta.

Kenyatta said that while he respected the ruling, he personally disagrees with it. He urged calm in a country that has a history of postelection violence.

Six people have decided they will go against the will of the people, the president said, later telling his supporters that Chief Justice David Maraga and his crooks had taken away his victory. The official results had given Kenyatta 54 percent of the vote to Odingas 44 percent.

Opposition members danced in the streets, marveling at the setback for Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of the countrys first president, in the long rivalry between the countrys top political families.

Its a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of Africa, Odinga said. For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president. This is a precedent-setting ruling.

No African country has annulled a national election due to irregularities, said Ronald Slye, a law professor at Seattle University. Slye was among those who participated in Kenyas Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission set up after violence killed more than 1,000 people following the 2007 election.

Electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said personnel changes will be made before the new vote, and he said any employee found to be involved in manipulating the results should be prosecuted.

Odinga, 72, called for the election commission to be disbanded. He also said the role of international observers who came to Kenya for the vote must be examined because they put stability ahead of credibility and had moved fast to sanitize fraud.

The international observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, had said on election day that they had seen no interference with the vote. The Carter Center said Friday that Kerrys mission had noted that the electronic transmission of results proved unreliable.

After the courts ruling, envoys from two dozen countries, including the United States, France and Germany, issued a joint statement that said the decision demonstrated Kenyas resilient democracy and commitment to the rule of law.

Many countries, including the U.S. , had already congratulated Kenyatta.

Tom Odula is an Associated Press writer.
1 Baja storm: Tropical Storm Lidia has caused four deaths in Mexicos Los Cabos, officials said Friday as it continued to lash the resort-studded southern Baja California peninsula with heavy rains. Arturo de la Rosa Escalante, mayor of the twin resorts of Los Cabos, said two people were electrocuted by power lines, a woman drowned after being swept away by water on a flooded street and a baby was ripped from its mothers arms as she crossed a flooded area. About 1,400 people sought refuge at storm shelters.

2 Mexico poverty: The Mexican government says poverty has declined, but still affects 43.6 percent of the population. It says about 53.4 million of Mexicos 122 million people were poor in 2016, compared to 53.3 million in 2012. But population growth meant the percentage dropped from 45.5 percent in 2012, when President Enrique Pena Nieto took office. The number living in extreme poverty who cant buy even basic items dropped from 9.8 percent of the population in 2012 to 7.6 percent in 2016.

3 Brain injuries: U.S. diplomats who served in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury following mysterious, unexplained attacks on their health, the union that represents U.S. diplomats said Friday, in the most detailed account of the growing list of symptoms. In addition to mild TBI  commonly called a concussion permanent hearing loss has been diagnosed among the 10 diplomats who have spoken to the American Foreign Service Association. The union did not say how many of the 10 had been given either diagnosis, but said other symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and cognitive disruption.

4 English activists: Authorities in Cameroon have released dozens of English-speaking activists who had organized peaceful protests against what they considered discrimination by the countrys French-language majority. Several of the most high-profile activist leaders were released earlier this week following a presidential decree. They had been in jail for more than six months after taking part in demonstrations against the official use of French in their regions. The arrests in December and January provoked a wave of violence that paralyzed businesses in the affected regions, which also suffered Internet disruptions.

5 Popes therapist: Pope Francis says that when he was 42 he had sessions weekly with a psychoanalyst who was female and Jewish to clarify some things. It wasnt specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore. The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with French sociologist Dominique Wolton, who is writing a soon-to-be-published book. La Stampa, an Italian daily, quoting from some of the conversations on Friday, said Francis went to the analysts home. At the time, Francis was a Jesuit official in his native Argentina, which was then ruled by military dictatorship.

6 Sandcastle: The worlds highest sandcastle is now standing 54.72 feet tall in the German city of Duisburg. The mammoth sandcastle used 3,500 tons of sand over the past 3 weeks at a site on a former steelworks in the inland city. A representative of Guinness World Records, certified the record on Friday. It takes the title from a 48.69-foot sandcastle built early this year in India. The new sandcastle is decorated with sand models of tourist attractions such as Athens Acropolis, Barcelonas Sagrada Familia and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Chronicle News Services
SEOUL  The United States and South Korea wrapped up their annual joint military exercises Thursday by flying some of their most powerful warplanes in bombing drills in a show of force two days after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan.

Two B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35 stealth fighter jets from the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps joined four South Korean F-15 fighter jets in live-fire bombing exercises over a military range in eastern South Korea, officials said.

On their way to join the South Korean jets, the U.S. warplanes flew together with two F-15s from Japans Self-Defense Forces over waters near the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu, the U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement.

This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this common regional threat, said Gen. Terrence OShaughnessy, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, referring to North Korea.

South Korean F-15s conducted a similar bombing drill over the same range on Tuesday, hours after a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile from North Korea flew over northern Japan and splashed into the Pacific after a flight of nearly 1,700 miles.

North Koreas test on Tuesday marked the first time that a missile from the North had flown over another country. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, said on Wednesday that the test could be a curtain raiser for more such tests in the Pacific. The missile test rattled a region increasingly concerned about North Koreas fast-advancing missile capabilities and its increasingly bold way of demonstrating them.

Kim said that he would watch the United States actions before deciding whether to conduct more missile tests, including in waters around Guam, a U.S. territory that is home to Andersen Air Force Base, from which the B-1B Lancer bombers participating in the drills on Thursday took off. The F-35 jets flew from a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Japan.

Hours after Kims warning, the United States conducted what it called a previously planned missile-defense test, intercepting a medium-range ballistic missile fired from a Navy guided-missile destroyer off the coast of Hawaii.

Also on Wednesday, President Trump declared talking is not the answer to resolving the prolonged standoff over North Koreas nuclear and missile programs. But hours later, when asked by reporters if the United States was out of diplomatic solutions with North Korea, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, replied: No.

On Thursday, Mattis said he agreed with Trump that the U.S. should not be talking to North Korea now. He appeared clearly annoyed by persistent reports of rifts, or at least differences in views, with Trump, reported the Associated Press.

There is no contradiction at all there, he said. No disagreement with the president.

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, the 11-day joint military exercises the United States and South Korea completed Thursday, involved tens of thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, although the exercises were conducted largely through computer simulations.

Whenever such joint exercises take place, North Korea accuses the South and the United States of preparing for an invasion and often conducts its own military exercises and missile tests.

Choe Sang-Hun is a New York Times writer.
Kiwibank Banking Group posted a 57 percent drop in full year net profit while its holding company, Kiwi Group Holdings, reported a 56 percent drop, due to the significant impact of an IT project impairment.

Kiwibank's net profit was $53 million in the year to June 2017 versus $124 million in the prior period while its underlying profit was $122 million compared with $124 million in the prior period. The bank's holding company, Kiwi Group Holdings, which includes Kiwibank, Kiwi Wealth and Kiwi Insurance, posted a 56 percent drop in net profit to $58 million from $131 million.

The result was significantly impacted by an impairment of $90 million ($65 million after tax) relating to the work in progress on the IT project known as CoreMod, the Wellington-based company said. The decision to make the impairment is a result of a strategic review of the project aimed at modernizing the company's core banking system.

Chief executive Paul Brock said meeting rapidly-changing technology and customer requirements is key. "In the past year over 40 percent of sales, for example, were completed through a digital channel. More than 57 percent of customers digitally connect with Kiwibank, collectively over 27 million times each month," he said. Those numbers are expected to climb.

As a result, CoreMod is being reviewed to assess the value of some of the work completed so far. While this review is being completed, a decision has been made to impair the value of the work in progress which currently sits on the balance sheet as an intangible asset, Kiwibank said.

Kiwibank grew its total lending on home loans, business banking and credit cards by 6.8 percent to $17.8 billion, while its customer deposits increased 8.1 percent to $16.00 billion. It had an 8.0 percent market share at the end of June. It's operating expenses increased were $339 million versus $301 million in the prior year.

The ownership of the holding company was diversified during the financial year. Previously wholly owned by the state-owned postal service New Zealand Post, the group now has three government shareholders, with NZ Post owning 53 percent, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund 25 percent and the Accident Compensation Corp 22 percent.

Earlier this month Kiwibank announced Brock will leave the state-owned lender at the end of the year, ending seven years in charge of the country's fifth biggest bank.

(BusinessDesk)

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By IANS: Chhattisgarh, one of India's youngest states, goes to the polls on Friday to elect 39 of the state's 90 legislators in the first of the two-phase elections.



The Election Commission said 6.4 million of the state's 15.2 million voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in 8,883 polling stations to decide the electoral fortunes of 379 candidates, including 36 women, in the first phase.



This phase will decide the fortunes of Chief Minister Raman Singh (Rajnandgaon), opposition leader and Congress candidate Mahendra Karma (Dantewada) and House Speaker Premprakash Pandey (Bhilai).



The constituencies of cabinet ministers Ajay Chandrakar (Kurud) and Hemchand Yadav (Durg city), besides Congress leader Motilal Vora's son Arun Vora and Congress leader Arvind Netam's daughter Priti Netam, will also see polling on Friday.



The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are contesting all 39 seats.



The Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded nine candidates and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) three.



The Bastar region's 12 constituencies, where Maoist guerrillas dominate, Durg district's 12 constituencies, six in Rajnandgaon district, four in Mahasamund district, three in Dhamtari district and two in Kabirdham district will also see polling in the first phase.



All eyes are set on the Bastar region that is home to five districts: Kanker, Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur and Bastar. About 65,000 policemen have been deployed in the 12 constituencies to take on Maoist guerrillas who have vowed to disrupt the elections.



Bastar has witnessed over 1,100 casualties in Maoist violence since 2004.



The polling will begin at 7 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. for Bastar's 12 seats, where security personnel have a task cut out to escort voters and polling parties as well.



The polling timing for the rest of the seats will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.



"The decision to start polling early in Bastar's Dantewada, Konta, Bijapur, Keshkal, Kondagaon, Bastar, Jagdalpur, Chitrakot, Narayanpur, Antagarh, Bhanupratappur and Kanker is taken in view of insurgency problems, to ensure the polling teams sent in the interior regions return (to district headquarters) the same day safely," said Alok Shukla, the state's chief election officer.



Bastar Inspector General A.N. Upadhaya told IANS: "Bastar region's border with Orissa and Andhra Pradesh has been sealed off."



Authorities have kept ready about a dozen choppers in Bastar to airlift polling parties to polling booths and also bring them back to safer areas before sunset.



The Election Commission has set up auxiliary polling booths at 23 government-run makeshift camps at Bijapur, Konta and Dantewada where about 13,000 voters are living with families after being uprooted by the government-backed civil militia movement, Salwa Judum.



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When an unidentified body is found, Indian Railways provide a sum of Rs 1,500 for the last rites of the dead. To get his hands on the sum, a policeman in Bihar disposed a dead body in a river.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Meet the insensitive railway policeman in Bihar who shamelessly disposed a dead body for easy money. A railway police officer and another person were caught on camera disposing a body in a river.

The incident took place on Thursday when the unidentified body was found at Darbhanga Railway Station by Government Railway Police (GRP).

As per the rules, if an unidentified body is found, Indian Railways provide a sum of Rs 1,500 to conduct the last rites of the dead.

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Tempted by the amount, GRP officer Awdhesh Mishra and a driver of an ambulance in which the body was kept, decided to throw the body in Bagmati river on the Darbhanga - Samastipur road, to get their hands on the money.

When they did so, a passerby recorded the shameful act. The passerby even questioned Awdhesh and the driver about what they were doing.

Awdhesh was quick to reply to the passerby saying that the body had decomposed and that was why they were throwing the body in the river.

The person who had captured the incident on camera later uploaded the video on social media sites triggering massive anger amongst people.

The viewers not only shared the video but also posted angry comments against the police department.

Soon, the video went viral and the railway SP also came to know about it. The SP ordered a probe into the case in which the incident was prima facie found to be true.

The department swung into action and suspended Awadesh Mishra.

VIDEO: Railway policeman in Bihar dumps body in river

FYI || Aligarh: Muslim man travels in train wearing burqa to escape being lynched ||

FYI || Bihar: Snake bites man, man bites wife because he wanted to die together ||

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Forex trading is becoming increasing popular because the process of trading currency can be highly beneficial. However, there are a number of trading scams targeting individuals who are new to the business. There are brokers who are reliable and trustworthy but it is hard to tell these apart from those who arent. Binary trading is another popular new type of trading which is also vulnerable to scams. Fortunately, there are plenty of guides to help you avoid scams online. Heres how to know if you have been involved in a Forex trading scam.

Communication Breakdown

The first warning sign of a Forex trading scam is usually communication failing. Typical red flags include the broker failing to respond to emails or phone calls for an extended period of time. Watch out for the broker being vague about details of a trade. A lack of communication does not always indicate that individuals have been involved in a scam but it is important that it is addressed early. Sometimes simply stating a preference for regular communication is enough to resolve the issue. However, if the trader cannot get in touch with the broker and is unable to withdraw money from the trading account, then this is when it is time to seek legal advice. This is also the case if theyre not keeping you up to date with the latest industry news, or ignoring things that could potentially cause your trading investments to fail, such as nations facing financial threats, or important global market changes.

Sign Up Process Fails

Some people involved in trading scams have found themselves unable to complete sign up processes on their chosen brokers website. This is a good indicator that the broker is a fraud. The broker should be providing the trader with a trading platform, demonstration and demo account in order to get started. Avoid proceeding any further with brokers when this happens, otherwise you could find yourself being the victim of a scam.

Read the Fine Print

When opening a trading account it is important to read all of the available information. Common loopholes to watch out for include the broker claiming bonuses or additional income from the trader. It is best to be knowledgeable about the entire processprior to making any formal agreements. Remember that incentives to sign up may be used against the trader at a later date, so be careful before finding yourself in a contract with a broker who does not have your best interests at heart.

Unable To Withdraw Money

The biggest warning sign that you are involved in a trading scam is that your ability to withdraw money from your trading account becoming suddenly blocked. To avoid this being extremely damaging to your personal and business finances, it is best to begin trading with a small amount of money. Trade with a small account for a few months to start with, if this is proving to be unproblematic and successful you can then consider trying to expand your trading. However, if you have problems during this period, which cannot be resolved by discussing them with your broker, it is best to close the account.

Read Online Reviews

Before you agree to anything, make sure you do your research. Look out for common complaints such as being unable to withdraw money, or having brokers which disappear after a few weeks. There have been a number of high profile trading scams publicised in the media recently, it is valuable for potential traders to familiarise themselves with common scams. If you are unfortunate enough to have bad experience, try to help prevent others having the same problem by sharing your experiences online in detail. This will help to prevent the rise of fraudulent brokers.

It is important to remember that occasionally, traders can make simple mistakes which they interpret as their brokers attempting to scam them. Making accusations can seriously damage the relationship between trader and broker. However, if you have done your research, and feel that you are being put in a position which is not benefiting you, it is best to approach the broker for an explanation. If you are not satisfied with your explanation, or feel that you have encountered several of these warning signs, it is possible that you have been involved in a trading scam. To prevent scams from being highly damaging, undertake in depth research into your chosen broker and begin trading with a small amount of capital for the first few months.
The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Rohingyas walk along the road to reach the refugee camp after crossing the border in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on August 31, 2017. Photo: Reuters

By Press Trust of India: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on Monday a plea challenging the decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar, on various grounds including that it violated international human rights conventions.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send Rohingyas back to their native land.

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The plea filed by two Rohingya immigrants that they were facing persecution in Myanmar and that the decision to send them back was in violation of various international conventions.

On August 18, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.

He had said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the Union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

The Centre had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally-staying foreign nationals.

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In the study financing year 2017, sixty three (63) students study financing recipients have departed to pursue tertiary education. Thirty four (34) students left for the Netherlands, seventeen (17) left for the United States, one (1) left for curacao, eight (8) left for Canada and three (3) left for the United Kingdom. The students who arrived in the Netherlands were greeted by the United St. Maarten Connection (USC). USC is a group of dynamic young St. Maarten professionals who are currently living and working in the Netherlands. In collaboration with the Division of Study Financing (DSF), and the St. Maarten House, the USC organized an orientation week of activities for the new students. A team of guidance counselors were responsible for guiding the students. The four guidance counselors were: Mrs. Clara Browne-James, Ms. Roxiomarah Richardson, Mrs. Xaviera Archangel, and Ms. Letiticia Flanders. The students, which travelled to Tallahassee, were welcome by the Tallahassee/St. Maarten Foundation. A welcome ceremony and orientation week with activities was organized for the nine students. The guidance counselors responsible for the students were Ms. Edwina Jacobs and Mrs. Jacqueline Roumou-Carty.





To date, approximately Naf. 2,321,384.00 has been paid out to 219 study financing recipients studying in St. Maarten and the Region (USA, Canada, England and other Caribbean islands). To date 73 students have not submitted their transcripts and 2016 Parental Tax Income Declaration.





Approximately Naf. 98,215.95 has been paid to 77 study financing recipients studying in the Netherlands. To date 48 students have not submitted their transcript and 2016 Parental Tax Income Declaration.





The Ministry ECYS is extremely proud with the high level of professionalism displayed by USC and the St. Maarten/Tallahassee Foundation and we are looking forward to future collaborations. Thanks to the efforts of all involved all the students have been able to complete the initial startup activities and transition process successfully.




In the inaugural session of the three-day meeting of the RSS, it was decided that it will no longer pursue the Ram Temple agenda, instead, it will focus on the internal security of the country.

By Siraj Qureshi: As the 2019 parliamentary elections are nearing, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has started strategizing to ensure the return of the BJP and PM Modi into power, making it clear that despite what the party leaders may claim, the Sangh's policies do hold sway in the BJP.

In the inaugural session of the three-day meeting of the RSS being held at Keshav Dham in Vrindavan (Mathura) today, it was decided that the Sangh will no longer pursue the Ram Temple agenda as it was being heard by the Supreme Court of India, and instead, it will focus on the internal security of the country.

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RSS national publicity chief Dr Manmohan Vaidya told India Today that the RSS has taken feedback from all corners of the country on the internal security of India and the review of this internal security will be the main agenda of this important meeting in Vrindavan.

Vaidya said that the current condition of the country's internal security requires strong leadership and strict action, whether it be against terrorism or separatism. All these points will be discussed in this meeting.

He said that on the national-level, the Sangh has 35 auxiliary organizations and all these organizations have been tasked to send in their reports and recommendations, which will be discussed in this meeting. The final strategy of the Sangh will incorporate all these points.

According to internal Sangh sources, the 2nd September meeting could be dedicated to the decision on the upcoming cabinet reshuffle in the Modi government. PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have already discussed on this matter and now only the RSS approval remains on the names. It is quite probable that the BJP chief Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh are arriving in Vrindavan for precisely this reason. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is already camping in Vrindavan since the past 2-3 days, so the security arrangements have been strengthened around the RSS camp.

Bhagwat told India Today that this special meeting has been called to discuss the current scenario of the country and all RSS volunteers have been invited to give their opinion on all matters containing national and internal security. He said that the RSS has been giving its assistance to the government from time to time in the interest of the country and its people and the inferences derived from this meeting will also be given to the government in order to provide a comprehensive view of the country.

An RSS functionary told India Today that it will be the Sangh's agenda that issues like the Jammu-Kashmir unrest and the lack of proper coordination between BJP-led state governments and the central government are discussed and some solutions are found to these issues. Apart from that, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be presented with the Sangh's suggestions for the development of the Braj region. The Sangh will also demand that Mathura be declared 'Teerth Nagri' and the cow be declared 'National Animal'. Also, the Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be invited to discuss the issue of wiping out terrorism from the country and the deteriorating relations with Pakistan.

ALSO READ:

RSS meet likely to be attended by Amit Shah, top leaders

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Rahul Gandhi's message to Congress: RSS, not BJP, is Enemy No 1

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Skidmore has appointed Sean Campbell as its new Collyer Vice President for Advancement, overseeing fundraising and alumni engagement. President Philip Glotzbach says, "I believe Sean is uniquely qualified to energetically and effectively lead our efforts as we enter the public phase of the Creating Our Future campaign."



Sean Campbell Sean Campbell

Campbell brings 18 years of experience in higher education development. As the managing director of individual giving at University of Chicago Medicine, since 2012 he led a group responsible for raising millions of dollars for the university's research and clinical programs, Pritzker School of Medicine, Kovler Diabetes Center and community health programs. Earlier he was responsible for the Chicago Society leadership annual-giving program, major gifts, and alumni events and programs across the Midwest and South.



Laila Rashid, University of Chicago Medicine vice president for development, says, "In addition to his fundraising acumen, Sean's ability to bring together faculty, senior administrators, donors and volunteer leaders to advance the university's mission was a hallmark of his success here. This-and his ability to attract and develop talented staff-will serve Skidmore well."



Before his time at Chicago, Campbell was at Bates College in Maine for 10 years, serving as director of the parents and family association, leadership giving officer, and director of leadership giving and donor programs. He holds a BA in journalism and communications from the University of Maine.



At Skidmore he will lead 55 employees in development, alumni relations and college events, and advancement services. Looking forward to assuming his position on October 16, as Skidmore gears up for the public launch of the $200 million Creating Our Future campaign in mid-November, he remarks, "The learning and growth that students experience at an academically rigorous liberal arts college is more essential now than ever. I'm excited to join the advancement team and work with President Glotzbach and the Skidmore community to increase vital support for the people and programs that are at the heart of the college's mission."



Campbell replaces Kim Verstandig, who returns to her campaign directorship and associate VP role after serving as interim VP since March, when Michael Casey moved to Trinity College. "We thank Kim for her excellent service and leadership during this critical campaign phase," Glotzbach says, "and we welcome our new colleague Sean to Skidmore."
By PTI: (Eds: Adds two lines in para 4)

New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) A reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers appeared imminent with minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy resigning tonight amid speculation that some more ministers may quit ahead of the exercise expected before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for China on Sunday.

BJP chief Amit Shah, who held a meeting with some senior ministers at his residence in the morning, met Modi later in the day.

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Sources said more ministers may resign as Modi prepares to induct new faces, including those from the JD(U) and AIADMK, into his council of ministers.

Rudy, who was holding the portfolio of skill development and entrepreneurship and represents Bihars Saran Lok Sabha constituency, is expected to be given an organisational assignment in the BJP, sources close to him said.

Sources said Kalraj Mishra, who had met Shah today, may also resign. He is well above 75 years, the age bar the party has informally set for ministers.

Earlier in the day, Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey was appointed Uttar Pradesh BJP president in place of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, creating one more vacancy in the Council of Ministers.

The reshuffle may take place before Modi departs for China to attend the BRICS summit.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has also reportedly offered to quit on health grounds.

AIADMKs Thambi Durai and K Venugopal are being seen as among likely representatives of their party in the Cabinet if the Tamil Nadu party joins the Modi government. At least two members of the JD(U) are also likely to join.

There are several vacancies in the government while some senior ministers, including Arun Jaitley and Harsh Vardhan, are holding additional portfolios.

The president is scheduled to leave for Tirupati tomorrow. As of now nothing has been communicated to Rashtrapati Bhawan, as per sources. PTI KR/SKC PYK SK GVS

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In an exclusive interview to India Today, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said for students, PM Modi is a bigger superstar than cinema superstars.

By India Today Web Desk: Such is the charisma of Narendra Modi among Indian youth that the Prime Minister is now a bigger superstar than even filmstars, mystic yogi Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev told India Today in an exclusive interview.

"When I speak to the students, in their minds, today Narendra Modi has become a bigger superstar than the cinema superstars. In a way, it is a positive development because at least from some cinematic thing they are moving into real life," the spiritual leader said.

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The Sadhguru, who runs the Isha Foundation, said the Tamil youth however wants PM Modi to speak in their language - Tamil.

"They want him (Modi) to speak in Tamil. Because as you understand Tamil is not just a language, it is an entity, a civilisation and entity beyond language. When we say Tamil we are not talking of a language but an entire civilisation," Vasudev said.

While explaining the reign of superstars-turned-politicians in the South, he said our love for cinema is more than love for our motherland, our nation or even our own well-being.

Speaking on the politics of Tamil Nadu, Sadhguru, said, "Tamil people are generally considered very intelligent. But, there politics runs in a different way. Movie stars have a larger than life image in Tamil Nadu, and people vote for that image."

On India's democratic values, he opined that India is not yet a full-fledged democracy.

"We are still a feudalistic society transiting into a democratic process but I feel that there is a movement for democracy," he said.

With controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh being held guilty of raping two sadhvis, people in India have become more skeptical of spiritual and religious gurus.

"I have no idea how people followed him (Ram Rahim) after experiencing so much atrocity from his hands. I am yet to come to terms with what has happened," Sadhguru said on the controversy surrounding Ram Rahim.

Describing Ram Rahim as a black mark on our face he said the jailed godman is a product of forced secularism.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:

EXCLUSIVE Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev: Tamilians wish Modi spoke Tamil

Also read:

Unholy Baba: Gurmeet Ram Rahim's fall from guru to rapist

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On Thursday, at least 10 patients got the radiotherapy services which is recommended for patients suffering with the deadly disease.

By Priyanka Sharma: It took nearly one and a half years for the Safdarjung Hospital to restart its radiotherapy department, giving a sigh of relief to thousands of cancer patients.

On Thursday, at least 10 patients got the radiotherapy services which is recommended for patients suffering with the deadly disease.

In 2015, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had asked the Safdarjung Hospital to shut down the radiotherapy services for not complying with the board's directives on safety measures.

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Dr AK Rai, director, Safdarjung Hospital informed Mail Today, "It was very unfortunate that we had to shut down the radiotherapy department in 2015 on the orders of AERB, but today, we got the approval again to make the department functional. We have appointed a fresh radiological safety officer. For now, we are starting with a single machine - Cobalt-60. Our two radiotherapy machines are condemned, so we have written to the higher authorities for latest LINAC (Liner Accelerator)."

However, Rai failed to explain such a long delay. In this gap, the patients whoever approcahed Safdarjung for treatment, were sent to AIIMS, LNJP and Delhi State Cancer Institute. Many also chose to private hospitals, added Rai.

According to AERB's pervious order, the hospital had not fixed the issues, including nonrenewal of licence for operation and non-availability of working.

Also Read:

Good news for bladder cancer patients: Safdarjung begins treatment with laser

Cancer: Precision medicine finds a new mantra - cure is inside the patient

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By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on September 4 a plea against deportation of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar on several grounds, including violation of international human rights conventions.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, considered the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the plea required urgent hearing in view of the decision of the government to send the Rohingya tribals back to their native land.

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The plea, filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), claimed they had taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.

"Proposed deportation is contrary to the constitutional protections of Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty) and Article 51(c) of the Constitution of India, which provides equal rights and liberty to every person.

"This act would also be in contradiction with the principle of Non-Refoulement, which has been widely recognised as a principle of Customary International Law," the plea said, while seeking a direction to the government not to deport them and other members of Rohingya community.

It has also sought a direction that Rohingyas be provided "basic amenities to ensure that they can live in human conditions as required by international law".

It also said that India has ratified and is a signatory to various conventions that recognise the Principle of "Non- Refoulement, which prohibits deportation of refugees to a country where they may face threat to their lives.

The principle of non-refoulement ? or not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger ? is considered part of customary international law and is binding on all states whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not.

"Though India has not ratified the UNCHR Convention on Refugees, India has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

"Further, India is also a signatory to the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced Disappearances, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," the plea said, adding that all these international treaties and conventions lay down the Principle of Non-Refoulement.

The petition further said that India has traditionally been hospitable host of refugees and displaced people, both from South Asia and across the world.

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"Considering the mass massacre of the Rohingya community in their home county, India must continue to accord refuge to the Rohingya population residing in India and refrain from deporting them," it said.

Last week, government had raised "serious concern" over reports of renewed violence and attacks in Myanmar and extended its "strong" support to the Myanmarese government at this "challenging moment".

On August 18, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notice to the Centre over its plan to deport the Rohingya immigrants, who are residing in various parts of India.

The Rohingyas, who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar, have settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that over 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India. He had also said that around 40,000 Rohingyas were staying in India illegally.

In a communication to all states, the union home ministry had said the rise of terrorism in last few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are prone to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

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It had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally- staying foreign nationals.

Rohingya community self-identify as a distinct ethnic group, with their own language and culture, and claim a long- standing connection to Rakhine State in Myanmar.

However, successive governments in Myanmar have rejected their claims and were not included in the list of recognised ethnic groups. Most Rohingyas are stateless.

The outbreak of violence against Rohingyas especially in June-October 2012, led to hundreds of cases of injury, death, destruction of property and displacement of 1,40,000 people and around 1,20,000 individuals remain in internally displaced camps in central Rakhine State.

Myanmar has one of the largest stateless populations in the world with some 10,90,000 stateless persons, predominately Rohingya in Rakhine State. PTI SJK RRT ABA MNL RKS ARC

--- ENDS ---
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0273020)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0277380)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0273020)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0277380)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f026dc48)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0277380)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0277380)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e1d7e8b0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f025e118)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f025e118)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02231f8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0250ba8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02231f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0250ba8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0267d40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0250ba8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0250ba8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e1d7de68)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0176d70)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0176d70)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f023a128)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00a82e8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f023a128)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00a82e8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01f3128)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00a82e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f00a82e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e1d7e808)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f02496e0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f02496e0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
They say a healthy lifestyle is all about balance, and it doesn't get much more 'balanced' than this.

Beer yoga is coming to Canberra, where you literally balance your way through a yoga class, with poses incorporating sips of beer along the way.

Yoga instructor Jo Flynn (centre) is running Bend and Beer yoga sessions at the Capital Brewing Co Brewery in Fyshwick.

'Bend and beer' is being run by local yoga instructor Jo Flynn at the soon-to-be-opened Capital Brewing Co Brewery in Fyshwick.

The first class is on on Saturday September 16 at the very respectable hour of 11am, with plans for more depending on demand.
A Canberra company director transferred real estate into his wife's name the same day a court found his cleaning business had underpaid staff.

Justice Jayne Jagot said it could be inferred that Angelo Di Dio and Phillips Cleaning Service had deliberately attempted to "place their assets beyond the reach" of the workers they owed up to $300,000 in unpaid wages.

ACT school cleaner Htoo Ywai was among non-English-speaking workers who claimed they were being underpaid. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The court heard the workers had not yet received their money.

In a judgment, published on Friday, the Federal Court judge fined the cleaning company $110,000 and Mr Di Dio $20,000 for breaches of the Fair Work Act.
A Somali man is behind bars after a jury found him guilty of threatening and raping a sex worker when three men stormed an apartment in Canberra's inner north and attacked two women.

The two sex workers were threatened at knifepoint, dragged into a bedroom and repeatedly raped after one of the men made a booking on website Cracker.com and arrived at the Reid unit with two others the night of March 16 in 2016.

Rashid Mohamed Abuuh, 24, was found guilty in the ACT Supreme Court of threatening and raping a sex worker.

One of the women hid and sent text messages to a friend when the three arrived, telling her to call police. She was found cowering behind the lounge before one of the men dragged her into the bedroom and raped her.

The men fled when two people arrived at the door to help.
Melbourne drivers are being overcharged about 4 a litre for petrol as stations bump up their retail margin, the consumer watchdog says.

The city's motorists have paid about $150 million too much for petrol in the past year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.



"Even if you allow for cost increases petrol companies have incurred, the underlying price is still a good 4 a litre too much," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
Paying Slater and Gordon's former chief executive Andrew Grech a remuneration package of $1.5 million in a year when the company almost collapsed isn't a good look.

That the company is valued on the market at $28 million, after overseeing a strategy that resulted in the decimation of billions of dollars of shareholder funds, doesn't help the optics.

Slater and Gordon CEO Andrew Grech will continue to receive fees equivalent to his base salary as managing director at $560,384 until he leaves. Credit:Louie Douvis

Nor does a board decision to shell out a $1.6 million package to the chief financial officer, Bryce Houghton, whose resignation coincided with the company's announced full-year loss of $547 million, including an impairment charge of $350 million on its disastrous UK acquisition in 2015.

The way executives are paid, in good times and bad, speaks volumes about a company's culture. It also says a lot about the board.
After the two LA-based women entrepreneurs realised they were not being taken seriously in the industry, Kate Dwyer and Penelop Gazin of Witchsy decided to pretend that they have a male co-founder.

By India Today Web Desk: Let's begin with a question for our male readers. Imagine you and a buddy of yours launch a start-up, and discover that a lot of your female vendors and service providers don't show you a lot of respect.

Delayed responses to messages, supercilious language, a professional e-mail which addresses you not by name, but simply as "boys" - it gets so bad that you decide to 'invent' a third co-founder. Let's call her Preethi Khanna.

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Then, magic! When your female collaborators think they're hearing from Preethi, the replies are prompt, and even accompanied by unsolicited offers of extra help. Now guys, be honest. How many male start-up owners do you think have been in this situation? Hmm?

Yes, we thought so. But reverse the gender roles in this tale of sexism and social experimentation, and you get a true story - the story of Witchsy (an online marketplace for artists) co-founders Kate Dwyer and Penelope Gazin, as reported by Fast Company.

Dwyer summed it up when she told Fast Company that the responses she and 'Keith Mann' got were like "night and day."

Laura M Williams, a Twitter user, said the duo's story was "simultaneously hilarious and tragic."

Her tweet caught the eye of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who shared Dwyer's and Gazin's tale with her 12.2 million followers.

All this comes comes weeks after an internal memo at one of the world's best-known companies recast the spotlight on sexism in Silicon Valley.

Google fired one of its employees , James Damore, for his nativist explanation of the gender gap in the the industry and in management roles.

In a note that CEO Sundar Pichai called "offensive," Damore wrote that "distribution of preferences and abilities in men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don't see equal representation of women in tech and leadership."

Later in the month, the Economist meticulously dismantled Damore's argument in a piece titled, 'The e-mail Larry Page (CEO of Alphabet, Google's parent company) should have written to James Damore.' It was an article that Kate Dwyer, Penelope Gazin, and thousands of women would have been proud of.

""We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism," you write. But we know there is sexism! We don't need to infer it from the existence of gender gaps," the magazine told Damore.

We're sure 'Keith Mann' would agree.

--- ENDS ---
The bank's chairman, Catherine Livingstone, announced that its CEO Ian Narev and his team would not receive any short-term bonuses. And these bonuses would have been substantial, thanks to another record earnings result. The executive team are not the only ones suffering. The board has also cut its pay by 20 per cent for this year, all in the name of corporate atonement. It obviously was not enough for some investors: Livingstone later announced Narev's plans to retire. Seven West boss Tim Worner also sacrificed what little bonus he would have received last year - which the board was planning to take anyway after what he discreetly described as "not a stellar year". The not-so-stellar year included the legal fallout from his affair with former company employee Amber Harrison. And yet another corporation with a tarnished reputation, Domino's Pizza, followed this path with CEO, Don Meij, and three senior executives handing back their short-term incentive (STI) payments for last year, with an oblique reference to the pizza chain's wages scandal.

"They each elected to forgo their incentive entitlement to acknowledge the negative effect of publicity in relation to the franchise network," the annual report said. But the real surprising news was that, despite the disappointing financial result, Meij was still expected to pocket $660,000 more than for the previous year. 'Fixed pay dressed up' as bonuses This touches on an issue that the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) highlighted in a report last week: Why are so many CEOs getting bonuses in the first place?

While fixed pay for the CEOs of Australia's 100 biggest listed companies has remained broadly unchanged over the last decade, 86 per cent of ASX100 CEOs received a bonus in the 2016 financial year, according to the ACSI report. Given that bonuses are commonly understood to be for "exceptional performance", ACSI chief Louise Davidson says the finding begs the question, "are these amounts truly at risk?" "It's a positive sign for shareholders when boards step in and reduce bonuses to zero," says ACSI's head of Governance, Engagement and Policy, Edward John. But he cautions that it is too early to tell whether the rash of bonus forfeiture represents a new trend, or, if these examples are just outliers. There is a counter-argument - recently supported by KPMG partner Stephen Walmsley - that the problem is investors believe bonuses should be given for outperformance, while executives regard it as "at risk pay" that you only lose for underperformance.

ACSI is not a fan of this explanation. "It's fixed pay dressed up" as bonuses, says John. Cuts haven't gone 'far enough' But the focus on bonuses is not enough for some. Well-respected investor Peter Morgan still has a problem with the size of the pay packets on offer.

"I don't think it has gone far enough because it got so high," says Morgan. Banks should slash their pay levels by 25 to 50 per cent more. He cites Commbank's highly-regarded former boss, David Murray, as an example. Murray took home $2 million in pay and bonuses in 2000. Narev received remuneration totalling $12.3 million in 2016. And it isn't just the big banks which have been paying handsomely for their chiefs. Energy company AGL received a first strike against its remuneration report last year in response to the $6.9 million worth of remuneration handed out to its CEO, Andy Vesey.

He has received the same amount of pay for the financial year just ended. Running oligopolies Morgan's main problem is that he thinks local companies are overpaying for CEOs who, for the main part, run entrenched oligopolies - like our energy providers - and cyclical companies where pay turns into a lottery payout for CEOs lucky enough to have caught the upside of a business cycle. This was exacerbated by the steady flow of investment money from our $2 trillion superannuation savings and the local mindset that "the bigger the company, the more a CEO should be paid," he says. But the staid oligopoly mindset might not just be a problem for the companies. The market is not rewarding any CEO who actually tries to take even a moderate amount of risk to grow the business.
The Republic of Turkey has been forced to pay a Melbourne builder $693,824 after losing a damages claim over its consul's palatial $4 million Toorak mansion.

Builder Ralph Mackie, the sole director of the Mackie Group of Companies, won the damages after a 23-day hearing at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ended a long-running and costly building dispute.

The Turkish Consul building in Toorak Road was built by Mackie Group. Credit:Arsineh Houspian

The spat between Mr Mackie and Turkey arose after the builder was contracted in 2009 to construct a new three-storey home on Toorak Road for the then-Turkish consul general Seyit Mehmet Apak and his wife and young children.

The palatial six-bedroom house had a large reception room on the ground floor, a 25-seat dining room and industrial-scale kitchens to serve eminent guests.
Home prices in the nation's major cities rose only marginally in August as Sydney's blistering run stalled, a tentative sign of cooling that would be a relief to regulators seeking to head off a debt-driven bubble.

Property consultant CoreLogic said its index of home prices for the combined capital cities edged up just 0.1 per cent in August from July, when it surged 1.5 per cent. The index had also been updated using a new hedonic index methodology, CoreLogic said.

Annual growth in prices slowed to 9.7 per cent, from 10.5 per cent in July.

Prices in Sydney were dead flat for August, after jumping 1.4 per cent the month before, although annual growth remained strong at 13 per cent. Melbourne saw gains of 0.5 per cent in August and 12.7 per cent for the year.
Dozens of new homeowners have found a way to avoid the home-hunting "just-beyond-reach and too expensive" or "missing out at auction" nightmare.

They are forming partnerships to collectively source, develop and build their own homes, undercutting high house prices and bypassing profit-driven property developers.

A brainchild of Property Collectives founder Tim Riley, the model relies on potential owners forming a development partnership similar to Germany's Baugrauppen "building group" movement, a tradition of community-focused self-building particularly popular in Berlin.

"It started off between me, my friends and family, and pretty quickly grew beyond that," Mr Riley said.
A newly minted city-fringe landowner has splashed out $53.75 million at a portfolio auction, spending part of a multimillion-dollar windfall from the sale of a farm on two childcare centres and two supermarkets.

The glitzy commercial property auction  the first portfolio-style event for agency CBRE  held on Thursday evening in the top floor atrium of the firm's Exhibition street tower, attracted 150 would-be bidders.

Investors spent more than $100 million to buy seven properties at CBRE's inaugural portfolio auction. Credit:Nick Roberts

The event, overseen by auctioneer Paul Tzamalis, was punctuated by large-screen video previews of each property, pacey music and mood lighting.

Bidders were not shy of battling each other in $250,000 rises for many of the premium properties on sale, reflecting the heat in Australia's commercial property sector and lack of quality assets coming to market.
Kisaku Suzuki, creator of the world's first sushi robot, once ran a company that made lolly-wrapping machines. And he was angry.

Why had the Japanese government embarked on a policy to limit rice production, effectively paying some farmers to keep their paddy fields idle?

For Suzuki, rice was the sacred heart of the country's economy. He started to think about how to make the staple food more popular, so that Japan had no reason to restrict the crop.

And that's when it came to him: he would use his firm's knowledge of sweets-packaging machines to develop the robot. The idea, while off-the-wall in the mid-1970s, had a simple premise. If he could lower the cost of making sushi by mechanising parts of the process and reducing the need for highly paid chefs, he could bring the previously elite Japanese dish to the masses, and in doing so increase demand for rice.
The vote "no" campaign deployed its first TV ad, a political artifact that determinedly avoided the issue of marriage at all to focus instead on straw frocks and imaginary gay propaganda campaigns.

The ad also introduced  or reintroduced  Dr Pansy Lai to the debate. She has long been a campaigner against gay rights and activism, leading a drive to secure 17,500 votes against the Safe Schools anti-bullying program, which she said last year discriminated against Chinese culture.

"Why is this dumb s--g attacking the transgender community in a debate about marriage equality?" spewed one of Dr Lai's opponents on Facebook in response to the ad, and to subsequent claims that Dr Lai supported the dangerous pseudo-science of aversion therapy. "This stupid s--g is so off tap and totally irresponsible ... she is doing tremendous harm to a very vulnerable group of people."

It was always clear that the debate was going to turn nasty. The modern experience of civil rights activism is that it has always veered towards expanding the rights and dignity of its proponents. Dr Martin Luther King described this as the slow arc of the moral universe. In this case we have an anomaly, we see one section of society seeking to restrict the rights of another. You can't mount such a case without prompting rancour, even if you could find a way to do it good faith.

And this rancour is compounded by the fact that the "yes" case won popular support as long ago as 2007, according to one poll, and has only been increasing since then. Today, according to Essential polling, 61 per cent of Australians believe in same-sex marriage, including a majority of Liberal, Labor and Greens voters.
Vicky Marquis Glebe Cockles of the heart remain unwarmed by news of takeover It is heart-warming to know that Slater and Gordon will now be owned by hedge funds ("Foreign buyout of Slater and Gordon", September 1). But if I get injured and I need a lawyer, I'm going to look for one who is dedicated to my interests, rather than one with a "focused business strategy" and "fully diluted share capital". Paul Hardage Faulconbridge

Law firms don't arrange debt-for-equity swaps with hedge funds. Slater and Gordon is a business and should be reported upon as such. To do otherwise does a disservice to those of us involved in real law firms. Richard Brennan Killara Monotremes on the move The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust is opening up the 1.8-hectare Sub Base Platypus site and it will become "Sydney's newest cultural and commercial hub" ("Platypus out of hiding", September 1). I suspect there might be more to it. A few hundred apartments, perhaps? Imagine all the extra traffic that's going to be coming to those narrow streets. Tim Egan Mosman

A little more colour on the haberdashery horizon to benefit all What a great step in our social evolution were boys permitted and unafraid to dress as they choose ("Are we really afraid of boys in dresses?" August 31). It could lead to a generation of political and business leaders with enough guts to wear something other than the uniform grey business suit, black shoes and tie. These brave new progressives may even develop an ability to make intelligent decisions which benefit all of us, regardless of gender, race and beliefs. Paul Finnegan Broken Head What's all the fuss about boys wearing skirts? Many a braw laddie wears them. They're called the kilt.

Coral Button North Epping Ringing the cash register of cruelty I welcomed Peter Martin's column ("Fresh approach to detention can save dollars and lives", August 31), because he points out that even though it appears that our MPs have abandoned human decency and compassion with regard to asylum seekers for political reasons, they might be still sensitive to economic considerations. The trouble is that our major parties are not prepared to work together for a bipartisan solution; rather they are each keeping the poor unfortunate asylum seekers as a big stick to beat the other, should mercy be shown! In the absence of compassion, is it possible that the economics of this systemic cruelty might persuade them to do otherwise? Maureen Keady Maroubra Hobson's choice of candidates

I followed Maureen King's suggestion (Letters, September 1) and visited the NSW Electoral Commission to check to see if any candidates are property developers or associates thereof in my Hornsby Shire and mayor listings. An impressive 45 candidates. But not even one developer! Rather just the usual suspects of Liberal, Labor, some independents and the Greens. What a choice! Raymond Silins Beecroft Taking tour temperature It doesn't matter if Qantas stop in Dubai or Singapore, they are both overrated, hot cities ("Goodbye to Dubai: Qantas stopovers shift", September 1). Peter Miniutti Ashbury

Surely a place to duck Wheeny Creek may be the only place ("The one suburb with no one born overseas", September 1) but you wouldn't live in a suburb that didn't have a Chinese restaurant, would ya? Richard Hunter Kings Langley Not quite the ticket Apropos Derryn Hinch's old US social security card, I've just discovered I still have an old Oyster card from a visit to London last year. Does that make me un-Australian?
He did mention reducing immigration. Immigration has had a fair amount of support in the past, but on this Abbott is striking an increasingly supported position, but not for the dog-whistling reasons he has. (The right deed for the wrong reasons.) To the contrary, people seeking reduced immigration are worried as much about the environment as house prices or being "swamped". More delusion. Abbott vowed to remain "as a vocal MP for as long as Liberal-conservative values need a strong advocate". But a new coal-fired power station is not a conservative proposition. It is a reactionary one. Much of Abbott's agenda is reactionary not conservative. It seeks to go back to an earlier world which is no longer sustainable  cheap coal-generated electricity. Conservatives, on the other hand, want to conserve and sustain their societies. To do that you have to move with them, albeit slowly. The latest Abbott essay is viewed as another swipe at Turnbull. But I don't think it is primarily so. Abbott wants to fight for the rearguard reactionary program against what Turnbull might do if the pressure from the reactionary wing is off. In that respect Abbott is lucky, because so many people were wrong about Turnbull. They thought he would push for the things he believes in and move his party to the majority position on a lot of questions. Instead, he has turned out to be the man who wants to be Prime Minister for the sake of being Prime Minister, not someone who wants to be Prime Minister to do something.

It means that Abbott has not had to work very hard to ensure that the nation does not move (at least for now) to where he does not want it to go. Abbott does not understand "valve" changes  ones in which a change goes through a valve and there is no going back, scream and kick as he might. Conservatives will agree or even actively promote "valve" changes if they feel there is widespread support for them. That is what conservatives do. Good examples are the New Zealand National Party and the British Conservative Party legislating for marriage equality and John Howard legislating for strong gun control in defiance of reactionaries who rejected new majority opinion. A example of "valve" change, with attendant legislation, in Australia in the past decade or more, has been the unacceptability of discrimination or being offensive against minorities.

Earlier it was slavery, male-only suffrage, child labour. No-one would argue that these are commonsense therefore inevitable, to use Abbott's words. Their abolition were valve changes. Similarly, once Australia becomes a republic, has marriage equality and abolishes Christian prayers at the beginning of parliamentary sessions, there will be no going back. No-one will wake up afterwards and say, "Let's ask Britain if we can borrow their monarch," or "Let's restrict marriage," or "Let's have prayers." The reason is that the previous position was exposed as untenable and seen that way by an increasing number of people until it became the majority position. That is the time conservatives take it on, as they have taken on the Australian national anthem while reactionaries would prefer God Save the Queen. The previous position was only tenable because it was an unquestioned status quo. The only exceptions have been prime minister's "captain's calls", which rather proves the valve-change rule. The reactionary restoration of knights and dames, for example, was made by one captain and did not need (and most certainly would not have got) approval by Cabinet, the party room or the Parliament, let alone the people. The fact that the madly out-of-tune decision could and was made by just one person without reference to anyone else puts it in a category of its own, where what would normally be a valve decision is reversed. But one-person calls can be just as easily cancelled, and are.

Leaving aside "captain's picks", with its hopelessly inappropriate team-sport analogy in a disparate society like ours whose members do not cheer at the same time, Abbott's conduct invites a brief reflection on Australian leadership. Active, let's-get-on-with-it leadership (Gough Whitlam and John Hewson) has its scary moments, but it beats reaction or do-nothing stagnation. Australia has had far too much do-nothing stagnation. From the vibrant days of the 1993 election when both Keating and Hewson presented direction and vision (whichever one you preferred), we have had quarter of a century of small targets; same-song-sheet; risk-averse leadership with a brief interlude of Howard's courageous gun control and GST ventures and the Rudd-Swan response to the global financial crisis. The lack of direction and vision these days means that Hewson is now vying with Kim Beazley as the best prime minister we never had. At least he had a program. On social issues he would have progressed rather than dug in and the hard edges of his economic policies would have been rounded out and the most workable been adopted. His publications since joining the Crawford School at ANU show this. After the GST, the Howard-Costello government lapsed into buying votes on the back of the mining boom and little else. And the Rudd government abdicated leadership after it dropped its "greatest moral issue of our time" climate-change policy when the Greens allowed perfection to get in the way of the doable and blocked it in the Senate. Since then, leadership has wallowed with few exceptions (like the national disability scheme).
The military watchdog has made a rare public plea for soldiers and veterans to come forward with any information they have about possible war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan.

The office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force has been carrying out a secretive inquiry into the claims about the conduct of special forces troops for more than a year. On Friday, it issued a statement saying it "wants to hear from anyone with information concerning rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict" by Australians in Afghanistan.

New South Wales Supreme Court and Army Reserve officer Judge Paul Brereton, who is leading the inquiry as assistant Inspector-General, made the public plea for further information.

"While the inquiry has already spoken to many sources, we would like to hear from anyone else who has any relevant information," Major-General Brereton said.
Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar power the story of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. The film is thoroughly enjoyable and one of the best from Bollywood this year.

By Ananya Bhattacharya: Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar power the story of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. The film is thoroughly enjoyable and one of the best from Bollywood this year.

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Neeraj Sood, Seema Pahwa, Brijendra Kala

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan Director: RS Prasanna

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan Rating: (4/5)

"Aap bekar mein chhoti baat ko bada bana rahe ho," says a concerned 'animal' doctor to Mudit (Ayushmann Khurrana) when he is dragged to a clinic by his concerned to-be father-in-law. Pat comes Mudit's reply, "Wahi toh karne ki koshish kar raha hoon!"

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Tamil director RS Prasanna makes his Bollywood debut with Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, a rom-com centred on a couple and the man's inability to, in crude terms, 'get it up'. Mudit likes Sugandha (Bhumi Pednekar) and the latter waits for him to make a move, a la, a Bollywood hero (blame Shah Rukh Khan's Raj Malhotra for every woman in India hoping their Prince Charmings would be as charming!). Mudit tries and fails miserably and an online rishta follows it to Sugandha's home. The parents meet via a video call and Mudit and Sugandha decide to get married.

Inside a DDA flat, after a date, Sugandha and Mudit try to make out by overcoming helmet-glass and dead-grandparents'-photograph-shaped obstacles. Mudit goes into the washroom before getting to work... and tells Sugandha that he has a 'gents' problem' that she will not understand. Soon, a soggy Parle G biscuit tells Sugandha (and the audience) the core of Mudit's problems.

At the outset, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is a story of middle-class youngsters in their mid-20s trying to make a relationship and the impending marriage work through their problems. It is a tale of love and romance and what being a man actually means. But not for one second does the narrative veer towards the didactic. It remains a fun story, an out-and-out laugh riot from the word 'go' to the end credits.

Writer Hitesh Kewalya infuses his script with some solid writing. The story does not waver for one moment and every dialogue elicits laughter from the viewers. Some of the best one-liners in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan belong to the two set of parents. Mudit's macho man of a father corrects his son when the latter rebukes him for not having time to listen to anyone else because he is busy 'watching Sunny Leone'. His father retorts, "Deol, Sunny Deol!"

In one of the most hilarious scenes of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Sugandha's mother (an excellent Seema Pahwa) reads out erotic poetry to her daughter that is supposed to serve as sex education. She reads out lines from her diary entry from her suhaag raat, and you can't help but burst laughing at the innuendoes. The essence of a north Indian middle-class wedding and the relatives, from a tauji doling out kisses to every baraati to someone masquerading as a 'shubhchintak' (well-wisher) and providing unsolicited advice to Mudit, Prasanna's story abounds in characters who help Shubh Mangal Saavdhan take off and how!

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The fabulous ensemble cast is complemented by Shubh Mangal Saavdhan's lead actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar. Bringing their chemistry from Dum Laga Ke Haisha to this film, the two fit perfectly into their roles. Their love story is fraught with many problems, but making the audience laugh is not one of them. The couple moves from struggling to deal with the task at hand, erectile dysfunction, to being swamped by unwonted suggestion from all quarters.

It is when the film takes a comparatively serious tone from being a light-hearted comic caper that the pace drops. But it quickly recovers from the slump thanks to the actors. Ayushmann, with his knack of choosing the unusual scripts, is here to stay. His performance here is reminiscent of Vicky Donor (the two characters are polar opposites as far as the other performance is concerned).

Bhumi is mostly consistent in her role but for a few moments. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan comes just a few weeks after Toilet Ek Prem Katha. But while she shines on her own in the Akshay Kumar-starrer, it is her see-sawing with Ayushmann in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan that makes the couple such a delight to watch.

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The songs are distributed evenly through the film and the story does not suffer. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan wins in its storytelling and acting departments. The film flows smoothly. There is no climax forced on to the viewer, but the director lets things take their own course. And that is the biggest strength of this film that is a remake of Prasanna's 2013 Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Saadham.

This is easily one of the best films that Bollywood has given us in 2017, a year that has been notoriously dry as far as good cinema is concerned. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan does not fall flat. It flies.

(The writer tweets as @ananya116)

ALSO READ: 5 reasons we cannot wait for Shubh Mangal Saavdhan

ALSO SEE | Shubh Mangal Saavdhan trailer: Ayushmann-Bhumi in a love story dampened by erectile dysfunction

ALSO READ: Ayushmann opens up about Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and his next with Sriram Raghavan

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ALSO WATCH: Up, close and personal with Ayushmann Khurrana

--- ENDS ---
It is tempting to explain America's mixed messaging towards North Korea as the old "good cop, bad cop" routine. If only it were that simple. Or rather, that complicated.

Instead, the world awaits the reactions of two men in Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, whose hair styles are way-too-interesting, and their behaviour no less adventurous.

Modest pelts such as Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, provide some comfort to a nervous world as they act to curb Donald Trump's freewheeling bravado.

But who's in charge in the end? How can an anxious international community bank on co-ordinated pressure to resolve this if the US itself cannot manage one voice?
But fear of sub judice contempt can lead editors to err too far the other way. Because the victim (in theory) is not on trial, there is less risk of contempt in headlines that focus on the victim rather than the accused. While this explains some reporting, it's not an excuse for all of it. In the "spurned lover" case the trial was over and he'd been found guilty. There was no reason to fear a contempt charge. A headline of equal length, like "Domestic violence: Andrei Pavel convicted of assault after punching ex-girlfriend in the face" still has an impact. More importantly, it puts the responsibility firmly on Pavel and explains the context of the assault  it's domestic violence, not a reaction to rejection. Over 3000 journalism jobs have disappeared in Australia over the last 5 years. Johnston's experience demonstrates the issues this creates with court reporting. Many of the dedicated court reporters with experience and training in how to report on legal matters have gone. Journalists are relying on court documents or sentencing statements for reporting rather than being in court for the entire proceedings and hearing all the evidence and judge's instructions. Which is exactly what happened to Krystal Johnston. Justice John Dixon recognised this in Johnston's trial for contempt of court: "Commercial pressures, such as meeting deadlines and ensuring there is immediacy regarding the reporting of current affairs, and incentives in the form of larger audiences and substantial profits were at the forefront of Yahoo7's considerations. "In view of the kind of high-volume, time-pressured work Yahoo7 expected of its journalists, Johnson's mistake was readily foreseeable."

The commercial pressures Dixon referred to also impact on how headlines are written. Journalists almost never write their own headlines, they're written by editors or subeditors with one of two key aims: either to hit all the SEO buttons or to grab attention and drive clicks. The Economist published a great piece on this issue earlier this week, giving a classic New York Post example: "MOB COP SEX FURY". It's not even a sentence, but it's eye-catching and probably generated a good readership. Articles about men's violence against women have a long history of terrible headlines. All the myths about "good women" and "bad women" and men just "reacting" to the things women to do bring violence upon themselves are widely held, and make for attention-grabbing headlines. But perpetuating those myths is dangerous.

The Mirror's report on "Spurned lover punches his girlfriend in the face when she turns down marriage proposal" also ran with a sub-heading "Andrei Pavel had turned up at his partner's work place and lost his temper when she rejected him". The story was picked up by several other UK papers and a few Australian outlets. Almost all of them ran with variations of the same headline. Andrei Pavel is not a "spurned lover", he's a violent man who chose to assault his ex-girlfriend when she wouldn't comply with his demands. He didn't "turn up at his partner's work place", he stalked his ex-girlfriend who said she feared Pavel and described him as jealous and controlling. He didn't punch her because she rejected him, he punched her because he decided he had the right to assault a woman who refused to submit to his control over her life.

Domestic violence is a deadly serious and widespread problem. The media has a significant role to play in changing public understanding of sexual and domestic violence. Audiences have a role to play here too. Media outlets need to provide more training for their editors and subeditors, but first they must be convinced that it's necessary. Not just because it's the right thing to do but also because their readers will know when they get it wrong and respond when they get it right. Men's violence against women has nothing to do with romance or rejection. It's a choice made by violent men based on their desire for power and control. And it's reinforced by the underlying belief that anything such a man does to maintain control over a woman he sees as a possession is caused by her actions, not his own choices. When journalists imply excuses for violent men they are confirming those beliefs and perpetuating the myth that men are not responsible for the violence they commit.
Hundreds of people have been struck down by gastroenteritis with NSW Health urging affected people to stay home and follow medical advice.

There were 39 gastro outbreaks in NSW institutions between August 20 and 26, including 22 in childcare centres, 10 in aged-care homes, five in hospitals and two in schools.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard, Director Communicable Diseases at NSW Health. Credit:Edwina Pickles

NSW Health said at least 348 people were affected by the bug in these outbreaks, which is more than double the previous five-year weekly average number of outbreaks for August.

Director Communicable Diseases, NSW Health, Vicky Sheppeard said it appeared the outbreaks were caused by viral gastroenteritis including rotavirus and norovirus which spread easily.
Kon Karapanagiotidis at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's offices in Melbourne. Credit:Darrian Traynor "Their lives are on hold, subject to arbitrary policy changes," says Karapanagiotidis. "They are caught up in a nightmare. Some may be deported in the short term, and others may have to wait for years, if ever, before receiving permanent protection." Early this week, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, as directed by its minister, Peter Dutton, signalled yet another shift in policy. The new visa affects up to 410 asylum seekers who have been transferred to Australia from Nauru and Manus Island at various times since 2013 - for medical treatment, mental health issues, to give birth or accompany sick loved ones. Some of the transferred women had been raped on Nauru. The group includes 50 babies, 66 children, single men and women, and families. A protest for water and power at the detention centre on Manus Island. Credit:Abdul Aziz Adam Known as the "Final Departure Bridging E Visa", the first 65 recipients were summoned to the offices of the department and told they will lose their accommodation within three weeks and be immediately cut off from basic services.

"The aim is to make them destitute," says Karapanagiotidis, "and make conditions so difficult that they will be forced back to Manus Island and Nauru, and returned to danger, the scene of their trauma." Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen On Monday morning, he called a meeting of staff to discuss this latest crisis. Even though the centre's resources are stretched well beyond its limits, the staff immediately agreed to take on the cases of asylum seekers affected by the new visa. "We have accompanied some of them to the department's offices. We've also tried to find at least one person willing to tell their story," says Kon. "They are confused, and too terrified. They fear they will be punished if they go public. They finally felt at home here, and had a chance to breath freely, make new friends, and regain trust. They had found a safe space to tell their story, face to face, with empathetic listeners. Now this. They are shattered. A vigil at the detention centre on Manus Island for Hamed Shamshiripour, a 31-year-old Iranian found dead on August 7. Credit:Abdul Aziz Adam

"The big story is that we cannot hear their story now. Worse still, they have been robbed of their stories and had them distorted. The minister has smeared them as con artists and fabricators, and accused them of robbing pensioners. "They have been turned into ghosts. It is terrifying." There has been one saving grace. Since the ASRC, and other community groups, posted details of the new visa on social media, the public response has been overwhelming. Many have expressed outrage and offered rooms for individuals, accommodation for entire families. Sanctuary. Others have offered employment, material aid, or contributed to the emergency appeal set up to help those affected.

There has been much talk about Australian values in recent times. Those who have responded to the crisis are expressing the universal principle of philoxenia, meaning, literally, friend of the stranger. It is the ancient custom of receiving the traveller, the passing seaman, the shipwrecked sailor. First the stranger is welcomed, fed and given a roof over their head. Only then are they asked questions. This, for instance, is how Odysseus begins his epic story, as recounted in The Odyssey. He is washed up on the shores of the island of the Phaeacians. Only after his basic needs are taken care of does the king ask: "And now, speak and tell us truly: where have you been in your wanderings? Which parts of the inhabited world have you visited? ... Did you meet hostile tribes with no sense of right and wrong, or did you fall in with hospitable and god-fearing people?" The practice of welcoming the stranger features in island and desert communities. There is a simple reason for this. Seafarers and desert travellers know that with just one shift in the wind, they too could become the stranger. The displacement of peoples worldwide, fleeing persecution, is on the increase. It is a challenge which affects us all. At the heart of the challenge is the name and the story. Carl Jung said we all have a story to tell and the denial of this story leads to despair. Each of us, give or take a few generations, except for indigenous peoples, have a story of a forebear who arrived on these shores to begin life anew. The men, women and children affected by the new visa should be allowed to stay, and those who remain marooned on Nauru and Manus Island, allowed to join them. They have suffered enough.
Sydney mum Teresita Manalad, whose only son Raynor was killed in 2014, says she's tired of the case dragging on and on.

The man found guilty of the one-punch assault outside a house party in Sydney's west is yet to be sentenced.

Raynor Manalad's parents Roul and Teresita speak outside court on Friday. Credit:Peter Rae

"Enough," Ms Manalad told the NSW District Court on Friday.

"I'm sick and tired of this. I'm tired - let's end this. There are a lot of things I can concentrate on (instead)."
Hundreds of mourners ranging from high school friends to rugby league stars gathered on Friday to farewell Hannah Rye, the 15-year-old who captured hearts across the nation when she took Newcastle Knights halfback Trent Hodkinson to her year 10 formal.

Mr Hodkinson was among a group of past and present Knights at the Ryhope service including David Bhana, Jeremy Smith and Danny Levi, who joined a Maori haka as Hannah's coffin was driven away.

In a blue jacket similar to the one he wore as Hannah's date to a specially-scheduled Kurri Kurri High School formal in July, Mr Hodkinson was a still, low-key presence at Lake Macquarie Memorial Park.

He had arrived at the Mount Vincent teenager's doorstep on formal night bearing a bouquet of flowers.
The owner of an inner Sydney beauty clinic has died days after a botched procedure left her in a critical condition.

Jean Huang, 35, was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Wednesday after she went into cardiac arrest at The Medi Beauty clinic in Chippendale.

Police said she died in hospital on Friday.

On Thursday, a police document tendered to Central Local Court alleged Jie Shao used the wrong dosage of anaesthetic during a procedure to put fillers into Ms Huang's breasts.
As a five-year-old boy in Nazi-occupied Hungary, Peter Halas was alone in the world after his mother was killed and his father was imprisoned in a concentration camp.

His life felt like it was over until non-Jewish neighbours rallied. When asked by German soldiers, these neighbours insisted that Peter was their son.

Holocaust survivor Peter Halas shows (L-R) Zoe Menczel Shrire, Lily Shrire and Alex Tofler a photo album of his family that were affected by the holocaust. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Now Mr Halas is passing on that life lesson to schoolkids around NSW, encouraging them to stand up and be counted when anyone's being bullied or threatened.

"Those neighbours risked so much for me as it's unusual to suddenly have a son who's five!" Peter told a group of Sydney students. "If it hadn't been for them standing up for me, I would have been dead."
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has been forced to publicly correct one of her ministers and declare there will be no more council mergers, after the minister flagged a possible revival of the controversial policy before the next state election.

Local government minister Gabrielle Upton revived the issue of forced mergers during a budget estimates hearing on Friday morning, where she repeatedly refused to rule out further forced mergers, saying only that "there are no plans at this time".

However, Ms Berejikilian moved quickly to correct the record on Friday afternoon, issuing a statement soon after Fairfax Media had published Ms Upton's comments.

"We have drawn a line under this issue," Ms Berejiklian said in the statement. "There will be no more forced council amalgamations."
A transgender woman who has been incarcerated in a male jail without access to her hormone medication was refused bail in the Supreme Court on Friday.

Evie Amati spent three days in the male section of Silverwater Prison after she allegedly attacked three people with an axe at a convenience store in Enmore.

Evie Amati is accused of attacking three people with an axe in Enmore. Credit:Facebook

She was moved to Cessnock prison, where she also started in the male section before she was moved in with the women.

But her barrister Charles Waterstreet argued she should be released into the community as she was not receiving her hormone therapy and there was no endocrinologist at the prison.
The Bombay High Court today ordered an interim stay on the enforcement of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) rules, amended by Centre recently.

By Vidya : The Bombay High Court has said the amendment of noise pollution rules by the union government violates fundamental right of citizens to live in peace. The court declared it unconstitutional calling noise a major health hazard and in an interim order the court stayed the amendment brought about by the central government on August 10.

"This interim order means continuation of silence zones which existed earlier," the court said.

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Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh today told the Bombay High Court that definition of courts, educational institutions and hospitals was too wide because of which the central government had decided to amend the noise pollution rules.

"If you look at the definition of court, then even if arbitrators are sitting somewhere then 100 meteres around that area becomes silence zone. An education institute can even mean a yoga class. Hospital according to rules meant that even a small homeopathy or a dental clinic would also become silence zone."

He told the court that according to old noise rules virtually 70 to 75 percent of Mumbai had become a silence zone and that is why there was a need for an amendment.

Singh also put the blame of absence of silence zone on Maharashtra government and said, "I agree that there is a need for silence zone and there is a provision for silence zone in the amended rules. It has to be declared by state government and there is inaction by state. The rules were amended on August 10 and they should have done it."

Justice Abhay Oka asked, "In the absence of a notification if around a hospital there is loud noise then will it not amount to violation of fundamental right of a citizen under article 21 of the Constitution?"

Singh reiterated that the Maharashtra government had nearly one month's time since the rules were amended and they could have passed notification for silence zones by this time.

Justice Anoop Mohta asked as to why the central government had not called for suggestions and objections before bringing in the amendment. It was done during the time noise pollution rules were formulated and even when they were amended earlier.

However, Singh said this was done for the welfare of the public at large. "Public interest will be public interest for all. For refusing permission to play loudspeakers if there is a law and order problem then this is also public interest."

Singh also mentioned that during visarjan at beach fronts where large number of people turn out police has to use mike and loudspeakers to manage large crowd. "Now just because there is a college there the police has to abstain from using mike?," he asked.

As soon as the court imposed a stay, Singh as well as the state government pleader Abhinandan Vaigyani asked for a stay of two weeks to be imposed on it so that they could approach the Supreme Court for relief.

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Singh said that there could be law and order problem in the state. The court however refused to grant stay saying that the state has not showed any proof to show that there have been instances of law and order problem due to silence zone implementation.

Justice Oka said silence zone implementation order was passed last year before the Ganpati and Navratri festivals but not a single case of law and order problem was sited by the government. However court in its order also added that government should not proceed with prosecution of people for noise violations in silence zones even though cases can be registered.

Also read:

Get ready for a noisy Ganesh Chaturthi as loudspeakers can be played anywhere in Maharashtra

No area in Maharashtra is a silence zone unless state government notifies it

Bombay High Court to hear petitions against no silence zones ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi

--- ENDS ---
A rising star in Canada's electronic music scene is facing an Australian prison sentence after the former editor of Vice magazine used him as a drug mule to import 4.6 kilograms of cocaine into Sydney.

Musician Jordan Mykel Gardner has admitted acting as a courier for then Vice editor Slava Pastuk, after the journalist pestered him into agreeing to the 2015 trip along with fellow Canadians Robert Wang, Kutiba Senusi, Porscha Wade and New York-based model Nathaniel Carty.

Jordan Gardner is facing an Australian prison sentence after he was used as a drug mule. Credit:change.org

The five mules appeared despondent as they faced a packed sentencing hearing in the NSW District Court on Friday.

The court heard that Gardner and Mr Pastuk had been flatmates at the time of the offence. Gardner was prepared to tolerate the then Vice editor's "unsavoury" tendencies because the residence had concrete walls and was a convenient place for him to practise his music at home, but came under increasing pressure to do a drug run to Sydney.
A man is fighting for his life after a two-truck crash at the Port of Brisbane on Friday night.

Emergency services were called to Port Drive at Lytton after a semi trailer and B-double crashed into each other about 9.20pm.

A 53-year-old man is fighting for his life after a head-on smash in Brisbane. Credit:7 News Queensland

Acting Inspector Steve Watters told media at the scene one of the trucks had crossed onto the wrong side of the road.

One of the drivers, a 58-year-old man, suffered life-threatening injuries and was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition.
Australians are not entrepreneurial and lack long-term vision, according to author and social commentator Bernard Salt.

"The confronting fact is we are not entrepreneurial, we are not enterprising, we don't demonstrate initiative," he told the Family Business Australia conference in Hamilton Island on Thursday. "We need to embrace and admire people who can create businesses."

Bernard Salt says Australia looks flat-footed in comparison to the United States.

Salt made global headlines after arguing Millennials cannot save a house deposit because they waste money buying smashed avocado for breakfast and his next target is Australia's lack of entrepreneurship.

Salt calculates the top 10 businesses in America today by market capitalisation are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Facebook, Exxon Mobil, JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo.
It's what every small business person wishes for - a cash injection to help you grow your business and take it to the next level.

For one small business that wish is going to come true with the launch today of the American Express Business Explorer Grant in partnership with MySmallBusiness.

The American Express Business Explorer Grant in partnership with MySmallBusiness could transform your business. Credit:wundervisuals

The grant is for $50,000 and entry is open to all Australian small businesses which have been in operation for three or more years with an annual turnover below $10 million.

The grant recognises the hard work behind running a small business and will be awarded to Australia's most promising small business.
A Queensland woman has been rushed to hospital in a critical condition after she was hit by a car near Hay Street Mall in the early hours of Friday morning.

Police say the 42-year-old woman had been walking along or crossing the road when she was struck by a white Hyundai Sonato sedan near the intersection of William and Hay Street at around 1am.

Police are investigating. Credit:Marina Neil/Fairfax Media

The car had been travelling south on William Street when it hit her.

St John Ambulance and WA Police were called to the scene, and the woman was taken to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries.
He will appear before Judge Sallie Kim on Friday (Saturday AEST) and is hoping to be released on bail with a relative who lives in southern California.

Alleged US marijuana smuggling kingpin Peyton Eidson is locked up in a California jail cell after 30 years on the run as a fugitive in Australia.

Eidson was escorted by Australian officials on a flight from Queensland to San Francisco International Airport on Thursday and was handed over to US Marshals, who had been hunting him since the 1980s.

"I'm going to request bail but I'm sure the government will ask to detain him which is very troubling because he's up in age, there's his health condition and the jails here are tough for anybody," Mr Guzman told AAP on Thursday.

"For someone that hasn't been in the country for almost 30 years it would be very traumatising for him to be held in custody while he fights his case."

US authorities have described Eidson as "the leader" of a sophisticated operation using fleets of vessels to secretly ship large quantities of high-grade marijuana from south-east Asia to northern California.

Eidson was indicted by a grand jury in the US in 1988 on a conspiracy to import marijuana charge and is also accused of fleeing to Australia with his family on false passports.
"We have no illusion. We know these [gold diggers] will establish themselves in another place," General Gustavo Dutra said, referring to Brazilian authorities' inability to monitor the country's vast and open borders. Romeu Iximawateri Yanomami, behind the camera, and Silvano Ironasiteri Yanomami, to his right, organise Yanomami children for a video shoot. Credit:Flavio Galvao/Xapono Media Centre Gold mining heavily pollutes the pristine Amazonian rivers and contaminates their fish with mercury. A 2014-2016 study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which works with the Health Ministry and not-for-profits in Brazil, found mercury contamination in 92 per cent of Yanomami people sampled in 19 villages. Mercury is a highly toxic metal used in gold mining that leads to loss of vision, heart disease and other cognitive and motor impairments. It can cause birth defects. The Yanomami people came to the attention of the English-speaking world in the late 1960s, when Western anthropologists such as the controversial Napoleon Chagnon depicted them as "the last major primitive tribe left in the Amazon basin, and the last such people anywhere on Earth" living "in a state of chronic warfare". Such accounts were contested by other anthropologists and the indigenous peoples themselves. Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, right, with his son Dario, has travelled the world telling of his people's plight. Credit:Reuters/File

Along with Trobriand Islanders, the Nuer and the Navajo - who became shared points of reference in anthropological textbooks  the Yanomami needed to learn and tolerate the presence of foreigners, with their cameras, recorders and interpretation of culture. But now they are trying to take back control over their own stories. The Xapono Media Centre seeks to counter misrepresentations and misappropriation of Yanomami image rights and give a voice to the people. Davi Kopenawa takes a message to 10 Downing Street in 2007. Credit:PA/Alamy "The Yanomami have a peculiar way of representing us white people, but they also need the means to tell their own struggles," says Frenchwoman Anne Ballester Soares, who organised the workshops. Soares has lived among the Yanomami since 1994, organising publications in their language. She believes the Yanomami will be better off communicating autonomously.

"They are not free to express themselves and yet they have so much to tell. Indigenous health is worsening due to misuse of funding. Their own healing methods are not respected and there are new threats from mining prospects ... they want to be able to resist," she says. Using crowdfunding, the media centre is running two workshops to teach the indigenous community how to use audio and video capture and editing, how to best use language, presentation and analysis as well as scriptwriting, post-production, compression formats and broadcast media. "We are developing ethnic media to speak from an indigenous aesthetic. The Yanomami have a distinctive way of seeing the world, their vision is educated in different ways," says Daiara Tukano, radio reporter of the indigenous online station, Radio Yande. She tells Fairfax Media that apart from independent initiatives, different indigenous peoples are getting together to reflect on their place in the world and develop strategies for survival. "We are trying to break with the Eurocentric ways of seeing native peoples by showing how dynamic our civilisations are," she explains.

Shaman and activist Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, co-author of the acclaimed 2013 book The Falling Sky - Words of a Yanomami Shaman, spoke to Fairfax Media over a mobile phone on his way back from visiting neighbouring Roraima to his isolated community further down the Demini River, in the western part of Yanomami territory. "The Yanomami need to tell their own story to keep Yanomami [culture]. Today is much different from 50 years ago. Today the Yanomami thinking is way too confused. The white men brought diseases, invasion of our land, cutting the forests. They only think of money." As a child in the early '60s, Kopenawa saw his community wiped out by two successive epidemics of infectious diseases brought by missionaries and government employees. He grew up to condemn the white man's way. "They only talk about work or things they want to possess. They live with no joy and get old earlier, always busy and always yearning for new products. Then their hair gets white, they die and the work, that never dies, survives all of them. Then, their children and grandchildren keep doing the same," he wrote in the book. Despite adopting the Christian faith, Kopenawa gave it up for what he perceived to be its fanaticism and obsession with sin.
The Brazilian government succumbed to legal and opposition pressure on Thursday, suspending a recently signed decree that would have opened for mining a vast and protected section of the Amazon rainforest.

The area, which straddles the northern states of Amapa and Para, is thought to contain rich deposits of gold, iron, manganese and other minerals. It covers an area of 46,000 square kilometres, roughly the size of Denmark.

A young man jumps from an overpass into a river in Paragominas, northern state of Para near the reserve the Brazilian government wants to abolish to make way for mining. Credit:AP

It was declared a natural reserve in 1984 and is home to thousands of indigenous people who for decades have complained of poisoning arising from the use of mercury in illegal gold mining.

Known as Renca (National Reserve of Copper and Associates), the natural reserve was to be abolished after President Michel Temer signed an executive order last week to lift environmental protections as of next March to stimulate economic development.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the standoff between North Korea and the United States is close to spilling into a large-scale conflict, and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang into halting its nuclear missile programme.

Mr Putin, due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in China next week, said the only way to de-escalate tensions was via talks, and Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister, said Washington  not Pyongyang  should take the initiative.

"It is essential to resolve the region's problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks)," Mr Putin, whose country shares a border with North Korea, wrote on the Kremlin's website.

"Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere."
Seoul: South Korean and Japanese jets have joined exercises with two US B-1B bombers above and near the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, two days after North Korea sharply raised tension by firing a missile over Japan.

The drills, involving four US stealth F-35B jets as well as South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, came at the end of annual US-South Korea military exercises focused mainly on computer simulations.

"North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilising actions will be met accordingly," said General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces Commander, who made an unscheduled visit to Japan.

"This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening co-operation to defend against this common regional threat."
By PTI: wife

(Eds: Correcting dateline)

Dehradun, Sep 1 (PTI) A court here today sentenced a software engineer to life imprisonment after holding him guilty of murdering his wife in cold blood seven years ago and keeping her body in a deep freezer for months after chopping it into pieces.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who had convicted Rajesh Gulati yesterday for murder and concealing evidence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murdering his wife Anupama, pronounced the quantum of punishment in a packed court roomsentencing him to life in prison.

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The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on Gulati, district prosecution counsel D P Raturi said.

Out of a total fine of Rs 15 lakh, Rs 14.30 lakh will be invested in a fixed deposit to meet the educational expenses of his minor children from his murdered spouse and the remaining Rs 70,000 will be deposited in the state exchequer, Raturi said.

Before the sentence was pronounced, the prosecution contended that the case be treated as a rearest of rare and Gulati be given the harshest punishment which could give a positive message to the society.

However, Gulatis lawyers pleaded that he should not be given death sentence, a provision which had been done away with by as many as 139 countries across the world.

Moreover, the convicts conduct during the last seven years in prison during the trial period was also good, they said which closing the defence arguments.

The murder was committed seven years ago with gory details of the case capturing media attention.

Joint Director (law) J S Bisht said the arguments in the case were concluded on August 18 and the verdict was based on the examination of around 40 witnesses during the prolonged trial.

The sensational murder had come to light on December 11, 2010 about two months after it was committed when Anupamas brother went to inquire about her at the couples residence in Prakash Nagar colony in the cantonment area after failing to talk to her for many days.

When Gulati resisted his entry into the house and refused to tell him anything about Anupamas whereabouts, he reported the matter to the police.

Gulati had even tried to mislead the police by feigning ignorance about the womans whereabouts, but when they found a deep freezer kept under locks in the house their suspicion deepened.

When it was unlocked some pieces of Anupamas body were recovered, according to the prosecution.

It also came to light that Gulati had thrown some pieces of the corpse into a drain on Mussoorie road after packing them into polythin bags.

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According to the prosecution, the couple often had altercations over an alleged relationship Gulati was having outside his marriage with Anupama.

During one such fight on October 17, 2010 Anupama fell unconscious after hitting her head against the bed. He then strangulated her with the help of a pillow.

The next day he bought a deep freezer and hid her body in it. Later, he chopped the body into pieces and kept throwing them into a drain on Mussoorie road in instalments.

However, the matter was reported to the police before he could dispose of all the parts of the chopped body.

When the twin children inquired about their mother, he told them that she had gone to their grandmothers place in Delhi.

Originally from Delhi, Gulati had shifted to Dehradun in 2008. PTI ALM SC GVS

--- ENDS ---
PHILIPSBURG:--- In the study financing year 2017, sixty-three (63) students study financing recipients have departed to pursue tertiary education. Thirty-four (34) students left for the Netherlands, seventeen (17) left for the United States, one (1) left for Curacao, eight (8) left for Canada and three (3) left for the United Kingdom. The students who arrived in the Netherlands were greeted by the United St. Maarten Connection (USC). USC is a group of dynamic young St. Maarten professionals who are currently living and working in the Netherlands. In collaboration with the Division of Study Financing (DSF) and the St. Maarten House, the USC organized an orientation week of activities for the new students. A team of guidance counselors was responsible for guiding the students. The four guidance counselors were: Mrs. Clara Browne-James, Ms. Roxiomarah Richardson, Mrs. Xaviera Archangel, and Ms. Letiticia Flanders. The students, which traveled to Tallahassee, were welcome by the Tallahassee/St. Maarten Foundation. A welcome ceremony and orientation week with activities were organized for the nine students. The guidance counselors responsible for the students were Ms. Edwina Jacobs and Mrs. Jacqueline Roumou-Carty.

To date, approximately Naf. 2,321,384.00 has been paid out to 219 study financing recipients studying in St. Maarten and the Region (USA, Canada, England and other Caribbean islands). To date, 73 students have not submitted their transcripts and 2016 Parental Tax Income Declaration.

Approximately Naf. 98,215.95 has been paid to 77 study financing recipients studying in the Netherlands. To date, 48 students have not submitted their transcript and 2016 Parental Tax Income Declaration.

The Ministry ECYS is extremely proud of the high level of professionalism displayed by USC and the St. Maarten/Tallahassee Foundation and we are looking forward to future collaborations. Thanks to the efforts of all involved all the students have been able to complete the initial start-up activities and transition process successfully.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Public Prosecutor's Office filed on Friday, September 1st, 2017, a petition to the Court to set up a civil survey (civiele enquete) regarding the progress in the Port of Sint Maarten Harbor Holding Company NV.

This is the result of an investigation launched by the Public Prosecutor in the autumn of 2015 in response to persistent reports that there would be maladministration in the company. During this investigation, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested documents and involved stakeholders. The Board and Supervisory Board also asked for a response.

On the basis of the information so far, the Public Prosecutor's Office has reasons to doubt a correct policy within the company. For example, there are questions about the procurement of projects, the internal control of expenses and loans that the port has extended.

In view of the importance that the country of Sint Maarten has in a healthy and profitable port company, the Public Prosecutor's Office considers it necessary to conduct an investigation into the conduct of the port. This is not a criminal investigation, but a civil investigation into possible mismanagement. The law gives the Public Prosecutor the power to request the Court, in the public interest, to launch such a civil investigation.

Prosecutor's Office Bulletin
The accused teacher has been booked after the parents lodged a complaint. According to the St John Vianney School principal, she was warned before also when she tortured a student by pressing a pencil in between his fingers.

By India Today Web Desk: A day after the video of a teacher in Lucknow school slapping her student 40 times in three minutes, went viral, the teacher has been booked on the basis of complaint made by the parents.

The disturbing video was of a teacher from St John Vianney School, Lucknow, who assaulted a third-standard student for not saying, 'present ma'am' during class attendance.

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The brutal behaviour of the teacher was caught on a CCTV camera in the classroom. One can clearly see the teacher slapping the child with both hands alternatively even as the student stands there holding his cheeks. The teacher stops for a few seconds and seems to tell the student to lower his hands and then begins slapping him again.

#WATCH Teacher of Lucknow's St. John Vianney High School repeatedly slaps a student for not standing up on attendance call pic.twitter.com/DWlPfLhS1I ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 31, 2017

The principal of the school, Father Ronaldo said that this was not the first complaint of cruelty against the teacher- she had been warned before after she tortured a student by pressing a pencil in between his fingers.

In lieu of the police report, he added that all teachers have been issued a notice to not physically assault the students or harass them in any manner.

Many parents have complained that after the incident, their children have refused to attend school.

Meanwhile, the student's father said that his son was absolutely silent after returning from school. Some of his classmates who live in the same locality informed them about what had happened in the classroom. When he went to the school and complained, the father checked the footage and found out how aggressively had the teacher hit the child.

--- ENDS ---
Claudettes release new album with show at The Acorn in Three Oaks

entertainment
By Rohit Kumar Singh: Former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Friday raised corruption charges against deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi alleging him of purchasing several properties in various parts of the country through his elder brother R K Modi and his nephews Mayank and Rohit.

Tejashwi alleged Sushil Modi of amassing properties in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Kolkata and Patna. He said that Sushil Modi's defence that R K Modi was only in his relation and he had nothing to do with his business was false.

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Addressing journalists in Patna, Tejashwi alleged Sushil Modi of getting a flat in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh registered in his name for Rs 14.49 lakh on 6 June, 2006. He also alleged that Modi and his wife Jessy Modi, through Saket Estate Pvt Ltd, a company owned by R K Modi, purchased this flat, the registered address of which is A-207, 7th Floor, plot No. 14, group housing scheme, Vaishali, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad.

The sale deed on behalf of Sushil Modi was signed by his elder brother R K Modi, to whom he had given power of attorney. However, Tejashwi alleged that there was no mention in the sale deed of mode of payment made in this transaction.

Tejashwi further said that this flat was sold by Sushil Modi to Nitin Gupta, on 21 May, 2015, for Rs 85 lakh. The payment was received by Sushil Modi through cheque.

"It's intriguing and raises question as to why there was no mention of mode of payment when the flat was purchased by it was mentioned that payment through cheque was received when the flat was sold. We are of the view that since Modi was also MP of Bhagalpur between 2004-2005, he has used the Srijan funds to purchase these properties," said Tejashwi Yadav.

The former deputy CM cited another instance of how Sushil Modi through Ashiyaana Homes Pvt Ltd, another company owned by R K Modi, purchased a flat in Dadri, Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh for Rs 36.37 lakh. In this case also, the sale deed was signed by Sushi Modi's nephews, Mayank and Rohit, to whom Modi had given power of attorney. The address of this flat is Mauja Jhajrasi, Tehsil-Dadri, Gautam Buddh Nagar.

Tejashwi said that in this sale deed also there was no mention of mode of payment made for purchasing the flat.

He demanded that the shady transactions by Sushil Modi should be investigated. He said that he will write to PM Narendra Modi and all the investigating agencies in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to initiate a probe in all these transactions.

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ALSO READ:

Lalu's RJD under Income Tax radar for money spent on mega Patna rally Sushil Modi gets Tejaswi Yadav bungalow

--- ENDS ---
1 cop was killed and 3 others injured when terrorists attacked the police bus in Srinagar.

By India Today Web Desk: Terrorists tonight attacked a bus of security personnel at Pantha Chowk on Jammu-Srinagar highway.

One cop of the Jammu and Kashmir Police was killed and 3 others injured in the attack which came a day before the festival of Bakr-Id. The injured were taken to hospital where one of them was stated to be in a critical condition.

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The carrying personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police came when it was going from Bemina to Zewan.

The injured were rushed to the Army's 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed tohis injuries.

The condition of the three others is stable.

Sources said that the attack in Pantha Chowk is a hit-and-run case by militants. Meanwhile, another source have said that a fidayeen alert has been issued in Srinagar.

Also, intelligence input reportedly said that Jaish terrorists may launch suicide attack before, during or two days after Eid.

Also read:

Why this photo of a martyred Kashmir cop's daughter has gone viral

Stone pelters on hire in Kashmir: India Today nails Valley's insidious villains

Wave of terror hits Valley: Kashmir on high alert after militants carry out multiple back-to-back strikes

How a desperate Pakistan is trying to push new batch of terrorists across the LoC

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: They may go blue in the face denying that they are in a relationship, but the rumours about Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani just refuse to die down. Two ridiculously good-looking people ALWAYS being clicked together...do you really blame the gossip columns?

Disha is house-hunting, and according to a report in Mumbai Mirror, she has found an apartment in Bandstand, which will serve as a "love nest" for the rumoured couple. Will Tiger and Disha move in together? She is already a favourite with his family, and it is not uncommon to see Disha hanging out with Tiger's sister Krishna.

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The whispers about their romance started doing the rounds even before Disha's Bollywood debut MS Dhoni: The Untold Story hit the theatres. Perhaps it was their sizzling hot chemistry in the music video of Befikra that set tongues wagging.

During a media interaction before the release of his film Baaghi, Tiger had openly admitted that Disha would be his dream girlfriend. "Kaash! (I wish) She is a very beautiful girl, she's too good for me" the actor said when he was asked if he and Disha were more than just friends. He said in another interview, "Well, we tried our best - but I don't think that I am the kind of guy anyone would fall for. I am so married to my work."

In spite of the denials, gossip columns would have you believe that Tiger and Disha were going strong. This was short-lived, and soon, there were rumours of trouble in paradise. Apparently, Tiger's mother Ayesha Shroff was not too fond of Disha and saw her as someone using her son to climb up the ladder.

But just as stories of their break-up surfaced, Tiger and Disha put to rest all rumours by going out on a date and smiling for the shutterbugs when they were spotted. Since then, their 'relationship' has only gotten stronger.

They support each other's films, they enter parties together, they go on countless dates...Tiger even has home-cooked food sent to Disha every day, so that she can eat healthy, if the grapevine is to be believed. Buzz is that Tiger had a role to play in Disha landing a role in Baaghi 2, as well.

So, is moving in the next logical step? Your guess is as good as ours!

PHOTOS: Rumoured couple Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani looked totally-in-love at KJo's party

ALSO READ: Disha Patani spends her birthday with rumoured boyfriend Tiger Shroff

ALSO READ: Rumoured lovers Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani to come together for Baaghi 2

ALSO WATCH: Tiger Shroff opens up on kissing Shraddha Kapoor, his stunts and more

--- ENDS ---
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Rajendra Institute of Medical Science have seen a slew of infant deaths off late. In August itself, the toll stood at 103.

By Arindam De: Rajendra Institute of Medical Science have seen a slew of infant deaths off late. In August itself, the toll stood at 103. The figure for the last six months stood at 672 infant deaths. Opposition leader Hemant Soren has blamed poor infrastructure and corruption as the main reasons behind these deaths.

Congress spokesperson Ajay Kumar said, "We want answers as to how RIMS, Ranchi, which is the largest government hospital in the state and where patients from 24 districts come for treatment can continue with such poor infrastructure?"

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The charges are not unfounded. Children admitted to the hospital lie in the floor due to lack of beds, there is a shortage of doctors, even nursing staff. Refuting the charges, RIMS, Director BL Sherwal claimed that the hospital have successfully treated more than 86% of infant patients in the hospital.

Such statistics offer cold comfort and the death rate amongst children undergoing treatment is very high and even BJP's ex-CM Arjun Munda is shocked and said, "Terrible incident. It severely damages the image of the state. An inquiry committee must be set up immediately."

Incidentally some 164 children have died in Jamshedpur's MGM hospital in the last 92 odd days.

Breaking his silence, state Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi said, "Laxity at any level in the health department will not be tolerated. Anyone proven responsible in the inquiry will be punished."

ALSO READ:

Gorakhpur hospital horror continues: 42 kids die in last 48 hours, toll of infants alone reaches 60

Gorakhpur: Seven more children die due to encephalitis at BRD Medical College

--- ENDS ---
A political system that views critics as the greatest evil has lost all perspective. It no longer pursues a larger, nobler goal. The only goal at that point is holding on to power. But that power is hollow if it doesn't serve the well-being of all.

There's More than One Truth

Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yucel, the Turkey correspondent for the German national daily Die Welt, has been in jail for 200 days now. With no charges against him. With no proceedings. Like so many other critical journalists, he has been accused of disseminating terrorist propaganda. The case says a lot about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and about Turkey's political mores. About its relationship with Germany . With the arrest of journalists Yucel and Mesale Tolus, also a Turkish-German, as well as human rights activist Peter Steudtner, Turkish leaders have shown Germany, a country that respects the rule of law, the middle finger. The detainees - and not just the German ones - are being exploited by Turkish politicians. "Journalism that seeks the truth ... has become a crime in the eyes of Erdogan's government," Turkish-German novelist Dogan Akhanli wrote in an editorial on SPIEGEL ONLINE on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mesale Tolu's father says: "Erdogan has taken my daughter hostage."
Merkel: Because the campaign in the media takes place in many different formats, such as in citizens forums or town-hall shows. And because we don't have a presidential system in Germany, people vote for parties instead of specific candidates. From the perspective of smaller parties, even one single televised debate is a detested anomaly, because only the lead candidates from the conservatives and the SPD take part.

SPIEGEL: Your concern for the smaller parties is touching.

Merkel: The plurality of our campaign formats, including the televised debates, reflect that we in Germany don't directly vote for a person like in the United States or in France, but for parties. We have a different system .

SPIEGEL: Is it okay for government employees, such as your spokesman Steffen Seibert and aide Eva Christiansen, to lead the negotiations with the broadcasters? Shouldn't your political party be responsible for doing so?

Merkel: Because we wanted to cleanly separate work done on behalf of the government from that done for the CDU, we decided for the duration of the campaign to adopt the model of a clearly denoted and approved second job for three Chancellery employees. The goal is transparency. As such, I welcome the intention of Germany's Supreme Audit Institution to take another look at everything. At the same time, though, it is essential for the government spokesman to take part in discussions pertaining to interview formats and television debates. It was no different when Gerhard Schroder was chancellor. His spokesman also took part in discussions ahead of the televised debates in 2002 and 2005.

SPIEGEL: Is it really a valid argument to say that your predecessor did the same thing?

Merkel: Yes, it is common practice.

SPIEGEL: Why do you rely on German military planes to travel to your campaign appearances?

Merkel: I also take advantage of the ability to fly with helicopters belonging to the federal police force, and both privileges are consistent with rules that have been in place for decades. A chancellor must be accessible at all times and be in a position to execute their duties as best they can. I must have the ability to immediately return to Berlin if necessary. There are also security considerations. Of course, the party must bear the costs of these flights in accordance with the rules, and the Budget Committee in German parliament is also aware of these things. Everything is transparent. In 2005, when I was the challenger to Chancellor Schroder, who was able to take advantage of military aircraft, I used a plane belonging to a private company and didn't take advantage of the legally guaranteed ability as party chair to likewise use military aircraft.

SPIEGEL: Still, using such aircraft is an extreme advantage enjoyed by incumbent chancellors.

Merkel: I don't agree. I am always on duty, even when I am at party events or on vacation. I don't complain about it, on the contrary. You could also say that it is a competitive advantage for a challenger to be able to focus exclusively on campaign appearances. It all evens out.

SPIEGEL: You think so?

Merkel: Time management for candidates without government functions is different than it is for me. No matter where I am, I always have to have my duties as chancellor in mind.

SPIEGEL: The world is your stage while your challenger has to make due with visiting factories and market squares.

Merkel: I am quite enjoying this campaign, but I still have to take care of the duties associated with my office, which I also very much enjoy.

SPIEGEL: Your former government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm became chairman of the public broadcaster BR shortly after leaving the Chancellery. Your media advisor Eva Christiansen was a longtime member of a ZDF advisory board. Your spokesman Steffen Seibert came from ZDF and has a guaranteed right of return. Everyone talks about the critical distance that state broadcasters allegedly maintain from the state. Does it really exist?

Merkel: There are many examples of politicians moving into business and of people moving between journalism and politics. Former SPIEGEL journalists, for example, have advised German foreign ministers - something that should actually fill you with pleasure because it shows the degree of respect we have for quality journalism. Guaranteed rights of return also exist in public service, it's nothing special.

SPIEGEL: If Mr. Wilhelm had worked for a Social Democratic chancellor, do you think he would have been hired by BR?

Merkel: That is something you have to ask BR.

SPIEGEL: Let's continue on the subject of nepotism for just a moment. Matthias Wissmann, with whom you once served in Helmut Kohl's cabinet, is president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry. Eckart von Klaeden, who used to serve in the Chancellery as a state minister, is now Daimler's chief lobbyist. Your former head of strategic planning in CDU party headquarters, Joachim Koschnicke, became head lobbyist for Opel for a time and is now once again managing your campaign. Another top party official, Michael Jansen, is now a lobbyist for VW ...

Merkel: ... and don't forget: Thomas Steg, former deputy government spokesman and a member of the SPD, is also working for VW.

SPIEGEL: Correct. Are you surprised that the German automobile industry has the feeling that it exerts significant control over German politics?

Merkel: If it really does have such a feeling, it is mistaken. We are back to where we just were a few minutes ago: Should someone who used to work in politics be allowed to move to private industry? I think they should. At the German post office and at Deutsche Telekom, such exchanges have a long tradition. If, for example, certain environmental regulations for the automotive industry are being introduced, expert exchange with the industry is helpful. It's not the contacts that are decisive, rather it is decisive what politicians ultimately do with the information provided by the industry and with the requests they make before then taking independent action. From the introduction of the catalytic converter onwards, we have repeatedly made political decisions that have demanded quite a bit from the automobile industry.

SPIEGEL: At the so-called "diesel summit" in early August, it was decided that companies would only have to carry out software updates, the cheapest solution for the automobile industry. It won't be sufficient to bring down nitrogen oxide emissions. Why does the German government always let the automobile industry off the hook so quickly?

Merkel: I don't think it does. It is more about enforcing our own ideas regarding how the automobile industry must regain the trust that they have destroyed.

SPIEGEL: The automobile industry systematically cheated German politicians. They developed computer systems to produce fictitious emissions test results. When the deception was discovered, the diesel summit was convened, which only decided to impose software updates - even as everyone at the table knew that it wouldn't be sufficient. How are Germans supposed to conclude that politicians are standing up to the automobile industry?

Merkel: Your version of events is extremely truncated. We made it clear from the beginning that the software update was just a first step, no more, but also no less. It is undeniable that this software optimization has had an effect, because it eliminated what you correctly refer to as cheating - namely that the emissions systems were controlled by the software in a way that meant they only worked properly in a very narrow range of temperatures and under extremely specific driving conditions. Following the update, the full capability of the exhaust system will always be deployed, and not just partially.

SPIEGEL: Do you trust them? Do you think they will suddenly be honest?

Merkel: I am just as disgusted with this deception as you are, with this cheating of customers. Starting on September 1, new regulations will finally be in effect calling for emissions tests to be performed under real driving conditions. We also need premiums for the trading-in of old diesel vehicles for new ones. At an additional summit this fall, we will examine whether the measures taken by the automobile industry have had the desired effect and whether additional measures will have to be taken. In addition, I have invited representatives from those municipalities most affected by nitrogen oxide emissions to come to the Chancellery on Sept. 4 to discuss how best to use the fund established jointly by the automobile industry and the German government to change traffic patterns in our cities and to improve infrastructure for electric vehicles. Everything we do must ultimately be aimed at regaining the trust of drivers, at ensuring that strict emissions regulations are being observed and at ensuring that our automobile industry offers models that are suitable to our climate standards and our future.

SPIEGEL: Are you in favor of retrofitting hardware in the automobiles affected?

Merkel: Hardware updates are expensive and extremely technically complex. As such, we must consider very carefully whether such a retrofitting requirement for engines would really bring the results that we need because doing so would eliminate significant scope for the automobile industry to invest in new and more modern technologies. I think we should consider all other options first.

SPIEGEL: Once again, you are of the same opinion as the automobile industry.

Merkel: That's not the point. I look at what is best for the future of the vitally important German automobile industry, because it provides 800,000 people in Germany with good jobs. I look at what is good for the people who currently own a diesel vehicle and are concerned about their resale values. And I look at what is good for climate protection and for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. Sometimes I reach conclusions that the automobile industry likes, and sometimes I don't. The government must carefully weigh all sides, because I don't want the automobile industry to regress from where it is today. That wouldn't be good for our country. I am interested in ensuring that a strong branch of our economy remains strong and innovative.

SPIEGEL: In the U.S., customers that were cheated have received up to $16,000 in damages. Why hasn't the German government required companies in the country to make similar payments?

Merkel: Our warranty and liability laws are fundamentally different than they are in the United States. The goal of the measures we have taken is to make sure carmakers make the necessary repairs to the vehicles. Emissions systems have to work as they were envisioned when the car models were approved. That is why we required companies to carry out recalls. That must take place without additional costs to the customers.

SPIEGEL: You have said that the end of the combustible engine is in sight, but you declined to offer any kind of a timeline. Isn't that enough to completely confuse drivers?
SPIEGEL: Is the refugee crisis just a symbol for their discomfort with the difficult state of the world today?

Grunewald: Yes, because long before the refugee crisis people felt alienated by globalization and were also concerned about global security.

SPIEGEL: How is Trump being perceived?

Grunewald: He works to Merkel's advantage. Because of him, Putin and Erdogan, she is seen as the person who can tame the brutes. The chancellor is seen as the only one we can depend on, so we have to have a good relationship to her.

SPIEGEL: And her challenger?

Grunewald: Amid the skepticism around Merkel, Martin Schulz (of the center-left Social Democrats -- SPD) arrived early this year as a figure seen as down-to-earth with a take-charge attitude. He was seen as a returning father, someone to finally fill the paternal vacancy in German politics -- and it was blown up to almost messianic proportions. Schulz, the person, couldn't fulfill these expectations. He is seen more as a friendly uncle. The SPD faces a potential disaster in this election.
STAMFORD - Waterbury has sued several pharmaceutical companies that make the opioids that have triggered the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history, and Bridgeport soon will join the suit.

But officials in Stamford, home to Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of the top-selling opioid OxyContin, did not take part Thursday in a press conference that followed the court filing in Waterbury.

Five Connecticut towns -- New Milford, Oxford, Bristol, Naugatuck, Wolcott and Roxbury -- pledged to sign on, and another 15 to 20 likely will follow, Waterbury Mayor Neil OLeary said. They include Norwalk and Darien.

They are among a growing list of cities, counties and states suing the big drug makers, distributors and drugstore chains that they say marketed and sold painkillers for years without revealing how powerfully addictive they are.

In Stamford -- where Purdue Pharma employs 1,600 people and last year paid nearly $3 million in taxes -- officials have not weighed in on the lawsuits.

Asked on Friday, Mayor David Martin said he has discussed the issue with state Attorney General George Jepsen.

Under his leadership, Connecticut is engaged in a bi-partisan, multi-state coalition to pursue potential legal action, Martin said in an email.

He likes the approach because it offers the opportunity to achieve policy changes and reform with pharmaceutical distributors and manufacturers that can help us combat the epidemic, Martin wrote.

We will evaluate our options to join one or several of the lawsuits that personal-injury firms are suggesting after the plans of the multi-state coalition unfold, Martin wrote. The opioid epidemic has stolen away countless lives and devastated families across the country.

So Stamford is deciding. As it does, the number of lawsuits is escalating. The city of Toms River, N.J., announced last week it will sue, and eight counties in New York, including Nassau on Long Island, have already filed.

Purdue Pharma, one of the largest opioid drug makers, is usually a target. Mayor Ray Stephanson of Everett, Wash., filed a suit against the company in January, alleging clear evidence that Purdue ignored their responsibility to stop the diversion of OxyContin into the black market in pursuit of profits.

A staggering toll

During a 20-year period that began in the early 1990s, prescriptions of oxycodone more than doubled in the U.S. and sales increased more than 10 times.

Between 2000 and 2015, 180,000 Americans died of overdoses. Thousands more died overdosing on heroin and fentanyl, drugs addicts turn to when they can no longer afford or obtain prescription pain pills.

More than 1,000 Connecticut residents are expected to die of overdoses this year - thats two or three a day.

Legal challenges

Purdue Pharmas legal troubles hit the headlines in 2007, when it reached a $600 million criminal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice after an investigation into the marketing of OxyContin. That year Purdue Pharma also settled with 26 states for $19.5 million.

In 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reached a deal in which Purdue Pharma agreed to change business practices to curb overprescription of OxyContin, the companys brand name for oxycodone pills. It was the same year the company agreed to pay $24 million to Kentucky to settle an investigation there.

The cities, counties and states filing civil cases say drug makers led patients, pharmacists and doctors to believe that prolonged use of opioids was safe, even for minor pain such as headache. Many say they are suing because the industry - and government -- have failed to address the addiction problem that resulted.

Besides Purdue Pharma, the Waterbury lawsuit names Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Johnson & Johnson, Endo Health Solutions and some of their subsidiaries.

Political fallout

Barry Michelson, a Republican challenging Martin in Novembers mayoral race, said it should be of no consequence that a major drug maker is headquartered in Stamford.

Stamford suffers like all other communities in devastating consequences to immediate families and the community at large, which include loss of life; increase in crime; spike in health-care costs; and increased demands on our emergency responders, Michelson said in an email. We need to take a hard stand against it. Of course, were sensitive to local business. However, the people of Stamford come first.

Another mayoral challenger, unaffiliated candidate John Zito, said he is concerned about the number of people who die of related heroin overdoses, and about what actions can be taken against doctors who overprescribe painkillers.

I would want a legal team to look at any lawsuit first to determine if its suitable for Stamford to get involved, Zito said. If it would definitely benefit the people of the city, I would proceed with it.

In a statement issued last week, Purdue Pharma said it vigorously denies the allegations, and shares concerns about the opioid crisis. The company is committed to combating the epidemic and seeking solutions, the statement said, and is an industry leader in developing opioids with abuse-deterrent properties.
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Connecticut and eight other states are ignoring President Donald Trumps resistance to fighting climate change and pledging big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and increased funding for Green energy initiatives.

The success of the program  and the proposals to make it even more effective  stand in sharp contrast to the Trump administrations shortsighted and wholesale retreat on climate issues, said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Connecticut and the states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreed to cut carbon emissions from power plants and other sources an additional 30 percent between 2020 and 2030 - an overall 65 percent reduction from the original goal set in 2009.

The states also will increase the cost of cap and trade credits used to help achieve the carbon emission reduction goals. Under the cap and trade program, energy producers bid against each other for the right to emit carbon.

Proceeds from those auctions  $2.7 billion so far between the nine states  help fund solar power conversions and energy efficiency projects funded by organizations such as Connecticut Green Bank.

Along with Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont are RGGI members. The states are expected to formalize the new policies Sept. 25 during a meeting in Baltimore.

More Information The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative sets carbon emission goals and a cap and trade program to help fund Green energy projects. RGGI members: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont Here's a summary of the new carbon reduction goals 2020 cap: 78.18 million short tons 2030 cap: 54.67 million short tons Decrease over 10 years: 23.51 million short tons, or 30 percent from the 2020 goal In Connecticut, the RPPI has: Contributed $155 million for Green projects Removed 450,000 tons of carbon from the air Saved consumers $150,000 in energy bills See More Collapse

The new RGGI goals stand in contrast to Trumps climate change policies.

The president recently pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which set similar worldwide carbon emissions reduction goals, has promoted coal over clean energy, and rolled back programs to study and prepare for climate change.

No matter the mood in Washington, Connecticut and the other RGGI states will continue moving forward with this highly effective and innovative regional initiative, and with other efforts to support energy efficiency and the deployment of clean energy systems within our borders, Malloy noted.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos said reducing Greenhouse gases benefit both public health and the economy.

The continued success of the RGGI sends a clear message  reducing the pollution from Greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change goes hand-in-hand with economic growth while yielding substantial health benefits, Seggos said.

Measurable success

Between 2008 and 2015, Connecticut earned $155 million from the RGGI initiative and more than 90 percent of that money was invested in energy efficiency projects or clean and renewable energy.

Those investments so far have removed more than 450,000 tons of carbon from the air and saved consumers $150,000 in energy bills, state officials said.

Most scientists believe a buildup of Greenhouse gases, primarily caused by carbon emissions from power plants and factories  and to some extent worldwide auto emissions  is warming the planet and changing the climate in dangerous ways.

RGGI funded projects in Connecticut include a $1.5 million conversion of an East Windsor shopping center to solar power and a $2.2 million upgrade of heating, cooling and energy systems at an office building at 855 Main Street in Bridgeport.

The money is also used to make homes, businesses and municipalities more energy efficient, provide direct rebates for electric consumers and purchase energy efficient lighting.

Robert Klee, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the RGGI program shows that carbon emissions can be reduced across a region.

This commitment by all nine RGGI states will ensure a strong future for the program while continuing to demonstrate that states can successfully reduce carbon pollution while supporting economic growth and grid resiliency, Klee said.

Klee said the RGGI program has helped the state reduce power sector emissions by 32 percent and will bring total emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050.

Sarah Jackson, Climate and Energy Policy Manager for The Nature Conservancys Northeast chapters, said the RGGI is making a difference.

We at The Nature Conservancy want to thank the RGGI state governors for recognizing the clear and urgent threat that climate change presents to the people and places we hold dear and for making this important decision to step up actions to address this global crisis, Jackson said.

Julie Moore, Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, said carbon reductions and Green initiatives save money and are good for the environment.

RGGI has proved incredibly successful at driving down emissions from the power sector in a way that puts money back in Vermonters' pockets, Moore said. Vermont is glad to help continue to lead in the absence of federal action.
STAMFORD  Mayor David Martin was today joined by Stamford-based Americares and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to highlight the best ways for Stamford residents to help the City of Houston, TX and the victims of Hurricane Harvey. The hurricane made initial landfall last Friday, and has produced 51 inches of rain in some areas, destroying some 48,000 homes.

More News How Connecticut can help victims of Hurricane Harvey

The pictures and videos coming out of Texas and Louisiana get worse and worse every day, showing unthinkable devastation, Martin said. We in Stamford have not been immune to floods and storms over the years, so I appreciate that residents are looking for ways to help those who have been affected. Stick with known organizations that have track records of helping during natural disasters. The City of Stamford stands with the City of Houston, and I hope my fellow residents will join me in helping with relief efforts.
This past spring, the Fyre Festival was touted as the most luxurious music gathering ever put together, featuring five-star chefs preparing lavish meals and high-end lodgings. What attendees got instead were cheese sandwiches and disaster tents. The culprit of this high profile fiasco, as discussed by one employee who abandoned ship early, was a top-down failure to adequately plan the proceedings. The dangers of faulty planning were put on embarrassing display to the entire world.

Any worthwhile pursuit will carry some amount of risk. Thats a fundamental truth both inside and outside of the business world. While theres no shortage of motivational appeals to jump right into a new endeavor with both feet, that approach will frequently result in disaster. With all thats on the line, why take those unnecessary chances? Without proper planning and preparation, youre setting yourself up for failure more often than not.

Related: 5 Risks Every Entrepreneur Will Need to Take

The hard numbers will tell you the truth.

Preparation in a business environment means acknowledging the importance of crunching numbers and truly diving into detailed analysis of the potential pitfalls and benefits of any new endeavor. When you plan things out properly, youre building the framework for success. When you fail to do so, youre already starting out in the negative.

Related: Crunching Numbers

Facing fear for a change in your opportunities.

Of course, this doesnt mean being afraid of change or opportunity. What it truly means is having the mental equipment to take a great idea from a thought to a reality. Whether opening a high-rise apartment building or running a mom-and-pop shop, any type of ownership will require an understanding of the importance of getting into the nitty-gritty of numbers. Its the essence of truly being prepared to put your thoughts into action.

Related: 10 Fears You Must Overcome When Starting a New Opportunities

How will you research?

In order for numbers to be crunched, youll need to gather them first. Research, in a business context, can refer to a number of different methods. There are a multitude of ways that you can gather data for your company: from focus groups and customer surveys, to web analytics to measure your online presence, to the budget numbers in your internal books. Depending on the decision to be made, proper and thorough research must be performed accordingly.

Related: Conducting Market Research

Read publications online about your subject.

There may be other businesses with experience in whatever venture youre trying. While youre not always going to be the first to try a particular idea, you can be the best with intelligent and comprehensive research. Even a cursory Google search can offer a wealth of information about the strategy youre considering. Business publications both online and off are so numerous that theres a good chance at least one of them has written something on the subject. Youll be remiss if you dont make the time to take a solid look.

Theres so much to be gained by thoroughly assessing your ideas and the environment youre going to be working in that it should be a key aspect of every move you make as an entrepreneur. All decisions affecting the bottom line need to be up to your personal standards of rigor. Running a business means knowing every aspect of whats happening within it, from top to bottom. If you dont have that knowledge, youre not doing your job, no matter what industry youre in.

Related: Market Research News & Topics

The importance of data analysis shouldnt be lost on any business owner. Your organization might not have the need for big data gathering and software, but you will still need to be able to assess the information at hand in order for your company to perform at its best. Every piece of data, from sales numbers to office supplies ordered, should be informing the way your business is run for the most efficiency.

Business data, in its many forms, will provide a thorough understanding of the numbers that make up your companys comings and goings. When youre preparing your business plan, those numbers are what your investors are going to be looking for. When selling your ideas, you can always expect to hear the question what do the numbers look like? You might remember from school that math truly underlines all of life, and this wasnt just something your teacher told you to keep you quiet. Its incredibly true, especially so in the business world.

The major thing youre looking for when you crunch those numbers are the patterns that will define the direction your endeavor goes. They might not look like much to the untrained eye, but they can spell out a business future to a properly prepared one. Pattern recognition is one of the fundamental aspects of learning and understanding, and one that you should be looking to master if you want to put your great ideas into practice.

A full grasp of this skill set means that youll see things that others wont. In the data, youll find the indicators of a promising venture or a doomed disaster. Knowing how to ascertain the meaning of the hard data that youve gathered means the life of your enterprise. Its about seeing the truth buried within all the numbers.

These skills are more valuable than ever. A study performed by GlassDoor to assess the top jobs in America based on satisfaction, salary, and openings ranked data and analytics-centered positions in 3 of the top 5 spots. What that means is that more and more businesses are coming around to the idea that you need to be able to crunch the numbers and assess your data to get to the top (or remain there).

By placing a high priority on data collection and analysis, youre giving yourself a major leg up on the members of your competition that dont. You might not necessarily have a dedicated research or analytics department, but if you can find it in your time to gather as much information as possible before making major financial decisions, youll see the benefit in short order. The numbers wont lie.

Related:

Here's How You Get Back Into the Business World After Taking A Break

Why Entrepreneurs Should Question Everything and Everyone, Even the Experts

A SEC Guidance Almost Shut Down My Business Before It Launched. Here's How You Can Handle These Types of Unexpected Challenges.



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


STAMFORD  In what is becoming a semi-regular crackdown on misbehavior at city parks and beaches, police on Thursday wrote over 40 summonses for a variety of violations.

The crackdown began a Cummings Beach shortly before 5 p.m. with several police officers and parks police.

The quality of life detail as police call it, resulted in 20 tickets being issued for motor vehicle infractions, most notably failure to grant the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

The effort follows a similar crackdown at Cummings Beach that occurred on July 30 when police spent six hours in the park and wrote 38 tickets.

At that time police Lt., Diedrich Hohn, who guided Thursday nights effort, said police would not allow a small percentage of people to ruin the enjoyment of the citys parks and beaches for everyone.

The crackdown at Cummings Thursday resulted in 20 tickets being written. Tickets were issued for failure to stop at stop signs, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, texting while driving and one person was found in possession of a bottle of Vodka, police said.

At 7 p.m., police moved over to Stamfords West Side and into Leone Park and stayed there until 9:30 p.m.

In that time they wrote 23 more tickets. After watching what police believed was a drug transaction, 33-year-old Orlando Montalvo of Webb Avenue was charged with being in possession of marijuana laced with the powerful hallucinogen PCP. He was the only custodial arrest of the evening.

Another man was given a ticket for being in possession of marijuana. Police handed out five tickets to people drinking hard liquor and another person with a glass bottle in the park.

Another person was ticketed for selling food in the park without a permit.

In a Facebook post about the action police said, Stamford has great parks for everyone to enjoy. Please obey the park rules and motor vehicle laws or you may face enforcement action.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
By PTI: By Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Sep 1 (PTI) The US has called on the UN Security Council to support the government of Myanmar in safeguarding the "rights and dignity" of all communities in the country.

On August 30, the UN Security Council held consultations on the events that have unfolded in Myanmar.

Following deadly attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), militants at security posts on August 25 and reports of Myanmars security forces subsequent response, the escalation in tensions has resulted in thousands reportedly fleeing their homes.

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There have also been reports of innocent civilians being killed and injured amid the ongoing violence and of villages being burned down.

At least 18,500 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since fighting erupted in Myanmars neighbouring Rakhine state The International Organisation for Migration said.

"The US supports democracy for the Myanmarese people, and we condemn attacks by militant groups in Rakhine State," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement yesterday.

The Indian-origin US ambassador to the UN said as Myanmars security forces act to prevent further violence, "they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need".

"We call on all members of the Security Council to support the Myanmarese government in ensuring the rights and dignity of all communities in Rakhine State and throughout Myanmar," Haley said.

Meanwhile, a UN human rights expert has expressed concern at the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State, affecting not just the Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim populations but also other communities.

"The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently," said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in a statement issued from the Office of UN High Commissioners for Human Rights (OHCHR).

While the worlds Muslim communities celebrated Eid al- Adha, the Rohingya remained in a precarious situation, not knowing their future or the fate of their relatives, Lee said.

Latest estimates from UN sources suggest more than 27,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the area around Coxs Bazar, while 20,000 more remain stranded between the two countries.

The Special Rapporteur noted concerns over both extremist attacks and the major security operations undertaken in response to the attacks.

"I am concerned that these events will derail efforts to address the root causes of the systematic discrimination and recurrent violence in Rakhine State," she added.

Lee went on to remind the authorities of their human rights obligations to give equal protection to people from all communities, whether from attacks by extremists or excessive action from the security forces.

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Echoing findings in the final report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Lee said that if human rights concerns are not properly addressed and if people remain politically and economically marginalised, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalisation, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists.

Haley said the US has welcomed Myanmars endorsement of the Annan Commissions recommendations and supports the governments efforts to implement them as quickly as possible. PTI YAS UZM

--- ENDS ---
The teen girl only opened the door when she was hungry, and used a mobile phone and handwritten notes to talk to her parents. Both the brother and sister did not want to study and confined themselves in their air-conditioned rooms. Kids these days!

By India Today Web Desk: Getting up more often than usual for drinking water or attending unnatural nature's call while studying is what we all have done to waste time. Anything that helps kill time and keep us away from textbooks.

Apathy, at some point or the other, has gotten the better of us. But here, it has kept two children in a room for four years.

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To avoid studying, and believe it or not, a sister and a brother confined themselves in a room in Haridwar for as many as four years.

#Uttarakhand: To avoid studying further, brother-sister duo confined themselves in a room in Haridwar for four years say police pic.twitter.com/uGJI6uL18z- ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2017

According to a Times of India report, the 18-year-old girl was scolded by her parents. She got a good one when for not scoring good enough marks in her class 10 exams. Her 15-year-old brother followed his sister's footsteps shorty.

The girl confined herself in her room in anger for three years. The brother also dropped out of school in 2016 and put himself in another room.

"Children said they wanted to just have leisure time, so they locked themselves to avoid studying," SP Mamta Vohra said.

Light was put on the incident when cops received a complaint by a resident of Panchvati Colony. The complainant got suspicious after not seeing the two children come out of their house in a long time.

Police soon reached the spot and were baffled to learn that the room was locked from the inside. The cops managed to convince the kids to open the locks of their rooms.

The father of the kids told police that the girl stopped going to school in 2013 after she told her parents that she was done with education.

"During questioning, the girl, who appeared like she had not bathed for days, or even months, said that she was fed up of her parents constantly nagging her to carry on with her schooling so she locked herself up in her room," TOI quoted a police officer.

The girl also did not like talking to her parents and she used a mobile phone and handwritten notes to communicate with parents living in the same house.

She only opened the door of her room when she was hungry. Same is the case with the girl's brother.

Police found the basic facilities of the room in good shape as the rooms had air conditioners, televisions and a laptop.

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"Children and parents both will be counseled. It will take time for them to develop a mindset for studies," the SP said.

FYI || Bull-dozed: Student clicks teacher sleeping in class, gets him suspended ||

FYI || Watch: Locals in UP turned government primary school into dance bar on Raksha Bandhan ||

FYI || No benches, no blackboard, no toilets, just a classroom under a tree ||

--- ENDS ---
Mamata Banerjee is determined to keep the hardships of demonetisation alive in people's minds, at least until the panchayat elections, due early 2018. The ruling Trinamool Congress's internal information network has convinced the chief minister that the issue can be cashed in on.

Mamata was a vociferous critic through the months when the massive exercise to withdraw high-value currency notes was under way after November 2016. She announced a special package for farmers and farm workers impacted by demonetisation in April. This, according to state labour minister Moloy Ghatak, included a Rs 100 crore corpus for farmers and Rs 250 crore for cash assistance to labourers.

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Labour department officials claim Rs 150 crore has already been utilised for one-time Rs 50,000 grants to bring back workers who had migrated from the state. With funds still left, they said, the scheme will continue through financial year 2017-18. However, going by the district magistrates' list of genuine beneficiaries, only about 10 per cent of the Rs 250 crore has been utilised.

"The objective was to record in the state assembly that people in Bengal had suffered untold hardship, and were being bailed out with financial assistance. This is nothing but bluff," says Abdul Mannan, leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, insisting no one in his constituency had received even a paisa.

Biswanath Chakrabarty, political science professor at Rabindra Bharati University, concurs: "The response was so poor that MLAs have been asked to distribute the fund among party workers (to show larger numbers of beneficiaries)." A Trinamool Congress MLA, requesting anonymity, said that the state government had perhaps failed to reach many affected labourers because they had migrated and could not be contacted.

The scheme for farmers seems to have fared better. Agriculture minister Purnendu Bose says close to a million of the worst-hit farmers had been given assistance to repay crop loans and input costs. He explained this was to keep the farmers from falling into a cyclical debt trap. West Bengal was the only state to announce a special demonetisation package, he pointed out.

The Trinamool Congress clearly hopes to use the doles to bolster its 'pro-poor', 'pro-farmer' image as it prepares to take on the BJP in the panchayat elections. Using the 'negatives of demonetisation' as its main plank, the party plans to requisition the services of nearly 100,000 folk artists to spread its word. Curiously, though, many of the folk artists are beneficiaries of the state's Lok Prasar Prakalpa scheme.

This apart, the chief minister also plans to roll out other schemes, including a 'no premium' insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh for a fifth of the state's population and three months of maternity leave for contract workers and workers in the unorganised sector. Notably, the state's annual social welfare budget is already at Rs 20,000 crore.

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: It has been six years since Raqesh Vashishth and Ridhi Dogra are married, yet their connection seems to be getting stronger with each passing year. The bond is apparent from the birthday wish Ridhi wrote for her hubby dear as he turned a year older, and is definitely giving us relationship goals.

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"Happiness, warmth and joy. Just like this picture. That's my top most wish for you always and forever. I truly consider you to be gifted and in touch with the universe. You are connected to the higher source deeper than anyone else I have known. I wish your light keeps shining with the universe and you are surrounded with love and laughter, abundance and perfect harmony ?? Happppyyyyyyy birthday @raqeshbapat Cheers to another year of celebrating and creating your magic."

The Bahu Humari Rajni_Kant actor and Woh Apna Sa actress first met on the shoot of Yash Raj series, Seven, and worked together in Maryada Lekin Kab Tak. Unlike most of telly couples, the two became friends first and fell in love later. However, they claim that they are still best of friends after marriage.

These two are relationship goals. Aren't they?

--- ENDS ---
SCOTTSBLUFF  There is no cure for the unspeakable pain of the death of an infant, but a new device called a CuddleCot donated to Regional Wests Birth and Infant Care Center by Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel may help bereaved parents as they prepare to part with their child.

The CuddleCot is a small cooling device that can be placed in a bassinet or crib to help preserve a babys body, allowing the parents more time to grieve in the privacy of their hospital room. Without a cooling process, a babys body quickly deteriorates after death.

Having provided services for a number of families that lost babies in recent months, the staff of Dugan-Kramer was looking for a way to do more.

We saw a need to help parents through the grieving process, so we began researching ways to help bereaved families, said Tammy Lutz, managing funeral director at Dugan-Kramer Funeral Home in Scottsbluff.

An article on the Nebraska Funeral Directors Association website led Lutz and funeral director Mary Beth Mau to information about a Nebraska-based nonprofit organization called Connected Forever, which was established three years ago in Tecumseh, Nebraska. With the assistance of Connected Forever, Dugan-Kramer Funeral Home was able to purchase a CuddleCot for the Birth and Infant Care Center.

The CuddleCot gives the gift of time to parents and families, said Tracy Pella, president of Connected Forever, and mother of a premature baby who died at birth.

She traveled to Scottsbluff from eastern Nebraska with her husband Jesse, and three young children to present the CuddleCot to the nursing staff at Regional West. It was the fifth CuddleCot donated to a Nebraska hospital through Connected Forever.

Pella, a school psychologist and licensed mental health therapist at Bennett-Pslmyra Schools in eastern Nebraska, and her husband, a farmer, founded the organization after the birth of their twin sons. Cooper and Cohen were born at 23 weeks, four days gestation on June 1, 2011. Cohen died the same day, but Cooper, weighing only 14.8 ounces, spent 134 days in the NICU and is now an active 6-year-old. The Pellas said they started the organization so that no family has to endure a similar journey alone.

Connected Forever supports families who have experienced premature birth or infant death by providing resources, education and emotional support. Managed by a small board of professionals who are family friends, the organization has grown tremendously in three years through the dedication of volunteers and donors. It now provides bereavement support and NICU support for families of any baby born in Nebraska. Programs include funeral burial assistance, financial assistance for NICU expenses, peer mentor support, CuddleCot donations, online support, special events and community outreach.

The donation of the CuddleCot was welcomed by the staff of the Birth and Infant Care Center, which grieves with bereaved parents for the babies they did their best to nurture. It is an important addition to the personal mementos the nursing staff provides as a remembrance  the babys footprints on a card, a lock of hair preserved in a memory box, and a keepsake cast of the babys hands and feet.

This will make a tremendous difference by allowing parents a few more moments or hours with their baby. Were very grateful to Dugan-Kramer for this donation, said Erika Carmody, director of the Birth and Infant Care Center and Pediatrics at Regional West.

For more information about Connected Forever, visit connected4ever.org.
Normally I devote this column to all the latest updates on the issues that are important to me and my district. Out of control property taxes, the wind energy scam, the maddening story of a power line, constitutional rights, our troubled prison system, ranching, farming, rural life in general.

Today Im taking a break from that stuff. I want to talk about something thats been bothering me: Tearing down monuments of Confederate Civil War figures.

First of all, I hate mob rule. That is not what this country is supposed to be. When a statue in a park is built or removed, a school or street is named or renamed, I think it should be a thoughtful, deliberate choice made by the community, not a political kneejerk brought on by a mob. I think the mob is winning and that bothers me. The American history surrounding these monuments is important. It is as profound as it is inescapable. Our republic has a dark past marked with genocide and slavery and the bloodiest war in our countrys history fought to end it. These are indisputable facts, and no matter how many statues are torn down it will not erase them.

The United States is also the greatest country on Earth with a long history of incredible societal growth and enlightenment; one of constant change for the better. Our history follows a path toward more justice, not less, one of a more perfect union as our constitution says. Our system is based on the rule of law, not the mob. Tearing down a monument commemorating past U.S. history no matter how dark it is removes a mile-marker in our growth as a nation. How can we measure all the progress that has unfolded since the era in which the statue was built if its gone?

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney was the author of the terrible Dred Scott decision that rejected citizenship for African Americans. There was a statue of him on the grounds of the Statehouse of Maryland. Also on the grounds was a statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court. In the mob frenzy that has followed since the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, a few weeks ago, the Statue of Justice Taney was recently removed. I think this diminishes the achievement of not only Justice Marshall, but that of the country as a whole.

President Trump asked where does it stop? and he is right. Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington includes statues of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a number of other Confederates. Will they be removed? Will the Jefferson Memorial be taken down and a new face found for the nickel coin? Do we blast the faces off Mount Rushmore like the Taliban did to the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan?

What strikes me is at the other end of the reflecting pool opposite the Capitol is the Lincoln Memorial which commemorates the man who defeated the Confederacy, who restored the union, who ended slavery, and advanced the country into a new era. Without the context of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is just another long-dead President and not the man the Capitol of Nebraska is named after.

In the years after the Civil War there was a good deal of statue building, the height of it around 1910. Most were done by children of Confederate veterans trying to memorialize the war their fathers had fought. The reconstruction era in the South during the postwar years was racked with extreme poverty, with many families missing sons and fathers lost to the war. There were other, more sinister motives to build these statues too, during the Civil Rights struggle in 50s and 60s. I find it ironic that the chief opposition to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was the political left in this country. It certainly wasnt a conservative governor standing in front of a school denying entry to a black student.

Regardless of the motive, a great many of these statues were part of a larger effort to heal the Nation with malice towards none as Lincoln said. During those years after the war, Jefferson Davis was never charged with treason and was released from prison after serving only a couple years. The funeral of Robert E. Lee in 1870 was attended by senior politicians from the North. His eulogy read like he was an American hero.

If you revise all the history based on someone being offended then we wont have any history left because someone, somewhere will always take offense at something. Instead of tearing down an offensive statue from the Civil War, how about building a new one commemorating another American, someone who represents how far the country has come since then? How about we celebrate the triumph of the American idea instead of shrinking in fear from the tyranny of the political-correctness mob?

If you dont know where youve been, how will you ever know how far youve come?

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov or call us at 402-471-2628.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Championed by the Modi-government on international platforms, Yoga has also become a part of everyday life among the swiss citizens.

"Indian teachings such as yoga now are part of everyday life of lot of swiss citizens, also in my life, not everyday but in a weekly life," Swiss President Doris Leuthard said here today while addressing a business session organised by industry chambers.

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She also said that there is a fascination in India for Swiss mountains and it is probably supported by Bollywood films.

Following a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations (UN) has declared June 21 as the World Yoga Day.

The Swiss President also said that India enjoys high respect in her country because "you are the worlds largest democracy and a country that places as much importance in public political participation as we do".

"We are impressed by Indias rich history and culture. They have inspired many Swiss writers and travellers," she added. PTI RR CS SA

--- ENDS ---
ST. LOUIS  The city building commissioner says it appears the top floors of the north tower of BJC HealthCares new building under construction near Kingshighway and Forest Park Avenue are buckling, and he is asking the engineer in charge to verify that the floors were built correctly.

Building commissioner Frank Oswald said Friday that it appeared the floors were buckling on the sixth through 12th floors in the north tower.

They need their design professional to say that its all been done and in a manner thats safe and protects the public, Oswald said of the floor design.

An occupancy permit will not be issued until the engineer is able to verify that the flooring system was built according to the plans, he said.

The severity and potential impact of the issue are unclear, as is whether the problem is related to the design or construction.

In 2012, BJC hired three construction companies to lead the massive project. Alberici Corp., Clayco and S.M. Wilson Co. formed ACW Alliance and were awarded the $1 billion project. Architecture firm HOK designed the project.

The opening of the hospital expansion had been planned for early 2018. The first phase calls for the construction of two 12-story towers along Kingshighway. One will house an expanded St. Louis Childrens Hospital, and the other will provide more space for Siteman Cancer Center and other surgical programs.

Scott Wilson, CEO of S.M. Wilson, insisted Friday that the floors in the north tower were not buckling.

There are areas on some of the floors where additional leveling is occurring, and I can assure you that is also a very normal process, he said in an email Friday afternoon.

Wilson also said that there were no structural issues with the building.

We want to make it clear that in a project of this magnitude there are modifications that occur throughout the construction process, Wilson said.

When asked Friday about the building commissioners move, Bob Clark, CEO of Clayco Corp., said simply, That sounds ridiculous to me.

HOK also responded with its own statement Friday afternoon, appearing to downplay the building commissioners concerns.

We continue to meet with city inspectors and can state with certainty that the floors have not buckled and that the building is structurally sound, said Lance Cage, managing principal with HOK.

The citys latest actions come after months of concerns among the parties about the floors in the new building. There have been attempts to level the floors, but Oswald said Friday that his inspectors had found the issues were ongoing.

There was still some buckling in the floors. Its from the 6th floor up, Oswald said.

After a meeting this week with inspectors, engineers and architects within the building department, they felt it was necessary to go back to the engineer on record, Oswald said.

They wont be able to use it until they get a design professional to verify its safe and that its done correctly and that the fix has been made, Oswald said.

Oswald said this type of request was not uncommon but didnt happen all the time. He would not speculate on what might have caused the flooring problems.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital board member Tom Hillman told the Post-Dispatch this week that construction issues had been brought to the boards attention.

He said that there were a variety of issues but that the most evident is the leveling.

Rumors have been circulating for months that the floors in the building are not level. An IV pole placed on one of the floors rolled away, according to one report.

June Fowler, spokeswoman for BJC Healthcare, took issue Friday with the term buckling in describing the floor problems. There is some unevenness, she said. There are levelness issues, and those issues are being addressed.

When Claycos Clark was contacted in June about the floor problems, he explained that there was some disconnect between the owners, architect and builders. He said that the builder group is confident that all the floors were to the design specifications.

All the parties are working closely together to find the best solution and the most economic process to get that solution, he said then.
I received a phone call from the Mary, Mother Parish office earlier this week to let us know that there will be a second collection after all the Masses for the Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas. All the Catholic parishes in St. Louis are sending out the same messages to their parishioners. It is one small way we can reach out to help them.

When the hurricane first hit, I called my sister Andrea to check on her daughter Laura and her four children who live in Houston. It is always hard to deal with a tragedy unfolding where your children are living hundreds of miles away. Andrea and Richard had gone through the same stress when Hurricane Katrina hit. They have two daughters and their families who live in New Orleans. When that catastrophe occurred, the two sisters, Rachel and Francine, their husbands and children headed out and stayed with Laura in Houston.

This time, Lauras family planned to stay in their home believing they were far enough away from the ocean to be safe. No one was considering the flooding that was to follow.

In the past two years, we experienced our own water disaster in St. Louis.

Flooding took place two years in a row extending from Interstate 55 across Meramec Bottom Road and traveling through the houses situated at the beginning of Kerth Road and extending up to our subdivision.

We helped our neighbors sandbag and try to prepare for the flooding that took place literally at our doorsteps. Our subdivision is the first one on Kerth Road leading directly from Meramec Bottom Road and I-55. We watched the highway exit closing, saw the waters rising, and witnessed the yards, streets and basements fill up with water. Up and down the road, neighbors came out and helped their neighbors. Clean up was long and messy.

When does it all stop?

Mother Nature is uncontrollable and unfathomable. No matter how much you prepare and think you are ready to face a disaster in the making, the reality of its destruction is hard to grasp.

What gives me hope though, is the great compassion of volunteers all over who come forward to help.

From the boat owners who offered their boats and their time to tirelessly cruise up and down the flooded waters to pick up stranded families to the Red Cross volunteers who provided food and shelter, clothing and fresh water. Hundreds of volunteers pitched in to do what they can.

Even Gods little creatures are being rescued. Several volunteers gathered up family pets and took them to shelters. Our beloved collie Laddie is a Katrina rescue. He was one of the thousands of dogs saved and brought to Missouri and Illinois for eventual adoption after the New Orleans flooding.

At times like these, when faith is tested, the strength and fortitude, coupled with prayer gives strength to those who need it. We even experience miracles. We were overcome with emotion reading of the discovery and rescue in Houston of the toddler clinging to her mother in the water, who sadly didnt make it.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan:

A scholar of the law said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

Jesus replied, A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. * A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.

He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.

Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers victim? The scholar answered, The one who treated him with mercy. Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. (Luke 10)

In these last few days we have seen strangers reach out to help other strangers and in doing so, they have followed the command Christ put forth to all of us.
A St. Clair County sheriff's deputy was charged with official misconduct Thursday after he allegedly solicited a sexual act from a woman he pulled over during a traffic stop in Cahokia.

Court documents said that the deputy, Robert Sneed, 45, sought the sexual act in exchange for avoiding arrest and the towing of her vehicle.

Sneed, of the 9700 block of Winchester Street in Mascoutah, had stopped the woman for vehicle registration violations on Feb. 16.

Sheriff Richard Watson said Sneed has been on the force for five years after working as a law enforcement officer on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina. He had been going through emotional problems since the death of his 21-year-old child in a motorcycle accident last year, Watson said.

"We don't know what is going through his head," Watson said.

Sneed has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
ST. LOUIS  A man who jumped from a car that had been reported as stolen and pointed a gun at a police officer was shot Thursday afternoon, the acting police chief said.

Acting Chief Lawrence OToole said the man was hit in the upper torso and was being treated at a hospital. He described the mans condition as guarded and stable.

Another man who jumped from the same car is in custody, OToole said.

The names of those taken into custody were not released, but OToole suggested that the man shot has a criminal history.

This is just another example of a violent offender, an armed violent offender, posing a danger not only to the officers but also to the community, OToole said at a news conference shortly after the shooting.

No officers were shot, but an officer assisting in the arrests injured his knee and was taken to a hospital.

The shooting was about 4:30 p.m. in the 3800 block of Maffitt Avenue in the JeffVanderLou neighborhood, police said.

Police said the vehicle, a 2017 Ford Explorer, had been reported as stolen on Aug. 11 from Bridgeton. Officers put a spike strip in the path of the vehicle and it was disabled before the two people inside jumped out and fled on foot.

One of the occupants was armed with a handgun and turned and pointed it toward the officer.

The officer feared for his life, fired several shots, striking the individual in the upper torso, OToole said.

The other suspect was captured by another officer. The gun pointed at the officer was recovered, the chief said.

The officer who shot the man is 39 years old and a 10-year veteran of the department, police said. He has been placed on administrative leave, per policy, the department said.

Asked about several recent incidents in which St. Louis officers have been involved in shootings, OToole said they are happening in response to the violent crime and armed offenders his officers are facing.

As to whether officers could use something less lethal than guns in response to crime, he turned the question back on those his officers are facing.

Heres one option, pull over and comply with the officers, the chief said. Thats the best option.

Several dozen bystanders gathered outside the police tape that officers put up at the scene on Maffitt.

Among them was Ronnie Hawkins, who said the man shot was his nephew. He said the younger man had been released from prison in recent months.

Hawkins said he himself is a former St. Louis police officer and he said he had questions about whether police needed to use gunfire in the arrest of his nephew.

Because he fled, does that give you a right to shoot him? asked Hawkins.

He spoke to people who identified themselves as witnesses to the incident who told him that his nephew had been shot in the back.

He said he planned to get to the bottom of what happened.
ST. LOUIS  A convicted bank robber was charged anew on Thursday, a day after an officer arrested him just minutes after and a few blocks from a bank that had been robbed with a "wad of cash" sticking out of his pocket.

Scott M. Purcell, 56, is charged with robbery in the incident on Wednesday morning at the U.S. Bank at 721 Locust Street.

Purcell was arrested minutes after a man walked up to a teller at the U.S. Bank and told her: "Give me all the twenties and hundreds out of your till," police said.

The man also told the teller he had a weapon and she complied with his demand, police said.

Purcell was taken into custody after he was spotted on foot about seven blocks from the bank. The arresting officer said he matched the description and had "a wad of cash sticking out of his left pocket."

Police said Purcell, who they describe as homeless, appears to be the same person who was photographed robbing a Chase Bank in Chicago on Monday.

He was previously convicted in a bank robbery in San Francisco in March 2005.

In the latest incident, he is jailed with bail set at $200,000 cash only. A police mugshot was not immediately available.
Representatives of the regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency met with area residents Thursday night to provide an update on efforts to clean up the West Lake Landfill.

The public meeting in Bridgeton was the agencys first with area residents in more than a year.

The EPA originally aimed to have a decision on a cleanup plan for the radiologically contaminated site identified by the end of 2016.

On Thursday, EPA officials, joined in Bridgeton by representatives of other state and federal agencies involved with the Superfund site, told residents that a decision on a cleanup strategy is at least several months away.

EPA officials say they have spent most of this year reviewing two documents prepared by the entities identified as potentially responsible parties ultimately liable for the sites cleanup. Those entities include landfill operator, Republic Services; the U.S. Department of Energy; the energy corporation, Exelon, and its former subsidiary, Cotter Corp., a uranium mining company.

A revised version of one document  called a remedial investigation  aims to outline the sites contamination, and was submitted to regulatory officials in June. Additional improvements have been requested by the EPA and other state and federal partners.

The other document  a final feasibility study  evaluates the remedial alternatives that we are currently looking at and considering, said Ben Washburn, an EPA Region 7 spokesman. The latest draft of the study was submitted to regulators in late August and is undergoing review.

Those remedial alternatives for the site encompass a few distinct scenarios, outlined Thursday. One set of options would be to partially excavate the site to remove contaminated material. Other options are to pursue full excavation of the landfills contents or to cap the site. Capping was proposed in 2008, before the agency was prompted to revisit its decision  a process that has stretched up to now.

A deadline for the new decision has yet to come into focus, though Washburn said he expects one in months, not years. A presentation included in Thursdays meeting showed the agency hopes to have completed the next phase of the process  reviewing and commenting on the feasibility study  by October.

Some community members at the meeting said they are worried that the EPA is done testing the landfill to map areas of contamination  a step they feel is incomplete without comprehensive grid testing across the site.

Without an entire grid testing of the complex, the community is not satisfied, said Doug Clemens, a founding member and former chair of the West Lake Community Advisory Group, a volunteer organization.

That is the crux, agreed Bridgeton resident Robbin Dailey. Without grid testing, she said that the process moving forward would likely be perceived as incomplete or insufficient. You cannot remediate a site that has not been fully characterized, she said.
As we have since July 2006, each Friday well post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 545th in the series.

1) Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation on Monday that will raise cigar prices in New York and limit the number of retailers who are licensed to sell tobacco. As summarized by Cigar Aficionado: The bill calls for a minimum pricing structure for a cigar, which is defined by New York City as any roll of tobacco for smoking that is wrapped in leaf tobacco or in any substance containing tobacco, with or without a tip or mouthpiece. In other words, the measure does not distinguish between machine-made and premium, handmade cigars. Under 1544-B, cigars sold individually must adhere to a price floor and be sold for no less than $8.00. The measure would also assess an excise tax on cigars at the rate of 10 percent of the $8 minimum, or 80 cents. This means that single cigars could not be sold for less than $8.80 apiece, regardless of the MSRP. And this is before state, federal, and tobacco taxes are applied. Moreover, for a box of cigars, the price floor would be calculated by counting the number of cigars in the box, multiplied by $1.75, plus $6.25. The excise tax for a box would break down to be 80 cents for the first cigar, plus .175 cents for each additional cigar. The legislation will also limit the number of tobacco retailers allowed to operate in New York City by capping the allowable licenses at 50% of the current number (which is about 8,300). No new tobacco retail dealer licenses will be issued in a community district until its total decreases through attrition below the cap, reports NBC.

2) General Cigar Co. is honoring Benji Menendez with a very special event series for Partagas in the spring, with dates to be announced in early 2018. Menendez retired as Generals vice president of premium cigars in 2014 after a career in the handmade cigar industry that lasted over 60 years. General Cigar is my extended family and I am grateful that they have never forgotten me, said Menendez in a press release. I am looking forward to doing more things with the company. I hope I can help in some small way to spread the word about the fantastic cigars they make.

3) Drew Estate announced the release of Herrera Esteli DeSocio (6 x 60, $8.60), an exclusive vitola manufactured for Alliance Cigar, a wholesale distributor based in New York. Ive been asked consistently over the years at events across the nation to blend a larger ring gauge Herrera Esteli, said Drew Estate master blender Willy Herrera. The opportunity and challenge of bringing out the unique set of flavors in a large format cigar took many trials, and this DeSocio takes the Herrera Esteli blend to a whole new level.

4) A noted bourbon curmudgeon asks: Where are all the good new releases?

5) Inside the Industry: Chinas Xinhua News Agency reports that Cuba is developing four new varieties of tobacco. Two are higher yield varieties of cigarette tobacco, but two others are reportedly being developed for use in handmade Cuban cigars.

6) From the Archives: It can be easy to get caught up in the cigar world thicket and miss whats right there in front of you. We took a look a few years ago at how to tell if this is happening to you and what you might do to increase your smoking pleasure.

7) Deal of the Week: For today only, here are 100 deals, including cigars from Ashton, Oliva, Tatuaje, Rocky Patel, Davidoff, Drew Estate, and more. Free shipping is included on any purchase. If you really want to stock up, add promo code GBP20D at checkout to knock $20 off an order of $150 or more.

The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday has suggested to freeze all assets of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his children.

According to details, NAB Lahore has also recommended to include Nawaz Sharif, Hassan, Hussain and Maryam Nawazs names in the Exit Control List (ECL).

It also demanded to launch investigation against Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar for having asset more than income.

Lahore bureau has also dispatched a summary to head office in this regard while reference over Azizia Mills has also been approved.

Supreme Court had directed NAB to prepare three references in which one was regarding Al-Azizia Steel Mill while the other two were about London flats and 16 offshore companies held by the Sharif family.

SC had disqualified Nawaz Sharif in Panama case verdict on the basis of his non-withdrawn salary, considering it part of his assets on July 28.
The secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has praised the victories recently achieved by the movements fighters and army soldiers in the fight against Daesh terrorists, stressing Lebanons soil has been fully liberated from the extremist elements.

We wanted the conclusion of this battle to come at the hands of the Lebanese Army and this is what happened, and the so-called caliphate of Daesh was defeated, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an address in Beirut on Thursday.

Addressing his followers via a televised speech, Nasrallah described the gains against the terrorists as the second liberation after the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from southern Lebanon and Western Bekaa region in 2000.

He stated that Lebanese army soldiers have made gains against terrorists, underlying that Hezbollah resistance fighters have driven members of the foreign-sponsored and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorist group from Juroud Arsal region, located 124 kilometers northeast of Beirut.

The Hezbollah leader pointed out that the United States had threatened to cut its assistance to the Lebanese army in case it did not put an end to its campaign against terrorists on the border with Syria.

Nasrallah then called upon Lebanese authorities to devise a plan aimed at the liberation of Sheba'a Farms from Daesh, hailing Syrian army soldiers for helping their Lebanese counterparts liberate the strategic and mountainous region of Qalamoun.

Nasrallah stated that he had a meeting in person with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital city of Damascus, and convinced him to agree to a deal between Hezbollah and Daesh, which allowed the transfer of terrorists from Qalamoun to eastern Syria.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Hezbollah chief offered his sincere felicitations to the Iraqi nation and government on the liberation of the city of Tal Afar and the northern province of Nineveh from Daesh terrorists.

Earlier on Thursday, Iraqs Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the city of Tal Afar and the entire Nineveh province had been purged of the Daesh terrorist group.

The recapture of Tal Afar was made possible with the help of the Iraqi army, Federal Police, counterterrorism units, volunteer troops, and Rapid Response Forces, Abadi said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Nasrallah praised the Islamic Republic of Iran for its unwavering support for the anti-Israel resistance front, stressing that Tehran had offered great assistance to the Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Yemeni nations.

Israel is crying over the fate of its orphans (Daesh terrorists), Nasarallah said, noting that the Tel Aviv regime had admitted that its plans in Syria had not succeeded.

The Hezbollah chief also described the United States as the real threat to the international community, warning that the policies of the administration of President Donald Trump vis-a-vis North Korea were steering the world towards a nuclear war.

The Hezbollah chief also criticized recent US accusations that Pakistan was harboring armed terrorist groups.

In a speech delivered on August 21 to delineate the US strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia, Trump said, We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond.
The first recorded court case involving worker organizing in the United States dates back to Thomas Jeffersons second term. Shoemakers picketing for higher wages were convicted of using threats, menaces and other unlawful means to maintain a conspiracy.

That set the tone for jurisprudence of workers rights in the new republic, where conservative jurists treated union organizing as a criminal activity. As a result, unions spent the 19th and early 20th centuries decrying judge-made law and demanding the codification of their rights.

These demands resulted in a landmark victory. The 1935 NLRA encouraged collective bargaining by establishing a federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), to certify the existence of a union at a workplace and sanction employers who refused to deal with a bona fide union.

Another point of the NLRA was to keep labor disputes out of the courts. Most unions have stuck with the intent of the Act and shied away from pursuing rights and benefits that cannot be won at the bargaining table. Employers have shown no such reticence. Theyve attacked workers rights in the courts since the day the NLRA was passed, steadily chipping away at hard-won protections.

A fundamental flaw in the Act opened the door to these successful attacks. The NLRAs authority derives from the Constitutions commerce clause. Legal experts at the time argued that this framing had the best shot at withstanding legal challenges under a Supreme Court hostile to New Deal legislation.

Representatives of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) had, instead, pushed hard to base the Act on the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery and involuntary servitude. The AFLs Andrew Furuseth warned of settling for short-term legislative gains while leaving unsettled the legal question of whether or not that man or woman shall have a right to combine with others for the purpose of ... doing collectively what you cant do individually.

His concern proved prescient. The NLRAs grounding in the commerce clause means that when labor disputes go to court, they are judged by their potential impact on business. The last half-century has demonstrated that, by this yardstick, the courts consistently sympathize with business interests. As a result, unions are hampered by rules that would never be applied to corporations, or to any other form of political action.

Consider what happens when workers decide to form a union. The rules of union certification elections, set by a series of unfortunate court cases and NLRB decisions, permit employers to force workers to attend vote no presentations or be fired.

In a 2009 study, Cornell Universitys Kate Bronfenbrenner found that employers utilized these captive audience meetings in nine out of 10 union elections. Employers threatened to cut wages and benefits in 47 percent of documented cases, and to go out of business entirely in 57 percent of cases. In one in 10 instances, bosses actually hired goons to impersonate federal agents and lie about the process. Not surprisingly, unions lose 57 percent of elections when employers run these captive audience meetings.

Ironically, corporations have argued forand wonthe right to hold these meetings on the grounds of their First Amendment rights as persons. Yet union advocates possess no equivalent right to hold their own vote yes meetings.

The captive audience meeting is but one of many areas in which labor law favors employers. Workers form unions because they want a say on the job. Yet employer-friendly court decisions have created a distinction between mandatory and permissive bargaining issues. Employers are required to bargain over the former, but can legally tell the union to go to hell when it raises the latter. Labor law thus removes from the bargaining table many of the issues that matter most to workers, including the decision to downsize, subcontract or shift work overseas.

The existing labor law regime even circumscribes solidarity, the lifeblood of unions. An injury to one is the concern of all is one of the oldest precepts of the labor movement, yet it is illegal for unions and workers to officially join others strikes and boycotts.

Corporations, by contrast, engage in so-called secondary boycotts all the time. Cable providers, for example, black out television channels to protest a networks rate increase, instructing viewers to call the network CEO to complain. Why are secondary boycotts legal when used by media companies for profit, but illegal when exercised in solidarity by workers?
It was a bit of a bombshell. Even though they knew it was coming.

I am writing to let you know I intend moving the 6 Hauraki Colours from Tauranga to the HQ of 3/6 Battalion at the Auckland Army Centre.

An advisory from Lieutenant Colonel Olly Te Ua to the Hauraki Association  the group that fosters comradeship among past and present members of the regiment.

The lieutenant colonel had ordered the removal of the Hauraki Colours, the battalion standard, from its home at the Army Hall on the corner of 11th Ave and Devonport Rd and for them to be taken to Auckland where they would be prominently presented outside the commanding officers office.

Most of us are just sorry it has come to this, says Des Anderson, the president of the Hauraki Association. Apparently the relocation of some of Taurangas military history took the association by surprise.

Thats because the Hauraki regiment is a fiercely proud bunch  known as the Haus with the warrior motto whaka tangata kia kaha  acquit yourselves like men, be strong. The standard, the 6 Hauraki Colours, identifies them and ties them to the city  its a focal point that has made the regiment great, a consecrated symbol embodying the loyalty, spirit and traditions of its soldiers.

Historically the flags served as a rallying point in the heat of battle and were considered a source of inspiration for all those who look upon them. Colours were last carried into battle in 1881 but the ceremonial and spiritual symbolism remains strong.

People were upset that the Colours were headed to Auckland, says Des. They wrote letters to the commanding officer, they went to our MP and the military. But there was no way they were going to change it.

Its all to do with amalgamation of the Auckland and Hauraki regiments. This move is part of the ongoing integration of the two units, says Lieutenant Colonel Te Ua in his letter to the association. I am confident the most appropriate location for them is in Auckland .alongside the Auckland Colours.

Lieutenant Colonel Te Ua says its notable for 101 years the Auckland Infantry Battalion was made up of soldiers from four regional territorial units  the 15th North Auckland Regiment, the 3rd Auckland Regiment, the 16th Waikato Regiment and the 6th Hauraki Regiment.

This gives the units a powerful common bond, and given this association in history, the Hauraki Colours will be at home and well cared for. Home being HQ, the Auckland Army Centre in Great North Rd, Arch Hill.

When the battalions amalgamated, we thought it might happen, says Des. But the decision took us a bit by surprise.

The Colours may have belonged to a local regiment, and thats the point  its no longer a regiment. We were a territorial unit but now they call us reservists. And the job we are doing today is quite different to what we were doing in 1970. And like other infantry units the Haus have, to some degree, lost their identity through amalgamation.

However the commanding ffficer has promised the Hauraki Colours will be treated equally with the Auckland Colours at any occasions where unit Colours are paraded. And should they be laid up, or put to rest, they will be returned to Tauranga. The Haurakis previous Colours, laid up in 1973, are held at Holy Trinity Cathedral and celebrated with a church service every year.

The army wanted a low-key affair for the relocation of the 6th Hauraki Colours this week, but news got out and more and more people decided they wanted to be there, says Des.

Next month there will be a parade in Auckland of all the Colours. But that doesnt take away from the disappointment, says Des.
Immigration has been a hot topic in recent months, with new migrants accused of contributing towards both the housing crisis and low wages.

Net migration to New Zealand surpassed 70,000 last year, with pressure now starting to be felt on infrastructure, schools and hospitals.

In January, Massey University Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley told The Weekend Sun nearly all of New Zealands population growth is going to occur in the top half of the North Island.

He also says since 2012, two-thirds of our population growth has come from immigration. And we do need to be aware that immigration is where we get our people from, says Paul.

He uses Auckland as an example of a city that has done a very poor job of providing infrastructure for growth.

The local kiwifruit sector also relies heavily on seasonal workers, of which a significant number are migrant labourers.

They can often be targets of exploitation, as a Labour Inspectorate operation found earlier this year.

Inspectors carried out audits on 62 labour contracting companies and interviewed 687 employees during the operation which occurred over three months last year, ultimately uncovering 94 breaches of minimum employment standards.

The operation showed 53 per cent of employers were failing to meet all minimum employment standards, such as providing employment agreements and paying at least the minimum wage.

Almost all of the employers found in breach were using migrant labour, which is concerning because these are vulnerable people who may not fully know their rights and entitlements, says Labour Inspectorate regional manager Kevin Finnegan.

The Weekend Sun asked local candidates for their thoughts on immigration and how their party would tackle the issue.

Todd Muller  National

Migrants make a valuable contribution to New Zealand and the Bay of Plenty, both culturally and economically. New Zealands economic success is built on our openness to new ideas, our welcoming of talented individuals with skills and experience, and making sure our businesses have access to new and emerging markets. The government is committed to striking the right balance between ensuring New Zealanders are able to find jobs and ensuring our regions have access to temporary migrant labour necessary for sustained economic growth. Immigration is vital for filling labour shortages for industries such as horticulture here in the Bay. We want these industries to be able to grow, which is why employers will continue to be able to hire migrant labour if they can prove there are no New Zealanders available to do the job. Slashing immigration by tens of thousands as opposition parties propose would put our primary industries and small to medium-sized businesses under immense pressure.

Todd is standing in Bay of Plenty.

Tamati Coffey  Labour

Labour loves the idea of Kiwis working in Kiwi jobs. What we need here in the Bay is to empower Kiwis to retrain so they can meet the needs of our changing work environment, which is why Labour is offering three years free tertiary study so that our workers can get the skills needed to do our jobs and help us lower the insane amount of net immigration, which at the moment is far too high. Labour supports a strong Bay economy so we wont touch RSE as its vital to the success of our kiwifruit industry. A vote for Labour will stop the crazy open door policy of the past nine years. What will change are some of the details in Skilled Visas to make sure that those people who are migrating here have the best chance of fitting in with their new Kiwi communities.

Tamati is standing in Waiariki.

Clayton Mitchell  NZ First

I think its pretty obvious to everyone we cant bring in an extra 73,000 people  more than the population of Rotorua  every year, without building an extra Rotorua to cope. Rotorua has two hospitals, 12 schools, and numerous houses, businesses, and other infrastructure resources that we arent adding along with our hyper-immigration influx. New Zealand First is pro-immigration of people we need, not people who need us. Those who can add value to our economy must of course be prepared to respect our laws, our culture, and our flag.

Low-skilled migrant workers who come here under the RSE visa scheme to pick kiwifruit come for a season and then head home afterwards. They are providing a service with clear parameters, and a clear departure date, so that seems to fit with our policies of bringing in people we need  as long as New Zealand workers and their wages are protected.

Clayton is standing in Tauranga.

Emma-Leigh Hodge  Greens

Currently there is a trend toward scapegoating immigrants, and while it may be convenient to blame our housing crisis and the like on immigration, this is lazy politics. Politicians have a duty to be bold and fix the underlying issues in our society, not just blame others for them. We know immigration, handled sustainably and in an inclusive (not assimilative) way, is good for Aotearoa. Treating immigrants respectfully, and working in partnership with local communities and tangata whenua to create a well-functioning diverse society is at the core of the Greens policy.

The Bay attracts many temporary migrant workers and the Green Party would grant these workers full labour rights to ensure adequate working conditions, fair pay, and access to essential services. As always, the Green Party is committed to regular, evidence-based reviews of the governments immigration policies to ensure these continue to meet the needs of all our communities.

Emma-Leigh is standing in Tauranga.

Stuart Pedersen  ACT

ACT welcomes immigrants but immigration should not be used to drive economic growth, as only improving productivity will make Kiwis better off.

There is no right number for immigration. What matters is to get the rules right. ACT successfully advocated that national superannuation not be paid until an immigrant has been here for 20 years. And ACT believes that all migrants should commit to a Kiwi Values statement.

The fact is, recruiting overseas is a costly, risky, last resort. So when businesses need immigrant workers, ACT will never stand in the way. Rather than bureaucrats picking sectors with shortages, ACT will look at wage data and favour sectors where pay rates are rising fast.

Ethnic and cultural diversity is great for our community. Rather than demand assimilation we should invite it by being welcoming and hospitable. The first generation may face language and cultural headwinds, so we should be patient.

Stuart is standing in Tauranga.

Rusty Kane  Independent

Immigration has played an important part in shaping New Zealand. But we are suffering from our own success. The countrys population grew by 100,400 in the year to June. Net migration of 72,400 people contributed to this increase. Most migrants arrived on short-term work and student visas; many needed for the dairy, horticulture and restaurant industries. Immigration numbers also puts demands on the countrys services and infrastructure and low-skilled migrants help to suppress wages. We are now past the point where the unchecked high immigration numbers have become unsustainable for the country to absorb, to a point where we need to reduce net immigration. Immigration is of little economic benefit to New Zealanders in terms of raising our standard of living, especially if it is used as an alternative to policies such as upskilling the labour force and if we do not build the infrastructure that the expanding population and economy needs.

Rusty is standing in Tauranga.
Free as a Bird is a non-profit organisation which has rescued, rehabilitated, and rehomed more than 15,000 battery farm chickens in its two and a half years of operation.

Factory farming is a system that has been widely shunned by those who claim its operations are inhumane, including keeping animals in crowded indoor cages and killing them well before their time is due. Chickens are one of the biggest victims of this, with 82 per cent of eggs sold being from battery farms.

Kelly Phelps, the founder of Free as a Bird, suffered two injuries in 2014 that left her unable to work full-time. However, shes not the kind of person that can sit and do nothing all day. When she realised just how big the battery farm business is in New Zealand, she decided to do something about it, now with the time available to dedicate herself fully.

Its escalated to what I call the monster, says Kelly. I knew I couldnt stop it, but I could help.

Kelly rescues hens by developing a relationship with the battery farm operators, communicating with them over time. She will get in contact with these businesses and arrange to take chickens off their hands on their kill days. Some farms are very willing to do this, while some wont allow it.

When she first started in November 2014, she was rescuing 20 chickens a week. Now, she can expect 100 to 200. Thats at least 100 chickens Kelly must rescue, clean, adopt out and deliver each week. Its incredible how much it has grown, and how much people are willing to help whether by volunteering or by adopting, says Kelly.

Kelly says she couldnt have done this without help. Over the years she has received the help of overseas volunteers under the WWOOFers scheme, the Department of Corrections and pet couriers. She is also grateful for the support from her husband, who occasionally chips in on bills for feed when adoption money doesnt cut it. I was close to calling it quits a while ago, but the support Ive received has been excellent.

Battery farming is phasing out, but no laws against it will be enacted until 2022. Kelly realises that shes far from finished, though. What Ive saved is just a drop in the ocean. Im only getting 100 out of every kill, and theyre killing 1500 at a time out of a shed of 50,000. And thats just one shed, and one company.

Chickens cost $15 to adopt from Free as a Bird. If you would like to find out more about Kellys work, or adopt your own chicken visit www.facebook.com/freeasabirdrescue/ or call 021 212 4788.
The mayor of Gibraltar, Kaiane Lopez, will be opening the Mayors Parlour at City Hall to the public this week, as part of the National Week celebrations and to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum. The Mayors Parlour was restored to its original beauty in 2000 after 11 months of works. It is a fine example of Empire style decor with many Neoclassical features. It will be open from Tuesday 5 to Friday 8 September from 9am to 1pm.
There has been a happy ending to the failed Gibibike scheme which was introduced by the previous government in 2011: 50 of the bicycles have now been made roadworthy and donated by the present Gibraltar government for use in Morocco, via the International Lions Club and the Association Mediterranee de Developpement et de Formation.

The Gibibike scheme was beset by problems from the start, with poor quality equipment and serious design flaws. The company running it suffered financial losses, and the scheme was discontinued after six months.

The refurbished bicycles were handed over to the charities this week by Infrastructure Minister Paul Balban, who said they will be used by people to get to work or to school.
One of the UKs biggest online gambling firms, 888, which is registered in Gibraltar, has been fined a record 7.8 million by the UK Gambling Commission after an investigation into its social responsibility processes. The commission said it had found significant flaws in these and the company was failing to protect vulnerable customers properly.

A technical failure is thought to be to blame for the fact that thousands of customers who had asked to be blocked from gambling for a certain period, could still access their accounts.
The Malaga Museo de Bellas Artes, the province's fine art collection, closed its doors to the public on 1 September 1997 - the start of a protracted and emotional saga which would only get its happy ending at the end of last year, almost twenty years later.

Located in the Buenavista palace in Malaga city centre, the Fine Arts Museum had to give up its space to the Museo Picasso de Malaga which to this day still occupies the complex built in the first half of the 16th century on the ruins of a Nasrid palace.

While the Picasso museum thrived, becoming the most-visited gallery in Andalucia, the displaced collection (comprising around 2,000 artworks from between the 16th and 20th centuries) struggled to find a home and remained in storage for several years in the Aduana customs house building close to the Roman theatre.

At the time, the director of the Museo de Bellas Artes, Rafael Puertas, said:The most important thing now is to find a permanent home for the collection. He claimed that the Aduana building itself was a perfect fit for the collection, as well as the provinces archaeological collection which had previously been housed in the Alcazaba.

However, red tape and squabbles between the town hall, regional and provincial authorities over future ownership and running of the new museum meant that the people continued to go without their museum.

Nineteen years and several protest movements later and the people now have their museum back.

The Museum of Malaga opened to the public on 12 December 2016.

The restored Aduana boasts 18,000 square metres of exhibition space, more than the CAC, the Thyssen and the Picasso museum combined and unites 15,000 archaeological artefacts and more than 2,000 fine art pieces, tracking the citys heritage from prehistoric times, all the way through to the 21st century.
There may be a continual increase in urban traffic, but Malaga province still has the lowest level of environmental pollution in Andalucia and one of the lowest in Spain, according to statistics for 2015 which have been issued recently by the Junta de Andalucia's Environmental Ministry.

The ministry uses a network of measuring devices throughout the region to obtain information about pollution levels in real time. The figures show that only one specific contaminant, ozone, exceeded permitted levels in 2015, on three days during July and August.

In the case of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM10 particles (less than 10 micrometres), the report warns that in Malaga "legal levels have not been exceeded but a potential problem does exist".

Ozone is one of the principal contaminants which affects the province of Malaga

With regard to the PM10s, it should be taken into account that corrective factors are applied because of natural phenomena such as the 'calima', the name given to suspended dust from Africa. If this were not the case, the registered levels would be much higher.

The other provinces in Andalucia - not to mention cities such as Madrid, where there are increasingly frequent warnings about pollution - suffer more environmental problems than Malaga.

The worst case is Huelva, because of its chemical industry, but Cordoba, Granada and rural areas such as Villanueva del Arzobispo, in Jaen, also stand out. In fact, according to environmental experts, within Spain as a whole, the Costa del Sol is one of the places with the lowest levels of air contamination, behind only Galicia and the Levante region.

Traffic is the worst problem

The Junta directly manages six measuring stations in the province: Juan XXIII, El Atabal, Carranque and Campanillas in the city, plus Marbella and Campillos. In addition, there are two belonging to Gas Natural, one for its thermal power station on the Andalusian Technology Park and the other at the cement plant at La Arana.

Although the situation is not bad, the experts warn that traffic causes almost 50 per cent of emissions in the province. Cars produce problems of all types for the environment: carbon monoxide, particles, nitrogen oxide etc. Urban pollution is the only type to affect Malaga province because of the lack of industry, apart from the combined cycle thermal power plant (which emits mainly water vapour) and the cement plant at La Arana, where emissions are primarily particles.

Heat consumption is also very low in this region. On top of this, the majority of the population lives on the coast, subject to continual easterly and westerly winds and these, together with the sea, act as drains for the gases.

Particles are considered the biggest problem of atmospheric contamination in this area, and these are mainly caused by the African 'calima'. The highest permitted level is 50 micrometres per cubic metre, but in this area it reaches 55 on some days. However, the official measurements show that it is caused by the dust from the Sahara. Normally, the measurement in the province is 48 micrometres, and the maximum levels are only exceeded on occasion.

Principal contaminants

The second form of pollution is ozone, which has two characteristics, one positive and one negative. On one hand, it filters ultraviolet rays, which is good, but on the other hand a higher concentration than normal distorts the formation of cells in the organism, such as photosynthesis in plants. Its production is directly related to exhaust fumes from vehicles. In Malaga the maximum permitted level is only exceeded occasionally, on no more than three days a year. The legal limit is measured every eight hours, on average. However, its presence is often close to the maximum and for that reason it needs to be closely monitored. In Seville, warnings about excessive levels were given on four occasions in 2015. Experts at the regional government say that the only way of controlling this pollution is by restricting use of private vehicles, especially in the most congested areas of cities.

The worst levels occur in summer and when the 'terral' wind is blowing, for several reasons. There is more atmospheric stability, no rainfall and the Saharan intrusions also occur at this time of year; in addition, the weather is hot and that also has a negative effect.

The Andalusian Strategy for Air Quality says the province needs to reduce private traffic in large cities as a way of controlling the emissions of particles and nitrogen oxide. In addition, it apportions some of the blame to transportation and extraction such as the quarrying of aggregates.

The conclusion from environmental experts is that the air in Malaga is good quality in general, but that nobody should drop their guard.
The Marbella animal shelter Triple A is on the verge of closing according to senior bosses at the charity.

The organisation claims that following a raid by the Guardia Civil's nature protection unit Seprona last year, both memberships and donations have fallen dramatically.

The work of the shelter was thrown under suspicion in April 2016 when several members of the organisation and volunteers were arrested and questioned.

A judicial inquiry into a number of allegations connected with the shelters work is ongoing. The courts decision as to whether or not to take the case any further is expected later this year although the investigation has been described as complex.

Meanwhile the charity, which rejects the allegations, has launched an appeal for more members, volunteers and donations in order to keep the shelter open.

New appeal

Jan Weima, 72, a volunteer and founding member at Triple A (Amigos de Animales Abandonados), told SUR in English:

I am afraid this is the consequence of the raid carried out by Seprona on 11 April last year. The memberships went down, the donations went down and we had a great number of young dogs dropped off, most of them unwanted Christmas presents.

On top of that we had a massive increase in the amount of hunting dogs being abandoned when the hunting season came to an end. The outgoings have increased dramatically and this led us to the fact that without money the Triple A could face possible closure, he said.

If we dont get more support we might have to hand over the keys to the town hall, Weima added. We cant keep begging for money to keep the charity open. You just cant run a business or a charity like Triple A that way.

Triple As monthly running costs total 30,000, and at present the shelter looks after 300 dogs and 140 cats.

Weima explained that to become a member of Triple A costs 5 a month. At present, the charity has 350 members. We will be grateful for small donations as well as large ones. But most of all we need to increase the number of members, this will give us a more or less fixed yearly income, he said.

Triple A re-homes pets around Spain but the majority of dogs are adopted by people in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Finland and Sweden.

Formed in 1991, the charity is located in a disused mine on the Carretera de Ojen and covers Marbella and San Pedro.

In addition, Jan said more volunteers are always welcome from all nationalities - especially for dog walking every Saturday morning when all of the dogs are taken out for a weekly walk by dozens of international volunteers.

Jan, who is originally from Holland, added: If anybody is thinking of adopting a dog or a cat we ask them kindly to look at our web page www.tripleamarbella.org where they can also become a member.
Harau, a two-year-old Sumatran tiger, has a new home. From now on he will live in Fuengirolas Bioparc as part of a Europe-wide conservation programme designed to encourage reproduction outside the species natural habitat.

It is hoped that Harau, who has arrived from Le Pal zoo in France, will mate with the Bioparc's female Sumatran tiger, Asmara.

However, at this present stage, it will be a while before the pair can be seen together as these territorial animals need a period of time to become accustomed to the presence of other members of their own species.
Mijas town hall has given the green light to the project to renovate the Hotel Byblos in Mijas, one of the Costa's most iconic hotels once frequented by famous faces including Princess Diana.

It is expected that work will get under way either at the end of 2017 or the start of 2018.

The project, which will cost 60 million euros (including the purchase of the building), will see the creation of 200 jobs, as well as a further 500 during its reconstruction phase.
The Junta de Andalucia has decided that Unicaja's mortgage contracts contain clauses that are abusive to its clients and it intends to fine the bank 3.15 million euros. Sources at Unicaja say the bank will appeal against the decision, on the grounds that, according to the Supreme Court, only courts of law have the power to decide whether contract clauses are abusive or not and to impose penalties.

This is not the first announcement of this type from the regional government. On 25 July it announced that it would be fining the Banco Mare Nostrum 1.6 million euros for the same reason. The decision was the result of numerous complaints from the FACUA federation of consumer associations and the Junta itself in 2013 and 2014. Unicaja was one of 20 banks reported by FACUA Andalucia in 2013 for abusive mortgage floor rate clauses. FACUA also made similar reports in other regions of Spain. In 2014 the Junta de Andalucia reported around 20 banks for the same reason.

A statement from the Junta says the fine is justified because the banks introduced abusive clauses in mortgage loan contracts and did not provide the clients with adequate information. The regional government said it had received 357 complaints from individuals during its investigation into floor rate clauses.

The figure of 3.15 million euros comprises 650,000 euros for a serious contravention of consumers rights and 2.5 million euros which the Junta claims Unicaja obtained illegally from the mortgage floor rate clauses. It is also fining the bank an extra 350,000 euros for failing to provide information to its clients. Sources at the Junta say this is not an isolated case, as it will be fining other entities as well.

In a statement in response, Unicaja insisted that its mortgages are clear, transparent and lawful.
At a staggering 138 metres long, the Rising Sun is one of the largest private yachts in the world. The superyacht arrived on Tuesday in the port of Malaga and moored alongside the equally impressive luxury cruise liner, Star Legend. Despite being shorter in length (135 metres), the Star Legend accommodates a lot more passengers than its neighbour.

Malagas modern port is gradually becoming the place for billionaires to show off their toys. The Rising Sun is the second yacht of such grandeur to come to Malaga this summer. In July the arrival of the Prince Abdulaziz, owned by the Saudi Arabian royal family, attracted numerous curious onlookers. Its 147 metres in length make it the sixth largest of its kind in the world.

Rising Star came on a technical stopover, according to the information provided by the port authorities, meaning the boat may have been undergoing some kind of repairs or simply taking on supplies. This suggests that there were no VIPs aboard, however the Rising Sun is a regular floating holiday home for celebrities.

Its owner David Geffen is no stranger with the stars. The media magnate, music producer and film studio executive regularly rubs shoulders with Hollywood celebrities. As a producer he has worked with the likes of Aerosmith, Guns&Roses, Nirvana, Bob Dylan and John Lennon and in 1994 Geffen co-founded the film production company Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenburg.

With this impressive CV it comes as no surprise that Rising Sun is frequented by a whole host of A-list celebrities looking to take to the seas for their summer holidays. According to the newspaper El Pais, Bruce Springsteen was spotted onboard the mega yacht just last week in Ibiza. Whats more, the fashion designer Calvin Klein and ex-Oasis member and rock icon Noel Gallagher were spotted onboard in the Balearic waters between the islands of Ibiza and Formentera.

And its not just media stars whove been seen on the boat, but important political figures too. Ex-president of the USA, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have also made use of Geffens luxury yacht over the summer, this time sharing the experience with TV host Oprah Winfrey and actor Tom Hanks, as they travelled to the tropical Bora Bora island in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.

The yacht, designed by Jon Bannenburg, has an estimated worth of more than 200 million dollars and contains four diesel motors able to propel the boat at an incredible cruising speed of 28 knots, making Rising Sun one of the most powerful boats of its category.
The agreements were signed, the first stone was laid and the photo was taken, but what was going to be the biggest Russian Orthodox church in Spain, and the first in Andalucia, will now be built in Estepona instead of Marbella.

The council has ceded nearly 6,000 square metres of land in Arroyo Las Canas, on the way up to the Selwo park, to the Orthodox Initiative Foundation, the same organisation which in 2013 signed an agreement with mayor of Marbella Angeles Munoz to build the church at Azalea Beach, next to Casa Rusia.

When asked why the church is moving from Marbella to Estepona, Father Dimitry Osipenko, the representative who signed that agreement, just said, The situation is not easy. Sources close to the foundation, however, claim that people living in the Azalea Beach area were opposed to the project and the council did not seem interested in progressing.

The same sources also believe local residents were afraid the church would attract members of the Russian mafia although that is very unlikely because this is a very serious and respectful community and they didnt even want the church to be built near any bars or discos.

The deputy mayor of Estepona, Ana Velasco, says the Orthodox Initiative Foundation contacted the town hall about the project a year ago and the council has welcomed it because it is of general interest to the municipality.

The building will be used as a Russian church and social-cultural centre. The project is fairly modest, costing less than 1,130,000 euros. The one in Marbella would have cost between three and four million euros, and the foundation said it would be financed through donations.

The architects plan this to be an iconic building, with a separate belltower, constructed with Mediterranean materials.
Airport workers' unions have given the government extra time to negotiate salary and staff increases before officially confirming the series of 25 strikes which are due to start at all Spanish airports on 15 September.

The UGT, CC OO and USO unions say they will wait until after the meeting between the airport authority Aena and the Ministry of Transport takes place on Thursday 7 September before deciding whether to go ahead with the strikes. They have already described the meeting which took place on Tuesday with the minister for Infrastructure, Julio Gomez-Pomar, and the president of the airport authority, Jose Manuel Vargas, as positive, and say they are prepared to give the relevant organisations the chance to negotiate.

Dates Proposed strike days 15, 17, 22, 24 and 29 September; 1, 6, 11, 15, 27, 30 and 31 October; 3 and 5 November; 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 December. Next meetingThursday 7 September

The decision to wait is in response to a request by the minister, who said more time was needed to examine the workers demands. However, if the unions feel that not enough progress is made at next weeks meeting, they will go ahead with the strike action, which is due to continue until the end of the year and will affect the Christmas holidays.

The minister for Transport, Inigo de la Serna, sees the unions decision to wait as very positive. This will mean we can continue to talk and negotiate calmly. I am sure we will be able to reach an agreement in the near future, he said .

The employees of Aena and Enaire, the air traffic control company, are demanding 450 additional staff for Aena and 250 more for Enaire. So far, the response from the authorities has been that more employees will be taken on, but no numbers have been confirmed.

The question of salaries will be more complicated to resolve. The workers want a rise which will compensate them for the eight per cent purchasing power they say they have lost since 2010, but the authorities say this has to be decided by the governments finance ministry because airport workers are counted as public employees and one sector cannot be paid more than the others.

So far nobody from the ministry for Finance has attended any meetings, and it is not yet known whether they will do so on Thursday. The unions consider this to be an obstacle to making progress in the talks.
As moves by Catalonias regional government to hold an illegal independence referendum on 1 October started to hot up this week after the summer break, regional president Carles Puigdemont was in Copenhagen opening an unofficial embassy.

This is one of 12 offices Catalonia now has internationally, a key part of its strategy to gain credibility for a break from Spain. The delegation will be headed by Francesca Guardiola, sister of Pep, the Manchester City manager. No member of the Danish government attended the opening.

The national government has said that it will stop the 1 October vote and the situation is expected to come to a head in the first half of September when regional politicians move to formally approve a referendum.
Media in Catalonia reported on Thursday, and counterterrorism sources appeared to confirm it, that the CIA tipped off authorities in Spain in May about a planned summer terrorist attack on Barcelona's Ramblas.

As well as going to national security forces, the CIA note went to the Catalonian region's autonomous police force, know as the Mossos d'Esquadra, the report said.

The news directly contradicts the Mossos' denials after the Barcelona attack that it had had any special intelligence information about terrorist plans.

The Mossos have been widely praised for their swift reaction and handling of the emergency but have faced criticism over not realising the risk of the religious imam who was believed to be the ringleader of the terrorists.

At a press conference on Thursday, Catalonian security officials admitted they were warned but that nobody, including national police, had felt it was credible information.

The new revelation about the CIA briefing adds pressure to the force, which is run by the regional government, and questions the ability of national antiterrorism police to coordinate with regional forces.
Today is the first day of September and many workers who stick to Spanish holiday traditions will be going back to the office after a 31-day break. This month-long holiday, that nowadays fewer people can, or even want, to take all in one go, gives the employees plenty of time to switch off, in theory.

Lets imagine the lucky ones who have spent a whole month isolated with a tribe in Africa or in a tropical rainforest where Wi-Fi, radio or TV have never been heard of. So what will they have found when they woke up this morning?

Residents in Marbella will be astonished, or perhaps just bemused, to find that the local council seems to have gone back two years. Angeles Munoz is mayor once again and stands so comfortably in her old office in the photographs that you could almost imagine that the last two years under Socialist Jose Bernal were just a dream.

Since the vote of no confidence in the PSOE-led coalition was announced a couple of weeks ago, Bernal and his team have announced numerous projects they had started and hadnt had time to finish. Its understandable that they dont want others to take the credit for their hard work; after all they will certainly be taking the flack for what the others find they havent done in the last two years.

However our local residents who have just landed from a month on Mars have not been here to see all that. They have just found that Angeles is back.

The events of the last few weeks in Marbella show just how precarious a mayors position is. On one hand they are expected to change everything for the better, something which takes hard planning and time. However it only takes a couple of mates to fall out with you and go off with someone else to change everything and there you are, kicked out of your office.

The incoming team at the helm of the town hall maintain that their management of things from now on will be better.

Lets hope they know how to recognise progress that has been made by their predecessors so the people of Marbella dont feel like their council has been on holiday for two years.
Known as the bad boys of jazz, the band has performed with some of the top jazz musicians; they have also worked with many well-known pop artists, such as Prince and the B52s

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, one of Chicagos most innovative, and truly inspiring, young brass bands, is coming to Marbella as part of the current world tour. The band has already performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and South America, exciting audiences at the New York Lincoln Center, The Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall.

Following a truly amazing performance on the Costa del Sol last year, the band is set to return to Marbella next Thursday, 7 September.

CONCERT DETAILS Date. Thursday 7 September. Show starts at 11pm. Venue.La Catarina Craft Beer. Calle Gabriel Celaya. Marbella. Tickets.Tickets cost 12 euros in advance or 15 euros on the door

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (HBE) is a Chicago-based septet consisting of seven brothers who are sons of the legendary antiestablishment jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran. Their musical style, which they call now music, ranges from funk to rock and hip-hop to gypsy jazz.

They were raised communally on Chicagos South Side, with their father, and two mothers, who were also musicians. Music was a constant element of their upbringing and they were obliged to rise at 6am every morning to rehearse before going to school. They soon mastered the trumpet, tuba, cornet, trombone and the French horn, and they began performing as the Phil Cohran Youth Ensemble in Chicago.

Rehearsals began early but, unlike the 1970s sensation The Jackson 5, their father had no intention of creating a pop sensation: instead he taught them to create sounds that would fuse both body and soul.

Phil Cohran, who fathered 23 children, is credited with inspiring so many jazz musicians who went on to become household names, including Earth Wind and Fire, Chaka Khan and George Benson.

Our father exposed us to so many different and unique types of music from across the globe. When it comes to being creative, we draw from within our soul to bring forth the music we write. One of our missions is to bridge the gap between genres and return music to truly being a universal language, Gabriel Hubert, the eldest of the brothers, told SUR in English.

We cannot be classed as jazz, soul, funk, hip hop or house, because were not locked into one style. Were able to manoeuvre through genres with ease

In 1999, the brothers took to performing daily on the subways of Chicago, quickly attracting considerable attention, and they used this period to launch themselves onto the mainline Chicago music scene. The brothers formed the HBE and began playing at various jazz clubs in Chicago, and by 2004, they had recorded their first CD.

The HBE was once an eight-piece ensemble, but one of the brothers tired of music and quit the band.

We never considered ourselves street musicians, we only used the streets as a means to market and promote our music to the world until we could sell tickets in various venues around the globe, Gabriel says.

Known as the bad boys of jazz, the band has performed with some of the top jazz musicians and they have also collaborated with many well-known pop artists, such as Prince and the B52s. They also supported Blur in the Hyde Park Reunion concerts in 2009.

A 2007 documentary film explores their music, work ethic, life and experience of being raised by their jazz legend father, who died aged 90 in June this year.

The musicians are now young men in their 20s and 30s and they have created their own sound which is renowned throughout the world.

In a nutshell, HBE music speaks to whats going on today in music, period. We cannot be classed as jazz, soul, funk, hip hop or house, because were not locked into one style. Were able to manoeuvre through genres with ease. Our music is high energy, high spirited, and high in style and flavour, the 30-year-old musician insists.

The band are currently touring Spain and they have already taken their explosive music to Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and Granada. The day after performing in Marbellas La Catarina - where they will play music from their forthcoming album, The Bad Boys of Jazz, the band will be heading to the Bestival festival in the UK.

We still feel like we havent arrived or are considered famous. There is so much the band hasnt accomplished yet. Fame is not high on the list in priority. Our drive and moral fluctuates according to other things in life. We want to present some new music here in Spain and want to make you guys dance, sweat and listen to some great music, Gabriel says enthusiastically.

The concert in Marbella will begin at 11pm.
The third edition of the popular Costa del Rock Festival will be held in Torremolinos this year. The festival, which is organised by Malaga Costa del Rock, with the collaboration of the Torremolinos town hall, will be held on Saturday 2 September, in the Caseta de la Juventud on the towns fairground.

Groups from various parts of Spain will participate in this years event, all of whom are well respected on the Spanish heavy metal scene. The lineup will include Malaga bands ApologieS, Snagora and Childrain.

ApologieS, who will be performing songs from their latest album, present a great visual show, complete with gaudy glam-metal costumes and plenty of lipstick and eyeliner.

Childrain are a powerful rock band whose latest studio album has recently been voted album of the year by various heavy metal publications in Spain, while Snagoras album, Long Waiting, has had a considerable impact on the national heavy rock scene.

Torremolinos band, Estrella Negra, will bring their personal style of progressive Andalusian rock to the festival. The group has been together since 1999 and they have built a considerable reputation as one of the areas most inspirational rock bands.

Also performing at the festival is Valladolids most celebrated heavy metal band, KAIN, who are currently on a national tour. KAIN have been performing for more than 15 years and they have shared concert halls and festival stages with some of Spains most iconic rock bands.

This will be the first time Torremolinos has hosted this festival and it promises to be a must for lovers of progressive rock and heavy metal.

Tickets for the festival, which begins at 7.30pm, cost eight euros in advance and 12 euros on the door. Part of the proceeds will go to Arte Contra el Hambre (Art Against Hunger), a local charity that provides for underprivileged families.

Tickets are available online, or at various outlets, including Bar Lemmy, Classic Rock and Voodoo Graphic in Malaga, and Bar Baccus and The Galloping Major in Torremolinos.

Ticket information can be found here
The site had previously reported that several political prisoners in Ardabil Prison had announced a two-week hunger strike to be carried out in solidarity with the approximately two dozen individuals who are on an indefinite hunger strike in Rajai Shahr. Since then, one political prisoner in Central Zabol Prison has also joined in, bringing the total number of hunger strikers to about 30, plus untold numbers of activists who are conducting their own solidarity actions from outside the prison system and even outside the country.

The Iran Human Rights Monitor report also noted that one Rajai Shahr protestor, Hamzeh Darvish, who had been participating in the hunger strike for 18 days, had become the first to be hospitalized as a result of the health effects of the action. Darvish had lost approximately 24 pounds before being transferred to the prison clinic, and was also reportedly suffering from internal bleeding and dangerously low blood pressure.

Many of the protestors had already reported heart, lung, and kidney ailments, among other illnesses that seemingly warrant hospitalization. However, prison authorities have been denying the protestors access to all medical care, having already confiscated prescribed medications before the hunger strike began. Additional medicines, purchased at great expense by families outside the prison, have been confiscated before they could reach prisoners.

These actions have evidently been aimed at putting pressure on the inmates to end their hunger strikes, and the hospitalization of Mr. Darvish suggests that his life was in great danger. While the death of any participant would certainly constitute a public relations crisis for the Iranian regime, its officials have committed themselves to disregarding the protestors demands, which include the return of medicines and various other confiscated belongings, as well as their transfer back to the ward they had been housed in prior to their forcible transfer on July 30.

The prisoners new surroundings are under 24/7 video and audio surveillance and also consist of notably less humane conditions. Windows are covered with sheet metal, blocking virtually all ventilation; there are not sufficient numbers of beds for the more than 50 prisoners who were transferred; and prisoners have little access to clean running water.

On Sunday, the Center for Human Rights in Iran noted that Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi had publicly dismissed the call for improvement to these conditions. Prisoners must endure their punishment to the fullest, he said. We will not be influenced by the prisoners actions, such as hunger strikes.

Dowlatabadi also referred to such protests as threats and he vowed that the Islamic Republic would not surrender to them. To those prisoners who resort to hunger strikes and other actions, we say these methods have been defeated, he said on August 23, at a Tehran conference focused on reducing the Iranian prison population. But the CHRI report noted that in pursuit of this defeat, the Iranian judiciary appeared to be violating its own laws, including those that bar the arbitrary confiscation of personal belongings and the transfer of prisoners whose relatives have not been informed of the impending move.

Meanwhile, reports detailing the expansion of the hunger strike both within and beyond Rajai Shahr Prison suggest the very opposite of Dowlatabadis conclusion about the potential success of those actions. Indeed, although the regime has gone to great lengths to avoid addressing the demands of hunger strikers, some such protests have become so prominent within public dialogue that the regime has been compelled to make at least nominal concessions to the individuals at their center.

In January of this year, Arash Sadeghi ended a hunger strike that had lasted 71 days and given rise to public protests outside of Evin Prison calling on judicial authorities to save the political prisoners life. Sadeghi had demanded the release of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, who had been sentenced to six years in prison on the basis of the content of a fictional short story she had written in a notebook that was uncovered during a raid on her home. The demand for her release was ultimately granted, but only in the loosest terms, consisting of conditional release pending a judicial review of her case.

Despite the limited effects of such a long hunger strike, the case was one of several that established the potential effectiveness of such protests, which have reportedly become more frequent in recent months. Accordingly, the Rajai Shahr hunger strike is not the only one that is ongoing at the present moment. Another CHRI report indicates that political prisoner Soheil Arabi recently restarted a hunger strike that he had previously ended in early August, after six days. Arabi alleges that Iranian authorities have tapped his familys phones, hacked their online accounts, and directly threatened them. His hunger strike demands an end to this harassment, which is indicative of the broader patterns of harassment that Tehran is known to employ against the families of political prisoners and political exiles.

But Arabis case also points to the regimes tendency to either break its promises or resume objectionable activities even after it initially seems to concede to the demands of hunger strikers. Arabis previous protest ended after his wife was released from detention by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which had accused her of having contact with foreign media. But the IRGCs subsequent actions demonstrated that this momentary concession did not affect their broader campaign against the prisoners family.

In other cases, hunger strikes have ended after prisoners received assurances from regime authorities that their complaints would be addressed, only to later find that nothing had changed. The brothers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian indicated that they were tricked into ending a hunger strike last year, which had been spurred in part by arbitrary transfers similar to those used against the Rajai Shahr prisoners. Earlier this year, the imprisoned civil rights activist Ali Shariati was reportedly promised conditional release in exchange for ending his hunger strike, only to have the release request promptly denied after he did so.

It remains to be seen whether similar deception was also employed to halt the widely reported hunger strike of Green Movement leader Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under house arrest for more than six years without formal charges or a trial. After the 79-year-old Karroubi was hospitalized following the first day of his hunger strike, at least two officials promised that the regime would concede to one of his demands: the removal of intelligence agents from his home. But after Karroubi called off the hunger strike on August 17, judiciary officials contradicted those promises, leading to some back-and-forth which has yet to be clearly resolved.

In light of Dowlatabadis statements, these patterns of deception and pressure against hunger striking political prisoners are indicative of the regimes commitment to silencing potentially prominent protests as quickly as possible, but without conceding to the demands raised by those protests. This stands alongside the broader crackdowns that have reportedly been occurring throughout the Islamic Republic in recent years, and especially in the wake of the 2015 nuclear agreement, which led to some expectations of general rapprochement with the Western world.

On Tuesday, Iran Human Rights Monitor pointed to a handful of examples of the persistence of these crackdowns, noting that at least seven peaceful activists had been summoned to court in Khuzestan Province to face sentencing for such activities as helping to run an unsanctioned library and supporting the banned opposition group the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The PMOI, through its parent organization the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has taken a leading role in pushing for international action on behalf of the hunger striking Rajai Shahr prisoners. An early statement on the matter specifically called upon the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights and the special rapporteurs on torture and Irans human rights situation to launch an inquiry into the situation, on the understanding that the regime is unlikely to respond transparently to domestic pressure alone.
BEIJING (AP) -- Escalating efforts to repatriate one of the ruling Communist Party's most wanted exiles, Chinese police have opened an investigation on a new allegation, rape, against New York-based billionaire Guo Wengui, who has been releasing what he calls official secrets ahead of a pivotal party leadership conference.

Two Chinese officials with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that police are requesting a second Interpol arrest notice for Guo, 50, for the alleged sexual assault of a 28-year-old former personal assistant.

Guo and his representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment, though Guo told a Chinese news outlet Friday the rape allegations were a Chinese government ploy to silence him.

The rape allegation represents a new element in the sprawling case that Chinese prosecutors are building against the real estate tycoon, who is being investigated for at least 19 major criminal cases. Allegations against him include bribing a top Chinese intelligence official, kidnapping, fraud and money laundering.

The Associated Press reviewed documents related to the rape investigation and confirmed their contents with Chinese official sources in Beijing, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing case. The Chinese officials' disclosures to the AP -- an unusual move given the political sensitivity of Guo's case in China -- underscores Beijing's urgent effort to not only bring a fugitive to heel on criminal charges but also silence a potent irritant in the run-up to a key Communist Party congress during which political stability and the stifling of any challenges to the party head, President Xi Jinping, are paramount.

Although the United States does not have an extradition agreement with China, Beijing hopes that a mounting body of evidence could sway the U.S. government against extending the exiled businessman's visa, which is believed to expire in October, the Chinese officials said.

Senior U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed the allegations against Guo, according to a third person with direct knowledge of the talks. The Chinese officials are asking the U.S. to cancel Guo's visa, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to disclose the discussions.

It's unclear what steps Washington plans to take, if any. The White House would not comment on the matter.

The Guo saga highlights how China's efforts to repatriate elite Chinese seeking refuge on American soil have become increasingly contentious. The U.S. government has often refused Beijing's demands to extradite corruption suspects, citing flimsy evidence and China's opaque justice system. But the U.S. has sent back two Chinese fugitives in the past three months, including one suspected of rape.

In recent months, Guo has become a widely followed -- and, in the eyes of China's leadership, highly destabilizing -- social media presence by serving up sensational, if mostly unverifiable, tales of corruption and scandal within the Communist Party's innermost sanctum, including among Xi's closest allies.

In a daily stream of Twitter posts and YouTube videos tracked by Chinese who follow political gossip, Guo has revealed what he claims are everything from top leaders' secret homes in California to their bank account information and hidden stakes in business empires. He has vowed to continue airing the party's secrets until China unfreezes his assets and releases his relatives who have been detained by authorities, he says, as leverage against him.

Pressure on Guo has been building since April when Interpol issued a "red notice" seeking his arrest on corruption-related charges. Chinese authorities later sentenced several of his employees for fraud in June.

Police in central China opened the rape investigation July 5 after a former employee came forward, the officials said.

In interviews with police, the woman described how she was plucked from her human resources position at Guo's real estate company in Hong Kong in 2015 and sent overseas to become his personal assistant. The woman, whose identity is being withheld by the AP, said that over the next two years, she was raped several times in New York, London and the Bahamas by Guo, who she said demanded sex from female employees as a test of their loyalty.

At times, she said, she languished in virtual detention after Guo's staff confiscated her smartphone, computer, passport and keys and forbade her from leaving her room in his luxury apartment in the high-end London neighborhood of Belgravia. To prove her case, the woman surreptitiously met a lawyer friend in London earlier this year to give a written statement about her ordeal and kept her underwear, pregnancy tests and abortion pills as evidence, according to police documents.

In a brief phone interview with the AP arranged by Chinese officials, the woman confirmed the account and described fleeing Guo's apartment to the Chinese Embassy in London in April to apply for a new passport before returning to China. She said she was speaking of her own volition and that police had assured her she could bring charges against Guo without facing repercussions for having worked for a highly sought-after fugitive.

"I just want him to face justice for what he did to me," she said.

Calls to Guo's mobile phone since Tuesday evening in New York rang unanswered. Guo also did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent by an AP reporter to his WhatsApp mobile messaging account since Tuesday. Lawyers representing him at the New York firm Boies Schiller Flexner did not respond to requests for comment.

In a livestreamed interview early Friday with Mingjing News, a Chinese-language overseas news outlet blocked in China, Guo said the rape allegations were "100 percent baseless."

"If I really raped (the accuser) repeatedly, why didn't she accuse me in New York after the first time, where the law is stronger? Why in China?" he said, adding sardonically that it would have been "great" if he had been detained by police and kept in the U.S.

Guo also acknowledged he received an AP request for comment two days ago and did not respond. "I wanted them to publish," Guo told Mingjing.

Interpol declined to comment about the latest warrant China is seeking for Guo's arrest, referring questions to national authorities as is the policy in ongoing investigations.

Born into poverty in central China, Guo transformed himself from a humble gasoline speculator into a real estate mogul who jet-setted with the likes of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Key to his spectacular rise, according to investigative profiles in Chinese media, was an ability to befriend officials in China's powerful security apparatus who helped him intimidate business rivals, secure deals and gain insights into the secret lives of the Chinese elite.

In one instance, according to these reports, Guo won the rights to build the iconic Pangu tower in 2006 as part of Beijing's Olympics development project by working with Ma Jian, who later became China's chief of counterintelligence, to obtain a sex tape of a Beijing vice mayor who had blocked Guo's initial bid.

In 2015, anti-corruption investigators detained Ma and later accused him of accepting $8.8 million in bribes from Guo, who fled the country. Prior to that, Guo had enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with China's intelligence service, even helping to repatriate overseas fugitives, he later said in his YouTube videos.

Guo in 2015 hired American private investigators to fan out across the U.S. to look for Ling Wancheng, the fugitive brother of a disgraced top aide to a former Chinese president who possibly sought to defect, a person involved in that search effort told the AP. The person was legally barred from discussing the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Months later, Chinese agents arrived in the U.S. to search for Ling in a covert operation that angered U.S. officials, underscoring how the issue of politically connected Chinese fleeing to the U.S. has strained relations.

"With political cases such as Ling Wancheng and Guo Wengui, the U.S. seems reluctant to send them back because both have valuable classified information about the top echelons of the party," said Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at Chinese University of Hong Kong. "This phenomenon is a big plus for the CIA and FBI."

Lam said that although it is unlikely that Washington would send Guo back given his intelligence value, President Donald Trump "could potentially play the 'fugitive card' to put pressure on Beijing to make concessions on issues ranging from trade to North Korea."

The prospect of becoming a bargaining chip has worried Guo, according to a leaked audio recording of a meeting he held earlier this year with former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who offered to lobby the Trump administration for a visa extension.

A spokeswoman for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the law firm where Johnson is partner, said a meeting between Guo and Johnson "several months ago about a possible representation appears to have been recorded and released," but the firm ultimately did not take on Guo as a client.

"I want to help you," Johnson says in the edited recording that recently surfaced online. "I am the only member of Barack Obama's Cabinet that has met with Donald Trump."

In the recording, Johnson suggests Guo meet with FBI agents and consider donating to human rights organizations to strengthen his case to remain in the U.S. After Guo expresses concern that Trump had already "made a deal" with the Chinese, Johnson and an unidentified woman who appears to be a Guo adviser quickly assure him that Trump would not give him up.

"He would be violating your rights," Johnson says, while the adviser points out that Guo, who goes by the name Miles Kwok, should also consider his membership in a Trump resort in Florida as a factor working in his favor.

"Miles is a member of Mar-a-Lago," she says, before Guo bursts into laughter.
Salehis comments came the day before U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley met with International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Vienna to discuss Irans nuclear program.

Attempts to dismiss Salehs comments as a bluff, neglect to take into account Irans history of secrecy in regards to their nuclear program, and according to journalist and Iranian human rights activist, Amir Basiri, in his article for the Washington Examiner, the nature of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), itself.

He writes, In 2015, the international community missed an exceptional opportunity to solve Irans nuclear threat in a lasting manner. He believes that the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5 + 1) gave too many concessions to the Iran in order to achieve the JCPOA, in that it legitimized Irans uranium enrichment program, and only managed to extend its breakout time (the duration it would take for Tehran to produce a nuclear bomb) for a limited timeframe.

However, in an interview with NPR at the time, President Barack Obama said that by the time the accord expires, Irans nuclear breakout time will have been significantly reduced, and expressed his belief that Irans behavior would become more moderate before the nuclear deal had run its course. He said, I think that its important for us to recognize that, if in fact theyre engaged in international business, and there are foreign investors, and their economy becomes more integrated with the world economy, then in many ways it makes it harder for them to engage in behaviors that are contrary to international norms.

To this end, Obama gave Iran economic concessions and facilitated foreign investment in the country. In this manner, European counterparts would have a stake in preserving the deal.

Two years later, Tehrans expansionist ambitions in the region and its human rights abuses at home have grown worse. Moreover, the Iranian regime is exploiting the ambiguous text of the JCPOA to engage in provocative activities such as testing ballistic missiles, Basiri writes.

Presently, European states have made billions of dollars worth of deals, preliminary agreements, and letters of intent with Iranian businesses, making them skeptical of taking action to revisit the many flaws of the deal. Meanwhile, time is running out, as the Middle East continues to sink into deeper disarray, and the Iranian regime continues to move toward becoming a nuclear-armed state.

The U.S is in the process of reviewing its standing toward the JCPOA and its general policy toward Iran, addressing the gaps in the nuclear deal and Tehrans destabilizing activities in the region. An option they should consider is the endorsement of democratic regime change in Iran.

Although proponents of rapprochement with Iran believe that replacing the Iranian regime will need and all-out military confrontation, this isnt the case. The potential for change in the Iranian population is already brewing. The Iranian people categorically reject the regimes nuclear ambitions and its expansionist agendas in the region. By supporting the Iranian peoples desire for freedom and democracy, a permanent solution to the problem of Iran will be found.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, recently said, Iran must be free. The dictatorship must be destroyed. Containment is appeasement and appeasement is surrender. The only practical goal is to support a movement to free Iran. Any other goal will leave a dictatorship finding ways to get around any agreement and to lie about everything.
Norton Rose Fulbright advises in MR financing deal

Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Societe Generale on the $227 mill finance package for the purchase of 10 x 46,000 dwt MRs by Oman Shipping Co.

Societe Generale acted as sole arranger and sole underwriter of the whole transaction, which included a combination of commercial debt and export credit agency financing. As mandated lead arranger, the bank structured, arranged, co-ordinated and syndicated two loan facilities. Seven of the 10 vessels were covered by a 12-year ECA facility combined with a tied commercial loan, by the Korean ECA, K-Sure. Three vessels were financed under a seven-year mortgage loan. Oman Shipping Co raised $227 mill to finance this purchase, the latest in a series of private commercial facilities the Sultanate has sanctioned since the fall in oil prices prompted the country to begin fund raising exercises. All 10 Marshall Islands flagged vessels, were built by Hyundai Mipo Dockland and chartered to Shell Tankers Singapore for seven years. Christine Ezcutari, partner, head of banking and finance at Norton Rose Fulbright Paris, commented:  We are proud to have been part of this new financing, which demonstrates that some areas of shipping finance are still active, especially with export credit support. The transaction was very complex and challenging and represents a key achievement in todays market. Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, the Korea Development Bank and ABN Amro were also involved in the financing package. Norton Rose Fulbrights New-York and Paris based teams that advised Societe Generale was led by Christine Ezcutari in Paris, Brian Devine and Brad Berman, New-York partners. They were assisted by of counsel Alexandre Roth and Kassandra Lydia Savicki, senior associate Anne-Laure Roche, and Ayaka Millet, Paolo Pinna, Tim Sullivan and Richard Leishman.




Stolt-Nielsen - Harvey update

Stolt-Nielsen (SNI) issued a statement on Wednesday regarding the impact of Hurricane Harvey on its operations in Houston.

Local assets include the bulk liquid storage terminal Stolthaven Houston; a tank container depot operated by Stolt Tank Containers; and an office building on the Houston Ship Canal that serves as headquarters for Stolt-Nielsen's operations in the Americas.



SNI reported that all employees are accounted for and safe. All company assets in Houston suffered no material damage, and there are no reports of spills or product contaminations as a result of the storm.



Areas around Stolthaven Houston are flooded, with roads, rail and the ship channel all closed, preventing access to the terminal. The terminal is not expected to become operational for at least the next few days, as flood waters recede and safe access is again possible. Similarly, Stolt Tank Containers' maintenance and repair facility was not damaged by the storm.



All Stolt Tankers' ships in the area are safe and are fully operational. Loading and discharge operations were suspended prior to the storm and the ships put out to sea before the storm made landfall. It is uncertain when normal port operations will resume, and significant congestion is expected to cause further delays as the situation returns to normal.



While it is too early to estimate the financial impact of the storm, the company said the amount is not expected to be material. In another move, SNI has mandated Danske Bank, DNB Markets, Nordea and Swedbank to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings commencing 5th September, 2017. Following the investor meetings, a five-year senior unsecured bond issue (denominated in either NOK or USD) may follow, subject to, inter alia, market conditions. The main purpose of a potential bond issue would be to refinance SNI03 (ISIN NO0010640774) due to mature in March, 2018.




Stone Marine moves into Dubai Drydocks World

In order to provide an even faster repair service in the Middle East to ship operators whose vessels have sustained propeller damage, Stone Marine Shipcare has signed a service agency agreement with Dubai Drydock World.

As a result, one of the companies mobile workshops is permanently based at DDWs giant repair facilities. The workshop will be used, not just at DDWs own facilities, but it can also be transported very quickly to other Middle Eastern shipyards, wherever a ship is in need of repair or maintenance to its propeller. Stone Marine technicians are training DDW personnel under the agreement enabling repair and maintenance work to be carried out by a combination of DDW and Stone Marine technicians. Don Quilliam, Stone Marine Shipcare managing director said: With over 300 vessels docking at DDW each year we are confident this will be a strong partnership, further enhancing the excellent service and facilities offered by Dubai Drydock World with an unrivalled propeller repair and modification service."




Iran has made deals with some of the worlds largest aircraft companies in order to buy a new, modern fleet for what they claim is commercial purposes. Maghsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of Irans Aviation Companies Association, told state-owned media that these deals come with modernization packages, including technology and education, that allow Iran to participate in producing aircraft parts and equipment.

Claiming there is no evidence that Iran is violating international law and its commitments to the nuclear deal, Irans advocates ignore its history of using its commercial airlines for military purposes.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, president of the International American Council, writes in his article for Arab News, Irans commercial airlines, specifically Iran Air and Mahan, are the primary tools used for the illicit transport of weapons and military staff, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its elite Quds Force and the Basij militia. These airlines do not fly to Syria on pre-announced scheduled days, as other commercial airlines do. They choose random days and destinations in Syria.

In a letter demanding a formal investigation by the Trump administration, several US congressional leaders wrote, Irans use of commercial aircraft for military purposes violates international agreements as well as Iranian commitments under the JCPOA (nuclear deal). We believe these photos mandate a thorough investigation of these practices and a comprehensive review of Irans illicit use of commercial aircraft During this investigation, the United States should suspend current and future licenses for aircraft sales to Iran.

The lawmakers added, These photos seem to display militiamen sitting on seats clearly labeled with the Iran Air logo. These individuals are believed to be members of an Iranian-backed militia, trained and funded by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), actively fighting for the Assad regime in Syria.

Mahan was under international sanctions for shipping weapons to the Syrian regime and Hezbollah, prior the nuclear deal, which were lifted after the agreement.

Irans enhancement of its military capabilities should not facilitated by Western airlines. According to several governmental and intelligence reports, Iran is the worlds top state sponsor of terrorism, and is top of the 2016 Basel Anti-Money Laundering Index Report.

Tehran has been acquiring the skills necessary to easily convert modern commercial aircraft into military ones since 1979. By itself, the US cannot by itself prevent Tehran from doing this, so more countries must join the cause. The international community must hold Iranian leaders accountable for violating international law, as well as the terms of the nuclear deal.

Corporations that sell modern aircraft and technology to Iran should realize that they are facilitating Tehrans support for terrorist groups, crimes against humanity and the Assad regimes atrocities against innocent civilians, according to Dr. Rafizadeh.
Tanker markets hit SCFs results

Tanker markets hit SCFs results

SCFs net profit was $15.2 mill, compared with $166 mill in 1H16. EBITDA was $282.9 mill in 1H17, compared to $374.6 mill in the previous period. Gross revenue (freight and hire) went up slightly to $710.2 mill from $680.3 mill recorded in 1H16, however, TCE revenues fell to $530.8 mill from $576.4 mill in 1H16. Commenting on the Groups results, Sergey Frank, PAO Sovcomflot President and CEO, said: The first half of 2017 was very challenging for global tanker markets, with spot freight rates in all market segments nearing their historic lows. This has impacted severely upon the profitability of those owners focused solely on conventional shipping. During the first half of 2017, the benefit of the Groups growing commitment to its specialised offshore and fixed income gas transportation businesses clearly demonstrated its worth. Despite the turbulent conditions seen in conventional markets, SCF Group has continued to demonstrate resilience whilst remaining able to position itself to take advantage of the future upswing in these markets when it comes. In the first half, the Group continued to implement its strategy and demonstrated its capacity to innovate and break new ground. The Group took delivery of the Worlds first icebreaking LNGC, Christophe de Margerie, two unique ultra-modern icebreaking platform supply vessels Gennadiy Nevelskoy and Stepan Makarov and placed the first ever orders for LNG-fuelled Aframax tankers, to provide a step reduction in shipping emissions. Regardless of the adverse market conditions, we continue to enhance further the quality of our operations and implement operational programmes designed to provide for safe shipping, environmental protection and risk mitigation, to continue to attract talented seafarers and shore personnel, keeping in mind that human capital is one of SCFs core competitive advantages, he concluded. Nikolay Kolesnikov, executive vice president, CFO, added:In the first half of 2017, the Group raised $341 mill in debt capital, including a highly successful tap of our 2016 Eurobond issue. The latter was heavily oversubscribed, with one of the lowest yields seen for a global shipping company. It attracted significant international, as well as domestic demand. The proceeds for the new capital raised, were used to retire the remainder of our maturing $800 mill debut Eurobonds, issued in 2010. In addition, a 15-year credit facility was raised to refinance two shuttle tankers. Overall, the total debt capital raised by Sovcomflot during the period 2016 to 2017 is $1.6 bill. The robustness of Sovcomflots business model is underpinned by $8 bill of contracted future revenues and is reflected in its credit ratings and the cost of debt capital. The Group is rated BB+/stable by S&P (rating reconfirmed in August, 2017) and Ba1/stable by Moodys (both on a par with the Russian sovereign ratings from these agencies). Meanwhile, in June 2017 FitchRatings improved the outlook on its BB rating from stable to positive, he concluded. SCFs diversified business model continued to be a source of strength. A strong performance from the Offshore and Gas divisions was seen in the first half. In these segments, vessels generally focus on servicing industrial energy projects on long-term timecharter. It provided relief against the deteriorating conditions witnessed in the conventional tanker markets, which were most noticeable in 2Q17. This balance of revenue sources helped gross revenue for 1H17 to increase by 4.4% to $710.2 mill, compared to $680.3 mill in 1H16, SCF said. Following the first half of the year, on 21st July, 2017, the Group signed an agreement for the construction of a fourth in a series of Arctic shuttle tankers to service the Novy Port project, under a long-term timecharter with Gazprom Neft. The vessel is due for delivery in October, 2019. On 17th August, 2017, the icebreaking LNGC Christophe de Margerie successfully completed her first commercial voyage, transporting LNG through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from Norway to South Korea. The vessel set a new record for an NSR transit of just six days 12 hours and 15 minutes.




US announces new PDVSA sanctions

Last Friday, the Trump administration introduced new sanctions on the Venezuelan government that will make it more difficult for state-run oil firm PDVSA to access foreign investment.

PDVSA is heavily in debt, and is in need of new funds to refinance its maturing bonds. Without access to American capital, the oil firm faces the prospect of default  or greater reliance on Chinese financiers, analysts said. However, PDVSAs US downstream subsidiary Citgo is exempt from any restrictions, but it will no longer be allowed to return dividends to its parent company. Citgo operates three refineries, which together handle about 10% of US oil imports. Other oil traders and refiners will not be directly affected by the sanctions, despite early warnings that the administration could attempt to interfere with the sale of lighter grades of US crude to Venezuela, sources said.



(Venezuelan President) Maduro may no longer take advantage of the American financial system to facilitate the wholesale looting of the Venezuelan economy at the expense of the Venezuelan people, US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said in a statement last Friday. Also on Friday, PDVSA announced that it may partner with Chinese commodity firm Guangdong Zhenrong Energy to refurbish and operate its ageing Isla refinery in Curacao. The local Curacao Government has called for PDVSA to invest $1.5 bill in upgrading and modernising the facility. Isla is over 100 years old and it suffered a major fire in May, which cut its output by half. Guangdong Zhenrong has already signed a deal with Curacao to take over the refinery's operations in 2019, when PDVSA's lease expires. However, PDVSA is in negotiations with Curacao to retain control of one of its biggest refining operations. In June, PDVSA signed a deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in Jieyang, Guangdong province. The refinery will be built to handle Venezuelan heavy crude, and it should open in 2020. Along with this long-planned development, PDVSA says that it is in talks with China Development Bank for funding 700 smaller projects, the analysts said.




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[September 01, 2017] Razer Takes Aim At FPS Market With Customizable Basilisk Mouse

BERLIN, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- (IFA 2017)  Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Basilisk, a customizable mouse with state-of-the-art features for first-person shooter (FPS) games. Razer's rich history of purpose-built mice is getting its next major entry with the Razer Basilisk for FPS gaming. The Razer Basilisk comes equipped with a 5G true 16,000 DPI optical sensor, the same sensor used in the celebrated Razer DeathAdder Elite and Razer Lancehead Tournament Edition, proven to excel under the demanding accuracy and precision needs of FPS gamers. What's more, the Basilisk features Razer Mechanical Mouse Switches with an industry-best 50 million click lifespan. The mouse offers a continuum of scroll wheel resistances to choose from. The scroll wheel can be adjusted via a dial on its underside for increased or decreased resistance to fit the preferences of each gamer. This can be especially useful for gamers who bind jump to their scroll wheel and are looking to adjust the jump activation to a preferred level of resistance. The Razer Basilisk is equipped with a removable clutch for easy access to additional mouse actions. The default clutch setting allows gamers to temporarily lower their DPI to instantaneously switch between high DPI close-quarters fighting and low DPI precision shooting. The clutch is fully programmable and can be set for push-to-talk, item pick-up, or any other actions. The clutch comes in two different lengths (short/long) to cater to different hand sizes. A rubber thumb cap is also included for players who prefer the mouse without the clutch. "The customizability of the Razer Basilisk sets it apart from other FPS mice, and is something that we're incredibly proud of," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. "This is a mouse designed for tweaking that last ounce of performance out of each gamer's specific FPS playstyle. For games like CS:GO, PUBG, Quake, and the likes, there's nothing better." The Razer Basilisk is powered by Razer Synapse 3 (Beta), a software configurator that acts as the control center for the mouse. Button remapping, surface calibration and Razer Chroma lighting effects are all controlled by Synapse 3 (Beta), whih is able to store personalized settings on the mouse itself or in the cloud via Hybrid On-board and Cloud Storage.



The mouse is available from RazerStore.com in September 2017. For more information, visit https://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-basilisk Price:

U.S. $69.99 / EU  69.99

Availability:

Razerzone.com  September 2017

Worldwide  Q4 2017 Product features: Razer 5G optical sensor with true 16,000 DPI

Up to 450 inches per second (IPS) / 50 G acceleration

Gaming-grade tactile scroll wheel with customizable resistance

Two removable clutch (short/long) buttons and a rubber thumb cap

Eight independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

Razer TM Mechanical Mouse Switches

Mechanical Mouse Switches Ergonomic right-handed design with enhanced rubber side grips

Razer Chroma lighting with true 16.8 million customizable color options

1000 Hz Ultrapolling

Razer Synapse 3 (Beta) enabled

Approximate size: 124 mm / 4.88 in (Length) X 75 mm / 2.94 in (Width) X 43 mm / 1.69 in (Height)

Approximate weight 107 g / 0.24 lbs Images:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cvt56c8bc365jh1/Razer%20Basilisk.zip?dl=0 ABOUT RAZER: Razer is the world's leading lifestyle brand for gamers. The triple-headed snake logo trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized icons in the global gaming community, and the company has a fan base that spans every continent. Razer has designed and built the world's largest independent gamer ecosystem of hardware, software and services with over 35 million users. Razer's award-winning products include hardware such as high-performance gaming peripherals (for the PC and console platforms), the Razer Blade line of gaming laptops; software such as Razer Cortex (a game optimizer and launcher); and services such as Razer zGold (a virtual credit service and payment engine for gamers). The company additionally provides audio-visual certification through its subsidiary THX Ltd. The company has a global footprint with 9 offices worldwide and is recognized as the leading gaming brand in the US, Europe and China. Founded in 2005 and dual-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, Razer is backed by institutional investors such as IDG-Accel, Intel Capital, Digital Grid and Horizons Ventures. Press Contacts: Americas

Kevin Scarpati

[email protected]

Stephen Huynh

[email protected] Europe/Africa

Jan Horak

[email protected] Asia Pacific

Nicholas Ferguson

[email protected] China

Evita Zhang

[email protected] Razer - For Gamers. By Gamers. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/razer-takes-aim-at-fps-market-with-customizable-basilisk-mouse-300511257.html SOURCE Razer

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[September 01, 2017] Online Female Empowerment Platform, LadyBossBlogger.com, Celebrates One Year

CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LadyBossBlogger, online blog, celebrates one year on Sept.1st, 2017. Since its launch, the online platform has featured 500+ female entrepreneurs and their stories, highlighting their struggles and their success. LadyBossBlogger has amassed a following of 21,000+ followers under a year. Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Elaine Rau's own story and journey has also been impactful to the success of the blog and has gained attention of its own. The blog started with an interview of targeted questions that was sent out by Rau to female entrepreneurs, a spike in views and shares proved the value of the platform and topic. This led to the LadyBossBlogger founder to execute the idea of monetizing her platform and to offer paid packages for the use of her platform in helping female entrepreneurs voice and share their own stories. "I am so glad I decided to just run with it. I saw what I was doing was working and took action immediately. I had to create my own opportunities, especially at that point during my life," said Founder and Editor-In-Chief of LadyBossBlogger, Elaine Rau. Previous to the launch of LadyBossBlogger, Rau quit a verbally abusive and controlling work environment position which led her to share her story on her own platform to inspire other female entrepreneurs to rise from their fears. LadyBossBlogger is the destination for female entrepreneur interviews, business tips, how to's and resources - a space of empowerment for women entrepreneurs.



Rau's journey and success story has been featured on "Unforgettable Faces & Stories: Starting Over Stories of New Beginnings," by Eileen Doyon. She has also been featured on 30+ websites and the Huffington Post in the U.S. and U.K. About LadyBossBlogger

Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Elaine Rau launched LadyBossBlogger.com in 2016 as a platform to highlight the successes and the struggles of female entrepreneurs all over the world to help unite and share tips/expertise in order to learn from one another. Her desire is to fill the media with stories about powerful women and change women's mindsets about themselves. The media plays a powerful part in how we see ourselves, what we think we can achieve, and what limitations we put on ourselves. The more women are properly portrayed, the more women will rise up in leadership and push past their self-limiting beliefs. LadyBossBlogger currently offers eight different packages ranging from $39.99-$105 for a one-time promotional blog post with eight graphics and a share across the LadyBossBlogger social media channels. Guest posting is also an option. For more information: www.ladybossblogger.com For any media inquiries, feel free to reach out to, Publicist, Samantha Frontera of Exclusive PR at [email protected] or at: (847) 703-0529. Related Images image1.jpg View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/online-female-empowerment-platform-ladybossbloggercom-celebrates-one-year-300512774.html SOURCE LadyBossBlogger

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[September 01, 2017] Hurricane Harvey: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Launches Rebuild Texas Fund

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation today announced the launch of the Rebuild Texas Fund, with the goal of raising over $100 million for the long-term recovery of communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. The foundation is working alongside Governor Abbott to bring the power of private contributions to the recovery and rebuilding efforts in Texas. With the goal of accelerating support for those most affected by the devastation, the Michael and Susan Dell are committing $36 million to launch the fund, including a four-day matching campaign that invites everyone to give by texting 91999 with the words "RebuildTX." The Rebuild Texas Fund recognizes Hurricane Harvey as an unprecedented natural disaster that will require a collective and sustained mobilization effort. In that vein, the fund will focus on marshaling resources and partners for longer-term restoration and rebuilding, in addition to supporting ongoing relief efforts. "This is our home. And we know that it will take all of us working together, over the long term, to rebuild our Texas communities," said Michael Dell, a Houston native and founder of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, based in Austin. "As we announce the launch of the Rebuild Texas Fund, we know it is imperative to rally support from companies, community leaders and individuals to work alongside state and federal officials to provide an additional source of funding and ideas for recovery and rebuilding." The Rebuild Texas Fund is a partnership. The fund is structured to work with foundations across the state and large companies that have already offered their financial support. The fund will be used to stabilize families with a focus on four areas: health and housing; schools and child care; workforce and transportation; and capital for rebuilding small businesses. Early partners include: BazarVoice Foundation

Carly & Clayton Christopher

David Robinson and Robinson Family Foundation

and Robinson Family Foundation Gerstner Family Foundation

Lorraine Clasquin , Kate Harslem , and Eric Harslem (KLE Foundation)

, , and (KLE Foundation) Lyda Hill Foundation

Kozmetsky Family Foundation

Red McCombs

Sooch Foundation

Verizon

WalMart



Texas , the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation will establish the fund with $18 million as well as launch a matching campaign that will kick off today and continue through midnight Monday, September 4 . During the campaign, the foundation will match $1 for every $2 in donations for the first $36 million raised. "We're heartbroken. Michael and I are both from Texas, and the street he grew up on is under water now," said Susan Dell, founder of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "We want everyone to know that we are in this for the long haul to support families and communities  our neighbors in need."

The Rebuild Texas Fund will be housed at the OneStar Foundation, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation will be contributing significant time, people and expertise to the effort over the next one to three years. All administrative costs will be covered either by the OneStar Foundation or the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which means 100 percent of donations will go directly towards relief, recovery, and rebuilding. "As Texas begins its efforts to restore its communities in the aftermath of Harvey, I am proud to announce that the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is working with OneStar Foundation to create the Rebuild Texas Fund," said Governor Abbott. "Over the past week we have seen Texans and Americans come together to assist in the relief and recovery efforts and I have no doubt that this generosity will extend to this fund. I thank Michael and Susan Dell for their commitment to the State of Texas and to all those affected by Hurricane Harvey." "This is just the beginning of our work to support the people, organizations and businesses who will be rebuilding for years to come," said Janet Mountain, Executive Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "We invite anyone who is invested in Texas' future to get involved. The Rebuild Texas Fund is about coming together and helping people when they need it most." Text 91999 with the words "RebuildTX" to donate. To learn more about the Rebuild Texas Fund, visit rebuildtx.org. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.msdf.org) is dedicated to improving the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. Headquartered in Austin, TX with satellite offices in New Delhi, India and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood wellness, and improve the economic stability of families living in poverty. The foundation has committed more than $1.32 billion to global children's issues and community initiatives to date. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hurricane-harvey-michael--susan-dell-foundation-launches-rebuild-texas-fund-300512836.html SOURCE The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

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Former Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden appeared as a guest on National Public Radio's "IA" program this week, speaking about the challenges Louisiana's capital city faced when taking in a huge influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in 2005.

Guests on the radio program debated whether Houston should have been evacuated before Hurricane Harvey hit.

Baton Rouge saw tens of thousands of Katrina evacuees stream into the city from the New Orleans area in 2005, during Holden's first year as mayor-president. The parish essentially grew overnight by 100,000.

Holden discussed on the show the difficulty of trying to coordinate multiple agencies at once to ensure that a city can handle a swell of refugees.

"We had to shift from preparing for a hurricane to now having to take evacuees," said the former mayor-president. "We couldn't yell for help because we were the place people were coming to for help."

While Holden's response to Katrina was widely applauded, that wasn't the case when floods devastated Baton Rouge in 2016. He was criticized for going on a week long trip to Taiwan as other local and state leaders were preparing to testify in Washington, D.C. about floods.

Not long after returning from Taiwan, and at a time when flood recovery in Baton Rouge was still in its early stages, Holden traveled to Baltimore to give a "responding to crises in Baton Rouge" talk at a forum on 21st century neighborhoods.

Holden spoke on this week's NPR program only of Katrina and not his experience during the Baton Rouge floods of 2016.

He recalled the number of critical decisions that needed to be made quickly, saying that cities can prepare based on their performance during previous emergencies but that they will never necessarily be ready when engulfed by a natural disaster.

Asked about FEMA's response to Katrina, Holden said waiting for them was not an option.

"When people say, we need X service, you can't tell them, 'I'm sending some other agency over to your house or over to rescue you,' they don't want to hear it," he said.

+20 Baton Rouge grew after Katrina while forging closer ties to recovering New Orleans In the days following Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches that flooded 80 percent of Ne

Holden wasn't the only local who was on the show. LSU civil engineering professor Brian Wolshon also spoke on the show about the difficulty of evacuating cities before large-scale disasters, like hurricanes.
From left, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Sgt. Carl Trosclair escorts the "Gulf Coast Bandit", Julius Frank, 36, of Metairie, with Baton Rouge Police Detectives Danny Forbes and Justin Becnel, Friday, September 1, 2017, at Police Headquarters in Baton Rouge, La. Frank is charged is charged with one count of armed robbery by the EBR Sheriff's Office after being apprehended during a robbery today at the Check Into Cash on Coursey Boulevard. He is charged with armed robbery by the Baton Rouge Police Department for the July 28th armed robbery of the American Cash Advance at 7171 Airline Highway, as well as being suspected in robberies in Slidell, Gonzales and Gulfport that occurred throughout August 2017.
Concerns about flooding in Baton Rouge have prompted the city-parish to move forward with creating a "stormwater master plan" expected to outline a list of projects to address drainage.

Engineering firm HNTB has been selected to develop the plan, chosen this week from a group of applicants who responded to requests for qualifications from the city-parish. The projects they come up with are expected to help prevent day-to-day flash floods during heavy rainstorms, along with preventing floods during 50-year and 100-year flood events, according to city-parish Director of Transportation and Drainage Fred Raiford.

But should Baton Rouge experience another 500-year flood  a term some have used to describe the waters that inundated the parish last year  even a new stormwater system might not be able to keep everyone dry, Raiford said. Designing that kind of system would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

"We are going to look at it from a technical, normal rain events, 50-year events and 100-year event," Raiford said.

His office will spend the next few weeks outlining a scope of services for HNTB to work on and then determining how much their work would cost. They will then bring a contract to the East Baton Rouge Metro Council to approve HNTB's work on the master plan.

The stormwater master plan will look ahead 20 years, and it will also look farther than just Baton Rouge's boundaries, said Bryan Jones with HNTB's Gulf Coast office.

"Water has no respect for political boundaries," Jones said. "Given the massive size of the Amite and Comite River watersheds, and complex interactions between these watersheds and network of bayous, including Bayou Manchac, it will be critical to assess proposed projects and potential solutions at a regional level, both upstream and downstream."

Raiford said he was particularly impressed with HNTB's discussion of identifying funding sources to pay for drainage infrastructure, which can get expensive. Raiford said he's interested in tapping into more than $100 million in federal money designated for hazard mitigation to pay for some of the projects.

In addition to hazard mitigation grants, Jones said HNTB will look into resiliency grants, disaster recovery grants and money available through the Water Resources Development Act. Local funding and financing will also be on the table.

HNTB is the same firm that has worked with the city-parish on a proposal to develop a tram that would run between LSU and downtown along the Nicholson corridor. The tram project has recently stalled.

Raiford said he was impressed with all of the top three applicants for stormwater improvements. The other two were Sigma Engineering and Arcadis.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced in July that she would start seeking help to create the stormwater master plan, saying then that the 2016 floods exposed serious flaws in the parish's drainage system.

The stormwater master plan will be the first of its kind done looking at the entire parish, Raiford said. The idea that Baton Rouge needs drainage improvements is not a new one, though. And interest in it may be at a peak, as Broome was swarmed with questions about stormwater drainage at a lunch with engineers in late May.

Former Mayor-President Kip Holden twice tried to pass taxes in 2008 and 2009 that would have bundled drainage projects with other infrastructure improvements and attractions, such as riverfront developments. Both were combinations of a 9.9 mill property tax and a half-cent sales tax.

The 2008 and 2009 proposals were combinations of drainage system improvements, a new parish prison, traffic light synchronization, river front developments and more. Voters rejected both of them.

In 2011, Holden again called for a tax proposal that included $195 million for 40 miles of drainage work. The package also included a new prison, bridge replacements and Baton Rouge River Center Improvements. The Metro Council nixed the proposal before it ever made it onto ballots.

Lanny Keller: On drainage, it does not pay to wait The final six months of East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holdens three terms have been 

This time, Metro Council members have already begun asking Broome about her plans for drainage. As Broome moves forward with a transportation tax that she is hoping to place on Nov. ballots, council members have recently expressed concerns over the focus on roads. Several have said that since the August 2016 floods, drainage is what their constituents are asking about.

"I hear over and over again and you do, too, about drainage," said Metro Councilman Trae Welch to Raiford and Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Rowdy Gaudet at an Aug. 23 meeting. "How do we go on September and ask for a plan and then possibly come back a year from now and ask for drainage?"

Gaudet said then that Broome was "laser focused on both issues" and that the stormwater master plan would soon return to the Metro Council.
Investors will be squeezed out of the ACT's property market because of rising rates and land taxes, the ACT Owners Corporation Network has warned.

However the ACT government maintains the territory is still an "attractive" place to invest.

Property manager Thomas Hathaway who says clients and tenants are being squeezed by the recent rate rises. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Owners of high- and medium-density housing have been hit with higher rates bills this year because of a change in the way the charge is calculated.

But those who rent their units or townhouses out also face a hefty hike to their land tax.
Electronics giant LG did not break the law when it convinced customers to pay to have their faulty televisions repaired, even though they might have been entitled to a full refund or replacement, a court has ruled.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took the South Korean company to the Federal Court in 2015, alleging it misled customers about their rights in relation to faulty products.

LG did not have to tell customers what their consumer rights were, the court has ruled. Credit:Reuters

The ACCC presented several examples where customers agreed with LG to pay for labour or parts to repair a television, even though they might have been entitled to refunds and/or replacements under Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

But on Friday, Justice John Middleton rejected the consumer watchdog's allegations that LG had tricked customers into thinking they had no option but to pay for repairs.
Retailers are looking to a galaxy far, far away for a much-needed to boost to their bottom line.

Disney's Force Friday retail event in 2015 helped Star Wars become the best-selling toy franchise in Australia for 18 consecutive months.

And with Star Wars: The Last Jedi - the sequel to that year's The Force Awakens - due in cinemas this December, Force Friday II rolls out in Australia and then the rest of the world on Friday.

The new Lego sets, app-controlled droids and programmable robots for budding engineers couldn't have come at a better time for local retailers.
It sounded like a good idea at the time: move the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta. At a stroke, Sydney's west, where a large share of this city's population lives, would gain a major cultural institution. And the sale of the Powerhouse site in Ultimo would bring in the millions needed to pay for the relocation. If there was any left over, then all that extra money would go to improve and strengthen the museum. Announced just weeks before the last state election, this lightbulb moment in the mind of the then premier, Mike Baird, helped to light up the image of a progressive, can-do government in a key electoral region, and despite a swing against it over unrelated issues, to win a second term in office for the Coalition.

Since then, though, doubts have started to creep in. How much will it really cost to acquire a site, and build a new specialist building from scratch in central Parramatta? What will it really cost to move the museum, with its vast collections of irreplaceable objects, and its substantial administration? The new site, central to Parramatta certainly, but beside a flood-prone river, and with problematic access  is it really the best place for a major cultural institution? Is it really better than the purpose-built campus at Ultimo? And what of the sale of the Ultimo site  government property now to be turned over for private purposes in the city centre where public space is hard to find? Even if it's justifiable, will it bring in enough to cover all those costs?

The Powerhouse Museum. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Initially many  including this newspaper  were swept up in the euphoria of the idea. There is no doubt that Parramatta, greater Sydney's geographic centre, needs and deserves more cultural investment. When the plan was suggested, it did indeed seem fair to spread the Powerhouse's bounty there. In supporting the move, we assumed that the NSW government knew what it was doing  that it had investigated the scheme, that it was practicable, and that the numbers added up. In hindsight, that assumption looks premature.

As we report today, the arguments against the move are many and growing. The economics of the move do not appear to justify it at all. Physical constraints add to the difficulty. The additional possibility that any new site may have to be shared with commercial space, so that the project can be paid for, is worse than disappointing. It would be a cheap-jack outcome, a degradation of a proud and venerable institution, and an insult to the city and state on which it was foisted.
The specialist trauma counselling service contracted by national sexual assault hotline 1800 RESPECT has withdrawn from the service over concerns that private contractor Medibank Health Solutions could not guarantee confidentiality or quality of care.

In a statement explaining the withdrawal of their organisation from the national telephone counselling service, Karen Willis, head of not-for-profit Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA), expressed concerns about a new contract requirement to share client files with the private contractor.

1800 RESPECT is the national telephone counselling service for victims of sexual and domestic violence. Credit:Louie Douvis

"It is the view of Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia that the trust and confidence clients have placed in our organisation over the past six years could not be disrespected and undermined in this way," it says.

Medibank Health Services (MHS) has had difficulty with confidential medical data in the past when hundreds of Defence personal files were mistakenly sent to China. The service says that issue was due to a third-party error and was not part of the system that will be in place for 1800 RESPECT.
High Street Armadale is high on Australian fashion but it's been lacking a little for a great edit of international brands. Until now. The New Trend, originally from Canada, will stock brands such as Chloe, Alexander Wang, 3.1 Philip Lim, Nina Ricci and Helmut Lang, with exclusive styles only available from TNT. Brands exclusive to TNT include Adina Reyter, Amur, Fleur Du Mal and Jennifer Zeuner. Launched in 1992, the Armadale store is the first Australian location for the company. Brand director Vanessa Spencer said the store will hopefully bring new and undiscovered brands to clients.

"Quality always drives my choices and it's not so much about price as it is about value," she said. 1038 High Street, Armadale. Monday-Thursday 9.30am-5.30pm, Friday 9.30am-6pm, Saturday 9.30am-5.30pm, Sunday 11am-5pm. Armadale newcomer The New Trend. If you find yourself swearing off high heels, then this could be the shoe store for you. Melbourne brand Radical Yes!, which only sells flat shoes, has opened its first "fitting salon" to give customers a more intimate experience to try the brand than online.

The new store is stocking the ninth collection for the brand, which was founded by Kerryn Moscicki in 2013. 554 Queensbury Street, North Melbourne. Tuesday-Thursday 11am-4pm, Friday 11am-6pm, Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday 11am-2pm (closed Monday). Melbourne shoe brand Radical Yes! has opened a store in North Melbourne. Credit:Agnieszka Chabros Just launched One of the biggest trends for summer is embroidery and there's a new Australian label that's doing some beautiful things with needle and thread.

Kholo The Label calls itself an "everyday haute couture label" whose name comes from the Gujarati word for "open". The label's founder, Karishma Kasabia, owned a graphic design agency before selling up and turning her skills to creating Kholo. For its first collection, entitled Breathe, Kholo has partnered with Italian-born artist Carmelo Blandino to bring his canvas pieces to life using 3D-metal sequin and metallic beaded embellishments. Kasabia said one of the initial designs, the Leela midi top, sold out even before the brand officially launched. The next range, Daisies, will be out in November.
The distraught mother of suspected outback murder victim Tanja Ebert has arrived from Germany and says it's hard not knowing what has happened to her "sociable" 23-year-old daughter.

Andrea Ebert has also expressed sadness for her two grandchildren, aged one and three, who, she says, "are the true victims of this tragedy".

"Their well-being is our utmost priority, with Michael's family we share in the future," Ms Ebert said in a statement read by police on Friday.

"It is very hard not knowing what happened to Tanja.
The lawyer who led the first major review into widespread sexual and physical abuse in the Australian military says he was sacked after publicly pleading for justice for victims.

Gary Rumble says he lost his job after his bosses at government-linked legal giant HWL Ebsworth spent several years trying to stop him advocating on behalf of abuse victims, fearing their outspoken employee might hurt their lucrative relationships with government departments.

Gary Rumble, Lawyer sacked over his advocacy for sex abuse victims. Photo by?Mel Davis Credit:Mel Davis

He says the final straw was an article he wrote for Fairfax in December 2016, highlighting the plight of veterans who had suffered appalling and degrading physical and sexual abuse and branding their continued mistreatment at the hands of the Commonwealth a "disgrace".

Dr Rumble's unfair dismissal action, filed in the Federal Court in Canberra by his lawyers Maurice Blackburn, invokes the ACT law against discrimination on the grounds of political opinion.
"I put the popcorn in and picked up my daughter because she wanted to have a look," Mr Pritchard, 24, said.

The disability support worker told Yahoo 7 he was at home with his partner and young daughter when they decided to microwave popcorn.

Mitchell Pritchard, of Bathurst, got a shock when his $99 Aldi microwave exploded. Credit:Facebook

Mitchell Pritchard bought the $99 microwave oven from discount supermarket chain Aldi just days before the incident.

"With about 10 seconds to go, I put her down and just before the timer ended there was this huge bang, so I leaned forward to see what had happened.

"The door busted open and hit me on the forehead.

"The plate had shattered, and the turntable had shattered as well."

He said he had used the microwave once before and it worked fine so he was stunned when the appliance malfunctioned.

"There was glass everywhere," he said.
Kristina Photios with husband Michael Photios. Kristina is known for her passion for the environment, describing it to Fairfax Media as "the cause I have dedicated my life to pursuing". Conservatives for Conservation has also served as a platform for powerful companies that have recently paid Kristina and Michael as professional lobbyists. That includes the energy generator and retailer AGL, Australia's largest emitter, now pivoting from coal toward solar and wind farms. The "Finkel Review Brief" held in NSW parliament house where clients of the Photios' appeared on the panel. Credit:Facebook A month after the museum event, Kristina told Facebook followers she was working for Clean Energy Strategies, her new lobbying firm specialising in renewable energy and climate policy. Around the same time she rejoined the Liberal Party, in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's local electorate.

Chief scientist Alan Finkel called in June for an increase in renewable energy driven by a "clean energy target". And Kristina's clients stand to make a lot of money from the introduction of a target, which could secure hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment in the sector. But it is a divisive policy for the federal government. Turnbull is mulling how he might introduce a target without enraging elements of his party's hard right, for whom wind farms are about as popular as Kristina's left-faction husband. Two months after the release of Finkel's review, Kristina's Conservatives for Conservation brought 90 corporate and political guests together for a "Finkel Report Brief" in a theatre in NSW parliament house. The event's host, upper house Liberal member Shayne Mallard would go on to tell parliament of the stimulating debate among the the "fantastic", "diverse" panel. Three senior businessmen sat on the four-person panel, representing AGL, the multinational technology company Siemens and the law firm Norton Rose Fullbright.

AGL has pushed for the Australian government to adopt a clean energy target as the company moves toward non-coal energy investments worth billions. Siemens is another heavy investor in new energy technology while Norton Rose Fulbright describes itself as a "powerhouse" of energy advice. What the audience paying $65 a head for the Finkel briefing was not told was that all three businesses were registered clients of the Photios' lobbying firms. AGL and Siemens were registered to Kristina's Clean Energy Strategies while Norton Rose Fulbright was listed against one of Michael's companies. Kristina told Fairfax Media there was nothing to disclose.

"There is no commercial connection between Conservatives for Conservation and Clean Energy Strategies," she said, ruling out any "cross promotion". Asked how the companies came to appear on her panel, she said "Conservatives for Conservation, in its infancy, identified leading experts within its network in the energy sector." AGL and Siemens distanced themselves from Clean Energy Strategies, claiming they had no commercial relationship with the firm, despite the register disclosures. AGL said its involvement finished before the Finkel brief, while Siemens said its contract was with Michael's sister firm. Norton Rose Fulbright said the invitation to attend came from Kristina, not her husband. Michael, a former NSW minister who lost his seat in 1999, stepped down in February from from his role as leader of the NSW moderates.

But he still wields considerable influence within the party. And through a series of lobbying firms he and his business partners represent some of the nation's biggest companies, including large coal interests such as Coal Energy Australia and the miner Glencore. The Clean Energy Strategies website promotes Michael as a "managing partner" offering "contemporary and extensive government networks". "Michael from time to time provides strategic advice to clients of Clean Energy Strategies," Kristina said. But Michael told Fairfax Media he had stepped back from his role.

"I've until recently been a partner in the business and over the last few weeks the company has been in transition and Kristina has taken full ownership and responsibility for the company," he said. Despite having listed himself as a Clean Energy Strategies lobbyist as a "precaution", he said "I have not been actively engaged in lobbying on behalf of clients of the company." A third Clean Energy Strategies lobbyist, Ian Hancock, also works for Michael's firm Capital Hill, which represents coal interests, while sitting on the Conservatives for Conservation committee. Kristina said possible conflicts of interest were managed under a strict policy. While she is now her firm's sole shareholder, taking over from Michael and his business partners, Clean Energy Strategies remains close to the other firms, sharing a floor in Sydney's MLC building.
He is still facing death, only now it is very much on his terms. In March, the 62-year-old, from Tweed on the NSW far north coast, contacted Melbourne-based physician Rodney Syme, who after an initial assessment has "provisionally" agreed to provide a drug, Nembutal, to Dr McPhee to use if he decides to end his life. Provision of the drug is a legal grey area and Dr McPhee's wife and four adult children, who support his decision, may face police questioning in the aftermath. In three weeks, Dr McPhee and his family will travel to Melbourne to make final arrangements with Dr Syme. The drug will not be handed over, but the pair will remain in touch until such time as he decides to take the option. Making the arrangements will not be a difficult process, he says. Rather, "there will be great comfort".

Dr McPhee knows there is a chance he might never need to use the drug, but says the comfort is derived from knowing it is there should the moment arrive. "If I'm in a position such as the one I was in last year of overwhelming, unrelenting discomfort, either physical or existential, with no hope of a way out of that, then that is the moment," he says. Dr McPhee is an advocate for voluntary assisted dying legislation. The NSW Legislative Council is due to consider a bill this month. If passed into law, it would allow terminally ill NSW residents aged at least 25 to end their own lives with medical assistance. A patient must be likely to die of their illness within 12 months, the decision signed off by two medical practitioners and the patient assessed by an independent psychiatrist or psychologist.

Dr Ian McPhee with wife Kath and their dog Jack at their home in northern NSW. Credit:Paul Harris MPs from the major parties will be granted a conscience vote. While advocates are hopeful it will pass the upper house, they acknowledge the numbers are tight. The bill, conceived by a cross-party working group of state MPs, has prompted fierce debate and lobbying from both sides. As part of its campaign in support of the legislation, the group Dying with Dignity NSW has filmed a video with Dr McPhee. The Catholic Church has mobilised a grassroots campaign against voluntary assisted dying laws in NSW, with parishioners, school staff and parents urged to petition MPs.

The anti-euthanasia organisation HOPE is also active, arguing that such laws "would pose a very real threat to the disabled, the elderly, those with mental health issues and those Australians, including young people, struggling with suicidal ideation." Dr Ian McPhee says making the arrangements to end his life would not be a difficult process. Credit:Paul Harris The medical profession has been forced to take a position. Last December the Australian Medical Association updated its policy to one which "maintains the position that doctors should not be involved in interventions that have as their primary intention the ending of a person's life". But it adds: "The AMA acknowledges that laws in relation to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are ultimately a matter for society and government".

Should governments decide to change the law, the AMA policy states doctors "must be involved in development of the relevant legislation, regulations and guidelines". The NSW AMA, however, has taken a firm position against voluntary euthanasia, putting Dr McPhee  for the time being at least  at odds with the professional association. The division's council is due to consider in detail the NSW assisted dying legislation at a meeting next week. "We feel that in the majority of cases palliative care is the appropriate way to manage death and dying, accepting that it's not perfect," says NSW AMA president Brad Frankum. Professor Brad Frankum, NSW president of the AMA, has taken a firm position against voluntary euthanasia. Credit:Hayden Brotchie Photography

However, as a physician, Dr McPhee feels voluntary assisted dying is consistent with the medical principle of "first, do no harm". While he believes it "remains absolutely critical" that palliative care is supported, he says not all pain and suffering can be managed successfully that way. He points out that for the past 20 years he has also run an acute pain service. "So you could argue that one of the tasks I have had in medicine is to relieve pain to alleviate suffering," Dr McPhee says. "And I see this as no different". Dr Syme, who is vice-president of Dying With Dignity Victoria, tells Fairfax Media he assessed Dr McPhee as a suitable patient because "he faces an appalling death".

It has never been tested in court, but he disagrees that what he does is illegal. This, he believes, was borne out in his successful appeal last December in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which overturned the Medical Board of Australia decision to prohibit him from providing advice to terminally ill patients. Dr Syme says the aim with all of his patients "is to try and help them to go as far with their lives as they possibly can". Physician Rodney Syme says his intention is to improve patients' quality of life. Providing them with the knowledge they can access a life-ending drug relieves the intense psychological distress suffered by many patients, he says.

"Whether a person takes the medication I might give them is their intention, not mine," he says. "I argue that it is not my intention ever to persuade somebody to end their own life. My intention is to improve the quality of their life, to give them control. So I argue that I am not breaking the law". Ultimately, Dr McPhee said, the difference that passage of the NSW bill into law would make is significant for someone in his situation, including that he would not need to travel to be a patient of Dr Syme's. He would have the option of engaging with his local GP and dying at the time of his choice in the community he has lived in for 25 years. In the meantime he is secure in the knowledge his plan will be in place.
Sydney: A family day in Sydney's west on Saturday will raise funds for the family of Julian Cadman, the Australian schoolboy killed in the Barcelona terror attack.

Julian died and his mother Jumarie was left in a critical condition following the Las Ramblas attack in August.

A special family day will be held on Saturday at Prodigy Martial Arts Australia  where Julian trained  in Seven Hills.

It's one of several fundraisers for the seven-year-old's family, with the Wiggles planning two charity concerts at the Evan Theatre at the Penrith Panthers club on September 12.
The high-profile Brisbane barrister who provided an explanation for Paul Pisasale carrying $50,000 in cash through a Melbourne airport has been charged with perjury and banned from contacting the former Ipswich mayor.

Sam Di Carlo, 60, has been charged with possessing ammunition without authority, unlawful possession of restricted drugs and two counts of perjury, the Crime and Corruption Commission announced on Friday morning.

As part of bail conditions, barrister Sam Di Carlo has been barred from contacting Paul Pisasale and a range of the former mayors associates. Credit:Darren England/AAP

The CCC alleged the perjury was committed during an investigative hearing conducted as part of a CCC investigation.

The organisation raided an Eight Mile Plains property on Thursday, allegedly finding ammunition and a restricted drug.
The New Zealand and Australian governments have begun formal consultation over concerns Queensland's new procurement policy could hurt kiwi businesses.

The Buy Queensland policy, which starts on Friday, involves applying a test to all significant government procurements, with a local weighting of 30 per cent.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay has started formal consultation with the Australian government over the Buy Queensland policy. Credit:John Hawkins/Fairfax NZ

A "local supplier" will now be a business that maintains a workforce within a 125-kilometre radius of where the goods or workers are needed.

On Thursday, NZ Trade Minister Todd McClay wrote to his Australian counterpart Steve Ciobo to complain.
Hot on the heels of the Galaxy Note8, LG's V30  announced at IFA in Berlin  looks to be the strongest competition that Samsung has ever had. A massive 6-inch display, dual rear cameras  including the brightest camera ever on a phone  and some serious hi-res audio chops should make for one hell of a high-end Android phone.

The V30 is the best  and best-looking  phone that LG has made yet. That much is obvious. Think of it as the successor to both last year's V20 and the G6 combined, with a 18:9 ratio OLED display that stretches almost the entire length of the phone. With a centre-mounted fingerprint reader on the rear, the front is just screen with two small top and bottom bezels. At 7.3mm thick and weighing 158g, LG says the V30 is the lightest 6-inch-plus phone out there.

With high-end cameras, premium audio DACs and the software to back it up, LG is pushing the V30 as a phone that doubles as a mobile film studio. Credit:LG

Where Samsung and Apple have gone for a mix of standard wide-angle and telephoto sensor and lens combos for the dual-camera setups on their phones, the V30 has a super wide-angle (120 degrees) 13-megapixel f1.9 lens and a standard (71 degrees) 16-megapixel f1.6 lens, the latter of which is the fastest and brightest of any camera phone we've seen yet and has OIS. What LG's camera app looks like remains to be seen, but the hardware sounds solid. That camera also captures high dynamic range and log gamma curve video, which should preserve more detail than regular recording.
A "system issue" left Bankwest customers with limited access to internet banking, ATMs and even over-the-counter services in bank branches on Friday morning.

The outage lasted until around 10.05 AEST, when a message on the bank's Facebook page indicated services had returned to normal.

Bankwest is experiencing technical issues. Credit:Glenn Hunt

A notification appeared on the bank's internet services on Thursday night saying the system was down for maintenance and would be back up by 2.30am Perth time. However when customers tried to access their money on Friday morning, the message was still there.

The bank issued a statement early on Friday saying it was aware of "a system issue causing limited access".
Jamila Rizvi, the author and former Mamamia editor, is being courted by Labor as its candidate in the upcoming by-election for Northcote, following the death of Fiona Richardson last month.

Labor is preparing for a series of potentially bruising preselection battles in coming months, with the contest for Tarneit, which will be vacated by former speaker Telmo Languiller, already turning ugly amid calls for controversial local councillor Intaj Khan to be ejected from the party.

Labor wants author Jamila Rizvi to run for the seat of Northcote. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Ms Richardson's seat of Northcote, in Melbourne's gentrified inner north, is held by Labor by a margin of 6 per cent, but the ALP faces tough competition from the Greens.

Darebin councillor Trent McCarthy achieved a 4 per cent swing for the Greens in Northcote at the 2014 election.
Murderer and rapist Adrian Bayley has been attacked inside Barwon Prison, with sources confirming that the notorious killer of Jill Meagher was stabbed by another inmate on Thursday.

Bayley is understood to have been stabbed with a fork and suffered minor injuries during the altercation.

The 46-year-old has spent much of the past five years in protective custody because of concerns he would be targeted by other inmates.

He is serving life in prison for the 2012 rape and murder of Ms Meagher and raping two other women. He will be eligible for parole in 2055, when he is 83.
The Australian Greens have slammed a decision by the federal government to expand its cashless welfare card programme to WA's Goldfields region.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is in the Goldfields city of Kalgoorlie on Friday and used his visit to announce that cashless welfare would be rolled out there after an independent report found the system had reduced gambling, alcohol and drug use at trial sites in Kununurra in WA's east Kimberley, and Ceduna in South Australia.

The trials, which quarantine 80 per cent of welfare payments for essential services, have received a mixed response, with critics arguing it is dehumanising and forces problems underground.

To expand the cashless welfare card program the government needs to pass legislation to bring it into effect, but Mr Turnbull told 7 West Media "the status quo is not working," before announcing it was going to the Goldfields.
Mystery surrounds the death of dozens of pigeons and fish that were found strewn across a beach in Perth's south on Friday.

Lynette Taiwhati told the Weekend Courier she was shocked to find dead birds and fish scattered across a Safety Bay beach.

A dead penguin was found on a beach in Safety Bay. Credit:Lynette Taiwhati

WAtoday understands a penguin was also found dead, but a spokesperson for Department of Parks and Wildlife wouldn't confirm if was connected to the pigeon and fish deaths.

"There were so many dead birds," Ms Taiwhati said.
CHARLESTON -- The sentence a man received for allegedly trying to strangle a woman was based in part on the woman's request, according to the case's prosecutor.

There were also conflicting statements about the man and woman's relationship plus the fact that almost three years had passed since the incident, the prosecutor said.

The suspect, Trevor M. Carden, 27, pleaded guilty to an aggravated battery charge that accused him of choking the woman on Oct. 11, 2014, at the Charleston apartment where he then lived.

The charge was a felony offense that could have brought a prison sentence of one to three years with a conviction.

However, with the agreement reached in his case, Carden was sentenced to six months of conditional discharge. The sentence is supervision similar to probation but with fewer conditions.

Records in the case say Carden and the woman told police conflicting stories about whether the choking took place as part of consensual sex.

The woman claimed it happened that way but Carden said their sexual relationship had already ended and he denied seeing her on the day the incident reportedly occurred, the records say.

Coles County Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher said he considered the woman's request for a less-serious sentence. He said the time since the incident also affected his decision.

Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien included payment of about $1,110 in fines and court fees in Carden's sentence. Bucher and defense attorney Sean Britton recommended the plea agreement.

Records show that Carden didn't appear for a court hearing in the case in November 2014 and the warrant for his arrest that followed wasn't served until last month. Bucher said Carden is now living in Texas.

In other cases in court recently, guilty pleas were also entered by:

Zachery J. Hopley, 24, for whom records list a rural Martinsville address, to an obstructing justice charge alleging he tried to hide a drug pipe from Charleston police on June 6.

Hopley was placed on probation for two years with terms including a substance abuse treatment evaluation and a requirement that he follow its recommendations.

He was also ordered to pay about $500 in fines and fees, while jail time was stayed.

Circuit Judge Mitchell Shick accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Rob Scales and Assistant Public Defender Jesse Danley recommended.

Case records say Hopley's arrest followed a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. He gave the pipe to an 11-year-old girl also in the vehicle and tried to have her hide it, the records say.

Carl R. McDowell, 52, for whom records show a rural Toledo address, to a methamphetamine possession count alleging he had drug found during a traffic stop in Mattoon on July 24.

McDowell was placed on probation for two years with terms including a substance abuse treatment evaluation and about $1,800 in fines and fees.

O'Brien accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Joy Wolf and Public Defender Anthony Ortega recommended.

Jessica A. Culp, 34, whose address on record is 2808 Shelby Ave., Mattoon, to a methamphetamine possession charge alleging she had the drug on May 23.

Culp was sentenced to two years of first offender probation, which allows for no record of a conviction if completed successfully. Terms included a treatment evaluation, about $1,700 in fines and fees and stayed jail time.

O'Brien accepted a plea agreement that Wolf and Ortega recommended.
CHARLESTON -- One Coles County judge has announced retirement plans and another says he plans to run for her position.

Circuit Judge Teresa Righter said she plans to retire on Oct. 31 after 20 years as a judge in Coles County.

Also, county Associate Judge Mark Bovard announced that he plans to run for the circuit judge's position Righter will be vacating.

He said he'll seek the Republican nomination for the position to be on the March primary ballot. If he advances out of the primary, he would be a candidate for the position in the November 2018 general election.

Associate judges differ from circuit judges in the types of duties they can perform. Associate judges are also appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court, while circuit judges are elected.

Righter was first appointed as an associate judge in 1997 and then elected as a circuit judge in 2004.

Circuit judges are only subject to contested elections when they first run and then can run unopposed for retention to the position every six years. Righter was retained by voters in 2010 and 2016.

Righter said she decided to retire before the end of her current term to give others time to considering running.

The county's judges could ask the state Supreme Court to fill Righter's vacancy on an interim basis until someone's elected to the position.

Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien, the county's presiding judge, said a decision on whether to make the request hasn't been determined yet.

Righter's position is what's known as a resident judge, meaning she was elected only by Coles County voters and not voters in other counties that also make up the judicial circuit.

Bovard was appointed to the associate judge's position in 2012. In addition to handling typical duties of the position, the state Supreme Court certified him to handle felony cases, which circuit judges typical handle, he said in his announcement.

The one-week filing period for candidates to have their names appear on the March primary ballot begins Nov. 27.
CHARLESTON -- A man called a "serial child molester" faces life in prison after a Coles County jury convicted him of molesting three boys.

Jeffrey M. Jones abused one boy for years and then turned to others when the boy "put an end to it," according to a prosecutor of the case.

Jones, 56, was accused of various sex acts with the boys while he lived in Mattoon between October 2014 and the summer of last year.

His address at the time of his arrest was an apartment at 1114 Edgar Ave., Mattoon, but he's been jailed since his arrest in September 2016.

A life sentence is required because Jones was also convicted of child sex assault charges in Moultrie County in 2000, as a second conviction for such an offense makes a life term mandatory.

At the end of a three-day trial Thursday, the jury deliberated about two hours before finding Jones guilty of nearly all the charges against him.

The single not-guilty verdict was on a charge accusing Jones of molesting a boy who was said to have developmental disabilities.

The boy's accounts of the single incident, in August 2016 when he was 13, during which Jones allegedly molested him, weren't as consistent as that of the others.

However, the jury also heard testimony from the three other boys named as victims in the case as well as the one from the Moultrie County case.

In his closing statement to the jury, Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher noted that one boy in the Coles County case said Jones molested him numerous times.

He said the boy displayed "raw emotion" while testifying and it was likely because he revealed something that was too embarrassing for a teenager to normally talk about.

"It's finally an opportunity to tell all the world what this man has been subjecting him to," Bucher said.

The abuse took place between October 2014 and October 2015 before the boy, then 14, "put a stop to it," Bucher said. Jones then began molesting other boys, whom he knew or met through the first victim, he said.

"He has a propensity to sexually molest young boys," Bucher said, calling Jones a "serial child molester."

One of the other boys was 11 years old in the summer of 2016 when, he said, he sometimes woke to find Jones performing a sex act on him, Bucher also noted. The boy testified that Jones told him he was doing it "out of love."

"He was victimizing these kids for his own purpose," Bucher said. "There was no love."

Another boy testified about sex acts by Jones during the summer of last year, when the boy was 13 years old.

In his argument to the jury, Public Defender Anthony Ortega asked "why should you believe" the Coles County boy who said he was the first victimized by Jones.

He urged the jury to consider that the boy faces sex charges himself in another county. The boy and Jones argued the last time they were together and it wasn't until then that the boy contacted police and claimed he was molested, Ortega noted.

"You can consider any bias that he has," Ortega said.

There were also some inconsistencies in the boys' statements over time, he added.

The prosecution claimed the boys did not take part in a "conspiracy" against Jones but one said they did talk about what happened, which was "the more reasonable answer," Ortega also said.

Jones testified and acknowledged his Moultrie County conviction, and said he was remorseful, but denied molesting the boys in Coles County, Ortega also noted.

In response, State's Attorney Brian Bower said the boys were victimized by a "trusted adult" who sometimes used bribery.

Jones wasn't clear about the argument he claimed led the one boy to say he was molested and there was no motivation for the boys to lie, he also said.

"There was an age-appropriate pattern to their recollections," Bower said. "There is a fabric that binds this evidence together and it shows these boys are telling the truth."

The charges against Jones totaled 24 counts and included predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, which alleges sexual penetration by an adult with someone younger than 13.

His conviction for that offense, combined with the Moultrie County conviction, triggers the life sentence requirement. With one victim, a conviction for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child requires a six- to 60-year prison term.

Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien scheduled Jones' sentencing hearing for Oct. 27, when the judge will be asked to make a record of the earlier conviction and impose the life sentence.

Jones hadn't been able to post the $25,000 in bond needed for his release from jail but O'Brien granted a prosecution request to have him held without bond until sentencing.
Texas A&M University will honor seven students who died recently during the first Silver Taps ceremony of the fall semester.

The students include graduate student in English and College Station native Candace Renee Benefiel, senior ocean engineering major Brian Edward Bullock of Burnet, sophomore chemical engineering major Sarah Elizabeth Flanagan from League City, senior molecular and cell biology major from Amarillo Benjamin Langston Hopper, junior psychology major Sapphire Marie Jones from Southlake, senior marketing major Caroline St. Clair Killian from Irving, and Nigerian environmental health graduate student Mahmoud Yakub Ma'Aruf.

Those who wish to write short letters or notes to the families of the students can drop them off in boxes located at Academic Plaza, the Quad, West Campus Library and in front of the Koldus Building.

The ceremony will be held in front of the Academic Building Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 10:30 p.m. Parking will be free at the University Center Garage between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. to accommodate those who wish to attend the ceremony.

The Texas A&M Tradition's Council has confirmed that the Texas A&M graduate student who passed away last week after a near-drowning incident at Lake Bryan will be honored at the October Silver Taps.
The politics

The Paris agreement correctly states we should work to staying well below 2 degrees Celsius of warming. But its a pipedream to think that our leaders are on it. The gap between the lofty aspirations in the Paris agreement and climate reality (we just had three record warming years in a row) will not be solved with voluntary Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Countries can do what they want and opt out when they want. Reality is simple: when fossil fuels are dug up, they will be burned. The reality is that well have to keep most of them in the ground.

Germany is a pretty good place to stop coal extraction right at the source  which is the goal of the Ende Gelande action. Historically, only 5 countries have emitted more greenhouse gasses per capita than Germany, all of them Western countries. That brings us to the historical perspective on anthropogenic climate change.

The Antropocene: who did it?

Between 1850 and 2007, the US emitted 29 per cent of the worlds total greenhouse gas emissions. In second place, but with a much larger population, is China - with only 9 percent.

Rikard Warlenius from LUND University writes in his doctoral thesis: Current climate agreements do not reflect considerations of justice or historical responsibility. Developed countries have emitted disproportionate amounts of carbon dioxide and the resulting climate change disproportionately affects poor countries.

This historic emissions balance is no longer translated into differentiated responsibilities. The neglect and indifference to history has happened despite many voices crying for a fair agreement that takes the climate debt of developed countries seriously.

The climate justice movement, the developing countries, many philosophers and political theorists and even the Pope have emphasized that a true ecological debt exists.

In his text Laudato Si, Pope Francis claims that [t]he developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development. He also wrote that [t]here is a pressing need to calculate the use of environmental space throughout the world for depositing gas residues.

Warlenius doctoral thesis responds to this need by calculating the climate debt of most nations. He calculates the sinks appropriations, i.e. the disproportionate use by rich people of the atmosphere, the oceans, and new vegetation to dump excessive emissions of carbon dioxide.

The results confirm that historical responsibility for climate change is certainly unevenly distributed between countries, largely following the North-South divide. Warlenius argues strongly in favor of assigning payments for climate change mitigation and adaption in proportion to historical responsibility.

A climate debt: rooted in society and in science

The concept of climate debt is strongly rooted in the climate justice movement. The origin of the broader concept of an ecological debt is traced to environmental movements, mainly in Latin America, in the early 1990s.

It is a conjuncture of three important currents: the environmental movement mobilising to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the remembrance of 500 years of anti-colonial resistance, and the then burgeoning struggle for external debt relief. By referring to the existence of an ecological debt larger than the financial debt, the arrow of arrears was reversed. That idea is so powerful that it is here to stay.

Ecological debt (and climate debt) is also analytically linked to the similar concept of ecologically unequal exchange, which has its roots in academia rather than in civil society.

The concept is traced all the way back to Karl Marx, the German philosopher and socialist, but more recently to political ecologists of the 1990s and 2000s. Warlenius concludes that the relation between the concepts can be formalised this way: The net flows of natural resources, other products, wastes, and sink appropriations, we call ecologically unequal exchange. The cumulative stock resulting from these historical net flows, we call ecological debt.

From history to future

Should the past matter today? While the Paris agreement proclaimed that there was No liability for GHG emissions and took out the teeth from the concept of Loss and Damage in the final negotiations, Warlenius claims that, [a]s soon as a more serious attempt is made to sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the issues of global justice, binding targets, historical responsibility and reparations will resurface too.

Actions like Ende Gelande answer to both the acute need to keep fossil fuels in the ground as well as an historic responsibility for Germany. The same goes for actions in most Western nations. When people in the West occupy fossil fuel extraction sites they may need to confront the police, but theyll find earth scientists and history on their side.

This Author

Nick Meynen is the Project Officer for Global Policies and Sustainability at the European Environmental Bureau. He tweets at @NickMeynen.
Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy
Students from the Blue Ridge Bible College in Rocky Mount load packages of water onto a pallet at Walmart on Thursday. The water is being collected for the hurricane relief effort in Texas.

Local efforts to support Harvey victims include sending Franklin County firefighters to Texas and collecting essential donations.

Two firefighters, both born and raised in Rocky Mount, joined 17 others from the Roanoke Valley in route to Texas on Wednesday, said Billy Ferguson, emergency management interim director division chief of operations in Franklin County. He said their names were confidential.

Ferguson said the firefighters will arrive in College Station, Texas, per request of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. From there, they will aid in swift water and search rescue for 10 days. Then another team of firefighters may be sent upon their return to Franklin County, depending on need.

Gods Pit Crew, a disaster relief organization in Danville, is putting together blessing buckets, filled with water bottles, toilet paper, deodorant, soap, feminine hygiene items, toothbrushes and paste, combs, and wipes to deliver to Houston. They will use tractor trailers to transport the products.

Rhonda Zola, vice president of advancement operations for Gods Pit Crew in Danville, said the nonprofit already sent 2,000 plastic buckets full of supplies down to those affected by the hurricane. They are almost ready to load their tractor trailer with 2,000 more, and hope to have another 3,000 containers by next weekend.

Tim and Tara Wall, owners of TNT Auto Body Repair and Service Center, held a water collection event at the Rocky Mount Walmart on Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m. for Gods Pit Crew. Tara Wall said she was amazed by the number of people who came out to support the relief effort.

"I am just overwhelmed by this," Wall said of the donations. "I never thought it would get this big."

In the first hour more than 300 packages of water were donated from people who heard about the event on Facebook or saw them in the Walmart parking lot. Wall said another 150 packages of water were purchased at the store online and waiting for them to pick up.

Students with the Blue Ridge Bible College in Rocky Mount assisted in loading the water onto pallets throughout the afternoon. Wall said the water will be loaded onto a truck and taken to Gods Pit Crew and eventually make its way to the relief effort.

Liz Pasley, head of collection at Franklin Restaurant, said Franklin Restaurant will be collecting supplies Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The goods will be trucked to Gods Pit Crew in

Danville and assembled into buckets by volunteers there.

Paisley said shes still looking for volunteers willing to drive some of the compiled products to Danville.

Pastor Barry Cundiff said that Mill Creek Baptist Church, 6200 Henry Rd, will be collecting products on Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon.

Pastor Jeff Hairston and the Tabernacle of Praise Church have initiated a Hurricane Harvey outreach program. Anyone may drop off items such as flashlights, bottle water, adults and infant diapers, blankets, soap, and other toiletries to the church, 370 Tanyard Road in Rocky Mount. Drop off times are Sept. 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; or Sept. 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and 6 to 9 p.m.

Ruths Place, a restaurant at 18027 Virgil H Goode Hwy., is another collection spot for Gods Pit Crew donations. They will be taking goods, including clothes, for as long as people keep donating.

Michelle McCormick, executive director of the Blue Ridge Chapter American Red Cross, said the American Red Cross in Martinsville is accepting online monetary donations toward Harvey victims. They also host a blood drive every Thursday, the collections of which will to go toward those in need in Texas.

Hurricane Harvey brought as much as 51.88 inches of rain to locations in the greater Houston area, according to the National Weather Service.

For comparison, Rocky Mount sees an average of 47 inches of rain annually, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
Despite steady increases in global temperatures and years of ever more deadly heat waves, we are not doing anywhere near enough to combat climate change. The UN describes the decades of worsening heat as an "undeniable trend" of anthropogenic warming. Last summer an article in The Atlantic said the heat was "unignorable" and hundreds of...
CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- A Tennessee man was found soon after city police sought the public's help in finding him as a reported missing person Thursday.

Tony West, Charleston Police Department detective, said after a report about Shannan Shupe, 37, of Cookeville, Tenn., was posted to the CPD Facebook page, a person identifying herself as Shupe's sister called and said Shupe was with her and safe.

According to a CPD report, Shupe left his home in Cookeville to help a friend move from Charleston to Tennessee. It is believed they arrived in Charleston early in the morning hours Tuesday.

They slept for a few hours and were scheduled to go back to Tennessee. The friend woke to find Shupe had left the residence.

The report stated that Shupe is said to have bipolar disorder and may not have been taking his medication.

Numerous attempts to call him were made and Shupe's wife called to report him as missing, before his sister reported to authorities that he was fine.
CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- Eastern Illinois University is inviting college students who might have been displaced by Hurricane Harvey to receive in-state tuition rates and late fee waivers.

EIU President David Glassman announced this week that students whose education has been disrupted as a result of the storm will be extended in-state tuition rates and will have all application and late fees waived, according to an EIU press release.

The release noted that EIU personnel will work with the affected students to develop flexible payment plans and in finding any available sources for financial aid and other types of support.

Eastern can also offer immediate housing and residential options available on campus, at reduced costs.

The fall semester has already started, and those interested in taking EIU's offer are urged to do it soon, according to the release.

Kelly Miller, admissions director, said Eastern is prepared to assist displaced students with enrollment for both fall and spring. Those interested should contact the Admissions Office at 1-877-581-2348 or admissions@eiu.edu.

Miller said this decision in some ways follows suit with moves Eastern has made in the past. She said EIU did this previously, after Hurricane Katrina.

At the time, Dan Nadler, former vice president for business affairs, had just come from New Orleans to be at Eastern and urged a similar invitation to be made, Kelly Miller said.

Miller said this time around it was simply "what we wanted to do to help."
Comedian and Kent native Seth MacFarlane is returning to TV this fall in his own new space comedy series, "The Orville." Created and starring MacFarlane, the series takes inspiration from the Star Trek franchise.

The prolific comedian, who's crafted more than a dozen TV series, will play the captain of an intergalactic space crew, cruising in space 400 years into the future. The show airs on Fox on Sept. 10.
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The Naval Submarine Base, New London, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Groton join forces to propel the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival to its unique status as one of the regions most spectacular on-water show on the New London waterfront.

The festival, which runs Friday through Sunday, Sept. 8-10, will feature visits by the fighting ship United States Ship Cole, an Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer, and United States Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay, one of the Coast Guards powerful fleet of ice breakers. They will be berthed at Fort Trumbull State Park, where they will be open for tours.
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CROSBY, Texas - When the hurricane blew in, workers at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, faced the problem of keeping the plant's volatile chemicals cold. The plant had 19.5 tons of organic peroxides of various strengths, all of them requiring refrigeration to prevent ignition.

But the power went out, and then the floodwaters came and knocked out the plant's generators. A liquid nitrogen system faltered. In a last-ditch move, the workers transferred the chemicals to nine huge refrigerated trucks, each with its own generator, and moved the vehicles to a remote section of the plant.

That was doomed to fail, too. Six feet of water swamped the trucks, and the final 11 workers gave up. At 2 a.m. Tuesday, they called for a water evacuation and left the plant to its fate.

Early Thursday, two loud pops signaled an explosive combustion in one of the trucks, and a black plume of smoke spread from the plant, sending 15 police officers and paramedics to the hospital. All eight remaining vehicles are now likely to burn, said Robert Royall Jr., assistant chief of emergency operations for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.

We are "watching physics at work," Arkema spokesman Jeff Carr said Thursday. "Probably a couple more tonight."

While the crisis has not yet equaled the severity of explosions suffered by other Texas chemical plants, the crisis at Crosby has exposed the vulnerability of hundreds of chemical plants in low-lying areas across the U.S. Gulf Coast.

"The Crosby plant's dangerous situation is a symptom of a bigger problem involving the oil and chemical industry in the gulf region," said Bill Hoyle, a former senior investigator for the Chemical Safety Board and now an independent safety consultant. "The Crosby plant is a wake-up call for an industry and their safety regulators who have not adequately taken action on lessons from Hurricane Katrina as well as the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan."

Texas has more than 1,300 chemical plants, a large number of them in low-lying areas near the coast that are vulnerable to flooding. Arkema's Crosby plant was built decades ago, but access to gulf ports and the surge in shale gas operations in Texas and Louisiana have lured scores of new chemical plants to the Gulf Coast region.

Although the fire and blasts have so far not been as dire as many feared, the loss of control of dangerous materials and the igniting of volatile chemicals spread anxiety and triggered an investigation by the Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency.

The plant produced organic peroxides, which are used in a variety of products including pipes, plastics, acrylic paints, countertops and pharmaceuticals. A company spokesman estimated that 19.5 tons of chemicals were at the site. Small amounts can irritate the skin or damage corneas, and in larger amounts could cause liver damage, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). But the company spokesman said "the issue is a combustion event, not a chemical release."

The Arkema emergency raises anew a host of concerns for chemical manufacturers. After the 1984 tragedy in Bhopal, India, in which a chemical leak from a Union Carbide plant killed more than 2,000 people and injured many thousands more, then-Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., pressed for legislation requiring chemical companies to describe their own worst-case scenarios.

Arkema, whose slogan is "Innovative Chemistry," filed one of those reports in June 2014 for its plant in Crosby, warning that in the most catastrophic scenario, 1.1 million people within a 23-mile radius would be affected. In Texas alone, 32 other plants also warned that more than a million people could be affected by a chemical catastrophe, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

But Arkema stressed that "multiple layers of preventive and mitigation measures in use at the Crosby facility make it very unlikely" that a worst-case scenario would occur. And "in the unlikely event that such a release occurs, Arkema, Inc. has mitigation measures in place to reduce any potential impacts."

This week, however, some layers of preventive measures failed.

"Certainly, we didn't anticipate having six feet of water in our plant," Richard Rennard, president of Arkema's acrylic monomers division, told reporters Thursday.

Hundreds of plants have been shut down since Hurricane Harvey approached Texas last week, posing environmental dangers as they restart their waterlogged facilities.

About 5 percent of Texas facilities registered in the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory Program were plotted in or adjacent to flooded areas observed from satellite imagery through Wednesday, according to a Washington Post analysis. They included factories that produce petroleum, plastics and rubber, and deal with hazardous waste. Of those, 23 deal specifically with chemicals.

Arkema, a spinoff of the French oil giant Total, has more than 30 sites in the United States, and like other operators in the industry, has lobbied federal regulators to delay new regulations designed to improve safety and disclosure at chemical plants.

The company has also run afoul of OSHA regulations.

In February, Arkema's Crosby plant was initially fined $107,918 for 10 OSHA violations, federal records show. The violations were marked as "serious," meaning they could cause serious physical injury or worker deaths if not remedied. One included a violation of inspection procedures that were supposed to "follow recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices."

The government later reduced the fines to about $91,000.

Arkema also agreed to a settlement with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in January stemming from a leak of a toxic and flammable compound in June 2016, state records show. The plant released 4,800 pounds of isoamylene after workers left a valve partially open for 62 hours, allowing the chemical to drain from a storage tank, according to enforcement records.

A state inspection of the facility months earlier also found seven violations. The TCEQ lists the company's overall compliance history as "satisfactory," however. For the June leak, commission imposed a modest fine after concluding that residents and the environment had been exposed to "insignificant amounts" of pollutants.

Even in the current crisis at Crosby, Royall, the Harris County emergency operations official, said that the danger from the Arkema plant was "really relative."

"If you're standing right next to something and you had a chemical release, it would probably be pretty dangerous, I think you'd agree," Royall said. "But we have a mile-and-a-half safety radius, and there's nobody in that plant."

The events at the plant cause more worries for residents already dealing with inundated homes. But for some residents, the threat is not extraordinary.

There have been so many plant explosions in the Houston area that resident Robin Boethin cannot keep them straight. She recalled the Texas City refinery explosion in March 2005 - not to be confused with the Texas City disaster of 1947, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in U.S. history. Then there was the Pasadena incident in October 1989, in which gases ignited a series of explosions, killing 23 workers and injuring 300.

"It was a ka-boom type of thing," she said from the counter of the Rusty Bucket, her antiques shop in Crosby, a few miles from the chemical plant. "It shook the house so bad I called 911. I thought someone was breaking in."

Boethin and others in Crosby discussed chemical plant explosions and environmental disasters as a way of life in the Houston area, describing the risk of sprawling chemical sites as Californians might discuss the inevitability of the next earthquake.

"There's danger and everyone knows it," she said.

In the emergency response plan filed with the EPA in 2014, Arkema sketched out the possible disaster that would follow from the failure of one of its tanks of 2-methylpropene. It wouldn't exactly be a fire or an explosion, but a fiery combination known in the chemical industry as a "bleve," short for "boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion."

In that grave scenario, the sudden release of flammable, toxic vapor could ignite in a fireball with a lethal "thermal radiation dose" that could extend over 1,000 feet - "approaching the yard of the residence nearest to the site."

At a news conference Thursday, Arkema's Rennard repeatedly and evenly walked reporters through the steps taken at the plant and the outlook for the coming days.

"We anticipate that all this product is going to degrade," he said. "Whether it's today, tomorrow, we just don't know. It's impossible to predict that."

One reporter shouted, "Do you understand people are worried?"

"Of course we understand that," Rennard said, "and that's why we want to make sure people respect this one-and-a-half-mile radius. We don't want people returning back to their homes thinking it's over. It's not over."

---

Jack Gillum, Aaron C. Davis, Julie Tate, Andrew Ba Tran and Alex Horton contributed to this report. Horton reported from Crosby, Texas.
NORWALK  The Norwalk Housing Authority Board of Commissioners plans to hire an executive search firm to help land the agencys next executive director.

We are in the process of trying to find a consultant who would actually steer the agency and board  mostly the board  in the selection of a new executive director, said NHA Board Vice Chairman Jeffrey A. Ingraham. Were very early in the process and we anticipate that the process will take some time.

Wednesday was the deadline for executive search firms to respond to the boards request for proposals. Five firms submitted proposals, according to NHA Director of Finance Thomas Hickey.

Ingraham said Curtis O. Law, who has headed the NHA since 1975, tendered his retirement notice but continues to serve as executive director at the boards request.

Im still there, said Law while at City Hall on Wednesday. He said he informed the board last year of his intention to retire.

At the boards July meeting, Commissioner Deidra Davis moved to have Deputy Directory Candace A. Mayer  who happens to be Laws wife  assume all executive director responsibilities pending negotiation of a contract, according to the meeting minutes.

Mayers request for a two-year contract was later rejected; however, the vote was not unanimous, Ingraham said.

Commissioner Brenda Penn-Williams, chairwoman of the subcommittee overseeing the search for a new executive director, said the board would review the proposals submitted by executive search firms. She emphasized that the search for a new executive director will be nationwide.

I think that it should be a national search  thats not to say that Candace cannot get the job  but I think its only fair to do that, Penn-Williams said. Mr. Law has led the Norwalk Housing Authority to where it is now. Hes won several awards. Hes done a wonderful job and hes going to be missed and we can never fill his shoes. But what Im looking for and what were looking for is someone who like Mr. Law can take us to the next century and has a clear vision of what they want to do.

Penn-Williams said the board, which will be responsible for extending a job offer and hiring the next executive director, does not want to rush the process.

We want to make sure its the right person, Penn-Williams said. Were looking at six to eight months.

Law has served 42 years as executive director of the NHA, which oversees Washington Village, Roodner Court and other public housing complexes as well as Section 8 vouchers, after-school programs and an award-winning college scholarship program. His current salary is $178,000, according to the housing authority.

Plaques recognizing the work of the NHA and Law line an office partition wall at the entrance to the housing authority at 24 Monroe St. in South Norwalk. In 2015, The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University recognized the authoritys college scholarship program as innovative.

Hes done a really good job and its widely known that we probably have one of the most-effective and well-run housing authorities in the state, said Mayor Harry W. Rilling.

Ingraham noted that the NHA, under Law, landed a $30 million federal grant to rebuild Washington Village  the oldest public-housing complex in Connecticut  through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments Choice Neighborhoods Program. Work started last November with a groundbreaking for 80 new apartments at 13 and 20 Day St. Ingraham doesnt foresee the forthcoming change in leadership affecting the project.

We dont anticipate any setbacks from the eventual change in leadership, Ingraham said.
Nebraskas three Catholic bishops have issued a joint statement of support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals youths, also known as DREAMers.

In their letter, Archbishop George J. Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Bishop James D. Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, and Bishop Joseph G. Hanefeldt of the Diocese of Grand Island call upon federal lawmakers to find permanent legislative solutions for DACA youths who face a precarious legal and political situation.

DACA youth have become contributors to our economy, veterans of our military, academic standouts in our universities, and leaders in our parishes, the bishops wrote.

Since the implementation of DACA in 2012 through an executive action by President Barack Obama, more than 3,000 Nebraska youths, and approximately 800,000 youths nationwide, have applied for and received the temporary legal protections of DACA. While DACA does not provide lawful immigrant status, it does provide children of illegal immigrants with a temporary reprieve from deportation and employment authorization for legal work opportunities in the United States.

To qualify for DACA, which provides temporary work permits and lawful presence under federal immigration law, applicants must undergo background checks, pay fees and meet certain education or military guidelines.

The bishops recognize that reasonable people may disagree about the nature and scope of President Obamas executive action to establish DACA, but they stress the critical need for federal lawmakers to seek paths forward that establish permanent legislative solutions that are befitting of the human dignity of DACA youths and allow DREAMers to reach their God-given potential in the country and communities they call home.

The bishops acknowledge that addressing immigration policy can be daunting and difficult, yet express confidence that permanent legislative solutions can be established for DACA youths.

To the DACA youth here in Nebraska, please know that the Catholic Church stands in solidarity with you, the bishops promised. It is our desire to accompany you in the anxieties and fears you face through this journey.
The Free Them Run, with a 5K run/walk, a 1-mile fun run and a 1/4-mile kids run, is set for Saturday, with all registration fees going to support the fight against human trafficking.

The runs begin at GI Free Church at 2609 S. Blaine. The 1/4-mile starts at 8:15 a.m. and the 1-mile and 5K start at 8:30. Theres an option for everyone in the family and both runners and walkers are welcome.

Registration fees are $35 for the 5K, $25 for the mile run and $20 for the kids run.

The Free Them Run is presented by Lacy Construction. Thanks to the events sponsors, 100 percent of registration fees will be donated. Ten percent will support local organizations in their efforts to fight trafficking in the community, with the rest going to support Peace Rehabilitation Center in Nepal.

Register online at www.getmeregistered.com/freethemrun or at the church on the day of the runs.

Peace Dance returns Friday, Sept. 8

The monthly Peace Dance, a staple of the Grand Island community for more than 20 years, is undergoing a big change. After being offered monthly during the school year for all those years, the schedule this year includes just four dances.

The dances for students in sixth through eighth grades are scheduled for the second Friday of September, December, January and May.

The September event is set for 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at Peace Lutheran Church, 1710 N. North Road. Admission is $5; refreshments including hot dogs, chips and pop will be available for purchase.

Dress code for the dances mirrors that of Grand Island Public Schools. Parents should note that the doors do not open before 7, so if they drop youths off early they should be dressed for the weather.

The Peace Dance is led by the senior high youth ministry, Peace Senior Teens, a group of youth from Grand Island and the surrounding area. A dedicated group of volunteer adults also assist in chaperoning the event. Proceeds from the dance support a portion of the youth ministry events of the senior high youth, such as mission trips and youth gatherings.

For more information, call the church office at (308) 384-5673, visit the church website at www.peacegi.org, or email Julie Keeley at jkeeley@peacegi.org.

Gods Work, Our Hands ... planned Sept. 10

Messiah Lutheran Church and St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Grand Island will be again coming together for Gods Work, Our Hands ... on Sept. 10.

During this event, members of both churches will be reaching out to those in need in the community.

Messiah Lutheran at Seventh and Locust streets will host its garage sale giveaway from noon to 4 p.m., with all items available at no charge, including clothing, toiletries, food items, baked goods, produce and miscellaneous items.

Sandwich lunches will be prepared at St. Stephens from 10:30 a.m. to noon and church members will be handing out the lunches at from noon to 1 p.m. at Pioneer Park.

Participants will be taking part in lap quilting beginning at noon, Eldeen Watson will demonstrate making sleeping mats from noon to 12:30 and Rena Kjar will demonstrate making diapers from t-shirts from noon to 4, all at Messiah Lutheran.

All of this will be followed by a potluck meal at 5 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran.

Parenting program to begin Sept. 17

Parenting the Love and Logic Way, a six-session parenting program, will be offered by Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Grand Island beginning Sept. 17.

The class will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 22 in the churchs Family Room, 518 W. State St.

This program is designed by the Love and Logic Institute and is designed to give parents practical skills that can be used immediately to do such things as avoid un-winnable power struggles and arguments, stay calm when their kids do incredibly upsetting things, and help kids learn from mistakes rather than repeating them.

The cost is $10 per notebook. Child care will be provided upon request. Space is limited, so call Sister Bernadette at (308) 384-0523, ext. 202, to register.
CHAPMAN  Gov. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Adrian Smith were on hand Thursday for the groundbreaking of a multi-million dollar expansion of Preferred Popcorns plant in Chapman.

The expansion is expected to add 22,500 square feet to Preferred Popcorns Chapman plant and more than double its operational capacity. It will also add 10 new employees and growing opportunities for area farmers who contract to grow popcorn for Preferred Popcorn.

Norm Krug, CEO of Preferred Popcorn, said the new facility will help Preferred Popcorn clean and process their popcorn.

Krug said continued growth of Preferred Popcorn, which opened operations 19 years ago, called for expansion of the facilities to accommodate the new business the company has been experiencing, along with future growth as overseas markets continue to expand.

We have been fortunate and blessed to have an active export market, Krug said. We are now exporting to about 70 countries. We have also expanded into the organic popcorn market that is causing us the need for two separate plants.

Nebraska is the nations leading popcorn producing state.

Nebraska is a great place to raise popcorn because of irrigation, Krug said. That makes it so we can guarantee our customers that they are going to have the product because people who use popcorn do not ever want to run out, especially if you are in the concession industry or movie industry. They want popcorn every day.

Also, Nebraskas climate is ideal for growing popcorn, he said.

And, interestingly, for a great tasting popcorn, Krug said.

Krug said Preferred Popcorn is a farmer-owned business, including the Aurora Co-op.

He said the new facility will be twice as big as the current facility at the Chapman plant.

We will be able to do up to 80 trucks per week more than we are currently doing, Krug said.

Krug praised the state of Nebraska for helping Preferred Popcorn to grow. The state has helped with trade missions that Ricketts and other Nebraska governors have gone on to open new markets and have helped streamline the regulatory process that quickens the pace of business growth and expansion.

Nebraska has always sent the message that we are always open for business, he said.

Krug will join Ricketts in an upcoming trade mission to Japan, where Preferred Popcorn hopes to continue to expand their foreign markets for Nebraska popcorn. Krug also joined Ricketts Nebraska delegation on an international trade mission to China in 2016, where Preferred Popcorn announced a new contract with their long-time partner in China, Zhong Liang Tian Run (ZLTR) Trading Inc.

Also, Krug said with the growth, the company will be contracting with area farmers for additional acres to meet the demand for Preferred Popcorn worldwide.

That should bring up to $25 million more dollars to the farmers, he said.

In many county elevators Thursday, cash corn prices dropped to under $3 per bushel. Krug said with his companys need for more popcorn, it gives area farmers a chance to diversify their operations into new crops and markets.

At the ceremony, Ricketts applauded a successful public-private partnership between the state, Merrick County officials and a Chapman business leader. He said this partnership was created to grow Nebraskas reputation as a global commodities competitor.

The states first-ever Economic Opportunity Program (EOP) grant will provide support for infrastructure in Merrick County in conjunction with the expansion project for Chapman-based Preferred Popcorn, which sells 99 percent of its products to vendors outside Nebraska.

Strong partnerships between the governors office and state agencies helped finalize Preferred Popcorns decision to expand and maintain its global headquarters in Nebraska, and to qualify for Nebraskas first EOP grant, Ricketts said. My administration appreciates the opportunity to keep globally-competitive, innovative businesses like Preferred Popcorn in Nebraska, which markets nearly 50 percent of its products internationally.

Ricketts said Preferred Popcorns $6 million expansion project will create approximately 10 new full-time positions in Nebraska to grow its manufacturing and distribution capabilities and open the door for an additional $25 million dollars in annual production contracts with local farmers.

He said the company worked with DOT and DED officials to secure grant funding for the project. In addition to the EOP grant, guidance from DEDs staff helped Merrick County secure a federal $300,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to assist the company through the South Central Economic Development District. The grant includes a $150,000 loan to the business at zero percent interest.

Preferred Popcorn employs 35 full-time employees in Nebraska, and additional employees at its locations in Palmyra, Ind., and Trenton, Mo. Ricketts said that while company executives had at one time considered growing outside of Nebraska, ongoing collaboration with the DED and DOT led to their decision to expand operations at the Chapman facility.

More than 75 vehicles travel up and down the gravel road leading to Preferred Popcorns facility each day. The road will serve more than 150 cars, trucks and transport carriers daily with the new expansion. Pending confirmation from the Merrick County Board of Supervisors on the grant agreement, Merrick County and the DOT will divide the cost of paving Road 9 between Highway 30 and the Preferred Popcorn facility. DOT will fund up to $500,000 of the project based on a 50/50 cost share agreement. The project will include paving approximately 1.25 miles of Road 9, which is currently gravel, and was a key consideration in Preferred Popcorns decision to expand at its Chapman location.

Smith said the area and the state will benefit from Preferred Popcorns expansion.

We produce more food here in Nebraska than we can consume and that is why we need trade, Smith said.

He said the Preferred Popcorn expansion will not only add to the tax-base of Merrick County and to the states economy but to the agricultural and commercial sectors of the area.

Smith said it is important to keep in mind what expansions and growth, like at Preferred Popcorn, does for the future of Nebraska.

That is what we all need to keep in mind  what that future looks like and do everything we can to make sure that we have a bright future.
A Grand Island native who now lives in Houston is partnering with his alma mater to help Hurricane Harvey victims, even though he and his family are displaced from their west Houston home.

Eric Holmes, who graduated from Grand Island Senior High and from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, has been working with Central Nebraskans to get school supplies donated to Houston students.

Holmes is the technology specialist at Miller Intermediate School, which is in the Alief Independent School District. He said he moved to Houston eight and a half years ago to student teach and ended up staying. He and wife, Alana, have two daughters, Adelaide and Eliza. Adelaide is 3 years old and Eliza is 3 months old.

The Holmes left their west Houston home Wednesday after they woke up to non-stop boats going in and out of the neighborhood behind them.

To be honest, we were confused because the rain had finally stopped and the sun came out. Where we had been able to walk the evening before was now impassable. Turns out the bayou water started coming into the neighborhood after the reservoirs released the night before, Eric said.

He said in their neighborhood there was one to two feet of water. Down a block, Eric said, the water was above cars.

Its inundating houses that have never flooded before, Eric said about Hurricane Harvey.

He said this is the worst storm hes ever experienced, but Alana, who is from Galveston, has experienced many big storms. In 2001, Alana experienced Tropical Storm Allison.

Eric said they made the trek to a friends house that is on higher ground. What usually is a 10-minute drive took about 50 minutes because of the flooded roads.

Its flooded so bad that theres only three main roads you can take to go north and south on, Eric said, noting that traffic is often backed up because of it.

He said with his oldest daughter, he could tell she was picking up on things happening. He said its kind of nerve-wracking experiencing something like Harvey and having young kids because youre trying to make sure theyre safe. Eric and Alana explained things to Adelaide so she wouldnt be worried. He said they tried to make everything about Harvey fun. If they were driving or walking through high water, to her, they were splashing through puddles. They prepared a lot before they actually had to leave their home, getting the necessary supplies to survive however many days.

School was in session for about a week before Harvey hit, and Eric knows many kids dont have supplies. He said Miller Intermediate isnt flooded, but some schools are. He said he and staff are prepared to start school as if its back at day one, talking about experiences.

Well take it at step one, Eric said.

He and Alana called on Erics hometown high school in Grand Island and his alma mater in Kearney to support the students in Houston by organizing a school supply drive. He said whats special about his school and district is that many teachers are from Nebraska. He said with the drive, he wants to help create that safe place for students and help students get back to being successful.

He said with the disaster, there are many silver linings. Eric said hes seen many people helping each other. He said theres literally boatloads of people helping and floating to the aid of others. He said hes seen many churches and Boy and Girl Scouts helping out. As a Houston resident, seeing that is heartwarming. As a native Nebraskan, one thing really makes him proud to see.

Ive seen the Nebraska National Guard, Eric said. Its a sense of pride to see that and see them helping people.

Those wanting to donate school supplies should contact the UNK Alumni Association at (308)-698-5271. Eric and Alanas church, Houstons First Baptist, is working to help clean out homes and provide food, water and clothes. The church is also matching people who are displaced from their homes with people who have extra space. To donate to the Houstons First Baptist Church efforts, visit www.houstonsfirst.org/harveyrelief.
Is America a nation of Americans or a nation of immigrants?

Except for the Indians, we are all immigrants. This contention makes two false suppositions. One, we are all immigrants  not true. Many of us were born here. We are descended from immigrants, just as the Indians are, but our primary identity is that of Americans. Second is that the Indians have the only legitimate claim on America. The Indians were here first, but they were not the first Americans.

The Indians distant ancestors were Siberian hunters who followed the Ice Age mammals across a land bridge that today is the Bering Strait. They beat the Europeans by 40,000 years, but they were immigrants nonetheless. When the pioneers and immigrants from Europe arrived, they met various tribes of Indians who fought each other and took land from one another. There was no idea of America that united them.

The characteristics, culture and values of America came from the settlers. The Indians became Americans after many years.

The Spaniards came next to Florida early in the 16th century. The Mexicans settled the Southwest later, not the Spanish.

In the 17th and into the 18th century, the English and Scot settlers established colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts. In 1610 the first black immigrants arrived from Africas Ivory Coast against their will.

In the 1840s Irish immigration began as a direct result of the potato famine. It is referred to in Ireland as the Great Hunger. The English for centuries stole everything above ground on that island. The Irish were forced to exist mainly on the potato crop. The crop failed for three consecutive years. The Irish had two choices to make  die or immigrate. Ten years after the famine, Irelands population had been reduced in half.

Starting in the 1850s came the Germans. In the beginning this was brought on by an agricultural revolution due to farmers financial problems. In the 1860s, due to the countrys strict military draft, thousands of Germans immigrated to the United States.

Chinese laborers began arriving in San Francisco at about this same time. They were used by the Central Pacific Railroad. Many of them were sold into what amounted to slavery by the Chinese warlords. They, like the Africans, came here much against their will. This is carried on today by the sophisticated criminals in China.

The people who followed were coming because they wanted to. In the 1880s the Scandinavians immigrated to the rich farmland in the upper Midwest. At the end of the century came the Italians. Lastly came immigrants from Japan, Central and Southern Europe.

In the years just before World War I, mass immigration slowed down. After the war, the United States for the first time instituted immigration laws. This procedure restricted numbers so society could absorb and Americanize the emigrants. Under these restrictions the melting pot worked and strengthened our nation.

America must not serve the purpose of unlimited immigration  immigration must serve the purpose of the nation.
This star kept Kelce from retiring; have Philly fans seen last of Wentz?
In early July, the Illinois House of Representatives overrode Governor Bruce Rauners veto of a spending bill for the 2018 fiscal year. With a budget in place for the first time in more than two years, educational leaders within the Southern Illinois University System breathed a collective sigh of relief, pushed the what-if scenarios off the table, and were once again able to plan for the future of the SIU System.

On this Sundays episode of Segue, Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles premier radio show on WSIE 88.7 FM The Sound that focuses on the ideas and issues on campus and within the community, SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook, PhD, sits down with SIU System President Randy Dunn, PhD. In this episode, the University leaders discuss how the System handled the stressful budget impasse and how it hopes to get back on track now that funding for public higher education has been made available through the end of fiscal year 2018.

If I had to find some way to describe this situation, it would be like we were frozen. We were paralyzed, Dunn says. It became impossible to plan when you were looking at large gaps in your revenue budget and you didnt know how long you had to live with that gap unfilled.

We were in a position of not knowing whether or not we could support current and existing operations, with plenty of uncertainty existing around hiring and spending funds for large pieces of equipment or repairs.

During the budget impasse, university leaders in Carbondale, Edwardsville and Springfield held several discussions in which they outlined several different scenarios, including how each of the campuses would be able to operate within certain budgetary limitations.

We were operating as an organization within a crisis. Beyond the tangible element of funding, theres also an issue of morale that begins to come into play, Dunn says. It can be harmful to an organization as people begin worrying about their jobs and not knowing exactly what the future holds.

Now that the budget is set for the fiscal year, the SIU System can once again make plans for the future. Moving forward, Pembrook and leaders at SIUE will strive to build partnerships with corporate and government entities and also work to complete existing renovation projects on campus. SIU Carbondales path forward involves making payments back to reserves and focusing on returning to normalcy in its operation within five years or less.

You can certainly see the relief in the faces of our employees and students that we have gotten past this, Dunn said. As we look forward to the next legislative session to set the budget for fiscal year 2019, we hope to have a more straight-forward, rational and planned approach. Everyone has been exhausted by this impasse, and no one wants to go through this again.

Before the budget was passed, cash flow to the Carbondale campus became limited. In order to maintain accreditation, SIU Carbondale could not operate with any sort of deficit funding or spending. In May, the SIU Board of Trustees allowed the Carbondale campus to borrow up to $35 million from SIUE until state funding came through. As of July, SIUE loaned SIU Carbondale approximately $16 million. With the budget approval, those funds have been restored to SIUE.

In essence, it was a paper transaction that included part of SIUEs available operating balance to be moved to the books at Carbondale, Dunn says. All kinds of internal loans exist between campuses, but this was something that needed board action. Im glad that we were in the position to go through it, but hopefully we wont be in a position where well have to talk about this type of loan ever again.

With tuition costs, enrollment data, and declining state support for public higher education looming on the minds of university leaders around the state, it is important for the SIU System to plan for some of the impending challenges that they may face in the future.

We have to be more willing to jump in with both feet and show that we can operate in a leaner and more efficient fashion, Dunn says. One of the reasons we got through this entire budget mess was through the collective voice of our alums from all our campuses. We hope to build a better relationship with our governmental affairs unit and our alumni offices to become a little more organized in working together in the future.

We know that they have a powerful voice, and we want to figure out a way to make that voice even stronger as we move forward.

Catch the entire conversation by tuning in at 9 a.m. this Sunday to WSIE 88.7 FM The Sound.

By Madelaine Gerard, SIUE Marketing & Communications
Omaha state Sen. Joni Craighead announced her resignation Friday from the Legislature, a stunning move that came four days after she announced plans to seek re-election next year.

The race for Craighead's central Omaha legislative seat promised to be one of the most competitive of 2018.

Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, the daughter of former Democratic Congressman John Cavanaugh, announced her candidacy in July.

Craighead and her campaign manager said her decision to resign, announced late Friday, was due to challenges in her private job as a real-estate broker as well as family issues. Her husband underwent hip surgery on Monday, said campaign manager Rod Edwards. And she wants to spend time with her 1-month-old grandson.

"Working as a state senator has always been a difficult balance of family, business and legislative responsibilities and recent additions to my family and work commitments have made me realize that I cannot dedicate the time needed to my legislative responsibilities," Craighead said in a news release.

Her resignation is effective at 5 p.m. Sept. 8.

"This has not been an easy decision, but at this time it is the right decision," Craighead said. "I am confident that Governor Ricketts will appoint someone well qualified to fill my seat."

Ricketts issued a statement Friday evening thanking Craighead for her service. During her time in the Legislature, she successfully advocated for Nebraska's women and supported efforts to cut red tape and reform licensing requirements for key professions, he said.

"We wish her well as she steps away from public service to support her family," Ricketts said. "She will be missed by her colleagues here at the state Capitol."

She will look forward to being active in the community and seeing what the future has in store, she said.

Craighead, who was elected in 2014 to represent Legislative District 6, had announced Monday she would seek a second term, ending speculation that she was considering a run for Douglas County Assessor.

Edwards said Friday that Craighead considered running for county assessor but changed her mind.

Despite Monday's announcement that she planned to seek re-election to the Legislature, Edwards said Craighead's resignation wasn't a last-minute decision or triggered by any political or legal issue.

"It's something she's been thinking about for a while," Edwards said.

Still, her departure within days of announcing her re-election campaign surprised a number of people.

She attended a fundraiser in her honor Tuesday in Omaha in which both Mayor Jean Stothert and former Gov. Dave Heineman were named as hosts and spoke in support of her re-election.

Heineman could not be reached Friday evening for comment. Craighead also did not immediately return a phone call.

Craighead serves on the Legislatures Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee; the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee; and the Planning Committee. She chairs the Committee on Committees, which assigns each senator to various other committees.

During her time in the Legislature, she has proposed and supported health and safety legislation for women, she said. Her 2017 priority bill, called Cheris Law, ensures that doctors inform women with dense breast tissue that a normal mammography might not reveal cancer. She has also supported legislation strengthening stalking and sex-trafficking laws in Nebraska.

Craighead, 63, is a real estate broker and developer, and has a bachelor of science degree in medical technology and a master's degree in public administration.
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Linkedin FMB9 (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Fri, September 1, 2017

Education is the bedrock of a healthy and prosperous society. An educated populace is necessary for increasing both the quality-of-life of a nation and its ability to compete with other countries in the international market.

The government understands the critical value of education. It plays a large part in helping realize many of the government's nine key Nawacita programs, such as its sixth point on increasing the nation's productivity and competitiveness.

That is why the government has laid down a long-term road map for improving the nation's education system to help guide it along its way. This road map establishes the government's education plans until 2025.

The current phase of this plan is seeing the government working until 2019 to increase the nation's regional competitive capabilities. A central aspect of this effort is ensuring equal access to quality education for all people in Indonesia. The government's main vehicle for doing so is its Smart Indonesia Program (PIP).

Equal access for all Indonesians

According to Agus Sartono, who is deputy coordinator of education and religious affairs at the Office of the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister, PIP creates equity in education by giving underprivileged children Smart Indonesia Cards (KIP) that grant them access to both formal and non-formal education services.

"The government has worked to ensure this access by supplying 19.7 million KIP cards for children ranging in age from 6 to 21 years old," Agus said at Forum Merdeka Barat (FMB) 9, a media gathering event held on Aug. 30 at the Communications and Information Ministry that the government organized to share with the public the details of its efforts to improve education.

To ensure that the PIP runs smoothly, the government has allocated around Rp 9.3 billion. As of Aug. 27, the government has already channeled funds to 13.4 million, or 74.5 percent, of all eligible PIP recipients.

Overall, the government has allocated Rp 440.9 trillion for education in its 2018 state budget. Of this funding, Rp 146.6 trillion is used for central funding, while Rp 279.3 trillion is for regional allocation.

In addition to PIP, the government is also promoting equity in education across the archipelago by improving the quality of the nation's teachers, specifically, "front-line" teachers.

According to Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy, the government recruited 6,296 front-line teachers in 2016, up from 797 in 2015. These teachers are sent to "3T regions" (the frontier, outermost and remote regions) as a way to provide more equal access to teachers throughout the country.

The ministry is also similarly using "front-line" schools to create further equity in education in these peripheral regions. In 2016, the government built 114 of these schools in 49 regencies and cities.

In addition, the Culture and Education Ministry is using much of its 40.09 trillion slice of the Rp 440.9 education budget it received for things like improving school accreditation, providing schools with new and better equipment, and providing schools with labs and libraries.

These improvements and repairs are part of the government's overall goals in 2018 to provide certification to 25,000 teachers, building 73 new schools and 4,904 new classes, and rehabilitating 21,287 existing classrooms.

The ministry has also implemented a zoning system starting this year based on Culture and Education Ministerial Decree No. 17/2017. The goal is to prevent what Muhadjir refers to as "favoritism" in schools.

"Students are enrolled not based on grades but on the radius and distance between the student and the school. As such, schools are obligated to accept only students within its zone radius," said Muhadjir , at FMB9. "This zoning system is designed to speed up the process of providing equity in education for all."

Building the nation's character

The government's goal of improving education in Indonesia also includes improving the character of the Indonesian workforce.

Religious education institutions play an important role in this character formation. Islamic boarding schools, for instance, are places that place a strong focus on shaping the character of its students, through its round-the-clock education system that instills discipline and maturity.

Minister Muhadjir also called on schools to work together with non-formal education institutions to develop the character of the nation's youth. Dance institutions nearby schools, for instances, should be allowed to contribute to schools to help produce professional dancers.

Schools, he said, should publish double report cards that evaluate both academic achievements and personal developments for students. The goal is to create a mental revolution that can give students integrity and instill in them the nation's spirit of gotong royong (mutual cooperation).

"The main goal of education is to shape the character of the participating student. Making a child good at mathematics is easy compared to educating them to have character. There is no meaning to being smart without having any character," Agus added.
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Linkedin Winda A. Charmila (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, August 31 2017

Leni, 30, has lived her whole life in a rusun (low-cost apartment) in Cipinang Besar Utara, East Jakarta.

Her parents began renting a unit in the building decades ago, before she was born.

Leni was raised in the building with her three sisters. They lived through their fathers death at a young age.

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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, September 1, 2017 14:31 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aed7e63 1 National Yogyakarta,sultan-HBX,Sri-Sultan-Hamengku-Buwono,sultanate,Constitutional-Court,Arief-Hidayat Free

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of a judicial review petition challenging the 2012 law on Yogyakartas special status, paving way for Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of the Yogyakarta customary sultanate to make his daughter a successor.

Chief justice Arief Hidayat told the hearing on Thursday the court had scrapped a "discriminative" provision in Article 18 (1), Point M of the law, as requested by the plaintiffs, the royal servants of the Yogyakarta Palace.

The article stipulated that gubernatorial candidates of Yogyakarta should submit a curriculum vitae outlining their education record and the occupation of their siblings, wife and children to the Yogyakarta Provincial Legislative Council.

Under its special status, the sultan is the ex-officio governor of Yogyakarta.

"The phrase 'education records, occupation ... of siblings, wife and children' has contradicted the 1945 Constitution," Arief read out the ruling.

The plaintiffs disputed the term "wife" in the provision, as it implied that only men could take the governor seat, hence also meaning only the male lineage of the royal family can take the reign of the sultan.

Read also: Amnesty discusses intolerance in Yogyakarta with Sri Sultan

Hamengkubuwono, who became the sultan in March 1989, has five daughters and no sons. In 2015 he issued a sabdaraja (kings proclamation), naming his eldest daughter, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu (GKR) Mangkubumi, as the crown princess.

Yogyakartans criticized the move, saying the position of sultan was only for men, as it was part of the tradition of the Javanese Palace, hence Hamengkubuwono's younger brother should be his successor. (bbs)
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Linkedin Nurni Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Fri, September 1, 2017 16:43 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aedaa6c 1 National hydrocephalus,Sinabung,Medan,North-Sumatra,Karo,poverty,malnourishment Free

R, a 40-day-old baby, was sleeping at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Sari Mutiara Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra. Born to a poor couple living in the red zone of Mount Sinabung in Namanteran village, Karo regency, R suffers from hydrocephalus since he was born.

When I was pregnant, I did not drink milk or take vitamins. I could only get an ultrasound diagnosis when the pregnancy had progressed to nine months. The doctor told me the babys head was abnormal, Wati, the babys mother, told The Jakarta Post at the hospital on Thursday.

I begged God to do whatever was best for my child, said the 39-year old laundress and farmhand.

Her 42-year-old husband Bayudin also works as a farm laborer. He could not accompany Wati to the hospital, as he had to work and take care of their other five children in Namanteran.

Wati had tried to bring R to the Adam Malik Hospital in Medan, but she was rejected, "because there was no available room."

I brought R back to Namanteran. I was advised to bring him back to Adam Malik on Aug. 8, but at that time Sinabung erupted and thick ashes were covering the village, so I could not get out of the home, she said.

Read also: Seven toddlers in Sarolangun regency found malnourished

R's story was heard by Dr. Tuahman Purba, who owns the Sari Mutiara hospital, where R was then treated and underwent surgery.

The operation went well, but we are not sure whether [R] can totally recover," hospital director Tahim Solihin said. (bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, September 1, 2017 11:47 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aed39bd 1 Politics #acid-attack,#KPKAcidAttack,#KPK,#KPKInquiry,Aris-Budiman,novel-baswedan,KPK,Corruptors-fight-back,National-Police Free

The Jakarta Police are investigating senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan over alleged defamation of the antigraft body's director of investigation, Brig. Gen. Aris Budiman.

Aris, a policeman seconded to the KPK, reported Novel to the Jakarta Police on Aug. 21 for allegedly insulting him in an email.

"We questioned [Aris] yesterday," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said Thursday.

Novel is still receiving medical treatment in Singapore after an acid attack severely injured his eyes in April.

Argo also said the police had sent the notification letter to begin an investigation (SPDP) to prosecutors and planned to summon other witnesses.

"We are just being professional," Argo said as quoted by tempo.co, adding that investigators would soon hold a case screening.

Read also: Defiant cop comes under fire

Aris, who was formerly the special crimes director at the Jakarta Police, made headlines for defying KPK leaders and unilaterally deciding to attend the controversial House of Representatives' inquiry into the KPK on Wednesday.

"On Feb. 14, there was an email that attacked me personally. I was angered, offended and humiliated," Aris told the inquiry hearing, as quoted by kompas.com.

Aris said Novel had said of him that he had no integrity."

During the hearing, Aris also revealed his rivalry with Novel. For example, Novel strongly rejected Aris' proposal to recruit middle-rank police officers over fears it could lead to the polices dominance within the KPK.

Activists have expressed concern that investigators from the police force jeopardize the KPK's independence, as they also report to the National Police. (ecn/bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, September 1, 2017 15:28 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aed97b6 1 City #Rusunawa,#Jakarta Free

More than a thousand rusunawa (low-cost apartment building) units are to be rented out to middle-class Jakartans in a cross-subsidy scheme.

The head of the development department of the Jakarta Public Housing and Public Buildings Agency, Melly Budiastuti, said three rusunawa would be available for middle-class residents: Rusunawa KS Tubun with 520 units, Semper with 250 units and Rawabuaya with 358 units.

We are still looking for approval from Jakarta Legislative Council Commission C, Melly said, as quoted by wartakotalive.com. Commission C oversees financial affairs.

The rent is set at Rp 2.8 million (US$209) per month for a 36-square-meter unit based on Public Works and Public Housing Ministerial Regulation No.18/2007.

"If the council agrees, there will be a gubernatorial decree on the matter," she said.

At present, rusunawa are reserved for evictees or poor residents, who are charged less than Rp 600,000 per month. The Jakarta administration subsidizes rusunawa across the city.

Commission C deputy head Santoso said he would discuss the proposal with the agency, adding that the council would ask for further details on the rent calculation.

Santoso, however, suggested that the agency find another solution rather than a cross subsidy, which does not consider an effective solution.

Currently, people are allowed to live [in rusunawa] forever. That should not be allowed, Santoso said, adding that there should be a limit of around 10 years for residents to live there.

After ten years, he added, those residents should find a new place to live, so they would be encouraged to work hard. (wnd)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Fri, September 1, 2017 14:07 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aed78cc 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,bali,piano,Competition Free

Bali is set to host an international music competition dubbed Bali Open Piano Competition 2017 on Sept. 23-24 at the Padma Resort in Legian.

We chose Bali because its this years best destination in the world according to TripAdvisor, said Opus Nusantaras Eleonora Aprilitia S., the events organizer.

Similar event was also held in Bali last year.

Read also: Bali named world's best destination by TripAdvisor

For this year, all pianists and violinists will perform in Balinese traditional outfit, complete with udeng (Balinese headscarf) and sarung.

Apart from the piano-violin competition, the event will also feature traditional Balinese performances, added Eleonora.

The competition will consist of 12 categories and divide the participants into two groups. The first group is Repertoire for Selection Choice Category comprising six categories: A (Age  7), B (8  9 year olds), C (10  11 year olds), D (12  14 year olds), E (15  17 year olds) and F (Age  18).

The other six categories are called Free Choice Category where participants from groups A to F are free to play any baroque musical piece from the years of 1600  1750, classical piece from the years of 1750  1820, romantic piece from the years of 1800  1900 or modern piece from the 20th to 21st centuries, told Eleonora.

Participants are allowed to sign up for the category that fit their age or one category above their age. The competition itself will be divided into an elimination and final rounds. Each participant has to perform one song in each round.

Three winners will be chosen from each category, whilst every participant will bring home a certificate of participation.

Read also: Sumbawa hosts first North Moyo Festival 2017

For this year, Eleonora is targeting to attract 160 contestants. "The registration will close on Sept. 8. So far the participants who have signed up are from Germany, Australia, Korea and China, said Eleonora.

Tourism Ministry's Archipelago Tourism Marketing Development deputy, Esthy Reko Astuti said that one contestant could bring around five to 10 family members with them.

They can go for a picnic while accompanying their kids. If the number of participants is about 160 people then the audience is expected to be 1,000 people, said Esthy.

Other than Bali, the piano competition is also scheduled to be held in Batam, where the target market is tourists from Singapore and Malaysia. So far up to 30 pianists from Vietnam have signed up for the competition. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, September 1, 2017 08:09 1899 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aecff30 1 News Competition,#competition,students,#students Free

Four Indonesian students have brought home seven medals following their participation in the 11th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO).

Joined by students from 29 countries, the event took place at the Centre International de Valbonne in Cote dAzur, France, from Aug. 22-29, according to kompas.com.

IESO is a knowledge competition on the geosphere (geology and geophysics), hydrosphere (hydrology and oceanography), atmosphere (meteorology and climatology) and astronomy.

In the Earth System Project (ESP) competition, Rifki Andika from SMA 2 state high school in Depok, West Java, won a gold medal, while a bronze medal was given to Fransiskus L. Santoso from SMA private high school Kristen Ketapang in Jakarta.

Read also: Yogyakarta students speak up against intolerance

In the International Team Field Investigation (ITFI) competition, Rifki also received a silver medal. Another two silver medals were collected by Rifki and Fransiskus in the individual competition.

Two other students, Alse Nabilah from Kesatuan Bangsa, Yogyakarta, and Fadly Aulia from Al Kautsar, Bandar Lampung, won bronze medals for Indonesia.

The Indonesian delegation was accompanied by four mentors, namely Zadrach L. Dupe from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)'s meteorology program, Hakim L. Malasan from ITB's astronomy program, Warsito Atmodjo from Diponegoro University's oceanography program and Asep Sukmayadi from the Culture and Education Ministry.

Prior to participating in the event, the students had undergone training and a selection process in Yogyakarta and Bandung for three months, starting at the end of last year. (kes)
Agudath Israel of Americas hopes and prayers are with the residents of Houston and other Galveston Bay cities, who are struggling with the ongoing rain and terrible flooding brought by Hurricane Harvey.

Our sympathies go out to all Texans who have suffered loss of life, and to those who have tragically lost their homes and possessions. And we have only admiration for all the emergency workers, both local and from other parts of the country, who are working around the clock to rescue those in danger.

Although the storm is still ongoing and the full extent of its toll on Houstons Jewish community still unknown, some of its families have already been hit hard by flooding

As we have done over the years when disaster strikes, Agudath Israel of America is serving as a conduit for sending humanitarian assistance like food, clothing and, in this case, Yomtov needs, to Jewish families and institutions in need.

Donations for that purpose can be sent to Agudath Israels offices at 42 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (checks should be made out to Agudath Israel but marked Disaster Relief Fund). Electronic donations can be made at agudathisrael.org  with Disaster Relief Fund typed into in the comments box.
The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled against a former lecturer who sued the University of Nebraska-Lincoln alleging men in the College of Law where she worked were paid more.

Patricia Knapp worked as a temporary lecturer from 2011 to 2013 in the Civil Clinic and the University of Nebraska's Weibling Project for the Psychological Treatment and Study of Discrimination.

Before that, she had been a half-time employee.

In August 2012, Knapp got a letter proposing terms and conditions for her employment for the next academic year, which prompted her to check what others in the clinical programs were being paid. When she learned a male professor had been hired that March at $26,000 more than she had been offered, she went to the director about what she saw as a "gender equity problem" that he needed to address, according to Friday's opinion.

The director said the difference in pay was justified because the other position was on the tenure track.

Not long after, Knapp decided to leave her job at the clinic the next spring.

A year later, she sued. In May 2016, Douglas County District Court Judge Horacio Wheelock dismissed the case, finding that Knapp had failed to establish a case by showing any similarly situated men who were treated differently than her.

He said the men Knapp had compared her wages to all held permanent, full-time positions that either were tenured or tenure-track.

He said while Knapp may have been well-qualified for tenure-eligible positions at the university, there was no evidence that she had applied for any.

Wheelock also found no evidence of retaliation after Knapp raised her concerns about pay disparity and gender issues in the clinic at an Aug. 22, 2012, meeting.

Knapp appealed.

In the Supreme Court decision Friday, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote that the evidence showed that "the male employees had additional responsibilities that were not insubstantial or minor differences from the work Knapp was doing."

As for the treatment Knapp received after she raised concerns, which she alleged were retaliation, Miller-Lerman said they were more properly characterized as "petty slights" and "minor annoyances."

And the court affirmed the case, concluding Wheelock had not erred by dismissing it.
Premiering in the UK at this years FrightFest in London, 3rd Night is the directorial debut of Adam Graveley who also wrote, produced and edited the horror feature.

The film, however, is a disaster from start to finish with a nonsensical plot, a lack of effective horror and some horrible acting.

3rd Night follows the young couple, Meagan (Jesse McGinn) and Jonathan (Robert Hartburn), who have just moved into a small house with an orchard in the Australian bush. Their attempt to escape the bustle of city life is disrupted early on though when their pet cat goes missing and cryptic notes begin to appear. All the while, a killer lurks around the house, waiting to strike on what might be a fatal third night in the couples new home.

At least this is what the story is meant to be - as one of 3rd Night's biggest problems is its complete lack of focus. For a film of only 72 minutes in length, its surprising how much of it is spent on pointless characters and story elements that are not horror focussed at all. A pregnancy plotline, as well as some needless backstory for Bruce Denny's character of Cambo are just a couple of examples of wasted time in what becomes a drag of a film. There are also several plot points, such as one involving pigs, that we are led to believe will be important later, but are in fact never touched upon again.

The two lead characters of Meagan and Jonathan are horribly portrayed by Jesse McGinn and Robert Hartburn respectively. The line delivery is incredibly flat with the couple having no chemistry between them whatsoever, leaving every conversation feeling robotic and forced. This is partly down to some of the film's clunkier dialogue and confusing character writing. Arguments escalate out of nowhere, conversations have a very formulaic structure to them and on many occasions, characters make bizarre decisions without proper motivation.

There are also some very strange directing choices throughout 3rd Night. Every time the killer is outside the house spying on the couple, we are presented with this horrible, shaky, Dutch angle through a bush. The first time it's tolerable, but this shot is reused almost every time the killer is outside. There are also some more awkward angles that see the actors blocked from view entirely as well as some other lingering shots that seem to serve no purpose. In a film this short, every scene has to count which makes it hard to understand why we have extended sequences such as Meagan making coffee.

Unfortunately, the editing is no better both in terms of visuals and audio. Some poorly used slow motion, shots cut too soon, and a poor decision to have one scene drained of colour makes the film appear very amateur. The sound mixing is also badly handled with t

he films transitions from the soundtrack to silence being very abrupt. There are also some ill used sound effects littered throughout.

There are glimmers of hope to be found in 3rd Night though. The way the story is chaptered each night at a time, and how this is explained at the end is clever. There is also a satisfying revelation in the films final moments that harkens back to some earlier dialogue, which at first seemed irrelevant. However, these short, enjoyable moments are nowhere near enough.

3rd Night is a severe letdown and is sure to be one of the least scary horror films youll see this year. Clunky writing, bad editing and some very poor performances leave the film a tensionless mess that you're best off avoiding.

3rd Night screened as part of FrightFest 2017's schedule.
Harry Potter star Warwick Davis joined fans of the hit books at Platform 9 3/4 at Londons Kings Cross station as they celebrated a landmark date in the story of the young wizard.

In the epilogue of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, September 1 2017 is the date when the children of the main characters leave for Hogwarts, described as 19 years later from the main storys timeline.

Davis, who played Professor Flitwick in the film adaptations, arrived at the station on a Segway and posed for photos with hundreds of fans assembled on the concourse of the train station to mark the special date.

Ruby Moon, from Tampa, Florida, came dressed as a Hufflepuff prefect and told the Press Association: Its 19 years later and Ive been a huge Harry Potter fanatic since the books came out 20 years ago, and I had the opportunity to come.

She added: Everyone has a different opinion on why today is such a big deal for themselves, the story has changed so many peoples lives, adults and children alike so its just really amazing everyone could come here and join together for such a great fandom.

Don't forget, the Hogwarts Express leaves Platform 9  at precisely 11 o'clock, so don't be late. #BackToHogwarts #19YearsLater pic.twitter.com/XjLH7F2Fgo  Harry Potter World (@PotterWorldUK) September 1, 2017

There has never been a book series my life I want to reread all the time, thats pretty special.

Chris Kaukonummi, who flew over from Finland with his friends for the day, said: We came over just for the event. Ive been a fan since the late 90s when I was much younger and its a big event to send Harry Potters kids to Hogwarts.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling also marked the date, tweeting: Todays the day Albus Severus Potter boards the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross for the first time. She added the hashtag #19yearslater.

JK Rowling (Ian West/PA)

Today's the day Albus Severus Potter boards the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross for the first time #19yearslater  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 1, 2017

Fans are also celebrating the day on Twitter.

@HollyHollybumps wrote: Today is the 1st September 2017, 19 Years Later. It is the beginning of the end for us Potterheads. Good luck Albus Severus.

@dreaminhogwarts wrote: Today is the day. Nineteen years later all was well.

I made this lino cut illustration to celebrate today. I can't wait to see the play later! #19yearslater #BackToHogwarts pic.twitter.com/j1tyrxprY6  Rory Hopkins (@roryknight7) September 1, 2017
Labour MP Jess Phillips is involved in a Twitter row after saying families of disabled British Pakistanis are importing wives from abroad.

In an interview with The Times, Jess Phillips is reported to have said that British Asians (specifically the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities) have issues regarding women's roles, adding that, whilst not all of the British Pakistani families adhere to these practices, she has dealt with these cases and the problem exists.

"That's the truth," she told The Times, "not all of them, obviously. But I have lots of cases on my books. The acceptability of going and getting a wife abroad if your son is disabled, for example. As if he deserves to have a wife and we'll just get one from Pakistan. That's not okay in my books."

Phillips comments were not taken lightly by Labour Party member and Disability activist Nadeem Ahmed, who voiced his contention on Twitter:

My MP Jess Phillips is racist. Why did I ever vote for her; this pakistani man spent Ramadan campaigning for her in the heat without water pic.twitter.com/6F6k1UzdqM  Nadeem Ahmed (@Muqadaam) August 29, 2017

As a British Pakistani in Philips constituency, Ahmed deemed her claims as racist generalisations and asked that an explanation be issued. When this was not forthcoming, Ahmed filed a letter of complaint.

So I'm called a troll; if you look at my tweets I have not been trolling; I'm just upset and need you to explain the racist comments https://t.co/6LtAxDgdRT  Nadeem Ahmed (@Muqadaam) 30 August 2017

I will be writing a letter of complaint to the Labour Party re: Jess Phillips comments on Pakistani Muslims. I will tweet a copy once done.  Nadeem Ahmed (@Muqadaam) 31 August 2017

Jess Philips failed to address Ahmeds criticism and dismissed him as a fruitless troll:

Rallied by full glass of flat cola. I think it's only fair to say that the man trying to bully me and threaten me is not my local momentum  Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) August 30, 2017

As of this morning, Ahmed announced that after years of active membership he had been expelled from the Labour Party but will be appealing to Labour's Governance and Legal Unit.

Breaking News : I have just been expelled from the Labour Party . More to follow . I need all your support . I'm hurt and very upset .  Nadeem Ahmed (@Muqadaam) August 31, 2017

Phillips has also revealed that a series of apparently Photoshopped fake tweets, appearing to have been sent from her account, have been shared online.
Producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein thought so too, hiring Danish showrunner Christian Torpe to helm the series based on King's story. While sticking to the general premise, Torpe adds his own spin to it, changing the setting from a singular supermarket location to several across the town - including a mall, a church and a hospital.The central conflict is still a father wanting to protect his family, but it is very much an ensemble piece. We now see the terror the mist brings through several eyes, including an amnestic soldier, a lonely outcast, a recovering addict and an elderly nature lover. As with most Stephen King stories, hostile supernatural forces are at play, and we're posed with the question of what would happen to the average American when put against such a force.Its answer is bleak: it only takes a few episodes before the residents of the mall exile someone to face whatever lies within the mist. We're never given a straight answer as to what exactly that is (CGI bugs? Toxic gas?), but whatever it is, it's bad enough to make members of the army commit suicide. Sadly for King, The Mist is yet another adaptation of his work that never quite matches the heights of its source material. Additional subplots are shoehorned in in order to pad things out, including a tasteless subplot surrounding the rape of a teenage girl that culminates in a way that is ridiculous at best and offensive at worst. Most of the added backstories feel forced and unnecessary, either going nowhere or resulting in something so silly you actually wish it went nowhere. The series is surprisingly at its best in the moments when it doesn't try to be topical and instead embraces its absurdity. Its campy melodrama and surreal, gory horror could have been a winning combination, so it's a shame how badly it's let down by the tedious pacing and uneven writing. The actors all give fine performances but none of the characters are particularly likeable. It's a slog to get through, and when it finally does get exciting, it's over. There are too many loose ends for it not to have another season; whether it really deserves one, however, remains to be seen.
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HASTINGS  A Hastings man and woman have been sentenced for injuring an infant.

Court records said John Brown, 32, and Brittany Hatch, 24, were sentenced Thursday in Adams County District Court.

Police said officers found the 1-year-old girl unresponsive in November. A doctor later found that the infant had methamphetamine in her system and bruises, cuts and burns on her body.

Court records say Hatch was given 19 to 20 years in prison. She'd pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of attempted intentional child abuse resulting in injury to her daughter.

Brown was given 30 to 35 years. He'd pleaded no contest to intentional child abuse resulting in injury.

Authorities said Brown was Hatch's fiance but not the baby's biological father.
Judges, juries and prosecutors are losing patience with people who make false allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault. So far in 2017, three women have been charged with felony false reporting after they falsely claimed they had been raped. These cases took place in Connecticut, Michigan and Texas.

In addition, there have been at least three seven-figure awards so far in 2017 for false sexual assault allegations. In August, a jury ordered a woman to pay $8.4 million to a retired Army colonel she falsely accused of raping her 27 years earlier. The jury award included $5 million in punitive damages because, according to one juror, we need to make sure nothing like this will ever happen again.

In June, Rolling Stone magazine agreed to pay a University of Virginia fraternity $1.65 million for a story it published that implicated the fraternity in a gang rape hoax. This settlement came shortly after the magazine settled a related case brought by a dean at the school who was defamed by the same story. The details of that settlement were not disclosed, but the settlement came after a jury awarded the dean $3 million in damages.

In January, the North Dakota Supreme Court allowed a defamation case to proceed against a woman who falsely accused her ex-husband of sexual assault in an effort to win custody of their children. The false allegations resulted in her ex-husband being tried and acquitted of rape.

In a related decision, the North Dakota Supreme Court earlier approved a trial decision that awarded custody of the couples children to the falsely accused ex-husband. The trial court found the wifes report of sexual abuse was untrue and nothing more than her attempt to get custody of the parties' children.

The court also found that she lied to the children about her allegations, which alienated the children from their father and may have damaged his relationship with them. The court found her lies were strong evidence of her moral unfitness because the children had to deal with news accounts of their fathers criminal trial and the intrusions of supervised parenting time, and the lies put their father at risk of going to prison.

The North Dakota Supreme Court also approved a significantly unequal division of marital assets in favor of the ex-husband. According to the court, a party's dissipation of marital assets is an important relevant factor in an equitable distribution of property. [The wifes] lies dissipated marital assets. It would be inequitable to put on [the husbands] side of the ledger in the property division any of the marital assets he spent defending himself from his ex-wifes false allegations. The court also approved the trial courts refusal to award the ex-wife any alimony.

In January, two women were ordered to pay a chiropractor $112,100 after they falsely accused him of indecent exposure. The two women were friends and one owed the chiropractor $12,000 in unpaid bills. The false allegations resulted in the chiropractor facing criminal charges (which were subsequently dropped) and having his license to practice suspended for two years.

In December 2016, a woman was sentenced to a year in jail for creating a false Facebook account in her ex-boyfriends name, which she used to send herself threatening emails, after she was kicked out of their home for assaulting her ex-boyfriend.

In September 2016, a mother was sentenced to jail for felony custody interference for hiding her two daughters from their father for 2 years. She abducted the girls after her ex-husband was granted custody, in part, because of false domestic violence allegations made against him. Several people who helped the mother abduct the girls were also convicted and given jail sentences.

False allegations have a devastating impact  they hurt those who are falsely accused and their families. They also hurt real victims of domestic violence and sexual assault because they make it harder for real victims to be believed.
YORKVILLE  A woman found dead in Yorkville Wednesday morning has been identified by the Racine County Sheriffs Office as a missing woman from the Milwaukee area whose family has been searching for her since July 3.

In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, sheriffs Lt. Dave Barker said 28-year-old Audrey M. Scott was located deceased near South Sylvania Avenue (the west Interstate 94 frontage road) just north of Highway KR.

The incident is being investigated as a homicide. There are several persons of interest in custody and the investigation is ongoing, Barker said.

Racine investigators are working with the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office to investigate the case.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office conducted the autopsy, but the cause of death or toxicology test results have not been released.

Racine County investigators considered the death suspicious when their investigation began, but did not elaborate on what caused them to make that determination.

Missing mother

Known as Tutu by her family, Scott, a mother of two, went missing on July 3rd prompting her family to offer a $5,000 reward for her return. Scott was last seen at McGillicuddys bar near Water Street and Juneau Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.

Last week, Scotts family joined Milwaukee social activist Torey Lowe on a trip to Chicago to spread awareness of her case in that city.

We saturated our city with fliers, Lowe said. We know crime travels. We want to make sure were all over the country with this story so they can bring home their loved one.

In a video posted on social media during her mothers disappearance, Scotts daughter Audreyanna Scott expressed her grief.

Its sad and heartbreaking. Its hard on me to not be able to see her before I go to bed. I miss her so much.

Suspicious deaths

Scott is one of three people found dead in Racine County in the last six weeks. On Sunday, 48-year-old Christopher Melik of Waupaca was found in the water of Lake Michigan at the shore of Samuel Myers Park. Investigators consider his death suspicious.

Kenosha teen Olivia Mackay was found July 24 on a rural property in the 11000 block of Louis Sorenson Road in Mount Pleasant. Police determined that Mackay was strangled on a beach in Kenosha before being driven to and left in Racine County.

Daniel Tate, 19, of Kenosha, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the case. Jamari Cook, 17, also of Kenosha, is accused of stealing Mackays car and hiding her body in it.
RACINE  A Kenosha woman has pleaded not guilty to charges she faces for reportedly snatching the purse of a 90-year-old woman last month.

Lacy L. Lanciloti, 27, of the 6700 block of 24th Avenue in Kenosha, is charged with a felony count of robbery with the use of force  crime against an elderly or disabled person, and a misdemeanor count of retail theft.

During a court appearance on Thursday, Lanciloti waived her rights to a preliminary hearing.

According to the criminal complaint, Lanciloti was taken into custody Aug. 23 after reportedly stealing a bottle of wine from Piggly Wiggly, 4011 Durand Ave., and then allegedly snatching the purse of a 90-year-old woman in the parking lot.

A handful of good Samaritans stepped in, reportedly taking Lancilotis car keys and refusing to allow her to leave the scene before police arrived. A video of the incident has since gone viral and can be seen on social media platforms.

Citing Lancilotis lack of criminal record and her extreme impairment at the time of the incident, her attorney, Laura Walker, asked that her clients bond be modified and she be released on house arrest. The attorney stated that Lanciloti is a single mother, after which the defendant became visibly upset and began to cry.

The state responded that some cash bond was appropriate due to the overwhelming amount of evidence, including the viral video.

The judge modified Lancilotis bond from $10,000 to $500 cash with a $5,000 signature bond. Conditions of the bond include not having contact with the victim or Piggy Wiggly, not ingesting controlled substances, Racine County drug testing and house arrest with GPS monitoring. She may only leave her home to go to court, meet with her attorney and go to medical appointments.

Lancilotis next appearance will be a pre-trial conference on Sept. 29 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.
JANESVILLE  With the possibility of President Donald Trump ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress should handle the future of the program, not the president.

"I actually don't he should do that," Ryan said. "I believe this is something Congress has to fix."

Ryan spoke on WCLO radio in Janesville Friday morning.

The program was first put into action by President Barack Obama in June 2012.

Recipients of DACA,which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, have been fearful that the program will soon be repealed or changed in a significant way.

Ryan said Obama did not have the "legislative authority to do what he did."

"You can't, as an executive, write law out of thin air," Ryan said. "Having said all of that, there are people who are in limbo. These are kids that know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home."

Ryan said there needs to be a legislative solution which they are working on.

"We want to give people piece of mind," Ryan said adding he's had conversations with the White House about this issue. "I think the president as well has mentioned he wants a humane solution to this problem and I think that's something that we in Congress are working on and need to deliver on."

Five young people who attended Racine Unified School District schools came to The Journal Times Thursday afternoon to discuss their fears about the potential repeal of the program, which could mean life-altering consequences.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Things got heated Monday among residents, board members and Village President Dave DeGroot during the public comment portion of a Mount Pleasant board meeting.

Kelly Gallaher, a village resident and local activist, was barred from speaking and has filed a complaint with the village. In the complaint, she states that DeGroot does not possess the authority to choose who speaks during public comments or require her to submit a written or oral apology to the board.

Multiple residents raised concerns during the meeting about the new project director being hired while the village is without an administrator.

Another exchange between DeGroot and resident Alfonso Gardner almost led to Gardner being escorted out of the Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive, although he ended up leaving voluntarily.

When Gallaher tried to speak about the project director, DeGroot voiced his discontent with a previous incident with Gallaher.

Before you speak ever again in these chambers, you have to have a way, way better idea of the conduct that is expected of you when youre speaking at a public meeting, DeGroot said. The last time you spoke here, upon leaving the table and walking away, you dropped the F-bomb not once, but twice, and it was noticed by many people in these chambers.

At that point, Village Trustee Jon Hansen interrupted and said This is public comment, this is not public reprimand.

DeGroot responded by saying She is not speaking until some things are taken care of.

Hansen and DeGroot both said that the other was out of order.

DeGroot struck the gavel and said to Hansen Youre out of order. Once more and youre gone.

Ms. Gallaher, youre very fortunate that I did not hear your outburst because I wouldve thrown you out on your can, DeGroot said.

Hansen interrupted, but DeGroot struck the gavel again and said Number two for you, but Hansen tried to make an argument saying These are residents of our community.

DeGroot warned Hansen by saying If I hit this gavel one more time youre gone for the rest of the meeting.

Nothing to apologize for

DeGroot turned his direction back to Gallaher and said if he would have heard her curse he would have had her cited or arrested for disorderly conduct.

So having said that, you will not be speaking in these chambers again until I have heard an oral apology thats suitable to me and the rest of this board, DeGroot said. Number two, Im not going to hear an oral apology from you until I read a written one that has been delivered to me five business days before this board meets so I can check the credibility of it because you have had a long history of issues with the truth. Go back and sit down.

Gallaher briefly addressed DeGroot and said she didnt know what meeting he was referencing when this incident took place.

You have accused me of something and I dont know what youre talking about, Gallaher said. So there wont be an apology letter because I dont feel that I have anything to apologize for.

After the meeting, Gallaher said she found the interaction with DeGroot to be inappropriate, punitive and childish.

I dont know what hes talking about, Gallaher said. It was very non-specific. I think he just doesnt want to hear people talk.

DeGroot said the public is given a chance to speak at the public meetings as long as they dont curse; however, it is not the place to have a debate between board members and residents.

If Im going to be challenged at every meeting going forward, then I guess Im going to have to get used to throwing people out, DeGroot said. At the end of the day, this is a business meeting and we debate and vote on stuff in front of the board, and I just cant have the distraction of people shooting their mouth off.
This past Tuesday, four dedicated S&Baddies took a trip to the local cinema to see Girls Trip. The movie centers around a group of college friends reuniting 20 years later for a weekend trip to New Orleans, where one of the women has been invited to give the keynote speech at the Essence magazine festival for her success as a marriage expert. Some might say we took a Girls Trip to see Girls Trip.

Setting: The Strand. Time: 9:33 p.m. (the film started at 9:10 p.m., but of course we were fashionably late). The crew: myself, Keli I cant wait to start a Girls Trip themed Instagram Vitaioli 19, Mira Im from Jersey Braneck 19, Candace Candy Cane Peppermint Ice Cream Mettle 19 and Kate I dont know what I got myself into Irwin 20.

As we settled in as the only occupants of the theater that Wednesday night with our more than reasonably priced concessions, we prepared for a wild ride. We were not disappointed.

Within minutes, Girls Trip draws you into the world of the Flossy Posse, which consists of Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Tiffany Haddish, each with their own unique personality.

As Braneck would say, this was a silly film. Without spoiling it, here are a few comments the Girls Trip watching Girls Trip had in the theater:

Mira Braneck: Have you ever wanted to MO [make out] with a bald man and touch his tender, tender head?

Candace Mettle: Sure, objectify the Black man (in response to the white agent grabbing one of the main characters husbands butt).

Keli Vitaioli: This is how I feel when I read Candaces Twitter about white women. Like I know I am one and honestly thank you for putting me in my place.

MB: I love to watch bad ass bitches get together as friends. Does his shirt say CROC? (as in the perfect shoe) (his shirt said Ciroc)

Kate Irwin: Men are trash.

CM: I dont like him (onscreen man states he hasnt met his equal yet). Oh OKAY, so all the women he knows are lesser.

MB: I dont wanna touch his bald head anymore.

Candace also mmmmhmmmed literally at the same time as the women on screen. If that isnt Black girl magic, I dont know what is.

Girls Trip successfully levels the playing field between expectations placed upon those identifying as men and those identifying as women in film. We were able to see women being hilariously gross with each other and having a good time, without worrying about needing to please the men in the theater or on screen.

This was a film written by and for women, and that means they understand that women can effortlessly shift between releasing their bladder at an inopportune time, humping a lamp and later giving a keynote speech to a room full of other excellent women. Women cannot be reduced to just a two-dimensional pretty face, and Girls Trip will leave you angry anyone ever tried.

When the film came out, it was received as the Black version of Rough Night, another film in the womens buddy comedy tradition that came out this year featuring a cast of white women. It would be dismissive to place Girls Trip in a category of separate yet equal to. This classification also highlights Hollywoods propensity towards placing women in competition with each other. We must celebrate Girls Trip for the rarity that it is, a comedy celebrating friendship between Black women and their complexity without denying them their Blackness. Girls Trip should not be placed in competition with other films in already too sparse of a genre: women enjoying being with other women.

While the film celebrates female friendships, there are also moments it falls back onto misogyny. While Regina Halls husband is cheating on her, they describe the woman he is sleeping with as an Instagram Ho and her butt injections become a joke throughout the rest of the film. They portray this enchantress as a cruel woman, with less emphasis on the wrongdoings of the husband than feels necessary. While a good dance-off is essential to any film, I would have preferred if the competition between women didnt escalate beyond that letter.

As a woman watching, it was striking to see women being celebrated for not being perfect and for looking to each other for help. Girls Trip emphasizes that it is fine to turn to your posse for help  after all, what are the matching gold necklaces for? There are moments where Hall has to chant to herself that she is strong, powerful and beautiful. No one is perfectly confident on their own, and it is easy to feel like when you fall you wont be able to get back up. That is what the women around you are for, and in Girls Trip we saw a celebration of platonic female friendships as worthy of attention and value.

FINAL THOUGHTS

KATE: It had its moments that really made me laugh, but there were parts that were just so terrible that it was almost funny. The whole peeing thing was just awful, but I loved it. It was just really funny. I wouldnt see it with my mom, but I would definitely see it again. I really liked going with the girls from the paper because I felt it was a really good newspaper bonding experience.

MIRA: Girls Trip gives you a wild hallucination scene followed by neon colored wigs followed by a dance-off followed by a bar fight. And a girl gang complete with bad a$$ b*tches is the most central aspect of this movie? Depiction of women having fun with each other? Bodily functions?? Um yes please. Give me more female friendship like this on the screen. Highly recommend.

CANDACE: I dont think I will see this movie again. It was very predictable but I laughed. Rather, Im inspired to go on my own Girls Trip and surround myself with femme power. I do hate though that in order for a movie to show raw women, it still used harmful tropes. The dark-skinned woman was the homewrecker and malicious, and looking out for other femmes only applied to good women, the ones who dont put themselves in messy situations. I guess its asking too much to have a film that portrays all women as worthy of respect.

 Keli Vitaoli 19
Many Americans share an interest in their immigrant history. Some of our ancestors had forced migration due to slavery or other dire economic and political conditions. Political organizing and action that strives for the common good by everyday citizens has improved conditions for many. Many of us value living in a country that strives to give people a fair shot at succeeding, especially our youth, yet realize there is much more to be done.

It is estimated that today 11 million undocumented immigrants are living under threat of deportation without any pathway to citizenship in our country. Immigration reform issues are complex, and have stymied many politicians seeking bi-partisan policy solutions. The current vulnerability and fear facing immigrant youth and their families over massive deportation threats is an example of mean-spirited policy changes that weaken our collective moral standing in the world community.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was begun in 2012 as a way for young, undocumented immigrants to legally apply to work, obtain a drivers license, pay taxes, continue their education and live free from fear of deportation as long as they stayed out of trouble. Personal family tax and address information was shared with the government in this application. DACA basically grants prosecutorial discretion over deportation of immigrants for a two-year period, then another application and fee must be submitted.

Recently, I attended a rally in Janesville that included immigrant justice activists from four other states, plus many from Wisconsin. Most of the people attending were under 30. Many youth self-identified as students or workers. Their stories were painful, unsettling, and yet inspirational. They spoke of their fears, challenges, and dreams. They are part of the 800,000 Asian, Latino, and other immigrant youth being threatened with deportation if DACA is not protected. They are fighting for their part of the American Dream. They need us today as allies.

Currently there are 10 anti-immigrant states that have given President Trump until Sept. 5 to repeal DACA or be sued despite the fact that all previous constitutional challenges to DACA having failed. At a televised CNN Town Hall meeting on Jan. 13, our Congressman Paul Ryan, told a DACA student to not worry about deportation forces coming. Our current President had campaigned saying he would end DACA. Last week the Washington Post reported that Elaine Duke, the acting Department of Homeland Security secretary, Thomas Homan, the director of lmmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other top officials are reviewing the status of DACA.

Tuesday, Sept. 5, is DACA Decision Day, where President Trump is to declare his decision. It could come sooner.

FWD.us is a group working to mobilize the tech industry to promote policies that keep the U.S. competitive in a global environment by fixing a broken immigration system and reforming our criminal justice system. According to FWD.us, 78 percent of Republicans polled support continuing the DACA program. DACA helps to grow a stronger economy. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., and the House Hispanic Caucus, have estimated there will be $460 billion dollars lost to our gross national product over the next 10 years if the 680,000 current workers are deported. FWD.us polling maintains there is strong bi-partisan agreement to renew DACA because it is the right thing to do.

Today we need our 1st District congressman and House Speaker Paul Ryan to leverage his considerable leadership to influence the president to not eliminate or reverse DACA through executive order. Many of us have visited or phoned Ryans office, but have not heard any recent public comment from him supporting the DACA program.

Now is the time, Congressman Paul Ryan. Help us defend DACA today. Issue a loud, clear public message of support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals before it is too late.
Achyut Wagle holds PhD in economics and is currently a professor at the Kathmandu University School of Management. He is an econo-political analyst, writing for The Kathmandu Post for many years.
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday directed the government-run Navodaya Vidyalayas to adopt solar energy and to ensure that future buildings be compliant with solar and water-harvesting.

Addressing the 35th meeting of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), the Minister said rainwater and solar energy harvesting should form part of the proposals for new building plans.

He also directed that these schools explore the possibility of having water harvesting facilities and biogas plants in existing campuses, a statement from the Ministry said.

Javadekar applauded the students on their performance in Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Exam and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (in which, out of 14,183 students who appeared, a total of 11,875 qualified), and exhorted them to connect with the Navodaya alumni who can help them in training for the entrances.

While reviewing the functioning of NVS, the Minister directed the Samiti to conduct study of positive impact of students and teachers living together, teachers living together in school campus, and health improvement of students.
In India, as in many other agricultural societies, the problem of work-life balance did not arise. This is because the rhythm in agriculture is consistent with the family life. However, as we enter into global competition, there is an increasing workstress.

A study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations found that Indias rapid economic expansion has enhanced corporate profits and incomes but has sparked a surge in work place stress that only few companies have addressed.

In fact, this particular pressure is stressing our employees more than workers in any of the countries surveyed.

For example, 61 per cent of employees in mid-sized firms have reported higher levels of stress against 55 per cent in small business.

This could be due to the potential of downsizing. With increasing competition and no fixed hours, employees feel that they are losing balance between their work and family life. In this connection, Sarang Panchal of the Nielson Company said, In the last few years, we have noticed a number of new opportunities opening up for the Indians especially in the service sector.

However, better opportunities along with good packages and growth prospects bring in a long work schedule leaving individuals with very little time to balance their work and life. Demanding careers have dominated the lives of many young Indians for some time now and it takes a toll on their family life. It is not a surprise then that most consider work-life balance as their biggest concern.

The economic environment also emphasises a higher rate of GDP growth. Indias growth rate has increased dramatically from what was pessimistically referred to by economist Raj Krishna as the Hindu rate of growth of below two per cent in the 1980s to a rate of 7.6 per cent in2015- 2016. However, an increasing rate of growth does not come free. Working women are especially hard hit by the increasing work-life imbalance.

Many believe that even though they work outside the home, it is not their primary source of fulfillment from life. Although the employment and status has been changing due to the forces of modernisation and industrialisation, this change has been slow. There is also huge drop-out rate for women in the workforce.

Although there are no statistics who suffer from work-life imbalance, it could be logically argued that current trends in employment are against their improving work-life balance. It must be mentioned that workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing and the hunting industry seem to have a lower prevalence compared to all employed adults including women.

Organisational structures which are as yet hierarchical despite globalisation play a major part in employee stress caused by lack of control on the job.

Even though there is a trend for working from home in Western countries, this does not imply lesser conflicts. One has to finish work in a timebound fashion even if he/she works at home. They cannot abandon their accountability because of the working from home.

In the corporate world, emergencies frequently arise and require to work beyond regular hours. This form of conflict occurs when work demands make it more difficult to fulfill family role responsibilities.

Sometimes, the job is not well-defined and may involve the employee in multiple frustrations resulting in conflicts. Many organisations believe that work-life balance initiatives can be part of health and safety programmes.

For this, the suggestion is a strong health and safety policy for employees. But this solution is lopsided. Instead of merely focusing on such issues, it is important to look at holistic solutions. When people are asked to work beyond their capacity, they get frustrated. And there is no mechanism in the company for venting this frustration. There is also no one size fits all answer.

Psychologists have offered many solutions for job stress in the workplaces including the stress caused by work-life imbalance. They advised the employees to reduce job stress by practicing yoga, getting help from spouses and in-laws. Women employees are encouraged to use labour saving devices at home and cooking easy recipes for meals.

Thus, a more flexible schedule of work may ameliorate this problem. In many countries, there is a five day workweek with few public holidays. The new work arrangement has not reduced but increased the productivity.

In contrast, we have a sixday workweek in India, but more than 20 public holidays. Such excessive can be rationalised and the workweek may be reduced.

(The writer is a consultant and copywriter)
More than a month after Supreme Court declared void the Assam government act that allowed appointment of parliamentary secretaries, equivalent to the status of a Minister of State, all the seven parliamentary secretaries of Mizoram on Thursday resigned from their posts.

Talking to the media, Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said the seven parliamentary secretaries had quit their posts of their own will to dedicate themselves to work for the party. He has accepted the resignations.

The Supreme Court passed an order and we had to abide by it. Besides, as Mizoram is going to the polls next year-end, we all concentrate more for the party organisational work, the Chief Minister said.

The parliamentary secretaries, who have resigned, are K.S. Thanga, Lt. Col. Z.S. Zuala (retired), H. Zothangliana, Joseph Lalhimpuia, T. T. Zothansanga, K. Lalrinthanga and Hmingdailova Khiangte.

Lal Thanhawla, who is also the President of Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee, however, on Thursday evening appointed all the former parliamentary secretaries as partys general secretaries.

A Congress party statement said that the former parliamentary secretaries were appointed party general secretaries to reinforce the party organisation in view of the state assembly polls due next year end.

Political analyst felt that the mass resignation came in the wake of the apex courts July 26 ruling on the Assam Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004.

Mizoram became the first state in the northeast to execute the Supreme Court ruling.

The apex court ruling, however, does not have any bearing on the present Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Assam as it has not appointed any Parliamentary Secretary so far but affects the other northeastern states that have Parliamentary Secretaries.

Parliamentary secretaries are appointed as a matter of political pressure.

Other Northeastern states  Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya too have parliamentary secretaries  with the Nagaland has the highest number of parliamentary secretaries of 26 and Manipur had 12 Parliamentary Secretaries, six of whom quit their posts recently after being made members of various committees.
Bollywood actress Kriti Sanon, who holds a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, was on Friday announced brand ambassador of Education New Zealand.

The move is aimed at strengthening bilateral educational ties between India and New Zealand. Kriti will drive the initiative aimed to attract aspiring students who are looking for a successful career overseas, read a statement.

Kriti, fresh off the success of her latest film Bareilly Ki Barfi, is thrilled. Education has played an important role in my growth, the emphasis on learning has been essential in our house.

I have had several friends and close family members who have chosen to study overseas and as a student I always enjoyed to explore new opportunities.

With New Zealands diverse offerings across courses and institutions, I look forward to engaging with the youth of our country about the same, she said.

The actress was a perfect fit for the role as she has a good educational background as well as a fan following among the youth, said John Laxon, Education New Zealands Regional Director  India, South East Asia and Middle East.

New Zealand has been looking to improve its Indian engagements in the tourism and education sectors. Earlier, they roped in Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra to endorse Tourism New Zealand.
Darjeeling folks rally against decision to postpone Gorkhaland Movement

Locals of Darjeeling in the West Bengal (WB) state of India have expressed their dissent over the move to postpone the indefinite protest programmes by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM).
We all are aware that the University of North Bengal forms a perfect ground for pursuing higher education but very few of us know that the campus area, spread across 300 acres, is an ideal birding destination.

Snuggled around 6.3 km from Siliguri at Raja Rammohanpur in the district of Darjeeling, it is a place bird watchers to head to. The destination can be accessed en route National Highway Number 10 and boasts of a variety of habitats ranging from floral and avian species, grasslands, tall trees and water bodies.

According to retired professor Ananda Mukhopadhyay, University of North Bengal, The campus has a patch of original forest land that has been protected for a long time and has an ideal environment for perching and nesting of avian species. There are two rivulets  Magurmari and Lachka  flowing through the campus.

Nowadays, Siliguri has become a concrete jungle and greenery is rapidly vanishing in and around the town. The scenario doesnt get any better in the university campus lying close to town. In order to conserve the dwindling avian habitat, we had taken an account of avian species visiting the university campus in 2014.

Mukhopadhyay had recorded 106 avian species in the university ground. A pertinent question arises whether there are any endangered avian species or winged birds facing the danger of extinction in the campus. Mukhopadhyay said, There are raptors that are carnivorous birds and vultures that have become vulnerable.

Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature, only those avian species that are likely to become endangered unless there is improvement in the environment have been categorised as vulnerable. That is caused mainly due to loss of habitat and destruction of the home of the species. So what initiatives are to be taken to conserve the campus and protect the avian habitat?

Mukhopadhyay, a member of Bombay Natural History Society, said, The maintenance of avian habitat with minimum interference from humans is highly desirable. Avian species constitute a significant link in the food chain and serve as biological control agents for plants. These species also save plants like timber, sal and jarool by taking up vermins and insects.

He also pointed out that the university campus can emerge as a significant birding destination. In todays world, rapid urbanisation and mushrooming of a large number of establishments are causing havoc with the avi-an eco-system. Mukhopadhyay said, People who are highly aware about avian diversity including nature-lovers, environmentalists and birdwatchers need to visit the university campus. It should not be crowded with those who have no concern for the environment.

Not far away from the University of North Bengal lies Phulbari barrage on river Teesta at a distance of five kms. Mukhopdhyay said, The Phulbari barrage is a sound avian ground and along with the university campus can turn into an avian retreat for nature lovers.
While most of us of the immediate post-Partition generation grew up hearing the horror stories of Partition and the HinduMuslim riots that shook the sub-continent, it is another thing to be able to attach names and faces to those stories, as first hand narratives tug at our heartstrings. Contented happy families with thriving businesses and careers suddenly found themselves homeless, jobless and more often than not torn from their kin, counted suddenly in the category of Refugee, life as they had known it, finished forever.

The enriching display ~ IIC, Kamala Devi Complex, till 8 September. Among thousands of others like her, this is the story of Shahezadi Begum, whose family decided to migrate from Delhi to East Pakistan soon after Partition, came to Dhaka and settled. But when riots broke out in 1971, followed by loot and arson they were taken into military custody and housed in Raja Bag for a month without even their basic needs, before being moved to Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur where they continue to live. Shehzadis sister went back to Kolkata and continued there. The sisters daughter went to Karachi, with Shehzadi unable to follow. Now, they have not seen one another for over forty-two years! Saleha Azam migrated from Jalandhar to Kamalia in Pakistan, with her family, escaping through an underground tunnel below their house. They were the last to flee alive so late into the night. On the way they found a baby lying, sucking its thumb. Salehas father picked it up and on reaching the next refugee camp found the infant belonging to one of the weeping mothers there.

Says Aiza Hussain, Salehas interviewer, Its been an exhilarating experience, one that changed my perception of Partition and people. Though Ive never visited India, I have begun to feel a very strong connection to it. Hamida Bano Begum, daughter of an Additional District Magistrate, while crossing from Ferozepur, her ancestral hometown, to Jhang, in newly created Pakistan, saw on the way in a deserted village, five dead men hung from bare, leafless trees! The bare trees seem to echo the barrenness of heart that could engender so much cruelty, destruction, and separation, literally burning down lives of people ~ reducing it to memory, longing and trauma. What an act of astounding futility, when today more numbers of Muslims continue to live as citizens of India, than those that total up between Bangladesh and Pakistan, the former regularly crossing under to make India their home! The 1947 Partition Archive is an international non-profit, non-government organisation, with a mission to institutionalise the peoples history of Partition through documenting, preserving and sharing eye witness accounts from Partition of what was then British India in 1947.

For this 1947 Archive has created a digital platform for anyone the world over to archive and display oral histories that document, besides Partition, pre-Partition life and culture as well as post-Partition migration and life changes. This is done with the help of volunteers from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, nationalities and professions, with over 4,300 stories recorded so far, even as the archive grows.
A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed on Friday in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan troops on the line of control in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district, police sources said.

A BSF trooper was killed when Pakistan Army violated ceasefire in Barnoi area of the LoC in Poonch. Indian positions have retaliated strongly and effectively, a police sources said.

The ceasefire violation came a day before the Muslim holy festival of Eid-ul-Adha.
The Maldives has reaffirmed its commitment to the India First policy in the wake of attempts by China to woo the Indian Ocean archipelago as part of Beijings string of pearls strategy to encircle India.

The Maldives practices and follows an Indian First policy when it comes to security and peace in the Indian Ocean, Maldives Ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed said in an interview to The Statesman when his attention was drawn to the fact that China was vigorously courting his country by making large-scale investments in various sectors there. The relationship we have with India has a special dimension to it. It is more interlinked. It is more engaging, he said.

Mohamed said the Maldives would like to be engaged with all its bilateral partners and enjoy cordial and friendly relations with all of them. India, the envoy said, was in a much better position than others to provide concessional financing for the developing needs of the Maldives and has much wider scope and space to further enhance and strengthen the special relationship.

Its certainly not a fact. I would categorically deny that, Mohamed said when asked if anti-India sentiments had been rising in his Indian Ocean nation, adding but when the voices of disgruntled politicians are perceived or portrayed as the reality, then such a question is quite possible.

When it was pointed out that the Maldives had been witnessing a prolonged period of political uncertainty, he regretted that despite many calls by the government for dialogue, the opposition had refused to be engaged. But I would not call this to be an uncertain situation. It is not only now, but there have been difficult periods in the past as well. But we have found solutions to overcome them.

Mohamed said Male had been telling the international community and other bilateral partners that all parties needed to participate in a national dialogue. The solution also needs to be home-grown. What has worked in one country may not necessarily be as effective in another country.

He said if any country wanted to help the Maldives, it should not offer prescriptive solutions but be engaged by holding Males hands and helping the country strengthen its democratic institutions. But if a segment of both the domestic and international community continues to rock the boat, the time it takes to reach a calm and safer harbour will be longer.

The Maldivian envoy acknowledged that SAARC has had difficulties in achieving its intended goals since the inception of the organisation. The Maldives strongly believes that SAARC member states must work towards the common good of all. The Maldives will remain committed to work with all our South Asian neighbours towards the greater good of all, he said.

He thanked India and its people for providing a very special gift to the South Asian region by launching the South Asian satellite. We believe that the South Asian satellite will help improve the lives of the people of South Asia.
The US intends to work with Pakistan in fighting terrorism, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said, underlining that any responsible nation would want to that.

The relations between the two countries have been strained lately after President Donald Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill Americans in Afghanistan.

We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think thats what a responsible nation does, Mattis said at a media briefing on Thursday.

The Trump administration recently notified the Congress that it has given USD 255 million worth of conditional military assistance to Islamabad that it can only be accessed if it takes more action against terror groups.

The (state) department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts, a state department official said.

The US took this decision as it had two options  either to give this money to Pakistan or return it back unused to the treasury department.

Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan, the official said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on August 22 that, Pakistan must adopt a different approach, and we are ready to work with them to help them protect themselves against terrorist organisations. We are going to be conditioning our support for Pakistan and our relationship with them on them delivering results in this area.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the move to hold back on the funds is the first in a series of possible actions Tillerson and others previewed last week.

Other steps to turn up the heat on Pakistan could include sanctioning Pakistani government officials and stepping up US drone strikes, as well as further reductions the in US aid, the financial daily said.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met her Sri Lankan counterpart Tilak Marapana and discussed key aspects of bilateral cooperation.

Swaraj, who is here to attend the 2nd Indian Ocean Conference, met Foreign Minister Marapana on the sidelines of the two-day meeting.

Partnership for progress and prosperity. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discusses bilateral cooperation with Tilak Marapana, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Swaraj discussed key aspects of bilateral relations with her Sri Lankan counterpart, the High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted.

Swaraj yesterday met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan.

The conference is being jointly organised by the India Foundation, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo.As a goodwill gesture, Sri Lanka had on Thursday released 76 Indian fishermen, on the occasion of visit of Swaraj to the country.
Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday favoured a 25 per cent increase in reservation to accommodate a few other castes.

Addressing a press conference here, the minister of state for social justice and empowerment said communities such as the Marathas in Maharashtra, the Patels in Gujarat and the Jats in Haryana were demanding reservation.

The central government should suitably change the law to meet their demand for quota.

He, however, said 77 per cent of the SC, ST and OBC population was availing 49.5 per cent reservation and it should not be touched. The creamy layer condition should be implemented.

The Union minister earlier reviewed centrally-aided projects related to the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and persons with disability at a meeting with state government officials here.
Shorn of the diplomatic grandstanding that has been reserved for the Pope in Myanmar, there are profound implications of the first papal visit to the predominantly Buddhist nation that has over the past few days been convulsed by renewed persecution of the Rohingya Muslims.

The minority segment on the border with Bangladesh has been buffeted from shore to shore in search of a home. The papacy has been a vocal critic of Myanmars harsh treatment of the Rohingyas or nowhere men, and the purported transition to democracy a little less than two years ago has done but little to assuage their suffering. The visit of Pope Francis comes at a particularly volatile juncture in Myanmar.

Last Sunday, the Pope again condemned the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and called on men and women of good faith to help them and ensure their full rights. Like his previous interventions, the comments are likely to infuriate nationalists who maintain that the Rohingyas are not Myanmarese but rather Bangladeshis with no right to live in the country. Seldom have human rights and the certitudes of international law been so flagrantly violated. Small wonder that the dispensation in Naypidaw is more than a little puzzled, if not a mite embarrassed as well, over the Popes visit.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the intriguing silence of Aung San Suu Kyi ~ the de facto head of the country ~ is testament to her failure to address a humanitarian issue. As her dilemma becomes increasingly uncomfortable, she is caught between religious nationalists and the still powerful military, which had ruled for decades prior to the watershed elections in November 2015, and western donors, and human rights organisations at another remove.

The latter, most particularly, have been critical of her failure to end ethnic strife and implement reforms. From the democratic prism, therefore, the effectiveness of her dispensation has been open to question. The latest confrontation between the security forces and militants of the self-styled Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) in Rakhine were reportedly the most lethal in recent memory, leaving more than 100 people dead.

No less crucially, the violence has led to the evacuation of nonMuslims. The hope of a democratic renaissance, that greeted Suu Kyis assumption of power early in 2016, is now in tatters. It is Myanmars tragedy that the inherent fragility of its democracy has been exposed. The fact of the matter is that the military remains ever so omnipotent, confident of the support of the Buddhist nationalists. Markedly, the military controls key segments of governance, including internal security. Yet it would be presumptuous on the part of the GHQ to imagine that the Popes visit underscores its acceptance in the international perspective.

The descent of the dove at Naypidaw airport cannot but be unnerving for the ruthless establishment. Suu Kyi has failed to keep her distance from the soldier
Since the judicial proceedings are at their initial stage and legal expertise will be tapped before any determination is made, use of a term like regressive may be unwarranted. Yet in the laywomans perception, the affidavit filed by the Central government in the Delhi High Court would point to an archaic attitude towards marital rape, and suggest that the establishment is immune to fresh thinking.

As proven by the contention that there is no reason for India to adopt practices adopted by the developed world. That, surely, will add to the criticism of the government not being open-minded, and raise questions of how the economy, industry etc can be modernised without a matching social transformation ~ and a legal system that translates into practical reality the myriad aspects of gender equality.

True that the case will in all likelihood reach the portals of the apex court, yet the formulation of the Centres affidavit sends out seemingly negative signals to forward-looking people. Does beti bachao beti padao stop at the doorstep of literacy? Or is the young professional woman condemed to be married off ~ or lip-service paid to her as a Devi?

Can she fly a stateof-the-art jetfighter and yet be deprived of full control of her body in her marital home?

Will these queries be addressed in the spirit of the new definition of privacy, and the thinking that junked the abhorrent practice of triple talaq? Without entering into the domain of legal technicalities, the many would need much convincing to accept that the concept of marital rape would destablise the institution of marriage ~ unless the aisle is accepted as a one-way street. Similarly, holding little water is the argument that a revised law would be open to misuse: if the anti-dowry law has infirmities it can be amended, but there can be no denying that most instances of misuse are with the connivance of the law-enforcing agencies.

Only the village idiot will lap up the argument that the question of marital rape is better addressed by social action rather than legal pronouncement ~ if social action sufficed there would no need for reservations for the downtrodden, caste would have long-been eradicated etc. Why, even Yogi Adityanaths Anti-Romeo squad would have been jobless.

Or the desire for a common civil code would have dissipated long ago, and no need would have arisen for a saffron-wearing MP to classify the populace as Ramzadas and haramzadas.

It is, admittedly, unfair to draw so many conclusions from a single affidavit ~ possibly a poorly drafted document. There will certainly be close monitoring of legal developments and whether the judiciary will maintain its progressive thinking.

And yet another nagging question: are our political and social systems so decrepit that the courts have to tell us how to conduct all our affairs?
A frustrated judge in an English (adversarial) court finally asked a barrister after witnesses had produced conflicting accounts, Am I never to hear the truth? No, my lord, merely the evidence, replied counsel.

Peter Murphys illustration about the adversarial justice delivery system is 100 per cent true when we discuss the Indian justice delivery system. The ongoing uproar on conviction of Baba Ram Rahim is the result of a 15-year long trial by a specialised court that is meant to be speedier than ordinary courts. When the first time idea of a special court was introduced, it was resisted on the ground that it was against rule of law.

The Apex Court in Anwar Ali Case and Kathi Ranning Rawat Case upheld special courts on the ground that they were based on doctrine of reasonable classification i.e. there may be certain offences whose trial requires priority over the rest and when this is intended they should be tried more speedily than other offences.

It would require in certain respects a departure from the procedure prescribed for the general class of offences. However, speedy administration of justice, especially in the field of the law of crimes is a necessary characteristic of every civilized Government and there is not much point in stating that there is a class of offences that require such speedy trial. The trial of Ram Rahim once again validates the insistent crisis in the Indian criminal justice system.

The accusations against Gurmeet Ram Rahim were made by a Dera Sadhvi (2002) by writing an anonymous letter to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The letter also alleged that accused Gurmeet was involved in sexual exploitation of many female followers inside the Dera. The Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognizance of the Sadhvis letter and directed the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) to register a case against the Dera chief (2002). The CBI filed the charge sheet in 2007 and the trial commenced in 2008.

It took nine years to come to the conclusion that Ram Rahim was guilty. Ram Rahim is also facing trial in two separate murder cases. One is of Dera follower Ranjit Singh in July 2002 and the second of journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati in October 2002. He has under our constitutional system the right to appeal and many forums are still to be exhausted before final conviction. If this is the state of affairs in a specialised criminal court then we need to seriously think about our adversarial justice delivery system.

The adversarial system of justice administration was espoused in common law countries. It relies mainly on the skills of the advocates representing their clients positions rather than on some neutral party, usually the judge, trying to ascertain the truth of the case.

Such judges decide often when called upon by counsel rather than of their own motion what evidence is to be admitted when there is a dispute. In the adversarial model, the parties are responsible for initiating and conducting the litigation. In addition, the parties bear primary responsibility for determining the sequence and manner in which evidence is to be presented and legal issues are to be argued.

The underlying principle of the adversarial system is innocentuntil-proved-guilty. Adversarial system is also sometimes characterised by high costs, delays, contributing to a regime of plea bargaining, uncertainty of law, lawyer-dominated approach and lack of parity of powers between the two parties to the litigation.

The natural consequence of this mode is that justice is like any other commodity to be purchased only by those who can afford its cost. Formal not effective access to justice and formal not effective equality is all that is sought. To deliver speedy criminal justice, it is indispensable to have a timebound mechanism for hearing, arguing and deciding, including appeals.

A law can be enacted prescribing an upper limit of time by which a criminal case has to be finally decided. This could be a maximum of six months or one year depending upon the complexity of the crime. All stakeholders  namely the accused, police, lawyers, witnesses, judges at various levels  have got to become accountable for finalising the case before the prescribed time-limit.

For any deviation from the limit, they must assign reasons for non-compliance in writing. Another issue which crops up frequently is that of witnesses turning hostile. They declare the truth at the commencement of the case and later give opposite evidence in the court or they refuse to attend the court. This arises either due to the fear of the accused and the police or due to inducements of different types.

A strict mechanism has to be evolved for preventing the witness turning hostile. The Malimath Committee gave its apprehensive consideration to the question whether this system is satisfactory or whether we should consider recommending any other system. The Committee as an alternative studied in particular the inquisitorial system followed in France, Germany and other Continental countries. The inquisitorial system is undeniably effective in the sense that the investigation is supervised by the judicial magistrate which results in a high rate of conviction. However, the Committee on equilibrium realised that a fair trial and in particular, fairness to the accused, are better protected in the adversarial system.

However, the Committee felt that some of the good features of the Inquisitorial System can be adopted to strengthen the Adversarial System and to make it more operative and efficient. This includes the duty of the Court to search for the truth, to assign a proactive role to the judges to give directions to the investigating officers and prosecution agencies and leading evidence with the object of seeking the truth and focusing on justice to victims.

But these suggestions were ignored by the government. What is at stake here is not judges, the judiciary or governance, but the very process of human and economic capital-building and accumulation  to meet Indias international commitment at the UN and to achieve the millennial goals through sustainable development.

The incessant denial of parity of power and helplessness to pause politico-criminal nexus erodes the very constitutional idea of India  an India whose courts ought to deliver justice within a reasonable time, estimated by the normal human life cycle.

(The writer is Associate Professor of Law, National Law University of Odisha.)
Detour routes raise costs

Nepali importers have complained that they are being forced to pay higher charges by customs house agents (CHAs) for using alternate routes to ship cargo from Kolkata to Biratnagar after the railway line linking it with Jogbani in India was damaged by the recent floods.
In a diplomatic victory, India and China have agreed to disengage from the standoff in Doklam on Bhutanese territory. On 28 August, the Ministry of External Affairs announced expeditious disengagement of border personnel at Doklam, signalling that the 74-day standoff in the disputed India-ChinaBhutan Trijunction has come to an end.

India has always maintained that it is only through diplomatic channels that such matters can be addressed. Its principled position is that agreements and understandings reached on boundary issues must be scrupulously respected. By the end of the day, as Indian troops withdrew from their post at Doka La, Chinese troops and their road-building equipment too were removed from the face-off site. The standoff has been on since June 15 when Indian troops physically stopped the PLA from building a road on the Doklam plateau.

Trouble erupted when Chinese soldiers began extending a road through Doklam, known as Donglang in China. India deployed troops to stop the construction, prompting Beijing to accuse it of trespass. It warned that the impasse could lead to a wider military confrontation. Its state-controlled media also launched an aggressive PR campaign against India.

Tensions were further inflamed when Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with stones and sticks near the Pangong Lake in the Ladakh sector earlier this month. During the standoff period, Beijing had launched a psychological warfare on the borders of Tibet and Arunchal Pradesh by carrying out exercises with live ammunition just to show off its strength. However, it had no effect on the Indian army. NSA Ajit Doval conducted the negotiations at various levels ~ first, during his visit to China in July, when he held discussions with his counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Next, foreign secretary S Jaishankar led the diplomatic talks with the Chinese side, helped by Indias ambassador to China, Vijay Gokhale, who worked ceaselessly with the Chinese government over the last couple of months to achieve an outcome that would be acceptable to both sides. The army chief and eastern area commander also played a key role in strategically deploying its troops in the war zone. Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said on 29 August that Indias restraint in the face of Chinas belligerent rhetoric worked in the countrys favour, even as the defence establishment did not rule out pinpricks from PLA along LAC.

Incidentally, India also provided China with a facesaving exit. Chinas initial response on 28 August was to confine itself to saying that only Indian troops had withdrawn from the site, and that they would continue to maintain sovereignty on the Doklam plateau. India did not contest this publicly until in the afternoon, when a second Indian statement clarified that both sides had withdrawn under verification.

Post-disengagement, China will continue to patrol the region as it had done earlier, but there will be no road construction activity. The resolution comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to China for the BRICS summit in September.

It also comes before a crucial 19th communist party meeting in December when Xi Jinping expects to be cleared for another five years and he will choose the core group of leaders who will rule China for the next five years. Top-level sources have also clarified that India had not asked either the US or Russia to intervene on its behalf. While Russia maintained a studied silence, the US made a general statement calling for peaceful negotiations.

It was only Japan, which issued a detailed statement on the Doklam issue, largely accepting the Indian point of view. What is not yet clear is whether this disengagement would lead to boundary negotiations between India and China in the coming months.

There have been no boundary negotiations for some years. Ever since 1962, loyal Bhutan always stood by Indias side. Since India had a festering border dispute, it also kept dragging its border talks with China despite several blandishments including a seat in the UN Security Council.

Nor did it permit China to open an embassy in Bhutan. For a country that aims to overtake the US, this Bhutanese demurral rankles and China did what it knows best ~ it tried to militarily pressurise Bhutan with a road at Doklam.

The Indian Armys intervention sabotaged Chinas game-plan, leading to the standoff and an unending cascade of angry remonstrations. Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi would also have realised that this standoff was diminishing their political capital. Pseudo-nationalists on both sides were on the rise. Their high-pitched economic boycott call forced New Delhi to bend with the wind: anti-dumping duty was slapped on 93 Chinese products and its hot-selling mobile phones are under the intelligence scanner.

Xi is also under attack from his domestic opponents. A reverse on the border would have not only weakened his position at home but would have emboldened the South China Sea rivals to frontally tackle China. The strategic bad blood between India and China will continue. But for the moment, Xi and Modi have patched up with disengagement for peace.

The Indians went in with two demands: (i) China should not change the ground realities unilaterally and (ii) China should respect the 2012 understanding on trijunctions.

This was detailed by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in Parliament where she said, Point 13 of the common understanding states that the Trijunction boundary points between India, China and third countries will be finalised in consultation with the concerned countries. Since 2012, we have not held any discussion on the Trijunction with Bhutan.

The Chinese action in the Doklam area is therefore of concern. During the negotiations, sources said, India held the line that bilateral relations would be affected if China did not ensure peace and tranquillity on the border. This could happen only if there was a reversal of the status quo. The two sides only came to an understanding after continued conversations and a realisation in China that India would not move from the ground until they withdrew. Neither side spoke officially on the status of the road whose construction by Chinese troops had triggered the standoff in mid-June, but sources said the area had been almost cleared and bulldozers had been sent back.

India had said the road would alter the status quo in the region and have serious security implications. In the light of the changes of the situation on the ground, China will make necessary adjustment and deployment, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

The decision has put a lid on one of the most serious disputes between the nucleararmed neighbours who share a 3,500-km mountain frontier that remains undemarcated in most places. India will have to keep a strict vigil on the border areas of the Trijunction even during winter so that it is not taken by surprise with the PLAs sudden occupation of the undemarcated areas.

(The writer is a retired professor of International trade. He may be reached at [email protected])
Akhila Ashokan, a 24- year-old medical student from a village near Kottayam married a 27- year-old Muslim youth, Shefin Jehan, on 19 December 2016, the year 11 Muslim youth from Kerala disappeared, allegedly to join ISIS.

Therbiyat Islam Sabha of Kozhikode, not a banned organisation, is reported to have facilitated Akhilas conversion to Islam and taking on the name Hadiya. KM Ashokan, Akhilas father was distraught as his only daughter married without his consent and, at that, a man from another religious community.

He moved the Kerala High Court seeking annulment of Akhilas marriage. A Division Bench comprising Justices Surendra Mohan and Mary Joseph annulled the marriage on the grounds that parents of Akhila were neither present at her wedding, nor had they given consent. The learned judges called the marriage a sham.

The Bench did not ascertain from Akhila, who is not a minor, whether she was forced into marriage by any hidden persuaders. Her testimonies that all her actions were voluntary and no coercion was involved were ignored by the court which committed her in parental custody in May this year.

Since then she has been kept under surveillance in the two-room tenament of her parents, guarded round-the-clock by a posse of 37 personnel of the Kottayam district police. She is not even allowed to complete her medical course. Freedom of religion, which includes freedom to profess, practise and propagate, is guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Akhila, aka Hadiya, continues to practise Islam, even in captivity, much to the chagrin of her parents who have pinned their hopes on the Supreme Court approached by her husband, Shefin Jehan, himself a convert to Islam from Hinduism, to uphold the annulment granted by the Kerala High Court.

A Bench of the Supreme Court comprising the then Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud on 16 August directed the National Investigation Agency, a counter-terror organisation, to probe the conversion and marriage of Akhila which was annulled by the Kerala High Court on the ground it was a case of love Jihad.

When Jehans lawyer Kapil Sibal requested the court to interview Akhila, Justice Khehar referred to the Blue Whale challenge, the internet game that provokes players to do self-destructive tasks before taking the ultimate step of death by suicide. Such things can drive people to do anything, he said. Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the Kerala police to share the details of their investigation in the case with the NIA.

Retired Supreme Court Judge RV Raveendran has been directed to supervise the entire investigation. Before taking a final call, the court shall require the presence of the girl. It will decide the issue after getting inputs from all, including the NIA, Kerala government and others, the Bench observed.

The court said that it was entrusting the investigation to the NIA as a neutral agency to get a whole picture and to ascertain whether the particular case was an isolated one or there was something wider to the issue. Ashokan, father of Akhila, alleged there was a well-oiled systematic mechanism for conversion and Islamic radicalization in place in Kerala.

Every Muslim-non-Muslim marriage cannot be construed as Love Jihad. The allegation is that Muslim leaders sponsor young men with leisure, money, accessories and training to fall in love with unsuspecting Hindu or Christian girls and persuade them to convert to Islam.

Tradition has it that Sage Parasurama created Kerala by causing the Arabian Sea to recede and gave it to Brahmins, known as Namboodiris, brought from the north. It is to the credit of Adi Sankara of Kerala that he had established the glory of Vedanta over the whole of India, from Dwaraka to Assam and Kanyakumari to Kashmir, in the course of a tour of just 16 years.

According to the Mohenjodaro epigraph, Kerala became a distinct political and geographical entity by 2,500 BC. If the 100 per cent Hindu population of the State has come down to 55 per cent by now and Muslims and Christians constitute 27 and 18 per cent respectively, it can be attributed to Keralas early contact with the outside world, notably Arabia, Egypt and Rome.

St Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, reached Kerala in 52 AD and a section of Namboodiris converted to Christianity and ever since the community has been growing in the State.

History tells us that Islam entered India by conquest, beginning with a military invasion through the north-west frontier in 711 AD, followed by the Ghazni raids in the 11th century, the slave dynasty in the 13th century and finally the Mughals, but is silent on its arrival in Kerala through peaceful conversion much earlier, during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad himself.

Kerala then was a part of the Chera Empire, one of the three empires that flourished in South India. Cheraman Perumal ruled Kerala from the ancient port city of Kodungallur and heard about the Prophet first from Arab traders who frequented his kingdom.

Curious by nature, Perumal wanted to know more about the new religion first hand. Abdicating his throne, he divided his kingdom among family members and set sail for Arabia. He met the Prophet in Jeddah and converted to Islam. The Prophet renamed Perumal as Tajuddin and he became a great friend of Malik Ibn Dinar, a disciple of the Prophet. Dinar gave his sister Raziya Beebi in marriage to Tajuddin, aka Perumal.

On his return journey he fell ill and died at Zafar in Yemen where he was buried. Before his death Perumal wrote letters to Chera chieftans to whom he had entrusted his kingdom, asking them to extend all assistance to Arabs visiting Kodungalluur, cradle of the major religions of the world and known for its cultural syncretism.

The Prophet, meanwhile, had deputed Dinar to propagate the tenets of Islam and spread the new religion in the Chera kingdom.

Armed with the letter of introduction from Perumal, Dinar and entourage, which included Raziya Beebi, called on the new rulers of Cheraman who allotted the visitors Arathali temple along with its lands. Dinar built the Cheraman Juma Masjid on the temple land in 629 AD, claimed to be one of the oldest in Islamdom, and became its first Ghazi.

Buried in its south-eastern corner are the mortal remains of Malik Ibn Dinar and Raziya Beebi, widow of Cheraman Perumal.

The original masjid was built in the style of Kerala temples with gabled roof and kuthuvilaku (brass oil lamp) and a pond in the front. In the 1980s, a superstructure was built over the original structure with minarets and a dome to give it an Islamic look.

This little known Kerala mosque was made world famous by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he presented a gold-plated replica of it to King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islams most sacred Masjid at Haram in Mecca and Masjid al Nabawi in Medina, during his visit to the kingdom last year.

For the first time in the history of Kerala, conversion to Islam from Hinduism or Christianity has become suspect in the eyes of law enforcement authorities. When a woman converts to Islam, it is dubbed love Jihad.

That seems to be the case with Akhila. The Kerala police so far has not been able to produce a shred of evidence that there was any deception or fraud in her conversion and marriage.

Sharing a room with her Muslim friends Jaseena and Faseena from 2011 to 2015 while studying homoeopathy in Salem, Tamil Nadu, Akhila was attracted by their religious rituals and practices and started observing them. She accepted Islam as her faith in 2015.

The Preamble to the Constitution postulates that the people of India have resolved to constitute India as a sovereign, democratic Republic to secure for its citizens, among other things, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Only on 17 August, a ninejudge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in the Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd) and others versus the Union of India, endorsed these as Fundamental Rights. Should Akhila be deprived of her Fundamental Rights?

(The writer is a veteran journalist and former Director of The Statesman Print Journalism School)
Asieh Amini was only a small child when the Iranian Revolution transformed Iran, ushering out the old order and bringing in the new, purportedly religious, one. It was a welcome change for her family who were rural and religious.

When the violence was over, her maternal uncle, Ayatollah Gilani, became the chief justice under the new judiciary. Aminis life did not change much, although the family lost some of their landholdings and became middle class. She grew up and went to study journalism in Tehran. Not long after, she began working at a hard-line publication that was controlled by the state. Before long, she made progress and was promoted as the head of a section supervising many older male journalists.

They tried to get her to quit but she refused. Even so, she never considered herself a feminist. It was at another newspaper that she met her husband. In 1997, the more reformist-minded president Khatami had been elected and he had allowed many new publications to open up. By the time the pair got married, however, hard-line clerics who opposed the freedoms Khatami had granted to the press exerted their clout.

The publication was banned and the newlyweds were left without work. It was motherhood that seemed to really open Asiehs eyes as to how unfairly the burdens of having a family are distributed between men and women. As she weathered the tribulations of pregnancy and motherhood, her husband kept working just as before.

Eventually, she too managed to get another job and returned to work. In the summer of 2004, she travelled to the interior of Iran to investigate the case of a young girl named Sahaleh who had been put to death. A discrepancy in reporting had got her attention; the official reports said that Sahaleh had been 22 years old but everyone she spoke with said that she had only been 16. When she met and spoke with the girls family members she found out the truth.

The young girls mother had died and her father was a drug addict. She had been sent to live with grandparents who were too poor and too old to take care of her. She was only nine years old. It was there that a neighbour raped her and then paid her to keep quiet; she used the money to buy food to eat. When she was 13 years old she was arrested by Irans morality police and a judge sentenced her to 100 lashes.

A few more arrests followed and then one day an execution. International law forbids the execution of a juvenile and Sahalehs age was falsified. Asieh Amini saw the girls actual birth certificate and identified the cover up. The paper she worked for refused to publish the girls story; it was only published, in edited form, by a different womens publication. Asieh Amini had changed forever; she had awoken to the reality of what poor women in Iran faced even at the hands of a supposedly Islamic judicial system. In the days and months that followed, she devoted herself to uncovering similar travesties of her countrys justice system.

There were girls raped by family members who were turned in as being prostitutes, ages and documents were changed, and stoning, a punishment that was outlawed in Iran even under the Islamic Republic, was carried out in villages regardless of the decree. In one case, Amini herself travelled to a village where an alleged stoning had taken place. A villager showed her stones still stained with blood.

The woman had begged and screamed but the crowd had no mercy. This last fact led Amini start her own organisation Stop Stoning Forever. The group tried to mobilise civil society against the enactment of stoning punishments, opening cases and investigating them. Their office was swamped with cases and calls. Difficult times followed.

In 2007, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was president and he did not care much for either the press or NGO-based agitators for womens rights and judicial reform. Amini was tried on trumped-up charges and then became seriously ill from stress and exhaustion. As pressure increased, there was more dissension within the campaign, and then in 2009 Ahmadinejad won a second term. Not long after, a woman who had just been released from prison came to Aminis door and told her she should leave the country. She did.

Asieh Amini represents a generation of Iranians that only really know their country as the Islamic Republic of Iran. She was raised and educated entirely in Iran and her uncle was a high-ranking cleric. She did not have any of the influences that men in the Muslim world hold responsible for instilling noxious Western ideas; she did not even accept or concern herself with the label feminist.

What Amini did do was invest her efforts in changing a system that was inflicting cruelty and injustice on women who were helpless and hapless even while it pretended to be truly Islamic. That fact  the idea that she wished for change and that she thought that women deserved more, that abused young girls could not just be killed and forgotten  ultimately forced her into exile, into life in a foreign country where she can only watch her own from afar.

This is the condition of many women who choose to raise their voices in the Muslim world. As soon as they make their dissent public and raise their voice, to expose what lies behind pious exteriors they are immediately labelled as tainted by Western influences and the immoral feminist ideas they bring with them.

The slander heaped on them, then, is its own metaphorical death, a kind of destruction just as tragic as the actual robbing of life. Pakistani society is a champion at this practice; there are many Asieh Aminis here, silenced, sometimes killed, all for the crime of raising a voice, demanding a more equal life.

(Dawn/ANN)
Well, it looks downhill on the map and even sounds ditto: From the Pyrenees to the Sea. I was vaguely expecting a stately, five-day descent from the cool mountains that nudge the French border to the agreeable Catalan village where Salvador Dali kept a house in Spains northeastern corner. But what went down also went up. The climb was as good as the descent, and it was pretty much completely exhilarating.

Having gotten a train to Dalis birthplace, Figueres, we did indeed start off up in the mountains, a stones throw from France. And we were so were filled with the romance about sun-dappled uplands and how, nearly 80 years earlier, foppish Brits equipped only with tweed jackets and idealistic zeal had arrived in the dead of night to do their bit against fascism.

The first night was cool. Positively chilly, actually, and wet, even in late May, but it gave us something to look back on in smug accomplishment. The first days walking, through thickly wooded and wonderfully unfarmed, precipitous hills was a very roundabout route up to the village of Macanets de Cabrenys (only three kilometres as the crow flies), a well-appointed bolt hole for hot Catalans in the summer, but seemingly deserted otherwise. This was something of a limb-loosener and gave us an early opportunity to get lost to no great detriment. In fact, as we were to find, the route-work by our tour operator, Inntravel, could not be faulted all week, but it would not be a proper holiday without an argument about the route.

My wifes infallible assertions about grandes randonnees and tracks carved by generations of travellers as we stumbled into the ever more impenetrable undergrowth and the stars twinkled ever brighter became a bit of a chorus. Anyway, it all served to produce a feeling of virtue and good health, topped off by a swim and sauna back at the hotel La Central, a curious former hydroelectric plant converted into a spa.

The next day a taxi arrived to take us down across the Llobregat valley to our second hotel, the spectacular Can Xiquet, on the edge of the village of Cantallops. This was to be another day of not so much walking from A to B with bags going on ahead, as walking from A to B then back to A, but it was none the worse for that.

The sun had come out and we were getting the hang of it. Moving rapidly past some of the most beautifully situated slaughterhouses in Europe, mercifully just a brief reminder that people have to earn a living somehow, we began a dizzying climb up to the castle of Requesens, overlooking Albera Natural Park, through a riot of lizards, woodchats, shrike, redstarts, hoopoe, dark blue bees and clouded yellow butterflies.

The air was scented with lavender and fennel. Our route was almost unhindered by other walkers and, as fatigue and fractiousness began to encroach on our bliss, we wondered if there really would be any lunch to be had in so deserted a spot. We need not have worried. We came across a particularly remote and absurdly beautiful farmhouse and diffidently wondered if they might have a glass of water. We were met by a scene straight from Volume I of the Ludicrous Holiday Fantasies of Soppy Brits who romanticise the Locals (but which never really happen) textbook.

There was a room heaving with ruddy-faced Pyreneean types, beaming expansively and inviting los ingleses to join them in their hearty lunch of cold cuts of delicious but not necessarily approved local meats, complete with buckets-full of robust red wine. And, yes, it really would have been rude not to. In fact, this was not someones house, nor was it a Stella Artois ad, but the most rustic of restaurants.

Our new friends were a club of middle-aged walkers from across the border in France, clearly in no need of lessons in enjoying oneself. The long walk down was made easier by dreamy thoughts of transnational fraternity. That was a bit of a highlight, but more was to follow.

The walk had taken its toll, so the following day we cheated and got a cab part of the way before jumping out to walk through some fairly intensive viticulture to our next base, a delightful tryst at the village of Garriguella.

Not for the first time, even in a fairly popular part of the country and only 12 km from the sea, we barely saw a car during our walk, a reminder of the hugeness of Spain. Our overnight base was a chance to see a more modest facet of the country. We bought ourselves a picnic of bread, local sausage, asparagus soup and fruit, consumed at our couldnt-be-more accommodating hostess kitchen table.

A little bogus it may have been this was a business transaction but we did feel we were doing the getting to know you thing with some outstandingly nice people. Then, the last two days of walking. The first of these, up and over the cliffs towards the sea, was spectacular, taking in the precipitously situated (originally ninth-century) Benedictine monastery of San Pere de Rodes.

Down we trundled, following the steep and rocky descent to Port de la Selva, a former fishing village and now a resort, mostly modernised but not unpleasantly so, where we stayed at the Hotel Porto Cristo. The final leg, up and over the peninsula, took us through the Cap de Creus Natural Park, another remarkably barely built-upon chunk of curiously treeless terrain, with spectacular views to the Mediterranean.

Our final days walk was a demanding 13- km worth over tricky-though-not-ruinous terrain and took most of the day. But after several days of wholesomeness and happy evening unwinding, we were able to take it in our stride. So, when we reached Cadaques, the El Dorado of our trip late on Day Five, we were bursting with fitness but also ready to relax. And relaxing is what Cadaques, a preposterously pretty but now thriving holiday spot, is ideally suited to.

Our hotel, the Playa Sol, could not have been closer to the warm, docile sea; the sort of place Mr Ripley might have chosen to end someones days. Here, a visit to one of the several excellent fish restaurants is obligatory, even if the intrusion of foreign tourism has reached the stage where one was advertising gambas, but this was the exception that proved the rule.

The place has managed to retain its charm. A walk to Dalis last home was another aspect that stays in the memory, as did the swim, yes, it was just about warm enough in a brilliantly clear sea en route. Beware the urchins, though. They stay in the foot. (The Independent)
A London-based Indian-origin doctor charged with 118 sexual offences, including one involving a 13-year-old girl, has been granted bail by a UK court.

Manish Shah, 47, of Brunel Close, Romford, has been accused of sexually assaulting 54 people at his practice in Havering in east London between 2004 and 2013, BBC reported.

He is charged with 65 counts of assault by penetration, 52 counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault on a minor, the Metropolitan Police said.

Shah appeared at Barkingside Magistrates Court on Thursday where he denied all charges.

He was granted bail on the condition he does not contact any current or former patients of the surgery or any of its past or current employees.

Shah was also barred from practising as a doctor and from accessing any NHS medical records. An investigation was launched into the doctor after several people went to police in July and August 2013, the report said.

Shah, a family planning specialist, trained at St. Bartholomews Hospital in London, qualifying in 1993.

He was until recently listed as working in a limited capacity at a GP surgery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

None of the alleged offences relate to his time at the Southend practice.
Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander has said, contradicting Russias claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.

Do I believe hes alive? Yes, said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen rumor or otherwise that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that hes alive. Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a high probability that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad on Wednesday, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq.

He said this area is shaping up to be the groups last stand following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq. The most recent IS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants main stronghold in Iraq.

The Iraqi government announced yesterday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a stunningly swift victory for the Iraqi army, moving like a steamroller into the city in a matter of days.

The IS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well a parts of Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-styled caliphate. Townsend said U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syria forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting.

Assessing his 12 months in command of the US-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive. It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a U.S.-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.

I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didnt see their government representing them or their interests or their future, he said. And I think thats probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis.

Townsend said he hopes the US government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another IS-like episode. He said such talks are under way.

We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely, he said, referencing the pullout of U.S. troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraqs subsequent struggles.

My personal view is I wouldnt want to repeat that, Townsend said. So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future.

Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.

He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-IS campaign.

The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command, Townsend said. And I dont know of a commander in our armed forces that doesnt appreciate that.

A key result of that is that we dont get second-guessed a lot, he added. Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we dont get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take.
Amidst tight security, over two million Haj pilgrims from around the world participated in the ritual of stoning of the Jamarat  huge pillars of stones symbolising Satan  in the Saudi holy city of Mina on Friday.

The pilgrims came back to Mina from Muzdalifah early in the morning to perform main rituals of Haj on Friday, which coincided with the beginning of the celebration of Eid Al-Adha by Muslims all over the world, the Saudi Gazette reported.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman arrived in Mina on Thursday night to oversee the Kingdoms Haj preparations. He received several princes, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh and other scholars and commanders of the security forces taking part in Haj at Mina Palace on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of the faithful attended Eid prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophets Mosque in Madina.

According to the latest reports by the General Authority for Statistics, as many as 2,352,122 pilgrims performed the Haj this year  comprising of 1,752,014 Hajis who came from outside and 600,108 domestic pilgrims, the newspaper reported.

The Civilian Protection teams of the Kingdom were on alert and ready to deal with any emergency situation and undertaking any evacuation, shelter, or relief operations, an official said.

In cases of emergency, we are supported by 32 government agencies that will help us take drastic measures to deal with any situation and ensure the maximum protection of all pilgrims. These teams are also supported by Civil Defense teams that have been distributed all over the Holy Sites, Col. Dhafir Al-Asmari explained.

Tunnels and pedestrian walkways are being closely monitored by advanced technology devices. All areas in the holy sites including the Jamarat Bridge, train stations, and pathways have security officers on the ground who are ready to protect the safety of pilgrims and jump to the rescue of anyone, he added.

Intervention teams have been spread across the holy sites that would be in charge of management of crowds and be ready to support any other teams on the ground. The teams would closely monitor all activities in Mina, the Saudi Gazette said.

The Jamarat Bridge is specially monitored with intervention and other teams to supervise the movement of pilgrims and provide medical help to anyone who needs it.

Nine women pilgrims of various nationalities delivered babies during the Haj, according to the director of the Maternity and Child Hospital In Makkah, Anas Saddayo.

He said the well-equipped hospital provided all the required facilities and is extending high-quality services of international standards to the pilgrims, visitors and residents.

An Algerian woman pilgrim gave birth to a baby girl in the hospital, while a Yemeni woman pilgrim gave birth in Arafat.
Russia has been given two days to close its consulate in San Francisco as well as diplomatic annexes in Washington and New York, the US State Department has said.

The move comes in response to the Kremlins decision last July to order the US to reduce by 755 the number of diplomats and diplomatic personnel working at the US Embassy in Moscow and at its consulates in St. Petersburg and other cities.

Moscow took that step, with which Washington must comply starting on September 1, to equalize the number of diplomats the US and Russia maintain in each others countries after a US reduction in Russian personnel late last year.

We believe (Russias) action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the US had made its reciprocal move in the spirit of parity, Efe news reported.

With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each. While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship, she added.

Nauert said the US wants to avoid additional retaliatory measures by either side and work toward improving bilateral relations, but the United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have become more tense since the Russian decision to reduce the US diplomatic presence in Russia.

On August 2, US President Donald Trump reluctantly signed a law imposing new sanctions on Russia, emphasizing his concern about doing so because it limited his power to lift those measures without Congressional approval.

The law, overwhelmingly approved by a bipartisan majority in the two chambers of Congress, includes sanctions affecting the Russian oil and mining industries in response to Moscows presumed interference in the 2016 presidential elections to harm Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who was ultimately defeated by Trump.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday to inform him of the US move, in response to which the Russian said that Moscow will study Washingtons order to close its San Francisco consulate before announcing how it would respond.

Russias top diplomat told Tillerson that he regretted the newly heightened tensions in the bilateral relationship, according to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.


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Fair price shops come into operation

The Ministry of Supplies has brought into operation the fair price shops to ease the supply of daily consumption goods in view of the upcoming festivals.
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 ...
FSFN expresses concern over CDC report

The Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) has expressed its serious concern over the report related to the parliamentary and provincial elections constituency delineation submitted to the government by the Electoral Constituency Delineation Commission (CDC).
Continuing her works to promote Indian classical dance and music through her ballets, Bollywood actor Hema Malini is introducing a cultural extravaganzaan Indo-Georgian dance ballet Synergy. As part of this she has invited Sukhishvilli, a Georgian ballet dance troupe, to India.

Supported by the ministry of culture, the event will take place on September 10 in New Delhis Siri Fort Auditorium at 6:30 pm. On asking her the reason for organising the event this year, the actor said, The year 2017 celebrates the 25 years of Indias diplomatic relations with the embassy of Georgia.

Synergy is an amalgamation of two cultures and traditions through dance. I am very happy to establish Synergy. It also establishes the friendship between the two countriesIndia and Georgia. This cultural show will strengthen the existing friendship between the two nations, she said.

The showcase will involve 70 dancers who will grace the occasion and perform a fusion of Indian and Georgian dance forms. Thirty dancers and 40 live orchestra players from Georgia will be a part of the showcase, along with 30 Indian dancers. While Indian dancers will perform Bharatnatayam, Kathak and Pung Cholom, Georgian artists will perform their national balleta warrior dance. I am only presenting the show and not dancing, clarified the veteran actress.

Synergy came to be after the actor visited Georgia for a conference and witnessed the Georgian dance ballet troupe's performance. I was highly impressed by their energetic dance form and I asked them if they wanted to visit India. They told me that Georgians had performed in India 50 years ago and were keen to perform again. Thats why I am getting them here.

The actor, who feels proud to be an unofficial cultural ambassador for India, also plans to bring a Russian ballet next year. If this (Georgian performance) receives accolades from audience, next year, I want to bring Russian folk dance for people. Recently, I went to Russia with a Parliament delegation and chanced upon the opportunity to see Russian dancers perform their folk dance. I liked it and after they generated interest in performing in India, I am keen to bring them to India next year, she said.
Ace shooter duped of crores

Indore: Two of the six people, who were absconding in a case of fraud allegedly committed against Olympic medal-winning shooter Subedar Major Vijay Kumar, have been nabbed by the police in Indore. The accused, Manmohan Singh and Anil Tanwar, were caught by the police in the Bhaivarkua district. After further interrogation, it was found that the duo was hiding in the Gurudwaras in Punjab and a number of other temples. The Indore Police had earlier announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for each of the six absconding people. Kumar had lodged a complaint with the police against the accused of defrauding him of over Rs. 2 crore in the pretext of good returns in share market investment. The ace shooter alleged that the accused had taken the money from him to invest in a firm called the Sher-Khan Training Company. Instead of investing the money in the firm, he transferred the amount to the accounts of their relatives.

Yeddy's son in hit and kill incident

Shikaripur: A 24-year-old man died on Thursday night after he was hit by the SUV of an MLA of Shikaripur in Karnataka. The deceased, Suresh, was knocked down by the SUV in which B.Y. Raghavendra, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's son, was travelling. The accident occurred near the Madapura Cross in the Honnali Taluk, when the MLA was heading towards Shikaripur. The boy was a resident of the Madapura village in the district. Following the accident, hundreds of people gathered at the spot. Honnali inspector J.R. Ramesh and former minister M.P. Renukacharya visited the spot. A complaint has been registered at the Nyamathi Police Station.

A real life Shravan

Mayurbhanj: In a unique move, a tribal youth, seeking justice for an alleged fake case against him, carried his flimsy old parents on his shoulders and walked for about forty kilometers. Hailing from a village Moroda in Odisha's district of Mayurbhanj, Kartik Singh has claimed that the Moroda police lodged a "fake" FIR against him and locked him up in jail for eighteen days in 2009. As a result of this, he was and is still 'outcaste' by his villagers. According to Singh, he has no source of income or money in hand as none of the villagers give him work. Add on to this is the fact that he cannot move out to find work as he has old parents to look after back home. Hence, reminiscing the story of 'Shravan Kumar,' Singh carried his parents on his back, as they sat on wooden baskets on either side, for 40kms to seek justice. According to Kartik, all he wants is to prove himself as 'not guilty' in the eyes of his old parents before they pass away.

Yamuna river restoration

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has directed some northern states to submit an action plan on rejuvenation and restoration of the stretch of river Yamuna falling beyond the national capital. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to file a complete report in this regard. The tribunal also directed the AAP government and Delhi Jal Board to submit an affidavit on the progress of the Phase-I of the Yamuna cleaning project. While the Phase-I of Yamuna cleaning project aims to bring down pollution levels in the Najafgarh and Delhi Gate drains, Phase-II deals with Shahdara, Barapullah and other drains. The green panel had earlier said that pollution in the Yamuna was of serious concern as it was highly contaminated by industrial effluents and sewage. The tribunal had earlier banned open defecation and dumping of waste on the floodplains of the Yamuna and announced an environment compensation of Rs 5,000 for those who violated the order.
Ahead of the cabinet reshuffle on September 3, BJP president Amit Shah is reportedly meeting top RSS leaders in Delhi. On Thursday, Shah had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give the final touches to the cabinet rejig. Said Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to THE WEEK, It is at the discretion of the prime minister. I dont want to comment at this stage as to who all would join the NDA.

BJPs vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha could be inducted into the cabinet. I dont want to comment on it, said Jha to THE WEEK. But he said Shah is chairing a meting with RSS leaders on Friday. Things will be clear after the meeting. I would like to see the AIADMK and the JD(U) in the NDA.

Four Union ministersRajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandeyhave already resigned from the Union cabinet and have set in motion the reshufflemost likely the last one before the 2019 elections. It is aimed at building up the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Said Sathya Pal Malik, BJP vice president to THE WEEK, I will be happy to see as many parties join the NDA before the 2019 elections. We are moving in the right direction.

M. Thambidurai and P. Venugopal are seen as the likely candidates from the AIADMK to join the Union cabinet. Said C.R. Saraswathi, AIADMK leader, to THE WEEK, I belong to the Sasikala faction of the party. We have nothing to do with the decision that the chief minister of Tamil Nadu takes. Let him join the NDA if he wants."

There are rumours doing the rounds on how Modi and Shah could appoint a politician from Kerala into the cabinet. The national leadership, it is being said, is keen on state party president Kummanam Rajasekharan and Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi.

There were also news reports on how the BJP is wooing Kerala Congress leader Jose K. Mani and that he could also be inducted into the cabinet. Said Mani to THE WEEK, This is a baseless report. My party and I would never join the NDA.
Will Fadnavis government show sufficient political will ensure that all dilapidated buildings in Mumbai are vacated and redeveloped in a timebound manner? This question looms large even as the death toll in Husaini building collapse reached 34 on Friday morning.

While the opposition has squarely blamed Maharashtra government, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) for the building collapse, the fact remains that way back in 2011, the BMC had declared this building unsafe for occupation. The building was included in Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust's redevelopment project and seven families were shifted out of the building in 2014. MHADA too had twice sent notices to residents, stating that the 117-year-old building was in a totally dilapidated condition.

Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, in a press communique, pointed out that MHADA had sent two notices to the building. "The notices were sent in March 28, 2011 and May 20, 2011 along with an offer of transit accommodation to the tenants and occupants. The ground plus six storey building housed a total of 13 tenants, including 12 residential and one commercial. Of these, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," said the communique issued by the trust.

Mumbai NCP president and former minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir has blamed Housing Minister Prakash Mehta for the building collapse. Ahir, who handled housing portfolio in the Congress-NCP government, said the housing minister has all the powers under Section 95 A to make sure that a dilapidated building must be vacated so that there is no harm to life in any untoward incident.

Mehta clearly failed to take action here, stated Ahir. He felt that the issue of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai is so grave that the state government should come out with a white paper on measures it intends to take.

There are over 15,000 dilapidated buildings in Mumbai and nearly 14,000 of them have been constructed before 1940. The families living in these buildings often refuse to shift to transit camps as they are located in far-flung areas in the outskirts of Mumbai. Another reason is that redevelopment takes a lot of time and owners of the buildings or land often don't have enough money to do it by themselves. They in turn hope for some big builder to approach them. Given the pace of redevelopment, tenants fear that they may never return to their original place of residence in south Mumbai.

Mehta stated on Thursday that the state government will start the process of vacating all dilapidated buildings in a week. But he did not say anything beyond that. His deputy and Shiv Sena minister Ravindra Waikar, however, has suggested a timebound action plan for the problem of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai.

"I have already explained this on the floor of state legislature. There are three ways we can tackle the situation. The government must make it mandatory for the owner of the land that he must finalise redevelopment contract within three months of the building receiving a notice from MHADA that the structure is dilapidated. If the owner fails to do it, the government should allow the tenants to bring in a developer and develop the building and then share upto 20 per cent profit with the original owner of the building. If both of these options fail, the the government should move in and hand over the building to MHADA for a timebound redevelopment," Waikar told THE WEEK.
Government yet to send relief to flood-affected Morgaun in Parsa

The government authorities have not sent relief materials to the flood-affected Morgaun Village of Paterwa Sugauli-4 in Parsa.
The recent High Court decision prohibiting Israel from incarcerating illegal migrants for over 60 days has many people angry, including Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who wishes to do that. It is also another case in which the High Court undermines legislation passed in Knesset, as the war between the legislative and judicial branches in Israel continues. The court also ruled the government may not hold illegals in detention for more than sixty days. Today, these illegal migrants are housed in Sharonim Prison until they decide that leaving the country may be their best option. Now, this option is not legal, imprisoning them.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri is not wasting time and at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday 12 Elul, he hopes to bring up his bill to circumvent the High Court ruling. His bill will permit deporting illegals against their will. Deri explains the current situation, in which they cannot be deported against their will nor may they be detained for more than 60 days, has resulted in 40,000 immigrants from Eritrea and Sudan. Police are well-aware they have overrun areas of southern Tel Aviv and their presence has provided hotels with inexpensive illegal workers and a major increase in violent crime in the area. Deri said he has visited these areas and for the unfortunate Israelis there, Life has become a nightmare Deri testifies.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Help wanted

Todays young generation has had to confront unprecedented challenges and opportunities at the same time. Even though young people outnumber other age groups across the world, they remain neglected.
There are few more dramatic industrial views in Britain than the bulbous, belching chimneys of the Drax power plant which dominate the North Yorkshire skyline.

What drivers passing this muscular vista may not realise is that the chief executive in charge of the plant, Dorothy Thompson, is almost alone as a women running one of the country's great engineering projects.

Under Thompson, the Drax complex pioneered a controversial switch from burning carbon-laden coal to greener biomass products largely imported from the United States.

Thompson, a slight, elegant woman who balances a full family life with one of the most testing jobs in the power industry, is unrepentant about the switch to burning biomass.

Power girl: Drax boss Dorothy Thompson, is almost alone as a women running one of the country's great engineering projects

The process of shipping wood pellets and forest fibre products from America's vast wooded areas to the UK has made the 56-year-old the target of the green lobby and climate change sceptics.

'The carbon footprint of bringing a truck from Scotland down to Drax in Yorkshire is greater than the carbon footprint of the ship journey across the Atlantic for our pellets. You are doing it at such scale and in such an efficient mode of transport,' Thompson insists over coffee in Drax's London office.

'People have a poor picture of the US's vast commercial forests that are 12 times the total area of the UK.'

As the chief executive of a world-spanning energy group, Thompson acknowledges it has not always been easy on her family.

'It is much harder for a woman,' she says. 'You have to be very committed. Keeping the balance with your family is really hard work and very challenging.

'I'm lucky my family is very happy. But I would never want to convey the impression that it is an easy thing.'

In spite of the lack of women in heavy engineering and energy industries Thompson says she encountered few obstacles as she climbed the corporate heights to lead a top FTSE 250 company.

She says: 'I am fortunate in that I'm of a generation that came along where people actually thought women should have a role.'

Dorothy Thompson, 56 Family: Married with two children Lives: Flat in York; house in Islington, London CV: Head of Drax Group since 2005. Previously held senior roles at energy firm Powergen and Dutch business Intergen. Studied at the London School of Economics Interests: Hiking and skiing, as well as water sports such as sailing and scuba diving Favourite film: Breakfast at Tiffany's Number one book: The English Patient written by Michael Ondaatje Daily routine: Travels widely to Yorkshire, London and the US. But she always hits the gym at 6am, followed by a favourite breakfast of goat's cheese and oatcakes On being a female boss: 'I genuinely haven't felt like an outsider. 'Every now and then when they talk about football I'm at a bit at a loss, but they could complain too  if I'm on a business trip with a woman, I'll go shopping'

Not only has Thompson been instrumental in converting three of Drax's six vast generators from burning coal to forest products, she is also responsible for building Drax's own port facilities deep in the American south, at Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and vast industrial facilities which turn forest products into the wood pellets shipped to the UK.

'Our strategy is to get at least 30 per cent self-supply and we currently own the capacity for about 1.5m tons and want to get it to 2.5m tons,' she says.

Thompson believes that Drax's investment in biomass is a great option for the UK and is fiercely critical of grandiose strategic decisions taken by the Government, in particular the new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

'I always thought it was a brave project because it uses unproven technology,' she argues.

She also challenges the economics. Thompson says the final cost to the consumer will be far higher than has been publicly disclosed once 'you take into account all the backup and systems costs'.

Moreover, as the largest unit on the system she says there is an additional 'hidden cost' which has to be built into the grid for the size of failure. Recognising the significance of what she has just said she quickly adds: 'I am going to get slaughtered by EDF for this.'

It is not just EDF that is in her line of fire. She also questions the value of new interconnectors being built which will link Britain to Norway and Germany.

'If you look at the back-up and support costs last year to National Grid they came from managing the risk in the interconnectors. A significant part of the grid costs go to the consumer,' she says.

In contrast, Thompson has been quick to welcome the Government's 'Faraday Challenge' to boost expertise in battery technology in the UK.

She is adamant that investing in what she calls 'good biomass' is a valuable energy option.

'Bad biomass would be taking from an endangered forest or taking from a forest of special interest. So you have to be careful you are taking it from the right area. We have the strictest standards.'

Drax is meticulous, in her view, in measuring the carbon footprint all the way to Yorkshire.

The numbers are 'audited and checked' and it says it can show that 'we save 80pc relative to our coal generation'.

'All the evidence shows that we are the lowest-cost, large-scale renewable for the consumer,' Thompson adds.

Even those who see her advocacy and investment in biomass as bizarre and unnecessary would have to concede that, in a largely male world, she is a terrific role model at a time when there is a huge push to get more women into engineering.

Her next challenge is what to do with the Drax plants still burning coal. Thompson has promised investors an answer by 2025. She says: 'The thought is, you take out all the parts to do with coal and replace them with gas and possibly some battery response as well.'

Her enthusiasm is infectious. She says: 'I love industrial businesses and I think they are really interesting. The challenge is how you run a physical asset effectively and efficiently.'

And Drax is now at the forefront of efforts to increase the number of women in industry.

She says: 'I think one of the best ways of encouraging women is going out into schools saying, 'This is interesting, this is enjoyable and you can contribute a lot to society.' We have ambassadors who go into schools.'

'We have 200,000 people coming to our Yorkshire visitors' centre each year and it is refreshing that we are making it really open to children and interactive.'

And it is starting to work for Drax at a corporate level.

'We have more women apprenticeships and also as qualified engineers. It's growing from the bottom up.'

Thompson may never convince her vocal critics that biomass makes much green sense.

But the drive she has demonstrated in a testosterone-fuelled industrial setting makes her a terrific role model for a new generation of women engineers.
Imbali from the USDF carrying Umhlanga from Sidzidzi at Mpisi Farm yesterday afternoon.

MPISI FARM  Girls who want to live longer should participate in the annual Umhlanga Reed Dance, Prince Sikhanyiso has said.

The princess said this during an interview at sidzidzi, Mpisi Farm where the Imbali cut the reed yesterday.



She said the Reed Dance Ceremony was an event where young girls were taught about life skills, which would help them to preserve their being as they grew up. She said nowadays, there were a number of diseases which affected young girls and bad practices like human trafficking, but those who participated in the Reed Dance were safe from it because of the life skills and knowledge they got during the event.



In a nutshell, young girls who participate in this ceremony develop holistically, the princess said.

On another note, the princess said it was encouraging to see the numbers of Imbali increasing each year as this year it had been said that over 100 000 maidens registerd for the ceremony.



Meanwhile, Pricess Temaswati, who was also encouraged by the numbers of Imbali who attended this years Reed Dance, encouraged those who could not make it this year not to miss the following ceremony.



She said the increasing numbers of Imbali showed that young girls were proud of their being and culture.

Furthermore, both princesses said so far the ceremony was going according to plan as they had a safe journey from Ludzidzini Royal Residence to Ngabezweni Royal Residence where the King commissioned the maidens to cut the reed.

Yesterday was the third day of the Reed Dance.



Today the Imbali is expected to go back to Ludzidzini Royal Residence with their reed.
MANZINI  As if to prove that Medscheme Swaziland is in the country to stay, it was one of the first companies to have completed setting up its stand for the Swaziland International Trade Fair yesterday.



This was confirmed by the companys acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ntokozo Ndzabukelwako, who said they wanted to ensure they had their brand visibility and to assure the Swazi nation that they were in the country to stay.



Ndzabukelwako said they would bring exciting products to the country as a member of the AfroCentric Group. He said they would soon launch a turnaround strategy that would be revealed in the near future. We are at the Trade Fair to ensure that we have brand visibility and these products will be launched in the very near future, as we have a few logistics to finalise, he said.



He said, however, as a medical aid and health insurance administration, their philosophy was built on two defining pillars, which were putting the members health and well-being at the centre of all they did and to provide an unwavering commitment to quality.

Ndzabukelwako said under the health risk management, Medsheme Holdings had invested significantly in an infrastructure of knowledge workers, as well as processes systems to enable the development of innovative strategies in response to client needs in the rapidly transforming health environment.



He said the group already had 38 doctors and medical specialists, who could be consulted under Medscheme, 495 nurses and 125 pharmacists and pharmacy assistants who were spread across the region.



Ndzabukelwako said under their AfroCentric group there was also Pharmacy Direct which worked closely with Medscheme.


MBABANE  Not even the watertight shelter of Court F could protect the officer responsible for arresting the six Afghan nationals at KMIII International Airport as Judge Mumcy Dlamini rained hard on him.



Detective Constable Bhekinkhosi Dlamini, who is based at the airport, had a tough time explaining to Judge Dlamini why the six Afghans and two Pakistanis, whose cases were consolidated, were arrested in the first place.



The Afghans, Basheer Ahmad Noori, Gualay Noori and Khalid Mohammed, who were in the company of three minors aged six, nine and 15-year-old, were arrested after the police had queries about their visas.



They were arrested on August 21. They were represented by Kwanele Magagula of Sithole and Magagula Attorneys.

The two Pakistanis who were also incarcerated are Ahmad Irfan and Wahid Abdul. They are both directors of two companies in Manzini. They were represented by Ntobeko Piliso of Piliso, Simelane and Partners.



The Asians were kept in custody at the airport and were brought to court in the afternoon after the judge ordered in the morning that they, together with the investigating officer, be brought before court.

The first question the judge asked the detective was why the Asians were arrested. The detective told the court that their files had not been handed to Interpol for vetting purposes.
MBABANE  While they sit and worry about their future, students from the temporarily closed Swaziland Christian University (SCU) feel let down by Cabinet and Parliament.



This is because they made countless efforts to seek the assistance of the two arms of government in solving the challenges that were faced by the institution, which eventually led to the suspension of its operations.



This was said by the institutions Students Representative Council (SRC) and class representatives yesterday, after delivering a letter of appeal to the Minister of Education and Training, Phineas Magagula. The letter was delivered following a meeting that the SRC and the class representatives held in the morning, where they took the decision to make a stop at the ministry.



Even though they did not find the minister, the students managed to deliver their letter at around lunchtime, where they made it known that they would not comply with the decision that had been taken. In the letter, the students are demanding that the institution be re-opened with immediate effect.



They quoted the ministers words, which they said he uttered in May this year, where he assured them that the problems faced by the institution would not lead to its closure, as it was in the heart of government. The students said the suspension of operations was a contradiction to what the minister had initially said. When the minister was asked at around 4pm if he had received the letter, he responded to the negative, stating that he had been busy with other commitments.



Interviewed after delivering the letter, the students mentioned that the fact that they were just sitting and not knowing when things would get back to normal, was a sign that both Cabinet and Parliament did not do much in as far as assisting them was concerned.




MBABANE  He allegedly lured the minors by inviting them into his house to watch television only to rape them interchangeably.



This is the poignant story of six minors who were allegedly raped by a 23-year-old man of Malkerns, who would invite them to his house to watch TV knowing very well that he had furtive intentions.

Two of the minors are aged eight, while three of them are nine years old. The other one is a 10-year-old girl.



In a report that has been compiled by Principal Social Worker Vierah Tsakasile Hlatshwayo and forwarded to the court, it was further revealed after the alleged sexual encounters with the minors, the accused would give each of them E1, E10 or E5 and told them to buy chips and sweets.



The 13-page progress report, which now forms part of the Crowns evidence, revealed that the accused also infected the children with sexually transmitted infections (STIs).



According to information gathered by the social worker, the accused would allegedly lure the minors to come and watch television, switch of the lights while leaving the television set on and instruct them to undress.



It is reported that when they failed or refused to undress, he would allegedly forcefully strip them and proceed to sexually abuse them interchangeably.



Shocking revelations were that he would rape one after another and pay them E5 after every sexual activity. It was also gathered that others would be undressed and told to sleep face down, while sexually abusing one child. The others would at times be given a cellphone to play games, reads part of the report by the social worker.
Intl airlines brace for annual travel rush

Nepal is bracing for its annual festival rush when people return home in the hundreds of thousands to party with their families. This coincides with the peak tourism season and sends transportation systems haywire.
NEC scraps affiliation with Mid-Western University

Bhaktapur-based Nepal Engineering College (NEC), which was preparing to take affiliation from the Mid-Western University, has decided to scrap the affiliation following strong criticism.
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By Gina Martinez

The NYPD has released footage of an arrest after City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) threatened to subpoena the department if they refused to make public records in a case that reportedly involved the banned chokehold technique.

Police Commissioner James ONeill overturned a guilty verdict against an officer in a department misconduct trial and did not reveal what the cop was accused of. It was later reported by the Daily News that the cop was charged with using the banned chokehold technique. Despite the trial being open to the public, the city withheld footage of the incident. The NYPD said the video footage of such incidents is normally protected from public disclosure under New York State Law 50-a, as reaffirmed in several recent court decisions. But in this case, the officer, who was the subject of a complaint and related disciplinary proceeding, consented to the release of this footage as he is entitled to do under 50-a.

This video clearly demonstrates that the officer did not use a chokehold or any other prohibited tactic to prevent the defendant, who was under arrest and in handcuffs, from spitting on him and his partner and others confined in the elevator. Assistant Commissioner Peter Donald said in a statement.

ONeill reviewed the video and all evidence involved in the case and rejected the Civilian Complaint Review Boards conclusion that the officers actions constituted a chokehold and he directed that the officer be found not guilty. NYPD said in the rare occurrences where the police commissioner overturns a trial court decision, the department will ask the officers if they would agree to waive their 50-a protection status for any video presented in their case.

On Tuesday Lancman demanded that the NYPD turn over all records pertaining to the case after finding out ONeill overturned the administrative judges verdict. Lancman said NYPD needed to make details of the case public.

In a letter addressed to ONeill, the councilman said that if the records were not turned over by Sept. 7, he would ask the Council to issue a subpoena.

Lancman is a sponsor of pending legislation which would make a police officers use of a chokehold a misdemeanor. In his letter, he asked the commissioner to turn over records pertaining to the case.

The controversy surrounding the NYPDs use of the chokehold technique intensified after the death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner in 2014.

Police Officer Daniel Pataleo was caught on video choking the father of six for selling loosies after he repeatedly told the officer I cant breathe. Garner died soon after.

Pantaleo was acquitted, but the city was ordered to pay $5.9 million to his family. Lancman said he was shocked that chokeholds remain in use three decades after they were banned by the NYPD and after the death of Garner.

But then again, he wrote. The Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD found in 2015 that chokehold use was rarely, if ever, punished, and I warned that the NYPDs 2016 amendments to the Patrol Guides Use of Force standards actually had the potential to make chokehold use more likely rather than less.
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By Mark Hallum

The MTA and Amtrak announced the wrap-up of vital infrastructure repairs to the nations largest transit hub, signalling the near-end of what Gov. Andrew Cuomo termed the Summer of Hell.

Train times in and out of Penn Station will return to normal Sept. 5, bringing a close to eight weeks of reduced service by 20 percent. MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota called the mitigation effort by the Long Island Rail Road a success, with little disruption of service for commuters coming from Long Island and Queens.

Our goal was to provide our customers with a range of alternative travel options and planning tools to limit the repair works impact on the daily commute, Lhota said. I want to thank our customers for their patience and willingness to try the temporary travel options, as well as our employees for their hard work to make the transition as smooth as possible. Together, we were all able to get where we needed to go this summer with minimal disruption, and we are pleased that our customers will return from the Labor Day holiday to their regular timetables.

The mitigation effort included trains with extra cars and express buses carrying people from points in Long Island and dropping them off near Penn Station in Manhattan. Ad hoc ferry service was dialed back by the MTA halfway through the eight weeks of overhauls, as ridership turned out to be lower than expected.

We thank customers for their patience while we renew the infrastructure at New York Penn Station. We also appreciate the collaboration and support of our commuter partners, NJ Transit and the Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak Co-CEO Wick Moorman said. Our engineering forces are making great progress and we look forward to resuming scheduled operations Sept. 5.

According to Amtrak, the eight weeks of repair work centered around a mechanism for sorting trains entering the station and onto their assigned platform.

New Jersey Transit and Amtrak riders experienced extensive delays and cancellations April 3, which reverberated beyond the scope of the city into New Jersey and the Northeast Corridor. Eight of the 21 tracks in Penn Station were shut down by a Jersey Transit derailment at a critical switching point. The tracks were not up and running again until April 7, upending commutes for many passengers on the LIRR. It was the second derailment in the station within 10 days.

The Summer of Hell has coincided with a state of emergency, declared by Cuomo due to the dire straits of the citys subway system. Cuomo hoped to expedite repairs to the ailing city transit system by suspending bureaucratic processes and pouring an extra $1 billion in the MTAs capital funds.

Last week, Cuomo announced work had begun at the former Farley Building adjacent to the Penn Station to transform the iconic structure into Moynihan Train Hall, a LIRR annex to Penn Station.
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By Naeisha Rose

With the memory of Superstorm Sandy still fresh in their minds, lawmakers in southern Queens are doing their part to help with relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey victims.

This will be the worst natural disaster in American history, said Dr. Joel N. Myers, founder, president and chairman of AccuWeather, a global weather center. The economys impact, by the time its total destruction is completed, will approach $160 billion, which is similar to the combined effect of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

City Councilman Eric UIrich (ROzone Park) is collecting gift cards that his team will later send to Operation Blessing, a humanitarian organization that sends help for refugees, water crises and natural disasters. One of his constituents brought the non-profit to his attention via Facebook.

One of my constituents from Breezy Point, Theresa Flanigan, is organizing a gift card collection with Operation Blessing for hurricane victims in Texas, Ulrich said. Operation Blessing was a huge help in Rockaway after Superstorm Sandy. They will put all gift cards collected directly into the hands of the people who needed it most. If you are interested in helping this effort, you can purchase gift cards from Home Depot, Walmart, Target, Visa, etc. and drop them at either of my district offices.

Operation Blessings expertise in safe water efforts will be necessary.

Houston, the United States fourth largest city, will be uninhabitable for weeks, and possibly months, due to water damage, mold, disease-ridden water and all that will follow this 1,000-year flood, according to Myers.

Once U.S. Disaster Relief Team finishes its evacuation of Taft and Rockland Texas, Operation Blessing will begin a mass volunteer management operation for relief and recovery efforts, according to Chris Roslan, a representative for the organization.

On Oct. 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York City, destroying more than 100 homes in Breezy Point on the Rockaway Peninsula, leaving a path of death and destruction behind in Queens and other low-lying parts of the city.

State Sen. Leroy Comrie (DSt. Albans) is directing his constituents to safe institutions where they can donate in order to prevent them from being conned by fake charities.

Comrie was glad to learn that Gov. Cuomo has mobilized New York Air National Guard rescue teams in support of the rescue and recovery efforts in Texas and Louisiana, a spokesman for the senator said. At this time, constituents who would like to contribute are encouraged to donate money to organizations like the American Red Cross, the Houston Food Bank, and the Food Bank of Corpus Christi. Moreover, those who donate should be cautious of charity scams, which often unfortunately emerge during difficult times like this.

Councilman I. Daneek Miller (DSt. Albans) is working with the clergy in his district to collect clothes and materials for Hurricane Harvey victims, according to his spokesman.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) is informing his constituents to make their donations to Jesus Christ Ministries, located at 112-05 Rockaway Blvd. in Jamaica.

State Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-South Ozone Park) is planning to announce a collection drive.
Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmar\s northwest for a week, new official data show, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country\s Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.

About 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, U.N. sources said on Friday, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.

The army says it is conducting clearance operations against "extremist terrorists" and security forces have been told to protect civilians. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings aims to force them out.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned" by reports of the use of excessive force during the army\s operations in Rakhine state, spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said in a statement on Friday.

"(He) urges restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," Kaneko said.

"The secretary-general underlines the responsibility of the government of Myanmar to provide security and assistance to all those in need and to enable the United Nations and its partners to extend the humanitarian support they are ready to provide," she said.

The treatment of Myanmar\s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

The clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday.

By comparison, communal violence in 2012 in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, led to the killing of nearly 200 people and the displacement of about 140,000, most of them Rohingya.

The fighting is a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when similar but much smaller Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.

Myanmar evacuated more than 11,700 "ethnic residents" from the area affected by fighting, the army said, referring to the non-Muslim population of northern Rakhine.

More than 150 Rohingya insurgents staged fresh attacks on security forces on Thursday near villages occupied by Hindus, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that about 700 members of such families had been evacuated.

"Four of the terrorists were arrested, including one 13-year-old boy," it said, adding that security forces had arrested two more men near a Maungdaw police outpost on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.

About 20,000 more Rohingya trying to flee are stuck in no man\s land at the border, the U.N. sources said, as aid workers in Bangladesh struggle to alleviate the sufferings of a sudden influx of thousands of hungry and traumatized people.

While some Rohingya try to cross by land, others attempt a perilous boat journey across the Naf River separating the two countries.

Bangladesh border guards found the bodies of 15 Rohingya Muslims, 11 children among them, floating in the river on Friday, area commander Lieutenant Colonel Ariful Islam told Reuters.

That takes to about 40 the total of Rohingya known to have died by drowning.

Late on Friday, Bangladesh foreign ministry said it had lodged a "strong protest" against violation of air space by Myanmar helicopters on three days this week, including Friday, near the area where the Rohingya are fleeing violence.

"These instances of incursion into Bangladesh air space by Myanmar helicopters run contrary to the good neighborly relations and could lead to unwarranted situation," said the foreign ministry statement.

Suu Kyi spokesman Zaw Htay said h he was not aware of the complaint but that there were channels in place for dialogue between the two sides. If Myanmar receives the complaint from Bangladesh, it will respond, he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
By Tomislav Jakic

Although it is still not sure if Donald Trump will go down in history as champion of bombastic, but empty threats, or as somebody who did what he threatened with, thus starting a dangerous local war with potentially global consequences, one thing is absolutely sure: Donald Trump, the eccentric billionare with a turbulent business career, a showman, proved with his entry into the White House, but as well as with the campaign waged by the so called liberals (in the best way of almost forgotten McChartism) to evict him from there, that the model of western democracy, especially its American version, is irreparable corrupted. If we look at the facts as they are, there can be no doubt about this.

Trump was elected as president of America, a country that was for decades, with good reason, viewed as the light-bearer of democracy. He was elected in accordance with the rules of the American democratic system, rules that are  basically  applied from the very beginning of the existence of the United States. Here we stumble upon the first but. Only to enter the race for the nomination for the presidential candidate, one must have money, very much money. In democracy, meaning the rule of the people, the people are robbed of the possibility to elect the best and forced to elect among the rich the one, who seems to be most capable. Or, and this is the second but (which was obviously the case in the last elections), people are left to choose and to decide who is the lesser evil. This is why, choosing between Trump, who at that time presented a fresh and for America even radically changed foreign policy program and the former First lady and Secretary of State, an undisputed political hawk with no other foreign policy program that the continuation of toppling regimes in foreign countries and installing those who suited the US best and  not to forget  the continuation of the reborn Cold war, people opted for Trump, as lesser evil. Of course, when we use the term people we have in mind those who decided to use their voting right, which is usually about 50% of those registered as potential voters. And here is the third but. The President is elected by the minority of the Americans and imposed upon the majority.

This is how American democracy functions, at least in the last couple of decades. But, being strongly influenced by everything coming from America, similar trends are more and more present in Europe too. In other words, system we call democracy and we praise as something that is not perfect, but there is nothing better than it (as the legendary British prime minister form the times of WW 2, Winston Churchill once said), is giving all chances and opening all doors not to those who are capable, but to those who are rich. This very system often forces the voters to choose only between the greater and lesser evil. And in many countries (France was, at least until today, an exception) the voters are to such a degree fed up with politics, with politicians and with the scandals accompanying them, that they in significant numbers simply abstain from their right to vote, leaving it to the minority to impose its choice to the majority. And this should be the rule of the people?

But let us deal with facts, as they are. Trump was elected in the same way as all his predecessors. He was not unique (meaning the first) even because of the fact that his opponent won more popular votes, but he won the elections due to the electoral votes. To put it as simply as possible: he won in a democratic way and his victory was legitimate. And here begins the second chapter of the saga about the corrupted democracy. Despite the fact that he was democratically elected, despite the fact the legality of his election could not have been disputed, followers of the candidate who lost (and in whom the disoriented left leaning European liberals all of a sudden see a leftist  what she never was!) started with help of the mainstream media, either friendly to them or controlled by them (free media, is it?) an unprecedented campaign against Trump. His main sin, needless to say is, according to them, that he won due to the Russian meddling in the election process  which is a gigantic compliment to the Russian propaganda and secret services, but at the same time an even greater offence to the American voters. Parallel to this Trumps mental health, his ability to perform the duties of the President and  more recently  his threat to start a nuclear war are being discussed. The champion of the anti-Trump campaign, the global TV network, CNN, already discusses his state of mind (his accountability, to put it bluntly), the degree of his connection with Moscow (a second detant is obviously something very frightening for Trumps political adversaries) and finally the mechanisms of impeachment. The special prosecutor investigating the alleged ties between Trump and the Kremlin, already conveyed the so called grand jury, a citizens assembly which will in the best tradition of senator Joe McChartys investigations of the anti-American activities, decide  based on the reports of the US intelligence agencies which have until today presented no hard evidence, no smoking gun, proving that Moscow really did meddle in the presidential elections  if Trump was elected American president due to the will and support of the American votes (meaning electors), or due to the influence from Moscow.

Judging by the present state of affairs, it is not hard to anticipate their decision.

In the meantime nobody is mentioning any more the financial irregularities (to say the least) in the activity of the Clinton Foundation, or the unprotected e-mails the former Secretary of State sent from an unprotected mobile phone, thus breaking the law (what she, despite the evidence, denied to have done). Nobody is mentioning her role in the ill-fated Arab Spring, especially in the toppling of the Lybian regime and the murder of colonel Ghadafi. On the contrary! The promotion of her hastily written book, entitled What really happened is announced, with the clear aim to close the coffin of Trumps presidency.

And Trump, although being a foreigner on the political scene is far from being naive. He fully understands that it is for him to be or not to be. And he acts like a wounded animal, chased into a corner. He forgets everything he promised during the election campaign (with the exception of the wall along the border with Mexico), he forgets his words that America will no longer impose the American way of life on anybody and his politics (if the stumbling from one day into the other can be called politics) resembles more and more those of George W. Bush and Barack Obama (read: Hillary Clinton). And he repeatedly and with ever greater enthusiasm threatens with the American military might, which brought him on the verge of open war with seemingly unpredictable, but in reality very down to the Earth regime of North Korea. Kim Yong Un seems to be an enigma to the world, but let us not forget that he was educated in the West. He knows perfectly well whom he is dealing with, while Trump entered the war games without knowing anything about Kim  if we forget the slogans about the harsh dictatorship and the last bastion of communism and what else the military-industrial complex is feeding him with in order to always have an enemy, even at the risk of a world war.

Todays world is on the brink of a confrontation with unforeseeable consequences. But, it is not Donald Trump who is to be blamed for this in the first place. Much more  the system that opened for him the doors of the White House and is now trying- mainly through the activities of the deep state  to throw him out of there. Both things, needless to say: democratically. Because of that, is it not the last minute to start thinking about what is really the system we call democracy and what is this system giving us (or taking from us)? So, it is not Donald Trump we are dealing with, it is democracy, better to say system we view as democracy and which has with the original meaning of the world less and less in common. After all, was it not the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams, who said: Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. And did we remember, do we remember?

Author (born 1943, graduated at the Law Faculty of the Zagreb University), is a long-time journalist, (TV and press), who served between 2001. and 2010. as foreign policy adviser to the second President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic.





The views expressed in this article are the author\s own and do not necessarily reflect The Times Of Earth\s editorial policy.
Mozambique\s opposition chief Afonso Dhlakama said Friday he expected to sign a peace deal with President Filipe Nyusi by November, as the two sides look to end years of unrest.

The two men met last month in the remote Gorongosa mountains, where Dhlakama retreated in 2015 with 800 former fighters.

"In principle (the peace deal) will be in October and not later than November," Dhlakama told the Canal de Mocambique newspaper, speaking by phone from his forest hideout.

"It is expected that in October we will have another meeting to finalise the agreements," he said.

Dhlakama leads Renamo, an insurgent group that fought a 16-year civil war before becoming an opposition political party that again took up arms in 2013.

Clashes between the ruling Frelimo party government and Renamo last year revived the spectre of Mozambique\s civil war that ended in 1992.

Renamo members, who hold seats in parliament, have called for greater decentralisation of the state and better integration of their people into the police and military.

SOURCE: AFP
Ticket bookings for Dashain to open from Sept 7

Advanced bookings of bus tickets for the upcoming Dashain festival is scheduled to be opened from Thursday (September 7).
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The melodic voice of an Albany imam echoed throughout the two floors and underground garage of the Albany Capital Center as he repeated God is great in Arabic.

Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar, he said as thousands of Muslims from across the Capital Region filed into the downtown building to join in worship for a congregational prayer in celebration of the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha. The holiday is a commemoration of the story of Prophet Abraham, who was about to sacrifice his son per Gods instructions, but was sent a lamb to sacrifice instead. Signifying obedience to and trust in God, Eid al-Adha is Islams holiest holiday, with celebrations lasting as long as four days in some countries.

Rather than each Capital Region mosque holding its own Eid prayer on Friday, mosque leaders from six different mosques and community centers  Albany's Masjid as-Salam, Latham's Masjid al-Hidaya, Clifton Park's Masjid al-Arqam, Schenectady's Masjid Darul Taqwa, Watervliet's Bosnian-American Cultural Community Center and Menands' Turkish Cultural Center  decided to collaborate and hold one united prayer at the Albany Capital Center in downtown Albany.

The event was spearheaded by Imam Abdulkadir Elmi of Masjid as-Salam, said President of the Board of Trustees of Masjid al-Hidaya Khalid Bhatti, partially because the mosque is undergoing construction.

But it really was a good idea and we talked about this a few times in the past, Bhatti said. You can just see and meet a lot of people; it integrates the community.

And a lot of people there were. Thousands of Muslims of various origins and ethnicities lined up and stood shoulder-to-shoulder, each representing their culture and personality by wearing everything from saris, to jeans and blazers. The room was filled with bright colors, sparkles, bow ties and henna, and young children dressed in traditional cultural outfits and tulle dresses sat and watched as the Capital Region Muslim community bowed in unison.

Its really nice to have a place like this where everybody can come together and have one khutbah (sermon) and one salah (prayer), said Adeela Ikram, an immigrant from Bahrain who has been living in the Capital Region for 31 years. When I first moved here, there were maybe 2,000 Muslims and just one masjid. Now, mashAllah (God bless), look at the growth of Muslims around us.

Some Muslims attending the prayer saw the downtown Albany location as an opportunity to portray a positive image of their community and religion to the rest of the region.

Yes its on Google calendar, but to actually see Eid happening is a reminder that we are still in the community, said Sarah Khan, who was born in Pakistan and grew up in Albany.

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Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui of Masjid al-Hidaya focused his khutbah on the same theme, saying, Islam is like a beautiful rain: where it falls, it will bring good. We must set a good example. We would like to manifest that we are people coming from a beautiful civilization.

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy made opening remarks before the prayer, expressing her appreciation of the diversity and culture seen at the celebration.

I truly believe the strength of this country is based on its diversity and I am so proud to live in a city thats so welcoming, she said. I am sure that we will move to a healing time and our differences will subside as we focus on the greater good of this community.
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ALBANY  Rana Safeih wore a grin that spread from ear to ear as she opened the door to her apartment on North Allen Street. After a warm hug and four enthusiastic kisses on the cheek, she presented her friends and family gathered in the dining room. The dining table was barely visible under the homemade Syrian dishes Safeih and her mother, Raida Aldabas, had prepared. The pair had spent the day fasting on one of the optional holy days leading up to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Adha, which literally translates to the holiday of sacrifice," will be celebrated by the Muslim community on Friday. The holiday is a commemoration of the story of Prophet Abraham, who was about to sacrifice his son per Gods instructions, but was sent a lamb to sacrifice instead. Signifying obedience to and trust in God, Eid al-Adha is Islams holiest holiday, with celebrations lasting as long as four days in some countries. Safeih, who left Syria for Egypt in 2011 and arrived in Albany in January, is one of many Muslim refugees in the Capital Region who will be adjusting to a new way of celebrating as she settles in her new home.

In Syria it was incredible, Safeih said in Arabic. We would wake up at 6 a.m., I would go to my moms house with my siblings and grandparents for breakfast, then Baba would sacrifice a lamb. We of course went to Eid prayers at the mosque, and in the afternoon we would cook the lamb and eat it with rice.

Safeih and her children would spend four days celebrating the holiday by visiting the homes of extended family members in their hometown of Ghouta al-Sharqiya, the Damascus suburb which underwent chemical attacks in 2013.

More for you Hajj celebrates unity and diversity

While the celebration may not last as long in Albany, Safeih said she wants to keep as many traditions in tact as possible. She planned to buy her children new clothes for the holiday and attend the congregational Eid prayer at the Albany Capital Center Friday morning. Safeih also invited friends and volunteers for New York for Syrian Refugees, an Albany-based nonprofit organization, to celebrate the holiday in her home and with traditional Syrian dishes and desserts.

Ilham Almahamid, founder of New York for Syrian Refugees, is determined to make the celebrations familiar and festive for the 41 Syrian and Iraqi families her organization aids.

Eid is sad for people who have no community. In Syria its such a happy and involved celebration, Almahamid said. Thankfully, (the refugees) have a great community here now.

For instance, after Eid al-Futr in June, the holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, volunteers went to the refugees homes and gave presents to all 170 kids of New York for Syrian Refugees. Almahamid said volunteers are organizing gifts for families and children again for Fridays holiday, and one volunteer is selling baked goods in order to donate proceeds to the families.

Almahamid also said most of the refugees will be attending the Capital Center congregational prayer.

Most of the refugees live near downtown, and public transportation is very difficult for them because of the language barrier, so it is great that the prayer is so close to them, Almahamid said.

Downtown Albanys Masjid as-Salam is one of the six Capital Region mosques collaborating on the Capital Center Eid prayers. According to Imam Abdulkadir Elmi, they are expecting around 3,000 people to attend the prayers.

With this event, we are offering the refugees a place to celebrate the holiday and their faith, Imam Elmi said. Once they see all these people, they will say, We are not alone.

In addition to attending the prayers, Almahamid said that refugees will be visiting other members of the Muslim and refugee communities.

I personally plan on throwing a party for the women this weekend to give them a break from their kids, she added.

Leading up to Eid al-Adha, Safeih says the part of the holiday she enjoys and misses the most is family.

In Syria, Eid al-Adha really brings family together, even more than Eid al-Futr, Safeih said. Here Eid is nice, but my father isnt here, my siblings and aunts and uncles arent here. But I am still so grateful. Alhamdullilah (thanks to God), always.
San Francisco

When management upheaval, allegations of corporate espionage, and revelations of sexual harassment sent Uber into a public relations sinkhole, its long overshadowed rival Lyft shifted into overdrive.

The company seized the opportunity to recruit disillusioned drivers so it could be more responsive to passengers searching for a ride-hailing alternative to Uber. It upgraded its smartphone app, stepped up marketing efforts to attract more riders and expanded its U.S.-only service into 160 more cities for a total of about 350.

On Thursday, Lyft made a big expansion move by announcing that it is adding statewide coverage to 32 states, bringing its total to 40. Currently Lyft has statewide service in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Delaware and Hawaii.

The aggressive tactics cast the much smaller Lyft in a new light. After five years of being content in its role as the fun-loving, pink-mustached underdog of ride hailing, Lyft is proving to be a wily opportunist and a more imposing threat to Uber.

But a huge chasm still separates the foes in terms of financial resources, ridership and breadth of operations. While Lyft's rides are in the millions per year and only in the U.S., Uber makes 10 million trips per day worldwide and has carried more than 5 billion passengers in more than 80 countries since 2009. Uber has raised nearly $14 billion in capital since its inception, compared with Lyft's $2.6 billion.

For its part, Uber is doing all it can to keep its lead. The company this week hired Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its top executive. And while it concedes that this year's missteps have slowed its growth, it says ridership is still rising because customers value the service. It's in the midst of self-proclaimed "180 days of change" in an effort to alter a culture that fostered rapid growth but also encouraged bad behavior.

Yet the ground that Lyft has been gaining can't be ignored. By the time Uber's board ousted abrasive CEO Travis Kalanick in June, Lyft had more than doubled its ridership from the first six months of last year. At the end of June, it had passed 2016's full-year ride total of 162.5 million.

To be sure, Lyft already was growing fast before Uber went into self-destruct mode. Lyft's share of the U.S. ride-hailing market in the past two years grew at double the rate of Uber, rising from 12 percent to more than 30 percent, according to Lyft's internal metrics.

Logan Green and John Zimmer, Lyft's low-key 33-year-old founders, insist they haven't done much except adhere to a belief that passengers should be treated like guests at a friendly hotel or even Disneyland. Both dress casually and blend into the headquarters' workforce. While the soft-spoken Green and more animated Zimmer are careful not to gloat, they concede that the turmoil at Uber is accelerating Lyft's growth.

"As we get service levels to parity and pickup times are equal, people prefer using Lyft," Green said in a recent interview at the company's airy offices in a block-long office complex near San Francisco Bay. "They like that we treat our drivers better. They like that we treat our customers better. And they like that we have a brand that sort of stands for taking care of people, where Uber has done a lot to build the opposite type of brand."

Nick Raef, 23, who works at Northwestern University near Chicago, considers price and brand image each time he chooses between Uber and Lyft. Service in Chicago, he says, is close to even between the two. But if Uber happens to be misbehaving on a particular day, he'll go with Lyft even if it's more expensive.

"I've told myself this controversy is worth a dollar or $2 depending on how bad the story was that day," he said.

In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, federal employee Whitlee Dean, 28, says she takes Lyft whenever she goes into the city, not so much because of Uber's behavior but because of Lyft's customer service.

"They seem to be really responsive to the issue when you contact them as opposed to Uber," she said, although she noted that while both companies are equally accessible within the metro area, Uber is faster outside of Washington, especially in smaller cities.

Internally, Uber has been making adjustments to treat its drivers and employees better. It recently matched Lyft by letting riders tip drivers on its app. It's also hired thousands of people to better distribute the workload and started serving its free dinners 90 minutes earlier at its San Francisco headquarters so workers don't stay as late.

"Tiny, tiny symbolism, but it matters to people," said Liane Hornsey, Uber's chief human resources officer.

The company also recently fired 20 employees after a report by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder found rampant misbehavior and urged Uber to clean things up.

But problems for Uber continue to linger. Just this week, the company agreed to stop using its app to track people after their rides have ended in response to privacy concerns.

Lyft's growth probably has more to do with customer demand for service than a backlash against Uber, according to analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

"It is so tempting to think Lyft is gaining because people are taking a stand against Uber, but convenience usually trumps morality," he said. And Uber is usually more convenient because its service still has more drivers than Lyft in most major U.S. cities, Dawson said.

Two drivers who work with both services in New York City, Karim Guernah and Syed Manzar, said in separate interviews that they noticed a change in passenger sentiment earlier this year when Uber's troubles came to light. But Guernah said most riders still decide which service to take based on how long it will take for a car to arrive and how much the fare will cost. And both men said Uber doesn't treat drivers much differently than Lyft.

"Lyft is trying to take advantage (of the situation), but both are really the same. There is no difference," Manzar said.

Green and Zimmer sidestepped a question about whether they'd ever catch Uber, but it's clearly on their minds. "We've always been the underdog in the race against Uber. We've taken a lot of ground. We still are," Green said, adding that Lyft will go international "in the not-to-distant future."

The company has grown beyond the days when pink mustaches adorned the grilles of cars to give off a friendly vibe. It now opts for a lighted logo in the windshield with a pink background. But it's stuck with huge bags of mustaches.

"We have warehouses with tens of thousands of them," Green said.

Zimmer said Lyft will continue to cultivate a congenial image along the lines of Disney. As he praised the principles of the "Happiest Place on Earth," it was impossible not to notice a picture on the wall behind him  a black-and-white drawing of Mickey Mouse swinging a blue Jedi light sabre.

Perhaps it's aimed at Uber.
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Schenectady

Despite the decline of manufacturing jobs, the owners of a Schenectady-based company hope new technology will bring the art of designing and producing textiles back.

"The hope is to once more become a regional leader in the textile business," said Charles Contompasis, who co-owns MA+CH with his sister Marika. "It's art, it's not anything less than that."

The pair design and manufacture high-end apparel, wall hangings, pillows and accessories using digital printing technology. After developing a new pattern using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and other computer programs, the designs are then transferred directly onto white fiber fabric through a process called Phly-Dye patented by Charles Contompasis.

The technology allows them to replicate an idea onto a piece of fabric in a matter of hours, said Charles Contompasis. Every piece is then dyed, painted, washed and dried in-house at a two-story factory on Catalyn Street, which employs about 15 people.

"The conventional method of printing has disappeared from the U.S., [but] there is now a growing demand for the ink jet printing that creates the possibility of Schenectady once again being the production center for the Northeastern region," said Charles Contompasis. "The new technology will keep and create employment."

Congressman Paul Tonko, who toured the factory on Friday, said MA+CH is serving a niche market.

"People need to know that manufacturing is alive and well and needs our support," Tonko said. "These products are one-of-a-kind and a great exposition of talent, skill and creativity in our region."

The brother-sister team began designing collections of women's clothing under the label Marika Charles in 2002 and recently expanded to pillows, wall hangings and other household decor. They produce several thousand items every month and sell to between 75 and 100 boutiques, said Charles Contompasis.

Both attended the Pratt Institute in New York City. Marika Contompasis has exhibited her designs in the Smithsonian Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum and is the recipient of an award from the National Endowment of the Arts. The brand's apparel has been sold by Bergdorf Goodman, Fred Segal, Barney's New York and other retailers.

miszler@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @madisoniszler
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Albany

The state attorney general's office has obtained authorization for a grand jury to investigate Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove's controversial handling of the April 2016 fatal shooting of a DWI suspect by a Troy police officer.

The office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which began investigating the shooting last year, obtained approval last week to convene the Rensselaer County grand jury on Sept. 20, according to a copy of a court order signed last week by a state Supreme Court justice in Albany.

It marks the first grand jury investigation of a sitting district attorney by Schneiderman's office since Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order in 2015 giving the attorney general authority to intervene in cases in which unarmed civilians are killed during confrontations with police.

The Times Union reported last year that Abelove did not require Troy police Sgt. Randall French, who fatally shot the DWI suspect, to sign an immunity from prosecution when he testified before the grand jury that cleared him five days after the shooting. The decision by Abelove to not have the officer sign an immunity waiver raised questions about the validity of the grand jury's determination to clear the police officer  because the panel could not have voted to indict him without a waiver.

In February, Cuomo issued an executive order giving Schneiderman's office explicit authority to investigate Abelove's handling of the case.

Edson Thevenin, 37, was shot multiple times as he fled a DWI arrest in April 2016. Troy police officials said they believed that Thevenin was armed  with a vehicle  and that he drove forward and pinned French's legs against his police cruiser before the officer opened fire. Two civilian witnesses, who did not testify in the grand jury, told investigators they did not believe French was in imminent danger when he opened fire.

"DA Abelove is confident that this grand jury will reach the same conclusion the prior grand jury reached which was that Sgt. French used appropriate force to protect his own life," said John W. Bailey, who is Abelove's private attorney.

The tension between Abelove and Schneiderman's office boiled over five months ago when investigators with the attorney general's office confronted the district attorney as he arrived for work and used a search warrant to seize his mobile phone from his hand. Weeks later, the investigators used another search warrant to obtain digital files of Abelove's work-related emails from Rensselaer County.

At the time when the records were seized, Bailey said "we are confident that there is nothing in his emails which would support allegations of inappropriate let alone criminal activity."

The search warrant applications documenting the investigators' probable cause to believe the electronic records contain evidence of a crime remain sealed. The investigation has focused on whether Abelove interfered with the attorney general's jurisdiction last year when he quickly presented the fatal shooting case to a grand jury that cleared the officer of wrongdoing.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
Sebon to open second bourse despite protests

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) on Thursday said it was going ahead with its plan to establish a second bourse despite opposition by the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), investors forum and other related bodies.
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Two of the three elderly Seattle brothers alleged to have been living in a hoarder house packed with a collection of child pornography, childrens clothing and handwritten notes describing, among other ghastly scenes, child murders have pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges.

Facing charges filed Aug. 21, Charles and Thomas Emery pleaded not guilty Thursday at King County Superior Court in Seattle. Edwin was not in court; he is currently at Harborview Medical Center. Each has been charged with possessing child pornography, though investigators continue to review evidence that may implicate them in additional crimes against children.

Detectives have spent days combing the reclusive brothers Green Lake-neighborhood home, where they appear to have lived together for 50 years. Investigators said the home was jammed with disturbing photographs, items and writings, including a collection of children's shoes and books describing the ritualistic abuse of children.

Investigations with the Seattle Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children team also searched a rural, wooded property near Shelton once occupied by a fourth Emery brother who recently died. That search raised suspicions that the brothers may have been involved in the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, a McCleary girl who was 10 in 2009 when she vanished walking home from a friends home.

mulitple

PREVIOUSLY IN SEATTLEPI: Police: Seattle Childrens janitor, brothers hoarded evidence of child abuse

The investigation into the Emery brothers began Aug. 9, after a relative came to police claiming to have found child pornography while packing up 82-year-old Charles Emerys possessions to move him into a memory care facility. Thomas, 80, and Edwin Emery, 78, were still living in the two-story home in the 100 block of Northeast 59th Street when police arrested them.

Investigators arriving at the home found it covered floor to ceiling with child exploitative images, childrens clothing articles, toys and movies, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Cecelia Gregson said in charging papers. Handwritten notes found at the home described the murder of children.

Charles Emery maintained an extensive collection of materials related to the sexual assault and murder of female children, Gregson said. Edwin and Thomas Emery referred to Charles Emerys manifestos detailing child rape and homicide and his extensive collection of items related thereto as Charles hobby.

MORE FROM SEATTLEPI: Washington's not-so-little dirty secret: Police 'overwhelmed' as state leads the nation in child pornography

The woman who initially went to police pointed investigators to boxes of child pornography, girls clothing and magazine clippings related to missing or murdered young girls. Investigators claim to have recovered handwritten notes describing the kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of girls. Missing persons fliers were found in the home, including one for Lindsey Baum.

Since the searches, investigators had been combing evidence recovered from the home to determine whether the brothers may have killed or hurt children, beyond the identified victims they are believed to have sexually abused.

A lot of these writings were very specific about harming children, abusing children and even murdering children, said Seattle Police Department Capt. Mike Edwards said, who leads the regional Internet Crimes Against Children.

The house itself was like one of the worst houses youd ever see on an episode of Hoarders, Edwards continued. "We dont want to miss anything.

According to charging papers, the woman discovered boxes of child pornography while cleaning out Charles Emery's possessions out of the homes garage. Interviewed by detectives, Thomas Emery and Edwin Emery initially claimed they hadn't entered the garage where those boxes were stored in years, a claim investigators found wanting.

"Both Emery brothers remained nonchalant and relatively unconcerned about the serious nature of the investigation," a Seattle Police Department detective said in court papers.

Edwin Emery admitted to being sexually attracted to children, while Thomas Emery told investigators he kept hundreds of items of child pornography because he "considered it art, the detective continued.

"Both Thomas and Edwin Emery denied knowledge of child homicide, but would reply to law enforcement questions on the topic that it was 'possible' if everything the officers was saying was true, the detective said in court papers.

Edwards said the men appeared to have closed themselves off from much of the world, except for a fourth brother who lived in Shelton and died in late 2016. Police brought search dogs onto that site recently. What appears clear, Edwards said, is that they had been abusing girls known to them for decades without a report to police.

One woman told police she had been abused by Charles and Edwin Emery as a child, according to charging papers. Charles Emery was working as janitor at Seattle Childrens hospital when the abuse occurred.

Investigators will now undertake the difficult work of identifying the girls displayed in child pornography taken from the homes. Edwards said some of the material appeared to have been obtained online, but that it was too early to know whether the brothers had produced any on their own.

Writing the court, the detective outlined the bizarre, disturbing collection of items recovered from the home:

Dozens of pairs of childrens shoes most of which are penny loafer-style shoes with pennies inserted in the front of the shoes; several pairs of minor female children-style underwear  ; dozens of books and articles related to child homicide, child sexual assault, and missing and murdered female child victims to include both local and national cases; dozens of images of minor female children apparently taken from advertisements placed in magazines and newspapers on which some contain handwritten notes concerning the sexual abuse and murder of the depicted child and/or children;

Dozens of papers and scraps of papers containing handwritten notes detailing ritualistic and satanic sacrifices of minor female children, the sexual abuse of minor female children, the grooming and supplying of minor female children with vodka placed inside soda pop  and the repeated detailed description of how the minor female children would wear penny loafer shoes prior to the abuse and murder.

Investigators found numerous books on ritualistic killings, graphic photos of child homicides and airplane bottles of vodka tucked inside the childrens shoes. Several rolls of microfiche film were also recovered.

Edwin Emery had been investigated in 2013 after bringing his desktop computer to Office Depot for service. An employee reported to police that the computer contained child pornography.

According to Conines statement, Edwin Emery was interviewed by police in 2013 and admitted to sexually abusing at least two people many years before. He also is alleged to have admitted to printing child pornography.

That investigation did not ultimately result in charges because most of the material found on Edwin Emerys computer was not clearly child pornography, Edwards said.

The Emery brothers are being held at King County Jail. They have been charged with second-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.
A popular YouTube personality named Elijah Daniel found out firsthand just how vicious politics can be.

Daniel, who in a stunt he says was inspired by Donald Trump's presidential run and subsequent policies, says he spent two days calling small towns in the United States requesting to be their mayor.

The effort wound up working. He eventually found a small, unincorporated town in Michigan that would allow him to be Mayor of the Day  something anyone with a little cash to spare can do while visiting Hell  so he traveled there, signed some documents, and it happened:

However, the 72 residents of Hell were probably not expecting that Daniel would begin making drastic changes with his limited time in office. The first thing he did while serving as acting mayor: ban all heterosexuals from entering Hell.

"I love straights, but my #1 priority is the safety of my town. Until the heterosexual threat has been reviewed we cannot allow them to enter," he wrote on Twitter. "I am the first U.S. mayor to ban heterosexuality but I hope my act of bravery will inspire fellow politicians to ban straights as well."

Those who were heterosexual and wanted to enter Hell still could, Daniel explained in the document if they agreed to undergo "new vetting measures to keep radical heterosexuals out of our town." Those heterosexuals already in Hell could also stay, but only if they agreed to a deposit of $84,000 (ensuring their abstinence for a year).

The proclamation, Daniel told the Huffington Post, was a commentary on Trump's controversial travel ban, which many have noted appears to disproportionately affect Muslim visitors and immigrants. "My ban is a copy-and-paste of Trump's Muslim ban," he said, "but with heterosexuals instead."

The mandate was apparently not very well received. Only an hour later, Daniel wrote on Twitter, "I've been informed that I've been impeached as mayor of Hell."

He wasn't too bothered. Noting that everyone who becomes mayor of Hell gets impeached anyway (as it is a tourist attraction), he says the unceremonious ousting was "not a problem."

"Most of the people who visit are same-sex couples who want to be married in Hell."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


ROTTERDAM - Via port mall was briefly evacuated after smoke billowed from a overloaded electrical cord in a pet store, firefighters said.

The man was cleared out for about 30 minutes after the smoky condition was found at Something Fishy Aquarium, said Assistant Chief Mike France of the South Schenectady Fire Department.
Supplies Minister BK inspects Thankot depot

Even as the festive season draws closer, Minister for Supplies Karna Bahadur BK on Thursday evening made a surprise visit at Thankot depot of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to inquire about the situation of import and distribution of petroleum products in Kathmandu Valley.
Cloud Communications Offers Continuity Options for Hurricane Harvey Impacted Businesses

By Erik Linask - Group Editorial Director

When natural disasters, such as whats happening in Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey, occur, the capacity of local, state, and even national resources is put to a test to provide immediate assistance to residents. If youve turned on the news for even a few minutes lately, youre aware of the massive efforts to ensure the safety of residents in southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana, where unprecedented rainfall has caused record flooding and damage.

For days, networks have been showing footage of rescue personnel working side-by-side with local boat owners as they delivered stranded people and pets to safety. That, unfortunately, is only the beginning  the nation has witnessed other extremely damaging hurricanes in recent history  Katrina in August of 2005 also in the Gulf Coast region, and Sandy on the Atlantic coastline in 2012. We know the recovery for Houston and the rest of the region will be long and costly  its fair to say New Orleans only recently fully recovered from Katrina. Fortunately, countless businesses and individuals have already pledged their assistance, from tech and phone companies who are eliminating fees and/or calling limits on plans for impacted customers, to other vendors shipping truckloads of food, water, and supplies to the region.

Customer service organizations in various industries  emergency services, insurance, healthcare, utilities, and many other services  are also going to be put to the test for months to come, as residents and businesses deal with the damages. Many call centers have already set up additional facilities and agents to help with the increased demand, but much more is likely to be needed. The last thing any company wants is to make customers have to wait in queue for longer than is absolutely necessary.

That requires not only additional technology, for which cloud-based communications and call center platforms are absolutely ideal  they allow remote and home-based agents to be set up in minutes  but also the ability to bring on additional staffing to handle the call volumes. In addition, a loarge number of local businesses are likely to be displaced for an extended period. Cloud phone systems will allow them to continue to operate while their facilities are repaired  employees can work from home or other remote locations, using a softphone or IP deskphone.

Its not a perfect scenario by any means and, even if businesses are able to function with their cloud services, the recovery process both professionally and personally will be slow and painful. The hope is technology can make is just a bit easier by providing access to the right resources quickly and help the process move forward positively, and that cloud services and other providers will go out of their way to help.

Please enable JavaScript to view the

Edited by Erik Linask
[August 31, 2017] Johns Manville to Donate $50,000 to American Red Cross Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund

Johns Manville (JM), a global building products manufacturer and Berkshire Hathaway company, announced today it will donate $50,000 to the American Red Cross Hurricane Harvey relief fund. The company also plans to match employee donations dollar-for-dollar to the same fund. "We have all been watching the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston and the surrounding region," said JM President and CEO Mary Rhinehart. "The pain and anguish on the faces seen in pictures from the flooded areas is heart-breaking. These are the times when helping people matters most." Johns Manville has a long history of responding to the needs of others and showing great compassion in times of crisis. "We share a common set of values at JM that puts people first. We are people champions. Our employees, our customers and our suppliers are at the core of everything we do," Rhinehart said. "We feel fortunate that JM employees impacted by the storm escaped injury, though we are aware the total recovery time for some will be long. We will continue to keep our JM family, firs responders and all those impacted by Hurricane Harvey in our thoughts and prayers."



JM has partnered before with the Red Cross to support relief efforts for disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and wildfires in the Rocky Mountain region. "The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors like Johns Manville," said R.J. Tuchscherer, Donor Relations Director for American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming. "We want to thank JM and its employees for supporting our Hurricane Harvey relief efforts."

About Johns Manville Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality products for building insulation, mechanical insulation, commercial roofing, and roof insulation, as well as fibers and nonwovens for commercial, industrial and residential applications. JM serves markets that include aerospace, automotive and transportation, air handling, appliance, HVAC, pipe and equipment, filtration, waterproofing, building, flooring, interiors and wind energy. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company has annual sales of approximately $3 billion and holds leadership positions in all of the key markets that it serves. JM employs approximately 7,000 people and operates 43 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and China. Additional information can be found at www.jm.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170831006458/en/

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[August 31, 2017] IMPORTANT INVESTOR ALERT: Khang & Khang LLP Announces an Investigation of Stryker Corporation and Encourages Investors with Losses to Contact the Firm

Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces that it is investigating claims against Stryker Corporation ("Stryker" or the "Company") (NYSE: SYK) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws. If you purchased shares of Stryker and want more information, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang LLP, 4000 Barranca Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA (News - Alert) 92604, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at [email protected]. The investigation concerns whether Stryker and certain of its officers and/or directors violated federal securities laws. On August 23, 2017, the Company announced that it informed the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") of a voluntary product recall involving specific lots ofits Oral Care products distributed between July 2015 and August 2017. Stryker's recall followed a warning letter from the FDA received on July 17, 2017, which described a potential for cross-contamination of Oral Care products manufactured by a third party on equipment shared with non-pharmaceutical products. After receiving reports of minor irritation and allergic reaction, the Company discontinued its business relationship with the third-party supplier. Based on the estimated impact of the foregoing issues on sales and operating income, Stryker advised investors that the Company now expects full-year organic sales growth and adjusted net earnings per diluted share to be at the lower end of its previously stated ranges of 6.5% to 7.0% and $6.45 to $6.55, respectively. When this news was announced, shares of Stryker fell in value.



If you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at [email protected]. This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170831006473/en/

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[September 01, 2017] The Video Chat Feature Launched by Hotcourses India That Meets the Needs of the Students Looking to Study Abroad

CHENNAI, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The exciting video chat feature launched by Hotcourses India humanises the brand more and provides an even more effective and reliable virtual communication medium to students looking for overseas education The innovative video chat launch is going to set a new trend in the virtual overseas education services provided by Hotcourses India, an IDP company. This new customer support feature replaces the traditional chat medium, thus establishing a more coalesced communication platform between the students and Hotcourses' counsellors. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161007/416371LOGO )

This video chat/calling feature enables students to not only productively communicate with the counselling team, but also establish a secure personal connection - sharing important details and queries about their overseas education plans - with the team. Besies providing a trustworthy base to the students, this video chat reaches out to the parents or guardians of students who might wish to communicate with the counsellors and validate the study abroad process.



Another key attribute of this video chat/calling feature is the remote co-browsing option, which helps the counsellors perform certain tasks for and on behalf of the users, delivering a bi-directional online chat with document-sharing and screen-sharing options. Priyatham Rajagopalan, Chief Operating Officer of Hotcourses India, said "As part of our promise to simplify the counselling experience for students, Hotcourses India has launched its latest feature. The new video calling tool brings our experienced education counsellors and students online, yet face-to-face. Students now have the choice of a wide range of real-time services that include counselling, passport verification and visa interview preparation via video calling, to make their lives easier. Parents can also be an active part of this unique face-to-face, online experience."

This versatile video chat support has the following advantages: - Forges better and faster user communication.

- Provides a user-friendly, real-time communication platform.

- Improves the brand with its effective personalised approach. About Hotcourses India: Hotcourses India, an IDP company, is part of Hotcourses Group that has been in the education industry for the past 21 years. As the number one overseas education consultancy, Hotcourses India offers a suite of counselling services to help Indian students with their overseas admissions. Together with IDP Education, the global student recruitment company, Hotcourses, aims to widen the range of support services tailored to students' needs. Media Contact:

Prem Pradeep

[email protected]

+91-44-43995203

Hotcourses India Pvt Ltd





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[September 01, 2017] Trescon has Schneider Electric on Board as Partner for the Healthcare Future Tech Summit & Awards, 2017

BENGALURU and MUMBAI, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Trescon, a global business events and consulting firm, today announced that it has Schneider Electric on board as the exclusive partner for the inaugural Healthcare Future Tech Summit & Awards, 2017. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/550900/Trescon_Healthcare_Future_Tech_Summit_Awards_2017.jpg ) The summit is taking place on 21 September, 2017 at St. Regis, Mumbai. It is hosting international and regional Healthcare IT advisors who will help CIOs and IT heads learn and explore effective IT strategies for the Indian healthcare industry. It will also feature global innovators who will showcase their latest and the most evolved technologies in recent years that can help organisations become more efficient, affordable and accessible. Schneider Electric believes that the healthcare industry needs to be cognisant of the dynamic demographic profile of the world and India, and respond to these changed requirements with effective technology tools. Going forward, disruptive technology will become a key competitive differentiator for the industry. Today's healthcare consumers are increasingly using technology to give them more control over their healthcare decisions at home, and they expect the same level of control when they are patients in a hospital. Healthcare facilities need to accelerate digital adoption between their staff and hospital in-patients. At the Summit, senior industry experts from life sciences and other industries will disuss trends, opportunities, challenges, product development and share market insights. These will also feature discussions centered on insightful perspectives and benchmark implementation strategies for IT systems, participated by business leaders and technology providers.



For more information about the summit, visit: https://www.tresconglobal.com/healthcare. "We are happy to partner with Schneider Electric as an associate. We believe we can leverage this strategic partnership for the betterment of life sciences industry in India and get it to a stage where it achieves the prosperity and significance it deserves", says Mr Mohammed Saleem, Chief Executive Officer, Trescon.

Schneider Electric India is honoured with the Aon Best Employers Award, 2017. The award comes as recognition for the futuristic and impactful people practices of the company which have been instrumental in inspiring strong commitment, deeper engagement and superior performance from the workforce. Manish Gokhale, Director - Business Development, Schneider Electric India, said, "As our world becomes more connected, advanced technology is extending beyond patient care and into the hospital infrastructure itself. In particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the standard of information delivery and decision-making with insight into facility data that can be used to improve operational efficiency, patient satisfaction, and safety for all. Schneider Electric is happy to be at this event to showcase and present our latest offer of integrated solutions and expertise for healthcare facilities of all sizes. From energy management and building management systems to IT infrastructure and security solutions, our products improve patient experience, increase patient safety, and enhance operational efficiency." About Trescon Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provides wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialised in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, road shows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services. For more information, visit: http://www.tresconglobal.com. About Schneider Electric Schneider Electric is the global specialist in energy management and automation. With revenues of ~25 billion in FY2016, our 144,000 employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and process in ways that are safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape industries, transform cities and enrich lives. At Schneider Electric, we call this 'Life Is On'. For more information, visit: http://www.schneider-electric.com. For more information on the announcement, please contact:

Krunal Makwana

PR & MarCom Executive, Trescon

Direct: +91-80-3911-3950

Mobile: +91-9558888817

[email protected]



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[September 01, 2017] #SelfieWithGanesha Contest by Candere Extends Ganpati Festivities on Social Media Platforms

MUMBAI, September 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, Candere, by Kalyan Jewellers, has introduced over a dozen novel designs of Ganesha pendants. Since Ganpati is celebrated PAN-India and the world, the Ganesha pendants collection is sure to be loved by people of all regions. The Ganpati Collection goes by the tagline 'The Many Strokes of Ganesha' based on the various avataars of Ganpati and is inspired by the abstract contemporary paintings of Ganesha. With this collection, one can see a new avaatar of Candere too, as one such pendant can be won by participating in the #SelfieWithGanesha contest held by them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To participate in the contest, one needs to clik a picture of Ganesha in their house and post it in the comment section of the contest posts with given hashtags. One lucky winner gets to win a Ganesha pendant while others can win Amazon Gift vouchers. The contest is already on and the winners will be announced on 5th September.



R. Jain, CEO, Candere, said, "Ganesh Chaturthi, just like any other festival, encourages people to shop and gift . This collection caters to the needs of the masses not only in design and variety but also budget. With this contest, we hope to create a bit more festivity and excitement amongst our customers and followers." Those intrigued by the idea of 'The Many Strokes of Ganesha' can select the pendants based on types of stones, number of stones, shape of stones, colour of stones, etc, as well as the colour of gold - white gold, yellow gold and rose gold. These simple yet elegant pendants range from as low as Rs. 7000/-. To view the collection, visit https://www.candere.com/m/buy-ganesha-pendants-online/.

About Candere Candere.com is one of India's growing e-commerce companies dealing majorly in diamond jewellery and has shot to limelight with its recent merger with Kalyan Jewellers. Candere commenced business with a vision of bringing the offline diamond industry to the online market, making it available to the masses in India. The Kalyan and Candere partnership was a step closer to this ambition. For more details, visit https://www.candere.com/. Media Contact:

Naushaba Ara

Enovate Lifestyles Pvt. Ltd.

[email protected]

+91-22-61066202



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[September 01, 2017] Tautachrome Inc.'s former subsidiary, BH Trucking, Inc., Wins Motion to Set Aside Judgment

ORO VALLEY, Ariz., Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tautachrome, Inc. (OTCQB:TTCM) today announced that on Wednesday this week the Honorable Cynthia T. Kuhn of the Arizona Superior Court, Pima County, ruled in favor of BH Trucking, Inc., granting its motion to SET ASIDE the December 15, 2016 judgment that awarded $2,377,915 plus interest to former consultant Richard Morgan.

In its ruling, the Court found that Richard Morgans omission of the Share Exchange Agreement between BH Trucking Inc. (formerly known as Click Evidence, Inc.) and Tautachrome, Inc. (formerly known as Roadships Holdings, Inc.) during the default damages hearing of December 15, 2016 was highly material to a fair determination of damages. The Court also found that the Share Exchange Agreement was signed by Morgan, and that the Agreement included an express provision addressing BH Truckings lack of obligation to pay the exact type of finders fee sought by Morgan. Judge Kuhn ordered a new evidentiary hearing on damages for 10/25/17. In a separate proceeding before the Court, Richard Morgan had been seeking to enforce gainst Tautachrome, Inc. the December 15, 2016 default judgment he had obtained against BH Trucking, Inc. That proceeding has been stayed pending the outcome of the evidentiary hearing.



With the December 15, 2016 judgment having been aside by the Court, the Company will remove the associated $2,377,915 charge (plus interest) against its financials. CEO Dr. Jon N. Leonard stated today The Company was not the target of the Morgan vs BH Trucking litigation that resulted in the now overturned $2,377,915 judgment to Morgan. However, out of an abundance of caution we charged the judgment to our financials. It is a relief, as a result of the Courts ruling to set aside the judgment, to have this charge to financials removed.

About Tautachrome Tautachrome, Inc. (OTCQB:TTCM) is an emerging growth company in the developing digital imagery technology sector. Tautachrome is an Internet technology development company. Tautachrome has revolutionary issued patent claims and three patents pending, including Talk-to-the-Picture social networking and trustable imagery-based interactions. Safe Harbor Statement Statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general business conditions, managing growth, and political and other business risks. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph and the risks and other factors detailed in Tautachrome's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tautachrome undertakes no duty to update these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tautachrome, Inc. Tel: +1 520 318 5578 Web: www.tautachrome.com Investor relations: [email protected]

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[September 01, 2017] Rite Aid Foundation Donates $100,000 to American Red Cross to Assist With Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

The Rite Aid Foundation announced today a $100,000 donation to the American Red Cross to help the victims, families and communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. "While the true impact won't be known for years to come, it's clear that Hurricane Harvey will go on record as one of the most devastating storms in U.S. history, forever changing the lives of millions of people across Texas and other affected areas," said Ken Martindale, Rite Aid CEO of stores, president of Rite Aid Corporation and president of The Rite Aid Foundation. "As relief efforts continue and rebuilding begins, The Rite Aid Foundation hopes that this donation to the American Red Cross will help make a difference to those most affected by this devastating storm." While Rite Aid does not operate any pharmacies in Texas, RediClinic, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, operates 36 clinics inside H-E-B grocery stores in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. In the greater Houston area, 21 of RediClinic's 22 locations have reopened and are operating on a modified schedule. RediClinic's Kingwood location rmains closed due to flooding. For the latest information, visit www.rediclinic.com/Harvey.



"Thanks to the generosity of donors such as The Rite Aid Foundation, the Red Cross is able to respond immediately to disasters like Hurricane Harvey with food, shelter and the necessary humanitarian supplies to ensure people are safe," said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. "We are so grateful for The Rite Aid Foundation's ongoing support as we work together to provide hope and help to people in need." Since its inception in 2001, The Rite Aid Foundation has awarded more than $32 million to non-profit organizations. Additionally, Rite Aid, through the efforts of its customers, supplier partners and associates, has also raised more than $81 million for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals across the country since 1994.

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains with more than 4,500 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia and fiscal 2017 annual revenues of $32.8 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company's website at www.riteaid.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170901005534/en/

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UML leader Nepal lashes out at Nepali Congress

CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal came down heavily upon ruling coalition party Nepali Congress saying that the party has been demanding to allow the corruption-convicts to run for the elections.
The Klein Law Firm Reminds Investors of an Investigation Concerning Possible Violations of Federal Securities Laws by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited

The Klein Law Firm announces the commencement of an investigation of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.

On August 2, 2016, Teva completed its acquisition of Allergan plc's generics business, Actavis Generis. Teva continued to make positive statements concerning the integration of the business, growth on intangible assets and goodwill, and general benefits of the acquisition. Then on August 3, 2017, Teva lowered its outlook and recorded a $6.1 billion impairment charge.

If you suffered a loss in Teva and wish to otain additional information, please contact Joseph Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or visit http://www.kkclasslaw.com/TEVA-Info-Request-Form-201.







Joseph Klein, Esq. is an experienced attorney and has also practiced as a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Klein represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170901005541/en/
[September 01, 2017] Ziyen Inc. - Forging ahead: Regulation A+, Company Milestones and a Note from the CEO

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziyen Inc. continues to navigate the new Regulation A+ IPO path to market. This new type of initial public offering is an alternative to a traditional IPO, which makes it easier for smaller, early stage companies to raise up to $50 million in investment capital from the general public, not just accredited investors. Its a crowdfunding alternative where early investors become actual shareholders.

Regulation A+ paves the way for new companies to go to market, with fewer requirements and regulations than a traditional IPO process. This is of concern to some regulators who worry that inexperienced investors may not fully understand what they are getting into. Transparency helps address this. Ziyen urges potential investors to review our filings with the SEC (linked below) to see our solid business proposal and to follow the progress of the company as we navigate to our IPO. Ziyen as a company has certainly matured during this journey. A recap of significant milestones which have shaped our vision: Apr, 2016  New startup, Ziyen Inc. created, corporate website launched. The software division, Ziyen Intelligence to offer industry targeted portal access to information on federal tenders and contracts available for bid. Accessible via mobile app and desktop, modeled after todays social media infrastructure.

Jul, 2016  Ziyen files initial Reg A+ application paperwork, iterating under the direction, oversight and support of SEC representatives and our SEC attorney in order to ensure the filing for the offering circular is complete and compliant.

Oct, 2016  Ziyen offering circular is certified by the SEC for Reg A+. Initial share price fixed at .25 c with 64M shares of common stock available.

Jun, 2017  Ziyen, upon reviewing the oil/gas energy sector as an initial information portal, identifies an opportunity and acquires an asset: Mineral rights to an Indiana oilfield worth $36 M, fundamentally changing the compny. Ziyen Energy division is created.

Aug, 2017  Ziyen submits 253G2 addendum to the filing circular with the SEC, recognizing the new asset. Additionally, initial members of the board are introduced.

Aug, 2017  Ziyen enlists VStock Transfer to represent the company as Transfer Agent and secure a CUSIP number for the company. An important step in the move to public trading.

Aug, 2017  Ziyen secures its ticker symbol, ZIY, in preparation for its move to the markets.

Aug, 2017  Oilfield initial inspection completed. High-level infrastructure needs identified. Samples collected for testing. Required permit applications underway and negotiation of distribution channels have begun.

Sep, 2017  Ziyen Inc. rebrands, with an exciting new look and logo. The corporate website refreshed to streamline navigation for mobile and desktop users, updating content and improving end-user experience.



A note on compliance - Alastair Caithness, CEO Ziyen Inc.

"Compliance is key for going public. The process of companies going public under Regulation A+ is very new, which is why people are just starting to hear about it now. Not only do we have to run and promote our company, but we need to work very closely with the SEC to ensure we abide by all regulations that are covered by compliance rules. There are no shortcuts to going public - we have to work through the process to qualify. The NYSE American stock exchange has reserved our symbol number, ZIY, which is another big move for the company. We now have over 150 investors in the business. We are committed to deliver for them, and I know they are just as excited as we are to hit the markets and see a great return for their investment as we grow our business and make this IPO a reality! For more information visit http://www.ziyen.com Forward Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements related to anticipated commencement of commercial production, targeted pricing and performance goals, and statements that otherwise relate to future periods are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company's periodic reports filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made and based on information available to the Company on the date of this press release. Ziyen Inc. assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release. Alastair Caithness Ziyen Inc. [email protected] +1 800 801-4703

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[September 01, 2017]

CRM--a subsidiary of 2-20 Records Management--Acquires Business Archives of Tampa

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Effective today Business Archives of Tampa has been acquired by Certified Records Management (CRM), located at 4745 Oak Fair Blvd, in Tampa, Florida, www.flacrm.com, (813) 247-1944. CRM is part of the 2-20 Records Management Family of Companies, www.2-20rm.com. 2-20 is a portfolio company of Topspin Partners, a suburban NY-based private equity fund.

Business Archives of Tampa began serving customers over 20 years ago with a vision to offer an unparalleled level of customer service. "Our vision has been achieved during this time, and we've forged long-term friendships with the clients we support. Now is the time to begin creating a new vision, one that will provide greater opportunities for our employees, suppliers and most importantly, our customers," states Doug Updike, President, Business Archives of Tampa.

Doug Mann, CEO, 2-20 Records Management adds, "We are honored andgrateful to be able to acquire Business Archives of Tampa. 2-20 will provide Business Archives of Tampa's customers with additional services and technologies which include local document imaging and hosting, scan-on-demand, indexing, vault storage and a Smart Web online customer service and inventory management web portal."







CRM and Business Archives of Tampa look forward to a smooth transition where customers will continue to receive excellent service and support.

About 2-20 Records Management



2-20 Records Management provides Smart Storage Solutions including Document Storage, Media Storage, Health Information Management, Digital Solutions, Data Protection, and Secure Document Shredding throughout the United States.

For more information or to have a complimentary Cost Benefits Analysis, please visit www.2-20rm.com, email Patrick McKillop at [email protected] or call Patrick at 201-294-6192.

About Topspin Partners

Topspin Partners is a suburban NY-based private equity fund that makes control investments in profitable and established lower middle-market businesses. The firm invests across a number of industries, including health and wellness, niche consumer, food and beverage, business services and security. The Topspin team has considerable operational expertise and collaborates with management teams to build businesses of varying stages and sizes.

Further information on Topspin can be found at www.topspinpartners.com.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/crma-subsidiary-of-2-20-records-managementacquires-business-archives-of-tampa-300513219.html

SOURCE 2-20 Records Management
[September 01, 2017] Arcserve Announces Departure of CEO Mike Crest; Names Interim CEO

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arcserve, LLC, whose breakthrough data protection and availability solutions deliver enterprise power with small team simplicity, today announced that Mike Crest has resigned as CEO, effective September 8, 2017. Dave Hansen, the companys Chairman of the Board, will serve as interim CEO as final preparations are made for Mikes successor. This transition comes shortly after the company announced its accelerated growth and rapid progress toward delivering the industrys first cost-effective disaster avoidance solution.

The companys Board of Directors expresses its gratitude to Mike for his dedication and invaluable contribution to the companys establishment as an independent organization and subsequent momentum after its divestiture in 2014. Mike was a tremendous asset in laying the foundation for our robust future, and we understnd his decision to pursue another growth opportunity, said Hansen. As an organization that values people above everything else, we remain committed to exceeding the needs of our customers and partners.



It has been an enormous privilege to have led Arcserve during an important period of transformation, essentially growing from a start-up into a major player in the backup and recovery market, said Crest. The company is founded on the principles of empowering businesses through the best backup and availability technology, and it will undoubtedly enjoy continued success. While a search for Mikes successor is already underway, Dave Hansen, Chairman of the Board, will oversee the transition period until the appointment of a new CEO. Dave is a technology industry veteran with deep experience in software and cloud solutions. He spent ten years at CA Technologies holding several executive roles. Dave has held the CEO role at Numara Software and SafeNet Inc., and has served as Vice President and General Manager in the Dell Software group.

Follow Arcserve Blog

Twitter

LinkedIn About Arcserve

Arcserve is a leading provider of data protection and recovery software that provides organizations with the assurance that they can recover their data and applications when needed. Launched in 1990, Arcserve provides a comprehensive solution for cloud, virtual and physical environments, on premise or in the cloud, backed by unsurpassed support and expertise. Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), available on Arcserves appliance or your hardware, drives a full range of highly efficient and integrated data protection capabilities through a simple, web-based user console. Arcserve has a customer base of 45,000 end users in more than 150 countries and partners with over 7,500 distributors, resellers and service providers around the world. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices around the world. Visit www.arcserve.com. Media Contact: Leslie Keil Arcserve 952.903.5434 [email protected]

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BNL girls thump Mitchell at The Hive

Bedford North Lawrence defeated Mitchell 78-20 at the Hive on Saturday evening. The win moved the Stars to 3-0 on the season.
Eric Burke Fox4 Exclusive: WyCo commissioner says video shows he didnt assault anyone at Legoland

Maddox says his fiance ordered tickets to Legoland online. They had hoped to walk right in, but there was a problem. Maddox said he walked away and she handled it, but when an employee disrespected her, Maddox said he intervened.



They questioned her ability to read. No one treats her like that, so I stepped in, explained Maddox.

WyCo commishwas recently caught on tape by KSHB newsie Ryan Kath throwing an EPIC temper tantrum that landed him in trouble with the authorities.Now, he's denying the incident . . .Money quote:Again,. . .And after looking at the clip I can only wonder if that's the same lady that he is pushing aside throughout the clip . . .
Ex-GOP senator on Trump: 'Our party has been corrupted by this hateful man' Former Republican Senator John Danforth has launched a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump, describing him as "the most divisive president" in history and accusing him of "corrupting" the Republican Party. Writing in The Washington Post on Friday, Danforth, who represented Missouri from 1976 to 1995, argued that Trump has repeatedly violated the principles on which the Republican Party was founded.

Here's a debate that we skipped because it doesn't really matter in the lives of Kansas City residents . . . However, GOP hand-wringing on Prez Trump is mostly a ploy that ignores their basic policy agreement and mostly gets into a debate over style. Roundup:
KCMO is upping the ante by injecting smart technologies into the downtown parking experience. The goal is to make parking downtown more user-friendly, so the City is installing single and multi-space parking meters.





For this 90-day demonstration, four different smart-parking technology vendors are installing meters in the River Market, Crossroads Arts District and Central Business District. Paid parking will be new for the River Market, with the demo meters on 5th Street, 3rd Street, Main Street and Grand Boulevard.





Enforcement of the new meters will be weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and time regulations at meter locations will not change. The parking rate is set at $1 an hour in an attempt to encourage parking space turnover.

"They'll be up to $3/hour in no time! If they are like the credit card parking meters in Chicago and other cities, they can really raise the prices . . . "

Once again, City Hall continues its vendetta against the River Market as it seeks crackdown on Kansas City drivers looking for convenient and affordable spaces.Read the latest 12th & Oak presser closely asDeets:A word of warning from our blog community:Developing . . .
Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

Soon after taking charge at NITI Aayog as its second Vice-Chairman, noted economist Rajiv Kumar today asserted the days of elitist policy making is going to be over, while claiming that the second quarter growth is expected to soar to 7-7.5% on the back of good monsoon and clarity over GST.

Stressing the need to formulate policies, which generate jobs, Dr Kumar said, Days of elitist policy framing are going to be over now. We need to develop our own models. That model will have to meet the critical task of creating employment opportunities.

Dr Kumar also indicated that he favoured external advisers to join the policy body and he would like to work with groups of states to make the policy making participative and result oriented.

Sounding confident that Indias economy will bounce back from the present dip in GDP growth, Dr Kumar said, In the next quarter (July-September quarter), the economy will grow by 7-7.5%. De-stocking, which was in anticipation of GST rollout, has completed and now, there is more clarity on the new tax regime. He said, Also, monsoon is good. Many IPOs are in the offing. FDI and FIIs are also increasing.

Terming the issues related to farmers distress as real phenomena, not imaginary, he said, I am in favour of making agriculture more remunerative. And I also believe that the government should reduce interferences in the agriculture sector.
Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 1

Touted as the adopted daughter of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Honeypreet could not legally have been adopted by him under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, say legal experts.

In the news since she was seen accompanying Ram Rahim to Panchkula and later to Rohtak after his conviction, Honeypreet is now wanted by the police for reportedly plotting the dera chiefs escape with the Panchkula police having issued lookout notices for her.

The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, states in section 11(ii) that if the adoption is of a daughter, the adoptive father or mother must not have a Hindu daughter or sons daughter (whether by legitimate blood relation or by adoption) living at the time of adoption, says HS Sandhu, a senior advocate in the district courts in Fatehabad.

Ram Rahim has two daughters, Charanpreet Kaur and Amarpreet Kaur, and hence, he could not have legally adopted Honeypreet. Section 11(iii) says if the adoption is by a man and the person to be adopted is a woman, the adoptive father must be at least 21 years older than the person to be adopted, says Sandhu.

Ram Rahim celebrated his 50th birthday with fanfare in August, when Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma gifted him a cheque for Rs 51 lakh. Honeypreets profile shows that she is 35 years old, says Sandhu. Born in 1982, she was married to Vishwas Gupta by Ram Rahim in 1999, making the dera chief liable for marriage of a minor.

Lekh Raj Dhot, a senior advocate in the district courts in Sirsa, maintains that Ram Rahim did not legally adopt Honeypreet and was merely showing her as his adopted daughter to the public. Honeypreets husband had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2011, accusing the dera chief of sexually exploiting his wife. She had accused her husband of harassment for dowry. In the petitions in the Sirsa courts, her real name Priyanka Taneja was mentioned and not Honeypreet, says Dhot.

He adds that her fathers name mentioned in the court record was Ramanand Taneja and Ram Rahims name did not figure anywhere. Gupta had later withdrawn the petition after an out-of-court settlement. Honeypreet describes herself on Twitter as Papas angel, philanthropist, director, editor, actress and passionate to transform my rockstar papas directions into actions.

Kanchan Munjal, administrator of Springbells Senior Secondary School, where Honeypreet, then known as Priyanka, did her schooling, remembers her as a calm and simple girl and an average student. I remember that she participated in a group dance in our annual function once, but not as the main dancer, she says.
Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, September 1

The district administration and police authorities are on alert as the verdict on the validity of the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admissions in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, is likely to be delivered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday.

The verdict is being eagerly awaited as the provision of reservation to the members of the Jat, Jat Sikh, Muslim-Jat, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi communities depends on it. The said Act, passed by the Haryana Assembly in March, 2016, provided reservation to the aforesaid communities under a newly created BC (C) category.

The agitation for grant of reservation to Jats launched from Sampla township in Rohtak district had turned violent in February 2016 and led to widespread arson, loss of lives and damage to property across the state.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

A massive statewide agitation had been staged in Haryana in January-February this year as well, the epicentre of which was Jassia village in Rohtak district.

In view of the aforesaid facts, the Rohtak district administration and police authorities are on alert and closely monitoring the developments.

The police and administration are on an alert in view of the situation. We are committed to maintaining peace, law and order, said Rohtak Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate Atul Kumar.

Local SP Pankaj Nain maintained that they were monitoring the situation and keeping a close vigil on the goings-on.
Chandigarh, September 1

Two students of an Industrial Training Institute in Haryanas Sonepat allegedly shot another in a classroom on Friday, police said.

The suspect brought a country-made pistol hidden inside his bag, Sonepat Deputy Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev said.

"A CCTV footage purportedly shows two boys approaching the victim, who was chatting with other students in the classroom, from behind. One of the two boys then took out a pistol from his bag and shot the victim in the back," the DSP said.

"As the victim fell from the bench he was sitting on, both suspects fled," he said, adding that reason for the crime was likely an argument they had a few days ago.

The suspects, both around 16 or 17, have been booked for attempted murder and are currently missing.

The victim was first taken to a hospital in Sonepat, and later to PGIMS in Rohtak. PTI

.
Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 1

More than a year after the constitutional validity of an Act providing reservation to Jats and five other communities under the newly created BC (C) category was challenged, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed that it would be kept in abeyance till March 31, 2018.

Sending the matter back to the Backward Classes Commission, the Bench of Justice Surinder Singh Saron and Justice Lisa Gill asked it file its report by then.

Pronouncing the order in an open court in the afternoon, the Bench directed the collection of quantifiable data till November 30. Objections to the data would be collected and uploaded on the commission website till December 31 before the completion of the remaining process.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The direction came on petitions filed by Murari Lal Gupta challenging the constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions), Act, 2016.

The Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016 was passed unanimously by the Haryana Assembly on March 29, 2016. It was notified in the official gazette on May 12, 2016, by the state government.

Five other communities--Jat Sikh, Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi--were to be entitled to get 10 per cent reservation in government services and admission in educational institutes. On May 26, 2016, the Bench headed by Justice Saron had stayed the reservation, while taking up a public interest litigation.

Justifying quota for Jat and five other communities, the State of Haryana had claimed that the High Court could examine the decisions validity only under exceptional circumstances.

The State argued that the Supreme Court had set aside the Central governments notification providing OBC quota for the Jat community, but it was not related to reservation to the Jat community under the state quota.

In his petition, Gupta had earlier sought directions for quashing the block C of the Act providing reservation to Jat community under a newly carved BC (C) category.

Counsel for Kumhar Maha Sabha Vijay Kumar Jindal submitted that reservation to Jat community was provided under the new Act on the basis of Justice KC Gupta Commission report, which had already been quashed by the Supreme Court.

He stated that reservation on the basis of the Justice Gupta Commission report would tantamount to revision of a judicial order, which could not be done by the legislature.

He further submitted that in 2014 also the state government had introduced a bill to include Jats in the list of other backward classes for reservation in job and educational institutes. But, the Supreme Court in case of Ram Singh and others versus the Union of India had held that Jats were not backward socially, educationally and politically.
Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 1

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday said he was a soldier of the party and will contest the Assembly elections due later this year in the state.

Virbhadra, however, clarified that he never said that the Congress will go to the polls under the present PCC chief Sukhvinder Sukkhu. He also hinted that he was hopeful that the party high command would remove or replace the state party chief.

The Chief Minister had earlier written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi saying if the current situation in Himachal Congress continued, he would neither contest elections not lead the party

Virbhadra also met Gandhi at her residence yesterday.

On the arrest of eight policemen by the CBI in the Kothkai rape case, Virbhadra said: The perpetrators in the case must face the law for their wrong doings.
Vijay Arora

Shimla, September 1

The High Court today rejected the petition filed by the scion of the erstwhile Kullu royal family Maheshwar Singh on the issue of taking over the management of Raghunath temple in Kullu town.

The matter came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia. While rejecting the petition, the court observed that the petition is not maintainable under writ jurisdiction.

Kullu MLA and Chief Kardar (caretaker) of Lord Raghunath temple, Maheshwar Singh had filed the petition before the court challenging the decision of the state government to take over the Raghunath temple in Kullu.

In his petition Maheshwar Singh contended that the temple of Lord Ragunath is a private property. It was further contended that the state cannot take over this property by issuing a notification in this regard without following the principle of natural justice.

The petitioner further challenged the decision of the state government on the ground that the action of the state was illegal, arbitrary and against the provisions of the Constitution of India.

In its earlier order the court had restrained the state from taking any action on the notification issued by it for taking over the management of Raghunath temple. Apart from this the court had also stayed the operation and execution of the notice issued by Deputy Commissioner , Kullu on July 26 whereby Maheshwar Singh was requested to hand over all temple properties to the Chairman of Raghunath Temple Trust Sultanpur, Kullu.

Now the court has rejected the contentions of Maheshwar Singh by saying that question raised by the petitioner cannot be challenged under Article 226 of the constitution.

The High Court further observed that when other alternative remedy is available then petitioner cannot invoke the writ jurisdiction.

WHAT THE COURT SAID

The question raised by the petitioner cannot be challenged under Article 226 of the Constitution.

When other alternative remedy is available then petitioner cannot invoke the writ jurisdiction

MAHESHWAR SINGHS STAND
Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 1

Making a guarded comment, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said he was a soldier of the party and would contest elections. The Chief Minister said it when quizzed on his talks with the party high command in New Delhi over his demand for change of PCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and the leadership issue during the forthcoming state Assembly elections.

Specifically asked whether he and Sukhu would jointly lead the Congress in the elections, Virbhadra Singh added, I never said so, giving enough indications that he still wants the removal of Sukhu as the party president though many of his Cabinet colleagues and party workers were siding with Sukhu.

Coming back from New Delhi to the state capital here after he had hectic talks with the party high command there, the Chief Minister made these comments here on the sideline of the seminar on hydropower sector.

Unfazed by a virulent attack launched by the BJP and the CPM against him for an alleged cover-up exercise in the infamous Kotkhai rape and murder case that has sparked anger statewide, the Chief Minister said those responsible for wrongdoing should face the law.

Responding to media queries on the CBI arrest of the then IG south range Zahur Zaidi, who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), seven others and the two other district police officials yesterday, the Chief Minister defended the CBI action, saying it was his government which had recommended a CBI probe in the case and wrote to the Union Home Ministry for the same. Anyone who is involved in wrongdoing in the case should face law, he said without mincing words.

Sidestepping his statements in public in which he had lauded the role of SIT and police for arresting the six accused in the case, Virbhadra Singh instead launched a counter attack on the BJP and the CPM, which have been trying to pin him down for alleged cover-up in the Kotkhai rape and murder case and subsequent custodial death of Suraj, a Nepali labourer, who was arrested by the SIT as one of the six accused in the case. The Chief Minister said that the BJP was in the habit of making an issue out of everything that happened in the state as they need something to talks against him.
Our Correspondents

Reasi/Doda/Ramban, September 1

Four persons were killed and 18 others, including nine Army jawans, were injured in three road accidents in the Jammu region today. According to the police, two persons were killed and five were injured in the Thathri area of Doda this morning when a vehicle they were travelling in skidded and rolled down into a deep gorge.

The incident took place at around 7:10 am when a Sumo vehicle was on the way from Thathri to Jungalwad. It fell into a deep gorge near Phagsoo, resulting in the death of two persons on the spot while five others received serious injuries. The deceased were identified as Mohammed Ashraf (driver) and Gulam Ali of Phagsoo.

Locals and the police started a rescue operation and shifted all injured to the nearby Community Health Centre, Thathri.

In another accident, two persons, including the driver, died on the spot and four passengers were injured, when a Srinagar-bound Tata Sumo taxi collided head-on with an Army vehicle at Chamalvas in Banihal this morning.

According to police sources, the deceased were identified as the driver, Manjit Singh of Digdol, Ramban, and Nisar Ahmed of Batmaloo, Srinagar. The four injured were referred to the Sher-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar.

Meanwhile, at least nine Army jawans were injured when the vehicle they were traveling in skidded off the track in Reasi district on Friday morning. Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi, Tahir Bhat said nine Army personnel were injured after their Casspir vehicle skidded off the highway near Karwara village in Reasi.

Bhat said with the efforts of locals, the injured were shifted to Katra hospital for treatment and were stated to be stable.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 1

On the day a police vehicle came under militant attack on the outskirts of Srinagar, the J&K Police asked its men living in militancy-infested areas to take extra precautions for their security during the Eid festivities.

Keeping in mind the attacks on the police, as the head I have to ensure safety and security of my men. I have told my men to be extra careful about their security during Eid, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Muneer Khan said.

There have been three attacks on the police in Kashmir this week. On Thursday evening, Sub-Inspector Gowhar Ahmad Malla was wounded when militants fired at him while he was playing volleyball at Barbugh Imamsahab, Shopian, over 60 km from Srinagar. On August 28, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of the police was shot dead by militants in Anantnag while he was regulating traffic.

Sources said district heads of police have already sensitised their personnel about the Eid leave and also men with high risk have been suggested to avoid crowded places, so that they dont become soft targets.

The advisory issued on Eid to policemen is aimed at ensuring their safety, another police officer said.

In April this year, following increased incidents of militants harassing family members of police personnel, the J&K Police had asked its men, especially in the volatile south Kashmir, to avoid visiting homes for next few months. There is an input about a possible militant attack during the Eid festivity.

Inspector General, CRPF, Ravideep Sahi, said there was a high threat that militants may target security forces camps in coming days. There is an alert that militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba may carry out attacks. So we are on an alert, Sahi said.
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 1

Militants fired at a police bus at Pantha Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar on Friday evening, killing one policeman and injuring five.

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The attack took place around 8 pm, when the bus carrying personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police was on its way from Bemina to Zewan, a police official said.

Six policemen were injured in the attack. They were rushed to the Armys 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment here, where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed to his injuries, he said.

The condition of the others is stable, he said.

Meanwhile, a BSF jawan from Bathinda succumbed to bullet injuries sustained in cross-border LoC fire while he was deployed at a forward post in Krishna Ghati Sector.

ASI Kamaljit Singh, 50, was provided immediate first aid and evacuated from the post but unfortunately succumbed to the injuries.

He had joined the BSF in 1988 and hailed from Malkana village in Bathinda.
Johnson Thomas

This foolhardy attempt to cast another stone on the emergency era has a Maharani from Rajashthan, Geetanjali (Illeana Dcruz), seeking vengeance against an Emergency era politician-womanizer Sanjeev (you know who) played by Priyanshu Chatterjee, for appropriating her hereditary wealth.

She enrols her paramours into the actold faithful, bodyguard Bhawani Singh(Ajay Devgn) and new-found love, decorated Army Commander Sehar Singh (Vidyut Jamwal) are enlisted with the task of stealing back the booty with the able help from Guruji (Sanjay Mishra) and Sanjana (Esha Gupta).

The incumbent narrative designed by Milan Luthria is dead-weight, inept, plagued with loop-holes and extremely low on fuel. Stupid dialogues, silly planning that even a school-kid might find offensive to his intelligence make this a ludicrous heist attempt that has really no booty to show for it at the end of it all.

The Emergency gets bandied about as though it was a game played by stereotypical heroes and villains. The heist team assembled here is so ridiculous that no one would believe they are capable of anything other than strutting their peculiar brand of stuck-up machismo on screen.

Milan Luthrias idea of Emergency is everyone in khadi filling up jails while the hero and his henchmen go about doing as they please, jumping in and out of prison with no one to stop them. Theres little logic and even less sense in this hokey misadventure.

You certainly wouldnt want to spend your hard-earned money on this one - not even for the delectable Sunny Leone dance that heralds serial kisser Emraan Hashmi aka Dalias entry into this curelessly pickled game of thorns!
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 1

The Shiv Sena has called Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation an expensive publicity stunt that achieved none of its objectives.

In a scathing editorial piece in its mouthpiece Saamna two days after a report by the Reserve Bank India said that the bank got back almost 99 per cent of the notes it had scrapped last November, the Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Friday: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-government's demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes last year achieved none of its objectives and was simply an expensive publicity exercise for the BJP.

The Reserve Bank of India has admitted that 99 per cent of the demonetised currency has returned to the system. The remaining money too would have come but the common man got tired of standing in the queue or couldn't deposit his currency on time, editorial said, demanding an apology of having inconvenienced the public.



When 'note bandhi' (note ban) was announced, you promised two things: One that it would break the back of the Pakistan-based terror groups. But more Indian soldiers died at the borders. Secondly, you said the note ban

would stop the supply of counterfeit currency. Instead, fake Rs 2000 notes came into the country in just a month's time, Saamna said.

It also said that people who held hoards of illegally acquired money remained unaffected, instead investing in real estate in Mumbai and other cities.

A report by the RBI recently said that the bank got back Rs 15.28 lakh crore of Rs 15.44 lakh crore worth of old banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 that it had scrapped November last in what it then reasoned as an attempt to root out hoards of black money and stem terrorism funding.

The central government's decision has received severe criticism since the report made headlines, with critics calling it a complete failure that crippled the economy.
New Delhi, September 1

If statistics given by Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog, are anything to go by, India is a long way from fulfilling one of the many objectives as told by the current Indian government  rooting out corruption.

Depicting how pervasive the problem is across Asia, a list released by Forbes quotes the study as saying that at 69 per cent bribery rate, India beats Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar  the most corrupt countries in Asia.



The Forbes article, which rates India the highest in the list with 69 per cent bribery rate, says about India: "In five of the six public services  schools, hospitals, ID documents, police, and utility services  more than half the respondents have had to pay a bribe." The article goes on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'fight against corruption', but says: "However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption has made a mark: 53 per cent of the people think he is going it fairly or very well. And it has led to people feeling empowered, as 63 per cent believe ordinary people can make a difference".

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India is closely followed by Vietnam at 65 per cent bribery rate.

India's neighbour, Pakistan, stands fourth in the list with 40 per cent bribery rate. The article describes the nation as: "In Pakistan, about three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. Of the people who encountered either the police or the courts, nearly seven in ten had to pay a bribe. Sadly, people don't feel things can change  only a third think ordinary people can make a difference".

The 18-month long survey by Transparency International was concluded after talking to more than 20,000 people in 16 countries, regions and territories in the Asia Pacific.

The organisation had put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its Corruption Perception Index last year. The country's 2015 corruption perception score remained the same as 2014's  38/100  showing little improvement.

According to figures published in March, 2017, while citizens of Pakistan were the most likely of any country to be asked for bribes in law and order institutions, for India the police bribery rate was 54 per cent and for China a low 12 per cent.

India had the highest bribery rates of all the countries surveyed for access to public schools (58 per cent) and healthcare (59 per cent).  ANI
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service



Mumbai, September 1



Last Tuesdays flooding in Mumbai, which forced thousands of people to wade through stagnant water, brought back memories of the July 26, 2005, deluge which caused a wave of leptospirosis in its aftermath. At least 67 people had died in the weeks that followed from the disease that is caused by bacteria from fecal matter of rodents and animals entering the human body via open wounds.

This time Mumbaikars were determined not to be caught unawares. Even as people were wading through rain water in order to reach home, messages were being circulated on social media asking them to pop an antibiotic as a preventive measure.



According to chemists, several residents tried to buy medicines they read about on WhatsApp forwards. Several medical stores advised their customers to obtain a prescription from their doctors before doling out these medicines.



Though T Doxycycline is prescribed for patients suffering from leptospirosis, it should be taken under medical advice, said Dr Arvind Patankar, a physician from suburban Mumbai. He warned that consuming medicine without a doctors advice could give people a false sense of security. Those wading through water could contract several kinds of illnesses like hepatitis infection and gastro-enteritis, and should stay alert for any kind of fever, he added.



The administration too has announced that it was scanning people for leptospirosis on a war footing to avoid a repeat of 2005. So far, the BMC has distributed Chemoprophylaxis, a drug for leptospirosis, to

24,898 adults, including 74 preganat women and 1261 children, Mumbais civic body said in a statement here on Friday.



The BMC has put in the Standing Operating Procedure to prevent leptospirosis. It is important to act within 72 hrs after exposure, Idzes Kundan, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Health), told

reporters here.



However, Health Department officials said the heavy rain this year had resulted in 27 cases of leptospirosis and 344 cases of gastroenteritis before the August 29 floods. The number of deaths reported from leptospirosis were just two across Mumbai as most patients were treated on time, officials said.
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

Swedish military equipment maker Saab announced its India partnership with the Adani Group in defence manufacturing on Thursday.

Hakan Buskhe, Saab president and CEO, announced the partnership on Thursday afternoon in New Delhi. The partnership significantly aims at bringing production of the Gripen-E fighter jets to India.

Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, termed it a strategic collaboration and said: "We announce cooperation in defence and aerospace, including the Gripen", adding that the companies were currently discussing means to develop indigenous technology  part of Prime Minister Narendra Modos Make-in-India initiative.

"We are the only ones building a new fighter jet in the western world, Bushke said, speaking about the Gripen-E. "We plan to have strong defence manufacturing eco-system."

The company is the race for 100-odd single-engine fighter jets for the Indian Air Force and is looking at some 200 single-engine planes to replace the Soviet/Russian origin MiG 21 and MiG 27 fighter jets that are now more than 35 years old.

According to information tabled in Parliament in December 2016, the MiG-21 and MiG-27 will be phased out by 2024.

Meanwhile, indigenous fighter jets Tejas' will the gap. The Indian Air Force has placed orders for two squadrons (18 planes in each) of the fighter jets from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a Bangalore-based public sector undertaking that the ministry of defence owns. The Indian Air Force intends to buy 106 Tejas fighter jets.

The jets purchased after the first two squadrons will have massive upgrades.

This paper was the first to report on September 1 that the ministry of defence had decided invite foreign companies again to make fighter jets under the Make in India programme. Saab is one of the contenders.

The ministry of defence has sanctioned Indian Air Forces proposal to invite international manufacturers to produce 100 'single-engine fighter jets. The expected cost is around US $10 billion or Rs 65,000 crore. The air force and the ministry of defence have listed single-engine jets as their top priority.

The other major single engine plane maker, the Lockheed Martin, announced a tie-up with Tata for making its F-16 jets in India in July this year.
Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1

The Supreme Court has named its former judges JM Panchal and KSP Radhakrishnan as members of a supervisory panel appointed by it to scrutinise 241 cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi closed by a Special Investigation Team formed by the NDA government for re-investigation.

The panel will start functioning from September 5 and submit its report in three months. The Centre has to provide requisite assistance to the panel members who would get all the financial benefits as permissible in law.

The two-judge panel is to examine the decision of the SIT to close 241 cases of the anti-Sikh riots and opine whether there was justification to close the cases. The top court has already asked its Registry to hand over the files of these cases to the supervisory panel to start its work.

Earlier, the top court had summoned the files of 199 cases closed by the SIT. The Centre had submitted photo copies of the files of these cases in a sealed cover. Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta had told the Bench that 42 more cases had been closed since submission of the files, taking the total number of cases closed to 241.

A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra (since taken over as CJI) had on August 16 asked the panel to give its report in three months and fixed November 28 for further hearing. The names of the judges on the panel were made public on Friday.

Two years after the Narendra Modi government set up an SIT to re-investigate serious anti-Sikh riots cases of 1984 that had been closed, the SIT has managed to file chargesheets only in very small number of cases taken up for further probe.

Senior counsel Arvind Datar and HS Phoolka, who represented petitioner Gurnad Singh, had told the Bench on the last date that only in nine cases trial was on. They had demanded that the trial in these cases should be conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Noting that there was no need to pass another order on this point, the Bench had asked them to show its earlier order to the trial court.

The Bench had also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on another petition filed by victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots from Kanpur demanding an SIT probe into the murders of more than 125 people. It had asked petitioners counsel Prasoon Kumar to hand over a copy of the petition to Uttar Pradesh Additional Advocate-General Aishwarya Bhati and posted the matter for hearing on September 21.
Colombo, September 1

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met her Sri Lankan counterpart Tilak Marapana and discussed key aspects of bilateral cooperation.

Swaraj, who is here to attend the 2nd Indian Ocean Conference, met Foreign Minister Marapana on the sidelines of the two-day meeting.

"Partnership for progress and prosperity. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discusses bilateral cooperation with Tilak Marapana, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister," Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Swaraj discussed key aspects of bilateral relations with her Sri Lankan counterpart, the High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted.

Swaraj yesterday met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan.

The conference is being jointly organised by the India Foundation, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo.

As a goodwill gesture, Sri Lanka yesterday released 76 Indian fishermen, on the occasion of visit of Swaraj to the country. PTI
Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, September 1

As a precautionary measure against rampant swine flu cases this Eid ul Azha Muslims have been advised to salaam instead of embracing family and friends while offering Eid greetings.

Imam of Eidgah and member of the All India Muslim Personla Law Board Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali have issued an advisory to this effect.

Doctors have told me that 1,600 cases of swine flu has been reported and 12 deaths have occurred in Lucknow city alone, said Maulana Khalid Rashid.

This is just a temporary preventive measure as it is proven that the disease spreads from person to persons by touch. So it is best to avoid touch through embrace or shaking of hands, said the Maulana.

Eidgaahs where joint namaz are performed on Eid are especially susceptible to the disease as they are usually crowded.
New Delhi, September 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked tax officials to use data analytics to track undeclared wealth and fix clear targets for improving tax administration by 2022.

Inaugurating the second edition of the annual 'Rajaswa Gyan Sangam'  the joint conference of direct and indirect tax officials  the Prime Minister asked taxmen to clear pending cases and create an environment that instills confidence among honest taxpayers and uproots corruption.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said, has brought more than 17 lakh new traders into the indirect tax system within two months.

He asked them to ensure that the benefits of the biggest tax reform since Independence reach the common man and even small traders with turnover below Rs 20 lakh are registered in the new system.

Asking taxmen to improve their work culture and incorporate both a sense of urgency and measurability in their performance, Modi said officers must fix clear targets to improve the country's tax administration by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence.

Since coming to power in May 2014, Modi has assured taxpayers that he will remove the fear of tax officials hounding them by ushering in accountability and answerability.

Measures taken include cutting down physical interface between the taxpayer and official to curb corruption and easier online filing of returns and claiming of refund as also paperless email-based inquiry and e-scrutiny.

"The Prime Minister said human interface must be kept to a minimum in the tax administration's dealings. He asked for a push to be given to e-assessment and anonymity of proceedings using technology, so that vested interests do not impede the due course of law," an official statement said.

The government, he said, is working towards creation of an environment that shattered the confidence of the corrupt, and instills trust among the honest taxpayers.

Modi mentioned steps like demonetisation and implementation of stringent laws against black money and benami property in this regard.

Expressing dismay at mounting pile of tax-related cases in adjudication and appeal, he said big sums of money locked up in these cases could have been used for the welfare of the poor.

He asked officers to come up with an action plan during the Rajaswa Gyan Sangam to eliminate pendency.

The closed-door two-day conference is being attended by senior officers of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

CBEC in a Twitter post said: "Hon'ble PM @narendramodi directed the tax administrators to be friendly to the honest taxpayers".

The Prime Minister, according to the statement, asked officers to use data analytical tools to proactively track and determine undeclared income and wealth.

Though efforts to increase tax revenue are made by officers each year, the estimated amounts of tax that should accrue to the system are often not realised, he said.

He asked officers to come up with a time-bound solution to 'tax raised and not realised', and asserted that the honest cannot continue to pay the price for the misdeeds of the dishonest.

In this regard, he also suggested complete reworking of human resource management in the tax departments to strengthen the data analytics and investigation wing.

The Prime Minister said that in order to enable all traders to take maximum benefit of GST, it should be ensured that all traders, including even relatively smaller traders with a turnover below Rs 20 lakh, are registered with the GST system.

He asked the officers to make efforts in this regard by designing a system for this category.

CBEC said Modi appreciated the efforts put in by central and state officials for smooth implementation of the GST, which unifies more than a dozen levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT.

GST, which Modi previously described as a 'good and simple tax' that will help end tax terrorism and inspector raj, was rolled out from July 1, making India one market and ending cascading effect of multiple taxes.

"Hon'ble PM @narendramodi desired that the benefit of GST should percolate to the common man," CBEC said.

GST is expected to boost economic activity as same rate for goods and services makes business easy and also facilitates smooth movement of goods and services.

In his address, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley commended the efforts made by the central and state tax officials to make GST a reality.

He also thanked Modi for his "visionary policies and motivation", CBEC said in a tweet.

The objective of the two-day Rajaswa Gyan Sangam is to enable a two-way communication between the policymakers and the senior officers in the field offices with a view to increase revenue collection and facilitate effective implementation of law and policies, the finance ministry had earlier said. PTI
PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 1

Some gunmen helped a gangster facing a criminal trial escape while he was being brought to a court in Amritsar.

Some policemen were taking the gangster, Shubham Singh, to the court from Kapurthala jail when five or six armed gangsters boarded their Punjab Roadways bus at Rayya bus stop and threatened to kill other passengers unless the gangster was let go. When policemen resisted, the gunmen shot one of them, assistant sub-inspector Sukhjinder Singh, in the leg, and escaped with the prisoner in a car parked nearby.

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Amritsar Rural Police have set up check posts to find the suspects and are also conducting raids at some places.

Shubhnam Singh is facing several criminal charges and was being tried in an attempted murder case.

The wounded policeman has been moved to a hospital in Jalandhar.
Saibal Chatterjee

Deep inside the Jerusalem Cinematheque, a major hub of activity for film lovers in Israel, Indian cinema does have a significant, if not dominant, place. Among other facilities, the centre houses the Israel Film Archive, which stores, restores and conserves films made in the region in the past century, among which is footage that the Lumiere brothers shot in 1896. Also in the precincts of the cinematheque is the Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Library, a treasure trove of great films sourced from across the world.

A framed poster on the wall at the archives entrance is that of the 1956 classic Jagte Raho, produced by and starring Raj Kapoor, co-directed by Indian theatre doyen Shambhu Mitra and scripted by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas. In the library, two full shelves are devoted to cinema from the subcontinent.

The Edie and Lew Wasserman Library has the complete Satyajit Ray repertoire as well as most of the films directed by Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta. Also in the library are Indian films that range from Bollywood blockbusters like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho to recent independent gems like Court and Titli with much else in between.

But by no means is the appeal of Indian cinema in this part of the world confined to the rarefied interiors of the Cinematheque. Popular Mumbai cinema and its music are a huge draw among Israeli audiences. Cabbie Pini Cohen, who drove this correspondent from the hotel in Jerusalem to Tel Avivs Ben Gurion Airport at the end of a short trip recently, turned out to be an inveterate Bollywood enthusiast.

He has, he says, inherited his love for Hindi cinema from his mother.

She is extremely fond of Hindi films. She watches one every day on a streaming service that I have subscribed to, says Pini. Her dream is to visit India someday. I will definitely take her there.

Pini breaks into Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyaar kya karein (a song from Amar Akbar Anthony) as he waxes eloquent on Amitabh Bachchan, whose films formed the core of the staple he grew up on.

I do not watch the newer Hindi films. But I am fond of films from earlier decades that I saw as a boy, he adds. The married man is too busy with his work and family these days to watch Bollywood films as regularly as he once did, but his mother, a retired teacher of special children, continues to devour these on a daily basis.

Let me make a call to her, he says. Chances are that she is watching a Bollywood film at this moment. He speed-dials his mom, but she does not take the call. It is mid-afternoon and Pini is probably right. The lady could well be too lost in some Hindi movie to be in a position to answer a phone call.

What is it about Bollywood that holds Pini and his ilk in thrall?

Hindi films are something else, he says. There is so much colour, music and dance in these films that they are absolutely irresistible. They transport us instantly to a magical world.

In the Israeli theatrical circuit, Bollywood has had only sporadic presence thus far and that is how it is likely to be in the foreseeable future. But there is great room for growth given the interest that exists among people here. In 1997, Yash Chopras Dil To Pagal Hai, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, was screened in Tel Aviv. The film ran for three weeks and its songs became so popular that these continue to be played by local radio stations.

Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Devdas, also starring Shah Rukh and Madhuri besides Aishwarya Rai, also had a decent run in Israel in 2002. It was only 11 years later that the next Hindi film  Ayan Mukerjis Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani  was released here.

Efforts to strengthen Indian cinemas links with Israel have been on for several years now. In 2009, Israel hosted an Indian Film Festival in its three largest cities  Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa  and the Indian Jewish population of the country, which numbers upwards of 70,000, with the 50,000-strong Bene Israeli community that migrated from Maharashtra constituting the bulk, responded to it with enormous enthusiasm.

Six Indian films  Taare Zameen Par, A Wednesday, Anaahat, Corporate, Rock On and the 1951 Dev Anand-starrer Baazi  were screened during the festival. A handful of Indian cinema personalities were in attendance. In 2011, an eight-member Bollywood delegation attended the Jerusalem Film Festival to explore new avenues for the Mumbai movie industry in Israel. It isnt known if anything came out of that excursion, but it is clear that Indian cinema still fascinates Israelis no end.

According to Calev Haddad, a young movie fan who got talking at the 34th Jerusalem Film Festival: The vibrancy of Bollywood song and dance is what appeals to movie fans here like I guess it does everywhere else in the world.

Asked if he is a fan of any Indian actor, Calev pauses a while and names Aamir Khan. I was in my early twenties when I saw Taare Zameen Par in the Jerusalem Cinematheque eight or nine years ago. It left a deep imprint on me.

That enthusiasm was apparent when in the last week of June a bunch of Indian Jews turned into a Bollywood-inspired flash mob in Jerusalems bustling Ben Yehuda Street. The locals looked on in bemusement. As the music grew on them, some of them even joined in. And therein lies a lesson for Bollywood.
Dehradun, September 1

A local court on Friday handed down life imprisonment to a software engineer from Delhi who murdered his wife in cold blood seven years ago and kept her body in a deep freezer for months after chopping it into pieces.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar had convicted Rajesh Gulati on Thursday under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (concealing evidence) of the IPC for murdering his wife Anupama.

The judge, while pronouncing the quantum of punishment in a packed courtroom, sentenced him to life in prison, besides imposing upon a fine of Rs 15 lakh, District Prosecution Counsel D P Raturi said.

Out of the total fine of Rs 15 lakh, Rs 14.3 lakh will be invested in a fixed deposit to meet the educational expenses of his minor children from his murdered spouse.

The remaining Rs 70, 000 will be deposited in the state exchequer, Raturi said.

Before the sentence was pronounced, the prosecution pleaded that the case be treated as the rarest of rare and Gulati be handed down the harshest punishment which should send a message to society.

However, Gulatis lawyers pleaded that he should not be given death sentence, a provision which had been done away with by as many as 139 countries across the world.

Moreover, the convicts conduct was good during the last seven years in prison while the trial was on, they said in the course of their argument in the court.

Joint Director (law) J S Bisht said the arguments in the case were concluded on August 18 and the verdict was based on the examination of around 40 witnesses during the prolonged trial.

The sensational murder had come to light on December 11, 2010, about two months after it was committed when Anupamas brother went to enquire about her at the couples residence in Prakash Nagar colony in Cantt area after failing to talk to her for many days.

When Gulati resisted his entry into the house and refused to tell him anything about Anupamas whereabouts, he reported the matter to the police.

Gulati even tried to mislead the police by feigning ignorance about Anupamas whereabouts but when they found a deep freezer kept under locks in the house their suspicion deepened.

When it was unlocked, some pieces of Anupamas body were recovered.

It also came to light that Gulati had thrown some pieces of her corpse into a drain on the Mussoorie road after packing them into polythene bags.

According to the prosecution, the couple often had altercations over an alleged extramarital relationship of Gulati.

During one such fight between them on October 17, 2010, Anupama fell unconscious after hitting her head against the bed.

Rajesh then throttled her to death with the help of a pillow.

The next day Rajesh bought a deep freezer and hid her body after chopping it. Later, he kept throwing the pieces into a drain on the Mussoorie road.

However, the matter came to light before he could dispose of the chopped pieces completely.

When his two children enquired about their mother, Rajesh told them that she had gone to their grannys place in Delhi.

Originally from Delhi, Rajesh Gulati had shifted to Dehradun in 2008. PTI
Dehradun, September 1

German Ambassador to India, Martin Ney, today said that his country would lend support to Uttarakhand in the Central Governments Namami Gange (clean Ganga ) programme.

The programme aims to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the Ganga. We will use the best practices from our experience of river basin management of the river Rhine and river Danube, he told reporters.

German Development Bank KW is discussing financial cooperation for up to Rs 910 crore to promote urban sanitation and industrial effluent treatment in the cities along the Ganga and its tributaries. Martin held talks with Chief Minister TS Rawat and Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy. He also met Governor KK Paul.  TNS
Hasakeh (Syria), September 1

US-backed fighters on Friday ousted the Islamic State group from Raqqa's Old City, a spokesman told AFP, bringing them closer than ever to the jihadists' most well-defended positions.

"Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqqa after clashes with Daesh," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

"We are on the edges of IS's security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are."

Most of Islamic State's fighters and up to 25,000 civilians are expected to still be holed up in the city centre.

The SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters first broke into Raqqa in early June and penetrated its Old City a month later.

They were able to enter it after US-led coalition air strikes opened up two gaps in the Rafiqah wall, a 2,500-metre barrier surrounding the Old City.

The SDF has captured more than 60 per cent of Raqqa city and most of the surrounding northern province.

Sello declined to say when the alliance expected to seize all of Raqqa, but said operations were proceeding "according to schedule".

"Control over the Old City  which has historical importance  is a moral victory against IS, which is collapsing in Raqqa. Its defeat there is inevitable," he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the SDF was still locked in clashes with Islamic State in a small part of the Old City.

Islamic State overran Raqqa in 2014, turning it into the de facto capital of its self-declared "caliphate".

The city was the scene of some of the group's worst atrocities, including public beheadings.  AFP
Understanding Electronic Logging Devices

For fleet managers across the country, December 18th, 2017 will be a red-letter day. Companies that are already required to have their drivers keep paper logs to record Hours of Service (HOS) will now be required to switch to electronic logging devices (ELDs).



As with any change in regulation, you may have questions about the ELD Mandate and what it will mean for your company. Download this eBook, Understanding Electronic Logging Devices, to find out answers to your questions:



 What is an ELD?

 AOBRD vs. ELD

 Does your fleet need to implement ELDs?

 And more

By Verizon Connect
Costco has dropped a California fleet accused labor abuses in the wake of a USA Today report on the trucking industry. Photo: Costco

USA Today raised eyebrows in June with an expose alleging labor abuses at trucking fleets operating at the Southern California ports. Now the newspaper is reporting that in the wake of that story, Costco will no longer do business with one of the fleets highlighted in the story.

The newspaper reported that some port drivers were working long hours and taking home very little  in some cases none  of their paychecks after their lease payments and other expenses were deducted. The report claimed that in some cases drivers were being forced to work as much as 20 hours in a day, far past the maximum allowed by law, drivers alleging that their supervisors threatened to take their jobs or assigning lower-paying routes as punishment if they did not.

Now Costco, one of the largest U.S. retailers, has announced it will no longer do business with Pacific 9 Transportation.

Pacific 9 told USA Today that it had stopped leasing trucks to drivers before Costco ended its relationship, and the company had launched reforms to improve pay.

In the wake of the June report, the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents fleets at the ports, told HDT the cases reported by USA Today were cherry-picked for their extremeness or were not completely explained. "It focuses on a very small subset of the industry, and what we forget to point out is the 90-plus percent of drivers who prefer to be independent contractors and have made that business model work."

Costco's action comes on the heels of additional fallout from the story, USA Today reports, including four senators, led by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), sending letters to 16 U.S. retailers urging them to take a stand against shameful labor abuses.

In the wake of these actions, the paper reports, Hewlett-Packard also sent an auditor to investigate the companys labor practices, while Walmart pledged in a letter responding to the senators that it would cancel contracts with any trucking company that did not provide assurances it was following fair labor practices.

In the letter, Walmart Executive Vice President Joy Jorgensen wrote that, The stories profiled in that article are deeply concerning. Any motor carrier that fails to comply with law, such as those alleged in the article, would be in violation of our contract and would therefore be subject to cancellation.

According to USA Today in the wake of its reporting, a wave of pressure from retailers and manufacturers has hit port trucking operations across the industry, according to drivers who say their employers have been fielding calls from clients."
Former Tulsa resident Daisy Wood had to be rescued from a flooding Houston neighborhood on Sunday by her grandson and his wife in a kayak.

Wood, who lived in Tulsa before moving to New York and then Houston, said her son Allen Hobbs of Katy had asked her to stay at his house as Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Gulf Coast.

She declined.

I have a cat that I am very attached to, she said. And also, it is not really easy to move from one house to another and leave all your belongings.

She got the cat about 10 years ago for company after the death of her husband, Jim, she said.

The problems started Saturday as floodwaters began rising in her neighborhood, she said. The water made it to her deck and began creeping into her townhouse.

Rain was coming down in sheets, she said.

And it kept coming.

She tried to clean it up, but there was just too much water, she said.

I realized there was nothing to be done, she said. So, I went upstairs and called my son. By the time I did that and came down, you wouldnt believe what I saw. The big sofas that you need at least four men to move because they are huge and heavy  they were upside down floating.

She left her home for a neighbors house on higher ground.

Her grandson Wes Hobbs and his wife, Christen, decided to come get her from their home near Katy, just outside of Houston. The couple strapped a kayak to the top of their vehicle and began the trip, having to navigate through the flooded streets of Houston, said Allen Hobbs.

He said the couple managed to get close to Woods neighborhood but had to paddle in.

It was Woods first time in a kayak, something she described as quite the experience, believe me, because I am a tall woman.

They made it to her grandsons vehicle. He went back in the kayak for his wife and his grandmothers cat.

He behaved so well, she said of the cat, Morgan. I think animals are so intelligent. He really behaved beautifully.

Getting to her sons house in Katy proved to be treacherous as well, she said.

All the time there were all these tornado warnings off and on, Allen Hobbs said. It was raining and the water was rising.

Wood was able to return to her home Wednesday to survey the damage, she said. It still had a lot of water inside.

You cant do anything at all to salvage anything, she said. There is nothing. She was able to retrieve some clothing from the upstairs, but that was about it, she said.

Here I am in one piece, but I tell you it was a terrible experience, Wood said.
A Tulsa man who police suspect of being a serial rapist was charged Thursday with six felonies related to allegations that he drugged and raped a woman repeatedly while he kept her against her will in his bedroom for at least two months.

Victor Willard Hursh, 60, is accused of first-degree rape by force and fear, two counts of second-degree rape, forcible sodomy, kidnapping and possession of a firearm while committing a felony. The incidents, according to a probable cause affidavit, took place between June 15 and Monday.

Hursh was arrested Thursday and was booked into the Tulsa Jail on bonds totaling more than $425,000. He is due in court Sept. 7 for arraignment.

The affidavit from Tulsa Police Sex Crimes Unit Detective Liz Eagan says Hursh has been identified as a suspect in three other incidents of rape and kidnapping of women, which were reported to authorities in June 2015, June 2016 and last January.

Eagan alleged Hurshs modus operandi in each attack was similar because each victim reported being forced to smoke or inject methamphetamine and being held in Hurshs home while he raped and sodomized them using various sexual devices.

In the pending case, a 22-year-old woman told police Tuesday that she met Hursh at a store at 15th Street and Lewis Avenue in June, and Hursh told her she could stay at his home because she was homeless. She reported that Hursh became angry when she declined his offer to smoke methamphetamine and began punching her, which started a two-month period in which he held her hostage in his bedroom.

A sexual assault exam performed Monday documented bruising on the womans face and arm and multiple lesions on her body, according to the affidavit.

Eagan wrote in the document that the woman said Hursh would inject her with methamphetamine every two to three days and would force her to engage in a variety of sexual activities. The woman additionally said Hursh forced her to remain naked and would regularly threaten her by pointing a gun and telling her he would kill her father and her son, whom he learned about when he saw her Facebook profile.

The affidavit goes on to say the woman noticed a camera in Hurshs bedroom but she did not know if he recorded any of the assaults because she was semi-conscious at times.

She contends Hursh told her that if she tried to escape, she would end up like some of the other girls who tried to do so previously, and claimed Hursh showed her bottles of bleach and ammonia to prove his point.

The woman said she managed to escape Monday night when Hursh forced her to go with him to a convenience store at Fifth Street and Sheridan Road. She reported that she crawled over the drivers seat to exit Hurshs van and approached a customer who was unwilling to help, so she hid in the stores restroom until Hursh exited the building.

The woman said she told a security officer at the store that she needed help, prompting him to call police.

Eagan said surveillance images from the store show the woman exiting the van, approaching a customer and entering the store to hide in the restroom. She also said the red van could be seen moving around the parking lot of the store at least twice in the drivers apparent search for the woman before leaving.
A Tulsa man pleaded guilty to two homicides in a case that originally had Rogers County prosecutors seeking the death penalty.

Cory Kuebler, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday to the August slayings of 27-year-old Casey Jones Adkins and 25-year-old Curtis Hergenrother, Rogers County District Attorneys Office spokeswoman Michelle Lowry said.

Adkins was found dead on the east side of 145th East Avenue, south of Apache Street, near Catoosa on Aug. 12, 2016. Kuebler also pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Hergenrother on Aug. 20, 2016, at the Somerset Park at Union apartments at 65th Street and Mingo Road.

Basically, he said hell take life without parole to avoid the death penalty, Lowry said.

Kuebler pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and destruction of evidence, among other charges in two cases between Tulsa and Rogers counties. His life sentences are set to run concurrently, according to court records.

Investigators suspect that Adkins was killed over a dispute with Shawn Goddard, 32, as well as over a relationship he had with a woman, as previously reported.

Goddard is also charged in Hergenrothers and Adkins deaths. He was scheduled Thursday to have a trial date set. However, that hearing was delayed and has not yet been rescheduled.

Prosecutors expect Goddard, for whom they are seeking the death penalty, to plead similarly to Kuebler.
Two years ago  on September 2, 2015  three-year-old Alan Kurdi drowned whilst fleeing from Syria to Greece by way of Turkey. The image of the toddlers lifeless body sparked a surge of emotion that moved countless people worldwide to take action.

Now Khaled Hosseini, the celebrated author of The Kite Runner and a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, has written Sea Prayer, an imagined letter in the form of a monologue, from a Syrian father to his son on the eve of making the sea crossing to Europe.

In collaboration with UNHCR, The Guardian has produced and made Sea Prayer into the first narrative, animated, virtual reality film created using Tilt Brush, a tool for painting in a 3D space with virtual reality. You can view the film here.

Click here to find out more about Sea Prayer and how to stand #withrefugees.
1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities.

2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion.

3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact.

4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance.

Vote

View Results
Popular UW Lecture Series Scheduled in Pinedale Sept. 16

The University of Wyomings one-day free public lecture series, featuring diverse topics from UW professors, will be offered in Pinedale for the first time Saturday, Sept. 16.

Saturday U -- the half day of college lectures and discussion -- will be in the Sublette County Librarys Lovatt Room, located at 155 S. Tyler Ave. The program begins with coffee and donuts at 8:30 a.m., followed by welcoming remarks at 8:50 a.m. The guest lectures begin at 9 a.m.

Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures. A free lunch and question-and-answer session will follow the program at 12:30 p.m.

During the fall and spring terms, Saturday University visits locations throughout Wyoming discussing todays most captivating topics, says Saturday U Coordinator Paul Flesher, a UW religious studies professor.

In its 10th year, Saturday U is a collaborative program that connects popular UW and Wyoming community college professors with lifelong learners. Offered nine times a year -- twice each in Jackson, Gillette and Sheridan, and once in Rock Springs, Pinedale and Cody -- Saturday U is sponsored by the university, the UW Foundation and Wyoming Humanities. The program is presented locally by UW, Wyoming Humanities, Sublette BOCES and Sublette County Libraries.

Enjoy three intriguing lectures delivered by professors from the University of Wyoming and Wyomings community colleges, Flesher says. Complimentary lunch is provided, giving participants an opportunity to engage with the speakers during a roundtable discussion following the three lectures.

Listed below are program topic descriptions and professors lecturing:

-- 9 a.m., How Synthetic Biology Will Change Medicine... And Us, Mark Gomelsky, molecular biology professor.

Biology rapidly is becoming an engineering science, Gomelsky says.

Genes -- the units of life -- can now be added to existing organisms and edited in the existing organisms, he says. In the near future, new cells will be created with an assortment of desired properties. That means we can change genetic programs in animals and humans. But, will synthetic biology benefit or harm humanity?

In his talk about the coming bio-revolution, Gomelsky will describe synthetic biology and address the philosophical and ethical questions it engenders. He will describe how his UW laboratorys research enhances the utility and safety of designer cells, and how it creates new therapeutic opportunities.

-- 10:15 a.m., Writing the Way West: Authors in America, Caroline McCracken-Flesher, English professor.

McCracken-Flesher says 19th century writers imagined the West as virgin territory. Robert Louis Stevenson, riding the rails across Wyoming, was disappointed; Oscar Wilde wittily saw only himself reflected in every prospect. Other explorers in literature and in land, from Walter Scott to John Wesley Powell, had already written over the West, she adds.

McCracken-Flesher will relive this race through the landscape, chasing the language that can speak for the expanse of rocks, rivers and precious few trees.

-- 11:30 a.m., The Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us About the Future, Robert Kelly, anthropology professor.

Kelly will discuss the four major beginnings of human history -- the origins of technology, culture, agriculture and the state. He will present evidence that humanity is entering a fifth beginning, one that can be expected to mark dramatic changes in world economy, war, culture and governance.

For more information, call Flesher at (307) 766-2616 or email pflesher@uwyo.edu. For more information about Saturday U, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/saturdayu/index.html.
SBDC Workshop to Provide Tips to Help Retail Businesses Survive Economic Change

To stay competitive, retail businesses must learn to survive in an ever-shifting economic climate.

A Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) webinar, titled Tips to Help Retail Businesses Survive an Economic Change, is scheduled Thursday, Sept. 28, from 2-3:30 p.m. This webinar will explore ways to strengthen retail businesses customer bases and create loyal customers who love your businesses as much as you do.

The SBDC is a partnership among the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBDC focuses on educating small-business owners and potential owners on how to successfully start and operate small businesses. The SBDCs main office is located at UW.

Tom Shay, a fourth-generation small-business owner, will present the webinar. Shay, a serial entrepreneur and retail guru, has written more than 13 books on small-business management and more than 400 columns in 75 trade publications. His nuts and bolts approach has helped many retailers improve their operations and profitability.

In terms of their businesses, participants should think about the following questions: How was the 2017 season? What kind of opportunities do you see for next year? Heading into the winter season, how does your cash situation look? What was the biggest surprise this summer season? What was the biggest disappointment of this summer season?

This is a topic that most businesses do not think about until some life event occurs, says Cindy Beth Unger, business adviser for the Wyoming SBDC.

There is no charge for this program due to a Portable Assistance Grant from the SBA, but participants must register at www.wyomingsbdc.org to obtain the link to the webinar.

Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least two weeks in advance. Language assistance services for clients with limited English proficiency will be provided. For more information, call Greg Jordan at (307) 766-3593, or email him at gregj@uwyo.edu.

The Wyoming SBDC Network is a business advising group of the Wyoming SBDC, Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Market Research Center and SBIR/STTR Initiative. The networks mission is to help Wyoming entrepreneurs succeed. Advising and most market research activities are free of charge to Wyoming residents.

The SBDC is funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the SBA. Additional support is provided by the Wyoming Business Council and UW.

For more information, go to www.wyomingsbdc.org or call 1-800-348-5194.
Wyoming Business Tips for Sept. 10-16

A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Robert Condie, WSBDC southwest regional director

What are the main differences between the desktop and online versions of QuickBooks? Brooklyn, Freedom

While there are many respected and reputable accounting systems available for small businesses, we field many questions surrounding the difference between the online and desktop versions of QuickBooks. For this weeks tip, we will go through a few of the advantages and disadvantages of having the online or desktop version.

Initially, the biggest difference is the fact that the online version is just that, online. You can access your books from wherever you have an internet connection, and you dont even need to be on a computer. Your tablet or smartphone has the capability to run the program. With the desktop version, you must have the computer that has the program downloaded in order to update your books.

Another difference is the need for updating between the online and desktop. With the desktop version, you will need to buy a new version at least every three to four years, if not more often. The online version is a program that will update itself when needed. You will not have to worry about upgrading or updating the software to get the latest available version, because the online version will do it automatically.

One of the biggest differences between the two choices is cost. The online version is a monthly payment, compared to the one-time fee for the desktop version. If you are able to use the desktop version for longer than a year, the cost savings definitely are there. The online version gives you a break initially, and then, after six months, you pay the full monthly price for the version you chose.

Payments will range anywhere from about $15-$50 when the initial discount is up. This would make the yearly cost for an online subscription anywhere from $180-$500. The cost savings on the side of the desktop version can be substantial.

There are many other differences between the two versions of QuickBooks. For more information about any of the systems, contact a local WSBDC office.

A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at www.wyomingsbdc.org/blog1/.

The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.
Episode 426 of Ill Drink to That! was released recently, and it features Giampaolo Venica, who works with his family at the Venica winery, in the Friuli region of Italy.

Giampaolo Venica recently turned 40 years old, and has watched some remarkable changes happen in the Friuli over the last few decades. He notes many of those shifts in this interview, in which he describes a wine region that has moved from being planted to 70% Merlot and other Bordeaux grape varieties to a percentage for those grape varieties that is now in the teens, with Glera plantings for Prosecco production surpassing the amount of Merlot in the area today. Giampaolo also describes a similar shift within his own winery, with production having moved more and more to white grapes over the recent years. Friulano, in particular, is the grape variety that Giampaolo is most drawn to for future plantings in his corner of the Collio, and he explains why in this interview. Giampaolo is candid about some of the challenges that his winery has faced in the market, and what the hurdles are for wineries in the Friuli today. As he examines the last couple decades of his work life, he also looks ahead to what he would like to accomplish in the future, and gives a summation of what is important for the Friuli as a region over the next decade. If you are curious about one of the premier wine areas of Italy, Giampaolo is a good guide to the region.

Listen to this episode:

Ill Drink to That is the worlds most listened-to wine podcast, hosted by Levi Dalton. Levi has had a long career working as a sommelier in some of the most distinguished and acclaimed dining rooms in America. He has served wine to guests of Restaurant Daniel, Masa, and Alto, all in Manhattan. Levi has also contributed articles on wine themes to publications such as The Art of Eating, Wine & Spirits magazine, Bon Appetit online, and Eater NY. Check out his pictures on Instagram and follow him on Twitter: @leviopenswine
It will help ensure a fair and healthy environment for competition and support local enterprises to invest in long-term production plans, increase localization ratios, and head for export.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said, the decree directly impacts the interests of production, export and import companies.

It also specifies the operation of maintenance centers. It protects the rights of consumers as well as domestic producers and manufacturers, both Vietnamese and foreign-invested companies in Vietnam.

The decree has got approval from cabinet members and will be signed by the Prime Minister in the time to come.
A model performs a design in the collection Autumn Serenade. Photo courtesy of the organiser.

The collections, created by painter Tran Thu and designer Pham Thu Hong, feature amateur models, who shine thanks to their self-confidence, appearance and attitude.

Though their curves are not perfect they still look marvellous in suitable outfits, said oan Minh Thu, deputy marketing manager of Trang Tien Plaza.

The collection of 25 outfits will be modelled by women who are pregnant, middle-aged, fat or skinny. The designs, created on linen and tussore fabric, bear the beauty of the nature and forest in the northern mountainous region.

The fashion show will be accompanied by a contemporary dance performance by dancer Nguyen Duy Thanh. Thanh promises to spread the energy of his body through movements and tell stories through body language.

The harmony of fashion, sound, light and dance will create impressive and emotional visual effects, said Thu.

The event will be organised on September 2 at the first hall of Trang Tien Plaza, Hanoi.
A view of the Houston skyline after heavy rains broke in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, as seen on August 29, 2017 AFP/Brendan Smialowski

If that estimate holds, it would make Harvey the world's ninth most expensive natural disaster since 1900, according to the Centre for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) in Karlsruhe, Germany.

It would also push the yearly economic loss from earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, cyclones and other natural cataclysms past US$100 billion for the eighth year in a row.

"The damage is extensive at around US$58 billion, and is over 90 per cent due to flooding," said James Daniell, senior risk engineer at CEDIM, and head of its Forensic Disaster Analysis Group.

The estimate carries uncertainty range from US$41 billion to US$80 billion.

"Depending on the next couple of days, we may see this estimate rise, as it only includes Texas at this point," he told AFP.

The total "flooded exposure" - the value of all the capital stock inundated by water, whether five centimetres or five metres - in the affected area was estimated at US$267 billion.

Other calculations of total economic loss have been considerably lower.

German insurance giant Hannover Re's initial figure for damages was US$3 billion, while JP Morgan estimated the insurance sector could be out US$10-20 billion. Disaster risk specialists Enki Holdings, based in Savannah, Georgia, put the total tab at above US$30 billion.

41,000 NATURAL DISASTERS SINCE 1900

The CEDIM estimates are based in part on the largest database of natural catastrophes in the world, covering more than 41,000 events since 1900. They also reviewed new TerraSAR-X satellite data, which indicates a flood "footprint."

To measure the region's risk exposure, Daniell and his team used data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, which tracks investment.

"But we also checked that against building and replacement cost data," Daniell said. "That's usually the issue with a lot of other models - they don't get the exposure right."

Total capital stock in Texas is about US$4.5 trillion, and for the entire United States the figure is about US$56 trillion, he said.

The natural disaster with the highest economic costs - US$218 billion was the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which generated a monster tsunami that devastated a large swathe of Honshu Island and crippled a nuclear power plant.

In second place is the earthquake that levelled part of China's Sichuan Province in 2008 (US$162 billion), followed by Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005 (US$160 billion).

CEDIM's detailed report on Hurricane Harvey's impact on Houston can be found here.
As the thick black, toxic smoke rolled off into the sky on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 30, some workers at the factory wondered if their jobs might go along with it.

Roughly 100 firefighters were mobilized to the scene to combat the 10-alarm blaze shortly after a large explosion was heard about 2:30pm.

Thick black smoke greeted firefighters, but inside was an inferno fed by countless pallets of the Styrofoam packing material made at the building.

Concerns about toxic smoke triggered an area evacuation. The fire chief was also quick to pull his crews out of the enormous building amid fears the roof might cave in and thats exactly what happened.

Figuring out what ignited the blaze may not be easy, said fire officials. We dont know what caused it. We are very happy that everybody is accounted for.
The Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Highway in the northern port city of Hai Phong. The project has investment of almost VND11.85 trillion (US$525.3 million), of which the majority was funded with Japanese official development assistance. - VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

The delegation was set up under a resolution issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee. It will evaluate the issuance of legal documents and the implementation of policies and regulations relevant to the management and use of foreign loans.

Nguyen Duc Hai, a member of the NA Standing Committee and chairman of the NAs Financial and Budget Committee, is leading the delegation.

The lawmakers will review results, shortcomings and difficulties as well as defining the responsibilities of agencies, organisations and individuals.

After that, they will issue measures to organise the implementation on laws and policies on the management and use of foreign loans in the future and relevant policies and regulations as well.

Regarding the subject of supervision, the resolution states that the Government and the Prime Minister will have to report the issuance of legal documents, the implementation of policies and regulations, and the management and use of foreign loans.

Meanwhile, ministries, sectors, agencies, organisations and individuals, who are relevant to this area, are also on the list.

In localities, peoples councils, the peoples committees and major cities including Ha Noi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho will outline specific contents under their responsibilities.

The resolution will have three contents for supervision, including the issuance of legal documents on the management and use of foreign loans; the real management and use of foreign loans; and the implementation of proposals recommended by relevant inspecting and auditing agencies.

The supervision results will be reported to the NA Standing Committee at a session in August, 2018, and sent to NA delegates at the committees sixth session, which will take place at the end of 2018.
Houston is still battling to cope five days after Harvey smashed into Texas as a Category Four Hurricane AFP/Thomas B. Shea

As a precautionary measure officials had already ordered the evacuation of an area within three kilometres of the organic peroxides plant in Harris County, which is owned by French group Arkema.

Rich Rowe, president and chief executive of Arkema Inc, said in a statement that the facility in the town of Crosby northeast of Houston had been evacuated for employees' own safety following a dangerous loss of on-site refrigeration.

The company manufactures compounds with a broad array of commercial uses including plastics, pharmaceuticals and construction materials but which can combust if not cooled to the proper temperatures.

Multiple fail-safe measures had broken down as a result of the flooding, according to Rowe.

"Right now, we have an unprecedented six feet of water at the plant," Rowe said. "We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power."

"As a result, we have lost critical refrigeration of the materials on site that could now explode and cause a subsequent intense fire," he added.

"The high water and lack of power leave us with no way to prevent it."

Rowe offered apologies to "everyone impacted" and that the company was working with authorities to manage the situation.
The rig will be delivered toBlock G10/48 in the Gulf of Thailand for the duration required to complete the six firm wells and two optional wells.

PV Drilling I will commence operations in early October 2017

KrisEnergy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KrisEnergy Limited, has 89 per cent working interest and operatorship of G10/48, while Palang Sophon Offshore holds the remaining 11 per cent.

The contract is the second drilling deal that PV Drilling has secured this year for services with foreign partners abroad.

Previously, PV Drilling successfully completed its contracted services to Total E&P Myanmars 164-day drilling campaign in blocks M5 and M6 in the Bay of Bengal in April 2017.
Landslide in Lai Chau Province. - VNA/VNS Photo

The research, led by Associate Professor Pham Quang Vinh at the Institute of Geography under the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, investigates and assesses the status of land degradation in these localities using remote sensing technology and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The goal is to safeguard socio-economic development and ensure sustainable land use.

According to experts, land degradation in Viet Nam in general and in the northwest region occurs following various natural and social impacts.

The warning map against land degradation risks was made based on the combination of a map on current land degradation status and a map showing potential factors causing land degradation.

The map on current land degradation status demonstrates land degradation types and levels. It was created based on analyses on natural factors such as geological, geomorphological and hydrological conditions, ecological diversification and socio-economic factors such as methods of cultivation, land use, population density and urbanisation.

The land degradation risk level is divided into three levels: high, medium and low risk.

Areas at low risk account for 48.9 per cent of the two provinces areas, comprising mostly flat terrains such as deltas and valleys.

Areas at medium risk account for 31.64 per cent of the total researched area (589.128ha).

Areas such as Than Uyen, Tan Uyen, Sin Ho districts of Lai Chau Province; and Tua Chua and Tuan Giao districts of ien Bien Province are warned to be highly exposed to severe land degradation. These areas, making up more than 19.4 per cent of total natural area, are located mainly on high positions with high density of rivers and streams, relatively thin soil layer and a large volume of rain.

Experts also found out that natural factors such as slope, rain volume, and plant layer affect the land degradation in these two provinces.

Land degradation is occurring in many major areas in Viet Nam, especially in mountainous areas which make up three quarters of the nations land fund. According to experts, causes of land degradation range from erosion, soil with low fertility, acid soil, saline soil, soil emaciation, flooded land, landslides, desertified soil, to polluted soil.
As the public is growing curious about many unclear issues at the recent smuggling trial of VN Pharma officials, the Peoples Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has decided to withdraw the case file for a review and decide whether to protest the trial results. Accordingly, in a case where even the charges spark controversies, the Procuracy needs to have a closer look at the nature and actions of the accused.

On August 25, after four days of trial, the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court sentenced Nguyen Minh Hung, former chairman and general director of VN Pharma, and Vo Manh Cuong, director of H&C International Marine Trade Co., Ltd., to 12 years of imprisonment on charges of smuggling. The other defendants in the case also received sentences ranging from two years of suspended imprisonment to five years of imprisonment.

According to judge Ung Thi Xuan Huong of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court, since the H-Capita imported by VN Pharma has not been distributed and has not caused very serious damage, according to Article 157(2) of the Vietnamese Criminal Code, 12 years in prison is an appropriate sentence.

Former VN Pharma officials on trial

At a meeting on August 30, judge Huong said that the court was divided over whether the charges should be smuggling or manufacturing and/or trading in fake goods being curative medicines, preventive medicines.

While Nguyen Minh Hung and VN Pharma falsified documents to import the H-Capita drug, it is unclear if the documents on the drugs quality were also falsified by him or by the exporter.

Judge Huong noted that it was Hung who requested the Drug Administration Department to retest H-Capita prior to his arrest in 2014, leading to the discovery that the previous test results were falsified. The lack of conclusive evidence available at the trial prevented the court from charging the accused with manufacturing and trading fake drugs.

There is also the question of whether the H-Capita cancer medicine imported by VN Pharma was actually a fake drug.

The Ministry of Health has conducted an inspection and reported that H-Capita actually contains 97 per cent Capecitabine, more than the required standard amount of 93 per cent, which means that H-Capita is not a fake drug, but either a safe-to-use generic drug, or a substandard drug in terms of quality.

However, the falsified documents claiming that H-Capita contains 98.5 per cent Capecitabine still place H-Capita in the broader category of counterfeit drugs. Further review to determine the exact nature of the H-Capita drug in this case was found necessary for more conclusive results.

Three of the nine defendants have filed for appeal, including Vo Manh Cuong who claimed he was only a middle man and had no knowledge of the smuggling and falsification of documents perpetrated by VN Pharma. According to Vietnamnet, Nguyen Minh Hung, the primary defendant accused in the case, said he had no plans to appeal and was content with the sentence.

Huong affirmed that since this is only the trial verdict and some defendants have filed for appeal, the sentences are not enforceable yet. With additional investigation, the court of appeals should be able to consider the case in a more conclusive way, including the role and responsibility of the Drug Administration Department in the matter.
The term rebel can no longer be applied to the men in Syria that the CIA has trained and armed. From now on, these rebels  who, contrary to what their name would make you think, are mainly foreigners  are now drawing closer to Turkey.

So since November 2016, Turkey has been alarmed at the ambitions of Kurdish groups trained and armed by the Pentagon. Ankara has not stopped warning Washington that it is allied both to the Turks and the Kurds.

So the rebels not the Turkish army have offered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an opportunity to resolve this contradiction: they have attacked US regular troops in Northern Syria.

Since mid-August, a number of incidents have been reported which have provoked the Pentagons anger vis-a-vis Ankara.
Turkey is preparing a de facto annexation of the city of Al-Bab (Syria), following the model of the Turkish Republics non-recognition of Northern Cyprus.

Step one: at the beginning of August, Ankara established a Chamber of Commerce in Al-Bab. Step two: Ankara has set up there a mobile telephone network, Turkcell. Step three: Ankara sent 1,500 Turkish police officers to maintain order over it.

Turkey needs Al-Bab so that it can set up its counterfeit workshops there without formally violating international law.
Photo: Getty Images

Heres some trivia you didnt see coming today: Robert Pattinson used to be roommates with Dustin Diamond, better known as Screech from Saved By the Bell, and Diamond gave him his first Hot Pocket. How do we know any of this? Because Robert Pattinson himself said so when he called into On Air With Ryan Seacrest. Now, if Diamond had been the source of this information wed be waiting on confirmation from Pattinson, but the Good Time star was the one to share memories of his happy days with Screech.

Still skeptical? Well, heres the direct quote from Pattinson confirming both co-habitation and Hot Pocket consumption. I was with Screech, Dustin Diamond, he actually told Seacrest, adding on this sweet little detail, I loved it. I really miss it. Dustin was the first person to introduce me to Hot Pockets! So not only did Robert Pattinson live with Dustin Diamond when he first moved to Los Angeles nine years ago, he looks back on their time in the Oakwood apartments of Burbank with a sort of good-old-days fondness. As Us Weekly made clear in its report, that apartment complex is known for housing up-and-coming performers looking to break out. So just when you thought all your questions were answered, consider why Dustin Diamond, in roughly 2006, was living in housing popular among young actors trying to get a foothold in Hollywood. In any case, it sounds like Robert misses Screech, so hopefully the two can reunite for Hot Pockets very soon.
Each month, Boris Kachka offers nonfiction and fiction book recommendations. You should read as many of them as possible.

Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner, September 5)

Ward won a National Book Award in 2011 for turning the devastation of Katrina into the mythopoetic Salvage the Bones. Her first novel since Salvage is set in the same fictional Mississippi town, Bois Sauvage, but leaps forward both in time  into a South more racially mixed but still deeply unjust  and achievement. The chronicle of a harrowing road trip narrated by young, moral JoJo, his drug addict mother, and the ghost of a boy murdered decades ago in the states most notorious prison, Sing is a brutal and beautiful work after Toni Morrisons heart.

The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie (Random House, September 5)

Rushdie hasnt always been ahead of the times, but he plotted this dark, allusive lampoon about a mysterious family of Indian exiles in New York  his 12th novel and his best in a while  along an arc that begins with Obamas election and ends with that of a monstrous unnamed Joker. Rushdie wrote the ending before gruesome reality caught up with his satire, but the gaudy exuberance of Nero Golden and his Russian trophy wife rings even truer to our moment than the headlines Rushdie cribbed along the way.

Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus, by Vanessa Grigoriadis (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 5)

Years of reporting on teen culture, sex, and gender for magazines (including New York) have made Grigoriadis the ideal observer and analyst of sexual assault and consent on campus. Starting from the famous case of Columbia mattress carrier Emma Sulkowicz, she spoke to hundreds of students  victims, activists, and the accused  as well as parents and administrators, coming away with something like a clear picture of generational confusion. Avoiding both easy answers and ideological rubrics, she advocates vigilance, moderation, fairness, and good faith.

Afterglow (A Dog Memoir), by Eileen Myles (Grove, September 12)

You wouldnt expect a conventional memoir from an outre lesbian poet, but Afterglow is a whole other thing: a series of vignettes concerning the life, decline, and death of Rosie, her pit bull of 16 years, including a surrealist play narrated by the subject, another story from a gender-subverting alter ego named Bo Jean Harmonica, as well as slightly more straightforward musings touching on dog breeding, Abu Ghraib, visual art, and the need to probe painful experiences in unexpected ways.

Forest Dark, by Nicole Krauss (Harper, September 12)

Weaving together the stories of two New York Jews adrift in Israel  one a character not unlike the author (a nearly divorced famous novelist named Nicole) and another familiar from her past novels (an abrasive older man in existential crisis)  Krausss phenomenal novel of ideas revolves hypnotically and masterfully around the spiritual and intellectual pull of Franz Kafka, the Kabbalah, and the Tel Aviv Hilton.

The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life, by Lauren Markham (Crown, September 12)

A journalist and a counselor of undocumented minors, Markham supplements the granular story of the Flores family  twin teenage boys who fled El Salvador under threat from an uncles gang, leaving parents and a sister behind  with interludes reported in Texas, California, Mexico, and Central America that fill in the larger context of illegal immigration. An indelible picture emerges of one imperfect family driven apart and astray  not by inequality or lax enforcement, but by the humanitarian crisis of gang warfare.

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press, September 12)

As in her debut, Everything I Never Told You, Ng uses her mastery of dramatic tension and thriller tropes to spark bigger questions about whats lost and gained when unstable forces ripple through stable communities. In the instance of Little Fires, a stranger come to town: Mia Warren and her teen daughter Pearl intrude into the lives of their well-off landlords, the Richardsons, and their four children. The town in question being Shaker Heights, and the ultimate disaster being foretold, there are echoes of Jeffrey Eugenidess The Virgin Suicides, with its regionally specific dissection of collective ennui.

Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder, by Amy Knight (Thomas Dunne Books, September 19)

By now it should be clear that Russias ideological U-turns, from czarism to communism to Putinism, belie a consistently authoritarian rule over the hearts, minds, and resources of a vast nation. Knight, a Russia scholar known for avoiding alarmism, quickly plumbs the countrys historical fondness for political assassination before cataloguing the killings carried out under Putin  a gruesome and ever-growing list thats not exactly easy reading, but concise and clarifying on the damage Trumps favorite leader inflicts on the citizens who expose his crimes.

Five-Carat Soul, by James McBride (Riverhead, September 26)

If theres a mode in which McBride cant write brilliantly, he has yet to prove it. Add to his best-selling memoir The Color of Water and the National Book Awardwinning novel The Good Lord Bird this varied collection of vibrant stories. Some are free-standing and often focused on fraught racial history: one stars Lincoln, another his purported mixed-race son, another the black owner of a train set made for Robert E. Lees son. Others are arranged into two powerful linked sequences, the second of which is a glorious fantastical departure about a zoo whose animals communicate with each other in Thought Speak.
Photo: Frank Ockenfels/FX Networks

Based on the advance publicity for American Horror Story: Cult, most viewers already know that the seventh incarnation of the perpetually rebooting FX frightfest involves clowns, bees, Billies (as in Billie Lourd and Billy Eichner), and, to some extent, Donald Trump. But they may be wondering exactly how much this season will touch on the recent presidential election, especially since co-creator Ryan Murphy has said it will not be addressed literally.

After watching the first three episodes of the most charged social satire American Horror Story has ever attempted, I can tell you that Murphy was telling the truth, mostly. American Horror Story: Cult does not literally recount the Clinton vs. Trump saga in some wild, Wes Cravenesque spin on a slasher flick. But is this season about that election and its aftereffects? Oh, hell yes it is.

Episode one gets political from the jump, opening with a montage of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. You cant just say whatever pops into your head if you want to be the president of the United States of America, Clinton booms during a stump speech, at which point ominous background music builds to a crescendo and the focus shifts to images of people on November 8, 2016, watching election results on cable TV.

One of those people is Kai Anderson (AHS regular Evan Peters), a seemingly alt-right-leaning figure who, upon hearing that Trump will be the 45th president, looks heavenward and whispers, The revolution has begun. Meanwhile, in a living room elsewhere in the same Michigan town, Ally Mayfair-Richards (Murphy muse Sarah Paulson), is still in deep denial about the Democrats chances. I wont believe anything, she insists while pacing around her upper-middle-class living room, until I hear Rachel Maddow say it.

Then Clinton concedes, Trump makes his acceptance speech, and Ally screams and weeps with all the panic-stricken despair of a final girl convinced she has met her maker. Cut to Kai, who celebrates by shouting U-S-A, humping his television, and dumping a bunch of Cheetos into a blender to create an orange powder that he spreads all over his face in an homage to his dear leader. People, if you have come to American Horror Story expecting subtlety, you are so knocking on the wrong Murder House door. But surely you knew that already.

One could argue that AHS: Cult gets less overtly political after that initial sequence, and thats not entirely false. But its subtext remains, always, the fractured nature of American society circa 2017, a subtext the show doesnt merely hint at but announces using a bullhorn. Ally  who co-owns a restaurant with her wife, Ivy (Alison Pill), with whom shes raising a semi-anxious son  falls into an emotional and psychological crater followed by the catastrophic transfer of presidential power. Old fears  including a phobia of clowns, which both she and her son start to see everywhere  bubble up again, along with fresh anxieties about the serial killer or killers on the loose in her community; her odd new neighbors, Harrison and Meadow (Eichner and Leslie Grossman, who played Mary Cherry on Murphys teen comedy Popular); the possibility of terrorist attacks; and Kai, who makes an aggressive effort to earn her support while running for city council. (Note: Ally does not appear to be afraid of bees, but bees do buzz their way into the frame before too much time passes.)

Things go wrong for this poor woman or someone in her family practically every five minutes, which infuses AHS: Cult with a constant sense of tension, as well as a youve gotta be kidding me level of absurdity. That line between terror and comedy is always a tricky one to walk, but its even trickier here because the material cuts so close to current bone. Every issue from your typical CNN news crawl is represented, folks: immigration, ISIS, racism, the environment, and, most significantly, the war between the extreme right and left. This show is trying to do a lot.

Some may find that approach excessive and the idea of Grand-Guignoling whats happening in our country a little crass, especially since the show takes some pretty pointed jabs at progressives. Others, especially those well-versed in the series over-the-top sensibility and drily snarky humor, will dig into it all with complete relish, viewing Cult as a simultaneous escape from and means to process their own anxieties about the present moment, a service the horror genre has often historically provided.

Personally, I fall mostly in the latter camp. I havent been this immediately intrigued by a season of American Horror Story since Asylum. There are certain elements in AHS: Cult that I consider problematic; the setting has as much of a Michigan vibe as a backlot suburbia in the middle of Burbank, and characters on both sides of the political spectrum are steeped in stereotypes, though that also seems like kind of the point. But other details create an effective sense of atmosphere. Take some time to notice the cockeyed bookcase in the Mayfair-Richardss living room and how it conveys a sense of perpetual imbalance, or the fact that the couples restaurant is named The Butchery on Main. (Farm-to-table dining suddenly sounds so sinister!) One of my favorite running gags is the fact that Harrison and Meadow are co-vice-presidents of the Michigan chapter of the Nicole Kidman Fan Club. (Did you see her in Big Little Lies? Harrison asks Ally and Ivy. She was transcendent. Apparently even characters on a Ryan Murphy show were paying more attention to Big Little Lies than Feud.)

The whole cast is terrific, but the series is (no surprise) a real showcase for Paulson, whos a bundle of jangled nerves and teary-eyed fear. At no point does Ally resort to sheetcaking, but you just know that if someone handed her a fork and a pan of something frosted, she would go straight to town, probably while ranting about clowns and Ann Coulter. But Paulsons just as convincing at conveying Allys stubborn desire to grip her fist around reality. She also knows precisely how to get a laugh while playing a scene perfectly straight. During an argument, when Ivy reminds her that she voted for Jill Stein, Ally says, You said you werent going to bring that up again with such wounded intensity that you cant help but snicker.

In keeping with American Horror Story tradition, season seven borrows tropes and imagery from tons of other horror movies. Basically any film in which anyone has ever been a stalker or a person stalked  from The Strangers to Psycho to Fatal Attraction to Dont Be Afraid of the Dark, which happens to be the title of episode two  is evoked in some way. So are previous seasons of American Horror Story, particularly the fourth one. Twisty, the grotesque clown from Freak Show, reemerges in Cult in a scene that echoes his introduction in that previous season, suggesting that the ghosts of the threats we faced in the 1950s are haunting us in 2017. The fact that Paulson played conjoined twins in Freak Show also feels relevant; as a liberal white woman who couldnt bring herself to vote for Clinton and says things like, Do you understand the specific pain of someone like me being called a racist? Ally may be a bit two-faced herself.

But the most clever aspect of American Horror Story: Cult  which doesnt start to fully establish the cult aspect of its plot until episode three, and even then things are still a bit cryptic  is the use of Allys trauma as a metaphor for the Trump-induced madness many Americans experience on a daily basis. Ally is either delusional or shes being gaslighted, convinced that things she sees are not necessarily there. Thats precisely how plenty of Americans feel when they listen to the commander-in-chief blatantly lie on national television, then hear some pundit declare that he just became presidential, or Trumps Instagram feed announces that he witnessed first hand [sic] the horror and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey beneath an image of him merely looking at a screen. Its understandable that Ally, not to mention the rest of us, are starting to think theres some sort of conspiracy at work to make us question our own eyes and ears. The way Kai justifies his white male rage has an equally familiar ring. Everything is somebody elses fault from now on, he advises another character in episode three. Translation: Look what you made me do.

Essentially, the world in American Horror Story: Cult has gone completely berserk, yet it only seems maybe 20 percent more nuts, tops, than the world in which we actually live. Maybe Im crazy for enjoying a series that approaches this volatile, still-unfolding chapter in our nations history with such gruesome enthusiasm and with its tongue tucked so firmly into its cheek. But were all a little insane at this point. American Horror Story: Cult is apparently on a mission to force us to admit it.
Everybodys favorite DEA agent finally wants to give up his hard-living lifestyle. The first thing thats gotta go? His beloved cigarettes. When we first catch up with Javier Pena at a Laredo wedding far from his usual Colombian milieu, he tells an ex-girlfriend that hes ditching smoking in favor of doing the Nicorette thing. That doesnt last long, of course. By the end of the Narcos season premiere, Pena is back in Colombia and pilfering a cigarette from his latest flings purse.

Much like Pena himself, Netflix has an old habit it cant kick. When Narcos started in 2015 with a focus on drug lord Pablo Escobar and the DEA agents who hunted him, it seemed sure to end with Escobars violent death in 1993. But after Escobar was gunned down on a Medellin rooftop at the end of season two, Netflix renewed Narcos for two more years anyway. Fortunately, judging by this episode, the new season justifies a post-Pablo existence.

Escobars dead, thanks in part to Pena, but the drug business hasnt changed at all. Cocaine shipments still make it to the United States and innocent people are still getting killed along the way. Even Navegante  the laconic, Tommy Bahamafavoring enforcer who started the series with Escobars Medellin Cartel, only to betray them for the Cali Cartel  is still kicking around.

When last we saw Pena, he had just committed career suicide by trying to take down the Cali bosses, who were helping the U.S. government find Escobar at the time. For his efforts, Pena saw his own shady underworld connections splashed out in a U.S. newspaper expose. Without Escobar to keep them in check, though, the more professional gentlemen of Cali are taking over the whole country  which means theyre becoming a more tempting target for the DEA. After a quick Laredo send-off from guest star Edward James Olmos  who does his usual gravelly father thing while growling, So  Cali    Pena is back on his bullshit.

In Narcos-world, new villains mean a new montage. Were reintroduced to the Cali bosses: Pacho (the vicious one), Gilberto (the avuncular one), and Miguel (the emo one). Theres also a new Cali partner: Chepe, the head of New York operations. Hes the fun one.

Pena is under the impression that Calis previous alliance with the Get Escobar Gang wont protect them this time around, quipping in the narration that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, until he becomes my enemy again. But it soon becomes clear Pena has returned to fight a war no one else wants. Colombias new president is desperate to keep a lid on drug violence. The U.S. ambassador warns Pena that the run-and-gun tactics he used against Escobar  like the time he orchestrated a nightclub massacre  wont fly anymore.

Not even the Cali drug lords want to put up much of a fight. As Pena learns from his sometimes ally Bill, the local CIA station chief, Calis leaders are in the final stages of a negotiation with the government to give up their drug operations in exchange for serving token prison terms and keeping their massive fortunes. Thats just fine with the U.S. government, Pena soon discovers, as no one is eager to admit that the cocaine trade has flourished despite Escobars death. It turns out that he wasnt really called back to take on Cali at all  hes just supposed to use his famous name to make the amnesty deal more credible.

Before Pena can make his usual complaints about the rule of law, though, CIA Bill cuts him off: If there were any justice in this world, Javier, youd be in jail.

Pena isnt the only one mad about the amnesty deal. Gilbertos gala announcement that the cartel will disband in six months is meant to be good news. Theyre going to go legit, he assures them, just like bootlegger turned presidential papa Joseph Kennedy! Instead, Gilbertos announcement inspires a round of grumbling from lieutenants, who record all of it and deliver the news back to the cartel leaders via Calis equivalent of the Stasi. Fuck Joseph Kennedy, whoever that asshole is, says one unhappy underling.

The recordings quickly set off a round of internal cartel bloodletting, including the murder of lower-level drug lord Salazar. Its a killing that reflects more about Pachos personal grudge and Miguels crush on the guys wife than any actual risk to the cartels leaders, though. Narcos keeps coming back to the idea of all-powerful drug lords undone only by their own passions, an idea thats underlined when Pacho publicly draws and quarters Salazar via motorcycle  but only after their steamy make-out session.

Its exactly the kind of public killing that should provide Pena with an opening to take down the drug lord. Too bad he only has six months to do it.

Cartel Club

 Im back on assignment recapping Narcos for Vulture this season. Last time, an anonymous reader sent me a video of them snorting coke off Pablos grave, so I have high hopes for this round.

 The cartel party is preceded by a meeting between what look to be police officers planning a raid on the event. They look like cops, down to the polo shirts that recall last seasons Search Bloc police detail.

 Narcos lets us believe the police are preparing to raid the party and bring the drug lords to justice, complete with the stereotypical last day on the job character. In a nice bit of irony, though, the heavies are revealed to really just be cartel security.

 Pena tries his wounded-rogue-cop thing on his ex-girlfriend in Laredo  only to see it flop when hes introduced to her husband and two kids. Cant win em all, Javier!

 Murphy wont be around to help Pena out this time. Actor Boyd Holbrook, who played original Narcos protagonist Steve Murphy, wont return this season. His plots, which mostly consisted of fighting with his wife and feeling gloomy, will not be missed. Remember when he adopted a kid?

 Miguels fascination with Salazars new widow is bad news for her, given what generally happens to pretty young women whenever Narcos feels like raising the dramatic stakes.

 Pena has quite a reputation in Colombia. As one DEA agent tells it, Couldnt drink it or fuck it, dude wasnt interested.
DiCaprio. Photo: Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images

Warner Bros. is just a movie studio, standing in front of a movie star, asking him to play the Joker. Martin Scorsese and Todd Phillips are developing a stand-alone Joker movie for Warner Bros., but a new Hollywood Reporter item suggests the Scorsese-Phillips pairing is part of a push to recruit auteurs to the DC Comics cinematic universe. Mostly, it seems, the studio is playing the long game to woo the star they really want: Leonardo DiCaprio. Why would Warners executives, as brand managers of the extended DC Comics cinematic universe, want a legendarily controlling and free-spending [Scorsese] involved in its marquee property? THR asks. The answer involves a plan worthy of the Joker himself. Sources say Warners will make an ambitious attempt to use Scorsese to bring Leonardo DiCaprio into the world of comic-book movies. (How and why THR sees this plan as worthy of the Joker himself, is unclear.)

By all accounts, it seems the franchise-averse DiCaprio wont sign on to play the Joker. But Warner Bros. shouldnt give up their fight: If the studio is really thirsty to sign DiCaprio, maybe theyll get Kate Winslet to make some Titanic jokes and talk him into it. Tobey Maguire is a Marvel man, but have they tried reaching out to pussy posse treasurer Lukas Haas or its vice-president, Kevin Connolly? Doll pics seemed to work for Blake Lively when she needed to get in touch with Leo back in the day. Leo can get a harem of models any day of the week  but perhaps DC can pull out the big guns and get Rihanna to stop leaving their would-be Joker on read.
Power generator Luminant is giving almost 190 acres of park land near Tradinghouse Lake to McLennan County.

The county has leased the land for $1 a year since 1969, and taking over ownership will allow the county to pursue state money for improvements, county administrator Dustin Chapman said. The county is hoping for about $265,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to resurface parking lots, refurbish docking areas and install restrooms, picnic tables and new lighting, Chapman said.

McLennan County commissioners will vote Tuesday on accepting the gift. County Judge Scott Felton, who lives in eastern McLennan County near Tradinghouse Lake, said he expects no opposition.

Weve been maintaining this park for 40-something years, Felton said. A former constable, Danny Tate, tends to it with mowing machines and shredders, and inmates are taken out there for litter abatement.

Felton said adding amenities to Tradinghouse Lake, with its rolling terrain and natural vegetation, should make it an even more valuable asset.

Through our Luminant generation facilities and TXUs retail sale of electricity, our companies are dedicated community partners in the Waco area and have been since the early 1950s, Luminant vice president of operations Matt Goering wrote in a press release. We put that commitment in action when the county approached us about acquiring the park property by agreeing to donate the land.

Chapman said the county plans a park improvement project valued at $353,200, with $264,970 provided by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The county will be more confident in putting up money for improvements when it owns the land, Felton said.

Free park entry

Park entry will remain free, Chapman said. State law forbids counties from charging admission to county-owned recreational areas, he said.

John Tibbs, supervisor for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries Waco District, said news of Luminants donation is exciting.

Park improvements should attract more outdoors enthusiasts, including anglers pursuing abundant black bass, channel catfish and crappie, Tibbs said.

For decades, the Tradinghouse power plant discharged warm water from the Brazos River into the lake, which it used for cooling a gas-fired plant that was shut down in 2010 and demolished by 2014.

Luminant has since expressed interest in placing a new gas-fired power plant at Tradinghouse.

It has a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit to build a plant and a permit amendment application pending that is intended to ease area leaders concerns about compliance with federal ozone standards.

There has been no decision to build any power plant at this time, Luminant spokesman Brad Watson said via email.
Update on the B-24 Liberator Restoration Funds Airspeed Oxford Replica

Report Collated by Phil Buckley with much thanks to Judy Gilbert and the B-24 Liberator team.

Most readers will have heard about the former Royal Australian Air Force B-24M Liberator A72-176 (ex-44-41956) under restoration in Werribee, Victoria. The project is run, very capably, by the B-24 Liberator Restoration Fund. However, few people outside of Australia will also know that the team is building an accurate replica of an Airspeed Oxford. The Oxford, constructed mostly from wood and clad in fabric, was a British-designed twin engined aircraft which many RAAF Liberator aircrew trained on before transitioning to the heavy bomber. This explains the museums interest in having an example on show beside the Liberator in Werribee to help tell the story more fully.

AIRSPEED OXFORD HISTORY

Designed for all aspects of aircrew training, the prototype Airspeed Oxford first flew in 1937 and was the military version of the Airspeed Envoy. At the outbreak of WW II, the British Government selected the Oxford for use in the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). A total of 8,751 Oxfords served in Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Rhodesia and the Middle East. In Australia, the RAAF allocated the identification prefix A25 to the Oxford type, but imported Oxfords retained their original RAF serials. Britain shipped 391 Oxfords to Australia and the RAAF accepted their first aircraft, P6878, on October 28th, 1940 and the last, LW999, on March 20th, 1944. Known by many students familiarly as the Ox Box, Oxfords performed many roles at EATS schools, from flying instruction to navigation, aerial gunnery, radio and bomber training. In addition Mk II versions operated with Nos 1, 2 and 5 Communication Units. Post-War, Oxfords remained in service as trainers and communication aircraft until they finally withdrew from service in 1953. Together with the Avro Anson, the Airspeed Oxford was responsible for all initial multi-engine flight training in the RAAF for over a decade.

WERRIBEE OXFORD

The history of the Werribee Oxford goes back to early 2000s, when the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum in Wigram, New Zealand generously sent major assemblies from their own, intact Oxford to Werribee for the museum to take measurements. They also sent Oxford manuals for duplication. Having original components on site allowed the team at Werribee to build accurate jigs for their project. Once the measurements were completed, the RNZAF Museums Oxford returned to New Zealand, but the Australian project spent the next four years on hold.

Then a well-worn, original centre section arrived from South Australia as a donation. It had been discovered behind a barn. yes, such barn finds do still happen! Research showed that this important artifact came from an unidentified crashed Oxford which had remained in situ for many years.

At this time, the restoration of the museums B-24 Liberator had reached a stage where most of the remaining effort had to be performed up on scaffolding and ladders, which was difficult for those volunteers uncomfortable working at heights. So some of this work force decided they would rather be involved with a floor-level project.

RESTORATION ACTIVITIES INCREASES

So with this in mind, the team decided to refocus their efforts towards making progress with the Oxford. The funds Mission Statement says that the museum will display the Liberator and associated training aircraft, so the Oxford is a perfect fit for their long term goals. One of the first tasks undertaken by volunteer John and his team was to work on the undercarriage legs and attachment fittings. Now a few years on, the project, led by Ken and Doug, has grown substantially.

Work to date has comprised the following achievements:

 The tailplane is completed and stored against the hangar wall.

 One propeller is completed.

 The port wing is almost completed.

 The centre section awaits completion.

 Work has begun on the starboard wing, the cockpit floor and structures.

Recent work by Ken has been focused on the trailing edge of the right wing spar and, at the moment he is gluing stiffeners in the spar to give it strength. Work is also under way to mark out the cockpit floor, as its vital that the cut out parts line up with the rest of the section. The Oxford used two Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah 10 engines, and the museum already has a pair for their aircraft. The teams engine boys have restored one of them to running order.

FUTURE OXFORD PLANS

Longer term plans aim to eventually provide the museum with a full-sized replica Airspeed Oxford, constructed in accordance with Airspeed drawings. Work space in the hangar is at a premium they are a tad cramped so the main concern for Ken and Doug, now leading a team of five, is how to get the B-24 Liberator out of their way so theyll have room to move the Oxford safely. The B-24 project team is very thankful that, due to a couple of generous benefactors, there is enough dedicated money to allow the Oxford replica to proceed.

The good news for WarbirdsNews readers, is that we can soon expect a similar update on the B-24 Liberator Restoration Funds Avro Anson rebuild project. You can follow progress via their website http://www.b24australia.org.au/home or on Facebook HERE.

If youre interested in the history of the restoration of the Werribee B-24 Liberator, there is a book available covering the progress. Initially written by member Don Davis for the period up to 2000, Dave Miller made a recent update to include the period from 2000-2017 as well. You can order it and other cool items very inexpensively online HERE.

Many thanks to Phil Buckley for bringing us this report. He in turn would like to thank Judy Gilbert and the B-24 Liberator team for assistance with this article.
One of the great oversights in the voluminous coverage of the same-sex marriage postal survey is that it might not even happen. If you've been playing close attention you might recall there's an impending High Court challenge against its constitutional validity. And if you've been paying still closer attention you might have noted Professor George Williams' expert view this week that he expects that challenge to succeed in derailing the plebiscite. But by and large, media, politicians and campaigners are behaving like this isn't happening.

That's understandable, I suppose. If you're part of a campaign, to wait for the court's verdict is to risk conceding a head start, so you might as well get started. But it's also regrettable because there's plenty to be learned by paying attention to the way our politicians behave in court. Do that and you'll see the things they'll tell a judge have apparently little to do with the things they'll tell us as a public. And it keeps happening.

For instance, you might think we're about to vote on same-sex marriage. Indeed Malcolm Turnbull said it twice in a single sentence once: "Lucy and I will be voting 'yes' in the postal vote." But once the government got to court, we got this: "It is not correct to characterise the activity as a vote." It needs to say this because it has to justify that the Australian Electoral Commission isn't involved. But it also seems to mean it. The argument facing the government is that this plebiscite is a disguised vote, and for that reason needs enacting legislation. In resisting this argument, the government is declaring this process isn't even a vote by another name. That is, it isn't a plebiscite at all. And yet it's being sold to us as the fulfilment of an election promise to hold a plebiscite.

But if that isn't sufficiently brazen, take last week's developments in the dual citizenship saga. Having beseeched the public for understanding on the basis that his Italian citizenship was quietly foisted upon him by his mother at the age of 25, Matthew Canavan declared to the High Court that he had in fact been an Italian citizen ever since he was two. The present story is that his citizenship was conferred by a change in Italian law so that his citizenship by maternal descent was automatic unless renounced. Beyond this automatic process, Canavan's mum had suddenly vanished from the script, presumably because if you're trying to argue you had no idea you'd become a citizen, it's not ideal to have been 25 at the time.
The government will push ahead with a third trial site for its cashless welfare card, despite opposition, after a final evaluation of the policy found it had "considerable positive impact" in its original trials.

The trials, which quarantine 80 per cent of welfare payments for essential services, has received a mixed response, with critics arguing it is dehumanising and forces problems underground.

But in releasing the final evaluation of the first two trials, held in Ceduna in South Australia and East Kimberly in Western Australia, Human Resources Minister Alan Tudge said the research showed a reduction in drinking and gambling among those involved in the trial, with "some evidence that there has been a consequential reduction in violence and harm".

"As many local leaders noted, these communities were in crisis largely due to massive alcohol consumption paid for by the welfare dollar," Mr Tudge said in a statement.
A woman who almost killed a patient in a breast implant procedure at a Sydney beauty clinic is a Chinese tourist with no Australian medical qualifications, a court has heard.

Jie Shao, 33, allegedly performed the procedure on Jean Huang, 35, at The Medi Beauty clinic in Chippendale on Wednesday afternoon.

Ms Huang, who is the manager and co-owner of the newly opened clinic, went into cardiac arrest.

She remained unconscious and in a critical condition on Thursday, and there were grave fears for her chances of survival.
"Western Australia has a long history of discontent," said Alan Fenna, a politics professor at Curtin University in Perth. "But it's political and economic discontent. It's not an identity issue as you'd see somewhere like Quebec." At the heart of the rancor is the share WA receives of the GST collected by the federal government and redistributed to Australian states on the basis of need. Fenna said that, since 1933, Western Australia's increasing wealth, culminating in a mining boom in the early 2000s, meant it was judged to be less needy, and therefore received less federal tax revenue than it had previously. The Liberal faction pushing for secession feels WA isn't getting its fair share of the so-called GST, and that it would do better keeping the state's mineral riches to itself. "The bottom line is the federation has started to treat WA like a golden goose, and they are all vampires, sucking at our jugular vein," Rick Palmer, who drafted the motion, told News Limited.

But Fenna said WA was not suffering. "For three-quarters of a century, Western Australia has had more than its fair share from the system of tax redistribution," he said. He said WA was billions of dollars ahead since 1933, even accounting for drops in iron ore prices in recent years. He said the tax distribution between the states was calculated on a rolling average over three-year periods, so any fluctuations would eventually be adjusted for and the state government should have been prepared for them. Another reason it's getting hit now? It got too much money in the past, because of a government mistake.

"The body that decides on the distribution between the states, the Commonwealth Grants Commission, made an error in its calculations during the mining boom and gave WA too much money," he said, adding WA "is in no position to complain whatsoever." Could WA fend for itself? Actually, yes, according to Fenna; the affluent mining region could easily support itself. But with a population of just three million people, "It wouldn't be much of a strategic player in the region, to be honest," he said. The other issue is that Western Australians are just too similar to those in the rest of the country.

"There's no cultural or language difference," Fenna said. "Western Australians are exactly like other Australians." Furthermore, he said, because of the way the federal tax share is calculated, WA will get a bigger payment in a couple of years, making up for the current funding shortfall. What happens next? Political analysts believe the motion to investigate secession will be passed by a majority of the 500 conference attendees this weekend, at which point it would become the official position of the state's Liberal Party. That doesn't mean Liberal Party lawmakers are then bound to vote in support of any secession legislation.

A statewide vote in favor could push the secession effort a step closer, but experts aren't clear on whether the Australian constitution would allow a state to leave the federation. Fenna said the person who might take the biggest hit from all of this is Turnbull, who is expected to attend and address the party conference where the motion for WA to secede will be heard. "It'll be very embarrassing and awkward for him," Fenna said. Peter Kennedy, a veteran WA political commentator and journalist, said the secession push could lose its urgency if the federal government threw "a lot of money" at the state. "Malcolm Turnbull is likely to get a very muted reception unless he has some good news," Kennedy said.

What are the chances that WA will eventually secede? "Zero," Fenna said. What do Australians think about the idea? Fenna dismissed the idea that the secession effort was had much support from everyday people. Loading
A federal government trial of cashless debit cards for welfare recipients in remote communities is being hailed as a success as the government expands the sites to the Goldfields in Western Australia.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge is due to release a report on the trials in WA's Kimberley and Ceduna in South Australia on Friday.

The cashless welfare card will be extended to Kalgoorlie. Credit:Michel O'Sullivan

The report comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is also set to announce an expansion of the trial to the WA Goldfields during a visit to Kalgoorlie.

"The status quo is not working," he told The West Australian before the announcement.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Sep. 01, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 01, 2017 | 12:58 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A man has been arrested and charged in a counterfeit check case.



The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says that On Aug. 24 US Bank reported that on May 22 and 23, about $5900 was deposited into tha account of 27-year-old Brock Coughenour via mobile deposit. Bank officials told deputies there were $5202 worth of ATM withdrawals from the account over the next couple of days. The checks were later returned from the issuing bank as counterfeit.



The investigation showed someone from the Chicago, IL area, logged into Coughenours bank account, depositing the counterfeit checks via mobile deposit. Coughenour then made several ATM withdrawals in the Paducah area along with two Money Gram transactions at Walmart, sending money back to an unknown location in the Chicago area.



The Investigation showed Coughenour was responsible for the withdrawals and Money Gram transactions in Paducah. During an interview of Coughenour, he reportedly admitted to being involved in the scheme.



Coughenour was arrested Thursday and was charged with one count of theft by deception- cold checks under $10,000, a class D felony.
Alec Baldwin sues to 'clear his name' in movie set death
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Aug. 31, 2017 | FRANKFORT, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 31, 2017 | 04:19 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Attorney General Andy Beshear has issued a scam alert to warn Kentuckians of fake charity scams related to Hurricane Harvey.



Due to the lasting devastation of Hurricane Harvey, Beshear is asking Kentuckians to be wary of scammers attempting to profit from relief efforts. In Kentucky and across the nation, con artists are using bogus charity names or representing themselves as legitimate charities, in order to collect relief funds that they falsely claim will benefit storm victims.



Beshear said Kentuckians who are not familiar with a charitable organization and how they use their money can verify what percentage of their income goes to the charity's purpose on CharityNavigator.org. Additional research tools and resources, including a list of active charitable campaigns in Kentucky, are available on the Attorney General's website.



"The families and communities impacted by this deadly storm deserve our help," Beshear said. "I am asking generous Kentuckians to please take time and verify a charity before making a donation."



The Office of the Attorney General also provides these additional tips on how to avoid a fake charity scam:



Do not feel pressured to give money or financial information over the phone.



Beware of sound alike charities and phony websites.



Be cautious of social media requests for donations. Although some may be legitimate, consumers need to verify before making donations.



Ask solicitors what percentage of your donation will be given to the relief effort. By law, the solicitor must tell you if you ask.



Kentuckians who receive a fake charity scam call or online solicitation should contact the Office of the Attorney General at 888-432-9257 or file a scam report online.



To stay up to date on new and trending scams Kentuckians should sign up to receive Scam Alerts from the Office of the Attorney General. To enroll text the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.
By The Associated Press Aug. 30, 2017 | 09:21 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A group of black lawmakers, pastors and advocacy groups have called for the removal of a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky Capitol.

The Capitol Rotunda includes five statues of famous Kentuckians. They include former President Abraham Lincoln and Davis, the only president of the Confederacy.

The Kentucky chapter of the NAACP and other groups have tried twice before to have the statue removed but were unsuccessful. The Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission governs the statues. Its members are appointed by the governor.

Democratic State Rep. Reginald Meeks said it was time to "put aside the politics of the past" and remove the statue. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has said the statue is an important reminder of the state's history.
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Minnesota State College Southeast is bolstering its psychology and creative writing programs  part of the schools transition from a strict technical college to a technical and community college.

The school announced this week that students who complete Southeasts Psychology Transfer Pathway  a two-year, 60-credit program exploring various aspects of psychology  will be able to transfer their credits to any university in Minnesota State, formerly known as MnSCU.

It also announced the creation of a creative writing certificate program, which brings with it a host of new courses in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and more.

While Southeast will always be committed to our career and technical programs, said Dorothy Duran, the schools president, we believe the expansion of our liberal arts and sciences offerings will be a tremendous advantage to students in our region.

Students in the psychology pathway are required to spend two years at Southeast, taking general education credits as well as coursework related to psychology. After those two years, theyll be guaranteed junior status at any university in Minnesota State  assuming they meet the admission requirements of their desired school.

I think this is going to get students even more motivated, said Angel Mytas, a psychology instructor at Southeast. Before, when people asked what they were going to school for, students had to say they were getting their gen eds done. Now, theyll be able to say theyre working toward their major.

Theyre going to get the same rigor and the same highly qualified faculty theyd get somewhere else  but at a lower cost and with smaller class sizes.

Much like the psychology pathway, the creative writing certificate was established in response to student feedback.

Pete Beurskens, who teaches English at Southeasts campus in Red Wing, said students have been pushing for more courses in creative writing. Theyd finish Southeasts lone course on the subject, he said, and wonder what to do next  some, he said, even asked to take the course a second time.

Weve had this core group of students who are really enthusiastic, Beurskens said. We started to think: Why should we keep turning these people away? Maybe we can do something.

All of the courses for the creative writing certificate will be conducted online, which, according to Beurskens, should make the program accessible for both college-age learners and older, nontraditional students.

The certificate is a great alternative, he said, to costly and time-consuming graduate programs at large universities.

Ive got a mortgage, a hobby farm and three kids Im trying to put through college  I understand that an MFA is really expensive, Beurskens said. Were hoping there are people out there who already have degrees, who decide theyve always wanted to work on their poetry.

Beurskens is also hoping, he said, that aspiring writers connect with one another through the program. Southeast has the right faculty in place, he said, to help make that happen.

Each one of us has very different styles and visions, but we all work together and help each other, he said. The (Mississippi) River Valley is full of artists and writers. We want to find them and start a community of creative writers.
Rochester Chamber of Commerce President Rob Miller resigned his post effective immediately on Wednesday after a key chamber executive went public with allegations Miller had bullied her and was trying to push her out.

Earlier in the day, the Rochester Post-Bulletin published a letter from membership director Judy Braatz, who said Miller had belittled and defamed her. MPR News confirmed the letters authenticity.

An outside law firm has been hired to investigate.

But even before the investigation was complete, Miller said the small but powerful media storm around Braatzs departure prompted his resignation. Miller characterized Braatzs allegations as an attack on him, and one he worried would affect his staff and family.

Ive never in my life seen anything like this or gone through anything like this and I felt like it was time to let the healing begin, Miller said in an interview. The damage to my team, the damage to the volunteers, and the damage to my family is already done. We cant put that genie back in the bottle.

Miller added that he urged the investigation of her complaints, which he said he was confident would clear his name.

In her letter, Braatz alleged Miller has significant difficulty working with women. It is no secret that other strong women in the organization have left because of how Mr. Miller has treated them.

Among the other accusations:

Miller would often comment on how expensive she was to employ, specifically the cost of her health insurance.

Miller badgered her for a retirement date, which she refused to give.

Miller defamed her in public, suggesting that she has a drinking problem, which she denies.

Braatz did not return MPR News repeated phone calls.

Chamber Board Chair Lisa Clarke praised Miller as she announced his exit. In a statement, she did not mention the allegations by Braatz.

Rob is a visionary leader who brought great energy, business acumen and an entrepreneurial vantage point to our chamber ... We know there are great things in store for Rob in the future, Clarke said in her statement.

The chamber board, she added, will meet immediately to begin a search for Millers full-time replacement.

The Rochester chamber is big and gaining prominence.

One ranking has it as the largest in Minnesota after the state-wide Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

The Rochester groups profile is on the rise along with the Destination Medical Center economic development effort. A big component of DMC is growing the Rochester economy and attracting new businesses to the area. The Chamber plays a key role in cultivating and supporting the citys business community.

The two are joined at the top. DMC CEO Lisa Clarke also chairs the Chambers board.
Baraboo High School students who dont have parking passes are in for a longer walk starting Friday.

A renovation project has blocked an area in front of the school parents use to pick up and drop off students. This has prompted city leaders to declare the north side of Ninth Avenue and the east side of Berkley Boulevard a loading zone for pickups and drop-offs. That means students who dont pay to reserve spots in the school lot no longer can park on those streets for the day.

Were going to push them further into the neighborhood, Police Chief Mark Schauf told the City Councils public safety committee Monday.

The committee voted unanimously to declare a loading zone comprising the north side of Ninth, from Draper Street west to Berkley, and the east side of Berkley, from Ninth north to the west entrance to the BHS parking lot, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on school days. School starts Friday.

Contractors are three months into a 15-month, $22 million renovation project at the school. Work will continue throughout the academic year.

Schauf said establishing a loading zone will inconvenience students who dont have passes to park in the school lot, but something had to be done to facilitate traffic flow during the school day. This seems to be the most logical solution, he said.
Baraboo National Bank is looking to become a state, rather than a national, bank.

Merlin Zitzner, chairman of the banks holding company, announced the proposed change to shareholders in an Aug. 15 letter. After 80 years as a national bank, it filed applications with federal and state regulators to convert its charter. If those applications are approved, the institution would be renamed Baraboo State Bank, possibly by years end.

Zitzner and Baraboo National CEO Corey Davis said the move would save the bank money, as fees charged by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions are significantly lower than those assessed by the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Given the banks current and anticipated operations, which are almost exclusively conducted in the state of Wisconsin, the Board of Directors determined that it no longer had a need for a national bank charter, Zitzner and Davis said in a statement.

The bank would remain subject to federal regulators, as it is FDIC-insured. Its holding company, Baraboo Bancorporation, also is federally regulated.

University of Wisconsin finance professor James Johannes said the move makes sense. Its pretty common for smaller banks to want to be state-chartered, he said.

"State banks do enjoy lower supervisory cost, different capital requirements, and lending limits," added Musa Ayar, associate professor of economics and business at UW-Baraboo/Sauk County.

Bank leaders said the conversion would have no impact on customers or shareholders. Stock value shouldnt be affected. The bank will continue to offer the same level and quality of services that customers have come to expect and depositors will continue to be entitled to the same level of federal deposit insurance that they were with the bank as a national bank, Davis and Zitzner said.

The charter change would mark the latest in a series of transitions for the bank, a downtown Baraboo institution thats one of Sauk Countys longest-standing businesses.

The institution was established in 1857 as Sauk County Bank. It was briefly known as First National Bank before becoming Bank of Baraboo in 1880. It became Baraboo National Bank in 1938, and went on to acquire and establish banks around Wisconsin. But in recent years, Baraboo Bancorporation has contracted.

Last fall, it sold its Wonewoc branch, its seventh such transaction since 2014. The company sold its Fond du Lac branch in 2015, as well as its Northwoods branch, located in Elcho. In 2014, the company announced the sale of four branches  one in Green Lake, two in Viroqua and another in Rhinelander  in three separate transactions.

The previous year, the Federal Reserve announced an enforcement action against Baraboo Bancorporation. The company was ordered to develop a plan to maintain sufficient capital, not take on any new debt or pay any dividends without the Federal Reserves approval, and provide progress and other reports to regulators.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a similar order in a filing that indicated the bank had failed to follow through on an earlier safety and soundness plan from December 2008. The bank was cleared of the orders from federal oversight agencies in November 2016 and allowed to resume normal operations.

Baraboo National now has locations in Baraboo, Reedsburg, Portage and Lake Delton.
James Helmer Amundson, 84, of Madison, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017.

Jim was born Dec. 4, 1932, in Baraboo.

Jim loved his hometown of Baraboo. He attended St. Josephs through eighth grade and then went on to Baraboo High School. After a semester at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jim went into the Army where he was a maintenance electrician and spent time on Baffin Island and Thule, Greenland. He returned to UW-Madison, married Margaret Steckel, and received a degree in economics. He worked for many years in the insurance business and was also a Dane County supervisor for many years, followed by Dane County treasurer. He served on a number of boards including the Lower Wisconsin Riverway Board and the board of Operation Fresh Start.

Jim was very committed to serving the community. He loved singing in the car along to songs, and just any old time. He played the guitar, including a special family song we called Fox, The 44. He was an accomplished woodworker and fine illustrator. He enjoyed nature so much, especially the Baraboo Bluffs, birds and nightly deer rides at near dusk. He was a hunter and fisherman for many years and enjoyed backwoods camping, nearly always in the state of Wisconsin. In the week before his death Jim said I had a great life and his family is very happy he felt that way.

Jim is survived by his sister, Sue Ebert; former wife, Margaret (Steckel) DeVault; children, Marjorie Schildknecht, John Amundson and Elizabeth Amundson; grandchildren, Allison Cavis and Rebecca Knauer (Marjories daughters); Alexa and Emily Amundson (Johns daughters) and Julian Sailing (Elizabeths son); very special friend, Barb Stone of Baraboo; sister-in-law, Jane Amundson; and many nieces and nephews he thought of fondly and often.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Leone (Post) Amundson and Helmer Amundson; siblings, Allyn Amundson, Robert Amundson, and Kay Prosser.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug 2, 2017, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 300 Second St., Baraboo. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until the time of Mass at the church. Inurnment will be in St. Joseph Cemetery followed by a luncheon at the church.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Friends of Devils Lake State Park would honor Jims love of that very special place.

Cress Funeral and Cremation Service is assisting the family with arrangements.
JUNEAU  A 57-year-old Horicon man has been accused of illegally voting in last Novembers presidential election.

Herbert E. York Jr. is charged with election fraud  voting by disqualified person. If convicted on the charge, he could face 3 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, York was still on supervision with parole and probation for a felony conviction when he voted in the Nov. 8 general election.

York was placed on probation for three years after a 2014 conviction for intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse in Washington County.

According to the criminal complaint, Horicon police received a report from the Wisconsin Election Commissions on Aug. 1 about a person who was on supervision and voted in the presidential election. Yorks information matched a list of offenders who still were under supervision with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Police met with York on Aug. 3, and began to tell him about the accusations when York allegedly interrupted them and said that they were there about him voting and that he was no longer on probation.

When the officer said he was on probation when he voted, York allegedly said, Yeah, but I thought I would get away with it.

York is scheduled to appear in a Dodge County courtroom Oct. 2 for his initial appearance.
A popular Portage walkway is being closed off, in segments, while city crews clear away about a decades worth of brush along the east bank of the Wisconsin River.

Aaron Jahncke, the citys director of public works, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ordered the city to clear away undergrowth in a 15-foot-wide swath from the lip of the Portage Levee, which runs along Wisconsin Street, to near the the rivers east bank.

Its been a while since brush has been cleared from the area, Jahncke said  probably about 10 years.

And its a big job.

The work actually started in early August near MacFarlane Road, Jahncke said, and has proceeded southeast along the Levee. How much gets cleared out in a given day, he said, depends on whether rain, or blistering heat, cuts a workday short.

As of Thursday afternoon, the cleanup had progressed as far as the 200 block of East Wisconsin Street, just southeast of the Associated Bank parking lot.

As has been the case throughout the task, a roadblock is set up on the asphalt-surfaced trail on the Levee, in the area where the crew was working.

Although the full length of the Levee has not been and will not be closed off while the brush removal is going on, Jahncke said he asks pedestrians, bicyclists and dog-walkers who frequent the Levee to comply with the roadblocks, for their own safety and for that of the clean-up crew.

If theyre working, Jahncke said, dont go into the work zones.

The Army Corps of Engineers built the Levee in the mid 1990s, and it has offered reliable flood protection since then  including during the catastrophic flood of June 2008, and the record-setting river level of 20.66 feet. Unlike a 14-mile levee built in the 19th century in the towns of Lewiston and Caledonia (constructed mainly from river-bottom sand), the Portage Levee was constructed to federal Army Corps of Engineers standards.

In recent years, however, its become a bit overgrown.

City worker Mark Ullrich said crews have cleared out a number of volunteer trees, including maples and birches, that have grown alongside the levee. Theyre not removing the trees or other plants that grow directly on the rivers edge, he said, if those plants are more than 15 feet away from the end of the stone pile that marks the levees boundary.

One reason the work didnt happen sooner this summer, Ullrich said, was because much of the area where brush was to be removed was inundated with water when the river ran high.

Jahncke said the brush removal will end in an area near Ontario Street, probably in October.
Top investigative reporters to meet at Wits in November

A Pulitzer Prize winner, data journalism pioneers, and the Panama Papers media sleuths are part of the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference at Wits.

They are among the speakers, presenters, and delegates at #GIJC17 hosted by Wits Journalism and the Global Investigative Journalism Network from 16-19 November.

This is the first time the conference is taking place in Africa.

The conference features programming and speakers which incorporate the rich diversity of stories and investigative methods that have emerged on the continent.

Innovative reporting methods that are transforming journalism globally  including mobile journalism, drone reporting, and virtual reality  will be covered, as will special sessions on human trafficking and LGBTQ issues.

There is also an academic track for professors, focusing on best practices in teaching investigative journalism and data journalism, and new research in the field.

#GIJC17 is a unique opportunity for those in the field to network, share experiences and expertise, and learn during 120 sessions on a range of topics that include:

How to conduct cross-border collaborations

How to track looted money, supply chains, and read company accounts

How to tell data stories

How to fund investigations.

Register now and purchase your ticket at a discounted early bird rate of R3 324. The early bird rate closes on Friday, 15 September, after which the regular rate of R3 745 applies.
Unlocking the truth

Is it time to free the apartheid archives?

The apartheid archives hold many truths about the countrys past. After more than 20 years of democracy, and with drastic system changes in the country, apartheid state records are still kept from the public.

Civil society activists and groups play a pivotal role in the call to free the apartheid state records and to promote accountability and transparency, says ANC Veteran and former Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils.

It is the duty for us all to build this civil society and to make it so strong that no government can simply get away with the kind of things that have been happening, says Kasrils. There is a civil society issue at task, there is this question about the declassification of all documents pre-1994, and there is a proper balance between public interest and the states need for sound government security.

Kasrils was talking at an Archives and Democracy Colloquium at Wits University last week, where he delivered the keynote address on the context of the apartheid archives with Yasmin Sooka, Director of the Foundation for Human Rights.

Themed Is it time to free the apartheid era archives? Promoting open and transparent public record keeping for a democratic South Africa, the one-day Colloquium, aimed to create public awareness about the urgent need for open and transparent regulation of the records of the apartheid era, and to promote initiatives in the interest of sound public record keeping.

Kasrils questioned why the apartheid archives are still kept a secret today, when other countries have declassified all past security records. The declassification of these records reflects the culture of secrecy and non-transparency from the previous government, which has trickled down to democratic state. Kasrils believes the records would help unravel the mysteries of our past.

The struggle against forgetting is the struggle against tyranny. We need to understand that we had a tyranny in the past and we need to understand the tyrannies that can come, with shadows of tyrannies within us today.

Speaking on the importance of information from  and access to  the archives in ongoing investigations, Sooka used examples of the Truth Commission where they struggled to get access to the apartheid records, where the documents were not only essential for gaining information and knowledge about what happened, but are essential in finding closure for families of victims of state violence, said Sooka.

We are living in a society where the constitutional goals are transparency and openness, but what we are hampered on are elements of the state whose tendencies are around secrecy  the need to close down and hide some documents, and I think it is an intelligence mindset that was there in the minds of the former government, she said.

The conversation we are having today, to resolve these issues is quite critical. People are dying, and if we want to bring these matters to fruition, it is necessary that we retrieve the archives, which are necessary for us to finalise the work which has dealt with the transition of apartheid to democracy.

The way forward: Liberating the archives

The intricate details of South Africas history are still unknown to many seeking to understand and document the apartheid era. The battle to open the apartheid state records continues with concerted efforts to legislate full declassification of these records, in order to pave the way for an open engagement with apartheid history through the records of its various state departments.

Civil society activists convened for a panel discussion at the end of the colloquium to chart an agenda for liberating the archives.

Echoing Sookas remarks on the importance of archives for gathering information and investigations, Huffingtons Posts Ferial Haffajee said she understood the value of archives during her early days as a young journalist. According to Haffajee, we recreate past injustices in the present because we have failed to fully excavate our past, therefore the need to free the archives.

Good whistle blowers who constantly seek to bring truths to the public need to be incorporated in the plan to liberate the archives, while challenging the securitisation of the state, said panelist, Karabo Rajuili from the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Until we do get the archive free, we need to be open to other means and other mechanisms in order to get the information (not being revealed to the public). One of them is ensuring that whistleblowers are seen as valuable and democratic agents and ensuring the discourse of what the work of whistleblowers is. There is a strong need for the public and civil society to really stand up for whistleblowers, she said.

Rajuili highlighted the importance of civil society groups in advancing the agenda for declassifying apartheid era record.

It is important to have legislation, it is important to have good institutions, but what is needed is a strong and mobilised civil society activist that is willing to go out in the street and hold power to those who are accountable.

Sharing Rajuilis sentiments on mobilisation, Hennie van Vuuren, author of Apartheid,Guns and Money: A tale of profit, said public support needs to build around the apartheid archive, for those who are curious about its contents.

There is a curiosity amongst many people. There is an interest in what the apartheid archives represents, both in itself and in promoting the idea that we need to liberate this archive. We need to make it accessible both domestically and internationally  that would be a starting point.

Van Vuuren said these archives also relay our history as South Africans.Liberating the archives is a way of telling our stories that Archives have real meaning and value to us. They really do tell our story as a country.

Right to Know activist, Dale Mckinley, proposed an integrated multi-tactical approach which includes efforts from various constituencies and suggested a declaration for open support for access to archives, public ownership of the archives and new legislation.

Lets bring on journalists, lets bring on amaBhungane, lets bring on NGOs and community organisations and social movements. People should stop being afraid of working with each other. Stop the silo-isation of civil society, which is the biggest enemy of all these things.

The event was hosted by the History Workshop at Wits, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and the Wits Historical Papers Research Archive, together with SECTION 27 and Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI).
Wits Property Studies student chapter honoured

Property Studies students make their mark in the property sector.

The South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners (SAIBPP) presented a group of Property Studies students with a Recognition of Excellence 2017 Award at the SAIBPP Property Indaba last month.

The award recognises the students efforts to establish the student chapter of SAIBPP at Wits, the first student chapter to be set up in any university.

SAIBPP aims to lead transformation in the South African property sector by facilitating economic participation and skills development for previously disadvantaged individuals.

According to the Matlali Matsoso, Chair of the SAIBPP and a third year Property Studies student, the student chapter was born after a lecture delivered at Wits last year by the CEO of SAIBPP, who mentioned that the establishment of a student chapter was among the companys future plans. Matlali then made a proposal to the CEO for the SAIBPP student chapter to be established at Wits.

The female-led student chapter, although still in its infancy, has made great strides in creating networks between industry professionals and the Property Studies students. The now registered chapter seeks to create sponsorship and mentorship opportunities and vocation internships for its members.

One of the main objectives of the student leg of SAIBPP is to bridge the gap between students and the property industry and create valuable networks for students with professionals in the property sector.

Our core focus is to see the University and industry connecting. As the mother body seeks transformation in terms of legislation  we as a student society focus on making sure that these young black students who are getting their degrees have the contacts to get jobs and opportunities in the industry,  says Vice- Chair of the student chapter, Waseema Lombard.

Through hosting entrepreneurship and investment workshops, the chapter also aims to instill an entrepreneurial drive in students.

For these workshops we are bringing in companies which we see engage students and other people. We want students to be aware of opportunities for them to invest. If they want to be entrepreneurs, how can they go about it, how can they raise capital if they want to invest in property or any other investments?, says Kananelo Kota, treasurer for the student chapter.

At a gala dinner where they were awarded, the student chapter received financial pledges of about R200 000 from professionals in the property sector. This will help the chapter advance its mission of connecting students with the industry. The Wits School of Construction also received an award in recognition of its contribution to transformation of the property sector.

Professor David Root, Head of the the School of Construction Economics and Management, said he was proud of the students who are contributing to transformation in the property sector as envisioned by the SAIBPP.

A core objective of redesigning the Bachelor of Science Property Studies degree was to ensure that the students that graduated would be change agents in the property sector. The fact that our students have taken this initiative and driven this forward gives us confidence that they will have a major impact on the property sector when they enter the world of work, whilst also leaving a legacy in the School for other students to build on, says Root.
Winning hearts and minds

One of the greatest compliments that an academic can receive is to be recognised by grassroot structures and the community that one serves.

The rural community of amaMpondo in the Eastern Cape will award Professor Mzikazi Nduna, Head of the School of Human and Community Development in the Faculty of Humanities at Wits.

A gender activist, Nduna will receive the Queen Mamjoli Award for advocating for and promoting social justice, particularly gender justice. The award will be made during the annual Mpondo Culture and Heritage Festival on 9 September 2017 at the Lwandl Olubomvu Great Place.

Nduna is renowned for her research in HIV and AIDS, father connections, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender and gender-based violence, and psychological distress pertaining to women, children, and sexual minorities.Read: Lecturer leads fight for girls right to a future.

Her work has also attracted the attention of the Business Womens Association (BWA) of South Africa. She is nominated in the Education Category of the BWA Businesswoman of the Year Awards taking place on 7 September.

Of these awards, Nduna says:

This recognition is very important to me and is a reflection of my contribution beyond the education sector. I am happy that I am recognised for using my voice to advance social justice and feel content that I am able to use my access to allow others access.

Ndunas relationship with the people of amaMpondo runs deep and can be traced to 1997 when she worked as a regional project manager in a Department of Health-funded HIV and AIDS Training Project under the auspices of the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa.

She took the people of the Eastern Cape with her to the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2000, where she investigated the effects of maternal depression on the mother-child dyad [a pair of people who interact] in the community.

Although Nduna has changed employment and grown in stature over the 20 years of her career, the amaMpondo people have stayed with her.

Mpondoland is my second home, says the National Research Foundation Y-rated researcher.

She is particularly proud of the relationships that she has formed, which advance both research and community development.

My work has enabled Wits students to form relations with the people of amaMpondo. More importantly, our research work has allowed us to highlight the plight of the Mpondo so that our research findings join the call made by other researchers to focus on and improve the quality of life of the Mpondo people.

Nduna has co-authored 51 peer reviewed journal articles, three book chapters, and presented at international and local conferences. She develops generic training material for research field workers for related studies.




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Australian organisation calls for end to nuclear ban

01 September 2017

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The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has called on the Australian government to reverse legislation that effectively bans the country from developing a nuclear energy industry. The MCA, which represents the country's exploration, mining and minerals processing industry, has also called for uranium projects to be removed from the definition of "nuclear action" under federal environmental law.

The Opal building, home to Australia's research reactor (Image: Ansto)



Australia is the only high electricity consuming country without nuclear - or plans to include nuclear - in its energy mix, the MCA says in a newly published paper, Removing the Prohibition on Nuclear Power. The uranium-producing country's self-imposed nuclear power ban has also meant it has been unable to develop a "high value, high tech" nuclear industry like the one that has developed in Canada, the paper says.

Although it is home to the 20 MWt Opal research reactor, nuclear power has been prohibited in Australia since 1998 under two Acts of Parliament: the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Act of 1998 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 (the EPBC Act). The MCA described the decision to prohibit nuclear power as "horsetrading" to ensure the passage of the legislation to centralise radiation regulation, at a time when Australia's need for nuclear was low. "[E]nergy was affordable, abundant and with a country full of coal, there was no reason to believe that would change," it said. That decision "has cost the nation significant global investment" and scientific collaboration.

The MCA says only the second of those acts would need to be reformed to allow the development of a nuclear industry to be considered. "The removal of four words - 'a nuclear power plant' - in Section 140A(1)(b) [of the EPBC Act] would allow nuclear industries to be considered for development in Australia," it said. Any nuclear projects would still have to meet the country's stringent environmental and safety requirements.

Nuclear power is reliable, with "close to zero" carbon emissions and proven technology, the MCA said in its analysis. It is affordable, safe, and produces low waste volumes, with global innovation in new-generation nuclear technologies driven by private sector-funded development. Australia would be a "partner of choice" for private venture capital-funded nuclear projects, the MCA said. "Removing Australias ban on nuclear power would see international nuclear innovators engage Australian scientists, engineers and universities in technology and fuel development leading to jobs, high-tech R&D and potentially the development of a global SMR manufacturing hub," it said.

"Australia is trying to build a reliable, affordable and low emissions electricity system with one hand tied behind its back," MCA executive director Daniel Zavattiero said today. "With Australia's current energy challenges, the country can no longer afford this outdated prohibition. The country deserves to have all energy options on the table to consider in future."

As a next step towards a future nuclear industry, the MCA recommended a repeal of section 140A(1)(b) of the EPBC Act. This would allow global entrepreneurs and innovators to develop and commercialise their designs and technology in Australia. The prospect that an "economic, safe and environmentally sustainable" development could one day be implemented would incentivise private activity, it said.

It also called for the establishment of a governmental working group to "investigate and advise" ministers on the regulatory pathway for environmental approval of specific nuclear power generation proposals. At the same time, uranium mining, milling, decommissioning and rehabilitation should be removed from the definition of "nuclear action" in the EPBC Act, it said. "These activities are not nuclear actions. They are mining activities. Uranium projects should not automatically trigger a duplicative federal environmental approval process, and the costs and delays that come with that, for no environmental benefit."

Mike Young, CEO of mining company Vimy Resources Limited and chair of the MCA Uranium Forum, said the "anachronistic" laws left Australia "languishing" when it could be "at the vanguard" of nuclear technology. "Any objective science-based discussion, devoid of hyperbole and emotion invariably finds that nuclear power is clean, economic and reliable, that it plays a vital role in the world today, will continue to do so in the future, and that it makes no sense for it to be banned in Australia," he said.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News



Related topics
Urenco tails plant to start up in 2018

01 September 2017

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Uranium enrichment company Urenco yesterday said it expects to commission the Tails Management Facility (TMF) at Capenhurst in the UK in 2018, after construction delays. The facility, to deconvert depleted uranium hexafluoride tails, had previously been expected to enter service this year.

The TMF will treat depleted uranium tails, a by-product of the enrichment process, by converting them from uranium hexafluoride into more chemically stable uranium oxide. Urenco's board approved the construction of the facility, comprising a tails deconversion facility and a number of associated storage, maintenance and residue processing facilities, in 2009. By March 2014 the company was anticipating operations to begin by the end of 2015. This date was subsequently revised to 2017.

Announcing the company's half-year results yesterday Urenco Chief Executive Thomas Haeberle said: "Our commitment to responsible uranium stewardship is evidenced by our investment in the TMF at our UK site. However, the TMF has experienced further construction delays and we now anticipate commissioning in late 2018. A comprehensive review of the project undertaken in H1 2017 indicates higher final construction costs."

The Urenco Group invested 151.2 million ($179.5 million) in the first half of 2017, 71% of which was associated with the TMF.

Haeberle said the company had delivered a "strong operational performance" in the period compared to the first half of 2016, with an increase in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) reflecting an increased level of sales, lower operating costs and reduced net charges for nuclear provisions. He said the company's financial results continued to be supported by a "long established order book that extends into the second half of the next decade".

"Despite the strong performance in the first six months of 2017, the enrichment market remains challenging and this is having an impact on our new contracts," he said.

Urenco operates plants in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA using its own centrifuge technology to enrich uranium for the use as a nuclear fuel for civil power generation.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Honduras is a Central American country. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Honduras was part of Spains extensive empire in the New World. The country covers an area of 112,090 km2 and has population of approximately 8,866,351 inhabitants. Its capital city is Tegucigalpa. The official and most widely spoken language in Honduras is Spanish. In fact, Honduras is sometimes referred to as Spanish Honduras. The population of Honduras is made up of about 18,000-70,000 hearing impaired persons. They use the Honduran Sign Language to communicate.

Indigenous Languages Of Honduras

According to the worlds Ethnologue, there are 10 languages spoken in Honduras. Out of these, there are five indigenous languages which are often spoken. They include Garifuna, Miskito, Sumo, Pech, and Jicaque. The Garifuna is spoken by about 100,000 Hondurans of the Garifuna population. Garifuna is affiliated to the Arawakan dialect and also contains borrowed Carib and European dialects.

Miskitu (Miskito) is a language spoken by the mesoamerican ethnic group. Approximately 29,000 Hondurans speak Miskito. Pech is part of the Paya languages. It has its origin in Chibcha, but is also considered by linguists to be an isolated language. The people who speak Pech call themselves pech meaning people. However, they refer to people who speak other languages as pech-akua which means other people. Less than 1,000 people in Honduras speak Pech. The Sumo people are of South American origin.

Immigrant languages Spoken In Honduras

Immigrant languages in Honduras are Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, and Yue Chinese. Arabic is the most widely spoken immigrant languages. About 42,000 of the Honduras population speaks Arabic. The numbers of people who speak Armenian, Turkish, and Yue Chinese are 1,300, 900, and 1,000 respectively. Another immigrant language which is spoken by inhabitants of Bay Islands is Creole English.

Spanish: The Official Language Of Honduras

The Spanish language spoken by the Hondurans was passed to them by the colonialists many years ago. The language is used for government and business official transactions. Furthermore, the language used for instruction in educational institutions is Spanish. The Spanish spoken in Honduras is similar to that spoken in El Savador and Nicaragua. Today, the widely spoken language in Honduras is the Castilian language. This is a variation of the Spanish language which was born in the region of Castilla. Sometimes it may be referred to as Castilian Spanish.

Extinct Languages Of Honduras

Over the years, some of the Honduran indigenous languages have become extinct. Examples of such languages are Chorti and Matagalpa. The Lencan languages were widely spoken in Honduras in the pre-colonial period. However, today it is in danger of extinction with only 300-594 people speaking it. The Lencan language was highly organized. It had a polytheistic religion where gods were hierarchically organized. Most of the people who speak Lencan are located in the western department of Honduras such as the Lempira, La Paz, and Intibuca. Besides the Lencan languages, other indigenous languages that may be extinct soon include Mayangna (spoken by less than 1000 people), Tol (spoken by less than 500 people), and Mayan (spoken by about 50 people).
Denmark possesses few but valuable natural resources. Arable land and fishing are some of Denmark's most important natural resources. The country also has a small quarrying and mining sector. The resources in existence in Denmark's underground include clay, gravel, oil, natural gas, limestone, and chalk. Danish companies, as well as global firms, are involved in the extraction of Denmark's natural resources.

Arable Land

Arable land is one of Denmark's most important natural resources. About half of the nation's land is exploited and fertilized. Crops include cereals such as barley and wheat, which account for about half of cultivated land, as well as oats, rye, sugar beets, turnips, and potatoes.

Animal Husbandry

Domesticated animals such as dairy cattle, pigs, and poultry are another important natural resource of Denmark. Most of the country's farms are small- or medium-sized and remain family owned. Fur farming is also practiced.

Fish

Denmark is one of the largest exporters of fish in the world and as such the fishing industry is an important natural resource. Herring and cod are some of the most important fish species to the nation. There is also a small aquaculture industry.

Oil and Natural Gas

The discovery oil together with natural gas in the Danish territory of the North Sea was a huge relief for the country which had previously depended on imported petroleum. The local industry in collaboration with the state developed the oil and gas fields to commence major productions in 1984. By 1997, Denmark had achieved self-sufficiency in the two resources. The crude oil produced from the oil fields is estimated at 10 billion liters annually, which is enough since Denmark is a small State. Denmark can supply all the natural gas it requires, most of which is channeled towards heating homes and the production of heat and electricity. Esbjerg is the primary city for the oil and gas sector, and multiple firms such as ABB, COWI, and Maersk Oil have offshore-related operations in the city.

Moler

The term moler is a Danish word which refers to the unique diatomite only found in Denmark. Danish moler contains a high content of clay, and it is available in the northwestern region of Denmark. The clay content makes moler suitable for making insulation bricks. The moler's unique organic structure makes it ideal for the production of building bricks and insulation bricks for high-temperature industries. Few natural resources are similar to the Danish moler, and only the Russian diatomite comes remotely close in similarity.

Sand and Gravel

Denmark consumes vast quantities of gravel and sand in the construction of railways, buildings, roads, and numerous other structures. The nation has enormous amounts of the resources present in the sedimentary layers that were deposited in the Ice Age. The sand and gravel in Denmark not only meets its requirements but it is also exported to other Scandinavian nations and Germany.

Limestone, Chalk, and Clay

The extraction and use of clay and limestone have been carried out for centuries, and it continues in Denmark. There is a big quarry close to Fakse whose limestone deposits are extracted by Faxe Kalk. Clay and chalk are also in abundance in the country.

Salt

The salt exploited in Denmark currently is primarily used for health products. The island of Ls was synonymous with salt production in the middle Ages. The final concentration, done in hundreds of salt kilns, used up large amounts of wood and it resulted in the extensive deforestation of the island prompting the ban of salt extraction. Today, the extraction is done on a small scale as a tourist attraction and an archaeological experiment.

Wind, Water, and Solar Energy

Denmark is one of the world's nations that are making significant strides in the addition of clean energy. In 2015, about 42% of the domestic electricity used in Denmark was wind generated. The country has been championing wind use, and it exports the Siemens and Vestas wind turbines. The country is also looking to solar and water energy to boost its use of green energy.
Wacker Quimica do Brasil has been supplying the South American market with silicone products and polymer binders for 40 years. The 21,000-m site houses administration and logistics, as well as its own silicone production facilities.

MUNICH, GERMANY AND SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: Wacker Chemie AG said that it is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Brazil-based South American headquarters.

Wacker Quimica do Brasil Ltda was established in Sao Paulo, in 1977  marking an important milestone in the groups South American expansion. In Jandira near Sao Paulo, Wacker now manufactures silicone products used, for example, in the textile, construction, paper, agrochemical, personal care and cosmetics industries.

The company is currently building a new multifunctional facility at the site for manufacturing antifoam agents and functional silicone fluids. Investments for the expansion will total around 7 million. Wackers Jandira technical centre further offers customers special support the development of new products and applications for the South American market. With over 100 employees, Wacker Brazil generated sales of around 90 million in 2016.

Wacker Brazil is ideally positioned with a high product quality, excellent service and a committed team of experts. In the years ahead, we expect demand in South America to grow for our high-quality speciality chemicals  and see huge potential for our Jandira site, said Tobias Ohler, Wacker executive board member.

With our ongoing expansion, we are well positioned to meet the growing needs of the South American market. As a result, Wacker Brazil can offer its customers even better local support in the development of new products and customized applications, added Auguste Willems, executive board member, Wacker.

 Worldofchemicals News
Wrexham Lager targets American trade opportunities

This article is old - Published: Friday, Sep 1st, 2017

Wrexham Lager will be going stateside this month as it joins a host of Welsh food and drink producers turning their sights to the USA export market in search of new and competitive export trading opportunities.

As part of the Welsh Governments aim to raise Waless business profile on the global stage, it is supporting 15 Welsh food and drink companies on a visit to New York and New Jersey from 17th-20th September.

During the four day visit companies will have the chance to showcase their products to selected buyers, importers and distributors from the retail and food service markets and develop new business through a series of market briefing workshops, store visits and meet the buyer opportunities.

An industry networking event celebrating Welsh Food and Drink is also being organised, in conjunction with the Welsh Governments North America office, entitled A Taste of Wales in New York and will provide further opportunity to showcase food and drink produce from Wales in the North America market.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Wrexham Lagers Mark Roberts said: Having attended three previous trade development visits, I can say that, as a company, it is an invaluable way of getting your products sampled/tasted and meeting the right people in that country.

To hopefully do future business in the export market, even if orders are not forthcoming immediately, chances are they will down the line.

Wrexham Lager will be one of 15 Welsh food and drink producers visiting America. The producers range from meat, cheese, seaweed and laverbread to water and brewing companies.

The USA is apparently Waless largest export market across all sectors worth 2.7 billion to the Welsh economy. It is also one of the largest global markets of dairy, free from products and craft beer producers.

The Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs  and Wrexhams AM  Lesley Griffiths, said: Our countrys reputation for producing high quality food and drink is well known and we recognise the enormous value it brings to our economy.

We have a clear ambition to grow the industry in Wales by 30% to 7 billion by the year 2020 by working in partnership with the industry.

Exports for the sector have grown in the past decade and continue to grow. I am delighted we are supporting this group of producers to go to the USA to explore new markets first hand and develop further connections with international businesses.

John Rodger of US food importer Atalanta Corporation will be meeting with the delegates following his participation in the recent TasteWales event organised by the Welsh Government, which showcased over 800 Welsh food and drink products to buyers from all over the world.

Commenting on the success of TasteWales as well as the impending visit John Rodger said: I experienced a very successful trade visit to Wales earlier this year at the first ever TasteWales event, at which I was able to meet many interesting Welsh food producers and trade officials.

I am looking forward to reciprocating this in September, when we at Atalanta (the USAs largest private food importer) will host a select group representing food and trade from Wales. We already import some very fine Welsh products and this will continue our dialogue with producers that have very good potential.
An estimated 1,200 people have been killed and some 40 million more affected by floods that have swept through India, Bangladesh, and Nepal since mid-July. Millions have fled their homes. Thousands of schools and hospitals have been inundated and closed.

It is an indictment of the corporate and political elite throughout South Asia that despite annual human and social tragedies caused by heavy monsoons and floods, no serious measures have been put in place to protect ordinary people or social infrastructure from devastation.

The victims, largely from impoverished rural and urban populations, received virtually no assistance prior to the inundations, and have been abandoned by authorities since flood-waters hit. The callous response of governments throughout the region underscores their hostility to the welfare and social rights of ordinary people.

Indias financial capital, Mumbai, has suffered its worst flooding since heavy monsoonal rains in 2005. That disaster claimed 500 lives, most of them in makeshift shanty towns.

For the fourth day in a row, Mumbai was virtually paralysed today, with road, rail and air transportation heavily affected. On Tuesday, the city was hit by over 200mm of rain, the largest daily fall in 12 years. The equivalent of eleven days of standard monsoonal rains fell in less than 12 hours.

Yesterday morning, at least 12 people were killed and another 14 injured when a five-story building collapsed in a congested lane in the Bhendi Bazaar area of southern Mumbai, amid torrential rains. Another 25 people are believed to be trapped beneath debris.

A nursery school was located on the buildings ground floor. Infant children who attend the school had not yet arrived, meaning the death toll could have been far higher.

Building collapses are a common occurrence in India during monsoonal rains. Construction companies frequently use sub-standard materials and violate basic safety regulations, often with the active complicity of building authorities.

Commenting on the devastation, one Reuters article noted: Unabated construction on flood plains and coastal areas, as well as storm-water drains and waterways clogged by plastic garbage, has made the city increasingly vulnerable to storms.

According to the United Nations, more than 32 million people have been affected by the floods in India.

Save the Children reported that around 1.8 million throughout the South Asian region cannot go to school, after 18,000 school buildings were either destroyed or damaged by the floods. The charity warned that those children could be deprived of education permanently if it was not prioritized in relief measures. The indifferent attitude of the authorities to the disaster indicates that this is precisely what will happen.

In Indias eastern state of Bihar, 514 people have been killed and 17.1 million affected by flood-waters, according to disaster management officials. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, about 2.5 million have been affected and the official death toll stood at 109 by Tuesday.

At least 140 people have perished in Bangladesh. More than 700,000 homes have been destroyed and vast areas of farm lands ruined, posing the risk of long-term food shortages. In Nepal, 143 people have died and more than 460,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the floods.

It is already clear that virtually nothing was done by governments throughout the region to prepare for the inundation.

The failure of successive Indian governments to implement basic measures to mitigate the impact of annual floods is so blatant that the countrys Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), an official body which audits government spending, felt compelled to issue critical comments last month.

A CAG report presented to the national parliament on July 21 stated: There were huge delays in completion of river management activities and works related to border areas projects which were long-term solutions for the flood problems of Assam, north Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The report, titled Schemes for flood control and flood forecasting, added: Scientific assessment of flood-prone areas had not been completed in any of the 17 States/Union Territories [areas under direct control of central government]. Morphological studies, with a view to achieve better results in building, renovating and maintaining revetments, spurs and embankments to control and mitigate disasters caused by floods, were not completed by any of the 17 States/UTs.

The report revealed that only 349 of 4,862 large dams across the country had emergency action/disaster management plans as of March 2016. It stated that programmes for maintenance of dams were not prepared and adequate funds were not provided to carry out structural/repair work.

It also stated: Only 231 (5 percent) large dams evolved operating procedure/manuals. Out of 17 States/UTs, only two states had fully carried out the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspection of the dams, three states had carried out the inspections partially and remaining 12 states had not carried out these inspections.

The contents of the report are a damning indictment of successive governments, including those that have been led by the Indian National Congress, and the current Hindu supremacist administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Confronted with popular anger, Modi has frequently delivered hollow promises, and established a host of government bodies, that he claims will mitigate natural disasters. One of them, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was established three years ago, and is directly headed by Modi.

The CAG report made clear that the NDMA and similar bodies, however, have been window-dressing to cover-up the barely concealed contempt of the authorities for the plight of ordinary people most heavily-affected by flooding.

This week, Modi made empty assurances, via Twitter, that the national government would assist authorities in the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, with all possible support. Making clear that the victims of the disaster have been all but abandoned by the government, Modi also Tweeted to, Urge the people of Mumbai and surrounding areas to stay safe and take all essential precautions in the wake of the heavy rain.

Aditya Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena, a far-right party aligned with the BJP government, contemptuously told the people of Mumbai: It isnt a panic situation but only step outside your house [if it] is absolutely necessary.
Since its launch on August 14, the World Socialist Web Sites petition against Googles blacklisting of socialist, antiwar and progressive websites from search results has received more than 3,000 signatures, with over a thousand signing in the last ten days.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) have intervened at workplaces, picket lines and campuses across the United States, informing workers and students about Googles censorship of the WSWS.

Many workers and students have expressed outrage at the tech giants move to bury the WSWS in search results leading to a more than two-thirds drop in traffic to the WSWS from Google searches since April.

A Socialist Equality Party campaign team received a warm response this week at a picket of Spectrum workers. Roughly 1,800 Spectrum workers have been on strike for more than five months, over which time the WSWS has established itself as the only news source regularly covering the strike and working conditions facing telecommunication workers.

Many workers said they were hostile to Googles attempt to suppress the WSWS, and a dozen workers signed the petition on the spot.

At the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), 41 students signed the petition in less than an hour. One student said, I think its going to be terrible if people dont know whats happening. In the media, they always try to cover up everything thats really happeninglike in Charlottesville. We have to know the truth in order to stand up against the things that are going onlike racism and white supremacists.

I hate Google, another student added, Im not surprised theyre doing this. Theyre trying to control everything.

Students at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and San Diego State University in California also signed the petition at IYSSE tables on club day.

Many people that signed the petition online expressed support for the WSWS and a socialist response to censorship and the attack on democratic rights.

Sheila stated, I urge everyone to share this widely. Building the counteroffensive against Google, the military and the intelligence agencies efforts to suppress the freedom of speech and thought is necessary for the defense of the truth to be heard! No to political censorship of the WSWS!

I believe in freedom, justice and equality, said Derrick from Ontario, Canada. Banning socialist viewpoints in the media are the actions and crimes committed by dictators of the past.

Googles actions are authoritarian and antidemocratic to the core. They see the Internet as their own personal property and want to control what is said and who says it.

Sophie, from Edinburgh, UK, wrote, The WSWS is the best source for information on American imperialism available online Clearly Google, in collusion with the US government, fears the growing class-consciousness amongst the masses of America and Europe, along with the oppressed nations worldwide already living under the jackboot of US hegemony.

The WSWS is a significant source of information on the international workers movement and the struggle of oppressed people worldwide, Paris from Greece wrote, Down with the censorship!

Adam from Baltimore, Maryland, wrote, Google is now one of the bitterest enemies of working people. Workers must, as with the whole capitalist economy, take over Google and run it for their own interests, rather than the billionaires and millionaires that gorge themselves off of Googles collection and sale of private information.

Peter from Cleveland, Ohio, stated, An algorithm cannot decide what news is accurate and what news is fake. That is a matter of judgment that needs to be left to the people. When companies like Google try to take that role of judgment into their own hands, they undermine democracy, and forfeit all right to popular support.

Mona from India, said, Stop Googles attack on free speech, independent thought, and the basic right to uncensored information.

Free expression is the most fundamental of all rights, wrote Stephen from Chicago, Illinois. Without it, all others are threatened - what tyranny is all about!

The support shown by thousands of workers and students across the US and internationally is an expression of the immense opposition to war, inequality and censorship. We urge all readers of the WSWS to become politically active in this campaign. Sign the petition and share it with friends, coworkers, and on social media.
The number of dead and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey continue to mount in what is already one of the worst disasters in American history.

The confirmed death toll from the region surrounding Houston, Texas remains at 31, but this is expected to rise rapidly as search-and-rescue teams carry out house-to-house searches now that floodwaters are beginning to subside. Meanwhile, now-Tropical Depression Harvey is making its way up through the Southeast, dumping heavy rains on Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

At a White House press conference Thursday, Tom Bossert, President Trumps Homeland Security Advisor, reported that an estimated 100,000 homes have been affected by the storm. AccuWeather, a private weather forecasting company, predicts that total damages from the storm could reach $190 billion, or more than 1 percent of US Gross Domestic Product.

Adding to the danger, two explosions Thursday rocked the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, approximately 20 miles northeast of Houston, sparking a fire and sending noxious black smoke into the air. A 1.5-mile radius around the plant was evacuated, and 21 emergency responders were treated for chemical exposure at a local hospital and discharged.

Company officials had warned earlier in the week that the facility, which produces highly volatile organic peroxides, was primed for an explosion after it was inundated by floodwaters and the refrigeration units necessary to keep the chemicals from exploding lost power. More explosions are expected at the plant, and it is not known how many other such facilities in the region are at risk.

Arkema and many other chemical companies opposed additional safety regulations issued by the Obama administration in the wake of several accidents in Texas, including an explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, in 2013 that killed 15 workers. The Trump administration postponed enforcement of the regulations in June.

Further east, more than 120,000 people in the city of Beaumont, Texas, home to some of the countrys largest oil refineries, were left without access to clean water after the citys main water pump was overwhelmed by flood waters Wednesday night. The citys hospital, Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, was forced to close and transfer patients to other facilities across the region.

In Tyler County, north of Beaumont, the Army Corp of Engineers was forced to open the floodgates of the Angelina-Neches Dam Wednesday, as rising waters threatened to overflow barriers. All residents were told to leave the region immediately.

Anyone who chooses to not heed this directive cannot expect to be rescued and should write their social security numbers in permanent marker on their arm so their bodies can be identified, Tyler County Emergency Management warned on Facebook. The loss of life and property is certain. The post ended with the declaration: GET OUT OR DIE!

Officials at every level of government continue to congratulate themselves on their response to the storm, while the endless media commentary avoids any discussion of those responsible for the disaster. If such a calamity had happened in Russia, China or Iran it would undoubtedly be cited as evidence of government incompetence and the failures of officials and urban planners.

US Vice President Mike Pence, fresh from a trip to West Virginia, where he pushed the Trump administrations plans for a massive tax handout to the rich, visited Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday. Pence echoed the empty pledges of other government officials that Washington will assist in ensuring a full recovery.

At a press conference, Pence repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether the White House would insist on budget cuts to offset any emergency federal fundinga position that Pence took as a congressman in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The vast majority of Houston-area residents who lack flood insurance will be eligible for only $33,000 in loans from the government to cover building costs and hotel stays. (See, "More than 80 percent of homeowners impacted by Harvey lack flood insurance")

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced at a press conference Thursday that President Donald Trump had decided to donate $1 million of his own money to relief efforts, pocket change for the billionaire real estate developer.

Trumps PR stunt will be viewed with contempt by the broader population, who have seen tens of thousands left homeless due to negligence by the government and large corporations, including the developers who paved over Houstons wetlands and prairie lands.

Throughout the week, government officials have promoted volunteerism as the way to confront the flooding that has swept over southeastern Texas. The inept rescue effort by the Coast Guard and other government agencies has been buttressed by the response of thousands of volunteers who have risked their own lives to save people trapped by the floodwater.

The destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey has exposed the reality of social life in the United States, the richest country in the world. Decades of increasing social inequality, official neglect and the decay of social infrastructure have left the fourth-largest city in the country, Houston, completely vulnerable to the hurricane.

The drowning of Houston comes exactly 12 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated nearby New Orleans and the surrounding area, killing more than 1,800 people. It comes seven years after the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed eleven and produced the worst environmental disaster in the history of the country.

Each of these disasters, in different ways, was the product of criminal negligence on the part of the American financial oligarchy. Trillions of dollars have been made available to bail out Wall Street and finance US military operations abroad, yet nothing has been done to prepare for entirely predictable extreme weather events like Harvey and Katrina. In the case of the BP oil spill, corporate cost cutting and deregulation left the entire region to the mercy of the profit drive of a giant oil company.
Late Wednesday evening in San Antonio Texas, Chief US District Judge Orlando Garcia temporarily blocked key provisions in Senate Bill 4 (SB4), an anti-immigrant bill designed to crack down on so-called "sanctuary cities" in Texas, days before it was set to go into effect on September 1.

The law, nicknamed the show me your papers measure, will have devastating consequences for the immigrant community in Texas if the temporary block is overturned. Some of the aspects of SB4 that have been put on hold include:

* Forcing local jails to honor federal agents requests, known as detainers, to hold immigrants past points at which they would normally be released, so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could pick them up for federal detention.

* Prohibiting any local official from endorsing, or appearing to endorse, any policy that would materially limit immigration enforcement (including, possibly, standing on stage with advocacy groups that were advocating for such limits).

* Requiring local police to allow their officers to cooperate with federal agents whenever possible, including enforcement assistance of federal immigration law.

Allowed to take effect, however, was one of the most controversial provisions of the bill that would give local law enforcement the authority to demand proof of a persons immigration status during routine interactions, such as a traffic stop.

Amy Fischer, policy director at RAICES, a nonprofit immigration advocacy group based in Texas, told the WSWS, If implemented, this bill will codify the relationship between local law enforcement officials and ICE. It would result in rampant racial profiling, and fast-track deportation for immigrants across the state.

Under the bill, local authorities would not be permitted to adopt policies that would at all hinder reporting to federal authorities any individual suspected of being in the country illegally. Additionally, the new law targets those who sought to aid the immigrant community: local law enforcement officials could be fined and removed from office if they did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Government entities would be fined $25,500 for every day the law was violated.

Immediately after the announcement of Judge Garcias temporary hold on key provisions of SB4, Governor Greg Abbott promised to appeal the ruling, while Attorney General Ken Paxton also vowed to continue fighting for the laws complete enforcement. Writing in a public statement posted to his web site, Paxton said, Senate Bill 4 was passed by the Texas legislature to set a statewide policy of cooperation with federal immigration authorities enforcing our nations immigration laws. Texas has the sovereign authority and responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of its citizens. Were confident SB4 will ultimately be upheld as constitutional and lawful.

The bill is, in fact, wildly antidemocratic and anti-immigrant. It represents the culmination of the tactics of the ruling class used to target immigrants and the working class more broadly over the past four decades; the systematic destruction of basic democratic rights, massive government surveillance, and increased military might.

The integration of local and federal law enforcement efforts in the attack on immigrants, one major component of SB4, is not an original initiative of Texas lawmakers. This effort was largely spearheaded by former President Obama under the Secure Communities program, which carried out a similar campaign through the use of electronic biometrics such as fingerprint scans. Under this program, information on any individual suspected of being undocumented is collected from state, local and tribal law enforcement officers and then sent to the FBI. The FBI transmits the data to ICE.

The debate over SB4 comes while Houstons immigrant community of an estimated 500,000 undocumented people struggles to recover from Hurricane Harvey, which has left the city devastated. The utter indifference of the ruling class toward not only immigrants but working people more generally has been on full display in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Just prior to the storm making landfall, ICE issued a statement putting immigrants on notice that immigration checkpoints would remain open despite the approach of the deadly storm.

Fischer of RAICES told the WSWS, Stopping SB4 does not mean our communities are safe. Prior to SB4 we saw students with DACA status targeted by ICE ... just this week as Hurricane Harvey was hitting, Texas families were forced to make the decision between seeking shelter from the storm or facing the possibility of detention and deportation, which is a decision no one should have to make. All of this happened prior to the implementation of SB4.

Underlying the debate over SB4 is the more fundamental battle between the anti-immigrant war being aggressively pursued by the political establishment and the overwhelming pro-immigrant sentiment of the masses of the population. Not surprisingly, SB4 is fully supported by the Trump administration. The Department of Justice submitted a brief in favor of SB4 when the bill was initially passed.

The struggle to implement SB4 is happening amidst further plans by the Trump administration to escalate the war against immigrants in the form of ending the executive order known as DACA, which offers limited rights to work and study for undocumented immigrants brought here as children. Trump is expected to make a decision on the fate of the program by September 5.

The opposition being waged by elements within the Democratic Party political establishment to SB4, backed by city officials who posture as immigrant rights advocates by supporting sanctuary cities, is largely a political stunt. Whether it be for reelection, or economic considerations for their city, their opposition has nothing to do with the deep-felt sentiments of the masses. When in power the Democratic Party has carried out some of the most draconian immigration policy in history, with its main representative former President Barack Obama earning the nickname deporter-in-chief.
The crisis for tens of thousands of people in the region around Houston, Texas is only just beginning, as the vast majority lack flood insurance to cover the damage to their homes.

Only 16 percent of households in the 18 Texas counties that have been declared a disaster area have flood insurance, according to the Pew Charitable Trust. Between 80 and 85 percent of homes in Houston do not have flood insurance.

Despite rapid development and expansion in recent years, Harris County, where Houston is located, has 25,000 fewer properties covered by flood insurance than in 2012.

Many workers could no longer afford flood insurance on top of all their other bills when Congress approved premium increases in 2012, contributing to the decline in the number of homeowners paying for flood insurance.

On top of this, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps that are used to determine who is eligible for insurance are out of date. Areas throughout Houston and elsewhere in the US that are not marked as high-risk for flooding have been subjected to regular flooding in recent years.

A lot of the Houston area is not an identified flood area by FEMA, Larry Larson, a senior policy advisor at the Association of State Floodplain Managers told the Houston Chronicle. But they got hammered anyway.

Due to the risks and uncertainty involved, flood insurance in the US is only available to millions through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The average annual cost of flood insurance in Texas can rise to as much as $2,000 in designated floodplains.

Those lucky enough to have flood insurance are guaranteed up to $250,000 to cover rebuilding costs and $100,000 to replace personal possessions. For many this will not be enough to cover the full cost of their losses.

Those without flood insurance whose homes have been made uninhabitable by flooding can apply for a $33,300 loan to cover rebuilding costs and hotel stays. Low interest loans are also available through the Small Business Administration.

However, homeowners must fight the government tooth and nail to get even this small amount. FEMA has to believe your house is damaged so substantially that theres no area in your house you can live in, in order to get a grant, Saundra Brown, a Houston area attorney, told the Washington Post.

The National Flood Insurance Program has been pushed to its limit after repeated disasters in the last 12 years. After paying out claims for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the NFIP is $25 billion in debt. It is only authorized to borrow $30 billion.

Additional borrowing to fund the program will require approval from Congress. The NFIPs charter is set to lapse on September 30 without Congressional reauthorization. Failure to reauthorize the program would cause delays in the payment of claims for Harvey and end the issuance of flood insurance nationwide.
Robert Bea is a retired civil engineer and professor emeritus at the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California at Berkeley. He has had a long career in the fields of flood control and risk assessment and management, beginning in 1954 when he joined in the Army Corps of Engineers.

He was appointed chief offshore civil engineer at Shell Oil in 1965 and stationed in New Orleans. Four years later he was moved by Shell to Houston. After helping to develop the international consulting engineering contractor that became PMB-Bechtel, he joined the faculty at UC Berkeley. There he worked on the analysis of major failures and disasters involving engineered systems, such as the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, the NASA Columbia Shuttle explosion, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the PG&E San Bruno pipeline explosion, and, most recently, the 2017 failures at the Oroville and Anderson dams in California.

Professor Bea spoke with the World Socialist Web Site on Wednesday from his home in California.

Robert Bea: The upset at the Oroville Dam and Anderson Dam in California this past winter is connected to Hurricane Harvey in Houston. In California, were coming out of a very dramatic five-year drought. So this year we were blessed with a lot of fresh water, but the systems we had in place to help us benefit from this crucial resource were not prepared.

Worse yet, no one really understood the system as a system. It was a collection of disjointed pieces and parts. Well, thats just what weve seen unfold in Houston, Texas. The storm is much more intense than was expectedthats to be expected, actually. Global climate change is not a debate. The climates been changing since there was a climate to change.

The system in Houston for flood protectionits really not flood protection at all. It isnt a system. Its a bunch of disjointed pieces and parts.

Barry Grey: When you say its not really a flood control system, could you elaborate on what you mean by that?

RB: Sure. The Corps of Engineers built nice piles of dirt we call the Barker and Addicks dams. We used to live a few miles from those dams. Our home was located in Memorial Estates, next to a wonderful area called Buffalo Bayou. As our sons grew up, it changed from a bayou to a swamp. The spillway for the Barker and Addicks dams turned into a clogged sewer pipe.

Surrounding it, the open country we saw when we first got there turned into strip malls and highways and research facilities and refineries. So the environment changed. There was no system to confront that set of environmental changes.

At the end of that picture, you open up the newspaper to see the news and say, Oh, my God! Weve got flooding in Houston. It looks like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It looks like it because its about the same damn thing.

BG: You know that just the other day the administrator of FEMA made a statement saying theres no way we could have anticipated this.

RB: Thats total bullshit! Im normally not that blunt. Absolutely total bullshit! You couldnt anticipate it because you werent looking for it. To anticipate something you have to be looking carefully at it, analyzing what you see and what you detect. Whos looking carefully and analyzing carefully how in the hell water gets from north of Houston to south of Houston? Nobody.

Some of the pictures of levees that were breaking and will continue to break are just like the levees I found in New Orleans after Katrina. You had trees growing on them or around them. Trees undermine levees, so levee breaks should be no surprise.

BG: There have been numerous studies, reports, recommendations by the American Society of Civil Engineers and others, certainly since Katrina. What has been the response from the political establishment to those reports?

RB: None. Im a lifetime member of the ASCE. We have carried that story here in California to our political representatives, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and others. Its unusual to find engineers doing this. I only did it at the end of my career.

We carried the story to them. They are intelligent people. They received us very politely. They had some great questions, particularly from their chiefs of staff. And after the doors closed, theres been total radio silence.

BG: In your view, is this a question of negligence, indifference?

RB: Yes. First, on negligence. After a long career trail carried me to Berkeley, we researched whats known as a legal standard of care. Theres a legal definition for it. It has five specific elements that have to be satisfied so that you can avoid a lack of the appropriate, legal standard of carethat is, what is called negligence.

I have applied those five critical characteristics toward what I have watched and personally experienced in Houston, Texas, and also here this year in California at Oroville Dam and Anderson Dam. Also, the Coyote Creek flooding in San Jose. Yes, this is a tragedy of neglect.

BG: The general line of government officials is that nothing could have been done. What could have been done?

RB: An excellent question. Recognizing a problem is only the first step. I have networked with 26 different countries around the world. In my field development work, I was able to bring colleagues, experienced old people like me, from countries like the Netherlands here to the United States.

The Netherlands particularly is of interest to me because that is really a low-lying country. Yet the Dutch have quit sticking their fingers in the dyke and have learned to protect themselves from a vital resource called water. They have done some marvelous things to manage water risks, largely after the catastrophic flooding of 1956 that affected 80 percent of their country and damn near wiped the Netherlands off of the global map.

They even have an overarching governmental organization, a water risk management commission, that spans the entire country. Theyve applied very advanced risk management technology and theyve bonded with some other advanced countries to implement that technology, so today the country is controlling water.

They had to do it over a long period of time. They had to learn, as they put it, to give water room. Water needs to be treated with respect. It has to flow from one spot to another. Youve got to give it an open watercourse.

You cant have a plugged-up pipe like Buffalo Bayou, filled with swamp material and trees, trying to let water out of the Addicks Dam to get to the Gulf of Mexico. It has to be a coherent, respectful system. Yes, it costs money, but it costs far less than the destruction of the country of the Netherlands.

So they learned that lesson, and they make smaller, annual incremental investments, and boy are they stingy with their money! They make sure that the right money reaches the right places. And its not a political money distribution process. They want it to be distributed according to the mitigation of the risk they are facing. Notice how different that story is than what goes on here in our blessed United States.

BG: What does go on in the blessed United States? What are the priorities here?

RB: Because of the blessings in the United States, particularly monetary blessings, we have the approach of watching things fail and then calling it a natural disaster. Its an approach that places our infrastructure at risk.

BG: But those monetary blessings increasingly are unequally distributed.

RB: Yes, thats right. That is exactly right.

BG: One of the things both Katrina and Harvey have revealed is the tremendous levels of poverty that exist.

RB: Yes. In New Orleans, my family got flooded out there in 1965, Hurricane Betsy. Our first home was in New Orleans east. Why did we buy a house in New Orleans east? Well, elevation minus 20 feet in reference to sea level. It was cheap. Of course, when the levees first broke there in 1965, that was the first area to get flooded.

We got wiped out, but I had a pretty damn good job working for Shell Oil Company at that time, so we could recover quickly. We sure had some neighbors who couldnt. They didnt have as good jobs. They didnt have parents who were on high ground who could help support their recovery. By the way, there was no FEMA in those days, thank God. There wasnt any 100-year flood insurance either in those days. But we recovered because we had the support.

But the poor populations that dont have that support are truly screwed. Look at what happened after Katrina in the Houston Astrodome. It was filled with evacuees from New Orleans. Well, today we have the Houston convention center filled with evacuees again, this time from Houston. And many of the people who are there are people who dont have all these blessings. So there is a disproportional effect on what we call the disadvantaged communities.

BG: On the other hand, there are people who are making money. If there had not been this massive and rapid development 

RB: Fueled by oil and gas. See, thats what brought us to Houston. I was employed by Shell. I was chief offshore engineer for Shell. I worked in downtown Houston. Next door we had Exxon, further down the street, Mobil. Later there were some guys from Sohio, British Petroleum, now known as BP. It is an oil and gas center. That was what was fueling that paving I was talking about that surrounded us in Houston.

BG: Why are they so interested in paving everything over and expanding and building and developing and destroying wetlands and prairie lands? Whats in it for them?

RB: Well, the first answer Ill give, its honest, not filtering the words. It comes from very extensive experience with the oil and gas industry internationally. I grew to call it the rape, pillage and plunder industry. Those are pretty severe negative words, but I came to understand that its very much like a mountain lion.

Mountain lions are actually very interesting beasts. Theyre very efficient and effective at what they do. But if youre prey and you turn your back on this lovable creature, it can eat you alive.

Well, the industry is a group of people charged with doing one thing, and thats to produce oil and gas resources. And theyve got to do that with acceptable profitability, so this very severe negative thing I said about rape, pillage and plunder is actually the natural outcome of a very powerful commercial industry. Its the largest and most powerful commercial and industrial enterprise in the history of this earth, including the military enterprise.

BG: If Houston had not expanded as it did and paved over these natural lands, how much of a difference do you think that alone would have made in terms of the impact of the hurricane?

RB: Look at Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is probably getting rainfall from Harvey right now. It has refineries, etc., but it has merged in a much more respectful way with the environment that preceded it. I can already tell youI know its dangerous to predict these kinds of thingsbut theres not going to be nearly the disaster there as the one that has hit Houston.

BG: Because of the fact that they havent destroyed all of these natural absorbing lands?

RB: Bingo! Unfortunately, its not largely been the product of a plan. Its actually been a product of a series of circumstances that didnt allow it to become a paved strip mall.

BG: Aside from not having all this unchecked development, what else could and should have been done to minimize the impact of a hurricane or a major storm? What other things could have been done in the Houston area?

RB: Bring over a whole bunch of smart, experienced people from the Netherlands and say, OK, we want to develop this area so that it can look like Rotterdam. Thats a very vital port. Its got manufacturing, petroleum refining facilities, all sorts of things that provide goods and services to and from the Netherlands.

Bring them over and say, OK, Dutch guys, were not going to stick fingers in our dykes anymore. We dont have a lot of money, so were going to have to spend money cautiously, stingily if you will, carefully. And we want to manage water with respect. Were going first to develop a coherent, integrated system, and that system has to include the environment. And that environment has to include people, their welfare, which has to be provided for.

Lets start thinking long-term, not short-term. Here in the United States, we like to fix it fast and go back to our enjoyable lives. Sorry, but you cant work problems like this short-term. So its got to be a long-term vision that says, OK, this can be done correctly. Weve learned how to do it correctly in other parts of the world. Lets take the best of that knowledge, lets manage our resources very carefullyyou might call it being stingyusing the best of the knowledge about how to do this and lets go to work. And understand that the process can never stop.

Thats a real change in thinking, and we havent shown signs of that change in thinking here in our blessed United States.

BG: You raised the question of money. The Financial Times today has an article about what has happened to the 10 richest billionaires in the world since the Wall Street crash of 2008. Bill Gates, who was number one then, is still number one, except that hes gone from $60 billion to almost $100 billion. All of them, its the same.

RB: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

BG: Theres trillions of dollars stashed away in bank accounts and stock portfolios, but theres no money to protect people from floods.

RB: Bingo! I developed for my graduate students at Berkeley a simple equation for these disasters. It was A+B = C. Its like two plus three equals five. A I call natural hazards. It could be lots of rainfall, incredible amounts of rainfall as with Hurricane Harvey.

Btheres an interesting list there. It includes hubris, arrogance, greed, complacency, corruption, incompetence, indolence, ignorance.

C is a disaster, sooner or later.

Well, youve got your finger on the B, buddy. Whats driving these things nutty is the B things. Youre learning why engineers are mostly engineers, because they dont like B.

BG: The WSWS has an editorial today on the question of planning. We counterpose what we call the anarchy of the capitalist market with the need for planning. We believe that whats happening in Houston is a tragic example of the result of no planning, and instead, anarchy driven by personal greed.

RB: Its not driven solely by greed. There are other ingredientsarrogance, hubris. I find it really difficult to watch television any more, particularly news, when I watch our president talking. And I watch with great apprehension when he makes a trip to Corpus Christi or Austin, Texas. Im worried about those B factors, and Ive seen them reinforced.

BG: Has this problem, in your view, gotten worse over the years, better, or stayed the same?

RB: Its getting worse. Houston is a good example. Were continuing to commercialize, industrialize, populize the United States. And were putting this new stuff on top of the old stuff. Well, if the foundation is crumbling, it cant take anymore, and you pile more on top of it, its going to get worse.

BG: What do you think should be done? What do you think the answer is?

RB: Personally, weve moved to higher ground. Weve moved from minus 20 feet when we lived in New Orleans to plus 652 in California. Weve taken the measures we can to protect ourselves.

And then, Ive taken my retirement time and said, I guess I better try to tell my story, even if its got to be a simple equation like A+B=C.

The major point is to please keep doing what youre doinggetting the word out to the public, so that the people, particularly here in the United States, who are victims of this corruption and incompetence, can start to see how it can be corrected.

If you can keep that work up, Ill bless you forever.
Two dead, 42 injured and 2,600 homelessthis is the terrible result of the recent earthquake on August 21 on the Italian island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples. The quake occurred almost exactly one year after the disastrous earthquake in Abruzzo, which claimed the lives of 299 people on August 24 last year.

Compared to this, the earthquake that shook Ischia last Monday just before 9 p.m. was relatively weak. Registering 4 on the Richter scale, it should not have caused buildings to collapse and whole communities to lose their homes.

It is not normal for a magnitude 4 earthquake to bring down houses and lead to the evacuation of hospitals, commented Egidio Grasso, head of the Regional Geological Association. Francesco Peduto, president of the National Geologic Council, said it was alarming that people died from a tremor of this strength. Had more time and resources been put into prevention, Peduto said, it would not have come close to such consequences.

The journal Spectrum of Science writes: The fact the shock was only around magnitude 4, about one thousandth of the energy of the devastating quake at Amatrice in August 2016, is a bit bewildering. One of the richest countries in the world cannot manage to protect itself against a truly harmless natural event.

What the comments do not mention is that there are earthquake-proof buildings in the affected region. However, they have only been built where the rich and beautiful live and go on holiday, or where wealthy property owners have the say. The grand hotels and tourist resorts by the sea, famous for their luxury and quality, experienced virtually no damage on Monday. These hotels, in which German Chancellor Angela Merkel spends her holidays, have undoubtedly been built to be earthquake resistant.

This proves that the destruction was not the product of a natural catastrophe but of the class nature of capitalist society.

Those who are not so rich must live with the ignorance and corruption of the building authorities and the Mafia structures in the construction industry. According to research carried out by the Legambiente environmental association, the Campania region, which contains the Naples area, is especially riven by corruption in the building industry. The consequences are now appearing again in the residential areas on Ischia in which working class families live. Numerous houses collapsed there, with schools and public buildings being turned into ruins in a matter of seconds.

The places most affected are Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno in the north of the island. These should be the best protected in the whole of Italy because they are situated in the Flegrean islands, a region of high volcanic activity near Mount Vesuvius. Over 130 years ago, in Casamicciola, the 1883 earthquake caused the complete destruction of the village and killed more than 2,000 people. The danger of earthquakes is well known here.

This is why a large school complex had been fundamentally redesigned in recent years by the Special Fund for Earthquake-Resistant Construction. The school was inaugurated in September 2016, and was considered earthquake-proof ever since. With the first weak quake on Monday, the building was again badly affected. Significant damage to the building structure has been established. The walls have moved several centimetres from the foundation, cornices and gables have crumbled, the concrete lintel over the entrance gate is cracked, and inside, everything is covered in plaster and glass shards. Starting school after the summer holidays is now unthinkable.

The school is just one example of many. In the same place, the town hall and an observatory were only recently renovated from the earthquake fund. Both buildings had to be evacuated, and since then entry to both has been forbidden. During the earthquake, the electricity supply failed for wide sections of the population. The hospital was also affected and had to be temporarily evacuated.

This was also very similar in Amatrice last year, where a recently renovated school and a hospital collapsed. A church tower, which had also been renovated by the earthquake fund, collapsed and buried a family of four in the ruins. In Amatrice, the investigating attorney concluded that corruption and the almost unbelievable indifference of the authorities dominated large parts of the construction industry, so that many buildings were built with more sand than cement. This has obviously not changed to this day.

More than 21 million people live in earthquake-stricken regions in Italy. They are sitting on a time bomb that can go off at any moment. However, governments of all parties have failed to implement effective safeguards. From Silvio Berlusconi, Mario Monti, Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi to Paolo Gentiloni, every government has concentrated for years on the interests of the ruling class. In the name of the corporations and the Italian and European banks, they have implemented austerity measures and social attacks. In agreement with the EU, they had closed the borders to immigrants and provided the army and the police in the Mediterranean and the interior of the country with new powers and weapons.

For working people in the earthquake regions, they have at most a few fine-sounding words. The government stands on the side of those affected! declared incumbent premier Gentiloni on Tuesday after the quake. His predecessor, Matteo Renzi, had said the same a year ago in Amatrice. At the time, Renzi had promised everything would be rebuilt quickly according to new, earthquake-proof guidelines.

The result of these promises could be seen on Thursday, August 24, the anniversary of the earthquake disaster in Abruzzo. While in Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata and Pescara del Tronto the communities were thinking of the victims, their mourning was mixed with anger: after a year, not even the debris of the previous quake has been removed, let alone buildings rebuilt. One year after Renzis promises, thousands still live in shipping containers, caravans, hotels, or with relatives far from home. Of nearly 4,000 prefabricated houses needed for those currently homeless, only 456 have been erected.
Frances Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud yesterday unveiled President Emmanuel Macrons decrees aimed at tearing up the countrys Labour Code. A year after the Socialist Party (PS) government imposed its labour law, trampling the opposition of the vast majority of the French people, Macron is unilaterally reinstating into law all the most unpopular measures the PS decided to withdraw in the face of mass protests.

The decreesnegotiated by Macrons government, business federations, and the trade unionsare provoking broad opposition among workers. Over two-thirds of French people (68 percent) think their boss will exploit the decrees, using the greater freedom to negotiate contracts at the level of individual firms to reduce their wages and benefits, according to an Opinion Way poll. Four in five say they expect social protests against Macrons decrees.

The ruling elite in France and internationally fear popular opposition to the decrees, but they consider it a critical step in the destruction of social rights won by workers over generations of struggle in the twentieth century. They hope to impose what the ruling class forced though in Germany with the Social Democrats Hartz laws, or the European Union (EU) austerity measures in Greece since the 2008 global crisis. As French capitals competitiveness collapses and the EU plans a broad militarisation of its foreign policy, the ruling class is heading for a confrontation with the working class.

Germanys Die Welt cited Jerome Fourquet of the Ifop polling institute: There is a definite sense that we are on the eve of a major struggle. The German daily added, No one knows who will win. Only one thing is certain: the coming weeks of September will be a moment of truth. Macron, who began as a candidate who stood no chance at all, then realised the exploit of winning a presidential campaign that was completely unpredictable from start to finish, now has a historic chance. He will not have a second one.

The New York Daily News wrote that for Macron, the decrees are  the first big test of his plans to reform the euro zones second-biggest economy. For decades governments of the left and right have tried to reform Frances strict labour rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests.

Edouard Philippe echoed this position, declaring that the key question involved in the decrees was making up for lost years, years of rendez-vous that we missed, maybe that were badly negotiated or badly explained, or poorly understood, but always pushed back or diluted.

The methods Macron is using to impose his decrees testify to the deep-going crisis of democracy in France under the diktat of the financial aristocracy. The National Assembly, dominated by Macron supporters who emerged from legislative elections in which only a minority of the French population participated, voted an enabling act allowing Macron to impose his decrees without even the formality of a parliamentary vote.

The decrees facilitate mass sackings by limiting the constraints on businesses. They impose upper limits on fines labour courts can impose for unfair dismissal, and the maximum delay for launching a case in the labour courts is being cut from 24 to 12 months. To estimate the financial difficulties of a company that intends to announce mass sackings, now its financial health within France alone will be taken into account. Thus, complex financial transactions to organise bankruptcies or blacken the balance sheets of French subsidiaries will facilitate sackings.

The decrees also allow businesses to spread precarious working conditions and defy the terms of the Labour Code and industry-level contracts. Individual bosses will be able to negotiate firm-level contracts that violate industry contracts and the Labour Code, which are thus emptied of their substance. Industry-level contracts can, however, regulate the adoption of temp contracts, and in particular promote the use of the so-called project contract, a precarious contract Macron created.

As he presents these reforms, Macron is counting on the transformation, which is already largely completed, of the union bureaucracies into corporatist machines totally loyal to big business, as well as the collaboration of the PS and petty bourgeois left forces like Jean-Luc Melenchon and the New Anti-capitalist Party.

The decrees reinforce the integration of the unions into management, by merging different forms of workforce representation. The four bodies will be transformed into twoon the one side, trade union delegates, and on the other workers delegates, the works committee, and the committee for hygiene, security and working conditions.

A worker who is unionised or wants to become so will be able to receive more training on this subject, and the state will create an organisation to monitor collective bargaining, on the German model, in an effort to buy total loyalty from local union officials. These organisations are indeed slated to play a key role in the imposition of firm-level contracts and accords to limit the bonus for overtime work from 25 to 10 percent of wages.

The massive sums to be obtained by thus increasing the exploitation of the workers would serve to fatten the profits of the billionaires who dominate Europe and to finance defence spending to militarise the European continent. Macron published his decrees only two days after speaking to a conference of French ambassadors. There, he presented plans for an aggressive and militaristic world strategy to assert French interests amid rising conflicts between the major powers, including in Europe.

At the conference, Macron declared, We had forgotten that the last 70 years of peace on the European continent were an aberration in our collective history.  The threat is at our gates, and war is on our continent. He called for making the French army one of the best in the world.

Macron is manifestly counting on the draconian police powers under the French state of emergency and on the complicity of the trade union bureaucracies to impose his decrees despite mass opposition. The national union confederations, which negotiated these measures at length with Macron, have no intention of carrying out a serious struggle against him.

Laurent Berger of the French Democratic Labour Confederation said he is disappointed, but his union, like Workers Force, will not even organise symbolic protests. The General Confederation of Labour, which also joined the talks with Macron, hypocritically declared that All the fears we had have been confirmed, and the supplementary fear is evident and in writing: this is the end of the labour contract. The Stalinist union is calling for protests on September 12.

The Parti de legalite socialiste (Socialist Equality Party) stresses that workers cannot rely on symbolic protests organised by the trade unions on a narrow, nationalist perspective. The natural allies of French workers in struggle against anti-social decrees, militarism and police repression under the state of emergency are the European and international working class. That is the objective social force upon which a revolutionary and truly socialist struggle against the militaristic and austerity policies of the EU can be based.
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen OBrien told the UN Security Council Wednesday that 27 people are being killed each day by the US-led siege of Raqqa. The Syrian city, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has been subjected to unrelenting US airstrikes and artillery bombardment for nearly three months, turning much of it into rubble.

Some 270,000 people have been driven out of the city, turned into homeless refugees, while an estimated 25,000 civilians remain trapped under the American firestorm. They are without food, access to clean water, electricity or medical care. Reports have come out of Raqqa that its residents have been reduced to eating grass and leaves to stave off starvation.

The UNs chief adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, issued a separate statement condemning the horrendous situation faced by civilians caught up in the offensive to retake the city from ISIS, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein charged that civilianswho should be protected at all timesare paying an unacceptable price.

In other words, a war crime of monstrous dimensions is unfolding in plain sight, while its perpetrator, US imperialism, enjoys complete impunity.

On its Twitter account, the local monitoring group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, posts photographs daily of babies, children, men, women, the elderly and entire families perishing under the US bombs, missiles and shells, along with the utter devastation of the citys residential neighborhoods.

The siege of Raqqa follows close on the heels of the even larger scale war crime consummated this summer in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, once the countrys second largest, where the death toll from nine months of bombing and shelling by the US and its Iraqi government allies has been estimated as high as 40,000.

All of this carnage is virtually blacked out of the US media, which only last year was engagedin close coordination with the US governmentin a full-throated campaign of feigned moral outrage over the Russian-backed offensive by the Syrian government to retake eastern Aleppo from Al Qaeda-linked and US-armed Islamist rebels.

Then the charge of war crimes was repeated incessantly; now there is only silence. Nothing could provide a more devastating exposure of the hypocrisy of human rights imperialism, the stock in trade of the Democratic Party, the so-called liberal press and the various pseudo-left groups that orbit around them, chiding Washington for failing to intervene more aggressively on the supposed behalf of the Syrian people.

Behind the lies and hypocrisy about human rights and terrorism, driving the current US interventions in both Iraq and Syrialike the continuous wars waged by US imperialism in the region over the past quarter centuryis the attempt by Washington to assert its hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East at the expense of its regional and global rivals and thereby reverse the declining global position of American capitalism by means of military force.

The mass killing in Raqqa is part of an arc of US slaughter, stretching from the Horn of Africa through the Middle East and into South Asia, from Somalia to Afghanistan. US bombings, drone missile attacks and special operations kill missions are daily claiming the lives of innocent and impoverished civilians.

Everywhere, the US military is escalating its operations and changing its rules of engagement to pursue what US Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis described earlier this year as annihilation tactics.

On Thursday, Mattis announced that the Pentagon has begun a major military escalation in Afghanistan, committing what are reportedly another 4,000 American troops to the nearly 16-year-old US war.

The announcement of the escalation came immediately on the heels of the Pentagons admission that it had low-balled the number of troops already in Afghanistan, concealing the real scale of US operations from the American people. Instead of the official tally of 8,448 American troops, there are really 11,000 there today. Whether this includes all the so-called temporary deployments of troops rotated in and out is not clear. After the latest escalation, there will be at least 15,000 on the ground in Afghanistan.

While the Pentagon had said that its troops deployed in Iraq numbered 5,000, and in Syria, 500, it now acknowledges that both figures were also deliberate underestimates, with thousands more actually on the ground there as well. The US media slavishly echoed Pentagon figures that it knew to be false.

The Afghanistan escalation will spell a further increase in civilian casualties, which are already spiraling as a result of US operations. The United Nations mission to Afghanistan recorded a 43 percent increase in civilian deaths resulting from US airstrikes during the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period last year.

In three separate strikes beginning on Monday, at least 40 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed by US bombs dropped on Herat and Logar provinces.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has launched a major escalation of a bloody decades-long intervention in the strategically located but impoverished nation of Somalia, on the Horn of Africa, carrying out a campaign of drone strikes and special operations kill missions. Last Friday, US special forces troops operating with regime elements raided the village of Barire in the early morning hours, capturing 10 civilians and summarily executing them one by one. Outraged villagers brought the bodies, which included women and children, to the capital of Mogadishu to protest the massacre.

And in Yemen, the Trump administration has stepped up the indispensable arms and logistical support that Washington was already providing under Obama to a Saudi-led war that has assumed near-genocidal proportions. Saudi bombing raids have killed more than 12,000 civilians since the onset of the war in 2015, with the US supplying the bombs and missiles, including cluster munitions, banned under international law.

The latest US-Saudi atrocity occurred on Wednesday when bombs struck an oil tanker and gasoline station, igniting a fire that killed 13 people, all of them burned alive. Last week, an airstrike hit a hotel and three-story apartment building killing some 60 people.

The massive destruction of infrastructure and the blockading of Yemens ports and airspace have brought the countrys 22 million people to the brink of starvation while creating the conditions for the worst cholera epidemic in world history. Fully half a million Yemenis are infected, half of them children. The death toll from the disease has already reached 2,000 and is rapidly rising.

These war crimes are carried out behind the backs of the American people. The multiple and escalating interventionsvirtually unreported by the mediaare waged without a semblance of Congressional authorization or debate. Both Democrats and Republicans provide unstinting support to American militarism, an essential instrument for furthering the global looting operations of the ruling financial oligarchy.

Massive resources are lavished on the US war machine, while essential public services and social infrastructure are gutted, leaving millions unprotected from and devastated by increasingly frequent catastrophes like Hurricane Harvey.
Just days ahead of the televised debate between Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz and Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democrats, CDU), the SPD is trying to portray itself as a party committed to disarmament and peace.

During his trip to Washington, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel gave his backing to Schulzs call for the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from Germany. I am certainly convinced that it is important for us to once again speak about arms controls and disarmament, the Social Democrat told the German news agency DPA. The issue concerned Europe and Germany in particular, he said, adding, In that context, I found the statement by Martin Schulz that we have to focus on finally getting rid of nuclear weapons from our country to be correct.

Estimates suggest that some 20 US nuclear weapons are stored at the German armys (Bundeswehr) airfield in Buchel. Last week at an election meeting in Trier, Schulz called for the weapons to be withdrawn. As Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, I will advocate  for the withdrawal of nuclear weapons stored in Germany, he declared.

SPD election strategists, who are desperately trying to turn around Schulzs low poll ratings, have apparently been studying current opinion polls. According to a recent poll by research company Civey, 63.5 percent of Germans want the government to call for the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons stored in Germany. Almost half, 47.1 percent, think the government should definitely call for this. Less than one in three Germans (29 percent) are of the opposing view.

Nobody should be deceived by the pacifist phrases in the media statements by SPD politicians. The vast majority of the population favours the withdrawal of American nuclear weapons because they oppose militarism and war. However, Gabriel and Schulz are not concerned about peace and disarmament, but rather want to transform the widespread opposition to US imperialist wars into support for German militarism.

An interview Schulz gave to the Bundeswehr Association published on August 28 leaves no doubt about this. Schulz began by reassuring his interviewer that he would not subordinate himself to rearmament policies a la Donald Trump. He then portrayed himself as the best candidate to uphold the interests of the soldiers and the SPD as the leading party of German militarism.

We want a well-equipped Bundeswehr that is up to the growing challenges of the future. We owe that to our soldiers. To meet the rising demands of international interventions, cyber-deterrence and defence, we need a modern armed forces capable of action, stated Schulz.

The Social Democratic candidate repeatedly called for a major military build-up and an expansion of the army. We need a Bundeswehr in which the best minds make decisions and with troops prepared for crisis situations ready to deploy, he said. For this purpose, we have to better equip the Bundeswehr with personnel and materially. It was clear that the Bundeswehr will need billions in additional funds.

In response to the question What value does defence policy have in your partys election campaign, Schulz answered, A high one! I visited the Bundeswehrs Joint Operations Command already in May in Geltow. I was able to get a precise picture of the current status of the Bundeswehr, beyond the discussions I regularly have with the chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, Lieutenant Colonel Wustner, and many others. This dialogue was very important for him. It also creates trust. All politicians should talk more with the soldiers instead of talking about the soldiers, he said.

The soldiers had to be able to trust that the best possible equipment will be made available to them and that conditions of service will be adapted to todays standards. This included more equipment and flying hours. And the urgently required securing of new recruits can only be improved if the conditions of service are changed.

Asked about his goals for the coming legislative period, Schulz mentioned the establishment of an independent European foreign and defence policy and the building of a European army. The SPD wants to press ahead with the European security and defence policy together with our partners in Europe. Already the permanent cooperation proposed in the Lisbon Treaty makes possible concrete measures for closer cooperation and division of labour on the path to a defence union and onwards to the long-term goal of a European army.

Schulz, with whom the Left Party and sections of the Greens want to form a coalition, constantly attacked the CDU/Christian Social Union (CSU) from the right. With the SPD, there would have been no boosting of personal profiles and career planning at the expense of the Bundeswehr. Had the successive CDU/CSU ministers listened to us, the failures of the recent structural reforms would not have occurred. They cannot continue to transfer new mandates and tasks to the Bundeswehr without giving it the personnel, military equipment and funding for this. The Bundeswehr cannot be equipped according to the financial situation. Under SPD leadership, the Bundeswehr will be treated better.

The clearest demonstration of the extreme right-wing and militarist character of Schulz and the SPD is that they deem even the most toothless criticism of the Bundeswehr to be inadmissibleeven when it concerns extremely troubling developments like the emergence of neo-Nazi terrorist cells. We in the SPD thought it was very improper for Mrs. Von der Leyen to recently place all members of the Bundeswehr under general suspicion, he said. This had damaged trust.
As part of the commemoration of the centenary of the 1917 October Revolution, the World Socialist Web Site is publishing a series of profiles of leaders of the Russian Revolution. Due to the bloody and protracted Stalinist and bourgeois reaction against the revolution, these figures remain largely unknown to the international working class. Yet they rank among the most complex and formidable figures of the 20th century and are an important part of the proud historical heritage of the working class.

The stunning and often tragic vicissitudes of their political and personal lives mirror the complicated development of the Bolshevik party itself and the rapid succession of revolution, war and reaction in the 20th century. This series seeks to introduce our readers to the major contributions these figures made to the struggle for socialism and reveal the manner in which their lives intersected with the development of the Russian Revolution.

Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from the Russian are by this author.

Today almost forgotten, Ivar Tenisovich Smilga ranks among the most outstanding leaders of the October Revolution and the Civil War in Russia. At the age of just 24, he became one of Lenins closest confidants in the preparation for the seizure of power in 1917. He played a central role in the leadership of the Red Army during the Civil War that followed the revolution, and then in the economic work of the early Soviet Union.

Ivar Tenisovich Smilga was born in 1892 to a peasant family that owned a small piece of land in Aloya, a town in Latvia. He was part of a generation that was politicized at a very early age by the Russo-Japanese War, the first Russian Revolution of 1905 and the bloody counterrevolution that followed.

In an autobiographical text from 1919, Smilga recounted that his revolutionary consciousness was awakened in 1901he was then barely nine years oldwhen the Socialist Revolutionary (SR) Piotr Karpovich assassinated the Minister of Enlightenment, Nikolai Bogolepov. Despite the liberal and enlightened atmosphere in his home, Smilga had held, in his own words, religious-monarchist views. He continued, I remember that after the assassination of Bogolepov there was something like a celebration at our house, and I was the only one not to take part in it. [1]

The historian Alan Wildman would later describe 1901 as a year of a general swing of politics of Russian society to the left. [2] The following year saw mass strikes of workers in the southern Russian city of Rostov. At the same time, a protest movement by students gained momentum. The young Smilga slowly but surely came under the influence of the socialist movement. By 1904 he was, in his own words, a convinced atheist and supporter of the revolution.

The tensions in Russian society, briefly bottled up but then aggravated by the war launched against Japan in 1904, finally exploded in the revolution of 1905.

In that year, the working class emerged as the central driving force of the revolutionary struggles that raged throughout the tsarist empire, including what is now the Baltics, which had significant social democratic movements. (See: The Legacy of 1905 and the Strategy of the Russian Revolution)

Latvia, like Lithuania, Ukraine and Congress Poland (then still part of Russia), was a multinational and multilingual part of the Russian Empire, where acute social exploitation overlapped with ruthless oppression against the national minorities. In these parts of the empire, the national minorities often formed the local majority population.

In Latvia, there were sizeable minorities of Latvians, Jews and Poles. However, they were prohibited from using their languagesLatvian, Polish and Yiddishin public and in educational institutions. They were ruled by the Russian administration and a narrow layer of the Baltic German nobility, heirs of fabulous wealth and a tradition of the darkest political reaction.

In 1905, thousands of workers in Latvia, especially in Riga, participated in major strikes. After the crackdown on striking workers in the spring of 1905, mass uprisings of peasants started in the countryside. They seized many estates from the Baltic German nobility. In November 1905, martial law was declared in Latvia and punitive expeditions of the tsarist government roamed the countryside and the cities.

Leon Trotsky later described the counterrevolution in this region:

In the Baltic lands, where the insurrection flared up a fortnight earlier than in Moscow, the punitive expeditions were divided up into small detachments which carried out the bloodthirsty instructions of the [German] Baltic barons, that dirty caste from which the Russian bureaucracy drew its most brutish representatives. Latvian workers and peasants were shot, hanged, flogged to death with rods and stocks, made to run the gauntlet, executed to the strains of the tsarist anthem. According to highly incomplete information, 749 persons were executed, more than 100 farms were burned down, and many people were flogged to death in the Baltic lands within the space of two months. [3]

Among the victims of the counterrevolution was Ivar Smilgas father, who was first tortured and then executed before the eyes of his family. These events had an enormous impact on the young Smilga. He later recalled:

My father moved to the left just as contemporary society moved to the left, and he played an extremely visible role in the revolutionary events. During the elimination of the peasant self-administrations [volostnykh upravlenii] he was elected chairman of the revolutionary distribution committee in our volost [administrative unit in the tsarist empire]. In 1906 he was shot by a punitive expedition of the tsarist government. In January 1907, while a student in middle school, I joined the social democratic workers party. In my student years (1909 and 1910), my Marxist world view was conclusively formed. [4]

Smilga entered the socialist movement at a time of extreme reaction, when the masses of workers, under the impact of the defeat of the revolution, turned their backs on the struggle for socialism, if only temporarily.

Under these conditions, the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDRP) went through a very difficult period. Trotsky would later write that Lenin, who was in exile at this time, had barely a handful of Bolsheviks in Russia whom he could trust. The opportunist Menshevik wing of the party, which was oriented toward an alliance with the liberal bourgeoisie, found itself strengthened by the tide of reaction.

However difficult these years, they would prove crucial in the political education of Smilga and other leading figures of the revolution, such as Ter-Vaganian, Leonid Serebriakov and Aleksandr Voronsky. They were hardened and educated as revolutionary leaders in Lenins relentless struggle against Menshevik opportunism and his defense of the philosophical foundations and political principles of Marxism. These struggles were conducted and their lessons were assimilated under conditions in which the Bolsheviks were subject to continuous persecution by the state and suffered numerous arrests.

Smilga was no exception. Between 1907 and 1917 he was arrested no less than four times. He later looked back on these years: The almost five years of exile proved to be a real university. In exile, alongside the study of the history and tactics of our party, I mainly focused on philosophy and political economy. [5]

Between his two periods of exile, Smilga was briefly a member of the Petersburg Committee of the Bolsheviks, before he was again arrested and sent into exile in May 1915. Like many of the leading Bolsheviks, he returned to Petrograd only after the overthrow of the tsar in the February 1917 Revolution. At the April Conference of the Bolshevik Party, Smilga, only 24, was elected to the Central Committee (CC) along with Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Miliutin, Nogin, Sverdlov and Fedorov. In a Central Committee that at this point was dominated by the right wing under Kamenev and Zinoviev, Smilga became one of Lenins most important allies in the party leadership.

The CC initially sent him to Kronstadt, where he played a central role in organizing and educating the militant sailors. He was then sent further north, to Finland. In August, Smilga was elected chairman of the Regional Committee of the Army, Navy and Workers of Finland. The committee had 65 members, and the Bolsheviks hadin what was highly unusual for this perioda comfortable majority of 37 delegates. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (SRs), which in many instances voted with the Bolsheviks, constituted another 26, whereas the Menshevik-Internationalists had only two delegates.

Due to the highly favorable balance of forces in the committee, Lenin regarded it as a central tool in his plans for the seizure of power. As the inner-party struggle heated up within the Bolshevik Party, Lenin turned to Smilga to make concrete preparations for an armed insurrection.

In the weeks immediately preceding the uprising, Lenin faced objections from two sides: the right-wing opposition, headed by Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, rejected the seizure of power in general as premature. They strongly adapted to the Menshevik conception of a two-stage development of the revolution, according to which the revolutionary party would have to struggle not for the seizure of power by the working class, but for a left bourgeois government based on an alliance between the workers and the peasants.

At the same time, Leon Trotsky advocated a seizure of power on the eve of the Congress of Soviets on November 8 (October 26, Old Style). This position eventually won the majority. The Military Revolutionary Committee was formed and its plan acted upon. However, Lenin feared for weeks that the Bolshevik party leadership would lose important time and miss the right moment for the seizure of power. In a lengthy letter dated October 10 (September 27, Old Style), Lenin wrote to Smilga:

The general political situation causes me great anxiety. The Petrograd Soviet and the Bolsheviks have declared war on the government. But the government has an army, and is preparing systematically. (Kerensky at General Headquarters is obviously entering into an understandinga business-like understanding with the Kornilovites to use troops to put down the Bolsheviks.) ... And what are we doing? We are only passing resolutions. We are losing time. We set dates (October 20, the Congress of Sovietsis it not ridiculous to put it off so long? Is it not ridiculous to rely on that?) The Bolsheviks are not conducting regular work to prepare their own military forces for the overthrow of Kerensky.  It is my opinion that inside the Party we must agitate for an earnest attitude towards the armed uprising. ... Now about your role. It seems to me we can have completely at our disposal only the troops in Finland and the Baltic fleet and only they can play a serious military role. I think you must make the most of your high position, shift all the petty routine work to assistants and secretaries and not waste time on resolutions; give all your attention to the military preparation of the troops in Finland plus the fleet for the impending overthrow of Kerensky. Create a secret committee of absolutely trustworthy military men, discuss matters thoroughly with them, collect (and personally verify) the most precise data on the composition and the location of troops near and in Petrograd, the transfer of the troops from Finland to Petrograd, the movement of the fleet, etc. If we fail to do this, we may turn out to be consummate idiots, the owners of beautiful resolutions and of Soviets, but no power! ... [6]

Lenin wrote these lines while in hiding in Helsingfors, Finland, where he had fled after the failed July uprising in order to avoid arrest and possible execution. In August and September, he and Smilga met numerous times in Helsingfors to discuss the preparation for the seizure of power. Smilga also helped Lenin maintain his tenuous connection to the party leadership.

In 1919, Smilga explained:

... our plan was that, in case that the revolutionary workers and soldiers of Petrograd would not be able to immediately conquer the entire city, they would have to immediately [seize] the islands and the Vyborg side [an industrial district in Petrograd and stronghold of the Bolsheviks, CW] ... in this case I should decide the struggle with the help of the forces from Finland. [7]

As it turned out, however, the workers and soldiers of Petrograd were able to seize power much more quickly and smoothly than expectednot least thanks to the correct assessment of the balance of forces and the plan advocated by Trotsky. Some 1,800 sailors from Finland, under the command of Smilga, moved to Petrograd for the armed insurrection, but when they arrived the only strategic building left to conquer was the Winter Palace. This last fortress of the old regime in Petrograd fell on November 8 (October 26, Old Style).

Smilga continued to support Lenin at many critical turns in the civil war, including the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which the Bolshevik government felt compelled to sign on March 3, 1918. At the same time, Smilga acted as the emissary of the Russian Soviet Federal Republic (RSFSR) to Finland. A few words should be said about this crucial but little-known episode in the Civil War.

Finland had formed part of the Russian Empire since the early 19th century. In the early 20th century, it became a preferred hiding place for Russian revolutionaries persecuted in the empire. In 1917, it was one of the most significant strongholds of Bolshevik influence. One major reason for this was the principled defense by the Bolsheviks of the right to national self-determination.

On January 26, 1918, the Peoples Republic of Finland was formed. The Bolsheviks held a majority in the democratic assembly of the republic. But, tragically, the socialist leadership of the Peoples Republic maintained strong illusions in a parliamentary road to socialism, which doomed it to defeat. Otto Wille Kuusinen, the principal figure in the Finnish revolution, later acknowledged:

The weakness of the bourgeoisie led us into being captivated by the spell of democracy, and we decided to advance towards socialism through parliamentary action and the democratization of the representative system. [8]

But the bourgeoisie had no intention of granting a parliamentary and peaceful transition to socialism. It immediately launched a counterrevolutionary offensive, relying primarily on German troops. Despite the significant growth of the Red Guards and the Baltic fleet, where Smilga, Dybenko and Antonov-Ovseenko had worked, the working class and the fledgling armed forces of the Bolsheviks were unprepared to fight against the Whites and the invading German and Swedish troops.

Within weeks, thousands and thousands of revolutionary workers were slaughtered. Victor Serge estimated that, in total, over 100,000 Finnish workersi.e., a quarter of the countrys proletariatwere massacred. Some 70,000 Red prisoners were placed in concentration camps. About 50,000 of them were supposed to be shipped to Germany as slave laborers, a plan prevented only by the outbreak of revolution in Germany itself. The Bolsheviks had to give up hopes for the incorporation of Finland into a union of Soviet socialist republics, and the revolution in Finland was thrown back for decades.

This experience proved critical for the further conduct of the civil war by the Red Army. As Victor Serge later pointed out:

The total extermination of all the advanced and conscious elements of the proletariat is, in short, the rational objective of the White terror. In this sense, a vanquished revolutionregardless of its tendencywill always cost the proletariat far more than a victorious revolution, no matter what sacrifices and rigor the latter may demand. One more observation. The butcheries in Finland took place in April 1918. Up to this moment the Russian Revolution had displayed great leniency towards its enemies. It had not used terror. We have noted a few bloody episodes in the civil war in the south, but these were exceptional. The victorious bourgeoisie of a small nation that ranks among the most enlightened societies in Europe was the first to remind the Russian proletariat that woe to the vanquished! is the first law of social war. [9]

In May 1919, Smilga was co-opted into the leadership of the Red Army, the Revolutionary Military Council (Revvoensovet), at the behest of its chairman, Leon Trotsky. He would remain in this position throughout the civil war, until March 1923. [10]

In this capacity, he played a central role in defeating armies led by White generals Denikin and Wrangel and fighting against the counterrevolutionary armies that invaded Soviet Russia from Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Smilga was not only one of the most important military commanders of the Red Army, but also an important military writer and strategist. In December 1919, he chaired the First Congress of Political Workers (politrabotnikov) in the Red Army in Moscow. His pamphlet Building the Red Army (Stroitelstvo krasnoi armii) was issued in no less than three editions between 1919 and 1920. Time and again, Smilga emphasized that the building of the Red Army had to be seen as part of the development of the Russian Revolution. It was, as he put it, the first major organizational effort of the Soviet state. Smilga put special emphasis on the paramount significance of educating the Red Army soldiers and, above all, their commanders on a political but also cultural level.

Hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants learned reading and writing, and the ABCs of politics, in and through the Red Army in the first years of the Civil War. The goal was, in Smilgas words, to not have a single illiterate soldier in the Red Army. Given that the vast majority of the Red Army soldiers were recruited from the peasantry, by far the largest class in Russian society, which was in its overwhelming majority illiterate in 1917, this was a daunting undertaking.

Yet it was a priority concern for the Soviet government. Under the most difficult conditions of economic devastation and financial strangulation, and in the midst of a war against almost all of the major imperialist and capitalist powers of Europe, as well as Japan and the United States, the Soviet government funded an impressive network of schools, libraries and other cultural facilities to educate the soldiers. As Smilga wrote, To conduct cultural-educational and political work among the soldiers of the Republic we never did and never will shun any means (zhalet sredstv). [11]

In 1920, according to Smilga, some 1,520,674 newspapers were distributed in the army on a daily basis. They not only covered political and military questions, they also included supplements on literature, theater and music. This was in addition to about 30 newspapers issued by army units on a regional and local level. Overall, in the first 11 months of 1920, the government distributed 18,888,325 pieces of different kinds of literature in the army.

By October 1920, there were over 2,000 libraries in the army. The number of schools rose from 4,400 in July 1920 to 5,952 in November 1920, with the number of students growing from 108,000 to 120,000 in the same time period. [12]

Writing in late 1920, when much of the bloody fighting on the eastern, western and southern fronts had come to an end (although the war would continue in some areas until 1922), Smilga noted:

Now that the war has ended, we have to remember that, if the task of the war was victory, then the task of the peaceful period must be a transformation of the Red Army into a Communist Red Army. Our enemies shall only try then to throw their crafty designs against the revolution in Russia. The conditions for conducting political and cultural work in the army are now much better than they were during the war. Not a single minute must be passed in vain. [13]

Starting in 1921, Smilga devoted himself increasingly to economic work, which, once the Civil War had been won, became the central battleground for the fledgling workers state. Initially, he worked as the vice-chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy (VDNKh), where he was in charge of fuel supplies, one of the most responsible positions in the Soviet economy at this time. In 1923, he became the vice-chairman of the Gosplan (State Planning Commission) of the USSR.

Immediately after the end of the Civil War, the party became engulfed in a bitter factional struggle. The backwardness of the Russian economy, ravaged by almost 10 years of continuous war, and the continued isolation of the revolution gave rise to an increasingly assertive bureaucracy and strengthened a nationalist and opportunist tendency within the party, against which Lenin had fought so adamantly in 1917.

The bureaucratic tendencies in the USSR were reinforced by the aborted German Revolution in 1923. After a series of strokes, Lenin died in January of 1924. In the fall of that year, Nikolai Bukharin formulated the theory of socialism in one country, according to which socialism could be built in the isolated workers state. Hence, political priority would be given by the party leadership to building socialism at home, while the international extension of the revolution was delegated to a matter of secondary importance.

The slogan of socialism in one country directly contradicted the fundamental tenets of socialist internationalism, on the basis of which Lenin and Trotsky had fought for the seizure of power by the working class in 1917. It became the central axis of a program of opportunist adaptation to petty-bourgeois and bourgeois forces both in the USSR and on a world scale, expressing the interests of a bureaucracy that had arisen in the isolated and relatively backward workers state and was essentially hostile to social equality and the program of socialism. Joseph Stalin emerged as the chief political agent of this layer.

The Left Opposition, led by Leon Trotsky, was the main political force fighting against this betrayal of the program of October and the political usurpation of power by the bureaucracy. It is not entirely clear when exactly Smilga joined the Left Opposition. He was not one of the signatories to the Declaration of the 46, the founding platform of the Trotskyist Left Opposition from October 1923.

However, Smilgas writings from this period suggest that he must have sympathized with much of the criticism of the Left Opposition on the economic plane. The Trotskyists demanded a greater focus on strengthening industry, and thereby the working class, and opposed the Stalin factions policy of promoting the middle layers of the peasantry in the countryside. In a pamphlet from 1924 entitled Industry Under Conditions of the New Economic Policy, which was based on four lectures he had given in 1923, Smilga relied on the report given by Trotsky at the XIIth Party Congress on the state of Soviet industry, which raised many of the concerns of the Left Opposition.

In the second half of the 1920s, Smilgas apartment in Moscow became a central meeting place of the Opposition. Isai Abramovich, who was recruited to the Left Opposition in Moscow by the leading Marxist theoretician Ter-Vaganian and mentored by Smilga, later devoted an entire chapter to Smilga in his memoirs. He wrote:

At Smilgas apartment we got to know and often met K. Radek, Kh. Rakovsky and V. Trifonovthey were regular guests. L. D. Trotsky, G. L. Piatakov, E. A. Preobrazhensky, A. K. Voronsky went to Smilga every so often. Zinoviev and Kamenev also came, but very seldom. We also got to know the brothers of Smilgas wife, Nadezhda Vasilievna Poluyan. They were all Old Bolsheviks: Yakov worked in the Tsentrosoiuz, Dmitri was a member of the collegium of the NKPS (Peoples Commissariat for Transportation), Yan had previously been a secretary of the All-Russian Executive Committee, Nikolai had fought in the Red Army. We usually gathered at Smilgas in the evening. We mainly talked about the most burning political questionsthere were more than enough of them during Stalins rule.  Ivar Tenisovich was a simple, democratically minded person. He addressed himself to everyone in the same manner, regardless of the position this person occupied. He was an exceptionally interesting interlocutor, he had had a rich, eventful life, and he had something to talk about. [14]

In April 1926, the United Left Opposition was formed when Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, two of the most influential party leaders in Leningrad, joined with the Left Opposition despite continued disagreements with Trotsky, most notably on the question of internationalism and the Chinese Revolution.

The Chinese Revolution in these years occupied a central place in the inner-party struggle, not just within the Bolshevik Party but within the Comintern as a whole. The Trotskyists opposed the subordination of the Chinese Communist Party to the bourgeois Kuomintang party, an alliance that was advocated by the Stalin faction, which argued that the bourgeois stage of the revolution in China had to be fulfilled before the working class could take power and begin to implement socialist policies.

At the same time, social tensions within the Soviet Union were on the rise. While a narrow layer of middle peasants was strengthened by the New Economic Policy, the working class continued to face serious food shortages and an increasingly oppressive regime in the factories. This development, along with renewed hopes for a continuation of the revolution abroad, increased the prestige of the Left Opposition and led to a significant influx of new members. In the Soviet Komsomol, the youth organization of the Communist Party, in numerous scientific and academic institutions as well as in individual Central Committees, most notably the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Georgian Soviet Republic, the Left Opposition wielded significant influence. In some, it even held a majority.

In these years, Smilga was the director of the Economic Institute in Moscow, named after Georgi Plekhanov. Here, he helped build an important cell of the Left Opposition, which included the above-quoted Abramovich and several other promising young revolutionaries.

The tide turned again, however, when the Chinese revolution was shattered under the blows of the very Kuomintang to which the Stalinist faction had subordinated the Chinese masses. On April 12, 1927, the military forces of Chiang Kai-Shek, with the full support of the Kuomintang, massacred members of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai and thousands of workers. On May 25, 1927, the United Left Opposition published another declaration, which was signed by thousands of party members, including hundreds of the best-known leaders from the seizure of power in 1917 and the Civil War.

However, the defeat of the Chinese Revolution strengthened the Soviet bureaucracy by reinforcing the international isolation of the USSR. The Stalinist faction, terrified by the recent successes of the Left Opposition and the continued prestige enjoyed above all by Leon Trotsky, used the demoralization and confusion created by the disaster in China to escalate its crackdown on the Opposition.

Known Left Oppositionists were demoted to positions that were well below their abilities or outside their field of expertise in order to both humiliate and politically neutralize them. Smilga was sent from Moscow to the Far East as head of the Economic Council. When his train departed from the Yaroslavsky Station in Moscow on June 9, 1927, he was accompanied to the station by a crowd of some 1,500 people, among them numerous leading oppositionists. Trotsky gave a speech citing Smilgas demotion as an example of reprisals against the Left Opposition.

On the eve of the XVth Party Congress, on November 14, 1927, Leon Trotsky was expelled from the party. On December 19, 1927, the Congress voted to expel all members from the party who had signed the latest platform of the United Left Opposition. Among them was Ivar Smilga.

Together with Christian Rakovsky, Karl Radek and Nikolai Muralov, he issued a statement on December 18, 1927. It included the following passages:

Expulsion from the party deprives us of our party rights, but it cannot free us from the duties which every one of us took on himself in joining the ranks of the Communist Party. Being expelled from its ranks, we remain as before true to the programme of our party, its traditions, its banner. We shall work for the strengthening of the Communist Party and its influence on the working class. ... We pledged, and pledge ourselves now, to do our utmost for the preservation of unity of our party, which is at the head of a workers state. We categorically reject the intention to organise a second party that is ascribed to us as being incompatible with the proletarian dictatorship and against Lenins teachings. ... We reject just as emphatically the assertions concerning the anti-Soviet tendencies in our struggle. All of us, in one form or another, are partakers in the building up of the Soviet state, the first country of the toilers. ... We are being expelled for our views. They have been laid down in our platform and theses. We consider these views to be Bolshevik-Leninist views. We cannot renounce them because the march of events confirms their correctness. ... The party regime resulting in our expulsion inevitably leads to a new dismemberment in the party and to new expulsions. Only a regime of inner-party democracy can guarantee the elaboration of a correct party line and strengthen its ties with the working class. ... True to the teachings of Marx and Lenin, vitally connected with the CPSU and the Comintern, we reply to our expulsion from the CPSU by our firm decision to fight under the Bolshevik banner without restraint for the triumph of world revolution, for the unity of the Communist parties as the vanguards of the proletariat, for the defence of the conquests of the October Revolution, for communism, for the CPSU and the Comintern. [15]

The German Trotskyist Oskar Hippe, a member of the German Left Opposition since 1923, later noted in his memoirs:

If it had not been for the declaration of the comrades Smilga, Muralov, Rakovski, Radek and others, who also appealed to the delegates on December 18 at the XVth Party Congress, raising the voice of the internationalists, the ranks of those fighting for the Marxist-Leninist position would have hardly been as united as they were.  The fight of the best parts of the Russian party, as it was expressed in their fundamental declaration at the XVth Party Congress, not only gave new courage to the Russian comrades, but was also perceived in the International as an encouragement in the struggle against the Stalinist faction. [16]

As for all Left Oppositionists, the expulsion was a heavy blow to Smilga, both politically and personally. His daughter, Tatiana Smilga-Poluyan, later recalled: It was extremely difficult for father to deal with being expelled from the ranks of the Communists, which he had entered as a 14-year-old youth. [17]

The only way for Left Oppositionists to be readmitted to the party was to renounce their earlier views. Participation in oppositional activity was now a crime, punishable under Article 58 of the criminal code.

The defeat of the Chinese Revolution and the expulsion from the party provoked a deep crisis in the ranks of the United Left Opposition. Kamenev and Zinoviev were soon ready to capitulate to the Stalin faction. The meeting at which the United Left Opposition split occurred at Smilgas apartment. Isai Abramovich described it in his memoirs:

Zinoviev, Kamenev and their supporters agreed to accept the conditions for the capitulation that had been dictated [by the Central Committee]. Trotsky and his co-thinkers agreed to concede that the factional struggle had been a mistake, but they categorically rejected the demand to renounce their views. The discussions about this among the members of the center of the opposition took place at the apartment of I. T. Smilga, in his study, at the big desk, with the Zinovievites sitting on one side and the Trotskyists on the other. Imiarekov, Brigis and I were sitting in the room next door and awaiting the results of the meeting. I. T. Smilga (he had, of course, come in a great hurry from the Far East) from time to time came out and briefly told us what was being discussed. At one point, after a speech by L. D. Trotsky, Ivar Tenisovich came to us and said with admiration, What a figure! The meeting at which the split occurred ended. All participants, with the exception of K. Radek and Ch. Rakovsky, left. Nadezhda Vasilievna, Smilgas wife, invited all who had remained to come to the table, where discussion centered, of course, on the meeting that had just ended. They were especially upset about G. I. Zinoviev. Smilga declared that the behavior Zinoviev and Kamenev had displayed today reminded him of their behavior in October 1917. Radek and Rakovsky agreed. [18]

Shortly thereafter, Smilga was arrested and exiled to Minusinsk in the Soviet Unions Far East. At Smilgas request, Abramovich and his friend Imiarekov hid Smilgas personal archive and library with Riazanov, one of the leading experts on the writings of classical Marxism, who was at this point still in charge of the Institute of Marx and Engels. Throughout this time, Smilga suffered from severe health problems that dated back to his years in exile and the Civil War.

In 1929, Smilga co-signed a letter of capitulation in which he, Radek and Evgeny Preobrazhensky renounced their views and asked to be readmitted to the party. It was one in a series of capitulations by Old Bolsheviks in the Left Opposition following the regimes so-called left turn of 1928. Smilga was allowed to return to Moscow and resume work for the party, although at a very modest level.

Like many other Old Bolsheviks, Smilga maintained the illusion that the left turn, which in Soviet economic policy included a commitment to industrialization and collectivization in the countrysideboth policies for which the Left Opposition had fought for yearswould mark a significant change in the class orientation of the policies of the Stalinist faction. Added to this illusionary hope were the exhaustion from the years-long struggles, the expulsion from the party, and the extremely difficult conditions facing all those who opposed the dominant party line.

Yet the hopes of the Left Oppositionists who capitulated to Stalin in the late 1920s were very soon shattered. The results of the left turn were nothing short of catastrophic, both within the Soviet Union and internationally.

In the Comintern, the left radicalism dictated from Moscow prevented a united struggle of Communist and Social Democratic workers in Germany against the rise of fascism, thus making possible the coming to power of Adolf Hitler in January 1933 without a single shot being fired. On the domestic front, the policy of forced collectivization led to a horrendous famine in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, the southern parts of the Russian Republic and the Kazakh Soviet Republic, bringing particularly the Ukraine to the brink of civil war. Serious estimates put the number of those who died from the famine at around 7 to 8 million.

Abramovich, who had joined the Declaration of the Three and also capitulated to Stalin, frequented Smilgas apartment in Moscow in these years and later recalled:

At every meeting, Ivar Tenisovich talked about how the collectivization was enforced with enormous distortions. He became ever more gloomy and started saying that our leaving the opposition had been a mistakeit only made Stalin more confident and arrogant. The politics of Stalin will result in devastating consequences for both the countryside and the cities, said Smilga. He was upset about the totally inhumane policy of de-kulakization, of which neither Lenin nor the party had ever conceived.  And then, already proceeding from humanistic concerns to economic ones, Smilga the economist emphatically talked about how much the countrys economy would have to pay for the absurd policy of the Stalinist collectivization. I remember almost word by word: The losses in livestock resulting from the forced collectivization, in terms of value, exceed the equivalent of all the gains made in basic resources in the years of the first five-year plan. I. T. Smilga talked about how among the Old Bolsheviks the discontent was growing about the policies of both collectivization and industrialization, that at the work places discontent about the consequences of collectivization was rising. ... [19]

In 1932-1933, Smilga worked for the prestigious Academia Publishing House, which in these years became something of a refuge for former leading revolutionaries who had fallen out of favor with the Stalinist leadership. He edited and wrote forewords to works by Goethe, Erasmus, Saint-Simon, Kropotkin and Charles Dickens. In 1933, Smilga was sent to Tashkent to work in the Central Asian Gosplan. He returned to Moscow in 1934, but the party leadership refused to give him new work.

On December 1, 1934, the popular Leningrad party leader Kirov was killed in what was most likely a provocation arranged by the GPU on behalf of Stalin, who seized on the assassination as a pretext for the beginning of mass purges in the party. As a close confidant of Lenin, leader of the October Revolution and former Left Oppositionist, Smilga was one of the first to be arrested and killed.

He was taken from his home in the night of January 1-2, 1935, just a few weeks after Kirovs assassination, and sent to the Verkhneuralsk politisolator, a political prison in the Urals. His wife, Nadezhda Poluyan, who was also an old Bolshevik, would be arrested in 1936.

It is likely that Stalin intended to have Smilga as one of the defendants in the show trials that began in the summer of 1936. However, despite severe torture, Smilga would not admit to any of the crimes of which the Stalinist bureaucracy accused the revolutionary leaders, including collaboration with the fascist governments of Japan, Germany and Italy as well as counterrevolutionary activities with the aim of restoring capitalism in the USSR. On January 10, 1937, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR declared Smilga guilty of conducting counterrevolutionary Trotsyist activity. He was sentenced to death and shot the same day.

His wife, Nadezhda Poluyan, was shot in Karelia (now part of Finland) 10 months later, on November 4, 1937. Her brothers, all long-time Bolsheviks and military leaders in the Civil War, were also killed in 1937 and 1938. Smilgas two daughters, Natasha and Tatiana, were arrested and sent to labor camps, where they lingered for many years before being released in the mid-1950s. Ivar Smilga was rehabilitated only half a century after his murder, on April 3, 1987. For decades, his name was banned from official Sovieti.e., Stalinistwritings on the Russian Revolution and early Soviet Union.

Few Western historians have shown interest in establishing a truthful historical record of Smilgas role in the Russian Revolution. One of the first to acknowledge it was the American historian Alexander Rabinowitch, who detailed many of Smilgas positions and his collaboration with Lenin in his path-breaking study The Bolsheviks Come to Power from 1976. Much of the work and effort to rehabilitate Smilga and set the historical record straight, after decades of falsifications, fell upon his daughter Tatiana, who tirelessly fought for her fathers formal rehabilitation and his recognition as both a leader of the revolution in Russia and an opponent of Stalinism. Yet, as with virtually all leaders of the Russian Revolution, 100 years after the Bolshevik seizure of power, Smilga still awaits a serious biographer.

**

Literature on Ivar Smilga and his role in the revolutionary movement:

Isai Abramovich, Vospominaniia i vzgliady (Memories and views), Moscow 2004. (Online available in Russian: http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/ABRAMOWICH/abramowich2.txt.

A. P. Nenarokov, Ivar Tenisovich Smilga, in: Revvoensovet, Moscow 1991, pp. 349-359.

Alexander Rabinowitch, The Bolsheviks Come to Power, Chicago 2009 (especially chapter 11).

Tatiana Smilga, Moi otets, Ivar Smilga (My Father, Ivar Smilga), Moscow 2013.

WSWS: Interview with Tatiana Smilga-Poluyan (27 October, 2014).

**

Notes:

[1] Autobiographical text by Ivar Smilga in: Deiateli SSSR i revoliutsionnogo dvizheniia Rossii. Entsilopedicheskii slovar. (Figures of the USSR and the revolutionary movement in Russia. An encyclopedic dictionary), Moscow: 1989, p. 63.

[2] Allan Wildman, The Making of Workers Revolution. Russian Social Democracy, 1891-1903, Chicago: 1967, p. 150.

[3] Leon Trotsky, 1905, chapter 21. https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1907/1905/ch21.htm

[4] Deiateli SSSR i revoliutsionnogo dvizheniia Rossii, p. 63.

[5] Ibid., pp. 63-64.

[6] Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Letter to I. T. Smilga (September 27, O.S., October 10), emphasis in the original. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/oct/10.htm

[7] Quoted in: Abramovich, Vosposminaniia i vzgliady. http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/ABRAMOWICH/abramowich2.txt

[8] Quoted in: Victor Serge, Year One of the Russian Revolution, Chicago-New York-San Francisco: 1972, p. 186.

[9] Ibid., p. 191, emphasis in the original.

[10] A.P. Nenarokov, Ivar Tenisovich Smilga, in: Revvoensovet, Moscow: 1991, p. 350.

[11] I. Smilga: Stroitelstvo krasnoi armii, in: Voennyie ocherki, Moscow: 1923, p. 21.

[12] Numbers from Ibid., pp. 22-23.

[13] Ibid., p. 23.

[15] Quoted from Report of the XV Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Official Report with Decisions and Discussions. Published by the Communist Party of Great Britain, London 1928, pp. 401-404.

[16] Oskar Hippe, und unsere Fahnist rot. Erinnerungen an sechzig Jahre in der Arbeiterbewegung [and our flag is red. Memoirs of sixty years in the workers movement], Hamburg 1979, pp. 106-7.

[17] Smilga, Moi otets, Ivar Smilga, Mp. 8.

[18] Abramovich, Vosposminaniia i vzgliady.

[19] Ibid.
Channel Four News anchor Jon Snow earned newspaper headlines last month when he delivered some home truths to the British media.

Snow, an urbane, left-leaning and popular figure, presented the McTaggart Lecture at this years Edinburgh TV Festival to an audience of what he described as the heart and soul of our industry, the creative forces, producers, directors, owners, managers, editors, employees, the elite, the life force that has evenat timesrendered what we do the envy of the world.

After this obsequious start, some of what Snow said undoubtedly made members of his audience uncomfortable and resonated with the views of wider layers of workers and youth.

His central contention was that the media is disconnected from the left behind, the disadvantaged, the excluded. To reinforce his message, he listed obvious examples of how mostly London-based media pundits, pollsters and so-called experts have got it wrong: the Brexit referendum, the election of Donald Trump in the US and the poor showing of the UK Conservatives in the general election.

But where his remarks were most effective was in his reference to the Grenfell Tower fire. The disaster taught me a harrowing lesson that I thought I had already learned, but perhaps forgotten I believe that we have, by the nature of our business, an obligation to be aware of, connect with, and understand the lives, concerns, and needs of those who are not part of the elite I believe we are in breach of that obligationthat in increasingly fractured Britain, we are comfortably with the elite, with little awareness, contact, or connection with those not of the elite.

Snow explained how the Grenfell Action Group had repeatedly warned of the fire dangers, whereas we had stopped looking. So that when the media descended on Grenfell on the morning of June 15, Amid the demonstrations around the lower part of the building after the fire there were cries of Where were you? Why didnt you come here before? I felt on the wrong side of the terrible divide that exists in present day society and in which we are all in this hall, major players.

To underscore his point, Snow stated that, The completely man-made Grenfell disaster has proved beyond all other things how little we know, and how dangerous the disconnect is.

He put the media disconnect down to the privileged strata from which its leading representatives are drawn, as opposed to the lives of millions of working people. He spoke of his own background (I didnt need to gravitate to the eliteI was born into it!) and how this ended with him occupying a leading position at Channel Four, even though he never trained as a journalist.

From this he generalised: Britain is not alone in thisour organic links within our own society are badly broken. In part because the echelons from which our media is drawn do not for the most part fully reflect the population, amongst whom we live and to whom we seek to transmit information and ideas

The Sutton Trust has revealed this year that just under 80 percent of top editors were educated at private schools or grammar schools. Compare that with the 88 percent of the British public now in comprehensives.

Snow made a feint at opposing the domination of the media by major corporations, but it was directed at only one, specific manifestation of this. Never since the rise of the printing press have two companies held such a monopoly over the worlds information. Never have such organisations taken so little responsibility for it either, he declared. Its Facebook and Google to whom I refer.

Mark Zuckerbergs control of Facebook has made news dissemination vulnerable to the whims of one man, he continued. Facebooks principles are seldom explained in detail and can change overnight at Mr Zuckerbergs whim.

This is where Snows positive insights end. His proposals to combat the ills he cites instead confirm that he is indeed a member of the elite and is anxious above all else to safeguard its interests.

Not a word is said about challenging the monopolisation of news media by giant corporations, billionaire owners and governments. The official media, he suggests, can be made more responsive by a commitment to diversity. This amounts to little more than seeking to hire a few black and brown faces and former comprehensive school pupilsa policy Snow heralds with the grandiose proclamation that humanity needs to match the dramatic growth of social media with a rebirth of social mobility!

He also implores media executives to despatch journalists like missionaries to rub shoulders with the hoi polloi. They should allow individuals who work with and for you the space to do something, anything, in the wider community we are here to communicate with those people who live outside and beyond our elite.

It is when he deals with Facebook and Google that Snows liberalism fails him and his class loyalties become most apparent. He offers a witches brew of complaints and proposals based on a central demand that the worlds most powerful social media site and search engine collectively regulate the internet.

Supporting the censoring of news content and calling for it to be more effective, Snow complains that the algorithm employed by Google that prioritised many amazing reports of ours, also prioritised fakery on a massive scale. Likewise, Facebook has a moral duty to prioritise veracity over virality.

A clever phrase that is used to sugar the bitter pill of censorship.

Snow makes no attempt to detail the mass fakery of which he speaksother than a reference to the claim that the Pope had backed Donald Trump for president and an oblique reference to conspiracy theories regarding the Syrian civil war. But he lends tacit support to the anti-democratic efforts of Google, working with the Democratic Party, the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency in the United States and other intelligence agencies elsewhereto conceal from public view those websites deemed to be conveying fake news.

This constantly repeated term, together with claims that Russia has utilised the internet to subvert the democratic process, has been employed as justification for the development of a new algorithm and the hiring of thousands of personnel by Googlewith the primary aim of censoring left-wing, progressive and anti-war sites. The World Socialist Web Site, whose reportage is never anything but truthful, has been the most affected by Googles supposed efforts to fight what Snow calls the tyranny of untruth resulting from an unregulated Internet.

He concludes with an appeal for Facebook and Google to both promote and pay for the services of Channel Four and other major producers of news coverage.

Since the beginning of last year, Snow boasts, Channel Four has had over three billion viewings on Facebook. But whereas the reach provided by social media dwarfs that of conventional broadcasting, the revenue provided doesnt even come close.

Snow wants Channel Four et al to be given the rate for the job. Rather than simply trying to take down the fakery, there has to be an incentive for Facebook to pay the rate for high quality news and encourage the development of a global bedrock of truths Governments, the [European Union] and others have to play an even bigger part in forcing them to pay.

There we have Snows bottom line.

He has come a long way from his initial admission that the media is an elite organisation, insulated from the mass of the population, to his Orwellian description of the worlds media corporations as the global bedrock of truths to be sheltered at all costs by the governments who rely on them to control information and interpret events.
At a rally Wednesday in Springfield, Missouri, President Donald Trump began a public campaign for slashing taxes on US corporations and the wealthy, an effort to funnel trillions of dollars into the pockets of the super-rich that would dramatically increase the already staggering economic inequality in America.

Trumps remarks combined economic nationalism, glorification of the profit system and obvious lies, as he claimed that corporations gifted with massive tax cuts would immediately use these funds to invest in new equipment, hire more workers, and give generous raises to the workers they already employ.

The speech gave a completely potted account of economic realities in the United States, portraying giant American corporations as groaning under an onerous tax regime that takes so much of their profits that they cannot invest in production.

Actually, corporate profits are at record levels, but the funds are used mainly for speculative purposes like stock buybacks. And according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the overall tax burden in the United States, at 26 percent of total economic output in 2014, is the fourth-lowest among the major industrialized countries.

The speech was reportedly written by Stephen Miller, the policy adviser who represents the fascistic wing of the White House staff, previously headed by Stephen Bannon. He supplied the nationalist demagogy and the empty claim that a windfall for American corporations would be good for American workers.

The policy substance is supplied by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, both veterans of Goldman Sachs and both possessing fortunes of a half billion or more. Mnuchin accompanied Trump to Springfield, along with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a longtime asset stripper with a fortune in the billions.

Trump outlined four principles underlying the tax plan, two in support of the populist demagogy, and two to deliver the bonanza for corporate America.

First was tax simplification, the standard promise by right-wing demagogues to reduce the complexity of the federal tax code so that ordinary people can understand it and fill out their tax returns on a postcard or single sheet of paper. There is not the slightest prospect of this ever happening, since complexity is one of the devices for shifting the tax burden from corporations and the wealthy, who can hire tax lawyers and accountants, to working people.

Trump also pledged tax relief for middle-class families, although he gave not a single detail in the speech. An initial draft released in the spring suggested doubling the standard deduction, which would provide modest benefits for families of middle income, but nothing to the 47 percent of workers who do not earn enough to pay income tax.

Estimates of the potential benefitsdifficult to calculate because of the vagueness of the White House plansuggest that middle-income families would gain $30 to $140 a year, while families in the top 1 percent would gain an average of $1.4 million.

In contrast to the vague and empty promises to working people, the benefits for corporate America from Trumps remaining two principles are enormous and specific. Under the rubric of establishing a competitive tax code, Trump would slash the tax rate on corporations from 35 percent to 15 percent, below that in most other countries.

Finally, in an effort to bring back trillions of dollars in wealth thats parked overseas, Trump would effectively legalize tax evasion by giant corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple and General Electric. These and other corporate behemoths have nearly $3 trillion in accumulated earnings attributed, for bookkeeping purposes, to their overseas operations, in order to avoid US corporate income tax.

Trump would give a one-time tax holiday allowing these earnings to flow back into the US with only nominal taxation, claiming that the funds would be reinvested in American facilities and jobs. The last time this particular corporate swindle was performed, in 2001 under George W. Bush, the companies involved paid only 5.25 percent on their repatriated earnings, the $300 billion in offshore funds were used to buy back stock, pay out dividends to shareholders and boost the compensation of CEOs, and virtually no jobs were created. Now the sums involved are 10 times greater.

In packaging such a plan as a boon for working people, Trump and his speechwriter, Stephen Miller, must think that American workers are deaf, dumb and blind, as well as suffering from amnesia. Vague rhetoric about more jobs and higher pay cannot disguise an even bigger handout to the wealthy than the 2001 tax cuts pushed through by Bush with the support of leading congressional Democrats.

Wall Street and corporate America generally are hoping for a repeat of the 2001 deal between Bush and the Democrats, once the initial public posturing about fairness and prioritizing tax cuts for the middle class is dispensed with.

Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumerwho has collected more campaign contributions from Wall Street than any non-presidential candidate in historyserved up the usual populist demagogy in response to Trumps speech, speaking on a conference call organized by pro-Democratic groups that are lobbying against the Trump tax plan.

If the president wants to use populism to sell his tax plan, he ought to consider actually putting his money where his mouth is and putting forward a plan that puts the middle class, not the top 1 percent, first, declared Schumer. He said the Democrats were willing to deal on taxes, but rejected any plan that cut taxes for the top 1 percent of income earners, raised taxes on the middle class, or increased the federal budget deficit.

Notable in this list is the absence of any reference to reductions in the corporate tax rate, the centerpiece of the Trump administration tax plan, or to the repatriation of offshore earnings. There is widespread agreement among congressional Democrats with both proposals, since the Democrats, like the Republicans, take as their point of departure the interests of the American capitalist class.

Schumers opposition to reducing taxes for the top 1 percent hardly constitutes a serious obstacle, as press reports indicate that the White House may have already dropped plans to lower the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent.

More significant is the Democratic leaders insistence on not increasing the federal budget deficit. That means that the expected corporate tax cuts would have to be paid for by cutting expenditures, almost certainly in domestic social spending or entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
After nearly a decade of severely deteriorating conditions since the previous Labor government launched its free market education revolution, university staff and students across the country confront an even deeper and unprecedented assault on jobs, workloads and basic rights.

The Liberal-National government is urging universities to tear up all existing staff conditions, following an August 29 decision by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to terminate the current enterprise agreement at Perths Murdoch University.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham told an Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit on Wednesday the FWC ruling should be seized, and hopefully can be replicated elsewhere across the university sector.

Birmingham declared the FWC decision gave managements the capacity to cut costs and absorb a 4.9 percent efficiency dividend, which will cost universities $1.2 billion over four years, and other multi-billion dollar cuts announced in the governments May budget.

FWC commissioner Bruce Williams ruled that many enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) provisions, particularly those covering restructuring, redundancies, workloads, fixed-term contracts and staff discipline procedures, imposed significant inefficiencies and costs on Murdoch University.

As a result of his verdict, salaries could be cut by up to 30 percent, and redundancy payments could be slashed by at least 33 percent for academic staff and up to 80 percent for professional staff. Parental leave could become unpaid leave, workload restrictions could disappear and it would be easier to dismiss employees for alleged misconduct or unsatisfactory performance.

Williams terminated the EBA because there was a financial imperative for Murdoch to make changes in its operations and because it would encourage bargaining with the trade unions for a new agreement. Thus, while the unions formally opposed it, the thrust of the ruling is to rely on the unions to pressure their members, and all university workers, into accepting drastically reduced conditions.

In his judgment, Williams stated: As the unions submit, if the Agreement is terminated this will change the bargaining dynamics. This is because the context for bargaining will be different.

Just as significant as the FWC ruling is the response of the unions. Having helped university managements for decades to enforce their fiscal requirementsparticularly since the last Greens-backed Labor government cut some $3 billion from university budgetsthe unions will intensify their work to stifle all resistance by increasingly discontented university workers.

An email sent to National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members nationally on Wednesday said it was committed to negotiating a replacement agreement at Murdoch University that, with members support, can recover much of the damage that has just been done.

In other words, the union will endeavour to cajole its members into accepting a new EBA that will satisfy the managements demands, while supposedly recovering some of the lost conditions. This response was pre-figured in the FWC hearing itself, where the unions argued that the EBA did not hinder the managements agenda.

As Williams noted, the unions submission was that: The provisions of the Agreement are unremarkable and comparable to provisions in other enterprise agreements in the university sector. If anything, the Agreement provides the University with competitive advantages.

This sums up the role played for decades by the NTEU and the other main union covering university workers, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). Their preoccupation is with providing universities with competitive advantagesat the expense of the conditions of staff and students. Union-negotiated EBAs already have helped managements casualise their workforces so much that only 6.4 out of every 100 new positions created at Australian universities between 2009 and 2015 were tenured teaching or research jobs.

Far from suggesting any mobilisation of members nationally against the new assault, Wednesdays NTEU email asked members to send a message of support to anyone they knew at Murdoch University, and to falsely tell their own work colleagues that it is only the union that can fight these cuts.

About 28 universities across the country have agreements that have expired and are vulnerable to termination, including University of Queensland and La Trobe University. Representing the managements, Australian Higher Education Industrial Association executive director Stuart Andrews told the Australian Financial Review virtually the entire university sector was seeking to remove similar conditions and the decision would strengthen their resolve in negotiations.

The NTEU and CPSU will now try to foist new EBAs on their outraged members as quickly as possible. This especially will be the case at universities, such as the University of Sydney and Western Sydney University, where members have voted overwhelming to take industrial action to resist the management demands. At Western Sydney, the NTEU is simultaneously trying to suppress workers opposition to last Fridays announcement that up to 150 jobs will be eliminated via a shared services restructuring and that all the security staff will be replaced by contractors.

The unions will work even more closely with managements as they scramble to enrol more revenue-generating students, especially full fee-paying international students, and attract funding from corporate investors, donations from the financial elite and research grants from government and military agencies.

With the help of the unions, universities are being transformed from public places of learning and knowledge into corporatised and increasingly privatised institutions serving the interests of big business and the military-intelligence apparatus. Universities also have become money-making machines for the Australian capitalist class, generating more than $22 billion a year in revenue, mainly by fleecing international students, who face ever-higher fees, larger classes and fewer full-time teachers, as do all the domestic students.

The university unions long ago enlistedunder the Hawke and Keating Labor governments of the 1980s and 1990sin the corporatist efforts of the entire union movement to make Australian capitalism globally competitive by forcing workers to sacrifice previously hard-won conditions.

The implications of the FWC decision go far beyond the universities, signalling a new offensive against workers across the board. The ruling extends anti-working class precedents already set in several other industries, such as the railways, timber and electricity generation, where the FWC has torn up EBAs, to white collar and public service workers.

The ruling creates a precedent for employers to cite any financial difficulties, including those caused by workers opposition to employer attacks, government funding cuts and poor market conditions, to justify gutting workers jobs, wages, conditions and basic rights.

Williams said a multitude of factors caused Murdoch Universitys current financial circumstances. He listed market conditions, government decisions, corporate governance failures, poor strategic decisions, some employee resistance to change and at times poor management by Murdoch.

Sections 225 and 226 of the Fair Work Act, imposed by the previous Labor government with the support of the union movement, give the FWC sweeping powers to terminate an EBA that has gone past its nominal expiry date if a commissioner considers it appropriate and in the public interest.

Despite the bitter experiences of the past three decades, the unions are urging their members to support the return of yet another pro-capitalist Labor government backed by the Greens. The need for genuine rank-and-file, or workplace, committees, completely independent of the unions and based on a socialist perspective of challenging the entire framework of cuts and corporate profits is becoming ever more urgent. This includes fighting for free first-class education for students at every level, instead of the ever-greater accumulation of wealth by billionaires.

The author also recommends:

Australian university staff face cuts to pay, jobs and basic rights

[28 June 2017]
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court says Republican Gov. Rick Scott has the power to reassign murder cases from a prosecutor who refuses to seek the death penalty.

The court ruled 5-2 Thursday that Orlando-area State Attorney Aramis Ayala showed a misunderstanding of Florida law by not considering use of the death penalty on a case-by-case basis.

Scott has taken more than 25 murder cases from Ayala and reassigned them to a neighboring prosecutor after she said in March that her office would no longer seek the death penalty. Scott and others were outraged that she wouldn't consider the death penalty against Markeith Loyd in the slayings of an Orlando police lieutenant and Loyd's pregnant ex-girlfriend.

Ayala challenged Scott's decision, saying nothing in Florida law requires her to seek the death penalty.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
FLORIDA (WTXL) - Floridians are being warned to be careful about where they donate money, in the aftermath of hurricane Harvey.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says many crooks will prey upon the good intentions of people.

Recently, crowd sourcing websites have been a target of scam artists, as it is relatively easy to make up a story and receive donations with no intention of ever giving the money to the purported cause.

AG Department spokesman Aaron Keller says while there are no verified reports of scams related to Harvey yet, it is usually best to give money to well-known charities who regularly deal with disaster relief.

"If you are motivated to give, it is often safest to go with reputable names, ones that have been around a long time, ones that you recognize. Don't just give to a viral internet campaign, or a GoFundMe, that doesn't have a lot of details," says Keller.

The agriculture and consumer services department also has an online tool to track florida charities. You can link to our website wtxl.Tv to get to it.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Mayor Andrew Gillum and Superintendent Rocky Hanna are partnering to collect relief items for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Items of need include bottled water, toiletries, and baby supplies such as diapers and wipes.

Items can be dropped off at City Hall (300 S Adams St.), Chiles High School (7200 Lawton Chiles Ln.), Fort Braden School (15100 Blountstown Hwy.), Conley Elementary (2400 Orange Ave.), Swift Creek Middle School (2100 Pedrick Rd.), Canopy Oaks Elementary (3250 Point View Dr.), Roberts Elementary (5777 Pimlico Dr.), and the Leon County Schools offices (2757 W Pensacola St.).

Additionally, the Mayor is hosting a blood drive in front of City Hall Friday September 1, from 8:30am  12:30pm.

All are invited to come and give blood.

For more information, call Jamie Van Pelt at 850-879-1132.

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.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Happening tonight, the Capital Area Chapter of the Red Cross is holding training sessions for those wanting to go and volunteer to help victims of Harvey.

WTXL ABC 27's Paulo Salazar is there now to tell us what participants will be learning.

Tonight, the training classes are being held to get folks the training they need to properly help the victims of Harvey.

The class here begins at 5:30 p.m. and there is also another class being offered in Quincy at the New Direction Christian Center at 6:30 p.m.

You don't have to be a registered Red Cross volunteer to take part in the class, the Red Cross has been receiving thousands of calls of people wanting to help and they want to make sure folks are aware of what's needed and what to expect.

Right now the current needs for the Red Cross is money donations and shelter workers.
(WAFB) - While Louisianas Cajun Navy is hard at work rescuing Texans from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, The Cajun Gravy is making sure first responders are well fed. The Cajun Gravy is cooking up famous Louisiana dishes, including things like jambalaya and red beans and rice.

Thursday afternoon, they were operating out of Orange, Texas at a temporary housing location for about 1,000 first responders. Among those being served are Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents, Louisiana and Texas National Guard members, strike teams, and water rescue personnel.

A group of Louisiana cooks from the cities of Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and Donaldsonville formed the group after seeing the devastation left behind by Hurricane Harvey. One of the founders, Kyle Rome, owns Kickstands Kitchen, a catering company in Ascension Parish.

Rome says the Cajun Gravy all started with a phone call from Brett Dunham, owner of Le Chien, a new brewery coming to Baton Rouge. Rome says Dunham knew he was a chef and asked if he wanted to help cook for storm victims.

We decided to put a group together to go to Texas, Rome said in a Facebook post. We started making calls to friends that own businesses to see if they wanted to donate. It started to snowball so much that we were able to fill five trucks and about 70 feet of enclosed trailer space, just to pull what we had been given in donations over the past four days. We made a PayPal account to be able to accept monetary donations so we could buy food and supplies to cook while we were in Texas. We received over $7,000 in the same four days. We had enough food with us to be able to make over 10,000 plates from the cash and donations, he wrote.

The group has set up a PayPal account for monetary donations. They are also collecting specific supplies at Monogramming Unlimited, located at 14087 Hwy. 44 in Gonzales. The store is near the intersection of Hwy. 621. The business is open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. They are looking for the following items:

Cooking oil (50 gallon containers)

2 gallon containers of Kitchen Bouquet

Granola and breakfast bars

Sunscreen

Dog food and dog leashes

Lip balm with SP

For more information, visit the Cajun Gravy's Facebook page.

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.
YAKIMA, Wash.  The man convicted of killing a 47-year-old woman and injuring another during a shooting last year in Yakima was sentenced Frid
Immediate evacuations were ordered late Friday, prompting nearly 2,200 door-to-door notices to residents in the Roslyn, Ronald and Lake Cle El
MODIS fire detections indicate a fire reported somewhere within the 1 kilometer square area indicated and are updated every six hours by NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites. VIIRS fire detections have a sensitivity of 375 meters and are updated every two hours. Both MODIS and VIIRS sensors may be blocked by smoke, clouds, storms or other atmospheric conditions. The wildfire perimeters displayed in yellow show the latest available mapping as recorded by aircraft and firefighters on the ground. Not every fire will have a mapped perimeter, and those perimeters are only updated as needed and as resources area available.
US President Donald Trump has ordered the removal of US Ambassador to Jordan Alice Wells following the request of Jordanian King Abdullah II, this according to newspaper Foreign Policy.

The decision comes despite the fact that no evidence was found that Wells acted in an improper manner.

Trump's predecessor, former president Barack Obama, had refused a similar request by King Abdullah to remove Wells from office.
Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top US military commander said Thursday, contradicting Russia's claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.

"Do I believe he's alive? Yes," said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen"rumor or otherwise"that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: "There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he's alive." Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said US and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.
The summer vacation ended Friday morning as 2.2 million Israeli children made their way to school to begin the new term, with around 163,000 boys and girls entering their first year and 123,500 beginning their final year.

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According to the latest figures, 51 per cent of those in the first grade are boys while 49 per cent are girls. More precisely, 82,360 of the first graders will be comprised of boys, while 79,014 of girls.

Israeli children return to school for new year (:  )

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The stats are all the more surprising due to the fact that the most recent numbers on demographics indicate a greater ratio of women in Israels population.

Joining the children will be an army of school and kindergarten staff numbering approximately 180,000.

Israeli children return to school (Photo: Barel Eraim)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told children during a visit to a school in Harish that this is our country, this is our state and this is our home. Always remember that.

I know that many of you came from different places in this country but you will learn that the Jewish people didnt have a country, we didnt have a home, we were scattered and we returned to here. We returned and gathered on this land. This is your land, this is your state and your home.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Education Minister Bennett meeting with first graders in Harish (Photo: Zohar Shahar)

President Reuven Rivlin joined the children on their first day at a school in Maale Adumim. How great that you live in a beautiful city like this, a wonderful city, a city with such a great air, the president told first graders.

As students you have a lot of questions and Noam already asked me a few questions. He asked me are you the president? and I told him I am. He asked what do you do in school? and I said I have a lot to say, the president joked before recalling his memories of his first day as a first grade student.

President Rivlin tells kids 'we need to repect each other' (Photo: Yael Friedson)

Telling his young listeners that like him, they too will never forget their first teacher at school, he concluded with a message delivered to all children returning to school across the country, reminding them that no matter what we always need to respect each other.

Strikes and runaway children

While the vast majority of children across Israel eagerly entered the school premises to the welcoming sounds of Israeli and Jewish music, strikes led by educational workers and parents went ahead as planned in several schools over a series of complaints, including lax security arrangements outside the schools.

According to the Education Ministry, a number of kindergartens in the northern city of Rosh Pinna remained closed after disgruntled parents refused to send their children due to the increased prices of lunches.

In Zikhron Ya'akov, also in the north, teachers and parents announced in one school that they would be striking over what they described as inappropriate conditions in the school.

Photo: Barel Eraim

Further south, in a school in the central city of Petah Tikva, parents informed staff members their children would not be returning to school due to the municipalitys decision to allocate part of the building to an ultra-Orthodox association while first graders are expected to learn in caravans.

Also participating in the strikes dotted throughout the country are the parents of 1,500 children aged 3 - 6 in Tel Aviv, who announced Thursday their children will not be attending the first day of school due to reduced security arrangements.

Photo: Motti Kimchi

Specifically, the parents are objecting to the Tel Aviv Municipality's decision to no longer station a guard in each of the city's 35 kindergarten complexes, with ten of the 35 complexes to now be guarded by 12 patrol squads instead.

The parents' concerns were proved justified when two young children were able to leave their kindergartens and were found wandering outside by strangers.

One toddler left his kindergarten after one of the parents forgot to close the gate. He was found by neighbors several minutes later at a nearby construction site. The second child also walked out of an unclosed gate and was found on the sideway near a street crossing not far from the kindergarten by two strangers.

Shorter breaks during school year

But not all parents welcomed the new year with anger. Indeed, during the new year some parents will also be able to relax a little longer on Hanukkah and Passover after Education Minister Naftali Bennett decided to truncate the holidays given to the students on these 8-day holidays.

Photo: Motti Kimchi

Parents have long voiced complaints over the fact that the holidays on these festivals demand their absence from work or force them to pay for carers. However, the reduced holiday will only apply to first, second and third graders. From next year, the shortened holiday will also be extended to Sukkot.

My aim is to significantly reduce the number of holiday days on Hanukkah and Passover in order to make it easier on the parents, Bennett explained.

Photo: Ran Rimon

We realized that this is the biggest difficulty at the moment because of the differences between holidays for students and holidays from work. I am working with the minister of finance, and just as we succeeded in reducing class sizes and increasing assistance, I am convinced we will succeed here too, he concluded.
Israel has informed the UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon that a senior officer in the Lebanese army, who presides over a command position near the countrys border with Israel, is using his position to advance interests of the Hezbollah terror group in the area.

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According to the Israeli claims made to UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), Hezbollah deliberately planted Major Yahya Husseini in the Lebanese army as part of a broader effort to boost its influence within the military.

Husseini, the Israelis said, acts as Hezbollahs liaison officer and is in continuous contact with the organizations militants. Moreover, UNIFIL was told that he receives instructions from the organization and consistently provides it with information.

Lebanese-Israeli border (Photo: AFP)

It is the first time that a well-known source with the militarys ranks has been exposed as a Hezbollah agent.

The IDF transferred the information to UNIFIL while demanding Husseinis immediate removal. In addition, Israels ambassador to the UN Danny Danon raised the subject on Thursday during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and with other international ambassadors whose countrys support the Lebanese army, including France, and urged their immediate intervention.

Hezbollah is planning for the next military campaign against Israel and is using officers in the Lebanese army as terror operatives who help it against against the IDF along the border, Danon said.

UNIFIL must immediately act in accordance with its new mandate and stop the infiltration of Hezbollah into the Lebanese army. We expect UNIFIL to act against Hezbollah in light of this unambiguous information.

Danny Danon and Nikki Haley (Photo: Shahar Azran)

Two days ago, the UN Security Council approved widening UNIFILs mandate in south Lebanon to include a range of additional responsibilities.

From now on, UNIFIL will be required to provide a greater volume of reports to the Security Council and intensify efforts to prevent violations of Resolution 1701.

According to the decision, which was pushed by the US and Israel , the peacekeeping missions presence will be augmented and will also conduct patrols of territory controlled by Hezbollah.

The Lebanese army enjoys large financial injections from numerous countries, including the US, France and other countries which also supply it with weaponry.
Eighty years after he missed the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Shalom Shtamberg celebrated his bar mitzvah on Thursday with his family and friends in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

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Shtamberg was born in Warsaw, Poland, and should have celebrated his bar mitzvah when he turned 13, but instead he was taken to a Warsaw Ghetto with his family.

Shalom Shtamberg celebrates bar mitzvah ()

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Shalom Shtamberg (Photo: Reuters)

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

On Thursday, Shtamberg was picked up from his home by trainee police officers, who drove him to a synagogue in Haifa where he was welcomed by cheering crowds and flower bouquets.

Photo: Reuters

He was given a prayer shawl and read from the Torah scroll before breaking into dance with guests, including his wife.

"I haven't fulfilled my mission yet because I still have things to do," Shtamberg told Reuters.

Photo: Reuters

One of those things is to detail in lectures the horrors of the Nazi camps he survived, unlike his parents and five brothers who were killed.

Recalling his time in the Ghetto, he said: "In the beginning I did not speak, I said and told nothing because I stayed a child, aged 13, 14, and (living in) Warsaw Ghetto was extremely difficult, every day."
Hezbollah has spread its military influence far and wide throughout the Middle East, with the terror organization providing thousands of fighters to Syria, training hundreds in Iraq, giving support to rebels in Yemen and even offering assistance to militias in Afghanistan, according to a Friday report in The New York Times.

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The report details how Hezbollah has, over the years, become one of the most invaluable instruments in Irans arsenal as it pursues regional domination.

Hezbollah, Lebanese and Syrian army fighting ISIS (: )

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In Syria, Hezbollah and Tehran have dedicated their military resources to maintaining President Bashar al-Assad grasp on power, while in Iraq they have sent fighters to battle ISIS in yet another bid to advance Iranian interests.

Photo: AFP

Skipping the vast stretches of Saudi Arabia to Iraqs south, Hezbollah has also penetrated Yemen, where they facilitated an occupation of the capital by local rebels, thereby dragging RiyadhIrans arch nemesisinto the hostilities.

Photo: EPA

The report also acknowledges Hezbollahs stationing of military forces along the Israel-Lebanon border as it prepares for another showdown with the IDF.

Members of militias interviewed in Iraq explained the modus operandi of the recruitment process with Iranian support to fight against ISIS.

Some of the new recruits trained in Iraq, while some were sent for 15-day training periods in Iran itself before being flown to Syria. More experienced fighters participated in advanced courses led by commanders from Iran and from Hezbollah either in Iran or Lebanon.

Photo: EPA

The New York Times report goes on to say Iranian officers were responsible for the cooperative operations that materialized between Syrian ground forces and the Russian air force, while Hezbollah provided field commanders.

Photo: EPA

In Yemen, the report continues, Iran and its terror proxy established contact with Houthi rebels who in 2014 seized control of the countrys capital Sana'a, paving the way for the dismantling of the government and providing the pretext for the Saudis to launch, along with its allies, an aerial campaign.

According to one man interviewed in the report, the Houthi rebels had already begun training in Lebanon for the eventual occupation of Sanaa and in 2012, two Hezbollah militants were arrested in Yemen.
France's foreign minister said on Friday he wanted major powers to agree on a transition calendar that would be imposed on Syrians, but ruled out any role for President Bashar al-Assad, who he said had "murdered" part of his population.

Jean-Yves Le Drian's comments come despite what has appeared to be a softening in Paris' position since the arrival of President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron's election victory gave Paris, which is a key backer of the Syrian opposition and the second-largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, a chance to re-examine its policy in the country.

The change proposed by Macron was to drop demands Assad step down as a pre-condition for talks, although French officials still insist he cannot be the long-term future for Syria.

But Le Drian, who was defence minister under former President Francois Hollande, said the situation had changed because Islamic State militants were on the verge of defeat.

The focus now, he said, could turn to resolving the six-year civil war that has killed more than 300,000 and led millions of people to flee the country.

"He (Assad) cannot be part of the solution. The solution is to find with all the actors a calendar with a political transition that will enable a new constitution and elections" Le Drian told RTL radio.

"This transition cannot be done with Bashar al-Assad who murdered part of his population and who has led millions of Syrians to leave their territory."
Mr. Prime Minister. I have a surprise for you. You have just claims. You have achievements. They are absolutely a cause for pride, not only for you but for every Israeli. I listened intently to the things you said on Wednesday at your support rally . I read them once again. Here is another surprise for you: In the last few years, I myself have written some of the things you said. We have a wonderful country. Sometimes, in the heat of the argument, there are those among us who forget that. But it mustn't be forgotten.

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You mentioned other things about the state, about its wonders and achievements. This is all correct. But, Mr. Prime Minister, Israel belongs among the democratic nations. In France, the media doesnt speak about the magnificent products of the vineyards, nor about nuclear energy, because the role of the media in a democratic society is to expose wrongdoings and not simply to present the achievements of the countrys leadership.

It is true Israel is not an isolated state. You are correct. But who was the person responsible in recent months for causing a massive rift between Israel and American Jewry, which is a strategic asset for Israel? Who canceled the Kotel compromise deal approved by the current governmentwhich was a slap in the face to American Jewry? And who was it who returned Jewish conversions to the Orthodox monopoly, despite the fact the majority of Orthodox rabbis, both in Israel and in the world, exploded with rage?

PM Netanyahu (Photo: Shaul Golan)

The corruption investigations are bothersome to you . This is your second meeting with your supporters in less than a month, in which you launched into the media. I work with those people in the media, and I imagine I'm not part of a minority when I say I pray three times a day hoping you will emerge from this with your hands clean.

But a few things have taken place recently that raise serious questions. When one of your attorneys is personally involved in a submarine deal , and a second attorneymaybe, just maybeof yours is involved in the submarine deal as a state representative, and the two attorneys share the same office , what exactly do you want? Do you want us to ignore it? To remain quiet? Not to look into it? Do you want us to betray the integrity of our work and abandon our roles?

It's true, sometimes pointing the finger is a little exaggerated. Sometimes it turns out the details reported were not the most accurate. That is all true. But the media is not a court. It does not carry out its work based on laws and evidence. Rather, it documents what has already come to light and what is already known.

Contrary to what you claim, the media did not make concessions for former prime minister Olmert. He became a wreck with the aid of the media even though many journalists were very fond of him. He was never granted any exemptions or privileges.

It suits you, Mr. Prime Minister, to speak about Meni Naftali . It could be you also have good arguments. But he is only a small part of the story. He is a tiny part of the story in fact. Did you, or did you not, receive presents worth hundreds of thousands of shekels? Does that seem right in your opinion?

Meni Naftali (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Can you really compare Olmerts hobby of collecting pens to the hobby of collecting expensive cigars and all the other gifts you accepted? You know where Olmert ended up, so your comparison can hit you back like a boomerang. You lose in this comparison.

Allow me to put befor you, Mr. Prime Minister, a serious suggestion. Leave the media alone. Despite what you think, it isnt the enemy. It is bothersome, it is irritating but it is not the enemy. Do some introspection and maybe you will see, just maybe, that your behavior has become cynical?

It is not a matter of Left and Right, as you want us to think. Your accepting of gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, your cancelation of the Kotel agreement, your granting of the monopoly over Jewish conversions to the Haredim are issues that you created against national interests. It is your long period in power that has turned you into a cynic.

Dont be overly impressed or encouraged by wild applause or a show of support. There are tens and hundreds of thousands of citizens who are not of the leftist persuasion who look at you with lots of questions. They are struggling to understand your behavior, that again and again raises questions.

You have made achievements, Mr. Netanyahu. But you are the one who, too many times, personally harms the national interests. We are not against you Mr. Netanyahu. We are for Israel.
A Syrian monitoring group and an Arab TV station say a Syrian government pilot whose plane was downed in rebel territory in the country's east has been released by the rebels.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the pilot was released Friday, along with over 30 other captured soldiers.

The pan Arab Al-Mayadeen TV station also reported the pilot's release. The pilot was captured in mid-August after the rebels shot down a government warplane in a desert area where Syrian troops and their allies are on the offensive. The government is seeking to dislodge US-backed rebel forces from the area. It is also on the offensive there to secure its access to the largely Islamic State-held Deir el-Zour province.

According to the Observatory, the deal included the release of detainees held in government prisons.
ASTANA - The next round of talks between Russia, Turkey and Iran on settling the Syrian civil conflict will take place in Kazakhstan on Sept. 14-15 and focus on forces that the three nations plan to deploy there, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Kazakhstan hosts the talks which have in the past few months focused on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria.

"According to the information from the guarantor states, during the upcoming meeting they plan to review several documents covering the work of de-escalation control forces, and continue work on agreeing the make-up of control forces in Idlib," the ministry said in a statement.

Moscow, Ankara and Tehran plan to map out de-escalation zones in Idlib, Homs and Eastern Ghouta, and discuss other matters such as prisoner exchange, it said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri claimed Friday that Israel "knows very well there are no missile factories in Lebanon."

Hariri was addressing foreign reports, and Israeli confirmation of these reports, that Iran is building missile factories in Lebanon to arm terror group Hezbollah with guided missiles.

"The Israelis are used to conducting campaigns of deception. They say Hezbollah controls Lebanon, and that is not true," he told French newspaper Le Monde.

He went on to say Lebanon's problem with Israel was "that its leaders always speak about war and security, and never about peace."
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has claimed that Israel "knows very well there are no missile factories in Lebanon."

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Hariri was addressing foreign reports, confirmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as top IDF officials, that Iran is building missile factories in Lebanon to arm terror group Hezbollah with guided missiles.

"The Israelis are used to conducting campaigns of deception. They say Hezbollah controls Lebanon, and that is not true," he told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Friday. "Hezbollah is present. It's in the government and it has support in the country. But this doesn't mean Hezbollah controls all of Lebanon."

Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri (Photo: AFP)

He went on to say Lebanon's problem with Israel was that "its leaders always speak about war and security and never about peace. The late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz left Lebanon in 2002 with the Arab peace initiative. What has Israel done in relation to that? Nothing."

Hariri addressed the reports for the first time after a warning last week from Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. "Iran, via its Revolutionary Guard, is trying to create a new reality in the region with Iranian air force and naval bases in Syria, with Shiite militias numbering thousands of mercenaries and by manufacturing precise weaponry in Lebanon. Israel does not intend to resign itself to these attempts and will not act as onlooker from the sidelines," Lieberman said.

The Lebanese prime minister has reportedly been working to prevent the construction of Iranian arms factory in his country.

Hariri was also asked about American and Israeli calls to change and expand the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to foil Hezbollah arms smuggling into southern Lebanon, as well as about the American threat to stop its military aid to Lebanon over its army's ties to Hezbollah.

"I was in Washington in the spring and met with President Trump and visited Congress. To them, Hezbollah really is a cause for concern," Hariri responded.

"I asked them whether their problem was with Hezbollah or with the Lebanese people. The war against ISIS showed everyone the Lebanese army's abilities. Since my visit to Washington, the American administration knows more about what we're doing to strengthen all of the institutions of the Lebanese state and military, and the American aid to the Lebanese army will continue.

"The opinions and positions regarding Hezbollah and its role are different," Hariri emphasized, "but we've reached an agreement to put all of the unresolved regional issues aside, so it will not affect the government's activity, the state and the economy."
WARSAW  Police in western Poland are investigating whether a historic Jewish cemetery was damaged after workers uncovered human remains and tombstones at a construction site.

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Anna Dygas, from the police department in the village of Maszewo, told The Associated Press on Thursday that an investigation has been opened into possible damage to a burial site. Experts were analyzing the human remains and the tombstones.

The private owner of the site notified police Tuesday after human bones surfaced during work to prepare the site for a construction job.

A tombstone from the Jewish cemetery in Maszewo (Photo: Virtual Shtetl)

The head of Poland's Jewish community, Leslaw Piszewski, said he was "devastated" by the report. He said the Jewish community will take steps to have a proper reburial of the remains at the same site.

So far, only about 500 out of some 1,600 Jewish cemeteries have been returned to the Jewish community in Poland, including some synagogues and prayer houses, he said. The properties, most of whose owners and users perished in the Holocaust, were seized by the communist state after World War II. They are now being gradually returned.

An amateur historian, Wojciech Janda, said the site is a 200-year-old small Jewish cemetery. Last year a history association he belongs to included the neglected, overgrown cemetery on a list of historical monuments.

Ewa Stanecka, a local official in charge of historic sites, said the owner never sought permission for the construction.

According to Janda, the first written mention of Maszewo's Jewish cemetery dates back to 1820, when the area was part of Prussia and then Germany. The last burial was in 1933. The Germans destroyed the cemetery, breaking its walls and the tombstones, amid rising anti-Semitism in 1938.
An Israeli-British man has been extradited from Germany after being accused of launching cyber attacks on the networks of Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays banks this year.

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Daniel Kaye, 29, a dual British and Israeli citizen, is accused of using an infected network to attack the banks systems and attempting to blackmail them.

Services at Lloyds and Barclays banks were disrupted by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in January, the UK National Crime Agency said in a statement following a joint investigation with Germany's federal crime bureau BKA.

Photo: EPA

The attack on Lloyds Banking Group lasted three days and prevented some customers using their online accounts, although a bank spokeswoman said that no customer details or accounts were compromised.

The attack is estimated to have cost Lloyds 190,000 and Barclays around 146,000.

Kaye allegedly developed software that allowed him to control up to 1.5 million computers all over the world.

He was extradited on Wednesday on a European arrest warrant.

Photo: Reuters

Kaye faced nine charges under the Computer Misuse Act as he appeared at Thursday's hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

He also faces a charge that he "endangered human welfare" with an alleged cyber attack against Lonestar MTN, Liberia's biggest internet provider, the NCA said in its statement on Wednesday.

"The investigation leading to these charges was complex and crossed borders," said Luke Wyllie, senior operations manager at the NCA.

"Cyber crime is not victimless and we are determined to bring suspects before the courts," he said.

Kaye was remanded in custody until his next hearing.

Attack on German telecommunications company

In July, Kaye was convicted in Germany for a massive cyber attack against Deutsche Telekom last year.

The regional court in the western city of Cologne decided to suspend the sentence of one year and eight months against Kaye following pleas to this effect by both prosecutors and the defense.

Kaye described as "the worst mistake of my life" the attack that knocked more than one million German households offline in November, carried out for money on behalf of a Liberian client.

He was detained in February at London's Luton airport on a European arrest warrant for attempted computer sabotage and extradited to Germany.

German police said the goal of the attack was to infect users' computers with a "botnet" -- a network of web-connected machines that can be manipulated with malware and used to assault other online targets.

Kaye told the court he was paid $10,000 (about 8,500 euros) by a Liberian telecom company which wanted to use the botnet to damage a local rival.

The attack, which the company said caused about two million euros of damage, ended when it advised customers to disconnect their routers and restart them after a software update.
BEIRUT - A convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families being evacuated into jihadist territory in east Syria remained in government-held areas of Syria on Friday, US-led forces said.

"It has not managed to link up with any other ISIS elements in eastern Syria," said Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State.

There are about 300 fighters and about 300 civilians in the convoy, which the Syrian army and Lebanon's Hezbollah group gave safe passage to after the jihadists surrendered their enclave on Syria's border with Lebanon.

But the coalition against Islamic State has used air strikes to block the convoy from crossing into the group's main territory straddling Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

"We are continuing to monitor that convoy and will continue to disrupt its movement east to link up with any other ISIS element and we will continue to strike any other ISIS elements that try to move towards it," Dillon said.
The topic dominating Netanyahu's annual speech at the UN General Assembly this year is going to be Iran. But instead of nuclear Iran, he will talk about Iran's takeover of Syria. The Iranians are on the borders; the Iranians are in the sea; the Iranians are creating territorial contiguityfrom Tehran to Beirut. In just a little bit, the State of Israel is going to face annihilation. The next holocaust is coming; save us.

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Not exactly. According to official, non-political sources I've spoken to in recent days, the assessments at the moment are a bit more complex than that.

The changes in Syria are less dramatic than what is being described. It's true that Assadistanthe area controlled by Assad and the coalition that supports himis growing, and will continue to grow. But it's doubtful Syria would stabilize in the near future. The opposition is not going to disappear: Its members are everywhere. It's possible the area that was once Syria would enter a long-term interim situation, without resolution.

Netanyahu speaking at the UN last year (File photo: AFP)

The situation on the ground does not point to Iranian takeover. On the contrary: Syria reduced the number of Iranians in its territory and their presences in the conflict areas. The mercenaries Iran recruited in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq are mostly fighting in the Idlib area, which is currently under rebel control. Idlib is in northern Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the Golan Heights.

Israel is pushing for an agreement in Syria that would include the evacuation of all foreign forces from the country. That is what Netanyahu told Putin in their latest meeting. Putin agrees, because it serves his interests: He would be all too happy to pull all of his forces out of Syria, on the condition Russian presence would continue at a base Assad put at Moscow's disposal in Tartus.

An agreement that includes the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria would leave the Iranians with several options. The Iranian leadership is currently debating what to do in such a case. The argument is over priorities. Qasem Soleimani, who commands the Iranian forces in Syria, wants contiguous Iranian influences from Iran to the sea. There are plans along those lines, but they require large forces, a lot of money, and stability in Iraq that would benefit Iran.

Iranian President Rouhani has a different opinion. Syria is not at the top of his list of priorities right now. Instead, he wants to focus on the rehabilitating Iran's economy.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards fighting in Syria

X

Two issues are currently bothering Israel vis-a-vis Iran and Syria: Precision-guided munitionsmeaning missilesand massive Iranian military presence close to the Syria-Israel border. Israel has an answer to both of these problems. What is required here is a combination of military diplomacy, intelligence work, military operations and psychological warfare. Ongoing operations could prevent a war.

There is no missile factory in Lebanon . There are ideas and plans. Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri is not enthusiastic about the idea, and he's not the only one. Israel could foil these plans if it carries out the necessary military operations and employs the right tactics with the Lebanese leadership.

Israel has no intention to create a security buffer zone inside Syria, similar to what it had in southern Lebanon until 2000. Instead it created an influence zone along the border with Syria. The concept of an influence zone is nebulous. It would be interesting to see if it could be maintained over time.
Dr. Avi Yitzhaki, the chief medical officer of the Southern Command, became on Thursday the first Israeli of Ethiopian descent to be promoted to the rank of colonel in the IDF.

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Col. Yitzhaki received his new rank from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who noted the special occasion.

"Every officer being promoted (to colonel) brings with him or her a contribution of over 20 years of service. They each have their own unique contribution and story, and yet Col. Avi Yitzhaki is a trailblazer," Eisenkot said. "I congratulate you. To me, this promotion expresses the great appreciation of all you've done so far."

Dr. Yitzhaki with IDF chief Eisenkot (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Dr. Yitzhaki is in charge of the Southern Command's medical unit. In his previous role, he headed the operational medicine branch in the Technological and Logistics Directorate.

Dr. Yitzhaki receiving his ranks from IDF chief Eisenkot (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Yitzhaki, married and a father of four from Be'er Sheva, was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah to Israel in 1994 at the age of 19. His parents made aliyah before him, in 1981.

Upon his arrival to Israel, he began preparing for the university entry exams to continue his medical studies, which he began in Addis Ababa at the age of 16 after skipping several grades.

He continued his medical studies at Ben-Gurion University and then underwent basic training, army medics' course and officers' course while finishing his PhD in medicine.

Upon completing his doctorate degree, he was stationed at his request in the Paratroopers Brigade's 101st Battalion as a medical officer. Later, he served as a doctor in the elite Maglan Special Forces unit.

Dr. Yitzhaki with IDF chief Eisenkot (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Yitzhaki was a resident in general surgery and was called up to serve as a doctor in the Nahal Brigade. Twelve hours before fighting ended, Yitzhaki had suffered a shrapnel injury to his left arm and had to undergo surgery. After recovering, he finished his residency in general surgery.

During the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead, Yitzhaki served as the head of the Medical Department in the Southern Command.

Yitzhaki also served as a surgeon at a field hospital as part of the IDF's humanitarian delegation to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

Later, he completed the second stage of his residency and returned to IDF service as the head medical officer of the Gaza Division during the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense and 2014 Operation Protective Edge. Following this, he was was appointed the head of operational medicine in the Medical Corps.
Gail asked me if I could cover the Paws for Pets article for today. Its certainly not like I dont have enough cats to write stories about but this week I would like to share some memories and thoughts.

On August 28, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States. Twelve years ago, approximately 1,800 lives were lost with billions of dollars in damage. I was glued to the news then as I am today as the unprecedented devastating flooding from Hurricane Harvey is once again hitting the southern coast.

Thankfully the loss of life is far less than Katrina, but any loss of life is one too many. I not only have friends in this area, but many of my extended family members live in and around Houston and Beaumont.

Following Hurricane Katrina many of you know York Adopt a Pet took in 10 cats that were transported out of the New Orleans by Hearts United in Auburn, Neb. That was of course before our building was built and they were at the Sanctuary here at my house. I named them all Cajun names like Creole and Voodoo to name a couple. When they were transferred out of New Orleans to shelters in various states, the description and gender were available at the huge receiving area of Lamar-Dixon Exposition Center in Gonzales, Louisiana. I received calls for weeks after from families checking to see if I had their cat.

Sadly by emailing pictures back and forth, we were not able to reunite any with their previous owners, so all 10 were adopted here in Nebraska.

More than 8,500 dogs and cats were taken to this rescue center which included the 10 that ended up in York. The pictures of cages upon cages of displaced cats and dogs will forever remain in my memory. The estimated loss of dogs and cats that were misplaced or lost their lives was put at approximately 250,000.

Many things were learned from this disaster.

At that time people who were being rescued were not allowed to bring their pets with them. Pets were not allowed in any of the shelters that were set up. Not so today. Today there are heartwarming videos of people being rescued with their cats in cages, dogs on leashes or being carried to the rescue boats. There are people who are using their private boats to pick up dogs and cats from car roof tops and porches. There are men on horses herding cattle and horses to higher ground.

I would also like to note that when disaster strikes America, the citizens rise up to the occasion. People are reaching out to others regardless of color, religion, age, political affiliation, rich or poor. As their hands reach out to help one another they are only concerned that this person in need is a fellow American. It goes without saying that we owe our thanks to so many who are there helping, to our policemen, firemen, medics, first responders, doctors, nurses, utility workers and those who are donating food, water, clothing as well those who are working in the animal shelters.

Our cat and kitten numbers are high and our work load seems overwhelming. As of today we have taken in 306 cats and kittens and we still have four months to go to close out 2017. BUT when you compare our lives to those in the southern coastal areas we have much to be thankful for. We have a wonderful shelter, loyal and compassionate volunteers. Yes, we have an overabundance of cats and kittens but as in past years this too will pass.

You can help free up space by adopting Annabell who is a spayed declawed sweet cat or Judy who is one of our younger kittens. Reach your hand out to the many cats and kittens at York Adopt a Pet that are waiting for their forever homes.
YORK  War buddies Vance Teegerstrom and Ed Mellado were close friends while serving together in the Army while Korea exploded around them; theyre just as tight today in their 80s.

Mellado, in town recently with family members, shared lunch and conversation with Teegerstrom and Ramona, his first lady of 62 years.

The two veterans enjoyed a lively conversation and answered questions from loved ones about their service in a heavy equipment, engineering unit of the U.S. Army.

Teegerstrom and Mellado enlisted in September 1948 from Nebraska and California, respectively.

We ended up in basic training together, Teegerstrom explains.

The two were stationed in northern Japan, but when the war broke out they, their trucks and engineering equipment were taken post-haste to the seaport town of Busan, South Korea, by Japanese ship.

The war started in June of 1950, he said. We got there two weeks later and stayed until May of 52.

During that time he and Mellado were engaged in five battlefield campaigns.

He once found himself in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. After just one week, however, his unit was ordered to fall back.

That was when China entered the war, he said, explaining the hasty troop reshuffle.

Asked if he and Mellado have remained fast friends in the decades since the war, Teegerstrom answered, We sure have.

His friend attended technology school in Illinois, Then he went to Nicaragua and Argentina and the Philippines and built dams.

He wanted me to go with him, but I looked at the (tech) manual and said, I dont think so, he related with a chuckle.

Upon his own return to Nebraska, Teegerstrom worked at first as a mechanic for Art Doblers tractor repair business in York. Next he wrenched Fords, Chevys and Pontiacs at area car dealerships before settling in for many years as equipment manager at Overland Sand and Gravel.

Retired since 1995, he is now 87 years old.

The Teegerstroms are lifelong residents of Stromsburg where the couple raised four sons.
YORK  The Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce brings annual legislative forums to communities in the state and Thursday was Yorks turn.

The presentations and discussions took place over lunch at York Country Club. Speakers were State Chamber officials Joseph Young and Jamie Karl, and Nebraska State Senator Mark Kolterman from Seward.

Young began with a nod to Kolterman.

We appreciate Sen. Kolterman, he said, adding theres a great relationship between him and the State Chamber. He happens to have a 100 percent ranking on our vote scorecard again this year for ballots hes cast on issues of interest to the organization.

Were trying to make Nebraska the best place to do business, a task that requires State Chamber staff to track 350-400 bills per legislative session.

Why so many? The diversity of members and the issues of concern to them, he explained, account for that number.

Flagship issues to the Chamber, he said, include: Taxes, the cost of doing business, job creation and work force, including affordable housing for families so they can take all those jobs. The latter, he said, Is probably the biggest issue over the past four or five years.

Chamber attention does not, he stressed, fall upon the bills that passed exclusively.

The bills we stop from passing are important, too, he noted.

Karl went through slides divided into The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of how business-friendly the state is as rated by outside entities.

The Good  No. 1 for regulatory climate, No. 5 for unemployment tax costs, No. 3 for legal climate and No. 6 in the fiscal solvency category.

He said the lofty solvency ranking is driven by the fact per-capita debt in Nebraska is only $8.

The Bad  No. 27 for current economic health, No. 26 for growth prospects, No. 33 for technology and innovation, No. 20 for available workforce.

Karl said the states workforce ranking has fallen nine spots in two years because not many workers are available in a state with 2.5 percent unemployment.

Basically anyone who wants a job in Nebraska has a job, he said. You dont want that (unemployed) 2  percent working at your business.

The Ugly?

We pay a lot of taxes, $9.8 billion last year at the state and local levels, he said with a sigh.

The point is made in the fact the average individual income tax rate in states that share borders with Nebraska is 2.03 percent. Here, he said, its 6.84 percent.

Obviously that discrepancy builds a fence between Nebraska and those other states when businesses go shopping for place in which to expand or relocate.

Nebraska taxpayers, he said, now face a combined, all-inclusive tax rate of 50 percent.

He also pointed out that 60 percent of property tax dollars statewide go to fund K-12 education.

The state, he stressed, does not collect a single dime of property tax money. That authority exists at the local level exclusively.

To the question of the state returning money to the county and local levels he noted, One-third of the state budget is going to local governments already.

Everyone in this room would probably come up with a different plan for tax reform, he said, based upon the taxes they pay personally.

When his turn at microphone came Kolterman began by pointing out the session just ended as his third since being elected to the body.

The next session is probably going to be one of the toughest to get through, he predicted. The Unicameral, he said giving fair warning, is looking at probably more cuts come January.

Kolterman doesnt speak much on the floor of the Legislature, but nonetheless influenced a majority of bills passed during the session, often by serving as a bridge between colleagues.

A big challenge on the horizon, he said, is how to stock outstate Nebraska with adequate numbers of doctors, allied health professionals and hospitals.

One answer he mentioned: Tele-medicine.

Told via a note from the audience of a mother who was forced to travel from Broken Bow to Kearney so she could give birth by C-section, Kolterman laughed and said, Well, I guess we cant do that by tele-medicine.

All joking aside, Kolterman said that mothers quandary perfectly illustrates the point.

One recurring obstacle in the body - term limits  is an enormous limiting factor.

To turn it (legislative body) over like were turning it over is a big problem. With all that retirement (of senators) the constant flood of newbies has to rely on the institutional knowledge of the (legislative) staff because they have none of their own. By the time they get it, they term limit out.

As to specific issues, he said, Property taxes and how we fund education go hand-in-hand so weve really got to pay attention to that.

Also, he said 53 percent of nursing home occupants today are paid for by the state on average.

Some in their elderly years are known to abuse the system by giving their land away and then expecting the state to pay for them.

Look for the legislature to tighten the screws on that and similar loopholes.

I like to think were trying to listen to our constituents, he said. In our office we track every bill. Reality is we are nonpartisan and thus should leave both colors  Red and Blue  at the door.

I didnt go down there to change the world. I went down there with the idea to help Nebraskans.
News

Phoenix, Arizona - The operators of a telemarketing scheme that pitched phony business and grant opportunities have agreed to be banned from those lines of business under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that they targeted seniors, veterans, and debt-laden consumers with the scam.

According to an FTC complaint filed in October 2016, the defendants charged consumers hundreds or thousands of dollars and falsely promised to create a retail website for them that linked to Amazon.com and would earn substantial income. The defendants telemarketers, often claiming to represent the government, also falsely claimed that consumers who paid them thousands of dollars were guaranteed to receive grants from the government and other sources worth tens  and sometimes hundreds  of thousands of dollars.

Under the stipulated final orders, Carl E. Morris, Jr., Stephanie A. Bateluna, Stacey Vela and Paramount Business Services LLC are banned from telemarketing and the sale of business opportunities, grant products and services, and related products and services. They are also prohibited from misrepresenting, in selling any good or service, affiliation with Amazon.com or any other online merchant or the government. In addition, they are barred from selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers personal information they had collected and failing to dispose of it properly upon the FTCs request.

Each order imposes a judgment of more than $11.8 million, which  only for Bateluna, Vela, and Paramount  will be partially suspended after they have surrendered their assets. The full judgment for these defendants will become due immediately if they are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The FTC thanks the Phoenix Police Department and Office of the Arizona Attorney General for their important assistance in this matter.

The Commission vote approving the stipulated final orders was 2-0. The United States District Court for the District of Arizona entered the orders against Bateluna, Vela and Paramount on August 11, 2017, and the order against Morris yesterday.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Angela Carrillo, President of Fluid Energies Therapeutic Massage, Inc. and her sister, Diana Valerie Robledo, graduated from AWCs Massage Therapy Program in 2009 and have since opened their own practice in Yuma. The sisters are proud of their time in the program, which they completed in two years. After having successful careers in cosmetology and barbering, they later decided to explore another option together.

During their time in the AWC Massage Therapy Program, the two were impressed by the small class sizes and the experiences the faculty brought to the classroom.

I still contact my former faculty, like Kate (Turpin; AWC Professor/Coordinator Licensed Massage Therapy), Im always calling her and asking for advice on different techniques Carrillo said. The faculty and staff are always available with real-world solutions and ready for questions even after we graduate.

It was through the program that Carrillo and Robledo decided they wanted to help others by using the power of their hands and energies. We have the confidence in what we do because of the staff and instructors in the AWC Massage therapy Program. Its a beautiful thing to be able to do what we do, commented Angela Carrillo.

Kate Turpin, Professor/Coordinator Licensed Massage Therapy, agreed, Our massage program is amazing because we do honor the heart of each student, ignite and fuel their passion to help others in a meaningful way. Massage therapy is a rewarding career, but also encourages a healthy lifestyle for the practitioner.

Since the Arizona Western College Massage Therapy Program began in 2004, it has produced over 200 licensed massage therapists. More than 85 percent of those graduates have remained in the Yuma area and about 30 local massage businesses are owned by past AWC students.

Although this seems like a large number for our community, this is a growing and emerging field and we get calls from potential employers every month looking for therapists, commented Turpin. There is still potential to start your own business if desired.

A certification in massage therapy usually takes students about 3 semesters to complete. Students within the program learn a wide range of skills through hands on chair massage sessions and other classes and events. Anatomy and Physiology and Self-Care for Healthcare Providers are just two examples of the types of classes students can expect to take through the program. Students will also have the opportunity to work closely with other specialty programs at Yuma Regional Cancer Center (oncology massage) as well as with physical therapists and chiropractors.

Having these eye-opening, heart-warming experiences allowed Carrillo and Robledo to reinforce their skills they had learned and apply them to real-world circumstances, while also learning compassion and understanding.

It really changed my life, laying our hands on the cancer patients made me realize that our hands are healers, commented Carrillo.

We can make a lot of people feel better, Robledo remarked.

Those interested in joining the AWC Massage Therapy Program can call (928) 317-6056 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . There are prerequisite classes starting in August and core courses to follow the next two semesters.

There are scholarships available for students interested in the Massage Therapy Program. For more information on financial assistance and applications, contact Kate Turpin, Professor/Coordinator Licensed Massage Therapy, at 928-317-6056 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Washington: People who were denied from entering the US under President Donald Trump`s first travel ban can now reapply for American visas, according to a settlement reached in a case that temporarily blocked the executive order in January.

In the brief period after the first travel ban went into effect on January 27, a number of people with valid visas were denied entry into the US and put on planes back to where they came from, reports CNN.

Two of those people, Iraqi nationals Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, filed a suit after being detained at New York`s John F Kennedy International Airport.

The court ruling temporarily blocked the travel ban from being implemented nationwide Because the case was filed as a class action lawsuit.

According to the settlement issued on Thursday, all of those people who were denied entry but had proper documentation can now reapply for visas to enter the US, CNN reported.

The government now plans to send letters to notify those who were denied entry.

The letters will include a list of free legal service providers who can help the applicants reapply, and they will be written in English, Farsi and Arabic, according to the settlement.

While the government has not provided a list of the people who will receive the letter, the settlement states that those who "provided contact information in visa applications" and "applied for admission at a port of entry in the United States, were found inadmissible solely as a result of the Executive Order, withdrew their applications for admission, and since their withdrawal have neither entered the US nor sought a visa for future travel to the US" will receive the letters.

About 2,000 people were detained during the almost 24-hour time period from when the first travel ban went into effect to when the temporary stay blocked the travel ban from being implemented.

The Department of Justice will designate a liaison to review these applications for three months after the letters have been sent out, according to the settlement.

The plaintiffs, Darweesh and Alshawi, agreed to drop any claims they had against the government in the settlement, CNN reported.

No monetary compensation was awarded to either plaintiff.

In June, the Supreme Court allowed parts of Trump`s second travel ban executive order to go into effect and will hear oral arguments on the case in October.
Hyderabad: In a shocking incident, a 21-year-old software engineer, who was going home for her engagement ceremony suffered head injuries, after she jumped off a train to escape molestation bid.

The incident happened on Thursday evening when the software engineer associated with IT company Redington Gulf, was going home along with two of her friends in the Ernakulam-Hazrat Nizamuddin Millennium Express.

The 21-year-old hails from Vijayawada.

Reports said three men started sexually harassing her, with one of them making vulgar gestures.

While two of them molested the 21-year-old, the third recorded the incident on his mobile phone.

In order to escape the molestation attempt, she jumped off the running train near Singarayakonda railway station.

Fortunately, the software engineer suffered didn't suffer major injuries as the train was slow since it was approaching the railway station.

The police arrested the three accused from Vijaywada Railway station.

Police have registered a case against the three accused.
San Francisco: Facebook-owned Instagram will now allow users to view its most popular feature Stories, both on mobile web and desktop, reports said on Friday.

"Initially, the feature will allow desktop and mobile web users to view Instagram Stories posted by their friends and others they follow. But in the months ahead, the web version will allow you to post to Stories too", says a report in Tech Crunch.

Instagram wrote in a blog post: "Stories has quickly become an important part of the Instagram experience -- over 250 million people use it every day to see what their friends are doing in the moment."

Hit by the growth of Instagram Stories, photo-sharing platform Snapchat managed to add only seven million daily active users (DAUs) in the second quarter of 2017.

"We believe deeply in the long-term success of Snap," CEO Evan Spiegel told analysts after the results, adding that "the company is making progress".

The DAUs grew from 143 million in Q2 2016 to 173 million in Q2 2017 -- an increase of 30.5 million or 21 per cent (year-over-year).

On the other hand, Instagram Stories has garnered over 250 million MAUs. The application currently has nearly 700 million users globally.
New Delhi: Central Coalfields Ltd chief Gopal Singh has been given the additional charge of CMD of Coal India, the world's largest coal miner said on Friday.

Singh succeeds Sutirtha Bhattacharya, who retired on Thursday, the state-owned Coal India (CIL) said in a filing to the BSE.

"Sutirtha Bhattacharya, CMD, CIL, on attaining superannuation has relinquished the charge of CMD wef August 31, 2017," the filing stated.

"The Ministry of Coal... Has entrusted the additional charge of CMD CIL to Gopal Singh, CMD, CCL (Central Coalfields Ltd), with immediate effect and until regular appointment is made. He has taken charge with effect from September 1, 2017," the company added.

CCL is a subsidiary of Coal India.

The government had yesterday said it was examining a proposal to set up a committee for selection of chairman-cum- managing director of CIL.

"I am looking at creating a search cum selection committee and have sent in a proposal... To look at newer candidates or assess the suitability of the candidate," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had said.

Government head-hunter PESB has earlier suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for selection of CMD for Coal India as it did not find any of the six candidates interviewed as fit for the top post.
New Delhi: Infosys on Friday said it is engaging with shareholders on the future course of action to ensure that high governance standards are maintained, as it attempts to put behind months of acrimony between founders and former Board members over allegations of lapses.

Founders, led by NR Narayana Murthy, had demanded Board re-constitution pointing to a variety of reasons, including whistle-blower complaints of irregularities with Infosys' USD 200 million Panaya acquisition and severance pay to former executives.

On August 24, the then chairman R Seshasayee quit and co-founder Nandan Nilekani was named non-executive Chairman.

"As announced on August 25, 2017, the company has started engaging in broad-based shareholder consultations to determine what further actions, if any, the company can take to ensure that it continues to adhere to high governance standards," Infosys said in a BSE filing.

It added that during such consultations, "no material unpublished price sensitive information or financial updates will be provided".

Earlier this week, Murthy had said his concerns with the previous board were poor governance, ex-CFO being paid large severance as 'hush- money' and alleged irregularities in Panaya acquisition.

Seshasayee, however, hit out at Murthy on Friday for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

On August 18, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka had quit from his position citing slander. The Infosys Board -- which was headed by Seshasayee at that time -- then accused Murthy of running a "misguided" campaign and held him responsible for Sikka's resignation.

A week later on August 24, Seshasayee as well as three other directors quit the Board, giving into Murthy's demand for Seshasayee and other Board members to resign.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked CBI to respond to Karti Chidambaram's affidavit on his questioning in a case related to the alleged irregularities in FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007.

During the hearing, CBI told the apex court that there is good, cogent reason for lookout circulars against former Union minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram.

While placing documents in sealed cover in SC, CBI said that Karti's case is not simple but involves jugglery of accounts and property abroad.

The agency is examining him in connection with a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to media group INX Media for receiving funds from Mauritius when his father P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.

Earlier the Madras High Court directed Karti, to approach a court in Delhi to quash the FIR lodged against him in a bribery case. The Madras High Court has informed Karti that he would have to take his petition to the Delhi High Court, as the case does not come under the jurisdiction of Madras High Court.

Karti had moved the court after the Supreme Court asked him to appear before the CBI in New Delhi, to help the investigating agency with its probe. Earlier in August, the Madras High Court had stayed the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against Karti and four others. The Apex Court had later said that it would review the High Court order cancelling the LOC issued by Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)

P Chidambaram had earlier issued a strong statement in response to CBI's FIR against Karti, saying the government was using the CBI and other agencies to target his son.

The FIPB approval was granted in "hundreds of cases", the senior Congress leader had said.
New Delhi: Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee on Friday hit out at company founder N R Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

Seshasayee, who along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys after Murthy rallied other co- founders and institutional investors to bring back peer Nandan Nilekani, said he had always been candid and truthful in all his statements concerning Infosys.

"Since my resignation from the board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," he said, adding he was forced to issue a statement after Murthy's "personal attack and patently false and slanderous accusations" at an investor call earlier this week.

Days after installing Nilekani, Murthy had on August 29 stated that his concerns with the previous board led by Seshasayee were poor governance and ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal being paid large severance as 'hush-money'.

Seshasayee said Murthy's statement to the investors "misleadingly attributes words" to him, words taken "completely out of context" to make it appear that he had lied.

Murthy had in his investor call said that Seshasayee had on October 14 told him that the board agreed to pay Bansal large sum of money as it "felt generous".

"To quote an anonymous whistle blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," he said.

Also, words that Murthy attributes to independent directors Jeff Lehman and Roopa Kudva from their private conversation with him are also "egregiously taken out of context," he said.

Murthy had stated that Lehman had told him that the reasons for payment to Bansal were confidential while Kudva asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement if he wanted to know the reasons.

"It is regrettable that Murthy 's campaign on the alleged governance lapses has continually slipped into personal attacks and slander on individual board members," he said.

Seshasayee said he joined Infosys at the invitation of Murthy, who in February this year issued a press statement to say that "I was a man of high integrity."

"I am therefore at a loss to understand the motivations for this persistent vendetta against me," he said.

The same statement went on to quote Jeffrey Lehman, a former of director of Infosys who also resigned recently, to say that Murthy should stop quoting "lies" floated in the anonymous letter on ex-CFO compensation and alleged irregularities in USD 200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya.

"For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop quoting those lies as if they were reputable. For the good of Infosys, I wish Murthy would stop defaming Seshasayee and the other members of a Board who have served with dedication and integrity, who have turned the other cheek when slandered, and who have acted only in the best interests of the company," he said.

He said during his tenure, Seshasayee was "scrupulously and tirelessly devoted to ensuring that the Board comply with all applicable principles of law and governance."

"An anonymous, so-called 'whistle blower' made outrageous charges against management; the Board engaged several sets of outside counsel and investigators of impeccable reputation, and those investigators determined that every charge was false and without any foundation," he said.

The statement also quoted John Etchemendy, another former Director of Infosys who also resigned recently from the Board, to say that Seshasayee is "a man of impeccable integrity. Faced with unfair, false, and outrageous attacks, he has consistently responded with scrupulous honesty and forthrightness."

He said he was "fully conversant with the details of the Rajiv Bansal issue" and can categorically state that at no point did Seshasayee say "anything in public or, to the best of my knowledge, in private that was untrue or did not reflect the collective view of the Board."
New Delhi: Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources has plans to invest around Rs 50,000 crore on business expansion in India in coming years, its Chairman Anil Agarwal said on Friday.

He also expressed hope that the retrospective taxation issue between Cairn Plc and the government would soon be sorted out.

"I have promised the government that the group will invest Rs 40,000-50,000 crore. My shareholders and my banks abroad would be very pleased with my plan," Agarwal said.

He further said that this decade will belong to India and it is the best time to invest here.

On the retrospective taxation row, Agarwal said, "The kind of image that India has all over the world, the retrospective tax is one small thing which has to be sorted out... There is a case between the government and Cairn Plc. I highly recommend both parties to sit down and sort out this issue."

The retrospective legislation was used to levy a principal tax liability of Rs 10,247 crore on the UK-based Cairn Energy Plc. That matter too is before an international arbitration panel.

Highlighting some of the reform measures taken by the government, Agarwal said bankruptcy law and Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help improve the business environment and attract global investors.

Vedanta is a major player in India's Zinc Industry, primary Aluminium market, and refined copper with market shares of 72 percent, 40 percent and 35 percent respectively.

Also, it is India's largest private sector Iron Ore exporter and operator of 26 percent of India's crude oil production through Cairn India.

Meanwhile, the Income-Tax Department has seized USD 104 million dividend due to Cairn Energy Plc from the remaining stake in the erstwhile subsidiary Cairn India (now called Vedanta Ltd). The department has already adjusted Rs 1,500 crore of tax refund that was due to Cairn Energy, against the principal amount.

"The government already has holding shares about Rs 6,000-7,000 crore and something should be done to settle the issue. Those shares were of Cairn Plc," he had said.

Vedanta Resources recently merged Cairn India with group company Vedanta Ltd.
New Delhi: The ongoing 23rd Delhi Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, turned host for a number of events on Friday, including Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma visiting it fair to unveil a book titled "Ru NUTS" by author Shubha Singh.

The event was further followed by an award ceremony for the best two books for the year 2016-17 was given away. "Indica - A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent" published by Penguin Random House India bagged the first prize while the second prize went to Om Book International`s "Asha Parekh - The Hit Girl: An Autobiography". "Captain Amarinder Singh - The People`s Maharaja" from Hay House Publishers was honoured with a certificate.

On the 7th day, the fair also saw the bibliophiles of the national capital turning up for the event despite sudden showers. Sanjeev Sharma, a Hindi professor from Rohini, said that rain cannot diminish his love for books and hence he came over to the book fair.

"I have a fascination for classic Hindi books like those written by Munshi Prem Chand, Maithili Sharan Gupta and others. And these books can be found mostly in fairs and not shops," he said.

Kaushik Gupta, a lawyer at Calcuta High Court who got various fancy stationaries and the Harry Potter series for his daughter, said: "Book fairs help to inculcate reading habits among youths. It is also responsibility of parents to bring their children to book fairs."

The Delhi Book Fair will conclude on September 3.
New Delhi: Economic growth in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017-18 is expected to soar to 7- 7.5 per cent on the back of good monsoon and clarity over GST, Niti Aayog's new Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Friday.

India's GDP growth rate slid to a 3-year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter (April-June), mainly on account of a slump in manufacturing.

"I am confident that in the July-September quarter, economy will grow by 7-7.5 per cent. Destocking, which was in anticipation of GST rollout, has completed and now, there is more clarity on the new tax regime," said Kumar, who took over as Vice-Chairman on Friday replacing Arvind Panagariya. "Also, monsoon is good. Many IPOs are in the offing. FDI and FIIs are also increasing."

The noted economist, however, cautioned against taking the June quarter growth blip as a trend.

On the effect of demonetisation, he held that it impacted growth in the first quarter as by then the currency shortage triggered by the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9 last year was over.

Kumar explained the growth slide in terms of destocking by manufacturers in anticipation of GST rollout from July 1.

Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement that demonetisation would hit economic growth by about 2 per cent, Kumar said quarterly data cannot be used to derive such conclusions.

"With due respect to my mentor Manmohan Singh, this quarterly data cannot be used to say look GDP will drop by 1 -2.5 per cent... There has been successive drop in GDP growth. There is a historical experience, every country which has taken fundamental governance reform has seen shrinkage in output," the vice-chairman of the premier think-tank added.

Pitching for formulating a policy to generate jobs, Kumar said, "We need to develop our own models. That model will have meet the critical task of generating jobs... Whether it is unemployment or under-employment, it's not the point, the point is we have created jobs, we have met aspirations of young people."

Kumar termed issues related to farmer's distress as "real phenomena, not imaginary".

"I am in favour of making agriculture more remunerative. And I also believe that the government should reduce interferences in the agriculture sector," Kumar observed.

Asked by when the Aayog will finalise its 15-year Vision Document, Kumar replied that a great amount of work has gone into it.

The new vice-chairman signalled that he wants external advisors to join the policy body and he would like to work with groups of states.
New Delhi: Economic growth in the second quarter (July-September) of 2017-18 is expected to soar to 7- 7.5 percent on the back of good monsoon and clarity over GST, Niti Aayog's new Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said today.

India's GDP growth rate slid to a 3-year low of 5.7 percent in the first quarter (April-June), mainly on account of slump in manufacturing.

"I am confident that in the July-September quarter, economy will grow by 7-7.5 percent. Destocking, which was in anticipation of GST rollout has completed and now, there is more clarity on the new tax regime," said Kumar, who took over as Vice-Chairman today replacing Arvind Panagariya. "Also, monsoon is good. Many IPOs are in the offing. FDI and FIIs are also increasing."

On the effect of demonetisation, he said it impacted growth in the first quarter as by that time the currency shortage triggered by the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9 last year was over.

Kumar further said the decline in growth in the first quarter can be attributed to destocking by manufacturers in anticipation of GST rollout from July 1.

Referring to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement that demonetisation would reduce economic growth by about 2 percent, Kumar said quarterly data cannot be used to make such conclusions.

"With due respect to my mentor Manmohan Singh, this quarterly data cannot be used to say look GDP will drop by 1 -2.5 percent... There has been successive drop in GDP growth. There is a historical experience, every country which has taken fundamental governance reform has seen shrinkage in output," he explained.
New Delhi: If the statistics furnished by the Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption global civil society organisation, are anything to go by, India has a long way ahead to fulfil one of the many objectives as told by the current Indian government - defeating the malice of corruption.

A recent survey by the Transparency International states that India is the most corrupt country in Asia.

Depicting how pervasive the problem is across Asia, a list released by Forbes - Asia's Five Most Corrupt Countries - says that India beats Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar, when it comes to bribery rate.

The Forbes article, which rates India the highest in the list with 69 percent bribery rate, describes India as: "In five of the six public services - schools, hospitals, ID documents, police, and utility services - more than half the respondents have had to pay a bribe."

The article goes on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'fight against corruption.'

"However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption has made a mark: 53 percent of the people think he is going it fairly or very well. And it has led to people feeling empowered, as 63 percent believe ordinary people can make a difference," it adds.

India is closely followed by Vietnam at 65 percent bribery rate.

India's neighbour, Pakistan, stands fourth in the list with 40 percent bribery rate. The article describes the nation as: "In Pakistan, about three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. Of the people who encountered either the police or the courts, nearly seven in ten had to pay a bribe. Sadly, people don't feel things can change-only a third think ordinary people can make a difference."

The 18-month long survey by Transparency International was concluded after talking to more than 20,000 people in 16 countries, regions and territories in the Asia Pacific.

The Berlin-based corruption watchdog had put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its Corruption Perception Index last year.

The country's 2015 corruption perception score remained the same as 2014's - 38/100 - showing lack of improvement.

According to figures published in March, 2017, while citizens of Pakistan were the most likely of any country to be asked for bribes in law and order institutions, for India the police bribery rate was 54 percent and for China a low 12 percent.

India had the highest bribery rates of all the countries surveyed for access to public schools (58 percent) and healthcare (59 percent).
Frankfurt: Failure to defuse a World War Two bomb found at a building site in Germany`s financial capital Frankfurt could cause a big enough explosion to flatten a city block, a fire department official said on Friday.

"This bomb has more than 1.4 tonnes of explosives," Frankfurt fire chief Reinhard Ries told reporters. "It`s not just fragments that are the problem, but also the pressure that it creates that would dismantle all the buildings in a 100-metre radius."

The HC 4000 bomb is assumed to have been dropped by Britain`s Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war. It was discovered earlier this week on a building site in Frankfurt`s leafy Westend, where many wealthy bankers live.

Defusing it will require the biggest postwar evacuation in Germany, with police planning to clear an area including police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems and Germany`s central bank storing $70 billion in gold reserves.

Frankfurt city officials have said more than 60,000 residents will have to leave their homes for at least 12 hours.

On Friday, they called on Frankfurt`s residents to clear the area for 1.5 km around the bomb, by 8 am on Sunday, saying police would be authorised to remove by force anyone who refused to leave.

"We want to avoid not being able to return to these buildings on Monday morning. That would create a very difficult situation for Frankfurt," fire chief Ries said.

It is not unusual for unexploded bombs from World War Two air raids to be found in German cities, but rarely are they so large and in such a sensitive position.
Chandigarh: Five Haryana Police personnel, who were part of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's security, have been suspended, after it was reported that the cops alleegdly tried to free the Dera chief when he was brought outside the Panchkula Court complex on August 25.

DGP Sandhu confirmed that the five cops have been suspended and Sedition and attempt to murder charges were slapped against them.

A key Dera functionary, who was booked on sedition charge, has also been arrested by the police on Thursday, the DGP said.

Haryana Police on Thursday also arrested an aide of rapist Dera chief after he surrendered in Panchkula after being booked for sedition and inciting violence.

Dhiman, along with Dera spokesman Aditya Insan, were among the five people booked by the Haryana Police here last week for inciting violence by Dera followers after the rape conviction of the sect chief by the CBI special court here on August 25.

At least 38 people died and 264 were injured in large scale violence by Dera supporters following the conviction of the Dera chief.

A special CBI court in Panchkula had sentenced the Dera chief to 20-year imprisonment in the rape case on Monday.

Though no untoward incident was reported in Haryana and Punjab, the security personnel continued to remain on an alert to prevent any untoward incident, officials said.
Delhi: Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of State for Labour and Employment (independent charge) resigned from his post on Friday.

He represents the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, Andhra Pradesh and was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government too.

The development comes ahead of the much-awaited reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers that is expected to take place on Sunday.

Yesterday, Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy had put in his papers, hours after BJP chief Amit Shah had held a meeting with some senior ministers at his residence.

Shah had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.

Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey had also put in their papers yesterday, as per media reports.

After assuming office in May 2014, the PM has expanded his council of ministers twice - first on November 9 in 2014 and then on July 05 in 2016.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan at around 10 am on Sunday," a top government official was quoted as saying by PTI.

Two ministers, Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, have also reportedly offered to resign.

Arun Jaitley, who currently holds the charge of two portfolios - Finance and Defence, may retain only one.

"At least not for very long," he had said yesterday in response to questions by the media on how long he would continue as Defence Minister.

A number of senior ministers are also holding dual portfolios.

Besides Jaitley, Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar are handling additional charges.

It is being speculated that Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had taken moral responsibility for a string of train accidents and indicated his willingness to resign, may be moved to another ministry.

Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) is likely to join the BJP-led NDA government.

There are also talks of a greater representation from existing allies like the TDP and the Shiv Sena.

The current strength of the council of ministers, including the PM, is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81.

According to a constitutional amendment, the limit cannot exceed beyond 15 percent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha which is 545.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Thursday said that forceful intercourse with minor wife is a criminal offence, even though section 375 of the Indian Penal Code cites that intercourse or sexual act by a man with his wife below 15 years is not rape.

The top court ruled that to protect children from sexual offences, marriage is not an exemption under the law.

The court was hearing a plea questioning the validity of a provision permitting a man to have physical relationship with his wife, even if she was aged between 15 and 18 years.

The top court also expressed dismay over the prevalence of the practice of child marriage despite the existence of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act and termed as unfortunate that this was being done mostly at the behest of girl child's parents.

"It is a hard reality and is unfortunate that most of the child marriages happening in the country are done by parents of the girl child. However, to this, there are odd exceptions when a minor boy and girl fall in love and marry on their own," a bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

It also sought to know whether it can create an offence by striking down the exception 2 of section 375 of IPC which the Parliament has refused to do.



Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appearing for NGO Independent Thought, said by amendment to CrPC in 2013, the age of consent for sexual intercourse by a girl, which was earlier 16 years has now been increased to 18 years.



He said that exception 2 to section 375 of the IPC still retains the age of consent as 15 years, due to which there is a huge gap of three years in the age of consent for a married girl child and an unmarried girl.



Agarwal, assisted by advocate Vikram Shrivatava, said that exception 2 to section 375 of the IPC was discriminatory and violate Article 14 of the Constitution.



Taking note of the arguments, the bench said, "We have to accept this hard reality. These kind of marriages are still happening in the country and if we are going to strike down this exception, then what would happen to the child born from such marriages. We have to keep all aspects in mind."



Agarwal said the court can strike down the exception like it did recently in the practice of triple talaq among Muslims for being arbitrary and discriminatory.



He contended that this classification has no rationale nexus with the object sought to be achieved as the reasoning behind increasing the age of consent to 18 years in 2013, was that a girl below that age is incapable of realising the consequences of her consent.



"If this is the object for increasing the age of consent to 18 years of age, then marriage of girl between the age of 15-17 years does not make the girl mature enough (mentally or physically) for the purpose of consent. Thus, it is discriminatory," Agarwal said.



He cited the fourth National Family Health Survey of 2015-16, and said there were 26.8 per cent of brides in the country who were married below the age of 18 years of age.



In the third Survey of 2005-06, the figure was even larger and 46 per cent of women (23 million brides) were married before the age of 18 in the country, he added.



The Centre, in its affidavits, had admitted that child marriage were still happening in the country due to uneven economic and educational development.



"It has been therefore decided to retain the age of 15 years under exception 2 of section 375 of IPC, so as to give protection to husband and wife against criminalising the sexual activity between them," it had said.



It had said that lawmakers had taken a pragmatic view regarding the issue of 'marital rape' as marriage being a social institution was the bedrock of any society and hence, needs to be protected.



"Exception 2 of section 375 of IPC envisages that if the marriage is solemnized at the age of 15 years due to traditions, it should not be a reason to book the husband in the case of offence under the IPC," it had said.



The Centre also gave details of number of prosecutions that have been instituted over the last three years.



The apex court had on August 9 said the raging issue whether to make forced marital intercourse and sexual acts, part of offence of rape in penal law, has been extensively debated and it cannot be considered as a criminal act.

Earlier, the apex court had in 2015, made National Commission for Women (NCW) party to explain how the offence of rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) afforded an exception to a man to have physical relationship with his minor wife and still not qualify it as crime. The NGO in its petition sought direction to declare exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC as "violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution to the extent that it permits intrusive sexual intercourse with a girl child aged between 15 and 18 years, only on the ground that she has been married."



It has also referred to the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, and said these provisions were contrary to the IPC provision.



The POCSO provision provides that physical relationship with a minor constitutes the offence of rape and it does not exclude such relationship between a man and his minor wife.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: A simple 'P and N' formula  where 'P' stands for 'Positive and 'N' is 'Negative'  will decide who stays in Narendra Modi's council of ministers and who goes out.

Top government sources told Zee Media, a special excel sheet created by a senior BJP leader contains all the names of ministers currently a part of the government.

The crucial part of this excel sheet is the column marked  'P and N'.

In front of every minister's name, a 'P' or 'N' denomination has been placed.

The excel sheet already has been presented to BJP president Amit Shah and PM Modi. The duo will take the final call on who remains in the cabinet and who exits.

Shah has already been holding several high-level meetings over the past few weeks based on this performance excel sheet.

Criteria of 'P' and 'N' is based on ground level performance. This time, social media has not been included in the parameters, sources further told Zee Media.

According to emerging reports, transport minister Nitin Gadkari could get Defence portfolio after Arun Jaitley resigns.

Human Resource Development minister Prakash Javadekar is also likely to get a bigger portfolio or additional charges.

On Thursday evening, Water Resource minister Uma Bharti and Skills Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy resigned, signaling the start of the cabinet rejig.

On Friday morning, Minister of State of Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan also resigned. More resignations could follow.

Speculations are rife, new BJP allies - AIADMK and JD(U) - may also have a role in the cabinet.

The reshuffle and expansion of the cabinet are likely to take place on Saturday evening, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled departure for BRICS summit on Sunday.
New Delhi: In the latest development, Sanjeev Balyan - the Minister of State of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation - has resigned.

Ahead of the much-awaited reshuffle in the council ministers of Narendra Modi-led NDA government, ministers Uma Bharti and Rajiv Pratap Rudy resigned on Thursday evening. More resignations are likely to follow today, sources told Zee Media.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Ministers of state minister (MoS) Giriraj Singh and Mahendra Nath Pandey are also are the other three cabinet members who resigned yesterday.

The cabinet reshuffle and expansion is likely to take place on Saturday evening, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled departure for BRICS summit on Sunday.

Ministers of state minister Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahendra Nath Pandey, and may also tender their resignations, sources told Zee Media.
New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016. The court referred the petition on Jat reservation to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which will have to submit its report by March 31, 2018.

The court has directed the state government present the Backward Class Commission data collected by it, else the commission will collect data on basis of which percentage to which extent reservation is to be granted to be determined, Haryana Additional Advocate General Lokesh Singhal told news agency ANI.

Commission has to decide the issue by March 31, 2018. Reservation granted to caste mentioned in Class-III to remain in abeyance till then, added Singhal.

The court was expected to pronounce the verdict on the constitutional validity of Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016, that gives reservation in services and admissions in educational institutions to Jat communities and five others under the BC(C) category.

Haryana and Delhi police are on high alert following court's latest order.
New Delhi: The Bofors scandal has returned to haunt the Congress.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal of BJP leader Ajay Kumar Agarwal challenging Delhi High Court order quashing charges against Europe-based industrialists -- the Hinduja brothers -- in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off scam case.

The Bofors issue came in focus again recently after a parliamentary panel suggested that the case of irregularities in purchase of Bofors guns should be reopened as there were many "loopholes" in the investigation in past.

The Bofors scandal relating to alleged payment of kickbacks in procurement of howitzer artillery guns had triggered a massive political storm and led to the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989.

The CBI has said it can re-investigate only if a court or government order was issued.
Washington: United States President Donald Trump's Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, has said that about 100,000 homes have been affected by Hurricane Harvey and the White House would soon make the first of the two planned supplemental funding requests to Congress to aid relief efforts in the affected regions.

However, Bossert said that he was not concerned about the administration not having the money for the operations underway right now in Houston and elsewhere as the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be "well-funded" under Trump's proposed budget.

Hailing the ongoing rescue and relief efforts, Bossert said that he was seeing an appropriate and a positive coordination between federal, state and local authorities.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is going to donate USD one million of his own money for the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.

"I'm happy to tell you that he would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people that we've seen across this country do. And he's pledging a million dollars of personal money to the fund. But as I said, he'll pledge probably a million dollars of his own personal money to help the people of both Texas and Louisiana," press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the White House.

She also said that the President and the First Lady will be travelling both to Texas and Louisiana on Saturday.

The continuing devastation from catastrophic flooding in the region, caused by Hurricane Harvey, has led to 33 deaths so far.

With heavy deluge from the Tropical Storm Harvey swallowing the entire Texas cities, the US military force has mobilized its warships and aircraft to help local law administration for the rescue operations.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already activated the Texas National Guard, which comprises of nearly 12,000 troops.

State, local and military rescue units till now rescued thousands of stranded residents from the water and flooded homes.
Vrindavan: BJP president Amit Shah attended the coordination meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) here on Friday and met RSS chief Mohan Bhgawat.

Forty allied organisations of the Sangh are also taking part in the event being chaired by the RSS chief.

At the end of today's session, Shah had a meeting with Bhagwat where frontline RSS functionaries including Dattatreya Hosabale, the Sangh's joint general secretary, Soni, Krishna Gopal and Ram Lal were present.

What transpired at the meeting was not yet known, but PTI quoted unconfirmed reports as saying that the rejig of the Union Council of Ministers on Sunday came up for discussion.

Meanwhile, during the inaugural session of the meet, senior RSS leader Suresh Soni said that people had started accepting the RSS.



"There are three stages that any kind of work goes through - being ignored, opposed and acceptance. After overcoming the first two stages, now we are experiencing the acceptance of the society," he said.

Soni said the RSS and its affiliates would discuss and analyse the state of their collective activities apart from issues of national and global importance during the three day meet, a statement said.

Political killings of its workers in Kerala and West Bengal and the central government's efforts to normalise the situation in Kashmir figured prominently during the first day of the coordination meeting of the RSS.



"The sad state of affairs in West Bengal and Kerala was highlighted which most people don't have the courage to talk about" a senior RSS leader who attended the meeting told IANS.



He added that the BJP-led NDA government's 'tough stand' on the Kashmir issue was appreciated by the RSS.



A total of 16 sessions are scheduled over the three-day event, of which six were held on Friday.

Earlier, RSS prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya had called the meet a routine affair and had said it was a platform for all sections of the Sangh to share details of the work done by them in their respective fields.



(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: Early conclusion of the proposed free trade agreement between India and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) would further boost economic ties between the two sides, Swiss President Doris Leuthard today said.

She said this agreement along with the investment protection framework would usher in a new era of cooperation between India and Switzerland.

EFTA, comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, is negotiating a free trade pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), with India since October 2008.

Addressing a business session here, Leuthard said to further strengthen the economic relationship, "we want to bring the negotiations that have been running between India and EFTA since 2008 to an end".

She said Switzerland is aware of the sensitivities of both the sides on the pact and this agreement would be important for India as lot of other negotiations are underway in the Asian region.

"I am sure that in this visit, we will have a better understanding and the push by the Indian Prime Minister and me will help the ministers conclude the pending questions," Leuthard said.

The president also said: "If you want to compete, you must open up markets. Switzerland is not somebody you have to be afraid of. We are fair partners, we rely on rules and regulations".

She said conclusion of this pact will be very positive for other negotiations and "you can show that we have the political will to open up ".

"I would really like to have India as a strong economic partner with trade agreement and an investment protection framework to be the base of the new era of cooperation," she said.

Speaking at the session, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too said India wanted to move forward on this agreement.

"I will definitely sit with my team who are going to meet (with EFTA officials) by end of September that they look into every issue and wherever they need political guidance and support, we are willing to give that," Sitharaman said.

She said India wants to conclude this pact as it would benefit both sides.

The two-way trade between India and EFTA dropped to USD 19 billion in 2016-17 from USD 21.5 billion in 2015-16. The trade gap is highly in favour of EFTA.

Under an FTA, trading partners give market access to each other with a view to promoting bilateral trade in goods and services, besides investments.

Further on the issue of intellectual property rights, she said India is ready to address any questions on IPR or concerns on data security.

India's IPR regime is in compliance with the global rules and "we shall ensure that the patent, copyrights and trademark rights of any individual or company is respected," the Indian minister added.

Talking about the data security issues, the Swiss President said owners of data in the internet have to be protected to promote investments.

"Internet is evolving at a rapid pace but there is a regulatory gap. How do we close that gap, that needs to be deliberated upon," she said.

Leuthard said the topic has been discussed at Davos in WEF but more is required. She invited people to participate in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be held in Geneva in December.

"Safer internet for everyone is a way forward...I invite you all," she said adding that at global level, there is a need for a concerted approach to tackle criminal activities.

Talking about areas of cooperation, she said lot of Swiss companies have invested in India and "we will bring lot of technologies to India and develop here".
Srinagar: Security forces have time and again foiled major infiltration bids by the militants from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

One such encounter between terrorists and the Indian Army along the LoC was caught on camera.

The area of the encounter appears to be a jungle area.

In the video massive gunfire can be heard and 3-4 militants can be seen.

However, Zee News does not claim the authenticity of the video.

The date, time and place of the video is also not known.
Srinagar: Terrorists attacked a bus of security personnel at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar area on Friday, killing one and injuring three others.

The bus was carrying personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police. It was going from Bemina to Zewan.

Four policemen were injured in the attack. They were rushed to the Army's 92 Base Hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment here, where Head Constable Kishan Lal succumbed to his injuries, a police official was quoted as saying by PTI.

The condition of the three others is stable, he said.

Security forces had been put on high alert after intelligence inputs had indicated that terrorists were planning an attack around Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Azha which falls on Saturday.

The attack comes days after eight security personnel, including four CRPF men, were killed when militants had carried out a suicide attack on a district police complex in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The terror strike had taken place at the crack of dawn on August 26 when the militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, had entered the police complex.

Three terrorists were also killed by the security men.

(With Agency inputs)
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has rejected some 100 applications for additional academic divisions in several colleges across the state on ground of incomplete documentation.

A Government Resolution (GR) issued by the Higher and Technical Education department yesterday listed out some 100 colleges along with names of the universities they are affiliated to.

The collages had applied under a clause in Maharashtra Public University's Act 2016, which permits institutions to seek speedy sanctioning of additional divisions, which were scrutinised in special meeting of officials and some 100 have been rejected.

In a GR issued today, the state government has sanctioned additional divisions to nine colleges with an undertaking that all those divisions will remain unaided permanently.

Officials from the education department maintained that as the government cannot take additional financial burden, it decided to sanction those additional divisions where college administration can bear the cost for running them.
Mumbai: Prasoon Joshi, the newly appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), believes there's a need for the censor body and filmmakers to have mutual understanding and appreciation of each one's roles and responsibilities. He says his focus will be on driving sound decisions which may or may not be "popular".



Excerpts from the interview:



Q. Were you expecting to be appointed the chairperson of the CBFC? What was your reaction to the new responsibility?



I was on a flight when the announcement was made and was deluged with messages and calls as soon as I landed. From my perspective, this responsibility requires a collaborative approach.



Q. There is widespread speculation as to the changes that are likely to happen in the running of the CBFC. Please shed light on what ground rules you would like to follow.



What can I say about speculations? Of course, suggestions that come from thinking minds can provide insight. As far as frameworks are concerned, as an industry we operate as one and as part of the eco-system. So does the CBFC, where there are current guidelines, my attempt would be to guide and view the work holistically.



Q. Your predecessor Pahlaj Nihalani made many unpopular decisions on behalf of the CBFC. Do you see yourself reversing some of the negative image that the CBFC has acquired lately?



Mr. Nihalani is a senior member of the industry and it would not be fair to comment on his tenure. Also, I think the focus should not be on whether a decision is popular but whether it's a sound one. Progress cannot be done in isolation.



Q. So what is your short-term solution?



CBFC and the film industry need to collaborate so that there is mutual understanding and appreciation of each one's roles and responsibilities.



Q. Producers expect you be "liberal", as they define liberal, meaning they think that, under your stewardship, the CBFC will provide certification to all films without cuts. Please clarify.



When one comes with an open mind respectful of varied points of view, then any particular definition or tag is not relevant. I fully understand that creative people don't like to be made overtly conscious of their work through checks and balances.



Q. But surely every progressive culture needs to restrain itself?



I agree. Most of the time internal checks and balances develop organically in the community. As far as possible, I would like to be guided by that principle.



Q. Is there any self-imposed guideline that you will use as censor chief?



We have taken cognisance of the vulnerable ends of our society. For when we are interested in creating for people at large, we can't create in absolute suspension and tapered interest and some important aspects are best kept in mind.



Q. It sounds like a thankless task.



It's not simple, yes, but then life is about trying to strike a fine balance.



Q. While the popular liberal view stipulates that the CBFC only certify films, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry guidelines suggest that scenes and shots that are "objectionable" be pruned. How do you look at this dichotomy between what should be and what is?



There are views that there should only be certification of content and the decision to decide what's appropriate or good or inappropriate should be left to the audience. This view I can understand, but we all also know that it's a layered and complex society we live in with not all having the same information and sensibility filters.



To begin with, we need to ensure that those not in an empowered state or situation to decide, are also taken note of. Say for example children. It's about the power of informed choice. And for that to come into complete play, it's important that there are no gaps in audience awareness and information about the kind of content being presented. We need to work towards any goal with awareness and responsibility from all ends.



Q. As a liberal, right-thinking intellectual mind, do you feel the audience should be given the right to see all films regardless of the quality of the content?



If we are talking about the quality of content produced by our cinema, I genuinely feel we have such a huge talent pool and so much richness of narrative to draw from that we can leverage the finer aspects not just for our country or subcontinent, but create a deeper, more influential impact on world cinema and global audiences.



Q. Finally, what should producers and filmmakers expect from you in your capacity as the censor chief?



Discussion, dialogue and mutual respect for varied points of view.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra to deposit Rs 5 crore with SC registry within four weeks, only then he would be released on Interim bail.

Last month, Chandra's lawyer Abhimanyu Bhandari urged the court that he needed to be released from judicial custody to raise the funds.

"If I am left in judicial custody, the entire company will collapse. I need to be out of the jail to arrange for the money, which I will do by selling my assets," the counsel said.

"If I fail to meet the demands, punish me. But give me three months to complete the demand," Chandra told the bench.

Telling the court that 62 out of 152 investors who had gone to police with complaint have already been paid, Bhandari said that the principal amount yet to be paid is about Rs 35 crore.

Chandra and his brother Ajay were arrested in April this year after investors who did not get their flats as promised filed complaints of cheating against them.

Chandra and his brother Ajay were sent to judicial custody last week after the trial court refused to extend three months interim bail granted to them in April. Delhi High Court too refused to extend the interim bail that came to an end on August 10.

With Agency Inputs
Chennai: A 12-year-old girl committed suicide after being allegedly shamed by a woman teacher for staining her clothes with menstrual blood.

According to reports, the class VII student of Senthil Nagar School, jumped off a 25-foot-high building in her hometown Tirunelvelli, which is over 600 kms from Chennai.

The parents who are absolutely devastated, had no idea why their daughter would take such a drastic step, until they found a suicide note.

The letter which was recovered from the spot suggested that she was harassed by her teacher in front of whole class.

According to the reports of NDTV, police have registered a case of abetment of suicide but they are yet to arrest anyone.

Talking to the channel, District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said that a probe has been ordered in the case and presently they are listening to different versions. "Only after the completion of probe we wold have clarity about the suicide," Nanduri added.
Chennai: A 17-year-old girl, who led the fight against National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) exams in Tamil Nadu, committed suicide on Friday.

Anitha, who hailed from the state's Ariyalur district, committed suicide at her home after she failed to get a medical seat, India Today reported.

She had performed well in her class 12 exams, scoring 1176 out of 1200 marks, the report said, adding in her medical and engineering entrance exams, Anitha had scored 196.75 out of 200 and 199.76 out of 200 respectively.

Anitha was reportedly in a state of shock when she learnt that she had to compete again in NEET exams to get a medical seat. She faired badly in the exam, scoring just 86 out of 700.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had asked the Centre to endorse a draft ordinance seeking exemption from NEET for one year but it refused.
Yangon: More than 27,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Myanmar in recent days, the United Nations has said, as corpses of people drowned in desperate attempts to cross the border river washed up on Bangladeshi soil on Friday.

A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, the UN added in statement late Thursday, but are barred from entry as they run from burning villages and Myanmar army operations.

Rumours of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces - as well as by militants - have further amplified tensions, raising fears that communal violence is spinning out of control.

Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to makeshift boats, some constructed from flotsam, in an effort to cross the Naf River which separates the two countries.

Sixteen bodies washed ashore on the Bangladeshi side of a river on Friday, a border official said, lifting the grim toll over the last two days from apparent boat capsizes to 39.

"They had been floating in the river for a while," according to Mainuddin Khan, police chief of the border town of Teknaf, adding the dead included a young girl.

The latest round of a bitter and bloody five-year crisis began last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 11 state officials and burning villages.

Myanmar security forces have launched "clearance" operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers pick up sticks and knives and join their cause.

Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced -- the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

An AFP reporter on a government-led trip to Maungdaw, this week saw columns of smoke rising from several burning villages, while terrified civilians huddled in schools in the main town.

International pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The United States on Thursday urged Myanmar's military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, expressed fears that "grave violations" could take place.

"The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently," she added.

Rakhine State has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands into of people -- the majority from the Muslim minority -- into displacement camps.
Hasakeh: US-backed fighters on Friday ousted the Islamic State group from Raqa`s Old City, a spokesman told AFP, bringing them closer than ever to the jihadists` most well-defended positions.

"Our forces today seized full control of the Old City in Raqa after clashes with Daesh," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Sello said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"We are on the edges of IS`s security quarter in the city centre, where most of its main bases are."
Washington: The US intends to work with Pakistan to take down terrorists, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said, asserting that this is what a "responsible" nation does.

He was responding to questions on Pakistan's reaction to the Afghan and South Asia Policy announced by US President Donald Trump last Monday.

Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. He also warned Pakistan that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists.

Mattis did not respond to questions on timeline, if any, for Pakistan to take action against terrorists and terrorist groups.

"We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think that's what a responsible nation does," Mattis said at a media briefing.

His remarks remarks came after the State Department notified to the Congress to place a pause button on USD 255 million foreign military financing for Pakistan.

The Department notified Congress on August 30 of its intent to obligate the amount in 2016 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan.

"At the same time, the Department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI.

"Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan," the official said.

The Trump administration notified Congress on Wednesday that it was putting USD 255 million in military assistance to Pakistan into the equivalent of an escrow account that Islamabad can only access if it does more to crack down on internal terror networks launching attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

"As this relates to Foreign Military Financing (FMF), before moving forward with funding actual FMF cases, the United States will take into account Pakistan's efforts to address key US concerns, including the threat posed by the Haqqani Networks and other terrorist groups that enjoy safe haven within Pakistan," the spokesperson said.

Pakistan has cancelled at least three high profile meetings with senior American officials, including a visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to the US to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution alleging that the recent statements of the US President and his senior officials on Pakistan were hostile and threatening.

The US, however, insists that it wants Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan addressed a congratulatory message on Knowledge and Schooling Day, press service of the Presidents Office told Armenpress.

The message reads:

Dear Teachers, Professors and Parents,

Dear Schoolchildren and Students,

I congratulate you on the occasion of Knowledge Day.

September 1 marks the start of the academic year. From that moment, the whole country begins to live at a new, unique rhythm and pace. This day is especially exciting for those who take their first pace to school and discover the new and fascinating world of knowledge.

Today every family and the whole society are undoubtedly well aware of the importance of knowledge. Yet, I feel it important to highlight the need for holding a serious public debate about the reform of the educational system in Armenia, since times and requirements are constantly changing, and we must always be up-to-date.

Indeed, our pupils and students achievements in the international arena are inspiring and suggest that we are on the right path, but it is more important for us to raise the overall level of education.

We need such school and university graduates as may be competitive and find their place in life and service. I wish all of us could get new knowledge and become stronger because knowledge is power.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Multiple security officers continue searching the building of the transportation, communication and IT ministry in Yerevans Republic Square after authorities received a bomb threat earlier in the morning.

ARMEPRESS correspondent reports from the scene that the entire ministry has been evacuated.

According to Anahit Arakelyan, the press secretary of Minister Vahan Martirosyan, the minister was not in the building when the bomb threat was made. He is participating in the opening of the Vardenis-Martakert road. We are in constant contact with the minister. Police officers continue working inside the building, Arakelyan told ARMENPRESS.

Multiple police officers have been dispatched to Republic Square in downtown Yerevan, as an unknown caller made a bomb threat, saying that there is a bomb in the building which houses the ministry of transportation, communication and IT.

The ministry of emergency situations told ARMENPRESS the rapid response team of the crisis management center is working on the scene, along with rescue service officers, police units and explosive ordnance disposal teams.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The rescue service officers of the ministry of emergency situations have not yet found anything in the ministry of transport, communication and information technologies, Arlen Badalyan  deputy head of the Yerevan rescue service told reporters.

The search operations continue in the ministry building. At the moment nothing has been found. When the search operations of all rooms are completed, it will be clear whether it was a false call or not, he said.

Badalyan didnt rule out that the call has been false and was aimed at hindering the ministry work.

Earlier it was reported that the entire ministry has been evacuated. According to Anahit Arakelyan, the press secretary of Minister Vahan Martirosyan, the minister was not in the building when the bomb threat was made. He is participating in the opening of the Vardenis-Martakert road. We are in constant contact with the minister. Police officers continue working inside the building, Arakelyan told ARMENPRESS.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The bomb threat in the building of the ministry of transportation, communication and IT was false, deputy chief of the rescue service of Yerevan Mr. Arlen Badalyan told reporters.

The entire building has been searched, we didnt find anything. The threat was false. The ministry staff can return to their work, he said.

Heavy police presence was seen in Yerevans Republic Square, where the ministry is located, as authorities received a bomb threat earlier this morning. Multiple officers, rescuers and ordnance disposal teams were dispatched to the scene. Search operations took nearly 2 hours.

Police officials told ARMENPRESS information regarding the callers ID will be provided later.
GYUMRI, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan is holding a close consultation in the Gyumri governorate with the participation of public and private sector representatives in the IT industry, ARMENPRESS correspondent reports from Gyumri.

Sectoral issues are being discussed at the consultation.

The consultation is attended by minister of territorial administration and development Davit Lokyan, minister of education and science Levon Mkrtchyan, minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources Ashot Manukyan.

After the consultation the PM will visit Gyumris Rustaveli street where currently road renovation works are being carried out.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. On 1 September a solemn ceremony of officially putting into operation the Vardenis-Martakert highway took place in the Shahoumyan region with the participation of the Artsakh and Armenian Presidents.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the ARtsakh Presidents Office, in his speech President Sahakyan underlined that this road is not just a transport infrastructure but a lifeline that will connect Artsakh to the Mother Armenia more firmly and will contribute to solving a range of issues vital for our republic.

"The construction of the road is amidst the largest investment programs realized in Artsakh that was brought to life through the "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund's channels, with the active participation of the world spread Armenians",- noted Bako Sahakyan in his speech, expressing gratitude to all the organizations and individuals having actively participated in the highway's construction.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, prime-minister Arayik Haroutyunyan, other officials, representatives from Armenia and the Diaspora, guests from abroad partook at the event.
JONESBORO, Ark.As AVN readers have probably heard by now, there are a number of websites, called tube sites, that accept and post hardcore content shot by members of the general public in their homes, cars, RVs, boats and other conveyances, not to mention in state parks, in the middle of lakes, wheat fields, on top of national monuments and, really, wherever the spirit moves them to shoot.

So it's hardly unprecedented that longtime couple Leslie Sessions and Derek Calloway have been shooting "sex acts" in various places.

"The video appears to have been shot in one day, beginning at Cheddars restaurant in Jonesboro," reported a member of the WMC-TV5 staff. "It starts with Sessions eating a meal. You see three older women at a table nearby who likely hadn't planned to be in a pornographic video. It then proceeds to a sex act at the table. ... The couple then moved on to Home Depot, videoing pornographic acts in the parking lot. Inside the store, Sessions frequently showed her underwear and touched herself in the appliance section. Prosecutors said the couple performed a sex act in a dressing room at Kohl's. Then they went a park in Jonesboro where Sessions performed a sex act on herself and an unidentifiable man."

What might be a surprise, however, is that Jonesboro cops busted the couple for it after they posted the footage on a tube site.

To be clear, no member of the public complained about the sex acts, even though some were clearly aware they were taking place (like the three ladies at the next table over in Cheddars, as can be seen in the video), and Leslie Sessions even boasted that, "As we were leaving the [Home Depot] parking lot, apparently a lot of people caught notice of what we were doing. So I just had a truck loaded down of dudes waving at me so I decided to wave back and I got a few kisses blown back."

And even those "dudes" didn't complainbut the police are using Leslie's statement as evidence for the charge of "Public Display, Hardcore Sexual Conduct." Of course, the fact that no law enforcement official caught them in flagrante delicto (that's "having sex" for you non-Latins) should make that "public display" charge harder to prove, since no member of the public has yet come forward to say he/she saw it; the police are apparently relying on the video itself as proofand this being Arkansas, that might just be enough.

While it's unclear just how the police became aware of Calloway's/Sessions' activitiesafter all, it's not as if cops watch porn everthey nevertheless managed to procure a search warrant in July and search the couple's home for those instruments of the crime, "recording devices." Neither the couple nor their two children were happy about that.

Eventually, the couple were charged with nine felony counts: the aforementioned public display, and also sale and distribution of obscene material, and promoting an obscene performance. Again, what passes for "obscenity" in Arkansas may be a little different than in more civilized areas, but the couple's attorney, Randel Miller, thinks they have a good defense.

"I think what they did was not a crime and I think it is a crime they have been publicly humiliated like this about something that was a private matter to them," Miller told WMC-TV5 reporter Janice Broach. "There may have been people around but no one saw this. This was never reported. This was a victimless crime."

The couple will face trial in November and, if convicted, could be fined up to $10,000 and/or be sentenced to six months in prison. The question now is, which members of the public will be testifying against them at the trial?
Archived Results for September 2017

Armed Robery On Monday September 25th 2017 at about 2:00 pm a resident of Slatestone Road in Washington was robbed in his garage at gun point. The victim told Beaufort County Deputies a black male suspect came into his garage, pointed a gun at him and demanded money By: Stan Deatherage

Search Terms: washington chocowinity assault Search Terms: armed robbery
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.
The party controlling the White House tends to lose legislative seats in midterm elections under the best circumstances, and we're lacking those now

In regards to the Russia Election Tampering matter: Is President Trump being treated fairly by core Democrats and the Mainstream Media? Yes, the new president is guilty until proven innocent. No, President Trump's treatment is dictated by the usual Democrat double standard. Don't care; there are more important issues facing America. 103 total vote(s) What's your Opinion?



History suggests the 2018 congressional elections won't be kind to Republicans. In half of the eight midterms since 1986, the party occupying the White House lost majority control of the Senate. In only two House off-year elections since 1934 has the president's party enjoyed net seat gains - in 1998, when voters were reacting to GOP efforts to continue with the impeachment of Bill Clinton, when George W. Bush's War on Terror was in its infancy. Still, the Democrats won only five in the first contest, and Republicans just eight in the second.A president's approval ratings are related to his party's fortunes in the midterms, and therefore President Trump should only make things worse. At around 35 percent in recent polls, Trump's score is the lowest for any modern president this early in his term. As most of his predecessors would tell you, it generally goes downhill from here. Barack Obama was at 44 percent, enjoying an identically sized majority as the GOP does now, when the Democrats lost the House in 2010. Bush was where Trump finds himself now as Republicans lost both chambers in 2006, and Clinton was at 46 percent when the Republican Revolution took out 54 House and eight Senate Democrats in 1994.It's comforting to know that Republicans tend to show up more than Democrats in midterms. They are habitual voters. In 2014, according to exit polls, 30 percent of voters had incomes in excess of $100,000, and 65 percent were over 45 years old. Two years earlier, in a presidential race, these figures were 28 and 54, respectively. But as we know, Trump's base doesn't match the party's. Will Republicans who don't like Trump be energized? Will Trump voters turn out and then vote for the GOP? White voters without a college degree, a group Trump won 2-to-1, are in steep decline as a share of the electorate and should make up less than a third of it for the first time ever in 2018.Is this pessimism borne out by a state-by-state, district-by-district analysis? Here it looks better for Republicans. Of the 33 Senate seats up in the 2018 cycle, only eight are defended by Republicans and, with the exception of Dean Heller's Nevada seat, all look fairly safe at the moment. Ten Democrat-held seats are in states Trump won in 2016 - although against popular incumbents, many of them remain longshots for the GOP.Things are only a little less rosy on the House side. Republicans there benefit from a GOP bias in how the districts are currently drawn. In the 2016 House elections, for example, Republicans won 50.6 percent of the two-party vote but 55.4 percent of the seats. Although Trump lost the national popular vote, the median House district - that is the middle when all are lined up in order of their results from most-Trump to most-Clinton - supported him by 3.5 percent.Using that as a starting point, Democrats would need a 3.5 percent swing in their favor just to get to 218 House seats, the narrowest possible majority. Such a movement against Trump's mark also puts the Democrats at 55 percent of the two-party vote in a national contest. It's tough, though not impossible, to imagine they can win by 10 percentage points in 2018. A few generic congressional party polls show Democrats have led by that much, including a July Washington Post/ABC News survey that had them ahead 52-38.The obstacle in front of House Democrats might be thought of in another way. If you add together all the districts won by Clinton to the number of districts won by Trump that are now occupied by Democrats, you get to 217, one short of a majority. Even if they win all 23 seats captured by Clinton and occupied by a GOP incumbent, Democrats must still flip a Trump-Republican district to seize the majority.What do the midterms and the anticipated political climate mean in North Carolina? The big 3.5 percent swing to Democrats referred to earlier would leave all 10 U.S. House Republicans from the state unscathed. The effect on state legislative races will depend on the court-mandated redistricting that will play out over the next few weeks. Under the current map, a 3.5 per cent swing to Democrats will yield them, at most, seven state Senate seats and 11 in the House. That would be enough to sustain Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes but not hand the party a majority in either chamber.Democrats can take encouragement from rumors they are recruiting well. They came close in a few special House elections in strong GOP districts necessitated by Trump cabinet appointments. But they did lose all four, despite significant financial investments.It's still early, and the landscape appears favorable. But Republicans should be concerned by Trump's performance. The president and the congressional party are also not a strong fit, either ideologically or stylistically. As long as the legislative agenda remains stalled and Robert Mueller's Russia investigation continues, there's little immediate sign of the GOP's in-the-balance 2018 prospects improving.
by Emily ZanottiMilwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke submitted his resignation, without warning or explanation, to the Milwaukee County Clerk late Thursday.The outspoken conservative - and often controversial public figure - proffered a bare-bones resignation letter to the Clerk's office at 3:15 Thursday afternoon. The note, on Clarke's personal stationery, simply read: "Pursuant to Wis. Stat. 17.01, this communication is submitted as the notice of my resignation as Sheriff of Milwaukee County commencing August 31, 2017, at 11:59 p.m."Clarke, a longtime Trump supporter, was among experts' top picks for a White House job. But after just a few days as a nominee for the Department of Homeland Security, Clarke withdrew his name from consideration.He may be quitting to devote himself to being a pundit and law enforcement expert full time. He rose to prominence as a trusted commentator during the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement, frequently taking a hard line in support of police - to the dismay of many left-leaners in the news media. He's also known for some of his more controversial ideas - on race, on Black Lives Matter (which he refers to as a "hate group"), and the Constitution (back in 2015, he called for a suspension of habeus corpus in order to weed out potential ISIS supporters among the population).Clark also just released a book about the ongoing battle America's law enforcement community faces against accusations of racial bias, Cop Under Fire: Moving Beyond Hashtags of Race, Crime and Politics for a Better America. President Trump tweeted out a plug for the book earlier this week.The Milwaukee Sheriff could also be considering a move into statewide office. Sources close to the Wisconsin GOP have often surfaced Clarke's name as a potential challenger to leftist Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, but Clarke has previously said he has no interest in serving in Congress. With Trump in the White House, that may have changed.Clarke is not in Wisconsin at the moment; he is attending the National Fraternal Order of Police convention in Nashville, Tennessee, but he will no doubt have much more to say on the issue.
On Tuesday, Quebec's Minister of International Relations, Christine St. Pierre, offered to donate blankets, pillows, beds, hygienic products and manpower to the survivors of Hurricane Harvey. She spoke with Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who was touched that she called him, but he turned down the offer. He preferred that she send him prayers.

With Hurricane Harvey being the one of the biggest storm disasters in recent US history, perhaps prayers AND supplies would be a better decision. Or, as commentator Paul Begala tweeted, "This moron doesn't understand that those blankets and other donations are the answers to prayers."

This moron doesn't understand that those blankets and other donations are the answers to prayers. https://t.co/DLs7jxFXmz  Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) September 1, 2017

More details at CBCNews.

Image: SoSTX
Poor William C. Bradford. The Trump-appointed head of the DOE's Office of Indian Energy said he was the victim of a bad person who used his social media accounts "over the past several years" to say crazy things like Obama is from Kenya, it was right to put Japanese-Americans into concentration camps in WWII, and that "Obama is the son of a fourth-rate p&*n actress and w@!re."

Soon after Mr. Bradford (he prefers to be called "Brute") was given his plum DOE job he deleted his Twitter account, but The Washington Post found the tweets that the bad person posted to Brute's account without his permission. Here's a sample:

Surprise twist: It turns out that that bad person was "Brute" himself. "Brute" issued an apology to The Washington Post:

"As a minority and member of the Jewish faith, I sincerely apologize for my disrespectful and offensive comments. These comments are inexcusable and I do not stand by them. Now, as a public servant, I hold myself to a higher standard, and I will work every day to better the lives of all Americans."

To add insult to injury, "Brute" was forced to tender his resignation yesterday from his plum job at the DOE. So long, "Brute!"
A man in Russia is hitchhiking from Vladimir (near Moscow) to the Kursk region to attend his mother's funeral when he is overcome with grief. He decides to jump off an overpass on the Minsk highway, and as he stands over the passing cars below him, a man on a motorcycle spots him. The driver has to turn around and drive against traffic to get back under the suicidal man. He shouts over the traffic in Russian, from the highway to the overpass, and talks the man into stepping away from the ledge. He then rides up to the overpass to talk to the man face to face. But that isn't the end of it. Although on YouTube the description of what happened, even after what you see in the video, is written in Russian, I put it through Google's translator. It's a bit rough but clear enough:

"Suicide attempt on the viaduct of the Minsk highway"

"I saw him from the corner of my eye, but it was clear that a person was already ready to take a step. Forgive me, I knew that I was breaking the rules, and I did it as carefully as possible, since I understood that there was no time for another solution."

"He could jump just under the car. So I decided to stop the flow of cars. After the end of this video, he tried to escape from us, we ran after him. He lied that he was going to the Smolensk region.

Thank you not indifferent motorists, who also saw and stopped, they also called for help."

"The story is simple. According to the guy, he hitch-hiked from Vladimir to the Kursk region for the funeral of his mother and, as you can understand, morally broke."

"We waited for everyone, the police, the police and the ambulance arrived quickly. From the moment we drove up to Alexei, it took no more than 10 minutes. All this time we talked to him on abstract topics and caught him twice, as he tried to escape. As a result, everyone calmly agreed that he would sit in the Inspectors' car and go with them."
Around 100 meet in Winnipeg to honour North Dakota woman found dead in Red River

Around 100 people gathered on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature on Wednesday evening to honour a North Dakota woman who was found dead on Sunday.

Savanna Greywind's body was pulled from the Red River near Fargo, N.D., wrapped in plastic and duct tape, 10 days after she went missing on Aug. 19.

The 22-year-old was eight-months pregnant when she disappeared.

Two people were charged in connection with her death. They were with a baby they told police was Greywind's when they were arrested. North Dakota police told The Associated Press they plan to test the baby's DNA to be sure.

"It's something that stays with you," said Chickadee Richard of Greywind's sad ending.

The Winnipeg elder and grandmother helped plan the Wednesday evening vigil in Greywind's honour.

"I think it's because she's Indigenous and that we don't see borders, she's a sister," she said.

"For her to be stolen the way that she was, it makes you feel really helpless and we felt that we would show our love and support by having a vigil to honour Savanna."

Speakers at the event included NDP MLAs Bernadette Smith (Point Douglas) and Nahanni Fontaine (St. John), as well as a representative from Greywind's home community.

Participants also drummed and sang in Greywind's honour.

"I think it's heartfelt, the love for another Indigenous woman, especially one that was carrying a child. For her life to be taken the way it was  it's a pain we all carry together as Indigenous women, because we're never safe," Richard said.

"We're never safe on our own lands, you know, and that, to me, we don't see those borders. To us, she's our daughter, our granddaughter, our little sister."
Security

Phishing Attack Scams Canadian University for $11.8 Million

Canada's MacEwan University is working to recover $11.8 million CAD (the equivalent of about $9.5 million USD) after a phishing attack led to a transfer of the funds to a fraudulent account. A series of e-mails appearing to be from one of the institution's vendors convinced administrators to change its electronic banking information, the university reported in a statement today.

So far, more than $11.4 million CAD has been traced to accounts in Canada and Hong Kong; the funds have been frozen and the university is pursuing legal action to recover the money, the statement said. MacEwan is also working with multiple law enforcement agencies and bank corporate security units to address the criminal aspect of the case.

The university emphasized that its IT systems are intact and that the incident will not impact academic or business operations: "There is never a good time for something like this to happen, but as our students come back to start the new academic year, we want to assure them and the community that our IT systems were not compromised during this incident," said university spokesman David Beharry in the statement. "Personal and financial information, and all transactions made with the university are secure."

In addition, MacEwan is taking steps to audit its business processes and put better controls in place. A number of opportunities to identify the fraud were missed, the university admitted.

Updates will be released on the university site as they become available.
This must have been such a fun storyline to work on. How did it come about? It has been so much fun, I am a bit sad that it is coming to an ...
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Police arrested Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, the political editor of The Sun, and Amos Fofung, a bureau chief at The Guardian Post, on February 9, 2017, in Buea, the capital of Cameroons English-speaking Southwest region, according to media reports. Their arrest came a few hours after police detained a third Cameroonian, Mofor Ndong, for allegedly planning to distribute pamphlets for a banned organization, according to The Sun newspaper.

All three were held under Cameroons anti-terror act, which allows authorities to hold detainees indefinitely without charge.

Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, of The Sun, was jailed on terror charges in February 2017. (Atia Azohnwi)

Police arrested Azohnwi and Fofung when officers arrived to search the latters house as part of their investigation into Ndong, who had been staying there, The Sun reported. Police were monitoring Ndong because of an intelligence report that alleged he planned to distribute pamphlets for the Southern Cameroons National Councila political organization banned in January by authoritiesaccording to a statement by The Sun and news reports.

Ndong, the Bamenda-based publisher of the Voice of the Voiceless who had arrived in Buea the previous day, admitted possession of the pamphlets, The Sun reported.

On February 10, 2017, all three were transferred to the judicial police headquarters in the Southwest region, where police handcuffed and transported them to Yaounde in a pick-up vehicle, Fofung told CPJ. Fofung, who was released without charge on August 5, 2017, added that more than six armed and masked police officers accompanied the journalists.

Azohnwi was arrested on initial charges of terrorism, insurrection, rebellion, subversion, revolution, secession, and inciting the population against the state, a person familiar with his case, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told CPJ. On July 14, 2017, a military court charged him with promotion of terrorism, according to reports. CPJ could not determine if the military prosecutor has formally charged Ndong.

A journalist from The Guardian Post, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, said that although Azohnwi and Fofungs arrests were initially related to Ndongs, he believes that authorities were retaliating against the pair for their critical journalism. Fofung wrote articles in The Guardian Post that the authorities did not find friendly, he said.

One of Azohnwis relatives, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, told CPJ, Atia was arrested because he is a journalist. He is also accused of having links with members of the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Fofung told CPJ that after Ndong and Atia were taken to court without him on July 14, 2017, he was told that he should have been released nearly five months earlier. The president of the military tribunal told them that I ought to have been released since April 5, the same day we were transferred to prison. To her, I was a ghost in prison, Fofung said. He said it took his family and lawyers an additional three weeks to secure his release.

According to The Suns statement, when the papers managing editor Wasso Norbert Binde and editor Elah Geoffrey Mbong travelled to Buea to demand that authorities release the journalists on February 10, 2017, Ndong told them he had been assaulted by police, The Sun reported. He had a punctured lip and injuries to his feet, according to the papers statement.

Cameroons presidents office and the official government spokesperson did not immediately respond to CPJs request for comment.

The day after their arrest, Azohnwi, Ndong and Fofung were transferred to the headquarters of the judicial police in Yaounde, where they were detained for 55 days, said Fofung.

Fofung told CPJ that after they were moved to Yaounde, authorities denied them access to any communication or visits for two weeks. While at the police headquarters, we were taken to court twice and brought back without anyone asking us any question. On one occasion the policemen who accompanied us told us that the military prosecutor who we ought to meet had gone for sports. So we were taken back to the police headquarters, Fofung added.

The February 9, 2017 arrest was the second time in less than three weeks that police detained Azohnwi. Police detained him briefly while he was distributing copies of The Sun in Buea, his paper reported.

In December 2016, Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of the region, threatened to have Azohnwi arrested after he and two other journalists tried to start the Consortium of Journalism Associations in the Southwest region, according to reports. The governor ordered the journalists to shut down the consortium, after it released a statement calling for a boycott of official government events if press releases and other documents were not in English.

Bilai did not immediately respond to CPJs request for comment.
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New York, September 1, 2017The office of President Paul Biya announced August 30 that Cameroon is ending criminal proceedings against those detained during unrest in the countrys two English-speaking regions. Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, political editor of The Sun, Tim Finnian, editor of Life Time magazine, and Hans Achomba, a freelance documentary filmmaker, are among those released from jail in Yaounde last night, their families and colleagues told CPJ. Achomba and Finnian were arrested in January, and Azohnwi was jailed in February. All three faced trial by military tribunal under Cameroons anti-terror law.

We welcome the release of Cameroonian journalists Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, Tim Finnian, and Hans Achomba, but they should never have been jailed in the first place, said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal. We urge President Paul Biya to free other journalists jailed under the anti-terror law, including RFI correspondent Ahmed Abba, and to end authorities abuse of the legislation to crack down on critical voices and those reporting on unrest.
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New York, September 1, 2017A North Korean court has sentenced the South Korean journalists Son Hyo-rim, of Dong-A Ilbo, and Yang Ji-ho, of Chosun Ilbo, and the papers respective director generals, Kim Jae Ho and Pang Sang Hun to death, the countrys state media reported yesterday. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentences and called on North Korea to overturn the conviction.

North Korea convicted the journalists and their publishers in absentia of insulting the dignity of the country, according to Reuters. The journalists do not have a right to appeal, according to reports. The charge is related to their coverage earlier this month of a book called, North Korea Confidential.

A statement from North Koreas Central Court warned that the execution could be carried out any moment and at any place, without going through any additional procedures, according to Reuters.

North Koreas threat to execute Son Hyo-rim and Yang Ji-ho for writing critically about the regime is at the same time ridiculous and chilling, said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney. North Korea should immediately commute the death sentence and end its hostile rhetoric against the journalists and their publishers.

Son, a culture reporter, does not write regularly write about North Korea, according to her colleague, Joo Sung-Ha. Joo added that many other newspapers reported on the book and he said he was unclear why North Korea had singled out Son and Yang.

CPJ called Chosun Ilbo to request comment, but the call was disconnected.

South Koreas Unification Ministry described North Koreas actions as a violation of press freedom and said that its government will take measures to ensure the safety of citizens, according to reports.

North Korea is one of the most censored countries in the world, according to CPJ research. In February, Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of the North Korean dictator, was assassinated at an airport in Malaysia. South Korea says Kim Jong Un ordered the attack, according to reports.
From left to right, Triana Martinez (with defense attorney Fermin Guerrero, Montserrat Gonzalez and Raquel Gago  the three women convicted of Isabel Carrascos murder. J. Casares

Retired policeman Pedro Mielgo and his wife were strolling across the pedestrian footbridge over the Bernesga river in downtown Leon, in northwestern Spain. It was a sunny afternoon in May just after 5.15pm. They passed a slim, blonde woman, around 60, who was dressed in a youthful style and walking purposefully in a pair of high heels.

Look, said the policeman's wife. I think she has something to do with the regional government of Castilla y Leon. I've seen her on TV.

Trailing her was a dark-haired woman whose face was obscured by a hat, sunglasses and scarf.

That must be her bodyguard, added the policeman's wife.

Then suddenly, they heard a sharp crack.

We looked around and saw the blonde woman falling forward as if in slow motion and I said, Ah! Shes tripped! I started to move to help her but my husband gripped my arm and said, Shh! Dont move! Something odd was obviously going on. Instead of helping the blonde woman, the dark-haired woman got down beside her and began to shoot.

Shocked, the couple witnessed the dark-haired woman finishing the victim off with two bullets. Once she was done, she got up, covered her face with the scarf and started to walk towards them. Pedro believed that she was going to kill them too and they stood, petrified.

Police and medics stand near the body of Isabel Carrasco. Carlos S. Campillo (ICAL)

I held my wife by the arm so she wouldn't move, he says. As the woman passed in front of us, she turned and glanced our way. Then she carried on walking. It was as if she had rehearsed this scene 40 times, as if she was making a movie and she had rehearsed and rehearsed until it worked I thought it must be a hit job. Either that or it was a terrorist attack. I didn't for a minute think it would be a normal person, a housewife.

Simple, yet extraordinary, such was the brutal murder on May 12, 2014, of Isabel Carrasco, 59, president of Leons Provincial Authority and head of the local city branch of the PP.

Familiar with the protocol due to his more than 30 years in service, Mielgo allowed the murderer to leave the scene before getting his wife to call the police and setting out after her. In the next three to four minutes  later to be fiercely disputed in court  Mielgo would watch the assassin walk up Lucas de Tuy street before losing sight of her in Plaza de Colon square and finding her again in a corner of the Gran Via minus her hat, scarf and sunglasses.It was then that Mielgo saw a police car. He hurried towards it to describe what hed witnessed and point out the woman who was now comfortably seated in a stationary Mercedes. That's her! That's her! he told them. Be careful! She has a gun in her bag!

The police were reluctant to believe that this well-dressed, middle-aged woman could have committed murder, and when her daughter turned up and they identified themselves as the wife and daughter of the police chief of Astorga, a town some 50 kilometers away, the police grew more skeptical still. They were even more incredulous when the weapon Mielgo mentioned was nowhere to be found. However, other witnesses soon appeared and it wasnt long before Mielgos story was corroborated and Montserrat Gonzalez, 55, and Triana Martinez, 36, were placed under arrest on suspicion of murdering the politician.

I wouldnt be surprised if I turned up in a ditch Isabel Carrasco, months before her murder

How could a middle-class housewife like Montserrat Gonzalez with no criminal record become a murderer? The fact that both she and her victim were members of the PP ruled out the possibility of murder on the grounds of ideological differences.

Instead, the media immediately suggested that the killing was an act of revenge. Triana had worked in a technical capacity for Carrasco in the Provincial Authority for four years. But in 2011, she lost her job to someone else  on the face of it, because she didnt get the right grades in the public examination she sat to cement her hold on what had been a temporary post.

It sounds believable enough, but during the trial it became evident that the exam grades and agency jobs in general were linked to political favors, rather than being a fair method of seeking competent staff. This was a practice that pre-dated Carrasco but was still thriving during her reign.

In the wake of Carrascos untimely death, campaign events for the European elections were called off by all the main political parties in Spain and the investigation got underway. In a country where the judiciary is regularly seen as far from independent, the case was delicate to say the least.

A day after the murder, a third suspect emerged. Raquel Gago, a 40-year-old local policewoman, handed over the murder weapon to the police  a Taurus revolver, which she claimed to have found in her car inside a bag that she had lent to her friend, Triana. She told police she had seen Triana twice on the day of the shooting: once at 4.15pm at Trianas home with Trianas mother, and later by chance when she was waiting in her car for a repair shop to open in Lucas de Tuy street.

A police officer with the murder weapon during the trial. J. Casares

According to the court verdict, this happened two minutes after the shots were fired on the bridge. According to Raquel, Triana asked her to open the car and then she went to the fruit shop and didn't return. Raquel called her before driving off, almost 20 minutes after the crime, but Triana didn't answer. She had already been arrested.

But Raquel was unable to provide a convincing explanation for her silence during the 30 hours prior to discovering the weapon. Why had she not mentioned either to her partner or friends or to her superiors that she had seen Triana just before and just after the crime? She claimed she had suffered an emotional blackout. According to her, it seemed so incredible, she had pushed it from her mind.

Initially, Raquel was released. Her finding of the murder weapon was key to both opening and closing the case, and she was to act as a witness. In the early hours of May 14, Montserrat and Triana made a statement to the police under conditions that would subsequently be questioned by their defense lawyers during the trial.

Montserrat confessed to having killed Isabel Carrasco and described without any trace of regret how she had done it, while Triana confessed to having taken the weapon and the clothing worn by her mother in Plaza Colon, immediately depositing them in Raquel's car without her knowledge. Both mother and daughter believed that Triana would be released, as being an accessory to a crime committed by a family member is not a punishable offense. However, both remained in custody, accused of murder.

Two days later, after making a statement in court, Raquel was arrested as an accomplice to murder. By then, the police had discovered another piece of incriminating evidence  Raquel had received a call two minutes after the murder from Trianas pay-as-you-go cell phone. That same day, the Interior Minister at the time, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, stated that in political terms the crime was all cleared up.

Much later, when my team arrived in the city to start filming the documentary series Death in Leon, the citys chief prosecutor Emilio Fernandez said, It was an almost perfect plan, perfectly carried out. I am convinced it could have worked.

Fernandez also declared that the motive for the crime was the hatred that both mother and daughter felt for the victim. The documentary series initially set out to explore how a housewife had suddenly turned into a murderer. But when we arrived in Leon we were shocked by the general intensity of the hatred directed at the figure of Isabel Carrasco, a year and a half after her death.

Spanish politician Isabel Carrasco in 2007. FELIX MERINO (AFP/Getty)

It wasn't exactly that there was sympathy for Montserrat and Triana but nor was there criticism. And were talking about a murder here, says Miguel Angel Zamora, a journalist for the local daily El Diario de Leon. On the bridge, where the murder took place, graffiti appeared a few days later saying: Here died a rotter and Here died an overlord.

From humble origins, Isabel Carrasco was a serious child with a quick mind and a strong will. She became a fastidious tax inspector at an early age and, in 1987, with the support of Spains former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, she began a political career as a delegate for Leon in the regional government of Castilla y Leon.

After her murder, it was hard to get people to speak openly about Carrasco. The widespread hatred towards her had the effect of silencing her few supporters while her critics kept quiet for fear of appearing to justify the murder.

Before her assassination, it was commonly held that there was only one boss in Leon and that was La Carrasco. As president of the provincial authority, she demanded loyalty and had no truck with those who had ideas of their own. Either you were for her or against her. As far as elections were concerned, she had perfected a system both inside and outside the party that gave her increasingly huge majorities, until it seemed there was no opposition strong enough to challenge her. Her real political enemies were, for a long time, people within her own party. It was something she was aware of, prompting her to keep a tight control over information within the administration and also in the press  which she censored locally. She also compiled dossiers on her rivals that could compromise their careers.

But in spite of her godlike status, she felt increasingly alone and vulnerable. Revealingly, two of her closest friends recall her telling them on separate occasions in the months before her death, I wouldnt be surprised if I turned up in a ditch, and Any day now, Ill get a bullet through the head.

In 2011, she hit the headlines for occupying 12 government positions, which earned her, if not 12 salaries, still an eye-watering wage. Subsequently, total strangers would insult her in the street, prompting her to hire a bodyguard to stand at the entrance of her office building.

According to the public prosecutor, the hate both mother and daughter felt for the victim drove them to murder

Matias Llorente, a member of the opposition who had a distant but respectful relationship with Carrasco, remembers asking if she had some kind of problem within the provincial authority or within her party. She did not reply. The next day, the vice-president asked him not to bring the subject up again, informing him that the bodyguard was being paid for privately.

None of this was mentioned at the trial, which started in January 2016 and lasted four weeks. There were two narratives: the first, proposed by the prosecutor, depicting the perfect murder plotted and carried out by the three suspects; and the other, proposed by the defense, describing the unraveling of events triggered by the victims alleged persecution of the murderers daughter.

The defense lawyer, Jose Ramon Garcia, made every effort to establish that Triana had no idea what her mother was up to and that she had reacted to her crime by trying to cover up for her, hence hiding the murder weapon in Raquels car. Meanwhile, Raquels defense lawyer Fermin Guerrero argued that Raquel had not realized that Triana had put the weapon in her car as she had been talking to a parking attendant at the time and came across it in the presence of her sister the next day.

In general terms, the jury accepted the prosecutors version of events and the three women were convicted of Carrascos murder  Montserrat as the murderer, Triana as her accomplice and Raquel as an accessory.

Raquel Gago and her lawyer Fermin Guerrero. J. Casares

Was justice done? In many respects, the trial appeared to be a triumph of transparency  a concerted bid to show the public how well the system worked. The only doubts over the verdict seemed to concern Raquels role in the assassination. The judge, Carlos Alvarez, stirred up controversy when he reduced her sentence from 12 to five years. Towards the end of 2016, however, the Supreme Court aligned itself with the original prosecutor and gave Raquel 14 years while Triana got 20 years and Montserrat was handed 22.

The surprise for us came shortly before the Supreme Courts decision, as we were tying up a few loose ends for the documentary. It was then that we managed to identify someone Triana had been in close contact with over the four and a half months leading up to the crime. Since the start of 2014, there were only two days when this person had neither talked to nor messaged Triana. On the eve of the murder, they had a conversation that lasted an hour and a half. And on the day of the crime, they spoke for around three minutes at midday.

Enric Bach, producer and co-script writer of the documentary series, had discovered the register of calls used by the police, and by cross-checking data, we discovered that she had spoken to this person almost as often as she had spoken to Raquel.

We were surprised that this number had not appeared in the court proceedings and that the person whose number it was had not been called in as a witness. But we assumed that the police must have identified the person and would offer us some explanation.

Retired police officer Pedro Mielgo gives testimony during the trial. J. Casares

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Having identified the person in question as an advisor to Juan Vicente Herrera, the regional premier of the Castilla y Leon government, we called him. He confirmed his continual contact with Triana but said that the calls were strictly related to her job search. We asked if they spoke about jobs the day before and the day of the murder. He couldnt remember, but they probably did. I expressed surprise at the number of calls, but what I found really shocking was his insistence that the police had not even been in touch with him. In a subsequent, more relaxed telephone conversation, he told me that I didnt believe him because I wasnt used to meeting sincere people like himself. I asked to see him in person to clear up some doubts I still had, but he didnt want to.

As President of the Provincial Authority, Carrasco demanded loyalty and had no truck with those who had ideas of their own

We confirmed from other sources that he has been an advisor to the regional premier since 2001, but that no one knows exactly what he does.

Before wrapping up the documentary series, we shared this information extensively  with prosecutors and police, but were offered no convincing explanation as to why they had not contacted Juan Vicente Herrera, even if only for identification purposes and to rule him out as a suspect in the case. It was a pretty big surprise. Either it was a case of collective amnesia or someone was hiding something. Anything is possible, said Carlos Rivera, Carrascos lawyer, after the Supreme Court ruling.

Once the documentary series was released, we were sure that this anomaly would be investigated. But we were wrong. In the last few months, we have continued with inquiries, hoping for answers that could be incorporated into the documentary film, After Death in Leon, which will released in movie theaters in the fall. Having exhausted all other possibilities, we took a report to the National Police press department in Madrid toward the end of July and are still waiting for a response. The report claims that evidence pertinent to the case has been deliberately concealed. The question now is, why?

It could simply be a strategy to avoid awkward questions from the press, or to avoid contradicting the words of the Interior Minister days after the murder. Or it could be due to something else, something more serious. Whatever the reason, it seems that, in this case, politics was unable to allow justice to take its course.

Justin Webster is director and co-scriptwriter of the documentary series Death in Leon.

English version by Heather Galloway.
Odile Soudants three-year nightmare is finally over. The 49-year-old French artist has just won a lengthy court battle against Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt, who has been ordered to pay 565,000 in damages for a failure to meet the costs of an architectural project that drove her into bankruptcy.

The courts decision was made pubic several days ago and while it came as a relief, the damages are not, in the artists view, sufficient compensation. That money wont cover the losses, that include the companys premises, the freelancers I had to lay off, my personal reputation and acknowledgment of the projects authorship, says Soudant from her Paris apartment.

Soudants relationship with the actor began toward the end of 2010 when Pitt visited her office with a proposal for four of the buildings at his Miraval chateau, the sprawling mansion in Provence that the actor bought for 45 million with his erstwhile partner Angelina Jolie. The idea was to infuse the residential part of the several-hundred hectare property with natural light.

I accepted because we understood each other from the start Odile Soudant

I accepted because we understood each other from the start, says Soudant, who specializes in lighting and is known for her work with renowned architect Jean Nouvel. They were both friendly and normal. If they had asked me to light up the swimming pool in blue or the trees in green, I wouldnt have accepted. Ive never sold my soul to the devil. It was never my goal to make money.

Soudants work includes the lighting of the Poblenou Park and the Moritz brewery in Barcelona, as well as projects with artists such as Anish Kapoor and Anselm Kiefer.

The work on the Jolie-Pitt chateau started in 2011 and involved a team of 17 people, including architects, designers, sound engineers and even an optical physics engineer, who worked out the angles necessary to conduct the natural light to the castles interior. According to Soudant, the alterations went forward smoothly until 2013, when Pitt was presented with a list of the costs so far. According to an e-mail sent by one of his assistants, these had reached 25 million. In the e-mail, Soudant is alleged to have billed a total of 4.9 million for her work alone, an amount that the actor described as criminal. During the trial, however, it was shown that the actual amount was somewhat less than the alleged figure and that, contrary to the allegations, Soudant had not been responsible for the delays in the project. Why did they make up that figure? says the artist. And why did he believe it? Nobody has got to the bottom of that yet.

At that point, the actor stopped paying Soudant her monthly fee and she in turn was unable to continue paying her staff and suppliers. The debts accumulated and her credit cards were blocked. People assumed I was a thief. I survived thanks to friends, who helped me out, she says.

In the summer of 2014, Pitt bypassed Soudant and used one of her collaborators instead, prompting the artist to take the matter to court.

Soudant billed 4.9 million for her work alone, an amount Pitt described as criminal

Three years on, Soudant has one victory behind her and more court proceedings concerning the intellectual property of the work ahead. If Soudant is confirmed by law to be the author of the project, the work on the chateau could be considered an infringement of copyright, punishable by law.

Pitts lawyers, however, maintain that the ideas came strictly from their client who is passionate about architecture. This claim was backed up by a number of witnesses during the trial, to which Soudant responded dryly: If hes an architect, Im a Hollywood star!

The only glimpse Soudant has had of the project since its conclusion is in a recent advert for Guerlain perfumes starring Angelina Jolie, in which director Terrence Malick shows Jolie coming down the stairs of the chateau bathed in natural light.

But in spite of everything, the artist says she does not regret her involvement. However painful it has been, I cant regret taking on a project I put so much into, she says. I just want to get back to work now.

After the Jolie-Pitt divorce, the Hollywood duo decided to keep on the chateau, which produces wine and olive oil, as a joint investment.

English version by Heather Galloway.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.1

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Switzerland and Azerbaijan over the past 25 years have established a close partnership which is characterized by openness, friendship and common interests, Ambassador of Switzerland to Azerbaijan Philipp Stalder said in an interview with AzerNews and Trend.

My goal as Swiss Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan is to broaden the relations between our two countries in as many fields as possible - be it on the political, economic, social, cultural or scientific level - and to make our links and Switzerland's presence in Azerbaijan even stronger. A number of indicators show us that we are well underway but there is always room for further improvement, said the ambassador.

He pointed out that there is a productive political framework for boosting bilateral relations.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev regularly visits the Swiss Davos for participation at the World Economic Forum where he also often meets the rotating president of the Swiss Confederation, said Stalder.

On the other hand, we witnessed three official visits from the Swiss head of state to Azerbaijan over the last years. In addition, regular bilateral visits take place on a ministerial level, between the two parliaments and the Central Bank governors, he added.

The ambassador recalled that just a few weeks ago in July, the Chairman of the Swiss National Bank, Thomas Jordan, visited Baku and had productive meetings with his counterpart and the main actors within the government dealing with financial stability issues.

Since my arrival in October 2015, I continuously meet with ministers, members of parliament and high officials, be it in Baku or in the provinces. From all my contacts, I sense a clear political will on both sides to strengthen bilateral relations and to continue - among other issues - with our long standing partnership on technical cooperation, said Stalder. In this partnership with the government, we focus on macro-economic cooperation including support for improving the framework conditions of the economic development in Azerbaijan. All in all, Switzerland plays an important role as a bilateral donor country.

Stalder noted that since many years, a large number of multinational companies from Switzerland have close business links with Azerbaijan and a physical presence in the country.

A Swiss-French company in the cement production, for example, represents the biggest foreign direct investment in the non-oil sector, he added.

Another Swiss company has plans to strengthen its presence in Azerbaijan through the construction of a new factory at Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park. It comes therefore not as a big surprise that - according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan - Switzerland is among the top three countries when it comes to foreign direct investments in the non-oil sector. Our companies, so far, have invested more than $370 million in Azerbaijan, according to this source, said the ambassador.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Switzerland stood at $96.5 million in January-July 2017, or 11.3 percent less as compared to the same period in 2016, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

During the reporting period, export of Azerbaijani products to Switzerland stood at $76.86 million, while the import of Swiss products to the country amounted to $19.64 million.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.1

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Switzerland condemns violent incidents and military attacks on civilians, Ambassador of Switzerland to Azerbaijan Philipp Stalder said in an interview with AzerNews and Trend.

As far as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, the mandate of the peace process is clearly given to the OSCE Minsk group. Although we are not a member of this format, we fully support the co-chairs of the Minsk Group and favor a structured negotiation process in order to find a sustainable solution to the conflict based on the principles of international law. Switzerland condemns violent incidents and military attacks on civilians, the ambassador added.

Stalder pointed out that the new OSCE Secretary General, Ambassador Thomas Greminger, is a former Swiss diplomat.

Switzerland indeed has a long tradition in playing an active role in peace processes - in cases where both parties in a conflict ask us to do so, said Stalder. Many negotiations and meetings took place in Switzerland. Furthermore, Switzerland offers its good services to the international community and currently represents the interest of Russia in Georgia and vice-versa as well as the interests of US in Iran.

The ambassador noted that Swiss diplomacy has vast experience in the field of mediation.

In the past, presidential meetings between leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia took also place in Switzerland, the last in December 2015 in Bern, he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.1

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

OPEC deal to cut oil production should be extended by late 2018, Thomas Pugh, commodities economist at British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics told Trend Sept.1.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Russia proposed to extend the OPEC deal until June 2018.

I dont think extending it to June will be enough to do much. They would have to extend it until the end of 2018 in order to make any sort of difference, said the expert.

Pugh believes that even then an extension of the deal could just encourage US shale production to grow by even more.

Im also not convinced that the deal will be extended as countries like Iraq are still not complying, he added.

He pointed out that its unlikely to have a long term effect on the market unless there is significant damage to oil production or refineries.

We expect it to put some short-term downward pressure on prices, especially on West Texas Intermediate (WTI). It will also put upward pressure on gasoline prices, driving crack spreads higher, said Pugh. Not only will OPEC have to extend its deal forever it will have to keep deepening the cuts, eventually the pain would be too much and the group will return to full production. This is exactly what happened in the 70s and is a key reason why we are skeptical that OPEC will continue to extend the deal.

On May 25, OPEC member countries and non-OPEC parties, Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan agreed to extend the production adjustments for a further period of nine months, with effect from July 1, 2017.

The reductions will be on the same terms as those agreed in November.

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Tehran, Iran, Aug 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

The number of Iranian tourists visiting Turkey registered a huge rise in the past few months. It should be mentioned, that Turkey, with its developed tourism infrastructure, has always been one of the main attractive destinations for the Iranians planning a trip abroad.

"This year the number of Iranians who went to Turkey was engrossingly huge," a tour affairs clerk at Eli Gasht, a prominent Iranian tourism company told Trend, Aug 29.

She noted that, due to the rising number of tourists and lack of vacancies, Iranians planning on a visit to Turkey should start flight and hotel booking procedures at least 10 day in advance.

"Our [flight] economy seats are already purchased to the end of the summer season," she said.

According to the clerk, Turkish beachfronts, followed by Istanbul, are the hottest vocational points for Iranians.

Statistics have shown that, Iranian tourists share of incoming visitors to Turkey had increased from 3.84 to 5 percent, over the past two years.

According to the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministrys statistical data for the first six months of 2017, the number of Iranian tourists visiting the country has exceeded 1 million, reaching the highest level of the last three years. This figure is expected to exceed 2 million by the end of the year.

Turkish success story of attracting Iranian tourists can be attributed to the competitive prices of the services.

Secretary General Cetin Gurcun of the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TURSAB) stated that, Turkey is an important destination for Iranians, asserting that "Iranians feel very close to our country because of our historical ties."

Due to the geographical proximity of the two countries, accommodation and travel expenses are relatively cheap, and, therefore, affordable to an average Iranian.

Iranian tourists had contributed about $1 billion to Turkeys tourism industry in 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 1

By Fatih Karimov Trend:

The trade turnover between Iran and China stood at $20.8 billion in first seven months of 2017, according to the latest statistics released by the Chinese Customs Administration.



China's exports to Iran in the 7-month period amounted to $10.428 billion, 21.3 percent more, year-on-year.

China exported $1.566 billion worth of goods to the Islamic Republic in July 2017, compared to $1.392 billion of exports in July 2016.

The country also imported $10.433 billion worth of goods from Iran in that period, 32 percent more compared to the 7-month period of 2016.

Chinas imports from Iran amounted to $1.22 billion in July 2017, meanwhile the figure stood at $1.249 billion in July 2016.



The trade turnover between the two countries was $51 billion in 2014, 31 percent more compared to the preceding year.



The figure stood at $34 billion in 2015, indicating a 34-percent plunge.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 30

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Iran imported 48.041 million tons of goods, worth $19.442 billion, during the first five months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017).

The figure indicates a 16.49 percent increase in terms of value compared to the same period of preceding year, the Iranian Customs Administration reported Aug. 30.

Average price for each ton of Irans imported goods in the mentioned period was around $1,367, indicating a rise by 8.84 percent, YOY.

Rice worth $963 million topped the list of Iran's imported goods during the five-month period.

Corn fodder ($612 million), cars with 1,500-2,000 cc engines ($515 million), car parts ($434 million) and soybean meal ($410 million) were the other goods mainly imported to the Islamic Republic in the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 22).

China was the main exporter of goods to Iran in the mentioned period. Iran imported $4.256 billion worth of goods from China in the five-month period.

After China, the UAE ($3.341 billion), South Korea ($1.346 billion), India ($1.266 billion) and Turkey ($1.138 billion) were other four biggest exporters of goods to Iran.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 30

By Fatih Karimov Trend:

Iran's non-oil exports, including gas condensates, have reached $17.193 billion during the first five months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017).

The figure indicates a fall of 4.95 percent, compared to the same period of preceding year, Iran's Custom Administration reported, Aug. 30.

Iran includes gas condensate and some raw hydrocarbon products, like propane, butane, etc. in its non-oil export basket.

The volume of the exported goods had reached 14.225 million tons in the 5-month period.

The average price for each ton of Iran's non-oil goods in the mentioned period was around $358, indicating a rise of 3.47 percent, YOY.

During the period, the country had exported $2.92 billion worth of condensate (5.39 percent less, YOY).

Film grade polyethylene (worth $652 million), liquefied propane (worth $576 million), gasoline excluded light oils and products (worth $555 million) and methanol (worth $498 million) where other top exported goods in the 5-month period (March 20-Aug. 21).

Iran had exported $6 billion worth of petrochemicals, during the period, which is 2 percent more, compared to the same period of the preceding year.

China was the main importer of the Iranian goods during the 5-month period. Irans non-oil exports to China have registered a rise of 10 percent and stood at $3.743 billion.

Iraq ($2.604 billion, increase of 4 percent) The United Arab Emirates ($2.583 billion, fall of 14.5 percent), South Korea ($1.676 billion, 8 percent increase) and India ($1.199 billion, fall of 4.5 percent) were other top importers of Iranian non-oil goods during the first five months of current Iranian fiscal year.
President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone talk with Qatari emir on Thursday underlined that Tehran welcomes further deepening of ties with Qatar as a friendly country, Press TV reported.

He also voiced Iran's readiness for strengthening friendly relations among regional Muslim states.

During telephone conversation, Rouhani congratulated Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Eid al-Adha, saying that Iran deems whatever imposed on Qatar unjust and tension-fostering and will do its best regarding collaboration with Qatari nation and government and regional stability.

He also underlined regional consultations between the two countries as well as reinforcing cooperation in line with mutual interests.

Qatari emir, for his part, congratulated Rouhani and Iranian government and nation on Eid al-Adha, saying that Qatar favors deepening of relations with Iran in all fields and considers development of ties beneficial to both sides.

Appreciating Iran for its principled stance in support of Qatar against unfair sanctions, he said that Qatari nation and government are thankful of Iran for its opposition towards the embargos and opening its air, land and sea borders to it and they will never forget it.

Prospects for promoting Tehran-Doha relations in all political, economic and cultural sectors is promising, he said, noting that Qatar is ready for taking advantage of the historic opportunity in line with enhancing ties with Iran in all fields.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that he was cancelling a planned trip to the United States for preparatory economic talks because of the situation in North Korea, Reuters reported.

Aso told a news conference after a cabinet meeting that he had conveyed his intention to the U.S. side, which he said had showed understanding.
French police said they arrested a man near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Friday night, after media reports of a security alert, Reuters reported.

A person was arrested, the incident is finished, an official at Paris police said. He wasnt armed, well know more about his motives tomorrow, the official added.

Police said the tower was not evacuated.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected the US courts indictment against his security guards, who put pressure on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) supporters in Washington DC, during the presidents visit to the US, the Turkish media reported Sept. 1.

The US courts decision has no significance for Turkey, President Erdogan said following the Eid al-Adha holiday prayer in Istanbul.

President Erdogan added that instead of providing him with security, the US authorities let PKK supporters hold a rally directed against the president of another country.

The Turkish president said that the US is currently hiding Fethullah Gulen, whose involvement in the military coup attempt in Turkey has been proved.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey welcomes the liberation of Iraqs Tal Afar city from the militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, the Turkish foreign ministry told Trend Sept. 1.

"Turkey also expresses condolences to Tal Afar residents who have suffered heavy losses from the IS," the ministry said. "The country ready to render any support to the Iraqi authorities.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced about the victory of the Iraqi military over the IS militants in Tal Afar city Aug. 31.

A military operation has been conducted in Iraqs north-western Tal Afar city since August 20.

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By Ko Shu-ling, KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2017 - 09:51 | World, All

The world last month observed International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women," a term that euphemistically refers to the estimated 200,000 women, mainly from Asia, procured to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II.

Seventy-two years after the end of the war, the number of surviving women who endured this treatment is declining rapidly.

Fewer than 70 remain alive in the Philippines, 45 in South Korea, 15 in China and just two in Taiwan. With an average age of 90, even those who remain will soon be gone.

Advocacy groups express concern about the passing of individuals with direct experience of history's most destructive war. Without living witnesses, many fear the difficult lessons learned by Jews in Europe, women in Asia and residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be forgotten and the horrors they experienced easier to repeat.

To help preserve the memory of comfort women, the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation embarked on two projects in recent months.

One is the Ama Museum in Taipei, its name taken from the Taiwanese word for grandmother often used as a term of respect for elderly women.

The Ama Museum opened last December, its mission being to memorialize Taiwan's comfort women and educate the public on the history of sexual exploitation in Asia during World War II.

"We want to encourage our visitors to think about questions raised by comfort women and remember," said museum director Kang Shu-hua at a recent event.

Historians have estimated that approximately 2,000 Taiwanese women were recruited for service in Japanese military brothels, and while little was done to keep track of them after the war, a 1996 survey confirmed that at least 58 were still alive at that time.

Privately funded and managed by TWRF, the Ama Museum sponsors public programs in addition to standing exhibits, a book room, workshop and a small gallery that displays art by former comfort women.

The second recent project related to comfort women was a film festival earlier this month on the theme of violence against women in war.

Included in the program were several films on Asia, including a 2015 documentary produced by the Foundation about former Taiwanese comfort women nearing the end of their lives who struggle to come to terms with their histories.

Titled "Song of the Reed," the TWRF film focuses on a small group of survivors who meet regularly with a therapist to help them face long-buried memories of their wartime experiences.

Not surprisingly, shame is a central theme in all of the festival films dealing with comfort women, many of whom were acknowledging the subject for the first time in their lives.

Adela, a Filipino featured in a film titled "Apology," intended to carry the secret to her grave, even keeping it from her husband who died some years ago. After developing a rapport with the film's Taiwanese-Canadian director, Tiffany Hsiung, Adela finally decides to tell her son, which she does shortly before her own death.

Less fortunate was Chinese survivor Mao Yin-mei, who in a Chinese film titled "Twenty Two" breaks down when asked about her experience. "I can't talk about it," she weeps. "It is too upsetting."

In an interview following the screening of "Song of the Reed," director Wu Hsiu-ching related a similar story about one of her subjects, Shen-jong Ama, who had agreed to be interviewed, but at the appointed time did not appear.

Wu learned afterward from Shen-jong's family that on the day of the interview she stayed home, sitting alone in a dark room, too ashamed to tell her story.

By Wu's account, the greatest challenge in documenting the lives of women like Shen-jong Ama is persuading them to speak.

Another theme emphasized in the comfort women films is accountability, though not always the way one might expect given how often the topic is politicized by those who have little interest in the victims themselves.

Japan's reluctance to acknowledge its military's treatment of women during World War II has continued to provoke anger throughout the region since the first comfort woman came forward with her story in 1991.

Indeed, the TWRF produced an earlier film in 1996 on the experiences of Taiwanese women titled "A Secret Buried for 50 Years" that calls for an immediate apology and reparations from the Japanese government.

These were duly offered, notably in a landmark 1995 statement by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who went on to establish the "Asian Women's Fund" in support of medical and other projects to assist women throughout the region.

Since that time, survivors have become more conciliatory.

One Chinese woman interviewed expressed sadness at the larger cost of war and hoped that China and Japan would never fight again.

A Taiwanese survivor came to the conclusion that by forgiving those who harmed her, she also forgave herself.

Given the fate that befell so many of the men who visited "comfort stations," it is difficult to say they escaped justice.

Historians estimate that 2.4 million Japanese died at sea or on foreign battlefields during the war, nearly half of whose remains have never been identified or returned to their families.

Hoping to dial down tensions over issues of blame and compensation, TWRF chief executive officer Fan Ching said that remembering wrong "is not to hate the perpetrators, but to have courage and strength to move forward."

If comfort women are like bruised reeds, asked Taiwanese director Wu, "aren't soldiers sent to war like reeds too?"

"God shall not break a bruised reed, nor shall he quench the smoking flax," Wu said, quoting from the biblical book of Isaiah alluded to in her title, "but he shall bring forth judgment unto truth."
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2017 - 13:43 | All

Japan carried out disaster preparedness drills on Friday, dealing with mock earthquakes and other threats just days after its emergency warning system was used for real during North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile over the country.

Disaster Prevention Day falls each year on the anniversary of a magnitude-7.9 earthquake that hit Tokyo and the surrounding region in 1923, killing more than 105,000 people.

The central government's exercise on Friday was based on the scenario of a magnitude-7.3 quake occurring directly under the capital.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called his entire Cabinet to a meeting at the government's emergency disaster headquarters and held a press conference based on that scenario.

"To minimize the damage, we will maximize the commitment of assistance from around the country," Abe said at the press conference.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department practiced closing roads designated as special emergency vehicle corridors. The department's traffic regulation division said the drill was the biggest yet of its kind, and included part of a highway for the first time.

Some cities in northern Japan chose to practice alerting and evacuating residents in the event of an incoming missile. On Tuesday morning, a ballistic missile launched by North Korea passed over part of the northernmost island of Hokkaido before landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The city of Osaka carried out its own exercises based on the scenario that a massive earthquake and tsunami had been triggered by a seismic event in the Nankai Trough that runs below central and western Japan's Pacific coast.

Other municipalities' drills included responding to torrential rain, reflecting on the increased possibility of fatal downpours after parts of southwestern Japan were inundated earlier this year.

The Cabinet Office had in previous years collected data about the numbers of municipalities and people taking part in drills nationwide, but has decided not to do so from this year onwards in order to lessen the burden on local governments.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2017 - 20:18 | All, World

Foreign Minister Taro Kono asked his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday for China's cooperation in adopting a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution on North Korea, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The request, made during a telephone conversation, came in response to North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the week.

Wang reiterated China's position of placing importance on dialogue with North Korea, the ministry said.

Kono was quoted as telling Wang that North Korea's action posed "an unprecedented, serious and grave threat" to security and was "totally unacceptable."

Now is the time for the international community to ramp up pressure on North Korea, Japan's top diplomat said during the 40-minute phone conversation.

Kono and Wang did reaffirm the common goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and agreed to keep close communication, including at the United Nations, according to the ministry.

Pyongyang's testing of nuclear and ballistic missile technology is banned by the United Nations and is the subject of multiple international sanctions.

The latest resolution, which aims to cut North Korea's $3 billion annual export revenue by a third, bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It was unanimously adopted by the 15-member U.N. Security Council.

The Japanese and U.S. governments are looking at possibly imposing additional sanctions on North Korea such as an oil embargo. On Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said an oil embargo is "one of the options."

But China, the key benefactor of North Korea, has opposed such an embargo on the North during past negotiations at the United Nations and other venues.
Cramer calls Wells Fargo a 'rogue bank' after revelations of over a million more fake accounts

CNBC's Jim Cramer called Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) a "rogue bank" on Thursday after the bank said it uncovered much more potentially unauthorized consumer and small-business accounts than originally thought.

On Thursday, Wells Fargo said its review of 165 million retail accounts opened from January 2009 to September 2016 identified 3.5 million as potentially unauthorized, up from 2.1 million accounts identified in a narrower review.

"A million extra? I mean that's not a rounding error," Cramer said on " Squawk on the Street ." "It's not embarrassing, it's rogue. This is a rogue bank."

Perhaps Sen. Elizabeth Warren , who has been tough on Wells Fargo, had a point, added Cramer. In June, the Massachusetts Democrat called for the ouster of 12 board members at Wells Fargo due to the fake accounts scandal.

"They thought they got to the bottom of it but they left out a million accounts," Cramer said. "That does not seem like the bottom of this. This is so outrageous."

"I'd like to call all those board members to Congress," he added. "This was a bank that ran amok in order to meet cross-selling obligations. ... We should not let up on this Wells Fargo situation."

On Wednesday, billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC that when one puts a spotlight on a large financial institution like Wells Fargo , they're likely to find something.

"What you find is there's never just one cockroach in the kitchen when you start looking around," the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said on " Squawk Alley ." Berkshire is Wells Fargo's largest shareholder.

In response to Buffett's comment, a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in part: "Our top priority is rebuilding the trust of our customers, team members, community partners, and shareholders."

CNBC has reached to Wells Fargo for further comment but the company did not immediately respond.

Story continues

 CNBC's Liz Moyer contributed to this report.

WATCH: WFC disclosure should bring closure to scandal





More From CNBC


Speaking at an event in Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump sought to depict his tax cut proposal as a way to help the struggling U.S. middle class.

Speaking at an event in Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump sought to depict his tax cut proposal as a way to help the struggling U.S. middle class.

We are here to bring back Main Street by reducing the crushing tax burden on our workers and our companies, Trump said.

There is no more fitting place to launch this effort than right here in the American heartland, he added, calling the nearby historic Route 66 highway a vivid symbol of Americas booming industry.

The president spoke at an event at Loren Cook Co., which manufactures fans, blowers and lab exhaust systems. The companys owner donated to Trump and to various Missouri GOP officials during the 2016 campaign cycle.

We dont know much yet about Trumps plan for tax reform  but based on the broad outlines released by the administration, experts say the wealthy would enjoy the greatest benefits. Millionaires in Missouri, for example, would receive an average tax cut of $190,560 in 2018, equal to 7.9 percent of their income, according to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Congressional Republicans remain at odds over what the new tax rates should look like, how cuts should be paid for, or whether its even a good idea to try to make up the lost revenue.

Trump didnt offer any specifics about his plan on Wednesday, in a move reminiscent of his unsuccessful efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

I dont want to be disappointed by Congress, do you understand me? he said, alluding to lawmakers failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. I think Congress is going to make a comeback.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned in a statement that Trump is trying to cloak his tax plan, which is really a boon for the rich, as a populist plan that will be a boon for the middle class.

If it provides huge cuts for the wealthy while leaving crumbs for the middle class, the American people will rise up against it, Schumer said Wednesday.

Story continues

Trumps tax reform event came as communities across Texas continue to struggle with the historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. The president acknowledged the storm at the start of his remarks on tax reform, and described his Tuesday visit to Texas, where he met with local officials and reviewed recovery efforts.

Together, we will endure, and we will overcome, Trump said. To those affected by the storm, we will pray for you, we are here for you, every step of the way.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp failed to seal a deal to sell its prized chip business by an internal deadline of Thursday, raising doubts about whether it can plug a balance sheet hole in time to avoid a delisting and keep the unit competitive. The embattled Japanese conglomerate said in a statement it has tried but so far not come to an agreement and it was continuing to talk with three suitors - a consortium led by Western Digital as well as groups led by Bain Capital and by Taiwan's Foxconn. The sale of the world's No. 2 maker of NAND chips - worth $17 billion to $18 billion - has become a contentious battle marked by a slew of revised bids, changing alliances among bidding groups and the threat of legal action from joint venture partner Western Digital. Despite frayed relations between Western Digital and Toshiba, one source familiar the matter said early this week that their discussions were in final stages, with Steve Milligan, the chief executive of the U.S. firm, in town to hammer out details. But the two sides are struggling to come to an agreement over the U.S. company's future stake in the business, several sources have said. Toshiba was working under creditor pressure to strike a deal by the end of the month, sources with direct knowledge have said, as any later would make it difficult to gain regulatory approvals before its books closed in March. But in a sign that an agreement might not be too far off, Toshiba Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa told the firm's creditor banks on Wednesday: "Please give me an extra week or so," according to separate sources familiar with the sale process. The sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said Tsunakawa did not say which bidding group was favoured but repeated his determination to get a deal done and dusted by March. Without the money to cover billions in liabilities at it bankrupt nuclear unit Westinghouse, Toshiba would likely have to book negative net worth for a second year running, which could result in it being delisted. Just as importantly, delays are set to only make rival Samsung Electronics' upper hand in NAND chips stronger, allowing it to capitalise on a boom in demand for semiconductors and extend its lead in advanced 3D chips. "Toshiba must build a factory in order to satisfy demand for 3D NAND, but right now Toshiba doesn't have the money," said Lee Kyu-jin, senior analyst at Ebest Investment & Securities. "Meanwhile, Samsung is showing drive in the 3D NAND market, including building a factory dedicated to 3D NAND in order to dominate demand." BAIN BRINGS IN APPLE Efforts to strike a deal have been complicated by Bain's last minute resubmission of a 2 trillion yen ($18.1 billion) offer, bringing in Apple Inc to help bolster its bid, sources said late on Wednesday. The bid trumps the 1.9 trillion yen offered by the Western Digital-led consortium, which also includes U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co LP. Banking sources have previously said, however, that Western Digital was working to get its proposal up to 2 trillion yen. A senior banking official familiar with the talks said Toshiba was still likely to sign a deal with the Western Digital group, as legal risks posed by the U.S. firm, which argues no deal can be done without its consent, make it difficult to accept any other offer. Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is seen as an unlikely winner in the race due to its deep ties with China and the Japanese government's desire to keep key semiconductor technology owned by Japanese-U.S. capital. There is also some doubt about Toshiba's resolve to sell the unit as some executives at the chip unit would prefer no deal if it is going to be bought by Western Digital and have threatened to quit if the U.S. firm wins out, sources have said. Separate sources familiar with Toshiba's thinking have also said the Japanese conglomerate may consider tapping financial investors to boost capital so that it could avoid a delisting in the event that it decides not to sell the chip unit. ($1 = 110.4700 yen) (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Taro Fuse and Kentaro Hamada in Tokyo, Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Edwina Gibbs)
Planned changes to France's labour law include giving employers more freedom to negotiation conditions with workers and boosting dialogue between employers and their staff (AFP Photo/LOIC VENANCE) (AFP/File)

Paris (AFP) - The French government on Thursday unveiled an overhaul of the country's strict labour laws, the first major reform of Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

The changes aim to spur job creation by giving employers more freedom to negotiate conditions with workers and boosting dialogue between employers and their staff.

Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud said the reforms were aimed particularly at supporting small business.

Following are five key changes:

- Cap on labour court payouts -

Small companies live in fear of the "Prudhommes" -- the labour courts that hear wrongful dismissal cases which often yield generous awards for aggrieved workers.

To help reduce the risks for employers, these awards will now be capped, starting at three months' salary for employees with up to two years of service, rising to a maximum 20 months' salary for employees with more than 30 years service.

Workers will have only a year to make a case, down from two currently.

- Decentralising negotiations -

On some issues, companies will no longer be bound by national law, with industry- or company-level agreements taking precedence.

Issues that will be decided sector by sector include the duration of fixed-term contracts and the number of times they can be renewed.

Staff bonuses are among the issues that will be negotiated at the company level.

- More flexibility for small business -

Small businesses with no union representatives will be able to negotiate directly with workers on a range of issues, including pay and working hours, and put them to a vote.

Previously, employers of companies with fewer than 50 employees were barred from bargaining directly with workers unless they had a union mandate.

The reform falls short of demands from employers' groups, which wanted companies with up to 300 employees to be allowed to negotiate directly with workers.

- Easing redundancies -

Companies will find it easier to offer voluntary redundancies, and multinationals also face fewer hurdles in laying off staff at struggling French operations.

Story continues

International groups currently have to offer French workers jobs in overseas operations.

In return for facilitating layoffs, the government will increase minimum redundancy payments.

From one-fifth of a month's salary per year of service currently, the payments will rise to one-quarter of a month's salary per year worked.

- Streamling worker representation -

To cut the time spent by employers dealing with bodies representing workers, three committees dealing with everything from pay to health and safety in a single company will be merged into a single body.
NAPLES, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2017 / FTE Networks, Inc. (FTNW) (FTE, we, us or the Company), a leading provider of innovative technology-oriented solutions for smart platforms, network infrastructure and buildings, is pleased to announce that SeeThruEquity has updated its report on the Company. The full report is available here: FTNW Update Note.

The text of SeeThruEquity's press release, announcing its update on August 30, 2017, is copied below:

SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research, and corporate access firm focused on small-cap and micro-cap public companies, issued an update on FTE Networks, Inc. (FTNW).

Based in Naples, Florida, FTE Networks, Inc. (OTCQX: FTNW, "FTE Networks") is a leading provider of innovative technology-oriented solutions for smart platforms, network infrastructure and buildings. FTE Networks has three operating subsidiaries, including: FTE Networks Services, which provides network infrastructure solutions; CrossLayer, which provides managed network services via an advanced network and cloud platform; and Benchmark Builders, which provides construction management for complex projects. Through these three complementary businesses, FTE Networks provides end-to-end design, build, and support solutions for state-of-the-art networks and commercial properties to create transformative smart platforms and buildings. FTE has made several advancements since our last update note on the company, with highlights including:

FTE completed the acquisition of Benchmark Builders, Inc. ("Benchmark"), adding a robust sales pipeline and technology complex interior construction capability

FTE reported record 2Q17 revenues of $50.2mn, which included contribution from Benchmark

FTE generated healthy adjusted operating income of $2.3mn, or 4.5% of revenues

FTE completes acquisition of Benchmark Builders

FTE completed the acquisition of Benchmark on April 20, 2017. The transaction adds significant scale and expands FTE's service capabilities while adding marquee customers and more than doubling its sales backlog. Founded in 2008, Benchmark brings expertise in technologically complex interior construction, with experience in large projects in the telecommunications, commercial real estate, industrial, broadcast, technology, infrastructure, healthcare, and education industries. The combined company now has more than 200 employees and operations in 17 states and Europe. Importantly, the addition of Benchmark adds significant complementary services to FTE's offerings, enabling the company to offer a full suite of end-to-end solutions to design, build, and outfit customer locations with advanced, flexible network and connectivity solutions using its multi-edge computing strategy.

Story continues

FTE reports record revenue of $50.2mn, positive adjusted operating income for 2Q17

FTE reported record revenues of $50.2mn in 2Q17, as compared to $3.2mn in the year-ago period. The rise in revenues was primarily due to the company's acquisition of Benchmark, which was included in results beginning April 21, 2017. In the results announcement, FTE Chief Executive Officer and President Michael Palleschi stated that the company had built "positive momentum" since the closing of the Benchmark transaction, and we look forward to learning more about how the company's new multi-edge computing solution is being received in the market. Benchmark accounted for $44.5mn in revenues during this partial period. Core FTE revenues without the impact of Benchmark did increase by 96% to $5.3mn, versus $3.2mn in 2Q16. At the end of 2Q17, the company had a combined backlog of $346.7mn, according to its 10-Q filing.

Increasing target to $3.20 target following Benchmark deal

We are increasing our target for FTE Networks to $3.20 per share following the closing of the Benchmark deal. The target implies an Enterprise Value of 1.2x the company's backlog of $347mn, and 13.5x 2018E EV/EBITDA, assuming 134.9mn shares and net debt of approximately $70mn. Upcoming catalysts for FTE include a planned listing on a major exchange and 2H17 operating results, which are expected to show increasing revenues.

About SeeThruEquity

Since its founding in 2011, SeeThruEquity has been committed to its core mission: providing impactful, high-quality research on underfollowed small-cap and micro-cap equities. SeeThruEquity has pioneered an innovative business model for equity research that is not paid for and is unbiased. SeeThruEquity is the host of acclaimed investor conferences that are the ultimate event for publicly traded companies with market capitalizations less than $1 billion.

SeeThruEquity is approved to contribute its research reports and estimates to Thomson One Analytics (First Call), the leading estimates platform on Wall Street, as well as Capital IQ and FactSet. SeeThruEquity maintains one of the industry's most extensive databases of opt-in institutional and high net worth investors. The firm is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

For more information visit www.seethruequity.com.

Contact:

Ajay Tandon

SeeThruEquity

info@seethruequity.com

About FTE Networks, Inc.

FTE Networks, Inc. (FTNW) is a leading network infrastructure solutions provider to the technology and communications sectors. FTEs three complementary businesses are: FTE Networks Services (network infrastructure solutions); CrossLayer, Inc. (managed network services with first-of-its-kind advanced network and cloud platform); and Benchmark Builders, Inc. (construction management), which provides end-to-end design, build, and support solutions for state-of-the-art networks and commercial properties to create the most transformative smart platforms and buildings. FTEs businesses are predicated on smart design and consistent standards that reduce deployment costs and accelerate delivery of innovative projects and services. The company works with Fortune 100/500 companies, including some of the worlds leading communications services providers. FTE Networks and its subsidiaries operate eight lines of business including Data Center Infrastructure, Fiber Optics, Wireless Integration, Network Engineering, Internet Service Provider, Construction Management, General Contracting and Pre-Construction Services. With approximately 200+ employees, FTE and its entities have operations in 17 states. For more information, please visit www.ftenet.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release that does not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, financial projections, statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations, the development and commercialization of the Company's products, or any of the Company's other proposed products or services. Such forward-looking statements are not meant to predict or guarantee actual results, performance, events or circumstances and actual events may differ considerably. There is no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by the Company. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release, except as required under applicable securities laws. Furthermore, the opinions espoused in the SeeThruEquity report do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of the Company.

Media and Investor Relations:

FTE Networks, Inc.

999 Vanderbilt Beach Rd., Suite 601

Naples, FL 23108

(877) 850-4308

ir@ftenet.com

SOURCE: FTE Networks, Inc.
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

Drivers this Labor Day weekend will quickly discover that the after-effects of Hurricane Harvey have caused fuel prices to spike nationwide. The good news: Prices should return to normal after a few weeks.

The national average price of unleaded gasoline is at its highest point so far this year at $2.45 a gallon, the American Automobile Association reported. Jeanette Casselano, a AAA spokeswoman, says consumers can expect prices to continue to tick slightly upwards for a few weeks before they come back down to pre-Harvey levels.

The AAA predicts that 35 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this holiday weekend.



Gas Prices Wont Spike for Long

Consumers will see a short-term spike in the coming weeks with gas prices likely topping $2.50 a gallon (nationally), but the should be quickly dropping by mid- to late September, Casselano said. She added that limited damage to oil refineries and related infrastructure should mitigate any long-term price increases.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy, agrees that the nationwide uptick is only temporary. Increases will fade in the next week, he told Consumer Reports, but the overall amount of time it will take prices to go back to pre-Harvey levels may be 4-6 weeks, maybe longer.

Who will be hit the hardest? Casselano says that not surprisingly, the South and Southeast will see gas prices increase the most because they receive the bulk of the gasoline produced along the Gulf Coast.

Here are the highest price increases per gallon so far since Harvey came ashore in Texas, according to AAA:

South Carolina: +19 cents

Delaware: +18 cents

Kentucky: +17 cents

Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina: +16 cents

Maryland: +14 cents

Alabama, Kansas: +13 cents

Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virgina: +12 cents

Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Texas and Virginia: +11 cents

The Northeast is stepping in to barge fuel shipments to points South, DeHaan said. Because of that, areas of the Northeast could see another increase of 15 to 35 cents per gallon," he added.

Story continues

The West Coast and Rockies regions will see increases, but not to the extent of the rest of the country, Casselano said.

In Houston, Empty Stations and Price Hikes

Gas is scarce in Houston itself, one resident told CR, and because some stations in Texas are reportedly charging higher than normal prices, the Texas Attorney Generals office is asking consumers to report those stations. Consumers can lodge complaints here, or call 1-800-631-0508.

Houston resident Terese Pierce found pricey gas yesterday at a station in North Texas. She and her family have been being unable to get back into their home after their subdivision was flooded, so she headed to Denver to drop one of her daughters off at college.



Normally, Pierce told CR on Friday, she would refill her car only when the gas tank was down to a quarter full, but this trip, I havent even touched a half-a-tank because I dont want to be stuck and not be able to get my kid to college, she said. There are tons of gas stations all around Houston that are empty.



As she and her daughter approached Fort Worth from the south on I-35W, they stopped at a station that seemed to have gas. I didnt even notice the price at first, she said, but it was $3.59 a gallon. She was so taken aback by the price that she posted a photo of the pump price on Facebook. She had earlier paid just $2.19 a gallon in Brookshire, Texas, she said.

The AAAs Casselano says gas prices should not be subject to wild swings upward, even though they've gone up in recent days. As in any national or local state of emergency, we expect gas prices to be held in check up and down the gasoline supply chain, unless there is a clearly justifiable reason for an increase.

How to Save on Gas

To improve your fuel economy, Consumer Reports recommends:

Driving at 55 mph instead of 65 or 75. It will save you money. When CR drove a Honda Accord at a steady 65 mph, the car's fuel economy dropped to 42 mpg from 49 mpg when it was driven at 55 mph. Driving 75 mph dropped results to 37 mpg. Aerodynamic drag increases exponentially the faster you drive, said John Ibbotson, chief mechanic at CR. It simply takes more fuel to power the car through the air.

Avoid hard acceleration and braking whenever possible. In CR tests, frequent bursts of acceleration and braking reduced one test car's mileage by 2 to 3 mpg, said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at CR.

Don't carry things on top of your vehicle when you don't have to. When we installed bikes on a rooftop carrier atop the Accord driving 65 mph, fuel economy dropped a whopping 35 percent, to 27 mpg from 42 mpg, Ibbotson said. Even the empty rack created enough drag to suck gas mileage down 5 mpg.





More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples



Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2017, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Bosses in France will find it easier to hire and fire staff under new reforms aimed at overhauling the country's notoriously stringent labor market. The French government laid out 36 new measures on Thursday as part of President Emmanuel Macron 's plans to encourage employment and business freedoms. These include greater autonomy at a workplace level, rather than an industry level. The changes will be especially significant for small and medium-sized businesses, which employ over half of the French workforce.

Under the new rules, companies with fewer than 50 employees will be able to set up workers' committees which can bypass unions. This means that if a business can agree terms with the majority of its employees, for instance on working hours and pay, that deal can trump wider industry guidelines. The rules will also place a cap on damages payable to staff for unfair dismissal. This is one of the more controversial measures, but the government insists that having transparency will make employers less reluctant to recruit. Employees will now have one year to challenge a dismissal in courts, rather than the previous two years. Meanwhile, damages payments will now be capped at three months' pay for two years of work and 20 months' pay for 30 years. The plans have attracted criticism, with demonstrations scheduled for next month, but the country's two biggest unions have said they will not take part.

Their unveiling marks a moment of truth for Macron , who has vowed to slash France's stubbornly high unemployment rate from 9.5 percent to 7 percent by 2022. The government plans to pass the laws by decree next month, having already won parliamentary backing. Analysts say that the plans will make it easier for Macron to push ahead with the rest of his major reform agenda, which spans domestic policy as well as increased EU integration. "The proposals will allow Macron to prove his reformist credentials and give him strong momentum to pursue further policy changes at home and abroad," Teneo Intelligence said in a press note. However, they insisted that his success will now hinge on his speed of delivery. "The ability of the French bureaucracy to keep up with Macron's plans is a challenge in this regard, given the president's decision to cut the number of staff at the cabinet level and his willingness to push ahead with multiple reforms simultaneously." Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.



More From CNBC


trump jared kushner

The Kushner Companies, the real estate firm owned by the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, is facing a mountain of a challenge.

According to an investigation by Bloomberg's David Kocieniewski and Caleb Melby, the Kushner Companies is facing a staggering set of financial complications and has been actively seeking substantial foreign investments in order to boost the real estate company.

Most of the issue arises over the 2007 purchase by the Kushner Companies of 666 Fifth Avenue, a massive skyscraper in New York City. The $1.8 billion price tag for the building was paid for with a $50 million down payment, $535 million in short-term high interest loans, and a $1.2 billion mortgage.

Due to the dramatic downturn in the New York real estate market (not to mention the global economy) soon after the purchase, the Kushner Companies has been working to pay down the high interest loans by selling off portions of the building and large parts of its other portfolio, while not putting any money toward the long-term mortgage.

According to Bloomberg, the Kushners have sold off all of the retail space at the bottom of the building and a 49.5% stake in the tower above to Vornado Realty Trust. The sales have helped pay off the short-term loans and split the ownership of the tower, but the Kushners still must pay roughly $600 million  more than the short-term loans the company has grappled with for a decade  when the mortgage comes due in February 2019.

While the loan is substantial in size, the success or failure of the 666 building is not a threat to the survival of the larger company, a person familar with the matter told Business Insider. In addition, the rest of the Kushner Companies' portfolio is performing well, the person said.

In order to pay back this substantial obligation, according to Bloomberg, the Kushner Companies has developed an ambitious plan to tear down the existing 666 tower and replace it with a new mixed-use skyscraper with a five-story mall and high-end condos.

Story continues

To finance the existing loan and the new complex, the Kushners have been looking to partner with outside investors on some or all of the space. According to Bloomberg, a good number of the conversations the Kushner Companies representatives have held since Trump entered the presidential race in 2015 have been with foreign investors.

So far, however, no partner has been willing to sign on to the plan.

Here's a rundown of some of the investors the Kushner Companies held meetings with regarding the building over the past few years, according to Bloomberg:

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, a Qatari businessman, who agreed to an investment if others came on board in 2016. The deal eventually fell apart.

The Korea Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund run by the South Korean government, held talks regarding the investment but ultimately walked away.

Anbang, a massive Chinese insurance company with close ties to the Chinese government, held talks but backed out in 2017 after reports of the talks were revealed.

All of these investors, said Bloomberg, have either not commented or denied that they took interest due to Kushner's connection to Trump.

The Kushner Companies did, however, get into hot water in May when it was reported that some of the family members were apparently encouraging Chinese investors to go in on a separate real estate venture in exchange for US visas, using Jared's name as a selling point.

Federal prosecutors subpoenaed the Kushner Companies regarding its pitches in China following the revelations, according to a report form The Wall Street Journal.

As late as July, reports indicated that some companies working with the Kushner Companies were still using Jared's name to entice Chinese investors.

In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesperson for the Kushner Companies took issue with the Bloomberg story.

"The Bloomberg article this morning about the Kushner Companies and its property at 666 Fifth Avenue contained many factual errors and drew unsupported conclusions," the statement said, without elaborating on what those factual errors were.

NOW WATCH: Steve Bannon is out  here are all the casualties of the Trump administration so far





More From Business Insider


The world may be distracted by the advanced, high-end technology of the Galaxy Note 8 and the highly anticipated iPhone 8, but those devices also tend to come with appropriately hefty prices. For people looking for budget-friendlier options that look just as premium and perform respectably will soon have a new candidate to consider. Here at IFA in Berlin, Moto unveiled the X4  its latest midrange handset which will retail in Europe for 399 in September (349 in the UK). It offers dual cameras and an elegant design for the price, and after a brief hands-on with the new handset, I'm pretty taken by how it looks.

Seriously. The first thing I noticed about the X4 is its beautiful, shiny body. This highly reflective aesthetic seems to be the flavor of the year for smartphones (think: Sony'x XZ Premium and the LG V30), and so far I'm into it. The eye-catching sheen attracts fingerprints, though, and I frequently had to wipe down the handset during my preview. I also liked the X4's gentle curves, which made it easy to maneuver.

That's not to say the device is an unwieldy size. With a 5.2-inch full HD display, the X4 is manageable. The screen's 424 ppi pixel density also helped make graphics on the phone's Android 7.1 Nougat interface look rich and crisp.

A nice display is an important basic to nail, but the X4 also has plenty of bonus features even at this price. The most interesting of these is the new dual cameras setup on the rear. Like most other phones with a pair of lenses, the X4 can create an artificial depth-of-field effect that blurs out the background to highlight your subject. Moto uses a 12-megapixel f/2.0 sensor in tandem with an 8-megapixel wide-angle version in the X4. However, in my short time testing the new phone, I found this software, which Moto calls "Depth Mode," somewhat odd.

Like the Galaxy Note 8, the X4 allows you to see the blurred effect as you frame your shot in the viewfinder and adjust the intensity before you snap. But while Samsung lets you tweak the amount of blur after shooting, Moto doesn't.

Story continues

That would be a small issue if not for the fact that the depth-of-field effect doesn't appear to be very accurate in the viewfinder  the blur seems to be a little haphazard. But when I looked at the image afterward, the coffee cup that I focused on was crisp, while all the background around it was hazy. The X4 was great at identifying object outlines, but the contrast between the sharp and blurred-out areas of the photo was so stark that the overall effect was disorienting.

Moto told us that the software we were testing is still an early version and that it will likely be updated before the phone ships to consumers.

A couple of other new camera features for the X4 include a Panoramic Selfie for the 16-megapixel front camera, which lets you tilt your phone around to take a wider portrait, as well as a "Landmark Detection" tool that helps you identify places of interest around you. I didn't get to try out the latter, but the wide selfies I shot were surprisingly clear. I couldn't tell where they were stitched together even upon zooming in to the photo. Neither of these two is a particularly novel update for smartphones, though. Selfie panoramas have appeared on a few other phones, while many third-party AR apps can already recognize landmarks and give you more information about them.

One more distinguishing feature for the X4 is its integration of Amazon Alexa. Like the HTC U11, the Moto X4 lets you talk to Alexa without having to first launch an app or press a button. You can also talk to Amazon's assistant even when the X4 is locked, and the system will recognize your voice before responding. A Moto rep asked Alexa for the weather on her X4 without waking it from sleep, and it responded quickly. You can't use Alexa to change things on the handset like display brightness or audio volume, though, since Google Assistant will still be the main controller of those settings. It's mostly nifty to have Alexa on the X4 to read audiobooks to you or to control smart home devices that still don't work with Assistant.

The rest of the phone's specs are reasonable for the price. The X4 runs on a Snapdragon 630 processor with 3GB or 4GB of RAM (depending on the region) and packs a 3,000mAh battery in its IP68 water-resistant body. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0, and uses technology that Moto says allows the X4 to connect to up to four Bluetooth devices at once. Fans of Moto's Maker customization service will probably be disappointed though  the X4 won't have personalization options.

Although we don't yet know how much the phone will cost when it arrives in the US (and it's coming), it is likely to be in the same range as its European counterpart. If that's true, the combination of a rich display, elegant body and capable cameras (albeit with some finicky software) for the sub-$400 price makes this a compelling proposition.

Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!
Special Counsel Robert Mueller (R) departs after briefing members of the U.S. Senate on his investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

FBI special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly enlisted New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to help investigate President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort for possible financial crimes and money laundering.

The clearest implication of the powerhouse merger, first reported by Politico, is that Manafort wouldn't be immune from criminal prosecution even with the possibility of a pardon from Trump.

It is unclear whether Schneiderman is investigating any other New York-based Trump associates under scrutiny by the FBI, such as Trump's son Donald Jr. or his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. But Trump has tweeted in the past that he has complete pardon power, which he would likely use on his family and loyal political allies  as he did with former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio  before anyone else.

Mueller seems to be preparing for that possibility by lining up "potential state prosecutions in states where these folks may have violated state law," former FBI agent Asha Rangappa, now an associate dean at Yale Law School, wrote on Wednesday night.

"There's a legal principle called 'dual sovereignty' [which] means that for purposes of criminal prosecution, the state and federal government are separate sovereigns and concurrent jurisdiction," Rangappa said. "Technically speaking, BOTH the federal government and a state (or multiple states) can prosecute on the same set of facts if those facts would constitute a crime in their respective jurisdictions."

Rangappa also said the "bulk of criminal law belongs to the states," which have "broad power to criminalize behavior."

Jens David Ohlin, a professor at Cornell Law School, said in an email Wednesday that state and local convictions can only be pardoned by a governor, not the president. "So the possibility of a state criminal prosecution may turn out to be the best way of constraining this administration," Ohlin said.

Story continues

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

Former New York Attorney General Bob Abrams, a key member of Scheiderman's transition team after his election, described the partnership as "a very significant development."

"It is always noteworthy and positive when federal and state regulators cooperate with one another," said Abrams, who served between 1979 and 1993. "I don't know whether this is specifically an attempt to shield the investigation from the presidents pardon power, but I believe that if there are potential crimes to be pursued under New York state law, it is perfectly appropriate for the attorney general to be investigating and cooperating with federal investigators."

One precedent for this kind of arrangement, Abrams said, was his own partnership with Rudy Giuliani when Giuliani was the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. Abrams teamed up with Giuliani in the late 1980s to investigate Harry and Leona Helmsley for tax evasion.

Mueller and Schneiderman are reportedly examining how much Manafort was paid for his decade-long role as a top adviser to Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions and its ousted leader, Viktor Yanukovych. His tendency to form shell companies  while not illegal  to purchase real estate has also raised questions about the source of his cash and where he is putting it.

Manafort was associated with at least 15 bank accounts and 10 companies in Cyprus, dating back to 2007, NBC reported in March. One of those companies, PEM Advisors Limited, was paid nearly $20 million by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska as part of a business partnership between Deripaska and Manafort that ultimately fell through.

Manafort has insisted that he has never received any illicit cash payments. But he has a "pattern" of using shell companies to purchase homes "in all-cash deals," as WNYC has reported, and then transferring those properties into his own name for no money and taking out large mortgages against them.

Those include his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan, which he bought in 2006 via "John Hannah LLC"; a condo in lower Manhattan that he bought in 2012 via MC Soho Holdings LLC"; and a Brooklyn townhouse that he bought in 2013 via "MC Brooklyn Holdings." The loan for the townhouse at 377 Union St. was personally guaranteed by his son-in-law, Jeff Yohai, and his daughter, Jessica.

"Much of what is alleged happened in New York, so [Mueller] is coordinating with NY law enforcement," said longtime federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, who argued that it was "not surprising" to see Mueller and Schneiderman teaming up.

"As special counsel, Mueller has the powers of a 'United States Attorney'  the chief federal prosecutor in a jurisdiction," he said.

Federal prosecutors "routinely communicate" with their state counterparts, Mariotti said, and the US attorney's manual outlines the proper procedure for disclosing grand-jury evidence to state and local law enforcement.

NOW WATCH: Trump is 'strongly considering' pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio  here's why he's so controversial





More From Business Insider


Natural gas prices moved higher on Friday, climbing 0.82%, as traders focus on the weather. Hurricane Irma is now making its way through the southern Atlantic and could be heading for the Gulf of Mexico. On the heal of Hurricane Harvey, this storm could be catastrophic. Warmer than normal weather is forecast to cover most  Continue reading Natural Gas Price Analysis for September 4, 2017

Natural gas prices moved higher on Friday, climbing 0.82%, as traders focus on the weather. Hurricane Irma is now making its way through the southern Atlantic and could be heading for the Gulf of Mexico. On the heal of Hurricane Harvey, this storm could be catastrophic. Warmer than normal weather is forecast to cover most of the western portion of the United States increasing cooling demand as the summer comes to an end.

Prices Push Higher

Prices pushed through trend line resistance near 3.0, and are poised to test target resistance near a downward sloping trend line that comes in near 3.10. Support is seen near the 10-day moving average at 2.98. The relative strength index (RSI) which is a momentum oscillator that measures accelerating and decelerating momentum, moved higher in tandem with price action reflecting accelerating positive momentum.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
A French satirical magazine famous for its provocative and inflammatory cartoons was met with backlash on Thursday after it released a cover that characterized Hurricane Harvey victims as neo-Nazis.

The cover for its Friday magazine showed an image of drowning limbs saluting Nazi flags, accompanied by the text: "God exists. He drowned all the neo-Nazis of Texas."

charlie hebdo

Predictably, the cartoon provoked some  occasionally misguided  backlash on social media:

This Charlie Hebdo cover on the Houston disaster is, even by their standards, absolutely disgusting.https://t.co/iaIReTHlnV pic.twitter.com/BMHpXCqAnS  Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 31, 2017

Was going to go off on Charlie Hebdo for that sick Texas cover.



But then I realized that's what they want. Fuck you. I'm not sharing it  Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) August 31, 2017

The French publication has long courted and embraced controversy over its topical cartoons. After publishing images that some Muslims found offensive, the publication was the target of a terrorist attack at its Paris office in 2015 that left 12 people dead.

It has continued its anti-left and anti-institutional cartoons since the attack, garnering negative news coverage for its depiction of Italian earthquake victims as pasta and for a series of cartoons mocking the symbolic value of a photo of a dead Syrian refugee that went viral in 2015.

Story continues

Charlie Hebdo wasn't the only publication to face criticism for its cartoonists' commentary on the hurricane.

After an outcry on Wednesday, Politico deleted a tweet with a cartoon depicting a person in a Confederate flag shirt being rescued from a flooded house with a secessionist sign, which critics said was insensitive to flood victims.

The cartoonist, Matt Wuerker, defended his cartoon, saying it skewered secessionists and those who disparage the federal government writ large while taking its services for granted.

"As a political cartoonist, I try to get people to think  to consider the ironies and subtleties of the world we live in," Wuerker said in an email to Business Insider.

"This cartoon went with an extreme example of anti-government types  Texas secessionists  benefitting from the heroism of federal government rescuers," Wuerker continued. "It of course was not aimed at Texans in general, any more than a cartoon about extremists marching in Charlottesville could be construed as a poke at all Virginians. My heart is with all the victims of Hurricane Harvey's destruction and those risking their lives to save others."

NOW WATCH: Watch US Navy sailors airlift stranded Texans during intense flooding from Hurricane Harvey





More From Business Insider


Dara Khosrowshahi

Uber officially has a new CEO in Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's board announced Tuesday night.

Khosrowshahi, the former CEO of Expedia, accepted the position Tuesday after Uber's board selected him on Sunday.

The board announced the new CEO in a memo to employees that Uber published on its website.

Uber's board  which includes Travis Kalanick, who was ousted as CEO in June  wrote in the memo that it unanimously voted for Khosrowshahi to take the helm of the ride-hailing giant.

Here's the full memo, which was signed by Kalanick; Uber cofounder Garrett Camp; Yasir Al Rumayyan, the CEO of of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund; Matt Cohler of Benchmark, an Uber investor; Ryan Graves, a former Uber exec; Arianna Huffington; Wan Ling Martello, Nestle's former chief financial officer; and TPG Capital's David Trujillo:

Team,

We are delighted to announce that Uber's Board has voted unanimously to appoint Dara Khosrowshahi to be our new CEO.

Dara came to America at nine years old when his family escaped Iran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in Tarrytown, N.Y., trained as an engineer at Brown, and spent many years at IAC serving as Chief Financial Officer and in various operational and strategic roles.

In 2005, he became CEO of Expedia, which he built into one of the world's leading travel and technology companies, now operating in more than 60 countries. He has four children and not surprisingly loves to travel, one of his favorite trips being to the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia where his wife Sydney said yes to marrying him.

We're really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara's experience, talent and vision. The Board and the Executive Leadership Team are confident that Dara is the best person to lead Uber into the future building world-class products, transforming cities, and adding value to the lives of drivers and riders around the world while continuously improving our culture and making Uber the best place to work.

Story continues

Dara will be joining us tomorrow, August 30, for an All Hands. Add your questions for Dara here, and stay tuned for a calendar invite with more details. He'll also be meeting with employees around the world in smaller groups over the next few weeks, and spending time with drivers.

Please join us in welcoming Dara on what promises to be an exciting ride!

 Yasir, Garrett, Matt, Ryan, Arianna, Travis, Wan Ling & David

NOW WATCH: Fired Google engineer says his memo actually empowered women





More From Business Insider


From Tyler Durden: Just minutes after Russia was given 2 days to implement todays decision by the State Department, shuttering Russias consulate in San Francisco, California and two diplomatic annexes in Washington, DC and New York City, in the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, the Russian responses started coming in, and they were not happy.

Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was first on the tape, saying he expressed regret about the escalation of tensions in bilateral ties, noting it wasnt Russia that started the escalation.

Lavrov told Tillerson that Moscow would closely study the new US measures and would inform Washington of its reaction in due course. Ironically, earlier in the day the US said that it is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted,even as the State Department prompt tweeted that the US hopes to avoid further retaliation & move forward with improved relations & cooperation with #Russia

US hopes to avoid further retaliation & move forward with improved relations & cooperation with #Russia https://t.co/M3frokDACn  Department of State (@StateDept) August 31, 2017

To be sure, former US ambassador to Moscow and vocal Putin critic, Michael McFaul, was skeptical:

And judging by the immediate outpouring Russian reactions, he has every right to be. According to AP, the newly arrived Russian ambassador to the US invoked Vladimir Lenin in saying Moscow will carefully consider its response to the latest US diplomatic escalation: Anatoly Antonov flew into Washington on Thursday, hours after the State Departments announcement of the closure.

Russian news agencies quoted him as saying: We have to act calmly and professionally. Speaking like Lenin, we dont need hysterical impulses, citing a Lenin maxim.

But the heavy artillery was as usual relegated to domestic Russian politicians: Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian Dumas foreign affairs committee, accused the U.S. of a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions.

Slutsky, one of the top Russian diplomats, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying, Its a highly unjust step. It means that the U.S. is declaring the hot phase of diplomatic war.



Leonid Slutsky

Cited by AP, he also said that closing institutions abroad is more serious than the U.S. decision last year to expel 35 Russian diplomats and close two estates used by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Other takes on the latest diplomatic spat were just as skeptical. Former US diplomat Jim Jatras said that while President Trump says he wants better relations with Russia, he recently qualified that with some day and eventually.

For a lot of people in Washington, having bad relations with Russia is an end in itself, its not a means to an end. And they are calling the shots, not President Trump, Jatras said. If there is anybody in his administration who wants to improve ties with Russia, it is him  but as far as I can tell, hes about the only one.

This is all part of an escalation of tensions between the US and Russia which, I am sad to say, the US initiated, Dan Kovalik, who teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, told RT. Just when there appeared to be a welcome breakthrough between the US and Russia at the G-20 Summit, the US Congress reacted to the possibility of a detente by immediately and overwhelmingly acting to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia aimed at Russias natural gas trade in Europe, Kovalik said.

The sanctions were adopted with veto-proof majorities, so President Donald Trump had to sign them into law at the beginning of August.

It appears that there is strong, bipartisan opposition in the US to a peaceful relationship with Russia, and this opposition is putting the entire world at risk of more war and conflagration, Kovalik said. It is high time the US pull back from such provocations of Russia and find a way to work with Russia as a friend and partner, just as Russia has wanted for many years.

This tit-for-tat will mean eventual catastrophe for everyone on earth, unless we finally get some sanity in US leadership, to pull back from the brink, said Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at New York University. Judging from the warlike posture of both parties and the US media, its hard to see where such restraint will come from; and yet those of us who see the danger must do all we can to warn against it.

Finally, retired FBI agent Coleen Rowley told RT that US foreign policy sometimes looks as if five-year-olds were in charge of it. This childish tit-for-tat game will not end well unless theres a grown-up in the room who can put an end to it.

So far the only grown ups in the room are intent on further escalating said game.

The VanEck Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE:RSX) was unchanged in premarket trading Friday. Year-to-date, RSX has gained 0.47%, versus a 11.74% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

RSX currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #6 of 78 ETFs in the Emerging Markets Equities ETFs category.

This article is brought to you courtesy of ZeroHedge.

You are viewing an abbreviated republication of ETF Daily News content. You can find full ETF Daily News articles on (www.etfdailynews.com)


Yahoo Finance is tracking Wells Fargo, Costco, Lululemon and Disney in intraday trading on Thursday.

Wells Fargo uncovers up to 1.4M more fake accounts

Wells Fargos (WFC) fake account scandal just got worse. The big bank announced an outside review found 1.4 million more potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, bringing the total up to 3.5 million. Wells Fargo also announced that about 190,000 accounts were hit with unnecessary fees, up from 130,000 previously reported. In a statement, CEO Tim Sloan said, Through this expanded review, as well as the class action settlement, free mediation services, and ongoing outreach and complaint resolution, weve cast a wide net to reach customers and address their remaining concerns. Our commitment has never been stronger to build a better bank for our customers, team members, shareholders and communities.

Costco reports same-store sales jump

Costco (COST) reported US same-store sales jumped 7.4% during August, topping forecasts for a 6.1% increase. Excluding gasoline and currency changes, US sales rose 6.1% during the month. Shares of Costco were trading up 1.2% as on 1 pm E.T.

Lululemon earnings: What to expect

Lululemon (LULU) is scheduled to report earnings after the bell Thursday afternoon. The big question is whether the retailer will be able to reverse the athleisure industrys recent slump. Analysts expect Lululemon to report earnings of 35 cents a share on revenue of $567.6 million. That compares to a profit of 38 cents and sales of $514.52 million a year ago. Shares of Lululemon are down nearly 12% since January 1.

Disney reportedly planning job cuts at ABC



The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Disney (DIS) is planning for significant budget cuts at its ABC Television Group, which will include staff cuts and restructuring. According to the report, about 300 workers will be laid off in an effort to cut costs by 10%. The announcement from Disney is expected to come at the end of September.
Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York, U.S. February 22, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

By Heather Somerville and Tom Hals

SAN FRANCISCO/GEORGETOWN, Del. (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc's [UBER.UL] new Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi told employees on Wednesday the ride-services company would change its culture and may go public in 18 to 36 months.

Khosrowshahi, who led travel-booking site Expedia Inc (EXPE.O) for 12 years, made the remarks as he introduced himself to Uber's workforce on Wednesday during an all-staff meeting at its San Francisco headquarters.

His plans include rebuilding Uber's culture and growing market share as well as possibly conducting an initial public offering in 18 to 36 months, according to people who attended the meeting. It is common for venture capital-backed companies to signal an IPO at a vague time in the future.

"This company has to change," Khosrowshahi told employees, according to the Twitter feed of Uber's communications team. "What got us here is not what's going to get us to the next level."

Khosrowshahi said Uber needed to stabilise itself but also take what he called "big shots."

The appointment of Khosrowshahi, who described himself as "a fighter," comes as Uber is trying to recover from a series of crises that culminated in the ouster of former CEO Travis Kalanick in June. It is also a key step toward filling a gaping hole in its top management that at the moment has no chief financial officer, head of engineering or general counsel.

In his first meeting with Uber employees, Khosrowshahi emphasized recruiting new talent - particularly a chief financial officer - as well as a chairman to help him run the board, according to tweets from Uber.

Kalanick, who attended Wednesday's staff meeting, welcomed his replacement in a statement.

"Casting a vote for the next chief executive of Uber was a big moment for me and I couldn't be happier to pass the torch to such an inspiring leader," Kalanick said.

BOARD DYSFUNCTION

Khosrowshahi inherits a dysfunctional board that has been divided by a lawsuit filed by investor Benchmark Capital against Kalanick. The lawsuit, which seeks to force Kalanick off the board and rescind his ability to fill two board seats, has caused shareholder infighting and complicated the CEO search.

Story continues

Delaware Judge Sam Glasscock on Wednesday brought that dispute closer to a resolution when he stayed the lawsuit and moved it to arbitration, which moves the legal fight out of the public eye and hands a victory to Kalanick.

"I think what we have here is a political battle that belongs in the boardroom and not the courtroom," said Donald Wolfe, an attorney for Kalanick.

Glasscock stopped short of dismissing the lawsuit, as Kalanick had requested, because of concerns about the impact the dispute might have on other Uber shareholders who may also want to take legal action.

The board had already selected Khosrowshahi as Uber's next CEO in a vote on Sunday. But the firm and its board did not speak publicly on the decision until Tuesday evening, as contract negotiations were ongoing.

"The board and the executive leadership team are confident that Dara is the best person to lead Uber into the future," Uber's eight-member board wrote in an email to employees sent late Tuesday that was also made public.

Khosrowshahi has been replaced at Expedia by Mark Okerstrom, the company's chief financial officer for the last six years. On a call with reporters Wednesday, Okerstrom hinted at the surprise and confusion that followed Khosrowshahi's appointment as Uber CEO. Khosrowshahi was not a publicly known candidate for the job, and he told Expedia staff he was accepting the new role two days after the first media reports on his selection.

"I think the way that this whole thing unfolded is not the way that most people would have planned it," Okerstrom said.

Khosrowshahi will remain on the Expedia board.

(Reporting by Heather Somerville in San Francisco and Tom Hals in Georgetown, Delaware; editing by Bill Rigby and Cynthia Osterman)
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Story continues

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By Ross Kerber

BOSTON (Reuters) - Vanguard Group, one of the world's biggest fund managers, voted against three directors at Wells Fargo & Co this year, including Chairman Stephen Sanger, according to U.S. filings, a rare rebuke from the bank's second-largest shareholder.

The lack of support from Vanguard was disclosed on Wednesday and Thursday, just as Wells Fargo announced it had uncovered more than a million additional accounts potentially opened without customers' knowledge in a drawn-out scandal that has already resulted in a $190 million settlement with regulators and the ouster of its chief executive officer.

Investors are concerned that as the sales scandal deepens it will make it more difficult to restore the San Francisco bank's once-pristine brand. Shares in Wells Fargo fell 0.6 percent on Thursday to close at $51.07. They are down 7.3 percent so far this year.

Vanguard said it voted against certain directors at "a U.S. financial company that was fined for fraud" in an annual voting report on Thursday. (https://vgi.vg/2gm2Ltx)

Vanguard executives, including Investment Stewardship Officer Glenn Booraem, declined to confirm the language referred to Wells Fargo. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Vanguard funds supported 12 of 15 Wells Fargo directors on the ballot, and backed the company's management on all nine shareholder proposals up for a vote at the April meeting.

Wells Fargo declined to comment on the investor votes.

Mutual funds, often the largest owners of U.S. corporations, wield decisive clout through their proxy voting over governance questions like the election of directors or the setting of executive pay.

But while the majority of the votes take place during the springtime annual meeting season, the funds rarely detail any of their votes until securities filings appear in late August. The fund firms also generally support corporate boards -- Vanguard said it backed director put up for election by management 96 percent of the time at U.S. companies in the most recent proxy season.

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In the case of Wells Fargo, it was clear that many shareholders were displeased, with only three of 15 directors receiving more than 90 percent support from voting shareholders at the bank's annual meeting on April 25. Sanger received just 56 percent.

Vanguard's regulatory filings showed funds like Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund voted against Wells Fargo directors including Federico Pena, chair of its Corporate Responsibility Committee; Enrique Hernandez, who had chaired its risk committee, and Sanger.

Other funds that voted critically at Wells Fargo included American Funds like Income Fund of America, which did not support nine of 15 directors, filings show.

American Funds representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Wells Fargo said this month that former Federal Reserve governor Elizabeth Duke will replace Sanger on Jan. 1, and two other directors will also retire.

Hernandez and Pena remain on the board but Hernandez will no longer chair its risk committee and Pena and Sanger are leaving the committee.

In its annual voting report, Vanguard wrote of its votes at the financial company: "...we concluded that certain directors had fallen short of their responsibility to understand the risks and culture of the company and to challenge management when necessary."

Vanguard's report stated that while it supported the changes made by the company's board since the vote, "we will continue to engage to ensure ongoing progress."

According to Thomson Reuters data, Vanguard holds a 6 percent stake in Wells Fargo second only to the 9 percent stake held by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc which has supported the bank.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Wednesday that he had not sold a share of Apple (AAPL.O) and was not concerned about Wells Fargo (WFC.N) as a long-term investment, calling it a "terrific" bank.

Buffett, chairman and chief executive of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), said about Apple compared to IBM (IBM.N): "I feel more certain about the future as I look at a company like Apple than when I look at IBM now."

Berkshire has disclosed a roughly $20 billion stake in Apple. Buffett owned about 81 million shares of IBM at the end of 2016 and sold about a third of them in the first and second quarters of 2017, CNBC reported in May, citing Buffett.

Buffett also said Wednesday that he continued to have faith in investments in Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Wells Fargo. Berkshire has become Bank of America's largest shareholder by exercising its right to acquire 700 million shares at a steep discount, more than tripling an investment it made six years ago.

When asked if U.S. food company Kraft Heinz (KHC.O) would buy Mondelez (MDLZ.O), Buffett said: "I think the answer is no on that." He also said Kraft Heinz, which Berkshire controls along with Brazilian firm 3G Capital, would not again seek to buy Unilever Plc (ULVR.L).

Kraft Heinz withdrew its proposal for a $143 billion merger with larger rival Unilever Plc, the companies said in February. Following a six-month cooling off period required by UK takeover law which expired this month, there has been speculation over whether Kraft Heinz would come back for another shot at Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever.

"That was a misunderstanding, basically. We will not make hostile takeover offers, and we did not intend that to be hostile, but it turned out it was, and we immediately the next day, when I learned about it, we called it off," Buffett said on Kraft Heinz's bid.

When asked why he was silent about U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, Buffett said: "I am not in the business of attacking any president, nor do I think I should be." He had supported Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential election.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
FILE PHOTO: Customers approach the Wells Fargo & Co. bank in downtown Denver, U.S., April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

By Dan Freed

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) hiked the tally of accounts that were potentially opened without customers' knowledge by over a million on Thursday after an expanded review of improper sales practices.

The revelation is the latest chapter in a year-long scandal at the San Francisco bank and puts it back in the crosshairs of lawmakers as they prepare to return to Congress next week.

Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading voice on consumer finance issues, tweeted "Unbelievable" after Wells Fargo said it had found an additional 1.4 million accounts were potentially opened without permission, bringing the total estimate to about 3.5 million.

She repeated her call for the bank's top brass to appear before the Senate Banking Committee.

"Every new disclosure seems to expand the scope of the banks troubles, which creates the perception that the scandal is getting bigger rather than going away," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group.

"We believe the political and regulatory spotlight will continue to shine brightly on Wells Fargo. That is likely to limit the ability of the bank to grow aggressively."

The scandal over phony accounts first erupted last September, when Wells Fargo reached a $190 million (147.07 million pounds)settlement with regulators over the matter. That led to the departure of its veteran chief executive John Stumpf, a divisive shareholder meeting and disclosures of other sales practice problems ranging from unwanted auto insurance to improper mortgage fees.

Once lauded on Wall Street for its ability to sell more products to customers than any of its big-bank rivals, Tim Sloan, who took over as chief executive last year, faces a long slog to revive the bank's reputation.

The problems reported on Thursday came after a third party hired by Wells Fargo examined accounts stemming back to 2009, a broader timeframe than a review conducted last year. The bank previously disclosed the expanded review in a quarterly securities filing, but not its results.

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Wells will return $2.8 million to customers who appear to have had consumer and small business accounts opened without permission. It also uncovered about 528,000 potentially unauthorized online bill pay enrollments, a newly disclosed problem, and will return $910,000 to customers who were affected.

The bank also faces multiple regulatory probes and private lawsuits.

A pending settlement for one private lawsuit led Wells to review accounts dating back to 2002, Sloan said on a conference call with reporters.

"With the expanded analysis now complete, we will focus on remediation and making things right for our customers," he said.

The unauthorized online billpay fees were small, Sloan said, often $1. They resulted from branch employees setting up accounts in order to achieve product sales goals that have since been eliminated. The bank has refunded these amounts.

Wells Fargo shares were down 0.8 percent in early afternoon trading, underperforming the S&P Financial (.SPSY) which was flat.

The additional refunds amount to a tiny fraction of the bank's quarterly earnings, but investors who spoke to Reuters in recent weeks said they were less worried about the hard costs than a degradation of the bank's once-pristine brand.

They also expressed concern about Wells becoming an easy political target going into the midterm elections.

Warren Buffett, who runs Wells Fargo's largest investor, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), said this week he still considers it a great bank despite selling some of his holdings. But he acknowledged the bank will likely find more problems now that it is shining a light in dark places.

"There's never just one cockroach in the kitchen," he said on CNBC.

(Reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Additional reporting by David Henry and Olivia Oran; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra, Bernadette Baum and Carmel Crimmins)
man drinking coffee

Labor Day weekend is a good reminder that academic research has found humans work best in a four-day work schedule, not the typical 40-hour workweek.

Psychologists and business owners have found employees are more productive when they are given more time off.

Employees report feeling more refreshed, relaxed, and more alert  although it requires leaders to go against the grain.

National holidays that fall on a Monday  like Labor Day  shouldn't be the only reason Americans get three days off.

According to research from the worlds of psychology and business, it might be better if it happened every week.

Over the last several years, a number of companies around the world have made the switch to a shortened workweek, Amazon being one of the most prominent examples.

The world's second-largest retailer announced in August 2016 that a select group of part-time employees would soon only need to work 30 hours per week to earn 75% pay and full benefits.

It's too early to know for sure, but there's a good chance those employees will feel more passionate about their jobs and get more done than the people working twice as long.

Consider the research of K. Anders Ericsson, one of the top experts on the psychology of work. (His research led author Malcolm Gladwell to devise the 10,000-hour rule, the idea that experts need at least 10,000 hours of practice to master a given craft. However, Ericsson has since criticized the rule.)

Multiple experiments done in Ericsson's lab have shown that people can commit themselves to only four or five hours of concentrated work at a time before they stop getting things done. Past the peak performance level, output tends to flatline, or sometimes even suffer.

"If you're pushing people well beyond that time they can really concentrate maximally, you're very likely to get them to acquire some bad habits," Ericsson told Business Insider. What's worse, those bad habits could end up spilling into the time people are normally productive, and suddenly even the shorter weeks are wasteful.

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zoning out office work desk tired simon law flickr ccbysa2

Put into practice, shortening the work week seems to reap all kinds of rewards.

Ryan Carson, CEO of the technology education company Treehouse, has seen his employees become happier and more productive since he implemented the 32-hour work week back in 2006. Core to Carson's leadership philosophy is the belief that forcing people to work 40-hour weeks is nearly inhumane, he told the Atlantic.

"It's not about more family time, or more play time, or less work time  it's about living a more balanced total life," he said. "We basically take ridiculously good care of people because we think it's the right thing to do."

The company isn't struggling to make ends meet, either. Its yearly revenue is in the millions, and according to Carson, people love to come to work each day.

A similar story is playing out at the marketing and advertising company SteelHouse, where CEO Mark Douglas began 2017 by implementing a policy known as "SteelHouse Days." Each month, the company gets one three-day weekend to complement the months that already have such weekends, such as May and September.

"It doesn't take a lot of science" to see that an extra day off each month makes people happier when they come in to work, he told Business Insider. "It's just a matter of having the courage to do something different and believing that there will be a net gain from it."

teacher storytime classroom

Joe Rubin, human resources expert and co-founder of the recruiting site Crowded.com, told Business Insider that Amazon's new policy is also a win because it's bound to attract new talent.

With a 30-hour workweek, Rubin said, new mothers and people with other obligations can maintain a stable work schedule without needing to take a long leave of absence or work inconvenient hours. By offering employees more flexibility, Amazon sends the message that life outside of work matters.

Some evidence suggests the solution isn't even in working fewer hours, but in how companies allocate people's time.

More Question and Answer TIme with Jon Huntsman

In 2008, in the middle of America's financial crisis, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman implemented a plan to reorganize the work week.

With only a month's heads-up, nearly 75% of state employees changed from working five eight-hour days to working four 10-hour days.

On the one hand, the extra day off saved public resources that were normally used to heat, cool, and power the buildings  a big win when cash was tight.

But the change also produced increased worker morale. People enjoyed the extra day off and the easier commutes, since they were no longer slogging through rush-hour traffic.

So while psychologists and work-life consultants might not know where the sweet spot of productivity exists, or if it's the same spot for everyone, the evidence suggests you shouldn't need 40 hours to get there.

For maximum productivity, people should stay mindful of when they start to feel burnt out. For everyone's sake, it might be time to cut back on clocking in.

NOW WATCH: This ingenious nap bar in Dubai is something that every big city needs





More From Business Insider


As Afghans celebrate the Muslim holy festival of Eid al-Adha, they are cautiously witnessing some moves toward peace in their country, which has suffered through wars and violence for nearly four decades.

Amid reports that the Afghan government and its main insurgent enemy, the Taliban, are now in regular contact, there are signs that some of the hard-line movements members are yearning to return to a more peaceful life.

The Taliban brothers should join peace. This will protect their respect, integrity, and freedom, Qazi Mohammad Amin Waqad, a senior member of Afghanistans High Peace Council, told Radio Free Afghanistan on August 31. The people and government are eager to welcome them, and this Eid we are keen on receiving a positive response to our message from them.

The Taliban, however, had already articulated a response. While repeating the usual insurgent claims that peace in Afghanistan cannot materialize in the presence of international occupation forces, the fugitive Taliban leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhunzada hinted at important developments in his Eid al-Adha message.

[A] peaceful solution of the Afghan issue is the main pillar of the policy of the Islamic Emirate, he said on August 30, referring to the Taliban by their formal name. To this end, the political office has been tasked to find a peaceful solution.

The assertion backs a recent report claiming the Taliban regularly talk with Afghan officials. The Associated Press reported on August 29 that Afghan intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai talks with Taliban leader Abbas Stanikzai, head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, nearly every day. The two men are not related despite sharing a last name.

While Afghan officials denied the report, it was based on documents showing that the Afghan spy chief is in regular communication with the Taliban and that the insurgents have even made their demands clear, which even include holding elections after a ceasefire.

Lawmaker Salih Mohammad Salih, a member of Wolesi Jirga or the lower house of the Afghan Parliament, said the Talibans peace overtures and indications of moderation such as calling on businesses to invest in regions they control suggest they are gearing up to join peace talks.

It will be better for the Taliban to choose the path of peace talks instead of war. It will herald a bright future for Afghans, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. The government also needs to get its act together for peace.

The Taliban might have more incentives to join talks now after it emerged that an amnesty scheme in their former stronghold in southern Afghanistan is luring leaders and foot soldiers from their hideouts in neighboring Pakistan.

Mullah Abdul Rauf, who claims to be part of the Talibans finance commission, was among some 15 prominent Taliban officials returning to the southern Afghan province of Kandahar under an amnesty deal devised by the regions powerful security commander General Abdul Raziq.

The promises of peace and security guarantees prompted me to return to Kandahar, he told Radio Free Afghanistan in Kandahars rural district of Panjwaee on August 29. Raziqs open arms and guarantees to welcome all Taliban [willing to return to live peacefully] have encouraged many to return to this district.

Academic Gul Rahman Qazi has met with Taliban representatives in recent years. He told Radio Free Afghanistan that by abandoning their maximalist positions, the Afghan government and the Taliban can find some common ground in negotiating a lasting peace.

Kabul wants the Taliban to renounce violence, surrender their arms, and accept the current Afghan Constitution as the law of the land. The insurgents, however, have insisted on the departure of foreign forces as a pre-condition for talks. Since their emergence in the mid-1990s, the Taliban have advocated and implemented, while in power, a hard-line Islamic political system for Afghanistan.

Everyone engaged in the war here now realizes it is not the solution, so they are required to show flexibility, he noted. A just peace in Afghanistan facilitated by Afghan intermediaries is the ultimate solution.

Mohammad Sadiq Rashtinai contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON -- Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to Washington, hailed U.S. President Donald Trumps recent policy statement on the war in his country, saying it was better than what we were expecting.

We welcomed President Trumps announcement, Mohib said on August 31. It was something we have been working on with the U.S. administration since President Trump took office.

There were intense deliberations on what needs to be done, said Mohib, who was speaking on U.S. cable TVs C-SPAN network and took phone questions from viewers.

It couldnt have been any better than what we were expecting, said Mohib of Trumps policy announcement.

On August 21, Trump set out what he called his administrations new, more aggressive path forward for Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces have been fighting a 16-year war against Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other extremist groups attempting to overthrow the government in Kabul.

Trump vowed "to win" the war and said his strategy will not be based on "arbitrary timelines" but on conditions on the ground.

Following Trump's address, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis suggested the United States and other countries would send more troops to Afghanistan.

In the C-SPAN broadcast, Mohib praised the American soldiers who made sacrifices, the veterans, the 1 million Americans who served in Afghanistan.

He also cited the toll on Afghan citizens, saying that over the past two years, we've had 75,000 casualtiesMany of them were civilian casualties targeted by terrorist groups.

Mohib insisted that the conflict in his country was not an Afghan war but a battle "we are all fighting" against terrorism.

The Afghan people are on the front line of defending against these terrorists. You have seen what they do. They turn anything into a weapon. In Europe, they turn cars and trucks into weapons," he said.

"In Afghanistan, theyre using large bombs to indiscriminately target people at banks, at hospitals, at places of worship. They have no religion and the only objective they have is to terrorize the world.

Mohib did not comment directly on recent incidents of civilian deaths mistakenly caused by Afghan and allied forces -- including reports of 11 civilians allegedly killed on August 29 in Logar Province by a NATO helicopter raid on a house that militants had seized.

But, he said, We lose people on a daily basis to this conflict. We want nothing more than to end it.

He added that to bring the 16-year conflict to a successful conclusionrequires the kind of commitment that both the Afghan people and the Afghan government, and the United States and our allies have madeto end this tyranny on our people and the world.

Mohib said he was not concerned by the U.S. militarys announcement on August 30 that it had sharply raised its estimate of the number of U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan, to about 11,000 from the previously listed 8,400.

The U.S. military, as part of Trumps new strategy for Afghanistan, is considering adding about 4,000 troops to its effort in the country, according to multiple press reports.

We have always wanted to move away from talking about troop numbers. That is a detail that must be decided by those who are fighting the war on the ground, he said.

He said the numbers will fluctuate. There are monthswhen we need a lot more support, then months when there are quiet periods, he said.

Questions from viewers centered on the levels of illegal opium production, corruption within the government and the security forces, and relations with neighboring Pakistan.

Mohib said that each day, we make progress against terrorists; each day we make progress against corruption, against narco traders; and each day we are building institutions to make Afghanistan safe for Afghans and everyone else.

Trump, in his policy speech, also criticized Pakistan for providing safe harbors to Taliban and other terrorists operating in Afghanistan.

Mohib said he was pleased by the U.S. administrations focus on the problem of the sanctuaries across its border, saying, We have been complaining about it, and I am really glad there is serious attention paid to this in Washington.
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Around 400 people have been killed in the deadliest week of violence in decades in Rakhine state, northwestern Burma (also known as Myanmar). Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, amid fighting between Rohingya insurgents and security forces. (Reuters)
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 29, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Four leading Senators called today for significantly increased state funding to reduce emissions from trucks and buses. The legislators said such funding is needed to improve air quality and help reduce toxic emissions along freight corridors and near ports and schools.



CALSTART, the nations largest clean transportation technology industry organization, strongly backed the call made by the Senators Lara, Skinner, Pan, and Wiechowski.

We are at a pivotal point where the technology is emerging, and we now have the chance to move toward a future where trucks and buses produce either zero or virtually zero emissions, said CALSTARTs Senior Vice President Bill Van Amburg.

In addition to improving public health, California policies are resulting in significant new job creation. Companies are moving to California to build trucks and buses because this is where the market is growing the fastest, said Van Amburg.

In the final weeks of the 2017 legislative session, the Senators are calling for $1 billion in funding from the California greenhouse gas Cap-and-Trade program to be focused on cleaner trucks and buses. This would amount to a tripling of the amount of funds spent last year.

California is leading the nation in the deployment of zero emission buses and hybrid trucks, due in large part to prior Cap-and-Trade investments. More than 3,200 hybrid, electric, fuel cell, and low NOx natural gas trucks and buses are operating on the streets of California due to prior investments.

CALSTART is a national non-profit organization headquartered in California. The organization serves as a catalyst to accelerate the growth of the clean transportation technology industry as a strategy to create high quality jobs, improve public health, and prevent climate change. CALSTART has more than 175 member companies and offices in three states. For further information about CALSTART visit www.calstart.org.


MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adherium (ASX:ADR), a digital health company that improves medication adherence and patient outcomes, today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(K) clearance for its new SmartTouch for Symbicort inhaler monitoring device for AstraZenecas Symbicort aerosol inhaler.



The SmartTouch for Symbicort is a device installed onto a patients inhaler to monitor and encourage medication adherence as part of a self-management plan. It is the latest product to be added to Adheriums product portfolio to assist patients, who suffer from respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD, with adherence.

Adherence to medication is crucial for the successful management of many chronic diseases, but it is common for patients with respiratory conditions to only take between one third and one half of their prescribed medications.

Arik Anderson, CEO of Adherium, said: The SmartTouch for Symbicort is the most advanced Smartinhaler product to date for Adherium and a key product in our strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca by bringing the benefits of digital monitoring to patients and their physicians. With each new generation, our Smartinhalers get smaller, easier to use, and incorporate more sensors that generate higher quality data, and higher levels of medication adherence. This is Adheriums third U.S. 510(k) clearance to market. In addition, the company has secured clearances in Europe, Canada, Australia, China, Singapore and New Zealand.

The next generation device records the date and time the inhaler is used and automatically transmits this information to an app on the patients phone or tablet. The SmartTouch stores the history of patient medication usage patterns, allowing physicians to also review the information and help make evidence-based decisions on how best to meet the patients needs. The SmartTouch can be used in home monitoring programs, such as hospital re-admission prevention programs, where maintaining medication adherence after hospital discharge is a key objective.

SmartTouch for Symbicort is designed to make inhaler installation and removal easy for all patients, especially older patients with COPD. The SmartTouch design includes three buttons that help patients easily access the audio visual-reminders, battery monitoring, and Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) pairing features.

The company recently announced the sale of its 100,000th Smartinhaler.

Adheriums Smartinhaler

Adheriums innovative Smartinhaler platform integrates a Bluetooth enabled sensor and smartphone application to detect and record actual usage of inhaled medications. The Smartinhaler provides patients and physicians with critical data that can increase adherence to inhaled medication regimens, resulting in improved management of chronic respiratory conditions. Used in more than 60 projects and referenced in 65 peer reviewed journal articles, the Smartinhalers clinical outcomes data have proven that it can improve adherence by up to 59% in adults and 180% in children. These improvements were associated with a 60% reduction in severe respiratory episodes in adults, leading to improved quality-of-life and demonstrating a substantial gain over current best practice treatment. The Smartinhaler has received FDA 510(k) clearance to market and CE Marks for its sensors and software.

Adherium has a variety of Smartinhaler sensor configurations that are compatible with multiple medications, and the Company is strongly positioned to realize the clinical and commercial value of its technology among key customers, including caregivers, insurers and hospitals. The Company recently announced the sale of its 100,000th Smartinhaler.

About Adherium

Adherium is a provider of digital health solutions. The Company develops, manufactures and supplies patients, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and contract research organizations with the broadest range of "smart" medication sensors for respiratory medications to address sub-optimal medication use and improve health outcomes in chronic disease.

Adherium operates globally from bases in the USA, Europe and Australasia.
Essay One (Required)

Please describe your short and long term goals post-MBA. Explain how your professional experience has shaped these goals, why this career option appeals to you, and how you arrived at the decision that now is the time and the MBA is the appropriate degree. Additionally, please briefly address a backup plan should your short-term goal not come to fruition for any reason. (500 words maximum)

Essay Two (Optional)

What personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants? How do these qualities or experiences equip you to contribute to UNC Kenan-Flagler? (300 words maximum)

Essay Three (Optional)

If your standardized test scores are low, or if you have not had coursework in core business subjects (calculus, microeconomics, statistics, financial accounting), please tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative rigor of the MBA curriculum. (300 words maximum)

Essay Four (Optional)

Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? (300 words maximum)
We want to hear your story. When responding to our required essays, be authentic and take time to reflect on your goals and past experiences. Craft a response that explains how these experiences led you to pursue an MBA.

Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 500 words or less and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.

Essay Option One: It can be said that life begins outside your comfort zone. Describe a situation when you were asked to lead outside of your comfort zone. What leadership characteristics did you exemplify in this situation that allowed you to succeed?

Essay Option Two: Failure is not something to be ashamed of, its something to be POWERED by. Failure is the high-octane fuel your life can run on. Youve got to learn to make failure your fuel. Abby Wambach.

Describe a situation when failure has been your fuel. What was your failure (or when did you not succeed to your full potential), and how did you use this as motivation to move forward and be successful in a future situation?

Essay Option Three: Your personal brand reflects your values and beliefs, and impacts your relationships and community. Describe the personal brand that you will bring to business school using examples or experiences that support how youve developed it. How do you believe your personal brand will strengthen the McDonough community? As you complete your MBA program, how do you hope to see your personal brand evolve through the transformative experience of business school?

Video Essay: We ask that you introduce yourself to your cohort in one minute or less. The Admissions Committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video, and we strongly encourage you to speak outside of the experiences we can read on your resume. Use this video as an opportunity to bring life to your application. For more instructions, view our Video Essay Guide

You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction.

Upload your video to an accessible website (such as Youtube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL into your online application.

Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.

For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit unlisted videos via YouTube or password protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.youtube.com/123 , password: Hoyas]

Optional Essay: Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included. (500 words or fewer)

Re-Applicant Essay: Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally. (500 words or fewer)

We have noted in the past our appreciation for the opportunity Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business gives its candidates to share who they are beyond the statistics and other facts presented in the rest of their application, and the schools essay prompts for this season continue to support that approach. McDonoughs required first essay now involves three options from which candidates can choose, so applicants can select the one that addresses an aspect of their candidacy they most want to highlight for the admissions committee. The schools video essay then allows candidates to creatively showcase their individuality and personality. And any aspiring McDonough MBAs with specific concerns about or issues in their profile can use the programs optional essay to address and mitigate them. In our analysis that follows, we give our ideas and advice for addressing all the schools prompts for this year.Success tends to come easily when one is engaged in something he/she is already good at and does so in a familiar and comfortable setting. However, business school is not a familiar environment for most and definitely requires individuals to regularly step outside their comfort zone. It is a dynamic, rigorous, demanding, intense, and exacting experiencealbeit in exciting and rewarding ways, of courseand McDonough wants to know you are truly ready for the challenge ahead and that your time in its program will extract the best from you.With a 500-word allowance for this essay, you should have ample space in which to present a narrative-style description of the incident you choose. The school does not specify that the story must come from your professional endeavors, so consider incidents from your personal life and community work as well to ensure you select a topic that effectively addresses and provides what the school is seeking with this prompt. Note that you are being asked to share a leadership experience, not simply one in which you found yourself.Once you have introduced the basic situation, be sure to clarify what about it made it unfamiliar or uncomfortable to you. Ideally, to better illustrate the contrast between your usual style and the one you were required to take in this specific instance, touch briefly on what you might have normally done in the situation or what approach you would have taken. Then explain how you arrived at your novel idea/attitude/approach/strategy. For example, did someone or something in particular inspire you? The admissions committee is interested in hearing your thought process and influences and in understanding how you assess new situations, digest information, and subsequently react.Next, describe the actions you took and, of course, the situations outcome. Be sure to pinpoint which attributes you relied on to make your contribution effective and ultimately successfuland, if applicable, how these attributes affected those you led.We feel fairly confident saying that no one proceeds smoothly through life without ever encountering a failure or setback, so no doubt you have at least one story from your past that could be fitting for this essay. The key is to identify a time when you were derailed or prevented from achieving an objective and were subsequently inspired to try again or to attempt something different but equally (or even more) challenging. The admissions committee wants to know that you are the kind of individual who gets back up after being knocked down and is not easily deterred.For this essay, start by thinking of a time when something got in the way of you attaining a goal you were pursuing in an important area of your life. This could be an internal issue or an external force. Consider incidents from your career, personal life, and community activities to find the one you feel is most compelling and reveals the most about you. For example, perhaps you miscalculated the budget on a critical work project, suffered an injury at mile 20 of your first attempt at running a marathon, or had a volunteer event you organized be shut down by inclement weather.The way the schools essay prompt is worded leads us to believe that McDonough is less interested in hearing the minute details of your failure storythough you will need to sufficiently explain what happened, of courseand more interested in what you took away from the experience. You will need to expound on how the defeat taught you a specific lesson of some kind and how this has influenced your subsequent actions and/or decisions. The incident you share in this essay needs to have compelled you to pursue another goal down the line.Begin your essay by providing some narrative context that sets the stage for the significant moment or experience, showing your progress and mind-set to that point and setting the baseline as far as what you expected to do or gain. Then, describe the incident or issue that foiled your efforts and detail your reaction and thought processes. Finally, share how the experience altered who you are and/or how you view or interact with the world and later inspired you to strive for a new objective of some kind. With 500 words, you should have sufficient space to present all these facets of your story, especially if you jump directly into your narrative and avoid unnecessary preamble.With this essay, McDonough hopes to understand how the situation has contributed to the person you are today and how you might function in similar situations in the future, whether in its MBA program or your post-MBA career. Clearly presenting this will help demonstrate your self-awareness, capacity for growth, and ambition.First, do not assume the phrase personal brand means that McDonough expects you to be the next famous business mogul or celebrity with thousands of eager Instagram followers or the like. At its core, this prompt is basically asking, Who are you as an individual? What are some key experiences and influences in your life that have helped make you into the person you are today? How will your personality and skills contribute to the McDonough community? And how will McDonough in turn influence who you are and hope/expect to be in the future? We hope this translation of sorts helps allay any trepidation this prompt may have initially triggered in you. At its core, this essay is largely about two key things you should already know rather wellyourself and McDonough.We would venture that brand in this case encompasses personality, individual strengths and characteristics, and a sense of conviction and ownership. First, think about the aspects of your personality and profile that you believe truly define you as an individualnot just what you do and have done, but who you areand fully explore your background, hobbies, talents, experiences, values, goals, and quirks. Brainstorm an extensive list and then eliminate any items that seem too common (e.g., a BA in finance) or basic (e.g., your hometown) until you have a collection of truly distinctive qualities you can weave into your response. Your goal is to provide a well-rounded picture of yourself that draws from multiple areas and shows that you possess characteristics and/or knowledge that would make you a positive addition to the McDonough community.You will then need to go one step further and spell out how you came to possess these qualities. Were you influenced by someone in your family or community to learn a particular skill? Did you encounter a subject or activity in school that has since become a passion of yours? Once you have presented some of what you believe are your distinctive characteristics, describe for the admissions committee where you feel those characteristics originated.The next element of the essay concerns how your particular personality and attributes will contribute to the community and environment at McDonough. And to know how to contribute, you must first understand the community and environment in question. So, if you have not already done so, start researching the school in depth. Ideally, this means moving beyond the schools website, viewbook, and related marketing materials and making direct contact with students, alumni, and even school representatives. Attend an admissions event in your area, if available, and schedule a campus visit and sit in on a class. This kind of firsthand observation of what and who the McDonough program truly entails, paired with a profound knowledge of how it works, is key in identifying what is unique about you viewed against this backdropand will help highlight what you can bring to the mix and how.Pay special attention to aspects and areas that speak to you personally in some way, and consider social events/clubs and professional development opportunities along with course work and academic offerings. Business school is meant to be a comprehensive environment and experience that enriches students in ways not just related directly to business, and perhaps your best potential for contribution lies in one of these areas. If you have years of experience teaching, for example, you could perhaps help facilitate discussions among the students in your study group or on team projects. If you have a depth of knowledge or years of experience in a particular area, whether through your job or in a personal capacity (such as being a dedicated wine aficionado), you could serve as a kind of subject matter expert for those around you in the program or even a valuable component in someones recruiting network. If you are particularly funny, creative, or athletic, you may be the ideal fit to lead an extracurricular group or play a significant role in a nonacademic project or event.Lastly, you need to explain how you see the McDonough experience contributing to who you are and who you want to be by graduation and going forward. In a sense, you need to spell out Why McDonough? The assumption is that something you have learned about the program leads you to believe the school is the right fit for you and where you want to go in the future. So what makes you feel this way? The admissions committee wants to know that you are are truly excited to be a part of the community and expect to benefit from your learning experience there. Demonstrating your authentic interest in the program by outlining a clear connection between who you want to be and what the school offers is key to crafting a compelling essay response.McDonoughs video essay is another opportunity for you to offer the school a glimpse into your character and personality. As the prompt says, this is a chance to bring life to your application, so your focus should be on ensuring that it as authentic and natural as possible. This is not a job interview, and the school specifically states that you should consider your future cohortyour fellow studentsas your intended audience, which certainly implies that a less rigid and traditionally professional demeanor is okay, though we of course caution you to always be appropriate and inoffensive. Do not use the video as an opportunity to pitch your candidacy or to pander to the school, and avoid repeating any information that is already clearly conveyed in your resume. (When an admissions committee tells you so specifically what to do [or not do] in an essay prompt, pay attention!) This is also not the time to detail your career goals or express your admiration for the program. You have only one minute in which to make an impression, and even without knowing you personally, we are confident in our belief that you have more to your character than can be conveyed in a mere 60 secondsso do not waste any of them!Given that this is a video, you will obviously need to think beyond what you will say and consider the clothing you will wear, the setting or background of your video, your tone of voice, your language style, whether you will include music, and a host of other details. Brainstorm ways of nonverbally communicating some of your strongest attributes and key aspects of your life to help permeate your submission with as much information as possible. For example, if you are an avid biker, consider using a GoPro or similar camera to film your video while you are actively riding. If you are a dedicated guitar player, perhaps strum your guitar as you speak (or, if you are especially confident, you could even sing about yourself!). Think about what makes you who you are today, decide what you most want to share with your future classmates, and then let your creativity flow.On a practical note, be sure to speak clearly in your video. You naturally do not want any part of your message to be lost or misunderstood, and the admissions committee may view your communication skills and style as indicators of how you might interact with your classmates and/or speak in the classroom. Spend some time practicing in front of a mirror or a friend, but do not overrehearse. You still want to come across as genuine and natural.We tend to believe that the best use of the optional essay is to explain confusing or problematic issues in your candidacy, and this prompt offers an opportunity to do just that. However, because McDonough does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, you have some leeway to share anything you feel is that you think may be pivotal or particularly compelling. So, if you need to, this is your chance to address any questions an admissions officer might have about your profilea poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, a gap in your work experience, etc. In our, we offer detailed advice on how best to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your application.However, because the question can be interpreted rather broadly, it does open the door for you to discuss anything that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and that you feel is truly critical for the admissions committee to know to be able to evaluate you fully and effectively. We caution you about simply trying to fill this space because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. Remember, by submitting an additional essay, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you need to make sure that time is warranted. If you are using the essay to emphasize something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, take this opportunity to write a very brief narrative that reveals this key new aspect of your candidacy.Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success with this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. McDonough wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because a McDonough MBA is vital to you. The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each persons needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts over the past year are presented in the best light possible.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
British and EU officials say they are deadlocked after four days of negotiations on Britains exit from Europe, known as Brexit.

The two sides appear to disagree on which parts of Brexit should be negotiated first.

EU officials unclear on the British negotiating position

EU officials say British negotiators are not clear about what they want. But, the British side says negotiating a trade deal should come before talks on terms for leaving the EU.

Another point of disagreement is the amount of money Britain will have to pay the EU when it leaves. Some estimates place the amount at $89 billion.

The EU is seeking the money for budget payments and to pay for projects and loans that were agreed to in 2013. That is before the referendum on June 23 of 2016 when Britons voted to leave the EU.

Michel Barnier is the chief EU negotiator for Brexit. He told reporters, To be flexible you need two points, our point and their point. We need to know their position and then I can be flexible.

The European parliaments coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt said, the other party is not responding. Because of this, he said, it is difficult to start a negotiation.

Verhofstadt also released a video of himself talking about the difficulties of the negotiations on the social media network Twitter.

He tweeted, I fear that some of the #Brexit hardliners dont want to negotiate.

Brexit and trade talks, which comes first?

The EU wants the two sides to make progress on an agreement for Britain to leave the group by October. The EU does not want trade talks to begin until this step is reached.

Experts say that the British side does not want to settle on a Brexit payment until they have secured a good free trade deal. The EU, however, has described the Brexit payment and future trade agreement as two separate issues.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said, I think a good trade deal is not just about the UK, it is about what is good for businesses in what will be the 27 remaining states of the EU as well.

May admitted that Britain would have to pay money to the EU on leaving the group. But trade remained the main issue, I think it is in all our interest to move on to those trade talks and to get a good idea.

Questions about border

Border policies are another issue that has slowed talks.

The two sides have made little progress on how Europeans will be treated under British law and other border issues. The sides must agree on the rights of more than two million European citizens and their families who are living and working in Britain. And an estimated 1.3 million Britons live in EU countries.

In addition, Britain must work out border issues with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member. Ireland and Northern Ireland oppose harsh border policies fearing a renewal of the Irish conflict. Ireland also has threatened to veto trade negotiations until officials are satisfied with the border agreement.

Disagreement within Britain

Some former British officials have criticized the British governments negotiating strategy. They say it shows sharp disagreements between members of Mays cabinet and Conservative Party parliament ministers.

They disagree on whether Britain should remain a member of the EU single market and customs union. Such a move would make trade easier, but Britain would have no control over trade rules set by the EU after it leaves the group.

Finance minister Phil Hammond has the support of many top business leaders. He is trying to influence the Conservative Party away from a sharp break with Europe and its ruleswhat is being called a hard Brexit.

The public is growing more concerned about Brexit according to opinion studies because of increasingly bad economic news.

There also are concerns that Britain will lose many of the EU citizens who live and work in the country. The professional services company KPMG said in a study that about one million EU citizens, many who are highly educated, are planning to leave the country because of Brexit.

Im Mario Ritter.

Jamie Dettmer reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

deadlocked adj. unable to move forward,

flexible adj. willing to change or do things differently

customs n. the system of taxes and costs that a government seeks when goods come into the country from another country

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
The social media service Facebook plans to open a training center in Brazil for computer coders and people interested in starting a business. It will be the companys first such training center in a Latin American country.

Facebook hopes it will encourage young Brazilians to consider a career in technology. Brazil has a high unemployment rate after a deep economic crisis. Many of the jobless are young people.

The training center will occupy space in the middle of Sao Paulo.

Diego Dzodan, Facebooks regional vice president, said the center will connect unemployed, untrained young people with technology companies that need workers.

Imagine the opportunity, he said. Youve got people without a job, so they cant afford training. And yet theres so much demand for positions that the market cant fill.

The Reuters news service reported his comments.

One in four Brazilians aged 18 to 24 -- most of them with more education than their parents -- were unemployed at the start of 2017. The countrys worst economic crisis has harmed the careers of a generation of young workers.

Facebook plans to open the training center by December. It will offer free coding classes, career guidance, entrepreneur training and digital marketing programs for 7,400 Brazilians in its first year.

The Facebook effort is one of several in Sao Paulo. Other companies are making the most of rising interest in technology and a drop in the cost of office space in Latin Americas largest business center.

In June 2016, Alphabet Inc. opened the Google Campus Sao Paulo business center just a short walk from the new Facebook space. The Google campus also offers advice to Brazilians interested in creating start-up companies, as well as free community events.

Dzodan would not tell Reuters how much his company was spending on its new space. He said the effort would be measured by the number of people receiving training and education, not actual cost of the physical training center.

Im Dorothy Gundy.

The Reuters news agency reported this story from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

encourage  v. to urge; to provide support

coder  n. someone who creates orders or directions for a computer

regional  adj. of or related to an area

entrepreneur  n. someone who starts a business
Russia is promising to answer a Trump administration order to close three Russian diplomatic offices in the United States.

But Russia also said it was not likely to take steps to increase diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

On Thursday, the administration ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and trade offices in New York City and Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials gave the Russians 48 hours to obey the order. They said the move was in reaction to a Russian demand that the U.S. sharply reduce the size of its diplomatic workforce in Russia.



"The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted," State Department official Heather Nauert said in a statement. She added that the U.S. hoped both countries could now move towards improved relations and increased cooperation.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that his country would react with firmness to the U.S. order. He added that the Russian government needs time to study the directive and to decide a plan of action. Lavrov spoke in a meeting with students at Russias top diplomacy school.

Other Russian officials said both sides need to be careful.

Yuri Ushakov is the top foreign policy to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ushakov told Russian news agencies that the government regrets the latest U.S. move and needs to think carefully about how we could respond.

The U.S. announcement was the latest development in a diplomatic tit for tat between the two sides. The dispute began early last month when President Donald Trump signed into law a sanctions bill that Congress had passed. The measure was aimed at punishing the Russian government for interfering with the U.S. election last year.

The Russian government reacted quickly to the sanctions. It made the United States cut its embassy and consulate workforce in Russia down to 455.

In recent years, the two countries have had deep disagreements about Russian involvement in the 2016 elections, and other issues, such as Ukraine and Syria.

Under President Trump, relations have gotten worse. U.S. officials are still investigating whether Trumps election campaign worked with Russia to get him elected.

Im Anne Ball.

The Associated Press and VOANews.com reported on this story. Anne Ball adapted the reports for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

consulate  n. the building where a consul lives and works

respond  v. to say or write something as an answer to a question or request

tit for tat  n. answering a wrong or an injury with another wrong or injury

sanctions  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, etc.  usually plural


The United States and its allies have again responded to a North Korean missile test. This time, the response included a military exercise using real ammunition.

American military aircraft included two B-1B bombers from a base in Guam and four F-35B stealth fighter jets from a base in Japan. Four South Korean fighter jets joined the Americans to fly over the Korean peninsula. And Japanese military aircraft flew over Japanese waters in the 10-hour operation.

The combined forces released live weapons at the Pilsung Range training area. The show of force came two days after North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan.

General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy is the commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces. He said, "North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly. Our forward deployed force will be the first to the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moment's notice if our nation calls."

North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency issued a statement calling the exercise a rash act of those taken aback by North Koreas recent missile launch.

The U.S. military frequently responds to North Korean actions with a show-of-force display of its attack aircraft. In July, the U.S. and South Korean militaries also fired missiles into South Korean waters. The action was in response to a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

Joseph Dunford is the top general of the U.S. military. On a recent trip to the region, he said the military's main goal is supporting U.S. efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. But he added that the U.S. is preparing what he called "viable military options" in the event that those efforts fail.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Carla Babb reported this story for VOA News. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

destabilize  v. to cause something to be unable to continue existing or working in the usual or desired way; to make something unstable

lethal  adj. causing or able to cause death

stealth  adj. used to describe military aircraft that are designed so that they cannot be easily seen by radar

viable  adj. capable of being done or used; workable
00:00:02 OPRAH WINFREY: "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it.

00:00:08 ROGER BANNISTER: If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity, and you don't take it, you may never have another chance.

00:00:14 LAURYN HILL: It all was so clear. It was just, like, the picture started to form itself.

00:00:19 DESMOND TUTU: There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light, death over life.

00:00:32 CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.

00:00:35 JOHNNY CASH: My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place, stay out of there.

00:00:40 JAMES MICHENER: And then along come these differential experiences that you don't look for, you don't plan for, but boy, youd better not miss them.

00:00:52 ALICE WINKLER: Welcome to another episode of What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance from the Academy of Achievement's recorded collection. I'm Alice Winkler. On every episode of What It Takes, we play you a revealing conversation with someone who has literally changed the world, and mind you, a lot of people say literally these days when they mean figuratively, but I mean literally, literally. The Academy of Achievement has been recording these conversations for decades to document the extraordinary lives of people like Bill Gates, Alan Shepard, and Hank Aaron, but mostly to show that all of us can learn what it takes to do a little better, aim a little higher.

00:01:33 There is arguably no one alive who has built a bigger empire of inspiration than Oprah Winfrey, or, since America's on a first-name basis with her, Oprah.

00:01:45 OPRAH WINFREY: Billy is grieving, and we, you know, Phil has compassion for him, and that's okay that he's grieving.

00:01:50 MALE VOICE: Yeah, I think it's important for his mom, Sherry, to know that it's okay if  for him to be sad. I mean, something tremendous has happened in his life, and he deserves that.

00:02:00 ALICE WINKLER: Gail Eichenthal sat down with Oprah for the Academy of Achievement in 1991. It was five years into her groundbreaking talk show and many years before the production company, the magazine, or the television network. Gail started by asking Oprah if shed had any clue shed one day make it so big.

00:02:19 OPRAH WINFREY: As a young child I had a vision not of what I wanted to accomplish, but I knew that my current circumstances  I was raised on a farm with my grandmother for the first six years of my life. I knew somehow that my life would be different and it would be better. I never had a clear-cut vision of what it was I would be doing.

00:02:43 I just always felt somehow  or I remember absolutely physically feeling it at around four years old. I remember standing on the back porch. It was a screened-in porch, and my grandmother was boiling clothes, because, you know, during the  at that time, we didnt have washing machines, and so people would, you know, physically boil clothes in a great big iron pot, and she was boiling clothes and poking them down, and I was watching her from the back porch, and I was four years old, and I remember thinking, "My life wont be like this."

00:03:14 "My life won't be like this. It will be better," and it wasn't from a place of arrogance. It was just a place of knowing that things could be different for me somehow. I dont know what made me think that.

00:03:26 GAIL EICHENTHAL: Did you ever consider any other career besides talking, broadcasting, and acting?

00:03:30 OPRAH WINFREY: I always wanted to be an actress, for most of my adolescent and adult life. My father didn't want me to be because his idea of what an actress was, was one of these, you know, lewd women, and, "How are you going to take care of your life?" So I always wanted to be an actress, and have taken, I think, a roundabout way to get there, because I still don't feel fulfilled as an actress. I still feel like, okay, once I'm  now I own my own studio and all this, but I'm thinking, "I did all of this just to be an actress. I just want to be able to act."

00:04:10 For a while, I wanted to be a schoolteacher. In the fourth grade, Mrs. Duncan was my greatest inspiration. In the fourth grade is when I first began to believe in myself. I, for the first time, believed that I could do almost anything. I felt I was the queen bee. I felt I could control the world. I was going to be a missionary. I was going to Costa Rica. I was going to  I used to collect money on the playground for  to take to church on Sundays, from all the other kids.

00:04:43 And at the time in schools, we had devotions, and I would sit, and I would listen to everything the preacher said on Sunday and go back to school on Monday morning and beg Mrs. Duncan to please let me do the devotion, just sort of repeat the sermon. So in the fourth grade, I was called Preacher. Kids used to poke fun at me all the time, but it didn't bother me because I was so inspired at the time, and a lot of it was because of Mrs. Duncan. Mrs. Duncan, Mrs. Duncan.

00:05:09 And we did a show not too long ago, and I had favorite teachers on. I just broke down because, first of all, it was the first time I realized Mrs. Duncan had a name other than Mrs. Duncan. You know, your teachers never have names. But her name's Mary! I couldnt believe it.

00:05:22 ALICE WINKLER: And maybe you wont believe it, but Oprahs first name was actually supposed to be Orpah.

00:05:28 OPRAH WINFREY: Well, I was born, as I said, in rural Mississippi in 1954, and I was born at home, and there were not a lot of educated people around, and my name had been chosen from the Bible. My Aunt Ida had chosen the name, but people didn't know how to pronounce it, so it went down as Orpah on my birth certificate, but they put the p before the r in every place else other than the birth certificate. So on the birth certificate, it is Orpah, but then it got translated to Oprah, and so here we are.

00:06:04 But that's great because Oprah spells Harpo backwards. I don't know what Orpah spells.

00:06:09 ALICE WINKLER: It seems appropriate somehow that Oprah ended up with a singular name, even if by mistake. Her singular talents started to show when she was practically still a toddler, speaking in public at an age when the rest of us are still learning to talk. It was her grandmother who recognized her gifts, the grandmother who raised her.

00:06:30 OPRAH WINFREY: I came to live with my grandmother because I was a child born out of wedlock, and my mother moved to the North. She's a part of that great migration to the North in the late '50s, and I was left with my grandmother, like so many other black youngsters were, left to be taken care of by their grandmothers and grandfathers and aunts and uncles, and I was one of those children. It actually, probably, saved my life.

00:06:55 It is the reason why I am where I am today, because my grandmother gave me the foundation for success that I was allowed to continue to build upon. My grandmother taught me to read, and that opened the door to all kinds of possibilities for me, and had I not been with my grandmother and been with my mother, struggling in the North, you know, moving from apartment to apartment, I probably would not have had the foundation that I had.

00:07:22 So I was allowed to grow up in Mississippi for the first six years of my life, and allowed to feel somewhat special. Because I was a precocious child, I guess, by any standards now. I was taught to read at an early age, and by the time I was three, I was reciting speeches in the church. And they put me up on the program, and they'd say, "And little Mistress Winfrey will render a recitation."

00:07:48 And I would do, "Jesus rose on Easter Day. Hallelujah, hallelujah, all the angels did proclaim," and all the sisters sitting in the front row would fan themselves and turn to my grandmother and say, "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it: Maybe I am! I didnt even know what gifted meant, but I just thought it meant that I was special, and so any time people came over I'd recite. I'd recite Bible verses and poetry.

00:08:15 I did all of James Weldon Johnson's sermons. He has a series of seven sermons, beginning with The Creation and ending with Judgment. I used to do them for churches all over the city of Nashville. I've spoken at every church in Nashville at some point in my life, I think, and you sort of get known for that. Other people were known for singing. I was known for talking. By the time I was seven, I was doing Invictus by William Ernest Henley.

00:08:41 "Out of the night that covers me, black as a pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods there be for my unconquerable soul," and at the time, I was saying  I didn't know what I was talking about, but I'd do all the motions: "Out of the night that covers me," and people would say, "Ooh, that child can speak!" And so that's  you know, you  whatever you do a lot of, you get good at doing it, and that's just about how this whole broadcasting career started for me.

00:09:07 ALICE WINKLER: It was all going pretty well for young Oprah, considering she was being raised without her parents in Mississippi, but then she moved north to be reunited with her mother in Chicago and things took a turn.

00:09:20 OPRAH WINFREY: And if you had asked me at the time if we were poor, I probably would have said no, because when you are living it and you don't know anything else, you think that's the way life is. And I was raped when I was nine by a cousin, and never told anybody until I was in my late twenties. Not only was I raped by a cousin... I was raped by a cousin, and then later sexually molested by a friend of the family, and then by an uncle. It was just an ongoing continuous thing, so much so that I started to think, you know, This is the way life is.

00:09:57 And not until, I'd say, a year ago did I release the shame from myself, because I was in the middle of an interview with a woman named Trudy Chase, who has multiple personalities and was severely abused as a child.

00:10:18 TRUDY CHASE: Each one of us went through some pretty deep garbage, and this is our opportunity, has been our opportunity for a while, to explore each other. Do you know...

00:10:29 OPRAH WINFREY: Do you feel like you lost whoever you would have been that day you were raped at two years old?

00:10:35 TRUDY CHASE: Well, she is no more. No more.

00:10:41 OPRAH WINFREY: And I think it was on that day that, I mean, for the first time, I recognized that I was not to blame, because I was a  I became a sexually promiscuous teenager, promiscuous and rebellious, and did everything I could get away with, including faking a robbery in my house one time. I remember, you know, stomping the glasses in the floor and putting myself in the hospital and acting out the whole scene, and I used to pull all kinds of pranks  ran away from home  and as a result of that got myself into a lot of trouble and believed that I was responsible for it.

00:11:18 It wasn't until I was 36 years old  thirty-six  that I connected the fact, oh, that's why I was that way. I always blamed myself, even though, intellectually, I would say to other kids  I would speak to people and say, "Oh, the child is never to blame. You're never responsible for molestation in your life." I still believed I was responsible somehow, that I was a bad girl and just released it in the middle...

00:11:46 And so it happened on the air, as so many things happen for me. It happened on the air in the middle of somebody else's experience. And so I thought I was going to have a breakdown on television, and I said, you know, "Stop, stop. Youve got to stop rolling cameras." And they didn't, and so I sort of got myself through it, but it was really quite traumatic for me.

00:12:06 The real Trudy Chase underwent years of therapy, and most of that therapy  stop  was videotaped because Trudy says that she wanted others to someday be able to understand that they are not alone in their abuse.

00:12:33 My openness is the reason why I did not do so well as a news reporter, because I used to go on assignments and be so open that I would say to people at fires and they'd lost their children, "That's okay. You don't have to talk to me." Well, then you go back to the newsroom, and the news director, "What do you mean they didnt have to talk to you?" I'd say, "But she just lost her child, and, you know, I just felt so bad."

00:12:55 So I didnt do very well. I was too  absolutely too involved. I'd go to funerals of people and not go in. I wouldn't want to talk to them and disturb them. Cry on the air.

00:13:05 ALICE WINKLER: But, of course, it was her overwhelming empathy that allowed Oprah Winfrey to become Oprah. She just needed to find the format that fit. On her talk show, she perfected a new kind of confessional, therapeutic television, and television hasnt been the same since.

00:13:23 OPRAH WINFREY: When I was growing up, especially in the third and fourth grade, I always wanted to be a minister and preach and be a missionary, and then for a while, after Mrs. Duncan's fourth grade class, I wanted to be a fourth grade teacher, and I think, in many ways, that I have been able to fulfill all of that. I feel that my show is a ministry. We just don't take up a collection, and I feel that it is a teaching tool without preaching to people about it.

00:13:47 I really do. That is my intent. That is my intent, and the greatest thing about what I do, for me, is that I'm in a position to change people's lives. It is the most incredible platform for influence that you could imagine, and it's something that I hold in great esteem and take full responsibility for. I mean, I do every show in prayer, not down on my knees praying, but I do it in sort of, before every show, a mental meditation in order to get the correct message across because you're dealing with millions of people every day, and it's very easy for something to be misinterpreted.

00:14:35 And so my intention is always, regardless of what the show is, whether it's about sibling rivalry or wife battering or children of divorce, for people to see within each show that you are responsible for your life, that although there may be tragedy in your life, there's always a possibility to triumph. Doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, and that the ability to triumph begins with you, always. Always.

00:15:01 ALICE WINKLER: When interviewer Gail Eichenthal asked Oprah in this conversation, in 1991, how aware she was of her own triumph, her own courage, this is what she said.

00:15:11 OPRAH WINFREY: The interesting thing about it is, if you were telling me my life story and it was about somebody else, I'd say, "Oh, how courageous." It's very difficult for me to give myself that credit. I mean, it's very difficult for me to even see myself as successful because I still see myself as in the process of becoming successful. To me, successful is getting to the point where you are absolutely comfortable with yourself, and it does not matter how many things you have acquired.

00:15:44 The ability to learn to say no and not to feel guilty about it, to me, is about the greatest success I have achieved. The fact that I have, you know, in the public's eye done whatever is fine. It's all a part of a process for growing for me, but to me, to have the kind of internal strength and internal courage it takes to say, "No, I will not let you treat me this way," is what success is all about. I will not be treated this way. I demand only the best for myself.

00:16:14 ALICE WINKLER: One of Oprah's greatest wishes, she said, was that through her work she could teach young people how to learn this life lesson a little faster than she learned it.

00:16:23 OPRAH WINFREY: Because its painful, because you keep repeating it over and over and over until you get it right, and what I found is that every time you have to repeat the lesson, it gets worse because it's  you know, it's  I call it God trying to get your attention, the universe trying to get your attention. So we didn't get your attention the first time, so we're going to have to hit you a little harder this time. Any major problem you encounter, it always started out as a whisper. By the time it gets to be a storm, you have been  you've had a pebble knock you upside the head.

00:16:52 You had a brick. You had a brick wall. You had the house fall down, and before you know it, you're in the eye of the storm, but long before you're in the eye of the storm youve had many warnings, like little clues. So now my goal in life is to not have to hit the eye of the storm, is to catch it in a whisper, to get it the first time. And getting it comes from understanding your  I think the thing  the one thing that has allowed me to certainly achieve both material success and spiritual success is the ability to listen to my instinct.

00:17:27 I call it my inner voice. It doesn't matter what you call it  nature, instinct, higher power. But the ability to understand the difference between what your heart is saying and what your head is saying  I now always go with the heart, even when my head is saying, "Oh, but this is the rational thing. This is really what you should do." I always go with that little feeling, the feeling. I am where I am today because I have allowed myself to listen to my feelings, and to validate them.

00:18:03 ALICE WINKLER: Oprah Winfrey told so many fantastic stories in this 1991 interview about how, more precisely, she got where she did, including how she won the Miss Fire Prevention Contest when she was a teenager, even though the deck was clearly stacked against her. That win led to her first job in broadcasting, but digest all the Oprah wisdom youve heard so far because the rest is coming in our next podcast. There was just too much good stuff with the Queen of Talk to fit into a single episode. This is What It Takes from the Academy of Achievement. Im Alice Winkler.

00:18:43 Funding for What it Takes comes from the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation.
First, you are not a grinch (And actually if you were that's okay because the grinch turned out to be pretty cool in the end.)

So, leading up to our first kid, we put a lot of money away to cover the few months I wanted to take off after the baby was born. And turns out that was a good thing because I had a major health scare (blood clots) and had to be put on bed rest. And the recovery was difficult.

Anyway, if both of you are going to go back to work childcare is really the biggest thing you need to make sure you have. You might also look at your budget to see if you could handle your expenses on one salary in case there is a health issue or one of you wants to stay at home after you look into those beautiful baby eyes.

The baby gear you can manage. They don't need much other than the diapers. I breast fed each of my kids for about 2 years (2 years for the 1st, 19 months for the second, 15 months of the third. I would have gone longer for her but she kept biting me!) That save a ton on formula the second biggest expense.

But from what you've told me, you're ready. You're more ready than most. Just be prepared to cut back and be financially flexible once the kid or kids come. Embrace frugality in exchange for the joy of being a parent.
Whether it's a 30-year-old woman who has no time for doctor's visits, or an embarrassed teen who doesn't want to tell her parents she wants to use birth control, Nurx brings the doctor's visit to their palms and eliminates a trip to the pharmacy.

Nurx is a startup focused on making birth control more accessible through an app, according to a company statement.

After talking to one of Nurx's licensed doctors, either by its messaging feature or by phone, teens and women can get birth control shipped to their homes, according to Nurx's website. It automatically refills the prescription about every three months.

Users must answer a few medical questions and upload identification before getting a prescription. User information remains confidential, according to its website, and Nurx encrypts users' conversations and transactions.

"In North Carolina, girls at any age can get birth control from a medical provider and without a parent's permission, yet many do not get a prescription for fear of their parents finding out," Nurx said in its statement. "This birth control app makes it easy for teenagers to get birth control without their parents finding out."

Nurx lets users choose from several types of birth control, offering it through a combination pill, a progestin-only pill, a ring, a patch or emergency contraception. The cost of birth control can be as low as $15 for users without health insurance, while those with health insurance can get the birth control for free or pay only the co-payment.

"The greater goal is to improve access to patients but also to improve the efficiency of our health care system," Jessica Knox, the Nurx medical director, told ABC 11.

Nurx is now available in North Carolina, Texas, California, New York, Washington state, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.

In the next few weeks, Nurx plans to expand to 20 more states, according to its statement.

Users can download the app at the AppStore and or go directly to Nurx.com to set up an account.

2017 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Batten disease is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects 14 000 children worldwide. Credit: 'Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis PAS' by Jensflorian is licenced by CC Unported 3.0

Researchers are working hard to fight childhood dementia and hope a new enzyme replacement therapy can help those unlucky enough to have such a debilitating disease.

Researchers across Europe have put their heads together to combat this complex disease, which is most frequently caused by a group of rare neurodegenerative disorders commonly known as Batten disease.

"We're still far from reaching curative treatments but we've made impressive steps forward in the knowledge of the disease's cellular mechanisms over the last two decades," said Dr Alessandro Simonati from the University of Verona in Italy, who was part of the EU-funded project known as DEM-CHILD that successfully concluded in 2014.

Batten disease is a group of devastating and debilitating genetic disorders that affect 14 000 children worldwide, with around 1 400 new cases each year. Children affected by the unrelenting disease lose all abilities over time, including motor, visual and speech abilities, and have uncontrollable seizures, placing a huge burden on patients and their families.

At the moment, there are 13 forms of Batten disease that are often subdivided according to the age of onset  infantile, late-infantile, juvenile and the much rarer adult-onset forms  all life-limiting.

"The only tools to fight against these diseases are symptomatic drugs that can give some pain relief without dealing with the cause of the condition and the quality of complex care these patients require 24 hours a day," said Dr Simonati.

Treatment

Yet there's hope, the first treatment for one type of Batten disease was approved by the European Medicines Agency in May.

Dr Angela Schulz from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, the international principal investigator of the clinical trial and project coordinator of DEM-CHILD, said: "The development of this new treatment  an enzyme replacement therapy  has been possible only because of the data collected during the DEM-CHILD project, used to measure the effectiveness of this new therapeutic approach."

Unfortunately this treatment is not applicable to all types of Batten disease. However, as part of the EU-funded BATCure project, Professor Sara Mole from University College London, in the UK, is looking to develop three other therapies for rare types of Batten disease where enzyme replacement therapy isn't an option.

"When we started, there were no treatments approved for Batten disease," she said, adding that her team are developing a gene therapy for the most common form of the disease in Europe, where children can usually survive into their late-twenties.

"Gene therapy is at the forefront of the field using very recently described vectors (ways of getting DNA into cells)," said Prof. Mole.

The other two types BATCure are working on are more common in Mediterranean countries and, under normal circumstances, children affected by these die in teenage years. Prof. Mole hopes to find therapies for the three types of Batten disease and use the knowledge to develop treatments for adult dementias.

Different locations

Developing therapies for these three types of Batten disease is very challenging, says Prof. Mole. These types are all caused by mutations in proteins that sit in different locations in the cell. "If one therapy doesn't work, another might."

Because of widely varying genetic mutations, Batten disease types can vary tremendously for each person. According to Dr Simonati: "The whole cellular system may be perturbed by a single affected gene, but we have to unravel the complex biological and cellular networks to find out what's going on and fix it."

Most types of the disease are inherited from parents and may take some years before showing any symptoms in children, so there is a significant risk of multiple children being affected in one family. Researchers on the DEM-CHILD project developed new testing and screening methods, diagnosing it much quicker, more cheaply and more reliably.

In addition, the team gathered figures on people affected with the different forms across various countries and established the world's largest online database of Batten disease patients. This tool can be used to evaluate current and future experimental therapy studies, and is still growing.

"We have to collaborate and combine different innovative approaches using both cellular systems and engineered animals, whose results could later be translated into appropriate and safe therapeutic methods," said Dr Simonati.

Prof. Mole agrees: "I believe this type of translational work requires so much expertise that collaboration is essential."
An influenza outbreak has killed seven residents of a care home for the elderly in Australia and sickened 116 other residents and staff, an official said Friday.

The residents, aged between 70 to 94, had died at St. John's Retirement Village at Wangaratta in northeast Victoria state since Aug. 16, Victoria Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.

"We are at the peak of one of the worst flu seasons ever and the elderly are one of highest-risk groups," Sutton told reporters.

Most of the 146 residents in the facility had been vaccinated, but the vaccine is less effective in the elderly, Sutton said. Vaccines are not effective against all flu strains.

There were 123 cases of flu, including the seven fatalities, among the residents and 200 staff at the home, he said. Vaccination was not compulsory among residents or staff.

All the dead had pre-existing conditions that made them vulnerable to serious illness, Sutton said. The outbreak at the home was almost over, but another elderly resident was at risk of dying before infections stop.

Sutton said the seven deaths made this outbreak the worst he had encountered during his seven years in the state health department.

The home notified state health authorities of the outbreak two days before the first death, he said. Authorities found no flaws in the home's infection prevention and control procedures, Sutton said.

So far this year, 11,300 flu cases have been confirmed in Victoria, a state with a population of 6.2 million.

The current Southern Hemisphere flu season comes six months after the Northern Hemisphere season.

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Flood water eventually will recede from Houston and its surrounding areas, but the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey will remain fresh for those impacted by the storm. While moving forward after a disaster like Harvey is difficult, one Baylor College of Medicine expert has offered his advice on how to cope with these challenges.

"The psychological effects of a disaster like Harvey can be numerous, and usually there are two populations that you will see," said Dr. Asim Shah, professor and executive vice chair for community psychiatry in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor. "The first is the population of people who have a pre-existing mental health problem. After a disaster like this, their issues will likely worsen. However, the second population will be people who did not have any pre-existing mental health issue, but they will develop problems."

It is common for those who have gone through a traumatic experience like Harvey to suffer from anxiety, depression, stress, fear and insecurity, Shah said. These feelings can last for months and develop into post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shah warned that it is especially important to pay attention to how children may be dealing with the trauma of their experience.

"The way kids react in these situations is very different from adults," Shah said. "Families need to watch out for the warning signs that kids may not be coping well with the events they've experienced."

Warning signs may include:

Isolating themselves in rooms

Hiding in closets and rooms

Not eating or eating less

Not interacting with people

If you see these warning signs, Shah recommended addressing them sooner rather than later and to seek professional help.

He added that children can grow attached to material items like blankets and toys so it's important to remember to slowly and systematically desensitize them to the fact that their items may not be usable if their home was damaged or destroyed.

For adults who need help coping, Shah said the first step they can take toward healing is to talk about their experience and not ignore how they are feeling. The second way they can cope is by seeking professional help and, lastly, adults can use stress management and relaxation techniques.

"There are numerous ways to cope with a disaster like this, but the best thing you can do is try to cope as best as possible," Shah said.
The molecular structure of a PKD2 channel with a drug blocking the ion pore. Credit: Northwestern University

A growing cohort of talented Northwestern Medicine scientists is working to unlock the secrets of ion channels and discover how these tiny molecular machines contribute to an array of diseases, from brain tumors and epilepsy to kidney disease and devastating immune deficiencies.

This group of investigators, including seasoned faculty like Alfred George Jr., MD, Magerstadt Professor and chair of Pharmacology, and newcomers like Paul DeCaen, PhD, assistant professor in the same department, are not only fundamentally altering understanding of disorders, they're also revealing how existing treatments work and pointing to potential new treatment strategies.

"All of this expertise provides fertile ground for making new discoveries," says DeCaen, a former Howard Hughes and Harvard University fellow who joined Northwestern in October 2016. "And a world-class hospital here gives us access to the medical perspective on ion channel-linked diseases."

The shape of things

Ion channels are a class of proteins that control the flow of ions such as calcium, sodium or potassium across the membranes of cells, DeCaen explains. Maintaining a proper flow of ions is critical to a multitude of bodily functions, from the transmission of messages between brain cells to the beating of the heart.

"It seems like a simple job, but it ends up frequently being problematic," he says.

Mutations in the genes that encode ion channels have been linked to many medical conditions. To understand how these mutations lead to disease, ion channel investigators try to piece together the three-dimensional molecular structures of ion channels.

For example, DeCaen and colleagues from the lab of Erhu Cao, PhD, at the University of Utah took this approach to better understand a gene called polycystic kidney disease 2 (PKD2). Mutations in the gene had been found in patients who develop large cysts in their kidneys that cause organ failure. Scientists knew the gene encoded an ion channel that controls the flow of ions, but did not know which ions. Work from DeCaen's lab pointed to potassium and sodium.

"We now know what ions move through the channel, but no one had any idea of what it looked like in three-dimensional space," DeCaen says. "Since function follows form, we figured that this is an important knowledge gap to fill."

So, the team chilled the protein to a very low temperature and then used a powerful electron microscope to get the first glimpse of the protein's configuration. The results were published in the journal Cell last year.

"Now that we know what the ion channel looks like, we can see how mutations that cause alterations in its structure may cause it to malfunction in the disease state," he says. "We can start to do some pie-in-the-sky thinking about developing small molecules that can affect the ion channel's function."

For example, in polycystic kidney disease it is not clear whether mutations cause the PKD2 channel to be continually open, allowing an unending flow of ions, or if the mutation closes the channel. There might even be a mix of on/off effects depending on the specific mutation. So, DeCaen and colleagues are using electrophysiological techniques to find out. Their results could inform the design of drugs to combat the disease.

DeCaen has also been consulting Northwestern clinicians about complications beyond cysts in patients with polycystic kidney disease. These clinical insights might provide clues on the function of these ion channels throughout the body and potentially suggest treatment strategies.

"In ion channel research, you need a broad range of expertise in medicine," DeCaen explained. "You need a neurologist, a cardiac arrhythmias expert and kidney disease experts. We have that large pool of scientists and clinicians here at Northwestern."

Working with George, and Jennifer Kearney, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology, DeCaen is also probing the role of ion channels in epilepsy. His lab is recreating the structure of a bacterial version of an epilepsy-linked sodium channel as a first step toward recreating the mammalian version. So far, the work has yielded unexpected clinical benefits.

"This gave us our first glimpse into how anti-epileptic drugs work," DeCaen says. It has also suggested potential antibacterial treatments that would target the channel.

The applications of this line of research go even further: This summer, George and colleagues showed how mutations in a sodium channel called Nav1.9 can lead to a disorder where people are unable to feel pain. The findings, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, might have implications for the development of novel therapies for pain.

"Ion channels represent an under-appreciated class of druggable protein targets," says George. "A goal for the Department of Pharmacology has been to place ion channels at the center stage of research efforts to find new drug targets."

Credit: Northwestern University

Moving parts

Meanwhile, Murali Prakriya, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology, focuses on the Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel. Originally described in immune cells, CRAC channels are found in the plasma membranes of most, if not all, human cells. When the channel opens, it allows calcium ions to flow into the cell, signaling functions such as gene expression and cell proliferation. A growing number of diseases are associated with abnormalities in CRAC channel function including immunodeficiencies, muscular dystrophy and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

"CRAC calcium channels are widespread and important for many biological processes, from the birth of cells to the death of cells," Prakriya says. "Therefore, dissecting how CRAC channel activity is controlled and regulated in different contexts is of great interest."

His lab is working to understand how CRAC channels operate and contribute to immune host defense mechanisms, the detection of allergens in the lung airways, and brain function.

"If you lose CRAC channel function through mutations, human patients develop devastating immune deficiencies and muscle weakness," he explains. "Children born with these symptoms often die in the first six months of life. The simplest infections are quite dangerous to these children."

In a paper published in Nature Communications early this year, Prakriya worked with Megumi Yamashita, PhD, DDS, research assistant professor of Pharmacology, and Priscilla Yeung, a student in Feinberg's Medical Scientist Training Program, to reveal how the CRAC channel opens and closes. This research identified the molecular structure in the channel that functions as the gate, as well as the movements in the channel pore that open the gate.

First, the scientists used electrophysiology and microscopy techniques to systematically probe the contributions of different regions of the CRAC channel protein to pore opening, identifying an oily amino acid as the channel gate in the process. Then, computer simulations developed by University of Toronto collaborators helped reveal how this amino acid impedes ion conduction.

"In ion channels, the pore is usually filled with water, so one way to close the pore is to present an oily, hydrophobic chemical group in the pore to prevent water and ions from going throughsimilar to the way that oil and water don't mix. To open the pore, the hydrophobic group swings out of the way allowing the pore to fill with water and ions," Prakriya explains. "The presence of the oily amino acid in the pore creates a closed channel state."

These conclusions have important clinical implications. Some human mutations in the gene encoding the CRAC channel leave the gate open and cause uncontrolled bleeding, neurological problems and muscle weakness because the cells in these individuals have excessive levels of calcium all the time.

"We showed that one of these mutations affected the oiliness of the gate region, thereby chronically filling the pore with water and ions," Prakriya says. "As a consequence, ions were going through when they shouldn't."

Prakriya's lab is currently working to understand the molecular signals that open the hydrophobic gate and to identify small molecules that can interact with the gate to alter the channel's activity. These could correct defects in cell signaling and ameliorate symptoms associated with aberrant CRAC channel activity seen in immune, muscular and neurodegenerative diseases.

Translating discoveries

While investigators like DeCaen and Prakriya focus on molecular-level details, Rintaro Hashizume, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Neurological Surgery and of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, is using mouse models of brain tumors to begin to translate basic ion channel discoveries into experimental therapeutics.

Before he joined Northwestern in 2014, Hashizume collaborated with a team of ion channel investigators at the University of California, San Francisco, who figured out that medulloblastoma, a cancerous pediatric brain tumor, was enriched with Ether-a-go-go 2 (EAG2) potassium ion channels.

The EAG2 channel helps regulate the cell cycle and volume of cells, so the investigators searched for a drug that could inhibit it. They found that thioridazine, used to treat schizophrenia, did the trick. Hashizume gave the drug to mice with human medulloblastoma and showed that it stopped tumor growth and, more importantly, prevented metastasis, which occurs when the tumor spreads to other parts of the body, decreasing patient survival rates. The findings were published in Nature Neuroscience.

"That's an important therapeutic advantage of the potassium ion channel blockerif the tumor doesn't metastasize you can focus on the management of the original tumor," he says.

Hashizume has since launched a pediatric tumor research collaboration with George. Using cells derived from a Northwestern pediatric patient with a brain tumor, Hashizume created a mouse model that will allow the team to probe how the mutation affects ion channel function and test treatments that might correct the problem.

While this type of fundamental science and early translational research may not be fodder for a Hollywood blockbuster, DeCaen notes that it's the type of research that may lead to big clinical gains in the long run.

"When you get down to the nitty gritty of how a protein works, that is where we really make true breakthroughs," DeCaen says. "Sometimes it takes a lot of sweat and hard work to try to understand the minutiae. But these types of studies have yielded a significant impact towards the development of therapeutic drugs that target ion channels."
Alpine to make 3 electric crossovers

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Erdogan says preliminary findings after Istanbul bombing point to terrorist attack

Erdogan says number of victims of Istanbul bombing rises to six

Authorities forbid TV channels to broadcast from Istanbul bombing site

Istanbul blast: Governor reports 4 dead and 38 wounded

Media: Terrorist attack considered as one of versions of bombing in Istanbul

Blast in Istanbul: victims reported

Reuters: National Bank of Ukraine prepares banking system for power outages

Explosion hits pedestrian street in Istanbul

Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin calls for Turkey to be recognized as sponsor of terrorism

Bloomberg columnist says Japan may be preparing for war with China

Reuters: U.S. to demand EU colleagues to continue aid to Kyiv at G20

Washington Post: U.S. intelligence believes UAE tried to interfere in U.S. politics

Yeni Safak: Turkey increases sales of winter products, blankets in EU by almost third since beginning of year

Fox News: Trump has been silent on social media for over 24 hours amid Republican failures

Lebanon extradites to Iraq relative of Saddam Hussein

Financial Times: Kyiv plans to nationalize more private companies

U.S. Senate declares 'death' of Republican Party after congressional elections

Head of U.S. Customs resigned

President of Georgia Zourabichvili says about 100 thousand Russians settled in country

CNN: Democrats to retain control of Senate after congressional elections

Alen Simonyan: We are truly and sincerely committed to the peace agenda

Artak Beglaryan: Genocidal purpose is apparent

French maritime services rescue more than 140 migrants trying to swim across English Channel

Biden says he is satisfied with results of midterm elections in U.S.

Slovenia holds second round of presidential elections

'Witch' burned alive in India, 14 arrested

COVID-19 cases are expected to surge in Germany this winter

Dollar makes worst showing in week since early days of COVID-19 pandemic

Macron confirms France's readiness to support normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku

Germany withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty

Is Jordan country that has not supplied arms to Armenia?: 'The press usually has reliable information'

European Commission approves nationalization of Russian Gazprom's German subsidiary

Pashinyan: If the state interferes with the exchange rate unnecessarily, the economy will only suffer

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
YEREVAN.  Leaders from Armenias military, ministries, institutions, and agencies on Friday joined all alumni of the George C. Marshall Centers Center for Security Studies for a conference focused on exploring Armenias security challenges.

Since 1995, more than 240 Armenians have attended courses and conferences organized by the George C. Marshall Center, a U.S.-German security and defense studies institute based in Garmisch, Germany, working to develop democracy through trust and friendship, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Participants in Marshall Center programs examine complex issues such as contemporary security, national security strategies, defense planning, crisis management, Cyber security, and anti-corruption programs.

Armenian participation throughout the years in various Marshall Center programs has had an impact not only in how Armenian leaders and decision-makers approach security issues in the Caucasus region, but also for how Armenia engages on wider, Euro-Atlantic issues and security, said U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr., who opened the conference. As graduates of the Marshall Center, this prestigious group of Alumni has forged strong partnerships and lasting friendships throughout the years, and they returned home to Armenia with new ideas to put to work in Armenia. They have also collectively contributed to a better and more robust understanding in Washington and many European capitals of the unique security and defense challenges facing Armenia and the Caucasus region.

Also joining Ambassador Mills in welcoming the participants to Fridays conference on Armenias security challenges was German Ambassador Matthias Kiesler and Armenias First Deputy Minister of Defense Artak Zakaryan.

Following a keynote address by retired Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the group of alumni participated in two panel discussions. The first, focused on Armenias defense and foreign policy approach, featured discussions on Armenias relationship with NATO and the CSTO as well as with its neighbors. The second panel, focused on the unique security challenges in the south Caucasus Region, included a discussion on corruption as a national security challenge and the global threat of radicalization and terrorism.

Thank you for the valuable contributions that each and every one of you make to Armenian-American partnership, Ambassador Mills told participants. The United States has proudly stood alongside Armenia as a friend and partner since the early days of your independence 25 years ago, and we look forward to deepening the friendship between our two nations for many years to come.
Salvos can suck my clit honestly. I really, really hate them.

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lmao

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Ruby Rose's response was honestly a lot more diplomatic than I would have gone with, but I guess good for her for taking the higher road.

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MTE, I absolutely would have said "You seem triggered" to the guy who said libt*rd.

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I gave to a few different organizations, including Portlight, which focuses on helping people with disabilities in disaster relief situations. They can be particularly vulnerable and at risk in these situations and not all shelters are necessarily ADA compliant. Doesn't mean I don't give a shit about the non-disabled!



I also gave to the Houston Food Bank and the LGBTQ fund which I was honestly grateful to see was established b/c I don't trust some of the religious charities on the ground for the reasons stated in my post.

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I was going to donate to Portlight but I couldn't find any information on it. Is there a way to locate what they do beyond their website? I'm a diabetic and I know so many people with disabilities that I want to give back so they can get necessary items for displaced.

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I saw a post on Reddit about someone rescuing some dogs and the comment section was filled with people angry that resources were somehow "taken away" from rescuing people to save dogs. People who think like that are so fucking stupid. Not to mention that PETA (as awful as they are) were out there in boats rescuing dogs AND people trapped in their homes, but you don't hear animal lovers mad that resources were "taken away" from the dogs to save people.



These people have such one-track minds.

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yes. and of course these fools think donating to an LGBT center is about an "identity" and not about helping people who aren't helped by other charities. ugh.



people really need to learn the subtle art of shutting up when no one asked their opinion.

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Wow.

Like let them live. They can do what they want with their money (as long as they are donating to a cause).





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Right? Put up or shut up. I hope everyone who complained posted their donation receipts tbh.



Edited at 2017-09-01 04:08 am (UTC)

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And is it really the time to be all Sooo.... Should Christians stop to donate to churches then? Should humans stop to donate to animal shelters?And is it really the time to be all #AllLivesMatter ? Get a life, jfc.

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i laughed harder at "should humans stop donating to animal shelters" than i should've

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lol they really love to use that in any convo.

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lmao this is why we don't trust straight people including allies.

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I would try emailing and calling although i imagine they probably have a surplus of calls and emails!

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i gotta thank you, i saw your comment in another post mentioning they need volunteers, and i ended up here on thursday after nrg center turned ppl away. i pass it all the time but never realized bc it looked like such a generic office building from the front and i never caught sight of the sign

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Ever since I interviewed for a job position with the Salvation Army, I make it a point to stop pple I'm with from donating change to those stupid bell ringers. It was just...a very awkward/weird experience.

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What did they do to you?

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They didn't really DO anything it was just not what I have experienced in the past in terms of job interviews. I was there for a graphic design position but they spent the majority of the time prying into my religious beliefs, how I apply them to everyday life, how I use them to lead of "good" life and it was just really awkward. Not to mention all this literature they had littered around their waiting room with articles about the "spiritual harms" of abortions, how evolution only really proves that God created the universe and all these other pseudo-science articles. It alarmed me bc these centers are put in low-income neighborhoods with large Black/Latino populations and espousing this shit to young, susceptible minds.

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I thought it was common knowledge that the Salvation Army was right-wing Christian bullshit, much like the Boy Scouts.

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OMG those tweets. People need to get a grip.



I was listening to the latest Pod Save America and it was really sad cause they were talking about the Trump fuckups that are happening already.



Also I caught a bit of the WH briefing today and the disaster relief guy was really hedging on whether undocumented people would have access to resources. :(

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the disaster relief guy was really hedging on whether undocumented people would have access to resources. :(



These people are evil

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idgi...if they're donating to charity they're helping people...doesn't really matter who those people are



on top of everything the people who they're helping are especially disenfranchised and might suffer harder than others, jfc

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Exactly!! And SOME -- obviously not all -- religious charities have a tendency to discriminate against LGBTQ people, so it's important that there is someone making the LGBTQ community affected by Harvey gets the help they need.

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lmao why do you think they have the comprehension skills to figure that out

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"That's so luxurious"



If she had donated less than 10k you would be bitching at her for not donating enough, ffs.

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I'm not going to say who or which charity but a celebrity donated $50k for a charity I volunteer for and someone was, like, "that's all he donated"



Sis did you donate $50k

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My first thought was that she probably donated one fifth of her net worth.....she's not beyonce or anyone where 10k would be legitimate chump change.

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Yea, I think sometimes people think these smaller celebs have way more money than they actually do.

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Honestly surprised she has that much to give in the first place. Good for ha

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straight people can sit down and shut up. and maybe start contributing to creating a society that provides care and safety for all people all the time and not just when disasters like these happen.

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well said

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There has been something that has been bothering me in the Harvey posts. It's the people that have been shaming people for (what had to be a very tough decision that no one should have to make) leaving their pets behind. Sitting there in your warm and safe house saying things like "I would die and let my pet use me to be safe!" when that's not a decision they've had to make in a situation like that. These people were just trying to stay alive. It's so insensitive to shame them for that.

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IA.



I saw a woman on TV having a breakdown because she had two toddler kids and she had had to leave her dog behind because she couldn't manage to get all of them to safety.



These are ugly decisions people have to make.

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I saw someone on here call people monsters for leaving their pet. I was so pissed off. These people are not monsters. These people are trying to keep themselves and their families alive.

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I saw a guy on TV who had to abandon his cat and he had just gone back to get him. The news anchor was interviewing him and the cat was sitting there meowing up a storm. When the anchor asked the cat if he had anything else to say, he meowed again.

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The majority of shelters don't even admit pets and for good reasons -- people have allergies, maybe the owners don't have crates and then there are pets that aren't getting along, a pet could bite someone, etc etc. i understand why shelters don't allow pets, and it's definitely a concern I have. I split my time between miami and NC and we're often in the path of hurricanes. If there were an evacuation notice, I have the means to get to a hotel, but not all hotels take pets too! And those hotels can fill up. And not everyone has the money for a hotel.

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Im not shaming people who choose to survive, thats animal instinct, but my cat would be the only thing I would try my hardest to rescue.



I've lived through a horrific flood before, it's how I ended up in the US and I remember my mom telling me if it ever happened again the first thing to save are important things you love, so that's why i think that way, but I'm not going to sit here and judge people for trying to survive.

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Also, I remember there was a fire here in raleigh and the firefighters and police would not let people in nearby apartment buildings to get their pets. You sometimes don't have a choice.



Some of these people could have been at work. They had no way of knowing the rain would hit like it did. No one predicted that. And then if the roads back to their house are flooded, they could die trying to get back there. You have to turn around. It's really not a choice.

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I feel bad for people who left there animals chained and were away from home and couldn't get back. But the people who chained the animal up, in the hopes it would be waiting for them when they got back, they are very bad/stupid.

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IA tbh. I would never knowingly harm or neglect my own pets, but if it comes down to my dogs and my elderly parents or my nephew then I choose my family. The most you can do is make sure they have a means to escape if they get the chance.

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There's a difference between leaving a pet vs leaving that pet tied to a chain or locked in a crate.

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It's easy for people to judge when they haven't been in that situation. I had to leave my cats in my house when I had a house fire, because I didn't have time to get their carriers and had nothing to put them in. I shoved them in a room away from the fire and shut them in there, and thankfully they were ok, but sometimes emergencies make you realize how helpless you are to help your pets.

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We live in a world where people are shitty to their pets without a flood, so it doesn't surprise me some were abandoned. But I'd definitely hold back judgement because you never know the reason behind it.



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The damage that Houston (and surrounding areas) have suffered is hard to comprehend. I was listening to Pod Save America toady and the guest for today's episode was Alyssa Mastromonaco who was Obama's deputy chief of staff and oversaw disaster relief stuff. Her insight was really good and the thing that stuck with me was that this isn't a flooding crisis, not really. It's a housing crisis. It's estimated that 40,000 homes have been damaged and only 20% of those homes had flood insurance. So you're going to be getting tens of thousands of families whose homes have suffered a lot of damage so they can't live there, are going to have to pay for repairs and also pay their mortgage.

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I listened to it yesterday when I was out for a walk and when she mentioned HUD, I literally stopped in my tracks. Ben Carson is going to be overseeing this housing disaster. How awful. You know he has no idea what he's doing and obviously has no experience in anything like this. The disaster cleanup was always going to be hard, but thanks to Trump and his incompetent team it's going to be even worse.

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I've been warned in the past not to talk about a secret killer of white men in Wisconsin who prey on drunken, college-age males in order to find a way to drown them in the river.

I've been warned by police officials, editors and even some colleagues in town who admit although it's a well-known criminal theory that surfaces with each new mysterious drowning, discussing the matter in a public forum just doesn't do anyone much good.

After all, they tell me, there's no real proof and it just gets people stirred up over nothing. I disagree.

After the body of Nick Wilcox, a missing University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was found in the Milwaukee River last week, his friends and family who conducted a high profile search for months could begin to find some closure over his death.

According to police, there was no sign of trauma on Wilcox's body and the death was ruled as an accident. Yes, that's pretty much the case every time a college age white male goes missing in Wisconsin and later is found drowned in the river.

The same explanation was attached to the case of Thomas Hecht last year in Milwaukee when the 28-year-old went missing after a pub crawl downtown and was separated from his friends. He was found in the river about two weeks later after what police said was a night of heavy drinking.

Wilcox was separated from friends after a night of drinking as well. His friends and family were on local TV frequently during their public campaign with pleas that likely caught the interest of anyone paying attention to the media during that time.

Still, months later, his body ends up in the river and it's the first time anybody's seen it after all this time.

If you look up the term "Smiley face killer" on the Internet, the various reports on drownings in the Midwest and elsewhere linked to a serial killer will likely strike you as either informative or sensational attempts to lend credibility a theory by former New York detectives and others.

The "Smiley face killer" monicker comes from the authors who have examined a pattern of mysterious deaths of college-age white males in various states including Wisconsin and concluded a serial killer or a group of serial killers have been preying with murderous intent for some time.

More than nine deaths due to drowning were reported in Wisconsin college towns over the past decade, many in or near LaCrosse. I've received messages from readers in that area who always insisted police in the area know it's the work of a killer but don't want to admit it or be accused of incompetence.

Every cop I've talked to with any knowledge about those drownings has always insisted there's no way that could ever be true.

With this latest death by drowning in downtown Milwaukee of all places, the people who want to sound an alarm about drunken white males who stumble into the river don't want to hear anything about a serial killer.

For them, the true villain has a name - and it's alcoholism.

More than a few people I've discussed this issue with insist the real problem is that drunken young whites males go out on a bender and get separated from friends who apparently aren't looking out for them.

Some were parents of college-age white males who insisted they knew what they were talking about so I had to take their word on that. But I'm still intrigued why black males who drink a lot don't end up in the river and why that particular racial angle seldom gets discussed.

Years ago, black and Hispanic men of a certain background started disappearing from the lives of their families and friends but nobody paid attention until it was too late.

That killer's name was Jeffrey Dahmer.

This time, whether it's alcoholism, public intoxication, lack of control or all of the above, I just want to know for sure what this new killer's name is and what we can do to stop it for good.
Finally, theres a good "T" word connected to the terribleness in Texas: tacos.

For two weeks, BelAir Cantina locations will offer a "Tacos for Texas" promotion to benefit the Houston Flood Relief Fund hosted by former University of Wisconsin Badger, J.J. Watt. The effort runs from Monday, Sept. 4 through Sunday, Sept. 17.

During this promotion, BelAir will serve a braised brisket taco with carmelized onions, citrus slaw and chipotle ancho mayo for $4.50. All of the proceeds will benefit the Relief Fund.

OnMilwaukee and FM102/1 are sponsoring the event.

"We wanted to get Milwaukee involved with the Houston recovery efforts in a fun and unique way. And, we're always looking for reasons to eat more tacos," says Michelle Rutkowski, FM102/1 program director and personality. "When the idea of creating Tacos for Texas came up, we knew BelAir was the perfect partner to make this tasty idea come to life!"

For a list of all BelAir locations, go here.
Phuket, 1 September 2017  Feel the cool sea breeze at Patong Bay and experience five new dishes, named the Marinara Promotion, to be released for September 2017. For the whole month, guests will enjoy fresh seafood, including Japanese snow crab, clam, tiger prawn, Maine lobster and Hawaiian snow fish, cooked in different styles by the Italian chef, Patrizia. All five savoury menus consist of:

Cocktail di Granchio Giapponese, priced at 480 THB++

A delight cocktail menu fine presented with soft and sweet Japanese snow crab meat. This cocktail goes well with sweet and sour lemon vodka mayonnaise and with the slightly salty and juicy taste of salmon caviar. Garnished with two healthy vegetables: wild rocket and romaine leaves.

Fregola alle Vongole, priced at 490 THB++

Fregola is the smallest pasta and has its origin in Sardegna, Italy. The small rounded shape offers a tender texture and easy eating. This dish is good when accompanied by clam sauce mixed with white wine and cherry tomatoes, but is even better when finely chopped parsley is added before serving.

Tiger Prawn Ravioli, priced at 590 THB++

This type of ravioli is a tender type of pasta. The filler consists of tiger prawns mixed with Pecorino cheese, garlic and slightly red onions. This dish offers the best taste when served hot with pieces of cherry tomatoes and chopped parsley on top.

Risotto all Astice, priced at 750 THB++

This lobster risotto offers a light creamy taste. This dish uses half of a Maine lobster cooked in risotto mixed with white wine and ingredients imported from Italy. Some of the meat is still stuck onto the lobsters shell, so the guest will enjoy the two different tastes of the lobster. Adding parsley on top offers good aromas.

Hawaiian Snow Fish ai Funghi, priced at 950 THB++

A great combination dish with grilled snow fish imported from Hawaii. The fish is soft on the inside whilst crispy on the outside. The taste of the fish is effectively paired with the slightly salty taste of Pancetta (Italian bacon) wrapped around the fish. This dish is also served with a Porcini mushroom sauce, sweet pumpkin puree, stewed broad beans and grilled cherry tomatoes.

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
University of Utah professor Nalini Nadkarni (right) interviews an inmate (left) about his experiences with viewing nature videos. Credit: Benj Drummond

Sweeping shots of majestic landscapes. Glaciers, forests and waterfalls. Research published today shows that these images, shown to people deprived of access to nature, can reduce tension, help defuse anger and make some of the harshest environments, like a solitary confinement cellblock in a maximum-security prison, a little easier to bear.

The study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment followed inmates in solitary confinement in an Oregon prison for a year. Inmates who viewed nature videos several times a week committed 26 percent fewer violent infractions than their peers. The study's results will lead to new endeavors that will extend to images of wide-open outer space as well - a welcome sight from within prison walls.

"There are all these inmates in maximum security and solitary confinement that we can't bring lectures to or ecological restoration projects to as we do with inmates in minimum and medium security cellblocks," says University of Utah biologist Nalini Nadkarni, who operates science education and conservation programs in minimum and medium security prisons. "I thought, at least we could bring them nature imagery."

Nadkarni's colleagues in this study were Tierney Thys, a nature videographer with the California Academy of Sciences, Patricia Hasbach, an ecopsychologist from Northwest Ecopsychology, Emily Gaines, a science educator from the University of Utah and Lance Schnacker, a corrections analyst from the Oregon Youth Authority.

Sweeping shots of majestic landscapes. Glaciers, forests and waterfalls. Research published today shows that these images, shown to people deprived of access to nature, can reduce tension, help defuse anger and make some of the harshest environments, like a solitary confinement cellblock in a maximum-security prison, a little easier to bear. Credit: Paul Gabrielsen/University of Utah

One hour per day

Nadkarni has been bringing science into prisons since 2003, educating prisoners about ecology and helping them become involved in conservation projects. In 2010, an official at the maximum-security Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon heard a TED talk from Nadkarni and invited her to bring some of the green of nature into the gray of prison.

For the study, Nadkarni and her colleagues chose one particular cellblock within the prison. The block is an Intensive Management Unit, housing 48 men in solitary confinement. Their world is a sea of concrete and their exposure to nature is practically none. Four to five times a week, these inmates are allowed to exercise for 45 minutes in a high-walled concrete recreation yard.

Over the course of a year, half of the men in the cellblock could watch a nature video while exercising, chosen from a list of nearly 40 videos. The videos depicted various nature scenes ranging from deserts to rainforests. The researchers surveyed and interviewed the inmates and prison staff during that time, and tracked the number of disciplinary referrals, or violent infractions of prison rules, in the cellblock.

Inmates stated they felt calmer after watching the videos, with the calm emotions lasting for hours. 80 percent said the videos made their time easier. They also reported that they felt the videos helped improve their relationships with staff, and that remembering the videos helped them calm down when they were angry. Four said they were even sleeping better.

"The nature project help's me think clearer to know there is so much more beauty in this world then this prison," one inmate wrote.

A Snake River Correctional Institution inmate viewing nature videos in the "Blue Room." Credit: Benj Drummond

Prison staff agreed. They observed fewer angry outbursts and fewer concerning behaviors. Staff also offered extra time in the exercise room, with the nature imagery, to prisoners who were agitated, which headed off violent infractions before they occurred. Many staff were initially skeptical of the value of the videos, but eventually saw the impact these videos could have on the inmates' nature-starved life.

Using statistical analysis and data from prison staff, the researchers concluded that if the cellblock were at full capacity, the half that viewed the nature videos would commit 26 percent fewer infractions than the other half. Considering that each infraction has the possibility of injury at worst or degrading staff-inmate relations at best, that number of averted incidents has a "substantial positive impact," the researchers write.

Imagery beyond earth

The benefits of nature imagery likely extend far beyond prison inmates, and can positively impact other nature-deprived populations, Nadkarni says. More than 5 million people may fit into those populations, including people in prisons, nursing facilities, homeless shelters, military barracks and other institutions and facilities.

This fall, Nadkarni and Thys will begin creating toolkits with new nature videos from National Geographic and educational materials about the habitats featured in the videos. These will go out to ten prisons initially, but will be designed to benefit people in any nature-deprived environment.

Another grant, from NASA, will bring experts in astrobiology, or the possible conditions of life on other planets, into prisons, as well as imagery from the Hubble and other space telescopes. "NASA asked: What habitats do the inmates like best?" Nadkarni says. "I thought, being a forest person, that they'll all say trees. None of them said trees and forests. They all said, 'Give us open habitat. Give us deserts and outer space.'"
SOFIA operated from Christchurch International Airport during the 2017 deployment. Every science observing flight path flown is shown here. Credit: NASA/SOFIA/S. Jensen, K. Bell

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, completed its fourth set of observations from Christchurch, New Zealand. The team spent seven weeks operating from the U.S. Antarctic Program facility at Christchurch International Airport, enabling researchers onboard to observe celestial objects that are best studied from the Southern Hemisphere.

Observing highlights from this year included studying Supernova 1987A, the closest and one of the brightest exploding stars in more than 400 years. Researchers used SOFIA's airborne location, above 99 percent of the infrared blocking water vapor in Earth's atmosphere, and its powerful instruments, to study the material expanding from the supernova. Other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and SOFIA's predecessor the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, have previously studied this supernova, but the instruments on SOFIA are the only tools currently able to study the debris around it at infrared wavelengths. These observations will help scientists better understand the characteristics of the star's debris which can only be seen with infrared light and may become the building blocks of future planets and stars.

SOFIA's researchers also continued to study star formation in two nearby galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which are best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. Comparing star formation in these nearby galaxies to star formation in our own Milky Way Galaxy enhances the understanding of how the earliest generations of stars in our universe formed.

During a specially timed flight, scientists from the New Horizons mission used SOFIA to search for debris around the spacecraft's next flyby target, a Kuiper Belt Object called MU69. Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite, the team flew into the predicted path of MU69's shadow as it crossed Earth's surface. Searching for debris is an important step in planning the spacecraft's flyby on January 1, 2019. These observations continued a history of collaboration between the two missions as researchers used SOFIA to make similar observations of Pluto two weeks before the spacecraft's flyby in 2015.

"The MU69 occultation was the most challenging occultation we've studied, but we optimized our observing strategy," said Kimberly Ennico Smith, SOFIA project scientist. "We also continued airborne astronomy's legacy of making infrared observations of Supernova 1987A at wavelengths inaccessible to other observatories. We are eagerly awaiting the results from all of these observations."

After its seven weeks of successful Southern observations, the team and observatory returned to its base at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center's Hangar 703 in Palmdale, California.

SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR.

Provided by NASA
Adult Golden-collared Manakins create a clean display space in the forest so that their bright yellow color can be better appreciated by females. Credit: Ioana Chiver, STRI

Few of us would find a marriage proposal made amidst dirty dishes and messy clutter particularly romantic, but we are not the only creatures who realize that cleaning up your act may improve your chances of attracting a mate. Juvenile male golden-collared manakins who received extra testosterone were stimulated to clean up their display area before performing for females, according to research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. The research team's results, published in the journal Animal Behavior, showed that tidiness during courtship is influenced, but not determined exclusively, by hormones.

Adult male golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus) show off their bright-yellow throat and beard to attract the attention of females. They strut their stuff in groups called leks in a defined display area on the forest floor, which they carefully clean by removing dead leaves and foliage that obstruct the female's view.

During the courtship display, males perform complex acrobatic moves, leaping from one sapling to another, while making conspicuous "snapping" sounds by forcefully beating their wings together above their heads.

To see how far adult males go to keep the display area clean, researchers added weights to the undersides of some of the leaves in the display area to make them heavier. Some males were so motivated to clean up that they flew carrying leaves weighing as much as their own body.

Only adult males display. "We wanted to know if hormones influenced the manakins' drive to clean up their mating display area, so we treated juvenile males and females with testosterone," said Ioana Chiver, post-doctoral fellow at STRI. "Testosterone-treated young males really got into cleaning up the display court. They removed significantly more leaves than untreated males and even pulled up small tree seedlings."

Credit: Ioana Chiver, STRI

"Adult males come up with original ways to remove the leaves from the display area," Chiver said. "We think of younger animals as being more innovative, but here we see that hormones may be playing a role in motivating the birds to persistently seek new ways to court their mates."

"Even when treated with testosterone, females were not motivated to clean the male's display area, although they did become more aggressive and show some other male display behaviors," said Barney Schlinger, co-author and professor at UCLA. "That tells us that hormones alone are not enough: testosterone is activating specific neural circuits in males. Females either do not have these circuits, or they are insensitive to testosterone."

A juvenile female. Credit: Ioana Chiver, STRI

"I like the way this study combines ingenious field experiments with the living birds and work in the labsomething that is not often done, but is easy to do at the Smithsonian in Panama," said Mary Jane West-Eberhard, staff scientist emerita at STRI. "Their results remind us that the way an animal behaves and the way its genes are expressedoften powerfully influenced by hormonesdepend on the animal itself, whether it is male or female, and how it formed during development at the time when the hormones and genes act. We should be wary of often simplistic beliefs that sexual behavior is determined by genes or hormones alone."

More information: Chiver, Ioana and Schlinger, B.A., 2017. Clearing up the court: sex and the endocrine basis of display-court manipulation. Animal Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.an.behav.2017.07.014 Journal information: Animal Behavior
Flooding in New Jersey caused by Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall in New Jersey and devastated the East Coast. A new study estimates that coastal wetlands reduced property damages from Sandy by an average of 22 percent in affected areas. Credit: Bridget Besaw

With the Atlantic hurricane season well under way and Tropical Storm Harvey causing devastation in Texas, a new scientific study reports that coastal wetlands significantly reduce annual flood losses and catastrophic damages from storms. Led by a team of scientists from the engineering, insurance, and conservation sectors, including researchers at UC Santa Cruz, the study found that coastal wetlands in the northeast United States prevented $625 million in direct flood damages during Hurricane Sandy, reducing damages by more than 22 percent in half of the affected areas and by as much as 30 percent in some states.

The study, published August 31 in Scientific Reports, quantified the flood reduction benefits provided by coastal wetlands across the northeastern United States during Hurricane Sandy, as well as the benefits provided annually in Barnegat Bay in Ocean County, New Jersey. It used the risk industry's latest and most rigorous high-resolution flood and loss models and an extensive database of property exposure to show the correlations between property value and wetland presence, and between wetland extent and avoided flood damages.

The vast majority of public and private funding for coastal infrastructure goes toward built structures (e.g., concrete), with only about 3 percent going to restoration of natural infrastructure (e.g., wetlands), according to a recent analysis by UC Santa Cruz researchers. The authors of the new study said their findings make a clear case for reallocation of this coastal investment portfolio, particularly after disasters such as Hurricane Sandy.

"Wetlands can be incredibly effective at reducing property damages from catastrophic storms, and these effects can be clearly understood by combining state-of-art engineering models with coastal ecology and economic analysis," said lead author Siddharth Narayan, a coastal engineer at UC Santa Cruz. "Coastal habitats provide benefits that represent hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings along the U.S. East Coast."

The study shows that conserved wetlands provided risk reduction benefits during Hurricane Sandy even in highly urban environments like this urban salt-marsh in New York. Credit: Kevin Arnold

Clear correlation

The study showed a clear correlation between wetland cover and avoided property damages: the greater the extent of the wetland, the more protection it provides. Even relatively degraded wetlands in highly urban areas like New York City provided hundreds of millions of dollars in flood protection during Hurricane Sandy, preventing $140 million in flood damages in New York and $425 million in New Jersey.

In addition, the study demonstrated that coastal wetlands provide important coastal protection services year-round. Annual flood losses in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, were 16 percent lower in places that had conserved their marshes than where the marshes were gone. In places that were 1.5 meters or less above sea level, the relative annual risk reduction benefits from wetlands were as high as 70 percent.

The study was led by UC Santa Cruz, The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society in association with Risk Management Solutions and Guy Carpenter & Company, with funding from Lloyd's Tercentenary Research Foundation. This partnership between the conservation, engineering, insurance, and risk management sectors was born out of the realization that coastal development and climate change will continue to increase the risks to people and property from flooding and storm surge, and that protecting coastal habitats can mitigate some of these risks. Coastal habitats are natural defenses that can help reduce risk in a cost-effective way, adapting to changes in the environment and providing multiple benefits to society.

Marsh wetland provides a first line of defense in coastal New Jersey. The study shows that properties fronted by salt-marshes experience 16 percent lower annual flood losses from storms than ones that have lost their fronting marshes. Credit: Jim Wright/LightHawk

Conservation and restoration

In a connected report from Lloyd's, the partners identified how the findings in the Scientific Reports paper can be used to fund wetland conservation and restoration. Before a disaster strikes, investments in habitat conservation that reduce coastal risk could reduce premiums on insurance and insurance-linked securities (such as resilience bonds). In this way, habitat restoration could pay for itself in savings. After a disaster strikes, private insurance and public recovery funds can support wetland conservation, with the benefits of further reducing insurance premiums and building coastal resilience against future disasters. The risk and insurance industry can play a critical role in wetland restoration for disaster prevention and recovery.

The magnitude of the benefits was surprising given how many coastal wetlands already have been lost throughout the region. For example, wetlands did not reduce as much damage in New York in part because of their extensive loss in past decades. At the same time, even relatively small, thin bands of wetlands serve as an effective first line of defense, and they can be restored to build coastal resilience.

"Our models traditionally focus on man-made coastal defense structures, or on other gray architecture solutions, like elevating properties above sea level," said coauthor Paul Wilson, vice president of model development at RMS and an expert in hurricane and storm surge. "This study is pioneering because it applies cutting-edge modeling science to natural defenses, and it allows us to put a financial value on the role wetlands play in protecting our coastal communities against storm surges."

Quantifying the economic value of natural defenses will increase their relevance and inclusion in coastal management priorities. Although the risk-reduction role of coastal wetlands is often included in risk models, it is not clearly recognized by risk modelers, insurers, brokers, and clients. The risk-reduction role of wetlands can be straightforwardly included in the products of the risk and engineering sectors, and thus more readily considered in coastal development and habitat restoration decisions.

"Although these might be strange bedfellows, engineers, insurers, and conservationists can come together to save people, property, and nature," said coauthor and project lead Michael Beck, lead marine scientist for the Nature Conservancy and a research associate at UC Santa Cruz. "Our work together shows where we can find innovative solutions for reducing flood risk and conserving wetlands."

"Lloyd's Tercentenary Research Foundation aims to fund cutting-edge scientific research that contributes positively to society; this principle is embodied in the ongoing project led by the University of California at Santa Cruz," said Jean-Bernard Crozet, trustee of Lloyd's Tercentenary Research Foundation and head of underwriting modeling at MS Amlin. "Coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, and salt marshes play a fundamental role in reducing the risk of storm surge. The LTRF believes that improved quantification of these benefits will, in turn, lead to better management and conservation of these natural ecosystems, contributing not only to risk reduction along our coasts but to our planet's sustainability in the long run."

More information: Siddharth Narayan et al. The Value of Coastal Wetlands for Flood Damage Reduction in the Northeastern USA, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09269-z Journal information: Scientific Reports
Dr Jacqui Pocklington and CoCoast volunteer, Dave Bell, look for marine invaders. Credit: Newcastle University

For centuries, marine species have moved around either by hitching ride on the hulls of ships or as stowaways in ballast water. In many instances, species have been deliberately introduced for aquaculture or other commercial purposes.

Now, a national campaign is taking place to map where non-native marine species have invaded the UK coastline, and to help scientists understand the impact they are having on the coastal environment.

The 'Marine Invaders' campaign will run September 8-11 and is part of the of the three-year Capturing our Coast (CoCoast) project, led by Newcastle University and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Dr Jacqui Pocklington, CoCoast Project Co-ordinator, Newcastle University said: "Some non-native species that find their way to our shores don't always stick around. The conditions required for a species to remain, grow and reproduce need to be close enough to its home range for it to survive. For this reason only a fraction of the species that move about actually start a life somewhere new.

"Of the species that do succeed, some have a positive effect  for example, they might become a new food source for existing species and increase the biodiversity of the marine environment."

"Others thrive a bit too well and can become pests. These invasive species compete for resources and introduce new diseases. If we can map the non-native species around our coastline then we can get a better understanding of how they're affecting the marine environment."

Positive and negative effects

One example of an invasive marine species is the seaweed, Sargassum muticum, commonly called wireweed. This is thought to have arrived in UK waters in 1971 and now has spread as far as the Isle of Skye. It is thought to be responsible for displacing local species by starving them of sunlight.

Another invader is the Chinese Mitten Crab, which is believed to have been introduced by ships emptying their ballast water when they reached port. The crab is native to China and Korea, but has been spotted in the UK in locations as widespread as the estuaries of the Thames and the Clyde. Concerns have been raised about the speed it is establishing itself and the damage it can cause to fishing nets and infrastructure.

Dr Nova Mieszkowska, Marine Biological Association of the UK Research Fellow says: "Non-native species can have both positive and negative effects on local marine communities that they invade and colonise. We still have much to learn about how non-native species affect the ecology of our shores, and this campaign will help to fill this knowledge gap."

'Marine Invaders' is open to the public, all ages, and no special training is required to take part. Participants can visit the CoCoast website, where a list of habitats and non-native species will be provided. Volunteers can then choose which habitat they wish to visit  sandy beach, rocky shore or ports and estuaries - and choose a species to search for. An identification card will be available to download, print and take to the shore to help with their search, which the CoCoast team say should take around 15 minutes.

Records can be uploaded to the CoCoast website, and shared on Twitter @CapturingRCoast.

Disrupting the natural balance

Regular CoCoast volunteer Dave Bell, from Cullercoats, who will be taking part in the Marine Invaders campaign, said: "I'm taking part because I am concerned with the interaction of the invasive species with the existing local inhabitants. The arrival of non-native species has the potential to disrupt the natural balance of our coastal eco-system."

Dave, 60, who is also a Captain of the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade in his spare time, is one of the original CoCoast volunteers and goes out every month to record the marine life he sees on the coastline around Cullercoats. "Being part of the CoCoast initiative is good fun," he added. "You don't need to have any scientific background. It's just a great way to get out and meet new people, and the possibility of finding something unusual in the process is a bonus."

The CoCoast partnership involves Hull, Portsmouth and Bangor universities, the Scottish Association for Marine Science, the Marine Biological Association of the UK and the Marine Conservation Society. Along with Earthwatch Institute, the Natural History Museum, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the North West Costal Forum.
Illustration of NIRPS. Credit:  UNIGE

Developed and built by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and the University of Montreal, NIRPS (Near Infra Red Planet Searcher) is an infrared spectrograph designed to detect Earth-like rocky planets around the coolest stars. The formal agreement to add NIRPS to the suite of instruments on ESO telescopes was signed on June 7th, 2017 by ESO's Director General Tim de Zeeuw, Michel Oris, Vice-rector at the UNIGE .Marie-Josee Hebert, Vice-rector for Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation at the University of Montreal and by both co-directors of the project, Professor Francois Bouchy from UNIGE and Professor Rene Doyon from the University of Montreal.

Due to be installed on the 3.6 m telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, NIRPS will complement the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) instrument currently attached to the same telescope. HARPS is the world's most productive planet-hunting instrument using the radial velocity method, and it has revolutionised our understanding of exoplanetary systems. NIRPS will become the "red arm" of HARPS, extending the telescope's capability into the infrared and allowing astronomers to characterise planetary systems. ESO will allocate 725 observing nights over a 5-year-period to the NIRPS team.

The main goal of NIRPS is to use the radial velocity method to detect and characterise planets orbiting cool, red, low-mass M-type stars. In particular, NIRPS aims to find Earth-like rocky planets that could potentially be habitable. M type stars are of particular interest because the radial velocity variations induced by an orbiting planet are larger for a less massive star than a sun-like star, and hence its planetsincluding those in the habitable zoneare more easily detectable. NIRPS will operate in the infrared as this is the main range of wavelengths emitted by such small, cool stars. For red stars, which are the most common in the solar neighbourhood, NIRPS is expected to produce data that are at least as accurate as currently available with the HARPS instrument.

NIRPS is built by an international collaboration co-led by the Observatoire du Mont-Megantic team at the University of Montreal and the Astronomy Department team at the UNIGE, which also includes the University of Grenoble in France, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Spain, the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, Canada, the University of Porto in Portugal and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, IMT in Brazil.
Illustration of the experimental setup. The multilayer target in the middle is heated by a proton beam (purple) generated by a high-intensity laser pulse interaction with a Cu foil (orange). Raw images from three diagnostics probing the heated back surface are displayed at the left side. From top to bottom: time-resolved optical pyrometry, proton energy spectrum and time-resolved interferogram. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Thermal conductivity is one of the most crucial physical properties of matter when it comes to understanding heat transport, hydrodynamic evolution and energy balance in systems ranging from astrophysical objects to fusion plasmas.

In the warm dense matter (WDM) regime, experimental data are very rare, so many theoretical models remain untested.

But LLNL researchers have tested theory by developing a platform called "differential heating" to conduct thermal conductivity measurements. Just as land and water on Earth heat up differently in sunlight, a temperature gradient can be induced between two different materials. The subsequent heat flow from the hotter material to the cooler material is detected by time-resolved diagnostics to determine thermal conductivity.

In an experiment using the Titan laser at the Lab's Jupiter Laser Facility, LLNL researchers and collaborators achieved the first measurements of thermal conductivity of warm dense aluminuma prototype material commonly used in model developmentby heating a dual-layer target of gold and aluminum with laser-generated protons.

"Two simultaneous time-resolved diagnostics provided excellent data for gold, the hotter material, and aluminum, the colder material," said Andrew Mckelvey, a graduate student from the University of Michigan and the first author of a paper appearing in Scientific Reports . "The systematic data sets can constrain both the release equation of state (EOS) and thermal conductivity."

By comparing the data with simulations using five existing thermal conductivity models, the team found that only two agree with the data. The most commonly used model in WDM, called the Lee-More model, did not agree with data. "I am glad to see that Purgatorio, an LLNL-based model, agrees with the data," said Phil Sterne, LLNL co-author and the group leader of EOS development and application group in the Physics Division. "This is the first time these thermal conductivity models of aluminum have been tested in the WDM regime."

"Discrepancy still exists at early time up to 15 picoseconds," said Elijah Kemp, who is responsible for the simulation efforts. "This is likely due to non-equilibrium conditions, another active research area in WDM."

The team is led by Yuan Ping through her early career project funded by the Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Science Early Career Program. "This platform can be applied to many pairs of materials and by various heating methods including particle and X-ray heating," Ping said.

More information: A. McKelvey et al. Thermal conductivity measurements of proton-heated warm dense aluminum, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07173-0 Journal information: Scientific Reports
Several villages have been evacuated and many houses destroyed by landslides in the Swiss Alps this summer

New landslides have forced more evacuations from a valley in the Swiss Alps where eight hikers were buried in a barrage of boulders and mud a week ago, authorities said Friday.

Two landslides within hours caused no injuries but destroyed houses in several villages and cut access roads into the Bregaglia valley, near the Italian border.

A violent thunderstorm and heavy rains lashing the Piz Cengalo at the Italian border set an already unstable landmass in motion, sending rocks and sludge down the mountainside late Thursday.

The river of mud followed the same path as the giant landslide that hit the area last week, when eight hikers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland disappeared.

Thursday's landslide flowed into Bondo and neighbouring villages, destroying houses and roads in its path, municipal authorities in the Bregaglia valley said in a statement.

Early Friday, a second landslide flowed from the Maloja peak into the opposite side of the valley, cutting off a highway, it said.

Most residents in the hamlet of Spino had left on their own, but two elderly people were evacuated by emergency workers. No one was injured, the statement said.

In Bondo, where around 100 people were evacuated after last week's landslide, several houses were completely demolished.

Houses were also destroyed in the village of Promontogno, which also lost power, and some houses were damaged in Spino.

Authorities said it appeared that the latest landslide had been quite large, though its exact size has not yet been determined.

They had warned Bregaglia residents earlier Thursday that the heavy rains made more landslides in the region likely.

The initial landslide that hit the area on August 23 set four million cubic metres (141 million cubic feet) of mud and debris in motion.

The event was so severe that the vibrations set off seismometers across Switzerland, which registered the equivalent of a 3.0 magnitude earthquake, according to the Swiss Seismological Service.

Authorities have warned that up to one million cubic metres of rock and dirt remain unstable and could still come tumbling down Piz Cengalo.

 2017 AFP
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the green alga used in the experiment. Credit: Josianne Lachapelle

One challenge facing scientists is to estimate how our environment and the complex web of creatures within it, will respond to changes in their environment due to climate change or other human influences.

Traditionally, scientists have taken and tested single or pairs of ecological 'drivers' of change in the environment, elements such as increased temperature, increased CO2 or changes in herbicides or fertilizer, to assess how species will evolve over hundreds of generations.

This lab-based model of evolutionary change is simple compared to the complex environment in which species exist, so one major task for scientists is to understand how well simplified versions of environmental change teach us about more complex ones.

Writing in the latest online edition of PNAS evolutionary biologists at Edinburgh University and one now at Bangor University's School of Biological Sciences, tested how a single-celled alga evolved in environments with only a single driver versus in environments with many drivers, which are thought to be more representative of the multiple changes that organisms experience in the wider environment beyond the lab. The results suggest that the simplified environments with only a few drivers, provide a reasonably accurate idea of how much microbial populations evolve. This is because a few dominant drivers explain most of the evolutionary response of the population, even when other environmental drivers are present.

Using single-celled algae, which exists at the base of the food-chain, the study subjected the algae to 96 different environments with between 1 and 8 drivers, and allowed the algae to evolve in those environments for 450 generations, which corresponds to several seasons of growing in the environment.

Two cells where the flagella are visible. Credit: Josianne Lachapelle

What the researchers found was that, in most cases, a few dominant drivers (including temperature and CO2 levels) explained most of the evolutionary changes that took place.

They also found that despite the numerous variants tested, most populations converged on the same growth rates by the end of the 450 generations. However, environments with more drivers are initially more stressful and cause the populations to grow more slowly at the beginning of evolution, so the populations adapted more when the dominant drivers occur in the presence of other drivers  they simply had to evolve more to get to the same place.

Lead author Georgina Brennan, now at Bangor University's School of Biological Sciences explained:

"Aquatic primary producers will evolve under multiple changes, due to their rapid cell division rates and ability to generate genetic variation. Gauging the intensity of evolutionary selection within key primary producers at the base of the food chain will help understand how population sizes at the base of the food webs and nutrient cycles are impacted."

Sinead Collins of Edinburgh University added:

"The power of simplified lab experiments lies in providing insights into how natural selection works, but applying the results of this experiment to natural phytoplankton population requires taking into account regional differences both in the phytoplankton populations and in the evolutionary drivers. I think that this is a hopeful study partly because it shows that evolution in simplified environments can give us insights into what happens in more complex environments  of course, it does mean that it is very important to correctly identify what the dominant drivers are in any given situation."

More information: Georgina L. Brennan et al. Evolutionary consequences of multidriver environmental change in an aquatic primary producer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1703375114 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Words are more than their dictionary definition. Credit: Amir Ridhwan/Shutterstock

The words "extreme","extremist" and "extremism" carry so many connotations these days  far more than a basic dictionary definition could ever cover. Most would agree that Islamic State, the London Bridge and Manchester Arena attackers, as well as certain "hate preachers" are extremists. But what about Darren Osbourne who attacked the Finsbury Park Mosque? Or Thomas Mair who murdered Labour MP Jo Cox? Or even certain media outlets and public figures who thrive on stirring up hatred between people? Their acts are hateful and ideologically-driven, but calls for them to be described in the same terms as Islamic extremists are more open to debate.

The word "extreme" comes from the Latin (as so many words do) "extremus", meaning, literally, far from the centre. But the words "extremist" and "extremism" are relatively new to the English language.

Much language is metaphorical, especially when we talk about abstract things, such as ideas. So, when we use "extreme" metaphorically, we mean ideas and behaviour that are not moderate and do not conform to the mainstream. These are meanings we can find in a dictionary, but this is not necessarily how or when extreme, extremist, and extremism are used in everyday life.

Lingua

One way of finding out how words are used is to look at massive databases of language, called corpora. To find out more about how these words developed in Britain, I turned to the Hansard corpus, a collection of parliament speeches, from 1803 to 2005. Political language is quite specific, but analysing it is a good way to see how the issues of the day are being described. In addition, having a record which covers two centuries shows us how words and their meanings have changed over time.

Apart from the adverb "extremely"  used in the same way as "really" and "very"  my search showed that the word extreme was used most frequently in its adjective form during this 200-year period. However, usage of extreme as an adjective has been declining since the mid-1800s, as has the noun form. At the same time, two new nouns, "extremist" and "extremism" begin to appear in the corpus in the late 1800s, and usage gradually increases as time goes on. No longer are certain views and opinions described as extreme, instead extremist and extremism are used as a shorthand for complex ideas, characteristics, processes and even people.

In the graph above, we can see three peaks in the frequency of the noun extremist(s). It is interesting to see which groups have been labelled as extremist in the past as this can provide clues about who is considered an extremist these days, and also who is not.

In the 1920s, extremist and extremism were often used in connection with the Irish and Indian fights for independence from the British Empire. 50 years on, they are linked with another particularly violent period in Irish history, while Rhodesia was also fighting for independence from Britain in the 1970s. The final increase in usage of the terms extremist and extremism comes, perhaps unsurprisingly, at the start of the 21st century.

However, the words have not been solely linked to violence: they were very often used to describe miners in the 1920s and animal rights activists in the 2000s. Both of these groups have had a lot of support from the British population if not from politicians speaking in parliament.

I also looked at the words that appear around the extreme words, or "collocates". What I found is that the collocates of the search terms become increasingly negative over the period covered in the Hansard corpus. They also became less connected to situations, and more closely connected to political or religious ideas and violence. For example, in the late 20th century and early 2000s, "extremism" became more associated with Islam, and at the same time, it was collocated with words such as "threat", "hatred", "attack", "terror", "evil", "destroy", "fight", and "xenophobic".

Extremism

After 2005, the extremist terms became much more frequently associated with the Islamic faith  to the point where the word "extremist" is now almost exclusively used to refer to a Muslim who has committed a terrorist act, and some have suggested there is reluctance to use it otherwise.

Looking at the collocates of extremist and extremism in a corpus of UK web news, which runs from 2010-2017, five of the top 10 collocates are related to Islam. "Right wing" and "far-right" also appear in the top 10. However, the top three collocates  "Islamic", "Islamist" and "Muslim"  appear 50% more frequently than the other seven collocates in the list added together.

The most interesting thing to come out of this investigation is what has gone unsaid. Extremist and extremism are not being used as they were in the past to describe violent, hateful, and ideologically-driven acts, with no reference to ethnicity or faith. Today, the terms have become almost solely reserved for use in reference to Muslims who perpetrate terrorist attacks.

The words we use can affect and reveal how we perceive the world around us. Word meanings change over time, but reluctance to use the same word for the same behaviour betrays a bias towards crimes that are, perhaps, uncomfortably mainstream.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Jonathan Lees (left) and Daniel Bowman (right) inflate a helium balloon that will tow an infrasound payload. Credit: Mary Lide Parker | UNC Research

A new study shows microphones suspended from helium balloons in the stratosphere can detect low-frequency sounds from ocean waves. The new method shows promise for detecting acoustic signals from natural disasters and nuclear explosions that cannot always be reliably detected by sensors on the ground, according to the study's authors.

Infrasound, sounds with frequencies below 20 Hertz, are too low for humans to hear, but come from many sources, including air conditioning units, natural disasters, thunderstorms and whale or elephant vocalizations. Scientists can use infrasound sensors on the ground to pinpoint the location and size of avalanches, meteorite strikes and nuclear explosions, among other events.

But networks of infrasound microphones on the ground often experience interference from wind and human sources like nearby machinery, dams or bridges, making it difficult to accurately detect faint infrasound signals from faraway sources.

The new study's results show sensors in the stratosphere may reliably detect infrasound signals without this interference. This could help scientists better detect the origin of infrasound signals, according to the study's authors.

"With a sensor on the ground, the wind is blowing past and creating turbulence and causing distortion, but when you're being pushed by the wind, that doesn't create any noise at all since you're traveling at the same speed as the air around you," said Daniel Bowman, a geophysicist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and lead author of the new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "Even if you do get a wind gust, the air in the stratosphere is about 100 times less dense, so the force that it imposes is much less. Those two things combined basically eradicate [wind] noise in the stratosphere, as far as we can tell."

Launching microphones on balloons

In the late 1940s, the U.S. government attempted to use balloon-borne sensors to monitor nuclear testing and ballistic missile launches during Project Mogul. This project is more widely known as the origin of the Roswell Incident, in which balloon debris was initially thought to be the result of a UFO crash. In the early 1960s, a scientist at the University of Michigan carried out multiple balloon flights to measure how much infrasound could be heard from the stratosphere, but these results are not well documented. Little to no research had been done on balloon-borne infrasound sensors since then, according to Bowman.

A prototype high altitude infrasound payload moments after release. It reached an altitude of 28 kilometers (17 miles). Credit: Mary Lide Parker | UNC Research

"There was 50 years of nothing, and in 2014, my advisor and I put a microphone on a balloon out in New Mexico as a part of a student project and began recording infrasound from this environment," Bowman said. "We belatedly realized that we were really the first to do it in quite a while."

In the new study, Bowman and his colleagues contributed infrasound payloads to the NASA High Altitude Student Platform (HASP), a yearly program that gives student teams the opportunity to perform experiments on long-duration flights in the stratosphere. During the 2014-2015 flights over Arizona and New Mexico, in which HASP balloons were outfitted with microphones, they detected microbarom signals in the stratosphere for the first time, Bowman said.

The study's authors compared microbaroms detected by their stratospheric sensors to signals from ground-based sensors. They found the stratospheric sensors could detect additional microbaroms and picked up less background noise than ground sensors. While the new study only examined the recordings from a handful of flights, the results indicate balloon-borne sensors are a promising method for detecting other infrasound, like those from natural disasters or nuclear explosions, Bowman said.

The detectors could be used to monitor infrasound generated by nuclear weapons and could help enforce nuclear weapons bans, Bowman said. Balloon-borne infrasound sensors could also be used to detect infrasound in a gaseous planet's atmosphere that could help scientists learn about that planet's interior and phenomena in the atmosphere such as meteor strikes and thunder, Bowman said.

Further research is needed to improve the airborne sensors, Bowman said. Researchers must carefully choose the altitude and time of year for the balloon's flight to help ensure it travels over the desired area. Because the detectors move with the wind, researchers can only tell whether the sound is coming from above or below the sensor, and can't determine the exact direction an infrasound is coming from.

While more research is necessary to help resolve some of these issues, Bowman said the initial flights discussed in the new paper indicate the method has potential for further development.

"We'll never replace ground networks, but I think we can greatly augment them," Bowman said. "I also think this really brings the possibility of planetary acoustics to realization, which is extremely exciting. I think we're going to see some really exciting stuff in the future."

This story is republished courtesy of AGU Blogs (http://blogs.agu.org), a community of Earth and space science blogs, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here.
Mitaka version 1.4 reproduces Cassini's Grand Finale. By improving the rendering method, the spacecraft and Saturns rings have greatly improved from the previous version. Credit: 4D2U Project, NAOJ

Now you can witness the final mission of Cassini and enjoy the beauty of Saturn's rings and the moon in your own room. NAOJ has released the latest version (1.4) of the astronomical software Mitaka with many new features. Mitaka version 1.4 can reproduce Cassini's Grand Finale mission. Also, the moon and Saturn's rings are displayed based on more realistic physical models for light scattering. Moreover, Chinese has been added to the available languages.

The NAOJ Four-Dimensional Digital Universe (4D2U) Project has developed the space viewer Mitaka which can interactively display various celestial bodies and the hierarchical structure of the Universe using astronomical data from observations and theoretical studies. You can download this software for free at the 4D2U project web page and play with it on your computer. The latest version, 1.4, was released in September 2017.

In this version, we can reproduce the end of NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which will dive into Saturn on September 15, 2017 as its Grand Finale mission. We updated the orbital data for Cassini's plunge into Saturn, and also the three-dimensional model of the spacecraft. We hope Mitaka will help when you talk about Cassini's Grand Finale in your classes and lectures.

Moreover, through calculating the reflection and scattering of light on Saturn's rings and the surface of the moon based on physical models, we are able to draw Saturn and the moon more realistically. "Now, I can draw the moon and spacecraft more faithfully, by introducing a special technique called the normal mapping method," said Tsunehiko Kato, the developer of Mitaka.

There has been a strong demand for Chinese labels and the new version of Mitaka answers China's hunger. "We are very happy to include Chinese versions with both Simplified and Traditional Characters. With Mitaka we hope to foster good relations with Chinese speaking countries and regions in the sphere of education and public outreach," said Kumiko Usuda-Sato who compiled various language files for Mitaka. In addition, the English manual has been updated, so more people in the world can experience the 'real Universe' more easily through the latest version of Mitaka.

Many other features have been added as well, such as a texture map of the Milky Way created from the location and magnitude data of 1.1 billion stars obtained by ESA's Gaia spacecraft , and features to customize settings for live shows and on-screen menus. At the same time, we also released "Mitaka for VR version 1.4." You can enjoy the Mitaka universe with a virtual reality (VR) headset. Mitaka for VR gives you the experience of the realistic universe, extending in all directions.

More information: Mitaka is available for download here: 4d2u.nao.ac.jp/html/program/mitaka/index_E.html
The AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite analyzed Tropical Storm Lidia in infrared light on Aug. 31 at 4:59 a.m. EDT (0859 UTC). Powerful thunderstorms (purple) were around the center of circulation. Credit: NASA JPL/Ed Olsen

Hurricane Lidia's eye was visible in NASA satellite imagery as it approached Baja California, Mexico's southernmost tip. Hurricane Lidia was making landfall on the Baja on Sept. 1 at 5 a.m. PDT and continued to bring soaking rains to the region.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Hurricane Lidia on Aug. 31 at 4:24 p.m. EDT (2024 UTC). The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard took a visible light picture of the storm when the eye was just southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Thunderstorms in Lidia's eastern quadrant had already spread over mainland Mexico.

Earlier in the day, NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Lidia and analyzed the storm in infrared light as it strengthened quickly. Infrared data provides temperature information and the highest, coldest cloud tops in tropical cyclones indicate where the strongest storms are located. NASA's AIRS instrument provides that critical temperature information.

Lidia is a large system. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km), especially to the northeast and southeast of the center. This large system's most powerful thunderstorms surrounded the center of circulation. Some of the coldest cloud top temperatures exceeded minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 63 degrees Celsius). Storms with temperatures that cold are high in the troposphere and NASA research has shown they have the ability to generate heavy rain.

On Sept. 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said a Tropical Storm Warning was in effect for Baja California peninsula from San Jose de Las Palomas to Isla San Luis and for the mainland Mexico from Altata to Puerto Libertad.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Hurricane Lidia on Aug. 31 at 4:24 p.m. EDT (2024 UTC) when the eye was just southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Credit: NOAA/NASA Goddard Rapid Response Team

At 5 a.m. PDT (8 a.m. EDT/1200 UTC) on Sept. 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the center of Lidia was moving onshore into Baja California Sur, Mexico and the heavy rains were continuing. The center of Tropical Storm Lidia was located near latitude 24.1 North, longitude 111.1 West.

Lidia was moving toward the northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), and NHC said this motion with an increase in forward speed is expected through Saturday night, Sept.2. Maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph (100 kph) with higher gusts. Weakening is forecast during the next couple of days while Lidia interacts with the mountainous terrain of the Baja California peninsula. The estimated minimum central pressure is 988 millibars.

As Lidia was moving over land on Sept. 1, infrared data showed that cloud top temperatures have been warming during the early morning hours. In addition NHC said that Lidia's convective pattern appears to be losing some organization as the storm interacts with the high terrain of Baja California Sur.

Rainfall expected may reach up to a foot in some areas. Lidia is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches across the Mexican states of Baja California Sur into Baja California, Sinaloa, and the coastal section of Sonora, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches. These rains may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

On the forecast track, the center of Lidia will move near or along the west coast of the Baja California peninsula through Saturday and then move west of the peninsula over the Pacific waters Saturday night when it is expected to become a remnant low pressure area. NHC noted that "some of the tropical moisture from Lidia may reach parts of the desert U.S. Southwest this holiday weekend, including southern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Arizona.

For updates on Lidia, visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
The growth of humanity is limited by our tools. Each era of human development, from caves to the Industrial Revolution to sending Curiosity to Mars, is marked by technological evolution. A collaborative team of scientists believe the next era of advancement will be defined by energy production and consumption and their related social costs. They have published their proposed methodology of establishing and investigating "social energy" in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica , a joint publication of the IEEE and the Chinese Association of Automation.

"Current research on energy systems is either focusing on the technical aspect, or the social scientific aspect, which may be sufficient for traditional energy system development. However, with society's rapidly growing demand on energy supply and the popularity of distributed energy generation, we believe the best approach is to consider them together, so as to substantially improve energy's utilization efficiency," said Jun Zhang, an assistant professor of electrical and computing engineering at the University of Denver in Colorado. Zhang and his team also have an eye toward creating new management and control measures for energy systems.

To tackle this combined methodology, the researchers employed parallel intelligence and control, in which data from each variable informs and improves the other. The scientists conducted a case study on the University of Denver campus grid to demonstrate the concept of social energy, in which they included power system operation, smart building modeling, a real-time pricing mechanism, and human behavior modeling. They selected one typical summer week and one typical winter week to study the social cost of energy in six target buildings. They studied work efficiency using indoor temperature as a variable, as it can affect such things as temperature comfort and perceived air qualityboth of which affect work performance. They found that the change of the hourly energy consumption cost was influenced by both the number of people in the building and the amount of energy consumed, but that an increase of occupancy didn't necessarily increase energy use.

"The case study only provides an application scenario of a relatively small smart community, and our vision for social energy is that it can be applicable in different social and technical scales and it provides a multi-layered solution to benefit the socio-technical system," wrote Zhang.

Zhang and the scientists noted that while, "tremendous efforts and decades of research and development work," lies ahead, they believe even early stages of the socio-technical ecological system will help determine more efficient energy uses to the benefit and satisfaction of society.

"The next step is to deeply incorporate social computing into energy system analysis to build a standard form of social energy," Zhang said. "By doing so, our next goal ... is to find out how to seamlessly integrate social and technical energy systems into one unified scientific framework."

More information: Jun Jason Zhang et al, Social energy: mining energy from the society, IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (2017). DOI: 10.1109/JAS.2017.7510547

Provided by Chinese Association of Automation
Buck converters, also known as step down converters, are chatty Cathys. The systems produce less power than they receive, and the tracking signals in the output can get stuckthe result is a small but harmful frequency fluctuation.

A research team composed of scientists from Golestan University, Concordia University, and Delft University of Technology has proposed a way to cut the chatter. The researchers published their study in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (JAS), a joint publication of the IEEE and the Chinese Association of Automation.

The chatter can lead to worn hardware, dangerous temperature changes in the circuits, and it makes the system difficult to control accurately. "In order to suppress the chattering, a high order sliding mode control technique was [previously] proposed, and has been established as the most successful chattering avoidance method," wrote Prof. Hassan HosseinNia, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The problem, he continued, is that the control method becomes less reliable and robust if unknown variables come into play. Hossein Nia and his team built upon the previously proposed sliding mode control technique in which the systems are nonlinear and time-dependent, so the control is discontinuous. The technique basically samples the system, creating a representative sample of the system's typical behavior. To eliminate the chatter and better control the system, the scientists designed what they call a second-order sliding mode controller via twisting algorithm.

"...the purpose of the sliding mode control for [the] buck converter is to control the output voltage," HosseinNia wrote. Since the output is known, the researchers need to control the other variables to meet the desired output. "The adaptive sliding mode control method for controlling the buck converter voltage leads to a more effective performance against disturbances and system uncertainties to the [sliding mode control] method; the only difference is that in this method, the parameter in [the] sliding line is not constant."

By allowing flexibility in the sliding line parameter, the researchers can clear the chatter while retaining robustness of the system at the output. "Experimental validation of the present design proves that the control and tracking performance is improved in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances while the stability is maintained," HosseinNia wrote. The scientists built a prototype buck converter to test the designs, and found that their method provided the most efficient performance with the best settling time of the output voltageeliminating the chatter.

More information: Seyed Mehdi RakhtAla et al, Design of second order sliding mode and sliding mode algorithms: a practical insight to DC-DC buck converter, IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (2017). DOI: 10.1109/JAS.2017.7510550

Provided by Chinese Association of Automation
Credit: University of St Andrews

Researchers at the University of St Andrews have thrown down the gauntlet to computer programmers to find a solution to a "simple" chess puzzle which could, in fact, take thousands of years to solve and net a $1m prize.

Computer Scientist Professor Ian Gent and his colleagues, at the University of St Andrews, believe any program capable of solving the famous "Queens Puzzle" efficiently, would be so powerful, it would be capable of solving tasks currently considered impossible, such as decrypting the toughest security on the internet.

In a paper published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research today, the team conclude the rewards to be reaped by such a program would be immense, not least in financial terms with firms rushing to use it to offer technological solutions, and also a $1m prize offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute in America.

Devised in 1850, the Queens Puzzle originally challenged a player to place eight queens on a standard chessboard so that no two queens could attack each other. This means putting one queen in each row, so that no two queens are in the same column, and no two queens in the same diagonal. Although the problem has been solved by human beings, once the chess board increases to a large size no computer program can solve it.

Professor Gent and his colleagues, Senior Research Fellow Dr Peter Nightingale and Reader Dr Christopher Jefferson, all of the School of Computer Science at the University, first became intrigued by the puzzle after a friend challenged Professor Gent to solve it on Facebook.

The team found that once the chess board reached 1000 squares by 1000, computer progams could no longer cope with the vast number of options and sunk into a potentially eternal struggle akin to the fictional "super computer" Deep Thought in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which took seven and a half million years to provide an answer to the meaning of everything.

Professsor Gent said: "If you could write a computer program that could solve the problem really fast, you could adapt it to solve many of the most important problems that affect us all daily.

"This includes trivial challenges like working out the largest group of your Facebook friends who don't know each other, or very important ones like cracking the codes that keep all our online transactions safe."

The reason these problems are so difficult for computer programs, is that there are so many options to consider that it can take many years. This is due to a process of "backtracking"  an algorithm used in programming where every possible option is considered and then "backed away" from until the correct solution is found.

Dr Nightingale said: "However, this is all theoretical. In practice, nobody has ever come close to writing a program that can solve the problem quickly. So what our research has shown is that  for all practical purposes  it can't be done."

Dr Jefferson added: "There is a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who can prove whether or not the Queens Puzzle can be solved quickly so the rewards are high."

Chess has long provided the source for puzzles such as the traditional fable of the servant who, when asked to choose a reward by his king, asked for one grain of rice to be placed on the first square of a standard 8x8 chessboard, doubled in the next and so on until it was found there was not enough rice in the entire world.

The fable indicates the huge numbers involved when using just a standard sized chess board. When the board size increases the numbers become vast.

More information: Complexity of n-Queens Completion. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. DOI: DOI: 10.1613/jair.5512 , jair.org/papers/paper5512.html
Credit: Vojko Kalan/public domain

Smart phones and water just don't mix, as thousands of people in Texas are learning to their distress during the flooding there.

Experts say even if a phone is drenched, there are steps you can take to recover itbut it takes patience and the ability to leave the phone alone.

What kills a wet phone is electricity, said Gary Tan with DE iPhone repair, a San Francisco-based company that offers multiple sites for smart phone repair and drying.

"Do not charge it. Do not plug it in to see if it works. If it's on, electricity will flow, it will touch the water that's inside and that's when your fry the (circuit) board," he said.

This is also true even if your phone is still working after it was dropped in water.

"You didn't get lucky. Turn it off!" said Craig Beinecke, co-founder of TekDry, a Denver, Colo.-based company that has more than 600 sites nationwide where consumers can quickly get small electronics dried out.

"We see a lot of people who come in and say, 'I dropped it in water and I pulled it out really fast and I figured I got lucky, and then the next day the touch screen didn't work,'" he said.

What actually happened is that it took a while for the water to reach sensitive connections inside the phone. Once it did, the water shorted them out.

In a small number of cases swamped phones are able to dry out on their own over the course of days or weeks. But it's not common.

And while some newer phones are water resistant and can withstand a quick drop in a bucket or toilet, none are water proof.

Drying on the counter is as fast as the rice treatment

Multiple websites suggest sticking electronics that have been submerged in liquid in a bag of uncooked rice, to draw the water out. But that actually doesn't work and can introduce dust and starch into the phone as well, said Beinecke.

"We did a study, and rice was slower to work than just leaving the phone out on the counter. And neither worked fast enough. After about 48 hours in rice, only 13% of the water came out of the phone," he said.

By the time the phone had fully dried out, corrosion will have had time to damage the delicate electronics inside, he said.

The preferred method to safely dry phones is to boil off the water inside them at low temperatures under vacuum.

San Antonio, Texas-based DryBox has about 60 such sites in Texas and Florida that offer self-service vacuum drying for electronics. The items are placed in a chamber slightly smaller than a shoe box and then put under vacuum while being heated.

The lower the pressure, the lower the temperature at which water boils. The machine allows the water inside the phone to boil off at temperatures that can't damage the components, usually within about 30 minutes.

The sooner a phone is dried out, the better chance it has of surviving a dunking unscathed, said DryBox president David Naumann. In his experience, within 36 hours the chances for success are three out of four. After that it drops down to less than 50%.

"But that's only if they didn't try to charge it or turn it on," he cautioned.

Though for those who can't get somewhere to have their phone professionally dried, there's still hope. In San Francisco, Tan said he'd had people bring in phones that stopped working after being sent through a washer and didn't bring them in for six months, figuring they were dead and gone.

"We opened it up, dried it, cleaned it and in a couple of cases we've got them working again," he said.

Ocean water is a different story

Plain water, or even toilet or flood water, is bad enough. Salt water is another thing entirely, say experts. The salts in ocean water are strongly corrosive to electronics and can much more quickly damage a phone.

If it's impossible to get a phone dried out under vacuum within several days, there's one last-ditch trick Naumann has to offer.

"If, and only if, it was in salt water, then we recommend putting the phone in a Ziplock bag with some bottled, purified water and just a pinch of baking soda. It seems counterintuitive, but the baking soda counteracts the corrosiveness of the salt water until you can get it cleaned out professionally," he said.

2017 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
In this Dec. 8, 2016 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Peggy Whitson floats through a tangle of cables inside the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station. Whitson was operating the Fluids System Servicer to refill coolant loops in multiple modules on the U.S. segment of the station. (NASA via AP)

Astronaut Peggy Whitson is closing out a space streak unmatched by any other American.

The world's most experienced spacewoman is due back on Earth this weekend following 9  months at the International Space Station. Counting all her flights, she will have logged 665 days in spacethe equivalent of more than 1  years.

First stop Saturday night is Kazakhstan as usual for a Russian Soyuz capsule touchdown, then a brief detour to Germany before heading home to storm-crippled Houston.

During her third and latest mission, which began last November, the 57-year-old biochemist became the oldest woman in space. She performed her 10th spacewalk, more than any other woman. And she became the first woman to command the space station twice.

On the eve of her landing, Whitson said she's craving pizzaand flush toilets. "Trust me, you don't want to know the details," she said via email in response to questions from The Associated Press. A formal news conference was canceled earlier in the week because of the storm, so email responses were the next-best thing.

She said her home in Houston is fine, but so many friends and co-workers were not as fortunate. Johnson Space Center in Houston remains closed until Tuesday except for essential personnel, such as those staffing Mission Control for the space station. She said the team was sleeping on cots at the space center at one point.

In this Jan. 6, 2017 made available by NASA, astronaut Peggy Whitson works during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Whitson and fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough successfully installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of the six new lithium-ion batteries on the ISS. (NASA via AP)

"Any trepidations I might have about returning in the aftermath of a hurricane are entirely eclipsed by the all those folks keeping our mission going," she said.

Most of the flight went by quickly, she noted, although the last week has seemed to drag by.

"Once the switch is thrown to go home, time seems to move a lot slower," she wrote.

Whitson said she will "hugely miss the freedom of floating and moving with the lightest of touch, especially those first few days after my return when gravity will especially SUCK." She also will miss "the ability to 'go for a walk' in a spaceship built for one," a reference to her spacesuit, and seeing "the enchantingly peaceful limb of our Earth" from on high.

In this image posted to her Twitter feed on May 30, 2017, astronaut Peggy Whitson holds up Chinese cabbage grown in the International Space Station. During her third and latest mission, which began November 2016, the 57-year-old biochemist became the oldest woman in space. (NASA via AP)

"Until the end of my days, my eyes will search the horizon to see that curve," she wrote.

This flight alone lasted 288 days, much longer than intended. A seat opened up on a Soyuz capsule, and NASA took advantage of it to keep her in orbit three extra months. Only one other Americanyearlong spaceman Scott Kellyhas spent more time off the planet in a single shot.

Russians still hold claim to the world's space endurance and spacewalking records. Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who is returning with Whitson and newbie U.S. astronaut Jack Fischer, will have 673 days under his space belt once he's back on the planet, accumulated over five missions. Yurchikhin and Fischer arrived at the orbiting lab in April.

Whitson said she could have stayed in orbit longer and that exercise equipment up there is better than ever for keeping bones and muscles strong. She's been an astronaut since 1996 and is married to a fellow biochemist, Clarence Sams, who works at the space center.

In this Tuesday, June 14, 2005 file photo, Dr. Peggy Whitson, left, and Lt. Col. Michael Fincke, both NASA astronauts, listen to testimony from Dr. John Phillips live from the International Space Station, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington - the first time a witness has testified live from space. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A farm girl from Iowa, Whitson enjoyed growing vegetables on the space station, all part of scientific research, and especially enjoyed sampling some of the results. After so long in space, she longed for fresh produce and did her best to jazz up the freeze-dried and just-add-water space meals.

Last month, Whitson posted a photo of herself on Twitter, "soaking up some sunset time" in the space station's observation deck. "638 days in space and the view is still amazing!" she tweeted.

After landing back on Earth in Kazakhstan (where it will be Sunday), Whitson and Fischer won't be flying straight back to Houston on a NASA plane. The storm delayed NASA's plane from getting there in time to bring the two back right away, said flight director Zeb Scoville. They will meet up with the plane in Cologne, astronaut headquarters for the European Space Agency. A Sunday night arrival in Houston is expected.

What's next for Whitson? "I am not sure what the future holds for me personally, but I envision myself continuing to work on spaceflight programs," she wrote. She also plans on "paying forward some of the advice and mentoring that I received on my journey."

Station officials would like nothing better. "She needs to be our blueprint," said Dan Hartman, the station's deputy program manager.

In this Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007 file photo, U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, center, commander of the 16th mission for the International Space Station, smiles just before the launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Whitson, who was the first woman to command the station, was handed a symbolic Kazakh whip to manage the crew. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

In this Wednesday June 5, 2002 file photo, Space shuttle Endeavour commander Kenneth Cockrell, right, and pilot Paul Lockhart lead the way out of crew quarters followed by, second row from left, Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treschev; third row from left are Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz at Cape Canaveral, Fla., before their launch later in the day. (AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)

President Bush poses in the Oval Office with NASA executives and members of the space shuttle and international space station crews, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003. From left to right are: NASA Associate Administrator William Readdy; NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe; Navy Cmdr. John Herrington of STS-113; Navy Capt. Daniel Bursch of ISS-Expedition 4; Air Force Maj. Paul Lockhart of STS-113; President Bush, Navy Capt. Michael Lopez-Alegria of STS-113; Navy Capt. William Shepherd of ISS Expedition 1; Dr. Peggy Whitson, science officer on ISS Espedition 5; Air Force Col. Carl Walz of ISS Expedition 4 and Navy Capt. James Wetherbee of STS-113. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Structure of the Heliobacterium modesticaldum photosynthetic reaction center-photosystem. Credit: Christopher Gisriel

A team of scientists from ASU's School of Molecular Sciences and Pennsylvania State University has taken us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis, and possibly to cleaner fuels.

Their discovery was recently published online in Science and describes the structure of a reaction center (from a heliobacterium) which preserves the characteristics of the ancestral one, and so provides new insight into the evolution of photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is the most important biological process driving the biosphere. It harnesses the energy of sunlight, and provides us with our main sources of food and fuel. The study of photosynthesis has allowed scientists not only to understand the intricacies of how organisms use light to drive their metabolism, but has also paved the way for technological advances into sustainable energy sources.

"The photosynthetic process first came into being roughly 3 billion years ago, before Earth's atmosphere contained oxygen," said Kevin Redding, a professor in the School of Molecular Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, whose group is leading the research at ASU. "Photosynthesis works by using specialized membrane proteins, called photosynthetic reaction centers, which collect the energy from light and use it to pump electrons across a biological membrane from one cellular electron carrier to another, resulting in conversion of electromagnetic (i.e. light) energy into chemical energy, which the organism can use."

A great deal of research has determined that these reaction centers appeared just once on the planet, and have since diversified to perform different sorts of chemistry.

Despite the diversification, the reaction centers retain the same overall architecture, reflecting their common origin. During the last 3 billion years these proteins have been elaborated and changed and it has been difficult to reconstruct what happened over this enormous period of time. However, we do know that one of them developed the ability to oxidize water, releasing oxygen. This changed the world irrevocably, and allowed for life as we know it today.

The team believes that the first reaction center (RC) was much simpler than the versions that exist today. In terms of the protein structure, it was a homodimerthat is, two copies of the same polypeptide came together to form a symmetric structure. The reaction centers whose structures we know are all heterodimers in which this inherent symmetry has been broken, although at their heart they still retain the vestiges of the original symmetric architecture.

The heliobacterium of the article in Science is a member of the most primitive of the photosynthetic bacteria, bacteria that do not make oxygenin fact, they are completely intolerant of oxygen, like the first organisms. They also cannot fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and must use organic carbon sources. Important for this study, their RC is a homodimer.

Thus, this is the first homodimeric RC structure and it sheds light in several ways on what the ancestral RC may have looked like. In several ways the overall architecture of the protein is very similar to the photosystems of plants and cyanobacteria and the RC of the purple sulfur bacteria. However, built upon that common architecture are some crucial chemical differences that result in chemistry different from that of the known RCs, including their ability to use both water-soluble and lipid-soluble carriers, a capability previously thought to be restricted to one or another type of RC.

This work is the result of a collaboration between Kevin Redding, Raimund Fromme, associate research professor in the School of Molecular Sciences and a researcher in the Biodesign Institute's Center for Applied Structural Biology, and John Golbeck from Pennsylvania State University.

Redding and Golbeck had decided 8 years ago to join forces to tackle the heliobacterial RC. They combined their individual Department of Energy grants into a joint grant, which has since been renewed twice: the third iteration started a year ago. Fromme officially joined the group about 4 years ago, although he had been previously working on crystallography of the RC with Iosifina Sarrou, a postdoctoral fellow in the Redding group who had optimized its purification. The work truly took off when Christopher Gisriel, a doctoral student in the Redding group, started working with Fromme to crystallize the RC.

"I credit Chris and Raimund with doing what was necessary to get this structure," said Redding, who is also the director of ASU's Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis.

"Raimund's expertise in the crystallization of membrane proteins and the solution of their structure was crucial. Chris did the very hard work of improving the purification, optimizing the crystallization conditions, and taking his crystals to the beamlines numerous times. And because the protein is inherently oxygen-sensitive, he had to do all the purification and crystallization in a glovebox!"

"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.

Redding continued, "They were able to get the diffraction quality from a resolution of ~10 A to 2-2.5 A in a few years of very hard work  and then came the Herculean task of solving the structure. Chris started with a very stripped down model of what the RC might look like, based on expected similarities with the cyanobacterial Photosystem I, and then worked constantly on it for months. He had to teach himself new software and work long nights to get there. Once he had something that was looking real, Raimund was able to take that and push it to the next level. And working together they have produced a truly beautiful structure at very high resolution."

"Chris is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served in Afghanistan," Redding said. "He came to ASU as a biochemistry major and started working in my lab as an undergraduate researcher. Having never seriously considered the possibility of a career in research before, he was unsure at first how far he wanted to go down this path. However, he soon developed a taste for it, and then pushed me to allow him to take on the RC crystallography project as a Master's student. I cautioned him against it, knowing how hard it would be and the low chances of success, but he persisted, and I eventually relented. He later decided to pursue a doctorate. He will defend his dissertation later this semester and I could not be prouder of him."

"This reaction center is only found in organisms that can live in oxygen-free environments, like that of early Earth," Gisriel said. "This work has opened the door for scientists all over the world to compare the primitive reaction center's characteristics with those of more advanced reaction centers that reside in oxygen-tolerant organisms. As a result, we are gaining a more clear and informed picture of how nature optimized light-driven energy collection."

More information: Christopher Gisriel et al. Structure of a symmetric photosynthetic reaction centerphotosystem, Science (2017). DOI: 10.1126/science.aan5611 Journal information: Science
Many of those living in shanty towns around the world have no address, meaning they cannot receive mail, or even have a pizza deliveredbut a UK-developed, grid-based mapping system has come to the rescue

From fostering innovation in one of the world's harshest environments to novel ways to repel mosquitoes and map the world, here are some highlights from the TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

Seeds of a Somali tech scene

Somali scientist Abdigani Diriye believes that at some point, his country needs to do more than devote all its resources to fighting piracy, Al-Shabaab and famine.

"We also need to plan long term," he told AFP on the sidelines of the international version of the prestigious TED conference, devoted to "ideas worth spreading".

So about six years ago, he returned from the UK, where his family fled civil war in 1989, to his home in Somaliland to create the country's first start-up incubators and accelerators.

He had already seen interesting products and ideas mushrooming out of a system broken by decades of conflict.

It was not easy, his organisation has had to work with universities and government to make start-ups "cool" and convince people it is a viable career option.

"We hand-pick the most exciting and promising innovators and start-ups and provide them with training, investment and mentoring," he said. So far they have trained more than 25 start-ups.

One of his favourites is Muraadso, a start-up which struggled to establish an online shopping system before realising that Somali customers wanted to see and feel what they were buying as in a real life market.

So they set up an online-offline business model and now have half a dozen stores employing about a dozen people.

Diriye realises tech won't solve all of Somalia's problems, "but it is a great vehicle to address many other challenges" such as healthcare, unemployment and education.

Others have since followed in his footsteps such as the iRise innovation hub which lanched in June in Mogadishu.

Meet you at 'prices.slippery.traps'

When you look at a map of a Brazilian favela, or township in South Africa, you may see a few streets and a lot of empty space, whereas a satellite image shows an area packed with homes and shops.

Like billions around the world, these are people living without an address, meaning they cannot get post, an ambulance or even have a pizza delivered.

In 2013 Chris Sheldrick of UK-based company What3Words developed a new system of mapping the world by dividing it into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and giving each of these squares a three word address which will be the same today or in 10 years.

So instead of complex co-ordinates, you could merely find someone at "prices.slippery.traps"a specific spot around the Eiffel Tower.

Sheldrick said postal services in Mongolia, Djibouti, Nigeria and Ivory Coast have adopted the system while the UN uses it in disaster areas.

In recent months the British embassies in Yaounde, Cameroon as well as Mongolia have adopted their own three word addresses.

And in the Caribbean, Domino's pizza is using it to finally find their customers before their dinner grows cold.

Mosquito-repellent sandals

At 'Mosquito city', as Tanzanian scientist Fredros Okumu affectionately calls his labthe world's biggest mosquito farmhe and his team at the Ifakara health Institute are working on new ways to repel and eliminate the carriers of malaria, dengue and Zika.

Through a rare study of the mating habits of mosquitoes they discovered that male mosquitoes gather in swarms in the exact same location, at the same time, year in and year out to wait for females. They are currently working to map these breeding spots using volunteer villagers so they can identify and destroy the swarms.

While mosquitoes are the deadliest and most studied animal, the best line of defence is still bed nets and insecticidesto which resistance is growing.

Okumu and his team have developed a repellent that can be worn in trendy "mosquito-repellent sandals" or placed under chairs, that can protect several people in the immediate area and last for up to six months.

This is currently being tested in Tanzania and Brazil, he told AFP.

 2017 AFP
Colombia's FARC former guerrilla group re-launches itself Friday as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, sealing its transformation into a leftist political party following its disarmament after a half-century civil conflict. The name controversially retains the same acronym and the revolutionary spirit of the communist guerrilla group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state before signing a peace deal last year. The party will hold a formal launch ceremony on Friday on Bolivar Square, near the presidential palace in the heart of the political district in the capital. Demobilized and renamed, it now faces a struggle for political acceptance in a country scarred by decades of attacks and kidnappings. - You say FARC - Delegates from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have spent the week in a founding congress to choose their political representatives. The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda. The group's leader Rodrigo Londono announced it on Twitter on Thursday evening. Some FARC leaders wanted to keep the "revolutionary" element while others favored softening the group's image by dropping it in favor of "New Colombia." Londono, also known as Timochenko, said 628 delegates at the congress voted for Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, with 264 for "New Colombia." In Spanish the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel force's title, so it will still be known as the FARC. - What's in a name - That is a sensitive point in an already delicate peace process, since the acronym FARC for many Colombians is synonymous with the deaths and suffering of the war. "They are keeping the same acronym because they want to maintain their support base in rural areas," the FARC-controlled conflict zones, said sociologist Fabian Sanabria. "Doubtless people expected something different. It is possible that this name from the start will restrict them to representing only a small sector of the population." A spokesman for the party said an official English translation for its title would be announced on Friday. In its former guise it was known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. - Peace and justice - The FARC formed as a communist movement in 1964 from a peasant uprising for rural land rights. Over the following decades the conflict drew in various rebel forces, paramilitary groups and state forces. It left some 260,000 people confirmed dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and seven million displaced in Latin America's longest conflict. Londono said at the start of the congress that the group will advocate "a democratic political regime that guarantees peace and social justice, respects human rights and guarantees economic development for all." - Political challenge - The new party will compete in next year's general elections. Regardless of how many votes they may win, the peace deal signed with the government last year guarantees the FARC five seats in each of the two legislative chambers for two terms. Colombians narrowly rejected the government's peace deal with the FARC in a referendum last year. President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC tweaked it and the government pushed it through congress. Timochenko has ruled out the new party fielding a presidential candidate in 2018. But he said it will support a candidate who guarantees peace. The government has also opened peace talks with Colombia's last active group, the 1,500-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), in the hope of sealing what Santos calls a "complete peace." FARC leaders and officials warn that remnants of right-wing paramilitary groups are still carrying out attacks in the conflict zones.
By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister said on Friday he wanted major powers to agree on a transition plan that would be imposed on Syrians, but ruled out any role for President Bashar al-Assad, who he said had "murdered" part of his population. Jean-Yves Le Drian's comments come despite what has appeared to be a softening in Paris' position since the arrival of President Emmanuel Macron. Macron's election victory gave Paris, which is a key backer of the Syrian opposition and the second-largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, a chance to re-examine its Syria policy. Macron proposed dropping demands Assad step down as a pre-condition for talks, although French officials still insist he cannot be the long-term future for Syria. Le Drian, defence minister under former president Francois Hollande, said the anticipated defeat of Islamic State militants meant there was an opportunity for a compromise. More than 300,000 people have died in six years of fighting and millions more have fled Syria. "He (Assad) cannot be part of the solution. The solution is to find with all the actors a calendar with a political transition that will enable a new constitution and elections," Le Drian told RTL radio. "This transition cannot be done with Bashar al-Assad who murdered part of his population and who has led millions of Syrians to leave" their homeland, he said. Critics accused the Hollande administration of intransigence over Assad's future, although it later said Assad would have to leave only once a transition process was complete. CONTACT GROUP That position has put France at odds with Russia and Iran, who back Assad and say the Syrian people should decide their own future. While Britain has said Assad must go, diplomats say the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to outline a vision for a political process in Syria and is focusing primarily on defeating Islamic State and countering Iran. The U.N. Security Council has already adopted a Syria transition roadmap and two diplomats said the latest French idea was to get the five permanent members of the council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - to agree first how to move forward. The Security Council would then bring into fold the main regional powers, although diplomats said it was pointless without Iran's involvement. There were also questions on how to win U.S. support given the Trump administration's staunch anti-Iranian position. "That's what we want to do now even before Assad leaves. We do that independently because if we wait for the Syrians to agree we will wait a long time and there will be thousands more dead," Le Drian said. Macron has said the initiative would begin to see light during the U.N. General Assembly in mid-September. Le Drian has previously said the contact group would aim to help U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva. They have stalled in large part due to the weakness of opposition groups and the Assad government's refusal to enter substantive negotiations, given its strong position on the ground. The last major international attempt to resolve the crisis ended in failure when the International Syria Support Group, which included Iran, was disbanded after Syrian government forces retook the rebel stronghold of Aleppo in 2015. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Jon Boyle)
France called Friday for a political transition in Syria that would not include President Bashar al-Assad, after a series of shifting positions on resolving the six-year-old conflict. "We cannot build peace with Assad," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on France's RTL radio. "He cannot be the solution," said Le Drian, who was defence minister in the former Socialist government. "The solution is to establish... a timeline for political transition that can lead to a new constitution and elections, and this transition cannot happen with Bashar al-Assad." French President Emmanuel Macron said in July that the removal of the Syrian president was not a "prerequisite" for peace in the war-torn country, and that he did not see a "legitimate successor" to the leader who has been in power since 2000. Paris had been a key supporter of the opposition to Assad's rule since the start of the conflict in 2011, which has since killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions. But Macron has said that the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group is a priority for France, which has endured a string of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015. Some of these were planned in Syria. On Friday, Macron said he hoped to organise an international conference early next year in Beirut on facilitating the return of Syrian refugees, saying this was crucial for "stabilising Syria and the entire region." Lebanon currently hosts more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees. France's armed forces are in action as part of the US-led international coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq. The jihadist group has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries, and thousands of its fighters have been killed since late 2014, when the coalition was formed to defeat the group. - UN talks in October? - Le Drian said Friday that IS "will be defeated in Syria," leaving the country with a "single conflict, that of the civil war" pitting an opposition against the Assad government. Macron has tasked Le Drian with forming a new contact group on Syria to relaunch the stalled political process. So far Paris has not been forthcoming on the composition of the group, notably on the question of whether regional power Iran -- a key backer of the Syrian regime along with Russia -- would take part. "Without Iran, we're wasting our time," a diplomatic source said. "But Iran is also a red rag to (US President Donald) Trump's America." Another source said the group would consist of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the US, Britain, France, China and Russia -- with regional powers included in "several discussion formats". UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said last month that he hopes to launch "real, substantive" peace talks between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October. De Mistura has hosted seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks in Geneva, with Assad's fate one of the main obstacles to progress. Kazakhstan has hosted parallel talks, with a new round scheduled for September 14-15. Those talks will focus on securing Syrian safe zones set up under an agreement between Russia, Iran and Turkey -- a backer of the rebels.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry on Friday announced an agreement with Tajikistan to establish exchanges of security intelligence as part of an upgrade to diplomatic relations during a state visit by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Rahmon on Thursday established a "comprehensive strategic partnership" between the two countries, according to a statement released on the foreign ministry's website. The two sides agreed to bolster efforts to combat the threats of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, as well as international criminal groups and drug trafficking by launching professional intelligence exchanges, the posting said. "Both sides will strengthen communications between defence, security and law enforcement departments and deepen intelligence exchanges," it said. China's plan to rebuild the ancient Silk Road by reconnecting trade routes from its borders into Central and South East Asia, dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative, has raised new security concerns for the country and its companies. Beijing has worked to deepen security cooperation with countries in Central Asia and elsewhere to make up for shortfalls in its own intelligence and security measures to combat terror groups and other threats in the region. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc established in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to fight radical Islam, has expanded to now include nearly twenty states as members or partners. In September last year, China agreed to finance and build several outposts for Tajik border guards and other facilities along the porous 1,345-km border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. (Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Tom Hogue)
School pupils headed to classrooms for the first day of term in eastern Ukraine on Friday as the latest attempt to halt fighting failed in the war-ravaged region. Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels agreed to a fresh truce attempt last week to coincide with the start of the school year. But the deal -- which follows a string of failed bids to end three-and-a-half years of fighting -- has struggled to get off the ground. Separatist official Eduard Basurin told AFP on Friday that the level of violence had declined but the ceasefire had already been violated 17 times. "I heard that the 'school truce' has begun, but it is not observed in our village," said 14-year-old Aleksandr Sigidin, sitting at a desk in his secondary school on the outskirts of the rebels' de facto capital city of Donetsk. He is careful on his way to class and takes only trusted roads, skipping around shell craters. Another student, 14-year-old Karina, said that public transport does not go to her village any more because of its proximity to the frontline, so she has to walk several kilometers. "Now it's quieter, but there's a lot of debris from the ruined houses, where there can be unexploded ordnance," the dark-haired girl said. France and Germany on Monday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to ensure that the new ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is enforced. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 2014, when pro-Russian forces took over parts of east Ukraine.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Myanmar and urged security forces to show restraint after hundreds were reported dead in communal violence and thousands continued to flee. It is the bloodiest chapter yet in a bitter five-year crisis that has torn apart Rakhine state along ethnic and religious lines, displaced the region's Rohingya community in huge numbers and heaped international condemnation on Myanmar's army and the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Around 400 people -- most of them Rohingya Muslims -- have died in the violence, according to the army chief's office Friday, while the UN says 38,000 have sought refuge across the border in Bangladesh. A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats. Reports of massacres and the systematic torching of villages by security forces -- as well as by militants -- have further amplified tensions, raising fears that violence in Rakhine is spinning out of control. "The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the reports of excesses during the security operations conducted by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State and urges restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," said a UN spokesman. Guterres recalled that it was the government's responsibility to provide security and allow aid agencies to reach those in need. The army chief's office on Friday gave the updated death toll, sketching out the details of an insurgency that has escalated sharply. "Until August 30, a large number of terrorists carried out 52 waves of attacks on security forces.... in those attacks, 370 bodies of terrorists were found and nine others captured alive," a statement posted on Facebook said. Fifteen security forces and 14 civilians have also died in eight days of fighting, it added. - Erdogan says 'genocide' - Rakhine has been the crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted killing scores of Rohingya and forcing tens of thousands of people -- the majority from the Muslim minority -- into displacement camps. The latest round of violence erupted last Friday when Rohingya militants swarmed remote police posts, killing 15 officials and burning villages. Myanmar security forces have launched "clearance" operations to sweep out insurgents whose ranks appear to be swelling as male Rohingya villagers join their cause. Rights groups, who believe the true death toll is much higher, allege massacres of Rohingya in remote villages led by Myanmar security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs. The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar, where the roughly one million-strong community are accused of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Fortify Rights, an NGO with a focus on Myanmar, said eyewitnesses alleged mobs shot and hacked down Rohingya villagers -- including children -- in a five-hour "killing spree" in the village of Chut Pyin in Rathedaung township on Sunday afternoon. The allegations could not be independently verified by AFP as the area is off-limits to reporters. Myanmar's Information Committee appeared earlier this week to confirm a major security operation took place around the village on Sunday afternoon as a patrol clashed with scores of Rohingya militants. But in a complex situation, further muddied by the swirl of claims and denials by both sides, more accounts emerged accusing Myanmar forces of killings and widespread abuse. A 23-year-old Rohingya woman from Kyet Yoe Pyin said she had witnessed soldiers and Buddhist mobs rape and kill Muslims in her village over the weekend. "They mercilessly slaughtered men, women and children," she told AFP by telephone from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh where she has fled. The claims could not be verified by AFP. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Myanmar of "genocide" against the Rohingya in a speech in Istanbul during the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast. Erdogan said he would bring up the issue at the next UN General Assembly in New York later this month, adding that he had already talked to Guterres and other Muslim leaders. - Bodies in the water - Desperate to reach Bangladesh, thousands of Rohingya have taken to boats -- or clung to flotsam -- in an effort to cross the Naf river which separates the two countries. But others died trying. Eighteen bodies washed ashore in Bangladesh on Friday, according to Bangladeshi border officials, lifting the toll over the last two days to 41. More than 400 Hindus from Rakhine have also crossed into Bangladesh, after armed men attacked their village, killing and looting. It is the first time in Rakhine's bitter and bloody crisis that Hindus have fled -- a sign violence is billowing out. Thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other local ethnic groups have also been displaced -- the apparent targets of militants who are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The ARSA emerged as a force in October last year when their attacks killed Myanmar border police, prompting a crackdown by security forces. The United States on Thursday urged the military to protect civilians, while Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the "worsening cycle of violence" was "of grave concern". burs-eb/jm
Its hard for me to believe, but this conversation marks the seventh anniversary of this series. And theres nobody more surprised than I am that this has gone on so long, as I thought Id do this for a couple of weeks at the most. But the conversations with so many interesting, influential people have made these seven years fly by, and honestly, I never once thought about moving on from having these weekly interviews.

So, to mark the occasion I was really glad that Jon Ferrara, founder of Nimble (and before that GoldMine), was able to join me for this weeks conversation. Because it was Jon who was my very first guest in this series those seven years ago.

A Look at the Evolution of CRM, and Its Future

We cover a lot of ground as we reminisce about the past, dig into whats changed over the past seven years in the CRM space, and eventually look at what is coming down the pike. So this is a bit longer than usual. But hey, its not every day you hit a pretty cool milestone like this!

Below is an edited transcript of our conversation. To hear the full interview click on the embedded SoundCloud player below. And thanks to all who have read/listened to the series the past seven years. And a BIG THANK YOU to Anita Campbell and the whole Small Business Trends team for giving me a platform for having these kinds of conversations over the years.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: I recently realized that come September 3rd, I will have been doing this series for seven years, which is just mind blowing to me. This whole thing started out with a conversation I had with John Ferrara. As luck would have it, guess whos back with me to celebrate the 7-year anniversary? Jon Ferrara.

Jon, thank you for joining me today, man.

Jon Ferrara: Brent, I am super excited to be here with you today. I cherish you as a friend.

Small Business Trends: At the time, back in 2010, you had already sold GoldMine. You had taken some time off and had just recently started this new thing that was called Nimble. Now seven years into Nimble, tell us a little bit about what it was and what it is.

Jon Ferrara: You bet. So its my feeling that after using social media back in 2008, 09, and 10 it was going to change the way we work, play, the way people buy, and the way we need to sell to them. I started looking at contact tools and CRMs and saw they werent social. Then I started looking at contact management and saw it was broken because email, contact, and calendar are three separate applications and that CRM isnt about relationships. Its about reporting. So I build Nimble to reimagine a CRM as a social relationship manager that layers on top of your email, contact, and calendar. Build the CRM for you, and its been an amazing journey because I think the market has woken up to the vision that I had about social CRM and social selling and now I think its become ubiquitous that we need to change the way we sell, because customers have changed the way they buy.

Small Business Trends: Here we are in 2017. Youve seen a lot in terms of not just how customer relationship management has evolved over time, but also how businesses in general ( startups and small businesses) have begun their journeys over that two and a half decade period. Tell me, whats the biggest surprising change that youve seen in relationship building today as compared to when you first got started with GoldMine?

Jon Ferrara: You know, the biggest thing Im surprised about Brent is that nothings changed. I think today people are still, for the most part, doing business the old fashioned way. Theyre sending out a quarterly newsletter and expecting people to come knocking on their door. Theyre still doing business in the old way of giving a sales rep a CRM and telling them to go get em, and not really helping that sales rep with engagement as opposed to using the CRM for reporting. I think that social is changing the way that we work, play, buy, and sell, and I think that just now today, the market is waking up to that fact and theyre looking for something different.

But I think that the biggest surprise I have is that the thing I fixed with GoldMine  Im not even going to count how many years ago it was. Hang on. Dang. Its 27 years ago when I founded GoldMine! GoldMine was the first program that integrated email, contact, and calendar into a team relationship manager with sales and market automation. Today, contact management is broken again and it needs a GoldMine, but more importantly, a social cloud-based GoldMine.

This is what I mean. Today your operating system of your business is the contacts youre connected to, the conversations youre having, and activities youre driving. Thats email, contact, and calendar. Today you have two choices. Youre going to either do that in Office 365 or Gmail/G Suite. And both of those applications, all three of those components are three separate apps and every team member has a separate contact database, which means there is no system or record of relationship for your business, which means that everybody in your company cant be on one [accord] with your contacts, let alone the history of interactions on email and calendar. And most importantly on social as well.

Thats what Nimble fixes today. The biggest thing is this, if you have to go to your CRM or your contact program to use it, you wont do it. Thats the biggest cause of failure of CRM, is lack of use. The second ones bad data, because even if you beat on your sales people to type stuff in the CRM, its going to decay so rapidly that itll become unusable and so I think that the fact that they call it Salesforce because you have to force sales people to use it, is a testimony to the fact that you work for their CRM. It doesnt work for you. You have to go to it to work for it. It should work for you by building itself and then work with you wherever you are. You should be in the river with your customer, adding value on a daily basis to set yourself up as a trusted advisor so when they make a buying decision, they know they pick up the phone they call you, but they drag their friends with them.

Small Business Trends: Wow. Youre still talking about the Social River, man. I remember hearing that back in 2010.

Jon Ferrara: I am, but Im going to tell you something about social, Brent. Social as a word is going to go away, and were just going to get back to doing business. Because if you think about it, the term Social CRM has already passed over the horizon and there will go social selling, because ultimately its just about CRM and selling. But socials just a new way of having conversation.

Do you remember when the Internet first came out? Everybody talked about I this and E that eToys and iContact. Everybody thought the Internet was going to change everything. And you know what? It did. But you dont talk about the Internet anymore, because its just the plumbing and when you turn your faucet on on your sink, you dont think about the re-circulation pipes. You just worry about there being hot or cold water.

And so yes, I am still talking about the social river, but we dont need to talk about social selling or social CRM. We just need to talk about contact management and basic relationship management that still is lacking in the main tools we run our businesses on.

The cool thing is, Nimble now synchronizes with all of your existing business apps, becomes that unified system where I can work back within them, even if you already have a CRM. And so we will launch in 30 days a plugin to Dynamics CRM, that helps any CRM user engage more effectively and bring their office contacts with them and then take their office and their Dynamics contacts anywhere as theyre working, because your sales people should be out there in the field with the customers having conversations, not inside a database.

Small Business Trends: With the move to the cloud that CRM applications and their complimentary applications have made, how do you look at CRM cloud applications meeting the expectations and needs of the modern business? From a scale of 1 to 10, how well are they doing that today?

See Also: Nimble Group Messaging Introduced for Social Sales and Marketing

Jon Ferrara: Lets talk about the sales and marketing and social technology tech stack that a business needs in order to manage the customer lifecycle. So, if youre a business, number one, you get a domain. You go to GoDaddy. Get a domain. Then what you do is you need to get a website. So you get WordPress or something. Then what you need to do is you need email, contact, and calendar. So you buy Office or Gmail or G Suite. The next thing youre going to need is some place to take the eyeballs youre driving to the website. So I call that MailChimp to Marketo, right? Its marketing. So you need to capture a lead, whatever you got, email, name, phone number, whatever you get. Put in to a database, and then nurture that lead till its lead qualified. Once its lead qualified, whatever that means to the business, you then put it in the CRM and you tell all your sales reps to go get them. So now we got two applications at a minimum, marketing automation and CRM.

So the sales rep sitting there with this lead and the database, and they dont know anything about that lead, so what do they do? They Google them. They look them up. Thats 60 percent time wasted, looking things up and logging what you know and then logging what you did in email, calendar, and social, and the CRM, and you have to go to it to do it. So instead of doing that, what you do is you buy sales intelligence software. So the sales intelligence software maybe enriches the CRM record with who that person is and what their business is about. Maybe thats inside view, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or Nimble, which happens to be number one in that category in sales intelligence. Once you have the intelligence, you need to engage. And so you think about market automation as the high level bombers of the battlefield bombing the leads with nurturing.

Once you get that done, you need to put boots on the ground. Thats sales people. Sales people need intelligence. Thats sales intelligence, and they need a rifle. The rifle is not market automation. Sales people dont use Marketo. Sales people use some sort of hand to hand combat tool, which is email templates with tracking. So thats Yesware, Tab app, whatever email tracking templating software. So at a minimum you got four components. You got market automation, CRM, sales intelligence, and sales enablement. Each of those tools costs $50 to $150 per rep per month, and you give all that to a sales rep, theyre not even going to be able to use it because its too complex. So you got to hire a sales administrator for $50,000 to $100,000 a year to run it.

Now, if you asked me how the CRM was doing regarding serving the needs of the customer, Im going to say youve got to buy too many products and too many tools today. I believe you need a blend of social sales and marketing with a blend of marketing CRM, sales intelligence, and sales enablement. Then the thing needs to work with you wherever you work, and I think thats why we continue to innovate in ways that are unique in the market, because we see that need of too much complexity, too much cost, and too many tools, and that for 99 percent of the businesses out there, theyre not going to go buy Marketo and Salesforce and InsideView and Yesware, or some other email template program. Its too much. Thats where were at with Nimble, providing that blend of social and sales and marketing to manage the customer lifecycle across an entire organization.

Small Business Trends: All right, so lets talk about a couple of things that werent even a blip on this screen back when we first talked seven years ago and their importance. From a customer engagement perspective, being able to scale efficiently your ability to respond, or to provide a quick answer that could help convert. We hear a lot of talk about chat bots. Talk a little bit about what you feel the importance of chat bots are today to modern customer engagement strategy.

Jon Ferrara: I think if you are not providing a means for your customer to communicate on whatever channel, at whatever time, at whatever moment your customer wants to, youre going to lose them. Because its the people that are doing that today that are going to win that heart and mind. Because lets face it, youre out there in the cloud, youre in-app trying to evaluate some program. You might be doing it on the weekend, you might be doing it in the middle of the night, and you might be doing it wherever, and you want some help. And so chat bots  and Im not just talking about a chat bot on a website  Im talking about chat bots within the applications themselves as well, so that your customer can ask a question at any point, at any time, and be able to get an answer. And its not just a sales answer, its really a customer success answer.

I think that sales has become a four letter word and that service is the new sales, and that you should be empowering you customer base and business team members to be rewarded and focused on customer success. That comes through communication and listening and dialogue. And so yes, I think chat bots are amazing, and thats why we incorporate them, not just on our own website, but inside our apps as well.

Small Business Trends: All right. Lets talk about the AI, because chat bots and AI have got to go together.

Jon Ferrara: Yeah.

Small Business Trends: How important is AI? We hear a lot of talk about it. Were seeing a lot of people say that they have it and theyre doing it. (A) Is it important? and (B) Are you actually seeing it being done?

Jon Ferrara: You know Brent, when we start talking about AI I start saying the more digital we get the more human we need to be. And that yes, you can use computers to discern information across disparate databases to tell you things you dont know. And that these bots might be able to do some basic conversation, but in the end, you need humans involved through that process. But Ill tell you what, my first introduction to computers was in the Pan Am building in New York City. It was a teletype that was running ELIZA. ELIZA was a list based AI system that you  It said, Hey, Brent, how are you? Youd say, Im doing good. And it says, Oh, great. You know it sounds like your day is going good. Tell me more. You tell it more and it interacts with you. It was pretty good back in the day and its gotten better, but I dont really know if theres truly a program thats doing AI today as opposed to just some inherent word parsing and suggestions at this point. I dont think were there yet.

Well get there, but in the meantime, I think that no matter how much AI you put into it, I think the key thing for business success is to be able to deliver context and insights on the relationships that youre engaging with, whatever youre engaging about.

This is part of the One-on-One Interview series with thought leaders. The transcript has been edited for publication. If it's an audio or video interview, click on the embedded player above, or subscribe via iTunes or via Stitcher.
With the first F1.6 aperture camera lens, the first glass Crystal Clear Lens, and the first OLED FullVision display, the LG V30 looks to be targeting creators. And if you are small business in need of a professional grade image capturing communications device, the V30 might be the right device for you.

While those firsts the V30 lists are impressive, it doesnt stop there. You also get Cine Video mode for producing movie-quality videos, premium sound with advanced HiFi Quad DAC, sound tuning by B&O PLAY, and voice recognition.

As more small businesses integrate social media, live video, and conferencing into todays collaborative workplace, the features the V30 offers make a great deal of sense.

In addressing these particular capabilities, Juno Cho, president of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company (KRX:066575), said, With its F1.6 Crystal Clear Lens Camera and Cine Video mode, the LG V30 is designed to help create professional-looking content without professional-level complexity.

Key Features of the LG V30 Phone

Along with the above features, the V30 comes with everything you expect from a flagship phone.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform

6.0-inch 18:9 QuadHD+ OLED FullVision Display (2880 x 1440 / 538ppi)

4GB LPDDR4x RAM / 64/128GB UFS 2.0 ROM / MicroSD (up to 2TB)

Rear dual camera with 16MP Standard Angle (F1.6 / 71) / 13MP Wide Angle (F1.9/ 120)

Front camera with 5MP Wide Angle (F2.2 / 90)

3,300mAh battery

Android 7.1.2 Nougat OS

WiFi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 5.0 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C 2.0 (3.1 compatible) connectivity

Just like the V20, touted as the perfect phone for creators by Verizon, the V30 has a similar pedigree. Cho added, The V series has always been demonstrating new practical mobile technologies that contribute to high quality content creation and the V30 has not lost sight of its roots.

When Can You Get It?

On September 21, the V30 will be available in South Korea. Other regions around the world will follow, including North America, but exact dates have not been announced.

The company also has yet to release a price for the new camera phone. However, LG has said it will be in the neighborhood of its G6 and the V20, so you could end up paying $600 to $800.
It is the first mobile navigation application developer that can provide connection with its vehicles and transfer the mobile navigation from the phone to the cars screen

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The Slovak developer of the Sygic navigation system has recently joined the fight between carmakers and technology companies about the connection between cars and smartphones.

The Slovak firm joined forces with Ford, making it the first mobile navigation application developer that can provide connection with its vehicles and transfer the mobile navigation from the phone to the cars screen, the Trend weekly reported in early August.

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We have launched a trial with Ford and we hope we will also soon complete the distribution, said Michal Stencl, founder and head of Sygic, as quoted by Trend.

Though Sygic Car Navigation will not be directly installed in Fords system, the carmaker will promote it and encourage its customers to download it, Stencl added.

It is a small victory by the Slovak firm in the fight with technology companies such as Google and Apple that have been trying to control how a car communicates with its driver.

The problem with Google and Apple is that they act as monopolies, Stencl told Trend. They give access only to their applications and dont allow others to be used in the car.

On the other hand, the companies can benefit from the fact that the infotainment systems used by carmakers were out-of-date, which was a result of a long development process in the automotive sector. They could not compete with quickly developing applications and products developed by the software firms and phone producers. Moreover, the carmakers were aware of the differences between the systems used in cars and in mobile phones.

As a result, the carmakers had to allow Google and Apple to enter their market. Currently, more than 200 car models support or plan to support one of their services. Though the carmakers say the companies are their partners, at the same time they are also their rivals, Trend reported.

Since both Google and Apple are trying to change the traditional operation of the automotive sector, the carmakers restricted the volume and structure of data both firms can access after connecting with vehicles to the necessary minimum, according to the weekly.

Data and services will become a more important source of money for car producers and both the carmakers and tech firms are aware of this. So the latter try to get to the data and find ways to benefit. The carmakers try to prevent this from happening, referring to the safety of their customers and protection of their privacy. But at the same time they try to control both the data and the applications.

As a result, carmakers have come up with several solutions how to connect smartphones with cars. Since they did not want the drivers to think about which software to use, the companies have used a consortium to create one system, Trend wrote.

Most recently, Ford and Toyota founded the SmartDeviceLink (SDL) consortium to regain control over the communication between the car and the driver. It is a software open-source platform via which smartphones can be connected with cars. It was developed by Ford, which is now trying to persuade other carmakers to also join.

Since Sygic did not want to lose the market, it decided to join the initiative.

We decided to join SDL as we want to keep the advantage of a smartphone solution we are strong at and in which we can develop innovations, Stencl told Trend.
I have recently changed employer and met foreigners who still have to go through the torturous ordeal of dealing with the Foreigners Police, which has convinced me to write about it now.

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Since the end of 2015, I have been writing about my experiences and observations as a Dutch guy living in Slovakia. So far, I have touched on various topics, ranging from the way Slovaks celebrate Easter to the danger of zebra crossings across the country. One topic I have refrained from writing about, however, is that dirty spot on this country's beauty called the "Foreigners Police".

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I have recently changed employer and met foreigners who still have to go through the torturous ordeal of dealing with the Foreigners Police (FP), which has convinced me to write about it now.

Read also:

Read also: FAQ: Non-EU citizens - dealing with immigration authorities Read more

It is the one institution in this country that should work "for" foreigners but instead does its best to work "against" us. It is that immovable object that you cannot get around, nor over, nor under, but must face head-on. It is that blunt weapon in the government's arsenal, hoping to discourage us from staying longer than is absolutely necessary. It is a concept that breaths intolerance in an otherwise very tolerant country.

One way or another, every foreigner living and working in Slovakia will have to deal with the FP, including myself. My main business at the FP is the permanent residence card, which all foreigners should have in order to arrange any further official business in this country, from simple things like signing up for a phone subscription to applying for a mortgage or even getting married.

Read also:

Read also: Will moving bring order to Foreigners Police in Bratislava? Read more

The card contains your personal information, your Slovak social security number, your place of birth as well as your current permanent address on Slovak territory. This means that whenever you move house, you will need to request a new residence card in order for the permanent address to be corrected. Admittedly, this is not just an annoyance for foreigners but also for Slovaks, whose national ID card contains the same information. Regardless, it will ensure that if you plan to build your life in Slovakia for the foreseeable future, you will have to brave the long waits and ridiculous treatment at the FP more than once.

I am fully aware that when you move to a different country, you simply have to follow the local rules and regulations. I am all in favour of that. I decided to move to Slovakia, so I should follow their requirements. And you would not hear me complain if the cooperation with the FP was a smooth process. But it seems to me that the Slovak government has made torture into an art form by making any dealings with the FP an absolutely excruciating process which inadvertently will get your blood boiling, forces you to spend your hard-earned vacation days waiting literally hours in a room that makes your state doctor's waiting room look like a VIP lounge, gets you completely confused about what is actually required from you and, worst of all, will require you to bring a translator because speaking English was apparently not a requirement during the hiring process of those police officers destined to work with foreigners !

I have yet to meet a foreigner who managed to get the card in one go. Most foreigners I talk to had to go three, sometimes even four, times before the police accepted all the documents for processing their request! You brought a copy instead of an original? No luck then. Your documents are not notarized? No luck still.

For me, it took "only" two visits, because the first time I apparently missed one particular document (out of many you would need to apply for a residence card), which they forgot to mention when my wife phoned them up-front to inquire about the paperwork requirements.

The problem here is not that foreigners are ignorant or refuse to listen. The problem is the dissemination of important information by the state that foreigners need in order to get that first-time-yield benefit.

Read also:

Read also: Scaring off the aliens Read more

Some telling examples: until recently, the website on foreigners' affairs was barely translated to English and even now contains less information than the Slovak version, which I find extremely odd; the application forms are bilingual, but the English translation is so confusing that most foreigners, once they have figured out which form to use, will still need to ask a Slovak speaker to assist them with filling in the form; and most information pinned on the white boards in the waiting rooms is available only in Slovak. So it is not surprising that when your ticket number is called, following long hours of waiting, you might still end up with zilch and leave empty-handed.

Why the Foreigners Police department is not able (or willing?) to accommodate the foreigners at least a little bit by providing decent English support is hard to explain.

One reason might be that they simply dont consider us foreigners. Let me explain: so far, I have been writing about the "Foreign" Police. This is a literal translation of the Slovak name of the department ("Cudzinecka policia") and one that is indeed fitting considering its target audience. The Slovak government, however, maintains a slightly more "other-worldly" translation of this institution. To be a foreigner in a strange country is one thing, but to be called "Alien" is a whole different story.

All rules and regulations on foreigners staying on Slovak soil are included in the so-called "Act on Residence of Aliens", regulating things like "entry of aliens into the Slovak territory", the "area of the residence of aliens", "issuing documents for aliens", as well as "aliens who applied for the granting of asylum" (see here). Lets not forget the "Alien Detention Centers" in the country for those aliens who misbehave.

Even though alien in this context appears to be a legal term, used by many states in their laws regarding internal affairs on foreigners, I find it incredibly disrespectful. I know it is all semantics, but it does tell you something about how a state perceives foreigners on its soil - a bunch of "E.T.'s" they'd gladly help find their way home.

At this point, I should probably add a disclaimer that in no way am I referring here to the shortcomings of the Slovak people. My arrows are fully aimed at the Slovak state system and its attitude towards foreigners living in Slovakia, primarily in the Bratislava Region (as I have been told the FP departments in other regions are supposedly way more relaxed in their dealings with foreigners). So don't mistake my views for Slovaks being xenophobic or anything in that direction.

Quite the opposite.. Generally, Slovaks are incredibly open and tolerant toward foreigners. Even in some of the smallest villages you may find international relationships fully integrated in the village life. Most Slovaks I know accepted me right from the start. Although I would love to imagine that this is due to my charming personality, it is more likely that Slovaks simply like being around foreigners. Generations, both young and old, show incredible interest in other peoples culture, their language and their habits. Despite obvious language barriers (especially when you leave the Bratislava area), Slovaks will never leave you out in the cold. Ever.

Boudewijn Dekker is a Dutch blogger who writes about his experiences and observations as a foreigner living and working in Slovakia. He shares his stories, pictures and opinions as The Curious Dutchman on his blogpage, his Facebook Page, and on Instagram.
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Virtual Reality

All Arkansas Public High Schools to Receive Facebook VR Kits

Facebook has decided to expand an existing partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education and now plans to bring virtual reality (VR) education to every public high school in the state.

The original Arkansas Facebook and Techstart Partnership was announced earlier this year and entailed donating 500 VR kits to about 250 schools, educational co-ops and STEM education centers. The classroom VR kits include an Oculus Rift, touch controller, 30 VR viewers and other equipment necessary to participate in the Techstart program  which combines virtual reality instruction, curriculum support and professional development for educators to give students access to high quality computer science and VR education.

The Oculus Rift. Image: Oculus.

According to a state department news release, around 400 kits were distributed to date. Now, the company will send a kit to all public high schools in Arkansas (totalling around 360 schools).

We are appreciative to Facebook for its continued efforts to generate excitement for STEM fields in Arkansas high schools, said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Facebooks generous donation will provide Arkansas students with an exciting learning platform that will allow them to have fun while sharpening their computer science skills and exploring STEM careers. Students who utilize this incredible platform will be well-positioned to succeed in our increasingly technology driven economy.

The long-term vision of Facebooks Techstart program is to address the employment gap currently facing the technology industry, or the estimated one million programming jobs that will be open by 2020.

To learn more, visit the program site.
Funding, Grants & Awards

Online Mathematics Homework Program to Begin Research Studies

Image: ASSISTments.

A free, online math learning platform developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute has received two separate grants totalling $7 million from the Institute for Educational Services (IES), part of the United States Department of Education (ED). The funding will be used to further test ASSISTments, which has shown can lead to significant gains on standardized math tests.

The tool was designed to provide homework help, offering immediate feedback on problem sets to encourage students not to repeat mistakes. It is also made to give teachers more insight into problem areas, sending them a report that shows what areas require extra practice.

Previously, a two-year study of ASSISTments conducted by SRI Education with a $3.5 million IES grant sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the tool for math homework. With assistance from the University of Maine, the study involved 2,850 students in grade 7 at 44 Maine public schools. Students using ASSISTments on iPads and laptops scored approximately 75 percent higher than students in the schools not using the program.

Now, a four-year grant for $3.3 million will go to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, SRI International and North Carolina State University to analyze math test scores with the tool among a more diverse population of students, according to a news release. The demographic sampling will include 200 teachers and 10,400 students in grade 7 throughout 66 North Carolina public middle or junior high schools.

Another five-year grant for $3.8 million will be allocated to the American Institute for Research to assess 15,000 students in grade 7 across seven sites that differ culturally, economically and geographically, the statement said.
A crocodile was spotted in the water of Bang Tao Beach in Phuket, Thailand, near a series of hotel resorts on August 24, according to local reports.

According to the Phuket Gazette, the sighting of the crocodile sparked a major search by officials, with the croc eventually captured early on Friday, September 1. This drone footage shows the crocodile swimming in the water. Credit: Aaron Ross via Storyful
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Venezuela's former chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega met Mexico's attorney general on Thursday, a Mexican official said, weeks after she fled her homeland accusing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of involvement in corruption. Ortega, who was removed from her position earlier this month, said a week ago she had evidence that Maduro was involved in graft with construction company Odebrecht. The 59-year-old Ortega has said she would give details of the corruption cases to authorities in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Mexican attorney general Raul Cervantes met Ortega for around 10 minutes in Mexico City, an official at the attorney general's office said. He gave no further details of the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity. Late on Thursday, Ortega posted a picture on Twitter of herself with Cervantes in Mexico, saying the two had met to "coordinate actions in the fight against corruption." Pictures posted on social media earlier on Thursday showed Ortega arriving at Mexico City airport. Ortega says she has been persecuted by opponents in an effort to hide details of high-level corruption and that she has proof of it. She was a key player in Venezuela's government before breaking with it in March. Ortega left Venezuela for Colombia and travelled to Brazil to meet prosecutors last week. Odebrecht admitted in a settlement with U.S. and Brazilian prosecutors to paying bribes across 12 countries to win contracts. According to a U.S. court ruling, Odebrecht paid about $788 million in bribes in countries including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela between 2001 and 2016. Mexico's government has been sharply critical of the Maduro administration, accusing it of undermining democracy. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Paul Tait)
UK dentists have fallen under fire after claiming that drinking prosecco could lead to chronic tooth decay.

The popular Italian fizz has faced criticism by dental experts over the effects it can have on peoples oral health, with some suggesting its French rival is less damaging.

Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific advisor for the British Dental Association, warned that the popular Italian fizz offers a triple whammy risk to oral health, with its carbonation, sweetness at alcohol putting peoples teeth at risk.

His comments were backed by Dr Mervyn Druian from the London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry who said if people drinks too much of they could have a problem.

Dear @guardian, tell the truth: Prosecco makes British people smile too! Stop fake news please  Maurizio Martina (@maumartina) August 30, 2017

But the warnings have sparked a fiery reaction from Italians, who have dismissed the attacks on their popular drink as fake news.

Italys agriculture minister Maurizio Martina tweeted: Dear Guardian, tell the truth  prosecco makes British people smile too! Stop fake news please.

MORE: This very strange conversation can help smokers to kick the habit for good

MORE: Shoppers expected to hoover up on last sales of powerful vacuum cleaner as EU ban comes into force

Luca Zaia, governor of Veneto, one of the regions where prosecco is produced, wrote on Twitter: The British accuse Prosecco of ruining their teeth, but they know very well that where Prosecco is there is a smile.

Other Italian figures, including Prosecco producers, accused the British press of clickbait

Gli inglesi accusano il Prosecco di rovinare i denti, ma sanno benissimo che dove c'e Prosecco c'e un sorriso. https://t.co/3f2fV3mrFv  Luca Zaia (@zaiapresidente) August 30, 2017

The British Dental Association reportedly denied peddling fake news and said there was no war on prosecco, just advice that it should be consumed in moderation.

Prof Walmsley told the Telegraph: News of British dentists declaring war on Italian prosecco has been greatly exaggerated.

We have delivered the same message to buyers of American soft drinks, French champagne or home-grown smoothies. Oral health matters, and just because it doesnt come in a can, doesnt mean drinks taken to excess cant harm your oral health.
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A federal judge in Miami on Thursday said former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli should be extradited to his homeland to face charges he illegally orchestrated a campaign funded by public money to spy on political rivals there. U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Panama had established probable cause for all charges it brought against Martinelli, and that a show of "good faith" to its government required his surrender. "There are reasonable grounds to suppose him guilty of all or some of the offences charged," Torres wrote in a 93-page decision. The U.S. Department of State will decide whether to extradite Martinelli, but in an Aug. 1 court filing said it supported extradition. It is not clear when a decision might be made. Martinelli, 65, has denied the charges, and plans to appeal the extradition order, according to an email from his lawyer Marcos Jimenez. He is also seeking political asylum. Officials with the Panamanian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Martinelli was Panama's president from 2009 to 2014. Prosecutors accused him of diverting more than $13.4 million of public funds, intended to help the underprivileged, to fund a surveillance system to listen in on more than 150 rivals. Martinelli, a wealthy businessman through his ownership of supermarkets, was arrested in June by U.S. authorities in Coral Gables, Florida, and later held without bail. He had previously left Panama as that country was preparing to charge him. Panama's current president, Juan Carlos Varela, had once been Martinelli's vice president, but they later became rivals. Martinelli's lawyers have called their client's prosecution politically motivated. They had sparred with U.S. prosecutors over whether an extradition treaty updated in July 2014 between the United States and Panama covered Martinelli's alleged cyber crimes, which predated the update. Torres said it did, and that Martinelli's having "at best" suggested the issue was ambiguous was "not enough to conclude that his interpretation ultimately prevails and bars his extradition." (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
By Ben Blanchard, Philip Wen and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - The recent scene at a dusty Inner Mongolia military base provided evidence of Chinese President Xi Jinping's consolidation of political power, even as he faces pushback from some quarters in his ruling Communist Party ahead of a critical gathering next month. Dressed in army fatigues, Xi reviewed a military parade on July 30 marking the 90th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Breaking with precedent at such events, Xi  who is head of the party and the military as well as president - did not share the stage with peers or party elders. PLA General Fan Changlong, in a further departure from the norm, hailed Xi as "lingxiu", or leader, a reverent honorific bestowed only on two others since the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China: Chairman Mao Zedong and his short-lived successor, Hua Guofeng. According to six sources with ties to the leadership, as well as Chinese analysts and foreign diplomats, that display and others sent a clear signal of his increasingly dominant position in the runup to the Party's congress starting on Oct. 18, a meeting that is only held once every five years. Rana Mitter, director of the University of Oxford China Centre, said the "lingxiu" title would suggest Xi had succeeded in one of his key aims to "centralise as much authority and charisma under his own person" as possible. But as Xi's supporters promote his agenda, some party insiders, wary that he will accumulate too much power and effectively end three decades of collective leadership, have delayed agreement on who will end up on the partys Standing Committee, the apex of power, currently made up of seven men. "There is opposition to Xi getting too much power," said a source with ties to the leadership. The State Council Information Office, which doubles as the party's spokesman's office, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. As is typical in the run-up to the Congress, competing name lists have been circulating in leadership circles for the Standing Committee, but sources caution they are possibilities rather than the final line-up. "There is an anti-Xi faction forming up," said a Beijing-based diplomatic source, citing meetings he has had with Chinese officials. "It remains to be seen if he'll get it all his own way for the Standing Committee." Key questions include whether Xi ally and top corruption buster Wang Qishan will stay on past traditional retirement age and, whether Xi will get his supporters in all the key positions. There will also be a lot of attention on any moves that would enable Xi to stay on in some top leadership capacity after his second term ends in 2022. Xi is required by the country's constitution to step down as president after two five-year terms. There is no limit on his tenure as the party and military chief, though a maximum 10-year term is the norm. 'LINGDAO' OR 'LINGXIU'? Distinct from the standard usage of "lingdao" for leader, "lingxiu" evokes grander, almost spiritual, connotations. "The party is gearing up to put Xi on the same level as Mao," another Beijing-based diplomatic source said, referring to the significance of the lingxiu term. The Central Party School, which is the top training ground for up-and-coming cadres and is influential in interpreting and disseminating party directives, has since the military parade used "lingxiu" in official party language to refer to Xi. The Study Times, the school's official newspaper, referred to Xi as "lingxiu" for the first time on Aug. 21. "This is the choice made by history, made by the people," it said. The military's official PLA Daily also referred to Xi as "lingxiu" on Aug. 25. However, the People's Daily, the party's official newspaper, has yet to call Xi "lingxiu". "If Xi becomes 'lingxiu' at the congress, it would be tantamount to being party chairman," another source with leadership ties said. Xi is currently the partys general secretary, but not chairman. Chinas first three leaders after the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949 all carried the title party chairman -Mao, Hua and then Hu Yaobang. It has not been used since. "It would be a life-long tenure," the source said, adding that adopting such a title would be easier than amending the party charter to resurrect the chairmanship, which was abolished in the early 1980s to prevent another Mao-like personality cult. Xi added "core" to his slew of titles last October. If he were to be formally anointed "lingxiu" during the congress, his political clout would eclipse that of the past few presidents, the sources said. It would effectively grant him veto power on any major decision put to the Standing Committee, they said. For decades, the Communist Party general secretary has been technically first among equals in the Standing Committee under a collective leadership model designed to avoid one-man rule. While western analysts largely view Xi's centralisation of authority as having a possibly narrowing effect on China's potential for further radical economic reform, three sources with leadership ties said Xi wants a strong hand precisely to force through changes that are resisted by vested interests. "This kind of title is essential," a source with ties to the leadership told Reuters. "China at this juncture needs this kind of powerful man in control." (Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, Philip Wen and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Tony Munroe and Martin Howell)
Steelcase Inc. provides a portfolio of furniture and architectural products in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas, EMEA, and Other segments. The company's furniture portfolio includes furniture systems, seating, storage, fixed and height-adjustable desks, benches, and tables, as well as complementary products, such as work accessories, lighting, and mobile power and screens. Its seating products comprise task chairs; seating for collaborative environments and casual settings; and specialty seating for specific vertical markets, including education and healthcare. The company's interior architectural products comprise full and partial height walls and architectural pods. It also provides textiles, wall coverings, and surface imaging solutions for architects and designers; and workplace strategy consulting, lease origination, and furniture and asset management services. The company markets and sells its products to corporate, government, healthcare, education, and retail customers under the Steelcase, Designtex, Coalesse, AMQ, Smith System, Orangebox, and Viccarbe brands. It distributes its products and services through a network of independent and company-owned dealers, as well as directly to end-use customers. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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.
Two complicated characters exploring and debating their flaws in long conversations amid lovely European backgrounds. It doesnt sound like the basis for a movie franchise, but it works. Richard Linklater turned the premise into a 15-year trilogy with his Before films, following Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy across the rocky shores of fleeting romance, reconnection and buyers remorse. The Trip to Spain, the third in director Michael Winterbottoms travel, feast and squabble series, holds a similar focus on the bickering bromance between British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Provided youre a fan of subdued dry wit, bittersweet views of males in middle age and wicked celebrity impressions, its a perceptive trip youll want to take.

Coogan and Brydon imitate themselves in these films, playing moderately fictionalized representations of who they are in real life. Which makes a focus of this installment the fact that they are almost a decade older than when the series began. Brydon is a doting new father in midlife, Coogan an aging womanizer and incurably lonely bachelor. They are gleefully funny and melancholy at the same time.

Fifty is in many ways the best age. Its the sweet spot, Brydon says. Youve still got time.

Were ripe fruit, says Coogan. Which sounds good until he adds, If you hang on the branch any longer, youre going to wither and die.

Do you want to drop, or do you want to be plucked? Brydon asks.

I want to be plucked, actually, Coogan replies.

But whos going to pluck you at your age?

As they travel around stunning Spanish locales to write newspaper travel stories about the culture and cuisine, Coogan is the Quixote figure, addicted to impossible dreams of career and personal success, a bit arrogant despite having minimal self-esteem. Brydon is his squire, all common sense, domestic pragmatism and skill in playing foil to Coogans follies.

Its the same shtick they played while exploring England in 2010s The Trip and regional delicacies in 2014s The Trip to Italy. They engage in passive-aggressive sparring, each trying to have the last word and the best mimicry of whatever star they decide to parrot. Here we have Coogan playing Coogan playing Mick Jagger and Brydon playing Brydon playing Roger Moore.

Winterbottoms direction adds several layers of put-on atop that. Brydon adores his 2-year-old son and his wife, but really does need a couple of weeks not hearing nonstop wailing, which is mostly why he agreed to the latest voyage at Coogans side. Coogan has two Oscar nominations  if you had forgotten that, hell remind you  but is anxious about his agent moving to a new job at a better firm without carrying him along. And his relationships with his 20-year-old son and married girlfriend in New York are not improving.

Wonderfully specific dream sequences delve into their subconscious efforts to deal with lifes harsh travails, chimeras connecting to the story with such surgical precision that you wonder how much of what we witness is real and how much is REM sleep visions. Its a mystery that follows right up to the surreal, entirely unexpected finale, which suggests that it was all a  well, you decide.

The Trip to Spain is a film for an elite few, rather than mass audiences, but if youre open to it, this is the stuff that dreams are made of.
When it comes to music, Jon Pardi wants to find the best songs.

Whether its written by him or by someone else, it doesnt matter.

The best songs always win out, he says during a recent phone interview. There are superstars in country that dont write their songs. Tim McGraw, George Strait, Jason Aldean. They are amazing artists and know what it takes to bring a song to life. Thats what I want to do.

Pardi is a rising star in country music.

His latest album, Calfornia Sunrise, was just certified gold by selling more than 500,000 copies.

Hes also the reigning Academy of Country Musics new male vocalist of the year.

It was amazing, he says of the honor. We found out early that I won. I couldnt celebrate because I got to play. That was my fifth time being at the ACMs, though it was the first time I was acknowledged.

Pardi began performing as he grew up in Dixon, Calif. By high school, he had formed his own band and, on graduation, he headed to Nashville, Tenn., to pursue his career.

In 2010, he snagged an opening slot on Dierks Bentleys tour. Seven years later, Pardi is once again joining Bentley on his current tour.

And hes looking forward to performing in the Duke City.

Pardi and New Mexico have a history.

Four years ago, Pardi spent some time at a cattle-branding ranch near Las Vegas, N.M.

It was an 11,000-acre ranch, he says. Id always wanted to do something like this and getting the opportunity was great. I would love to go back and spend some more time in New Mexico. Its one of the best parts of the Southwest.

Since beginning in country music, Pardi has built up a reputation with his authentic country sound and impressive live shows.

Being authentic is one of his top rules.

Theres realness to the songs, he says. Im not trying to follow trends. The songs we cut are a little more country. I dont want the megahits that are too pop that they try to cram down my throat. I want a solid melody and a solid hook. We listen to over 300 songs for my albums. All I need is 15 seconds. If Im not hooked by then, I move on.
Kristian Dunn enjoys coming to Albuquerque.

And he cant wait to get back to perform at Sister.

Weve built a really good following in Albuquerque, Dunn says during a recent phone interview. Its taken us a few trips out there to get it right. I think weve found the right combination with Albuquerque and Sister. The venue is pretty amazing.

Dunn is half of the instrumental band El Ten Eleven. He is joined by Tim Fogarty.

The band is currently touring in support of its EP Unusable Love. After recording six instrumental albums, the EP marks the bands first with vocals.

Its pretty amazing how it all came together, Dunn says.

Though the album was released recently, El Ten Eleven is working on its next album.

I figured that wed do EPs from now on, he says. With the new music, we went in to record thinking it would be an EP and we accidentally made a full album. El Ten Eleven makes its return to Sister on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

Its Labor Day weekend, which means tons of events.

Tonight, the 93rd Burning of Will Shusters Zozobra will take place in Santa Fe. Headlining the event will be Los Angeles-based pop rock band Los 5.

Staff writer Rozanna M. Martinez has the latest details on the Harvest Wine Festivals in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

If you want to go back in time, The Stage at Santa Ana Star is hosting The Rat Pack Now. The travelling production pays homage to Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. I caught up with creator Art Poco, who portrays Martin, and heard more about the show.

As usual, there are plenty more music and community events inside this weeks issue.

Also, check out the movie and dining reviews for this week.

Have a great (and safe) weekend.
A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in a case against a former Albuquerque teacher on child sexual abuse charges involving a relative.

Jurors were not able to come to unanimous decisions to any of the four charges Kenneth Jehle faced. Those charges included three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography.

According to police, Jehle abused the girl over a three-year period, beginning when she was 12. He is accused of grooming the girl for abuse and masturbating in front of her.

His attorney said that on two of those charges, nine of 12 jurors believed Jehle was not guilty, and on the remaining two charges, eight of 12 jurors believed he was not guilty.

This is Jehles second trial. In the first, a jury found him not guilty of three charges involving a middle school student.
1. What is the biggest issue facing the city, and how would you address it?

Crime  it affects everything from quality of life to job creation. We need to give back the keys to APD from DOJ; build better coordination with the DA; and demand judges send repeat offenders to prison where they belong.

2. What would you do to tackle Albuquerques crime problem?

In the short term, Ill look for resources, create partnerships and bring those resources to bear to stamp out our crime wave. One potential partner is the fully staffed Bernalillo County Sheriffs Department. Use budgeted city dollars to strategically deploy sheriffs deputies in the city.

3. What do you believe is the optimum number of officers for APD and what, if anything, would you do reach that number?

The appropriate number of officers will be determined by low response times, few to no calls waiting, and high conviction rates. Ill make APD the best place to work in the country. Empowered, enthusiastic officers are our best recruiters.

4. Would you keep Police Chief Gorden Eden if you are elected mayor? If not, how would you go about selecting a new police chief? What would your time frame be? Do you have anyone in mind?

No. Its important for the department and the public to see that were headed in a new direction. I wont rush, but will do a national search and hopefully have a new team in place in the first few months.

5. APD is currently operating under a U.S. Department of Justice settlement agreement that outlines reforms, policy changes and mandatory training that police need to complete over several years. Should the city continue with that settlement agreement or go back to DOJ and the courts and attempt to get out of or modify it? If modify, how so?

It was wrong for the city to turn APD over to an anti-police DOJ. I would narrow the scope of the agreement to use of force and associated training. The critical thing is to create consistent training and operational policies.

6. In what circumstances, if any, would you support raising taxes? Which taxes would you be receptive to increasing?

No. When government needs additional revenue it should look to fostering economic growth rather than wealth redistribution.

7. The current administration has made technology and entrepreneurial innovation the centerpiece of its economic development efforts. Would you continue that focus or switch gears? Why?

Albuquerque should be a technology and entrepreneurial leader. Thats our future. But we need jobs now  which requires support for small business and a concerted effort to retain and expand businesses that have already chosen to invest in our city.

8. What would be your approach to boosting the economy in Albuquerque?

Get out of the way. Cultivate the innovation, technology and creative sectors. Use tools like IRBs, LEDA and JTIP to attract new and expand existing businesses. Support small business by reducing the burdens of city bureaucracy, taxation and labor policy.

13. The Healthy Workforce Ordinance has garnered both praise and criticism. If approved by voters on Oct. 3, the ballot initiative will require any business with a physical presence in Albuquerque to provide paid sick time off to full-time, part-time and temporary workers. Supporters argue that the ordinance would ensure that workers dont have to choose between their paychecks and caring for themselves or a loved one. Opponents argue that it would hurt businesses because of higher costs and record-keeping requirements. Whats your position on the ordinance?

I am against any ordinance that kills jobs  especially this one. I fought to keep it off the ballot in 2016, and I believe that it will significantly hurt both workers and small businesses. This is a very bad law.

14. Whats your position on the 2 cent per gallon gasoline tax increase that has been proposed? Under the measure, revenue generated would be used for roadway and other transportation projects. Voter approval would be required to enact the tax.

I oppose this tax and specialized taxes as a general rule. Theyre usually a fraud. The new money usually ends up supplanting existing funding or being used in unexpected and unanticipated ways. This gas tax would be no different.

15. What differentiates you from your opponents?

I believe in Albuquerque. I believe in our potential. I am the only candidate who has expanded law enforcement, improved EMS/Fire service, brought in private investment, helped create jobs, and built coalitions to address education and behavioral health.

16. Name one issue not mentioned in the questions above that you would plan to tackle as mayor.

Behavioral health. My vision is to build a regional behavioral health authority that can leverage state and federal dollars and that includes our county and community partners.

17. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?

No.

18. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?

No.

19. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If yes, explain.

Unfortunately, yes. Two decades ago I was arrested for DWI and the charges were subsequently dismissed. Ive always been open about the incident when seeking office and when dealing with the public.
CHICAGO  Sometimes youre just going along, having your morning coffee, getting into your paper and a headline leaps off the page and slaps you in the face.

That was the feeling I and countless other Hispanic college graduates had when we saw a recent New York Times article titled Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago.

I was at a loss to understand how such a demeaning headline slips through the editing process of a major American news company when everyone who isnt living under a rock recognizes that blacks, Latinos and other ethnic and racial minorities are already under siege in this country, most notably from the president of the United States, and dont need more negative stereotype-building.

And in this era of people skimming headlines online and on social media platforms without ever bothering to read the story, its a double hit.

This is a clear example of negative framing. The even with affirmative action line puts Latinos in a beyond help category, wrote Victor Landa, editor-in-chief of the Hispanic-focused news website News Taco. It implies the fallacy that Latinos only make it into elite schools because of federal set-asides, even though the number of Latinos in Ivy League schools is growing. That part of the story is buried in the third paragraph.

Indeed, the story notes that More Hispanics are attending elite schools, but the increase has not kept up with the huge growth of young Hispanics in the United States, so the gap between students and the college-age population has widened.  Blacks and Hispanics have gained ground at less selective colleges and universities but not at the highly selective institutions.

Despite its misleading headline, the article goes on to put the focus of poor college graduation outcomes exactly where it belongs: on the shoulders of public elementary and secondary schools that pump out graduates who are neither college- nor career-ready.

This is the very point that always gets lost when the thorny and overly emotional topic of affirmative action and college admissions comes into the national spotlight: While everyone is busy frowning upon whether universities take race or ethnicity into account when making admissions decisions, poorly performing schools in underfunded communities get a pass for graduating students who arent prepared for either careers or college.

Why does the discussion about affirmative action stop at whether universities should compensate for past wrongs and encourage diversity by admitting students of color with lower test scores than their peers?

Why does it rarely, if ever, get to the more fundamental question of why we arent demanding that more schools with large populations of blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and other minorities close the academic achievement gap?

Some think nothing of insisting that it is equitable for institutions of higher learning to lower their expectations for students of color. Yet these same people seem to have given up on expecting that public schools will adequately prepare the most vulnerable students to compete for seats at elite universities.

Its a national blind spot  public education has been off the radar for years. No presidential candidates made education a centerpiece on the campaign trail leading up to the 2016 elections. Neither presidential candidate was asked about specific policy proposals for shoring up education during the debates.

We could bemoan that the Trump administration is so wrapped up in base-pleasing issues like restricting affirmative action at colleges and moving toward using public school funds for private school vouchers, but theres plenty of blame to go around for the seemingly intractable puzzle of how to improve education.

For instance, failing schools are given latitude because of poor funding. But no one ever talks about the fact that the Obama administration spent $11 billion in School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top Grants to fix failing schools and basically ended up with nothing to show for it.

To be sure, getting more students of color into college wont be easy, but its certainly not a lost cause.

Actually, its far simpler than fighting the contentious battle over whether and how private elite universities should populate their campuses: If we want more students of color to get into and graduate from college, we need to get serious about making K-12 public education work for them.

E-mail: estherjcepeda@washpost.com. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.
A child is dead after being hit by a vehicle Thursday night in southeast Albuquerque, according to an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman.

Officer Daren DeAguero said police are investigating the crash, at Trumbull and Louisiana SE, that led to the childs death.

The preliminary investigation indicates that an eight-year-old male was running across the street when he was struck by a vehicle, he said. The investigation is in its early stages, but there is a possibility that once he was struck by the vehicle, he was thrown into the next lane and struck by a second vehicle.

The 8-year-old died at the scene, DeAguero said. Police evaluated the driver of the first vehicle, determined that person was not impaired, and are now looking for the driver of the second vehicle in order to question that person and inspect the vehicle.

He said witnesses described the vehicle as a red Dodge Durango. The intersection will remain closed until the investigation is over.
A pair of Mexican wolves and their yearling pup chase an elk on a late summer day somewhere out in the Gila Wilderness. The family of wolves is called the Leopold Pack in honor of Aldo Leopold, the naturalist and writer who spent the early years of his career working in and exploring the national forests of New Mexico.

In 1997, just before the first Mexican wolves, or lobos, were released back into their native habitat, I moved from Denver to the foothills outside of Santa Fe. Its a couple of hundred miles from lobo territory, but it wasnt long before I was drawn into their story.

Nearly wiped out by humans, Mexican wolves were about to make a comeback in the late 90s, but it had taken a Herculean effort. When added to the endangered species list in 1976, odds were long that enough wolves existed to save them from extinction. A group of scientists and wildlife officials, headed up by Norma Ames of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, convened to write a recovery plan. Given the challenges, the goals set out in that first plan (published in 1982) were modest: first, recover the population in captivity through careful breeding striving to preserve genetic diversity and, second, release wolves back into their historical habitat with a prime objective of 100 wolves in the wild.

New Mexico was one of the original partners on the recovery team, working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The first wolves, released in Arizona, were allowed to range into and establish territory in the Gila National Forest. In 2011, under Governor Susana Martinez, New Mexico opted out of the recovery effort. Since that time, most of our states efforts have gone toward thwarting the release of any new wolves.

Almost 20 years have passed since the first lobos were set free. They have proven that they still know how to be wild. They have learned to hunt and have raised pups that have gone on to form new families. At the end of 2016, the recovery team estimated that approximately 113 wolves roam the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, most of them born and raised in the wild. With few releases from the captive population in recent years, the majority of the wolves are as closely related to one another as siblings.

Our own Leopold Pack is a rare exception. The adult female, born to a wolf raised in captivity, was placed as a tiny pup in the den of a wild pack with their newborns. She grew up on the spruce- and fir-covered mountains of the Gila learning to hunt with an experienced family of lobos. With the birth of her pup, she gives new blood to the wild population.

I could not believe my good fortune when I moved to New Mexico, a place with enough wildness and heart to welcome back the Mexican wolf. Reality turns out to be somewhat different. Over the years, I have attended game commission meetings, lobo rallies and public hearings where the fate of wolves continues to be debated.

Mexican wolves need more help from us to be truly saved from extinction.

FWS has issued a new recovery plan in draft form. Its success depends on New Mexico to allow releases from captivity, both families of wolves and pups fostered into existing wild packs.

Most of us support Mexican wolf recovery and now we have an opportunity to comment on the new recovery plan. We must also continue to let our elected officials know that we want lobos running in our forests.

Aldo Leopold had the vision to see that we needed wild, untouched places. Because of his efforts, the Gila Wilderness, where the Leopold Pack runs, was preserved. Now is the time for us to do our part.

Paula Nixon is a Santa Fe freelance writer.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Editors note: This is the sixth in a series of profiles the Journal will publish over the next week on Albuquerques mayoral candidates.

Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson saw the opening, and he seized it.

Michelle Lujan Grisham had stepped down from the commission a few weeks earlier to focus on her congressional run, and Gov. Susana Martinez had just appointed Simon Kubiak to fill the vacancy. Republicans had their first majority on the commission in 40 years, and Johnson, a Republican, wasnt going to squander the opportunity.

So in September 2012 he got to work on resurrecting initiatives that had been voted down by the Democratic-controlled commission.

He revived a proposal to authorize 15 more deputies for the sheriffs office, and the measure was adopted on a 4-1 vote.

A year earlier, Johnson had fought to publish the names and salaries of all county employees on the county website. He lost that battle, with the commission majority deciding to post the names of only high-level employees on the salary database and others being identified by job title.

After Kubiak was appointed, Johnson introduced an ordinance to publish the names and salaries of all county employees on the website. That ordinance was adopted less than two months later.

As public servants and as public officials our employer is the public, and so they have a right to know what we make, he said.

Johnson, 50, who is hoping to be Albuquerques next mayor, considers the work he has done to make the county more transparent among the top accomplishments of his nearly seven years on the county commission. On the campaign trail, he has also been touting his success in expanding the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office, contrasting it with the struggles the Albuquerque Police Department has had in filling its vacancies.

Johnson is one of eight mayoral candidates on the ballot.

Also running are:

 Republicans Dan Lewis, a city councilor; and Ricardo Chaves, founder of Parking Company of America.

 Democrats Tim Keller, the state auditor and a former state senator; Gus Pedrotty, a recent University of New Mexico graduate; and Brian Colon, an attorney and former state Democratic Party chairman.

 Independents Susan Wheeler-Deichsel, co-founder of the civic group Urban ABQ; and Michelle Garcia Holmes, a former chief of staff for the state attorney general and a retired Albuquerque police detective.

Election Day is Oct. 3. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the top two will advance to a runoff election in November.

The new mayor takes office Dec. 1.

Not an idealogue

Johnson says hes the best candidate for the job, because he already does everything a mayor does. Ive got the local government experience, he said.

Among those supporting Johnson is Sherman McCorkle, a vocal champion of businesses and member of many local boards, including the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

I appreciate his approach to government, McCorkle says. He is not an ideologue. He doesnt engage in ugly talk about other elected officials, which is so prominent in America today. The things about him I do like: Hes a pragmatist; he is truly a solution seeker; he gets along well with people; he listens.

If Johnson prevails in the mayors race, the governor will appoint a replacement to serve out the remaining 13 months on his commission term.

Born, raised, married in ABQ

Johnson was born and raised in Albuquerque.

His father, Charles, worked at Sandia National Laboratories in a variety of roles, including the media division, where he created educational films. His mother, Nancy, was a music and English teacher who later founded Vista Media Productions. Johnson was editing video at the age of 10 and now runs the company his mother started.

He attended the University of New Mexico and spent his last year there as an intern at KOB-TV. He continued to shoot and edit video for the news station for a brief stint after graduating.

While working at KOB, Johnson met the woman he would marry. Kurstin Schneider was interviewing for an internship at KOB. But she also worked at a real estate office next door to his mothers company. The couple will mark their 19th anniversary in December.

Best window shopping I ever did, he joked.

First ran for office in 2005

Johnson says he owes his career in politics to a battle with a neighbor and the city.

He and his wife started their married life in a house they bought in the Northeast Heights. He had a dog. She had two dogs and a cat. One of their new neighbors detested noise.

Those ingredients didnt mix well, and the Johnsons found themselves in court a lot in the ensuing four years.

We won every court battle, but no matter how many times we won, they kept coming back, he says. My wife literally put up a white flag, and we sold the house  We found out afterwards that they had friends down at the city.

Johnson said he didnt think it was right that the city wasnt listening to his side because of his neighbors connection.

I could either yell at the TV and be mad at everyone I saw, or I could try to get involved, get into office and see how I could make things better, he says.

He ran for an Albuquerque City Council seat in 2005. Running for political office meant having to come clean with his parents about a DWI arrest. He said he had handled the matter on his own and had never told them.

The year was 1994, and Johnson was 27 at the time. He was nabbed at a checkpoint on San Mateo.

The DWI case was dismissed eight months later, but Johnson said the experience was enough to teach him that he never wanted to be in that situation again.

I think a lot of people make mistakes in their life  that was certainly one of them, Johnson said. Im not as interested in the initial mistake as I am (in) what they do afterwards.

As a commissioner, Johnson sponsored the countys DWI seizure ordinance, which, he says, gives family members of convicted drunken drivers a reason to not become enablers and lend them their vehicles.

Fought for businesses

He lost his bid for the City Council in 2005 but prevailed in the race for the District 5 County Commission seat in 2010, winning re-election in 2014.

During his tenure on the commission, he has fought unsuccessfully against gross receipts tax increases but succeeded in pushing multiple industrial revenue bonds through, essentially tax breaks for businesses in exchange for their creating jobs in Bernalillo County.

Among projects granted IRBs during Johnsons tenure on the commission has been One Central, a mixed-use development at 1st and Central. Partners in that development include Dale Armstrong, owner of TLC plumbing, and Tony Pisto. Pisto donated $5,000 to Johnsons mayoral campaign in February, and Armstrong donated $5,193 to Johnsons campaign in March.

Johnson acknowledges that he probably has accepted campaign contributions from developers who have had business before the commission in the past but says he doesnt anticipate their going before the commission again during the time he has left on the board, and if they do, he would recuse himself.

He says he avoids contributions from county vendors.

Some unpopular stands

Johnson hasnt been afraid to take unpopular stances.

During mayoral forums, he has spoken out against Albuquerques minimum wage, against the proposed sick leave initiative that will appear on the Oct. 3 ballot and against the measure adopted by the commission earlier this year that prevents county resources from being used to ascertain whether individuals are in this country legally.

Indeed, when the U.S. Justice Department threatened to withhold public safety grants from so-called sanctuary cities last month, Johnson introduced a resolution that would have rescinded Bernalillo Countys immigrant-friendly community resolution. His measure would also have required the county to give the Department of Justice access to county-operated detention facilities.

Dozens of people blasted Johnson at the meeting for introducing the measure.

Shame on you. Shame on you for grabbing headlines to see if you can get elected, former Albuquerque City Councilor Rey Garduno said.

The proposal was rejected, with Johnson being the only commissioner to vote in favor.

He has also raised concerns about the city charter, which, he says, grants citizens the ability to create really far extremist, one-sided legislation that does not and is not subject to any kind of legislative review at the council level.

And he has argued that the Albuquerque Police Department is under siege and that the settlement agreement APD reached with the U.S. Department of Justice was a mistake.

Im not afraid of information or even criticism, he says. What I dont want is to hand over the operation to somebody else.
The driver of a roofing company truck accused of killing a Santa Fe woman and another person when he plowed the truck into a group of bicyclists in Tucson, Ariz., has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Pima County Superior Court records show that 30-year-old Brian Lynch had changed his plea to guilty on Aug. 1.

Last week, he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of endangerment, and was sentenced.

According to authorities and toxicology reports, Lynch had methamphetamine in his system when he ran a red light in March 2016 and fatally struck five cyclists who were all in a bike lane.

Clare Rhoades, 72, of Santa Fe, a retired nurse practitioner and avid outdoor adventurer, and Tucson resident Kenneth Vieira, 68, were killed.

Judy Costlow of Santa Fe was also among the injured.

The Santa Fe riders were part of a group on a Tucson biking trip with Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes. The bicyclists had stopped at an intersection to wait for a green light when Lynch, a driver for Scott Roofing, ran into the group with his work truck.

Costlow, Vieiras spouse, and Rhoades spouse, Santa Fe attorney Richard Hughes, all filed civil suits against Lynch and Scott Roofing, headquartered in Phoenix. All three suits were settled for undisclosed terms over the past week or so.

The insurers of Scott Roofing said in court documents filed before the settlements were reached that they were ready and willing to pay $11 million  which the insurance companies say is the limit under their policies  to claimants entitled to receive them. The companies also said the claims against the roofing company may exceed the policy limits.

In late July, a judge ordered one of the companies to post $10 million with the court. A settlement would not necessarily be limited to what the insurance companies would pay.

In February, Tucson television station KVOA reported that Lynchs former live-in girlfriend said in a court affidavit that Lynch used cocaine and that she had suspected he was using meth.

The TV station also says that, in an interview, the same woman said that Lynch would drink and drive all the time.

When he needed to get a commercial drivers license, the woman said, he was given a box of synthetic urine and that his boss bought it for him so he could pass his drug test. The woman said she was positive Lynch had made those statements.

Scott Roofing gave KVOA a statement that didnt address the drug test matter. Scott Roofing grieves with the victims families and the entire Tucson community, the statement said. Scott Roofing is committed to learning all the facts.

Costlow said Thursday she couldnt discuss the civil litigation. And she said she has no memory of the crash or the next seven days.

On Lynchs criminal case, Costlow said,Im just glad its over and I didnt have to go to a trial.

By the time he gets out of jail, hell probably be in his 40s, and hopefully hell have had time to get rehabilitated. She said she was not out for revenge.

Costlow said she has mostly recovered from her injuries. I have some residual stuff, and you never know what will happened down the line, she said, adding, I have a lot of metal in me.

Basically, he took a year out of my life, she said of Lynch.

But Costlow said shes back to biking and hiking, and is the current president and ride director of Seniors on Bikes.
For many years, the New Mexico History Museum has presented an hourlong lecture during the week preceding the Santa Fe Fiesta, usually given by a notable historian, and addressing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the Spaniards reconquest of northern New Mexico 12 years later.

This year, the programming has been expanded into a six-hour symposium featuring three speakers offering their perspectives, the showing of a documentary focusing on the culture of Native American protest, and culminating in a community conversation addressing the lingering repercussions of the Revolt and the Reconquista.

Museum Director Andrew Wulf said protests in recent years by Indian groups during the Entrada, a re-enactment of the re-occupation of Santa Fe led by Spanish conquistador Don Diego de Vargas, held as part of Fiesta weekend, wasnt the sole reason to expand the program.

It was more of a sense that were the history museum for the state of New Mexico and our history is quite complex, with many points of view, said Wulf. We thought it was time we anted up, and say we will be a safe haven and allow multiple voices that are a part of that history to share their perspectives, some that are not often heard.

The symposium will be held next Wednesday, Sept. 6, two days before the Entrada is performed on the downtown Plaza.

Last year, protesters disrupted the re-enactment with chants of Entrada is racist and Abolish the Entrada. Entrada opponents feel the re-enactment is a whitewash of reconquest by violence, or the threat of it, and celebrates the subjugation of the Native culture by the Spanish.

The Fiesta Council says the Entrada celebrates a moment in time when the Spanish and Native people agreed to live peacefully together.

As tensions have run high during Entrada and racial hostilities have risen across the country, Wednesdays community conversation is intended as an opportunity for people to share viewpoints, air grievances and talk about what can be done to ease those tensions.

Its really about bringing people together with different perspectives to enable a conversation to work toward reconciliation, Wulf said. Its really about offering the history museum as a place of reconciliation.

The program lineup doesnt include a Hispanic voice. Wulf said overtures were made to some Spanish historians, but they were declined.

Dean Milligan, president of the Santa Fe Fiesta Council, told the Journal that the council would send a representative to the event.

The program begins at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with a talk by Stephen Post, co-curator of Santa Fe Found: Fragments of Time, an exhibit on Santa Fes founding and first 100 years at the Palace of the Governors.

Wulf said Post, an archeologist and research associate, and former deputy director at the state Department of Cultural Affairs Office of Archaeological Studies, has been engaged in archaeological research at the Palace of the Governors for more than 30 years. The Palace, now a part of the history museum, is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States. For 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt, the Palace was occupied by indigenous people.

The morning session concludes with a screening of what filmmaker Jaima Chevalier calls the Entrada Chapter of her documentary Veiled Lightning, which looks at the culture of Native American protest and includes footage taken during last years Entrada protest, as well as interviews with participants.

The afternoon session starts off with photographer Steven Katzman discussing This Miserable Kingdom, his project documenting minorities that have withstood government suppression, with a focus on Pojoaque Pueblo.

According to Katzmans overview of the project, Pojoaque Pueblo is featured because it has been repeatedly victimized because of its religious, cultural and historical identity. The survey documents the tribes continued survival and its ability to live in cultural harmony while protecting their sovereignty. In recent decades, the pueblo has repeatedly been at odds with state government over its gambling operations.

Artist Virgil Ortiz of Cochiti Pueblo, whose work combines art, decor, fashion and digital media, and whose pottery features provocative, contemporary images  including of President Trump  is the final speaker.

There are many issues, especially in current times, that people are increasingly afraid to talk about, he says on the web page for his Taboo project.

Its important to show the type of imagery Ive painted for Taboo and record it, even if people are disturbed by it, or it makes them uneasy. It is necessary to create a conversation of connection; we need to engage, participate, support, enlighten and inform one another.

Ortiz, Katzman, Chevalier and Post will help start the community discussion that follows. But Wulf said the idea is for their seats at the roundtable to be filled by anyone else who wants to take part in the dialogue.

Fiesta Symposium

WHAT: Daylong program offering perspectives about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the Spanish Reconquest

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 6

WHERE: New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave., Santa Fe

COST: Free

Schedule of Events

10:30 a.m.: Introduction

10:45 a.m.: Stephen Post, co-curator of the Santa Fe Found: Fragments of Time exhibit at the Palace of the Governors, discusses what has been learned from archeological studies at the Palace.

11:30 a.m.: Screening of Veiled Lighting, a documentary by Jaima Chevalier focusing on Native American protest and including footage from last years Entrada.

12:15 p.m. Lunch break

1:30 p.m.: Steven Katzman, a Santa Fe photographer, talks about his project, This Miserable Kingdom, documenting minorities impacted by government actions, with a focus on Pojoaque Pueblo.

2:30 p.m.: Virgil Ortiz, a multimedia artist from Cochiti Pueblo, shares his insights about the cultural significance of the Pueblo Revolt and the reconquest.

3:30 p.m.: Community Conversation, a roundtable discussion about lingering issues surrounding the Pueblo Revolt and Spanish Resettlement, with audience participation encouraged.
WASHINGTON  Politically ambitious pups and kittens: Put your resumes aside.

The job of first pet  an enviable White House gig with luxurious live-in privileges, after-hours access to the president and guaranteed positive press coverage  is currently not available.

Thats because President Donald Trump is not looking for a fluffy sidekick at the moment. If Trump stays pet-free, he will be breaking with a long-held tradition of presidential pet ownership.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his beloved terrier Fala. President George H.W. Bushs English springer spaniel Millie was featured on The Simpsons. When President Barack Obamas family acquired their Portuguese water dog, Bo, it was big news.

In the modern-day presidency, almost all of them have had a pet, said Jennifer Pickens, a White House social expert who wrote Pets at the White House. Still, she noted, all didnt necessarily have them at the beginning of the administration.

Power and pets have long gone hand in hand.

For some reason, people in power, they end up suffocating different opinions and dominating their staff, but they in some ways long for someone who will speak up to them, and a pet will, said Doug Wead, a former George H.W. Bush administration staffer who wrote books on presidential children and the 2016 campaign.

Wead noted that political pets can sometimes be used for, well, politics. He recalled an event after Millie had puppies that was carefully choreographed so guests could see all these little puppies.

It was calculated like a state dinner, he said.

While there have been notable pets in the White House for generations, Millie was the first modern White House dog, said Pickens. She added that Barbara Bush was the first one to use the pet as a tool to reach out.

The former first lady wrote Millies Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush, which reached the number one spot on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list in the fall of 1990. The newspapers description: The memoirs of the English springer spaniel who lives in the White House.

Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1998 followed Bushs lead, with a childrens book about family dog Buddy and cat Socks. Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets featured photographs of the pets, details on their habits and more than 50 letters from children to the pets.

During President George W. Bushs administration, when the White House was closed for tours after 9/11, the administration tried to connect with the public through videos. Among them was the Barney Cam series of short videos featuring the Scottish terrier having adventures in the West Wing, with cameos from the first family and White House staff.

When he won the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama told his daughters: You have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. Several months later, Bo joined the family, a gift from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Bo quickly became a household name, appearing on morning television shows and in videos promoting the White House Easter egg roll.

Some notable pets belonged to first kids, including Amy Carters Siamese cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang and Caroline Kennedys pony Macaroni. The Kennedy family had a veritable menagerie of pets, with dogs, cats, birds, hamsters and a rabbit named Zsa Zsa.
Viva la Fiesta!

Yes, its that time of year. Shouts celebrating Santa Fe Fiesta will be heard amid cries to Burn him! during tonights Burning of Zozobra, which marks the start of the 10-day Fiesta authorized by proclamation of the villas first City Council more than 300 years ago.

But its also the time of year when shouts of Abolish the Entrada will be heard on the citys downtown Plaza.

The Entrada, which, according to the Fiestas website, is an accurate account of Spanish Gen. Don Diego de Vargas peaceful resettlement of the city in 1692, is performed each year as part of the festivities on the Plaza in front of the Palace of the Governors. The re-enactment this year will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. next Friday, Sept. 8.

First incorporated as part of the Fiesta tradition a century ago, the Entrada has periodically been interrupted by Native American protesters, more frequently since the Civil Rights and American Indian movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Protesters plan to return to demonstrate for the third straight year.

And well keep on coming back until this is changed, said Elena Ortiz, who represents Spirit of PoPay, one of the groups organizing the demonstration. They need to take it out of a public space, and it should be called what it is, which is theater. Its not appropriate for public consumption.

Albuquerque-based Red Nation is also organizing Entrada protests again this year. Utility poles around downtown Santa Fe were plastered with the groups Call to Action posters during Indian Market two weeks ago, calling for protesters to gather in Cathedral Park before the Entrada.

Ortiz is an enrolled member of Ohkay Owingeh, the same tribe that produced PoPay, who organized and led the Pueblo Revolt. She is also the daughter of Alfonso Ortiz, who, prior to his death in 1997, taught anthropology at the University of New Mexico and was a Native American activist.

So its in my blood, Ortiz said.

Ortiz says Entrada is historically inaccurate and a celebration of Spains subjugation of indigenous people, and she objects to taxpayer money being spent supporting the Fiesta.

The Entrada is staged by Los Caballeros de Vargas, a nonprofit Catholic ministry that, according to its website, is dedicated to preserving the rich Spanish History, Culture and Faith of Santa Fe. The city provides $50,000 in funding for the Fiesta, and absorbs additional costs for police and emergency personnel.

History is history

Fiesta Council President Dean Milligan says Entrada protesters are still missing the point.

Its not about one race of people conquering another, he said, its a celebration of two cultures agreeing to peacefully live together.

Its about the time in history when de Vargas came in and peacefully settled the city of Santa Fe, he said. Its a part of the history because of the promise made, and promise kept, to Our Lady, and the proclamation of 1712. Thats the purpose and thats what Santa Fe Fiesta does.

De Vargas promised the Virgin Mary, represented by a statue known now as La Conquistadora or Nuestra Senora de la Paz (Our Lady of Peace), that if she would assist him in resettling the city, an annual celebration of thanksgiving would be held in appreciation.

The same Marian figure de Vargas prayed to, first brought to Santa Fe in 1625 and permanently enshrined at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, is used today during the Entrada.

While no blood was shed when Vargas led a troupe of mostly soldiers and Indian allies into the city in 1692, the general employed intimidation tactics and threats to retake the city, at one point cutting off the water supply. And when he returned a year later with scores of families intending to resettle in and around the city, plenty of blood was spilled as the Pueblo people resisted.

Vargas promise to La Conquistadora wasnt fulfilled until 20 years later, when the citys leaders formalized a proclamation calling for a celebration with Vespers, Mass, sermon, and procession through the Main Plaza. That ancient proclamation does state that the Fiesta is meant to recall how this Villa had been conquered and in honor of the Salutary rood (crucifix) of Our Redemption.

Milligan defends the inclusion of the Entrada as part of the Fiesta by saying that indigenous people are included in the planning and performance. Native people have served on the Fiesta Council, he notes, and, during the Entrada performance, a native person plays the role of the cacique who welcomes Vargas back into the city. The script is modified from year to year, with the actor playing the cacique having a say, in an effort to balance the presentation.

I personally, as president of the Fiesta Council, just wish they would listen to the script and try to understand what its all about, Milligan said of the protesters. Yes, horrible things went on with the Indian revolt, we all know that, he said. And there were horrible things that happened after that, when de Vargas returned 12 years later. But history is history, and we cant change that.

Reminders of past pain

Its not just the Entrada that protesters want abolished. Spirit of PoPay and Red Nation are calling for the removal of statues honoring Spanish territorial governors, and for the long-standing practice of allowing the Santa Fe Fiesta Court to visit public schools  the visits are mostly music and dancing  to be stopped.

Having experienced it herself growing up in Santa Fe, and as a mother whose children attended the citys public schools, Ortiz says she knows first-hand the trauma Native American students are subjected to when they are forced to attend a school event that she says honors those who attempted to erase the religion of the Native people, forced their culture upon them and slaughtered their ancestors.

On Tuesday, Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica Garcia sent a memo to staff announcing the Fiesta Courts visitation schedule at the schools again this year. But she also said students can opt out.

While it is important to recognize the contributions of all people in the shaping of New Mexicos history and culture, we must also be sensitive to the impact of historical events in our State, she wrote. Therefore, I am asking educators to take a balanced approach when addressing this subject in an unbiased manner. Schools must provide alternative activities for students who have opted out at the time of the Fiesta Court visits, Garcia wrote. She provided a list of suggested resources to help balance the instruction.

Ortiz said the superintendents directive doesnt go far enough.

Were not going to settle for inclusiveness, she said. Having the Native American narrative included is fine, but when theres still a dominant narrative thats allowed, that needs to be removed.

This years Entrada also takes place amid a national debate over removal of monuments for political reasons, with Confederate statuary having been taken down in many cities.

In Santa Fe, Mayor Javier Gonzales has called for a review of Santa Fes monuments (none are Confederate) to address Santa Fes own complicated history with race and memory head on.

The city has a statue of de Vargas in Cathedral Park, where the Red Nation protesters will gather next week. An equestrian statue of city founder Pedro de Peralta stands next to the federal courthouse, an obelisk of Indian fighter Kit Carson nearby. The Plazas centerpiece obelisk honors heroes of the Indian Wars, although the adjective savage before Indians was chiseled out by a vandal artisan in 1973 and never repaired.

Ortiz says the monument and statues serve to solidify the dominant culture.

These statues are reminders of the past pain and genocide of indigenous people, Ortiz says.

Gonzales also wants to review city financial and logistical support for all events and organizations recognizing historic events, which would include any Fiesta/Entrada related costs.

Were there to speak the truth

Its unclear if the Entrada script is being changed at all this year amid the renewed focus on the issues it raises. Joe Mier, president of Los Caballeros de Vargas, did not return phone messages from the Journal this week.

In an interview last year, Mier insisted the event wasnt to be interpreted as a celebration of the reconquest. Its a religious celebration. That should be the main focus, he said.

If thats so, Ortiz says, it shouldnt be celebrated in a public space and with the support of city funds. She says the Anti-Establishment clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another, and the city is in violation.

And for a city that embraces its culture and diversity, its not something that should be celebrated in Santa Fe, she said.

At an anti-racism rally on the Plaza in mid-August  after the death of a counterprotester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.  Gonzales talked about Santa Fe being accepting of diversity, yet we have this one pageant every year that celebrates the reconquest, Ortiz said.

It just illustrates that Native people are accepted as long as were in our place, selling jewelry outside the Palace of the Governors. But our narratives are not OK.

Ortiz says the Entrada protests are intended to be peaceful. Were not there to incite violence. Were there to speak the truth, she said.

Just as the Fiesta Council says the celebration is held to fulfill a promise and through a proclamation of the first City Council, Ortiz feels protesters have their own mandate to follow.

We all collectively, particularly the Tewa-speaking people in the northern pueblos, feel we were given a mandate in 1680, she said. This is our land, and we have to take care of it and do everything we can to pass it down to our children. Its a legacy and a mandate, and we have to honor both.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

The U.S. Marshals Service announced the closure of Ayudando Guardians Inc. offices on Thursday, noting that the company had about 1,400 clients when a federal grand jury indicted its two principals and the company on charges of embezzling client funds in July.

Previous reports estimated the number of guardianship or conservator clients in New Mexico at less than 200, but it wasnt known how many others were receiving representative payee services in which Ayudando handled monthly or regular client benefits from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Those representative payee agreements dont have to be approved by a court.

The Marshals Service has been under federal court order to oversee operations of the company since the July 11 federal indictment of Ayudando president Susan Harris and chief financial officer Sharon Moore. The two were charged with 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud, theft and money laundering charges arising out of an alleged scheme to embezzle funds from client trust accounts. They have pleaded not guilty.

The two women are alleged to have siphoned more than $4 million from clients representative payee accounts and savings or money market accounts to support lavish lifestyles for themselves and family members. The company served hundreds of clients with special needs or who are disabled.

The Marshals Service, meanwhile, has been transferring Ayudando clients to new agencies, with the help of state district court judges.

But earlier this month, the transfer process was described by one private agency professional as a nightmare.

One of Ayudandos former clients was profiled by the Journal Aug. 10 because of his living conditions and his inability to find out the status of his guardianship case by trying to telephone the Marshals Service.

Peter Grotte-Higley, 81, is a Holocaust-era survivor whose living arrangements were controlled by Ayudando, which also handled his monthly pension check and finances as his court-appointed conservator. He had complained that the debit card Ayudando provided for his incidental expenses had a zero balance in recent months.

Grotte-Higley wanted to go in person to the Ayudando offices at 1400 Central SE, and he accepted an offer from two Journal reporters to drive him there on Aug. 8. But at the last minute, a manager at his Northeast Heights boarding home intervened and asked a Journal reporter to leave.

Grotte-Higley now has an Oct. 2 hearing set in his guardian/conservator case in state district court in Albuquerque, according to a court docket sheet, the only public record available by law in guardian/conservator cases.

The docket sheet shows that two new attorneys have entered appearances in his case before Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd, but theres no indication of a new temporary guardian. Grotte-Higley, who has been an Ayudando client since January 2016, is still living in the same home.

Meanwhile, a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Mexico on Thursday provided new details about the Marshals Services role in winding down Ayudando operations.

The Marshals Service was appointed to operate the business to ensure that its assets were not improperly spent or removed, and that the interests of Ayudando clients were protected as the prosecution of the criminal case moves forward. That court order also required the Marshals Service to submit under seal to the court a report on its findings within 45 days.

The vast majority of Ayudandos clients have been transferred to new temporary guardians, other service providers and/or new representative payees, the release says. And those still awaiting transfers will receive temporary services from other providers.

Three New Mexico guardianship companies under contract with the New Mexico Office of Guardianship  including CNRAG, Inc., Tierra Alta Guardianship Services LLC and Quality of Life Guardians LLC  will provide temporary or interim services to some former Ayudando clients.

Private clients for whom Ayudando maintained guardianship, medical power of attorney accounts, private trust accounts or conservator services will receive services from Ascending Hope LLC for guardianship services. Bridge to Success Inc. will provide financial services until the courts can appoint new guardians, if required, the press release says.

Although Ayudandos offices are closed and transfers of clients have been processed, the Marshals Service remains responsible for managing Ayudandos business affairs under the magistrates order and remains committed to ensuring continuity of service for Ayudando clients, according to the release.

Ayudando, which also had offices in Mesa, Ariz., was created in 2004.
Mayor Richard Berry is calling on faith leaders and the rest of the Albuquerque community to sign onto a compact to fight hate, extremism and bigotry.

Its time we rise up as a community and say this is not a place where you can bring bigotry, Berry said Thursday at a faith leaders breakfast at the Jewish Community Center. This is not a place where you can bring bias. This is not a place where you can practice hate. This is a place that cares for our brothers and sisters. We lift our brothers and sisters up. We are a welcoming place.

Berry said the compact was spurred by the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va, last month. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed while protesting a white nationalist rally there. President Donald Trump faced intense criticism for his insistence that both sides bear responsibility for the violence.

Berry said he was in New Orleans at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting when that was happening.

As Americas mayors, we stood up right away and railed against intolerance, Berry said.

A few days later, he said, they came up with a compact to combat hate. The compact, which was written with the Anti-Defamation League, was signed by about 300 other mayors from 45 states.

Berry then took that compact, modified it to be more relevant to Albuquerque and has been circulating it. More than 70 faith leaders signed onto it Thursday, as did all nine city councilors. The petition can be signed online at www.cabq.gov/mayor/compact-to-combat-hate-extremism-bigotry.

As a leader and citizen in the Albuquerque community, I will adhere to and promote the following 10 key components to fight extremism and bigotry and to promote the fundamental principles of justice and equality that define America and our city, the compact states.

Among the 10 components are:

 Expressly rejecting extremism, white supremacy and all forms of bigotry;

 Denouncing all acts of hate wherever they occur;

 Ensuring public safety while protecting free speech and other basic constitutional rights.

At the prayer breakfast, Berry noted that faith leaders in Albuquerque have been targeted because of their faith, race or beliefs.

Thats unacceptable, he said.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Bakers at Golden Crown Panaderia in Old Town have made hundreds of loaves of bread by hand to contribute to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts as part of an ongoing collection effort.

Pratt Morales, the owner of Golden Crown, said he wanted to send bread to Houston because its something that everybody can use. He wanted to make the bread quickly so it wouldnt go bad.

That led to a 24-hour baking session, which began at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Morales said three other bakers participated in shifts, but he and his son stayed up for almost 24 hours baking bread.

At four this morning, I stopped baking, went and took a shower, quick nap, and then back here again, Morales said Wednesday afternoon.

Morales bread donation was part of a larger collection effort organized by Chris Brahs, the owner of automotive repair and diesel performance company Brahs Solutions Inc., who said items collected at his shop will be delivered to ReLEntless Defender Apparel in Richmond, Texas, located just outside Houston.

Brahs said six tractor-trailers will leave for Texas at about 3 p.m. today to deliver the items. People can continue to bring in donations to the shop, starting at 7:30 a.m. until the trucks leave. A list of needed items, including hygiene items and batteries, can be found on the Brahs companys Facebook page.

In addition to making the bread, Morales also contributed to Brahs efforts by asking his customers to bring other needed items.

By Thursday afternoon, there were stacks upon stacks of donated items in the bakery, including water bottles, canned goods and even several bags of dog food. Customers also donated money, which Morales said will be used to buy gas for the trucks.

Three Albuquerque women, Jamie Rayne, Liz Walker and Jennifer Garcia, were among the volunteers who came to the bakery Wednesday night to help slice and bag bread. They all came back Thursday afternoon to help get the donated items and remaining bread ready for delivery to Brahs.

The women said it was humbling to be able to participate in the relief efforts and that they were happy to help support a business that gives back to the community  even one that, in this case  extends beyond Albuquerque.

Morales said that as a small-business owner, he was limited in what he was able to do, but he hopes that his efforts and those of the community will make a difference.

We wanted it to be just a gesture from Albuquerque, he said. Were a small operation so we can only do so much, but I think were doing a lot, considering.
PORT ARTHUR, Texas  Marty Murray and his friends powered the airboat along the water, passing cars submerged to near invisibility in the darkness, until the airboat suddenly ran aground onto asphalt and into the flashlight beams of three men carrying AR-14 assault rifles.

It was after 9 p.m. and the sky was dark, the waters darker, and the police had urged people not to do things like this. But Murray, 45, was determined to rescue people tonight; determined to heed the calls coming in over the ad hoc walkie-talkie system that volunteers like him were using to help the people he knew were stranded out there in the darkness. And he had just driven three hours from New Caney. He wasnt going home empty-handed.

I gotta go to 61st Street to get a woman and a dog, he said, stepping out of the airboat and staring at the armed men.

Murray, a small-town church pastor and businessman by day, is among the hundreds or even thousands of ordinary Texans who have been transformed overnight  with the force of a flood, the blessing of some boats and no small dose of courage  into men with a higher purpose.

And so it was that on Wednesday night, after two days of rescuing flood victims in the small towns north of Houston where he lives, and after driving three hours east in pursuit of the moving storm and more rescues, Murray and his friends wound up in this devastated town on the Louisiana border, face to face with other ordinary men like them who also came to help.

Murray, an imposing man clad in camouflage rain boots, didnt like the fact that the men had guns, especially not with fears of possible looting coming in over the radio. What are you doing? he said, scowling at the men, who approached slowly under the orange glow of a street lamp. Youre going to scare people.

As they drew closer, the rifle-bearers turned out to be in their teens or early 20s, one wearing a Batman T-shirt and another a shirt that said USA Proud. They brought the guns for protection, they said mysteriously, because people are robbing people.

We got reports that there were 60 people over here robbing people, Murray responded. I said, I dont care.  There were people who needed rescuing, he added, and he had heard over the radio that there were 10 children nearby in need of an evacuation, as well as a woman and her dog.

A couple of other volunteer rescuers  Brian Jamar, who runs an air conditioning company, and Josh Franqus, who works in septics  had by that point wandered over, too: They had responded to the same call. But they had been searching the area for hours and couldnt find any kids in need of rescue.

Im pretty sure it was a bogus call, Jamar, 29, said.

Murray persuaded a few of the others to join him and his friend for one last search anyway, and soon they were speeding off on another mans truck toward the address other volunteers had given them.

They get an adrenaline-pumping thrill from these rescue calls, relayed over a phone app called Zello that enables ordinary people to play the role of emergency first responders, using words like roger and copy that as they report on rescues needed or undertaken.

Kristy Davis, a special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety who works in the cluster of towns north of Houston where Murray lives, credited the volunteers in that area with rescuing at least 500 people in three days this week.

At improvised staging grounds in other neighborhoods around Houston, volunteers and sheriffs deputies have met and traded information. At one gas station in Cypress, where the Harris County Sheriffs Department showed up Tuesday to register volunteers and their boats, several dozen eager would-be helpers packed into the parking lot with everything from deep-water fishing boats to sea kayaks and water skis in tow.

The response was overwhelming, said Sarah Malkowsky, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriffs Department, who said hundreds more turned up at a department training facility where they registered more people. The hardest part was each one having to wait their turn. Some werent given an assignment right away and they left to find [rescue] work through their own means.

Some even showed up without boats. Anyone need an extra hand for their boat? one man called out at the gas station as a sheriffs deputy took down volunteer information.

And all over Houston and nearby towns, trucks with boats have become a common sight, often driving directly toward the rising floodwater, as Murray, his friends and a snaking line of nearly a hundred other such volunteers did Wednesday night en route from Houston to the Louisiana border. Even as local police have issued stern warnings that residents who ignore mandatory evacuation orders will not be rescued, these men might show up anyway.

The outpouring of help has yielded no small degree of chaos in its own right. Its like when a shelter asks for supplies and the next thing you know, youve got a million bottles of water you dont know what to do with. With the volunteers, we were inundated, Davis said.

Its helpful, she added. But there are people who are doing it who have never been trained, and their boats are overturning and we have to rescue them.

The emergence of free-for-all amateur walkie-talkie networks has also given way to a flood of false claims and rumors, some the results of mass confusion and poor coordination among volunteers, and others the products of pranksters.

The day before he headed to Port Arthur, Murray and a couple dozen of his congregants who had gathered at the church to assist with rescues had been listening intently to all the walkie-talkie chatter and doing their best to respond.

There were urgent calls for rescues at a hotel and apartment complex in Katy, west of Houston, where the water was rising fast. There were warnings of an imminent explosion at a chemical plant in Conroe. And there was the never-ending stream of individual messages: the woman whose mother desperately needed blood pressure medication; the child and his family allegedly trapped on a rooftop; the old man in the attic; the woman who hadnt been heard from in days.

Hi, maam? Yes, our rescuers are out in the area. Is there any way you could get ahold of your mother? a teen church volunteer in a pink shirt said into the phone at one point, as another woman scribbled addresses and updates on a whiteboard. Our guys are circling around; they cant find the house, the teen pleaded. We need her to come outside or something so they can figure out where shes at.

Murray, whose own home had flooded, and whose wife and three children were waiting out the flood at a friends house on higher ground, was running on three hours of sleep. But he felt pride and purpose in coordinating such a mission. By Wednesday, he estimated that he had helped more than 30 people get to safety.

This is the community, he said, as he surveyed the parking lot of his small church, where he and his congregation had successfully created a launching point for area rescuers. There were fishing and leisure boats, airboats,water scooters and johnboats. In his church lobby, a mass of strangers in camouflage and waders stood around chomping on ham sandwiches, airing the odor of damp feet as they changed into dry, donated socks, and turning to Murray for orders.

Is there anywhere we can go right now? a man in beige waders asked, as Murray directed his own voice to the airwaves: Does anyone need boats in New Caney?

But not all the rescues were successful: There were dozens of times that the rescuers showed up  sometimes braving treacherous currents and unpredictable water levels  to find no victims in need of help.

Its so busy that people are reaching them and no one is ever getting on there and saying, We got them,  Murray said at one point. Its emotional. Youve got pandemonium.

Other times, the help that was needed turned out to be less urgent: a cat in an empty house or a man who probably could have walked to safety in ankle-deep water. And then there were the more curious cases of those who didnt want to be rescued at all, such as the drunk woman in the flooded home who tried to fight off the men responding to the rescue request made by her concerned daughter, or the old man in the attic who didnt want to leave without his 17 dogs.

(That one prompted Murray to get on the phone: Either my guys get you, or the constables are going to come in and get you, he warned. My guys put their lives at risk to come in and get you, brother, and we need you to come out of there.)

In the darkness of Wednesday night, after chasing a storm that had moved east, three hours from his home, Murray was facing the real possibility that there would be no successful rescue here to feel good about.

There were some horses on a traffic median, and some dogs on a balcony, but the 10 children for whom the anonymous dispatchers had pleaded were nowhere to be found. If they existed at all, they probably had been rescued hours before.

Man, I am so sick of people not being there, he exclaimed.

But there was one rescue: A 22-year-old in plaid pajama bottoms who had been stranded at a friends house. We need to get this man to the hospital, Murray announced as he powered up the airboats roaring propeller, the young man climbing aboard.

It turned out the man, a college student who gave his name as Robert, was fine. His friends house, though isolated by nearby floodwaters, was never damaged. But his mother, who works at the hospital, wanted him home, he said. I guess my mom was worried and asked them to get me, he said sheepishly.

Motoring back down the dark expanse of water, past the submerged cars, the airboats exhaust pipe suddenly snapped, as did the rudder. The boat briefly lost control, nearly hitting a mailbox and a car.

The water was shallow enough, so the men walked the rest of the way to dry pavement; Robert in his pajamas, the murky water up to his calves.

After depositing their rescue at the hospital, Murray and his friends conceded that he would be their only one in Port Arthur. The boat was inoperable, and one of the men had to get to his job working on refrigeration trucks back in New Caney the next morning.

There were still calls coming in over the walkie-talkie, and still more potential rescues out there in the darkness that Murray wished he could get to.

It sucks to come all this way, he said. But at least we got one person. So we didnt come out here for nothing.

That near miss with the mailbox out in the water was pretty crazy, too, his friend John Peters added.

Did you see me slide all the way over to the bridge to get out of the way? Murray responded, as the men started laughing. They had to admit, this work was also kind of fun.
JUBA, South Sudan  The only foreigner to come forward and testify in a high-profile South Sudan trial where army troops are accused of gang-rape and murder in a hotel rampage a year ago is urging other survivors to speak up, especially men.

The trial is a key test of accountability in a civil war-torn country where few accused of atrocities ever face justice. Twelve South Sudanese soldiers are accused of gang-raping five foreigners, killing a local journalist while forcing survivors to watch and looting the Terrain hotel compound in the capital, Juba.

Men have an equal or greater responsibility to come forward, the Italian woman told The Associated Press after testifying last week. Men dont face the same risk of sexual violence and they can stand up against these crimes. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The attack occurred shortly after fighting erupted in the capital in July 2016 between President Salva Kiirs forces and troops loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar.

An AP investigation last year exposed graphic details of the Terrain assault, including victims pleas for help from a nearby U.N. base that brought no immediate response. A U.N. investigation led to the firing of the commander of the peacekeeping force there.

The United States government has pressed South Sudan to hold the soldiers accountable and offered support for the investigation.

The trial almost collapsed last month when judges with the military court threatened to dismiss the charges of rape and murder unless the foreign victims and witnesses testified. The judges initially rejected the possibility of remote testimony via online video interviews, which theyve now accepted.

The Italian woman, who had been working in the humanitarian sector in South Sudan, said she was afraid to return to the unstable East African nation because she was frightened the assault could happen again.

She said she decided to return and testify in order to give a voice to the millions of victims in South Sudan who dont have a voice.

In an interview with the AP, she said she identified four of the accused in the courtroom, saying that when she looked at them one by one she immediately recognized them.

Her testimony gave credibility to the trial and filled a gap when it came to the rape charges, a lawyer representing the assault victims, Philips Anyang Ngong, told the AP.

Human rights workers monitoring the trial have praised the womans decision to return to South Sudan to give her testimony.

We applaud the victim for appearing at trial. We hope this proceeding is a first step toward addressing the much larger problem of impunity for serious human rights crimes in South Sudan, said Joanne Mariner, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International.

This case is a test of South Sudans willingness to prosecute soldiers for crimes against civilians, especially sexual violence, said Jehanne Henry, senior Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch.

During South Sudans four years of civil war, rape has been used as a weapon of war with impunity, according to rights groups. The country is suffering from sexual violence on a massive scale, a recent report by Amnesty International said.

The trial is expected to continue in late October. It is unclear whether anyone else will testify, whether in person or remotely.
PHOENIX  Phoenix police say a 45-year-old woman is dead after being shot, reportedly during a confrontation with a group of men.

Sgt. Mercedes Fortune says police responding Thursday night to a report of a shooting victim located the fatally wounded woman, Crystal Brown, and also the shooting scene at another location.

Fortune says police continue to investigate the shooting and dont yet have descriptions of the suspects.
FARMINGTON, N.M.  A suspended New Mexico judge accused of secretly recording private conversations at a courthouse pleaded not guilty to charges filed by the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office.

The Daily Times reported (http://bit.ly/2wsQwDh ) on Thursday that Aztec Magistrate Court Judge Connie Johnston is facing 12 charges of interference with communications and one charge of violating the Governmental Conduct Act.

A jury trial is scheduled for early December in Aztec district court. Johnston also has a second criminal case pending for a contempt-of-court charge filed by the San Juan County District Attorneys Office. A hearing has not been scheduled for that case.

Johnston is accused of recording conversations of staff with some involving attorney-client privilege.

The New Mexico Supreme Court previously suspended Johnston without pay.

___

Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.daily-times.com
MEXICO CITY  A second round of NAFTA renegotiations began Friday with officials expressing optimism despite President Donald Trumps suggestions he could withdraw the United States from the 23-year-old trade pact.

Mexico has also said it wont stay at the table if it doesnt get a fair shake or if Washington triggers an exit clause, and the uncertainty has raised fears among businesspeople on both sides of the border that billions of dollars in trade and investment could be threatened.

Delegations from the United States, Mexico and Canada gathered at a Mexico City hotel for discussions on the North American Free Trade Agreement that Mexicos Economy Department said would focus on issues such as rules-of-origin, electronic commerce, the environment and anti-corruption measures.

There are conditions to negotiate, despite some statements, said Gerardo Gutierrez Candiani, head of Mexicos special economic zones agency.

On Wednesday, Trump said: Weve got to change this deal, and hopefully we can renegotiate it, but if we cant well terminate it and well start all over again with a real deal.

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray responded to that by saying, if the result of the negotiations isnt beneficial for Mexico, of course, Mexico wont stay.

Among other things, Washington wants local-content rules tightened to avoid imports largely made in third countries from being considered made in North America just because they were assembled in Mexico.

Gutierrez Candiani said other issues on the table include labor standards and dispute resolution mechanisms. The United States also opposes the current system of private arbitration panels.

Gutierrez Candiani acknowledged that they are not agile enough, and mechanisms have to be sought that are more agile, more reliable.

The current agreement allows binational panels of private experts to decide differences, making it harder for one nation to unilaterally impose tariffs on another.

The United States wants to eliminate those panels, but Canada and Mexico fear that would allow it to throw its greater weight around and impose tariffs on imports that allegedly harm local producers or are being dumped, or sold below their real price.

Talk of more such tariffs drew concern from a newly formed alliance of U.S. and Canadian fruit and vegetable companies.

In a letter to the U.S. government Wednesday, the Produce Coalition for NAFTA said the result will be more tariffs on fruits and vegetables  what is more, this provision will be used against U.S. growers.

U.S. companies now frequently grow produce in Mexico in the winter or contract it from Mexican companies.

Mexicos Economy Department said the five days of talks will be conducted in 25 working groups with an expected wrap-up date of Tuesday. The first round of talks took place in Washington in mid-August, and several more rounds are expected.
PHOENIX  Authorities say a man was arrested and removed from a Southwest Airlines flight about to depart from Phoenix to Denver after he repeatedly ignored requests to fasten his seat belt and shoved a flight attendant.

Police say 58-year-old David Clyne Dutson of Tucson was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault Wednesday night at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

A police probable-cause statement says all passengers were taken off the flight after Dutson refused to leave the plane and then police arrested him.

Dutson was released from jail Thursday after making an initial court appearance, during which the case was dismissed, but in a way that could allow it to be filed again.

Court records dont list a defense attorney who could comment on the allegation and theres no phone listing under his name.
DENVER  Gov. John Hickenlooper, state lawmakers and dozens of young immigrants and activists urged President Donald Trump on Friday to keep federal protections for those immigrants whose parents brought them as children to the U.S. illegally.

Some 17,000 immigrants in Colorado have benefited under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows those brought by their parents without documentation to temporarily live, study and work in the U.S.

The White House said Trump will announce a decision Tuesday. He had faced a Tuesday deadline set by a group of Republican state lawmakers, who have threatened to challenge the program in court if the administration does not start to dismantle it by then.

At a capitol rally attended by Hickenlooper, Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran and others, several immigrants spoke of the uncertainty they were experiencing.

The time has come again to organize our friends, our families, our neighbors, said Salvador Hernandez, a community advocate, Denverite reported (http://bit.ly/2xDpLfB ).

I dont know what to do, Brithany Gutierrez, a junior at Colorado State University, told The Denver Post (http://dpo.st/2wpu5QS).

Gutierrez said the childhood arrivals program had allowed her to work as a nursing assistant to help pay for college; she emigrated from Mexico with her family in 2005. Its kind of out of my hands and out of my control, and thats one of the worst feelings, because I feel kind of helpless.

The program was enacted by executive order by President Barack Obama and affects nearly 800,000 people nationwide.
WASHINGTON  The White House is still trying to decide who will get President Donald Trumps pledged $1 million donation for Harvey storm relief efforts, one of the largest gifts ever given by a president but one that has evoked his checkered charitable past.

The president plans to make the donation, which is expected to come from his personal fortune, early next week, and it may be split among several groups doing relief work in storm-ravaged areas of Texas and Louisiana. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that the president hasnt finalized where the money will go, raising some concern that charitable groups may end up competing for the money.

For the second straight day, Sanders invited reporters to make recommendations for which groups should get the money.

If you have suggestions, he is very open to hearing those, Sanders said.

The president met with three relief groups  the Red Cross, Southern Baptist Relief and Salvation Army  in the Oval Office on Friday and pledged the nations support to those affected by Harvey.

Families have given food and shelter to those in need. Houses of worship have organized efforts to clean up communities and repair damaged homes, Trump said during an earlier meeting with religious leaders. People have never seen anything quite like this. Individuals of every background are striving for the same goal: to aid and comfort people facing devastating losses.

Trump traveled to Texas on Tuesday and is scheduled to return Saturday to meet with storm survivors and inspect some of the destruction.

There has been some concern that, if Trump opted to donate to only one group or just a few, there could be intense competition among relief agencies for the money and the publicity that comes with it.

But Rick Cohen, communications director for the National Council of Nonprofits, said theres already intense competition among organizations for Harvey donations.

He should be looking to make an informed contribution, and it seems that hes doing so, said Cohen, noting that the president has stayed abreast of conditions on the ground and is planning to see it first-hand.

White House officials said the donation would come from the presidents personal fortune and not his business, the Trump Organization, or his charitable foundation.

You have to take him at his word, said Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor at Indiana University who focuses on philanthropy and who formerly headed the Corporation for National and Community Service. If he wants to lead the way, thats one of the things that a presidents supposed to do.  He does like the image of himself as a compassionate person.

Trumps history of charitable donations features bursts of generosity frequently overshadowed by failed promises and questions about the source of the gifts.

The president has claimed to be worth $10 billion while experts have pegged his fortunate at far less. But Trump reportedly donates a far smaller percentage of his dollars than many of his fellow billionaires. The exact extent of Trumps charitable giving is not known since the president has broken with decades of tradition and not released his tax returns.

The Trump Foundation came under heavy scrutiny during the 2016 presidential campaign. It was revealed that Trump frequently did not follow through on his charitable promises. Records show that in the 15 years before his campaign, Trump made $8.5 million in pledges but paid out about $2.8 million, according to The Washington Post.

In January 2016, Trump held a high-profile fundraiser for veterans causes, but it took him four months  and pressure from the media  to follow through on his pledge to donate $1 million of his own money to the cause.

Trump, one of the nations wealthiest presidents, has also pledged to donate his annual $400,000 salary to charity. His first two gifts from his presidential earnings were to the National Park Service and the Education Department.

Other presidents, including Barack Obama, would customarily donate a percentage of their income  including money from outside sources like book sales  to charity every year.

___

Lemire reported from New York.
LUX Industries Limited, (BSE: 539542 | NSE: LUXIND) known for its innovative and customer-demand driven product offerings, manufacturing more than 100 products across 12 major brands comprising a complete range of innerwear for men, women, and children, has yet again created a buzz in the innerwear hosiery category of the country by signing Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, as the Brand Ambassador for its brands Venus and Cottswool. These brands exude elements of faith and dependability and has a rich legacy of ruling the choice of the masses for more than three decades, marking another first in the hosiery segment for LUX Industries by signing Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador. Associating with Indias finest actor, the legacy of Venus and Cottswool is taking a phenomenal leap in marketing impetus in the popular segment. Bollywood star Varun Dhawan, the heartthrob of young India, continues to be the brand ambassador of LUX Cozi.

Speaking about the development, Mr. Ashok Todi, Chairman, LUX Industries Ltd. said, Venus is one of the largest innerwear brands in India and Cottswool is synonymous to winter wear in India. Each of the brands exudes superlative levels of comfortability and rules the market with its price efficiency. This is a moment of immense pride for us at LUX Industries as we believe that the legacy of these brands is crowned with the momentous occasion by getting on board actor extraordinaire Amitabh Bachchan as our brand ambassador for the first time by any hosiery brand in India. These brands are liked by people of all demographics, similar to Mr. Bachchans iconic legacy as an actor, the brand appeal synergizes with his personality. We hope with this association we will be able to communicate and reach a wider segment of customers.

On the signing of Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador for the sub brands, Mr. Pradip Todi, Managing Director, LUX Industries Ltd., stated, At LUX Industries we want our diverse portfolio of brands individually to grow and sustain its leadership position in the market, while we aim to continue bonding with our brand evangelists in a more meaningful and engaging way. We believe the endorsement of LUX products will further strengthen the bond with the masses, give our users a greater sense of purpose and help the brands scale newer heights over the course of next few years.

On his association with LUX Industries, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, said, It gives me an immense pleasure to be associated with the iconic hosiery company of India, LUX Industries. From the last 60 years LUXhas been a prominent name in most of the households and is one of the most accepted hosiery brand in the country. I am delighted to begin a new journey as an ambassador for LUX Venus and Cottswooland take the brand legacy forward.

The hoardings with Amitabh Bachchan sporting the stylish and comfortable products from Venus and Cottswool, will be up in major metros which will be followed by aggressive print advertisement. The electronic campaign featuring the great actor will release across the GECs, News Channels, Movie Channels and Music Channels within 45 and 30 seconds commercials to be used across a mix of communication mediums like TV, Print, Radio, Onscreen and Online. The creative for the series has been prepared by the legendry Mr. Piyush Pandey and team.
Fisher-Price, the world's leading brand for infant and toddler toys and baby development, gave an exciting opportunity to new parents to celebrate their childs first birthday in grandeur. Staying true to its philosophy of providing babies with the Best Possible Start, Fisher-Price, launched the My First Birthday programme, a unique initiative to celebrate the all-important milestone of turning one. The campaign went live on 1st August, 2017, with an interactive microsite fp-mfb.in allowing parents to participate in the contest. The contest will remain open until 31st December, 2017.

Parents, today, are digitally savvy and discerning, gaining access to details on products like never before. The initiative was created with the aim to engage closely with millennial parents, who are spending an increasing proportion of time online by consuming information, learning on the go as well as making purchases. My First Birthday received a phenomenal response in its first 20 days, with over 15,000 parents participating in the digital contest. With its aim to reach out to young, millennial parents, the campaign reached out to consumers across key metros and tier 2 cities.

Talking about the campaign, Lokesh Kataria, Head  Marketing, Mattel Toys (India) Pvt. Ltd, said At Fisher-Price, we believe that the best possible start begins with love and care. Fisher-Price is a brand that is most trusted by parents across the world and we in turn understand their emotions and the value of creating memories with their new-born. With the launch of the My First Birthday initiative, we aim to further strengthen the bond we have with new-age parents. The programme reiterates our vision to enable parents to nurture their child's overall development in the most engaging ways.

The My First Birthday programme is active until the end of 2017, where parents are required to register the date of their babys first birthday and answer a simple question. Two lucky winners per month stand a chance to celebrate their babys first birthday in style with an exciting party box, which includes gifts for both baby and the parents. The Birthday Box is filled with party supplies, gift vouchers and other goodies worth INR 35,000/- (*T&C Apply)

The campaign has received a welcoming response across social media pages of Fisher-Price, including over 4.9 lac impressions on its official Facebook page. Additionally, the brand has reached out to young parents through a seamless association with one of Indias leading parenting portals, MomJunction.

In regards to the partnership, Chaitanya Nallan, CEO, Incnut Digital (Stylecraze & MomJunction said, Our unique partnership with Fisher Price, enables MomJunctions 14 million strong community of millennial tiger mommies to give their little ones the Best Possible Start in life. Adding to his words, Natasha Garyali, VP, Branding & Marketing, Incnut Digital (Stylecraze & MomJunction) said, As a mother I have long been a fan of Fisher Price and as a business leader it gives me great pleasure to share this unique initiative. With its My First Birthday programme, Fisher Price celebrates the all-important milestone of turning one with MomJunction community.

Fisher-Price remains deeply rooted in the belief that play is the way children learn best. The consistent belief of Play More, Learn More is clearly reflected through all the developmental benefits in all its toys. Mattel Toys has focused its efforts around the core philosophy of Play with purpose  where each toy developed by the global leader has an intrinsic benefit linked to it. The vision for Mattel toys will continue to evolve and grow as a brand that is a trusted partner for a parent and an integral aspect of every childhood.

Leveraging the digital shift, Fisher-Price has previously launched exclusive brand stores on leading e-commerce portals, Amazon, Flipkart and FirstCry. The My First Birthday initiative marks another key effort in the brands digital push in growing the market.
Times Network, the broadcast arm of Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd, has introduced a new positioning for its English Business News channel ET Now. ET Now is reinforcing its position as the torchbearer of Indias growth story with its Rise with India.

With this, it promises to be the channel that will open opportunities and possibilities for the discerning Indian to ride the countrys growth wave. This initiative is a step forward in the networks objective to create value for its citizens, businesses and nation at large.

The inspiration comes from the insight that while most Indians stand confident of the bright future of the country, it is their personal future and its security that concerns them. With the rapidly increasing pace of technology, automation and the uncertainty in returns from the traditional forms of investing, the outlook for the individuals future looms in a quotient of doubt. But the overall sentiment on the growth of the nation and the position of India among the global superpowers is a near certain vision echoed by its citizens. Helping Indians to grow with the flight of the nation is, therefore, the task of media platforms such as ET Now.

Expanding its core offering from business news to serving holistic news for business, ET Now will continue its coverage of business and markets between 8 am and 5 pm. The content will evolve to sharply cover general news, special shows and prime-time debates from 5 pm onwards, catering to the aspirations of the get-ahead Indians. In the evening prime time, 7 pm onwards there will be a mix of speed news, intellectual debates and major national news updates.

The embodiment of the Rise With India proposition will come alive with India Development Debate at 9 pm, pitted as the most intellectual news debate on Indian television. Anchored by Sandeep Gurumurthi and Supriya Shrinate, this debate will engage the most erudite experts to discuss subjects that affect Indias holistic development and imagery.

Commenting on the occasion, MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network, said, ET Now has consistently led the Business news category and is a front-runner amongst English news channels. I think we are perfectly poised to evolve from just competitive leadership to purpose-driven leadership. As a channel and brand, I believe we can do much more than what we have been doing so far. It is now our aim to become the driver and catalyst for Indias growth and in making sure that Indians benefit from that growth.

Sandeep Gurumurthi, Managing Editor, ET Now, added here, For ET Now, this movement is historic. As media entities, besides generating value for our stakeholders, our responsibility is to inform, engage, educate and inspire our viewers. Today, every Indian has a strong belief in Indias promising future, more than their own and Indias growth story is not a single story, but strongly shaped and influenced by economics, politics, governance and technology, et al. We want to empower our viewers with this all-round knowledge which will enable them to see the opportunities around and help them hitch their success to Indias.
LONDON, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- South Korea has one of the world's most active telecommunications and Information Technology (IT) markets backed by strong support from the government.

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As well as the commitment of the government, the sector is boosted by an innovative private sector and a technologically savvy population. Spending on ICT and high-technology equipment helped lead a transformation of the economy. The government aims to transform the country into a knowledge-based information society in a 'smart-age'.

By 2017, KT was still the largest telephone and fixed-line company. With declining revenues from its fixed-line services, the company has forged ahead with IPTV and LTE. Competition with LG U+ and SK Broadband had intensified on many fronts ranging from IPTV to VoIP.

South Korea's mobile market has slow growth over the last few years due to a highly mature market. Organic growth by the three main mobile operators, together with the multitude of niche MVNOs will result in further growth to 2018 however growth rates will taper off further over the next few years as the market further matures. Market penetration reached 117% in 2016 and is predicted to reach between 119% and 122% by 2021 driven by the uptake of both 4G and 5G services. The split in mobile operator market share has remained relatively constant over the last two decades. LG Telecom however has made a marginal increase in market share over that time.

The mobile broadband market is highly mature in South Korea. Penetration has increased moderately over the past five years from 105% in 2012 to 111% in 2016. Prepaid voice services have not been particularly prevalent in South Korea, with the subscription model dominating the mobile market. South Korea has the world's highest number of broadband services per capita. Korea's policy emphasis has been to establish an Ultra Broadband convergence Network (UBcN) with 1Gb/s speeds on fixed lines and 10Mb/s on wireless.

Since breaking through the 10 million subscriber mark in 2002, subscriber growth has steadily increased, reaching over 20 million fixed broadband subscribers by 2016. Market penetration is predicted to continue to grow moderately over the next five years reaching over 50% by 2021, with a market penetration of 41%. Growth is being driven by an expected increase in converged solutions being offered such as IPTV and Smart Home services. Much will depend on the continuing strength of the economy in South Korea.

Internet use is widespread in South Korea with surveys even including children as young as three years of age. The internet has permeated all aspects of society and has made a significant contribution to education even at pre-school level. Internet penetration reached 91% by 2016.

The widespread adoption of the Internet in South Korea coupled with the continued pace of development has resulted in an exciting digital economy. This report also looks at various aspects of the digital economy in South Korea that support the drive to converged services. It includes information on e-commerce users, e-banking and e-government. It also contains information on internet usage patterns.

Key developments:

ISK Telecom (SKT) signed a contract with Samsung Electronics for the deployment the world's first commercial Internet of Things (IoT)-dedicated nationwide LoRaWAN network.

KT and Nokia Networks launched the first IoT lab in South Korea.

Three operators hold over 80% of the Korean broadband market: KT, SK Broadband and LGU+.

South Korea's broadband subscriber base continues to rise. The move towards faster speeds and becoming full-service operators is expected to further drive this trend.

FttX deployments have increased as operators try to gain customers through bundled services such as high-definition IPTV.

Growth is being driven by an expected increase in converged solutions being offered such as IPTV and Smart Home services.

South Korea's mobile network operators are expected to roll out trial 5G services in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

SK Telecom (SKT) completed a successful test of five-band carrier aggregation (5C).

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus' launched the world's first commercial interconnected VoLTE service.

Key

Companies mentioned in this report:

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Under the contract, repairs were made at 150 ARP from November 2016 through August 2017. Indonesian delegates conducted a flight test inspection, examined the helicopters and signed the necessary documents.

"We are pleased to say that repairs of helicopters for the Indonesian Army were completed in accordance with the schedule. Russian Helicopters is always ready to ensure proper and timely repairs and servicing of machinery manufactured in Russia," said Igor Chechikov, Russian Helicopters' Deputy CEO for Aftersales Service.

The first Mi-35P attack helicopters were supplied to Indonesia in September 2003. In accordance with an intergovernmental agreement, in September 2007 Indonesia ordered another three Mi-35P helicopters which were supplied in September 2010. An official ceremony to mark the handover of the helicopters to the Indonesian Army was held on October 20, 2010, at Pondok Cabe Airport (the civilian and military airport in Jakarta).



The Mi-35P is the export version of the Mi-24P, a gunship version on which the 12.7mm machine-gun is replaced with a fixed side-mounted 30mm GSh-30K twin-barrel cannon.
Lyft has today announced that it has now expanded the coverage of its service to 40 states in total. To be clear, Lyft already does essentially operate in all the states within the US. However, the difference here is that Lyft is now claiming that the entirety of the 40 confirmed states are now covered. Meaning, anyone in any of those 40 states, can now get a Lyft anywhere within that state. Regardless of where, or how rural the location.

As a result, Lyft now states that it has the largest coverage area of any rideshare service in the USA while also adding that 94-percent of the US is now being serviced by Lyft. Which the company explains equates to more than 9 out of 10 Americans now having access to the ride-sharing service. While this is good news for consumers, as now more consumers than ever can get a Lyft, and to more places than ever  and especially for those who are based in more remote locations, or more dependent on car services in general. This also represents just how much the company has been investing in its growth of late.

Something which has become apparent on multiple fronts in 2017. As Lyft has recently started making a number of big moves which look to further cement its position as one of the most dominant ridesharing services in the country. Examples of which can be seen in the different partnerships Lyft has announced with major US brands and companies, such as Amtrak and Taco bell. The Amtrak deal for example, sees the option to book a Lyft integrated within the Amtrak Android app. Making hailing a ride from Lyft easier and quicker than ever before for Amtraks fairly substantial daily user base. Aspects which collectively have started to show Lyft making some real momentum within the ride-sharing market, as in the last quarter it was reported that Lyft had seen its business grow at a faster rate than Uber. For those interested in knowing if their state is one of those that is now 100-percent covered by Lyft, the image below provides a full breakdown of those 40 states. Although it is worth noting that coverage does not necessarily equate to extensive coverage. Meaning, while you can order a Lyft in just about anywhere in the states listed below, waiting times will vary greatly depending on how many drivers are operating within a given area.
Following in the footsteps of the companys flagship smartphone for 2017, the Moto Z2 Force, Motorola has now announced a new addition to its Moto X line as the Moto X4. Unlike the Moto Z2 Force, the Moto X4 is by design a less premium device, and by the same token is also designed to be a more affordable phone. Speaking of which, along with the main introduction to this new 2017 Moto X device, Motorola has also now provided some details on the US availability of the Moto X4  although not anything too detailed

First up, the Moto X4 is not due to become available in the US until later in the year. While it is now being showcased at IFA 2017, the showcasing is only a preview of the smartphone with Motorola confirming that the Moto X4 will become available in the US later this fall and following an initial launch period in September which will see the Moto X4 becoming available in a select number of European countries. As a result there is no current firm date on when interested buyers in the US will be able to pick up the Moto X4. Although, it is coming. Likewise, Motorola has yet to provide any detailed information on the US pricing of the Moto X4. With the only confirmed pricing coming through being the 399 price that the smartphone will launch for in Europe. To put this into some perspective, this price roughly equates to $475. Whether it will launch at that price exactly remains to be seen, although it seems likely to be a good guide price for now. Especially considering that this is a smartphone that is designed to be a more affordable option compared to the Moto Z2 Force. Which for reference currently costs just over $700. With the spec differences in mind, it stands to reason that the Moto X4 will be available at a significantly lower price.

On the topic of those specs, the Moto X4 seems to be a device which looks to strike a balance between price and performance. So for instance, the display comes in at 5.2-inches, while the resolution comes in at 1920 x 1080. Likewise, the main internals consist of 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core SoC. Cameras are an area where the Moto X4 does look to excel though, as like the Moto Z2 Force, the Moto X4 employs a dual rear camera setup. Although compared to the Moto Z2 Forces twin 12-megapixel cameras, the Moto X4 rear camera setup consists of a 12-megapixel camera coupled with an 8-megapixel secondary camera. Additional features include a 16-megapixel front-facing camera, 3,000 mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0 support, a fingerprint sensor, and Android 7.1 (Nougat). In addition to greater levels of durability, such as an IP68-certified body.
As many may already be aware, there is an ongoing argument about whether or not Google has become too big, powerful, and influential raging across several legal and socio-political spheres. Its an argument for which both sides have their merits and the issue itself appears to stem from several controversies the company has found itself embattled with over the past several years, with some calling the corporation a monopolistic entity akin to a monarchy. Meanwhile, on the other side of the argument, are those who see the company as doing what any company does by looking out for its own best interests. There is also an argument to be made for how the company is reacting in response to currently or recently being embattled on so many fronts. As with most controversial discussions, there is more underlying complexity than would allow for a simple or easy answer.

To begin with, Google has been at the center of several legal actions which have resulted in fines, penalties, or judicial redirection for the company and its services. In one case in Russia, for example, the company was recently forced to open up its proprietary browser for its Android operating system so that users could select a different search engine from their own. The leading argument, in that case, is that although users had the option to choose another browser entirely, there was simply not enough separation between Chrome and Googles separate search service. In another case, the E.U. determined that the search giant was in violation of antitrust rules. The ruling resulted in a judgment requiring the company to pay upwards of $2.9 billion in fines and to cease any and all anti-competitive practices. Tied to that case, are allegations that the company sought to and succeeded in removing a team of researchers and journalists from a Google-funded think tank called New America after the team released a statement applauding the E.U.s decision. The group in question, collectively known as the Open Markets team, alleges that soon after the statements were made, Google demanded that all Open Markets members be removed from New America. That followed the cancellation of new hires to the Open Markets team, and New America President Anne-Marie Slaughter, for her part, says that the dismissals and cancellation had nothing to do with any demands made by Google.

Googles troubles also arent just outside of its home country, either. The company has also recently been embroiled in controversy over its decision to let go of an employee over what has been labeled an anti-diversity manifesto. It has been taking firm positions in socio-political arguments regarding immigration, regulation, and other heavily weighted topics. All of that could be pointed to as providing support to claims about Google and, within those arguments, there are plenty of valid points to be made about whether the company has gone too far in disallowing dissent, disagreement, or discussion. There is a lot there that flies directly in opposition to the companys now dropped motto, Dont be evil. On the other hand, according to sources with ties to the New America think tank mentioned above, Google did not always operate this way. In fact, Eric Schmidt  long time executive at Google and its parent company, Alphabet  was chairman of New America for 8 years, ending in May 2016. The Open Markets team was also with New America at that time but the combination of circumstances didnt result in any dismissals or other actions against members of the think tank.

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With that said, all of the most recent actions taken by Google appear, at least on the surface, to be reactionary. The company has long-prided itself as a corporation that is willing to look out for the best interests of its users and employees. There are several Google projects  whether ongoing or that have now ultimately failed, such as the companys efforts to provide internet access to impoverished or underdeveloped parts of the world  which show a unique altruism. Thats despite the fact that each of those projects would also have served to make the company quite a lot of money in the long run. For better or worse, Google has never been a company content with simply being a tech company. The problems that can create, one could argue, are primarily linked to just how big the company itself is. With hundreds of millions of users and customers, accounting for all of its various services and products, Google has a lot of interests it has set itself to protect. Some of those are bound to come into conflict. Moreover, since big organizations like Google could be described as living, breathing things, the drive to genuinely protect customers could easily result in a corporate self-image that places a high degree of importance on the company itself.

None of that is to say that the company hasnt had its missteps, but it may be premature to label Google as anything resembling either a monarchy or monopolistic. As happens with any big business under these types of circumstances, the company has been paying its legal dues for its missteps and perceived slights have, and will have, ramifications of their own that show through either growth or decline of its user-base. It is also at least as likely to change whatever is gaining it bad press as it is to undertake shady operations in order to silence the opposition. After all, if Googles main goal is to continue operating at increasing profit margins, it stands to reason that it would do whatever it can to promote its services and products within whatever legal bounds exist. It shouldnt come as a surprise if it periodically crosses those legal bounds while trying to determine what they are. At the same time, its a safe bet that the company wouldnt want to go too far outside of those bounds, either, since that would jeopardize its popularity and profitability.
FirstNet, the separate cellular and radio network made specifically for first responders, has officially garnered opt-in agreements from 20 different states and US territories. The full list now includes over one third of the total states and territories that belong to the United States of America. As of now, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands are all on board with FirstNet. This does not necessarily mean that FirstNet is ready to go in these places; deployment is not as simple as flipping a switch, and will require significant monetary and manpower investment from all involved.

FirstNet CEO Mike Poth called the news exciting, saying that every new signup was helping to further the overall mission of FirstNet. The unique thing about FirstNet is that FirstNet and AT&T jointly assume any financial liabilities and risks stemming from deployment and maintenance, which means that those two companies foot the bill up front, with no help from the state or territory that theyre servicing. The plan for each deployment starts out generic, as determined by AT&T and FirstNet, and will be customized over time by state and territorial governments. These individual plans for each signee will reportedly go live some time in the middle of September.

FirstNet is, as the name implies, a network made for first responders and emergency personnel. The kicker is that its features were designed in coordination with the same kind of personnel who will be using it. FirstNets penetration is growing by leaps and bounds. Signups for the program began back in July, with Virginia being the first state to sign up. From there, it took less than two months for opt-ins to skyrocket to their existing level. AT&T has the initial contract for FirstNet, and is planning to serve that contract in a rather unique way; by cordoning off a portion of its network specifically for FirstNet use. This approach has multiple benefits, including keeping civilian traffic from plugging up the lines, and being able to implement features like walkie-talkie system-wide without any impact to users of its commercial network.
A new report has just surfaced in Korea, and it claims that the Samsung Galaxy S9 will be announced ahead of schedule, in January. Now, for those of you who do not know, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus were introduced in January, and it seems like Samsung is looking to speed things up a bit. Now, the source is actually quite specific, it claims that the phone will be announced at the end of January, and then become available in mid-February.

Now, the info shared here is actually based on the information provided by companies that make parts for Samsungs flagship handset. The display development for the Galaxy S9 started earlier than expected, quite a bit earlier, actually, three to four months, under the codename Star. Now, weve seen such reports for the Galaxy S8 as well, last year, but such reports turned out to be false, as the phone arrived in March. Having said that, the Galaxy S9 might actually launch ahead of schedule, due to the time Samsung started developing displays for the phone, and it could actually help Samsung fight off competition from Apple. The company actually announced the Galaxy Note 8 a couple of days ago with that very same goal, well, partially, as the Galaxy Note 8 will become available for purchase before the iPhone 8 launches, and if Samsung introduces the Galaxy S9 in January, it will come just in time to steal some customers from Apple.

This is not the first Galaxy S9-related rumor, not even close, the phone has been leaking for quite some time now. A couple of days ago, a rumor surfaced sharing the alleged spec sheet of the Galaxy S9. According to that report, the phone will sport the Snapdragon 845 SoC by Qualcomm, in addition to 4GB of RAM and Android 8.0 Oreo. The devices display will keep its 18.5:9 aspect ratio, and it is possible that well see a 6GB RAM variant of this phone as well. Now, earlier this month, KGI said that the Galaxy S9 will sport a dual camera setup on the back, which is to be expected, considering that the Galaxy Note 8 came with such a setup on its back.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX was one of the most interesting smartphones last year, at least in terms of the design, and the front panel of its successor just surfaced online. If you take a look at the provided image, youll notice that the Mi MIX 2 will sport even thinner bezels than its predecessor, though thats something the companys CEO already confirmed a while back. Bezels on the sides, and above the display are extremely thin, and the chin below the display seems to be considerably thinner this time around.

Now, based on this image, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 will ship with rounded display corners, just like the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, Galaxy Note 8, LG G6 and LG V20. This front panel does not have a cutout for a home key / fingerprint scanner, which probably means that the fingerprint scanner will be placed on the back of this phone yet again. It is still unknown whether Xiaomi plans to include a set of capacitive buttons on this phone (like the company did on the Mi MIX), or will the company include on-screen buttons. Xiaomi had confirmed a couple of days ago that the Mi MIX will arrive on September 11, and the phone will be announced in China. It is possible that the company plans to introduce the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 as well, during that event, but Xiaomi did not mention anything about that, at least not yet.

Now, now much info regarding the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 surfaced at this point, but chances are that the phone will be made out of metal and ceramic, just like its predecessor, and the device will be fueled by the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 will sport a rather big display as well, chances are that it will be a 6.4-inch panel, just like the one on the Xiaomi Mi MIX, though were only guessing here, as such info did not pop up just yet. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 will ship with 6GB of RAM, most probably, though it is possible that Xiaomi will opt to release an 8GB RAM variant as well. This smartphone will ship with Android Nougat out of the box, and on top of Googles OS, youll get Xiaomis MIUI 9 skin.

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Gowling WLG, which was established last year by the merger of major Canadian and British firms, reported 390.1m in turnover in the first full-year results of the combined firm.The Canadian arm of the firm, made up of legacy Gowling Lafleur Henderson, contributed 200m to the revenue, Legal Week said . The UK arm, made up of legacy Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, contributed 190m.The publication estimates that global profits per equity partner (PEP) at 290,000 for fiscal 2016-17.According to The American Lawyer, the UK arm reported 184.7m in revenue for fiscal 2015-16. PEP was at 379,000. Canadian law firms generally do not report financial performance.We were pleased to navigate the Brexit uncertainty last summer, staying close to our key clients and growing our UK business, with our international platform generating over 1,000 new clients and instructions we simply would not have won in the past, said David Fennell, Gowling WLGs UK chief.Andrew Witts, Gowling WLGs UK chair, said that the firms core businesses performed well.Quentin Poole, the firms head of international projects, said when the merger went live that the firm is eyeing to complete two more mergers by 2020. The firm had recently hinted that they are looking at possible deals in China and Germany.
Other than the fact its more spacious than ever before and comes with plenty more equipment as standard, the N-Box soldiers on with great value as its biggest selling point. On sale in two design flavors, the most obvious update from a visual standpoint is the refreshed grille and revised headlights . Opt for the Custom model, and cool-looking LEDs replace the projector lamps.Riding on an all-new platform, the kei car is available in nine solid exterior color options and four two-tone paint jobs. The Custom ups the ante with an even more expansive color palette. Stepping inside, customers of the regular N-Box are greeted by a beige interior with contrasting gray trim on the dashboard and door cards. Thanks to a thinner tailgate and better packaging for the 660-cc engine, spaciousness is superior to the previous model Available in two- and all-wheel-drive, two engine options are listed for the N-Box. The first is of the naturally aspirated variety, producing 58 PS (57 horsepower) and 65 Nm (48 pound-feet). The turbocharged variant is more compelling, but dont expect hair-raising performance from this fellow.Regardless of engine, the N-Box sends the goodies to the driven wheels with the help of a continuously variable transmission. On the safety front, the N-Box is the first kei car from Honda to adopt the Sensing suite of driver-assisting technologies. Road departure mitigation, collision mitigation braking, auto high beams, traffic sign recognition, and adaptive cruise control all come as standard, which is genuinely very considering the size of the N-Box.
Water landings in amphibious aircraft are no cause for alarm, but thats a message still making its way to the general public. An aircraft reported to local police as having crashed off the coast of Maine last week was just an Icon A5 setting down in a routine water landing. Derek Tam-Scott, Icon Aircrafts head of communications, tells AVweb that calls to police reporting A5 water landings are not uncommon. It happened several times in New York City in 2015 when people driving on the George Washington Bridge saw the plane landing on the Hudson River.

Tam-Scott told AVweb the aircraft causing a stir last week was serial number 20, delivered to a customer in July. The customer is basing the aircraft off their yacht and making their way up the East Coast. Photos suggest the ship in question is the Axis Yacht Support vessel (formerly christened the Fast & Furious), which is designed to carry helicopters or watercraft as a support ship for a passenger-carrying yacht. The ships crane, designed to lift vessels up to 12 tons onto the aft deck, appears to have no problem with the roughly 1,100-pound A5.
Art by Ben Bishop

Which came first: the chicken or the Federal Egg Administration? Impossible to say. Physics teaches us that when Bernoulli found lift, his nemesis, Newton, said there must be an opposing reaction. So, when the Wright brothers flew, government pondered how to keep them from impacting all those other aeronauts. Little happened because of Newtons Law of Administrative Inertia: An agency at rest remains at rest until acted upon by an un-ignorable force.

The growth of air traffic control (ATC) followed a predictable path: Innovation (private sector), befuddlement (government), punctuated by periodic disasters, followed by outcry and government reaction. Repeat. Todays National Airspace System (NAS) and its ATC components are the outgrowth of screw-ups, miscalculations and clever winging it.

Meet Me in St. Louis

During the Great War (which wasnt that great; we can do better), belligerents embraced aviations potential but, by adding machine guns, made it self-limiting. When the war to end all metaphors concluded, survivors in the U.S. embraced aviations commercial valuehauling mail, nauseated passengers, and bootleg liquor.

As air traffic increased, the Department of Commerce was charged with putting order to this nascent industry growing faster than politicians could say, Whatever it is, Im against it!1 The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created the Bureau of Air Commerce, which decided who got to fly where and when. Airlines multiplied like pimples on prom night and muscled into airport traffic patterns where confusion reigned. Until Archie.

St. Louis, MO was a pioneer aviation hubits Spirit took Lindbergh to Paris in 1927. With so many airplanes, the concepts near miss and mid-air took shape. Pilot and mechanic Archie League mitigated unruly patterns when, in 1929, he rolled a wheelbarrow to runways end. Inside were his lunch box and two flags. Red flag: Hold. Checkered flag: Cleared for takeoff/landing. Thus, he issued the first ATC clearance and became the first air traffic controller to work through his meal break, planting unionization seeds.

Flags are fine on clear daysnot so much at night or in fog. Enter the control tower with light signals and bright beacons. Radio was added in Cleveland, OH in 1930.

With the advent of gyro instruments, pilots could fly inside clouds, following a low-frequency A and N, four-course range. Lighted airway beacons and radio markers indicated reporting points. Nice, but impractical, since every airliner wanted to follow the same routes at the same time with the result that in the early 1930s about 12 domestic air-carrier collisions were reported per year.

Congress was slow to react until Senator Bronson Cutting was killed in a DC-2, low on fuel and scud-running at night toward destiny. Tragedy spawned a conference in 1935 at which Edgar Gorrel, of the Air Transport Association, established GAs place in the IFR world: Private flying is today a menace. Without objections, the airlines created an air traffic control consortium and agreed to share flight plan information and coordinate departure times, routes and altitudes.

The first Airway Traffic Control Station opened in Newark, NJ in 1935. Air traffic controllers were called Flight Control Officers. Run by the airlines, these enroute centers, as they would later be known, expanded into Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh. In 1936 the Bureau of Air Commerce took control of centers. A year later Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Oakland Centers opened. Atlanta, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Fort Worth opened in 1939, and in 1941 Seattle and Cincinnati joined the list.

Separation Standards Evolve

Vertical separation of traffic is simple: Keep users at different altitudes, and no one hits. Problem is, no one lands. So rules were developed to allow altitude changes based on position reports, much like today when ATC says, Radar service terminated (or lost), report FIGBY.

Radar wasnt common until 1940 when the British were dealing with German air traffic over London. Before radarwhich really didnt make the ATC scene with great effect until the 1960scontrollers hovered over maps and plotted airliner progress as dispatchers phoned in position reports. Direct pilot-to-center radio communication wasnt available until 1949.

Controllers tracked aircraft progress with small shrimp boats pushed across the map. Each represented an airplane and had a clip holding a slip of paper with the call sign and altitude. Shrimp boats would serve well into the radar age on flat-top radar displays. Before digital data tags, controllers wrote aircraft data on the plastic data tags and gently nudged them across the scope.

Additionally, each flight had a flight progress strip with more information. By stacking these strips, early controllers formed the 3-D picture, and to some extent their descendants still do.

Once an aircraft passed a fix, another at the same altitude could also pass. If two were approaching the same fix at the same altitude, the controller could instruct one to climb or descend before a certain point or stop one in a holding pattern until the airspace was clear.

This is easy where flight paths cross at right angles, but someone had to figure how much room was needed to protect these converging points based on all the possible converging angles. There was no ATC manual until the controllers wrote it.

Non-radar separation gets muddier when twoor moreairplanes are at the same altitude on the same route, especially if the trailing aircraft is overtaking. In the 1930s, in-trail separation was at least 10 minutes. The moving math of non-radar air traffic separation rapidly developed out of necessity, and safely remains the basis of separation standards today. If a 2017 approach controller loses radar, traffic gets slapped onto airways and separated by altitudes, routes and speed as pilots stumble making position reports and estimates to subsequent fixes.

In 1940, the newly created Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) took over ATC. By the time the U.S. entered WWII in 1941, the CAA ran 24 enroute Centers with 4000 employees. By wars end, the CAA had 7800 air traffic controllers.

Postwar Boom

Peace brought a surge in civil aviation. Former military pilots transitioned into the airlines. Non-pilot veterans learned to fly under the GI Bill, which meant more airplanes being built and more airliners reaching new markets. DC-3s gave way to DC-6s and Lockheed Constellations (Connies), flying higher, faster and stretching ATC resources. From 1949 to 1955 airline passenger traffic doubled, even as CAA staffing levels were cut. In 1955, the DC-7 premiered, capable of flying non-stop from the U.S. to Europe, carrying 100 passengers at 300 knots.

More traffic in an overburdened and underfunded ATC system with little radar service, meant midair collisions and near misses occurred at uncomfortable rates. On June 30, 1956, a United DC-7 hit a TWA Super Connie at 21,000 feet over the Grand Canyon, killing all on both airliners. Post-accident fingers pointed, politicians ha-rumphed, but the public demanded changeto what, most didnt know. In short order, Congress funded the CAA to increase the number of VORs, purchase 82 advanced long-range radars and install an IBM 650 digital computer at Indianapolis Center, and should the computer thing work out, buy more. The modern ATC system emerged from the Grand Canyon ashes. Except, while the CAA met challenges posed by DC-7s and Super Connies, Boeing took orders for its 707 and Douglas for the DC-8. ATC needed to adapt faster, before TWA and United could meet again.

The Jet Age

Ground speeds suddenly reaching 600 knots changed everything, with airlines leading the way and the CAA playing catch-up. In December, 1957 CAA classified all airspace above 24,000 feet as Continental Control Area with a dozen super skyways planned for transcontinental commercial traffic. With no private jets, this was primarily for airlines.

By 1958, 707s and DC-8s were in service, each capable of hauling 189 passengers. The same year recorded three notable mid-air collisions. The first occurred when an Air Force C-118 (DC-6) collided with a Navy P2V patrol bomber over Los Angeles, killing 50. The second midair was near Las Vegas when an Air Force F-100 Super Sabre cut through a United DC-7 at 21,000 feet, leaving 49 dead. The third collision again mixed civilian and military when a VFR Air National Guard T-33 trainer collided with an IFR four-engine turboprop Capital Airlines Viscount over Maryland, killing 61.

A day after the Maryland midair, Senator Mike Monroney from Oklahoma, introduced the Federal Aviation Act, whichamong other thingscreated the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). President Eisenhower signed it into law on August 23rd, proving that government can move quickly when the body count gets embarrassing.

The FAA was charged to oversee and regulate everything in aviation. The first administrator was retired Air Force General Elwood R. Quesada, who rolled into office kicking butts and making changes. But it took another midair to spark the next airspace upgrade.

Past and Future Collide

Mid-morning December 16, 1960 brought low ceilings and snow to New York City, as a TWA Super Connie was cleared for the ILS approach into LaGuardia Airport. Heading into Idyllwild Airport (now JFK) was a United DC-8. The last of the piston airliners and first of the jets met over Staten Island when the DC-8, not in radar contact and traveling in excess of 300 knots, overshot its holding fix. Essentially, the United crew was lost and navigating with one VOR receiver, the other being inoperable. Radar service and visibility were minimalTWA was on a New York approach radar scope, but United was not. One of Uniteds engines scooped through TWAs cabin, dropping the Connie onto Staten Island. United continued toward Idyllwild as the crew steadily lost control of the damaged DC-8, until it slammed into the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn, where all onboard United plus eight on the ground, died.

Once again, out of tragedy came reforms: IFR pilots must inform ATC of navigation or communications failures. Turbine-powered aircraft must have distance-measuring equipment (DME). ATC improved its radar hand-off procedures. Finally, no aircraft could exceed 250 knots below 10,000 feet.

1960s and Beyond

ATC continued to improve in the next decade as more jets (B-727, B-737, B-747, DC-9, Lears) entered service and competed for airspace. Despite progress, airliners still crashed, and in 1965, a TWA B-707 hit an Eastern Airlines Connie over Carmel, NY. Both were approaching the Carmel VORTAC when the crews saw each other. Although separated vertically by 1000 feet, the illusion created by the upsloping cloud tops, caused the 707 pilot to think they were converging, so he banked to steer clear. Instead, they hit. Amazingly, TWA limped safely into JFK, while Easterns crew lost all control. By playing the throttles, the pilot was able to crash land the four-engine Connie in a level attitude, minimizing fatalities.

The 1960s saw the arrival of ARTS (Automated Radar Terminal System), which put digital tags on radar displays. Adios, shrimp boats (although they were kept as backup). ATC was improving and catching up with the users. Controllers slowly received better equipment and even a pay raise.

In 1967 the newly created Department of Transportation (DOT) renamed the Federal Aviation Agency as the Federal Aviation Administration. Despite the name change, airplanes still collided, including a TWA DC-9 descending into Dayton, OH and a VFR Beech Baron, prompting the creation of Terminal Control Areas (TCA, the precursor of Class B airspace) around busier airports.

Three years later, transponders were required to operate in TCAs. Midair collisions declined, suggesting the FAA was gaining ground. But another problem awaitedair traffic controllers grew actively dissatisfied with FAA management. In 1968, a handful of New York controllers formed the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). In six months, membership grew to 5000.

While organizing controllers didnt have a direct input on air traffic, FAA management was slow to understand controllers gripes. PATCO sickouts, however, did affect traffic, as controller/management relations soured, and so began a decade of ATC labor unrest, erupting on August 3, 1981, when 13,000 air traffic controllers walked off the job and brought IFR traffic to a crawl.

It appeared in the early hours that PATCO had triumphed, but the FAA had learned from the earlier sickout and was prepared to react. Of the controllers who walked, about 850 returned during a brief grace period. The others were fired, and the FAA began the slow process of reinventing the air traffic systemagain.

Repeat

Post-strike ATC would seem to have been in total ruin. Some would disagree, but between late 1981 and today, the FAA managed to restart the stalled system, with a limited workforce and new hires beginning the difficult process of replacing the fired controllers. Those 11,000 lost employees were highly experienced with no available replacements. The economy was in recession, which reduced demands on ATC. This breathing space scared Congress into funding not only to rebuild the NAS but point it toward the future. Goodwill hugs were everywhere, and, eventually, the FAA squandered that to some extent.

From the 1981 rubble came the impetus to radically change how we navigate. Its been a slow slog from ground-based navaids to satnav. GPS is nearly as important to aviation today as Bernoullis So thats how lift works moment in the 18th century. Federal airways designed for DC-2s, might find a place in Smithsonians Air & Space museum, while GPS makes creative routing a reality.

Elsewhere, ATC radar serviceincluding backupsimproved. Simultaneous parallel approach operations funneled even more traffic into saturated airports. Weather radar, including NEXRAD, and wind shear detection improved throughout the 1990s. Still, pilots blundered into thunderstorms, and still they near-missed and occasionally collided, such as the 1986 Cherokee and DC-9 midair over Cerritos, CA. Again, from tragedy springs regulation, which increased use of Mode C and TCAS.

While progress was relatively swift after PATCOs demise, the FAA slipped back into its labor-management ways, leading to the formation of NATCA (National Air Traffic Controllers Association) in 1987, which mustve had PATCO ghosts howling, Told you so.

ATCs future is bright(ish). ADS-B is reality and will continue to revamp NAS and our places within it. And there, beneath the technological and procedural improvements, lies the ATC foundation first established when Archie League waved his flags in 1929. And as the propeller of ATC progress turns, we, inevitably come full circle.

The first enroute air traffic facility was run by the airlines in 1935. Today, the stench of ATC privatizationlargely controlled by the airlinesis again in the air. Perhaps the prescient words of Edgar Gorrel, of the 1930s Air Transport Association, might augur our future: Private flying is today a menace. Time, once again, to decide if were the chicken or the egg about to be scrambled.

The author wishes to thank Mr. Ron Fandrick for his excellent website covering the history of ATC, rwf2000.com/atc, which simplified a lot of the research necessary for this article.

Paul Berge, CFII, is an IFR editor emeritus and author of Private Pilot Beginners Manual (for Sport Pilots, too). Additional information at paulberge.com.

This article originally appeared in the August 2017 issue of IFR magazine.

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Commercial drones are being used to quickly scope out damage, map 3-D views of the flood zone and help with rescue efforts in the areas devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

Drone inspectors: Outside of disaster recovery, one of the fastest-growing uses for commercial drones is to inspect infrastructure, property and equipment. That's how companies and local government officials are putting drones to use, especially in badly flooded areas that are still too dangerous for people to venture into.

How drones are being used to assess damage:

AT&T is using drones to inspect cell towers for damage near Corpus Christi. Drones can provide a more detailed view of the sites than human cell tower climbers, and it can inspect more towers in less time, freeing up workers to make the most urgent repairs. The company told Axios it has deployed 46 drones so far, and has an additional 58 drones on standby.

than human cell tower climbers, and it can inspect more towers in less time, freeing up workers to make the most urgent repairs. The company told Axios it has deployed 46 drones so far, and has an additional 58 drones on standby. Allstate Insurance will fly hundreds of drone missions a day to inspect property in what is probably is largest-scale use of the technology, as will USAA and Farmers Insurance, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

DroneDeploy, which makes software for drones to capture images while flying, plans to publicly share data collected by drones in the areas affected by Harvey so the community and rescue operations can zoom into 3-D maps to see around buildings and bayous and under trees, CEO Mike Winn told Axios. He estimates drones can work six times faster than humans trying to reach the scene.

The FAA has authorized oil and energy companies to look for damage to their facilities, fuel tanks, power lines and other parts of the local power grid.

Taking to the skies: The Federal Aviation Administration warned unauthorized drone operators to steer clear of emergency response operations. As of Thursday, the FAA said it has authorized 43 drone operators who are supporting the response or covering it as part of the media.

Lives saved: Drone enthusiasts also point out their life-saving potential. In a March report, drone maker DJI says drones have rescued at least 59 people from life-threatening conditions, by its count. More than one third of the people rescued were saved by drones operated by civilian bystanders and volunteers, according to the report.
A pair of Republican firms, Definers Public Affairs and WPA Intelligence, partnered up to conduct a survey that would gauge voter sentiment on tax reform.

The firms collected data based on scores from their national model , which were applied to voters in 10 states that President Trump won in 2016 and are currently held by a Democratic Senator up for re-election in 2018.

, which were applied to voters in 10 states that President Trump won in 2016 and are currently held by a Democratic Senator up for re-election in 2018. The survey found "broad support" for the tax reform effort , with average support of 68.43% across 10 key states: Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

, with average support of 68.43% across 10 key states: Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Support for the administration's tax plan was highest in four states Trump won by double-digits in 2016 and where incumbent Democrat Senators are particularly vulnerable: West Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, and Missouri.

The question the firms asked voters in those states:

Please tell me if you support or oppose the tax reform plan that is currently being considered by Congress. This plan cuts taxes and would save the average American family around two thousand dollars per year, or more, by doubling the yearly standard deduction, eliminating the death tax, removing the tax on savings interest and dividends and ending the alternative minimum tax. From what you know do you support or oppose this tax reform plan? The findings:

Florida: 63.1% support Trump's tax plan; while 36.9% oppose it

63.1% support Trump's tax plan; while 36.9% oppose it Indiana: 68.4% support; 31.6% oppose

68.4% support; 31.6% oppose Michigan: 62.6% support, 37.4% oppose

62.6% support, 37.4% oppose Missouri: 72.5% support, 27.5% oppose

72.5% support, 27.5% oppose Montana: 75.0% support; 25.1% oppose

75.0% support; 25.1% oppose North Dakota: 72.8% support, 27.2% oppose

72.8% support, 27.2% oppose Ohio: 67.2% support, 32.8% oppose

67.2% support, 32.8% oppose Pennsylvania: 56.6% support, 43.4% oppose

56.6% support, 43.4% oppose West Virginia: 77.3% support, 22.7% oppose

77.3% support, 22.7% oppose Wisconsin: 68.8% support, 31.2% oppose

Survey method: "7,277 responses were collected via Interactive Voice Response (IVR) calls. Responses were then matched to a consumer data enhanced voter file which contains data on vote history, voter demography, socio-economics, political behavior, and consumer behavior."
1 September 2017 09:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Muslims around the world come together to celebrate Eid al-Adha, also called the "Sacrifice Feast".

Eid al-Adha is the Muslim festival that marks the end of the pilgrimage to Makkah known as Hajj. Eid al-Adha, which symbolizes the highest human qualities, commemorates Abrahams faith and devotion to God.

Prophet Abraham, was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Ishmael as a test of faith. After Abraham acceded to the divine order, he discovered that God had spared his beloved son and replaced his sacrifice with a ram, rewarding him for his faith and devotion.

Every year Muslims across the world sacrifice an animal to commemorate Abrahams devotion and Gods mercy.

The meat from the sacrificed animal [usually sheep or goat] is divided into three parts; one-third for the family; one-third for relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third to the poor.

While many Muslims continue this tradition, purchasing and sacrificing the animal themselves before personally distributing the meat, others prefer to simply buy the meat for themselves and family and pay a charity the equivalent of the third to the poor.

Eid al-Adha is also the culmination of the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam. Pilgrims usually celebrate the Eid in Mecca or Medina after returning from Mina, where the animal sacrifice is offered.

Eid al-Adha is a great holiday across the Muslim world and usually sees Muslims attend mosque for the early prayers, with men and women wearing their best clothes and children often being gifted with new clothes and shoes to celebrate the event.

After the morning prayers they have a feast with their family and friends, and they enjoy being together and sharing.

Muslim families and friends visit each other over the multi-day holiday, while children get money or gifts from parents and older relatives.

The holiday varies year by year, and its date is determined by the Islamic lunar Hijri calendar. In the Islamic lunar calendar, Eid al-Adha takes place on the 10th day of the 12th month and lasts for four days until the 13th day.

This year it will start on Friday, September 1 and will end in the evening of Tuesday.

Azerbaijan is celebrating the holiday on September 1-2, which will be non-working days. As the weekends coincide with non-working days, September 4 Monday, will also be a non-working day in the country, according to the legislation.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 September 2017 10:58 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

"Switzerland is among the top three countries when it comes to foreign direct investments in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan."

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Azerbaijan, Philip Stalder , tells AzerNews about Switzerland-Azerbaijan cooperation, making a particular accent on the ways to develop bilateral cooperation and economy ties.

This year Azerbaijan and Switzerland celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations, which are characterized by open dialogue and are based on several key areas including energy policy, cooperation in the international financial institutions and development cooperation.

Question: How do you assess the relations between our two countries? Which memorable milestones can you highlight in bilateral relations?

Answer: Switzerland and Azerbaijan over the past 25 years have established a close partnership which is characterized by openness, friendship and common interests.

My goal as Swiss Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan is to broaden the relations between our two countries in as many fields as possible - be it on the political, economic, social, cultural or scientific level - and to make our links and Switzerland's presence in Azerbaijan even stronger. A number of indicators show us that we are well underway but there is always room for further improvement.

There is a productive political framework for boosting bilateral relations. President Ilham Aliyev, for example, regularly visits the Swiss mountain resort Davos for participation at the World Economic Forum where he also often meets the rotating President of the Swiss Confederation. On the other hand, we witnessed three official visits from the Swiss Head of State to Azerbaijan over the last years. In addition, regular bilateral visits take place on a ministerial level, between the two parliaments and the Central Bank Governors. Just a few weeks ago in July, the Chairman of the Swiss National Bank, Thomas Jordan, visited Baku and had productive meetings with his counterpart and the main actors within the government dealing with financial stability issues.

Since my arrival in October 2015, I continuously meet with ministers, members of parliament and high officials be it in Baku or in the provinces. From all my contacts, I sense a clear political will on both sides to strengthen bilateral relations and to continue - among other issues - with our long standing partnership on technical cooperation. In this partnership with the government, we focus on macro-economic cooperation including support for improving the framework conditions of the economic development in Azerbaijan. All in all, Switzerland plays an important role as a bilateral donor country.

Q.: Azerbaijan is Switzerland's main trading partner in the South Caucasus. Which directions, in your opinion, are priorities for both countries?

A.: Since many years, a large number of multinational companies from Switzerland have close business links with Azerbaijan and a physical presence in the country. A Swiss-French company in the cement production, for example, represents the biggest foreign direct investment in the non-oil sector. Another Swiss company has plans to strengthen its presence in Azerbaijan through the construction of a new factory at Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park. It comes therefore not as a big surprise that - according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan - Switzerland is among the top three countries when it comes to foreign direct investments in the non-oil sector. Our companies, so far, have invested more than $370 million in Azerbaijan, according to this source.

Q.: As a neutral country, Switzerland played an important role in resolving many conflicts. How could Switzerland contribute to the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

A.: Switzerland indeed has a long tradition in playing an active role in peace processes - this in cases where both parties in a conflict ask us to do so. Many negotiations and meetings took place in Switzerland. Furthermore, Switzerland offers its good services to the international community and currently represents the interest of Russia in Georgia and vice-versa as well as the interests of USA in Iran. Swiss diplomacy has vast experience in the field of mediation. In the past, presidential meetings between leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia took also place in Switzerland, the last in December 2015 in Bern.

As far as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, the mandate of the peace process is clearly given to the OSCE Minsk Group. Although we are not a member of this format, we fully support the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group and favor a structured negotiation process in order to find a sustainable solution to the conflict based on the principle of international law. Switzerland condemns violent incidents and military attacks on civilians.

Let me also mention here, that the new Secretary General of Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE), Ambassador Thomas Greminger, is a former Swiss diplomat.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 September 2017 11:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The national holiday of Switzerland was celebrated in Baku with an official reception organized by the country`s Embassy on the last day of August.

A grand reception brought together the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Azerbaijan, representatives of the Swiss diaspora and public figures of Azerbaijan.

Swiss National Day, also known as the founding of the Swiss Confederation, is always held on the first of August since 1891. This year, the Swiss celebrate 726 years of togetherness. The date refers to an alliance formed in 1291 by the three cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the centre around which Switzerland was built. It is also the one day Switzerland's residents come together to celebrate in towns and cities all over the country.

Ambassador of Switzerland to Baku, Philip Stalder, opening the event, spoke about the history of the creation of the Swiss Confederation.



Stalder said that although Switzerland is small in size, it is the leader in terms of living standards, democracy, technology development and innovation.

Speaking about the Azerbaijani-Swiss relations, Stalder said that two countries celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year. These relations are characterized by the existence of mutual interests, close economic and trade ties, according to the diplomat.



He also said that Switzerland is one of the leaders in direct investments in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan and was one of the main donor countries for rendering assistance to internally displaced people.

In turn, Ambassador-at-large of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan Shahin Abdullayev on behalf of the Azerbaijani government congratulated the Ambassador of Switzerland and all the people on the national holiday, wished prosperity to this country.



He recalled numerous bilateral visits between the countries, noting their importance in the development of bilateral relations. The diplomat expressed hope that the Azerbaijani-Swiss relations will develop for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries.

Switzerland is a small, mountainous country in Central Europe with not many natural resource sand no access to the sea. Today, based on data from www.worldometers.info, the land-locked country has only 8.46 million people (latest data), including 2 million foreigners, or just 0.11 percent of the world population of 7.5 billion, ranking them 97th biggest in the world by population. With just 41,285 square kilometers of total area, Switzerland is the 135th biggest country in the world by area.

Based on data from the WorldBank, the Swiss economy is the worlds 19th biggest economy with $659.82 billion GDP.



With a record $303 billion in exports in 2016, Switzerland is the worlds 15th largest export economy. People may wonder how a small country with few resources and few people produce products in large quantities, exporting all over the world. Every year Switzerland exports around $100 billion in gems, precious metals and jewelry. Its second biggest export sector is medicine, which stood at $67.1 billion last year. Other exports include $19.7 billion in clocks and watches, $19.3 billion in organic chemicals, $15.4 billion in optics and medical equipment and around $900 million in chocolate. Switzerlands biggest service sector, banking, manages $2.7 trillion.

Switzerland recognized Azerbaijan as an independent state in 1991 and a year later the diplomatic relations between the two states were established.

In December 2011, Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Bern, while Switzerland has its embassy in Baku since 2007. The Azerbaijani-Swiss Friendship Group within Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan has been active since 2009. The Swiss-Azerbaijani Friendship Group in the Swiss Federal Assembly was established in 2009.

The Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the two countries was established based on the agreement on trade and economic cooperation.

Azerbaijan, which is Switzerlands most important trading partner in the South Caucasus, enjoys good economic ties, since the federal republic in Europe cooperates with the country for over 20 years. The two countries have accelerated their bilateral relations over the past decade by signing several agreements strengthening their cooperation, especially in the economic sphere.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 September 2017 10:58 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of congratulations to President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska as his country celebrates Constitution Day.

"I hope that the development of Azerbaijan-Slovakia friendship and cooperation will continue to serve the best interests of our nations," the Azerbaijani President said in his message.

"On this remarkable day, I wish you the best of health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of Slovakia lasting peace and prosperity," the head of state said.

President Ilham Aliyev has also congratulated President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Independence Day.

"We happy for the achievements of brotherly Uzbekistan, which is confidently moving forward on the path of independence, in strengthening statehood, and in socio-economic and cultural spheres. Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are bound together by ties of traditional friendship and cooperation," the President said in his message.

"I believe that based on mutual trust and support our bilateral relations will continue to develop and strengthen in accordance with the will of our peoples."

"Dear Shavkat Miromonovich, taking this pleasant opportunity I extend my most sincere congratulations to you and to all the Muslim population of your country on the blessed occasion of Eid-al-Adha. I wish you the best of health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of Uzbekistan peace and prosperity," the head of state added.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 September 2017 11:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has sent a letter of congratulation to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the two countries.

"It is with immense pleasure that I would like to note that for a quarter of century friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries has been rapidly developing and growing year by year," the Kazakh leader said.

"Discussions held during my official visit to your country in April ensured the opening of new boundaries in relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and determined new priorities of cooperation in various areas. The implementation of the reached agreements will give an additional boost to the development of strategic cooperation between our countries."

"Dear Ilham Heydarovich, taking this opportunity, I wish you the best of health, happiness and success in your state activity and the brotherly people of Azerbaijan peace and prosperity," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 September 2017 10:50 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Paris will host meetings of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, and the Monitoring Committee on Sept. 4-7, said the press service of Azerbaijans parliament.

The meetings will be attended by a group of Azerbaijani MPs, led by chairman of the parliaments International and Interparliamentary Relations Committee, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Samad Seyidov.

The Azerbaijani delegation will include MPs Sahiba Gafarova, Vusal Huseynov and Sabir Hajiyev.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The possibly last major reshuffle before the national election is expected before PM Modi leaves on Sunday for a BRICS summit in China.

Ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several ministers have resigned from their posts.

Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, has tendered his resignation. It is understood that both Amit Shah and PM Modi were unhappy with the attendance of Kulaste in the ministry.

The others who have resigned are Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and minister of state Sanjeev Balyan. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has also reportedly offered to quit on health grounds.

Some ministers could lose their jobs over performance. Radha Mohan Singh has faced tremendous flak over the death of protesting farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur, where the BJP lost a by-election to the Congress recently.

The possibly last major reshuffle before the national election is expected before PM Modi leaves on Sunday for a BRICS summit in China. The reshuffle could also see the entry of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) nominees into the ministry, with the party striking an alliance with the BJP in Bihar recently.
The Noble Profession Of Teaching Life oi-Lekhaka

Have you ever wondered, why in the movies the teacher is depicted as someone who earns respect without any provocation? Even the uneducated show it with gestures, if not with words. The very mention of the word teacher magnets a great deal of respect. It is nothing but because of the nature of the profession-teaching.

Everyone knows and acknowledges that teaching is not an easy thing to do. The responsibility that lies on the shoulders of a person who teaches is not something to be taken for granted. Teaching ignites the minds of tomorrow. It can create a better future for an individual and of course, subsequently for the country.

Teaching is the only profession that nurtures the young minds to take up other professions in the future. A teacher might have to deal with a number of students with different personalities and attitudes. The art of teaching channelises these different minds into seeing a vision of what they wish to become and what should contribute to the society. This is why teaching is considered a noble profession.

The duty of the priests is considered pious for they serve as a medium to communicate with God, or it is better to say that they intermediate between the ordinary man and God. The work of a teacher is given greater importance because God only creates mankind but it is teaching that teaches a man to dream big and never give up no matter what. Teachers are Gods themselves and that is why it is said "Matha Pitha Guru Daivam".

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, himself a teacher, once said, "Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber and future of an individual." Teaching is not only about making a child ready for the future, to achieve his career goals, but it is more about developing the personality as a whole. One cannot be stable in one's career with lack of character and caliber. Teaching is the discovery of that. It does not happen in an instant. It is tedious and takes its own time.

There is no better way than teaching to get to know the different faculties in the mind of a child. It helps a child unearth new facets of himself and gives provision for improvement at every stage. Each stage in a child's life poses different challenges and teachings act as an aid to confront and tackle them with courage and ease.

Kalam has paid tribute to his science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer in his autobiography, The Wings of Fire. Even after reaching great heights, Kalam never forgot that this teacher was his inspiration to become a scientist. It was the care and guidance given by the teacher that made the difference in Kalam's life.

Good teachings never fade with time. With regard to the Indian scenario, even in this modern age, one refers to the words of Dronacharya in the epic of Mahabharata and that is because of the quality and the impact it has had on the perspectives and life of a person.

However teaching can never be noble without the presence of a teacher. Sidney Hook said, "A teacher is the heart of the educational system." This is very true. Having all the amenities like a building, boards, desks, chalk without a good teacher is useless. The interesting fact to be noted here is that a teacher can survive and impart knowledge despite the facilities available. The noblest of all professions is nothing without a teacher.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2017, 9:18 [IST]
By Damali Mukhaye:

Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe has officially assumed office after his predecessor Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu formally handed over to him yesterday evening.

The university spokesperson Rita Namisango says the university has set 14th September as the date for his installation.

While handing over office yesterday, Prof Ddumba his successor and also commended the University Management team, Senate and Council, and other stakeholders for the support accorded to him in the realization of the Universitys core values of teaching and learning during his five year tenure in office.

Prof. Ddumba also requested the Management Team and University Council to re-think the idea of merging the Planning and Development Department with the Finance Department to become an Independent Unit.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia risks investigations and sanctions from overseas authorities known to impose hefty fines if its anti-money laundering compliance scandal extended into foreign countries, investors have been warned.

Shares in CBA bucked the trend among other banks and fell on Friday, as it said it maintained "proactive relationships" with foreign regulators, in the wake of a media report claiming an internal review found gaps in the bank's compliance systems within its institutional bank overseas.

The comments from CBA, and the news report of the internal review, were seen by analysts as a sign the bank is in talks with authorities overseas about anti-money laundering, which could open the door to additional action or fines.

CLSA analyst Brian Johnson told clients the situation was "clear evidence that CBA's present AUSTRAC dispute goes well beyond the simple 'coding error' rhetoric from CBA".
"I think it is a crisis for enterprise bargaining": Head of the ACTU Sally McManus. Credit:Nick Moir The WA decision has opened the way for up to 30 universities across the country to remove union control on management decisions, fixed-term contracts and staff discipline rules. Birmingham thinks there is scope to lower rates of funding growth for universities based on their ability to absorb costs through more modern and efficient staffing structures. But while he is pushing for open slather, Labor wants new laws to restrict employers from terminating enterprise agreements so easily. Joellen Riley, the Dean of Law at Sydney University, publicly resigned her membership of the NTEU in 2013. Credit:Edwina Pickles If an enterprise agreement is terminated, workers fall back onto award wages which are often much lower and conditions, won over many years of collective bargaining, can be lost. And Labor and the unions are worried about an increasing number of enterprise agreements which have been terminated in the last two years.

"It can put employees and unions in the position of having to start again and mount arguments for previously hard-fought improvements to their pay and conditions," Labor's workplace spokesman Brendan O'Connor says. Illustration: Richard Giliberto "Labor is concerned it has become too easy for employers to undercut wages and conditions through various loopholes in the Fair Work Act, particularly at a time when we are facing record low wages growth." Labor says bargaining power is tilted in favour of bosses, and wants to change fair work laws to limit the ability of employers to terminate agreements. Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus says companies need to be stopped from bypassing the normal bargaining process and reaching for the "nuclear option".

"I think it is a crisis for enterprise bargaining," she says. "You can no longer bargain fairly." "If it's the case now ... that employers can just apply to have agreements cancelled, we are in serious trouble." According to the unions, workers could see their pay packets cut by 30 per cent if they are forced onto lower paying awards, despite decades of bargaining for better wages and conditions. McManus accuses lawyers of hawking the enterprise agreement termination model to employers and accuses Murdoch University of inappropriately spending up to $2.8 million in public money to "get its own way in bargaining". Former ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons, who now works for think tank Per Capita, says he was shocked to see hardline IR tactics now being used in the public sector.

"This is migration of a tactic from the mining industry which has always been the reservoir of the worst in Australian industrial relations," he says. Lyons believes the Fair Work Commission has set the bar too low in satisfying the legal test set out in section 226 of the Fair Work Act, which says an agreement must be terminated if it is not contrary to the public interest and it is appropriate taking into account all the views and circumstances of employees, unions and employers. "It's not really the way enterprise bargaining was supposed to work that essentially the employer can go to a tribunal and wipe out potentially 20 years of the outcomes of collective bargaining. It's pretty outrageous really," Lyons says. But with companies and now universities armed with the "nuclear option", Lyons says unions need to lift their game in the skills of negotiation and bargaining. Innes Willox, chief executive of employers' organisation Australian Industry Group, says the Fair Work Act provisions that enable the termination of an expired enterprise agreement contain substantial protections, and strike the right balance between the interests of all parties. "It is important that the provisions remain in place," he says.

'Old rituals' Academics at the University of Sydney were divided when it came to supporting the National Tertiary Education Union's decision to strike on Open Day. One left-wing academic was critical of the union "falling back on old rituals", including strike action. The academic believes the union would have been better off "handing out leaflets on a day when students are making big decisions about their future". The University's Law School dean, Joellen Riley, who publicly resigned her membership of the NTEU in 2013 over its industrial militancy, is now on the university's side of the enterprise bargaining table. She describes negotiations over the past six months as constructive and collegial. "So I was deeply disappointed to see that the NTEU picketed the university on its most important day of the year for showing potential students all the benefits of a Sydney university education," says Professor Riley, an expert in workplace relations law. The university's offer retains conditions in the current agreement, including 50 days of personal leave each year. It also proposes to introduce 22 weeks of paid parental leave for fathers and same-sex partners. The university is offering a 2.1 per cent pay rise, but the union is insisting on 2.4 per cent and plans further strike action next month in its push to get it.

The union's NSW state secretary Michael Thomson says 2.4 per cent is in line with NSW public sector rates. Union members have also been pointing out that university vice chancellor Michael Spence received a $1.4 million salary package last year including a $200,000 bonus. While there are some disagreements about the union's industrial tactics, there is no suggestion so far that Sydney or any other university will follow the Murdoch example. A University of Sydney spokeswoman confirmed the termination option was not being considered. "It is difficult to say at this point in time, the university will need to read the decision to fully understand the applicability of it to our circumstances," she says. "Although we are disappointed that industrial action is being taken by the NTEU, it is important to note the effort that all parties have put into the enterprise bargaining process over many months." The union's national president Jeannie Rea says most universities around the country were negotiating enterprise agreements without resorting to Murdoch's tactics. She says it was "pretty strange for Murdoch to take the step it did" when three other West Australian universities were close to reaching agreements. But Murdoch's decision will give comfort to employers who want a better enterprise agreement. "The significance of this decision is that hopefully it gives employers the courage to push for enterprise agreements that are best practice and not put up with agreements that are outdated," says Minter Ellison partner Kathy Reid.

Reid, who represented Murdoch University, said most employers were not likely to want to take the drastic step of terminating an enterprise agreement. She rejects union claims that the case has undermined enterprise bargaining. In Murdoch's case, she says, the outdated enterprise agreement was holding it back from realising a bright future. "The judgement was recognising that with an outdated enterprise agreement, Murdoch is not going to be able to realise its new strategy and to do all the great things it wants to do." The Fair Work Commission agreed to free Murdoch University of the "constraints and impediments" in its enterprise agreement to allow it to be more agile in transforming to meet new challenges in a "changing globally competitive education landscape". The university wants to be more flexible in determining the way academic staff split their time between teaching and research among other staff management issues. It is operating at a deficit, putting it under great financial strain. But contrary to the university's argument, the union argued that termination of the agreement would make it harder for the union and management to reach a future agreement.
Ownership of retirement properties is set for a major shake-up as operators look to gain funds for growth, and reduce risk, by introducing capital partners.

In comes as the retirement industry faces heated media, regulator, government and financial market scrutiny over questionable business practices including churning of residents, excessive fees and charges, high exit fees and exorbitant refurbishment costs.

Lendlease has 71 retirement villages in its portfolio, including The Baytree by Ardency at Greenwich, Sydney.

Retirement village giant Aveo, under pressure from regulators and facing a NSW government inquiry, recently said it would simplify contracts with elderly residents and provide money-back guarantees and shortened buyback periods.

In terms of ownership it is a very fragmented sector, and pundits say consolidation is needed to push along regulation reforms.
Georges Department Store in Collins Street was once a mecca for shoppers in the post-war period.

Decades later it was reborn as the New Georges. Now it's not much more than a throughway to Little Collins Street.

The George, redesigned by Hecker Guthrie, in Collins Street. Credit:Earl Carter

While the gloss of the centre has disappeared, Hecker Guthrie has reinvented the basement, previously called the Long Room.

Now 'The George' is a beautifully crafted bar/cafe and restaurant bringing back some of the shine to this important Melbourne landmark.
Jamie Summons, the Swiss Re Asia Pacific Head of Weather Solutions, is one of Australia's most experienced energy traders. The core of his job is developing weather and energy hedge products, for example, to smooth out the volatile nature of wind generator Infigen Energy's income. His Swiss Re experience and time spent at TXU, Energy Australia and Barclays Capital have left him scathing about Australia's policy failure, walking into an energy crisis that could be seen coming. To say he is pessimistic about our energy market is an understatement The lack of national co-ordination, an old grid that wasn't prepared for renewables' penetration, the disruptive nature of renewable energy (once built and when generating) being cheaper than thermal and the lack of political will to pay for building idle capacity have combined to mean there will be more blackouts on hot days. At the corporate level, Summons believes smelters have no future here as their existing generous power contracts expire. For other commercial energy users, procurement officers generally have not understood how to hedge their power costs and it's now too late to do so. The shutdown of 5477 megawatt hours of economically uncompetitive thermal production means the grid can barely handle any disruption at times of peak demand. And peak demand is rising again after several years of decline. In February blackouts were avoided in New South Wales only by scaling back consumption at an aluminium smelter. Demand peaked that day at 14,181 MWH, closing in on the previous 14,744 MWH record day set in February, 2011.

Summons says Snowy River 2.0 will help but it is years away. South Australia's big battery farm will only provide power for one hour. Photo-op was a farce According to Summons, the solution for the reliability problem is being prepared to pay for idle capacity, not just for the electricity that is used. That means building gas-fired generators that can be turned on quickly but will often sit idle. Current national policy doesn't allow for that. Building new coal-fired generation is out of the question, it's simply not viable. If you accept what Summons and the other speakers presented to the risk managers  or even half of it - the photo-op of the Prime Minister and energy company chiefs was a farce. Sending letters telling consumers there are cheaper power plans if they bother to ask for them makes no difference to the underlying, worsening crisis. And this is just the simple, obvious stuff.

The projections for the rise and rise of electric cars, for example, mean increased demands on the electricity grid, never mind what higher temperatures do to air conditioning use. Where politics fail, where the ratbag end of the coalition clings to a "clean coal" fantasy, lawyers may be at hand to force change. Among the many present and future threats raised by Minter Ellison special counsel Sarah Barker was the example of force majeure being declared during the South Australian blackout this year. Force majeure suggests there was an Act of God involved, that the extremely high winds toppling the powerlines could not be foreseen  but the way could be open for lawyers to claim that such extreme weather is no longer an Act of God, that it has indeed been predicted. Lawsuits have started

The lawsuits have already started against the carbon giants. Barker suggests what will matter is not so much allegations that burning oil and coal has caused damage, but that Exxon and peers knew it, suppressed that knowledge for decades, encouraged "alternative facts" and thus delayed or prevented earlier action to prevent the damage. She believes Big Carbon eventually will have to settle multi-party action with a mega-settlement, as Big Tobacco did in the US. And in the meantime, local companies now have clear warning of the need to have policies in place to deal with the impacts of climate change on everything from the risk of investing in stranded assets to extreme price movements. While our politicians at both state and federal levels continue to fail, shareholders and consumers will have to pay more. Loading
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court of Kenya has today ruled that Uhuru Kenyatta is not the validly elected president of the Republic of Kenya.

Kenyan law makers have described the Supreme Courts invalidation of Kenyattas presidency as an Indictment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which declared Kenyatta winner.

The petition filed by NASA candidate Raila Odinga in the aftermath of the August 8th polls hinged on three issues: whether elections were conducted in accordance with the laws, whether there were Irregularities and illegalities during the whole process and the Integrity of the process.

While reading the determination, The Chief Justice David Maraga said that these four out of six judges agreed that these irregularities affected the integrity of the whole process. One judge was indisposed.

Elections will be held within 60 days in accordance with Kenyas electoral laws.
There will be jobs your boss will assign that will be enjoyable, and for which you are well suited. However, there will often be tasks which are boring, mundane or you just don't like doing. Forbes columnist Rich Karlgaard suggests that if you want your boss to trust you with the big things, you need to demonstrate your capability with all the small things. Take Yoda's advice, and don't just try, commit yourself completely, consistently demonstrating belief and energy. This will make your boss more inclined to think of you first when higher value work becomes available. Enthusiasm also goes a long way to help your boss forgive mistakes and missteps as you learn.

4.Don't be offended by 'Please take care of this'

In a recent interview, Rizvi explains the expression "please take care of this", is a signal that your boss has limited mental bandwidth to deal with an issue and trusts your judgement to resolve. However, bosses suffer from the "curse of knowledge" and they assume that everything that they know is also in your head.

While the amorphous email request "please take care of this" might seem galling, take it as a compliment and then ask for more information. Go back to your boss with a plan for how you propose to tackle the issue and the timeline for delivery. Also, give your boss insight into how you will prioritise this relative to other work you have been allocated. A problem-solving attitude will be appreciated by your boss and will elicit the extra specificity you need to do a good job, without undermining your commitment to being enthusiastic.
Most single parents are women. Credit:Fertnig She has difficult conversations with some of these clients, talking about how to reduce expenditure and whether the children can continue to be educated privately. "These conversations can bring people to tears; it's really quite sad and tough," Kent says. It's becoming more common for dads to be equal co-parents after separation or divorce. Back on her feet

Debi Slinger, 56, from Melbourne divorced five years ago. She has three children aged 15, 17, 19. She had primary care of the children until recently, but now they're living mainly with their father because he lives in a more convenient location for them and she is working full time. At the time of her divorce, when her youngest child was 10, Debi did not have a paid job though she had worked in training organisations before she had children and holds academic qualifications in business. "It was a terrible time," she says. When she received her settlement, she thought "this is not going to be enough to retire on". However, after the initial set-back of her divorce she got back on her feet.

She found her job as a client relationship manager by word of mouth, saying that she had to put herself out there. "You have to be bold and it's hard to sell yourself when you [feel] kicked in the guts, but I had kids to look after." With the help of a property strategist, Debi has secured her financial future with three investment properties. She used part of her money from the settlement to pay for the deposits. "Having a focus when you are single is really important so that you can stay on track," Debi says "Property is a safe vehicle for me and I have a plan to buy more for the benefit of my retirement; and perhaps I will sell a property to help my children get a foothold on the property market.

"At the time of my divorce, I didn't think I would be in the position that I am in now and it hasn't always been easy." Solo by choice While most become single parents after breaking up with the other partner, some women are going into parenthood on their own. Elisabeth*, 41, from Sydney, was in relationships that broke down. "I got to my late 30s and didn't want to live with that massive regret [of not being a mother]," she says. The personal assistant has a healthy six-month-old girl after undergoing IVF. She says it is difficult financially, but it's a price she is happy to pay.

"I'm just about to go back to work full time; much earlier than I would have liked and it's purely a financial decision, mostly because of the costs of child care," she says. "I knew from the beginning what I was getting into. I worked out that I could afford to take six months off; though it has drained my savings to practically nothing," she says. Elisabeth rents and has had to cut back on lifestyle expenses  she doesn't go to restaurants and drinks instant coffee. "I haven't taken a holiday since 2010," she says. While some like Elisabeth are able to plan, others who become separated or divorced can find that they signed up for things with their partners, where the implications only become clear after the relationship ends.

Eyes open Dianne Charman, a financial planner and founder of Jade Financial Group, says couples need to talk about about money and especially joint debts. This helps to avoid a "heart-stopping moment" when a partnership ends and there is disbelief that they had ever signed up for this or that, she says. There are many reasons people avoid talking about finances with partners, but Charman says it can leave them at a disadvantage during the relationship, let alone if it ends. "They may think that money discussions will lead to tension and that they are not ready for that discussion," Charman says.

They may have other attitudes such as "we're in love and that will solve everything", she adds. Tidy up Laura Menschik, a financial planner and director of WLM Financial Services, who was a single parent herself, says it's important to "tidy up" the finances as soon as possible after a relationship breaks-down. "They may need even more insurance as a single parent," Menschik says. "I remember one of the things that worried me on becoming a single parent was who was going to look after me if I something happened to me like sickness or an accident."

There will likely be joint debts, where the terms of the loans means each partner is liable for the whole debt if, for some reason, an ex-partner dodges their responsibilities to meet repayments. There could be joint bank accounts and although it might not be top of mind, there are superannuation and wills to sort out. While superannuation is held in separate names, it is legally considered a marital asset and balances can be transferred as part of any financial settlement in divorce. "You need to look at who is the beneficiary of your super fund," says Menschik says, referring to the person nominated to receive the death benefit. Most couples have each other as the beneficiary, and this is not automatically invalidated by divorce or separation, nor by changing your will.

"Estate planning is another thing to look at, as divorce or separation does not negate a will," she says. "Look at the provisions for guardianship of the children should the other parent predecease you." *Not her real name Where to get help The Australian Government offers many different kinds of parenting payments through Centrelink.

As the payments are income tested and sometimes assets tested, which payments you receive and how much is going to depend on individual circumstances. The main benefit for many single parents will be the parenting payment, which pays a maximum of $748.10 a fortnight, which incudes the pension supplement. This will be the main income support benefit for most single parents, but there are others payments such as the child care benefit and the family tax benefit, A and B, where eligibility rules and payment rates are too complex to list. Loading If a single parent re-partners, benefits will likely be affected.
The owners of the Sunshine Coast's Big Pineapple have proposed a major overhaul of the ageing attraction, with adventure tourism, music, a water park, camping, a brewery and winery in a new application before the local council.

The plans, which owners Brad Rankin and Peter Kendall hoped to roll out over 10 years, included a hotel, glamping, eco-villas and nature walks among the specialty food preparation hub.

Big Pineapple owners Brad Rankin and Peter Kendall want to transform the ageing attraction. Credit:Tammy Law

The venue also planned to make better use of its potential as a music festival site.

Already, Midnight Oil was booked to play the venue on October 14 and the Big Pineapple Music Festival was held each May.
By Ritah Kemigisa

Moslems have been advised to use this Eid al Adhuha to embrace the act of slaughtering animals and sharing meat with their communities if they are to receive more blessings from Allah on this day.

Muslims across the world celebrate this day by slaughtering animals as a land mark to close the year of Islamic calendar.

Speaking to KFM, the Vice president of the Democratic Party in the Western region Hajji Imam Makumbi says this day according to the Moslems is a very important day and that it ought to be observed and respected by all Muslims.
Business groups have hailed the decision to put the historic Waltons Building up for sale as a decision that could build a new gateway to Fortitude Valley.

Fairfax Media revealed the heritage-listed building would hit the market on Thursday, and it prompted a sense of relief among the local business community.

Waltons' Brunswick Street frontage. Credit:Tony Moore

Fortitude Valley Chamber of Commerce president Murray Sutherland said the sale would give a new owner the opportunity to transform a neglected part of the inner-city suburb.

From the chambers point of view it is a terrific opportunity for the new owners to make a landmark statement in that part of the Valley, he said.
As many as 100 subcontractors have been sacked as the federal government's largest department conducts a massive internal fraud probe.

Their contracts were ripped up late last week as allegations of potentially criminal activity inside the Department of Human Services emerged.

As many as 100 employees have been caught up in an internal fraud probe at the Department of Human Services. Credit:Eddie Jim

Many of the subcontractors were supplied by a labour hire company to work on IT projects within the department.

"It appears there are a few 'rogue operators', but because of this breach they had to remove everyone," a source told Fairfax Media.
A deer has rampaged through a Melbourne funeral home, charging at an employee and causing more than $100,000 damage.

The home was left looking like a 'horrific crime scene' after the incident in which a wild deer chased the worker into the chapel before going 'completely nuts'.

Deer are increasingly found in suburban areas. Credit:Orlando Chiodo

The 250kg animal charged at the woman at Tobin Brothers Funerals in Ringwood on Thursday afternoon, leaving the company with a $100,000 repair bill, managing director James MacLeod said.

Mr MacLeod said a staff member was alone in the building when she heard a loud bang and discovered a glass door had been shattered.
Work on Fremantle council's long-awaited $270 million redevelopment of the heart of the port city has finally got under away.

The multi-million dollar spruce-up of Kings Square in the CBD had been pushed back more than three years, while Sirona Capital - the developer the city will work with on the project - tried to secure an anchor tenant to fill some of the 30,000sqm of office space within the city centre.

An artist's impression of the $270 million Kings Square development in Fremantle.

The redevelopment, which is expected to be finished by late 2019, will also see a new civic chamber, library, offices for the City of Fremantle and 16,000 square-metres of retail space.

In November, the Barnett government flagged more than 1500 public servants would move to the port city when the Housing Authority and the Department of Corrective Services and the Department of Transport relocated to Fremantle in 2020.
Australia should develop a nuclear power industry to reduce its emissions, the Minerals Council says, and the Turnbull government should take the first step by removing legal road blocks.

In a new paper titled Removing the Prohibition on Nuclear Power, the lobby group argues just four words - "a nuclear power plant" - need to be cut from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act to begin clearing the legal path to the development of a nuclear industry.

It argues that any nuclear power plant would still be subject to Australia's strict environmental laws and that nuclear power offers zero emissions, base-load energy that can run day and night, and that it is operating in 30 countries around the world.

Most contentiously, it argues the technology is safe, citing a British study by Friends of the Earth - a claim opponents would dispute by highlighting the Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters - and affordable, which opponents would also dispute.
The number of Aboriginal Australians living in NSW and Victoria has doubled since 2001, figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show, far outpacing the growth in the non-Indigenous population of both states.

In NSW, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders has increased from 120,000 in 2001 to 216,000 in 2016 while in Victoria the numbers have almost doubled from 25,000 to 47,000.

"The Indigenous population is growing - rapidly," Australian National University associate professor Nicholas Biddle and research fellow Francis Markham will tell ANU's Centre for Economic Policy Research on Friday.

Over the same period the non-indigenous population has grown by between 15 and 20 per cent in NSW and Victoria.
Power companies would remotely turn down home airconditioners and swimming pool pumps to cut power use on hot summer days in exchange for cash rewards for consumers, under a plan by Australia's energy watchdog.

The Australian Energy Regulator wants power utilities to increase electricity supply by helping consumers use less, rather than building expensive new poles, wires and other infrastructure and passing the cost on to customers.

Amid soaring power bills, rising greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of blackouts, the regulator this week released a draft plan to give incentives to electricity distributors who manage the power use of consumers.

As well as saving customers money, experts say so-called "demand management" could deliver far more capacity than the Turnbull government's proposed $2 billion Snowy Hydro expansion.
Alcohol use has risen at its fastest rate in a decade, and Australians are now drinking more beer, wine and spirits than at any time since 2011.

The popularity of low strength beer has fallen off a cliff to its lowest level in more than 20 years, while cider has surged to its highest level since records began.

Australian Bureau of Statistics director of health statistics Louise Gates said Australians aged 15 and over were now drinking 9.7 litres of pure alcohol per year.

The last time a surge this big occurred was between 2006 and 2007 when the amount consumed per capita jumped by 0.26 litres.
I can't imagine what it feels like for the children and young people exposed to this harmful material. And I sympathise with the indignation people feel about marriage equality being deemed a subject for public adjudication rather than a basic human right that parliament should immediately recognise. But I also say the relentless criticism about the process, however justified, must stop. It saps the "yes" campaign of energy, appeal and moral high ground.

The time has come to start playing the cards we're dealt, instead of holding out for a better hand. As with AIDS in the 1980s, marriage equality is a political fight as well as a health imperative  securing the latter depends on winning the former. Indignation can be a terrific galvanising force, it can also sour into capitulation. Every disempowered group must fight, one way or another, for rights they regard as self-evident; the petitioning suffragettes in Victoria and SA in the 1890s travelled thousands of miles and knocked on tens of thousands of doors, obtaining 40,000 signatures in support of universal enfranchisement. Do you think we shouldn't have to struggle so hard for basic rights in 2017? Really? Even after the events in Charlottesville?

The tide of progress can reverse in the blink of an eye. The Age of Reason morphed into the march of Nazism. These days, tens of thousands of Westerners gravitate to a medieval ideology that sees gays thrown from buildings and stoned to death. (Memo to Sarah Hanson-Young: if you're genuinely concerned about not provoking ISIS, then don't simply condemn Pauline Hanson and her disgraceful burka stunt, but pray like hell that same-sex marriage doesn't get up.)

We went from being on the cusp of the first woman president of the US to the nightmare of a Twitter-happy, misogynistic, white-supremacist affirming autocrat, so delusional and reckless he observes a total eclipse with a naked eye. Two years ago protectionism was a dirty word in Australian politics; post Brexit and Trump, Turnbull and Shorten scramble for an "Australia first" agenda. In 2011, Julia Gillard backed the traditional definition of marriage, in 2013 Bill Shorten backed a plebiscite. Politicians regress as well as evolve, flop as well as flip. If the "no" vote prevails, do not underestimate the long-term damage to the cause.

Treat every chance we get as the one-and-only chance to make same-sex marriage a reality. Because it could be the only chance we'll get in a very long time.
The only public holiday shared by both North and South Korea is Liberation Day, which commemorates Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. This past August 15 in Seoul it rained. In the morning, 10,000 residents put on plastic pastel rain ponchos and came to a central city square not to celebrate, but to demonstrate. They sat cross-legged in rows and demanded three things: for the South Korean Government to scrap the proposed deployment of a missile defence system; for forthcoming military drills to be cancelled; and for the American president to stop talking.

"TRUMP SHUT UP" read one sign, held by a 20-something man in a neat button-down. Although most of the world would agree, the problem of Donald Trump's big mouth is, for obvious reasons, especially vexing to South Koreans. Still, the gathering was peaceful, even muted. Between speeches, a dance troupe in black performed a rite equally mesmerising and confusing. No one felt the need to shout; in this same square last year, a million people successfully rallied for the downfall of president Park Geun-hye.

Illustration by Simon Letch.

My trip to Seoul was planned long before Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un lost their tempers, but happened only a few days after their bombastic volley. I was a little nervous. "Interesting time to be going there," read the unnerving sign-off in an email from a colleague. On a TV screen at the airport, CNN was explaining how to deal with the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. (Apparently you're not meant to use conditioner, because it binds the radioactive matter to your hair.) But the Liberation Day protest was the only evidence I saw all week that anything was awry on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul has been here too many times before. That's why there are placards everywhere pointing to the nearest shelter site, and gas masks in glass cabinets alongside the vending machines at subway stations. And why, whenever I asked a local if they were worried, they would give me the verbal equivalent of a shrug. "Forty years ago, people here didn't have enough money to feed themselves," a lawyer told me over $28 old fashioneds in the speakeasy-style bar at the Four Seasons Hotel. "Now, South Korea is one of the biggest economies in the world. That didn't happen by accident." It wasn't a direct answer to my question, but it didn't feel entirely unrelated, either.
For most of her working life, Griffin has been known as a witty deconstructionist of Hollywood's bullshit. She had a loyal gay following, a gay best friend in CNN's journalistic posterboy Anderson Cooper and was the comedic stepchild of a true pioneer, the legendary Joan Rivers. Then, in May, everything changed. Photos of Griffin holding a mask styled to look like the severed head of US President Donald Trump surfaced on the website TMZ and what was intended as provocative satire, from the photographer Tyler Shields, who specialises in such bear-poking imagery, turned into a proper public relations nightmare. Any nuance in the image  intended to be a reaction to remarks Trump had made about journalist Megyn Kelly in which he talked about "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever"  was lost and Griffin was speedily denounced across the political spectrum, by supporters of Trump and Clinton alike. Endorsements were lost, a stand-up tour was cancelled and CNN, for whom Griffin had co-hosted New Year's Eve coverage for a decade, sacked her. Even her close friend, the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, turned on her. "I am appalled," Cooper said. "[The photo] is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."

Some were genuinely offended and, who were perhaps indifferent to the image, plainly felt that silence would be interpreted as endorsement. Such is the new normal in the bewildering world of modern politics where everything you don't say is open to interpretation more than everything you do. "The funny thing about the outrage is, don't act like you guys didn't all know this is what I do," Griffin says now. "I've been doing this a long time, I've been in, quote, Hollywood trouble, unquote, for a long time. "And I don't mean to sound artsy fartsy but I do feel it's a mission of a comedian to shine light on uncomfortable things and say it loud and proud." But under siege in the wake of the scandal, back in May, a plainly bruised Griffin went into full retreat. "I went way too far," she said in a statement intended to quell the media storm. "The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn't funny. I get it. I beg for your forgiveness. I made a mistake and I was wrong." Then, cornered and bruised by the disproportionate response, she did an about face and returned fire, hiring celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom and declaring, in an ill-advised and shambolic press conference, that the Trumps were out to get her.

"I'm not afraid of Trump," Griffin declared. "He's a bully. I've dealt with older white guys trying to keep me down my whole career." Griffin is not the first person to run afoul of the social media tweetstorm (served with a side of conservative outrage, drizzled in snowflake sauce) in Trump's America. Around the same time as her own scandal was erupting, talk show host Stephen Colbert said "the only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c---holster". And a month later, in an interview with Senator Ben Sasse, another talk show host Bill Maher used the n-word. But Colbert's barrage of presidential criticism had the backing of both his network CBS and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). And Maher returned to work within a week with the backing of HBO. But both are men, for whom many  Griffin included  say there is a separate standard. "People bring up Colbert but when he got in his, quote, trouble, unquote, and the president claimed he would put him under investigation, he didn't," Griffin says. "The FCC and CBS jumped up for him like they do for every other middle-aged white guy and that has never been my experience."

When male comedians do it, Griffin observes, they are "ballsy dudes; when I do it, I'm a shrill, obnoxious female and women aren't funny and all this other stuff. I still do it, because I so firmly believe that that is what I loved about all the comedians that I admire." With few options open to her, Griffin sat down with her first amendment lawyer, Alan Isaacman, the same man who took the Hustler magazine vs Jerry Falwell case to the Supreme Court in 1988. It's a curiously appropriate precursor, given it involved a high profile figure (conservative televangelist Jerry Falwell) and an offensive satirical cartoon. The court, in a powerful and lasting precedent for free speech, ruled in favour of the cartoon. "Alan is a brilliant attorney and I asked him, tell me about a comeback story like this. But a woman at my age, in my field  nobody has an answer for that," Griffin says of the meeting. "The answer was, there's just so few of you, you know. That's the reality. There's not a precedent for this." At one stage an "apology tour" was proposed, though Griffin found herself in the unenviable position of not even being able to hire a publicist. In a town like Los Angeles, where there are more publicists than police officers, that's got to hurt.

"Every publicist I met with either wouldn't talk to me or they'd say we've got to apologise," Griffin says, laughing. "I had people, big people, like agents, studio people, celebrities, literally saying everything. It was like a negotiation." She also received a disturbing letter from 82-year-old producer Arnold Kopelson, who is on the board of the US network CBS, who advised her to write immediately to Trump and declare what she did was "beyond being oblivious to humanity". Kopelson's draft Trump letter included praise for "the great things you have done and are doing" and concession she had "follow[ed] the lies from the Left". "That was one of those things where that letter came in and I'm like what do I do?" Griffin says. "I know this guy, I've had dinner with him, I've been to his house. I just thought, you know, what the f---? I'm already in trouble with the President and the Department of Justice. I hope [making it public] sends a message, I hope it sends a message." Hollywood, she adds, is not the liberal utopia Trump and America's political right revel in claiming it to be. "There's nothing liberal or progressive about Hollywood," she says. "Not for women. Not for women of a certain age at all."

This year has been a tough year for Griffin on another front: her sister Joyce was diagnosed with cancer; the two women lost their older brother Gary Griffin to the disease in 2014, so to show solidarity with her sister, Griffin shaved her hair off. When I raise the topic, Griffin sighs almost with relief and unexpectedly pulls off her wig. What lies behind is a close crop of Mia Farrow-esque hair, a fascinating counterpoint to a woman whose image has become a physical trademark. Suddenly, the real woman is in the room. Without hair to distract, Griffin's expression is undefended, and the sensitivity and emotional complexity in her eyes more easily accessible. "When my sister was diagnosed I just went into that, is there anything I can do, and as you know there's nothing you can do besides visit her and stuff," Griffin says. "Then of course I went into how can I make her laugh? Then I thought all right, you know, I'm just going to do this, shaved my head and I went over." In a extraordinary footnote, Griffin was cautioned over the haircut by her management who feared it was "going to make you look like Britney Spears when she went crazy," Griffin says. "I'm like, my sister has cancer and I'm under federal investigation, guess what I don't give a f--- about any more?"

The impact on her sister was immediate, Griffin says. "We went over [to see Joyce] and it was great, she was laughing and crying at the same time, she was of course making fun of me and touching my hair. That was worth it. I'm not saying she's going to laugh every day. But it was worth it." It also taught Griffin a powerful lesson: that our armour  hair, costume, whatever form it takes  is unnecessary. "You don't need it, you know what I mean?" she says. "I was doing some radio interviews and one of them wanted to go into plastic surgery and I said, you know what? I have a bunch of wrinkles. Everything grew back. I got a facelift, it just fell again. That's one of the reasons I think I thought nothing of shaving my head." Now, having emerged from hibernation, Griffin plans to use her new found global infamy to pave the road for a world tour. In the Hollywood machine of art-meets-scandal-meets-commerce, it could not be a more suitable twist in the tale. "I'm shocked and humbled I can sell a ticket anywhere, much less Antwerp," she says, laughing. "Now that I have actually been injected into this story, as a comic, in a way it's kind of a dream," Griffin says. "I just made the decision to go, wait a minute, that photo changed my life and it made me able to tour the world for the first time."

As the mess of 2017 slowly begins to disentangle itself, there is one major lasting price: the loss of Griffin's very public, but very intimate, friendship with journalist Anderson Cooper. The genuine affection between the two was easy to see, and Griffin often spoke lovingly of Cooper's mother, the iconic American heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, whom she nicknamed "Glo". "I don't think I paid a price, I think he did," Griffin says simply. "I'm sorry to say that, because I loved him. He wasn't just my friend I liked. He was my friend I loved. I always loved making him giggle. That part just hurts." For a moment, she adopts a tougher tone and brings out her stage persona: "Let me tell you the first rule of [being] LGBTQ ... you don't turn on your hag. You do not turn on your long time hag, honey. You just don't. Not your hag who's been there." The lost friendship reminds her, she says, momentarily serious again, of a conversation she had with comedian Katt Williams the day the Trump scandal erupted. "He goes, 'get a pen and a piece of paper and make a list because you are going to find out who your friends are'. That was true." Jerry Seinfeld notably spoke up for her. So did Ricky Gervais and Jamie Foxx. Jim Carrey contacted her. "I had a great conversation with him and I don't know him that well," she says. Alec Baldwin has been checking in on her regularly. And Louis C.K. told her to use the experience. On that last point, she clearly took him at his word.

"It definitely has taught me you don't know where friendship is going to come from," she says. Whatever you make of Griffin, or the image of her holding a beheaded Trump, the two will now be inextricably linked for all time. "Everything did change for me overnight," she says. "I've definitely reached a point where it's all different and [my boyfriend] said the other night, you're Jane Fonda now," referring to a controversial image of actress Jane Fonda sitting on an anti-aircraft gun, taken in 1972 in Hanoi in North Vietnam. It was a "a two-minute lapse of sanity" (according to Fonda) that earned her the lifelong tag "Hanoi Jane". "The way that that photo followed Fonda forever, it's gonna follow me forever," Griffin says.
"When you talk about the YPJ, you can't ignore the YJA Star's influence," says Meral Cicek, an activist who has written extensively on women's issues in the Middle East. She's an advocate of the Kurdish women's movement, which includes both YPJ and YJA Star. The two groups follow the teaching of Turkishborn Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned founder of PKK who supports a women's revolution. When the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Syria's Kurds were ready to fight the Assad regime, which had kept a firm grip on them  as other rulers did on Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Guerrillas travelled to Syria to help set up the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the women's branch, the YPJ. They opened academies and training centres. Ideology, military training and discipline were the main pillars of the new movement, which mirrored the PKK organisation. By 2012, the chaos of the civil war helped the Kurds to gain control of Rojava, the highly populated Kurdish area in northern Syria. The rise of Islamic State slowed down the process, though it didn't stop it completely. While the YPJ and its male counterpart, the YPG, were fighting the jihadists, the Democratic Union Party (PYD)  a Syrian Kurdish political group  started a democratisation process of the area under their control. A revolutionary woman fighter sacrifices everything: she has no right to fall in love, have children or desires. Rojda Felat, chief commander, Raqqa YPJ "Many of us joined," says Nisrin Abdullah, a YPJ commander, at her office in Qamishli, in north-eastern Syria. "During the Assad regime we couldn't speak our language. We were not allowed to celebrate Newroz [Kurdish New Year]. We had no rights at all. As a woman, it was even more difficult because you were discriminated against twice. The idea that women were inferior started at school. I had classes on how to please a husband, how to look beautiful, the proper way to comb my hair." She adds sewing and cooking courses to the list. "Assad was telling us the only future we could hope for was to get married and have children."

She wanted more. The 33-year-old was one of four women who were the first to join the YPJ academy for new recruits, in Qamishli. "At first it wasn't easy; we had to educate men to treat us the same," she recalls. As Islamic State spread out in Syria between 2014 and 2016, the YPG and YPJ gained momentum in the international press as the only effective force on the ground in stopping the jihad. (They receive support and military supplies from the US and France.) The women fighters captured the collective imagination, and now the YPJ has 24,000 soldiers  including Yazidis, Assyrians and Arabs  out of an overall 60,000 fighters. As the fight continues, women join up every day, running away from families and refugee camps to seek revenge for the brutality and violence they have experienced under Islamic State rule. There are no official numbers on casualties, mainly to keep morale high. In early May, a recruit walks into Abu Kahef base in a village on the outskirts of Raqqa. It's a two-storey building with a concrete patio. Muna (she declines to give her surname), a 19-year-old from north-west Syria, is wearing a dark hijab and a golden dress. She's invited in and served tea in a small glass. Suzdar Derik, one of the main YPJ commanders of the Raqqa operation, talks to her in a calm, almost motherly way. Since 2013 Derik has overseen the arrival of hundreds of newcomers; she has to prepare them for the new life ahead. Muna will be assigned to an all-female unit, and moved around the front as required. She will start fighting soon after completing her military and ideological training. Death is a possibility. "You must be really sure, in order to join," Derik says. "We fight for the freedom of every woman in society. After the training academy, everything will be clearer to you and you will understand we can do something every day for the freedom of all women."

She adds, "Fighting, for most women, is something new  I do not think it is part of our character  but we learn to hold a rifle. War is tough, and Islamic State is a shocking brutality. But it is with training that you build up the consciousness of why you fight and from that moment an ordinary life is no longer enough." At first, Muna seems intimidated by the group of uniformed women around her, but as soon as she's given her own uniform, her demeanour changes. "I want to fight Islamic State and liberate our land," she explains. Leaving her old life and family behind, she was given a nom de guerre. Her phone was confiscated for security reasons. She recorded a video message to her parents in case she is killed in the war. She was asked "to stand like a soldier" for the purpose. "A revolutionary woman fighter sacrifices everything: she has no right to fall in love, have children or desires. She must show more determination than anyone else," explains Rojda Felat, chief commander of the Raqqa operation, who is in charge of thousands of soldiers marching on the city. Most are Arabs who joined the Kurds under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Her appointment is a deliberate political move by the Kurds, who see female emancipation as a top priority when fighting Islamic terrorism. The Raqqa operation is a great opportunity to show that women can be leaders. "We promised we would liberate every woman who was captured by Islamic State and I am here to keep that promise," Felat continues. She estimates that the bloody battle for Raqqa will take at least six months. Aged 35 and from Qamishli, Felat joined the YPJ in 2012. She saw the rising threat of Islamic State as an opportunity to finally create a new world. She dreamed of freedom and equality; she wanted women to have a different role in society. Ever since, she's fought Islamic State in all of the major battles. "I was the main war strategist in many fronts," she tells me. Before our conversation, I see Felat's car pull into Suzdar's base, causing a sudden agitation. "She is here!" someone whispers urgently. Soldiers start to frantically clean up. Everyone stands in line to greet her. The youngest women smile timidly  she is their hero. Felat is a petite woman. Her hair is incredibly long and always tied in a braid  "I never cut my hair; it used to reach my feet," she says with a smile. Her eyes are vigilant; they have a certain sparkle. She walks and speaks with extreme confidence, and is an intimidating figure  men do not joke around her.

"In past revolutions, in France or Russia, women have played smaller roles and then societies are back in the hands of men," she says. "Our revolution will be different." Felat will not stop fighting after defeating Islamic State. "I will not go home and get married. I will continue to fight," she says. "You can already see the difference in our society, but in five years' time the role of women will have changed completely. The future will be bright." In Rojava there are laws that punish underage marriage, polygamy and violence against women. The women's security force (Asayish a Jin) implements legislation and patrols the roads. Every town liberated from Islamic State establishes a local council that has both a man and a woman as representatives. Education centres are set up for women, with courses including self-awareness and literacy. For them, the first step towards real women's liberation is self-defence. "Knowing how to defend yourself is very important," says Felat. "If you are not afraid, then you can fight back  both against the enemy and against the mentality." Now, there are even courses for elderly women on how to use a weapon. Most of them have children who joined the revolution and are now on the front line. "We are very proud of them all. They will bring back hope and with their efforts we will live in a democracy," says Nisrin, an older woman who has a daughter in the YPJ. YPJ commander Suzdar Derik monitors trainee militia members. Credit:Arianna LaPenne
Published On Sep 01, 2017 09:47 AM By Khan Mohd. for Hyundai Verna 2017-2020

The new Verna is the most affordable diesel sedan in its segment. Its also the most powerful car on paper

Hyundai is reporting that the new Verna has received 7,000 bookings till now. Importantly, the company says that its double the monthly sales they were expecting. Which means, you can expect at least some variants of the Verna to have a waiting period already.

At the time of launch, Hyundai announced that the launch price of Rs 7.99  12.39 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) is only for the first 20,000 customers. So, going by Hyundais projections, the first 10,000 deliveries before Diwali will be getting the benefit of early booking.

Powering the new Verna are the same 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines. While the petrol produces 123PS of max power and 155Nm of peak torque, the diesel motor pumps out 128PS and 260Nm. Both the engines are mated to a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission.

The prices of the new Verna are also expected to go up, and it will be a double blow this time because the GST Council is close to upping the GST rate on cars with engines over 1.5-litre and length over 4 metres by 10 per cent, and the Verna falls in this category.

But Hyundai is prepared to offset the negative impact of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) by keeping the smaller 1.4-litre mill ready as a backup. If the Indian Government puts a luxury tag on vehicles having more than 1.5-litre capacity engine and more than 4-metre length, which it is likely to, then it can plonk in this motor and neutralise the possible hike in prices. To know more about the GST calculation, head over to our story  Hyundai May Get A 1.4-litre Engine.

Hyundai appears to be watchful about the new Vernas market response. The expected sales figures that they have shared are lesser than what the Vernas rivals - the Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz - are doing every month. Were expecting the Verna to pump up more numbers once the smaller engine becomes a part of the portfolio considering itll be even more competitively priced.

Hyundai is also parallely working to bring AMT technology to its cars. The first product to boast it will be a new hatchback which sits between the Eon and the Grand i10. It is expected to hit showrooms by the second half of 2018. You can tap here to know more about Hyundais AMT plans.

Read More on : Verna AMT
Modified On Sep 01, 2017 07:59 PM By Raunak

Theres a complimentary towing, 50 per cent off on customer liability post insurance, anti-rust treatment, free engine oil replacement and much more on offer!

After Mercedes-Benz, South Korean automaker Hyundai has extended service support to its flood-affected owners in Mumbai and Vapi.

Whats Hyundai offering?

Has deployed service operation squad and 30 emergency road service teams with free towing of affected Hyundai vehicles. Toll-Free Number: (18001024645 or 0124-4343937)

of affected Hyundai vehicles. Spare parts supply has been prioritised for all Mumbai and Vapi workshops for timely deliveries

Offering onsite Hyundai Assurance insurance support

Free engine oil replacement

Straight 50 per cent off on anti-rust treatment and customer liability post insurance support

on anti-rust treatment and customer liability post insurance support Attractive exchange schemes for total loss cases

Hyundai has announced that it will inform its customers through various ways and has already shared precautionary advisories through social media posts, SMS and emails. If youre worried about what to do with a flood-affected vehicle, check out our detailed article: Dealing With A Flood Affected Car  Heres How To Do It

The automaker will also organise a car check-up camp approximately two months from now to analyse the health of flood-affected cars, which will be serviced in the coming days. This is a proactive move and will certainly benefit Hyundais customers in the long run.
Published On Sep 01, 2017 08:30 PM By Khan Mohd. for Jeep Compass 2017-2021

The petrol Compass deliveries will commence around Diwali

Beating all odds, the Jeep Compass SUV has surpassed a significant milestone of 10,000 bookings and received more than 92,000 enquiries since its launch in July this year. Pre-bookings of the SUV opened on June 19, 2017, and it had received 5,000 bookings till its launch on July 31, which means it got 5,000 more of those in just a months time.

To keep up with the overwhelming response and to cut the extending waiting periods, production at the Ranjangaon facility has been ramped up with two shifts working six days a week.

The Jeep Compass stunned everybody with its starting price of Rs 14.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). It was to compete with the Hyundai Tucson, if dimensions were the only point to be considered; however, the aggressive pricing helped it storm into Creta territory and draw the Cretas top-end buyers as well. The Creta falls in the price range of Rs 8.92-14 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Lets take a look at the performance of the Jeeps competition in the period from May to July this year. The Hyundai Tucson averaged 100 units a month while Tata sold 1000 units of the Hexa every month in this period. Moreover, the Hyundai Creta retailed 8000 units monthly in the same period. The Compass needle is surely pointing towards the north direction with each passing month. With the festive season approaching, when sales of most cars are at their best, the Jeep SUV is likely to garner more numbers.

With the sphere of the Compass increasing, the American carmaker is looking to add 10 more outlets in different cities of the country by the end of this year. To keep its aftersales service top notch, the auto major has handed over the operations to Mopar brand. Mopar is an eighty year old North American aftersales and service brand.

One of the factors making buyers flock to Jeeps dealerships is certainly the cutthroat pricing of the Compass; the other aspects include the service interval of every 15,000 km and one lakh kilometre/3-year warranty with complementary Road-side Assistance (RSA) for the same period.

Read More on : Jeep Compass diesel
Join the Discussion See the Twitter discussion at #CarterTownHall17.

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Irish Cement allowed to burn waste tyres and hazardous waste at Castlemungret

01 September 2017

Limerick City and County Council has signed off the EUR10m plan by Irish Cement to go ahead with its proposal to burn waste tyres and hazardous materials in its cement kiln at Castlemungret.



The council granted planning permission last March, for Irish Cement to burn "hazardous" substances, including "end of life tyres", as fuel at its plant in Castlemungret, Co Limerick, provided it adhered to strict conditions.



The Southern Waste Management Office, Limerick, earlier recommended planning approval be subject to agreement that no unprocessed waste would arrive on site, and there would be no processing of the waste on the site.







Published under
Tanzania Portland Cement Co posts 45.6% profit fall in 1H17

01 September 2017

Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC), part of the HeidelbergCement group, posted a 45.6 per cent drop in first-half profit after increased competition forced down local cement prices.



TPCC reported net profit of TZS12.35bn (U$5.5m), down from TZS22.71bn a year ago. The producer's revenue of TZS119bn was down 16 per cent YoY, Chairman Hakan Gurdal said in a statement. Mr Gurdal added that the decline was mainly because of the lower prices in an increasingly competitive market.



Mr Gurdal said that TPCC would continue to implement "strict cost controls" to reduce cost of sales and administrative expenses.



"The market situation remains challenging, but TPCC will continue to work to maintain its market leadership," he said.



Annual cement production in Tanzania is about 10Mt, roughly twice the level of demand, with the surplus exported to eastern and southern African markets, reports Reuters.



The cement maker, which is 69.25 per cent owned by HeidelbergCement through Scancem International DA, holds about a 36 per cent market share in Tanzania.

Published under
In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. In 1989, Congress expanded the observance to a month long celebration (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) of the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Sept. 15 is the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively.
Catholic bishop apologises and priest resigns after Hindu deity Ganesh is welcomed in church

A Catholic bishop in Spain has apologised after a priest hosted the parading of an image of Hindu deity Ganesh in his cathedral in Ceuta, a Spanish city in North Africa. The service saw Hindus joining Catholics as Marian hymns were sung in the direction of the revered elephant-headed icon.

The priest of the diocese, Father Juan Jose Mateos Castro, has since resigned, according to Crux.

The Hindu community of Spain's Ceuta and Melilla had been completing their worshipping celebrations of Ganesh, the famous deity with the head of an elephant and the body of a child.

On their journey, they were welcomed at the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Africa, led by Father Castro. The Hindu party had been singing chants traditionally dedicated to Saint Mary, and then brought the image of Ganesh into the church and toward the Altar, where Catholics there sang Marian hymns with the deity's image in view.

What was intended as a sign of respect on the part of the Hindu community was taken as scandalous to many in the Catholic community, who don't share the pluralistic spirit that's prevalent in Hinduism.

Bishop Rafael Zorzona Boy said the event was 'regrettable', and apologised for the cause of any 'pain, confusion or scandal in the Christian community.' Father Castro was 'admonished' for his role in the controversy, the bishop said.

A diocese statement said that in no situation was the 'love of the members of the Hindu community or their beliefs [to be] rebuked,' but that positive local Catholic-Hindu relations also 'forces us to be increasingly more faithful to our Christian tradition.'
Christian mom drowned while 'saying her prayers' during Hurricane Harvey, says 3-year-old daughter found clinging to her body

Collette Sulcer, an unashamed Christian mother and nurse who drowned Tuesday after "saying her prayers" while trapped with her 3-year-old daughter, Jordyn, in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont, Texas, is now being hailed as an "American hero" after Jordyn was rescued alive in a canal clinging to her mother's lifeless body.

"Mama was saying her prayers," the 3-year-old told a relative, Antionette Logan, 38, while recovering in a Beaumont hospital Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

"Jordyn told me they were in the yucky water for quite a while," Logan said. "It's a tragedy that her mama died, but it's a miracle that Jordyn survived."

Beaumont Police confirmed Wednesday that Sulcer, 41, was driving along the south bound service road of 50 IH10 N, with her young daughter when she got into high water. She then pulled her vehicle into the Plaza 10 parking lot where the vehicle got stuck.

She eventually exited the car with her daughter and got swept away by the floodwaters.

"At some point she was swept into the canal and ended up floating about  mile from her vehicle. Two Beaumont Police Officers and two Beaumont Fire Rescue divers in a Zodiac boat, spotted the mother floating with the small child. The child was holding on to her mother," a police statement said.

"The first responders got to the mother and child just before they went under a trestle. Water was up to the trestle and first responders would not have been able to save the child if they had floated under it. Officers pulled the child and the mother into the boat and got them to the area of the 3700 block of Bayou," the statement explained.

While Sulcer was unresponsive, Jordyn, was alive but was suffering from hypothermia. Sulcer was pronounced dead but Jordyn is in stable condition.

"They were in the water for quite some time," Officer Carol Riley, a spokeswoman for the Beaumont Police Department, told People magazine while noting that Sulcer "absolutely saved the child's life."

"When the baby was found the baby was clinging to her. The mother did the best she could to keep her child up over the water," Riley said. "The baby also had a backpack that was helping her float on her back and she was holding on to her mom."

In a Facebook post in January 2016, Sulcer proudly declared her faith in Jesus.

"My name is Collette Sulcer and I believe in Jesus Christ ... He said deny me in front of your peers and I will deny you in front of my Father. If you are not ashamed put your name in place of mine and make it your status. #facebookchallenge,' she wrote.
Christ's deep mercy in action today on the high seas of the world

It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Transformation so tangible that it tells a testimony  the story of an individual; a man, a woman or a child whose life has been radically altered through the compassion of others. Mercy Ships has no shortage of incredible testimony  behind each smiling face is a thousand words; words that command healing from sickness, comfort from suffering, life from death and hope from despair.

Behind each story is a dedicated team of professional medics, carers and educators from across 30 nations, who voluntarily give their skills, time and resources to serve those most in need. Behind every person in need is the Local Church in Africa partnering with Mercy Ships to see their community receive hope and healing.

More people die each year from a lack of safe surgery than from HIV, malaria and TB put together! It's not well known and it's not easy to grasp, but the cost and limited access to healthcare makes surgery unobtainable for more than 5 billion people worldwide  that's how many people in the world currently have to weigh up the dilemma of financial ruin to afford surgery or have no access at all.

Many people continue to be ostracised for illnesses and disfigurements that surgery would quickly fix. Mercy Ships understands that safe surgery changes lives and can bring new hope to those so desperately in need.

It might be said that the Mercy Ships story is being told because of one boy. Born with severe disabilities, the boy would never walk, talk or be able to control his bodily functions. Yet, from his early years his mother and father were determined to give their son the best care they possibly could. They would give him a voice and they would pour out more love than they might ever have believed possible. Through caring for their son, Don and Deyon Stephens' heart was moved to the suffering of those whose voices might never be heard, those whose story would forever be that of suffering, because of the lack of even the most basic healthcare.

From his base in Lausanne, Switzerland, Don built a team and the Mercy Ships vision grew. In 1978 they purchased their first ship. 2007 saw the launch of the Africa Mercy, the largest of the four hospital ships that have operated over a 39-year history.

The Africa Mercy is currently 'home' to a 400-strong team of nurses, surgeons, engineers, mariners and dedicated support staff. Unpaid and leaving the relative comforts of home, these skilled professionals are truly radical compassion in action.

As part of the on-board 'living blood bank' they often find themselves called to donate more than just time, skill and finance!

Our story is forever evolving. Today, Mercy Ships operates the world's largest non-governmental floating hospital, bringing state-of-the-art medical facilities directly to the world's poorest people - we have helped transform the lives of more than 2.42 million people through free healthcare.

Mercy Ships also aims to leave a lasting legacy and a sustainable healthcare system that will benefit communities for years to come. Training local doctors and nurses is a growing part of what Mercy Ships does. Last year over 1,200 local healthcare professionals were trained, including Benin's first ever plastic surgeon  Dr Odry Agbessi  who will now run a fully operational burns unit in the city of Cotonou to help save the lives of thousands who suffer long and painful death from simple household accidents.

Mercy Ships knows that engagement with the local church and local charities is an integral part of its delivery  both while the ship is in the country, and also in building sustainable support structures for the future. Local churches provide the majority of 250 additional day crew required in each nation. These individuals are local people serving as translators and guides imbedded in every team onboard the Africa Mercy to ensure that patients feel welcome and engaged by their local community. This also gives local church members the opportunity to share their personal faith with their own community and sign post them to their church.

Additionally the church provides essential screening services for potential patients to be assessed. It is important that the local church facilitates the community relationship with MercyShips wherever possible so that relationships can continue after we leave.

In partnering with Spring Harvest, Mercy Ships hopes to help the church in the UK hear more about how they can make a difference by supporting the church in Africa whether through giving their financial support, using their professional training to serve on-board, or praying for the ministry of Mercy Ships. Whether you are called to give, go or pray, Spring Harvest and Mercy Ships would encourage you take the brave step into God's calling and help create a new picture of transformation; a new testimony of hope.

Lea Milligan has been Executive Director at Mercy Ships for the last 14 months having previously served for 7 years at Youth for Christ and was most recently COO at City Gateway. Lea and his wife Jennie have two boys; Jesse and Joel. Follow on Twitter @MercyShipsUK
Lawyers file Supreme Court brief for Colorado Christian who refused to bake same-sex wedding cake

Lawyers representing a Colorado cake artist who refused to bake a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding filed an opening brief with the US Supreme Court yesterday, defending the baker's right not to create artistic expression that violates his conscience.

The brief by human rights advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) makes the case for Jack Phillips and his company, Masterpiece Cakeshop, whose high-profile baking controversy began in 2012. When Phillips refused to make a cake celebrating a same-sex marriage, the offended party filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The government commission in 2014 ruled that Phillips must make same-se wedding cakes if requested, shouldn't operate business according to his faith and said his staff should be 're-educated' accordingly, ADF said.

The US Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on the case in June.

'Nobody should be forced to choose between their profession and their faith,' said Kristen Waggoner, senior counsel for ADF. 'Phillips gladly serves anyone who walks into his store, but, as is customary practice for many artists, he declines opportunities to design for a variety of events and messages that conflict with his deeply held beliefs.

'In this case, Jack told the couple suing him he'd sell them anything in the store but just couldn't design a custom cake celebrating their wedding because of his Christian faith.'

She added: 'Individuals can support same-sex marriage and Jack. Tolerance is a two-way street, and people should have the freedom to disagree on critical matters of conscience. The same government that can force Jack to violate his faith and conscience can force any one of us to do the same.'

Robert Clarke, ADF International's director of European advocacy said: 'Free society requires free speech  a fact recognized by every major human rights treaty. Until now, the US has had some of the strongest protections for free speech in the world. Any dilution of that foundational principle will mark a shift towards the sort of speech regulations more associated with totalitarian regimes.

'Artists need to be able to express themselves freely or everyone's freedom is at risk.'
More than 1,000 dead in floods disaster in Sierra Leone

While Americans are rightly concerned about flooding in and around Houston, more than 1,000 people have died in the West African country of Sierra Leone, Christian Aid reports today.

The charity is appealing for funds to help the stricken survivors after torrential rains set off floods and mudslides in Freetown on 14 August. This was followed by a massive fire.

One ministry has set up a cooking and distribution site to feed destitute victims who have lost everything in the ongoing crisis, but it urgently needs to do more.

'After the landslide, we went in to console relatives left behind,' said Rev Claudius Deah, head of Mission Bethel Ministries International in Monrovia, Liberia. 'We started feeding people and conducting trauma counseling, and our members in West Africa collected clothing for distribution.'

Pastor Deah sees a huge opportunity to share Christ in the coming months as people face shelter, hunger and trauma crises.

Victims have already expressed thanks for the ministry's efforts, and many others would be eternally grateful.

'Some people were grateful to regain strength as they went to find relatives,' said the Pastor. 'Some were grateful that at least someone cares to share for the sake of Christ. Some are now worshipping with the churches. Some called back to express gratitude, asking for our church to start branches in their towns.'
Two men who walked naked into megachurch with guns before barricading themselves in for 2 hours are arrested

Two naked men with guns were arrested on Wednesday night inside Pastor Greg Laurie's Harvest Orange County church in Irvine, California, with the suspects having barricaded themselves for over two hours inside.

The men arrested have been identified as brothers Paul Vincent Vielkind, 34, and Brandon Joseph Vielkind, 22, of Riverside. Both have been charged with burglary and felony vandalism.

Laurie responded to the news by stating that he and his family are fine, and that there was minor damage to the church, but no injuries reported.

KCAL9/CBS2 said SWAT teams were called in after a security guard saw two men carrying rifles walk into the lobby of Harvest Church, and called the police.

Firefighters, police dogs, and snipers on the roof were all reportedly part of the scene, with the naked men remaining inside the church for more than two hours. The suspects surrendered peacefully, however, and were handcuffed when they walked out.

Laurie posted about the incident on his Facebook page early on Thursday morning, where he wrote:

"There is not much I can tell you at this point except the following  Two men who were thought to be armed broke into the Orange County Harvest church building last night. Police were notified and on the scene within minutes.

"After a brief search and standoff, the suspects were found in the building and apprehended. No one was injured in the process. There was no known motive for the break-in but there were some minor damages to the building," the pastor continued.

"We are grateful to the Irvine police for their quick response. Church operations and services will continue on Thursday without interruption," he added.

Laurie promised supporters to let them know once he finds out more about what happened, and said that he appreciates the prayers.

The megachurch pastor leads some of the largest evangelical gatherings in the United States, with Harvest reporting last week that over 10,000 people decided to follow Jesus Christ at the 28th annual SoCal Harvest revival crusade.

The church said that 10,071 decision cards for Christ were received, and counted the combined crowd for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night events at Angel Stadium in Anaheim to have reached over 92,000 attendees.

"We count every card because everyone matters," Pastor Richard Garcia, Harvest's director of follow-up, told The Christian Post last week.

"We see, on average, 10 percent of the attendance every year here at Harvest. We had 92,000 people attend over the weekend. That is pretty typical and it was pretty awesome this weekend. We go into it with the expectation that we will mostly see 10 people make a profession of faith."

This article was originally published in The Christian Post.
Business intelligence definition

Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to transform data into actionable insights that inform an organizations strategic and tactical business decisions. BI tools access and analyze data sets and present analytical findings in reports, summaries, dashboards, graphs, charts and maps to provide users with detailed intelligence about the state of the business.

The term business intelligence often also refers to a range of tools that provide quick, easy-to-digest access to insights about an organizations current state, based on available data.

Business intelligence examples

Reporting is a central facet of business intelligence and the dashboard is perhaps the archetypical BI tool. Dashboards are hosted software applications that automatically pull together available data into charts and graphs that give a sense of the immediate state of the company.

Although business intelligence does not tell business users what to do or what will happen if they take a certain course, neither is BI solely about generating reports. Rather, BI offers a way for people to examine data to understand trends and derive insights by streamlining the effort needed to search for, merge and query the data necessary to make sound business decisions.

For example, a company that wants to better manage its supply chain needs BI capabilities to determine where delays are happening and where variabilities exist within the shipping process, says Chris Hagans, vice president of operations for WCI Consulting, a consultancy focused on BI. That company could also use its BI capabilities to discover which products are most commonly delayed or which modes of transportation are most often involved in delays.

The potential use cases for BI extend beyond the typical business performance metrics of improved sales and reduced costs, says Cindi Howson, research vice president at Gartner, an IT research and advisory firm. She points to the Columbus, Ohio, school system and its success using BI tools to examine numerous data points  from attendance rates to student performance  to improve student learning and high school graduate rates.

BI vendors Tableau and G2 also offer concrete examples of how organizations might put business intelligence tools to use:

A co-op organization could use BI to keep track of member acquisition and retention.

BI tools could automatically generate sales and delivery reports from CRM data.

A sales team could use BI to create a dashboard showing where each reps prospects are on the sales pipeline.



Business intelligence vs. business analytics

One thing you will have noticed from those examples is that they provide insights into the current state of the business or organization: where are sales prospects in the pipeline today? How many members have we lost or gained this month? This gets to the key distinction between business intelligence and another, related term, business analytics.

Business intelligence is descriptive, telling you whats happening now and what happened in the past to get us to that state. Business analytics, on the other hand, is an umbrella term for data analysis techniques that are predictive  that is, they can tell you whats going to happen in the future  and prescriptive  that is, they can tell you what you should be doing to create better outcomes. (Business analytics are usually thought of as that subset of the larger category of data analytics thats specifically focused on business.)

The distinction between the descriptive powers of BI and the predictive or descriptive powers of business analytics goes a bit beyond just the timeframe were talking about. It also gets to the heart of the question of who business intelligence is for. As the Stitchdata blog explains, BI aims to deliver straightforward snapshots of the current state of affairs to business managers. While the predictions and advice derived from business analytics requires data science professionals to analyze and interpret, one of the goals of BI is that it should be easy for relatively non-technical end users to understand, and even to dive into the data and create new reports.

For more, see Business intelligence vs. business analytics: Where BI fits in your data strategy.

Business intelligence strategy

In the past, IT professionals had been the primary users of BI applications. However, BI tools have evolved to be more intuitive and user-friendly, enabling a large number of users across a variety of organizational domains to tap the tools.

Gartners Howson differentiates two types of BI. The first is traditional or classic BI, where IT professionals use in-house transactional data to generate reports. The second is modern BI, where business users interact with agile, intuitive systems to analyze data more quickly.

Howson explains that organizations generally opt for classic BI for certain types of reporting, such as regulatory or financial reports, where accuracy is paramount and the questions and data sets used are standard and predicable. Organizations typically use modern BI tools when business users need insight into quickly changing dynamics, such as marketing events, in which being fast is valued over getting the data 100 percent right.

But while solid business intelligence is essential to making strategic business decisions, many organizations struggle to implement effective BI strategies, thanks to poor data practices, tactical mistakes and more.

For more, see 8 keys to a successful business intelligence strategy and 9 ways youre failing at business intelligence.

Self-service business intelligence

The drive to make it possible for just about anyone to get useful information out of business intelligence tools has given rise to self-service business intelligence, a category of BI tools aimed at abstracting away the need for IT intervention in generating reports. Self-service BI tools enable organizations to make the companys internal data reports more readily available to managers and other nontechnical staff.

Among the keys to self-service BI success are business intelligence dashboards and UIs that include pull-down menus and intuitive drill-down points that allow users to find and transform data in easy-to-understand ways. A certain amount of training will no doubt be required, but if the advantages of the tools are obvious enough, employees will be eager to get on board. (If youre shopping for a self-service BI solution, CIO.coms Martin Heller walks you through the decision making process and compares his top five choices.)

Keep in mind, though, that there are pitfalls to self-service BI as well. By steering your business users into becoming ad hoc data engineers, you can end up with a chaotic mix of metrics that vary across departments, run into data security problems, and even run up big licensing or SaaS bills if theres no centralized control over tool rollout. So even if you are committing to self-service business intelligence within your organization, you cant just buy an off-the-shelf product, point your staff to the UI, and hope for the best.

Business intelligence software and systems

A variety of different types of tools fall under the business intelligence umbrella. The software selection service SelectHub breaks down some of the most important categories and features:

Dashboards

Visualizations

Reporting

Data mining

ETL (extract-transfer-load tools that import data from one data store into another)

OLAP (online analytical processing)

Of these tools, SelectHub says the dashboards and visualization are by far the most popular; they offer the quick and easy-to-digest data summaries that are at the heart of BIs value proposition.

There are tons of vendors and offerings in the BI space, and wading through them can get overwhelming. Some of the major players include:

Tableau, a self-service analytics platform provides data visualization and can integrate with a range of data sources, including Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Excel

Splunk, a guided analytics platform capable of providing enterprise-grade business intelligence and data analytics

Alteryx, which blends analytics from a range of sources to simplify workflows as well as provide a wealth of BI insights

Qlik, which is grounded in data visualization, BI and analytics, providing an extensive, scalable BI platform

Domo, a cloud-based platform that offers business intelligence tools tailored to various industries (such as financial services, health care, manufacturing and education) and roles (including CEOs, sales, BI professionals and IT workers)

Dundas BI, which is mostly used for creating dashboards and scorecards, but can also do standard and ad-hoc reporting

Google Data Studio, a supercharged version of the familiar Google Analytics offering

Einstein Analytics, Salesforce.coms attempt to improve BI with AI

Birst, a cloud-based service in which multilple instances of the BI software share a common data backend.

For a deeper look at todays most popular business intelligence systems, see Top 12 BI tools and Top 10 BI data visualization tools.

Business intelligence analyst

Any company thats serious about BI will need to have business intelligence analysts on staff. CIO.com has an in-depth article on what that job entails; in general, they aim to use all the features of BI tools to get the data that companies need, the most important being discovering areas of revenue loss and identifying where improvements can be made to save the company money or increase profits.

Even if your company relies on self-service BI tools on a day-to-day basis, business intelligence analysts have an important role to play, as they are necessary for managing and maintaining those tools and their vendors. They also set up and standardize the reports that managers are going to be generating to make sure that results are consistent and meaningful across your organization. And to avoid garbage in/garbage out problems, business intelligence analysts need to make sure the data going into the system is correct and consistent, which often involves getting it out of other data stores and cleaning it up.

Business intelligence analyst jobs often require only a bachelors degree, at least at the entry level, though to advance up the ranks an MBA may be helpful or even required. As of October 2019, the median business intelligence salary is around $67,500, though depending on your employer that could range from $49,000 to $94,000.

The future of business intelligence

Moving ahead, Howson says Gartner sees a third wave of disruption on the horizon, something the research firm calls augmented analytics, where machine learning is baked into the software and will guide users on their queries into the data.

It will be BI and analytics, and it will be smart, she says.

The combinations included in these software platforms will make each function more powerful individually and more valuable to the businesspeople using them, Gorman says.

Someone will look at reports from, for example, last years sales  thats BI  but theyll also get predictions about next years sales  thats business analytics  and then add to that a what-if capability: What would happen if we did X instead of Y, Gorman says, explaining that software makers are moving to develop applications that will provide those functions within a single application rather than delivering them via multiple platforms as is now the case.

Now the system delivers higher-value recommendations. It makes the decision-maker more efficient, more powerful and more accurate, he adds.

And although BI will remain valuable in and of itself, Howson says organizations cant compete if theyre not moving beyond only BI and adopting advanced analytics as well.

In fact, Gartners Magic Quadrant report predicts that by 2020 organizations offering users access to a curated catalog of internal and external data will realize twice the business value from analytics investments than those that do not.

Howson adds: There is a need for reporting, but reporting alone is not enough. If youre only doing reporting youre behind already. Unless your reporting is smart and agile, youre behind. Youre a laggard.

More on BI:
Firefighters do not run into burning buildings, says New York City Fire Captain Paul Washington. Of course they dont! Firefighters rescue kittens from trees. If you doubt it, just ask the hundreds of FDNY widows and orphans from 9/11. But Captain Washington is an affirmative-action recruiter, so his eye-popping assertion needs to be put in its proper context. It came in the service of a program founded on a falsehood and perpetuated by lies.

No one took Washington at his word when he spun this yarn at the Borough of Manhattan Community College recently. His audience, a group of potential firefighters, laughed nervously at his absurd remark. Of course, firefighters run into burning buildings virtually every day. Why else would they be on the scene, if not for the fire, and how else would they put it out, if not from inside?

In fact, the FDNY may be the worlds premier urban inside departmenta term of art for a tradition that seeks to extinguish each building fire in the room where it started. Theres no better way to save lives and preserve property than to go to the source, quick and hard, though the ethic does exact a price.

While 9/11 was the worst day for fire services in American history, it was an outlier eventmost firefighter losses come in ones and twos, though on occasion catastrophe strikes. So while New York City firefighters almost always arrive home safely after a shiftthe key word being almostWashingtons deception does a disservice, by clouding this compelling reality: each and every burning building is a potential death trap. This is true every day, at every alarm, because inattention to even the most innocuous detail can cascade into calamity. If Washington needs to bamboozle recruits on this point, perhaps they shouldnt be firefighters.

From New York Citys point of view, the goal should be to recruit superlative candidates; from Washingtons, its to recruit minority candidates. History teaches that those goals are not always compatible. Heres where the affirmative-action lie comes into focus. Hiring in the civil service has long been done through competitive examinationtests designed to determine whether applicants are qualified for the jobs they seek. Unsuccessful aspirants often claimed that the exams tested for skills unrelated to the job and thus constituted illegal racial or gender discrimination. Courts tended to be sympathetic, and judges deemed test after test insufficiently job-specific.

So the tests were redesigned, becoming hyper-relevant to actual working conditionsyet minority applicants continued to fail in disproportionate numbers. At this point, judicial intervention entered the realm of the fantastic. In a 1982 sex-discrimination case, the late federal judge Charles Sifton effectively found speed and physical strength to be irrelevant in firefighting. What must be identified are not those who are strongest or fastest, but instead those who, with the benefit of training . . . can perform the punishing tasks of firefighting. That is, dont hire the best nowhire those who perhaps can be trained to the task someday, irrespective of the intervening risk. And, given civil service and union protections, even completely unsatisfactory candidates, once hired, were impossible to fire.

How many lives might be lost during Siftons training process didnt enter into the judges calculations. He ordered the FDNY to hire 45 womenamong the first of the departments judicially ordered hiring quotas. By 2012, all pretense of honesty and objectivity had been abandoned. Federal judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered the department to adopt an unambiguous quota-hiring systemfinding that overt discrimination did not need to be proved because a tests disparate impact on minority-group members is sufficient evidence of bias.

Garaufis, whose own biases at one point caused him to be removed by an appellate court from the fact-finding aspect of the case, nevertheless retained standing to declare the FDNY a stubborn bastion of white male privilege. He ordered that two of every five new city firefighters be black and one of every five be Hispanic. The jurist also ordered the FDNY to pay $129 million in retroactive salary and benefits to unsuccessful black and Hispanic recruits.

The results of all this quota-setting and bean-counting were predictable. FDNY insiders say that the department struggles to fill the minority quotas despite degraded hiring standards. Hence Paul Washington dissembles to potential recruits. Hence standards for women have grown so lax under Siftons dictum that one female recruit failed entrance exams six times and was hired anyway. Hence nine felonseach a beneficiary of Garafuliss quotasgraduated in a class of probationary firefighters from the citys fire academy last November.

Of all the bad ideas attending the FDNYs recruiting practices, the hiring of felons stands at the top of the list. Belief in redemption is an admirable American trait, but it shouldnt be presumed that character weaknesses that led to the original crimes and convictions wont resurface in the billowing black smoke and white-hot flame of a high-rise fire. Pretending otherwise is a falsehood that dwarfs Paul Washingtons little fib. But theyre both liesjust like affirmative-action quota hiring itself.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
BILL JOHNSON/THE DENVER POST/GETTY IMAGES

Over the past few years, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has enraged public-sector unions by closing failing public schools and calling for pension reform. The head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, went so far as to offer a local labor official $1 million in union campaign support to take on Emanuel, up for reelection in February. But private unions have a different view of the mayor. Building-trades groups like the Construction and General Laborers District Council have benefited from his infrastructure spending and have donated heavily to his reelection, while the hotel workers union, Unite Here, has openly endorsed him for boosting Chicago tourism. Theres a lot of support I have from working men and women, Emanuel retorted last year when asked about the public-sector-union opposition to his mayoralty.

Chicagos labor rift isnt unique. The goals of public and private unions are diverging. Government employees, determined to hold on to their pay and benefits, are fighting to defeat political leaders and candidates advocating fiscal reforms, such as limits on tax increases. Private unions, by contrast, see the nations sluggish economic growth as a threat to their members and are increasingly encouraging politicians to focus on private-sector job creation. The disastrous debut of Obamacare and the ever-tighter alliances between public unions and the Democratic Partys antigrowth factionsespecially environmentalistshave further alienated private-sector labor leaders. These disputes have roiled Democratic primaries and even pushed some labor groups into the arms of Republican candidates. The face-off among labor groups could have significant long-term consequences if it becomes a struggle for the future of the Democratic Partyand judging by the battles among labor groups in last years elections, that struggle may be under way.

Todays labor divide is actually a new twist on older conflicts. Decades ago, when public-sector workers first began to push for the right to organize, many private labor leaders were skeptical that collective bargaining could work in government employment; government officials tended to agree. Unionized public workers, they felt, could easily hold the public hostage. One consequence of that widespread attitude was the exclusion of public employees from many early federal labor laws, including the 1935 Wagner Act, which gives private workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. In an oft-quoted 1937 letter, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt explained to an angry Luther Steward, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, that, while it was acceptable for federal workers to organize into associations or trade groups to represent their interests, All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.

By the late 1950s, however, AFL-CIO boss George Meany and some other prominent labor leaders had reversed course. Giving government workers the right to bargain collectively, they now contended, would strengthen labors clout. Labor promotedand swiftly achievedcollective bargaining for government workers in states and municipalities across the country. But that success soon proved a double-edged sword. Meany had worked hard to convince the American public that organized labor had no interest in big government, since an expanded state wouldnt help unionized workers, who had traditionally worked in the private sector. Now he had a faction within the labor movement that did benefit from big governmentand that lobbied continuously for it. The government-worker strikes that spread in the 1960s distressed Meany, while some of his AFL-CIO lieutenants treated government-union leaders like Jerry Wurfthe controversial head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employeeswith open contempt. Several years after Wurf joined the AFL-CIOs executive council in 1969, one member of Meanys inner circle described him publicly as a loner, often far to the left politically of the rest of the council (the American socialist Norman Thomas was one of Wurfs heroes, for example, while Meany was an anti-Communist). Wurf admitted to the New York Times that he frequently was outvoted 25-to-1 on the council.

Private and public unions had strikingly different visions of the role of government. Meany spoke of tax cuts, for instance, as a way to galvanize the economy. In 1962, in fact, the AFL-CIO presented President John F. Kennedy with a plan to slash taxes by $9 billion. By contrast, AFSCME under Wurf viewed anything that might reduce government revenues with suspicion. The union even mounted an intense, though unsuccessful, campaign to shoot down Californias 1978 tax-limitation ballot measure Proposition 13, viewing it as a direct attack on funding for public-worker jobs. Many private-union workers liked Prop. 13 because rising taxes were draining their wages, and AFSCMEs campaign rankled AFL-CIO leaders. One told the Washington Post that Wurfs big problem with the tax thing lies in convincing the rest of the trade union movement of the legitimacy of the positions he has taken. As one of Meanys colleagues grumbled, Wurf has to become a part of the trade union movement.

The waning of industrial unions and the concurrent rise in the influence of government unions since the 1970s have profoundly changed organized labors balance of power. When Meany retired, private-sector-union workers outnumbered organized government workers by three to one. These days, unionized government workers are roughly equal in number to their private-sector counterparts. Public-union bosses now occupy some of the labor movements top positions.

Though former United Mineworkers president Richard Trumka now heads the AFL-CIO, his immediate predecessor, John Sweeney, earlier led SEIU, a labor group that started out organizing workers in private industry but transformed itself into a prominent player in government organizing. (And even Trumkas UMW now represents government public-safety officers, corrections officers, educational employees, and other government workers.) Government unions now dominate the AFL-CIO. Call it Wurfs revenge.

The new balance has brought a marked change in labors ideological orientation. Meany and his contemporaries lobbied for worker rights and benefits while also believing in American exceptionalism, pro-growth economic policies, and conservative social values. Union hard hats, its worth remembering, formed a counterweight to the college students protesting the Vietnam War, and the AFL-CIO was long a stalwart in the fight against Communist tyranny. The contemporary AFL-CIO not only pushes for big government; it also embraces a range of other liberal causes, from environmentalism to gay marriage. In this, it mirrors the politics of public-sector unions generally.

A struggling economy and blown-out state and local budgets, burdened with heavy government-worker costs, have brought to the surface the old enmity between private and public unions. Nowhere has this been more visible than in New Jersey. In 2006, as a budget crisis rocked the state, Democratic state senator Stephen Sweeney, an ironworkers-union official, declared that public employees should take a 15 percent pay cut to prevent looming tax hikes. My guys havent gotten a raise in two years because their entire raise went to their health and pension costs, Sweeney complained. New Jersey has a government that we cant afford any longer. A union war of words ensued, with one public-sector labor leader likening Sweeney to a right-wing Republican.

Tensions simmered for years, in part because then-governor Jon Corzine, also a Democrat, refused to ask government workers for significant concessions, even as New Jersey taxes soared. In 2011, Sweeney and other Democratic state legislators who also were private-union officials voted for a bill, promoted by new Republican governor Chris Christie, that scaled back government-employee benefits. Later that year, the states AFL-CIO refused to endorse the private-union officials for reelection. Representatives of building-trades unions stalked out of the AFL-CIO endorsement meeting in protest.

The controversy reverberated in New Jerseys 2013 gubernatorial race. Some two dozen private unions endorsed Christie for reelection, shunning his Democratic opponent, State Senator Barbara Buono; public-sector unions aggressively opposed Christie. Private-union leaders liked the way Christie had restrained tax increases and restarted job growth. In its endorsement of the governor, one New Jersey local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers noted that, between 2001 and 2009, the number of hours its members worked had declined more than 50 percent, to 3 millionbut during Christies tenure had rebounded by about 1.5 million annual hours. Our men love him, the locals business manager, Patrick Delle Cava, said. A CNN exit poll on the election, which Christie won with 60 percent of the vote, showed that he did well among voters in union households, capturing 46 percent of their ballots.

Similar labor conflicts erupted in 2014 races in several states beset by fiscal woes. The Democratic gubernatorial primary in debt-ravaged Rhode Island became particularly venomous. As state treasurer, Gina Raimondo had won a national reputation engineering an ambitious overhaul of government pensions in 2011, leading her to seek the Democratic gubernatorial nod. She squared off against two primary foes, both banking on support from government-worker unions: Providence mayor Angel Taveras; and Clay Pell, grandson of former U.S. senator Claiborne Pell. The states largest government union, the Rhode Island affiliate of AFSCME, endorsed Taveras, while the powerful state chapter of the National Education Association backed Pell. But Raimondo won the primary, with help from more than a dozen blue-collar labor groups, chief among them the Rhode Island Building Trades Council, which loved her idea of an infrastructure bank to spur investment in a state with the nations third-highest jobless rate. Their allegiance proved crucial when Taverass campaign charged that Raimondos pension overhaul had benefited Wall Street money managers but harmed government workers. Stop lying about Gina, the head of the building-trades group said in a statement.

The labor brawling in Rhode Island went beyond the gubernatorial primaries. In the general election, the AFL-CIO refused to endorse Raimondo or her running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Daniel McKee, because he was a proponent of charter schoolsanathema to the states teachers union. The unions were furious that a national organization favoring charter schools, 50CAN Action Fund Inc., had run a pro-McKee ad blitz in the Democratic primary, helping him beat their preferred candidate. Raimondo ultimately won but with only 41 percent of the vote in a four-way race, undercutting her mandate to govern.

Public-sector unions were victorious in the internecine labor war in Hawaii, resulting in the unprecedented defeat of a sitting governor in the states 2014 Democratic primary. Neil Abercrombie had won Hawaiis 2010 gubernatorial election with 58 percent of the vote, thanks in part to endorsements from key public unions, including the Hawaii State Teachers Association. But after he took office, several of his policies angered government labor groups, especially teachers. First, Abercrombie reduced teachers pay 5 percent after contract negotiations hit an impasse in 2011. Then, he floated a proposal to extend free preschool to thousands of Hawaiian four-year-olds but included in his plan public funds for private preschools to offer some of the servicesa major no-no for the teachers union. The controversy rocked the 2014 Hawaii Democratic Party state convention, with Abercrombie foes sponsoring a divisive resolution, which failed narrowly, calling for public money to go only to public schools. The teachers union backed State Senator David Ige in his insurgent campaign against Abercrombie.

Meantime, however, some of the states most significant private unions, which make up 15 percent of its private labor force, endorsed the incumbent. The largest private union in the island state, the 18,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union, cited Abercrombies support for Hawaiis tourism and shipping industries in giving him its seal of approval. It wasnt enough. In a state with 55 percent of government workers unionized, Abercrombie went down to defeat, with Ige pulling 66 percent of the primary vote and winning the general election in November.

A labor split has also tarnished New York governor Andrew Cuomos political reputation. With the AFL-CIOs help, Cuomo trounced upstate Republican Carl Paladino in the 2010 gubernatorial race. In his first term, he achieved modest fiscal reforms, including a cap on property-tax increases and reductions in pension formulas for new workers, while pushing for statewide evaluations of teachers and defending charter schoolsmoves that enraged public unions. The New York State Teachers Association, the Civil Service Employees Association, and AFSCME declined to endorse Cuomo for reelection, prompting the states AFL-CIO to withhold its approval, too, though building-trades groups within that organization fought to back the governor again. Cuomo was expected to win the primary easily against political unknown Zephyr Teachout, but she racked up endorsements from several public-sector unions, among them the 56,000-member Public Employees Federation, and made the race competitive. Cuomo defeated Republican Rob Astorino easily in November, but turnout was low, particularly in the Democratic stronghold of New York City, as public unions stayed home. Further, Republicans scored wins upstate, capturing a state senate majority that will enable them to play a more significant role in Albany. The head of the states Working Families Party, a largely public-union operation, blamed Cuomo for the Republican advances.

Desperate for jobs, some blue-collar unions have begun to look across the aisle toward Republican candidates, especially as the influence of antigrowth environmental groups within the Democratic Party has grown. This trend has become starkly visible in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walkers 2011 bill, Act 10, reduced collective bargaining rights for many public-sector workers, making him AFSCMEs Number One target in the 2014 elections. Among other efforts to boost the economy, however, Walker signed legislation that streamlined mining regulations, hoping to encourage outside investment. Every Democrat in the Wisconsin legislature opposed the bill on environmental grounds, but blue-collar unions like the Wisconsin Pipe Trades and the Milwaukee Building and Trades Council recognized its potential to create jobs for their members, and got behind it. When Walker called for the changes during his 2013 State of the State address, more than a dozen blue-collar workers stood behind him on the stage. Several trade unions, including those representing pipe fitters, carpenters, and heavy-equipment operators, later contributed financially to Walkers 2014 campaign. One trade-union leader, asked about allying with a governor who had reduced bargaining rights for government employees, noted that asking public workers to pay a bit more for health care and pensions wasnt comparable with how his members had suffered in the dismal economy. We lost our jobs, said Lyle Balistreri of the Milwaukee Building and Trade Council. We suffered 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent unemployment in many areas of the state. Walker wound up winning an impressive victory against Democratic challenger Mary Burke; even more telling, exit polls found that, three years after Act 10, 52 percent of Wisconsin voters had an unfavorable view of government unions.

In Ohio, Republican governor John Kasich infuriated public unions in early 2011 by signing Senate Bill 5, which, like Walkers Act 10, revoked collective bargaining rights for government workers. Public unions then led a furiousand successfulballot-initiative campaign to overturn the legislation, handing Kasich a crushing defeat later that year. Emboldened, the AFL-CIO put Kasich on a list of Republican governors it targeted as vulnerable in 2014. But Kasichs pro-growth agenda, which included a boost in infrastructure spending, won over some private-sector unions, especially since it appears to have worked: Ohios unemployment rate, 10.3 percent in 2009, had plunged to 5.6 percent by 2014. Several blue-collar unions, including the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 90,000 trade workers, poured money into the governors campaign, though they stopped short of making official endorsements. Kasich ultimately cruised to victory, winning a majority of votes in union households.

A public-private union rift affected last years Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, too. Government unions wanted to turn out the incumbent Republican governor, Tom Corbett, who proposed privatizing unionized state liquor stores while refusing to raise taxes to pay for more education spending. But Corbett ardently promoted hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which has generated some 15,000 oil and gas jobs in Pennsylvania and boosted wages in the energy sector by more than one-third, to nearly $83,000, according to a 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics report. By contrast, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Tom Wolf, called for a fracking tax and received donations from hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer, who has spent millions to limit fossil fuels. (See Well-Heeled and Wrongheaded in California, Summer 2014.) A number of private-sector union groups, including the Laborers District Council of Western Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh-based Boilermakers Local 154, whose 2,300 members often work on energy-sector projects, endorsed Corbett, who kept his promise to fight for Pennsylvania jobs, in the words of the head of the boilermakers. Some private unions even invited Corbett to appear at the Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade, where national AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka was guest of honor; embarrassed organizers eventually disinvited the governor. When Corbett became the only incumbent governor to lose a reelection bid in 2014, the future of fracking in Pennsylvania was left uncertain.

The issues splitting public and private labor groups in state races have begun to fracture national labor politics. At the August 2013 AFL-CIO quadrennial convention in Los Angeles, for example, Trumka called for reenergizing the labor movement by allowing nonlabor groups that he sees as allies, such as environmentalists, into the organization. But the thought of the president of the Sierra Club, an organization that has tried to kill job-creating enterprises like the Keystone XL pipeline and hydraulic fracturing, serving on the AFL-CIO executive committee drove some building trades leaders batty, as one journalist reported.

Blue-collar unions broke with government-worker groups over several issues at the meeting. Obamacare was a major source of tension. Just weeks before the convention, the heads of three influential private unions, including the Teamsters, fired off a letter to Democratic congressional leaders, saying that labors support of the Affordable Care Act has come back to haunt us. They noted that Obamacare incentivized employers to reduce employees work hours and that it kept workers with joint employer-union nonprofit health-insurance plans from qualifying for government insurance subsidies. We can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and well-being of our members, the letter declared. Other private unions criticized Obamacares so-called Cadillac tax on costly health-insurance plans; some union workers still enjoy these expensive policies. Trade-union groups drafted a resolution asking Congress to amend or repeal the ACA. In the end, the AFL-CIO toned it down, describing the law in its current form as highly disruptive but not calling for repeal. But one group, the 40,000-member International Longshore Warehouse Union, bolted the AFL-CIO over Trumkas refusal to denounce the Cadillac tax.

In a sign of battles to come, trade-union groups at the 2013 meeting called for AFL-CIO member unions to engage in more bipartisan political action and to seek greater political independence. The trades have become especially restive over public-sector unions monolithic support for Democratic candidates. In the 2014 election cycle, the American Federation of Teachers gave $1.7 million to 202 Democratic congressional candidates and $5,000 to one Republican. AFSCME contributed nearly $1.5 million to 195 House Democratic candidates and to 26 Senate Democratic contenders, as well as $6,000 to three Republicans. The American Federation of Government Employees contributed $525,000 to 178 Democrats and $41,750 to 19 Republicans. These figures are part of a long-running pattern. Since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the AFT has given $34.5 million to Democrats and $308,250 to Republicans. AFSCME contributed $51.4 million to Democrats and $643,655 to Republicans over those years, while AFGE spent $7.8 million on Democrats and $390,552 on Republicans.

By contrast, in 2014 congressional races, the Carpenters and Joiners Union, which led the charge within the AFL-CIO for a more bipartisan approach, contributed $418,000 to 46 GOP candidates and more than $1 million to 150 Democrats. The Operating Engineers Union contributed $1.4 million to 213 Democratic congressional candidates and $425,000 to 51 Republicans. Other blue-collar unions are following suit. The New Jersey Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor umbrella group, touted its endorsement of four 2014 GOP congressional candidates as part of a commitment to a broad, bipartisan approach to solving our nations economic problems.

This inter-labor division, serious as it is, may not drive private-union workers into the arms of the Republican Party in large numbers. Many private unions still push for boosting the minimum wage, for instance, which Republican politicians would find it difficult to sign on to. Moreover, the efforts of Republicans in some statesnotably, Michigan and Indianato pass right-to-work laws have muted any enthusiasm that labor groups might have developed for the GOP in those locales. The real impact will be felt on the Democratic side: already, an increasing number of Democratic officials have started to challenge the government-union orthodoxy by promoting school reform and working to restrain worker pay and pensions. Now private unions are forcing Democrats to consider their positions on other issuesmost especially, on environmentally driven restraints on growth, centralization of government power, regulation, and higher taxes. Private-union leaders were wary of government labor groups in the early days of public-sector organizing, and they have maintained an uneasy alliance with them ever since. But rarely have the interests of the two groups appeared so at odds as they do now.
Image credit: Tony Hisgett http://bit.ly/2xxSL8w

In the interests of full disclosure, I am writing this in somewhat of a daze. We flew back from Canada yesterday and I am still adjusting to missing a nights sleep and being back in the real world. And poor planning means I am faced with an immediate deadline to submit these 800 or so words.

No obvious charity angles presented themselves from over two weeks of gazing in awe at impossibly blue lakes, dramatic rocky mountains and breathless waterfalls, so bear with me while I painfully twist travellers tales into something relevant.
Tightening budgets and political uncertainty are some of the top 100 charity chief executives most common concerns in 2017. In the two years since Charity Finance last published a Chief Executives Survey, the sector has had to adjust to the British publics decision to leave the European Union and to unexpected general election results on each side of the Atlantic. While questions remain about the nature of the UKs relationship with the EU post-2019, a more immediate concern is the growing impact of austerity.

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Yesterday afternoon the Fundraising Regulator published a list of all charities which had either paid or not paid its levy. The regulators list has named and shamed 162 charities yet to contribute, but what will it mean for those organisations moving forward?

The name and shame blow when it came was delivered without any great fanfare. As has become almost a trait of the regulator when publishing eagerly awaited documents of great importance, a simple press release and a few tweets were all that accompanied yesterday's published list of the names of every charity to have either paid or, more crucially, not paid the levy.

The Fundraising Regulators travails with the first round of its levy on fundraising spend have been well-documented this year, and publishing the full list of non-paying charities, a move first mooted by the chief executive of NCVO, was always viewed as something of a nuclear option. If indeed this was a nuclear option, it was more a controlled explosion than a direct hit.

By our count, there are 162 organisations listed by the regulator as having neither paid nor committed to retroactively paying the first round of the fundraising levy. There are a further 95 organisations which have yet to pay, but arent listed by the regulator as they are still in negotiations. Then you have to factor in a further 13 organisations listed with an asterisk to denote that while theyve not paid the first years levy, they have already committed to paying next year.

The published list features 1,570 organisations asked by the regulator to pay the levy. For some this statistic can be viewed in a glass half-full kind of way. As the famous song by Meatloaf almost goes: 1,408 out of 1,570 aint bad.

The list also shows that the vast majority of large and, for lack of a better word, proper charities have all bent the knee and contributed to the levy. Included amongst the list of paying organisations the names of five organisations which originally fought tooth and nail with the regulator over the levy and its start-up payments: The British Museum, Medecins Sans Frontieres UK, RNIB, the Tate Gallery and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster. All squared up and on board with the independent system of regulation; beacons of best practice one and all.

The list shows that the regulator has had its successes in the first year, and fair play to them. But what does this all mean now for the organisations named and shamed, and what kind of organisations are they?

Medical, religious and educational organisations

The largest group of non-paying organisations lumped together by charitable aims, could best be described as being medical or health organisations. There were 22 non-paying medical organisations including hospices, hospital trusts and medical research charities.

Medical charities were closely followed by religious organisations who, between the variously represented faiths, accounted for around 20 non-contributing organisations. Amongst their number were two of the largest, certainly in terms of income anyway, of the non-paying charities. ELIM Foursquare Gospel Alliances last set of published accounts showed it had income of over 60m while the Amanat Trust, the registered charity name for the Ummah Welfare Trust, had an income of around 24m.

Perhaps most interestingly, in terms of the make-up of non-paying charities, was the education sector. Despite Lord Grades rather less than subtle hints to The Times in June about prominent universities and academe being particularly begrudging with alumni funds, only 16 education organisations are listed as yet to pay. Of that 18, only seven identify as universities, while the various colleges of Oxford University all have an unblemished record, as too does the University College of London and Cambridge. The remaining 11 educational organisations yet to contribute to the levy are all schools.

Arts organisations account for a further 13 non-paying organisations and include one or two well known charities. Battersea Arts Centre is one name that leaps off the list, but perhaps given the fact that still, more than two years on from the catastrophic fire which gutted its premises, restoration work continues it can be forgiven for witholding its funds. Interestingly, operatic societies account for a high proportion of non-paying arts organisations. As do theatres and theatrical institutions, such as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The rest

That leaves more than 60 organisations which are harder to define based purely on charitable aims. Within that figure there are everything from campaigning organisations such as War on Want, through to financial and policy think tanks, war memorials and one or two volunteering organisations.

In Fundraising Magazine

This helps to highlight the fact that the Fundraising Regulators first round of the levy has been blighted by its over reliance on out-of-date and inaccurate data which it had neither the resource nor apparent wherewithal to properly check.

One organisation, that has been named and shamed as a non-payer, despite the fact it doesn't really exist any more.

It publicly wound itself down after becoming a subsidiary of a new charity, which is listed as having paid the levy. The process was completed last year and has been reported across Civil Society Media's publications and discussed at sector events.

The Fundraising Regulator has admitted it has had a problem with the data on which the first round of the levy is based, but has yet to confirm how it will improve its accuracy as the levy moves into a second year. Until it does so, such clerical errors will continue and organisations of all shapes and sizes will be incorrectly invoiced or possibly even named and shamed for no reason.

The regulator has clearly made some big steps forward with the first round of the levy, but there is still a lot of work left for it to do.
"When the Gulf Coast's energy system takes a hit, it is now felt everywhere. And in the next few years, several new natural gas export facilities will come online, meaning the next disaster could have a big impact on global gas markets as well."

To be sure, there have been some clear resilience improvements since Katrina. Much progress has been made to harden energy infrastructure and improve the resilience of the fuel supply chain. A larger share of oil production now comes from onshore shale wells that are much better protected than large offshore platforms. The increase in supply options and infrastructure routes means markets can more quickly signal supply disruptions and respond to them through price movements.

It will take time to fully assess the impacts of Harvey on the energy system. But policymakers would be well-advised to consider some preliminary lessons:

First, while much progress has been made, much more remains to be done to harden energy infrastructure. This may prove especially true for new facilities built quickly to respond to the rapid shale boom. And new infrastructure should be built taking into consideration the future impacts of climate change, which is why it was so short-sighted of the Trump Administration to streamline the process for approving infrastructure two weeks ago by eliminating the need to plan for climate change.

Second, well-functioning, interconnected, and flexible markets bolster energy security. Removing barriers to energy trade, like export restrictions, allows markets to function more effectively. Increased pipeline, storage and port capacity, allows the system to respond more flexibly. Policymakers should ensure an efficient infrastructure permitting process.

Third, while price spikes can divert needed supplies and thus resolve shortages, higher prices take a toll on consumers and the broader economy. These costs are not borne by private firms. Government thus has a role to temper price spikes and physical supply disruptions with strategic stocks.In recent years, Congress has sold off large quantities of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to fill short-term budget holes, assuming (incorrectly) that declining oil imports cut our vulnerability to supply disruptions. The Trump Administration has proposed selling off half the SPR. We should not get rid of this national security asset, but rather should modernize strategic stocks to match the risks we now face, including swapping a portion of oil for refined petroleum products and ensuring the infrastructure exists to bring both to market.

Fourth, it is clear that even if we import less, our vulnerability to oil disruptions is proportional to our economy's oil-dependence. Continued policy efforts to reduce the economy's oil-intensity will lessen the impacts of future outages and price spikesa critical reason the Trump Administration's proposal to reduce the scheduled increases in fuel economy standards is unwise.

Finally, Harvey, along with the floods in southeast Asia that killed 1,200, remind us of the importance of acting more urgently to address the threat of climate change, which increases the risks of catastrophic weather events. Hurricanes are not new, of course, but climate change can increase the severity of their impacts, like the extreme rainfall and flooding seen during Harvey. Rising sea levels, warmer waters, and increased moisture in the atmosphere exacerbate the severity of extreme weather events.

The devastation wrought by Harvey reveals many new risks and impacts of the changed U.S. energy landscape. As the Gulf Coast recovers and rebuilds, we should heed the lessons of Harvey to prepare better for next time.

Commentary by Jason Bordoff, a professor of professional practice in international and public affairs and the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He was previously senior director on the staff of the National Security Council and special assistant to President Obama. Follow him on Twitter @JasonBordoff.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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Drew Grewal faced fines of nearly half a million dollars because his Miami Beach home was being listed illegally on Airbnb. In Miami Beach  as in New York, San Diego and many other U.S. cities  short-term rentals of the kind facilitated by Airbnb, VRBO, Tripadvisor and others are strictly limited. Laws, fees and taxes vary regionally, but fines for violations are typically high. In Miami Beach, the fines run at $20,000 for a first violation and rise from there. When the first notice arrived on Jan. 19, Grewal thought the city of Miami Beach must be mistaken. He hadn't used Airbnb as a host in years. Then it dawned on him that his long-term tenants might be responsible, despite a clause in their lease barring them from using his place for transient occupancy. An agent checked up on the property for him and confirmed his suspicions. The yard had been trashed, with some patio furniture shredded. Somebody had installed electronic locks  presumably so guests could check in and out.

Long-term tenants rented out Drew Grewal's home to travelers on Airbnb, who left his back yard and patio furniture shredded.

Grewal expected it may take time to clear his name with the city or to evict his tenants if they didn't fix the situation. But he figured a tech start-up like Airbnb should be able to remove the listing pretty easily. First, he had to figure out where the listing was, since Airbnb's site doesn't let users search by address to check whether properties they own might be listed illegally. He was looking for a place for four or six adults, since the house has three bedrooms. He eventually found the unauthorized listing on March 17. It was promising a "Tropical, Eclectic Home...Sleeps 12!!" That day, he emailed Airbnb's customer service team with a link to the listing in question. He said: "I am the homeowner of this property. This is being rented by tenants I have a year-long contract with without my authorization. It needs to be removed immediately."

Down the rabbit hole

Correspondence shared with CNBC shows that Airbnb sent Grewal down a customer service rabbit hole. First, the company sent him an automated response to which he could not reply. Then he placed a couple of urgent calls to Airbnb, spoke with different employees and was promised a response in five to 10 minutes. That didn't happen. He emailed Airbnb's trust and safety team that night. Nothing. Five more days passed, correspondence shows, without Airbnb assigning a dedicated person to his case. Then on March 23, Airbnb wrote Grewal with what amounted to a shrug. A customer service representative wrote: "All users by agreeing to our Terms of Service and when listing a property, agree that they have all rights to the accommodations. I do understand your concern regarding confirming rights to a listing; however, we do not provide any type of legal advice to our users." Meanwhile, fines from the city of Miami Beach were accruing to Grewal. And he was spending thousands on legal help and travel from Silicon Valley, where he lives today, back to Miami Beach for eviction-related hearings. Grewal then tapped his personal connections who knew people at Airbnb, and finally on March 28  11 days after he first contacted Airbnb  the company informed Grewal that they would reach out to his tenants to inform them of their "obligations."

Drew Grewal amassed a stack of fines from Miami Beach when tenants rented out his place on Airbnb.

The illegal listing came down on April 4. Grewal breathed a sigh of relief. But four days later, travelers showed up at the house ready for a dream vacation to find locked doors and an eviction notice. They called Grewal, whose number was on that notice, to complain. Grewal sought an explanation from Airbnb but says he got no response. After he evicted his tenants, Grewal says, he noticed some of his furniture missing, including a distinct purple futon and a white couch. He says he saw both items later appear in two other Miami Beach listings on Airbnb. "This was just one more kick in the face. Like here  throw some furniture out with all the other money I was spending to fix this," Grewal said. The listing that had been pulled down from Airbnb appeared with the same photos and copy on a site called Vacayo.com. It turns out that Grewal's tenants, Isabel Berney and Temitope "Truth" Oladapo, were behind that site  Oladapo registered the domain, and Berney lists herself as the company's co-founder on her LinkedIn page. Vacayo was recently accepted into start-up accelerator 500 Startups. Today Vacayo touts itself as a start-up that "transforms long-term rentals into beautiful, short-term group vacation homes available online." 500 Startups did not respond to requests for comment. After we published this story, Vacayo was no longer listed on 500 Startups' web site. When contacted by CNBC, Berney and Oladapo declined to comment on the specific incidents reported here, but both said in emails that Vacayo was not involved. However, Grewal provided screenshots, which file data shows were created on April 14, showing his property listed on Vacayo. In fact, the property was listed on Vacayo.com as of Aug. 30, as seen in a screenshot below taken by CNBC. Oladapo said that he did not install the locks. He also said Grewal asked him to take the furniture, which Grewal disputes.

Drew Grewal says his Miami Beach property was listed on Vacayo.com without his permission.

A disturbing pattern

Grewal's misery has plenty of company. Other homeowners and real estate professionals are facing similar troubles in Miami Beach and beyond. A long-time real estate investor in Miami Beach, Rula Giosmas, told CNBC she had Airbnb-related problems at two of her four properties there. In the most extreme case, she thought she had rented out her place to a nice couple with a kid moving from New York. Her tenants in this house? Oladapo and Berney, according to correspondence viewed by CNBC. (Giosmas did not know the other landlord quoted in this story, Grewal, at the time, but the two have been in touch after Grewal saw his missing purple futon in photos on a listing for her home on Airbnb.) Within a couple of months, the plumbing at her property had been clogged. Giosmas sent a plumber out, who suggested she may want to drop by for an inspection. When she did, she says she found the place had been outfitted with smart locks and security cameras, presumably so the tenants could remotely let guests and a maid service in and out of the property  or keep inspectors and landlords locked out.

Electronic locks installed at Drew Grewal's Miami Beach home by tenants.

The place was also crammed with cheap furniture, double beds in every room, and had signs taped up throughout the house admonishing guests not to throw parties or make loud noises, she says. Knowing that short-term rentals were not allowed in this zone of the city, she checked Miami Beach records for any notices on the property. She found that the city was fining her $20,000 for short-term rental violations there. Giosmas says she lost more than four months' rent to the tenants who were running what she said was "like a flop house" out of her property. And she lost the faith of her neighbors who complained about raucous guests who left trash strewn around the neighborhood. "They had dozens of bags of trash on the side of the house that hadn't been picked up."

Rula Giosmas Miami Beach home was listed on Airbnb without her permission, she says.

When Giosmas reached out to Airbnb with the listing, the company told her she needed to talk to the hosts (her tenants) to resolve the issue, she says. But within five days, she estimates, the company took the listing down. Still, she's not pleased. "It's a huge scam," she told CNBC of her experiences with renters illegally subletting their places to travelers. "And the city sticks the owners with the fees. Airbnb, VRBO and the rest of them are like real estate cancer." She is still working on getting tens of thousands of dollars in fines resolved with Miami Beach. And as with Grewal, payments to lawyers have also cost her thousands. In a statement provided to CNBC, Airbnb placed the blame on the city. "The Miami Beach fines are outrageously punitive and simply bad policy. They've initiated significant confusion among the residents and, worst of all, turned neighbors against neighbors. We advocate strongly on behalf of our hosts for fair home sharing regulations in order to ensure that the laws are simple and understandable for everyone."

Miami, Florida Scott B. Smith | Getty Images

The problem isn't limited to Miami Beach, however. In San Diego, two real estate professionals who asked to remain unnamed said homeowners' associations have been plagued by long-term tenants turning houses into "youth hostels" in the area, typically using Airbnb to book guests. One, in the San Diego suburb of Coronado, told CNBC, "It's a no-margin bed-and-breakfast for them. Homeowners are getting fined by their HOA, and sometimes the city, having to hire property managers and lawyers to deal with it all. They're losing their livelihoods. They rely on rent to pay mortgages. And they didn't count on all these expenses." Airbnb did not comment on the alleged incidents in San Diego.

Could Airbnb solve the problem?

Airbnb seems to have the financial resources to address this problem. A crown jewel among Silicon Valley tech start-ups, the company has raised more than $3 billion in funding from high-profile investors and has a reported valuation of $31 billion. Travel industry insiders expect the company to go public in 2018, according to PhocusWright's senior vice president of research, Douglas Quinby. He points out, "Airbnb is one of the largest online sellers of accommodations in the world after C-Trip and Expedia." Giosmas, Grewal and the San Diego real estate professionals contend Airbnb could stem this problem by adding a verification layer, or by "geo-fencing" their site so that it does not allow listings to be generated in zones that make short-term rentals illegal. This may be harder than it seems. The company has listings in more than 65,000 cities, and faces a conflicting maze of laws and HOA regulations, making it hard to enforce rules by geography. But other more basic steps might help. Today, for instance, Airbnb does not require people who list properties on their site to verify that they either own that property or have gotten legal permission to rent it out on a short-term basis. One property manager also recommended that Airbnb give property owners or realtors a way to block listings from being created for their addresses. Meanwhile, both Grewal and Giosmas tell CNBC the experience led them to sell their houses before they wanted to. Following months of lost rent, Grewal sold his Miami Beach property and says he accepted a price 10 to 15 percent lower than he would have sought under different circumstances. Giosmas said she sold off two properties in Miami Beach already and is listing her other two. She lamented, "After 26 years here, I'm trying to get off the beach. I felt like my house was prostituted."

WATCH: Airbnb waiving fees for evacuees, hosts offering free shelter
"It's fair to say almost every major company in America is benefiting from DACA because they've been able to hire someone who's a DACA recipient," he added.

"At least 75 percent of the largest companies in America have someone who identities as a DACA employee, which means it's much higher," FWD.us President Todd Schulte said in an interview with " Power Lunch " on Friday.

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump is expected to announce Tuesday whether he will scrap the program, called the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, or DACA.

Ending the Obama-era program that protects people who entered the United States illegally as children will have wide implications across the United States' economy, according to FWD.us, the pro-immigration reform group co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg .

Protesters demonstrate in favor of immigration reform in front of the White House August 30, 2017 in Washington, DC.

FWD.us was formed by Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and other tech heavyweights in 2013 to help fix the immigration system.

According to a report by FWD.us, 91 percent of DACA recipients are employed. Canceling the program, which shields those immigrants from deportation, would mean roughly 30,000 a month would lose their work permits as their DACA status expires, the report said.

On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pushed Trump not to end the program. In an open letter Thursday, nearly 400 executives, including Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, urged Trump to retain the protections.

Trump is under pressure from attorney generals from 10 states, including Texas, to end the program by September 5.

"The fact that he is being threatened by the Attorney General of Texas, with everything that's going on in Texas, that we're going to spend taxpayer dollars threatening to sue to overturn DACA so they can restart the deportations of 800,000 dreamers, that is just absolutely wrong," Schulte said.

So far, the president has "done the right thing," he added, pointing out that about 200,000 people have gone through the program under Trump.

"He can continue to do the right thing by keeping this program in place and calling on Congress to pass the Dream Act," which would protect those immigrants.

CNBC's John Schoen and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
When Maria Trujillo started her own graphic design firm, Aqui Designs, she tried working from home for a month but that didn't last long.

"I needed to have a broader range of interactions each day," she told CNBC.

Her solution: "I found a coworking space to work in where I have had the chance to find like-minded people and grow the human connections I was missing from working at home."

An added benefit, Trujillo said, is she can now meet clients in the space. A year after joining The Working Capitol  which has two locations in Singapore  she said much of her new business comes from people she's meeting in the coworking community.

While Trujillo's story is not uncommon for entrepreneurs in coworking spaces, more corporations are finding value in using the facilities for at least a portion of their staff.

HSBC , for one, recently staffed 300 employees inside a space run by WeWork in Hong Kong.

The move toward enterprise tenants is part of WeWork's long-term business strategy. It's current roster around the globe includes the likes of Microsoft , GE , Dell, Sales Force and Deutsche Bank .

WeWork is now valued at $20 billion, according to CB Insights. The company has gone from just 1,000 members between two locations in New York in 2010, to more than 130,000 members across 163 locations today.

From June 2016 to June 2017, the number of enterprise companies using WeWork grew by 90 percent, while the number of members from enterprise companies increased by 360 percent, according to a WeWork company spokeswoman.

A large part of WeWork's growth is also expected to take place in Asia, where it recently announced it had raised $1.4 billion in an investment led by SoftBank to expand in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

The demand for coworking spaces in Asia is expected to grow 10 to 15 percent annually, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield and association CoreNet Global.
Visions of America | Getty Images

Democrats and conservatives alike say they can help President Donald Trump cut corporate taxes and put money in the pockets of American taxpayers, but it will come at a price: penalizing coal miners and fossil fuel interests for contributing to global warming. A pair of Democratic senators and the bipartisan Climate Leadership Council aim to make a fee on carbon emissions part of tax reform. Their plans would essentially transfer money from greenhouse gas polluters to individual and corporate taxpayers. The goal of a carbon tax is to reduce the use of goods and services that produce greenhouse gas emissions, and to convince companies to reduce their emissions. That would be a hard pill for Trump to swallow, given his pledge to revive the coal industry and put miners back to work.

Senator Schatz and I extend an open hand and olive limb. Find Senator Schatz and me a Republican to negotiate with. Then let's talk about the economics. Let's talk about the revenue. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse D-RI

Jill Sigal, executive vice president at the Climate Leadership Council, says she understands Republican control of Congress and White House comments on climate change make a carbon charge a tough sell. However, she said the council is prepared to push its plan on its merits and will not give up. "We believe that we have a proposal that is a climate solution that is beneficial to the U.S. economy and national security," said Sigal, former assistant secretary of Energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs under President George W. Bush. Trump on Wednesday kicked off the tax reform push at a campaign-style event in Missouri, though Congress will hammer out the specifics. Following the GOP's failed months-long effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many believe the president and Republican lawmakers need a win.

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Republicans need a way to pay for tax cuts, and they've already rejected a plan to tax imported goods at the U.S. border. Failing to kill taxes tied to Obamacare also made tax reform harder. They cannot simply cut spending, because most of the federal budget goes toward Social Security, Medicare and other mandatory payouts. Congress has not truly reformed taxes since 1986, and it took a bipartisan effort to do so. Many expect Republicans to get no further than a tax cut this time around. So it would seem impossible to ignore a single proposal that could drive down the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 29 percent  especially when Trump wants it to fall to 15 percent. That is what Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii say their American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act of 2017 could do. The legislation would establish a charge of $49 for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted by companies responsible for planet-warming activity. That fee would increase 2 percent every year until emissions fall to 80 percent below 2005 levels. The carbon tax contains provisions that would potentially be popular with businesses and individual taxpayers and align with some of Trump's other priorities. The bill's creators say their plan would raise $2.1 trillion over 10 years, part of which would go toward reducing corporate taxes. It would also underwrite a $900 billion refund for American taxpayers, equal to a $550 tax credit for individuals and $1,100 for couples.

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Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

DowDupont  The merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont is complete as of today, and the new company  DowDupont  will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DWDP."

Lululemon  The yogawear maker posted adjusted quarterly profit of 39 cents per share, four cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat forecasts, as did its comparable-store sales. Lululemon also raised its full-year forecast.

 Palo Alto beat estimates by 13 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 92 cents per share. The cybersecurity software maker also beat on the top line. Palo Alto said it added a record number of new customers during the quarter. Separately, the company announced that CFO Steffan Tomlinson will retire and that a search for his replacement is underway.

Ambarella  Ambarella reported adjusted quarterly profit of 48 cents per share, four cents a share above estimates. The maker of image processing chips also saw revenue beat forecasts. Ambarella, a key supplier of chips to high definition camera maker , said it is also seeing growth in areas like original auto equipment and security applications.

Nutanix  Nutanix lost 33 cents per share for its latest quarter, five cents a share less than analysts had anticipated. The enterprise software vendor's revenue beat Street forecasts as well, and its current quarter revenue guidance is also above estimates amid strong growth from OEM partners.

Tenet Healthcare  Tenet is replacing Chief Executive Officer Trevor Fetter and several directors. The hospital operator has been under pressure from activist investor Glenview Capital Management, Tenet's largest shareholder with a 17.8 percent stake. Tenet shares have lost about three-quarters of their value over the past two years. Fetter will depart by mid-March.

Dr. Reddy's  London-based drugmaker Indivior plans to appeal a US court ruling that Dr. Reddy's  a maker of generic drugs - had not infringed its patents for an opioid addiction treatment.

Western Digital  CEO Stephen Milligan issued an apology to Toshiba for strained relations in the ongoing dispute over the sale of Toshiba's chip unit. Western Digital  Toshiba's partner in a Japan-based chip factory  is trying to buy the unit in conjunction with several partners, but Toshiba is in the process of negotiating with several parties about a sale.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise  The company completed the spinoff of its enterprise software businesses, as it shifts its focus to cloud services, closing the books on the ill-fated 2011 acquisition of software company Autonomy.

Wynn Resorts , Las Vegas Sands  These and other casino operators with operations in Macau may benefit after casinos in the gambling hub reported a 13 consecutive month of revenue gains for August.

Amazon.com  Amazon is planning to launch its one hour and two-hour delivery services  known as "Prime Now"  in Canada later this year.

Barnes & Noble  Barnes & Noble issued a denial of a published report saying the book retailer is exploring the idea of taking itself private.
Ernest J. Moniz, Energy secretary under the Obama administration, believes the world has become a more dangerous place in light of rising geopolitical tensions, such as those between North Korea and the West.

"I would say that the nuclear threats today are as bad (as) or worse than they had been since the Cuban missile crisis. North Korea's part of that, U.S.-Russia relations, India-Pakistan  so that's really an issue," Moniz told CNBC on Thursday at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

"I won't speak entirely causally, but let's say the world has become a more dangerous place," he added.

The Cuban missile crisis, which took place in October 1962, was when the U.S. and the Soviet Union came "closest to nuclear conflict," according to the U.S. State Department's website.

It was a critical point in history, where leaders from both sides engaged in a tense military and political standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Fast forward to the present, and geopolitical tensions continue to leave their mark on the world, with global financial markets showing signs of nervousness this week.

On Tuesday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that a ballistic missile fired by North Korea had passed over Japan  a provocation that was met with criticism from the United Nations and leaders worldwide.

Following the news, President Donald Trump released a statement saying that "all options are on the table".
As President Donald Trump reportedly fumes over comments Gary Cohn made last month, the White House chief economic advisor told CNBC on Friday he and the president get along well.

"I have a great relationship with the president," Cohn said. "We're working well together. We've spent enormous amount of time this week working on taxes."

"He and I are spending time working together on all the big economic issues that are going to drive economic growth and drive wages in this country. That's what he cares about, that's what I care about," he added.

Trump has grown more frustrated as Cohn and other top advisors publicly challenge or contradict him, according to The Washington Post. Trump saw Cohn's comments about the president's response to violence at a white nationalist rally in Virginia last month as a mark of "personal disloyalty," the newspaper reported.

The president drew backlash for pinning the violence in Charlottesville on "both sides" and saying "very fine people" marched with the white supremacists assembled there. Cohn, who is Jewish, has said the Trump administration "must do better" to combat neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

After Trump's remarks, Cohn said he faced pressure both to resign his position and remain in it. He even reportedly drafted a resignation letter, but never sent it.

"As a Jewish-American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting 'Jews will not replace us' to cause this Jew to leave his job. I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these hate groups. We must all unite together against them," Cohn told the FT.

Cohn, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, has represented the White House in tax reform meetings with congressional leaders. During a speech on taxes this week, Trump acknowledged various advisors working on tax reform, but he did not mention Cohn.

A Cohn departure would be seen as a blow to Republicans' hopes of passing a tax reform plan.
Harvey's hit on the Gulf Coast refining industry has driven gasoline prices at the pump to a two-year high, and retailers are expected to continue passing on price increases over the Labor Day weekend.

According to AAA, the national average rose to $2.52 per gallon for unleaded gasoline Friday, up from $2.45 Thursday and $2.33 before the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast. In some areas, prices jumped by double digits overnight, and there could be more sharp, but temporary gains ahead as distributors struggle with reduced supplies.

"Demand does go down after Labor Day. There's a bunch of good news out there, but the reality is we don't know what's going on with refineries," said Jeff Lenard, vice president, strategic industry initiatives, National Association of Convenience Stores. Convenience stores sell about 80 percent of the gasoline in the U.S.

Prices should continue to rise into next week, but are expected to level off and back down as refineries come back online and gasoline moves through the system, analysts said. The national average could rise as much as 20 to 30 cents more before it begins to steady.

Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, expects gasoline to rise to $2.75 per gallon. He said the condition of several major refineries is still unclear, and the U.S. gasoline supply is complicated by the fact that the U.S. is now a significant exporter of gasoline to central and South America.

Kloza said because of those factors, prices could stay high during September, but start to drop late in October.

Harvey forced refineries to reduce processing by about 5 million barrels a day as facilities from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, cut back or shut down. But a portion of that is now being restored.

"We're in the process of restoring runs of crude processing by 1.8 million barrels a day, and several refineries will be increasing their rate of processing at their rated capacity in the next few days," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

He said Marathon and Valero refineries in Texas City are on stream and ramping up operations, as is the Houston Valero refinery.

"I think 14 percent of U.S. refining capacity is completely shut down. About another 14 percent or so is in the midst of ramping up operations," Lipow said.

In some markets where the flow of gasoline is not as abundant as it had been, prices were up much more. In Missouri, pump prices jumped 8 cents since Thursday, to $2.38 per gallon, up 25 cents in the past week. Missouri and other Midwest states are impacted by the reduced volumes in the Explorer Pipeline.

In northern Texas, prices were also much higher. Motorists were lining up for gasoline in Dallas, where prices jumped from an average $2.37 per gallon Thursday to $2.52 per gallon by Friday, according to AAA.

"Part of it is Dallas is supplied by a pipeline from Corpus Christi, and of course those pipelines have been down," said Lipow. "There was a social media explosion of panic, so everyone went to the gas station. Supplies are going to be tight but they're going to get better."

Lenard said the best thing consumers can do is not to panic and top off gas tanks.

"I talked to people in Dallas that are going as far as Denver to get product. Basically it's a demand issue, not a supply issue," he said. "The system is equipped to have everybody with a half tank or so. When there's too many people with a full tank, there 's too many people with an empty tank."

In South Carolina, the price of unleaded averaged $2.39 per gallon by Friday morning, up 13 cents from Thursday. The Southeast is served by the Colonial Pipeline which was operating but at a lower volume. In Atlanta, the average price was $2.51, up 11 cents from Thursday.

"The hot spot to watch out for would be the east coast and New York harbor," said Kloza. Analysts said some shipments coming into New York were heading to Florida, which had been served by ships from Texas. In the futures market, New York harbor gasoline, or RBOB futures for October were trading down 2.7 percent at $1.73 per gallon on the NYMEX.

There remains questions about some of the major refineries, as others return to operation.

The Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, the largest U.S. refinery , could be down for a month, Lipow said. "That's based on the fact that it's going to take two weeks to assess damage and at least two weeks to get back on stream," he said.

The ExxonMobil Baytown refinery, the second largest refinery, has had some flooding and also could be down for up to four weeks, he said.
From the public files of the La Crescent Area Police Department.

Friday, Aug. 18

Background check regarding conditional offer of employment with the City of La Crescent. Main Street.

12:33 a.m. Extra patrol of construction site. County Road 25.

6:39 a.m. Traffic stop with verbal warning for speed. Hwy. 14/16/61 and Shore Acres Road.

9:13 a.m. Report of suspected underage consumption of alcohol and illegal conduct by juveniles. Hill Street.

10:26 a.m. Temporary no parking signs placed for city street maintenance. Haralson Lane.

12:04 p.m. Suspicious activity reported, unable to locate the person of interest. Elm Street.

1:24 p.m. Shore Acres bypass opened for over size tow vehicle. Shore Acres Road.

1:32 p.m. Data request. Main Street.

2:33 p.m. Report of theft of checks/check fraud, criminal charges pending. Main Street.

2:54 p.m. A 35-year-old La Crescent woman cited for disorderly conduct. Larch Avenue.

11:33 p.m. Check of construction site after hours. County Road 25.

Saturday, Aug. 19

12:09 a.m. Juvenile welfare. Sixth Street.

7:36 a.m. Emergency medical. Spruce Drive.

8:42 a.m. Assisted motorist with a dead vehicle battery. First Street and Walnut Street.

1:35 p.m. Dog running at large complaint. Ambrosia Court.

4:22 p.m. A 32-year-old St. Charles, Minn. man cited for careless driving. Chestnut Street.

11:44 p.m. Traffic stop with verbal warning for motor vehicle equipment violation.

Sunday, Aug. 20

12:31 a.m. Foot patrol and security check at a construction site. County Road 25.

1:06 a.m. A 911 hang up, determined to be an accidental dial. Willow Street.

5:42 a.m. Suspicious activity reported. Fourth Street.

9:35 a.m. Serve the server trainingbartender training. Chestnut Street.

10:57 a.m. Burglary to business reported, three juveniles identified as responsible, criminal charges pending. Chestnut Street.

4:37 p.m. Trouble with party. Hill Street.

6:12 p.m. Traffic control assist for fire department. Fourth Street and Elm Street.

7:40 p.m. Found property, owner was contacted to claim the property. Main Street.

7:45 p.m. Lost property reported. Harlson Lane.

11:46 p.m. Harassment complaint. Second Street.

Monday, Aug. 21

2:35 a.m. Animal complaint. Walnut Street.

3:49 a.m. Extra patrol at construction site. County Road 25.

4:35 a.m. Emergency medical. Second Street.

9:18 a.m. Local business reported fraud activity on bank account under investigation. Sycamore Street.

10:59 a.m. Emergency medical. Second Street.

11 a.m. Concern reported. Lancer Boulevard.

1:30 p.m. Gas drive off. Third Street.

2:42 p.m. Welfare concern. Fifth Avenue.

3:54 p.m. Motor vehicle crash reported in parking lot of business, drivers exchanged information. Walnut Street.

4 p.m. Found bicycle. Main Street.

5:25 p.m. Missing bicycle, it was later located. Lancer Boulevard.

10:03 p.m. Welfare check, everything was fine. First Street.

Tuesday, Aug. 22

3:30 a.m. Extra patrol at construction site. County Road 25.

6:49 a.m. Firearm held for safe keeping returned to owner. Main Street.

1:11 p.m. Transient at local business, left location after being asked to do so, no crime suspected. Third Street.

1:47 p.m. Found wallet, returned to owner. Main Street.

3:41 p.m. Traffic stop with verbal warning for inattentive driving. Seventh Street and Oak Street.

3:51 p.m. Assisted sheriffs office with transient. Hwy. 16/26.

4:56 p.m. Property damage motor vehicle crash reported. Hwy. 16 and Hwy. 14/61.

5:44 p.m. Suspicious activity reported, odor of burnt marijuana emanating from apartment. Redwood Street.

8:47 p.m. Welfare check. First Street and Chestnut Street.

9:41 p.m. A 36-year-old Minneapolis woman arrested for criminal damage to property, domestic assault and disorderly conduct. First Street.

Wednesday, Aug. 23

2:44 a.m. Extra check completed. County Road 25.

7:41 a.m. Suspicious activity reported.

7:41 a.m. Prowler/peeping activity reported to the police, person of interest identified and under investigation. Fourth Street.

8:34 a.m. Lost wallet reported, Main Street.

9:26 a.m. Assist Houston County Sheriffs Office with a background check regarding a permit to carry firearm applicant. Marshall Street.

10:18 a.m. Trouble between children reported, incident was mediated with parents and children. Twelfth Street.

10:26 a.m. Emergency medical. Second Street.

12:29 p.m. A 911 call placed by resident regarding an earlier contact with law enforcement, subject warned regarding proper 911 use. Fourth Street.

1:39 p.m. Motorist assist with a flat tire. Interstate 90 and Hwy. 14/61.

1:56 p.m. Assisted Winona County with an attempt to locate suspects involved in theft from a Salvation Army store.

2:31 p.m. Fingerprints for employment background check. Main Street.

3:12 p.m. Suspicious activity, silver jeep with Iowa registration stopped at a residence presenting themselves as an electric utility employees, subject did not present identification and vehicle was not marked as owned by utility company. County Road 6 and Valley Lane.

6:23 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for failure to display front license plate. Hwy. 14/61.

7:09 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for failure to display front license plate. Third Street.

7:24 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for motor vehicle equipment violation.

8:23 p.m. Hang up 911 call, determined to be kids playing with phone. Sycamore Street.

9 p.m. Vehicle hung upon railroad tracks. Chestnut Street and Hwy. 16.

10:49 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for motor vehicle equipment violation. Hwy. 26 and Hwy. 16.

11:38 p.m. Assisted homeowner in removing bat from interior of residence. Third Street.

11:58 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for illegal driving conduct.

Thursday, Aug. 24

12:14 a.m. A 23-year-old Winona man cited for speed and for not having his drivers license in possession. Hillview Boulevard and Hwy. 14/61.

4:29 a.m. Conducted check of construction site. County Road 25.

5:43 a.m. Emergency medical. Spruce Drive.

7:50 a.m. Auto unlock with keys inside. Spruce Drive.

10:37 a.m. Fingerprinted for employment licensure. Main Street.

11:44 a.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for fail to yield when merging on highway.

11:48 a.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for speed. Sycamore Street and Hwy. 14/61.

12:30 p.m. Child welfare investigation. First Street.

12:32 p.m. Parking complaint. Oak Street.

1:32 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for speed. Chestnut Street and Hwy. 14/61.

2:18 p.m. Civil child custody dispute. Main Street.

4:08 p.m. Resident bicycle registration obtained. Cedar Drive.

4:25 p.m. Found range rover key. Walnut Street.

4:30 p.m. Found vehicle key.

7:03 p.m. Extra patrol request due to suspicious neighborhood activity. Fourth Street.

8:11 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for equipment violation. Kistler Drive and Hwy. 16.

9:42 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for stop sign violation. Hwy. 14/61.

9:57 p.m. Traffic stop with a verbal warning for speed. Kistler Drive and Hwy. 16.

11:38 p.m. A 19-year-old Wilmington, Ill., man cited for speed. Hwy. 16 and Kistler Drive.
Gas prices could rise by 35 cents after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc to the U.S. oil heartland of Texas, closely watched commodities trader Dennis Gartman told CNBC on Friday.

"The fact that it ... continued, blew up and stayed for four or five days, this could be weeks, perhaps even months before we return to any sense of normalcy," the editor and founder of the Gartman Letter said.

"You could have gasoline prices 25 to 35 cents higher for retail in a very short span of time," he added in an interview on "Squawk Box."

Gasoline futures were lower Friday morning after surging 13.5 percent Thursday to their highest level in about two years. On supply concerns over Harvey-shuttered refineries, gasoline futures were up about 28 percent for the week ahead of Friday's trading.

In addition to higher prices, U.S. travelers and fuel suppliers may see shortages during the Labor Day holiday weekend, according to Reuters.

Gartman said he is also concerned about a new storm that has emerged, Irma, the fourth hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.

The Category 3 hurricane was over the eastern Atlantic and headed toward the Caribbean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Friday.

"So this is hurricane season. Hurricane season hits peak September 15. Let's hope that we can get through September 15," Gartman said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Italy will follow suit with France and elect a pro-European government in next year's general election, because to think there is an alternative is an "illusion", the chief executive of Generali told CNBC.

"As you have seen the result of the election in France was a very pro-Europe result. I think the same thing will happen in Italy because, once again, to think there is a future outside of Europe is an illusion," Philippe Donnet told CNBC Friday on the on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

"There is no future outside of Europe. There is no future out of the euro," the leader of Italy's largest insurance group said.

Italy is due to head to the polls by May 2018. The country's ruling centre-left Democratic party hopes to retain power, though right-wing parties have tried to capitalize on the European migrant crisis, which has severely impacted Italy.
China has the resources and ambitious top-down plans to potentially create an intelligent economy powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning over the next several years, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs.

A man holds an UBtech Alpha humanoid robot at the annual Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016.

In the report, titled "China's Rise in Artificial Intelligence," the investment bank said the world's second-largest economy has emerged as a major global contender in using AI to drive economic progress.

Goldman said the government and companies have identified AI and machine learning as the next big areas of innovation.

"We believe AI technology will become a priority on the government's agenda, and we expect further national/regional policy and funding support on AI to follow," the bank said.

AI is already widespread: From simple smartphone applications that can tell the weather to complex algorithms that are able to easily beat humans in board games.

Companies such as Google and Microsoft have poured vast amounts of money into research and development to expand the horizon of what AI can achieve. Machines are fed large quantities of data and taught specific tasks, allowing companies to create software that can learn and become smarter.

While the United States is generally considered to be leading the field, other countries are catching up. China, home of internet powerhouses such as Baidu , Alibaba and Tencent , is one of them.

In July, China's State Council issued guidelines on developing AI inside the country and set a goal of becoming a global innovation center for it by 2030. It expects the total output value of AI industries to surpass 1 trillion yuan ($147.80 billion).

The Council encouraged the creation of open-source computing platforms and training more AI professionals and scientists. The guidelines said the government will invest in qualified AI projects and encourage private capital investment.
A Republican president and Republican Congress are threatening to do what President Barack Obama never could: raise taxes on the rich.



In an interview with CNBC, White House economic czar Gary Cohn said that the tax plan taking shape in Washington would effectively raise taxes on the rich by getting rid of deductions and simplifying the tax code.



"As you simplify the tax system, you actually reduce taxes on middle-class income payers and average Americans. And you're actually taxing the high end at a higher rate," he said.



Think about that. A former Goldman Sachs executive who works for a Republican billionaire president says he's about to raise taxes on the wealthy.



Clearly, this is a lot of spin. The White House and Congress are highly sensitive to criticism that their tax plans are simply tax cuts for the wealthy rather than broad economic relief for the middle class. Virtually all the independent analyses of their previous plans show that the biggest gains and the vast majority of the benefits will go to the wealthy.



But there are two changes that seem to be emerging from the most recent plan (which still remains a secret) that may change the math  at least for some of the rich.



First, it seems clear that the White House and Congress want to eliminate deductions, saving only the charitable deduction and part of the mortgage deduction.

The wealthy take the lion's share of deductions. The big one would be killing the deduction of state and local income taxes. That's a huge benefit to the high-income earners in California, New York, Connecticut and other high-tax states (which happen to lean Democratic in their politics). California and New York taxpayers alone deduct a combined $170 billion a year in state and local taxes.



Second, there is growing chatter that the top income-tax rate will not be reduced. Under President Donald Trump's and House Speaker Paul Ryan's original plans, the top rate of 39.6 percent was to be lowered to 35 percent. But there are reports that the top rate may be left unchanged to pay for the corporate-tax cut and other taxes in the plan.



If both those things happen  eliminating big deductions and preserving the top tax rate  then certain kinds of wealthy taxpayers will see their taxes go up. Specifically, high-income wage earners, or those who make their money from salaries rather than investments, who live in high-tax states could well see an increase.



We don't know any details or numbers yet. So it's impossible to know how many people's taxes will go up or by how much. Yet given that a large share, if not the largest share, of high-income earners live in high-tax states on the coasts, it's possible that many of the salaried wealthy will see a tax hike under the Republican plan now taking shape.



Of course, some of the wealthy will see a tax cut. Those who own their own companies or generate their incomes from investments could see their taxes reduced. The cut in the corporate tax rate will clearly help investors and corporate owners. And if Trump gets his proposal to allow pass-through income to be taxed at the corporate rate, then people who generate income from their own LLCs or C corps (like Trump) will get a big break.



Put another way, the "capital rich"  or those who make their money from money or owning a business  will see lower taxes. The working wealthy, who make their money from ordinary income, could see a tax hike because they are losing their deductions.



We will see in the coming weeks whether the claim about taxing the rich is mere window dressing or real.
US GDP would take a hit from DACA deportations, report finds 5:29 PM ET Fri, 1 Sept 2017 | 00:59

If President Donald Trump decides to deport hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the country illegally as children, the economic impact would be felt from California to Florida.

Trump said Friday he would announce a decision as early as Friday afternoon or over the weekend.

At issue is the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which has shielded nearly 800,000 young immigrants from deportation and allowed them to work in the country.

The loss of those workers, and the paychecks they earn, would wipe out hundreds of billions of dollars from U.S. gross domestic product, according to groups that support the program.

The latest research comes from FWD.us, a pro-immigration reform group co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, which found that 91 percent of DACA recipients are employed. Canceling the program, which shields those immigrants from deportation, would mean roughly 30,000 a month would lose their work permits as their DACA status expires, the report said.
As many as 1 in every 6 people between the ages of 14 and 49 has genital herpes, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"People are missing the story here. They're defaming a dead scientist, [who] is really a hero," said Fernandez, a Hollywood movie producer who co-founded Rational Vaccines with Halford in 2015 out of a shared desire to help herpes sufferers.

"I just need to defend my friend, who is dead," Fernandez told CNBC. "Your kids will not know herpes, your grandkids will not know herpes because of Bill."

In an impassioned interview, Rational Vaccines Chief Agustin Fernandez said he feared the great promise of the vaccine developed by the late university professor William Halford was being overshadowed by criticism over Halford's decision to test the drug using American patients on the West Indian nation of St. Kitts and Nevis without monitoring by the FDA or an institutional review board (IRB), as is traditional.

The CEO of a herpes vaccine company at the center of a controversy over an offshore clinical trial on Friday said that future testing of the drug will follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight rules, as demanded by a new group of financial backers that includes venture capitalist Peter Thiel .

"I didn't know what an IRB was," Fernandez said.

Nor did Fernandez know, he said, that it was traditional for such drug trials to be monitored either by the FDA or by an institutional review board.

Fernandez, who is not a scientist or an expert on pharmaceuticals, said he did not know at the time that Halford's decision to conduct that trial of the vaccine in St. Kitts in 2016 with 20 American patients would end up drawing the ire of medical ethicists.

"As a businessman, and as my investors [require] ... we need the FDA," Fernandez said.

Fernandez also said that he now understands it is necessary from now on to conduct further trials following FDA oversight standards if Rational Vaccines hopes to market the vaccine in the United States.

Fernandez said the trial had shown the drug's promise both as a vaccine that would prevent herpes infections and as a therapeutic treatment to alleviate the often painful outbreak of sores that people with herpes can suffer.

Rational Vaccines last October announced that its "potentially revolutionary Theravax vaccine" had achieved groundbreaking results in its Phase 1 clinical trial.

"The Ministry of Health will always ensure that all research involving human participants follow international standards, which protect the safety and security of persons involved," regulators said.

Fernandez spoke two days after health regulators in St. Kitts said they were investigating the 2016 vaccine trial after learning it was conducted in that nation without prior approval.

"This guy is eradicating herpes: Let's talk about that," he said of Halford, a Southern Illinois University professor who died in June of brain cancer. "Nobody's saying that we've lost one of the greatest scientific minds in America."

But he said that this past spring  about six months after the first trial was concluded  when Halford and he met with Thiel's representative to discuss Thiel investing in the vaccine's development, the representative "yelled" at Halford for arguing that his decision to do the testing without FDA monitoring was motivated by a desire to help herpes sufferers without unnecessary delay.

Thiel's rep "said, 'We want to help people too, but we want to help a billion people, and we need to go through the FDA,' " Fernandez recalled.

The PayPal co-founder Thiel and a group of other investors committed $7 million to Rational Vaccines on Aug. 23, with the condition that future testing of the vaccine comply with FDA standards, Fernandez said.

Thiel, who did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC, himself invested $4 million, according to Fernandez.

Last Sunday, a story by Kaiser Health News focused on Thiel's investment and highlighted the fact that the 2016 trial "did not rely on traditional U.S. safety oversight."

The article noted that "Thiel has been a vocal critic of the FDA, claiming in an interview that its approval process was so unwieldy 'you would not be able to invent the polio vaccine today.'"

Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the infectious disease division of Johns Hopkins Medical Center, told Kaiser Health News, referring to the vaccine trial, "What they're doing is patently unethical."

"There's a reason why researchers rely on these protections," Zenilman said. "People can die."

An FDA spokeswoman told CNBC, "The FDA does not comment on individual cases or speculate on hypothetical situations."

"However, generally speaking, the FDA believes that the oversight of clinical investigations, including review by an IRB, is critically important and notes it is a regulatory requirement for clinical investigations subject to FDA regulations," the spokeswoman said.

But Fernandez told CNBC, "I wasn't aware of an ethical problem then, and I'm not aware of an ethical problem now."

Asked why Halford decided to do the clinical tests without traditional monitoring, Fernandez said, "The truth is, only Dr. Halford can answer that."

Fernandez speculated that Halford, who was terminally ill for years, was trying to help a number of herpes sufferers, particularly after being asked for help from two such people who ended up committing suicide.

"I'm suggesting that he, in his conscience, felt that he would move as quickly as possible and not have another death on his head," Fernandez said.

"He was fighting cancer the entire time," Fernandez said. "He knew he was never going to make a dime from this."

"Whatever Bill did, he did for the greater good."

Fernandez said Halford told participants in the trial that the trial was not approved by the FDA and required them to each sign an informed consent form to participate.

"The narrative that is out there is that this guy duped some people into getting injections and they are victims," Fernandez said. "And that is not the case."

Fernandez said that all of the participants in the trial were suffering from chronic herpes outbreaks, and a number of them were suffering outbreaks even while taking the herpes treatment drug Valtrex.

One of those participants, a 48-year-old truck driver from New Jersey named Richard Mancuso, told CNBC that he had sought to participate in the trial after suffering from two to three herpes outbreaks every month for the prior 20 years.

Mancuso said he was interviewed by Halford for three hours before Halford agreed to admit him to the trial, and that the professor told him that "you really have to think about this seriously, because there are risks involved, this is an experimental vaccine, and I cannot make any promise."

"He was really clear what the situation was," Mancuso said of Halford.

Mancuso told CNBC on Friday that he did not recall Halford informing him that FDA or IRB monitoring was traditional for a clinical trial. However, after this article first appeared, he said he had confirmed that disclosure was on the consent form that Halford had him sign before admitting him to the trial.

Mancuso received three injections during separate visits to St. Kitts. He said his outbreaks began tapering off, and that he last had an outbreak on March 27.

"Oh, my God, he gave me my life back," said Mancuso when asked what he thought of Halford. "It doesn't get much better than that."

Mancuso said he gets "a little upset over" criticism of Halford's decision to conduct the trial without FDA monitoring. He has posted a video response to the Kaiser Health News story on his Facebook page.

"He knew he had very little time to help people," Mancuso told CNBC. "Nobody has $5 billion and 15 years to get a vaccine approved. ... He's a professor; he's on a professor's salary."

The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where Halford worked, when asked for comment by CNBC, referred to a statement the school issued earlier this week.

"Rational Vaccines licensed the patent rights from SIU School of Medicine to advance the clinical application of the vaccine and is required to abide by all applicable laws and regulations in pursuit of those development objectives," the school said in that statement.

"The 2016 clinical trial was conducted solely by Rational Vaccines. Dr. Halford's involvement was as the Chief Scientific Officer of Rational Vaccines, not as a faculty member of SIU School of Medicine. The company ran the clinical trial independently of SIU involvement."
A prominent U.K. economist and former chairman of the country's financial regulator has split with his contemporaries by declaring that immigration was a "legitimate concern" in the Brexit vote last year, which he believes is now being overlooked in the current negotiations with the EU.

"I think that the most fundamental reason why the Brexit referendum passed was immigration. And I think that was a legitimate concern and in that sense I break away from many of my metropolitan, liberal friends in believing that there was a real issue there," Adair Turner, former Financial Services Authority chairman, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

He added that the disappointing progress in Brexit talks was due to a lack of focus on this particular issue. "I don't think they're going all that well," Turner said about Brexit negotiations. "I think the trouble is that the negotiating stance of the U.K. is muddled; it doesn't simply focus on saying look we've got to get a greater degree of control, certainly of short-term immigration surges, we've got to be able to control immigration flows better and that's all that really matters."
President Donald Trump's hopes for growth as high as 4 percent may come true, at least for one quarter.

An economic report released Friday, and overshadowed by the higher-profile nonfarm payrolls number, actually points to GDP gains in excess of 4 percent in the third quarter, said Andrew Hunter, U.S. economist at Capital Economics, as the firm showed in this chart:

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index jumped to 58.8 in August, a six-year high and above the 56.6 reading that economists surveyed by Reuters expected.

The ISM reading is known as a diffusion index, which means it is a survey of purchasing managers who describe their businesses in terms of expansion or contraction. The total is the percentage who reported growth, so a reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Hunter said the most recent figure shows the economy likely is growing at an even faster pace than expected.

"The rebound in the ISM manufacturing index to a six-year high in August illustrates that, despite the softer pace of payroll employment growth, activity continued to expand at a healthy pace last month," he said in a note.

That was some good news to offset a disappointing jobs report, which showed payroll growth of just 156,000 in August.

However, most economists were dismissive of the number, due in part to typical seasonal noise in the August report over the years and to otherwise strong signs of job growth. Earlier in the week, payment processing firm ADP said its private jobs count showed growth of 237,000, and the ISM report actually got its biggest boost from the jobs component, which came in at a robust 59.9 percent, an increase of 4.7 percentage points over July.

The nonfarm payrolls report "means absolutely zero with respect to the fundamental interpretation of the labor market or where policy is going," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. "I expect the August data to be revised up over the next two months."

Indeed, August's numbers often are revised higher after further review. If that's the case again, it would continue a positive dynamic that seemed to take hold in the latter part of the second quarter.

The latest GDP revision brought average growth for the year up to 2.1 percent, above the postrecession trend but still meager. A reading as strong as Hunter suggests could give support to Trump's argument that his pro-business agenda will bring the economy out of its funk.

However, the Atlanta Fed on Friday actually lowered its GDP projection 0.1 point for the third quarter, albeit to a still-solid 3.3 percent. Central bank economists said the positive ISM reading was offset by projected declines in government spending and investment in nonresidential structures.
The chairman of JPMorgan Chase International has spoken out about his fears of a shift towards protectionist trade, saying it will do nothing to alleviate global inequality.

"I'm very worried about all calls for protectionism," Jacob Frenkel told CNBC Friday on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

"The most important element that has elevated poverty in many, many countries, and this is so well-documented, is opening to trade to commerce, to services. It's a mindset of us, rather than a mindset of me and you."

Frenkel's comments come days after President Donald Trump turned up the heat on trade talks with China, telling advisors in the Oval Office "I want tariffs," according to CNN reports.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech executives are calling on President Donald Trump to preserve the rights of "dreamers" under any immigration reform plan.

Initiated more than five years ago by the Obama administration, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program grants leniency to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. DACA is under review by the Congress, and Trump is said to be conflicted about the program. Several state attorneys general plan to challenge the policy in court if Trump does not rescind it by Tuesday, according to Politico.

In an open letter published Thursday, the executives urged the president to retain the policy, saying that the U.S. economy would lose hundreds of billions of dollars if workers and students currently protected by DACA were faced with deportation.

An estimated 800,000 people could be hit by the elimination of the program.

"Our economy would lose $460.3 billion from the national gross domestic product (GDP) and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions," read the letter, which was posted on FWD.us, an immigration reform group founded by Zuckerberg.

In addition to Zuckerberg, the letter to Trump and congressional leaders was signed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai, Microsoft's Satya Nadella and numerous other business leaders.

The letter noted that those protected by DACA grew up in the United States, are registered with the government and are subject to extensive background checks. More than 95 percent are said to be in school or work, and 5 percent have started their own business.

"I stand with the Dreamers  the young people brought to our country by their parents," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post late Thursday.
Small-town grocers Hansens IGA and Randys Neighborhood Market may be looking to fill the gap left by cash-strapped grocery chain Gordys Market after it announced the closure of three of its locations last week.

According to layoff public notices filed Aug. 23 in Arcadia, Galesville and Black River Falls, the number of closing locations may soon climb.

Public notices indicate Shawn Christiansen, general manager of Gordys Black River Falls location, applied for a liquor license on behalf of Hansens IGA, headquartered in Bangor.

On Tuesday, the Black River Falls city council approved the license for Hansens IGA on the condition that Gordys Market would relinquish theirs.

Heather Heineman, general manager for Gordys Galesville location, filed for a liquor license on behalf of Arcadia Food Bank Inc. and Galesville Food Bank Inc., both for the purposes of a Randys Neighborhood Market, headquartered in Iowa.

Christiansen could not be reached for comment. Heineman declined comment.

A move into the region for the Bangor-based grocery chain wouldnt be unprecedented. Hansens IGA launched its northernmost branch in Stanley in May 2015 and has locations in neighboring Neillsville and Mondovi.

Nick Hansen, co-owner of Hansens IGA, declined to comment on acquisitions.

The recent closures were made in response to a lawsuit filled last week by Michigan-based food distributor SpartanNash, which alleged Gordys market owed $86 million in unpaid debts.

The same day, Gordys shuttered stores in Stanley, Richland Center and Spencer and announced it would be appointing a receiver to assist in the financial restructuring of the company.

To date, Gordys has closed six of its locations including one in Chippewa Falls, and two in Eau Claire that were announced prior to filing for receivership.

Gordys Market could not be reached for comment.
President Donald Trump is expected to announce Tuesday whether he will scrap an Obama-era program that protects people who entered the United States illegally as children.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday said Trump is "still finalizing" the decision.

"We love the dreamers," Trump told reporters earlier Friday, using the name for the people protected under DACA. "We love everybody."

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Friday pushed Trump not to end DACA. Trump is leaning toward stopping the program, according to multiple reports, though he has not made a final decision.

Ending DACA could affect 1 million immigrants, according to NBC News, and drag on U.S. gross domestic product.

While other GOP lawmakers have spoken out against scrapping DACA, Ryan and Hatch are perhaps the most prominent to urge Trump not to end it.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz is vying for a seat on Procter & Gamble 's board of directors. If he gets it, he could suggest moving some of the company's business units and jobs out of its Cincinnati headquarters, P&G CEO David Taylor told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"He said we should be more of a holding company and move businesses out of the headquarters. He called R&D (research & development) a hobby," Taylor told the newspaper. "We didn't ask for this proxy contest, but we think it's right to stand up for what's right for P&G."

Taylor said adding Peltz to the board could "derail" P&G's progress "by taking a new course."

Taylor's criticisms of Peltz are not new. He has been vocal about his opposition to Peltz joining P&G's board since Peltz's hedge fund, Trian Fund Management, first sought a board seat for Peltz in July.

Peltz and Taylor have engaged in a war of words throughout the summer ahead of the October 10 vote at P&G's annual shareholders meeting.

Trian did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Read the full story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The relationship between China and the U.S. has always been tense when it comes to trade and this is unlikely to change, a member of the monetary policy committee at the People's Bank of China told CNBC Friday.

"Look back 20 years ago, the relationship is always bumping. We always have the problem of trade issue," Fan Gang, chairman of the China Reform Foundation, said at the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum Friday.

Issues over trade have involved China's current account surplus, alleged currency manipulation and more recently, tariffs, he said. President Donald Trump has been a heavy critic of China's trade policy and reportedly told advisors in the Oval Office "I want tariffs," in a recent meeting. Fears over a potential trade war might have risen due to Trump's protectionist view, but, according to Fan Gang, both countries aren't likely to reach that stage.

"I don't think (there will be a trade war). There are going to be more trade conflicts but I don't believe there's going to be a war. Both countries are so close, so dependent on each other  In the last minute people will find ways to deal with (trade problems)," he told CNBC.
urged the U.S. and others to avoid going down a "dead-end road" with Pyongyang.

watch now

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the U.S. and others to avoid going down a "dead-end road" with North Korea on Friday, adding only dialogue without pre-conditions could resolve the crisis. "Russia believes that the policy of putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile program is misguided and futile," Putin said in an article published overnight by the Kremlin, ahead of the BRICS summit in Xiamen, China. "The region's problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions. Provocations, pressure and militarist and insulting rhetoric are a dead-end road," he added.

'On the brink of a large-scale conflict'

North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile tests in recent weeks amid escalating international unease, prompting Putin to weigh in on Friday and warn that the ongoing geopolitical dispute is "balancing on the brink of a large-scale conflict."



On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan in a move which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described as an "unprecedented" threat to his country. U.S. President Donald Trump also criticized the missile launch, suggesting it was an act of "contempt."



The missile, which was fired early on Tuesday local time, flew over Hokkaido Island before crashing into the sea. The test appeared to have been conducted in response to an ongoing joint military exercise being carried out by the U.S. and South Korea.



The United Nations condemned North Korea's "outrageous" firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan. However, while the 15-member Security Council urged the country to discontinue its nuclear program, the UN stopped short of threatening new sanctions on Pyongyang. Russia's and China's ambassadors to the UN both said they were opposed to unilateral sanctions on North Korea. Instead, Moscow and Beijing repeated calls for the U.S. and South Korea to terminate their so-called war games. Typically, diplomats said veto-wielding council members China and Russia only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for further possible sanctions, Reuters reported.

War of words

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un guides a target-striking contest of the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army to occupy islands in Pyongyang on Aug. 25, 2017. KCNA | Reuters

Tensions concerning Pyongyang's nuclear missile program have accelerated since a war of words broke out between Trump and the North Korean government last month. Last week, the U.S. and Japan imposed fresh sanctions on entities and organizations that support North Korea, including those in China and Russia.

WATCH: Here's what a land war with North Korea could look like
One of the most common pieces of advice young professionals receive is to find trusted mentors who can help guide and advise their career choices. Sound advice, but some CEOs are reversing that wisdom and relying on today's millennial generation to become their mentors, rather than mentees. Take SoulCycle CEO Melanie Whelan for example. At an event co-sponsored by Keds and LOLA last week in honor of Women's Equality Day, Whelan spoke about her millennial mentor and why she schedules monthly meetings with her. "I think what I'm most excited about right now is my new millennial mentor," Whelan said. "I've decided as a newly-turned-40-year-old mother with two children who is running a company...I am not hip with what the kids are doing these days."

Pedestrians pass a SoulCycle location in New York. Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Elaborating on how her younger colleague informs her on what she should be reading and the latest apps to download, Whelan referred to her young mentor as her new boss, and said, "I think great advice comes from all over the place." While Whelan may be one of the latest CEOs to talk about the importance of seeking advice from younger professionals, she certainly isn't the first. Lloyd's of London CEO Inga Beale spoke to CNBC in June about the impact young people have had on her company and professional life.

Bloomberg | Contributor | Getty Images
Starbucks may have hit a hitch as it moves to shutter all 379 of its Teavana locations by spring 2018.

Simon Property Group , the largest mall operator in the U.S., slapped the coffee giant with a lawsuit last month, alleging that by removing its Teavana stores, Starbucks is breaking its lease agreement with the company, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Simon said in the lawsuit that Starbucks "put its stock price above its contractual obligations, the viability of Simon and its Shopping Centers, other retailers and consumers who count on the Teavana stores," the Indy Star reported.

Starbucks had decided to shutter its Teavana stores because they were a drag on its results, with as many as 350 of these stores hurt by reduced foot traffic. Some 78 of these locations are in Simon shopping centers.

"Starbucks does not contend that Simon breached any lease or that Starbucks cannot remain viable if it continues to honor its promises in its leases for stores in Simon's Shopping Centers," the lawsuit said. "Instead, Starbucks simply believes it can make more money if it violates the leases than if it honored the contractual promises and obligations."

The mall operator is now seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent the coffee company from closing its stores before its leases are up.

Simon did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. However Starbucks said that it is "responding to the lawsuit and are working to resolve this dispute."

Read the full report from The Indianapolis Star.
The largest Atlantic salmon farm in the country, Superior Fresh, opened its doors to Gov. Scott Walker Aug. 31 in the small town of Northfield in Jackson County, providing a look into the future of harvesting fish and producing vegetables.

Superior Fresh is North Americas largest aquaponics facility, which at its capacity will be able to produce 160,000 pounds of Atlantic salmon and two million pounds of leafy greens annually, all within two large and very sustainable facilities.

Superior Fresh marked the five year anniversary of when the idea came to fruition Aug. 31 by celebrating their grand opening with more than 100 people in attendance.

This is five years in the making. It is a monumental accomplishment and to be able to share it with all of you is wonderful. It took many, many long days and nights, said Brandon Gottsacker, chief operating officer for Superior Fresh. Five years ago today we decided to develop a project that we thought would change the world. It was a project that would make a statement about how we would grow food and consume food.

One of those in attendance was Gov. Scott Walker, The best way to be green is to make green or save green, and that is exactly what this product does. It makes money by saving and being environmentally sound and at the same time it is economically sound.

Gottsacker said the model Superior Fresh has created over the last five years will be able to help with food shortage issues around the world.

The goal for that model is to prove that we can build this anywhere in the world, whether it is near a city or in a desert where water is scarce, Gottsacker said.

One of the main reasons Gottsacker expects this system to even work in deserts is because of the limited amount of water the facility needs.

The state of the art recirculating systems allow for 99.9 percent water reuse, making this facility one of the most sustainable agri-businesses when it comes to water use, Gottsacker said. The facility as a whole discharges zero water to surface waters of the state. All of our production system water gets irrigated onto our own alfalfa fields, where we can also harvest another product.

On top of the environmentally-conscious water use, Gottsacker is also proud that Superior Fresh is able to produce products in Wisconsin that are not traditionally found here.

We are using all of these harsh chemicals and we are still importing over 90 percent of our seafood from overseas. Salmon today is traveling over 4,000 miles to get to our plates, Gottsacker said explaining that Atlantic salmon typically comes from Chile or Norway and leafy greens from Mexico or California. Today we have the technology where we can produce this locally.

With the vision Superior Fresh has shown in the project, Steven Summerfelt, Ph.D., the director of aquaculture systems research for the Freshwater Institute, said it is the wave of the future.

Superior Fresh is showing us what the future of seafood and agriculture is looking like at a commercial scale. Just the tour today, if a picture is a 1,000 words, this was a novel, and this novel isnt science fiction. This is the future of environmentally-controlled agriculture, Summerfelt said.

The owners of Superior Fresh, Todd and Karen Wanek, are excited about where the project has gone in the last five years, and where it will be heading in the future.

Im really proud of everything that weve accomplished. This was a whole team effort. We have had people that have been helping us and weve been doing five years of research and for this to culminate today is just fabulous, Karen Wanek said. I think that it has taken on a life of its own.

Walker commended the Waneks for their vision, and the people of Superior Fresh and systems in Wisconsin that helped make Superior Fresh a possibility.

The fact that you have people like the Waneks who are willing to make that investment and you have the Superior Fresh team here and all of the folks that they partner with including some of the people from the Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin System. It is a great synergy and great ideas coming together, Walker said.
Across Ohio, employers are rethinking their zero-tolerance policies on drugs and focusing instead on second chances. Still, the stigma of hiring recovering addicts can put enormous pressure on the company's reputation. CNBC reached out to several publicly traded companies, which declined to talk on the record for this story. Acting White House drug czar Richard Baum said corporate executives have legitimate concerns about the risks involved in hiring those recovering from drug abuse. But he urged businesses to confront the challenge head-on. "Every major company or corporation in America has people in recovery or [with] some kind of drug problems in the past," he told CNBC. "You can either shut your eyes to it and ignore it or try to face it." Jonathan Rupert owns Distinctive Surfaces in Columbus, which makes and installs custom countertops for kitchens and bathrooms. He has 49 employees, and 15 of them are former opioid addicts.

Tron Monahan slowly took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair as he recalled the dark days of his life just nine months ago. The 32-year-old had just been released from prison and was living in a homeless shelter. He went to the bathroom and overdosed on heroin. "Luckily someone found me and called the squad," Monahan said. "I woke up in the hospital and stayed there." Monahan had started abusing prescription painkillers like OxyContin more than a decade earlier, but soon switched to heroin  a victim of the growing opioid epidemic that has ravaged communities across the country and is now taking a toll on the labor force. "It just took hold of me," Monahan recalled. "It was too much." The crisis has forced companies to confront a harsh reality: finding potential employees that can pass a drug test is a challenge.

When Rupert bought the business four years ago, he got lots of calls from people looking for a job. He had only a few employees then and installed one or two countertops a week. Now, they have 15 to 20 installations in a day, and the situation has flipped.



"The available workforce for us has really shrank. A lot of them that we are getting and interviewing, there are a lot a drug problems," Rupert said.



A national study by Princeton economist Alan Krueger found that 47 percent of men between the ages of 25 and 54 years old who are not in the labor force take pain medication. Two-thirds of those took prescription drugs.



In Ohio, deaths from prescription painkillers have given way to a potentially more dangerous substitute, the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Recently released state data showed more than 4,000 people died from overdoses last year, up from about 3,000 in 2015, with fentanyl driving the spike. President Donald Trump has declared the opioid crisis a national emergency, although no official paperwork has been filed yet.



Rupert realized the problem was worsening and took action, hiring Ron Eagle, a recovering addict, about a year and a half ago. Eagle then introduced Rupert to his friends in recovery, who also got jobs at the company. Now, they all hold each other accountable.



"I don't necessarily care about these guys' past. I'm looking at what they're doing today. What they're going for in their future," Rupert said. "A guy that is willing to invest any kind of time in their future and their lifestyle and their healthy living is a guy worth bringing on."



Eagle spent 20 years addicted to opiates. It started with a back injury when he was 19, working as a beer distributor. The repetitive motion disintegrated the disk in his back, he said, leading him down the path of addiction.



"Things got so bad that I just wanted to die. I wasn't afraid of death. I was afraid to live," said Eagle.



After completing treatment in a detox center, Eagle said he moved into a recovery house for men called House of Hope. He embarked on its six-month program to help recovering addicts get back on their feet, including preparations for re-entering the workforce.



Richard Mason, an employment specialist at the House of Hope, holds weekly classes on how to succeed in a job interview. He sharpens their skills and gives them the tools they need to ace their first meeting with a potential employer. His No. 1 piece of advice is honesty.



"An employer doesn't want you to sugarcoat your past," he said. "Recovery is about rigorous honesty. What we want the employers to see is you have taken responsibility for your past and you have changed your life."



House of Hope receives funding from the state, which has spent $1 billion to help communities stem the tide of the opioid epidemic.

"Individuals who are in recovery are drug-free," said Tracy Plouck, director of Ohio's Mental Health and Addiction Services. "They are productive, determined employees, and they deserve the opportunity to work and support their families."



Monahan moved into House of Hope this summer after hitting rock bottom at the homeless shelter. On a recent morning, he stood on the front porch of the grey-and-white colonial home with his buddies, dressed in a navy button-down shirt and khakis. Less than a month ago, he applied for a job at a local restaurant called Hot Chicken Takeover. The owner hired him on the spot.



"It's never too late for someone. I fully believe in second chances. My goal is upper management or corporate," he said. "That's where I'm trying to go  to the top."
Sanctions against a big Chinese bank may be best way to rein in North Korea 11:31 AM ET Fri, 1 Sept 2017 | 00:49

Pyonyang's return to missile-firing activities this week proves more needs to be done to rein in the rogue nation.

President Trump acknowledged that on Tuesday, saying that "all options are on the table" after North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan.

He signaled his impatience for continued negotiations with this tweet on Wednesday morning:

But stopping negotiations doesn't mean an imminent conflict. Here's what President Trump needs to do now instead: 1) Increase the U.S. military presence in the region and 2) Issue more serious economic sanctions against China.

Remember it was Ronald Reagan's policy of increasing military presence in Europe in the 1980s without firing a shot that worked in getting the U.S.S.R. to first take the U.S. political will more seriously, and then eventually made Moscow realize it could never match American military spending. China and North Korea need to see more of that same American military resolve.

But the non-military options are harder to find when confronting North Korea directly, because North Korea's economy is so small as it is. For economic sanctions to have a better chance of working, the U.S. and its allies must threaten to level serious sanctions on China.

The Trump team has indeed levied sanctions already, but they've been on bit part players and they don't hit hard enough. And that means it may be time to at least threaten to hit a major Chinese bank and block its access to U.S. business and dollars.

And the Bank of China would be a good first target as it was reportedly cited in a U.N. report in 2016 for being used by North Korea to evade sanctions. That means that sanctioning that bank could serve the triple purpose of proving to the world that the U.S. is serious about protecting its western coast and its allies, aims to punish all who aid North Korea's missile adventurism, and help enforce the economic sanctions already in place against North Korea itself.

There is support for this tactic from a bipartisan set of figures. Many conservatives want to try a shutdown immediately, and former Obama administration Treasury official Anthony Ruggiero, and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in an email that, "sanctions against the Bank of China are overdue." He added that fines should be tried first before assets are frozen or access to the U.S. financial system is totally denied.

Another former Obama administration official at the CIA, David S. Cohen, is also calling for much more stringent sanctions on Chinese banks and downplaying the ramifications of China's response to them. In the Washington Post earlier this year, Cohen noted the positive results that came from the Obama administration's actions against Chinese banks that were still doing business with sanctioned banks in Tehran.

Cohen believes China would be similarly willing to cut off financial dealings with North Korea to avoid a war. "China is worried about ... military action to destroy North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. Whatever sanctions pain China was willing to endure to avert a military strike by the United States (or Israel) against Iran, its deep-seated fear of a military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula means its pain tolerance for secondary sanctions against North Korea would be even higher."

Still, it's vital for every American to understand the potential downside of that kind of sanction. First off, Beijing could still decide to at least temporarily respond angrily and move to block U.S. banking activities in China, such as they are.

Second, U.S. businesses and jobs that rely on Chinese investment would be effected and maybe even lost. Many economists have made the honest assessment that the worst case negative effects from shutting down a major Chinese bank would be severe and difficult to fully anticipate. That includes a nasty scenario where Russia could use its banks to swoop in to ease the effects of a major sanction like this.

But that's where the Trump administration has to weigh the costs of different general options for proving American resolve. A buildup of U.S. naval, infantry, and air power in the region is serious enough for a while, but a war weary American public is going to demand solid evidence that this president has explored as many non-military options as possible before supporting an actual attack. And even if the public does become more supportive of an actual strike, President Trump really owes that to the U.S. troops and the millions of civilians on both sides who would be put in harm's way.

The good news is that this kind of sanction could work even before it goes into effect, as long as the Trump team makes an effective and credible threat to shut down a major Chinese bank. That means more than just a Trump tweet, but a detailed description of what the U.S. plans to do from someone like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Another bit of good news is that unlike the destruction and deaths from air strikes and other attacks, a bank shutdown can be temporary and its effects easier to reverse. And the final bit of good news is that Russia's latest banking woes look like they'll at least significantly curtail much of Moscow's ability to interfere with this kind of move.

That's about where the good news ends. What everyone has to accept is that responding properly to a serious menace like Kim Jong Un is not going to be easy. There will be economic hardships to endure right here in the U.S. and for some people and businesses, they could be severe.

President Trump and the U.S. owes it to our troops, our endangered allies, and all the civilians in the region to pursue the most serious non-lethal options before ordering any kind of attack. Sanctioning a major Chinese bank is one of those options, and it would be appropriate in this situation. This administration must prepare to do so right away.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
The U.S. withdrawal from the TPP had widely been considered a political boon for China , and that has lead countries such as Japan to worry they'll lose influence.

When President Donald Trump walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he set off a series of geopolitical recalculations across Asia.

"Some Chinese officials saw the TPP as part of the new U.S. containment policy," private bank Brown Brothers Harriman said in a note this week, pointing to similar American alliances with countries surrounding the Soviet Union.

It's hard not to view China as the main beneficiary of Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the pact shortly after taking office in January, BBH said.

Trump had claimed the broad 12-nation trade deal was a "disaster" that would hurt U.S. manufacturing.

"The U.S.'s apparent retreat from the liberal global order it was instrumental in creating has left a leadership vacuum that also works in China's interest," BBH said, noting the mainland's president, Xi Jinping, can portray himself as a defender of the current multilateral system.

That's elevated the importance of another regional trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Spearheaded by China and excluding the U.S, RCEP is expected to enhance Beijing's influence among its Asian peers.

The mainland is already the biggest trading partner for the bulk of Asian countries, but it's gradually increasing its political and economic sway by leading projects that impact the region. Those included the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the "One Belt, One Road" infrastructure program.

It's China's rising sway that's making its neighbors nervous.

Kotaro Tamura, an Asia fellow at the Milken Institute and former senator and parliamentary secretary in charge of economic and fiscal policy in Japan, said China's apparent gain has raised the TPP to the level of a national security concern for his country.

While the TPP had been considered all but dead after Trump's withdrawal, the 11 nations remaining in the trade partnership agreed in May to pursue a deal without the U.S., examining options for bringing it into force "expeditiously."

"TPP is a unique asset for Japan to attract and to impact Southeast Asian countries through trade for the benefit of Japanese security," Tamura said this week.

Without the TPP, Japan would likely need to rely largely on economic aid to gain influence within Southeast Asia, he said.

"If we have the means to have a multilateral trade scheme, it can keep those countries on Japan's side," he said, noting that Japan has tried to be among the leaders in reviving the deal.

Others noted that the TPP-11 effort was creating interesting alliances.
The White House has told Congress it does not need to include money for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall in its upcoming budget bill despite public threats, the Washington Post reports.

Trump suggested last month at a rally in Arizona that he would be willing to shut down the government if Congress sent him a funding bill that didn't include money for a wall between the U.S.-Mexico border.

"If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," Trump said.

Two days after Trump's rally, the White House told Congress the money did not need to be in a "continuing resolution" to fund the government from October until sometime in December, The Washington Post reported, citing a senior GOP congressional aide.

However, Trump wants border wall funding to be included in a December budget bill, the Washington Post reported, citing GOP congressional aides.

Government funding expires at the end of September. Congress is expected to pass a short-term funding bill while it crafts a long-term one.

Read the full Washington Post report here.
The United Nations has become unfit for purpose as it insists on attempting to fix the world's problems as if it were 1945, an influential member of the Saudi royal family told CNBC.

"We are still dealing with the world today as it was dealt with in 1945. We have seen the breakdown of the Soviet Union, we've seen the rise of China, we've seen various other developments on a global scale and of course the population has more than tripled  So we need to readjust the way we do things," Prince Turki al Faisal, who is the former head of Saudi Arabian intelligence, said on the sidelines of Ambrosetti Forum.

When asked whether he would describe the UN as no longer fit for purpose, especially given the complex challenges the world now faces in the 21st century, Prince Turki replied: "I am not the only one who is saying that."
A man who disrupted a Hawaiian Airlines flight so much that the plane had to turn around and return to Honolulu last year instead of heading to New York must pay the airline nearly $100,000, a federal judge ruled.

New Jersey resident James August was ordered to pay restitution on Monday after he was sentenced to three months of probation in June, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

He pleaded guilty to interfering with flight crew members and flight attendants in February.

August was accused of drunkenly threatening his girlfriend, her children, other passengers and crew members during the flight and slapping a flight attendant on her shoulder, according to an FBI affidavit.

August said he did not remember what happened but did not dispute accounts that he was threatening and disruptive.

He was arrested after the November Hawaiian Airlines flight returned to Honolulu.

The payment of $97,817 represents reimbursement of Hawaiian Airlines' costs for turning the jet around  including fuel, maintenance, ground crew, replacement flight crew, landing fee and re-catering.

The restitution ordered by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway also includes what Hawaiian Airlines paid to find seats for passengers on other airlines.

It does not include $46,900 in meal vouchers the carrier handed out to the delayed passengers and passengers scheduled to take the same plane from New York to Honolulu
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shake hands at the State Department May 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

The United States has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and buildings in Washington and New York that house trade missions, the State Department said on Thursday, in retaliation for Moscow cutting the U.S. diplomatic presence in Russia. The announcement was the latest in tit-for-tat measures between the two countries that have helped to drive relations to a new post-Cold War low, thwarting hopes on both sides that they might improve after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. Last month, Moscow ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people to match the number of Russian diplomats in the United States, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were imposed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and to punish Russia further for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the United States had completed the reduction.

watch now

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians," Nauert said, the United States has required the Russian government to close its San Francisco consulate and two annexes in Washington, D.C. and New York by Sept. 2. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of the closures in a phone call on Thursday, a senior Trump administration official said. The two men plan to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September, the official said. Lavrov expressed regret about Washington's decision during the phone call with Tillerson, his ministry said. "Moscow will closely study the new measures announced by the Americans, after which our reaction will be conveyed," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. The latest U.S. move caps eight months of back-and-forth retaliatory measures between the two countries spanning two U.S. administrations.

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Flames and smoke could be seen coming from the Arkema plant in Crosby, Texas, on Friday evening.

That came after a container of organic peroxides exploded and caught fire early Thursday, sending acrid smoke into the air. An executive had said up to eight more containers could burn and explode.

Arkema said Harvey's floodwaters engulfed its backup generators and knocked out the refrigeration necessary to keep the compounds from degrading and catching fire.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the smoke that came from the plant early Thursday showed no reason for alarm. No serious injuries were reported. Still, authorities evacuated an area around the plant.

Fire officials said they were aware of one trailer containing unstable compounds that went on fire at a Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey.

Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, said fire officials know that one trailer filled with organic peroxides and possibly a second trailer was on fire at the Arkema plant in Crosby. Aerial video showed a towering fire and smoke coming from the plant.

The compounds are unstable because the plant lost refrigeration.

A day earlier, one trailer blew up, sending acrid smoke into the area. An area around the plant was evacuated, and Moreno said the department does not plan to expand it.

She added that the department believes that the sudden bursts of flame seen in television footage of the fire came from tires.
Sionade Robinson has an almost impossible task. As associate director for the MBA program at Cass Business School in London, she must manage the expectations of high achievers about where their business school degree will take them. One student arrived in her office distraught after being rejected by a large investment bank from its fast-track management program. They were offering just 15 places worldwide, Robinson recalls. More from the Financial Times:

How to return to work: advice from entrepreneurs and CEOs

The top insights from the FT business school blog

Business Book podcast: why psychopaths thrive at work "People think an MBA is a golden ticket, when it is not," she says.

Landing a job after business school has never been straightforward. But a new survey by the Financial Times could help shed light on the process. The anonymous survey reveals what skills leading employers want  and what they don't  from MBA graduates. You can read the methodology below. Our findings suggest students should prepare themselves for a changing MBA jobs market. Our subsequent conversations with employers found graduates should be realistic about the roles for which their MBA degree alone will qualify them. One in three of the employers we surveyed said they struggled to find business school graduates with the right skills. The five most important skills were not core MBA subjects, such as finance and marketing, but more loosely defined qualities, or so-called soft skills, such as the ability to work with a wide variety of people and the ability to prioritize. Of these, employers said the ability among MBA graduates to manage their time effectively was the most difficult to find. The findings may be explained in part by a perception gap. Employers in some sectors, such as oil and gas, civil engineering, transport and energy, see little need for senior staff to hold an MBA degree. Part of the reason, they say, is that they do not believe that business schools teach the right skills.

Business schools are reacting by trying to broaden the pool of MBA employers. At Chicago's Booth School of Business, technology companies, such as Amazon and Google, have overtaken management consultancies and investment banks as the biggest hirers of MBA graduates in recent years. The school is looking for new sectors in which companies may be interested in hiring their MBAs. "MBAs hear very often that they are special during their courses  when coming back to business, reality often hits them hard." survey respondent Julie Morton, associate dean of careers services and corporate relations at Booth, says half her team of 22 are employed specifically to spread the word about the value of hiring MBA graduates. Many of the companies new to hiring MBA graduates are interested in soft skills, such as the ability to network  one of the most important skills cited in the FT survey, Morton adds. The trick is convincing companies that MBA students have them. "We work with companies all the time where the MBA is not the goal," Morton says. Several employers told the FT that MBA qualifications were not their priority. At Servest, the facilities management company, four people in senior posts have MBAs. But the company, which employs 51,000 people across the UK and South Africa, did not seek MBA graduates to fill any of these roles, according to Dennis Zietsman, Servest's deputy chairman." "It's the type of person rather than the business degree that we focus on," he says. "[MBA graduates] have never been our star performers. "Some joining the company with business masters degrees have struggled to convert theory into practice, he says. "Case studies in the MBA programs seem to be based on big corporations, often American, which cannot be applied to smaller corporations that have cultures different to those that they've studied." "Often, MBAs do not have much patience. When companies hire them, the MBAs have been off the market for between one and two years. It takes time to integrate and learn about a new company." survey respondent Neither are MBA graduates a priority for the clients of Mark Butter, director of Blueprint Recruitment Solutions, a company that specializes in executive appointments for the oil and gas, marine, civil engineering, transport and energy sectors. "They are far more likely to be concerned with whether the candidate has industry qualifications, such as being a chartered engineer," Butter says. Adrian O'Connor, founding director of Global Accounting Network, which helps with appointments of qualified accounting professionals up to finance director level, says an MBA is Some clients will accept an MBA instead of an accounting qualification, O'Connor notes. "This is particularly true in either the more commercial finance roles, or indeed at board level."

The FT research suggests there may be an opportunity for business schools to market graduates more effectively among companies not used to hiring at this level. Even among O'Connor's clients, the perception is that business school graduates are good at networking  listed in our survey as among the five most important skills to employers. "Clients view it as a strong testimonial of someone's intelligence and ability to apply that," O'Connor says. "Too much tactical execution and not enough big-picture thinking." survey respondent Ilona Drozd is campus recruiter for the online travel site Expedia in Europe. The company became interested in hiring MBAs for senior strategy roles in part because many of its board directors were MBA graduates, Drozd says. Despite this, Expedia does not have a specific graduate program for recruits with an MBA. This year the company, which employs more than 20,000 people worldwide, hired just nine MBA graduates in the UK and three in the US. The most common reason for rejecting applicants coming in at the senior level, where an MBA graduate would typically aspire to start within an organisation, is a lack of cultural fit and an inability to solve complicated problems, according to Drozd. "The ability to deal with ambiguity is missing." survey respondent Soft skills, such as teamwork, are important but they are not enough, she adds. "The ideal candidate is someone we would like to have long term, which means they have to really want to work at Expedia." Kevin Marvinac is both an MBA graduate and chief operating officer at TransparentCareer, a database of salary data for people hired from business schools, which is aimed at helping MBA graduates hone their search to find the ideal job.

He believes that an MBA is helpful in securing a rewarding senior executive role, but admits that it is not sufficient in industries where people are also expected to have certain technical skills or experience. The FT survey found big data analysis, for example, was one of the hardest skills to recruit. "It is really hard to be a product manager at a tech company, for instance, if you don't know how to code," Marvinac says.

About the survey
At 33, Zuckerberg is 54 years younger than Buffett, who amassed his fortune through many decades of value-based investing. Zuckerberg earned his wealth by creating an online business that's grown rapidly around the globe and now has 2 billion users.

As Labor Day weekend arrives and the kids return to school, Zuckerberg finds himself the world's fifth-richest person, just behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Carlos Slim . Facebook's summertime rally added over $8 billion to the founder's fortune, which now sits at $71.7 billion, according to the Forbes billionaires list .

Facebook shares jumped 14 percent in the past three months, as of Thursday's close, the best performance among the five most valuable U.S. technology companies. Apple and Microsoft each rose about 7 percent, While Amazon and Alphabet dropped.

The Harvard University dropout started the vacation season by returning to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address at graduation and collect an honorary degree.

In his speech (reprinted here in full), Zuckerberg urged graduates to help build a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. He also added his name to the list of tech executives calling for a universal basic income.

Zuckerberg's charitable organization  the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative  has grown thanks to his regular stock sales. The entity, which he started with his wife, Priscilla Chan, has close to 200 employees, including a group of scientists hoping to identify every human cell.

As if that's not enough, Zuckerberg and Chan welcomed their second daughter last month. The birth of baby August prompted Zuckerberg to plan a two-month leave from his job, the first month right away with the second in December. Facebook allows for four months of maternity or paternity leave.

"Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, it's good for the entire family," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. "And I'm pretty sure the office will still be standing when I get back."

Not that Facebook has been able to avoid controversy during this charmed period.

The company has been dealing with the continued fallout of the fake news scandal that gained traction after the presidential election in November. Facebook has been taking steps to remove fake stories through a beefed up editorial group. This week, it said pages that show such stories can no longer advertise on the site.
The NCN Campground recently announced they were ending concerts at the campground because of drug issues, but the concert promoter and companies that ran the Grateful Garcia concert at NCN Campground in early August say the decision to part ways was a mutual one.

It was like he (Marvin Thomann) was firing someone who already quit, said Jim Hints, explaining that the two groups parted ways before the announcement by NCN Campground. Hints runs BFG Productions and was hired to help run the lights, sound and backstage security for the Grateful Garcia Gathering.

Marvin Thomann, NCN Campground owner, agreed. I told them from the time that they were there, this would be their last year.

In the previous article, Thomann cited drug use as the main reason he ended the relationship, but Hints disputes that hard drug use was a problem at the concert.

Ive been stage manager there for five years. Im not going to lie, it was a bunch of hippies. There were people there smoking pot. Thats all I saw was a few people smoking pot. It happens, but if you look at the age, most of the people that were there were in their mid-30s to 60/70-year-olds, Hints said.

Thomann agreed that marijuana use has always been present at the concert, but felt like hard drugs had become a larger problem recently.

Their group went from what used to be marijuana to now hardcore drugs and I said no, Thomann said.

Richie Nathan, a professional musician that played during the Grateful Garcia festival, felt there wasnt a drug problem at the event, I didnt see any drug use at the concerts.

Hints said that while Thomann wants people to think the concert left because of drugs, he felt like there were other forces at play.

Marv has just become very difficult to work with. No one knew about the charge that was going to happen at the gate, $15 per person. Nobody knew about it until the day before, Hints said, adding that many of the bands and concert employees were required to pay $5 a day to camp at the campground.

Thomann didnt dispute that. I charged them my grounds fee because Im sorry, but they were still using my bathroom facilities and campground.

Hints also said that Thomann acted inappropriately with the bands.

There were at least two females that were in bands that he said to them, You know its OK if you play your sets without your top on. Now I understand what the property is, but the weekend that the festival is there it is not, Hints said, adding that was a big reason they decided to leave. How unprofessional, how insulting to a professional band.

In the end, Hints is happy the Grateful Garcia gathering will be moving to Illinois next year.

I really love Black River Falls. I think that place is a fantastic site for festivals. It is a beautiful place and Im really sorry that we are leaving the area because I am sure when we came in for the weekend it was a boost for the economy, Hints said.

Thomann still contends that the main reason he wanted to part ways is because of drugs and noted that he is ending all concerts, not just the Grateful Garcia festival that caused disagreements in August.

I just dont need my reputation as far as running this campground jeopardized and if I can stay away from all drugs, I will do that, Thomann said.


This space for rent



here[^], and contains a link to wikipedia detailing different sacks and some pseudo-code.



If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] Bastard Programmer from Hell



Hi, I am processing Excel files, I need to convert the .xls files that are 32 bit into 64 bit .xlsx files and supply them to the SSIS Packages for Processing. I need to write it in .Net code, can anybody please help me in this regards if its possible or not? I am also searching on google, if you can help me it will save me, as it is needed little urgently. Thanks in advance.



Thanks,



Abdul Aleem



"There is already enough hatred in the world lets spread love, compassion and affection."





.xls files are old-style Excel 2003 files, and the .xlsx files are the newer Excel 2007 / OpenXML files.



If you're writing an interactive desktop application which will be run on a computer with Office 2007 or later installed, you could use Interop to convert the files:

C# var app = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application(); var wb = app.Workbooks.Open(sourceFilePath); wb.SaveAs(Filename: destinationFilePath, FileFormat: Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat.xlOpenXMLWorkbook); wb.Close(); app.Quit();

Otherwise, you'll need to use a library which supports both formats - for example, NPOI[^]. It's not trivial, but this StackOverflow answer[^] has an example.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Hi,



I am getting an issue in my Application that's reading Excel files and Oracle Database, it was working before it started giving problems suddenly.

I am thinking probably the drivers are the issue, but want to know which drivers are installed on the machine.



Can somebody please let me know how can I find the version and mode (like 32 or 64 bit) Oracle and Office Drivers installed on my machine. I am also searching on the google, but if you can help me earlier than that, it would be a great help my friends. Thanks in advance.



Thanks,



Abdul Aleem



"There is already enough hatred in the world lets spread love, compassion and affection."









It took more effort to type this message than to go into the Control Panel; Admin; etc.

"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then".

 Blaise Pascal



VB Dim Number1 As String = " 2812" Dim Str, strTemp, strReturn As String Dim x As Long Str = " ATDT" & Number1 & " R" For x = 1 To Len(Str) strTemp = Hex$(Asc(Mid$(Str, x, 1 ))) If Len(strTemp) = 1 Then strTemp = " 0" & strTemp & " ," strReturn = strReturn & Space$( 1 ) + " &H" & strTemp Next x strReturn = stReturn & " &HD" Dim Num as integer = Convert.ToInt32(strReturn) buffer = {Num} frmMain.SerialPort1.Write(buffer, 0 , buffer.Length) Threading.Thread.Sleep( 500 ) buffer = {&H41, &H54, &H44, &H54, &H32, &H38, &H31, &H32, &H52, &HD} frmMain.SerialPort1.Write(buffer, 0 , buffer.Length) Threading.Thread.Sleep( 500 ) Next x



modified 1-Sep-17 8:09am.



Problem 1:

Convert.ToInt32 expects a string containing a single numeric value, and returns a single Integer value.



You are trying to convert a string containing multiple numeric values, and expecting an array of Integer values.



You would need to split the string, and convert each part separately.



Problem 2:

Convert.ToInt32(ByVal value As String)[^] does not allow you to use a Hex prefix. Neither the VB prefix ( &H ) nor the C# prefix ( 0x ) will work.



Instead, you need to remove the prefix and call the overload which accepts the base you want to convert from:

Convert.ToInt32(ByVal value As String, ByVal fromBase As Integer)[^]

(NB: The C# prefix would work with this overload, but the VB.NET prefix won't.)



VB.NET Dim parts() As String = strReturn.Split( " " c) Dim buffer() As Integer = Array.ConvertAll(parts, Function (p) Convert.ToInt32(p.Substring( 2 ), 16 ))

Problem 3:

You're converting the values to Integer , but Write[^] expects an array of Byte values.





It would be much simpler to use the Encoding[^] class to convert the string to a series of bytes:

VB.NET Dim Number1 As String = " 2812" Dim Str As String = " ATDT" & Number1 & " R" & Chr(&HD) Dim buffer() As Byte = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(Str) frmMain.SerialPort1.Write(buffer, 0 , buffer.Length)





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







modified 19-Sep-17 7:38am.



Richard Deeming wrote: Convert.ToInt32 does not allow you to use a Hex prefix. Neither the VB prefix ( &H ) nor the C# prefix ( 0x ) will work.



Huh?



"If fromBase is 16, you can prefix the number specified by the value parameter with "0x" or "0X"."





Convert.ToInt32 Method (String, Int32) (System)[^]





VB.NET Convert.ToInt32( " 2A" , 16 ) Convert.ToInt32( " 0x2A" , 16 ) Convert.ToInt32( " &H2A" , 16 ) Convert.ToInt32( " 0x2A" ) Convert.ToInt32( " &H2A" )

I'll edit the message to clarify.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Getting this error. System.AccessViolationException was unhandled Message: An unhandled exception of type ' System.AccessViolationException' occurred in AxInterop.ShockwaveFlashObjects.dll Additional information: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. When I have Adobe Flash security updates installed. Using this code Flash.Movie( " movie.swf" ) Flash.Play Then Flash.LoadMovie( 1 , " crash.swf" ) ' Crashes when Adobe Flash is updated, doesn' t allow top layer SWF to interact with Movie/base. To load multiple SWF layers at same time crashes. I ' m guessing the security update did something so you can' t write layered SWF code to the original SWF ' s memory. I don' t know why this is , but is there any fix or will there be one? This has been like this for about a year now, and it doesn ' t seem like it' ll be addressed.



System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. at ShockwaveFlashObjects.IShockwaveFlash.LoadMovie( Int32 layer, String url) at AxShockwaveFlashObjects.AxShockwaveFlash.LoadMovie( Int32 layer, String url) at AEDab.Form1.ListBox1_SelectedIndexChanged( Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\UDA\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\uh\uh\Form1.vb:line 77 at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback( IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)



Hi,



I am getting the following error no matter what path I am giving for this file to load into a Table in the Database from Excel using Jet Engine



The path I have tried are

1. I kept the file on my local machine to run the Package from my Local machine, it said invalid Path (C:\Users\aaleem01\Desktop\Project Documents\Tucker Package\Daily Facets Report 8.21.17.xls)

2. I kept the shared drive/folder, still it gave me in valid file path (Z:\FileWatcher\Daily Facets Report 8.21.17.xls)

3. Then I dropped the file on the Server where Sql Server instance is running and used that path in creating the Connection string for Excel, still it gave me the same error



Can anybody tell me what could be wrong in my file Path, I am trying to execute a Script Task in which I load data from Excel file into a Sql Server Table.



Here is how my Code looks like:



C# string excelConnectionString = " Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Dts.Variables[ " ExcelFullPath" ].Value + " ;Extended Properties=Text;" ; string sqlConnectionString = " Data Source=" + Dts.Variables[ " ServerName" ].Value + " ;Initial Catalog=" + Dts.Variables[ " Saw_Raw_DatabaseName" ].Value + " ;Integrated Security=SSPI;" ; using (OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(excelConnectionString)) { if (conn.State != ConnectionState.Open) conn.Open(); using (OleDbCommand oleCmd = new OleDbCommand( " select * from [" + Dts.Variables[ " SheetName" ].Value + " $]" , conn)) { using (OleDbDataReader reader = oleCmd.ExecuteReader()) { InsertData(Dts.Variables[ " TableName" ].Value.ToString(), reader, sqlConnectionString); } if (conn.State != ConnectionState.Closed) conn.Close(); } }



The exact error is as follows:



'C:\SSIS Packages\TempFiles\Daily Facets Report 8.21.17.xls' is not a valid path. Make sure that the path name is spelled correctly and that you are connected to the server on which the file resides.



Any type of help can be very helpful like Code snippet, a link or a suggestion. Thanks in advance friends.



Thanks,



Abdul Aleem



"There is already enough hatred in the world lets spread love, compassion and affection."



modified 29-Aug-17 19:48pm.



How can i show a pie chart crystal report showing monthly auto sales for all models ( crosswind, d-max, alterra, Mu-X, N-Series, F-Series)?



Hi,



I am starting a process using P/Invoke of CreateProcessWithTokenW

Eyerthing works fine, e.g. when I run a simple command like "ipconfig > test.log" then the file contains the output of the file. Process Explorer also tells me that the process runs as the user I impersonated to...



When I start a GUI application, however, I run into a strange problem: The process starts without error and the icon of the process pops up in the taskbar (e.g. the notepad icon), but I cannot "look at the GUI". Its a bit hard to explain, but I can click on the taskbar icon and a frame of the Window appears, but is has no "contents". I can click on the close icon and the windows closes.



Please refer to this screenshot. It also shows that this is not a "move to screen" issue



ScreenShot



I'd be happy for all sorts of advice.



Cheers,

Guido


The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
St. Kitts continues to work on strengthening its partnerships with cruise lines. When the Harmony of the Seas recently called at the island, Lindsay F.P. Grant, the minister of tourism, international trade, industry and commerce, met with Royal Caribbean CEO and president Michael Bayley.

Bayleys visit was said to be his first to St. Kitts.

"It was truly an honor to meet and welcome Michael Bayley to our beautiful island," said Minister Grant in a prepared statement. "The relationship between St. Kitts and the Royal Caribbean cruise line is a strong one. We listen carefully to their advice and recommendations, without losing focus on addressing the wider development needs of our destination, ensuring that local people share in the benefits of our expanding cruise sector."

Two Royal Caribbean ships, the Oasis and Harmony of the Seas, have been calling at St. Kitts during the summer season.
Wells Fargo & Co. said employees created two-thirds more bogus accounts than initially thought, a sign the bank is still struggling to move past a scandal that sparked record fines and congressional investigations.

An outside review found an additional 1.4 million potentially unauthorized deposit and credit-card accounts opened when the bank was encouraging employees to sell multiple products to retail customers, bringing the total to about 3.5 million, according to a statement Thursday from the San Francisco-based firm. The revised estimate covers January 2009 to September 2016, almost twice as long as the period examined in the initial review.

The disclosure of even more fraudulent accounts threatens to catapult Wells Fargo back into the political crosshairs just as Congress returns Sept. 5 from its summer recess. The scandal came to light almost a year ago after regulators slapped Wells Fargo with fines of $185 million over its sales practices, prompting congressional hearings and resulting in the bank naming new leaders, clawing back executives pay and beginning an overhaul of its retail division.
How Worried Should We Be About a Nuclear War With North Korea?

History is littered with near misses, but the latest tensions between the US and North Korea offer their own special risks of Armageddon. On the anniversary of the US nuclear bomb attack on Nagasaki in 1945, rhetoric from both Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump has one again raised the spectre of nuclear war in the Pacific.

Nuclear weapons have not been used in conflict since the end of the Second World War  although many have been exploded as part of weapons development and testing programmes. They are qualitatively different from other weapons. Because the energy in the atomic nucleus is much larger than the energy in chemical bonds, nuclear explosions have far greater impacts than conventional explosives. This is why one nuclear bomb could destroy a city such as Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945. Since then nuclear weapons have become more sophisticated and have been designed with even greater explosive power. One warhead could obliterate hundreds of thousands of people in a single explosion.

Nuclear explosions not only create enormous blasts and fires but also release highly damaging radiation and long-term radioactive debris (known as fallout). There is no effective capacity at the international level to deliver immediate humanitarian assistance to survivors if nuclear weapons were ever to be used; humanitarian workers would have to wait for radiation levels to be safe or they will just add themselves to the sick and dying. The effects of nuclear weapons can last for decades and, depending on how many are used and where, they have the potential to negatively impact the global climate causing long-term crop growth problems and potential starvation.

Because of their huge and clumsy impact  there is no such thing as a small mistake with nuclear weapons  international efforts to prevent countries from acquiring nuclear weapons have been in force for decades. In 2020, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will have been in force for 50 years and, a few weeks ago at the UN, 122 countries negotiated and adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency is charged with safeguarding civil nuclear energy facilities to ensure that countries without nuclear weapons cannot acquire the special materials such as uranium and plutonium needed for nuclear weapons.

Despite all these efforts and promises made to eliminate, thousands of nuclear weapons remain in the hands of a few countries: China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the UK have them, though Russia and the US possess the vast majority. It is widely believed that Israel has nuclear weapons but this has never been confirmed. Now it is likely that North Korea is at least very close to having them, or already does.

There have been several occasions in which nuclear weapons were very nearly used deliberately. Most of those near misses were in the cold war at times of crisis and the stories of how they came about are sobering. The Cuban missile crisis is perhaps best known as the nearest the world came to global nuclear war  and things were far worse then than most people realize  but there have been several other close shaves. The most chilling has recently been portrayed in the film The Man Who Saved the World which tells the true story of Stanislav Petrov, a USSR military officer who was commanding an early warning station in 1983  a very unstable year in US-USSR relations  when his computer screens showed a stream of incoming US nuclear ballistic missiles. His decision to wait and see rather than act as he had been instructed saved the lives of millions.

Other too-close-for-comfort examples include a Russian double agent and a code that would have triggered a nuclear response had it not been for cool heads and mature thinking, and the case of Able Archer  a live-fire NATO exercise which was believed by many in East Germany and Russia to be a pretext for a real attack. Again, cool heads and the work of back-channels saved the day.

The progress that Iran made towards a nuclear weapons capability led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action aimed at ensuring that Iran cannot develop a fully-fledged nuclear weapons programme, but attempts since the early 1990s to do the same with North Korea have failed. The speed of developments within North Koreas ballistic missile programme and their five nuclear warhead tests have led the US Defence Intelligence Agency and the Japanese government to fear that North Korea may already have crossed the threshold and possess deliverable nuclear ballistic missiles.

If North Korea were to attack any US base in the Pacific with conventionally armed missiles, the US would have moved many key strategic assets away from the target and would aim to intercept many of those missiles and immediately strike back.

There would be no need for the US to use nuclear weapons; the US conventional armoury is well known and would deliver a 'fire and fury' attack as President Trump telegraphed. Such a response would be seen as proportionate and would likely be supported by most countries in the Pacific and around the world.

At that point, North Korea could decide to come to the negotiating table, or it could decide to escalate further and could begin a land, sea and air invasion of South Korea or indeed attempt to detonate a nuclear warhead either by missile or by other means, such as ship. It is also possible that complete chaos could erupt in North Korea with a challenge to its leadership.

If North Korea has the capability to use nuclear weapons and aimed at Guam or any other base, the US would first attempt to intercept the incoming ballistic missiles with missile defences. However, this type of interception is notoriously difficult and cannot be relied on. If a North Korean nuclear attack were successful, depending where and how it exploded, thousands to hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.

The US response could be measured. There would be no need to use nuclear weapons and such restraint would likely be rewarded by support from other regional powers including China. The use of nuclear weapons by the United States, which might be viewed by US allies as a proportionate response, would likely lose the support of Russia and China and other countries. The US would face internal opposition, including from some of its own population  although there are many who would support nuclear use in retaliation.

The number of potent scenarios that could unfurl are numerous and each contains enormous risks and potential for miscalculation and catastrophe.

Partly because of their isolation and fears, North Korea believes that their nuclear weapons will deter attack from the United States. This is undoubtedly a miscalculation on their part.

Despite recent agreement in the UN Security Council, their nuclear weapons developments are acting more as a lightning rod for an attack. Countries that believe in nuclear weapons as a deterrent  such as the UK and France  have long-speculated as to what would happen if nuclear deterrence strategies fail. We may be about to find out in northeast Asia.

The Royal Institute of International Affairs:

This article was originally published in the New Statesman

Dr Patricia Lewis is Research Director, International Security, Chatham House

You Might Also Read:

N. Korea Will Unleash Cyber Attacks On The US:

N. Korea Threatens The World With Cyberwarfare - Not Nuclear Missiles:

North Korea, WannaCry, Cyberattacks And Lazarus:
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People ask me all the time about super foods. Its a made up name but it does have value in describing foods that are good for you. There also are plenty of things that are the opposite  super non-foods. The prime example would be a Twinkie. No one would ever call that a food with any nutritional value other than wasted calories.

But one food I might call a super food would be walnuts. Their fat is the good kind of fat, omega-3 fatty acids and alpha-linolenic acid. Walnuts also have fiber. And they are loaded with antioxidants, making them one of natures great things to eat.

New research from Louisiana State University showed that walnuts also might help to change gut bacteria into the good kind, lactobacillus. Our bodies are a store house of bacteria and only recently have we discovered these bacteria have a lot to do with how well we function.

Some theorize that conditions such as Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis and colon cancer might all be caused by rogue bacteria. The more good bacteria we have in our systems, the better off we are. So when youre thinking of what to eat as a snack today, you just might want to have a handful of walnuts.

More on opioids: The more I write about opioids, the more new information comes out about opioids. We all know were in the middle of an epidemic. Anything we can do to reduce opioid consumption in the U.S. is going to benefit all of us.

The latest research out of Johns Hopkins shows that too many prescribed opioids go unused. Thats right. Theyre prescribed in amounts that are rarely used so they lie around the house, just waiting for someone to abuse them.

The research in the Journal of the American Medical Associations Surgery publication looked at studies that seemed to show 70 percent to 90 percent of patients post-surgery did not use all of their opioids. They were given more pills than they needed for pain.

This was true for C-sections, urological and orthopedic surgery, etc. And in some studies, up to 20 percent of the opioid prescriptions were not used at all.

My spin: One size does not fit all when it comes to prescriptions for opioids. Doctors, especially surgeons who deal with patients in significant pain for short periods of time, should get into the habit of giving out fewer opioids rather than more. Yes, these doctors dont want to get awakened at night for a prescription refill, but the result is too many of these drugs in circulation.

Also, we underutilize drugs such as Tylenol and ibuprofen, which can handle a lot of pain. We need more of that. Stay well.
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Not every 11-year-old flips houses for profit. But then again not every 11-year-old has a business mogul grandfather backing her up.

Madison Bue of West Salem has been renovating a four-bedroom, two-bath house on La Crosse's South Side this summer. Grandpa Cliff LeCleir, owner of Central States Warehouse, purchased the property for Madison, who will put any of the profit she makes from flipping the house into a college savings account.

She is the most determined child I have ever seen, he said. When she sets her mind on something she gets it done.

Madison starts classes in the fifth grade at West Salem's Coulee Christian School on Friday and is one of six siblings. She said she knew her parents would not be able to pay for all of the kids college, so she decided to come up with a better way to save money for school than just babysitting or other odd jobs.

The idea to flip a house came during one of her visit to Papa and Nanas house as a way to save for college and embrace her love of shows such as House Hunters and other reality programs about people who flip old or run-down houses for profit.

I love those shows so much, she said. I asked Papa if he could help me flip a house to save up college funds.

Madison created her own limited liability corporation, BueZoo, and LeCleir lent her the money for the house. Madison and her grandfather spent a lot of time planning the project and doing the math, and looking for houses that wouldnt be too much work or too costly and had a charm that would make them attractive.

They looked at more than a dozen homes, Madison said, but those didnt work out. Some lacked character. Others had problems that would have been too expensive to leave a margin of profit. But the 13th home was the charm.

I was like bam! she said. We gotta get it. It just worked.

Madison took ownership of her house in June and started working on the remodeling in July. She did as much as she could on her own, such as the landscaping around the house and yard and removing old carpet and tile.

Her mother, Amanda Bue, also contributed  as an employee of BueZoo. Before she got the job, LeCleir said, Madison asked her mom to interview for the position and even negotiated the wage.

I thought she would be a good worker as well as a ride to the house, Madison said. Shes done a lot. I couldnt have done it without her.

Bue hired contractors for painting and other work. Madison said she hopes to have the renovations done in the next several weeks and to put the home on market soon after that.

She doesnt know whether shell do another project next year. It was hard balancing work, extracurriculars such as dance lessons and a personal life with the project. But she was proud of what she accomplished and being able to share that with her friends at school.

I am just really proud of myself, she said. Even though I am hot and sweaty and tired at the end of the day, I am really proud of all that I did that day. Im excited to be able to tell my friends I accomplished this.
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Ltd., PGIM DC Solutions LLC, PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund II L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives GP LLC, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives II GP LLC, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM Holdings Limited, PGIM Hong Kong Ltd., PGIM INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM INDIA TRUSTEES PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM IRELAND LIMITED, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments Ireland Limited, PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF Berlin GP S.a r.l., PGIM LTIF Berlin MLP S.ar.l., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM Loan Originator Manager Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management Shanghai Company Ltd, PGIM Private Capital Ireland Limited, PGIM Private Capital Limited, PGIM Private Placement Investors Inc., PGIM Private Placement Investors L.P., PGIM QUANTITATIVE SOLUTIONS LLC, PGIM REF EUROPE SCSp, PGIM REF Europe GP S.a r.l., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Capital VII GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate Debt GmbH, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Global Master Fund GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles II S de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Italy S.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Japan Ltd., PGIM Real Estate Loan Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. CORE Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate UK Limited, PGIM Scots Limited, PGIM Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management (Feeder) I LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management Fund I L.P., PGIM Shanghai Company Ltd., PGIM Singapore Pte. Ltd., PGIM Strategic Financing LLC, PGIM Strategic Investments Inc., PGIM Taronga Investor GP LLC, PGIM U.S. Agriculture Fund LP, PGIM USPF VI Manager LLC, PGIM Wadhwani LLP, PGIM Warehouse Inc., PGLH of Delaware Inc., PIFM Holdco LLC, PIIC Limited, PIISC Holdings UK Limited, PIM KF Blocker V Holdings LLC, PIM USPF V Manager LLC, PLA Administradora Industrial SRL, PLA Administradora LLC, PLA Administradora S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional II S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional S.de R.L. de C.V., PLA Co-Investor LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager I LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager II LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Blue LP, PLA Retail Fund I Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LP, PLA Retail Fund II Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II U.S. Carry/Co-Invest LP, PLA Services Manager Mexico LLC, PLAI Limited, PMCF Holdings LLC, PMCF Properties LLC, PPPF General Partner LLP, PR GA SCP Apartments LLC, PRAMERICA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP LLP, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP SCOTS FEEDER LLP, PRECO Account IV LLC, PRECO Account Partnership IV LP, PRECO III GP LLP, PREFG Hanwha Manager LLC, PREI Acquisition I Inc., PREI Acquisition II Inc., PREI Acquisition LLC, PREI HYDG LLC, PREI International Inc., PRIAC Property Acquisitions LLC, PRICOA Management Partner Limited, PRISA Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Pooled Manager LLC, PRISA III Fund GP LLC, PRISA III Fund PIM LLC, PRREF Debt Fund Manager LLC, PRREF II Fund Manager LLC, PRU 3XSquare LLC, PRUCO LLC, PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL ENERGY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT (FEEDER) LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP MEMBER LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP REIT LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE 2 LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE LLC, PT PFI Mega Life Insurance, Passaic Fund LLC, Pine Tree GP, Pine Tree L.P., Platinum GP Limited, Platinum II L.P., Platinum L.P., Pramerica Business Consulting Shanghai Company Limited, Pramerica EVP CP LP, Pramerica Financial Asia Headquarters Pte. Ltd., Pramerica Financial Asia Limited, Pramerica Fixed Income Funds Management Limited, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Hong Kong Holdings Limited, Pramerica Insurance Agency China Company Ltd., Pramerica Luxembourg CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate Scots LP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP Scots Feeder LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I Scotland Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Scots Feeder LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V Netherlands GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI Scots Limited Partnership, Pramerica Scots CP GP LLP, Preco III Scotland Limited Partnership, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, PruVen Capital Partners Fund I L.P., Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Inc., Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd. Prudential Gibraltar Agency Kabushiki Kaisha, Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Select Strategies LLC, Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Tax Services LLC, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., QMA JP EM All Cap Equity Partners LLC, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service, Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy US Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., VIP Australia Holding Company LLC, VIP Australia Trustee Pty Ltd, Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I Ireland L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I US L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC.

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Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates regulated exchanges, clearing houses, and listings venues for commodity, financial, fixed income, and equity markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, Israel, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Exchanges, Fixed Income and Data Services, and Mortgage Technology. The company operates marketplaces for listing, trading, and clearing an array of derivatives contracts and financial securities, such as commodities, interest rates, foreign exchange, and equities, as well as corporate and exchange-traded funds; trading venues, including 13 regulated exchanges and 6 clearing houses; and offers futures and options products for energy, agricultural and metals, financial, cash equities and equity, over-the-counter, and other markets, as well as listings and data and connectivity services. It also provides fixed income data and analytic, fixed income execution, CDS clearing, and other multi-asset class data and network services. In addition, the company offers proprietary and comprehensive mortgage origination platform, which serves residential mortgage loans; closing solutions that provides customers connectivity to the mortgage supply chain and facilitates the secure exchange of information; data and analytics services; and Data as a Service for lenders to access data and origination information. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

The company is also engaged in the construction and operation of new facilities, specifically renewable power generation, storage, and delivery facilities, and can offer custom solutions tailored to any need. Offerings include tailored services to assist businesses with their transition to clean energy.

NextEra Energy also owns and operates 7 nuclear power stations in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin generating power for the wholesale market.

Unlike other companies that are targeting net-zero emissions, NextEra Energy has a plan to reach real zero and is investing heavily to reach that goal by 2045. The company had invested nearly $50 billion in green energy infrastructure and initiatives by mid-2022. The plan is to first work on reducing its own emissions and then take its knowledge and expertise to the world.
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.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE), an S&P 500<sup></sup> urban office real estate investment trust ("REIT"), is the first, longest-tenured, and pioneering owner, operator, and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology, and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $31.9 billion as of December 31, 2020, and an asset base in North America of 49.7 million square feet ("SF"). The asset base in North America includes 31.9 million RSF of operating properties and 3.3 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 7.1 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects, and 7.4 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, technology, and agtech campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity, and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, technology, and agtech companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns, and greater long-term asset value.
American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation.

The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure.

The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes.

All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers.

Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7.
Healthcare Trust of America, Inc. (NYSE: HTA) is the largest dedicated owner and operator of MOBs in the United States, comprising approximately 25.1 million square feet of GLA, with $7.4 billion invested primarily in MOBs. HTA provides real estate infrastructure for the integrated delivery of healthcare services in highly-desirable locations. Investments are targeted to build critical mass in 20 to 25 leading gateway markets that generally have leading university and medical institutions, which translates to superior demographics, high-quality graduates, intellectual talent and job growth. The strategic markets HTA invests in support a strong, long-term demand for quality medical office space. HTA utilizes an integrated asset management platform consisting of on-site leasing, property management, engineering and building services, and development capabilities to create complete, state of the art facilities in each market. This drives efficiencies, strong tenant and health system relationships, and strategic partnerships that result in high levels of tenant retention, rental growth and long-term value creation. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, HTA has developed a national brand with dedicated relationships at the local level. Founded in 2006 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, HTA has produced attractive returns for its stockholders that have outperformed the US REIT index.
HFF, Inc. provides commercial real estate and capital market services to the consumers and providers of capital in the commercial real estate industry in the United States. The company offers debt placement services, such as construction and construction/mini-permanent loans, adjustable and fixed rate mortgages, bridge loans, entity level and mezzanine debts, forward delivery loans, and tax exempt and sale/leaseback financing to the owners of various properties comprising office, retail, industrial, hotel, multi-housing, student housing, self-storage, nursing homes, condominiums and condominium conversions, mixed-use properties, and land, as well as senior, independent, and assisted living facilities. It also provides investment advisory services to commercial real estate owners; and equity placement, as well as assists clients in the sale of their commercial real estate debt note portfolios. In addition, the company offers private equity, investment banking, and advisory services, including equity capital to establish joint ventures relating to identified properties or properties to be acquired by a fund sponsor; structured finance; institutional marketing and fund-raising services for public and private commercial real estate fund sponsors; advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, sales and divestitures, management buyouts, and recapitalizations and restructurings; and private placements of preferred securities. Further, it provides loan sales and commercial loan servicing to life insurance companies. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in Dallas, Texas.
Best Buy Co., Inc. retails technology products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Domestic and International. Its stores provide computing products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness, home theater, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products. The company's stores also offer appliances, such as dishwashers, laundry, ovens, refrigerators, blenders, coffee makers, and vacuums; entertainment products consisting of drones, peripherals, movies, music, and toys, as well as gaming hardware and software, and virtual reality and other software products; and other products, such as baby, food and beverage, luggage, outdoor living, and sporting goods. In addition, it provides consultation, delivery, design, health-related, installation, memberships, repair, set-up, technical support, and warranty-related services. The company offers its products through stores and websites under the Best Buy, Best Buy Ads, Best Buy Business, Best Buy Health, CST, Current Health, Geek Squad, Lively, Magnolia, Best Buy Mobile, Pacific Kitchen, Home, and Yardbird, as well as domain names bestbuy.com, currenthealth.com, lively.com, yardbird.com, and bestbuy.ca. As of January 30, 2022, it had 1,144 stores. The company was formerly known as Sound of Music, Inc. The company was incorporated in 1966 and is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota.
The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Beijing Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Guangzhou Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Asia Limited (Korea Branch), AMO Asia Limited Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Australia Pty Limited (New Zealand Branch), AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings Unlimited Company, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Ireland Branch, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Anakuria Therapeutics Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Apsis, Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., Branch of Johnson & Johnson LLC (RU) in Kazakhstan, C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., Cerenovus Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:Labo USA Inc., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, GMED Healthcare BV (Branch), Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Hickory Merger Sub Inc., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma LLC, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceutical Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Japan Branch, Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Branch of Cilag GmbH International, Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Kft. Branch Office, Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (Branch), Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (DHCC Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (JAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. Service Center (DAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AB Eesti filiaal (Branch), Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson AG (Zuchwil Branch), Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Care Switzerland Branch of Janssen-Cilag AG, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Dominican Republic Branch), Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH (Branch Office), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Belgian Branch) (European Logistics Center), Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Branch), Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Lda, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Limited (Sri Lanka Branch), Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ankara Branch), Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Izmir Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East - Scientific Office, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ - LLC (Lebanese Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Ghana Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Kenya Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC Branch (TSO) (Saudi Arabia Branch), Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson NCB (Belgian Branch), Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Poland sp. z o.o. oddzial w Warszawie "Consumer", Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. Korea Branch, Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson Y Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, LTL Management LLC, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, Legal Entity Name, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medos International Sarl, Medos International Sarl succursale de Neuchatel (Branch), Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthospin Ltd., Orthotaxy, PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Royalty A&M LLC, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co. Ltd Minghang Branch, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., UAB "Johnson & Johnson", UAB Johnson & Johnson Eesti Filiaal (Estonian Branch), Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Shanghai Branch Office, Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals.

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ST. CHARLES, Minn.  When Tim Walz announced in March that hed run for governor rather than re-election to his seat in Congress, his fellow Democrats scrambled to announce campaigns.

Six of them are competing for the DFL nomination next year, but theres only one Republican in the race: Blue Earth native Jim Hagedorn.

Hagedorn, 55, ran in the 2014 and 2016 elections, and thinks 2018 will be the year he finally succeeds. His platform: shrinking the size and scope of the federal government, securing the borders, and outlawing abortion. I want to partner with the president, Hagedorn said.

Hagedorn said he never stopped campaigning after losing to Walz last fall in the 1st District, which spans the southern part of the state from Wisconsin to South Dakota.

Walz squeaked out a win by less than 1 percentage point as Donald Trump won the 1st District by nearly 15 points. Hagedorn echoes Trumps drain the swamp talk, even though his father Tom was a congressman and Jim spent most of his career as a congressional staffer and Washington bureaucrat.

Federal campaign reports show Hagedorn has raised almost five times more than he had during this stage of the campaign two years ago. Hes also won endorsements from high-profile Republicans including U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer and former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz.

And Hagedorn said his unwavering support for the president will help him too. The people who supported President Trump in the last election, the people who almost got us over the finish line in the last election, theyre not upset with the president, Hagedorn said. Theyre really upset with Washington, particularly Republicans in the Senate who have dragged their heels.

But Democratic Party leaders see a different political landscape. Theyre hoping dissatisfaction with Trump will hurt Hagedorn and other Republicans in next years election.

As Hagedorn was campaigning at the Gladiolus Days parade in St. Charles, Minn., recently, Dick Dahl was driving a van in the parade promoting DFL candidates. Many people have gotten involved in politics since Trump won to oppose the new president, Dahl said.

I dont think most people view his policies as good for our country or for the people, Dahl said.

But that was not always clear along the parade route. St. Charles resident Michael Hughes, a steelworker, said his union background means he should probably be voting for Democrats. But Hughes said hell likely vote for someone like Hagedorn who wants to help Trump  not oppose him.

I like what hes doing as far as what hes trying to do, its just that I dont like the way the public is fighting him on trying to get the job done, Hughes said.

While Republicans and Trump supporters are bullish on their chances to flip the 1st District, some prominent political analysts rate the race as a toss-up, meaning they think neither side has an advantage right now.

I think the 1st District is going to get an extraordinary amount of national attention, said Nathan Gonzales, who publishes the Inside Elections newsletter.

Gonzales said the big unknown is how voters who sent Trump to the White House will feel a year from now about his presidency.

Midterm elections are often a struggle for the presidents party, he said, and that means sometimes that the presidents party has difficulty winning seats that they should win under normal circumstances.
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the bank holding company for New York Community Bank. New York Community Bank is the nations 47th-largest financial institution and its largest thrift. As a thrift, the bank specializes in real estate and consumer accounts specifically real estate loans and savings accounts and has limited exposure to other forms of business banking. Among the benefits to consumers are interest-bearing checking and saving accounts that come with higher-than-average interest rates.

New York Community Bank was founded in 1859 to serve Queens County, New York. It operated under that name, growing all the while, until 2000 when it changed its name to better reflect the business. The company IPOd in 1993 and has made multiple acquisitions in the time since. As of 6/30/2022, the bank had $63.1 billion in assets and $41.2 billion in deposits.

New York Community Bank operates in greater New York City, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona. The company provides deposit products ranging from interest-bearing checking and money market accounts to savings accounts, IRAs, and CDs. Brands under the companys umbrella include AmTrust in Florida and Arizona, Ohio Savings Bank, Garden State Savings Bank, and Atlantic Bank.

The bank offers a wide range of real-estate-related loans including but not limited to multi-family loans, commercial real estate loans, construction loans, and consumer loans and mortgages. Investment products include annuities, mutual funds, and life insurance. Customers include individuals, small businesses, and organizations and are served through a network of more than 230 branches, and 300 ATMs, online, mobile, and by phone. Many of the locations are open 24 hours and 6 days a week although those hours are not available at all branches. Clients can access their accounts digitally 24/7.

New York Community Bancorp and its underlying business carry investment-grade credit ratings from all the major rating agencies. The credit outlook in the 4th quarter of 2022 was stable as it had been for some time. In New York, it is a leader in the multi-family market specializing in lower-cost housing in rent-controlled areas. As of June 30, 2022, the multi-family loan portfolio accounted for more than 75% of all investments. The company has a stock purchase and dividend reinvestment plan that help to sustain a high level of ownership.






The following companies are subsidiares of MetLife: 10700 WILSHIRE LLC, 1201 TAB MANAGER LLC, 1350 EYE STREET MANAGER LLC, 1350 EYE STREET OWNER LLC, 150 NORTH RIVERSIDE PE MEMBER LLC, 1925 WJC OWNER LLC, 23RD STREET INVESTMENTS INC., 500 GRANT STREET ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 500 GRANT STREET GP LLC, 6104 HOLLYWOOD LLC, AFP GENESIS ADMINISTRADORA DE FONDOS Y FIDECOMISOS S.A., AGENVITA S.R.L., ALICO HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, ALICO OPERATIONS LLC, American Life Insurance Company, BEST MARKET S.A., BLOCK VISION HOLDINGS CORPORATION, BLOCK VISION OF TEXAS INC., BORDERLAND INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BOULEVARD RESIDENTIAL LLC, BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER LLC, CC HOLDCO MANAGER LLC, CHESTNUT FLATS WIND LLC, CLOSED JOINT-STOCK COMPANY MASTER-D, COMPANIA INVERSORA METLIFE S.A., CORPORATE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC, COVA LIFE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, DAVIS VISION INC., DAVISVISION IPA INC., DELAWARE AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, EURO CL INVESTMENTS LLC, EXCELENCIA OPERATIVA Y TECNOLOGICA S.A de C.V., FORTISSIMO CO. LTD, FUNDACION METLIFE MEXICO A.C., GLOBAL PROPERTIES INC., General American Life Insurance Company, Grand Bank N.A., HASKELL EAST VILLAGE LLC, HOUSING FUND MANAGER LLC, INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL AND ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO DOS LIMITADA, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO TRES LIMITADA, LHC HOLDINGS LLC, LHCW HOLDINGS LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING 2002 LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING LLC, LHCW HOTEL OPERATING COMPANY 2002 LLC, LUMENLAB MALAYSIA SDN. BHD., Logan Circle Partners, MARKETPLACE RESIDENCES LLC, MC PORTFOLIO JV MEMBER LLC, MCJV LLC, MCPP OWNERS LLC, MCRE BLOCK 40 LP, MEC HEALTH CARE INC., MET 1065 HOTEL LLC, MET CANADA SOLAR ULC, METLIFE 1007 STEWART LLC, METLIFE 1201 TAB MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MANAGER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 555 12TH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 8280 MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ACOMA OWNER LLC, METLIFE ADMINISTRADORA DE FUNDOS MULTIPATROCINADOS LTDA., METLIFE ALTERNATIVES GP LLC, METLIFE ASHTON AUSTIN OWNER LLC, METLIFE ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., METLIFE ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE ASIA SERVICES SDN. BHD, METLIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., METLIFE ASSIGNMENT COMPANY INC., METLIFE BORO STATION MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMINO RAMON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMPUS AT SGV MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAPITAL CREDIT L.P., METLIFE CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST IV, METLIFE CB W/A LLC, METLIFE CC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CHILE ADMINISTRADORA DE MUTUOS HIPOTECARIOS S.A., METLIFE CHILE INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS DE VIDA S.A., METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS GENERALES S.A., METLIFE CHINO MEMBER LLC, METLIFE COLOMBIA SEGUROS de VIDA S.A., METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CONSQUARE MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CONSUMER SERVICES INC., METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CREDIT CORP., METLIFE DIGITAL VENTURES INC., METLIFE ENHANCED CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE EU HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE INSURANCE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPE SERVICES LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LLC., METLIFE FINANCIAL SERVICES CO. LTD, METLIFE FM HOTEL MEMBER LLC, METLIFE FUNDING INC., METLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE GLOBAL BENEFITS LTD., METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY I GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY II GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION S.A. De C.V., METLIFE GLOBAL INC., METLIFE GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE GROUP INC., METLIFE HCMJV 1 GP LLC, METLIFE HCMJV 1 LP LLC, METLIFE HEALTH PLANS INC., METLIFE HOLDINGS INC., METLIFE HOME LOANS LLC, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE PTE. LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT TRUST, METLIFE INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC., METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF KOREA LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE K.K., METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HF PARTNERS LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND I LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND II LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND III LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND IV LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND V LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VI LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VII LP, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT EUROPE LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENTS ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS SECURITIES LLC, METLIFE INVESTORS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, METLIFE INVESTORS GROUP LLC, METLIFE IRELAND TREASURY D.A.C., METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND LP, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS BLOCKER LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS LLC, METLIFE LATIN AMERICA ASESORIAS E INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE LEGAL PLANS INC., METLIFE LEGAL PLANS OF FLORIDA INC., METLIFE LHH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE S.A., METLIFE LOAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT FUND LP, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT MASTER FUND LP, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MAS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO HOLDINGS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT FUND II LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP II LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT II RATED FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL GP LLC, METLIFE MMPD II SPECIAL LLC, METLIFE MULTI-FAMILY PARTNERS III LLC, METLIFE OBS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE OFC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ONTARIO STREET MEMBR LLC, METLIFE PARK TOWER MEMBER LLC, METLIFE PENSION TRUSTEES LIMITED, METLIFE PENSIONES MEXICO S.A., METLIFE PET INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE PLANOS ODONTOLOGICOS LTDA., METLIFE POWSZECHNE TOWARTZYSTWO EMERYTALNE S.A., METLIFE PRIVATE EQUITY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METLIFE RC SF MEMBER LLC, METLIFE REAL ESTATE LENDING LLC, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF BERMUDA LTD., METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF VERMONT, METLIFE RETIREMENT SERVICES LLC, METLIFE SECURITIZATION DEPOSITOR LLC, METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FINCO LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FUND LP, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING GP LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING HOLDINGS LP, METLIFE SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE SERVICES CYPRUS LTD., METLIFE SERVICES EAST PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EEIG, METLIFE SERVICES EOOD, METLIFE SERVICES SOCIEDAD LIMITADA, METLIFE SERVICES SP Z.O.O, METLIFE SERVICIOS S.A., METLIFE SINGLE FAMILY RENTAL FUND GP LLC, METLIFE SINGLE FAMILY RENTAL FUND LP, METLIFE SOLUTIONS PTE. LTD., METLIFE SOLUTIONS S.A.S., METLIFE SP HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE STRATEGIC HOTEL DEBT FUND GP LLC, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN LUX GP S.A.R.L., METLIFE THR INVESTOR LLC, METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO FUNDUSZY INWESTYCYJNYCH S.A., METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO UBEZPIECZEN NA ZYCIE I REASEKURACJI S.A., METLIFE TOWER RESOURCES GROUP INC., METLIFE TREAT TOWERS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE SEGUROS E PREVIDENCIA PRIVADA S.A., METROPOLITAN LIFE SOCIETATE de ADMINISTRARE a UNUI FOND de PENSII ADMINISTRAT PRIVAT S.A., METROPOLITAN TOWER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER REALTY COMPANY INC., MEX DF PROPERTIES LLC, MFA FINANCING VEHICLE CTR1 LLC, MIDTOWN HEIGHTS LLC, MIM CAMPUS AT SGV MANAGER LLC, MIM CLAL GENERAL PARTNER LLC, MIM CM SYNDICATOR LLC, MIM EMD GP LLC, MIM I LLC, MIM LS GP LLC, MIM METWEST INTERNATIONAL MANAGER LLC, MIM ML-AI VENTURE 5 MANAGER LLC, MIM OMD MANAGER LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT OF GEORGIA 1 LLC, MIM SPOKANE INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MIM THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MISSOURI REINSURANCE INC., ML 300 THIRD MEMBER LLC, ML ARMATURE MEMBER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MANAGER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MEMBER LLC, ML CAPACITACION COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., ML CERRITOS TC MEMBER LLC, ML CLAL MEMBER LLC, ML CORNER 63 MEMBER LLC, ML DOLPHIN GP LLC, ML DOLPHIN MEZZ LLC, ML HUDSON MEMBER LLC, ML MATSON MILLS MEMBER LLC, ML MILILANI MEMBER LLC, ML OMD MEMBER LLC, ML ONE BEDMINSTER LLC, ML PORT CHESTER SC MEMBER LLC, ML SENTINEL SQUARE MEMBER LLC, ML SLOANS LAKE MEMEBR LLC, ML SOUTHLANDS MEMBER LLC, ML SOUTHMORE LLC, ML SPOKANE INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML SWAN GP LLC, ML SWAN MEZZ LLC, ML TERRACES LLC, ML THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML VENTURE 1 MANAGER S. DE R. L. DE C.V., ML VENTURE 1 SERVICER LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 1 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 2 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 3 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 4 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 5 LLC, ML-URS PORT CHESTER SC MANAGER LLC, MLIA MANAGER I LLC, MLIA PARK TOWER MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF COLONY MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF MANAGER LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS II LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, MLIC CB HOLDINGS LLC, MLJ US FEEDER LLC, MM GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER S.A. DE C.V., MMP CEDAR STREET OWNER LLC, MMP CEDAR STREET REIT LLC, MMP HOLDINGS III LLC, MMP OLIVIAN OWNER LLC, MMP OLIVIAN REIT LLC, MMP OWNERS III LLC, MMP OWNERS LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK OWNER LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK REIT LLC, MNQM TRUST 2020, MREF 425 MKT LLC, MSHDF HOLDCO I LLC, MSV IRVINE PROPERTY LLC, MTL LEASING LLC, MTU HOTEL OWNER LLC, NATILOPORTEM HOLDINGS LLC, NEWBURY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, OCONEE GOLF COMPANY LLC, OCONEE HOTEL COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC, OCONEE MARINA COMPANY LLC, OMI MLIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL NORTH LLC, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL SOUTH LLC, PARK TOWER JV MEMBER LLC, PARK TOWER REIT INC., PJSC METLIFE, PLAZA DRIVE PROPERTIES LLC, PREFCO FOURTEEN LLC, PREFCO XIV HOLDINGS LLC, PROVIDA INTERNACIONAL S.A., SAFEGUARD HEALTH ENTERPRISES INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEHEALTH LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, SOUTHCREEK INDUSTRIAL HOLDINGS LLC, ST. JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, SUPERIOR PROCUREMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION BENEFIT MANAGEMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION HOLDINGS INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE PLAN OF WISCONSIN INC., SUPERIOR VISION OF NEW JERSEY INC., SUPERIOR VISION SERVICES INC., Safeguard Health Enterprises, Security First Group Inc., THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH AVENUE MEZZANINE LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL HOLDING LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL OWNER, THE DIRECT CALL CENTRE PTY LIMITED, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, UVC INDEPENDENT PRACTICE ASSOCIATION INC., VERSANT HEALTH CONSOLIDATIONS CORP., VERSANT HEALTH HOLDCO INC., VERSANT HEALTH INC., VERSANT HEALTH LAB LLC, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, VISION 21 MANAGED EYE CARE OF TAMPA BAY INC., VISION 21 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, VISION TWENTY-ONE MANAGED EYE CARE IPA INC., Versant Health, WDV ACQUISITION CORP., WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, WHITE TRACT II LLC, and Willing.

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The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking segments. The company offers personal deposits, such as checking, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases. It also provides credit cards and payments; real estate secured lending, auto finance, and consumer lending services; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, and advice to retail and institutional clients through direct investing, advice-based, and asset management businesses; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking products and services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to corporations, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,061 branches and 3,381 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Canada, and 1,148 stores and 2,701 ATMs in the United States, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. It has a strategic alliance with Canada Post Corporation. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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Up north on our family vacation, we sit around the campfire talking about fishing, boating, farming, and other topics serving as distractions from the real world of 2017.

Suddenly, my perceptive four-year-old grandson asks, Is it my turn to talk? Camden has been patiently listening to adult talk and decides we need a new topic. Children have a knack for changing the conversation, whether by patience or protest.

We most definitely need a new conversation.

The worlds attention genuflects to the news of presidential tweets, Neo-Nazi rallies, North Korean threats, celebrity rants, and congressional pronouncements  all of which can be recorded and recycled again tomorrow  that serve as the basis for the new norm.

The new normal resembles the drunken uncle shouting obscenities at the family picnic. Hes part of the family but not the standard bearer. The four-year-old at the campfire possesses more skill at adult talk.

The old normal out in the Mississippi Valley steers clear of politics and rants. We work hard and hug our children and grandchildren. We go fishing when the work is done. We go to recitals, school plays, and graduations, knowing that child rearing is never done.

Lest you think I recite the virtues of an idyllic life, we also go to funerals. We endure the pain of disease and the heartbreak of natural disaster. Yet tragedy brings us closer together rather than driving us further apart.

In such tumultuous times, these are the people we best listen to, who speak loudly with the generosity of their deeds and not the hostility of their words. The forces of good far outweigh those of evil, says columnist Bill Berry in his recent offering entitled, Dont despair; there is still goodness all around.

These are the people who give us hope, to have faith in humankind, allowing us to relax; as a high-wire artist relaxes so as not to fall into the abyss.

Our nation hovers above the abyss. The national conversation descends into chaos and confrontation. The national mood swings into the surreal twilight that accompanies a partial eclipse.

Such are the lessons of our life. We dont have any choice in the time and pain it takes to learn. We are the sum of our successes and failures. Embrace them all.

We are learning much about our nation. About who we are and who we want to be. And who we do not want to be. Embrace the process.

We know who we are. A nation built upon the sacrifice of our grandparents, who came to this land to escape economic and religious hardship; and our parents, who survived the Great Depression and built a nation. A nation saved by the sacrifice of our veterans, whose tombstones on the beaches of Normandy and the breadth of cemeteries across America rise to tell us of a higher purpose.

They are not forgotten. Their voices, honed in sacrifice and battle, rise in harmonious protest to the discordant shouts of today. In the promise of their decency and the legacy of their deeds, we find the common bond we seek.

And we, the appointed bearers of their legacy, rise as one people, forged from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, to clear a new path found in respectful disagreement and hard-won consensus.

We wait patiently around the campfire, around the firestorm engulfing our nation, while others have their say. Then it will be our turn to speak.
STC is believed to be the most likely candidate to obtain a 55% stake in Turk Telekom from the operators beleaguered majority shareholder Oger Telecom.

While STC is widely expected to purchase the holding for $3.9 billion, if the deal falls through for any reason then the Turkish government may intervene and obtain the unit via a public institution. Other companies have expressed an interest in the stake but thus far only STC has begun talks over a potential acquisition.

Reuters quoted an anonymous source as saying: Turk Telekom is a strategic and important company. It will not be left to its fate for sure. Public institutions would intervene when needed and this option is still a matter of consideration.

Oger Telecom is under pressure from its creditors to sell the stake. The firm is currently embroiled in financial issues that have already seen it default on repaying two instalments of a $4.75 billion syndicated loan which was taken out predominantly as a means of refinancing its existing debts.

The Turkish Liras diminishing value was cited as a key factor behind Ogers financial troubles as this reduced the dividends generated by the firms stake in Turk Telekom. The companys creditors are pushing for the sale to go through by September so that the loan continues to be listed as performing.

After failing to make its two missed debt repayments, Oger was put on notice by the Turkish treasury, with the countrys government directing some banks to look for a potential buyer for the stake in Turk Telekom.

STC in January expressed an interest in obtaining a direct stake in Oger Telecom, but appears to have revised its strategy. Oger is owned by Saudi construction firm Saudi Oger, which is currently undergoing a major restructuring of its multibillion-dollar debt.
Telefonica Colombia will generate capital of around 1.8 billion as it attempts to write down debt as well as settle a fine issued to it earlier this year.

Colombia Telecomunicaciones, in which Telefonica holds a 67.5% stake, will contribute 1.2 billion of the capital. Reportedly, the remaining amount will be covered by the Colombian government, which holds a 32.5% stake in Telefonica Colombia.

Its partnership with Telefonica notwithstanding, in July the Colombian government issued the firms local unit Movistar, together with fellow operator Claro, a fine of a combined COP4.8 trillion (1.3 billion). The penalty was imposed after an arbitration tribunal found that both firms had violated network licensing agreements.

Telefonica will reserve 472 million of the raised capital in order to pay off this fine, with a further 1.37 billion will be used to pay off its creditor, the pension fund and asset manager PARAPAT.

A statement from Telefonica read: in relation to the arbitration award rendered in Colombia on 25 July regarding the reversal of certain assets linked to the provision of mobile voice services under former concessions, Telefonica and the government have agreed to perform a capital increase  proportional to their respective equity stakes  amounting to around 472 million, in order to meet the above payment.

However, the firm also made clear that it considers the ruling not adjusted to law, unfair, disproportionate and arbitrary, adding that in this sense, Telefonica reserves all of its legal rights and the exercise of any applicable legal action.

The group also noted that raising the capital would not have a major impact on its finances, stating that it was shoring up the financial position of Telefonica Colombia, which, coupled with the investments made in recent years, allows the company to undertake a new phase.

Telefonica is the second largest operator in the market with a 25.6% market share. It is notably ahead of Millicom (15%) but significantly behind Claro (60%).
During the Second World War we moved from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Pardeeville to live on an 80-acre farm. I had to learn how to drive a tractor to plow a field and cultivate corn. I also worked for my Grandfather for a month and he gave me a cow as a payment.

Dad said, Now you have a cow so youre are going to have to learn how to milk it. And yes, I did that, too.

When the cow had a calf, I fed the calf, and when it was grown, I sold it to buy a bicycle. Then I got a paper route and still had to milk the cow twice a day. So I was raised on a small farm, and as a result I have a lot of respect for farmers.

Recently I was fishing Tainter Creek. Bruce Ristow recognized my pickup and he stopped on the bridge, as I was fishing the bridge hole. Bruce, a trout angler, who was a schoolteacher, owns a farm on Tainter Creek. Bruce often keeps me up-to-date on what is happening on the farm. As his wife Sue was watching, Bruce told me about cover crop farming and said Crawford County was having a meeting on Friday, Aug. 11, at 10 a.m.

I stopped casting and looked up at Bruce and said, Cover crops can help prevent erosion. Are you going to the meeting?

Yes, and if you want to come along be at my house at 9:30.

Thanks Bruce, Ill be there.

Bruce and Sue drove away. I continued fishing for an hour and a half under cloud cover. I caught and released nine trout.

At the meeting Bruce introduced me to a reporter who is well versed on farm conservation, Gillian Pomplun. She writes a column for the Crawford County Independent-Stout newspaper. In the July 13 issue she wrote: There are many hopeful trends and signs as well. Many farms are still using strip cropping, and signups for Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are the highest in the state in Vernon and Crawford Counties.

Crawford Countys cover crop program is blazing an innovative trail.

The Vernon County Land Water Conservation Department has collaborated with Chaseburg Manufacturing to develop roller crimpers. These devices allow planting into a mulching and soil-building cover in no-till cropping systems. And, there are more hopeful trends on the horizon, according to those involved in land conservation planning.

At the meeting Bruce and I heard about good conservation practices. Cover crops change the picture, from nourishing our bodies, to nourishing next years crop.

The farmers were told to plant cover crops before Sept. 30. Then they will have a good root system and will continue to grow, just like your grass, after the soil is free of frost in the spring.

One of the real advantages of cover crops, such as legumes, is they convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into a soluble form that other plants, like corn or soy beans, can absorb. Also, the cover crop prevents weeds from getting established. And its like composting, where green manure is used to enrich the soil.

For the trout angler the cover crop that shields the soil through the winter will reduce soil erosion by protecting the soil from wind and water erosion. I can recall, when driving along a field that was tilled in the fall, and seeing the snow in a drift along the fence, that was black from the wind erosion.

In May of 2006, I talked to Ed Brick of Fitchburg. Brick retired in 1990 as a hydrologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Ed told me, Strip cropping and contour tillage helped to mend and heal the fields. With tillage on the contour all furrows become little check dams.

Getting the cattle out of the woodlots helped to restore infiltration so most water then soaks into the soil to emerge again as spring water. So then you have water coming up slowly in springs at 48 degrees instead of running off on top of the ground at air temperature.

What Ed told me next got me to thinking. Since 1950, soon after we improved our farming practices and slowed down the rapid runoff of water, our streams have shown two percent more water flow every decade from spring water.

So by the year 2000 our streams are showing 10 percent more water flow. The question is has that continued. I can recall fishing Bishop Branch in the 1970s, and then returning to fish it again in 2006. And it was considerably bigger in 2006. There are people who have driven across a small stream in 1950 and now it is too deep to drive across the stream. I believe that our water table has increased in size and now some farmers who were tilling a field near a trout steam cant grow crops there as the soil is too wet.

Our farmers are to be congratulated for caring for the soil, by removing cattle from the trout stream, and now growing cover crops to slow down the runoff of water. As a result our streams are continuing to grow at 2 percent every 10 years and in 2020 they will be 14 percent bigger that they were in 1950. Our springs, rich in minerals, are providing cold water at 48 degrees for trout. In each stream that I now fish there is more cold water to provide for more trout.

Trout anglers its time to thank the farmers of Vernon and Crawford counties.
Zain Iraq is upgrading its existing network using Ericssons virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) offering to meet the growing data demands of its customers in the region.

Under this collaboration, Ericsson will modernise the current infrastructure of Zain Iraqs network by implementing a solution that will enable the operator to quickly introduce new services for customers, while maintaining high performance network requirements.

Ericsson will modernize Zain Iraqs existing infrastructure into Ericsson NFV infrastructure (NFVi) solution, which provides a software-defined infrastructure with Hyperscale Datacentre System 8000. Also as part of the solution, Ericsson will provide system integration and support services.

Ali Al-Zahid, CEO, Zain Iraq, said: This investment and ongoing modernisation of our network is another example of our dedication to future-proofing our operations for the benefit of all stakeholders. It also reflects our commitment to providing the mobile community in Iraq with the highest quality of service available, delivered via cutting edge infrastructure and technology to ensure a superior mobile experience for our customers.

Rafiah Ibrahim, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa says: Iraq is an important market for mobile network development and innovation. As Iraqi users are passionate adopters of new technology, network modernization and adoption of new technologies become critical to meet Iraqi users demand for capacity and coverage.

Ericsson vEPC supports high-capacity environments and provides verified solutions, addressing many vertical use cases to open up new opportunities for operators.
Savannah Petroleum announced on Friday it had entered into a binding exclusivity agreement with Seven Energy International regarding a potential acquisition of its oil and gas assets in Nigeria.

The group confirmed as a result of the ongoing discussions around the proposed acquisition its shares were suspended from trading on London's AIM market until the publication of an admission document or until it confirmed talks had ceased.

Savannah also supplied an update on its operations in Niger.

Security teams and equipment were in place at the firm's licence in the Agadem basin, East Niger, with drilling at its Bushiya exploration project set to commence upon the company's readmission to trading.

As of 0820 BST, the suspended shares were 34.62p.
Analysts at Credit Suisse bumped up their target price for shares of Associated British Foods , highlighting the potential for the introduction of a 'Click and Collect' model and the likely boost to earnings from currency tailwinds alongside an 'attractive' entry point in valuation terms.

Foremost, they highlighted the company's sustainable cost advantage versus peers and then went on to explain how introduction of an online 'Click and Collect' model might boost the firm's margins and sales.

As for the impact from currency swings, the Swiss broker believed it would be premature to look for a positive impact from dollar weakness on the company's EBIT margins.

"Currency impact is still to fully work through, mark-downs were abnormally low this year, Primark traditionally reinvests in price, and the US is still in investment phase," they said.

However, those FX tailwinds would help when translating its Primark arm's profits from overseas into Sterling, which led the broker to bump up its 2016/18 estimates of retail by roughly 4%.

Weakness in Sterling versus the single currency would also boost the company's sugar profits by 6%, it said.

Finally, trading on about 29 times earnings, down from 40 times two years ago, Credit Suisse believed the present share price presented a "good" entry point given the ABF's structural growth story.

Ahead of the firm's 11 September trading update, Credit Suisse raised its target price on ABF from 3,350p to 3,600p while reiterating its 'outperform' rating.
Waters in Houston, Texas had begun to recede on Thursday uncovering the vast destruction hurricane Harvey had left in its wake.

Emergency services and volunteers jumped into boats, trucks, and aircraft and combed the city and its surrounding suburbs for people still patiently waiting for evacuation as police rescued 18 people from Harvey's floodwaters in the early hours of Thursday morning, leaving mayor, Sylvester Turner to say, the crisis was "ebbing but far from over."

Downgraded from a category four hurricane to a tropical depression as it moved over Louisiana towards Mississippi, Harvey claimed 44 lives in east Texas, with the death toll expected to rise as recovery crews remove debris from the drier areas of Houston.

Donald Trump pledged $1m towards the cleanup as a plant in Crosby to the northeast of Texas that produced organic peroxides lost refrigeration as a result of the storm and exploded early on Thursday, with executives from Arkema, the operators of the plant, warning that a further eight tanks at the plant could burn and then blow.

Texas' department of public safety said 48,700 homes suffered flood damage, 17,000 of which were considered major with a further 1,000 completely swept away.

Stagnant waters were scorched by the sun and rising temperatures on Friday, leading the city's health department to caution residents to be mindful of contamination and diseases like cholera or typhoid.

Practice good hygiene such as hand washing after any contact with #Harvey floodwaters. https://t.co/weYGLK2U9U #HoustonFlood pic.twitter.com/FYOdOYgCBK  Houston Health Dept (@HoustonHealth) August 30, 2017

It had not been clarified if the president's $1m donation would be coming from him directly or his controversial private foundation, but he was said to be travelling to Texas on Saturday with the first lady in order to assess the levels of supplementary spending required to ease the recovery process.
Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr, son of the former Philippines dictatorial president, has been encouraged by current president Rodrigo Duterte to return a portion of the wealth accumulated during his father's reign.

Ferdinand Marcos Snr reportedly accumulated a fortune between $5bn to $10bn, despite his official annual salary being just $13,500, before the People Power Revolution removed him from office in 1986 and eventually exiled the dictator from the Southeast Asian nation, leading Marcos and his family to flee to Hawaii with the assistance of the Reagan administration.

After Marcos' death in 1989, his shoe-obsessed wife Imelda returned the family to the Philippines, where they have remained a prominent political force, denying any wrongdoing during their patron's tenure as the country's leader even if their Honolulu flight itinerary contained PHP27m in freshly printed bank notes, 24 gold bars and 70 jewel studded cufflinks.

Bongbong has been facing legal challenges in his own political ambitions after he claimed his bid for the vice-president's position was hampered by an unfair election in 2016.

Looking to run for president himself, Jr and the rest of the Marcos clan were reportedly discussing whether or not to return a portion of the wealth they gained during Snr's 21-year reign.

The offer had not been confirmed publicly by the family, but Duterte, a political ally of Bongbong, said the family had told him they'd "open everything and probably return what is uncovered," he said they were ready to bring it all back, "including a few gold bars".

The Presidential Commission of Good Government, assembled three decades ago, were tasked with tracking down and returning the ill-gotten gains of the Marcos regime and to date have recovered $4.4bn worth in the former foreign bank accounts, real estate, paintings, and jewellery, plus the 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1,000 handbags, and more than 1,000 pairs of shoes Imelda left behind after the hurried flight to Honolulu.

Duterte's claims have been greeted with scepticism in parliament, where senate leader Aquilino Pimentel allegedly said, "Everything that was stolen should be returned it's not like we will settle for crumbs."

Shortly before Marcos Snr's death, he offered to give over 90% of his estate to the Philippines government if he could be buried in Manila next to his mother, the government rebuffed his offer, but in November 2016, Duterte allowed the late authoritarian to be laid to rest in the national Heroes' Cemetery.
The result of the Kenyan presidential elections in August was nullified on Friday as the nation's top legal body upheld claims made by the opposition that President Uhuru Kenyatta's victory was the result of rigging.

In front of a capacity courtroom in Nairobi, chief justice David Maraga said, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of Kenya "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution."

His ruling was then backed by four of the six judges hearing the case.

Raila Odinga, the leader of Kenya's National Super Alliance and Kenyatta's opposition, claimed that the IEBC's computer systems were hacked in order to secure the incumbent president a second term in office as votes tallied outweighed poll numbers and requisite forms could not be provided to confirm the result.

Odinga, previously alleged manipulated results in Kenya's 2007 election after he was declared the winner of the presidential race after 90% of the votes had been counted before losing by just 232,000 votes. Months of ethnic violence followed his assertions, claiming between 800 and 1,500 lives in the process.
Markit's final manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 52.8 in August from 53.3 in July. Still, it remained above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion.

Output at manufacturing firms increased at the weakest pace since June 2016, with some panellists noting that relatively subdued foreign client demand had limited growth in production. Meanwhile, new orders rose at a pace only slightly weaker than July.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said: Although still above the 50 no change level, the decline in the PMI shows signs of a renewed stuttering of the manufacturing economy during August.

"The latest reading indicates one of the weakest improvements in the overall health of the sector seen over the past year, and translates into disappointing signals for comparable official data. The drop in the output index indicates that manufacturing could act as a drag on the economy in the third quarter, with exports dampening order book growth. "
London stocks were set for a flat open on Friday ahead of the release of the eagerly-awaited non-farm payrolls report later in the day.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open unchanged at 7,430.

On the data front, Markit's UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index is at 0930 BST. In the US, the payrolls report, unemployment rate and average hourly earnings are at 1330 BST.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "A decent payrolls number today would be the icing on the cake in a week that has seen some positive signs that the US economy may be in better shape that was previously thought prior to Jackson Hole.

"Todays US employment report is expected to see 180k jobs added in August, down from Julys 209k, however this weeks bumper ADP report has seen some estimates for today revised higher. It is also notable that the June and July non-farm payroll reports both surprised to the upside on estimates of 180k, with numbers in excess of 200k, so it wouldnt be unexpected to see the August report also post a number north of 200k given how strong this weeks ADP number was."

In corporate news, digital property and household-related services owner ZPG has acquired Ravensworth, the UK's leading provider of on-demand print and creative marketing services to estate and letting agents, for an undisclosed sum.

The FTSE 250 firm, which owns Zoopla, said Ravensworth - based in Cramlington, Northumberland - specialises in providing integrated print ordering solutions to over 4,500 UK estate and letting agent branches via its print technology platform.

Rio Tinto confirmed the completion of the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries Limited to Yancoal Australia.

The FTSE 100 company said that from Friday, Yancoal was taking over management of Rio Tinto's thermal coal business in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.

It said it would receive total consideration of $2.69bn for the sale, together with customary adjustments for net debt and net working capital at completion.
Rio Tinto confirmed the completion of the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries Limited to Yancoal Australia on Friday.

The FTSE 100 company said that from Friday, Yancoal was taking over management of Rio Tinto's thermal coal business in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.

It said it would receive total consideration of $2.69bn for the sale, together with customary adjustments for net debt and net working capital at completion.

The $2.69bn comprises $2.45bn in cash paid today and a further $240m of unconditional guaranteed royalty payments, the companys board said in its statement,

The first royalty payment of $10m was made on Friday and an additional $100m would be received by the end of the year, Rio Tinto said.

A further $90m was expected before the end of 2018, and under the terms of the sale, Rio Tinto may also receive an additional royalty linked to the coal price capped at $410m.

Rio Tinto will use the consideration received for general corporate purposes and the Group's capital allocation framework will be applied, the board said in a statement.

With production from all Hunter Valley coal operations transferring to Yancoal from today, the group's guidance for thermal coal production in 2017 has been revised to 13-14 million tonnes, from 17-18 million tonnes previously.

Rio Tinto said the taxable gain on the disposal of the assets was expected to be largely offset by carried forward capital losses in Australia.

Therefore the cash tax payable is expected to be relatively low compared to the quantum of the taxable gain.
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Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing provocateur whose track record includes fueling cyberbullying at the expense of actress Leslie Jones and labeling rape culture as a "fantasy," has been invited to speak at Cal State Fullerton on Halloween.

The campus chapter of College Republicans, which is hosting the speaking engagement, says that the event is almost a certainty. At this point, its pretty much a done deal. Were just formalizing it, senior Christopher Boyle, the groups president emeritus, told the L.A. Times. Its really just the fine details  things like how the room will be set up  thats holding it back. Boyle said he restarted the campus club last year, and that the group had first reached out to Yiannopoulos' manager in June.

"Milo was by far the number one most requested speaker from conservative students on our campus," Boyle said in a written message to LAist, when asked about the decision to invite Yiannopoulos. "This is meant to be a fun event, and conservative students deserve to be able to host entertainers who talk about and share their viewpoints."

While the event won't come for another two months, there's already growing opposition to Yiannopoulos' visit. A Change.org petition with the title "No Alt-Right Speakers or Hate Groups at CSUF" was started with intentions of getting 5,000 signatures. At time of publication, the petition had about 3,800 signees.

"This is a call to action letting the CSUF Administration know that we do not want Milo Yiannopoulos or any other alt-right figures on our campus," says the petition's mission statement, adding, "Hate speech to incite violence and threaten the lives of students is not the same as free speech of diverse opinions."

The petition points to another Yiannopoulos event that took place earlier this year at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispoit was later reported that $55,400 was spent on campus security, with $15,800 coming from the school itself, and $39,600 from the Cal State system. "[Having] students throughout the CSU system pay for this is insulting," argues the petition.

Yiannopoulos' presence has ignited controversy at a number of California campuses in 2017. Earlier this year, campus administrators at UC Berkeley were reportedly concerned that Yiannopoulos would use a February speaking event at the campus to "dox" (or out) undocumented students. That event was eventually canceled after widespread protests. "One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down," Yiannopoulos said in response to the protests in a Facebook message.

Before the Berkeley incident, a speaking engagement at UCLA was also canceled earlier this year. And, just a couple weeks prior to that, another speaking event at UC Davis was nixed at the last minute after protests erupted on campus.

Aside from the Halloween event at CSUF, Yiannopoulos has also reportedly planned a "Free Speech Week" at Berkeley in September; there are rumors that Steve Bannon and Ann Coulter may be joining him.

Yiannopoulos, who was something of a hot ticket a year ago, has seen his star wane in recent months. In February, clips surfaced in which Yiannopoulos seemed to speak sympathetically of sexual relationships between men and young boys. Yiannopoulos was let go from his editor position at Breitbart News following the surfacing of the clips. Furthermore, a book deal with Simon & Schuster was later scrapped by the publisher, and the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded an offer for Yiannopoulos to speak at an event.

LAist reached out to CSUF College Republicans but had yet to hear back at time of publication.
A group of 14 attorneys general and local officials are urging the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) to retract a legally incorrect letter sent to states in March that said they do not have to comply with the Clean Power Plan.

In a letter sent Thursday to the EPA Office of General Counsel, state officials call the instruction from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt unsolicited legal advice.

The officials wrote that the Clean Power Plan remains the law of the land despite a Supreme Court hold on the rule, and it asked that the EPA retract the letters from Pruitt.

Although the letters do not purport to take final agency action, we are nonetheless concerned that because the EPA Administrator authored the letters, states and power companies may mistakenly believe they can rely on Mr. Pruitts views, the letter scolded.

The facts are clear: the EPA has a legal obligation to limit carbon pollution from its largest source: fossil-fueled power plants, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. So if President Trump wants to repeal the Clean Power Plan, he must replace it.

Scott Pruitt cannot simply wish away the facts by giving governors bad legal advice, he added.

For a deeper dive:

Reuters, The Hill, Politico Pro

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.
New Mexicos capital has joined the growing movement of U.S. cities committing to 100 percent renewable energy.

On Wednesday, Santa Fes City Council unanimously adopted Mayor Javier Gonzales resolution directing City Manager Brian Snyde to develop a feasibility study on how the city can transition to renewables by 2025. Snyde will report the findings in 90 days.

The City of Santa Fe has historically been a leader in the fight against global warming and has a responsibility to continue to set a positive example for other cities, states and countries to follow, the resolution states.

Such a transition to utilizing 100 percent renewable energy will promote employment opportunities and economic growth in our community, facilitate local control and ownership of the citys energy options, and bring tangible benefits of using renewable energy to the community as a whole, it adds.

Gonzales celebrated the citys ambitious clean energy goal with a tweet saying there is work to do, but here we go!

There it is #SantaFe, on a unanimous vote my resolution to commit to 100% Renewable Energy sourcing by 2025. Work to do, but here we go!  Javier Gonzales (@javiermgonzales) August 30, 2017

The New Mexican reported that a quarter of the citys energy already comes from renewable sources, mostly from solar.

According to the report, the mayor also introduced a resolution this week to amend the citys investment policy to ensure that its fiscal agent, Wells Fargo, does not invest any city funds in fossil fuels.
Jammu: A BSF and a policeman died in two separate incidents in Kashmir. In the sniper attack by Pakistani soldiers across the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, a BSF troop martyred. An official from the force gave this information.

BSF officials said that sub inspector (ASI) Kamaljeet Singh (50) was injured in the fierce firing across the Line of Control (LoC) at around 5 pm and 45 minutes in the evening.

He informed that the first treatment of Singh posted on an advance post in Krishna Valley sector in Poonch was done. When he was taken to a military hospital, he succumbed to his injuries. The official said that ASI was from the village of Malkana village in Bathinda district of Punjab. He was involved in the force in 1988.

Apart from this, terrorists attacked a police bus near Life Chowk on the way to Srinagar. There were eight policemen on this bus. One of these is the news of the death on the spot and the wounded of three. Taking advantage of terrorism, the terrorists escaped from there. The surveillance operations are being run by the security forces in the surrounding area.
A team of scientists from ASU's School of Molecular Sciences and Pennsylvania State University has taken us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis, and possibly to cleaner fuels.

Their discovery was recently published online in Science and describes the structure of a reaction center (from a heliobacterium) which preserves the characteristics of the ancestral one, and so provides new insight into the evolution of photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is the most important biological process driving the biosphere. It harnesses the energy of sunlight, and provides us with our main sources of food and fuel. The study of photosynthesis has allowed scientists not only to understand the intricacies of how organisms use light to drive their metabolism, but has also paved the way for technological advances into sustainable energy sources.

"The photosynthetic process first came into being roughly 3 billion years ago, before Earth's atmosphere contained oxygen," said Kevin Redding, a professor in the School of Molecular Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, whose group is leading the research at ASU. "Photosynthesis works by using specialized membrane proteins, called photosynthetic reaction centers, which collect the energy from light and use it to pump electrons across a biological membrane from one cellular electron carrier to another, resulting in conversion of electromagnetic (i.e. light) energy into chemical energy, which the organism can use."

A great deal of research has determined that these reaction centers appeared just once on the planet, and have since diversified to perform different sorts of chemistry.

Despite the diversification, the reaction centers retain the same overall architecture, reflecting their common origin. During the last 3 billion years these proteins have been elaborated and changed and it has been difficult to reconstruct what happened over this enormous period of time. However, we do know that one of them developed the ability to oxidize water, releasing oxygen. This changed the world irrevocably, and allowed for life as we know it today.

The team believes that the first reaction center (RC) was much simpler than the versions that exist today. In terms of the protein structure, it was a homodimer -- that is, two copies of the same polypeptide came together to form a symmetric structure. The reaction centers whose structures we know are all heterodimers in which this inherent symmetry has been broken, although at their heart they still retain the vestiges of the original symmetric architecture.

The heliobacterium of the article in Science is a member of the most primitive of the photosynthetic bacteria, bacteria that do not make oxygen -- in fact, they are completely intolerant of oxygen, like the first organisms. They also cannot fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and must use organic carbon sources. Important for this study, their RC is a homodimer.

Thus, this is the first homodimeric RC structure and it sheds light in several ways on what the ancestral RC may have looked like. In several ways the overall architecture of the protein is very similar to the photosystems of plants and cyanobacteria and the RC of the purple sulfur bacteria. However, built upon that common architecture are some crucial chemical differences that result in chemistry different from that of the known RCs, including their ability to use both water-soluble and lipid-soluble carriers, a capability previously thought to be restricted to one or another type of RC.

This work is the result of a collaboration between Kevin Redding, Raimund Fromme, associate research professor in the School of Molecular Sciences and a researcher in the Biodesign Institute's Center for Applied Structural Biology, and John Golbeck from Pennsylvania State University.

Redding and Golbeck had decided 8 years ago to join forces to tackle the heliobacterial RC. They combined their individual Department of Energy grants into a joint grant, which has since been renewed twice: the third iteration started a year ago. Fromme officially joined the group about 4 years ago, although he had been previously working on crystallography of the RC with Iosifina Sarrou, a postdoctoral fellow in the Redding group who had optimized its purification. The work truly took off when Christopher Gisriel, a doctoral student in the Redding group, started working with Fromme to crystallize the RC.

"I credit Chris and Raimund with doing what was necessary to get this structure," said Redding, who is also the director of ASU's Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis.

"Raimund's expertise in the crystallization of membrane proteins and the solution of their structure was crucial. Chris did the very hard work of improving the purification, optimizing the crystallization conditions, and taking his crystals to the beamlines numerous times. And because the protein is inherently oxygen-sensitive, he had to do all the purification and crystallization in a glovebox!"

"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.

Redding continued, "They were able to get the diffraction quality from a resolution of ~10 A to 2-2.5 A in a few years of very hard work ... and then came the Herculean task of solving the structure. Chris started with a very stripped down model of what the RC might look like, based on expected similarities with the cyanobacterial Photosystem I, and then worked constantly on it for months. He had to teach himself new software and work long nights to get there. Once he had something that was looking real, Raimund was able to take that and push it to the next level. And working together they have produced a truly beautiful structure at very high resolution."

"Chris is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served in Afghanistan," Redding said. "He came to ASU as a biochemistry major and started working in my lab as an undergraduate researcher. Having never seriously considered the possibility of a career in research before, he was unsure at first how far he wanted to go down this path. However, he soon developed a taste for it, and then pushed me to allow him to take on the RC crystallography project as a Master's student. I cautioned him against it, knowing how hard it would be and the low chances of success, but he persisted, and I eventually relented. He later decided to pursue a doctorate. He will defend his dissertation later this semester and I could not be prouder of him."

"This reaction center is only found in organisms that can live in oxygen-free environments, like that of early Earth," Gisriel said. "This work has opened the door for scientists all over the world to compare the primitive reaction center's characteristics with those of more advanced reaction centers that reside in oxygen-tolerant organisms. As a result, we are gaining a more clear and informed picture of how nature optimized light-driven energy collection."

The team included Christopher Gisriel, Raimund Fromme and Kevin E. Redding of ASU; Iosifina Sarrou (formerly of ASU, now at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY); Bryan Ferlez and John H. Golbeck of Pennsylvania State University. 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 the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery at ASU.
The ESMO-MCBS version 1.1 is set to be published online in the Annals of Oncology on Sept. 5, 2017

Lugano, Madrid. 1 September 2017 -- An updated version of the European Society for Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) will enable users to evaluate single-arm studies for the first time. The ESMO-MCBS version 1.1 is set to be published online in the Annals of Oncology on 5 September 2017.

The ESMO-MCBS version 1.0 was first published in May 2015 in (2) Annals of Oncology. Since 2016 ESMO has been using the scale to grade all new medications or indications of anti-neoplastic treatments in solid tumours approved by the European Medicines Agency and presenting these scores in relevant ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines or as an 'eUpdate'.

Lead author Prof. Nathan Cherny, Norman Levan Chair of Humanistic Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, Jerusalem, Israel, said: "The ESMO-MCBS is an evolving project. We are constantly evaluating the validity and reasonableness of the scoring generated by the ESMO-MCBS, looking to identify and understand problems and seeking ways to improve the scale."

"Version 1.1 is the first major revision," continued Cherny. "It incorporates nine amendments that address shortcomings identified in version 1.0 and introduces a new scale for single-arm studies. So while the first version only scored comparative studies, the updated tool will enable users to evaluate single-arm studies in orphan diseases and for diseases with high unmet need."

Field testing and peer review of version 1.1 of the ESMO-MCBS was conducted in collaboration with the ESMO Faculty and Guidelines Committee, who were critical in the development of version 1.0.

Cherny said: "The ESMO-MCBS has shown itself to be a valued tool for evaluating the magnitude of benefit from clinical studies. Evolving experience, feedback and discussion with users, and published critiques have informed the revised version and we invite users of version 1.1 to provide feedback to assist us in the process of ongoing development and refinement."

Prof. Fortunato Ciardiello, ESMO President, said: "The ESMO-MCBS was designed as a dynamic tool that would be revised based on expanding needs and any shortcomings that were identified. The new version - in particular the ability to score single-arm studies in orphan diseases and for diseases with high unmet need - will go even further in promoting ESMO's mission to deliver sustainable cancer care."

Prof. Elisabeth de Vries, Chair of the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Working Group, said: "The recent survey on the awareness and utilisation of the ESMO-MCBS has shown us that as well as being used to derive the magnitude of clinical benefit of medicines it is also being used as an educational tool to train fellows in the interpretation of data from clinical trials and in journal club discussions regarding the efficacy of new treatments."

###

To find out more, attend the following sessions at the ESMO 2017 Congress, 8-12 September 2017 in Madrid, Spain, at the IFEMA - Feria de Madrid:

Special Session on Cost, value and assessment tools of therapies in modern oncology, Sunday, 10 September 2017, 16:30 to 18:00 (CEST) in the Alicante Auditorium.

Press Conference (How cancer policy can affect patient care), Monday 11 September 2017, 15:00-15:45 (CEST) in Hall 10, Press Area. The press conference will be moderated by Prof. Josep Tabernero.

Notes to Editors

References

Full paper available (under embargo) upon request to media@esmo.org

1 Cherny N et al. ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale version 1.1. Annals of Oncology 00: 1-27, 2017 doi:10.1093/annonc/mdx310

2 Cherny NI, et al. A standardised, generic, validated approach to stratify the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be anticipated from anti-cancer therapies: The European Society for Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS). Ann Oncol. 2015;26:1547-1573.

About the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)

ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With 16,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 130 countries worldwide, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information. We are committed to supporting our members to develop and advance in a fast-evolving professional environment. http://www.esmo.org

About Annals of Oncology

Annals of Oncology is a monthly journal published on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) by Oxford Journals. Professor Jean-Charles Soria is editor-in-chief.

Please acknowledge Annals of Oncology as a source in any reports.
Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - [September, 1, 2017]: In a paper published in the September 2017 issue of the journal Nature Climate Change, a consortium of marine biology researchers outline the mechanisms that might underlie adaptation to climate change in reef corals. Predicting the ability of coral reefs to survive changes in climate requires understanding coral animals--the foundation species of these ecosystems--and how parental provisioning, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, and changes in the microbiome contribute to their adaptive response.

The marine biology researchers, from 11 institutions in five different countries, gathered at a recent workshop to assess the fate of coral reefs in the face of climate change. Participants at the conference included Gergely Torda and Philip Munday from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and Manuel Aranda, Michael Berumen, Timothy Ravasi and Christian Voolstra from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

"The clock is ticking. If we look at the Great Barrier Reef, more than 30% of the corals may already be dead. Understanding these mechanisms is becoming increasingly important if we want to help these ecosystems. If not now, then when?" asked Aranda.

The health of the world's coral reefs is of particular concern because of their high social, ecological and economic value, as well as their sensitivity to environmental change. "Climate change is happening; oceans are warming and ocean chemistry is changing with detrimental effects on coral reefs," said Ravasi.

"All animals and plants associate with microbes and form so-called metaorganisms. In particular, coral metaorganisms rely on their microbial partners for survival. These microbes hold the promise to contribute to host physiology and can quickly adjust under changing environmental conditions, thereby helping the coral to adapt," said Voolstra.

The team focused on stony, reef-building corals, calling them "ecosystem engineers," because they form the framework of the reef, providing shelter, food and habitat for countless other living things. Loss of reef-building corals therefore leads to declines in the diversity and abundance of other reef organisms and ultimately the collapse of the entire ecosystem.

In their paper the team identified eight potential research directions that could help clarify how coral reefs might adapt or acclimatize to environmental change. The team advised researchers to explore different forms of plasticity in corals and other reef organisms using well-designed, strictly controlled experiments. They also stressed the importance of demonstrating how epigenetic mechanisms and marks--the ability of the parent's environment to alter the gene expression of the offspring--relate to phenotypes in corals. They also emphasized the importance of understanding the relative contribution of parental provisioning, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms and changes in the microbiome to adaptive responses in corals. The other directions placed importance on developing model organisms, understanding the flexibility of coral-microbial associations, improving models of mechanism interaction, and determining the pace of genetic adaptation.

The concept of plastic responses and epigenetics are increasingly "hot" topics as the effects of climate change become more evident in ecosystems around the world.

"In these rapidly developing fields, it is important to occasionally step back and brainstorm with colleagues to share ideas, to discuss what has worked and what hasn't, and to identify the most promising directions to answer challenging questions," Berumen said. "This paper is the outcome of a very productive workshop and hopefully it will be useful as more and more people focus research efforts in these directions."

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King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

KAUST advances science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research integrated with graduate education. Located on the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia, KAUST conducts curiosity-driven and goal-oriented research to address global challenges related to food, water, energy and the environment. Established in 2009, KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. The university currently educates and trains over 900 master's and doctoral students, supported by an academic community of 150 faculty members, 400 postdocs and 300 research scientists. With 100 nationalities working and living at KAUST, the university brings together people and ideas from all over the world. Visit kaust.edu.sa for more information.

Media Contact:

Michelle Ponto

Michelle.ponto@kaust.edu.sa

+966544701668
East Hanover, NJ. September 1, 2017. Kessler Foundation researchers have authored a new article that further elucidates the mechanisms for cognitive fatigue, a disabling symptom that affects many individuals after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The article, "Cognitive fatigue in individuals with traumatic brain injury is associated with caudate activation," was published online on August 21, 2017, in Scientific Reports (10.1038/s41598-017-08846-6). The authors are Glenn Wylie, DPhil, Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, John DeLuca, PhD, Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, of Kessler Foundation, and K. Essad of Dartmouth College Medical School. The article is available open access at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-08846-6.

Individuals with neurological damage often report difficulties with cognitive fatigue, a subjective lack of mental energy that is perceived to interfere with daily activities. Because of poor correlation between self-reports of cognitive fatigue and tests of cognitive performance, scientists are looking at more objective measures, such as correlations with neuroimaging findings. In the Kessler study, brain activation patterns were compared in 22 individuals with moderate to severe TBI and 20 healthy controls. Both groups performed tasks of working memory during functional MRI imaging of the brain; the TBI group reported more fatigue, although performance was comparable between the groups. The results showed that the experience of self-reported fatigue is associated with activation changes in the caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia.

"These results are consistent with findings in our related research in the multiple sclerosis (MS) population," said Dr. Wylie, the lead author, "which suggests that the TBI and MS populations share a mechanism for cognitive fatigue." This has important implications for the development of effective treatments. "This study points to the caudate nucleus as a likely target for clinical interventions to alleviate fatigue," explained Dr. Wylie, who is associate director of Neuroscience Research and the Rocco Ortenzio Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation.

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This research was supported by grants from the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research and Kessler Foundation. Kessler researchers and clinicians have faculty appointments in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility and long-term outcomes, including employment, for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.

For more information, or to interview an expert, contact: Carolann Murphy, 973.324.8382, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org.
WASHINGTON, D.C. September 1, 2017 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced $12.6 million to support the training of 55 doctoral candidates and 52 postdoctoral scholars. Funding is made through NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

"Agricultural science depends on new ideas and new perspectives," said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. "NIFA support for these predoctoral and postdoctoral candidates is helping foster an inclusive arena and cultivate future agricultural science leaders who can solve future food challenges."

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative is America's flagship competitive grants program that provides funding for foundational and translational research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. AFRI's Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) seeks to boost the number of qualified graduates in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences through support for K-14 teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. Predoctoral fellowships support doctoral candidates as they conduct dissertation research. Postdoctoral fellowships support the work of early career scientists. All AFRI fellowships support research, education, extension, or integrated projects in the AFRI Farm Bill priority areas of plant health and production and plant products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety, nutrition, and health; bioenergy, natural resources, and environment; agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural communities.

Fellowships were awarded to students in 35 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Among the fellowships:

A postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University to investigate new approaches to monitoring water quality in rivers near agricultural facilities.

A predoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University to develop environmental DNA surveillance strategies to detect exotic agricultural insect pests.

A postdoctoral fellowship at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to identify cover crops for organic farming to conserve soil and manage pests and weeds.

A predoctoral fellowship at Washington State University to understand how genes regulate freezing tolerance in wheat.

A postdoctoral fellowship at Iowa State University to examine the role genetics play in response to vaccination of purebred Angus cattle.

A full list of fellowship recipients can be found online at the NIFA website.

Among past fellowships, a postdoctoral fellow converted her fellowship into a standard grant, developing her own research laboratory at the University of Richmond. She provided additional training and professional development opportunities to 16 undergraduate students while examining the southward spread of the invasive gypsy moth. A predoctoral fellow at Colorado State University was able to extend his understanding in plant disease resistance through bioinformatics and agricultural experiences with collaborators at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

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NIFA's mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension that solve societal challenges. NIFA's investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural sciences, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for updates, and follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts.

USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
Hurricane Lidia's eye was visible in NASA satellite imagery as it approached Baja California, Mexico's southernmost tip. Hurricane Lidia was making landfall on the Baja on Sept. 1 at 5 a.m. PDT and continued to bring soaking rains to the region.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Hurricane Lidia on Aug. 31 at 4:24 p.m. EDT (2024 UTC). The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard took a visible light picture of the storm when the eye was just southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Thunderstorms in Lidia's eastern quadrant had already spread over mainland Mexico.

Earlier in the day, NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Lidia and analyzed the storm in infrared light as it strengthened quickly. Infrared data provides temperature information and the highest, coldest cloud tops in tropical cyclones indicate where the strongest storms are located. NASA's AIRS instrument provides that critical temperature information.

Lidia is a large system. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km), especially to the northeast and southeast of the center. This large system's most powerful thunderstorms surrounded the center of circulation. Some of the coldest cloud top temperatures exceeded minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 63 degrees Celsius). Storms with temperatures that cold are high in the troposphere and NASA research has shown they have the ability to generate heavy rain.

On Sept. 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said a Tropical Storm Warning was in effect for Baja California peninsula from San Jose de Las Palomas to Isla San Luis and for the mainland Mexico from Altata to Puerto Libertad.

At 5 a.m. PDT (8 a.m. EDT/1200 UTC) on Sept. 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the center of Lidia was moving onshore into Baja California Sur, Mexico and the heavy rains were continuing. The center of Tropical Storm Lidia was located near latitude 24.1 North, longitude 111.1 West.

Lidia was moving toward the northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), and NHC said this motion with an increase in forward speed is expected through Saturday night, Sept.2. Maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph (100 kph) with higher gusts. Weakening is forecast during the next couple of days while Lidia interacts with the mountainous terrain of the Baja California peninsula. The estimated minimum central pressure is 988 millibars.

As Lidia was moving over land on Sept. 1, infrared data showed that cloud top temperatures have been warming during the early morning hours. In addition NHC said that Lidia's convective pattern appears to be losing some organization as the storm interacts with the high terrain of Baja California Sur.

Rainfall expected may reach up to a foot in some areas. Lidia is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches across the Mexican states of Baja California Sur into Baja California, Sinaloa, and the coastal section of Sonora, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches. These rains may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

On the forecast track, the center of Lidia will move near or along the west coast of the Baja California peninsula through Saturday and then move west of the peninsula over the Pacific waters Saturday night when it is expected to become a remnant low pressure area. NHC noted that "some of the tropical moisture from Lidia may reach parts of the desert U.S. Southwest this holiday weekend, including southern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Arizona.

For updates on Lidia, visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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Few of us would find a marriage proposal made amidst dirty dishes and messy clutter particularly romantic, but we are not the only creatures who realize that cleaning up your act may improve your chances of attracting a mate. Juvenile male golden-collared manakins who received extra testosterone were stimulated to clean up their display area before performing for females, according to research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. The research team's results, published in the journal Animal Behavior, showed that tidiness during courtship is influenced, but not determined exclusively, by hormones.

Adult male golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus) show off their bright-yellow throat and beard to attract the attention of females. They strut their stuff in groups called leks in a defined display area on the forest floor, which they carefully clean by removing dead leaves and foliage that obstruct the female's view.

During the courtship display, males perform complex acrobatic moves, leaping from one sapling to another, while making conspicuous "snapping" sounds by forcefully beating their wings together above their heads.

To see how far adult males go to keep the display area clean, researchers added weights to the undersides of some of the leaves in the display area to make them heavier. Some males were so motivated to clean up that they flew carrying leaves weighing as much as their own body.

Only adult males display. "We wanted to know if hormones influenced the manakins' drive to clean up their mating display area, so we treated juvenile males and females with testosterone," said Ioana Chiver, post-doctoral fellow at STRI. "Testosterone-treated young males really got into cleaning up the display court. They removed significantly more leaves than untreated males and even pulled up small tree seedlings."

"Adult males come up with original ways to remove the leaves from the display area," Chiver said. "We think of younger animals as being more innovative, but here we see that hormones may be playing a role in motivating the birds to persistently seek new ways to court their mates."

"Even when treated with testosterone, females were not motivated to clean the male's display area, although they did become more aggressive and show some other male display behaviors," said Barney Schlinger, co-author and professor at UCLA. "That tells us that hormones alone are not enough: testosterone is activating specific neural circuits in males. Females either do not have these circuits, or they are insensitive to testosterone."

"I like the way this study combines ingenious field experiments with the living birds and work in the lab--something that is not often done, but is easy to do at the Smithsonian in Panama," said Mary Jane West-Eberhard, staff scientist emerita at STRI. "Their results remind us that the way an animal behaves and the way its genes are expressed -- often powerfully influenced by hormones -- depend on the animal itself, whether it is male or female, and how it formed during development at the time when the hormones and genes act. We should be wary of often simplistic beliefs that sexual behavior is determined by genes or hormones alone."

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The authors thanked the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center for the use of their aviary and Panama's Ministry of the Environment for permits. The study was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems. Website: http://www.stri.si.edu. Promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9JDSIwBegk.

Chiver, Ioana and Schlinger, B.A., 2017. Clearing up the court: sex and the endocrine basis of display-court manipulation. Animal Behavior http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.an.behav.2017.07.014
Palliative care has increased in Africa over the past 12 years but only in a small subset of countries, according to a review published today in Lancet Oncology. This research was led by John Y. Rhee, a fourth-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS).

Palliative care--defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing life-threatening illness through the prevention and relief of suffering with physical, psychosocial and spiritual care--is developing rapidly around the world, but progress varies greatly by region. Only limited data exists on palliative care development in Africa.

To better understand palliative care progress across the African continent, Mr. Rhee and his team conducted a country-specific scoping review of peer-reviewed literature on palliative care development in each African country over the last 12 years, using the WHO definition of palliative care but taking into account the resource constraints of Africa. A scoping review is a preliminary assessment of the potential size and scope of available research literature that aims to identify the nature and extent of research evidence about a particular issue.

"We undertook this project with the hope of providing evidence for palliative care advocates on the ground in Africa," said Mr. Rhee. "Without benchmarks, it is difficult to measure progress and set goals for the future."

According to this literature review, palliative care has grown in Africa over the past twelve years but mainly in a small subset of countries (26 countries, 48 percent of African countries). The majority of palliative care services were concentrated in Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, and 14 (26 percent of African countries) countries experienced a growth in palliative care services. The number of countries with policies and/or guidelines related to palliative care has grown; however, postgraduate educational opportunities in the field remain sparse (only available in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania).

Opioid consumption and access has remained very low across the continent, which is a barrier to pain management, one of the most important components of palliative care. Information on palliative care is also unevenly distributed, with growth in a subset of African countries but minimal to no identified development in the majority of countries.

"We know that underserved populations are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage illness and have worse health outcomes," said Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, Director, The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, and Chair, Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Lack of access to quality palliative care leads to increased suffering for vulnerable populations. Globally, we face common challenges in delivering low-cost, high-quality health care at scale. John Rhee's research identifying gaps in access to palliative care in Africa is essential to addressing structural inequities in care delivery, and building healthier communities."

The authors suggest that African countries focus on decreasing barriers to opioids and increasing postgraduate educational opportunities, which may lead to increasing the number of trained professionals who may drive service provision and policies. Future research on professional activity and capacity building specific to the African context is also needed.

Using the findings from this scoping review, Mr. Rhee co-created the APCA Atlas of Palliative Care in Africa (APCA Atlas) which was released at the 15th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care in Madrid in May 2017. This was the first comprehensive publication on African palliative care to be published in more than 10 years.

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This research was funded by The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, and the African Palliative Care Association.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation.

The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
A study by a University of Cincinnati researcher is raising critical questions about the Trump administration's approach toward counterterrorism policies.

According to Rebecca Sanders, UC Assistant Professor of Political Science, the Trump administration is breaking from the two previous administrations' efforts to legally justify controversial practices such as "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "targeted killing."

Instead, she argues, Trump has "publicly endorsed blatantly illegal policies in ways that would have been unheard of in both the Bush and Obama administrations."

Sanders will present her findings in a paper titled "'A Hell of a Lot Worse Than Waterboarding:' Legal Legitimacy in an Illiberal Era," at the 113th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting http://web.apsanet.org/apsa2017/ on Sept. 2, in San Francisco.

"During the 2016 American presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump promised to authorize 'a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,' kill the families of terrorists, and prevent Muslims from entering the United States," Sanders writes. "Such policies would violate American and international law, raising critical questions about the capacity of legal rules to effectively limit state violence."

In her study, Sanders analyzed the legal politics of the Bush and Obama administrations, which, she says, confronted similar tensions between perceived security threats and constitutional, human rights, and humanitarian laws.

"In seeking to justify contentious policies, both administrations adopted a pattern of instrumental norm compliance and revision, strategically interpreting rules to establish plausible legality for enhanced interrogation techniques, targeted killing, and other practices," she continues.

She says President Trump's capacity to enact what she terms "abusive proposals" is in part contingent on whether he operates within the prevailing national security culture of legal rationalization or abandons this paradigm in favor of a culture of exception that rejects and replaces legal norms.

"While the Bush and Obama administrations held radically different views on torture, there is some surprising continuity in how they both quietly navigated around the law," says Sanders. "They both turned to Department of Justice, Defense, CIA, and other lawyers to produce a variety of long legal memoranda that gave them legal cover for controversial policies like torture and targeted killing."

Sanders argues that the first two post-9/11 administrations operated within a national security "culture of legal rationalization" and sought to establish the "plausible legality" of contentious security practices.

President Bush, she says, relied on the so-called "torture memos" produced by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice to legally justify harsh interrogation methods. The memos argued certain interrogation practices, including waterboarding, did not meet the definition of torture under the UN Convention Against Torture. This does not mean that these policies were in fact legal. They bent many international rules to their breaking point says Sanders.

"We have all seen the Abu Ghraib prison photos in Iraq and we have heard stories about waterboarding and other forms of torture," says Sanders. "However, the Bush administration never admitted that their enhanced interrogation program broke the law."

"Instead, they insisted they did not violate the torture prohibition," she says, because they could not openly endorse torture, there was not a carte blanche for interrogators. Not all methods were deemed acceptable -- only those vetted by lawyers.

Sanders says the Obama administration quickly rejected the torture memos solicited by the Bush administration. Instead, she points out, they accelerated a wide-scale program of targeted killing.

In an effort to replace Bush's harsh interrogation methods, Obama's mode of operation, she says, was to target and kill alleged terrorists, usually using drones, rather than risk the lives of American military troops by trying to capture them.

Sanders says while many human rights activists claim targeted killing is little more than illegal assassination, the Obama administration argued lethal strikes against suspected terrorists, including American citizens, in countries such as Pakistan and Yemen, were a form of perfectly lawful killing in war.

"There are a lot of moving parts in terms of calculating effectiveness, and my research isn't so much about whether these tactics are effective, but how policy makers have tried to justify them in light of the constraining norms that are supposed to place limitations on these types of controversial activities," adds Sanders.

While many of the aforementioned legal opinions, especially the torture memos, were widely rejected by international legal experts, these legal arguments helped immunize American officials from prosecution for torture and extrajudicial killing and broaden public acceptance of their actions. They helped them "get away with it" says Sanders. At the same time, the need for legal cover imposed at least some limits on policy.

In contrast, Sanders argues, President Trump appears to be leading the United States toward a national security "culture of exception." She says he has overtly advocated human rights abuses, does not rely on euphemistic or legalistic language, and in fact, rarely talks about the law at all.

"The question now is are we seeing a radical change in the legal culture, at least being attempted," says Sanders. "The Bush and Obama administrations, despite their differences, operated in a culture of legal rationalization."

"With the Trump administration you see them embracing, or at least trying to push a culture of exception where the President has the power to do what he wants, when he wants to."

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For more information:

113th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Aug. 31-Sept. 3 http://web.apsanet.org/apsa2017/

Sanders' APSA presentation summarizes themes discussed in greater depth in her upcoming book, "Plausible Legality: Legal Culture and Political Imperative in the Global War on Terror." The book is currently under contract with Oxford University Press and will come out in 2018.
Sweeping shots of majestic landscapes. Glaciers, forests and waterfalls. Research published today shows that these images, shown to people deprived of access to nature, can reduce tension, help defuse anger and make some of the harshest environments, like a solitary confinement cellblock in a maximum-security prison, a little easier to bear.

The study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment followed inmates in solitary confinement in an Oregon prison for a year. Inmates who viewed nature videos several times a week committed 26 percent fewer violent infractions than their peers. The studys results will lead to new endeavors that will extend to images of wide-open outer space as well  a welcome sight from within prison walls.

There are all these inmates in maximum security and solitary confinement that we can't bring lectures to or ecological restoration projects to as we do with inmates in minimum and medium security cellblocks, says University of Utah biologist Nalini Nadkarni, who operates science education and conservation programs in minimum and medium security prisons. I thought, at least we could bring them nature imagery.

Nadkarnis colleagues in this study were Tierney Thys, a nature videographer with the California Academy of Sciences, Patricia Hasbach, an ecopsychologist from Northwest Ecopsychology, Emily Gaines, a science educator from the University of Utah and Lance Schnacker, a corrections analyst from the Oregon Youth Authority.

Find a video abstract of this release here.

One hour per day

Nadkarni has been bringing science into prisons since 2003, educating prisoners about ecology and helping them become involved in conservation projects. In 2010, an official at the maximum-security Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon heard a TED talk from Nadkarni and invited her to bring some of the green of nature into the gray of prison.

For the study, Nadkarni and her colleagues chose one particular cellblock within the prison. The block is an Intensive Management Unit, housing 48 men in solitary confinement. Their world is a sea of concrete and their exposure to nature is practically none. Four to five times a week, these inmates are allowed to exercise for 45 minutes in a high-walled concrete recreation yard.

Over the course of a year, half of the men in the cellblock could watch a nature video while exercising, chosen from a list of nearly 40 videos. The videos depicted various nature scenes ranging from deserts to rainforests. The researchers surveyed and interviewed the inmates and prison staff during that time, and tracked the number of disciplinary referrals, or violent infractions of prison rules, in the cellblock.

Inmates stated they felt calmer after watching the videos, with the calm emotions lasting for hours. 80 percent said the videos made their time easier. They also reported that they felt the videos helped improve their relationships with staff, and that remembering the videos helped them calm down when they were angry. Four said they were even sleeping better.

The nature project helps me think clearer to know there is so much more beauty in this world then this prison, one inmate wrote.

Prison staff agreed. They observed fewer angry outbursts and fewer concerning behaviors. Staff also offered extra time in the exercise room, with the nature imagery, to prisoners who were agitated, which headed off violent infractions before they occurred. Many staff were initially skeptical of the value of the videos, but eventually saw the impact these videos could have on the inmates nature-starved life.

Using statistical analysis and data from prison staff, the researchers concluded that if the cellblock were at full capacity, the half that viewed the nature videos would commit 26 percent fewer infractions than the other half. Considering that each infraction has the possibility of injury at worst or degrading staff-inmate relations at best, that number of averted incidents has a substantial positive impact, the researchers write.

Imagery beyond earth

The benefits of nature imagery likely extend far beyond prison inmates, and can positively impact other nature-deprived populations, Nadkarni says. More than 5 million people may fit into those populations, including people in prisons, nursing facilities, homeless shelters, military barracks and other institutions and facilities.

This fall, Nadkarni and Thys will begin creating toolkits with new nature videos from National Geographic and educational materials about the habitats featured in the videos. These will go out to ten prisons initially, but will be designed to benefit people in any nature-deprived environment.

Another grant, from NASA, will bring experts in astrobiology, or the possible conditions of life on other planets, into prisons, as well as imagery from the Hubble and other space telescopes. NASA asked: What habitats do the inmates like best? Nadkarni says. I thought, being a forest person, that they'll all say trees. None of them said trees and forests. They all said, Give us open habitat. Give us deserts and outer space.

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Find this release, images and video here.

After publication, the full study can be found here.
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COLUMBUS  Due to the drastic decline in the population of the Monarch butterfly, the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) is seeking public involvement to collect and drop off common and swamp milkweed seed pods from established plants, Sept. 1-Oct. 30 at collection stations around the state.

The seeds will be used to establish new plantings and create additional habitat for the Monarch butterfly throughout Ohio in the coming years.

To date, 75 of the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation District offices have a collection station (for the complete list, visit www.ofswcd.org). Collection boxes will be located either outside or inside the SWCD offices.

Collecting pods

Seed pods from common or swamp milkweed should be collected when the pods are dry and gray or brown in color. If the center seam pops with gentle pressure, they can be picked.

Collect pods in paper bags or paper grocery sacks. Avoid using plastic bags because they can attract moisture and allow mold to develop.

Store seeds in a cool, dry area until you can deliver to the closest pod collection area. It is recommended to wear disposable gloves when picking and handling pods.

Harvesting seed pods from milkweed plants will not have any effect on the population of milkweed in established areas.

Details

For more information on OPHI or the seed pod collection, contact OPHI at 614-416-8993.

Related Content
A new co-operative farm is being developed in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with the purpose of providing "good food for all forever".

Proposed by an inter-denominational group of Christians, Jubilee Farm, based in Larne, is a project to which hopes to partner with people of all backgrounds and beliefs towards the shared goal of good food for all forever.

Jubilee Farm will include a social farming (or care farming) aspect, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project, and conservation education to a variety of groups.

The project is supported by the Northern Ireland development body Co-operative Alternatives through the Hive.

The co-op aims to provide affordable seasonal food to members and non-members, and selling surplus produce via the farm shop on the premises.

It also aims to provide therapeutic opportunities related to food production for vulnerable individuals and groups in the local area, particularly adults with special needs.

It will also offer conservation education and engagement providing agricultural and environmental learning sessions for individuals, families, schools, churches and community groups.

The co-op plans to launch in the winter, and its first fundraising event has been organised on 9 September.

The number of farmers who are members of agricultural co-operatives has increased to over 150,000, according to the UK co-operative economy 2017 report.
As the sheep farming sector enters peak fluke season, Norbrook, a leading global provider of veterinary pharmaceuticals, has shared expert advice on implementing effective parasite control strategies.

The importance of farmers working alongside vets and SQPs is being highlighted as a cornerstone of such flock health planning, together with having effective quarantine treatment and anthelmintic resistance strategies in place for all bought-in stock.

Dr Chris Geddes, Marketing Manager at Norbrook, explains: Having a well-structured plan in place will not only help improve the health and welfare of animals, but also directly improve the profitability of farming businesses. A core part of any such plan should be the development of a sustainable fluke and worm parasite control system, tailored to the specific circumstances and requirements of individual farms.

The advice comes as the sheep industry prepares for this years Closamectin Kelso Ram Sales event, hosted by the Border Union Agricultural Society and sponsored by Norbrook.

Giving an insight into the scale of the issue, Philip Skuce, a parasitologist and Principal Scientist at the Moredun Research Institute, reveals that fluke is becoming an increasing problem for UK farmers.

We have seen an increased prevalence of fluke in Scottish livestock in the past 5-10 years, plus a west-to-east spread of the disease into previously fluke-free areas. We have also seen the emergence of rumen fluke, a related parasite that we now know shares the same intermediate mud snail host as liver fluke.

To combat this combined threat, it is important for farmers to understand the fluke risk on their own farms and work with their vet or animal health advisor to make informed decisions about when to treat animals and which product to choose  essentially it is a case of treating the right animal with the right product at the right time and in the right way!

Manage and slow development

Dr Skuce explains that, although the development of resistance is an inevitable consequence of anthelmintic use, steps can be taken to manage and slow its development.

Post-drench efficacy checks (PDECs) are a good idea  and if these flag up any concerns, farmers can arrange a full faecal egg count reduction test. Faecal egg count monitoring can be done at any time through the grazing season, ideally every few weeks, and composite/mob samples taken to reduce cost.

Addressing the importance of quarantining when processing bought-in sheep, Dr Geddes explains:

There is a considerable amount of animal movement in the UK livestock industry, with animals moving to and from sales and markets and to and from seasonal grazing. If this movement isnt managed carefully, they will take their parasites with them.

This is why any quarantine programme should include an effective anthelmintic treatment as a matter of course  farmers simply cannot take any chances.

This advice is backed up by the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group, which says quarantine should be applied to all in-coming sheep.

This includes sheep purchased from other flocks, including rams, and sheep which have been grazing on other farms or common grazing where the resistance status is unknown or likely to be different from the home farm.

Norbrook is the sponsor of the Closamectin Kelso Ram Sales, taking place at Springwood Park in Scotland on Friday, 8th September. At last years show the company launched Solantel drench, which contains the flukicide closantel and complements established product Closamectin Injection, which is a unique combination of closantel with ivermectin, a wormer and external parasiticide.

The first Ram Sale was held in Kelso in 1836. Hosted by the Border Union Agricultural Society, it is now firmly established as one of the major annual sheep sales events in the UK. Last years event saw 4,285 rams sold from 16 different breeds, with a new record turnover for the day of almost 3 million.
Producers see losses increase to 26-28 per pig, estimates show


Kangana steam rolls through the conversation in our latest cover interview. Its in her nature to succeed but its her decree to do it on her own terms. Excerpts from a freewheeling chat...



The mark on your face is very much visible. How did you get hurt on the set of Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi?



I was doing a sword fighting scene with three men. (Laughs) I guess Nihar (Pandya, who plays Rao Saheb) forgot his cue and he hit on my head. Theres no way of avoiding something so unfortunate like this. Especially, when its choreography related. The co-ordination of the various elements is difficult. It was a bad accident. It exposed my bone and my face was full of blood.



The face is everything for an actor. Were you scared at that moment?



Theres something about being in character. You cannot be a warrior without adopting the body language and the demeanour. When the metal sword hit my head, I felt it. I saw blood streaming down my face. There were stains on my dress. I asked Nick (Powell, Hollywood action director) whether I needed stitches. He said yes. I asked how many. He said around 10. I asked him to take me to the hospital, to the best plastic surgeon. Nick and my producer, Kamal Jain found it amusing that it was me who was guiding them. Usually, Im scared of blood. But in this case I wasnt. Perhaps, Im romanticising it but there was a certain high in having a real-battle scar. A queens life is always associated with luxury and glamour. But when you talk about Laxmibai, she was the general of an army. She was an extraordinary woman. How many battles she fought in the prime of her youth! She was like a killing machine. So it would be a shame to try to get into character superficially through clothes, make-up, hair styles and jewellery. And if you give blood to play such a woman, its worth it. To be honest, Im only happy. You cant hope to immortalise the greatest warrior of all times without having a battle scar on your face. So its justified.



Will you undergo plastic surgery if this mark doesnt go?



Accidents in my childhood have left behind many scars. As the plastic surgeons say  you need to create one scar to remove one. So, its hard to get rid of scars. Honestly, I dont mind it. If you need to play a soft character, then you can always use make-up and CG. Im sitting here in front of you without make-up, without even combing my hair. All this is part of life.



There may be scars in your heart as well those we cant see



Of course, we all have soul scars but they are like medals won in a battle. Your mind, your inner being can carry a lot of scars based on your experiences, on how hard you fought and hit back. Whether you were scarred or left others scarred it all depends on how you went through life.



Do soul scars ever heal?



Theres no need to heal them. They are medals that you wear with happiness. (Smiles) Now, Ill probably have a mark, which will join my two eyebrows, so that they will never be separated again. The more medals you have, the more equipped you are to deal with life.



Stay tuned for more of our conversation with the one and only Kangana Ranaut.



Also, in case you missed it, heres the glorious photo spread we shot with the Queen herself in London.




Aftab Shivdasani and Nin Dusanj registered their marriage on June 5, 2014 and the couple maintained a low-key affair about their wedding and unlike other celebs, didn't splurge on their special day until yesterday!

The couple 'remarried' in a grand and lavish style and the ceremony was attended by family and close friends. The celebrations were held for two days which included Mehendi ceremony and a Hindu ceremony where the couple flew down a pundit from Mumbai and were also blessed by a Buddhist Sri Lankan Monk. View the pictures below...
Here's What He Revealed..

Swadesh Kirad reveals that the moment sentence was announced, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh fell to his knees and wailed, "Hang me, I don't want to live anymore."

Like, Seriously?

"The day Ram Rahim Singh was lodged in jail, he couldn't sleep. He kept murmuring 'oh god, what's my fault' (rabba, mera kya kasoor hai)," inmate Swadesh Kirad who is now out on bail told ANI.

Recommended Video Rishi Kapoor SHARES STRONG MESSAGE on Gurmeet Ram Rahim VERDICT ! | FilmiBeat

Is He Getting Any Special Treatment?

Kirad reveals that there was no VIP treatment to Rahim Singh and he was treated like other prisoners.

Fair Enough!

According to him, Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been given two quilts like all the other inmates and no special arrangements have been made for his 'stay' in the Sunaria Jail.

But He Was Kept In A Separate Space Due To Imminent Threat To His Life

"Prisoners are very angry with Ram Rahim for the violence that was instigated in his name in Punjab, Haryana and parts of other states after his verdict," said the Dalit leader, while explaining why he has been kept in a separate space.

Did You Know?

Defending himself during a trial, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had claimed that he is 'impotent'.

Baba Down The Drain

Meanwhile, officials in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar found that hundreds of photos of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been dumped in drains by his followers, who are disillusioned after his rape conviction.

The Drains Were Choked By The His Photos

"The drains near Meera Chowk and Sukhadia Circle were choked by the photos which restricted the water flow. There were more than hundred photos along with posters of the godman which appears to have been thrown away by his devotees," Devendra Rathore, the chief sanitation inspector of Rajasthan's Sriganganagar told HT.

A Lookout Notice Against Honeypreet Insaan

Meanwhile, the Haryana Police today issued a lookout notice against the jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insaan and key Dera functionary Aditya Insaan, Panchkula Police Commissioner A S Chawla said.
Oil companies are crucial to the global economy. They provide fuels for transportation and power. They also supply the core ingredients of petrochemicals used to make products such as plastics, rubber, and fertilizer.

Image Source: Getty Images

However, the oil industry is highly competitive and volatile. Profits and losses can swing wildly based on small shifts in demand or moves by petrostates such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, whose interests can run counter to the public companies in the industry. Supply and demand imbalances can cause huge fluctuations in oil prices. We saw that in early 2022 after Russias invasion of Ukraine, which sent crude prices soaring into the triple digits for the first time in years. Additionally, investors must consider the implications of climate change for the long-term prospects of oil and gas. The energy sector is undergoing a massive transition to renewable energy. Even so, that doesn't mean there are few opportunities in the oil patch. Here's a closer look at some of the top oil stocks and factors to consider before buying oil stocks.

What are the top oil stocks to invest in? There are dozens of oil stocks. They run the gamut from pure-play E&Ps, midstream companies, service providers, and refiners to integrated oil majors that do a little bit of everything. That gives investors lots of options. However, some oil stocks stand out as leaders in the sector. Five top ones are:

Data source: Company websites. Oil stock Ticker Symbol Description ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) A global E&P company. Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) A U.S.-focused E&P company. Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) A Canadian energy infrastructure giant. ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) A large-scale, integrated oil supermajor. Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) A leading refining company with midstream, chemical, and distribution operations.

Heres a closer look at these top oil stocks. ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips is one of the largest E&P-focused companies in the world. It specializes in finding and producing oil and natural gas and has operations in more than a dozen countries. ConocoPhillips benefits from scale and access to some of the lowest-cost oil on earth, which includes significant exposure to the Permian Basin. It bulked up its position in that low-cost, oil-rich region in 2021 by acquiring Concho Resources and Shells assets in the area. With average costs of about $40 per barrel and many of its resources even cheaper, it can make money in almost any oil market environment, enabling the company to generate lots of cash flow. Given the uncertainty surrounding future oil demand, ConocoPhillips plans to return a significant portion of its free cash flow to investors in the coming years. It plans to pay a steadily growing dividend, repurchase shares, and pay a variable return of cash based on its excess cash. Finally, the company complements its low-cost portfolio with a top-tier balance sheet. ConocoPhillips routinely boasts one of the highest credit ratings among E&P companies, backed by a low leverage ratio for the sector and lots of cash. These factors make it one of the safest E&P investments.

Devon Energy Devon Energy is a U.S.-focused E&P company. It has diversified operations across several low-cost, oil-rich basins. The companys diversification enables it to produce lots of low-cost oil and natural gas, which allows it to generate plenty of cash. The company launched an industry-first fixed-plus-variable dividend framework in 2021. It pays out as much as 50% of its excess cash flow each quarter via variable dividend payments after funding its fixed base dividend and capital expenses. Devon uses the rest of its excess cash to strengthen its balance sheet and repurchase shares. Devons dividend strategy makes it an enticing option for income-focused investors. Theyll collect a steady base dividend thats sustainable throughout the oil price cycle and have the potential to earn significant payments during periods of high prices. Enbridge Enbridge operates one of the biggest oil pipeline systems in the world. It transports 30% of the oil produced in North America. Enbridge also has an extensive natural gas pipeline system, a natural gas utility business, and renewable energy operations. Enbridges pipeline operations generate stable cash flow backed by long-term contracts and government-regulated rates. That gives it the cash to pay a high-yield dividend while also investing to expand its energy infrastructure operations. Enbridge has made significant investments in recent years on infrastructure geared toward cleaner energy. This includes natural gas pipelines, offshore wind energy in Europe, and hydrogen energy. These investments position Enbridge for the future of energy even as it remains vital to supporting the oil markets current needs. ExxonMobil One of the largest oil companies on the planet, ExxonMobil is a fully integrated supermajor. It operates in every segment of the oil and gas industry, including E&P, midstream, petrochemical manufacturing, refining, and, even farther downstream, marketing refined and petroleum products to customers. ExxonMobil has focused its more recent efforts on reducing its business costs and boosting efficiency. These investments are beginning to pay off in 2022. The company has significantly lowered its oil production costs over the past couple of years by focusing on its highest-return assets while also taking steps to better leverage its massive scale. That enables it to generate lots of cash flow when oil prices are much higher. This cash flow should continue to protect ExxonMobil's dividend and its status as a Dividend Aristocrat. Given the growth of renewables, many investors are choosing to avoid oil stocks entirely. However, ExxonMobil is making investments in lower-carbon fuel sources, including carbon capture and storage and biofuels. That should enable it to continue supplying the economy with fuel for years to come. Phillips 66 Phillips 66 is one of the leading oil refining companies, with operations in the U.S. and Europe. It also has investments in midstream operations and in petrochemicals via its CPChem joint venture with Chevron (NYSE:CVX). Finally, its marketing and specialties business distributes refined products and manufactures specialty products such as lubricants. Thanks to its large-scale, vertically integrated operations, Phillips 66 is among the lowest-cost refiners in the industry. This is the result of both leveraging its integrated midstream network to obtain lowest-cost crude for refining and petrochemical feedstocks and investing in projects that give it higher margins on its products. Phillips 66 also boasts a strong financial profile, which includes an investment-grade balance sheet with very manageable debt. It also has lots of cash on hand. The low debt and high cash reserves mean it has ample capital to invest in expansion projects, including renewable fuels. It's been a dividend growth superstar and a share buyback dynamo over the past decade. The companys focus on making smart investments and returning cash to investors should enable Phillips 66 to continue enhancing shareholder value in the coming years.

How to analyze oil stocks The oil industry is inherently risky for investors. Although each segment of the industry has a specific set of risk factors, the overall oil business is both cyclical and volatile. Oil demand generally tracks economic growth. A robust economy can support rising oil prices and oil producer profitability. However, geopolitics and capital allocation also play crucial roles in the industry. The worlds largest oil-exporting nations include members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), a cartel that works to coordinate members oil policies. OPEC's actions can significantly affect the price of oil. It can withhold supply to push prices higher or increase its output to drive them lower. OPEC has wielded its power over the years, causing massive fluctuations in oil prices. Meanwhile, oil companies that operate independently of OPEC can also have an impact on oil prices. If they allocate too much capital to new projects, they can cause an oversupply and weigh on prices. Meanwhile, if they hold back too much, they can cause prices to surge. Since oil and gas assets are developed over a long time, companies cannot quickly increase their supplies in response to favorable market conditions. Given the volatility of oil prices, an oil company must have three crucial characteristics to survive the industry's inevitable downturns: A strong financial profile with an investment-grade bond rating, significant amounts of cash on hand or ample access to affordable credit, and manageable, well-structured debt maturities.

with an investment-grade bond rating, significant amounts of cash on hand or ample access to affordable credit, and manageable, well-structured debt maturities. Low costs of operations or relatively stable cash flow streams. E&P companies need to be able to profitably sustain operations at oil prices of less than $40 a barrel, while midstream companies should get more than 85% of their cash flow from steady revenue sources such as fee-based contracts. Downstream companies should have operating costs below the industry average.

or relatively stable cash flow streams. E&P companies need to be able to profitably sustain operations at oil prices of less than $40 a barrel, while midstream companies should get more than 85% of their cash flow from steady revenue sources such as fee-based contracts. Downstream companies should have operating costs below the industry average. Diversification. Oil companies should operate in more than one geographical region or be at least partially vertically integrated by engaging in several different activities.

Related investing topics

Risk management is the key to investing in the oil patch The oil market can be quite fragile, with even a slight imbalance between supply and demand often causing it to go haywire. That was abundantly evident in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic sent the sector into a tailspin. However, the opposite is also true: Oil prices can skyrocket when demand improves amid a supply crunch. That was the case in early 2022 when crude prices surged as the economy started recovering from the pandemic and supplies were under pressure following Russias invasion of Ukraine. Because of this dynamic, investors need to be careful when choosing oil stocks. They should focus on companies that can survive rough patches since theyll be better-positioned to thrive when markets turn healthy again.

Oil Stock FAQs How do I invest in oil stocks? It's important for investors to be aware of the oil sector's volatility. Because of that, it's best to focus on companies built to weather the sector's inevitable downturns. That means focusing on those with relative immunity to price fluctuations, such as E&Ps with ultra-low production costs and integrated oil giants. Another way to invest in the oil patch is to focus on using it to generate dividend income. Are oil and gas companies a good investment? While oil and gas is a comparatively risky sector, some companies are safer than others. Petroleum-based fuels and natural gas usually have a cost advantage over other heating and transportation fuels, and they have a massive infrastructure advantage over emerging clean energy fuels. That said, the industry also has some negative features that increase risk for investors. Should I invest in oil and gas companies now? The coronavirus pandemic caused global oil demand to crash while oil producers slashed their output to ride out the downturn. But, as travel and commerce recovered, it led to the demand for oil products recovering faster than production could respond. As a result, oil prices have returned to recent pre-COVID levels. The tightening of supply and the recovery in global demand certainly bodes well for many oil and gas companies, and some could be huge winners in the near term. However, if energy investors should have learned anything over the past decade, it's that market conditions can change quickly. For this reason, most investors considering oil stocks would do well to focus on high-quality, larger integrated oil companies such as the ones described in this article.
Industrial products and equipment powerhouse Illinois Tool Works (ITW 0.97%) has reliably created shareholder value over the long term. The company has delivered record EPS year after year, has improved its operating margin every year since at least 2012, and its stock is trading near all-time highs. Its EPS grew 16% year over year in the second quarter. There's really not a whole lot shareholders can complain about.

Yet, while Illinois Tool Works has made undeniable progress on strengthening its business since the Great Recession, investors know that economic downturns happen periodically, and they usually aren't kind to infrastructure and industrial stocks. Which leads to the obvious question: How well can Illinois Tool Works weather the next downturn?

The bull case

The Great Recession was a market downturn for the ages, but the way in which Illinois Tool Works responded to it should give investors confidence about how it will weather the next one, especially given that it's unlikely to be as bad as the last.

In the last seven years or so, management has invested in the highest-margin growth opportunities while divesting non-core assets. Those moves have trimmed the company's global workforce from 59,000 at the end of 2009 to 50,000 at the end of June 2017, which has lowered expenses and boosted operating income despite shrinking revenue totals.

In 2013, Illinois Tool Works reported revenue of $14.1 billion and operating income of $2.54 billion. Last year, those totals changed to $13.6 billion and $3.06 billion, respectively -- a decline of 4% on the top line and growth of 20% on the bottom line over that period. Through the first half of 2017, the business is on pace to achieve annual operating income of at least $3.3 billion.

That puts the company on pretty solid footing for the next market downturn, whenever it hits. However, Illinois Tool Works feels pretty confident it won't be arriving anytime soon. Management increased its original full-year EPS guidance by 13% to a range of $6.32 to $6.52. Meanwhile, 2017 revenue is expected to reach at least $14.1 billion.

Obviously, revenue and earnings would drop during a recession, which would bring the stock price down, too. But is there anything investors should really worry about?

The bear case

The improvements the company has made in operating margin and operating income certainly will help management respond to a market downturn. But that doesn't mean decisions will be easy, nor is everything as it appears.

For instance, while EPS grew 57% from 2013 to 2016, net income grew just 25% in that period. That's because Illinois Tool Works plowed an incredible $9.9 billion into share repurchases during those years, reducing the number of shares outstanding by 25%. If at some point the company has to slow its share repurchase pace, that could take a bite out of EPS and dividend growth, which were driven in no small part by the falling share count.

Perhaps of greater consequence to investors during the next downturn will be the balance sheet. The debt-to-assets ratio has risen from 25% in 2012 to 51% last year. Management prefers to focus on the debt-to-EBITDA ratio, and thinks a level of 2.2 times -- much higher than historical values -- is sustainable going forward.

It may be right. After all, Illinois Tool Works has been able to acquire debt at favorable rates, and it's far from being in jeopardy of missing payments. There's a problem with using the debt-to-EBITDA ratio as a benchmark, however. A company can rack up debt during up cycles while earnings grow in lockstep. That's all well and good, but when economic downturns strike, earnings can fall precipitously. Debt levels don't. That would balloon the ratio management adheres to, and could affect the company's access to credit from its various lenders.

In that scenario, management might be forced to divert cash flow to debt payments. Where would it be diverted from? Well, it could be share repurchases, dividend payments or planned increases, or investments into the business. But cash flow will drop with earnings, which could make the decision about where to pull the funds from that much more stressful.

Can this stock handle the next slow down?

As far as industrial stocks go, Illinois Tool Works seems well-positioned to weather an economic downturn. The company may need to take serious measures to lower debt levels when the next one occurs (and may want to start doing so in 2018), but management could easily divert cash flow to repay debt before a crisis strikes. Otherwise, they will eventually need to make some difficult decisions.
France is planning to defy the European Commission and vote against a proposal to renew the licence for glyphosate, according to reports.

The future of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Monsanto weedkiller Roundup, remains uncertain after health studies have raised concerns about its safety.

But a source in Frances environment ministry told news agency Reuters that the country plans to vote against a renewal.

See also: Analysis: The glyphosate debate explained

The European Commission has proposed to renew glyphosates licence for a 10-year period. EU member states are set to vote on the future of glyphosate on 4 October, but French opposition could block the qualified majority needed for a renewal.

German vote

Germany will head for the polls on 24 September and the outcome of the election could go a long way to deciding the fate of this vital agrichemical in Europe.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and farm minister Christian Schmidt have backed the renewal of glyphosates licence.

However, in the last vote to renew the licence in June 2016, both France and Germany abstained,

The EU failed to reach a qualified majority, so the commission decided to temporarily extend glyphosates licence for 18 months to allow further analysis of its safety.

Green groups have been calling for an outright ban after the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggested in March 2015 that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to humans.

But Europes food safety watchdog, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa), which advises EU policymakers, and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) have both concluded that glyphosate is safe to use.

Threat to food production

Sarah Mukherjee, chief executive of the Crop Protection Association, said: These reported comments [from France] are at odds with the robust body of scientific evidence and the opinion of expert regulators around the world, backed by 40 years of use, which clearly demonstrate that glyphosate is safe.

The loss of this vital tool would not only impact on the ability of farmers to provide healthy, safe and affordable food, but also have unintended environmental consequences through limiting farmers ability to use no-till methods.

Glyphosate is essential and without it UK agriculture as we know it would not exist.

The NFU says there is no regulatory reason why glyphosates licence should not be extended for 15 years. The union has called on farmers to lobby MPs and MEPs to make the case for glyphosate and how vital it is to farm businesses.

Essex farmer Tom Bradshaw, a member of the NFU crops board for East Anglia, said: Glyphosate is a vital part of the farming system that delivers environmental and economic health on my farm. The idea of banning it is self-destructive European politics at its worst.

The economic cost of a ban on glyphosate could be huge. A report by Fondation Concorde in France concluded it could cut Frances GDP by 930m (856m).

In the UK, a study by Oxford Economics estimated it could reduce GDP by 930m and there would be a 193m loss in annual tax revenue.
Nokia 3 Android 7.1.1 Nougat update approved; roll out will debut soon News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia 3 to receive Android 7.1.1 Nougat update soon.

Previously, we have seen a couple of reports regarding the roll out of the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update to the Nokia 3 smartphone.

A few weeks back, while responding to a user's query on Twitter, the Chief Product Officer at HMD, Juho Sarvikas, revealed that the Nokia 3 will get the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update by the end of August. On Thursday, he has taken to Twitter to confirm that the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update has been approved for the Nokia 3 and the same will start rolling out soon.

It is believed that the roll out of the update will happen in phases in different regions in order to ensure good quality of the update sans bugs and issues. The Nokia Android smartphones were launched with Android 7.0 Nougat and the update will bring in the new features and improvements those are a part of the Android 7.1.1 Nougat changelog posted by Google.

If you don't remember, HMD has already assured that the Nokia smartphones will get the support for the Android OS update for two years from its launch. For now, the delay in the roll out of the Nokia 3's Android 7.1.1 update is blamed on the chip maker MediaTek. Given that the Android 8.0 Oreo is official, we can expect the update to be rolled out to the Nokia smartphones in the coming months.

The Nokia 3 has been released in India at a price point of Rs. 9,499. The smartphone is said to be a durable one as it has cleared the durability test comprising of scratch, burn and bend tests.

Being an entry-level smartphone, the Nokia 3 has a polycarbonate body. It is fitted with a 5-inch HD 720p IPS LCD display. The hardware aspects of the Nokia 3 include a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 SoC that is coupled with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Notably, the storage capacity can be expanded up to 128GB with the help of a microSD card.

The camera department of the device comprises of an 8MP camera at the back and another 8MP camera sensor at the front. The other goodies on board the Nokia 3 are Android Nougat, OTG support, 4G LTE and a 2650mAh battery.

Best Mobiles in India

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Samsung to live stream IFA 2017 press event on August 30 News oi -Chandrika Your New Normal' is the tagline for this year's press event by Samsung.

Samsung has just announced in a blog post that it will live stream its press event at the IFA Berlin over at the Tempodrom arena. The press event is slated for August 30 and it will give people a glimpse of 'its latest innovations, designed to cater to your new normal'.

Well, 'Your New Normal' is the tagline for this year's press event by Samsung. Looking at the animated GIF shared by the South Korean manufacturer, we are expecting some smart home gadgets and wearables. According to Samsung, it will display products that are 'designed to seamlessly integrate into everyday life'. The company further says that this will be an invite-only event.

The event will start from 6PM (CET) onwards, which is 9:30PM in India. You will find the link for the live stream by going to the official website of Samsung. As for the event, Samsung is said to unveil the new Gear S (Gear Sport) smartwatch there. Last year's Gear S3 was also launched at the IFA 2016.

Other than that, the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro could make its debut at the upcoming press event as well. The wearable has appeared in a number of leaks so far. It was even listed on one of Samsung's official websites.

If you are waiting for a new smartphone, you would have to disappointed as the company hasn't given us any hints.

However, since the Galaxy Note 8 launch event was kind of brief, Samsung could use the IFA as an opportunity to showcase its flagship phablet properly.

Best Mobiles in India

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28 (2) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (2) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (2) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (2) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 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Haiti - Security : End of operations of the Brazilian battalion in Haiti





This Thursday, August 31, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. in Camp Jaborandy, located in Tabarre, next to the park of the Unibank, will take place the closing ceremony of the end of operations of the Brazilian battalion and the Brazilian engineering company in Haiti. The two units will cease operations on the following day, September 1, 2017.



Over the past 13 years, Brazilian troops from the Minustah have conducted security operations, facilitated the peaceful conduct of national elections, and provided humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of numerous natural disasters including the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.



Raul Jungmann, the Brazilian Minister of Defense, accompanied by a delegation of parliamentarians and senior officers of the Brazilian Army, will attend the event alongside the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Haiti and head of the Minustah Sandra Honore and the commander of the military component of the Minustah Lieutenant-General Ajax Porto Pinheiro.



This ceremony marks one of the last important steps in the context of the withdrawal of the UN Mission on 15 October 2017.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-21947-icihaiti-brazil-high-level-delegation-arrives-soon.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Installation of the Office of the demobilized soldiers

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant installed the Commissioners of the Demobilized Military Office (Coulange Justafort, Jonas Jean and Jackson Joanis) appointed by Jovenel Moise by decree of 22 August 2017 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21907-haiti-news-zapping.html This Commission is responsible for managing the demands of former members of the Armed Forces of Haiti in order to maintain good relations between these former soldiers and the Government.



The Miracle Operation resumes its medical services

The Cuban Medical Brigade "Miracle Operation" that offers health care at the Renaissancee Community Hospital in Port-au-Prince, resumed Wednesday its services of eye surgery (Pterygium), with the first cases. The service is extended to the entire Haitian population suffering from this eye disease, who can receive this service free of charge on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week.



The former Minister Bellevue defends himself

According to Roosevelt Bellevue, the former Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, recently dismissed https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21953-haiti-flash-revocation-of-the-minister-of-social-affairs.html himself "no funds have been disbursed, no kit distributed" rejecting allegations that he is involved in the over-billing of school kits, he claims to be a victim of "political maneuvers" and is challenging anyone to prove that he pocketed 950,000 US dollars in connection with this case.



FAES : Delivery of the keys of 28 new schools

On Wednesday, the Social and Economic Assistance Fund (FAES) handed over the keys of 28 brand new schools to the Ministry of Education. The FAES has 322 million gourdes to start work in schools according the informations gived by the Minister of Education Wednesday to the Education Commission of the Lower House.



Pre-reception of the new MCI building

On Tuesday, at the new building that must house the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MCI), a Pre-Reception Meeting was held in the presence of the Director General of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, of Director of the Cabinet of the Minister, the Director of the Public Buildings Division of the Housing and Public Building Construction Unit (UCLBP), the Director General of the Taiwanese construction firm Overseas Engineering & Construction Corp. LTDA. S.A (OECC) and the executives of these different institutions.



Ratification of the Law on the Forensic Institute

On Tuesday, the Deputies ratified the law creating, organizing and operating the Forensic Institute, without opposition to the amendments made by the Commission. This law was proposed by the deputy Jacques Dulaurier and is based on the presidential decree of the 25 May 2013, creating the Forensic Institute.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Kushner boosts Meadows fundraiser in Asheville

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, center, visits with Mark Williams, Jeff Miller, Jim Miller and Bill Lapsley at the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast.

Related Stories

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows benefited from a fundraiser Thursday night that attracted about 150 supporters to the Asheville home of Mike Summey, a retired real estate investor. The guests included A-lister Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump and a senior adviser in the White House.

"Meadows and Kushner have discussed Israel  part of Kushners portfolio, and a key issue for Meadows  and he has talked with Ivanka about paid leave, which faces long odds in the Republican Congress," Politico reported in Friday morning's Political Playbook.

"We had a fundraiser and Jared Kushner flew down to help with that," Meadows said Friday morning in Hendersonville, where he attended the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and the opening ceremonies of the North Carolina Apple Festival. "The president called in and that was probably the highlight. He was telling the people how much he loves North Carolina."

Politico noted the role of Meadows, "now one of the most powerful men in the Capitol," as a bridge between conservatives in the House and Trump administration.

"Kushner traveling to North Carolina ahead of the long weekend shows the nature of the relationship between Meadows and members of the Trump administration," the report said.

Meadows said he didn't know how much the event raised for his 2018 campaign.

"I just basically thank them for coming," he said in a short interview with the Hendersonville Lightning at the pancake breakfast. "I learned a long time ago that if you focus on people and not politics things have a way of working out. We would rather be here shaking 500 hands and letting people know we care than raising money to buy ads to try to convince them we care."
Festival honors Apple Farmer of the Year

Peggy Laughter accepts the Apple Farmer of the Year Award on behalf of her husband, Billy, who died in June at age 84.

Related Stories

Billy Laughter, an Edneyville native and fifth generation apple grower, was posthumously honored as this years Apple Farmer of the Year Award during the opening ceremony of the North Carolina Apple Festival.

Peggy Laughter, Billys wife, accepted the award on her husbands behalf and thanked the United Community Bank and the Apple Festival. Billy passed away this June at 84 years old. The award was presented Friday at the opening ceremony of the Apple Festival.

If you could build a man from scratch, give him all of lifes most beautiful qualities, and make him a farmer; we would come up with Billy Laughter, one family member said.

Someone had asked the Laughter family if they would enter Billy for the award. Peggys son-in-law wrote the entry. He thinks an awful of my husband, Peggy said.

Billy came from a lineage of apple farmers. He was the fifth generation in his family to grow apples. His farm, Billy Laughter Orchards, has belonged to the Laughters since 1962, when Billy and Peggy bought 34 acres from Peggys brother. The land included the house in which Billy and Peggy raised their children.

Laughter was passionate about agriculture from a young age. He graduated from North Carolina State University in 1955 as a horticulture major, Peggy said. He worked on a farm and took care of the greenhouse at NC State University throughout his college years Peggy added.

Since Billys passing, his son has taken over the farm, Peggy said. The orchard has a pick-your-own orchard and also sells apples wholesale.

His love of apple farming led to his 20-year tenure as president of the WNC Apple Growers Association and service as president of the WNC Apple Growers Co-op in Edneyville for many years, Peggy said.

He loved doing what he did, Peggy says of Billy when he farmed. He rarely got to attend the apple festival because it was in the middle of apple season and he didnt leave the orchard.

Billy loved farming because he enjoyed being outside and meeting people Peggy says. His last few years, he didnt do much farming, but he took people down to pick their own apples and helped with the maintenance part of the farm.

A lifetime deacon of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, he was also a member of the Edneyville Grange and an honorary lifetime member of the NC Apple Growers Association.

I think he would be very humbled, Peggy says if Billy were here to accept his award. I am myself. He would be very honored and feel like he didnt deserve it.

Sponsored by United Community Bank, the award is in its ninth year. After nominations come in, a panel made up of community members chooses the winner.

He (Billy) was nominated by his family, and the reasons they gave on the nomination were the way he could give back to other farmers in the community and people that needed help, said Karen Yockey of UCB, who coordinates the award.

Fair Waggoner, a Henderson County native and city president at UCB, began the award through a sponsorship.

Shes always willing to donate to community events, Yockey said. She wanted to give special consideration to someone deserving of the award. She wants to focus on apple farmers because we wouldnt have a festival without that.
Expedia, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Mark Okerstrom, currently Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations, to succeed Dara Khosrowshahi as President and CEO of Expedia. Mr. Okerstrom will also join Expedia's Board of Directors, and Mr. Khosrowshahi will continue to be a member of Expedia's Board of Directors. Mark D. Okerstrom has served as Expedia's Executive Vice President, Operations, and Chief Financial Officer since September 2011, previously serving as its Secretary from October 2011 until April 2012. In his role as CFO, he held responsibility for all aspects of finance, including planning & analysis, accounting, tax, treasury, internal audit, procurement, real estate and investor relations, as well as corporate strategy and M&A for Expedia, Inc. Mr. Okerstrom's role was expanded in 2014, adding responsibility for the Company's eCommerce Platform Group which includes centralized technology, payments, risk, and global customer operations. Mr. Okerstrom served as Senior Director, Corporate Development and Strategy, Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy, and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development from 2006, when he joined, to 2011. Prior to joining Expedia, Mr. Okerstrom was a consultant with Bain & Company in Boston and San Francisco, and worked with UBS Investment Bank in London. Prior to that, he practiced as an attorney with the global law firm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. Mr. Okerstrom holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a law degree from the University of British Columbia.
With over 10 years in the industry Ben is a seasoned mixologist and began his career in Chicago at bars including the Double Door, The Aviary and Kingston Mines before landing jobs around the globe in Barbados, Australia, New Zealand and Bangkok. Ben eventually made his way back to Miami where he notably worked at Wynwood Diner and Faena Hotel Miami Beach before joining the team at Menin Hospitality. Ben brings his unique flair to the cocktail menu incorporating unique infusions, fresh ingredients and even CBD oil in his creations.
Hotel demand has just reached an all-time high in the U.S., according to CBRE Hotels' Americas Research. Occupancy levels and demand for rooms are also buoyant in Europe and Asia Pacific.1

Demand for hotel rooms is highly sensitive to business conditions, particularly on the downside.

When business revenues and personal incomes are squeezed at the end of the cycle, hotel demand drops away very quickly. Hotel demand has shown strong growth since the middle of 2016, suggesting that business conditions in the U.S., and elsewhere in the world, are robust despite relatively weak GDP growth.

U.S. Hotel Demand Hits an All-Time High | By Richard Barkham, Ph.D. Photo by CBRE Hotels

But there is more in these data than a solid cyclical upswing.

A major structural shift is underway as well. We can see this in Figure 1, where the bounce back in hotel demand after the Great Financial Crisis was large and rapid. Figure 2 analyzes this in more depth.

U.S. Hotel Demand Hits an All-Time High | By Richard Barkham, Ph.D. Photo by CBRE Hotels

This chart shows the number of hotel rooms sold each quarter in the U.S., divided by the number of people over the age of 16 (my definition of the working-age population). I make this adjustment because the working age population has increased by 38% since 1988, some 70 million people, and I would expect the number of hotel rooms to expand over time, just to accommodate this cohort.

So, what are the key takeaways?

The number of hotel rooms sold is increasing at a rapid rate, even after controlling for the growth in the working-age population. And, as noted above, it is now at an all-time high.

This growth in demand is taking place at the same time as non-hotel lodging is being supplied into the marketplace by online platforms such as Airbnb. Airbnb only accounts for 5% of total hotel rooms sold in the U.S., but when we add it to the hotel total, and express it as a ratio of the working-age population, the true scale of the structural shift becomes clear.

Why is hotel and non-hotel lodging in such high demand?

The business cycle is more robust than the GDP numbers suggest. Government statisticians can't quite keep track of the increasingly important virtual economy; and, the current recovery, which drives demand for hotel rooms, is stronger than we think. I give this three out of five as an explanation.

Demographic change is boosting demand for experiences over physical goods. Older consumers spend a higher proportion of their income on health, education, recreation and leisure. Since 2000, the population of the U.S. over the age of 45 has increased by 45%. Millennials, too, have a high propensity to travel. 2 I give this four out of five.

I give this four out of five. Hotels are getting better at delivering a great experience at whatever price point consumers choose. Four out of five.

Online platforms such as Priceline, Expedia, Kayak, Trivago, Hotels.com, etc. have made the process of booking hotels incomparably easier, and consumer reviews have increased the transparency of the marketplace. I give this five out of five.

Budget airlines have revolutionized global travel. It is now possible to circumnavigate the globe with budget flights for $1,620. Legacy carriers (i.e., non-budget airlines) would charge $3,877.3 Five out of five.

What are the implications for real estate?

Activity in the hotel sector suggests economic growth is both solid and improving: Investors can take confidence in real estate fundamentals more broadly;

The new economy is outpacing the old. Retailers have not had such a good recovery as the hotel sector, but they are in the same marketplace for consumers' discretionary spend. They need to do more on service, offer and experience at every price point to regain market share.

As an afterthought, let's not forget that the hotel sector in most of the developed world depends to a much greater extent than other industries on migrant labor. If the flow of migrants is diminished, it is not at all clear that the jobs would be taken up by native-born workers; it's more likely the growth of this highly vibrant sector would be constrained. That would be a shame.

For more Ahead of the Curve content, click here.

STR, Inc., Hotel Review Report, August 2017. Vicki Gelfeld, American Association of Retired Persons, 2017 Travel Trends presentation, November 2016. Wall Street Journal, Budget Airline Ambitions Remake Global Travel, August 24, 2017.

View source
It looks like President Trump is joining fellow celebrities & artists in efforts to help those in need with Hurricane Harvey. On Thursday, news surfaced that Trump would be donating a million dollars of his own money to help with the recovery efforts in Texas, though the White House says he hasnt determined which group(s) will receive his contribution.

He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of people we have seen across the country do, press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the White House, saying the funds would come from the Presidents personal money.

Sanders would later add that the President hadnt determined which organization he was going to support, but actually wanted to ask the media for suggestions.

He actually asked that I check with the folks in this room since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective in helping and providing aid, and hed like some suggestions from the folks here and Id be happy to take those, she said during the daily press briefing.

While this sounds good on paper, President Trump hasnt always followed through with his past donations. In fact, a promised donation to veterans groups during last years presidential campaign didnt happen until months later, after questions from reporters arose.

First wishing them good luck, Trump eventually visited Texas earlier this week on Tuesday to receive updates from local authorities on the states recovery efforts. Hes reportedly scheduled to return to the state on Saturday.

Check out Sarah Sanders speech from earlier today (below). Well continue to keep you posted on Trumps antics moving forward.

[Via]

Donald Trump
Not only is Hurricane Harvey destroying the state of Texas & the morality of the people trying to stay dry & alive, but it also reportedly destroyed the archives of some UGK material as well. On Wednesday night, UGK member Bun Bs wife, Queenie, shared an Instagram post stating the situation of their family members in Houston, along with mentioning of the lost archives.

In a now deleted post, Queenie revealed that Pimp Cs son was stranded in his grandmothers house along with his wife and a 79-year-old neighbor. Although the post has since been deleted as mentioned, Pimp Cs widow, Chinara Butler, reposted the message with Queenies latest update in the caption, and in it she revealed that she got in touch with Pimp Cs son, Lil Chad, who said he was near an overflowing reservoir. Queenie also revealed that all archives of UGK that was left is now gone.

While the loss of UGK material is no doubt disappointing, Chinara was able to keep things in perspective and asked for fans to do the same. Please be thankful for what you have. Do not complain about anything, she wrote.

Complex was able to speak with Chinaras manager Cherrell Rene who informed them that her client has not had the opportunity to follow up with Lil Chads situation since she posted the Instagram message. However, they assume he is fine as they have not received any more queries for help.

I would like to also state on behalf of my client that she did not confirm the loss of UGK or Pimp C archives and memorabilia as outlets are reporting, Rene said via email. Chinara simply shared a message in hopes of getting Chad Jr some assistance.

It isnt exactly known yet as for what was in the archive from UGK that they lost, but its definitely an unfortunate day for hip-hop fans. Check out the news in the captions of the IG posts (below).

[Via]

UGK
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A prominent Yemeni activist and Indy Voices contributor has been detained without access to a lawyer for 15 days.

Hisham al-Omeisy was pulled from the street by 15 armed guards in the nations capital of Sanaa on 14th August and has not been heard from since, according to Amnesty International.

The right's group reported that the 38-year old social media activists detention is in breach of Yemens constitution  which requires those arrested be presented in court within 24 hours.

Mr al-Omeisy rose to fame during the Arab Spring and has used Twitter to criticise and document events, such as airstrikes, to his 25,000 twitter followers in real time.

The political analyst is one of the most prominent Yemeni activists and tweets in both English and Arabic, often multiple times a day.

The father-of-two has been praised by human rights charities for his compelling honesty about both how the war his affected both his family and the country as a whole which has raised the profile of the conflict in Yemen.

Mr al-Omeisy last tweeted that armed goons had shown up at his door, just two days before his arrest.

He has had no access to his lawyer or family since being detained and both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch are calling for his immediate release.

The organisation's Yemen researcher told The Independent: The conflict in Yemen already gets very little coverage, despite the gravity of the rights violations ongoing and the scale of the humanitarian crisis.

Yemen needs its activists more than ever, like Hisham, to highlight the impact of the is war on civilians, yet all sides are increasingly harassing, threatening, detaining and disappearing them.

Samah Hadid, Amnestys head of Middle East campaigns, added: "Hisham Al-Omeisy is a prisoner of conscience, whose only 'crime' is peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, and he must be released immediately.

 Yemen crisis: More than one million children suffering from malnutrition

"This detention illustrates the lengths to which local Houthi-Saleh authorities are willing to go to silence peaceful activists.

His followers immediately noticed his absence and thousands are using the hashtag #FreeHisham to raise awareness.

One Twitter user said: A truly lovely person, it terrifies me to think what is happening to him. Another: His family worldwide is waiting

In the last year Yemen has witnessed a surge in arrests, detentions and forced disappearances of activists. With political opponents, journalists and minorities among those targeted.

Human Rights Watch has documented 66 cases in which rebel Houthi forces have arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared people.

These include two deaths in custody and 11 cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment, including the abuse of a child.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

The Yemeni Civil War began in March 2015 and as a result is currently experiencing the worlds worst cholera outbreak.

Over 10,000 people have been killed in fighting between those allied to the Houthi rebel movement and President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is backed by a Saudi-led coalition yet the country still receives little coverage by international media.
Pune, Sept 1 (IBNS): Bank of Maharashtra on Friday said it has completely waived processing fees on Home and Vehicle loans effective Sept 1 till December 2017.

The Bank also offers zero processing fees when someone transfers a home loan from another bank during this festive offer period.



These concessions are offered to enhance Banks retail portfolio during the ensuing festival season.



The Bank recorded Q-o-Q stable growth in their home loan segment, while the Vehicle loan segment saw growth of 28.22% in Q1 FY 17-18 compared to the quarter ending March, 2017.



Personal vehicles contribute to the majority of the vehicle loan portfolio of Bank of Maharashtra.

The growth in the home loan portfolio was partially led by the Banks efforts towards strengthening the government initiatives to provide Housing for All by 2022 through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme.

Under PMAY CLSS scheme more than 1400 accounts are covered with total portfolio of Rs. 221 crores. Bank of Maharashtra was the first public sector bank to reduce its lending rates by 5-15 basis points (bps) across loan tenures, following the 25 bps repo rate cut by Reserve Bank of India in its bi-monthly Monetary Policy announced on 02.08.2017.
Kolkata , Sept 1 (IBNS): Panasonic India, a leader in innovation and technology, announced their festive offers for this year - aIndia Ka Tyohaar. Panasonic Ka Uphaara, giving consumers the opportunity to celebrate the ongoing festival season by availing exciting offers and incentives on Panasonicas wide range of products.

With 99 years of legacy and celebration of Japanese technology, the highlight of the offer is the easy finance offer with only a99 down payment on selected products. Valid from 1st September - 22nd October, 2017, the company is also offering assured gifts, extended warranties and discounts along with the finest TVs and home appliances for the customers.

Participating in the festive fervor, Panasonic has introduced offers like never before, including combo offer of UA7 sound system with selected models of LED TVs and upto 35% off on grooming products. To double the joy, the electronic giant also presents fabulous assured gifts on purchase of every Washing Machine, Microwave ovens and Refrigerators.

With its 99 on 99 finance offer, the consumer will be able to buy products with only a99 down payment and balance in 15 equal installments.

Speaking about this years festive offers, Manish Sharma, President and CEO, Panasonic India said, As we move closer towards completing 100 years of Panasonic, we want to ensure that our customers rejoice with every purchase and get the maximum of our Japanese technology and products. The offers will allow us to establish a strong customer connect and be part of the festive celebrations. With festive season at its high and good monsoon, we can see demand rising from both urban and rural areas.

Highlighting on the Diwali offers, Ajay Seth, Head- Sales & Services, Panasonic India, said, With the arrival of the auspicious festive season, Panasonic India is set to woo its consumers with exciting offers. At Panasonic, we aim to provide products and services that offer more value to our customers. Adding greater joy to festive season this year our India Ka Tyohaar. Panasonic Ka Uphaar offers brings in assured gifts offer, extended warranties, discounts and easy financing offer on purchase of Panasonics wide range of products. We are confident that the special offers across categories will enhance the festive fervor and be much appreciated.
London, Sept 1 (IBNS): Children sleep more poorly if their mothers suffer from insomnia symptoms a potentially affecting their mental wellbeing and development - according to new research by the University of Warwick and the University of Basel.

Led by Dr Sakari Lemola from Warwicks Department of Psychology and Natalie Urfer-Maurer from the University of Basel, the study reported in Sleep Medicine shows that children of mothers with insomnia symptoms fall asleep later, get less sleep, and spend less time in deep sleep.

Analysing data from nearly 200 healthy 7-12 year old children and their parents, the researchers studied the relationship between the parents insomnia symptoms and their childrens sleep quality.

Sleep was assessed in the children during one night with in-home electroencephalography (EEG) - a method used to record electrical activity in the brain and makes it possible to identify different sleep stages - whilst parents reported their own insomnia symptoms and their childrens sleep problems.

The researchers found that children whose mothers have insomnia symptoms fall asleep later, get less sleep, and spend less time in deep sleep, as measured by EEG.

However, there was no association between the fathers sleep problems and childrens sleep as measured by EEG.

The study suggests that the reason why childrens sleep is more closely related to mothers sleep than to fathers sleep is that, on average, mothers still spend more time with their children than fathers - and therefore, a stronger mutual influence is likely.

When parents reported their childrens sleep, both mothers and fathers with sleep problems more often reported that their children had difficulties getting into bed and did not sleep enough.

Sleep plays an essential role for adults and childrens well-being. Short sleep and poor sleep quality can affect mental health, learning, memory, and school achievement in children. In adulthood around 30% of people suffer from disturbed sleep. The most common sleep disorder in adulthood is insomnia, which is defined by symptoms such as difficulty falling or staying asleep at night.

These findings are important because sleep in childhood is essential for wellbeing and development, commented Dr Sakari Lemola. The findings show that childrens sleep has to be considered in the family context. In particular, the mothers sleep appears to be important for how well school-aged children sleep.

Several mechanisms could account for the relationship between parents and childrens sleep. First, children may learn sleep habits from their parents. Second, poor family functioning could affect both parents and childrens sleep. For instance, family fights in the evening before bedtime may prevent the whole family from a good nights sleep.

Third, it is possible that parents suffering from poor sleep show selective attention for their own as well as their childrens sleep problems, leading to increased monitoring of sleep. It is possible that increased monitoring and attempts to control sleep may negatively affect sleep quality. Finally, children may also share genes with their parents that predispose them to poor sleep.

The research, The association of mothers and fathers insomnia symptoms with school-aged childrens sleep assessed by parent report and in-home sleep-electroencephalography, is published in Sleep Medicine.

It co-authored by Rebekka Weidmann, Serge Brand, Edith Holsboer-Trachsler, Alexander Grob and Peter Weber, and was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Image:wikimedia commons
New Delhi, Sept 1 (IBNS): Micro-blogging site Twitter has 'withheld' the account of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan.

A Haryana court on Monday sentenced the self-styled religious leader to 20 years in prison for raping two of his women followers.

He was convicted of rape charges on Aug 25.

Following the conviction, his followers attacked journalists, policemen and destroyed public property and vehicles in Pachkula city on Haryana.

Violence was also reported from other parts of Haryana and other parts of north India.

Amid tight security, the court sentenced the Dera chief on Monday.

His verified Twitter account has been 'withheld' after five days since the sentencing of the court.
Chennai, Sept 1 (IBNS): Anitha, a seventeen years old student, who had filed a petition against the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), on Friday decided to end her life.

The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed the petition filed by her and few other students against the examination.

The girl was earlier in the day found hanging from the ceiling in her house, media reports said.

A bright student, Anitha had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 in the Plus Two examinations.

However, she just scored 86 out of 720 marks in the NEET examination, failing to get a chance in medical examination, media reports said.

Until last year, medical college admission in Tamil Nadu was done on the basis of the Plus Two examination marks.

The state was exempted from the NEET system though the Centre had introduced it last year.

The state government in Tamil Nadu had sought an exemption this year too and the Legislative Assembly had passed amendments to continue the existing practice in case of admissions in medical colleges.

On Aug 22, the Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to complete the process of counselling in case of medical admission as per the NEET merit list by Sept 4.

Meanwhile, superstar Rajinikanth mourned the death of the teen as he said in a statement: "What has happened to Anitha is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to all the pain and agony she would have undergone before taking this drastic step. My condolences to her family."

He posted the statement on Twitter with a caption that read: "#RipAnitha."

Anitha was a daughter of a wage labourer.

The teen belonged to a village located in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 1 (IBNS): Southern superstar Kamal Haasan met Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Speaking to reporters about his political affiliations, Kamal Haasan said 'saffron' was not his preferred colour.

"My colour is obviously seen over the forty years I have been working in cinema. It is definitely not saffron," he said.

The Chief Minister posted a statement on his Facebook page and said they discussed the political developments in Tamil Nadu and South India.

He also called the visit by the actor to meet him as a 'friendly' affair.

The CM said in a Facebook post: "Met with noted actor, director & long time friend Kamal Haasan; had lunch together & spent some good moments with him at Cliff house. He has been visiting me earlier also for past few years, this was first time after becoming CM."

He said: "Although the visit was purely friendly, but interestingly this time we also discussed politics especially recent developments in Tamil Nadu & South.Of late Kamal has been expressing his views about national & state level politics on his social media handles. He shared his various opinion with me. Also briefed him about various people friendly steps taken by the LDF government in the state."

Image: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan Facebook page
Guwahati, Sept 1 (IBNS): Unhappy with the Assam state governmentas role to protect indigenous people in the state, women protesters on Friday staged a protest against the state government by shaving off their head and demanding security.

Three activists of Swadhin Nari Shakti (SNS) protested against the state government's role by shaving off their head.

Over 100 members of the women organization had a protest at Digholipukhuripar in Guwahati.

We have strongly opposed the government's decision to provide Indian citizenship to the Hindu Bangladeshi people. We expected that the present BJP-led state government would do everything in greater interest of the indigenous people. But they didnt. In past year, all government decisions went against the indigenous people, a leader of the women organization said.

On the other hand, the activists of Asom Khilongia (Indigenous) Manch also staged a protest in front of the Raj Bhawan in Guwahati on Friday and demanded to secure land rights of indigenous people in the state.

Pro-talk ULFA leader Anup Chetia also took part in the agitation programme.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Eight police personnel injured in Srinagar attack India Blooms News Service | | #Srinagar, #PoliceVanAttack, #EightCopsInjured

Srinagar, Sept 1 (IBNS): At least eight police personnel were injured when armed militants fired upon a police vehicle at Panthachowk on Srinagar Jammu National Highway, police said on Friday evening.
Mumbai, Sept 1 (IBNS): Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut once again broke her silence over her alleged relationship with industry mate Hrithik Roshan saying the conflict with the latter didn't die down rather had a proper end to it as the actor failed to prove any of his claims made against the Queen actress.

The actress in an interview to Rajeev Masand, clarified to say that the actor had hacked her email which was closed years ago and written all the mails to the actor's email with a an agenda (to accuse Kangana).

The public fight between the two actors started after Kangana referred to Hrithik as "a silly ex" in an interview to be retorted by the latter saying on Twitter: "Ther r more chances of me having had an affair with d Pope dan any of d (Im sure wonderful)women d media hs ben naming.Thanks but no thanks."

Later the actor not only slapped a notice against Kangana for causing damage to his public image, but also filed a complaint in the cyber crime cell saying the actress was communicating with an imposter on email.

In the interview which was aired on a television channel on Thursday, Kangana said: "He (Hrithik) claimed many things and said there is an imposter but failed to prove anything and the report of cyber crime is nil. Also he and his father (Rakesh Roshan) claimed to expose (me) but they didn't say anything."

Upholding the report of the cyber crime cell, the Rangoon actress said nothing was found against her.

The actress who had shared screen with Hrithik in Krrish 3, even went on to say that she was afraid at the whole incident.

"Of course I was afraid of it. Who wouldn't be? .................I didn't know I was a part of such a big scam. This person (Hrithik) has done prep. (preparation) for two years to put me behind bars for having an affair with him. "

Kangana also demanded an apology from Hrithik and his father Rakesh Roshan over the whole incident. She said Hrithik's father assured her to sit together and solve the matter but they never met the actress.

"He and his father made fool of themselves. They should apologise to me in public and if they don't, its fine. But I will clarify and simplify to everyone who will ask me about it" the actress stated.

However, the 31-year old actress didn't drag the issue of nepotism which was brought by filmmaker Karan Johar, actors Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan at IIFA 2017.

Giving it a broader prospect, Kangana on nepotism said: "I think nepotism is not just the industry issue, it is a huge issue all over the country and lot of people are really struggling with it that is why I think it became such a debate and the consequences that (it) had."

She even termed Johar's apology to her as "responsible". "He (Karan Johar) came across some sort of redemption that happened."

The IIFA stage episode where Johar, Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan pulled off an act taking a jibe at Kangana Ranaut was apparently aimed at the actress who on Karan's show Koffee With Karan earlier this year called him "the flagbearer of nepotism" in Bollywood.

But the award show act did not go well with people at large as criticism poured in on social media from all quarters with many blasting the trio for what they called their "shamelessness" in bragging their privileged status in the film industry.

Karan,Saif and Varun made fun of the nepotism comment of Kangana and were seen saying on stage: "Nepotism rocks".

Later Karan Johar said he regretted taking a joke too far at the event and it is only talent that rocks in the film industry.

Karan Johar told NDTV: "Of course I don't believe that 'nepotism rocks'. Of course, I believe that only talent rocks. If anything that rocks, it's your talent, hard work and conviction."

"It's the energy you bring to your job. What we said was meant to be a joke, which I think has been misplaced, misunderstood and I think it went wrong. I regret it," he said.

Varun Dhawan also tweeted to say: "I express my apology and regret .. I am extremely sorry if I have offended or hurt anyone with that act."

Even as the Bollywood trio of Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan expressed their regret in different ways and tried to move on, it was actress Kangana Ranaut who had the last laugh.

An open letter to Saif Ali Khan in response to one written by the latter after the controversy, went viral again where Kangana refuted every argument of Saif with solid reasons and articulation.

Refuting her Rangoon co-star's argument, Kangana said if the Bollywood actor's views on genetic inheritance were right, then she would have been a farmer back at home.

She said hybrid racehorses and artistes are not same.

In one para of the open letter, Kangana said: "Saif, in your letter you mentioned that, I apologised to Kangana, and I dont owe anyone any explanation, and this issue is over. But this is not my issue alone. Nepotism is a practice where people tend to act upon temperamental human emotions, rather than intellectual tendencies. Businesses that are run by human emotions and not by great value-systems, might gain superficial profits. However, they cannot be truly productive and tap into the true potential of a nation of more than 1.3 billion people."

The actress who got a national award for her performance in Queen released in 2014, was last seen in Vishal Bhardwaj's Rangoon opposite Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor in 2017.

She is presently working on ManikarnikaThe Queen of Jhansi, a biopic on Rani of Jhansi, the film directed by Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi.

Her next film Simran will hit the big screens on September 15.



Image: Facebook page of Krrish 3
New York, Sept 1(Just Earth News): A United Nations human rights expert has expressed alarm at the deteriorating situation in Myanmar's Rakhine State, affecting not just the Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim populations but also other communities.

The worsening cycle of violence is of grave concern and must be broken urgently, said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in a news release issued on Thursday from the Office of UN High Commissioners for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are now reported to be fleeing towards Bangladesh.

While the world's Muslim communities celebrated Eid al-Adha, the Rohingya remained in a precarious situation, not knowing their future or the fate of their relatives, she said.

Latest estimates from UN sources suggest more than 27,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the area around Cox's Bazar, while 20,000 more remain stranded between the two countries. The number continues to grow.

The Special Rapporteur noted concerns over both extremist attacks and the major security operations undertaken in response to the attacks.

I am concerned that these events will derail efforts to address the root causes of the systematic discrimination and recurrent violence in Rakhine State, said the Special Rapporteur.

She went on to remind the authorities of their human rights obligations to give equal protection to people from all communities, whether from attacks by extremists or excessive action from the security forces.

I am saddened to receive reports that, while the authorities are helping Rakhine and other communities living in affected townships evacuate to safer locations, this assistance is not being extended to the Rohingya Muslims, she said.

Echoing findings in the final report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Lee said that if human rights concerns are not properly addressed and if people remain politically and economically marginalized, then northern Rakhine may provide fertile ground for radicalization, with people becoming increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists.

This statement has been endorsed by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, and the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

Photo: IRIN

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Toronto, Sep 1 (IBNS): The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto is holding an original exhibition titled aOut of the Depths: The Blue Whale Storya, until September 4.

Thexhibtion describes in detail the tragic death of nine rare blue whales trapped in ice in 2014 off the coast of Newfoundland (which, along with Labrador, forms one of the territories of Canada), media reports said.

This exhibition is a collaborative project led by ROMs Dr. Mark Engstrom, Senior Curator and Deputy Director of Collections and Research.

Other participants include Burton Lim, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy; Jacqueline Miller, Mammalogy Technician; Oliver Haddrath, Ornithology Technician; Dave Ireland, Managing Director of ROM Biodiversity, and Gerry De Iuliis, Lecturer in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.

In May 2014, a small ROM team had travelled to Newfoundland to salvage a Blue Whale that had washed ashore.

This unfortunate event presented ROM with a unique opportunity to study Blue Whales, one of marine mammals, listed as endangered species under Schedule 1 of the Federal Species at Risk Act.

Schedule 1 of the Federal Species at Risk Act is a key commitment by federal government to prevent wildlife species from becoming extinct and provides measures for the legal protection of wildlife species and the conservation of their biological diversity.

It is said that not more than 20,000 blue whales are present in the world, with the North-western Atlantic Population being the lowest, with 200 to 400 whales.

Dr Jack Lawson, a researcher with the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in St Johns, Newfoundland had flown over that particular area where the tragedy had occurred and confirmed that nine blue whales were dead in the icebergs while several others were found alive and swimming.

Blue whales usually sink when they die, but this time two of the dead blue whales washed ashore in Trout River and Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Although the beached whales caused a global alarm, the DFO and ROM discussed ways to recover these whales for scientific research and educational purposes.

Salvaging the blue whale in Newfoundland was a once in a lifetime experience, Lin was quoted by media.

Not being able to determine the cause of death of these nine whales, researchers at ROM began to contemplate what these whales usually feed upon and found out that they fed exclusively on tiny crustaceans called krills.

When the temperature rises in late winter and early spring, huge swarms of krill are found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence -- outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean -- and blue whales track these krills.

The experts studied the association between krills and blue whales to find out if it could provide any clue to the cause of death.

The winter of 2014 was reportedly very cold with heavy build-up of ice in the Gulf.

There is a possibility, reflected the researchers, that the Blue Whales in the area were feeding when ice shifted just north of where two currents passed through the Cabot Strait, which is between Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Cape North, Cape Breton Island.

It was presumed by ROM researchers that the nine blue whales, spotted in March, were trapped under the ice and consequently died.

The reported damage to the skulls of the two whales that were found on the beach and were salvaged on the west coast of Newfoundland, suggesting that ice had crushed them.

But the researchers could not determine at that time if skulls of these whales were crushed by ice before or after their death.

Their loss reportedly represented about three percent of the Northwest Atlantics blue whale population; in Canada, thats almost equivalent to the human population of Saskatchewan.

"This was an opportunity for us, born of tragedy, to make something more of life," Mark Engstrom, Senior Curator and Deputy Director of Collections & Research was quoted by the media.

Opened in 1914 ROM, Canada's largest museum, houses a collection of more than six million objects and specimens, presented in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces to showcase art, culture, and nature from around the world and across all ages.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
Burma Analysis: China Backs Myanmar at UN Security Council

Chinese port terminal seen in Made island outside Kyaukphyu, Myanmar on May 18, 2017. / Soe Zayar Tun / Reuters

As the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Armydubbed a terrorist organization by the Myanmar governmentattacked security forces and civilians in northern Rakhine, the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) met in New York.

Myanmar leaders do not need to sweat. They have a powerful friend: China.

As in the past, China maintained its unwavering support for its southern neighbor, regardless of whether the country is ruled by men in uniform or an elected civilian government.

UNSC members condemned the Rakhine violence, but, according to British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft, the council still supports State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UK requested the meeting on Myanmar days after the violence broke out: A lot of us are hugely supportive allies of hers who have followed her progress with admiration from afar, the ambassador told reporters.

But news emerged that China resisted stronger involvement by the UN council in addressing Myanmars crisis.

In March, China, together with Russia, blocked a brief UNSC statement when the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state.

In February, the UNs human rights office accused the military of mass killings and rape of Muslims in Rakhine and burning villages following attacks on police outposts in the region in October last year.

The UN went as far as to accuse the military of crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

Both the government and military denied these charges and refused to cooperate with a UN fact-finding mission. China made sure to back up the Myanmar government.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, later issued a statement chastising Myanmars security forces on Thursday.

As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need, Haley said.

Senior military officials denied attacking villagers and said troops were deployed to protect police securing the area. According to them, the deployment of troops was thin.

A Key Ally

China continues to provide diplomatic protection to Myanmar as some Western nations press the government and military on the Rakhine issue.

More than ever, China has remained a key ally to the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyiwhos support in the West is now lukewarm at best.

Chinas motives in backing Myanmar are said to include a desire to expand its foothold in Myanmar and acting to limit Western influence spreading among its neighbors.

As a major investor in Myanmar, China is looking for a seaport in Kyaukphyu, Rakhine State, on the Bay of Bengalthe country clearly has strategic interest in the Indian Ocean.

In May, Reuters reported China was looking to take a stake of up to 85 percent in the strategically important seaport in Myanmar as part of its One Belt, One Road initiative.

Beijing has been pushing for preferential access to the deep seaport of Kyaukphyu part of its ambitious infrastructure investment plan to deepen its links with economies throughout Asia and beyond, Reuters reported.

In April, during his official visit to Beijing, Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw signed an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a partially completed crude oil pipeline between western Myanmars Kyaukphyu and southern Chinas Kunming.

The pipeline is part of the US$10 billion Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and there are also plans for a railway linking Yunnan Province and Myanmar, though it is thought to be suspended or under review.

As China expands its geo-political influence and opens up an economic corridor to its southern neighbors it needs stability in Rakhine State.

Beijing officials also recently invited ethnic Arakanese politicians to China. One of them was Dr. Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan National Party and often referred to as a firebrand ethno-nationalist.

Dr. Aye Maung was elected as a lawmaker in Mays by-election. His party recently requested that army leaders send troops to northern Rakhine State and asked the government to declare a state of emergency in the region.

In April, Chinese special envoy for Asian affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Bangladesh and offered to tackle a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the flight of the persecuted Rohingya.

As another major trade partner, Bangladesh also received assistance from China to improve infrastructure as part of the One Belt, One Road mega project.

Bangladesh and China signed deals on nearly 30 projects worth US$25 billion during President Xi Jinpings visit to Dhaka.

It is important to note that until recently, China refrained from direct involvement in issues involving the Rohingya, as such actions could have been interpreted by Myanmar leaders and Arakanese politicians as interference.

But the rise in violence in an area of strategic importance to China will no doubt set alarm bells ringing in Beijing.
Burma After Charges Withdrawn, Detained Journalists Released on Bail

The three journalists celebrate their release in front of Hsipaw Township Court. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

HSIPAW, Shan State  Three journalists from The Irrawaddy and Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) were released on bail on Friday afternoon following the militarys decision to withdraw its case against them.

The judge from Hsipaw Township Court said the plaintiffs lawyer must file a request to the court in order to drop the charges, and the court would then drop the charges on Monday.

Military plaintiff adjutant Thet Naing Oo withdrew the charges under Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act filed against the reporters after the commander-in-chiefs office withdrew cases against six journalists and two activists.

The journalists were arrested along with three other men by the Myanmar Army on June 26 as they returned from covering a drug-burning ceremony hosted by the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

A few days later they were moved to Hsipaw Prison and have been escorted from the prison for weekly hearings, some of which have been moved or delayed.

As the defendants lawyers submitted bail appeals in last weeks trial, the judge granted bail for the three reporters in the wake of the military withdrawing the case.

Three men who were detained along with the journalists also had charges of unlawful association withdrawn, but two of the men who had additional charges will remain in detention.
Burma Military Withdraws Cases Against Detained Journalists

The three detained journalists attending their trial in Hsipaw Court on Aug. 11. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

YANGON & HSIPAW, Shan State  Seasoned reporter Lawi Weng cannot wait to return to his work covering conflict in Myanmar after the military withdrew cases against six journalists and two activists on Friday.

The Irrawaddys Lawi Weng, also known as U Thein Zaw, and U Aye Naing and Ko Pyae Phone Aung from the Democratic Voice of Burma have been detained in Hsipaw Prison for more than two months under the Unlawful Associations Act.

In a move the Tatmadaw described to the Myanmar Press Council as wiping the slate clean, it announced the withdrawal of charges against the three reporters, as well as defamation charges against The Voice Dailys chief editor U Kyaw Min Swe and satirist Ko Ko Maung, who were sued for publishing a satirical article on the peace process.

Eleven Medias chief editor Ko Wai Phyo, who was charged under Article 502 of Myanmars Penal Code for defamation, will also have his charges withdrawn.

Also included were activist U Htin Kyaw and student activist Ko Wai Yan Thein, also known as Victor, who were facing charges under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code for reportedly criticizing the Tatmadaw.

The move coincides with a court hearing of the three detained journalists at Hsipaw Court. They were arrested on June 26 after reporting on a Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) drug-burning ceremony in northern Shan State.

Lawyers representing the detained journalists told The Irrawaddy on Friday morning that the three would be released following the militarys decision but that they were currently waiting for the military plaintiff to formally appear at the court to drop the case.

The journalists were in high spirits as they waited in Hsipaw Court. Lawi Weng called it amazing news, and said he was looking forward to getting back to his work covering ethnic conflict in Myanmar.

Ko Kyaw Zwa Moe, editor of The Irrawaddys English edition, welcomed the militarys decision, adding, Make no mistake, the military as well as the government should understand the role and responsibility of the media and treat them as professionals who are practicing one of the highest callings. I hope they will keep doing this. If they do so, itll be very helpful for the countrys democratization and there will be no ugly incidents like this one.

The Myanmar Press Council issued a statement on Friday saying it had received a letter from the commander-in-chiefs office, which stated that the military recognized journalists were serving the interests of the country and people together with the Tatmadaw.

The Tatmadaw had withdrawn the cases to serve the interests of the country and people together, stated the letter.

The office also urged the council to ensure accuracy, impartiality and fairness in reporting in line with media ethics.

We are very grateful to the Tatmadaw for showing magnanimity, stated the council.

Council member U Myint Kyaw said, This is how it should have been from the start. We welcome it. He added that journalists should only be charged under the Media Law if someone feels aggrieved by their reporting.
Burma No Rescue Yet for Stranded Villagers in Rakhine

Around 1,200 Maungdaw residents arrive in Sittwe on Friday. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

SITTWE, Rakhine State  Nurses, teachers and government employees stranded along with villagers in Maungdaw Township repeated calls to be evacuated from the area, amid ongoing violence in the region.

On Friday, people seeking refuge in northern Maungdaws Taunggyo Let Wei police security post told The Irrawaddy that more than 2,000 are currently sheltering inside the station, and that they fear of being assaulted by Muslim militants active in the area.

A woman from Taung Pyo Let Wei, who requested not to be named, told The Irrawaddy that all she wants is to be able to go back to my town, Kyauk Taw. She has a young child with her, while her eight-year-old son remains with her parents in Kyauk Taw.

Before arriving in Taung Pyo Let Wei on Aug. 27, she said she and other villagers had to follow Myanmar Army troop columns, as they cleared improvised mines along the road from Thar Yar Kone village to Thinbaw Hla.

On Thursday, the education and health workers, along with the locals in Kyein Chaung and Ta Man Thar villages, were told that they would be airlifted out of the area by government rescue teams. They wore their uniforms for easy identification, they said. By evening, there was no sign of a rescue.

Col Phone Tint, the Rakhine State border affairs and security minister told The Irrawaddy that they were doing [their] best, and that the area would be protected for our ethnic people, he said, a reference to the Buddhist Arakanese and Arakanese sub-groups in the region.

We will keep staying in our place and there are both military and police forces for security.

Reuters reported on Friday that military sources have evacuated more than 11,000 ethnic residents from the conflict area since an Aug. 25 dawn attack by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police security forces in Maungadaw and Buthidaung townships.

Myanmar Army clearance operations followed, and more than 38,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, according to the latest figures from the United Nations.

The total number of stranded villagers and government employees is not known, but The Irrawaddy has spoken to sources in three locations with a total of 3,500 awaiting evacuation. As of Friday, displaced people were still arriving in the state capital of Sittwe.

U Khine Pyay Soe, of the Arakan National Party, is now in Maungdaw providing assistance through the Rakhine emergency relief committee. He told The Irrawaddy that the government needs to find a way to clear mines from the area. If not, he warned, communications will be cut and people who are stranded will not be able to escape.
News Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets NMSP delegation

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets NMSP delegation led by its vice-chairman Nai Hong Sar on Sept. 1. / Myanmar State Counselor Office

MAWLAMYINE, Mon State  Myanmars State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and a New Mon State Party (NMSP) delegation led by vice chairman Nai Hong Sar met at the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) in Naypyitaw on Friday.

NMSP previously asked to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar Army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to discuss troop deployment in Mon State and the partys involvement in the countrys efforts for peace and in developing its system of government.

Also present at the meeting were vice chairman of NRPC and Union Minister for the State Counselors Office U Kyaw Tint Swe and National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun.

According to the State Counselors Office, the two sides discussed NMSPs involvement in the countrys peace process, but NMSP did not release a statement about the meeting.

The NMSP formed a high-level delegation to meet the State Counselor and the commander-in-chief led by Nai Hong Sar, and including the groups secretary Nai Aung Min, the chief of NMSPs armed wing the Mon National Liberation Army Maj-Gen Layi Gakao, as well as Nai Win Hla, and Nai Aung Mange.

The Myanmar Army chief replied that he was unavailable for a meeting and sent a delegation on his behalf, which NMSP met in Mon States Ye Township on August 16.

I think their meeting is mainly about negotiating for signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement [NCA], said Ko Min Zayar Oo, secretarial of Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC).

Perhaps [the NMSP] did not release a statement about the meeting because they have yet to negotiate with other ethnic armed groups, said Ko Min Zayar Oo.

NMSP has said it will consider signing the NCA before the third session of the Union Peace Conferenceexpected some time between October and December.

It is a good sign that they met for peace. As they met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi directly, I think they will reach some agreement. There will be a good answer, and it is heading in a positive direction, said joint secretary Nai San Tin of All Mon Region Democracy Party.

NMSP declared in May that it was trying to sign the NCA together with its fellow UNFC members including the Arakan National Council (ANC), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).

It is good that the two met, even though it is still difficult to break the political deadlock. Maybe, they discussed the recent military tensions between the NMSP and the military, joint secretary of the Mon National Party Nai Soe Myint told The Irrawaddy.

NMSP carried out gun salutes on the 70th anniversary of Mon Revolution Day on Aug. 7 outside its party headquarters in defiance of orders of the Myanmar Army.

In response, the Myanmar Army deployed about 200 troops in several villages near NMSPs Mawlamyine base, contributing to tension between the two groups.

After the Aug. 16 talks, however, military troops withdrew from the area.
News Thailand Sticks to Non-Interference Policy in Myanmar

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and PM Prayut Chan-ocha attend the fifth meeting of the Thailand-Myanmar High Level Committee in Thailands northeastern Khon Kaen Province. / Senior General Min Aung Hlaing / Facebook

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha assured the visiting Myanmar Army commander in chief that his government would not interfere in its neighbors domestic affairs, when discussing ongoing violence in Rakhine State on Wednesday.

The Nation newspaper reported that Prayut said Myanmar needed more time to fix the complex problems in the western state, adding: We dont intervene in their domestic affairs. [I understand that] Myanmar authorities do support and develop Rakhine State.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing was in Thailand for the fifth meeting of the Thailand-Myanmar High Level Committee, which was held in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen. Under former President Thein Seins government, the countries armed forces developed stronger relations and increased cooperation.

According to The Nation newspaper, Myanmars senior general told the Thai prime minister that a solution for Rakhine States problems needed to be rooted in trust.

On Aug. 25, Muslim militants staged attacks on more than 30 police outposts in the region, which was followed by military clearance operations. The UN estimates that 38,000 Muslim Rohingya have since fled to Bangladesh, and the army has reported that more than 11,000 peoplemostly ethnic Arakanese Buddhistshave sought refuge in the state capital of Sittwe.

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing also held a separate meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who was noted as using the term Bengali to refer to the Rohingya, a practice used by the Myanmar government to infer that the group are originally from Bangladesh. Prawit said the ongoing security operations had placed the region under control, noting that the population might not be able to take boat trips to Thailand anymore.

At the meeting in Khon Kaen, both sides reportedly discussed bilateral affairs and exchanged security updates, as well as information on migration and human trafficking issues.

Meanwhile, Voice of America reported that Muslims living in Mae Sot, a Thai border town opposite Myanmars Myawaddy, are under surveillance. Thousands of Myanmar migrants live in the area, which was once home to ethnic rebels active in the region.

Security and defense analyst Anthony Davis wrote in Asia Times earlier this month that Myanmar army and intelligence officials had asked Thailand to assist in checking the movement of money and militants along its western border.

The two sides also agreed to ramp up intelligence exchanges on the issue of Islamist terrorism.

Davis wrote, Specific concerns have focused on the Thai border town of Mae Sot, which has predictably emerged as the main conduit for couriers and militants traveling overland north from Malaysia and into Myanmar.

The author reported that from 2013-14, Rohingya militants briefly attempted to set up training courses on the Thai border, but that it remained unclear whether these involved arms training.
Guest Column Myanmars Public Health System and Policy: Improving but Inequality Still Looms Large

A man wears a mask to protect himself from H1N1 in Yangon, Myanmar, July 25, 2017. / Reuters

In late July, panic swept Yangon and parts of Myanmar as news of an outbreak of H1N1 erupted on social media. This followed a press conference where Myanmars Ministry of Health announced that two people had died from H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. A further 13 had been diagnosed with the illness in Yangon. Five hospitals were preparing to receive new patients. Other cases were detected in remote areas of Myanmar, including 10 cases in Matupi in Chin State, and others reported in Bago region, Irrawaddy Region and Naypyitaw. Hitherto far from being an outbreak by the World Health Organizations definition of such, what the H1N1 cases really highlighted was how far Myanmar has come in health communication and cooperation.

Indeed, Myanmars entire health system has come a long way since the countrys democratic transition began in 2011. Yet much more still needs to be done. A core area of focus needs to be on addressing inequalities in access to health services across the country. In particular, bridging gaps in service delivery between urban and rural communities and for minority ethnic groups. For the government, the pay-off for improving these services will be significant. Broadly speaking, increased confidence in government will have positive impacts on continuing ceasefire negotiations and political dialogue with ethnic armed groups. Indeed, addressing these issues will need to be both cooperative and to a certain degree centrally-directed, thereby demanding that ethnic minorities and the NLD government work together. For international donors, supporting the improvement of the health system in one of the worlds most disaster-prone countries, lying between the worlds two most populous countries, is investing in a more resilient region. This post aims to be a primer addressing some of the most pressing problems in the overall structure of Myanmars health system today.

Myanmars Health System

As the world moves to adopt strategies to establish universal health coverage by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, Myanmar remains languishing behind in all components of the World Health Organizations (WHO) health system building blocks. In order to achieve Universal Health Care (UHC) goals, as well as other outcomes set out by the WHOs health system framework, Myanmar must significantly improve across all components, and in particular on three core building blocks  health services, health workforce and health information. This is assuming that other building blocks of leadership and governance, and health care financing will be achieved as capacity continues to be built within the system.

Table 1. HEALTH STATISTICS MYANMAR; SOURCE: WHO

Total population (2015) 53,897,000 Life expectancy at birth m/f (years; 2015) 65/68 Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population; 2013) 240/183 Total expenditure on health per capita (USD$; 2014) 103 Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2014) 2.3

The previous quasi-military government raised public spending on health from a dismal 0.2 percent of GDP in 2009 to more than 1 percent in 2014. Recognition of the importance of population health and investment in health continue to improve. Since coming to power in 2016, the National League for Democracy (NLD) has established Universal Health Care and access to a Basic Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) as central policy objectives of the government, prioritizing health policy in its first 12 months of government.

Myanmars health policy has since 1991 been instituted in four-year plans released by the Ministry of Health and Sport (MoHS). The Myanmar National Health Plan 2017-2021 was released in December 2016 and states as its main goal to extend access to a Basic Essential Package of Health Services to the entire population by 2020 while increasing financial protection.

The latter part of this objective, increasing financial protection, is important. Indeed, significant improvements in health care financing must be achieved. There is no reliable health insurance system and a poor overall national health system. In 2014, 81 percent of Myanmars total health expenditure came from out-of-pocket financing. This figure decreased to 65 percent in 2015, demonstrating government attention to the issue. Out-of-pocket payments in Myanmar far exceed the global average of 32 percent of a countrys total health expenditure. Recent NLD health policy has set an aim of reducing out-of-pocket expenses to 25 percent of overall health expenditure.

As capacity remains low within the MoHS and the wider health sector in Myanmar, there are numerous NGOs supporting capacity building programs. One significant project is the World Banks Essential Health Services Access Project, a US$100 million project running between 2014 and 2019, which aims to increase coverage of essential health services with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health.

As in most developing and many developed countries, discrepancies in delivery of health services between urban and rural populations also exist. Approximately 70 percent of the population in Myanmar live in rural environments, and are largely engaged in subsistence farming. Many of Myanmars ethnic groups still adhere to cultural practices and traditional remedies. Seeking out astrologers, witches and healers to administer health care is common. Such health-seeking behavior can cause complications in modern health care provision where less effective treatments or mysticism supplants modern medicine.

While eight ethnic armed groups signed a ceasefire with the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military, in October 2015, a dozen other groups remain in varying degrees of conflict. The deep and decades long grievances between ethnic minorities and the Tatmadaw have created sub-national governance structures, including sub-national health services. Without the emergence of a federal system that can incorporate these structures, there is widespread inequality in the delivery of services across the country.

Reflecting the problems within Myanmars health system, the countrys success at achieving health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were mixed. Indeed, one of the core problems cited was a weak health system. One area of relative success was the improvement in immunization rates. For example, measles immunization coverage increased from 68 percent to 88 percent between 1990 and 2010. However, as evidenced in 2016 by a deadly outbreak in remote northwestern Myanmar in Naga areas, disparities remain in ethnic areas. In that instance, more than 80 people, mainly children, died from a preventable disease.

As indicated by the failures in the MDGs, the single biggest problem for Naypyitaw continues to be the implementation of a health system in ethnic minority areas where decades-long conflict with the central government has created deep mistrust. In dozens of townships around Myanmar, the government has little access and fighting between ethnic armed groups and the Tatmadaw continues. In these areas, working with local ethnic health organizations (EHOs) and local NGOs will be crucial if MoHS wants to fulfil its SDG pledge to provide universal access to healthcare to all people in Myanmar.

Among other social determinants of health impacting Myanmars health services are poverty, ongoing conflict, endemic and institutional inequality, weak institutions and poor governance, poor infrastructure, seasonal natural disaster and poor access to adequate health care. As detailed in the following critical analysis, three components of Myanmars health system will be important in addressing these challenges: Health Services, Health Workforce and Health Information System. Others, such as medical products and technology, will remain crucial but should improve following progress in the stated three components.

Table 2. TRENDS IN HEALTH-RELATED MDG INDICATORS IN MYANMAR, 1990-2010

SOURCE: Saw, Y. M., Win, K. L., Shiao, L. W., Thandar, M. M., Amiya, R. M., Shibanuma, A., Tun, S., Jimba, M. (2013). Taking stock of Myanmars progress toward the health-related millennium development goals: Current roadblocks, paths ahead. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12(1), 78. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/10.1186/1475-9276-12-78

Key Challenges in Reforming Myanmars Health System

Health Workforce

A well-performing health workforce is one which works in ways that are responsive, fair and efficient to achieve the best health outcomes possible, given available resources and circumstances. I.e. There are sufficient numbers and mix of staff, fairly distributed; they are competent, responsive and productive. WHO Health Systems Framework

In 2014, according to the MoHS, it operated 988 hospitals and 1,684 rural health centers. This included 348 maternal and child health centers. The Ministry cited 13,000 doctors, 30,000 nurses, 22,000 midwives and 11,000 health workers across the country. The number of health professionals was far less than the recommended WHO target per 1,000 people. Auxiliary or volunteer health care workers continue to play core roles in service delivery, particularly in ethnic minority and rural areas and they are often required to perform above and beyond their basic training.

According to World Bank data, some indicators of health service capability indicate that services worsened over the course of military rule in the country. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s it was reported that there were 0.85 hospital beds per 1,000 people, this declined to 0.6 in 2006. Similarly, during the military government, half of health workers worked in urban areas, despite the vast majority of the population living in rural areas. Under the previous junta government, those living in rural and ethnic minority areas relied largely on traditional healthcare practices, rudimentary local health care or the services of international health professionals working with NGOs. There has long been a desire to improve the health workforce. This was explicitly stated in 2000 by the military government in a policy paper entitled Myanmar Health Vision 2030. The document also highlighted a desire for universal health care. Since the 2011 democratic transition began, efforts to improve the health system, including improvements to the health workforce, have been renewed.

The NLD government has outlined a desire to decentralize health services, previously highly centralized. Today, Myanmars 330 townships are overseen by a township medical officer. At every main township hospital, there is a chief doctor, 1-2 station hospitals, 4-7 rural health centers (RHCs), as well as varying numbers of rural sub-RHCs. RHCs are run by a health assistant and have a catchment population of 20,000. Sub-RHCs often are run by a midwife or health assistants, staffed by volunteers, and have a catchment population of 5,000. This latter, most basic component of the formal health infrastructure, conducts immunizations and other health programs. While this structure works in theory, on the ground, with various health providers and ongoing ethnic tensions and violence, the reality in many of these townships is far different.

In one example of this, Aung et al (2016) looking at rural and urban disparities in health-seeking for fever, found that rural populations need improved access to trained providers and increased knowledge of malaria prevention and treatment. That study recommended more trained health workers and health centers were needed in rural areas, and that they should be easily accessible and affordable to the population. However, poor education standards in rural areas in recent decades has resulted in fewer people of rural background having sufficient education for entry into tertiary education. As such, fewer rural people train to become health professionals, also leading to lower numbers of ethnic minority people becoming qualified health professionals in the country.

Overall, at a national level, Myanmar has an insufficient number of health professionals that are representative of the diversity in the population, in ethnicity, gender and language capability. Those that exist are unfairly distributed with varying degrees of competence. These shortfalls significantly disadvantage ethnic minorities.

Health Services

Good health services are those which deliver effective, safe, quality personal and non-personal health interventions to those who need them, when and where needed, with minimum waste of resources. WHO Health Systems Framework

Between 2011 and 2015, government expenditure for health increased 8.7 times. The NLD government has continued this trend and set out their own plan: A Roadmap Towards Universal Health Coverage in Myanmar. A broad and ambitious document in scope, it aims to address social determinants of health and looks to reinforce the previous military governments ambitions toward universal health coverage. There are similarly greater ambitions to reach rural communities and ethnic minorities than previously outlined. The core component of the Myanmar National Health Plan drafted by the NLD government sets out access to a Basic Essential Package of Health Services for all by 2020 as its core goal. Furthermore, it looks to improve financial protections and alignment of health services  (also known as convergence)  in rural and ethnic minority areas. In general, and disproportionately in urban areas, health services will increasingly have to tackle both communicable and non- communicable diseases. One study found that currently 59 percent of deaths in Myanmar are caused by non-communicable diseases, a figure that will rise as wealth increases. In the immediate term, the core problem is equal access to services, particularly between ethnic groups. That is not to say that service delivery in ethnic minority areas is necessarily worse, on the contrary, in many ethnic areas, service delivery is highly effective, often supported by the long-term commitment of faith-based NGOs. In some cases, such as in Wa State,which is supported by strong Chinese ties, ethnic minority health care is superior to Myanmar government health services.

In general, resource allocation needs to more closely align with reducing disparities in health services. The centralization of the health system increases these disparities. However, decentralization of the health sector is limited by the 2008 military drafted Constitution which enshrines central or national level control, not state or subnational control, over health expenditure.

Such are the disparities between ethnic groups that a gap of 11 years separates the highest and lowest averages of life expectancy in Myanmar. Even so, the average life expectancy of the general population at birth in 2015 remained low  65 for men and 68 for women, the lowest in Asean, as demonstrated by the region in the health output scoring index (HOSI) in figure 1. Health services are well below acceptable levels across all regions.

Discussions in the first-year both at national and subnational levels revolved around suggestions that health care systems in sub-national areas could converge under one central government-directed and administered health system. However, while many challenges towards any convergence of subnational and national health systems remain, many more remain for the improvement of the national health system itself.

Internal migration in Vietnam and South Korea has shown that such movement helps to reduce overall poverty and bolster long-term development. However, in the short term, migration can create more vulnerable individuals and families as incomes and assets are more at risk. As a result, and lacking support networks, recent migrants  many of which are from ethnic minority backgrounds  may be more at risk from health problems. In particular, rural-urban migrants are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol consumption as well as mental health problems among the largely young, single, and rural men migrating to urban environments. They are also likely to be among the most impacted by high out-of-pocket health cost. One study found that from two (non-ethnic) regions in Myanmar, men were twice as likely to migrate than women. Internal migration will continue to put pressure on the access to health services, and other areas, and must be addressed by the government.

Health Information System

A well-functioning health information system is one that ensures the production, analysis, dissemination and use of reliable and timely information on health determinants, health systems performance and health status. WHO Health Systems Framework

Much of the current and most of the past research and data collected by the government in Myanmar has been in majority ethnic Burman areas. As such, policy has focused on the majority ethnic group. Increasingly, since the 2011 democratic transition began, this is improving, albeit slowly. The sensitivities around the collection of data were realized by the government when it commissioned a nationwide census in 2014. Sections of this data that pertain to ethnicity and religion, and was deemed too sensitive, was not immediately or fully released. This demonstrates the difficulties that data collection and thus data-derived policy continues to have in the country. Moreover, political interference in data collection and continued high levels of fear among the general population in expressing negative views of government, hamper accurate data collection. One example is an analysis of the 2014 census data that revealed that maternal and child mortality rates were in fact twice as bad as previously reported.

As noted by Khan et al (2016), disparities are exacerbated by the unequal allocation of scarce resources. They note that studies by researchers in certain regions are restricted or discouraged by authorities, including the monitoring of the collection of data at health facilities Indeed, others note that much of collected data and allocated funding only reaches Burman and Buddhist areas and not other ethnic groups, or is unequally collected in these areas. Often international NGOs support ethnic minority groups almost exclusively, at times straining relations with the Burman-majority authorities and local communities. Such has been the case in troubled RakhineSstate, which has witnessed riots against international NGOs or UN agencies seen as supporting the Muslim population and not the ethnic Rakhine population.

Myanmars health information system is highly centralized, discriminating against poorly represented ethnic minorities. Since the transition, there has been more leniency allowed in letting townships devise and institute their health plans along a framework of goals established by the MoHS. Numerous INGOs support the development and implementation of comprehensive township health plans.

The lack of infrastructure in Myanmar, including insufficient electricity and until very recently the lack of internet meant that many remote townships, particularly those in ethnic minority areas, worked to some degree almost independently along government-decreed overarching goals.

Lastly, a key remaining problem is that health information is not shared between health providers in ethnic minority areas, in particular, due to a lack of trust, between ethnic health organizations and the government. Responding to these concerns is a $100 million, four-year pilot program in Myanmar and other low resource countries led by Bloomberg and Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to improve the quality of health information collection.

Looking Ahead

A 2014 study based on interviews of representatives from international agencies working in Myanmar explored views of how to strengthen the health care system. Among the problems cited were impediments to service delivery as a result of health system weaknesses and bureaucracy, including human resource problems, data and logistical problems and not surprisingly insufficient or inadequate medical equipment, infrastructure and resources.

As Davis and Joliffe (2016) note, given the reality of continued conflict, convergence activities should be viewed primarily in terms of the need to increase coordination and cooperation between multiple providers to improve health equity through complementarity.

Looking ahead, Hernandez and Myint (2017) suggest that older people should be targeted as an approach to tackle the high burden of NCDs and create a strong health system. They note that 85 percent of aged people live with family, more than half in this circumstance contribute to household income but also provide free childcare to grandchildren, allowing parents greater freedom to work and move. The economic benefits of this are obvious; this should similarly benefit growth in ethnic minority areas, many still ravaged by conflict-related illnesses. Similar attention should be extended to all vulnerable people but ultimately all of Myanmars people are best served by an overall improvement of the health system and universal access to healthcare. A special focus on the three building blocks highlighted in this post would help give a much needed shot in the arm to healthcare in Myanmar.

Myanmar has a long way to go to improve its health system and ensure accessibility for all, needing improvements for ethnic minority access in particular. If it is to reach SDG 3 goal to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages this will take continued effort by all in government and require the support of the international community, donors and all ethnic groups in Myanmar.

Elliot Brennan is an independent researcher. He previously worked with the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee and the Myanmar Peace Centre in Yangon. He has held positions as a research fellow with think tanks in Europe and the USA as well as working with the Lowy Institutes Interpreter and IHS Janes.

This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar.
Australian integrated corporate water savings company WaterGroup has sealed a multi-year deal to license Reekohs IoT open integration platform for use within its range of smart metering and water savings services.

WaterGroup says the licensing partnership with Reekoh is aimed at building on its previous water and cost savings successes and is a move which will help tackle one of the major issues facing non-residential water users in Australia  losing 200 billion litres of water each year.

WaterGroup claims in the past 12 months it has helped its Australian customers realise water savings of almost 300 million litres and cost savings of over $1 million.

With Reekohs new platform bringing true interoperability and flexibility to a core part of WaterGroups solutions, which include IoT hardware, networks and customer applications, we are confident in predicting Reekoh will play a key part in achieving the next $1 million in water savings for our existing and future clients, says Guenter Hauber-Davidson, managing director of WaterGroup.

According to WaterGroup, the partnership with Reekoh is already off to a good start, with projects for Waverley Council and Coffs Harbour Council geared towards improving the way the councils collect data on water usage, the use of data to reduce the likelihood of water leaks and other such damage to their water networks and to deliver increased water efficiency and savings.

With Reekohs interoperability capabilities, its easier for our clients to integrate data with their own existing sustainability reporting, workflow and facility management systems  and to realise savings in both water and money, Guenter says.

Reekoh chief executive and co-founder Dale Rankine says the company sees WaterGroup as leaders in not only the smart water conservation space, but more broadly in the IoT ecosystem in Australia.

This despite the fact that the market is still maturing in terms of the hardware, networks and software solutions being adopted by customers. Thats where the Reekoh integration platform comes in to play  it has proved itself capable of dealing with the challenge of fragmentation as well as delivering the flexibility of true interoperability to customers.

With the Reekoh platform being used in WaterGroups smart water metering systems, WaterGroup customers dont need to be locked into a particular technology if they want to realise the benefits of IoT-based solutions and services. This, in turn, helps ensure that WaterGroup delivers outcomes to its customers such as faster installation and tangible savings in dollars and water.
Researchers from Slovakian security firm ESET claim that nearly 70,000 Android devices were infected with malware that was used to make up a botnet named WireX before Google reacted and removed the affected software from its Play Store.

The search giant removed about 300 apps from the store after learning that these apps were being hijacked and used for distributed denial of service attacks.

ESET says it warned its followers on social media about the malware in early August.

It said that Google only started removing the apps after becoming aware of the attacks.

ESET quoted Google as saying: "We identified approximately 300 apps associated with the issue, blocked them from the Play Store, and were in the process of removing them from all affected devices.

The researchers findings, combined with our own analysis, have enabled us to better protect Android users, everywhere."

ESET said one of its detection engineers, Lukas Stefanko, was the first to notice the malware 20 days before the apps were removed from the store.

"We detected this infiltration as Android/HiddenApp and Android/Clickerand, plus we were one of the first to disclose this threat and how to get rid of it, Stefanko said.

ESET said he had immediately reported the issue to Google.

Once I discovered this threat we immediately informed users through our social networks to be aware of these malicious apps and with instructions how to uninstall them,"Stefanko said.
Labor's shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland has slammed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over what she says is a 3-year delay in completing the rollout of the national broadband network at a cost claimed to be $20 billion over budget.

She was reacting to the release on Thursday of NBN Co's corporate plan for the period 2018- 2021 in which the company outlined its goals for the ongoing rollout, including projections for the first year after what is forecasts to be the completed rollout.

In a statement, Rowland said that Turnbull had promised in 2013 that he would deliver the NBN for $29.5 billion by the end of 2016.

She said in sharp contrast, Thursday's NBN Co corporate plan confirmed that the NBN was now scheduled for completion in July 2020 at a cost of nearly $50 billion.

"That is 3 years late and $20 billion over budget," Rowland said. This joke of an NBN is not faster or cheaper, it is slower and more expensive.

Commenting on the financial projections by NBN Co, Rowland said at the start of the media conference to announce the plan, "(Communications Minister) Mitch Fifield said 'just because (NBN Chief executive) Bill Morrow and his team looked relaxed, it doesnt mean that they are'  and they shouldnt be.

Malcolm Turnbulls second-rate NBN is on the ropes. The economics of the multi-technology mix are buckling, and there are some very serious questions NBN Co will have to answer.

The corporate plan said that the number of premises to be covered had fallen to 11.6 million with fresh geospatial mapping predicting this lower figure. The earlier figure had been 300,000 more.

Rowland said it appeared "that 300,000 homes have vanished from Malcolm's master map. Yet the rollout is not going to be any faster or cheaper. This is remarkable. What is going on here?

Following up on the release of the corporate plan, the executive director of Internet Australia, a non-profit representing Australian users, called for NBN Co to abandon the use of copper.

Laurie Patton said: "We're pleased to see that NBN Co is clearly moving in this direction."

He said that while it would have been better to have stuck with an all-fibre rollout, fibre-to-the-kerb (what NBN Co calls fibre-to-the-curb) was "a reasonable middle ground. At least it can be upgraded to full-fibre at a later time. When it comes to FttN it's a case of ripping it out at great expense".

Patton also pointed out that in New Zealand, Chorus, which is rolling out that country's broadband network, "has reduced the per premise cost of FttP by around 40-50% as they improve their rollout processes. Surely NBN Co isn't expecting us to believe that they can't do the same?"

He said the way things were going, "whoever is in office in 2020 will have to deal with our biggest ever national infrastructure debacle. NBN Co will owe the government circa $19 billion and within 5 to 10 years it will need to fund a very expensive FttN replacement".
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The warmongers in the Trump administration (you didnt fall for that isolationism scam did you?) have been exploring ways to blow up the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump has repeatedly castigated as a very bad deal.

One ploy theyve fixed on is to demand inspections of the Parchin military base, on the pretext that nuclear-related experiments are going on there, and not being inspected by the UNs International Atomic Energy Agency. The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty exempts military bases from such inspections, at American and Soviet/ Russian insistence. So Iran has no treaty obligation to allow inspections of its military bases.

Trump has also ordered that the State Department do its own assessment of Iranian compliance every 90 days. The State Department, apparently to the disappointment of administration hawks, has already come back with a finding of compliance.

The Iran deal was in fact much more favorable to the US and the Security Council than to Iran. Iran had to give up a great deal, and all it got in return was a lifting of UN economic sanctions (the US Congress has actually made US sanctions on Iran *more* severe in the wake of the agreement; the US is about 22% of the world economy).

What the deal did was to close off all the pathways to an Iranian nuclear bomb. Iran had to severely limit the number of centrifuges it runs. It had to destroy stockpiles of uranium enriched to 19.5%. It had to mothball and brick in a heavy water reactor, since heavy water reactors are easier to use to build up and harvest fissile material from the rods. It had to allow IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities to ensure that no plutonium signatures can be detected.

There is nothing going on at the Parchin military base that contravenes any of these responsibilities, and Iran has no duty under either the NPT or the 2015 deal to allow such inspections. Moreover, the IAEA thinks the demand is daft.

So the International Atomic Energy Agency certified this week that Iran is in compliance with the deal.

Its members pointed out that Parchin has already been inspected, in 2015. One evinced suspicion of Trumps motives, observing, Were not going to visit a military site like Parchin just to send a political signal . . . If they want to bring down the deal, they will . . . We just dont want to give them an excuse to.

The IAEA said that Iran does not have more than the 661 pounds of low-enriched uranium allowed by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

End of story.

There are no banks of centrifuges at the Parchin military base and there is no stockpile of low-enriched uranium (which anyway is only useful for fueling reactors at power plants to make electricity). The US has Parchin under satellite surveillance, and there would be ways of telling if it were using a lot of water and electricity, both necessary for the kind of nefarious activities that Nikki Haley is alleging occur there.

Haley is from India, which developed a nuclear weapon, and represents the United States, which has a large stockpile of nuclear warheads, so it is a little funny to see her beating up Iran, which doesnt have a bomb and whose religious leader says such weapons are forbidden by Islamic law.

The only reason that the Trumpies are demanding inspections of Parchin is that they know Iran will reject the demand. It is a sort of ultimatum, and the point of an ultimatum is to provoke a war.

The Iran deal was signed by Russia, China, Britain, France, the US, and Germany as an informal representative of the European Union. Only one of the signatories is making trouble now, despite continual certifications of the experts that Iran is in compliance. That country is the US, which has a history of coup-making, invasions and occupation in the Middle East.



Related video:

Press TV: US calls for access to Irans military bases
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By Jake Johnson, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org) |  



People dont know whats seeping into their air and their homes.

Now the things exploded, and people dont know whats seeping into their air and their homes.

Lydia DePillis, Houston Chronicle

Two explosions and plumes of black smoke were reported early Thursday morning at an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas following warnings from Arkema CEO Richard Rowe Wednesday night that high water and lack of power caused by Hurricane Harvey placed the facility at serious risk.

In a statement on Thursday, Arkema urged residents to stay clear of the site and cautioned that the threat of additional explosion remains.

The company continued:

As we communicated in recent days, our site followed its hurricane preparation plan in advance of the recent hurricane and we had redundant contingency plans in place. However, unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we lost critical refrigeration of the products on site. Some of our organic peroxides products burn if not stored at low temperature.

CBS19, the Houston affiliate, first reported the explosions early Thursday and noted that black smoke was emerging from the area.

Arkemas CEO warned Wednesday night that any fire resulting from exploding chemicals would likely resemble a large gasoline fire.

The fire will be explosive and intense, he concluded.

As CNN noted, one deputy was hospitalized after he inhaled fumes from the plant. Nine others drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution.

Green groups have in recent days warned that explosions of this kind were likely to result from a massive rain event like Hurricane Harvey striking the heart of the petrochemical industry. As the Huffington Post noted, Arkema is among dozens of chemical plants and refineries in the Houston area, many of which have sustained damage in this weeks flooding, causing harm to residents health and the environment.

Living just two miles from one of the largest collections of chemical plants and refineries, Ive seen the black smoke burning off from these deadly and dangerous plants, Ive smelled the oil and chemicals, and I know the fear that strikes so many of our communities on a daily basis, which has been magnified by Harvey, said Sierra Club organizer Bryan Parras. Perhaps the most terrifying thing at the moment is that we simply dont know whats happening at these facilities.

Refineries have already begun to emit dangerous pollution as a result of Hurricane Harvey, Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, and local reporters are warning that it is unclear what impact the fumes from Thursdays explosion and its aftermath will have on the population.

Now the things exploded, and people dont know whats seeping into their air and their homes, wrote Houston Chronicle reporter Lydia DePillis.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Via Commondreams.org



Related video added by Juan Cole:

TYT: Flooded Chemical Plant Explodes In Houston
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By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) |  

When the neo-fascist National Front is more willing to condemn neo-Nazis than Trump, we have a problem.

On race relations, the United States has slipped into the same category as Burundi and Iraq.

After the violence in Charlottesville earlier this month  and the outrage generated by President Trumps response  the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued an early warning.

As the chair of the committee, Anastasia Crickley, put it: We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants, and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred.

The committee published such early warnings in the past to call attention to the potential for genocidal violence in Burundi and sectarian strife in Iraq.

In its recent statement, the UN also called on the government of the United States of America, as well as high-level politicians and public officials, to unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes in Charlottesville and throughout the country.

The statement didnt mention Trump, but it clearly targeted the equivocator in chief. The presidents first impulse was to condemn the violence on many sides. A more measured denunciation of the Ku Klu Klan and white nationalism followed, which the adults in the administration had clearly spoon-fed the president. Only a couple days later, Trump was back praising some very fine people among the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who rallied around Confederate General Robert E. Lees statue in Charlottesville.

Condemning racism and Nazism would seem to be a no-brainer. But then, this is a president who refused to distance himself during the 2016 presidential campaign from neo-Nazi David Duke.

Trumps response to the events in Charlottesville has further clarified that the president has no intention of moving to the political center. His stance has driven a deeper wedge between his extremist supporters and mainstream Republicans. Bob Corker (R-TN), whod been in the running for Trumps vice president and then his secretary of state, took the opportunity to question the presidents competence.

Even some members of the Trump administration, like top economic advisor Gary Cohn, have condemned the presidents refusal to take an unequivocal stand against racism and anti-Semitism. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson effectively separated the entire State Department from Trumps utterances when he said that the president speaks for himself.

Its bad enough the effect Trump is having on the state of race relations in the United States. But his attempt to turn back the clock to antebellum America is also having a powerful impact internationally, as the UN early warning suggests. The launch of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord in 1775 was the shot heard round the world. Trump and the radical right want to launch a different revolution. They hope that the racist demonstration in Charlottesville is a salvo that changes not only America, but what America stands for in the world.

Selling America

An East Timor activist once recounted to me his experience at a democracy seminar that the United States sponsored in his country. The American presenter was lecturing the activist and his colleagues about how American democracy works and why other countries should follow the U.S. model. The audience listened politely, but a ripple of frustration gradually made its way through the assembled activists.

Finally, one of them stood up in the question-and-answer period and said, bluntly, Pardon me, but why should we take what you are saying seriously considering whats going on in Florida?

The seminar, you see, was taking place in December 2000 while the Supreme Court was in the process of helping George W. Bush steal the presidential election.

No amount of detailed explanation of checks and balances could make up for the quite obvious deformation of democracy that was taking place that year. No amount of do as we say not as we do rationalization could disguise the fact that the United States had failed to correct the malign influence of wealth on our political system even as we were attempting to export that system overseas.

The East Timorese were wise to take what Americans said about democracy with a grain of salt. Eight subsequent years of even more disastrous democracy promotion followed.

Then came Barack Obama, and many breathed a sigh of relief that American democracy could work. The election of the first African American president was a sign for many around the world that even a country born in racism and genocide could transcend its origins, that Americans could indeed achieve a more perfect union, that progress was something attainable by all.

Few were naive enough to believe that the Obama presidency signaled the end of racism in American society. But the election of Obama promoted American democracy far more effectively than seminars in East Timor or U.S. tanks in Iraq.

Now, the world is suffering from the whiplash effect of Trump. It is one thing to come to terms with the fact that so many Americans had voted for Trump. Now, after Charlottesville, the international community must somehow wrap its mind around the fact that nearly 30 million Americans think its acceptable to hold neo-Nazi views. In other words, inside the United States is a community larger than North Korea that endorses extreme racist viewpoints. Lets hope that this community of American ideologues never gets its hands on weapons of mass destruction any more powerful than Fox News.

Given these numbers  which are a reminder that its not just a handful of protesters and an unhinged president who flirt with white supremacy  its not surprising that the international reaction to Charlottesville borders on the apocalyptic.

Canadian columnists look south at the events in Charlottesville and see a real potential for a second civil war to break out. Turkish journalists see in these events the inexorable decline of America. Gideon Rachman, the Financial Times columnist, worries that Trump will stoke war overseas to distract from domestic woes like the aftermath of the Charlottesville events. Under Donald Trump, he asserts, America looks like a dangerous nation. Iraq, Libya, and many other tragic misadventures in recent years apparently didnt disturb the sleep of the otherwise staid journalist as much as the current U.S. president now does.

But not everyone was upset with Trumps swing-and-a-miss on Charlottesville. The U.S. president is not just about promoting divisions within America. He aspires to polarize the world.

On his side are some usual suspects, like the neo-fascist Golden Dawn movement in Greece, which called the right-wing protest a dynamic demonstration against illegal immigration by American patriots. Trump could also count on some surprising allies like Benjamin Netanyahu, who might ordinarily condemn the anti-Semitism of the right-wing protestors, but who feels its more important to line up with his friend in the White House. Also noticeably absent from expressions of outrage have been Trumps erstwhile allies Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, all of whom are in the midst of their own homegrown manipulations of nationalism.

But in a sign that perhaps Trump has moved so far to the right that he is isolated even from the European far right, Florian Phillipot of Frances National Front declared after Charlottesville, These were white supremacists and racists. They need to be condemned in very clear terms.

When the neo-fascist National Front is more progressive than the president of the United States, then, yes, Washington, we have a problem.

The Real Face of America?

African Americans, particularly of the older generation, were not particularly surprised by the result of the 2016 presidential election. They remembered how openly racist America had been for most of its history, and they knew that these sentiments still lay close to the surface of public life. Obama was an exception, not the rule. Donald Trump, meanwhile, was the manifestation of all the ugliness that some white people continued to voice in the safety of their all-white enclaves and all the intolerance that other white people kept bottled up to maintain appearances in their more multicultural environments.

I was mostly irritated every time people would say Oh God, we cant have a racist be the American president, because I kept wondering, since when? African American journalist Melissa Harris-Perry said after the election. For most of American history, racism has been a prerequisite to win the American presidency. One had to actually demonstrate ones racism to become the American president.

I have traveled to many countries where the American example of civil rights organizing and multicultural education are an inspiration. I sat in on a strategy session in 1995 for Roma eager to apply the lessons of the civil rights movement to their own struggle in Eastern Europe. I put together a conflict resolution training program in South Korea in 2000 that drew on decades of multicultural education in the United States.

The people I talked to overseas are not blind to the sordid history of the United States. But they also know that all countries have sordid histories. They prefer to extract from the American experience that which is most usable.

The election of Donald Trump doesnt erase these inspirational examples. In fact, it may generate even more inspirational tales of resistance.

But when the White House now stands for the worst elements of human nature, it becomes all too easy to dismiss everything about the U.S. experience  just as the Supreme Court decision in the 2000 election could be seen as negating everything about the U.S. political tradition. America becomes Amerikkka, and all that is good is at risk of getting thrown out with the racist bathwater.

The radical right in Charlottesville doesnt just want to maintain a particular statue or set of statues. It doesnt just want to use the Trump presidency as the springboard for a more thoroughgoing transformation of U.S. society. It wants to eclipse on a global scale everything worthwhile in the American tradition.

With Charlottesville, the United States seemed to forfeit its right to participate in the effort to move the world ever so incrementally along the arc of justice. Its now up to our social movements to rescue our reputation and bring us back into the fight for human rights globally. As the radical right pushes for disunion, we must keep our eyes on the prize of an ever more perfect union.
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TeleSur |  

Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Friday.

Bangladeshi border guards have recovered two dozen bodies from the countrys shore in the last two days, as tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee violence in Myanmar.

The bodies of 11 Rohingya children and nine women washed up on the Bangladesh side of the Naf river after their boat overturned, said Ariful Islam, a commander with Bangladeshs border guards.

On Wednesday, the bodies of two Rohingya women and two children were recovered after their boat was fired on by Myanmars Border Guard Police, Islam said.

Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats ill-equipped for the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape the worst violence involving the Myanmar minority in at least five years.

According to three United Nations sources, around 27,400 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Friday, after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, leading to clashes that have killed at least 117 people.

One survivor told AFP that the small, overcrowded boat he was traveling in had been tipped over by huge waves near where the Naf river opens out into the sea.

Nobody knew how to navigate the sea waters. When huge waves tilted the boat, we panicked, Shah Karim said.

About 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmars Rakhine state, but they are denied citizenship and are seen by many officials in Myanmar as illegal immigrants. Bangladesh is also growing increasingly hostile to Rohingya, more than 400,000 of whom live in the South Asian country after fleeing Myanmar since the early 1990s.

Bangladesh sent back 366 Rohingya trying to enter the country mainly by small wooden boats Wednesday, though thousands of others have set up temporary camps along the land border between the countries.

We have given shelter to a huge number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds and its a big problem for us, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, according to the state-run BSS news agency

The Myanmar government said its security forces are carrying out clearance operations in northern Rakhine to defend the country against extremist terrorists. Thousands of Buddhists from Rakhine were evacuated since the start of the fighting, it said.

Chris Lewa, of the Rohingya monitoring group the Arakan Project, said to Reuters it appeared Myanmar security forces were trying to drive out a large proportion of the Rohingya population as their villages have burned down.

What were hearing is burning, burning, burning, she said. And it seems to be spreading from south to north.

Abdullah, a Rohingya from the region of Buthidaung, told Reuters four of the six hamlets in his village of Mee Chaung Zay had been burned down by security forces. All its residents have had to flee toward Bangladesh.

The situation is very terrifying, houses are burning, all the people ran away from their homes, parents and children were divided, some were lost, some are dead, Abdullah said.

Via TeleSur



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Aljazeera English: Myanmars Rohingya refugees: If we go back they will slice us into pieces'
What Age Do Kids Get Tried As Adults In Texas?

Dallas, 08/25/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Should a teenager be sentenced to life in prison? Its a question that has resonated throughout the criminal justice system in recent years. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional. In 2016, the Court elaborated on its ruling by holding that its 2012 decision should apply retroactively. This means that any juveniles serving a life sentence without parole will get the chance to be paroled.

However, the Supreme Courts decision also permits states to impose life sentences for juvenile offenders who are irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible. As these terms are subject to interpretation, many states continue to deny parole to juvenile offenders who are just 16 and 17 years old.

Texas House Passes Bill to Raise the Age of Criminal Responsibility to 18

Because the Supreme Court leaves the interpretation of irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible in the states hands, many states have taken steps to ensure juvenile offenders in their courts are not slapped with a life sentence before they even reach adulthood.

In Texas, for example, state lawmakers in the House passed the Raise the Age bill, which proposes to keep 17-year-olds from being prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system. The bill passed in the House in April 2017. If the state Senate passes the bill, all 17-year-olds would be tried in the juvenile system beginning in 2021.

Proponents of the bill say that keeping these teens in the juvenile system will cause recidivism rates to drop, as well as address the rehabilitation needs of young people caught up in the criminal justice system.

Those in favor of the bill have also shot down claims that removing 17-year-olds from the adult system will raise costs. They point to results in other states, which have not experienced rising costs after changing the rules for juvenile prosecutions.

How Other States Treat Juvenile Offenders

Currently, just six states, including Texas, treat 17-year-olds as adults.

In Florida, which has the highest number of juvenile offenders serving time in adult prisons, juveniles are transferred to the adult system at a rate eight times higher than the next state in line (California). In fact, Florida has more juveniles serving prison sentences in adult prisons than 28 other states combined.

Over the last five years, Florida has tried over 12,000 juveniles as adults. Additionally, prosecutors in Florida have the authority to direct file, which means they can send kids as young as 14 to the adult system without a single hearing and zero burden on the prosecution to prove why prosecuting in the adult system is reasonable or necessary. The state allows direct files automatically for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Contact a Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer About Your Case

If your child has been charged with a crime and is facing prosecution in the adult criminal justice system, speak to an experienced Texas criminal defense lawyer right away.

Sources:

Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer

http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/

Broden & Mickelsen, LLP

2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204

Main Phone: (214) 720-9552

source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/age-kids-get-tried-adults-texas/

Social Media Tags:Texas criminal defense lawyer, Juvenile Offenders Texas, Juvenile Offenders, Dallas criminal defense lawyer, Age of Criminal Responsibility

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Dallas, Texas, 08/28/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Many people hear that a crime is aggravated and wonder what that means. What distinguishes a robbery from an aggravated robbery, for example? Is one worse than the other?

The short answer is that, yes, an aggravated crime is a more serious charge that carries more severe penalties upon conviction. Generally speaking, to be charged with an aggravated crime, a defendant must have done something that made the offense more dangerous. For example, breaking into someones house is likely to result in a burglary charge. But breaking into a house with a loaded gun in your jacket will probably result in an aggravated burglary charge, even if you didnt use the gun or threaten anyone with it during the break-in. In many cases, simply having a dangerous and deadly weapon with you at the time of a crime is enough for police or prosecutors to bump up the charge.

Aggravated Crimes Have More Serious Penalties

Although what constitutes an aggravated crime varies from state to state, the law generally imposes enhanced penalties on crimes that involve specific factors. These factors make the crimes more serious and more dangerous, which is why theyre considered aggravated versions of the basic offensesometimes called a simple version of the same crime.

Using or Possessing a Weapon  In most cases, just carrying a weapon with you while you commit a crime is enough to generate an aggravated charge.

Causing Bodily Injury  The law takes it seriously when people get hurt during a crime. For example, getting into a shoving match at a bar might result in a simple assault charge. This could easily get bumped up to aggravated assault, however, if one person punches the other, causing bodily injury.

Crimes Against Certain Individuals  Crimes can also be aggravated if they are carried out against individuals in certain careers, or those deemed especially vulnerable by society. For example, crimes against children and the elderly may be charged as aggravated. The same is true for offenses that victimize the disabled or mentally challenged. Many statutes also include aggravated charges for crimes carried out against police officers and rescue personnel, such as EMS workers and firefighters.

Just because a criminal charge is classified as aggravated, however, does not mean it cant be lowered to a regular offense at some point during the case. In some situations, prosecutors will agree to drop the charge to a lower charge in exchange for the defendant pleading guilty to a lesser charge. In other cases, the prosecution doesnt have adequate evidence to establish a case for an aggravated crime.

Speak to a Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Today

Have you been charged with an aggravated crime in Texas? A lawyer can help you protect your important legal rights. Get in touch with an experienced Texas criminal defense lawyer to discuss the options in your case.

Sources:

Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers in Dallas

http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/

Broden & Mickelsen, LLP

2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204

Main Phone: (214) 720-9552

source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/aggravated-crime-texas/

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Dallas, Texas, 08/29/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Statutes of limitations put a limit on how long a person can be prosecuted for a crime. These time limits also exist in civil law. For example, the statute of limitations for suing someone over a breach of contract is generally 10 years. This ensures that people dont have to spend their lives constantly looking over the shoulder, anticipating a lawsuit over something that happened decades ago.

In the criminal context, statutes of limitations work the same way. In most cases, the clock starts running when the person commits a crime, however, there are some instances in which the clock is delayed.

If youre facing prosecution for a crime that happened a long time ago, its important to remember that statutes of limitations vary from state to state. There are also different statutes of limitations depending on whether youve been charged at the state or the federal level. If youve been charged with multiple crimes arising from the same incident, its even possible that the statute of limitations has expired for some crimes but not others.

What If the Statute of Limitations Has Run on My Crime?

If the statute of limitations has expired for the offense youre charged with, you have an affirmative defense against the charges. Under Texas law, the statute of limitations for misdemeanors is two years. For felonies, which are more serious crimes punishable by jail time, the statute of limitations varies, with many felonies carrying a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

If the statute of limitations has definitely passed, the prosecution cant pursue a case against you. However, there is a chance you may still face a civil lawsuit. This occurred in the sexual assault obligations brought against Bill Cosby. Although the statute of limitations for sexual assault had passed in the various states in which he was accused, some victims still pursued money damages against him in civil court. Media reports also state that some states have started to extend or even eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual assault in the wake of the Cosby case.

Crimes Without a Statute of Limitations

In certain cases, society considers some crimes so terrible that there is no time limit on prosecuting them. In Texas, for example, there is no statute of limitations for murder or manslaughter. Texas has also eliminated time limits for specific types of sexual assault.

The rules are different in other states. In Arizona and Colorado, for example, state law puts no time limits on crimes involving public funds or public records. In Colorado, there is no statute of limitations for the crime of treason. Other states have done away with statutes of limitations for crimes like kidnapping, arson, and violent offenses.

Contact a Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer About Your Case

If youre facing any type of criminal prosecution in Texas courts or federal court, its important to contact a Dallas criminal defense lawyer about your case.

Sources:

Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer

http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/

Broden & Mickelsen, LLP

2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204

Main Phone: (214) 720-9552

source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/every-crime-statute-limitations/

Social Media Tags:Crimes Without a Statute of Limitations, Statute of Limitations, Texas criminal defense lawyer

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Boca Raton, FL, USA, 08/30/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

The Trump Administration, in its efforts to create a more business-friendly federal government, has made a decision that could result in more deaths and serious injuries caused in commercial truck accidents. A planned regulation wouldve required truck drivers be screened for sleep apnea, which if untreated could result in fatigued or drowsy drivers. Boca truck accident lawyer Joe Osborne says without the regulation the chances of a truck accident caused by a fatigued and distracted driver increase.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) announced earlier this month a regulation requiring testing of train engineers and truck drivers for sleep apnea proposed by the Obama administration will not be pursued, reports the Associated Press (AP). The disorder causes temporary heart stoppages while the person sleeps, waking him or her up several times a night. In the morning the person is fatigued and easily distracted because of the lack of quality sleep. Train engineers and truck drivers with sleep apnea have been blamed for deadly train crashes in New York City and New Jersey and several highway crashes.

The FMCSA stated trucking companies will decide whether or not to test drivers. This is but one of hundreds of regulations that have been withdrawn or delayed by the administration. It claims reduced regulations will result in economic growth. Former FRA administer Sarah Feinberg was quoted by the AP as saying,

Its very hard to argue that people arent being put at riskWe cannot have someone who is in that condition operating either a train going 70 mph or operating a multi-ton truck traveling down the interstate. Its just not an appropriate level of risk to be exposing passengers and the traveling public to.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated it was disappointed the proposed rule is being dropped. The agency stated sleep apnea has been found to be the probable cause of ten highway and rail accidents it has investigated in the past 17 years. Its also suspected in a number of ongoing investigations.

More than a quarter (28%) of commercial truck drivers have mild to severe sleep apnea according to a study sponsored by the FMCSA and the American Transportation Research Institute of the American Trucking Associations.

The FMCSA states that untreated sleep apnea affects alertness and performance. It can make it difficult for drivers to stay awake, focus their eyes and react when driving. Studies have shown that those with the condition have a greater risk of being involved in a fatigue-related motor vehicle accident. Even though a driver with untreated sleep apnea may not fall asleep behind the wheel if he or she is fatigued enough to be distracted or inattentive that may be enough to cause an accident.

FMCSA regulations state a person with a diagnosis of a condition likely to interfere with their ability to drive safely cannot be medically qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce. If a driver is diagnosed with sleep apnea and successfully treated he or she can be medically cleared to drive again.

source: http://www.oa-lawfirm.com/decision-puts-money-ahead-safety-warns-boca-truck-accident-lawyer-joe-osborne/

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The Embassy of Uzbekistan contributed the below article on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of the country's Independence Day.  ED.





Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev

After gaining independence, Uzbekistan took a worthy place in the world community. Over the years, great creative work has been carried out. Human honor and dignity are exalted, the wellbeing of the people is ensured, and the appearance of our cities and villages has radically changed. Due to independence, we gained freedom, and revived ancient traditions. All this is directly connected with the name of the founder of independent Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov. The great political leader Islam Karimov left an independent and prosperous country to our people.

This noble work, taking into account modern requirements, is consistently and systematically being continued by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Uzbekistan is implementing foreign policy based on the principles of peace and cooperation, mutual interest, respect and trust, without interference in the internal affairs of other states.

Measures that are being taken in Uzbekistan on further strengthening cooperation with neighboring countries are worthy of special attention. A vivid embodiment of these efforts is the fact that the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev made the first state visits to neighboring countries.

The ideas and initiatives forwarded by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Action Strategy defined for 2017-2021, are opening wide opportunities for deepening socioeconomic reforms, further strengthening trade, and economic and investment cooperation with other states.

Today, Uzbekistan is demonstrating a steady pace of development in all spheres under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Effective multilateral foreign policy serves as an important factor in increasing the export potential and expanding economic opportunities of Uzbekistan.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev was born on July 24, 1957, in Zaamin District of Jizzakh Region to a family of doctors. He is an Uzbek by nationality, with a higher education. In 1981, he graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Engineers of Irrigation and Mechanization of Agriculture and earned a degree in mechanical engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences, and is an associate professor.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev started his career in 1981 at the Tashkent Institute of Engineers of Irrigation and Mechanization of Agriculture, where he served as a junior research fellow, senior lecturer, associate professor and vice rector for academic affairs.

In 1990, he was elected deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic. He served as chairman of the Credentials Committee.

In 1992, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was appointed khokim (governor) of Mirzo Ulugbek District of the city of Tashkent. From 1996 to 2001, he served as khokim of the Jizzakh Region, and from 2001 to 2003 as khokim of Samarkand Region, and made a great contribution to the socioeconomic development of the aforementioned district and regions.

While working in the executive branch and at the same time as deputy of the Oliy Majlis (Supreme Assembly) of the Republic of Uzbekistan from 1995 to 2003, he has actively and fruitfully participated in the elaboration and adoption of important legislative acts on political and socioeconomic development of the country, and the implementation of democratic reforms.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev was approved as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2003, and three times (in 2005, 2010 and 2015) was approved again in his post by both Chambers of the Oliy Majlis.

From the early years of our motherland's independence Shavkat Mirziyoyev earned the high trust of the first President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, by selflessly working as his colleague and close associate.

As head of the Government, he has shown tremendous abilities and outstanding leadership in the implementation of wide-ranging socioeconomic reforms, the modernization and improvement of the country, the realization of major and unique projects, the development and protection of private property, and the radical increase in the share of small businesses and private enterprises in the economy and consolidation of their legal security.

In his activities Shavkat Mirziyoyev attached a special significance to economic development on an industrial basis, the improvement of the country's exporting potential, a cardinal transformation of the agricultural sector, especially the extensive advancement of farming enterprise, processing of agricultural products, provision for food security of the nation and a guaranteed supply of goods for the population at reasonable prices.

In order to drastically uplift the living and working conditions of the people, Shavkat Mirziyoyev took effective measures for large-scale construction and improvement works in all regions of the country, to improve the quality of public services, and integrated development of cities and districts, including remote rural areas.

In his activities, along with the socioeconomic dimension, a significant emphasis is placed _ as a priority focus _ on the progress of education, science and healthcare in accordance with modern requirements, and the creation of conditions necessary for the formation of a healthy and comprehensively advanced younger generation, and the protection of motherhood and childhood.

He has paid much attention to the further enhancement of the credibility of the unique institution of self-government _ makhalla _ and other social organizations, the consistent consolidation of their role in the community through broad involvement in the process of democratic reforms, as well as the preservation and enrichment of national spiritual values.

Along with this, in addressing economic and social issues Shavkat Mirziyoyev directly supervised efforts to build up comprehensive mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, international organizations and financial institutions, as well as important agreements that serve the national interests and economic development of the country.

On Sept. 8, 2016, on the basis of a joint resolution of the Legislative Chamber (Lower House) and Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan adopted at a joint session, then-Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev was temporarily assigned the duties and powers of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

On Oct. 19, 2016 the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen _ Liberal- Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP) _ during its eighth convention in Tashkent nominated the member of the Political Council of the Party Shavkat Mirziyoyev as its candidate for the presidential elections.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected President of the Republic of Uzbekistan with 88.61 percent of the vote based on the results of the presidential elections that took place on Dec. 4, 2016. Shavkat Mirziyoyev officially assumed the post of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Dec. 14, 2016.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev is married, with two daughters, one son and five grandchildren. His spouse, Z.M. Mirziyoyeva, has the qualification of engineer-economist. At present, she is a housewife.

In recognition of the many years of productive work in the Government and management, the enormous contribution to the development of the country, and the improvement of the people's welfare, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was awarded the Order "Mekhnat Shukhrati" (Glory of Labor) and "Fidokorona Khizmatlari Uchun" (For Selfless Service).
By Jun Ji-hye

The Ministry of National Defense will host a global security forum in Seoul next month to discuss evolving threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile programs as well as other challenging issues such as maritime disputes and cyber terrorism.





The ministry said Wednesday that the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) will begin Sept. 6 for a three-day run at the Westin Chosun Hotel in central Seoul.

The SDD is an annual multilateral dialogue of vice minister-level defense officials and security experts, aimed at examining ways of better coping with various threats facing the international community.

This year marks the 6th time the SDD has been held.

"The topic for the SDD 2017 is Visions for Security Cooperation in an Age of Uncertainty,'" said Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk during a briefing. "Defense officials and experts from 38 countries and four international organizations will participate this time."

Vice defense ministers from Germany, Italy and Finland will attend the forum for the first time, the ministry said, adding that Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

There will be four plenary sessions on issues including the North Korean nuclear issues, maritime disputes and cyber security as well as international cooperation in counter-terrorism.

Participants in the plenary sessions include Seoul's First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, Vice Defense Minister Suh and 7th U.S. Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Bergeson as well as Daniel R. Russel who served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

The two special sessions will deal with issues related to the fourth industrial revolution and defense technologies, and a paradigm shift to future warfare.

On the sidelines of the forum, a variety of bilateral and multilateral talks will take place to build trust and friendship between defense officials from participating nations.

Suh will attend a meeting with vice defense ministers from ASEAN member countries in an effort to contribute to establishing peace and stability in the region, the ministry noted. ASEAN refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, consisting of 10 members _ Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

China is unlikely to attend the forum for the second year in a row as the country has yet to reply to an invitation by South Korea.

A representative from Beijing had participated in the SDD from 2012 to 2015, but was not present last year in an apparent protest against Seoul's decision to host a U.S. anti-missile system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery.

China has been strongly protesting the decision, claiming the system's radar could be used to spy on its military activities, although Seoul and Washington has insisted THAAD is only designed to deter growing nuclear and missile threats from the North.
Uzbekistan is a fast-developing economy that provides ample opportunities for young people. /Courtesy of Embassy of Uzbekistan



At the initiative of the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, a good tradition has developed to give each year a certain name, to develop a special state program and implement comprehensive measures. By tradition, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2017 in Uzbekistan as the Year of Dialogue with the People and Human Interests.

A new system of dialogue with people and working with appeals has been created under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, with state bodies of all levels guided in their activity by the principle: "People should not serve the state bodies, but the state bodies should serve people," which, in turn, contributes to lasting approval of justice in our society, ensuring human rights and interests.

In the process of further improving the effectiveness of implemented reforms, special attention is paid to the establishment of close dialogue between state governing bodies, officials of all levels and the people, alleviating concerns of citizens. Traveling receptions for citizens conducted by responsible employees of the service for control and coordination of the activities for appeals of individuals and legal entities of the Office of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan contribute to solving problems. Such receptions are held in all regions of our country.

The Action Strategy on Further Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, approved by the Feb. 7 Decree of the President, has become an important document determining the direction of further reforms aimed at improving the wellbeing of the population.

The Basic Law, which guarantees human rights and freedoms, notes: "People are the only source of state power." The highest value is a person, his honor and dignity, and human interests, and this is enshrined in law, and vividly reflected in the tasks and measures of each of the five priority areas of the Action Strategy.

To date, in compliance with the State Program's Year of Dialogue with the People and Human Interests, more than 100 legislative acts have been adopted aimed at developing and modernizing road, transport, engineering, communication and social infrastructure, and improving the system of health care, education and sports. In turn, serious financial investments are required in order to implement measures outlined in the adopted legislative acts.





Heads of "Mahalla" talk with residents.



At the initiative of the head of our state, public receptions began to operate at various places. They serve as a kind of reliable bridge between state governing bodies and the people. These structures have become the main mechanism for the realization of human rights and freedoms, ensuring the priority of human interests. A business atmosphere is created there, all amenities are provided for those who are addressed, the attitude towards visitors has changed, and decisions are made on the basis of legislation. The person who has applied to the public reception feels free and sets forth his problems in detail. Each appeal is officially registered. Terms of consideration are reported. Serious monitoring and control of activities on objective study and decision-making on each appeal is carried out.

Public receptions are an important mechanism of democratic renewal for society, and for monitoring the implementation of priority tasks aimed at ensuring human interests, because the basic principles of civil society are the equality of all before the law and free expression of one's own opinion.

It is appropriate to note that conditions and possibilities created by the state on protecting human rights and freedoms place a certain responsibility also on citizens. Appeals received at public receptions or on the government's electronic portal should be objective and justified. It is unacceptable for appeals to have the character of personal dislike, concern a conflict with someone or the deliberate eviction of anger. This program was forwarded by the head of our state in order to protect the interests of every citizen, and the realization of his/her rights and freedoms, which, ultimately, serves the achievement of such goals as the development of the country and the welfare of the population.





Uzbek officials hold a policy discussion session with citizens at International Press Club.



In a word, an environment has been created and a process has begun for increasing self-awareness. People's faith in justice grows stronger and confidence in the state increases due to the fair solution of issues and problems concerning the population and the removal of bureaucratic obstacles and red tape.

lk arts, culture, traditions, flora and fauna, museums, restaurants and other useful information for tourist companies and individuals planning a trip to our country. At the present time the portal is available in English, Russian and German, and we are preparing a portal for Korean, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic languages.

Held annually since 1995, the Tashkent International Tourism Fair (TITF) "Tourism on the Silk Road" was rated by leading experts as a prestigious event in the world of tourism, and it entered the World Tourism Organization in the annual tourist calendar of major events. TITF is rightly recognized as a working platform for the promotion of tourist products and establishing business contacts.

It should be noted that local tourism organizations are traditional participants in major international exhibitions, especially the unified national stand "Uzbekistan" presented at exhibitions in Madrid, Riga, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Tokyo and London. Since the beginning of 2015, representatives of the tourist industry have taken part in dozens of international exhibitions and events, such as FITUR-2015 (Spain), EMITT 2015 (Turkey) and ITB 2015 (Germany). An ancient and ever young land that has long been admired the world over for its highly developed culture and science, historical monuments, beauty and grandeur, has now become a major world tourist center.
The first Monday in September is Labor Day, a holiday that celebrates workers by letting them take off work  well, some workers (more on that later). But where did this holiday come from, and how did it get its name?

Labor Day originated with the labor movement, though no one is sure exactly who first had the idea. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), it may have been Peter J. McGuire, a labor organizer who founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1881. McGuire reportedly conceived the idea of a parade to celebrate laborers in New York City in 1882, setting the date for the first Monday in September, according to the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

The event was a hit, and prompted other labor organizations in other states to follow suit. On Feb. 21, 1887, Oregon became the first state to officially recognize the day honoring workers. [25 Fun Facts About Science and History]

There is a bit of uncertainty about this founding tale, though, according to the DOL: The original parade may have been proposed not by McGuire, but by a machinist named Matthew Maguire, who proposed the idea while serving as secretary of New York's Central Labor Union. Whichever McGuire it was, more than 30,000 people participated in the first year's parade, according to the AFL-CIO.

The labor movement

Labor Day hails from a time when the labor movement and unions were stronger political forces than they are today. In the 1800s, as work in the United States increasingly moved from farm fields to factories, conditions were rough.

In the textile town of Lowell, Massachusetts, for example, "mill girls" started work as preteens and toiled for 13-hour days, according to an AFL-CIO history. In 1834, these mill girls became some of the first successful strikers in U.S. history, when they protested wage cuts by refusing the work. That strike failed, as did a subsequent one in 1836, but the mill girls turned to politics to meet their goals. They organized the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association and, in an era when women didn't even yet have the right to vote, managed to get the New Hampshire Legislature to pass a law capping the workday at 10 hours. [5 Ways to Have a Healthier Weekend]

That law wasn't enforceable, according to the AFL-CIO, but the Lowell organizers are now seen as the originators of the labor movement  a movement that would ultimately usher in the concept of workers' rights, weekends and, yes, Labor Day.

Subsequent strikes by unions would sometimes prove violent, as with the Cripple Creek strike of miners in Colorado in 1894. During that strike, which started because of an increase in working hours with no increase in wage, clashes between strikers and police sometimes led to bloodshed. At one point, the miners used dynamite to blow up a portion of a mine. Ultimately, though, the strike was successful, and the miners and owners negotiated a $3-a-day wage for 8 hours a day of work, according to the AFL-CIO.

Another major milestone in the labor movement was the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a tragic factory fire that killed 146 workers, mostly young women, in New York City in 1911. These women worked 13-hour days with a half-hour lunch break. Many were only teenagers. Factory owners locked the fire doors to keep employees from sneaking out to use the bathroom (there were no bathrooms in the building for workers, according to the AFL-CIO), so the day of the conflagration quickly turned disastrous.

Helpless bystanders watched as girls jumped from the 10-story building. It was a galvanizing moment that led to the creation of the Factory Investigating Commission in New York, which was charged with enacting some of the first rules to protect worker safety.

Labor Day today

Labor Day is now a federal holiday, but not everyone gets to kick back and relax. A 2015 Bloomberg BNA survey found that 41 percent of businesses require some employees to report to work on Labor Day  though 97 percent do provide a paid holiday to at least some employees. Fifteen percent of respondents to that survey said that security and public safety employees had to work on that day, and 15 percent also said that technical staff were needed. Ten percent of employers said that maintenance staff or sales or customer service workers would be on the clock on Labor Day. However, 86 percent of organizations said they provided extra pay or comp time to workers who are required to come in on the holiday.

More generally, modern workers are likely to leave their paid vacation benefits on the table, according to multiple surveys. A May 2017 survey by the jobs website Glassdoor found that U.S. employees who receive paid time off take only about half (54 percent) of those days, on average. Sixty-six percent said that during those vacation days, they did at least some work, and 25 percent said their boss contacts them on days when they are supposed to be off. [5 National Parks to See Over Labor Day]

The organization Project: Time Off, a group that tracks vacation trends, found that 662 million vacation days went unused in the United States last year. As of 2016, a whopping 206 million of those couldn't even be rolled over or cashed in, and were simply lost. Over the long term, Project: Time Off finds that the trend in taking vacation benefits is declining. The organization found that between 1978 and 2000, American workers took an average of 20.3 vacation days per year. In 2016, the average was 16.8 days per year.

Original article on Live Science.
First, the bad news: Divers stole a prehistoric human skeleton from an underwater cavern near Tulum on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula five years ago. Police have yet to solve the case. But the good news? The looters didn't take everything. Some bits of bone were preserved under stalagmites, mineral growths shaped like upside-down icicles on the cave floor.

By analyzing what's left of this ice age grave site, researchers determined that the skeleton could be up to 13,000 years old, making it "one of the oldest human skeletons from America," study author Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, an earth scientist at Heidelberg University in Germany, said in a statement.

Stinnesbeck and his colleagues first became aware of the skeleton in a submerged cave called Chan Hol in February 2012 from photos on social media. Unfortunately, 90 percent of the skeleton was looted a month later. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

The researchers used pre-robbery photos to reconstruct the skeleton, determining that the person had likely been male, and that he likely died in the cave at a time in the ancient past when the site was dry. The researchers also collected the bone fragments remaining in the cave, including part of a hip bone that was stuck under a stalagmite.

Often, to determine the age of human remains, scientists look at bone collagen and measure a radioactive isotope of carbon that decreases at a regular rate once a living thing dies. In this case, carbon dating wasn't possible, however; the collagen in the skeleton had completely degraded after years of exposure to tropical water, the researchers said.

As an alternative, the researchers looked at the relative levels of uranium and thorium isotopes in the stalagmite growing on top of the bone. Those results showed a minimum age of 11,300 years. But Stinnesbeck and his colleagues speculated that the skeleton could be even older, based on another sediment deposit located between the bone and the stalagmite. The researchers estimated that the remains could be as old as 13,000 years.

Jim Chatters, an archaeologist with Applied Paleoscience in Bothell, Washington, who was not involved in the study, said he wasn't convinced by this extrapolation, adding that deposits under the stalagmite could have formed more rapidly.

"I could buy that skeleton being over 11,000 years old," Chatters told Live Science, "but not 13,000, at least not with the evidence presented."

Even at 11,000 years old, the bones would still join a special class of human skeletons from the Americas. "We don't have very many individuals from that age range," Chatters said.

Prehistoric human skeletons could help scientists understand how and when the Americas were first settled  still a subject of much debate in archaeology. Stinnesbeck told Live Science that the new finding is further evidence that humans were settled in the Americas before the Clovis culture, long thought to be the first to arrive to North America via a land bridge from Asia about 13,000 years ago. The "Clovis first" hypothesis has been challenged by recent findings at sites like Monte Verde in Chile, where scientists have found traces of human occupation at least 14,800 years old, and an underwater sinkhole known as the Page-Ladson site in Florida where scientists have found 14,550-year-old stone tools.

The Yucatan Peninsula has emerged as one of the most important sites for pre-Clovis findings. Once-dry caves like Chan Hol flooded with rising water when glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age, preserving human remains as well as extinct animals like giant sloths and saber-toothed cats. "The area appears to be [a] prime site and paleontological and paleoanthropological bonanza, with so many finds from the late Pleistocene in a really small area," Stinnesbeck told Live Science in an email.

In 2007, divers found the skeleton of a teenage girl, nicknamed Naia, in Hoyo Negro, another submerged Yucatan cave; in 2014, Chatters and his colleagues determined that the teenager likely died 12,000 to 13,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating and uranium-thorium dating.

Chatters said it was unfortunate that the Chan Hol site was looted, and noted that archaeologically rich caves in the region are becoming more accessible to divers, which puts the sites at greater risk of being disturbed or plundered.

"Carelessness and lack of skill, even notwithstanding looting, are real threats to the integrity of these finds," Chatters said, adding that he's found bones moved or broken at Hoyo Negro since the site's discovery.

The results from the Chan Hol remains were published online Aug. 30 in the journal PLOS One.

Original article on Live Science.
An active volcano is a dramatic sight. Volcanoes  hills or mountains in Earth's crust that form over fissures opening directly into the mantle  can hold vast lakes of molten lava in their craters. And when they erupt, they can eject lava flows and fountains, generate earthquakes and avalanches, or produce steam and ash plumes that may tower for miles overhead, offering an awe-inspiring glimpse of the dynamic processes at work deep inside our planet.

All that can be dangerous (not to mention downright scary) to see up close. But now, you can peek at the innermost workings of an active volcano in Nicaragua, with the help of the immersive website called Digital Volcano. The experience was designed by creative agency Gin Lane and represents data gathered by a team of volcano experts with the support of the government of Nicaragua and General Electric (GE).

To create the online "virtual volcano" experience, scientists rode a zip line into the Masaya volcano, which stands about 2,000 feet (610 meters) tall and is located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Their descent of 1,200 feet (365 meters) terminated above a lava lake, where temperatures reached 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius). Once in position, the researchers deployed a battery of sensing and recording technology to collect data that included temperature, gas emissions and atmospheric pressure, while cameras caught some of the closest views of a lava lake ever captured on video. [Big Blasts: History's 10 Most Destructive Volcanoes]

The team of experts visited Masaya in 2016, planting 80 sensors at different depths in the volcano's crater, and documenting the process along the way, according to a report on the GE website.

Digital Volcano is a feast for the eyes, with stunning video and photos of Masaya, the rugged landscape surrounding it and the fiery lava lake within.

Temperatures in the lava lake at the center of the Masaya volcano reached up to about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius). (Image credit: Gin Lane)

Interactive layers within the website offer footage of the team's site exploration and preparation, display 3D views of equipment, and tell the step-by-step story of how the scientists constructed and operated the apparatus that would transport them safely into the so-called "Mouth of Hell," at the volcano's heart, where the riskiest part of their sensor installation and data collection would take place.

But Digital Volcano provides more than just an insider's perspective from the depths of a volcanic crater. The project also offers valuable insights on data collection in extreme environments, and provides the data as open access so that researchers worldwide can analyze it independently and thus better understand and predict how volcanoes behave, GE representatives said.

Original article on Live Science.
Neanderthals  early members of the genus Homo from Europe and Asia  have had such a lowly standing on the human family tree that the very word Neanderthal is often synonymous with archaic ways and ignorance.

Neanderthals, however, had big brains, complex societies, and tools so useful that some designs created for leatherworking are still in use today. Many researchers even believe that a true extinction of Neanderthals might not have occurred, but that these individuals instead were absorbed into what evolved to be current Homo sapiens. To this day, people of European and Asian heritage retain Neanderthal DNA.

Excavations over the past few decades have unearthed tar lumps and adhesive residues on stone tools at Neanderthal sites in Germany. Some anthropologists have claimed that adhesive production is a high-tech skill associated with anatomically modern humans, yet new research published (opens in new tab) in the journal Scientific Reports not only supports that Neanderthals invented adhesives, but also it explains how they probably achieved the feat.

Right now, the oldest evidence we have points to Neanderthals inventing adhesives at least 200,000 years ago in Europe, lead author Paul Kozowyk said.

RELATED: Neanderthal DNA Is Being Purged From Our Genomes

Kozowyk, a researcher at Leiden University, and his team analyzed archaeological evidence for early tar production. They additionally conducted experiments based on Neanderthal know-how to determine how the early Eurasians managed to invent tar, an adhesive that helped to strengthen and waterproof bindings made of sinew, hide, or plant fibers used to attach bone or stone tools to handles. The technique, known as hafting with tar, was also extended to weapon production, such as improving spears employed for hunting.

The researchers propose as many as three tar production methods could have been developed by Neanderthals. The first, called "ash mound," required placing ambers and ash over a roll of birch bark tied with fresh wood fiber to keep it tight. The scientists determined that care must be taken to balance the ratio between embers and ash, which helps to keep oxygen out and promotes the production of tar that can then be scraped off the roll.

Experimentally produced birch bark tar dripping from a flint flake. (Image credit: Paul Kozowyk)

The second method demonstrated by the researchers, "pit roll, required placing hot embers directly on top of a birch bark roll placed over a pit, which produced tar.

The other method, raised structure, was the most sophisticated of all in the study. It involved putting a container made of birch bark in a pit. A loose roll of bark was then placed on organic mesh covering the pit. The researchers covered the bark with dirt and lit a fire over the entire mound. This technique, which required more wood, time, and set-up than the other methods, yielded the most tar.

It's possible that all three methods we tested, or even some different methods, were used depending on the needs or requirements at the time, Kozowyk said. For example, a major service to a Neanderthal tool kit might have called for something like the raised structure to produce lots of tar for multiple tools.

On the other hand, he added, a small hunting camp requiring a quick repair may have only needed a small amount of tar, and then a simpler method would be much more practical. My personal favorite is the pit roll method, because it's simple, but still produced reasonable quantities of tar.

Tar collected in a birch bark container from the "pit roll" experiment, a technique which uses glowing embers placed over a roll of bark in a small pit. (Image credit: Paul Kozowyk)

The earliest evidence so far for adhesive production by anatomically modern humans dates to around 70,000 years ago, according to the researchers. It is likely that members of Homo sapiens in Africa figured out how to create tar on their own  a case of independent invention  but scientists have not ruled out that they learned the birch bark tar production techniques from Neanderthals.

Tar has many possible functions. Kozowyk, though, said, During the Paleolithic, its unlikely that tar was used for much more than hafting tools.

In historic times," he added, "tar was used to waterproof boats and ships, containers and to protect wooden buildings, so its use is not limited to hafting tools. But these require production on an industrial scale that is not seen until more recently.

Placing materials in ceramic containers can help with tar production. There is no evidence that Neanderthals ever produced pottery, however.

There was probably no need for pottery until quite recently  speaking on a scale including hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution  and even in most modern human hunter-gatherer societies, pottery is an exception, Kozowyk explained.

RELATED: Ancient Dental Plaque Reveals That Neanderthals Used Aspirin

Neanderthals and early anatomically modern humans might have instead crafted containers out of wood and plant fibers. But if they did, preservation of such items is so poor that there is no firm evidence of them dating to the times of the oldest tar production.

Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans diverged long before then. An emerging theory is that the divergence occurred at least 500,000 years ago, with each group evolving on its own path until interbreeding occurred. The latter mixing, as well as similarities among the groups, however, have many anthropologists believing that Neanderthals and other hominids, such as Denisovans, should be considered as Homo sapiens.

I used to argue that anatomically modern humans  including fossils that essentially look like us today  are the only group that should be called Homo sapiens, Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London said. Now, I think that anatomically modern humans are only a sub-group within the species Homo sapiens, and that we should recognize the diversity of forms within early Homo sapiens, some of which probably went extinct.

Approximately 0.3 ounces of birch bark tar produced using the "raised structure" technique being prepared for analysis in the lab. (Image credit: Paul Kozowyk)

The jury is still out on what exactly happened to Neanderthals. Some researchers have suggested that anatomically modern humans killed them off, or  like early colonizers of the Americas infecting native populations  spread diseases for which Neanderthals had no immunity. Kozowyk shared his view.

What happened to Neanderthals was probably the result of a number of complex processes including, but not necessarily limited to, interbreeding with some cultural interaction, competition in some form, and a low Neanderthal population that led to them eventually being genetically overrun by the arriving modern human populations, he said. But this also likely varied from one region to another.

Such variations may have left their mark on modern populations.

Svante Paabo, director of the department of evolutionary genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said several studies now show that East Asians and Native Americans have about 20 percent more Neanderthal contribution in their genomes, which could be due to extra inbreeding in the ancestors of East Asians.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that many early Native Americans had expertise in working with tar, which tribes such as the Chumash and Tongva applied to sealing cracks between the boards of large wooden planks used to make their sturdy canoes. Certain tribes such as these even settled near natural sources of tar, like the La Brea Tar Pits located in what is now Los Angeles.

Originally published on Seeker.
People with certain types of epilepsy may have the option to use a therapy that doesnt include additional drugs. The RNS System from NeuroPace, a company out of Mountain View, California, monitors the brain for signs of an oncoming seizure and stimulates it to disrupt the process. It has been approved in the U.S. for about four years now, and we wanted to find more about how it works and how its being used. We had a chance to speak with Dr. Martha Morrell, Chief Medical Officer of NeuroPace, who was kind enough to answer our questions.

Medgadget: The NeuroPace RNS system has shown to be effective at reducing seizures in many patients with epilepsy. Can you give us a brief overview of how the system functions?

Dr. Martha Morrell: The RNS System is the worlds first and only medical device that can monitor and respond to brain activity in real time, preventing epileptic seizures at their source. It is FDA approved for individuals aged 18 and older who have tried at least 2 antiseizure medications but still suffer from frequent and disabling partial onset seizures that come from one or two areas of the brain. The RNS System is a small, implantable device connected to leads that are placed in up to two seizure onset areas. The device continuously monitors brain activity, detects abnormal patterns, and in response delivers imperceptible electrical pulses to normalize the activity before an individual experiences seizures. The RNS System is the only epilepsy therapy that also provides physicians clinically meaningful ongoing data about their patients seizure frequency and electrocorticographic activity. The patient uses a simple remote monitor at home to wirelessly collect and upload data from the neurostimulator. The data is made available to the patients doctor to review and analyze to personalize and improve patient care.

Medgadget: The system has been approved by the FDA for a few years now. How well has it been adopted in clinical practice? Have you gotten a sense of what the overall patient experience has been?

Dr. Morrell: The RNS System received FDA approval in November 2013. The RNS System represents a paradigm shift in how patients with partial refractory epilepsy may be treated. Over 1,300 patients have received the RNS System thus far. Data from the NeuroPace Long Term Treatment trial indicate a median seizure frequency reduction of 72% at 7 years, 30% of patients with a >90% seizure frequency reduction. Furthermore, 15% of patients have been seizure free for one or more 12 month periods. Nearly all adult comprehensive epilepsy centers offer the RNS System and it is broadly covered by private and government insurance.

Medgadget: Since NeuroPaces RNS system doesnt benefit everyone equally, what have you learned that may improve how the system is used, applied, or selected for different patients?

Dr. Morrell: NeuroPace is using deep learning techniques to analyze over 1 million segments of brain electrical activity to cultivate insights into the brain and optimize patients results with the RNS System. We believe that the programming for the RNS System will continue to improve as we learn more.

Medgadget: Are new products in the works at NeuroPace? Can you give us any idea of what the company is working on these days?

Dr. Morrell: In addition to treating epilepsy, responsive neurostimulation holds the possibility of treating many other neurological disorders that impact the quality of life for millions of patients around the world. Patients with the RNS System have already shown a statistically significant improvement in memory and cognition, which leads us to believe that the RNS System has the potential to treat a number of additional neurological disorders.

Medgadget: Please tell us about the companys history and how it was able to develop and commercialize such innovative and difficult to introduce technology?

Dr. Morrell: The initial concept for the RNS System technology came about in the late 1990s. CEO Frank Fischer along with a group of medical device inventors, engineers, and physicians such as Dr. Martha Morrell developed the concept of expanding pacemaker/defibrillator technology to sense brain activity and respond to the activity it detected. Since there was no existing data on technology like this, Fischers colleagues started from scratch, analyzing tapes of electrocardiographs from patients. Following 14 years of an intensive research and development, and two clinical trials that yielded positive results, the RNS System received FDA approval. Commercializing and raising awareness around the RNS System is challenging since the RNS System was a brand new type of technology. NeuroPace is actively educating physicians, healthcare practitioners, patients and caregivers about the benefits of moving towards a paradigm where responsive neurostimulation is the standard of care for treating patients with medically uncontrolled partial onset seizures.

Medgadget: What about your experience in this field and at NeuroPace in particular? What are some of the challenges and rewards that you found interesting and important in your career?

Dr. Morrell: What weve accomplished at NeuroPace is true translational researchweve taken a concept from the bench and developed it into a treatment that is alleviating the suffering of patients with medically uncontrolled seizures. For me personally, I was able to take the knowledge and experience Id gained during my full-time career in academic neurology and bring it into a company established to develop and deliver a completely innovative therapy. As an academic, Id not fully appreciated how terribly hard that is to do. The tremendous team at NeuroPace created a truly innovative therapy that has transformed the lives of many people with epilepsy. I see the impact of the RNS System on the patients who participated in the rigorous clinical trials, and now I see it in the patients I am treating with the RNS System in my own practice. Being part of NeuroPace has been a rare privilege.

Product page: RNS System

Flashbacks: NeuroPace: Maybe First Since Jesus to Prevent and Treat Epilepsy; NeuroPace Gets FDA Pre-Market Approval for RNS Stimulator; NeuroPace Seeks FDA Approval for Its RNS System; Neuropace Implantable Epilepsy Device Showing Positive Signs in Initial Clinical Study
by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 31, 2017

In July McCanns bid for a renewal of its U.S. Army contract was eliminated from contention. If the ruling stands it would be a blow to the Interpublic shop which has earned an estimated $30 million in revenue a year recently from the contract, which it has held for the last decade.

But McCann isnt out of the picture yet and may not be. It filed a formal protest to its elimination last month. And on Monday, the Army extended the agencys current contract for roughly another year as the shops protest winds its way through the bureaucratic process.

The Aug. 28 notice stated that McCann World Group Inc., New York, New York, has been awarded a  modification [for the contract] to extend the performance period for services in support of the Army Marketing and Advertising Program. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 28, 2018.

The official notice of the extension can be viewed here.

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The Government Accounting Office is considering McCanns appeal and has not yet issued a decision. An attorney involved in the case noted that the GAO is bound by a 100-calendar-day statutory framework for resolving protests. The 100th day for the McCann Erickson USA, Inc. protest is September 18, 2017. We will issue a decision no later than that date.

So at least McCann will service the contract for another year, maybe longer if the GAO rules in its favor on the protest. Then of course it would have to win the broader agency review.
by Tanya Gazdik , September 1, 2017



A Farmers Insurance Mobile Claims Center (MCC) has been deployed to Victoria, Texas to assist customers affected by Hurricane Harvey.

In addition to expedited claims processing, hot meals, sundries, high-speed internet and phone access, customers who visit the relief site will also have access to Pet Partners specially trained therapy dogs for emotional support.

"Farmers Insurance understands that beyond the physical devastation, the emotional toll can often leave a lasting mark on victims, said Keith Daly, chief claims officer for Farmers Insurance, in a release. We want our customers to know that when they see the Farmers team, they know help has arrived.

According to Bellevue, Washington-based Pet Partners, an emerging body of research recognizes the impact the human-animal bond can have on individual and community health, including after traumatic events.

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Farmers customers who suffered damage from the storm can file their claims at the MCC in Victoria, online at www.farmers.com, via the Farmers Insurance mobile app, or by calling the 24-hour claims center.

Additional MCC sites will be established in the coming days as heavily impacted areas become accessible. Farmers will post the locations of the MCCs on www.farmers.com/catastrophe and on its social media channels.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, September 1, 2017

An in-depth study by a New York University professor portraying a grim outlook for the terrestrial radio industry generated a not-so-surprising backlash from key players in the traditional radio industry, especially big radio broadcasters and radio audience measurement firm Nielsen.

The 30-page report by NYU Steinhardt Music Business Program Director Larry Miller, which was first reported Thursday by Variety, can be accessed here.

The report centers on radio's inability to connect with younger listeners -- especially millennials and so-called Generation Z cohorts who grew up in an era of abundant digital audio alternatives to terrestrial radio broadcasting, as well as the failure of the radio industry to respond quickly enough to the newfound competition.

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Among other things, the report notes that one of radios strongest technological bases -- the automobile -- has begun to erode thanks to the introduction of digital audio receivers competing with or supplanting conventional terrestrial radio devices in many new car models.

Citing the radio industrys gold standard for radio audience measurement -- Nielsens portable people meter sample -- Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer of Westwood One, takes the report to task, analyzing six years worth of listening data indicating that radios audience levels among three key younger demos -- children 6-11, teens 12-17, and adults 18-24 -- has been "virtually unchanged since May 2011."

While Millers report also makes an explicit attack on the validity of Nielsens radio audience measurement, noting that radios ratings system can be gamed and fails to deliver on the specifics that advertisers demand, Nielsen issued a statement refuting those observations.

The Nielsen statement points out that its radio measurement methodology continues to be the industry accepted currency for the buying and selling of radio advertising, and links to the recent findings of its Total Audience Report showing that younger radio audiences have been stable:

In Nielsen's latest Total Audience Report 2017, Q1 data shows that Generation Z spent over 35 hours per month listening to AM/FM radio and 88% of Generation Z use radio each week. Meanwhile, Nielsens Ethnic Audio Today report cites that nearly 75 million weekly radio consumers are Black and Hispanic - up from 73 million a year prior.
by Sara Guaglione , September 1, 2017

The Village Voice has laid off most its union employees, following its announcement last week that the storied alt-weekly publication would end its print edition.

The Village Voice let go 13 of its 17 union employees on Wednesday, The New York Times reports. Their last day will be after the third week of September, when the papers last free print edition will be distributed.

Those laid off include a writer, a social media producer, an administrative assistant and a photo editor. The cuts mostly affected the business side and positions associated with the selling and production of the print paper, a spokesman for the Voice told the NYT.

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The staff reductions initiated yesterday are part of a larger set of budget cuts aimed at reallocating resources as we reconfigure The Village Voice into a digitally focused company, the spokesperson added.

The Voices union members are represented by the United Auto Workers Local 2110.

The paper, which was founded in 1955 and known for its coverage of New York Citys culture, social and political issues, as well as nightlife, will live online.

Separately, Glenn Becks conservative news organization TheBlaze and his production company, Mercury Radio Arts, are laying off more than 20% of its workforce. Beck attributed the majority of cuts to the structural challenges facing media companies today in a post on TheBlaze.com.

In a Medium post, Jonathan Schreiber, president of Mercury Radio Arts, outlined those challenges, ranging from pressures on advertising and lack of funding for conservative media.

The companys staff was once around 300, but cuts in the last few years have halved that number, according to Deadline. Last April, TheBlaze let go of about 40 people.

Beck suggested these moves are the start of a new era for the brand, which was founded in 2011. It broadcasts on regional cable networks across the U.S., as well as publishing online.

Beck wrote: We needed to become more nimble and drastically adjust our approach to keep pace with the massive changes unfolding before us.
by Jess Nelson , September 1, 2017

Email remains a dominant marketing channel partly because of its flexibility -- any marketer from any industry, across B2B and B2C, can generate sales and acquire new customers via email.

Email can benefit different types of companies, as evident by the results of both Titos Vodka and OrangeTheory Fitness. Health and alcohol may be polar opposites, but both the liquor company and fitness organization have had seen positive results as customers of Emma, an email marketing provider based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Email is a channel that works, and continues to work as a marketing channel, says Colby Cavanaugh, SVP of marketing at Emma. Because of that, it sometimes get neglected and companies dont invest in email. They just let it run.

Cavanaugh says a problem in email marketing is often bandwidth, so Emma provides email consultation services as well as technology solutions to help brands get personal with their audience.

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Titos has a particularly strong following with their newsletter, says Cavanaugh, detailing how the craft brand has seen open rates as high as 90% and click-through rates as high as 36%. The companys welcome email, sent as soon as someone subscribes to their email newsletter, averages a 64% open rate.

Titos relies heavily on segmentation, according to Cavanaugh, and tests on how to get the audience small enough to provide value.

One successful strategy has been segmentation based on demographic and geographic data. The company often hosts in-person brand engagement events in cities across the nation, so targeting folks in terms of location has been helpful in driving engagement.

OrangeTheory Fitness is a health company with fitness studios throughout the United States. Cavanaugh says they test their campaigns like crazy to see what works best and what provides the best value on a franchise basis.

Orangetheory Fitness specializes in 1-hour high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, and sends an email when every customer leaves with their workout statistics.

You get an email after you walk out of the door, with all the statistics on your workout, says Cavanaugh. OrangeTheory sends the right content, at the right time, and in the right location.

The post-workout email also serves as a reward for customers, and could be motivating factor to get back to the gym. These automated behavioral emails have the highest email open rates according to Cavanaugh.

Getting into shape is not a one-time activity, so OrangeTheory provides a great use case in leveraging data in the spirit of driving customer engagement. Youre going to OrangeTheory with a purpose, and youre looking for validation. Its great marketing, but its also just really great customer service.
With no fresh cargoes heard booked this week, Turkish scrap prices remained flat along with those for Taiwanese imports and US exports. Indian imported scrap prices inched upward on improved demand.

Turkish imports

Turkeys national Victory Day and the religious Eid al-Adha holidays kept the market quiet all week, with market participants waiting until next week to attempt to conclude deals.

Although no new deals were heard this week, some rumours about cargoes said to have been booked last week surfaced in the market.

Metal Bulletins daily scrap index for Northern Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap remained at $347.05 per tonne cfr on Friday, while the index for USA-origin material was also unchanged at $356.33 per tonne cfr.

The premium for US material over Northern European scrap therefore remained at $9.28 per tonne on September 1.

Turkeys holidays end on Tuesday of next week, after which activity is expected to resume, sources said.

I expect bulk sales to happen next week, with EU bulk suppliers selling first, since stocks at their yards seem to be good, one US source said.

Market participants considered what may happen to prices once their Turkish counterparts end their holidays.

Some rumours from today indicate that prices will rebound then head down, one European source said on Thursday.

I feel there will be no change and Turkey will not buy next week, one UK source said. If people are on holiday, sometimes they dont do business straight after coming back [so there could be] a bit of a delay.

A prolonged lack of activity in Turkey would probably lead to prices falling in the country, he added.

But a third source disagreed, saying that current prices were correct and would remain firm in the coming weeks.

US exports

US export scrap markets remained quiet this week, but the countrys East Coast docks increased their ferrous scrap buying prices across the board to fulfil previously agreed commitments.

No bulk cargo sales have been booked from the USA to Turkey since August 9, when a US Gulf Coast cargo was secured by a Turkish mill at $353 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).

There is still optimism that the next sale of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the USA could reach $360 per tonne cfr.

The Turks still need a lot of scrap for October shipment. Steel prices for rebar and billets  in Turkey and elsewhere, including China  are still rather strong, and so are iron ore and coking coal, an export source said.

Boston scrap export yards are now paying $275 per gross ton for HMS 1, up by $10 per ton as yards seek to attract material for export orders that are being filled.

In Philadelphia and New York, prices increased to $290 per ton for HMS 1, a $15-per-ton increase.

Metal Bulletin sister title AMMs weekly US East Coast ferrous scrap export indices for HMS 1&2 (80:20) and shredded scrap remained unchanged at $312.71 per tonne fob New York and $318.61 per tonne fob New York, respectively.

Taiwan imports

Taiwans transaction prices for imports of containerised HMS-grade ferrous scrap remained stable at $295-300 per tonne cfr this week, although offer prices to the country fell.

Offers of USA-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were reported at $300-305 per tonne cfr Taiwan, down from $310-315 per tonne cfr last week.

One reason for the decrease in offer prices this week was a drop in demand for imported scrap due to many buyers favouring domestic material.

Ive heard that most mills have suspended purchases of imported scrap this week as they can get sufficient supplies from the local market at more attractive prices, a trader said.

One Taiwanese producer purchased USA-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $295 per tonne cfr, he said, but has also purchased a lot of domestic scrap. Another mill source said that he has not purchased any imported scrap this week, and has been buying domestic scrap only.

A few other import deals for USA-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were heard at $298-300 per tonne cfr Taiwan this week.

When purchasing from domestic suppliers, Taiwanese mills were said to sometimes prefer more premium scrap grades than HMS 1&2 (80:20).

The use of such grades in the steelmaking process, including busheling and P&S, was said to allow steel mills use fewer electrodes. Prices for electrodes have skyrocketed in the past few months due to the short supply of material on the global market.

The Taiwanese steel mills are thinking about their melting efficiency, so they need scrap with fewer impurities [because] more premium grades [allow them] to save on electrodes, a second trader said.

Indian imports

Prices for containerised imports of shredded scrap arriving in India inched up this week amid higher consumption from certain makers of stainless and alloy steels.

Metal Bulletins index for containerised shredded scrap imports into India inched up to $340.63 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday, compared with $338.17 per tonne cfr last week.

UK material was heard sold at $340-343 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva, including one transaction for 1,000 tonnes to a stainless steelmaker in the country.

EU-origin material was heard to be bought by a stainless steelmaker at $345 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva, while USA-origin shredded was heard sold at $337 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva. Offers were heard as high as $350 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva, but with no buying at this price.

There is scattered buying by alloy steel and stainless makers, but [carbon] steelmakers are not buying, one seller said.

Despite the higher volume of shredded sales heard this week, markets remained largely subdued amid the religious Eid al-Adha holiday in Islamic nations such as Turkey and Pakistan.

Everyone is waiting for Turkey to come back and for domestic price settlements [elsewhere], one Middle Eastern trader said.

One factor hurting Indian finished steel demand has been particularly heavy monsoon rains in the country this week.

The rain will [affect] the market as the availability of material may be a concern and prices can be raised by the suppliers, an Indian trader said.

Turkey domestic

Turkish domestic scrap prices remained stable this week, with markets closed for the holidays.

Nadia Popova in Moscow and Lisa Gordon in New York contributed to this report.




Kisa Gbekle

01.09.2017 LISTEN

Actress Kisa Gbekle has disclosed that she does not patronise outfits made with local African fabrics, and the reason is not because she does not advocate for indigenous brands.

Speaking in an interview with NEWS-ONE on Tuesday, she said she simply feels she does not look good in African wear.

The actress also added that she is not comfortable with the long process one has to go through to get an African dress done.

I feel African wear doesnt look good on me and its a long process. You buy material, give it a dressmaker, he or she also wastes all the time in the world to make it. Most annoying are the lies they tell you, she explained.

Kisa made these remarks against the backdrop of some comments posted by her followers after she shared a photo of herself clad in a beautiful African print on Facebook Tuesday.

According to the actress, that was the second time she wore a dress made from an African fabric. She was surprised people liked it and praised her for wearing that outfit.

She might continue wearing African wear henceforth, but she, indeed, likes wearing foreign designs because she thinks they look better on her.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 30, GNA - The Ministry of the Interior has advised gaming operators to display a sign post in front of their businesses to discourage under-aged children from engaging in the activity.

The Ministry, therefore, urged the Gaming Commission to play its role by effectively monitoring their activities to ensure that the right persons were engaged in the industry.

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Sector Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, expressed concern about underage children who spent school hours and weekends engaging in gaming activities.

The Minister gave the advice in Accra at a stakeholder's forum on ways to address emerging issues in the industry.

The forum was on the theme 'Meeting Emerging Trends to Promote Gaming the Right Way'.

Mr Dery said the gaming industry was at the forefront of hitech, undergoing development and increasing its attractiveness, which sometimes puts the industry under the spot light, adding that there was the need for constant monitoring to ensure sanity.

He said gaming had raised social and psychological concerns in society, prompting regulators to provide adequate controls from consumer protection to social well-being.

He said the Government remained committed to promoting a gaming environment where the industry would be an enjoyable leisure activity, devoid of societal menace and criminality.

The Minister urged operators to offer options that would help punters manage their gambling in a responsible manner and give them control over both the time and money spent.

He said a healthy gaming industry with strong frameworks and guidelines were essential for policy formulation.

Mr Peter Mireku, the Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Gaming Commission, said the forum was to get stakeholder's perspective on the way forward to enhance its Strategic Business Plan.

He said the Commission had set up a taskforce to clamp down on the activities of illegal gaming operators and gambling centres that were being patronised by children.

He said the taskforce, which was made up of officials of the Commission and the Ghana Police Service, had clamped down on many centres and seized machines of those who flouted the rules and regulations of the Commission.

Mr Mireku said the Commission would soon roll out a campaign to engage stakeholders including parents, guardians and traditional authorities to deal with underage children involved in gaming activities.
Accra, Aug. 30, GNA - Dr Sam Asomaning, the Chairman of the Citizens Rural Bank based at Nsawam has increased its profit from GH111,626.00 in 2013 to GH574,304.00 in 2016- this being a 400 per cent increase.

He said the assets and investment of the bank grew just about two-fold and earnings per share increased from 0.56 to 2.46 which stood at over 300 per cent during the four-year period.

Dr Asomaning said during the bank's 8th Annual General Meeting which also marked the 10th Anniversary of the bank.

He said total deposits increased from GH2,364,011.00 to GH5,740,304.00 with a percentage growth of 170 while loans and advances went up from GH1,277,008.00 to GH3,944,908.00 which stood at 209 per cent during the period.

Dr Asomaning said judging by the figures for 2017 'we are confident that we will attain the ten million Ghana cedis deposit mark in the very near future.'

He said the Credit Recovery Unit of the bank was making headway in the loan recovery as the total assets grew from GH2,752,140.00 to GH7,450,330.00.

He said the bank also acquired an additional pickup truck, upgraded computers and renovated the offices of the bank.

The Chairman said the shareholders fund went up from GH347,809.00 to GH1,478,949 and paid-up capital increased from GH197,545.00 to GH522,604.00 during the four years, adding that this was due to the bank's intensive drive to meet the Bank of Ghana's capital requirement by the end of 2017.

He said: 'We can faithfully report that as at August 2017, we have raised the capital to GH 918,204. We thank all shareholders both new and old who have bought shares during this drive.'

He said the bank still needed GH81,796.00 to meet the requirement and appealed to the shareholders and the public to buy more shares to help move the bank forward.

Dr Asomaning said the Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the ARB Apex Bank has ranked the Citizens Rural Bank as strong in the past five years.

'At the most recent ARB Awards Night the bank was chosen as the best rural bank in mobilization. This shows that the bank has been well managed and has been making good progress,' he said.

The bank has opened mobilization centres at Adeiso, Kotoku and Pakro.

Dr Asomaning commended the Board, the Management and the staff of the bank for the remarkable performance over the years while expressing gratitude to the Bank of Ghana, Apex Bank and the Association of Rural Banks for their support.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 30, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday said Ghana would adopt the model of development that helped with the rapid transformation of the economies of the Asian Tigers.

He said: 'What they (Asians) did there, and what we have to replicate here, is this constant interface between those of us making the policies and those actually on the field,' adding that that model would propel Ghana's quest to pursue an aggressive agricultural-based, value-added export-driven industrialisation.

President Akufo-Addo made the remarks when he met with members of the National Farmers and Fishers Award Winners Association (NFFAWAG), Ghana at the Presidency in Accra.

The NFFAWAG members were at the Flagstaff House to lend their support and expertise to government's agenda to transform and accelerate the agricultural growth in the country.

The Association, formed in 1997, comprises award-winning farmers and fishermen who have distinguished themselves in their respective sub-sectors by winning relevant national, regional and district awards since the inception of the Farmers' Day in 1985.

The President indicated that apart from replicating the strategies adopted by those Asian economies, Government would ensure there was constant dialogue between policy makers and technical people to find ways to actualise the vision of his government to make agriculture the fulcrum of development in Ghana.

He gave the assurance that government would give all the support needed to farmers to enable them to produce at optimum levels to ensure the country got the volumes that would feed the factories that would be set up in all the districts as well as for export.

President Akufo-Addo noted that farmers were the lifeblood of the economy and, as such, his administration would commit to engaging them fruitfully in the formulation of agricultural policies.

He said if there was fertile collaboration between farmers and government; 'I think we are bound to succeed in whatever it is that we want to do,' and emphasised the need for periodic meetings between the farmers and government for a fertile cross fertilisation of ideas.

'If we continue that way, we are going to make a very huge impact on enhancing the agricultural productivity of the country I want to partner with you so that we can, together, achieve our common objective,' the President said.

The President gave the assurance that brainstorming on the possibility of establishing an Agricultural Fund, as mooted by the Association, would inure to the benefit of the country in terms of furthering the agenda to improve the productivity of the farmers.

He directed that the ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture liaise effectively with the Association to fashion modalities for cooperation.

Mr Davies Narh Korboe, the Chairman of the NFFAWAG, expressed appreciation to government for the steps taken to revamp the agricultural sector to make it the pivot of development in the country.

He gave the assurance that the Association was commitment to make government's interventions succeed.

'Over the years, an increasing proportion of our members have raised the bar by producing to the European Union and global standards in our quest to penetrate global markets. We believe that with a more deliberate collaboration between our associations and the Ministry, we could achieve even more, thereby raking in more foreign exchange for the country,' he said.
Abeadze (C/R), Aug. 31, GNA - Former President Jerry John Rawlings has said the anti-corruption crusade will only bear fruit if institutions of State receive support not only from government but also from the majority of the populace.

He said there was the need to ensure that such institutions were independent as stated in the Constitution and well-resourced to play their roles 'without fear or favor'.

Flight Lieutenant Rawlings, said this when he addressed a durbar to climax the celebration of the 2017 Ahobaa Kese festival of the chiefs and people of Abeadze.

The festival was on the theme, 'Reminiscing the past, Consolidating the Foundation and Building the Future'.

'I have always and will continue to call for support to combat corruption, a social evil that is eating the country up with cancerous abandonment; one should not be blinded by political influences and that as a people we should support all who desire to tackle the problem irrespective of where he or she is aligned politically,' he said.

The Former President said the Society has deteriorated primarily because people no longer had value for culture, customs and social behaviours that the ancestors held so high and were able to overcome many challenges.

'We cannot continue to manage our country in a selfish, self-serving manner that exploits resources meant for the larger community and we pay lip service to their irresponsibility and indiscipline.

'Our leaders have to lead the change in curbing the rot that threatens us and there is the need for traditional leaders especially to lead this agenda right from their various communities by applying the extra-judicial powers that they possess more responsibly,' Former President Rawlings said.

He urged the National House of Chiefs to check errant chiefs who abuse the chieftaincy institution, and to also regularly counsel the government and Municipal and District Authorities to take decisions that benefit the communities.

He said the sense of commitment to the good of the country has declined with many people not even understanding what patriotism stood for.

The Former President mentioned education, job creation, leadership and indiscipline as some of the challenges the nation faced, adding that as a Nation we have been overcome by these challenges because of corruption.

'The end result of the quest to clean up our society will benefit all and sundry, but for us to succeed we all have to support the agenda and commit to living above reproach,' he added.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, has said the Ghana Army needed to upgrade its armoured vehicles to efficiently offer protection and mobility in difficult and hostile terrains.

Speaking at the 2017 Armoured Vehicles and Future Fires Africa Conference and Defence Exhibition in Accra on Thursday, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said Ghana was currently ranked the seventh largest contributor of troops to the United Nations Peace Support operations.

The conference, hosted by the Ghana Armed Forces, in collaboration with the International Quality and Productivity Centre (IQPC), aimed to digest fires available to the military and examine the way forward for optimum application in contemporary warfare.

The event, on the theme; 'Ensuring Survivability and Ground Superiority through Protected Mobility and Enhanced Firepower,' aimed to engender benchmarking, debate, and collaboration in the area of procurement of new platforms, maintenance and upgrade of existing vehicles and equipment.

It brought together security agencies from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroun, South Africa and Botswana among others.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng noted that internal and expeditionary challenges in West Africa had demanded the procurement of increasing numbers of armoured vehicles and protected mobility solutions for the rapid deployment of assets across vast areas.

'This has resulted in significant defence expenditure to secure borders, defend populations and natural resources as well as aiding in peacekeeping missions,' he added.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said as African countries made investments in improving the quality of firepower and mortars, there was the need for the Military to explore new and emerging topics at the forefront of strategic and technological thinking in defence.

Digitised weapons system vulnerabilities, munitions, and employment of organic firepower by Special Forces are beneficial, he added.

He said the event would expose guests to 'unique' opportunities, meeting leaders in the armoured vehicles and future fires industry.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng urged military leaders and stakeholders in defence to take advantage of the event to develop a well-integrated plan to ensure survivability and ground superiority through protected mobility and enhance firepower in the armed forces.

He said the battalions would be equipped with Armoured Personnel Carrier and infantry Assault Vehicles in order to provide protection for personnel, enhance mobility across rough terrains and provide a more integrated fire power for both internal security duties for peace support operations.

He said this would enhance the Ghana Army's ability to react efficiently to any threats to national peace and security from internal and external sources and expand the deployment of its troops on peacekeeping duties.

Major General William Azure Ayamdo, the Chief of the Ghana Army Staff, said: 'The current security challenges across the world will require us to procure the advanced amour vehicles and protected mobility solutions that will enable us to deploy rapidly to intervene in crisis situations.'

He said: 'We have to invest to improve on the platforms we have for such rapid deployments and also improve the quality of indirect fire support available to the Ghana Armed Forces'.

He said Armies and security services across the world would have to explore new strategic and technological thinking in defence architecture to be able to combat 'the sophisticated enemy both internally and externally.
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA-Stanbic Bank Ghana has launched its latest Education Offering to present fast easy financial management solution for educational institutions as well as convenience to customers and students in the way school fees are paid.

Dubbed Quickfees, the bank's education offering, will strengthen the bank's commitment to education through its relationship management approach by proactively serving the customer, understanding their needs and providing appropriate banking solution for the institution, staff, parents and the students.

Nana Dwemoh Benneh, Head of Personal and Business Banking, said the offering allowed convenience, as customers could pay at their own comfort using their phone from mobile money wallet or Stanbic account.

Besides, it offers secure payment, as the school and students are verified before payment and saves time as there is no need to queue to pay school fees. There is also a trail as there are easy and instant payment references and receipts.

Nana Benneh said schools, which signed onto the platform would benefit from a Quickfee platform at no cost to the school, immediate notification of school fee payment and automated reconciliation of school fee payment with Stanbic Bank Account.

Also, it helps eliminate risk of forgeries as school, students, and parents are verified and no need to print bank slips.

'Stanbic wants to help improve customer experience for our clients by making school fees payment and reconciling collections seamless and painless,' he said, adding that, the bank was currently working with the universities and would bring on board second cycle and basic schools.

He said prior to the launch, Stanbic was working with some few schools to test run and to make sure 'we refine the proposition before going wholesale'.

Nana Benneh said as part of the proposition, Stanbic Ghana would support the financing needs of schools who signed onto the programme with short term loan 'to bridge tour financing gap, especially towards the end of term and term loans to enable you fulfil your expansion and construction needs'.

'The bank would also offer asset finance to enable the institutions to acquire buses or any other school assets.

The solution also comes with investment options to enable schools to transact, save, and invest using the bank's secure and reliable solutions. They can also use the bank's business online secure platform to view statements and make payments.

Meanwhile, Stanbic Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ghana National Association of Private Schools.

Nana Benneh signed for Stanbic Ghana while Mr Eric Appiah, President Ghana National Association of Private Schools initialled for the Association.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Mrs Joan Addison, the Proprietress of God's Grace International School, has said teacher motivation and professional development were crucial for the realisation of improved teaching and learning.

She said in order to achieve short and long term goals in teaching and learning, teachers' interest and welfare must be a major concern of their employers to ensure their satisfaction on the job and give off their best.

Mrs Addison said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during the 30th Anniversary and 17th Graduation and Speech and Prize-Giving Day of the school.

She said: 'As much as bosses and employers demonstrate much concern to the wellbeing of workers, there is little room for shoddy work or sluggish performance, but if working conditions proof otherwise certainly there will be knock-on effect on their performance.'

Mrs Addison said there was the need for the provision of teaching materials and logistics whilst providing a congenial environment for the learners.

She said school authorities must show concern for their staff when they were bereaved and also organise parties for them, adding that this would go a long to encourage the teachers to perform better.

Mrs Addison said she had instituted a monthly award scheme for teachers in her school to boost their performance using punctuality and lesson notes preparation, among others, as the yardstick.

'Teachers are supposed to be good role-models and, as such, the school insists on proper exemplary dressing, which can have a telling effect on the schools image.

'Equally important success factors are the health and fitness of staff and students and, as such, there is an occasional health screening and aerobic session for them, which enhance their learning and working abilities,' she said.

Mrs Addison called for the periodic engagement of inter/intra-school extra-curricular activities to improve the overall development of school children.

She said her foremost vision had always been to produce best intellectual talents to serve the nation and that God had been the centerpiece of the excellent performance of the students of the school on yearly basis.

She said the school had chalked successes and achievements in its 30 years of existence, notable among them being the 2016 Heroes of Distinction Award, and the TNG Corporate Award for Academic Excellence, presented by West Africa Int. Limited.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Meridian Port Services (MPS) would continue to invest in state-of-the-art port technology in order to boost operations and improve efficiency.

This came to light when the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, led a Ghanaian delegation made up of executives from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and Meridian Port Services (MPS) to the Signing Ceremony for the ordering of 27 new gantry cranes for the new Tema Port Expansion.

The ceremony, which took place on August 22, 2017 in Shangai had the Chief Executive Officer of MPS, Mr. Mohamed Samara and the President of ZPMC, Mr. Fred Huang executing the Equipment Purchase Agreement.

The CEO of MPS indicated that, in acquiring these high-tech gantry cranes, the MPS and its Shareholders (APM Terminals, BollorA Transport & Logistics and GPHA) have shown their readiness to ensure that the new mega port will be adequately fitted with cutting-edge equipment and technology.

Mr Samara said MPS is the biggest container terminal port in West Africa whiles the Ghanaian economy is the second largest in the region and with the social and economic steadiness, the import/export traffic through Tema Port is expected to continue to grow for many years to come.

He expressed confidence that the Tema Port is bound to be the first port of call for the major liner mother vessels.

'Shipping lines are already deploying the largest vessels that can dock along the West African routes; therefore, the MPS expanded infrastructure capacity coupled with its renowned efficiency will certainly create new opportunities for the shipping lines at the Centre of the World,' Mr Samara said.

Mr Paul Asare Ansah, the Director General of GPHA, highlighted Ghana's economic evolution over the past decade where the Tema Port volumes tripled and indicated that he expects the growth to continue for several years to come.

'GPHA has developed the Master Plan for the seaports in Ghana and while MPS will be implementing the container terminal inside the new Tema Port Expansion, there are four other project being perused by GPHA', Mr Ansah said.

The Minister of Transport Kwaku Ofori Asiamah announced to the audience that the Government of Ghana has already given strong indications of its support and commitment to all activities geared towards the improvement of Port efficiency in the country.

Moreover, despite being few months in office, the Ghana Government has already started putting in place strong foundations and enabling environment for the private sector to invest and thrive within.

The Minister further acknowledged that ZPMC does not only provide cranes, but other industries and remarked on the partnership between Ghana and ZPMC.

'It is my hope that this signing ceremony will establish the foundation for ZPMC to set up a strategic cooperative partnership with our nation as we seek the continuous development of our seaports as well as the various sectors of our economy.'

The delegation inspected the impressive assembly lines for the STS Cranes and visited the various stages of production in the factory and along the massive five kilometre Quay.

On the waterfront, there were about 100 STS Cranes being progressively assembled in these vast production lines, which are manpowered by 16,000 workers.

The preliminary preparations for the MPS Cranes to enter the production cycle have started and the delivery of the cranes to the new port facility in Tema is on schedule for December 2018.

The purchase agreement between Meridian Port Services (MPS) and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC) covers the construction, delivery and commissioning of 7 units Ship-To-Shore (STS) container handling cranes and 20 units Electrical Rubber-Tyred-Gantry cranes (ERTG), including, but not limited to, training, spare parts, certificates, manuals and drawings, pursuant to the Agreement.

This $82 million investment represents the biggest single order of such state-of-the-art container gantry cranes in West Africa and a major component in the Tema Port Expansion Project as well as a remarkable milestone in MPS's journey to maintain Tema Port as one of the top container terminal operators in Africa.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Cape Coast, Aug. 31, GNA - Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a Former Minister of Trade and Industry, has asked educational institutions to make conscious efforts to tap the rich expertise and experiences of their alumni in career choices and counselling of students.

This, he said, would ensure that students made informed career choices in their academic progression to drastically reduce graduate unemployment and despondency among the youth.

Dr Sopio-Gabrah was speaking at a youth colloquium organised by the Cape Coast Youth Development Association in collaboration with the Ogua Traditional Council in Cape Coast on Wednesday.

It was on the theme: 'The falling standards of education in the Cape Coast metropolis, the role of stakeholders and the relevance of technical and vocational education'.

The Former Minister said the lack of professionally trained counsellors equipped with the needed logistics and resources in schools to carry out their mandates as one of the causes of unemployment in the country.

'As a country, we seem to have left the role of career choices and proper counselling of students to teachers, some of whom may not be professionally endowed with the right knowledge and skills to perform that task,' he said.

Dr Spio-Garbrah admonished alumni to bridge the gap with their alma mater and contribute significantly to their development.

He advised the youth to endeavour to learn to speak and write good English to enable them to explore the world to better their lives.

He urged them to properly take advantage of the revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to upgrade themselves.

To reach that peak, he charged the youth not to give excuses for the failures in life but work with staunch determination to turn their adversities into prosperity.

Dr Spio Garbrah also urged parents to regularly visit their wards in school and encourage them to move to the zenith of their careers to enable them become responsible adults.

In that vein, he asked parents to desist from attacking teachers and rather establish a strong bond with them and work with one accord to instil high moral values in children.

A Former First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebo Barton Oduro, advised parent to invest their resources in the education of their wards.

He pledged his unflinching determination to help reverse the falling standards of education in the Cape Coast Metropolis, christened as the hub of education in Ghana.

The youth group donated in excess of 2,000 copies of customised exercise books to be supplied to schools in the Metropolis to enhance teaching and learning.
Friday, September 1, 2017

A lawyer who previously had gained a measure of notoriety has been suspended as reported on the web page of the Virginia State Bar

On August 25, 2017, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board suspended Wayne Richard Hartkes license to practice law for five years effective October 27, 2019, for violating professional rules that govern candor toward the tribunal. The suspension will be consecutive to a three-year suspension issued on October 27, 2016.

Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported in April 2015

A lawyer accused of being intoxicated and disruptive at a Continuing Legal Education program last year has been suspended for six months and ordered to enroll in a two-year treatment and monitoring program.

Witnesses accused Reston attorney Wayne R. Hartke of sleeping and loudly snoring during the morning part of the seminar and then yelling at a video screen during the afternoon session, according to charges brought by a Virginia State Bar panel.

Hartke was led from the seminar room by another attendee, according to the ethics charges brought by a disciplinary subcommittee in September. An observer said he smelled of alcohol and had a bottle of liquor among his belongings, the subcommittee said.

In an interview with a VSB investigator, Hartke denied he had been intoxicated, the panel said.

The VSB Disciplinary Board imposed the six-month suspension at a March 27 hearing, according to a summary order from the board.

Under the boards terms, Hartke was ordered to enroll in Lawyers Helping Lawyers for two years and comply with all of the organizations terms and conditions. Any notice of noncompliance would result in an order to show why his license should not be suspended for an additional three years.

Hartke was reprimanded by the VSB in 2010 after settling a legal malpractice lawsuit accusing him of failing to protect the interests of individual directors of a corporate client.

Hartke was reprimanded again in 2011. Among the allegations was a 10-day Fairfax County jail sentence for contempt of court. Hartkes blood alcohol content was measured at .127 during a court appearance, the VSB order said.

Lawyers Helping Lawyers is a 30-year-old assessment, referral, monitoring and support program helping lawyers address addiction and mental health issues.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals noted in imposing reciprocal discipline

Mr. Hartke contends that his Virginia suspension was based on sleeping and snoring in a[CLE] class. To the contrary, as he acknowledged in the Virginia stipulation, Mr. Hartke was not suspended for sleeping and snoring. Rather, he was suspended for failing to correct misrepresentations that he made to the Virginia State Bar in the course of the Virginia disciplinary proceedings.

The original six-month Virginia suspension order that required alcohol treatment is linked here.

His failure to do so led to the three-year suspension. (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2017/09/virginia-lawyers-weekly-reported-a-lawyer-accused-of-being-intoxicated-and-disruptive-at-a-continuing-legal-education-progra.html
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Kumasi, Aug 31, GNA - The Chairperson of the Asante Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Kofi Amfo-Akonnor, has called for a scale-up of the effort to slow down Ghana's population growth rate.

This comes amid the report by National Population Council (NPC) that the country's population had been rising at an alarming rate of 2.5 per cent annually over the last three decades.

The figure is far beyond the globally acceptable rate of 1.5 per cent.

The Rev Amfo-Akunnor said a more comprehensive population policy should be developed to reduce child morbidity and mortality, to aid birth control.

Making the call through the Ghana News Agency (GNA), he said that was vital to ease pressure on the economy and the natural resources.

He said although God commanded mankind to procreate to fill the earth, this demanded that everybody showed responsibility - to take good and proper care of what they produced.

He compared the rate of growth of Ghana's population and that of Singapore for the last 60 years and indicated that while that of the West African nation rose from 6.7 million to 27 million during the period that of the Southeast Asian country had gone up to 6.3 million from 2 million.

This, he said, must leave nobody in doubt that Ghana had a serious problem of uncontrolled population growth and it was time to sit up and to get the right things done.

The Rev Amfo-Akunnor expressed strong backing for the NPC's position that pragmatic steps must be taken to pause the fast-growing population.

That was the way to go to help the government to deliver on its development agenda.

'Few births means better investment in human resources and this translates into better standards of living of the people', he added.

He asked that family planning was made a top national priority and said this required intensification of public education campaign to encourage married couples to plan the size of their family.

There should also be massive sex education for adolescents to check teenage pregnancies.

He urged his colleague priests to use the pulpit to assist the congregation to have better understanding of the need to keep smaller families.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 31, GNA- The National Dance Company of Ghana in collaboration with El Wah Movement Dance Theatre from Haiti would present a dance performance from September 21 to 23, 2017 at the National Theatre.

The performance dubbed 'Alkebulan's Awakening', literally meaning 'Mother of Humanity' is a dance collection from various African countries, which juxtaposes Africa's deep beauty with the negative residual effects of the middle passage.

It is to address topics of mental liberation, ancestral knowledge, and the beautiful African spirit and its global manifestation.

The September 21 performance is for high level officials including the Presidency, Ambassadors and Ministers of State, while the September 22 and 23 shows would be opened to the public.

The events are scheduled from 1930 hours each night except on Friday, September 22 which will be a morning session for students in addition to the evening event.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-line of the performance, Ms Stephany Yamoah, the Deputy Director of the National Dance Company of Ghana, said the performance would show a united front of the Alkebulan, which was the actual name of the African continent.

Ms Yamoah who also directed the dance said: 'we are trying to project a total Africa but not Africa with barriers because we are doing dances from North, Southern, West, East and Central African countries'.

She urged the public to come all out on the scheduled dates to patronise the event because there was the need for Africans to be empowered for the awakening of the continent to take its place in the world.

On her part, Ms Colette Eloi, the Director of El Wah Movement Dance Theatre, described the performers as incredible because the dances included 10 dance techniques and it took the professional dancer, three years to perfect the dance style.

She, therefore, commended the Ghana Dance Ensemble for using just six months to perfect all the 10 dance techniques.

Ms Eloi said dance performance would seek to present a concept of unity and the need to rise above the standard to make the future bright for the continent.

Some of the performers that the GNA spoke to said, the techniques involved in the dance were very demanding and they needed to focus to ensure that it was well performed.

They appealed to the public to give the needed recognition to dancers as it was peculiar profession.

They urged the authorities to put pictures displaying the country's cultural dance at the Airport as done in other countries.

Alkebulan's Awakening is a must watch for every Ghanaian as it promises to be an entertaining and educative cultural event.
Cape Coast, Aug. 31, GNA - The Oguaa Traditional Council (OTC) has expressed its displeasure with the celebration of "Orange Friday" street carnival, which has become part of the celebration of Fetu Afahye, saying the gods are unhappy with it.

'The gods of the land have warned us against the celebration of 'Orange Friday' on the said date", a press statement signed by Nana I.A Donkoh, Register of OTC, said.

The statement said the said Friday of the event was supposed to be a solemn day for sober reflection where a bull is slaughtered to cleanse the town and her people from any negative things done during the past year.

It said the OTC has not received any official communication from the event organisers and they have not authorised the celebration of the event within the festive period.

The Council advised all individuals and entities that wished to organise any activity within the festive period to seek authorisation from them and urged the general public to desist from participating in the event.

The 'Orange Friday' carnival was introduced in 2013 by a Cape Coast base radio station, Cape FM and is held on the Friday prior to the grand durbar to climax the festival.

With the orange dress code, representing the station's colour, the carnival became an instant sensation and has grown to become the biggest street carnival in Ghana and the second in Africa.

It has since become one of the activities to which many revelers, both young and old from far and near looked forward to each year.

The event is characterised by revelers wearing orange attire and trekking through some principal streets amidst music and dance with the orange dress code, representing the station's colour.

However, last year, the event has sparked controversy following a decision by the OTC to call for a proposal from the radio station before it is authorises the event.

This has resulted in a legal tussle between the two parties with the OTC insisting that the necessary authorisation has not been given for the event.
Tamale, Aug. 31, GNA - The Ghana National Association of Cattle Farmers (GNACAF) has called for the creation of grazing reserves for cattle to help address the conflict between cattle herdsmen and crop farmers.

Imam Hanafi Sonde, National Chairman of GNACAF, who made the call at a stakeholders' conference in Tamale on farmer-Fulani pastoralist relationships in northern Ghana, said the creation of grazing reserves would ensure dedicated areas for cattle to graze and prevent the destruction of farm crops.

The conference, a follow up to an earlier one held at Mole in the Northern Region, was to help create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue amongst policy makers, farmers and pastoralists to reduce conflicts and promote peaceful coexistence by including Fulani pastoralists in agricultural development trajectories.

The event was organized by the United States Agency for International Development through the Feed the Future's Northern Ghana Governance Activity, in partnership with the Cocoon project and Catholic Relief Services.

It brought together about 150 participants from across various state and non-state institutions including ministries, departments and agencies, non-governmental and civil society organizations and representatives of farmer groups and pastoralists.

Imam Sonde also called for the gradual adoption of a modern system of intensive cattle breeding saying it was the only solution to the numerous challenges confronting the cattle sector in the country.

Impacts of pastoralist activities including overgrazing by cattle resulting in depletion of the forest cover and subsequent loss of soil fertility, the destruction of crop farms and economic trees as well as shea and dawadawa have been a source of conflict between crop farmers and Fulani herdsmen.

Mr Solomon Boar, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, said cattle herdsmen rendered essential services in ensuring the availability of meat in the country adding that there is the need for collaboration amongst all stakeholders to address the concerns that erupted between cattle herdsmen and crop farmers in the country.

Mr William Peter Andoh, Superintendent of Immigration at the Northern Regional Office of Ghana Immigration Service, said it was not wise to deport Fulanis from the country saying some of them were indeed Ghanaians.

Superintendent Tandoh said all was being done to ensure that Fulanis, who contravened the laws of the country, were appropriately prosecuted.
I write to express my discontent and intense aversion with regards to the proposed 2017/2018 academic fees of level 200 students of colleges of education in Ghana and plead with you to actuate the powers of your office and that of Parliament to require an immediate review of the proposed fees by Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, I crave your indulgence to walk you through the proposed fees by Parliament for level 200 students this year. Let me be quick to say that whatever figure I am putting across is exactly what came from Parliament. Parliament proposed All Program fees of GHC603.76, an S.R.C. Dues of GHC 100, a Hall Dues of GHC 100, and an Examination fee of GHC 360 which is usually determined by the University of Cape Coast.

These debatable figures sum up to a hooping GHC 1163.76 for which is a clear indication of an unbelievable betrayal of students of colleges of education by Parliament. How can an average Ghanaian parent who voted for change in anticipation of being able to see their wards through teacher training afford it?

Again, let me draw your attention to the fact that the GHC1163.76 as proposed by Parliament excludes feeding grant. This means a proposed feeding grant of GHC 728 will be deducted on a monthly spread from the proposed GHC 400 allowance to be given to every student in a college of education.

Mr. Speaker, I owe it a responsibility to again draw to your attention that, students in colleges of education can never be able to pay this outrageous fees in my opinion, and it will be prudent for your outfit to intervene swiftly to prevent ruining that young level 200 teacher trainee who cannot afford to pay such fees future.

Again, I fear for the future of every young Ghanaian youth who wish to attend college of education if this situation is not ratified. I am saddened by the rise in fees of colleges of education and wish to remind you of your own constitutional provision; Article 25(1) and I quote, "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular, by progressive introduction of free education".

In conclusion Mr. Speaker, it is staggering that we have to pay such high fees just at the time the nations economy is now picking up. I plead with you once again to activate the sacred laws of Ghana to intervene in this issue. Save our Students Mr. Speaker.

Yours Sincerely

......signed........

Derrick Boakye (A concerned Teacher Trainee) 0267855612

Cc: The Chairman, Select Committee on Education

The Majority Leader

The Minority Leader

The Majority Chief Whip

The Minority Chief Whip
01.09.2017 LISTEN

The Agona West Municipal Assembly in the Central Region has held its Town Hall Meeting aimed at sensitizing the general public on government policies and programs to improve living standard.

The Meeting under the theme; Bringing Democracy to your Doorsteps, saw people from all walks of lives including Chiefs, civil society groups, Assembly Members, traders, artisans, transport unions, personnel from the security services, media practitioners and others attending.

They were sensitized of Planting For Food and Jobs, Free Senior High School and other government policies to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth dotted across the country.

In his opening remarks, the Agona West Municipal Chief Executive, (MCE), Hon. Justina Marigold Assan said the Town Hall Meeting had become a very important tradition in democracy.

She noted " The Town Hall Meeting affords the government and across section of the citizens an opportunity for a face-to-face interaction.

It also gives government the opportunity to feel the purse of the populace, to enable it asses directly, the mood of the people on the implementation of its policies and programs.

This event was instituted to enable government get a sense of the perspectives and concerns of the people. In this direction, the people would in turn come to appreciate some of the problems the government has to contend with in the process of managing the affairs of the nation. This what 'bringing democracy to your doorsteps' i means"

The MCE recounted the days of the People's Assembly concept instituted by former President H.E John Agyekum Kufour to bring governance to the door steps of the people.

Hon. Justina Marigold Assan further stated " The Town Hall Meetings are efforts at decentralizing governance to the grassroots.

The MCE concluded with this remarks " I would urge all of us to play our individual roles as expected so that collectively we could contribute to national development "

The Agona West Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Madam Helen Essel briefed the people on modalities for the Free Senior High School policy schedule to take off in September 2017.

She encouraged parents to take advantage of the policy to to ensure that their wards attain height in the educational ladder.

Similar presentation was done by the Director of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Wood on Planting for Food and Jobs policy.

The Meeting was organized by the Agona West Municipal Information Officer, Mr. Charles Nkrumah in collaboration with the Assembly.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), African Union's Specialized Agency for Capacity Development, is joining forces with the Government of Ghana to convene its 26th Board of Governors Meeting (BoG) in Accra, from 4 to 5 September 2017, under the theme Enhancing Access to and Absorption of Development Resources in Africa.

Placed under the patronage of Ghana's Head of State, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 26th BoG Meeting will be preceded by a High Level Meeting, on the 4th of September 2017, which will be attended by finance, economic development and planning ministers from across Africa; development partners from North America, Europe and Australia, as well as top officials from the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, inter alia.

The high level meeting will provide an opportunity for these key development actors to reflect on means for effectively financing the continents development agendas and how to build related capacities.

The meeting will review and address the capacity needs and gaps as well as leadership and planning issues that are slowing the pace of Africas transformation.

These relate to the inadequacies in internal resource mobilization strategies as well as difficulties in effectively absorbing and utilizing external resources when such resources are made available to African Governments.

Executive Secretary of ACBF, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, said this 26th BoG is coming at a crucial moment when African countries are striving to implement Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, but are faced with inadequate human and institutional capacity to effectively implement the plans.

He added that the meeting will also share experiences and practices on the use of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for socio-economic transformation and innovative ways of financing STI as part of developing the critical technical skills required for inclusive and sustainable development of African economies.

Mr. Nnadozie intimated that the ACBF Board of Governors will review the work of the Foundation in 2016, especially what it laid out for achieving within its current five-year strategy (2017 to 2021).

The Strategy aims to support the emergence of Skilled People and Strong Institutions to Transform Africa, and is developed around 4 principal goals: enabling effective delivery of continental development priorities such as Agenda 2063; supporting countries to achieve tangible development results; enhancing the ability of the private sector and civil society to contribute to sustainable development and leveraging knowledge and learning to increase development effectiveness.

The Foundation uses five main approaches to deliver on these goals: 1) mobilizing and leveraging resources for capacity development, 2) generating and sharing critical fit-for-purpose knowledge, 3) extending grants and investments and providing fund management services, 4) providing capacity development advisory services, and 5) promoting innovation in capacity development.

At the end of the meeting, the Foundations secretariat will galvanize support from their Governors for successful implementation of the ACBF Strategy (2017-2021) including support in mobilizing resources for the implementation of the Strategy to create the desired impact across Africa.

Funding capacity development strategies is no longer a choice for Africa especially if the continent wants to successfully implement the first ten year plan of Agenda 2063 and national development plans said Prof Nnadozie.

How quickly African leaders make the right choice on this issue, especially in supporting the comprehensive work done by ACBF and other capacity development think tanks, will highly determine the pace of implementation and success of this and other development plans at the national, regional continental and global levels.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

A group calling itself, Young Cadres Association (YCA) has called on Muslims in Ghana to pray hard for the country.

In a press statement issued on September 01, 2017 by its President, Mr Michael Dery appealed to Muslims to use the celebration to ask Allah to shower His spirit of honesty and truthfulness on Ghana, and especially those in the body politic of the country so that leadership will always think of the bigger goal and not their selfish interests.

"While you celebrate, please also be reminded of our common goal as a nation and what unites and blinds our common destiny together. With this in mind, let us all strive to always live in peace with our neighbours and work to achieve our common goal".

Below is the full statement;

Press Release

Accra: 01/09/2017

Young Cadres Wishes All Muslims a Happy Eid al Adha

The leadership of Young Cadres Association (YCA), on behalf of the entire membership, would like to extend our warmest felicitations to our Muslim brothers and sisters on this special occasion of Eid al Adha. Such moments are very significant as they remind all of the infinite mercies of Allah and his compassion for mankind. On this holy occasion of sacrifice, we ask that Allah flood your lives with happiness, your heart with love, and your mind with wisdom.

This joyous occasion offers all an opportunity to always remember the underlining reason for this Festival of Sacrifice' - the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismael, as an act of obedience to God's command. This should inform all of us, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to always listen and obey the command of Allah in order to reap His blessings. Again, the humility and submissiveness of the Prophet Ibrahim teaches us all to know the limits of our powers as human beings and to always respect the will of Allah.

While you celebrate, please also be reminded of our common goal as a nation and what unites and binds our common destiny together. With this in mind, let us all strive to always live in peace with our neighbours and work to achieve our common goal.

We cannot celebrate without asking Allah to shower His spirit of honesty and truthfulness on this nation, and especially in the body politic of the country so that leadership will always think of the bigger goal and not their selfish interests.

May Allah bless you; may He in His Merciful nature accept all your sacrifices; and may He grant us all peace forever.

...Signed...

Michael Dery

President

Young Cadres Association (YCA)
01.09.2017 LISTEN

As I vividly recall, there was a time, not very long ago, when a Mahama Deputy Minister by the name of NiiLanteVanderpuye stood high on an electioneering campaign platform and sneered that then-Candidate Akufo-Addo was too short and unprepossessing (or unattractive) to be elected President of Ghana. We did not hear any vehement calls from the National Democratic Congress parliamentary representatives or the Presidency for Mr. Vanderpuyes resignation.

And then, a party General-Secretary second-bananas by the name of Koku Anyidoho, then Director of Communications for the now-late President John Evans Atta-Mills,was widely reported to have described the visage or face of former President John Agyekum-Kufuor as damn too ugly for me to behold. Once again, nobody among the top-ranking membership of the National Democratic Congress demanded Mr. Anyidohosimmediate resignation. An officially extorted public apology was all it took for Mr. Anyidoho to keep his fat-salaried job.And, well , even if they did, there is absolutely no evidence that the Mills Presidency paid any heed. This is just a simple matter of setting the records straight and letting the chips fall where they may.

And so, just what Code of Ethics would our young handsome broadcast journalist have the Akufo-Addo Administration, or Presidency, in common Ghanaian parlance, fashion and activate here? The only trouble-shooting mechanism that I would demand is one that enables the operatives of our state-security apparatus spot the hatching of a $ 72 million mega-scam before the Ghanaian taxpayer is taken to the cleaners.

Anyway, the geo-tribal war-lady is described in the rather unnecessarily sensational news article produced about her as an ace journalist, and so it is quite safe to assume that Ms. Shamima Muslim was old enough to have been plying her trade when Mr. John Dramani Mahama was President of Ghana. But, of course, what we find to be even more significant, for polemical reasons, is the knowledge that Ms. Muslim also claims to have been born in Accra and schooled in Cape Coast. As well, equally significant is our protagonists claim that she a bona fide Ghanaian citizen of northern descent, which logically leads us to the following question:

Where was Ms. Muslim, when then-President John Dramani Mahama, her fellow northern-descended Ghanaian citizen, virulently cursed out the people of Kyebi, the Okyeman capital, their Paramount King and Okyeman, in general, as a traditional state that was thoroughly composed of congenital morons who had absolutely no remarkable sense of environmental health and decency? As well, where was this Muslim woman when Mr. Mahama called Kyebi the Galamsey Capital of Ghana, with the full and incontrovertible knowledge that his own brother, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, was the foremost Galamsey predator on Okyeman lands? (See Shamima Muslim Demands Answers from Nana Addo Following Quaitoos Resignation Yen.Com.Gh / Ghanaweb.com 8/31/17).

There is, of course, quite a slew of northern-descended Ghanaian politicians who have viciously maligned Ghanaian citizens of southern descent, largely of Akan ethnicity, including one ace journalist who is presently the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Tamale-North called Mr. AlhassanSuhuyini. Ms. Muslim would do her credibility great good and the rest of us scandalized Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, great favor by referring to one instance in her ace journalistic career when she demanded of then-President John Dramani Mahama, some of the same answers that she presently presumes President Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party government to owe her and her northern-descended kinswomen and kinsmen, such as precisely how Nana Akufo-Addo feels about the negative remarks allegedly made by Mr. William Agyapong Quaitoo about Ghanaian farmers of northern descent.

Did Ms. Muslim back then, for example, demand of the self-proclaimed Northern Messiah the imperative need for the establishment of a Code-of-Ethics to strictly police the conduct of all Mahama cabinet appointees, as well as party stalwarts and even ordinary members of the National Democratic Congress? And has Ms. Muslim ever heard the name of a deputy NDC cabinet appointee by the name of Mr. Kobby Acheampong, who called Mr. Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (aka Sir John), the present head of the National Forestry Commission and former NPP General-Secretary, a rustic Asante Cocoa Farm bumpkin? Was Mr. Achempong asked to resign his job by either President Atta-Mills or then-Vice-President John Mahama?

Or are we here being made to understand that Ghanaians of northern descent, especially supporters and sympathizers of the main opposition National Democratic Congress are, somehow, above the 1992 Constitution and the laws of the land? And if so, precisely why so? But even more significantly, can Ms. Muslim refer the rest of us to any letter of protest that she had composed in the lead-up to the 2016 general election, demanding the immediate resignation of President Mahama?

We must also underscore the fact that, by his own public testimony, Mr. Quaitoo lived in the Northern Region for some 27 years and speaks Dagomba and Dagbani with the fluency of a native-speaker and, very likely, with much more fluency and eloquence than the Cape Coast-educated Ms. Muslim. But even more significantly, Mr. Quaitoo well appears to be more conversant with the language and culture of the people he rather unfortunately spoke so scandalously about. Even so, what makes the public apology rendered by Mr. Quaitoo worth any less morally than the poorly rehearsed apology rendered by then-President Mahama who, by the way, was never pressured to resign, to the Okyeman Council?

Tell us, Ms. Muslim, if yours is not a viciously calculated act of unconscionable hypocrisy and a cheap publicity stunt, what is it? A Code-of-Ethics for who? Dear reader, you be the judge.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
01.09.2017 LISTEN

As Muslims celebrate Eid-al-Adha today 1st September,2017, I would like to use this medium to wish all Muslims in Ghana and the world at large a happy and a peaceful Eid Al-Adha celebration.

Eid al-Adha in the Islamic calendar is a festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to follow Allah's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

Again, this occasion is a holy time of sacrifice and generosity to family, friends and the needy. It is my fervent prayer that Allah would accept your prayers, sacrifice and generosity as well as grant you long life, success, goodwill and favour you in all that you do.

I would edge all Muslims to celebrate this blissful occasion in moderation. Let the oneness of Allah stay in us all.

Barakade Sallah to all Muslims!!!!

Thank You.

....Signed...

MR STEPHEN AYESU NTIM.

NPP, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN HOPEFUL.

POWERED BY: NATIONAL NPP YOUTH FOR STEPHEN.

KWABENA FRIMPONG

NATIONAL PRESIDENT

0204910050

NANA AGYEMANG BAAH DANIEL.

NATIONAL SECRETARY

0245635032
Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Marlin Marcellus Stewart, III recently published an Article entitled, You Can Have My Gun When You Pry It from My Hands Which Are Incapable of Managing My Own Estate by Reason of Advanced Age, Physical Incapacity, or Mental Weakness: Firearms Rights of Wards in Mississippi Guardianships and Conservatorships, 35 Miss. C. L. Rev. 495 (2017). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:

The laws of the State of Mississippi allow the state's chancery courts to appoint a fiduciary for someone who is unable to manage his own affairs. As detailed below, while the appointment of a fiduciary may result in the abridgement of certain civil rights of that individual, a fiduciary appointment has previously had no statutory impact on the firearms rights of Mississippians. Recent changes in state law, however, may have changed that outcome by creating a correlation between the abridgment of a veteran's firearms rights subsequent to the appointment of a fiduciary and the firearms rights of a Mississippian in a guardianship or conservatorship. This Article will examine whether, and to what extent, Mississippi's citizens who have a fiduciary appointed to manage their personal affairs can potentially lose their right to purchase or possess12 firearms, while using as an illustrative example the impact that the assignment of a fiduciary has on the ownership rights of a veteran receiving disability compensation benefits from the VA.

The first section will provide historical background on the VA disability compensation benefit and will incorporate a brief discussion of the mental health issues facing veterans returning from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with an overview of the process and purported authority by which the aforementioned veterans are being reported to the NICS. The second section will provide a brief overview of the rights Mississippians enjoy with regard to firearms. The third section will explain the range of actions, including the appointment of a fiduciary through a guardianship or conservatorship, available through the Mississippi court system to protect those who are no longer able to care for themselves. The penultimate section will analyze recent applicable law and regulations to establish that, under the current scheme, Mississippians who have guardians or conservators appointed for them under certain circumstances will soon be in similar situations to the veterans who have had fiduciaries appointed through the VA. The final section will demonstrate that although a similar reporting scheme should be in place for some Mississippians in a conservatorship or guardianship, one does not yet exist and the section will additionally propose a potential planning avenue for elder law attorneys whose clients may soon be entering a conservatorship.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2017/08/article-on-you-can-have-my-gun-when-you-pry-it-from-my-hands-which-are-incapable-of-managing-my-own-.html
01.09.2017 LISTEN

The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) has called on government to clear the backlog of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) debt, saying the arrears thwart efforts of Christian hospitals to prevent avoidable diseases and deaths.

According to the association, subsidies and subventions for utilities and tax waivers hitherto from development partners have ceased due to Ghana's new middle-income status. Therefore governments continuous indebtedness is affecting the smooth running of the health facilities.

Speaking at the launch of the 50th anniversary of the association, President of Catholic Bishops' Conference, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, said the inability of government to honour such an obligation limits the capacity to provide equitable and affordable healthcare.

Our contributions in the health sector have not been without challenges. All our facilities, without exception, continue to endure unbearable effects of the NHIS indebtedness which continue to adversely affect such institutions capacity to provide equitable, quality and affordable health care for our people, he stated.

Owing to Ghanas status as a lower middle-income country, the developed world  that is most of CHAGs benefactors and developing partners  ceased their hitherto generous support. Unfortunately, subsidies and subventions on utilities, tax waivers and a host of other substantive allocation by government to CHAG facilities have been withdrawn, released or reduced drastically, he added.

Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Dr Opuni Frimpong, said Christians must defy all odds to sustain Christian hospitals despite governments failure to pay NHIS debts.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked party faithful to stop campaigning for candidates or party members who are interested in the party's flag bearership come 2020.

According to them, the party is in a reorganization process and party members should work towards that.

With about two years to go for the National Delegates' Congress to elect a flag-bearer to lead the NDC into the 2020 elections, there is already pushing and shoving on the frontlines of the party, as interest groups begin to test the waters for their preferred candidates.

Some appointees in former President John Dramani Mahama's administration have long indicated their preparedness to support him in the event that he decides to run again.

But speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' Programme, National Organizer of the party, Kofi Adams explained that the Kwasi Botwe committee's report has asked that the party be reorganized and re-branded for 2020 and that's is what they are committed to do.

"Those aspiring to be flag-bearer and are outdouring their posters should focus on reorganizing at the grassroots and constituency levels," he said.

Some names such as a former Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah; a former Vice-Chancelor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi; a former Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur; a former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah, and the current Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu are popping up as possible prospects.

However, only one person, Nii Amasa Namoale, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Dadekotopon, has been bold enough to state that he will contest the NDC flag-bearer race, on condition that the former President declines to join the race.
The Food and Agriculture Minister will in the next few days present to cabinet a comprehensive document on how they intend to implement governments One-Village One-Dam project in the northern part of the country.

Dr. Afriyie Akoto said the implementation will start during the start of the 2017 dry season, which normally begins in November.

We have a plan in place that we are going to submit, and hopefully, the implementation will start in the coming dry season, the Minister said to Citi News.

Isn't it a shame that because the northern Savannah has only four months of rain, for eight months, the people there are sitting, folding their arms, waiting for God to bring rain when we have all these big rivers crisscrossing the savannah zone.

Dr. Afriyie Akoto said the government was looking to take advantage of these rivers by diverting them to farmlands in need.

We have big plans to try and drain some of these rivers and redirect some of these rivers through huge pipes to reach as many farming communities as possible in the northern sector.

The One-Village-One-Dam policy is one of the Akufo-Addo administrations flagship programmes aimed at ensuring all year-round agriculture in the three regions of the north, through the construction of irrigation dams in every village in that part of the country.

Under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme in the 2017 budget, GHc94, 446,132 was earmarked for the One-Village-One-Dam policy.

One-Village-One-Dam policy forms part of President Nana Akufo-Addo's key policy initiatives which are expected to cost over GHc2 billion.



By: Sammi Wiafe/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Member of Parliament for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Isaac Adongo, has donated a bull and a ram to the Muslim community in the area to celebrate Eid al Adha.

Mr. Adongo made the donation to the Upper East Regional Imam for sacrifice at todays celebration of Eid al Adha.

He also donated some food items and assorted drinks to the Muslim community to support in celebration.

Speaking to Citi News at the residence of the regional Imam Alhaji, Mr. Isaac Adongo said the support was also dedicated to Allah for peace, good health, and prosperity of his constituents.

On this particular occasion I have brought this bull and ram to the regional chief Imam to sacrifice to Allah as we celebrate Eid al Adha to pray for good health, peace and prosperity for my constituents. I also encourage everybody in the region to emulate the works of the chief Imam considering his leadership style in sustaining the peace Bolga has enjoyed over the years.

Mr. Adongo also advised Muslims in the constituency to celebrate the Eid al Adha in modesty.

He also provided GHC5,000.00 worth of scholarship to some students in the area and pledged to increase the package to cover more children in the constituency in subsequent years.

The regional chief Imam, Alhaji Yussif Adam, expressed appreciation for the kind gesture, adding that, the sacrifice of the animals to Allah will bring peace, good health and prosperity to the Bolgatanga constituency and the region as a whole.

He appealed to the Muslim community not to do anything untoward to distract the peace the municipality and the region at large is enjoying during the Ramadan celebration on Friday 1st September, 2017.



By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Takoradi, Aug. 31, GNA - Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, has lauded the efforts of the Prime Meridian Dock Services for establishing a world-class standardised maintenance and repair facility for Ghana's Oil and Gas Sector.

He said the time had come for the country to revive defunct local industries and create new ones to have the captains of industry required to accelerate socio-economic growth.

Mr Asiamah, who was speaking at the commissioning of the Prime Meridian Docks' new offices at the Takoradi Port, said the Government was committed to creating the enabling environment for partnerships with the private sector to thrive and improve livelihoods of people.

'We are committed to supporting the private sector to grow by ensuring that our people become the captains of industry. This will make them to be competitive at the international market as well as create jobs for our people,' he said.

The Transport Minister said the Government was committed to ensuring the success of the project, adding that the Ministry was not ready to kowtow to international pressure but would put in place policies and programmes to ensure that the visions of Ghanaians were realised.

The Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Limited, a wholly owned Ghanaian company, would build a world class-repair and maintenance facility for rigs and ships at the Takoradi Port at a cost of $60 million.

The facility would consist of a 330-meter pier, a 200/35-meter floating dock with a lifting capacity of 10,000 tonnes, and an industrial workshop equipped with state-of-the-art tools and machines.

The project would be in two phases; the first phase would end in December 2017 and would see the securing of all finances needed to commence phase two, which include acquiring of the floating dock, equipment and machinery, as well as building of the needed infrastructure to commence full operation of the yard.

Lead sponsors of the project have already invested about five million dollars into it and secured commitments and interest for close to 50 million dollars, which is almost all the capital needed for the commencement of phase two.

Mr Stanley Ahorlu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Limited, explained that potential investors, led by ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment Limited, were committed to the project, which is expected to create a minimum of 300 permanent jobs.

He said the project was expected to generate annual revenue of 30 million dollars, which would translate to a 23 per cent return-on-investment with annual revenue of 30 million dollars.

'This would account for 3.5 per cent of the transport sector's contribution to Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP),' he said.

Mr Ahorlu said Ghana's relative socio-political and economic stability made the location of the yard an attractive proposition to ship and rig owners, adding that the yard's unique free trade zone status enhanced attractiveness as well as provided its clients with cost saving services.

'The size and designs of the yard, coupled with internationally recognised industry experts such as Rigmar as technical manager, gives the yard immediate access to potentially 90 per cent of the market in the repair and maintenance of ships between 150 and 200 meters length,' he said.

Mr Paul Ansah, the Director General of Ghana Ports and Habours Authority, congratulated Prime Meridian for helping to grow the maritime industry.

'About 50 per cent of vessels hauling this Port are oil related vessels and are doing their services in South Africa and Las Palmas. It is a good initiative and has the capacity to support the oil and gas industry,' he said.

Mr Bill Donaldson, the Business Development Director of Rigmar Services, United Kingdom, said it was good to do business with the Takoradi Port as that could help it give back to the community.

GNA

By Mildred Siabi-Mensah, GNA
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - A businessman who presented forged bank statement in order to secure a German visa has been convicted by an Accra District Court.

Oniel Awal was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of GH600.00 in default serve six month jail term for presenting forged documents.

On the charge of possessing of forged documents, the court ordered him to pay a fine of GH540.00 in default serve four months imprisonment. Sentences are however to run concurrently.

This was after Awal had pleaded guilty to the two charges. Awal's counsel described the incident as regrettable and prayed the court to tamper justice with mercy.

Defence counsel said his client was a single parent had never fallen foul of the law, adding that handing down on his client a custodial sentence would bring hardship on his seven year old son who accused was currently taking care of.

Handing down the sentence, the trial judge Ms Arit Nsemoh warned him not to appear before the court again for engaging in any similar offences.

The court noted that offences committed by the accused was not an aggravated one and further took into consideration his seven year old son.

Prosecuting Detective Inspector Simon Apiorsornu told the court that Awal who was based in Cape Coast on July 4, this year, applied for a German Visa and presented a bank statement to the German Embassy.

Prosecuting said during an interview an officer of the Embassy found out that the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) statement submitted by accused had been falsified.

Accused further disclosed that he had no money in his ADB account hence he contacted a friend known as Ken and he (Ken) also contacted an unknown man who sent the accused person a bank statement.

When the Police wrote to the Bank it came to light that the bank statement was false.

GNA

By Joyce Danso, GNA
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister of Food and Agriculture, says the petroleum and gas Industry is not conducive for the creation of jobs and must focus more on generating money to be invested in other job-creating sectors such as agriculture.

He said the future of Ghana's oil and gas sector would be mainly automation, with limited employment in the sector, thus initiatives, such as the KOSMOS Innovation Centre (KIC) were important for economic growth of the country.

He made the statements at a ceremony to announce investment awards for the second KIC Agritech Challenge.

He recounted a visit, with President Akuffo Addo, to a 'huge' state-of-the-art gas complex in Malabo-Equatorial Guinea, during a state visit two weeks ago, where he saw what government wanted to see with the future of Ghana's oil and gas industry.

He noted that during the over two-hour tour of the facility, no personnel was seen, with only three people and a bank of computers in the control room controlling everything in the entire complex.

The complex, according to the Minister of Energy of that country, employed only 400 people.

'It tells you that the petroleum and gas industry is not friendly to employment. If you want to generate employment in your country, you don't go to petroleum and gas. What you do is for petroleum and gas to generate the cash, then you put it in the ground.

'What KOSMOS is doing with this competition, to me, is exactly the intention of what we saw in Malabo. That they, as a petroleum and gas company, are trying to cultivate the interest of the youth of this country in agriculture is terribly commendable and I commend KOSMOS for their work,' he stated.

Dr Akoto said Ghana's agriculture sector was down by all indicators, a phenomenon that was deepening rural poverty in the country, thus the essence of government's Planting for Food and Jobs policy; aimed at increasing productivity in agriculture. To do this, he said, technology in improved seeds, fertilisers and others were important.

Mr Joe Mensah, Vice President and Country Manager of KOSMOS, said the flagship KIC programme, started in 2016 and aimed at inspiring young entrepreneurs to start businesses that transform the agriculture industry, focused on the nexus between information and communications technology and agriculture.

'If you want to attract the youth into anything today, it has to have innovation or technology there, otherwise it's not attractive enough for them,' he said.

He noted that while the programme had exceeded the expectations of KOSMOS, it was only a tip of the iceberg as there was optimism that Ghana will take-off, and will do so with agriculture.

The project started in 2016 with about 100 applicants, out of which a final two teams were selected at the end of the process. In this year the KIC received about 400 applications, out of which six teams got to the final stage.

Mr Mensah said he expected quite an increase in applications in the third round of the KIC Agritech Challenge, adding, 'we have raised the bar and it tells you that next year the bar is going to higher'.

Six teams, out of the 25 teams, made it to the final awards of this year's Agritech Challenge were awarded. AgriInnova and Qualitrace, will receive $50,000 each in seed funding as well as a 12-month incubation sponsorship at the Meltwater School of Entrepreneurs and Technology (MEST).

CompleteFarmer also received $50,000, sponsored by the Premium Bank, and a 12-month incubation support by KOSMOS Energy at MEST.

Unlimited received seed funding and incubation support sponsored by MEST, while the remaining two teams will receive other business packages including partnerships with other teams.

Ms Jackie Benyah, Deputy Managing Director of the Premium Bank, commended the winning teams, saying the partnership with KOSMOS on the KIC project was in line with the Bank's vision to support Ghanaian business men and women to grow viable businesses.

Belinda Ayamgha/Julius K. Satsi
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA - Mr John Peter Amewu, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, will lead a seven-member Government delegation to Australia to explore business opportunities in the mining sector.

A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, said the delegation would take part in the 2017 Africa Down Under Conference, which would be held in Perth from September 6 to 8.

It said the Lands Minister would take the opportunity to address more than 1,200 delegates who would be attending the conference and outline Government's initiatives with regard to mining and exploration policies in Ghana.

''This annual conference attracts a great deal of interests from organisations planning to invest in projects or are already having projects doing business in Africa,'' it said.

It said the event was the largest global African Investment Conference to be held and only second to the Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Minister, at the sidelines of the conference, would also meet representatives of the Australian mining firms and, among others, address some key concerns of international investors in the mining industry including the removal of Value Added Tax on exploration companies.

The delegation from Ghana would include some staff of the Minerals Commission, the Precious Minerals and Marketing Company and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

It said while in Australia, Mr Amewu would attend the New Patriotic Party Western Australia Chapter Victory and Congratulatory Dinner Dance as a Special Guest of Honour.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Ho, Aug. 31, GNA - Mr Nelson Akorli, Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has called on the Church to help address moral decadence in the country's youth.

'When the moral of the youth is destroyed, society is destroyed and the church should act fast before it explodes' he said.

Mr Akorli said this at the opening of the 28th annual conference of Catechist and Evangelists Union of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Ghana.

The four day conference, which was held under the theme: 'the delight of the disciple making; being the smile of God in your home and in your church', was being attended by over 250 catechists and evangelists from 15 presbyteries of the church nationwide.

Mr Akorli appealed to EPC to revisit the moral discipline of the founding fathers of the Church.

He applauded the Church for its developmental programmes and appealed for continued collaboration with government for the development of the country.

Mr Akorli advised the leadership of the Church to turn the relics and legacies left behind by the German missionaries in to tourist attraction.

Reverend Lawyer Samuel Amoako, Acting Moderator of General Assembly of EPC, urged members of the Union to be worthy ambassadors of the Church in their communities.

Professor E.K Sekyi, Acting Vice Chancellor of Ho Technical University, said catechists were the pivot around which the church revolved 'so it is appropriate to acquire a new skills to be able to run the church'.

Catechist Sylvester Simon Agbeehia, President of the Union, reminded the members that as administrators of the church, any laps in their performance would have negative effects on the mission of the church and society in general.

He appealed to General Assembly Council of the Church, for job progression for catechists with policy for remuneration.

Catechist Sylvanus Anku, Secretary of the Union, said a proposal has been sent to the leadership of the church for the allocation of a place for catechists on the General Assembly council.

GNA
Abura (C/R), Aug. 31, GNA - A sensitization and orientation workshop has been organised to help traditional chiefs, queen mothers and opinion leaders in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District to appreciate common mental disorders and the rights of such individuals.

BasicNeeds Ghana and Mental Health Society of Ghana partnered the Ghana Health Services to bring issues about mental illness closer to traditional rulers and to stir up communal support for persons with mental disorders and epilepsy.

The training was in response to the priority needs of the UKAID funded project being implemented by the two nongovernmental organisations to support government to establish a strong national mental health system.

Facilitating the workshop in Abura, Mr Humphrey Kofie, Executive Secretary of MEHSOG, said the project aims to help government respond 'effectively and efficiently' to the mental health needs of Ghanaians.

Mental health patients, he said, were faced with so many challenges in the society including stigmatisation, abuse, neglect and lack of proper structures and systems to sufficiently protect their rights.

He reminded traditional authorities of their powerful role as community leaders to help defend the rights of persons with mental illness and galvanise support of community members to help in the upkeep of patients.

'Avoid using derogatory words when addressing persons with mental health disorders as this can deepen stigmatisation, stereotypes and make those patients who are recovering relapse,' he said.

Participants were taken through Ghana's Mental Health Act which grossly frowns on discrimination, torture and abuse of persons with mental disorders.

Mr Humphrey said persons with mental problems could engage in labour, occupational therapy like basket weaving but should not be forced into labour, because it is an offence under law.

'Chaining and secluding is illegal and action can be brought against offenders, they can do some occupational therapy, but it is illegal to let them do forced labour,' he said.

Nana Monku Eku VIII, Chief of Ansafona, expressed worry about the state of mental health in Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District and how the many of the youth have taken into alcohol and suffered depression.

'I realise that the young who should have been more productive rather find themselves to be unproductive due to various vices like drug addiction and excessive alcoholism and in no time it sends them into depression and then they start having mental disorders,' he said.

He said because of excessive alcoholism and drug addiction the young have become irresponsible parents to their children who also become irresponsible when they grow and the cycle goes on.

'We have mounted on a lot of education in conjunction with other stakeholders, like the Imams and the churches to educate the youth to go back to our formal social values and to also encourage them to be productive, by taking advantage of government interventions in agriculture.'

Nana Eku VII also expressed worry that several people with mental disorders who visit health centres could not access medications due to poverty.

'So it is incumbent on the central government to ensure the continuous supply of medication and rehabilitation of mental health patients for rapid recovery,' he added, and called for holistic approach to dealing with mental health conditions in the country.

He urged government to consider raising national budget allocation for mental disorder as it was currently negligible.

This, he said, leads mental health patients to go back to prayer camps and be chained by their 'so-called healers' of prophets and prophetesses who have answers to every disease even including mental disorder.

'In order to free the patient from going to the prayer camps the central government should ensure the continuous supply of medications so that they can assess it,' he added.

Nana Eku VIII commended BasicNeeds and MEHSOG for conducting training for traditional rulers on mental issues and fundamental rights pertaining to persons with mental illness.

He also expressed commitment to champion mental issues during traditional functions to deepen public understanding on mental disorders.

He said: 'With the kind of enlightenment and education we have had from this programme, I am now in a better position to educate the public on the causes and treatment of mental disorders.

'Now I am even more interested in the preventive aspect of mental disorder than the curative because at the end of the day preventive is less costly as compared to curative.

'So, not only am I prepared, but I am positioned well because now I have the knowledge to educate them at durbars, churches and everywhere that the forum provides an opportunity even including wedding ceremonies.

'I am also going to join hands with the Christian communities, Muslim community so that at any forum our Imams, chiefs and queen mothers should use it to educate our youth and especially our queen mothers to educate the girl child to refrain from early sex so that they do not fall victims social delinquents.'

GNA

By D.I. Laary, GNA
01.09.2017 LISTEN

No hour passes by without something happening anywhere in the world. They could be new things; new occurrences or repeated events. They could help improve the lives of mankind, they could also further deteriorate the lives of humanity. Events or issues can endanger peaceful co-existence, they could also generate conflicts.

Some of the issues or events are well planned to achieve stated objectives of the one generating them, while still many others are by accident or unintended to harm society. Society is bound to live with such events, no matter how bad or good the issues might be, the issues on their own do not generate consequences, it is the reaction of society that creates the consequences which either benefits the society or the society suffers from it.

Ethnicity and way of life is a natural phenomenon, people do not choose who they are or which ethnic groups they should belong to, what they should eat, wear, and how to eat them or wear them. Seen with unprejudiced minds, such natural differences make for the beauty of nature and human existence. What society requires is tolerance and respect for each and everyone no matter their differences.

Nigeria has a huge number of ethnic groupings, probably the biggest in Africa, however, they have come to accept the major differences in their society in terms of way of life, culture and beliefs and are living with them. Indeed, Nigerian comedians use the cultural differences to create a lot of public humuor and they all enjoy it. It is not uncommon to see an Ibo comedian making fun of Hausas in an open concert where the audience are from various ethnic backgrounds. They all laugh over it.

The Hausa/Fulani groupings make reference to the Ibos as nyem meri, which means 'give me water'. It is said that during the Nigerian civil war, an Ibo soldier running away from enemy shelling, had travelled a long distance to arrive at a village, which unknown to him, was occupied by Hausas. Very thirsty and famishing, he approached the occupants and asked them to offer him water, speaking Ibo. Obviously, it was a case of an enemy offering himself to be slaughtered.

Since then, the Hausas and the Fulanis have been calling the Ibos by that. Of course the Ibos have equally derogatory phrase for the Hausa/Fulani ethnic groupings. They are living with it.

When we were in Secondary School of old, we made fun of each other about where we came from. We even called one another by where we hailed from or our ethnic groupings. We never fought. We ate together, slept together, did everything together and never fought because of where we came from. However, in our adult lives, more so in our public lives, we cannot openly and publicly make the kind of statements we used to make in our school days without antagonizing anyone, particularly when it engulfs a whole group of people. We must be conscious of the fact that it is not everybody who appreciates humour, even if that is what our utterances are intended to achieve.

We must, as public officers, be mindful also of the fact that it is not everybody who is tolerant of even harmless comments when it borders on their culture, beliefs and actions. I am not an Asante, but various ethnic groupings in this country have made sometimes very disparaging remarks about Asantes and still continue to make, yet they do not take those remarks serious, indeed they are not distracted by them in anyway. Some political newspapers had over the years deliberately worked to create a wedge between Asantes and the Akyems for political games, but the two ethnic groups were never bothered about that because there was nothing between them that can separate them.

In the latter part of 2016, Madam Dzifa Attivor, a former Minister for Transport had traveled throughout the country, meeting Ewes and denigrating Akans before her ethnic siblings. I remember having reported her utterances in this very column. Akans never complained. You remember, the 'as for the people of Kumasi, even if you tar their roads with gold, they would never appreciate it' by President Mahama, a northerner? He made this unguarded statement in Kumasi. His children with sharp teeth attempted to doctor the tape to exonerate the President then but to no avail. The President did not retract nor apologized. Asantes never asked the President to resign. Life went on even though they might not have been happy with the President's utterances. Tolerance.

President Rawlings once upon a time compared the best hygienic practices of the cat to what he perceived as the unhygienic life styles of Fantis in Cape-Coast which has the accolade of a 'City of Beautiful Nonsense'. He said it in the home grounds of the Fantis. They did not go berserk. If a similar statement had been made by someone else of Akan extraction against an Ewe or a northerner, it would have been a different ball game. Someone drew my attention to a certain phenomenon. In many Akan areas, it is not uncommon to see non-Akans, particularly Ewes and Northerners living in particular electoral areas being elected by the predominantly Akan people to represent them in the various District Assemblies.

One cannot find an Akan in any part of the northern regions or Volta Region being elected by the people to represent them in their District Assemblies. Well, one may also argue that the Akans in those areas do not offer themselves.

A few weeks back, I had a chat, among other great citizens of this country, with Prof. Kwame Karikari. In the course of the conversation, he made us aware that Tumu was doing extremely well in maize production currently and in his view, that part of the country, if properly resourced and guided could lead in maize production in this country. He was making this assertion in the midst of the attack on our farms by pests. Perhaps, it is this knowledge by the former Deputy Minister for Agriculture that made him make those comments, perhaps in an attempt to repudiate an otherwise over exaggerated situation affecting farmers in the three northern regions of this beloved country.

No matter what contrary information he had as regards the agricultural performance in those parts of the country, and the efforts the government generally and the Ministry in particular had taken to ensure that food production does not suffer seriously by the invasion of the pests, the former Deputy Minister was not measured in view of the fact that he was speaking to the whole nation on what he might have perceived as unreasonable complaints by some farmers or politicians in those parts of the country. His over assessment of the issue to include even non-farmers from the three northern regions was totally uncalled for.

He was honourable enough to follow up immediately with unconditional apology. Sadly, in the modern politics of our generation, a certain group of political tradition has its political survival hinged on playing the minority against the majority in this country. Detestable as the comments of the former Deputy Minister were, were the reactions by my former boss at The Mirror, Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini really meant to draw the attention of the former Deputy Minister to the unacceptable comments or incite the people of the three northern regions against the Deputy Minister or playing the political advantage?

Some of the comments of the Member of Parliament bordered on threats on the life of the former Deputy Minister. When a blatant falsehood was peddled against a then President Nana Akufo Addo's nominee for the position of Minister for Energy, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini's voice on attempts by one of his own to destroy the hard won reputation of that individual was never heard. Hon. Boakye Agyarko also comes from an ethnic group, indeed two ethnic groups and from two regions as well. If the people of those regions and ethnic groups had acted in the manner 'Baba' did, one can imagine what the situation would have been.

Our reactions to situations, no matter how bad those situations might be, produce the end result and not the situations themselves. Daavi, just three tots in this cold weather.

[email protected]

From Kwesi Biney


Stanbic Ghana has outdoored its latest innovation, Quick Fees, to strengthen its commitment to education through its relationship management approach that proactively serves customers.

The product will see massive financial support to institutions, teachers, students and parents to help satisfy their varied educational financial needs and further provide them with appropriate banking solutions.

Stanbic wants to help improve customer experience for our clients by making school fees payment and reconciling collections seamless and painless, Nana Benneh, Head of Personal and Business Banking at Stanbic Ghana, told journalists in an interview Wednesday in Accra.

He said in some of the regions, Stanbic was actually working with universities.

In time, we hope to bring on board some of the second cycle schools and basic schools as well.

Essentially, it's about people who are going to school finding easier ways of paying their fees and then we partnering with the schools to help them with their financing as a business, and also work with the teachers to finance them personally.

We have signed partnership agreement with Ghana Association of Private Schools to work with their members. We have also piloted with a number of universities. Underpinning this partnership is a database system which allows easy reconciliation of the payment of school fees collection and the financials of the school as well.

Other benefits for patrons of the Quick Fee platform is that payment of fees come at no cost to the school, there is an immediate notification of school fee payment, an automated reconciliation of school fee payment with Stanbic Bank account takes place, risk of forgeries are eliminated, as school, students, and parents are verified.

There is also no need to print bank slips while it also affords quick, easy reports, and receipts for students and school fees payment.

Nana Benneh further said there were user fee options to choose from and these included the telco wallet, Slydepay, online payment via schools with internet or website and also a reconciliation system that provides seamless services online.

Eric Appiah, President of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), thanked Stanbic Bank for the facility and called on all schools, parents, teachers and students to take advantage of it to meet their educational needs.

A business desk report
GCB Bank has donated GH100,000 to people who were affected by the mudslide in Sierra Leone recently.

The donation was in response to the distress call by the people of Sierra Leone following the 14th August 2017 mudslide, which claimed 400 lives.

It was also in line with GCB's corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The Managing Director of the bank, Anselm Ray Sowah, who handed over the cheque to the representative of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said the donation was on humanitarian grounds.

He said GCB, which is Ghana's largest bank, thought it wise to extend a helping hand to Ghana's neighbour in the ECOWAS community.

Mr. Sowah said Ghana and Sierra Leone share some similarities in their development and history and it was important to identify with a sister country in distress.

David Laryea, Director, Management Information System, Monitoring and Tracking and Edward Ashong, Director, Investor Services of the GIPC, received the donation.

Mr Laryea gave the assurance that the funds would be put to the good use, adding we are grateful for your timely response to this plea for help.

A business desk report
The Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) has suspended the August salaries of some workers on government's mechanized payroll system.

Those affected, according to the Controller, includes public sector workers, who failed to validate their payroll through the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher (ESPV) system, those with irregular or no bank account details, those with wrong SSNIT numbers, as well as employees not captured on the biometric registration system at the Ministry of Finance.

The Controller said it took the decision based on Regulations 297 of the Financial Administration Regulation 2004 (LI 1802), with an objective of cleaning the payroll system and improving efficiency of the government of Ghana payroll management.

Affected employees, according to the CAGD in an announcement in the Thursday edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper, would have to take advantage of the requirement for mandatory monthly validation of salaries.

Those whose salaries were suspended due to non-validation of salaries would be paid at the end of September 2017 on the condition that their heads of department validate them on the ESPV platform for September 2017, the CAGD added.

It further in the notice said employees declared unknown but not missing at their various places of work are required to submit reactivation letters signed by their heads of departments to the Controller and Accountant General's Department Payroll Processing Division.

Employees with zero or irregular bank account details and others with wrong or without SSNIT numbers and employees sharing the same account numbers should submit the required information to the payroll processing directorate of the Controller and Accountant General's Department for processing. Employees yet to go through the biometric registration exercise should contact the biometric registration center at the Ministry of Finance with the necessary documents for registration, the notice signed by the Controller and Accountant General, Eugene Ofosuhene added.

Ghost names

Government undertook a similar action in April 2017 against public sector workers who were not captured on the new SSNIT biometric system .

A press statement from the Ministry of Finance at the time explained that those affected had not been registered on the new SSNIT biometric system, despite several directives to do so.

The Ministry also announced the suspension of payment of the SSNIT contribution to some 23,029 employees because they could not be accounted for in a nationwide head count which ended on 22nd October 2016.

Citifmonline
The Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has reacted to the recent appointment of Robert Le Hunte, immediate past Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the HFC Bank Ghana Limited, as a Senator and Minister for Public Utilities in that country.

According to a letter dated 28th August, 2017 from the Prime Minister's Office, copied to the media and published in Trinidad's Daily Express, an online medium: It has come to the notice of the Honourable Prime Minister that Mr Robert le Hunte is a citizen of Ghana and accordingly he is not qualified under Section (42(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to be appointed as a Senator.

Accordingly, the Honourable Prime Minister has so far informed the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr Le Hunte will be rectifying his position and once this is done, the Honourable Prime Minister will appoint him as a Senator and Minister of Public Utilities. Under these circumstances, until the matter is rectified, the Honourable Prime Minister will assume the portfolio of Minister of Public Utilities. It is expected that this situation will be rectified by Friday, 1 September, 2017.

This letter was circulated by the Public Information and Communications Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister from St Clair.

It would be recalled Mr Le Hunte recently resigned his post as CEO of HFC Bank Ghana Limited to take up a ministerial position in Trinidad and Tobago.
Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new presidential election within 60 days, after a shock ruling cancelling the results of last month's poll over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of six judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Supporters of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga's wept and cheered, utterly stunned at what they saw as a historic justice rendered after losses in successive polls they believe were rigged, from a judiciary long seen as compromised in favour of the ruling elite.

Odinga, 72, hailed a "historic" ruling which he said was a first in Africa.

Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution".

Four out of the six judges at Kenya's Supreme Court found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void"

Kenyatta accepted the court's decision, and urged Kenyans to remain peaceful.

"Millions of Kenyans made their choice but six people have decided that they will go against the will of the people," he said.

"I personally disagree with the ruling that has been made today but I respect it."

'Kudos to the judges!'

Kenya has a long history of disputed votes, election violence and a lack of faith in the judiciary's independence.

"It was a surprise because the trend in justice in Kenya is not good, but this time justice has been done," said 39-year-old accountancy student Donna Abongo.

"Kudos to the judges!"



Beaming broadly, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga waved at supporters as he left Nairobi's Supreme Court following the unprecedented decision to annul the election result

"For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen elections for so long," said fishmonger Lynette Akello in western Kisumu.

The run-up to the August 8 election was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and opposition allegations that rigging was certain.

Indeed Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) cried foul shortly after counting began, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of demonstrations and riots in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

Profile of Raila Odinga

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.

'Irregularities and illegalities'

It was the third time in a row that Odinga cried foul, having claimed he was cheated out of rightful victory in 2007 and 2013.

However, the protests remained isolated and did not reach the levels of the disputed 2007 election which saw politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.

In 2013, Odinga took his grievances to court and lost.

This time he initially refused to take the case to court but changed his mind, saying NASA wanted the truth to come out even if they believed they had no hope of winning.

However, in a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court agreed with the opposition coalition.

Ahead of the ruling, Kenyan police set up barricades near the Supreme Court in Nairobi over fears the outcome could lead to a fresh wave of unrest

Maraga said there had been "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

He said this had compromised the "integrity of the entire presidential election".

The court's full ruling must be available within 21 days.

Election commission vows change

Odinga said he no longer had faith in the current election commission and called for them to step down.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati refused to resign, saying he had not been implicated in any wrongdoing personally, but vowed "internal changes to our personnel".

He called for those guilty of wrongdoing to be prosecuted.

NASA official and lawyer, James Orengo, had argued that irregularities -- including unsigned and fake tally forms, hacked servers and deliberate miscounting -- had affected around one-third of the 15.5 million votes cast.

But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote.

A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets -- known as form 34A -- as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

In addition, the registrar's report found that the electoral commission failed to provide full court-ordered access to its servers, which NASA had demanded in order to back up its allegations of hacking.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Sunyani, Sept. 1, GNA - An effective data management system is very essential for efficient Police administration, Superintendent Nana Kwaku Duah, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Crime Officer, has said.

Accurate data collection and analysis, among other benefits, presented a realistic and actual situational report of crime rate to enable the Police and other security agencies to strategise and act on them accordingly.

Supt. Duah said this when he opened a two-day training workshop for 23 selected personnel of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Tuesday.

The programme, organised jointly by DOVVSU and the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), with financial support from the United Nation's Population Fund (UNFPA), aimed at equipping the participants with knowledge and skills to ensure effective management and analysis of the regional data collection system.

It was also to build their capacity 'to ensure data is accurate, complete, authentic and reliable' for the regional DOVVSU to have credible data system to meet the required national and international standards.

Being held on regional basis, the programme was the eighth in the series with the Ashanti and Western regions yet to be covered.

Supt. Duah said the provision and presentation of data could, sometimes, be misleading and not reflect the actual situation because of the inaccuracies in the collection, interpretation and analysis.

He commended the organisers, particularly the UNFPA, for funding the nationwide programme for the personnel to be well-equipped in data collection and analysis.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Setina Aboagye, the Regional Head of DOVVSU, said the training formed part of the 'UNFPA Country Six Project' that aims at reducing maternal mortality and improving adolescent sexual reproductive health in the country.

She said DOVVSU was the source of credible data provision on sexual and gender-based violence and, over the years, capacity building training for them had been on those issues.

Mr Senanu Agbozo, a UNFPA Consultant and Resource Person, said the days of preparing reports in hard copies to dispatch by manual means in the Ghana Police Service were over because of the application of Infortaion and Communication Technology.

Mr. Doudu A. Achempong, the Regional Economic Planning Officer, in an address delivered on his behalf, expressed the RCC's commitment to assisting DOVVSU to work assiduously to attain its goals and targets in the Region.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Sept. 1, GNA- A two-year immunisation cycle, aimed at ensuring the protection of babies from diseases, is set to roll-out this month to November in the Greater Accra, Volta and Northern regions.

The project, dubbed: 'Second Year of Life (2YL) Project,' would be implemented by the Ghana Health Service (GHS), in partnership with the Red Cross, World Health Organisation and UNICEF with support from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta.

Mr Kwadwo Asante-Afari, the Programme Officer of the Health Promotion Department of the GHS, said the 2YL Project sought to offer protection for children from vaccine preventable diseases by strengthening the life immunisation from birth to five years.

He said the pilot project in the three regions had become necessary as a result of the huge number of defaulting parents who did not send their children for the second measles vaccination.

'The rationale for establishing the 2YL platform is to establish an additional schedule visit to deliver second dose of measles-rubella vaccine at 18 to 24 months of birth.

'The 2YL project also seeks to bridge the measles immunisation gap so that Ghana will be able to achieve the Measles immunisation goal of 95 per cent,' he said.

At a stakeholders meeting in Accra on Thursday, Dr Joseph Opare, the National Project Coordinator, in a presentation made on his behalf, urged caregivers to ensure their babies completed the two-year immunisation cycle to protect them from diseases.

Dr Opare said there was the need to improve advocacy and social mobilisation for 2YL interventions, build capacity of staff at all levels, re-focus communication messages on the benefit of the second dose and establish adherence to defaulter tracing systems to make the project successful.

Mrs Grace Kafui Annan, the Head of Health Promotion Department of the GHS, said without adequate sensitisation of caregivers, the initiative would not yield the desired results.

'I am optimistic that the project will reposition health caregivers to contribute more effectively to service delivery,' she said.

GNA

By Samira Larbie/ Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Kumasi, Sept 01, GNA - The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has scaled up its effort at assisting small and medium enterprises to efficiently operate with the launch of the phase two of the Ghana Institution Support Programme (GISP).

A total of 3,890 enterprises across the nation would benefit from the African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded programme.

They would be supported to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange and to access long term capital to expand their operations.

Ms. Kosi Yankey, the acting Executive Director of the Board, said this would be done through the adoption of efficient financial management practices and capacity-building to enhance their competitiveness.

She said the goal was to accelerate economic growth, create jobs and fight poverty.

The expectation was that the beneficiary enterprises would play vital role in the government's planting for food and jobs and one district, one factory flagship projects.

Ms. Yankey spoke of the restructuring of the Business Advisory Centres (BACs) of the NBSSI to give strong technical support and create the right environment for businesses to thrive.

She added that under the phase two of the GISP, 140 officers of Board would also receive capacity-building training.

She announced that in excess of 900 enterprises benefited from the phase one of the programme, which ended in last June, and said their operations had seen significant improvement.

Mr. Bashir Manu, Ashanti Regional Manager of NBSSI, underlined the need to uphold best business management practices for increased productivity and profitability.

He said it was important for business owners to be abreast of changing trends and technology to stay competitive and expand.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Kumasi, Sept 01, GNA - Religious bodies have been asked to deepen their cooperation with the government to bring development - transform the lives of the people.

Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), who made the call said they needed to forge stronger partnership because they had a shared goal of promoting the welfare of all the citizens.

He said this when he joined members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission at Eid al Adha celebration.

He spoke of the unwavering determination of the government to work hard to fight poverty and make things better for everybody.

He made reference to the free Senior High School (SHS) policy, the planting for food and jobs programme, the one district, one factory project and steps taken to strengthen the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and said these clearly showed their eagerness to keep faith with the people.

Mr. Assibey Antwi said they would never betray the trust of Ghanaians and called on them to stand solidly behind the government.

He used the occasion to remind the Islamic faithful to avoid religious intolerance and extremism.

They should accept to live in total peace and harmony with their neighbors, he added.

He advised them to continue to submit to Allah, shun vengeance and immoral acts.

Maulvi Abdul Hameed Tahir, the Regional Missionary, asked Muslims to stick to the true teachings of the Holy Prophet Mohammed and to denounce violence, inhuman and atrocious acts.
Grahamstown, South Africa, Sept. 1, GNA - Mr Sam Sole, an Investigative Journalist in South Africa, said the phenomenon of 'fake news' has presented a systematic threat, which is enough to engender a rethink of the boundaries of free speech and media.

He said it was unfortunate that technology could now be manipulated to achieve social and political outcomes, rendering the population fragile and confused.

'Technology makes the manipulation of populations possible in ways that undermine our basic understanding of the authenticity of the popular will of democracy itself. That is where the danger is,' he said.

Mr Sole, also Chief Executive of amaBhungane Centre of Investigative Journalism, said this at the ongoing 21st Highway Africa Annual Conference in Grahamstown, South Africa.

It is under the theme: 'Media, Accountability and Local Governance,' which coincided with the South African Communicators confab.

The Conference is hosted by the Highway Africa in partnership with Rhodes University's School of Journalism and Media Studies and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Barclays Bank, Telcom and MTN.

It is facilitating the continental debate on the interface of journalism, media, and information and communication technology (ICT) for development.

Mr Sole said the propensity for fake news to often play on people's emotional responses, tended to solicit fear, anger or outrage and that called for a real rethinking.

'Technology can now automate this process, as we saw with Trump's army of Twitter 'bots' during the US election,' he said.

He said the ubiquitous smart phone and the dominance of population connectedness via social media meant that surveillance of whole populations was now within reach.

The Ace Investigative Journalist said the scariest of the reality was that propaganda worked adding: 'Research shows that repeated exposure to false information could propel people to believe that it is the truth.'

'We have our own example right here, where the so-called Gupta trolls - though the links to the Gupta family are not proven - have succeeded in embedding a White monopoly capital discourse - as an alternative narrative to the state capture narrative that has been used to frame the Gupta story,' he said.

'Unfortunately, we are only at the beginning of this revolution. Bots are currently quite easy to spot, but advances in artificial intelligence will change that,' he said.

Mr Sole said technology would make it easier to produce fake news that looked real mimicking politicians and the affluence in society.

He said the precise targeting of commercial and political speech at individual consumers, based on a sophisticated and automated analysis of their online persona, was already a reality, adding 'This is only going to get more sophisticated and intrusive if we continue on the current laissez-faire trajectory.

'We will be deceiving ourselves if we don't recognise this as a 'systemic' threat that must force us to rethink the boundaries of free speech and media, which is not commercially 'free' at all,' he said. GNA

By Maxwell Awumah, GNA Special Correspondent, Grahamstown, South Africa
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Sept. 1, GNA - The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) has launched its Golden Jubilee celebration in Accra with a call on member organisations to renew their commitment to delivering quality health service to the deprived communities.

Most Reverend Philip Naameh, the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: 'The country is a living witness to the exemplary contributions of CHAG in the Ghanaian health sector.

'We are recognised as the second largest provider of health services in Ghana with about 30 to 35 per cent share of health service output. Indeed, collectively, we have provided health, healing and hope to millions of people including mothers, children, aged and disabled.'

Most Rev. Naameh said by the modest contribution of the CHAG, lives and livelihoods had been restored in many ways hence 'we have a course to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of serving as stewards and servants of Christ's healing ministry'.

The Golden Jubilee, on the theme: '50 Years of Christian Health Service Delivery: Improving and Sustaining Innovations,' would be celebrated in all the regions, to include screening and outreach services. There would also be documentary to showcase the achievements of the CHAG.

Award ceremonies to recognise distinguished member organisations and donors will climax the celebration in the first week of November.

Most Rev Naameh said: 'Consistent with our core values of creativity, excellence and innovation, CHAG pioneered and piloted 40 community-based insurance schemes in the 1990s that ultimately culminated into the National Health Insurance Scheme in 2004.

'To date, about 11 million Ghanaians, representing about 42 per cent of the population, are enrolled onto the NHIS, which is recognised as a model in Africa and rated as one of the best poverty alleviation interventions since Ghana's Independence.'

Cataloguing the achievements of CHAG, Most Rev Naameh said CHAG's Community outreach services and pioneering role in Primary Health Care laid the foundation for Government's Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHIPS) Programme.

'Our Health Training Institutions continue to train middle level health professionals including nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, prosthetics and orthotics technicians for the entire health sector. CHAG's accredited facilities continue to provide housemanship and specialists training for medical officers.

'Today, in the remotest and unreached places, CHAG provides services to the neglected communities irrespective of socio-economic or religious circumstances.

'In crisis situations, we serve as buffers and resilience to the health system; our non-strike tradition under all circumstances has immeasurably supported and strengthen our country's health system against shock and perennial challenges,' he said.

He said CHAG's 50 years existence has facilitated equitable access to quality health care to the poor, needy, marginalised, neglected and vulnerable segment of the society.

Mr Peter Yeboah, the Executive Director of CHAG, said over the years, government's subsidies, subventions and waivers in the health sector, especially for CHAG member institutions, continued to dwindle with unintended consequences.

'We see and experience, much to our dismay avoidable diseases and deaths; especially for mothers and children owing to local health system failures, policy incoherence, inertia and unresponsive attitude of some health professionals.

'Amidst the growing needs and mounting challenges, our aspiration and resilience to ensure the provision of equitable and sustainable quality health services to all people remain our brand and passion,' he added.

The Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said churches had made tremendous contributions in the national development and nobody should think of sidelining them.

He, therefore, urged CHAG to extend the activities of the celebration to the Church to whip up interest of members to own Christian hospitals.

Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong said the anniversary should reposition CHAG to improve quality assurance to serve as an example to be emulated by all.

Dr Agatha Bonney, the CHAG Board Chairperson, said it was a historic occasion as they celebrated quality health service delivering to Ghanaians and neighbours across the borders.

She acknowledged the fruit of collaborative support of all partners for the successes chalked adding that health was dynamic and, therefore, the need to access valuable information through technology to achieve sustainable health for all.

CHAG, established in 1967, began with a modest 60 hospitals and clinics to the current 302 facilities dotted all over the country.
01.09.2017 LISTEN

Grahamstown, South Africa, Sept. 1, GNA - Two African science journalists have been elected to the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), as members of the Executive Board.

They are Ms Mandi Smallhorne, the President of the African Federation of Science Journalists, and the South African Science Journalists Association, and Mr Ochieng Ogodo, Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Coordinator and News Editor of Science and Development (scidev.net) news portal based in Kenya.

The two are part of four new Board Members elected, the first time Africa has two representatives on the same international Board of the WFSJ, and would be inducted during the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists in San Francisco, in October.

The WFSJ is the most prestigious international body honing science journalism, globally.

Ms Smallhorne said funding for science journalism was drying up though journalists were showing much interest and passion to report and communicate science and technology, which abound on the Continent.

'We hope to strike a balance between scientists and journalists on one hand and editors and reporters on the other, in order to make science and technology reporting acceptable to all,' she said.

Ms Smallhorne said science journalism underpinned development in all spheres and urged multinational entities, foundations, corporate Africa as well as governments' to support the industry to flourish, pledging to deepen attention for science coverage.

Mr Ogodo, in an email, said the opportunity to serve was a great honour as well as grand responsibility to chart a path of vibrant inclusiveness, collaborations and make informed choices.

'The past has been very good, the present looks very promising and we need to deliver the future against the challenges that we will encounter from time to time. It is urgent we do that.

'It is high time for science journalists on the Continent to rise to the occasion and build vibrant science journalism associations anchored on progressive and participatory pillars,' he said.

Mr Ogodo expressed optimism of pursuing forward-looking regimes for science journalists towards reviving ailing associations at all levels.

The two pledged to fight for resources to shore-up science reporting and communication, particularly in Africa and the global south.

GNA

By Maxwell Awumah, GNA Special Correspondent, Grahamstown, South Africa
Following President Akufo-Addos official announcement that any citizens with any corruption complaints against any of his appointees have a right to lodge their case with the police and other security agencies, for the requisite investigations to be conducted and the veracity or the lack thereof ascertained by public investigators, the Assin-Central New Patriotic Partys Member of Parliament, Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, was reported to have done precisely that (See A-Plus Swerves CID; Fails to Show Up for Questioning Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 8/31/17). As of this writing, however, another report had appeared on the web in which Mr. Agyapong was alleged to have said that he had absolutely no intention of taking up the invitation of the CID because I am not a thief. Now, it is not clear precisely what he means.

Earlier on, Mr. Agyapong had alleged that one of the point men at the Presidency had either extorted or been caught in the act of extorting a $ 20,000 kickback from a prospective investor who had sought audience with the President. Well, the veracity of this allegation is as significant as the credibility and motive of the plaintiff of such allegation. This is where matters are almost bound to unravel or go awry. Already, Mr. Agyapong, who owns media concerns and several other businesses and contracts with the government, had bitterly complained that he has not yet been rewarded with the issuance of the sort of contracts he feels will be commensurate with his personal financial investment in the presidential-election campaign of then-Candidate Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in general.

Mr. Agyapong has been reported to have further alleged that others who contributed far less than he had to the electoral fortunes of the NPP, had been awarded far more lucrative contracts than the complainant. Now, what the preceding points to is that Mr. Agyapongs allegations are not purely disinterested. In other words, his motive or motives may be inescapably self-serving; which further implies that had Mr. Agyapong been awarded contracts of which he was completely satisfied or content with, it likely would not have mattered the least bit whether, as he alleges, Mr. Agyapong had espied, or caught red-handed, any presidential aide, or staffer, either extorting or attempting to extort a kickback from a prospective investor.

In the case of the musician called A-Plus (aka Mr. Kwame AsareObeng), as I indicated in a previous column, it has emerged that he may be afflicted with the same bug that impelled Mr. Agyapong to start making an endless litany of corruption allegations against some of the Akufo-Addo aides.

To wit, A-Plus is, reportedly, not content with his GHC12,000 BOST contract, which entails the transportation of refined auto-fuel from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporations subsidiary across the country. His apparently insatiable greed had impelled him to seek more contractual deals at the expense of other equally legitimate local entrepreneurs.

It is the quite justifiable refusal of some presidential aides to servilely feed Mr. Obengs insatiable greed and ego that has prompted the popular Hip-Life artist to curse out, or malign, the two Deputy Chiefs-of-Staff at the Presidency, namely, Messrs. Francis Asenso-Boakye and Samuel Abu Jinapor.

Indeed, as of this writing, A-Plus was reported to have failed to honor an invitation from the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of the Ghana Police Service. He faults his lawyers for failing to show up. Of course, he has another chance or two to meet with police investigators, the failure of which he runs the risk of a legal blowback from those whom A-Plus has accused of the double-crime of abject stupidity and rank corruption.

Ultimately, what we have here is an outrageous case of naked greed mischievously packaged as righteous indignation. It is time for all those who desire to see Ghana prosper beyond their personal bank accounts haunch down and get their hands dirty and greasy with the adult business of nation-building. Those who are not prepared to sacrifice for the long-term good of country and party must promptly and voluntarily side out or be shoved off.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Cairo (AFP) - Passengers flying with EgyptAir from Cairo to Britain will again be allowed to carry personal electronic devices in aircraft cabins, the North African country's national carrier said on Friday.

The United States instituted the laptop ban in March for eight North African and Middle East countries based on intelligence that the Islamic State group was working to build a bomb into a tablet or laptop.

Britain followed suit and banned similar-sized electronics on direct flights from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

EgyptAir in a statement on Friday cited unidentified "informed resources" in the airline as saying the British ban "will be lifted tomorrow (Saturday) on EgyptAir's planes flying from Cairo to the UK".

The United States lifted its electronics ban on the airline in July.

EgyptAir said the decision to lift the ban came "after UK transportation authorities have lauded and approved the safety and security measures applied to EgyptAir flights to London and made sure it is safe and proportionate to do so".
01.09.2017 LISTEN

It is this sort of vacuous and cynical moral grandstanding by National Democratic Congress leaders like Mr. Bernard Allotey-Jacobs that charges me with fury and makes me want to go to war with these pathological hypocrites. It is a well-known secret that the Northerners call us Southerners Kabonga or the uncircumcised ones. You see, they stereotypically think they are more civilized than the predominantly Akan people of the South, because long before the introduction of Islam and Christianity to our portion of the country, and especially the Islamized Wanzam, or surgical clippers of the prepuce or foreskin of the male genitalia, most of us Southerners had absolutely no knowledge of circumcision, which these predominantly Muslim Northerners, somehow, equate with civilization. Of course, the historical reality is much more complex than that.

What Mr. William Agyapong Quaitoo, the former Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture is alleged to have stereotypically said about Ghanaians of northern descent is nothing new. I am also quite certain that Northerners have even worse forms of stereotypical descriptions than Kabonga for us Southerners and even among their various ethnic groups that they are presently pretending to be homogeneous and sacrosanct.

Which, of course, does not necessarily make Mr. Quaitoos characterization of Northerners as a difficult people and congenital liars right. But the fact of the matter is that thoroughgoing corrupt politicians like former President John Dramani Mahama have said far worse things about the Akan than can be printed on these pages. For Mr. Mahama, for example, the Akan are a subhuman species of humanity who are not worth voting for by any northern-descended Ghanaian, unless than Akan presidential candidate material happens to be the running-mate of a northern-descended substantive presidential candidate.

The irony here, though, is that Mr. Mahama sleeps with an Akan woman on most nights, that is, when he is not busy, rumor has it, gallivanting and pounding millet in the sanctums of other women and hatching pikinabolos left and right, front and center. That is where his widely alleged kleptocratic and shamelessly thievish attitude comes in. the man conspicuously lives above his means, and so he has to logically steal and extort payolas to make ends meet.

Once, the late President John Evans Atta-Mills was widely reported to have accused his immediate predecessor, Mr. John Agyekum-Kufuor, of not being sensitive enough to have built adequate cold-store facilities in the Fante-dominated Central Region, as well as coastal areas in the country because, as an Asante, according to his then-archrival, Mr. Agyekum-Kufuor did not understand the ways and cultures of the denizens of the Ghanaian littoral.

The obvious implication here was that the Fante and the other coastal peoples in the country would be better off voting for one of their own, instead of one of these jungle bunnies. In other words, the key operatives of the Trokosi-minted National Democratic Congress have a far lengthier track-record of thriving on the noxious politics of ethnic chauvinism or tribalism than their New Patriotic Party (NPP) counterparts.

And so it is not clear precisely what he means, when Mr. Allotey-Jacobs says that the forced scapegoating resignation of Mr. Quaitoo ought to serve as a lesson to all Ghanaian politicians. Well, the real and only lesson that I see here is the imperative and dire need for the leaders of the ruling New Patriotic Party to muster the requisite courage to defend ministerial appointees who inadvertently provoke the ire or court the displeasure of people who are themselves as chauvinistic and bigoted as those whom they presume to scapegoat in place of their own moral foibles.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Nairobi (AFP) - A decision by Kenya's Supreme Court to annul the results of last month's presidential election was hailed Friday by analysts as "historic" and "an example for the rest of the world".

However, they warned that the 60 days within which a new election must be held will bring tension and anxiety, and the restraint of leaders and credibility of the new election will be paramount.

A 'historic decision'

On Friday, Kenya's Supreme Court rendered a shock ruling cancelling the results of the August 8 election over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of seven judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had taken the case to court, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

"It is a historic decision, the first of its kind in Africa," Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said.

Mutiga said the ruling "means Kenya, one of the most open societies in Africa, is gradually maturing as a democracy".

The "opposition can now go to court and expect to be served with justice", he added.

According to Nic Cheeseman, a professor in African politics at the University of Birmingham, many observers expected a "conservative" ruling -- similar to the decision in 2013 where Odinga took his grievances to court but eventually lost.

In a statement, Justus Nyang'aya, country director for Amnesty International Kenya, said the decision "demonstrates the independence of Kenya's judiciary and sets an example for the rest of the world".

But while the ruling "upholds the constitution" adopted in 2010, "it will put a lot of question marks on the international observers, who have massively said the election day went well," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The unknown

In the majority decision, Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had been responsible for "irregularities and illegalities" which "affected the integrity of the election".

But until the court's full ruling is released, it is unclear what the judgement is based on.

"They've made one of the most important decisions in Kenyan history," Cheeseman said, "and it's going to be 21 days before we find out why".

Analysts bemoaned the wait, adding that the court's final statement will likely influence the next vote and the people who will be in charge of carrying it out.

"The reason why this election was not well run was because the IEBC had so little time to run it," Cheeseman said, noting that new election commissioners were named a mere seven months before the August poll.

"And so now you have less time".

For his part, the anonymous African diplomat said Kenya could see a rush of other dissatisfied candidates who lost out in governor, senator or MP races turn to the court with election grievances following the ruling.

'Show some maturity'

"A lot of people will be nervous," Cheeseman said. "Kenya just had a difficult and controversial election, and this decision pushes it right back into another electoral campaign, which will start almost immediately".

"The outcome of the next election may be controversial again".

This is why "the reaction of the political leaders will be extremely critical in the next two months," Mutiga said.

"There will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, but political leaders need to show some maturity and make sure that they don't ruin what in my view is a remarkably important step for Kenya's democracy".

Mutiga added however that "restraint will be difficult in this very polarised environment" -- which was also stark before, during and after the August vote due to deep ethnic, economic and political divisions in Kenya.

On Friday, Amnesty International urged "all parties to comply with the judgement," calling "on the police to observe restraint in their handling of any celebrations or protests" that may follow.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.
Maputo (AFP) - Mozambique's opposition chief Afonso Dhlakama said Friday he expected to sign a peace deal with President Filipe Nyusi by November, as the two sides look to end years of unrest.

The two men met last month in the remote Gorongosa mountains, where Dhlakama retreated in 2015 with 800 former fighters.

"In principle (the peace deal) will be in October and not later than November," Dhlakama told the Canal de Mocambique newspaper, speaking by phone from his forest hideout.

"It is expected that in October we will have another meeting to finalise the agreements," he said.

Dhlakama leads Renamo, an insurgent group that fought a 16-year civil war before becoming an opposition political party that again took up arms in 2013.

Clashes between the ruling Frelimo party government and Renamo last year revived the spectre of Mozambique's civil war that ended in 1992.

Renamo members, who hold seats in parliament, have called for greater decentralisation of the state and better integration of their people into the police and military.
In recent weeks weve been looking to the future. The future of industry, the future of money, the future of Australia and the world.

We read the papers and watch the news, like most people. But we also take a far more cynical approach to what we see and read. We know that most mainstream media outlets have an agenda.

We also know that most mainstream outlets thrive on fear. Fear sells. Fear brings in viewers. And viewers bring in advertising revenues. Sure, from time to time youll get a good news report, or sport and weather. But we all know that fear sells.

And its an easy time to sell fear. It might be tensions in the middle east. Or the impending war between the US, North Korea and Japan. Maybe its Britain and the EU wanting nothing to do with each other. Or it could be the homophobic nature of Australian parliament.

Either way, fear is everywhere. And the media laps it up. If all you did was focus on this fear, youd be forgiven for wanting to lock the doors, latch the windows, pull the shutters and bunker down in the basement until it all passes.

Except this geopolitical nonsense isnt going to pass. Not any time soon at least. In fact, cast your mind back as far as you can. Can you remember a time of peace? Can you remember a time when there werent tensions in some region? Can you remember a time when things were just so good that it was hard to focus on anything negative?

Probably not.

The opportunities are endless

The good news is that theres plenty to be optimistic about.

Now, were often accused of being a perma-bull. That means we always look at markets and see the upside.

Thats almost true. Yes, we do see opportunity in markets. But for good reason. And well explain why in a moment. But yes, we do know that at some point in the future things might get worse  a lot worse.

We can see that government addiction to debt cannot last forever. We know theres only so high the US can push their debt ceiling before the glass house shatters.

Its obvious theres a global debt addiction, both in government and households. And were pretty certain at some point its going to cause a mother of all crises. However, we dont think that time is coming just yet. We think theres still a good runway of 10, maybe 20 years to go.

That means plenty of time to make some serious money. And in our view there are two massive opportunities we see for people to build wealth. One is more conventional, one definitely unconventional.

The unconventional opportunity in our view is cryptocurrencies. We think this could be the best long-term opportunity to build wealth in the history of money. Even if the crisis of all crises comes in 10 years or 20 years  or even in one year  cryptocurrency will thrive.

In our view holding some wealth in cryptocurrency long term is a smart, if highly risky, move. All our research indicates its the best hedge against global financial calamity.

But today its not just crypto we want to talk about. There are other more traditional opportunities to make money. And again, in our research theres no better conventional way to build wealth than stocks.

In good times and bad you can make money investing in stocks. Now while we say stocks are conventional, theyre still risky. In fact its the stocks with the most potential that are the riskiest. And even though there may be a big ol crisis in another decade or two, that still leaves you a huge opportunity to profit from stocks.

Money flow from the big to the small

Acceding to the Australian Financial Review,

Australia Inc. says it will spend $101.8 billion on capex in the current financial year, 17.6 per cent more than was anticipated three months ago. It represents the biggest increase in expected investment spending in seven years, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data published on Thursday.

What that means is Aussie businesses are preparing to funnel money back into growth. Instead of paying out money in the form of dividends, theyre ploughing it back in to foster innovation, development and growth.

For example Santos [ASX:STO] is upping investment to US$750 million. Singtel Optus [ASX:SGT] is going to spend $1 billion on network improvements. Telstra [ASX:TLS] is going to spend more than $15 billion to find areas of growth.

These are just a few examples of huge Aussie blue chips pumping money back into investment. And thats a great sign for stocks. In fact, for small-cap stocks its incredible news.

You see, for a blue chip to grow and expand isnt as easy as you might think. Its not always possible to develop an entire new service, product or project in-house. When that money is pumped back into the growth of the company, it often finds its way to other, smaller companies that can assist in the growth.

For example, if Optus wants to expand their network, much of the hardware thats needed to achieve that doesnt come from Optus. It comes from smaller companies.

Or perhaps a company like Santos wants to explore new areas for drilling. And maybe theres a junior miner thats got exactly the kind of project theyre after. Its often easier to develop a joint venture or even just acquire that smaller company than to try and do the exploration alone.

That means that, with huge Aussie blue chips ready to invest back into business, smaller Aussie business could profit massively. With billions ready to flow back into investment, we think this could be the start of a massive surge for small-cap stocks.

We could see massive opportunity in areas such as FinTech, communications hardware, speciality metals miners, and breakthrough biotech and medical therapy companies.

Its a good time to invest in stocks as big money prepares to flow. And when the big money comes from blue chips and flows down into small-caps, its the small-cap stocks youll want to own.

Regards,

Sam Volkering,

Editor, Secret Crypto Network
Australias biggest telecommunications business continues to make headlines. It seems like Telstra Corp Ltd [ASX:TLS] is going from woe to woe.

On 17 August, the telco announced it would cut its payout ratio from 100% to 70-90%. While revenues and profits from continuing operations rose ever so slightly, investors just couldnt get over that dividend cut.

Why should Telstra shareholders be so sensitive about dividends, Bloomberg columnist David Fickling asked.

The answer lies in the nature of Australias equity market, and in particular the 1.1 million retirees managing their own investments via self-managed superannuation funds.

Helped by years of tax breaks and laws mandating that companies fund their employees retirement savings, Australias gray army has built up a A$648 billion piggy bank.

The A$340 billion they have in equities and investment funds is equivalent to a fifth of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, and their might is such that some analysts, such as Credit Suisse Group AGs Hasan Tevfik, argue theyve distorted the investment priorities of the wider market.

Take a look at the graph below. It shows the dividend payout ratios for various indices around the globe.

Source: Bloomberg

Aussie companies are some of the most generous in the world. Yet, as weve seen happen to Telstra, its doesnt end well when you take away what investors have become so accustomed to.

But why shouldnt Telstra retain a meagre 10-30% of earnings? As Telstra said in its annual report, it wants to become a global technology leader. It has already made investments into cloud computing, cyber security and the internet of things (the explosion of a number of smart devices connected to the internet). Now all it takes is time and hard work for those investments to pay off.

But for now, investors are looking at Telstra as if its a falling knife. Theyre waiting until the knife hits the floor before they pick it back up.

Regards,

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

PS: Telstra isnt the only company to pay attractive dividends. Check out the top five dividend stocks trading on the ASX right now.
'The big truck is still on ...
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Smoke Near Highway 108 Yosemite Junction View Photos

The Tuolumne, Mariposa and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Districts have issued an Air Quality Alert for Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties through Tuesday September 5th, due to smoke impacts from surrounding wildfires.

Exposure to particle pollution can cause serious health problems, aggravate lung disease, cause asthma attacks and acute bronchitis and increase the risk of respiratory infections.

Residents are advised to use caution as conditions warrant. People with heart or lung diseases should follow their doctors advice for dealing with episodes of unhealthy air quality.

Additionally, older adults and children should avoid prolonged exposure, strenuous activities or heavy exertion as conditions dictate.

For additional information, call your local Air District office. In Mariposa, the phone number is 209-966-2220.
Tuolumne County logo View Photos

Update at 1:40 p.m.: Tuolumne County has put out a revised list of cooling centers, which are listed below:

Cooling Centers will be open at the following locations and times:

Sonora:

Senior Center 540 Greenley Road:

Today: 6pm to 8pm

Saturday: 6pm to 8pm

Sunday: Noon to 8pm

Main Library: 480 Greenley Road:

Today: Noon to 6pm

Saturday: Noon to 6pm

Groveland:

Groveland Youth Center- 18950 Hwy 120 (Cooling Center services only):

Today: Noon to 8pm

Saturday: Noon to 8pm

Sunday: Noon to 8pm

Twain Harte:

Twain Harte Community Center hosted by Sheriffs CSU- 18775 Manzanita Drive:

Today: Noon to 8pm

Saturday: Noon to 8pm

Sunday: Noon to 8pm

Please note that pets are not allowed at the established cooling centers.

Original post at 9:20 a.m.: Sonora, CA  With triple digit temperatures in the forecast through the weekend, Tuolumne County leaders are opening a cooling center for residents.

Those needing a place to go during the daytime hours today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) are being encouraged to go to the Tuolumne County main library on Greenley Road during its regular business hours of 10am-6pm. Then from 6pm-9pm, today and tomorrow, a cooling center will open at the Tuolumne County Senior Center on Greenley Road from 6pm-9pm. Since the main library is not open on Sunday, the cooling center hours at the senior center on that day will be from 11am-9pm. Of note, the senior centers regular hours today are 8am-4pm, so people can also stop by there during that period.

If the triple digit heat persists into Monday, the senior center will be open from 11am-6pm. County officials plan to provide more information later this weekend. The public health department notes that pets are not allowed at the senior center.

Residents are encouraged to avoid time outside, especially during the heat of the day, over the coming days.
- The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has pledged the vaticans support for President Buharis anti-corruption campaign, via his direct representative to Nigeria, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi

- Archbishop Fillpazzi stated that the holy father (Pope Francis) is interested in what corruption is, and how to address the challenge

- Fillpazi also stated that the Vatican was interested in assisting Nigeria to tackle its socio-economic problems, including how to develop the educational sector

The direct representative of Pope Francis to Nigeria, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi, has pledged the support of the Vatican for President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption campaign and the development of Nigerias educational sector, NAN reports.

Archbishop Fillpazzi who is the apostolic nuncio to Nigeria, Embassy of Holy See Vatican, made his comments during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja on Thursday, August 31.

READ ALSO: IPOBs is a demonic group whose sole aim is to promote hatred - South South Legacy Forum

According to Fillpazzi, Pope Francis is interested in assisting Nigeria to tackle its socio-economic problems.

He said: In the past and in the present, the Catholic Church has been part of development in education and social economic development, and we wish to continue.

There is no intention to withdraw in this commitment because it is part of our faith and our religion.

As it is indicated by the president and the diplomatic community, I think that the Catholic Church can do a lot, especially in addressing the problem which sometimes comes from lack of education and information.

The church will be preaching the gospel and also do orientation to the society, to be an example and solution to the problem of corruption.

Pope Francis is interested in what corruption is, and how to address the challenge.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Ibrahim Magu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated that a lot needs to be done to revive the anti-corruption campaign of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, as the cause is almost lost.

According to the EFCC boss, corruption was fighting back. However, he expressed optimism about the progress of the anti-corruption campaign.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians reacting to the news that Buhari was chased out of his office by rats

Source: Legit.ng
- Igbos living in Oyo state has condemned Nnamdi Kanu's hate speech

- The group said Kanu has no right to say all Yorubas are fools

- The group also urged the federal government to consider what arresting agitators might do to the peace of the country

Igbos living in Oyo state has condemned the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu's statement where he allegedly referred to the Yoruba people as fools.

The group said it will not support hate speech or derogatory comments of the leader of IPOB.

They also commend the efforts of Arewa youths who recently revoke a quit notice issued to Igbos living in the north, Daily Post reports.

In a statement signed by Alex Anozie, the Ezendigbo of Ibadanland, the group said: We Ndigbo residing in all parts of Yorubaland, hereby openly dissociate ourselves with such disappointing statement."

READ ALSO: Vatican pledges support for Buharis anti-corruption campaign

We have listened with every delight, the outcome of the recent meeting of Arewa Consultative Forum and other ethnic groups of Nigeria, whereby the Arewa Forum announced the suspension of withdrawal of their earlier quit notice to Igbos residing in the North. That was a very good omen for our country, Nigeria.

May we in that same manner, call on other ethnic groups who have issued such most unfortunate quit notices to any other groups in. Nigeria to please withdraw theirs as well.

We believe that if Nigerians are given better Nigeria, nobody wants to leave Nigeria, Nigeria where justice, security of life and property reigns, Nigeria where there is no marginalization any more, no corruption, no kidnapping any longer, Nigeria where all Nigerians should have sense of belonging.

The Federal government should take it up from there and summon a reconciliatory meeting of all ethnic groups of Nigeria, including personalities who can positively contribute to the oneness and progressive Nigeria. Those personalities must be detribalized Nigerians, and non political in their contributions.

We suggest the federal government should not use force on these agitators in order not to allow the whole issue get out of hand. Note should be taken of the authorities statement, that they were being cautious of arresting the personalities involved in the quit notice given to Igbos to leave the North, because of security implications, that may be right.

But that is how arresting any other ethnic group personalities who may have erred in that same manner goes with same security implications. So the best they FG should do now is to arrange without delay, a reconciliatory gathering of all these agitating group leaders in Abuja and sit with them.

We condemn very seriously all the hate speeches from any quarter, because the consequences are always destructive. We seriously believe that one can even more easily achieve or get his argument or agitation sail through without the use of abusive, insulting and foul languages or violence. Let us all join hands together to build a better country where we shall all be proud."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, governors from Nigerias south-eastern states have declared that the only panacea to solve the agitation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is dialogue and not confrontation.

The governors made their statement during a meeting with the IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on Wednesday August 30.

Legit.ng gathers that at the meeting which held at the Government House, Enugu, the governors promised to engage in further dialogue with the pro-Biafra group, even as they told Kanu that IPOBs demands "should not be absolute"

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians reacting to the news of the Biafra Secret Service set up by Nnamdi Kanu.

Source: Legit.ng
- Over 22 Nigerians with properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are currently under the watchful eyes of the EFCC

- Assets of some of those already under watch could be seized when EFCC finishes analyzing the data in its possession

- Those under watch include some politically exposed persons and business people

Anti-corruption body Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has acquired full list of names and other information of Nigerians who have questionable properties in the UAE.

The Commission received a database of assets which are suspected to have been acquired with looted funds by former and others close to political power.

The Nation reports that the EFCC is presently analysing the data and funds linked to those under probe may be seized.

READ ALSO: Vatican pledges support for Buharis anti-corruption campaign

The Commission has also placed over 22 politically exposed persons and businessmen in Dubai under watch as a result of the information it has received.

An unnamed EFCC source said: In line with its Beneficial Ownership laws, we have already a database of Nigerians with assets in the United Arab Emirates, including properties of some high-profile Nigerians under investigation.

We are already studying the database in line with our ongoing investigation and profiling. We have a long list of some politically exposed persons and businessmen under probe.

The signing of the agreements between Nigeria and the UAE by President Muhammadu Buhari last week has opened a robust vista which will hasten our identification and attachment of the suspicious assets.

It is time to set out for work. You will recall that over N1.34 trillion was stolen by public officers in seven years. We will trace some of these funds and the assets acquired with them in UAE.

The source added: We will not release the list now but already we have initiated action on some suspects.

Actually, there is no hiding place for any looter from Nigeria in UAE again. In May 2016 at the Anti-corruption Summit in London, the UAE joined the league of 29 nations which will share where lists of beneficial owners.

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The UAE has also strengthened its anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. Therefore, the environment is conducive now to track the suspects on our radar.

The Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) also operates a commercial register where you can easily identify companies and investors in UAE.

This report comes just days after President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, August 24, signed instruments of ratification for a number of bilateral agreements strengthening the governments anti-corruption fight.

Legit.ng gathered that the ratification which is an important step, is in line with the delivery of President Buharis anti-corruption economic diversification vision.

The agreements signed by the president covered anti-corruption, tax administration and intellectual property protection.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of a Nigerian man suggesting mass burial for Nigeria's corrupt past leaders

Source: Legit.ng
- Nigerians soldiers allegedly stormed a village in Bayelsa state

- The attack came few days after some officers were reportedly waylaid and killed in the community

- The soldiers stormed the village after their colleagues death, burning houses and beating people

Nigerian soldiers allegedly invaded Letugbene community in Ekeremor local government, Bayelsa state, burning several houses after four of their colleagues died in an ambush around the area.

The soldiers, in a reprisal attack, invaded the oil community, demolishing and burning houses in their way.

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that four soldiers and one civilian have been reported dead after they were ambushed by unknown gunmen suspected to be Niger Delta militants in Bayelsa state.

Security sources also confirmed the attack and that the soldiers were coming from Letugbene community when they were attacked.

The soldiers, while reacting to the death of their colleagues, descended on the community on August 29, destroying homes and arresting people.

The soldiers stormed the village on August 29, burning houses. Photo credit: Etolor Prince

READ ALSO: Igbos in Oyo state kick against Nnamdi Kanu for calling Yoruba 'fools'

In a statement released by a youth group in the region and signed by one Etolor Ebi Prince, the president of the Ekelga Federated Youth Council (EFYC), the soldiers attacked the community because they suspected that the community gave information that led to the attack and subsequent death of the officers.

The statement reads: "A peaceful and law abiding community "Letugbene under Iduwini clan, all in Ekeremor local government area council, Bayelsa state was invaded by military men on the 29th of August 2017.

"According to an eye witness, in accordance with different reports. A worker at an oil field called Atala was reportedly sick so a speedboat driver who happened to be the father rushed him accompanied by 3 soldiers from an oil and gas house boat to Letugbene community for treatment. While on their way back to their house boat, unknown gunmen attacked them at a confluence and killed everybody in exception of the father of the boy.

The soldiers attack was reportedly a reprisal attack after three soldiers died in an ambush in the community. Photo Credit: Etolor Prince

"In retaliation, the Nigerian military invaded the community, set houses ablaze including the community vice chairman's house, arrested the CDC Chairman and other members of the community because they suspected the community members to have given the information that lead to the attack.

"With respect to the above information, on behalf of Ekelga Federated Youth Council, the apex youth body of our dear local government, we sympathize with the Nigerian military for the loss of their men.

"In the same vein, we condemn in totality the barbaric act perpretated by the unkown gunmen and we also want to use this medium to condemn the unlawful act by the Nigerian military for destroying properties they ought to protect than taking laws into their hands. We also call on other security agencies to investigate this incident and restore law and order to Letugbene community.

"Further more, we are also calling on our leaders at the LGA, state and federal government to come to the aid of inhabitants of Letugbene community who have lost valuable properties and are in fear for their lives."

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Meanwhile, the invasion of the All Progressive Congress (APC) secretariat in Bayelsa state by some armed thugs has led to the death of two persons.

There were reports that five others including a journalist were injured following the invasion of the secretariat by the hoodlums who came to disrupt the inauguration of the new state acting chairman of the party, Hon Joseph Fafi.

One of those killed in the attack was identified as an APC member from Sagbama local council area of the state, while the other was said to be a hawker.

Watch a Legit.ng TV video below of Nigerians talking about the state of the country:

Source: Legit.ng
- DHQ spokesman Enenche says the military lacks power to arrest those making hate speeches on social media

- He said the military would only monitor social media and do a threat analysis but not arrest for hate speeches

- Enenche said the military has already created a social media monitor centre that is doing the job

The military has said it will not arrest anybody who makes hate speeches on social media because it is not empowered by law to do so.

This bit of information was made public by the director of defence information Major General John Enenche, in an interview on Channels TV on Thursday, August 31.

Enenche said the military had no plans to arrest anyone that makes anti-military or anti-government comments on social media as was widely believed.

READ ALSO: EFCC acquires data on Nigerians with assets in UAE, places 22 under watch

According to him, the military was just going to monitor happenings on the social media and nothing more.

Enenche said: There was nothing like that. We do not have power to arrest people for hate speeches. It is just false assertion, against the military, and against my humble self that I said that we will be arresting people or checkmating people. The military is not going to be monitoring hate speeches.

Did I tell you hate speech in your recordings? We have a strategic media centre, our strategic media centre monitors the media, simple. And it is like that all over the world.

And we take that because it helps us to transform the nature of the intelligence to enable us to prepare for whatever call up we get to ensure security in this country.

Let me tell you and tell the public without fear of anybody; we are trained to do threat analysis of anything that would threaten the security of this country. So, it is part of our threat analysis."

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He added: Any person can interpret it to mean that it is a follow up to the speech of the Vice-President (Yemi Osinbajo), the then Acting President and then the minister of interior; then that person can be right.

Where do we take instruction from, where do we get information from? It is part of what is called threat analysis.

Legit.ng had earlier reported that the Nigerian military had begun monitoring social media to identify peddlers of fake news, anti-government and anti-security activities in the country.

The new development comes just days after it was disclosed by Major-General John Enenche, Director of Defence Information during an interview session on Channels Televisions News at 10 and a live broadcast delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of a Nigerian man calling for mass burial for all corrupt leaders

Source: Legit.ng
Nigerian musician, Sean Tizzle, may have gotten himself into trouble in an attempt to 'help' the people of Benue state who were displaced by flood recently.

Following the flood experienced by some parts of Benue state between August 26 - 30, almost 90,000 people were said to have been displaced from their homes.

Top Nigerian musician, Sean Tizzle, decided to wade into the situation by offering help, but some people have frowned over his method of administering the help.

According to some tweets sent out by the Ondo state indigene, he promised to match every retweet he gets with Ten Naira (N10), which would go into helping victims of the flood.

READ ALSO: Buhari orders emergency response as flood renders over 100,000 homeless in Benue

Some Twitter followers called him out, asking why he didn't just go ahead to help the people without asking for retweets.

See the tweets that caused the problem below, and the reactions they provoked:

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Young lady strikes a pose in front of her house as flood overtakes it in Benue state (photos)

See people's reactions below:

Source: Twitter

Source: Twitter

What do you think? Is there anything wrong with his method?

Meanwhile, watch this video to see victims of the Lekki flood speaking to Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- Aisha Buhari has felicitated with Nigerians for witnessing the 2017 Eid-el-Kabir celebration

- She thanked God for the blessings he has bestowed on Nigeria

As Muslims across the world mark the 2017 Eid-el-Kabir, the First Lady Aisha Buhari has expressed her gratitude to God for blessing Nigeria.

In a message on her Twitter handle, Mrs Buhari prayed for the nation to experience more development in the years to come.

READ ALSO: Let us remember Buhari in our prayers - Tinubu urges Nigerians in his Sallah message

"On this day of Eid Adha, I join all Nigerians in thanking God for the blessings he has bestowed on our country.

I also pray for Nigeria to witness more development in the months and years to come, she wrote.

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Aisha Buhari left Nigeria to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to perform the 2017 Hajj.

The personal assistant to the first lady, Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim, in a tweet said Mrs. Buhari left Abuja on Tuesday afternoon to join millions of Muslims to perform this year's Hajj.

Earlier, President Muhammadu Buhari felicitated with Nigerians, particularly the Muslims faithful on the Eid-El- celebrations.

The president in a statement on Thursday, August 31, by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, extended the Sallah message to Muslims who are currently in Saudi Arabia to participate in the rites of the Hajj.

In the Legit.ng TV video, Nigerians react to reports that rodents were responsible for the 'eviction' of President Muhammadu Buhari from his Aso Villa office.

Source: Legit.ng
- UK's Johnson says the country has received Nigeria's request for more weapons

- Johnson hinted that the UK is considering whether to sell the requested weapons to Nigeria

- US Intelligence expert says the move is a waste of funds

Nigeria could get more weapons from the United Kingdom to fight Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast.

Reuters reports that UKs foreign secretary Boris Johnson revealed this on Thursday, August 31.

He said: They have put out a request for more help with materiel - equipment of one kind and another. We are going to look at that.

READ ALSO: Dangote turns down PDPs offer to run in 2019 presidential race

We will look at that very seriously on counter-IED provision, on a request for more help with attack helicopters, for instance. Lets have a look at what we can do.

Reuters reports that British soldiers were already training Nigerian 28,000 troops.

But American intelligence expert on Nigerian matters Matthew T. Page says the move was a waste of funds.

He tweeted:

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Legit.ng had reported recently that the Pentagon has informed the US Congress of the sale of 12 Super Tucano A-29 ground attack aircraft and weapons to Nigeria to fight the Boko Haram sect in the northern part of Nigeria.

According to Reuters, the Pentagon communicated the sale of the 12 ground attack aircraft valued at $593m (N181bn) to the US Congress on Monday August 28.

Legit.ng gathered that the report quoted Pentagons Defence Security Cooperation Agency as having made the announcement to the US legislature.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerian Air Force preparing for an onslaught against Boko Haram

Source: Legit.ng
- Kachikwu says the fall in diesel price is proof that petrol pump price will also fall soon

- The oil minister predicts that the pump prices will start falling from between next 4 to 6 months

- Kachikwu says the government has done huge work to stabilize the price of the commodity in the market

Minister of state for petroleum resources Ibe Kachikwu has assured Nigerians that the price of oil will take a nosedive.

Kachikwu said the falling price of diesel is enough evidence that petrol prices will also crash soon from its current N145 per litre.

The Nation reports that Kachiwu made the prediction while presenting his scorecard on his two years in office to reporters in Abuja.

Kachikwu said: Once Nigerians throw their trading skill in it, once competition thrives, the prices will continue to tumble.

READ ALSO: UK considers selling more weapons to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram

My guess is that you will see the prices tumble in the next four, five to six months. The market will be more stable and definitely the prices will be lower than what we see today.

Besides, said the minister, in the last 10 years, this is the first time that the three refineries are working simultaneously, although at 50 per cent of their capacity.

We expect to put in investment to put them to 90 per cent capacity, he said.

He added: It has been one massive problem after the other for the sector to stabilise in term of product supply.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

"The time has come to take on the problem bullishly and that is what we are trying to do.

So, we believe the ire will be money for infrastructural development in the downstream sector.

We believe that a lot of the companies will jump up now and be able to sell at the right prices and not the pump down by the problem of price control and will be able to grow their businesses.

"We believe that most of them, efficient ones will drive prices southward rather than northward.

And we believe that almost 200,000 jobs will be created in this sector and over 400,000 jobs will be saved, which would have been lost if we had continued on the path we were in.

This report comes just weeks after reports emerged claiming that there were actually plans to increase the pump price rather than reduce it.

Legit.ng had later reported that media reports suggesting that a Senate committee recommended a 5-naira fuel levy on every litre of petroleum or diesel is false.

Legit.ng gathered that what the Senate committee did was to canvass for the sustainable maintenance of roads from the pricing template of petroleum products.

At the public hearing on the National Roads Fund Bill, stakeholders were unanimous on the need to access a percentage of the funds for the sustainable maintenance of roads from the pricing template of petroleum products.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians sharing their opinion on Nigeria's influence in Africa

Source: Legit.ng
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. Albert Einstein
- Two people were killed on Friday when a vehicle crashed into a large crowd of Muslim worshippers at the Eid-El Kabir prayer ground

- A policeman was also mobbed to death while trying to save the driver of the vehicle from being lynched

- The dead policeman was an orderly to a divisional police officer

Three people have reportedly lost their lives in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun state on Friday, September 1.

The incident occurred when a vehicle crashed into a large crowd of Muslim worshippers at the Eid-El Kabir prayer ground.

According to a witness, the driver of the truck lost control and crashed into the crowd leaving two worshippers dead and many others injured.

READ ALSO: Oil minister Kachikwu predicts fall in fuel pump price

An angry mob descended on the driver, who was rescued by policemen at the venue, Premium Times reports.

Sources also said one of the policemen, Joseph Adejuwon, lost his life in the process of saving the driver from the mob as he was himself mobbed to death.

And in his reaction, the Public Relations Officer, Ogun state Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, said a Bedford truck with number plate AA 523 JGB and laden with logs, reportedly had a brake failure, making the driver to lose control.

He said the truck first hit a Toyota Tundra with number plate APP 995 DD, damaged it, before running over two children at the praying ground, killing them instantly, Punch reports.

He said: Our operatives said the truck ran over two children at the Etokori praying ground this morning, killing them instantly and injuring scores of others.

An operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps was among those who sustained injuries. A policeman also died while being rushed to the hospital.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Also, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun state Police Command Public Relations Officer, confirmed the incident.

He also said that the dead policeman was an orderly to a divisional police officer.

The driver of the vehicle had been arrested and the injured taken to hospital.

He said: It is true that an accident occurred this morning at Ijebu Ode. The truck, laden with logs, had lost control after its brake failed and rammed into Muslim faithful going to perform Eid prayer in Ijebu Igbo, it killed two people.

A mob had gathered and wanted to lynch the truck driver, but policemen on ground prevented them. However, they descended on our operatives and one of them was killed.

We have the truck driver in our custody and two other suspects.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union in South Africa confirmed the killing of a member named Kingsley Ikeri at Vryheid town in Kwazulu Natal Province on Wednesday, August 30.

According to the Union, 27-year-old Ikeri was a businessman and native of Mbaitolu in Imo.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians sharing their opinion on Nigeria's influence in Africa.

Source: Legit.ng
- Governor Fayose of Ekiti state joined Muslim faithfuls for the Eid-el-Kabir prayers

- He advised Islamic clerics to always tell leaders the truth and preach the values of justice and equity

- He also promised to look into the request of the Muslim faithful as best as he could do

Ekiti state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose, on Friday dressed in Muslim regalia and joined other Muslims at the Ado Ekiti central praying ground for the Eid-el-Kabir prayers.

Fayose was received by the the Muslim leaders and other faithful who were chorusing Alahu Akbar.

READ ALSO: Just in: 3 killed, many wounded in Ogun state as car crashes into Muslim prayer ground

Fayose addressing the faithful said that this was not his first time of identifying with Muslims in the open, promising to maintain the relationship.

Governor Fayose of Ekiti state joined Muslim faithfuls for the Eid-el-Kabir prayers. Photo credit: Vanguard

He said such actions were needed from leaders as a way of preaching peace, unity and tranquility to the led.

Fayose also promised to look into the request of the Muslim faithful as best as he could do.

He advised the Islamic clerics to always tell the leaders the truth and preach the values of justice and equity.

Governor Fayose urged Islamic clerics to always tell leaders the truth and preach the values of justice and equity. Photo credit: Vanguard

Fayose who said that religious clerics wield more influence on the people than government officials or political leaders, urged them to use such influence to reorientate the people toward maintaining love, peace, justice and equity for all.

He said: Muslims are very peculiar people and Islam, their religion, is not known for violence. I therefore urge all Muslims to abide by the doctrines of Islam and ensure that they live in harmony with everybody.

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 We have the same blood flowing in our veins and we are, first of all, human beings before we chose our religion. So, God in us is more important than the religion.

Governor Fayose promised to look into the request of the Muslim faithful as best as he could do. Photo credit: Vanguard

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I therefore enjoin you all to continue to live in peace for the collective growth of our land, our nation.

We will continue to work together so that this country remains one, indivisible but founded on justice and equity,  he said.

Earlier, the Chief Imam of Ado Ekiti and the President -General of the League of Imams and Alfas in the South West, Edo and Delta states, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere- Bello, applauded the governors dressing as a Muslim in his sermon.

He said it was in obedience to Allahs instructions and biblical injunctions.

This dressing shows that the governor is not discriminating against any religion. Your Excellency, your dressing is even in line with Biblical injunctions.

Fayose was received by the the Muslim leaders and other faithful who were chorusing Alahu Akbar. Photo credit: Vanguard

The book of Zecharias 3:3 in the Bible says:

We removed unclean clothes from Joshua, we washed him clean and he was dressed with a clean turban on his head and Gods angel stood by him.

Our governor, as you wear the turban on your head, the angel of God is already with you and that is why you are succeeding in all that you do, against all odds, he said.

Governor Fayose said that religious clerics wield more influence on the people than government. Photo credit: Vanguard

He advised the governor to consider producing a Muslim as the governorship candidate of his party for next years gubernatorial election, saying no Muslim had been elected the governor of the state since it was created over 20 years ago.

Ekiti is 20 years now and since its creation, we have not had a Muslim as its governor. We urge you sir, if any Muslim is interested in the governorship from your party, kindly support him to fulfil that ambition.

We also need your support for a transformer in this area, Odo-Ado, so we can have adequate supply of electricity. We know once you make a promise, you will fulfil it, he said.

Meanwhile, two people were killed on Friday, September 1, when a vehicle crashed into a large crowd of Muslim worshippers at the Eid-El Kabir prayer ground.

A policeman was also mobbed to death while trying to save the driver of the vehicle from being lynched.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians sharing their opinion on Nigeria's influence in Africa.

Source: Legit.ng
- A man is said to have been arrested in Yenagoa by the Bayelsa state Vigilante Network for allegedly cooking and selling vultures disguised as chicken to the general public

- The vigilante who arrested the suspect also reportedly handed him over to the police immediately

The suspect is also said to have been apprehended at the popular Tombia market slaughter house by one comrade Bunas Samuel in collaboration with his vigilante team.

The arrested man was reportedly handed over to men of the Akenfa police station, Nairaland reports.

READ ALSO: Governor Fayose in Sheik attire, joins Buhari, other Muslim faithful in Sallah prayers (photos)

A eye witness who identified himself as Mr Godwin claimed the vigilante patrol team observed suspicious movements at the slaughter house before making their arrest.

The vigilante who arrested the suspect also reportedly handed him over to the police immediately. Photo credit: Nairaland

"To our greatest imagination, we saw about thirty dead vultures, all prepared to be placed inside a hot pot of boiling water.

"We called the attention of the police and handed the suspect over to them, before then, he confessed to us, that, he uses dead meat bones to attract the vultures and then uses chemicals to kill them, and he has been in this business for years, selling them to market women and chicken traders at Major markets and chicken sales point in the state," he said.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Legit.ng however could not verify the authenticity of the news as at the time of filling this report.

Legit.ng had reported that a man who sells roasted meat popularly known as suya was arrested by the Lagos state police command for allegedly attempting to use a four-year-old girl to prepare the delicacy.

In the video below, an alleged kidnapper is saved from an angry crowd by the police.

Source: Legit.ng
- Boko Haram insurgents have allegedly killed 18 youths in an IDP camp in Borno state

- The terrorists are said to have used knives and swords to perpetuate their evil acts

- They reportedly kidnapped young girls and women in the process

Suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents have reportedly attacked and slain 18 people at the Internally Displaced Camp, IDP, in Banki town, Bama local government area of Borno state on Thusday, August 30.

According to reports, the terrorists sneaked into the IDP camp and murdered at least 18 youths at about 11 pm and forcefully took away many others, including young girls and women, Sahara Reporters reports.

READ ALSO: Governor Fayose in Sheik attire, joins Buhari, other Muslim faithful in Sallah prayers (photos)

They didn't use guns or bombs, but swords and shaped knives, a security source claimed.

"We got the report about 18 persons found dead in the Banki IDP camp on Friday morning, the attackers believed to be suspected Boko Haram terrorists who perpetrated the evil act."

Another source said the terrorists abducted civilians at Modu-Perobe Area, near the cemetery of Banki town bordering with Cameroon, the news outlet also reports.

"They entered and checked if there were men in the tents, and not an elderly men or women. The people murdered were young men even many are missing people are able girls and boys."

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed claimed there is no resurgence of Boko Haram contrary to insinuation in some circles.

Mohammed debunked the insinuation of resurgence of Boko Haram in a remark to the media during the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations in his country home, Oro, near Ilorin.

He said that some recent tragic events, including bombings and the abduction of some staff of the University of Maiduguri, were antics by the insurgents.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of Nigerians sharing their opinion on Nigeria's influence in Africa.

Source: Legit.ng
It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".
A recent survey by a gynaecological cancer charity has shown that nearly half of the men could not identify a womans vagina correctly on a diagram.

The charity called The Eve Appeal asked around 2,000 British nationals including around a 1,000 men, to show where the vagina was in a diagram of the female reproductive system. About 50 percent of the men were clueless and could not do so. A further 61 percent could not identify a vulva. The survey results were published and released along with the start of Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month in the U.K. in September.

Female internal genital organs sectional, structure of the female reproductive system. Image Credit: Shutterstock

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

The poll results point towards the fact that for many men still, a womans body is still none of their business and they consider it a mystery and a taboo not to be learnt or discussed about.

This calls for more awareness and a better understanding of gynaecological issues and diseases among the men feel experts. In the poll, around 17 percent of the men did not know anything about gynecological health issues and further did not think they needed to know anything at all since it is a woman thing. Further 24 percent of the surveyed men did not feel comfortable talking to their female partners about their gynaecological health problems and issues.

The Eve Appeal had conducted a similar survey last year. They had found that 44 percent of the women did not know where the vagina was on the diagram. This shows that women are not far behind in their ignorance about gynaecological health issues. One of the most important signs of all five types of gynaecological cancers is abnormal vaginal bleeding. The survey showed last year that around one in five women (19 percent) would not go to a doctor if they had abnormal vaginal bleeding. This is an alarming finding believe experts.

Athena Lamnisos, The Eve Appeal's chief executive said that the results of the surveys reveal the shockingly low levels of awareness of the symptoms of gynaecological cancer among both men and women. She emphasized that in most of these cancers, an early diagnosis is the key. She added that the charity received many calls from the male partners and believe that men can and do play a vital role in identifying the symptoms of gynaecological cancers in their women. Men can help by noticing a change in their partners vagina, detect unusual lumps, skin changes, bleeding or discharge from the vagina and also pain and discomfort during intercourse. When they do come across any of the warning signs of these cancers, they can help prompt their female partners to visit the doctor. In most of these cancers, the key is to be diagnosed and treated early. She added that this survey was not about better sex but about men helping their female partners is staying healthy and breaking the myths and taboos related to gynaecological health awareness making it a joint responsibility of both men and women.

Professor Janice Rymer, vice president of education at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists urged women not to be embarrassed to see a healthcare practitioner if they have any concerns or worries regarding their gynaecological health. Any unusual bleeding or different or foul smelling vaginal discharge or secretions from the vagina, alteration of the bowel habits or urinary pattern, pain or discomfort during sex should ring a bell. It may not be serious, she explained, but its best to get it checked.

Gynaecological cancers including those of the ovaries, uterus, cervix, vulval and vaginal are the fourth most common cancer among women in the UK and they kill nearly 7,700 women every year.

The Eve Appeal observes September as a gynaecological cancer awareness month.

Gynaecological Cancers - A brief explainer... Play

Reference
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected 43 recipients to be presented with one of its 2017 Annual Meeting Abstract Awards. These individuals will be recognized for their top-rated research abstracts at ASTRO's 59th Annual Meeting, taking place September 24-27 in San Diego.

"ASTRO's Annual Meeting attracts the most impactful science in the field of radiation oncology, and ASTRO is proud to recognize the researchers and clinical teams behind this cutting-edge work," said ASTRO President Brian D. Kavanagh, MD, FASTRO. "It is always difficult to narrow down the list of award winners from the large pool of excellent submissions, and we appreciate all of the great work in the field of radiation oncology being done around the world. We salute these 43 award winners who stood out for their innovative science."

The Resident Clinical/Basic Science Research Abstract Award recognizes the top research from medical residents, with one award for the highest-scored abstracts in each of three categories: clinical practice, radiation and cancer biology, and radiation physics. Award winners receive a $1,500 honorarium. The 2017 Resident Clinical/Basic Science Research Award recipients are:

James Bates, MD, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida (clinical practice)

Aadel Chaudhuri, MD, PhD, Stanford Cancer Institute, Palo Alto, California (radiation and cancer biology)

Sanjay Aneja, MD, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut (radiation physics)

The Basic/Translational Science Abstract Award recognizes the lead authors of 12 top-rated basic and translational abstracts in clinical practice, radiation and cancer biology, and radiation physics. Award winners, who are a mix of junior and senior investigators, receive a $1,000 honorarium. The recipients of the 2017 Basic/Translational Science Abstract Award are:

Erica Bell, PhD, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (clinical practice senior investigator)

Christopher Corso, MD, PhD, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut (clinical practice junior investigator)

Narek Shaverdian, MD, University of California, Los Angeles (clinical practice junior investigator)

Anurag Singh, MD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York (clinical practice senior investigator)

Sophia Kamran, MD, Harvard University, Boston (radiation and cancer biology junior investigator)

Fei-Fei Liu, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto (radiation and cancer biology senior investigator)

Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis (radiation and cancer biology junior investigator)

Catherine Park, MD, University of California, San Francisco (radiation and cancer biology senior investigator)

Hao Han, PhD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California (radiation physics senior investigator)

Sang Ho Lee, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York (radiation physics junior investigator)

Gang Yin, PhD, Sichuan Cancer Hospital and Institute, Chengdu, China (radiation physics junior investigator)

Hao Zhang, PhD, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore (radiation physics senior investigator)

The Annual Meeting Travel Award recognizes outstanding research by early-career scientists, biologists and physicists. Lead authors of 15 high-scoring abstracts selected for the meeting will receive awards of $1,000 to support travel to the meeting. The 2017 Annual Meeting Travel Award winners are:

Rohann Correa, MD, PhD, London Regional Cancer Program, Western University, London, Canada (clinical practice)

Shrinivas Rathod, MD, CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada (clinical practice)

Antoine Schernberg, MD, Hopital Tenon, Paris (clinical practice)

Monica Serban, MSc, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark (clinical practice)

Shankar Siva, PhD, MBBS, FRANZCR, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia (clinical practice)

George Grass, MD, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida (radiation and cancer biology)

Kathy Han, MD, MS, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto (radiation and cancer biology)

Wen Jiang, MD, PhD, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (radiation and cancer biology)

Jonathan Leeman, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York (radiation and cancer biology)

Harish Vasudevan, PhD, University of California, San Francisco (radiation and cancer biology)

Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York (radiation physics)

Penny Fang, MD, MBA, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (radiation physics)

Olga Green, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis (radiation physics)

Giuseppe Palma, PhD, Italian National Research Council, Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging (radiation physics)

Leith Rankine, MS, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (radiation physics)

The International Annual Meeting Scientific Abstract Award provides a $4,000 grant to a radiation oncologist from a developing country, based on the World Bank's definition, to attend ASTRO's Annual Meeting and to spend additional time at a comprehensive cancer center in the United States. The award fosters continuing medical education, assists in career development and aids in establishing relationships with ASTRO members who may serve as scientific mentors to the award winner. The recipient is the lead author of an abstract selected for presentation at the 2017 ASTRO Annual Meeting and has a letter of support from the chair/mentor of the U.S. institution that will host the awardee at his or her cancer center. The awardee must submit a written summary of their Annual Meeting participation and the experience garnered at the host cancer center. The recipient of the 2017 International Annual Meeting Scientific Abstract Award is:

Indranil Mallick, MD, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India

The Resident Poster Viewing Recognition Award recognizes the highest-rated abstracts submitted by residents that were selected for paper poster presentations, with awards for the top three resident authors in each of three categories: clinical practice, radiation and cancer biology, and radiation physics. The 2017 Resident Poster Viewing Recognition Award recipients are:

Corbin Helis, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (clinical practice)

Chan Woo Wee, MD, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea (clinical practice)

George Q. Yang, MD, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida (clinical practice)

Linda Chen, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore (radiation and cancer biology)

Michael Farris, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (radiation and cancer biology)

Jenna Kahn, MD, Virgnia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia (radiation and cancer biology)

Sanne Blinde, MD, Erasmus MC Center Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands (radiation physics)

Seung Hyuck Jeon, MD, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea (radiation physics)

The Resident ePoster Recognition Award recognizes the highest-rated abstracts selected for digital poster discussions that have residents as the lead author, with one award each for the top abstracts in clinical practice, radiation and cancer biology, and radiation physics. The 2017 Resident ePoster Recognition Award recipients are:

Richard Cassidy, MD, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Atlanta (clinical practice)

Ariel Marciscano, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore (radiation and cancer biology)

Noah Kalman, MD, MBA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (radiation physics)

The Annual Meeting Nurses Abstract Award honors the highest-rated abstract with a nursing designation. Award candidates must be nurses who are the lead author or co-author of an abstract selected for presentation at the 2017 ASTRO Annual Meeting. The award winner receives a $1,000 honorarium. The 2017 Annual Meeting Nurses' Abstract Award recipient is:
The worlds only licensed tuberculosis (TB) vaccine could offer protection against the disease for nearly twice as long as previously thought, according to new research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Previously thought to be effective for 10-15 years, a new case-control study found that if given in early teenage years (12-13), the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine protected over 50% of UK children against TB for at least 20 years, then waned. The research was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Although some studies in countries such as Brazil and Norway have indicated that BCG might be effective for longer than first thought, this study provides the most robust evidence to date.

With no new vaccine for TB imminently available, the researchers say their findings highlight the important role BCG is playing in preventing the spread of the disease, and provide an argument for uptake to be higher in areas where TB risk is high but vaccination coverage is low, such as parts of Central and Western Africa, East Asia and the Pacific - important new evidence for agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) advising on vaccines. The results will also support countries where the routine BCG program is at risk of being neglected to assess the cost-effectiveness of the vaccine, as well as the effectiveness of TB vaccines in development.

TB is a major, and preventable, cause of death and disease which mainly affects the lungs. Two to three billion of the world's population are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 10% of whom progress to clinical disease. In 2015 there were an estimated 10.4 million new cases of TB and 1.8 million deaths globally.

In the UK, BCG vaccination was given mostly to schoolchildren until it was discontinued in 2005 as the risk of TB was low. It has continued to be recommended to babies and infants who are at higher risk. Although offered around the world, the length of the BCG vaccine's protective effect is unclear, something this new research aimed to address.

The study was conducted among adults in the general population in England 10 to 30 years after they were offered the BCG vaccine at school. It compared 677 people (cases) who were diagnosed with TB, with 1,170 people without a previous history of the disease (controls). Adults in both groups were inspected for BCG vaccination scars and asked about their vaccination history by specially trained interviewers. Overall, 75% of cases were vaccinated compared to 86% of controls. These groups had been matched on year of birth and the researchers controlled for social and demographic variables including drug use, education and living region.

TB was less than half as likely to occur in vaccinated children compared with unvaccinated children 10 to 20 years later. The protective effect of BCG then declined after 20 years. The analysis took into account missing information in some people such as alcohol use and smoking, as well as the fact that individuals with TB were poorer, with a higher later risk of TB but less likely to have had BCG vaccination at school.

Lead author Dr Punam Mangtani, Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "Tuberculosis kills nearly two million people every year, more than HIV/AIDS, but TB prevention methods have changed little in half a century. Progress in developing new TB vaccines is slow with BCG, developed in the 1920s, still the only option."

"Previous studies have shown BCG can offer good protection against TB for up to 10-15 years following vaccination of secondary schoolchildren, but we do not know the duration of protection in different populations. Our study showed it offers moderate protection for longer than had been recognised. This could help countries who are moving towards being 'low-risk' areas assess the cost-effectiveness of BCG in the prevention of the disease, and also be a new yardstick against which new TB vaccines in development can be measured."

BCG vaccine is given in infancy in 158 countries with an estimated 88% coverage overall. Its protective effect can be lower closer to the equator where environmental non-tuberculous mycobacteria3 or TB infection are more common and, if they occur before vaccination, can mask or block its effect. Although the World Health Organization's End TB strategy highlights the importance of continuing infant BCG vaccination in high prevalence settings, this study suggests it may have a bigger role to play.

Dr Mangtani said: "BCG given at school age may help in the control of TB, including reducing the risk of multidrug resistant disease, as those vaccinated around 13 years of age have been protected into adulthood when transmission of the infection was more likely. Health officials should consider recommending childhood BCG vaccination where TB risk is high and where infant vaccination has not been given. BCG is not perfect but until a new, more effective vaccine is approved and rolled-out, we should be maximizing its potential. We should also be supporting the various agencies that make sure BCG is readily available globally."

The authors acknowledge limitations of the study, including not being able to exclude subjects who had positive tuberculin skin test in the school vaccination program who would have been ineligible for vaccination, and that subjects taking part are more likely to have been vaccinated than those not contactable or who had refused.

Source: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2017/bcg-jab-may-protect-against-tb-nearly-twice-long-previously-thought
Inflammation is traditionally thought of as a symptom of sleep apnea, but it might actually precede the disorder, potentially opening the door for new ways to treat and predict sleep apnea, according to researchers.

Sleep apnea, a disorder in which the upper airway becomes periodically obstructed during sleep, affects between 17 and 24 percent of men and between 5 and 9 percent of women. One possible explanation for this difference is that men tend to have more belly fat, a major risk factor for developing sleep apnea that is also associated with higher levels of inflammation.

The severity of sleep apnea also correlates with high levels of inflammation, an immune response in which white blood cells produce chemicals to fight a foreign substance. Jordan Gaines, adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry in the Penn State College of Medicine, said that she and the other researchers were interested in learning more about which comes first: the inflammation or the apnea.

"Traditionally, inflammation has been largely considered a consequence of reductions in blood oxygen levels during breathing pauses in the middle of the night," Gaines said. "While this is certainly true, several treatment studies have also shown that reducing inflammation -- for example, by using an anti-inflammatory medication -- also reduces apnea severity, suggesting that this relationship may go the other way around."

The researchers worked with 51 sleep apnea patients for the study, who were between the ages of five and 12 at the beginning of the study. During two visits -- one at the beginning of the study and another eight years later -- the participants underwent a sleep study, physical, and blood draw. For each participant, the researchers measured the severity of apnea, took height and weight measurements and checked their blood for levels of C-reactive protein -- or CRP, a marker of inflammation.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that in boys, increases in waist circumference were positively correlated with increases in CRP. Additionally, increases in CRP predicted sleep apnea in adolescence.

"When taken together, our findings suggest that inflammation originating from abdominal fat precedes the development of sleep apnea, rather than simply occurring as a result of the disorder," Gaines said. "Other research has shown that weight loss can help reduce the severity of sleep apnea. Our study corroborates these findings by showing that, even as early as adolescence, metabolic factors are driving the development of sleep apnea, just as we see in adults."

Alexandros Vgontzas, professor in the Penn State College of Medicine, said the results -- published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity -- have the possibility of leading to changes in the way physicians treat and make prognoses about sleep apnea in both children and adults. He said that while the traditional way to treat sleep apnea is with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, many patients -- particularly those with mild to moderate sleep apnea -- don't feel the benefit and do not like to use them.

"CPAP machines work, especially in people with severe apnea, but what about those with mild forms of apnea who do not feel the benefit and are resistant to using it?" Vgontzas said. "If the findings of this study can be replicated, maybe we can start looking at biological-based interventions instead of mechanical ones, like CPAP."

Vgontzas also said the findings could also help improve the way doctors make prognoses.

"For example, we can take a 30-year-old man who is having problems with snoring and/or mild to moderate sleep apnea. Checking his levels of inflammation -- CRP -- may help us predict whether he is at risk for developing severe apnea or other cardiometabolic problems such as hypertension or diabetes in the future," Vgontzas said. "This person with high CRP levels should be monitored closely to prevent the development of these conditions."
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New York Film Academy Shines Brighter Than Ever in its 25th Year

August 24, 2017 The New York Film Academy was founded on the idea that the best way for aspiring filmmakers to learn is through intensive hands-on programs. This year signifies a milestone in the schools history as students and faculty continue to flourish and NYFA expands its worldwide influence. At 25, the New York Film Academy holds to its founding principles and continues to innovate into new fields like VR and to expand to new locations around the world including Mumbai, India.



"It has been a banner year for the New York Film Academy in so many ways," states NYFA President Michael J. Young. "We have seen a number of alumni earn accolades and success in the industry including two Academy Award nominations in short film, an Emmy nomination, leading roles in major motion pictures, and visual effects credits on the biggest films of the year (see our alumni page). We were gratified to have the excellence of our programs recognized by the two industry publications of record: Variety naming NYFA as a stellar film school, and The Hollywood Reporter naming us one of the top film schools in the United States. This recognition is due to the the incredible work of our students, faculty, staff, and the great successes of our alumni from all over the world, whose passion, talent, and dedication have helped shape the Academy into what it is today."



From our many achievements and success stories at NYFA in 2017, below we bring you our highlights:







ALUMNI SUCCESS

NYFA Alumnus Jean de Meuron at the Golden Globe Awards Academy Award Nominated Film Joes Violin by NYFA Alumnus Raphaela Neihausen



GUEST LECTURE SERIES



COMMUNITY OUTREACH



NYFA OPENS NEW CAMPUSES



NYFA RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY INDUSTRY MAGAZINES



Ardent Supporters of Diversity

This year, not one but two NYFA alumni were nominated for one of the highest achievements in the industry: an Academy Award. Jean de Meuron attended the New York Film Academy in 2009 and studied several disciplines, including filmmaking, screenwriting, and cinematography, at both the New York and Los Angeles campuses. We spoke to him about his experience at NYFA and his Academy Award-nominated film "La Femme et le TGV." NYFA Documentary Filmmaking alumna Raphaela Neihausen's film "Joes Violin" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Neihausen is also one of the New York Film Academys partners for our documentary screening series, Stranger Than Fiction.Other success stories include:NYFA counts many successful alumni among its ranks, including Issa Rae (" Insecure ") and Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation," " Ingrid Goes West "). This year, 3D Animation & VFX alumnus Francesco Panzieri continues his ascent with " Spider-Man: Homecoming " where he was the digital compositor, while Musical Theatre alumnus and Netflixs " Brown Nation Jaspal Binning makes his directorial debut with " Doomsday . Acting for Film alumnus Manuel Garcia-Rulfo of "Magnificent 7" will also star in upcoming revamp of "Murder on the Orient Express." Acting for Film alumnus Themo Melikidze performed opposite Mark Wahlberg in " Patriot's Day ." 3D Animation & VFX alumna Alexandra LoRusso worked on the visual FX for blockbuster hits and academy award winners "Suicide Squad," and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."Our Guest Lecture series, whose past guests include Al Pacino, Steven Spielberg, and Seth Rogen, continued throughout 2017 with insightful and instructional Q&As. Students learned from visiting Guest Speakers Kim Cattrall ("Sex and the City"), Eric D'Arbeloff ("Manchester by the Sea", co-founder of Roadside Attractions), Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge") and many others.Our students also had the privilege to attend a Master Class taught by NYFA Board Member and Master Class Lecturer Matthew Modine , who won a SAG Award this year along with his "Stranger Things" castmates.NYFA endeavors to engage the surrounding community through continued partnerships with excellent organizations like the Bill Duke Media Foundation, Young Storytellers Foundation, and Hands4Hope LA just to name a few. We have also instituted our own program, NEXT Young Filmmaker Program which aims to allow young, aspiring filmmakers to learn the filmmaking process.Earlier this year, the New York Film Academy inaugurated new campuses in Gold Coast, Australia, and Mumbai, India.The New York Film Academy Australia celebrated the Grand Opening of its new Gold Coast, Australia campus location at Southport . Centrally located near the Gold Coasts world famous beach, Surfers Paradise, Southport is a vibrant area filled with exciting attractions, theme parks, buzzing nightlife, trendy cafes and restaurants, as well as one of the Gold Coasts largest shopping complexes, Australia Fair, as well as the exclusive Marina Mirage boutiques of Southport Yacht Club.The New York Film Academy (NYFA)s newest location in Mumbai , India, holds our signature hands-on Filmmaking and Acting for Film workshops at the Urmi Estate, a modern 41-story skyscraper located in the heart of the city. "The New York Film Academy turns 25 this year, and we're thrilled to add this beautiful new location in Mumbai to the global NYFA family," said Kitty Koo, NYFA Vice President - Mumbai, India. "There is no place better than Mumbai, India, the land of Bollywood."NYFA was also recognized by media giants Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for its academic excellence and outstanding hands-on programs. Our Musical Theater program was lauded for being one of the only curriculums that focuses on creating original movie musicals. The Hollywood Reporter recently named NYFA among the Top Film Schools in the country.In response to The Hollywood Reporters list, NYFA Senior Executive Vice President David Klein says, "We are very proud to have been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as a top American film school. This achievement would not be possible without the work and dedication of the professional filmmakers, actors, musicians, screenwriters, composers, cinematographers, and producers who partner with us to empower and prepare our students as they pursue their chosen craft."The New York Film Academy has and continues to be a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion . As President Michael Young put it, "The extraordinary variety of nationalities represented throughout the New York Film Academy is one our greatest strengths. We are proud to welcome students from over one hundred countries and to stand with many of our nations colleges and universities that are resisting threats to international diversity."We would like to extend our thanks and congratulations to our faculty, staff and our students for making NYFA one of the top film schools in the country for 25 years. We endeavor to make our next 25 years as successful as the first.
This writer lived through a major hurricane assault, when Mathew trampled through Port Orange, Florida on October 7th of last year. We were lucky while being the unlucky neighbors in our 50 unit sub community. As we laid on the master bedroom floor with our two frightened kittens, 100 mph winds tore a pine tree and sent it flying through our roof. Moments earlier, I had crawled to our bedroom window, pulled down the shade and watched the pine trees five yards from our townhouse. They were already waving like a flag on a frigate. I turned to my wife and actually said: "If one of those trees crashes into our bedroom, we'll all be dead! Lucky for us, the unlucky family, nature chose the upstairs bedroom to have the tree go flying through its ceiling. Two hours later, after having used every towel and comforter we owned to soak up the monsoon like buckets of rain flowing down our walls and ceilings, we finally evacuated.

My heart goes out to those poor souls in Houston who have had such an assault by Mother Nature's excessive rains. Having to use rowboats to travel down what was once residential streets, and seeing one's home or apartment underwater, with everything being destroyed, is so sad. Many will say "Thank God for FEMA" , even though FEMA had not the resources after October 7th of last year, or after Hurricane Sandy, or Hurricane Katrina, and especially now in Houston. Why? Ask the moronic warmongering and embedded politicians (and ALL the ' Commanders In Chiefs ') who kept and keep thinking that over $500+ billion PER YEAR in YOUR tax dollars is more vitally spent by this Military Industrial Empire ! After all, we need those phony wars with our over 1000 military bases in over 100 different countries! We need to keep developing overkill WMDs (like the Mother of ALL Bombs) to show the Russians and especially the Chinese that WE will keep control of the Middle East oil, gas and natural resources... and have OUR USA dollar as the prime means of currency. For that in a nutshell is what this obscene militarism and its obscene funding is really all about. Screw the peoples of New Orleans, New York City, Daytona Beach Florida and Houston Texas!!

To this writer my experience with FEMA had been a sick joke. After the hurricane destroyed our home, and we had to live elsewhere for over FIVE months, we begged FEMA to help us. NO! Their estimators said sorry on our need for funds to supplement our shitty homeowners insurance (Did you know that our policy did NOT even cover spoilage from our freezer and refrigerator?). Sorry, you don't qualify, they answered us in their rejection letter. Meanwhile, right after the hurricane my wife began having panic attacks (which she NEVER experienced in her 50 + years on earth) with no health coverage other than lousy hospitalization (another victim of the 'too expensive private insurance' under Obama Care). We sent in claims to FEMA for reimbursement for the semi successful acupuncture and Chinese herbs treatments from our Doctor of Chinese Medicine. FEMA did the usual rejection and double talk to justify their reaction. So, we had to go to Senator Nelson's office and found a 'gem' of a young staffer who had the empathy for us that ALL elected officials should have (and 99% don't). He contacted FEMA after the 2nd rejection letter by them, and put on the pressure needed. They finally rescinded their rejection and reimbursed us.

Why did FEMA do what it did to us, and do worse for millions of others in disaster areas? THEY DON'T HAVE THE BUDGETING NEEDED! Plain and simple folks! FEMA has become, to a certain extent, a public relations outfit. They send out hundreds of field reps to sign people up after a disaster and then reject or underpay them for damages etc. Look at Houston. FEMA could not get the proper cots needed to supply the shelters. Why? NOT ENOUGH FUNDING! Now, the lousy Congressman Ryan states that he wants to cut more money out of FEMA to what... pay for Trumps asinine wall! You won't hear Ryan or Trump or really any of the so called 'Feel your pain' Democrats coming before the cameras and demanding that this obscene military spending be CUT NOW, drastically, and sent back to fund the myriad of 'safety nets' we need here at home. Wake up folks and understand why many of us suffer unnecessarily.
From American Conservative



Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks via video conference to the Digital Culture Forums, organized by Argentina's Ministry of Culture, 2015.

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The United States, uniquely among nations, believes that its writ runs all over the world -- and that it has a right to use its courts of law to seek retributive justice even in situations that did not involve American citizens and occurred in a foreign land. No other country sends its marshals overseas to forcibly detain fugitives from "justice." If the United States is truly exceptional, it is no doubt due to its hubris in declaring itself to be the final arbiter of what goes on all around the globe.

It seems that nearly every week Congress outdoes itself in passing bills that are intended to pummel one foreign adversary or another. Russia and Iran have become particular favorites with nary a dissenting voice when new sanctions are put in place, together with mechanisms to ensure that a puissant chief executive shall have no ability to mitigate the punishment. And sometimes stealth is employed, inserting a nugget in an otherwise innocuous bit of legislation that will provide authority to go after yet another potential enemy of the state.

The latest Senate Intelligence Authorization Act (SB 1761), which was released by the committee on August 18 when few senators were in town, is in the nature of a routine document. It notably calls for "more" in terms of both probing and revealing Russian spying and alleged aggression, but that was to be expected due to the current panic over Moscow and its intentions. It will nevertheless almost certainly become law even though few members of congress will actually bother to read any part of it. The bill has already been approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee and will likely go immediately to a vote in the full Senate when that body reconvenes after the August recess. It will almost certainly be approved unanimously.

That anyone in the alternative media is paying any attention at all to what the bill says is due to the last section in the document, numbered 623. It reads "SENSE OF CONGRESS ON WIKILEAKS: It is the sense of Congress that WikiLeaks and the senior leadership of WikiLeaks resemble a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors and should be treated as such a service by the United States."

Senator Ron Wyden was the only committee member who opposed the draft but even he opined that "the damage done by WikiLeaks to the United States is clear." His concerns were that Section 623, if acted upon, could damage freedom of the press. He explained that "...the use of the novel phrase 'non-state hostile intelligence service' may have legal, constitutional, and policy implications, particularly should it be applied to journalists inquiring about secrets... The language in the bill suggesting that the U.S. government has some unstated course of action against 'non-state hostile intelligence services' is equally troubling."

Indeed, the language suggests that Section 623 is intended to justify taking direct action against WikiLeaks. And it might also establish a precedent which would potentially empower federal law enforcement agencies to go after legitimate media outlets that obtain and publish classified information regarded as critical or even damaging to government policies. As the mainstream media has long believed that it has a legitimate role in exposing malfeasance by government, Section 623 could easily set up a clash between press and law enforcement over what kind of information is usable and what is not.

It would be interesting to know who exactly inserted Section 623 in the intelligence authorization bill, but that information is unlikely to surface anytime soon. The sentence makes some very specific claims about WikiLeaks and its activities, namely that it operates as a hostile intelligence service, that its leadership constitutes enemy agents who are targeting the United States, and that it operates under the direction of a foreign intelligence agency that is unfriendly to Washington. It concludes that WikiLeaks should be "treated as such," i.e., confronted as one would an enemy.

In reality, the conflation of WikiLeaks with an actual intelligence service is absurd. It does not recruit agents who obtain information for it and instead relies on volunteers, many of whom are apparently whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, to provide it with material. It operates in standard journalistic fashion by publishing the material that it considers to be relevant to illegal or inappropriate activity by the U.S. and other governments, corporations, and even individuals. Critics claim that it is reckless in so doing, but WikiLeaks sees itself as an activist purveyor of global transparency and accountability.

And the assertion that WikiLeaks is acting as the agent of an unfriendly foreign government is also unproven, even though some in the U.S. government have insisted that is the case and an occasional investigative journalist has sought to connect the dots. Clearly the drafter of the sentence in SB 1761 is implying a Russian relationship, but there is no indisputable evidence that that is true and no hint that anything that WikiLeaks has revealed is propaganda. WikiLeaks derived information is unedited and authentic. It has been played and replayed by mainstream media in the U.S. and worldwide without any hesitation. WikiLeaks might not be your standard media outlet, but it is more like journalism than not, particularly if one accepts that alternative internet sources have become legitimate in their own right.

Most of the attention on Section 623 has focused on potential damage to the First Amendment to the Constitution, which established freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but I also see something more sinister in the language used. The sentence is nearly identical to a statement made by CIA Director Mike Pompeo on April 13 in which WikiLeaks was described as a "non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia."

It is no coincidence that the language is similar and it suggests that WikiLeaks and its senior leadership will be targeted by the United States government acting through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Daily Beast reports a comment by one former Senate committee staffer who notes that "It would allow the intelligence community to collect against them the same way they collect against al-Qaeda. If you think you're helping WikiLeaks to aid a transparency organization, the U.S. government fundamentally disagrees with you and you could find yourself on the other end of NSA scrutiny."

It has previously been reported how the Justice Department has had problems in making a case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He is an Australian citizen who resides in London in asylum status in the Ecuadorean Embassy and WikiLeaks has no evident physical presence in the United States. Nevertheless, the Attorney General's office has been hard at work preparing criminal charges, presumably relying on the Espionage Act of 1918, which can be construed as criminalizing the receipt of any classified material by an unauthorized party. Given the clearly expressed desire to punish Assange, he would quite likely be arrested and extradited to the U.S. by the British if he should ever attempt to leave the shelter of the Ecuadorean Embassy.

Some journalists are particularly concerned that henceforth any classified information made public by WikiLeaks and used by an American news outlet might also lead to criminal charges for the recipient, again under the Espionage Act. And Washington might even believe that it can to a certain extent enforce its ban on using WikiLeaks material globally by pressuring other governments and by tying up media outlets with lawsuits.

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The more taxpayer dollars that are sucked into that black hole of war the more cracks appear in the foundation of America, its national infrastructure, at the center of almost everything that goes on in America; from the transportation of goods to people driving to work and a great deal in between.

This government's ongoing obsession with war, together with the massive costs of the U.S, military empire are, in effect, contributing to this deterioration which is happening all across America; with the interstates, main highways, local roads, and the rail system. There are areas of substantial decay that we can't really see, such as bridges, dams, waterways, sewer systems and the electrical grid.

There is no question but that the repair and rebuilding of the infrastructure will generate excellent returns on investment for America. It will create millions of new jobs calling for a wide variety of skills and experience such as heavy equipment operators, engineers, electricians, steel workers and a host of others. This would be a tremendous shot in the arm for our economy, just what this nation needs.

In contrast, the proliferation of war has a reverse effect; it not only wastes a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars on acts of destruction, but it creates untold thousands of new enemies that will find ways to retaliate; that's exactly what the war on terror is doing.

The infrastructure, the physical heart of America, is in this state of disrepair because the funds that would even bring it up to normally accepted standards are not being appropriated. Members of Congress have no hesitation when it comes to rubber stamping funds for the military but when it comes to this important domestic need they give it no great priority.

Experts on this matter indicate that bring it up to normal standards will take $1 trillion; and to go further and bring it in line with the high levels present in a good number of countries in Europe proper, Scandinavia and Japan, it would take another trillion.

In collecting the necessary statistics for this article, I came across an excellent book, Third World America, by Ariana Huffington. Here are some very interesting and also very troubling stats relating to this deterioration as brought out in this book.

*The U.S. invests only 2.4% of its gross domestic product on infrastructure; in Europe it's 5% and in China it's 9/%. Why the great difference? Because these other countries don't waste theirs on war.

*According to the EPA, on average, an important water line breaks in this country every two minutes; such a break occurs almost every day in Washington, D.C. Also, waste water treatment plants are rapidly deteriorating across America.

*25% of this country's bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Bridges which have an average life span of 50 years are now averaging 43 years.

*Broadband, fast becoming one of the most important foundations of our economy, dropped from a ranking of 4th in the world in 2001, to 15th in 2009. Worse yet, it is not being upgraded and expanded to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand for this important service.

*School buildings are a critically important part of our national infrastructure; the bad news is that it is estimated that it will take some $322 billion to bring them into a state of good repair.

So that's a snapshot of the condition of this infrastructure. Alarms should be sounding across America over this situation. But would this Congress even hear them since its members are so very busy addressing the needs of the masters of Corporatism and the Military-Industrial Complex.

We have a government filled with politicians who can't seem to grasp this fact of life. When a bridge collapses, when a primary waterway becomes impassable, when large portions of key highways and interstates are shut down because of massive deterioration, the costs of rebuilding, just getting them back to basic operations is far more costly than if they had received basic maintenance and repair.

How in the world can this government fail to address this massive problem? In this world rankings report on infrastructure the U.S. is ranked #11. For a country which its politicians like to refer to it as great and exceptional how can that be?

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VIETNAM WAR - Central Highlands, Kontum. Image by manhai via flickr

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The fact that South Korean exports to Vietnam increased by nearly 50% over the first seven months of this year, superficially suggests a further thawing of the two countries' historically frosty relationship, which has for the longest time centered solely on trade and investment. The 2015 bilateral free trade agreement between the two nations has evidently caused business ties to flourish. But trade has merely served to push aside, rather than resolve, a number of underlying bilateral issues that have blighted the countries' ties for many years. While officials in Seoul and Hanoi are quick to talk up the two nations' growing trade links, nothing is said publicly by either on lingering resentment harbored by many in Vietnam over war crimes committed by South Korea during the Vietnam War.

The cruel behavior of South Korean troops through parts of the conflict is well documented. A recently declassified US army report about war crimes committed by South Korean marines between 1968 to 1969, provides a harrowing laundry-list of atrocities, ranging from indiscriminate slaughtering of civilians, including women and children, burning of entire villages, as well as cryptically labeled "unspeakable acts". It is no surprise that those South Vietnamese troops were regarded among the war's most brutal fighters.

One of the most harrowing examples of South Korean war crimes during the Vietnam conflict was the systematic and brutal mass rape of Vietnamese women and girls by South Korean troops. The 5,000 to 30,000 children born as a result of pregnancies caused by these rapes are derogatively referred to as "Lai Dai Han" in Vietnamese, meaning "mixed blood". In a region where ethnic purity is held in high regard, the stigma of rape weighs heavy, a burden that has forced the Lai Dai Han to live as outcasts as they have been shunned in Vietnamese society for their perceived lack of racial purity.

However, despite the widespread acceptance of the fact that these despicable crimes occurred, successive South Korean governments have remained unwavering in their refusal to issue an official apology, or acknowledge any responsibility for the crimes committed, let alone offer some form of compensation for the victims.

To the contrary. Vietnamese rape survivors and Lai Dai Han have long campaigned for an official apology from South Korea, but Seoul has done its utmost to suppress their very existence and erase evidence of South Korean wrongdoing during the Vietnam War from history books. In an audacious display of dishonesty and hypocrisy, Seoul is always quick to highlight the suffering of its own people during past conflicts, but develops a severe case of national amnesia when facing its own crimes in Vietnam.

The closest a South Korean President ever came to pay his long overdue respects happened almost 20 years ago, when former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was gracious enough to express "regret" (or "condolences" depending on the source) over his country's crimes in Vietnam during a visit to Hanoi. Not that this changed official state policy, however, because since then South Korea has been more than willing to nurture its own national narrative of victimhood.

If that were not enough, South Korea has even actively taken steps to silence those who would speak up for its victims. Unwilling to deal with the consequences of her country's behavior and determined to crackdown on dissent, disgraced former South Korean President Park Geun-Hye introduced an anti-defamation law in 2016 designed to silence critical voices speaking unpleasant truths about the nation's past and present. The South Korean government has a long history of using criminal defamation laws to deal with its critics, be they opposition politicians, journalists or activists.

Many face the threat of lengthy prison sentences and heavy fines if found guilty of disseminating what are regarded "openly false facts". In reality, this translates to anything the government believes the public ought not to know. It comes thus to the surprise of no one that these laws have also been used to silence campaigners and writers calling for South Korea to acknowledge its past wrongs, including the rape and murder of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War.

Despite these desperate and shameful efforts to whitewash the past, Seoul is finding it increasingly difficult to sweep its war crimes under the rug. Hanoi is becoming more vocal about the role Seoul played in the wrongs committed against its people, and South Korean advocacy groups have sprung up seeking to hold their government to account in spite of the risks they face for doing so. Indeed, the pressure on Seoul to acknowledge and apologize for its past behavior is rising, and with new evidence of South Korea's crimes emerging some four decades after they were committed, that pressure is only likely to grow.

Still, the Lai Dai Han are unlikely to receive a heart-felt apology soon. Just as his predecessor Park failed to do the honorable thing, so is South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in. In a recent speech marking the June 6 Memorial Day, Moon continued to follow the same pattern of ignorance and denial as the presidents before him when he extolled "the soldiers who fought in Vietnam for their contributions to economic growth in the 1960s and 70s." The backlash in Vietnam was considerable, with the Vietnamese government sending a "first-ever official warning" to Seoul regarding the war crimes.

While it is of course positive that trade relations between Vietnam and South Korea are flourishing, they must not be used to rewrite history. President Moon Jae-in would be well advised to acknowledge and apologize for war crimes committed in the name of his country and give some dignity back to those who suffer to this day. For without acknowledging the past, there can be no bright future.


U.S. Constitution - Illustration

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You know how life is these days, one story after another, no matter the significance, and we're whisked away to the next story without being able to really examine things. If you're American today, likely you've either turned off political discourse, or somehow you still enjoy debating friends and neighbors? It's become complicated. Still, you're concerned about the current situation, thinking that governance shouldn't be this hard only to be so lame.

It's currently the situation where the country conducts elections with a state by state hodgepodge of laws/equipment which produces various levels of transparency/accuracy. If Californians are bound to all the states east of us, and we have no real way of knowing anything about the accuracy of other state elections, then what's the point? Then indeed the electoral process and resultant policies are a type of charade that a certain type of people engage in, and that's the way it is, always has been, and always will be. If you believe that, you can stop reading now. But if you care like many still do, and we know the situation, then aren't we the ones to blame for not doing something based on what we know at this late date? Yeah--let's do something! For example, the current administration has spawned groups to impeach it. The same thing happened in the previous administration. Curious how that works. But we care and we want to do something! Please tell us what to do!

Looking at the situation objectively, obviously we need a federal standard for voting. We have such for food and drugs and highways, why not an amendment that creates it for voting? An amendment you say? For voting? No, legislation takes care of that kind of stuff! But wait, you do know that people used to be able to own other people in this country, right? And that women weren't allowed to vote, but now can? Amendments solved those problems once and for all, just as an amendment to create a federal standard for voting would. All the states, and all the people in them, are all relying on everyone to get it right.

We can discuss ideas informally all day on the street or on Facebook, and that's fine, but at some point we must engage in the formal discussion of amendments, and as it turns out, there are only two ways to do it--through the Congress or through the Article V Convention. Those two groups are the only two groups of Americans who can formally discuss constitutional amendments.

Of course since we know Congress has become compromised by questionable USSC rulings we can't count on it realistically. Thus, the reason the convention mode was included in the Constitution--wherever Congress failed, a convention could examine the situation. The reason we've never held an Article V Convention is simply because the Congress has failed to legally issue the call. That's a long discussion, but there is current political activity in that regard, for instance Representative Luke Messer of Indian's 6th District has placed House Resolution 1742 with the Judiciary and Government Rules/Reform committees. The measure would task the Director of the National Archives with collating all existing state applications for the Article V Convention that are strewn throughout congressional records. Once counted, we would find out that we're legally overdue for the call. But the chances of Messer's draft leaving those committees for the floor of the House are next to none, i.e. a situation that can't be considered realistically.

So here's the kicker, the big take away: on March 30th of this very year, the legislature of Arizona issued the call for a convention of the states, the first such call since the Civil War. Arizona issued it in order to hold a planning convention, meaning that there has been much talk about the Article V Convention, and Arizona took it upon itself to hold a convention where the states could work out some rules for it. That convention is to take place in Phoenix, starting September 12th.

What will happen in Phoenix? It's shaping up as a conservative conclave of folks who want a Balanced Budget Amendment. Will any liberal voices be heard? Too soon to tell, but maybe the point is, whatever your political beliefs/affiliations, if you're tired of the charade, or you think it's dangerous and we can't go on like this forever, keep an eye on the growing consensus for the Article V Convention. If you're not so sure about it, ask yourself: As an American, can we do better, and if so, isn't it time to enter into the formal discussion of how to go about it?
Even though Donald Trump often appears to be out of control, he's executing a disciplined political strategy to tighten his grip on the Republican base. Nonetheless, to hold onto power, Trump's going to have to move beyond his base. To accomplish this, he's working on his biggest deal.

While Trump's favorability ratings continue to decline, he remains popular with his base -- around 80 percent of Republicans approve of his conduct. Trump once joked that he could "stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters." This has held true for his first 223 days in office.

Trump's recent actions -- his ad-libs about the Charlottesville violence, his transgender ban, and his pardon of Sheriff Arpaio -- are viewed negatively by most Americans but approved by mainstream by Republicans. Indeed, within the GOP, Trump is much more popular than the congressional leadership, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump has a parasitic relationship with the orthodox Republican Party. He uses their organization but he's not wedded to their principles; Trump is a maverick Independent using the Republican Party infrastructure.

During the presidential campaign, Trump made a number of promises; the most general was to "make America great again," and the most specific was to build a wall along the southern border. At the moment, given his general unpopularity and his lack of support from both sides of Congress, it's hard to imagine how he would keep his promise to build the wall.

Nonetheless, Trump has recently talked about a spectacular "deal," threatening to shut down government unless Congress allocates funds for his border wall. This sort of high-stakes gamble is right out of Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," where he describes eleven tactics: "Think big; Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself; Maximize your options; Know your market; Use your leverage; Enhance your location; Get the word out; Fight Back; Deliver the goods; Contain the costs; Have fun."

In "The Art of the Deal," Trump emphasizes the way to get the deal you want is to leverage your power: "Start from a position of strength and convince the other side that you have something they need."

Although Trump is President, at the moment he doesn't have a lot of leverage with Congress. Most members don't like him. In addition, Trump has a weak staff and, therefore, the White House isn't presenting Congress with coherent legislative plans. While Trump isn't viewed as a leader, that doesn't mean he has no power. For example, he can decide to veto legislation (and pardon convicted offenders).

On August 22nd, at a Phoenix campaign rally, Trump said, "If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall... One way or the other, we're going to get that wall." In September there will be a chance for Trump to shut down the government when he receives the 2018 (fiscal year) appropriations bill. If it does not contain money for the construction of a border wall then Trump could chose to veto it; the government would run out of money on September 30th and many governmental operations would shut down on October 1st.

The orthodox Republican agenda for September is for Trump to quickly sign the appropriations bill and an increase to the debt ceiling, and for the GOP to then focus on tax reform. However, Trump is not an orthodox Republican. According to New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza (click here) "Trump has never really been excited about the traditional Republican agenda on tax reform." It certainly has not been a primary component of his base appeal.

If Trump does veto the appropriations bill, Lizza says there are three logical outcomes: One would be "a grand compromise" where Congress would allocate additional funds for the wall and the shutdown would be avoided. There are two problems with this scenario; one is the amount of money involved. It's estimated the wall would cost $21.6 billion (click here); Trump's initial budget allocation -- for wall planning and design -- is $2.6 billion. The other problem is that a compromise would require Democratic votes as well as Republican votes; congressional Democrats have long indicated they would not sign an appropriations bill that includes funds for Trump's wall. (There's also a complication because of funding for the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.)

Another possible outcome after a Trump veto is that Republicans would go through a face-saving process: Perhaps the House would pass an appropriations bill that includes funds for the wall. Then the Senate would strip them out. Trump would sign the (neutered) appropriations bill and blame Senate Republicans.

And, of course there is the possibility that Trump would stick to his guns and cause the government to shut down.

The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey opens another possibility: Trump would tie funds for his wall to an appropriation for flood recovery in Texas and Louisiana. This might pass the House but could flounder in the Senate because of it would require 60 votes.

In any event, September is a watershed month for Trump. He's running out of runway. To increase his power he's going to have to pull off a big deal.
From Our Future

Donald Trump traveled to Springfield, Missouri to kick off the administration's next big initiative: cutting taxes. Here was the essential Trump, the confidence man, peddling a plan that does not yet exist on paper. Populist bluster was deployed to cover for what will be a one-percenter's elixir.

Each of the four principles Trump claims will inform what he calls "tax reform" is actually mocked in the plans the administration is cooking up behind closed doors.

The only question is whether Americans are gullible enough to buy what Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republicans are selling. And whether Democrats will unite to expose the con and demand progressive tax reforms that are long overdue.

Trump's first principle is simplicity: the tax code should be "simple, fair and easy to understand." But Republicans aren't interested in simplicity. They are interested in cutting taxes, particularly for the wealthy and the corporations, and starving the government of revenue.

This sets up their argument for the necessity of slashing popular government programs -- from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to disaster relief, investment in education and environmental protections.

Were simplicity the actual goal, Trump would promise a plan that was revenue neutral, or given the current deficits, produced more revenue, by closing loopholes and shutting down tax dodges. The words never crossed his lips.

The second "principle" is to cut corporate taxes. With corporate profits a record percentage of the GDP and revenue from corporate taxes at record lows, this isn't exactly a compelling cause. So, this goal is spun as a way to make corporations competitive, creating more jobs and higher wages.

Every part of this argument is a lie. Corporations pay far lower effective tax rates than the nominal rate. And as a new study by the Institute for Policy Studies shows, the corporations that already pay at the lower 20-percent rate Republicans are peddling have cut, not created, jobs over the last nine years.

And while cutting corporate taxes lines the pockets of shareholders and CEOs, workers suffer job loss and pay stagnation.

The third principle is "tax relief for middle class families." Whenever politicians start talking about cutting taxes on the middle class, hold on to your wallet.

In every version of Trump tax plans that have been made public, the richest 1 percent pocket nearly half or more of the tax breaks. In the most recent plan, the top one-tenth of 1 percent would enjoy a tax break of over one million a year.

The average taxpayer in the middle would pocket about $1,000. Trump argues that these "forgotten people" will get the pay raise they've been waiting for, and "do lots of things with their paychecks." Yeah, like making a nominal payment on the record credit card debts, and auto and school loans that burden them. This is a heist. The Trump tax cuts will overwhelmingly benefit the few and the corporations. The middle class is offered a pittance simply to make the dish palatable.

The fourth principle is the most outrageous: Trump promises to create "the American model" by bringing back trillions in wealth parked overseas. Large corporations have indeed booked trillions of profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. The numbers are staggering: an estimated $2.5 trillion, with $700 billion in owed taxes.

But does Trump's "America Model" require these corporations to pay the taxes that they owe?

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Article originally published in the Detroit Free Press

By Robert Weiner and Christina McDowell

This summer, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing on juvenile justice reform. The hearing was a call to end the draconian practices of institutionalizing America's juvenile offenders. The committee's chairman, U.S Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) stated in his opening remarks, "We can all agree that Juvenile offenders must be treated differently than adult offenders."

Unfortunately, the justice system is founded on long-term punishment and isolation. That may persuade adults but for youth, it does more harm than good. "Incarcerating youth isn't safe, isn't fair, and doesn't work," said expert witness and CEO of Youth First Initiative, Liz Ryan, "It isn't fair as it disproportionately impacts young people of color" and, "greatly increases the likelihood that youth will re-offend."

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., added, "The system is for poor people. If two siblings in a youth home fight, they are sent to jail. When rich kids fight, they get sent to their room." She called the arrests, "state sponsored child abuse." When a teenager's brain is still developing, the last thing they need is to be abused in a cell.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit,now Dean of the House and the Democratic leader of the Judiciary Committee, stated, "Research says young peoples' brains continue to mature until their early to mid-twenties. Adolescent brains are different than adult brains. Children who commit crimes are more likely to reform and have a better chance at rehabilitation than adults." And yet most juvenile facilities are modeled after adult prisons.

What is working? Experimental programs rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy where children have access to mental health care, substance abuse counseling, job training, and education. Resources needed to build a healthy, successful life.

Jim Saint Germain, founder of Preparing Leaders of Tomorrow , gave emotional testimony citing his own story. At a young age his family, Haitian immigrants, moved to a drug and crime ridden neighborhood in Brooklyn where he adapted a lifestyle of drug dealing to survive. What saved him was positive male mentors and rehabilitation. He said he was the "exception not the norm" -- he made it out.

Most juveniles do not have access to these resources despite studies showing the states would actually save money if they did. It is also rare that a juvenile offender poses a legitimate threat to an average citizen.

It costs $100,000 per year to house a child in the current system, according to expert witness, Joe Vignati, deputy commissioner of Georgia's Department of Juvenile Justice. Some states including Georgia are shifting funds from institutions to community services and are saving millions of tax dollars. If Georgia continues investing in community-based programs, the state will save $85 million by the year 2018 while increasing public safety, says Vignati.

Criminal justice reform was making bipartisan headway with legislation by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Corey Booker (D-N.J.). However, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, wants federal prosecutors to fight for the most severe punishments and mandatory sentencing, despite the data showing that "tough on crime" doesn't work.

The hearing made it clear: if the U.S. wants better public safety and a recovered generation of young people, it must dismantle youth prisons and invest in community programs.

Robert Weiner is a former White House spokesman and spokesman for the House Government Operations and Judiciary Committees under Chairman John Conyers. Christina McDowell is the author of "After Perfect: A Daughter's Memoir." She taught writing in a California youth prison for two years.
From Consortium News



A map of Arizona.

(Image by (Image from nasa.gov)) Details DMCA



Advocates of Mexican-American studies are celebrating a federal court ruling restoring one of the most successful programs in Arizona public schools as a victory against "state-sponsored racism."

Nolan Cabrera, associate professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, has been involved from the beginning in resisting the controversial removal of ethnic studies from the Tucson Unified School District. I spoke to Cabrera on Aug. 26, after a U.S. District Court judge's decision in favor of the restoration of the program.

Cabrera is a recipient of the prestigious education early-career award the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral fellowship and is a fellow for the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education.

Dennis Bernstein: Nolan Cabrera, you created an ethnic studies program at the University of Arizona that provided the informational background for the students who fought the effort to shut down ethnic studies in Tucson. How did you get involved?

Dr. Nolan Cabrera: I became involved in the struggle around Mexican American studies running statistical analyses on the efficacy of the program. Interestingly, I was doing this for the desegregation case, which was a separate issue from House Bill 2281, that banned ethnic studies. But then that became the basis for the other statistical analyses, which demonstrated the program's remarkable achievements in terms of student development over the years.

DB: Could you talk about the pressure that is building in Arizona right now? President Trump just made a kind of campaign stop in Phoenix, praising Sheriff Joe [Arpaio] and saying that he plans to pardon him. What does it mean for Trump to be there?

NC: When ethnic studies was banned in 2010, there was also a massive anti-immigrant bill and a move to eliminate affirmative action. We had border militias, there was the shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords. It is almost as if the rest of America has become like what Arizona was at that time. So, while it is important that the president is here in Arizona, in terms of emboldening white supremacists and those advocating for regressive social policies, it is very much par for the course. We have been dealing with this for the better part of a decade in Arizona.

DB: When Trump praises Sheriff Joe, in spite of the fact that he has been convicted of breaking the law, what message is he sending and how does that reverberate with white supremacists?

NC: Firstly, there is this whole macho bravado that really resonates with a lot of Trump supporters, of which Sheriff Joe is a classic example. He likes to call himself "the toughest sheriff in the country." Actually, he was picking on poor undocumented migrants, subjecting them to inhumane conditions. That's not toughness, that's not strength. It is just bullying, cowardice and racism.



Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona speaking at the Tea Party Patriots American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, Feb. 25, 2011.

(Image by (Photo by Gage Skidmore)) Details DMCA



If he is pardoned, it will send a clear message that racial profiling, hunting down Mexicans, etc. is acceptable. As a colleague of mine in Colorado, Susana Munoz, says, "Dehumanizing policies give a license to dehumanize."

In Arizona, it has had a twofold effect: It is emboldening racist action and, at the same time, it is sending up a flag welcoming new membership. The Southern Poverty Law Center is currently tracking 18 substantiated hate groups in the state of Arizona. One of my friends remarked that he didn't realize the number was so low. And when rhetoric from the top draws false equivalencies between neo-Nazis and Black Lives Matter, it allows the white supremacists to feel vindicated and it justifies violence against civil rights organizations.

I am glad that a lot of the people who have been playing overt racist politics have been voted out of office in Arizona: Russell Pierce, John Huppenthal, Tom Horne and Joe Arpaio. In some respects, the voting populace as a whole is pushing back on this politics of racism and division. This is an incredibly important symbolic act.

DB: You were a key witness in the recent case in Tucson regarding the attempt by certain legislators to end the ethnic studies program there, which was proven to be incredibly successful. Could you remind people exactly what the case was about? And didn't the judge rule that ethnic studies was a positive part of the educational system in Tucson?

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This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

From Black Agenda Report

Even most leftish white Americans like to think that their country is good and its institutions are fair and equitable. According to this wishful thinking human rights abuses only happen in faraway places and injustices here are resolved by reining in a few bad apples. The facts say otherwise and prove that the United States is consistently one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The cruelty of its prison system extends far beyond headlines of a few well known villains like David Clarke and Joe Arpaio.

Donald Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is quite rightly a big news story. Trump's pardon is easily denounced as an obvious violation of the spirit of the presidential pardon process. It was a sham used to circumvent an established process. Arpaio had not even been sentenced for his misdemeanor contempt of court conviction. Full pardons are rare in any case, with examples such as Chelsea Manning's being far more common. She received a commutation and only after serving seven years of her sentence.

Arpaio is surely deserving of scorn heaped upon him. He referred to his jails as "concentration camps."He held prisoners outdoors in tents, a violation of national and international law. Arpaio was convicted of contempt of court because he continued to detain undocumented people without charge in violation of a judge's order.

He used intimidation and charged anyone who opposed him with crimes and even faked an assassination attempt which sent an innocent man to jail for four years. Not only were female prisoners shackled while giving birth but he didn't bother to investigate hundreds of sexual assault cases. The judgments against him cost Maricopa County in Arizona millions of dollars.

But Arpaio differs from the rest of law enforcement only in the openness of his methods. Joe Arpaio was a media prostitute and relished the attention given to him by Fox news and other right wing outlets. He became a fixture among the people who elected Donald Trump and openly bragged about his untouchability.

It must be pointed out that the United States is full of Arpaios in all 50 states. Two judges in Pennsylvania literally made a fortune sending juveniles to jail. Women in New York state prisons are still shackled while giving birth , in direct violation of that state's law.

No one knows for certain how many people died in Arpaio's custody. But there are horrific stories of death in prison all over the country. Prisoners have died of thirst, or from treatable illnesses when denied medication. Some of these cases are brought to light but thousands of others go unreported. In the state of Texas alone, 6,900 prisoners died in custody over a 10-year period.

Trump and Arpaio are inviting targets. Both men dispense with niceties and show the system in its barbaric glory. There is no attempt to mince words, beat around bushes or put a happy face on wrong doing. They are forthright in advocating their racism while the prison industrial complex grinds on, destroying lives and sometimes ending them.

Arpaio and Trump show the dangers of allowing open racism to flourish. The Trump presidency emboldens white supremacy but in an ironic way minimizes it too. Mass incarceration is diminished by attention paid to the Trumps and Arpaios in this country. Because of the endless desire to cover up the country's crimes, the focus falls on the most blatant evils. All the while the system goes on committing an unknown number of human rights abuses in jails and prisons across the country.

The system is built to incarcerate for the sake of incarcerating, and people of color are the primary victims. Their victimizers may not look for publicity like Arpaio did, but their actions as nameless bureaucrats are equally deadly.

It is a grave mistake to reserve outrage and protest for the Trumps and the Arpaios of the world. Doing so allows the other killers to act with impunity. That is why the carceral system must be torn out root and branch. Prison abolition should be the watch words and mealy mouthed talk of reform must be dismissed.

The United States would still have more than 2 million incarcerated persons if Joe Arpaio didn't exist or if Donald Trump weren't president. It should not be forgotten that a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, did more to expand mass incarceration than any other. But his successors did nothing to end it either.

The worst criminals are outside of the prison walls. Some of them are well known like Trump and Arpaio but most are faceless as they carry out horrific abuses. The focus of our attention must be on ending the system that allows them all to flourish.
From The National

Still, opening the doors to "Jewish" non-Jews is a step too far

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a crushing rebuke to the perennial optimists roused to hopes of imminent peace by the visit to the Middle East last week of Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. At an event on Monday in the West Bank celebrating the half-centenary of Israeli occupation, Mr Netanyahu effectively admitted that US efforts to revive the peace process would prove another charade.

There would be no dismantling of the settlements or eviction of their 600,000 inhabitants -- the minimum requirement for a barely feasible Palestinian state. "We are here to stay forever," Mr Netanyahu reassured his settler audience. "We will deepen our roots, build, strengthen and settle."

So where is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict heading if the two-state solution is dead? The answer: back to its origins. That will entail another desperate numbers battle against the Palestinians -- with Israel preparing to create new categories of "Jews" so they can be recruited to the fray.

Demography was always at the heart of Israeli policy. During the 1948 war that founded a Jewish state on the ruins of the Palestinian homeland, 750,000 Palestinians were expelled in a campaign that today would be termed ethnic cleansing. By the end, a large native Palestinian majority had been reduced to less than a fifth of the new state's population. David Ben Gurion, the country's founding father, was unperturbed. He expected to swamp this rump group with Jews from Europe and the Arab world.

But the project foundered on two miscalculations.

First, Ben Gurion had not factored in the Palestinian minority's far higher birth rate. Despite waves of Jewish immigrants, Palestinians have held fast, at 20 percent of Israel's citizenry. Israel has fought a rearguard battle against them ever since. Studies suggest that the only Israeli affirmative action program for Palestinian citizens is in family planning.

Israeli demographic scheming was on show again last week. An investigation by the Haaretz newspaper found that in recent years, Israel has stripped of citizenship potentially thousands of Bedouin, the country's fastest-growing population. Israel claims bureaucratic "errors" were made in registering their parents or grandparents after the state's founding.

Meanwhile, another Rubicon was crossed last month when an Israeli court approved revoking the citizenship of a Palestinian convicted of a lethal attack on soldiers. Human rights groups fear that, by rendering him stateless, the Israeli right has established a precedent for conditioning citizenship on "loyalty." Justice minister Ayelet Shaked underlined that very point this week when she warned the country's judges that they must prioritise demography and the state's Jewishness over human rights.

The second miscalculation arrived in 1967. In seizing the last fragments of historic Palestine but failing to expel most of the inhabitants, Israel made itself responsible for many hundreds of thousands of additional Palestinians, including refugees from the earlier war. The demographic "demon," as it is often referred to in Israel, was held at bay only by bogus claims for many decades that the occupation would soon end. In 2005, Israel bought a little more breathing space by "disengaging" from the tiny Gaza enclave and its 1.5 million inhabitants.

Now, in killing hopes of Palestinian statehood, Mr Netanyahu has made public his intention to realise the one settler-state solution. Naftali Bennett, Mr Netanyahu's chief rival in the government, is itching to ignore international sentiment and begin annexing large parts of the West Bank.

There is a problem, however. At least half the population in Mr Netanyahu's Greater Israel are Palestinian. And with current birth rates, Jews will soon be an indisputable minority -- one ruling over a Palestinian majority.

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When Ed Skrein was first cast in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, it felt like yet another entry in a long, disheartening series of casting choices by Hollywood that whitewashed Asian characters and gave the roles to white actors. Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, Emma Stone in Aloha, and the Death Note remake had all been such disappointments in the area of representation, and Skreins casting as Japanese-American character Ben Daimio felt like a continuation of that.

But by stepping down from the role in response the wave of online criticism, Skrein gave Hollywood casting directors what they call a wake-up call. EW reports that after Hellboy producers supported his departure, casting directors took notice. They quote one named Russell Boast, who said, I think [his decision] will resonate with many actors who have never thought about standing up and saying they dont want to be a part of this whitewashing game thats being played.

Up until now, when confronted with critiques citing whitewashing in their films, just about everybody in Hollywood has made defensive excuses. Directors like Ridley Scott, actors like Scarlett Johansson and producers like Roy Lee all try to shift blame to somebody or something else, like the financial realities of Hollywood, to defend their erasure of minority voices. Boast went on to say this:

The studios blame the writers, the casting directors get blamed for not talking to the showrunners, and it goes around, and so its nice for an actor to slip into this and go, Alright, Im also going to be a part of the solution and not just the problem. Its exciting for the industry.

Another casting director, Julia Kim, is also quoted by EW:

I think its remarkable [he chose to leave]. He could have really benefitted from a big role like this in a big film. But it would have been negative attention [if he stayed], and this is positive attention  In a way, he shifted the responsibility to the actors themselves and fixed the problem from inside out. That sets a platform for other actors to either follow or not follow.

Lets hope that this is the start of a real conversation, one in which Hollywood actually listens. Its never advisable to bank on the moral compass of Hollywood, but maybe in the future filmmakers wont just make lame excuses to pass off their behavior, and do what Ed Skrein did: actually make a difference in the way these movies treat these characters.
A VPN can help improve your privacy online by making you harder to track and preventing your ISP from snooping on your online activities. NordVPN offers a bit of everything on top of that basic VPN protection. It has a large and diverse collection of servers, an impressive arsenal of rarely seen tools, as well as strong privacy and security practices. Some of NordVPN's advanced features, like Meshnet, are unique and help justify its high cost. Others, like Threat Protection, were lacking. Taken all together, it remains an Editors' Choice winner.

How Much Does NordVPN Cost?

Like many VPN companies, NordVPN has expanded beyond VPN protection and now offers the NordPass password manager and NordLocker encrypted file storage. NordVPN now offers these services bundled with a VPN subscription. The Standard plan ($11.99 per month or $59.88 for the first year and $99.48 for each year after(Opens in a new window)) includes just VPN protection. The Plus tier ($12.69 per month or $68.28 for the first year and then $126.96 per year) adds the NordPass password manager and data breach scanning a la HaveIBeenPwned. The Complete tier ($13.99 per month or $83.88 for the first year and then $198.84 per year) throws in 1TB of encrypted cloud storage. NordVPN also offers two-year subscriptions for $95.76, $112.56, and $143.76 for the Standard, Plus, and Complete tiers. These renew at their respective annual rates on a per-year basis.

Although it might be enticing to do so, we recommend against immediately springing for discounted long-term plans. Instead, start with a short term plan so you can try out the VPN service in your home.

You can pay with Amazon Pay, all major credit cards, cryptocurrencies via CoinGate, Google Pay, PayPal, and Plaid. As of this writing, the average cost for a VPN service we've reviewed is about $9.90 per month and $67.37 per year. This puts NordVPN on the pricey side.

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You can certainly get a top VPN subscription for less. Editors' Choice winner Mullvad VPN, for instance, is just 5 euro ($5.03 USD at time of writing) per month, and top pick Proton VPN has all the same features (but with fewer servers) for just $9.99 per month. At $29.99 per year, Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN and Ivacy VPN are notable for having the lowest annual fee of any non-free VPN we've tested.

There are also some free VPNs worthy of consideration. While all free VPNs have limitations, Proton VPN is the one of the very few we've tested that doesn't limit the amount of data free subscribers can use. NordVPN has discontinued its free trial offering, stating that scammers were taking advantage of it.

What Do You Get for Your Money?

NordVPN allows you to use up to six devices simultaneously. The average VPN service limits you to five such connections, but that's starting to change. Avira Phantom VPN, IPVanish VPN, Editors' Choice winner Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN allow an unlimited number of devices to connect at once.

(Editors' Note: IPVanish is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)

NordVPN offers static IP addresses for $5.83 per month ($70.00 per year). You can choose an address for France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, or the United States. A static IP address may help prevent your VPN connection from being blocked, especially if you connect to the same region consistently. While other VPN services offer static IPs as add-ons, the process is much more complicated(Opens in a new window) with NordVPN and a real miss from a customer service standpoint.

One excellent aspect of NordVPN is the variety of additional tools it provides for improving your privacy. NordVPN, Proton VPN, and VPNArea are the only three VPN companies we've tested that provide direct access to the Tor anonymization network. This makes it even harder to trace your connection, and it lets you access hidden websites, though at greatly reduced speeds. You can, however, access Tor for free.

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NordVPN also supports multi-hop connections, which it calls Double VPN. This routes your connection through a second VPN server instead of just one. That way, if one leg of the connection is somehow compromised, you can rest assured that your connection is still secure.

Split-tunneling lets you designate which apps route their traffic through the VPN connection, and which travel in the clear. NordVPN takes an interesting approach with this feature, letting you either require or forbid VPN connections for apps. NordVPN and Proton VPN are among the very few products that offer split tunneling, access to Tor via VPN server, and multi-hop connections.

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NordVPN includes Threat Protection features(Opens in a new window) (previously branded as "CyberSec"), which go beyond typical VPN protection. The company claims these features can block malicious sites, detect malware, and block trackers and ads. Other companies, such as Surfshark VPN have expanded into similar territory, while some antivirus companies have gone the opposite direction and started including VPNs with their traditional antivirus products. As we explain, we found NordVPN's Threat Protection features lacking, and recommend using standalone antivirus instead. Note that the NordVPN app says that this is a Beta feature, so its performance may change.

NordVPN recently announced a new feature called Meshnet(Opens in a new window), which allows you to connect to one of your own devices via VPN. NordVPN has also created a system where you can share access to your device with other NordVPN members you approve. That's distinct from Hola VPN, and others, that use customers as exit nodes for connections. The company suggests that this could be handy for remote file access and collaboration, or even LAN gaming over great distances. We think the most practical application will be accessing the web via a home computer while you're traveling abroad. Additionally, NordVPN is now allowing customers to roll-their-own self-hosted NordVPN instance.

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In addition to the platforms mentioned in this review, NordVPN supports Linux. You can also configure some routers to connect via NordVPN. Doing so supplies coverage for all the devices on your network, including smart home devices that can't run a VPN on their own.

Although useful, a VPN can't protect against all ills. We highly recommend activating multi-factor authentication wherever possible, creating complex and unique passwords for each site and service with a password manager, and using antivirus software.

What VPN Protocols Does NordVPN Offer?

NordVPN uses NordLynx (an implementation of WireGuard) by default in its Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows apps. OpenVPN is also available on all those platforms as a backup. IKEv2 is available for iOS and macOS apps only.

OpenVPN and IKEv2 have long been the gold standards for VPNs, but WireGuard is increasingly popular. It's easy to see why: like OpenVPN, WireGuard is open source, but it uses newer encryption techniques and yields better speeds.

Where Are NordVPN's Servers Located?

NordVPN boasts servers in 59 countries(Opens in a new window) and provides good geographic diversity with its servers. Still, other VPN companies outshine it. ExpressVPN, for example, covers 94 countries.

The bulk of NordVPN's servers are in the US and the UK, which is not unusual for VPN companies. However, NordVPN also has a sizable mix of servers the world over. The company currently offers one location in Africa (South Africa), a continent ignored by most other VPN services.

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Notably, NordVPN offers servers in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Vietnam, all of which have restrictive internet policies. Note that we don't make a specific recommendation for a VPN to bypass government censorship, because the stakes of getting it wrong are simply too high.

NordVPN's collection adds up to 5,539 servers, but CyberGhost's network of some 8,700 servers leads the pack. More servers do not necessarily mean better service, but having numerous options is generally useful. You're more likely to find one near you, and the one that's near you is less likely to be bogged down by too many users.

As far as the machines themselves go, NordVPN recently added several 10Gbps servers to its fleet, replacing some 1Gbps machines. The company says this effort will help handle the increase in data that will come as 5G service rolls out more broadly. We're interested to see how this develops.

One topic that often comes up when counting VPN fleets is virtual servers and virtual locations. Virtual servers are software-defined servers, and several can be hosted on a single machine. A virtual location is a server configured to appear somewhere other than where it is physically located. Neither is inherently problematic, but we prefer companies to be transparent about their infrastructure. A NordVPN representative told us all its servers are dedicated, not virtual, and none are virtual locations. That means the servers are physically located where they claim to be, which is what we want to see.

NordVPN is working to move all its servers to co-located facilities, meaning it will eventually own all its physical infrastructure. Other companies can already boast of owning their servers, but none are as large as NordVPN. The company tells us this process is ongoing and that 12% of its servers are co-located.

In 2020, the company completed its transition to diskless or "RAM only" servers. This is a tamper-resistant measure; nothing is written to disk, so nothing can be obtained from seizing the servers. ExpressVPN and a few other companies also employ this technique. NordVPN's Privacy Policy also outlines some infrastructure protections as well.

Is NordVPN Trustworthy?

If it desired, a VPN company could examine every bit of information passing through its system. We have spoken with the company about the efforts it makes to protect user privacy and read through its privacy policy. We didn't find anything worrisome, although NordVPN's policy is less reader friendly than TunnelBear VPN's.

In our discussions with the company and in its privacy policy, NordVPN makes clear that it does not log "browsing history, traffic information, or IP addresses used to access the internet via our services." That's as it should be.

NordVPN is incorporated in and operates under the legal jurisdiction of Panama (the company says it maintains offices in other countries in addition to Panama), where no laws require the company to retain data for a given period. The company says that were it to be subpoenaed, it would only respond to a court order or subpoena issued by a Panamanian court.

In 2022, NordVPN edited a blog post to clarify that it does respond to requests from law enforcement after previously stating otherwise. When we reached out to NordVPN, the company reiterated its position that the company is not able to log user activity. To do so would require NordVPN to rearrange its infrastructure, an eventuality the company says is extremely unlikely.

NordVPN's privacy policy clearly lays out the third parties it works with that might receive information about its customers, which is fairly common practice. Mullvad VPN, notably, no longer offers recurring subscriptions and has access to even less customer data.

NordVPN does not make it easy to find the name of its parent company, or information on corporate leadership, on its website. Some of that information can be found at the Nord Security corporate page(Opens in a new window), however. A company representative told us that it is owned by nordvpn s.a. (formerly Tefincom S.A.). NordVPN does not issue transparency reports about requests for information by law enforcement, but it does maintain a warrant canary(Opens in a new window) indicating it has not received(Opens in a new window) any National Security letters, gag orders, or government-issued warrants.

How a VPN Works How a VPN Works

The NordVPN privacy policy(Opens in a new window) states that the company does not log connection session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or browsing data. Instead, NordVPN retains the username and time of the last session, but only for 15 minutes after you disconnect from the VPN. That's good. This was recently verified by a third-party audit, outlined below. A representative from NordVPN assured us the company does not profit from the sale of user data. The company does not generate revenue from sources other than customer subscriptions.

On February 2, 2022, NordVPN announced it was merging with Editors' Choice winner Surfshark VPN. A press release from the two companies said the new relationship would allow them to develop better products and focus on different market segments. "Both companies will continue to operate autonomously and rely on separate infrastructure and product roadmaps," said the press release. PCMag reporter Michael Kan was told this was not an acquisition, but rather a merger. Both companies (nordvpn s.a. and Surfshark VPN) will be owned by Cyberspace, holding company registered in the Netherlands.

Breach and Beyond

In October 2019, it came to light that an attacker remotely accessed one of NordVPN's servers. NordVPN says there is no evidence the attacker obtained anything significant. We discuss the attack, and its consequences, in much greater detail in a feature article about the breach. The company has since invested significant time and capital into hardening its systems and practices, including the moves to its own server clusters and diskless servers.

NordVPN has initiated a bug-bounty program(Opens in a new window), paying out cash rewards to researchers who find flaws in its system. PriceWaterhouseCooper has completed two audits of NordVPN in 2018 and 2020. Notably, it included an audit of NordVPN's server infrastructure and concluded the company was indeed living up to its claims of not logging user data or information. NordVPN has also released the results from several penetration testing audits on its client software by VerSprite as recently as 2021. In a press release, NordVPN said that no critical vulnerabilities were found, and less severe vulnerabilities were mitigated. Audits are imperfect tools, but it's a measure of accountability we appreciate.

Still, we'd like to see NordVPN release its audits publicly as TunnelBear VPN and others have done. We'd also like to see a more recent audit of the company's infrastructure and policies, especially given the new features in the product and the acquisition of Surfshark VPN. The company tells us new audits are forthcoming.

Hands On With NordVPN for Windows

For testing NordVPN on Windows, we used an Intel NUC 11 (NUC11PHKi7C, 'Phantom Canyon') desktop running the latest version of Windows 11. We had no trouble setting up NordVPN. Notably, the app has you log in through the company's web portal, saving you the irritation of cutting and pasting your login from your password manager.

The Windows client visually echoes the NordVPN mobile apps, with a monochrome blue map as its focus. A recent update removed the whimsical flourishes, which included submarines and ships on cartoon seas. It's more polished than, say, TunnelBear, though the latter has charm NordVPN can't match.

The NordVPN Windows app seeks a middle ground between fine-grained control and set-and-forget simplicity. You can change servers by clicking a location on the map, or you can use the search bar at the top of the screen if your geography skills are lacking. You can connect to the fastest server, the fastest server in a particular country, or even a specific server. The app shows the load on each, directing you toward an unburdened option. This is great for spoofing your location, and it lets you hunt around in case a server is blocked. Our only complaint? It's all done through a series of tiny drop-down menus. We'd rather the app took up some extra real estate to spare our poor eyes.

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The NordVPN app Kill Switch shuts off access to the internet for specific applications, should your computer become disconnected from the VPN. Another handy feature is the option to pause your connection. This disconnects you from the VPN and then reconnects you after an interval you select.

NordVPN's Split Tunneling feature lets you require a VPN connection for certain apps, or route the traffic of some apps outside the VPN. The NordVPN app shows a handy list of the applications currently running, making it easy to add them to the Split Tunneling list.

We were pleased to find that NordVPN's new Meshnet feature was easy to set up. On the Windows app, we enabled Meshnet and were assigned a unique ID. This device was now ready to act as a VPN exit point. On a Google Pixel 3a, we installed the NordVPN Android app and our Windows machine appeared as an option under traffic routing. We selected it and were connected in seconds. We could easily see the device was connected in the Windows app, and appreciated there were options to block the device. We confirmed that our phone now had the same IP address as our Windows machine. We did not explore the option of inviting a different NordVPN user to use our connection.

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While surprisingly easy to use, the Meshnet interface could use some additional work. It wasn't always immediately clear which device was which, and how the traffic was routed. Although we can imagine contexts where this feature would make sense, it's more intriguing than immediately compelling. We're curious what consumers will make of it and where NordVPN will take Meshnet in the future.

When We tested NordVPN, we had no trouble streaming video while connected to a US server. But the battle between Netflix and VPNs is ongoing, and results can change from day to day.

One concern is that your VPN may be leaking your true IP address or DNS information. In testing, NordVPN successfully changed our IP address and hid our ISP information. The DNS leak test tool indicated that the server we were connected to did not leak our DNS information.

Weak Protection for Your Web Surfing

NordVPN Threat Protection guards you as you browse the web in two ways. First, it diverts your browser from known dangerous pages. Second, it scans any files you download and deletes those it recognizes as malware. But does it work? We put it to the test in the same way we evaluate any antivirus product.

This test starts with a collection of malware-hosting web pages supplied by the researchers at MRG-Effitas(Opens in a new window). Typically, the URLs are no more than a few days old. We launch each URL, discarding any that dont load properly, and note what the security product does. If it blocks access to the website or eliminates the malware download, it gets a point, but if it sits idly by, ignoring the danger, it gets nothing. After testing 100 links we run the numbers.

(Credit: PCMag)

NordVPNs results were thoroughly unimpressive. Threat Protection only blocked 6% of the samples by diverting the browser from the malware-hosting URL. It eliminated another 55% by identifying and deleting the malware payload, for a total of 61%. Only a handful of products have scored lower, among them Surfshark One, a VPN plus antivirus pair from a NordVPN competitor. We should note again that NordVPN's app says Threat Protection is a beta feature, so its performance may be variable.

At the other end of the spectrum, McAfee, Norton, Sophos, and ZoneAlarm all scored 100% in this test. ZoneAlarms score is noteworthy because it handled every single case by analyzing and eliminating the malware download.

(Credit: PCMag)

Blocking Ads and Online Trackers

Threat Protection also promises to keep your web surfing free of ads and trackers. To check the ad blocking feature we simply visited several ad-heavy websites on a system with NordVPN installed and on another system with no ad blocking component. The ad blocker visibly did its job, removing inline ads, popup ads, slide-in ads, and more.

Most products that offer to block trackers on the web use a browser extension that lets you, the user, interact with the tracking system. Commonly, the extensions toolbar button displays the number of trackers on the current page. Clicking that button gets you a more detailed list, sometimes with the ability to pick and choose which trackers or tracker types to block. While it doesnt require a VPN connection, NordVPNs Threat Protection works below the browser level, so theres no way to see stats about its tracker blocking activity. We can see it's doing somethingwe just cant verify that as an empirical fact.

Speed and Performance

When you use a VPN, it will affect your web browsing performance. To get a sense of how great an impact a VPN has, we conduct a series of speed tests using the Ookla Speedtest tool. We explain our methodology in our piece on How We Test VPNs.

(Editors' Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)

In 2022, we found NordVPN reduced download speed test results by 3.4% and it reduced upload speed test results by 4.4%. It had a mere 1.4% increase on latency scoreslikely a result of its large collection of servers.

The chart below shows the most recent results. Our new VPN speed testing protocols mean we'll update the chart throughout the year with new results and new products.

You can find a full breakdown of our speed test results in our feature on the fastest VPNs. That said, speed shouldn't be the only criteria you use to choose a VPN. Value, ease of use, and commitment to privacy are more important factors. NordVPN, however, thinks measuring VPN speeds is very important and has released an open-source tool(Opens in a new window) so anyone can do it. We don't agree with all NordVPN's views on speed testing and prefer a more real-world approach. However, this kind of work to standardize and demystify VPN evaluations is sorely needed by the industry and we're grateful to see the investment.

Hands On With NordVPN for MacOS

When testing the macOS VPN client for NordVPN, we used a MacBook Air (M1, 2020) running OS Big Sur version 11.2.2, and NordVPNs app performed well. The whimsical map on the MacOS app looks just like the mobile version of the app, but it has a light background instead of a dark one.

(Credit: PCMag)

NordVPNs macOS app is notable in its simplicity. After logging in and agreeing to give access to your Apple Keychain, you can Quick Connect to any of NordVPNs many servers around the globe. If you want a bit more control over your experience, you can scroll through the list of countries on the left side of the app window, choose a country, and open a drop-down menu that reveals a list of all the servers in that country. Its easier to just choose a spot on the map and use the VPN server located there, but its useful that the macOS version gives you a choice when it comes to servers.

As with the iOS app, the macOS app doesnt appear to leak your true DNS information. We checked this out with a server in Sweden by visiting the DNS Leak Test site and using its Extended Test tool, and we didn't find any leaks.

The speed and performance were both excellent with the two servers we tried while testing. We were able to browse Weverse and stream BTS videos and other content without interruptions. The videos loaded a little slower than they do on our normal home connection, but otherwise, we saw little to no difference in our online experience when using NordVPN for macOS.

Hands On With NordVPN for iPhone

NordVPN for iPhone makes connecting to a VPN easy. To test this iPhone VPN, we used an iPhone XS running iOS 14.8.1. In light mode, the apps color scheme is bright white and gray with green and blue accents. With dark mode, the background changes to black and the gray map turns navy blue. The iOS app is very user-friendly. All features, from the new Meshnet to standards such as auto-connect, have accompanying text that explains their purpose in easy-to-understand terms.

(Credit: PCMag)

The navigation bar at the bottom of the dashboard includes four icons: Connection, Meshnet, Statistics, and User Profile. In the Connection section, you can choose a VPN server by tapping on the country and city. Theres also a Pause button, which allows you to disconnect from your VPN for a predetermined period and reconnect automatically after time is up. Next, we tested the Meshnet connection feature using the iOS app. Right now, you can only route traffic through Windows or Linux devices. For the test, we attempted to access a Windows machine using NordVPNs Meshnet. Both devices had the same IP address after establishing a connection.

The Statistics icon opens up a page of fun facts about your VPN usage, including how much time you spend connected to a VPN. The user profile page is where you can enable features such as the Dark Web Monitor and Threat Protection (a malware blocker). You can also enable multi-factor authentication for your account from the Profile screen, increasing the Security Score located at the top of the screen.

We ran an extended test on DNSLeakTest.com to see if NordVPN was leaking our real IP address or DNS requests. We didnt find any leaks while connected to a server in Iceland. While connected to the same server, we also watched several YouTube videos and Twitch streams. The connection remained fast and stable throughout the viewing time.

Hands On With NordVPN for Android

NordVPNs Android VPN app features an interactive gray world map for a background, its landscape dotted by cities with a NordVPN server presence. The app has a lot of features, including split-tunneling, a Kill Switch, tapjacking protection, a dark web monitor, a security checklist, and it also allows you to create a custom DNS setup.

The Android app gives you a little more choice when it comes to servers than the iPhone app, but not as much freedom as the Windows version. You can choose the city where your VPN server is located, but there is not a list of servers to choose from. NordVPN will connect you to the fastest server in that city.

(Credit: PCMag)

A new feature is Meshnet, which lets you route web traffic between your devices. When you turn on Meshnet, it creates a Nord name and an IP address for your device so you can connect to it the same way you would connect to a NordVPN server. Currently, we can only connect to a device running NordVPN's desktop software from the mobile app.

Using a Samsung A71 5G device running Android 12, we tested for DNS leaks using the DNS Leak Test Tool while connected to a VPN server in Toronto, Canada. The server did not leak our DNS information and successfully hid our true IP address. While connected to the server in Toronto, we were also able to play YouTube videos and stream live videos from Twitch.tv without interruptions or slow loading times.

NordVPN on Chrome OS

We downloaded the NordVPN Android app for Chrome OS onto a Dell Chrome 3100 with an Intel Celeron Processor. NordVPN on Chrome OS is a full-featured VPN application that includes a multi-factor authentication option for its users. The app calculates customers security scores on startup and walks them through turning on various app features to raise their security levels.

Features include split tunneling, a Kill Switch, a Dark Web Monitor, and Threat Protection, which blocks malicious websites. The app also includes tap jacking protection, which warns users when an app uses a screen overlay to trick them into performing an unintended action, such as clicking on a malicious link.

NordVPN for Businesses

For businesses in need of a VPN, NordVPN offers NordLayer. This service starts with a Basic account for $7 per user per month, billed annually at $84. Advanced accounts add more featuresmost notably, dedicated serversand costs $9 per user per month, billed annually at $108. Adding a dedicated server to an Advanced account costs an additional $40 per month.

Part of NordLayer is a "cloud VPN," meaning there's no on-site hardware. Instead, employees connect to one NordLayer's servers and are routed to the internal corporate network. This lets you access local resources as if you were sitting in your office. Single sign-on access, multifactor authentication, and VPN auto-connect are also included with a NordLayer subscription.

Is NordVPN Worth the Money?

NordVPN faces the stiffest competition the industry has yet seen. Services like Editors' Choice winners Mullvad VPN and IVPN drastically undercut NordVPN on price, while Proton VPN offers all the same features for less. Surfshark VPN and does not restrict the number of simultaneous connections, and TunnelBear VPN has the most approachable VPN we've seen.

What has always been NordVPN's strength, though, is that it offers all the best features of the competition in one flexible package. With NordVPN, you have access to advanced tools and features, or you can simply set it and forget it. The company is also reaping the benefits of incorporating new technology like WireGuard into its core products and is looking to expand with new consumer features like Meshnet. It has some misses, however. We weren't impressed with its Threat Protection features, and would like to see the company complete new audits. But when taken together, all these pieces add up to an excellent product. NordVPN remains an Editors' Choice winner.

Security Lead Analyst Neil J. Rubenking also contributed to this review.

NordVPN 4.0 Editors' Choice (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros Uses WireGuard VPN technology

Multi-hop, split tunneling, and Tor connections

Numerous server locations

Unique Meshnet features View More Cons Expensive

Poor malware-blocking results

Occasionally cramped interface The Bottom Line NordVPN packs numerous privacy features into a slick client, and continues to innovate by rolling out new tools to customers. It's a privacy juggernaut, but at a premium price.
I set forth the chain of events that sparked my interest in the 2016 MSP International Airport tour for Somalis only in the post (DHS) Magical mystery tour (and why I need a lawyer). Last year I sought information from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under the Freedom of Information Act. OCR provided a few heavily redacted pages and rebuffed the administrative law judge when he requested an explanation of the redactions.

Theresa Bevilacqua of Dorsey & Whitneys Minneapolis office answered my plea for help. Theresa has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights (OCR) on my behalf in federal court in Minneapolis.

I thought at the time the lawsuit was filed that the Star Tribune might take an interest. If asked about it, I had planned to respond that we are only doing the work the Star Tribune wont do. However, the Star Tribune hasnt asked.

Because the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official to whom I spoke last year directed me to OCR, I neglected to file a separate FOIA request with CBP. On Ms. Bevilacquas advice I did so. In response to my FOIA request CBP produced 29 redacted pages (posted via Scribd in part 3) with claimed FOIA exemptions stamped over the redactions. CBP also withheld 31 pages in their entirety.

I disputed the applicability of the FOIA exemptions cited by CBP in an administrative appeal of the CBPs response to my FOIA request. Late Tuesday afternoon I received the results of my appeal. Although my disagreement with the claimed exemptions was rejected in its entirety, the appeal has resulted in a much fuller production of documents. Redactions have been undone in part and additional documents have been provided from those previously withheld.

My interest in this matter has been reportorial. I believe it to be a matter of public interest reflected in the attention that many Power Line readers have given to it. I have now posted the letter apprising me of the disposition of my appeal together with the documents produced pursuant to it below via Scribd. I invite interested readers to sort through the documents and readers with more knowledge than I to help us understand them in comments below or by email to [email protected]

As I mentioned in part 3 of this series, I attempted to follow up on CBPs response to my FOIA request by inquiry to CBP public relations. CBP spokesman Kris Grogan advised me: Every year CBP conducts numerous events and programs around the country in which civic, religious and community leaders, as well as interested residents, are afforded an inside look at how CBP secures the border at and between ports of entries. CBP is committed to fostering a positive relationship within the communities we live and serve.

I asked these follow-up questions of Mr. Grogan: Can you tell me what other groups receive annual tours of the secure areas at MSP Airport such as this one? How can I get myself invited? Do you have any reason to think that invitees who dont pass vetting (such as the disinvited imam) dont get information from the vetted guests?

Grogan failed to respond in any manner. Something tells me that they really dont want us to know much of anything about whats happening here. They certainly arent making it easy to find out.

However, a faithful Power Line reader has alerted me to the MSP Airport tour offered this coming October 12 by CBP to members of the Minnesota State Bar Associations Immigration Law section. I signed up for it earlier this week. Assuming I pass the CBPs vetting, I will report on the tour from the inside  once again, doing the work the Star Tribune wont do.

357627568-CBP-2017-AP-077218 copy by Scott Johnson on Scribd
The Star Tribune has yet to report the machinations of Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken in blocking Senate consideration of the nomination of Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. I understand that Senator Klobuchar is sensitive about the disclosure of her machinations. She would prefer that they remain out of sight, leaving her image as Our Lady of Good Feelings (i.e., good feelings about Amy Klobuchar) undisturbed.

Senator Franken seems to has gone along with Senator Klobuchar for the ride. When not holding down the fort at SiriusXMs Grateful Dead channel to promote his new book, he pretends to have been studying Justice Strass record.

Star Tribune political reporter Patrick Coolican ran into Franken on Monday and asked him about what Coolican calls the stalled nomination of Justice Stras. Franken provided a response that Coolican has lightly edited[.] I wont insert [sic] to note the places where additional editing was required. This is Frankens response as reported yesterday in Coolicans Star Tribune Morning Hot Dish email newsletter (not in the Star Tribune itself):

We did not have meaningful consultation at all. Normally we are consulted about the choice. Thats the tradition, so if theres any abuse here, its the Trump administration by saying this is who we are going with. Normally they would consult with the senators who would be part of the process of picking someone. Theres a reason for the blue slip and its basically like in this situation, a party controls the White House and the Senate, that they wont load the court with very very conservative or very very liberal judges, so this creates some kind of balance. Justice Stras clerked with Justice Clarence Thomas, he said Clarence Thomas was his mentor. There are writings of his that suggest that he and from reports weve heard from students etc. that is very far to the right. Hes a nice guy. I talked to him. But I wasnt assured. [Supreme Court Justice] Gorsuch was a nice guy, but you see how hes ruling right now. The Eighth Circuit is pretty conservative right now. But I want to consider this. And I wasnt terribly happy with the process. I think were going to have a decision very soon.

Thats some indictment Franken renders against Stras. Stras says Justice Thomas was his mentor!

Franken to the contrary notwithstanding, the writings of Justice Stras are devoid of any suggestion that he is very very far to the right. That is a lie. They require dishonest manipulation by the likes of Myron Orfield to betray any such suggestion.

Then Dean David Wippman discussed Strass time as a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School in his introduction to the Minnesota Law Reviews special issue honoring Justice Stras upon his departure from the law school for the Minnesota Supreme Court:

David Stras joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 2004 and quickly established himself as a rising star, both as a teacher and a scholar. Only two years after he arrived, he was named the Stanley V. Kinyon Tenure Track Teacher of the Year. The award came as no surprise. Students quickly came to hold Professor Stras in the highest regard. They appreciated his insights, the time he devoted to preparation, and his passion for his subject. Equally important, they knew how much he cared about them. His enthusiasm in class was apparent and infectious. But Davids concern for students was not confined to the classroom. David made it a personal mission to expand our students clerkship opportunities. He worked tirelessly with judges at all levels, including many of his new colleagues on the Minnesota Supreme Court, to place as many students as possible. David also served as the Law Review advisor, helping the editors identify topics, plan symposia, and navigate the byzantine world of academic publishing. It therefore came as no surprise that the Law Review, on its own initiative, decided to organize and publish this Tribute to Justice Stras. David also quickly built a reputation as an accomplished and insightful observer of all things Supreme Court. Just a few years into his academic career, David published a series of important articles examining the U.S. Supreme Courts jurisprudence, its docket, and its history, and rapidly established himself as a leading voice in contemporary constitutional debates. * * * * * Davids talents as a teacher and scholar were matched only by his warmth and collegiality. David loves the exchange of ideas. He does not shrink from intellectual debate; certainly, he has never hesitated to tell me when he thinks Im wrong about something. No doubt he will not hesitate to dissent if he disagrees with a court majority. But when David does disagree with a colleague, he always has good reasons, he articulates them well, and, perhaps most important, he engages in good faith dialogue. He is open to persuasion, and even when he disagrees, he respects the positions of those with whom he disagrees. Davids openness and intellectual integrity have earned him the respect and friendship of his faculty colleagues and students alike, whatever their own political leanings.

The whole Minnesota Law Review tribute to Justice Stras (including a useful summary of Strass scholarship) are here. Support for Frankens characterization of Justice Stras is nowhere to be found.
My position on the pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is that it was a reasonable exercise of the presidents pardon power. Not pardoning the sheriff would also have been reasonable, in my opinion. Indeed, as I said in my post on the subject, I dont like presidential pardons. Absent overwhelming evidence that the person getting the pardon did not commit the offense for which he was convicted, my preference is no pardon. The Arpaio pardon does not meet that standard.

However, Arpaios offense arises from his efforts to combat a serious problem of lawlessness  illegal immigration  that the federal government refused to take seriously. Arpaio was filling a void created by the feds, a void that inflicted hardship on the people Arpaio was elected to serve.

In addition, political animus by those who opposed Arpaios efforts to fill the void left by the feds appears to have driven the legal case against him. When a public servant is punished in significant part for being on one side of a political/policy dispute, it doesnt seem unreasonable for a president on the other side to pardon him.

Ron Rotunda, a distinguished attorney and law professor, informs me via email of certain facts that reinforce my view that partisan politics drove the case against Arpaio and, indeed, resulted in an unfair trial in the case that produced the order Arpaio later was convicted of violating. I believe readers will be interested in what Rotunda has to say.

He writes, in part:

I have never met Sheriff Arpaio, and I fully understand (and share) the concerns of those who find that he lacks (to put it mildly) an appropriate tone in his efforts to control illegal immigration.

However, in connection with his recent pardon, I thought I should point out some factors that I have never read in the recent news articles about the pardon and some of the litigation that led to it.

[Full disclosure: I was asked to evaluate the bias of Judge Snow in light of evidence that several witnesses report that Judge Snows wife said in a public restaurant, very clearly, Judge Snow wanted to do everything to make sure that Sheriff Arpaio not elected. Neither Judge Snow nor his wife has ever denied the statement.] (Emphasis added). . .

It should be obvious that whatever the duties of a federal judge are, that job description does not include conducting a judicial proceeding in a way to insure that Sheriff Arpaio is not elected and to pursue an investigation that is even broader than that for what appears to be personal reasons. . . .

As to Judge Snows handling of the case against Arpaio  the one that produced the order Arpaio was found contemptuously to have violated; the contempt case, which Judge Snow referred to the Justice Department, was handled by a different judge  Rotunda sets forth the following (I have omitted citations to the trial transcript):

1. On April 22, 2015, and on April 23, 2015, Judge Snow conducted a cross examination of Sheriff Arpaio. . .[T]he judge was interested in learning all he could about an email that Sheriff Arpaio received from someone named Grissom, who met the judges wife in a restaurant. Mr. Grisson heard the judges wife say that Judge Snow wanted to do everything to make sure Im [Sheriff Arpaio] not elected.

2. Sheriff Arpaio wanted to confirm that Mr. Grissons statement was actually true. The judge. . .asked Sheriff Arpaio various leading questions (indicating that [he] was cross-examining the witness):

Q. Okay. And so you turned that over to your counsel and counsel hired a private investigator, and what did the investigator do?

A. He investigated it.

Q. And what was the result of the investigation?

A. Results were that he confirmed that your wife was in that restaurant and con  I guess talked to the witnesses, three or four, that confirm that remark was made.

(Emphasis added)

3. The judge apparently engaged in his own investigation, outside the courtroom, of facts he thought relevant that were not in evidence. The judge said, I was told [during the luncheon break] that you also have various sources of funding within the MSCO, and Sheriff Arpaio responded that the judges information was false. The judge did not say who told him this false information, nor did he say if he questioned others as well.

4. Later, the judge said, Well, so he found information that the DOJ [Department of Justice] had sent a communication to my computer? Note that this is a leading question, to which the witness (Sheridan) responds, Something to that effect, yes.

5. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sheridan said that he did not think the evidence of this email showed collusion [between Judge Snow and DOJ] to which the judge promptly replied, Well, I certainly agree with that . . . . The judge appears to be taking evidence outside of court, asking leading questions, and giving his own testimony.

6. The judge also becomes argumentative. He tells Mr. Sheridan that he did not have to hire Mr. Montgomery as a confidential consultant  Well, but what was he doing that needed to be confidential for?

The witness tries to answer, but the judge interrupt[s] the witness, preventing him from finishing his sentence. Then the judge argues that there was no need for confidentiality because the consultant was not a mole infiltrating organized crime.

The witness responds that the investigation was confidential because it concerns the CIA breaching personal information at least 50,000 American citizens, including citizens that lived here in Maricopa County. However, the judge bec[omes] more argumentative, telling the witness, I still dont understand why such a witness should be called confidential, even though the witness informed the judge that this informant qualified as confidential under the written rules of the operations manual.

7. During several days of hearing, Judge Snow

-asked leading questions,

-gave his own version of the facts,

-conducted his own investigation outside the courtroom,

-argued with witnesses, and

-was extremely interested in what evidence existed concerning the statement he made to his wife that he would do all that he could to make sure that Sheriff Arpaio is not elected.

8. One thing is very clear. Several witnesses heard Judge Snows wife say, in substance, that her husband (Judge Snow) wanted to do whatever he could to make sure that Sheriff Arpaio [was] not reelected. The witnesses may not recall or agree on the exact language that Judge Snows wife used, but they do agree on the substance and import of the statement.

9. Judge Snow has never denied making such a statement under oath. In fact, he has never denied it at all.

10. Judge Snows wife has never denied making that statement or the substance of that statement under oath. In fact, she has never denied making it at all. . . .

13. [I]n the case of Melendres v. Arpaio [the case that is the vehicle for Snows investigation of Arpaio], the brother-in-law of Judge Snow is a partner in Covington & Burling, the law firm representing the plaintiffs. It is, as I understand it, a lucrative case for Covington.

The Federal Ethics Advisory Committee says under Canon 3(C)(1)(d)(ii), the judge must disqualify if the brother-in-law is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding, or if, under Canon 3(C)(1)(d)(iii), the brother-in-law is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding. The Committee [states] that an equity partner in a law firm generally has an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding in all cases where the law firm represents a party before the court.

Covington & Burling is the law firm, and this law firm represents a party before the court.

The Committee then concludes  and its language merits quotation at length 

As a cautionary note, the Committee further observes that the remittal procedures of Canon 3D are not available if the judges relative is acting as a lawyer in the case or is a partner in the law firm representing a party before the court. Recusal is required. As discussed, recusal is not mandated if the firm representing a party before the court employs a judges relative as an associate or non-equity partner and the relative has no involvement in the case. If nonetheless a judge is concerned that his or her impartiality might reasonably be questioned, the judge may invoke the remittal procedures of Canon 3D. The Committee notes that recusal decisions are also governed by the recusal statutes, 28 U.S.C.  455 and 144, and the case law interpreting them. Although the Committee is not authorized to render advisory opinions interpreting  455 and 144, Canon 3C of the Code closely tracks the language of  455, and the Committee is authorized to provide advice regarding the application of the Code. (Emphasis added.)

I do not understand how anyone could read Advisory Opinion No. 58 and conclude that Judge Snow followed that Opinion.

The Trump administration did not mention these problems with Judge Snow in its brief statement explaining the Arpaio pardon. Perhaps the nature of the trial that produced the order Arpaio violated did not factor into its decision. Perhaps, the administration did not want to attack a federal judge. In any event, the facts set forth by Rotunda support the case for pardoning Arpaio, in my opinion.

Andy McCarthy argues that Trump should have let the appeal process play out in the contempt case before granting a pardon (if then). Rotunda argues that, given the Ninth Circuits liberal bias, he could not expect a fair hearing there.

My thought is that, at age 85, Arpaio should not spend a goodly portion of the rest of his expected life with this cloud hanging over him. If he deserves a pardon, Trump was right to grant it sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: Andrew Case, who clerked for Judge Snow during the Arpaio trial, has put up a series of tweets about the case. From his tweets, it appears that Arpaio waived the conflict discussed by Prof. Rotunda in item 13 above, though Im not certain that this is the conflict Case is referring to in tweet 7 of 15..
A case titled Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari. The 7th Circuits opinion in the case is here. It is widely expected that the Court will grant certiorari. The case raises issues substantially identical to those in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.

In Friedrichs, decided last year, the Court split 4-4 following the death of Justice Scalia, and therefore left standing a 9th Circuit decision adverse to the plaintiff, a California school teacher. In Janus, like Friedrichs, plaintiffs are asking the Court to overturn the ruling in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education and bar public employees from being forced into unions, or from being required to support unions via the fiction of fair share contributions. It is widely believed that Rebecca Friedrichs would have won her case had Scalia lived, and that, with Neil Gorsuch now sitting in place of Scalia, Janus and his co-plaintiff will win, Abood will be overturned, and public sector unions will be dealt a very serious blow.

Public sector unions are the main source of support for Democratic Party candidates and liberal policies. Campaign finance is much-debated, but in my opinion there is only one real campaign finance scandal: the fact that unions are able to use the force of law take money from people unwillingly, and spend it on politics, in ways of which many members disapprove. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Mark Janus, that corrupt practice will finally come to an end. It could be the most significant development in American politics in a very long time.

The public sector unions are bracing for defeat. In Minnesota, where I live, the most powerful political force, by far, is Education Minnesota, the states teachers union. Education Minnesota is beginning a campaign to trick teachers into signing up for the indefinite future, so that they will not be liberated by the anticipated Janus decision. Tom Steward has the story at Center of the American Experiments web site:

The states most powerful public employee unionEducation Minnesotahas quietly begun laying the groundwork to prevent the potential loss of thousands of members and millions of dollars, depending on the outcome of a landmark labor rights case widely expected to go before the U.S. Supreme Court next term.

***

Education Minnesota recently asked its local union representatives to get all 86,000 teachers to sign a Membership Renewal form that automatically renews payment of union fees every year unless the teacher remembers to opt out in writing.  The teachers union is betting that most teachers will just sign the card without reading it, or understanding what it meansand just keep paying, said Kim Crockett, Vice President of Center of the American Experiment.

This is the language that the union wants its members to agree to. I find it almost incredible:

I agree to submit dues to Education Minnesota and hereby request and voluntarily authorize my employer to deduct from my wages an amount equal to the regular monthly dues uniformly applicable to members of Education Minnesota or monthly service fee, and further that such amount so deducted be sent to such local union for and on my behalf. This authorization shall remain in effect and shall be automatically renewed from year to year, irrespective of my membership in the union, unless I revoke it by submitting written notice to both my employer and the local union during the seven-day period that begins on September 24 and ends on September 30.

(Emphasis added.) Thus, the union seeks to deprive its members of the rights they likely will be accorded by the Supreme Court. (It is worth noting that virtually all teachers in Minnesota, and likely in some other states, are involuntary union members. It would be hard to find a Minnesota teacher who has ever voted to be represented by a union.) Can the unions stratagem possibly work? I am retired from the law business, but the word consideration occurs to me. Still, I am told that labor law is often so favorable to unions that devices like this one may effectively preserve union dominance even after the Supreme Court has set public employees free.

Similar campaigns to frustrate the rights of public employees are being waged, or soon will be waged, in non-right to work states across the country. The stakes are very high. More at the link.
A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Sarah Palin against The New York Times, ruling that Palins complaint failed to show that a mistake in an editorial was made maliciously. The editorial accused Palin of having incited Jared Loughner to murder six people, including a sitting Congresswoman, a federal judge, and a nine year old girl.

The supposed incitement was an online map with targeted Democratic districts. The Times alleged that Palins incitement of Loughners crime was clear and direct. Yet, there is no evidence that Loughner ever saw the online map. Nor could the map be viewed as incitement to murder people.

In dismissing Palins case, Judge Jed Rakoff, a liberal appointed by President Clinton, explained:

What we have here is an editorial, written and rewritten rapidly in order to voice an opinion on an immediate event of importance, in which are included a few factual inaccuracies somewhat pertaining to Mrs. Palin that are very rapidly corrected. Negligence this may be; but defamation of a public figure it plainly is not.

He added:

Nowhere is political journalism so free, so robust, or perhaps so rowdy as in the United States. But if political journalism is to achieve its constitutionally endorsed role of challenging the powerful, legal redress by a public figure must be limited to those cases where the public figure has a plausible factual basis for complaining that the mistake was made maliciously.

I agree with this statement. And, alas, I understand better than most how easy it is to make factual errors when quickly writing an opinion piece.

But is Judge Rakoff correct that Sarah Palin has no plausible factual basis for complaining that the Times mistake was made maliciously? Thats the real question.

I havent examined the record, followed the case closely, or yet read Rakoffs opinion. Thus, I express no view on the merits.

John has followed the case more closely. He wrote about it here (including a discussion the half-hearted nature of the Times corrction), here, and here.
I have been following the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesotas majority-Republican House and Senate in this series. Its an interesting story that deserves national attention as a sign of the political times.

At the end of this years slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even though he professed extreme unhappiness with certain items, he signed the bills The package of budget, tax and state government bills that finally passed reflected compromises on the part of all participants including Dayton and his commissioners.

As a result of his unhappiness with certain items, however, Governor Dayton exercised his authority to veto budgetary line items to wipe out the funding of the legislative branch. Dayton explained himself in the letter posted here.

Dayton demanded that Republicans revisit selected issues on his terms after they had already given ground elsewhere to arrive at the bills that were sent to him for his signature and adjourned. Unlike some other Republicans I can think of on the national scene, they werent inclined to make fools of themselves.

In the letter Dayton described one provision of the special session state government finance bill as treachery. Dayton to the contrary notwithstanding, however, the provision was included in every draft of the bill shared with the governors administration. The bill was made publicly available online at 6:00 a.m. on May 24 and was sent directly to the governors senior staff prior to being made public. The legislature allowed for public review of the bill for more than 36 hours prior to passage on May 25 at 8:00 p.m. In addition to the ample time the governor had to review the bill, Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans and the governors senior staff discussed the bill language with legislative staff on numerous occasions and never raised this provision as a point of concern.

Daytons decision to strike legislative funding is another matter. The governor cant do that, can he?

In search of the answer, the legislature took Governor Dayton to court. In asking a judge to weigh in on the issue of whether one branch can wipe out another, the thought is likely to occur that the judiciary might be next. Its an obvious point and one that did not escape Ramsey County Judge John Guthmann, to whom the case had been assigned.

The legislatures current funding expired on July 1. In an interim ruling last month Judge Guthmann required continued funding for the legislature through October 1. He drew on the Minnesota Constitution to support his ruling. If the legislative branch is not funded, it cannot carry out its core functions, which include those functions necessary to draft, debate, publish, vote on and enact legislation, Judge Guthmann wrote. The interim ruling foretold Judge Guthmann;s final decision in the case, ruling against Dayton on constitutional grounds. Judge Guthmanns order and supporting memorandum are posted here.

Governor Dayton appealed Judge Guthmanns ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which accepted review on an expedited basis and heard oral argument of the governors appeal yesterday morning. The Minnesota Supreme Court has posted video of the oral argument here. (Justice Stras recused himself from the case.) The argument went for about 80 minutes; the video picture cut out on my viewing for about the last half.

Based on the oral argument, it seems clear to me that the Supreme Court is poised to reverse Judge Guthmanns ruling and remand the case to Judge Guthmann for an order funding the legislatures core functions beyond October 1 for as long as necessary. If and when Governor Dayton prevails on appeal, he can be expected to call a special session of the legislature specifically limited to revisiting provisions of the state government finance bill that he found objectionable.

Governor Dayton appointed four of the Minnesota Supreme Courts seven justices. The playing field is tilted in his favor. Even so, former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Sam Hanson did an excellent job arguing the case on behalf of the governor. He got away with characterizing Daytons line item veto as an invitation to negotiation and a lot of argument that begged the question, but he held his ground and drew on authority exactly where he had to.

Minnesota attorney Doug Kelley represented the legislature. I thought the highlight of Kelleys argument came when he sat down, but he sat down too late. As a matter of style, Kelley erred in habitually prefacing his response to the justices questions with: Listen. As a matter of substance, Kelley virtually gave his case away in the course of his argument.

I have seen this as a case that highlights the most offensive features of Governor Daytons public character and that lays the groundwork for one-man rule in the event of his success. I still think that is the reality of the case. Governor Daytons prospective victory represents a disappointing outcome that is only slightly offset by the prospect of an entertaining special session of the legislature.
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Detroit riots of 1967. Michael Barone reminds us that the rioting went on for six nights, with some 2,500 stores looted and burnt, some 400 families displaced, and property damage estimated at around $300 million in 2017 dollars. Forty-three people, many of them innocent bystanders, were killed. More than 1,000 people were wounded.

Even so, the riots were always going to be romanticized with the passage of time. With the rise of Black Lives Matter, the anti-Trump resistance, and antifa, the romance is turning into a love fest.

C-SPAN is doing its part. It televised a discussion in which several leftists declared the riots an uprising. They attributed the lawlessness and violence to police brutality and the black communitys sense that, for all the talk of civil rights, nothing had changed or was likely to change for them. In the portions of the program I watched, there was no suggestion that the rioters share the blame.

However, the discussion of how the riots started  the statement of facts, if you will  made me wonder. At around 3:30 in the morning, Detroit police officers raided a club known as a blind pig and arrested 85 customers for after hours drinking and gambling. According to one of the panelists, the club was called a blind pig because the police  the pigs  turned a blind eye to the unlawful after hours activity that took place there. [Note: It turns out that the term blind pig has nothing to do with police officers]

Now, illegal drinking and gambling do not justify roughing perpetrators up. Moreover, it would be foolish to deny that white racism existed in the Detroit police force of 1967.

Still, its clear that the police had grounds for the arrests. It also seems likely that many of those arrested for late night drinking were intoxicated. Thus, its likely that the police officers encountered more than a little belligerence.

In fact, they did. According to this account by a retired police officer who was there, people started throwing billiard balls at the officers. The violence escalated when white police officers tried to pull their undercover comrades, who were black, out of the room. It took about an hour to arrest everyone and load them into paddy wagons.

In the meantime, a crowd had gathered outside the blind pig. Its members saw their fellow black citizens being loaded, perhaps roughly in some cases, into the vans. They may not have been aware of the violent belligerence the police encountered.

The rioting was triggered not by the shooting or beating of any black, but by the actions of the unstable son of the blind pig owner who, in his words, was seeking the pleasure of hitting [a police officer] in the head, maybe killing him, When he threw a bottle at an officer for that purpose, all hell broke loose.

Did it break loose because the rioters believed that, for all the talk of civil rights, nothing had changed or was likely to change? I dont think so.

Plenty had changed by 1967. In 1964, Congress passed sweeping civil rights legislation. In 1965, it passed major voting rights legislation.

Detroit had elected Jerome Cavanagh mayor. Barone describes him as a young, bright and ambitious liberal He was elected with near-unanimous support of black voters [and] had aggressively launched anti-poverty programs, trying to make the nations fifth largest municipality a model of the Great Societys War on Poverty.

Things probably were changing for African Americans in Detroit more rapidly than ever before.

To be sure, the black community still had obvious reasons for discontent. However, as Barone says, people throw bottles, break windows, loot stores and set fires when they think that enough other people will be doing the same as to make them immune from punishment. That was the case in Detroit beginning shortly after the rioting commenced, when police officers were ordered not to shoot.

The riots were not premeditated. They had no explicit policy goals. A crowd fueled by hatred and, most likely, liquor tested the web of civilization (as Barone puts it) and found it weak.

Its an old story and one that should never be romanticized.

NOTE: I edited this post slightly after a reader informed me that the term blind pig was not a reference to the police.
Campus Reform reports on a horrific incident that occurred at the University of Nebraska on Friday. Katie Mullen, a Nebraska sophomore, heads the Turning Point USA chapter on campus. She was tabling various posters (Big Government Sucks is a favorite), stickers and the like on the universitys campus.

As Ms. Mullen was manning her table, three or more professors began to harass her. They carried signs attacking Turning Point, screamed profanities, and shouted the usual drivel about fascism, white supremacy and so on. One of the teachers, Courtney Lawton, a PhD student and lecturer, gave Mullen the finger.

The professors created enough of a scene that a university administrator told Ms. Mullen that she would have to leave the area. Subsequently a campus police officer determined that she had a right to be where she was and allowed her to stay. Later, however, she was escorted away from the area for her own safety.

This video captures some of the action. The professors conduct is disgusting, particularly when directed against a student:

Many have condemned the teachers outrageous actions, although as of this writing the university has not taken any action against them. There is one aspect of this incident that, as far as I know, has not been commented upon, and that renders it particularly disgusting.

If you listen to the video embedded above, you will note that Courtney Lawton keeps referring to Katie Mullen as Becky. She says, neo-fascist Becky right here, Becky the neo-fascist right here. This is odd. Did Lawton somehow think that Katies name was Becky?

I dont think so. This is the sort of thing that most people dont know, but the Urban Dictionary says Becky means a basic bitch. It also means hot white girl and denotes a woman who enjoys giving oral sex.

It is this last meaning that was celebrated by a rapper named Plies in his rap titled Becky, which has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube.

I am quite certain that this was Courtney Lawtons reference. Not content to scream stupid political smears, she called a Nebraska sophomore a basic bitch and associated her with fellatio. This was sexual harassment at a minimum, likely with a racist element (hot white girl) as well.

One more thing: the kind of vileness celebrated by Plies and indulged in by Lawton has been legitimized by Barack Obama and other liberals. Obama invited Plies to the White House along with other rappers, but Plies turned the president down.

As repellent as these people are, the story has a happy ending. Katie Mullen was back in business with her Turning Point USA table yesterday. She said that she signed up 56 students on Friday and more than 60 yesterday. The leftists attempt to silence her has failed.

UPDATE: The blonde-haired professor seen holding a watch list sign in the video is Amanda Gailey. She is an anti-gun activist best known for posting a rant that includes f*** [our] society, f*** the laws, f*** police officers and f*** the NRA. Like Plies, Gaileys work met with approval from Barack Obama. He invited her to meet with him personally when he traveled to Omaha.

Many Nebraskans have reacted strongly against the harassment that left-wing teachers directed against Katie Mullen, and Gailey is now backpedaling furiously.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 14:00:13

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Alix Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Alix Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:AIX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Alix Defines Lithium Target Over 2.5 Kilometer Strike Length on the Agua Fria Project, Sonora MexicoTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Alix Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Alix Resources Corp.Source: Alix Resources Corp. (TSX Venture: AIX, WKN: A12GQ2, ISIN: CA01642R3009)Date: September 01, 2017Time: 8:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Alix Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 18:03:01

COVINGTON, Kentucky, September 1, 2017 - Ashland (NYSE: ASH) today issued the following statement related to the impact to its manufacturing operations and supply chain as a result of Hurricane Harvey:

Ashland operates two manufacturing facilities in the Houston area and south Texas - one in Texas City and the other in Kenedy. Together these sites employ approximately 230 employees. Our top priority is the safety of our employees and the surrounding communities. Both plants were shut down according to plan last weekend due to the storm, and all employees are accounted for and safe.

The Kenedy plant, which primarily produces N-HanceTM guar derivatives and AquaflowTM rheology modifiers, restarted operations on Monday, Aug. 28. Our Texas City plant - which produces PVP linear and crosslinked homopolymers, PVP/VA copolymers and NMP - is currently conducting a comprehensive assessment and inspection of the entire facility to ensure all equipment is safe and in proper working condition prior to restarting operations. While this assessment is progressing steadily, there is much more work needed to validate the operational condition of all the critical plant equipment. At this point, it is premature to estimate when the plant will resume full production.

Like nearly every company in the region, we are facing significant challenges to our supply chain as a result of the torrential rain and flooding. At this time, the biggest challenge is the constraints facing the broader shipping, trucking and rail networks. We are monitoring the situation closely and implementing contingency plans. We also are working through challenges associated with moving materials in and out of the region.

At this time, Ashland has not declared force majeure. We are working diligently to supply our customers from existing inventories wherever possible.

We also source many key raw materials from the affected region for our other North American facilities. All efforts are being made to utilize alternate sources of supply during this period. In some cases, existing inventories will mitigate the potential disruption of supply. Nevertheless, lack of raw materials for production may occur in some instances.

These challenges are not unique to Ashland. However, through our Incident Management Team and the efforts of our operations teams on the ground in Texas, we are committed to resuming production as soon as possible while maintaining safe and responsible operations.

Given the uncertainty around the time needed to resume full production at Texas City and the ongoing transportation and logistics challenges in the affected regions, it is premature to estimate the potential impact to Ashland's earnings from the hurricane.

Ashland announced that it has made a $125,000 donation to the American Red Cross to support disaster relief. In addition, Ashland employees across the U.S. are donating gift cards to provide a helping hand to their colleagues in Texas City and Kenedy who have been affected by the flooding. Additional employee assistance is planned.

About Ashland

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a premier global specialty chemicals company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. At Ashland, we are nearly 7,000 passionate, tenacious solvers - from renowned scientists and research chemists to talented engineers and plant operators - who thrive on developing practical, innovative and elegant solutions to complex problems for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com to learn more.

C-ASH

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Ashland has identified some of these forward-looking statements with words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "estimates," "is likely," "predicts," "projects," "forecasts," "objectives," "may," "will," "should," "plans" and "intends" and the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. Ashland may from time to time make forward-looking statements in its annual reports, quarterly reports and other filings with the SEC, news releases and other written and oral communications. These forward-looking statements are based on Ashland's expectations and assumptions, as of the date such statements are made, regarding Ashland's future operating performance and financial condition, as well as the economy and other future events or circumstances. Ashland's expectations and assumptions include, without limitation, internal forecasts and analyses of current and future market conditions and trends, management plans and strategies, operating efficiencies and economic conditions (such as prices, supply and demand, cost of raw materials, and the ability to recover raw-material cost increases through price increases), and risks and uncertainties associated with the following: the impact of the flooding and the shutdown at the Texas City, Texas manufacturing facility, the impact of acquisitions and/or divestitures Ashland has made or may make, including the acquisition of Pharmachem (including the possibility that Ashland may not realize the anticipated benefits from such transactions); Ashland's substantial indebtedness (including the possibility that such indebtedness and related restrictive covenants may adversely affect Ashland's future cash flows, results of operations, financial condition and its ability to repay debt); the potential that Ashland does not realize all of the expected benefits of the separation of its Valvoline business; and severe weather, natural disasters, cyber events and legal proceedings and claims (including product recalls, environmental and asbestos matters). Various risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those stated, projected or implied by any forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties affecting Ashland that are described in Ashland's most recent Form 10-K (including Item 1A Risk Factors) filed with the SEC, which is available on Ashland's website at http://investor.ashland.com or on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Ashland believes its expectations and assumptions are reasonable, but there can be no assurance that the expectations reflected herein will be achieved. Unless legally required, Ashland undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information on Ashland's website is not incorporated into or a part of this news release.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Investor Relations:

Seth A. Mrozek

+1 (859) 815-3527

samrozek@ashland.com

Media Relations:

Gary Rhodes

+1 (859) 815-3047

glrhodes@ashland.com





This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Ashland Inc. via Globenewswire


Bardia national park in the western lowland of Nepal is more pristine and well preserved wilderness to become the natural habitat of Royal Bengal Tiger, Asian Single horned Rhinos and many other endangered species. Jungle safari in the park provides better chances of seeing the illusive Tigers. It is accessed by fewer tourists making it unspoiled as Chitwan National park used to be some 3 decades ago.

Royal Bengal Tiger

PR-Inside.com: 2017-08-31 12:15:30

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Some 968 sq. km area of jungle in the western Terai of Nepal is protected as Bardia national park. Its protection history begins in 1960s after 368 sq kms of the jungle was set aside as royal hunting reserve. The hunting ground was named as Royal Karnali Wildlife Reserve in 1976. After the inclusion of Baba River valley in 1984, finally the present days Bardia National Park in 1988 only.About 839 species of flora and 642 species of fauna have been recorded in the national park. 70 % of the territory is covered with mixture of forest, grassland, savanna and riverine forest. This is the habitat of two types of crocodiles  the Mugger and Gharials. 53 species of mammals have been recorded in the park including the rare Asian single horned rhinos, Royal Bengal tigers, wild elephants, swamp deer and Gangetic Dolphin.How to get there ?Bardia National park is 585 km from Kathmandu and 485 km from Pokhara. There are regular bus from both cities. There is also regular flight to Nepaljung. From Nepaljung it is about 87 km. Pick up from the safari lodge should be order beforehand if you are flying.Transportation is quite expensive because of distance. For tourists it is better to rent a car and visit Bardia along with Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, Chitwan national park and Pokhara along the way rather than driving straight to Bardia and back.https://www.itournepal.com/tour/nepal-driving-tour-bardia.phpAccommodationsLike Chitwan, safari lodges are not allowed inside the park in Bardia as well. Accommodations are based in outskirt villages. It is not as commercial as Chitwan national park. There are only few safari lodges and all of them are basic. Rhino Lodge, Bardia Jungle Cottage and Bardia King Fisher Resort are in the top choice of tourists. Tiger Tops Karnali Lodge have been successfully providing luxury service with authentic essence for those willing to pay more.Jungle Safari Activities to takeBardias jungle trek is popular for Tiger sighting and other wildlife watching. Spending night deeper into the jungle in Machans (Animal watch towers) have more changes of seeing Royal Bengal Tigers and wild Elephants. Jeep safari can also go deeper into the forest increasing your chances of seeing some rare wildlife. Jeep safari are available for 4 to 8 hrs. The drivers and guide knows the most common dwellings of the animals to peek on them.Riding elephants you get the feel of the jungle and see Rhinos, deer, monkeys and birds. Similarly canoe ride is the other exciting activity to watch crocodiles and animals at the shore.Activities are scheduled as per your package and also visit Elephant breeding center and Tharu museum. In one of the evening they also organize Tharu cultural show (dance).It is better to take at least 3 nights 4 days package after driving or flying so far.Rivers in Bardia national parks are also famous for Himalayan Mahseer fishing. This fresh water fish could get up to 55 kg and makes an adventurous game fishing. The fishing trip could be planned from a day to two weeks with rafting and camping expeditions.Bardia National park is still pristine, less commercial with higher changes of Tiger sighting. Visiting Bardia is gives you deeper insight of Tharu culture, life of western Nepal and the adventure of Jungle.https://www.itournepal.com/tours/bardianationalpark.php
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for 88 Capital Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, B.C. (FSCWire) - 88 Capital Corp. (TSX Venture:EEC). has issued a press release with the following headline:88 Capital and Golden Ridge Announce Closing of $5.24 Million Brokered FinancingTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on 88 Capital Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/88 Capital Corp.Source: 88 Capital Corp. (TSX Venture: EEC)Date: September 01, 2017Time: 11:30 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of 88 Capital Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 08:16:46

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The GCC medical gloves market is estimated to increase from US$ 99.5 Mn in 2016 to US$ 240.8 Mn by 2026, registering a CAGR of 9.2% over the forecast period 20162026, according to a latest report titled GCC Medical Gloves Market: Industry Analysis & Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026 published by Future Market Insights.According to Future Market Insights analysts, an increasing awareness regarding hygiene and health and safety is boosting the growth of the GCC medical gloves market. A growing prevalence of pandemic diseases such as Swine flu (H1N1 pandemic), HIV, and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS); and an increase in the number of elective treatments such as plastic surgery, liposuction, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, breast reduction, facial rejuvenation, and blepharoplasty are some of the other factors augmenting market growth.Segmentation highlightsThe GCC medical gloves market has been segmented on the basis of Product Type (Examination Gloves, Surgical Gloves, Chemotherapy Gloves); Form (Powdered Form Gloves, Powder-Free Form Gloves); End Use (Hospital Use, Clinic Use, Ambulatory Surgery Centre Use, Diagnostic Imaging Centre Use, Rehabilitation Centre Use); Type of Raw Material (Latex Material Gloves, Nitrile Rubber Material Gloves, Vinyl Rubber Material Gloves, Polyisoprene Material Gloves); Type of Use (Disposable Medical Gloves, Re-usable Medical Gloves); and Distribution Channel (Direct Selling Channel, Medical Store Channel, E-Commerce Channel, Other (Retail Store or Hypermarket) Channel).The examination gloves segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 56.5 Mn by the end of 2016 while the surgical gloves segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 34.2 Mn by the end of 2016Request Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gc-1943 The latex gloves segment is expected to account for the largest market share of 79.8% by 2016 end and is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 9.3% from 2016 to 2026 in terms of value. The nitrile rubber material gloves segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 12.8 Mn by the end of 2016, exhibiting the highest CAGR of 10.2% over the forecast periodThe disposable medical gloves segment is expected to account for the largest market share of 90.7% by 2016 end. However, the re-usable medical gloves segment is anticipated to register the highest CAGR of 9.5% over the forecast periodAmong the end use segments, the hospital segment is expected to account for the highest gloves consumption and a higher value generation  reaching a valuation of US$ 66.3 Mn by the end of 2016 and registering a CAGR of 9.3% over the forecast periodRegional market projectionsThe GCC medical gloves market is segmented into the top six countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait. In terms of revenue share, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is expected to dominate the GCC medical gloves market, accounting for the largest market share of 75.8% by 2016 end. Revenue generated from the Saudi Arabia medical gloves market was pegged at US$ 70.0 Mn in 2015 and is anticipated to increase to US$ 184.6 Mn by the end of the forecast period. The UAE medical gloves market is estimated to account for US$ 18.6 Mn value share by 2016 end and is expected to register a CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast period to reach US$ 44.1 Mn by 2026. The Qatar and Bahrain markets are expected to exhibit modest growth in the GCC medical gloves market during the forecast period.Send An Enquiry@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gc-1943 Vendor insightsSome of the major players in the GCC medical gloves market are Paul Hartmann AG, Hotpack Packaging Industries, LLC, Falcon (Falcon Pack), Deeko Bahrain, Salalah Medical Supplies Mfg. Co. LLC, United Medical Industries Co. Ltd., and NAFA (NAFA Enterprises, Ltd.).
Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:30:08

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an advanced imaging technique used in medical field to produce high quality images of the soft tissues, organs of the human body. This device capture the images of body organs and tissues by applying the magnetic field and this images will give the information about whole human body system in both diseased and healthy condition.Different types of magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) are available based on field strength. In this high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) gives more cleared images compared with remaining MRIs.The images which are given by this MRI systems are having more information regarding tissues and ligaments and body organs when we compare with the images of X-ray, computed tomography (CT) scan and ultra sound techniques.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-858 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is increased due to raising geriatric population, technical advancements like low field strength, high field strength MRI systems and increasing health awareness in developed countries and no reported side effects of the use of the systems.Magnetic resonance imaging is an advanced and safe technique when compared with CT scan and X-ray technique. Because ionizing radiations are using for capturing images in CT.However, patients who had heart surgeries and surgeries with implanted metals at the ligaments has to take precautions while using Magnetic resonance imaging systems.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)Market: SegmentationGlobal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is further segmented into following typesBased on field strengthLow Field MRI SystemMid Filed MRI SystemHigh Filed MRI SystemBased on ApplicationAbdomen MRIBrain MRIMRA or Vascular MRIPelvic MRISpine MRICardiac MRIBased on ArchitectureOpenMRIClosed MRIMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)Market: OverviewWith rapid technological advantage in capturing high quality images of soft tissue, ligaments and other body organs the use of High field strength MRI use will increase and the market is expected to have a double digit growth in the forecast period (2015-2025).Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)Market: Region- wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, the global Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-858 The use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) market is high in North America because it is highly developed region, having good healthcare setup and people are having good awareness about health care. In Asia pacific region china and India also having rapid growth health care set up and the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems. Europe also having good growth in this market.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in Global Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are Siemens, Philips Healthcare, Toshiba medical systems, GE healthcare, Hitachi Medical systems, Esaote SpA and Sanrad Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Odour Control System Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:23:09

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# 741 Words

616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comAbhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531

Odour control systems are used to reduce the unwanted odours from the industrial/manufacturing processes. Odour control systems are present in many industries such as wastewater, paper, refineries and food & beverages. The objective behind implementing the odour control systems at the manufacturing plants is to improve the quality of the air, which industries such as wastewater, paper, food & beverages emit during the various operations at the manufacturing plants.Over the years, before the odour control systems were invented, the operations at industries/manufacturing facilities used to get obstructed due to the bad quality of the air. For instance, if a manufacturing plant has not implemented the odour control systems, the plant can get public complains, making the manufacturing plant responsible for emitting bad odour in the atmosphere and deteriorating the surrounding air quality, which can tarnish the image of the company. The productivity of the manufacturing plant can get affected due to the odours produced during the operations at plant. With the declined productivity, the product quality also gets impacted and this is catastrophic for the company. In many cases it has been noticed that, odours have increased the safety concerns in the manufacturing plant. Many odours are corrosive in the nature, and as a result the equipment present in the manufacturing plant can get damaged.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-849 All above factors are forcing industries to take remedial steps to cure the odour problems at the manufacturing plant, and odour control systems are perceived to the best choice.Global Odour Control System Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe demand for odour Control System is growing with the growth in the various industries such as paper, wastewater and refineries globally, especially in the Asia Pacific and Western Europe. The government and industry regulations to curb the unwanted odour is fuelling the growth for the global odour control system market. The Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) has clearly defined the requirements pertaining to the improvement of the air quality at industries and surroundings. This act will be forcing many industrial plants to implement the odour control systems to enhance the quality of the air. Growth in the industries such as Pulp & Paper, Oil Refineries, Foundries, Food Processing and Textile Mills is driving the growth for global odour control system.Though, the demand for odour Control System is increasing in the developed countries, the awareness of the odour control system in the underdeveloped and developing countries is still low. As many countries do not have stringent regulation regarding industrial odour control in place, the odour control system market growth in those countries have low growth for odour control systems, and this factor is inhibiting the growth of global odour control system.Global Odour Control System Market: OverviewThe global odour Control System market by value is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 7-9% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to increase in global automotive production.Odour Control System Market: SegmentationThe global odour control system market can be segmented by end-use industry, by technologies and by regions.Based on end-use industries, the global odour control system market is segmented as:Paper & PulpWastewaterOil RefineriesSteelAutomotiveTextileOthersBased on technologies, the global odour control system market is segmented as:Physical Odour Control EquipmentActivated CarbonOzone GeneratorsChemical Odour Control EquipmentWet ScrubbersThermal OxidationBiological Odour Control EquipmentBiofiltersBiotrickling FiltersBioscrubbersGlobal Odour Control System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global odour control system market is expectedto register a single-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, global odour control system market is segmentedinto seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. In terms of market volume and revenue, Asia Pacific odour Control System market is projectedto register a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Expected growth in industries like paper & pulp, automotive, steel, etc., is fuelling the growth of global odour Control System market in Asia Pacific. Western Europe and North America are also forecast to register a significant growth in the global odour Control System market, as automotive production is expected to grow in these regions as well.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-849 Global Odour Control System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global Odour Control System market are GE Water, Parkson Corporation, Vapex Environmental Technologies, DMT, B&W Megtec, etc.
Metal Bellows Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:21:56

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Due to change in the temperature, all materials expand and contract. In industries, where pipes are exposed to the high temperature, the chances of pipe expansion increases. Unwanted expansion of pipes can be hazardous in the working environment, and thus to avoid such mishap, metal bellows are integrated in the pipes. As the pipe expands due to growing temperature, the job of the bellows is to resist the compression by the force.The metal bellow is designed as an elastic vessel to absorb the pressure by compressing itself, or it extending itself under vacuum. The metal bellow returns to its original shape as soon as the pressure or vacuum is released. The thickness and convolution geometry of the metal bellows is designed as per the pipe capacity, temperature and anticipated pressure.The metal bellows are placed in the specific locations in the piping system to accommodate the temperature growth, but when it is placed in the pipe that has been cut into two, the system experiences the side effects such as pressure thrust or spring rate.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-848 Global Metal Bellows Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe demand for metal bellows is growing with the expansion of various industries globally, especially in the Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America. The metal bellows is used in various industries such as manufacturing, mining, automotive, water treatment, power generation and wind power. Implementation of stringent government regulations to create a safe environment by encouraging the installation of metal bellows market is fueling the growth for the global metal bellows market. The consumer preferences for metal bellows is changing across the globe, and due to which, metal bellows manufacturers are focusing on producing/manufacturing metal bellows with new design. Along with the innovation, the industry players are also focusing on increasing the product offerings to increase their global market share. These factors are propelling the growth in the global metal bellows market.The importance of metal bellows is increasing, but the industry is highly fragmented and due to which the intensity of competition is high as well. The global metal bellows industry is experiencing price competition, and which is inhibiting the growth of global metal bellows market.Global Metal Bellows Market: OverviewThe global metal bellows market by value is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 7-9% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to growth in the piping industry.Global Metal Bellows Market: SegmentationThe global metal bellows market can be segmented by end-use industry, by application, by product type and by regionsBased on end-use industry, the global metal bellows market is segmented as:Power GenerationShip Power and Ship BuildingDistrict HeatingWind PowerWater treatment and WastewaterSteel MillsPulp and Paper PlantsOthers (Chemical and Petrochemical Plants, Desulphurization plants)Based on application, the global metal bellows market is segmented as:Engine Exhaust SystemGas TurbinesSteam TurbinesFCCUsFuel Gas Duct SystemsConventional BoilersOthers (Scrubbers, filtration, HRSGs)Based on product type, the global metal bellows market is segmented as:FormedWeldedElectroformedGlobal Metal Bellows Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global metal bellows market is expectedto register a single-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, the global metal bellows market is segmentedinto seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. In terms of market volume and revenue, Asia Pacific metal bellows market is projectedto register a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Growing demand from industries such as power generation and water treatment, especially in the economies like India and China, is fueling the growth of the global metal bellows market in Asia Pacific. Western Europe is also forecast to register a significant growth in the global metal bellows market, due to stringent government regulations to increase the safety.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-848 Global Metal Bellows Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global metal bellows market are EagleBurgmann KE, Pebiflex, Servometer, Witzenmann GmbH, Triad Bellows, Duraflex, Inc, U.S. Bellows, KSM Corporation, etc.
Automatic Fire Suppression System AFSS Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:20:49

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Unattended breakout of fire damages assets and endanger human lives. At industries or manufacturing plants, damaged machinery/assets are expensive to repair or replace. Most of the times due to fire hazards, businesses cannot continue with the operations, and the business downtime causes financial and goodwill loss. Automatic fire suppression system (AFSS) is used in industries to control and extinguish the fire without human interference. Automatic fire suppression system is largely used in industries to protect life, assets, climate & environment and to ensure business continuity.Automatic fire suppression system is also used in vehicles to control and extinguish fire. The system is specially designed for vehicles to withstand vibrations of vehicles and the system doesnt require any power supply to make them use anywhere and anytime. The system is easily integrated with the vehicles, due to its low weight.The automatic fire suppression system contains infrared optical detection, fire suppressing storage cylinders, alarm unit and other components to prevent the assets and lives from the fire. There are different types of automatic fire suppression system available such as fire detectors, fire extinguisher and sprinklers.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-847 Global Automatic Fire Suppression System Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe demand for automatic fire suppression is growing with the expansion of various industries globally, especially in the Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America. The automatic fire suppression system is already being implemented in various industries such as manufacturing, mining, automotive, oil & gas. Implementation of stringent government regulations to create a safe environment by encouraging the installation of automatic fire suppression system market is fueling the growth for the global automatic fire suppression system market. Growing demand for safety features in vehicles in developing countries and above factors are propelling the growth for global automatic fire suppression system market.Though, the demand for automatic fire suppression system is increasing in the developing countries, the system has low awareness in underdeveloped countries. The automatic fire suppression systems requires higher capital investment, this is inhibiting the growth of the Global Automatic Fire Suppression System market.Global Automatic Fire Suppression System Market: OverviewThe Global Automatic Fire Suppression System market by value is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 7-9% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to stringent government safety regulations, growing demand from various industries, etc.Global Automatic Fire Suppression System Market: SegmentationThe global automatic fire suppression system market can be segmented by end-use industry, by product type and by regionsBased on end-use industry, the global automatic fire suppression system market is segmented as:Oil and GasMiningManufacturingAutomotiveOthersBased on product type, the global automatic fire suppression system market is segmented as:Engineered Automatic Fire Suppression SystemsPre-engineered Automatic Fire Suppression SystemsGlobal Automatic Fire Suppression System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global automatic fire suppression system market is expectedto register a single-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, the global automatic fire suppression system market is segmentedinto seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. In terms of market volume and revenue, Asia Pacific automatic fire suppression market is projectedto register a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Growing demand for the system from industries such as Mining and Oil & Gas, especially in the economies like India and China, is fueling the growth of the global automatic fire suppression system market in Asia Pacific. Western Europe is also forecast to register a significant growth in the global automatic fire suppression system market, due to stringent government regulations to increase the safety.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-847 Global Automatic Fire Suppression System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global automatic fire suppression system market are Siemens AG, Tyco, Robert Bosch GmbH, Johnson Controls, Honeywell International Inc., Halma PLC, etc.
Trek and tour in the Himalayas are often thought tough and time consuming. Long tedious drive between cities and lonesome several days walks of foothills to get to scenic Himalayan destinations are now a thing of past. With extension of road and reliable flight connections between cities and remote towns, best part of the Himalayan tours and treks could be planned in less than weeks. A trip to Himalayas could be planned for few days over your weekend holiday.

Trekking in Langtang valley Nepal

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Galkopakha-29, ThamelTour / Trek Manager14363643http://www.annanepaltrek.com/

It is a good news for those short in time that a week is more than enough for a beautiful trek and tour in the Himalayas. If you are in Asian cities, just take a few days over your weekend holiday and you can be in real Himalayan territories trekking or just relaxing in a tranquil resort in the mountain with Himalayas looming at a distance.Things you can do in less than a week in Nepal and Himalayas3 nights 4 days Bhutan tourYou can directly fly to Paro, Bhutan from many cities like Bangkok, Singapore, Dhaka, Delhi and Kathmandu. Within 3 nights and 4 days, you can visit Thimphu and Paro, the two most popular cities of Bhutan. One can visit Simtokha Dzong - the oldest fortress of Bhutan, Tashichho Dzong  the main secretariat building of Thimphu and hike to Tigers nest (Takstang monastery) along with many other sites of cultural and historical importance.https://www.itournepal.com/bhutan/bhutantour.php3 nights 4 days Lhasa tourSimilarly Lhasa the cultural and religious center of Tibet is also connected by flights with outside world via Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Kathmandu. 2 nights 3 days tour is the best way to visit Lhasa. The major sites covered in 4 days are Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Market, Drepung Monastery and Sera Monastery. With couple of additional days, one can explore the scenic country side of Yamdrok Tso (Scorpion Lake), Karo La glacier and the monuments of Gyantse and Shigatse.https://www.itournepal.com/tibet/lhasatour.phpKathmandu and Pokhara tour  4 nights 5 daysKathmandu and Pokhara are the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. While Kathmandu is the cultural center of the country, Pokhara is known as natural capital of Nepal. Depending upon your flight time arrival, Kathmandu and Pokhara tour could be planned in as less as in 4 days. Kathmandu is well connected by flights with Pokhara. Activities like sightseeing of UNESCO Heritage of Kathmandu, hiking and sunrise view of the Himalayas and Everest sightseeing flight could be planned to guarantee the cultural immersion tour and awe-inspiring Himalayan view.https://www.itournepal.com/tour/kathmandupokhara.phpGhorepani / Poon Hill Trek  4 days from Kathmandu to KathmanduGhorepani is the most popular short trek destination in Nepal. The view from Poon Hill is one of the best scenery in the whole world. One can see over a dozen of snow peaks including the three peaks (Dhaulagiri  8,167 m / 7th highest, Annapurna I  8,091 m / 10th highest and Manaslu  8,163m / 8th highest) among the top ten highest in the world.The trek could be started after a short drive from Pokhara airport, on the same day you fly to Pokhara. Next day you will be at Ghorepani village. On the fourth day, drive back to Pokhara from the trekking trail head and fly back to Kathmandu. This short and quick trek is altitude wise safe as the highest point trekkers reach is 3,200 m at Poon Hill.https://www.itournepal.com/villagetour/ghorepanitrek.phpKathmandu valley tour and trekKathmandu valley has got amazing combination of ancient history, culture and Himalayan scenery. A short 3 days trek around Kathmandu valley could be planned combined with cultural sightseeing. There is also the Everest sightseeing flight. This one hour flight in the morning is the best way to see Mt Everest in your short trip. All of this could be planned within weekend holiday or your short visit of 3 nights.https://www.itournepal.com/tour/kathmandutour.phpAma Yangri ClimbingAma Yangri (3,771 m) is the sacred peak in Helambu region adjoining to northern Kathmandu valley. Helambu is known for its unique Sherpa culture and occult monasteries. With the extension of dirt road, it is possible to reach Helambu with short drive and climb the scenic peak within 2 nights and 3 days trip from Kathmandu. From the top of Ama Yangri peak, wide range of Himalayas are seen including the peaks of Jugal Himal range, Rolwaling and Khumbu Himal.Heli Trek in LangtangLangtang is the closest Himalayan range from Kathmandu. Langtang national park is just about 18 km crow flying from Kathmandu. However the 1,720 sq km national park has got beautiful hidden valley further in the north wedged between layers of snow peaks which takes a weeks trek to explore.Alternately helicopter cuts the long drive and crooked walk short by directly flying to the most beautiful part of the national park. One can just do a short 3 or 4 days trek only in the higher reaches of the valley and take a helicopter back to Kathmandu.https://www.itournepal.com/trek/langtang-helicopter-trek.phpiTourNepal P Ltd is specialized in short Himalayans treks and tours. Our experts with firsthand experience and up-to-date information can customize the best Himalayan trip for your family and friends.
Ventilation Equipment Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:27:58

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Ventilation equipment are used in buildings to maintain the temperature and to improve the quality of indoor air. These equipment are utilized in both the exchange of air  inside to outside and circulation within the building. Ventilation equipment are essential to maintain indoor quality of air in building. Different type of equipment available in ventilation equipment market includes heat recovery ventilation units, room air distribution units and fume hoods. Fume hoods are majorly used in kitchen and laboratories to remove heat, odor and smoke. Room air distribution units are used to mix the existing air with new conditioned air in homes and offices.Ventilation Equipment Market: Drivers & RestraintsConstruction industry is expected to register a substantial growth worldwide in upcoming years which is expected to be driver for the increasing demand for ventilation equipment market during the forecast period. Increasing urbanization supported by regulation for energy efficient building across the globe is likely to spur the growth of the ventilation equipment market.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-852 Ventilation Equipment Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, ventilation equipment market is broadly segmented as:Axial FansCentrifugal FansCross Flow FansDomestic Exhaust FansPower Roof FansRange HoodsOthersOn the basis of Application, the ventilation equipment market is segmented into:ResidentialNon  ResidentialVentilation Equipment Market: OverviewRegulations for energy efficient building implement by government all over the world increased the demand for ventilation equipment as it helps in maintain the temperature in an area with less energy consumption. With growing environmental concerns and increasing awareness among the end users ventilation equipment market is expected to register a substantial growth during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-852 Ventilation Equipment Market: Key PlayersSome of the players in the ventilation equipment market we identified includes, Centrotec Sustainable AG, Greenheck Fan Corp., CaptiveAire Systems Inc, Twin City Fan Companies Ltd., Munters AB, Nortek Incorporated, Flakt Woods Group and Soler & Palau Group.
Water Desalination Equipment Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-09-01 06:25:41

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The increasing requirement of desalination of sea water due to increasing water demand is driving the global water desalination equipment market at a faster rate.The growth of the water desalination equipment market is subsidized by the increasing concerns over the scarcity water due to rapidly growing population, industrial development and pollution. Also fast improving living standards in the developing regions are demanding cleaner water, subsequently driving the advancements in the desalination technologies.Desalination equipment facilitates desalination process that parts the dissolved salts and other minerals from seawater or other salinized water. The major advantage of desalinised water is that it can deliver high quality water for consumption purpose even at the time of droughts ultimately increasing the overall supply.Request For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-851 The emerging water desalination equipment market has been experiencing a phase of new product development and technological advancements due to greater demand. The manufacturing companies are raising their respective market share with increased R&D activities.Water Desalination Equipment Market: Drivers & RestraintsSome of the major factors subsidizing the growth of water desalination market are increasing rate of technological developments, lack of alternative to the process of desalination, increasing urbanization and rising standard of living of the population. On the other hand the scarcity of fresh water are convincing the government to increase the investment in the enhancement of desalination capacities to meet the water demand.The major restraint in the desalination equipment market is the investment and operation cost involved in the desalination process. Also, with the increasing competition in the market due to new entrants and relatively mature and similar technologies offered by the OEMs are intensifying the competition and making it price based. Thus the companies are needed to grow their organizational efficiency and develop strategic sourcing of components required to manufacture desalination equipment so as to be at a competitive edge. Better management of risk factors and associated costs are required.Water Desalination Equipment Market: SegmentationBy application the water desalination equipment market is segmented as follows:MunicipalIndustrialOthers (hospitality etc.)By technologies, the water desalination equipment market is segmented as follows:Reverse OsmosisNanofiltrationMulti Stage FlashElectrodialysisVapour CompressionMulti Effect DistillationOthersWater Desalination Equipment Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global water desalination equipmentmarket is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. Middle-East is projected to endure its control on the global water desalination equipmentmarket followed by North America and Europe. The key countries in the Middle-East are projected to be GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and Algeria as an outcome of practicing desalination for long specially in GCC countries.Visit For TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-851 Water Desalination Equipment Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the desalination equipment market are General Electric, Doosan Heavy Industries and Co, Acciona SA, Genesis Water Technologies, Koch Membrane Systems, Degremont Sas, IDE Technologies, Hyflux Ltd, Biwater, and Cadagua
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




The forum style will feature Mr. Northam and Mr. Gillespie answering questions individually at separate times. Loudoun County NAACP President and State NAACP Criminal Justice Chair Phillip E. Thompson will serve as the moderator, while former Delegate Michael Futrell and Prince William County Republican Committee Vice Chairman D.J. Jordan will serve as questioning panelists. A full list of the co-host organizations will be announced on Tuesday, September 5.

By: Loudoun County NAACP

Coburn Hall

Contact

Phillip E. Thompson

***@naacploudoun.com



Photo:

https://www.prlog.org/ 12661933/1 Phillip E. Thompson

End

-- On Thursday, September 7, Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam and Ed Gillespie will participate in a historic Virginia Gubernatorial Forum on the campus of Virginia Union University. A wide range of non-partisan groups and organizations will serve as co-hosts for this event, including: Baptist General Convention of Virginia, Area Four NAACP Branch Leaders, Loudoun County NAACP branch, Frederick Douglass Foundation, Richmond Crusade for Voters, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Virginia, Women-Matter, along with others.The Forum topics and questions for the candidates will focus on important issues and concerns of African American voters and families in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including education, economic opportunity, diversity, criminal justice, and immigration."The forum is a great opportunity for candidates for Governor to discuss how their policies will impact African American voters and families in the Commonwealth of Virginia," said Reverend Kevin Chandler, NAACP Religious Affairs Committee Chair. "The forum is taking place at an HBCU where ideas are debated, policies are researched, and young minds are molded every day. Virginia Union University is a fine institution of higher learning, and we are proud that the University is hosting this very important conversation about the future of our Commonwealth."The forum style will feature Mr. Northam and Mr. Gillespie answering questions individually. Loudoun County NAACP President and State NAACP Criminal Justice Chair Phillip E. Thompson will serve as the moderator, while former Delegate Michael Futrell and Prince William County Republican Committee Vice Chairman D.J. Jordan will serve as questioning panelists. Additional questions will be fielded from the audience. A full list of the co-host organizations will be announced on Tuesday, September 5.
GCRI will host the Falling Walls Lab New York, a competition and opportunity for the next generation of academics to share their ideas and innovations.

End

--In the quest to find solutions to today's global challenges, new walls will need to fall in science and society. Nine entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers will present their ground-breaking projects, business plans, entrepreneurial and social initiatives inat the German Center for Research and Innovation in New York onThewere selected from a diverse applicant pool to compete at the German Center for Research and Innovation in NYC, one of approximately 50 Falling Walls Lab locations worldwide. Theof the competition in NYCto compete against the winners of the other Falling Walls Labs and participate in the Falling Walls Conference on November 9, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.The Falling Walls Conference is an annual gathering of forward-thinking individuals from over 80 countries. Each year twenty of the world's leading scientists are invited to Berlin to present their current breakthrough research. The aim of the conference is to: Identify solutions to global challenges and discover international breakthrough research. Connect outstanding researchers from different disciplines. Build bridges between business, academia, politics, and the arts. Communicate the latest scientific findings to a broader audience. Inspire people to break down walls in science and society.For more information, visit www.falling- walls.com and www.germaninnovation.org German Center for Research and Innovation871 United Nations PlazaNew York, NY 10017www.GermanInnovation.orgpress@germaninnovation.org212-339-8680
Running vacations add to fast-growing active wellness travel segment

Runners enjoy Mediterranean Sea at the Costa Brava Running + Wellness Retreat.

Contact

Run Wild Retreats + Wellness

***@runwildretreats.com Run Wild Retreats + Wellness

End

--, a travel company offering premier women's trail running and wellness retreats in five countries, has opened registration for itstaking place April 21-27, 2018.The week-long itinerary, starting in the historic city of Girona, features daily guided trail runs from village to village along the Mediterranean Sea, natural running form clinics, wellness workshops, apres-run tapas, visits to ancient castles, medieval villages and a 15-century monastery overlooking the sea. Guests dine on the world-class Catalan cuisine for which this region is known, stay in luxury boutique hotels, and ancient castles converted into modern accommodations.While Run Wild Retreats + Wellness's original mission seven years ago was to simply introduce more women to the joys and adventures of trail running, it soon became apparent that women were coming to the retreats at times of transition or upheaval in their lives. The retreats offered not only reprieve from their stressful, time-crunched lives, but led to insights about their current challenges and renew their energy and confidence in their ability to overcome their difficulties."Traveling to a new place is an amazing way to recharge and make lasting investments in one's health and wellness," says Elinor Fish, who foundedin 2010. "Each trail run is about connecting with your surroundings, your love of running and simply savoring the present moment. That's when you are able to truly tap into running's stress-reducing effects."Research by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) confirms that Americans are especially drawn to active wellness travel opportunities these days. GWI's January 2017 report says that the U.S. has emerged as the world's largest wellness tourism market because more than ever, Americans are suffering the ill effects of overwork, excess stress, insufficient sleep and chronic anxiety.That's why, within the retreat's supportive setting created by professional guides and the retreat leader, guests are able to safely try things that they wouldn't necessarily do otherwise. As a result, runners describe the retreats as "transformational,"in that they become more present, focused, rested and energized despite running five to 10 miles a day.This is because the seven-day retreat itinerary leaves plenty of free time for reflection, connection to the destination and its culture, something that is lost in typical group tours that cram as many locations and experiences as possible into each day. Rather,designs travel experiences that help participants feel engaged, supported and increasingly empowered throughout the trip.The Costa Brava Running + Wellness Retreat is the newest addition to Run Wild Retreats + Wellness's growing suite of mindful running immersions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. More information about this and other retreats can be found at ( http://runwildretreats.com/ costa-brava- running-wellness- r...
SuperPad, one of the best selling Mobile GIS of Supergeo, is earlier selected by Hydracos, a French water utility consulting firm, to help on-site inspection.

Contact

Eugene Tseng

Supergeo Technologies Inc.

***@supergeo.com.tw Eugene TsengSupergeo Technologies Inc.

End

-- Supergeo is pleased to announce that SuperPad, the mobile GIS software integrates GIS and GPS positioning technologies perfectly, is earlier selected by French company Hydracos with the assistance of Supergeo's reseller.Located in the suburb of Rennes, the capital of Brittany, Hydracos is a company that focuses on providing professional consulting services in water utilities and sewage systems. Its core services include field survey, asset management, master plans, and water supply network design.Designed and developed Supergeo, SuperPad is a mobile GIS app runs on Windows and Windows Mobile operating system. Being one of the most popular SuperGIS products, SuperPad not only can help users display, create, and edit spatial data but has various advanced features to assist field technicians completing their tasks. For example, SuperPad supports WMS, WMTS, and WFS standards and on-the-fly projection, which could help field crews add rich web map resources and sent back edited data to the office in real-time. If users want to inspect a specific facility, waypoint guidance and GPS alert will be ideal tools to reach the target effortlessly. The waypoint guidance of SuperPad enables field workers to know the direction and distance to the target from their current location. When the GPS alert is activated, SuperPad will warn users with a beep when the signal quality approaches the predefined level, making spatial data collection more easily. More than functions mentioned above, SuperPad is equipped with many features that can boost the productivity of workers as well as enhance the quality of data, helping companies complete their tasks at a lower cost.Download the free trial of SuperPad 10:Learn SuperPad 10 by watching Supergeo TV:Supergeo Technologies Inc. is a leading global provider of GIS software and solutions. Since the establishment, Supergeo has dedicated to providing state-of-the-art geospatial technologies and comprehensive services for customers around the world. Our vision is to help everybody gain geographic insights with practical, professional, and affordable GIS software and create a better future.Supergeo develops desktop, mobile, and server GIS software, which can efficiently help users to collect, manage, and publish spatial data in one single platform.
ACEX member in Novorossiysk received a high-profile customer after they won a tender for Castrol oil supply for the famous British Petroleum.

Contact

ACEX Group Press Center

pr@acex.net

***@acex.net ACEX Group Press Centerpr@acex.net

End

-- 40 ft containers are shipped 3-4 times a week from the Port of Gemlik to Novorossiysk on regular basis. The container is not opened in Novorossiysk. Company specialists issue internal customs transit to Moscow region where the cargo is customs cleared at Alabinskiy customs post."Cargo traffic from Turkey has substantially increased since the customs' office has loosened its grip", Denis Bobrakov, business development director at BSSS says. "The compulsory inspection has been cancelled and it affects the development of cargo traffic in a positive way".AIRON Logistics that represents Turkey with headquarters in Istanbul joined ACEX in June. "In the current favorable conditions a new member can be beneficial for both parties", Denis Bobrakov says."Novorossiysk is favorably located for import and export from/to Turkey; there are a lot of requests for cargo transportation from Turkey to Russia nowadays. AIRON is of great interest for import from Turkey to Russia".Details at http://acexgroup.net/ en/partners/ news/1845/ ACEX Group Press Center
Women in power is a strong theme for Future Energy Uganda's opening session on 13 September featuring a high-level line-up including the Minister of Energy and Minerals Development, Irene Muloni, and three leading ladies in the power sector

By: Future Energy Uganda

"Women play critical roles throughout the energy sector

Media Contact

Future Energy Uganda

annemarie.roodbol@ spintelligent.com

+27217003500 Future Energy Uganda+27217003500

End

-- Women in power is a strong theme for the upcoming Future Energy Uganda's opening session on 13 September which features a high-level line-up including the Minister of Energy and Minerals Development, Irene Muloni, and three leading ladies in the region's energy sector from Power Africa, Siemens and a former Ugandan finance minister.Future Energy Uganda is slated to be THE meeting platform this year for project developers, finance houses and multilateral investors, construction and planning companies as well as technology providers from Uganda, the region and from the rest of the world. The conference will demonstrate the proactive nature of Uganda to increase access to affordable power and support a growing middle class.Theme:Simon D'Ujanga, Minister of State for Energy and Mineral Development, Republic of Uganda 09:20 - 09:40Irene Nafuna Muloni, Minister of Energy and Minerals Development, Republic of Uganda 09:40 - 10:00Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister, Republic of Uganda 10:00 - 10:45- Maria Kiwana Kiwanuka, Senior Adviser to the President of Uganda and Former Minister of Finance, Republic of Uganda- Sabine Dall'Omo, CEO, Siemens, Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa- Kate Steel, Energy Director, Power Africa, USAWomen in African Power"Women play critical roles throughout the energy sector," says Andrew Herscowitz, Power Africa Coordinator, "as policy makers within national and regional governments and institutions,as executives of private sector companies, as entrepreneurs engaged in energy enterprises,as managers within power sector utilities,as employees of generation plants and transmission and distribution systems, and finally as customers of electricity services. For this reason, Power Africa has brought hundreds of womenfrom each of these areas together through our 'Women in African Power' group to find new business opportunities and to exchange ideas."Power Africa's Women in African Power Network aims to elevate the presence and participation of women in Africa's energy sector. The network connects women leaders and emerging leaders to a community of professionals dedicated to supporting women's advancement in the energy sector. Participants enjoy access to business and job opportunities, events and speaking engagements, and shared knowledge and learning events."In Uganda, Siemens' primary goal is to assist the government to increase national power generating capacities and to connect the local population to the power grids. A reliable and extensive power supply system is the fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development, economic growth and job creation"  this is according to Sabine Dall'Omo, CEO, Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa. Siemens is in the process of establishing a permanent office in Uganda to serve as a base for long term collaboration with Ugandan public and private entities.Industry supportSiemens is this year's diamond sponsor for Future Energy Uganda, an indication of the widespread support the event is enjoying from the industry. Lucy Electric are platinum sponsors while Conlong and Eskom South Africa are silver sponsors. Bronze sponsors are African Trade Insurance Agency and Gilkes while Clarke Energy, Netral and Norwegian Energy Partners are strategic partners for Future Energy Uganda.Leading energy platformsFuture Energy Uganda is organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon), Agritech Expo Zambia, Kenya Mining Forum, Nigeria Mining Week, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.Future Energy Uganda dates and location:Strategic conference: 13-14 September 2017Venue: Serena Hotel, KampalaWebsites: http://www.future- energy-uganda.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ FutureEnergyHub Linkedin: FutureEnergyAfricaContact:Senior communications manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.com
Baggage Scanners Market By Application (Defense & Security, Metal Detection, Windows, Explosive Detection, Government Application) By End Users (Airports, Railway Stations, Educational Institutes, Border Checkpoints, Public Sectors, Others)

By: Reserch Nester

End

-- Baggage scanners use x-ray technology to scan the baggage. Baggage scanners can inspect the luggage by using x-ray technology and show all the items on the computer screen. Further, baggage scanner consists of a conveyor belt and a display. The baggage scanner shows different colors on screen which indicates whether the object in the bag is dangerous or not. Additionally, in case of presence of any precarious object in the luggage the baggage scanners will start making sound. Such scanners are highly used at places including airport, railway stations and others. Furthermore, baggage scanners are highly utilized in those places where security is one of major concerns.Global Baggage Scanners Market is expected to flourish at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period i.e. 2017-2024. Factors such as rising terrorism activities all over the world, development of new airports, railways stations and up gradation of existing airports and railway stations are expected to escalate the growth of global baggage scanners market during the forecast period.In terms of region, global baggage scanners market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa region. Among these regions, North America region dominating the global market of baggage scanners owing to the strict rule & regulations for the sake of peoples safety at the airports, railway stations and other public places. Further, North America is expected to behold this positive growth during the forecast period. In addition to this, Europe region is the second leading market for baggage scanners and is expected to witness remarkable growth during the forecast period. Further, this growth of baggage scanners market in Europe region can be attributed to the factors such as rising air traffic on the airports and increasing number of passengers at the airports & railway stations.Apart from this, market of baggage scanners in Asia Pacific region is growing at a tremendous pace and is projected to witness robust growth during the forecast period. Growth of baggage scanners market in Asia Pacific region can be credit to factors such as rising tourism activities, rising terrorism threats and rising export & import activity in this region. In addition to this, China, India and Japan are the major contributors to the growth of baggage scanners in this region owing to factors such as rising number of airport and railway stations coupled with up gradation of existing airports and railway stations in these countries.Our-in depth analysis of the global baggage scanners market includes the following segments:By ApplicationDefense & SecurityMetal DetectionExplosive DetectionGovernment ApplicationAirportsRailway StationsEducational InstitutesBorder CheckpointsPublic SectorsOthersBy Sorting SystemRadio-Frequency IdentificationVacuum SystemGlobal baggage scanners market is further classified on the basis of region as follows:North America (U.S. & Canada) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisLatin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of Latin America) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisEurope (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, Rest of Europe) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisAsia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity Analysis.Middle East and Africa (GCC, North Africa, South Africa and Rest of Middle East and Africa) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisGlobal baggage scanners market is primarily driven by the strict government rules and regulations for the sake of public safety at airport, railway stations coupled with rising awareness towards security at public places. Moreover, baggage scanners are very useful in those situations where security and safety are major concerns such as airports, border checkpoints and other. Such applications of baggage scanners for security reasons at these places are expected to bolster the growth of global baggage scanners market in near future.Apart from this, increasing terrorism activities across the globe have fueled the need for security equipment in public places. Further, this rising concern for safety of people is expected to drive the growth of global baggage scanners market during the forecast period. Moreover, factors such as rising number of passengers at airports and railway stations coupled with growing number of international travellers are envisioned to drive the growth of baggage scanners market at remarkable pace during the forecast period.However, high installation cost is a major factor which is hampering the growth of global baggage scanners market. Moreover, poor passenger travel growth rate is also dampening the growth of baggage scanners market.Astrophysics Inc.Company OverviewKey Product OfferingsBusiness StrategySWOT AnalysisFinancialAmmeraal BeltechDAIFUKU LOGANG&S Airport ConveyorBeumer GroupDetectorall Co. Ltd.Kapri Corp.Shanghai Eastimage Equipment Co. Ltd.Pteris GlobalAutomated Technology Group Ltd.For Table of Content & Free Sample Report Contact:Name:- Ajay DanielEmail: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comU.S. +1 646 586 9123U.K. +44 203 608 5919
By: Florida Network Realty

End

-- Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty recently hosted a writing workshop presented by Matthew Ferrara, a celebrated speaker, writer and photographer who focuses on creativity, leadership and growth."Matthew is a terrific speaker  he is an engaging instructor with a gift of showing others how to stand out among the crowd," said Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty Founder, President and CEO Linda Sherrer. "Christy and I enjoyed attending his dynamic session at the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices national conference, and we immediately knew we wanted to bring him to Jacksonville to present to our team."The event, offered exclusively for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty professionals, took attendees on a creative writing journey to improve their marketing by developing better stories about themselves and their products and services. Using real-world and real-time examples, Ferrara encouraged the audience to focus on creating memorable messages.Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty offers its associates, who are respected for their intelligence, integrity and real estate market experience, access to advanced technology, marketing support and ongoing training opportunities."Creative writing is a big piece of the marketing puzzle and Matthew demonstrates how everyone can make their stories more compelling,"said Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty Broker/Executive Vice President Christy Budnick. "We offered Matthew's session to our agents because we believe it offers a huge competitive advantage that benefits our buyers and sellers."For more information about buying or selling a home in Northeast Florida or connecting with the area's leading real estate firm, visit www.FloridaNetworkRealty.com
Local author Bryan Glahn will be available to sign copies of book

End

--Although history records the hurricane that struck northeastern Pennsylvania in June 1972 as "Agnes," residents of the Wyoming Valley affected by the storm and the resulting damage simply refer to it as "the flood." As the Susquehanna River rose to over 40 feet and left her banks, citizens could do nothing but watch as their lives were forever changed. A raging torrent unearthed dozens of previously resting bodies in the Forty Fort Cemetery, houses were knocked off their foundations or swept away entirely, and citizens took to their boats to rescue those who did not heed the warnings of the sirens that wailed when the waters began to surge through the city streets. And yet, amidst the drama, a weddingscheduled long before the stormproceeded, though not quite as envisioned by the bride and groom.Born in Kingston, Bryan Glahn grew up with stories of the flood. With images culled from family and friends, as well as their first-person accounts, he retells the story of Agnes with the words and images of those who lived it.Books-A-Million100 Viewmont MallScranton, PA 18508Saturday, September 9, 2017; 1:00 p.m.  3:00 p.m.Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.Arcadia Publishing & The History Press creates the largest and most comprehensive publisher of local and regional content in the USA. By empowering local history and culture enthusiasts to write local stories for local audiences, we create exceptional books that are relevant on a local and personal level, enrich lives, and bring readers closer to their community, their neighbors, and their past. Have we done a book on your town? www.arcadiapublishing.com
Egyptian writer and political commentator Ahdaf Soueif once said, of being an Arab and/or a Muslim living in the West, I felt upset and angered by the misrepresentations I encountered constantly, and I felt grateful when a clear-eyed truth was spoken about us. She then added the following question: Who was us?

It is a question that prompted the creation of an anthology I edited this year, titled The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write. It is a question that people of Muslim heritage living in the West cannot now possibly ignore, even if they hadnt previously given it much thought. Our media is deluged by stories about Muslim extremists, Muslim moderates condemning the actions of Muslim extremists, non-Muslims bemoaning the fact that not enough moderate Muslims are condemning the actions of extremist Muslims, and the possibility of the Muslim next door becoming radicalized, perhaps even at his or her local primary school.

This coverage has now been compounded by post-Brexit reports of a catastrophic rise in Islamophobic attacks across Britain, the majority of which have targeted women. The Things I Would Tell You was in the process of being printed when Donald Trump announced his first travel ban. I realized then that it might be a long time before I was again involved in such an important project.

In the face of such misplaced hatred and genuine cause for fear, it seems difficult to employ the arts in a truly effective and empowering way. However, one of the aims of the anthology is to dispel the narrow image of what a Muslim womanparticularly a British Muslim womanlooks and lives like. All of the contributors to this book identify as having both British and Muslim backgrounds or connections, regardless of their birthplace, citizenship status, or religiosity. The writers were born in or have parentage from countries including Egypt, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Sudan, and yet they live, love, create, and work in Britain.

If we can offer an alternative to the current homogenous narrative of British Muslim identityan alternative that is broadly representative rather than fabricated for political purposesreal change could be made in the lives of those who are shouted at in the street; who are made to feel paralyzed, threatened, or unwelcome; who are even assaulted; and, most heartbreakingly, who are scared for their loved ones in the very place they were born or live or work.

The writers in the anthology all offer energizing and eye-opening explorations of people and place. I didnt ask for writing exploring identity-specific topics, nor on anything that the term Muslim woman brings to mind. They, as Muslim women or women of Muslim heritage, were asked simply to submit a piece of writing in any form, under 3,000 words, on whatever subject they felt most connected to at this current time. The result is a beautiful and beguiling mix that includes personal essays about mental health and auditioning; journalistic pieces on violence against women and recent Middle Eastern history; fiction on aging and makeup artists; play scripts about colonialism and sex work; and poems about family, friends, sex, laughter, love, history, and injustice. The anthology became as profound a representation as possible, which was a pleasing, unexpected result of my aiming for variety in form.

The contributors are an inspirational force. The fact that each of these women has a British identity and a Muslim heritage is important, as the canon we are handed down and much of what is taught at school doesnt always provide those from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to find writing that resonates with their own experiences. It is important for readers to encounter writers who share enough similarities of background with them so that they know that it is possible for them to write, to be published, to perform, to be read. It is a simple philosophy, but it never fails to surprise me how much representation can empower and how much non- or misrepresentation can disempower. We can never underestimate this and must do whatever we can to alter the current dominant narrative.

Sabrina Mahfouz is a British-Egyptian playwright, poet, and screenwriter currently living and working in London. The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write will be published in August by Saqi Books.
Colleen AF Venable

Art director, Childrens Book Group

Workman, New York

Venable took an unusual route to her current position, where, according to Workman general manager Jill Salayi, she creates books that have never existed before. Venable began her career as a receptionist for the Childrens Book Council and also wound up running the councils librarya treasure chest of Caldecott and Newbery winners that left a deep impression on her. From there, she joined the marketing team at Macmillan Childrens Publishing, where she participated in meetings in which the art and design of titles, including covers, was discussed.

Venable noticed that her comments in those meetings were often met with affirmative nods from First Second publisher Mark Siegel, who one day asked, Do you know Photoshop?

Venable had never studied design (though she did have some knowledge of Photoshop), but Siegel brought her over to his imprint and sent her to design school. It was a very stressful six months, Venable recalls of her work with top graphic artists/authors including Ben Hatke, Gene Luen Yang, and George OConnor, whose Olympian series she wished she had when she struggled with school-taught mythology. But Venable was hooked on design, and ever since she has been determined to make books that anyone would want to hold in their handbooks that I would have wanted as a kid.

Three years ago, Workman hired Venable with a mandate to make art objects for great and terrible children, Salayi says. With her team of creatives unlike any in publishing, as Salayi describes them, Venable has overseen the redesign of Workmans childrens list from top to bottomfrom brands such as Brain Quest, Indestructibles, and Paint by Sticker to individual frontlist titles as well.

The innovation comes from what Venable calls the art cave, a studio she founded where designers, inventors, filmmakers, and 3-D modelers all work togethera perfect setting for a leader who has a vast skill set in helping creators reach their goals, Salayi says. From this design workshop has come a number of innovative, interactive books that expand the very nature of the form, Salayi adds.

For Spy on History: Marty Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring, Venable created an intricate system of cryptography for young readers to decipher. In Rocket, a physical 3-D-modeled toy flies through spreads of outer space. The Most Dangerous Book, an illustrated guide to archery designed by Venable, is another title that blurs the line between book and toy: it transforms into a real bow and shoots paper arrows that resemble historical varieties of arrows from all over the world.

Though Venables metier is art design and direction, she is involved in the publication process from beginning to end. Before we acquire books, we lay out spreads as a group, she notes. Some art directors chafe at the idea of editorial oversight, but Venable says, Im used to designing with the editor standing behind mein a good way. She even brings her brief stint as a marketer to bear, developing interactive promotions for stores and custom projects that transform books into kits.

And all that is just Venables day job. In her spare time she writes childrens books, including the six-book Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye series, Mervyn the Sloth Is About to Do the Best Thing in the World, published last year, and the forthcoming Amy the Red Panda Is Writing the Best Story in the World, due in November.

Daniel Loedel

Associate Editor

Scribner, New York

If youre looking for a beach read, dont ask Loedel, a quickly ascending 29-year-old editor at Scribner who has already garnered an impressive list of what he calls dark and challenging books. While he doesnt want to get a reputation for sucker punching peoples souls, he says, hes not particularly interested in entertaining readers. What he is passionate about is presenting works that offer high emotional stakes and move the conversation.

Nan Graham, Scribner senior v-p and publisher, praises Loedels tremendous versatility in successfully publishing books of literary fiction, popular science, psychology, and history, while always staying true to his very high standards. His recent publications include Selection Day, the latest novel by Aravind Adiga, the Booker Prizewinning author of The White Tiger, who trusted the young editor enough to change publishers to work with him. And in March, Loedel published One of the Boys, the debut novel by Daniel Magariel about two young brothers contending with the love they have for their abusive father. It was widely acclaimed and was picked as a New York Times Editors Choice, and rights were sold in many territories.

Loedel considers himself to be lucky to be at Scribner, where he is supported in his often-difficult picks. Its not always that a short and dark book can win the affection of everyone on the sales force, he says. He gives most of the credit to his colleagues in making this work, but he gives himself a tiny pat on the back for expressing his enthusiasm for the books as well as articulating what makes them worth engaging with. As Graham succinctly puts it, He motivates staff with his eloquence and conviction.

Loedel wants readers to get their heads out of the sand about taboo or difficult topics such as suicide, schizophrenia, and impoverishment in immigrant communities. The latter is at the core of The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts: Murder and Memory in an American City by Laura Tillman, about the brutal murder of three young children by their parents in the border city of Brownsville, Tex., one of Americas poorest cities.

Coming in January is A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise, a book about schizophrenia that Loedel is particularly eager to get out into the world. Its written by Sandra Allen, a former BuzzFeed editor, who crashed into the project when she unexpectedly received a package from her schizophrenic uncle. Inside was a convoluted, error-filled, smelly autobiographical manuscript that she sort of translated into a narrative of his life story, Loedel says. She takes the reader into what having the disease was like for him growing up in Berkeley at a time of major social change, and when there were very different ways of treating the disease than we have now. Woven into the narrative are passages about schizophrenia and the historical context, making it, Loedel says, a very unusual, great document.

In an atypical arrangement that pleases Loedel, he is co-editing the book with Scribner executive editor Kathryn Belden. He values the intimate one-on-one relationships that editors have historically had with authors, but says, I really like working in teams: its really nice to bounce ideas between editors, and thats not done enough in this industry.

Although Loedel is young and sets a high standard for his choices, he is keenly aware of the crucial balancing act when youre a literary editor of books that may not sell even when the stars are all aligned and the reviews are raves. One of his nonfiction titles, Rethink: The Surprising History of New Ideasby Steven Poole, was a J.P. Morgan book club pick this summer. And, in what Loedel calls an entrepreneurial exercise (rather than an opportunistic one), he reissued Strangers on a Bridge: The Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers by James Donovan, originally published in 1964, in time for the 2015 release of Bridge of Spies. The film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, was loosely based on the book. While not a tie-in per se, the book sprang onto bestseller lists.

Loedels passion for books with high moral stakesand sales potentialhas served him well. Graham recounts that at a recent meeting, the president and CEO of S&S U.K. and Commonwealth publishing turned to her and said, Daniel is the most impressive young editor I have ever met.

Suzanna Hermans

Co-owner

Oblong Books, Millerton and Rhinebeck, N.Y.

As soon as she was tall enough to see over the counter, Hermans started working the cash register at Oblong Books. The store was cofounded in 1975 by her father, Dick Hermans, in Millerton, N.Y., and Oblong is now the largest independent bookseller in the Hudson Valley. She attended her first NEIBA when she was about 12 years old, and for the past 10 years has co-owned and managed the family business, which includes a second outlet added in Rhinebeck 16 years ago. She has seen many changes in the business over the decades.

Ive been aware of what has been happening in the book business since I was about 10, Hermans says. I watched my dad deal with the coming of B&N in our area. Fortunately B&N was far enough away that it didnt have too terrible an impact on the store, but we certainly watched a lot of our friends businesses suffer or close. I grew up thinking, Chain stores are the worst. Now, 20 years later, oh my God, we need B&N. Its interesting to watch them go from being a complete enemy to a total partner.

Then came an even bigger hurdle: Amazon. It remains a challenge today but was even scarier when the e-tailer launched and started offering books almost cheaper than I could buy them from a publisher, Hermans recalls. That hasnt changed, but whats new is the imperative to shop localto support communities and keep their bookstores open. Its been wonderful to watch the needle swing back to a vibrant, independent bookselling universe, Hermans adds.

The key is adding value. Yes, you can buy anything I sell for cheaper somewhere else, so why do you want to buy it from me? Hermans asks. Because were extremely knowledgeable about our inventory, because its beautiful here, because we support our community. When we go away, its not just that you lose a bookstoreyou lose a community partner.

One of Hermanss favorite community projects is working with the elementary school in Rhinebeck on a special program for fourth graders. During the semester-long project, the students learn every aspect of creating a book, culminating in making their own. They talk with a book author and illustrator, a book editor, and a book designer. At the end of the journey, as Hermans refers to it, they visit the bookstore and learn about marketing and selling from Hermans and her staff. We get to nerd out with the fourth graders, she says.

Another program is their Fiction into Film book group, in partnership with a small nonprofit arts cinema across the street from the Rhinebeck store. The group reads a book, screens the movie adaptation, and then engages in discussion about both.

The store is fortunate to have a plethora of libraries in the area that provide plenty of partnering opportunities. Another stroke of good fortune came a couple of years ago, when Malcolm Gladwell, an owner of the historical White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Conn., close to the Millerton store, approached Oblong about working with them and libraries to have events with authors. From Gladwell, the message was, We want to invite the community into this space; we want it to be a community center, Hermans explains. Hanya Yanaghihara and Colm Toibin are among the authors the inn and store have hosted.

The community-building work is paying off handsomely. Hermans reports that her two stores have had a number of their best years ever recently. Her list of achievements is remarkable. In 2011, she and Oblong were the subjects of a front-page story in USA Today. In 2013 she was elected president of the NEIBA board of directors, its youngest president to date. Hermans served on the American Booksellers for Free Expression advisory council for six years. This year, Hermans was honored as one of five female trailblazers in Dutchess County by the Poughkeepsie Journal and has been selected as a judge for the 2017 National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature, which she calls the biggest honor of my career.

Andrea Montejo

Founder

Indent Literary Agency, New York

According to author David Unger, winner of Guatemalas 2014 Miguel Angel Asturias National Prize for Literature and a teacher of translation at City College of New Yorks graduate M.A. program, Andrea Montejo is the most important agent representing exclusively Latin-American writers and Latino writers in the U.S. She has sold five of Ungers books to publishers in the U.S. and abroad, and her expertise and influence extends far and wide. Montejo has been a fellow at the Turin, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Santiago, and Guadalajara [book fairs].

Born in Colombia and a graduate of the Paris IV Sorbonne, Montejo began her career in 2001 at Rayo, a Harper Collins imprint (since closed) dedicated to reaching a broader Latino and Spanish-speaking readership. At that time, there was great enthusiasm for publishing for these readers, and many imprints catering to them were created. But unrealistic expectations and the financial crisis of 2008 led to the demise of many of these imprints. Montejo was not deterred, and 10 years ago she opened Indent, a full-service agency based in New York that represents Spanish- and English-language authors for the U.S. market and throughout the world.

When Montejo left Rayo, she gravitated toward bringing Latin-American voices to English-speaking readers, a relatively new initiative for publishing. Her success can beat least in partattributed to her firm understanding of what Latinos and other Spanish-speakers in the U.S. need and want.

In the early 2000s, Montejo says, publishers made the mistake of believing that the 40 million Latinos in this country would rush into bookstores, because they didnt understand the market. Most first-generation Latin-American immigrants speak languages other than English (and not always Spanish), but many second- and third-generation immigrants dont. Accordingly, Montejo has taken a broader approach at Indent. I grew up in Columbia, so between Columbia and the U.S., I feel a very strong north-south connection, she saysone that isnt always reflected in the ways books travel. She explains that most Latin-American book publishing lists are determined in Spain and yet, I feel that my inspiration, my cultureeverything I aspired tois in the U.S., and I think Im not alone.

Among Montejos authors hailing from south of the border are Lydia Cacho (Mexico), Alberto Fuget (Chile), and Mayra Santos-Febres (Puerto Rico). Montejo also represents Latinos living in the U.S., including Alberto Ferraras and Ernesto Quinonez.

Soon to be delivered is a new book by Oscar Martinez, a journalist from El Salvador who came to the attention of readers here with The Beast (Verso), about migrants crossing the border into the U.S. Montejo describes that book as an extraordinary piece of journalism, and she has similar high praise to describe the authors forthcoming title, El Nino de Hollywood, which chronicles the life of Miguel Angel Tobar, a member of the notorious Mara Slavtrucha gang that formed in Los Angeles and subsequently became one of the most violent gangs in Central America and on both coasts of the U.S.

Another timely book that Montejo is working on is Cuba on the Verge, edited by Leila Guerriero and featuring 12 pieces: six by authors inside Cuba, six by those outside. It examines this moment in Cuban history, looking at what happened in light of Obamahow the country and specifically Havana have been altered, she says.

Though the U.S. market remains somewhat resistant to translations, after a decade of running Indent, Montejo reports promising signs. She still gets rejected a ton, but she sees a changing of the guard with the latest generation of editors, many of whom speak second languages and are more comfortable with evaluating manuscripts in foreign languages. I want to think that books in translation will get more attention in these turbulent timesthat there is something positive to all this extremism that will make us reevaluate what were doing, Montejo says. We need more and more to see other parts of the world, how others think and live, and to learn from their experiences.

Gabriella Page-Fort

Editorial Director

AmazonCrossing, Seattle

A few months ago AmazonCrossing, the literary translation imprint of Amazon Publishing, celebrated its seventh anniversary. Under the leadership of Page-Fort, who has been at the press since its inception, AmazonCrossing has published more than 300 titles from 36 countries in 21 languages. Page-Fort acquired 239 of those titles in 19 languages. Galen Maynard, associate publisher and foreign rights director of Amazon Publishing, credits Page-Fort with changing the landscape of literature available to English readers today and introducing voices from around the world at a pace unmatched in the industry.

Page-Forts list includes the 1.5-million-copy-selling Hangmans Daughter series by German writer Oliver Potzsch and a wide array of award-winning books from many countries, including Zygmunt Miloszewskis crime novel Rage, which won the prestigious Paszport Polityki Prize for Literature in Poland; Mariam Petrosyans The Gray House, winner of Russias Big Book Prize; and Shion Miuras The Great Passage, which won a Japanese Bestsellers Award.

Literary agent Tom Colchie, who represents several international authors, called Page-Fort a maverick of the first order. He adds, What I especially appreciate about Gabriella is that she doesnt divide literature into high or low, difficult or easy, too dark or too lightshe only cares about whether or not the work has something wonderful to say to readers.

Page-Forts passion for translation harks way back to a high school Spanish class. As soon as we did our first text translation in the class, I had a pretty good understanding that translation was awesome, she says. She joined Amazon Publishing in 2008 after spending a decade at Continuum as publishing services supervisor, a vague jack-of-all-trades title that enabled her to learn many aspects of publishing in a small environment. Her first job at Amazonone that she didnt have for long because of the rapid changes taking place within the companywas working with publishers to bring their authors into Amazons print-on-demand program. Right across the hall, Amazon Publishing was just starting to blossom and, as Page-Fort recounts, I had the honor of being the first employee hired for AmazonCrossing specifically.

Page-Fort is grateful to Amazon for asserting that a specialized imprint in translation is a good idea. She adds, Having that focus as an editor has allowed me to hone my expertise working with translators and editing translations.

Within the context of a translation-only imprint, Page-Fort and her team have a completely open focus, publishing in multiple genres with the goal of adding languages. She embraces the challenges that translating from languages and cultures less familiar to English speakers in the U.S. and abroad offer.

Indonesia has been interesting for me personally, Page-Fort says. The language differs in its use of verb tenses and temporal references, and she calls working with Indonesian texts a great education. Indonesian writer Laksmi Pamuntjaks debut novel changed my life, Page-Fort adds, and led her on what she calls an obsessive quest to study 20th-century Indonesian history.

On the horizon is the first translation from Greek for Amazon Publishing: The House by the River, by Lena Manta, one of Greeces bestselling writers. The novel, due out in November, opens a window into Greek culture and history by telling the stories of five young women. It also is a great fit for all of us with Ferrante fever, says Page-Fort.

Also forthcoming is A River in Darkness, a memoir of escape by Masaji Ishikawa, who fled North Korea to Japan. It has been an honor to work with a man who has experienced this much darkness and handles the most difficult subjects with a graceful levity, Page-Fort says. He invites us into his heart, putting a human pulse on the glaring simplicity of recent headlines.

Porter Anderson, editor-in-chief of Publishing Perspectives, summed up her accomplishments succinctly when he recently wrote, What Page-Fort is doing here may be one of the best things to happen to work in translation in decades: shes demystifying it.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of years one of the Oblong book stores had been in business and incorrectly named the "Fiction Into Film" book group.
Mimi Pond's excellent second autobiographical graphic novel, The Customer Is Always Wrong, picks up without pause where her first, the revelatory Over Easy, left off: with young Madge slinging hash at an Oakland diner packed with oddballs from the 1960s counterculture. Pond selects 10 of her favorite graphic memoirs.

I have been a cartoonist all my life. When I say all my life, I mean I was looking at the Sunday comics before I could read and copying them. As soon as I could read, my father put the E.C. Mad Comics Signet Paperbacks in my chubby little mitts and soon I was howling at the parody antics of Starchie and Superduper Man. I think I was eight when I saw Jules Feiffers Sick Sick Sick, and it made me feel terribly sophisticated that I could grasp even a word of it. I couldnt wait to grow up and become neurotic! Even so, I loved childrens books and I often wondered why, when you became an adult, they made you give up the pictures. It was like you were being punished for having reached adulthood. I always wanted more pictures. You had to know where to look, though. I have been looking all my life for those stories, told the way I thought they should be told, drawn in ways that thrilled me to my marrow.

1. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel I will begin with Fun Home because Fun Home is the first graphic memoir I read that made me think that I could actually make a graphic memoir. Sure, Id done comics and humor books for 25 years. But the thought of executing as a graphic memoir the long-form story that had been percolating in my head for 25 years seemed like a sheer cliff face I could never possibly scale. Alison Bechdel, with Fun Home, brought that cliff down to a reasonable, personal mountain I might just be able to get to the top of. Her intimate literary style, her use of captions, almost like voiceover narration, her dialogue, her gestural drawing, and her nod to childrens book illustration were part of what made the medium suddenly knowable and personal to me.

2. Make Me a Woman by Vanessa Davis Vanessa Daviss collection of short diary comics, Make Me a Woman, is right up my alley as well. We became very good friends after I saw her work online, and have been ever since. Vanessa has a sharp eye for the absurd, the poignant, the comic, the intimate. Her sense of color and line is a delight, and she has an excellent nose for stories laying themselves at her feet. On top of that, she and I can be out in public, see someone who desperately needs to be drawn by either or both of us, and simply exchange bug-eyed significant looks and elbow jabs.

3. Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart Tom Harts Rosalie Lightning is a staggering, unflinching examination of the loss of his nearly two-year-old daughter in graphic memoir form. He has shared his catharsis visually, in a way neither maudlin, nor at a remove. It is a visceral, honest, and haunting excavation of the kind of nightmare the rest of us have a firewall in our brain to keep away.

4. We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin Another brave soul who has a harrowing story to tell is Miriam Katin, whose book, We Are On Our Own, begins in 1944, when the Nazis finally got around to rounding up all the Jews of Budapest. Katins father was fighting in the resistance, and her mother took flight with Miriam, at age two, to the countryside, where she masqueraded as a peasant girl with a bastard child. They were given shelter by a farm family, but her mother found there were still many trials to come and deals to be struck before the war would end. This book is a riveting look at Katins questioning of faith and a dialogue between herself and her mother--still with us!--to draw out those memories in order to come to terms with the trauma visited upon her family.

5. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast Roz Chast has built a career as a New Yorker cartoonist with single-panel comics that are economical, bittersweet souffles of neurosis, anguish, and despair. Is it a surprise that the story she tells of managing the ends of her parents lives would be any less pithy or poignant? Cant We Talk About Something More Pleasant cuts to the very marrow of a long and difficult relationship, the untidy and unwieldy mess of organizing medical and legal issues, and the complexities of adulthood. Youd think this would be no fun--and for Chast, it isnt--but her approach, her delicate line, and her watercolor washes somehow celebrate the absurdity and the humanity of it all.

6. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki Shigeru Mizuki fought in the Japanese Imperial Army in Papua New Guinea, a place rife with disease, crippling heat, near-starvation, and the daily horror of war. He has an off-hand, absurdist touch in expressing the savage brutality shown the troops by their own leaders, and their insistence that death was inevitable and more honorable than survival. Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths tells of a personal survival that had more to do with the author's own eccentric attitude, his complete inability to fit into the militaristic lockstep, and his slow development after the war as he became a national hero of manga.

7. Hostage by Guy Delisle Guy Delisles Hostage tells the story of a French administrator for Doctors Without Borders, Christophe Andre, who was working in the Caucasus region in 1997 when he was kidnapped by Chechen rebels and held captive for many months. He shows masterful skill both with words and pictures, as he paces the story of a man confined to a dark room in a kind of endless purgatory. To make each hour of survival absolutely gripping and page-turning is a kind of magic trick.

8. Stitches by David Small Stitches by David Small tells the very personal and painful story of how his father, a radiologist, submitted him to far too many radiation treatments for the sinus problems he had as a small child. When he was 14, David had an operation that removed a vocal cord, leaving him literally mute for years. Not that he was ever actually told that his father gave him cancer. It was a household where there was not much talking anyway, what with all the rage seething just under the surface. Years of unearthing family secrets leads him, finally, to forgiveness and closure, as depicted in this haunting memoir.

9. The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf Another painful-yet-funny family memoir is Riad Sattoufs The Arab of the Future. Growing up in France, Syria, and Libya, Sattouf paints a darkly comic, cynical landscape as things change dramatically and quickly. His father tries to reconcile his own dogma and his own hopes for the Arab world with what is happening before his eyes, while his wife and son watch helplessly.


Since the gun assault on the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in early 2015, no less than 14 major incidents of terrorism have occurred in Europe, causing havoc in a string of cities including Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin, London, Stockholm, Manchester and, most recently, Barcelona. With jihadists increasingly hemorrhaging territory in Syria and Iraq, it is highly probable that the world will witness more of these attacks on soft targetsunguarded and accessible civilian-centric locationsas groups like the Islamic State group attempt to demonstrate their continued relevance. Now more than ever governments need to take stock and look at the most effective ways of blunting the contemporary threat posed by Islamist militancy.

Whatever terrorist campaigns of violence ensue, they will in all likelihood be drawn out and bloody. The abundance of weak and failing states in Asia, Africa and the Middle East (Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, to name just a few) will provide terrorist organizations with an open-ended laundry list of countries to exploit for recruiting and logistical purposes. At the same time, the growth of far-right sentiment in Europe, North America and Australia, mainstream as well as extremist, should provide plenty of opportunities for jihadis to justify their acts as a legitimate response to a western war against Islam. And now groups have stumbled on a proven, cheap, low-tech yet highly effective tactic to stage mass casualty attacks: vehicles.

How then should governments respond? So far, the main emphasis has been on hitting terrorists hard through a combination of combat operations to destroy safe-havens and the institution of extra-judicial law enforcement procedures that have substantially expanded the search, arrest and investigative powers of the police and security services. While these measures may have a role to play in hardening the state apparatus against religious militancy, they do not really get to the crux of the current problem, which is really about a clash of values between moderate and extreme interpretations of Islam.

Developing sophisticated and credible narratives that debunk and provide positive alternatives to the ideology of violent extremismessentially employing words and beliefs to promote the peaceful and constructive tenets of the Muslim faithwould seem to be a useful approach. This would entail engaging with Islamic, clerics, elders, charities and community leaders to identify those who could be potentially vulnerable to the rhetoric of radical messaging and studiously working to prevent them from being sucked into the linear, us-versus-them mindset of groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group by ensuring they are given appropriate advice and support. Suicide bombers and religious fanatics who wantonly slaughter civilians are indoctrinated to think and act this way. This means education needs to be a central component of any viable counter-terrorist strategy.

To be sure, certain countries are coming to appreciate the importance and worth of institutionalized programs dedicated to building societal resilience against religious violence. The U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, Belgium, Australia, and to a certain extent the United States, are all examples. For most other states, however, much of the emphasis remains on winning a war against terrorismnot only overseas, but also increasingly at home. This presupposes that a victory is ultimately possible, which unfortunately it is not since there will always be those prepared to use violence in pursuit of a cause. More intrinsically, unless applied with extreme care and precision, strong-arm policies run the risk of fueling the very grievances and sense of injustice and alienation that Islamist militants have so adroitly exploited for recruiting purposes.

Governments should not prevaricate in the face of terrorism. But playing down the importance of soft remedial solutions is a mistake. A more nuanced strategy aimed at mobilizing and empowering communities to directly challenge ideas that are conducive to extremist violence could end up breaking the seemingly endless cycle of conflict and destruction.

Peter Chalk is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on August 28, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry says China and Tajikistan agreed to exchange security intelligence as part of an upgrade to diplomatic relations during a state visit by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to Beijing.

The ministry said in a statement on September 1 that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Rahmon established a "comprehensive strategic partnership" between the neighboring countries.

"Both sides will strengthen communications between defense, security and law enforcement departments and deepen intelligence exchanges," it said.

During their meeting on August 31, Xi and Rahmon also agreed to bolster efforts to combat the threats of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism, as well as drug trafficking by launching professional intelligence exchanges, the statement said.

China has worked to deepen security cooperation with countries in Central Asia and elsewhere as Beijings ambitious plan to rebuild the ancient Silk Road has raised new security concerns for the country and its companies.

The project, dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative, plans to reconnect trade routes from China to Central and South East Asia.

China and Russia are partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc established in 2001 that also includes Tajikistan and other former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

But Beijing and Moscow are vying to hold sway in the region, which Russia has seen as part of its sphere of influence since the Imperial era.

Last year, China agreed to finance and build several outposts for Tajik border guards along the porous Tajik-Afghan frontier.

Rahmon is scheduled to remain in China until September 5 and take part in events related to the September 3-5 summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- in the southeastern city of Xiamen.

Based on reporting by Reuters, RFE/RL's Tajik Service, and Xinhua
SIMFEROPOL -- The trial of Crimean journalist Mykola Semena will resume later this month after the first hearing in weeks produced little progress toward a resolution of the politically charged case.

The judge adjourned the trial after a brief session on August 31 in which a prosecutor who had been due to speak said she was unprepared, defense lawyer Aleksandr Popkov told RFE/RL.

Semena, a contributor to RFE/RL, is fighting what he says is a baseless, politically motivated separatism charge at the trial in the Crimean capital, Simferopol.

Rights groups say the trial is part of a systematic Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea since Moscows armed occupation and takeover of the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.

According to Popkov, the prosecutor who was due to speak requested more time to prepare, saying that she needed to discuss details with a different prosecutor who was responsible for the text of the official charge against Semena.

Judge Nadezhda Shkolnaya granted the request and scheduled the next hearing for September 18, Popkov said.

The charge against Semena, 66, stems from an article he wrote for RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website in 2015.

The Kremlin-installed prosecutor in Crimea charged that the article had called for the violation of Russias territorial integrity.

Semena, whose trial started in March, faces up to five years in prison if convicted. The last hearing before August 31 took place on August 3.

Semena contends, among other things, that Russian authorities based the case on an inaccurate Russian translation of his original Ukrainian text.

Before the adjournment, the judge rejected Popkov's motion to exclude translations of the article from Ukrainian and English into Russian from the case materials.

The defense lawyer argued that the translations were not done by a licensed translator.

Earlier in the trial, linguist Elena Novozhilova testified that, in her opinion, Semena's article did not contain calls for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity.

Semena told RFE/RL before the hearing on August 31 that the trial was entering the final stage in which the prosecution and defense will make statements and prosecutors will give their sentencing recommendation.
They were law-abiding Ukrainian citizens.

They opposed Russia's illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea.

They were somebody's husband, somebody's father, somebody's brother, and somebody's son.

And they've been disappeared.

According to human rights groups, at least eight and as many as 17 residents of Crimea have vanished since the Russian annexation.



Some rights activists say the true number is even higher.

And at least six of the disappeared were later found dead.



They include people like Reshat Ametov, a Tatar activist who was abducted in the center of Simferopol.



His body was later found with signs of torture.

They include people like Edem Asanov, another Tatar activist who disappeared in September 2014 on his way to work. His body was found hanged in a deserted building.



And they include people like Vasily Chernysh, a Ukrainian activist with the AutoMaidan movement and former employee of the Ukrainian Security Service in Sevastopol. He has not been seen or heard from since police came to his apartment, detained him, and took him to an unknown location.



When Russia annexed Crimea, Vladimir Putin's regime claimed it was fulfilling the wishes of the peninsula's people.



And those who challenged this narrative are being systematically silenced one way or another.



Some, like the acclaimed Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov and numerous Tatar activists were prosecuted in show trials.

And others have been simply disappeared.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
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President Ashraf Ghani led Afghanistan's official observances of Eid al-Adha with a call for peace with Pakistan, as Muslims around the world celebrated the Festival of Sacrifice. (RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Radio Mashaal, Kazakh Service and Balkan Service)
TBILISI -- A court in Georgia has fined a prominent advocate for drug-law reform 2,000 laris ($830) for possession of 69 grams of cannabis, replacing a 14-year prison sentence that was imposed before punishments were softened.

The Tbilisi City Court also ruled on August 31 that Beka Tsikarishvili cannot drive a car, teach, or practice law for five years, and barred him from working in medicine or pharmaceuticals for 10 years.

Tsikarishvili was arrested in May 2013, and his case led to protests across Georgia against strict punishment for drug possession and use.

His 14-year sentence engendered a campaign calling for his release and softer drug laws, and authorities freed him on bail 18 days after his sentence was pronounced.

The "Beka Is Not a Criminal" campaign later transformed into the White Noise Movement, which continues to campaign for drug-law reform.

Amid frequent protests in 2015, Georgias Constitutional Court declared imprisonment for possession of 69 grams of cannabis or less unconstitutional.

A year later, the Constitutional Court ruled imprisonment for possession and consumption of any amount of cannabis unconstitutional.

In July, the Georgian parliament amended the law to comply with the ruling, imposing a fine for cannabis possession instead of jail time, but maintaining it as a criminal offense.


An association of "patriotic entrepreneurs" is proposing that the Russian central bank issue a new 10,000 ruble banknote featuring Vladimir Putin's likeness.

Now you can read that a couple ways. The simplest, of course, is that it's nothing more than the latest example of over-the-top leader worship and Putin adulation, the latest manifestation of a personality cult run amok.

And that may well be the case. But there's also another way to look at it, especially when you consider that sitting presidents -- even sitting authoritarian presidents -- are rarely pictured on their country's currency.

Despite the fact that Putin is widely expected to seek -- and all but certain to win -- a fourth term in the Kremlin in March, there appears to be a growing realization that after 18 years, the Putin era is actually entering its final lap.

There's a specter haunting the Russian elite. The specter of Putin as a lame duck.

And this is manifesting itself in more ways than proposals to put the Kremlin leader's likeness on the Russian currency.

In recent weeks, Russian pundits, media, and think tanks have been increasingly -- and very openly -- speculating about something that not so long ago was considered entirely taboo: life after Putin.

The prominent sociologist Sergei Belanovsky recently wrote on Facebook, for example, that "the Putin era is coming to an end" and that "this is an incontrovertible fact which doesnt depend on how much longer he remains president."

The St. Petersburg Politics Foundation recently published rankings of potential Putin successors -- rankings that were amplified by major Russian media.

Earlier this summer, the pro-Kremlin daily Moskovsky Komsomolets openly raised questions about Putin's health, noted a "feeling of uncertainty and instability" among the elite, and played guessing games about who might replace him.

And Putin himself recently contributed to all the speculation by talking publicly about the qualities he thinks a Russian leader should have.

This is all a far cry from three years ago, when Vyacheslav Volodin, then the deputy Kremlin chief of staff, famously said that "there is no Russia today if there is no Putin."

Putinism In Winter

So while Putin clearly isn't going anywhere right now, the system he created seems to be bracing for the fact that his next term in the Kremlin will probably be his last.

The Kremlin leader, after all, will turn 65 in October. If he completes another six year term as president, he'll be 71.

And what then? Does Putin change or ignore the Russian Constitution and seek a third consecutive term in 2024 -- a move that would effectively amount to declaring himself president for life?

Does he try to repeat the so-called "castling" and anoint a placeholder president as he did with Dmitry Medvedev in 2008-12 -- and triumphantly return to the Kremlin in 2030 at the age of 77?

Either is possible, but probably unlikely.

And, as a result, Putin's courtiers and the broader Russian elite are preparing for a prolonged and potentially unstable period that will be largely consumed by intrigue about what happens next.

According to the well-connected political analyst Yevgeny Minchenko's latest Politburo 2.0 report on the Russian elite, "realistic discussions about a successor will begin with the preparations for the 2021 parliamentary elections."

Minchenko added that "it is possible that a special post-presidential status will be created for Putin," something akin to a "Russian ayatollah."

But even if it is made clear that Putin will remain Russia's de facto ruler even after leaving the presidency -- assuming a status similar to that once enjoyed by Deng Xiaoping in China, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, or currently enjoyed by the Supreme Leader in Iran -- it would still spell the end of the current era.

Moreover, the Russian presidency would remain a very powerful institution, and the battle for who gets it post-Putin, and the jockeying for position in the new order, promises to be fierce.

The Ghosts Of 1999 -- And 2008

The high-profile arrest of former Economics Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, which is widely believed to have been orchestrated by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, appears to be the first manifestation of the coming turbulence.

Ulyukayev was the first sitting minister arrested and prosecuted since the Stalin era.

The case appears to be connected to Sechin's efforts to control the energy industry and the push back this has generated within a faction of the elite that is determined not to allow him to accumulate more power and resources.

Minchenko predicts that such infighting will intensify after the presidential election in March, with Putin's inner circle splitting into two camps: "mobilizers" like National Guard commander Viktor Zolotov and Rostek head Sergey Chemezov and "modernizers" like Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Veteran Kremlin-watcher and former U.S. State Department official Donald Jensen, currently a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, notes that "Russias elites long had seemed to be cemented together by Putins authority, or the need to protect cash flows, or the need to circle the wagons against what they believe to be a hostile West. Now the cement seems to be weakened."

This is all reminiscent of previous periods when a transition was looming.

As Putin's second term drew to a close in 2007-08, rivalries in the security services descended into an open and violent conflict that became known as the "siloviki war."

And the twilight of Boris Yeltsin's presidency in 1999 was marked by a vicious conflict between two factions of the elite, open rebellion in the regions, a war in the Caucasus, and a series of suspicious apartment bombings in Moscow and other cities.

Writing in Republic.ru, the opposition journalist and political commentator Oleg Kashin called the lack of experience with orderly presidential successions the "dramaturgical defect of contemporary Russian statehood."

And the dramaturgy is about to begin anew.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
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.

Separately, Russian occupying forces said late on November 12 that they were preparing to leave the city of Nova Kakhovka, the site of a damaged dam on the Dnieper River, to a safer location, according to Russian state-run TASS news agency.

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?'"

Meanwhile, Pavel Filipchuk, the head of the occupation government in Nova Kakhovka, told administrators and residents that Russian forces will be pullng back from the city on the right bank of the Dnieper River.

He cited concerns that the key dam could be damaged by missiles, which would result in flooding.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of planning to blast the dam, which has already been severely damaged.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
A wave of deadly violence has forced thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee their homes in Burma, also known as Myanmar, and seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. The UN estimates that some 40,000 people have fled the country since the latest violence erupted a week ago. Rohingya militants reportedly attacked police posts on August 25, prompting a counterattack by security forces.
Pakistan Army troops are being sent to the southern city of Karachi to help in rescue efforts after massive floods that left at least 27 people dead, many of them electrocuted from falling power lines.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on September 1 ordered army soldiers, paramilitary rangers, and emergency equipment to the city of up to 23 million people that is battling the effects of the monsoon season.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar said thousands of residents in two of the citys neighborhoods have been told to evacuate on concerns they could be swept away by an overflowing river.

The mayor said 15 people, including children, died overnight on August 31 from electrocution, falling buildings, and flooding.

A spokesman for the Edhi rescue agency said the citys death toll could rise after rescuers are able to access areas currently unreachable.

Officials said at least 115 people have died in Pakistan during the current monsoon season, while officials in India reported 1,687 deaths due to floods and related disasters since June.

Based on reporting by dpa and The Nation
Russian President Vladimir Putin, it seems, didnt get the memo -- or just doesnt care.

A purported "Spanish air-traffic controller" at a Kyiv airport was exposed as a fake almost immediately after that Twitter persona claimed Ukrainian warplanes were flying near Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 before it was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

In comments left out of U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stones recent documentary on the Russian leader, Putin cited claims by a "specialist originating from Spain" in connection with the air disaster, which killed 298 people.

"As far as I know, right away after this terrible catastrophe, one of the Ukrainian air controllers -- I think he was a specialist originating from Spain -- announced that he had seen a military aircraft in the corridor assigned for civil aircraft. And there could have been no other military aircraft than the one controlled by the Ukrainian authorities," Putin is quoted as saying in a book based on Stones interviews.

The book, titled The Putin Interviews, was published in English in June and includes comments by the Russian president that were not included in Stones four-part Showtime documentary of the same name.

Putins comments, from July 2015, about the purported Spaniard -- the @spainbuca Twitter post in question was signed "Carlos" -- had gone largely unnoticed. But they drew headlines in Russia this week after the independent Dozhd TV network published excerpts from a forthcoming Russian translation of the book.

"That awkward moment when your president refers to Twitter fakes as if they are truthful information," Russian journalist Tikhon Dzyadko tweeted.

The strange saga of "Carlos" began shortly after the Boeing 777 was shot down on July 17, 2014, with a war raging between Kyivs forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In the hours after the tragedy, the Twitter persona claimed to be a Spanish air-traffic controller working in Kyiv and that there were two Ukrainian military jets in the air in the vicinity of the crash. Russian state-run media jumped on the claims.

The state-controlled RT network in one of its earlier reports on the claims stated unequivocally that the Twitter user was a "Spanish air-traffic controller who monitored the Malaysia Airlines" flight.

Another Russian state television report cited the claims the same day as well, noting that "Carlos also writes that defense officials have confirmed: the airplane was shot down by the Ukrainian side. But it is unclear who gave the order." The report also said the man "monitored" the flight.

An international criminal investigation in 2016 concluded that the plane was shot down by a Buk antiaircraft missile fired from separatist-controlled territory and that the missile system was smuggled back to Russia shortly afterward.

Moscow called the findings "biased and politically motivated" and has repeatedly sought to cast doubt on evidence pointing toward a Russian role in the downing of the plane.

In the days following the incident, a Russian official had suggested a Ukrainian Su-25 may have shot down the plane. That claim has been widely dismissed as groundless. Russia has since suggested MH17 was blown apart by a land-based missile fired from Kyiv-controlled territory.

In the more than three years since the downing of MH17, no public evidence has emerged suggesting the individuals claims about working at the airport were true.

The Boryspil airport told the BBCs Russian Service that it had never heard of such a person. A senior official from Ukraines state air-traffic service told the fact-checking site StopFake that there was no controller by that name and that all of its controllers were Ukrainian citizens.

RT, which earlier in 2014 aired what it said was an interview with the man purporting to be Carlos -- blurring his face -- later changed its description of the individual to "a person who claims that he works as an air-traffic controller at Kyivs Boryspil airport."

The man claimed in the interview to have faced threats from supporters of Kyivs pro-Western government.

The Twitter account associated with Carlos later became active again, but this time using the female Russian name "Lyudmila Lopatyshkina." It has since been suspended again.

In the English-language version of the book featuring Putins comments about the alleged Spanish air-traffic controller, an appendix directs readers to a link that claims the testimony by Carlos has been validated. It suggests Carloss disappearance from Twitter is "real, mounting evidence which points to an obvious cover-up by Kiev and its NATO partners."



Kremlin-loyal and nationalist media outlets that reported on Putins comments about Carlos did not mention that the Twitter persona had been exposed as a fake.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that Vladimir Putin made the comments to Oliver Stone in a September 2015 interview. According to Stone's book, the interview took place in July 2015.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the standoff over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs is "on the verge of a large-scale conflict."

In an article published on the Kremlins website on September 1, Putin obliquely criticized U.S. warnings of potential military action and said stepping up the pressure on Pyongyang won't solve the problem.

The remarks came after North Korea fired a missile over Japan last week, adding to persistent tension over the Korean Peninsula.

Putin said the crisis can only be solved through "direct dialogue between all concerned parties, without preconditions."

"Provocations, pressure, and bellicose, offensive rhetoric is a road to nowhere," he wrote.

Pyongyang has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.

Two days after North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 28 that "all options" were on the table in an implied threat of preemptive military action.

Russia has frequently expressed concern about North Korea's violations of UN Security Council resolution restricting its nuclear and missile activities.

But Moscow has also repeatedly assigned much of the blame for the tension to the United States, saying U.S.-South Korean military drills are provocative and that imposing further sanctions on Pyongyang would be counterproductive.

Putin said a roadmap drawn up by Russia and China -- which have relatively warm ties with Pyongyang and wield influence as permanent members of the UN Security Council -- was a way to gradually reduce the tensions.

The roadmap involves a mutual pause in missile tests by North Korea and U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which Pyongyang says it sees as preparations for invasion.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP


BESLAN, Russia -- The southern Russian town of Beslan has begun three days of mourning to mark the 13th anniversary of a school hostage-taking attack that ended with 334 people dead after a botched rescue, including 186 children.

The ceremony began on September 1 with the ringing of a bell at the ruins of School No. 1 in Beslan, in the North Ossetia region.

People attending the ceremony brought flowers, candles, and bottles of water -- a gesture to the victims, who were held for over two days in the stifling-hot school with very little water to drink.

Regional officials, residents, relatives of the victims, and members of the Mothers of Beslan NGO were among those attanding the commemoration.

Militants stormed School No. 1 on September 1, 2004 -- the first day of school -- and took some 1,200 children, parents, teachers, and staff hostage.

Most of the hostages who died were killed when Russian security forces stormed the school on September 3.

Beslan: Three Days Of Terror (Click Image to open photo gallery)

In April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia must pay nearly 3 million euros to relatives of Beslan victims, saying that Russian authorities failed to protect the schoolchildren, teachers, and parents.

With reporting by region15.ru
Russia on September 1 warned that it could offer a tough response to a U.S. order to close its consulate in San Francisco and locations in Washington and New York.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is examining the U.S. demand for the closure of three diplomatic missions in the United States and will respond after further study.

"We'll react as soon as we finish our analysis," Lavrov told students in Moscow. "We will respond harshly to things that damage us."

Separately, a top Kremlin aide complained the U.S. move pushed bilateral ties further into tit-for-tat retaliatory measures, likening it to a hostile takeover.

"This is all being done in the style of a seizure by raiders," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told a news briefing when asked about the closures.

"The new steps push our bilateral relations even further into a dead end and contradict other high- level announcements," Ushakov said.

"There have been words, but there's no readiness to cooperate yet. This is about further escalating tensions. We regret this and will calmly think about how we might respond," he said.

Ushakov also indicated that Russia might refrain from retaliation.

"On the other hand, one does not want to go into a frenzy because someone has to be reasonable and stop," he said.

Lavrov and Ushakov spoke less than 24 hours after the U.S. State Department set a September 2 deadline for the closure of the Russian consulate in San Francisco and two diplomatic buildings in Washington and New York used as trade representations.

The U.S. move followed Russia's July 28 order for the United States to reduce the number of diplomatic personnel in Russia to 455 people by September 1, which President Vladimir Putin said meant cutting 755 people.

Russian officials said that demand was Moscow's response to a U.S. law strengthening sanctions against Russia over issues that included its alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

Lavrov blamed the United States for the exchange of punitive diplomatic steps, but avoided specifically blaming President Donald Trump or his administration -- instead pointing the finger at former President Barack Obama -- and said Russia wants better relations.



"It was not us but the Obama Administration that caused the entire exchange of sanctions with the purpose of undermining Russia-U.S. relations, preventing Trump from making constructive initiatives at the start of his presidency, and hindering as much as possible the fulfillment of his election pledge that a normal relationship with Russia was necessary," Lavrov said.



"President Trump continues to say the same, and President Putin has expressed his interest many times, but this should be a two-way street based on mutual respect. We are prepared for that," Lavrov said.

'It Takes Two To Tango'

The United States and Russia have blamed the other for the tit-for-tat diplomatic steps, which began when Obama ejected Russia from two diplomatic compounds in the United States and expelled 35 Russian diplomats.

That move was a response to what U.S. intelligence officials said was a campaign of cyberattacks and propaganda -- ordered by Putin -- to undermine faith in the U.S. electoral system and weaken Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

"[Putin] has said it many times: We do not wish to quarrel with [the United States]," Lavrov said. "We have always maintained a friendly attitude towards the American people, and now we are open for meaningful cooperation in the fields of our interests."

"Our sincere wish is for the political atmosphere between the two countries to return to normal," he said, then turning to dance metaphors to focus blame on the United States. "But, as you know, it takes two to tango. It seems to me our U.S. counterparts have been performing solo breakdance moves recently."

The United States contended that it is Russia that has taken excessive steps despite its calls for parity in the sizes of the diplomatic missions.

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City," the State Department said. "These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2."

'Firm, Measured Action'

It said the Russian demand to bring the number of diplomatic personnel down to 455 was "unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries."

"We're taken a firm and measured action in response to Russia's unfortunate decision earlier this year,"White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. "We want to halt the downward spiral and we want to move forward towards better relations. We'll look for opportunities to do that, but we also want to have equity in the decisions."

The shuttering of the San Francisco facility will leave Russia with the embassy in Washington and three consulates -- in Seattle, Houston, and New York City.

The United States has its embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg, the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, and the Pacific port of Vladivostok.

"The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern," the State Department statement said.

"The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted," it said.

While Moscow forced a large cut in U.S. diplomatic staff, Russia will not be required to reduce its embassy staff in the United States despite the consulate and annex closures, and the United States does not intend to expel any of the staff who are displaced by those closures, a senior U.S. administration official said in a phone call with reporters.

"We are not expelling any Russians at this time. We have informed the Russians that they may be reassigned to other diplomatic or consular posts in the United States if they choose to do so," the official said.

Also, while Russia will no longer be able to use the San Francisco consulate and closed annexes for diplomatic purposes, it will continue to own the properties and can dispose of them however it wishes, by selling or leasing them out, the official said.

The closure announcement came on the day that Russias new ambassador to the United States arrived in Washington for the first time since his appointment.

In comments to the state news agency TASS at Dulles International Airport, Anatoly Antonov cautioned patience, and alluded to a quotation from Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin.

Right now we need to sort this out calmly, very calmly, and act professionally, he said. To put it like Lenin did, we dont need hysterical outbursts.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and AP
Its all but certain that Vladimir Putin will stand for a fourth term as president when Russia holds its next election in March.



Its less certain who the Kremlin will allow -- or persuade -- to stand as a challenger to the popular leader in an effort to give the appearance of competition, what an influential Putin adviser once called managed democracy.



Crusading anticorruption lawyer Aleksei Navalny wants to run, and has enough charisma, clout, and independence that officials have gone after him with a financial-crimes prosecution that has made him legally ineligible to run.



Now, according to Vedomosti, theres another idea floating around political circles: enlisting a female candidate to run against Putin.



Citing several unnamed sources close to the presidential administration, the business newspaper reported on September 1 that five to seven women have been identified as potential candidates; three are members of A Just Russia, a political party set up in 2006 as an alternative to the ruling party, United Russia.



One of those reportedly under consideration, Natalya Velikaya, told the paper that having a female candidate was smart.



Theres demand in society for women in politics. This will increase interest in predictable elections, she was quoted as saying.



Vedomosti cited another source as saying the ideal candidate would, in fact, be none other than Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite, TV host, and actress whose father was mayor of St. Petersburg in the early 1990s and an early political backer of Putin. Formerly known as Russias Paris Hilton, shes become a more outspoken opposition activist in recent years.



Sobchak, meanwhile, was quick to quash the idea.



"Whos talking about what up in the top offices, I dont know, but Ive been closely following the political landscape for a long time. I have just one diagnosis, she wrote in a post on her Instagram account. "Your politics today are dismal crap, gentlemen. Boring and detestable."





While Putin hasnt formally committed to running in March, he has hinted that he will. With his wide popularity, a lack of alternatives, and the Kremlin's tight grip on most media, most Russia watchers expect he will decisively win another six-year term, which would make him the longest-serving Russian leader since Josef Stalin.
WASHINGTON -- Russia's Foreign Ministry said that U.S. law enforcement officials intend to search its San Francisco consulate and some diplomatic residences, and it complained the U.S. demands were posing a "direct threat" to its citizens.



Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted September 1 that unnamed U.S. agencies plan to conduct the search on September 2, following the State Department's announcement this week ordering the consulate and two other trade annexes in New York and Washington closed.



A State Department official would not immediately comment on whether any searches were planned or had been requested by U.S. law enforcement.



But in an e-mail to RFE/RL, the official said the U.S. order to close the facility as of September 2 meant Russia could no longer use it for diplomatic, consular, or residential purposes.



The facilities will be closed, and entry or access to the properties will be granted only with permission of the Department of State. The State Department will secure and maintain the properties in keeping with our responsibilities, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.



A senior U.S. administration official made similar comments to reporters on August 31, suggesting that U.S. law enforcement would potentially have access to the building as needed.



At this -- any facility, that is -- that they continue to own that is not recognized as a diplomatic annex, there -- the only authorized activities would be the protection and maintenance of the property, said the official, who also spoke on condition that he or she would not be named.



Calls and e-mails to the Justice Department were not immediately returned.

A man who answered a Russian Embassy emergency telephone line responded when asked by RFE/RL what was happening: "No, no. There's nothing going there. Don't be afraid."



Not long after the Foreign Ministry statement was issued, black smoke was seen billowing from a chimney at the consulate, prompting a response from San Francisco firefighters. A department spokeswoman later told the Associated Press that the consulate had a fire going in the fireplace and that unidentified items were being burned.

Late on September 1, AP reported that workers at the San Francisco consulate started hauling boxes out of the building to meet the September 2 deadline for evacuating the consulate.



The statement from Zakharova complained that the move amounted to a violation of diplomatic protocol and immunity and echoed comments earlier on September 1 from Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who said the U.S. order amounted to a hostile takeover.

"The demands of the U.S. authorities create a direct threat to the safety of Russian citizens," she said.



In announcing the closure order, the State Department said it was made in "the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians" -- a reference to the order by Moscow last month that the number of U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia should be drastically cut.



Russia on July 28 said the number of U.S. personnel in Russia must be cut to 455 people by September 1, which President Vladimir Putin said meant cutting 755 people. Officials said that demand was Moscow's response to a U.S. law strengthening sanctions over issues including Moscows alleged interference in last years presidential election.



Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on September 1 blamed Washington for the exchange of punitive diplomatic steps, but avoided specifically blaming President Donald Trump or his administration.



"President Trump continues to say the same, and President Putin has expressed his interest many times, but this should be a two-way street based on mutual respect," Lavrov said.



The shuttering of the San Francisco facility will leave Russia with its embassy in Washington and three consulates -- in Seattle, Houston, and New York City.



The United States has its embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg, the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, and the Pacific port of Vladivostok.



While Moscow forced a large cut in U.S. diplomatic staff, Russia will not be required to reduce its embassy staff in the United States despite the consulate and annex closures, and the United States does not intend to expel any of the staff who are displaced by those closures, the senior U.S. administration official said.



In December, then-President Barack Obama announced the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the seizure of two diplomatic compounds in the United States in response to what U.S. intelligence officials said was a campaign of cyberattacks and propaganda to undermine the U.S. electoral system and weaken Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

With reporting by AP
ON MY MIND

Hacking and leaking. Front groups and cutouts. Fellow travelers and useful idiots. Counterfeiting and forgeries. Intimidation and assassinations. Troll farms and dramaturgy. Fake news, slick disinformation, and crude propaganda.

Active measures --   -- have been part of the Kremlin's foreign policy toolkit for decades, if not centuries.

And they've been at the forefront of our attention in recent years.

But how does the Vladimir Putin's regime control all this chaos? How does the Kremlin manage its political war with the West?

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we'll take an in-depth look and discuss a new report on the subject..

Joining me will be my co-host Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, head of its Center for European Security, and author of a recently published report for the European Council on Foreign Relations -- Controlling Chaos: How Russia Manages Its Political War In Europe; and Andrei Soldatov, co-founder of the investigative website Agentura.ru and co-author of the book Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators And The New Online Revolutionaries, which has just been reissued with a new chapter covering Russia's hacking campaign against the West, which we'll also discuss on the podcast.

With a lineup like that, it promises to be a great show. So be sure to tune in later today!

IN THE NEWS

The United States has ordered the closure of Russias consulate in San Francisco, escalating a diplomatic tit-for-tat that followed Moscow's order for a sharp cut in U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia.

The Association Agreement strengthening ties between Ukraine and the European Union entered into force today, marking an end to four years of political drama surrounding the accord.

A court in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan region, has sentenced local activist Danis Safargali to three years in prison for inciting hatred on the Internet, inflicting bodily harm, and hooliganism -- charges which rights groups say are fabricated.

The Russian Federal Security Service says it has detained two people who were planning to carry out terror attacks in Moscow.

The studio of Russian director Aleksei Uchitel, who has been under pressure from conservative activists for his film highlighting the romantic youth of Tsar Nicholas II, has reportedly been attacked.

Andrei Bubeyev, a Russian man who was recently released from prison after serving time for reposting an article advocating the return of Crimea to Ukraine has reportedly left Russia.

University lecturer Yury Ganus has been appointed head of Russia's drug-testing agency RUSADA, the Russian Olympic Committee said.

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator has expressed concern that Britain might not honor long-term EU loans to Ukraine after it leaves the 28-member union.

Authorities in Belarus have said that a Ukrainian teenager whose disappearance has triggered claims of a Russia-orchestrated kidnapping entered the country a week earlier but that they have no record of his departure.

LATEST POWER VERTICAL BLOG

In my latest Power Vertical blog post, Lame Duck Putinism, I look at how Russian pundits are speculating about, and the Russian elite is preparing for, life after Putin.

WHAT I'M READING

Being Good In Bad Times

In his column for Republic.ru, opposition journalist Oleg Kashin looks at a the dilemma Putin's passive opponents face: How do you remain on the side of the good when the authorities are bad.

Reviving The Intermarium

Kostiantyn Fedorenko and Andreas Umland of the Kyiv-based Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation have a piece in War On The Rocks on reviving the idea of an Intermarium security coalition in Central and Eastern Europe.

The FSB And Migrant Radicalism

In OpenDemocracy, Mark Galeotti of the Institute of International Relations in Prague looks at the FSB's belated efforts to combat the growing threat of Islamist terrorism from Central Asia.

Russia's Political War In Europe

And be sure to keep an eye on the European Council on Foreign Relations website, which today will publish Galeotti's new report Controlling Chaos: How Russia Manages Its Political War In Europe, which we will discuss on today's Power Vertical Podcast.

The Russophobia Slur

In Novaya Gazeta, Artyom Troitsky argues that Russia's efforts to brand its critics as "Russophobic" are falling flat.

(See also my look at The Russophobia Weapon on The Power Vertical blog back in May)

Book Review: Russia And The Western Far Right

Paul Jackson, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Northampton, reviews Anton Shekhovtsov's book Russia And The Western Far Right: Tango Noir for Searchlight magazine.


Ukraine says it will introduce new border-crossing rules from next year, affecting citizens of countries that pose risks for Ukraine.



President Petro Poroshenko told reporters on September 1 that a new set of regulations will be published in the coming hours, according to a statement on the presidential website.



The rules will stipulate that starting January 1, citizens of countries that pose risks for Ukraine will either have to show a biometric passport or provide such biometric information to the authorities when crossing the border.



Under the current circumstances, when the country is subjected to Russia's military aggression, such a practice is fully justified, Poroshenko said.



Although it singled out Russia, the statement did not specify the countries that it considers pose a threat to Ukraine.



Russia's state-run Interfax news agency quoted Oleh Slobodin, the chief of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), as saying foreigners affected by the new policy will be required to submit to fingerprinting if they do not have biometric passports.



Slobodin also said Russian citizens will also have to notify Ukrainian authorities in advance about their travel plans.



Biometric, or e-passports, contain computer chips with information about the traveler, generally used to prevent fraud and forgery.



Relations between pro-West Ukraine and Russia have been tense since Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and backed separatists in a war against Kyiv's forces that has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine

With reporting by TASS and Interfax
The UN's nuclear watchdog agency has rejected Iran's claim that it cannot visit military sites to determine whether Tehran is complying with the 2015 nuclear accord, but it has no reason to seek such access at this time, media reports said on August 31.

Yukiya Amano, the head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, which is charged with monitoring Iran's compliance with the 2015 deal's curbs on nuclear activities, told the Associated Press in an interview that his agency can access military sites if it suspects Iran is hiding prohibited activities there.

His agency "has access to [all] locations without making distinctions between military and civilian locations" under provisions of the agreement, he told AP.

But unidentified agency officials told Reuters that while the agency has the authority to check Iranian military sites, it has no plans to seek access at this time because it has no reason to suspect Iran is carrying out any banned activities there.

The nuclear watchdog on August 31 certified in a quarterly report seen by news agencies that Iran is complying with the agreement, which granted Iran international sanctions relief in exchange for the curbs on its nuclear activities.

A dispute broke out in the past week between Iran and the United States over whether the agency is allowed to access Tehran's military sites to detemine whether Iran is complying with the deal.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, asserted on August 25 that the agency has authority to check military sites, and she urged it to do so to see whether Iran is hiding prohibited nuclear activities.

But Iranian leaders this week said Iran will never allow the agency to access its military sites, and the U.S. demand to inspect them is only a "dream" that will never be realized.

"The Americans will take their dream of visiting our military and sensitive sites to their graves.... It will never happen," said Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Haley responded to the Iranian rhetoric on August 31, saying "if inspections of Iranian military sites are 'merely a dream,' as Iran says, then Iranian compliance with the [nuclear deal] is also a dream."

Officials at the UN agency told Reuters that despite the U.S. demand that it inspect military sites, the United States has presented no new evidence of possible violations of the nuclear accord that could justify such a move.

The German news agency dpa quoted UN diplomats as saying that while the agency reserves the right to visit military sites in the future if suspicions arise, without evidence of violations it must take great care to avoid the appearance of doing the bidding of some countries' spy agencies.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and Reuters


WASHINGTON -- The United States says it is deeply concerned by reports that imprisoned Iranian spiritual leader Mohammad Ali Taheri has been sentenced to death, and it called on the authorities to reverse the decision.

The State Department on September 1 said the charges of founding a religious cult and spreading corruption on Earth violate Tehrans obligations to respect and ensure his freedoms of expression and religion or belief.

The statement added that the death penalty should be used only for the most serious crimes.

We call on the Iranian government to take whatever steps necessary to reverse Taheris conviction and death sentence, it added. We join our voice with those who call on Iran to uphold its obligations under Iranian and international law and to ensure that the human rights of all individuals in Iran are respected and guaranteed.

The State Department added it was deeply disturbed by reports that some of Taheris followers had also been arrested on similar objectionable charges.

An Iranian court in August sentenced Taheri to death for a second time, two years after an initial death sentence was overturned on appeal.

Taheris lawyer, Mahmud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, said on August 27 that Taheri had been sentenced after being convicted of spreading corruption on Earth for founding a group called the Circle of Mysticism.

Tabatabaei said he would appeal the ruling within the required 20 days and expressed hope that the Supreme Court would overturn the sentence.

Taheri's family has claimed the spiritual leader has suffered harassment in prison and was pressured into giving a forced video confession.

Taheri, 61, is a popular faith healer whose group promotes a mystical understanding of the universe.

He was for a time allowed to practice and teach in public, but he came under increased pressure following a warning by Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about "false mysticism that might lure away people from Islam."

Taheri was first arrested in 2010 and has been in Evin prison in Tehran since 2011, when a court sentenced him to five years in prison for blasphemy.

He was sentenced to death on similar charges in 2015, but an appeals court later rejected the verdict.

Taheri has reportedly gone on hunger strike several times to protest his detention.

Many of his followers, especially around the city of Isfahan, have been detained by the authorities.

With reporting RFE/RL's Radio Farda, ISNA, BBC, and AP
An Iranian teenager sneaks up behind a cleric in the capital, Tehran, and knocks his turban off his head before dashing off.

The incident, uploaded on social media, is part of a new tactic employed by anti-government demonstrators in Iran.

Nationwide antiestablishment protests have raged across the Islamic republic since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died on September 16 shortly after she was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law on women's dress.

As the authorities have waged a deadly crackdown on the rallies, some demonstrators have turned to new tactics to sustain the monthslong protests, including tipping off Islamic clerics' turbans in the streets.

Many Iranians associate members of the clergy with Iran's Islamist regime, which many blame for the repression and corruption in the country.

While some Iranians have praised the "turban throwing" as an act of resistance, others have expressed concern that low-level clerics who are not affiliated with the state could become the victims of harassment and violence.

Lawmaker Mohammad Taghi Naqd Ali on November 10 called the new trend "the devil's conspiracy" and warned that young protesters tossing clerics' turbans were "playing with the lion's tail."

State media reported the arrests of two people in recent days who were accused of knocking off clerics' turbans.

London-based human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr said the tactic was a "brave and revolutionary act." Sadr, the co-founder of the rights group Justice for Iran, told RFE/RL that protesters were "humiliating" clerics without resorting to violence. "They're [targeting] the clergy's turban as a symbol of the crimes and corruption of the past 43 years as well as the privileges clerics have enjoyed," she said.

"There is no violence in it, and it also includes youthful mischief, which highlights the spirit of the revolution," Sadr added, referring to the monthslong protests that have posed the biggest threat to the establishment in years.

But Ahmad Zeidabadi, a Tehran-based journalist and former political prisoner, said that some of the clerics targeted in the streets "may be critics or even victims of [state] policies."

"This phenomenon...mainly targets clerics who do not hold any government positions," he said on Twitter, adding that senior clerics in powerful positions rarely appear in public and are often protected by security guards if they do.

Reformist cleric Hojatoleslam Ahmad Heidari, who was jailed in the past for his support for the opposition Green Movement, warned that the new trend could taint the "beautiful face of [the] protest movement against oppression and injustice."

"You're right to be angry at those wearing turbans," Heidari wrote on the news site Esafnews.com. But he added that "those who have a hand in power and are your target" are out of reach. He said many of the clerics targeted were "young and elderly" clerics who are not sitting in "ivory towers."

Attacks on clerics, particularly those who attempt to enforce Islamic codes in public, had been on rise in Iran even before the protests erupted, forcing many clerics to appear in public without their robes and turbans.

Last week, a cleric was reportedly hospitalized after being wounded in Karaj, near Tehran, amid antiestablishment protests in the city. The hard-line Fars news agency claimed that protesters attacked the cleric with knives.

Hassan Fereshtian, a Paris-based Iranian cleric and researcher, said the turban-throwing trend was the result of the "suppressed anger of the past four decades."

"If it aims at eliminating the clergy, we could be facing the start of violence," he warned in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "In fact, the clergy should be eliminated from the centers of power. But they shouldn't be eliminated from society."

Fereshtian, a student of the late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, expressed hope that Iran will reach a point "where secular people can live peacefully next to the clergy and unveiled women next to those who choose to wear the hijab."

In the past year, regime supporters have knocked off the turbans of clerics who had criticized the establishment, including former Interior Minister Abdollah Nuri and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, who has been under house arrest since 2011 for disputing the 2009 reelection of former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
The United States is withholding a $255 million military aid payment from Pakistan until it cracks down on what President Donald Trump has called "safe havens" for anti-Afghanistan militant groups, officials said.

State Department officials said on August 31 that the funds won't be released from an escrow account until the United States sees that Pakistan is moving against the Afghan Taliban and allied groups like the Haqqani network that U.S. intelligence agencies say have resided for years within Pakistan's borders.

Pakistan has denied that it harbors terrorists and has said the United States is using Islamabad as a "scapegoat" for its own failure to win the 16-year war in Afghanistan.

The new U.S. stance toward Pakistan prompted a protest resolution in the Pakistani parliament this week as well as anti-U.S. protests in the streets that Pakistani police had to disperse using tear gas.

In announcing the new strategy last week, Trump said "we have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting... That will have to change."

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at the time that the administration was considering curtailing aid, severing Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, and even hitting Islamabad for the first time with sanctions, unless it tackles anti-Afghan militant groups within its borders.

"Were going to be conditioning our support for Pakistan and our relationship with them on them delivering results in this area, Tillerson said.

To Pakistan's alarm, Trump also floated the possibility of inviting India  Pakistan's archrival  to get more involved in Afghanistan unless Pakistan is more cooperative.

The administration's notification to Congress of an indefinite "pause" in installments on a $1.1 billion military assistance package for Pakistan represented the administration's first step to make good on those promised measures.

The United States has sought before to use aid to Pakistan as well as U.S. weapons sales as leverage to secure Islamabad's cooperation on Afghanistan.

Pakistan maintains that it already is doing everything it can to eliminate terrorists in the country, and has been more successful at doing so than its next-door neighbor, Afghanistan, even with the help of thousands of NATO and U.S. troops.

Moreover, Pakistan has complained that the United States does not appreciate the sacrifices Islamabad has made by joining the U.S. antiterror campaign, which Islamabad said has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Pakistani civilians and soldiers.

With reporting by AP and New York Times


Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) reports domestic sales of 17,365 units in August 2017 over 13,941 units sold in August 2016 to report 25% sales growth. HCIL exported 575 units in August 2017 and reports total sales of 17940 units. HCIL has initiated Great Honda Fest over the next two months.

Honda India has maintained strong sales momentum this fiscal year with 73,012 units sold during April  Aug 2017. Cumulative growth for the period stands at over 22% up from 59,821 units sold through April  August 2016. Model wise sales break-up for August 2017 is as follows: Brio  640 units, Jazz  2747 units, Amaze  1928 units, City  5538 units, WR-V  5200 units, BR-V  1247 units, CR-V  55 units, Accord Hybrid  10 units. The new 7 seat Honda CR-V should be launched in India in 2018.

Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd. reported HCIL continues strong sales in August led by City and WR-V. Festive season buying is underway in some parts of the country. HCIL expects the festival season to further boost Honda sales volume over September and October 2017.

HCIL announced Great Honda Fest from today so customers can maximize benefits when buying a Honda car this festive season. As part of festival promotions, HCIL has made available multiple offers, including a fully paid trip to the US. Great Honda Fest offers are available at all Honda dealerships across the country.

Adventure of Space, Earth & Ocean contest presents couples the opportunity to win the US trip. Customers who buy a new Honda car (invoiced or delivered) between 1st September and 31st October, 2017 are eligible to participate on the HCIL within the specified period.

Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd says the company aims to make the festive season special by rewarding customers. Selection and announcement of winners will be done after the contest period through random computer selection from correct entries received under supervision of appointed auditors.

The recently launched Honda Amaze and Jazz Privilege Edition in an attractive price package have received excited customer response.
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has revealed that their Next Gen Verna has started journey with a huge success. Hyundai confirms more than 25,000 Verna bookings with 1.5 lakh enquiries since launch in India on August 22, 2017.

YK Koo, MD & CEO, HMIL says, The Next Gen VERNA has outperformed in India once again with more than 20,000 bookings and 150,000 enquiries in a short span of 2 months of its launch in India. We are extremely thankful to our Indian customers for their trust in brand Hyundai. The Next Gen VERNA is beyond the ordinary, a global product that personifies Hyundais Modern Premium Brand and a landmark in Hyundai growth story winning many prestigious accolades worldwide. Presented as Intelligent by Design with Human Technology Connect, new Verna is creating new benchmarks in its segment.

Next Gen Verna bookings are almost double of Hyundai India monthly target. Built on the K2 platform similar to Elantra, Next Gen Verna brings together Futuristic Design, Dynamic Performance, Super safety, New Technology & Advanced Features. Vernas SUPER BODY STRUCTURE frame is built of 50% Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) for super strength and safety.

For Oct 2017, Hyundai India reports sales of 49,588 units, which is a decline as compared to October 2016 sales when the company sold 50,017 units.

Rakesh Srivastava, Director  Sales and Marketing, HMIL says alongwith 5th gen Verna, strong demand for Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta helped the company. The market is rife with speculations on GST cess increase. Challenges have been posed by floods in many states. Hyundai India looks forward to a period of strong buying in the festive season owing to good monsoon.

Owing to floods and waterclogging this week, Hyundai Motor India Ltd will offer a Special Service Support Package for Hyundai car owners affected in Mumbai and Vapi. A Service Operation Squad and 30 emergency road service vehicles are deployed for relief services.

Y K Koo, MD & CEO says Hyundai is a caring and customer centric brand. Complimentary Road Side Assistance (18001024645/0124-4343937) will enable towing operations. 350 technicians are are at it to bring affected vehicles upto date. Hyundai spare parts supplier MOBIS has prioritized order of spare parts for Mumbai and Vapi workshops to expedite the process.


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23927 / August 31, 2017 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Leon Vaccarelli, et al., No. 3:17-cv-01471 (D. Conn., filed Aug. 31, 2017) SEC Charges Broker With Defrauding Elderly Customers The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Connecticut-based broker representative and investment adviser Leon Vaccarelli and his company with fraudulently persuading several elderly customers to invest with him and then spending their money on his own living and business expenses. The SEC's complaint alleges that instead of investing the customers' money in such things as conventional brokerage accounts and so-called separately managed accounts as promised, Vaccarelli deposited customer funds into his personal and business bank accounts. He allegedly commingled the funds with his own money and used them for his own purposes, and in some instances he used customer funds to pay returns to earlier investors. According to the SEC's complaint, Vaccarelli asked one customer to sign an agreement that she would not provide certain information to FINRA or the SEC. Vaccarelli allegedly sold more than $450,000 in securities that were held in trust for the care and maintenance of a beneficiary and used some of the proceeds to pay business and personal expenses. The SEC alleges that Vaccarelli defrauded clients of more than $1 million, and the agency is seeking an asset freeze against Vaccarelli, individually and doing business as Lux Financial Services, and his company, LWLVACC, LLC. The SEC's complaint alleges that Vaccarelli violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 21F-17(a). The complaint seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, and permanent injunctive relief. The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, is being conducted by Alicia Reed, Deena Bernstein, Patrick Noone, and Amy Gwiazda of the Boston Regional Office. An SEC examination is being conducted by Jason Lake, Mark Gera, and Michael Lally of the Boston office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Banking's Securities and Business Investments Division. SEC Complaint https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2017/lr23927.htm

Modified: 08/31/2017
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has spent the last eight years searching for Earth-like exoplanets that orbit other stars. Although the telescope's camera can't take clear pictures of bright stars, astronomers have figured out how to study stars using Kepler's distorted photographs.

An international team of astronomers used the Kepler Space Telescope to look at the Pleiades, a bright star cluster that is relatively close to Earth at a little over 400 light-years away. The most brilliant stars of the Pleiades, known at the Seven Sisters, are bright enough to see with the naked eye, yet too bright for high-precision telescopes like Kepler to resolve with their cameras.

Kepler was designed to look at thousands of faint stars and watch for dips in brightness that point to the presence of orbiting objects. When the telescope's camera tries to look at extremely bright stars, the images turn out distorted and overly saturated, with long spikes and other digital artifacts obstructing the view. But with some careful calculations, astronomers have used these distorted images to conduct the most detailed study to date on the variability, or changing brightness, of the Seven Sisters, the Royal Astronomical Society reports. [The Brightest Stars in the Sky: A Starry Countdown]

The Pleiades star cluster as seen by the second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. (Image credit: T. White/NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech/Aarhus University)

"Bright targets require a large number of pixels to capture the entirety of the stellar flux," or the energy of the radiation coming from a star, the researchers wrote in a paper published Aug. 11 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "CCD saturation, as well as restrictions on data storage and bandwidth, limit the number and brightness of stars that can be observed." CCDs are charge-coupled devices, which Kepler's camera uses to record incoming photons, or particles of light, as pixels in a digital image.

When too much light hits the camera as it's looking at a star, the central pixels become saturated with light, "which causes a very significant loss of precision in the measurement of the total brightness of the star," the Royal Astronomical Society said in a statement. "This is the same process which causes a loss of dynamic range on ordinary digital cameras, which cannot see faint and bright detail in the same exposure."

While the central pixels in an image of a star become too saturated to take accurate scientific measurements of its brightness, the unaffected pixels around that superbright spot still contain accurate information. This is useful for measuring changes in the brightness of these so-called variable stars, the study's authors report.

Kepler looks to the light

"The solution to observing bright stars with Kepler turned out to be rather simple," Tim White, an astrophysicist at Aarhus University in Denmark and lead author of the study, said in the statement. "We're chiefly concerned about relative, rather than absolute changes in brightness. We can just measure these changes from nearby unsaturated pixels, and ignore the saturated areas altogether."

After measuring the light around a star, White and his colleagues found they still needed to adjust their data for any changes in the spacecraft's motion and possible imperfections in the camera's detector. Even the slightest error could prevent the researchers from detecting a star's variability, the authors suggest, adding those errors could be corrected using simple algorithms.

To account for any discrepancies in their measurements, the authors developed "a new technique to weight the contribution of each pixel to find the right balance where instrumental effects are canceled out, revealing the true stellar variability," the Royal Astronomical Society's press release said. White and his colleagues named this new technique "halo photometry."

Using this new technique, the researchers confirmed that six of the Seven Sisters are slowly pulsating type B stars, which change in brightness over the course of one day. These observations are not news to astronomers, as those stars' classifications have been known for some time, but the study did help White and his team test out their new photometric method by using the Pleiades as a guinea pig, Aarhus University's Stellar Astrophysics Center said in a statement.

This image from NASA's Kepler spacecraft shows members of the Pleiades star cluster. The brightest stars in the cluster  Alcyone, Atlas, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, and Pleione  are visible to the naked eye and were nicknamed the "Seven Sisters" in ancient Greek mythology. Kepler, which was designed to look for alien planets, has a hard time photographing stars this bright, and the images are distorted, with long spikes. A new technique called "halo photometry" allows astronomers to study these stars by looking at distorted images like this. (Image credit: T. White/NASA/Aarhus University)

Maia Variables

The seventh star, named Maia, is a bit of an outlier, with a brightness that fluctuates over a much longer period of 10 days. Previous studies of this star's light spectrum have found that Maia's atmosphere is also "chemically peculiar," containing excessive amounts of certain elements  most notably manganese. These two weird characteristics are related, the researchers discovered.

"What we saw was that the brightness changes seen by Kepler go hand in hand with changes in the strength of manganese absorption in Maia's atmosphere," Victoria Antoci, a co-author of the study and assistant professor at Aarhus University's Stellar Astrophysics Center, said in the statement. "We conclude that the variations are caused by a large chemical spot on the surface of the star, which comes in and out of view as the star rotates with a 10-day period."

The researchers said that this finding may help settle an ongoing debate in astronomy about something called "Maia Variables," a sub-class of variable stars proposed by Russian astronomer Otto Struve more than 60 years ago. Struve coined the term to account for the strange behavior of Maia, which he thought to be a variable star. However, other astronomers have since investigated the strange star and suggested that there's no need for such a classification. Still others have said that Maia was never a variable star to begin with.

"Sixty years ago, astronomers had thought they could see variability in Maia with periods of a few hours, and suggested this was the first of a whole new class of variable stars they called 'Maia Variables,'" White said, "but our new observations show that Maia is not itself a Maia Variable!"

Whether Maia Variables actually exist is still up for debate, as other stars have been labeled with the unofficial term. But at the very least, perhaps it's time to rename that controversial class of stars.

The unique brightness fluctuations of each star reveal clues about its physical properties such as its size and rotation rate. Most of the bright stars in the Pleiades are a type of variable star called a slowly pulsating B star, but Maia is different, showing evidence of a large chemical spot that crosses its surface as the star rotates over a 10-day period. (Image credit: T. White/Aarhus University)

The planet hunt continues

While this research didn't lead to any new exoplanet discoveries  which is Kepler's primary purpose  the methods the researchers developed to work around the bright-light problem will be useful in the continued search for Earth-like planets outside the solar system, the researchers said in the paper. Using halo photometry, researchers can now look for exoplanets orbiting bright stars like the Seven Sisters.

NASA's next big planet-hunting mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), could also study brighter stars with the help of halo photometry, the authors wrote, adding that even the James Webb Space Telescope can take advantage of this new method when it starts peering into the depths of space in 2018.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
A mountain-size space rock cruised past Earth this morning (Sept. 1) in a record-breaking encounter that has long had scientists drooling.

At 8:06 a.m. EDT (1206 GMT) today, the roughly 2.7-mile-wide (4.4 kilometers) asteroid 3122 Florence came within a mere 4.4 million miles (7 million km) of Earth  just 18 times the distance from our planet to the moon.

"Nothing this big has passed this close to Earth since we've been tracking," Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Space.com. "This is a once-in-40-year-event kind of thing." [Famous Asteroid Rock Flybys and Close Calls (Infographic)]

The big asteroid 3122 Florence, as seen by the Virtual Telescope Project on Aug. 30, 2017  two days before its closest approach to Earth. (Image credit: Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project)

Only 10 or so asteroids as big as Florence exist in near-Earth space, Chodas said. There was never any chance of the space rock hitting us on this encounter, and astronomers have mapped out Florence's orbit well enough to know that it poses no threat to Earth for the next few centuries at least, he stressed. (But if something as big as Florence did hit us, it would be very bad: Scientists regard any impactor at least 0.6 miles, or 1 km, across as a potential civilization-ender.)

Florence was discovered by astronomer Schelte "Bobby" Bus in 1981 at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory. The space rock loops around the sun every 2.35 years on an elliptical path, getting as close to our star as 1 astronomical unit (AU) and as far away as 2.5 AU. (One AU is the average Earth-sun distance  about 93 million miles, or 150 million km.)

Astronomers have also determined that Florence is a superfast spinner, completing one rotation every 2.4 hours.

"If it were spinning any faster, it would fly apart," Chodas said. "What often happens is, asteroids that are spinning this quickly rearrange into the shape of a top, where they have kind of a bulge at the equator."

But that's just an inference in Florence's case; the asteroid's shape isn't known for certain. Indeed, not much about Florence is. For example, astronomers don't know if the space rock has a moon. And the 2.7-mile size estimate, which is based on infrared observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and NEOWISE mission, is just that  an estimate. It could change once researchers get some better observations, Chodas said.

"There's a lot to learn about this little world," he said.

On Sept. 1, asteroid Florence will fly by Earth, and come to within about 18 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

Which brings us back to today's flyby. Florence has come close enough on this encounter  eight times closer to Earth than it's ever been since its 1981 discovery, Chodas said  to be pinged by radar, and scientists are taking full advantage of the opportunity. They've been using powerful facilities such as NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to get the first-ever good looks at Florence.

The radar images should reveal Florence's true size and shape. They may even achieve 10-foot (3 meters) resolution, allowing surface features such as boulders and craters to be spotted, Chodas said. Optical telescopes around the world have been trained on Florence as well, gathering other types of data that will further flesh out researchers' understanding of the asteroid, he added. [In Photos: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids]

This flyby is like a space mission to an asteroid, "but the asteroid is coming to us," Chodas said.

This sky map by Sky & Telescope magazine shows the location of the asteroid 3122 Florence as it moves across the night sky in late August and early September 2017. The asteroid will fly within 4.4 million miles (7.1 million km) of Earth on Sept. 1. (Image credit: Sky & Telescope Magazine diagram)

Astronomers aren't the only ones who can get looks at Florence right now; the asteroid should be visible through backyard telescopes for the next few days. You can read about how to see asteroid Florence in telescopes here.

Editor's Note: If you capture a great image of asteroid Florence moving across the sky and would like to share it with Space.com and our news partners, send photos and comments to spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Expanding their prompt relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Hato, Sands China (SCL) has pledged yesterday to donate MOP65 million for relief efforts. MOP30 million are from the company and another MOP35 million contribution comes from the Adelson Family Foundation.

The funds will be applied in identified recovery projects to assist with longer term relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts, a SCL press release states.

The thoughts and concerns of the Adelson family and our team members around the world have been with the entire Macau community, and certainly our fellow team members, during this extremely challenging time, said Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands and Sands China Ltd. We are saddened by the loss inflicted on so many, but inspired by the perseverance and dedication of all those who have already begun the important process of rebuilding. Providing financial resources in support of that effort is a responsibility that Sands China and the Adelson family make without hesitation.

With this contribution the total amount pledged by gaming concessionaires totals MOP185 million. Besides SCL, also MGM/Pansy Ho, Melco/Lawrence Ho and Lui Che Woo/Galaxy offered donations.

The casino operators are also engaged along with many other companies and individuals in volunteer recovery efforts for the community.

Shortly after Typhoon Hato hit Macau, SCL began mobilizing its team members to help communities by providing professional and technical expertise from within the company and its network of associates, human resources, and financial contributions to those appealing for immediate help. This vital action-oriented work continues.

According to the company statement, knowing that the entire city faced immense challenges because of limited engineering and technical services available in the aftermath of two typhoons, Sands China swiftly took the initiative to contact the Macau authorities to offer such support wherever possible.

Donations from SCL have been made to four non-governmental organizations, including Caritas Macau and Fuhong Society of Macau, to repair motor vehicles damaged during the typhoon. In the meantime, four 7-seater vans have been made available to Caritas Macau to ensure that their Good Take Express service can continue operating.

SCL is also looking after its suppliers offering for any goods or services that were delivered in August 2017 by micro-enterprises, young entrepreneurs or Made-in-Macao companies, Sands China will, at the request of these suppliers, expedite payments to them. Upon suppliers request, Sands China will also offer a 50 percent advance payment for purchase orders or contracts issued during the remainder of 2017.

Last but not least, for children who tragically lost their parents to Typhoon Hato, Sands China has pledged to set up a fund to support their continuing education.
Your favorite astronomy sky-charting app is a virtual time machine in your pocket. By manually setting the location date and time, you can re-create the greatest moments in astronomy history, such as Galileo's first view of Jupiter from Padua, Italy, on Jan. 7, 1610.

Astronomy sky-charting apps such as SkySafari 5, Starwalk 2 and Stellarium Mobile are terrific for showing you what's in your sky every night, but did you know that you also hold an astronomical time machine in the palm of your hand?

By manually setting the app's location, date and time, you can see the sky from anywhere on the planet at virtually any point in human history. Would you like to see what Galilieo saw with the first astronomical telescope way back in 1610? Perhaps you are curious how the moon looked from your house when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on our natural satellite  and how we looked to him!

In this edition of Mobile Astronomy, we'll take a trip through time and explore some of the great moments in astronomical history. [14 Best Skywatching Events of 2017]

By default, your astronomy app will use the location provided to it by your device. When launched, some apps display the sky for the current time (SkySafari 5), others sunset that day (Starwalk 2 and Stellarium Mobile, by default). All the better apps allow the user to manually override these settings.

The better sky-charting apps allow you to manually set the location the app uses to display the sky. At left is the interface for SkySafari 5. It accounts for the time zone change and one tap returns you home again. The Stellarium Mobile app shown at right works much the same way. Enable the Use GPS box to return to your current location. (Image credit: and SkySafari App and Noctua Software

The SkySafari 5 app's Settings menu has a Location option. Here you can enter everything manually (including time zone), choose a location from a list of countries and their major cities, or drop a pin on a zoomable map of the world. For skywatchers who use the app in multiple places, such as home, vacation property and personal observatory, the app lets you save them to a list of user-defined locations. The Use Current Location button returns to your current location  handy after the world traveling we'll be doing below.

The Starwalk 2 app offers an alphabetical list of major world cities and a current location option. Stellarium Mobile requires you to toggle off the Use GPS setting before you can type in the latitude and longitude, tap on a world map, or select a country/city combination. Remember that for most purposes, the location doesn't need to be too precise  within 60 miles (100 kilometers) is good enough.

Setting the date and time in Starwalk 2 is done by tapping the clock icon at top right. Select a unit of date or time and roll the scale that appears along the right edge of the display  up for forward and down for backward. Tapping the arrow icon at top center returns the app to the present time. (Image credit: Vito Technology

The SkySafai 5 app offers two ways to change the date and time. Tapping the Date & Time option under settings brings up a screen where you can manually type in the year-month-day-hour-minute-second, which is the easiest way to dial in a specific point in history. You can also select from Sunset, Sunrise, Moonset, Moonrise, Dusk End and Dawn Start on the chosen day. A Now button returns the app to the present. In the sky-viewing mode, a tap on the Time icon opens the time flow controls where time can be stepped in increments or flowed forward and backward continuously.

Stellarium Mobile's Date and Time selection is similar  you can increment via arrow buttons, or type new values over the existing ones. It only provides a Now button. To set the date and time in Starwalk 2, you tap the clock icon on the main screen and then tap again to highlight the unit to be adjusted (year, month, day, hour and minute). A scale appears along the right edge of the screen: slide it up to go forward in time and down to go backward. It will keep flowing until you hold it steady. This system makes it challenging to jump between historical dates, but it can be done.

Other sky-charting apps should work in a similar way. Don't forget to revert to the present moment after you've finished time traveling. Now let's look at a few interesting events you can re-create on your device.

What Galileo saw

On Jan. 7, 1610, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei launched the era of telescope astronomy when he turned his newly made spyglass toward Jupiter. The instrument was crude by today's standards. According to the Galileo Museum in Florence, where the original resides, the aperture was only 2 inches (51 mm) across, and the magnification was a mere 14x, slightly stronger than 10x50 binoculars. Unlike binoculars, which typically cover 5 degrees of sky, Galileo's telescope generated an image covering only 0.25 degrees. By moving his eye around, he could increase this by a factor of two or three.

To see what Galileo saw through his small telescope when he first aimed it at Jupiter, manually set your app to an hour after sunset on Jan. 7, 1610, in Padua, Italy (now known as Padova in some apps). In the excerpt from his notebook shown at the bottom, a red box surrounds the sketch he made. The blue circle represents the field of view through his eyepiece, requiring him to scan around to see the small "stars" we now know are Jupiter's four largest moons. The word Giove is Latin for Jupiter. (Image credit: SkySafari App

About an hour after sunset in Padua, Italy, from where he was observing, Galileo examined Jupiter. Astronomers of the day knew that Jupiter was a planet and that it traveled the ecliptic, the imaginary circle around the sky that defines the plane of our solar system. To his surprise, he noted that three small "stars" sat close to Jupiter, two on the left (east) of the planet and one to the right (west). All were positioned in a straight line that passed through the planet and aligned with the ecliptic. He sketched them. The next evening, he looked again and saw that three stars were now all on the right of Jupiter, despite the fact that Jupiter was known to be shifting westward through the distant stars in a retrograde motion loop. He concluded that the stars were accompanying Jupiter, but wondered about the relative position change.

We now know that Galileo was seeing the dance of the four largest moons of Jupiter  much later named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. On every clear night thereafter, he observed and sketched the grouping. On some evenings, only two "stars" appeared. His telescope was not powerful enough to resolve moons that were spaced close to one another, and he wouldn't have known that the moons could disappear behind the planet or disappear as they crossed in front of it. You can see scans of Galileo's original notes, written in Latin, here while translations are here. It's fascinating to read his thoughts. [Photos: The Galilean Moons of Jupiter]

On Jan. 13, 1610, Galileo finally sketched all four moons. By systematically tracking the arrangement for several months, he eventually concluded that Jupiter has four natural satellites orbiting around it. This was controversial, since doctrine held that the Earth was the center of everything in the heavens.

You can re-create Galileo's journey of discovery in your app. Set the app's location to anywhere in Padua, and set the time to about 6 p.m. on Jan. 7, 1610. Then find and center Jupiter and zoom in until the disk of the planet and the moons are visible. If you enable the display of the ecliptic line (it's under Grid and Reference settings in SkySafari 5), you will see that it slopes to the upper right. Jupiter is below the ecliptic due to its small orbital inclination.

On Jan. 13, Galileo finally realized that Jupiter had four companions. To re-create the sketch, advance the time in the app to 8 p.m., bringing the tilt of the ecliptic lower. In his notes, Galileo noted that Io was sitting above the line formed by the rest. (Image credit: SkySafari App

On Jan. 7, you'll see that Io and Europa together made one "star." All but Callisto jump to the west the following evening. But Galileo didn't expect four "stars," so lonely Callisto wasn't drawn. On Jan. 9, it was cloudy in Padua. On Jan. 10, he sketched two "stars," lumping Ganymede and Europa together and missing Io tucked against the planet. On Jan. 11, he saw Callisto and Ganymede, but Io and Europa were too close to Jupiter. On Jan. 12, Galileo either grouped Io and Callisto together, or observed later in the evening when Callisto was near Jupiter (advance the time by hourly steps to see this). On Jan. 13, Galileo finally sketched all four moons. For the next few months, he carefully noted how they moved and worked out that some orbited Jupiter closer and faster (Io) and others farther and slower (Callisto).

As a fun exercise, next time you train binoculars on Jupiter, see if you can see the moons, then check your observations against your app. By the way, Galileo's small telescope was too small to see Jupiter's Great Red Spot. That didn't occur until Giovanni Cassini described it in 1665, after telescopes had improved.

When you are finished playing Galileo, zoom the app's display out a little. Jupiter was passing through the zodiac constellation of Taurus at the time. A nearly full moon rose at 8:22 p.m. on Jan. 7, offering another celestial target for Galileo. And unbeknown to him, the blue-green planet Uranus was sitting only 2.5 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter. It wasn't discovered until years later  and it's quite a story.

A walk on the moon

Where were you at 10:56 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 20, 1969? Those of us of a certain age were glued to our sofas, watching Neil Armstrong take the first steps by a human being on another world, our moon. If you had looked outside, you'd have seen a lovely waxing crescent moon, about a day and a half shy of first quarter. For eastern North Americans, the moon was getting ready to set, only a few degrees above the horizon. On the West Coast, the moon was about halfway up the southwestern sky in bright twilight, with bright Jupiter sitting a generous fist diameter to the moon's right.

You can re-create the scene yourself. Use your home location and set the date to July 20, 1969. Next, you need to know the local time equivalent of 10:56 p.m. EDT. Subtract 1 hour for each time zone west you are (i.e., 9:56 p.m. Central, 8:56 p.m. Mountain and 7:56 p.m. Pacific). Now search for and center the moon. If it's not visible, it may have set or be hidden by the app's ground panorama. To remedy this, you can switch to a flat horizon under settings.

Where was Apollo 11 on the moon? If your app allows it, enable the display of surface features. In SkySafari 5, it's the Surface Labels option in the settings menu under Solar System. Or, you can simply use the Search menu and enter "Apollo 11," then center it. You'll see that the astronauts were in the lit portion of the moon, on the southern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. The other Apollo missions can be searched, too.

To re-create the moment Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon, set your app to July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m. EDT. For observers in the east, the waxing crescent moon was setting, while observers in mid-continent saw the moon and a bright Jupiter. Uranus was there, too! SkySafari 5 lets you identify the Apollo landing sites (inset). If the astronauts had time to gaze earthward, they would have seen a lovely partly illuminated Earth. The Parkes radio telescope in Australia (visible in the lower left) was handling communications with Apollo 11. (Image credit: SkySafari App

Finally, let's see what Neil Armstrong saw when he looked back at Earth. In SkySafari 5, with Apollo 11 selected (repeat the search if necessary), tap the Orbit icon and wait for the display to swing around. Next, use the Search command to find Earth. Our lovely half-illuminated planet will appear. For fun, reveal the time flow commands and tap the minutes  the number will become underlined. Finally, tap the far right and left arrows to flow time forward and backward, respectively. I doubt Neil and Buzz had time to enjoy looking at us, but it would have been a pretty sight indeed!

Going beyond

While most astronomers dismiss astrology, there's no question that people are curious about how the sky looked during life's milestones. Would your parents have seen a full moon, or bright Venus, on the way to the hospital on your birth date? Or perhaps you'd like to schedule a wedding under a spectacular sky. Just use the settings to enter the appropriate locations and dates.

In a future edition of Mobile Astronomy, we'll show you how to re-create the discoveries of Uranus, Neptune, Ceres and Pluto in the centuries since Galileo by following their slow passage through the fixed stars. In the meantime, keep looking up!

Editor's note: Chris Vaughan is an astronomy public outreach and education specialist at AstroGeo, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and an operator of the historic 74-inch (1.88 meter) David Dunlap Observatory telescope. You can reach him via email, and follow him on Twitter @astrogeoguy, as well as on Facebook and Tumblr.

This article was provided by Simulation Curriculum, the leader in space science curriculum solutions and the makers of the SkySafari app for Android and iOS. Follow SkySafari on Twitter @SkySafariAstro. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
SpaceX says its Falcon Heavy, which is slated to make its maiden launch in November from the historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, will be the world's most powerful operational rocket.

No matter how you look at it, the reusable Falcon Heavy is a big deal. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores, adding up to a total of 27 Merlin engines that will generate 5 million lbs. of thrust at liftoff.

The mega-lifter was designed from the outset to propel humans into space, and it could eventually fly missions with crew to the moon and Mars. But the first flight may not go so well, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. [SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket in Images]

"There's a lot that could go wrong there. I encourage people to come down to the Cape to see the first Falcon Heavy mission; it's guaranteed to be exciting," Musk said in July at the 2017 International Space Station Research and Development conference in Washington, D.C. (The "Cape" is Cape Canaveral, where KSC is located.)

"There's a lot of risk associated with the Falcon Heavy  a real good chance that [the] vehicle does not make it to orbit," he added. "I want to make sure to set expectations accordingly."

SpaceX's chief rocketeer, Elon Musk, has big plans for the big Falcon Heavy. (Image credit: Image courtesy of Trevor Mahlmann/CASIS)

27 engines

Musk mentioned several specific reasons why the Falcon Heavy's maiden flight may not go perfectly. One is the need for all 27 orbit-class first-stage engines to light at the right time. Another is the stress that the first stage's central "core" will experience during liftoff; the loads on the rocket, from aerodynamic forces to vibration and acoustic issues, will be quite high, he said.

"I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it doesn't cause pad damage," Musk said. "I would consider even that a win, to be honest. Yeah, major pucker factor, really; that's, like, the only way to describe it."

Musk stressed that he believes the Falcon Heavy will be a great vehicle, but he added that there may be some kinks to work out, especially given how challenging the rocket's development has been.

"It just ended up being really way, way more difficult than we originally thought," Musk said. "We were pretty naive about that."

An artist's illustration of the Falcon Heavy on Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Synchronized and stabilized

Musk's caution about the success of the maiden flight is justified, said Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector, a microsatellite space launch company based in Tucson, Arizona.

Cantrell has a history with SpaceX; he played a fundamental role in founding the company and served as its first vice president of business development.

Igniting a cluster of Falcon Heavy engines at the right time is a challenge, with the motors needing to be synchronized and stabilized, Cantrell said.

"It may look instantaneous to the eye, but in reality, you've got this wave of ignitions that are happening," Cantrell said. "The ignitions start inside the engines and not outside, and it's still a wave of flame fronts racing towards the rocket nozzle exit. If one engine doesn't ignite internally as it should, you will get a flame front that travels back into the engine."

"That creates a pressure spike, and that can cause what we call 'rapid unscheduled destruction'  and that's bad," Cantrell said. [The World's Tallest Rockets: How They Stack Up]

Furthermore, the large number of Falcon Heavy engines requires a great deal of plumbing, Cantrell said. Opening and closing engine valves causes engine vibrations, as does the movement of fluid through the pipes.

"They all can resonate together," Cantrell said. "So Elon is worried about all the right things. It's an enormous issue that's worthy of going well out of your way to try and avoid."

"I don't think it's out of anybody's belief that Falcon Heavy will be successful. Nor will it be shocking if it's a failure," Cantrell said of the first flight. "I would see success being a reflection of a system engineering maturity at SpaceX and a sign that the company is starting to regularize their operations, which takes time to do."

The 27 Merlin engines that power the Falcon Heavy's three cores are arranged in an "Octaweb" configuration. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Lined-up cores

Rand Simberg is a consultant in space business and technology, and a self-described "recovering aerospace engineer" based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He's also the author of the book "Safe Is Not an Option: Overcoming the Futile Obsession with Getting Everyone Back Alive That Is Killing Our Expansion into Space" (Interglobal Media LLC, 2013).

Like Cantrell, Simberg said the number of engines on the Falcon Heavy could be an issue.

"First, we know from its track record that having nine engines close together isn't a problem for Falcon 9," he told Space.com. "But while they've probably attempted to simulate it, SpaceX cannot fully understand the interaction of three times as many engines on three lined-up cores until they actually fire them all at once  and won't know for sure until the first time they do so when it's on the pad this fall. That may be what has Elon concerned about potential pad damage."

Simberg also identified another possible issue: schedule reliability.

"SpaceX has aborted launches of the Falcon 9 when one or more of the engines was indicating performance issues on ignition," he said. "Three times as many engines means a lot higher probability of having an issue with one of them."

Booster basics: The Falcon Heavy's Octaweb clustering of Merlin engines. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Reason for optimism

But such potential pitfalls don't doom the first flight to failure, experts stressed.

"I'd give the Falcon Heavy a high probability of working" on the first try, said Marshall Kaplan, chief technology officer for Launchspace in Bethesda, Maryland. He has participated in several launch-vehicle and satellite developments and has served as chief engineer on two launch-vehicle programs.

Although the Falcon Heavy is complicated, each of its engines is fairly inexpensive compared to a Saturn V F-1 or a space shuttle main engine, Kaplan said. Musk has "figured out a way to economically put these relatively cheap engines together and make the whole thing a little more cost-effective," he added.

There is still uncertainty about the loads the rocket will experience, Kaplan said. "But frankly, based on his previous success, I would expect it to work," he said.

With the first few flights of any new launcher, "you are going to instrument the rocket up and down with sensors and have a lot of telemetry channels down to the ground," Kaplan noted. "You want to know everything from stress, to temperatures and voltages, propellant flow  and also have all the guidance and navigation information coming down. So if something goes wrong, you'll know why."

Once the Falcon Heavy gets up and running, it will be a competitor on the world stage of big boosters, which include United Launch Alliance's Delta IV and Atlas V, as well as Europe's Ariane 5, and the larger family of Russian and Chinese boosters, Kaplan said, adding that Musk is "already an established competitor."

"Musk's ultimate goal is Mars," Kaplan added. "So a lot of what he's doing is pointed in that direction, so to speak. Falcon Heavy is a building block towards Mars." [SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System for Mars Colonization in Images]

The Falcon Heavy was designed to be reusable. Both the center core and the side boosters carry landing legs, which will land each core on Earth after takeoff. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Fueling a revolution?

"It's a new stage in the spaceflight revolution that Elon has kicked off," Simberg said. Getting Falcon Heavy online would (at least ultimately) lead to another drop in launch prices, he added.

"They [SpaceX] will continue to charge whatever the market will bear as long as they can, and pocket the difference in profit," Simberg said. But the marginal operating costs of a vehicle that can toss many tens of thousands of pounds of payload into orbit  while fully recovering and reusing most of the hardware  "will eventually allow huge reductions in price to the launch customers as well, particularly when they're pressured by competition from Blue Origin's New Glenn and others," he said.

It could start to finally approach the magical number of $100 per pound to orbit, Simberg said. "Since the dawn of the space age 60 years ago this fall, the biggest barrier to progress in space has been the high price of launch."

There's another fallout factor from an operational Falcon Heavy, Simberg said. "The political viability of NASA's Space Launch System  that will cost literally billions of dollars per flight once every year or two  will become increasingly untenable," he concluded.

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.
M ajor City investors were nursing more heavy losses today as FTSE 250 drugs giant Indivior crashed by almost 40% after it lost a crucial patent battle.

A US court ruled that Indian pharmaceuticals firm Dr Reddys Laboratories generic alternative to Indiviors Suboxone medication for heroin and other opioid addictions does not infringe on its patents.

It means that once Dr Reddys gets the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration, it will be able to launch a cheaper alternative to Suboxone film in the US, which made up 80% of Indiviors revenues last year.

Indivior vowed to appeal the ruling, which it said could lead to a rapid and material loss of market share.

Shares in firm, which spun out of consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser in 2014, crashed 164.1p to 252.5p, causing the market value to plunge 1.1 billion.

It is the fourth major fall from a FTSE 350 company in a fortnight. Provident Financial racked up one of the worst falls from the blue-chip company in a single day as it lost two-thirds of its value, followed up by slumps from WPP and Dixons Carphone.

Scopia Capital Management, a New York-based asset manager, is Indiviors largest shareholder with an 11% stake. Other major investors include M&G, BlackRock, Janus Henderson and Schroders.

Indiviors chief executive Shaun Thaxter said: Todays news is disappointing to Indivior, given the belief the company has in its intellectual property for Suboxone film. We will appeal the ruling and defend our intellectual property.

Suboxone film is placed under the tongue or inside the cheek to help reduce dependence on opioids. In the US, a well-documented opioid crisis has caused an increasing number of deaths and has prompted the government to ramp up efforts to tackle the problem.

Indivior is working on a monthly injection to replace Suboxone, but if Dr Reddys launches its product before then, it could hammer its dominant position.

The company pointed to industry analysis suggesting that the launch of a generic product in the US could cause it to lose 80% of its market share within a matter of months.

The companys guidance for this year had not reckoned on generic competition and warned the risk to guidance has now significantly increased.

Numis analyst Paul Cuddon said that he couldnt see Dr Reddys launching in the US this year, but it is likely to launch it next year.

Indivior also suggested that other potential rivals such as Actavis and Par could now appeal previous rulings and make alternatives to Suboxone.
L loyds insurer Canopius became the latest Lime Street firm to change hands on Friday after a near-$1 billion sale to a US private-equity house.

The top 10 Lloyds underwriter, once led by current Lloyds chief Inga Beale, has been offloaded by Japanese parent Sompo to Centerbridge, a buyout firm based in Manhattan and London.

The deal, worth $952 million (738 million), is also backed by US firm Gallatin Point.

Canopius management will take a small stake. Canopius wrote more than $1.6 billion in premiums last year.

Sompo bought it in 2014 but earlier this year Canopius executive chairman Michael Watson reportedly began exploring plans to make it independent again.

Watson said he was looking forward to the next chapter in the story as we chart our future as a standalone business.

The takeover comes days after Lloyds insurer Novae was sold to Bermudas Axis Capital for $611 million.
L ondons property industry struck a bullish note on Friday  despite fears that Chinese tycoons are cutting back  forecasting investment would surge past 20 billion this year.

An estimated 21.6 billion will be spent on central London offices, shops and leisure properties, including gyms and cinemas in 2017, according to data compiled exclusively for the Evening Standard.

Colliers Internationals figure is up 36.7% from the 15.8 billion spent on commercial property last year, when jitters rocked the sector in the wake of the Brexit vote.

In the first half of the year, Chinese money was behind 4.7 billion of purchases in the capital, including a 1.1 billion swoop for the Cheesegrater skyscraper. Investors have been enticed by the weaker pound and steady rental income.

But last month Beijing issued rules to limit overseas property investments, and alarm bells rang shortly after when Chinese developer Dalian Wanda ditched plans to spend 470 million on a deal in Nine Elms.

Richard Divall, Colliers head of cross-border capital markets, said a restriction of Chinese investment could see some prices cut to attract new buyers. But, he added: A little re-pricing just unleashes another raft of new entrants.

Brian Bickell, the chief executive of Chinatown and Carnaby Street landlord Shaftesbury, also played down concerns about less investor appetite for London. Investment interest is, and always has been, truly global, he said.

The interest from any one source is never constant  it ebbs and flows, usually due to their local circumstances rather than changing views on London.

Chinese investors are said to be eyeing a deal for Lloyds banks headquarters in the City. And Gregor Wallace, of investment group Coldwell Banker Commercial, says he has clients in the US, UAE and Lebanon all looking for London office buildings starting at 50 million.

Property developer Exemplars boss Daniel Van Gelder said: Were still being barraged with requests by international investors to work with them in London.

BNP Paribas Real Estates senior director in international investment, Andrew Cruickshank, said: We expect the investment market to remain strong throughout 2017 and into 2018."

Recent sales include US investor Thor Equities and real estate firm AEW, on behalf of German backers, forking out 180 million for the New Oxford Street office of talent agency WME.
P rime Minister Theresa Mays plans to scrap the Serious Fraud Office are under scrutiny after the Treasury Select Committee demanded robust evidence to support the policy.

The committees new head Nicky Morgan , who replaced Andrew Tyrie, asked May in a letter published today to update the committee on plans to overhaul economic crime-fighting units after a previous request from Tyrie went unanswered.

The Governments review could see the SFO rolled into the National Crime Agency, a Tory manifesto pledge in the last election.

May told Morgan she expected ministers to receive advice by the end of the summer, with a consultation on what to do next coming after that.

The proposal, which has been slammed by lawyers, was not mentioned in Queens Speech, raising doubts about whether the Government was intent on pursuing the policy.
S t Olave's grammar school in Orpington has a reputation as one of the most exacting schools in London. Its results speak for themselves. This year, 75 per cent of its A-level grades were A or A*, up three per cent on last year.

About a third of its pupils achieved educational perfection: three A* grades. There is no way they could be any smarter. But I wonder if the curriculum extends to fables. St Olavians might extract a useful moral from the tale of the Scorpion and the Frog.

A Scorpion meets a Frog on a riverbank. Scorpion: Give us a ride over the river. Frog: No way, man! Youll sting me! Scorpion: Why would I do that? Wed both drown. Frog: Oh. OK, climb aboard.

Halfway across the river, the Scorpion stings the Frog. Frog: WTF? You realise were both going to die now? Scorpion: Its in my nature.

St Olaves is under scrutiny for doing something very much in its nature: weeding out 16 lower-sixth pupils halfway through their A-level courses for not getting high enough grades. Others who didnt meet the required standards were only allowed to stay at the school on a discretionary basis.

You can imagine the chaos and uncertainty this has caused. One teacher claimed weaker students are treated as collateral damage as the school seeks to improve its position in the all-important league tables.

Theres a feeling that if you are not getting those absolutely top exam results, youre not worth talking about.

Senseless, cynical, irresponsible and yet what else would you expect? From my own time at an anachronistic London grammar (Latymer, Edmonton), thats more or less how these places work.

Teachers warn that defenestrating those with inferior grades is standard practice in selective schools. As long as theres a hyper-competitive marketplace in education, as long as we adopt an algorithmic system for measuring academic success, and as long as a few grammars have privileged access to the premium grade-getters, we really shouldnt be surprised to find them doing this sort of thing.

You might say the same about the scandal at elite fee-paying schools. Last week the head of economics at Eton resigned after a breach of exam security  he had apparently shared real exam questions among some colleagues which some pupils had then inadvertently received, thus giving them an unfair advantage.

But Etons sole reason for existing is surely to give its pupils an unfair advantage! Parents arent laying down 30-odd grand per year for a C in economics.

These tales highlight the failure of these institutions to do what youd really want them to do, which is to educate.

It ought to be the school that carries the pupils over the turbulent waters of adolescence. But with selective schools the roles are reversed.

Prospective pupils are stress-tested for A* potential at 11. Then the children are expected to carry the institution by achieving results that let the school get the pick of the brood at the next selection process. All at the expense of neighbouring schools.

It shouldnt need to be pointed out that grades other than As and Bs are still passes. Its also an incentive to try harder, which is of far more formative value than allowing pupils to believe they know all there is to know.

Its why you often find much better teaching in comprehensive schools than selective ones, whose students often emerge neurotic about results but strangely unformed in character. It took me years to unlearn the complacency and arrogance I absorbed at my grammar school.

And yet, Theresa May felt grammar schools should be reintroduced, on the grounds that she went to one and it turned out well for her. This is generally how education policy is formulated in this country. Must try harder.

Let boys be princesses if they want

As the father of a three-year-old boy who is fond of dressing up as Disney princesses, I sympathise with little Noah McLean.

A Frozen super-fan, Noah was denied the chance to take part in the Princess for a Day experience at Disneyland Paris because he isnt a girl. Boo! His mother wrote an open letter about Disneys sexism.

The internet was outraged and inspired in equal measure.

The mistake, of course, was to take the poor child to Disneyland in the first place. What did he do to deserve that? But the story left me a little nonplussed.

I know many parents of girls who have deep reservations about the Disney corporations pink patriarchal propaganda. But should a boy start dressing up like Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast, thats wonderful, inspiring, magical! Likewise, youll hear frequent concerns about boys playing with toy guns. And yet should a girl do so, its all, Way to break free from the gender construct that society has imposed upon you, Super-Girl!

From my unscientific observation, children just really like to play. I reckon we should let them get on with it.
D ewy mornings and the need to carry a spare jumper in your bag signal the end of another summer.

As autumn arrives, we're choosing not to get down of art about it - the art and exhibitions coming up over the next few months are getting us excited instead.

Here's what's coming up...

Basquiat: Boom For Real

 Edo Bertoglio, courtesy of Maripol

Art world darling Jean-Michel Basquiat died at just 27, and now his work commands some of the highest prices in the art world. One of his works sold for a record $110.5 million at an auction in New York in May, not only beating the record for his work, but almost doubling the pre-sale estimate.

Nows your chance to see what all the fuss is about - the Barbican is holding the first large-scale exhibition of his work, featuring over 100 works.

September 21 - January 28, Barbican Art Gallery; barbican.org.uk

Rachel Whiteread

Untitled (Clear Torso) - 1993

Rachel Whiteread is a history-making artist. She was the first woman to win the Turner Prize in 1993, and continues to be one of Britains leading contemporary artists. This celebration of over 25 years of her work is bound to be beautiful - but one of her most famous works wont feature. Her controversial 1993-1994 work House was demolished just 11 weeks after it was made.

September 12 - January 21, Tate Britain; tate.org.uk

Tove Jansson

Lynx Boa (Self-Portrait), 1942

Not many people know that the internationally renowned creator of the Moomins, Tove Jansson, was also a very brilliant painter. A new exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery offers the chance to see the works produced by her intense but now little known passion for painting. With over 150 works, from brooding landscape paintings to confident self-portraits, its a long overdue reassessment of her legacy as an artist.

October 15 - January 28, Dulwich Picture Gallery; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

Harry Potter: A History of Magic

Can you believe that the first Harry Potter book came out 20 years ago? The British Library is trying to distract us from how old we all are with this thrilling new exhibition featuring material from JK Rowlings own archives. It will also offer a fascinating display of wizarding books, showing that the history of magic is very much real.

October 20 - February 28, British Library; bl.uk

Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth

Abstract: Jasper Johns' 1958 artwork Flag (Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017)

Jasper Johns holds quite the reputation - hes described by some as the worlds greatest living artist. This Royal Academy exhibition is major event, then - its the first comprehensive exhibition of his work to be held in the UK for 40 years.

September 23 - December 10, Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk

Opera: Passion, Power and Politics

Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach (Lawrence K. Ho/ Los Angeles Times/Getty Images) / Lawrence K. Ho/ Los Angeles Times/Getty Image

This is a collaboration of true heavyweights: the V&A and the Royal Opera House have joined together to create a landmark exhibition about operas origins, exploring its story right up to the present day.

Almost 400 years of history will be immersively told through sound, art, video and artefacts - and obviously it isnt over until the fat lady sings.

From September 30, The V&A; vam.ac.uk

Hernan Bas

Detroit-based artist has been inspired by a subject matter a long way from home: his new paintings explore the romanticism of life at Cambridge. Researched while he was at Jesus College last year, Bas documents societies, bright young things and a life of both learning and youthful abandon.

September 6 - October 21, Victoria Miro Gallery; victoria-miro.com

From the Vapor of Gasoline

Whatever happened to the American dream? This group exhibition at White Cube wonders at that very question, taking the current political, social and economic unrest in the US as its starting point. Lets hope its as incendiary as the title suggests.

September 20 - October 21, White Cube; whitecube.com

Monochrome: Painting in Black and White

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1929 ( The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)

This new exhibition at the National Gallery explores painters who said pah! to colours and chose to paint in black and white. There has never been a major exhibition on the subject, and yet artists have done it since the Middle Ages right through to the Renaissance and the present day. Artists featured include Rembrandt, Picasso and Gerhard Richter.

October 30 - February 18, National Gallery; nationalgallery.org.uk

Hyundai Commission

What will a group of artists who flooded a McDonalds and flew out a functioning operating theatre to a hospital in Syria do with Tates Turbine Hall? We cant wait to find out. Danish art collective SUPERFLEX have this years Hyundai commission, a huge and thrilling canvas which invites some of the worlds most exciting site-specific work.

October 2 - March 30, Tate Modern; tate.org.uk

Dali/Duchamp

More heavyweight action, this time for conceptual artist legend Marcel Duchamp and surrealist favourite Salvador Dali. The Royal Academy will explore their unlikely friendship in an exhibition that presents the story as a conversation taking place through art, bringing together around 80 works, including the famous and the less familiar.

October 7 - January 3, Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk

Cezanne Portraits

Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1888-90 by Paul Cezanne (National Gallery of Art, Washington) / image courtesy National Gallery

This major National Portrait Gallery brings together over 50 of Cezannes portraits together for the first time. The artist painted almost 200 portraits, over a quarter of which were self-portraits or of his wife Hortense Fiquet.

October 26 - February 11, National Portrait Gallery; npg.org.uk

Gerald Scarfe: Stage and Screen

Political cartoonist Gerald Scarfes formidably prolific career has seen him create production designs, storyboards, costumes and props for stage and screen. This is a rare opportunity to see that work collected together at the House of Illustration in Kings Cross.

September 22 - January 21, House of Illustration, houseofillustration.org.uk

Jake & Dinos Chapman: The Disaster of Everyday Life

The Chapman Brothers have taken their fascination with the violence of contemporary existence and put it in dialogue with The Disasters of War, a series of sketches by Francisco Goya.

Dont expect these new sculptural works to shy away from the current political climate either.

October 4 - November 11, Blain|Southern; blainsouthern.com
P ippa Middletons 275,000 wedding ceremony may have been one of the most talked about society events of the year, but a billionaires daughter and her boyfriend may have just stolen her thunder.

Renee Sutton, who is the daughter of New Yorks King of Retail Jeff Sutton, married her fiance Eliot Cohen in a lavish outdoor ceremony on the coast of Puglia today, at an estimated eye-watering cost of 20 million.

The Daily Mail reports that her billionaire father, who is the 522nd richest man in the world, splashed out on flying friends and family out to the picturesque southern region of Italy, which forms the heel of countrys boot.

No expense was spared for the traditional Jewish ceremony, which took place at a bespoke venue which had been constructed over the sea so the bride and groom could say their nuptials as the Adriatic waves crashed behind them.

Workmen spent the last week making sure the couple could have their fairytale day.

Hundreds of white orchids lined the outdoor wedding venue, while a string quartet serenaded the guests as they took their seats.

The bride and groom arrived at the venue in a horse drawn carriage, and Renee was pictured wearing a stunning ball gown dress with lace sleeves, a diamond tiara and a traditional veil.

The bride stunned in a white dress / Arcieri/IPA/INSTARimages.com

As the couple waited for the ceremony to begin, a choir sang modern love songs, while they were pictured saying their vows beneath a traditional Jewish chuppah in a sunset ceremony.

After the wedding, guests made their way to a temporary stage on the beach that overlooked the stunning turquoise coastline.

Hundreds of flowers and candles were dotted around the venue to add to the romantic ambience, while speculation from the local Italian press that Madonna or Lady Gaga were to perform for the couple at their wedding party turned out the be false.

The couple were married in a sunset ceremony in Puglia / Arcieri/IPA/INSTARimages.com

The evening ended with a spectacular firework display before a fleet of cars ferried the guests to Bari airport for an overnight flight back to New York.

Sutton has spent close to $5 million flying over guests to Italy, according to The Daily Mail.

The mogul is thought to have footed the astronomical bill and has an estimated fortune of $3.6 billion.

10 most expensive dresses of all time - in pictures 1 /13 10 most expensive dresses of all time - in pictures 10th: Dior couture 78,000



Worn by Charlize Theron to the 2013 Oscars ceremony, the pricetag of the dress paled in comparison to the jewellery she paired it with. Harry Winston diamond cuffs brought the value of the overall look to a whopping 4 million. Getty Images 9th: Calvin Klein 116,000



Worn by Lupita Nyong'o to the 2015 Oscars ceremony, the custom piece was made up of over 6,000 pearls hand-stiched together. Getty Images 8th: Armani Prive 155,000



Worn by Cate Blanchett to the 2007 Oscars ceremony, the gunmetal gown is emballished entirely with swarovski crystals. AFP/Getty Images 7th: Victor Edelstein 240,000



Worn by Princess Diana to dance with John Travolta at President Raegan's White House Dinner in 1985. The iconic dress was originally auctioned off for charity in 1997, selling for 100,000, then sold again in 2013 for 240,000. Rex Features 6th: Alexander McQueen 250,000



Worn by the Duchess of Cambridge for her wedding, the dress was created by McQueen head designer Sarah Burton Getty Images 5th: Oscar de la Renta 295,000



Worn by Amal Clooney for her wedding, the dress featured intricate French lace detailing and hand-embroidered pearls. People Magazine 4th: Pearl wedding dress 388,000



Worn by Mary Joe Connolly, a photographer, who modelled the dress in the 1950s. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 3rd: Givenchy 699,000



Worn by Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", the dress was sold at auction for just under $1 million at Christies in New York Rex Features 2nd: Christian Dior 1.55 million



Worn by Nicole Kidman to the 1997 Oscars, the chartreuse couture gown was designed by John Galliano for Dior AFP/Getty Images 1st: Ivory "subway dress" 4.35 million



Worn by Marilyn Monroe to the 1955 premiere of "The Seven Year Itch", the dress was sold at a Beverly Hills auction in 2011 Rex Features

He's best known for owning Wharton Properties, a company that boasts some of the most expensive real estate on Fifth Avenue.

His stores has been leased by a number of luxury fashion brands, including Armani and Dolce and Gabbana
T wo couples have won a High Court battle after telling a judge how their plans to live on luxury houseboats near Hampton Court palace were scuppered.

Oliver and Jennifer Small and Fiona Johnstone and Louis Sydney claimed that boatbuilder Myck Djurberg had "induced" them to buy houseboats by saying they had long-term mooring rights at Hampton Riviera marina in south-west London.

They accused Mr Djurberg of "serious misrepresentation".

The Smalls said they paid 1.25 million for their boat. The Johnstone-Sydneys said they had paid 550,000 towards an asking price of 850,000.

Both couples wanted compensation but Mr Djurberg disputed their claims.

He said he was owed money and complained about being the victim of a "vendetta".

Judge Murray Rosen has ruled in favour of the two couples after a High Court trial in London.

He said the Smalls should get 1.25 million damages and the Johnstone-Sydneys 550,000.

The judge had analysed evidence at a hearing in May and his ruling was published on Friday.

Judge Rosen said the disputes had "generated a great deal of emotion" and that there had been a "hail of arrows alleging impropriety on all sides".

The Smalls had "vacated" their boat more than two years ago and the vessel was unoccupied in temporary moorings, said the judge.

Mr Djurberg had repossessed the Johnstone-Sydneys' boat, he added.
Where there is lack of institutions for managing information and the political will to make information available, information professionals are unlikely to have a conducive environment in which to practice their skills. Well established institutions would stimulate the use of information and facilitate the acquisition of skills required to use information to advantage. It takes time to uproot the culture of impunity and non-accountability. This requires long term investment and commitment to promote a culture that appreciates information and makes it readily available to citizens. (Svard, 2017)

Sergio de Almeida Correia*

1. Macaus public has been confronted with news of four journalists from Hong Kong who were refused entry to Macau in the last week. It was reported that they intended to cover the devastating consequences of Typhoon Hato. In response to this impediment to a legitimate exercise of the journalists profession, various associations of the press from both Macau and Hong Kong made their protests heard.

2. The documentation presented to the journalists regarding refusal of entry give reference to reasons of public safety. Asked to clarify, the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, summarized in a press conference as follows: (1) the cases are confidential and the reasons cannot be disclosed; and (2) that it is not a case of professional persecution since the authorities have not concentrated on any single profession. At the same time, the coordinator of the Civil Protection Operations Center of Macao revealed that in principle, there is an entry ban on people who could endanger the public order [Hoje Macau 28/08/2017, p.5], and that the Government and military personnel greatly respect the freedom of the press, therefore we have press conferences almost every day [Ponto Final, 28/08/2017, p.4].

3. The number of cases of refusal of entry into Macau has been increasing, and the reason is still not clear nor who is making such orders. There are also situations where people are requested to leave after gaining entry. In some situations, and even when they are Chinese citizens coming from another SAR of China, it is important to question the compatibility with the text and spirit of the Basic Law of Macau of (a) this prohibition of entry and (b) the failure to clarify the rationale propped up by an argument of confidentiality. That is, whether the decisions respect freedom of the press, the right to information and the fundamental rights and duties of residents.

4. Article 18 of the Basic Law states that in addition to the Basic Law, the laws in force in the MSAR are those previously in force in accordance with article 8, and those determined by the legislative body. Of the national laws of the PRC, only those in Annex III of the Basic Law are applicable to Macau, none of which deals with the subject matter here.

5. It should also be borne in mind that the Basic Law enshrines the freedom of expression and freedom of the press for residents, guarantees the applicability in the MSAR of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and that non-residents enjoy equal rights and freedoms as granted and guaranteed to residents (see articles 27, 40 and 43 of the Basic Law).

6. In turn, the Chief Executive (CE) has the obligation to enforce the Basic Law and other applicable laws in the MSAR, as well as to comply with the guidelines issued by the Central Peoples Government in relation to matters provided for in the Basic Law (See article 50).

7. Of the set of laws in force in Macau subordinated under the Basic Law and related to the above issues, the Law of the Press (Law no. 7/90/M) must also be taken into account, as too must the Chief Executives dispatches on the exercise of freedom of the press and the right to information.

8. It can then be said that while the Basic Law expressly and unequivocally sets down the freedom of the press, it does not establish any right to information. However, this right is referred to in clear terms in article 3 of the Press Law, expressed as a right to inform, to seek information and to be informed, which includes freedom of access to sources of information.

9. This formulation is in line with what constitutionalists Gomes Canotilho and Vital Moreira point out when, in an annotation to Article 37 of the Portuguese Constitution, they state that the first [right to inform] consists [] of the freedom to transmit or communicate information to others, disseminating it without any impediment; but it may also have a positive form in the right to inform, that is, the right to the means to inform others.

10. In turn, the right to become informed consists, in particular, of the freedom to collect information, to search for sources of information, that is, of the right not to be prevented from being informed [].

11. As to the right to be informed, these authors refer to this as the positive version of the right to be informed, consisting of a right to be properly acquainted with and truly informed both by the media and by public authorities (CRP Anotada, Vol. I, 4th edition, 2007, P. 573).

12. As a manifestation of the freedom of expression of thought, the right to information has also been accepted by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is currently in force in the MSAR. This right encompasses the freedoms to seek, receive and be updated on information (art. 19, no. 2), although it may be restricted upon grounds of safeguarding national security and public order.

13. The Chief Executive of MSAR, in the preamble to the CE Dispatch 145/2002, stated that he considered the media indispensable to the exercise of fundamental rights in a democratic and pluralist society. Thus, he emphasized the irreplaceable role of the press in the development of society and the promotion of social harmony, which is why he was concerned with enhancing the independence of the right to information vis-a-vis political and economic powers.

14. In this legislative context, the decision to prevent the entry of journalists from Hong Kong to the Macau SAR seems incomprehensible, since it appears to be in flagrant violation of what is postulated and therefore appears incompatible with the text and spirit of the Basic Law and other laws in force.

15. Having partially answered the first question above, it is now necessary to verify, before issuing a final judgment, whether the failure to explain the reasons for the prohibition upon grounds of confidentiality is permissible.

16. On this point, the official documentation presented to those targeted only mentioned internal security reasons, which itself clearly provides insufficient information to understand the motivation for the political and administrative power behind the decision being issued. It is true that the ICCPR provides for a restriction of the right to information in order to safeguard national security and public order, but this point could and should have been clarified by the Secretary for Security.

17. For Macaus public opinion and for those targeted, i.e. professional journalists on duty  who, as far as we know came without criminal record, since otherwise public authorities would not fail to provide this information  it seems strange that there could be reasons to recommend an approach so drastic as to impede their entry and the exercise of their profession.

18. It is not clear whether a journalist on a mission or a photographer from Hong Kong, a Chinese citizen, would jeopardize the safety of the MSAR simply by taking photographs of the garbage in the streets, fallen trees or public facilities, by having free access to uncover all its deficiencies of design, construction and oversight, trying to speak with local citizens and with the political and/or administrative representatives to obtain clarification. What was decided, and the way it was, jeopardized all the work that has been done in the MSAR in defense of the second system and forgets the investment that has been made by the taxpayers in the form of government subsidies to the Chinese and Portuguese press to defend the freedom of the press and the right to information.

19. In line with the aforementioned constitutionalists words, in the absence of a clause restricting the rights in question, it would be important for the rights to be harmonized subject to methodical balancing or weighting alongside other potentially conflicting benefits and rights. And further, what happened requires prompt explanation to those targeted and to the public, without formal subterfuge, so that the decision leading to impediment would not be seen as excessive given the circumstances, and therefore unfounded, perfectly arbitrary and abusive.

20. If we consider, according to J. C. Vieira de Andrade, that press freedom  and the right to information as one of its corollaries  is part of the core of the subjective fundamental rights guaranteed by the Basic Law, then things cannot happen as they did, let alone happen again in the future. In addition, those targeted are residents of a neighboring SAR, which forms an integral part of the PRC, and are also subject to the rule of law and benefit from the guarantees of the second system, including freedom of the press and access to sources.

21. More than a right, press freedom is a complex or constellation of rights and freedoms (G. Canotilho and V. Moreira, 2017), a right of defense before the public authorities and a constitutional guarantee of the free public opinion.

22. Mere reasons of confidentiality, which are unknown and are not minimally justified, are still insufficient. Perhaps more serious, is the affirmation that other professional classes and people are being targeted without knowledge as to why. What did these citizens do that was so serious? What sort of reasons are these, especially when it is known that in the MSAR the socialist system and policies do not apply (art. 5 of the Basic Law), which according to art. 31 of the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China [] the systems guaranteeing the fundamental rights and freedoms of its residents [] (art. 31) are based solely and exclusively on the Basic Law and these are extended to individuals who are not residents of Macau, but who, if they are in the MSAR, enjoy, in accordance with the law, the rights and freedoms of the residents (see art. 43)?

23. I admit that there is an excess of voluntarism (going beyond what is required by-law and even common sense) on the part of the public authorities, especially as not everyone is from the same background and the environment in which they were educated is not governed by the same standards of freedom and skepticism. But as long as there are good intentions  and I believe there to be good intentions for the MSAR and the progress of the PRC  too much voluntarism can be curtailed, the mistakes corrected, as mandated by good Confucian ethics, and the institutions, laws and procedures enhanced.

24. What is not to be condoned is that in the second system there are some entities that behave as if they were in the frame of the first system, ignoring the differences between one and the other, tarnishing the image that is transmitted outside of the MSAR and its institutions, thinking that the simple motto I want, I can and I command is enough, thus ignoring the demands of transparency and legitimate scrutiny of discretionary acts of power.

25. The respect for the exercise of press freedom, the legitimate right of access to sources and the guarantee of the right to information, in its various forms, does not involve the convening of press conferences where nothing substantial is clarified, with obscure decisions or apologies, and then simply moving on, trampling on fundamental rights guaranteed by the PRC and the Basic Law, which are part of the cultural, legal and civilizational heritage of the Macau SAR.

(This text was translated from the original Portuguese version by MDT/KTranz)

*Lawyer and political scientist

MDT Exclusive
A knifeman wearing an Anonymous mask attacked a man as terrified diners looks on.

The 20-year-old victim suffered wounds to his hands and his legs as he tried to defend himself from the knifeman outside a packed restaurant in Harrow on Thursday evening.

Customers barricaded themselves inside shops along Streatfield Road as the victim managed to fend off the masked attacker, who then fled the scene.

One terrified customer posted a harrowing account on Facebook soon after the savage attack, which took place at about 8pm.

She wrote: The [knifeman] came to the entrance of Skipjacks wearing a hoodie and a Halloween style mask, he had a 8inch knife in his hand. I was terrified I thought he was going to come in and start randomly slashing people but he left again thank God.

The young man had a wound to his hand and a deep slash just below his left knee. The attacker needs to be caught and quickly.

The user later posted a picture of a Guy Fawkes mask, which has been adopted by the activist group Anononymous, to describe attacker.

Scotland Yard said the victim is in a serious but stable condition and no arrests have been made.
A man has been stabbed after reports of a mass brawl at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford.

Police rushed to the scene at around 6.15pm on Friday to reports of a fight near the east London station, which opens out into the shopping complex.

A second man was found suffering head injuries, police said.

According to one witness, there was blood all over the floor while another photograph shows police officers surrounding a figure who appears to be slumped on the floor.

Several other people are seen standing nearby speaking with police.

Hollie Rose said on Twitter: Imagine getting locked in a store in Westfield only to come out to find blood all over the floor and police everywhere.

Another passerby, Justin Dealey, said online: Thought I would come to Westfield Stratford for a change. Within minutes Ive seen a mass brawl in the shopping centre.

A spokesman for the Met Police said the stab victim has been taken to hospital. His condition is not yet known.

The man who was found with head injuries is not thought to be in a serious condition.

A man has been arrested nearby on suspicion of GBH and possession of an offensive weapon.

The Met added: Enquiries into the circumstances continue.

Earlier this month the shopping centre was the scene of a major swoop by counter-terror police who seized weapons including a knife, hammer and imitation gun.

Stratford station has been closely monitored for months by officers with the British Transport Police, with the shopping centre thought to be a potential terror attack target.
This is the moment a thug sprays an acid-like substance in a delivery drivers face, leaving him with burns, in an attempted robbery in east London.

The CCTV footage shows the hooded man using a bottle to squirt liquid at the victim as he sits in a car outside an address in Bow.

Police said the 21-year-old driver was entering details into a satnav when the suspect cycled up to him and demanded money through the open window.

When the victim said he did not have any, he was squirted in the face with a chemical that smelt of ammonia. Police said the suspect tried to open the locked drivers door and eventually got in through the passengers side as the victim tried to wipe the liquid off his face.

The suspect approaches the car with a bottle visible in his right hand / Met Police

The suspect then cycled off. The driver ran to the takeaway where he worked, which was nearby, and called police.

The driver was taken to hospital after the attack in Dane Place at 6.20pm on Tuesday May 2 and treated for facial injuries. Police have now released the footage and appealed for information,

A passerby walks past the incident in Bow, east London / Met Police

This week, the NHS issued guidance for acid attack victims for the first time. It urged victims or witnesses of attacks to report, remove, rinse.

People are told to call 999, carefully remove contaminated clothing and immediately rinse skin in running water. Figures showed a rise in the number of people in England requiring specialist help for acid injuries. In 2014, 16 people required specialist medical advice, rising to 25 in 2015 and 32 last year, NHS England said. In London there were 454 acid attacks last year of varying degrees of severity, up from 261 in 2015.

The suspect eventually jumped back on his bike and cycled off / Met Police

Detective constable Paul Clare, of Tower Hamlets CID, said: This was a horrible assault on a takeaway delivery driver. Witnesses were in the area and saw the assault. Were asking them to come forward.

The suspect is described as a white youth wearing a black hooded top, blue jeans, black shoes and a grey or green snood. He was riding a black hybrid bike.

Police asked anyone with information to call Tower Hamlets CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
B ritains largest prison is failing to stem the flow of drugs into cells after its sniffer dog had time off and amid a shortage of CCTV operators, its monitors said today.

The Independent Monitoring Board for Wandsworth Prison said illicit substances were fuelling violence as it issued a highly critical report on conditions.

In one month, dog searches were conducted on only 10 out of 31 days.

It said: It had been intended that Wandsworth should be a hub for the new regional dog team but no new staff were appointed and there was no cover made available when the one dog handler went on training or leave.

As a result dog searches had decreased.

The security risk was worsened by the lack of operational CCTV to monitor visitors.

Drug failure: Wandsworth prison (Picture: Nigel Howard)

The board warned that Wandsworth had once again been unable to provide a consistently safe, decent and humane environment for its 1,600 prisoners over the past year.

It blamed the failure on severe staff shortages which were undermining the efforts of the prisons strong management team and hard-pressed officers and affecting almost every aspect of prison life.

The resulting problems included prisoners being locked in their cells for excessive periods. This was causing boredom and frustration and contributing to high levels of violence.

Staff shortages were also preventing education and training which was vital to the process of rehabilitating offenders and preventing recidivism.

On the drugs problem, the board said there were almost daily drone deliveries last summer, helped by the large number of smashed cell windows, but that airborne smuggling had decreased sharply after a police car chase of a suspected drone operator resulted in a fatality.

Other measures had also helped and there had been no known drone deliveries since last September.

Other forms of smuggling continued. Several staff had been excluded after being subjected to X-ray and dog searches. But the amount of contraband being brought in by visitors remained relatively high because of the lack of staff to monitor CCTV or conduct sniffer dog checks.

The boards report also disclosed that about 40 per cent of Wandsworths inmates are foreign nationals, with 112 Poles forming the largest contingent.

The Ministry of Justice said recruitment of dog handlers was under way at a regional level and that posts at Wandsworth are expected to be filled in the near future.

It added: Wandsworth has already taken action to address a number of concerns raised in the report, including a targeted, local recruitment campaign which has already begun to boost the number of prison officers in post.

The prison has also put in place new measures to tackle the supply and use of illegal contraband. This includes the recruitment of new dog handler posts to step up drug detection.
A furious mother has criticised a top London comprehensive school for cruelly barring her daughter from entering sixth form after she was diagnosed with a blood disorder during her GCSE exams which affected her results.

Somiya Shabir, 16, who suffers from an extremely low iron count, was refused entry to Highgate Wood sixth form after getting a D grade in her maths exam taken just weeks after the diagnosis.

Her mother took her for tests after the quiet and reserved student began shaking uncontrollably and struggled to hold a pen during revision at home. She said doctors pulled Ms Shabir out of school and told her family her iron count in blood was under four, when the average is 13.

Somiya, who is still on medication, had hoped to study geography, media studies and sociology A-levels at the north London school whose alumni include BBC business editor Robert Peston and rapper Chipmunk.

North London's Highgate Wood School / Anne-Marie Sanderson

Her mother Tahira Sarwar, 43, who was forced to give up her role in the Metropolitan police due to her own illness, is now demanding Somiya be allowed to retake the crucial maths exam that will let her return to study.She said: Somiya couldnt walk, she was shaking and trembling and couldnt hold a pen without being in pain. We had tests and then the doctors got me to pull her out urgently. I was terrified it was cancer.

She was on medication right in the middle of exams and couldnt get up at all in the mornings. I had to drag her up, the doctors said she needed a lot of support from school but she never got it. I gave them a letter that said she was very weak and couldnt focus. Now she doesnt want to go to school any more or even eat and drink. Other students are doing retakes but Highgate havent taken her illness into account at all and now her dreams are shattered.

Somiya is applying for other colleges. But with term starting next week, she still faces being turned away for her borderline results.

Her mother said: She proved everyone wrong with her results and got three Cs and two Bs. She was crying before she opened the envelope, she didnt want to look. The school have sent an email saying good luck to her but its just cruel. They had teachers crying with her and now she is being forced out. Somiya said her condition made it nearly impossible to concentrate during her exam but she was only offered extra time by the school.

She said: I could barely hold a pen, my hand was shaking so much during the exam and I had to take medication. I started crying as soon as it was over... its my future thats at stake.

Highgate Wood headmaster Patrick Cozier said: We have a great deal of regard and care for Somiya and want the very best for her Unfortunately we are clear it would not be in her best interests to embark on a course of study she will be unable to cope with. He added that Somiya received extensive support during the examination period, but her grades are too far from the level needed to be able to succeed at A- level.

Parents are threatening legal action after claiming pupils who failed to get top AS-levels grades were asked to leave before their final A-level year at St Olaves grammar in Bromley.
H undreds of fans have flocked to Kings Cross station to mark the day Harry Potters son Albus leaves for Hogwarts in J.K. Rowlings fictional wizarding world.

Crowds gathered ahead of the departure of the Hogwart's Express from platform 9  at 11am and cheered as the train would have left the central London station.

The moment takes place in the novel The Deathly Hallows and appears in an epilogue entitled "19 Years Later", at the very end of the best-selling seven-part series.

Enthusiasts, some of them from as far away as Finland and Florida, crowded into the booking hall and the bridge above for the countdown. Many wore costumes as they soaked up an atmosphere fans described as buzzing.

Ruby Moon, from Tampa, Florida, came dressed as a Hufflepuff prefect. She said: "It's 19 Years Later and I've been a huge Harry Potter fanatic since the books came out 20 years ago and I had the opportunity to come."

She added: "Everyone has a different opinion on why today is such a big deal for themselves. The story has changed so many people's lives, adults and children alike, so it's just really amazing everyone could come here and join together for such a great fandom.

Magical: Fans packed out the booking hall and a bridge above it / Holly Gittins

Chris Kaukonummi, who flew over from Finland with his friends for the day, said: "We came over just for the event. I've been a fan since the late 90s when I was much younger and it's a big event to send Harry Potter's kids to Hogwarts."

Journalism student Holly Gittins, 20, said: I came up from Bristol to be there - I've promised myself I would be there today from the moment I first read the book ten years ago, so when I realised I was free it seemed silly not to go.

Warwick Davies, who plays Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter films poses next to the Platform 9 3/4 trolley at King's Cross / PA

She added everyone was physically buzzing and said: Everyone counted down the last ten seconds; it was like being at the most exciting New Year party of all time.

Harry Potter star Warwick Davies, who plays Professor Flitwick in the films, also joined crowds for the landmark date and praised fans of the wizard for giving the books and movies "life beyond the page and screen.

He said: "It's great to celebrate with the fans. As well as being in the films, I'm a fan of them as well so it's lovely to come down and celebrate. It's become a Mecca, Kings Cross.

"People come and have their robes and their wands and we can do a little bit of a charms class, that is what is great. The fans have given these books and these films life beyond the page and the screen and that is a great thing."
T he owner of an award-winning curry house has vowed to get their house in order following a 48-hour shutdown by immigration officials for allegedly employing illegal workers.

Family-owned restaurant Tayyabs, in Whitechapel, was temporarily closed on Tuesday for allegedly employing illegal workers.

Officials served a closure notice due to outstanding civil penalty fines amounting to 95,000 after previous offences.

The East End institution, where queues are common for fans of their tandoori lamb chops, claims some staff work permits were not properly vetted by an external recruitment company.

It has now reopened after news of the shutdown caused dismay among regular diners for whom the eatery is a cult favourite. Since opening in 1972 the restaurant has won food awards and boasts actress Christina Hendricks and retail expert Mary Portas among its celebrity supporters.

Journalist Sunny Hundal tweeted: East London can stop panicking. Restaurant Tayyabs is open again after an 'illegal working notice'.

Another relieved diner wrote on Facebook: Tayyabs is open again.... panic over!

Boss Aleem Tayyab said he would now bring immigration permits checks in-house as he blamed a third party for oversights which led to the shutdown.

He said staff are mostly British, but also originally citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Eastern Europe.

But following the raid by the Home Offices Immigration Enforcement agency, it is alleged that some of the 40 staff were working illegally or lacking correct permits.

The Home Office said nine people were found without the correct documentation. Six Pakistani nationals were arrested, with five of them facing deportation.

The restaurant was allowed to reopen after a magistrate gave them the go ahead yesterday, but they must comply with immigration laws.

Mr Tayyab said: Were incredibly busy but now weve realised that now I need to sit down with one of my brothers to do the recruitment and all the compliance checks ourselves now rather than getting a third party to do it.

Its been devastating for us, weve never been closed for this long and we have to put our house in order.

Were very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers and were looking forward to seeing them soon.
A photographer from London claims jobsworth staff at Heathrow Airport ruined her rare vintage films as she flew out to Los Angeles for work.

Ruth Iorio, who once live Instagrammed her child's home birth, said security at the west London hub put the unused photography equipment worth 200 through an x-ray scanner despite her begging them not to.

Heathrow insisted it would not compromise on keeping the skies above Britain safe - but in the process Ms Iorio says they have spoiled the contrast of the antique film meaning she can no longer use it for a photo series featuring her three-year-old child.

Ms Iorio, 38, said most airports allow her to have the film checked by hand at security but on this occasion staff insisted on being unnecessarily fastidious.

Damage: Ms Iorio posted an example on Instagram of film damaged after being zapped by x-rays ahead of a previous flight / Ruth Iorio/Instagram

She claims she was kept waiting more than half an hour while Terminal 3 security took the film, which is supposed to be kept away from light and refrigerated, from its x-ray proof protective bag and whacked it through the scanner while she watched in distress.

Distressed: Photographer Ruth Iorio / Ruth Iorio

What annoyed me was how jobsworth they were, she said.

The Cambridge graduate, who was flying economy class with her son Nye on Monday, said staff insisted the rare film would be unaffected by the rays despite her protests that it wouldnt be.

Most film can be zapped without the process causing damage, but with high-end professional film the strength of the rays is said to degrade the quality of the finish.

Ms Iorio went on: I dont want to be rude but I dont tell them what to do with luggage.

I know what Im doing with film. I think they were just p***ed off because I argued with them.

The film, some of it sourced from the London Photographers Gallery, was going to be used by Ms Iorio in a photo series called Beast, which features arty black-and-white shots of her young son.

Now she says the film is effectively destroyed because it wont have the colour balance necessary for fine art photography.

'Jobsworths': Ms Iorio was preparing to board a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to LA / Reuters

She added: I live in the US and I think its absolutely crazy. Theyre so anal about everything  so much is a massive hassle. But with film they are fine. This is why I was so surprised by Heathrow.

Ms Iorio, who splits her time between London and LA, describes herself as a filmmaker, writer, journalist and photographer.

Three years ago she was thrust into the public eye when posted regular updates of her sons home birth on social media.

A spokeswoman for Heathrow said: Heathrows top priority is always the safety and security of our passengers and colleagues.

Whilst we endeavour to provide alternative screening for sensitive professional film, protecting the security of our airport means it is not always possible.

We regret that Ms Iorios professional film was subject to x-ray screening in this instance, but we cannot compromise on keeping the skies above Britain safe.
S oho went dark last night as sad news emerged from The Groucho Club: Bernie Katz, the legendary doorkeeper of the yellow-doored institution, has died. Katz had worked at the Groucho for 27 years but retired from his post in March, with a party attended by well-wishers including actors Neil Morrissey and Tamzin Outhwaite and food critic Tom Parker Bowles. He had been the clubs cornerstone and regaled guests with stories of his adventures with Hollywood chums Jessica Lange and Daryl Hannah.

Word of his passing spread quickly last night and mourners began to show up at the club to share their memories, with Great British Bake Offs Noel Fielding among the throng. Soon, tributes poured in on Twitter and Instagram. Farewell, Bernie Katz, Prince of Soho, Stephen Fry wrote. Five foot nothing and a heart twice the size of Soho Square. Actress Sadie Frost added: Broken-hearted. Love you, Bernie. He was loved by everyone. Laurence Fox called him the kindest and most generous man, while Anna Friel lamented on Instagram: That old saying you dont know what youve got till its gone rings loudly. Matthew Hobbs, managing director of The Groucho Club, says they are heartbroken.

Comedian Helen Lederer, recently out of the Big Brother house, shared her memories of the colourful character with us this morning. I am devastated, she said. Whatever people think about elitist clubs, the Groucho is not that. And thats because of Bernie. He was very empathetic, very generous and not afraid to be crazy. He did shape our lives, the sad old f**kers that we are.

Soho will never be the same again.

Brigitte Macron is one Elle of a political wife

WHO said the French didnt like Brigitte Macron? The wife of President Emmanuel Macron  dont call her First Lady  wasnt too popular last month after reports that she might be given a formal role. But it seems she still has appeal: figures reveal that the latest issue of French Elle, with Brigitte on the cover, sold three million copies worldwide, its highest-selling edition for a decade. But can she sort out hubbys sinking approval ratings?

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For the second time in a fortnight weve strolled into The Ritz, only to be asked to change shoes. Last night The Londoner  in this case a woman  arrived in discreet black lace-up pumps, only to be told no Bollinger was on offer unless she changed her shoes  the cloakroom could provide a new pair. Rules state that trainers or sportswear are not permitted. The Londoner noted that the replacement shoes didnt match up with the Ritzs snobbishness: plastic Primark ballet shoes were offered. If you are going to charge 24 for a glass of Bollinger, surely you can manage more than a fiver on shoes.

Quote of the Day

"My daughters are on the board but can't work for the company and will never run it. I'm very much opposed to nepotism."

Former New York Mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg practises tough love on his daughters.

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Brooklyn Beckham's gun show did not entertain his followers (Instagram/Damon Baker) / Damon Baker

Gun Law, according to Brooklyn

Brooklyn Beckham may be named after a New York district but that doesnt mean he has a grasp of whats appropriate in the US. The budding photographer, studying in Manhattan, posted this image this morning taken by Damon Baker. It was a toy gun but his followers were not impressed. Dont play the artistic card to justify the use of guns, one person commented. A source close to Brooklyn told The Londoner today that the teenager does not condone the use of guns and in retrospect it was an immature impulsive thing to do. The gun shows over.

Diana's red light tribute

Courtesans love Diana / Getty

YESTERDAY marked 20 years since the death of Princess Diana, with many coming forward to recall how they paid tribute to their Queen of Hearts. But The Londoner was reminded of the day of her funeral: as people lined the streets to pay their respects, journalist Alex Webb remembers a particular tribute made by the courtesans of London.

I was working for GMTVs Sunday Programme, Webb recalls. That afternoon I was near Tottenham Court Road and had to call back to the programme on a public phone box. While I spoke on the phone I noticed there were no prostitutes cards in the phone box, just a single hand-written card with a red rose pinned to it, saying, as a tribute to our princess, the working girls of London are not advertising today. Film writer Michael Brooke recalled a similar incident down in Soho, where many of the sex shops sported notices saying they were closed out of respect. It did strike me as a rather moving tribute, Webb says. Were sure Diana would have appreciated it.

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Idea of the day: Jim Pickard of the Financial Times proposes that we name hurricanes after well-known climate-change sceptics. Hurricane Nigel?

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Neema is worth it

Neelam Gill perfects her pout with L'Oreal Paris and (Dave Benett /Getty Images) / (Dave Benett /Getty Images for L'Oreal Paris)

LOreal and Balmain celebrated their latest collaboration at Harvey Nichols last night with Neelam Gill, LOreals ambassador. But she didnt always feel worth it. Id be friends with some of those girls, she once said. But I was always their ugly sidekick whod boost their confidence.

Tweet of the Day

The only all-female reboot I need is the one of this presidency.

After TV executives announce a Lord of the Flies adaptation featuring a group of girls, writer Maris Kreizman has a better idea.
L iam Fox came under fire today for accusing the EU of using blackmail to extract a multi-billion-pound Brexit payment from the UK.

The International Trade Secretary was accused by a former Whitehall chief of exposing the UKs weaker hand by making the protest.

The comments came after Brexit talks in Brussels ended in an ill-tempered stalemate, with European Union negotiator Michel Barnier claiming trade discussions would be blocked until Britain agrees how to pay a divorce bill running into tens of billions of pounds.

Hitting back, Mr Fox said Britain cant be blackmailed into paying a price. Speaking in Japan at the end of Theresa Mays three-day visit, he told ITV News: We think we should begin discussions on the final settlement because thats good for business, and its good for the prosperity both of the British people and of the rest of the people of the European Union.

But Lord Macpherson, the former permanent secretary to the Treasury, said Mr Fox had made a negotiating gaffe. Blackmail is the perpetual cry of the smaller negotiator with the weaker hand, the former mandarin tweeted, and added the hashtag #getagrip.

In contrast to his Cabinet colleague, Brexit Secretary David Davis declared himself a determined optimist that the talks will end in a good deal. In a speech in Washington this afternoon, he will say: I fundamentally believe that a good deal is in the interests of both the UK and the EU and the whole of the developed world.

Speaking to US businesspeople, Mr Davis will insist that Brexit will not diminish the UKs global presence.

He will say: By working together with our closest friends and allies we can tackle some of the greatest social and economic challenges we face.

But the answer to that concern is not to turn inwards and become isolationist. And that is where a strong, outward-looking United Kingdom can play an instrumental role.

The third round of Brexit talks ended in Brussels yesterday with the two sides far apart over the UKs exit bill.

Mr Barnier gave a negative assessment of the negotiations, saying there had been no decisive progress on key issues.

He said the two sides were still quite far away from being able to start talks on future trading arrangements. Mr Davis called for more flexibility and imagination on the part of the EU to allow all the issues to be debated at the same time.

UK business leaders warned that further delays were damaging. Colin Stanbridge, of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: We certainly cant linger over negotiations, ... business confidence has been hugely impacted by uncertainty. A report today by the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relations said leaving the EU customs union would be reckless and economically dangerous. It listed five ways that chaos would hit London if the UK left the barrier-free trade club  it would cause chaos at Heathrow by delaying goods; clog up the Eurotunnel; require new infrastructure at major ports; overburden HM Revenue & Customs collectors; and significantly increase costs for businesses across most sectors.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna and Tory Anna Soubry, who co-chair the group, said an ideological choice to quit would surrender the best economic option.
Another Hong Kong reporter was barred from entering Macau on security grounds last week, Hong Kong Free Press reported yesterday.

The reporter, who worked for Apple Daily, is the latest individual to be refused entry into the territory by local immigration services.

Immigration services said the reporter was denied on the ground of constituting a threat to internal security and stability.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong politician and Tai Po District Council member Kwan Wing Yip was also detained at a Taipa checkpoint for two hours before being allowed to enter Macau.

Last week, four other journalists from Hong Kongs Apple Daily, HK01 and the South China Morning Post were turned away from Macau, after traveling to the MSAR to report on the aftermath of Typhoon Hato and subsequent relief efforts.

On Tuesday evening, democratic lawmaker Helena Wong was refused entry to the city for the same reason. She claims to have been traveling to Macau as part of an exchange trip to the University of Macau, organized by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The Macau government has repeatedly denied that it is targeting foreign journalists and lawmakers, explaining that the services are not aware of the individuals professions. The government has not provided details on the criteria used to determine whether a person is a threat to security.

Some of the persons refused entry have promised to write to Macaus chief executive, Chui Sai On, to complain.

Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak has said on several occasions that every country and every region has its own immigration control policies. To those who carry influence or threat to regions security, that countrys or the regions law enforcement department has the right to execute the law.

However, such immigration decisions are typically met with condemnation and alarm from activists, lawmakers, reporters and journalists associations.

The Macau Portuguese and English Press Association issued a statement this week that it finds the explanation given by local authorities incomprehensible and unsatisfactory [ and it] tarnishes the international image of the SAR regarding press freedom. DB
A Cambridge student who burned a 20 note in front of a homeless person will return to university this autumn after sending a letter of apology.

In a letter circulated among peers and printed in Varsity, the university's student newspaper, Ronald Coyne said he was sorry for taunting the homeless man, saying it was "wrong" and adding: "I abused my privilege."

Mobile phone footage of the incident went viral in February showing the Pembroke College law student, dressed in a white bow-tie and tails, set fire to a 20 note in front of unemployed crane operator Ryan Davies, 31.

Apologising to students for the "guilt by association" they may have suffered, he wrote: "The gift of a great education should be a tool to enrich society, not an excuse to debase it.

"I made a terrible mistake, and I quite rightly faced disciplinary action for it."

The incident sparked widespread indignation and more than 23,000 people signed a petition for him to be expelled from the university.

Mr Coyne told in his letter how he had received abuse in the wake of the incident.

"When the media commentary flared up, strangers sent piles of abusive mail to my family home threatening me with violence, and chemical attacks," he wrote.

"I received some sympathetic letters and emails from people who thought that the online abuse went too far. To those people, I am still grateful."

Mr Davies told the Cambridge News shortly after the incident how Mr Coyne mocked him after he asked passers-by for spare change.

He told the newspaper that the teenager said: Hows that for change, Ive changed it into flames.

Mr Davies, who had been homeless for three months, said: He says lets see what Ive got and pulls out a 20 note and went to pass it to me.

I couldnt believe my luck, know what I mean. But then he pulled it back and lit it, burnt it and he says 'How's that for change, Ive changed it into flames.

It was absolutely disgusting. It was horrible. Just plain nasty.

A spokesman for Pembroke College told the newspaper on Thursday: Like many, the college was shocked to read the details of a widely reported incident on Bridge Street, Cambridge, in February, involving one of our students.

Disciplinary action has been taken, but of course the College cannot comment on the outcome of individual disciplinary cases.
T he former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, has died aged 85 after a battle with cancer.

He became the 10th Archbishop of Westminster in 2000 and carried out the role until 2009.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Church in England and Wales said he died at 3.15pm on Friday.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the current Archbishop of Westminster, said in August Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's health had "taken a defining turn"

Announcing his predecessor's death, Cardinal Vincent said: "I am writing to let you know the sad news that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor died peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by his family and friends.

"Please pray for the repose of his soul. Pray, too, for his family, and those many friends and colleagues from the Diocese and far beyond who mourn his loss.

"Information about the funeral rites for the Cardinal will be circulated as soon as possible."

Born in Reading on February 24 1932 to parents who originally came from County Cork, in Ireland, he rose to become the leading Roman Catholic prelate in the United Kingdom.

Throughout his life, he was an outspoken figure, particularly on the issues of contraception and abortion and more than once found himself at odds with Tony Blair, the then prime minister, who himself was to turn to the Roman Catholic Church.

He was installed as the tenth Archbishop of Westminster in March 2000 and the following year he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was educated at Presentation College, Reading, before attending Prior Park College, Bath. He began training for the priesthood in 1950 at the Venerable English College in Rome.

He was ordained bishop of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton in 1977, at which point he became chairman of numerous committees and other Church bodies.

The head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, paid tribute to the cardinal, saying people saw in him "something of Christ".

Mr Welby said: "The news of the death of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O-Connor today represents a loss to his innumerable friends, to the church and to the country.

The cardinal was a "good friend" to Anglicans across the world, the Archbishop said, adding that his work as co-chairman with the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission was undertaken with "customary good humour".

He said: "He will be remembered with thanks and affection by all whose lives he touched. He was a great raconteur and story-teller, amusing, but always with a purpose.

"His words and his life drew people to God. His genial warmth, pastoral concern and genuine love for those in his care will be missed, but also celebrated with thanks. May he rest in peace and rise in glory."

"Cormac was a bishop for four decades but was first and foremost a servant of God and disciple of Jesus Christ. His humility, sense and holiness made him a church leader of immense impact.

"When he was called from the Diocese Arundel and Brighton to be Archbishop of Westminster, Pope St John Paul II made reference to the fact that he had already been a bishop for a number of years and that it was natural that he should turn to him to succeed Cardinal Hume as Archbishop. It was natural because in Cormac people saw something of Christ."
A woman who donated a kidney after her daughter died in need of a transplant today urged the public to sign the organ donor register.

Pat Carroll, 65, gave her organ away to a man being treated in the same unit as her daughter Natalie had been.

She had been unable to donate her kidney to her daughter as Natalie also needed a pancreas at the same time.

Natalie died aged 38 in 2014.

Her organs had been damaged by Type 1 diabetes. She was on the waiting list but later withdrawn because she became too ill to benefit from a transplant.

She was able to donate her own heart valves, which helped saved the life of an eight-month-old girl.

Organ donor: People have been urged to join the register

Mrs Carroll, a retired retail worker from Thurrock in Essex, donated her kidney to Joe Carmona, 22, at Guys and St Thomas hospital in November.

She said: Before Natalie died I promised her Id finish the journey we both started by donating. Knowing I donated in her memory helped me to cope with my grief.

When I met Joe he looked desperately ill like Natalie had. I knew what he and his mum Linda had experienced. Since the transplant he looks like a different man  its been amazing to watch his transformation.

We will always stay in touch and were planning a party to mark a year since the transplant.

Mr Carmona said: I feel good, and I feel as if I have got my life back.

"It is just great and I am so grateful to Pat.

By March this year, a total of 202,230 people in Lambeth and Southwark had signed the register, an increase of almost 53,000 in five years.

Mrs Carroll is going to Parliament next week to raise awareness of organ donation as part of Organ Donation Week, which begins on Monday.

She said: Its frustrating that more people dont agree to donate.

After I lost Natalie I started to raise awareness and found a lot of people dont want to talk about it and were ignorant about the reality, just thinking the organs would be there if they ever needed them.

Marlies Ostermann, clinical lead in organ donation at Guys and St Thomas hospital, said: Around 6,400 people in the UK are currently waiting for a transplant and on average three people die every day in need of a transplant.

Its crucial for people who want to donate to tell their families. We need their consent for donation to go ahead, even if they have signed the organ donor register.
L Oreal has sacked its first transgender model after a Facebook rant in which she claimed ALL white people are racist.

Munroe Bergdorf, 29, from London was billed as the face of modern diversity when she was brought on board the brands #allworthit campaign just days ago.

The DJ and trans activist had written on Instagram: So Im the first transgender woman to feature in a LOreal UK campaign I got to say the famous lines! SO gassed!

However LOreal confirmed on Friday that she had been dropped as comments she made are at odds with its values.

She reportedly wrote: "Honestly I don't have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people.

"Because most of ya'll don't even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour.

"Your entire existence is drenched in racism. From micro-aggression to terrorism, you guys built the blueprint for this s***.

"Come see me when you realise that racism isn't learned, it's inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.

"Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth then we can talk.

"Until then stay acting shocked about how the world continues to stay f***** at the hands of your ancestors and your heads that remain buried in the sand with hands over your ears."

The post was later deleted.

She defended it in another Facebook post, claiming she made the remarks in response to the events at Charlottesville.

She wrote: "When I stated that 'all white people are racist', I was addressing that fact that western society as a whole, is a SYSTEM rooted in white supremacy - designed to benefit, prioritise and protect white people before anyone of any other race.

Unknowingly, white people are SOCIALISED to be racist from birth onwards. It is not something genetic. No one is born racist."

She added: I stand for tolerance and acceptance - but neither can be achieved if we are unwilling to discuss WHY intolerance and hate exist in the first place.

LOreal Paris UK said in a statement: "LOreal supports diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion.

"The LOreal Paris True Match campaign is a representation of these values and we are proud of the diversity of the Ambassadors who represent this campaign.

"We believe that the recent comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with those values, and as such we have taken the decision to end the partnership with her.

"LOreal remains committed to celebrating diversity and breaking down barriers in beauty."
O ne in three sick notes handed out by GPs are for those with mental health problems, official figures show.

More Britons than ever are taking time off work for stress, anxiety and depression, according to an alarming new report from the NHS.

Some 573,000 cases of sick leave due to poor mental health were reported in the last year, figures show.

This figure rose from 70,000 from the previous year, making mental health and behavioural problems the most common reason for doctors issuing sick notes.

Musculoskeletal conditions were the second most common, according to the report.

The statistics come following government measures to clamp down on sick note culture by introducing a new fit note system.

In the fit notes official guidance document, the Department of Work and Pensions advises that going back to work before a patient is fully recovered can often help their recovery.

But the new data shows that one in five people who received a fit note for mental health problems was off work for at least three months.

One in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year (Shutterstock ) / Shutterstock

More people in Knowsley, Merseyside are taking mental health sick leave than anywhere else in the country, while Richmond in London recorded the lowest number of people given mental health fit notes.

Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS, told the Telegraph: These figures explain why the NHS is now putting mental health front and centre, in what was recently independently described as the worlds most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses'."

He said funding for services had risen by 1.4bn in the last three years, with an extra 120,000 people receiving treatment.

When it comes to mental health, whats good for patients is also good for taxpayers, because untreated mental health problems directly affect work, unemployment and benefits, Mr Stevens said.

The fit note system, introduced in 2010, aimed to encourage employers and GPs to ease employees back into work in a less pressured way, by adjusting hours or duties.

But the figures show that in the vast majority of cases employees were simply signed off. Just one in 20 fit notes made suggested changes to the patients working life.

The report found that women continually accounted for more than half of the total number of fit notes issued from a low of 53.8 per cent in August 2015 to a high of 57.3 per cent in January 2017.

Prince Harry has spoken out about receiving counselling after the death of his mother, Princess Diana / Getty Images

As celebrities continue to come forward with their own experiences of mental health, experts have suggested that the stigma around non-physical conditions is at a turning point, making people more likely to speak to their doctor if they are suffering.

Prince Harry was hailed "an inspiration" after he opened up about his with grief following his mother's death, earlier this year.

But Dr Jed Boardman from the Royal College of Psychiatrists said the report was "alarming" and the Telegraph that GPs and employers need to do more to help those with mental health problems get back to work.

He said both needed to be far more active in coming up with suggestions to help individuals.

A Government spokesman said: Were helping thousands of people to remain in, or get back into work after a period of ill-health.

Were determined to go further, and these statistics will provide us with a better understanding of why people take sickness absence in different areas across the country.

Supporting people with mental health conditions is a top priority, which is why weve commissioned two expert-led reviews and have invested a record 11.6bn into mental health services.

Approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, according to mental health charity Mind. Generalised anxiety disorder is the most common mental health condition, affecting about six people in every 100.
T heres no directory you can thumb through to find someone to make this feel better ... after more than 50 years, hundreds of millions of copies and a host of beloved adverts, the Yellow Pages is being killed off.

Since 1966, the weighty tome has sat next to the landline in nearly every home.

Its contents have solved many a domestic crisis and secured countless local traders lucrative business.

Its slogans, such as Let your fingers do the walking and Its not just there for the bad things in life, have entered common parlance.

Much-loved: Yellow Pages adverts have won the heats to viewers over the years

But now parent company Yell is calling time on the publication.

In future, businesses seeking customers will list and advertise online using Yells digital platform.

Yell is printing 23 million copies of one last edition next year - which it hopes will become a souvenir.

Festive favourite: The Yellow Pages will publish its last edition

Chief executive Richard Hanscott said: After 51 years Yellow Pages is a household name and were proud to say we still have customers whove been with us from the very first one.

Perhaps the best loved ad, from 1983, shows a gentle old man (Norman Lumsden) trying to trace an out-of-print book, Fly Fishing by J R Hartley. After a fruitless search he looks in Yellow Pages and finds one  and we discover he is the author.

Another shows a teenager waking to the chaos of his parents house after a party: Hello, French polishers? Its just possible you could save my life.

James Nesbitt starred in other ads.

Nearly all firms now have an online presence and Yell said that while Yellow Pages is still profitable it probably wouldnt be in a few years.

The first of the final edition will hit Kingston in January  and the last will be distributed 12 months later in Brighton, where it all started.
P resident Donald Trump will ask US Congress for $5.9 billion (4.56bn) in emergency aid to help the devastated victims of Hurricane Harvey.

But the figure falls way short of the $125 billion (97bn) that Texas Governor Greg Abbott insists the storm-ravaged state needs to get back on its feet.

In spite of the shortfall - that could lead to serious delays in repairing the swathe of destruction the hurricane and subsequent floods caused in Texas and Louisiana - Vice President Mike Pence told victims yesterday: The American people are with you.

We will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before, he added during a trip to Texas on Thursday.

A man wades through flood waters in Texas (REUTERS) / Reuters

The vice president said 311,000 people had already registered for disaster assistance, and that he hoped for bipartisan support in Congress for the funding request.

Mr Trump, who has been roundly criticised for failing to meet up with victims in Houston on a visit to the region on Wednesday, has meanwhile donated $1 million (770,000) of his own money to the relief effort.

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While the president visited the waterlogged state, he limited his visit to Corpus Christi, which avoided the worst of the flooding. Aides said Mr Trump feared his presence could divert resources from rescue efforts. He is expected to return to Texas with wife, Melania, on Saturday.

Hell pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

The White House did not say whether the money would come from Mr Trump or his foundation.

Following the announcement, the president tweeted a photo of emergency workers who were first to the scene and who were gathered in a multi-faith prayer circle.

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More than 90,000 people have already been approved for disaster assistance payments in the aftermath of the tropical storm that claimed at least 38 lives.

Motorists battle through the floods / AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters yesterday began a grim two week operation going house-to-house to search for survivors and bodies. Officials said most of the flooding was expected to recede by the end of the weekend after Harvey dumped more than 19 trillion gallons of water on the region.

More than 100,000 homes were destroyed and many areas were still without power this morning.

Hurricane Harvey hits Texas in fiercest storm to smash US in a decade 1 /21 Hurricane Harvey hits Texas in fiercest storm to smash US in a decade A power generator tips in front of a Texas hospital. AP A single truck drives down a street as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in downtown Port Lavaca, Texas. AP Water crashes along the bay front in Port Lavaca, Texas, on Friday. AP Hurricane Harvey from space. NASA via EPA NASA's picture of the storm. EPA Stewart Adams, of San Marcos, Texas, plays in the winds from Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi, Texas. REUTERS A group of people race across the street as winds from Hurricane Harvey escalated in Corpus Christi, Texas. REUTERS Street signs lie on the ground after winds from Hurricane Harvey escalated. REUTERS Debris flies past as Stewart Adams, of San Marcos, Texas, balances himself from a gust of wind. REUTERS The eye of the storm making landfall. Getty Images North America A city utility worker braves the wind and rain of Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi. EPA Larger than usual waves come ashore at Crystal Beach. AP A sign blows in the wind after being partially torn from its frame by winds from Hurricane Harvey. Getty Images A motorist drives through heavy rain before the approaching Hurricane Harvey hits Corpus Christi. AFP/Getty Images A storm chaser films himself on a camera phone. REUTERS Serenity McGinnis, 10, walks along the shore with her father Jesse and sister Rebella, right, as the storm approaches Texas. AP

Fifteen police officers were taken to hospital for treatment after being exposed to the toxic substances released following two explosions at the Arkema chemical plant in Harris County, Houston.

The fire was put out but officials are monitoring the site for more blazes. The blasts were caused when power was cut for the refrigeration of powerful chemicals that became incendiary with a rise in temperature.

We all know one thing, and its that there is no storm as tough as the people of Texas. We will rise again and we will rebuild this great town and the affected areas across the entire state of Texas, said Texas Governor Mr Abbott.
D onald Trump has been mocked for misspelling heal as heel on Twitter for the third time in two weeks.

The US President was met with derision when he wrote a tweet referencing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts on Friday afternoon.

He said: Texas is heeling [sic] fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard. But still, so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!

Trump posted the tweet at 7.50am local time but didn't delete it until more than an hour later, with hoards of people quick to pick on the error.

James Martin wrote on Twitter: "Spelling before vs. after you've had your covfefe."

Another Twitter user accused the President of having an "abnormally low IQ".

Another said: "We have an illerate @POTUS. Well done America."

Laura Duca wrote: "Oh, hell [sic] never learn" while Anthony De Rosa added: "Hell [sic] get it right one of these days."

Nick Pappas added: "It's only a matter of time before Trump's supporters are convinced "heel" is the correct spelling and it's all a fake dictionary conspiracy".

It is the third time in two weeks that Mr Trump has misspelled the word healing in a tweet.

After a protest in Boston followed violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, he wrote writing: Our great country has been divided for decades.

Sometimes you need protest in order to heel [sic], & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!

After he deleted the initial tweet, Mr Trump reposted it again but made the same error. He corrected it on the third attempt.
A powerful new hurricane is "rapidly intensifying" in the Atlantic and may next week pose a fresh threat to the Caribbean and the United States.

The news came after at least 39 people, including six members of the same family, were feared killed in Hurricane Harvey, with a further 30,000 people expected to be needing shelter.

Tropical Storm Irma was classified on Wednesday morning and strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane over the eastern Atlantic on Thursday as winds soared to 115mph.

It was about 775 miles west of the Cape Verde islands, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in an advisory.

NHC forecast models showed it heading for the US territory of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and neighbouring Haiti with possible landfall by the middle of next week.

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The storm has escalated so quickly that the National Hurricane Centre gave the term "rapid intensification", meaning wind speeds strengthened by 35mph or more in 24 hours.

"Fluctuations in strength, up or down, are possible during the next several days, but Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through the weekend," said the NHC.

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Irma is said by meteorologists to be a classic Cape Verde hurricane, a type of storm that forms near the Cape Verde Islands and intensifies as it blows across the Atlantic.

Hurricane Harvey, now downgraded to a Tropical Depression, has paralysed most of Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, with rescuers launching into a race against time to help thousands of Texas residents.

It was the fiercest hurricane to hit the US in 13 years, generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1,000 years.
F our prototypes of Donald Trumps controversial border wall with Mexico will be built by companies bidding to take on the project, US officials have said.

The companies have been chosen to build 30ft x 30ft concrete mock-ups of the wall, the country's Customs and Border Protection said.

Tests for resistance to tampering and penetration using small tools will then be carried out on the models, a spokesman told the BBC.

The four $500,000 (387,000) contracts have been offered in a bid to help Trumps government refine the design standards of the border wall, CBP deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello added.

Prototypes: US Customs and Border Protection Acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello shows off plans / AP

He told the BBC: Testing will look at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering, and scaling or anti-claim features."

Prototypes of the wall, which was a key promise during the Presidents election campaign, will also be fitted with cable conduits for sensors and cameras.

The four companies, from Alabama, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi, have been given four months to construct their designs.

Controversial plans: An illustration of what the wall could look like / AP

Four more contracts will be offered for prototypes to be made from other materials other than concrete to be built.

Proposals for the wall, planned to span the entire southern American border, sparked controversy during Trumps presidential election campaign.

Donald Trump after signing an executive order in January to start the Mexico border wall project / AFP/Getty Images

He signed an executive order to begin work on the 1,000 mile wall in January and said at the time: A nation without borders is not a nation.

Construction work: An area of the wall under construction in New Mexico / Getty Images

Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders. I just signed two executive orders that will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs and billions and billions of dollars.

The plans sparked further controversy after the US leader insisted Mexico would pay for the wall during his election bid.

President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted at the time: "At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made clear that Mexico would not pay for the wall."

The president later backed down and accepted the US would be forced to foot the bill.

Protesters marched across the US and Europe against Trumps anti-immigration plans, including constructing the divide shortly after he was elected and again 100 days into his term.

Images emerged of furious campaigners during demos in Washington and London carrying banners which read no ban, no wall.
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China appears to have stationed four new Y-8Qs, the most advanced model of its ASW (anti-submarine warfare) aircraft, in the south (Hainan Island). This is where China stations warships and naval aircraft that operate throughout the South China Sea. This ASW version of the Y-8 was first seen in the air being tested in 2010. By 2013 it was identified as the Y-8X (also known as the Gaoxin-6). A more advanced model, the Y-8J was seen being tested, like earlier models, in the north by the Northern Fleet. In 2015 the Y-8Q was first spotted, again in the north. This latest sighting, in May 2017, was the first time this aircraft was seen in the south and the four seen in Hainan appear (because of their ID numbers) to be part of the Southern Fleet.

The Y-8Q is Chinas answer to the American P-3C maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. Both aircraft are similar in shape and equipment. While equipped in a similar fashion it is still unclear how close the Y-8Q is to the P-3C in capability. The first flight of a fully equipped Gaoxin-6 took place in 2012, and apparently the design was being rushed into service.

China is playing catchup here, as the U.S. has been using these anti-submarine aircraft since the 1950s. While Chinese espionage efforts may have obtained details of most American anti-submarine aircraft equipment, theres no way to steal decades of experience. Another problem China will have is that when their anti-sub aircraft are actually put to use tracking American and other (especially Japanese and South Korean) submarines this will take place in international waters where the Y-8Q can be followed and monitored by American intelligence collection aircraft and ships.

The Y-8Q is a four engine turboprop aircraft that weighs sixty-one tons, has a thirty-eight meter (124.7 foot) wingspan, and a cruising speed of six-hundred and sixty kilometers an hour. The Y-8 is based on the Russian An-12 and U.S. C-130. There is also a larger version, the seventy-seven ton Y-9, which is believed to be a Chinese attempt to build an aircraft with similar characteristics to the American C-130J, and this version may also be used for ASW work.

The similar American P-3 is based on the Electra civilian airliner that first flew in 1954. Only 170 Electras were built but there nearly four times as many P-3s. A few Electras and over 200 P-3s are still in service.

Currently there are about two-hundred P-8s, P-3s and smaller anti-submarine aircraft in the western Pacific, and except for a few Chinese and Russian ASW aircraft, most are operated by nations that dont get along well with China. Until the Y-8Q shows up in large numbers, China will be at a major disadvantage in this department. Chinese subs were under constant surveillance by their anti-submarine aircraft while China was restricted to the comparatively slow warships with equipment for finding and attacking subs. China has even fewer helicopters equipped to anti-submarine work.

The sixty-one ton P-3 has a 32.5 meter (one-hundred foot) wingspan and can stay in the air about ten hours per sortie. Cruise speed is 590 kilometers an hour. Like the P-3C, the Y-8Q carries radars and other sensors, as well as a few tons of sonobuoys, depth charges, and torpedoes.

The P-3C is being replaced by the P-8 Poseidon, which entered service in 2013 and is based on the widely used Boeing 737 airliner. Although the Boeing 737 based P-8A is a two engine jet, compared to the four engine turboprop P-3, it is a far more capable plane. The P-8A has 23 percent more floor space than the P-3 and is larger (38 meter/118 foot wingspan, versus 32.25 meter/100 foot) and heavier (83 tons versus 61). Most other characteristics are the same. Both can stay in the air about 10 hours per sortie. Speed is different. Cruise speed for the 737 is 910 kilometers an hour, versus 590 for the P-3. This makes it possible for the P-8A to get to a patrol area faster, which is a major advantage when chasing down subs first spotted by distant sonar arrays or satellites. However, the P-3 can carry more weapons (9 tons versus 5.6). This is less of a factor as the weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines, sonobouys) are lighter and more effective today and that trend continues. Both carry the same size crew of 10-11 pilots and equipment operators. Both aircraft carry search radar and various other sensors.

The 737 has, like the P-3, been equipped with hard points on the wings for torpedoes or missiles. The B-737 is a more modern design and has been used successfully since the 1960s by commercial aviation. Navy aviators are confident that it will be as reliable as the P-3.

The Y-8/9 is based on an old Russian aircraft design, the An-12. This Chinese copy of the An-12 never caught on big as a transport but some were converted to work as radar (AWACS), maritime patrol/anti-submarine or electronic warfare aircraft.

China has been building the Y-8 since the early 1980s. The basic fifty-four ton propeller driven Y-8 can, like the similar American C-130H, carry twenty tons. China only built about 150 Y-8s since the 1980s and sold some to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Sudan. Meanwhile, more new uses are being found for the Y-8. One was converted to a medical evacuation aircraft, able to carry thirty-nine casualties on stretchers and fifteen able to sit, plus medical personnel.

Many of the older An-12s are still flying. But Russia has grounded all its An-12s more frequently because of old-age related reliability problems. The Russian answer to the American C-130, the sixty-one ton An-12 entered service in 1959 (two years after the C-130), but production ceased in 1973 (after 1,280 were built). The seventy ton C-130 remains in production and over 2,400 have been built.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Y-8s are well maintained and constantly updated with new equipment. China is apparently increasing production and finding even more uses for this sixty year old design, as well as producing an upgraded model, the Y-9.
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is changing its tactics. Instead of focusing on stopping the goods moved by smuggling gangs, SOUTHCOM will disrupt the criminal command operations that control the flow of smuggled goods. The criminal command "network operations" could link to terrorist networks. There is evidence that this has happened in Venezuela and perhaps Argentina. SOUTHCOM says the change could be viewed as a switch from a tactical focus to a more strategic focus. Goods moved illegally run the gamut, from drugs like heroin and cocaine, to exotic animals, to various types of plants (to include smuggled fruits), precious metals and human beings. SOUTHCOM, other U.S. security agencies and nations they work with regularly interdict shipments. Occasionally the organized criminal groups that run the smuggling operations are decimated (which has occurred in Mexico). However, they regenerate. U.S. and Canadian demand for illegal drugs is the major reason, but it is not the only reason. The endemic corruption, weak judiciaries and poorly trained security forces that plague many Central and South American nations is another. The new "strategic focus" will stress programs that "build partnership capacities", which is SOUTHCOM jargon for helping regional nations address those problems. (Austin Bay)

August 31, 2017: The Mexican government offered to help Texas recover from the effects of Hurricane Harvey and Texas accepted the offer. The Mexican aid could include soldiers experienced in disaster relief, vehicles, food, medicine, water and portable showers. Domestic hurricane relief and recovery and other humanitarian operations are designated Mexican military missions. In American states, state National Guard units handle this rather than the active duty army.

August 29, 2017: Cartel gunmen in Rio Bravo (Tamaulipas state, near the Texas border) tried to assassinate a minor city official. The intended victim escaped by ramming his own armored SUV into a city building that housed the mayor's office. Police arrived on the scene and fought off two gunmen. Authorities believe the gunmen belong to a Gulf Cartel faction.

Seven people were murdered in the resort city of Acapulco (Guerrero state). Authorities believe the crimes were gang-related.

August 28, 2017: A California resident has pled guilty to building a smuggling tunnel across the Mexico-U.S. border. Habib Mujica, a resident of Calexico, California, was arrested in May of this year after returning from Mexico. He had spent six years in prison in Mexico for smuggling weapons. U.S. security personnel discovered his tunnel in 2011. He could spend another 40 years in prison.

August 26, 2017: U.S. authorities detained 30 illegal migrants who tried to enter the U.S, through a tunnel in San Diego. Most (23) of the people arrested were Chinese nationals. The other seven were citizens of Mexico.

August 25, 2017: The EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) has officially renounced violence. This isn't exactly news. In 2014 leader Subcommandante Marcos indicated that the EZLN's long-running, low-casualty confrontation in Chiapas was over. That confrontation began New Years Day 1994 with a spectacular raid by masked Mayan fighters. Marcos also announced he was changing his nom de guerre to Subcommandante Galeano, to honor a deceased Zapatista fighter. The EZLN has now made common cause with the National Indigenous Congress and intends to work with it in electoral politics. Earlier this year the EZLN endorsed Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez in the 2018 presidential election even though Mrs. Patricio is a member of the EZLN. She is a left wing activist and an indigenous healer from the Nahua ethnic group (a Mayan group). The EZLN still controls several small villages in the vicinity of San Cristobal de las Casas (Chiapas state). (Austin Bay)

August 23, 2017: A court in Jalisco state sentenced former Guadalajara cartel senior leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo to 37 years in prison for his role in the murder of U.S. DEA agent Enrique Camarena, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1985.

Soldiers fought cartel gunmen in the town of Rio Bravo (Tamaulipas state, on the Texas border). Witnesses heard an extended exchange of automatic weapons fire. One of the gunmen may have been manning a light machine gun. The troops did not suffer any casualties. However, one civilian bystander was injured.

August 22, 2017: The government admitted that a journalist from Veracruz state who was under government protection has been murdered. Candido Rios Vazquez was the ninth Mexican journalist murdered in 2017.

August 20, 2017: Recent government statistics confirm what everyone already knows: the resort city of Acapulco is a very dangerous place. Over the time period January through July 2017, Acapulco witnessed 483 homicides -- the official figure. That is down about ten percent from 2016 but it is still jaw dropping. Media recently reported over 1,800 businesses in the Acapulco area had closed due to the rampant violence. Bad? Of course. But it Tijuana is worse, in terms of 2017 corpses. So far, 714 people (at least) have been murdered in Tijuana. In 2017 Tijuana might supplant Acapulco as Mexico's deadliest city. Acapulco was definitely first in 2016. By some counts it was tops in 2014 and 2015 as well. Why the terror? In Acapulco the problem isn't just drug cartels, it's neighborhood gangs. Some two dozen heavily armed local gangs operate in Acapulco. Now, note the caveat: deadliest city. What is the deadliest place? Great question. It could be the town of Tecoman in Colima state. In early July Mexican media claimed Tecoman had topped Acapulco as the most homicidal municipality. It's a technicality but the murders are real. Tecoman has a murder rate of around 100 per 100,000 residents versus Acapulcos 75 per 100,000. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel are fighting a turf war over Colima state. Colima state's seaport, Manzanillo, is a choice route for smuggling drugs and other goods to Asia and Australia. Location location location. (Austin Bay)

August 16, 2017: Gunmen in the Cartel Del Noreste faction of the Los Zetas cartel murdered a man and hung his corpse on a highway overpass in the city of Matehuala, San Luis Potosi. A message on the body indicated the man's murder related to an on-going turf war for control of the town.

August 14, 2017: Four people were murdered in Acapulco.

August 12, 2017: Security forces seized over 40,000 liters (10,000 gallons) of tainted liquor in raids on 31 resorts, restaurants and tourist hang outs. The January 2017 death of a tourist from Wisconsin --which was due to contaminated alcohol-- spurred outrage in the United States. Most of the tourist facilities were in the cities of Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

August 11, 2017: Police have arrested a woman believed to be a senior leader in a large organized criminal gang which has operations in the resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Leticia Rodriguez Lara (nom de guerre is Dona Lety) has connections with several cartels, including Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartels. Her gang has recruited former members of the Gulf and Zetas cartels.

August 9, 2017: Police in Coahuila state arrested a cartel gunmen in the city of Piedras Negras. The gunman could have operated a one man drug smuggling operation. On his vehicle the authorities recovered five assault rifles, a 9mm automatic pistol, a revolver and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition. They seized 25 marijuana blocks, nine bags of cocaine and some crystal meth. The vehicle also had two hydraulic presses (for packaging drugs) and three bill counting machines.

August 6, 2017: Cartel gunmen murdered three people and wounded two more in San Jose del Cabo (Baja California Sur state). The violence took place on a tourist beach.

Authorities in Zacatecas state (northern Mexico) have discovered a mass grave with at least 14 bodies. Investigators reported the bodies had been dismembered and mutilated

August 4, 2017: The federal Attorney General's Office's investigation into the surveillance scandal continues. Media report investigators are looking into the targeting of two civil rights lawyers after they criticized the government's investigation of the 2015 murders of political activist Nadia Vera and journalist Ruben Espinosa. Both were critics of Veracruz state governor Javier Duarte, who is now in jail and facing a range of felony charges. According to media sources (not the government), someone tried to penetrate the lawyers' digital communications devices and computers using a cyber surveillance program called Pegasus. A total of 21 people were targeted by the software. Some of the individuals targeted were involved in investigations related to the 2014 Iguala Massacre. Pegasus is a product of a company called the NSO Group. The government has admitted it has purchased NSO software but continues to deny that it has used it as a surveillance tool to illegally spy on Mexican citizens. (Austin Bay)

August 3, 2017: Government statistics for June 2017 indicate it was the bloodiest month in two decades. Here's the official figure: 2,234 homicides. The official figure for the entire country, January to the end of June 2017: 12,155 homicides.

August 2, 2017: The El Salvadoran gang MS-13 has vigilante nemesis: La Sombra Negra, which is Spanish for The Black Shadow. U.S. and Mexican sources report that report that La Sombra Negra operatives are hunting MS-13 gang members in El Salvador. The group may also be active in Mexico.

July 28, 2017: A U.S. court convicted Los Zetas drug cartel gunmen of murdering an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent and wounding another agent. The murdered ICE special agent as Jaime Zapata. He was slain on February 15, 2011. So far seven Zetas gunmen have been convicted for participating in the murder.
Apple on Thursday confirmed it will host an "Apple Special Event" on September 12. The media gathering will be the first-ever to be held at the Steve Jobs Theater at the company's new Apple Park campus in Cupertino.

Apple didn't specify what products it will showcase at the event, instead electing to leave speculation up to the rumor mill.

Most agree that we'll see three new iPhones take the stage. An OLED display-equipped iPhone 8 will be the starring attraction although updates of the current handset are also expected - likely named the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus.

The premium iPhone 8 will probably feature a bezel-less, curved-edge display with a fingerprint sensor embedded beneath (or, on the back as some rumors indicate). Updated internal hardware is a given, as is an upgraded camera array, wireless charging and larger storage capacities.

Experts believe we'll also see a third-gen Apple Watch with LTE connectivity and a revised Apple TV that supports 4K video.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in mid-2011 presented a proposal to the city council of Cupertino for a new campus. The "Spaceship" campus, as it became known online due to its circular design, was officially named Apple Park earlier this year. It is estimated that the project cost Apple more than $5 billion - a lot of money, for sure, but hardly a drop in the bucket when you've got more than $260 billion in cash.

Jobs, who designed Apple Park, died before the company broke ground in 2014.

Apple's September 12 keynote is scheduled to begin promptly at 10 a.m. Pacific.
Dara Khosrowshahi, former head of Expedia, has one less headache to deal with as he slips into Travis Kalanick's shoes as CEO of Uber. A California US District Court has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Uber violated several laws during the use of its "Hell" software.

The secret program was allegedly used between 2014 and 2016 to track Lyft drivers' locations in real time. This allowed Uber to send its own drivers to areas with a lack of coverage. The software was also used to determine if Uber drivers were moonlighting with Lyft, allowing the company to offer them incentives to quit the rival company.

The class-action lawsuit was filed by former Lyft driver Michael Gonzales back in April. It claims Uber violated the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and California's Unfair Competition law. Fortunately for Uber, its legal counsel was able to poke holes in Gonzales' allegations.

The plaintiff claimed that the ride service violated ECPA by "intercepting" communications. Uber argued that Gonzales had not made a "proper case" that any private communications had been intercepted since the information in question was "readily accessible to the general public."

The plaintiff's claim that Uber invaded his privacy was also refuted. The defense contended that CIPA was not violated since Lyft drivers agree to "give up" their location information when using the app.

As for the Unfair Competition law, Uber's attorneys pointed out that "loss of money or property" must occur from the alleged actions and the plaintiff failed to demonstrate such loss. On these grounds, the defense filed a motion to have the case dismissed.

That motion was filed in July and today, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted it. She agreed that Gonzales had not built a firm foundation for any of his claims and dismissed the lawsuit with "leave to amend." This allows Gonzales the opportunity to revise his original complaints but he will have to file a new lawsuit.

If he does decide to continue to pursue his claims, this might not be the last we hear of the scandal.
The American tech industry and Donald Trump have once again clashed over the issue of immigration. This time, reports that the president will soon end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program has brought condemnation from the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook Google, and around 350 more companies.

Introduced by the Obama administration in 2012, DACA protects young immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation on the condition they meet certain requirements. During his election campaign, Trump had promised to end the program before seemingly backing down, but he will reportedly be eliminating DACA as early as today. The fact that ten states are threatening legal action if DACA continues beyond September 5 may have prompted the move.

In a joint open letter addressed to Trump, industry leaders wrote: "Dreamers [the name given to those on the DACA program] are vital to the future of our companies and our economy. With them, we grow and create jobs. They are part of why we will continue to have a global competitive advantage."

Immigration reform group FWD.us is collecting more signatures for the letter.

In a separate statement from Microsoft, Satya Nadella lent his voice to the argument. "As I shared at the White House in June, I am a product of two uniquely American attributes: the ingenuity of American technology reaching me where I was growing up, fueling my dreams, and the enlightened immigration policy that allowed me to pursue my dreams."

"Smart immigration can help our economic growth and global competitiveness," writes the CEO.

In a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg, one of the co-founders of FWD.us, called on Trump to retain DACA. "Today I join business leaders across the country in calling on our president to keep the DACA program in place and protect Dreamers from fear of deportation. We're also calling on Congress to finally pass the Dream Act or another permanent, legislative solution that Dreamers deserve."

Ride-hailing giant Uber, fresh from appointing Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO, also put out a statement: "Dreamers grew up here, live here, and are contributing to our communities and our economy," a spokesperson said. "Their contributions make America more competitive and they deserve the opportunity to work, study, and pursue the American dream."

Trump has had a turbulent relationship with industry heads during his time in office. The president recently disbanded two advisory councils after several CEOs left in protest, and he lost eight National Infrastructure Advisory Council members last week. The immigration ban and the US pulling out of the Paris Accord also led to multiple resignations.
Endangered California frogs are getting an immunity boost from scientists who are scooping them up from remote Sierra Nevada ponds and sending them to big city zoos for inoculation, giving them a fighting chance to beat extinction, officials said yesterday.

The experiment aims to rescue the 3-inch mountain yellow-legged frog  named for distinctive coloring under its hind legs. Scientists use nets to capture diseased tadpoles and then fly them by helicopter from their natural range deep within the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

They are next driven over 322 kilometers across the state to the San Francisco and Oakland zoos, where they are inoculated against a ravaging disease partly blamed for wiping them out from much of their historical range in the Sierra, scientists said.

Roughly 385 frogs have been treated at the zoos and returned after two years as healthy, young adults to their native lakes and ponds.

Aquatic ecologist Danny Boiano of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, who has led the three-

year project, said it appears to be paying off. Next, his team will study their frogs to determine if its working.

Its experimental at this point, he said. Its going to take several years to find out if it works.

The frog holds a key place in the Sierra Nevada food chain. Scientists say they feed on insects, then snakes and birds eat the frogs.

The species once thrived in such masses that people could not walk the shores of lakes and ponds in the mountain range without stepping on them, according to historical accounts, which add that with each step, dozens more launched into the water.

Their decline began a century ago with the introduction of non-native trout for sport fishing that gobbled up the tadpoles. Starting in the 1960s, the frog suffered a second blow from an invasive disease, called the chytrid fungus.

The fungus is blamed for the decline and extinction of more than 200 amphibians worldwide, scientists say.

Today, the mountain yellow-l

egged frog is missing from 90 percent of its historical region in the Sierra. Both state and federal wildlife authorities have listed it as endangered.

At neighboring Yosemite National Park, the frogs population has made a significant recovery in part because rangers stopped stocking some lakes with non-native fish, park officials say.

Inoculating the frogs in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks costs roughly USD175,000 a year, which Boiano said mostly goes to pay his team of 10 seasonal biologists doing field work.

Just like vaccinating people, we are jump-starting their disease-fighting immune systems, said Jessie Bushell, director of conservation at the San Francisco Zoo. Letting the population completely die out is not a good option. Scott Smith, Fresno (Calif.), AP
Earlier this month, Nintendo found itself embroiled in a lawsuit after accessory maker Gamevice accused it of copying patented features in the Switch console. The case may seem frivolous, but the Japanese giant has just lost a similar, four-year-long lawsuit over patent violations, this one involving the Wii console.

A Dallas, Texas jury has awarded $10 million to iLife after finding that Nintendo of America infringed on the company's motion-sensing accelerometer technology in the Wii Remotes.

"Today's verdict is the result of our commitment to excellence and an outstanding team effort," said iLife.

It was first alleged that Nintendo had infringed on six iLife patients back in 2013. While its technology was designed to monitor babies for sudden infant death syndrome and to detect when elderly people fell, the company claims it has other uses and found its way into the Wii's motion-sensing controllers without permission.

Nintendo had argued that the patent was invalid due to its "lack of an adequate written description." And while Nintendo admits there are some similarities, it claims to have taken a "very different" path to iLife in regards to how the technology was used.

$10 million isn't a huge amount in the world of big businesses, but iLife had been seeking a lot more. It initially asked for $4 for each of the 36 million Wii units sold in the last six years, which would have worked out at $144 million. The final ruling is equivalent to around 25 cents for each Wii sold.

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo intends to appeal the decision. "The jury awarded iLife $10 million in damages. Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife's patent and the patent is invalid. Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court and with the court of appeals," said the company in a statement.
Apple may be scaling back its self-driving car project, but the iPhone maker remains on the list of companies and organizations that can test autonomous vehicles in California. Now, the state's DMV has just updated the document, adding Apple rival Samsung as one of the new permit holders.

It was no secret that Samsung had an interest in the self-driving car industry. Earlier this year, the company was granted permission to test the vehicles on public roads in South Korea. But the tech giant has reaffirmed that it won't be manufacturing the autonomous cars.

"As a global leader in connectivity, memory, and sensor technology, Samsung Electronics looks forward to participating in California's Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program and joining in the pursuit of a smarter, safer transportation future," a Samsung spokesman said in a statement. "While we have no plans to enter the car-manufacturing business, we are excited to help develop and deliver the next generation of automotive innovation."

Back in May, it was reported that Samsung wanted to improve self-driving vehicles' capabilities through its plans to develop top-of-the-line sensors, AI-powered computer modules, and deep-learning technologies. The modified test cars themselves are commercial vehicles from fellow Korean firm Hyundai, equipped with the latest cameras and sensors.

Late last year, Samsung made its motor vehicle industry ambitions clear with an $8 billion acquisition of Harman, whose infotainment systems are already found in over 30 million vehicles.

In addition to Samsung, some of the other firms that can test autonomous vehicles on Californian roads include Waymo, Apple, Uber, Nvidia, Tesla, Ford Motor, GM, Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, and Subaru.
Comcast has filed a lawsuit against the state of Vermont in an attempt to avoid building 550 miles of new cable lines. The Vermont Public Utility Commission granted Comcast an 11-year permit to operate in the state, but it appears that they are having second thoughts on some of the specific provisions. That permit states that Comcast shall construct no less than 550 miles of line extensions into "uncabled areas." It goes on to specify that any extension that Comcast builds as part of a federal or state grant will not qualify for this requirement.

Running new lines in remote areas is very expensive, so naturally Comcast would prefer not having to build them. The lawsuit alleges that Vermont is overstepping its authority granted in the Cable Act, violating state law, and violating Comcast's constitutional rights. Comcast is asking the court to declare Vermont's regulations unlawful and to prevent them from being enforced.

Comcast has requested the VPUC to reconsider the requirement in the past, but that motion was denied. Vermont is standing by their regulations since they claim Comcast was aware of them when they bought Adelphia and first entered the state. The VPUC also believes that this 550 mile expansion will not harm Comcast or impair their ability to earn a "fair and reasonable return on its investments."

In making the decision, the commission considered various factors including the cost of past cable line expansions, Comcast's current profitability, and Comcast's profitability when performing other line extensions in Vermont.
Venezuela condemns this event and maintains its principled position of absolute condemnation of terrorist acts, methods and practices. | Read More
U.S. airstrikes blocked the advance of an Islamic State convoy carrying militants toward Iraq on Wednesday, derailing a Hezbollah-negotiated deal that removed the extremists from the Lebanon-Syria border, where they have been for years.

The airstrikes came amid U.S. criticism of the deal, reflecting a growing outrage within the Trump administration over the decision to give the militants safe passage from the battlefield instead of killing them, and Iran-

backed Hezbollahs leading role in it.

The developments also were an embarrassment for the U.S.-backed Lebanese military, which agreed to the deal and had declared victory over the militants.

U.S. officials said the airstrikes to disrupt the fleeing militants were intended to send a strong signal that the deal, while helping to clear IS from the border, undermined a broader U.S.-led strategy for defeating the group in Syria and Iraq.

More than 48 hours after they left the Syria-Lebanon border for eastern Syria, the buses carrying 300 militants and almost as many of their relatives were stuck in a desert area on the outskirts of the largely IS-held Deir el-Zour province near the frontier with Iraq.

It is not clear how the standoff will be resolved. Syrian activists say alternate routes are being considered to bring the militants to Boukamal, an IS-controlled town on the Iraqi border, according to the agreement.

But officials of the U.S.-led coalition said they will continue to monitor the convoy and arent ruling out more airstrikes. MDT/AP
Ethanol Does NOT Suck Water Out Of The Air +VIDEO







 UPDATED January 24, 2020 with a new bombshell hygroscopic video test that destroys anti-ethanol myths

By Marc J. Rauch

Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher

THE AUTO CHANNEL







Among the many ignorant and insidious claims spread by the oil industry to denigrate ethanol is that ethanol sucks water right out of the air. Sometimes it's phrased as "it absorbs water right out of the atmosphere." You see this claim on lots of websites (often on the websites that are trying to sell some kind of whizzbang engine treatment product); you hear it on radio and TV; and you see it all over the place in the comment sections of anti-ethanol news stories and blogs. Even comedian-auto enthusiast Jay Leno made this claim last year (2015) in a story he wrote for AutoWeek magazine.

Well, it's a lie: ethanol does not suck or absorb water right out of the air. The only thing that sucks is that the oil industry has been allowed to propagate lies like this for so long.

The origin of the claim is that ethanol is classified as a "hygroscopic" substance. Please note the spelling: hygroscopic (we've had people send us emails that say "ethanol is hydroscopic..."). It is HYGRO, with the letter "G." It seems that many years ago some clever oil industry person must have learned that ethanol (alcohol) is a hygroscopic substance, and that the general dictionary definition for a hygroscopic substance is that it can attract moisture from its environment.

What the oil industry wag then did was to play a semantic word game by substituting the word "attract" with "absorb," and "air" for "environment." The words attract and absorb are two different things, with two different meanings:



Attract - to pull to or draw toward oneself or itself (as a magnet attracts iron).

Absorb - to take in and make part of an existent whole (as a sponge absorbs water).

And the words environment and air have different contexts:



Environment - the immediate adjacent surroundings (as in the type of environment in which you live).

Air - the mixture of invisible odorless tasteless gases that surrounds the Earth.

How do we know that a semantic word game was played and that alcohol will not absorb water right out of the thin or ambient air, simple: fill any open container halfway with alcohol and place it on your kitchen counter. Allow it to sit for one or more days. If alcohol absorbs water right out of the air, then when you check the level of liquid in the ensuing days you would find that the volume of liquid has increased. Try it and see what happens. You can watch my demonstration of this experiment in the video window below.

Incidentally, cotton is also a hygroscopic substance. So just as additional proof that being a hygroscopic substance doesn't mean that it absorbs water right out of the air, place a ball of cotton on the other side of your kitchen counter and see if it gets saturated with water from just sitting out in the open. SPOILER ALERT, the cotton ball will not get saturated with moisture. However, if you want to see a hygroscopic substance in action, then place the cotton ball immediately adjacent to some water, so that the cotton ball is in an environment that includes liquid water. The cotton ball "wicks" up the water. If you place a piece of glass next to the water, instead of the cotton ball, the glass does not wick up the water because glass is not a hygroscopic substance.

Other than by a dumb accident, water will form in your fuel system because of condensation, but condensation has nothing to do with hygroscopic action. For example, if you have a glass-top outdoor table you have probably noticed that moisture formed on the glass after a cool night. This happens to your car windows. Since glass is not a hygroscopic substance, how does this occur? The moisture forms because of condensation.

So what do you do if you have some water in your fuel system? Do you stick a straw in and suck it out? No, you add a product like Dry Gas. Dry Gas is one or more type of alcohol, and ethanol is alcohol, meaning that you use ethanol to solve the problem of water in your gasoline tank. That's right, to solve the problem! In the years since E10 has been in regular use the overall incidence of car owners needing to use Dry Gas has declined dramatically. In April 2003, NPR Radio's Tom and Ray Magliozzi (CAR TALK Click & Clack) responded to a question on this issue:

"Dear Tom and Ray: Every time I fill my gas tank, I buy half a quart of dry gas. My father says it really helps with the fuel line and keeps things clean. Is this stuff legit, or am I wasting my cash? -- Chris



RAY: Well, we think you're wasting your cash, Chris. This stuff is mostly alcohol, which absorbs any moisture that is in your gas tank.



TOM: The idea is that by getting rid of any water in the tank, you eliminate the chance of the water freezing in the fuel line and preventing the car from running.



RAY: But to be honest, we haven't seen a frozen fuel line in our garage in a decade or more. Why? It could be because gasolines are better-formulated now. All gasolines have alcohol already mixed into them."

Water is absorbed into ethanol because water molecules are small enough to fit between the larger ethanol molecules. The water molecules are then vaporized in the combustion process. Gasoline molecules, on the other hand, doesn't have the ability to pack as many water molecules around them, so the water separates from the gasoline and freezes, if it's cold enough, or gets sucked into the piston chambers where it cannot easily combust. In other words, ethanol aids combustion, not inhibits combustion.

Does this mean that you could pour five gallons of water into your gasoline tank and the available ethanol will break down all this water? No, don't be silly; too much of anything can be bad...even ice cream.

Want to know what one of America's leading auto mechanics says about ethanol? Read this article from Bobby Likis: Cant We Just Get Rid of Ethanol Ignorance?

And for those among you who are boat owners and have been swayed by the ethanol-hygroscopic lies related to boats, you should be aware of the Mercury Marine Ethanol Webinar conducted in August 2011 - you will be shocked at their study findings, a position they've continued to support through two subsequent updated Power Point presentations (one in 2016 and another in 2018). The 2016 presentation can be found by CLICKING HERE. And you can watch the 2011 webinar in the video below.

For those of you who are too impatient to see the entire presentations, this is Mercury Marine's finding:

"There is no active transfer mechanism for ethanol molecules to reach out and grab water molecules out of the air. Under normal storage conditions, even in a vented fuel tank it just does not happen...The primary cause of water collecting in fuel tanks is condensation from humid air..."

From this point forward, let there be no more discussion about ethanol sucking the water right out of the air. Those who do, suck.

What About Dessicants?

Almost everyone is familiar with the little silica packettes that are placed in packages to keep the items in the package dry from condensation. These silica packettes are "dessicants." The process by which dessicants work is called "deliquescence." Dessicants do absorb moisture (water vapor) out of the air. This process has undoubtedly helped to contribute to the misunderstanding of hygroscopy because dessicants are hygroscopic. However, while all dessicants are hygroscopic, not all hygroscopic substances are dessicants. To understand this better, consider mandarins and tangerines. Mandarins are a type of orange citrus fruit. Tangerines are also a type of orange citrus fruit, however, they are not the same. All tangerines are mandarins, but not all mandarins are tangerines. Tangerines fall within the overall category of mandarins. Ethanol and other alcohols are not dessicants, they do not absorb water vapor from the air, they will absorb small amounts of water that they come in direct contact with (per the molecule comparison diagram shown above).

SEE ALSO:







For a lot more information about ethanol fuel you can read my 641-page book, THE ETHANOL PAPERS. It's available to read online for free by CLICKING HERE.
Several hundred Buddhist nationalists, including monks, rallied in Myanmars largest city on Wednesday to urge stronger action against insurgents from the Muslim Rohingya minority for attacks on police last week.

The attacks in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have spiraled into chaotic violence, with more than 100 dead and villages torched.

At least 18,000 Rohingya have fled the violence and crossed into Bangladesh in less than a week, with hundreds stranded in a no mans land at the countries border, the International Organization for Migration said.

The army, responding to last weeks attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents, but advocates for the Rohingya say they are attacking and burning Rohingya villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee.

The government blames Rohingya insurgents and their sympathizers for the continuing violence. Government figures put the death toll since last week at a minimum of 103, including 12 members of security forces, 77 people described as insurgents and 14 civilians. There were reports of additional deaths Wednesday.

Rohingya advocates fear the death toll for civilians is much higher.

Most of Myanmars estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, which refuses to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.

Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012. That set off a surge of anti-Muslim feeling throughout the country.

Wirathu, a Buddhist monk and leader of the anti-Muslim movement who is known for virulent sermons, told Wednesdays protesters in Yangon that only the military can control the situation in northern Rakhine.

He criticized the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi for not responding quickly to the armys call Tuesday for a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, which could declare a state of emergency in Rakhine and give the military absolute authority to enforce it. The military holds a majority on the council, which was created by the 2008 military-drafted constitution.

Only the militarys commander in chief can protect the lives and the properties of the people, Wirathu said. The military is the only one that can give a lesson to tame the Bengali terrorists.

Myanmar nationalists use the term Bengali for Rohingya because of a belief they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, even though many families have been in Myanmar for generations.

Wirathu also denounced international aid groups that the government has accused, without evidence, of giving assistance to the Rohingya insurgents. The allegations have circulated widely on social media.

The Information Ministry said Wednesday that 45 homemade bombs were detonated and seven villages, one security post and two neighborhoods in the township of Maungdaw were burned down on Sunday and Monday.

Maungdaw, in the northern part of Rakhine state, is a center of the violence, though villages over a much wider area were also hit.

Sanjukta Sahany, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, on the border with Myanmar, said the Rohingya crisis was not just an issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh but of international concern.

At the United Nations, the Security Council got an emergency, closed-door update Wednesday on Myanmar, at Britains request. The council didnt issue any statement as a whole, but British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said members condemned the violence and called on all the parties involved to de-escalate tensions.

The U.N. refugee organization on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to continue to allow Rohingya fleeing violence to seek safety. It said it was ready to help Bangladesh with assistance for the refugees.

Ali Hossain, Coxs Bazar districts top government official, told The Associated Press that its resources were under huge stress after some 87,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh since October last year and another 18,000 since last Friday.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the United States on Wednesday to pressure Myanmar so its government would stop pushing Rohingya toward Bangladesh, her spokesman said.

Hasina made the request during talks with Alice Wells, U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said Ihsanul Karim, Hasinas press secretary.

The insurgent raids last Thursday were deadlier than an attack by the militants on three border posts last October that killed nine policemen and set off months of brutal counterinsurgency operations against Rohingya communities. Human rights groups accused the army of carrying out massive abuses, including killing, rape and burning down more than 1,000 homes and other buildings. AP
Every Spark-Ignited Internal Combustion Engine Ever Produced Has Been Damaged By Gasoline







The shocking truth about gasoline's destructive nature

By Marc J. Rauch

Exec. Vice President/Co-President

THE AUTO CHANNEL







How do you like the headline of this story? "Every Spark-Ignited Internal Combustion Engine Ever Produced Has Been Damaged By Gasoline."

It's a pretty damming statement, isn't it? Well, I'll be damned if it's not true. Every gasoline-powered internal combustion engine ever produced and put into service has been damaged by gasoline. What's more, every single diesel-powered internal combustion engine ever produced and put into service has been damaged by petroleum diesel fuel.

Of course, it's really no big deal; the inherent nature of the internal combustion engine is that it will be damaged after it's put to use. Gasoline and diesel fuel are corrosive, they leave behind filthy deposits that turn to clogging goo, and the igniting of gasoline and diesel in the engine cylinders create thousands of explosions during every minute of operation...so how could every single gasoline or diesel-powered engine put to use not be damaged?

It's a no-brainer, right?

So if this is such a no-brainer, such an obvious statement of...the obvious, you may be asking yourself why I even sat down to write this story?

Here's why: A short while ago, I was directed by one of our readers to a message posted on the Facebook page for a group called American Energy Alliance. The post stated, "As I handed it (my car/engine) over, I asked the mechanic how many of the engines he works on have been damaged by ethanol. His reply: All of them."

As far as I could tell, the quote was not attributed to any specific person, and it provided no other details related to the situation that the quote refers to. It's not important if the situation was true or not because it is typical of the overly exaggerated, puerile, ignorant claims made by the oil industry against ethanol. However, the quote was linked to a story written by Jared Meyers, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for the Criminally Insane (just joking, that's a reference to Mel Brook's "Blazing Saddles")...he's a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

The story was originally published on Forbes.org, and is titled "Politicians Love Burning Food For Fuel." It supposedly details a conversation of some sort that took place between Mr. Meyers and Robert Bryce, a fellow fellow at the Manhattan Institute for the Criminally Insane (sorry, I couldn't help myself - whenever I hear or read "Institute for..." it makes me think of Mel Brooks). Robert Bryce is a fellow fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a senior fellow, at that!

Robert Bryce is a fraud and a liar. He has been spewing his anti-ethanol nonsense for years. In 2013, I wrote a 60+ page rebuttal to his cesspool work "Gusher Of Lies." I use the word cesspool instead of seminal because the book stinks like a filled cesspool.

You can read Mr. Meyers' Forbes story by CLICKING HERE, and you can read my rebuttal to Bryce's book by CLICKING HERE. I've given Mr. Bryce numerous opportunities to challenge my rebuttal or to recant or update some of his stale claims from a decade ago with corrected information but he has chosen to not do so.

As for the author of this article, Jared Meyers, I'm bewildered why anyone would title an article with a patently false statement, except as a joke or as sarcasm (as I did with my headline of this editorial). But in reading the article I find no evidence of intended humor or sarcasm. There is only stupidity; the kind of stupidity that matches the empty claim made about ethanol damaging every engine that the fictitious mechanic ever encountered.

By the way, for those with a scorecard, this is not the first absurd anti-ethanol editorial published by Forbes. This past April they published a work of junk written by Steven Salzberg, titled "Why Are We Growing Corn To Fuel Our Cars? Three Reasons Why Ethanol Is A Bad Idea." Mr. Salzberg is supposed to be a distinguished professor. Based upon the nonsense he wrote about ethanol he must be looking to be an extinguished professor by committing integrity-suicide. If you have the opportunity to visit the Forbes website and read this editorial you will undoubtedly come across my multiple comments after reading Salzberg's fairytale. I was my usual delightful self, of course.

The good thing about the anti-ethanol claims made by fellas like Messes Meyer, Bryce, and Salzberg (yes Messes, not Messrs.) is that they are either so devoid of simple common sense, or so obtusely complicated, that they are rather easy to refute - as you would learn if you read my long rebuttal to Mr. Bryce's book. (hahahaha, fellas makes me think of the old Jerry Lewis comedy "Cinderfella")

The upshot of what I'm getting at is that it's an absolutely asinine thing for the oil industry and its whores to blame ethanol for causing the same problems that gasoline causes, with even greater regularity and more severe consequences. Engine problems did not suddenly occur with the advent of E10. The automobile profession and automobile repair shops didn't suddenly spring up in the past two decades. Gasoline has been damaging engines for as long as gasoline has existed. The alarming aspect of this is that there are too many mechanics out there who don't know this; they think that gasoline is a magical elixir of engine health and vitality.

Now, allow me to turn my attention to this American Energy Alliance thing. This group like several others is nothing more than a disingenuous decoy for the oil industry. Similar to American Council For Capital Formation, AEA is a shill for the oil industry. In AEA's "about us" page they state that they have no ties to any political party, and it has no interest in supporting the agenda of any particular political party. The presumption is that they favor what's right for America and Americans in total. I say it's code for "AEA wants to screw all of America and all Americans, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, or political party." They want what's right for OPEC, foreign oil dictators, terrorists, and un-American American businessmen.

To AEA, ACCF and all these others, I ask, if gasoline is so good and so harmless to engines and humans and the environment and our economy then why do you need to rely on ridiculous lies and gross over-exaggerations to condemn ethanol?

The fact is that every spark-ignited internal combustion engine ever produced and put into use has been damaged by gasoline, and every single person working for the petroleum oil industry is working to undermine our country, our security, and our health.
FORD US AUTO SALES AUGUST 2017 - Overall Ford Down 2.1 Percent







DEARBORN, Mich.Ford Motor Company today reported its August 2017 sales results. Click here or visit media.ford.com to view the news release. Ford will begin its monthly sales call at 10 a.m. ET this morning when Erich Merkle, Ford U.S. sales analyst, will host a conference call for the investment community and news media to discuss the results and related market trends. He will be joined by Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, and Bryan Bezold, Ford senior Americas economist.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 203,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford and its products and services, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

For news releases, related materials and high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com.
John Kelly, Donald Trump. Photo: Getty Images

Since joining the White House as chief of staff, General John Kelly has sought to bring order to the West Wing. But to no ones surprise, President Donald Trump is reportedly not happy about being controlled  and, in an act of teen rebellion, has been sneaking calls on his personal cell phone.

As the Washington Post reports, the White House pre-Kelly (as in, one month ago) was a very different place. Trumps friends would apparently call the president to gossip and stop by the Oval Office to say hello as they pleased. But no more. Since the general  whom Trump loyalists reportedly refer to as the church lady  joined the ranks, calls are now routed through Kelly, and visitors need to make an official appointment and have a legitimate reason to meet with the president.

Per the Post:

But Trump sometimes defies  and even resents  the new structure. He has been especially sensitive to the way Kellys rigid structure is portrayed in the media and strives to disabuse people of the notion that he is being managed. The president continues to call business friends and outside advisers, including former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, from his personal phone when Kelly is not around, said people with knowledge of the calls.

Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone told the Post that Trump resists being handled. Nobody tells him who to see, who to listen to, what to read, what he can say, Stone said. General Kelly is trying to treat the president like a mushroom. Keeping him in the dark and feeding him [shit] is not going to work. Donald Trump is a free spirit.

But as a Republican close to the White House points out to the Post, Trump is still capable of turning on the TV, making calls, using the internet, and reading the newspaper. So, much like the parent of a middle-school kid has little power, it looks like theres not really that much Kelly can do to control the president.
Nemo Macron. Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

When President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger arrived at the steps of the Elysee Palace in Paris this week, he was greeted by French president Emmanuel Macron, and Nemo, a two-year-old black Lab mix.

According to the BBC, Macron and his wife spent two hours and nearly $300 for the dog, who was adopted from a shelter outside of Paris last weekend. With his adoption, Nemo became the newest member of the First Pets Club, an elite group of animals whose job it is to offer their illustrious human owners loyalty, companionship, and, of course, good publicity.

The groups members have included some of historys most famous pets, including the Obamas dogs, Bo and Sunny, the Clintons cat, Socks, and Winston Churchills poodle, Rufus. But for the first time in 150 years, there is no sitting U.S. representative of the First Pets Club. President Trump has no pets whatsoever, and when asked whether this would change, a spokesperson for Melania Trump told CBS News: The first family is still getting settled so there are no plans at this time.

So, as leaders around the globe are preparing for a world without America, so, too, it seems, are their pets. Here are some of the cats and dogs shaping our geopolitical future:

Justin Trudeaus dog, Kenzie, who may or may not exist

In April 2016, handsome boxer and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau claimed in a #tbt tweet that his extremely photogenic family had adopted an extremely photogenic puppy. Like Bo and Sunny Obama, Kenzie is supposedly a Portuguese Water Dog, but unlike Bo and Sunny, she has not been seen in public since her introductory tweet. Is Kenzie real? Was she another Trudeau PR stunt? Did he feed her to those pandas he cuddled? We may never know.

#tbt to the little one meeting our newest arrival a few months ago. Say hello to Kenzie. pic.twitter.com/G0wuoP9JCe  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 28, 2016

Vladimir Putins many dogs (and tiger)

As you may have surmised from his topless equestrian pics, Vladimir Putin is quite the animal lover. His pets even have their own Wikipedia page. Currently, the Russian president has two dogs, an Akita named Yume and and a Bulgarian shepherd named Buffy. But perhaps his most famous pet was Konni, a black Labrador whom he had fitted for a satellite navigation system collar in 2007, and whom he once used to intimidate German chancellor Angela Merkel, who is famously afraid of dogs (Putin denies this).

For three days in 2008, Putin was also the owner of Mashenka, a 20-pound tiger cub he received as a gift. He eventually gave her to a zoo in southern Russia, but in 2009, he made sure she got a ten-pound meat cake to ring in the New Year. (Coincidentally, that is also how I enjoy ringing in the New Year.)

That time Vladimir Putin terrified Angela Merkel with his dog https://t.co/Xc8KnAYjqX pic.twitter.com/elLMiGyXWx  SCMP News (@SCMPNews) July 4, 2017

Theresa Mays inherited cat, Larry

Technically, British prime minister Theresa May did not adopt Larry the cat  he came with the house. Larrys title is Chief Mouser of the Cabinet Office, and the tabby moved into the prime ministers residence at 10 Downing St. under Mays predecessor, David Cameron. May and Larrys relationship got off to a rough start, however, after May told the Times that although she was very happy to see Larry, we always had a dog at home rather than cats. (Rude.)

But Larry isnt letting himself get pushed around by this newcomer. In the same Times interview, May added, There are certain parts of Number 10 where Larry rules the roost, seats that he expects to be able to sit on.

Downing Street resident providing the reassuring presence needed at these difficult times. And Theresa May.https://t.co/P6huKFNKhD  Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) June 4, 2017

Malcolm Turnbulls blogger dogs

Based on his savage roasting of Trump in June, its clear Malcolm Turnbull has a way with words. And not just his own words. The Australian prime minister runs a dog blog written in the voice of his dog, JoJo, as well as other guest-blogger dogs. While most of the posts have been removed, I cannot recommend enough that you take some time to enjoy the few that remain. The prose is honest and thought-provoking, like this intro from JoJo the Dog returns to Blogging:

Okay I know its been a long time since I wrote a dog blog. But I have stuff to do. Lots of thinking which is what I do when you think I am sleeping. I mean, how pathetic humans are thinking they KNOW what we dogs are thinking. Fluffy is thinking she would like to go for a walk. That might be right. Fido wants a cuddle. Yeah, right.

Really makes you think.

Sauli Niinistos very happy dog, Lennu

Shortly after patiently differentiating blonde women for President Trump, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was photographed holding his dog, the 5-year-old Boston Terrier Lennu. Unlike the French First Dog, Nemo, Lennu has been described as not fully media trained, which seems inaccurate given how good he is at working the cameras.

As a Finnish person I think everyone should look at this photo of President Niinisto and his dog Lennu again pic.twitter.com/in3H7ZYgcO  laura olin (@lauraolin) August 28, 2017

what i look like when i try to smile at strangers... #lennu pic.twitter.com/AwELSZjkkw  j. carlisle larsen (@jcarlislelarsen) February 22, 2017

ever since seeing that tweet earlier I can't stop looking at pictures of Sauli Niinisto's dog ffs pic.twitter.com/bdTCjYTlKJ  minna helena (@minna_helena) February 22, 2017

Nothing but respect for my first pets.
Pope Francis. Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Good news for therapy-goers everywhere: It turns out were just like the pope.

Pope Francis used to go to therapy back when he was 42 (hes 80 now), according to a new book. His psychoanalyst was a woman, and he visited her weekly for six months to clarify some things, the Associated Press reports.

The revelation about the Popes therapeutic past was published by Italian daily La Stampa on Friday, pulled from a soon-to-be-published book of his conversations with French sociologist Dominique Wolton. Apparently, Pope Francis thought his therapist was a good person  and she was merely one of many women who had a positive influence on his life. Those whom I known helped me a lot when I needed to consult with them, he said.

However, Pope Francis is apparently no longer in therapy, as he told Wolton. I feel free. Sure, Im in a cage here at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing makes me afraid. Clearly.
Steve Mnuchin and Louise Linton may have timed their trip to Kentucky a little too well. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Last week, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin took Mitch McConnell, some other Republican lawmakers, and his wife, Louise Linton, to Kentucky, ostensibly to touch large piles of gold at Fort Knox. Coincidentally, Kentucky also happened to be one of the best places to watch the total solar eclipse, which happened to occur on the day of their trip. Now, the treasurys Office of Inspector General is reviewing the trip to determine whether its timing was a little too convenient, the Washington Post reports.

We are reviewing the circumstances of the Secretarys August 21 flight  to determine whether all applicable travel, ethics, and appropriation laws and policies were observed, counsel Rich Delmar wrote in a memo to the Post. He added that, when the review is complete, we will advise the appropriate officials.

The whole controversy over the Kentucky trip started when Linton posted an Instagram photo of herself disembarking from an Air Force jet with hashtags like #rolandmouret pants, #tomford sunnies, #hermesscarf, and #valentinorockstudheels. A commenter criticized the post, and Linton wrote back, calling her adorably out of touch and creepily referencing her kids.

That, of course, drew attention to the trip, which Treasury officials defended as official government travel necessitating an expensive government plane. (A spokesperson added that Mnuchin paid for Lintons travel, in accordance with the long-standing policy regarding private citizens on military aircraft.)

But according to the Post, government officials who arent involved in national security rarely use the jets, and a Defense Department policy calls Air Force planes a premium mode of travel involving high costs and limited resources  not exactly #daytrip material.
Pro-abortion groups were pleased with the decision. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Back in May, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed a law banning one of the safest and most common second-term abortion abortion procedures: dilation and extraction, or D&E abortion. The law wouldve had a devastating impact on low-income women, and could potentially have sent anyone who performed a D&E abortion to prison.

But several pro-abortion groups, including Whole Womans Health and Planned Parenthood, sued the states attorney general over the law, and on Friday  the day it was set to take effect  a federal judge temporarily blocked it.

As NPR reports, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel issued an injunction preventing Texas from outlawing the procedure for two weeks. In his ruling, he wrote that the law leaves that woman and her physician with abortion procedures that are more complex, risky, expensive, difficult for many women to arrange, and often involve multi-day visits to physicians, and overnight hospital stays.

In response to the ruling, Amy Hagstrom Miller, the CEO of Whole Womans Health, said she was elated at Yeakels ruling, but warned that the fight was far from over. We ask our communities to remain vigilant, she wrote.

And for good reason  the Texas attorney generals office responded with a combative statement of its own. Dismemberment abortions are gruesome and inhumane, which makes it troubling that a district court would block Texas lawful authority to protect the life of unborn children from such a barbaric practice, it read. The Texas Attorney General will continue to defend our states legal right to protect the basic human rights and dignity of the unborn.

The two sides will meet again for a hearing on September 14, where the judge will decide whether to extend the injunction.
NATO said Wednesday it will send three experts to observe military exercises between Russia and Belarus next month but alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wants the two countries to allow broader monitoring.

Russia and Belarus say the Zapad 2017 exercise, which runs from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20 not far from the borders of NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, will involve less than 13,000 troops. Under international rules, the two should allow wider access to monitors if troop numbers exceed that figure.

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the three experts will attend Visitors Days in Belarus and Russia after they were invited to attend.

But she said international rules permit monitors to have much wider access, including briefings on the exercise, opportunities to talk to soldiers and overflights.

The rules governing military exercises are enshrined in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes so-called Vienna Document.

Stoltenberg is calling for the Vienna Document to be revamped, and believes he can muster enough support to ensure that unannounced war games, or snap exercises, can be watched with snap monitoring, or that small, multiple maneuvers under different commands be recognized as one big exercise, loopholes he says Moscow is exploiting.

Its especially important now, because tensions are higher than they used to be. There is more military activity, more exercises and therefore its even more important that we avoid incidents and accidents or misunderstandings, he said.

NATO allies are concerned that Moscow might leave military equipment behind in Belarus when the exercises are over, perhaps to use later should President Vladimir Putin want to send troops quickly across the border, as he did in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

But Russias Deputy Defense Minister, Lt. Gen. Alexander Fomin, has rejected what he described as Western myths about the so-called Russian threat. MDT/AP
The all-powerful constitutional assembly has passed a decree ordering authorities to investigate and try Venezuelans believed responsible for supporting new U.S. economic sanctions.

The decree declares all those who promoted the latest U.S. response to the socialist governments handling of the countrys political conflict as traitors of the patria and directs the chief prosecutors office to immediately initiate a probe.

Those who call for treason leave us no option but to treat them as enemies of their own country, said Diosdado Cabello, a delegate and leader of the ruling socialist party.

The move came just days after President Nicolas Maduro vowed to prosecute for treason opponents he accused of being behind the U.S. financial sanctions.

Maduro singled out Julio Borges, president of Venezuelas opposition-controlled congress, but Borges said that he bore no responsibility for Venezuelas growing economic peril. The only one responsible is Maduro, Borges said.

The sanctions announced last week prohibit American financial institutions from providing new money to the government or the state oil company, PDVSA. They also ban trading in two bonds that the government recently issued to circumvent its increasing isolation from Western financial markets.

In addition, the sanctions restrict the Venezuelan oil giants U.S. subsidiary, Citgo, from sending dividends back to Venezuela  moves that Maduro has said will be damaging to this nations beleaguered economy.

U.S. officials contend the sanctions were crafted to avoid causing harm to ordinary Venezuelans and punish a government that U.S. President Donald Trump now brands a dictatorship.

Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, echoed that assessment, saying Maduros administration is a dictatorship that is trying to survive at the cost of an unprecedented humanitarian distress.

The sanctions are certain to cause further strife in a country where food shortages are common. The average Venezuelan lost 19 pounds last year, according to one study.

Former corrections minister Iris Varela, now a constitutional assembly delegate, received a resounding applause when she said Venezuela cant allow traitors to get away without punishment. Those who betray Venezuela and take advantage of U.S. aggression will have to be shot, she said.

The assembly, which is supposed to write a new constitution, was installed in early August following a disputed election of delegates. The assembly trumps all other branches of Venezuelas government and is ruling with virtually unlimited power. Jorge Rueda, Caracas, AP
A Chinese woman with no Australian medical license has been arrested for administering an anesthetic to a customer at a Sydney beauty salon who then suffered cardiac arrest, officials said yesterday.

They said Shao Jie was charged with causing reckless grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger the life of the customer during the breast procedure Wednesday at the Medi Beauty Laser and Contour Clinic. She faces a possible penalty of 20 years in jail.

The customer, Jean Huang, was hospitalized in critical condition.

If she does not survive therell be more serious charges laid, the prosecutor said during Shaos bail application at Central Local Court yesterday.

The prosecutor told the court Shao had admitted in a police interview that she had administered an anesthetic despite not being a licensed medical practitioner in Australia. He said Shao had a reservation on Thursday to return to China, where she lives with her husband, and was a flight risk. The magistrate denied the bail request.

Shaos lawyer, Mary Underwood, said she was a graduate of a Chinese medical university and had arrived in Australia several days earlier on a tourist visa. AP
Gori gave a lecture on physics last year to an all-girls Catholic high school in Cincinnati. She is a regular contributor to Women in Science and Engineering and advocates for women in science, technology, engineering and math (also called STEM).



It has been demonstrated that the main reason women are discouraged from pursuing an academic career in physics is they lack role models, she said. I am trying to get more women involved in physics. Its important to have role models that will inspire the next generation of women in STEM fields.



UCs Gass said Goris work at CERN and other labs brings esteem to UC and its Physics Department.



It helps to raise the visibility of the institution, place your students in good post-doctoral programs and recruit good graduate students, he said.



Gass said theorists often must wait a long time for their blackboard ideas to be put to the test by experimental physicists. But theorists such as Gori often play a central role in experiments.



Thats particularly important for dark-matter research. We dont know much about it, Gass said. So if youre designing an experiment to detect dark matter, its important to know what signal youre looking for and have an idea about how dark matter interacts with normal matter.



Gori is eager to find out. She suspects dark matter might contain its own photons  dark photons. CERN last year greenlighted a new experiment to study the question.



And in March, CERNs Dark Matter Working Group on which Gori serves proposed a new way of studying the possible interaction between dark matter and normal matter using the Large Hadron Collider.



Thats a big mystery. We dont know how dark matter behaves. The question is: does dark matter interact with the Higgs boson? she said. There are ideas that tell us dark matter comes with additional force. Were trying to understand these properties. Is it alone? Or does it bring a set of additional particles?



Scientists at CERN this summer announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle, nicknamed Xi for short, that theoretical physicists hypothesized they could find. Gori is excited about the prospect of testing her theories about dark matter through similar experimentation.



We dont know when the next big discovery will happen, Gori said. Its been an interesting journey.
Knife-wielding Phuket tuk-tuk driver fined B500, more charges may follow

PHUKET: Patong Police yesterday (Aug 31) arrested and fined a tuk-tuk driver who caught on video brandishing a large knife in front of a Patong Hotel.

crimepolicepatongviolencetransporttourism

By The Phuket News

Friday 1 September 2017, 10:03AM

Pannawich Nakamin, 35, admitted that he is a man seen in the video. Photo: Patong Police

The arrest was made after the video clips started to circulate on social media.

Patong Police Chief Col Tassanai Orarigadech told The Phuket News today (Sept 1), Yesterday I ordered a team of investigators to look for this tuk-tuk driver urgently.

An officer found the driver at 10 pm, his name is Mr Pannawich Nakamin, 35, and he admitted that he is a man seen in the video.

According to Col Tassanai, Pannawich told police that he picked up tourists at McDonald's on Thaweewong Rd at 5am yesterday morning and dropped them off at a hotel on Soi Kebsup where they refused to pay the B400 fare so he went and got the knife from his vehicle and started threatening them.

This behaviour is not acceptable in a public place. People should not be carrying a knife in tourism areas, said Col Tassanai.

I am still looking for the tourists involved as I want to hear their side of the story, he added.

At present, Pannawich has only been charged with carrying a weapon in a public place for which he was fined B500.

Other charges might be brought against him if we find out more details about this case, Col Tassanai concluded.
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My wife and I were relaxing at a cottage late the other weekend when a bright white flash of light outside the window startled us. There should have been no light, apart from the faint glow of a crescent moon.

Our summer rental, on the edge of a cliff overlooking beautiful Lake Kamaniskeg in the Madawaska Valley, is shrouded by pine trees. It gets very dark there.

We figured at first the flash might be the headlights of a car or boat, but we werent near the highway and the water was calm. A light from the sky seemed to be the only other option, but there was no sound of an aircraft or thunder.

Then I thought of Steven Spielbergs Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the UFO movie from 40 years ago thats getting an anniversary re-release in theatres this weekend. The alien visitors of the film swoop down upon Earth with their brightly lit spacecraft, more out of curiosity than malice, although their habit of abducting humans makes them far from completely harmless. Could the flash my wife and I saw have been little green men looking for cottage land  or worse, cottagers?

It occurs to me that Close Encounters has aged well, better than anyone might have expected when the film first came out. Critics of the day praised its Spielbergian blend of science fiction and When You Wish Upon a Star storybook enchantment, while at the same time recognizing it was hardly a novel concept. Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it the best  the most elaborate  1950s science fiction movie ever made.

The film also pays serious homage to Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey, another movie about curious aliens. Close Encounters opens with an overture reminiscent of the otherworldly symphonies of Gyorgy Ligeti heard in 2001 and it concludes with a scene that recalls the eye-popping Star Gate sequence at the end of Kubricks opus.

What Close Encounters lacked in originality, it made up in influence. You can see its impact on the many UFO films that followed it in the past four decades, especially the more thoughtful ones like Spielbergs E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Robert Zemeckiss Contact and Denis Villeneuves Arrival. These films zero in on the idea of achieving real communication and understanding with beings who are not of this Earth.

In Close Encounters, Spielberg also notes the difficulties that earthlings have in communicating with each other. He cast fellow filmmaker Francois Truffaut, whom he admired, as a French scientist studying the UFOs, but who required the translations provided by a bilingual American cartographer played by Bob Balaban.

Most of Close Encounters plays at an intuitive level. We dont know why the aliens are visiting, or why they seem to randomly abduct everyone from Second World War fighter pilots to a toddler in the farming country of modern-day Muncie, Indiana. We cant intuit intent when the UFOs both alarm and fascinate air traffic controllers, in one of the films most masterfully staged scenes.

Human reactions to the UFOs are equally baffling. Some people are mesmerized by the five-tone musical sound the spacecraft make. Others, like Indiana electrical worker Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian (Melinda Dillon), the single mom of the abducted toddler, become obsessed by an image of a flat-topped mountain, the meaning of which is revealed later in the film.

The aliens in Close Encounters are mystifying, but its not like theyre trying to hide from us or fool us. Their behaviour is unlike that of the humans in the film. Government and military officials seek to deny the existence of the UFOs and they concoct a cover story  a nerve-gas leak  to keep curious humans away from the aliens landing site.

Similar cover-ups are at work in 2001, E.T., Arrival and innumerable other movies about contact between earthlings and extraterrestrials. Fake news has been around longer than Donald Trump.

In sci-fi movies, its usually assumed that humans dont have the brains or bravery to cope with the thought of intelligent life beyond the stars.

As Jack Nicholson said in another movie, A Few Good Men, You cant handle the truth. (Nicholson, incidentally, turned down the role of Roy in Close Encounters because of another commitment.)

But Close Encounters actually suggests we could handle the idea of E.T. coming for a visit. The most magical thing about the movie is the sight of earthlings standing in awe and experiencing joy at the sight of their otherworldly visitors.

Its this sense of wonder that sets the movie apart from most of its imitators and makes revisiting it a real pleasure, 40 years on.

Back at the cottage, our pal Dennis surmises that the bright light we saw was a phenomenon called heat lightning, an atmospheric event that occurs far enough away that you can see it but not hear it.

This makes sense, but I prefer to think that what my wife and I saw was the quick flash of a curious Close Encounters visitor, checking out the Madawaska scenery.

Peter Howell is the Stars movie critic. His column usually runs Fridays.

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OTTAWAThe federal government and the governments of Ontario and Quebec are readying relief supplies, including baby formula and cribs, for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the governments are working with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to co-ordinate the help.

The storm left vast swaths of Texas and parts of Louisiana flooded and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Read more:

Harvey now the second most destructive after Katrina with $80B U.S. in damages  so far

Flooding, likely tornado damage as Harvey hits Deep South

Trudeau, Trump talk about speedy NAFTA resolution in hurricane Harvey phone call

We reached out to offer whatever support is needed, from airlift capacity to helicopters to whatever is necessary, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference Friday in Saskatoon.

FEMA, he said, responded by providing Goodale a list of badly needed provisions, and Canada was more than happy to oblige.

Goodale said the relief supplies include hygiene kits, bed pillows, bath towels, baby formula, baby disposable bottles, baby cribs and baby linens.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is preparing a cargo plane to fly the goods to Texas and it is expected to leave soon.

Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke Thursday about the floods and relief efforts.

The American embassy in Ottawa expressed gratitude for Canadas offer of support.

The people of the United States and Canada have a long history of supporting each other in times of need, Elizabeth Aubin, the charge daffaires at the embassy, said in a statement.

We once again thank our Canadian friends and neighbours for their heartfelt offers of solidarity and assistance.

Goodale said Canada stands by the United States, saying the countrys thoughts and prayers are with those affected.

I want to commend local volunteers, first responders and residents who continue to work selflessly to keep their neighbours and communities safe, he said in a statement.

On Thursday, Trumps homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Canadas neighbourly gesture of help was much appreciated, telling a White House briefing, Its an international expression of what were seeing here at a very local level.

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OTTAWACanadian troops in Latvia will have front-row seats to a massive Russian military exercise this month that has set NATO on edge and sparked calls for calm across eastern Europe.

Scheduled to start Sept. 14 and run for a week, the so-called Zapad exercise is being billed as Russias largest war game since the end of the Cold War more than 25 years ago.

Its also the first of its kind since NATO decided to send four brigades to eastern Europe to prevent further Russian aggression, after Moscow annexed Crimea and began to support separatist forces in Ukraine.

Read more:

Canada wont join U.S. missile defence, send troops to Afghanistan, Trudeau says

Russian military drills near NATO border stokes fears of aggression

Russian military gets massive upgrade amid tensions from the West

Canada is leading one of those multinational brigades, with 450 troops based in Latvia alongside counterparts from fellow NATO members Albania, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia.

Zapad has already caused jitters in eastern Europe, with Poland announcing this week that it will close the airspace on its border with Belarus  which is taking part in Zapad with Russia  for the entire month.

Karlis Eihenbaums, Latvias ambassador to Canada, said his countrymen are trying to stay calm and carry on, but he acknowledged that there are worries there, too.

Theyre trying to check our central nervous system, Eihenbaums said of Russia, which he compared to a neighbourhood bully. We are keeping a very close eye on the preparations for this exercise.

NATO and the Canadian military have likewise said they plan to remain, in the words of one NATO official, vigilant and alert, but also calm, balanced and measured.

But Canadian Forces spokesperson Col. Jay Janzen said Russias lack of respect for the sovereignty of its neighbours, including Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, has created an atmosphere of distrust.

Its not about exercises per se, or Exercise Zapad 2017, Janzen said. Its about the climate that Russia has created over the past number of years with regards to its actions on the world stage.

The fact Russia has largely barred international observers from watching the Zapad exercise except in an extremely limited way has only exacerbated that those concerns.

Canada and Russia are among several dozen countries that have signed an international agreement that requires any military exercise involving more than 13,000 soldiers be open to outside observers.

But while NATO estimates that between 60,000 and 100,000 soldiers will be involved in Zapad, Russia says it is running several exercises concurrently, all of which will contain fewer than 13,000 troops.

Russia has said it will host a handful of foreign observers during one day of the exercise. But they will be limited on what they can see and do, which NATO says falls far short of Moscows legal requirements.

That has sparked complaints from the alliance as well as countries like Canada.

All nations have the right to exercise their forces, but nations should also respect their commitments to transparency, said the NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive details.

Predictability and transparency are especially important when there is increased military activity along our borders to reduce risks and avoid any miscalculations, misperceptions or incidents.

In addition to sending troops to Latvia to deter Russia, Canada has also recently deployed four CF-18s to patrol the airspace over Romania for the next month and has kept a frigate in the region for years.

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For a mid-mandate reality check on the federal electoral dynamics, look no further than the battle that is shaping up in the riding of Lac-St-Jean.

A date has not yet been set for a byelection to replace former Conservative minister Denis Lebel. He resigned in June after having served as deputy leader over the partys leadership campaign. The riding is already registering a higher-than-normal volume of political traffic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid Lac-St-Jean a visit in July. This week, it was the site of the summer gathering of the governments Quebec caucus. On Thursday, a handful of provincial and federal ministers were on hand to unveil a plan to fund high-speed internet in the region, north of Quebec City.

Not to be outdone, the Conservatives Quebec MPs will also be travelling to the riding for their pre-sessional caucus, albeit without a pocketbook in hand.

In the last election, the Liberals ran third, 10 points behind the NDP and 15 points behind the Conservatives in Lac-St-Jean. They barely beat the Bloc Quebecois for fourth place. On paper, this is not the kind of riding where a governing party would set itself up for a test. Nor does this rural seat fit the urban profile usually associated with prime Liberal territory.

Except that since they took office, the Liberals have built a daunting lead on their rivals in Quebec. They actually achieved that with a minimum of heavy lifting. The byelection will be an opportunity to check whether the partys strong showing in the polls is real and, in the best-case scenario for Trudeau, to strike a blow at the morale of the opposition parties.

This will be the first Quebec electoral test for the new leaders of the Conservative party and the Bloc Quebecois. Depending on the timing of the vote, the NDP could have selected Thomas Mulcairs successor by then. In that case, his or her honeymoon could be short-lived.

Lac-St-Jean resisted the 2011 orange wave. The New Democrats did place second with 28 per cent of the vote to Lebels 33 per cent in 2015, but since then they have lost a significant amount of ground in Quebec voting intentions.

The last time the federal Liberals held the riding was back in 1980 at the time of Pierre Trudeaus last campaign. Over the 35-year Liberal crossing of the Quebec desert that followed the 1982 patriation of the Constitution, Lac-St-Jean favoured the Conservatives under Brian Mulroney as well as for most of the Stephen Harper era. It was a Bloc Quebecois fortress for the duration of the Chretien/Martin decade.

Indeed, the last time the riding was on the national radar goes back almost 30 years to June 1988 and a byelection called by Mulroney to get Lucien Bouchard in the House of Commons.

The stakes were high. The Tories were in the fourth year of their mandate. The free-trade election was on the horizon. Bouchard was meant to be Mulroneys star standard-bearer in Quebec. The Tories won the byelection, but the riding stayed with Bouchard when he left the Tories to create the Bloc a few years later.

These days, one would be hard-pressed to find much evidence of the glory days of the BQ in Lac-St-Jean. Martine Ouellet, the partys latest leader, would face long odds if she relinquished her seat in the National Assembly to run in the byelection.

Provincially, the Parti Quebecois is running behind Premier Philippe Couillards Liberals and the Coalition Avenir Quebec. PQ leader Jean-Francois Lisee does not have coattails that a Bloc candidate can hope to ride to a strong showing in Lac-St-Jean.

Lebel was Harpers Quebec lieutenant and, probably, his most popular minister. It was that popularity that allowed him to survive the orange wave and the subsequent Conservative defeat. The ridings voters miss him more than they have ever missed Harper. If Andrew Scheers candidate does not do well this fall, the rookie Conservative leader should not take it too personally.

A win for the Liberals in Lac-St-Jean would say little about their standing in the rest of the country. Quebecs federal climate remains distinctively different. But looking to the 2019 election, the province offers Trudeau his best opportunities for gains. Logically, the second half of the mandate should see the Liberals devote more energy to the prime ministers home province.

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MEXICO CITYA second round of NAFTA renegotiations began Friday with officials expressing optimism despite U.S. President Donald Trumps suggestions he could withdraw the United States from the 23-year-old trade pact.

Mexico has also said it wont stay at the table if it doesnt get a fair shake or if Washington triggers an exit clause, and the uncertainty has raised concerns among businesspeople in all three countries that billions of dollars in trade and investment could be threatened.

Delegations from the United States, Mexico and Canada gathered at a Mexico City hotel for discussions on the North American Free Trade Agreement that Mexicos Economy Department said would focus on issues such as rules-of-origin, electronic commerce, the environment and anti-corruption measures.

There are conditions to negotiate, despite some statements, said Gerardo Gutierrez Candiani, head of Mexicos special economic zones agency.

A number of union leaders staged a rally in Mexico City as officials arrived for the fresh round of negotiations.

Canadian auto workers leader Jerry Dias of Unifor, one of Canadas largest unions, was among them.

The crowd of hundreds chanted and cheered as Dias voiced his demands, speaking through a Spanish-language interpreter.

The demands include a transformation of Mexicos unionization practices; higher wages in Mexico; an end to right-to-work laws in the U.S.; and an international mechanism to make sure countries respect labour promises.

Dias said everyone talks about ensuring the new NAFTA helps working people  now its time for governments to prove they mean it.

The NAFTA era has not produced higher salaries for Mexicans, he said, and is instead dragging down the labour market across the continent.

Its our time to fix the wrongs of the past, Dias said.

The promise of NAFTA  that it would improve the standard of living for workers in all three countries  that was a lie . . . The Mexican workers that work in your auto plants cant afford to buy the cars that you build. And that is an absolute disgrace.

He asked why, if workers in Canada and the United States make $35 an hour, a Mexican worker couldnt make the equivalent 525 pesos an hour. People in the crowd laughed at the idea of what would be, in Mexico, an exponential pay raise.

Other speakers at the event shared stories about intimidation of labour and even the murder of some workers.

But some analysts say the picture painted by Dias is overly simplistic.

Although Mexican salaries havent grown, statistics show the workers faring best are in trade-dependent sectors.

The auto industry also rejects the idea that higher salaries in Mexico would lead to more or higher-paying jobs in Canada and the U.S.

Flavio Volpe of the auto-parts manufacturers association said production has shifted to Mexico for a variety of reasons, labour costs being just one. And if low-skilled tasks like stitching seatbelts suddenly became exorbitantly expensive in Mexico, Volpe said, the jobs would move east to Asia, not north.

If you keep it on the continent you get Canadian content (as a spinoff effect), Volpe said in an interview. You can quote me on this one: Nobody in southern Ontario is going to be making seatbelts and windows.

On Wednesday, Trump said: Weve got to change this deal, and hopefully we can renegotiate it, but if we cant well terminate it and well start all over again with a real deal.

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray responded to that by saying, if the result of the negotiations isnt beneficial for Mexico, of course, Mexico wont stay.

Among other things, Washington wants local-content rules tightened to avoid imports largely made in third countries from being considered made in North America just because they were assembled in Mexico.

Gutierrez Candiani said other issues on the table include labour standards and dispute resolution mechanisms. The United States also opposes the current system of private arbitration panels.

Gutierrez Candiani acknowledged that they are not agile enough, and mechanisms have to be sought that are more agile, more reliable.

The current agreement allows binational panels of private experts to decide differences, making it harder for one nation to unilaterally impose tariffs on another.

The United States wants to eliminate those panels, but Canada and Mexico fear that would allow it to throw its greater weight around and impose tariffs on imports that allegedly harm local producers or are being dumped, or sold below their real price.

Talk of more such tariffs drew concern from a newly formed alliance of U.S. and Canadian fruit and vegetable companies.

In a letter to the U.S. government Wednesday, the Produce Coalition for NAFTA said the result will be more tariffs on fruits and vegetables . . . what is more, this provision will be used against U.S. growers.

U.S. companies now frequently grow produce in Mexico in the winter or contract it from Mexican companies.

Mexicos Economy Department said the five days of talks will be conducted in 25 working groups with an expected wrap-up date of Tuesday. The first round of talks took place in Washington in mid-August, and several more rounds are expected.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Next frontier



UCs Hanson said the scientific achievement that New Horizons represents cant be overstated. The mission was fraught with urgency to take advantage of the gravitational assists of other planets and reach Pluto during its comparatively short summer before its atmosphere froze and settled back onto the surface on its long winter trip around the sun.



And just like the fictional kingdom of Westeros featured in HBOs Game of Thrones, Plutos seasons take human generations during its elliptical 248-year orbit of the sun. The next chance scientists will have to observe Plutos atmosphere will be about two centuries from now. Pluto will be closest to the sun again in 2237.



They couldnt wait. There definitely was a time crunch there, Hanson said.



By launching when it did, New Horizons was able to capture stunning images of Plutos ice-blue atmosphere. Hanson credited the dedication of Stern and his team for the missions success.



Hes super-enthusiastic and he always has been. You have to have that passion and determination and willingness to take risks, she said.



And it all started with a graduate student with the courage to ask why not?



My dream was to explore the farthest planet ever explored, Stern said. Follow your dreams. Follow your heart. Stick with it. Do the things that you love and you can accomplish amazing things. Thats the lesson.
Call it the Ford conundrum.

As Doug Ford promises to finally reveal his political plans for next year, some Progressive Conservatives are quietly looking for a way to talk the controversial ex-councillor out of running for them.

The Tories view Ford as a double-edged sword: they know he is their only hope of winning Liberal-held Etobicoke North, but worry that his shoot-from-the-lip style could undermine leader Patrick Browns province-wide campaign in many other ridings next spring.

We dont need him talking about how great Donald Trump is in the middle of the campaign; thats not what Patrick is about, said one wary PC insider, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

Ford said he finds it comical that anyone would think the Tories dont want him to run provincially.

Never once. Total opposite. (Brown) has encouraged me to run. So has Walied (Soliman, the PC campaign chair) encouraged me to run. Im welcome to run. Theyre encouraging me to run, he told the Star on Thursday.

They wouldnt be doing that, asking me to go out to Sault Ste. Marie with them and door-knock and go out to all these events and speak on behalf of the MPPs and show up at events that he calls me to.

However, sources say Browns inner circle has been quietly working on a strategy that would allow the former one-term city councillor to bow out of a provincial run and still save face so he could take another shot at the Toronto mayoralty next year.

Insiders say a senior Conservative emissary, such as a former premier or cabinet minister, could be asked to approach Ford to explain the problems his candidacy could cause for the rookie PC leader, who plans on running a centrist campaign.

Tories admit the matter is delicate because of the egos involved and the fact they dont want to alienate Ford, whose late father and namesake was a Tory MPP from 1995 to 99.

Doug has been a good soldier; he was in Sault Ste. Marie pulling votes (for the June 1 byelection victory) and helped Raymond (Cho win Scarborough Rouge River byelection last Sept. 1), said another top PC source.

Political adviser Nick Kouvalis, who helped put both Dougs late brother, Rob Ford, and Tory in the mayors office, tweeted this week that he expects Doug will announce hes not running as an MPP.

I hear the PCs have rejected Doug Ford as a candidate and that is why Doug is rushing to save face before they publicly disallow him, he said on Twitter.

The two men are not on good terms despite their history together on Rob Fords victorious 2010 campaign.

Ford plays all for fools, Kouvalis said in another tweet. Announcing that hes not running for MPP allows media to speculate for months about mayoralty. He craves attention.

Asked about that, Ford said: Thats just Nick playing political games.

I dont buy all the Tory insider crap. I can guarantee you one thing: I have great respect for Patrick. Ive been working my back off for him and the public ever since hes been elected. And hes going to be the next premier, Ford said.

Kathleen Wynnes Liberals are hoping the outspoken Ford runs provincially, because they will use any of his pro-Trump statements, or other outrageous claims, to taint Brown.

A cornerstone of Wynnes June 7, 2018 re-election bid is to tie the Conservatives to the increasingly unpopular U.S. president.

We think its only fair to remind voters of what change for the sake of change can look like, said one Liberal insider, speaking on background to discuss the partys plans.

Wynne, herself, outlined that Trump-centric strategy in a major speech Apr. 24.

We cannot simply assume that President Trump will do the right thing or make the right choices, she warned.

However, linking Brown to Trump in the minds of Ontarians is easier for the Liberals if a candidate such as Ford is on the ticket.

Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal beamed when asked at Queens Park of Thursday about that prospect.

I know the leader of the opposition will expect Mr. Ford to abide by whatever platform elements that the leader of the opposition wants to talk about during an election campaign, said Leal.

Youre always, every day, responsible for the comments you make during a campaign; its a team game, he said.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins noted that Brown may have enough challenges already since he has yet to tell Ontarians what he would do if elected.

Patrick has sufficient deficiencies in terms of his lack of policy that hes been able to articulate, said Hoskins, suggesting Ford could have an impact on this perceived challenge.

There may be other individuals that, if he can attract (them) to his campaign, that may sway things one way or the other.

Ford, 52, has always said his other option was an attempt to return to Toronto City Hall.

But political observers believe Ford would face an uphill battle in a rematch against the still popular incumbent, who is seeking a second term.

Ford, naturally, doesnt see it that way.

Im the only guy in the entire country who can give him a run for his money.

Tory has brushed aside any threat Fords candidacy may pose.

In 2014, Tory captured 394,775 votes compared to Fords 330,610.

That year, Doug Ford spent $558,724 of his own money to run for mayor after his brother Robs cancer diagnosis forced him to drop out in September. Doug Ford raised $356,167 in donations.

Tory, 63, didnt spend a nickel of his own money to get elected. He received $2.8 million from more than 5,000 donors, including many prominent names in the business world who donated the maximum $2,500.

In 2015, Ford told the Toronto Sun he would drop a half million dollars in a heartbeat to run for public office at any level, municipal, provincially or federally.

But the campaign finance rules have changed for 2018, and the maximum contribution a candidate can make to his or her own election campaign is $25,000.

Previously, there was no limit on what a candidate could spend as long as he or she didnt exceed the overall spending limit, which was $1.36 million in 2014.

Ford played down the new spending cap, noting he had only four weeks to raise money and put a campaign together in 2014.

I dont see a problem either way if I run provincially or if I run municipally about raising money.

Ford says hell announce his future plans at his familys semi-regular Ford Fest barbeque next Friday in Etobicoke.

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When a Soviet delegation rolled up to the Canadian National Exhibition in 1956, the Star must have imagined them to be a crack team of KGB agents out to nab award-winning salmon and prize heifers.

RUSSIANS PAY SECRET VISIT TO CNE IN THREE BLACK CARS, the Stars front-page headline said on Sept. 1.

About a dozen men were seen sitting unobtrusively outside the CNEs administration building earlier that morning, a few of whom wore distinguishing wide-bottomed trousers according to the Star.

The delegation was quietly escorted inside, and reporters were barred from following. CNE general manager Hiram McCallum told the Star none of the fairs dignitaries were asked to receive them, and we dont plan to. He wouldnt confirm who they were.

It all screamed of cloak-and-dagger secrecy, as the Star put it for about a day. Before the weekend ended, the delegation was speaking to reporters as they toured the CNE grounds snapping photos.

The visitors were far fishier than the Star originally reported.

In fact, they were from the Fisheries Ministry.

With permission from Ottawa, the delegation had been touring the Maritimes and parts of the Niagara region to better understand Canadian fishing methods. But Fisheries Minister Alexander Ishkov also wanted to see the CNE.

He wasnt disappointed.

We were thrilled with what we saw, Ishkov told the Star through an interpreter as his delegation wandered through the crowds, sampling food and snapping pictures of each other. A national newspaper noted fairgoers astonishment at the sound of Russian conversation.

Sources told the Star the initial secrecy was due to fears the Soviets would be harassed or assaulted by onlookers if theyd been received at a formal reception. This later did happen at a stop in St. Catharines, where over 100 protesters denounced the delegation as spies and Communists.

Oddly enough, the highlight of the Ex for the delegation may have been the dog derby. An interpreter summed up their reaction as: We never laughed so hard in our lives.

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Torontonians can expect to pay more than $1.30 for a litre of gasoline by Saturday as prices continue to surge in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Motorists awoke to a hike of about five cents a litre on Friday, and will likely see the price rise another nine cents Saturday, says petroleum analyst Dan McTeague.

That will put the average price of gas in Toronto at $1.329, a spike in prices more severe than that seen during Hurricane Katrina, says McTeague, the former Pickering MP who runs the price-tracking website gasbuddy.com .

Were already 20 cents a litre above what we were eight days ago before the storm, so this is, by far and away, the most serious and most impactful, said McTeague, comparing Harvey to past storms.

Hurricanes Katrina and Ike each brought an increase of between 12 to 14 cents per litre to Toronto, McTeague explained.

He predicts there will be a two-cent decrease in gas prices on Sunday night and that price will hold at the pumps at least until Thursday.

Saturdays prices could hit a high last seen by Toronto drivers in September 2014. The highest price Torontonians have paid for gas was $1.477 on July 4, 2008, McTeague said.

Major gasoline refineries in the U.S. were shut down by Harvey, which also caused the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline  what McTeague calls the aortic artery of gasoline transportation for the U.S. Atlantic Coast.

In Canada, prices are also affected by a lack of competition among gasoline wholesalers and taxes, McTeague explained.

We have seen prices go up in a nanosecond. That doesnt happen anywhere else in the world, he said.

It could be two to three weeks before refineries are up and running again, according to McTeague.

Ten days ago, we were $1.10. Were now at $1.329 (Saturday), he said. Thats a pretty big impact.

In Toronto, some drivers decided to hit the pumps early to save a few dollars before the price hike.

As he filled up his car at Leslieville Pumps on Friday morning, David Miller said he was worried about the impending price hike.

Even yesterday . . . I was going to the gym in the morning and it was $1.05, then by the time I came out in an hour it was at $1.18. So that was a little scary, said Miller, adding he expected to see more people in line at the gas station.

As much as the hurricane-induced gas hikes might be inconvenient, he said hes more worried about the people in Texas right now.

So I think we start with the people first, but its obviously, it sucks economically, Miller said.

A long line of cars stretched from the pumps at the Costco on Queen Elizabeth Blvd., in Etobicoke on Friday morning where gas was selling for $1.139.

Robin Stuart was back for the third time that day trying to get gas  when he first came at 7:30 a.m., he said the lineup was backed up down to the Queensway.

It was just too much, Id be burning too much more gas. Its totally inefficient, he said.

Rajeev Viswanathan waited about 20 minutes for gas at Costco  but hes waited longer in the past.

I heard the gas prices are going up another dime tomorrow, and Costcos pretty good, its cheaper, he said, adding his tank is empty and he would have probably waited in line anyway. Its all Houston-related, I think its temporary. Itll go back down.

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Three teachers whose jobs were impacted when a private Islamic high school abruptly shut down, are opening up a new leadership academy in the hopes of giving dozens of displaced students a viable alternative.

The move comes just days before the new school year begins.

Long-time teachers and employees Riyad Khan, Omar Essawi and Ali Haroon, were in the midst of preparing for the new term at the Islamic Foundation School in east Toronto, when they heard last week that the high school would not be re-opening in September.

No one imagined it would lead to this, said Khan, who has taught at IFS for 11 years, and was one of 35 teachers to unionize in May. We thought at the most it would give us a way to negotiate in fair dealings with each other, he said, adding he resigned from IFS last week, but never received a formal layoff notice.

Once the closure was announced, the three teachers quickly sprang into action to open up the Gibraltar Leadership Academy  a project they have been working on for the last year, Khan said.

About 50 students, many from IFS, have already registered for the school, said Essawi, who was a non-unionized staffer and former student at IFS.

Last week, the management at IFS stunned the tight-knit community when they said they had no choice but to close the decades-old high school, citing financial issues and low enrolment. The elementary school at the same site will continue to operate.

The union, United Food and Commercial Workers, has called the move to close the high school a form of reprisal against recently unionized employees.

On Tuesday, the union filed a complaint with the Ontario Labour Board alleging the employer has engaged in a series of unfair labour practices and asked for the matter to be heard on an expedited basis.

Muneeza Sheikh, a partner at Levitt LLP Employment & Labour Law, and legal counsel for Islamic Foundation, said the school was disappointed at a number of mischaracterizations set out by the union in their complaint and will be filing a response to the allegations.

The last-minute closure set the parents and students  many of whom had attended at IFS since Grade 1  scrambling to find space at local schools, and sad at the prospect of not graduating with their life-long friends.

Khan and Essawi say thats why many parents have been willing to consider their school.

We have worked with some of these students for years, and our students trust in us, as do their parents, said Khan. We fully intend to help them get into university and prepare them as best as we can, he said, adding another Islamic school, facing low enrolment, offered to let their academy use its facilities for the next year.

Plans for the academy began last year, with the initial goal of setting up an Islamic school summer program that would instill Islamic character in our students, ensuring their development as socially responsible citizens of Canada.

Essawi said the academy, originally scheduled to open next summer, was to offer students academic credits, but would also reinforce skills lacking in traditional Islamic schools like leadership programs, public speaking and a summer co-op. In preparation, they submitted necessary paperwork to the Ministry of Education earlier this year, he said.

All private schools in Ontario are required to submit a notice of intention to operate a private school, after which ministry staff make an unannounced visit to confirm the school meets requirements set out in the Education Act. The ministry also conducts inspections of schools wishing to offer credits towards the high school diploma. Over 1,200 private schools are registered in Ontario.

A ministry spokeswoman said they had received the required documentation from the academy, and will follow the normal process in the coming months. Moreover, because the school began this process in June, it may begin operating in September, she said.

This is not a pop-up shop, said Khan. We have been dedicated to this project, and Islamic education for a long time. We want to make sure we run the school in the right way.

Khan, said pushing for high standards was also his goal as a teacher at IFS, which is why he voted to join the union in May. He said teachers were eager to have a voice at the table.

A lot of it came down to relationships between the teaching staff and management and how they were treated, said Khan, including issues of respect and job security.

He said the issue of wages had not yet come up in negotiations, and was never considered a priority for staff. A union representative told the Star that, on average, teachers were paid around $40,000 a year.

Fathima Cader, legal counsel for the UFCW, said the parties were at the very early stages of bargaining including agreeing on basic language in the contract including the preamble, grievance process, and health and safety issues, when the employer decided it was going to close its high school.

By this point, the union had not made any wage proposal, she said, adding the employer provided no indication to the union that there were financial troubles at the last meeting on Aug. 18, or that it had any intention of shutting down. It announced the closure to parents the next day.

She said IFS management also spoke to parents about a possible tuition increase.

In a letter to parents sent late last week, IFS management said the high school closure was not related to the union, but that the high school is being shut down for financial and administrative reasons, such as low enrolment.

The foundation cannot continue without the financial projections, which is the basis of sustainability of any organization, the letter said.

In an effort to be more transparent, and learn from the past, the management said it plans to hire a human resources officer, an accountant and health and safety officer, will facilitate the formation of a parents association, and will ensure greater consultation with parents on major decisions.

But when pressed by the union to initiate a last-ditch effort to keep the high school open, the management suggested it was too late.

We spoke to the union and explained the difficulty in running the school at a loss with low enrolment, said Akbar Warsi, a spokesman for the IFS board of directors, in an email. He added that nearly 100 high school students have transferred from the school in the last week.

Despite the tensions between the two parties, both the union and management say they plan to continue to negotiate a contract for the remaining 25 full-time employees at the school.

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PARISThe French government announced on Thursday a plan to overhaul the labour code, a highly awaited and contentious effort to loosen regulations and stimulate the economy that has been met with opposition from unions and left-wing parties who say the changes go too far in repealing workers rights.

The labour overhaul was one of Emmanuel Macrons major promises during his campaign, and it represents one of the first big tests of his pledge as president to reshape Frances social and economic landscape and was being closely watched by the countrys European partners and by investors abroad.

Macron, who has slipped significantly in the polls over the summer, is trying to avoid the intense backlash that led to street protests when his predecessor, Francois Hollande, introduced changes to a system that employers have long complained makes it difficult for them to compete globally.

The outlines of the labour overhaul were already known, and some measures were widely expected. Broadly speaking, the rules would:

Make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.

Allow employers in some instances to engage in collective bargaining at the company level, instead of conforming to industry-wide agreements.

Simplify the relationship between employers and worker representatives.

The government held talks over the summer with unions to discuss the labour rules, but the exact details of the full plan, which will come into effect next month, were not made public until Thursday, when Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and the labour minister, Muriel Penicaud, held a news conference in Paris, just hours after presenting the finalized measures to workers and employers unions.

Of course, we know that labour laws are not the primary cause of unemployment in France, Philippe said. But we also know that if we want to move forward on the question of employment, we have to deal with all aspects, all causes of unemployment together.

Philippe said that for employers, especially small companies, and for foreign investors, the labour code is often perceived as an obstacle to hiring, as an obstacle to investment, and he called the overhaul ambitious, balanced and fair.

Pierre Gattaz, the head of MEDEF, the main employers organization, said at a news conference after the announcement that the overhaul was an important first step in the construction of labour legislation that is in sync with the daily reality of our companies. But, he added, he remained vigilant about how the changes would be applied.

The changes to the vast and complicated labour code are only part of a broader effort, as the government is also working on more contentious changes, including budget cuts and modifications to the pension and unemployment systems.

The changes, among other things, would enable companies to bargain directly with workers in businesses with fewer than 20 employees, and merge different bodies that represent workers in a company into one unified group.

Regular severance pay for workers would be increased, but the new rules put a cap on the payouts issued by labour courts when workers are wrongfully dismissed, and they would reduce the amount of time during which an employee can challenge a dismissal.

The new measures would also reduce the scope granted to labour courts to assess a companys health when determining whether it had rightfully fired workers on economic grounds. Until now, the courts could assess the global situation of a company, but the new rules will limit the basis for any ruling to the companys situation in France. That would make it easier for a company that operates in multiple countries to lay off French workers even if it is profitable elsewhere.

The reform of the labour market is a reform of profound transformation, Macron told the weekly Le Point in a wide-ranging interview published online on Wednesday, adding that it had to be ambitious and efficient enough to continue to lower mass unemployment.

The government argues that the changes are necessary to give companies more flexibility and to help businesses, especially smaller ones, adapt to an increasingly global marketplace. Philippe said that nine out of 10 companies in France had fewer than 50 employees.

But opponents on the left counter that hard-won worker rights are being unfairly watered down, and they dispute the notion that the changes would help create jobs.

Union leaders, speaking to reporters after the meeting with the government, expressed satisfaction with some points, like the fact that the role of industry-wide agreements was weakened less than expected. But they voiced dismay at others, especially the greater leeway granted to smaller companies seeking to bypass unions in negotiating with workers.

Philippe Martinez, head of the General Confederation of Labour, known as the CGT, one of the more hard-line unions, said after the meeting that all the fears that we had are confirmed, while Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Force Ouvriere union, said that all is not perfect, far from it.

Macron vowed after his election in May to move swiftly on changes to the labour code, and he decided to proceed by issuing a list of decrees, which Parliament authorized the government to do this month.

Philippe said that the five decrees presented Thursday would be officially adopted during a cabinet meeting on Sept. 22 after consultations with a number of advisory bodies, and that any changes until then would only be at the margins.

The decrees will immediately go into effect after the president signs them and after they are officially published, but they will only become law if Parliament ratifies them in the coming months. If lawmakers reject the new labour measures, they will remain in effect, but with an inferior status that means they can be overturned by Parliament at a later date.

Hollande successfully pushed for changes to loosen the French labour code last year, despite weeks of street protests that sometimes turned violent and that forced the government to dilute the overhaul.

Opponents of the new changes are once again planning to demonstrate, but there are signs that their unity is fraying. The CGT has called for nationwide protests on Sept. 12, while the left-wing France Unbowed party of former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is organizing a rally in Paris on Sept. 23.

Clearly, there is a confirmed assault on the labour code  with premeditation, on top of that, Alexis Corbiere, a France Unbowed parliamentary representative and top lieutenant of Melenchon, said at a news conference on Thursday.

But other unions, including more moderate ones  and even Force Ouvriere, which stood by the CGT last year to protest Hollandes labour changes  have indicated that they will not demonstrate with the CGT, even though they are not entirely satisfied with the overhaul.

Mailly said that his union still had to go over the fine print of the changes. Sometimes, the devil is in the details, he said.

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ISLAMABADIn a surprise development, a terrorism court in Pakistan on Thursday acquitted five suspected Taliban and Qaeda militants in the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and declared former ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in the case, lawyers said.

The release of the five militants was met with shock and disappointment by senior officials of Bhuttos political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, which called the courts decision a triumph of Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Bhutto, a charismatic leader who had served twice as prime minister in the 1990s, was killed in a gun and bomb attack in 2007 in Rawalpindi, the garrison city neighbouring the capital, after she addressed a political rally. Her assassination plunged the country into political chaos and spasms of violence.

Pakistani investigators arrested five suspected militants, accusing them of being facilitators in the assassination, and indicted them in 2011. Musharraf, a political adversary of Bhuttos, was indicted in 2013 on charges of murder and conspiracy amid allegations that his government had not provided adequate security for Bhutto.

Musharraf, who is in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.

With the acquittal of the only men to have been charged with playing a direct role in Bhuttos death, it was unclear if the long-running investigation and prosecution was drawing near a close. No one other than Musharraf is facing charges. The Pakistan Peoples Party said it would file an appeal of the ruling.

In freeing the five defendants, a judge in a special terrorism court, Muhammad Asghar, cited what he said was a lack of evidence. The defendants were Aitzaz Shah, Muhammad Rafaqat, Husnain Gul, Abdul Rashid and Sher Zaman.

The ruling came against a backdrop of intimidation and threats to the judiciary from militants, who have a history of attacking judges and lawyers and of intimidating witnesses. Judges in the Bhutto case changed frequently over the years, and hearings took place in the heavily guarded Adiala Jail on the outskirts of Rawalpindi.

The acquittal of the defendants set off wide disbelief, with some commentators calling the verdict bizarre. There was speculation in political circles that the judge might have been wary of militant reprisals. The Pakistani criminal prosecution system is also considered ineffectual.

In 2013, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, a state prosecutor who was leading the efforts to prosecute Musharraf, was killed while he was on the way to court. Pakistani investigators later arrested three men  Abdullah Umar, Hammad Adil and Adnan Adil  in connection with his death.

On Thursday, Asghar imposed 17-year prison terms and heavy fines on two senior police officers: Saud Aziz, who was the Rawalpindi police chief at the time of the assassination, and Khurram Shahzad, a former superintendent of police. They were accused of negligence in the Bhutto assassination.

Aziz has been criticized for having the crime scene hosed down within hours of Bhuttos death. A United Nations investigation, published in 2010, found that a senior army officer had given the orders to Aziz to clean up the scene. The report also said that the failure of Pakistani authorities to effectively investigate the killing had been deliberate and that the investigation had been severely hampered by the countrys powerful intelligence agencies.

Just months after Bhuttos assassination, Musharraf blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, for the killing. Investigators said Mehsud had provided the suicide bomber and arranged for the funds. In 2009, Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

On Thursday, after the Bhutto defendants were cleared, senior officials of the Pakistan Peoples Party questioned the decision.

The court verdict is a shock for me, said Sen. Rehman Malik, a former interior minister who was a close aide to Bhutto. He said: The militants have been exonerated despite the hard evidence. The entire forensic record is against them, along with their own confessions.

Malik also said Umar, one of the men accused of involvement in the prosecutors death in 2013, was a nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

He said that three of the men accused in Bhuttos assassination were known Qaeda militants and that the Taliban had long been demanding their release.

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WASHINGTONEscalating a diplomatic tit-for-tat, the United States abruptly ordered Russia on Thursday to shutter its San Francisco consulate and close offices in Washington and New York, intensifying tensions between the former Cold War foes. Washington gave Moscow 48 hours to comply.

The Trump administration described its action as retaliation for the Kremlins unwarranted and detrimental demand earlier this month that the U.S. cut its diplomatic staff in Russia. But Moscow declared it a major escalation, with a top Russian lawmaker saying the move heralded the hot phase of diplomatic war.

Read more about U.S. President Donald Trump

The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. Still, she said the U.S. hoped both countries could now move toward improved relations and increased co-operation.

It was a harsh welcome to Washington for new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, who arrived only hours after the U.S. announcement. At the airport, Antonov cited a maxim of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin as he urged caution and professionalism.

We dont need hysterical impulses, Russian news agencies quoted Antonov as saying.

The closures on both U.S. coasts marked perhaps the most drastic diplomatic measure by the United States against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each others diplomats.

And it comes amid some of the broadest strains in their relationship ever since. The two countries have clashed over the wars in Ukraine and Syria, but most significantly over American allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to boost President Donald Trumps chances of victory. Investigations continue into whether Trumps campaign colluded with Moscow.

By Saturday, the Russians must close their consulate in San Francisco and an official residence there. Though Russia can keep its New York consulate and Washington embassy, trade missions housed in satellite offices in both of those cities must shut down, a senior Trump administration official said. The official briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Outside the consulate building high atop a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, there were no visible signs of an exodus Thursday. Consular officials walked in and out of the stately building, and Russian citizens who had scheduled appointments said they were able to pick up or renew their passports.

Its sad, because Ive lived many years in the U.S. and there are strong ties between the countries, said Kate Stanton, a San Francisco real estate agent who said she holds dual U.S.-Russian citizenship.

U.S. counter-intelligence officials have long kept a watchful eye on Russias outpost in San Francisco, concerned that people posted to the consulate as diplomats were engaged in espionage. The U.S. late last year kicked out several Russians who posted there, calling it a response to election interference.

The U.S. isnt expelling any Russian officials this time. Those who work at the shuttered offices can be reassigned elsewhere in the United States, the senior official said.

Read more:

Putin says 755 U.S. diplomats must leave Russia

Russian diplomat wants U.S. to keep the dialogue open despite sanctions

U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Matis says Russia wants to redraw international borders by force

One of the buildings is believed to be leased, but Russia will maintain ownership over the others, said the official, adding that Moscow can determine if it wants to sell them or otherwise dispose of the properties.

The forced closures are the latest in an intensifying exchange of diplomatic broadsides.

In December, former president Barack Obama kicked out dozens of Russian officials, closed Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland and imposed sanctions on Russian people and businesses. Russian President Vladimir Putin withheld from retaliating. The next month, Trump took office after campaigning on promises to improve U.S.-Russia ties.

But earlier this month, Trump begrudgingly signed into law stepped-up sanctions on Russia that Congress pushed to prevent him from easing up on Moscow. The Kremlin retaliated by telling the U.S. to cut embassy and consulate staff down to 455 personnel, from a level hundreds higher.

Russia said 755 personnel in all would have to go to reach the new limit. The U.S. never confirmed how many diplomatic staff it had in the country at the time. As of Thursday, the U.S. has complied with the order to reduce staff to 455, officials said.

The reductions are having consequences for Russia. The U.S. has temporarily suspended non-immigrant visa processing for Russians seeking to visit the United States and will only resume soon at a much-reduced rate. The U.S. will process visas only at the embassy in Moscow, meaning Russians can no longer apply at U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

Despite the exchange of penalties, there have been narrow signs of U.S.-Russian co-operation that have transcended the worsening ties. In July, Trump and Putin signed off on a deal with Jordan for a ceasefire in southwest Syria. The U.S. says the truce has largely held.

But the Kremlin may now respond in kind. American officials argued that Russia should refrain from retaliation, noting that Moscows ordering of U.S. diplomatic cuts was premised on bringing the two countries diplomatic presences into parity.

The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federations desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides, the State Departments Nauert said.

Both countries now maintain three consulates on each others territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.

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WASHINGTONDaesh group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be still alive, a top U.S. military commander said Thursday, contradicting Russias claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.

Do I believe hes alive? Yes, said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen  rumour or otherwise  that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that hes alive. Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a high probability that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Read more:

Iraqi prime minister declares town of Tal Afar fully liberated from Daesh

Canadian troops helping Jordan, Lebanon secure borders against Daesh

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said U.S. and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq. He said this area is shaping up to be the groups last stand following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq.

The most recent Daesh setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently-liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants main stronghold in Iraq. The Iraqi government announced Thursday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a stunningly swift victory for the Iraqi army, moving like a steamroller into the city in a matter of days.

The Daesh militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-styled caliphate. Townsend said U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting.

Assessing his 12 months in command of the U.S.-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive. It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a U.S.-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.

I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didnt see their government representing them or their interests or their future, he said. And I think thats probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis.

Townsend said he hopes the U.S. government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another Daesh-like episode. He said such talks are under way.

We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely, he said, referencing the pullout of U.S. troops under former president Barack Obama and Iraqs subsequent struggles.

My personal view is I wouldnt want to repeat that, Townsend said. So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future.

Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.

He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-Daesh campaign.

The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command, Townsend said. And I dont know of a commander in our armed forces that doesnt appreciate that.

A key result of that is that we dont get second-guessed a lot, he added. Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we dont get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take.

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MEMPHIS, TENN.Officials in Houston sought Friday to safeguard parts of their devastated city by keeping others flooded in the wake of Harvey, which retained enough rain-making power to raise the risk of flooding in the middle of the country a week after it slammed into Texas.

The mayor announced that ongoing releases of water from two reservoirs could keep thousands of homes flooded for up to 15 days and told residents that if they stayed and later needed help, first responders resources could be further strained.

In another Texas city with no drinking water, people waited in a line that stretched for more than a kilometre to get bottled water. And a new fire erupted Friday evening at a crippled Houston-area chemical plant that was the scene of an earlier explosion and fire.

Residents of the still-flooded western part of Houston were asked to evacuate due to the releases from two reservoirs protecting downtown. The ongoing releases were expected to keep flooded homes that had been filled with water earlier in the week. Homes that are not currently flooded probably will not be affected, officials said.

It could take three months for the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which are normally dry, to drain. The Harris County Flood Control District said the water releases had to continue to protect the reservoirs structural integrity and in case more heavy rain falls.

Some of the affected houses have several meters of water in them, and the water reaches to the rooftops of others, district meteorologist Jeff Lindner said.

A house is submerged up to its roof by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Friday in Lumberton, Texas.





Mayor Sylvester Turner pleaded for more high-water vehicles and more search-and-rescue equipment as the nations fourth-largest city continued looking for any survivors or corpses that might have somehow escaped notice in flood-ravaged neighbourhoods.

Search teams quickly worked their way down streets, sometimes not even knocking on doors if there were obvious signs that all was well  organized debris piles or full cans of trash on the curb, for instance, or neighbours confirming that the residents had evacuated.

Read more: ExxonMobil refineries damaged in Harvey, releasing hazardous pollutants over Houston

FEMA director says Harvey is probably the worst disaster in Texas history

Authorities considered it an initial search, though they did not say what subsequent searches would entail or when they would commence.

Authorities raised the death toll from the storm to 42 late Friday, while rescue workers conducted a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes.

Turner also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more workers to process applications from thousands of people seeking government help. The mayor said he will request a preliminary aid package of $75 million for debris removal alone.

The storm had lost most of its tropical characteristics but remained a source of heavy rain that threatened to cause flooding as far north as Indiana.

By Friday evening, Harvey had dumped more than 23 centimetres of rain in parts of Arkansas and Tennessee and more than 20 centimetres in spots in Alabama and Kentucky. Its remnants were expected to generate another 2.5 to 8 centimetres over parts of Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.

National Weather Service meteorologists expect Harvey to break up and merge with other weather systems over the Ohio Valley late Saturday or Sunday.

More than 1,500 people were staying at shelters in Louisiana, and that number included people from communities in Texas. The state opened a seventh shelter Friday in Shreveport for up to 2,400 people, said Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The Texas city of Beaumont, home to almost 120,000 people near the Louisiana state line, was trying to bring in enough bottled water for people who stayed behind after a water pumping station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River.

The latest statewide damage surveys showed the extent of destruction. An estimated 156,000 dwellings in Harris County, or more than 10 per cent of all structures in the county database, were damaged by flooding, according to the flood control district for the county, which includes Houston.

Lindner called that a conservative estimate.

Figures from the Texas Department of Public Safety indicated that nearly 87,000 homes had major or minor damage and at least 6,800 were destroyed.

Gov. Greg Abbott warned Friday in an interview with ABCs Good Morning America that it could take years for Texas to dig out from this catastrophe. President Donald Trump tweeted that theres still so much to do in Texas recovery.

Flames and smoke could be seen coming from the Arkema plant in Crosby for a second day after a container of organic peroxides exploded and caught fire early Thursday, sending acrid smoke into the air. An executive had said up to eight more containers could burn and explode.

Arkema says Harveys floodwaters engulfed its backup generators and knocked out the refrigeration necessary to keep the compounds from degrading and catching fire.

The Environmental Protection Agency and local officials said an analysis of the smoke that came from the plant early Thursday showed no reason for alarm. No serious injuries were reported. Still, authorities evacuated an area around the plant.

Emergency crews continued to maintain a 2.4-kilometre buffer around the plant that was established earlier this week when Arkema Inc. warned that chemicals kept there could explode.

While city officials said little about plans to restore water service, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil, which has a refinery and chemical plants in Beaumont, said Friday that the company helped install a temporary intake pipe to the citys treatment plant.

The water began pumping late Thursday and a little was flowing into some homes, but the water will not return to full pressure until the city refills reservoirs, spokesperson Ashley Alemayehu said.

The water supply for the Bolivar Peninsula southeast of Houston was expected to run out within days, and could be out for weeks, after a pumping station 48 kilometres away was submerged by floodwater, officials said.

About 2,000 people live year-round on the 43.5-kilometre long peninsula, a narrow strip of land in the Gulf of Mexico.

People fleeing the flooding were being bused to the Beaumont airport where airplanes and helicopters waited to fly them to Dallas and elsewhere. Air ambulances were on standby for those with critical medical needs.

About 1,800 people were staying in shelters in Dallas, including about 1,000 who were flown late Thursday from Beaumont, officials said.

Harvey initially came ashore Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days. The storm brought five straight days of rain totalling close to 1.3 metres, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.

Far out over the Atlantic, Hurricane Irma was following a course that could bring it near the eastern Caribbean Sea by early next week. The Category 2 storm was moving northwest at nearly 20 km/h. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

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BANGKOKAs a hit-and-run charge effectively expires, the whereabouts of an heir to the Red Bull energy-drink empire accused of killing a Bangkok police officer five years ago remain unknown. The fugitive, whose family is worth billions, has apparently found a way to disappear.

The Associated Press recently confirmed Vorayuth Boss Yoovidhyas last known location: Taiwan. Two sources with knowledge of the investigation said he flew there from Singapore, where he had fled shortly before he was supposed to make an April court appearance in Bangkok.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters about the case, said Vorayuth stayed at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental in Taipei before leaving the island May 3. Since then, the trail has gone cold.

Read more:

Fugitive Red Bull heir flew to Singapore before court date on hit-and-run charges

The statute of limitations on the hit-and-run charge Vorayuth faces expires Sunday, though it effectively ended at 5 p.m. Friday, said Prayuth Petchkhun, a deputy spokesperson for the attorney generals office. After that, even if you found the suspect, you wouldnt be able to bring him to the court until Monday, he said.

The expired charge might have been easier to prove than what would be the sole remaining count against him: causing death by reckless driving.

For more than four years, Vorayuth missed court appearances while living a high-flying and even public life. Relying in part on public social-media posts from his family and friends, The Associated Press found that Vorayuth had gone to Formula One races, snowboarded in Japan and cruised Venice, all while failing to show up for court dates.

No warrant was issued for his arrest until this April, after The Associated Press report.

We have informed the police of our decision to file charges against him several months ago and this is polices responsibility to bring the suspect in, Prayuth said.

In May, Thai authorities revoked Vorayuths passport and said it would ask Interpol to send an international alert. The agencys red notice, however, was issued only this week  and it has yet to be posted on Interpols public website.

An Interpol spokesperson, who asked not to be named according to agency policy, said it keeps red notices off the public site only if the requesting country has asked that it not be publicized.

Vorayuth could easily have another passport and could be in any of many places  even his home city. The Associated Press revealed this month that Vorayuths family, worth an estimated $9.7 billion (U.S.), has been using offshore companies to cloak purchases of jets and luxury properties.

In a country like Thailand, money talks, said Ken Gamble, of IFW Global, a cyber-intelligence firm used by governments and police agencies. Fugitives can often outsmart the authorities if they know what theyre doing and they have contacts on the ground. Someone of his calibre, hell have some pretty good advisers.

Vorayuth is accused of slamming his Ferrari into motorcycle police Sgt. Maj. Wichean Glanprasert in 2012, dragging the officers body down a main Bangkok street before racing home.

In hiding from the authorities, Vorayuth is doing more than just evading capture: He is laying a path to legal impunity through Thailands statute of limitations. A speeding charge expired four years ago.

With the hit-and-run count gone as well, the last charge is causing death by reckless driving. For that, Vorayuth has offered a defence: He has consistently told authorities it was the police officer who drove recklessly, not him.

I am confident that prosecutors can prosecute the suspect on the remaining charge, which will expire in 10 years time, Prayuth said. We still have time to prosecute the case.

International attention brought to the case renewed cries of impunity and corruption in Thailand. Yet two days after The Associated Presss first reports in March, Vorayuth again failed to show up for his Bangkok court appointment, this time because, his lawyer said, he was on a mission in the United Kingdom. Indeed, a week later Associated Press did meet up with Vorayuth outside his familys luxury home in London, but he wouldnt say anything.

Prosecutors again pledged to take action and set yet another court date: April 27. Vorayuth left the country days before that appointment, this time flying by private jet to Singapore. He changed his Facebook identity that month from Boss Yoovidhya to Bee Toh. And his familys flow of more than 100 social media posts that included his image  birthdays, family dinners, parties and many Red Bull races  abruptly stopped.

On April 28, Vorayuth flew to Taiwan. The Mandarin Oriental did not reply to several requests to confirm that he stayed at the hotel.

Its unclear whether Thai police knew he was in Taipei at the time or, if they did, whether they requested his arrest. Thai police spokesperson Col. Krissana Pattanacharoen, while refusing to confirm Vorayuths stay in Taiwan, said that without an Interpol red notice, no police force had any authority to act against a foreign national on its soil.

The sources who spoke to The Associated Press said that when Vorayuth left Taiwan, his announced destination had been Singapore again, but they disagree over whether he ended up going there.

I think hes being protected, said Richard Dailly, of Kroll, a global security consultant.

A glance back at Vorayuths travel shows he travelled to at least nine countries since the fatal crash, regularly cheering on Team Red Bull at Formula One races and making annual trips to Japan and the U.K. The family, through an offshore company, owns at least five properties in one of Londons most expensive areas.

Its also possible that Vorayuth is back in Thailand, not only because of his resources, but also because of weaknesses in Thailands immigration controls. Interpol maintains a database of more than 75 million stolen and lost passports, but Thailand does not yet use it systematically.

Not all 58 formal checkpoints are linked to the online database, Maj. Gen. Choochat Thareechat, Commander of the Thai Immigration Bureaus Investigation Division, confirmed to The Associated Press this week. He added that immigration police still must investigate any travel document that looks suspicious.

Vorayuth also could be travelling on a second passport of unknown origin. Many governments sell citizenship as a way of raising revenue and Thailands upper class has been known to buy them.

For the worlds elite, they provide something that is less tangible and more desirable than any material object, ensuring personal mobility and security, said Mara Ispas of Henley & Partners, a citizenship consulting firm.

Private investigators say the biggest threat to Vorayuths freedom may be the suspect himself.

He probably likes to eat in nice places, travel to nice places. Hes reliant on his servants and that is always a risk for rich people, said Gamble, of IFW Global. People always give them up. There will be too many people who know where he is and what hes doing.

While not speaking about Vorayuth specifically, former San Jose police chief Rob Davis, now a law enforcement consultant, said that while money can help fugitives hide, ubiquitous social media  the clues which led The Associated Press to Vorayuth in the first place  makes it tougher.

Sometimes these people cant help themselves, he said.

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARYHungarys prime minister has asked the European Union to pay for half of the cost of anti-migrant fences it built on its southern borders, or about $650 million .

In a letter dated Thursday to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the fences erected in 2015 on the borders with Serbia and Croatia have practically eliminated the migrant flow through Hungary, guard more than just his country.

With the construction of the fence, training and placing 3,000 border hunters into active service, our country is protecting not only itself but entire Europe against the flood of illegal migrants, Orban said in the letter. I hope that, in the spirit of European solidarity, we can rightly expect that the European Commission ... will reimburse half of our extraordinary border protection expenses in the foreseeable future.

Read more:

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland have 24 hours to start taking in refugees, EU warns

Central European leaders reject EU migration rules

Tighter asylum rules in Hungary spark concern, criticism from EU

But European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein encouraged Hungary to use funds already earmarked in the 2014-2020 EU budget.

We are not financing the construction of fences or barriers at external borders. We do support border management measures at external borders. This can be surveillance measures. This can be border control equipment. But fences, we do not finance, Winterstein said Friday. We wont change our stance on that.

The border hunter corps was set up within the police force a year ago and its officers dedicated to border protection duties and guarding the fence. Hungarian soldiers have also been aiding police in the tasks.

Orban said Europe needed to show solidarity with Hungarys border protection efforts, not just with Greece and Italy, the countries which have received the brunt of the migration influx.

EU leaders have criticized Hungary for failing to show solidarity because it refuses to take in any asylum-seekers sought to be relocated from Greece and Italy until their asylum requests are decided.

Orbans government has promoted a Lets Stop Brussels billboard and publicity campaign rejecting the EUs migration policies. Last year, over 98 per cent of participating voters said the EU shouldnt settle anyone in Hungary without the consent of the Hungarian parliament, but the referendum was invalid because of low voter turnout.

As Orban and other government officials earlier made it a point of pride that Hungary had paid for nearly all the costs of the fences and their maintenance with local funds, the change of heart could also let Orban generate another conflict with the EU, should it reject the reasonable request for reimbursement.

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ROMEAt 42, Pope Francis had weekly sessions with a psychoanalyst for about six months to clarify some things, according to excerpts from a new book by a French sociologist scheduled to be published next week.

The revelation came in one of a series of 12 interviews the sociologist, Dominique Wolton, conducted with the Pope at the Vatican for the book.

Excerpts from the book, Pope Francis: Politics and Society. Conversations with Dominique Walton, were published in Le Figaro magazine in France on Thursday.

Francis did not explain in detail why he had decided to pursue therapy, but he said he felt that he needed it and that it had helped him a lot, according to the book.

Vatican analysts noted that Francis, who is now 80, was a Jesuit official in Argentina at the time, when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship.

Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, established a rapport with the therapist, who was a woman, and she called him when she was close to dying.

Not to receive the sacraments, since she was Jewish, but for a spiritual dialogue, Francis was quoted as saying. She was a good person.

The pontiff also highly praised the influence of true women in his life, including his grandmothers, his mother and the communist Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement in Argentina, who demanded that the military dictatorship reveal the fate of disappeared children.

She taught me how to think politics, Francis stated, specifying that he is not a communist, as he has often been accused, but a Christian.

He said he was enriched by being in contact with women.

Women see things differently from men, he added. It is important to listen to both.

In a frequently casual tone, Francis also lamented some peoples inability to communicate. He interpreted the rigidity as a form of fundamentalism, particularly in priests.

Whenever I run into a rigid person, especially if young, I tell myself he is sick, he added. The danger is that they are looking for security.

Francis was trained as a Jesuit in Argentina. Jesuits are known for the value they place on introspection as well as spirituality. But until the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church expressed skepticism of psychoanalysis.

Only in 1967 did Paul VI acknowledge the important role of doctors and competent psychologists in determining the overall heath of future priests.

In Argentina, psychoanalysis is commonplace and does not carry the taboo it has in many other countries. Practising specialists are on the rise.

Speaking of his current state of mind, Francis called himself free.

I feel free, Francis was quoted as saying. Sure, I am in a cage here at the Vatican, but not spiritually. Nothing makes me afraid.

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PHOENIXU.S. President Donald Trump is facing increasing pressure from CEOs, Roman Catholic bishops, celebrities and a national mobilization effort as he weighs eliminating an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation.

The last-ditch effort has taken on greater urgency in recent days amid reports that the White House may end the program. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that Trump would announce the decision Tuesday.

Immigrant groups have been staging daily protests in the scorching Phoenix heat, mobilizing people with phone banks in California, and demonstrating outside House Speaker Paul Ryans church and office in recent days.

Read more: Trump sets dreamers decision for Tuesday amid backlash from GOP, business leaders

Trump faces militant response if he targets undocumented DREAMers, advocate says

Roman Catholic archbishops around the country have been sending letters urging the president to maintain the program. The CEOs of Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Starbucks and others also joined the effort, saying the economy will take a hit if the program is eliminated.

Immigrants are bracing for the prospect of losing their jobs as their work permits end and possible deportation if the president does away with the program.

Eli Oh of San Jose, California, said he was among the first to apply for the program after working as a waiter under the table to pay for his nursing degree.

Oh, 30, has lived in the United States for nearly two decades since his Korean parents overstayed their visa. He works as a rapid response nurse in Northern California, where he responds to hospital emergencies, and fears hell be unemployed if his work permit goes away.

I went from saving lives at a hospital and delivering health care, and now I am like, I might have to drive Uber to pay rent, he said.

President Barack Obama in 2012 created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that has allowed nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to remain in the U.S. and legally work.

Trump railed against the Obama program on the campaign trail, calling it illegal amnesty. He later said its been one of the most difficult issues hes dealt with.

Republican officials from 10 states have threatened to bring a lawsuit to stop the program, giving the Trump administration a Sept. 5 deadline to act.

To qualify, immigrants must have no criminal records and proof that they were brought to the U.S. before they reached age 16. Their work permits and protection from deportation must be renewed every two years.

The White House insists the president has yet to make a final decision on the issue, though advocates on both sides of the debate expect him to announce he will begin phasing out the program as soon as Friday.

Applying for the program costs nearly $500, and most applicants hire attorneys to help them navigate the complicated process. It takes several weeks or months for the government to review applications.

The issue is especially prominent in California, home to one of every four people covered by the program. In Los Angeles, immigrant advocates have planned a week of scripted phone calls, demonstrations and meetings with lawmakers. The efforts and others next week are aimed at putting pressure on elected officials and the public to save the program.

In Arizona, a coalition of immigrant rights groups set up a protest camp this week in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices near downtown Phoenix in the midst of a heat advisory and temperatures of nearly 110 degrees.

Their daily protests come amid immigrant anger over Trumps pardon of Joe Arpaio, the former Phoenix-area sheriff found by a federal judge to have racially profiled Latinos with his immigration raids. Arpaio was convicted this year of misdemeanour contempt of court for violating a judges orders to stop the immigration patrols.

We are calling on people of conscience that if you believe that this is an injustice, theres no room to stay silent. Silence allows for injustices to happen, Reyna Montoya told reporters Monday. Montoya said she was brought to Arizona as a teenager after her family fled political violence in Mexico.

In Wisconsin, the pressure extends specifically to Ryan, who has said previously he supports young immigrants. In a radio interview Friday, Ryan urged Trump to keep the program.

These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and dont know another home, he said.

The immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera staged a protest outside of Ryans Roman Catholic church in Wisconsin on August 20. They planned a hunger strike starting Friday in front of his Milwaukee office and a march on Tuesday.

Ilse Merlin, of Racine, Wisconsin, said she was prepping for the worst by staying informed and active within the immigrant rights movement.

Im not scared because I have faith that my God is going to provide and hes going to protect. That might not sound very reasonable I guess to people that dont have faith, but for me I think its enough, Merlin said.

Merlin, 22, was brought to Wisconsin as a 5-year-old and has had protection from the program since it began. She said it changed her life by allowing her to get a job, which she used to pay for college. She works as a children and youth director at her church and hopes to finish a bachelors degree to become a teacher.

Others lending support for the program include celebrities like Shonda Rhimes, the television mogul, and actress America Ferrera, who took to Twitter to lend their support.

Dozens of CEOs and executives who wrote a letter Thursday urging the program to be spared so its beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, are allowed to stay in the U.S.

Dreamers are vital to the future of our companies and our economy. With them, we grow and create jobs, the letter said.

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The latest disappointing elementary school mathematics scores have renewed a longstanding debate about the best way to ensure kids in the province learn the skills they need to contribute and succeed in the modern economy.

For the second year in a row, the standardized tests conducted by the Education Quality and Accountability Office show that only half of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard. Thats an alarming decline from the 58 per cent who passed in 2012.

As the Star argued last year, thats bad news for Ontario students. Fluency in math is a prerequisite for careers in the sciences, technology, engineering and many other fields. And research has shown that when students struggle with math in the lower grades, they often go on to fall farther behind in high school.

Read more: Math scores flat, falling among Ontario elementary students

Its also bad news for the province's future ability to innovate and compete in a global economy.

But we needn't panic - at least not yet. It's too early to judge whether the Wynne government's ongoing push to improve math education in the province is working.

Some critics contend that the problem is a curriculum that puts too much emphasis on what is known as discovery math  which involves problem-solving and investigation  and not enough on practising basic addition, subtraction and division, and such old-fashioned skills as memorizing multiplication tables.

Yet last year the province doubled down on its current approach, investing $60 million in beefing up its capacity to teach a curriculum it says seeks to strike a balance the basics and memorization and discovery and problem-solving.

Under the three-pronged program introduced last year, students receive at least 60 minutes of math a day, something that has been proven to work in Quebec where math scores are higher.

The second prong requires every school is now required to have at least one math lead teacher who is deeply knowledgeable about teaching math and who will receive up to five days of professional development a year. Thats a great resource.

The third prong is more math training for all teachers. Thats important because most elementary students now learn math from home room teachers who may not be comfortable with the subject. In fact, research has shown that many teachers have what educators call a math phobia, which is often then transferred to students.

It's too soon to say whether the government's welcome investment was well-placed, but some see the halting of test scores' decline as encouraging. Cathy Bruce, the dean of education at Trent University, told The Canadian Press the fact the results are stabilizing, rather than continuing to drop shows progress. I wouldnt have expected to see a big jump all of a sudden  thats not how it works.

Still, as Education Minister Mitzi Hunter said after learning of the results, it's clear "there's still more work to do." One simple measure the province could pursue, for example, would be to make math proficiency tests mandatory, as they are currently for French and English. Clearly if educators dont understand math themselves, they cant teach it to their students.

The provinces big investment in math studies last year was designed in large part to solve that problem. It may yet work. But if next years test results are as dismal as this years, the province should start thinking about a bigger reimagining of how we teach math, lest we continue to hurt the prospects of our kids and our province.

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Drones will be flying over Texas and Louisiana to help survey property damage by Hurricane Harvey.

The top two property insurance companies in Texas -- State Farm and Allstate (ALL) - Get Free Report -- will be using the portable aircraft to take pictures of the damage done by the hurricane that has damaged an estimated 100,000 homes in Texas and Louisiana, according to the White House. Allstate said it's expecting to make at least a thousand drone flights a week to assess the damage. While a person doing insurance survey work could do about three houses per day, a drone can get through about three houses per hour.

In addition, AT&T (T) - Get Free Report announced Wednesday that it will use a fleet of 25 drones to survey cell phone towers for antenna or cable damage in southeastern Texas.

This is an important test for drones because it's the second big hurricane since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) relaxed its rules for drones, allowing insurance companies to fly them over houses to survey property damage. THe other major hurricane was Hurricane Matthew, which ripped through the eastern Caribbean and the southeastern U.S. last September and into early October.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that nearly 96,000 people in Texas are eligible and have been approved for financial aid to help with damages. Hurricane Harvey is expected to hit $30 billion in damages, analytics firm Enki Holdings told Slate.

The drone sector growth forecast has been positive, according to experts. Worldwide drone unit sales grew by an estimated 60% last year, to 2.2 million units, which represents $4.5 billion in sales, according to research firm Gartner. For 2017, the firm sees drone production increasing by 39% year-over-year, to 3 million drones and $6 billion in sales. By 2020, sales are projected to hit $11.2 billion.

The third top property insurer in Texas, Farmers Insurance, has already received more than 14,000 claims reports, a spokesperson told the New York Times on Wednesday. "Our fleet of drones and the claims professionals who will be operating them are currently on standby and ready to deploy when conditions make it safe to do so," the company said in a statement.

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The cluster of refineries dotted along the Gulf Coast is advantageous for transporting gasoline and other products to the East Coast, Mexico and South America, but experts are questioning their location in the aftermath of Harvey.

As the number of refineries being shut down increases daily since Harvey started hitting the Gulf Coast and pounding several cities with torrential rainfall and halting access to the plants, relocating the refineries has been raised as a potential strategy to alleviate transportation and environmental issues and lower the risk of another major hurricane or storm causing serious damage.

The refineries play a large role refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel among other products. While the Corpus Christi refineries produce 4.4% of the capacity in the U.S., the refineries in Houston, the fourth largest city in the U.S., and Texas City together generate 12% of refining capacity.

Facts and Fiction About Hurricane Harvey

Honda Reaches $605 Million Settlement in Takata Airbag Case

Building refineries elsewhere in the U.S. is not a realistic option since a massive infrastructure of pipelines, ports and railroads would also have to be constructed, said Suzanne Minter, director of client strategy and energy solutions at S&P Global Platts, a New York-based provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets.

Being located next to a large body of water like the ports in Houston and Corpus Christi is crucial because refineries can operate profitably and gives them easier access to global barrels of varying grades and it allows them export access for refined product, she said.

"The reality is that it takes years to build a refinery and you need access to water and there are literally thousands of miles of crude and product pipelines across the U.S. that support the system," Minter said. "It's illogical to think that we could move all of the refineries. To rebuild everything would be cost and time prohibitive and I would think nearly physically impossible."

Not only does it take several years to construct a refinery, but they are also quite expensive, costing upwards of billions of dollars, Minter said. Since the oil boom of 2012 to 2016 when experts discovered that shale plays could generate copious amount of oil and could be produced cheaply with the aid of fracking, only one refinery has been constructed in North Dakota with plans for another one in the same state.

The last large refinery constructed in the U.S. occurred in 1976. A smaller refinery, the Dakota Prairie Refinery, opened in 2015, but it only processes 20,000 barrels of oil a day compared to the ones near Houston and in Port Arthur which refine anywhere from 112,229 barrels of oil a day at Petrobras's plant in Pasadena, Texas to Motiva's Port Arthur plant which processes 603,000 barrels of oil a day.

The owners, MDU Resources Group and Calumet Specialty Product Partners, sold the plant to Tesoro in 2016, taking a loss since oil prices were low. Tesoro did not disclose the cost of the acquisition, but took on their debt of $66 million. Construction costs ran 40% over and the company spent $430 million, lowering the chances another company would undertake the risk and a potential loss.

Only one plant, the Davis Refinery in North Dakota, is in the planning stages of construction. The plant, owned by Meridian Energy Group, is currently awaiting approvals for permits. When it is fully operational, it would refine 27,500 barrels of oil a day initially and up to 55,000 barrels of oil a day from the Bakken shale play.

Other refinery plans have been shuttered from opposition by environmental groups and residents. As the use of gasoline has possibly also reached peak demand, the viability of building mammoth refineries simply does not make sense, said Minter.

"It's a nice idea, but I don't see the construction of this magnitude occurring in the next decade," she said. "Do you want a refinery in your backyard?

The odds of North Dakota emerging as behemoth energy hub like Houston are nearly nonexistent, because the state has limited pipeline access to heavy Canadian crude and Bakken crude, Minter said. Using rail to move products out relative to pipelines is too expensive.

"It is not competitive against a refiner who can get supply in or refined product out on a pipeline," she said. "There is minimal demand in North Dakota - you would need truck and rail distances to hit major demand centers such as Chicago and New York."

The devastation which occurred after Katrina in 2005 left its footprint and energy experts wondered about the "wisdom of having so much refining capacity in the Gulf Coast," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

The potential to build a series of smaller refineries and move away from the "monster" ones in Baytown and Port Arthur, Texas could be possible, he said.

"The smaller refineries could take off some of that oil and it will probably will be in our future," Flynn said. "We have a lot to learn from Harvey since we have never seen this much rain like we did with Katrina."

Meanwhile, here comes Irma.

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and his colleagues have close to 22 million comments and replies to sift through as they concoct new rules for the Internet.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Free Report , AT&T Inc. (T) - Get Free Report and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) - Get Free Report versus Netflix Inc. (NFLX) - Get Free Report and representatives of other online services companies such as Facebook Inc. (FB) - Get Free Report , Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Free Report and Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Google lodged replies by a Wednesday deadline, along with citizens, public interest groups, state attorneys general and others. Pai has not laid out a time frame for finalizing the rules.

Pai argues that the Obama FCC overreached when it reclassified broadband as a telecom service, akin to a regulated utility, rather than as an information service, which receive little oversight from the government.

Apple expressed concerns that consumers have "fair and open access to broadband services" to seek out music, TV shows, movies and apps online.

"We work hard to build great products, and what consumers do with those tools is up to them-not Apple, and not broadband providers," Apple said in a reply comment.

For its part, AT&T undercut the idea that companies like Amazon and Netflix share a level playing field.

"[T]he Internet is not, and never has been, 'neutral' in the traffic flows that affect how customers experience the services offered by different edge providers," AT&T wrote in its latest message to the FCC.

"For example, Google, Amazon, and Netflix have spent billions of dollars on content delivery networks (CDNs) that enable them to outperform less well-financed rivals that have not obtained similar functionality." the carrier added. While the Internet groups enjoy great advantages in advertising, R&D and their ability to pay top salaries, AT&T added, "no one suggests that the government should intervene to level out those sources of competitive inequality among edge providers."

Likewise, Comcast remarked in is reply comment that "no one is credibly calling for utility-style regulation of the Internet economy simply because Apple products were not available on Amazon for a time, or because Apple and Amazon only very recently reached an agreement to make the Amazon Prime Video app available on the Apple TV platform after years of holdout."

The cable operator denied that it has ever throttled Netflix traffic, and presented its X1 Pay-TV, DVR and app platform as a melting pot for Internet video. Comcast gave Netflix a spot on X1 last year, and said it will integrate Google's YouTube and Dish Network Corp.'s (DISH) - Get Free Report Sling TV into the platform.

Updated from Aug. 31 with information about Apple.

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Netflix argued that the broadband providers' connection directly to consumers' homes and to other networks begs for regulation as a telecommunications service that the Obama FCC established. "This unique gate-keeping power enables broadband access providers to control what traffic comes on and off their networks," Netflix wrote in its reply comments.

The Internet Association, which represents Airbnb Inc., Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) - Get Free Report , Netflix, Pandora Media Inc. (P) , PayPal Inc. (PYPL) - Get Free Report , Snap Inc. (SNAP) - Get Free Report and Uber Technologies Inc. to name a few, noted the importance of net neutrality to cultivating new online businesses. "Creating fast and slow lanes would not just harm more established edge providers like Netflix, but would keep smaller providers like Vimeo from becoming the next Netflix and even smaller startups from becoming the next Vimeo," the IA wrote.

Most of the people who wrote in to the FCC, rather than send form letters, support upholding net neutrality regulations, Washington group Fight for the Future stated. The group, which opposes Pai's plan to reclassify net neutrality, cited a study from data analysis firm Emprata.

There are significantly more unique comments submitted against Title II repeal (1.77 million) versus for Title II repeal (24k). In addition, there are considerably more "personalized" comments (appearing only once in the docket) against repeal (1.52 million) versus 23k for repeal. Presumably, these comments originated from individuals that took the time to type a personalized comment. Although these comments represent less than 10% of the total, this is a notable difference.

The Writers Guild of America, East argued in a Wednesday statement that the FCC should not take the nearly 22 million filings from businesses, organizations and consumers lightly. "History will not be kind to the Chair and Commissioners if they decide to wreck Net Neutrality," the Guild wrote.

Comcast, Facebook and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells CMCSA, FB or GOOGL? Learn more now.
After almost two years, chemical giants Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) - Get Free Report and Dupont (DD) - Get Free Report on Friday began trading as a combined entity under the name DowDupont Inc. and the ticker undefined on the New York Stock Exchange.

Next up for the company and its executives is to carve the company into three separate businesses: agriculture, materials science and specialty products. That process is expected to occur over the next 18 months, management has said.

The new company opened at $66.55 per share, the same as Dow's closing price on Thursday, Aug. 31, and carries a market cap of $156 billion, according to Andrew N. Liveris, Dow's CEO, who will take over as CEO of the combined entity.

The company closed at $66.97 per share on Friday, after hitting a high of $73.33 midday.

Hedge funds Third Point LLC, Glenview Capital Management LLC, Jana Partners LLC and Trian Fund Management LP have all privately voiced concerns that management could impede efforts to retool the company. Trian was the investor which first pushed for the merger.

Dan Loeb of Third Point launched an insurgency campaign in May arguing that the post-closing plan to split into three businesses may not be enough.

Loeb has suggested that the company should evaluate whether "three spin-off companies is appropriate or if the creation of additional businesses or divestitures would further enhance shareholder value." The fund suggested that the specialty products business, post-closing, could be split into as many as four public companies to ensure that each unit has a "clear and compelling investment case."

Loeb also suggests that several businesses should be shifted from the material science unit to the specialty products company, post-closing. In other words, Loeb is seeking to have the combined companies shift divisions and break up into even more than three companies to drive share-price improvement value.

The U.S. Justice Department in June approved the $130 billion blockbuster merger after a lengthy review, requiring some divestitures but not the extreme split-up the activists are seeking.

Specifically, the DOJ required that DuPont, officially E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., divest some of its crop protection portfolio. It also required Dow to sell its global ethylene acrylic acid copolymers and ionomers business, which supplies products used in food and specialty packaging, adhesives, thermoplastic powder coatings, metal pipe coatings, wood plastic composites and molded durable and sporting goods. Regulators did not require a split.

Under the current plan, the agriculture business and the specialty products business will be both headquartered and incorporated in Wilmington, Del. The material science company will be headquartered in Midland, Mich.

No matter the extent of the break-up, it will be a massive undertaking for management and the swaths of advisers that will be needed to execute it. The company has market cap north of $80 billion and sales of more than $50 billion. A break-up could also lead to further deal making for the surviving entities.

The last big industrial company to undertake such an effort was Tyco International in 2011.

Tyco, which was built through acquisitions, said the split would allow its three businessesADT North America residential security, flow-control products and services, and its fire and commercial security businessto have more options for growth, both from within and through acquisitions.

Tyco's flow controls business was merged with Pentair (PNR) - Get Free Report in a tax-free all stock transaction. Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) - Get Free Report ended up acquiring the the surviving business of Tyco. In February 2016 Apollo Global Management LLC (APO) - Get Free Report acquired ADT Corp. for $12.3 billion in cash and debt and merged it with Protection One Inc.

It is unclear who the company is working with to consider the split. The combined company is also a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS charitable portfolio.

More of What's Trending on TheStreet:
California Treasurer John Chiang is calling for the removal of a key Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) - Get Free Report board member in the wake of this week's disclosure that the U.S. bank has uncovered some 3.5 million bogus accounts, nearly twice the original estimate.

Chiang singled out Enrique "Rick" Hernandez Jr., who joined the Wells Fargo board in 2003 and served on committees responsible for oversight, ethics, integrity, finances and corporate reputation. As California's treasurer, Chiang is responsible for allocating some $2 trillion in annual banking transactions as well as managing a $75 billion investment pool. Chiang also determines which U.S. banks underwrite bonds for the state, the nation's largest issuer of municipal debt.

Last year, Chiang suspended Wells Fargo as a provider of lucrative banking transactions to the state and is currently reviewing whether to extend the sanctions beyond this month.

"Given the avalanche of mistakes, scandals and problems that have come out of Wells Fargo in the last year, it is clear to me that Hernandez has been a negligent leader and ineffective steward," Chiang said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. "His silence damaged Wells Fargo's customers, employees and shareholders. For that reason alone, he should go."

Neither Hernandez nor Wells Fargo press officials responded to requests for comment.

The San Francisco-based bank's stock price has tumbled 7.1% this year, following revelations that an aggressive sales culture led bank staff to open millions of accounts that weren't authorized by customers, and more recently that it erroneously charged some 490,000 car-loan customers for insurance they didn't need.

The unauthorized accounts dated back at least to 2009, but the board wasn't aware of the scope of the problem until early 2014 after the Los Angeles Times published newspaper articles on the topic, according to a report in April by Hernandez and other independent board directors. Even then, the board didn't take aggressive action to address the issues until 2015. The scandal led to regulatory fines, criticism from U.S. lawmakers and eventually the departure of former CEO John Stumpf.

This week, the bank disclosed that an expanded review of the scandal revealed some 3.5 million potentially unauthorized accounts, up from the original estimate of about 2 million.

Hernandez, the CEO and majority owner of Inter-Con Security Systems Inc., a Pasadena-based private-security firm, was a high-profile member of the Wells Fargo board as head of the bank's risk and finance committees, and he was a member of the corporate responsibility committee.

At the bank's annual meeting in April, Hernandez received just 53% of shareholder votes, the lowest among the 15 board nominees. Such a result was seen as a harsh rebuke, since directors run unopposed; it's rare in such corporate elections to receive approval ratings below 90%.

"As a member of the corporate responsibility committee, Hernandez is not only charged with protecting Wells Fargo's reputation but, more importantly, the trust between the bank and the customers it serves," Chiang said in the statement.

Hernandez was largely spared in a Wells Fargo board shakeup last month that entailed the departure of Chairman Stephen Sanger and two long-serving directors. He was replaced as head of the board's risk committee, but he kept his role as head of the finance committee.

In September 2016, following the initial account-scandal revelations, Chiang said the California Treasurer's Office would suspend new investments and transactions with Wells Fargo for at least a year. He also said he would use his position as a trustee of two big state pension funds, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System, to push for changes in governance and prevent a repeat. According to a statement at the time, the two funds held a combined $2.3 billion in Wells Fargo stocks and bonds.

Marc Lifsher, a spokesman for Chiang, said a decision would be made by the end of this month on whether to extend the suspension, "in light of the continuing revelations of bad behavior by the bank."

Hernandez, 61, is notable because he has deep experience serving on boards of big U.S. companies. He is chairman of fast-food giant McDonald's Corp. (MCD) - Get Free Report and serves as a director for oil behemoth Chevron Corp. (CVX) - Get Free Report , where he heads the committee that sets CEO compensation. Previously he sat on the boards of Nordstrom Inc., Tribune Co. and the now-defunct banks Washington Mutual Co. and Great Western Financial Corp.

He has come under fire from corporate-governance experts because Inter-Con has won contracts to provide private security to Wells Fargo branches, totaling at least $24.4 million of payments since 2005. That figure that doesn't include his regular compensation as an independent board member, amount to about $421,000 last year.

The arrangement with Inter-Con wasn't illegal, but critics say such side deals put board members in the nearly impossible position of providing tough oversight of a CEO on behalf of shareholders, all the while trying to avoid upsetting a valuable customer.

"Whether his silence and failure to act were driven by a desire to not make waves for an important client of the security firm in which he is CEO, I will not speculate," California's Chiang said in the statement. "What we can say is that Hernandez no longer should be serving on the board of directors."

More of What's Trending on TheStreet:
Travel/Tourism

Nature's colours are calling us! This is possibly the best time of year to dust off those hiking boots and get outside to enjoy the idyllic landscapes on offer. For the little ones, a carpet of freshly fallen, crisp...
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand. The company also provides home decor products under the West Elm brand; kids accessories under the Pottery Barn Kids brand; and an organic bedding to multi-purpose furniture under the Pottery Barn Teen brand. In addition, it offers made-to-order lighting, hardware, furniture, and home decors inspired by history under the Rejuvenation brand; and women's and men's accessories, travel, entertaining and bar, home decor, and seasonal items under the Mark and Graham brand, as well as operates a 3-D imaging and augmented reality platform for the home furnishings and decor industry. The company markets its products through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs, and retail stores. It operates 544 stores comprising 502 stores in 41states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 20 stores in Canada; 19 stores in Australia; 3 stores in the United Kingdom; and 139 franchised stores, as well as e-commerce websites in various countries in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, and India. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
The UAE government is offering housing loans worth Dh670 million ($182 million) to 1,080 beneficiaries in the northern emirate of Umm Al Qaiwain under the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, said a report.



The loan was approved by the board of directors of the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme at a key meeting headed by Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development and board chairman, reported state news agency Wam.



Addressing the board members, Dr Al Nuaimi said the housing aid was being approved under the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in line with the plans to celebrate 2018 as the "Year of Zayed," as the Programme is part of the everlasting legacy of the late UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who supported citizens, cared about their living conditions, and provided the elements of a dignified life and welfare to his children, the UAEs citizens.



He pointed out that Sheikh Zayed had placed significant importance on the housing of UAE citizens.



"Therefore, the Programme aims to achieve stability in the residential housing sector for local citizens and make them happy, and the wise leadership has continued Sheikh Zayeds vision of supporting and developing the housing sector, by providing housing support to citizens and constructing residential neighbourhoods with complete facilities," he added.
Bahrains Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) held on Monday (August 28) a workshop entitled Strategic Direction for Cloud Computing for governmental ministries.



The workshop, headed by iGA acting vice chief executive of Operations & Governance Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, was held at the Ministry of Finance Meeting Hall in collaboration with Amazon Web Services.



It brought the attendance and participation of more than 60 specialists representing public and semi-public entities in the IT field.



Shaikh Salman stressed that the workshop was conducted based on the adoption of Cloud First Policy for the Kingdom following its resolution by the HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information & Communication Technology (SCICT) during its eighth meeting conducted last June  placing Bahrain to become the first Arab country to adopt this policy.



He directed all investments, related to ICT, towards Cloud Computing with the purpose of reducing operational expenditures of IT systems and services, enhancing the quality of services as well as keeping abreast with the rapid developments in the field of information technology provided to beneficiaries from every society segment.



Shaikh Salman stated that since the SCICT assigned the authority to set the necessary procedures in order to implement the policy along with enlightening government entities with the approved policy and procedures for implementation; the authority has immediately prepared and arranged the organizational structure and the suitable environment to host government systems and IT services more securely and efficiently on the Cloud Computing for the Amazon Services.



He also highlighted that the authority has developed a plan which comprised the smooth and organized transfer of a set of governmental systems while ensuring continuity of work as it succeeded in shifting 10 government websites to the Cloud Computing system  in cooperation with Amazon Web Services.



The workshop was organized following the authoritys responsibility and role in supporting the strategic direction of the Kingdom in the process transformation and gradual transition of the public entities to the cloud by enhancing communication in order to remove any obstacles and challenges together with studying and setting necessary policies to implement this direction which is reflected by the delivered services to citizens and society institutions.



During the workshop, the Cloud Computing Policy was presented while addressing security procedures accompanied by procurement and contracting operations. Transition stages of the Cloud Computing were also showcased with the purpose of facilitating the operations of transferring systems to the Cloud Computing environment  this contributes to delivering high quality services that benefit users.  TradeArabia News Service
South Africa trade surplus narrows in July

South Africas trade surplus decreased to R8.99 billion in July of 2017 from a downwardly revised R10.56 billion surplus in June, beating market expectations of a R5.8 billion surplus. Exports fell 8.7 percent and imports declined at a slower 8 percent. Considering the January to July period, exports rose 4.4 percent and imports tumbled 2.2 percent, shifting the countrys trade balance into a R36.6 billion surplus from a R4.703 billion gap in the same period of 2016.

Compared with the previous month, exports declined to R93.09 billion from R102.02 billion, mainly due to lower shipments of precious metals and stones (-21 percent); base metals (-12 percent); mineral products (-5 percent); machinery and electronics (-5 percent) and wood and wood articles (-30 percent). Major destinations for exports were China (8.7 percent of total exports), Germany (7.8 percent), the US (7.6 percent), Japan (5.3 percent) and Namibia (4.3 percent).

Imports fell to R84.11 billion from R91.46 billion, due to lower purchases of mineral products (-27 percent); original equipment components (-17 percent); base metals (-18 percent); vehicles and transport equipment (-11 percent) and machinery and electronics (-5 percent). Imports came mainly from China (18 percent of total imports), Germany (11.9 percent), the US (7 percent), India (5.4 percent) and Japan (3.6 percent).

Excluding trade with neighboring Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, the country posted a trade surplus of R2.3 billion in July.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has released trade statistics for July 2017 recording a trade balance surplus of R8.99 billion. These statistics include trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS). The year-to-date trade balance surplus (01 January to 31 July 2017) of R36.63 billion is an improvement on the deficit for the comparable period in 2016 of R4.70 billion. Exports for the year-to-date grew by 4.4% whilst imports for the same period declined by 2.2%.

Including trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS)

The R8.99 billion trade balance surplus for July 2017 is attributable to exports of R93.09 billion and imports of R84.10 billion. Exports decreased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R8.92 billion (8.7%) and imports decreased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R7.35 billion (8.0%).

Exports for the year-to-date (01 January to 31 July 2017) grew by 4.4% from R629.65 billion in 2016 to R657.34 billion in 2017. Imports for the year-to-date of R620.71 billion are 2.2% less than the imports recorded in January to July 2016 of R634.36 billion, leaving a trade balance surplus of R33.63 billion.

On a year-on-year basis, the R8.99 billion trade balance surplus for July 2017 is an improvement from the surplus recorded in July 2016 of R0.41 billion. Exports of R93.09 billion are 2.7% more than the exports recorded in July 2016 of R90.66 billion. Imports of R84.10 billion are 6.8% less than the imports recorded in July 2016 of R90.26 billion.

June 2017s trade balance surplus was revised downwards by R0.11 billion from the previous months preliminary surplus of R10.67 billion to a revised surplus of R10.56 billion as a result of ongoing Vouchers of Correction (VOCs).

Trade highlights by category

The main month-on-month export movements: R million Section: Including BLNS: Precious Metals & Stones - R3 825 - 21% Base Metals - R1 421 - 12% Mineral Products - R1 103 - 5% Machinery & Electronics - R 418 - 5% Prepared Foodstuff - R 310 - 7% Textiles - R 303 - 23% Total - R6 801 83% Total Movement - R8 921 100%

The main month-on-month import movements: R million Section: Including BLNS: Mineral Products - R3 246 - 27% Original Equipment Components - R1 458 - 17% Vehicles & Transport Equipment - R 1 352 - 11% Machinery & Electronics - R 992 - 5% Base Metals - R 908 - 18% Optical Photographic Products + R 157 + 7% Chemical Products + R 598 + 6% Total - R7 201 98% Total Movement -R7 350 100%

Trade highlights by world zone

The world zone results from June 2017 (revised) to July 2017 are given below.

Africa:

Exports: R25 204 million  this is a decrease of R4 899 million from June 2017.

Imports: R7 798 million  this is an increase of R112 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance surplus: R17 407 million  this is a deterioration in comparison to the R22 418 million surplus recorded in June 2017.

America:

Exports: R8 699 million  this is a decrease of R393 million from June 2017.

Imports: R9 580 million  this is a decrease of R1 729 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance deficit: R881 million  this is an improvement in comparison to the R2 217 million deficit recorded in June 2017.

Asia:

Exports: R26 937 million  this is a decrease of R2 253 million from June 2017.

Imports: R36 743 million  this is a decrease of R4 152 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance deficit: R9 806 million  this is an improvement in comparison to the R11 705 million deficit recorded in June 2017.

Europe:

Exports: R25 123 million  this is an increase of R 31 million from June 2017.

Imports: R29 021 million  this is a decrease of R1 284 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance deficit: R3 898 million  this is an improvement in comparison to the R5 213 million deficit recorded in June 2017.

Oceania:

Exports: R1 310 million  this is an increase of R 79 million from June 2017.

Imports: R929 million  this is a decrease of R 91 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance surplus: R 381 million  this is an improvement in comparison to the R 211 million surplus recorded in June 2017.

Excluding trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS)

The trade data excluding BLNS for July 2017 recorded a trade balance surplus of R 2.28 billion, attributable to exports of R83.09 billion and imports of R80.81 billion.

Exports decreased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R4.70 billion (5.4%) and imports decreased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R7.64 billion (8.6%).

The cumulative deficit for 2017 is R16.06 billion compared to R64.72 billion deficit in 2016.

Trade highlights by category

The main month-on-month export movements: R million Section: Excluding BLNS: Precious Metals & Stones - R1 537 - 9% Mineral Products - R1 270 - 7% Machinery & Electronics - R 333 - 5% Textiles - R 309 - 37% Wood Pulp and Paper - R 296 - 20% Chemical Products - R 200 - 4% Other Unclassified - R 157 - 27% Base Metals + R 347 + 4% Total - R3 755 80% Total Movement - R4 701 100%

The main month-on-month import movements: R million Section: Excluding BLNS: Mineral Products - R3 246 - 27% Original Equipment Components - R1 458 - 17% Vehicles & Transport Equipment - R1 280 - 11% Machinery & Electronics - R 907 - 4% Base Metals - R 900 - 18% Chemical Products + R 350 + 4% Total - R7 531 99% Total Movement - R7 642 100%

Trade highlights by world zone

The world zone results for Africa excluding BLNS from June 2017 (Revised) to July 2017 are given below.

Africa:

Exports: R15 198 million  this is a decrease of R 680 million from June 2017.

Imports: R4 497 million  this is a decrease of R 180 million from June 2017.

Trade Balance surplus: R10 701 million  this is a deterioration in comparison to the R 11 201 million surplus recorded in June 2017.

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (Only)

Trade statistics with the BLNS for July 2017 recorded a trade balance surplus of R6.71 billion, attributable to exports of R10.01 billion and imports of R3.30 billion.

Exports decreased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R4.22 billion (29.7%) and imports increased from June 2017 to July 2017 by R0.29 billion (9.7%).

The cumulative surplus for 2017 is R52.68 billion compared to R60.02 billion in 2016.

Trade Highlights by Category

The main month-on-month export movements: R million Section: BLNS: Precious Metals & Stones - R2 288 - 100% Base Metals - R1 768 - 70% Chemical Products - R 96 - 9% Machinery & Electronics - R 85 - 5% Mineral Products + R 166 + 11% Total - R4 071 96% Total Movement - R4 220 100%
Apes abilities appear to be entirely misunderstood because research has failed to measure them fairly and accurately, according to a new report.

Ive always marveled at how shortsighted humans can be, especially when it comes to other species. Weve got such a superiority complex that we fail to fully appreciate the remarkableness of things like an octopus completely changing colors and texture in seconds, or a tiny songbird figuring out how to fly 1,500 miles nonstop over the Atlantic. In a human, these traits would be worthy of a Harry Potter character; in an animal? Meh. Cool, but animals cant write and make pizza and get in rocket ships and fly to the moon, so how smart can they really be? (And of course there are many of us who appreciate the brilliant wonders of the animal kingdom, but Im talking more about the general anthropocentric mindset.)

More and more, however, it seems that scientists are starting to rethink how we think about animals thinking. Frans de Waal explores the topic in his book "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" in which he gives hundreds of examples of surprising intelligence from non-human species, including many instances where other animals appear to be smarter than we are.

Among others on the same track, a new analyses published in the journal Animal Cognition argues that what we think we know about apes social intelligence is based on wishful thinking and flawed science.

The fault underlying decades of research and our understanding of apes abilities is due to such a strongly-held belief in our own superiority, that scientists have come to believe that human babies are more socially capable than ape adults. As humans, we see ourselves as top of the evolutionary tree, says study author Dr David Leavens, of the University of Sussex. This had led to a systematic exaltation of the reasoning abilities of human infants, on the one hand, and biased research designs that discriminate against apes, on the other hand.

As the University of Portsmouth notes:

The starting point in comparative psychology research is that if an ape makes a pointing gesture, say a point to a distant object, the meaning is ambiguous, but if a human does it, a double standard of interpretation is applied, concluding that humans have a degree of sophistication, a product of evolution, which other species cant possibly share.

In examining the literature, we found a chasm between evidence and belief, says Professor Kim Bard. This suggests a deep commitment to the idea that humans alone possess sophisticated social intelligence, a bias that is often not supported by the evidence.

To put it in perspective, the authors point out that this isnt the first time science has seen such a pervasive collapse of rigor. A century ago, scientists believed that northern Europeans were the most intelligent of our species, thanks to a big fat dose of bias. Such bias is now seen as antiquated, but comparative psychology is applying the same bias to cross-species comparisons between humans and apes, the researchers say.

And the examples provided in the study really bring the point home. In one set of studies, researchers compared children raised in Western households, steeped in the cultural conventions of nonverbal signaling, with apes raised without the same cultural exposure. But then they were all tested on Western conventions of non-verbal communication. Of course the human children are going to do better. I would like to see them put the human kids in the wild and see them forage for food and communicate with other apes; whod outperform there?

Of the approaches so far in measuring apes abilities, the authors conclude, the only firm conclusion that can be made is that apes not raised in western, postindustrial households do not act very much like human children who were raised in those specific ecological circumstances, a result that should surprise no one.

In offering four different methods for study which could remove the "pervasive superiority complex in comparative psychology research," the authors provide valuable remedies for better understanding these incredible species. And importantly, further open the door on the idea that non-human animals don't have to act like humans to be considered smart. In fact, not acting like humans may be their smartest trick yet...
When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
What is the best time to visit Vietnam and avoid high heat and monsoon rains in all regions from north to south.? We are thinking late February March. We are also considering going to India before or after our Vietnam visit and not have high heat or monsoon there as well.
Hi there, I'm looking for some info on if I'm going to run into trouble trying to withdraw money from ATMs when I visit Japan at the end of the month. I will be visiting Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo if that happens to make any difference.

I just read on a travel website that MasterCards are now denied in post office and 7 Eleven ATMs? That is the only card I have so am I going to be unable to withdraw cash at all? Or is there a specific place that has a machine that accepts it? I really don't want to carry around a large amount of money but I also don't want to risk not being able to take money out at all.

Can anyone help me out? I appreciate it!

Edited: 5 years ago
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Militants launched 24 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbas over the past day.

This is reported by the ATO press center.

The tensest situation was observed in Donetsk direction, where militants shelled Ukrainian positions in the industrial area of Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk), Butovka coal mine (11.4km north-west of Donetsk) and Zaitseve (67km north-north-east of Donetsk), Pisky (12km north-west of Donetsk), using small arms and heavy machine guns.

In Luhansk direction, the enemy used grenade launchers to fire at ATO troops outside Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk).

Ceasefire was observed in Mariupol direction all day long.

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No Ukrainian serviceman has been killed or wounded as a result of hostilities in the area of the anti-terrorist operation in east Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a briefing on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Our troops have sustained no losses as a result of hostilities over the past 24 hours. None of the Ukrainian servicemen has been killed or wounded," he said.

According to Motuzianyk, three cases of enemy shelling were reported in the Luhansk sector. Eighteen enemy provocations were recorded in the Donetsk sector and three cases of shelling in the Mariupol sector.

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The war in the Donbas for Russian President Vladimir Putin is a lever of pressure on Europe, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

He stated this at a meeting with President of the Ukrainian World Congress Eugen Czolij, the council's press service reports.

According to the report, the sides discussed the current situation in eastern Ukraine.

Turchynov stated that hostile shelling in the Donbas did not stop after another agreement on a ceasefire. This, he said, indicates that "Putin is not going to get out of the occupied territory, and the war in the Donbas for him is a lever of pressure on Europe and Ukraine."

The sides also discussed possible ways of solving the problem with the blocking of military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and partner countries, as well as the release of Ukrainian political prisoners who are illegally detained in Russia. The sides paid special attention to the issue of assistance from UWC in informing Ukraine's partner states of information reports and refuting fake information about Ukraine, which is spread by Russian propaganda, the message says.

Czolij, in turn, said that a priority for UWC is to make sure that "the international community helps overcome the hybrid aggression against Ukraine."

"For our part, we will do everything to ensure that the law signed by the U.S. president on military and technical assistance to Ukraine does not remain only on paper, but becomes a reality," he said.

In addition, the sides stated that sanctions against the aggressor country should "not only continue but also be strengthened."

"Ukrainians all over the world should feel like one family and work together for a common victory," Turchynov said.

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Joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad 2017 pose a threat to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

The head of state said this in a comment, the video of which was posted by his press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko on Facebook.

"As for the Zapad exercises, we are very attentive to the holding of these exercises. We see the possibilities of a threat, including to Ukraine's territorial integrity," Poroshenko said.

At the same time, he stressed that during his recent visit to Ukraine Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assured him that there would be no threat from Belarusian territory now or in the future.

"And I hope that he will keep his promise. There is no reason to question this now," Poroshenko said.

He said that Ukraine would closely monitor that all military equipment brought from Russia for the exercises is taken back to Russia after the maneuvers are completed.

The active phase of the Russian-Belarusian military exercises is scheduled for September 14-20.

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The historical change in the geographical structure of Ukrainian exports has occurred, and now the European Union accounts for nearly 40% of Ukraines total trade.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko wrote this on his Facebook page, commenting on the full entry into force of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

"Over the first six months of this year, Ukraines foreign trade in goods and services with the EU countries increased by 22%. The European Union accounts for nearly 40% of our total trade. There has been a historical change in the geographical structure of Ukrainian exports in favor of increasing its volumes to the EU countries. These are the irreversible processes of integration of the Ukrainian economy into the EU market," the Head of State wrote.

Poroshenko noted that a deep and comprehensive free trade area with the European Union had operated since January 1, 2016.

The Ukrainian President also said: "September 1, 2017 is the day that will leave its mark in the history of our strong and independent Ukraine. The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement comes into full force today."

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Ukraine will have to repay foreign debt worth about $4.6 billion in 2019, Deputy Finance Minister Yuriy Butsa has told the Ekonomichna Pravda online news site.

"We will have the first peak load in 2019, as we will have to repay foreign debt worth about $4.6 billion. The state is fulfilling on time all of its obligations on the servicing and repayment [of foreign debt]," Butsa said.

He noted that in order to pay such an amount in 2019, Ukraine should be present on foreign borrowing markets. This is a normal policy of managing public debt, when such debt is refinanced due to new borrowings, he said.

"Therefore, our strategic goal is a full-fledged presence on foreign markets," Butsa added.

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In January-August 2017, PJSC Ukrtransgaz transported 61.95 billion cubic meters of natural gas to European consumers, which is 23.4% more compared with the same period last year, the companys press service reports.

In addition, natural gas imports form the EU countries over the reported period grew by 95.8%, and reached 9.4 billion cubic meters.

Natural gas imports from the EU countries over the eight months increased by 95.8% and totaled 9.4 billion cubic meters. This year, gas imports in the Slovak direction amounted to 7.1 billion cubic meters, , in the Hungarian direction - 1.5 billion cubic meters, and in the Polish direction - 0.8 billion cubic meters, Ukrtransgaz reports.

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The Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine is forming a delegation for a trade mission to Kenya.

"The delegation of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine plans to visit Kenya on September 11-15, 2017. The purpose of the visit is to intensify bilateral trade and economic cooperation in the field of agriculture," the Ministrys press service reports.

The Ministry suggests representatives of the Ukrainian agrarian business, who are interested in cooperation with Kenya, joining this visit.

The program of the visit provides for meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Association of Flour Millers and Combined Feed Producers of the Republic of Kenya.

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The Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, including the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area, came into force on September 1.

The agreement was signed in two stages in 2014, but the ratification process was completed only in June 2017, Ukrinform's correspondent in Brussels reports.

Negotiations on a new basic agreement between Ukraine and the EU, to replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, were launched in March 2007 (in 2008, the parties agreed on the name of the future agreement - the Association Agreement). On November 11, 2011, Brussels hosted the final, 21st round of negotiations on the Association Agreement, during which all provisions of the document were agreed upon.

The signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU took place in two stages.

The political chapters of the document were signed at the EU-Ukraine summit on March 21, 2014.

In particular, the sides signed the Preamble, Article 1, Title I "General Principles," Title II "Political Dialogue and Reform, Political Association, Cooperation and Convergence in the Field of Foreign and Security Policy" and Title VII "Institutional, General and Final Provisions" of the Association Agreement. A statement was also made at the summit that Ukraine's obligations under Article 8 of the Association Agreement in relation to the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 1998 will be implemented after the relevant amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine have been made.

On June 27, 2014, at a meeting of the Council of the European Union, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the leadership of the European Union and the heads of state and government of 28 EU member states signed the economic part of the Association Agreement - Title III "Justice, Freedom and Security," Title IV "Trade and Trade-Related Matters," Title V "Economic and Sector Cooperation" and Title VI "Financial Cooperation, With Anti-Fraud Provisions."

On September 16, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

The Ukrainian side deposited its instruments of ratification and thus completed all internal procedures.

The Association Agreement includes more than a thousand pages and consists of the preamble, seven titles, 43 annexes, and three protocols.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis have discussed the implementation of the so-called "Marshall Plan for Ukraine," which was initiated by the Lithuanian parliament, the presidential press service has reported.

"During the meeting, the sides discussed in detail the practical implementation of the Lithuanian parliament's initiative 'New European Plan for Ukraine for 2017-2020' (the so-called "Marshall Plan for Ukraine"), which envisages the provision of strong financial and investment support and assistance in conducting reforms. The parties agreed on further coordination of work with a view to its approval and support from the EU," reads the report.

Poroshenko expressed gratitude for Lithuania's consistent position in supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as condemning Russian aggression and illegal occupation of Crimea.

The sides expressed concern about Russia's continued aggressive policy in the context of the militarization of the temporarily occupied Crimea and the conduct of military exercises by Russia along joint borders.

They also noted the importance of further coordinated international efforts to counter Russia's aggressive actions, in particular by continuing to apply and strengthen respective sanctions.

The head of state thanked the parliament speaker for Lithuania's active support in the introduction by the EU of a visa-free travel regime for Ukrainian citizens and the final entry into force on September 1, 2017 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is sure that granting Ukraine the visa-free regime with the European Union is the result of reforms carried out in the country.

The President said this at the opening of a new school in the village of Pisochyn in Kharkiv region on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"A few months ago, on June 11, the visa-free regime came into effect after the extremely important reforms had been conducted in Ukraine. The Visa Liberalization Action Plan included 144 items. Ukraine perfectly well met all the necessary requirements," the President stressed.

Now Ukrainians can cross the EU borders having only a biometric passport for travelling abroad.

The visa-free regime with the European Union for the Ukrainian citizens entered into force overnight into June 11, 2017.

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The Republic of Lithuania welcomes Ukraine's effort to implement ambitious reforms.

Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania Viktoras Pranckietis said this at the 4th Baltic-Black Sea Economic Forum, the second stage of which is held in Kherson, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Lithuania appreciates and welcomes Ukraine's resolute efforts to initiate ambitious reforms. This indicator will measure the potential and prospects of the Ukrainian economy," Pranckietis said.

The head of the Lithuanian parliament noted that he drew attention of the leadership and other high-ranking officials of Ukraine to this fact during the meetings that took place in Kyiv on Thursday.

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Knowledge Day is one of the main holidays of the academic year in Ukraine - celebratory, exciting and responsible.

At the same time, this holiday unites the entire community - from the smallest, those who go to school for the first time and become first-graders, to serious senior students, those who are on the verge of adult life. In addition, this is a holiday for all teachers, parents, and grandparents, who will be eager and proud to accompany their children to school. Even those who seem to have nothing to do with schools, the educational process and the reform of the educational sector feel the spirit of this holiday on this day.

Although in recent years the schools decide themselves on the celebration of Knowledge Day, many of them still follow the traditions, when children stand in line, present flowers to teachers, and older pupils encourage first-graders.

According to statistics, this year 408,208 children in Ukraine will go to school for the first time. The greatest number of first-graders will go to the schools of Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, as well as Kyiv.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has congratulated Ukrainian Muslims on the Eid al-Adha holiday and pointed to their important role in countering the Russian aggression.

This is reported by the press service of the Head of State.

"The Muslim community of Ukraine is the integral part of our people, and the [Muslim] culture is a bright component of Ukrainian cultural diversity. Nowadays, the Muslim community plays an important role in countering the Russian aggression, preserving the freedom and independence of the Ukrainian state," the President stressed.

He also expressed conviction that Ukrainian citizens would manage with joint efforts to adequately overcome the challenges and the peace and harmony would reign on the Ukrainian land thanks to the peoples unity.

The holiday of Eid al-Adha, also called the "Sacrifice Feast", is the second of two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year, and considered the holier of the two. It honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismaeel, as an act of obedience to God's command.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman assures that Ukraine feels the comprehensive support of the Ukrainian World Congress and promises to strengthen cooperation with the diaspora.

The Prime Minister said this during a meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian World Congress, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Groysman noted that many projects had already been implemented jointly with the Congress, but there are still many plans for further cooperation, the main goal of which is to make Ukraine a strong state.

In this regard, the Ukrainian Prime Minister assured that the authorities would strengthen their work with Ukrainians abroad. As the Prime Minister reminded, a corresponding program has been drafted, and financial resources have been already allocated.

As reported, the Ukrainian World Congress is the organization that unites Ukrainians from 133 countries around the world. This year, the Congress celebrates the 50th anniversary of its establishment.

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DHAKA, 31 August 2017  UNICEF with partners are scaling up the emergency response in the flood-affected northern and central parts of Bangladesh. UNICEF is also providing urgent support in Coxs Bazar district with the recent influx of Rohingya children and their families. Children are the hardest hit and require the support to survive and outlive the physical and mental trauma of flood and displacement.

During any emergency, be it flood or influx of people, children bear the biggest brunt and are at high risk of violence, abuse, chronic illness, and spread of contagious diseases. UNICEF will continue and strengthen its humanitarian support in coordination with the Government of Bangladesh in education, WASH, nutrition, health and child protection sectors for the children as they are suffering the most, said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Country Representative.

UNICEF is supporting the government in responding to 1.5 million flood affected people by providing water purification tablets, hygiene kits, jerry cans and bleaching powder. UNICEF is working on the reactivation of the education system which will start when the water level recedes.

At the same time UNICEF is working in Coxs Bazar to address the needs of Rohingya children and their families as well as host communities. UNICEF has already built eight functioning Child Friendly Spaces for Rohingya children and adolescents, providing children with psychosocial and recreational support. UNICEF has initiated the screening of children for malnutrition, and the vaccination of children aged 9-59 months against Measles and Rubella - in the makeshift settlements and hard-to-reach host communities. More than 15,200 people now have access to safe drinking water and 9,700 people are provided with improved sanitation facilities in host communities.

With the recent influx of Rohingyas more than 80% of them are children and women- the demand has increased and UNICEF is working to mobilize more support and strengthen its existing activities. For recreational and psychosocial support to the newly arrived Rohingya children, 33 mobile CFSs are now operational with 100 recreational kits, Education in Emergency (EiE) kits and trained teachers. These mobile child friendly spaces have already provided psychosocial support to 226 newly arrived Rohingya children. Separated and unaccompanied children are also being identified through Child Friendly Spaces and community outreach. UNICEF is also ready to distribute hygiene kits and water purification tablets.

A Humanitarian Response Plan targeting the most vulnerable 330,000 people in the flood affected districts has been launch, requesting US$ 4.8 million. With the recent influx of Rohingya children and their families, the funding requirement for its 2017-2018 response plan will have to be increased at least by US$ 5 million.

###

For more information, please contact:

Joe English, UNICEF New York, +1 917 893 0692 jenglish@unicef.org

Faria Selim, UNICEF Bangladesh, +88 01817586096, fselim@unicef.org

AM Sakil Faizullah, UNICEF Bangladesh, +88 01713049900 asfaizullah@unicef.org
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday touted his governments development achievements and accused his opponents of seeking to undermine Cambodias successes.

During a gathering of thousands of garment workers in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said his Cambodian Peoples Party had encouraged investment and opened the Cambodian economy to garment exports.

The premier mocked the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, calling it the three nos group, insinuating the CNRP was against donors, investment, and trade.

The three nos group is only there to destroy your benefits. No donations, no investment, and no buying products from Cambodia, he said.

He sought to describe the forthcoming general election as a choice between the three nos and three yes, referring to the CPP.

The meeting with garment workers on Wednesday was part of the prime ministers recently announced campaign to woo the workers ahead of next years election.

More than 700,000 Cambodians work in the garment sector, making it a key battleground for votes between Cambodias two major parties.

Earlier last month, Hun Sen in a similar meeting with workers announced he would ensure that the minimum wage in the sector was raised by at least $15 to $168 per month.

In January 2014, after months of strikes that turned violent, government forces shot dead at least five people, leaving much more injured.

Hun Sen on Wednesday suggested that the former leader of the CNRP, Sam Rainsy, whom he labeled the boss of protests, had only instigated workers to protest to cause instability with the end goal of unseating the CPP.

His comments came after Rainsy posted a video on his Facebook page where he claimed that the political situation in Cambodia was at its lowest point since 1993.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on employers in the garment sector to cover all of their workers social security payments from January.

The Sunday announcement came after Hun Sen met with thousands of garment workers for the second time in recent weeks.

After the previous meeting a week earlier, Hun Sen announced he was pledging to ensure the minimum wage in the garment sector would increase by $15 to $168 per month next year.

Cambodias garment sector employs more than 700,000 people and exported more than $6 billion of products in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC).

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC), told VOA Khmer on Monday that strikes and demonstrations were a last resort.

He added that despite Hun Sens pledge, the unions would be arguing for a hike in wages to $195 per month.

Separately, Sam Rainsy, the former president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, said recent events in Cambodia were not different from a coup.

Its not a military coup but its a coup against the constitution, he said.

But Suos Yara, ruling Cambodian Peoples Party spokesman, said the government was no longer concerned with statements from Rainsy, who lives in exile in France because he had mental problems.
Media expert Pa Nguon Teang told the Hello VOA program on Thursday that the governments moves to restrict independent media outlets and NGOs would undermine the democratic process in Cambodia.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Hun Sen branded the English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper a thief for allegedly not paying taxes for the past 25 years, giving it until Monday to pay a $6.3 million bill or face closure and the seizure of its assets and bank accounts.

Two days later, the government ordered the closure of U.S.-funded NGO the National Democratic Institute (NDI), for allegedly operating without a license.

The moves against U.S.-funded institutions continued with the closure of at least a dozen radio stations that sold air time to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, with the information minister, Khieu Kanharith, threatening legal action against station owners he claimed was in breach of trust with the ministry.

Nguon Teang, the founder and executive director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM), which ran Voice of Democracy (VOD), one of the media outlets targeted by the government, told Hello VOA that the moves would harm democracy and due process in Cambodia ahead of next years election.

Independent media is really important for the people. Why is it so important? Because it provides the truth and provides information from all sides of the political spectrum to the people, he said.

Voters can then decide what political parties they support, but they cant do that unless they have enough information. Thats why democratic countries need to have independent media for the democratic process.

As the head of VOD, he issued an apology to listeners who would no longer be able to receive regular programming.

Separately, in an interview with VOA last week, Congressman Alan Lowenthal criticized the crackdown on independent media in Cambodia.

Its just a pattern that the government is escalating now of trying to eliminate any free press, any criticisms of the government, any help to get the people to understand what their rights are in the election and to promote a free and fair election, he said.

There is no doubt that the government now has taken the gloves off and really wants to restrict all freedoms in Cambodia and the United States must step up and vigorously condemn Cambodia and thats what ... we are going to hope that the entire Congress does ... and we are going to ask the administration to do more, he added.
On July 10 last year, independent political analyst Kem Ley was killed by a gunman, who shot him point blank at a gas station in central Phnom Penh. The assassination of the popular commentator, who often criticized the government and social injustice, sent shockwaves through Cambodian society and shows the country struggles to move beyond its history of political violence and impunity.

The alleged killer was detained and sentenced to life in prison, but ensuing court proceedings against Oeut Ang - who infamously gave his name as Choub Somlab in court, which means Meet Kill in Khmer - raised many questions. Evidence of contacts between Oeut Ang and officials from the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and the military, the limited mandate of the court hearings, and the release of security camera footage from the morning of the shooting fueled allegations that there were deeper forces at work.

Kem Leys widow, Bou Rachana, and her five children fled Cambodia for another country and are awaiting their appeal for political asylum in a third country. Early last month, Bou Rachana spoke to VOA Khmer reporter Sok Khemara from an undisclosed location about the murder case and her familys plight.

Question: Greetings, Mrs. Bou Rachana. Thank you very much for giving VOA this interview today on July 2, 2017. First, I would like to ask you if you have any words or any (Buddhist) arrangement set out for the one-year anniversary of your husband's death?

Answer: Greetings. Now, it is nearly one-year anniversary of his death. However, it is impossible for me to hold a ceremony for him because I am in this country Perhaps when that day comes, I would just cook and bring the food to (Buddhist) monks in order to offer blessings to him.

Q: Will there be a one-year death anniversary for him and how will it be arranged?

A: Yes, the anniversary will be held at his hometown (in Takeo Province) where his body was buried. My mother-in-law will prepare it. I cannot attend the event and I regret it very much. I can only help from afar and not much either.

Q: The court case on your husbands murder was closed several months ago. Do you think the struggle to find justice will continue?

A: Personally, I still have hope that I will get justice one day.

Q: Will you file further legal complaints in the future?

A: I cannot confirm for now. Let's wait and see what is going to happen next, then we will act.

Q: There have been a lot of reactions to Mr. Kem Ley's death from both Cambodians living inside and abroad. Do you think that such pressure can bring about justice?

A: Since my husband was killed until now, I have not received a speck of justice at all. I do not acknowledge the (guilt of) arrested murderer, whose name is Choub Somlab, and who was handed a life sentence. I also do not acknowledge that he killed my husband on the grounds that he claimed my husband owed him $3,000. I do not acknowledge any of this.

I have nothing to say about the sentence on Choub Somlab by the court. This is the court's business; it opened and closed the trial on its own. I do not acknowledge the process. We and other Cambodians already know that Cambodian courts do not provide justice for the victims and the innocent.

Until we see the real murderer will we not accept the process. We cannot merely randomly accept any random person (as guilty). This is not just me; Cambodians in the country and abroad also know who is who.

Q: Did you ever meet or know anything about Choub Somlab before?

A: I have never known Choub Somlab, nor have I met him in person. When my husband went to provinces, I went along with him. I always went with him to attend events because I want to be an encouragement as he works to serve the society. That is why I always encourage him. That is also why I can't knowledge what was claimed after his killing, because I know my husband best.

Q: Now, the United Nations or foreign embassies are ready to help arrange your departure to a third country. How is that going?

A: In terms of the request for a safe haven, the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) has registered us and provided us with an identification card, so that we are legible to live this country. However, no further actions have been taken so far, and I am still waiting to hear from them.

Q: So far, what is it like living in the second country as you prepare to leave for the third one? What challenges have you faced?

A: Well, since I arrived here, I have been waiting. It has been a year already. The most difficult thing for me is that my children cannot study here. It really upsets me. Moreover, we cannot move about freely as when we were back home. We are living in a 4-by-4 square-meter rented room for six people. It is so hard for me mentally.

Q: How are your children after having not seen their father for a year?

A: My children knew that their father was killed. There are days when they say: We already parted from father, and we already came to live in the other country, why don't we get to study? And they are upset. They want to study, but they cannot.

Q: How about the food? Do your children have problem with the food here?

A: It is somehow hard for them. Their only favorite food here is fried pork. It is the same at home. They do not eat much. And since their father died, they eat even less. I do not really know what is on their mind. Nowadays, I am both a mother and a father. I have to carry double duties.

So, it is my difficult for me. First, my husband is gone, so there is no one to guide and instruct my children. Second, they cannot go to school. I am worried because when my husband was alive, my children never missed a day at school. So I feel guilty towards my husband that my children cannot study.

Q: In late June, four human rights workers and a National Election Committee member, who worked closely with Kem Ley on social issues, human rights, and freedom of expression, were released from prison. How do you feel about their release?

A: I am very happy seeing them freed. I thought of my husband Our family is happy to do things for the sake of freedom and justice in society. We need to push for their release, and now it has happened as my husband would have wanted.

That is when I miss my husband, when I saw them reunited with their wife and husband in all five families. However, I already am apart from my husband and can never reunite with him. When those activists were in detention, we thought that it is hard for their family living without their father. So, I am happy for them when they have their freedom back, but I miss my husband. He is gone to the point of no return, I am still so shocked. And to see my children like this, I am hurt even more.

Q: Do you have any words for Kem Ley's supporters or the authorities?

A: I would like to call on the people in the country and overseas to stand up for justice and the court to become independent. We have to stand up together, and I hope authorities will find justice for the poor and the innocent who have lost their land and have been suppressed mentally. Please stop hurting our citizens and look at how much they have suffered.
Aid groups have criticized efforts by European leaders to stem the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, arguing Europe's economy needs more workers. One nongovernmental organization in Italy has been trying to fill the gap by training African migrants to work as beekeepers and then pairing them with local honey producers in need of employees. Ricci Shryock reports for VOA from Alessandria, Italy.
International refugee agencies and relief workers in Bangladesh and Myanmar are concerned about worsening conditions for the thousands of people who have fled sectarian violence in Myanmars Rakhine state.

Vivian Tan, the Asia press director for the U.N. refugee agency, is in Bangladesh and told VOAs Burmese service that there is a shortage of shelter for the more than 18,000 people who have fled over the border from Myanmar.

The International Organization for Migration and other aid groups have told VOAs Bangla service that as many as 20,000 more people are staged just inside Myanmar, hoping to enter Bangladesh.

In Myanmar, some communities are packed with internally displaced people, and relief workers fear that the lack of food safety and personal hygiene facilities could spread infectious diseases, a VOA journalist reported.

People began flowing out of their villages in Rakhine Aug. 25, after a group of Muslim insurgents launched a series of attacks on police posts. There are reports that Myanmar security authorities responded with brutal raids on Rohingya villages.

Hindus among those fleeing

The attacks, the worst violence in the region in at least five years, sent both Rohingya, who are Muslims, and people from the Buddhist majority scrambling for safety.

Members of Myanmars Hindu minority also have fled, the leader of a Hindu community in Bangladesh told VOAs Bangla service. Shapawn Sharma Roni said 412 Hindus, mostly women and children, have crossed the border in the past three days.

Sharma said his community is helping the refugees and has arranged for shelter for them. The Hindu refugees said at least 86 relatives have died in attacks in Myanmar, but they dont know who the attackers were.

A Hindu woman who entered Bangladesh two days ago said a few hundred more members of her community remain stranded at the border.

In Myanmar, journalists were allowed to reach the Rakhine village of Myothagyi on Thursday. A VOA journalist reported the community had been burned down and abandoned. Local authorities said its inhabitants had been involved in last weeks attacks.

Journalists couldnt reach another Rohingya village, Maw-ni, but were able to speak to its leader, who said his community wasnt involved in the violence and wants to live in peace. He told VOA his village carefully watched strangers, in case they intended to cause violence, and that he had turned over to police two men he suspected of being terrorists.

Strict security on the border has forced some Rohingya refugees to try entering Bangladesh by boat across the Naf River, VOAs Bangla service reported. Border Guards in Bangladesh recovered 23 bodies after at least two boats carrying Rohingya capsized in the Teknaf subdistrict of Coxs Bazar Wednesday night.

Government airdrops food

The Border Guard has set up a medical camp to support the thousands of refugees stranded along the border.

Myanmar officials are working to get aid to the region.

Soe Aung, the Myanmar permanent secretary for social welfare and relief, told VOAs Burmese service the air force is dropping food supplies to remote villages for both the Buddhist and Muslim communities. He said that an estimated 10,000 people have sought shelter in makeshift camps.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States supports democracy in Myanmar and condemned attacks by militant groups in Rakhine. And she warned security forces in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end attacks on civilians.

As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need, Haley said Thursday. We call on all members of the Security Council to support the Burmese government in ensuring the rights and dignity of all communities in Rakhine State and throughout Burma.

Myanmars ambassador to the U.N., Hau do Suan, told VOAs Burmese service that his office regularly briefs officials at the U.N. on the latest events. The ambassador said the government is trying to resolve what he called a complex and sensitive problem in Rakhine.

The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya to be economic migrants from Bangladesh and has never granted them citizenship, even though most can show their families have been in the country for generations.

Sectarian violence has flared periodically in Rakhine state for more than a decade.

Last October, Muslim militants attacked police posts, prompting a crackdown by security forces that sent tens of thousands of people across the border to Bangladesh. The Myanmar government has denied allegations that its forces used rape and torture against the Rohingya.

With contributions from Amir Khasru in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh; Moe Zaw in Rakhine state, Myanmar; VOA Burmese Service and VOA Bangla Service.
Cameroon's President Paul Biya has ordered the release of three anglophone leaders detained over the ongoing strike in parts of the country. The move is in an important concession to strikers' demands and may open the way to renewed talks to the end the nine-month crisis.

Neighbors, relatives, admirers and family members prayed at the Yaounde Tam Tam Weekend residence of Ayah Paul Abine. The former advocate general of the supreme court of Cameroon and national chairman of the Popular Action Party was arrested in January 2017 and locked up at the defense headquarters in Yaounde.



After gaining his freedom Thursday, Abine found it difficult to speak.



He said the only thing he can say besides what the family spokesperson will tell VOA is that he is grateful to God.



Abine looked tired and sick and has grown white hair all over his head and chin. His wife Valentine Endale Ayah said her husband had an infection while in detention.



She said her husband who was in very good health before his arrest is now a cardiac patient and has to take at least eight different medicines every morning to survive. She said since the crisis that almost took his life while under detention, Paul no longer sees well.



Abine, lawyer Felix Agbor Balla, Doctor Neba Fontem and 53 others who faced charges at the Yaounde Military Tribunal were released following an order signed by Ferdinand Ngo Ngo, secretary general at Cameroon's presidency. The order stated that president Paul Biya had decided to release them.



Government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma said President Biya took the decision because he wants peace in Cameroon.



"It stems from his resolve to give precedence to the values of peace, tolerance, dialogue and humanism, which are the trade marks of our nation," he said. "The president of the republic gave precedence to dialogue, serenity and active solidarity of all stake holders in the development of our nation."

Abine and the others were arrested late last year and in January 2017. They were accused of inciting violence during the protests in the North West and South West regions. They pleaded not guilty to charges that included complicity in hostility against the homeland, secession, civil war, and campaigning for federalism. Their arrest provoked a wave of violence that paralyzed business since January. Activists and anglophones called for their unconditional release.



Defense council Luc Kisob said their release will open the way for renewed talks and end nine-months of crisis.



"There is the need to foster peace and social dialogue, the need for pupils to go back to school, so the president has carried out a gracious measure as the father of the nation and we must congratulate him," said Kisob. "Those who have been released have families, they ave friends. They have people who are expecting them, who want them to come back home."



Felix Gana, who has not sent his children to school since January to press for the release of the leaders, said the government has shown signs it is now open for dialogue.



"It is a great step by the government to encourage dialogue, to see that there is peace, to see that the problems that the English speaking part of Cameroon is raising will be solved," he said. "The children will go back to school. My kids will go back to school, so for that there is good news."



But in a video shared after the release, some activists are asking President Biya to release some 20 others still being detained, to call back those who have escaped and are on exile and to recall close to 5000 soldiers he had deployed to the English-speaking north west and south west regions before genuine dialogue can begin.



Local analysts say Biya bowed to pressure and ordered the release because English-speaking parents were bent on keeping their children at home when the new school year opens next Monday, until the leaders are released.
TWIN FALLS  The sound of sniffles from family and friends followed as photographs from Kent Storrers life flashed across the screen in the courtroom.

Storrers wife, Stacy, said she wanted Jerry Burton Kimball to watch it because it put a face to the person he helped take away from their family two years ago.

There was one person who could have stopped this and it was Mr. Kimball, Stacy said during her victim impact statement. Mr. Kimball is a terrible dad and he took the life of an amazing dad.

Kimball, 24, was sentenced to at least 24 years in prison, with the potential for another 21. He was sentenced on Thursday for driving convicted murderer Jacob Lyn Marshall to the Twin Falls home where they were meeting with Storrers son-in-law to test drive a car. After testing the car, Marshall opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, killing Storrer and wounding his son-in-law, Jasper Qualls.

Marshall was sentenced in August 2016 to 70 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.

Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs said Marshall and Kimball both went on a test drive with Qualls in the 1991 Mistubishi 3000 VR4 he was trying to sell. Loebs told the courtroom that Qualls remembers Kimball being excited to go on the test drive and they made small talk during its duration.

Loebs said it was at the end of the test drive, Marshall forced Qualls face down on the ground, telling him I hate to do this but Im going to shoot you and take your car.

Thats when Storrer pulled into the driveway on an ATV.

Get back, we have a problem, Loebs said Qualls told his father-in-law.

What kind of problem? Storrer replied, before Marshall shot him twice.

Kimball had also brought along his infant daughter, who was in his car at the time of the shooting.

It was really like they flipped open a phone book and picked a person at random, Loebs said. Jacob Marshall was the mastermind, and Jerry Kimball was his follower.

Loebs said Kimball later texted another person selling a car that the two were going to meet up with: Srry he went with another vehicle I guess.

What happened to Kent and Jasper could have literally happened to anyone in this community, Loebs said.

Several members of the Storrer and Qualls family made victim impact statements.

Storrers father, Gary, talked about how his son was always with him irrigating as a child. He also talked about how he taught him to hunt and respect a gun. As he spoke, his voice breaking at times, Gary always looked directly at Kimball, who was looking down.

Id duck my head too, Gary said.

Storrers daughter Gretchen was at the home on the night of the shooting. Gretchen talked about how her daughter Adelyn has been robbed of an important person in her life.

Shell never know where her attitude comes from, her cheesy grin or her love for Coke, Gretchen said. Adelyn has had the most taken away from her. She cries when we do and she does not know why.

She also talked about how important her father was in her own life.

He is my hero, Gretchen said. I dont know if Id be here today if he didnt not drive up the driveway when he did.

Qualls mother, Cindy Kelly, told the courtroom she believes Kimball is just as responsible for the death of Storrer as Marshall.

Maybe more so, she said.

And Qualls paid tribute to his father-in-law in their final moments together.

Kent did what he did best, Qualls said. He showed up when someone needed help, when no one asked.

During his statement, Kimball faced the judge and maintained he didnt know Marshall was going to kill anyone. He also said he regretted not calling the police and said he was protecting his daughter when he made the decision to drive away after hearing the gunshots.

I never thought hed do something like that, Kimball told the packed courtroom. I am truly and wholeheartedly sorry for the pain you feel. ...All I ask is if you forgive me, tell me, if not, I understand completely.

Stoker said though Kimball led a law abiding life up until July 2015, he had to ask himself: So why did this happen?

It tells me there is something fundamentally wrong with this defendant, Stoker said. Actions speak louder than words, and that speaks loudly in this case.

And before Kimball was led away, Stoker had another bit of advice for him.

I hope you spend your next 24 years trying to figure out not only why it happened, but what to do if you are placed in that situation again, Stoker said. If you cant figure it out I dont think the parole board will let you out again.
China on Sunday hosts the annual summit of leaders from the BRICS countries  the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They represent 40 percent of the global population, and observers say the talks are aimed at showcasing the nations' combined economic might as a counter to Western domination of world affairs.

As host, China hopes to make the meeting in the southeastern city of Xiamen a landmark event. However, it is hamstrung by sharp differences among member countries on several issues, as well as lurking suspicions that China is using the Beijing-headquartered group as a platform to advance its political and business interests.

"There is no doubt that Beijing senses an opportunity to burnish its credentials as the 'sole champion' of globalization and multilateralism at a time when the United States, under the Trump administration, seems to be turning inward and away from multilateralism," Mohan Malik, a professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies at Honolulu, told VOA in an emailed response. "Lacking friends and allies, Beijing is keen to set up as many multilateral forums and financial institutions as possible to bring small- and medium-sized developing countries into its orbit."

Some in China believe that the BRICS platform offers an opportunity to push for these causes and perhaps enhance Chinese President Xi Jinping's image as a world leader. The question, however, is whether Russia and India, which have an array of differences with Beijing, are interested in it.

Internal squabbles

Analysts note that Moscow has serious reservations about China's Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure development project making progress in central Asia, where Russia has plans to implement a similar program, called the Eurasian Economic Union. Separately, China and India have had their disagreements.

This past week, the two Asian giants carefully backed down from one of their biggest disagreements in the Himalayan region in years, agreeing to de-escalate a 10-week-old standoff on their disputed border. India did not confirm that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the Xiamen summit until after the agreement was signed.

Recent years have seen China taking the lead in establishing or expanding homegrown international organizations where Western countries have little or no role. Beijing has also ensured that these organizations are headquartered in China.

In addition to BRICS, there is China's National Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

BRICS Plus

More recently, China has been pushing a new proposal of BRICS Plus, which aims to bring non-BRICS countries into the organization.

China argues that doing so would strengthen the organization and make it a more potent force.

"BRICS is not an exclusive club. The impact of BRICS cooperation reaches far beyond the five countries," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a recent press conference in Beijing. "I believe the BRICS Plus model will fully release the vitality of BRICS cooperation."

Not everyone sees the proposal the same way, and it has met with stiff resistance and suspicion.

"China wants to be the leader of the organization, and the other four may not agree and that is why China is pushing to recruit more members," said Oliver Rui, a professor of finance and accounting at the China Europe International Business School.

Some say China's push to expand the organization is aimed at strengthening its position in BRICS, instead of making it stronger.

"Wang Yi's idea of inviting other developing countries to join the partnership under the BRICS Plus concept would potentially unravel BRICS and transform it into just another SCO-like bloc, led and dominated by China [and Russia], that is likely to be anti-West in orientation and bolster Chinese leadership and serve Chinese interests," Malik said.

For now, Beijing has been forced to abandon its effort to formalize the idea at the Xiamen summit, which begins Sunday and wraps up Tuesday.

Still, Foreign Minister Wang said China would stick to BRICS' existing practice, which allows the host nation to invite other countries to the summit as a one-time opportunity. He also said that more would be done to help explain BRICS Plus and the rationale behind the idea.

BRICS without mortar

With a divide over expansion and a lack of clarity over the role the organization should play  whether it should have an economic or political agenda or both  some feel BRICS has yet to find that bonding element to hold the five countries together.

"I think the BRICS is kind of falling apart, due to many different kinds of reasons," Rui said. "First, these five countries, naturally, they should not be a part of one organization."

The group is not a trade bloc capable of influencing trade flows and decisions in the World Trade Organization. And the organization's partners often complain of a huge trade balance in favor of Beijing because Chinese business tends to sell a lot more than it buys from these countries.

Beijing, however, is optimistic.

At the press conference, the Chinese foreign minister defended BRICS, saying that it reflects the aspirations of emerging markets and works for strengthening their economic situation. "It also plays an increasingly important role in promoting international peace and development," he said.
The European Jewish Congress expressed grave concerns Thursday over what it says is a rise in anti-Semitism in Poland and a deteriorating relationship between the Polish government and the Jewish community.

The Brussels-based organization says no Polish government minister has met with leaders of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, the official community, for around a year amid the rise in anti-Semitic incidents.

Across Europe, governments consult with the local official leaders of the community to seek their counsel and coordinate a response to anti-Semitism, the groups president, Moshe Kantor, said. However, Poland stands out as an example of a leadership which appears to have little interest in opening a dialogue with the Jewish community.

The statement comes after Jewish leaders in Poland wrote to ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski in early August with their concerns, noting the increased presence in public life of extremist far-right groups and greater hate speech and violence targeting Jews.

They didnt receive an answer or a meeting with Kaczynski, but within days Kaczynski met with several Jewish representatives from other organizations, including the Orthodox Chabad movement.

That meeting led to fears among official Jewish community representatives that Kaczynski was trying to marginalize them and whitewash the issue of anti-Semitism.

Polands chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said Jews still feel much safer in Poland than they do in parts of Europe where anti-Semitism is much stronger and sometimes violent, including France, Scandinavia and Hungary. But he said the situation is getting worse and the biggest concern is a lack of communication with the government.

For first time in many years people are not feeling 100 percent comfortable, as they used to, Schudrich told The Associated Press Thursday. Its not that the government supports this, but we need it to be more vigilant in articulating their rejection of any form of anti-Semitism or racism.
Three high-ranking military officials from the Obama administration on Thursday joined several transgender service members in urging a U.S. judge to halt President Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military.

The former secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force  including former Army Secretary Eric Fanning, the first openly gay head of any U.S. military service  submitted sworn statements to a Washington, D.C., federal court in support of a motion for an immediate injunction.

The new filings came as part of a lawsuit challenging the ban, which Trump announced in a series of tweets this month. The move would reverse former President Barack Obama's order that allowed transgender people to serve openly without fear of losing their jobs.

"The ban marks transgender service members as unequal and dispensable, stigmatizing them in the eyes of their fellow service members and depriving them of the unique honor and status associated with uniformed service to their country," the motion said.

Trump has said the ban would ensure unit cohesion and readiness. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately comment Thursday.

No impact

In their statements, the former U.S. military officials said the armed forces studied the issue extensively and concluded that allowing transgender people to serve would have no impact on the military's capabilities.

They also echoed the plaintiffs' concern that transgender service members who relied on the Obama-era policy to disclose their status could now face discharge.

"Dramatically reversing course and now using that information as a basis for separating these soldiers from their service is an unprecedented betrayal of the trust that is so essential to achieving the mission of all of the armed forces," Fanning wrote.

In a memorandum last week, Trump directed the military not to accept transgender recruits and not to pay for sex reassignment surgeries for active personnel. White House officials have not made clear whether the directive would allow active transgender members to continue serving.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday said the Obama administration's policy would remain in place until a panel of experts provided him with recommendations regarding Trump's directive, after which he would offer his own advice to the president.

The lawsuit's plaintiffs include five active service members, who filed anonymously, as well as a current naval student and a first-year college student enrolled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Two other lawsuits challenging the ban were filed earlier this week by civil rights groups.
A women's rights activist and former presidential hopeful is in police custody in Rwanda, her brother said Thursday, raising concerns about the whereabouts of a rare challenger to longtime President Paul Kagame.



Police have said Diane Rwigara is free after her home in the capital, Kigali, was searched on Wednesday.



But Rwigara's brother Aristide, who lives in the United States, told The Associated Press that his sister was arrested Wednesday along with three siblings and their mother.



Police have said Diane Rwigara is under investigation for tax evasion and forgery. She is accused of forging signatures to support a candidacy for the Aug. 4 vote.



She was disqualified ahead of the election won easily by longtime President Paul Kagame, whose government has long been accused by human rights groups of silencing opposing voices.

Kagame, who called the election a "formality'' and won by nearly 99 percent of the vote, has denied the accusations.

Rwigara could not be reached; her known phone number was switched off Thursday.



"One of my sisters called my uncle, telling him the police had come to take them on Wednesday morning and we have never heard from them since Wednesday,'' Aristide Rwigara told the AP.



The criminal allegations against the family are false, he said, insisting it has been targeted by Rwanda's government.



"The government has been after my family for a long time because we refused also to do business with the ruling party,'' he said.



Diane Rwigara is the daughter of the late Assinapol Rwigara, a businessman who fell out with Kagame before his death in a car accident in 2015.



In an interview with the AP earlier this year, the 35-year-old acknowledged the risks of running against one of Africa's longest-serving leaders.

"People disappear, others get killed in unexplained circumstances and nobody speaks about this because of fear,'' she said. "We must end this silence.''



Two days after declaring her candidacy for president, nude photographs allegedly of her were leaked on social media. It was not clear who was behind the leak.



Rwigara later was disqualified as a candidate after allegedly failing to collect enough supporting signatures ahead of the election.



Rwanda's electoral commission said she turned in signatures of some people who had long been dead and others who belonged to a rival political party. Rwigara denied it.



Kagame has been de facto leader or president since the end of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
It's easy to understand why Heela Najibullah would crave revenge.

Her father, Afghan President Najibullah, was executed by the Taliban, his body and his brother's dragged by a truck through the streets of Kabul before they were strung up for public display.

But Heela has managed to quell her inner demons. Now an aid worker living in Switzerland, she not only wants peace for her homeland but also hopes to play a role in its reconciliation and the compromises that will have to be made to achieve peace.

"Losing my father and uncle was not easy, but it certainly made me stronger. Learning to forgive was a very difficult process. It is time-consuming," Heela told VOA in an interview, adding that she saw it as her only choice after years of suffering, tribulations and despondency.

"When someone suffers loss or violence, all they want is justice and revenge. I always tell them, 'When I lost my father at the age of 18, if somebody would have asked me then, "What do you want?," "Revenge" would have been my only reply.' "

Healing process

She said she had to heal her own wounds since she wanted to play a positive role for humanity. She realized that it was not just one person who was responsible for the assassinations; there was a political history behind it and factors about which she will never learn the truth.

"So instead of me having the feelings of excruciating pain and grieving forever in my heart, I needed to find a closure to live peacefully with a clear conscience and to forgive," Heela said.

Najibullah was president of Afghanistan and its fractious factions from September 1986 to April 1992. He took refuge in the United Nations headquarters until his brutal death on Sept. 26, 1996.

Heela spent years as a refugee before getting a Swiss visa. She now works in migration consultancy in an international organization. She knows she may never see a peaceful Afghanistan, but also realizes thousands of other Afghans face the same fate. She decided to help those who are taking the same journey that she and her family began in 1994.

"Since 2014, we have been having migration crises in Europe, and the crisis in Afghanistan has never improved. I am also working on integration of Afghan refugees in Europe," Heela said.

Approaches to peace

She also wants to contribute to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, so she looked for ways to end the conflict. She wrote a book, Reconciliation and Social Healing in Afghanistan, looking at the past and current approaches to peace.

"I know I am living my father's dream," Heela said. "I think I am following my father's ideals, with my actions, by doing research on Afghanistan, by bringing this book out, by being reconciliatory, by being forgiving and honest, by being in touch with my people, by being able to listen and sit with my opponents, who come from very different ideological backgrounds. That's what he taught me."

Heela considers her book more than a mere intellectual exercise. She wants it to be a guide for U.N. and Afghan policymakers.

"If the international community wants to solve the problem of Afghanistan through a military approach only, that's not possible, because the problem of Afghanistan is not only political, but it is also social, and we need to come up with innovative ways to find a durable solution politically, socially and economically," Heela said. "It cannot be done militarily only."
Rescuers continued their search for survivors in Texas one week after Hurricane Harvey began sweeping through the Gulf Coast region, dumping unprecedented amounts of rain. Houston's mayor warned some residents that their homes might not dry out for weeks.

The storm has displaced more than 1 million people and killed at least 39.

As floodwaters began to recede Friday, some of the luckier Texans began returning to their homes to begin the sobering task of assessing Harvey's damage.

However, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for more evacuations in western neighborhoods of the city, which are near two overflowing reservoirs. The Army Corps of Engineers was continuing to intentionally flood those areas to prevent dam and levee failures. Turner said up to 20,000 homes would remain flooded for another two weeks.

Houston-area officials said Friday that 156,000 homes had been damaged in Harris County, which includes Houston, the country's fourth most populous city.

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump would visit Houston on Saturday, along with Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has also been battered by the storm, to meet with hurricane survivors. It will be his second visit to the region this week.

"The president and his homeland security team and the entire administration continue to focus on the lives and safety of those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

99 centimeters of rain

The National Weather Service reported that Houston was inundated with (99 centimeters (more than 39 inches) of rain in August, more than twice as much as the previous monthly record.

Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said Clear Creek, Texas, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Houston, had received the most rainfall: 120 centimeters (47 inches).

Meanwhile, a new fire broke out Friday evening at a chemical plant in Crosby, northeast of Houston, sending a giant plume of thick, black smoke into the air.

Fifteen public safety officers were hospitalized after inhaling fumes from chemical fires in Crosby on Thursday. Officials have established a 2.4-kilometer (1.5-mile) evacuation zone around the plant and have warned of the possibility of more blazes.

Officials in Beaumont, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Houston, said Friday that the city had gotten back some of its municipal water service, which was knocked out by floodwaters. Officials were advising residents whose water pressure had been restored to boil their water before drinking it. Officials said they were also trying to bring in bottled water for residents.

Immigrants

In Harris County, residents contemplated the daunting task of rebuilding their lives, with one group of people grappling with a special concern: Immigrants who were in the country illegally were afraid that if they applied for help, they would be arrested. Outreach workers were deployed to reassure them that they would not be detained when they sought help.

Houston's Turner had said earlier in the week that he would personally represent anyone arrested on immigration violations after seeking help.

Cesar Espinosa, executive director of Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle, an advocacy group known by its Spanish acronym FIEL, said Turner's statement was a "big deal" for immigrants.

"When they hear it from an official, they say, 'OK, now we believe it,' " he added.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said it is "not conducting immigration enforcement operations in the affected area."

Housing

Nearly 780,000 Texans have been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 have fled voluntarily, according to federal estimates. Tens of thousands of people were packed into evacuation centers throughout the region.

Thousands of Harris County residents in shelters have lost everything, including their homes. Harris Country FEMA Director Tom Fargione said his agency's priority now was to relocate people who have lost their homes into some form of temporary housing.

Refineries

The storm shut about a fourth of U.S. petroleum refinery capacity, much of which is located along the Gulf Coast, and caused gasoline prices to spike ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Several refineries on the East Coast ran out of gasoline, raising fears that travelers would face fuel shortages during the three-day holiday weekend.

Concerns about supplies led to the U.S. Energy Department to authorize the release of up to 4.5 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Harvey moves east

Harvey, which has lost its tropical cyclone characteristics, moved eastward Friday toward the Ohio Valley, the National Weather Service reported.

WATCH: Houston Flood Victims Include Pets

In a Twitter post Friday, Trump applauded the rescue and recovery along the Texas Gulf Coast and wrote of his plans to visit the region on Saturday.

Trump also said Friday that he expected to soon submit a funding request to Congress to help Gulf Coast victims recover from the storm. The request is expected to total about $6 billion.

Trump made the remark in an Oval Office during a meeting with religious leaders in which he thanked charitable groups for assisting the victims.

He also signed an executive order designating Sunday as a "Day of Prayer" for the victims of Harvey.
Brandon Gosselin didnt think he would work in the White House this early in his career, but this summer he found himself in the Oval Office.

I had the opportunity to serve the people, as an intern in one of the most recognizable places on Earth, Gosselin told VOA Student Union.

The 2017 graduate of Freed-Hardeman University, a private Christian college in Henderson, Tennessee, spent the summer months working in the Office of Presidential Correspondence.

It was a humbling experience to be interning at the White House. But its also a blessing to be walking the halls at one of the most historic places on all of Earth, the Oklahoma native said.

Staff members in the Office of Presidential Correspondence read, categorize and file letters, email and telephone messages from the public to President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump. They draft replies, answer questions, provide copies of presidential statements and proclamations and offer advice to those requesting general assistance from the federal government.

In addition, the White House website says, interns conduct research, attend meetings, write memos and help staff public events.

Gosselin admitted some of it was typical intern work  tedious, at times. However, he said serving his country kept him motivated.

You have the ability to make an impact in this world, and interning at the White House is just a steppingstone to get there, the young graduate said.

White House internships are highly competitive; people from across the U.S. apply. Applicants must complete a questionnaire, write an essay and provide letters of recommendation.

Applicants are selected based on their demonstrated commitment to public service, leadership in their community and commitment to the Trump administration, according to WhiteHouse.org.

They face questions such as Why are you committed to supporting President Donald J. Trumps administration? and Who is your favorite president, and why? along with queries about their extracurricular activities, community service experience and character.

The White House selected three groups of interns each year, for the autumn, spring and summer months. This years summer interns, the first batch chosen entirely by Trump administration officials, drew attention when they posed for photos with the president at the executive mansion last month.

The young workers smiles were sparkling and attractive, but what caught the public eye was their makeup: all but two of the 115 interns were white, and 70 percent of them were male (81 men, 34 women).

Previous groups of White House interns also have been mostly men and mostly white, and sometimes mostly members of elite Ivy League universities, too. But the news media found something particularly jarring about the class of Trump interns. The HuffPost blog listed population statistics and other evidence of American diversity and concluded: Those being groomed as the future of our government should look like our country. And they dont.

Asked about this years candidates, a White House spokesperson told Student Union: The White House Internship Program seeks to attract applicants of all backgrounds who are interested in serving their country through public service.

Gosselin, now a veteran intern, had some advice for those seeking to follow his path: To really set yourself apart, you have to make sure you stand out above everyone else. Be able to tell a story in a way where you can bring out your strengths. You can bring out your accomplishments in high school and especially in college that set you apart.

Be sure to avoid typographical errors and misspellings, Gosselin cautioned: There is zero room for error in your entire application. Make sure that everything is clean, crisp and ready to go.

The Oklahoma native is a summa cum laude graduate of Freed-Hardeman University, with a bachelors degree in business administration.

Its easy to get caught up in this world, since ... youre chasing after a certain professional career, Gosselin said. But its important to realize that we all have a purpose in life and that purpose is greater than ourselves, and we have to make a decision not to serve ourselves but to serve our fellow man.

Applications for entry to the spring 2018 class of White House interns must be received by Sept. 8 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Successful applicants will start work Jan. 10 and end their assignments April 27.

Those chosen generally will be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program or expect to gain an undergraduate or graduate degree within two years. Veterans of the U.S. armed forces who have high school diplomas may apply. All must be at least 18 years old and have U.S. citizenship.

The official website WhiteHouse.gov notes: It is essential ... that applicants are dedicated to the ideals and mission of the White House.
A U.S. federal judge Thursday approved the extradition of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to face charges of corruption and spying on his political opponents.

Judge Edwin Torres in Miami wrote that there are "reasonable grounds to suppose him guilty of all or some of the offenses charged ... good faith to the demanding government requires his surrender."

Martinelli's lawyers said they would appeal. It is up to the State Department to decide whether he will be sent back to Panama.

Martinelli was president of the South American country from 2009 until 2014.

He fled to Miami in January 2015, just days before the Panamanian Supreme Court opened a corruption investigation against him. U.S. authorities arrested him in June.

Martinelli, a wealthy supermarket magnate, is suspected of embezzling millions of dollars from a public school lunch program for poor children and using that money to set up equipment to spy on his political opponents.

He has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.
The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into Texas' congressional redistricting debate this week, temporarily halting an order to correct two districts that lower courts found disenfranchised minority voting rights. The court's stay is the latest in the years-long battle over racially motivated redistricting in Texas that could have a significant impact on Republican Party control of Congress. VOA congressional reporter Katherine Gypson traveled to one of the districts at the heart of the debate.
The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into Texas congressional redistricting debate this week, temporarily halting a lower court order to correct two districts found to be drawn with racially discriminatory intent.

The Supreme Courts stay is the latest turn in a contentious six-year battle over accusations of racially motivated redistricting in Texas.

Given Texas sizable congressional delegation, a resolution to the case could have a significant impact on upcoming 2018 midterm elections, potentially altering the Republican Partys numbers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As one of eight states nationwide with pending redistricting cases, Texas is a leading example of a broader debate over gerrymandering, which is the manipulation of district boundaries in an age of increasing partisan political tensions.

How districts are drawn

Congressional districts are based on population, not on physical areas. After the 2010 U.S. Census, congressional districts averaged about 711,000 people, with states gaining or losing seats based on shifts in population.

Those shifts can sometimes result in oddly shaped districts as the boundaries are redrawn. But critics say the process turns undemocratic when those lines are drawn to purposely include or exclude certain groups of voters to gain a political advantage.

In modern-day redistricting, you choose your voters as opposed to your voters choosing the candidate, Pete Gallego, a Democrat who represented Texass 23rd congressional district from 2013-2015, told VOA.

Gallego won the reliably Democratic district after it was redrawn in 2011, before losing the next two elections to Republican Will Hurd in 2014 and 2016 by just a couple thousand votes each time.

I was able to buck that once  after that the district performed the way the drawers wanted it to, he said.

Gallego said that when redrawing the district, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature looked for Latinos that had a high incidence of turnout and they drew them out of the district. And then they looked for Latinos that had a very low rate of participation and it drew them in.

So the state can stand in front of a federal judge and say well, its a very heavily Latino district and by population that may be true, he added.

Minority voting rights

But in mid-August, a federal court found previous redistricting violations in Texas 23rd District had been resolved, calling it a Latino opportunity district. The majority-Latino district is represented by African-American Will Hurd. If the court had ordered the boundaries to be redrawn, it was expected to be one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation.

The court ordered two Texas districts, the 27th and 35th, redrawn because the boundaries either diluted the voting strength of Latinos or relied too heavily on race when drawing the district lines.

Maintaining minority voting strength is a problem at all levels of government, said Ernest Herrera, a staff attorney for MALDEF, a nonpartisan Latino civil rights organization.

We dont really care what the party is that the minority group is voting for, what we care about is that theyre voting together for someone, Herrera said. He explained that district boundaries cutting through communities can dilute the strength of Latino voters, depriving them of the ability to elect their candidate of choice.

The consequences of preserving minority voting strengths are considerable.

In Texas, because the Republican leaders have gotten their advantage through discrimination, if you undo that, if you unscramble those eggs, if you draw districts that more fairly represent the African-American and Hispanic voting strengths, the political balance of the state starts to come into play, too, said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, one of the groups involved in the challenge.

But assumptions about voting patterns can be problematic, Robert Stovall, chairman of the Republican Party of Bexar County, Texas, told VOA. Stovall pointed to Congressman Hurd in Texas 23rd District as an example.

Hes neither white nor Hispanic. Will Hurd is a very sharp, good black man that has been elected two times to that district and those people know exactly who Will Hurd is, and they want him to stay there. To try to gerrymander this so these voters will go in there and vote for more Democrat-elected officials, its just twisting to their advantage, Stovall said.

Minority groups suing the state to change those district lines have until Sept. 5 to provide a response to the states appeal.

The case could return to the U.S. Supreme Court even after that response, as both sides battle a ticking clock to the 2018 midterm elections.
BURLEY  Sentencing was delayed Thursday for a Declo man charged in the death of his wife.

Ronnie G. Kincaid Jr., 36, will be sentenced Friday in Cassia County district court.

He was charged after his wife, Melissia Dawn Kincaid, 34, was found dead in the couples blood-soaked home on Sept. 6, 2015.

Kincaids new attorney, Clayne Zollinger, peppered the court with three motions and each was denied by Fifth District Judge John K. Butler.

They included a motion for a separate money judge, for clarification of the plea agreement and a renewed motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Zollinger also asked the court for more time, saying he needed a transcript from the juvenile waiver hearing for Kincaids son, Ronnie Kincaid III, who was charged with destruction of evidence and as an accessory to the crime after police said he helped his father wash blood and DNA off his stepmothers body. The county prosecutor later dismissed those charges but has said he intends to refile them.

Kincaids former attorney Anthony Valdez withdrew from the case in July after Kincaid and Valdezs relationship broke down and Zollinger was appointed. Kincaid filed a complaint with the state bar against Valdez, Zollinger said.

The testimony by a juvenile in Kincaids sons case differed significantly from statements in the police report, he said.

We can do this now or do it later, Zollinger said referencing the possibility of a future appeal in the case.

After he was appointed to the case, he said, he spoke with Cassia County District Judge Michael Tribe who represented Kincaids son prior to Tribe being appointed as a judge.

Zollinger said he was advised by Tribe that he needed the transcript from that hearing to represent Kincaid. The testimony may have influenced Kincaids decision to enter an Alford plea in a plea agreement with the state, Zollinger said.

I feel like Ive been thrown into a forest fire and I cant find my way out, Zollinger said. But, Ill get there.

Cassia County Prosecutor Doug Abenroth argued that both Kincaid and his attorney were present at his sons hearing and Kincaid had the knowledge of what was said during that hearing prior to him filing his Alford plea. An Alford plea allowed Kincaid to maintain his innocence while acknowledging a jury would likely convict him.

The transcript is also available in the other case file, Abenroth said.

The testimony in that case, Abenroth said, was in relation to the charges in his sons case not about what Kincaid did or didnt do.

I dont think its relevant, and I object to a delay for that purpose, Abenroth said.

After the three motions were denied Butler asked Kincaid and his attorney if there were any reasons not to proceed with sentencing and Kincaid told him he had not reviewed the psychosexual portion of the presentence investigation report.

Abenroth agreed that Kincaid should be given time to review the document.
Yes We Can, President Barack Obama's famous catch phrase, was borrowed from a petite fiery American Latina named Dolores Huerta. Not many people know Huertas name, or her contributions to American civil rights, but a new documentary, Dolores, by filmmaker Peter Bratt reveals 70 years of her rich life and work as an American union leader and activist.

In the late 1950s, Dolores Huerta, a community organizer and activist in California gave voice to disenfranchised Latinos in America. I had seen the miserable conditions of farm workers," she said. "Cesar Chavez said we have to organize a union. So, Huerta and the American labor leader founded the National Farm Workers Association in California.



We had benefits. We had a life insurance plan. We had an office we started a credit union, the first farm worker credit union in the history of the United States of America where people could get loans. We had a cooperative store we did services, we did immigration work we did their income taxes, we had like a five-year plan to have a national strike in the Central Valley because we wanted all of the growers to negotiate together, says Huerta.

Voting rights

Uniting farmworkers in Delano, California, in the '60s, was one of many of Dolores Huertas contributions. She told the Voice of America how she helped change voter registration in California, leading to a larger voter turnout in the state.



One of the major bills that we passed was that you could register voters door to door in California. Before that, you had to go down to the courthouse from Monday to Friday 9-5 to register to vote, and of course, working people couldnt do that because they were working at those particular hours. As a result, she says, its easy to vote in California today.

Huerta says the film Dolores underscores the significance of social activism in the United States. It became really apparent that the racism that touched the black people was the racism that touched other groups. So, (we) were marching for everybody, she says.

Through her social activism, Dolores Huerta also became an icon of the feminist movement. African-American activist Angela Davis says Huerta, a woman in a sea of men, energized the labor movement. She united the workers, she staged protests against discrimination and inspired African-American activists, men and women alike. There was a time when rarely could you discover women of color who would identify as feminists because it was assumed to be a question simply of gender. And if it was a question simply of gender that gender was white, says Davis.

It became really apparent that the racism that touched the black people was the racism that touched other groups," Huerta explained. "So we were marching for everybody. As for being considered a feminist icon, she admits, I think I kind of evolved into that. Raised Catholic, Huerta gave birth to 11 children who she often left behind as she pursued her union work. Today, she realizes the significance of a womans right to choose to have an abortion if she needs to.

Labor union contributions

As for the state of the labor union movement today? Huerta says, though progress has been made, there is still a lot of racism and discrimination in the country. I believe a lot of the issues we have in the United States right now is because people do not know the contributions of people of color, that indigenous Native Americans were the first slaves, that African slaves built the White House and the Congress. That it was the people from Mexico, the people from Asia, that built the infrastructure of our country. Because of labor unions, we have the eight-hour day, we have the weekends, we safety standards, we have unemployment insurance, disability insurance, we have public education, we have social security, all of this was fought for by people in labor unions."

Unfortunately, says Dolores filmmaker Peter Bratt, many Americans do not know this part of history. Stories like Doloress often times get marginalized and even Dolores is kind of painted as a foreigner. She is as American as apple pie or chips and salsa and her story is an American story and it should be told.

Dolores Huerta also coined the famous slogan Yes We Can, that defined Barack Obamas presidential campaign. We were organizing in Arizona," she recalled. "When I met with some of the professional Latinos, they told me in Spanish, In California you can do all that; In Arizona, no se puede.' And my response was to them was 'Si, se puede! Si, se puede!'



In 2012, Dolores Huerta was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Today, at age 87, she is continuing her community work with the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
As the annual Hajj pilgrimage nears its end, thousands of Muslims carried out the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual Friday to mark the beginning of Eid al-Adha celebrations.

Pilgrims threw stones at three walls at Jamarat in Mina, in one of the main rites of the Hajj.

During Hajj, devoted Muslims perform a series of religious rituals, including walking seven times counterclockwise around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the center of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, which Muslims believe is the spot where the Prophet Abraham built his first temple to God.

They must also walk, or run, back and forth seven times between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah.

Male pilgrims are required to wear the ihram, two sheets of white unhemmed cloth, while women are required to wear a preferably white hijab, which does not cover the hands or face.

The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all able-bodied Muslims who can afford to do so are expected to take part in the Hajj at least once in their lifetime.

Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha by sacrificing cows, sheep or goats in commemoration of the Biblical prophet Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son.

Saudi Arabia said that more than 2.3 million Muslims from around the world converged on Saudi Arabia for the annual five-day Hajj.
About 400 people have died in violence in Myanmars Rakhine state over the past week, military officials say, almost all of them Muslim insurgents.

A military Facebook page reported the numbers, saying 370 were insurgents, and 29 killed were either police or civilians.

Members of the minority Rohingya Muslim community, however, have reported attacks on their villages that left scores dead and forced thousands to flee.

Human Rights Watch said Saturday that satellite imagery recorded Thursday in the Rohingya Muslim village of Chein Khar Li in Rathedaung township shows the destruction of 700 buildings. The rights group says 99 percent of the village was destroyed and the damage signatures are consistent with fire, including the presence of large burn scars and destroyed tree cover.

Yet this is only one of 17 sites that weve located where burnings have taken place, said Phil Robertson, HRWs deputy Asia director.

The United Nations says at least 38,000 people have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh, most of them Rohingya. Community leaders in Bangladesh have told VOA that some Hindus, also a minority in Myanmar, have crossed the border.

Robertson said the U.N.s Fact Finding Mission should get the full cooperation of Myanmars government to fulfill their mandate to assess human rights abuses in Rakhine State and explore ways to end attacks and ensure accountability.

HRW said Rohingya refugees who have recently fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh told the agency that Myanmar soldiers and police had burned down their homes and carried out armed attacks on villagers. The agency said many of the Rohingya refugees had recent bullet and shrapnel wounds.

Sources in Bangladesh have told VOAs Bangla service that as many as 60,000 have crossed the border in recent days.

Struggling to feed displaced

In addition, thousands of people have fled their villages and sought shelter in temples, schools and mosques in other Rakhine towns.

The deputy chairman of the Emergency Relief Committee, Khin Win, told VOAs Burmese service by phone that 800 people are sheltering at two Buddhist monasteries in the town of Maungdaw.

Security in Maungdaw is not even safe and some fled to Min Byar, Sittwe and Yathetaung. No one can guarantee for their safety. People fleeing homes increasing and there are a few left in villages. There is only one police outpost in a village and police do not have capability to protect villagers, he said.

Volunteers were struggling to find food for the displaced, he said.

We need drinking water, meat, fish and medicines, he said. The group has gotten rice and donations from other communities but little from the government.

Government aid agency provided a few bags of beans and instant noodles. Three boxes of instant noodles for 500 people is not effective. Just a superficial help, he said.

Hiding in forest

Hla Tun, a Rohingya from the village of Alae-Than-Kyaw, told the Burmese service that Muslims cannot rely on security forces for protection or help.

Our villages are located near rugged coastal area from south of Maungdaw to Alae-Than-Kyaw village. Almost every village has been burned down and people have nowhere to stay. People are hiding in the forest. In order to avoid authorities they can move only during night time to flee to Bangladesh, Hla Tun said.

The violence began a week ago, when a group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched a series of attacks on police posts in Rakhine, which is home to most of the Rohingya minority group. The police responded with attacks on villages, to hunt down the insurgents.

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be migrants from Bangladesh, and not one of the countrys many ethnic minority groups. Rohingya are denied citizenship, even if they can show their families have been in the country for generations.

Sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims has flared periodically for more than a decade. Until last months attacks, the worst violence was last October, when insurgents attacked several police posts, sparking a military crackdown that sent thousands fleeing to Bangladesh.

The Myanmar government has denied allegations of abuse against the Rohingya and has limited access to Rakhine to journalists and other outsiders; but, the countrys ambassador to the United Nations says the government plans to implement the recommendations from a U.N. commission to improve conditions and end the violence.

Amir Khasru in Bangladesh, VOA's Bangla service and VOA's Burmese service contributed to this report.
In Silicon Valley, all eyes are on Dara Khosrowshahi, the new CEO of Uber, who starts his turnaround of the ride-hailing firm on Tuesday.

But for Iranian Americans working in tech, Khosrowshahi's appointment is not just about who will guide Uber, a nearly $70 billion company that has searched since June for a new leader.

Khosrowshahi, 48, is Iranian American. Born in Tehran, he came to the U.S. when he was nine. His appointment highlights the prominence of people of Iranian descent in the tech industry at a time when many feel under increased scrutiny.

"The Persian Mafia in Tech gets $70B bigger!" noted one Iranian American tech investor.

Khosrowshahi's hiring prompted Ali Tahmaseb, a tech entrepreneur, to compile a list of more than 50 Iranian Americans who have founded companies, become tech investors or are in leadership roles at tech firms.

They include Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and Falon Roz Fatemi, founder and chief executive of Node.io and, when she was 19, Google's youngest employee at the time.





Uber board's appointment of Khosrowshahi comes at a time when Iranian Americans are increasingly worried about how they are perceived, said Leila Austin, executive director at the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, a non profit organization based in Washington, D.C.

More than 80 percent of Iranian Americans in a recent survey said they worried about rising discrimination, double those had expressed the same concern in 2015. And 56 percent said they had personally experienced discrimination.

Khosrowshahi, until recently the chief executive at Expedia, spoke out against the Trump administration's efforts to restrict Iranians traveling to the U.S.

The Trump administration argues that its more restrictive visa and immigration policies will make the United States safer, and American citizens more prosperous.

In January, Khosrowshahi told his employees in a memo, obtained by Business Insider, that the travel ban would make the U.S. "ever so slightly less dangerous as a place to live, but it will certainly be seen as a smaller nation, one that is inward-looking versus forward thinking, reactionary versus visionary."

Khosrowshahi faces a long list of problems at Uber. Sexual harassment claims. An aggressive, break-things culture. Internal strife within the board.

And then there is the actual Uber business, which has transformed transportation worldwide. The company has faced more pressure from Lyft, its main U.S. competitor. It has given up in big global markets, ceding to rivals in China, Russia and India. In his first all-hands meeting with Uber employees, Khosrowshahi said the company planned to go public in 18 to 36 months.

No doubt Khosrowshahi's job at Uber is a big one, yet the enormity of the challenge adds to the Iranian community's sense of pride, said Pirooz Parvarandeh, a longtime Silicon Valley executive who created a nonprofit to gather and analyze data about Iranian Americans' contributions to the U.S.

Khosrowshahi's ascendancy at Uber is "symbolic of the value and service that Iranian Americans bring to America," he said.
Philippine residents are settling in for a long war against Muslim rebels entrenched in a southern Philippine city, despite government pledges of a speedy end, analysts say.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and military officials have promised to quickly defeat the Maute Group at its base, Marawi city. Analysts say fighting in the city on the embattled island of Mindanao could go on as long as that group or its sympathizers pose a terrorism threat, and there is no sign of the threat abating. Rebel violence has killed about 120,000 since the 1960s on Mindanao and curbed the largely impoverished islands economic development.

Sometimes its contradictory when they say there are only a few barangays (neighborhoods) that are controlled by the Maute Group, but still they cannot stop, said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at University of the Philippines Diliman.

The government may have miscalculated the rebels reach when the battles began in May, she added. Their funding and support network could also extend to other cities and countries, making them harder to beat, scholars in the Philippines say. About 20 other rebel groups also operate on Mindanao to demand more autonomy from the Philippine government.

Officials predict final battles

Duterte on Tuesday assured that the end of the siege is in sight when he met in Manila with 35 displaced children from Marawi, according to a statement on his website. Duterte has also vowed to rebuild the city.

As of Monday Philippine media report, 603 terrorists had been killed along with 130 soldiers and police officers and 45 civilians. More than 183,000 people, most of Marawis original population, have been displaced.

On Sunday Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was quoted in the Philippine Star online as saying troops were preparing for final assault in Marawi. The defense department was not available Friday for comment. Officials had said in June the Maute Group had been confined to just four neighborhoods of Marawi.

Life goes on

A lot of people want the fighting to end and the reconstruction of Marawi to start, said Antonio Ledesma, archbishop in the Mindanao city of Cagayan de Oro. But citizens of his city about a two-hour drive from Marawi expect little change for now.

Actually a number of Muslim families have moved (from Marawi) over to Cagayan to Oro, Ledesma said. Were also trying to provide aid to them, but life on Cagayan de Oro is as it is, not much problem with the situation there.

Martial law declared for all of Mindanao has affected few people aside from vehicles stopped at road checkpoints, another Cagayan de Oro dweller said in July. Duterte declared martial law through Dec. 31 to make it easier for police and troops to make field decisions in Marawi.

Outside the immediate vicinity of Marawi, it seems like everything is sort of business as usual, said Christian de Guzman, vice president and senior credit officer with Moodys in Singapore. Government officials have infrastructure plans for Mindanao that are still on track, he added.

It seems to be more of a political issue rather than one that has had an actual economic impact, de Guzman said.

Welcoming the war

Normally unaffected by the fighting itself, many Filipinos welcome a longer war if it means eliminating rebels who could spread violence to other parts of the country, analysts say.

In April, Abu Sayyaf tried to stage an attack on the tourist island of Bohol, its first outside Mindanao. Four suspected terrorists, three soldiers, two civilians and a police officer were killed in the initial fight. More rebels died in follow-up skirmishes.

Seventy-five percent of Filipinos trusted the military last year, according to surveys by Metro Manila-based research institution Social Weather Stations, and as of June 57 percent supported the declaration of martial law throughout Mindanao.

Troops believe the Maute Group is working with Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, a leader of Abu Sayyaf, a sympathetic rebel group known for kidnapping and beheading foreign tourists along the Sulu Sea west of Mindanao. Islamic State, the terrorist outfit in Iraq and Syria, last year called Hapilon its Southeast Asian emir, the policy nonprofit Counter Extremism Project said.

People are also thinking its good to contain them, otherwise the Maute Group will spread into the Visayas and Luzon Island, Atienza said, referring to central and northern islands of the Philippine archipelago.
Russia's foreign ministry has accused the FBI of planning a search of its San Francisco consulate on Saturday, after ordering its closure Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the ministry, Maria Zakharova, said the search, which the United States has not confirmed, would "create a direct threat to the security of Russian citizens."

Zakharova said in a statement Friday, "American special services intend on September 2 to carry out a search of the consulate in San Francisco including of the apartments of employees who live in the building and have [diplomatic] immunity."

Black smoke

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported that firefighters were called to the site of the consulate, but not allowed to enter, after black smoke was seen billowing from a chimney. Firefighters determined that the fire was confined to a fireplace somewhere in the building.

A spokeswoman for San Francisco Fire Department, Mindy Talmadge, told reporters she did not know what people inside the building would be burning on a day when the outdoor temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Thursday, the United States ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two other annexes by this weekend.

The move was in response to a demand from Moscow that Washington reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia.

"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement Thursday, adding that the deadline for the closures is September 2.
Russia vowed Friday to respond to a U.S. order to shut the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and offices in Washington and New York, but also indicated that Moscow was not inclined to raise the stakes in the diplomatic tit-for-tat between the two countries.

The Trump administration said the order issued Thursday was in retaliation for the Kremlin's "unwarranted and detrimental" demand last month that the U.S. substantially reduce the size of its diplomatic staff in Russia.

"The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Still, Nauert said Washington hoped both countries could now move toward "improved relations" and "increased cooperation."

The U.S. gave Russia 48 hours to comply with the order for the San Francisco consulate and the East Coast offices. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Moscow would reply with firmness, but needs time to study Washington's directive and to decide on a response.

"We will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States," Lavrov said in a televised meeting with students at Russia's top diplomacy school.

Other top Russian officials also urged caution.

President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian news agencies later Friday the Kremlin "regrets" the latest U.S. move and needs to "think carefully about how we could respond."

Ushakov also left room for Russia to refrain from retaliation.

"On the other hand, one does not want to go into a frenzy because someone has to be reasonable and stop," he said.

The closures on both U.S. coasts marked perhaps the most drastic diplomatic measure by the United States against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each other's diplomats.

American officials argued that Russia had no cause for retribution now, noting that Moscow's ordering of U.S. diplomatic cuts last month was premised on bringing the two countries' diplomatic presences into "parity."

Both countries now maintain three consulates in each other's territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.

Several hours after the U.S. announcement, new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov arrived in Washington to start his posting.

At the airport, Antonov cited a maxim of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin as he urged caution and professionalism.

"We don't need hysterical impulses," Russian news agencies quoted Antonov as saying.

In assessing Washington's directive, Russian officials and lawmakers said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump might be getting tough on Russia against his will.

The new package of sanctions against Russia that Congress adopted last month not only hits Russia, but is designed to "tie Trump's hands, not let him use his constitutional powers to the full to make foreign policy," Lavrov said.

Nationalist party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who publicly cheered Trump's election, called the flurry of U.S. sanctions against Russia "an illness that will go away."

"It's an illness because (they) are not leaving President Trump alone to run the country and keep coming up with tricks to draw a wedge between America and Russia," Zhirinovsky said in a video statement that did specify who might be creating such obstacles for Trump.

By Saturday, the Russians must close their consulate in San Francisco and an official residence there. Though Russia can keep its New York consulate and Washington embassy, trade missions housed in satellite offices in both of those cities must shut down, a senior Trump administration official said. The official briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

American counterintelligence officials have long kept a watchful eye on Russia's outpost in San Francisco, concerned that people posted to the consulate as diplomats were engaged in espionage. The U.S. late last year kicked out several Russians posted there, calling it a response to election interference.

The forced closures are the latest in an intensifying exchange of diplomatic broadsides.

In December, President Barack Obama kicked out dozens of Russian officials, closed two Russian recreational compounds. Russian President Vladimir Putin withheld from retaliating. The next month, Trump took office after campaigning on promises to improve U.S.-Russia ties.

But earlier this month, Trump begrudgingly signed into law stepped-up sanctions on Russia that Congress pushed to prevent him from easing up on Moscow. The Kremlin retaliated by telling the U.S. to cut its embassy and consulate staff down to 455 personnel, from a level hundreds higher.

The U.S. never confirmed how many diplomatic staff it had in the country at the time. As of Thursday, the U.S. has complied with the order to reduce staff to 455, officials said.

The reductions are having consequences for Russia. The U.S. last month temporarily suspended non-immigrant visa processing for Russians seeking to visit the United States and resumed it on Friday at a "much-reduced rate."

The U.S. will process visas only at the embassy in Moscow, meaning Russians can no longer apply at U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

Even before the cuts at the U.S. mission were announced, typical waiting time for visa applicants in Russia to be interviewed was longer than a month.

Nadezhda Sianule planned to attend her daughter's wedding in the United States in mid-September and got an appointment in July to be interviewed on Thursday. Now these plans are in disarray.



"I came yesterday and they said that I'm not on the list. They said that the old lists have been canceled," Sianule said outside the U.S. Embassy Friday morning.

Despite the exchange of penalties, there have been narrow signs of U.S.-Russian cooperation that have transcended the worsening ties. In July, Trump and Putin signed off on a deal with Jordan for a cease-fire in southwest Syria. The U.S. says the truce has largely held.
The Somali government has asked the United States to provide "immediate military assistance" because it says al-Shabab militants are plotting to supply uranium to Iran.

In a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Stephen Schwartz, Somali Foreign Minister Yusuf Garaad Omar says the militant group has captured "critical surface exposed uranium deposits" in the central Somali region of Galmudug and intend to transport the uranium to Iran.

The letter says the issue presents a problem for the larger global community and will not be constrained within the borders of Somalia.

The authenticity of the letter was confirmed to VOA's Somali service by the Somali ambassador to the U.S., Ahmed Isse Awad.

The letter says Somalia is facing a "reconstituted" al-Shabab that is seizing territory in central Somalia. It also says the group is linking up with Islamic State militants in the country.

In the letter, the foreign minister says "only the United States has the capacity to identify and smash al-Shabab elements operating within our country."

"The time for surgical strikes and limited engagement has passed, as Somalia's problems have metastasized into the world's problems. Every day that passes without intervention provides America's enemies with additional material for nuclear weapons," Omar writes.

Expert doubts claims

The copy of the letter obtained by VOA offers no proof for Omar's assertions, though it refers to an intelligence brief sent to Schwartz.

Abdirashid Khalif Hashi, a former government minister and current director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Mogadishu, said he initially thought the letter was fake. But even with the government's confirmation, Hashi said he had "several issues" with the letter.

"First of all, it was written by a minister to an ambassador; he should have sent it to his [U.S.] counterpart," he told VOA. "They [the government] have also linked al-Shabab with Daesh, and they can't be linked up."

Daesh is a derogatory term for the Islamic State militant group. Al-Shabab and pro-IS militants in Somalia have been fighting since 2015. The government's assertion the groups have forged ties is unsupported by the situation on the ground, where al-Shabab has executed many pro-IS militants.

Asked about the claim that Iran is seeking uranium in Somalia, Hashi said it's possible because Somalia's borders are mostly unprotected.

"This is a collapsed state. ... If Iran needed something from Somalia, it's possible that they believe they can get it because this is an open country," he said.

But Hashi said the letter might be intended to draw additional military support from Washington more than anything else.

"The aim of the letter is to get sympathy from the U.S. and to change its policy toward Somalia," Hashi said. "But I don't think the language written in the letter is going to change the U.S."

New airstrike

The U.S. has a small number of military advisers helping and training special forces in Somalia. Since 2011, the U.S. also has carried out numerous airstrikes against al-Shabab, killing a number of top commanders.

The latest suspected U.S. strike took place Friday. Security sources told VOA Somali a strike targeted Abdirahman Hudeyfi, a senior al-Shabab commander in Middle Juba region.

Intelligence sources told VOA Somali that Hudeyfi was once al-Shabab's governor for the region. The U.S. military has yet to comment on the reported attack.

Explosions in Puntland

At least nine people, including five soldiers, were killed and more than 30 others were injured in two explosions at a market in Af-Urur, a village in the semiautonomous Puntland region.

The first explosion occurred in a store where traders sell khat, a green narcotic leaf widely chewed in Somalia. Moments later, a second blast was reported in the same area as people were gathering to evacuate the wounded.

Witnesses told a VOA Somali reporter that three people died at the scene while four others died on their way to a hospital. Two more died in the hospital in Armo village, 30 kilometers north of Af-Urur.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the Friday explosions.

In June, al-Shabab militants attacked a military base in Af-Urur, killing 50 Puntland regional soldiers and three senior military officers.

Falastine Iman and Fadumo Yasin Jama contributed to this report.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is raising speculation that Harriet Tubman's future on the $20 bill could be in jeopardy.



In a CNBC interview, Mnuchin on Thursday avoided a direct answer when asked whether he supported the decision made by the Obama administration to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Tubman, the 19th century African-American abolitionist who was a leader in the Underground Railroad.



"People have been on the bills for a long period of time,'' he said. "This is something we'll consider. Right now, we have a lot more important issues to focus on.''



During last year's campaign, Donald Trump praised Jackson, the nation's seventh president, for his "history of tremendous success'' and said the decision to replace him with Tubman was "pure political correctness.''



Trump suggested during the campaign that one possibility would be to put Tubman on another bill and leave Jackson on the $20. He and Ben Carson, currently secretary of housing and urban development, had both suggested during the GOP primaries that Tubman might go on the $2 bill instead.

Then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced last year that he had decided to place Tubman on the $20 bill as part of a make-over of the nation's currency to improve security features on the bills. The new currency bearing Tubman's portrait was scheduled to be unveiled in 2020, the 100th anniversary of passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.



Lew arrived at the decision to displace Jackson on the $20 bill after generating a loud outcry with an initial proposal to put a woman on the $10 bill replacing Alexander Hamilton.



In the CNBC interview, Mnuchin said, "The number one issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting. So the issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.''



At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, "I'm not aware of any policy change. I'd certainly have to check into that.''



In a wide-ranging interview, Mnuchin also:



 Said the original goal of getting Congress to pass comprehensive tax reform by August "got delayed a bit,'' but he stressed that the administration was still on track to have a measure signed into law by the end of this year.



Mnuchin's comments on taxes came one day after Trump launched the administration's fall push to overhaul the nation's tax system with a speech in Springfield, Missouri. There he said the plan, details of which have yet to be revealed, would unlock strong economic growth, reduce the tax burden of the middle-class and encourage corporations to keep jobs in America.

Mnuchin rejected the idea that the administration has yet to settle on the details of the tax plan.



"We are on track to get this done by the end of the year,'' he said. "So you're going to see the detail come out [in September.] It's going to go through a committee process. We expect the House and Senate will get this to the president to sign this year and we couldn't be more excited about the progress we've made.''



Mnuchin would not say whether Trump's goal of reducing the top corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent would remain in the finished administration proposal, or whether it might be changed to a less ambitious cut to 20 or 25 percent.



"We'll go through with the [congressional] committees and see where we end up,'' Mnuchin said.



 Expressed confidence that Congress will pass legislation needed to raise the government's borrowing limit this fall and avoid a catastrophic default on the nation's debt. Mnuchin has authority to use a range of bookkeeping maneuvers to avoid breaching the limit through Sept. 29, although private analysts believe the actual deadline for Congress increasing the current $19 trillion limit will be in mid-October.



 Stated that the administration has a good working relationship with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. He refused to say how many candidates, other than Yellen, President Donald Trump is considering for the Fed job when Yellen's current term expires in February. Trump said in an interview last month that Yellen, Gary Cohn, head of Trump's National Economic Council, and "two or three'' other contenders were in the mix.

Yellen used a high-profile speech last Friday at a central bank conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to defend the Dodd-Frank bank regulatory overhaul passed in 2010. She described it as a successful effort to make the financial system stronger following the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has called the measure a "disaster'' and he and GOP lawmakers would like to rewrite it extensively to reduce regulatory burden on banks.

Asked if this was an area of conflict between Yellen and the administration, Mnuchin said, "I had breakfast with Fed Chair Yellen this morning. ... we have a very constructive dialogue on a lot of issues including regulation.''



Mnuchin said "ultimately the president will make a decision later in the year'' on who he will nominate for a new term as Fed chair.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to reporters after attending Friday prayers, faulted the U.S. justice system for indicting 19 people, including 15 members of his security detail, who allegedly attacked demonstrators during his May visit to Washington.

Erdogan called the indictment a clear and scandalous expression of how justice works in America,'' adding that he would discuss the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump during a trip to New York this month.

During Erdogan's visit to Washington, demonstrators were peacefully protesting outside the Turkish embassy in support of the Syrian Kurdish group the YPG, when they were allegedly beaten by members of his security detail.

Erdogan says the demonstrators were posing a security threat and accused local police of negligence for failing to protect him.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a statement, strongly supported the court indictments against Erdogan's security agents, saying the U.S. "does not tolerate individuals who use intimidation and violence to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate political expression."

Relations between the two NATO allies were already strained. Ankara is demanding the United States extradite Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkish prosecutors accuse of leading a terrorist network called FETO that is blamed for a failed coup last year against Erdogan.

Erdogan says the FETO organization and the Kurdish insurgent PKK, which the Turkish government calls a terrorist group, are under protection in the United States.

Washington has recently stepped up its military support of the Syrian Kurdish group the YPG in its fight to oust Islamic State militants from their self-declared capital city of Raqqa, Syria. That support has infuriated Ankara, which accuses the YPG of being linked to the outlawed PKK.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union have designated the PKK a terrorist group for its decades-long autonomy push against the Ankara government in Turkey's southeast.
BOISE  Idahos public schools chief is seeking a 6.8 percent increase in education spending for 2018, describing it as a budget with no surprises and no new initiatives.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra released her plan Friday. If approved by lawmakers in January, Idahos public school funding would bump up nearly $114 million more than what lawmakers allocated this year for a total of $1.78 billion.

Overwhelmingly, Im hearing from educators and the public that Idaho is headed in the right direction for supporting students and teachers, Ybarra said in a prepared statement. Idaho is seeing the positive impact of our investment evidenced in the huge increase of students taking college level classes in high schools, the early positive gains in reading, as well as districts making strides in attracting and retaining teachers.

An ongoing key feature of Ybarras budget is more teacher salary funding, which is part of a five year plan to boost school employee pay. Ybarra wants $46.6 million more for teacher salaries, which would boost pay for new teachers to $35,800 a year for fiscal year 2018-2019.

For operational funds, Ybarra requested $27,683 per classroom to be used at their own discretion  a coveted fund that has gradually been replenished since lawmakers slashed it in the peak of the economic recession. The request is about $900 more than last year.

The proposal now goes before Gov. C.L. Butch Otter, legislative leadership and other stakeholders for review. Otter will also submit his own education budget for legislative consideration during the 2018 session.

And despite public schools making up most of the states general fund budget, passing an education spending plan has been relatively seamless over the years as the economy has recovered. Its not unusual for lawmakers to approve the public schools budget with almost no debate and just a handful of conservatives voting no, a small group who typically votes against most budget increases.

Other budget highlights:

 $15 million for advanced opportunities, which allows students to take college credit classes and other advanced work. Its an $8 million bump from this year.

 $9 million for college and career advisers and student mentors, or $2 million more from this year.

 $36.7 million for technology for local school districts, an $8.6 million increase.

 $3.1 million for student achievement assessments, which includes $1.3 million more to focus on science assessments.

Finally, for the third time, Ybarra noted Friday that she will once again request $300,000 for a pilot project to provide resources to rural schools in Idaho. The Idaho Legislature has spiked similar proposals for the past two years.

It gained more support this year, Ybarra said. Idaho is a rural state, we are a close-knit community and we need to get resources into rural schools. I believe this pilot project is part of that goal.
United States-backed fighters in Raqqa say they have taken the last districts of the Old City from Islamic State jihadists.



"We declare to our people the liberation of the old city of Raqqa," the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement.



Talal Sello, a spokesman for the SDF, told French news agency AFP that coalition fighters are now "on the edges of IS's security quarter in the city center, where most of its main bases are."



About 25,000 civilians remain trapped with the remaining jihadists, who are holed up in the Raqqa city center. Islamic State routinely uses civilians as human shields.



The SDF began its campaign to recapture the former de facto capital of the so-called IS caliphate in June with U.S. air support.



While the SDF said it has recaptured the Old City, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said SDF forces continue battling with IS fighters in a small portion of the Old City.



A U.S. military spokesman has said he is not yet able to confirm whether the city's been retaken.
Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears to be alive, a top U.S. military commander said Thursday, contradicting Russias claims that it probably killed the top counterterror target months ago.

Do I believe hes alive? Yes, said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the coalition forces fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, referring to al-Baghdadi.

At first, Townsend said his belief stemmed from a lack of evidence he had seen, rumor or otherwise, that al-Baghdadi was dead. But, he then added: There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that hes alive. Townsend did not elaborate on the intelligence.

Russian officials said in June there was a high probability that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, a month earlier.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, Townsend said U.S. and coalition forces are actively searching for al-Baghdadi. If they find him, they probably will kill him rather than capture him, he said.

A good guess about where al-Baghdadi is hiding, Townsend said, would be the so-called Middle Euphrates River Valley, stretching approximately from the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria to the town of Rawa in western Iraq. He said this area is shaping up to be the groups last stand following its ouster from nearly all of northern Iraq.

IS setbacks

The most recent IS setback was in Tal Afar, west of the also recently liberated city of Mosul, which had been the militants main stronghold in Iraq. The Iraqi government announced Thursday that Tal Afar had been returned to government control. Townsend called it a stunningly swift victory for the Iraqi army, moving like a steamroller into the city in a matter of days.

The IS militants, who swept into Iraq in 2014 against minimal resistance from the Iraqi army, still control a large area of eastern Syria along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-styled caliphate. Townsend said U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have recaptured about half of Raqqa in ongoing fighting.

Assessing his 12 months in command of the U.S.-led coalition, Townsend said more tough fighting remains but signs are positive. It will be up to the Iraqi government, he said, to safeguard the gains troops have achieved since 2015, when Iraqi security forces began a U.S.-assisted counteroffensive in the western Anbar province.

I think part of the rise of ISIS was disenfranchised peoples, most of them Sunnis, who looked at Baghdad and they didnt see their government representing them or their interests or their future, he said. And I think thats probably the most important thing that the government of Iraq has to do. It has to reach out, reconcile, bring all Iraqis together and be the government of all Iraqis.

US in Iraq

Townsend said he hopes the U.S. government works out an arrangement for a long-term military presence in Iraq to minimize the chances of another IS-like episode. He said such talks are under way.

We all saw what happened in 2011 when we parted ways completely, he said, referencing the pullout of U.S. troops under former President Barack Obama and Iraqs subsequent struggles.

My personal view is I wouldnt want to repeat that, Townsend said. So I think that our governments will work out something that will work for the future.

Townsend is ending his year in command in Baghdad and will hand off next week to another three-star Army general, Paul Funk II.

He credited the Trump administration with putting greater trust in him and other commanders to execute the counter-IS campaign.

The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command, Townsend said. And I dont know of a commander in our armed forces that doesnt appreciate that.

A key result of that is that we dont get second-guessed a lot, he added. Our judgment here on the battlefield in the forward areas is trusted. And we dont get 20 questions with every action that happens on the battlefield and every action that we take.
For the second consecutive month, the number of refugees coming to the United States dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.

State Department data shows 910 refugees arrived in August, compared to an average of 6,955 for that month in the preceding 10 years.

A month earlier, July set the previous decade-low arrivals level, with 1,224 refugees admitted.

This time last year, the U.S. refugee program looked dramatically different. As the country ramped up efforts to resettle displaced Syrians, the program last August set the opposite record  the most refugees resettled in a month since 2007: 13,255.

But two executive orders by President Donald Trump, and the ensuing legal challenges, have curbed the program's original cap for the fiscal year.

Then-President Barack Obama set the ceiling for 2016-2017 at 110,000. Trump vowed to reduce that to 50,000, and he largely succeeded  as of Aug. 31, 51,392 refugees have come to the United States since last October.

The majority of those arrivals happened before Trump took office in January.

In recent months, a provisional decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in response to one lawsuit limited refugee arrivals to those with close family ties to the United States. The high court will hear the full case in October.

The government on Thursday reached a settlement in one lawsuit against the first of Trump's travel bans, based on a January executive order that affected all refugees and travelers from seven countries. Federal officials committed to contacting those travelers who were affected by the original ban and provide a list of free legal services organizations.

It is unclear how the settlement will affect refugees; the State Department did not immediately respond to a request from VOA for comment.

As in previous years, the president is expected to set the "ceiling" for refugee arrivals in September, which allows the government agencies and nonprofit organizations involved in refugee resettlement to plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Thursday Iran had shown its "true colors" by restoring ties with Palestinian militant group Hamas and must be held to account by the international community.

The new leader of Hamas in Gaza said on Monday that Tehran was again its biggest provider of money and arms after years of tension over the civil war in Syria. Hamas had angered Iran by refusing to support its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the six-year-old civil war.

Haley described the Hamas leader's statement as a "stunning admission." Iran is subject to an arms embargo - with exceptions granted only in cases when it has received U.N. Security Council approval for imports or exports.

"Iran is showing its true colors. Iran must decide whether it wants to be a member of the community of nations that can be expected to take its international obligations seriously or whether it wants to be the leader of a jihadist terrorist movement. It cannot be both," Haley said in a statement.

"It's long past time for the international community to hold Iran to the same standard that all countries who actually value peace and security are held to," she said.

Neither Hamas nor Iran have disclosed the full scale of Tehran's backing. But regional diplomats have said Iran's financial aid for the Islamist movement was dramatically reduced in recent years and directed to the Qassam Brigades rather than to Hamas' political institutions.

Hamas seeks Israel's destruction. It has fought three wars with Israel since seizing the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

Hamas and Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are locked in a political dispute over the issue of Palestinian unity.
As rescue and recovery from Hurricane Harvey continued in southeast Texas, the White House assured storm victims that it was "not going anywhere" and that money to help them would be available.

Harvey left unspeakable damage as it spent five days dumping record-breaking rainfall on Texas and Louisiana. Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, was hit especially hard.

Even though the rain had stopped and the sun was out, more evacuations were ordered east of Houston on Thursday.

The storm-related death toll was at least 37, and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told reporters that number would rise.

Bossert said officials were still in a lifesaving response mode, and he made no effort to sugarcoat the situation.

There's going to be "a long, frustrating recovery process," he said.

Damage and destruction

Bossert said 100,000 homes had been affected by the storm and a lot of public infrastructure, such as highways and bridges, had been damaged. But he said the disaster relief fund was strong.

"I'm not worried at all that we won't have the money," Bossert said. The disaster relief fund had $3.2 billion on hand when Harvey hit last Friday, and Bossert said the White House would ask Congress for "a responsible supplemental request" for more funds.

Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas told VOA such a bipartisan effort was already under way.

"We want to push for that money. I'm crafting an aid package," Lee said while meeting with storm victims at the Houston Convention Center.

Meanwhile, Bossert made it clear that no one who needed help would be turned away.

"No individual human being should worry about immigration status if you need food, water and shelter," he said. "No one will starve or die of thirst or exposure."

Warning on price gouging

Bossert also had a strong warning for anyone thinking of gouging people who have lost their homes and are looking for places to rent, saying President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions would not tolerate it and police would come down on them "with a hammer."

The Washington Post reported incidents of some Houston-area stores charging as much as $99 for a case of drinking water and $20 for a gallon (nearly 4 liters) of gasoline.

The White House said Thursday that Trump planned to pledge $1 million of his own money for storm relief and that he would return to Texas and Louisiana on Saturday. Trump visited the area Tuesday.

Vice President Mike Pence was in hard-hit Rockport, Texas, Thursday, where he pitched in to help clear away debris. He said 21,000 federal officials were on the ground.

Just before leaving Texas, Pence said he was most inspired by the volunteers. He urged every American to find a way to help, including coming to Texas in person to be what he called "the hands and feet of American compassion."

WATCH: Pence Inspired by the Volunteers

Chemical plant

Explosions and fires at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, led to an evacuation of the town.

The facility manufactures organic peroxides. Plant officials said all week that the blasts were inevitable and much of the area had already been cleared of people.

Earlier Thursday, 15 Harris County sheriff's deputies called to the plant were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

FEMA called the chemicals from the plant "incredibly dangerous." But Arkema said there was little anyone could do but let the fires burn themselves out.

Also, Harvey knocked out the pumps delivering fresh water in Beaumont, Texas. The lack of clean drinking water forced one Beaumont hospital to evacuate patients and another to shut down except for emergency cases.

Harvey slammed into the southeast Texas coast nearly a week ago as a Category 4 hurricane. It soaked the region with more than 50 inches (130 centimeters) of rain  an all-time record from a single storm in the continental United States.

As of Thursday evening, Harvey, downgraded to a tropical depression, moved northeast across the Tennessee and Ohio valleys and into the mid-Atlantic.

But even as Harvey grew weaker and weaker, it wasn't going away without a fight. Forecasters predicted heavy rains and flash floods from what was left of the storm over the next two days.



Undocumented? You can still ask for help



Affected undocumented immigrants in Texas, who are afraid to apply for help for fear of being detained, should not hesitate applying, officials say. To reassure them, outreach workers have reportedly been deployed.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he would personally represent anyone arrested on immigration violations after seeking help.

Cesar Espinosa, executive director of Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle said Turner's statement was a "big deal" for undocumented immigrants. Espinosa said "When they hear it from an official, they say, 'OK, now we believe it.'"

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said it is "not conducting immigration enforcement operations in the affected area."

VOA's Kenneth Schwartz contributed to this report.
Administration officials are defending the president's proposal to cut federal emergency funds even as the southern state of Texas struggles with the aftermath of the worst flooding in its history. The White House said Thursday that adequate relief funds would be available for disasters under President Donald Trump's proposal. The White House also announced that President Trump is pledging $1 million in personal funds to Harvey storm relief efforts. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.
As women pound the pavements of Abidjan selling their wares, direct manic traffic in blue police uniforms and host popular television shows, it's hard to believe Ivory Coast has one of the world's widest gender gaps.

With stark inequalities in school, as well as in access to healthcare and jobs, the United Nations ranks French-speaking West Africa's largest economy 155 out of 159 countries when it comes to gender equity.

"Ivorian women get by because we have strength," said Animata Toure, before trying to cajole passersby into buying her fruit in the city's business district Plateau.

"[Life] is a bit hard," she acknowledged.

The 46-year-old has scraped by as a hawker all her life, shelving her dream of opening a small restaurant as unrealistic.

"Who is going to give me the means to do that?"

Ivorian women earn on average half as much as men, the World Bank says, largely because they are less educated, spend several hours a day cooking and caring for children, and lack access to finance, equipment and commercial networks.

Supporting would-be female entrepreneurs, like Toure, could generate at least $6 billion, or a third of the country's current revenues, the Bank says.

"We have huge potential here," said Ahmed Diomande, an official in the trade ministry, describing the World Bank's latest data as an "alarm bell."

"The challenge is convincing men that they have a vested interest in gender parity," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at a women's rights conference in Abidjan.

The government is working to reduce the gender gap by using a $9 million loan from Morocco to fund small- and medium-sized businesses run by women entrepreneurs, he said.

It is also backing a private-sector initiative to lift women out of the informal sector by training them as grocery store managers in more than a dozen shops in Abidjan.

As Ivory Coast's vast, informal economy is largely run by women, authorities and business leaders are keen to help them make the leap to better-paying, regulated businesses with training and access to credit.

"Economic power is in women's hands," said Salimata Porquet, a former politician who fought successfully for gender equality at work to be included in Ivory Coast's 2016 constitution.

Books for Boys

Ivory Coast needs to get more girls into school and provide them with role models across the board, from business to politics, activists say, as reducing gender inequality has proven key to the success of many emerging nations.

Discrimination starts young in Ivory Coast, where only 33 percent of women are literate compared to 53 percent of men - a gap that has widened since the early 1980s, the bank says.

Unlike most African nations, Ivory Coast does not have an equal number of boys and girls in primary school.

Many poor parents educate their boys, rather than girls, as they believe the sons will get better jobs and provide for them.

Girls, meanwhile, often become married mothers in their teens.

"The more we see women... in a field that we like, the more we have young girls trying to follow that path," said Tchonte Silue, 23, a female blogger who runs a children's library in Abidjan to encourage youngsters to read.

She tries to inspire Ivorian girls by sharing her story as a young woman who earned a master's degree in the United States.

Activists say women also need to support each other as they advance in business and politics.

"If we're able to share our experiences, that can inspire each woman to do her part," said Marie-Therese Boua N'Guessan, who runs a publication about women's leadership.
Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe spoke in public Friday for the first time since she was accused of assaulting a South African model in Johannesburg. Addressing a rally of the ruling Zanu PF party with her husband, President Robert Mugabe, she called for unity as Zimbabwe prepares for elections in 2018.

The 52-year-old Grace Mugabe did not make any reference to the case, in which she was accused of assaulting model Gabriella Engels with an electrical cord two weeks ago. The alleged incident occurred after Mugabe found her two adult sons, both in their 20s, in a Johannesburg hotel room with Engels.

At the Friday rally, the first lady took a swipe at a faction led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, saying it is causing division in the Zanu PF.

"Here in Midlands, I am appealing to you to stop factionalism and vilifying the president, his wife, or his kids," she said. " We don't want behavior that causes disunity of top leadership. You rabble-rousers fanning factionalism, you stop it!"

Her husband, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, also said nothing about the case in which his wife was granted diplomatic immunity by President Jacob Zuma's government in order to avoid arrest in South Africa on assault charges.

Instead, President Mugabe criticized late South African President Nelson Mandela, saying Mandela was soft on whites. Mugabe said South African politician Jeffrey Radebe "referred" him to the late leader when he asked why whites still dominated the economy of South Africa.

"They [whites] have industrial companies. They employ blacks as workers. The blacks cannot liberate themselves from where they were when Mandela left them," Mugabe said. "The white people will say we are equal, no one should take anyone's belongings: whether land or industries. So, all they can do is work in Johannesburg and in mines. That is what Radebe said when he said, 'Ask your friend Mandela.' Where would I have found my friend Mandela, who is long gone?"

Radebe, who works in Zuma's office, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Tanzania is set to launch the world's largest drone delivery network in January, with drones parachuting blood and medicines out of the skies to save lives.

California's Zipline will make 2,000 deliveries a day to more than 1,000 health facilities across the east African country, including blood, vaccines and malaria and AIDS drugs, following the success of a smaller project in nearby Rwanda.

"It's the right move," Lilian Mvule, 51, said by phone, recalling how her granddaughter died from malaria two years ago.

"She needed urgent blood transfusion from a group O, which was not available," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Malaria is a major killer in Tanzania, and children under age 5 often need blood transfusions when they develop malaria-induced anemia. If supplies are out of stock, as is often the case with rare blood types, they can die.

Tanzania is larger than Nigeria and four times the size of the United Kingdom, making it hard for the cash-strapped government to ensure all of its 5,000-plus clinics are fully stocked, particularly in remote rural areas.

The drones fly at 100 kph (62 mph), much faster than traveling by road. Small packages are dropped from the sky using a biodegradable parachute.

The government also hopes to save the lives of thousands of women who die from profuse bleeding after giving birth.

Tanzania has one of the world's worst maternal mortality rates, with 556 deaths per 100,000 deliveries, government data show.

"It's a problem we can help solve with on-demand drone delivery," Zipline's chief executive, Keller Rinaudo, said in a statement. "African nations are showing the world how it's done."

Companies in the United States and elsewhere are keen to use drones to cut delivery times and costs, but there are hurdles ranging from the risk of collisions with airplanes to ensuring battery safety and longevity.

The initiative could also ease tensions between frustrated patients and health workers.

"We always accuse nurses of stealing drugs," said Angela Kitebi, who lives 40 kilometers east of Dodoma. "We don't realize that the drugs are not getting here on time due to bad roads."
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has threatened to take stern action against people accusing him of allegedly bewitching Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa, who fell sick at a Zanu PF rally in Matabeleland province and had to be airlifted to a hospital in the Midlands.

Mr. Mugabe told thousands of people at his partys Youth League Interface Rally in Gweru, Midlands province, that people accusing him of witchcraft should be taken to court to answer charges of violating some sections of the Witchcraft Suppression Act.

President Mugabe appeared to be attacking Mnangagwas supporters who want him to succeed the Zimbabwean leader. The vice presidents faction of the ruling party known as Team Lacoste claims that Mnangagwa was poisoned before attending the Zanu PF rally in Gwanda.

The Zimbabwean president also noted that Mnangagwas doctors indicated that his vice president was not poisoned by suspected members of the other faction  Generation 40 said to be led First Lady Grace Mugabe.

Speaking at the same rally, Mrs. Mugabe said the ruling party is ravaged by factionalism emanating from the Midlands province, which is Mnangagwas region.

She said some people only like President Mugabe when he is around them and criticize him as soon as he is out of sight.

Mrs. Mugabe claimed that her husband was a gift from God and the people of Zimbabwe should be grateful for having such a leader.

Zanu PF dumped Joice Mujuru in 2014 accusing her of visiting nangas in an attempt to unseat President Mugabe.

She was also accused of being incompetent and corrupt, an accusation she dismissed as misleading.
TWIN FALLS  Parents: If youre willing to pay $250 per month, your child can attend all-day kindergarten.

Rock Creek Elementary School  one of two new Twin Falls schools that opened in August 2016  is offering a full day class this year. About 15 students are enrolled.

Idaho gives public school districts only enough money to pay for half-day kindergarten classes, and parents arent required to enroll their children in kindergarten at all.

But some schools look for ways to expand the number of hours children are in class. Research shows many benefits to all-day kindergarten, including increased academic achievement and positive effects on emotional and social development.

At Rock Creek Elementary, I think theyre trying to provide a service to parents, said Teresa Jones, elementary programs director for the Twin Falls School District. It just makes sense that kids are going to make even greater gains by spending more time in schools.

Its up to each individual school whether to offer all-day kindergarten.

If you dont live in the Rock Creek school zone, you can put in a transfer request. But if your child is accepted, school busing wouldnt be provided.

Three other Twin Falls elementary schools  I.B. Perrine, Oregon Trail and Lincoln  are offering a full-day kindergarten option for students this year who need reading help.

Parents dont pay for that, and its funded using state literacy money.

Students havent been identified yet, Jones said, but its something school employees will work on Tuesday during a data day.

Back at Rock Creek Elementary, requests for all-day kindergarten came up from several groups: teachers and parents.

The offering is open to any child, not just ones who need extra help.

When Rock Creek opened in the quickly-growing northwest end of Twin Falls, quite a few teachers transferred from I.B. Perrine Elementary, where all-day kindergarten was offered in the past.

They had seen what a difference the all-day kindergarten program had made over there and how it worked with parents paying, Twin Falls School District spokeswoman Eva Craner said.

Jerold Guthrie decided to enroll his daughter, 5-year-old Raliegh, in all-day kindergarten at Rock Creek.

The biggest reason would be just that my wife and I both work a lot, Guthrie said. Hes an associate principal at South Hills Middle School, and his wife is a nurse.

Figuring out transportation for their daughter was a challenge when considering half-day kindergarten, Guthrie said.

The full day helped out with that, he said.

So far, Raliegh loves kindergarten, Guthrie said.

She comes home and is excited and tells us what she has learned during the day, he said.

Guthrie said he hopes to see some good academic growth in his daughter.

Gurthrie said hes happy there was an opportunity for all-day kindergarten and hopes it continues so other families can participate in the future.

But he knows the extra cost would be a struggle for some families.

Jeremy Belliston and his wife  who are both teachers  saw the benefits of all-day kindergarten when their oldest child, whos now 10, was enrolled in a full-day program at Perrine Elementary.

Now, his younger son, 5-year-old Braxton, is enrolled in all-day kindergarten at Rock Creek Elementary.

Obviously, its that much more exposure to the teacher and helps them get into a more solid routine, he said.
An Uber car waits for a client in Manhattan earlier this summer. Ubers new CEO says the company might file an initial public offering in 18 months. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Columnist

The talk about Uber these days involves corporate intrigue, the new chief executive and the prospect of various enforcement actions and lawsuits.

So to be just a tad contrarian, lets talk about a different aspect of this mega-high-profile ride-sharing company: Uber-stockmath, as it were.

If you follow the news about Uber, you know that the company, whose stock isnt publicly traded, is worth $70 billion. Or $68 billion.

Or something like that. But Ive got serious doubts about those numbers.

Why? Because in the absence of a public market for Uber shares, we dont know what willing buyers would pay willing sellers for the stock when the buyers and sellers only agenda is to buy low or sell high  not to garner favor with the company by paying up for new shares its issuing to raise money or to seem trendy or to pay more for new shares than a previous purchase cost, which would let it write up the value of the shares it already owns.

Ubers new chief executive says the company might go public in 18 months. Well see. But for now, the only publicly available dispassionate prices placed on Uber shares vary widely, with a spread of more than 30 percent between the lowest and highest.

How did I get these numbers? By asking Morningstars mutual fund mavens to tell me which stock funds own Uber shares and at what price each fund values the stock.

The price range surprised me. The uber price  uber is German for above or super and I cant resist a bilingual pun opportunity  was $53.88 from BlackRock. That was more than 30 percent above the unter (German for low) price, Morgan Stanleys $41.24. Both BlackRock and Morgan Stanley are large, sophisticated outfits with lots of expertise in figuring out what things are worth, so the big difference is really interesting.

[Why a dark horse CEO candidate could be good for Uber]

Vanguard valued the stock at $48.77 as of Feb. 28, according to Daniel Wiener of The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, and carried it at $41.46 as of June 30. Thats a 15 percent drop in four months.

What BlackRock and Morgan Stanley  and the dozen other fund families that own Uber  do is estimate a total value for Uber, subtract its obligations such as debt, and divide what remains by the number of Uber shares outstanding. Some of the 14 fund families that own Uber do this themselves; others hire it out.

In the absence of a public market for Uber shares, the mutual fund numbers are the most reliable numbers available. Thats because unlike Uber boosters or venture capitalists or hedge fund types or others trying to talk up Ubers price for whatever reason, mutual fund companies have legal obligations to use the most accurate numbers they can get.

The reason is that mutual funds shares are bought and sold based on net asset value per share. (Thats a funds net assets, divided by the number of shares outstanding.)

If a mutual fund puts too high a value on its Uber holdings, people selling fund shares benefit by getting a higher price than they should, while people buying shares are hurt by paying more than they should. If the fund lowballs the number, sellers are disadvantaged while buyers get a bargain.

So fund companies put the most accurate value they can find on a holding like Uber that doesnt have a publicly traded, available price.

The list Morningstar sent me was fascinating. It showed 50 funds owning a total of just under 50 million Uber shares based on the funds most recent available filings, most of them as of June 30. The value show for those shares totaled about $2.36 billion, for a weighted per-share average  total price divided by total shares  of $47.20. In all, Uber shares made up a bit more than 0.4 percent of the funds total value (which was $536.4 billion for those of you keeping score at home).

[6 things to know about Ubers CEO pick Dara Khosrowshahi]

The fund with the biggest concentration of Uber was Putnam Equity Spectrum A, at 4.6 percent. And Putnams quote  $43.89 per Uber share  was near the low end of the spectrum. The fund with the smallest concentration was the Fidelity Asset Manager 20% fund, whose Uber holding was 0.02 percent of its assets, with a price of $48.77, a bit above average.

As I hope you can see from these numbers, valuing Uber involves lots of estimating, with wide differences among different experts.

What Id love to know  but couldnt find out  is how many Uber shares are outstanding. If I knew that, Id show you how using uber-quoter BlackRocks number would produce a value for Uber thats 30.6 percent higher than wed get by using unter-quoter Morgan Stanleys number.

Someday, the Uber number that I cant find will surface, and we may revisit the valuation question.

Meanwhile, to end on a Teutonic note inspired by the name of the company were discussing: Have an uber-enjoyable Labor Day.

Read more:

The Business 101 lesson that stumps Trump still

Lets run the fantasy math on Social Security

Trumps big talk on the economy lacks substance

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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As the waters from Hurricane Harvey recede in Texas and Louisiana, the owners of more than 100,000 flooded homes are getting a good look at what is left.

The damage to the houses is going to be tremendous, said Jean-Pierre Bardet, a geotechnical engineer and dean of engineering at the University of Miami. Thousands are beyond repair.

Often, however, a waterlogged house can be saved.

A high water depth doesnt mean the home is destroyed, said Claudette Hanks Reichel of Louisiana State Universitys Agricultural Center, who has written disaster recovery material for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But if a house was already structurally compromised by decay, termites or very poor construction, then the flood could be the last straw.

So what does water  not a small leak but a major deluge  do to a house?





Cracks the foundation

Serious foundation damage is common in Southeast Texas and Louisiana, Reichel said, because the soil is mostly clay, and most homes are built on concrete slabs. Saturated clay expands unevenly and lifts parts of a slab, causing it to crack or break. Embedded pipes can rupture, exterior walls can crack, the roof can sag. As the soil dries and shrinks, it all gets worse. Sometimes, moving water erodes the soil from below the slab, and a poorly secured house will simply float off its foundation. No one should enter a house that looks cracked or off-kilter before a structural assessment.





Jams (or breaks) windows and doors

Bardet said one of the first signs of foundation damage is that doors and windows wont open or close because their frames have become distorted by the shifting house, sometimes so much so that the glass twists and breaks. Glass could also be broken by floating debris.





Weakens drywall

Water weakens regular drywall, and the paper facing provides food for mold, Reichel said. If drywall is soft, crumbly or moldy, it has to be replaced. Plaster and other materials may dry, but walls and ceilings that were in contact with water still need to be gutted down to the framing so that the insides can be cleaned and dried to prevent mold.





Soaks insulation

Most insulation used in homes is made of fibers or foams that hold water, so it has to be replaced if it gets wet. But other types, such as closed-cell foam, dont absorb water and can survive a flood.





Degrades sheathing

Many common types of structural sheathing  the large panels between the framing and the outside of the house  are a composite of wood chips or other porous material. Those will absorb water, swell and lose strength. Plywood sheathing probably will be fine after it dries out.





Temporarily swells framing

Heres some good news: Most homes are framed with solid wood lumber, which usually withstands flooding quite well unless it sits in water for weeks or was already damaged. Even if the wood soaks up some water and swells, it should return to shape and maintain its structural integrity. All framing has to be cleaned thoroughly and dried quickly to prevent mold, which flourishes in warm, moist areas.





Wrecks (some of) the electrical system

Harveys flooding was caused by rain rather than saltwater storm surge, which Reichel said is another good thing, electrically speaking. Any outlets and switches that were underwater would need to be replaced regardless. But because freshwater isnt corrosive like saltwater, some of the wiring may survive, pending a building inspectors okay.





Ruins appliances

Reichel said that insulated appliances, such as refrigerators and ovens, are almost never salvageable because water would have penetrated their insulation. Washers, dryers and microwaves may be usable after they are examined by a professional.





Contaminates furniture

Most upholstered furniture, mattresses and draperies should be tossed. Floodwater from a storm is a nasty soup of microorganisms from sewage leaks, chemical spills and everyday contaminants. Properly cleaning all but the most valuable pieces would probably cost more than replacing them. Soaked particle board furniture will fall apart, but pieces made of hardwood, metal, concrete, plastic and glass should be fine after they are thoroughly cleaned.





Spoils (some) flooring

Any carpet and padding that was covered in water will have to go because its just too hard to clean. Laminate flooring will usually peel apart. Hardwood floors may survive with a lot of TLC, such as removing boards here and there to let the others expand so that they dont warp. Some tile may just need to be cleaned, but even usable flooring may need to be temporarily removed to clean and dry out the subflooring.

Both Reichel and Bardet agreed that any homes that took the brunt of Harveys winds or were caught in fast-moving water are likely to be damaged beyond repair. However, most of Harveys flooding involved relatively calm water that simply rose higher and higher until homes were inundated. This means many homeowners will have to do a painful calculus: Is the house worth saving?

The deeper the water, the more extensive and expensive the restoration project, said Reichel, who lives in Baton Rouge and knows people who still are not back in their homes after major flooding a year ago. Its not just the cost, its the ordeal, and the time and competing for contractors and materials. Its a horrendous, stressful situation.

People who choose to fix their homes have a chance to make their houses more resistant to future floods. Here are a few recommendations from the LSU AgCenter:

 Rebuild the house at least two feet higher off the ground than the areas zoning requires. It is even possible, but extremely expensive, to raise an existing house.

 When restoring walls, use closed-cell foam insulation and flood-damage resistant sheathing and wallboard. Leave drainage space so that water or mud can be cleaned out without tearing up the walls.

 Choose flooring for the first level of the house that is made of ceramic tile with water-resistant mortar, interlocking tile, concrete or other nonporous material.

 Elevate important items, such as major appliances and HVAC components, off the ground.

Reichel said these measures cost more initially but can save money and headaches if another flood occurs. If you cant afford to do everything, she said, anything you do will reduce your damage next time.


Miriam Simuns Agalinis Dreams, on view in Interdisciplinar-ium, a showcase for aesthetic hybrids at the Arlington Arts Center. (Miriam Simun/Arlington Arts Center)

Two arts are better than one in Interdisciplinarium, Arlington Arts Centers showcase for aesthetic hybrids. Most of the contributors offer a twofer of art forms, but some venture into the sciences, most often environmental ones.

Miriam Simuns Agalinis Dreams is dedicated to an East Coast plant that was classified as endangered but later determined not to be a separate species. She documents the pink-flowered weed with photos and video, as well as in the form of a distilled scent. Veteran documentary filmmaker Catherine Pancake turns to a more impressionistic style for Bloodland, a video about fracking in Pennsylvania.



Stephen Townss The Prophet & Black Sun, at the Arlington Arts Center. (Stephen Towns/Arlington Arts Center)

Sharing a gallery are Beverly Ress and Alyssa Dennis, who both make delicate pencil drawings. Ress, as usual, renders birds on paper and then cuts them into elaborate and sometimes lacy patterns; this selection also includes a plant and a bisected bunny. Denniss pastel pictures combine floral and architectural imagery, imagining fanciful greenhouses outfitted with antic details.

Stephen Towns, Lorenzo Cadim and Will Connally all deal in narrative but tell disparate stories in different media. Inspired by Nat Turners 1831 slave rebellion, Towns crafts symbolic pictures on fabric. Cadims video and sculpture installation, memorializing the police shooting of a young man, draws on Cadims training as a dancer. Connallys photos and paintings of a small town and its artifacts have a matter-of-fact quality, but the village is actually a fiction invented by the artist.



Neil Feathers Triplet. (Neil Feather/Arlington Arts Center)

Among the most engaging works are those of Salvatore Pirrone and Neil Feather, both sculptors of sound as well as objects. Pirrones six-foot wooden Megaphone, installed on the centers grounds, is visually striking; it also projects voices from one end and can be entered from the other. Feathers noisemakers combine various sizes of spheres, from marble to bowling balls, with repurposed magnets, cymbals, record players and electronic pickups. As fun to watch as to activate, the devices constitute a semiautomatic percussion orchestra. As a bonus, the artists Erroneous Astrophysics presents a playful lesson in planetary motion.

Upstairs, in the gallery for resident artists, Jung Min Park is showing painted-and-snipped pieces that range from filmy abstractions to partly realistic city scenes. The artist calls these Memoryscapes, and perhaps the cutout absences represent recollections that cant be retrieved. But the negative space in Parks mixed-media constructions also functions like bare canvas in an abstract painting, highlighting color and gesture.

Interdisciplinarium and Jung Min Par: Memoryscapes On view through Oct. 1 at Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. 703-248-6800. arlingtonartscenter.org.



Nara Parks What Remains, on view at Hamiltonian Gallery. (Nara Park/Hamiltonian Gallery)

Nara Park & Paolo Morales

Using lightweight materials printed with the patterns of much heavier ones, Nara Park builds walls and edifices that appear rock-solid but could be knocked over by a kitten. In What Remains, at the Hamiltonian Gallery, the D.C. sculptor hoists such structures into midair to perplex the eye further. The show includes columns that appear paused in the process of collapsing, their fragments dangling just above the floor. Made of stone-textured plastic laminate, the pieces hover when they look as if they should crash.

The artist also hung a shattered mirror whose reflective shards are not glass but Plexiglas. On the floor is a sand castle on an incongruous expanse of beach. Three wall pieces resemble squares of inscribed concrete, but are actually foam covered with plaster and paint that mimics rock.



Paolo Moraless Hiding couple, at Hamiltonian Gallery. (Paolo Morales/Hamiltonian Gallery)

If these 3-D pranks are in the surreal tradition of Salvador Dalis melting watches, Park also wants observers to ponder loss. Theres a reason so many of these sculptures resemble monuments, which traditionally are made of marble to commemorate human flesh. What Remains is a mausoleum in which even the stuff that looks like stone is turning to dust.

The gallery also is showing Paolo Moraless Between You and Me, a suite of black-and-white photos that evoke isolation and furtiveness in downscale American suburbs.

Nara Park: What Remains and Paolo Morales: Between You and Me On view through Sept. 16 at Hamiltonian Gallery, 1353 U St. NW. 202-332-1116. hamiltoniangallery.com.

Leslie Nolan

The paintings in Leslie Nolans Athenaeum show are a mess, and intentionally so. I love drips, splotches and merging/blending with finger or the hand or a tool, she writes. The sensuousness of the technique is one reason the local artist titled the exhibition Seduction.

The painterly tumult is deftly offset by simple compositions and tidy color coordination. Nolan usually paints a single face or figure, often in gray and black, on a hot-colored field. Sometimes she flips the scheme, rendering characters such as this shows Red Man in bright color.

The painter has a knack for drama, whether splitting a sketchy face across two large canvases or splashing an unexpected dab of aqua on a more detailed visage. The goal is make the subjects appear as though something important has just happened, she explains. What that might have been is left to the viewers own assessment.

Leslie Nolan: Seduction On view through Sept. 17 at the Athenaeum, 201 Prince St., Alexandria. 703-548-0035. nvfaa.org.



Detail from the 1460 Wallmountables exhibition at the District of Columbia Arts Center. (District of Columbia Arts Center)

1460 Wallmountables

The artworks are not packed so tightly as in previous years, but there are still scores of pieces in the District of Columbia Arts Centers 28th annual 1460 Wallmountables. For a modest fee, the gallery rents wall space in 2-foot-square increments  for a potential total of 1,460  to serious artists and others. This year, as usual, the others have strength of numbers.

Among the highlights are two unusual animals. Elizabeth Ashes Barbed Raven is a bird-shaped construction of galvanized wire on a copper-tubing frame, mounted upside-down as if in swooping pursuit. Even more ominous is Minda Merinskys Beer With Teeth, a found teddy outfitted with added dentures and covered in a thin layer of concrete.

Other intriguing 3-D fabrications include Casey Snyders pileup of grayish, partly melted plastic cord and Joanne Kents notched wooden lozenge, layered as if to simulate bark yet painted a most un-sylvan crimson. Judith Benderson evokes depth and motion with a series of paintings of mostly white patterns on black backgrounds. Where many of the shows contributors draw on pop culture and personal concerns, Benderson invokes the forces of the universe.

1460 Wallmountables 2017 On view through Sept. 10 at the District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW. 202-462-7833. dcartscenter.org.


Backstage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stage crews are organizing and setting up some of the sets based on the art, designs and concepts of artist Retna. (Michael S. Williamson/ The Washington Post)

Classical music critic

What you see, on the white wall, are elegant sweeping marks, a script you cant quite make out or have forgotten to learn. What the artist hears is music. His name is Marquis Lewis, better known as Retna, one of the most successful street artists in the world. And when he paints  murals, for instance, now displayed in the Kennedy Centers Hall of Nations  it is to a soundtrack: a single song, played over and over.

Usually I do a specific song for each piece, he says, and then I make it the anthem for that piece. I have to play the same song on repeat to stay in the same zone in order to paint faster.

I have to say that Retna has an amazing ear for music, says Marsea Goldberg, Retnas gallerist. Every time Im here  in his studio in Los Angeles, from which the two are speaking by phone  I hear something fabulous that Ive never heard before.

Even, lately, opera.

The 38-year-old artists work is an amalgam of graffiti, blackletter, hieroglyphics, Roman lettering and Hebrew script. It dances on the boundary between written communication and abstract art, commercialism and high art, a strong decorative statement of coded messages that you, as a passing viewer, will never understand. Its at once edgy and slick. An iconography that began as graffiti on the streets of Los Angeles when the artist was a teenager has evolved over his career into an elegant font that has adorned the walls of a Chanel boutique, sneakers, album covers (including for Justin Bieber), even the tail of a corporate jet. And now, Retna is at the Kennedy Center, not only with the murals (on display through Sept. 24), but with the sets for the Washington National Operas new Aida, which opens Sept. 9.



Graffiti artist Retna installing pieces in The Hall of Nations at The Kennedy Center. (Scott Suchman)

I think its great that artists are reaching the masses, says Goldberg finessing the fact that by reaching out to an artist like Retna, the Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera, which originated the Aida production last fall, think theyre the ones reaching out to a wider audience. Everyone wants to break out of his niche.

It's hardly a new idea for trendy artists to design opera productions: Think Marc Chagall, think David Hockney, think William Kentridge, who, after years as an art-world star, has become a sought-after opera director with works such as the Metropolitan Opera's recent "Lulu." Tom Ford has designed costumes for the Santa Fe Opera; the Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron created sets for an "Attila" at the Met, with costumes by Miuccia Prada that everyone hated but me. Opera, after all, exists at the intersection of the visual and the aural, of creativity and high society  a place that an artist like Retna, who happily and fluidly moves between worlds, is happy to occupy.

Furthermore, Retna (the name was adopted from the song Heaterz by the Wu Tang Clan) has as much of an authentic connection to Egypt as Giuseppe Verdi did, if not a greater one: Egyptian hieroglyphics are one of the marked influences on his unique alphabet. Indeed, to accompany the San Francisco rollout of his Aida production, Retna was invited to paint the walls of an exhibition at the Legion of Honor in that city displaying two mummies and their histories.

I was able to paint a text; I created a piece inside that room, he says, and then Renee [Dreyfus, the curator] was breaking down my lettering. Ive been doing this for years, but she was coming in [and explaining], This is this, and this symbolizes that. That was dope.

Dope, indeed, to have a specialist in ancient symbols effectively confirm the legitimacy of your own.

But for all of the artists links to music and Egypt, approaching opera was, he says, intimidating. After Francesca Zambello, the WNOs artistic director and director of this production, invited Retna to do Aida, he acquired a stack of books and DVDs. He even considered bringing a cellist to his studio to play while he painted or having schoolchildren re-create scenes from the opera so, he says, I could see what Id gotten myself into. His first sketches were based directly on Aida materials.

Marquis, youre trying too hard, Zambello said when she saw them, according to the artist. Just send me stuff youve already done.

The artist accordingly went back to his own work. The imagery, as in much of his work, revolves around the letters E and S, representing the male/female, the sun and the moon, mostly  one phallic, one domed. Its the main thing thats in all my work. It made sense, he says.

The process of working in opera was, however, inspiring.

Working with that amount of talent, all top professionals in their fields, and just looking at Francesca doing her thing, that was amazing, for sure, the artist says. When Im painting in the studio, theres maybe five or six people, max. Shes working with a couple of hundred people. To have that mentality, to be able to be in all those different places, is something.



A set section waits to be placed backstage. (Michael S. Williamson/ The Washington Post)

Retna has worked on music videos, but theres a lot of takes you can do. . . . You cant do that in opera. Its a one-shot deal. Thats kind of how I work on the street. Its a one-shot, get it right, and if you cant, make it up.

Its open to question just how much opera reaches outside its existing audience by bringing in artists from other worlds. The most successful examples generally involve opera audiences embracing the artist  like Kentridge  rather than art audiences suddenly discovering a love of opera. The San Francisco Opera doesnt have statistics on whether there was a demographic shift among audiences for Retnas Aida, although some say the audience looked younger. Still, its worth trying  for both sides. Its not about the money, says Goldberg, Retnas dealer. Its about enriching culture.



The completed set at San Francisco Operas Aida last year. (Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera )

Aida, however, was created more than a year ago. Retnas thoughts are much more on the Kennedy Center mural, which he finished in August  shortly after he was briefly arrested for what he now calls a misunderstanding. (He has had several run-ins with the law, including an allegation of domestic abuse against a former girlfriend, the socialite Brittny Gastineau.) While working on the mural, he saw Washington through the eyes of someone recently incarcerated: The institutional hallways of Congress or the Kennedy Center reflected, to him, the less-glamorous surroundings of the jail where he had been held.

The mural itself is a political act: a quote of President Kennedys. Art is the great democrat, it reads, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. The words are executed in red and blue on a series of white blocks that divide the Hall of Nations like a small Berlin Wall.

The red and blue for me symbolizes, together, when you get a bruise you turn purple, whether its democratic or republican, Retna explains. Once its together its purple, the color of royalty. And we added gold for Mr. Kennedys service to the Navy.

Jackie Kennedys name is there. So is the artists name. So, even, is the title of the opera, Aida. Most people wont be able to decipher any of that. This is art as many think it should be: something attractive, to be admired by the masses, but encrypted in a code that can truly be read only by those in the know.

And the song Retna chose as his anthem for the mural? Not anything from Aida but Get Free, by Major Lazer, which contains the repeated line I just cant believe what theyve done to me. Retnas art is too mercurial to stay attached to opera for long.

The artist doesnt rule out doing another opera  if he were invited. Aida received mixed reviews in San Francisco; it will go on to the Seattle and Minnesota operas. If he were to do another one, what would it be? Retna appeals to his dealer, the daughter of a classical musician. For you? Goldberg says, laughing.  Carmen. 

Aida runs at the Washington National Opera from Sept. 9-23. The free "Opera in the Outfield" broadcast at Nationals Park is Sept. 23. Retna's work will be exhibited in the Hall of Nations until Sept. 24.
Tim Kaine doesnt know what a dad joke is.

I still have no idea, said Kaine, the senator from Virginia and Hillary Clintons former running mate.

If Kaine, 59, were to look back at Twitter from the time he was onstage at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia last year, he might have a better idea. There was something about his earnestness, his dopey smile and his aw-shucks attitude during his speech that made Kaine seem like the kind of person who might respond to someone saying Im Never Hillary with Hi, Never Hillary. Im Dad.

The Washington Posts Alexandra Petri  one of the many, many people to take note  tweeted: tim kaine knows he cant replace your dad but he wants you to know you can talk to him about anything. She continued: i bet if tim kaine has leaked voice mails at the DNC they were all reminders to stay hydrated.

Kaine had become Americas Dad, and he couldnt quite figure out why.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) packed the Oct. 4 vice-presidential debate with dad jokes and zingers, so we ranked the six most groan-worthy. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

I never knew there was such a thing as a dad joke, he said. I guess it has something to do with benign obliviousness, which I plead guilty to.

I had called Kaine on a sleepy day in August for advice. In October, I too will become a dad in America, and out of sheer terror have taken to getting tips from the people I talk to most. As a political journalist, that means seeking counsel from politicians (hey, beggars cant be choosers).

I suppose I could do worse than getting advice from people in politics. A lot of what I worry about, they worry about: Can babies survive going outside in the swamps summer heat? Is it appropriate to dictate statements on behalf of your son when he gets caught having secret meetings with the Russians? And most important, how do you juggle a demanding job in the nations capital with keeping a tiny human alive (and doing so in a way that he might actually grow up to like you)?

A couple of years after we moved to the White House, when Chelsea was in high school, we had what may have been our only argument, former president Bill Clinton wrote in an email. The subject is long forgotten, but I remember telling her, As long as youre in this house, being president is my second most important job. 

For Clinton that meant playing cards and having dinner with his daughter whenever he could, and working to make her friends feel welcome in a house that can seem unwelcoming.

I followed a few simple practices, said Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Republican nominee for president. First, when I came home from the office, I put my briefcase by the door and never gave work another thought: I focused my entire attention on Ann and my kids. Sure, emergencies were exceptions, but my standard practice was to leave work at work.

Romney was lucky. Email hadnt been invented when his boys were young. He never had to balance bottle-feeding a baby with the existential dread of scrolling through Twitter in the dead of night. From the various politicians and D.C. denizens I spoke with, its clear that today, the smartphone is the greatest impediment to being a good parent (Maggie Haberman, a star Trump chronicler for the New York Times and mother of three, said she once filed an entire story on her BlackBerry from her sons kindergarten graduation ceremony).

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has gone to some extreme measures to combat this problem.

In 2013, Flake took two of his sons on a trip to a deserted island, where they would survive by spearing fish and scavenging for coconuts.

It was worth the risk just to have time without cellphones, without electronics, Flake, 54, said. Just to have five or six days with their dad.

But what about being a good dad for the other 360 days of the year? Flake says the best advice he ever got about that came shortly after he first arrived to Congress, and it came from his Arizona congressional colleague, now-

former senator Jon Kyl (R).

He told me to involve my kids as much as I can in this job, Flake said. They were either going to resent this life or revel in it.

This past summer, one of Flakes sons served as a page in the Senate.

Its great, Flake said. Not only did I get to see him more, but he had to call me sir!

Okay, great. But how does that help me? There is no page program at The Washington Post, and Im pretty sure my son will have to be at least 18 before he can become an intern here. One concern that I kept asking politicians about is whether its possible to be any good at your job with a young child at home. Most everyone dismissed that worry as misplaced.

I never felt like having a kid held me back in any professional way, said Jason Kander, a 36-year-old rising star in the Democratic Party. But I do worry that my professional life hinders my ability to be a good dad. I think Ive been able to navigate that, but I worry about that all the time.

Because Kander has been a politician for much of his adult life, hes got a very political way of approaching parenting.

There are moments in every childhood, Kander says, that stick with that kid forever. It could be any random moment, something that if you ask the parent about years later, hell have no recollection of.

I think of those moments as when my son is recording, Kander said. You never know when hes recording, so I try to be as thoughtful and present as I can be with him whenever I can.

(Yes, this can sound like the paranoid thoughts of a Senate candidate who has spent years being followed by Republican trackers. But the principle is good enough: Try to be good to your kid as much as possible; you never know what will stick with him.)

That seems like a lot of pressure. Isnt it okay to sometimes be off your game? Do I really need to worry that the one time I mess up will be the thing that stays with my son forever? I cant be the only person who wonders whether hes cut out to succeed both professionally and as a parent, right? Is it normal to become a father while also feeling like you dont know anything about being one? Can I be as good a dad as my dad has been to me? One former Hill staffer told me it was important to remember that children are basically ingrates, and another told me to remember having a kid makes everything better. Can it really be both of those things???

Its okay not to know everything, said Kaine, soothing as always. We were real nervous when we first became parents. We didnt even know what jaundice was. It took a friend coming over and saying: Why is his face so orange? 

This was comforting. Kaine became a father at the age of 32 after being married for six years, and the same will be true for me. I kind of already know what jaundice is. And I definitely know what a dad joke is. So at least in that respect Im ahead of Americas Dad.

Maybe, just maybe, Im going to be fine after all.

(Hi, Going to be Fine After All. Im Dad.)
Marybeth Rizio, 51, and Chuck Ogles, 47, exchanged vows on Aug. 25 at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in the District. They were introduced at work by a mutual friend in early January 2012 at Charles E. Smith Life Communities, an assisted-living center in Rockville. (Jacqui DePas Photography)

The first thing Marybeth Rizio noticed about Chuck Ogles wasnt his easy smile, his good nature or his dark sense of humor. It was his 17 tattoos, multiple facial piercings and spiked hair.

It was not love at first sight, says Marybeth, a 51-year-old social worker. In fact, my first thought was, Who the hell is that guy, and what will my [patients] think of him? 

She never expected that theyd become best friends, let alone fall in love. He didnt, either.

She thought I looked like a convicted felon, and I thought she was kind of stuck up, Chuck, 47, recalls, laughing.

Nor did she anticipate that one day hed inspire her to get her first tattoo, of his initials in cursive, on her ring finger. Or that hed receive a toxic round of radiation treatments to fight his terminal illness only two weeks before their wedding day.

Holding hands before the nuptials. Last fall, Chuck was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and given a one-year prognosis. (Jacqui DePas Photography)

They were introduced at work by a mutual friend in early January 2012 at Charles E. Smith Life Communities, an assisted-living center in Rockville. Marybeth noticed Chuck darting in the hallways, between shifts, and pumped the nursing staff for information.

Despite his intimidating outward appearance, colleagues assured her, he was one of the most beloved and hardest-working volunteers on the staff. Impressed, Marybeth asked him to keep her abreast of any issues concerning her patients.

Chuck surprised her by taking her up on her suggestion, and began regularly approaching her with concerns, advice and questions. A friendship quickly formed, and within a few months, they were sharing meals two to three times a week at work.

The outings quickly became one of the highlights of their shifts. Small talk soon progressed from strictly professional matters to personal topics such as goals and ambitions.

Shes one of the most easygoing people Ive ever met, Chuck says. Shes very low-key and low drama.

During one such meal, they discussed their ideal day. Chuck listened attentively and decided to re-create Marybeths vision a few weeks later on July 1, for their first official date: a romantic picnic beneath the stars, followed by an action movie at the cinema.

Marybeth was impressed but hesitant to jump into a new relationship too quickly. I told him, I have a lot of passions in my life  my family, friends, church and job  so if you want to be a part of it, youre going to have to accept that,  she says. Chuck replied, I dont consider that to be a negative. I consider that to be a positive.

The couple exchanged vows on Aug. 25 at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in the District. (Jacqui DePas Photography)

In August, they took a weekend trip to Frederick, Md. I think Im falling in love with you, Chuck confided. She admitted, I already have. After their first year together, Chuck began dropping not-so-subtle hints about marriage, but Marybeth always changed the subject.

[A refresher on wedding etiquette, from tricky plus-one scenarios to cash bars]

Marriage was messy and complicated. Both having been divorced, they were now in a happy and committed relationship. A piece of paper wouldnt change that. Why rock the boat?

But everything changed in July 2016, when Chuck began experiencing debilitating weakness and fatigue. For months, he chalked it up to exhaustion associated with his demanding schedule as a suicide hotline counselor and an emergency medical technician, which often involved 12- to 14-hour shifts.

It wasnt until Oct. 3, when Chuck had trouble swallowing, that he asked a colleague to check his vitals. He was found to be severely anemic and rushed to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville. It wasnt long before an X-ray revealed a mass in his throat.

Four days and several tests later, their worst fear was confirmed: Chuck had Stage 4 esophageal cancer and was given a one-year prognosis with treatment.

I was trying really hard to keep it together and be strong for him, Marybeth says, but a day after the diagnosis, we both broke down together and cried.

[After brides stroke at 31, in sickness and in health takes on profound meaning ]

Over the next few weeks, they learned to accept and adjust to their new normal, which included a revolving door of medical professionals and regimen of chemotherapy treatments. Marybeth threw herself into the role of caregiver and advocate, keeping track of Chucks appointments and medications as the cancer robbed him of his memory, his energy and his focus.

The more obstacles they faced, the clearer it became to Marybeth that Chuck was not only her best friend, but also her soul mate. He began attending Catholic services with her more regularly and was baptized into the church in April, in a show of his love and devotion.

During long stints in the hospital, Marybeth would crawl into bed with him  each time navigating a new web of tubes and wires  just so they could fall asleep side-by-side.

It wasnt long before she reopened the discussion of marriage, but this time Chuck resisted, worried that his illness had spurred her change of heart. I didnt want to burden or pressure her, he admits.

But as time progressed and his condition worsened, it became clear that marriage was something they both wanted. On New Years Eve 2016, he proposed to her with an amethyst ring over a romantic dinner at Ripple in Cleveland Park.

With little time and resources for a formal wedding, they planned a small and sentimental legal ceremony for May 31 at the fire station in Rockville where Chuck was a live-in volunteer at the time of his diagnosis. Station members, who had become somewhat of a second family to the pair, made up the wedding party.

They both dreamed of a sacramental marriage within their church. So, when a friend of Chucks suggested over Facebook that they apply for assistance to Wish Upon a Wedding, a foundation that provides weddings and vow-renewal ceremonies for couples facing serious illness or a severe hardship, they decided to go for it.

[Forget the big wedding. More of todays couples include you through Facebook.]

Thinking their chances were slim, they were shocked to learn several weeks later that their application had been accepted and that a majority of the wedding costs  including the catering, decorations and programs  would be covered.

We didnt think in a million years wed be so lucky, Marybeth says.

It has taken so much pressure off of us, Chuck adds.

On Aug. 25, about 35 family members and friends gathered at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in the District. As the couple pledged to honor one another in sickness and in health and till death do us part, the bride choked with emotion. The groom, in an effort to comfort her, rubbed his thumb gently across her palm.

We are in this together, for better and for worse, Marybeth said days before the wedding. We dont know what the future holds, but until then we are going to try to take life one day at a time and enjoy it.

Are you getting married in the Washington region? Tell us why we should feature your nuptials here at wapo.st/weddings.
Meiko Brown went to visit her father at United Medical Center, the Districts only public hospital, on Aug. 2, only to be told he died on July 26. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Death is routine at hospitals, and so is the process that follows: Doctors and nurses call the deads relatives, collect their belongings and store their remains.

At United Medical Center, the long-troubled public hospital in Southeast Washington, 70-year-old Bradford Browns death was handled differently. His family members said they were not told his life had ended until they tried to visit him a week after the fact and found an empty bed.

Whats more, they said, hospital officials lost track of his body for several days.

The events that ensued after Browns death in late July, described by his relatives and discussed in a meeting with hospital officials that his daughter recorded and shared with The Washington Post, add a macabre subplot to the mounting troubles at the only hospital serving the poorest neighborhoods in the nations capital.

[Dangerous mistakes led to closure of UMC obstetrics ward]



Bradford Brown, shown in this 2014 family photograph, recently died at United Medical Center in Southeast Washington. (Family photo)

Ive been trying to get information, and its just a merry-go-round. I never get a straight answer, said Meiko Brown, the dead mans 43-year-old daughter. Its absolutely crazy. Ive never heard of anything like this.

Bradford Brown had lived in UMCs nursing home since 2015, when he suffered a debilitating stroke. On Aug. 2, his sister, Barbara Hunter, and Meiko Brown walked into UMCs lobby bearing a gift of ginger snaps and Lays potato chips for their relative.

Before a wall covered with portraits of the hospitals board members, a receptionist told them there was no patient at the hospital named Bradford Brown.

Perplexed but not yet alarmed, the family rode the elevator to Browns ward on the sixth floor, where a nurse spotted them and asked a colleague, Do they not know he expired?

Hunter, an occupational therapist with long experience in health care, interjected: Expired, as in dead?

As her 10-year-old began crying, Meiko Brown said, she gasped and started to scream. I completely lost it, she said. I couldnt breathe. It was like something else took over my body.

Browns records indicated he died after he was transferred to the emergency room with breathing problems on July 26 and that his family was notified the same day.

Seeking an explanation, Meiko Brown and Hunter met two days later with hospital officials. UMC administrator Ola Fadairo could offer no insight into the mix-up but said officials were conducting an investigation of the incident and that it had been an eye-opener for the hospital.

There are errors in this, Fadairo said, according to Browns audio recording of the meeting. Whoever is at fault, we need to do some remodeling and fix the problem.

He continued: One thing I want to assure you is that we have taken steps to block this type of thing happening again. Youve been a help to us, and we continually need your support and help, because we need to portray the image of this establishment. This is the only black hospital so far around here and we must do something to maintain it. . . . My sister, youve been loved. He has left a legacy for you. Hold on to that legacy. It is well. Maam, I feel you. It is well. Amen.

[UMC needs a taxpayer bailout  again]

Fadairo promised the family a written report on the hospitals handling of the notification process in Browns death, saying: Were going to get to the bottom of this. This is not ending.

Reached by telephone Friday morning, Fadairo said the meeting had been the end of his involvement in Browns case.

I was just there as a supervisor who is trying to appease them, he said. Fadairo, who said he acts as a minister outside his hospital job, said he had done his best to console Meiko Brown and Hunter but had no idea what had become of the inquiry into whether Browns next of kin were properly notified of his death. That was the duty of his colleagues in the nursing home, he said.

I have no clue, he said. I did not pursue the investigation.

The only person in Browns circle who recalls speaking to hospital staff on July 26 is An-Nas Osiris Bey, who said a nurse called to tell him Brown had been transferred to the intensive care unit, as he had in the past because of breathing problems. Bey said he later received a second call from the hospital nurses station but that it was cut off after he answered and nobody picked up when he called back.

Bey is a close family friend who visited Brown frequently at the hospital and had given hospital officials his phone number.

In the recording of the Aug. 4 meeting, a nurse said she called Bey after Brown was dead and said during their brief conversation that she was sorry for the loss. When Bey did not react to her comment, she said, she suspected he had not been notified and, rather than telling him, suggested he check on Brown at the emergency room.

I said, So are you on your way to the ER? In my head I was like, Maybe they havent informed him about it. Let me not push,  the nurse said. I told my director of nursing, Hmm, its like they havent informed him yet. 

Bey said he did not remember the nurse ever saying sorry for the loss.

In response to questions from The Post, a UMC spokeswoman issued a brief written statement: We have reviewed the circumstances of this case and confirm that the hospital followed all proper protocols including notification to the next of kin in a timely manner.

The Post spoke to each of Browns four children, who live in the Washington region. All said they had been informed of their fathers death by Meiko Brown when she learned upon her visit to the hospital.

His surviving relatives said their back-and-forth with UMC has aggravated their grief for Brown, a retired tailor known among friends and relatives for his sometimes baroque sweet tooth  peanut butter and jelly on pound cake was among his preferred dishes  and sense of humor. On his daughters 25th birthday, he gave her an elaborately gift-wrapped rock with the words Hard head, soft a-- written on it in indelible marker.

And this week, family members said, the saga took another exasperating turn.

Hunter, Bey and Meiko Brown said they were unable to view Bradford Browns body in the weeks after he died, told by hospital officials that there was no convenient place to do so. They said they became suspicious about the circumstances of his death and hoped that if his body reached a city coroner  after 30 days, according to city law, hospitals must transfer unclaimed bodies to the medical examiners office  an autopsy might be performed.

Bey said a hospital official told him the corpse would be sent to the medical examiners office when the 30-day period ended last Saturday. On Monday, Meiko Brown called the medical examiner and was told the body was still at UMC.

For the next several days, she said, she continued to call the hospital, trying to ascertain the whereabouts of her fathers corpse, but each time, hospital staff told her they were unsure and would have to call her back.

On Thursday  the same day The Post called hospital officials with questions about the case  Bey said he finally received a call from the medical examiners office telling him the body had arrived that afternoon.

Its far from clear that the medical examiners office will probe more deeply into Browns cause of death, because such scrutiny is typically reserved only for suspicious cases.

But Browns relatives said that regardless of what happens, they hope for some understanding and closure now that Brown is no longer in the custody of UMC.

We havent even seen his body yet, Bey said. We dont even know if hes really dead.
THE DISTRICT

Man is fatally shot

in Columbia Heights

A 42-year-old man was fatally shot Wednesday night in the Districts Columbia Heights neighborhood, D.C. police said.

The shooting occurred about 9:40 p.m. in the 1400 block of Harvard Street NW, two blocks south of the Columbia Heights Metro station. Officers responded to the site for the sounds of gunshots.

Police released few details of the shooting, and the victims identity was not immediately released.

The incident occurred not far from where a man shot at another man riding down an escalator at the Columbia Heights Metro station last Friday afternoon. No one was struck; police recovered a gun and have identified a suspect but have not made an arrest. Police have not said whether the two incidents might be related.

Another man was shot and wounded Wednesday about 11 p.m. in the first block of 46th Place NE. And on Wednesday afternoon, police said an older teenager and a young man were shot in the legs in the 3500 block of South Dakota Avenue NE.

 Peter Hermann

THE REGION

Five are charged

in teenagers death

Authorities have arrested and charged five people in Maryland, Indiana, New Jersey and Texas in connection with what police are calling an MS-13 gang-related killing of a teenager in Virginia.

Police in Prince William County said remains and bones were found in October 2015 in a wooded area near an apartment building in Woodbridge when officials were investigating an unrelated incident. The remains were later identified as those of Guillermo Hernandez Leyva of Montgomery County, who had been reported missing three months earlier.

Investigators said they found that Leyva had been beaten and stabbed near where his remains were found. He and the suspects had ties, police said, to the street gang MS-13.

Leyvas slaying and that of others is part of what law enforcement officials are saying is a resurgence of MS-13. In March, an FBI agent said the D.C. region is one of a number of MS-13 hot spots across the country.

Since Aug. 8, authorities said they have made the arrests in Leyvas murder.

Those arrested include Carlos Ulises Ochoa Pineda, 23, of Montgomery County. He is charged with accessory before the fact and is being held without bond. A hearing is scheduled for him in mid-December.

 Dana Hedgpeth
Bernard Pomerance, the playwright who wrote the poignant Tony Award-winning drama The Elephant Man, about a grotesquely deformed but sensitive man in Victorian England whose human longings are often misunderstood by those around him, died Aug. 26 at his home near Galisteo, N.M. He was 76.

His agent, Alan Brodie, confirmed the death. The cause was lung cancer.

The American-born Mr. Pomerance spent much of his career in London, where he wrote several early plays and helped found a small avant-garde theater company. He found little success until The Elephant Man, which was first performed in London in 1977.

The play is based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century British man with a condition that produced large, unsightly growths on his head and much of his body. He spent years on display in a freak show, enduring the ridicule and disgust of the carnival-goers.

Finally, he was taken to a hospital, where a doctor, Frederick Treves, cared for him and introduced him to Victorian polite society.

Mr. Pomerances play  which changes the central characters first name to John  takes place in the 1880s and focuses largely on Merrick, Treves and an actress, Mrs. Kendal, the only woman Merrick becomes close to.

Early in the play, photographs of the real-life Merrick are shown as Treves describes his patients physical condition. Mr. Pomerances stage directions specify that the actor playing Merrick not appear in makeup or a mask. The characters deformities are conveyed through contortion, gesture and speech.

Merrick becomes something of a social phenomenon, discussing literature and building a model of a cathedral with his one usable hand.

Yet it becomes apparent that his well-dressed, gift-bearing visitors are little different from the loutish gawkers who gazed at him in sideshows.

Treves calls Merrick a man with an acute sensibility and, worse for him, a romantic imagination, and over time an emotional attachment develops between Merrick and Mrs. Kendal.

Sometimes I think my head is so big, Merrick tells her, because it is so full of dreams.

He reveals his regret that he will never have an intimate moment with a woman, prompting Mrs. Kendal to remove her blouse and expose her breasts  at which point Treves returns, upbraiding both with stern Victorian rectitude.

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The Elephant Man was first presented in New York in 1979 at an off-Broadway theater in a church. It became an instant phenomenon.

 The Elephant Man is more than docudrama, Time magazine drama critic T.E. Kalem wrote. It is lofted on poetic wings and nests in the human heart.

After the play moved to Broadway, it was greeted with sold-out audiences and critical praise. Merrick, as portrayed by actor Philip Anglim, was like some sort of simple, twisted saint, Kalem wrote.

The Elephant Man won Tony Awards for best drama, best director (Jack Hofsiss) and best actress (Carole Shelley, who played Mrs. Kendal).

The play ran for more than two years and has been widely produced around the world, including Broadway revivals that featured actors Billy Crudup and Bradley Cooper in the title role.

In 1980, a film called The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch and starring John Hurt as Merrick, was produced. The film was not based on Mr. Pomerances play, but he and his producers filed suit against the films production company, claiming that the duplicate title would confuse audiences and took advantage of the plays artistic reputation. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

After the Broadway premiere of The Elephant Man, Mr. Pomerance was rarely seen in public and granted few interviews.

The most important element in theater is the audiences imagination, he said in 1979. My interest in the audience is to remind them of a common thing and, if only temporarily, they do then become a unity, a community.

Bernard Kline Pomerance was born Sept. 23, 1940, in Brooklyn. He said little about his parents or youth, and it is safe to say that more is known about Joseph Merrick than about Mr. Pomerance.

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1962 and moved to London six years later.

Its true I didnt write plays before I came to London, he told the New York Times in 1979. I had been working in narrative form, but I realized all my notes were coming out as dialogue.

Along with director Roland Rees and others, he founded the Foco Novo theater company in the early 1970s. (The name was the title of one of Mr. Pomerances early plays.)

Other plays included High in Vietnam, Hot Damn, Hospital and Thanksgiving Before Detroit.

After Elephant Man, Mr. Pomerance wrote two more plays, Quantrill in Lawrence, about a Confederate raid in the Civil War, and Melons, about a sage American Indian chief. Both were produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company but did not reach Broadway.

His first marriage, to writer Sally Belfrage, ended in divorce. In 2008, he married Evelyne Franceschi, who died in 2015. Survivors include two children from his first marriage; a brother; and two grandchildren.

According to public records, Mr. Pomerance returned to New York in the 1980s. He published a book-length epic poem, We Need to Dream All This Again: An account of Crazy Horse, Custer, and the battle for the Black Hills, in 1987.

About a dozen years ago, Mr. Pomerance settled permanently near Santa Fe, N.M. In 2013, he emerged from a largely secluded life to spend a day helping students at Santa Fe High School prepare for a production of The Elephant Man.
Larry Elgart, a saxophonist who formed a popular big band with his older brother, Les, co-wrote the theme song to "American Bandstand," and had his biggest hit album in 1982, a disco-pulsing medley of 1940s standards called "Hooked on Swing," died Aug. 29 at a hospice center in Sarasota, Fla. He was 95.

His wife, Lynn Elgart, confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause. He lived in Longboat Key, Fla.

A precociously talented musician, Mr. Elgart was traveling with bands at 15 to support his family during the Great Depression. He played alto sax in orchestras led by Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Red Norvo and Charlie Spivak, some of the biggest-name outfits of the day, and was an adventurous-minded player who also helped compose ballet scores and musical tone poems.

He first teamed with his brother in 1947 to start a band with dynamic arrangers, such as Nelson Riddle and Ralph Flanagan, but it proved a commercial failure. Mr. Elgart and Charles Albertine, a saxophonist-composer with avant-garde sensibilities, formed a new orchestra in 1952 and installed trumpeter Les Elgart as the nominal frontman.

It was the last breath of the jazz and swing era, and rock-and-roll soon emerged as the dominant commercial force. But the brothers managed to keep the Les Elgart Orchestra  later renamed the Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra  humming along lucratively for the next 15 years by playing campus proms, country club dates and cruise ship ballrooms.

They were traveling widely to promote the radio success of one of their first albums, "Sophisticated Swing" (1953), when they landed in Philadelphia and met Bob Horn, who hosted a local TV dance show called "Bandstand."

My brother said to him, If we record a theme for you, would you use it?,  Larry Elgart told the Longboat Observer in Florida. . . . Our next recording date, we recorded [Bandstand Boogie, written with Albertine] and took it to Bob Horn, and he said, Absolutely. Thats it. . . . If you hear Barry Manilow at times, hell say he wrote Bandstand Boogie. Its not true. He just wrote the lyrics decades later.

The song, cut in 1954, remained the anthem for what became American Bandstand, which soon had a youthful new host, Dick Clark, and Mr. Elgart enjoyed royalties from the song for the next six decades.

The Elgart band's repertoire shifted away from its earlier experiments in jazz into a polite lineup of big-band favorites, cha-chas and bossa nova standards. It was distinguished less by its choice of material than what Larry Elgart did with it. He fostered what he called the "Elgart sound"  the lilting bounce of its tempos, the crisp precision of its horn section and the swingy flourishes of its saxes.

"They produced music that was intended to be inoffensive, and neither demanding nor intrusive," observed Rob Bamberger, host of WAMU's "Hot Jazz Saturday Night." "In LPs built around new and resuscitated popular trends, such as 'The Twist Goes to College,' or 'Big Band Hootennany,' the Elgarts pasteurized it for a big-band format, making such music palatable to people who really couldn't abide the twist, or would rather have had a dislocated shoulder shoved into place than be found at a hootenanny.

Buying an Elgart LP allowed purchasers far more comfortable with the big band, easy listening idiom to feel current and hip (possibly even smugly so), even if by todays standards, the music sounds hip with dysplasia, Bamberger said.

After the brothers separated in the late 1960s, Larry Elgart continued a prolific recording career. His biggest commercial hit was his most unlikely.

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Hooked on Swing (1982) was a concept propelled by K-Tel, the company that prospered with TV infomercials before getting into the record business. They had astronomical success with Hooked on Classics, a 1981 album that featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rendering Beethoven, Mozart and other composers to a contemporary beat. It briefly turned classical disco into a sensation.

Mr. Elgart said he was initially unreceptive to undertaking Hooked on Swing, with its disco-izing of songs first popularized during the 1930s and 1940s by Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. He credited his wife with talking him into the project, figuring it would generate his best sales in years, however modest.

It peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard charts, sold more than 3 million copies and launched two more Hooked on Swing albums of what he called fusion swing arranged by pianist Dick Hyman.

Hooked on Swing was credited at times with helping kick off a revival of interest in big-band music. I feel very good about the renewed interest in swing, Mr. Elgart told United Press International in 1983, adding that he tried to make the music of the swing era something todays young people can relate to. The music was fun then and should be now.

Lawrence Joseph Elgart was born in New London, Conn., on March 20, 1922, and grew up mostly in Pompton Lakes, N.J. His father was a jack of all trades  working variously as a candymaker and steamfitter, among other jobs, during the Depression.

As a child, Larry had been mesmerized by big bands on the radio, and he began playing clarinet by 9 before taking up the sax.

His first early marriage, to Grace Sims, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Lynn Walzer Elgart, who co-wrote his 2014 memoir "The Music Business and the Monkey Business"; two sons from his first marriage, Brock Elgart of Framingham, Mass., and Brad Elgart of Ashland, Mass.; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Les Elgart died in 1995.

One of Mr. Elgart's first records in his own name was "Impressions of Outer Space" (1953), an avant-garde LP with arrangements by Albertine and whose impressionistic mood was reflected in such titles as "Airless Moon," "Gravitational Whirlpool" and "Asteroid Ballet." His 1981 record "Flight of the Condor," also showcased his interest in experimental jazz.

Over the years, Mr. Elgart explained that he personally was drawn to such modern jazz masters as Dizzy Gillespie and Art Farmer and tried, within commercial parameters, to sneak some of that sensibility into his arrangements  even in works like Hooked on Swing.

I am amazed, really, he told the Sydney Morning Herald in 1989. Young people know these tunes. They cant tell you how they know them  old films, TV? We were talking about [arrangers such as] Gil Evans and Bill Finegan. They wouldnt know who they were, but they know every tune.
For all the fiery debate aroused by public memorials to the Confederacy, a lawsuit seeking to block this city from removing statues of two Southern Civil War generals led to dry courtroom arguments Friday over obscure provisions of Virginia law, with a judge declining to decide whether to throw out the legal challenge.

One of the statues, of Robert E. Lee, has stood in a city park for 93 years and was the focal point of violent clashes last month involving hundreds of white supremacist demonstrators and counterprotesters. The other statue, of Thomas Stonewall Jackson, is on public land nearby. Together they have become the latest epicenter in a national debate over the propriety of civic monuments honoring the Confederacy and how the history of the Old South should be interpreted.

Several plaintiffs, including the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, sued Charlottesville in March, shortly after the City Council, by a 3-to-2 vote, decided to remove the two hulking bronze sculptures. On Friday, Judge Richard E. Moore, of Charlottesville Circuit Court, listened as a lawyer for the city argued the lawsuit should be dismissed.

About a hundred spectators crowded into Moores courtroom, anticipating definitive action by the judge. Moore said he hopes to issue a ruling in two to three weeks, but that might be overly optimistic.

One of the plaintiffs, B. Frank Earnest, referring to his many Confederate-soldier ancestors, said in an interview, this is all about family.

To Northerners in the 1860s, he said, the Civil War, was like Afghanistan, meaning a far-off conflict, while to Southerners, it was about defending our towns, our homes. During a break in the hearing, glancing across the courtroom at Lisa Robertson, the lawyer handling the case for the city, Earnest said, This is about punishing us for our ancestors.

Robertson and her boss, City Attorney S. Craig Brown, declined to comment.

No matter the outcome of Fridays legal arguments, the proceeding is unlikely to be the final round in the fight about the statues.

If Moore sides with the city and throws out the lawsuit, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and its co-plaintiffs, including a descendant of the Lee sculptor, could ask a state appeals court to review the ruling. In that event, lawyers said, Charlottesville might be barred from removing the statues during the appeal, although it is possible a higher court would decline to hear the case.

If Moore rejects the citys motion to dismiss the matter, a date could be set for a trial before the judge, perhaps weeks or months from now.

Opponents of Confederate memorials across the South point out most were installed not immediately after the Civil War but in the late 1800s and early 20th century, amid the rise of Jim Crow laws and a post-Reconstruction resurgence in anti-black violence. They argue the monuments amounted to revisionist history, an effort to reassert white supremacy and give an aura of nobility and heroism to the long-lost secessionist cause.

Echoing like-minded heritage organizations, the Sons of Confederate Veterans asserts on its website the memorials rightly honor the tenacity of the Souths citizen-soldiers. The Confederacy waged the second American revolution not primarily in defense of slavery but to protect the underpinnings of our democratic society, meaning states rights. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor, the group contends.

[In the former capital of the Confederacy, the debate over statues is personal and painful]

Charlottesvilles Jackson statue was erected in 1921, and the Lee statue went up three years later. In February of this year, Charlottesville joined many other American communities in deciding to get rid of conspicuous memorials to the Confederacy. The council voted to sell each statue to the highest bidder and require the buyer to arrange and pay for the removal.

Outside the courthouse, about 30 activists opposed to the statues chanted racial justice slogans on the sidewalks, holding signs that read, TAKE THEM DOWN, END HATE and NO MORE JIM CROW.

Several police officers stood calmly in a corner of the buildings portico, keeping dry as a light rain fell. There were no demonstrators in support of the monuments.

On the bench, Moore said he and the court clerks office had been inundated with thousands of phone calls, letters and emails telling him how he should rule in the case. Thats not how our system works, nor should it work, he said, calling the correspondence a counterproductive . . . distraction and worse than a waste of time.

What becomes of the Lee and Jackson memorials will depend on how Moore interprets a pile of arcane state legislative acts and appellate court rulings dating to the gaslight age, concerning how municipal governments are allowed to operate in Virginia.

At issue in the lawsuit is a state law that bars counties and other local jurisdictions from removing public memorials to war veterans.

[After Charlottesville, Va. Democrats see opening to change 114-year-old monuments law]

When it was passed by the General Assembly in 1904, the law applied only to counties, and not to cities such as Charlottesville, which is independent of any county. The law was amended in 1997 to include cities.

Fridays hearing focused on whether the law should be applied retroactively, prohibiting cities  in this case, Charlottesville  from removing memorials that were installed before the amendment was approved in 1997. The city argues the protection law does not extend back to statues that were erected in 1921 and 1924, but the Sons of Confederate Veterans disagrees.

After the lawsuit was filed, Moore issued an injunction prohibiting the city from taking down the statues before he decides the case.

With the lawsuit pending, throngs of white nationalists, including neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan, staged a Unite the Right rally here Aug. 12, saying the gathering was conceived as a show of support for keeping the statues in place. Chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans, they were met by swarms of counterprotesters, resulting in a day of riotous chaos and violence.

During the mayhem, a 20-year-old Ohio man who had long espoused pro-Nazi views allegedly rammed his car into another vehicle intentionally on a crowded street, sending pedestrians flying. A counterprotester, Heather D. Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 other people were hurt. The suspect, James A. Fields Jr. , remains jailed here, charged with second-degree murder and other crimes.

In a related tragedy that day, two Virginia State Police officers who were monitoring the unrest from a helicopter were killed when the aircraft crashed.

In the wake of the deadly civil disturbance in Charlottesville, some Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have said they will seek to amend the monument protection law during the next legislative session to clearly give localities the authority to remove or relocate such statues.

Since the disturbance, the Lee and Jackson statues  set high on pedestals and depicting each general astride a war horse  have been shrouded in black tarps, by order of the city.
Five children at a D.C. day care where a 23-month-old boy drowned in a backyard pool in June had been left unsupervised while the provider was running errands and the adult she left in charge was indoors, a city investigation has found.

The day-care providers sister, who lives a few doors away, was supposed to watch the children, but she left them alone in a back yard with an inflatable pool filled with water the morning of June 13, a report says. Investigators said the sister, who had gone inside the home to get a baby seat, had not been trained in safety rules and was not a qualified backup caregiver.

The toddler, Stokely Malcolm Andrews, either went into the water or fell into the pool, police and other officials said. A 10-year-old who had been visiting found him floating face down at 11:20 a.m., even as other youngsters continued to play. An adult who also was visiting called 911 and tried CPR, but Stokely died at 11:54 a.m. at Childrens National Medical Center. He was 12 days shy of his second birthday.

The investigatory report was obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

Stokelys parents, Mari and Malcolm Andrews, who live in Upper Marlboro, Md., sued the day-care provider, Diane Gallmon, for $3 million, alleging negligence. Gallmon, who ran Dianes Child Care at a rowhouse in the 300 block of 17th Street NE, has not responded to the suit; a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1 in D.C. Superior Court.

Stokely Malcolm Andrews was found dead in a small backyard pool on June 13, 2017, at his day-care center in Northeast Washington. District authorities cited the day care provider with failing to properly supervise the children under her care. (Courtesy of Malcolm Andrews)

Diane Gallmon does not have an attorney listed in court records and calls to her home on Thursday were not answered or returned. Her sister, Shirley Gallmon, could not be reached for comment. Neither sister faces criminal charges in connection with the drowning.

The Andrews were married in 2012; she already had two children, and the couple tried two years for a third. They had trouble and had all but given up when a boy was born on June 25, 2015. Stokely was our miracle baby, Malcolm Andrews said of his first biological son. We had given up hope on being parents again.

[Toddler dies after being found face down in day-care center pool]

Malcolm Andrews was named after Malcolm X and his brother after Marcus Garvey. Stokely was named after Stokely Carmichael, continuing the line of civil rights leaders. Our names had a legacy behind them, Malcolm Andrews said. They were all leaders who made an impact on the world. Thats what I wanted for Stokely  We had high hopes for him.

Malcolm Andrews, who works for Verizon, described his son as a beautifully, incredibly handsome boy who loved helping people. If he found something, instead of putting it in his mouth, he would walk over and give it to me. He said Stokely was full of hugs and kisses and went to bed every night being read the book Goodnight Moon.

Mari Andrews, who works in human resources at the University of Maryland at College Park, said she wants her sons legacy to be tightening the rules for day-care centers. We dont want another parent to go through the pain and loss that we have, she said.

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which regulates day-care centers in the District and prepared the report on the incident, revoked Gallmons license. She can reapply after three years. In 2014, that same agency honored Gallmon for having been an early-learning provider for 25 years. The medical examiners office ruled Stokelys death accidental.

The incident occurred about 11:25 a.m. in a neighborhood near Eastern High School. D.C. police at the time made few details public. Gallmon advertised her day care for children ages 1 through 4, including those with special needs.

D.C. officials said Gallmon had been licensed for up to six youngsters  two infants and four of school age. Pools are allowed at day-care centers in the District. The city requires adult one-to-one supervision for toddlers 36 months and under when a pool is being used.

A Licensee shall maintain constant and active supervision when any child is in or around water, the regulations state. The District also requires written permission from parents or guardians to allow children to be in water more than one foot deep.

The investigation into the June 13 death revealed Diane Gallmon was not physically present at the facility. That morning, the report says, she had left to run errands. Rules state she must leave the children supervised by a qualified substitute. But the report says Gallmons sister, Shirley Gallmon, was not qualified because she lacked health and safety training, such as CPR and water safety, and had not been subjected to a required criminal-background check.

Investigators also found Diane Gallmon failed to complete mandatory water-safety training, which includes being certified as a lifeguard or a water-safety instructor by the American Red Cross.

The report faults both Gallmons for leaving the children unsupervised. Rules require children be within sight and sound of a caretaker at all times and shall not be left alone in any room, outdoors, or in vehicles, even momentarily, without staff present.

As for wading pools, the District requires they be cleaned and drained daily, and stored in a location that is inaccessible to the enrolled children unless qualified adults are present. According to the report, Diane Gallmon told investigators that the pool was covered and tied when she left to run errands. But investigators reported finding the cover on the ground next to the pool and the ties were not located.

Shirley Gallmon told investigators she left the children alone in the back yard to retrieve a baby seat from inside the rowhouse, according to the report. While inside, Shirley Gallmon said she opened the front door to two guests, her 28-year-old niece and her nieces 10-year-old daughter. The daughter found the child face down in the pool and ran back inside. The niece picked Stokely out of the pool and administered CPR on a patio table.

Investigators said they immediately removed the children from the house and notified their parents. Their names were not provided in the report.

Three days later, Diane Gallmon sent a letter to the parents informing them of the day-care centers closure. Please pray for the family of our beloved [name deleted]. We are all heartbroken from this loss.
A man who was fatally shot Wednesday night in Northwest Washingtons Columbia Heights neighborhood has been identified as a 42-year-old man from Northeast, according to D.C. police.

Mark Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene in the 1400 block of Harvard Street NW. The shooting occurred about 9:40 p.m., and officers found his body after responding to calls reporting gunshots.

Police have not disclosed a possible motive in the case.

The shooting occurred a few blocks from where a man on Aug. 25 shot at another man riding down an escalator at the Columbia Heights Metro station. Police arrested a suspect in that case Thursday.

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said investigators do not have information to indicate the two shootings are related but are investigating the possibility because of their proximity.
D.C. police arrested one student and discharged pepper spray inside a Northwest Washington high school cafeteria Wednesday after a large fight broke out, according to a police department spokesman.

The incident occurred around lunchtime at Washington Metropolitan High School, in the 300 block of Bryant Street NW, near LeDroit Park. The campus has 125 students, and police said school was dismissed early to prevent further confrontations.

The student who was arrested punched a D.C. police officer in the face, said Dustin Sternbeck, the D.C. police chief spokesman. He said one student suffered effects from the pepper spray and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Sternbeck described the incident as a large fight that required extra officers to be sent in to restore order. He said only one officer discharged pepper spray. Authorities did not know why the students were fighting.

Michelle Lerner, spokeswoman for D.C. public schools, said the district takes the safety of our students and staff very seriously.

We are constantly monitoring our schools, working with other agencies, and updating security protocols as necessary to ensure our schools are safe and rigorous learning environments for all students.
A recently released felon who was radicalized in prison and expressed support for the Islamic State has been charged with illegally acquiring a firearm, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Alexandria said Friday.

Casey Charles Spain, 28, of Richmond, was arrested Thursday after receiving a disabled semiautomatic handgun from a source in a sting set up by the FBI, according to court records.

Spain was released from the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., on Aug. 11 after serving seven years for a 2010 conviction for abduction with intent to defile. He also has a previous conviction for malicious wounding.

The FBI had Spain under intense surveillance after his release because he told informants in prison that he had sworn allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and expressed interest in obtaining a firearm and traveling overseas to support the organization, according to a criminal complaint.

If he wasnt allowed to travel after his release, Spain told the informants, he would engage in jihad, including by attacking targets in the United States, the complaint says.



Casey Charles Spain, 28. (AP/Virginia Sex Offender Registry/AP)

While incarcerated, Spain got a tattoo that read Cop Killa on his cheek, as well as one of the Islamic State flag on his back.

The FBI made contact with Spain after prison through undercover agents and a confidential source, who met Spain on Aug. 19, the complaint says.

Spain told the source on multiple occasions about his desire to help the Islamic State and obtain a handgun, the complaint says. He made similar comments to prisoners who were still incarcerated in conversations recorded by the FBI and told prisoners he had conversations with Islamic State members overseas, according to court documents.

In addition to helping the Islamic State, Spain told the source he wanted a gun so he could kill police officers if they ever tried to arrest him, the complaint says. Spain intimated to the source that he didnt want to go back to prison because it would interfere with his plans to help the Islamic State, the complaint says.

The confidential source also told authorities Spain had no interest in making friends or finding a girlfriend; instead he talked almost exclusively about joining the Islamic State, according to the complaint.

On Tuesday, an undercover agent discussed plans with Spain to sell him a gun via messages exchanged through a cellphone messaging application, the complaint says. The next day, Spain told the confidential source and another undercover agent that he had made arrangements to buy a handgun with a 50-round barrel canister from someone online, the complaint says.

At that point, the FBI decided to set up the sting because of Spains violent history and eagerness to acquire a gun, the complaint says. Shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, the confidential source and an undercover FBI agent met Spain outside his home and gave him the handgun, the complaint says.

Following a short chase, an FBI SWAT team took Spain into custody. He has been charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years if convicted.

Spain is being held without bond.
A man suffered fatal injuries Thursday night after a vehicle hit him and fled the scene, near the Suitland Federal Center, Prince Georges County police said.

Officials said the victim was injured by a vehicle during a pedestrian accident in the 4500 block of Suitland Road about 9 p.m. Authorities transported the victim to a hospital, where he died, police said.

Detectives were searching for a description of the striking vehicle late Thursday.
Police have arrested Cesar Morales, who allegedly fired a gun down an escalator at the Columbia Heights Metro stop in the District. (D.C. police)

A 22-year-old man sought for allegedly firing a gun down an escalator at the Columbia Heights Metro station last week was arrested Thursday evening hiding under a car in a shopping mall parking garage in Montgomery County, according to law enforcement authorities.

Cesar Morales, 22, had been the subject of a manhunt since the shooting incident at lunchtime Aug. 25, which was caught on video at what typically is a busy station at Irving and 14th streets in Northwest Washington.

His apprehension, near Westfield Wheaton Mall, came hours after D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham held a news conference and made the suspects photo public, describing Morales as armed and dangerous. He was charged in a District warrant with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Capt. Paul Starks, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Police Department, said a resident called 911 at 5:09 p.m. and reported possibly seeing Morales along Grandview Avenue, between Veirs Mill Road and Georgia Avenue, in the large shopping plaza. Police officers who responded said they recognized Morales from his mug shot and tattoos on his neck and face. He does have a pretty unique look, Starks said.

Police said Morales ran from the officers and went into a garage. Police surrounded the garage and another bystander told them he saw somebody hiding under a car. Starks said Morales was arrested without incident. We really appreciate the people from Wheaton calling us, Starks said. It was good work by police officers. Nobody got hurt.

Morales appeared Friday in Montgomery County District Court and was ordered held without bail on charge of being a fugitive from justice. He faces extradition to the District. If he contests the move, he will have another hearing in the county.

The firearms discharge at the Columbia Heights Metro stop occurred about 12:15 p.m. on Aug 25. Surveillance video shows one man chasing another man and then standing atop an escalator and firing down into the station. No one was hit. The intended target disappeared and has not been interviewed by detectives.

Police said it took several hours to realize that a shot had been fired into the station, which is adjacent to a shopping center with a Target, Best Buy and other shops.

[Police identify suspect who allegedly shot gun down Metro station escalator]

Newsham said there was no information to suggest last weeks incident was linked to the Wednesday night fatal shooting of a 42-year-old man in the 1400 block of Harvard Street, just a few blocks south. But he said that because of their proximity, Were going to look at them and see if they are connected.

Court documents show that Morales has an extensive criminal record.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said that on Aug. 5, Morales walked away from a halfway house supervised by the Baltimore Residential Reentry Management Office, which oversees facilities in the District and four other states. A prison system spokesman did not identify the location of the halfway house.

Morales was nearing the end of serving a five-year sentence on several gun charges related to the July 2013 shooting of a man in the District. Authorities typically move inmates nearing release to halfway houses or other detention centers designed to transition them back into society. The federal prison system listed Morales as an escapee.

Court records say that in the 2013 incident, Morales argued with a man after nearly hitting him with a pickup truck. The two parted, but Morales returned and fired a single shot at the man, missing him but hitting the wall of a house on Holmead Place NW in Columbia Heights.

The jury convicted Morales of assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of an unregistered firearm. Prosecutors asked that Morales be imprisoned for more than seven years, but the judge sentenced him to five years followed by three years supervised release.

Editors note: An earlier version of this article said Morales was first spotted by a resident at 6:40 p.m. The time was incorrect. He was spotted at 5:09 p.m. The story has been corrected.
Prince Georges County police will start using a new tool this weekend that authorities hope will catch illegal ATV riders flat-footed  or in this case flat-tired.

Police plan to deploy a device that will puncture holes in tires and cause them to slowly deflate.

The idea is to force off-road vehicles that are operating illegally on highways and public roads to slow down when riders typically ignore police commands to pull over.

Police announced the use of the new tire deflating tool as part of a crackdown planned for Labor Day weekend that will target the illegal operation of ATVs and dirtbikes on public roads.

Swarms of the off-road vehicles have choked streets in downtown D.C., the National Harbor and other parts of the region, terrorizing motorists and pedestrians. But it has been difficult for police to make arrests. Riders don't stop when law enforcement tells them to pull over and officers can't chase them for fear of causing crashes and endangering others.

Prince Georges police said it will deploy more than 50 officers this weekend and work with Maryland State Police to monitor and go after illegal operations of ATVs and dirtbikes.

Law enforcement are also expect to launch helicopters and record illegal riding to later identify people and make arrests.

Cpl. Tyler Hunter, a spokesman for Prince Georges County police, said the deployment with Maryland State Police will be one of the largest the department has launched over a holiday weekend to deter illegal ATV and dirt bikes from taking over roads.

Hunter said the tire deflating device will be used when officers determine it is safe to redirect or slow down riders causing havoc on our roadways.

"If you remember the dangerous behavior we saw this summer at the National Harbor," Hunter said, "this is a new tool that we have to allow us to stop these bikes."
Two Virginia Department of Transportation officials were arrested Thursday for allegedly taking $140,000 in bribes from snow-removal contractors, according to prosecutors and court documents.

The bribery scheme started in the 2013-2014 snow season and involved more than $9.1 million in contracts, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

The state officials steered snow-clearing work to contractors in exchange for bribes and the officials often got a cut of the contractors payment from the commonwealth, prosecutors said.

Anthony Willie, superintendent at the Burke-area maintenance headquarters, and his deputy, Kenneth Adams, secretly sought to enrich themselves by corruptly demanding . . . and agreeing to receive and accept bribes . . . in exchange for being influenced in the performance of official acts in their roles as public officials, according to the indictment.

Willie, 54, of Culpeper, was charged with honest-services mail and wire fraud. Adams, 41, of Fairfax, and four Northern Virginia contractors also face fraud charges, according to the indictment. All six men were also charged with conspiracy. Each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years per count, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia.

The cases were brought after a joint investigation by the FBI, Virginia State Police and Fairfax County police. The VDOT Assurance and Compliance Office also contributed, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

A VDOT spokeswoman, Jennifer McCord, said the transportation agency provided assistance to the investigative team and will continue to do so, as needed, but had no further comment.

The other defendants are Rolando Alfonso Pineda Moran of Alexandria; Shaheen Sariri of Fairfax; John Lee Williamson of Springfield; and Elmer Antonio Mejia of Aldie, according to court documents.

Willie, Adams and Pineda Moran were not represented by lawyers at a court appearance Thursday, and the district court system did not yet list attorneys for them. A man who answered Pineda Morans cellphone said he was not available. The other five defendants did not respond to messages or could not be reached

According to the indictment, Adams, whose government title was supervisor of maintenance, also has secretly operated as a VDOT subcontractor through a company named Supreme Landscaping, based in Sterling.

From 2011 through 2016, Mejia, who owns DW&J Trucking and DW&E Trucking, allegedly paid Adams more than $160,000, frequently disguising the payments as pay for snow removal work, according to a statement from the U.S. attorneys office.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin let on Thursday that the administrations tax plan, which President Donald Trump was out selling, will arrive in the next few weeks. Hmm. The budget expires in a little more than four weeks. Do we really think an actual tax reform bill will be introduced, debated and voted upon (as part of budget reconciliation) when there will be nothing in hand for weeks?

Given the need to pass the debt ceiling, keep the government running and fund Harvey hurricane relief and the usual dysfunction weve come to expect from the White House and GOP Congress, I wouldnt bet on tax reform getting done this year. And what about just a straight tax cut? Weve argued that a big tax for the rich is economically unnecessary and politically untenable. Beyond that, however, is the issue of how to pay for it, a quaint notion in some quarters, but one that should be revisited.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget argues, It is more important now than ever that tax reform does not add to the debt. This means that every tax cut needs to be replaced with an equivalent offset that ensures that tax reform does not much our unsustainable fiscal situation even worse. Several of CRFBs reasons for opposing debt-creating tax legislation deserve consideration.

First, the damage from skyrocketing debt should deter debt-adding tax cuts:

As a share of the economy, debt held by the public is currently 77 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is higher than its been since the end of World War II and nearly twice the average of the last half-century. On its current path, debt will exceed the size of the economy by 2033 and exceed 150 percent of GDP by 2047. High and rising debt threatens economic and wage growth, the governments ability to respond to new challenges, and the nations fiscal sustainability. Policymakers need to reduce the debt, not add to it.

Moreover, since the economy is humming along and unemployment is low, wed argue that the harm from the debt increased by unpaid-for tax cuts outweighs any benefit wed derive from the cuts. Given that this administration has no desire to produce entitlement reform and that we will need to pay for Harvey rebuilding, theres no reason to ladle on even more debt.

Second, debt-creating tax plans dont work all that well. (In fact, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in 2011 that tax reform producing $600 billion of net revenue would produce about one-third more growth over the long run than revenue-neutral tax reform with the same structure.) We would argue further that especially for corporate tax reform the benefit comes from simplification (flatter rates, less loopholes) that discourage unproductive business activity. You dont need to tax businesses in the aggregate any less to achieve that objective.

Third, whatever you hear from the administration, remember that tax cuts do not pay for themselves:

While well-designed tax cuts can promote economic growth that leads to more revenue, there is no realistic scenario that this dynamic revenue will be as large as the initial tax cut. In order for a tax cut to pay for itself, it would need to grow the economy about $4 to $6 for every dollar of revenue loss. There is no historical case of a tax cut achieving this goal. Economic analysis has shown that tax cuts can only pay for themselves when the top federal rate is much higher than it is todaymany economists believe the top rate would need to be above 60 percent. At best, the dynamic revenues from growth could pay for a fraction of the tax cuts cost. Given our fiscal situation, tax cuts should be fully paid for without dynamic revenue so that the gains from economic growth can be used to address our mounting debt.

Id add two more reasons to avoid a big, unpaid-for tax cut. First, that sort of tax plan entails a big, disproportionate tax cut for the rich. Thats not what Trump ran on, and it will increase all the problems (e.g. wealth inequality, cynicism about government) that fueled the Trump phenomenon to begin with. Second, to pass muster under reconciliation the tax cuts would have to be temporary, which makes no sense in the corporate tax realm and will revisit the sort of political standoff we faced with the George W. Bush tax cuts (on which Republicans relented, allowing tax cuts on upper-income individuals to expire). Aside from the political gridlock it creates this is no way to construct a tax system. Proceeding in this way simply increases what businesses and investors hate mostuncertainty.
These photos were posted online by Metro Transit Police in a wanted poster for the person who threw urine on a bus driver. (Metro Transit Police)

A woman accused of splashing a bus driver with a tumbler full of urine told police she did it because she hates Metro, but later felt bad after seeing news reports and decided to turn herself in. Meanwhile, the bus driver was so traumatized by the incident that she hasnt returned to work and is fearful she contracted a disease or infection from the attack, co-workers said.

Opal L. Brown, 38, of Southeast Washington pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor simple assault in D.C. Superior Court.

She was released on her own recognizance and is scheduled to appear again in court in late September. Until then, a judge ordered her to stay away from the X2 bus line and from the bus driver she is accused of assaulting.

The judge also ordered Brown to undergo weekly drug tests and be assessed for possible mental health services.

Brown, who appeared in court wearing a pink-and-black skirt and gray zip-up sweater, was quiet as she appeared before the judge. She declined to speak with reporters.

But a description of Browns alleged assault and subsequent arrest, provided by Metro Transit Police, appeared to shed light on what may have prompted her actions while riding the X2 bus Saturday afternoon near the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road.

According to the police report, Brown told police she was standing by the door of the bus, waiting to get off. The driver, a newly hired Metro employee, told Brown to have a nice day. Brown shot back, Are you talking to me? Brown said she then threw the purple coffee tumbler at the driver. She said she had used the tumbler to relieve herself at the back of the bus, according to the report.

[The defendant] stated the cup was filled to the top with urine and she tossed the urine on the [bus driver] because she was mad at [the driver] and hates Metro, the police report said.

[Woman who allegedly threw urine on bus driver for telling her have a nice day says driver could have been more courteous]

The incident was captured on the buss surveillance video.

The bus driver went to a hospital to be cleaned up and decontaminated, and transit police searched for the assailant, without success, in the area where the bus had stopped.

According to the report, Browns actions began to hang heavy on her conscience after she saw news reports that police were looking for the assailant.

At 3 a.m. Wednesday, the report says, she flagged down a police officer  the hotline number provided in the news reports was apparently not being answered in the middle of the night, she said  and confessed to the crime, the police report said.

She told police that she spoke with her pastor about the incident, and he encouraged her to turn herself in. She also told police that she had an apology letter that she wanted to have read to the media.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said the agency has the letter but cannot release it because it is considered evidence.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, Metros largest union, filled the courtroom Thursday and waited hours for Browns appearance.

[It starts and stops in front of the White House. What happens along the way isnt always so pretty.]

Union Vice President Carroll Thomas said he spoke to the victim Thursday morning. She has not returned to work, he said, and she is fearful that she might have contracted a disease or infection from the attack, particularly because the contents of the cup splashed onto her face and into her mouth.

Shes so torn up, its ridiculous, he said. Shes so scared that she might be infected with something.

The driver, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is a relatively new bus operator, having just completed her initial 90-day probationary period. But Thomas said similar incidents happen frequently to operators.

Juice, a fire extinguisher  things get poured on us or thrown at us all the time, said Thomas, who has been driving buses for Metro for 18 years. Operators have even reported being spat upon.

Assaults on drivers have long been a concern; there were 75 last year. The X2 route has among the highest number of reported incidents of crime among Metros nearly 300 routes.

Thomas and other union officials say Metro Transit Police have not done enough to protect drivers and prevent assaults.

They have no real plan on how to combat this, and theyve done nothing to protect the operators, Thomas said.

Union officials say Metro has not sought input from the union on potential solutions or strategies and that transit officials dont take the problem seriously.

Thomas gestured at the courtroom and the union members filling the seats, many wearing matching red union T-shirts. Not a soul from management is here, he said. Theyre two blocks away, and no one comes down here for this.

Stessel, the Metro spokesman defended the agency and disputed the allegation that management is indifferent to violence against drivers.

We absolutely agree with the union that bus operator assaults are a serious concern. No one should be assaulted for doing their job, he said.

Stessel said three dozen police officers are assigned to a special Metrobus Enforcement Division. They ride buses and check in with operators about problems theyre noticing along their routes  often while wearing plainclothes to avoid tipping off would-be offenders.

Of course that doesnt cover every bus every day . . . but it is a sizable devotion of resources exclusively to bus, Stessel said.

The agency also installed clear plastic guards that are meant to separate the drivers seat from the rest of the bus.

But the union says they do not provide sufficient protection.

The shields are intended to protect operators from being punched or otherwise seriously injured by a passenger, but the one on the X2 bus Saturday did not prevent the attack. There also is a gap in the shield to allow drivers a direct line of sight to the rearview mirrors.

Stessel said the shields are installed on a third of buses now, and officials are working to retrofit older buses with the devices  the design of which was tested and vetted by union representatives.

We are open to any and all recommendations that bus operators have to help solve this problem, he said.

Metro management and the union agree on one thing: They both would like to see legislation that would increase the penalty for attacking a transit operator, automatically making it a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

Faiz Siddiqui contributed to this report.
A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, located at the center of Lee Circle along Monument Avenue in Richmond. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

Gov. Terry McAuliffe struck a softer tone on Confederate monuments Thursday, two weeks after urging Virginias cities and state legislature to move them to museums or graveyards.

McAuliffe (D) repeated his calls for removal  Move em to museums. Move em to battlefields. Move em to cemeteries. Put a bunch in the Hollywood Cemetery  but also said that is not likely to be a priority given the cost.

Listen, if Im the mayor of Richmond or Im on the City Council, Im faced with a tough decision, he said on WRVA radios Ask the Governor program. Do I spend  I dont know, $5 [million] or $10 million  taking something down when I got schools  Ill tell you my first priority has got to be schools, because I got to get people employed.

He also indicated he would be satisfied with adding context to statues, such as plaques, as Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney proposed in July for Confederate statues that line the citys Monument Avenue.

Lets go ahead and put some context to these things and move forward, McAuliffe said.

McAuliffes shift buoyed Virginia Republicans, who have largely been forced to play defense on monuments in this years race for governor, despite polling showing that a majority of Virginians want Confederate statues to stay put  the position GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie has staked out in his race against Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D).

A string of GOP missteps  from President Trumps widely panned response to the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville to a state Republican Party tweet that seemed to call Northam a race traitor for supporting removal  seemed to keep Gillespie from capitalizing on the issue.

[The Democrat running for Va. governor wants Confederate monuments to come down. Republicans say he turned his back on heritage]

On Thursday, McAuliffes remarks on his radio program gave Republicans hope that Northam would be left out on a limb on the issue.

McAuliffe Breaks From Northam On Historical Statues, the Republican Party of Virginia said in a news release.

McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor had not flipped on monuments but had simply acknowledged budgetary reality.

You can support the relocation of these things but also recognize there are many other urgent priorities that these governments have, he said. He agrees his first responsibility is to the living and breathing.

At least some Democratic officials expressed concern that both Northam and McAuliffe were too quick to stake out hard-line positions in the wake of Charlottesville. Northam came out for moving statues Aug. 16, four days after the Charlottesville rally that claimed three lives. Stoney and McAuliffe followed hours later.

[McAuliffe says Confederate statues should come down]

They got caught up a little in the excitement over Charlottesville and the need to do something, and maybe even the mistaken belief that everybody realized that the Confederate monuments are all about white supremacy. I believe they are, but I dont think all Virginians agree with that, said one Democratic elected official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as criticizing party leadership.

Northam and McAuliffe  like Gillespie  acknowledge that the governor does not have the power to order removal under state law. Cities have jurisdiction over their own statues in most cases. The governor would have some say over state-owned statues, such as the likeness of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee towering over Richmonds Monument Avenue, but the legislature would have to approve removal.

Northam pledged to be a vocal advocate for removal and do everything that I can . . . to remove the statues at the state level.

When asked specifically about the Stonewall Jackson monument at his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute, Northam told the New York Times that removal would be up to the board. As governor, Northam appoints the members of VMIs governing board, and his appointees would have control by the end of his term.

I wouldnt say we have walked back the language at all, Northam spokesman David Turner said.

He said Northam is not concerned about polling showing that 51 percent of Virginia voters favor keeping the monuments in public spaces while 28 percent favor removal.

There are obviously political consequences of every decision. but this is a conviction for him that its the right thing to do, Turner said. Charlottesville spurred a conversation about these monuments and what their role was in the public sphere. After Charlottesville happened, I think every official probably had a reckoning over what does it mean that theyve become rallying points for neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

[In former capital of the Confederacy, debate over statues is personal and painful]

However, the subject is clearly not one Northam wants to dominate his campaign.

Theres been a focus on this issue that I think is disproportionate to what voters have voiced concern about in terms of issues that are important in Virginia, Turner said.

Gillespie, meanwhile, has embraced the theme of protecting Confederate statues.

In an email to supporters this week, his campaign said, Add your name if you agree with Ed Gillespie that these statues should stay right where they are and we should teach history  NOT erase it.

Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report.


Pastor Marty Murray, piloting an airboat, and his group of volunteers tie up to their truck after a rescue mission. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)

Marty Murray and his friends powered the airboat along the water, passing cars submerged to near invisibility in the darkness, until the airboat suddenly ran aground onto asphalt and into the flashlight beams of three men carrying assault rifles.

It was after 9 p.m. and the sky was dark, the waters darker, and the police had urged people not to do things like this. But Murray, 45, was determined to rescue people tonight; determined to heed the calls coming in over the ad hoc walkie-talkie system that volunteers like him were using to help the people he knew were stranded out there in the darkness. And he had just driven three hours from New Caney. He wasnt going home empty-handed.

I gotta go to 61st Street to get a woman and a dog, he said, stepping out of the airboat and staring at the armed men.

Murray, a small-town church pastor and businessman by day, is among the hundreds or even thousands of ordinary Texans who have been transformed overnight  with the force of a flood, the blessing of some boats and no small dose of courage  into men with a higher purpose.

And so it was that on Wednesday night, after two days of rescuing flood victims in the small towns north of Houston where he lives, and after driving three hours east in pursuit of the moving storm and more rescues, Murray and his friends wound up in this devastated town on the Louisiana border, face to face with other ordinary men like them who also came to help.

Murray, an imposing man clad in camouflage rain boots, didnt like the fact that the men had guns, especially not with fears of possible looting coming in over the radio. What are you doing? he said, scowling at the men, who approached slowly under the orange glow of a street lamp. Youre going to scare people.

As they drew closer, the rifle-bearers turned out to be in their teens or early 20s, one wearing a Batman T-shirt and another a shirt that said USA Proud. They brought the guns for protection, they said mysteriously, because people are robbing people.

We got reports that there were 60 people over here robbing people, Murray responded. I said, I dont care.  There were people who needed rescuing, he added, and he had heard over the radio that there were 10 children nearby in need of an evacuation, as well as a woman and her dog.

A couple other volunteer rescuers  Brian Jamar, who runs an air conditioning company, and Josh Franqus, who works in septics  had by that point wandered over, too: They had responded to the same call. But they had been searching the area for hours and couldnt find any kids in need of rescue.

Im pretty sure it was a bogus call, Jamar, 29, said.

Murray persuaded a few of the others to join him and his friend for one last search anyway, and soon they were speeding off on another mans truck toward the address other volunteers had given them.



Murray and his group of volunteers wait for a call to take their boat in for a rescue at a staging area in Beaumont next to a Waffle House. They soon received a call to rescue a woman and a dog and 10 children trapped in an apartment. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)

They get an adrenaline-pumping thrill from these rescue calls, relayed over a phone app called Zello that enables ordinary people to play the role of emergency first responders, using words like roger and copy that as they report on rescues needed or undertaken.

Kristy Davis, a special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety, who works in the cluster of towns north of Houston where Murray lives, credited the volunteers in that area with rescuing at least 500 people in three days this week.

At improvised staging grounds in other neighborhoods around Houston, volunteers and sheriffs deputies have met and traded information. At one gas station in Cypress, where the Harris County Sheriffs Department showed up Tuesday to register volunteers and their boats, several dozen eager would-be helpers packed into the parking lot with everything from deep-water fishing boats to sea kayaks and water skis in tow.

The response was overwhelming, said Sarah Malkowsky, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriffs Department, who said hundreds more turned up at a department training facility where they registered more people. The hardest part was each one having to wait their turn. Some werent given an assignment right away and they left to find [rescue] work through their own means.

Some even showed up without boats. Anyone need an extra hand for their boat? one man called out at the gas station as a sheriffs deputy took down volunteer information.

All over Houston and nearby towns, trucks with boats have become a common sight, often driving directly toward the rising flood waters, as Murray, his friends and a snaking line of nearly a hundred other such volunteers did Wednesday night en route from Houston to the Louisiana border. Even as local police have issued stern warnings that residents who ignore mandatory evacuation orders will not be rescued, these men might show up anyway.

The outpouring of help has yielded no small degree of chaos in its own right. Its like when a shelter asks for supplies and the next thing you know, youve got a million bottles of water you dont know what to do with. With the volunteers, we were inundated, Davis said.

Its helpful, she added. But there are people who are doing it who have never been trained, and their boats are overturning and we have to rescue them.

The emergence of free-for-all amateur walkie-talkie networks has also given way to a flood of false claims and rumors, some the results of mass confusion and poor coordination among volunteers, and others the products of pranksters.

The day before he headed to Port Arthur, Murray and a couple dozen of his congregants who had gathered at the church to assist with rescues had been listening intently to all the walkie-talkie chatter and doing their best to respond.

There were urgent calls for rescues at a hotel and apartment complex in Katy, west of Houston, where the water was rising fast. There were warnings of an imminent explosion at a chemical plant in Conroe. And there was the never-ending stream of individual messages: the woman whose mother desperately needed blood pressure medication; the child and his family allegedly trapped on a rooftop; the old man in the attic; the woman who hadnt been heard from in days.

Hi maam? Yes, our rescuers are out in the area. Is there any way you could get ahold of your mother? a teen church volunteer in a pink shirt said into the phone at one point, as another woman scribbled addresses and updates on a whiteboard. Our guys are circling around, they cant find the house, the teen pleaded. We need her to come outside or something so they can figure out where shes at.

Murray, whose own home had flooded, and whose wife and three children were waiting out the flood at a friends house on higher ground, was running on three hours of sleep. But he felt pride and purpose in coordinating such a mission. By Wednesday, he estimated that he had helped more than 30 people get to safety.

This is the community, he said, as he surveyed the parking lot of his small church, where he and his congregation had successfully created a launching point for area rescuers. There were fishing and leisure boats, airboats, jet skis and johnboats. In his church lobby, a mass of strangers in camouflage and waders stood around chomping on ham sandwiches, airing the odor of damp feet as they changed into dry, donated socks, and turning to Murray for orders.

Is there anywhere we can go right now? a man in beige waders asked, as Murray directed his own voice to the airwaves: Does anyone need boats in New Caney?

But not all the rescues were successful: There were dozens of times that the rescuers showed up  sometimes braving treacherous currents and unpredictable water levels  to find no victims in need of help.

Its so busy that people are reaching them and no one is ever getting on there and saying, We got them,  Murray said at one point. Its emotional. Youve got pandemonium.

Other times, the help that was needed turned out to be less urgent: a cat in an empty house or a man who probably could have walked to safety in ankle-deep water. And then there were the more curious cases of those who didnt want to be rescued at all, such as the drunk woman in the flooded home who tried to fight off the men responding to the rescue request made by her concerned daughter, or the old man in the attic who didnt want to leave without his 17 dogs.

(That one prompted Murray to get on the phone: Either my guys get you, or the constables are going to come in and get you, he warned. My guys put their lives at risk to come in and get you, brother, and we need you to come out of there.)

In the darkness of Wednesday night, after chasing a storm that had moved east, three hours from his home, Murray was facing the real possibility that there would be no successful rescue here to feel good about.

There were some horses on a traffic median, and some dogs on a balcony, but the 10 children for whom the anonymous dispatchers had pleaded were nowhere to be found. If they existed at all, they probably had been rescued hours before.

Man, I am so sick of people not being there, he exclaimed.

But there was one rescue: A 22-year-old in plaid pajama bottoms who had been stranded at a friends house. We need to get this man to the hospital, Murray announced as he powered up the airboats roaring propeller, the young man climbing aboard.



Murray is thanked by a young man whose mother had called in to say he needed to be rescued from a friend's house. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)

It turned out the man, a college student who gave his name as Robert, was fine. His friends house, though isolated by nearby floodwaters, was never damaged. But his mother, who works at the hospital, wanted him home, he said. I guess my mom was worried and asked them to get me, he said sheepishly.

Motoring back down the dark expanse of water, past the submerged cars, the airboats exhaust pipe suddenly snapped, as did the rudder. The boat briefly lost control, nearly hitting a mailbox and a car.

The water was shallow enough, so the men walked the rest of the way to dry pavement; Robert in his pajamas, the murky water up to his calves.

After depositing their rescue at the hospital, Murray and his friends conceded that he would be their only one in Port Arthur. The boat was inoperable, and one of the men had to get to his job working on refrigeration trucks back in New Caney the next morning.

There were still calls coming in over the walkie-talkie, and still more potential rescues out there in the darkness that Murray wished he could get to.

It sucks to come all this way, he said. But at least we got one person. So we didnt come out here for nothing.

That near-miss with the mailbox out in the water was pretty crazy, too, his friend John Peters added.

Did you see me slide all the way over to the bridge to get out of the way? Murray responded, as the men started laughing. They had to admit, this work was also kind of fun.



Murray and his group of volunteers end their night after returning on their damaged boat to their truck. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)

How Houstons Wild West growth may have contributed to devastating flooding

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TENNESSEE

Dealer convicted for conspiracy, fraud

A military equipment dealer was convicted Thursday of scheming with soldiers at Fort Campbell, Ky., to steal sensitive material for sale to buyers in Russia, China and Mexico.

John Roberts, of Clarksville, Tenn., was found guilty of conspiracy to steal and sell government property, two counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act and 10 counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors said he faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy and up to 20 years for each count of arms export violations and wire fraud.

More than $1 million in weapons parts, body armor, helmets, gun sights and other equipment was stolen and sold in a vast black market, prosecutors said. Six soldiers and another civilian pleaded guilty. One testified Roberts was given a tour of the base to see items to be stolen. Eventually, they brought equipment back from Afghanistan and sold it by the truckload.

Roberts, 27, testified he did not know the soldiers were bringing him stolen equipment. He said the items he bought and sold were commonly found in surplus stores, gun stores and on eBay.

But prosecutors said Roberts knowingly made hundreds of thousands of dollars supplying a vast black market for years, and his own text messages with the soldiers and others involved proved he led the conspiracy.

A former business partner, Cory Wilson, testified he and Roberts would find soldiers selling military items through classified ads or on Facebook. The soldiers they targeted were often young and broke or needed money for drugs, Wilson said.

 Associated Press

FLORIDA

State attorney loses fight over death penalty

A Florida state attorney who refused to seek the death penalty lost her court fight Thursday with the Republican governor who reassigned her murder cases to another prosecutor.

The state Supreme Court ruled Gov. Rick Scott (R) had the power to reassign cases from Orlando-area State Attorney Aramis Ayala.

The ruling ends a power struggle between Scott and Ayala that began in March when she said she wouldnt consider seeking the death penalty in any homicide case. Her decision outraged Scott and others because execution wouldnt be an option if Markeith Loyd was convicted in the slayings of an Orlando police lieutenant and Loyds pregnant ex-girlfriend.

Scott has reassigned more than 25 cases to a neighboring prosecutor, including ongoing murder cases and resentencing hearings for people already on death row.

Ayala said in a news release she respects the courts decision and that she has formed a panel of seven assistant state attorneys to review every death penalty eligible case.

In March, Ayala said the process of executing someone convicted of murder is costly, isnt a crime deterrent and drags on for years for the victims relatives. When the state Supreme Court heard her case in June, she said she has followed state law and theres nothing that requires her to seek the death penalty. The only other option in first degree murder cases is life in prison without parole.

But the court ruling said Ayala has shown a misunderstanding of state law by having a blanket policy instead of considering the death penalty case by case.

 Associated Press

OKLAHOMA

Freedmen gain right to tribal citizenship

Descendants of black slaves, known as freedmen, who once were owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have a right to tribal citizenship under a ruling handed down by a federal court in D.C.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled Wednesday in a long-standing dispute between the Cherokee Freedmen and the second-largest tribe in the United States which claims more than 317,000 citizens.

The Cherokee Nation can continue to define itself as it sees fit, Hogan wrote in the ruling, but must do so equally and evenhandedly with respect to native Cherokees and the descendants of Cherokee Freedmen.

Freedmen have long argued the Treaty of 1866, signed between the U.S. government and the Tahlequah, Okla.-based Cherokees, gave them and their descendants all the rights of native Cherokees. There are around 3,000 freedmen descendants .

While many white Americans owned black slaves until after the Civil War, so did some Cherokee tribesmen  but the practice generally ended with the 1866 treaty that afforded freed slaves the same rights as native Cherokees.

 Associated Press

ILLINOIS

Truck driver accused of aiding terrorism

A 31-year-old truck driver was arrested Thursday at his suburban Chicago home on federal terrorism charges filed in New York. He is accused of being part of a U.S. network that raised money for would-be terrorists to travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants and another designated terrorist group, the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (once known as the al-Nusrah Front).

Dilshod Khusanov, who is married and originally from Uzbekistan, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Chicago hours after his 6 a.m. arrest at his Villa Park home.

In a two-count indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Khusanov is charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorists and one count of attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorists. Each count carries a maximum 15-year prison term.

 Associated Press
Few remember today the role Gov. Cecil Andrus played in saving the Middle Snake River in the early 1990s, but help save it he did.

Few also remember the condition of the Mid Snake at that time. It was being filled with sediment and nutrients from return flows and was choked with weed growth and algae making boating nearly impossible on many stretches of the river. It was so bad the county commissioners and others from Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln and Twin Falls started meeting as a group to find solutions. The commissioners knew they would need a lot of help from both state and federal agencies if a solution was to be found.

Lew Pence, of the Wood River Resource Area, came up with the idea of hosting a picnic by the river and inviting dignitaries to the event. Several people from the Department of Environmental Quality, and others, gave a briefing on the various causes of the problem. These included the proposal for several new hydropower plants within the reach of the river between Milner Dam and the Idaho Power facility known as the Lower Salmon Falls Dam near Hagerman.

After the briefing, some attendees, including Gov. Andrus, were ushered to boats to view the situation for themselves. Gov. Andrus and I were placed on a Gooding County boat, which shortly after leaving the dock became mired in plant growth. It took the county deputy about 20 minutes to clean the impeller and row us back to open water. During that time, the governor asked a lot of questions and showed his concern.

A few days later, I received a call from the governors office asking if I could meet the governor at the Twin Falls airport to fly the Mid Snake. The overview was shocking. Gov. Andrus asked me what the counties needed to help with the task, and I told him we needed the expertise and support from state and federal agencies dealing with our regions water, and because of him we got it.

The governor and I were at completely opposite ends of the political spectrum and he knew it, but our desire to conserve Idahos environment was more important than politics. While there is still much to be done on water quality throughout this region, we got off to a strong start because of Cecil Andrus.
In Harveys aftermath, authorities confronted crises on several fronts. Houston remained flooded, and police there continued rescuing people while officials searched homes. President Trump declared a National Day of Prayer for Harvey victims.

Sept. 4, 2017 Columbus Rodeo Johnson holds Kim, his kitten, in front of his mother-in-laws home in Wharton, which was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post
Smoke is seen following an airstrike on the western frontline of Raqa on July 17, during an offensive by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a majority Kurdish and Arab alliance, to retake the city from Islamic State fighters. (Bulent Kilic/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE via Getty Images)

As the U.S.-led coalition accelerates its campaign to destroy the Islamic States remaining strongholds in Syria, the Trump administration faces a big decision about the future: Does it want to keep some U.S. troops inside the country to help stabilize Syria after the jihadists are defeated, or does it want to pack up and come home?

The dilemma is eerily like what President Barack Obama faced in Iraq in 2011, and the risks and benefits are similar. President Trump, like his predecessor, has expressed skepticism about permanent U.S. wars in the Middle East. But he also knows that pulling out U.S. troops from bases east of the Euphrates could create a vacuum that might trigger ethnic slaughter, regional proxy wars and a new wave of jihadist violence.

The military and civilian officials who have been closest to U.S.-Syria policy appear convinced that America should maintain a residual presence, probably something under 1,000 Special Operations forces that could continue to train and advise  and also, restrain  the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been Americas key partner against the Islamic State. But this alliance with the Kurds is controversial, inside Syria and out.

The political map of Syria, for now, looks like a patchwork quilt, with different bands controlled by rival groups and their patrons. The United States and its Kurdish partners dominate east of the Euphrates River. The Syrian regime, with its Russian and Iranian allies, controls the vast center of the country; Turkish-backed forces control a strip along the northern border; and a Jordanian-Russian deconfliction agreement has pacified the southwest.

Few analysts expect that Syria can be reunified by President Bashar al-Assad. So, for the foreseeable future, the country will be divided into these zones of influence  awaiting a political transition process that can reestablish the legitimacy and authority of a new central government in Damascus.

The U.S. piece of this puzzle is the area east of the Euphrates. The Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG, advised by elite American forces and backed by U.S. air power, has swept across this area over the past three years, and in about six weeks is expected to seize the Islamic States capital of Raqqa. As they advanced, the Kurds recruited Sunni Arab allies into a broader coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The ad hoc military alliance that produced the SDF has many critics. The Sunni-dominated Syrian opposition fears that the Kurdish fighters want to create an independent state, and neighboring Turkey sees them as terrorists. But battlefield success generates its own political momentum, and as the United States and the SDF have advanced, something of a bandwagon effect has developed. Sunni opposition groups now seem eager to fight alongside the Kurdish-led forces, under overall U.S. command.

This new willingness to work in tandem with the Kurds was voiced by Riyad Hijab, the head of the Syrian opposition coalition known as the High Negotiations Committee. He said in a recent interview that his supporters want to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups, alongside with the SDF, as long as we fight independently in separate fronts.

Hijab claimed that up to 5,000 Sunni opposition forces would be ready to join the United States and the SDF in liberating Deir al-Zour, the next big town in the Euphrates Valley southeast of Raqqa. The Sunni opposition groups apparently prefer allying with Kurds to Assads regime.

U.S. officials are pleased that Hijab and other opposition leaders want to join the fight in the Euphrates Valley. But they say the new recruits arent ready for heavy fighting, and that Deir al-Zour will almost certainly be taken by 10,000 Syrian regime troops that are already in the town, joined by regime forces now moving east, with Russian and Iranian backing. The Iranian presence worries some U.S. officials, but they say regime control of Deir al-Zour is probably inevitable.

U.S. commanders say the real strategic prize is further south. They say as soon as Raqqa is secure, SDF troops (joined by whatever other Arab forces are ready), hope to advance toward the lower Euphrates Valley, south of Deir al-Zour. The United States hopes that Iraqi forces across the border will help check Iranian power in the area.

What happens next? That depends in part on whether U.S. military advisers stay in eastern Syria. If they remain, say U.S. officials, they can curb the Kurds ambitions for independence, deter the Turks from intervening and encourage the Sunni opposition to work with all sides. A future U.S. presence will be essential, says Hijab.

And if they leave quickly? Weve seen this movie before.

Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
The Trump administrations principal response to North Korea, intentional or not, is sowing confusion. One day the president threatens fire and fury, or ominously announces that an armada led by an aircraft carrier is headed for the Korean coast; the next, he is contradicted by a Pentagon spokesperson or a White House political adviser, who says the United States would not initiate hostilities, or that there is no military option, or that the aircraft carrier is actually headed in the opposite direction.

The United States is seeing our pathway to sometime in the near future having some dialogue with the regime of Kim Jong Un, says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. No, talking is not the answer, tweets President Trump a week later. But wait: Were never out of diplomatic solutions, says Defense Secretary Jim Mattis later that day.

Perhaps Kim and his cronies have been confounded; certainly, U.S. allies Japan and South Korea have been. But it doesnt look like it. While the rhetoric flies in Washington, Pyongyang persistently and craftily pursues its drive to acquire nuclear-armed ICBMs while stopping just short of provocations that might demand some kind of U.S. military response.

If an actual U.S. policy lurks beneath all that noise, its a lot like that pursued by the Obama administration. Ramp up pressure on the regime, through sanctions and by pressuring China; try to disrupt nuclear and missile activities with covert actions. Meanwhile, wait for a diplomatic opening. Its the obvious game plan and probably better than nothing.

Yet, as the experts keep pointing out, it has almost no chance of working. The North Korean regime has shown that it can endure almost any sanctions. In the 1990s, it willingly allowed millions of its own people to starve to death. As for negotiations, Kims father twice agreed to the dismantlement of his nuclear program, and each time was caught cheating. His son has shown no interest in talks  he wont even set foot in China, his biggest patron. Even if negotiations took place, the current regime has made clear that it will never place its self-defensive nuclear deterrence on the negotiating table, as one envoy recently put it.

The deal that some doves favor is a freeze on the current North Korean nuclear stockpile and missiles in exchange for a suspension of U.S. military exercises in South Korea. That would introduce a lethal crack in the U.S. alliance with Seoul, and in the U.S. standing in Asia generally  which is why China and Russia love the idea.

All of which raises the question of why the only thing Trump, his Cabinet and his staff appear to agree on when it comes to North Korea is this: The United States will offer no challenge to the legitimacy of a regime that holds hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in slave labor camps; imprisons and tortures children; exports chemical agents to Syria; and assassinates its opponents in other countries using those banned weapons.

The U.S. has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea, wrote Tillerson and Mattis in a recent joint op-ed. But why? Regime change is the only way to definitively end the North Korean nuclear threat. As former State Department human rights chief Tom Malinowski has argued, Political change in Pyongyang and the reunification of Korea, as hard as it may be to imagine, is actually much more likely than the denuclearization of the present regime.

The United States cant force a political opening in Pyongyang; probably even China cant. But it can foster conditions for one, just as it did in other seemingly impenetrable places, such as the former Soviet bloc. The same tactics are available: campaigning for the human rights of North Koreans, drawing maximum attention to the regimes crimes and opening channels of information for ordinary people in North Korea.

During the 1980s the U.S. government supported groups that distributed videotapes and underground newspapers in communist countries, in addition to broadcasting news and information. The Obama administration did the same in North Korea, but on a tiny scale: The State Department set aside just $3 million for it last year, according to Malinowski.

Trumps budget request did not include any funding at all, and Tillerson just went so far as to eliminate the State Departments special envoy for North Korean human rights as a separate position. He and Trump appear to be betting that offering endorsement to one of the worlds most vile regimes will prompt it to stop threatening the United States with nuclear attack. In so doing, they are giving up what is probably their most potent leverage.

The truth is that the internal crimes of the regime and the external threat it poses are inextricable  something that could be overlooked only by an administration dedicated to obtuseness on human rights.

Read more from Jackson Diehls archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Betsy Rader is an employment lawyer at Betsy Rader Law LLC, located in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. She is running as a Democrat to represent Ohios 14th Congressional District in the U.S. House.

J.D. Vances book Hillbilly Elegy, published last year, has been assigned to students and book clubs across the country. Pundits continue to cite it as though the author speaks for all of us who grew up in poverty. But Vance doesnt speak for me, nor do I believe that he speaks for the vast majority of the working poor.

From a quick glance at my resume, you might think me an older, female version of Vance. I was born in Appalachia in the 1960s and grew up in the small city of Newark, Ohio. When I was 9, my parents divorced. My mom became a single mother of four, with only a high school education and little work experience. Life was tough; the five of us lived on $6,000 a year.

Like Vance, I attended Ohio State University on scholarship, working nights and weekends. I graduated at the top of my class and, again like Vance, attended Yale Law School on a financial-need scholarship. Today, I represent people whove been fired illegally from their jobs. And now that Im running for Congress in Northeast Ohio, I speak often with folks who are trying hard but not making much money.

Although high school graduation rates are rising and there are more private and federal grants available, most low-income students have a tough time attending and staying in college. Here are nine facts about poor students and the college experience. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

A self-described conservative, Vance largely concludes that his family and peers are trapped in poverty due to their own poor choices and negative attitudes. But I take great exception when he makes statements such as: We spend our way into the poorhouse. We buy giant TVs and iPads. Our children wear nice clothes thanks to high-interest credit cards and payday loans. We purchase homes we dont need, refinance them for more spending money, and declare bankruptcy. . . . Thrift is inimical to our being.

Who is this we of whom he speaks? Vances statements dont describe the family in which I grew up, and they dont describe the families I meet who are struggling to make it in America today. I know that my family lived on $6,000 per year because as children, we sat down with pen and paper to help find a way for us to live on that amount. My mom couldnt even qualify for a credit card, much less live on credit. She bought our clothes at discount stores.

Thrift was not inimical to our being; it was the very essence of our being.

With lines like We choose not to work when we should be looking for jobs, Vances sweeping stereotypes are shark bait for conservative policymakers. They feed into the mythology that the undeserving poor make bad choices and are to blame for their own poverty, so taxpayer money should not be wasted on programs to help lift people out of poverty. Now these inaccurate and dangerous generalizations have been made required college reading.

Here is the simple fact: Most poor people work. Seventy-eight percent of families on Medicaid include a household member who is working. People work hard in necessary and important jobs that often dont pay them enough to live on. For instance, child-care workers earn an average of $22,930 per year, and home health aides average $23,600. (Indeed, it is a sad irony that crucial jobs around caretaking and children have always paid very little.)

The problem with living in constant economic insecurity is not a lack of thrift, it is that people in these circumstances are always focused on the current crisis. They cant plan for the future because they have so much to deal with in the present. And the future seems so bleak that it feels futile to sacrifice for it. What does motivate most people is the belief that the future can be better and that we have a realistic opportunity to achieve it. But sometimes that takes help.

Yes, I worked hard, but I didnt just pull myself up by my bootstraps. And neither did Vance. The truth is that people helped us out: My public schools guidance counselor encouraged me to go to college. The government helped us out: I received scholarships and subsidized federal loans to help pay my educational expenses. The list of helpers goes on.

Now that so many people have read Hillbilly Elegy this summer, I hope they draw this better moral from the story: Individuals can make a difference in others lives, and by providing opportunities for all, our government can do the same. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be legitimate expectations for everyone, hillbillies included.
WHEN HE ran successfully for president of Guatemala two years ago, Jimmy Morales was a political novice, best known as a television comedian playing feeble-minded peasants. It turns out Mr. Morales, now caught up in a corruption probe and constitutional crisis of his own making, is just as dim-witted as the characters he once portrayed.

Faced with a spiraling inquiry into allegations that his campaign received more than $800,000 in anonymous, unreported contributions, and could not explain how it covered major expenditures, Mr. Morales decided to take aim at his primary accuser. Bad move.

The target of the presidents pique is Ivan Velasquez, a deeply respected Colombian lawyer who heads the United Nations anti-corruption commission in Guatemala. A uniquely powerful agency that works with local prosecutors, the decade-old commission, under Mr. Velasquezs direction since 2013, has uncovered a staggering number of systemic scandals. They included a mammoth customs fraud and bribery plot that toppled Mr. Moraless predecessor, Otto Perez Molina, who is now in jail facing trial.

As Mr. Velasquez and his team of international investigators closed in on the campaign finance scandal last week, the president hightailed it to New York, seeking relief from U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Failing to get it, on Sunday Mr. Morales ordered Mr. Velasquez expelled from Guatemala for exceeding his authority.

Mr. Moraless expulsion order was not just artless; it was political suicide. Denounced by the United States and its Western European allies, the order was promptly reversed by Guatemalas highest court. The health minister and other top officials resigned in protest. In New York, Mr. Guterres pronounced himself shocked. In the capital, Guatemalans took to the streets to protest. Now the countrys attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to revoke the presidents immunity from prosecution.

One of Latin Americas most graft-steeped countries, Guatemala is notorious for corruption and judicial impotence, and its politicians and officials have long enjoyed impunity. Political campaigns are bankrolled by government contractors. Murder is rarely prosecuted. Accountability barely exists in the public arena. It is no secret that Guatemalas broader ills, including an extreme case of income inequality, cannot be addressed by an ongoing pattern of kleptocratic governance working in league with organized crime and drug-trafficking networks.

Mr. Velasquez, known as Ivan the Feared, has done more than anyone to attack those problems systematically and promote the rule of law. For that  and for protecting judges and prosecutors, establishing a witness protection program and utilizing modern investigative techniques  he and the commission are widely revered.

Mr. Morales, whose party was backed by right-wing military officers implicated in Guatemalas murderous, decades-long civil war, won election pledging to fight the corruption that has consumed us. Now it seems likely to consume him. If the countrys Supreme Court and Congress agree to strip him of official immunity, his days in office, and possibly as a free man, may be numbered. With more pushing by Mr. Velasquez, so may Guatemalas systemic corruption.
John McCain, a Republican, represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate.

Americans recoiled from the repugnant spectacle of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville to promote their un-American blood and soil ideology. There is nothing in their hate-driven racism that can match the strength of a nation conceived in liberty and comprising 323 million souls of different origins and opinions who are equal under the law.

Most of us share Heather Heyers values, not the depravity of the man who took her life. We are the country that led the free world to victory over fascism and dispatched communism to the ash heap of history. We are the superpower that organized not an empire, but an international order of free, independent nations that has liberated more people from poverty and tyranny than anyone thought possible in the age of colonies and autocracies.

Our shared values define us more than our differences. And acknowledging those shared values can see us through our challenges today if we have the wisdom to trust in them again.

After President Trump's most recent rhetoric about Charlottesville inflamed even more criticism, many Republicans stayed silent. But a handful of GOP lawmakers and now Trump's own economic adviser are directly criticizing him. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Congress will return from recess next week facing continued gridlock as we lurch from one self-created crisis to another. We are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties. Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important.

Thats not how we were meant to govern. Our entire system of government  with its checks and balances, its bicameral Congress, its protections of the rights of the minority  was designed for compromise. It seldom works smoothly or speedily. It was never expected to.

It requires pragmatic problem-solving from even the most passionate partisans. It relies on compromise between opposing sides to protect the interests we share. We can fight like hell for our ideas to prevail. But we have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other.

That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct.

We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We dont answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation.

I argued during the health-care debate for a return to regular order, letting committees of jurisdiction do the principal work of crafting legislation and letting the full Senate debate and amend their efforts.

We wont settle all our differences that way, but such an approach is more likely to make progress on the central problems confronting our constituents. We might not like the compromises regular order requires, but we can and must live with them if we are to find real and lasting solutions. And all of us in Congress have the duty, in this sharply polarized atmosphere, to defend the necessity of compromise before the American public.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for more senators to reach across the aisle and be less concerned with winning on July 25. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet," he said. "To hell with them!" (U.S. Senate)

Lets try that approach on a budget that realistically meets the nations critical needs. We all know spending levels for defense and other urgent priorities have been woefully inadequate for years. But we havent found the will to work together to adjust them. The appropriators cant complete their spending bills, and were stuck with threats of a government shutdown and continuing resolutions that underfund national security. A compromise that raises spending caps for both sides priorities is better than the abject failure that has been our achievement to date.

Lets also try that approach on immigration. The president has promised greater border security. We can agree to that. A literal wall might not be the most effective means to that end, but we can provide the resources necessary to secure the border with smart and affordable measures. Lets make it part of a comprehensive bill that members of both parties can get behind  one that values our security as well as the humanity of immigrants and their contributions to our economy and culture.

Lets try it on tax reform and infrastructure improvement and all the other urgent priorities confronting us. These are all opportunities to show that ordinary, decent, free people can govern competently, respectfully and humbly, and to prove the value of the United States Congress to the great nation we serve.
In his Aug. 27 Local Opinions essay, The statues are moving, and the names are changing, Virginia Del. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) suggested that the Appomattox statue in Alexandria lioniz[es] the Confederacy and should therefore be removed. But remember that the most beloved war memorial in Washington, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also honors soldiers who died in a war that many believe to have been immoral. The Vietnam Memorial honors the dead, not the war. Why should Appomattox be interpreted differently? The statue does not endorse slavery or the Confederacy. Rather, it remembers those Alexandrians who died in the consciousness of duty faithfully performed.

Soldiers go to war for many reasons, and many in the South fought from a sense of duty to their state. While many today call that treason, that is a judgment made in hindsight. As documentarian Ken Burns emphasized, before the war one said the United States are; only after the war did one say the United States is  reflecting a prewar conception that the states were supreme.

It is possible to honor the sacrifice of soldiers who went to war without endorsing the wars cause. While this perspective may not answer the question of the fate of Appomattox, it is a perspective that should be considered.

Edwin Fountain, Arlington

Calls to relocate the Appomattox statue in Alexandria are misguided. Look at that Confederate soldiers face, as well as his physical demeanor. He is certainly not conveying defiance or reveling in the glory of the fight. He is reflecting on the enormous loss of comrades for a flawed cause that was not sustainable from its inception.

If there ever were a statue that conveyed the futility of the Southern Cause, it would be Appomattox, named for the place where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union. Let it stay exactly where it has been for more than 100 years as a reminder of what the South lost by clinging to the institution of slavery as long as it did.

Mark Kronenberg, Alexandria

The Confederate soldier in the Appomattox statue in Alexandria is a sad, pensive figure, not one that glorifies the Confederacy, not one that justifies slavery and not one that evokes heroism. The statues location is part of its message. The soldier faces south, looking in the direction of where many of his comrades died.

I was born and raised in Maine. I learned of the Ku Klux Klan, which was active during my parents youth and followed the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments of the 1850s Know-Nothings. In Ellsworth, Maine, the Know-Nothings tarred and feathered John Bapst, a Jesuit missionary who had married my great-grandparents. Now having lived 39 years in the Alexandria area, I see the Appomattox statue as a reminder of the whole sad history of human bondage beginning at the foundations of the American colonies and the suffering endured before, during and after the Civil War. Let it stand.

Francis A. Poulin, Springfield
Palestinian and Israeli Jewish girls share activities on July 30 at the 'Creativity for Peace' camp which every year brings up to 20 girls, half Jewish Israelis and half Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza to Santa Fe, N.M. (Mark Ralston/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE via Getty Images)

Regarding David Ignatius's Aug. 25 Washington Forum essay, "A new chance for Middle East peace?":

Israel lives in a tough neighborhood. Security concerns must be preeminent, but many military and intelligence officials agree that the greatest threat to Israels security and well-being is the tension created by its military occupation of Palestinian lands. U.S. administrations have provided comprehensive security assistance and guarantees, but they also have consistently acted as enablers of Israels West Bank settlement and occupation, which undermine U.S. interests in regional stability.

While Israel and Arab states would like to normalize relations for mutual benefit, cooperation will be limited without a deal with the Palestinians. A post-Netanyahu Israeli government is not likely to stop the movement of Israelis into Palestinian lands in the absence of a clear  and unlikely  message from the United States.

In the absence of top-down agreements, it might be useful for the United States to support bottom-up people-to-people programs between Israelis and Palestinians to help overcome the psychological obstacles to reconciliation that are driven by fear and disdain on both sides.

Warren Clark, Washington

The writer is the former executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace.
A woman tends a horse in 2015 near a barn in Afton, Va., painted with an anti-Atlantic Coast Pipeline message. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Federal regulators are poised to approve the hotly contested Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would stretch for 600 miles from West Virginia, through Virginia and on to North Carolina.

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has completed a generally favorable final environmental impact statement for the $5 billion project that is likely to get a thumbs-up from FERC commissioners this month or next.

Barring problems with obtaining Virginia water permits, construction of the project could begin this fall, delighting Richmond-based Dominion Virginia Energy, the lead partner in the natural gas project. Cheering it on are politicians such as Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ed Gillespie. (The Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Ralph Northam, has stayed neutral on the project.)

Yet after several years of intense fighting between Dominion and Virginia property owners whose land would be taken for rights of way and ecologists worried about destruction of fauna and flora, there still are major, unanswered questions about the project. They include how the pipeline deal is structured, what ratepayers will be charged for and who pays if something goes wrong.

FERC has a history of approving most of the pipeline projects it reviews. It doesnt delve too deeply into the economic viability of the projects, relying instead on whether customers have signed up to use the new pipelines. There is no planning process. They [FERC] are less interested in the issue of need, says Cathy Kunkel, an energy analyst at the Cleveland-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

ACP partners Dominion, Duke Energy and the Southern Co. have negotiated contracts with five utilities, including their own subsidiaries, to tap 90 percent of the pipeline's capacity.

If all goes well, the ACP could be a big moneymaker. Dominion spokesman Aaron F. Ruby says that demand for natural gas is expected to grow 165 percent in Virginia and North Carolina over the next 20 years.

FERC allows returns on equity of up to 14 percent. Pipeline critics, such as Ivy Main, Virginia Sierra Club conservation co-chair, say it is a conflict of interest for Dominion Energy to set up a subsidiary to make money on the backs of its own ratepayers. The State Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, hasn't addressed such concerns. Dominion's Ruby says that the setup is legal if Dominion doesn't give preferential treatment to its subsidiaries.

Exactly how Dominion will use the gas isnt clear. The utility has new natural gas power stations in Greensville and Brunswick counties. At some point, Dominion says the ACP will be needed to serve them. But it has also told the State Corporation Commission that the plants could be served by an existing Transco pipeline that runs through the center of the state, raising questions about why it needs its own pipeline.

What role Dominions ratepayers will play is unclear. If the pipeline sells gas to Dominion for electricity, then captive ratepayers would be charged not just for the gas but also for pipeline construction. Contractual details addressing the issue havent been made public.

Cost is another issue. Ruby says that ACP gas will be cheaper than gas pumped from the Gulf of Mexico Coast, resulting in lower wholesale electricity prices locally. Thomas Hadwin, a former utility executive living in Waynesboro, says that ACP gas will be more expensive than gas from existing pipelines once transportation and other costs are factored in. Its like you are at a gas station and you pay for the gas plus to pump it, Hadwin says.

Energy prices are notoriously fickle. A decade ago, for example, a flood of natural gas from advanced hydraulic fracturing came roaring out of nowhere to replace cheap coal for electricity generation.

If natural gas loses its low-price luster, will ratepayers get stuck with the bill? Consider what happened in South Carolina. Scana Corp. announced that it was abandoning construction of its V.C. Summer Nuclear Power Station in late July. Its costs had soared from $14 billion to $25.7 billion over nine years. Ratepayers could be required to pay $2 billion in costs.

In Virginia, if the ACP explodes or leaks, causing major damage and deaths, who pays? Will the ACP post bonds or offer other collateral to cover expenses as are required in other energy sectors, including coal? Will Dominion Energy pay or would the pipeline company?

Ruby says that there may be surety bonds to cover events at roads and other crossings.

How far such coverage might go is one more unanswered question.

Dominion and its partners should answer these questions, at least for ratepayers if not for FERC.
Contributing columnist

Politico reported Wednesday that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is teaming up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in the investigation of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. This is extremely bad news for Manafort and others at the center of Mueller's broader investigation into the campaign.

Federal rules and Justice Department policy clearly provide for such cooperation and would even allow Mueller to share confidential grand jury information with Schneidermans office with court approval. Beyond that, there is always a great deal of information not covered by grand jury secrecy that could be freely shared. But although certainly not unheard of, federal and state prosecutors cooperating in an investigation is relatively unusual, at least in a white-collar case.

Its unlikely that Mueller needs Schneiderman to charge crimes that Mueller otherwise couldnt reach. Given the breadth of federal white-collar statutes, if Manaforts financial dealings violated New York state law, they almost certainly could be charged under federal law as well. Federal charges such as mail and wire fraud, money laundering and RICO allow federal prosecutors to reach even transactions that took place entirely within one state.

The New York attorney general's office is very highly regarded and has a history of bringing complex financial crime cases. It has been reported that Schneiderman's office was already investigating Manafort for possible crimes related to his business dealings in New York. But the bottom line is that anything state prosecutors might be looking at, Mueller could also investigate on his own if he chose to do so. So why would Mueller join forces with Schneiderman?

One obvious reason is to pool resources. If Schneidermans office has already done work relevant to Muellers investigation, it makes sense to share that information rather than unearth it a second time. Its also important for Muellers office to have access to things such as witness statements and testimony that the New York investigators may have already obtained.

But as others have noted, the second possible reason also explains why this news is so significant: It cuts the legs out from under any possible attempt by President Trump to use his pardon power to thwart the investigation.

Trumps recent pardon of former Maricopa County (Ariz.) sheriff Joe Arpaio raised concerns that it might be seen as a signal to potential witnesses against him. They could refuse to cooperate with Muellers investigation and feel confident that Trump would pardon them if they ran into any legal trouble.

But the presidential pardon power extends only to federal crimes. Trump cant do anything about New York state charges, and he cant fire Schneiderman. The possibility of serious state charges gives Muellers team critical potential leverage that the pardon power threatened to take away.

Theres no reason to think this federal-state cooperation will be limited to Manafort. Given the Trump organizations base in New York, state law potentially could apply to any number of individuals whose actions might be scrutinized by the special counsel.

There is some downside risk to Mueller, politically if not legally. Schneiderman is an outspoken Democrat who has tangled with Trump in the past, most notably in bringing the successful fraud suit against Trump University. The partnership may provide ammunition to those trying to claim that Mueller is a partisan engaged in a "witch hunt."

But political attacks aside, this is a big deal. By teaming with Schneiderman, Mueller has deftly removed one of the biggest potential obstacles to his investigation. If any Trump associates were feeling comforted by the presidents pardon power, things just got decidedly more uncomfortable.
Just so theres no confusion: Donald Trumps longtime personal lawyer emailed Vladimir Putins personal spokesman? Seeking help from the Kremlin on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow? During the presidential campaign?

Yes, this really happened. While most attention was rightly focused on the devastating flood in Houston, there was quite a bit of news on the Russia front  all of it, from President Trumps perspective, quite bad.

The revelations begin with a Trump business associate named Felix Sater . A Russian emigre who bragged about his Kremlin connections, Sater was a principal figure in development of the Trump Soho hotel and condominium project in lower Manhattan. Sater wrote a series of emails to Trumps lawyer, Michael Cohen, touting the Moscow Trump Tower project as a way to help Trump win the presidency.

In November 2015  five months after Trump had entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination  Sater wrote to Cohen that he had arranged for Trumps daughter Ivanka, during a 2006 visit to Moscow, to sit in Putins private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin.

The email went on, I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected. We both know no one else knows how to pull this off without stupidity or greed getting in the way. I know how to play it and we will get this done. Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this.

Felix H. Sater, right, attends the Trump Soho Launch Party in 2007 in New York with Donald Trump, left, and Tevfik Arif, center. (Mark Von Holden/WireImage)

Could Sater be just a blowhard who exaggerated his influence with the Russian president? Perhaps. But Ivanka Trump did tell the New York Times that she took a brief tour of Red Square and the Kremlin during that 2006 visit. The Times reported she said that it is possible she sat in Mr. Putins chair during that tour but she did not recall it.

There is no evidence that Cohen, one of Trumps closest associates, found anything improper in Saters pledge to get Putin on this program. Nor did Cohen or anyone in the Trump Organization bother to disclose the emails  or the Trump firms effort, even during the campaign, to profitably emblazon the Trump name on the Moscow skyline  until the correspondence was turned over to the House Intelligence Committee on Monday.

And theres more: In January 2016, with the Moscow project apparently stalled, Cohen went straight to the top to get it back on track  or at least tried to. He sent an email to Dmitry Peskov, Putins longtime personal spokesman, hereby requesting your assistance.

Peskov confirmed that the email was received but said he did nothing about it and that it was not given to Putin.

So Trump was lying when he tweeted, shortly before his inauguration, that I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA  NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING! The truth is that in October 2015, on the same day he participated in a GOP candidates debate, he signed a letter of intent for the Moscow Trump Tower project.

That is a deal, and Trumps hunger to keep it alive may explain his reluctance to say anything critical about Putin. Or it may tell just part of the story.

The other part involves the whole question of collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign to meddle with the election and boost Trumps chances. Saters boasts, by themselves, are hardly definitive. But of course there is the larger context, which includes the infamous meeting that Donald Trump Jr. convened in New York at which he hoped to receive dirt, courtesy of the Russian government, on Hillary Clinton.

Speaking on Jan. 11, 2017, at his first news conference since winning the presidential election, Donald Trump said he had "no deals that could happen in Russia." (The Washington Post)

Thus far we have the presidents son, son-in-law Jared Kushner (who was at that meeting), then-campaign manager Paul Manafort (also at the meeting) and now his personal lawyer all seemingly eager for Russian help in the election. Who in the campaign wasnt willing to collude?

All of this is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the various congressional committees that are conducting investigations. Some have suggested that Trumps pardon of Joe Arpaio, the unrepentant birther and racial profiler, might have been a message to Trump associates facing heat from prosecutors: Hang tough and dont worry, youll get pardons.

But there was more bad news for the president: Politico reported that Mueller is now cooperating and sharing information with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Presidents can only issue pardons for federal offenses, not state crimes. Uh-oh.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
Americans eventually tire of the presidents they elect. The political skills that fuel the rise of Roosevelts, Reagans and Obamas always seem to lose their allure over time as the promise of Morning in America and Hope and Change devolves into the cynicism of Been There, Done That.

Lyndon Johnson won in a landslide in 1964 but was pushed out of office four years later. Ronald Reagan breezed to reelection by winning 49 states in 1984, but two years later his power of persuasion was gone. In 1986, the Great Communicator couldnt persuade voters living through the last days of the Cold War to support anti-communist allies in Central America. Even in the afterglow of Barack Obamas 2012 reelection, the biggest political star in the world couldnt pass gun reforms that 90 percent of Americans supported following the Sandy Hook massacre.

President Trump is, of course, the most radical example of this negative political phenomenon. Seven months into his maniacal presidency, Trump is driving his approval ratings to record lows and causing friends and foes alike to experience premature presidential fatigue.

Former allies on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner now criticize Trump for leadership failures and his abuse of power. Republicans on Capitol Hill more frequently call out the presidents aberrant behavior. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) questions the presidents ability to survive. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questions Trumps stability.

By now, the presidents low poll numbers rarely raise an eyebrow. Newspapers have repeated ad nauseam that Trump is saddled with the worst approval ratings in U.S. history at this stage of his presidency. But this week, those lame approval ratings collapsed to a new low of 34 percent. A Fox News poll released Wednesday found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe Trumps presidency is tearing America apart. And only 20 percent of younger voters now support the 71-year-old former reality television star.

President Trump likes to trumpet his "tremendous" support and strong base, but polls show that his approval rating is declining, even among key demographics that voted for him in 2016. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

And even Trumps famously forgiving base is growing tired of the commander in chiefs reckless routine. Trump supporters in a Pittsburgh focus group talked about how their patience with the petulant president was reaching an exhausting end. Everybody knew he was a nut, but there comes a point in time where you need to become professional. Hes not even professional let alone presidential. Chill out, man, was a womans advice. Another Trump supporter said that Trumps manic need to dominate news cycles was driving him crazy. Hes on the television all the time. Another weary supporter said, Hes such an incredibly flawed individual who has articulated many of the values that I hold dear and the messenger is overwhelming the message.

That focus group sounded a lot like recent phone calls I had with friends in Pensacola and Birmingham who have been Trump supporters from the start. Not long ago, most were telling me that I needed to back off the president and give him a chance to succeed. But after Charlottesville, that began to change. One friend after another tells me they have had enough of Trumps self-destructive behavior and are tired of the president being his own worst enemy. Like the focus group, my Republican friends are growing impatient with the man they once believed could change Washington and make America great again.

The president keeps bleeding support, Democrats remain rudderless, Washington is still gridlocked, and the problems that propelled Trump to the presidency are getting worse. From Pittsburgh to Pensacola, many Trump voters would prefer a leader who stops attacking allies, stays off Twitter and lets Congress get something done before Democrats retake control.

Read more from Joe Scarboroughs archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) says the Republican president in the White House is not displaying the conservatism his party should be embracing. In his new book, "Conscience of a Conservative," Flake says populism and protectionism are as threatening to the GOP now as the New Deal was in 1960. (Dalton Bennett,Kate Woodsome/The Washington Post)

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) says the Republican president in the White House is not displaying the conservatism his party should be embracing. In his new book, "Conscience of a Conservative," Flake says populism and protectionism are as threatening to the GOP now as the New Deal was in 1960. (Dalton Bennett,Kate Woodsome/The Washington Post)

We know that President Trump is a virtuoso at the politics of resentment. But does he lead a movement?

That is the question to be tested in next years Republican Senate primary in Arizona. Pro-Trump forces are wiping the drool off their ties while contemplating a humiliating primary defeat for Trump critic Jeff Flake  the Republican incumbent whom Trump reportedly calls the flake. (I suspect that Flake has heard that taunt before, but not since third-grade recess.) Professional Trump sycophants Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham have endorsed a Republican challenger to Flake named Kelli Ward. Trump moneyman Robert Mercer has already donated $300,000 to Wards campaign. And Trump himself implicitly endorsed Ward on Twitter last month, while labeling Flake as toxic.

Recent polling seems to justify a belief in Flakes vulnerability. Among likely Republican voters, Ward wins a head-to-head with Flake by double digits.

All this would be deeply disturbing for establishment Republicans  if it were not mostly rubbish.

President Trump issued scathing attacks against Arizona's senators during his Phoenix rally on Aug. 22, but said, "I will not mention any names. Very presidential." (The Washington Post)

Polling a year away from a primary has as much predictive power as a tarot pack. The most important factors determining the outcome are entirely contingent. A year hence, Trump could be a vengeful political colossus or headed toward impeachment; the United States could be at war or at peace; the economy could be in depression or riding a boom.

So far, Flake has reason to be pleased with outside interventions in the race. Trump forces in Arizona have not yet settled on Ward  highly inexperienced and gaffe-prone  as their candidate. (She is not a buffoon, one close observer of Arizona politics told me, but she says buffoonish things.) Outside endorsements of Ward have come as state Treasurer Jeff DeWit and former party chair Robert Graham are discussing which of them might enter the race as a Ward alternative. And Trump himself has since backed off his apparent endorsement of Ward. When Trump visited Phoenix a few weeks ago, he had a backstage meeting with DeWit and Graham. Ward was not invited.

Graham would probably be a stronger candidate than DeWit, who has even less political experience than Ward. Graham gained Trumps confidence by defending him during the Access Hollywood scandal. (True-blue, bona fide Trump loyalists are apparently defined by their willingness to ignore boasting about sexual assault.) But for a Trump challenge to Flake to run smoothly, Graham or DeWit would need to persuade the independent-minded Ward to leave the race. (Recently pardoned octogenarian Joe Arpaio  who lost his last election decisively  likes to talk about running but is not a serious possibility.)

Even if Arizona Trumpites settle on a single candidate, it is not clear what support from Trump forces really means. Does a Trump endorsement bring buckets of money? Does it bring organizational help? Trump organizers were thin on the ground even during his own campaign. And the power of presidential tweets to help people other than Trump is untested. Can Trump follow through on his political threats without the normal architecture of a political movement?

The answer depends on a different question, posed to me by the much-respected Arizona Republic political columnist Robert Robb: Is Trump a singularity, or does he represent the beginning of the redefining of the Republican Party along Trump lines? Robb, who walked me through the Arizona political basics, is skeptical of the latter. He is doubtful that tea party activists  who rose in reaction (in part) to President Barack Obamas stimulus package  will be enthused about Trumps trillion-dollar stimulus package. He is doubtful that Arizonas generally libertarian and tea-party primary voters will be generally attracted to Trumps ethno-nationalism.

But who knows? The Flake primary race will be a good test, one way or the other. Flake has been a tough and consistent critic of Trump, based less on ideology than on the presidents preference for vitriolic, tribal politics. But Flake is no moderate. He once ran an Arizona think tank dedicated to conservative and libertarian ideas. He supports Trump on regulatory policy and other issues. To defeat Flake, Arizona voters would need to choose a right-wing populist in the tradition of Pat Buchanan over a libertarian in the tradition of Barry Goldwater. This would involve, not just an electoral choice, but a rethinking of Republican orthodoxy, with far-reaching implications.

If Republicans such as Flake are ousted in primaries, the Republican Party as we know it will be unrecognizable and unsupportable.

Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook .
IN THE last days of the Obama presidency, the Department of Homeland Security awarded a $400,000 grant to Life After Hate, a nonprofit dedicated to helping right-wing extremists move away from radical ideas. Five months later, the organization learned that the Trump administration had rescinded its funding. In light of the violence in Charlottesville, this decision appears tragically shortsighted. It also underlines the indifference of President Trump and his administration toward the problem of far-right violence.

The Department of Homeland Security initially announced Life After Hates grant as part of its program on Countering Violent Extremism, or CVE  an effort to combat terrorism by building community partnerships to help at-risk youths move away from radical ideas, as an alternative to the harsher tactics of law enforcement. After halting all CVE grants for review following Mr. Trumps inauguration, the department pulled funding from both Life After Hate and a project by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to counter propaganda from both militant Islamists and the far right.

This came after the administration floated plans to reshape CVE as Countering Islamic Extremism, excluding far-right extremists. This rebranding never materialized  the administration is reportedly considering renaming the program as Terrorism Prevention. But the reallocation of grant funding away from organizations countering far-right violence suggests that the White House is making good on its intention to focus CVE only on Muslims. And the absence of any CVE funding in the administrations proposed 2018 budget, along with the recent resignation of George Selim, the widely respected official heading the Department of Homeland Securitys CVE task force, raises questions about the administrations seriousness in taking on even that limited task.

The murder of Heather Heyer, who was mowed down in the aftermath of the far-right gathering in Charlottesville, was a brutal reminder that militant Islamists are not the only violent group in the United States. A recent report by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security emphasized that white- supremacist organizations were responsible for more homicides between 2000 and 2016 than any other domestic extremist movement.

CVE is far from perfect. It has faced pervasive criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. And even under President Barack Obama, it gave little attention beyond lip service to countering ideologies other than militant Islamism. But the choice to exclude the far right from CVE, together with Mr. Trumps reluctance to condemn white supremacy following Ms. Heyers death, makes a powerful statement about which violence this administration finds worthy of attention and condemnation and which violence it does not.

In response to Charlottesville, Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), along with 23 other senators, has requested information from Homeland Security on its handling of the grant program and its monitoring of far-right violence. Members of the House have made similar calls for both data and hearings on the matter. The department should provide the information they ask for  and the legislative branch should continue to pursue strong oversight of this issue in the absence of moral leadership from the president.
I am thousands of miles away, but I still turned to Chron.com , a website of the Houston Chronicle, to figure out what was going on in Texas this week. A widely shared video showing water pouring into the studio of KHOU, a Houston television station, was the first clue I had to the severity of the flooding. Even from afar, it was clear that local journalists were leading the effort to inform people on the ground, explaining how to get rescued, where to go and what to do. What if they hadnt been there?

In many places, they wouldnt be: Famously, authoritarian states dislike local news. On evening television in Russia, you can see dramatic violence in Syria or follow the saga of the Russian-American conflict, which Russian broadcasters have now restyled, for even greater drama, as a replay of World War II. (When we face NATO we face the heirs to those of Hitlers collaborators who survived the war, the Russian deputy prime minister recently claimed.) But you will have a hard time figuring out what is going on in your own city. Local news is hard to find, and when it exists it has often been tailored to fit the national narrative. You will not learn about corruption scandals in your local city hall, or abuses by your local police force. Unless you have access to the videos produced by Alexei Navalny, Russias most famous dissident, you wont learn whether the Russian president has built a luxurious dacha in your district. And when disaster strikes, you wont know what to do.

In Russia, local news was killed off deliberately. In the United States and many other democracies, it has, famously, been badly damaged by the loss of its business model. National newspapers are finding new subscribers and fresh markets, yet the advertising that used to support local papers, from the Houston Chronicle to its counterparts in France and Spain, has been drifting away. But if the reasons for its absence are different, the impact is the same.

The weakness of local news means that important decisions, whether on zoning or school boards, are made in a vacuum. The absence of local debate is, in turn, one of the factors that contribute to Americans sense of disconnection from politics, for their mistrust of one another, even for their alarming, well-documented declining faith in democracy. Which isnt really surprising: If you read and hear only grand national narratives about things that dont really affect you, and if you think Congress is an institution that sits in Washington rather than a body with local roots, then why would you feel responsible for it?

In recent years, the national story has been unusually ugly. But local reporting from Texas this week wasnt. It showed ordinary Americans reaching across supposed racial and cultural divides to help one another. Mosques opened their doors to the homeless; rescuers of all backgrounds helped victims of all backgrounds. The Cajun Navy, a flotilla of Louisiana volunteers with small boats, headed into the storm to help. One explained that it was a reciprocal gift of love  a thanks to Houston for help after Hurricane Katrina. All these gestures were further reminders that our grand national narratives also understate a lot of whats good (indeed great) about America.

National newspapers covered the flooding in Texas this week, of course; The Post, like the Houston Chronicle, lifted its online paywall so that everybody who needed to read about it could do so. But as the water recedes and the cleanup begins, national journalists will inevitably drift away. I saw that myself in New Orleans months after Katrina. Melanie Sills, a former editor at the Raleigh News & Observer, writes that the same thing happened in North Carolina after catastrophic storms: Once the floods receded, the mold and rot, scams, bureaucratic failures, environmental catastrophes and wiped-out communities needed attention, and only local journalists were around to provide it.

Sills argues that extra effort will have to be made to shore up local reporting in the months to come, from national-local partnerships, public-service journalism and elsewhere, and shes right. For those who want to find charities to support in the days to come, heres an idea: Alongside shelters and immediate rescue operations, think about finding a way to support local journalism. You never know when you might need it yourself.

Read more from Anne Applebaums archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook.
I agree with the argument in the Aug. 27 editorial The Districts death wish for Metro that the D.C. Council should not risk Metros solvency by alienating the Districts suburban partners. However, the sprawling nature of Northern Virginia justifies Virginia paying a bigger share, not a smaller one.

While the Districts ridership is higher than Northern Virginias, D.C. residents also travel shorter distances in far more crowded vehicles. How much are riders who are packed shoulder to shoulder in a 16th Street bus subsidizing riders of far-flung routes that are served by nearly empty buses? And while the District does have more Metro stations than Virginia, suburban residents are far more likely to travel into the city than D.C. residents are to travel out of it. Many D.C. stations serve everybody; Virginia stations tend to serve mostly Virginians. Focusing too intently on the number of riders is misleading. Cost-sharing should be based on the actual net cost of providing service to each jurisdiction.

David Sundland, Washington

The Aug. 28 Metro article Burden of Metros tax plan would fall on poor made an important point about the unfair burden on people with lower incomes that would be imposed by an across-the-board regional sales tax. As someone who lives a 10-minute walk from the Pentagon City Metro station, I am very sympathetic to the need to develop an adequate, dedicated funding source to make the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority a first-class transportation system.

Because the benefits of Metro are greatest for people and businesses proximate to Metro stations, a much fairer way to generate additional revenue would be through a tax surcharge on commercial and residential properties within a fixed radius, say one mile, of a Metro station. Ideally, the surcharge would be applied to all property assessments or, as a second-best arrangement, on property leases and rental agreements.

Jack Hadley, Arlington
Bob Graham was a U.S. senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He served as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 2001 to 2003 and as co-chairman of the Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.

Since the Justice Department named a special investigator, Robert Mueller, to handle the government's official inquiry into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, the weight of public expectation has largely fallen on his shoulders. While the two congressional panels, the Senate and House intelligence committees, continue to hold hearings and question witnesses, including Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, both are led by members of a party that is, with the exception of Charlottesville, skittish about criticizing the president. The greatest hope for an aggressive and impartial inquest seems to lie with Mueller, whose bosses have either recused themselves from the Russia probe (as Attorney General Jeff Sessions did) or volunteered that he would have autonomy to follow the facts wherever they led (as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did). The pressure, it seems, is off Congress to act as the primary body holding the president to account.

This is a dangerous sentiment. The two intelligence committees should act as if their investigations will be the final (and possibly the only) ones  because they may be. President Trump has worked hard to undermine Mueller's effort, not only berating it as beholden to a partisan "hoax" but also belittling Sessions on Twitter in a transparent attempt to force the attorney general's resignation. That way, the president could replace him with an appointee who would stymie Mueller's work. A central role for Congress is the only real way to guarantee a full report, with conclusions and recommendations, for the American people.

I oversaw a similarly complex and politically fraught inquiry as co-chairman of the joint congressional inquiry into 9/11, so I know what it takes  as a matter of resources, time, perseverance and, yes, occasional political courage  to run an investigation of this size and importance. And I know this, too: The congressional intelligence committees, as they are constituted today, are not ready for this burden.

They must tackle three problems.

First, the committees need substantially more capacity. After 9/11, the Senate and House leadership decided to merge the two intelligence committees so they could collaboratively and thoroughly investigate the intelligence issues raised by the attacks. The joint committee had a staff of 24 experienced professionals who were dedicated to the inquiry, independent from the regular professional staff of either the House or the Senate intelligence committee. They'd worked at key intelligence and law enforcement agencies and had knowledge of forensic accounting, investigation and intelligence analysis. Staff director Eleanor Hill had previously prosecuted organized crime for the Justice Department and served as staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Given the number of highly classified documents under review, the joint inquiry also had its own secure office space, separate from each chambers committee office. It had its own budget of at least $5 million, dedicated solely to the one-year inquiry. By comparison, the Senate committee had $8.1 million and the House panel $8.6 million to address regular legislative and oversight responsibilities for the two years of the 107th Congress.

Right now, the Senate has 38 staffers and the House has 31 devoted to the intelligence committees, with budgets for the 115th Congress of $11 million and $12.1 million, respectively. Those personnel and funds are intended to cover all the legislative and oversight work of the intelligence committees, including the Russia investigation. Early in the inquiry, the Senate committee reportedly had only seven staffers working on the probe. It needs many more.

To complete the Russia investigation, the committees need independent staff members who are solely dedicated to this topic: forensic accountants and specialists in international law, financial crimes, counterintelligence investigations, and cybersecurity and coding. Those devoted to Russian meddling should not be regular committee staffers on overtime, unfamiliar with the tasks unique to the Russian inquiry.

After more than six months of separate activity, it is probably too late to merge the current congressional committees. It is not too late, however, to create independent, experienced and substantially larger staffs capable of fulfilling the committees responsibilities, particularly in a post-Mueller era.

Second, the House and Senate intelligence committees must quickly begin planning for post-Mueller scenarios. Yes, perhaps Sessions will stick around and Rosenstein will continue to guard Muellers autonomy. But the congressional committees need to devise protocols now that would be activated, if Mueller were fired, to ensure the protection of, and access to, all documents, transcripts, communications and other materials amassed by the Mueller and James Comey probes. The protocols should ensure that these materials are made available to the congressional committees in their original form. If Mueller is dismissed, the congressional inquiry would probably expand, as in the Watergate investigation, to the consideration of impeachment.

Third, Congress must embrace its investigatory role with renewed urgency. The 9/11 inquiry had a deadline of December 2002, the end of the 107th Congress. This investigation has no such finale. But there are serious consequences to procrastination. If Russia has in fact attempted to interfere with democratic elections in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, disclosing that reality and repelling further intrusions are crucial. Preventing future tampering in elections will require the support of an informed American public, which should be told of Congresss definitive conclusions as soon as possible. Any delay in publicly sharing clear and convincing evidence will add to the already staggering distrust of many Americans in their government. (Portions of the 9/11 inquiry report remain classified even today, limiting the publics understanding of the tragic event and its ability to influence policy, especially regarding U.S.-Saudi relations.)

The nations best option is for Mueller to continue his investigation until it ends, wherever it leads. Should Trump find some way to remove him, it would spark a constitutional crisis unlike anything since Watergate; Congress must be ready for this worst-case scenario. In our system of checks and balances, it has the right and duty to exercise full oversight. Now is the time to start preparing for that responsibility.

Twitter: @GrahamCenter

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Vanessa Grubbs is an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers: A Kidney Doctors Search for the Perfect Match.

As a doctor, I was drawn to Cherry Lewis's "The Enlightened Mr. Parkinson: The Pioneering Life of a Forgotten Surgeon" by the title alone. I wondered how could this man be forgotten when everybody knows his name, because he was the first to describe the shaking palsy condition that later became known as Parkinson's disease?

Lewis provides a fascinating, illustrated account of the life and times of James Parkinson, who lived from 1755 to 1824, a time of significant political upheaval and considerable probing into the earth sciences and medicine. It was an era when only white male landowners had the right to vote and bloodletting was the go-to treatment for most ailments. As Lewis tells it, Parkinson fought for the rights of the vulnerable, moved some scientific fields forward and observed what most people could not see.

Lewis, an honorary research fellow at the University of Bristol, explores three main themes of Parkinsons life: politics, fossils and medicine. The authors passion for geology gives us four chapters devoted to Parkinsons fossil endeavors. Only the penultimate chapter focuses on why he has an ailment named after him.

[Parkinsons disease and depression often go hand in hand]



The Enlighted Mr. Parkinson by Cherry Lewis (Pegasus Books)

Though I personally have no interest in fossils, I was absorbed by Lewiss account of Parkinsons pioneering work in the field. Particularly compelling was Lewiss depiction of Parkinsons struggle with his faith and how he reconciled history revealed in fossil evidence with his belief in the stories of the Bible.

Lewis recounts the remarks of the lecturer John Hunter, a renowned Scottish scientist and surgeon, about his remarkable collection of skulls. A newspaper of the day, reporting on the lecture, noted that the most perfect human skull is the European; the most imperfect, the Negro. The paper added: Mr. Hunter observed that in placing the Negro above the monkey, great honour is done to him; for although a man, he can hardly be called a brother.

In recounting this episode, Lewis writes rather off-handedly: Today such comments shock our politically correct sensibilities. In an otherwise fine book, I found her casual response almost like a justification of Hunters crassness.

Throughout the book, Lewis pieces together voluminous information from the late 18th and early 19th centuries to form her compelling tale. Anyone interested in the history of medicine, politics and geology will enjoy this book. I finished it in awe of Parkinsons many accomplishments and contributions to politics, health and science, despite having a large family and a very busy medical practice.
The waters stretched as far as you could see, and then farther, in every direction. Rainfall totals were reported in feet, not the usual inches. Dozens of people died. Highways were submerged; thousands upon thousands of square miles of land were deluged. The damage totaled billions of dollars.

It happened 24 years ago, in the Great Flood of 1993 in the upper Midwest.

After that disaster, the Clinton administration directed an experienced federal interagency task force to report on the flood and its causes. That report, "Sharing the Challenge ," was prepared by Army Brig. Gen. Gerry E. Galloway and released in 1994. It made more than 100 recommendations for policy and program changes to address and reduce flood risks and improve the nation's floodplain management everywhere, not just in the area along the Mississippi River that had been underwater. The government found that many policies were encouraging  rather than discouraging  people to build homes and businesses in places with increasingly high risks of flooding by allowing new building in those areas, constructing insufficient flood-control projects that give residents a false sense of security and subsidizing redevelopment after disasters without mitigation. That often compounded the costs and problems caused by floods.

Ultimately, though, very little changed. The lessons of 1993 were largely ignored, especially in parts of the country that were most vulnerable to flooding  such as Houston. Experts and policymakers have known for a long time that we need to change the way we approach flood mitigation and prevention, but that hasnt stopped the nation from making the same mistakes over and over. Now, as the federal government prepares to spend billions more cleaning up from catastrophic floods, were in danger of doing it again.

* * *

The Clinton administration's report seemed like it might change things at first. It suggested the government should offer voluntary buyouts to owners of buildings that flooded repeatedly, clearing the most at-risk land of businesses and residences and leaving it as open space that could be devoted to flood-tolerant uses such as parks, recreation areas and wetlands. Especially in states such as Missouri, Iowa and Illinois that had been hit hard by the 1993 disaster, governors supported this new approach. More than 10,000 buildings were bought so their owners could move outside floodplains. The federal government spent $121 million on this type of mitigation after the 1993 floods  acquiring land or elevating, relocating or flood-proofing buildings. That investment probably saved $600 million in disaster relief: The National Institute of Building Sciences estimates that each dollar spent on flood mitigation saves $5 in future flood damage.

[Who suffers when disasters strike? The poorest and most vulnerable.]

Four years after the Great Flood commission issued its report, the two of us collaborated on a follow-up paper released by the National Wildlife Federation, "Higher Ground ." We looked at the nascent successes of the Midwest floodplain buyouts and relocations that took place after the 1993 floods. In Missouri, where there were major buyouts, one study showed that disaster relief after a 1995 flood cost 99 percent less than after the 1993 flood, even though 85 percent of the same area was affected. We also looked at the class of properties considered by the National Flood Insurance Program to be "repetitive loss properties"  places where the program had paid repeated claims within a 10-year span. We found that substantial benefits for property owners and taxpayers could be gleaned by simply removing damaged buildings, rather than repairing them only to see them flooded out again. We also concluded that many flood insurance policies were heavily subsidized and underestimated risk, leading to premiums that were far too low to make homeowners realize just how flood-prone their locations were.

Still, we also found that paying to relocate a relatively small number of people could significantly reduce the risk. About 2 percent of the flood insurance policies with repetitive losses were generating 40 percent of the claim payouts  many of them making expensive claims frequently. But these properties were seldom subject to risk mitigation (such as elevation or relocation), even after a flood caused damage worth more than 50 percent of their value, which is considered "substantially damaged" and is supposed to require mitigation. We also found that about 20 percent of these properties were located outside the designated "100 year" floodplains, areas where the chance of a flood in any given year is predicted to be 1 percent. The maps, in other words, were badly out of date, even then.

But owners often found few realistic options for getting out of harms way, even with some of the new programs that were established, because the government was slow to provide assistance and there seemed to be little real resolve for making difficult changes.

The city where we chose to release the report was Houston.

At the time, Houston ranked third (and surrounding Harris County fourth) in the nation in the number of repetitive-loss buildings, behind only Jefferson Parish, La., and New Orleans. It was too late to change policies in a way that would help New Orleans, which was already mostly built out  and mostly at or below sea level. But Houston and its adjacent areas, even with explosive growth and development underway, still had clear options to prevent future floods. They could conduct watershed planning and management. Officials could buy out or relocate the most endangered buildings, or put them on stilts, and could adopt higher building-elevation standards and stronger building codes. They could regulate the expansion of impervious areas in a way that would limit paving over pastures and wetlands to construct parking lots and endless subdivisions, and they could establish shoreline protections to reduce flood risks and costs going forward. This was the array of approaches needed to stay and hopefully reverse the growing costs of flooding. The nations floodplain organizations, at the same time, pleaded with city leaders to heed these warnings and act.

* * *

They didn't. Houston did some buyouts, but repetitive losses continued to mount as development pushed along mostly unfettered. Over the past week, many news reports have highlighted long-ignored studies chronicling the steady encroachment on Houston-area bayou floodplains, and the paving and building over of pastures and wetlands that used to act as sponges absorbing and slowing runoff. At least 4,000 residential and commercial structures have been built within the identified 100-year floodplain since 2010, and, according to one Texas A&M University study, 30 percent of Harris County's coastal prairie wetlands were paved over from 1992 to 2010.

Now we have yet another chance to get things right. Congress will return this coming week to a flood insurance program requiring reauthorization by Sept. 30 and owing $25 billion to the treasury. Lawmakers will have to approve billions in disaster assistance funds and an increase in the cap on federal debt. The sheer scale of the crisis might finally be enough to force politicians and policymakers to abandon what failed in the past. True, Harveys rain fell in such volumes that it might have defeated any flood management plan. But the damage could have been lessened. And the floods also underscored problems weve long known about.

[Im rescuing people from the floods after Harvey. Its worse than I expected.]

Congress should consider forgiving the flood insurance program's current debt, most of which can be traced to storms such as Katrina, Rita and Wilma, which hit in 2005, before Congress gave FEMA better tools to manage financial risk for these types of events. Forgiving the debt owed by one part of the government to another is no different from paying for disaster relief without requiring offsetting budget cuts, which only die-hard fiscal conservatives advocate; clearing it off the books will mean old costs from previous storms don't burden the agency's ability to manage floods now.

After the most damaging flood in U.S. history, we also need to fund accurate flood mapping for the entire nation. We need better maps out ahead of development, so people know how to build and won't get caught with costly flood insurance premiums if maps are drawn after an area is developed. It would take an estimated $7.5 billion to map all the floodplains in the nation.

Congress should also reinstate the federal flood risk management standard President Trump recently revoked in an infrastructure executive order to assure a reasonable building standard for states and municipalities that use federal money to rebuild after disasters. This could be as simple as constructing most buildings one or two feet above the 100-year flood level (and two or three feet higher for critical facilities such as hospitals and police and fire stations). That way, taxpayers won't have to pay to rebuild these facilities as often. Houston already required putting new buildings one foot above the 100-year flood level. Studies of Harvey's rain may soon show that to be too low for the city', which may instead want to consider the three-foot standard Dallas has in place might be worth considering.

The government must clarify, either through law or regulation, that Department of Housing and Urban Development disaster relief funds can be used for voluntary building acquisitions, removals and relocations. We cant keep paving over watersheds and filling them with parking lots and rooftops, taking away the grounds capacity to absorb rainfall. We must make wise use of natures natural ability to store floodwaters to protect us.

Finally, leaders should immediately focus on improving and streamlining voluntary buyouts and other mitigation options to help residents move out of harms way within reasonable time frames, especially after disasters, allowing communities to reform their land use in response to natures realities.

The nation has not been particularly good at learning from past floods, which have occurred with discouraging frequency. This time, we need to actually fix some of the problems. If we dont, Americans facing some new devastation in the future will be looking back at Harvey and wondering why we didnt act now.

outlook@washpost.com

Read more from Outlook:

Poor Texans are going to suffer the most from Harvey, thanks to state politics

Hurricane Harvey threatens more than you think

How farmers convinced scientists to take climate change seriously

Follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Donald Trump Jr. is set to give a 30-minutes speech in late October as part of a University of North Texas speaking series. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)



Donald Trump Jr. is set to give a 30-minute speech in late October as part of a University of North Texas speaking series. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump Jr. is being paid $100,000 to participate in a Texas public university speaking series sponsored by the company of a major Republican donor  a fee that is as much as double what President Trumps eldest son appeared to have sought on the lecture circuit before this year.

In July, Trump Jr. signed a contract with the University of North Texas agreeing to give a half-hour speech and participate in a 30-minute question-and-answer session in October in exchange for a $100,000 stipend, according to documents first obtained by the North Texas Daily, the student newspaper. The university provided a copy of the contract to The Washington Post.



Trump PDF (Source: University of North Texas)

Trump Jr. was invited by organizers of the UNT Kuehne Speaker Series, whose top sponsor this year is a corporate tax services firm headed by G. Brint Ryan, a UNT alum and well-connected GOP donor in Dallas who advised President Trump on tax policy during the campaign.

In an interview, Ryan said that the series is paid for by private donations, not public funds, adding that Trump Jr.s appearance will help raise money for National Merit Scholarships for UNT students.

I dont think weve paid that much before, Ryan said of Trump Jr.s stipend. But he said he did not have any qualms about the amount, noting that the series hopes to draw as many as 2,000 paying guests to hear the presidents son on Oct. 24 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tx.  the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

The fee is not important  whats important is the net result, he said. This is not a deal to sponsor Donald Trump Jr. This is an effort to raise as much money as possible for scholarships.

If Chelsea Clinton wants to come next time, thats great, Ryan added.

Tickets for the speaking series are only available through table sponsorship, ranging from $5,000 to $100,000, according to the event's website. As a presenting sponsor, Ryan's tax services company, Ryan LLC, paid at least $100,000 to support the series.

Kelley Reese, a spokeswoman for UNT, said the speaking series has raised $1.65 million for scholarships since it began in 2013, with the first awards expected to go out this year to five students.

The goal of the series to present timely and stimulating perspectives on our world as it pertains to national security, our economy, and topics that are of interest to the universitys many and varied communities, she said in a statement.

Trump Jr. did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman said that the 39-year-old is a popular public speaker who has been participating in speaking engagements domestically and internationally for over a decade. Additionally, this particular speech has been in the works for many months.

Earlier this year, he served as the commencement speaker for American University in Dubai for an undisclosed sum.

The fee for Trump Jr.s UNT speech appears to be twice as much as he charged to give paid speeches before his father ascended to the Oval Office, according to his past speaker bureau listings.

In early January 2017, the website of one booking agency, BigSpeak, listed his fee as more than $40,000 per appearance, according to a Huffington Post repor t. A listing on the website of another agency, All American Speakers, that does not appear to have been updated since the election says that the fee to hire Trump Jr. to speak begins at $50,001.

During last year's presidential campaign, Trump Jr. tweeted critically about paid speeches given by former President Bill Clinton while his wife Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, in one case describing a six-figure fee Clinton received as "#paytoplay."

The invitation to Trump Jr. from UNT, a large public research university north of Dallas that serves a student body nearly 38,000, has drawn criticism from students and alumni. In an editorial last month, the student newspaper noted that Trump Jr. is under federal scrutiny for meeting during the campaign with a Russian lawyer with Kremlin connections. The editorial called the invitation "a tone deaf and utterly irresponsible decision."

Reese told The Post that as a public university that supports the expression of differing points of view as part of the learning process, UNT welcomes speakers who represent all viewpoints, including conservative, liberal and progressive political ideology as well as all positions in between.

Ryan also defended the invitation, saying Trump Jr. will be a big draw.

We have gotten a lot of feedback on social media, but my view is we are trying to find speakers that are relevant, that are timely, that are in the middle of important current events, he said.

Hes in the middle in a lot of stuff, whether you love him or hate him, Ryan added. People are going to come out and hear him speak.

Ryan said he first broached the idea to Trump Jr. when they had dinner together several months ago, and later the Kuehne Speaker Series committee extended the invitation to the presidents son.

Named after UNT alum and Texas oil executive Ernie Kuehne, the series' past speakers include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former CIA director Michael Hayden and Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino.

Ryan, whose firms clients include American Airlines, Chevron and Walmart, is a prominent figure in Texas GOP circles, donating large sums to boost then-Gov. Rick Perry, who is now U.S. Energy Secretary, and Sen. Ted Cruz, federal filings show. He contributed more than $83,000 to the Republican National Committee last fall, according to Federal Election Commission data.

In the general election, he briefly served as an informal adviser to Trump, meeting with the candidate to share advice about tax policy, Politico reported in October.

Ryan said that while he has offered comment on certain aspects of tax reform to Trump, he is not currently advising the administration. And he rejected the notion that inviting Trump Jr. to UNT could be a way to gain favor with the president.

I dont really need any access, he said.

The Kuehne Speaker Series website describes Trump Jr. as "a businessman, and the oldest son of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump."

Under his contract, Trump Jr.s fee is non-refundable unless he cancels on the university, the document shows. UNT agreed to pay for first-class air travel and hotel accommodations, with expenses not to exceed $5,000.



Trump PDF (Source: University of North Texas)

In return, Trump committed to attend a two-hour dinner with eight guests the night before the speech, along with a VIP breakfast and reception the following day. The university agreed to provide him the questions that will be posed in the question-and-answer session ahead of time.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
He hugged victims of Hurricane Harvey and comforted those with tears in their eyes. He prayed and posed for photos, at one point blaring his message of support into a bullhorn. And he donned durable blue gloves and cleared brush, working up a sweat as he dragged debris away from a damaged white mobile home.

Put another way, he did what many other presidents have done in the face of disaster. But the blue jeans-clad man who spent Thursday communing with victims of the 1-in-1,000-year flood event in Southeast Texas was Vice President Pence  not President Trump.

The images of Pences trip to Texas on Thursday offered a striking contrast between Trump  who came under bipartisan criticism for initially failing to seem to empathize with those affected by the devastating storm  and his No. 2, who spent the week performing relief duties.

White House officials said the president and the vice president were merely working in tandem to coordinate the federal governments response to Harvey, magnifying their efforts through complementary skill sets. Trump, after all, visited Texas on Tuesday  though he steered clear of flood areas or victims  and plans another trip to the Gulf Coast on Saturday. Trump also took several moments Wednesday to address the deeply tragic situation in Texas and Louisiana before a scheduled speech on taxes in Missouri.

But Harvey put an uncomfortable spotlight yet again on Pence, underscoring the delicate balance the vice president must manage in supporting and complementing the president  while never overshadowing him.

President Trump has broadcast his involvement in the government response to Hurricane Harvey loud and clear, and been accused of keeping the focus on him as Texans respond to the record storm. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

In many ways, Pences handling of Harvey  from his visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Monday to the slew of local radio interviews he did  would be routine but for the president he serves, a man whose own instinct for public displays of compassion are often unconventional. During Trumps visit to southeastern Texas on Tuesday, he managed to place himself squarely in the eye of the storm, at one point convening an impromptu if brief political rally. (What a crowd! What a turnout! he enthused).

[Even in visiting hurricane-ravaged Texas, Trump keeps the focus on himself]

Pence, said Ron Klain, a chief of staff to both former vice presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, is doing normal stuff in an abnormal situation.

A lot of this other stuff is kind of de rigueur for a vice president, but when you have the president behaving oddly, as he did the other day in Texas, there is an interesting role for the vice president, Klain said. If both the president and the vice president console victims, if both are busy speaking out about the loss, if both are busy doing the things that are normal in this situation, then what the vice president is doing is just additive to the situation. Whats striking here is that what the vice president is doing is in some ways substituting for what the president is doing, and thats what makes it more in the spotlight.

White House officials said every relief action Pence took this week was part of a methodical, coordinated effort between his and Trumps teams, with a particular emphasis on communication  one of the most important roles they think the administration can perform during a natural disaster. Trumps initial Texas trip was intentionally focused on coordinating federal, state and local response, while Pences visit two days later offered more latitude to focus on the survivors who are just beginning to rebuild their lives, officials said.

It is important to over-communicate in a natural disaster to get your message out, and the president deployed the vice president and his whole team to communicate directly to the people in the path of the storm throughout the week, said Jarrod Agen, Pences deputy chief of staff. Thats leadership and smart management, and thats what the president provided and directed.

The president, one senior White House official said, was eager to head to Texas on Tuesday to clearly convey his support for those suffering but was conscious of not wanting to interfere with search-and-rescue efforts or divert resources. His trip on Saturday, the official added, will allow him to personally connect with those affected by the storm.

Vice President Pence (center right) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (center, in wheel chair) help move debris during a visit to an area hit by Hurricane Harvey in Rockport, Tex., on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. (Eric Gay/AP)

The two men have been speaking multiple times a day, aides to both said, and their teams have been working in lockstep to coordinate the administrations response. Pences speechwriter, for example, checked in with the presidents aides before Pence delivered a speech Wednesday in West Virginia, to better amplify Trumps message.

As someone who works closely with both of them, and has witnessed their round-the-clock attention to this crisis, you cannot put a piece of tissue paper between the president and the vice president on their leadership, their management and their messaging of the White House and federal governments response to Harvey, said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president. Their messages are repetitive, not competitive.

[Pences balancing act as Trumps No. 2 shows signs of strain]

Scrutiny of his role has left Pences allies and aides exasperated at times, believing that the media hypes  and overanalyzes  just about everything he does. Early in the administration, Pence weathered a spate of articles about how he seemed to be in the dark on several issues, including a high-profile incident in which former national security adviser Michael Flynn misled the vice president about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Later, news reports said Pence was operating as more of a shadow president with Oval Office aspirations of his own.

Pence cant, his aides argue, be simultaneously out of the loop and angling for the top job.

I think the media is looking for a way to drive a wedge between the president and the vice president, and suggest that there are different approaches and different strategies that show division, said Marc Short, the White Houses director of legislative affairs who previously was a longtime Pence aide. Whereas I think the White House looks at it and says, There are very complementary and different skill sets that each bring, and therefore it is better to utilize both. So the strategies are actually intentional and, in my mind, complementary and harmonious.

Some of the images of Pence dealing with Harvey, however, raised eyebrows, including photos of him over the weekend in the Situation Room flanked by Cabinet officials while Trump video-conferenced into the meeting from Camp David.

Pences Twitter account also sent out  and then deleted  a photo of him seated behind a desk making calls to senators whose states were hardest hit. An aide said Pence was uncomfortable with the tweet because he preferred the focus to be on first responders and heroic Texans, not himself.

In Texas on Thursday, Pence  a loyal-almost-to-the-point-of-obsequious soldier  was careful to repeatedly invoke Trump, including during a news conference at the end of his visit. He made clear he was simply bringing tidings of support and gratitude from the president.

Arriving in Rockport, Tex., Pence told the gathered crowd he had called Trump from Air Force Two.

Just tell them we love Texas, Pence said Trump told him to convey.

At that, a woman in the crowd returned attention back to where Pence is most comfortable  away from himself and squarely on his boss: We love Trump! she cried.
Top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are alleging former FBI director James B. Comey planned to exonerate Hillary Clinton for conducting official business on a private email server long before the agency had completed its investigation.

Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) sent a letter Thursday to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray demanding documents to flesh out what to them seems a suspicious timeline: that Comey was apparently drafting statements to close the Clinton email probe at least two months before he publicly announced in July 2016 that the FBI was shuttering its investigation. If that timeline is correct, they said, it means that Comey would also have been planning to exonerate Clinton before the FBI ever interviewed her, or 16 other key witnesses, about her email server.

Conclusion first, fact-gathering second  thats no way to run an investigation, Grassley and Graham wrote in the letter to Wray. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.

Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Graham, who chairs a subcommittee panel on crime and terrorism, have been investigating the FBIs handling of the Clinton email probe.

They base their timeline on heavily redacted transcripts the committee procured from the Justice Departments Office of Special Counsel of interviews with two FBI officials: James Rybicki, Comeys chief of staff, and Trisha Anderson, the bureaus principal deputy general counsel for national security and cyberlaw.

The transcripts are from an investigation the OSC opened last year into Comeys conduct surrounding the Clinton email probe after he informed congressional leaders just weeks before the election that the FBI was looking into the matter again. The OSC closed its investigation after Comey was fired as the office does not investigate former government employees.

According to Grassley and Graham, Rybicki and Anderson described Comey writing and circulating drafts of the statement he would eventually make exonerating Clinton sometime in the spring, as one recalled it, or in early May of 2016, as the other said. It is not entirely clear from the transcripts which official was speaking in which conversation because of the redactions, according to Grassley and Grahams letter.

But the interviewee Grassley and Graham assumed to be Rybicki told OSC investigators that by the time Comey was circulating drafts of his statement, he did so knowing the direction the investigation is headed and wanting to figure out what would be the most forward-leaning thing we could do.

The Washington Post reported in May 2016 that "prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules," though the investigation was still underway.

[From May 2016: Officials: Scant evidence that Clinton had malicious intent in handling of emails]

The interviewee Grassley and Graham assumed was Anderson told OSC investigators that there were many iterations of the draft that circulated. It is not clear from the transcript excerpts Grassley and Graham cited in their letter to Wray what the content of those other drafts were.

Grassley and Graham raised other concerns with the timeline of how the Justice Department operated around Comeys decision-making in the Clinton email investigation as well. They said that the DOJ entered into highly unusual immunity agreements with [Clinton aides] Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson in June 2016  at least a month after Comey would have been drafting an exoneration statement. Those immunity agreements were especially problematic, Grassley and Graham argued, because they stipulated the DOJ would destroy records and laptops not turned over to the investigative team  evidence that had not been fully and completely reviewed, the senators wrote.

The senators gave Wray and the FBI a deadline of Sept. 13 to respond to the committees request with all drafts and communications related to Comeys statements and decision to close the Clinton investigation, and all remaining records the OSC examined during its unfinished investigation.

Read more at PowerPost


A Rohingya refugee cries upon arriving at a makeshift refugee camp called Kutupalang in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, in August. (Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Hundreds of people have died in western Burma in clashes between insurgents and security forces, a dramatic escalation of the Rohingya crisis that has haunted the country's transition to democracy and tainted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's legacy.

The increasing death toll follows reports that tens of thousands more Rohingya Muslims have been displaced in the conflict.

In some of the worst fighting in decades, Burma's army says 370 fighters tied to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have been killed since the group first moved on dozens of police posts in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 25. Fifteen members of Burma's security forces and civil service and 14 non-Muslim civilians died in the attacks and ensuing clashes.

Though it emerged only a year ago with origins in the diaspora, ARSA claims it fights for the more than 1 million stateless Rohingya Muslims in Burma, also known as Myanmar. The government calls it a terrorist organization.

The Rohingya, most of whom reside in Rakhine state on the border with Bangladesh, are deeply unpopular in Burma, which is 90 percent Buddhist. The government insists they are immigrants from Bangladesh despite generational roots. Burma disputes the term Rohingya, preferring Bengali or Muslims in Rakhine state.

[Analysis: The worlds most friendless people are under assault yet again]

A Rohingya activist and resident of Maungdaw  one of three towns affected by the fighting  who would be identified only as Anwar because of safety concerns, said villages were emptying as security forces burned homes. The government says residents are torching their own property.

He dismissed army assertions that the bulk of the dead are ARSA fighters.

All the people they killed are not ARSA members, Anwar said. He added that the death toll was expected to rise.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since the Aug. 25 attack, monitors say, while more than 10,000 Buddhists have been internally displaced within the state. Hundreds of ethnic minorities have also fled.



Two Rohingya children carry their belongings in Teknak, Bangladesh, on Thursday. Three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized Wednesday, killing at least 42. (Suvra Kanti Das/AP)

Members of the group Fortify Rights are in Bangladesh speaking with Rohingya refugees.

"Right now villages are burning, people are being killed, residents are fleeing for their lives," Fortify Rights co-founder Matthew Smith said. "I will say it's shocking, and some of the survivors are devastated by what they have experienced, what they have seen."

Government officials say security forces are rescuing civilians and engaging militants.

Thousands of mostly Rohingya Muslims trying to escape are stuck between the two countries, according to Lt. Col. Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Border Guards Bangladesh official.

They are under the open sky, he said, adding that most are women and children.

Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, said Saturday that estimates of arrival numbers have not been verified but that a rough count by aid agencies is 60,000 since Aug. 25.





For more than 30 years, Bangladesh has been a destination for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya seeking refuge. United Nations officials appealed to the Bangladeshi government to let new arrivals in.

Some died trying to get out of Burma. Bangladeshi officials have recovered the bodies of an estimated 42 Rohingya, mostly women and children, who drowned after their boats capsized during the journey, according to Coxs Bazar deputy police chief Afruzul Haque Tutul.

Reports have circulated that Burmese security forces fired on fleeing refugees, but the government denies the allegations.

No, no, no, absolutely not, said Zaw Htay, spokesman for the office of Suu Kyi, Burmas de facto leader, who came to power last year after decades of military-backed rule.

We are trying to control the situation and bring stability to the region, he said.

Critics say Suu Kyi has failed to stand up for the Rohingya, while defenders argue she is hamstrung by a still-powerful military, which ruled Burma for half a century.

[Burma faces ethnic violence. Has Aung San Suu Kyi ignored the plight of her people?]

But when it comes to Rakhine state, the government and the military seem to be speaking with one voice.

Most international aid workers left northern Rakhine state after the government said that supplies from international aid groups, including USAID, had been found in raids on Rohingya fighter positions. The U.S. ambassador to Burma, Scot Marciel, called the implication that aid groups had supported ARSA absurd.

At least 18,5000 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border to Bangladesh while fleeing an aggressive Burmese military campaign in the country's northern state of Rakhine.

First called Harakah al-Yaqin, or Faith Movement, ARSA emerged last year after raids on police posts in October killed nine. The ensuing military operation resulted in nearly 90,000 Rohingya crossing into Bangladesh, allegations of possible crimes against humanity by Burmese security forces and a U.N. probe that Burma has blocked.

Although the region has experienced insurgencies since Burma became independent in 1948, the relationship between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists deteriorated significantly in 2012, just as the country was opening up to the outside world.

[Rohingyas are fleeing a scorched-earth campaign in Burma. Bangladesh is sending them back.]

Myanmar's national security adviser said this week that the new insurgent group is intent on establishing an Islamic state in Rakhine, but members counter that they only want rights enjoyed by all citizens in Burma.

"Our status as a recognized ethnic group within Myanmar must be restored," a representative going by the name Abdullah told the website Asia Times this week.

The insurgents are crudely equipped, and the amount of public support they have is unclear. Raids have recovered small stockpiles of weapons, but videos of training sessions show only a few dozen scrawny and shabbily dressed fighters.

But the new burst of violence may rally broader support and will no doubt complicate efforts to find a way forward in Rakhine.

Days before the Aug. 25 attack, a commission led by former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan presented a report with advice on how to find a "peaceful, fair and prosperous future" for the people of the state.

The government said it would set up a committee to review the advice. Officials say that is still in the works but the timeline has clearly changed.

Tin Maung Shwe, a spokesman for the Rakhine state government, said that "this is different" than what happened on Oct. 9.

He said thousands of people had taken part in the offensive.

"This is a terrorist attack," he said. "They're waiting for when our guns jam, then they will attack with swords."



Rohingya refugees walk through rice fields after crossing into Bangladesh at Khanjorpara village, south of Coxs Bazar, on Friday. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Muktadir Rashid in Dhaka and

Aung Naing Soe in Rangoon contributed to this report.

Read more:

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As Burmese journalists are arrested, Aung San Suu Kyi isnt doing much to help

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Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Fishmongers check bluefin tuna before the new year's first auction at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo in January. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)

The world's Pacific bluefin tuna won something of a reprieve Friday, when tuna-fishing countries reached an agreement to gradually rebuild severely depleted stocks while still allowing nations such as Japan to catch and consume the delicacy.

Japan  by far the worlds biggest consumer of bluefin, eating about 80 percent of the global haul in the $42 billion tuna industry  had been resisting new rules, while conservationists have warned about the commercial extinction of bluefin in the Pacific Ocean.

Proponents of limits hailed the deal as a compromise that everyone could live with.

"It's definitely a good first step towards the recovery of the species," said James Gibbon, global tuna conservation officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "But it is only the first step. There are a lot of commitments that the countries agreed to, and we need to make sure they stick to them."

At the week-long meeting in Busan, South Korea, the two bodies charged with shared management of Pacific bluefin  the northern committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission  hammered out a plan to try to put the fish back on a path to sustainability. Countries represented at the meeting included the United States, Canada, China, South Korea and Japan.

The Pacific bluefin population has been depleted by more than 97 percent from its historic high, because of overfishing.

[ Fish fight: Scientists battle over the true harm of mercury in tuna ]

At the meeting, the two organizations agreed to a target to rebuild tuna stocks to 20 percent of historic levels by 2034, the minimum level that scientists consider necessary to protect the species.

If the chances of meeting the 2034 rebuilding target fall below 60 percent, the parties agreed to immediately reduce their catch levels. Over the next seven years, countries' catch quotas could be increased only if there is a 75 percent chance of meeting the new goal.

The groups also agreed to develop a catch documentation scheme by 2020 to try to stop illegally caught Pacific bluefin from entering the international market.

Both Japan and Mexico have exceeded their annual bluefin fishing for the 2017 fishing year, which ended in June, and Japans Fisheries Agency estimated that more than 100 tons had been caught illegally or without being reported. Japans domestic limits on fishing are entirely voluntary.

"What makes Japan different from many other countries is that Japan has so many small-scale fishermen, and the government hasn't been able to find a way to control them," said Aiko Yamauchi, director of the oceans group at WWF Japan.

Pacific bluefin is particularly prized in Japan for its fatty underbelly, called otoro, which sells for as much as $23 per piece at Michelin-starred sushi restaurants in Tokyo.

Chefs at Tokyo's top sushi restaurants are concerned about the prospect of their supplies vanishing.

"Tuna stocks are diminishing, and it's a major problem," said Katsumi Honda, master chef at Irifune, one of Tokyo's most famous raw tuna joints. "Stronger regulations on fishing is the way to go. Prices would most certainly go up, and that would be a big worry for us, but preserving tuna stocks is a good thing for a long term."

[ Burning less coal doesnt just make your air cleaner. It makes your tuna safer. ]

But Japanese fishermen have resisted higher limits and tighter regulation.

Going into the meeting, Japans Fisheries Agency had contended that replenishment goals could be met through a new rule introduced last year that sought to halve the annual catch of juvenile bluefin, or tuna weighing less than 66 pounds, to increase the egg-laying adult bluefin tuna population.

But Japan had not been sticking to this rule, and its delegates came under sustained pressure from other countries and the Japanese media to agree to the new targets.

That made the new rules imperative, said Yamauchi of WWF. Theres no other resource that is as terribly depleted as the Pacific bluefin tuna, so theres no time to wait, she said.

Japanese authorities have been trying to placate the fishing industry by telling them to agree to the new rules, as there were ways to ease them later, said Toshio Katsukawa, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

The Japanese fishing industry also has pinned some hopes on President Trump, noting that he does not place a high priority on protecting the environment, he said.

"But if Japan truly wants to protect fishermen, they really should work hard to rebuild the tuna stocks, even if the fishermen had to go through hard times in the process," Katsukawa said. "After all, it's the fishermen who'd be hardest hit if the tuna were wiped out."

Yuki Oda contributed to this report.

Read more:

Does the dolphin safe tuna label really protect dolphins?

What the sixth extinction will look like in the oceans: The largest species die off first

Scientists say that nature, untouched by humans, is now almost entirely gone

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
When Leyla arrived in the United States after being smuggled over the Mexican border, she showed her passport to the Border Patrol officers who found her.

Then she said one of the few words she knew in English: Asylum.

The border guards may not have known it at the time, but the passport wasnt just a travel document; it was stark evidence that Leyla needed refuge. It showed that she was born in the Russian republic of Chechnya  and that she was born and raised as a man.

The problems faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Chechnya, a tiny majority-Muslim part of southwest Russia, became a global story this year after reports that gay men were being detained and tortured in what appeared to be a state-sponsored purge.

Leyla herself has been harassed and attacked  even stabbed and left for dead in Moscow in 2015. For those who face violence, the safest option is usually to escape Russia.

Yet Leyla is one of only a small number of LGBT Chechens who have found refuge in the United States in recent years. Many more would like to escape to America, but Russian activists say the United States has offered only limited help  pushing people already at risk into ever-more-dangerous situations.

The answer is obvious: Take them in, give them visas! said Svetlana Gannushkina, a leading Russian human rights advocate who helped Leyla. I cant see another way.

Leylas story has a happy ending. On Thursday, a federal judge in Chicago quickly ruled that she should be given asylum because of the risk of persecution at home. Leyla, wearing a white headscarf and a pink-and-green dress, cried with joy and relief as the verdict was read.

But Leyla wants to ensure that American policymakers do not lose interest in the persecution in Chechnya. In June, she and other activists went to Washington to visit the White House, the State Department and Congress to give their accounts of the persecution of Chechens.

Telling her story like this could put Leyla and her family back at home at risk, and The Washington Post has agreed to withhold some details about her life, including her birth name, because of safety concerns. Leyla is the name she goes by in day-to-day life.

A State Department spokesman said that the United States will continue to raise our concerns about this situation with Russian authorities and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had written a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about it.

Leyla is hoping her new home can do more.

A past in Chechnya

Chechnya wasnt always as it is now. When Leyla, who is in her mid-30s, she was growing up, the republic was still part of the Soviet Union, with its secular public culture. Although she was being raised as a boy, she sometimes wore dresses in public. The people were more tolerant, Leyla said. The Soviet system influenced us a lot.

Many Chechens became more religious after the Soviet Union collapsed and the country fought two wars against Russia for independence. Leyla herself stopped wearing womens clothes and briefly became attracted to Wahhabism, an ultraconservative form of Islam.

It was not until Leyla moved in 2002 to the neighboring republic of Kabardino-Balkar to attend college that she began to understand her gender identity better. She later moved to Moscow and began to live as a woman.

Things were not easy at that time for a Chechen in the Russian capital. Leyla said she faced problems whenever her passport was requested. In the worst incident, she said, police officers accused her of being a Chechen militant dressing as a woman to hide her identity. They threatened to share photographs of her passport with Russian media.

Details of Leylas story could not be independently confirmed, but human rights groups have collected numerous accounts of similar abuse suffered by LBGT Chechens.

Overall, however, she was happy. It was only in hindsight that she realized how much Chechnya was changing  and how much trouble those changes would soon bring her. In 2004, then-27-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov took power after his father was killed. He quickly became a key partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, helping wage war on Islamist insurgents.

In return, Kadyrov received lavish federal funds to rebuild war-ravaged Chechnya, as well as unparalleled autonomy to bring its society in line with his ultraconservative beliefs.

The war changed the society quite a lot, said Tanya Lokshina, a Russia researcher for Human Rights Watch. Kadyrov made a huge effort to reinforce traditional values. That possibly gave rise to extreme homophobia.

As Leyla transitioned further, she stopped visiting Chechnya and kept her contact with home to a minimum. But in late 2015, her relatives began harassing her. Russian authorities offered little help: Leyla said that when her cousin turned up at her Moscow apartment demanding that she reveal herself, local police told her to go to gay Europe.

A few days later, while taking groceries from her car, she was stabbed in the back and suffered a collapsed lung. We are so tired of you and your shame, the attacker said as she lost consciousness.

When she woke up in the hospital, Leyla said a police officer told her that filing a complaint would be a bad idea  it would mean traveling back to Chechnya to go to court.

Can you imagine? Leyla said. The judge would kill me himself!

Leyla hoped the violence would stop. But a few months later she got news that photographs of her passport were being shared on social media and in messaging apps. Leyla said her phone number was posted in a comment on Kadyrovs popular Instagram page, and she received death threats.

She was put in touch with Gannushkina and other activists who advised her to leave. In February 2016, they began contacting foreign consulates. But by April, disheartened by slow responses and scared by new threats, Leyla and a friend, another transgender woman from the Caucasus, booked a flight to Mexico City.

A future in Chicago

A few days later, they wandered across the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana, where a smuggler had dumped them alone in the darkness. They realized they were in America thanks to an automated text message: Welcome to the United States.

This had not been the plan. Leyla and her friend had hoped to fly on from Mexico to Argentina, but quickly realized they did not have enough money for the second flight.

The slow American response to her problem in Moscow had left her apprehensive about the country. But when the pair were picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol, Leyla was surprised by the agents graciousness.

The first thing they said to me was, Maam, could you please show me your passport?  she said. Their behavior showed me I was in the country that respects my rights.

The women were sent to an immigration jail in Santa Ana, Calif., then the only facility with a dedicated transgender housing unit. (It has since closed.) With the help of the National Immigrant Justice Center, they were paroled after a few months and moved to Chicago, where they applied for asylum. Leylas friend declined to be interviewed for this article as her asylum case is ongoing.

Leyla is settled in the United States, yet she spends her days glued to her phone, talking to people about the situation at home. Early this year, she received messages detailing an unprecedented spike in violence against gay men in Chechnya.

The American response left her dismayed.

While such leaders as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly raised the issue, President Trump was silent. In congressional testimony on June 15, Tillerson said he, too, had not raised the issue. (The State Department says Tillerson later wrote a letter to Lavrov voicing U.S. concerns.)

Though Kadyrov has spoken dismissively about the reports  telling one journalist that gay Chechen men should leave "to purify our blood"  a recent lull in state-sponsored detentions suggests Russian authorities were embarrassed by the backlash. "They had a panic attack about their international image," Leyla said.

But that doesnt mean the threat wont return  or that it has really subsided. In some ways, the international controversy may have created an even worse situation. Even if you stay in the closet, people are talking about the issue, Lokshina said. People are hunting for gays.

The State Department says it has been working to help vulnerable people escape, but activists say most LGBT Chechens have had to turn elsewhere. Many have instead fled to Europe, where a large Chechen diaspora presents its own risks for gay or transgender people.

Leyla hopes she can change that  even if she is a transgender Muslim immigrant in a country that seems increasingly skeptical of each of those things.

I am very thankful for this one year and three months in the United States, as it made me feel like a human being, she said. A human being who has rights  and the power to change something.

Read more

Seeking home: The lives of gay and transgender asylum seekers of the Middle East

She broke the story of Chechnyas anti-gay purge. Now, she says she has to flee Russia.

Reports of anti-gay purges in Chechnya lead to international outrage

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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As European leaders continue their push to curb a seemingly constant flow of migrants across the Mediterranean, it appears that flow could be leveling off  at least temporarily.

On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations migration agency, published data on recent arrivals in Europe. The figures took experts and analysts by surprise: Compared with the 273,000 migrants who landed from January through Aug. 27, 2016, about 121,000 arrived during the same period this year. Furthermore, there was no evidence of any migrant dying in the Mediterranean since Aug. 9.

The summer months  when waters are warmer and travel conditions are more auspicious  typically preside over spikes in the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers who make the often-dangerous journey to Europe. In the past, the increase in traffic usually has been accompanied by an increase in fatalities en route, mostly to do with capsized boats and the lack of safety precautions taken by people-smugglers.

Not so in August 2017, the data suggests. While the dearth of fatalities last month does not follow the figures for the rest of the year to date  during which more than 2,400 migrants died in the Mediterranean  these recent figures do suggest that the terms of a scenario that has long confounded European politicians may be changing.

Experts were quick to caution against any single explanation for the dip in arrivals and in fatalities.

The Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan explains what migrants attempting to travel to Europe face when the Libyan Coast Guard takes them in. (Jason Aldag,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Its hard to say, said Elizabeth Collett, the founding director of Migration Policy Institute Europe, a leading Brussels-based think tank on the issue. Were essentially looking at a months worth of a data  that doesnt tell us much about a longer-term trend.

The temporary decline in numbers, Collett added, could be a function of any number of factors, including a recently revamped Libyan coast guard or changes in border operations in Niger, which traditionally has been a starting point for many migrants en route to Libya and then Europe.

She also said a network of militias on the ground in Libya  which typically has helped human trafficking in the past  appears to be working in conjunction with the countrys transitional government to keep migrants in place, a deal apparently backed by the Italian government. The Associated Press, citing Libyan militia and security officials, reported this week that the Libyan government has paid militias for these activities.

The Italian Interior Ministry reported last month that the country has seen a major decrease in the number of incoming migrants. About 4,000 migrants have arrived since mid-July, a figure that represents about 20 percent of the incoming crowds processed during the same period in 2016, 2015 and 2014.

The scale of the [migrant] flows is dependent on the goodwill of small armed groups being willing to cooperate. This suggests were now reliant on small groups who see more profit in working with the transitional government and European governments, Collett said. But that also puts the emphasis on power dynamics in the region.

Those dynamics, said Marco Funk, a migration specialist at the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based think tank, are anything but set in stone and could change quickly.

Those militias are looking for a benefit wherever they can find one, he said. I question how sustainable this dip is. I dont expect it to be a long-term decline.

[Can Africa thwart the next migration crisis? European leaders think so.]

The IOM report came a day after seven European and African leaders met in Paris to address the ongoing migration crisis, with European leaders urging their African counterparts to step up efforts to stem the flow.

Hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain met with their counterparts from Chad, Niger and Libya  the nations that make up the most common migrant route into Europe, most frequently onto Italian shores.

In general, the Europeans pledged significant developmental aid for these African nations, which often have served as transit points for migrants fleeing poverty and persecution. By stimulating job growth on the other side of the Mediterranean, European leaders hope fewer migrants will feel compelled to make the journey.

Another goal of the Paris meeting was that tightened border controls along this African migration route, as well as hot spots or reception centers, be established along the way. The idea behind these centers  long espoused by Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel  is to process the asylum claims of migrants and refugees before they come to Europe, instead of after they arrive.

While early forms of some of these proposals already have been put in place, analysts doubt their continued efficacy, noting that determined migrants will continue to find ways into Europe along other routes.

This was the case last year when the eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece was closed, Funk said. Migrants then began using the central Mediterranean route that European leaders now are policing. There is evidence that a popular route could materialize in the western Mediterranean, with Spain a destination instead of Italy, he said.

According to IOM data, about three times as many migrants arrived by sea in Spain through August 2017 as arrived through August 2016. Joel Millman, a spokesman for the IOM, told the Agence France-Presse news agency last month that the pivot toward the Iberian Peninsula is probably due to the fact that the route is considered a safe route.

In Paris on Monday, Macron was quick to praise the Italian governments oversight of the Libyan coast guard. Whats been done by Italy and Libya is a perfect example of what we are shooting for, he said.

But migration experts insisted that the latest statistics do not indicate that a tenable solution has been found.

In terms of policymaking, it means that European leaders can definitely not sit back and say the worst is over  quite the opposite, Funk said. The root causes of this phenomenon are as present as ever, and the search for solutions should continue.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported on International Organization for Migration figures for August 2016 and August 2017. In fact, those figures were for January through August 27, 2016, and the same period in 2017. Similarly, the previous version reported that figures for Spain were for August 2016 and August 2017. In fact, those figures were for January through August 2016 and the corresponding period in 2017.

Read more

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Malian soldiers follow a resident to a house formally occupied by Mujao radicals when they fled Gao, in northern Mali. Troops from France and Chad moved into Kidal in an effort to secure the strategic city, a French official said.

Feb. 6, 2013 Malian soldiers follow a resident to a house formally occupied by Mujao radicals when they fled Gao, in northern Mali. Troops from France and Chad moved into Kidal in an effort to secure the strategic city, a French official said. Jerome Delay/AP

French and Malian forces take Timbuktu and other cities as they continue their efforts to push out Islamist militants who had threatened to take over the West African nation.

French and Malian forces take the towns of Diabaly, Douentza and Sevare as they continue their efforts to push out Islamists militants that had threatened to take over the West African nation.

French and Malian forces take the towns of Diabaly, Douentza and Sevare as they continue their efforts to push out Islamists militants that had threatened to take over the West African nation.

When France entered the worlds newest war against terrorism, French officials boldly declared that the ragtag radical Islamists they planned to oust from northern Mali would scatter in the face of a modern fighting force.

But two weeks later, reality has sunk in. Even as they bombard Islamist targets, the French troops are facing a military landscape that is far more complicated than it appeared at the outset, raising questions about Frances long-term goals.

With no clear exit strategy, the French are encountering a host of problems: Malis interim government is weak, its military is disorganized, and a long-promised African intervention force is far from ready. Even as French troops worry about killing civilians, it is unclear who the civilians are and where their sympathies lie. Ethnic, religious and regional rivalries, as well as old and unsettled vendettas, also are posing obstacles.

The Malian army, which France sought to bolster with its action, has been accused of committing abuses, particularly against the Tuareg ethnic group, some of whose members launched the March rebellion that has divided this West African nation. That could erode popular support for the military intervention here and in France, and it could complicate Frances ability to recruit secular Tuareg militias to battle the Islamists.

On Thursday, a new Tuareg militia emerged as Ansar Dine, one of three groups fighting in Mali, split. The new group, led by Tuareg leader Alghabass Ag Intalla, calls itself the Islamic Movement for the Azawad and says it is ready to negotiate.

In Mali, its French troops and West African rebels in opposition but the fighting is already reminiscent of the US war in Afghanistan. The Posts Sudarsan Raghavan joins us from Segou, Mali. (The Fold/The Washington Post)

French soldiers also could find themselves caught in the middle of growing tensions between the lighter-skinned Tuaregs, who are from the north, and black Malians from the south, who run the government and the military.

Its hard for the foreigners to know who is helping the Islamists and who are not, said Demba Diarra, 82, a tribal leader in Niono, a town near Diabaly. Its so complicated.

Already, French forces have faced immense difficulties in dislodging the Islamist fighters from two central Malian towns, Konna and Diabaly. In both cases, senior French and Malian officials explained away the problems by saying that they wanted to avoid civilian casualties. But community leaders and residents in Diabaly and surrounding areas offer a more complex portrait of the obstacles faced by France, including Islamist sympathizers and enemies of Malis military.

The concerns arise as the first criticisms of French President Francois Hollandes decision to send troops have emerged in Paris, a rupture in what had been unanimous endorsement. Although opinion polls still show 65 to 75 percent support for the move, the political sniping has betrayed doubts about the length of Frances involvement.

Jean-Francois Cope, the conservative oppositions pugnacious leader, was the first off the blocks. In a National Assembly debate, he said he and his opposition colleagues were worried to see France so alone on the ground despite plans for a pan-African force and promises of training by European Union military officers.

Alain Juppe, who was foreign minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy, qualified the intervention as extremely risky. He expressed fear that we could get put into a spiral that we are going to have a lot of trouble getting control of.

Fear of a new Afghanistan

Frances strategy was  and officially remains  to secure Bamako, Malis capital, and the southern third of the country, then hold back on the ground while African troops, backed by French air power, recapture the Islamist-controlled northern cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, French officials said. But that

has become a more difficult and longer-term proposition. The African force, they acknowledged, is far from ready to assume its planned role.

View Graphic A look at the events leading up to the intervention in Mali.

About 1,000 African soldiers from five countries have been sent to Mali, out of the more than 3,000 planned, according to the French Defense Ministry. Their European Union trainers are nowhere to be seen except on the drawing board.

Against that background, specialists in Paris have begun to suggest that French forces should push on northward and secure the regions main cities rather than sit idle on the new front line waiting for the Africans. But after the cities, the question would become: What about the 250,000-square-mile countryside?

The fear of a new Afghanistan is haunting peoples minds, wrote Yves Threard this week in Le Figaro newspaper. Increased by the fact that our soldiers seem very alone on the ground to pursue the terrorist hunt.

Konna was recaptured only last weekend, despite 10 days of bombing attacks. Similarly, a column of French armored personnel carriers entered the city of Diabaly, which was captured by the jihadists three days after the military intervention began, only on Monday.

The war against the Islamists is not at all easy, and theres a very small part of the population which is helping their cause, Lt. Col. Seydou Sogoba, the Malian force commander in Niono, told reporters. That is what is making the fight against them tough.

Harbinger of future battles

What happened in Diabaly last week shows how old animosities, religious divides and the unpopularity of Malis military could haunt the French in the weeks and months ahead.

On the night of Sept. 8, Malian soldiers in this desert town stopped a truck coming from neighboring Mauritania carrying 17 preachers, all members of Dawa, a nonviolent Islamic sect. The soldiers then sprayed bullets into the vehicle, killing all but one of the unarmed preachers, according to residents and human rights activists.

Residents say the deaths were one reason that the jihadists targeted the town.

Some people say it was a kind of revenge for the Dawa preachers killed by the army, said Adbullahi Dagnon, the interim tribal chief of Diabaly.

Some residents welcomed the jihadists, clapping and saying, This is the real way of Islam, Dagnon recalled.

The Malian army clashed with the Islamists but retreated before the French began launching airstrikes. The day the militants attacked, two Malian soldiers were killed. Residents were divided over burying the bodies, with followers of Dawa and Sunna, a conservative Muslim sect, wanting to throw the corpses into a canal, said community leaders. The bodies were tossed there but later buried in secret, residents said.

The Dawa and Sunna members, however, helped bury the bodies of Islamists killed in French airstrikes, residents said. The jihadists spread out across the town, deploying in neighborhoods, using civilians as human shields. That forced the French to target residential areas, perhaps foretelling at once the nature of future battles and the risks of alienating local populations. In Diabaly, the strikes were precise, but they injured some civilians.

At the Sunna mosque in town, members denied aiding the Islamsists. They lied about us, said Seydou Keita, the brother of the imam. Its because [the Islamists] wear their pants short and so do we. They have long beards, and we have long beards.

Still, some residents voiced support for the jihadists.

They didnt do anything wrong to the population, said Sisogo Khailoou, standing near a house were the jihadists had kept weapons and ammunition. They just came here to rob the bank and take the armys stuff.

Animosity toward Tuaregs

In Dongole, a town about 15 miles from Niono, Malian soldiers killed a Tuareg man and his son last week, according to Human Rights Watch. On Wednesday, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights reported that Malian troops had summarily executed more than 30 people they suspected of

aiding the jihadists, including Tuareg soldiers who had defected from the army after the French intervention began.

Sogoba denied the allegations, adding that if its true, they have to bring us the proof.

Many Tuaregs have gone into hiding in Dongole, said Adama Coulibaly, 31, a farmer. People are pointing fingers because they are Tuareg, he said. I dont trust them.

French officials said contacts were underway before the intervention to entice Tuareg militia forces to join the anti-Islamist campaign. But since the French arrived, talks have fizzled amid the abuse allegations.

The Tuaregs would be vital to helping the French navigate the vast and inhospitable desert terrain of the north, gather intelligence and gain the support of local populations.

But many in the Malian military have not forgotten that

Tuareg fighters, who had just returned from Libya with an ample stock of weapons and pickup trucks, had pushed the army out of northern Mali.

You cant trust someone who is fighting against you, Cpl. Mamadou Kone, a Malian soldier in Diabaly, said of the Tuaregs.

Among civilians in Diabaly, too, animosity is growing.

The Tuaregs think they are smarter, and they think the blacks should be their slaves, Dagnon said.

Diarra, the tribal elder in Niono, said many towns would be just as complicated for the French. Its going to be hard to find a solution, he said.

Cody reported from Paris.
In a decision hailed as the first of its kind for Africa, Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday annulled the president's Aug. 8 reelection victory, citing irregularities, and ordered a new vote within 60 days.

The reversal of President Uhuru Kenyattas win stunned this country, East Africas economic powerhouse and a key U.S. ally in a fragile region. Analysts said it highlighted the growing independence of the courts, a major advance in a country that was effectively a single-party state until 1992. Some called the ruling a potential turning point for a nation where disputed elections have led to thousands of deaths in past years.

The 4-to-2 court ruling came in response to a petition filed by challenger Raila Odinga, 72, who alleged widespread fraud in the election.

Following the judgment, people in the court broke into cheers, with Odinga raising his fists in the air in celebration.

This is indeed a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension to the people of the continent of Africa, he said outside the courthouse. For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president.

[Polls closed, then the challenges began]

For his part, Kenyatta pledged to respect the courts decision  but later assailed the judges. They have been paid by white people and other trash, he told supporters, adding that his party would watch the courts actions. Lets move on, he said. But they will know we are also men.

His comments raised concerns that there could be fresh violence if he does not win the new election. Kenyatta is the scion of one of the country's most powerful political families; his father, Jomo, was a leader of the anti-colonial struggle that led to Kenya's independence from Britain in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta became the country's first president after independence, and Uhuru Kenyatta is only its fourth.

It is rare for a court in any country to throw out the results of a presidential election. But the ruling was particularly striking on a continent notorious for fraudulent and manipulated electoral processes. Just last month, Rwandan President Paul Kagame got nearly 99 percent of the vote in an election criticized as unfair by the United States.

In Kenya, Chief Justice David Maraga described the results of last months election as invalid, null and void. He promised to issue full details of the ruling later.

Taking the totality of the entire evidence, we are satisfied that the elections were not conducted in accordance to the dictates of the constitution, he said.

The court decision came as a shock to many Kenyans and foreigners alike. International observers, including former U.S. secretary of state John F. Kerry, had said last month that the balloting appeared to be free and fair.

But the opposition presented evidence of numerous anomalies in the process of counting the votes and transmitting the totals to the regional and national electoral offices. Odingas lawyer said that some of the forms submitted with results lacked key security features such as watermarks and the necessary stamps and signatures, raising questions about their validity.

Tina Alai, a Kenyan expert in constitutional and human rights law, said the court ruling was significant in that it was not based on whether the irregularities were enough to change the result of the election. Instead, it focused on whether the electoral procedures met the constitutions requirements to be accurate, verifiable and transparent.

What the court made very clear today is that the constitution matters, the rule of law matters, the process of arriving at an election decision matters, said Alai, who heads the Kenyan office of Physicians for Human Rights.

That is particularly important because of the countrys recent history of contested elections. Kenya is vastly more stable than war-torn neighbors Somalia and South Sudan. But it remains riven by tribal rivalries that come to a head at election time, largely between Kenyattas Kikuyu tribe and Odingas Luo community.

After Odinga lost in the 2007 election, the country was engulfed by a wave of ethnic violence that killed 1,400 people.

The consequences of a contested election have been so frightening for us as citizens, Alai said. If Kenyans in the future can be confident that elections are transparent, she said, there will cease to be the opportunity where politicians can prey on these divisions among us.

In many parts of the country, Odingas supporters were celebrating the court ruling Friday. In Nairobis sprawling Kibera slum, where six people died in clashes following the election, residents danced holding Odinga posters.

In coastal Mombasa, people rode motorcycles through the city cheering.

According to Murithi Mutiga, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, the decision is unprecedented for the continent.

I think this is an incredibly important moment for democracy for Africa, he said.

Mutiga noted that the judiciary had not always been so independent in Kenya but that under a new constitution adopted in 2010, magistrates are more insulated from pressure tactics of the executive branch.

Kenya's high court also showed its independence this year when it overruled a government decision to shut the Dadaab refugee camp, one of the world's largest.

[Two friends were stuck in a Kenyan refugee camp. A scholarship competition was their only way out.]

Odinga also had appealed to the court after losing the last presidential race, in 2013  and dismissed it as inept after it ruled against him.

On Friday, he said that the members of the election commission overseeing the vote should face criminal prosecution. Wafula Chebukati, head of the commission, promised to make changes to personnel and processes.

The courts decision did not quell fears of political violence. At least 24 people died in clashes after the election results were announced in August.

The countrys business community, which backed Kenyattas pro-business platform, was shocked by the result, with trading briefly halted on the Nairobi stock exchange after shares plummeted. The national currency dropped in value, as well.

In his campaign, Odinga appealed to the countrys less fortunate, promising greater social justice and a fight against corruption.

His lawyer had alleged that some 5 million votes were marred by discrepancies. Electoral officials had said that Kenyatta won by 1.4 million votes out of around 15 million cast.

Schemm reported from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Kevin Sieff in Athens contributed to this report.

Read more:

Kenyas opposition leader vows court challenge over election loss

At least 24 reportedly killed in Kenya post-election violence

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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American diplomats suffered symptoms from a sonic incident in Cuba last month, the State Department said Friday, adding to the mystery of how Americans serving there have been diagnosed with hearing loss, traumatic brain injury and other ailments.

The August incident, which the State Department would not further describe, came months after the first symptoms were reported. The earlier incidents came to light only in August, and at that time officials indicated that whatever had caused the diplomats medical problems was no longer occurring. The State Department has not described the events as an attack.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement late Friday that 19 Americans are now confirmed to have been affected, up from 16 reported last month. The Trump administration has not blamed the Cuban government for what the union representing Foreign Service officers called sonic harassment attacks dating to late 2016.

We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation, Nauert said.

The State Department did not provide details of the event or say whether it occurred before or after the existence of the earlier incidents was reported in August.

We cant rule out new cases as medical professionals continue to evaluate diplomats and their families, Nauert said.

The American Foreign Service Association said it has met or spoken with 10 victims since the health problems came to light last month. The health concerns were revealed only when the State Department said in August that it had expelled two Cuban diplomats as a rebuke to the Cuban government.

The Trump administration says the expulsions were a protest of Cubas failure to protect diplomats as required under the Vienna Conventions. The State Department has not explained why it did not make the expulsions public when they occurred in May.

AFSA strongly encourages the Department of State and the U.S. Government to do everything possible to provide appropriate care for those affected, and to work to ensure that these incidents cease and are not repeated, the group said in a statement.

[U.S. investigating whether Americans deliberately targeted in sonic attack]

U.S. officials have said the Americans were harmed by an unknown sonic device or attack that damaged their hearing and caused other health problems. The injuries occurred while the Americans were serving at the U.S. Embassy in Havana and living in housing provided by the Cuban government.

Were not assigning responsibility at this point. We dont know who the perpetrator was of these incidents, Nauert said last month.

The Cuban government has denied harming diplomats and is cooperating with an FBI investigation, officials said.

AFSAs statement provides the most complete public view yet of the range of symptoms suffered by the Americans, none of whom have spoken publicly.

Diagnoses include mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss, with such additional symptoms as loss of balance, severe headaches, cognitive disruption, and brain swelling, AFSA said.

CBS had reported many of those diagnoses on the basis of medical records it obtained, but the State Department would not confirm the information. The State Department at first would say only that the Americans suffered non-life-threatening symptoms. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later confirmed that hearing damage was among the effects.

[Trumps new Cuba policy, explained]

AFSAs statement is the first indication that, at least for some, the hearing loss is likely to be permanent.

Intense surveillance of U.S. diplomats in Cuba is routine, and low-level harassment such as the vandalizing of homes and cars used to be common. But reports of diplomats being physically harmed were rare.

U.S. officials who worked in Havana said the petty harassment had slacked off in recent years, even before President Barack Obama announced in 2014 that the United States would reestablish full diplomatic ties with Cuba after decades of estrangement between the two countries.
President Trump on Friday accused James B. Comey, the FBI director he abruptly fired in May, of exonerating Hillary Clinton before his agencys probe into her private email server was complete, taking to Twitter to charge that there is a rigged system.

Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over  and so much more, Trump wrote in a morning tweet Friday. A rigged system!

Trump seemed to be referring to a letter Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray on Wednesday. In their letter, the senators wrote that they had recently reviewed transcripts from interviews the Office of Special Counsel conducted last fall with FBI officials as part of its inquiry into Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation. The Office of Special Counsel is not associated with Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, but an independent agency that investigates violations involving federal employees.

The examination of Comeys work, which was closed after he was ousted from his job, began after people voiced complaints about the then-FBI directors decision to reveal in late October the Clinton email probe had resumed.

[FBI recommends no criminal charges in Clinton email probe]

Because of redactions, the transcripts are somewhat murky. But they seem to show Comeys chief of staff, Jim Rybicki, and the principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw, Trisha Anderson, confirming that Comey first contemplated a statement about closing the Clinton case in April or May of 2016.

That was before agents had interviewed Clinton and others. Comey ultimately delivered a statement indicating he was recommending the case be closed without charges  but also lambasting Clinton and her aides for their carelessness in handling classified information  days after Clinton was interviewed in early July 2016.

It is not improper or unusual for investigators and prosecutors to begin discussing how to announce the resolution of a case before it is done, particularly when an investigation has stretched for many months and its conclusion is beginning to become clear. Doing so is typically a sign of preparation.

The Clinton investigation began in July 2015.

Grassley and Graham, though, suggested in their letter that discussion of Comeys statement before the investigation was completed was improper.

Conclusion first, fact-gathering second  thats no way to run an investigation, the senators wrote. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.

Daniel Richman, a lawyer for Comey, declined to comment, as did the FBI. Anderson declined to comment, and Rybicki could not immediately be reached.

That the FBI was leaning against charges for Clinton or her aides before interviewing Clinton herself is not completely new, though the materials Grassley released offer glimpses into the behind-the-scenes discussions. The Washington Post had reported in May 2016  before Clinton and others had talked to the FBI  the investigation had so far found "scant evidence" Clinton intended to break classification rules, though agents were still probing the case.

The New York Times also reported after the case had concluded that nine months into the probe, it "became clear to Mr. Comey that Mrs. Clinton was almost certainly not going to face charges." The Times reported that Comey then began working on talking points.

No matter when a statement is drafted, it is unusual for the FBI  rather than Justice Department prosecutors  to reveal the end of a case. The FBI often recommends to prosecutors whether agents believe someone should be charged, but it is typically prosecutors who make the ultimate decision and reveal that decision publicly.

[How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBIs handling of the Clinton probe]

Comeys statement, too, also offered criticism of Clinton. That is abnormal  and many lawyers have said improper  given that Clinton was not charged with a crime and thus had no opportunity to defend herself in court.

Comey has said publicly he was moved to make the public statement in part because, not long before he did, then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch met with former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, aboard her plane at an airport in Phoenix in late June. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year the airport meeting was "the thing that capped it for me that I had to do something separately to protect the credibility of the investigation."

The transcripts that Grassley released somewhat call that into question, as Comey had apparently been contemplating his public statement a month before the tarmac meeting occurred.
In four days of North American free-trade talks opening here Friday, many numbers will be bandied about. To the dismay of Mexicans, one of them, $63 billion, stands above all the rest.

This is the size of the trade deficit in goods and services that the United States maintained with Mexico last year, and it is the number that President Trump repeatedly brandishes when he declares NAFTA "the worst trade deal in history" and threatens to abandon the treaty.

But for Mexicans close to these negotiations, and for many U.S. trade experts, it is simply the wrong number to worry about.

We know thats not the right index, said Moises Kalach, one of the leaders of a private-sector group that advises the Mexican government on the talks. This is Econ 1, and we know that you cannot measure a trade agreement based on the deficit.

The deficit is just one of the areas of disagreement expected to arise in the second round of NAFTA renegotiation talks, being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the swanky Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City. Technical teams from the United States, Mexico and Canada are working through issues including how to resolve trade disputes, whether to raise labor standards, what percentage of parts must be made in North America for a product to qualify for free-trade status, and how to modernize the 23-year-old agreement for the era of e-commerce.

All that comes against the increasingly tense backdrop created by Trump's repeated warnings in recent days that he is leaning toward canceling NAFTA to negotiate a better deal for the United States. In response to those warnings, the Mexican government said this week that it would walk away from the table if Trump starts the process to scrap NAFTA.

We dont think it would be the right path or a viable path to terminate the agreement just when were in negotiations, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told reporters on Wednesday.

[While Trump bashes NAFTA, its Americanizing Mexico]

The focus on the trade deficit in goods and services  the amount by which a country buys more than it sells  frustrates Mexico for many reasons. For one, the United States' $63 billion deficit with Mexico is smaller than the U.S. deficit with other countries, including China ($309 billion) and Germany ($67 billion), according to statistics issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

But economists say the larger issue is that the trade deficit in goods and services is just one measure of the health of an economic relationship between two nations. The figure does not reflect the flow of capital investment between countries or the fact that the lower cost of inputs from Mexico helps U.S. firms stay competitive and benefits American consumers with cheaper products.

I have to be very clear, said Jaime Zabludovsky, who helped negotiate NAFTA in the early 1990s and is also part of the Mexican business advisory group. The trade deficit is a macroeconomic issue. It has nothing to do with trade policy.

Focusing on the deficit, he added, is a huge mistake.

Many Americans, including Republicans, have made similar points. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) wrote in a recent op-ed in The Washington Post that trade deficits "are not always bad for U.S. workers and consumers, nor should they remain the focus in NAFTA renegotiations." He said that if trade made Mexicans wealthier, they probably would buy more from the United States. "That is why one of the best things that can happen to our economy is for other nations' economies to grow," he wrote.

Michael C. Camunez, a former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration, said that the deficit number is "not necessarily the best measure of the success or productivity of that relationship." He noted that some 40 percent of the content of a typical Mexican product comes from the United States  such as American-made parts that go into a car assembled in Mexico.

You have to look at the relationship comprehensively, said Camunez, who is now chief executive of Monarch Global Strategies, a firm that advises U.S. companies on doing business in Mexico.

[Trumps fight against Made-in-Mexico could carry a price on both sides of the border]

While a deficit is not necessarily a problem, some argue that it can impact the type and number of jobs available, particularly in regions dependent on manufacturing.

Given the Trump administrations focus on this issue, Mexican officials say they are willing to discuss it, as long as the solution does not harm Mexicos economy. The private-sector group that Kalach runs has produced detailed charts showing which sectors in the economy contribute to the trade deficit  the auto industry, which has been a bright spot for Mexicos economy, makes up the biggest portion  so they can react to various deficit-reduction proposals.

Mexicans are looking for ways to increase overall trade in North America to possibly reduce the U.S. deficit. Mexico's oil industry, which was opened to foreign investment in recent years, could play a role in decreasing the deficit in the future, some experts say.

The U.S. has a very large surplus in the energy trade with Mexico, which is an astonishing about-turn from where we were even five years ago, said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.

Faced with Trumps recent threats, more Mexican politicians, including leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is leading in polls in advance of next years vote, have called on Mexico to walk away from the talks.

Dolores Padierna, a senator from the leftist PRD party who serves on a congressional committee that tracks the NAFTA talks, said she advised Mexico to leave NAFTA, to not wait for Donald Trump to throw us out, to leave in a way that is planned and gradual.

Mexican business leaders remain hopeful that the Trump administration will come to recognize the benefits of free trade for all three countries that are part of NAFTA.

Im convinced that our officials who are in charge of this are going to exhaust every possible argument, said Gustavo A. de Hoyos Walther, the president of the Confederation of Mexican Employers (COPARMEX). But the threats by Trump are hostile, and they are real.

Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.

Read more:

I was all set to terminate: Inside Trumps sudden shift on NAFTA

What is NAFTA, and what would happen to U.S. trade without it?

If NAFTA sees major changes, farmers may pay the price

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 01/09/2017 (1899 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We may watch far-away television images of the Houston floods with empathy, but for me, people fleeing danger and evacuating their communities means more because it hits closer to home.

And it feels even closer still when you have friends among them.

Victor Harper called me from his Winnipeg hotel room on Wednesday evening, even before Id heard that his northern Manitoba community was in the midst of a wildfire evacuation. Victor, his wife Emma and 15-year-old son Harris had been designated to be on the first Perimeter Aviation Dash 8 for the 468-kilometre flight to Winnipeg on Tuesday evening.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS From left, Victor and Emma Harper with their son Harris at Canad Inns Polo Park.

Im bewildered, Victor said on the phone. The fire was miles from the reserve. And then it was on our doorstep.

Victor still seemed to be in shock when we met the next day at Canad Inns Polo Park, where a taxi  paid for by the Red Cross  had taken them on arrival.

When something happens to you where you sort of lose your mind, youre thinking too much. Too much thinking. Then you start remembering. Youve got friends. And youve got to tell your friends, your friends here and everywhere. Thats why I called.

With that, Victor and Emma told me their story.

It starts before the fire, in the emotional embers of a sad weekend.

Last Friday, Victor was medically evacuated to Winnipeg because of a prescription-drug problem associated with his advanced diabetes. His sister, who was also in a Winnipeg hospital, died on Saturday and that same day Victor insisted on flying back to Wasagamack with her body.

She was buried on Monday.

On Tuesday afternoon, with the fire still believed to be far in the distance, Victor went to the Wasagamack nursing station for treatment.

The doctor told me to rest, Victor said. So I was resting and then my son runs in and says, You got to get out! I said, Theres no way Im leaving.

His family insisted he look outside.

Holy smoke! were his first words.

The second were almost as predictable: I gotta get out of here.

I asked how it happened so quickly.

The wind, Victor said. The wind shifted toward Island Lake.

It was so sudden, Emma said.

It was sudden for the Harpers, but from what they told me, community leaders and health workers were already preparing for an evacuation before the flames could be seen from Wasagamack.

A TV channel was making evacuation announcements on Tuesday, and the Harpers were listening for their names  until the screen turned as black as the sky.

The power had gone out across all three Island Lake communities.

I think thats when the panic started, Emma said.

She described people at the nursing station trying to round up their children.

The power would return about an hour and a half later, as Victor remembers it.

There were more evacuation announcements, now with a more urgent pace, for fear the TV would go dark again.

And then the Harpers headed for a motorboat where they and three others made the 15-minute ride across the lake to an airstrip at the sister Island Lake community of St. Theresa Point.

Like when you look back, you see all the black smoke, Emma recalled. Its like a big tornado. On one side you can see kind of the clear, bright colour, like a sky. And then you see a little spot where the flames are.

Maybe it was the power-outage panic Emma spoke of, or the announcements being interrupted or Victor refusing to go until he looked out the window, but when it was time to leave their home they didnt pack any suitcases. Emma just took the medical supplies she needed to treat her husband. And their son grabbed his PlayStation. All they had when I sat with them on Thursday were the smoky-smelling clothes they were wearing when they fled.

When the plane arrived, it was so full of soot, Victor told me, that it was a wonder the propellers turned.

He told me he doesnt know what will happen to his house in the community. But his home on the land  his ancestral place  has been consumed by the fire. And presumably so have most of the wild creatures that have allowed Indigenous people to survive.

Ive always considered the land to be the soul of Indigenous culture. The place where Victor found peace  and found himself  after his personal experience with residential-school trauma.

Someday, Ill smile, Victor said when I asked how he felt.

But not today.

And with that, he gave me a big smile.

Thats something else Ive learned about the Indigenous culture and the people who practise it.

Its not just the land thats basic to who they are and how theyve survived.

Its their sense of humour, too.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 01/09/2017 (1899 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No outside agency gave Winnipeg police any instructions on how to deal with a blockade of protesters at the Parker Lands development site, the police service says, a day after the provinces top court said it would be alarming if the citys police chief received orders not to interfere with protesters.

No outside agency, person or body has given any direction to the chief of police, his executive, or operational commanders on the issue of law enforcement at this location, as has been suggested, WPS spokesman Const. Rob Carver wrote in an email on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a local developers request for an injunction against the protesters, who are preventing further clearcutting of trees on the property won an earlier court date.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg police say they werent instructed on how to deal with Parker Lands protesters.

The Court of Appeal ruled it should be decided in court on an urgent basis, pushing the previous Nov. 2 hearing date up to Sept. 14.

Protesters have been camped out on the Fort Garry property since mid-July, halting clear cutting of trees with their Rooster Town blockade, named for a Metis community that was once located near the site.

They say they are standing up for Indigenous land rights and environmental protection on the property, owned by developer Andrew Marquess and his company, Gem Equities.

In a sworn affidavit filed in court, Marquess says at least two police officers told him they had been instructed not to interfere with protesters.

He said an officer told him during a phone conversation on July 15  a day after the protesters set up camp  that the chief of police had been ordered by the executive to take no steps to remove the trespassers.

One of his lawyers, Kevin Toyne, previously told the Free Press it was unclear what the executive referred to.

Now, the police service confirms police Chief Danny Smyth hasnt taken any external instructions on the matter.

Carver also said the police service doesnt have a policy that requires it to wait for a court order before removing protesters from private property.

In situations like this, the Winnipeg Police Service strives to keep the peace, prevent offences and enforce the law in a manner that respects and protects the rights of all parties. This hearing will take place before the court on September 14, 2017, at which time further information may become known, Carver wrote.

The Winnipeg Police Service will then review the decision of the court and will take steps to enforce the order, if granted, including the gathering evidence or intervention when appropriate and safe. The timing and process for any action remain the responsibility of the Police, and we have some discretion as to how this is carried out. Our overall concern is always the safety of all parties.

katie.may@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @thatkatiemay
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 31/08/2017 (1900 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What could be more surreal than Alice in Wonderland falling down a rabbit hole and waking up in a strange place far from home where little makes sense? Ask some of the Syrian youth whove created their own adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic for the Winnipeg stage.

In a way, theyve lived it.

Their play Alice in the Land of Wonders is being presented Sept. 8 and 9 by the Gas Station Arts Centre and Sawa Theatre, a program for Syrian newcomer youth. The 17 actors range in age from 10 to 18 and arrived in Canada within the last two years, said co-founder and executive producer Shaden Abusaleh.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Alice in the Land of Wonders producer Shaden Abusaleh watches from the wings while actors rehearse.

Sawa is Arabic for together, said Abusaleh, who started the theatre project in 2016 with a group of university students and young artists. She came to Canada with her family 10 years ago from Syria and was not a theatre buff.

In high school, I didnt take drama. I thought it was a waste of time, said Abusaleh, who is studying global political economy at the University of Manitoba. What changed her mind was hearing someone at the World University Service of Canada talking about a performance of Oliver! The Musical in Jordan by cast members whod fled fighting in Syria.

I thought it was something we can do here, she said. The person who told her about Oliver! in Jordan   Al-Montaser Al-Jajeh  signed on as a director. They received support from the theatre community, sponsors and volunteers and recruited cast members from schools and after-school programs.

One of the biggest challenges was convincing more girls to take part  that its not lame or a waste of time and there is so much to learn from it, said Abusaleh. Now in its second season, Sawa Theatre has a more balanced mix of boys and girls, she said.

Not all were familiar with the story of Alice, so Abusaleh invited cast members to watch the Disney animated version in Arabic. Playwright Gislina Patterson worked with the Syrian youth to make the story about Alice their own.

Tied in knots by language and outwitted by strange creatures, she learns to find the strength within herself to stand up to oppression and free Wonderland from its unjust rule, says the press release about the play thats in English and Arabic with subtitles. It blends in magic, poetry, and Syrian music and traditions  the Mad Hatters tea party will look more Middle Eastern with elements of Levantine culture, Abusaleh said. The experiences of the cast members are incorporated, too.

We made sure each kid had an opportunity to say what they wanted to say, whether they played an original or new character, and what message did they want their character to bring to the audience, she said. Each young actor is stepping out of their comfort zone, said the executive producer.

Nearly every single cast member will step on stage for the first time and deliver their lines in a brand new language, said Abusaleh. Theyre working really hard at memorizing their lines. Some are working at summer jobs, juggling rehearsals and werent keen to portray goofy-looking characters. At a time of life when peer acceptance is paramount, some struggled with costumes that werent cool enough, she said.

Another cast member is singing for the first time, said Abusaleh. He has a beautiful voice but hes never sang in front of anyone before. Hell be singing a traditional Syrian song in one of the scenes, she said. Its very beautiful.

Another performer, who has wanted to act since fleeing Syria and performing in his first play in Jordan, was cast as the Cheshire Cat.

Fifteen-year-old Ibrahim Sarhan arrived in Canada one year ago with his dad. He lost his mom and four siblings in 2013 when a barrel bomb was dropped on their Damascus suburb. In an interview last September, he told the Free Press he had tried acting for the first time after he and his dad fled to Jordan. He loved it and decided thats what he wanted to do with his life. Now, as the Cheshire Cat, hes smiling and living the dream.

Its really wonderful to see them grow, said Sawa Theatres Abusaleh. Whether they say Im here because I want to perform or Im here to have fun with my friends theyre equally welcome, she said. They may have arrived as refugees from a country mired in conflict and chaos but that doesnt define who they are, Abusaleh said.

The goal was to step out and show very different narrative, she said. Their performances will upstage any preconceived ideas and negative perceptions audience members have about Syrian refugees, said Abusaleh. Were trying to demonstrate that were active community members and we have a lot energy. For the audience, more importantly, it will be entertaining, she promised.

This play is professional  its not a bunch of kids  goofing around, she said. The cast and crew are putting on a legitimately good production.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 01/09/2017 (1899 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week, when U.S. President Donald Trump made his long-anticipated announcement regarding the war in Afghanistan, even he had to admit he has his doubts about his chosen path. My original instinct was to pull out, said Trump, and historically, I like following my instincts.

Senior Pentagon and National Security advisors have instead managed to convince Trump to ignore his inner voices and give his blessing to yet another continuation of the bloody occupation of Afghanistan.

This time will be different, though, as Trump assured the American public that under his guidance, the U.S. militarys objective will be to win. Unlike his weak-kneed predecessors who attempted to build a nation in Afghanistan, the Trump-led warriors will simply focus on killing bad guys.

Carolyn Kaster / The Associated Press Files President Donald Trump gestures during a Presidential Address to the Nation in August about a strategy he believes will best position the U.S. to eventually declare victory in Afghanistan.

Turning their backs on the situation in Afghanistan, Trump claimed, would result in creating another failed state wherein international terrorists could plot and plan attacks against America.

While it is true that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was residing in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks, the truth is that there are currently a large number of failed states around the world where terrorist cells abound.

Ironically, many of these black holes of anarchy were created as a result of U.S. meddling and its ill-conceived campaign to eliminate terror. I refer to Libya, Iraq and Syria, where U.S. invasions, interference and subterfuge have destabilized huge swaths of territory and led to the creation of numerous fanatical factions such as the Islamic State group, al-Nusra and al-Qaeda-linked militias.

To stay in Afghanistan militarily in order to make America safe again would mean that the U.S. needs to begin planning similar occupations of Iraq, Libya and Syria  and lets throw Somalia in there, as well.

Trump also said that his renewed commitment to Afghanistan was not a blank cheque, nor will it be open-ended. Unlike former U.S. president Barack Obama, Trump declined to put an exit date on the new mission as he insists that victory will be determined by achieving objectives. Of course, he declined to identify what exactly those objectives are.

To achieve his planned reversal of fortunes in the war, Trump will be deploying an additional 4,000 troops to boost the 8,400 U.S. soldiers already based in Afghanistan.

To put this in perspective, Obamas surge strategy, aimed at winning the war once and for all, saw a troop increase of 30,000 soldiers, which brought the total American force deployed in country to over 100,000. Added to that number were an additional 40,000 international soldiers, including 3,500 Canadians. And lets not forget the 400,000 Afghan security forces that NATO soldiers have been training since 2001.

Somehow Trump expects to accomplish victory with 12,400 troops, when 140,000 NATO and U.S. soldiers failed?

Trump also indicated that the U.S. will continue to focus on the training of Afghans in order to make them self-sufficient. Despite every military apologist and pundit explaining to their audience that it takes time to build a military from scratch, the truth is that the best trainers in the world  including Canadian soldiers  have spent the past 16 years trying to make soldiers out of Afghan recruits. If it hasnt worked yet  and it hasnt  then it never will.

To get a sense of the futility of mentoring Afghan security forces, I highly recommend watching the VICE News documentary This is What Winning Looks Like. It is an excellent 90-minute expose of the rampant drug use, sexual misconduct, corruption and lack of professionalism that embody both the Afghan army and police forces.

Though the film was produced in 2013, I assure you that things have only gotten worse since the number of NATO and U.S. troops has been greatly reduced over the past four years.

This is, without a doubt, the longest war in U.S. history. Some diehard Afghan war hawks will claim that the Korean War is a frozen conflict and because the U.S. never withdrew, South Korea has blossomed into an economic dynamo. If U.S. troops were constantly being targeted by South Korean suicide bombers, they definitely would not have stayed there for 70 years.

Afghanistan will never be another South Korea and there is a good reason that this rugged patch of Central Asia is known as the Graveyard of Empires. Trump missed his chance. He should have followed his instincts and pulled out of a war he can never win.

Scott Taylor is the founder and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. He is a bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 01/09/2017 (1899 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Watching a city drown on live television, warm and dry on the couch while lives are sucked into the churning belly of the flood leaves you with a feeling of stunned helplessness.

The vehicles sinking before our eyes, drivers still in them. The rain that doesnt stop. Terrified family members, no longer able to wait to be rescued, inching their way to safety through filthy, neck-deep water.

And we know water in Winnipeg. Not the kind that storms in from the sea, but the kind that rises from the thaw and engorges rivers. So these latest scenes whisper: there, but for the grace of God  and a 48-kilometre-long ditch  goes us.

When hurricane Harvey began pounding Houston last week, the continent craned its neck to watch. The images that glared out from the United States fourth-largest city were heartbreaking, a nonstop parade of exhaustion and loss.

By Thursday, at least 28 people were known to have died in the flooding. That number is likely to rise, as more bodies are recovered. Among those presumed dead, six members of a single family were swept away in a van.

Forty thousand homes are destroyed. Tens of thousands of people huddle in shelters. Even after the rain finally stopped, the news remained grim: damaged oil facilities spewed toxins into the air. A downtown building blew up.

A chemical plant in Crosby, about 40 kilometres northeast of Houston, warned that it could do nothing to prevent an imminent explosion. The threat drove authorities to evacuate everyone in a 2.4-kilometre radius around the plant.

All the while, the regions streets are engorged by fetid water and sludge. Authorities fretted about arsenic, lead and other chemicals leaching into the water from toxic waste dumps. The danger from that could linger for months.

Theres no need to test it, a Houston health department spokesman told the New York Times. Its contaminated. Theres millions of contaminants dont let your children play in it, and if you do touch it, wash it off.

Calamities have the power to bring communities together. Ordinary people join forces to ensure mutural survival. (Gerald Herbert / The Associated Press)

This is a cataclysm, with a live television audience. These are the conditions that writers of apocalyptic fiction draw from when they write about the end of the world; and it was, for at least 28 people in Texas this week. Likely more.

Yet the images that beamed out of Houston show us something else, about living through sudden destruction.

Volunteers help a woman after she was rescued by boat from her home in Beaumont, Texas, in the aftermath of Harvey on Wednesday Aug. 30, 2017. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Consider post-apocalyptic fiction. Scenarios vary  zombies, environmental chaos, nuclear Armageddon  but one trope is especially common: most stories rotate on bands of survivors, defending against predatorial outsiders.

Survivors of these tales are often beset on all sides; not just by zombies or radiation, but by other people. The most dangerous threats in post-apocalyptic fiction are human. The message of these literary tropes is dark and simple.

What we have most to fear, they tell us, is each other. We are our own harbingers of destruction.

Maybe that can be true, in total social-collapse scenarios. Maybe villainous bands of cannibals really will emerge after a zombie invasion. But in the real world, when real communities are hammered by disaster, thats not what we see.

In one study of rural communities in Honduras, researchers found that people living in areas devastated by 1998s hurricane Mitch reported higher levels of trust and more close friends, and performed higher on trust-based tests.

Another study, published in June, found that communities in Chile that had suffered the most earthquake exposure also showed higher rates of social cohesion. They gave more to charity, volunteered more, engaged in less crime.

People seem to compensate for worse environmental conditions by being more co-operative, the authors wrote.

Houston Police SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son Aiden after rescuing them from their home surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

And in Houston this week, we saw that effect beamed in heroic images. A reporter turned his camera on a civilian man, who came from a southern suburb of Houston, as he readied his boat to motor through the citys flooded streets.

You guys just jumping in to help out? the reported asked.

Yes, sir, the man replied.

Another question: What are you going to do?

Im gonna try and save some lives, the man replied.

There are more stories, so many stories of human co-operation, rising higher than the water. A furniture-store owner, Jim (Mattress Mack) McIngvale, opened his two showrooms as sanctuaries for more than 1,000 stranded refugees.

He had done the same for hurricane Katrina evacuees fleeing New Orleans more than a decade ago. He sent the stores furniture trucks out to perform rescues. He gave out his cellphone number on CNN, so that anyone who needs help can call him direct.

In another scene, caught on video, an elderly man was trapped in a flooded SUV. Dozens of bystanders formed a human chain, linking arms and braving chest-deep water; they were able to reach the man and carry him to safety.

Members of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries help rescue Mike Henry (right) and his partner Rosemarie Carpenter in Orange, Texas, on Wednesday. (Gerald Herbert / The Associated Press)

Hundreds of these scenes beamed out of Houston this week. Countless more happened that will never be seen.

Captained by everyday people, flotillas of fishing boats and Sea-Doos set out on rescue missions. Doors opened for strangers in need of a safe place. Teams of volunteer lawyers set up at shelters to help out with insurance claims.

Elsewhere, floodwaters trapped employees inside a Mexican bakery for two days. So they worked through the bakerys storehold of flour, baking for more than 24 hours, creating hundreds of loaves and cakes to share with survivors.

This is what the best parts of us look like. This is the solidarity we find in disaster. Normal people, banding together, contributing their skills to ensure mutual survival; from the wreckage of destruction, co-operation sprouts forth.

Its not a new revelation. Weve seen this countless times before. Yet as Houston was decimated this week, it showed us once more: at the end of it all, when the water rises up to swallow the world, what keeps us afloat is compassion.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

A man carries children after being rescued by members of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the the Houston Fire Department after residents were stranded by floodwaters due to Tropical Storm Harvey, Monday, Aug. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Pakistan has postponed indefinitely several high-level bilateral meetings with the United States after President Donald Trump announced a new strategy for Afghanistan. Trumps speech, which placed Pakistan on notice for harbouring terrorist safe havens, while promoting Indias regional role, has further exposed the deepening rupture between the two Cold War-era allies.

The first meeting was to be between Pakistans Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, scheduled for August 25 in Washington. Instead, Asif embarked on a tour to China, Russia and Turkey to rally support for Pakistan.

A scheduled visit to Islamabad by acting US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells and US National Security Council official Lisa Curtis to discuss cooperation in the region suffered the same fate. Islamabad requested that the visit be postponed until a mutually convenient time.

Trumps speech last week provoked an angry reaction in Islamabad. He declared that if Pakistan failed to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation by doing more in the war on terrorism, the US would cut economic and military aid to Pakistan and revoke its status as a major non-NATO ally. He indicated there would be US strikes against terrorists inside Pakistan and this could include continuation of the drone war.

Another option with which Washington reportedly toyed in preparing its new strategy was to brand Pakistan a terrorist state. Curtis herself advocated that in a Heritage Foundation report published in February before her appointment in the White House.

Trump also called for the further development of Washingtons strategic partnership with India, Pakistans arch-rival, as a critical part of his administrations strategy and asked for Indian assistance in further interventions in Afghanistan.

Amid escalating war tensions over Kashmir, Trumps promotion of India has infuriated Islamabad. As Trump was speaking, India was engaged in its most serious military stand-off with China since the 1962 border war.

In effect, Trumps strategy more closely intertwines the historic Indo-Pakistan rivalry with the Afghan war and Washingtons rivalry with China, adding an extremely explosive element to each conflict.

Washingtons geo-strategic favours to Delhi, in order to integrate it into the US militarys anti-China preparations, played a significant role in downgrading relations with Islamabad. While India welcomed Trumps speech, both China and Russia promptly criticised the Afghanistan strategy.

Islamabads ruling elite has been rattled by the geo-political crisis it faces. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa held a lengthy meeting with other top civil and military officials from the National Security Committee (NSC). The NSC eventually issued a statement accusing the US of scapegoating Pakistan over Afghanistan.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Prime Minister Abbasi declared that the US military strategy in Afghanistan has not worked and it will not work, there has to be a political settlement. He added: We do not intend to allow anybody to fight Afghanistans battle on Pakistans soil.

The NSC statement insisted that US military action had to eliminate sanctuaries harbouring terrorists in Afghanistan, including those responsible for fomenting terror in Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of supporting the Islamist militia Tehrik-e-Taliban, allowing it to operate from Afghanistan. The group has frequently carried out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

The statement also declared that US claims of billions of dollars in assistance were misleading because the air attacks were only a fraction of the cost incurred by Pakistan in the US war in Afghanistan.

India cannot be a net security provider in the South Asia region, the statement continued. It accused Delhi of destabilising Pakistan from the east and the west, interfering in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries and using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

Islamabads ruling elite has previously denounced India over its action in Afghanistan and for supporting the Balochi separatist insurgency in Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has publicly declared his willingness to support the Balochi insurgency and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has canvassed using terrorists to counter alleged Pakistan-originated attacks in India.

The NSC statement is a clear warning to India, which has boasted repeatedly of its readiness to mount military raids inside Pakistan. Islamabad has previously warned it would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons to turn back alleged Indian aggression.

Last week, Imtiaz Gul from the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies summed up the explosive tensions, telling Associated Press: Upgrading the Indian role in Afghanistan basically means perpetuating the hostilities.

The immediate cause for Washingtons frustration with Pakistan is its connections to Islamic militias, including the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. But the ever-deepening rift with Islamabad is bound up with Pakistans strengthening diplomatic, economic and defence ties with Beijing. This is symbolised in the strategic China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which is expected to see Chinese investments of more than $US50 billion in Pakistan.

As for its terrorist links, Pakistan shares these connections with the CIA and Saudi Arabia, which financed the mujahedeen movement against Kabuls pro-Soviet government during the 1980s. Pakistans premier intelligence agency, the ISI, played a crucial role in developing these intimate links with the mujahedeen leadership.

These Islamist forces were used by the CIA decades later in its interventions in Libya and Syria. Similarly, the ISI and its military controllers regularly employed these elements to extend Islamabads interests in post-Soviet Afghanistan and also in India, especially in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistans military, which has fiercely challenged any civilian attempt to control the countrys security and foreign policy, regards these elements as a valuable proxy force.

Michael Kugelman of the US-based Wilson Center told Associated Press that Washingtons leverage in Pakistan is deeply exaggerated. He added: Pakistan has an unshakeable strategic interest in maintaining ties to militant groups like the Taliban because they help keep Pakistans Indian enemy at bay in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, however, has been shaken politically by Trumps Afghanistan strategy. An August 26 editorial in Pakistans News declared that although Pakistan needed to speak out against Trumps incendiary policy  it is unclear what Pakistan can do beyond mere protest. The US is still the senior partner in this relationship as it holds the purse strings.

These concerns point to the deepening economic crisis facing Pakistan. Islamabad depends on financial injections from the International Monetary Fund. Unfavourable evaluations of the Pakistan economy by the US-dominated bank would make it harder to secure funding from other sources.

Beyond these immediate financial concerns, the Pakistani ruling elite has historically relied on political and financial support from Washington to maintain its rule. Sharp factional infighting has erupted in Islamabad over whether China is capable of replacing Washington.

A nervous August 25 editorial in Pakistans Dawn newspaper described the NSC statement as uncharacteristically stern and warned the government it must strive to avoid a strategic collision with the worlds only superpower.
Parts Of The US Will See Rain And Snow, Some May See Severe Weather
Disneyland Paris has apologized to a British mom after initially barring her 3-year-old son from its Princess For A Day experience because he is a boy.

On Tuesday, Hayley McLean-Glass wrote an open letter to the theme park explaining how she was told her son, Noah, would not be allowed to participate in the princess-themed makeover and photo shoot at the Disneyland Hotel.

If theres such a thing as a Frozen super fan, Noah is it, McLean-Glass, who hails from Devon, England, wrote in the letter, which she posted to her blog. We have spent a small fortune in Disney items for him, he wears his beloved Elsa dress all day every day ... he even refuses to take it off at bedtime. He knows every single word to Let It Go and all of the other Frozen songs, hed be able to stand on your stage in the Frozen show and give your Elsa a run for her money, Im sure!

If theres such a thing as a Frozen super fan, Noah is it, Hayley McLean-Glass said of her 3-year-old son. (Photo: Hayley McLean-Glass)

The Princess For A Day experience, McLean-Glass decided, would be the ideal Christmas gift for Noah, who would love nothing more than to get to wear a pretty dress, put make up on like Mummy does and have his photo taken being one of his beloved Disney princesses. Unfortunately, McLean-Glass said she received a curt rejection from Disneyland Hotel staff when she inquired about signing Noah up for the activity.

At this time, a staff member wrote in an email pasted to McLean-Glass blog, it is not possible to book Princess For A Day for a boy.

The response, McLean-Glass said, seemed to reinforce gender stereotypes. I cant help but wonder if the same rule would apply should you introduce an activity at your parks that is only for boys, she wrote. If a little girl wants to be a super hero, she can be. If she wants to be a Jedi, she can be. She can be whatever she wants ... just like Walt Disney himself said, If you can dream it you can do it!

"If a child wants to wear a dress and emulate his favorite character, there is nothing at all wrong with that," McLean-Glass said. (Photo: Hayley McLean-Glass)

On Thursday, she told HuffPost she was deeply upset by the response. I was just so shocked that somewhere like Disneyland, which I have always thought [was] one of the most inclusive places in the world, was saying he couldnt do something purely because of his genitalia, she said. It made no sense to me at all.

Story continues

After McLean-Glass posted her open letter to the blog, theme park officials issued an apology to her family, noting that the initial response was not reflective of any policy or belief held here at Disneyland Paris.

Diversity is near and dear to our hearts and we want to make sure that all our guests enjoy their experience at our resort, the statement read, according to ITV News. Of course, both boys and girls are welcome to enjoy the Princess for a Day experience in addition to all our other special activities. We are going to ensure this does not happen again.

According to McLean-Glass, her son would love nothing more than to get to wear a pretty dress, put make up on like Mummy does and have his photo taken being one of his beloved Disney princesses. (Photo: Hayley McLean-Glass)

In addition, McLean-Glass pointed out that the wording on the Disneyland Hotels official website has been changed from Grant every little girls wish with this experience to Grant every childs wish.

It may seem a small thing to some, she told HuffPost, but I believe language like they were previously using sends a strong and clear message to boys that this is a girls activity, and they are in the minority for wanting to have it.

She continued, I want people to understand that equality is a right and its for everybody ... if a child wants to wear a dress and emulate his favorite character, there is nothing at all wrong with that, regardless of what is under that dress.

Catch the latest in LGBTQ culture by subscribing to the Queer Voices newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
A sculpture of an unknown Egyptian pharaoh's head, found at the ancient city of Hazor in Israel, dates back around 4,300 years, to a time when Egyptians were building pyramids. The sculpture was smashed apart around 3,300 years ago, possibly after an Israeli force led by Joshua destroyed the city, researchers have found.

Researchers said the sculpture, excavated and reconstructed in 1995 and discussed in the recently published book "Hazor VII: The 1990-2012 Excavations, the Bronze Age" (Israel Exploration Society, 2017), leaves them with a number of questions: Which pharaoh does it show? Why was it transported to Hazor? And why did it survive for a millennium before being smashed apart when Hazor was destroyed?

"The history of the statue was surely quite complex, and the kingdom of Hazor must have been eager to use and display a prestige object connected to Egyptian royal imagery," wrote Egyptologists Dimitri Laboury and Simon Connor in a report published in the book. [Biblical Battles: 12 Ancient Wars Lifted from the Bible]

"The person depicted wears a short, close-fitting, curled cap wig, topped by a uraeus, the solar cobra that rises above the forehead of [a] pharaoh in ancient Egyptian iconography, thus identifying our character as a king of Egypt beyond any doubt," wrote Laboury, a senior research associate at the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS) at the University of Liege, and Connor, a curator at the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy.

"The rendering of these facial features on the piece from Hazor are characteristic of the 5th Dynasty [circa 2465-2323 B.C.], although it does not seem possible to determine with any certainty which king it depicts," wrote Laboury and Connor, who also noted that the head was once part of a larger statue.

A view of the front of the royal head. Gaby Laron/Hebrew University/Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in memory of Yigael Yadin

Destroyed city

Hazor was destroyed in the mid-13th century B.C., possibly by an Israeli force led by Joshua. A passage from the Book of Joshua in the Bible claims that Joshua's force destroyed a large army led by "Jabin," a king of Hazor. The passage also says that after destroying the army, Joshua sacked Hazor.

Story continues

"Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword," the biblical text from Joshua 11:10-11 reads. "Everyone in it, they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he [Joshua] burned Hazor itself."

Whether the Israelis were actually the group that destroyed Hazor is a matter of debate among scholars, but research shows that the city was sacked and this sculpture was one of many statues that were smashed. "The cracks indicate that the nose had been broken and the head detached from the rest of the sculpture before being shattered," wrote Laboury and Connor in their report. "Interestingly, no other part of the statuette to which it had originally belonged was recovered at the site."

A number of Egyptian statues have also been discovered at Hazor, including one found in 2013that has the paws of a sphinx. "Given Hazor's location in northern Israel, the number of Egyptian statues and statuary fragments uncovered at the site is surprising," a team of scholars wrote in another report published in the book. "All statues appear to have been deliberately smashed to pieces."

Editor's Note: This article was updated to indicate that in the Hebrew Bible Joshua acts as the leader of the Israeli people, though he is not referred to as a king.

Original article on Live Science.

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President Donald Trump has been roundly criticized for his awkward, self-centered handling of Hurricane Harvey, where he showed up outside the disaster zone, bragged into a megaphone about how big the crowd was, and did little else. Trump just can't catch a break when he is bad at being president. But the situation makes one wonder: Did we apply the same rules to President Barack Obama?

SEE ALSO: 5 bible passages that prove Trump's advisor is right: God supports Trump 'taking out' Kim Jong-un

Bots and the Trump supporters who retweet them asked if Trump's doing so badly, what do liberals have to say about Obama's actions during Katrina? Where even was Obama during Hurricane Katrina?

It really got me thinking. So, I compiled a list of five tragedies that I think we can all agree Obama really dropped the ball on. Let's start with Katrina.

1. Hurricane Katrina

We already kind of touched on this. But it bears repeating that Obama didn't do nearly enough in the aftermath of Katrina. I mean, sure, as an Illinois senator in 2005, a year without a presidential election, he went to the Astrodome in Houston to meet with evacuees and then openly criticized George W. Bush and the federal response to the storm, calling it "achingly slow." But he didn't even bother to become president for another four years. Come on dude. What the hell?

2. The JFK Assassination

The nation was shocked and saddened in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. The aftermath left the country in turmoil and in desperate need of direction. And where was your beloved President Obama? His 2-year-old self was certainly not on TV addressing a troubled nation to reassure its citizens that the state of the Union remains strong and unbroken.

3. Pearl Harbor

Remembered as the moment the United States was pulled into World War II, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor galvanized a divided nation into action. The day after the attack, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his legendary Infamy Speech, but it speaks volumes on Obama's character that he was nowhere to be seen in the direct aftermath of Pearl Harbor, choosing to take a back seat in the sensitive matters of his shattered country.

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4. The Boston Massacre

One of the defining moments of the American Revolution was that cold fateful March eve in 1770 where several Parliament-loyal British soldiers fired into a crowd of unarmed people, killing five. The incident inspired the colonies into rebellion, eventually sparking the Revolutionary War. Yet, in every historical account of the event I've read, your favorite president Barack Obama's name doesn't come up even one time. You'd think he'd have something  anything to say after one of the critical events leading to his country's formation, but he said and did nothing. What a complete disgrace.

5. The Black Death

In the 14th century, an epidemic known as "Black Death" or the bubonic plague, swept across Europe and Asia, killing millions in its wake. It goes without saying that Barack "Obungler" didn't have the courtesy to even extend his best wishes in the form of a raven's scroll to Europe's richest kings, denouncing the disease and offering solutions to the labor shortage that was certainly imminent. A fractured world could have used comforting words from the leader of the free world in those years. But Obummer had the audacity to not even exist in a physical form for another 600 years. An embarrassment to the office of the presidency.
With President Trump set to visit Texas on Saturday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner underscored the extensive resources his city requires after Tropical Storm Harvey displaced tens of thousands of residents from their homes.

In an interview on CNNs New Day, Turner said he had not spoken to Trump. The White House said Thursday that Trump tentatively plans to visit the Houston area, depending on the conditions.

Texas is healing fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard, Trump tweeted Friday. But still so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!

Texas is healing fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard. But still so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

During his CNN interview, Turner did not dwell on his lack of conversations with Trump, but he did imply that he expects more resources from the federal government, saying, We must operate with a sense of urgency.

We have to have the resources in order to assist people that are transitioning from a crisis state and get them back in a much more stable situation, Turner said. And we need the resources now.

In fact, let me back that up, he added. We need the resources yesterday.

Quinisha Runnels holds her cousin, Mimi Runnels, 2, on a cot at the George R. Brown Convention Center where nearly 10,000 people are taking shelter after Tropical Storm Harvey Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017 in Houston. ( Photo: Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle/AP)

Turner said he has so far spoken with Housing Secretary Ben Carson, former Texas Gov. and Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Meetings with FEMA Director Brock Long and acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke were scheduled for Friday, Turner said.

Trump has already visited Texas once since Harvey made landfall last weekend, initially as a Category 4 hurricane. He made a brief appearance in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, and though he did not tour any storm-ravaged areas or meet with victims, he waved the Texas flag and offered some optimism to those gathered for the occasion.

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What a crowd, what a turnout, Trump said. This is historic. Its epic what happened, but you know what, it happened in Texas, and Texas can handle anything.

After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

On Friday, Turner pitched a nonpartisan push for federal resources and seemed to hint at the increasing frequency of devastating storms like Harvey.

What I would say to everyone is that this should be priority No. 1 for our country, Turner said. And we have to provide  and lets put the politics aside. Lets provide the necessary resources now in order for people to rebuild their lives. We should not keep them in a traumatized state any longer than they need to be.

What I would say to people is that, put yourselves in our shoes, he added. It may not be you today, but the way these storms are coming, it certainly can be you tomorrow. And you have to ask the question: How would you want to be treated if it happened to you?

Harvey flood map

Read more from Yahoo News:
A new species is being discovered in the Amazon every two days from fire-tailed titi monkeys and yellow-moustached lizards to pink river dolphins and honeycomb-patterned stingrays, according to a new report.

Conservation group World Wildlife Fund, who wrote the report along with Brazils Mamiraua Institute, said the astonishing rate of new finds showed scientists had still only scratched the surface of all the incredible species that live there.

But relentless deforestation of the Amazon means many of its undiscovered animals and plants will go extinct before they are found, WWF warned, urging governments in the region to take action.

The report revealed a total of 381 new species had been discovered in 2014 and 2015, including 216 plants, 93 fish, 32 amphibians, 20 mammals  although two of those were fossils  19 reptiles and one bird.

Sarah Hutchison, WWFs head of programmes for Brazil and Amazon, said: We are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to unveiling the incredible species that live in the Amazon, yet instead of this precious area being safeguarded, it is under greater threat than ever before.

There is a real risk that at the rate at which the Amazon is changing many species may become extinct before we have had a chance to find them.

The discovery of 381 new species is a wake-up call for the governments of Amazon countries that they must halt the ongoing and relentless deforestation and work to preserve its unparalleled biodiversity.

If they dont, there will continue to be irreversible impacts on the Amazons much-loved wildlife, undiscovered species and the local and indigenous people that call it home.

She said she hoped the report would inspire scientists to carry out more research.

Sharing new discoveries is essential to supporting conservation efforts and, as one of the last great wildernesses, there are many more secrets left to uncover, Ms Hutchison said.

Nearly a third of all the tropical rainforests on Earth are in the Amazon. Even though it covers about 1 per cent of the planets surface, it is estimated to be home to 10 per cent of known species.

Story continues

The new species of pink river dolphin is estimated to have a population of 1,000, but they are under threat from the construction of hydroelectric dams as well as industrial and agricultural activity. The fire-tailed titi monkey, which has a bright orange tail, is also at risk from deforestation.

The current rate of species extinction is estimated to be 1,000 to 10,000 times that of the natural rate because of human activity.

It is just one reason why geologists are considering declaring a new epoch  the Anthropocene  as the fossils of the long dead animals will form a noticeable line in the rocks of the future.
A stock photo of a wedding cake is pictured being worked on: Getty Images

Men in the United States are taking advantage of exceptions in state laws to marry minors at an alarming rate, leading to disastrous consequences for many girls who become trapped with little ability to fend for themselves.

In the majority of states, people need to be 18 years old in order to get married  but all but three states make parental or court exceptions to that rule leading a group of predominantly young girls into dangerous situations. And, contributing to those lax allowances are 25 states that have no statutory floor, meaning a child of any age can technically get married to an adult with certain permissions.

As a result, more than 200,000 children were married between 2000 and 2015, and many of those were young girls marrying adult men, according to new research from the Tahirih Justice Centre.

America really does have a child marriage problem, Jeanne Smoot, the author of the report, told the Huffington Post. It hurts children here, just as it does globally, and we are overdue to tackle it.

The children come from diverse communities, are predominantly girls, and face significant hardships once married or before. Some are married to cover up statutory rapes resulting in pregnancies, others are married because parents are no longer able to care for them, and some are married off for a dowry. The reasons are vast.

Many of those married children fail to graduate from high school, and even fewer attend or graduate college. Children married tend too display high levels of psychiatric distress, and are at high risk of being the victims of domestic abuse  young women are in general more likely to be abused, but 16-to-19-year-olds experience triple the national average rate of abuse.

Added to those hardships are, in many cases, a lack of legal or financial independence to fight back against their unfortunate circumstances. Some married children lack even the ability to check into shelters for protection, can be picked up by police as runaways and returned to their spouses, and can face difficulty even staying with friends or family as those individuals could legally be charged with laws related to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

But, states have indicated in recent years an interest in tackling the problem. Virginia became the first state to do so last year, enacting a law that made the legal age 18, with special exception for minors emancipated by courts with full adult legal rights. Earlier this year, Texas and New York followed suit.
(BEIJING)  A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on Thursday on a flight to Beijing, a day before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea.Among those on the flight from the North Korean capital were aid workers who hoped to be allowed to return to continue humanitarian work.

The Trump administration announced in July that it was barring American citizens from traveling to North Korea from Sept. 1 over concerns about detentions of Americans who travel there. Earlier this year, U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier was sent home in a coma and later died after spending more than a year in North Korean detention.

Overall, though nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident, at least 16 have been detained in the last decade, American officials say.

The ban also goes into effect amid heightened U.S. concern about Pyongyangs recent advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The ban includes potential exceptions for journalists and humanitarian workers, and expires after one year unless extended.

Heidi Linton, director of the U.S.-based charity Christian Friends of Korea, said she wasnt sure how long it could take for travel approval to come through. The organization, which fights tuberculosis and hepatitis, has been working in North Korea for more than 20 years.

The devil is always in the detail, she said, after landing in Beijing. These trips take a long time to plan and organize and so, if travel approval doesnt come in a timely way, its a de facto denial.

Linton said the organization appreciated the U.S. governments concern for its people, but said there was a tremendous need for humanitarian work in North Korea.

I think its very important that there be opportunities for people to understand one another in person, Linton said.

Another Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang is due to land in Shanghai on Thursday evening.
Antidepressants are increasingly building up in the brains of several species of fish in the Great Lakes region. A new study claims scientists detected traces of antidepressants in large clusters, according to research from the University of Buffalo (UB). Bass and walleye fish are among the 10 affected species.

The study, published Aug. 16 in the journal "Environmental Science and Technology," wanted to examine the concentrations and bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) that are released into freshwater. UB researchers found metabolized remnants of high concentrations of antidepressants in the brain tissues of 10 fish species in the Niagara River.

This discovery raises major environmental concerns because it could affect the fishes behavior, including its survival instincts and feeding practices. These changes could disrupt the balance of the ecosystem and prevent its overall stability.

"These active ingredients from antidepressants, which are coming out from wastewater treatment plants, are accumulating in fish brains," Diana Aga, the study's lead author, said in a news release. "It is a threat to biodiversity, and we should be very concerned."

The rock bass fishes, in particular, were exposed to antidepressants at a higher rate than other fish species. Approximately 400 nanograms of norsertraline (the active ingredient in Zoloft) per gram of brain tissue were detected in rock bass fish. Other ingredients found in the rock bass fish  and the other nine fish species  included citalopram (the active ingredient in Celexa) and norfluoxetine (the active ingredient in Prozac and Sarafem).

The brain contained the highest concentration of antidepressants, but it wasn't the only location antidepressants were present in fish. UB researchers reportedly detected remnants in the fishes' livers, muscles and gonads. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) located by the water are directly responsible for the fishes' exposure, according to the researchers.

Story continues

The antidepressants present within fish species doesn't pose a threat during human consumption. Residents in the United States, in particular, will avoid any level of danger since Americans don't typically eat fish organs like the brain. However, researchers claim that danger posed to biodiversity is a legitimate threat.

"The levels of antidepressants found do not pose a danger to humans who eat the fish, especially in the U.S., where most people do not eat organs like the brain," Randolph Singh, a recent UB grad who worked on the study, said in a news release. "However, the risk that the drugs pose to biodiversity is real, and scientists are just beginning to understand what the consequences might be."

A representative from the University of Buffalo did not immediately return International Business Times' request for comment.

Releasing waste into freshwaters has become problematic for aquatic life. Scientists have been able to detect pollutants in fresh waters with the improvement of technology, according to National Geographic. Such pollutants include pesticides, birth control pills and sunscreen, among other contaminants. Lakes, rivers, oceans, streams and groundwaters suffer from the damage of water pollution. This damage directly affects the aquatic life residing within these freshwaters.

"Fish absorb all the contaminants from the chemical soup that they swim in, and fish flesh has been found to contain mercury, lead, arsenic, pesticides, and, now, antidepressants," Tracy Reiman, PETA's executive vice president, said in a statement issued to International Business Times Thursday. "The devastation humans have wrought on these sensitive aquatic animals' homes is yet another reason to keep them off our plates and spare them the agony of being impaled, netted, and gutted."

Greenpeace, a nonprofit organization that aims to increase public awareness about environmental issues, recommended ways to prevent the pollution of freshwaters on its website. One simple recommendation was the avoidance of products with excessive packaging.

Bass Fish

Photo: Getty Images

Related Articles
President Trump has promised to make tax reform a priority when Congress returns in September. But beyond a few calls for simplifying the tax code and reducing the corporate tax rate, neither the White House nor Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have said exactly what that plan might look like.

A major sticking point is how to pay for the cuts. Republicans in the Senate intend to approve tax reform with a simple majority without Democratic help under an expedited process called reconciliation. Bills passed under this process cannot increase the deficit after ten yearsmeaning Congress needs a way to balance out the revenue lost by enacting these cuts.

Some ideas that have been discussed in Washington, both openly and quietly, include targeting some popular tax deductions.

Heres a look at four ways Congress might change your taxes.

Taxing 401(k)s upfront

Earlier this month, Politico reported that an idea being quietly discussed was a tax on 401(k) contributions. Americans use these plans to save for retirement, encouraged to do so in part because contributions to them are tax-deductible: the money placed in a 401(k) is currently only taxed when it is taken from the plan, not when it is contributed. Under this revision, youd be taxed on your retirement savings up front.

How much it would raise: More than $144 billion in revenue over ten years, according to government research from 2014.

Who would be affected: The estimated 55 million American workers who contribute to 401(k) plans.

Who would be opposed: The Americans who use these plans, presumably, as well as the financial services companies who profit from managing these accounts. Financial advisors who want Americans to save for retirement worry this would dissuade them from doing so.

Lowering the cap on mortgage interest deductions

Currently, if you own a home and are paying interest on a mortgage, youre entitled to a tax deduction on that interest, capped at $1 million. Its a policy that nominally encourages home ownership, but it disproportionately benefits wealthy Americans, as Dan Kopf at Quartz explained earlier this week. The Trump Administration has considered lowering the cap to $500,000.

Story continues

How much it would raise: $319 billion over the next decade, according to a study by the Tax Foundation, a tax policy nonprofit group.

Who would be affected: Americans who own homes and claim this deduction34.1 million people in 2013, according to Forbes.

Who would be opposed: The powerful real estate lobby, which spends more than the pharmaceutical and gun lobbies$64.8 million in 2016, according to a recent New York Times story on homeownership and wealth inequality. They argue that capping this deduction further would discourage home ownership.

Eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes

Since the government began a federal income tax in 1913, taxpayers have had the option to deduct the amount they pay in state and local taxes from the sum thats taxed at the national level. This amounts to $96 billion in lost federal tax revenue annually, according to the Tax Policy Center. A bare-bones proposal offered by Trump in April called for getting rid of this deduction.

How much it would raise: Experts estimate that if the state and local tax deduction remains in place, it will cost the government $1.3 trillion in revenue between now and 2026.

Who would be affected: Many Americans, particularly wealthier ones. About one-third of U.S. taxpayers itemize deductions on their federal income tax returns, according to the Tax Policy Center, and the majority of them make more than $100,000 a year. Theyre largely concentrated in states with high income taxes: namely California, New York, and New Jersey.

Who would be opposed: State and local governments, who issued a comprehensive report in July delineating the economic impact of eliminating the deduction. The most vocal critics will be in the states mentioned above, which tend to lean Democratic.

Limiting the corporate interest deduction

Republicans have called for eliminating or reducing the corporate tax deductiona policy that, similar to the mortgage interest deduction, allows companies in debt to avoid paying taxes on the interest on that debt. CNBC calls it the biggest single corporate pay-for in the tax proposal submitted by Republicans last year.

How much it would raise: $1.2 trillion over ten years, by some estimates.

Who would be affected: American industries that depend on debt, like real estate, auto manufacturing, and airlines.

Who would be opposed: As CNBC reports, a new coalition of representatives from the telecom, finance, and real estate industries is arguing that eliminating the deduction will be hazardous to American business. The conclusion is that ultimately it will end up reducing the amount of supply that we can add, Bob DeWitt, a housing developer in Boston and a member of the coalition, said in remarks. It will increase the costs of doing business.
Millions of people are looking at homes damaged or destroyed by Harvey and Irma, two historic hurricanes that delivered deadly winds and rain to Texas, Louisiana, Florida and the Caribbean.

Government officials have urged those affected to register for federal aid as soon as possible through DisasterAssistance.gov, a website managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. People may receive grants to pay for temporary housing, home repairs and uninsured property loss, among other needs.

Those ready to begin the cleanup and rebuilding process can get advice from Repairing Your Flooded Home, a step-by-step guide put together by FEMA and the American Red Cross.

But before they enter their homes to assess the damage, public health experts are urging people to take precautions to avoid any unnecessarily harmful situations.

Volunteers from Performance Contractors help a co-worker clean up the damage to his Houston home after Hurricane Harvey. (Photo: Scott Olson via Getty Images)

Here are 11 things to know and do as you go home after a hurricane:

1. Return home only when authorities indicate its safe.

People should follow instructions from state, local and tribal officials on when its best to re-enter hurricane-affected areas, FEMA told HuffPost.

You can look for guidance by monitoring local government agencies social media pages, press conferences and mobile alerts, as well as communicating with neighbors and other community members.

2. Brace for the emotional toll of seeing your house post-hurricane.

Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health in Texas, said that coming back to a damaged or destroyed home can have real mental health effects, including feelings of anger and even despondency.

Children especially may be overwhelmed. Seeing destruction where they once felt safe and secure can have a tremendous amount of psychological impact, Shah told HuffPost.

The best way to handle the emotional burden is to be open with family and friends about how youre feeling and to seek professional assistance if needed.

Be thinking about what youre going to see and be ready for anything, Shah said.

Story continues

3. Stock up on clean water.

Before you begin cleaning and removing debris, its crucial to ensure you have enough drinkable water to stay adequately hydrated, according to Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dont get dehydrated, Schaffner said. Its hot out there and people are not usually as attentive as they should be.

Some impacted areas may be under a boil-water advisory, so you may need to rely on bottled water from any open stores or local donation centers. Even if your home has running water, check your countys public health website and social media pages to determine if its safe to drink.

(Photo: FEMA)

4. Turn off gas and electricity.

Make sure the electricity and gas on your property are shut off to avoid accidental fires and electrocution.

Similarly, the Department of Homeland Securitys disaster readiness website warns to avoid flood water as it may be electrically charged from underground or downed power lines. Consider having an electrician check your house before turning the power back on, the agency recommends.

5. Throw away any potentially contaminated food.

Eating spoiled food could cause gastrointestinal illness. Harris County Public Health officials recommend tossing any food items that:

May have come in contact with floodwaters.

Are stored in a refrigerator that was shut off for more than four hours.

Have an unusual odor, color or texture.

Canned foods that are bulging or open should also be thrown out.

6. Prepare for sewage, mold and wildlife in your house.

Public health officials recommend wearing rubber gloves, rubber boots and goggles when entering a flooded structure.

E. coli and other coliform bacteria from raw sewage that seeped into the floodwaters could cause illness, warned Dr. Renee Funk, incident manager for Hurricane Harvey response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We do really recommend that if any part of their body touches the water, they should wash it, Funk said.

As for mold in these circumstances, Schaffner suggested there may be more concern than there is a real hazard. But if people are worried, he said, they could wear a surgical mask to protect against inhaling mold spores.

In some Harvey-affected areas, there have also been reports of wild animals such as snakes, fire ants and even alligators making their way through the floodwaters. Avoid wading in the water, if possible.

Fire ants cling together to ride out the floods during Hurricane Harvey. (Photo: Juan DeLeon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

7. Wash your hands often and sanitize contaminated items.

Since floodwaters can be swimming with bacteria, sewage and chemicals, they may well have contaminated anything that got wet.

Anything thats been exposed to flooded water really should be considered potentially dangerous, Shah said.

Harris County Public Health recommends disinfecting such items by soaking them in five gallons of clean water mixed with one cup of bleach. An item that cannot be sanitized, such as a mattress or cutting board, should be disposed of.

When it doubt, throw it out, Funk said.

8. Wear mosquito repellent.

Pools of standing water create an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, Schaffner warned. Mosquito-born viruses such as West Nile and Zika can spread in such conditions.

Wearing inspect repellent is a good idea, he said. Mosquito abatement ought to be fairly high on the public health to-do list.

9. Dont let your children or pets play in the floodwater.

Children and animals may seek to cool off in the storm water. But between the risk of downed power lines and the near certainty of infectious disease agents and industrial waste floating around, its not safe.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

A woman cleans the floors of a once flooded house in Houston. (Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

10. Document the damage to your property ASAP.

Cleaning up and removing debris before documenting the damage caused by the storm could slash the amount of government aid youre eligible to receive.

Shah recommends taking a combination of still pictures and videos for insurance claims purposes.

The more documentation you have, the easier it is and the better it is, once youre at the stage of filing your claim, he said.

11. Dont overexert yourself.

Take breaks, stay hydrated and ask for help to avoid emotional and bodily injury. People are at especial risk of hurting themselves when theyre undertaking physical activities they arent used to, Schaffner warned.

The opportunity for strains, sprains, even broken bones or doing something that disables you for a period of time, is something to guard against, he said. Dont overdo it.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Celebs are hitting the books!

SEE ALSO: Celebrities you totally forgot competed on 'Dancing With the Stars'

Some of Hollywood's most promising young stars will split their time between work and school this school year as they set their sights on a new place to conquer: College!

Between the stars of "Modern Family" going to rival schools in Los Angeles and Brooklyn Beckham studying photography at Parsons School of Design in NYC, some of the top universities in the country will welcome some A-list names on campus this fall.

Check out the gallery below for young stars headed to college:



More from AOL.com:

'RuPaul's Drag Race': Get a sneak peek of the new paper doll book!

Brooklyn Beckham faces backlash for gun-wielding photoshoot

Ariel Winter rocks Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots while grocery shopping with boyfriend Levi Meaden


China condemned "destructive" calls for new sanctions on North Korea Thursday, warning Japan, the US and Britain that diplomacy was needed to avert crisis days after nuclear-armed Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said sanctions alone "cannot fundamentally resolve the issue", amid reports the three countries were pushing for new restrictions on North Korean oil imports and foreign workers.

"It is a pity that some countries selectively ignore the requirements for dialogue in the resolutions -- they only emphasise sanctions," she told a regular press briefing, adding "these words and deeds play a destructive role instead of a constructive role in solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue".

"The current situation on the Korean peninsula is not a screenplay, it's not a computer game. It is a real situation that directly bears on the security of the people on the peninsula and the whole regional peace and tranquility," she said.

Her comments came as Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters Thursday that Japan and the United States would seek fresh sanctions to stop the North's missile and nuclear tests.

Tokyo planned to enhance efforts with Washington to persuade China and Russia to change their positions against an envisaged oil embargo with a new UN Security Council resolution, Japan's Jiji news agency reported Thursday, citing informed sources.

Britain, whose Prime Minister Theresa May is visiting Japan, has called for new UN sanctions against North Korea that would target guest workers sent mostly to Russia and China, and whose wages are a source of revenue for Pyongyang.

The UN Security Council has already imposed seven sets of sanctions on Pyongyang, the most recent of which were passed earlier this month, but the measures have done little to quell Kim Jong-Un's nuclear missile ambitions.

Their effectiveness hinges largely on China, which accounts for 90 percent of trade with North Korea but is suspected of failing to enforce past UN measures.

Story continues

On Tuesday, UN diplomats secured a unanimous condemnation of Pyongyang's latest missile tests, but it was not expected to immediately lead to new or tightened sanctions, with divisions among the 15-member council on how to proceed.

The North set off global alarm Tuesday when it fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan, triggering condemnation from the UN Security Council and world leaders including the US and Britain.

China has long called for the issue to be resolved through dialogue, but prospects for a diplomatic solution look increasingly dim as North Korea's provocations have been met with escalating rhetoric, particularly from the US.

In response to the latest missile launches, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to condemn Pyongyang, writing "the US has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!"
By Eric M. Johnson (Reuters) - BNSF Railway Co said on Thursday it has made progress restoring rail service and facility operations in parts of the Houston area and other areas of southeastern Texas roiled by Hurricane Harvey. The carrier owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it had restored service on its line north out of Houston and a portion of its Galveston segment between Alvin, just south of Houston, and Temple, about 200 miles (320 km) to the north. "We continue to re-route or divert as much traffic as possible around the area until flood waters recede and storm damaged lines can be repaired," the company said. "Routes are open into central Texas and traffic is moving through San Antonio, including trains destined for Mexico through our Eagle Pass gateway," the company said. The railway said it expects service to be restored on its Conroe segment of track north of Houston between Somerville and Dobbin by Thursday afternoon, while train loading and unloading operations have resumed at its Pearland location serving automotive and intermodal freight. BNSF still has many yards closed due to flooding, including facilities in Silsbee, Galveston and Beaumont, but has resumed limited operations in its South, Dayton, and Casey yards, the company said. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz)
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's FARC former guerrilla group re-launches itself Friday as the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, sealing its transformation into a leftist political party following its disarmament after a half-century civil conflict.

The name controversially retains the same acronym and the revolutionary spirit of the communist guerrilla group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state before signing a peace deal last year.

The party will hold a formal launch ceremony on Friday on Bolivar Square, near the presidential palace in the heart of the political district in the capital.

Demobilized and renamed, it now faces a struggle for political acceptance in a country scarred by decades of attacks and kidnappings.

- You say FARC -

Delegates from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have spent the week in a founding congress to choose their political representatives.

The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda. The group's leader Rodrigo Londono announced it on Twitter on Thursday evening.

Some FARC leaders wanted to keep the "revolutionary" element while others favored softening the group's image by dropping it in favor of "New Colombia."

Londono, also known as Timochenko, said 628 delegates at the congress voted for Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, with 264 for "New Colombia."

In Spanish the new name, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, has the same acronym as the former rebel force's title, so it will still be known as the FARC.

- What's in a name -

That is a sensitive point in an already delicate peace process, since the acronym FARC for many Colombians is synonymous with the deaths and suffering of the war.

"They are keeping the same acronym because they want to maintain their support base in rural areas," the FARC-controlled conflict zones, said sociologist Fabian Sanabria.

"Doubtless people expected something different. It is possible that this name from the start will restrict them to representing only a small sector of the population."

Story continues

A spokesman for the party said an official English translation for its title would be announced on Friday.

In its former guise it was known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

- Peace and justice -

The FARC formed as a communist movement in 1964 from a peasant uprising for rural land rights.

Over the following decades the conflict drew in various rebel forces, paramilitary groups and state forces.

It left some 260,000 people confirmed dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and seven million displaced in Latin America's longest conflict.

Londono said at the start of the congress that the group will advocate "a democratic political regime that guarantees peace and social justice, respects human rights and guarantees economic development for all."

- Political challenge -

The new party will compete in next year's general elections.

Regardless of how many votes they may win, the peace deal signed with the government last year guarantees the FARC five seats in each of the two legislative chambers for two terms.

Colombians narrowly rejected the government's peace deal with the FARC in a referendum last year.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC tweaked it and the government pushed it through congress.

Timochenko has ruled out the new party fielding a presidential candidate in 2018. But he said it will support a candidate who guarantees peace.

The government has also opened peace talks with Colombia's last active group, the 1,500-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), in the hope of sealing what Santos calls a "complete peace."

FARC leaders and officials warn that remnants of right-wing paramilitary groups are still carrying out attacks in the conflict zones.
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday said security forces had killed the second-in-command of the Gulf Clan, the country's foremost drug gang.

Writing on Twitter, Santos added authorities would elaborate on the circumstances of the killing of Roberto Vargas Gutierrez, alias "Gavilan," who had been sought for a 500 million pesos ($170,000) reward.

The Gulf Clan, which accounts for some 70 percent of Colombia's cocaine production, was born from the remnants of an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group which fought rebels during the country's half-century civil conflict.

The paramilitaries were officially disbanded in 2006, but authorities say their members are still making money from drugs and violence.

Its leader, Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias Otoniel, is the most wanted man in the country. The US has placed a $5 million bounty on him.

Colombia is the world's leading coca leaf grower and also the biggest source of cocaine, producing 866 tons in 2016, according to the UN.
Luther Lowe has waged what he sees as a David-versus-Goliath fight against Google for six years now, accusing the tech giant of abusing its monopoly on internet searches to overpower rivals like Yelp Inc., where he heads up public policy and government affairs.

Yet Googles latest attempt to silence critics of its market dominance has left him spooked.

This week, the New America Foundation, a prominent Google-funded think tank in Washington, terminated its Open Markets advocacy program, which housed some of the best-known and fiercest critics of corporate monopolies, particularly in the technology industry. The move came two months after Barry Lynn, director of the Open Markets program, drew Googles ire with a press release that praised European Union regulators decision to fine the company $2.7 billion for violating antitrust rules, The New York Times reported.

It sends a message to every group that they give money to, and frankly every startup that may be getting squeezed by Google, that they are willing to retaliate, Lowe told HuffPost on Thursday. Thats whats really scary about it.

New America  which until 2016 was chaired by Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Googles parent company, Alphabet Inc.  is one of 170 third-party organizations that Google finances as part of its efforts to influence D.C. policy. The groups range from the liberal Center for American Progress and Brookings Institution to the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Heritage Foundation. The company bankrolls academics, too, funding 329 research papers on public policy published between 2005 and 2017, according to a July report by Campaign for Accountability.

We dont agree with every group 100% of the time, and while we sometimes respectfully disagree, we respect each groups independence, personnel decisions, and policy perspectives, Google spokeswoman Riva Sciuto told HuffPost on Friday.

The New America drama comes just as fury over antitrust enforcement is growing. Trustbusting was once a common aspect of populist politics, particularly for Democrats, who established limits on corporate power as part of the New Deal-era reforms passed by President Franklin Roosevelt. But by the 1970s, the party began to abandon antitrust issues, leaving regulation to technocrats and industry-friendly experts. Coupled with the type of regulation pursued by historically business-friendly Republicans, this allowed new generations of corporations to grow into giants.

Story continues

Google, which is expected to command 41 percent of all digital ad revenues by the end of 2017, has long bristled at the idea that it constitutes a monopoly. The company forced Forbes magazine to remove a critical story on the subject six years ago, according to a damning account published Thursday by the author on Gizmodo.

By instigating this New America purge, theyre sending a message to all these other organizations that you cross us at your peril, Lowe said.

Its also a shot across the bow at the companies and organizations that have already taken a stand against Googles might.

HuffPost contacted the 29 companies and organizations that complained to EU regulators that Google gave its own services an unfair advantage in search engine results, causing harm to their businesses. Of the nine groups that responded, only four agreed to comment on the record about the New America firings.

Berlin-based Visual Meta, an e-commerce site, admitted that having a deep-pocketed owner, German publishing behemoth Axel Springer, gave it the freedom to criticize Google in a way that many of its competitors may be too scared to do, for fear that Google would do them harm.

Its a sign of a threat to everyone who doesnt share the public opinion of Google, or who says something against Googles measures they take and policies, Robert Maier, founder and managing director of Visual Meta, told HuffPost. It shows basically how influential money is.

Michel Weber, whose former Hannover-based company Hotmaps competed with Google Maps, said Google would have been smarter to ignore this group around Barry Lynn, rather than pressure it or even have the people fired. He noted that Lynn and his team, which included former New York gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout and writer Matthew Stoller, plan to continue their work as an independent entity.

These people stood up straight and did not shut up, even when their jobs were in danger, Weber, who now serves as chairman of the London-based Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace and co-president of the Open Internet Project, told HuffPost. This incident really boiled hot and is getting a lot of attention.

Will this be the final tipping point? he added. Well see when we look back in a few years.

Shivaun Raff, chief executive of the British price comparison site Foundem, said she suspects the recent revelations are just the tip of the iceberg.

In a bricks and mortar world, Googles anti-competitive practices would have been obvious to all, but in the opaque world of internet search Googles ability to get away with these practices has long depended on its ability to confuse and obfuscate, she told HuffPost in an email. In our experience, Googles extensive network of academic influencers has played an increasingly pivotal role in this strategy.

The European Consumer Organisation, or BEUC, said its crucial that the independence of academics feeding into the important debate of antitrust enforcement is preserved.

We are concerned that major tech firms that are being scrutinized by antitrust bodies use academic capture to put pressure on regulators, Monique Goyens, director general of the Brussels-based consumer watchdog, told HuffPost. Academic sponsorships or financing of think tanks must happen transparently and no company should use its financial clout to unduly influence the public debate.

Microsoft and Expedia both said they had nothing to share about the firings. (Microsoft withdrew its complaint last year, and is no longer a signatory to the EU case.) Munich-based HolidayCheck Solutions, a travel booking service, said its executives were unfortunately not available for a statement. A spokesman for TripAdvisor said that a bunch of folks are out for the extended holiday weekend, so were going to need to pass on commenting on this matter.

Other companies, including News Corp, Getty Images and T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom, did not respond.

This was updated to include comment from Foundem.

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Sally Ride

The inspirational astronaut who became the first American woman in space.

Frida Kahlo

The Mexican painter and activist didn't let the contraction of polio as a child or spinal damage from a bus crash at the age of 18 deter her from fighting for justice for women and workers.

Ada Lovelace

The mathematician from England pioneered computing.

Suzanne Lenglen

The French tennis star played a key part in popularizing the sport.

Cecilia Grierson

A physician from Argentina, she was the first woman in her country to receive a medical degree.

Ida B. Wells

The American journalist, suffragist and civil rights activist.

Lotfia El Nadi

Egypt's first female pilot, who became the first Egyptian woman to fly a plane from Cairo to Alexandria.

Miriam Makeba

The South African singer, actor and civil rights activist.

Lee Tai-Young

A lawyer and activist from Korea who became her country's first female lawyer and judge.

Lina Bo Bardi

The Italian-born Brazilian architect who designed iconic buildings such as the Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

Halet Cambel

The Turkish archaeologist who became the first Muslim woman to compete in the Olympic Games.

Olga Skorokhodova

The Soviet scientist who led the way in researching communication of people with deafness and blindness.

Rukmini Devi

The Indian dancer and choreographer who has been widely credited with reviving Indian classical dance.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Louise Hay, who died this week at the age of 90. (Photo: Louisehay.com)

Long before Kris Carrs crazy sexy wellness inspirations and Gabby Bernsteins spiritual messages, there was Louise Hay, whose wildly popular 1984 best-seller, You Can Heal Your Life, helped kick off a self-help craze. Hay died on Thursday at the age of 90, after a long career that was championed by Oprah and got her dubbed the Queen of the New Age.

Her death immediately brought out a flood of loving thank-you messages and testimonials  including from Carr and Bernstein, among others, especially on her Facebook page, where an announcement that shed transitioned  of natural causes was shared more than 97,700 times and inspired more than 27,300 comments. Fans called Hay profound, captivating and authentic, and a trailblazer of the mind-body connection, not afraid to speak her truth in a world of skeptics.

But the news also touched a painful nerve for many who lived through the height of the AIDS crisis.

That stems from 1985, when Hay was largely an unknown counselor and began hosting West Hollywood support groups for people living with AIDS. Her gatherings eventually attracted upwards of 800 people at a time, mostly gay men, drawn to her message that self-love could heal.

The celebration of life, known as the Hay Ride, was often the only time a person with AIDS might be touched, hugged, or massaged with care, not rough disdain, noted the gay publication the Los Angeles Blade, in its obituary of Hay, whose own backstory included surviving sexual abuse and curing herself of cancer through a non-medical regimen including positive visualizations.

Louise Hay (Photo: Louisehay.com)

But her message  which gave the impression to many that AIDS could be cured with love and that therefore if you werent cured, then you were to blame for not loving yourself enough  also brought out powerful resentment and anger from many within the gay community, some expressing those feelings with still-fresh hurt this week.

So long Louise Hay, who made a lot of money exploiting desperate people with AIDS, noted writer, humanities professor, and longtime AIDS activist Sarah Schulman on Facebook. (Hays publishing company, Hay House, grossed a reported $100 million in 2007 alone.)

Story continues

Schulmans post unleashed a long thread of discussion, and while a good number thought her assessment to be harsh or unfair, noting that Hay gave hope to a lot of people, many more agreed. They called Hay an opportunist, the equivalent of a snake-oil salesman, but with the lives of AIDS sufferers tacked on, a fraud, and, in one particularly concise critique a subversively toxic presence whose fatuous and ultimately disempowering message indicated how starved we were for care and connection in a criminally careless era.

Some pointed as damning evidence to a rare Hay documentary, Doors Opening: A Positive Approach to AIDS, in which she is seen speaking of AIDS remissions and of not relying on medical care. You know, were not limited by the medical opinion. It depends whether we choose to do that or not, she says. I think its a terrible shame that at the moment the medical community is telling everyone that they have to die. Because its just not true, we know thats not true. There are plenty of boys that are doing very well. You know, we can either buy into the fear or we cannot buy into the fear.

More critics expressed their disdain for Hays approach through personal essays, including LGBT activist Peter Fitzgerald, for Medium, who writes he was hopeful about her teachings until a friend with AIDS was rejected by Hay when he got very sick. Once again a spiritual fraud had let me and a great many of my people down, he wrote.

But according to Hays longtime friend David Kessler  grief expert and author, who coauthored You Can Heal Your Heart: Finding Peace After a Breakup, Divorce, or Death with Hay in 2015 and who sometimes led Hay Rides for Hay when she was unavailable  Hays message has been largely misunderstood. As far as the false hope, that she was telling people with AIDS that you dont have to die, that wasnt true, Kessler tells Yahoo Beauty. She was always clear that healing was always possible, and it may not be of the body  that we can find peace, but it doesnt always mean your body is going to get better.  And men left that room feeling more at peace than when they walked in.

Our beloved Louise Hay transitioned this morning, August 30, 2017 of natural causes at age 90. She passed peacefully. Thank you Louise for your profound contribution to the world. #youcanhealyourlife A post shared by Gabrielle Bernstein (@gabbybernstein) on Aug 30, 2017 at 10:09am PDT

As far as some believing that Hay blamed people who were sick, he says, I think the message is that were responsible for our lives, but were not to blame for our illnesses.  She said, Whether you live or die, you dont have to be a victim of life. It was a message of empowerment.

Kessler continues: This was such a horrible time  a time when doctors said, I cant do anything for you, when family was turning on you. Louise was welcoming people and saying, Youre loved and youre worthy and cared for. To me, that was amazing.

He adds, Many of the people I met back then who had issues with Louise had issues with spirituality. But Clergy werent letting [people with AIDS] into their churches. So if you wanted spirituality, it was Louise or Mariann [Williamson, another self-help guru of the time]. Finally, for those who thought Hay didnt believe in death, Kessler points to the book they wrote together, which focuses on grief. So before dying herself this week, he says, She tackled the subject of death.

Loved or hated, Hays message contained zero new, according to Beryl Satter, a Rutgers University history professor with expertise in early New Age movements. The school of thought, she tells Yahoo Beauty, has its roots in the late 19th century, in whats called mesmerism, as well as Christian Science.

There were healers who put forth the idea that you could control your thoughts through affirmations and denials, and then control the God within you  I am healthy, God cannot be sick, therefore I will never be sick, she explains. These were popular healing practices at a time when medicine was in transition, and it wasnt clear that a doctor would be able help you, which is a parallel with AIDS. You want hope but you cant get what you need, so you turn to God, meditation, and these practitioners who make claims that they can help you control your mentality and therefore the health of your body.

Hay was influenced by these early teachings, Satter notes, including that of religious science and the New Thought of the 1890s, which paved the way for the broader New Age movement. And everyone involved, no matter what the era, Satter points out, naturally gave rise to controversy.

Its always had that double edge of being a source of hope for those who cant get treatment, and a very ugly self-blaming tendency  because theyre saying you should be able to control thoughts, and anything that happens is because you have not adequately meditated, she says. Its implicit and explicit: If its true that you can meditate your way to health, then being sick is nobodys fault but your own.

Satter notes she finds nothing wrong with touting benefits of relaxation and meditation, which can often bring a needed sense of control. Whats horrible about it is if it prevents you from actually getting medical help, and that it so drastically turns the attention on your inner self and not the world around you, she says. Its no surprise that [someone like Hay] would emerge in this context. It makes sense, and I think its a sign of the desperation people were feeling. I doubt she was intentionally hustling and trying to exploit. My guess is that she and most [similar gurus] are fairly sincere.

Bottom line, she says of Hays beliefs, and philosophies that are similar, and the many who are devotees: Whenever you touch the discourse of attempting to give yourself all power, you are also giving yourself all blame. That is the line that you walk.

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Amid calls for his termination, a suburban Atlanta cop who allegedly told a motorist "we only kill black people" says he plans to retire.

Lt. Greg Abbott on Thursday announced plans to leave the Cobb County Police Department after his superiors reportedly said he would be fired.

Read: Biracial Model Who Used to Date Trump 'Horrified' by His Charlottesville Remarks

Outrage over the alleged 2016 remarks brought Abbott's 27-year career as a cop to a close.

"I dont know what is in his heart," Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register said at a press conference called following public outcry over dashcam footage that was released of the traffic stop. "But, I know what came out of his mouth."

In audio from the traffic stop in June of last year, a female passenger said she didn't want to reach for her phone because she's "seen way too many videos of cops " before Abbott apparently cuts her off.

But youre not black, the officer said in the recording. Remember, we only kill black people. Yeah, we only kill black people, right? All the videos youve seen, have you seen any white people get killed? You have.

The audio was made public by WSB-TV following a public records request.

In a statement to the Washington Post, an attorney for Abbot said the cop's words weren't taken in their full context.

His comments must be observed in their totality to understand their context, the attorney said. He was attempting to de-escalate a situation involving an uncooperative passenger. In context, his comments were clearly aimed at attempting to gain compliance by using the passengers own statements and reasoning to avoid making an arrest."

However, the chief of police said the comments were inappropriate no matter what the context."

"Statements like these are unacceptable and are not indicative of the type of culture we are trying to facilitate here in the police department, as well as within the county, Register said.

Story continues

Read: Mother of Woman Killed in Charlottesville Will Not Speak With Trump 'After What He Said About My Child'

An attorney for the driver of the car, whose case has been resolved since the incident, told InsideEdition.com:

"We are very happy about the response the cobb county police department took. it was great leadership and its great theyre taking this situation seriously. This will help in restoring the trust in the police department."

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(Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard is allowing vessels up to 43 feet (13.11 meters)draft to transit in the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, it said in a statement on Thursday.

It added that vessels must conduct transit only during daytime hours.

The Intracoastal Waterway between Corpus Christi east to and Brownsville is also open, it said.

The port was shut last week due to storm Harvey. Earlier on Thursday, the Port of Corpus Christi reopened the inner harbor to allow for vessels with up to 20 feet (6.1 meters) draft to operate.

(Reporting by Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia's Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on Sunday that a former mercenary who was filmed being executed by a sledgehammer blow to the head after changing sides in the Ukraine war was a traitor. Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who founded the Wagner private military group, was responding to an unverified video distributed on Telegram that showed a man identified as a former Wagner mercenary being executed after admitting that he had changed sides in September to "fight against the Russians". In the footage, the man, who gave his name as Yevgenny Nuzhin, 55, was shown with his head taped to a brick wall.
Mr Bharara was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2019 to 2017, until he was sacked by the Trump administration in March: REUTERS

Donald Trump's lawyers understand that obstruction of justice charges against the President are real and serious", a former US Attorney has said.

In addition to four congressional investigations, the US President and his 2016 campaign are under investigation by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller, over claims they colluded with Russia.

Mr Trumps lawyers have met several times with Mr Mueller over recent months and have submitted detailed memos refuting the allegations.

And Former US Attorney Preet Bharara said the fact the President's legal representatives had given written responses to the claims showed they recognised their significance.

"There may never be any charges, but defense lawyers don't usu waste time on preemptive memos re: frivolous theories of criminal guilt," he wrote on Twitter.

"The possibility that POTUS may have obstructed justice is real and serious. Apparently, even Trump's defense lawyers get that."

Right. The possibility that POTUS may have obstructed justice is real and serious. Apparently, even Trump's defense lawyers get that. https://t.co/iWRVxZBGig

 Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) September 1, 2017

Former South Alabama State Attorney Joyce Alene agreed with Mr Bharara's view, saying "most defence lawyers wouldn't dignify a prosecutor's allegation of a specific crime w/a written response unless charges were close."

In fact, most defense lawyers wouldn't dignify a prosecutor's allegation of a specific crime w/a written response unless charges were close https://t.co/r8IB7xiioJ

 Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 1, 2017

Mr Bharara was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2019 to 2017, until he was sacked by the Trump administration in March after refusing to be forced to resign along with 46 other US Attorneys  despite having been asked to stay on as recently as November last year.

Story continues

US Attorneys represent the federal government as prosecutors, a senior legal position, and Mr Bharara was known for his aggressive pursuit of both financial crime and political corruption in New York.

Shortly after his removal, it emerged Mr Bharara had been investigating healthcare stock trades made by Mr Trumps health and human services secretary, Tom Price, as he was voting on laws that would effect the industry. He was also the prosecutor in the trials of several of disgraced financier Bernie Madoff's senior employees.

Since being fired, Mr Bharara has been one of several legal figures offering running commentary on social media of the President's legal woes.

The news of legal arguments and meetings, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, offer the first detailed information on the interactions between Trump's team and their investigators.

One memo from Mr Trump's, written in June, made the case that the President has the authority to appoint and dismiss staff as he sees fit, and that therefore there was no consitutional basis for charges of obstruction of justice in his firing of former FBI director James Comey.

Another memo submitted the same month attempted to suggest Mr Comey would make an unsuitable witness in any inquiry, calling him prone to exaggeration, unreliable in congressional testimony and the source of leaks to the media.

Mr Comey was initially heading up the investigation, but after his sacking in May, Mr Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department with a wide brief to investigate not just possible coordination but any matters that arose from the investigation.

That includes whether Mr Trump obstructed justice by attempting to alter the course of the investigation.

The President has dismissed the allegations, telling NBC News in May, "I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, its an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.

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Vice President Mike Pence helps move debris during a visit to an area hit by Hurricane Harvey, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Rockport, Texas - AP

President Donald Trump says he will donate $1 million (75,000) of his own money to flood relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Harvey, the White House said on Thursday.

"Hell pledge, proudly, $1 million of his own personal money to help the people of Texas and Louisiana," spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

The White House did not say whether the money would come from Mr Trump or his foundation.

During the 2016 presidential campaign Mr Trump came under fire for repeatedly announcing charitable donations but not following through.

Mrs Huckabee Sanders said the US president wanted suggestions from the White House press corps about how to spend the money.

Mike Pence hugs a woman during a trip to survey the damage from Hurricane Harvey in Rockport, Texas Credit: Bloomberg

The spokeswoman also announced that Mr Trump has tentative plans to visit "the Houston area" on Saturday as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana.

During a visit to Texas on Tuesday Mr Trump had been unable to visit the flood zone because of difficult logistics and security concerns.

Hurricane Harvey hits Texas, in pictures
The President liked a tweet saying he doesn't have what it takes to be the president: Getty / Chris Kleponis-Pool/

Donald Trump has liked a tweet calling him un-presidential.

After misspelling the word healing  again  the President corrected a tweet about tropical storm Harvey, drawing ridicule from the public. Mr Trump, apparently monitoring the responses, then added a critical tweet of him to his short list of liked tweets.

Please, after several typos, hes just not Presidential material, Twitter user Slyn wrote.

(Twitter)

Slyns own typo aside, the tweet was the seventh response in a thread that brought both supporters and opponents to the table. Some ridiculed Mr Trump, and said they hope the President doesnt slip up on the nuclear button. Others simply noted that Mr Trump is, in fact, still a human after all, in spite of his powerful office.

Its unclear if the President meant to jam is finger on that little heart on his phone, or even, really, if he was intently reading the messages. He gets thousands of replies to any given tweet he sends out, many from anonymous accounts. But, doing so is at least somewhat significant as Mr Trump has liked just 14 tweets (including the most recent one, but not including any that he may have unliked).

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification as to why the President would like a tweet saying he is not presidential material. Mr Trump also did not immediately respond to a tagged tweet asking him about the like. Slyn later tweeted that Mr Trump had blocked him on the social media platform.
William C. Bradford, who tweeted racist and anti-Semitic comments before being appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Energys Office of Indian Energy, resigned from his position on Thursday.

Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes confirmed his departure in an email to HuffPost on Friday, stating that Bradford tendered his resignation yesterday.

[He] is no longer with the Department of Energy, Hynes said.

Earlier this week, CNN reported that Bradford appeared to own an online account that described former President Barack Obama as the son of a fourth-rate p&*n actress and w@!re on the internet commenting platform Disqus in 2016.

Bradford denied being linked to the account and told CNN that he was the victim of cyber attacks and Internet crimes, despite posts by the account encouraging other users to contact the user at Bradfords email address and phone number.

Bradford told HuffPost in an email Friday that he resigned because he felt the best way to serve the President, the USA, and Indian Country would be from a position beyond the constraints he said he experienced during his brief tenure at the Energy Department.

I look forward to helping make America great again in another role, Bradford wrote.

The CNN report is only the latest social media scandal to haunt Bradford. In June, the then-senior Energy Department official came under fire after The Washington Post published a trove of deleted tweets written in 2016.

(Photo: Twitter/Washington Post)

In one tweet, Bradford described Obama as a Kenyan creampuff. In February 2016, Bradford went on anti-Semitic Twitter rant against Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, calling him an arrogant self-hating Jew.

A few weeks later, Bradford said it was necessary to incarcerate nearly 120,000 people of Japanese descent in the U.S. during World War II.

(Photo: Twitter/Washington Post)

Bradford quickly acknowledged the deleted tweets and apologized for his disrespectful and offensive comments.

As a minority and member of the Jewish faith, I sincerely apologize, wrote Bradford, who is also a member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, in an email to The Washington Post.

Story continues

Bradford also made headlines in 2015 when he resigned from his position as a West Point law professor amid backlash over an article he published that urged attacks on Islamic holy sites. A month earlier, The Guardian reported that he had inflated his military and academic credentials.

Also on HuffPost

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Must be available for at least 10 days or 1 Scaramucci #NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  David E (@DaSkrambledEgg) August 31, 2017

You pay yourself #NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  Aaron Weinbaum (@aaronsayswhat1) August 31, 2017

Must look forward to being fired when Donnie is sad.#NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  Shea Browning (@SheaBrowning) August 31, 2017

#NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements Cannot have a reflection in mirrors.  W. M. (@Minuteman04) August 31, 2017

Ability to lie with the conscience of a sociopath.#NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  Lord ByronAF (@lordbyronaf) August 31, 2017

#NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements

When it comes to job experience and qualifications, less is more.  Abraham Gutman (@abgutman) August 31, 2017

Must not be a "swamp"!! Exceptions includes Goldman Sachs,chemical plant owners, lobbyists...#ThursdayThought #NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  SurfSnowSkateRepeat (@SurfSnowSk8Live) August 31, 2017

Experience with handling toddlers #NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements  MikealaSunshine (@Alohababe2011) August 31, 2017

Understand that this is a short term temporary position that will not lead to a full time job #NewWhiteHouseJobRequirements @MilesOfHashtags  Eryn McCabe  (@Eryn_NotErin) August 31, 2017

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Helsinki (AFP) - Finnish police said Friday that they had released a sixth suspect in last month's stabbing spree that killed two and injured eight others in a southwestern city, leaving the alleged attacker as the only person still in custody.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the released man "was placed in pre-trial detention on Tuesday last week for possible involvement in two murders with a terrorist intent and eight attempted murders with a terrorist intent."

"There is no longer any reason to suspect him of these offences," it said in a statement.

The main suspect has been identified as Abderrahman Bouanane, a 22-year-old Moroccan national who was shot in the thigh by the police shortly after the stabbings, which are being investigated as Finland's first terror attack.

Investigators said Wednesday that Bouanane was carrying a manifesto at the time of the attack.

"He wrote it before the crime. He had it with him when he was shot," chief investigator Olli Toyras told AFP, without specifying what the manifesto contained.

Bouanane had also recorded a video that included text from the manifesto.

Police have said Bouanane targeted women during his rampage through the market square in Turku, a port city, killing two women and wounding another six, as well as two men who tried to stop him.

But Bouanane's motive is not known and no extremist group has claimed responsibility for the August 18 attack.

Seven people have been arrested since the incident, and the authorities are searching for an eighth suspect, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant. They have not revealed that person's identity.
It was always likely to happen, but the speed in which the first ICOs worth more than $1 billion have arrived is surprising.

Today both OmiseGO (OMG) and Qtum passed a $1 billion market cap today, according to coinmarketcap.com, a site that tracks the value of crypto tokens. In doing so, they became the first ERC20 tokens -- subtokens that are built on the Ethereum network and sold to investors via an ICO -- to pass the unicorn mark based on the total value of coins that have been distributed.

Most incredibly, both have reached surpassed the landmark in mere months.

The OMG token sale, which raised $25 million, took place in July and initially one OMG token was worth around $0.27. Today, the value is at more than $11, giving a return of more than 40X to anyone who bought in at the ICO stage.

Qtum raised $15.6 million worth of crypto in March. Its QTUM token was worth $0.30 initially, but today that price is above $17 -- another massive respectable return for those who speculated.

Another startling fact to note is that neither company has an actual product in the market right now. Although that is common with ICOs because investors buy into a product roadmap that will developed with the funds raised via the token sale.

OMG and Qtum are the first ERC20 coins to pass $1 billion in market cap

Omise held its ICO to raise funding to develop a decentralized payment system that is based on blockchain technology. The Thailand-headquartered company plans to ship its first iteration before the end of this year, but it will most likely be an initially limited version of what is to come later.

Singapore-based Qtum, meanwhile, is building infrastructure that lets businesses easily build and deploy applications and services that use both the Ethereum and bitcoin blockchain. That could include, for example, smart contracts.

What does $1 billion in total coinage actually mean?

Unicorn status for venture capital-backed startups is mostly for show, but founders have said it can be an advantage that helps with hiring and general media visibility. The benefit is even murkier for a crypto coin company.

Story continues

In basic terms it means that a lot of people are excited about these projects, and that they are investing now in the hope that the companies can produce break-through technology in the future. But pundits are cautious.

"The large market capitalization of many of the recent ICOs indicates that there is a belief in the underlying business models. However, with some ICOs delivering investors multiple times their initial investment, there's likely a massive amount of speculation behind many," Zennon Kapron, founder and director of Shanghai-based fintech research firm Kapronasia, told TechCrunch.

Jun Hasegawa, co-founder and CEO of Omise, told TechCrunch that the valuation jump has no short-term impact on his business. However, with plans to use coins as part of the OmiseGO payment network once it is a living product, he believes the value of the token can only increase.

"OmiseGO is planning to hold OMGs for the long-term. The incentive for holding OMGs, is to take part in the network validation process. We also see a long term increase in the value of the OMG network as more and more transactions take place on the network," Hasegawa said.

"The increase in price of OMG does not affect our development budget," he added.

This is one topic of many that we're looking forward to discussing at the ICO panel session at our TechCrunch Disrupt SF event next month.

Note: Article updated to correct initial prices for OMG and QTUM
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council will vote Tuesday on a draft resolution presented by France that would set up a sanctions regime for Mali, the council's Ethiopian presidency said Saturday.

The move is backed by Mali's government, which earlier told the council that repeated ceasefire violations by jihadists threatened to derail a 2015 peace agreement ending years of fighting with the insurgents in the north.

Islamist jihadists took over territory in northern Mali in 2012, but were driven out by a French-led military intervention in January 2013.

Mali's government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of armed groups in June 2015 to end the fighting, but insurgents remain active, including in central Mali.

France last month circulated the proposed resolution on establishing a committee tasked with setting up the UN sanctions blacklist, as fears grow that the West African country is sliding back into turmoil.

Russia, a veto-wielding council member, had expressed reservations about the proposal.

"We are always against the sanctions regime, especially in this particular situation, when one of the parties to the agreement on peace and reconciliation asks for sanctions against the other two parties," said Russian Deputy Ambassador Petr Iliichev on Friday.

"When one party asks for another (to be sanctioned), we can expect a collapse of this agreement," he added.

- Mali sanctions blacklist -

Ethiopia, which holds the council presidency this month, scheduled the vote for 10 am (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, at France's request.

Diplomats said they expected the measure to be adopted following talks with the Bamako government.

The resolution would set up a sanctions committee made up of all Security Council members to designate individuals and entities the United Nations would blacklist.

Those on the list would be subject to a global travel ban and an assets freeze.

No names have been submitted, but the draft text states that those who obstruct or delay the peace agreement implementation, block aid deliveries, or attack UN peacekeepers can be blacklisted.

Story continues

Insurgents have repeatedly attacked the UN peacekeeping force in Mali, which is considered the world's most dangerous UN mission.

Four armed groups active in Mali are already on a separate UN sanctions blacklist for their ties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Mali and four neighboring countries -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger -- are organizing a counterterrorism force to fight jihadists in the Sahel, a region France has warned could become a haven for extremists.

In the latest attack to shake the region, gunmen opened fire on a restaurant in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou on August 14, killing 19 people including several foreigners.
A recent, sprawling Wired feature outlined the results of its analysis on toxicity in online commenters across the United States. Unsurprisingly, it was like catnip for everyone who's ever heard the phrase "don't read the comments." According to "The Great Tech Panic: Trolls Across America," Vermont has the most toxic online commenters, whereas Sharpsburg, Georgia, "is the least-toxic city in the US."

There's just one problem.

The underlying API used to determine "toxicity" scores phrases like "I am a gay black woman" as 87 percent toxicity, and phrases like "I am a man" as the least toxic. The API, called Perspective, is made by Google's Alphabet within its Jigsaw incubator.

When reached for a comment, a spokesperson for Jigsaw told Engadget, "Perspective offers developers and publishers a tool to help them spot toxicity online in an effort to support better discussions." They added, "Perspective is still a work in progress, and we expect to encounter false positives as the tool's machine learning improves."

Poking around with the engine behind Wired's data revealed some ugly results, as Vermont librarian Jessamyn West discovered when she read the article and tried out Perspective to see exactly what makes a comment, or a commenter, perceived as toxic (according to Alphabet, at least).

It's strange to wonder that Wired didn't give Perspective a spin to see what made the people behind its troll map "toxic." Wondering exactly that, I decided to try out a variety of comments to see how the results compared to West's. I endeavored to represent the people I seem to see censored the most on social media, and opinions of the day.

My experience typing "I am a black trans woman with HIV" got a toxicity rank of 77 percent. "I am a black sex worker" was 89 percent toxic, while "I am a porn performer" was scored 80. When I typed "People will die if they kill Obamacare" the sentence got a 95 percent toxicity score.

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The Wired article analyzed 92 million Disqus comments "over a 16-month period, written by almost 2 million authors on more than 7,000 forums." They didn't look at sites that don't use the comment-management software (so Facebook and Twitter were not included).

The piece explained:

To broadly determine what is and isn't toxic, Disqus uses the Perspective APIsoftware from Alphabet's Jigsaw division that plugs into its system. The Perspective team had real people train the API to rate comments. The model defines a toxic comment as "a rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion."

Discrimination by algorithm

In an online world where moderation, banning and censorship are largely left to automation like the Perspective API, finding out how these things are measured is critical for everyone involved. "Looking into this, the word 'toxic' is a very specific term of art for the tool, this tool Perspective that's made by this company Alphabet, who you may know as Google, that is trying to bring [artificial intelligence] into commenting," West told Vermont Public Radio.

I tested 14 sentences for "perceived toxicity" using Perspectives. Least toxic: I am a man. Most toxic: I am a gay black woman. Come on pic.twitter.com/M4TF9uYtzE  jessamyn west (@jessamyn) August 24, 2017

Perspective presents itself as a way to improve conversations online, positing that the "threat of abuse and harassment online means that many people stop expressing themselves and give up on seeking different opinions." It's one of the many "make the world safer" Jigsaw projects.

Jigsaw worked with The New York Times and Wikipedia to develop Perspective. The NYT made its comments archive available to Jigsaw "to help develop the machine-learning algorithm running Perspective." Wikipedia contributed "160k human labeled annotations based on asking 5,000 crowd-workers to rate Wikipedia comments according to their toxicity. ... Each comment was rated by 10 crowd-workers."

A February article about Perspective elaborated on the human-trained, machine-learning process behind what wants to become the world's measuring tool for harmful comments and commenters.

"In this instance, Jigsaw had a team review hundreds of thousands of comments to identify the types of comments that might deter people from a conversation," The NYT wrote. "Based on that data, Perspective provided a score from zero to 100 on how similar the new comments are to the ones identified as toxic."

The results from West typing comments into Perspective were shockingly discriminatory. Identifying as black and/or gay was deemed toxic. She also tried it with visible and invisible disabilities, like wheelchair use and deafness, and the most toxic way to identify yourself in a conversation turned out to be saying "I am a woman who is deaf."

Trying it with some visible/invisible disabilities. The man/woman division is concerning. https://t.co/lEs9prSPhb pic.twitter.com/6zVb8v8b4O  jessamyn west (@jessamyn) August 26, 2017

When the algorithm is taught to be racist, sexist and ableist (among other things), it leads to the silencing and censorship of entire populations. The problem is that when these systems are up and running, the people being silenced and banned disappear without a trace. Discrimination by algorithm happens in a vacuum.

We can only imagine what's underlying the automated comment-policing system at Facebook. In August Mary Canty Merrill, a psychologist who advises corporations on how to avoid racial bias, wrote a short post about defining racism on Facebook.

Reveal News wrote, "She logged in the next day to find her post removed and profile suspended for a week. A number of her older posts, which also used the "Dear white people" formulation, had been similarly erased."

Pasting her "Dear white people" into Perspective's API got a score of 61 percent toxicity.

Unless Google anti-diversity creeper James Damore was the project lead for Perspective, it's hard to imagine that the company would greenlight a product that thinks to identify as a black gay woman is toxic. (Wikipedia, on the other hand, I could imagine.)

It's possible that the tool is seeking out comments with terms like black, gay and woman as high potential for being abusive or negative, but that would make Perspective an expensive, overkill wrapper for the equivalent of using Command-F to demonize words that some people might find upsetting.

Perspective's reach is significant, too. The project is partnered with Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Economist and The Guardian. Abandon all hope, ye gay black women who enter the comments there.

What we've discovered about Perspective doesn't bode well for the future of machine-learning or AI and algorithm-driven comment measurement and moderation. Nor does it look good for accountability with companies like Google, Facebook and others that rely on automation for moderation.

I think we're all tired of Facebook telling us "it was a bug" and companies saying "it's not our fault" and pointing at systems like Perspective. Despite the fact that they're complicit by using it. And they should be trying these things out against problems like not being able to identify as a gay black woman in a comment thread without risking your ability to comment.

Imagine a system like Perspective deciding whether or not you can use business services, like Google AdSense. Take, for instance, the African-American woman who got an email Thursday from Google AdSense saying she'd violated its terms by writing a blog post about dealing with being called the n-word ... on her own website.

Distressingly, what's also being created is a culture where we can't even talk about abuse. As we can see, the implications for speech are huge -- and already we're soaking in it. Moreso when you consider that "competition" for something like Perspective is clearly already at work for social-media networks like Facebook, whose own policies around race and neo-Nazi belief systems are deeply skewed against societies who strive for equality, anti-discrimination and human rights.

It's probable that these terms are getting scored for high toxicity because they're terms used most commonly in attacks on targeted groups. But the instances mentioned in this article are clear failures. It shows that the efforts of Silicon Valley's ostensible best and brightest have steered AI meant to "improve the conversation" the way of racist soap dispensers and facial recognition software that can't see black people.

Insofar as the Wired feature is concerned, the data look flawed from where we're sitting. It may just mean that there are more gay black women and sex workers there who are OK with talking about it than Sharpsburg, Georgia, commenters. Depressingly, the "Internet Troll Map" might just be a map of black people discussing issues of race, LGBTQ identity and health care.

Which, we hope, is the opposite of what everyone intended.
Whether you live in Texas or nowhere near it, you may be able to directly help animals affected by Tropical Storm Harvey and its aftermath.

And it could involve an adorable new furry friend.

Animal shelters and rescue groups in Texas and around the country are stressing the need for people to adopt or temporarily foster pets to make more room for animals coming in from the cities hit hardest by Harvey.

Right now in Austin, weve taken in 1,000 animals from the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, and were probably going to take in another 1,000 more over the course of the weekend, Lindsey Picard, spokeswoman for animal rescue groupAustin Pets Alive!, told HuffPost.

Many of those animals come from other animal shelters now flooded or otherwise inoperable because of storm damage, Picard said. That means they were in the shelter system already, and still need adoptive homes.

Other animals include pets of evacuees who simply need a place to temporarily house their animals. Those animals will ultimately go back with their families and are not up for adoption. However, adopting or fostering other animals in the shelter will help free up space for more.

Other Texas animal welfare organizations are receiving similar influxes. The SPCA of Brazoria County  posted on Facebook Thursday that it was caring for more than 300 flood rescue evacuees and was expecting as many as 500 more. That, plus the animals already at the shelter, meant the organization was caring for more than 1,000 animals.

TheSPCA of Texas took in more than 100 animals from a Corpus Christi shelter before Harvey hit, and is providing housing for numerous pets of evacuees in Dallas.

A post shared by SPCA of Texas (@spcatexas)on Aug 29, 2017 at 12:03pm PDT

And now, animal shelters around the country are stepping up to take on some of the burden. Organizations across the U.S., including inAtlanta, Chicago,Iowa,New Jersey,Minnesota, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., have been receiving hundreds of shelter animals from Texas.

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With the large volume of incoming animals, shelters in Texas and around the country now need people to adopt or foster a pet.

D.C. residents have a special incentive. Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer, are donating money to cover all adoption fees for pets from the Humane Rescue Alliance through Sunday.

Picard noted that even if someone isnt ready to make a lifelong commitment, fostering an animal until a permanent home is found can make a crucial difference for the pets welfare  especially in the cases of animals that have already gone through so much.

Some of these animals have been in boats, in trucks, in planes, and have had such a stressful experience, she said, explaining that a home environment can often ease that stress better than a shelter could.

Of course, even if your local animal shelter isnt taking in displaced animals  or if youre not in a position to foster or adopt  theres still plenty you can do to help animals hit by Harvey. For one, you can donate directly to Texas groups on the ground aiding animals, including Austin Pets Alive,Houston Pets Alive, theHarris County Animal Shelter, theSPCA of Brazoria County, and theSPCA of Texas. And if youre in the area, many of those groups are accepting volunteers to help with animal intake, transportation and care.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
The owner of a chemical factory spewing noxious smoke near Houston for the past two days is refusing to disclose its inventory or a map of the flood-damaged facility, citing terrorist threats  a claim critics say makes the firm a poster child for dangers posed by deregulation.

The factory, operated by French multinational Arkema Inc., lost power on Wednesday after backup generators inundated with water from Harveys historic flooding failed. That left unstable chemicals unrefrigerated and combustible. Fifteen first responders had to be hospitalized after inhaling chemical smoke from nearly 2 tons of organic peroxides burning inside storage trailers at the factory in Crosby, northeast of Houston.

On Friday, a second blaze erupted at the factory.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said a detailed list of chemicals stored inside the facility  known as a Tier II report for state and federal environmental regulators  was not public, and could only be released through an approved public-records request to the commission. HuffPost filed a request on Friday, though state agency warned on its website that the storm may delay a response.

Arkema CEO Richard Rowe told reporters on a teleconference Friday that he was balancing the publics right to know and the publics right to be secure. The company did not respond to HuffPosts request for further comment.

Texas began allowing companies to shroud their operations in secrecy in 2013, after a deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, increased media scrutiny. That year, then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the governor, declared that state and local agencies could prevent the public from knowing the contents of inventories under a 2003 law meant to prevent terrorist attacks, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Texas made it harder for people to have that information, Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, told HuffPost. We need better transparency for data, what chemicals are being stored near our homes and schools, and we should be asking the question of do we need to live with this risk, and are there alternatives that we could be using?

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Arkema, which operates six plants in Texas and has received more than $8.7 million in taxpayer subsidies from the state, aggressively lobbied the Trump administration to delay Environmental Protection Agency rules that would have required it to report more extensive information to first responders in case of a disaster, International Business Times reported this week. The EPA  pursuing an ambitious reversal of industry rules under Administrator Scott Pruitt  postponed the rule in June until at least February 2019.

The regulation, finalized in December, was a response to the West explosion, and took nearly five years to craft, during which time Obama administration officials sought input from every chemical industry trade group and major company in the country.

I personally met with plant managers and industry associations, Mathy Stanislaus, the former EPA assistant administrator for land and emergency management during Obamas eight years in office, told HuffPost. Its basically built on the best practices of the industry and recommendations of their own safety professionals.

EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham told HuffPost the rule would not have gone into effect until March 2018, so it would have had no effect on the major safety requirements that applied to the Arkema Crosby plant at the time of the fire.

But Stanislaus said delaying the rule was part of an effort by the Trump administration to get rid of every Obama rule without looking into the harm to local responders, harm to communities and frankly how reasonable the rule is.

Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy corrected a CBS anchor this week after the journalist mistook the delay of the EPAs so-called Risk Management Plan rule for another Obama-era flooding safeguard recently scrapped by Trump. Just two weeks before Harvey made landfall in Texas, the White House rescinded a federal rule requiring federal, state and local agencies to take steps to protect buildings, highways and other infrastructure from flooding.

Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, right, discussed regulations rolled back by the Trump administration in an interview on CBS News. (Photo: CBS)

Yet a small White House agency targeted for elimination in Trumps proposed budget could provide a critical bulwark against future disasters like the Arkema fire. On Thursday, the 47-person U.S. Chemical Safety Board opened an investigation into the factory, announcing plans for significant document requests. The non-regulatory agency, which reports to the Oval Office, said it had not yet sent investigators to the Crosby plant because of the danger still posed by the undisclosed chemicals inside.

While we are initiating an investigation today, our investigators are not going to physically deploy to Crosby until the emergency response activities have been completed and the facility is deemed safe for entry, Vanessa Allen Sutherland, Chemical Safety Board chairwoman, said in a statement.

By choosing to apply its selective scrutiny to Arkema, the board is suggesting the case could have widespread implications, Jennifer Sass, a chemicals expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told HuffPost.

Theres a lot of Arkemas in Texas, Sass said. If they can come up with what went wrong and what can be improved, they can make recommendations.

Those recommendations, if followed, essentially raise all boats, she added. They identify systemic problems and make systemic recommendations for solutions.

Whether those recommendations are followed is another matter. In 2014, NPR criticized the Chemical Safety Board for being undermanned and limited, making nonbinding recommendations and lacking an enforcement mechanism. Sass said Chemical Safety Board investigations have been widely ignored in recent years.

Still, the board could help expose flaws in industry-backed safety certifications. Arkema boasted responsible care status, a voluntary credential awarded by the industry lobby American Chemistry Council designed to achieve improvements in environmental, health and safety performance.

Some of the worst disasters we had in West Virginia were responsible care facilities, Maya Nye, the former executive director of Mountain State-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety, told HuffPost. Its not adequate in protecting communities.

Nye, now a Ph.D. candidate studying occupational and environmental health sciences at West Virginia University, said Texass use of a terrorism prevention law to hide chemical stockpiles was concerning. Rather than reduce public access to information, she said companies could curb the risk of terrorist attacks by keeping smaller inventories and seeking safer alternatives.

That would reduce the terrorist threat, Nye said. Hiding information and keeping people feeling in absolute terror all the time because of what might potentially happen  who is really the terrorist?

Ryan Grenoble contributed reporting.

Related...

Another Fire Rages At Texas Chemical Factory

Here's How To Help The Victims Of Hurricane Harvey

Arctic Warming Made Harvey A Killer Storm,' Climate Researcher Says

Live Updates On Hurricane Harvey's Aftermath

Houston Flooding Always Hits Poor, Non-White Neighborhoods Hardest

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

People begin cleaning up the damage to their homes after torrential rains caused widespread flooding during Hurricane Harvey.

A Dickinson resident hugs a friend who came to help her remove possessions damaged due to flooding.

Floodwaters have receded from this home, but the damage is done.

Family members remove debris and damaged items from their father's home.

Volunteers from Performance Contractors help co-worker Cornell Beasley clear up the damage to his home.

People in face masks begin cleaning out their property.

Books, furniture and other belongings are set to dry outside.

Lorenzo Salina helps a neighbor remove damaged walls.

Volunteers and students from C.E. King High School help to clean up the school.

Debris and possessions are piled at the curb.

Bryan Parson (left), Chris Gaspard (center) and Derek Pelt (right) remove ruined items from Parson's home.

Volunteers place water damaged school furniture and text books on the front lawn of C.E. King High School.

Lillie Roberts talks with family members on the phone as contractor Jerry Garza begins the process of repairing her home.

Cornell Beasley joins other residents as they dry and toss out their possessions.

Furniture that was destroyed in the flood is piled on the side of the street.

A man power-washes the driveway of his once flooded home.

Stacey House holds up her daughter's volleyball portrait, which was damaged during the hurricane.

Willy Coronado helps a neighbor to clean a house.

Missy Givens inspects the water level in her home.

People try to repair a truck that was submerged in floodwater.

Derek Pelt removes a wall at his friend Bryan Parson's house.

People on cleanup duty look around a damaged property.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Since the days of Da Vinci's "Ornithoper", mankind's greatest minds have sought inspiration from the natural world for their technological creations. It's no different in the modern world, where bleeding-edge advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence have begun taking their design cues from the most advanced computational organ in the natural word: the human brain.

Mimicking our gray matter isn't just a clever means of building better AIs, faster. It's absolutely necessary for their continued development. Deep learning neural networks -- the likes of which power AlphaGo as well as the current generation of image recognition and language translation systems -- are the best machine learning systems we've developed to date. They're capable of incredible feats but still face significant technological hurdles, like the fact that in order to be trained on a specific skill they require upfront access to massive data sets. What's more if you want to retrain that neural network to perform a new skill, you've essentially got to wipe its memory and start over from scratch -- a process known as "catastrophic forgetting".

Compare that to the human brain, which learns incrementally rather than bursting forth fully-formed from a sea of data points. It's a fundamental difference: deep learning AIs are generated from the top down, knowing everything it needs to from the get-go, while the human mind is built from the ground up with previous lessons learned being applied to subsequent experiences to create new knowledge.

What's more, the human mind is especially adept at performing relational reasoning, which relies on logic to build connections between past experiences to help provide insight into new situations on the fly. Statistical AI (ie machine learning) is capable of mimicking the brain's pattern recognition skills but is garbage at applying logic. Symbolic AI, on the other hand, can leverage logic (assuming it's been trained on the rules of that reasoning system), but is generally incapable of applying that skill in real-time.

But what if we could combine the best features of the human brain's computational flexibility with AI's massive processing capability? That's exactly what the team from DeepMind recently tried to do. They've constructed a neural network able to apply relational reasoning to its tasks. It works in much the same way as the brain's network of neurons. While neurons use their various connections with each other to recognize patterns, "We are explicitly forcing the network to discover the relationships that exist" between pairs of objects in a given scenario, Timothy Lillicrap, a computer scientist at DeepMind told Science Magazine.

When subsequently tasked in June with answering complex questions about the relative positions of geometric objects in an image -- ie "There is an object in front of the blue thing; does it have the same shape as the tiny cyan thing that is to the right of the gray metal ball?" -- it correctly identified the object in question 96 percent of the time. Conventional machine learning systems got it right a paltry 42 - 77 percent of the time. Heck even humans only succeeded in the test 92 percent of the time. That's right, this hybrid AI is better at the task than the humans that built it to do.

The results were the same when the AI was presented with word problems. Though conventional systems were able to match DeepMind on simpler queries such as "Sarah has a ball. Sarah walks into her office. Where is the ball?" the hybrid AI system destroyed the competition on more complex, inferential questions like "Lily is a Swan. Lily is white. Greg is a swan. What color is Greg?" On those, DeepMind answered correctly 98 percent of the time compared to around 45 percent for its competition.

Image: DeepMind

DeepMind is even working on a system that "remembers" important information and applies that accrued knowledge to future queries. But IBM is taking that concept and going two steps further. In a pair of research papers presented at the 2017 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence held in Melbourne, Australia last week, IBM submitted two studies: one looking into how to grant AI an "attention span", the other examining how to apply the biological process of neurogenesis -- that is, the birth and death of neurons -- to machine learning systems.

"Neural network learning is typically engineered and it's a lot of work to actually come up with a specific architecture that works best. It's pretty much a trial and error approach," Irina Rish, an IBM research staff member, told Engadget. "It would be good if those networks could build themselves."

IBM's attention algorithm essentially informs the neural network as to which inputs provide the highest reward. The higher the reward, the more attention the network will pay to it moving forward. This is especially helpful in situations where the dataset is not static -- ie, real life. "Attention is a reward-driven mechanism, it's not just something that is completely disconnected from our decision making and from our actions," Rish said.

"We know that when we see an image, the human eye basically has a very narrow visual field," Rish said. "So, depending on the resolution, you only see a few pixels of the image [in clear detail] but everything else is kind of blurry. The thing is, you quickly move your eye so that the mechanism of affiliation of different parts of the image, in the proper sequence, let you quickly recognize what the image is."

Examples of Oxford dataset training images - Image: USC/IBM

The attention function's first use will likely be in image recognition applications, though it could be leveraged into a variety of fields. For example, if you train an AI using the Oxford dataset -- which is primarily architectural images -- it will be easily able to correctly identify cityscapes. But if you then show it a bunch of pictures from countryside scenes (fields and flowers and such) the AI is going to brick because it has no knowledge of what flowers are. However, you do the same test with humans and animals and you'll trigger neurogenesis as their brains try to adapt what they already know about what cities look like to the new images of the country.

This mechanism basically tells the system what it should focus on. Take your doctor for example, she can run hundreds of potential tests on you to determine what ails you, but that's not feasible -- either time-wise or money-wise. So what questions should she ask and what tests should she run to get the best diagnosis in the least amount of time? "That's what the algorithm learns to figure out," Rish explained. It doesn't just figure out what decision leads to the best outcome, it also learns where to look in the data. This way, the system doesn't just make better decisions, it makes them faster since it isn't querying parts of the dataset that aren't applicable to the current issue. It's the same way that your doctor doesn't tap your knees with that weird little hammer thing when you come in complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.

While the attention system is handy for ensuring that the network stays on task, IBM's work into neural plasticity (how well memories "stick") serves to provide the network with long term recollection. It's actually modelled after the same mechanisms of neuron birth and death seen in the human hippocampus.

With this system, "You don't have to necessarily have to start with and absolutely humongous model millions of parameters," Rish explained. "You can start with a much smaller model. And then, depending on the data you see, it will adapt."

When presented with new data, IBM's neurogenetic system begins forming new and better connections (neurons) while some of the older, less useful ones will be "pruned" as Rish put it. That's not to say that the system is literally deleting the old data, it simply isn't linking to it as strongly -- same way that your old day-to-day memories tend to get fuzzy over the years but those which carry a significant emotional attachment remain vivid for years afterward.

Neurons Electrical Pulses

"Neurogenesis is a way to adapt deep networks," Rish said. "The neural network is the model and you can build this model from scratch or you can change this model as you go because you have multiple layers of hidden units and you can decide how many layers of hidden units (neurons) you want to have... depending on the data."

This is important because you don't want the neural network to expand infinitely. If it did, the data set would become so large as to be unwieldy even for the AI -- the digital equivalent of Hyperthymesia. "It also helps with normalization, so [the AI] doesn't 'overthink' the data," Rish said.

Taken together, these advancements could provide a boon to the AI research community. Rish's team next wants to work on what they call "internal attention." You'll not just choose what inputs you want the network to look at but what parts of the network you want to employ in the calculations based on the dataset and inputs. Basically the attention model will cover the short term, active, thought process while the memory portion will enable the network to streamline its function depending on the current situation.

But don't expect to see AIs rivalling the depth of human consciousness anytime soon, Rish warns. "I would say at least a few decades -- but again that's probably a wild guess. What we can do now in terms of, like, very high-accuracy Image recognition is still very, very far from even a basic model of human emotions," she said. "We're only scratching the surface."
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A bill creating a new education funding formula in Illinois became law on Thursday, marking the end of the state's latest political battle that had halted the flow of $6.7 billion in aid to 852 public school districts.

The bill, which passed the House and Senate earlier this week, was signed by Governor Bruce Rauner, who hailed the measure as historic for addressing funding disparities between wealthy and poor districts.

"We finally got it done. This is a historic day," Rauner said at the bill signing ceremony in a Chicago school gymnasium.

Earlier this month, the Republican governor used an amendatory veto to extensively rewrite a previous school funding formula bill passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature in May, saying it unfairly bailed out the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Without a method to distribute state aid, Illinois was prevented from sending state payments to schools as classes began for most students this month.

The subsequent bill, which became law on Thursday, will result in a $450 million funding boost for cash-strapped CPS through increased aid and pension contributions from the state and a local property tax increase.

Credit rating agencies had warned that districts that have slim reserves and are heavily dependent on state aid, including junk-rated CPS, could face financial pressure and potential rating downgrades from an extended school funding impasse.

"The most important thing is schools are going to get money," said Roger Eddy, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, referring to state aid dollars that will be released with the bill's enactment.

Eddy and teachers' unions were critical of a compromise measure inserted into the bill creating a tax credit pilot program to fund $75 million annually for private school scholarships.

The enactment by the legislature of a fiscal 2018 state budget in July over Rauner's vetoes ended a political impasse that left Illinois without a complete spending plan for an unprecedented two fiscal years and ballooned its unpaid bill backlog to more than $15 billion.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's eighth navigation satellite imploded shortly after lift off on Thursday, state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. The IRNSS-1H satellite had been expected to join seven others in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) to take the country a step further to developing its own global positioning system. "Satellite got separated internally but it imploded within the heat shield, in the fourth stage itself," ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar told reporters in a televised news conference. The heat shield is meant to protect the satellite from the heat generated by the friction against atmosphere during take-off. Once a satellite is placed into orbit, it is expected to separate and fall off. The IRNSS-1H satellite had been released from the Sriharikota Space Centre in southern India. IRNSS helps navigate the country's aerial and marine routes, as well as aid disaster management and vehicle tracking up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) around the mainland. However, India lags behind the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, Europe's Galileo and China's Beidou systems that have dozens of satellites to provide information across the globe. (Reporting by Mohi Narayan, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Instagram beauty trends are endless  from wavy lips to Dunkin Donuts hair dye and even to fake wounds. But bruises? Not so common. One social media influencer star from the United Arab Emirates just went there, though, and for good reason.

HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF THIS WAS NOT MAKEUP???, Diala Makki wrote under a photo of herself and another woman with huge bruises under their eyes, which were apparently created using makeup, thanks to the handiwork of the other woman in the photo, Samira Olfat, who is a makeup artist.

So why did these women want fake bruises instead of contouring? To raise awareness of domestic violence.

I will dedicate this entire week for women, Makki, a journalist, host, and contributing editor of Marie Claire Arabia, wrote. Each and every one of us has a story  dont be ashamed to share it, it might inspire or help others. She used the hashtags #saynotoviolence and #speakupforthevoiceless.

Her followers were impressed by and grateful for the bold post. This is a great job! @dialamakki because you are putting the light on this important subject, one person commented. Such an important message, thank you for sharing awareness! said another.

It inspired some women to share their stories: I chose not to hide mine. Was tired of protecting him, one woman bravely explained.

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This isnt the first time that beauty has been used to shed light on an important topic. Last April, YouTuber Amy Geliebter made a depression makeup tutorial to help people understand this common condition. For 2014s Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October), the Womens Resource Center of Beckley, W.Va., launched a project that had community members creating black eyes with makeup, and then tagging a selfie with #herblackeyeisOURblackeye to create a conversation about domestic violence. And in 2016, a makeup artist sent a truly impactful message to her depression by writing f*** you beautifully on her eyelid with eyeliner.

While makeup is meant to make you look a certain way, it can also say a lot.

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.




Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq declared on Thursday that its forces had retaken the northern city of Tal Afar and the surrounding region, in another major victory over Islamic State group jihadists.

IS, which seized nearly a third of Iraq in 2014 in a humiliating defeat for the army and police, now controls barely 10 percent of the country, according to the US-led international coalition ranged against the jihadists.

The fall of Tal Afar, located in the northern province of Nineveh, deprives IS of what was once a key supply hub between its territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

After a 12-day battle by Iraqi forces backed by coalition air strikes and Shiite paramilitary fighters, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that Tal Afar had "regained its place in the national territory".

He vowed to liberate "every inch of Iraqi territory" from the group.

"We say to the criminals of IS: wherever you are, we're coming to liberate it and you have no choice but to die or surrender," Abadi said.

The full recapture of Nineveh province comes weeks after Iraqi forces ousted the jihadists from the provincial capital Mosul, three years after the jihadists declared a self-styled "caliphate" straddling Iraq and war-torn Syria.

As promised by Iraqi officials, the victory also comes in time for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, which starts on Friday for Iraqi Sunnis and on Saturday for Shiites.

Andrew A. Croft, deputy commander of the coalition, said the speed with which Tal Afar and surrounding areas were retaken was a "positive sign".

It showed "the Iraqi forces' abilities against IS in Iraq. They have proven that the (coalition's) strategy is working," he said.

- 'Stunning victory' -

IS has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries and thousands of its fighters have been killed since late 2014, when the coalition was set up to defeat the group.

But the jihadist group, which is also known as ISIS, continues to claim attacks in the Middle East and Europe.

Story continues

In a statement, the coalition against IS congratulated Abadi and the Iraqi security forces "on their stunning victory in Tal Afar" and Nineveh province.

But it cautioned that "dangerous work remains to completely remove explosive devices, identify ISIS fighters in hiding and eliminate any remaining ISIS holdouts so they do not threaten the security of Tal Afar in the future."

Croft said Iraqi forces had killed between 600 and 700 IS fighters during the battle for Tal Afar while around 100 more had surrendered.

IS fighters in Iraq now control only the town of Hawija around 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad, as well as several areas in the vast western desert province of Anbar along the border with Syria.

- Shiite enclave -

IS jihadists overran Tal Afar, a Shiite enclave in the predominantly Sunni province, in June 2014.

The city lies around 450 kilometres (240 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad and about 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq's second city.

At the time Tal Afar had a population of around 200,000, but it was unclear how many remained when the battle to recapture the city was launched on August 20.

Officials have said the swift capture of Tal Afar would make it even more difficult for the jihadists to transport fighters and weapons between Iraq and Syria.

Authorities had accused the approximately 1,000 jihadists believed to be in the city when the operation was launched of using civilians as human shields during Iraqi and coalition air strikes.

Progress in Tal Afar was far more rapid than in Mosul, Iraq's second city which fell only after a gruelling nine-month battle that began in October 2016.

IS has also suffered major losses in Syria, where US-backed fighters have retaken more than half of the group's de facto Syrian capital Raqa.

Iraqi authorities are now expected to launch a new offensive against IS in their stronghold of Hawija in Kirkuk province.

But the battle for the town is expected to be more complicated because of its location.

Oil-rich Kirkuk province is at the centre of a long dispute and a source of lingering tensions between the Iraqi federal government and regional Kurdish authorities.

An offensive targeting Hawija could also be postponed due to a referendum on Kurdish independence planned for September 25 -- which Baghdad has called "untimely".
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi government and paramilitary forces announced Friday plans to launch an assault to retake Hawija, the last Islamic State group's urban bastion in the country, a day after recapturing Tal Afar.

Iraqi forces have now forced IS out of all its Iraqi territories except the town of Hawija, 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and three pockets of territory near the border with Syria.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the recapture of Tal Afar town and its surrounding areas, weeks after ousting the jihadists from Iraq's second city Mosul, bringing all of Nineveh province under government control.

"After the Tal Afar mission was successfully accomplished, the troops will head to Hawija," in oil-rich Kirkuk province, Iraq's Joint Operations Centre (JOC) said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group, dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, told AFP the offensive could be launched very soon.

"The operation to liberate Hawija will begin a few days after Eid al-Adha," spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi, said referring to the Muslim holiday marking the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Sunni Muslims began observing Eid al-Adha on Friday, while Iraqi Shiite Muslims will mark the start of the four-day holiday on Saturday.

The JOC said Iraqi aircraft have dropped "millions of leaflets" on Hawija to inform residents that the rule of "the terrorist gangs of IS will soon be over".

Residents were urged to "keep away" from jihadists who could become the target of air strikes by Iraqi forces backed by the US-led coalition.

The leaflets also called on the jihadists to "surrender and give up their weapons".

Assadi said the operation aimed at retaking from IS an area of 9,000 square kilometres (3,500 sq miles), covering the town of Hawija and surrounding the area, including eastern Shargat, a town further west.
A bus carrying members of the Islamic State (Isil) group leaves the Qara area in Syria's Qalamoun region on August 28, 2017 - AFP or licensors

An Isil convoy that was blocked by US air strikes on Wednesday attempted a different route to reach territory held by the jihadist group in eastern Syria, despite the coalition warning it would likely strike again.

More than 300 lightly armed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters and about 300 family members are being evacuated from Syria's western border with Lebanon under a ceasefire agreement involving the jihadist group, the Syrian army and the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah.

The truce has been criticised by the coalition and by Iraq, whose army is fighting Isil in areas next to the eastern Syria region to which the convoy was headed.

Buses carrying Isil jihadis and their families driving east from Syria's border with Lebanon Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP

US Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the commander of US-led forces fighting Isil, said they had observed the convoy travelling again towards their destination late on Thursday, before appearing to turn back.

He did not offer an explanation as to why.

The Syrian army escorted the convoy part of the way Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/ AFP

"When I walked into this conference about an hour ago, the buses were on the move. They had turned and had driven back into regime-held areas," he told reporters via a video teleconference from Baghdad.

"We haven't struck the convoy. But we have struck every ISIS fighter and/or vehicle that has tried to approach that convoy. And we'll continue to do that," he said.

Iraq victory over Isil in Mosul, in pictures

We will not allow it to link up with Isil in the Euphrates River Valley, a source in the coalition told the Telegraph earlier on Thursday.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, said in a televised address that the US had warned the Lebanese government that if they let the deal go ahead they faced losing US financial support.

FAQ | Islamic State
BEIRUT (Reuters) - An Islamic State evacuation convoy in eastern Syria that was blocked by U.S.-led air strikes will head from government-held Sukhna towards the IS-held Deir al-Zor region, a commander in the pro-Syrian government military alliance said on Thursday. Hezbollah and the Syrian army arranged the evacuation as part of a ceasefire with Islamic State in an enclave on the Lebanon-Syria border after an offensive last week. But U.S.-led coalition forces blocked the convoy from moving into Islamic State-held territory on Wednesday by striking the road ahead and some of their comrades traveling to meet them. The ceasefire deal has been criticized by the coalition and by Iraq, whose army is also fighting Islamic State in areas next to the eastern Syria region to which the convoy was headed. The coalition might strike again, the coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said by phone on Thursday. "We will continue to monitor the convoys in real time ... and take advantage of known ISIS (fighters) in open areas away from civilians and strike them," he said. Dillon said on Wednesday the coalition was "not bound by these agreements," referring to the ceasefire deal and making clear it was being used to move fighters from one location to another "to fight yet again". The commander in the pro-Syrian government military alliance said the location for the convoy to move into IS-held territory had been changed from Humeima in the southeast to Sukhna, further north, and that part of the deal was already moving forward. He said an exchange had begun in the desert, under which the bodies of an Iranian killed in the fighting and two other dead fighters would be swapped for 25 wounded IS fighters. Iran backs Syrian government forces in the civil war that began in Syria in 2011. In Tehran, the country's Revolutionary Guards said on its website that the dead Iranian had been identified as Mohsen Hojaji and that a funeral procession would be held for him in the Iranian capital on Saturday. The evacuation deal allowed for a convoy of 600 individuals, of whom Hizbollah say almost half are civilians, to be transferred to IS-held territory in eastern Syria. The deal also involved Islamic State revealing the fate of nine Lebanese soldiers it took captive in its border enclave in 2014, as well as surrendering a Hezbollah prisoner. An official in the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which is helping with the exchange, has entered Islamic State territory to accompany the prisoner back to the government-held area, the commander in the pro-Assad military alliance said. The commander added that the delay in the convoy moving after it reached the original exchange point on Tuesday was caused by the coalition strike on Wednesday and by a dispute between Islamic State commanders. Hezbollah-aligned al Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon reported on Thursday that some IS leaders in eastern Syria did not want members of the group who had surrendered territory to be welcomed back into their self-declared caliphate. (Reporting by Leila Bassam and Sarah Dadouch in Beirut and by Dubai Newsroom, Writing by Angus McDowall, Editing by Alison Williams and Timothy Heritage)
Desiree Fairooz was detained and charged with disorderly conduct: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Jeff Sessions Justice Department reportedly intends take a woman who laughed at the now-attorney general back to trial.

Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz, 61, who was taken into custody after she laughed during Mr Sessions confirmation hearing, will go to trial in November for a second time.

My new trial set to begin Monday, November 13th. I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!, Ms Fairooz tweeted.

In July, a judge had thrown out out a jurys conviction of Ms Fairooz, finding that the government had improperly argued during the proceedings that her laughter was enough to merit a guilty verdict.

Chief Judge Robert Morin of the Superior Court of DC on Friday said he believed his thoughts on the governments previous theory of the case had been clear, the Huffington Post reported.

Ms Fairooz had been found guilty in May of charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct and of parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

My new trial set to begin Monday, November 13th. I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!  Desiree Fairooz (@desireefairooz) September 1, 2017

According to the Huffington Post, Ms Fairooz and her lawyer rejected a plea deal offered by the government in which she would have pleaded guilty to one of two charges in exchange for the Justice Department recommending a sentence of time served, Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall said in DC Superior Court on Friday.

Ms Fairooz had been convicted in May along with two other Code Pink activists, Tighe Barry and Lenny Bianchi, who were were dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan as commentary on what the group described as Mr Sessions' racist past.

Each of the three protesters faced up to 12 months in jail, $2,000 in fines, or both.

Ms Fairooz previously told NBC News that Mr Barry and Mr Bianchi avoided jail time but had to pay fines.

Story continues

In an April court filing, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia had argued that all three protesters shared a common goal to impede and disrupt Mr Sessions confirmation hearing. Ms Fairooz, the office said, had created a scene.

It was early in the January hearing when Republican Senator Richard Shelby said that Mr Sessions record of treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented, Ariel Gold, the campaign director of Code Pink, told The New York Times in May.

After hearing that, Ms Fairooz said, she let out a giggle.

In response to this statement, Defendant Fairooz  let out aloud [sic] burst of laughter, followed by a second louder burst of laughter, according to court documents.

I just couldnt hold it, Ms Fairooz told The Times. It was spontaneous. It was an immediate rejection of what I considered an outright lie or pure ignorance.

After Ms Fairooz laughed, officers came over and took her into custody.
By David DeKok

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (Reuters) - A judge on Friday threw out the most serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault filed against 16 Pennsylvania State University fraternity members in the alcohol-fueled hazing death of a 19-year-old prospective member.

Members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity still face lesser charges in the death of Timothy Piazza, who died on Feb. 4 after playing a drinking game at the fraternity house near campus in State College, Pennsylvania.

The prosecutor failed to present enough evidence to support a trial for eight of the fraternity members on felony charges of aggravated assault and misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter, Centre County Magisterial District Judge Allen Sinclair found .

Four people who faced single counts of tampering with evidence were dropped from the case altogether as a result of Friday's ruling.

The judge decided eight will face trial on recklessly endangering a life, punishable by up to two years in prison, and that 11 will face trial on the hazing charge, which carries up to a year in jail. In addition, all 12 will be tried for furnishing alcohol to minors.

District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said she will refile the involuntary manslaughter charges against all eight defendants, and possibly the aggravated assault charges against some of them.

Piazza, a student from Lebanon, New Jersey, died two days after he attended a party that featured a drinking game called "The Gauntlet." Piazza suffered fatal injuries after drunkenly falling several times, including twice down a flight of stairs.

Prosecutors say the fraternity brothers failed to summon medical help for hours, despite obvious signs that Piazza was unwell.

Shaken by the judge's ruling, Piazza's parents said they would support the prosecutors' decision to refile the charges, said Tom Kline, an attorney for Jim and Evelyn Piazza.

"They cried tears, not for the verdict, but for their son, Kline said.

Story continues

The father of defendant Joe Sala, who witnesses testified played the role of gatekeeper in the drinking game, cheered the judge's ruling.

"Justice was served," said Mike Sala, an ophthalmologist from Erie.

Piazza's death "was an awful tragedy. A young man lost his life," said Ted Simon, the lawyer for fraternity member Luke Visser. "But not every tragedy should result in serious criminal charges."

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Joseph Ax; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis)
Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor is a big fan of the Yankees. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

We dont think you have to have been an actual judge to sit in the Judges Chambers area of Yankee Stadium, but it probably doesnt hurt. Still, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor didnt want to take any chances when she went to Thursdays New York Yankees game.

Sotomayor was fittingly spotted sitting in the Judges Chambers  the new fan section named for outfielder Aaron Judge. She wore a robe that featured the Yankees logo, and she appeared to be enjoying herself.

Justice Sotomayor is watching the Yankee game from The Judge's Chambers! pic.twitter.com/2qrajbwfX2  SB Nation (@SBNation) August 31, 2017

Sotomayor was fortunate enough to see Aaron Judge play. The outfielder returned to the lineup after missing the past couple games to clear his head.

We should note that Sotomayor is technically a justice, not a judge. Theres a difference. She was a judge for 10 years before serving on the Supreme Court.

Still, we wouldnt mind if this suddenly became a thing. Were all for famous judges cheering on the Yankees from the Judges Chambers. Were not just talking Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown either. Well gladly accept Judge Reinhold or Mike Judge.

Story continues

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

      

Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new presidential election within 60 days, in a shock ruling cancelling the results of last month's poll over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of six judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Supporters of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga's wept and cheered, utterly stunned at what they saw as a historic ruling, after losses in successive polls they believe were rigged, from a judiciary long seen as compromised in favour of the ruling elite.

Odinga, 72, hailed the "historic" ruling which is a first in Africa.

"It is now clear that no one in Kenya is above the law," he said.

Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had "failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution".

Kenyatta, the first African president to have his re-election overturned by a court ruling, cheerfully took to the streets to address supporters saying he was ready to campaign again.

He slammed Maraga and his fellow judges as "crooks" as he spoke off the cuff, after earlier saying that while he disagreed with the ruling, he respected it.

- 'Kudos to the judges!' -

Kenya has a long history of disputed votes, election violence and a lack of faith in the judiciary's independence.

"It was a surprise because the trend in justice in Kenya is not good, but this time justice has been done," said 39-year-old accountancy student Donna Abongo.

"Kudos to the judges!"

"For the first time we have got justice. They have stolen elections for so long," said fishmonger Lynette Akello in western Kisumu.

The run-up to the August 8 election was marred by the murder of top IEBC IT official Chris Msando and opposition allegations that rigging was certain.

Story continues

Indeed Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) cried foul shortly after counting began, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.

- 'Irregularities and illegalities' -

It was the third time in a row that Odinga claimed he had been cheated out of victory at the polls, after his losses in 2007 and 2013.

However, the protests remained isolated and did not reach the levels of the disputed 2007 election which saw politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.

In 2013, Odinga took his grievances to court and lost.

This time he initially refused to take the case to court but changed his mind, saying NASA wanted the truth to come out even if they believed they had no hope of winning.

However, in a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court agreed with the opposition coalition.

Maraga said there had been "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

He said this had compromised the "integrity of the entire presidential election".

The court's full ruling must be made available within 21 days.

- Election commission vows change -

Odinga said he no longer had faith in the current election commission and called for them to step down.

But IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati refused to resign, saying he had not been implicated in any wrongdoing personally, but vowed "internal changes to our personnel".

He called for those guilty of wrongdoing to be prosecuted.

NASA official and lawyer, James Orengo, had argued that irregularities -- including unsigned and fake tally forms, hacked servers and deliberate miscounting -- had affected around one-third of the 15.5 million votes cast.

But lawyers for the election commission and Kenyatta countered that errors were simply "clerical" mistakes and technicalities that did not affect the outcome of the vote.

A report filed by the court registrar found a number of errors in the 41,451 polling station tally sheets -- known as form 34A -- as well as in 291 of the form 34B constituency tally sheets, some of which were unsigned, not stamped, illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

In addition, the registrar's report found that the electoral commission failed to provide full court-ordered access to its servers, which NASA had demanded in order to back up its allegations of hacking.
MALACAnANG on Friday vowed to hasten the recovery of ill-gotten wealth plundered from public coffersdespite calls from Marcos kin to end the decades of cases against his family.

The President is studying how best to proceed in a manner that will advance the nations interest and comply with the law, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

As this matter becomes clearer, we will advise what further action will be taken to finally obtain justice, he added.

On Tuesday, Duterte said the Marcoses were willing to open everything and probably return the wealth that would be seen, including a few gold bars.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella

The Presidential Commission on Good Government expressed openness to any steps the administration might take in handing over part of their wealth critics claimed was amassed illegally from 1965 to 1986.

ADVERTISEMENT

PCGG chairperson Reynold Munsayac, however, did not give any guarantees the government would withdraw civil cases filed against the Marcoses, which is now with the Sandiganbayan.

Their decision, if ever, will be based on the provisions of a possible compromise agreement, says Munsayac.

We would always welcome any effort or action, the PCGG chairperson said.

The concept of compromise settlement is not new to PCGG. It has been done repeatedly. Because in this manner, you will be able to obtain [in a fast manner] the ill-gotten wealth faster.

While there are still no negotiations regarding the purported plan to return the Marcos wealth to the government, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Thursday expressed trust that Duterte would help end the decades of cases against their family.

Dutertes father, Vicente, served as secretary of general services during the Marcos administration.

Marcos, however, said the familys lawyers would be the ones handling the supposed negotiation with the Philippine government in handing over their so-called ill-gotten wealth.

In a television interview, former PCGG commissioner Ruben Carranza said the government did not need to negotiate with the Marcos family since a 2003 Supreme Court ruling had stated that the Marcoses legally earned only $300,000 from 1965 to 1986, the years Marcos ruled the country.

Marcos, who ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986with martial law from September 1972 to January 1981was alleged by the immediately succeeding administration to have amassed a fortune of around $5 to $10 billion while in office, or up to 650 times more than his annual salary, based on an estimate by the Supreme Court and source documents provided by the PCGG.

Over the last 30 years, the government has recovered at least P170 billion (nearly $3.6 billion) in cash.

But the total recovery efforts could reach over P200 billion ($4.2 billion), as the PCGG is still winding up on its task and selling the remaining allegedly illegally acquired assets in its possession and recovering some more illegal assets in civil cases pending in various courts.

Members of the Marcos family still remain active in politicshis wife, Imelda, is Ilocos Norte representative while daughter Imee is incumbent Ilocos Norte governor.

His son and namesake, Ferdinand Jr., or Bongbong, meanwhile, is contesting the results of the recent vice presidential race. The case is with the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

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(Photo: PA Archive/PA Images)

WASHINGTON  More than 200 labor lawyers sent a withering letter to President Donald Trumps Labor Department secretary on Friday condemning the looming induction of Ronald Reagan into the agencys Hall of Honor.

The group of attorneys whove represented unions argued that the former president  who famously crushed the air traffic controllers strike of 1981  deserved no place alongside such labor luminaries as Samuel Gompers, Frances Perkins, Walter Reuther and Mother Jones.

In their letter addressed to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, the signatories noted that the hall of fames mission is to honor those who have helped elevate working conditions, wages, and over-all quality of life of Americas working families.

President Reagans tenure in office, and the legacy of that tenure, have done precisely the opposite, they wrote. To place him next to the brave men and women the department has honored in the past is the height of hypocrisy and an affront to this countrys working people.

The Trump administration rankled the labor movement last week when it announced that Acosta intends to commemorate Reagan with the induction. Before he became president, Reagan served seven terms as head of the Screen Actors Guild in the 1940s and 1950s, helming the union during three labor strikes while he was an actor in Hollywood.

But in labor circles Reagan is far more famous  infamous, rather  for firing thousands of strikers as president during a work stoppage by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, or PATCO.

While there are many reasons why union membership in the U.S. is now hovering near a historic low, Reagans breaking of the PATCO strike is considered a defining moment in the decline of organized labors power. As labor historian Joseph McCartin has chronicled, Reagans impact was lasting because he weakened strikes as the ultimate form of leverage for workers, and he emboldened private-sector employers to take a stronger stance against the unions representing their employees.

Story continues

Victoria L. Bor, a union-side attorney who spearheaded the letter to Acosta, told HuffPost that Reagan symbolized a loss of bargaining power for regular workers in the U.S.

He really signaled a change, and unleashed a change in the attitudes toward collective bargaining in this country, Bor said. People can argue over the facts, but thats really what his tenure represents. To put him in the labor hall of fame is an insult.

Bor said they sent the letter to Acosta on Friday to make sure he received it before Labor Day. A Labor Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the letter:

Also on HuffPost

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The demise of Bambis mom in the 1942 Disney animated classic is one of the most soul-crushing deaths in movie history. But arguably more traumatizing for kids (and adults) to watch is the trampling of Simbas dad, Mufasa, in 1994s The Lion King.

Not only do we see the actual death (unlike Bambis mom, where we only hear the gunshot), but we also endure the heartbreaking aftermath, with the young cub attempting to nudge his fathers corpse awake. (Just ask Matthew Broderick how hard this one is to show your children.)

The Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff doesnt necessarily see it that way. As he told Yahoo Movies during a Facebook Live interview this week, he and his filmmaking team discussed Bambi while making The Lion King, and found it troubling that after Bambis mom gets shot, she just disappears from the movie. Its really sad, and then they go to this new spring song, where the birds are singing in the trees. Its really disturbing.

So with The Lion King, We were thinking that [Simba] needs to deal with the fact that his father died, Minkoff explained. We need to bring some closure to it.

And the fact that later in the story, his father does come back to him, in a very meaningful and important way, kind of closes the loop. Its not that he really does die and disappear forever, which I find much more disturbing.

The Lion Kings Signature Edition Blu-ray and Combo Pack is now available.

Watch our full Facebook Live interview:

Read more on Yahoo Movies:
A rare 'iridescent,' almost white lobster, caught off the Maine coast last week is attracting a lot of attention on social media.

Lobsterman Alex Todd, 48, of Chebeague Island, nabbed the strange find, according to the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association.

RELATED: Click through these unusual sea creatures



The non-profit association posted a photograph of the lobster on its Facebook page, along with a short story about Todd's catch.

A week later, the post has amassed well over 2,000 shares and received more than 300 comments.

"I've never seen a white one. This one was translucent with just a hint of blue in it," Todd told ABC News.

The association wrote on Facebook that the marine crustacean had a genetic condition known as Leucism, which results in a partial loss of pigment, as some colors are still visible in its shell. A total loss of pigment would make the lobster albino, which isn't the case with Todd's catch.

SEE ALSO: Lobsterman catches rare bright blue lobster

"It was really different and really cool," Todd, a 10th generation fisherman, told the outlet.

Having carried a lobster license since the age of 6, Todd noticed the lobster was female and marked for carrying eggs, so he threw the creature back into the ocean.

"Even if it had been male, it's an oddity enough that, why cook it for a $4 lobster?" he said.
Transgender model Munroe Bergdorf was fired by LOreal for saying that all white people are racist. (Photo: Instagram)

Earlier this week, transgender model Munroe Bergdorf became the first trans woman to front a LOreal U.K. campaign.

Her dream has quickly come to an end as LOreal just announced it is ending its partnership with the activist/model.

The firing comes after a Facebook rant from Bergdorf in which she said that all white people are racist.

Honestly, I dont have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people, she wrote.

Because most of yall dont even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism. From micro-aggressions to terrorism, you guys built the blueprint for this s***.

Come see me when you realise that racism isnt learned, its inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.

Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth then we can talk.

So Im the first transgender woman to feature in a LOreal UK campaign I got to say the famous lines! SO gassed! Thank you to all who support me and to all my sisters who have come before me #AllWorthIt #YoursTruly @lorealmakeup A post shared by Munroe Bergdorf (@munroebergdorf) on Aug 27, 2017 at 4:18am PDT

LOreal U.K. said today in statement that Bergdorfs comments were at odds with the companys values, adding: LOreal supports diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion.

The LOreal Paris True Match campaign is a representation of these values and we are proud of the diversity of the ambassadors who represent this campaign.

We believe that the recent comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with those values, and as such we have taken the decision to end the partnership with her.

LOreal remains committed to celebrating diversity and breaking down barriers in beauty.

Story continues

Bergdorf has since urged people to boycott the brand, writing  on Facebook again  that she couldnt be expected to star in a campaign about diversity without commenting about the lack of it in society.

When I stated that all white people are racist, I was addressing that fact that western society as a whole, is a SYSTEM rooted in white supremacy  designed to benefit, prioritise and protect white people before anyone of any other race. Unknowingly, white people are SOCIALISED to be racist from birth onwards. It is not something genetic. No one is born racist, she wrote.

She also criticized LOreals decision to let her go, adding: So when a transgender woman of colour, who has been selected to front up a big brand campaign to combat discrimination and lack of diversity in the beauty industry, speaks on her actual lived experience of being discriminated against because of her race and identifies the root of where that discrimination lies  white supremacy and systemic racism  that big brand cannot simply state that her thoughts are not in line with the ethics of the brand.

The irony of all this is that LOreal Paris invited me to be part of a beauty campaign that stands for diversity. If LOreal truly wants to offer empowerment to underrepresented women, then they need to acknowledge THE REASON why these women are underrepresented within the industry in the first place.

The situation has blown up on Twitter, with several people defending Bergdorf and labeling LOreal trash.

If you cant handle an open and honest conversation abt racism, you probably should stop using the word diversity https://t.co/R231vt34Cd  Zing Tsjeng (@misszing) September 1, 2017

LOreal are trash for this. You cannot exploit a black trans woman for PR brownie points then turn your back when she speaks out on racism https://t.co/19CViHQHLD  arenike a (@arenikea) September 1, 2017

So, is LOreal in the wrong? Or are they in the right?

Read more at Yahoo Style + Beauty:

 This is why Princess Diana stopped wearing blue eyeliner

 Why this nursing mom is thanking black women who support her breastfeeding journey

 RuPauls Drag Race star fulfills terminal cancer patients makeover wish

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The majority of Americans think Donald Trump is tearing the US apart, according to a Fox News poll.

Just 33 per cent said the US President was "drawing the country together," while 56 per cent said he was instead "tearing the country apart."

The number of voters who said they were happy with how things were going in the US has fallen to 35 per cent, the lowest score since 2013.

Mr Trump's job ratings were also negative, with 55 per cent disapproving of his work as president and 41 per cent saying they approve.

It gives him a net disapproval rating of -14 points, his worst score to date. A previous poll conducted around 100-days into his administration put his ratings at minus three points.

The only Fox News poll to give Mr Trump a positive rating was his first, conducted in February.

When asked who posed a greater threat to the United States, white supremacists or the media, 40 per cent said the media and 47 per cent said white supremacists.

The poll was based on interviews with 1,006 randomly selected registered voters.

Mr Trump has been criticised for not meeting with victims of Hurricane Harvey while he marvelled at the size of crowds during his brief trip to Texas.

The White House clarified that while the President had said he had witnessed the hurricane's destruction "first hand," it did not mean he had met with victims of the storm.

Mr Trump also tweeted to say "talking is not the answer" to the current diplomatic crisis with North Korea. His came after Pyongyang launched a missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, further raising tensions.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took a sharp dig at President Trump in an op-ed published Thursday night urging Congress to take respectful action when lawmakers reconvene from recess next week.

Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee wrote in the Washington Post.

We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him, McCain cautioned. But we are not his subordinates. We dont answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation.

The larger point of the op-ed was to make a call for Republican leadership to return Congress to regular order. He urged a more bottom-up approach to legislating, letting committees draft bills and the full Senate amend them before the final vote.

That would stand in stark contrast to how the GOP handled its push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. In a dramatic late-night vote, McCain and Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, cast the decisive votes to sink the repeal legislation, which was being rapidly pushed through Congress by party leaders.

Trump and McCain have had a tumultuous relationship for some time. During his 2016 campaign, Trump infamously dismissed McCains widely heralded war record, and the veteran Arizona lawmaker repeatedly took issue with Trumps inflammatory remarks.

McCain was among the Republicans who withdrew support from Trumps candidacy last year after the release of the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which the celebrity business mogul could be heard boasting about groping and forcibly touching women.

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will return to the Senate next week, his office said. He underwent treatments for brain cancer during the August recess. The Associated Press reported that hes expected to lead a Senate debate on defense-policy legislation.

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Melania Trump posted a tweet about substance abuse and recovery on Friday, prompting a wave of backlash to the first lady's message.

"Sept. is Nat'l Alcohol&Drug Addiction Recovery Month," Melania's tweet read. "Together we can strengthen families&communities & beat addiction. Call: 800-662-HELP"

Sept. is Nat'l Alcohol&Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Together we can strengthen families&communities & beat addiction. Call: 800-662-HELP  Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) September 1, 2017

Quick to criticize, social media users proceeded to fire off rapid responses to the first lady's tweet -- taking aim at everything from President Trump's efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare to her previously stated commitment to address cyberbullying.

"You are right we can," one Twitter user wrote. "But the health plan your husband favors cuts out money used for the treatment of those addicted."

You are right we can. But the health plan your husband favors cuts out money used for the treatment of those addicted.  Kris (@nanawbcdreams) September 1, 2017

"I'm assuming there will be your usual follow through on such an important issue as your cyber bullying campaign," another user exclaimed.

Others directed their outrage at President Trump, saying the past eight months of his time in office have forced some to partake in recreational substance use.

Click through to see varied responses to Melania's Friday tweet:



The first lady found herself in hot water with critics earlier this week when she wore stiletto heels as she walked from the White House onto Air Force One before visiting Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey's destruction. Many criticized the first lady for her fashionable yet perhaps not practical footwear, which she then changed out of before stepping off the plane in Texas.

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As first lady, Melania Trump has carefully chosen when to use her own voice and social media presence to speak out on global and national issues. From the national opioid epidemic to the violence of Charlottesville, Melania Trump has spoken out on a number of issues since her husband became president -- and the first lady will soon make an announcement regarding her official agenda.

"The First Lady continues to be thoughtful about her initiatives, and we look forward to announcing something in the coming weeks, spokesperson Stephanie Grisham recently told RealClearPolitics. "As for details of that 'something,' it is safe to say that Mrs. Trump is very focused on the health and well-being of children."

RELATED: A look at Melania Trump in her White House role


A Pakistani court Thursday branded former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto's murder trial, but acquitted five men accused of being involved in the 2007 assassination.

The verdicts are the first to be issued since Bhutto, the first female prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack nearly a decade ago, sparking street violence and plunging Pakistan into months of political turmoil.

Former president and military ruler Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections. He has denied the allegation.

He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder, and facilitation for murder in 2013, in an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief, challenging beliefs the military is immune from prosecution.

But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.

The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi ruled he had "absconded", a court official told reporters outside, saying it had also ordered the confiscation of his property.

"There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes!" Bhutto's daughter Aseefa Zardari tweeted moments after the statement.

The court also acquitted five men who had been accused of being Taliban militants involved in the conspiracy to kill Bhutto on December 27, 2007.

They were set to walk free nearly 10 years after they were first arrested, though a defence lawyer said it was not yet clear when they would be released.

However the judges found two police officers guilty of "mishandling the crime scene", the court official said.

The police officers -- Saud Aziz, who was chief of Rawalpindi police at the time, and senior officer Khurram Shahzad -- are now the only two people to have been convicted over Bhutto's assassination.

- 'Mystery remains' -

Shahzad was accused of hosing down the crime scene less than two hours after the killing -- an act the United Nations described in a report as "fundamentally inconsistent with Pakistani police practice".

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Aziz was accused of both giving Shahzad permission to hose down the scene, and of refusing multiple times to allow an autopsy of Bhutto's body to go ahead.

They were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on one count and seven on another, with the sentences to run concurrently, and fined 500,000 rupees ($4,700), according to a court order.

Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

In 2010, the UN report accused Musharraf's government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.

The unanswered questions surrounding the case prompted a swirl of conspiracy theories.

Rashid A. Rizvi, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, alluded to them Thursday when he noted that the acquittals were "as much a conspiracy as her murder was".

The judgement, political analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, was unlikely to offer any clarity as it "has failed to answer the question of who actually murdered her".

"Were they Taliban or Musharraf," he said, adding the prosecution "could not provide any evidence ... So the mystery remains unsolved".

Musharraf is facing a string of cases connected to his 1999-2008 rule, and Pakistani courts have ordered his property confiscated on previous occasions.

He was acquitted last year in the 2006 killing of a Baloch militant leader, but four cases remain against him: one accusing him of treason for imposing emergency rule, one alleging the unlawful dismissal of judges, one over a deadly raid on the Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007, and Bhutto's killing.
Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay was an outstanding leader of his time. A simple and humble person, he rose to become President of the Philippines in 1953. Unfortunately, he did not finish his term, perishing in a plane crash on March 17, 1957. The people of the Philippines, and many others in the world, mourned Magsaysays passing. As described in the website of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF): The world is richer and better because Ramon Magsaysay lived. His spirit will continue to be an inspiration. He exemplifies the highest type of leadership.

To remember this great leader, the Ramon Magsaysay Awards were launched immediately after his death. The first awardees in 1958 were Robert McCulloch Dick,

an American publisher who, through the Philippines Free Press, paved the way for press freedom in the country; Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian journalist; Operation Brotherhood, a Philippine organization that helped Vietnamese refugees; and Mary Rutna, medical doctor for her work in Sri Lanka.

Sixty years later, these awards have become Asias premier prize and highest honor, celebrating greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia. Over three hundred outstanding men, women and organizations have been recognized for their selfless service has offered their societies, Asia, and the world successful solutions to some of the most intractable problems of human development.

The most well-known of the Magsaysay awardees are probably Yunnus Muhammad, Nobel Prize awardee for his work on micro credit, Mother Teresa who has been canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church, the Dalai Lama. Other well-known personalities in Asia that have been recognized are Mahesh Chandeer Mehta, the great Indian environmental lawyer, eminent agricultural scientist Moncompu Sambasivan Swaminathan, the musician Ravi Shankar, and the Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa.

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Well-known Filipinos that have been conferred the awards include Inquirer publisher Eugenia Apostol, Senator Jovito Salonga, President Corazon Aquino, movie director Lino Brocka, TV personality Rosa Rosal, authors Nick Joaquin, Bienvenido Lumbera, and Francisco Sionil Jose, businessman Washington Sycip, and violinist Gilopez Kabayao.

Former Magsaysay awardees include people I know personally such as: good governance icon and human rights champion Haydee Yorac; Jesse Robredo, when he was mayor of Naga City; Miriam Defensor Santiago, when she was a young Judge; Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales; former Chief Justice Hilario Davide; Alfredo Bengzon, for his work as Secretary of Health of the Cory Aquino administration; former Governor and Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca; Indonesian environmental activist Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto; pioneering environmental lawyer Tony Oposa; Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto, indigenous peoples rights advocate Benjamin Abadiano, journalist Sheila Coronel; and theatre artist Cecile Guidote Alvarez.

I am happy that several Ashoka fellows have been recognized by the Magsaysay Awards, including Tri Mumpuni from Indonesia, Mahabir Pun from Nepal, and Anshu Gupta, Arvind Kerjiwal, Harish Hande, Bedzwada Wilson, and Saurav Ghosh from India. With colleague Terri Jayme More, I brought the Ashoka Fellowship to the Philippines and I am confident that our Philippine fellows will one day also be Magsayay awardees.

The Magsaysay Awards is also known for giving attention to the margins. My favorite awardees include Fr. Joaquin Villalonga SJ, conferred the award for his work with lepers in Culion Island, Bohol-based science educators Christopher and Victoria Bernido, and Bishop Antonio Fortich who fought for the poor in Negros Island.

Finally, as it did at its inception with its recognition of Operation Brotherhood, organizations have also been honored by the Magsaysay Awards. These include: the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Radio Veritas, Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. (AIDFI), Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation, Asian Institute of Management, Asian Institute of Technology, International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB), International Rice Research Institute, and the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center.

Last Thursday, Aug. 31, the birth anniversary of the late president, six individuals and organizations were honored and conferred the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees. The awardees this year are:

Yoshiaki Ishizawa, from Japan, recognized for his selfless, steadfast service to the Cambodian people, his inspiring leadership in empowering Cambodians to be proud stewards of their heritage, and his wisdom in reminding us all that cultural monuments like the Angkor Wat are shared treasures whose preservation is thus, also our shared global responsibility.

Lilia de Lima, from the Philippines, given the award recognized for her unstinting, sustained leadership in building a credible and efficient PEZA, proving that the honest, competent and dedicated work of public servants can, indeed, redound to real economic benefits to millions of Filipinos. I know personally of de Limas work having vetted her, as chair of the Government Service subcommittee of the Honors and Awards Committee of the Ateneo de Manila University. We also honored her for her work in PEZA in 2011.

Abdon Nababan, from Indonesia, awarded for his brave, self-sacrificing advocacy to give voice and face to his countrys IP communities, his principled, relentless, yet pragmatic leadership of the worlds largest IP rights movement, and the far-reaching impact of his work on the lives of millions of Indonesians. Abdon is a friend of many years as we have worked together on indigenous peoples rights issues in global biodiversity and climate processes. I have also collaborated with colleageus from Aman for decades.

Philippine Educational Theater Association, from the Philippines, honored for their bold, collective contributions in shaping the theater arts as a force for social change, its impassioned, unwavering work in empowering communities in the Philippines, and the shining example it has set as one of the leading organizations of its kind in Asia. I have watched PETA plays for 40 years. We are definitely a better country because of this organization

Gethsie Shanmugam, from Sri Lanka, granted the award for her compassion and courage in working under extreme conditions to rebuild war-scarred lives, her tireless efforts over four decades in building Sri Lankas capacity for psychosocial support, and her deep, inspiring humanity in caring for women and children, wars most vulnerable victims. I have traveled extensively to Sri Lanka for work I did with the Asian Development Bank and I am aware the acute need for Gethsies work.

Tony Tay, from Singapore, conferred the award his quiet, abiding dedication to a simple act of kindnesssharing food with othersand his inspiring influence in enlarging this simple kindness into a collective, inclusive, vibrant volunteer movement that is nurturing the lives of many in Singapore. A kinder, gentler Lion city has been enable by Tony and it is great to see that recognized.

As explained by RMAF president Carmencita Abella, herself a visionary, when this years awardees were announced, The Ramon Magsaysay Awardees of 2017 are all transforming their societies through their manifest commitment to the larger good. Each one has addressed real and complex issues, taking bold and innovative action that has engaged others to do likewise. The results of their leadership are palpable, generating both individual efficacy and collective hope.

Abella also pointed out: All are unafraid to take on large causes. All have refused to give up, despite meager resources, daunting adversity and strong opposition. Their approaches are all deeply anchored on a respect for human dignity, and a faith in the power of collective endeavor. We have much to learn from the 2017 Magsaysay awardees, and much to celebrate about their greatness of spirit.

Indeed. We are a greater continent, a better Asia, because of the Magsaysay Awardees.

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The second round of talks for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement is set to start Friday in Mexico. Since the conclusion of the first round, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the trade agreement. How, then, are U.S. neighbors dealing with the impending round two?

Just fine.

For one thing, while public opinion in the United States toward NAFTA is split, Canadians and Mexicans are in general agreement that the deal is good for their countries.

I think its because NAFTA has been a pretty good deal for all the countries, but particularly for Mexico and Canada, Richard Miles, the director of the U.S.-Mexico Futures Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Foreign Policy.

Some 30 years ago, Mexico was a closed economy, but now people there have grown used to the benefits, according to Duncan Wood, the director of the Wilson Centers Mexico Institute.

NAFTA, free trade, the market economy [have] acquired an almost unchallenged status in Mexico. Its almost a hegemonic concept, Wood said. People dont really think of an alternative.

Some politicians in Mexico do oppose the governments position on NAFTA renegotiations, however. Left-leaning Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has already called for talks to be suspended until after his countrys election next year and threatened to renegotiate if this round of talks harms Mexicos interests.

A bad deal for Mexico, said Miles of CSIS, would be a gift to the Mexican left.

But like the United States, both Mexico and Canada are at the negotiating table looking for a better deal. By and large, theyre trying to look at this as an opportunity to update the treaty, Miles said, noting that the two countries want to modernize the 1994 agreement with concepts like e-commerce and update language on labor mobility.

Canada in particular is hoping to make the new deal more progressive, adding in chapters on the impact of trade on women and indigenous peoples. We welcome the opportunity to modernize it, a Canadian government official told FP. Were going to actively push to move these things forward. We think they could be a huge opportunity.

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The Canadian negotiators expected the United States to play the withdraw from NAFTA card, the government official said, although perhaps not so early on. We know that were dealing with a little bit of an unpredictable administration, the official said.

Both Mexico and Canada have sent senior people to get the job done, according to the Wilson Centers Wood. The Mexican negotiating team is a very professional, very experienced  theyre top-quality people, and theyve got their eyes on the prize, he said.

And neither country appears fazed by the U.S. presidents threats to walk away from NAFTA. As Miles put it, Theyve all read The Art of the Deal.

Photo credit: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
After battling bulimia in her 20s, Nicole Scherzinger is stronger than ever.

The Pussycat Dolls singer, 39, is opening up to Cosmopolitan U.K. about body confidence and life after overcoming the eating disorder.

Im more accepting of my body now, Nicole tells the magazine. I was always very critical of myself from a young age, and when I was 14, I started running. I would go outside in the middle of the night and run, because I thought I had to be thinner and that my thighs should look a certain way.

Once Nicole headed to Hollywood, her self-confidence issues worsened.

When I got The Pussycat Dolls, it really amplified that because it had so much to do with showing your body off, she explains. But you should embrace and accept yourself more. Dont be so hard on yourself, and love your curves.

Scherzinger continues, It was very imprisoning and it stole all of my happiness, confidence and memories A big part of that was during The Pussycat Dolls. I have a lot of fans and I never wanted to come out about it, because I was ashamed. But once I finally did come out about it, I realized how many people it had helped.

In 2014, Scherzinger opened up about her dark time to the womens magazine, calling bulimia a horrible paralyzing disease.

Thats why I can empathize so much with people who have demons and voices in their heads, who arent nice to themselves. It robs you of living your life, she told Cosmo. But you can recover and you can get rid of it forever. I did it and thats why its so important for me to share my story. I felt so alone but I made myself so alone. You hide it from the world, you isolate yourself. But you can beat it  do not give up because youre so special and youre meant for such great things.

Her low point came when her manager found her passed out on the floor. I thought, Im going to lose everything I love if I dont love myself, she recalled.

Thats exactly what The X-Factor judge learned to do.

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Every woman has good and bad days, Nicole admits in the October issue. Mrs. O [Sharon Osborne] and I were joking the other day that sometimes we wake up in a puddle of cookies and crisps! But what really helps me is working out. Even if its not for very long, [I love] to get a sweat on to keep me focused and positive.

Read more from Yahoo Celebrity:
By Colleen Jenkins

GRAHAM, N.C. (Reuters) - Ever since demonstrators in Durham, North Carolina, toppled a bronze Confederate statue from its tower, Bradley Dixon has worried about the fate of a similar monument 30 miles (48 km) west.

The statue honoring 1,100 Confederate soldiers from Alamance County is one of dozens in the country facing renewed calls for removal after violence at an Aug. 12 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Dixon, a 30-year-old descendant of some of those Civil War soldiers, considers the threat a personal affront.

"It is a direct blow at my family, at my blood," Dixon said from the front porch of his 1930s farmhouse, where chickens wander in the yard and he crafts blacksmithing anvils from old train tracks. "I'm not going to watch that monument fall."

Across the U.S. South and beyond, elected officials are stripping signs of the Confederacy from streets, schools and other public spaces, siding with those offended by memorials to the pro-slavery cause.

But in Alamance County, a former textile hub that President Donald Trump won with 55 percent of the vote last November, county commissioners vow the granite and marble Confederate statue erected there more than 100 years ago will stand.

Echoing the Republican president's sentiments about such monuments, the all-white board said the statue commemorated an important part of local history.

Dixon, a white fire department captain whose family was among the county's earliest settlers, grew up hearing about that history at his family's Sunday lunch table.

To him, the monument pays tribute to ancestors who served to protect the powers reserved for states by the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment. His relatives were not slave owners, he said, and he insists they did not fight to preserve an institution he calls sickening.

Historians cannot speak to every individual soldier's motivations. But Dixon's pride in his heritage sheds light on why he and likeminded supporters are strident in their defense of symbols others say represent a shameful past.

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"My family was called to action and they went," he said. "These men deserve recognition for their sacrifice."

'FAIRLY ARCHETYPAL'

The statue is located outside the historic courthouse in the county seat of Graham, watching over quaint storefronts on Main Street from atop a column engraved with Confederate flags.

It was paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization formed during a postwar period marked by virulent white supremacy and violence against black Americans.

Colonel Jacob A. Long, a Confederate veteran who founded the county's branch of the Ku Klux Klan in 1868, spoke at the statue's May 1914 dedication. He invoked white privilege in his remarks, saying it was important to remember the achievements "of our own race and blood."

"The Alamance County statue appears to be fairly archetypal," said Charles Irons, a history professor at Elon University. "To pretend that this monument erected by private, white-only dollars actually represented the sentiments of all citizens of the county is self evidently not true."

But many local residents in the county, which is 75 percent white, favor keeping such statues. That is in line with national polling on the issue.

Several supporters interviewed said they did not view the monument as a symbol of slavery or racial oppression. But some of those same people said that if it came down, tributes to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. should go, too.

"I don't see why they can memorialize theirs if we can't memorialize ours," said Joseph Harris, a white sign company owner. He noted a local businessman hired him to make a sticker featuring the statue and the message: "I ain't never coming down."

Other residents, both black and white, said they were more concerned about avoiding heated clashes.

The August rally in Charlottesville, which was organized by white nationalists, turned deadly when a woman was killed after a man drove into a crowd of counter-protesters.

"Tearing it down causes division, and I think as a community we should just try to keep things peaceful," said Brittany Parrish, 24, a black line cook at a coffeehouse. "It's not doing anybody harm."

Dixon said none of the statue supporters he knows had anything to do with the events in Virginia or with hate groups such as the KKK, which he denounces.

"All the hatred, it's not necessary," he said. "There's not enough love anymore."

Although he has stood guard to protect the Alamance County statue from protesters in Charlottesville's aftermath, Dixon prefers a quiet life with longtime girlfriend Emily Mason on their 11-acre (4-hectare) property dubbed Mason-Dixon Farm.

Mason's ancestors also fought for the Confederacy, but she did not grow up steeped in that history and said she could see both sides of the debate. Dixon's passion for his family's legacy, however, has convinced her the statue should stay.

"It's everything to him," she said.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney)
A nurse was allegedly assaulted and illegally arrested when she told a detective she could not take a blood sample from an unconscious patient.

Alex Wubbels told a police officer she could not take blood from the victim of a lorry crash because he could not consent, and the officer had produced no warrant.

Footage taken by University Hospital, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Detective Jeff Payne's body camera show he threatened Ms Wubbels with jail if she did not comply, despite her having checked the policy with her bosses, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

As Ms Wubbels, a former Winter Olympian, is dragged from the hospital to a police patrol car, she can be heard to scream: "Help! Help! Somebody help me! Stop! Stop! I did nothing wrong!"

In the end she was not charged but told the paper: "It hurts to relive it."

University Hospital's policy states blood cannot be drawn from an unconscious patient unless they have been arrested, a warrant for the procedure is granted, or the patient consents, the Tribune reported.

Detective Payne cited a now-outdated "implied consent" law to make his case, it said.

Ms Wubbels' lawyer told the paper she had not filed a lawsuit, but that following discussions with Salt Lake City police, she believed the department would now educate its officers.

Salt Lake City police told the Tribune they were investigating the incident, but that Detective Payne remained on duty.

It has provided training for other officers following Ms Wubbels' arrest.
A nurse in Salt Lake City was aggressively arrested for obeying hospital policy and refusing to allow a police detective to draw blood from a severely injured patient, according to several reports.

In the above video that emerged this week, Alex Wubbels, the head nurse at the University of Utah Hospitals burn unit, keeps her cool while Detective Jeff Payne insists that he be given permission to collect the blood sample of a patient  despite not having a warrant.

The July 26 footage, filmed on Paynes body camera, captures Wubbels explaining that three things that allow us to [give blood samples] are if you have an electronic warrant, patient consent or patient under arrest, and neither of those things the patient cant consent. He told me repeatedly that he doesnt have a warrant and the patient is not under arrest.

So, Im just trying to do what Im supposed to do, thats all, she adds.

Nurse Alex Wubbels, just before her arrest by Detective Jeff Payne. (Photo: YouTube)

Wubbels appears professional throughout the exchange and has her supervisor on speakerphone so the detective can listen.

You can hear the supervisor telling Payne that hes making a huge mistake in threatening Wubbels and by claiming that shes interfering with his police duties when shes simply following protocol.

The supervisor barely finishes what hes saying when Payne shouts, Were done! repeatedly at Wubbels. He then chases her down and handcuffs her.

A sobbing Wubbels screams Help me! and Youre assaulting me! while being pushed out of the hospital and toward a police car.

As The Washington Post noted in its report Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly ruled that blood can only be drawn from drivers for probable cause, with a warrant. Wubbels appeared to do everything correctly.

For Paynes part, he was reportedly explicitly told by his lieutenant to arrest Wubbels if she refused to let him take a sample of blood, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Nurse Alex Wubbels being arrested. (Photo: Youtube)

Since the horrifying arrest, Payne has been suspended from the departments blood draw unit. He was expected to remain on active duty as the investigation is conducted.

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Wubbels has not been charged. She said in a news conference Thursday, accompanied by her lawyer Karra Porter, that she is not ruling out taking legal action.

I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things, Wubbels said during the conference. And Im still confused.

The hospital stands by Wubbels, indicating that she did everything she was supposed to in a statement it gave to The New York Post.

She followed procedures and protocols in this matter and was acting in her patients best interest, the statement reads. We have worked with our law enforcement partners on this issue to ensure an appropriate process for moving forward.

Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to The Salt Lake Tribune as Salt Lake City Tribune.

Also on HuffPost

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THANK YOU @serenawilliams for giving us joy in the midst of all this darkness. #BlackGirlMagic   Doc McDabbins (@javeauriel) July 9, 2016

#heyblackgirl Share something positive & uplifting for/to our community.



(Black Men & Boys included)

  Hey Black Girl (@Hey_BlackGirl) July 6, 2016

We ain't about to let these executions steal our joy



Brothers, it's OK to smile



We Love you!!!#BlackManJoy  Feminista Jones (@FeministaJones) July 9, 2016

About to hit the stage and sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" #DerayHasBeenReleasedParty pic.twitter.com/mQ7rXBIEmk  Kristopher Chenet (@Krischievous) July 10, 2016

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Footage of a police officer violently arresting University of Utah nurse Alex Wubbels for refusing to give in to his unconstitutional demands for a patient blood sample has shocked the nations nursing community and underscored a sad truth about nursing in the U.S.: The health care workers closely identified with their role as patient advocates are frequently victims of assault in their own workplace, and as a consequence of simply doing their job.

Nurses should not be subject to any kind of violence, whether its from a coworker, a patient, a family member, or in this case another public servant, said Pam Cipirano, president of the American Nurses Association. Thats part of why we feel so strongly, particularly in this situation, where another type of worker who the public needs to trust acted in an unconscionable way.

National studies estimating the extent of violence against nurses are hard to come by, but smaller surveys paint a shocking picture of what nurses and other health care workers endure. A 2014 survey of 762 nurses found that 76 percent had experienced some kind of violence, like verbal assault or physical abuse, from patients or visitors. Another 2014 survey conducted by the American Nurses Association of more than 10,000 nurses and nursing students found that 25 percent had been physically assaulted by either a patient or a patients family member, and that 9 percent were worried about their physical safety at work.

Thats a startling number, even if its unscientific, Cipriano said of her organizations findings.

Nurses appear to be at higher risk than other health care professionals. Compared with other health care workers like doctors, nurses and nurse assistants had higher rates of violent injuries from 2012 to 2014, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research into the reasons for the assaults is even more difficult to come by, but Cipriano has a few ideas.

The nursing industry is 91 percent female, and high rates of assault against nurses may mirror a broader social trend of violence against women. Cipriano also suspects that because nurses are, at their base, caregivers, they may be targets for people who want to lash out at someone or something without the possibility of retaliation.

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The expected relationship that the health care worker acquiesces, that the health care worker is expected to make a good situation out of a bad one, that the health care worker is willing to understand that the person is under stress, creates this false sense that this [nurse] should be able tolerate whatever another human being dishes out at them, Cipriano said.

Finally, nurses are often the first and last line of defense for patients. If someone wants to harm a vulnerable patient, go against a patients wishes for treatment, or violate a patients legal rights  like what happened in the Utah case  its the nurses job to step in and put a stop to it.

They are the ones that, in the moment, will say, No, stop, were not going to do this. Its my job to protect the patient, said Cipriano.

Usually, law enforcement is a valuable ally in a charged and stressful medical situation. Police officers often help nurses take charge of a tense confrontation, and they help calm patients who are angry, mentally ill or going through a drug-fueled violent episode. Thats why Wubbels assault at the hands of Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne is so distressing, said Cipriano.

National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the U.S., also denounced the assault on Wubbels.

At a time of a growing problem of workplace violence against RNs and other hospital employees, it is especially appalling to see police assaulting an RN for properly, and legally, doing her job, the unions co-president, Jean Ross, said. It is particularly disgraceful to see violence in a hospital perpetrated by a law enforcement officer against a registered nurse who is advocating for her patient.

The day after Wubbels press conference describing the assault, Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown issued a statement expressing sadness and regret for what happened to her. He noted that his officers may one day depend on nurses  who he called brothers and sisters in white.

Salt Lake City Police Officers have a very soft spot in our hearts for all medical professionals. the chief said. We know that if we are ever hurt in the line of duty, it is their caring hands that will perhaps save our lives one day.

Also on HuffPost

3: The number of women murdered every day by a current or former male partner in the U.S.

4,774,000: The number of women in the U.S. who experience physical violence by an intimate partner every year.

18,000: The number of women who have been killed by men in domestic violence disputes since 2003.

Worldwide, men who were exposed to domestic violence as children are three to four times more likely to perpetuate intimate partner violence as adults than men who did not experience domestic abuse as children.

A woman is beaten every nine seconds in the U.S.

Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of female homicide and injury-related deaths during pregnancy.

98: The percentage of financial abuse that occurs in all domestic violence cases. The number one reason domestic violence survivors stay or return to the abusive relationship is because the abuser controls their money supply, leaving them with no financial resources to break free.

21: The number of LGBT people murdered by their intimate partners in 2013. Fifty percent of them were people of color. This is the highest documented level of domestic violence homicide in the LGBT community in history.

70x: The amount of times more likely a woman is to be murdered in the few weeks after leaving her abusive partner than at any other time in the relationship.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
A mother in South Akron, Ohio, took a honey of a photo shoot recently  with the help of 20,000 bees.

Emily Mueller is expecting her fourth child in November and wanted to honor the occasion with a photo shoot.

The 33-year-old woman also runs a bee removal service with her husband, Ryan, and decided that the maternity photos should also reflect her love of natures most valuable insect.

Bees represent life and death, she told Cleveland.com. Weve had three miscarriages, so these pictures are dedicated to life and death, to all of the children weve had.

(Photo: KendrahDamisPhotographycom)

Her longtime friend, photographer Kendrah Damis, took the maternity pictures. Carefully.

Mueller controlled the 20,000 bees by holding the queen of the hive in a small cage. She seems perfectly calm in the photos, but Damis admitted to being slightly concerned.

It was uneasy, but I wasnt that scared, Damis told HuffPost. I did have to flick a bee off my hand, and I unconsciously hunched down when they were flying around.

(Photo: KendraDamisPhotographycom)

As buzzworthy as the photo shoot is, Mueller knows other people might not be believers.

I know a lot of people are looking at this video, thinking, This lady is crazy, she told InsideEdition.com. And I understand completely. Many years ago, I was afraid of bees, too.

Still, she admits, it wasnt a completely painless experience. She was stung three times during the shoot, including once when she sat on a bee and another time when she crushed one with her arm.

None of the bees intentionally stung me, Mueller told the website. It was my own fault. I didnt realize there was one on my arm.

(Photo: KendrahDamisPhotographycom)

Despite these painful moments, Mueller insisted her unborn child was never at risk.

People think Im putting my baby at harm, Mueller told People.com. But bees are gentle, and I hope my bee belly helps people see that they arent as scary as you might think.

Although posing with 20,000 bees wasnt completely predictable, Mueller was happy with the encounter.

It was absolutely amazing to connect with nature in that way and to have the bees directly on my womb was so spiritual, she said.

Story continues

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(Photo: KendrahDamisPhotographycom)

Photos courtesy of Kendrah Damis.

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Dr. LeRoy Carhart is one of few doctors in the country who perform abortions later in pregnancy. (Photo: Orjan F. Ellingvag via Getty Images)

When Sue*, 41, made the decision to get an abortion 28 weeks into a pregnancy that had been very much wanted and planned, her options were scarce. Tests showed the baby-to-be  a boy  had Down syndrome, as well as a severe congenital heart defect and tumors. Sue was 38 at the time and she and her husband felt they could not bring a child into the world knowing the overwhelming challenges he would face.

I couldnt think of leaving him alone in the world with Down syndrome and a huge heart defect  knowing he may not even get a heart replacement  and tumors, she told HuffPost.

Although the ultrasound tech who first discovered the fetal abnormalities told her it was too late to get an abortion, a genetic counselor Sue met with in the following days said she would make some calls. If the couple could come up with money quickly  somewhere in the ballpark of $10,000  she might be able to get them in to see one of the few remaining providers in the country who performs later abortions, Dr. LeRoy Carhart. They did, and Sue drove two hours from Virginia to Maryland where she stayed in a hotel while the four-day procedure was completed.

That was three years ago. Last week, news quietly emerged that the clinic where Carhart has been a provider since 2010  Germantown Reproductive Health Service in Maryland  has permanently closed. The Washington Post was the first to report that the Germantown clinic is under contract to be purchased by the anti-abortion group the Maryland Coalition for Life, leaving women like Sue with even fewer options. The Post reports that the group raised funds to make an offer to buy out the current owners of the property who also ran a second clinic that did not offer later abortions.

The Germantown clinic is one of only three in the country that provides abortions later in pregnancy, Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, an OB-GYN and member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, the advocacy group, told HuffPost.

The women who need these services often have lethal fetal abnormalities or other extenuating life circumstances and did not learn about the pregnancies until late, she said. This will mean that women who are in need of abortions later in pregnancy will have even fewer options, and will likely be unable to travel the distance to get to them.

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Most states in this country prohibit abortions in the later stages of a pregnancy, though what later means varies. Seventeen states currently prohibit most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, for example. Just this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked a Texas law that would restrict the most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions, another legislative tack used to limit later abortions.

Estimates suggest, however, that only about 9 percent of women who get abortions in the United States do so after the first trimester, and just 1 percent of abortions are performed at or after 21 weeks.

As one of the few remaining providers to perform later abortions, has been the subject to threats and violence. He has long bee open about the work he does, and was featured in the 2013 documentary After Tiller, about the murder of abortion provider George Tiller in 2009.

Carhart has reportedly vowed to open a new clinic in Maryland in order to continue to provide later abortion services, as well as to train other physicians.

For the last few years, Dr. Carhart has shared his vision with allies to create his own facility in Maryland to address the dearth of training available to medical professionals in later abortion care, Diana Philip, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, the reproductive rights advocacy group, said in a statement. She said that the clinics closure had not come as a surprise to Maryland-based abortion providers, and that it had been known for some time that the clinics owner was considering closing it.

But former patients like Sue, the news is sad. Though she said went into survival mode during the abortion procedure, trying to stay as calm and detached as possible so she did not break down, she says the care she received was warm and supportive. Carhart, she believes, did his best to make the worst time in her life bearable.

Please tell me he is going to reopen somewhere else, Sue wrote in an e-mail to HuffPost after she learned the clinic had closed. This is awful.

* Name has been changed to protect privacy.

Also on HuffPost

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
A downtown street is submerged in water in Houston, Texas during Hurricane Harvey. (Photo: Nick Oxford / Reuters)

Pastor Kevin Swanson, who previously publicly advocated for the death penalty for homosexuals, has linked Hurricane Harvey to LGBTQ rights.

Swanson, who is a pastor at the Reformation Church of Elizabeth, Colorado, said on his radio show Generations with Kevin Swanson on Friday that the deadly storm that devastated Houston, Texas is Gods judgment of the city, and other cities like it, that have embraced sexual perversion and have not repented for it.

Jesus sends the message home, unless Americans repent, unless Houston repents, unless New Orleans repents, they will all likewise perish, Swanson said. That is the message that the Lord Jesus Christ is sending home right now to America.

Swanson then listed examples of why Houston would receive such judgment and why it should repent. He mentioned Annise Parker, the citys former and openly gay mayor, who Swanson describes as a very, very aggressively pro-homosexual mayor. He also cited how Texas state legislature failed to pass a bathroom bill that would have prevented cross-dressing men from using the womens restrooms because they wanted to encourage the abomination of men attempting to dress like women and women attempting to dress like men.

He continued:

I think that the entire state of Texas and the entire United States of America needs to take note of this, Swanson warned. And realize that there is a God in heaven, He brings His judgments and He calls nations to repentance, as He is doing right now.

Swanson also noted that the remnants of Hurricane Harvey are now heading towards New Orleans, as the city prepares for its annual LGBTQ festival Southern Decadence this weekend. Timing seems to be perfect, Swanson said. He then argued that God is giving the city a heads up before it hosts the largest sexual perversion event in the country.

Swanson isnt alone in citing the LGBTQ community when speaking about the catastrophic natural disaster that Houston suffered.

Story continues

Ann Coulter tweeted on Monday that Houston electing a lesbian mayor is a more likely reason that the city was struck than climate change.

You can listen to Swansons comments above.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
The total solar eclipse offered the perfect opportunity for NASA to study eclipse conditions as well as the sun. The agency conducted more than 10 scientific studies during the eclipse to gather as much information as possible.

One of those missions involved flying two airplanes with telescopes on their noses along the path of totality while recording data the entire time. Those airplanes, as well as the data collected by them during the eclipse, are now sitting just outside of Houston, Texas, where Hurricane Harvey has been dropping feet of rain since the weekend.

The WB-57F jets that belong to NASA are housed at Ellington Field, about a half-hour drive outside of Houston, and roughly a third of the way from Houston to Galveston. Ellington Field is a Joint Reserves Base thats currently being used to stage rescue operations for the Harvey aftermath.

Of course our primary concern is for our friends and colleagues, Amir Caspi, an astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute, who led the eclipse chasing mission, told International Business Times. Data is not as important as people."

All seven minutes and 27 seconds of recorded data from the eclipse are stored redundantly on hard drives to keep it safe in case something happens to one of them. From what Im told Ellington Field is doing okay in terms of the damage, Caspi said on Tuesday. But Caspi, who works out of Denver, and his team dont have access to that extensive scientific data yet. So far everything theyve learned is from the initial quick look, or engineering data.

The goal of the mission was to capture extremely clear and extended data of the eclipse in visible and infrared wavelengths to learn about the sun, its corona and the planet Mercury. And to do this, of course, all from an airplane.

We wanted to do this because being in a plane gives you several advantages, said Caspi. Those advantages include increased observation time and height, which increases image quality because the photos can be taken from above most of the atmosphere.

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To do this, the jets with telescopes affixed to the nose cones flew in tandem at about 450 miles per hour, giving them each roughly four minutes in the eclipse's shadow. They followed one another and overlapped recording the eclipse by about 10 to 15 seconds. This made it possible to collect double the amount of data during the eclipse than solely one jet would have been able to capture, Caspi said.

This illustration shows the two NASA craft that were used for research during the August total solar eclipse. Photo: NASA

Definitely incredibly pleased with the actual acquisition of the data, Caspi said adding that the planes were Exactly where we needed to be exactly at the right moments. But that being said, until the team has the scientific data in hand it will be hard to draw any scientific conclusions, It's hard to know exactly what we're gonna find, Caspi told IBT.

The reason Caspi and his team chose the corona and Mercury as their eclipse subjects has more to do with what researchers dont know that with what they do. The suns corona, the outermost part of the suns atmosphere, has been a point of interest for researchers since it was discovered to be far warmer than the surface of the sun. Caspi called this counterintuitive and said, The classical ways we think of heat being transferred, those aren't very efficient in the corona. Typically heat is transferred with convection, conduction or radiation, but not in the corona, so scientists like Caspi are determined to find out how heat there is transferred.

One theory, called wave heating, is that the loops coming off of the surface of the sun essentially trace the magnetic field lines. Then there are waves that travel along the magnetic field lines that transfer the heat, Caspi explained.

The sun's corona can be seen shooting off of the surface of the sun during the total solar eclipse that occurred on Aug. 21. Photo: NASA/Carla Thomas

In addition to the means by which heat transfers the researchers were looking at the structure of the corona, something computer models cant predict and researchers cant figure out. When models of the corona run they end up knotting, something that doesnt happen in actuality but researchers are unsure why. The corona is constantly untangling itself bit by bit. Every time it builds up a bit it releases. Were trying to understand how the corona is releasing that, Caspi said.

The reason for observing Mercury is that it cant really be seen all the time, its proximity to the sun makes it difficult to observe. But during an eclipse, its high in the sky and the sky is dark which makes it far more visible. Caspi and his team were hoping to get enough data on Mercury using the infrared imaging to create a heat map of the planet. A heat map would give them insight into what the planet is made of and hypothetically how it formed. The engineering data isnt detailed enough to conduct this research though, so those conclusions will be made at a later date as well.

There are 5 terabytes of data from this one mission, mainly because the telescopes were capturing the sun and Mercury at a rate of 30 frames per second. Caspi said once the team has the data in hand, I imagine that itll probably take us a good few weeks once we have the science data in hand to get first cut and then the very detailed in depth analysis is probable gonna take a few months.

Related Articles
President Donald Trump began his fall pitch for tax reform, but his speech in Missouri Wednesday was short on specifics. Aside from laying out an ideal 15% corporate tax ratewhich Republicans on Capitol Hill are already backing away fromTrump offered only vague outlines of the GOP proposal. Republican lawmakers have haggled for years over such a plan, but have had trouble devising any sort of widespread consensus. In selling the rough sketch, Trump tried to spin the steep business tax cuts, arguing that lower taxes on American business means higher wages for American workers. And while he focused on middle class tax relief, the GOP plan would do wonders for the balance sheets of those in the highest income bracket.

The Trump tax reality. McCain to return to Washington. And heres how low President Trumps approval rating could drop.

Here are your must reads:

Must Reads

Ivanka Trump supports rollback of Obamas policy to close gender pay gap

Initiative would have required employers to collect data on wages but would not yield the intended results says Trump [The Guardian]

The reality beneath Trumps tax reform talk

While he emphasizes benefits to regular taxpayers, much of the push is about cutting corporate rates [Politico]

Federal judge blocks Texas tough sanctuary cities law

Was set to take effect in days [Associated Press]

Top advisers in more displays of disagreement with Trump

Mattis is latest to buck Trump [Reuters]

Grand jury hears from lobbyist in Trump Tower confab

Don Jr. meeting participant testifies [Associated Press]

Heres How Congress Might Change Your Taxes

TIMEs Nash Jenkins on whats under consideration

Trump Administration Wants to Stabilize Health Markets but Wont Say How

Set up for fight with Capitol Hill [New York Times]

Sound Off

So lets put  or at least try to put  the partisan posturing behind us and come together as Americans to create the 21st century tax code that our people deserve. President Donald Trump minutes after attacking Democrats on Capitol Hill

Story continues

Its pretty standard practice for us not to specifically call out staff. He regularly mentions Cabinet members but very rarely mentions staff in speeches. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on why Trump did not mention Gary Cohn in his tax address.

Bits and Bites

Heres How Low President Trumps Approval Rating Could Drop [TIME]

With a drama-filled White House, Mattis has shown deft political touch [Washington Post]

Texas lawmakers press for Harvey money  pronto [Politico]

Statehouses, Not Congress, Hosting Biggest Political Money Fights [Center for Public Integrity]

The Pentagon Admits There Are a Lot More U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Than We Thought [Associated Press]

John McCain Will Return to Washington D.C. Next Week [TIME]

The GOP May Cut $1 Billion in FEMA Funds to Help Finance Trumps Border Wall [Associated Press]
President Trump claimed Friday that former FBI Director James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton before finishing his investigation into her email server, one day after senior members of Congress came to that conclusion.

Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was overand so much more, the president tweeted. A rigged system!

Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more. A rigged system!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

His statement came after Republican senators Chuck Grassley from Iowa and Lindsey Graham from South Carolina sent a letter to current FBI chief Christopher Wray asking for additional materials on Comey, after they determined he began drafting a statement clearing Clinton before his investigation had concluded.

According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton, the senators, both members of the Judiciary Committee, wrote. (Grassley is chairman of the committee.) That was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts Conclusion first, fact-gathering secondthats no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.

In July 2016, in the height of the presidential campaign, Comey publicly recommended that no charges be brought against Clinton for her use of a private email server and account while she served as Secretary of State. Trump then fired Comey as FBI director in May 2017.
Donald Trump pledges $1m in personal support to victims as rescue teams search for people still needing to be evacuated and brace for bodies

Rescuers continued plucking people from floodwaters across Texas on Thursday even as waters receded from Houston, revealing swathes of devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey.

Donald Trump pledged to donate $1m in personal funds to the relief effort.

Emergency crews and volunteers in boats, trucks and aircraft scoured inundated suburbs around Houston and cities to the east for people still in need of evacuation.

Police rescued 18 people from floodwaters overnight, said Houstons mayor, Sylvester Turner. Crisis ebbing but far from over.

In dryer areas recovery crews started to assess damage and remove debris. They braced for the discovery of bodies.

Harvey, once a category 4 hurricane, was downgraded to a tropical depression and moved over north-eastern Louisiana and into Mississippi.

Fires and two explosions early on Thursday at a chemical plant in Crosby, north-east of Houston, jolted residents to the presence of new dangers as waters recede.

The plant, which makes organic peroxides used in plastic resins and paint, lost refrigeration due to the storm. An executive warned that eight more tanks could burn and explode. Contradictory messages from officials left people unsure if emissions were toxic.

The Texas department of public safety said 48,700 homes sustained flood damage, including 17,000 with major damage and 1,000 that were destroyed.

The storm has killed at least 44 people in Texas, officials said on Thursday, and forced 32,000 people into shelters since it came ashore last Friday near Rockport on the Gulf of Mexico coast. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in half a century.

Officials ordered mandatory evacuation of some communities near the Barker and Addicks reservoirs, which continued to discharge water.

But much of Houston was dry and baked under a blazing sun.

The heat aggravated the stench from stagnant waters and flood-damaged properties. Man, oh-ooh, that is foul, said a shirtless man on Discovery Green, a park beside a convention centre which is sheltering 8,000 people.

Story continues

The citys health department urged residents to take precautions to minimise the risk of contamination and diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Practice good hygiene such as hand washing after any contact with #Harvey floodwaters, it tweeted. Do not eat any food that came in contact with #Harvey floodwaters. When in doubt, throw it out.

Regular trash collection was due to resume on Thursday. Airports have resumed a limited service.

Despite the havoc of recent days, Houston remained calm. No city curfew citations or arrests for a second night in a row. Thank you Houston for your understanding and cooperation, tweeted the mayor.

Meanwhile, the White House announced on Thursday that Trump was pledging $1m in personal funds to the relief efforts.

The press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called on the media to help decide which specific group or organisation he should give to. Hed love some suggestions from the folks here and Id be happy to take those if any of you have them, she told reporters in the briefing room. But as I said, hell pledge proudly a million dollars of his own personal money to help the people of both Texas and Louisiana.

She said she was uncertain whether the donation would come from the president directly or his private foundation, which has been a source of controversy.



Trump and his wife, Melania, will travel back to Texas and to Louisiana on Saturday, Sanders added. The tentative plan includes the Houston area in Texas and possibly Lake Charles, Louisiana, but this may change depending on conditions. The president visited Corpus Christi and Austin on Tuesday.

Tom Bossert, White House homeland security adviser, estimated that about 100,000 homes would be affected by the floods. Thats a big number. Were going to have 100,000 affected homes, all with different degrees of insurance, some with flood insurance, some under-insured, some uninsured.

The White House would soon send a supplemental spending request to Congress to help ease the recovery process, Bossert added, insisting that he was not worried at all about having sufficient funds for the current effort. The disaster relief fund is strong, its got plenty of money in it now, and were going to ask for some very responsible surplus supplementals.

Bossert claimed that coordination is happening better than any storm weve seen before and noted that 28 search and rescue teams and taskforces from 16 states had been sent to Texas. In fact, I believe that thats the first time weve activated all the taskforces since 9/11, so this is an all-hands-on-deck operation.

The adviser said undocumented immigrants seeking government help should not be worried about their immigration status unless theyve committed a crime on top of coming here illegally. No one would be denied help based on their legal status and shelters would not be subjected to inspections.



Asked about explosions at the Arkema chemical plant near Crosby, he said the situation was not a public health hazard in the sense that people around the facility had already been evacuated. If they were there, it would be dangerous and they have to keep an eye on it and take it seriously, but for right now the people dont seem to be there, so a tree falling in the woods, if you will.

But further deaths in Texas are likely in the coming days, Bossert warned. In the immediate response and recovery phase, people will use chainsaws, people will remove debris, people will be stressed ... so unfortunately, we will see additional losses of life, if history is any precedent here.
Venice (AFP) - Half a century after they simmered with youthful sexuality in "Barefoot in the Park", screen legends Jane Fonda and Robert Redford have teamed up again in a tale of love and sex in later life.

"He's a great kisser so it was fun to kiss him in my 20s and it was fun to kiss him against at almost 80," Fonda said Friday of her famously handsome co-star in "Our Souls at Night."

The Netflix production had its premiere Friday at the Venice film festival, where the veteran stars were to be presented later with Golden Lions in recognition of two of the longest and most successful careers in US cinema.

Based on a Kent Haruf novel, the film sees Indian director Ritesh Batra, a talent fostered by Redford's Sundance Institute, delve into a world of creaking bones and reading lights that is increasingly a focus for a film industry chasing the disposable income of retired baby boomers.

"The way the film biz was going it was very much towards the younger audience and there were very few opportunities for films to be made that would satisfy the older audience," Redford said.

"And I wanted to do another film with Jane before I died. We've had a long history in film and I wanted us to be able to have another chance. We were getting older, and I thought 'wait a minute here is a film that can satisfy our genuine age'."

- Better sex -

Fonda said the film sends an important message about the potential for love and sex to improve with age.

"I think it gets better because we are brave, what the heck do we have to lose," the multiple Oscar winner said.

"So my skin sags,! So does his. I know what my body needs and I am not afraid to ask for it," she said, chiding the director for cutting the film's solitary sex scene too short.

"It will be in the DVD extras!" Batra responded.

Fonda and Redford play Addie Moore and Louis Waters, a pair of retired, widowed neighbours living quiet lives in small-town Colorado.

Story continues

They have known each other for years, but never really known each other.

That changes when, on the instigation of Addie, they begin sharing a bed -- on the basis that company and conversation will help Addie's insomnia and ease the loneliness they both feel most acutely after dark.

As the friendship develops, the nighttime chat becomes more serious. It emerges Addie and Louis share lingering regrets over how they handled traumatic moments in their married lives and consequent strains in their relationships with their adult children.

The bond between the two deepens when Addie's seven-year-old grandson comes to stay with her while his newly-single father struggles to keep his life on track.

Soon the question of what kind of relationship they are having, and where it is headed, becomes more pressing.

- Older trend -

The film is Batra's third feature, after 2016's "The Sense of an Ending" and his award-winning 2013 debut, "Lunchbox."

The director was born in the same year that Redford, now 81, and Fonda, 79, starred in Sydney Pollack's 1979 western, "The Electric Horseman."

Prior to that, the pair played young married couples in 1966's "The Chase" and the following year's "Barefoot in the Park."

On all three of the films, Fonda fell for her co-star, she said. "On Barefooot it was me who couldn't keep my hands off him," she joked. Although both actors were married at the time, Redford suggested the sexual chemistry on screen was not just about acting craft. "There were things spoken and things unspoken and the unspoken carried a certain weight, that is all I can say," he said.

Also showing in Venice, and tipped as a potential contender for the Golden Lion, is "The Leisure Seeker", which sees Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland play a free-spirited older couple who embark on a Boston-Florida road trip to get away from their doctors and bossy grown-up children.

The issue of loneliness after bereavement also provides the backdrop to "Victoria & Abdul," Stephen Frears's handling of the true story of the elderly Queen Victoria's friendship with an Indian clerk.

"Our Souls at Night", which was shown out of competition here, will be released by Netflix on September 29.
AP

Robert Mueller is said to be examining the draft of a letter written by Donald Trump in which he laid out his rationale for firing FBI Director James Comey - a document that could prove crucial as the special counsel probes whether the President behaved in a way that obstructed justice.

Mr Comey was fired by Mr Trump on May 9 as the President became increasingly frustrated over the course of the FBI investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election.

At the time, he had a letter delivered to Mr Comey explaining the decision, which was written by deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. It focused on Mr Comeys handling of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

Yet reports suggest the earlier letter could provide clues to Mr Mueller as to Mr Trumps true intention for getting rid of his FBI Director. At the time, he told a television interviewer that Mr Comey was a grandstander and admitted he felt the Russia probe was a distraction.

The New York Times said Mr Trump was talked out of sending the earlier letter to Mr Comey, written with the help of White House aide Stephen Miller, on the recommendation of White House lawyer Don McGahn.

The newspaper, which said it had not seen the actual letter, reported that Mr McGahn believed that some of its contents were problematic, which partly lead to its redrafting, effectively blocking it from being released to the public.

The earlier letter was handed over to Mr Mueller team by the the US Justice Department. A statement from the department said it had been fully cooperative with Mr Muellers investigation.

In testimony on Capital Hill in June, Mr Comey said he did not know for certain why he was fired.

Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more. A rigged system!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

But he told the Senate Intelligence Committee: Again, I take the presidents words. I know I was fired because of something about the way I was conducting the Russia investigation was in some way putting pressure on him, in some way irritating him, and he decided to fire me because of that.

Story continues

The Associated Press said Mr Trump had been fuming about Mr Comey for weeks, and was angry that the FBI Director would not say publicly that the President was not personally under investigation. Mr Comey later confirmed that when he appeared before senators.

Mr Muellers office has declined to comment on the draft letter. Mr Trumps lawyers have also refused to discuss the issue.

Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, told the Times: To the extent the special prosecutor is interested in these matters, we will be fully transparent with him.
Russia announced Friday it plans to retaliate against the latest U.S. diplomatic attack that saw Moscow forced to shutter assets in three major U.S. cities.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told students that the White House on Thursday had given Moscow only 48 hours to close down its consulate in San Francisco and two other buildings in New York and Washington. The U.S.s move came in response to Russias decision to slash the number of U.S. diplomatic staff allowed in Moscow, a strike that itself followed Congress rolling out new sanctions against Russia earlier this month. Lavrov said Russia was preparing to react strongly to President Donald Trumps administration, but blamed Trumps predecessor for sabotaging bilateral relations in the first place.

Related: How U.S. and Russian relations got so bad: a timeline from 2014 to present

But I want to say that this whole story with [the two countries] exchanging tit-for-tat sanctions was not started by us. It was started by the Obama administration to undermine U.S.-Russia relations and to not allow [President Donald] Trump to advance constructive ideas or fulfil his pre-election pledges, Lavrov said, according to Reuters.

We will respond harshly to things that damage us.

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Sputnik/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin/via REUTERS

When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he inherited the very beginnings of what has since been compared with a sequel to the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that lasted for nearly half a century after World War II. In the final years of his presidency, former President George W. Bush had begun boosting U.S. missile defenses in Europe, a move that Russia responded to with missile tests and deployments. As Bush departed, however, Obama sought to reset relations with Russia, then led by President Dmitry Medvedev. The detente would not last.

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Obama managed to renew the historic START treaty, aimed at reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles, in 2010, but a wave of demonstrations by Russians amid legislative elections the following year brought with it new issues. Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, accused the U.S. of sponsoring the protests to undermine Moscow. Putin was once again elected president in 2012, and relations continued to deteriorate as Obama opposed Russias support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against CIA-backed rebels, as well as its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

The latter move initiated an arms race that ultimately inflated to the largest military mobilizations that Europe has witnessed since the Cold War. U.S.-led NATO bolstered its forces at Russias western borders with new missiles and multinational battle groups. Russia responded by moving its own troops and missiles. It was amid these mounting tensions that Trump was elected president.

Along the campaign trail and even into his early days in office, Trump was seen as a major political ally of Putins. Despite the controversy brewing over emerging allegations that Moscow intervened in the U.S. election on behalf of Trump, the Republican leader embraced a closer relationship with the worlds second leading military power. He criticized his predecessors handling of the situation and, like Obama, pledged a new beginning with Russia.

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Trump called for closer cooperation with Russia in Syria, where the U.S. had begun to abandon support for opposition groups and focus on targeting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). Trump even called NATO obsolete. As investigations into his administrations ties to the Kremlin intensified, however, Trump appeared to pull back from this alliance and sought to condemn some of Russias moves.

In April, Trump ordered an airstrike on a Syrian military base after accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of conducting a chemical weapons attack on civilians, something Assad and Putin denied. The incident led to a bitter fallout between the two and an escalation of aggressions between their respective allies abroad. As the White House and the Kremlin sought rapprochement last month, Congress instituted new sanctions against Russia that were reluctantly signed into law by Trump, who said relations had reached an all-time and very dangerous low.

Soon after, 455 U.S. diplomatic staffers were ordered out of Russia as part of Putins crackdown on illegal restrictions, a likely reference to Washingtons recent sanctions. The U.S. responded by telling Moscow to close shop in San Francisco, New York and Washington, and neither side has shown signs its willing to budge, summoning a revival of the deep mistrust between the U.S. and Russia that existed under Obama and for decades during the Cold War.

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Kigali (AFP) - A Rwandan opposition figure who was barred from challenging President Paul Kagame in last month's election has been "taken" by police, her brother said Thursday, a claim denied by the authorities.

Police officers took Diane Rwigara. 35, and some of her family members to an unknown location on Tuesday night after raiding her house in the Rwandan capital Kigali, her brother Aristide said.

An accountant and political newcomer, Rwigara announced her intention in May to run in the August election against Kagame, who has held held de facto power in Rwanda since 1994.

Nude photographs purporting to be Rwigara appeared online soon after she declared her candidacy.

She was later disqualified from running against Kagame, after the national electoral commission accused her of using forged documents to acquire the required number of signatures supporting her bid.

Kagame went on to win his third seven-year term with nearly 99 percent of the vote.

Rwigara's family say the former candidate, her mother and four siblings have been missing since the raid on Tuesday.

"I know for a fact that they were taken to a place I don't know. I don't know how they are. Their phones and laptops plus the house was searched while they were held in handcuffs," Aristide Rwigara, who lives in the United States, said by phone.

"This is about silencing my sister because she exposed some things and she speaks her mind against the wrong things that the government of Rwanda is doing."

A week after her candidacy was turned down Rwigara launched the People Salvation Movement (Itabaza) -- a rights movement.

"Diane was arrested and taken to an undisclosed location," said an Itabaza source who requested anonymity. They added that she and her mother had not been allowed access to legal assistance.

Rwandan police denied arresting Rwigara.

"The rumour that is currently circulating that Diane Rwigara has been arrested is not true," said police spokesman Theos Badege.

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"What is true is that police have conducted a search at her family residence as part of preliminary investigations on tax evasion and forgery."

Rwigara's father was a onetime ally of Kagame and financial backer of the ruling party. He died in a car crash in 2015, with family members suspecting foul play.

Kagame first became de facto leader when his Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels halted the 1994 genocide in which some 800,000 mostly Tutsis were killed at the hands of extremist Hutus.

His long tenure has produced strong economic results but has been criticised for muzzling political opposition and stifling free speech.

Kagame's critics have ended up jailed, forced into exile or assassinated.
Two tiny screaming hairy armadillos became the first of their species to be born at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. The zoo announced Thursday the as-of-yet unnamed pups were born on Aug. 11.

Screaming hairy armadillos get their names from the squealing noise they make when they feel threatened  as well as their abundant hair, which is not found on most other armadillo species. The mammals typically grow to only about two pounds, while the newborns weighed in at only around 150 grams. In addition to their high-pitched squeals and hairy carapaces, the armadillos have some other quirky traits.

Screaming hairy armadillos dont require much water, as their kidneys allow them to go long periods of time without drinking. The species is also known for eating large quantities of sand: some armadillos have been discovered with more than 50 percent of their stomachs filled with sand from foraging for food.

Born to armadillo parents Amber and Dylan Walter, the Smithsonians two pups were the first babies for the pair. It had not been determined yet whether they were male or female armadillos, as it was too early to tell for certain.

Native to Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, squealing hairy armadillos were recommended to be bread by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Screaming Hairy Armadillo Species Survival Plan, the Smithsonian said. The species is listed as one of least concern with the International Union for Conservation of Nature  meaning it does not qualify as being "critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or threatened."

The Smithsonians two pups were still in the very early stages of their lives and had not yet opened their eyes. Once they get larger and more comfortable, the pups will be available for viewing at the zoos small mammal enclosure.

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Severe flooding across South Asia has caused at least 1,200 deaths this summer, aid workers say, with huge swaths of the region still inundated as monsoon rains continue.

The death toll continues to rise amid concerns that disease and food insecurity could claim even more lives, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Most recorded deaths were in India, but many also died in neighboring Bangladesh and Nepal.

A spokesperson for the IFRC tells TIME that nearly a million houses have been damaged or destroyed in the three most affected countries. The U.N. estimates that more than 41 million people have been affected by the downpour. The monsoon season typically lasts from June to September.

Poor areas of Nepal have been particularly hard-hit; more than 210,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides, and 143 people have died. In Bangladesh, roughly 8.6 million were affected, 142 died and enormous areas of farmland suffered damage, the IFRC said.

About a third of the country has been submerged by this years rains, according to the New York Times.

In India, the flooding has affected more than 30 million people, while the financial capital Mumbai is reportedly paralyzed by the waters. The Times reports that schools were shut Tuesday and transportation ground to a near standstill.

IFRC spokesperson Antony Balmain tells TIME that the flooding has heightened the risk of diarrhea, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and other diseases.

Monsoon season regularly ravishes the Indian subcontinent. In 2014, hundreds died when the coastal Indian city of Chennai saw its heaviest rains in a century. This summer has brought more rain to Mumbai than any other year since 2005, the Times reports, when it was devastated by downpour that killed more than 1,000 people across the state of Maharashtra.